A New Hero

Chapters

Elements Of Harmony
The Ticket Master
Applebuck Season
Griffon the Brush Off
Boast Busters
Dragonshy
Look Before You Sleep
Bridle Gossip
Swarm of the Century
Winter Wrap Up
Call of the Cutie
Fall Weather Friends
Suited For Success
Sonic Rainboom
Stare Master
The Show Stoppers
A Dog and Pony Show
Green Isn't Your Color
Over a Barrel
A Bird in the Hoof
The Cutie Mark Chronicles
Owl's Well That Ends Well
Party of One
The Best Night Ever
Return of Harmony : Part One
Return of Harmony : Part Two
Lesson Zero
Luna Eclipsed
Sisterhooves Social
The Cutie Pox
May The Best Pet Win!
Sweet and Elite
Secret of My Excess
Hearth's Warming Eve
Famiy Appreciation Day
Baby Cakes
The Last Roundup
The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000
Read It and Weep
Hearts and Hooves Day
A Friend in Deed
Putting Your Hoof Down
It's About Time
Dragon Quest
Hurricane Fluttershy
MMMystery on the Friendship Express
A Canterlot Wedding : Part One
A Canterlot Wedding : Part Two
The Crystal Empire : Part One
The Crystal Empire : Part Two
Too Many Pinkie Pies
One Bad Apple
Magic Duel
Sleepless in Ponyville
Wonderbolts Academy
Apple Family Reunion
Spike at Your Service
Keep Calm and Flutter On
The Trouble with Mares
Prince Alexander and Princess Twilight Sparkle : Part One
Prince Alexander and Princess Twilight Sparkle : Part Two
Castle Mane-ia
Daring Don't
Flight to the Finish
Power Ponies
Bats!
It's Genealogical Research!
Rainbow Falls
Three's A Crowd
Pinkie Pride
Simple Ways
Filli Vanilli
Twilight Time
It Ain't Easy Being Breezies
Somepony to Watch Over Me
Maud Pie
For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils
Leap of Faith
Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3
Trade Ya!/ Inspiration Manifestation
Equestria Games
The Kingdom
The Night That Never Was: Part Two
Cutie Map
Cutie Trap
Castle Sweet Castle
Be Brave and Rave
Appleloosa's Most Wanted
Make New Friends but Keep Discord
The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone
Princess Spike
Just Another Star
Planting Fences
Is Any of This for Real?
Canterlot Boutique
The Winded Turnabout
Crusader of the Lost Mark
Scare Master
The Mane Attraction
Thanks for the Memories
Heartbreaker
The Cutie Re-mark
Twins
The Crystalling
A Second Hearth's Warming Tail
The Gift of the Maud Pie
Gauntlet of Fire
No Second Prances
Saddle Row
28 Pranks Later
Time's A Changling
Buckball Season
The Fault in Our Cutie Marks
Every Little Thing She Does
To Where and Back Again?
To There and Back Again
Celestial Advice
Flurry of Emotions
Rock Solid Friendship
Triple Threat
Once Upon a Zeppelin
Uncommon Bond
Shadow Play
Friends to the End
The Night That Never Was: Part One
I'm Right. You're Wrong.
Flutter Brutter
Mare Of The Moon
Feeling Pinkie Keen
The Mysterious Mare Do Well
Ponyville Confidential
Magical Mystery Cure
Rarity Takes Manehattan

Elements Of Harmony

Episode 2 – Elements of Harmony

Nightmare Moon continued cackling insanely.

The mayor alerted, "Seize her! Only she knows where the princess is!" The royal guards charged at her.

"Stand back you fools!" Nightmare Moon warned as the hasty scene occurred. Her eyes glowed and she laughed once again while bolts of lightning attacked the royal guards.

Nightmare Moon then transformed into a mist of darkness and bolted out the door while every pony could only stare and gasp. The pony with the rainbow mane managed to free herself from the other pony's grasp and chase after Nightmare Moon, stopping outside. The purple pony then raced outside as well.

A few other ponies raced outside but I was unable to see who they were as the other ponies inside continued to panic. I managed to finally squeeze myself out of there. As I stared out at the night sky that was supposed to be now eternal, I thought to myself.

What can I do? What AM I supposed to do? Do… I just do nothing? I feel like there's something I can do but…what is it?

I sighed. I didn't know what to do. I walked gloomy through the town… hoping something might show me the path to my next objective. As I continued walking I heard some noise from a house in town. It was the same home that was playing the loud music…

"And just what ARE the elements of harmony?" I heard a loud voice. "And how did YOU know about Nightmare Moon, huh? Are you a SPY?"

I walked towards the house to try to find out what was going on. I slowly moved to a window to see a light lit inside the house with six ponies, which five of them were talking to the purple one. All the ponies that were in there were the same ones I had seen earlier today. Knowing it was wrong to eavesdrop, I pressed my ear against the window to try to gain any information that might be crucial to know, but unfortunately, it was a bit faint.

"I read all about the predication of Nightmare Moon. Some mysterious objects, called the Elements of Harmony, are the only things that can stop her, but I don't know what they are, where to find them, I don't even know what they do!"

They all looked towards the pink pony that was near a shelf. I could tell she was speaking but her voice was too faint to hear clearly. She jumped and cheered for some reason but the purple pony retrieved a book from a shelf and began talking again. I was able to make out her words.

"There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known. Kindness, laughter, generosity, honesty, and loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery. It is said that the last known location of the five elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. It is located in what is now…" She paused. "… the ever free forest..."

They all gasped.

"The ever free forest? That place is really scary! I don't want to go in there!" The pink pony said.

"We have to, if we are ever to achieve the Elements of Harmony and defeat Nightmare Moon." The purple pony replied clearly.

"But… But…" The pink pony stuttered.

"C'mon yall." The orange pony began. "I'm sure it's not that bad!"

The other ponies talked for a moment, but eventually they agreed and all headed out. Shoot! I have to hide or they'll see me! I hid behind a bush near the window and stared as they walked outside the home. However, the last pony to walk out was the sweet and tender one. She looked back at where I was for a moment, causing me to duck further below the bush, but fortunately she seemed to not notice me.

I sighed and thought once again. Should I follow them? I suppose it's better than doing nothing… maybe I can help for once…

I decided I would follow them, but I had to make sure they wouldn't see me… otherwise… I don't want to think about it…

I walked slyly behind them as they walked towards the forest.

After they finally arrived at the forest, they stopped and stared in horror towards the inside of the forest.

Finally, the pink pony exclaimed cheerfully, "WHEE! Let's go!"

However, the purple pony intervened and stopped her, "Not so fast. Look… I appreciate the offer, but I'd really rather do this on my own.

The orange pony interrupted, "No can do, sugar cube. We sure ain't letting any friend of ours going into that creepy place alone. We're sticking to you like caramel on a candy apple." They began walking towards the forest.

"Especially, if there's candy apples in there!" The pink pony spoke, "What? Those things are good!" The pink pony began walking with the other ponies while the purple pony could only sigh and begin walking too.

I waited for a moment until they were far enough to start following again, but I noticed they disappeared into a dark mist that formed in the forest. I began walking quickly before I could lose them.

However, it was to no avail. I had already lost them in the fog. I tried to cover the top of my eyes to see better, but it was no use.

"No, I lost them…" I spoke to myself. "Now, what am I going to do…?"

A dark blue mist suddenly formed in front of me.

"Huh…?"

Several ponies walked towards me from the mist. All I could do was just stare.

"Oh look!" One of them said. "It's what's-his-face!"

The other ponies laughed. I turned a bit gloomy, lowering my head a little.

"Aww. What's wrong? Sad I don't remember your name?"

I stood silent while my eyes looked away.

"You're just a loser." The pony smiled. "A usable loser."

The ponies continued laughing while I could only look away, but their mimicking… their taunting… it was getting to me… I… I couldn't take it anymore… I strained my eyes and tried to fight it… but… I don't think I can make it…

At that point, something inside of me sparked…inside of my heart… I grew the strength to overcome the bad and looked at them straight in the eye. I pounced at them with vigor in my heart. After I finished panting, I opened my eyes and noticed they were gone.

Was it all fake?

I continued looking around but there was only more fog surrounding me. I continued walking but I grew tireless soon enough. The road seemed endless. Finally, my legs gave up and I fell to the floor. My eyes began closing and eventually, I fell asleep.

"Wake up Alex… it's your time now…"

That voice… that voice sounded like Princess Celestia!

"Princess? Is that you?" I answered.

She appeared in the darkness that covered me. I saw her angel skin color. I saw the hair and tail filled with aqua, light purple and light green. Her tiara reflected the long horn on her head while her necklace, filled with a violet gem, hung on her neck. On the back of her legs, there was a cutie mark of the sun.

"Yes, Alex… you have to wake up… you must help your friends…"

"Friends? What friends? I don't have any friends…"

"Trust me, Alex." She gave a warm smile.

"Princess…"

"Now go Alex… and prove your strength!"

I wanted to ask her many more questions after, but she slowly faded away and my eyes opened.

The fog in front of me cleared up, and I saw what looked to be a castle that was destroyed. However, beyond the destroyed building, I saw five of the ponies running up the steps to another one. Trusting my instincts, I ran over there as well. When I finally caught up, I saw all the six ponies together, standing against Nightmare Moon. I didn't reveal myself, but only hid in the top of the stairs.

"Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of… HONESTY!"

Several crystals surrounded the orange pony.

"Fluttershy, who tamed the manticor with her compassion, represents the spirit of… KINDNESS!"

Several crystals surrounded the sweet pony as well.

"Pinkie pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of… LAUGHTER!"

The same occurred with the pink pony.

"Rarity, who helped a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift, represents the spirit of…GENEORISTY!"

Crystals surrounded the pony from the beauty shop.

"And Rainbow Dash…, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desire, represents the spirit of… LOYALTY!"

Finally, the crystals appeared with her.

"The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us!"

"You still don't have the sixth element!" Nightmare Moon quickly announced. "The spark didn't work!"

"But it did…" The purple pony replied. " A different kind of spark…I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you… to see you…how much I cared about you… the spark ignited inside of me… when I realized you all… are MY friends!"

Suddenly, the sixth element came down upon her, showing brightly.

"You see Nightmare Moon… when those elements are ignited by the… the spark that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element. The element of… MAGIC!

All of the ponies' crystals formed together into necklaces and a tiara for the purple pony. Each of the ponies glowed and Nightmare Moon's face remained unchanged. That can't be good…

It turned out it wasn't… the ponies' entire glow dissolved and they fell to the floor.

"Wha… What happened? Why didn't it work?" The purple pony exclaimed.

Nightmare Moon laughed.

"Don't you see? There is ANOTHER element! Did you not know that?" Nightmare Moon answered their failure.

"What? Another element? My books only told me there were six!"

Nightmare Moon laughed evilly once again.

If the ponies don't have the seventh element… then how can they defeat Nightmare Moon?

Nightmare Moon then used her evil magic to grab the ponies and hold them up in the air. I could only hear their struggles.

"Well looks like I have the opportunity to rid of you ponies ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

At that point, I did the only thing that came to mind, the action that changed my whole life around…

I charged in there, unsuspectingly. I hit Nightmare Moon which interrupted her spell holding the ponies hostage. I could tell every pony was surprised of my appearance.

"Wha… What's this? Another pony?" Nightmare Moon replied to my presence.

"That's right…" I answered with my fierce look planted on my face. "I'm here… here to help my…" As much as I was scared to say it, I trusted Princess Celestia enough to actually say it… "I'm here to help my friends!"

Suddenly, something inside me glowed.

"Could it be…?" Nightmare Moon gasped. "The… The…"

"The seventh element!" The purple pony exclaimed.

I was surprised for a moment...but then it suddenly all made sense... I WAS the seventh element... the element of...

"That's right…" I answered. "The element of… A PURE HEART!"

The many ponies behind me began glowing once again, creating a rainbow while my night color combined with the rainbow and surrounded Nightmare Moon.

"NOOOOOOO!" Nightmare Moon cried as the elements of harmony attacked her.

Soon, the whole room was engulfed with light and then faded away…

I was lying on the ground when it finished.

"Ooh. My head…"

"Every pony okay…?"

"Oh! Thank goodness!"

"Why, Rarity. It's so lovely!"

"I know! I'll never part with it again!"

"No, your necklace. It looks just like your cutie mark!"

"Oh! So does yours!"

"Look at mine! Look at mine!"

"Aww! Yeah!"

I heard all these voices behind me. I slowly got up and looked around. The ponies were excited over their accessories. I guess my job here is done…

I was getting ready to walk out but the purple pony stopped me.

"Wait!" She ran up to me.

I turned around to see her looking at me.

"Who are you…?" She asked.

I moved my eyes around, uneasy. I didn't answer for a moment.

"… I'm Alex…" I answered.

"Alex, huh? Well you really saved our butts back there" She replied with a smile. "I'm Twilight Sparkle! This is Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity." She pointed to each of the ponies.

Every pony greeted and thanked me, except Fluttershy. She looked a little nervous and really shy.

"Fluttershy…" Twilight said.

"…Thank…you…" Fluttershy spoke very softly.

"Gee Twilight, I thought you were just spouting a lot of hooey… but I reckon… we really do represent the elements of friendship!" Applejack exclaimed.

Suddenly, a light appeared. "Indeed you do…"

Princess Celestia appeared in front of us from a ball of light! Every pony bowed. I did the same thing after seeing them.

However, Twilight spoke. "Princess Celestia!" She ran over to the princess as the princess replied.

"Twilight Sparkle! My faithful student." Princess Celestia said in a very heartwarming voice. "I knew you could do it!"

"But…" Twilight responded. "You told me it was all a pony tale."

"I told you that you needed to make some friends, nothing more. I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon's return, and I knew you had the magic inside to defeat her. But you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart."

"But… what about the elements? I read that there were only six."

"Oh, Twilight. There was another hidden element, but not even the book knew about it."

They both smiled and looked at me. I kind of blushed.

"Now if only another will is well…" They looked over to the defeated pony. "Princess Luna…"

The defeated pony was startled when Princess Celestia began walking towards her.

"It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this… time to put our differences behind us… we're meant to rule together, little sister."

"Sister?" The other ponies questioned.

"Will you accept my friendship?" Princess Celestia asked Princess Luna.

Every pony but me leaned forward, even having Pinkie Pie fall towards the floor.

"I'm so sorry!" Princess Luna exclaimed. "I missed you so much, big sister!"

"I've missed you too!" Princess Celestia replied. Both the princesses were in tears.

However, Pinkie Pie began crying and blowing into a tissue, loudly. Suddenly, her tone shifted and she exclaimed, "Hey! You know what this calls for? A PARTY!"

"Yes…" Princess Celestia told Princess Luna. "The ponies of Ponyville should meet you."

"Really…? You think they wouldn't hate me?" Princess Luna responded, frightened.

"Oh dear, of course not. Trust me." Princess Celestia smiled, which was all Princess Luna needed to accept the offer.

Princess Celestia called her royal guards and they began escorting her and Princess Luna to ponyville. Princess Celestia motioned us to follow.

All the ponies began heading out, but I stayed inside. Before Twilight left, she looked back to see a gloomy face.

"Alex, aren't you coming?" She asked.

"I don't know…" was the only thing I could answer.

She walked over to me. "C'mon, you're our friend!"

"Really?" My eyes opened wide.

"Of course!" Twilight answered with a smile. "You said it yourself, remember?"

"Yeah… I guess I did…"

She motioned me to follow her and I did. All of us headed back to ponyville, where we began the party. When we arrived, the whole town stood there to welcome us back. The baby dragon I had seen earlier with Twilight rushed out to hug her. Two little ponies flew to Princess Luna and placed flowers on her neck, catching her surprised.

Twilight turned sad, to which Princess Celestia attended to her problem.

"Why so glum, my faithful student? Are you not happy that your quest is complete and that you can return to your studies in Canterlot?"

"That's just it…" Twilight responded. "Just when I learned how wonderful it is to have friends…I have to leave them…"

As she continued speaking, the only thing I could do was watch.

"Spike, take a note, please." Princess Celestia ordered politely.

The baby dragon, who must have been Spike, took out his tools for writing as Princess Celestia began speaking.

"I, Princess Celestia, hereby decree that the unicorn Twilight Sparkle shall take on a new journey for Equestria. She must continue to study the magic of friendship. She must report to me her findings from her new home in Ponyville!"

Each of her pony friends gathered around her and cheered.

"Oh thank you, Princess Celestia! I'll study harder than ever before!" Twilight exclaimed.

Every other pony cheered and the party resumed.

But I wasn't affect by this happiness. I sat out of the party, looking at the ground, thinking about all the things that happened today, even before. Thinking about what is now supposed to happen.

However, I was caught off guard by Twilight who approached me from behind.

"Alex…?"

I jumped and looked over my shoulder.

"Oh… Hey Twilight…" I replied.

"What's wrong? Don't you like the party Pinkie Pie threw?"

I sat silent for a moment. "It's not that… It's just…" I sighed.

Twilight paused for a moment as well then spoke, "What is it?"

"It's nothing, Twilight."

"…well why don't you come join the party? I bet that will cheer you up! You could talk to the other ponies and-"

I had stood up and started walking home.

Twilight ran over to me and stopped me. "Why are you leaving…?"

"I'm sorry…" I began. "… but I don't think I want to do that… I can see you ponies are having a good time… I don't want to ruin it…" I walked around her and started home again.

"But…" That was the only thing I could hear from her voice.

I entered my home and shut the door. I walked to my bed and lay down, staring at the ceiling.

I felt really bad for ditching the party…but it's true…I would just ruin everything…I would be better off not attending. I moved to my side. Besides, I still have to get used to these… Elements of Harmony…I still don't really fully understand but…

I sighed.

I guess I could just think about all this tomorrow…

And I lay there… with my eyes closed… hoping I could finally get some sleep.

The Ticket Master

Episode 3 – The Ticket Master

The sound of knocking caused me to wake up. I looked around lazily to see where the noise was coming from. I exited the bed and walked to my front door.

I opened the door and saw Twilight standing outside with a smile on her face.

"Hi, Alex! I was heading over to Applejack's farm to help her out a bit. How would you like to come?" She asked.

"Um…" I thought for a moment. I wasn't going to be busy with anything today. I guess I could go… "Sure… I'll go."

"Great!" Twilight exclaimed. "C'mon! Let's go!"

When I was walking with her outside, I noticed she had the baby dragon on her back. She noticed me notice her dragon and spoke.

"Oh! Sorry, I forgot to introduce you to Spike! He's my assistant with my studies."

"Hey there!" Spike greeted me.

"Hey… I'm Alex." I replied.

"I heard you helped Twilight defeat Nightmare Moon! I can't believe you're the hidden element that no one even knew about!"

"Okay Spike, no need to get excited. Don't overload him with questions; I think he just woke up." Twilight told Spike, giggling a little.

I just continued walking.

"But, Twilight, I really want to know!" Spike whined.

"Oh, Spike. Stop acting like a baby." Twilight responded.

"But I AM a baby!" Spike replied.

They both laughed and I tried to cope with the situation.

When we both arrived at Applejack's farm, she stood at the gate to greet us.

"Well, howdy there, Twilight! I see ya brought… I'm sorry I never caught ya name." Applejack said.

"It's Alex." I responded.

"Well howdy, Alex. I'm glad you could be joining us." Applejack smiled.

"Why don't we get to work, then?" Twilight announced cheerfully.

And so, we began harvesting apples where Applejack had a lot of apple trees that covered up everywhere I looked. We had on saddles that contained two empty buckets on each side for picking apples.

We each chose our own group of trees and began picking apples. While I was placing apples in my baskets, I could see Spike sitting lazily on Twilight's back.

He must be a handful…

Once we all filled up our baskets, we grouped up together and began walking back to the barn.

"Thank you kindly Twilight and Alex, for helping me out. I bet Big Macintosh I could get all these golden delicious in the barn by lunchtime." Applejack thanked with a hop, while Spike was on Twilight's back tossing out Apples with a "Nope" for each one. "If I win, he's going to walk down stir up street in one of grandma's girdles!" She giggled.

"No problem at all, Applejack. I'm glad the goal is lunchtime. All this hard work is making me hungry!" Twilight replied.

"I KNOW, RIGHT?" Spike interrupted, as he tossed another apple which bounced off of Twilight's head.

Twilight gave him a mean stare, "Oh really, Spike? You've been lounging on my back all morning while WE worked!"

"EXACTLY!" Spiked responded. "You guys were taking SOO long that I missed snack time!"

Twilight's stomach grumbled. She laughed nervously. "Well I guess we better get some food."

Spike continued sorting through the apples in the baskets, tossing out ones that he didn't like for some reason. "AHA!" He finally pulled out a bright red shiny apple from the basket.

Twilight licked her lips. "Oh, Spike! That looks delicious!"

However, Spike immediately forced it in his mouth and chomped down.

"Spike!" Twilight scolded.

"What?" Spike questioned.

Spike immediately burped and something formed with his smoke that even surprised me. It was a scroll letter…

"It's a letter from Princess Celestia!" Twilight exclaimed.

Spike grabbed the letter and cleared his throat. He opened the letter and read what was inside. "Here ye, Here ye! Your grand royal highness, Princess Celestia, of Equestria is pleased to announce the Grand Galloping Gala to be held in the magnificent capital of Canterlot on the 21st day of… yadda yadda yadda… cordially extends an invitation to Twilight Sparkle plus one guest!"

Both Applejack and Twilight gasped. "The Grand Galloping Gala!"

Applejack and Twilight continued to jump around and dance, repeating the same words of which I did not know.

"What's the Grand Galloping Gala?" I asked.

The both gasped and looked at me.

"You don't know what the Grand Galloping Gala is?" Twilight asked.

I shook my head.

"It's only THE annual royal ball held in Canterlot!"

I still looked confused.

However, Spiked looked annoyed and he opened his mouth to make a disgusted look, but he suddenly burped out two golden tickets.

"Look! Two Tickets!" He announced.

"Wow! Great! I've never been to the Gala, have you Spike?"

"No! And I plan to keep it that way! I don't want any of the girly frilly froo-froo nonsense." Spike replied.

"Aw, come on Spike! A dance would be nice!"

"Nice?" Applejack interrupted. "It's a heap good more than just nice. I'd love to go. Land sakes, if I had an apple stand set up, ponies would be chowin' our tasty vittles till the cows came home. Do you have any idea how much business I could drum up for Sweet Apple Acres? Why, with all that money, we could do a heap of fixin' up 'round here. We could replace that saggy old roof, and Big Macintosh could replace that saggy old plow, and Granny Smith could replace that saggy old hip. Why, I'd give my left hind leg to go to that gala."

"Oh… well in that case… would you like to-"Twilight was interrupted by a scream.

"Are we talking about the Grand Galloping Gala?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed after she had fell on top of Applejack and Twilight.

"Rainbow Dash! You told me you were too busy to help me harvest apples! What were you busy doing? Spying?" Applejack demanded.

"No!" Rainbow Dash immediately responded. "I was busy… napping. And I just HAPPENED to hear that you have an extra ticket?"

"Yeah but…" Twilight was interrupted once again.

"YESS! This is so awesome! The wonder bolts perform at the Grand Galloping Gala every year! I can see it now…"

Rainbow Dash was already going to begin her story.

"Um… I'm just going… to put the apples in the barn…" I said.

But the ponies seemed to be too busy discussing about the Grand Galloping Gala. I grabbed the baskets of apples and managed to carry them over to the barn. I placed them where they belonged and sat down for a moment, catching my breath after carrying three baskets of apples at the same time.

Geez, they're so obsessed over the "Grand Galloping Gala", what's so special about it? Besides it being a royal ball, of course…

Who knows? Maybe it's just my negative thinking…

I shook my head and decided to get back to the others. When I arrived back near the apple trees, I saw Rainbow Dash and Applejack leg wrestling on a tree stump.

"Aw, Forget this!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed and flew out of the area.

"You're not getting away from me!" Applejack ran after her.

I sighed. I guess I better go after them… I ran after Applejack who led me into town. When I stopped to catch my breath, I could hear her saying, "Wait just another minute!"

"Applejack! Were you following me too?" It was Twilight.

"No! I was following THIS one!" Applejack pointed to Rainbow Dash, "to make sure she didn't try any funny business…still trying to take my ticket…"

"YOUR TICKET?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"But Twilight's taking ME!" Pinkie Pie interrupted, who was obviously a part of the group too.

Soon every pony was joining in, trying to win their way to the extra ticket.

Okay, this was getting on my nerves.

"GIRLS!" I shouted.

They all looked towards me.

"Don't you think you girls are getting a bit out of hand? I know this 'Grand Galloping Gala' is a huge deal for you, but that doesn't mean you should be fighting for it! Twilight is the one with the extra ticket and she'll take whoever she wants, now just leave her alone, so she can think about it!"

"Yeah! What he said! Now go on, shoo!" Twilight exclaimed.

Every other pony except Twilight started walking out of the area, muttering under their breaths.

"Don't worry I'll figure this out!" Twilight yelled out to them.

Twilight sighed and looked at me. "Thanks Alex. I can't think straight! Especially since I haven't got anything to eat."

"Well now's your chance." I replied.

"You're right." She smiled. "I'm going to get Spike and grab a bite, want to come?"

"Sure…" I didn't really know what I wanted to do… so I just went with the flow.

We walked for a moment until she grabbed Spike who was waiting in the library in her home after the whole situation with the other ponies.

"Took you long enough…" Spike said.

"Not now Spike… I just want to get something to eat. I'm SOO hungry!" Twilight replied.

"Oh boy!" Spike quickly changed into a positive mood. "Let's go!"

Twilight sighed again and looked over to me. "C'mon Alex, let's go before I starve to death."

We arrived at a nearby Café. We sat in a table with Spike across Twilight and I being in the middle.

"Oh guys, what am I going to do? All five of my best friends have really good reasons to go to the Gala!" Twilight said. She then looked over to me. "Alex, I'm sorry."

"For what?" I asked.

"I didn't even ask if you wanted to go."

"No, thanks, I'm alright."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

Twilight sighed. "Well at least you understand Alex…" She then used her magic to peel leafs from a flower in the plant. "Applejack…or Rainbow Dash…Pinkie Pie, or Fluttershy…Rarity? Oh, who should go with me?"

After hearing her stomach growl, she even licked the petals off the table.

"Have you made your decision?" The waiter asked.

"I CANT DECIDE!" Twilight yelled out loud.

"Twilight, he just wants to take your order…" Spike said, pointing to his menu.

"Oh…" Twilight said. She told her order to the waiter.

"And for you, sir?" He asked me.

"The same." I replied.

"Do you have any rubies?" Spike asked. After Spike looked at the waiter's face, he said, "No? Okay… I'll have the hay fries… extra crispy!"

"Well what do you think Spike?" Twilight asked.

"I think we have to try another restaurant, I mean I like grass just fine but would it hurt anybody to offer some gemstones?" Spike replied.

"I mean about that gala and the ticket and who I should take!"

"Oh…You're still on THAT?"

"Spike! LISTEN! How do I choose? And when I do choose, will the other four be mad at me? I mean I can give up my ticket and give away two, but that would still leave three disappointed ponies! What if I-"

The waiter had come by and dropped our food.

"Oh thank you… this looks SO good." Twilight shared while Spike ate away on his fries. "I'm sure everything will be MUCH clearer once I eat."

I had been thinking for a moment, and I finally thought of a solution that might save us all from this mess.

"Twilight." I called.

"Hmm?" She said as she was about to take a bite of the sandwich using her magic to pick it up.

"Why don't you just-"

Suddenly, many ponies began running near us. They had all headed towards the inside of the building.

"Uh, madam. Are you going to eat your food in the rain?"

Rain?

Twilight dropped her sandwich and explained, "It's not raining."

Suddenly, the whole area was bombarded with water droplets. Everywhere except our exact spot.

"What's going on?" Twilight asked.

"Hi there, best friend forever I ever ever had! Enjoying the sunny weather?"

We looked up to see that it was Rainbow Dash who was holding a cloud open.

Twilight grew an annoyed look on her face. "Rainbow Dash… what are you doing…?"

"What do you mean? I just saw the smartest, most generous pony about to get rained on, so I thought I'd kick a hole in the clouds to keep her dry so she can dine in peace! That's all."

"Rainbow… you're not trying to get extra consideration for the extra ticket by doing the extra special favors… are you?"

"Meee? No no no, of COURSE not!"

"Uh huh…"

"Seriously! I'd do it for ANY pony!"

However, we saw many other ponies running to get shelter in the rain.

Rainbow Dash saw this and she giggled nervously.

"Rainbow…" Twilight began. "I am NOT comfortable accepting unwanted favors, so I'd appreciate it if you close up that rain cloud RIGHT NOW."

Rainbow Dash groaned and did as she was told.

"That's better!" Twilight was about to finally eat the sandwich, but it got soaked along with her in the rain. She groaned in frustration. Spike on the other hand, began snickering.

That's when my eyes caught sight of another pony… a pony with an umbrella… uh oh… this is not going to go good…

"TWILIGHT! It's raining!" Rarity exclaimed.

"No… really?" Twilight replied, sarcastically.

"Come with me before you catch a cold!" Rarity grabbed Twilight and rushed her over to her beauty shop.

Spike and I looked at each other and sighed. We had followed Twilight and Rarity along the muddy road. Once we arrived, I saw Twilight shaking her hair. I did the same.

However, Twilight realized that the water she shook landed on Rarity. "Oops… Sorry"

Although, Rarity changed her look and said, "Oh no! It's quite alright! After all, we ARE the best of friends, are we not?"

Here we go… I rolled my eyes.

"And you know what the BEST of friends do?"

Twilight was speechless, "Uhhh…"

"MAKEOVERS!"

Rarity began messing with Twilight behind a cover. All I could hear were her struggles.

"There! Oh, you're simply darling!" Rarity exclaimed. I saw that she had placed a dress on her.

"Uh… yeah! It is kinda pretty, isn't it?"

Spike made a disgusted face, but Rarity went over to him. "And you! Oh Spike, I have a dandy little outfit for the dashing gent!"

Rarity then captured him the same way she captured Twilight and placed him in an outfit.

"Now you just need a hat!" Rarity placed one on him.

"Bleeh!" Spike shouted. "I told you! I don't want any part of this girl gala gunk! See you back at the library!" He raced off ahead.

Rarity laughed. "Oh, who needs him anyway? This is all about you. How fabulous you'll look at the Grand Galloping Gala!" Rarity tried to persuade Twilight, as Twilight continued observing herself in the mirror.

"Wait… the Grand-"

I walked over to the corner and sat down to continue to listen to Rarity's persuasion about the Grand Galloping Gala. I decided I would just wait until she was finally finished.

Finally Twilight figured out her scheme and said, "You're just going to have to wait for my decision like everyone else!" as she threw the accessories Rarity gave back at her.

"Now if you excuse me, I'm been trying all day, just to get some lunch!" Twilight exclaimed as she started heading out the door.

Before she could say something to me, Applejack appeared out of nowhere. "Did some pony say lunch?" Applejack took Twilight to a cart full of apple treats outside. Applejack then tried to persuade her with her food. Twilight grew angry and left in a hurry.

I sighed and walked up to Applejack. "Why can't you guys just wait for her decision? She's stressed enough about being hungry."

Applejack sighed. "You're right…" She grew a disappointed look.

Rarity came out, looking for Twilight. "Where did she go now?"

"She left, Rarity." Applejack explained. "Because of our selfishness… Alex here made me realized it…"

Rarity thought for a moment and realized it as well. "Oh no… I've been a fool too…" Rarity grew sad too. "If only I can tell her how much I'm truly sorry for the way I've been acting."

"Darn right." Applejack agreed.

"C'mon we can still catch up to her." I suggested.

"That's true… Oh no!" Applejack suddenly cried out.

"What is it?" I responded quickly.

"If other ponies find out she has an extra ticket, they won't EVER leave her alone!"

"Then let's hurry!" Rarity exclaimed and we all rushed over to Twilight's home.

When we arrived, the lights were off and it was nighttime. I hope it wasn't too late…

We opened the door to her home just to finish seeing Twilight staring at Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. She turned to us when she noticed we came in.

She screamed and spoke. "I can't decide! I just can't decide! It is important to all of you and I just can't stand to disappoint any of you, and giving me some gifts and doing me favors won't make any difference because you're all my friends and I want to make you all happy and I can't! I just can't!"

Applejack walked gently up to her. "Twilight, sugar. I didn't mean to put so much pressure on you. And if it helps, I don't want the ticket anymore. You can give the ticket to some pony else. I won't feel bad. I promise."

"Me too." Fluttershy flew near Twilight. "I feel just awful that I made you feel so awful."

"And me too!" Pinkie Pie joined as well. "It's no fun upsetting your friends!"

Rarity walked over to Twilight. "Twilight, it was unfair of me to try to force you as I did."

"YES! THAT MEANS THE TICKET IS MINE!" Rainbow Dash laughed as she chanted.

We all looked at Rainbow Dash with an upset look on our faces.

Rainbow Dash realized this. "You know… I haven't perfected my signature move for the wonder bolts anyway… I don't need that ticket either."

"We all got so gung ho about going to the gala, that we couldn't see how un gung ho we were making you…" Applejack confessed.

They all apologized to Twilight and I finally received my chance.

"Now… I was about to explain to Twilight about this idea I came up with before we were interrupted…"

"What is it, Alex?" Twilight asked.

The other ponies leaned towards me, wanting to know.

"Why don't you ask Princess Celestia if she could give you enough tickets for every pony that wants to go? I'm sure she would understand…if not… then you could return the tickets and no one can go. After all, it's better to not go and stay together than to fight over the tickets… right?"

Every pony was silent for a moment until Twilight spoke to Spike.

"Spike, take down a note."

Spike got his utensils ready.

"Dear, Princess Celestia. I've learned that one of the joys of friendship is sharing blessings, but when there's not enough blessings to go around, having more than your friends can make you feel pretty awful… so… though I appreciate the invitation, I am returning both tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala."

"WHAT?" Every pony exclaimed.

"I agree with Alex. If all you ponies can't go with me, then I don't want to go either. And I know I can ask for more tickets… but I don't want to risk upsetting Princess over this situation… so I am returning them."

"Twilight…" Applejack began. "You don't have to do that..."

"Nope, I've made up my mind. Spike, you can send the letter now."

Spike opened the window and sent the letter with his breath.

"Now you won't get to go to the gala either…" Fluttershy said.

"It's okay… if you all aren't there…, my best friends, then I couldn't possibly have a good time."

Every pony went up for a group hug, but I stayed away. Spike made a disgusted face for the third time today already. However, he looked as if he was going to throw up.

"Well wallow my withers, Spike. Isn't that just like a boy who can't handle the least bit of sentiment…"

He burped up something else… it was a letter!

"A letter from the princess?" Twilight exclaimed, surprised. "That was fast!"

Spike grabbed the letter and opened it to read it. "My faithful student, Twilight. Why didn't you say so in the first place?"

Something popped out of the letter. Spike grabbed them and held them up in the air.

"Seven Tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala!" He cried.

Every pony gasped.

"Now we can ALL go!" Twilight announced.

Every pony cheered.

Twilight's stomach rumbled. Rarity walked over to Twilight. "Allow us to treat you to dinner!"

They began walking out the door, grabbing their own ticket on the way. When each of the ponies received their ticket, Spike walked out with his in his hand as I followed behind him.

"Spike!" Twilight told Spike.

"What?" He questioned.

Twilight used her magic to slip the ticket from Spike's hand and place it in front of me, "Here." She said with a smile.

"Me…? Why?" I asked.

She began explaining while Spike tried to jump to retrieve the ticket. "You were a really BIG help today, Alex! You deserve to go."

"But… it's alright… Spike should have it."

Before Twilight could argue, Spike burped something else out. It was another letter.

"And one for you, Spike." He said as another ticket came from the letter. He grabbed it with much excitement as he began laughing and skipping, but after he saw us and the rest of the ponies, he quickly returned his excitement. "Oh well… looks like I have to go too!" He began walking "cool" at first, then after being far enough, he continued his excitement. Every pony began laughing, but I kept my mood. I really wanted to have fun… but it just seemed that for now… that wasn't going to happen…

We all headed towards a pizza parlor, grabbing a table large enough for all of us. Every pony began talking to each other excitedly; especially pertaining to how they expect the Grand Galloping Gala to be. I kind of wanted to talk… but it was like I didn't have the energy to. So I just listened to every pony and tried to talk when the moment was right.

The girls ordered a large pizza with hay toppings. Twilight had asked me if there was anything I wanted, but I said I was alright with whatever. Spike made sure to have his slices covered with rubies. After hearing Rainbow Dash's flight bragging, Pinkie Pie's laughter, Applejack's apple bucking, Rarity's new ideas for her fashion designing, and Twilight's new studies for spells, I truly learned a bit more from my new friends. I may have not talked much, but I am certainly a great listener.

After every pony's bellies were full, they started to go their separate ways for the night.

"I should get some sleep! I gotta wake up mighty early for some more apple bucking!" Applejack said.

"Yep! Those clouds don't push themselves, you know!" Rainbow Dash added.

"I need to study anyway." Twilight explained. "It's Spike's bed time and I should get him to bed."

"Absolutely, I need my beauty sleep!" Rarity said.

"Sleep? Who needs sleep? I'm wide awake!" Pinky Pie began jumping around.

"Pinkie Pie… you're going to wake the whole town…" Twilight replied, shushing her a bit.

"Aww… I guess I could go to bed with some cookies and milk…"

Every pony laughed. They all said goodnight and left. Twilight hung around a bit.

"I'm glad you could join us, Alex." Twilight thanked, picking up Spike, who was already asleep, and placing him gently on her back. "Maybe another time?"

"Sure." I responded.

She walked off, saying goodnight.

I looked around and noticed that I had not even seen Fluttershy. It looked as if she left early.

I decided that I would end my day by walking through the park. The star filled night sky was perfect. There was a slow, cool, and gentle breeze. I began walking through the park, enjoying the scenery.

However, I suddenly heard a faint sound of singing. When I walked closer to where the noise was coming from, it slowly grew from a faint sound to a beautiful voice. When I finally reached where the noise was coming from, I saw Fluttershy… she was singing with a couple of birds. She sat down on an edge of a cliff where below was the magnificent ocean.

I slowly walked up to her and called her name. "Fluttershy…?"

She gasped and quickly turned around to see me. She looked terrified as she was sort of flinching.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you… I'll just be on my way…" I said as I started to turn around.

"Wait." Her voice called.

I turned back to her.

"…You're Alex… Right…?"

"Yeah…"

"Oh… I'm sorry I haven't talked to you…much…"

I walked over to where she was and took a seat next to her.

"That's alright…" I answered.

"No, No. It isn't… I'm just…" She couldn't really finish her sentence.

"Shy?"

She looked down at the ocean. "Yes…"

"I know how you feel…" I looked up towards the sky. "Don't worry about it… I don't mean to put any pressure on you, or any other pony…"

"That's nice…" she replied.

After a moment of silence, I asked, "So… what do you do, Fluttershy?"

"What do you mean…?" She asked.

"Like… do you help the animals?" I asked from seeing her with the birds.

"Oh… yes, I do!" She started showing some excitement, but it was still very soft. "I love sweet little animals! That's how I got my cutie mark!"

"That's amazing." I said as I turned to look up at the sky again.

"What about you, Alex?" She asked.

"Me?" I was a bit caught off guard.

"Yes… what do you do?"

I felt a little uneasy… I didn't really do anything but…

"Well… I guess… I just help ponies… I don't know if I have a special talent…"

"Helping ponies is really good! But I'm sure you have a special talent! What about your mark?" She noticed the wolf mark.

"My…mark?" I nervously replied.

"Yes. How did you get it?"

"Um…" I quickly responded. "It's… It's a long story. Don't worry about it, it's nothing."

"Alex…?" She looked a little worried.

I sat in silence for a moment. "Um, I should probably go… It's getting really late."

"Oh…" Fluttershy looked a little sad. "Ok, then... maybe I'll see you tomorrow…if that's okay...?"

"Yeah…" I responded, while standing back up. "Good night…"

"Good night…" she replied.

I began walking back to my house. When I arrived, I jumped on my bed and thought about what just happened. I started getting this feeling that I have never really felt before… what was this feeling…?

Applebuck Season

Episode 4 – Applebuck Season

I immediately fell off my bed. Everything was shaking. I tried to grab hold on whatever I could find.

What was happening?

"STAMPEDE!" I heard outside. It sounded like Rainbow Dash.

I immediately rushed outside to find out what was happening. When I raced out my front door, every pony was crashing into each other, all yelling "Stampede!" Ponies were closing their windows and locking their doors.

I looked around and saw Pinkie Pie, who was the only one not panicking. "Hey...!" She laughed. "Thiiis maaakes myyy voooice sooound siiilly!"

"Pinky Pie, are you crazy?" I heard Twilight announce from the other side of the road. "RUN!"

"Every pony calm down, there is no need to panic!" The mayor alerted outside.

"But, mayor! Whatever shall we do?" Rarity responded dramatically.

"Look there!" Rainbow Dash cried.

She pointed across the river to where the large stampede of cows was rushing towards us.

"YEEEHAW!" cried Applejack in the middle of the group.

When the ponies saw her, they began cheering for her to save us. Applejack began rounding them up and collecting them in a straight and narrow line.

While the other ponies could only watch, Pinkie Pie, holding a bag of popcorn, exclaimed, "This is the best rodeo show I've ever seen!" She stuffed her face in the bag of popcorn.

Applejack then pushed some cows to the side, jumped on one of them, and then lassoed the leader of the group. She pulled hard on the rope in order to change their direction to run along the river instead, all while cheering on.

The ponies cheered once again. Applejack pulled on the rope until the stampede came to a complete stop. She had a short conversation with cows until they finally returned back to where they belonged. The rest of the ponies continued cheering.

"Yee haw! Ride 'em, cowpony!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed while trying to be like Applejack.

I sighed and walked over to where the mayor, Twilight, and Rarity stood.

"Applejack was just… just…" The mayor said.

"APPLE-TASTIC!" Pinky Pie finished for her.

"Exactly! We must do something to thank Applejack for single-hoofedly saving the town." The mayor added.

"I know…" Pinkie Pie began. "A PARTY!"

Soon the whole town began getting the festivities ready.

Twilight saw me. "Hey… Did the Stampede wake you up?"

"Definitely." I replied, rubbing my head.

"Good thing we have Applejack here!" Twilight smiled.

"Yeah… Pinkie Pie is throwing another party?"

"Yup! Want to help?"

"Sure."

"Alright, we'll you can help Rarity and I put up streamers. Is that okay?"

"No problem."

"Okay! Let's get started!"

I retrieved a part of streamers from Pinkie Pie and Rarity, Twilight, and I started placing them up together. When we finished, Twilight and I walked over to Rarity, who had just finished placing the last bow.

"We all ready?" Twilight asked.

"Just one last thing…" Rarity responded. She picked up a banner decorated with Applejack's symbols with her magic and placed it on top of a building. "Now, we're ready."

"Is Applejack all set?"

"Actually…" Rainbow Dash joined the conversation. "I haven't seen her at all."

"Not since the Stampede this morning." Pinkie Pie added.

"But she'll be here for sure!" Rainbow Dash said in confidence. "Applejack is NEVER late!"

Moments later, everyone gathered up in front of a podium. Twilight came up on the stage and used her magic to grab and sort index cards she was to use for the speech.

"Welcome every pony!" She began. "Today we are here to honor a pony we can always count on to help in matters great and small. A pony whose contributions to—

"DID YOU SEE Applejack's slick moves out there? WHAT an ATHLETE. This week she's gonna help me with my new flying trick, and I know it's gonna be so AWESOME." Rainbow Dash immediately interrupted.

"EXACTLY!" Twilight regained control of her speech. "And…"

She lost it to Pinkie Pie now. "This week, I get to run SugarCube Corner for the first time!"

"…What does that have to do with Applejack?" Twilight questioned her.

"OH! Applejack, one of the best bakers EVER, is gonna help me. Applejack makes everything great, so free samples for every pony!"

"Okay…that's great." Twilight pushed Pinkie Pie gently out of the way. "Now if I could just make a point without being inter—

"Twilight…" I saw Fluttershy slowly creep out of the stage.

"—rupted…"

Fluttershy took the podium and began talking. "Twilight, I'm so sorry, but I just wanted to mention that Applejack is also helping me this week with the official bunny census, where we count up all the new baby bunnies that were born this season. She's gonna help gather them using her wonderful herding skills."

Fluttershy saw the annoyed look on Twilight's face and slowly backed out.

"Anyone else…? Anyone…?" Twilight announced, but silence replied to her. "No? Well then, as I was trying to say…" Twilight noticed the mayor excitedly waiting to take the podium. "UGH! Never mind!" She threw her index cards all over the place. Twilight had walked over to where I was standing while the mayor was about to give her next speech. She had her arms crossed and an annoyed face.

"Sorry about that…" I said.

The mayor took the stand and announced, "Ah-ahem. And so, with no further ado, it is my privilege to give the prize, Pony of Ponyville Award, to our beloved guest of honor, a pony of the utmost trustworthiness, reliability, and integrity. Ponyville's most capable and dependable friend: Applejack!" The mayor pointed to the curtain that just opened while every pony cheered.

Although, Applejack wasn't behind the curtain… everyone gasped. Spike didn't seem to notice…

"Cool! Way to go Applejack, that was awesome! I mean- heh." Spike exclaimed, embarrassed afterwards.

The mayor cleared her throat while Spike reminded every pony how awkward the scene was.

Suddenly, we heard Applejack's voice. "I'M HERE! I'M HERE!" She was walking towards the trophy with a back full of apples, which at the same time fell one by one as she bumped in to every pony. She yawned and continued talking. "Sorry I'm late-whoa-I was just... Did I get your tail?" She walked over to the stand and took control. "Miss Mayor. Thank you kindly for this here... award thingy." She continued yawning. "It's so bright and shiny and, heh, heh heh, I sure do look funny heh. Ooo-ooo. "

Pinkie Pie joined her in the awkward situation. Regardless, Twilight walked up to the stage. "Okay…Well, thank you Applejack for saving us from that scary stampede, and always being there for every pony."

Applejack yawned loudly again and spoke. "Yeah. I like helping the pony folks and…" She yawned once again… "and stuff…" For a few seconds she had fallen asleep. "Oh, uh, yeah. Uh, Thanks."

Applejack grabbed the trophy with her teeth and dragged it all the way back where she came from.

It was silent for a moment until Twilight finally spoke. "Was it just me, or did Applejack seem a little—

"Tired?" Rainbow Dash offered.

"Dizzy?" Fluttershy added.

"Messy?" Rarity said. We looked at her awkwardly. "Well did you SEE her mane?"

Pinkie Pie offered her opinion. "Well she seemed fine to me. Whoo! Whoo!"

"Hm…" Twilight said.

"She looked like she hadn't had any sleep… I think that's what her problem is… for some reason…" I suggested.

"We better go find out before anything gets worse." Twilight responded. "C'mon, Alex."

I nodded and followed her. I guess we were the only ones who were going to check up on her.

When we arrived to her farm, we saw her bucking apple trees for the apples to fall down into the buckets below the trees. However, she was having trouble trying to stay awake. From the lack of sleep, she wasn't concentrating right on her duties.

"What on earth is that pony doing?" Twilight asked.

"It's the lack of sleep… she can't concentrate on anything…" I responded.

Twilight looked at Applejack. "Hey! Applejack!"

Applejack stopped for a moment and fell asleep.

"Applejack!" Twilight called again. Applejack still didn't budge. "Applejack!" No Answer.

Twilight used her magic to teleport right in front of Applejack and called her name even louder. Applejack finally shook her head and looked at Twilight.

"Oh, howdy Twilight." Applejack greeted. She noticed me standing near her. "Howdy, Alex."

"What IS all this?" Twilight questioned.

Applejack began walking.

"It's Applebuck season."

Twilight teleported in front of Applejack again, just as she finished kicking another tree, causing more apples to fall to their buckets. "Applewhat Season?"

I kept up with them if they started to move around.

"It's what the Apple family calls harvestin' time. We gather all the apples from the trees so we can sell 'em." Applejack continued to walk, which caused Twilight to continuously teleport.

"But, why are you doing it all alone?" Twilight asked.

"'cause Big Macintosh hurt himself."

"What about all those relatives I've met when I first came to Ponyville? Can't they help?"

Applejack sighed. "They were just here for the Apple family reunion. They actually live all over Equestria and are busy harvestin' their own orchards. So, uh, I'm on my own."

Twilight teleported in front of Applejack again, but didn't budge. " Which means, I should really get back to work. Ahem..."

Twilight stood her ground. Applejack tried to persuade her. " hint hint...? Get back to work?"

"Fine…" She moved out of the way.

"Could you step aside, Twilight?" Applejack asked.

"I just did. Applejack, you don't look so good."

"Eh, don't any a' you three worry none, I'm just fine and dandy. Whoa." Applejack said as she missed another tree.

Twilight teleported once again and asked, "Do you want some help?"

"Help? No way, no how."

"But there's no way you can do it all on your own." Twilight made a point.

"Is that a challenge?" Applejack asked aggressively.

"Uhm…no?"

"Well, I'm gonna prove t' you that I can do it! Now if you'll EXCUSE me, I've got apples to buck." Applejack continued to walk.

I walked over to Twilight and she looked at me. "Any ideas?"

"I could try to talk some sense into her… but I don't think it will make any difference…"

"Better than nothing… you should go try."

I nodded and walked over to Applejack, who was still bucking trees. She noticed me and spoke again.

"I told Twilight that I need t' work!"

"Yeah, I know… but you haven't slept at all, have you?"

"Noo, sir. I here have been working nonstop, since the last time I…uh…went to sleep."

"You need to rest, Applejack. Why don't you let Twilight and I help you out while you go get some rest. Then you can come back when you feel better?"

"I said… I don't want any help!"

"Applejack…"

She continued to buck trees, missing a lot of them.

"No luck…?" Twilight asked.

I shook my head.

Twilight sighed. "We should get back to town… I don't think we can do anything else to help…"

"Alright."

We walked over to her home.

"Here, come inside." She said.

I did and looked around. The whole place was like a huge library with many books on different shelves.

"I suppose I'll just read until something can be done. Make yourself at home." Twilight welcomed me.

"Thanks…" I replied.

However I leaned on the railing over the balcony while Twilight lay on the ground reading a book. Twilight noticed my silence as I just stared outside.

"Is something bothering you?"

I sighed. "I guess… I'm just worried about Applejack… she shouldn't be working… she needs help."

"I understand, Alex… but what can be done?"

I started thinking… I tried to think of something we can do, but at the moment, nothing came. We certainly don't want to force her to do anything… so…

In the middle of my thoughts, I heard a loud yell and something flew right at me. It was Rainbow Dash and she crashed right on the railing in front of me, causing me to fall back.

"Alex? Are you alright!" She asked.

"Yeah…" I rubbed my head.

She looked over to Rainbow Dash, leaning over the railing, tired. "Can I help you…?"

"I think some pony else needs your help…" Rainbow Dash replied, sounding disoriented.

"Applejack?" Twilight answered.

"Yup!" Rainbow Dash knocked out.

Twilight sighed and stood up, closing her book. "C'mon Alex."

"Where are you going?" I asked, getting up.

"Making another trip…" She replied.

And thus, we ended up in the valley of apple trees again.

We saw Applejack buck a tree and try to grab the apple that fell with her teeth, but she hit the back of her head from a branch that stood out.

"Applejack, can we talk?" Twilight asked.

Applejack ears twitched and she stood silent for a moment. "CAN BEES SQUAWK? I DON'T THINK SO!" She yelled loudly.

"No! Can we TALK."

"TWENTY STALKS? BEAN OR CELERY?"

"NO! I need to TALK to YOU!"

"YOU NEED TO WALK TO THE ZOO? WELL, WHO'S STOPPING YOU?"

"I NEED to TALK to YOU!"

"OH! WELL WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO? WHAT YOU WANNA TALK ABOUT?"

"Rainbow Dash dropped in to see me today!"

"THAT'S QUITE NEIGHBORLY OF HER!"

"Yes, except that she crashed onto my balcony after YOU launched her into the air!"

Applejack finally lowered her voice. "Oh, yeah. I wasn't feeling quite myself this morning."

"Because you're working TOO HARD and YOUNEED HELP." Twilight stressed emphasis.

"WHAT? KELP? I don't need kelp. I don't even like seaweed."

"HELP! YOUNEED HELP!"

"Nothin' doin', Twilight. I'm gonna prove to you, t'everypony, that I can do this ON MY OWN."She bumped herself from a tree branch. "Ow! Now if you'll EXCUSE me, I've gotta go help Pinkie Pie."

"Ugh!" Twilight sounded frustrated enough.

"Twilight, maybe you should go rest, yourself. I can try to keep talking her out of working so hard." I suggested.

"Thanks for the offer, Alex…but I can't rest until I know she stops working…"

"What do you suppose we do?" I asked.

"I have no clue… but we better think of something soon…"

We walked back to Twilight's home, but before we could think of a plan, Spike came running in, shouting in panic to Twilight. "TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT!"

"What? What is it?" Twilight asked.

"There are a bunch of ponies sick down at the clinic!"

From that, we raced down to the nurse and she opened the curtain to many ponies that were green-faced and having buckets. All of them were groaning and moaning in pain.

"Oh no! What happened?" Twilight asked.

"It was a mishap of the baked goods!" The nurse answered.

"No… not baked goods!" Pinkie Pie was among the sick ponies. "Baked bads!"

"Applejack…" Twilight announced.

However, we saw Spike eating one of the bad muffins that made the ponies sick.

"Want one?" Spike asked.

"Ew! Spike! Get that away from me! I don't want to get sick too!" Twilight responded.

"Fine! More for me!" He chomped another bite of the muffin.

"We have to go tell Applejack that she's hurting ponies by working too hard!" Twilight told me as Spike continued to eat the bad muffins.

I nodded and we raced toward Apple acres… once again…

We had just made it to see Applejack upside down with a cart she was using to load apples into a bucket.

"Applejack… we need to talk…" Twilight said.

"Whoa, huh? Oh, it's you, Twilight. I know what you're gonna say, but the answer is still NO."

"Not to upset your applecart, but you NEED help."

"Hardy Har." She struggled with her own situation. "No I don't."

"Here, let us help." Twilight offered.

"Help? No thanks." She continued to struggle with the cart. "A little more... Little... There." She managed to get herself unstuck. "I'll prove that this apple can handle THESE apples. Come on apples…" She continued to kick the tree, but failed. "FALL OFF!"

"AJ, I think you're beating a dead... tree."

Applejack looked up and noticed that all the branches on the tree were bare.

"I knew that…"

Applejack continued walked, forcing us to walk behind her.

"Actually Applejack…" Twilight started. "I had something else to talk to you about. I just came back from Ponyville Urgent Care and—

"You know, I'm a little busy to get lectured right now, Twilight." Applejack immediately interrupted Twilight.

"But if you'd just let us help—

"UGH!" Applejack groaned. "No, NO, NO! How many times do I gotta say it? I don't need no help from no pony!"

"Ugh. That pony is stubborn as a mule." Twilight told me.

"You got that right…" I replied.

We heard something behind us and caused us to turn around.

"No offense." Twilight told the mule.

"None taken." The mule replied.

"So what's the plan now?" I asked, tired.

Twilight sighed. "Well, I guess I'll take you up on the offer Alex, I don't think I can take anymore of this…"

"Alright let's go to town then…again…"

We both sighed and walked over to town … something worse happened to town by the time we came back...

We saw ponies lying on the ground.

"The horror, the horror!"

"It was AWFUL!"

"A disaster! A horrible, HORRIBLE disaster!"

There was silence for a moment. "I don't get it…" Twilight told me.

I was about to shrug but then we began hearing more cries.

"Our gardens, destroyed!"

"Every last flower, devoured!"

" By... by... THEM!" One of the ponies toward a hurricane of bunnies ruining everything.

Fluttershy was with the bunnies, trying to softly persuade them into leaving with her. "Oh my. Oh... Please stop, little bunnies. Oh no! Please, let's go home. Oh my goodness." They didn't move a muscle.

"Alright. Enough is enough!" Twilight placed her foot down.

We raced over to Applejack's farm to see her trying to buck a tree while gasping for air between each word she muttered.

"Alright, Applejack. Your applebucking hasn't just caused YOU problems, it's over-propelled Pegasus', practically poisoned plenty of ponies, and terrorized bushels of brand new bouncing baby bunnies. I don't care what you say, you. Need. Help."

Applejack gave one last kick to the tree, causing apples to fall in her basket.

"Ha! No I don't. Look, ah did it. I harvested the entire Sweet Apple Acres without your help. How d'ya like them apples?"

Surprisingly, I did not notice Big Macintosh appear next Applejack. "Um, how do YOU like THEM apples?" He pointed towards another pile of trees waited to be harvested.

Applejack began to mumble. "Where'd all the apple...?" She continued mumbling until she passed out.

Twilight began calling her name, trying to wake her up again. "Applejack. Applejack."

She woke up. "Huh?" She looked exhausted.

"Oh, good, you're okay. Now Applejack, I completely respect the Apple family ways. You're always there to help any pony in need, so maybe you can put a little of your stubborn pride aside and allow your friends to help you?"

Applejack looked at all the trees and closed her eyes. "Okay, Twilight…"

"I am not taking "no" for an answer—what?" Twilight replied, thinking Applejack would still decline the offer.

"Yes, Twilight. Yes. Please. I could really use your help." Applejack was even begging now.

Twilight laughed and sighed.

"Alex, stay here and help Applejack. I'm going to get the others."

"Alright." I replied.

Twilight ran off. I helped Applejack get up from the floor and walk her to her home.

"Thank you mighty, Alex. You are very kind." Applejack told me as I helped her home.

"It's no problem." I replied.

"I'm very glad to have you as my friend." Applejack smiled weakly.

She surprised me. I continued walking, but I wasn't paying attention, I focused on what she had said...that she was really glad to have me… as her friend…

"Is something wrong, Alex?" Applejack asked.

I shook my head and snapped out of it. "No, I'm alright." I placed her on a comfortable chair in her living room.

"Thank you, ugh."

"Need me to get you anything, Applejack?" I asked.

"I'm fine, thank you." Applejack responded. "Hey, Alex?"

"Hm?"

"Is it alright, if I ask you a question?"

"Sure…"

"How come, I've never seen you smile?"

I felt as if she had bucked an apple straight to my heart. She didn't hurt me… but… it was just something I never really expected to hear… It's true… I never smile… I've never smiled… I don't even remember the last time I have…

"I…" I couldn't really say anything… It was silent for a while…

"I… I don't know…"

"Alex…?"

I wanted to change the subject. "Listen, I should get going. Twilight and the others are probably there, and I should go help them. Just stay here and rest up." I said quickly.

Applejack didn't say anything, but she looked worried.

I walked out the door and looked around. I saw Twilight coming with the other ponies. She walked over to me.

"Hey there! Where's Applejack?" Twilight asked.

"She's inside resting." I replied.

"Oh, ok." She noticed my face. "Something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine." I nervously said. "Let's get to work."

She hesitated for a moment, but she agreed. We all worked on different parts of the trees. Some of the ponies worked together to get the apples down.

"Twilight, do you need any help?" I asked.

"No, thanks. With magic, this is super easy!" She used her magic to grab all the apples of many trees combined and placed them in huge baskets.

Wow… that's great. I don't mean it sarcastically…

"Alright, then…"

I turned around and saw Fluttershy in the distance. She was flying, picking apples and placing them in her basket. I could help her… besides… I kind of wanted to see her after I left last night… I walked over to her.

"Hey Fluttershy…"

"Oh, hi Alex." She stopped picking apples to see me.

"Do you need any help?" I asked.

"Sure!" She smiled. "Could you grab one of those big buckets and have them ready for when the apples fall down?"

"Of course." I did as she asked me and had them under where ever the apples fell.

Fluttershy and I continued working together until the sun began setting.

"How about y'all take a little break? I got some fine apple juice waitin' for ya!" I heard Applejack from over at the barn. She had a table with several drinks of apple juice. We all walked over to Applejack.

"Girls…" She looked over to me. "And Alex…, I can't thank you enough for this help. I was acting a bit stubborn."

"A BIT?" Twilight replied.

"Okay. A might' stubborn, and I'm awful sorry. Now, I know the town gave me the Prized Pony award…, but the real award is having you six as my friends."

We started drinking our apple juice.

"Phew! That applebucking sure made me hungry!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

Spike had walked over here and offered us a "snack". "And I've got the perfect treat!" He showed us the bad muffins that made every pony sick.

"Eeew... Spike, I threw those all away." Pinkie Pie flinched as Spike had them in front of her face. "Where'd you get them?"

"From the trash." Spike replied.

Everyone made disgusted faces and shouted "EW!".

"Just a little nibble? Come on." Spike encouraged.

However, every pony declined his offer with disgust.

Applejack offered us her apple treats to settle our hunger. She, and her sister Applebloom, made us delicious treats.

"Mmm! Applejack, these are great!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Aw shucks, nothing to it!" Applejack replied with a wink.

"Spike, take a note, please." Twilight asked, looking over to Spike.

Spike brought out his writing utensils.

"Dear Princess Celestia," Twilight began. "My friend Applejack is the best friend a pony could ever have, and she's always there to help any pony. The only trouble is, when she needs help, she finds it hard to accept it, so while friendship is about giving of ourselves to friends, it's also about accepting what our friends have to offer. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

Spike sent the letter.

"How bout a toast... TO FRIENDSHIP!" Applejack exclaimed.

"TO FRIENDSHIP!" Every pony cheered, smacking their apple juice together and laughing.

After everyone one finished their treats, they all said their goodbyes and thank yous. Before Twilight left with Spike, she came over to me.

"Thanks Alex for accompanying me the whole time." She said with a smile. "Sorry, if it was a bother."

"No its okay… I'm glad to help." I responded.

She smiled and waved goodbye.

I exited out of the house to find Fluttershy waiting outside. She spotted me and walked over to me.

"Hi, Alex."

"Hey Fluttershy…"

Her eyes shifted around as she began moving her leg on the ground, shyly.

"I was wondering… if you wanted to help me feed my baby bunnies…"

It was almost dark out, but for some reason… I wanted to do this…

"Okay." I replied.

"Really?" Her eyes grew with soft excitement.

I nodded my head.

"Let's go!"

She led me to the outside of her home, which lay many more homes for different kinds of animals.

"So… how many animals do you have here, Fluttershy?" I asked.

"I have so many! I have chickens, bunnies, butterflies, squirrels, birds— she looked towards me and then blushed a little. "Well… you know… a lot…"

She walked me over to where the baby bunnies were, but they weren't in sight.

"Where are they?" I asked.

"They're just hiding under the trees. You have to call them very gently, so they won't get scared." She flew over to where the bunnies were hiding and called out to them very soft and gentle. "C'mon baby bunnies, its feeding time… it's time to come out."

They slowly crept out, looking at Fluttershy.

"There you go…" She began feeding them the food she had retrieved earlier. When they started nibbling it, she slowly petted them.

"Do you want to try, Alex?" She asked.

"Okay…"

She handed me the food and led me to another tree where more baby bunnies were hiding.

I looked at her and she nodded at me.

"Here…baby bunnies…there's some…delicious treats for you…" Despite my struggle with speaking sweet and soft, several small baby bunnies poked out and looked at me.

"There you go… nothing to be afraid of… I just have some food for you…" I continued encouraging.

They sniffed the air for a moment and slowly lurked out. Finally, they seemed to get used to me and began nibbling on the treats I gave them.

"That was great, Alex…" Fluttershy spoke.

I looked over to her, analyzing her soft and sweet smile. The feeling inside me started coming back… it felt… nice…

After a moment of silence, Fluttershy blushed. "I guess I should go to bed now… It's getting really late…" She said as she looked out to the star-filled night sky.

"Alright then…" I replied.

"Maybe we could… um… hang out… tomorrow…? Well… if you want to…" Fluttershy offered.

"…That sounds great." I responded, feeling the unknown feeling grow a little more.

Fluttershy smiled. "Okay, then. Goodnight, Alex."

"Night…"

She returned to her home.

I began walking home; thinking about this feeling that was slowly growing inside of me. The feeling felt really nice, I didn't really want it to go away… I continued walking through Ponyville. There was no pony on the roads and only the lights on the road were lit on. I could hear the slow, cool breeze of the wind and owls hooting in the trees. I arrived back at my home.

I entered my bedroom and jumped on the bed.

That's when I noticed that something definitely changed.

Griffon the Brush Off

Episode 5 – Griffon the Brush Off

"RAINBOW DASH!" I heard in a sing-song voice outside. I shook my head and started for the front door to see what was going on. When I walked outside, I saw Twilight. I walked up to her.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Pinkie Pie was just looking for Rainbow Dash." She answered.

"Why?"

"I don't know… Pinkie Pie was talking about her all morning." She said with a sigh.

"Hmm…"

Suddenly a rainbow flashed out of nowhere, blowing a huge wind at us.

"I'm guessing that was Rainbow Dash…" I said.

"Mhmm." Twilight replied.

After, we saw Pinkie Pie bouncing all the way where Rainbow Dash was headed. There was a moment of silence until Rainbow Dash came back in a slouchy way, while Pinkie Pie continued skipping. They moved to a building near us. Pinkie Pie noticed me and waved. "Hi, Alex!"

She then turned to Rainbow Dash and began telling her to move a cloud.

"Over to the right. No no, a little to the left. Oh wait, back to the right." Pinkie Pie told Rainbow Dash, which Rainbow Dash moved the cloud, boringly and a little annoyed. " Now a little leftish while staying rightly. STOP. Hmm. Maybe a few inches to the south. Now a couple centimeters north. Okay. One more smidgimeter to the—

"PINKIE PIE!" Rainbow Dash shouted.

"Uh, I mean, perfect. Now wait for my signal." Pinkie Pie responded. She began sneaking around. I then noticed, after a few seconds, Spike came out. Pinkie Pie signaled Rainbow Dash, causing her to kick the cloud. Thunder boomed, scaring Spike. He dropped the handful of scrolls he was carrying with both of his hands. Pinkie Pie smiled at him as Spike continuously hiccuped. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie began snickering and soon started laughing.

"Oh Rainbow Dash, we startled Spike into getting the hiccups!" Pinkie Pie laughed.

Rainbow Dash chuckled.

Spike chuckled along as well. "Good one, Pinkie – He hiccuped. – Pie! – He hiccuped again. - You're always pulling a fast one – Hiccuped… - on me. -Hiccuped.- Nnaa-

He tried to pick up one of his scrolls, but due to his dragon breath and hiccup combination, he ended up sending it.

"Oh no, you're not hurt are you?" Pinkie Pie asked, worried.

"Ne-eh, don't be - silly, dragons are - fire-proof." Spike continued to hiccup mid-sentence.

"Oh, okay, good." Pinkie Pie replied. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash burst out laughing again.

He picked up more scrolls, but he accidentally sent them all too when he hiccuped.

"I wish the same thing - were true with scrolls…" Spike announced.

Spike tried to pick up the spare scrolls on the ground but with each one he tried to pick it up, he kept sending it when he hiccuped.

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash continued laughing.

"Have you ever SEEN anything more hilarious?" Pinkie Pie asked Rainbow Dash.

"I can think of ONE thing." Rainbow Dash replied. She kicked the cloud again, scaring Pinkie Pie this time.

She screamed. After a few seconds, she began laughing and hiccuping at the same time.

Twilight sighed after she had enough. "I'm going to go read a book…"

She left back towards her home.

"I didn't take you for a prankster, Pinkie Pie." Rainbow Dash told Pinkie Pie.

"Are you - kidding? - I love to pull pranks. It's all - in good fun, and Pinkie Pie lo - oves to have - fun!" Pinkie Pie responded, continuing to hiccup.

"You know Pinkie Pie, you're not as annoying as I thought. You wanna hang out?"

"That'd be - I'd really - When do - I mean - When would you –

Rainbow Dash placed her hoof on Pinkie Pie. "A simple nod would do."

"Mmm-hmm." Pinkie Pie responded, and they went off to do whatever they were going to talk about.

I sighed. Well I told Fluttershy, we could hang out today. I guess I could go see what she is up to. I began walking towards Fluttershy's home.

When I arrived, I looked around but I couldn't find her outside. However, she walked out of her home, shortly, with a bag of food in her mouth. She saw me and smiled. She gently placed the food on the ground.

"Hi, Alex! I'm so glad you could come!" She said.

"Thanks… What are you going to go do?" I asked.

"I was going to go feed the fishies today, want to help?"

"Sure, okay." I grabbed the bag of food with my mouth and placed it on my back. Fluttershy and I began walking towards where Fluttershy was headed. We were on the edge of the land, where a creek flowed by, containing fishes and other sea life creatures. I placed the bag on the ground.

"Thanks, Alex." She said. "You can just grab some pieces of the food and throw it out to the fishies." She grabbed the food with her mouth like she said, and threw it out to the fishes that hopped around in the water.

"Okay…" I tried doing the same, stumbling a bit while trying to grab the food and throw it out to the creek.

Fluttershy looked at me and giggled. She continued feeding the fishes. I followed her example and got used to it after a while of practicing. While we continued to feed the fishes, Fluttershy looked behind her and noticed some more fishes and a turtle, opening their mouth real happily for some food too. However, I noticed something fishy (no pun intended) about another turtle hanging around with them.

Fluttershy walked up to it and noticed something weird about it too. She was staring at it, trying to figure out what it was, even tapping on it. It made a squeaking sound and its head flopped around.

"What is this…?"

I found out it was some kind of squeaky toy that was a fake turtle.

I sighed. Fluttershy looked back at me.

"It must be one of Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash's pranks…"

"Huh…?" Fluttershy asked, clueless.

I walked over to the fake turtle and noticed the rope that was attached to it but hidden underneath the water.

"Just forget about the turtle, it's not real." I showed her what I meant.

"Oh…" she replied.

We finished the last of the food.

"Thanks again, for helping me, Alex." Fluttershy said with a smile.

"No problem, is there anything else you need help with or want to do?"

"We could go into town, maybe see if any pony wants to do something."

"Alright."

We walked to town but noticed Twilight walking a few feet away from us. She looked annoyed while she was carrying a bag of something. We walked over to her to see what was happening.

"Hey, Twilight." I called.

"Hm?" She looked towards me. "Oh, hey Alex…"

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

She sighed. "I guess… Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash replaced my ink with invisible ink and I HAD to go get more… they even messed up my experiment…"

"I'm sorry Twilight… they even tried to prank Fluttershy, but for some reason, they didn't do anything…"

We continued walking with Twilight.

"I know they are doing it for laughs and fun… but some people find it annoying… like me…" Twilight said.

"You should be careful, Alex. They might be after you next." Fluttershy advised me.

I shrugged.

We stopped by Twilight's home. She invited us in. We saw Spike reading quietly in the corner.

"I was trying to study, taking notes of my experiment…" Twilight began talking as she placed the new ink near her paper and pen. "If they mess up my studies one more time—

"TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT!" Pinkie Pie barged in, screaming her name.

"Pinkie Pie! NOT NOW! I'm totally not in the mood for a prank!" Twilight replied.

"No! No! I promise I'm not pranking you!"

Twilight sighed and opened a book, which she began reading.

"Rainbow Dash has this griffon friend and she's being a REALLY BIG MEANIE!"

"Pinkie Pie, are you sure that this friend of Rainbow Dash is really so mean?" Twilight asked as she continued reading, flipping the pages with her magic.

"Um, YEAH! She keeps stealing Rainbow Dash away, she pops my balloons, and she told me to buzz off! I've never met a griffon this mean! Well, actually, I've never met a griffon at all, but I bet if I had, she wouldn't have been as mean and grumpy as Gilda!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"You know what I think, Pinkie Pie?"

"Hmm?"

"Well, I think... you're jealous."

"JEALOUS?"

"Green with envy." Spike added, who was listening on to the conversation. "Well, in your case, pink with envy."

"Well, yes. Jealous." Twilight continued. She stopped reading the book. "Listen, Pinkie, I don't want to upset you, but just because Rainbow Dash has another friend doesn't make Gilda a grump. I mean, perhaps it's you, Pinkie, who needs to improve her attitude."

"Improve MY attitude? But I... D... B.. Th... " Pinkie Pie continued stuttering. "Gilda's a... D... Are you seri..." She screamed with frustration.

She left and slammed the door behind her.

"Wow…" I finally said. "I've never seen Pinkie Pie so upset…"

"Well Pinkie Pie was having so much fun with Rainbow Dash, she probably just got really jealous when she saw Rainbow Dash with her other friend."

"Maybe…" I added.

"Oh!" Fluttershy suddenly exclaimed. "I just remembered that I have to help some baby duckies walk through town… do you mind if you help me, Alex?"

"Not at all, let's go." I replied to Fluttershy. I told Twilight farewell and walked with Fluttershy.

We went to a pond where a mother duck and her babies were swimming along the water. Fluttershy sweetly called them to follow her. We continued to escort them through town. We reached the part where several ponies were running stands, buying fruits, or hanging around the café.

"Alright little ones, this way, this way." Fluttershy softly spoke to the ducks. "Mama duck, you're free and clear."

However, she bumped into some strange creature I had never seen before.

"HEY!" The creature exclaimed.

"Please, excuse me." Fluttershy politely asked.

"I'M WALKIN' HERE!" The creature yelled now.

Her attitude and choice of words angered me…

"Oh, um, I'm sorry. A-a-I was just trying to..." Fluttershy tried to apologize, slowly backing away.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." The creature mocked Fluttershy. "Why don't you just watch where you're going, doofus?"

The creature began walking towards Fluttershy while Fluttershy could only back away. I immediately jumped in front of Fluttershy and prevented the creature from making any move further.

"NO! Why don't YOU watch where YOU'RE going!" I yelled at the creature.

She roared loudly as thunder, but I didn't move anywhere.

"Is that all you got?" I continued challenging the creature with my body filled with rage.

"Alex…" I could hear Fluttershy calling my name very worriedly.

"All these lame ponies are driving me buggy. I gotta bail." The creature backed off and flew away. What a coward…

I turned around to see Fluttershy begin sobbing.

"It's alright Fluttershy…" I tried to help her. "She's gone…"

She, however, continued to cry.

"C'mon." I said and took her back to Twilight's house.

When we were inside, Fluttershy was still sniffling a bit.

"What happened?" Twilight asked as she approached us.

"Some…thing… was bullying Fluttershy…" I told Twilight as I placed my front leg around Fluttershy.

"What thing?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know… some creature that had… a body of a lion… and a head of a… eagle…" I responded.

"A body of a lion… and a head of a… WAIT!" Twilight ran to her shelf and began shuffling through books.

"What is it?" I asked.

Twilight pulled out a book and began flipping through the pages. She gasped when she found the page she was looking for. "It must have been that griffon Pinkie Pie was talking about!"

"Griffon?"

"Pinkie Pie must have been telling the truth!"

"Well, what are we going to do about it?" I asked.

"I don't know…"

However, there was a knock on our door. Twilight answered it, revealing the pony to be Pinkie Pie. She invited all of us to a party. Before we could tell her what we just realized, she left as fast as lightning.

"Okay…" Twilight said. "That was weird…"

"Hey Fluttershy…" I called her as I was still trying to cheer her up. "Why don't we go to that party? Maybe that will cheer you up."

Fluttershy looked at me, still sniffling a bit. "Okay…"

Twilight, Fluttershy, and I walked over to the party Pinkie Pie was hosting.

"Welcome!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed to us.

"Pinkie Pie… What's this party for?" Twilight asked.

"Gilda!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

Twilight gasped and Fluttershy whimpered.

"Gilda? Pinkie Pie, are you crazy? She—

"Don't worry your pretty little head about mean old Gilda, your auntie Pinkie Pie has got it all taken care of!" Pinkie Pie interrupted, patting Twilight's head. She moved to the door, noticing Gilda walk in. "Gilda! I'm so honored to throw you one of my signature Pinkie Pie parties, and I really, truly, sincerely, hope you feel welcome here amongst all us pony folk."

Pinkie Pie held out her hoof. Gilda hesitated for a moment, but she reached out to grab it but was instantly shocked. Pinkie Pie laughed and so did every pony else.

"Oh Pinkie Pie, the old hoof-shake buzzer. You are a SCREAM." Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Yeah…" She chuckled nervously. "Uh, good one, Pinkie Pie…"

"Come on G, I'll introduce you to some of my other friends."

"Right behind you Dash." She replied, however, she told Pinkie Pie something that I couldn't make out.

Nonetheless, Pinkie Pie giggled at each comment she made.

"Everyone, I'd like you all to meet Gilda, a long-time, dear friend of Rainbow Dash. Let's honor her and welcome her to Ponyville." Pinkie Pie announced, even hugging Gilda.

All the ponies cheered.

"Please help yourself!" Pinkie Pie offered.

Gilda walked over to some candy on the table. "Vanilla lemon drops. Don't mind if I do." She said, beginning to chew. After a few moments, she made a sour face and released a roar of fire. "HOT!" She cried out. Pinkie Pie even roasted a marshmallow with the flames.

"G, the punch!" Pinkie Pie yelled over to Gilda.

Gilda raced over to the punch bowl. However, she had an unexpected surprise with the glass.

"Well, whaddya know, pepper in the vanilla lemon drops, and the punch served in a dribble glass!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"Ha! Priceless! Priceless!" Rainbow Dash laughed.

Gilda raced over to another drink that was prank free. She chugged the drink and gulped. "Yeah, HILARIOUS." She said, sarcastically.

"Hey G, look! Presents!" Rainbow Dash pointed to several boxes of presents lying on the table. Gilda immediately ran over to the presents, excited.

She began opening a cylinder one, but several fake snakes shot out of the can and surprised her.

Ponies laughed.

"Spittin' snakes." I heard Applejack. " Heh, somepony pulled that prank on me last month."

"Ha ha. I bet I know who THAT was." Gilda responded, sarcastic with her laughter again.

"You DO?" Pinkie Pie asked.

I didn't understand, was Pinkie Pie pulling all those pranks?

Later on with the party, Fluttershy had started directing the birds' song. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie came out, exclaiming, "Cake time everypony!"

"Hey, can I blow out the candles?" Spike excitedly asked.

"Why don't we let Gilda blow out the candles, Spike. She IS the guest of honor after all." Twilight replied to Spike.

"Exactly!" Griffon pushed over Spike and moved over to the cake.

She began enraging me again. I was about to go up to her, but Pinkie Pie placed her hoof in front of me.

Gilda took a deep breath and blew out the candles. Yet, flames appeared on the candles again. Gilda noticed this and tried to blow out the candles another time, but they turned on anyway.

Every pony began laughing. Gilda continued to try blowing out the candles but she failed every time.

"Re-lighting birthday candles, I love that prank! What a classic." Spike announced.

"Now, I wonder who could've done that!" Pinkie Pie said.

"Yeah, I wonder…" Gilda replied.

Spike literally began digging through the cake. "Mmm, who cares? This cake is amazing!" He came out on top.

"SPIKE!" Twilight scolded.

"What? It was great, try some."

I could see that Gilda was getting annoyed and angry.

"Hey G, you're not upset about some silly candles, are you?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"No way Dash, like I said, I'm down with a good prank." Gilda replied, trying to keep her cool…

"Come on then, let's have some cake." Rainbow Dash ran over to the cake.

After a moment, Applejack announced another event. "Hey y'all, it's pin the tail on the pony. Let's play!"

"Oh, my favorite game. Can I go first? Can I have the purple tail?" Rarity asked.

"Well, I am the guest of honor; I'll have the purple tail." Gilda quickly retrieved the tail. I started realizing that the whole time at the party, she was acting like a child…maybe even worse than a child. I really disliked her… just like those other ponies that acted JUST like her…

"Yeah, Gilda should definitely go first. Let's get you blindfolded!" Pinkie Pie encouraged.

"Hey what- ugh—

Spike quickly blindfolded Gilda.

"What are you doing? Rrrah."

Pinkie Pie spinned Gilda around.

"We're spinning you around and around and then you pin the tail on the pony. Now just walk straight ahead and pin the tail." Pinkie Pie directed.

"Now just walk straight ahead and pin the tail." Gilda mocked. "Heh, yeah, right. This is another prank, isn't it? I'm going this way." She turned around the exact opposite way the poster was at.

"Wait. The poster is this—Pinkie Pie tried to warn.

Gilda, finally getting her just desserts, slipped on cake icing while she was walking. She crashed in the other room and came out with the tail on her beak.

"Uh, Gilda? You pinned the tail on the wrong end." Pinkie Pie pointed out.

All the ponies laughed, causing her to finally burst into flames, figuratively. She roared in anger. "THIS is your idea of a good time? I've never met a lamer bunch of dweebs in all my life. ...and Pinkie Pie, you, you are queen lame-o with your weak little party pranks. Did you really think you can make me lose my cool? Well, Dash and I have ten times as much cool as the rest of you put together. Come on Dash, we're bailing on this pathetic scene." Rainbow Dash didn't move though. Instead she had an angry expression on her face. "COME ON, Rainbow Dash. I SAID, we're leaving."

"You know Gilda…" Rainbow Dash spoke. "I was the one who set up all those weak pranks at this party."

"WHAT?" Gilda gasped.

"OOH." Pinkie Pie said.

"So I guess I'M queen lame-o." Rainbow Dash continued.

"Come on, Dash, you're joshing me." Gilda responded, laughing weakly.

"They weren't all meant for you specifically; it was just dumb luck that you set them all off."

"I shoulda known, that dribble cup had Rainbow Dash written all over it." Pinkie Pie shared.

"No way. It was Pinkie Pie." Gilda continued to be a stubborn child, trying to act "cool". "She set up this party to trip me up, to make a fool of me."

"Me? I threw this party to improve your attitude. I thought a good party might turn that frown upside down." Pinkie Pie replied.

So is that what Pinkie Pie meant?

"And you sure didn't need any help making a fool of yourself." Rainbow Dash stood up to Gilda. "You know, this is not how I thought my OLD friend would treat my NEW friends. If being cool is all you care about, maybe you should go find some new COOL friends someplace else."

"Yeah?" Gilda stuttered. "Well you, you, you are such a, a flip-flop: cool one minute and lame the next."

I finally spoke, "There's the door Gilda, I think YOU should leave."

Gilda noticed I was the same pony she had seen earlier. She growled and suddenly lunged towards me. Before she could attack, something amazing happened. The whole area was engulfed in light, just like when we were against Nightmare Moon. However, there were no Elements of Harmony with us… unless…

Gilda was pushed back to the floor. Every pony was surprised, but a little amazed.

Gilda's eyes grew large. She shook her head and spoke. "When you all decide not to be lame anymore, gimme a call."

She immediately left afterwards. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy immediately dashed over to me and asked if I was alright.

"Yeah… I'm alright…" I responded.

"NOT cool." Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Wow, talk about a party pooper… I wonder what that flash was anyway?" Spike wondered.

Every pony began talking about how awkward the scene was and wondered, what just had happened, was all about.

"I'm sorry everypony, for bringing Gilda here." Rainbow Dash apologized. "I didn't know how rude she was, and Pinkie Pie, I'm really sorry she ruined that awesome party you put on for her."

"Hey, if you want to hang out with party poopers, that's your business." Pinkie Pie cheerfully replied.

"I'd rather hang out with you. No hard feelings?"

"No hard feelings."

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash both shocked each other when they shook hooves. They both revealed that they each had the shocker button on their hooves. Every pony began laughing. Twilight walked up to Pinkie Pie.

"Hey, Pinkie, sorry I accused you of misjudging Gilda. Looks likes I'm the one who misjudged you." Twilight apologized as well.

"It's okay Twilight, even you can't be a super smart smarty smart-pants all the time." Pinkie Pie accepted her apology. "Come on everypony, there's still a whole lotta partying to finish!"

Every pony laughed again.

Pinkie Pie continued the party, and everyone else continued to have fun. I actually didn't want to be separated from my friends… I felt like… I wanted to belong… Although, I still wasn't used to "partying" so I tried to enjoy the party, but I stood back and watched, talking to Twilight and the others while they continued to make sure I was alright.

Once the party was over, I helped Pinkie Pie and the others clean up the place.

"Boy! That was the best most funnest party ever!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "I can't wait for another one!"

Twilight smiled and looked over to Spike. "Spike?" she called.

"I'm on it." Spike delightfully followed.

"Dearest Princess Celestia," Twilight spoke. "Today I learned that it's hard to accept when somepony you like wants to spend time with somepony who's not so nice. Though it's impossible to control who your friends hang out with, it is possible to control your own behavior. Just continue to be a good friend. In the end, the difference between a false friend and one who is true will surely come to light. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

She smiled at every pony, then at me. Spike was about to send the letter, but Pinkie Pie stopped him.

"WAIT!" She exclaimed.

"What?" Spike asked.

Pinkie Pie was snickering. "Don't—Don't—Don't forget to send her some ink!"

Spike looked at the ink and shrugged. He combined the letter and the ink and sent it.

Pinkie Pie burst into tears from laughing.

"What was that all about, Pinkie Pie?" Twilight asked.

"I made Spike send her Invisible Ink!" Pinkie Pie continued to laugh.

"PINKIE!" Twilight scolded.

However, soon every pony, even Twilight, began laughing. After most of the ponies had left with a farewell, I walked outside and stared at the moon, thinking about today's adventure.

"Hi, Alex." I heard Fluttershy's soft voice beside me. I looked over at her to see her looking at me.

"Hi, Fluttershy." I responded.

She began rubbing the dirt with her hoof again and looked around while she spoke to me. "I just wanted to… thank you… for standing up for me… earlier…"

"Oh… it's alright… I can't and won't let ANYONE try to be a bully to my friends… I won't accept that."

Fluttershy giggled a little and smiled. "Well then… I guess I'll head home…"

"Okay, Good night Fluttershy."

She looked at me for a moment and suddenly embraced me. She held on for a few seconds while I could only be confused and surprised. When she pulled away, she was looking away and blushing very much. She began to gently fly back towards her home.

I sat there in awe with the same expression on my face. It left me so speechless that I didn't even know when I started to head back home…

Boast Busters

Episode 6 – Boast Busters

"Come one, come all! Come and witness the amazing magic of the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

I heard racket outside near my home, which woke me up. What's up with things outside always waking me up? I jumped off my bed and made the covers.

Walking outside the door, I noticed a huge crowd gathered around a stage. There was a light blue pony, prancing around, wearing a magician hat and a magician cape held with a jewel in the center. She had light blue hair that almost matched her skin color. Her eyes looked to be light violet.

"Watch in awe as the Great and Powerful Trixie performs the most spectacular feats of magic ever witnessed by pony eyes!" Fireworks exploded around her…

Are. You. Serious?

I had to deal with Gilda, now I have to deal with this show off?

As I grew closer to the stage, I could hear Rarity's voice. "My, my, my! What boasting!"

"Come on, no pony's as magical as Twili- Twi- Twi- Oh!" I heard Spike say, then clearing his throat. "Hey, Rarity, I, uh- Moustache!"

I tried squeezing in through the other ponies that blocking the way.

"There's nothing wrong with being talented, is there?" I heard Twilight.

"Nothin' at all, 'ceptin' when someone goes around showin' it off like a school filly with fancy new ribbons." Applejack replied.

"Just because one has the ability to perform lots of magic does NOT make one better than the rest of us." Rarity agreed.

"Especially when ya got me around being better than the rest of us." Rainbow Dash's voice said, laughing for a moment. "Eh, I mean, yeah, uh, magic shmagic. Boo!"

I had finally reached where the ponies were standing, which was at the front of the crowd and nearest to the stage.

"Alex?" Twilight noticed me.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Just some pony that thinks she is the better than the rest of us…" Rarity responded.

I looked over at Trixie, who overheard our conversation.

"Well, well, well, it seems we have some NIEGH sayers in the audience. Who is so IGNORANT as to challenge the magical ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie? Do they not know that they're in the presence of the most magical unicorn in all of Equestria?"

Rarity blew a raspberry. "Just who does she think she is?"

"Yeah!" Spike barged in. "Since we all know that Twilight here is—

"Spike! Shhh!" Twilight tried to silence Spike, taking him to somewhere they could talk in private.

"What makes YOU think you're so special?" I interrupted her boasting.

"You dare challenge me, you pathetic average pony?" Trixie replied to my comment, using her magic to pick me up by the tail, dragging me upside-down towards her, facing her. "You do remember, as I said, I am the MOST MAGICAL unicorn in ALL of Equestria!"

I could hear Applejack behind me say, "Hey! Let him go!"

"Most magical?" I replied. "More like an ignorant show off who thinks she always has to be the center of attention."

I could hear Rainbow Dash and the others laugh after I had told her.

"Why, you!" Trixie steamed. She then used her magic to lift me up and fire me away from her. I was flying further from her, but before I could hit the ground, Rainbow Dash had caught up to me and caught me before I could get hurt.

"Gotcha." Rainbow Dash said, smiling.

"Thanks…" I responded.

She took me back to where I was previously and flew up to Trixie's face.

"Hey! What makes you think you can do that to my friend? Afraid of the truth?" Rainbow Dash questioned.

Trixie laughed. "The truth? It is just a mere sign of jealousy of a common fool!"

I started to go back to tell off Trixie, but Applejack held me back.

"Easy there..." Applejack restrained.

"So, Great and Powerful Trixie, what makes you think you're so awesome, anyway?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Heh, why, only the Great and Powerful Trixie has magic strong enough to VANQUISH THE DREADED URSA MAJOR!"

Fanfare and fireworks followed.

Her audience gasped at her "amazement".

"When all hope was lost, the ponies of Hoofington had no one to turn to, but the Great and Powerful Trixie stepped in, and with her awesome magic vanquished the Ursa Major and sent it back to its cave deep within the Everfree Forest!"

"Trixie truly is the most talented, the most magical, the most awesome unicorn in Ponyville." A kid walked up to the stage, encouraging her boasting.

"No, in all of Equestria!" Another one added, increasing the encouragement.

"How do you know? You didn't see it! And besides, Twi—Twilight zipped Spike's mouth shut, literally with her magic. "Mmph! M-mmph!" Spike continued to try to disprove her bragging. I could feel how angry he was getting from Trixie's boasting.

Trixie laughed, "It's true, my enthusiastic little admirers. Trixie is most certainly the best in Ponyville."

There was silence and crickets.

"Don't believe the Great and Powerful Trixie?" She laughed. "Well then, I hereby challenge you, Ponyvillians - anything you can do, I can do better. Any takers? Anyone? Or is Trixie destined to be the greatest equine who has ever lived!"

Fireworks and fanfare followed again.

Spike unzipped himself and begged Twilight, "Please! She's unbearable! Ya gotta show her! Ya just gotta!"

Twilight began whispering to Spike, but she was interrupted by Trixie.

"Hmm, how about - YOU!" She pointed at Twilight. "Well, how about it? Hm? Is there anything you can do that the Great and Powerful Trixie can't?"

"I- I—Twilight stuttered.

"Well, little hayseed?" Trixie pursued.

"That's it! I can't stand for no more of this!" Applejack finally broke.

"You show her, AJ!" Spike encouraged.

"Can your magical powers do THIS?" Applejack began using a lasso to do a few tricks and then tossing it to grab an apple off the tree and bringing it back to her mouth to eat it. Every pony cheered. "Top that, missy."

"Oh ye of little talent. Watch and be amazed at the magic of Trixie!" Trixie began her turn, revealing the horn under her hat. She used her magic to grab the rope Applejack had used and hypnotize her with its Snake-like movements. She used the other end of the rope to grab an apple from a nearby tree. With the snake end, she tied Applejack's legs and placed the apple in her mouth. The audience laughed and cheered.

"Once again, the Great and Powerful Trixie prevails." Trixie announced as I rushed over to help Applejack, untying the rope and getting rid of the apple in her mouth.

"Thanks…" She sighed and gave Trixie a mean stare.

"There's no need to go struttin' around and showin' off like that." Rainbow Dash challenged.

"Oh?" Trixie replied, intrigued by Rainbow Dash's comment.

"That's MY job!" Rainbow Dash immediately flew through a windmill, shot upwards like a rocket through clouds, puncturing them. She stopped in front of the sun and then dashed downwards through the punctured clouds, repeating her pathway. When she arrived back at the stage, a rainbow emerged on top of her from the water droplets she had carried.

"They don't call me 'Rainbow' and 'Dash' for nothin'!" Rainbow Dash said.

The crowd cheered.

"When Trixie is through, the only thing they'll call you is loser." Trixie replied. She used her magic to use the rainbow Rainbow Dash made and wrap it around her. She spinned the rainbow, causing Rainbow Dash to form a tornado for a few seconds until she stopped outside the stage, dazed.

"Seems like any pony with a DASH of good sense would think twice before tussling with the Great Trixie."

Applejack had helped Rainbow Dash up. However, she formed a dark cloud and caused lightning to strike Rainbow Dash.

"OW!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

Every pony laughed.

"What we need is another unicorn to challenge her. Someone with some magic of her own." I heard Spike from behind me.

"Yeah! A unicorn to show THIS unicorn who's boss." Rainbow Dash agreed.

"A real unicorn to unicorn tussle." Applejack added.

"Uh..." Twilight hesitated.

"Enough. Enough, all of you." Rarity exclaimed. " I take your hint, but Rarity is above such nonsense. Rainbow Dash and Applejack may behave like ruffians, but Rarity conducts herself with beauty and grace."

"Ooo, what's the matter? Afraid you'll get a hair out of place in that rat's nest you call a mane?" Trixie insulted Rarity.

"Oh, it. Is. On! You may think you're tough with all your so-called powers, but there's more to magic than your brutish ways. A unicorn needs to be more than just muscle. A unicorn needs to have style." Rarity used her magic to grab the curtain Trixie was using and create an instant dress for herself. "A unicorn is not a unicorn without grace and beauty." Rarity said as the audience gave "Ooh"s.

However, Trixie began using her magic as Spike backed up Rarity. "Rarity won't let Trixie get the best of her! She's strong, she's beautiful, she's—

Trixie had changed Rarity, causing the audience to gasp.

"QUICK! I NEED A MIRROR! GET ME A MIRROR! What did she do to my hair? I know she did something terrible to my hair!" Rarity squealed.

Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack tried to prevent Rarity from freaking out.

"Nothing."

"It's fine."

"It's gorgeous."

Spike ruined the chain. "It's green…" Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack looked over to Spike. "What?" He asked.

"No. Green hair! Not green hair!" She cried. Her hair was indeed changed to a green color, that which looked as if it actually had been turned to grass. "Such an awful, awful color!" She continued crying, running away.

A pony she passed, who had green hair, exclaimed, "Well, I never!"

"Well, Twilight, guess it's up to you." Spike insisted. "Come on, show her what you're made of."

Trixie blew on her hoof and rubbed it against her front leg.

"What do you mean? I'm nothing special." Twilight replied.

"Yes, you are! You're better than her!"

"I'm not better than anyone."

"Hah! You think you're better than the Great and Powerful Trixie? You think you have more magical talent? Well, come on, show Trixie what you've got. Show us all." Trixie provoked.

"Who, me? I'm just your run of the mill citizen of Ponyville. No powerful magic here. I, uh... I think I hear my laundry calling. Sorry, gotta go." Twilight declined and ran off. She seriously didn't want to prove her skills…

"Twilight?" Spike called.

"Ha! Once again, the Great and Powerful Trixie has proven herself to be the most amazing unicorn in all of Equestria. Was there ever any doubt?"

"Trixie!" I called her.

She did not turn, but looked over her shoulder instead.

"You think you're so great? Why don't you bring a REAL Ursa Major and defeat it for us?" I said.

Every pony, especially spike, began to agree with me. I could see Trixie get a little nervous, but she kept her cool and replied. "Nonsense! As much as I'd love to show every one of you ponies my true skill in magic, it would be MUCH too dangerous to bring an Ursa Major to town or near it. Of course, a fool like you would make that mistake."

"Just you wait!" I shouted as she continued to walk. "Your fifteen minutes of fame won't last! Someone with true skill will stand out!" She acted like she ignored me, but I knew she was listening…

After the crowd had died, I walked over to Twilight's house. I knocked on the front door and waited a few seconds.

"Oh… hey Alex." Twilight said as she opened the door.

"Can we talk?" I asked.

"Um…sure."

She invited me in. She seemed like she was reading a book when I came over.

"What did you want to talk about?" She asked.

"…What was up with you and Trixie? You acted like you had no special talent when you really did. Why were you hiding it?"

She sighed and walked over to her book. "Didn't you see how they hated Trixie's bragging, Alex? Especially you. If I go out there and show off my magic, I run the risk of losing them as friends."

"But that's different, Twilight. She was showing off her magic to gain the attention of a crowd. If you used your magic to shut her up, that would be just sticking up for your friends…" I kind of learned that from what Fluttershy had told me…

"It's not different, Alex. I would still be showing off."

"Twilight… trust me… you wouldn't be showing off… I know braggers… and they are completely different from you. You're good, Twilight. If you just show her some magic, I'm sure that would make her leave Ponyville…even though she'll probably just go somewhere else and repeat the process again…"

"Alex…" She sighed. "I don't know… I mean… you do make a point… but…ugh… I just don't know. I'm sorry. I need some time to think about this…"

"Alright…" I turned around to walk out the front door. I took one last glance at Twilight. She was sitting, reading the book. She turned the pages with her magic quietly. However… her silence said a thousand words…

I spent some time walking around town. I had noticed ponies go up to Trixie, eager to see her powers. However, she always refused to, making excuses for each time. How odd… I know she's not the pony that everyone thinks she is…I KNOW she's hiding something…

I sighed.

Night began to fall. Maybe I should go tell Twilight that it's okay if she doesn't want to do anything. I felt like I put too much pressure on her…

I began walking towards Twilight's house, but all of a sudden, I heard a loud roar. After, the ground began shaking. More loud roars boomed, making ponies all over town come out of their homes. All the ponies gasped. I looked up to see a humongous blue transparent creature climb on top of a home and smash it to pieces. All the ponies gathered in a group and ran towards where I was like a stampede. I tried to move out of the way, but they had prevented that. They all ran through, covering my eyesight with the dirt they spewed up with their hooves stomping on the ground.

"ALEX!" I heard a voice call my name, but I could barely distinguish who it was from all the noise the other ponies made. Suddenly, I was pulled out of the crowd and over to somewhere clear. It was Twilight! She had used her magic to pull me out of the stampede.

"Twilight!" I called her name.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine but—

"Twilight, look!" Spike pointed.

We both ran to the area, seeing the two kids earlier from Trixie's performance.

"What's going on?" Twilight asked.

"We brought an ursa to town." One of them replied.

"You WHAT?" Twilight exclaimed.

"Don't worry, the Great and Powerful Trixie will vanquish it."

"I can't…" Trixie finally admitted.

"WHAT?" The two kids shouted.

"Uh, I can't, I never have. No one can vanquish an Ursa Major. I just made the whole story up to make me look better."

"Made it up!"

The ursa growled. We turned around to see it right behind us. It let out terrible and ferocious roar. Spike tapped Twilight with his elbow and motioned for her to use her magic against it. Twilight gulped. She walked over to the ursa as the ursa stomped over to her. I couldn't let Twilight face that thing alone… but I didn't want to distract her… She began using her magic, which caused a gentle breeze to flow by. Due to the wind, a soft lullaby played. The ursa noticed this and changed its expression to a soothed one. Wait… Twilight must know what she's doing!

"Nice use of number sixteen." Spike announced.

Twilight then grabbed a water tower. She dumped the water inside and ran the empty tower through a barn filled with cows. When the tower came out, it was filled with milk.

"That's new." Spike also announced.

She screwed the top back on. The ursa was beginning to doze off. It almost fell on Trixie, but Twilight stopped it and instead carried it over to the bottle, which he began sucking on as a baby…

Every pony came out to observe. I could see that Twilight was using a lot of strength to carry that ursa back where it came from… Twilight finally finished. She was panting as every pony was cheering for her.

"Heavens to Betsy!" Applejack exclaimed. "We knew you had ability, but not that much!"

"I'm sorry." Twilight immediately replied. "Please, please don't hate me."

"Hate you?" Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack exclaimed.

"Why, whatever do you mean, darling?" Rarity asked.

"Well, I know how much you all hated Trixie's showing off with her magic tricks, and I just thought—

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Rainbow Dash cut off Twilight. "Magic's got nothing to do with it. Trixie's just a loudmouth."

"MOST unpleasant." Rarity added.

"All hat and no cattle." Applejack finished.

"So - you don't mind my magic tricks?" Twilight asked.

"Your magic is a part of who you are, sugar cube, and we like who you are. We're proud to have such a powerful, talented unicorn as our friend." Applejack explained. I nodded towards what she said.

"And after whuppin' that ursa's hind quarters, we're even prouder." Rainbow Dash encouraged.

"You are?"

The ponies agreed.

"Uh-huh."

"Mm-hmm."

"Wow, Twilight, how'd you know what to do with that Ursa Major?" Spike wondered.

"That's what I was doing when Alex came over to check up on me. I was so intrigued by Trixie's bragging that I was compelled to do a little reading up on them."

"So it IS possible to vanquish an Ursa Major all by yourself?"

"That wasn't an Ursa Major, that was a baby, an Ursa MINOR."

"THAT was just a BABY?" Trixie immediately questioned.

"And it wasn't rampaging; it was just cranky because SOMEONE woke it up." Twilight explained, directing the blame on the kids.

Every pony stared angrily at them.

"Well, if THAT was an Ursa Minor, then what's an Ursa Major like?" Spike asked.

"You don't wanna know." Twilight responded after thinking for a moment.

"Huh." Trixie walked over to Twilight. "You may have vanquished an Ursa Minor, but you will never have the amazing, show-stopping ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie!" She popped out a screen of smoke, but once the smoke disappeared, every pony could see her retreating.

"Why that little..." Rainbow Dash began to fly towards Trixie, but Twilight stopped her.

"Just let her go. Maybe someday she'll learn her lesson. Now, about you two." Twilight noticed the two kids trying to sneak out.

The small one laughed nervously. "Uh we're sorry that we woke up the Ursa Minor."

The tall one spoke, "We just wanted to see some AWESOME MAGIC."

"Yeah! And the way you vanquished that Ursa Minor was AWESOME!"

Twilight looked at them, seriously.

They bowed down before her and spoke sulkily. "We deserve whatever punishment you give us."

"For starters, you can clean up this mess." She looked over at the broken stage where Trixie performed. " And..." She looked at Spike. "What do you think, Spike? Should I give them number twenty five?"

"Oh, twenty five! Yes! And I think I deserve it, too." Spike agreed.

The kids wondered what they were talking about. I had no idea what it was either…

"I think you're right." Twilight casted her magic.

The two kids were frightened, trembling at what their second punishment was going to be. However, Spike held out his face for some reason. Once, Twilight finished her spell, the three of them had mustaches on their face.

"SWEET!" The three of them exclaimed.

Twilight turned to me. "I guess I should have listened to you Alex…"

"It's alright… Applejack's right; you shouldn't be afraid of your talents. Just don't use them for the wrong reasons like Trixie."

Twilight smiled. "Well, another lesson learned. C'mon Alex, I want you to hear my letter."

Despite how late it was, I followed her.

When we were inside her home, she walked over to her table that contained a stack of books. Using her magic, she grabbed an empty scroll and placed it over the books. She grabbed her pen and dipped it in ink. I sat down as I began to listen to her letter.

"Dear Princess Celestia, I have learned a very valuable lesson about friendship: I was so afraid of being thought of as a showoff, that I was hiding a part of who I am. My friends helped me realize that it's okay to be proud of your talents, and there are times when it's appropriate to show them off... Especially when you're standing up for your friends."

Her speech gave me a kind of… heartwarming feeling, as if I had learned something too…

"So, you finally admit that you're the most talented unicorn in all of Ponyville?" Spike had stepped in with his mustache.

"Well… yeah, but it's nothing to brag about. So, uh, how did it go with Rarity?" Twilight replied.

"Ah, she didn't go for the mustache…" Spike responded, disappointed.

"You know, Spike, that mustache has nothing to do with who you really are. Maybe you should just try being yourself."

"Or... Maybe the mustache wasn't enough. Maybe if I had a mustache AND a beard!"

"Uh, not this again!" Twilight sighed.

"Okay, imagine me with a nice, long, Fu Manchu type beard. Or maybe a goatee. Oh, no—

"Spike, just go to bed!" Twilight exclaimed, annoyed.

Luckily, he had already fallen asleep, snoring soundly.

"Well…" I spoke. "I better get home, I'll see you later."

"Bye, Alex." Twilight replied as she began to pick Spike up and take him to bed.

I left the house and started home. As I walked, I thought about today. I didn't see Fluttershy at all today… it makes me kind of sad… I hope she's alright… I'll go check up on her tomorrow. I arrived at my home a little saddened from my thoughts.

I crept through my bed and lay my head on my pillow. As I tossed and turned, I could only think about Fluttershy...

Dragonshy

Episode 7 – Dragonshy

I couldn't sleep well last night, so I didn't stay asleep as long as I usually did. I woke up in the morning, feeling a bit sleepily. I walked over to the bathroom and took a quick shower. After waking up a bit, I raced over to Fluttershy's.

I really want to see her.

However, I couldn't help but notice that the sky seemed darker than usual. I shook my head and answered it with a guess. It was probably just the morning sky… I continued to gallop.

When I reached Fluttershy's home, I was so relieved to see her feeding a bunny who was inside a small little home that contained a cardboard carrot on top.

"Not too fast, now, Angel bunny." Fluttershy spoke. "You don't wanna get a tummy ache." The bunny suddenly stopped eating and dropped the carrot. It crossed its arms and looked away with its eyes closed. Fluttershy giggled. "You really should eat more than that. Don't you think?" The bunny hopped out of the home. "It's not play time yet." Fluttershy began flying to catch up to the bunny. "I know you want to run, but... just three more bites." The bunny shook its head. "Two more bites?" The bunny shook its head again. Fluttershy moved the carrot closer to the bunny. "One more bite? Pretty please?" The bunny kicked the carrot and hopped off, causing Fluttershy to sigh.

"Hey Fluttershy." I walked up to her.

Her mouth formed a smiled and she raised her head. "Hi, Alex!"

"I didn't see you yesterday. Everything okay?" I asked.

"Yes, everything is alright. I'm sorry. I didn't go to town because I was too busy taking care of my animals."

"It's alright."

"Why? Did I miss anything important?"

I thought about yesterday's long and bizarre adventure. "Yeah… you could say that…"

"You need to tell me everything that happened!" Fluttershy exclaimed, excited.

"Alright… maybe later on today?"

Fluttershy smiled with her eyes closed. Her bunny suddenly coughed. She raced over to him.

"Oh. Oh, goodness. Are you okay?"

The bunny continued to cough.

"Are you coughing because there's a carrot stuck in your throat?"

The bunny replied with more coughs. I looked at where the bunny was looking.

"Because you need some water?" Fluttershy continued to ask.

The bunny emphasized his cough.

"Fluttershy… I think he's talking…" I pointed. "…about that."

Fluttershy observed to where I pointed. There was a huge mountain with a large trail of smoke pouring from it. The smoke was heading over to Ponyville…

Fluttershy gasped. "Because of that giant cloud of scary black smoke?" The bunny tossed a carrot at Fluttershy. "I'll take that as a... yes."

"We should warn the town." I suggested to Fluttershy.

"Of course! Let's go!"

Fluttershy and I ran across town, starting off at the park.

"Help. Help! Please?" Fluttershy tried to shout, but her voice was too soft for anyone to hear or take serious. "Help? There's- there's a horrible cloud of smoke. It's headed this way and- aaa!" A ball had flashed over her, along with a rainbow as well.

"Fluttershy, are you okay?" I asked.

She nodded, a little frightened.

"Don't be such a scaredy-pony." It was Rainbow Dash. She was bouncing a ball on her head as she talked. "It's just me. Future Equestria ball-bouncing record holder. Two forty six, two forty seven..."

Pinkie Pie had been observing and shouted. "This calls for a celebration!"

"No, Pinkie Pie, this is NO time for celebrations." Fluttershy responded. "This is a time for panic, for—

"Ooo! I'm going to need balloons! One for every pony in Ponyville!" Pinkie Pie interrupted.

Fluttershy followed her, trying to warn her. "There's- there's smoke. And- and where there's smoke, there's fire. And—

"Let's see, that's one, two, three, four..." Pinkie Pie continued to talk, ignoring Fluttershy.

"Two hundred fifty four..." came from Rainbow Dash.

"Five, six..." Pinkie Pie talked over Rainbow Dash's counting.

"Two hundred fifty five no wait…" Rainbow Dash lost count.

"Seven!" Pinkie Pie poked Rainbow Dash.

"Pinkie Pie! Now I have to start over." Rainbow Dash replied, annoyed.

"We're all going to have to start over." Fluttershy continued to warn. " In a new village. Because ours is gonna be—

Regardless, Rainbow Dash flew off with Pinkie Pie trailing behind her.

"Oh, please, this is an emergency. I-I need every pony to—

Annoyed with Fluttershy being ignored, I was about to shout out the warning, but somepony had beaten me to it.

"Listen up! Smoke is spreading over all of Equestria." Twilight yelled.

All the ponies finally began exclaiming and panicking.

"That's what I've been trying to—

Fluttershy tried to talk…

"But don't worry…" Twilight continued. "I've just received a letter from Princess Celestia informing me that it's not coming from a fire."

"Oh, thank goodness." Fluttershy was relieved.

"It's coming from a dragon." Twilight broke.

Every pony gasped, especially Fluttershy.

"A... d-dragon?"

Twilight spotted us and ran over.

"Fluttershy. Alex. I need you guys to come with me!"

Fluttershy and I looked at each other. Twilight began galloping back into town. We followed her all the way to her home.

When we were inside her home, we noticed Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash while Twilight was flipping hastily through a book.

"What in the name of all things cinnamon swirled is a full-grown dragon doing here in Equestria?" Applejack asked.

"Sleeping." Twilight answered briefly.

"Huh?" The rest of the girls asked.

"According to Princess Celestia, he's taking a nap. His snoring is what's causing all this smoke." Twilight explained as she was finishing packing books into a saddle.

"He should really see a doctor!" Pinkie Pie shared. "That doesn't sound healthy at all!"

"Well…" Rarity replied. "At least he's not snoring fire! What are WE meant to do about it?"

"I'll tell you what we're meant to do!" Rainbow Dash announced, flying mid-air. "Give him the boot. Take that!" She kicked a small statue Twilight had. Twilight used her magic to keep it from falling. "And that!" Rainbow Dash flew towards the statue again, but Twilight lifted it up, causing Rainbow Dash to miss and crash into a pile of books.

"We need to ENCOURAGE him to take a nap somewhere else." Twilight made her point. "Princess Celestia has given us this mission, and we must not fail. If we do, Equestria will be covered in smoke for the next one hundred years."

Fluttershy gasped.

"Talk about getting your BEAUTY sleep. Rarity added.

"All right, every pony." Twilight began. "I need you to gather supplies quickly. We've got a long journey ahead of us. Let's meet back here in less than an hour." Twilight placed the saddle she finished on her back.

"Okay, girls, you heard her. The fate of Equestria is in our hooves. Do we have what it takes?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity agreed cheerfully as all of them raced out the door.

"Um, actually..." Fluttershy said.

I walked up to her. "Fluttershy, are you okay?"

She looked at me and motioned for me to walk along side her. When we reached far enough from the house, she spoke softly to me. "I'm scared…"

"Why don't you stay here…?" I asked.

She thought for a moment. "Twilight might need me…"

I couldn't argue about that…

"Alex, aren't you going to get your stuff?" She asked.

"I don't think so. There's not much stuff that I could use on this 'mission'."

"Oh…"

When we arrived at her house, I waited outside for her to grab the things she needed. When she came out, she was wearing a pony football helmet, a hard leather vest, and floaters. The door behind her shut and she shrieked, frightened by the noise.

"It was just the door, Fluttershy." I told her.

"Oh… sorry…" She apologized.

"Why are you wearing that much stuff?" I asked.

"You never know what could happen…"

I began taking off the football helmet. "Trust me, you're going to be fine, Fluttershy."

"Are you sure…?"

"Yes." I finished taking off the rest of her gear. "Besides if you wore that much, it would most likely weigh you down too much so you wouldn't be able to fly."

"I guess so…"

"Come on, we should get going."

"Umm… let's… not?" Fluttershy hesitated. She then let out a whine.

I faced her and looked into her eyes. "It'll be fine… I'll be with you to take care of you…"

She stared at my eyes and then looked away, blushing. "Okay… I trust you…"

We had regrouped with Twilight back in town. She had us line up in attention as she briefed us on the mission.

"All right, ponies, listen up. I'm mapping out the fastest route, but we've all got to keep a good pace if we expect to make it up the mountain by nightfall." Twilight announced.

Fluttershy looked at Twilight and stuttered. "M-m-mountain?"

"The dragon is in that cave at the very top." Twilight pointed.

"Looks pretty cold up there." Applejack commented.

"You bet it is. The higher you go, the chillier it gets." Rainbow Dash explained.

"Good thing I brought my scarf." Rarity added. She unpacked a pink scarf.

"Ooo!" Pinkie Pie observed Rarity's scarf. "Pretty!"

"A-heh, oh yeah. THAT'LL keep you nice and cozy." Rainbow Dash responded, satirically.

I noticed Fluttershy continue to stare at the mountain in horror. She gulped and walked over to Twilight, who was observing a map.

"Um, excuse me, Twilight? I know you're busy, but..."

"Uh-huh. Well, we could go this way." Twilight replied, not noticing Fluttershy.

"But if I could just have a second..."

"Uh-huh. No, we want to avoid that."

"So, um, I was thinking that, um, maybe I should just stay here in Ponyville."

"Uh-huh." Twilight still hadn't noticed.

"Oh! Good. I'll stay here and—

"Wait!" Twilight finally realized what was going on. "You HAVE to come! Your way with wild animals will surely come in handy."

"I don't think I—

"Oh, and don't worry about your little friends in the meadow. Spike's got it covered while you're gone."

Spike came over with little animals on his arms and head. "You can count on me!" The bunny kicked his head and every creature ran off. "Oooh! Hey! Hey! Wait!" Spike exclaimed as he ran after them.

"I don't really think he's up to the task. Maybe... But... But..." Fluttershy slipped out another whine as she noticed Twilight had walked away, ignoring her pleads.

I walked over to Fluttershy as she lowered her head and stared at the ground. I placed my front right hoof on her and tried to comfort her.

"I'm sorry Alex…" She said with closed eyes. She opened them and noticed her shadow. She screamed and jumped in a bush.

"Fluttershy, it's okay. It's just your shadow."

She poked her head out and looked at me. "I'm so sorry, Alex… I'm just going to slow all everypony down."

"You'll do fine, Fluttershy. I—

"All right, ponies, move out!"

Fluttershy noticed the girls moving straight towards her. "But... but...!" They took her along with them. I ran after them as Fluttershy screamed.

When they finally stopped in front of the mountain, the dragon let out a loud snore, causing Fluttershy to gasp and hide behind Applejack.

"Whoa. What was that?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"That is what it sounds like when a dragon snores." Twilight answered.

"It- it's so... high!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

"Well, it IS a mountain. I'm going to fly up there and check it out!" Rainbow Dash was getting a head start in flying to the top, but Applejack grabbed her tail with her teeth and prevented her from going.

"Hold on, now. I think we should all go up together. Safety in numbers an all." Applejack reasoned.

"Oh, all right…" Rainbow Dash said, grumpy.

We began walking up the mountain.

"I hear the only thing that sparkles more than the dragon's scales are the jewels they use to build their nests. Ooo, if I play my cards right, I might be able to convince him to part with a few!" I heard Rarity say above me.

"Welcome to my cave, Rarity." Pinkie Pie imitated the dragon. "Care for a diamond?" She let out a roar, making the ponies laugh.

Twilight continued onward. "Girls, this is no laughing matter!" She scolded. "Fluttershy, you're the expert on wild creatures. What do YOU think the dragon will be like?" There was no response. "Fluttershy?" The girls and I looked back. We could see Fluttershy hiding at the bottom.

"Hey! What are you waiting for? An invitation?" Rainbow Dash called.

"Ooo, I think I have one in my bag!" Pinkie Pie literally grabbed an invitation along with pop whistles.

"I-it's so... so... steep." Fluttershy whimpered.

"Well, it IS a cliff. You could just, I don't know, FLY up here?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Rainbow Dash… do you think you could be a little more sensitive?" I asked.

She seemed to ignore my comment.

"Come on, Fluttershy, you can do it. Flap those wings!" Pinkie Pie encouraged.

"Oh... okay." She began flapping her wings. She managed to begin flying. However, the dragon let out another loud snore, causing Fluttershy to whine in fear. Her wings failed and she fell straight onto another bush.

"Fluttershy!" I called and ran after her.

"Augh." I could her Rainbow Dash groan behind me.

I reached up to Fluttershy to make sure she was okay. "Fluttershy, are you alright?" I asked, observing if she had any cuts or bruises.

"Yes… but—

Fluttershy let out soft grunts as she tried to open her wings again.

I could hear Twilight above me. "Uh, we don't have time for this!" Applejack grabbed her map and observed it on a nearby rock. "What are you doing?"

"I'll need this if I'm going to take her around the mountain another way." Applejack replied.

Rainbow Dash groaned. "AROUND the mountain? That's going to take them forever!"

Applejack skidded down toward us. The dragon snored again, causing Fluttershy to fall to the floor, paralyzed. "Don't worry, Twilight. We'll be there lickety-split."

Twilight sighed and continued on.

Applejack walked over to Fluttershy and asked if she was alright. Fluttershy didn't respond but remained paralyzed.

Applejack sighed. "So… what are we gonna do?" She asked me.

"Why don't you let me carry her?" I asked.

"You sure you can?"

"Yeah… just not climbing up the mountain… that would be nearly impossible. We have to go your way. Just stay be me and make sure Fluttershy doesn't slip off."

"Alright…" Applejack helped pick up Fluttershy and place her on my back. "Ready?" She asked.

"Yeah…" I could feel the weight of Fluttershy. "Ready…"

Applejack walked and directed me the path we were taking. I carried Fluttershy all the way to see Twilight and the others waiting for us, bored. Applejack helped me place Fluttershy on the ground. In a moment, she finally regained herself and stood up.

"What…happened..?" She asked.

"Alex had to carry you all the way to the top." Applejack responded.

Fluttershy looked at me, and then blushed, looking away. "Oh… sorry…"

Rainbow Dash interrupted. "COME ON! WE DON'T HAVE ALL DAY!"

We all began walking further into the mountain while I stayed by Fluttershy. We came to a point where we would have to jump across to another part of the mountain. The others jumped across, leaving me and Fluttershy to be the last ones.

"It's just a small jump, Fluttershy." I said. I ran and jumped across, showing her. "See?" I yelled. "You can do it!"

"Your turn, Fluttershy!" Twilight said.

"But... it's so... wide…" Fluttershy trembled, holding a rock.

"Come on, Fluttershy, we should be much farther along by now." Twilight tried to reason.

"You could just leap on over." Applejack encouraged.

Fluttershy looked at the height. "I—

The dragon snored loudly, making Fluttershy back off and tremble more.

"I don't know…"

Twilight and Applejack shook their heads."There's nothing to be afraid of!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "It's just a hop, skip and a jump. See?" Pinkie Pie jumped across to where Fluttershy was and began singing. "It's not very far. Just move your little rump. You can make it if you try with a hop, skip and jump!"

"We don't have time for this!" Twilight repeated.

"A hop, skip and jump. Just move your little rump. A hop, skip and jump. A hop, skip and jump A hop, skip and jump. A hop skip and jump, A hop skip and jump!"

Pinkie Pie continued singing, attempting to encourage Fluttershy to jump by continuously jumping over many times.

"O-okay. Here I go. A hop." Fluttershy hopped.

Applejack, Twilight, and Rarity encouraged her.

"That's it."

"You've got it."

"Almost there."

"A skip." Fluttershy skipped, beginning to come to us.

"Just don't look down." Twilight added.

However, most of the time when you say DON'T LOOK DOWN, you end up DO LOOKING DOWN.

When Fluttershy was in mid-air, she looked down. She whined, but her front legs caught on the other end of the jump."

"Ugh." Rainbow Dash groaned.

I walked over to Fluttershy and grabbed her front hooves, pulling her across.

"I guess I forgot to jump." Fluttershy said, releasing a smile.

Twilight warned us about the area we reached next.

"Let's keep it down. According to my map, we're entering an avalanche zone. The smallest peep could cause a huge rockslide." Twilight whispered.

"An... an ava... ava..." Fluttershy grew terrified.

"Shh!" Twilight shushed.

Every pony began walking softly along the dangerous area. Rainbow Dash had been flying low, but she pushed through a tree branch, which caused a couple of leaves to fall. These leaves landed on Fluttershy.

"AVALA-!" She immediately screamed, however Applejack placed her hoof on Fluttershy's mouth, preventing her to finish her sentence.

After a few seconds, everyone sighed.

On the other hand, a rumble commenced shortly afterwards. Rocks began tumbling down straight towards us. All the ponies cried out Avalanche. I tried to dodge the rocks coming straight towards me. I barely escaped, alive. However, I saw Fluttershy shaking terribly when a boulder was about to plunge down on her.

"Fluttershy!" I rushed over to her and push her out of the way. However, the only things I can see now are many rocks… and I feel rolling motion on my body… now… everything is black.

"Alex!" I could hear very faintly. "Alex!"

"Alex, where are you…? Alex!"

I could feel that my eyes were open… but why was everything black?

I felt weight on me, separated by little pieces. However, it was a little hard to breathe. It felt as if I was losing air by the second… I tried squirming around but I didn't even know if it had any effect. What do I do?

"Maybe he's already at the top…"

"No! He's not! Something must have happened to him during the Avalanche!"

I continued to hear my name being called, along with voices… but too faint to distinguish whose it was.

"Keep searching!"

I tried kicking in front of me with my back leg. I kind of felt a hole open up where I kicked… like a dent… but if I continue to kick, I'll waste energy. And if I don't make any progress and waste all my energy, I'll be done for… but if I save my energy and hope that help finds me, I might make it out alive… What should I do…?

I closed my eyes, despite the lack of sight. I looked inside myself and pulled out my decision. I trusted my instincts and continued to kick. With little grunts, I could feel the dent growing larger and larger. I finally gave one last kick and broke open the hole. I heard the chunks of rock that I kicked away. My leg felt free. I could hear the voices clear now. I took a deep breath, sucking in the air that I now had access to and continued pushing the rocks with my other legs. When I finally removed a lot more weight off my chest, I pushed myself forward until I could finally see everything now. All the piles of rocks on my chest fell downward as I sat up.

"Alex!" I heard Rarity's voice from behind me. I looked behind and saw Rarity running towards me. She hugged me and continued speaking. "I thought you were DONE for!"

"Gee… thanks, Rarity…" I replied, brushing off the dirt from my coat.

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that! I meant—

"It's fine."

She helped me up and shouted to every pony. "Alex is alright!"

Every pony suddenly ran over to me, making sure I was alright and that nothing was broken. They all asked me what had happened. But all I could say was that I didn't know. Fluttershy had broken through their blockage and ran towards me, sobbing.

"Oh, Alex! I'm so glad you're okay! It was my entire fault!" She said through tears.

"No it isn't Fluttershy, I'm fine." I replied.

"Well…" Rainbow Dash started, but I gave her a stare that shut her mouth.

"Will you still be able to come with us, Alex?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah…"

We continued walking to the dragon's lair. It turned out that I was on the other end of the avalanche. How I survived, it is a mystery…

"We're here." Twilight announced. "Rainbow Dash," She spoke softly. "You'll use your wings to clear the smoke."

Rainbow Dash nodded and flew up to do her duty.

Twilight continued to direct the others. "Rarity and Pinkie Pie, you'll create a diversion to distract the dragon if things get a little hairy in there." Pinkie Pie grabbed a rubber chicken and began waving it around. "Applejack, you're ready with the apples in case he decides to attack." Applejack kicked a few apples to a nearby tree to show her accuracy. "But it shouldn't come to that, because Fluttershy will do what she needs to do to wake him up, and between the two of us, we should be able to get him to understand why he needs to go. Is every pony ready?"

Every pony gave their affirmatives, except Fluttershy. She was trembling.

"What about me?" I asked.

"After that avalanche? I don't want you getting into any more dangerous situations."

"But—

"No buts. If Applejack or any other pony needs help, you can help them. But, I don't want you going into that cave."

I sighed. I didn't want to argue. "Alright…"

"Okay then, we're goin' in." Twilight walked inside the cave alone. After a few seconds, she came back out, looking for Fluttershy.

Fluttershy's face was buried in the ground.

"Come on!" Twilight grunted, grabbing Fluttershy's wings with her teeth and pulling her head out. "We have to do this!" Twilight released another grunt, pushing Fluttershy from behind. "Now!" Rainbow Dash began to help Twilight push. "Every - second longer that dragon—Rarity joined – sleeps is another – Applejack helped - acre of Equestria that's covered in—Twilight grunted –smoke." Pinkie Pie flew straight towards them. "Ooh!"

"I- I- I can't go in the cave." Fluttershy spoke.

Ever pony groaned.

"Oh, great." Rainbow Dash announced. "She's scared of caves now, too."

"I'm not scared of caves, I'm scared of…" Fluttershy mumbled.

Applejack walked towards Fluttershy. "What's that, sugar cube?"

"I'm scared of…" Fluttershy mumbled again.

"What?" Twilight asked.

"I'm scared of dragons!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

The dragon gave out another loud snore, blowing out a large cloud of smoke and causing Fluttershy to squeal. All of us coughed until the smoke disappeared.

"But, Fluttershy, you have a wonderful talent dealing with all kinds of animals." Twilight tried to reason with Fluttershy, who was hiding behind Applejack.

"Yes. Because they're not dragons." Fluttershy replied.

"Oh come on! We've seen you walk up to a horrible manticore like it was nothing." Rainbow Dash added.

"Yes. Because he wasn't a dragon." Fluttershy made a point…

"Spike is a dragon. You're not scared of him." Pinkie Pie spoke.

"Yes. Because he not a huge, gigantic, terrifying, enormous, teeth-gnashing, sharp-scale having, horn-wearing, smoke-snoring, could eat a pony in one bite, totally all grown up dragon!"

The dragon snored again which made Fluttershy whimper.

"But, if you're so afraid of dragons, why didn't you say something before we came all the way up here?" Twilight asked.

"I was afraid to." Fluttershy replied.

"Augh." Rainbow Dash groaned.

"All of us are scared of that dragon." Applejack pushed Fluttershy up.

"I'm not!" Rainbow Dash bragged.

"Almost all of us are scared of that dragon. But we've got a job to do. So, get in there with Twilight and show her what you're made of." Applejack encouraged.

"I- I- I just... can't." Fluttershy lowered her head and began walking back.

"Oh, Fluttershy…" Twilight said.

"I'll go talk to her…" I offered.

While the other ponies began their persuasion to get the dragon to leave, I walked over to Fluttershy, who was sniffling behind a large boulder.

"Fluttershy…" I said as I took a seat next to her.

She wiped her eyes and looked at me. "I can't do it Alex…"

"Yes, you can… you have a fear… and that's alright… but at one point of your life, you're going to have to face it… believe me. You don't want to be scared of dragons your whole life, do you?"

"I don't know…" Fluttershy stared at the ground. "What if I just ruin things all over again? Like I did with that avala—

"Stop about that Fluttershy." I interrupted her. "It's in the past. I didn't get hurt. You can just forget about it. We all make mistakes because we're not perfect. I promise you… you'll be fine. I believe in you…"

"You do…?"

I nodded.

She managed to smile softly. "Oh, Alex… I—

We heard a terrifying and awfully loud roar from the dragon's cave. The ground shook and the dragon poked his head out of the cave. It blew the other ponies toward the boulder we were at with its smoke, causing half of it to collapse. Fluttershy stared in disbelief at her moaning and groaning friends. She didn't notice that the dragon saw her and was about to grab her. I jumped in the way, making the dragon grab me instead. It held me tightly in its scaly hands. It looked over at Fluttershy, whose eyes looked around nervously. Fluttershy then balanced herself and looked at the dragon with the fear gone.

"How dare you?" She finally spoke. "How dare you!" Fluttershy began to exclaim louder than I've ever heard her before. She flew straight towards the dragon and landed on its mouth, walking towards its eyes. "Listen here, mister. Just because you're big doesn't mean you get to be a bully. You may have huge teeth, and sharp scales, and snore smoke, and breathe fire. But you do not- I repeat- You do NOT! HURT! MY! FRIENDS! You got that?"

The dragon backed its head away, whimpering like a puppy.

"Well?" Fluttershy asked, hooves crossed.

"But that rainbow one kicked me…" The dragon responded.

I could see Rainbow Dash nodding, proudly.

"And I'm very sorry about that. But you're bigger than she is, and you should know better. You should also know better than to take a nap where your snoring can become a health hazard to other creatures."

"But I—

"Don't you 'but I' me, mister." Fluttershy interrupted. "Now what do you have to say for yourself?" The dragon remained silent. "I said WHAT do you have to say for yourself?"

The dragon whimpered and began to cry, surprising me with its huge eye drops.

"There, there. No need to cry." Fluttershy said, compassionately. "You're not a bad dragon; you just made a bad decision. Now go pack your things." Fluttershy flew downwards, pulling me out of the dragon's hand and placing me back on the ground. "You just need to find a new place to sleep. That's all."

The other ponies cheered.

"You did it! I knew you could do it." Twilight exclaimed.

The dragon began flying out of the cave, searching for a new home.

"Thanks… but I didn't do it by myself…" Fluttershy's eyes shifted towards me. I felt a little red.

We returned home to see all the flying ponies clearing out the smoke from the sky. We had walked over to Twilight's home to see Spike having a lot of trouble with Fluttershy's animals.

"Spike, take a letter." Twilight announced.

Spike sighed, dropping the bunny he was holding. "With pleasure."

"Dear Princess Celestia..." Twilight spoke. " I am happy to report that the dragon has departed our fair country, and that it was my good friend, Fluttershy, who convinced him to go. This adventure has taught me to never lose faith in your friends. They can be an amazing source of strength, and can help you overcome even your greatest fears. Always your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

When Twilight was finished, we had noticed that Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash had left.

"Twilight! You gotta come see this!" Applejack yelled. We ran outside to see Rainbow Dash bouncing a ball on her head. "She's just five away from a new pony record!"

"Three hundred forty-seven, three hundred forty-eight..." Rainbow Dash counted.

Some pony had roared, causing Rainbow Dash to drop the ball. "Dragon!" Rainbow Dash fell to the floor.

Every other pony began laughing.

"Why are you laughing? That awful dragon is back!" She stood back up.

Pinkie Pie had walked up to her and roared loudly again.

"Pinkie Pie, you scared me!" Rainbow Dash then realized what she said and shifted her tone. "I mean, uh, you... broke my concentration."

Fluttershy flew near her. "It's okay, Rainbow Dash. Not every pony can be as brave as me."

Rainbow Dash blew a leaf that was floating in the air. The leaf swerved over to Fluttershy and landed on her back. Fluttershy screamed and fell to the floor. Every pony laughed, even Twilight who shook her head.

When night began to fall, every pony returned back to their homes. I helped Fluttershy bring back the animals to her home. When we placed the animals back where they belonged, we traveled over to a cliff, where we sat and watched the ocean.

"Thanks for helping me bring my animals, Alex." She spoke.

"It's not a problem at all." I replied.

Fluttershy paused for a moment. "…And thank you for helping me face my fear too…"

"Me?" I placed a hoof on my chest, confused. "I didn't do anything…"

Fluttershy smiled and looked towards the ocean. "Yes, you did. When you told me you believed in me… I began to believe in myself… and when I saw every pony hurt because of the dragon, especially you… that when I remembered…"

I continued looking at her.

She looked over at me. "I remembered when you stood up for me when Gilda was being a bully… so I did what my heart told me and faced the dragon." She looked up at the stars. "And now… I'm not so scared of dragons anymore… so… Thank you…"

"Wow…" I looked at the ocean. "I never knew I could affect somepony so much like that…"

Fluttershy giggled. "I'm pretty sure there are so many more things you can do, Alex."

"Maybe…"

"Well… I guess I better be going now…"

"Mmk…" I felt something soft and sweet planted on my cheek, leaving me even more paralyzed than last time.

"Goodnight, Alex." Fluttershy said, blushing intensely but most of the redness was hidden by the dark. She began flying away to her home while I sat there breathless…

I placed my hoof on my cheek.

"Wow…" was the only thing on my mind while the new feeling grew even stronger, which was pounding like crazy now…

Look Before You Sleep

Episode 8 – Look Before You Sleep

I woke up early this time and did my usual morning routine. I walked out of the house and looked around. I saw ponies in the skies, moving dark clouds in front of the gleaming sun. I'm guessing there is going to be rain today... Every pony seemed to be heading to the park. I wonder what's going on... I walked over to the park to see many ponies picking up dead branches off the floor and trees. When I spotted Applejack, who was using her lasso to break a branch of the tree, I walked up to her.

"Hey, Applejack. What's going on today?" I asked.

"Oh hey there, Alex." Applejack responded. "Every pony is picking up dead and loose branches so they don't hurt no pony."

"I see… can I help?"

"Sure, you can pick up the branches that are on the ground, or if you find a way to get them off the tree without hurting yourself, you can do that instead."

"Alright."

We heard Rarity a few feet away from us.

"Hmm. Hah! Perfect." Rarity announced. She had formed the leaves on the branch to art with her magic.

However, Applejack threw her lasso at the branch at took it down, frankly. She spit the rope out of her mouth. "Just take the broken limbs down, Rarity. Don't cha all care about nothing other than prettifyin'?"

"Some pony has to. You were making an absolute mess of the town square, Applejack." Rarity replied, looking around at all the branches on the floor.

"Yeah, well, the storm's gonna make an even bigger mess if we don't prune all these loose branches so they don't tumble down on anypony."

"I simply cannot imagine why the Pegasus ponies would schedule a dreadful downpour this evening and ruin what could have been a glorious sunny day."

Applejack sighed. "Think more practical-like, will ya? They accidentally skipped a scheduled sprinkle last week, so we need a doozy of a downpour to make up for it, is all." Applejack kicked a tree, releasing leaves and more branches to fall to the ground.

Unfortunately, it began raining while the two were arguing, while I could only watch.

"Oh no! My wonderfully styled mane shall be ruined!" Rarity cried out.

"Ya shoulda hurried up and finished the job already." Applejack argued.

"Oh! Ah! Oh! It's coming down too fast! Ah! Oh! Ah! Help me!" Rarity began running all over the place to find shelter.

Applejack searched for somewhere to keep from the rain. She spotted a table and told Rarity to go under there. "Uh, there. Hunker down to yer heart's content whilst I finish this."

Rarity began galloping over to the table while Applejack continued to bring down the branches.

"Alex, you ain't afraid of a little rain are you?"

"No…"

"Ok then, here. Help me bring down these—

"Oh, no, no, no!" Rarity cried out.

Applejack sighed heavily and ran over to her, including me.

"What now?" Applejack asked, annoyed.

"I prefer not to get my hooves muddy." Rarity responded.

"Guh. There is just no pleasin' ya, is there? Everything's got to be just so." Applejack began.

"Well, and how does muddying my hooves serve any useful purpose?"

"Um… girls…" I tried to interrupt.

"Y'all wouldn't know useful if it came up and bit cha." Applejack continued to argue.

Rarity laughed. "That doesn't even make any sense."

"Does so."

"Does not."

"Does so."

"Does not."

"Does so."

"Does not."

"Girls…" I attempted again.

"Does so infinity. Hah." Applejack said.

"Does not infinity plus one. Hah."

They both started at each other aggressively. "What say we go our separate ways before one of us says something she will regret?" Rarity offered.

"I reckon y'all're gonna say something you'll regret first."

"On the contrary. I believe it shall most certainly be you who says something you will regret first."

"I'm not sayin' anythin'."

"Nor am I."

"Y'all just be on yer way, then." Applejack scooted her away with her hoof.

"After you!" Rarity pointed.

"GIRLS!" I finally shouted, but I was too late as thunder crackled in the sky, scaring both the ponies. The both hugged each other, ironically.

"Perhaps we should stick together for now and find some shelter." Rarity suggested.

"Uh-huh, perhaps we should. And fast." Applejack agreed.

I sighed as I continued to be drenched in the rain.

Applejack had ran over and ducked under the table.

"Nice and dry under here, sort'a." Applejack said, noticing the mud squished under her hooves.

Rarity continued to look for a better shelter to be in. "Oh! Unacceptable."

"Applejack! Rarity! Alex!" We heard our names from a distant voice. We turned around to try to see who was calling us.

"Applejack! Rarity! Alex!" Our names were called again. We managed to see it was Twilight who was calling our names. She was inside her home with the door open so she could get our attention.

"Come inside, quick!" She invited.

We all ran towards the inside of her house. Rarity and I arrived inside, but Applejack stopped in front of the door.

"Whoa, Nelly. Is inside a tree really the best place to be in a lightning storm?" Applejack asked.

"It is if you have a magical lightning rod protecting your home like I do." Twilight replied. "Come on in!"

"Hah! We are most grateful for your invitation." Rarity thanked.

"Thank ya kindly for yer hospitality." Applejack joined, walking inside. However, Rarity saw this and stopped her by placing her front leg in front of her.

"Uh, do be a polite houseguest and go wash up please, won't you?" Rarity asked, pointing to her muddy hooves.

Applejack grumbled. "If I gotta spend one more second with that fussbudget Rarity today, I can't be held responsible for what I'm gonna do." She walked out to wash her hooves.

"Some storm, huh? The Pegasus ponies sure have outdone themselves this time. I hope you guys don't have any trouble getting home." Twilight said.

"It may indeed be a problem." Rarity replied.

"Well, you're welcome to stay if need be. Spike is away in Canterlot on royal business. I'm home all alone tonight." Twilight gasped. "You ponies should totally sleep over! We'll have a slumber party! I've always wanted one of those." Twilight looked over to me, a little disappointed. "Oh… but those things aren't the kind of things that guys do… is it?

"It's okay… you girls can do whatever you want, I'll just head home." I began walking out the front door to the harsh rain, the thunder that boomed, and the lightning that flashed.

"No!" Twilight exclaimed. "You can't go out like that in this kind of weather!" She thought for a moment. "I mean… you can hang out. I just don't think you want to do… you know… girl stuff."

I stopped and turned back. "I suppose I can stay… I'll find something else to do…"

Twilight smiled. "Well make yourself at home!" She walked over to Rarity to talk about their plans.

Rarity refused, most likely due to Applejack staying. "Oh! Uh, goodness. Uh, I do believe I have another engagement scheduled for this evening that completely slipped my mind until just now." Rarity laughed nervously. "Ah, silly me, I can't possibly stay here all night - with Applejack."

Twilight walked up to her shelf and brought out a book. She opened the book to Rarity and revealed the contents inside.

"Slumber 101: All You've Ever Wanted to Know About Slumber Parties But Were Afraid to Ask." Rarity read out loud.

"My own personal copy. It's a fantastic reference guide. You should see the table of contents. I've been waiting for a chance to use it, and today is the day! This is gonna be so great!"

"Yes, uh, great." Rarity continued to laugh nervously.

Outside, Applejack was still trying to wash the mud off her hooves using a hose, but she had some trouble with it.

"Well, let's get started, shall we?" Rarity suggested.

They began to grab, whatever it was they used for face masks, so I decided I would just leave them to their fun. I began looking around at the shelves, seeing if I could find something to read.

"What in tarnation..." I heard Applejack. "Now wait just a goll-darn minute. Ya make me wash the mud off my hooves, but it's okay for y'all ta have mud all over yer faces?"

"Silly! This is called a mud mask. It's to refresh and rejuvenate your complexion." Rarity replied.

"We're giving each other makeovers! Tee-hee!" Twilight added. I heard excitement in her voice. "We have to do it, it says so in the book."

"Slumber 101: Everything You... Oh hey, heh, would'ja look at the time. I gotta skidaddle on home quick. I'm powerful late for, uh, fer somethin'. Uh, g'night." Thunder roared outside. "Or maybe I'll stay here for a spell."

"Hurray slumber party!"

"Blahch. What in the world is this for?"

I heard Rarity sigh. "To reduce the puffiness around one's eyes, of course."

"Puffiness-schmuffiness! That's good eatin'!" Applejack made some loud chewing noises.

"Tee-hee! Isn't this exciting? We'll do everything by the book, and that will make my slumber party officially fun."

"Did you hear that, Applejack? You certainly would not want to do anything that would ruin Twilight's very first slumber party, would you?"

"Of course not, 'n you wouldn't either, I reckon."

"So do we have an agreement?"

"You betcha." I assumed Applejack spit in her hoof afterwards.

"Oh! Gross! You know, there's messy and there's just plain rude."

"You know, there's fussy 'n there's just plain gettin' on my nerves."

"Fortunately, I can get along with any pony, no matter how difficult SHE may be."

"Oh yeah? Well, I'm the get-alongin'ist pony yer ever gonna meet."

"That's not even a word."

"This is going to be the bestest slumber party ever! Yay!" I heard Twilight say in the middle of the argument.

Suddenly… I don't feel like reading anymore… I walked upstairs and opened the door to the balcony and shutting it behind me. Luckily, the balcony had a covering over it, so I didn't get wet. I listened to the sound of the rain, as well as the thunder boom. To be honest… I loved the sound of the rain… even the thunder. It also seemed to calm me down, ironically. Nonetheless, I sat out there observing the rain. After a moment, I sat up and leaned on the railings. Something seemed missing…

I placed my hoof on my cheek and thought about the scene again. Fluttershy… she had kissed me on the cheek… that was the first time anyone had ever done that to me… Why did she do it? Was it because of what she was thanking me for? But why? I have done a lot more stuff than that before and that never happened…

I sighed.

Thunder roared once again and lightning sparked. I noticed the lights in Twilight's home behind me suddenly turn off. The wind grew stronger as did the sound of the raindrops splashing on the ground. Suddenly, I also heard screams from inside the house. I immediately ran inside the house to check on the girls. When I raced downstairs, I saw Applejack and Rarity hugging each other while screaming.

"What going o—I exclaimed, but unable to finish when I saw Twilight pull over a blanket from her body and walk over to her book.

"Ghost story, check." Twilight said. "Now, who wants s'mores?" She asked. She noticed me standing near the stairs, confused. "Oh, hey Alex. Did Applejack and Rarity scare you?"

"Um…uh…" I couldn't really speak. "Yeah… I guess…"

Twilight giggled. "Come on, let's go to the kitchen!"

We went into the kitchen, where Applejack began roasting marshmallows on a nearby fireplace while Rarity was going over the instructions on making a smore.

"Then you place one marshmallow on the top of the chocolate and be sure it's centered - that's critical - and then carefully put another perfectly square graham cracker on the top. And done. Ta-da!"

"Ooo!" Twilight gazed at the treat.

"Nah, ya just eat 'em." Applejack munched loudly on the treat as Rarity stared at her, very annoyed. Finally, Applejack belched.

Rarity sighed. "You could at least say excuse me."

"Aw, I was just about to, but you interrupted me." Applejack replied. "Pardon."

"S'mores, check. Now the next item of fun we have to do is Truth or Dare." Twilight announced, writing in her book.

"I dare Applejack to do something carefully and neatly for a change." Rarity began fighting.

Here we go… again…

"Oh yeah? Well I dare Rarity ta lighten up and stop obsessin' over every last little detail, for a change." Applejack fought back.

"I think the truth of the matter is that SOME pony could stand to pay a little more attention to details."

"And I think the truth is SOME pony oughta quit with her fussin' so the rest of us can get things done."

I grew more annoyed with each argument they made. Twilight walked over to her book and flipped through the pages. "Um, I don't think this is how the game's supposed to work. You have to give an honest answer to any question or do whatever any pony dares you to do."

"I dares you to step outside and let your precious, tidy mane get ruined again!" Applejack began first.

Rarity gasped.

"You have to. It's the rule." Twilight backed up.

"HAH!" Applejack laughed.

"Fine!" Rarity slowly walked to the door and then outside, letting herself get drenched in the rain. Applejack snickered as she came back in with her mane and tail shivering. Applejack began laughing but was cut short when Rarity walked straight towards her.

"Okay! I dare Applejack to play dress-up in a fru-fru, glittery, lacey outfit!"

Applejack gasped, but she walked away to put on her outfit. When she came back, she was wearing, what appeared to be, a princess outfit.

"Happy?" She asked.

"Very." Rarity, replied, giving a smirk.

"Um, do I ever get a turn?" Twilight asked, trying not to interrupt.

"I dare ya to enter the next rodeo when it comes to town." Applejack commenced.

"I dare you not to enter the next rodeo that comes to town." Rarity replied.

"I dare ya to not comb your mane a hundred times before bed."

"And I dare you to comb yours just once."

As much I didn't want to get mad, I couldn't handle anymore… all this fighting… it was getting to me… I finally broke and shouted.

"I DARE YOU BOTH TO STOP ARGUING AND SHUT UP!" I immediately stormed out of the room, retreating away from the silence that followed and in to my own.

I stepped out into the balcony and lay down. I was rubbing my head with my hooves. My head was pounding like crazy. I closed my eyes and tried to let the rain sedate me.

"Alex…?" I heard a voice behind me… It was Twilight's.

"Yeah…?" I answered very softly.

"Why are you out here?" She asked.

"The rain… it soothes me…and right now… I have a headache…"

"Listen… I'm really sorry about Applejack and Rarity… I don't know what's gotten into them…"

"They shouldn't be arguing…"

"Huh…?" She walked a little closer to me.

"That's how friendships break…"

"Why do you say that?" Twilight asked, concerned about my answer.

"Just trust me…" I buried my head in my hooves and closed my eyes, continuing to listen to the rain and the wind. I could feel Twilight struggle with the words in her head. She didn't know what to say. I could feel that she wanted to make me feel better… but she didn't know how.

"Will you come in…?" She asked.

"I think I'll just stay out here for a while…" I responded, gloomy.

It was silent for a moment. "I'll come back to check up on you in a while…" Twilight left the balcony and headed back downstairs.

I continued to have my eyes closed. I listened to the rain…the wind…even the thunder… I heard some loud talking downstairs too. As I tried to calm myself, suddenly, thunder roared louder than ever before, causing me to open my eyes. Lightning struck a tree near me. The tree began limping towards another house, as if it was going to fall.

I stood up and was going to rush to tell Twilight, but a lasso grabbed hold of the tree. It must have been Applejack! After a few seconds, the rope pulled the tree, which led the tree to begin falling straight towards me! I tried running, but I didn't make it in time. I could feel the tree pull me down straight toward where Twilight and the others were.

"I tried to tell you it would come crashing down in here!" Rarity cried.

"Well, ya should'a tried harder!" Applejack replied. "I'm mighty sorry, Twilight."

They seemed not to notice me crushed under the tree, but Twilight did.

"Alex!" Twilight exclaimed. She managed to pull me out.

"I'm alright…" I replied. I felt okay…

"What in tarnation are y'all doin' over there?" Applejack asked Rarity, who was placing the books back on Twilight's shelf while using one of them to cover her mane.

"Cleaning up this mess SOME pony made. Who was that again? Oh, right, that's YOU." Rarity responded.

"We gotta do somethin'!" Applejack exclaimed. She tried kicking the tree, pulling the tree with a rope, jumping on the tree, and any other way to get rid of the tree. "Rarity, for pony's sake, stop sweatin' the small stuff and help me get rid of this thing!" Rarity only glanced back and then continued placing the books back. "I said hussle over here and help me!" Rarity didn't listen. "Look, I'm sorry, all right?"

"What was that?" Rarity asked.

"I said I'm sorry!" Applejack yelled through the storm. "I shoulda listened to you when you noticed where this here branch would end up. Yer annoyin' attention to detail woulda saved us from this whole mess. But right now, ya need to stop bein' so dang fussy pickin' up all those little things and help me move the one big thing in here that actually matters! Please!"

Rarity finally looked over at the tree when Applejack said that. She looked like she wanted to help, but she was worried about something. "Uh. Uh, but I'll get all icky!" She exclaimed.

"Consarnit! What the... eh... you... I mean, yes, ickiness is often a side effect of hard work. But y'all need to get over it, on account I just can't fix this mess I made myself. I need your help!"

Rarity hesitated for a moment, and then thought. Finally she looked toward Applejack. "Oh. Let's do this."

Rarity walked over to Applejack and they both talked for a moment, sharing a plan. Rarity and Applejack began to get to work. Rarity used her magic to make the tree into a bunch of small ornaments instead. Applejack was about to kick the bottom of the tree out the window, but she noticed Rarity's look on her face and paused. She placed her feet down and turned around. She grabbed the stump instead and lightly threw it out the window. Applejack closed the window, and the chaos died down. Rarity looked at herself. She was covered in mud and leaves.

"U-ugh. Oh, I look awful" Rarity said.

Applejack thought for a moment and thought up of an idea. She grabbed a couple of the eye pieces used in spas and placed them on Rarity's eyes.

"Better?" Applejack asked.

"Hm, thanks." Rarity responded.

They both hugged. I drew out a long sigh.

"I'm glad you two made up… all your arguing has been only trouble!" Twilight said.

"You're right…" Applejack answered. She looked over at me. "I'm mighty sorry, Alex. I didn't mean to cause you no harm… I was too busy being dumb enough to argue…"

"I'm truly sorry too, Alex. I shouldn't have argued with Applejack. We are all friends after all… and we don't like to hurt one another. Can you ever forgive us?" Rarity asked.

They all looked at me with pleading eyes. I sighed and then looked at them both. They were eagerly waiting for my answer. "Alright, I forgive you guys… I know how hard it is to keep a perfect friendship… but still… I don't like it when friends argue…"

"Aww!" They rushed over to me for a group hug. They got me a little dirty… but I really didn't care. I had this really warm feeling in my heart that felt really good. It was some other feeling that was special, that I had never felt either.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you girls too…"

"It's alright, we deserved it." They said, cheerfully.

Soon, they pulled away.

"I think we should get ourselves clean… shall we?" Rarity suggested.

Everyone agreed and laughed. I was the last one to use Twilight's shower. After I was finished, I came downstairs to see what the girls were up to. They were laughing, wearing accessories in their hair, except Applejack, who had on her farm hat.

"Hey, Alex!" Twilight called me. "You should join our game!"

I was in an alright mood, so I guess it couldn't hurt. "Alright…" I sat down in the circle.

"Is it bigger than a barn?" Applejack asked.

Twilight laughed. "Nope."

"Is it smaller than a saddle?" Rarity asked.

Twilight laughed again. "No! Only three of your twenty questions left!"

"We're never gonna guess what y'er thinkin' of, it could be anythin'." Applejack said.

"Are we getting warmer?" Rarity questioned.

"Why? Is it too cold in here for you? I can turn up the heat." Twilight offered.

"She means are we gettin' any closer with our guesses?" Applejack corrected.

"Oh! No. And that technically counts in as a question, so only two more left!" Twilight responded.

"Is it... a six-legged pony with a purple polka-dotted mane and shootin' stars comin' out of his eyes?" Applejack began.

"Who flies through the air all over the world to hide magic, sparkly eggs?" Rarity finished.

"That's it!" Twilight exclaimed.

"It is?" They both asked, surprisingly.

"No." She chuckled. "It's that." She pointed to a telescope above her. "But it was just so nice to see you two finally getting along; I wanted you to be able to win together."

Applejack and Rarity began laughing.

"See? We could have been having fun like this all along." Twilight said.

"If only some pony hadn't been so persnickety." Applejack announced, directing it to Rarity.

"Well, maybe she wouldn't have been if some pony else hadn't been so sloppy." Rarity responded to Applejack's comment. Their eyes stared towards each other, coldly. I was about to say something about the scene, but then their moods shifted.

"Sorry for being such a pain in the patootie." Applejack apologized.

"Oh, no, I'm sure I was much worse." Rarity replied.

"That's kind a ya ta say, but I'm the one who's sorry."

"Oh, I'm much more sorry than you are."

"Ugh. Are not."

"Are too."

Twilight and I kept shaking our heads to Applejack and to Rarity.

"Are not!"

"Are too."

"Are not!"

"Are too."

After they finished their "argument" with smiles, I realized that they were just joking… they began laughing.

"I declare my first slumber party a success!" Twilight announced.

Rarity and Applejack cheered, clapping hooves.

Twilight grabbed her book with her magic and wrote in it. "Have fun, check!"

Rarity and Applejack laughed again.

"I have another idea for a game!" Rarity exclaimed. She set up the room for the game, which was something like pin the tail on the pony. Applejack was blindfolded and was being directed by Rarity who was telling her where to go. I sat down, continuing to watch them.

"Now take two steps to your left. Uh, no, MY left." Rarity directed.

"Well, which is it?" Applejack asked. She stumbled onto the pile of books in front of her, crashing on them. "Whoa! That mess is your fault, not mine." They both laughed. I was really appreciative that they patched everything up between each other.

"Dear Princess Celestia…" I heard Twilight behind me say. I walked up next to her to listen to another one of her fantastic letters. She was using her magic to write with the pen. "It's hard to believe that two ponies who seem to have so little in common could ever get along. But I found out that if you embrace each other's differences, you might just be surprised to discover a way to be friends after all!" Twilight had finished her letter. She noticed me and smiled. Then she looked over to Applejack and Rarity, who were still having fun. "So, who's up for another slumber party tomorrow night?" They threw her a couple of pillows to the face. "How about a week from Thursday?" She continued to ask. "Oh, how about two weeks from Saturday? A month from now?"

The ponies did not respond, but only laughed. Twilight joined in the laughter as well. I looked at the window and noticed the sun had come out.

"Well…" I said. "I guess I should get back home then."

"Aww." Twilight responded, who was just finished being attacked with another pillow. "Well, it was great having you here, Alex!"

I paused for a moment, thinking about what she said. I looked back at her. "Thanks… you girls were… fun… too."

They all giggled and had me in one last group hug before I was off.

When I arrived back at home, I slid inside my bed. I was really tired from not really having any sleep at all last night. Although, I began thinking about the time spent with Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity. Despite all the problems that occurred that night, it was still really enjoyable. I had increased my relationship with them… and it felt really good… my friends… they are so much different from the other ones… in my past…

I dozed off.

Bridle Gossip

Episode 9 – Bridle Gossip.

For a strange and unusual reason, I had managed to sleep without any interruptions. I felt fully awake and rose from my bed. After tidying up a bit, I walked to my front door and stood idly for a moment. That's odd… there's no noise outside whatsoever… I wonder what's up? I walked out the front door to see that Ponyville was a ghost town…

I continued walking, looking around suspiciously. The only noise was the wind, which brought an eerie feeling inside me. Every door was locked shut and so were all the windows. I continued walking until I saw some pony that looked to be digging at the ground. I looked hesitantly at the pony for a bit. It had on a hooded cover, revealing only the striped hooves.

I slowly began walking towards it.

"Hello…?" I asked.

The pony glanced over my way, revealing dark, glowing eyes. This frightened me a bit, but I continued to walk over to the pony.

"Hey…" I began. "Do you know where every other pony is?" I asked.

"This, I do not know." The pony replied. I assumed it was a female to do the sound of her voice. "I am just looking for things that grow. Know this, I am no pony. Instead, to this village, I am lonely." She removed the hood, which covered her face, to reveal that she was actually a zebra.

"Oh… I'm sorry. I had mistaken you for a pony… I've never seen a zebra around here."

"It is alright my good friend, as I am far from this land." She continued to dig at the ground.

"What is it that you're digging for?" I asked.

"I am digging for something new, something which to brew."

"Okay…" I scratched my head. "Do you need any help…?"

"No thank you, I am alright. Once these flowers are dug, they are easy to sight. I must go now, for I have much more work to do. I have much more things to find, which are needed for my brew." She began walking off to the park. I continued to look, with a mind full of questions as the zebra continued to dig for whatever she was looking for.

"You ponies are being ridiculous!" I heard Twilight say, muffled a bit.

I looked over to where the sound came from. In a window, I could see the shadow of Pinkie Pie and Twilight. It looked as if they were arguing.

"Well, I heard that Zecora eats HAY!" Pinkie Pie replied.

"Pinkie, I eat hay; YOU eat hay!"

"Yeah, but I heard it's the EVIL way she eats hay."

I walked inside to find every pony surprised of my visit.

"He's ALIVE! That must mean the evil zebra put a super evil CURSE on him!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"What are you talking about?" I questioned. "I'm not cursed."

"That's what SHE wants you to think!" Pinkie Pie replied.

"Pinkie, stop it!" Twilight intervened and walked towards me. "Alex, is not cursed. Alex, we saw you talking to her, even while SOME ponies kept saying she was going to curse you… could you PLEASE tell us that she's NOT EVIL?"

Every pony looked towards me. I looked at them, confused. "Um… she doesn't seem evil…"

"See!" Twilight exclaimed.

"But she was talking about finding some things to brew…" I added.

Pinkie Pie screamed and hid behind Rarity. "You mean she's finding some PONIES to brew!"

"That crazy! I'm pretty sure she just means—

"Hey! Where's Applebloom?" Applejack interrupted Twilight, frightened by her little sister's disappearance.

"The door's open!" Fluttershy pointed out.

"She went outside!" Rarity cried out.

"And Zecora's still out there!" Rainbow Dash added into the fear.

"That silly lil' filly! I told her to stay put!" Applejack said.

Every pony began running out the door, hastily. Twilight started for the door too, but before she left, she spoke to Spike. "Spike, you stay here in case Apple Bloom comes back."

"Will do!" Spike replied.

"Alex, let's go." She told me as she raced out the door. I followed her, unhesitating.

We galloped through the path to the Everfree forest. We had made it just in time to see Applebloom following Zecora. All the other ponies had walked through a patch of blue flowers. Just as I was about to do the same, my instincts prevented me to.

"Applebloom?" Applejack yelled.

Applebloom gasped and looked back at us.

"You git back here right now!" Applejack shouted.

"Beware! Beware, you pony folk!" Zecora exclaimed. "Those leaves of blue are not a joke!"

"Y-you keep your creepy mumbo-jumbo to yerself, ya hear?" Applejack exclaimed while picking up Applebloom.

Every other pony agreed with Applejack, standing against Zecora, except Twilight.

Twilight sighed. "Oh brother."

"Beware! Beware!" Zecora warned for the last time as she disappeared into the mist of the jungle.

"Yeah, back at ya, Zecora! You and your... lame curse are the ones who better beware!" Rainbow Dash continued to fight back with words.

"And you! Why couldn't you just listen to yer big sister?" Applejack asked Applebloom.

"I...I..." Applebloom tried to say something.

"Who knows what kind of nasty curse Zecora could have just put on you?"

"Just like in my song!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, singing her song.

"You guys, there's no such thing as curses!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Well, that's interesting to hear coming from Miss Magic Pants herself." Rainbow Dash responded.

"My magic, REAL magic, comes from within. It's a skill you're born with. Curses are artificial, fake magic. It's conjured with potions and incantations; all smoke and mirrors meant to scare. But curses have no real power; they're just an old pony tale."

"Just you wait, Twilight." Applejack replied, giving off an eerie mood. "You're gonna learn that some pony tales really are true."

Twilight stood back as she thought to herself, while all the other ponies began leaving the area.

"Twilight…" I called.

She looked back over at me.

"I don't think you should stay in those flowers…" I warned.

"Why?" She asked, coming over to me.

"Just a feeling…" I responded.

Every pony walked back towards their home, trying to shrug off the eerie mood that hung around us all. Every pony in Ponyville eventually came out, slowly recovering from Zecora's visit. The day ended in silence, leaving me with a bizarre feeling that something worse was going to happen…

The next day, I woke up normal as usual. I don't feel any different… so why does this feeling still cling around me?

I walked outside and decided I would visit Fluttershy. I haven't talked to her since the last time… when she…

I shook my head and started my way towards Fluttershy's home.

When I arrived, she was outside. She had just finished feeding the animals. She sat gloomily near a tree and stared at the ground. I walked over to her.

"Hey… Fluttershy… Is something wrong…?" I asked.

She looked up to me and blushed. She turned her head and looked away, giving a nod afterwards.

"What is it?"

Her eyes moved uneasy, and she continued blushing for a moment. She opened her mouth as if she was about to talk, but then immediately shut it.

"Fluttershy…" I was growing worried about her.

She picked up her hoof and pointed towards town.

"You want to go to town?" I asked.

She nodded. She stood up and began walking over to town. I walked by her side, looking and thinking curiously.

When we arrived in town, she used her body language to tell me that she wanted to go into Twilight's home. Still wondering intensely about what was going on, I obeyed her wish. We entered her home to see every other pony gathered there… but I was so surprised by the appearance of the other ponies that… I couldn't stop staring with my mouth agape.

Twilight's horn was limp and covered with spots of blue. Pinkie Pie's tongue was swelled significantly and covered with spots of blue as well, disabling her ability to talk well. Rainbow Dash continued to crash into shelves. Rarity, who I did not even recognize for a moment, had her mane and tail all frizzled up and soggy. Applejack, who I did not even see until I looked at the color for a bit, was reduced in size and on the back of her little sister…ironically.

"Fluttershy!" Twilight exclaimed. "She seems just fine! What about you, Alex?"

"Uh… I guess…? What's going on here? What happened to you girls?" I asked, still struck in confusion and surprise.

Pinkie Pie tried to explain, but all she did was spurt out muffled words and sprayed saliva all over the place.

"What she's trying to say is…" Rainbow Dash began talking as she continued to crash into different places. "Zecora… CURSED US!"

"Cursed?" I wondered. "I feel just fine… however, despite that Fluttershy looks okay, something is odd about her…"

"Yes, there doesn't seem to be a THING wrong with her." Rarity added through the drapes of her mane.

Fluttershy had stared, worriedly, at the ground.

"Fluttershy?" Twilight asked. "Are you okay?" Fluttershy closed her eyes and looked away. "Is there something wrong with you?" Fluttershy opened her eyes to look over at Twilight and closed them again, straining her eyes and giving a nod. "Would you care to tell us?" Twilight said, sounding irritated. Fluttershy looked over at Twilight again and refused by looking away. "So... you're not gonna to tell us?" Fluttershy gave a confident nod. "Yes you're not, or yes you will?" Fluttershy shook her head.

Applejack ran over to Fluttershy on the table, stopping on top of a book. "Good gravy, girl! What's wrong with you?" Applejack demanded, surprising Fluttershy.

Fluttershy held her head down and looked over to me, blushing. After hesitating for a moment, she looked away from every pony and finally spoke.

"I don't want to talk about it." A voice responded that I did not recognize. It was very deep and it came from Fluttershy… my eyes grew wide and I remained silent.

Spike snorted, and then burst out laughing. "This is hilarious! Look at all of you! We got: Hair-ity, Rainbow Crash, Spitty Pie, Apple-tini, Flutterguy, and... uh..." Spike looked over at Twilight, trying to think of a name for her. " I got nothin'... Twilight Sparkle. I mean seriously, I can't even work with that."

Twilight laughed sarcastically. "This is no joke, Spike. Now start looking for more books so I can find a cure!"

Spike groaned while Rainbow Dash continued to pull herself out of a ladder she had crashed in to. Once she broke free, she spoke to Twilight while flying unbalanced.

"I think we'll find a cure to this curse at Zecora's place!"

"It's not a curse!" Twilight exclaimed, making Rainbow Dash crash again.

"I agree with Dash! We'll go to Zecora's and force her to remove this hex!" Applejack agreed.

"It's not a hex either!" Twilight argued.

Soon, every pony began arguing, endlessly. After a moment of trying to resist, I finally gave in and intervened. "ENOUGH!" I shouted. The whole room immediately grew quiet. "I believe Twilight is right; I don't think she cursed us. If she had, wouldn't I have something wrong with too?"

"I don't care what you and Twilight say;" Rainbow Dash responded. "It's time to pony up and confront Zecora. Come on, girls; are you with me?"

"Ah am-pft!" Pinkie Pie spat.

"And I as well." Rarity added.

"Uh, I don't know. Seems awfully dangerous." Fluttershy gave her opinion, leaving Spike to only giggle again.

"How about you, Applejack?" Rainbow Dash asked. She looked over to where Applejack was supposed to be, but she wasn't there. "Applejack?"

"Pf-she's gone-pft!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

Rarity screamed. "Aah! Or somepony stepped on her!" She checked her hooves, causing every other pony to check as well.

"... or sat on her?" Twilight added. Every pony checked there too.

"Rarity's hair!" Rainbow Dash offered.

Pinkie Pie began searching through Rarity's hair. "Oh! OH! Pinkie, what are you doing?" Rarity exclaimed. " Ah, really. Aah! You ever hear of personal space?"

"Nopthe." Pinkie Pie replied, shaking her head.

"Applebloom is gone too!" Twilight cried out.

"I bet they went after Zecora!" Rainbow Dash responded.

"Well we better go find them." Twilight began walking out. "Come on ponies, let's go."

Pinkie Pie had her hoof on a strand of Rarity's hair, causing her to be unable to move.

"Oh dear." Rarity announced. "This is so unseemly. Auuuaah!" Rarity broke free.

Rainbow Dash was flying upside down on the floor. "Hey, a little help here?"

"Oopsie! Sorry." Fluttershy said, helping Rainbow Dash along with Pinkie Pie, which only caused her to crash again.

"Uh... Spike? Are you coming?" Fluttershy asked.

"Nope! Uh... gotta stay here and look for a cure." Spike gasped. "Twilight Flopple!"

I rolled my eyes and sprinted by Fluttershy on the way to the Everfree forest.

We arrived, already galloping into the forest with no hesitation.

"C'mon. We've got to get to Zecora's. Hurry!" Twilight announced.

However, Rarity continued to trip on her loose strands of hair while Rainbow Dash continued to crash. Rarity had caught up to us, but Rainbow stayed behind. We didn't have time to lose, so we continued on.

We arrived at Zecora's hut.

"Oh. I look horrible!" Rarity exclaimed, having twigs and leaves in her hair.

Pinkie Pie lifted up her hair to see the hut. "Plis place plooks horrible!"

"Oh my." Rarity responded. "That place really DOES look horrible." We walked towards the window to see many tribal things inside. "Nice decorations, if you like creepy!"

Zecora walked in, making us duck below the window. We poked our heads back on the window to hear Zecora chant in a different language.

"Sthe sthtole my sthong! Shthe shtole mm mm!" Pinkie Pie angrily announced.

"She stole your song?" Rarity asked.

"Oh Pinkie." Twilight responded. "Doesn't sound anything like your song."

"Ah. Hmm..." Pinkie Pie ran over to Fluttershy and begged her. "Pbth!"

"Come on Pinkie Pie… Fluttershy is self conscious about her… voice… leave her alone." I told Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie began to whimper. Fluttershy placed a hoof on me to let me know that it was alright. She sighed and began singing in her new voice.

"She's an evil enchantress

And she does evil dances

And if you look deep in her eyes

She will put you in trances

Then what would she do?

She'll mix up an evil brew

Then she'll gobble you up

In a big tasty stew

Soooo... watch out. " Fluttershy sang, all while Pinkie Pie was dancing out her moves.

"You saw those terrible things." Rarity told Twilight. "NOW you believe us Twilight?"

"Scary looking masks, confusing incantations, and a great big bubbling cauldron?" Twilight sighed. "Everything IS pointing to Zecora being... bad. Or... What if Zecora is just making soup?"

We looked back in the window to see Zecora take a taste of what was inside the cauldron. "Mmm! The perfect temperature for ponies, I presume. Now, where is that little Apple Bloom?" Zecora asked herself.

"Or... What if she's making Apple Bloom soup?" Twilight exclaimed, finally losing her cool. Every pony screamed. Suddenly, something flew straight into Zecora's hut, alarming her. She spoke in native language while Rainbow Dash continued to crash everywhere in the hut. Everything was happening so fast, I didn't know what to do, I could only just watch at the chaotic destruction occurring.

Twilight and the others barged inside the hut, demanding answers. "What have you done with Apple Bloom?"

However, Zecora ignored them and paid more attention to Rainbow Dash. "No! No!" She shouted, continuing her native language.

I saw a lasso grow out of Rainbow Dash. That must have been Applejack! She threw the lasso at Zecora's ear and threw herself at her, wrestling with her ear. Zecora reacted in confusion.

"Ponies!" Zecora exclaimed. What is this you..." Rainbow Dash screamed, knocking over the cauldron. "No! You know not what you've do! You've gone and spilled my precious brew!"

As Zecora knelt over the spilled fluids, Twilight continued to talk at her. "We're onto you Zecora. I didn't want to believe that you cursed us, but the evidence is overwhelming!"

"You made me look ridiculous!" Rarity added.

"You made me SOUND ridiculous!" Fluttershy emphasized.

With incoherent speech, Pinkie Pie joined in. "You made me speak ridiculous!"

"You ruined my horn!" Twilight finished.

"How DARE you! You destroy my home, destroy my work. Then rudely accuse me of being a jerk?" Zecora responded, defensively.

After realizing what the REAL problem was, I began rushing inside the hut.

"You put this curse on us, now you're gonna uncurse us." Rainbow Dash demanded.

"It is unwise to venture down this road. Your actions will make my anger explode!"

"Where IS Applebloom?" Twilight demanded and began shoving her head at Zecora's.

"Girls!" I shouted after entering the hut. "This isn't Zecora's fault! It's the flo—

"Zecora!" A familiar voice exclaimed. "I think I found all the things ya asked for." It was Applebloom, she had walked in and noticed the situation. "What in Ponyville is goin' on here? "

Applejack gasped. "Applebloom! You're okay!"

Applebloom smiled. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Twilight jumped in front of Applebloom. "Because Zecora is an evil enchantress who cursed us and was gonna cook you up into soup!"

Right before I could try to explain the whole situation, Zecora and Applebloom began laughing.

"Oh Twilight. Did those silly fillies finally get in yer head? You know there's no such thing as a curse." Applebloom said.

"Apple Bloom, sweetie. You can't just stand there and tell me this isn't a curse." Twilight replied, presenting the others' misfortunes.

"AS I WAS TRYING TO SAY…" I forcibly intervened. "Zecora is not the cause of your problems. In fact, she was trying to help… however, every pony was being too stubborn about one zebra looking like an evil 'enchantress', that they didn't watch where they were going and didn't take the warning." I announced, having every ponies' eyes on me.

"He's right." Zecora responded. "If you will remember back, the words I spoke were quite exact."

Every pony began remembering the time Zecora gave them the warning.

"About that blue plant… It's called Poison Joke." Applebloom explained.

"That plant is much like poison OAK. But its results are like a joke." Zecora added.

"What in the hay does that mean?" Applejack asked, still lingering on top of Zecora's head.

"It means this plant does not breed wrath. Instead this plant just wants a laugh." Zecora replied.

Applejack stood silent for a moment, trying to translate what Zecora had just said. "... Will somepony please talk normal?"

"I think what she's saying is that when we ran in to save Apple Bloom, we ran into the poison joke. All our problems are just little jokes that played on us." Twilight responded.

"LITTLE JOKES? Very funny…" Applejack replied sarcastically.

"Ok, fine. But what about the cauldron?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"And the chanting?" Fluttershy added.

"And the creepy decor?" Rarity joined.

"Treasures of the native land where I am from." Zecora looked over to the couple of masks that lay against the wall. "This one speaks 'hello', and this 'welcome'."

"Not welcoming at ALL, if you ask me." Rarity replied.

"The words I chanted were from olden times. Something you call a nursery rhyme." Zecora explained.

"But the cauldron... The Apple Bloom soup?" Twilight questioned.

"Lookie here Twilight. That pot of water wasn't for me, it was for all these herbal ingredients." Applebloom pointed to a nearby book that contained ancient recipes for cures. "The cure for poison joke is a simple all-natural remedy. You just gotta take a bubble bath!"

Twilight read over the book and continued to wonder. "But I tried to find a cure in all my books and couldn't find anything." She said as her horn continued to wobble. "What book has this natural remedy?"

Zecora walked over to the book and closed it, showing the cover. "Here is the book you see. Sad that you lack it in your library."

Twilight looked disappointed. "Actually, I do have this book, but I didn't look inside because the title was so... Weird." Zecora opened the book again, showing Twilight a page, which Twilight read out loud. "Supernaturals: Natural remedies and cure-alls that are simply super. I...I... I'm so sorry Zecora. I had the answer the whole time, if only I had bothered to look inside..."

Zecora chuckled. "Maybe next time you will take a second look, and not judge the cover of the book."

"Isn't that the truth…" I muttered.

"Hahaha." Applebloom laughed.

"Zecora? Would you be kind enough to mix up another batch of the herbal bath?" Twilight asked.

"Mix it up I certainly will. Yet I am missing an herb from Ponyville." Zecora accepted.

"But whenever Zecora comes to town, all the shops are MYSTERIOUSLY closed." Applebloom questioned.

"Oh, well... I think we can help you with that."

Twilight had led all of us back into town. I figured she knew that every pony would begin running in fear again, but she must have had a plan for that…

When we were in town, we noticed it was filled with ponies. However, It wasn't long until they noticed Twilight and the others still with the Poison Joke symptoms.

"Look Rose! How awful!" One screamed.

"The wicked enchantress has cursed them all!" Another exclaimed.

"The horror, the horror!" A pony overdramatically announced.

All the ponies began screaming and running in to their homes. Regardless, Twilight walked up to the flower shop and knocked on the door. When the door was answered, there was a small opening and Twilight spoke. "Daisy, we need to talk."

After explaining how misjudging the ponies have been against Zecora, Twilight managed to help Zecora attain the ingredients for the bubble bath. With the help of Twilight, she spread the word at the Spa, which the ponies, who ran the place, agreed to allow Zecora to make the bubble bath there. I sat outside the opened door, while Zecora had just finished the touch ups to the bath.

"Now after all the troubles you have seen, you may finally become nice and clean!" Zecora exclaimed.

I could hear every one of the girls jump in the tub, excited. While they were beginning to relax as their symptoms began to disappeared, Twilight readied her letter to Princess Celestia. "Dear Princess Celestia," Twilight spoke as they continued to bathe. "My friends and I all learned an important lesson this week: Never judge a book by its cover. Someone may look unusual, or funny, or scary. But you have to look past that and learn who they are inside. Real friends don't care what your "cover" is; It's the "contents" of a pony that count. And a good friend, like a good book, is something that will last forever. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

Attaining that same warmth feeling in my heart, I looked up at the ceiling and thought how special it was to hear that… especially how much it meant to me…

"Miss Zecora." I heard a pony say inside. "I would love to get the recipe for this bath. It's simply luxurious!"

"Applejack! Hey. Where's Applejack?" I heard Applebloom exclaim.

I could hear the girls gasp and scream in fright as they desperately searched for Applejack.

"I'm right here lil' sis. I ain't tiny no more!" Applejack announced.

"Ooh. I have never felt so lovely in all my life!" Rarity exclaimed.

"Oh my gosh!" Pinkie Pie cried out. "I've never realized how horrible it is not to be able to talk. I mean I LOVE talking so much and when I couldn't talk 'cause my tongue was all 'ehhhh'. It was the WORST! Don't you agree, Fluttershy?"

There was a pause for a moment. "Yes…" I heard Fluttershy's soft and sweet voice again.

Every pony laughed inside, while I could only remain calm on the outside of the room, laying my head on the wall.

After they had finished their bath, they walked out of the spa, renewed and refreshed.

"That was the BEST BATH EVER!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

Zecora looked over at us and spoke. "Thank you ponies for understanding, yes indeed. You may come and visit me, in your time and need."

Every pony said goodbye to her, and she left towards her home. The night was day, and the day was night; it was late. Every pony returned back to their home, except Fluttershy. I began walking with her to her home.

"That was some adventure, wasn't it?" Fluttershy asked as we walked under the moon.

"Yeah…" I responded. "Every time, there is a new lesson awaiting us…"

"You're right…" Fluttershy replied. There was a moment of silence as we continued walking. "Remember when my voice was all…you know…"

"Yeah… what about it…?"

"To be honest… I was so embarrassed of letting everypony hear how it sounded… especially you… I was scared that I might have been made fun of…"

"Why would you ever think that…?"

"I don't know… reasons I guess… well Spike did laugh a bit but…" She smiled. "It was just for fun, he didn't mean any harm."

"Well… that's Spike." I paused for a moment. "Hey, Fluttershy…" I looked over at her. She returned her look. "Even if your voice was… different… you were still the same Fluttershy… at least… to me…"

She blushed and looked away. "Really…?" She asked softly.

"Of course." I responded.

We arrived at her home. I walked her to her door and we both stood there, looking at each other.

"Thank you… Alex." She said.

"For what?" I asked.

Fluttershy giggled a little. "For being you…"

I looked at her, tilting my head while I was a little confused. I understood what she meant but… for being me…?

She hugged me and opened the door to her home. She turned around and faced me. "Have a good night, Alex."

"You too… Fluttershy." I responded.

She gave one more smile and closed the door gently. I stood there for a moment, thinking. I turned around and started for the way home.

When I arrived at my house, I immediately started for the bed and threw myself on there. I thought about what Fluttershy told me… I could still hear her exact words as I began dozing off to sleep.

"For being you…"

Swarm of the Century

Episode 10 – Swarm of the Century

I slipped under the covers and out the front door. It was a little early, but I wanted to go see Fluttershy. I assumed she would most likely be tending to her animals, so I wanted to see if I could help. The smell of sweets originated from the pastry shop in town. There were a few ponies out in the town, but the population was bound to increase later on during the day.

As I was walking through the park, I was surprised to see Fluttershy gathering flowers nearby instead. There were birds around her as she softly continued to grab the flowers delicately with her mouth and place them sweetly on her basket.

"La, la la, la la, la la, la la." She sang as she skipped over to the next area where she was going to pick more flowers. She grabbed one of them, but a squirrel ran over to her and offered her a dandelion. "Thank you little squirrel, but remember: these flowers are for Princess Celestia. Only the prettiest ones will do." A gentle breeze flowed by and blew the dandelion, removing all of its children. The squirrel looked embarrassed and fled. "La, la la, la la, la la, la la." She continued singing as she moved nearby to a basket of apples.

I walked up to her and greeted. "Hey, Fluttershy."

She noticed me and blushed for a bit. "Oh… hello, Alex."

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm gathering flowers for Princess Celestia! She's going to come visit Ponyville and everypony is getting ready for her visit."

"Oh, really?"

She nodded. "I'm almost done."

She was about to pick another flower, but something very close by chirped.

"Gah!" She hid behind the basket full of apples, frightened. Her basket of flowers was thrown off her back. I quickly retaliated by catching the basket on my back.

Fluttershy poked her head out, looking at where the sound came from. Behind a rock, came out some sort of fly. It had four wings, a small round blue body, two emerald eyes, and four tiny legs as it smiled. It chirped again.

Fluttershy slid over to it. "Hello little guy. I've never seen anything like you before."

The little creature flew over to an apple that dropped from the basket and began sniffing it.

"Oh, are you hungry?" Fluttershy asked. She crushed the apple with her hoof. "Here you go." She offered. Surprisingly, it sped toward the bucket instead and ate every single apple like a razor. Fluttershy gasped. "I guess you WERE hungry."

The creature flew over to Fluttershy's mane and nestled itself in it, chirping.

"You're the cutest thing EVER. I can't wait to show you to my friends." She looked over to me, noticing her basket of flowers was on my back. "Oh, thank you for catching my flowers, Alex!"

"You're welcome… where do you want me to put them?" I asked.

"Let's go drop them off at my house, and then we can show this cute little thing to our friends!" She exclaimed, looking at the creature.

We had walked over to her home and placed the bucket of flowers on the porch. We began walking towards town. As I walked by Fluttershy, I could not help but stare at the thing she had found. Sure, it may be "cute" but eating a whole bucket full of apples isn't exactly a good thing… well for everypony…

Arriving at town, we saw a bunch of decorations held up and planted as we walked through. There was a couple of ponies scratching out a banner and rewriting. It appeared as if they were writing "Welcome, Princess Celestia!" but they had trouble trying to fit it in.

We stopped by the cake shop and Fluttershy hopped in, excited. "Twilight, Pinkie, you won't believe..." She halted and looked over at Twilight and Pinkie Pie who looked as if they were having a discussion. "Oh, I'm sorry. Uh, am I interrupting?"

"No, not at all. Come on in and make yourself at home." Pinkie Pie grabbed the whole cake that was in front of her with her tongue and swallowed it all in one bite. "What's going on, Fluttershy?"

"You won't believe what Alex and I found at the edge of the Everfree Forest." Fluttershy sweetly called out to the creature. "Come on out, little guy. It's okay." Its head poked out, then came out. However… two more followed. They were yellow and brown instead. Fluttershy gasped. "Three?"

"They're AMAZING. What are they?" Twilight walked over and asked.

"I'm not sure. I'm also not sure where these other two came from." Fluttershy responded.

"I'll take one off your hooves." The yellow one landed on Twilight's hoof. "I've never seen anything so... ADORABLE." Twilight hugged the creature. She blushed when she realized she had done that in front of us. "Besides, it'll be nice to have a companion for Spike so he won't bother me so much while I'm studying."

"Pinkie, do you want the other one?" Fluttershy asked.

"UGH!" Pinkie Pie stuck her tongue out. "A parasprite? ARE YOU KIDDING?" Pinkie Pie walked off.

"Ugh?" Fluttershy questioned.

"A para-what?" Twilight asked.

"How could you not like..."

"Now I gotta go find a TROMBONE." Pinkie Pie interrupted Fluttershy.

"A what?" Twilight asked again.

"A trombone, you know…" She imitated the instrument and hopped off.

Twilight sighed. "Ahhh, typical Pinkie." The yellow parasprite flew up next to her and purred. "Well, I'm going to go show this little guy to Rarity! Bye!" She fled off in excitement.

"Don't you think it's a little weird that that … parasprite… had more with it? I thought you had only one." I questioned Fluttershy as we walked around town.

"A little…" Fluttershy responded, looking at her parasprite. "I thought so too… but maybe a few more sneaked inside my mane when I wasn't looking…"

"Hmm… well if that IS the case… then what about their appetite? That one ate a whole bucket of apples, who knows what else they eat… and how much of it they take in."

"Oh, Alex." Fluttershy giggled. "I'm sure we can train them to eat something specific, like a pet. Besides, there are only three of them, how much trouble can they be?"

I had no comment. "Well… let's just hope your right."

Fluttershy smiled. "I think I'll go teach it some new things right now. I'll see you later?"

"Sure, okay."

Fluttershy began walking off to her home. I continued looking at her depart as I thought. Twilight had a whole library of books… maybe I can go check them out to see if they have something on these creatures? Pinkie Pie seemed like if she's seen these guys before… maybe she knows a lot about them too? But I don't even know where she is, since she went looking for an instrument for some reason… when she left, she seemed angry when she heard about the parasprites… there must a con with them…

I shook my head and headed towards Twilight's house. I better go do the first thing on my list before I forget…

I knocked on Twilight's door. After a moment, she opened it. "Hey, Alex."

"Hey, Twilight… I was wondering if I could find out more about those… parasprites… in one of your books." I replied.

"Oh, gosh, Alex. I was curious about those too, I wanted to look myself, but Spike and I have been so busy with cleaning up the place, you know, stacking the books back on the shelves and dusting."

"I see…"

"It was strangest thing though… when I went to show Rarity, I had three of them with me too! I didn't know where they came from!"

My eyes opened in surprise. "You have two more of them?"

"Yes, I –

"TWILIGHT! Get your butt in here and help me!" Spike announced from inside the home. I could hear a crash of books and a groan.

"Sorry, Alex. I have to go before Spike blows a fuse." Twilight said and closed the door.

I turned around and placed a hoof on my chin. Twilight had three instead of one… just like Fluttershy… I suppose it is possible that another couple could have snuck in her mane… but… it's just very unlikely… what if they reproduced and multiplied? But wait… there was only ONE, and I think they would need two… man… this is making me insane… if only I could have found a book that Twilight has that has these bizarre things in them…

I sighed… there was a lot going on in my head. I guess the only thing I can do now is just to see what happens…

When the next day arrived, every pony was finishing up the necessities for Princess Celestia's arrival, which was in about a few hours. I decided to check up on Fluttershy to see how things were going with her new pet.

I knocked her door and waited for a moment. There was no answer… I knocked again and called her name. "Fluttershy?" There was still no answer. I started to worry. I placed my ear on the door and heard small faint squeaks. I opened the door and rushed in. "Fluttershy!" I called. However, I was greeted by many parasprites. There were literally hundreds all over the place, making a mess.

"Fluttershy!" I called again.

"I'm over here!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

She was trying to catch the parasprites that flew away from her.

"What happened?" I asked as I tried to help.

"I don't know! I just woke up this morning and there was a bunch of them!"

Chasing after them and trying to catch them seemed useless… it wasn't until a while after that Fluttershy's door opened once again, releasing an army of the parasprites outside. Rarity, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash rushed in, trying to get Fluttershy's help.

"Ugh, do something Fluttershy, can't you control them?" Twilight asked.

"I tried everything I know: I've tried begging, and pleading, and beseeching, and asking politely and..."

Rainbow Dash groaned. We had no choice but to race outside where the other many parasites were at.

"If we can't get them under control before the princess arrives, it'll be a total disaster!" Twilight exclaimed.

A yellow parasprite flew near Rarity and hacked something out. It looked like a mud ball at first, but then it instantly formed into a new brown parasprite.

"Ew!" Rarity cried. "If you ask me it's already a total disaster!"

"Here's all those apples you wanted, Fluttershy." Applejack announced while she was crossing the bridge. "But I still can't figure why y'need so many." The parasprites noticed the cart full of apples and instantly attacked them, leaving nothing behind and fleeing. "HEY!"

"What do we do?" Fluttershy asked, worriedly.

Twilight gasped. "I got it! No pony can herd like Applejack."

"Yeah! We can drive 'em back into the forest." Rainbow Dash encouraged.

"I'll rustle 'em up, but I need everypony's help to do it. Twilight, you and Rarity wait over there. I'll herd the little critters straight at ya like a funnel. Rainbow Dash, you and Fluttershy stay on top of 'em, don't let 'em fly away." Applejack ordered.

"Aye aye." Rainbow Dash understood.

"Alex, stay on the other side, so they don't escape." Applejack stated.

I nodded and ran to my position.

"Yeeeeeee-haw!" Applejack cheered.

Applejack, Twilight, Rarity, and I began making all the parasprites flee into the same area while Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew above them to lower them down. We all had the parasprites form into a sphere and began rolling them back to the forest.

"Alright y'all, here goes nothin'. Look out Rarity, that one's fixin' to get away. Keep a lean on 'em, Rainbow Dash. Hold on, we're almost there!"

However, Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared at the front of the pack, running along with Twilight.

"Pinkie!" Twilight cried out.

"Twilight, we don't have much time!" Pinkie Pie responded.

"You're telling ME? The princess could arrive at any moment."

"Exactly. That's why I need every pony to drop what they're doing and HELP ME find some MARACAS."

"Maracas? Pinkie, we've got much bigger problems than missing MARACAS!"

Pinkie Pie gasped. "You're right! Getting a tuba has to be our number one goal. Follow me!" Pinkie Pie ran ahead, but ran backwards when Twilight didn't follow her. "I SAID, follow me!"

"Pinkie Pie, you are so RANDOM." Rainbow Dash announced, flying closer to Twilight.

"And you are all so stubborn." She ran off.

"Forget her. Focus. Head 'em up and move 'em out." Applejack called out to every pony.

"I know she sounded ridiculous…" I told Applejack. "But I think she's on to something."

"On to something?" Applejack replied. "How can she get rid of these critters by playing the darn ol' tuba?"

I sighed. You never know…

We finally reached the Everfree forest and let them continue their flying in there.

"ALRIGHT!" Rainbow Dash slapped hooves with Fluttershy.

"Ouch…" Fluttershy responded.

"We did it. Nice work, Applejack." Twilight told Applejack.

"Couldn't a'done it without y'all." Applejack thanked.

"Now let's get back and clean the mess they made, before the princess arrives." Twilight offered.

We all walked back towards Fluttershy's home.

"Okay, everyone knows what to do, right? We gotta work extra hard to make up for lost time." Twilight announced. Fluttershy grabbed the handle with her teeth and opened it, only to reveal another army of parasprites fly out of the house. " Where did THEY come from?" Twilight cried.

"Uh, I may have kept just one. Heh." Fluttershy responded, showing the orange parasprite she had kept. Every pony looked at her annoyed and irritated. "I couldn't help myself. They're just so cute."

"We don't have time to keep rounding up these things. What do we do now?" Twilight exclaimed.

"We call in the weather patrol!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "Yeah!" She flew above and yelled. "YAAAAAA!" She spun around until she formed a tornado, collecting and sucking in all the parasprites.

"Way to go, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight congratulated.

"Looks like our problems are solved!" Applejack said.

"They will be with these cymbals." Pinkie Pie randomly appeared, clashing cymbals together. However, the tornado sucked in the cymbals as well. "Hey! Give me those back!"

The cymbals began causing problems for Rainbow Dash. "Whoa. Yaa! Yow! Woah! Wow! I can't hold it! She's breaking up!" Rainbow Dash flew straight towards a tree and crash landed. The tornado disappeared and released all the parasprites, freely. They all headed towards Ponyville.

"Pinkie Pie, what have you DONE?" Twilight exclaimed, furiously.

"I've lost a brand new pair of cymbals, that's what I've done!" Pinkie Pie responded.

"Will you forget about your silly instruments for one second? You're ruining our efforts to save Ponyville!"

"ME? Ruin? I'm not the ruiner, I'm the ruinee! Or is it ruiness? Ruinette?" Pinkie Pie thought.

"Come on, there's no reasoning with that one." Applejack announced. "She's a few apples short of a bushel."

They ran off, leaving Pinkie Pie. I stayed for a reason.

"Hey! I'm trying to tell you all that the ruining is on the other hoof. If you just slow down and LISTEN TO ME!" Pinkie Pie screamed.

"I'm here, Pinkie Pie. What's the plan?" I asked.

"You believe me…?" Pinkie Pie responded.

"Yeah… now what's the plan? You're gathering these instruments for some reason… is it to distract the parasprites?"

"Yeah! Sorta. You see, I have dealt with these nasty little –yet cute- critters before and I found out that these instrumentals get rid of them!"

"How?"

"When I play them, they get distracted with the music and follow it, so if I get every one of those parasprites to follow me, I can get them back to the Everfree forest!"

"Okay then! Let's get the rest of the instruments you need!"

We ran towards town.

The town was being raided by all the parasprites; they were eating all the food! Pinkie Pie managed to find tambourines and gather several different instruments in a bag. We spotted Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Rarity.

"Look, tamborines! If you can all just..." Pinkie Pie paused, noticing that the others were still not listening to her. She screamed and ran off while I tried to get the attention of them.

"Pinkie Pie has a PLAN to—

Twilight gasped, noticing a parasprite about to eat an apple, but sighed when it refused the food. The parasprite immediately ate the bucket and not the apple. We began seeing every parasprite eat anything that WASN'T food!

"Heh. Hey," Rainbow Dash looked over to Twilight. "It worked. They're not eating the FOOD anymore."

"Oh no... if they get inside my store... EVERY PONY FOR HERSELF!" Rarity exclaimed.

Twilight ran off to her home. Rainbow Dash began being chased by many parasprites. Everywhere was in complete chaos. Princess Celestia was going to be here in a few minutes and this is how she's going to see Ponyville?

Soon, I heard music being played. I saw Pinkie Pie leading a trail of parasprites while marching with the many instruments she gathered. Well… she was right…

Twilight walked over to us and shrugged in disbelief. We followed Pinkie Pie and her fan of parasprites. Twilight stopped at pointed. "Look!" Princess Celestia, escorted by her royal guards, arrived before us. We ran ahead of Pinkie Pie and bowed.

"Twilight Sparkle, my prized pupil!" Princess Celestia greeted.

"Hello, princess!" Twilight responded with a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"So lovely to see you again, as well as your friends."

A clash of the cymbals interrupted the conversation. To our side, we saw Pinkie Pie leading the parasprites, which left Twilight embarrassed and Princess Celestia surprised.

"So... how's the trip? Get much traffic?" Twilight asked, trying to change the subject.

"Ah, what is this?" The Princess responded, confused. One of the parasprites landed on her wing for a moment and flew away to the music. "Oh ho ho, these creatures are adorable."

"They're not THAT adorable…" Rainbow Dash muttered.

"I'm terribly honored that you and the good citizens of Ponyville have organized a parade in honor of my visit." Princess Celestia thanked.

"Parade?" Twilight asked, confused, but then realized her escape plan. "Oh. Yes, the parade!"

"Unfortunately, that visit is going to have to wait for another time. I'm afraid an emergency has come up in Fillydelphia. Apparently there's been some sort of infestation." Princess Celestia apologized.

"An... infestation?" Twilight asked, nervously.

"Yes, a swarm of incredibly bothersome creatures has invaded the poor town. I'm sorry Twilight, to have to put you all through so much trouble."

"Trouble? What trouble?"

"Before I have to go, would you care to give me your latest report on the magic of friendship in person?"

"My... report?"

"Haven't you learned anything about friendship?"

Twilight looked over at Pinkie Pie and smiled. "Actually, I have. I've learned that sometimes the solution to your problems can come from where you least expect it. It's a good idea to stop and listen to your friends' opinions and perspectives…" Another crash of the cymbals roared. "…even when they don't always seem to make sense."

"I'm so proud of you, Twilight Sparkle, and I'm very impressed with your friends as well. It sounds like you're all learning so much from each other." Princess Celestia looked over all of us.

"Thank you, princess…" Twilight replied as the Princess began leaving.

We walked over to Pinkie Pie as she finished having the last of the parasprites leave.

"Hey, what happened to the princess?" Pinkie Pie asked, stopping her music.

"Emergency in Fillydelphia." Twilight responded.

"Some sort of infestation." Rainbow Dash added.

"Oh no! Have they got parasprites too? Well, have tuba, will travel." Pinkie Pie blew her tuba.

"I think the princess can handle it." Twilight replied.

"So you knew what those critters were all along, huh Pinkie Pie?" Applejack asked.

"Well DUH, why do you think I was so frantic to get my hooves on all these instruments? I TRIED to tell you." Pinkie Pie stated.

"We know Pinkie Pie, and we're sorry we didn't listen." Twilight apologized.

Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack followed the same.

"You're a great friend, even if we don't always understand you." Twilight told Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie grinned. "Thanks guys, you're all great friends too, even when I don't understand me."

"You saved my reputation with Princess Celestia, and more importantly, you saved Ponyville."

We arrived back at town to see the total mess that was left by the parasprites.

"Or not…" Twilight said, disappointed.

Everypony gathered around us inside the town after they noticed all the parasprites were gone. Soon, every pony was helping out to restore the town. Ponies used their magic to fix the buildings while others that could fly, picked up broken pieces and safely removed them. The rest of us did a little of both. With the help of every pony, we managed to restore the town again.

It was nightfall by the time we finished. Every pony left towards their home for their night's sleep.

I was about to go home myself, but Fluttershy called me.

"Hey, Alex…" Fluttershy said behind me.

I turned around to face her. She started moving her hooves along the dirt and looked around again.

"You're going to the Grand Galloping Gala… right…?" She asked.

"I guess so… why...?"

"…were you thinking of taking anypony…?

"What do you mean?" I asked, a little confused.

"You know…" She paused for a moment. "… as a date…"

"oh… well… not really… I don't think anypony wants to go with me anyway…"

Fluttershy smiled and blushed. "I'm sure there's some pony that does…"

"Huh…?"

She continued smiling. "Goodnight, Alex." She began to fly towards home.

I stood there a little confused. After a moment, I returned home.

As I lay in bed awake, I thought about what Fluttershy told me. In my mind, I did not know what she meant…but in my heart… I did…

Winter Wrap Up

Episode 11 – Winter Wrap Up

A loud and rapid knocking noise startled me out of bed; in fact, it made me fall out of bed. I slowly stood up, exhaling a heavy breath . I walked over to my front door and opened it to see Twilight smiling brightly and excitedly. I could see Spike asleep on her back.

"Twilight?" I questioned.

"Hi, Alex! It's Winter Wrap Up Day!" She responded.

I looked beside her and noticed the snow outside.

"Oh… yeah…" I said softly, still a little tired.

"C'mon! They're starting to pick teams, let's go!"

"Huh?"

She grabbed my hoof and pulled me towards her. Then, she had me walking behind her as she hurried over to the gathered crowd in town, her legs shifting in place hastily, but in rhythm. "Those must be the team vests Rarity designed. Blue for the weather team, green for the plant team, and tan for the animal team. I wonder which team vest I'll be wearing."

"I'll take a blue vest, same color as my blanket," Spike spoke, sleepily. "which I think I hear calling my name. 'Spike! Spike! Come to bed!' Ugh, it's too early."

I caught up with Twilight when she stopped in the crowd.

"Thank you everypony, for being here bright and early." The mayor announced. "We need every single pony's help to wrap up winter, and bring in spring."

The whole crowd of ponies cheered.

"Now, all of you have your vests, and have been assigned to your teams, so let's do even better than last year, and have the quickest Winter Wrap Up ever!"

I don't have a vest…but I was too tired to say anything.

"Oh, this is so exciting." Twilight told me as Spike looked at her, grumpy.

"Alright everypony, find your team leader, and let's get galloping!" The mayor pointed to a field, where Rainbow Dash was the blue team leader, Applejack was the green team leader, and another pony I did not know was the tan team leader.

"Oh gosh, where should I go?" Twilight looked around. "I'm not sure where I fit in. What exactly does everypony do?" Twilight looked worried. I was about to help Twilight, but everypony began their Winter Wrap Up.

"Three months of winter coolness

And awesome holidays…" Rainbow Dash began singing with a determined yet mournful tone.

"We've kept our hoovsies warm at home

Time off from work to play" Pinkie Pie added, hopping joyfully..

"But the food we've stored is runnin' out

And we can't grow in this cold" Applejack joined, emphasizing the need for our confidence and togetherness .

"And even though I love my boots

This fashion's getting old" Rarity finished, adding more of an opinion, but still motivated the persuasion of increasing the morale in a very secretive way.

Twilight began walking through the snow as I followed her. She took a turn in the song as well...

"The time has come to welcome spring

And all things warm and green

But it's also time to say goodbye

It's winter we must clean…"

Her voice gave me a sudden feeling of...warmness... the kind of warm that can even pierce through the temperature of the friendly snow. She looked around at the scenery, observing the work that was to be done, and then looked at me.

"How can I help? I'm new, you see

What does everypony do?" She looked back up towards the sky, reaching into her thoughts for the plan she hoped to come up with.

"How do I fit in without magic?

I haven't got a clue!"

The ponies near us all sang in harmony, including Fluttershy, Rarity, and another pony that was on the green team.

"Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

Let's finish our holiday cheer!

Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

-Applejack sang-

'Cause tomorrow spring–

-Rainbow dash flew by her, finishing her sentence-

–is here!

'Cause tomorrow spring is here!"

Rainbow Dash sang as the other ponies cleared the skies.

"Bringing home the southern birds

A Pegasus' job begins

And clearing all the gloomy skies

To let the sunshine in

We move the clouds

And we melt the white snow"

Pinkie Pie joined in.

"When the sun comes up

Its warmth and beauty will glow!"

The sun's rays shined on Twilight and me, providing not only warmth, but a high sense of hope.

"Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

Let's finish our holiday cheer

Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

'Cause tomorrow spring is here

Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

'Cause tomorrow spring is here

'Cause tomorrow spring is here!"

Rarity began singing as the tan team rung bells and woke the animals from hibernation.

"Little critters hibernate

Under the snow and ice"

Then… I heard Fluttershy's amazing soft and sweet voice…

"We wake up all their sleepy heads

So quietly and nice"

"We help them gather up their food

Fix their homes below"

"We welcome back the southern birds

So their families can grow"

"Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

Let's finish our holiday cheer

Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

'Cause tomorrow spring is here

Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!" We stood in amazement as we watched all the ponies sing in unison and clear the snow, however a pile of snow tumbled on us. We looked up to see Rainbow Dash smiling as she continued singing.

"'Cause tomorrow spring is here

'Cause tomorrow spring is here!"

"No easy task to clear the ground" Applejack began, lightly tapping the box of seeds near her.

"Plant our tiny seeds

With proper care and sunshine

Everyone it feeds

Apples, carrots, celery stalks

Colorful flowers too

We must work so very hard"

Two other ponies joined.

"It's just so much to do! "

Little ponies were skipping and hopping with the bunnies while the blue team ponies shoveled snow off the rooftops.

"Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

Let's finish our holiday cheer

Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

'Cause tomorrow spring is here

Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

'Cause tomorrow spring is here"

Pinkie Pie sang as she skated on the frozen lake.

'Cause tomorrow spring is here!"

Twilight resumed singing as she walked gloomily through the snow and her thoughts. Seeing her sing like this made me feel a little sad in the inside… I wanted to help her out…

"Now that I know what they all do –She looked towards me-

I have to find my place – She looked back at all the other teams of ponies working-

And help with all of my heart

Tough task ahead I face

How will I do without my magic

Help the Earth pony way

I want to belong so I must

Do my best today

Do my best today" Twilight sustained the note as the other ponies continued to sing.

"Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

Let's finish our holiday cheer

Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!

'Cause tomorrow spring is here

Winter Wrap Up! Winter Wrap Up!"All the ponies of the three different teams gathered together and sang in unison, providing hope to everypony into getting the job done.

"'Cause tomorrow spring is here

'Cause tomorrow spring is here

'Cause tomorrow spring is here!" Twilight finished, keeping the note for a while until she looked out at the other team of ponies, still unable to decide what to do. "Everypony belongs to a team." She said as she looked over at me. "What should I do? Where should I go?"

I was about to open my mouth to offer some advice, but Rainbow Dash interrupted me when she ordered her team above us.

"Alright team, you're clear for takeoff!"

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight called.

"Oh, hey Twilight, what's up?" Rainbow Dash replied.

"What are you doing?"

"Sending off one of my flight crews to retrieve the birds that have flown south for the winter."

"Oh, can I help? How about if I help clear out the clouds?"

"Um..." Rainbow Dash flapped her wings.

"Right. No wings…"

"Sorry Twilight." Rainbow Dash sped away towards her teammates.

"Great, now what do we do…?"

"I don't know about you, but I'm gonna be nappin'." Spike responded over at a bush where he began snoring at.

Twilight pressed a hoof at his cheek. "Come on Spike, this is serious business. Winter needs to be wrapped up, and I'm determined to do my part. Somehow…"

"Twilight…" I called. She looked over to me."Maybe you don't need to be in a team… I know this is your first Winter Wrap Up in Ponyville, but maybe you can do something any other pony can't do?"

"That's just it…" She responded. "I don't know what IT is…"

"I'm a hundred percent sure you'll find out Twilight. I know there's something you can do..."

"Thanks, Alex." She smiled. "Well, what are you going to do?"

I thought about Fluttershy. "I think I'll just head over to the tan team…"

"Oh, Alright. I guess I'll just try to help the other teams and see what I can do."

"I can stay and help you, if you want."

"Oh, no. Thanks for the offer, but you should go and do your own thing. I'll be okay."

"Are you sure?"

"Mm-hm."

"Alright… well good luck then, Twilight."

"You too."

I began walking over to where Fluttershy was helping the animals as Twilight grabbed Spike off the bush and headed to Rarity, who was fixing the nests.

Fluttershy had a bell in her mouth. She was ringing it to wake up the animals as she softly spoke to them. After she finished evacuating the home, she turned around to walk to another one. However, she bumped herself in front of me.

"Oh, excuse me." Fluttershy apologized. She looked up to recognize it was me. "Oh!" She blushed. "Hi, Alex. I didn't see you there...Where's your vest?" She asked, after noticing I wasn't wearing one.

"Oh… uh… I don't have one… but I thought I could just come over and help you with the animals." I responded.

"That's nice of you…" She looked away. "Well of course you can help me; I'm just waking up the little critters." She gave me a spare bell. "Just gently poke your head in their homes and call them."

"Alright. Got it." I walked over to another hole. Grabbing the bell with my mouth, I rang it several times and gently called them to get up. A couple of baby bunnies walked out, yawning and stretching their arms.

I continued doing this for a moment until I met up with Fluttershy again. She had just finished another home. "How did you do Alex?" She asked.

"Pretty good I guess… they woke up fine." I responded.

"That's fantastic!" Fluttershy smiled. She walked over to another home and poked her head inside. "Wake up little sleepy heads. Hope you had some wonderful dreams and restful hibernation, but it's time to get up now, spring is coming."

A couple of hedgehogs walked out, yawning.

"Awww, how cute." I heard Twilight say. I didn't know she had stopped by.

"Aren't they? This is my favorite task the whole season, when I get to see all my little animal friends again." Fluttershy replied.

"Uh, what's 'hibernation'?" Spike asked, looking fully awake now.

"It's like a long sleep." Fluttershy walked over to another home.

"Long sleep?"

"Yes." She rung the bell. "Wake up little porcupines." She called inside the home. She turned back to Spike. "Animals often hibernate through the winter to save their energy and eat less food."

"I definitely like the idea of hibernation, uh, except for the 'eat less food' part." Spike responded.

The porcupines yawned and poked each other when they hugged.

"Oh, would you just look at all these warrens and dens; I'm worried that Alex and I won't be able to wake up every animal before spring comes."

"Well, I'll help, Fluttershy!" Twilight announced, gladly.

"You will? Oh, that would be wonderful." Fluttershy gave her bell to Spike and looked towards me. "Let's go wake up the critters over here."

I nodded and called over to Twilight. "Just be careful of certain dens, Twilight..."

"Gotcha!" She yelled back.

I began walking with Fluttershy towards the other dens.

"So...Fluttershy..." I started.

"Yes, Alex?" Fluttershy, keeping her head facing in front of her but moving her eyes to the corner to see me, asked while she smiled.

"I was just wondering..." My eyes moved uneasy; I wanted to know what she truly meant when she brought up the Grand Galloping Gala last time... but I was feeling a bit anxious. "About the Grand Galloping Gala...what did you-

"Waaa! Snakes! Snakes!" Twilight screamed.

We turned around to see Twilight backing away, quickly, from a group of snakes into another den. She ran out with bats speeding outside the cave. Twilight bumped herself into a tree and a bee's nest fell on top of her. She continued to run and scream straight into another den.

A pair of skunks walked outside the den Twilight ran into. "Good morning friends." Fluttershy greeted them warmly.

We heard Twilight groan inside. After a while, she came out with bee stings all over her face and smelled badly.

"Whoa, Twilight! You stink!" Spike announced.

Twilight looked at him, angrily. "Thanks… I didn't know that…" She said, sarcastically.

"Looks like you need to bathe in Tomato juice, Twilight…" Fluttershy advised.

Twilight sighed. "I know…" She responded in a very disappointed and even depressed tone. She began to walk off with Spike trailing behind her while he held his nose. I was starting to feel really bad for Twilight.

"Poor Twilight…" Fluttershy said.

"Yeah…" I agreed.

A moment of silence passed.

"So... what was it you wanted to ask me about the Grand Galloping Gala, Alex?" Fluttershy asked, looking bright.

I lowered my head, stared at the snowy ground, at felt a little red. "Never mind..."

After continuously waking up more animals from their hibernation, Fluttershy and I decided to take a break.

"We should go check up on how the other teams are doing." Fluttershy offered to me.

"Sure." I accepted.

On the way, we stopped by to see Rarity, who was supposed to be working on the nests. She was mumbling many things about nest-making while she was fixing up a nest that...well... wasn't as great as hers in comparison.

"Hi, Rarity." Fluttershy greeted as she walked over to the table where she was working on. "How is it going with making the nests?"

"Oh...I...um..." Rarity continued pulling out things from the nest. "I'm okay..."

"How many have you made?" I questioned.

Rarity halted and remained silent for a moment. "...one..."

Fluttershy and I were shocked.

"Rarity... you've only made one...?" Fluttershy asked, worried.

"Yes... but... these things take time with such grace! But I promise you... I'll create enough in time for Spring!"

Fluttershy and I both looked at each other.

"Do you need any help...?" I asked Rarity.

She looked at the nest she was fixing up and quickly looked back at me, laughing nervously. "Oh, no, no, no! I'm fine! Really!"

"Alright..."

Fluttershy and I left... but we still felt a little doubtful in our minds...

We walked towards town to see the other teams doing their jobs.

"Rainbow Dash, y'all on the weather team need to melt the rest of the snow here on the ground and the trees, pronto." Applejack ordered Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy heard this and quickly rushed over to Rainbow Dash.

"Got it." Rainbow Dash was just about to fly off until Fluttershy stopped her.

"Wait. My poor little animals' homes will get flooded if the snow melts too fast."

"Got it."

"I'm tellin' you Rainbow, you gotta melt that snow NOW." Applejack counterattacked.

"No, you simply must wait." Fluttershy defended.

"Okay." Rainbow Dash flew up, annoyed.

However, Fluttershy and Applejack continued to argue for the order.

"Go."

"Stop."

"Go."

"Stop.

"GO!"

"STOP!"

"Ugh! Make up your minds!" Rainbow Dash responded, irritably.

"Oh! What in Equestria are all you arguing about? This sort of silliness is why we were late for spring last year, and the year before that, and the year before that." The mayor intervened. "I was hoping my amazingly inspirational speech would urge everyone to do better than last year, but now it looks like we're going to be later than ever. I mean just look at this catastrophe. The ice scorers made the ice chunks too big to melt; the nest designer is horrendously behind, we need several hundred, and she's only made one; And don't get me started on all the clouds in the sky, the icicles on the trees... This isn't good, not at all!"

"And it's gonna be all to pieces disastrous if we can't get our seeds all planted." Applejack included.

"Chillax Applejack, we're bustin' our chops as fast as we can." Rainbow Dash replied.

"No, not fast, we have to wake animals slowly." Fluttershy warned.

"Uh, AJ?" Big Macintosh had come over to Applejack.

"Oh good gravy, Caramel lost the grass seeds again, didn't he?"

"Ai-yup."

One of the Pegasus ponies flew over here to lodge another complaint. "Ditzy Doo accidentally went north to get the southern birds!"

"Oh that featherbrain. Didn't she learn her lesson last year when she went west?" Rainbow Dash reacted.

All the ponies began grumbling and complaining.

"Stop this at once. We don't have time to argue. It's almost sundown. Spring is going to be late again. Another year of scandal and shame. If only we could be more organized."

Something finally clicked in my mind. That's it! That's how Twilight can help with the Winter Wrap Up! She's great at organizing! I was just about to go look for her when she came up to the crowd instead.

"Stop everypony." The ponies continued to argue. "Stop!" She used her magic to make the bird near her chirp loudly enough to gain the attention of everypony. "Sorry." She apologized to the bird. "I know you all want to complete your jobs on time, but arguing is no way to go about it. What you need is organization, and I'm just the pony for the job."

Twilight's organization skills quickly took effect. She had every pony follow her plan. While I was with Fluttershy, she had an idea of having bells at each den, and with a shake of a single rope, the bells rang at each den, waking up every critter. When the snakes came out, we saw Twilight on top of tree, shaking. Fluttershy nodded at the bird on top of her and the bird released a fierce chirp, ordering the sky team to form into a tornado that cleared all the skies and snow a lot faster than independently, which then caused the ice to melt over at the lake.

By the time night fell, everypony, including me, was plowing the grass and planting seeds. Morning rose and everypony released the birds which headed towards their nests. We had all finally finished as we looked over at our completed work.

"I can't believe it. Spring is here! On time!" The mayor looked over at Twilight. "And we have you to thank for it. If it weren't for your organizing skills we would still be arguing."

"Ai-yup." Big Macintosh stated.

Everypony laughed, joyously.

"It was a team effort." Twilight said.

"And since you helped every team…" The mayor announced." We have an official vest for you. We give you the title, 'All-Team Organizer'!"

The vest had all three colors of the vest teams.

"Gosh, I don't even know what to say. Thank you everypony."

"And hereby I declare that winter is... wrapped up on time."

All of the ponies cheered.

Twilight walked over to me and smiled. "You were right, Alex."

"Eh… you were the one who found out by yourself…"

She giggled a little. "When Spike and I get back home, this is the letter I'm going to write." Twilight cleared her throat. "Dear Princess Celestia, Winter Wrap Up was one of the most special things I've ever been a part of here in Ponyville. It helped me to learn we all have hidden talents, and if we're patient and diligent, we're sure to find them, and as always, with good friendship and teamwork, ponies can accomplish anything." She looked over at me. "How was that?"

"It was great... That's a really good letter..." I responded. Every time I heard one of Twilight's letters... it warmed my heart.

She smiled. "Thanks. Well I better get Spike and take him to bed, we've been up forever."

"Alright, bye Twilight."

"Bye!" She walked off to find Spike.

My eyes were beginning to close by themselves from working overnight. Fluttershy walked over to me and smiled while her eyes looked sleepy. "I'll see you later…" She departed towards her home. She must have felt the same way I did… too sleepy to talk…

I walked home.

When I entered, I immediately traveled to the bed and threw myself on it, falling asleep instantly.

Call of the Cutie

Episode 12 – Call of the Cutie

I rose out of bed and walked to bathroom. I turned on the sink and splashed water on my face. I observed myself in the mirror for a moment. After, I wiped my face and closed my eyes for a while. However, I heard knocking at my door which caused me to glance back. I walked over to the door and opened it.

"Hey there, Alex." Applejack greeted.

"Oh… hey, Applejack… Is something wrong?" I asked.

"Oh… well, not really. I wanted to ask for a favor from you, if you're willing to help..."

"Um, sure. What is it?"

"Do ya mind if ya pick up Applebloom from school? I kinda got my hooves tied up with harvesting apples, Twilight's catching up on her studying, Rainbow is clearing the sky, Rarity is designing new dresses… well you get the idea."

"Oh, okay then. I can pick her up from school."

"Oh, thank ya greatly, Alex! Is there any way I can repay ya?"

"Don't worry about it; you don't need to worry about repaying me, that's what friends are for right?"

Applejack smiled. "I guess you're right."

I began walking towards the school, smelling the sweets and pastries coming from the shop. It was an average day in Ponyville. Ponies began setting up their carts and stands for the items they were going to sell. I'm guessing Applejack had to harvest apples so she could sell them later on today. I arrived at the school in a short time. There were no ponies outside, so I assumed there was still time left.

As I waited, I observed the scenery of the school. The red flag danced with the breeze as a statue of a pony rose proudly above it. They even had a playground with different kind of rides in it. I thought as I waited near the wooden gates. Everything here sure does bring back a lot of memories…

Finally, the school bell sang and the little students walked outside the school. Applebloom was the last one to walk out, but she looked sad as she walked out slowly. She was walking with another pony that was talking to her. Another couple of ponies walked near them as they talked about the day.

"I don't know why we had to sit through a lecture about getting a cutie mark. I mean, waiting for your cutie mark is sooo last week. You got yours, I just got mine. We all have them already." The light pink pony gasped. "I mean, almost all of us have them already. Don't worry you two; you're still totally invited to my cute-ceañera this weekend."

"It's going to be amazing." The grey pony agreed as they walked around Applebloom and her friend...preying on them with their words.

"It's a party celebrating me and my fantastic cutie mark. How could it not be?"

"Bump! Bump! Sugar-lump, rump!" The two ponies announced in unison, doing their own cheer and laughing.

"Gimme a break…" Applebloom muttered.

"See you this weekend, blank flanks!" They both said, laughing.

I glanced at them, annoyed, as they walked past me, continuing to laugh. This place really DOES bring back memories…

Applebloom's friend looked at Applebloom with a frown. "I guess I'll see you later." She walked off as Applebloom look gloomily at the ground. I walked up to her.

"Hey… Applebloom."

"Alex?" She looked up to me, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Applejack asked me to pick you up from school."

"Oh…" Applejack replied, sadly.

As I began walking her to Apple Acres, I asked her about what had just happened.

"What were those girls bothering you about?" I asked her.

"They were just making me feel bad because I don't have my cutie mark yet…"

"Don't worry Applebloom, I know EXACTLY how you feel…" I scoffed and shook my head. "Don't let them make you feel bad about yourself, your cutie mark will come in time… before you know it, you'll have it when you least expect it."

Applebloom sighed. "It's not fair! Diamond Tiara invited me to her cute-ceañera, but it's only because she KNOWS I don't have a cutie mark!" She lowered her head. " Everypony is gonna make fun of me…"

"Do you really want to go to the party or not, Applebloom?" I asked.

"I don't know…"

"Well… If you really think you'd have fun at the party, if you had the cutie mark, then you should go anyway, even if you don't have one. You're still young… why rush something just for the benefit that some other pony has instead of you? If you don't go to the party, then they will win. You should go to the party to show them that you're not afraid, that you're not going to let some provokes and insults bother you because you still have a whole adventure ahead of you. They may make fun of you… but I promise that every other pony wont."

"Thanks Alex…" Applebloom still held her head down. "I guess…"

I continued walking Applebloom, changing my expression to a gloomy one.

We arrived at Apple Acres to see Applejack kicking trees for the apples to fall down. She heard us walking and turned around.

"Howdy, Alex!" Applejack greeted me brightly. "Thanks for bringin' Applebloom home!" She noticed Applebloom's expression. "What's wrong, sugar cube?"

"I don't know if I want to go to Diamond Tiara's party…" Applebloom responded softly.

"You should! Why wouldn't you?" Applejack asked.

Applebloom remained silent for a moment. "…Because I don't have my cutie mark…"

"Y'know, I was the last pony in my class to get my cutie mark, and I couldn't be prouder of it. I know my future was to run Sweet Apple Acres, and these bright shiny apples sealed the deal." Applejack gasped. "Come to think of it, Granny Smith was the last one in her class, too. Huh, same as Big Macintosh. What about you, Alex?"

I was startled and my eyes shifted sideways. "Um… I don't remember…"

"I really don't see how that's supposed to make me feel better." Applebloom responded as she walked over to an apple on the ground and kicked it. "It probably means that being the last one in your class to get a cutie mark runs in the family. ...runs in the family." Her eyes opened wide, as if she discovered something great, instantly changing her mood and releasing a great and wide grin. "Runs in the family! Runs in the family! You've got apples for your cutie mark, Granny Smith has an apple pie, Big Macintosh has an apple half, my unique talent must has som'n to do with apples! Apples apples apples!" Applebloom hopped around excitedly, which eventually caused her to crash into a bucket of apples. " Oops... apples."

"I'm just about to go set up a cart in town." Applejack patted the rest of the buckets she had nearby. "I hope I have me a good day of sellin' apples!"

"OH!" Applebloom exclaimed. "Can I go with you, please? I might get my cutie mark from helping you!"

"Well…" Applejack hesitated. "The more the merrier… right?" Applejack released a nervous smile and laugh. "Well, Alex, me and Applebloom are gonna go sell us some apples, thanks again!"

"Yeah… no problem…" I responded.

They walked off, carrying the buckets of apples with them. Applebloom stumbled a bit with them, however. I sighed and began walking out of the farm.

Fluttershy noticed me as I walked towards her home.

"Hi, Alex!" She exclaimed softly and flew towards me.

"Hey, Fluttershy…" I replied.

Her face changed to a worried one. "Is something wrong…?" She asked.

I sighed. "It's just that Applebloom is worried about getting a cutie mark because she is being made fun of by some other ponies at school."

"Oh, my. That's horrible!"

"I know… but the thing is… that she's letting some ponies ruin her experience of getting a cutie mark… she will never have the excitement when she's doing it for other ponies who are mean to her…"

"Oh, Alex… you are absolutely right… It's only the best experience when you discover it yourself…"

I sat nearby a tree. Fluttershy followed me and sat down next to me.

"I hope she doesn't rush it…" I spoke.

"Me too…" Fluttershy responded. There was a moment of silence until Fluttershy spoke again. "Alex…?"

"Hm?"

"Remember when I asked about your mark?"

I was startled. I instantly began feeling hot, and my words felt like they couldn't walk straight out of my mouth. "My mark…?"

She nodded her head. "Why did you seem terrified when I asked you?"

I stared towards the ground, gloomy. "Because…" I tried to think of the words I should say. "I…" Fluttershy continued to look at me, concerned. "…I don't know… I guess… the story is really pathetic…"

"Pathetic? What do you mean? It can't be pathetic…"

"Why do you think that…?"

"Because…," she looked towards the ground. "Nothing can be pathetic about you, Alex…" I looked towards her, shocked. She continued to rub her hooves together. "Do you think… you'll ever tell me…?" She asked.

"Maybe…I mean... it's not like I don't want to tell you... it's just..." I sighed. "... I think I just need some time..."

I knew Fluttershy didn't truly understand why I said this... but she seemed as if she didn't want to bother me... so she let it slide. "Oh... it's okay... I understand."

It was silent for another moment.

"How about we take a walk in town?" Fluttershy offered me, managing to form a smile.

"Okay." I replied.

As Fluttershy and I walked through town, we could hear music blasting from the cake shop. Fluttershy and I noticed Twilight walking out of the shop.

"Hey, Twilight…" I greeted as we walked towards her.

"Oh, hey you guys." She responded, sounding a bit tired.

"What's going on in the shop?" I asked.

"Pinkie Pie is hosting a cute-ceañera for a pony that just got her cutie mark."

Cute-ceañera? Was that the party Applebloom was talking about?

"I see…" I replied. "Is any pony invited?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Want to go, Fluttershy?" I asked.

"Okay." She responded with a smile.

Fluttershy and I started making our way towards the door, but we were suddenly interrupted by a yell.

"TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT!" Spike had come running towards Twilight, carrying a letter in his hand.

"Spike? What's up?"

"It's a letter from the Princess!" Spike quickly handed the letter to Twilight. Twilight grabbed the letter with her magic. She opened it and began reading it. Her eyes opened wide and looked over to me. "Alex… Princess Celestia wants to see you!"

"See me…?" I questioned, shocked.

"Yes! The letter states that the Princess requires your presence, and she shall send royal guards to escort you to Canterlot!"

"But… I was going to go to the party with Fluttershy…"

"It's okay, Alex." I turned to see Fluttershy smiling at me. "I'll be with Twilight, you should go see the Princess, it must be very important."

"Are you sure, Fluttershy…?"

She nodded. "Mm-hm. You can come see me afterwards and tell me all about it when you come back!"

I hesitated for a moment, but when I looked at Fluttershy's face... the light smile she formed... her understanding eyes... they all sent me a message that I should really go see the Princess."Okay…" I looked at Fluttershy for a moment, and then I turned towards Twilight and nodded.

"Spike, send a letter to Princess Celestia saying that Alex is ready for his department to Canterlot." Twilight told Spike.

"Consider it done!" Spike wrote a few words and then sent the letter.

Soon enough, royal guards descended down towards us and landed. They asked for me.

"That's me." I stepped forward.

"Take a seat, and we shall take you to the Princess." They responded.

I obeyed and took a seat in the carriage. I looked over to Fluttershy. She smiled, but looked as if she was holding back sadness. She waved goodbye at me until I was to come back. I waved back as the royal guards began taking me towards Canterlot.

I had passed beyond the endless sky and taken to where the Princess resided.

"She's waiting for you. " They said as they pointed towards a door. "We'll be outside if you need anything."

"Alright, thanks…"

A bit nervous, I opened the door and walked inside. The door closed softly behind me. I noticed the Princess nearby the fireplace which was currently lit. She was lying on the ground reading a book. She closed it and looked towards me. I quickly remembered to pay my respects. I nervously bowed, which caused her to chuckle.

"Rise, Alex. There is no need for you to be so nervous."

I slowly rose. "I'm sorry… I'm just wondering why you wanted to see me personally…"

"To hear how you are doing with your friends, of course." She responded as she continued to give her heart warming smile.

"My friends?"

"Yes, how have you been doing with your friends so far?"

I took a seat. "I've been pretty good with them, actually… Ever since I met them… I started having these really great feelings… feelings that I have never felt before…although… I don't know what they are…"

"Well, tell me more about these feelings." Princess Celestia grew interested, resting her head anxiously, but calmly, to hear my explanation.

"Well… when I'm with my friends, and we are all spending time together, it gives me this… heartwarming feeling… it feels really good and truly warms my heart. But that's not the only feeling…"

"Oh? Then what is the other feeling?"

My eyes moved around, trying to find the right words. "When I'm around this one certain pony… I feel a bit hot inside… it's almost like the feeling when I'm with all of my friends… but this one is more special… whenever I'm around her… I get this pounding sensation in my heart and it just… well… feels amazing…" I paused for a moment. "I'm sorry… I don't really know how to explain it…"

Princess Celestia chuckled. "I see… and what is this pony's name? If I might ask…"

I was silent for a moment. "Fluttershy…"

Princess Celestia gave a different kind of smile.

"Can you tell me what these feelings are, Princess?" I asked.

"I can… but it would be far much more thrilling if you find out for yourself." Princess Celestia spoke as she continued to smile.

"I see…" I remembered how it's better not to rush things. "Of course, Princess, you are right."

She closed her eyes for a moment, and then reopened them. "Twilight has written to me about how much of a true friend you are."

"She has?" I asked, shocked.

Princess Celestia nodded, and then continued to speak. "She has explained to me how if you weren't apart of her friendship, it would significantly not be the same." Wow… did she really mean that? "You have amazing friends, Alex. Though they may fight from time to time, it will heal. This friendship will never break, especially with you by their side to help them. I know you have had trouble in the past, but it is gone now. You have friends who care about you and they will always be there for you."

I thought about it for a moment and realized the Princess was right. "Of course, Princess." I responded with confidence.

She smiled and asked me about another thing. "What about the Grand Galloping Gala? Are you thinking of attending?"

"I'm not sure… I don't know too much of formal events like the Grand Galloping Gala…"

"You're friends will guide you." Princess Celestia continued to smile. "It will truly be amazing if you and all your friends show up. You all would really make the Grand Galloping Gala the most entertaining night to have!"

"Thank you, Princess." I responded. "Maybe I will go."

"That's excellent to hear." Princess Celestia said. However, a letter suddenly appeared near her. "Oh, what's this?" She brought the letter closer to her and opened it with her magic. "Dearest Princess Celestia," She began reading out loud. "I am happy to report that one of your youngest subjects has learned a valuable lesson about friendship. Sometimes, the thing you think will cause you to lose friends and feel left out…can actually be the thing that helps you make your closest friends and realize how special you are." She looked at her cutie mark. "Hmm…"

"Applebloom… she must have stopped the influence of the other ponies about her cutie mark yet to come…"

"And so she has…" Princess Celestia responded, smiling.

Time passed as Princess Celestia and I continued to talk.

"Princess Celestia?" I asked.

"Yes, Alex?" She answered.

"There's been something on my mind, which happened not too long ago."

"What is it?" Princess Celestia asked, concerned.

"I'm sure you've read a letter from Twilight, which was about how true friends separate themselves from fake ones… well… there was this griffon named Gilda and she was being a bully. In the end, when Pinkie Pie threw a party for her, in hopes to improve her attitude, she tried to attack me… but something strange happened…" Princess Celestia continued to listen. "She didn't really get to hurt me because… this bright light filled the room and she was unable to touch me. Afterwards, she fled, but I wondered what had just happened… the beam of light was like the light that we used to defeat Nightmare Moon… but I don't understand… there were no elements of harmony…"

"Ah, but there was." Princess Celestia stated, releasing a smile.

"Huh?" I questioned.

"Alex, do you remember what the 7th element is?"

"Yes… a pure heart."

"Exactly… that pure heart is your heart; the heart inside you… the element of a pure heart has always been inside you. That's why you didn't have your own artifact for your element, like the necklace. It is your heart. That's how you managed to prevent Gilda from touching you. From what I've heard, she has a heart filled with evil intentions… but your brave and pure heart won the battle against hers. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

It had all made sense…

"Yes, Princess. I finally understand now…" I placed my hoof on my chest. "I am very grateful… for my heart…"

"You're very special and unique, Alex. Nothing or no pony can change that." With that said, Princess Celestia released another heart warming smile.

We shared some stories between each other. I told her about the adventures I had with my friends… Soon, I realized it was getting late and that I should probably go.

"It's getting late, Princess. I should probably head back to Ponyville now."

"Okay then, Alex." Princess Celestia smiled. "It's been great to have you here. Perhaps we could do this another time. If not soon, then we shall meet in the Grand Galloping Gala, that is, if you'll be attending."

I thought for a moment… about Princess Celestia… my friends… and Fluttershy. "I'm pretty sure I'll be there…" I responded.

"Wonderful news. Until then, I cannot wait. The royal guards shall take you back to Ponyville. I will see you soon. Goodnight, Alex."

"Goodnight… Princess Celestia."

She presented one last heart filled smile.

The royal guards began escorting me back to Ponyville. As I gently sat in the carriage, I observed the star-filled sky along with the full moon, which released my inner being...

When I arrived, I quickly remembered to see Fluttershy and tell her what happened. I raced over to Fluttershy's home. On the way, I noticed that she was sitting on top of the cliff where the ocean lay below. She was playing with a flower as I began walking towards her.

"Fluttershy…" I called her.

I startled her, but she became happy when she saw me. "Alex, you came!"

"Of course," I said as I finished walking up to her and took a seat next to her. "I felt bad enough for ditching you at the party, so I wanted to come as soon as possible."

"Oh, Alex." She responded. "You didn't ditch me… you just had to go because the Princess summoned you."

"Still…" I shook my head lightly. "Anyways, how was the party?"

"It was great. Applebloom learned that it wasn't bad to not have her cutie mark yet."

"How so?"

"A couple of ponies had been teasing her... but she stood up for herself, asking how it could be bad by not having a cutie mark as early as them. She mentioned something about..." She paused for a moment to remember what Applebloom had said. "...how it's better to find her cutie mark because she wants to do it for herself... and not for any other pony that found their cutie mark, because they wanted to fit in a crowd... and then, another couple of ponies joined her and agreed with her. It turns out the ponies that stood up for Applebloom didn't have their cuties marks either… they explained how great it is to still not have your cutie mark… because you can be great at anything..."

"That's really fantastic." I responded... greatly proud of Applebloom... I guess I had actually made a difference with my reasoning...

Fluttershy nodded. "They became friends, and now they are going to find out what their special talent is, together."

"I'm proud of them." I looked up at the sky.

Fluttershy smiled. "How was your visit to the Princess?" She asked.

I thought for a moment. "Princess Celestia wanted to know how I was with you girls. You know… about our friendship…" Fluttershy continued to listen to me, attentively. "She explained how wonderful it is for me to have a friendship with you girls… then she received a letter from Twilight, which explained how the outcome with Applebloom was. I was relieved to hear it. I also asked some questions I was curious about. Afterwards, we shared stories until it was getting late. Before I left, she told me she hoped to see me at the Grand Galloping Gala."

"That's good to hear." Fluttershy responded, softly. "Will you be going to the Grand Galloping Gala?" She asked.

I thought about my talk with Princess Celestia as Fluttershy awaited my answer. "Yeah… I'm pretty sure I'll go."

Fluttershy smiled softly, but brightly. "That's great! Because I…" She had paused and looked away.

"What is it?" I asked.

Her eyes shifted towards me and I could see her blush. "I'll tell you another time." She formed a light smile.

"Okay…" Regardless, I still wondered what she wanted to say. Silence had filled the breeze, but it was a gentle and admirable silence.

"I guess I better be going home now…" Fluttershy spoke.

We both stood up and looked at each other.

"I'll see you tomorrow then, Fluttershy." I responded.

She nodded. "Thanks…Alex."

"Huh…?"

"For coming to me." She giggled a little.

"Oh… It's no problem at all."

She hugged me for a moment. "Goodnight, Alex." She said.

"Goodnight, Fluttershy…" I responded, and she began heading towards her house. She had left me with the special feeling I had talked about with Princess Celestia. A little while afterwards, I headed home.

When I arrived, I had opened the door and closed it slowly. I gently walked up the stairs to my bedroom while I carefully maneuvered in the dark. When I felt my bed, I quietly slipped in and stared at the dark ceiling, savoring the special feeling as much as I could before I closed my eyes and fell asleep, awaiting the next day with Fluttershy.

Fall Weather Friends

Episode 13 – Fall Weather Friends

I woke up early, feeling fully awake. Right after I made my bed, I walked towards the outside of the house. I was pretty hungry, so I decided I might get some apples from Apple Acres. Maybe I can bring some for Fluttershy too… I began walking towards Applejack's farm, ready to take on a new day.

When I arrived at the farm, I looked around for Applejack. I finally caught sight of her, along with Rainbow Dash, near a field of fruits. They had horseshoes and across them was a metal pole dug into the ground.

"Hey Applejack, what's going on?" I asked, calling her name.

"Oh howdy there Alex!" Applejack replied. "Me and Rainbow Dash were just about to start playing a game of horseshoes! Wanna join?"

"No thanks. I just wanted several apples for breakfast."

"No problem! Let me just finish this here game!"

Rainbow Dash grunted and threw a horseshoe at the metal pole. It landed a few inches from the pole.

"Woo-hoo!" Rainbow Dash cheered.

"Hoo-wee! Not a bad pitch for a pony who works with her head in the clouds." Applejack responded to Rainbow Dash's throw, playfully.

"Oh yeah? Think you can do better, cowgirl?"

"I know I can." Applejack stomped the ground with her hoof, causing the horseshoe to launch from the ground. She grabbed the horseshoe with her teeth and tossed it over to the metal pole. Instead, it landed only a few inches behind Rainbow Dash's horseshoe. "Oh, for Pete's sake!"

"Heh! Looks like this Pegasus can pitch better than the workhorse." Rainbow Dash bragged, playfully flicking Applejack's head. "The object of the game is to get the closest to the stake."

"Alright, alright. You got another throw there, pony girl." Applejack replied as she stomped another hoof on the ground causing the horseshoe to fly up and land on Rainbow Dash's nose.

Rainbow Dash moved her body to throw the horseshoe. Instead, it flew off way out of range from the metal pole. I heard the horseshoe crash somewhere else.

"Wow, Rainbow, heh. You couldn't hit a barn door with that kind of a throw." Applejack chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah. I still have the closest throw, Applesmack." Rainbow Dash kicked Applejack's horseshoe. " Just try and beat it."

Applejack grabbed the horseshoe with her teeth and concentrated. She gave a grunt with a firm throw and it landed straight on the metal pole, clattering as the midpoint of the horseshoe collided with the metal.

"Yee-haw!" Applejack cheered. "It's a ringer. That's how you do it down here on the farm."

"I lost…" Rainbow Dash announced, disappointed.

"Ah, don't feel bad, Rainbow. It's all in good fun." Applejack attempted to cheer up Rainbow Dash.

"I hate losing." Rainbow Dash contradicted.

"Besides, you're a mighty good athlete. I'm just better, heh heh heh." Applejack walked over to me. "Alright Alex, let's go get you those apples. We began walking as Rainbow Dash trailed behind us.

"Alright, Applejack, you think you're the top athlete in all of Ponyville?"

"Well, I was gonna say in all of Equestria, but that might be gilding the lily." Applejack responded.

"...and I think I'm the top athlete. So let's prove it." Rainbow Dash challenged, causing Applejack to lean her ear forward to her.

"Prove what?"

"I challenge you to an Iron Pony competition." Rainbow Dash stated, causing Applejack to raise an eyebrow in confusion. "A series of athletic contests to decide who's the best, once and for all."

"You know what, Rainbow? You're on." Applejack spat on her hoof, along with Rainbow Dash, and they both pressed their hooves together, indicating a deal. "Why don't you get the things ready for the competition while I get the apples for Alex?"

"Sure thing, Applejack." Rainbow Dash replied, with a hint of competitor aggression, and flew off.

Applejack grabbed a bag and walked over to one of the apple trees.

"How many you want, Alex?" Applejack asked.

"Um… I guess five will be fine." I replied.

"Five apples, coming up." Applejack kicked the tree, causing exactly five apples to land in the bag. "Just out of curiosity, why do you want five for breakfast?"

"I was planning to share them."

"Ooooooh" Applejack teased. "Who's the lucky pony?"

"It's not like that, Applejack…" I responded a bit embarrassed as I could feel my cheeks fill up with a little red.

Applejack laughed. "I'm just messing with you. Go on and share those apples, and don't forget to come for the competition!"

"I won't." I said as I grabbed the bag with my teeth and placed it on my back. "I'll see you later."

Applejack waved as I began walking, even continuing to chuckle at the comment she had made earlier.

I walked over to Fluttershy's home. She had just finished feeding and taking care of her animals.

"Hi, Alex!" She announced as she began flying over to me.

"Hey, Fluttershy." I answered. We walked towards the cliff with the ocean below it. I placed the bag near us.

"What do you have?" Fluttershy asked.

"I brought some apples for the both of us."

"Oh, Alex." Fluttershy blushed. "You didn't have to."

"Well, I wanted to. I thought we could have something to eat together."

"That's really nice of you." She thanked. "These look delicious!" Fluttershy exclaimed, observing the apples.

I grabbed two and gave the shiniest one to Fluttershy who couldn't stop staring at how beautiful and delicious it looked. She carefully held the apple between her hooves and began nibbling on it. I bit pieces of the apple as I stared out into the ocean, feeling the firm but light breeze blow our manes.

"Oh." I remembered. "Applejack and Rainbow Dash are having this competition to see who the better athlete is. Do you want to go see?" I asked Fluttershy.

"Sure!" Fluttershy exclaimed softly but cheerfully.

After we finished our apples, I stood up and helped Fluttershy up. Then, we started heading towards where the competition was to take place.

Along the way, we met Rarity and Pinkie Pie. They looked as if they were heading towards the competition as well.

"Hey, Pinkie Pie, Rarity. Are you going to watch the competition?" I asked them.

"Yep!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"I suppose so. It sounds like fun." Rarity added. "Spike invited us, so I said, 'Why not?'"

"I see…"

We all arrived at the area of the competition to see Twilight observing Applejack and Rainbow Dash set up the competition. Spike was on top of her. He jumped on top of her head and exclaimed, "Let the games begin!"

Rarity and Pinkie Pie sat themselves on the wooden bleachers nearby. Fluttershy and I walked over to the scoreboard. Fluttershy was going to be changing the score since she was the only other pony who could fly. I sat next to her, observing the start of the first event.

Twilight was standing on the side of the track, which was filled with barrels of flowers, with Rainbow Dash. Applejack readied herself, observing the obstacles in front of her.

"Ready. Set. Go!" Twilight exclaimed.

Spike began the timer as Applejack raced hastily across the track, dodging the barrels with very swift maneuvers. However, for some reason, Applejack tipped the barrel as she passed by it. She crossed the finish line, aware of this action.

"Time, Spike?" Twilight asked.

"17 seconds!" Spike announced.

"You're kiddin'!" Applejack responded, excitedly. "That breaks my record from last year's rodeo."

"But… you got a five second penalty for nudging the barrel."

Applejack sighed. "Nuts n' shrews." She kicked the rock in front of her. "Still, that's 22 seconds. Not too shabby." She noticed Rainbow Dash sweating nervously. "Hey, don't be nervous. Remember, it's all in good fun. Now git on up there." She nudged Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash flew to her position and readied herself.

"Ready. Set. Go!" Twilight announced.

Spike clicked the timer, sending Rainbow Dash off. She sprinted across the track, dodging the barrels. Her speed blew the flowers on the barrels as a rainbow trailed behind her. She reached the finish line.

"Woo! That was some fancy hoofwork there, Rainbow!" Applejack congratulated.

"Thanks, but I couldn't have been as fast as you." Rainbow Dash replied, flying back to the beginning while panting.

"18 seconds!" Spike presented, shocked.

"18 seconds. Rainbow, are you sure you're not secretly a rodeo pony?" Applejack asked, jokingly.

"Rainbow Dash wins the barrel lead!" Twilight exclaimed.

Fluttershy flew upwards to the scoreboard and placed a cardboard apple, which had the number one, onto the scoreboard next to Rainbow Dash's symbol.

"Oh, I can't believe I won." Rainbow Dash expressed.

"Yeah, well, don't you go gettin' used to it." Applejack assured.

The next event began. More ponies had joined to watch the competition. The next part of the competition was to prove strength by knocking a ball to hit the bell above. Rainbow Dash walked towards the painted target and kicked it. The ball flew upwards and rung the bell. Ponies cheered. Rainbow Dash shook her hooves in cheering.

Applejack was lying on a tree as Rainbow Dash came to brag. She had a straw of wheat in her mouth.

"Mighty respectable," She spat the wheat out of her mouth. "but let me show ya how it's really done." With no hesitation, Applejack kicked the painted target, breaking it into little pieces as the sound of broken wood cried out. The ball launched straight towards the bell, even knocking it off the wooden piece of board it was attached to. The bell continued to fly upwards at an amazing speed as ponies cheered and Rainbow Dash stared at the scene, dumbstruck. "Years of applebuckin'." Applejack walked near Rainbow Dash, kicking a tree Rainbow Dash was under. Several apples fell on top of her head.

Fluttershy happily added a one to Applejack's score.

Applejack's family, Big Macintosh, Granny Smith, and Applebloom, came along and sat in the stands for the other event, cheering loudly.

The next event consisted of a sort of bull riding event like in a rodeo. Except, both the ponies had to see how fast they could shake off the victim… who was Spike.

"Why me?" Spike questioned.

"Go!" Twilight announced, regardless.

Applejack began shaking Spike off. "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa-hoa! Whoa! Whoaaa!" Applejack kicked him off, flying him towards the sky and landing on a stack of hay nearby. "Ouch."

Rainbow Dash emerged from the hay. "Ready for another pony ride?" she asked.

"No." Spike strained.

"Go!" Twilight announced.

Rainbow Dash immediately began bouncing rapidly. "Guh guh guh guh guh guh guh guh guh guh guh guhwhoaaaaaa" Spike flew off from Rainbow Dash instantly.

As Twilight observed Spike fly across the sky, she yelled out the winner. "Rainbow Dash wins the bronco-buck!"

Spike crashed over to the scoreboard as Fluttershy added a point to Rainbow Dash's score.

"And I lose…"

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were inside a square surrounded by wooden gates. They had lassos, which Applejack perfected easily, however, Rainbow Dash was having a little trouble with it. The next event consisted of roping the victim as best as it could be done. However, the victim was Spike again, who stood at the center of the square, annoyed.

Applejack twirled her rope around and threw it at Spike, instantly catching him by his arms and feet and dragging him towards her. Ponies threw roses at Applejack as a congratulation to her.

"How do I get roped into these things?" Spike struggled with his position.

Rainbow Dash grunted. "Does this count?" She had tied herself onto a tree. She struggled to free herself.

Fluttershy added another score to Applejack's.

Several events continued to occur. One was a ball bouncing event, which Applejack struggled to keep up with Rainbow Dash, who bested her, easily. Fluttershy had caught one of the roses that fell with her mouth and placed another apple to Rainbow Dash's score.

The next event was hay throwing. Rainbow Dash began and threw the stack of hay across at the end of the line. Rainbow Dash flew over to her accomplishment and taunted at Applejack, but was cut short when Applejack crushed her, literally, when she threw the hay stack right on her. Fluttershy's bunny, Angel, added the score to Applejack.

After, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were leg wrestling, but surprisingly, Rainbow Dash won that one, as if it wasn't a challenge at all.

Then, it was a football kicking contest. Both ponies kicked the ball, but Applejack was farther; it almost hit the ponies that were watching the competition on the clouds. Fluttershy was about to add a score to Applejack, but the football knocked the cardboard apple from her hooves and placed it for her.

Finally, Spike announced, "Fillies and gentlecolts, at the halfway point our competitors are tied at 5 and 5!"

"Who are you talking to?" Twilight asked.

"Them!" Spike pointed to the chattering large crowd that gathered for the competition.

The competition continued with Applejack and Rainbow Dash competing to how many pushups they could do.

"95…" Twilight announced as they strained themselves. "96, 97, 98, 99..." Both of the ponies were on the brink of giving up. "a hundred!" Rainbow Dash managed to push herself up and cheer. Applejack was still struggling to do it, but her legs gave up and she crashed on the floor. She muttered something under her breath.

The next event was to see how far each of the ponies could jump. Applejack began, gaining a good amount of distance from where she jumped. Rainbow looked a bit worried. She began running and jumped. However, before she landed, she saw how she had a lower distance than Applejack. She immediately stopped before touching the ground, and flew over a few feet to win against Applejack. Applejack saw this, and looked irritated, but she let it slip.

After, both ponies had to take several chicks across the mud to their mothers, without getting them dirty. Applejack began walking towards the other side, but her hooves flung dirt at the chicks, causing them to leave. Applejack gasped and noticed Rainbow Dash, who was walking to the mother while using her wings to cover the chicks from getting dirty, as she grew more irritated.

"Alright, you two. This is the final event. Give it all you've got." Twilight announced.

The two were having a tug of war battle, with each end of the rope grabbed with their teeth and a red flag in the middle. Below the rope lay a pool of mud. Spike flashed his flag. Each pony began grunting, trying to pull the rope to their side. Applejack had the lead.

"Looks like the workhorse might come out ahead in this one." Spike announced.

Applejack had finally managed to pull Rainbow Dash over the mud… but Rainbow Dash suddenly separated her wings and began flying. Rainbow dash flew above, causing Applejack to hover right above the mud, helpless.

"That's not fair!" Applejack mumbled with the rope in her mouth. "You can't use your wings to help you win!"

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash asked, holding a hoof near her ear.

"You're cheatin'!" Applejack exclaimed, still holding the rope tight between her teeth.

"I can't understand you with that rope in your mouth." Rainbow Dash replied.

Applejack, unable to have some time to think, released the rope from her mouth. "I SAID,- uh-oh." She fell straight towards the mud and got herself covered in it.

Every pony cheered. Rainbow Dash placed the 15th cardboard apple to her score and bragged, causing me to be disappointed on how Rainbow Dash competed. "Woo-hoo! I win by a landslide..." She flew over to Applejack. "…or mudslide in your case." She chuckled and flew straight above us. "I am the Iron Pony!"

"Only 'cause you cheated!" Applejack intervened.

"What?" Rainbow Dash flew towards Applejack.

"You used your wingpower to help you win over half those contests!"

"Sounds like sour apples to me."

"Are you sayin' you didn't use your wings?"

"Well... no. But you never said I couldn't use my wings."

"I didn't think I needed to tell you to play fair."

"I still would have won even without my wings."

"Hah! Prove it!"

"Gladly. How?"

"Tomorrow is the annual Runnin' of the Leaves. I challenge you to race me in it."

"Heh! Easy shmeasy." Rainbow Dash began flying away, but Applejack pulled her down.

"Hold on! There is one condition: the point is to run, so no wings allowed."

"No wings?" She kicked Applejack off her. "No problem."

They both spat on their hooves and shook.

They both went their separate ways and the crowd broke up and dissolved, leaving Fluttershy and I by ourselves. In a moment, the day faded into night.

"They're really worked up on who's the better athlete… aren't they…?" Fluttershy asked.

I sighed. "Yeah… I guess we'll just have to see what will happen tomorrow…" I looked over to Fluttershy. "C'mon, I'll walk you home."

"Okay…" Fluttershy blushed.

I had walked Fluttershy home and told her that I'd see her tomorrow.

When the next day arrived, the Running of the Leaves, I met up with Fluttershy at her home and began walking towards the location of the annual event.

"Welcome to the annual Running of the Leaves!" We saw Pinkie Pie above us in a hot weather balloon. " This is Pinkie Pie, your official eye-in-the-sky announcer! As everypony knows, the running is a very important tradition, for without it, the autumn leaves of Equestria would never fall. So get ready, ponies. The Running of the Leaves will begin in five minutes."

"Are you going to be in the Running of the Leaves, Alex?" Fluttershy asked me.

"I never thought about participating… maybe I will." I responded, suddenly feeling the urge to run. "What about you Fluttershy?" I asked.

"Oh, no. I think I'll just watch… If you run, I'll be cheering for you!" Fluttershy smiled.

I looked away, feeling a little red. "Thanks… Fluttershy."

Fluttershy wished me good luck and flew upwards, towards the sky. I think she's going to watch me from above… I went over to sign up and received a number for the race. I walked up the starting line to see Applejack stretching. She turned around and noticed me.

"Alex? I didn't know you were going to run too." She said.

"Yeah… well I just felt a sudden urge I guess." I answered.

"Well, good luck to ya, partner." Applejack smiled.

However, Rainbow Dash began walking towards the starting line as well, being herself.

"Pardon me, excuse me. Make way for the Iron Pony."

"The Iron phony, you mean." Applejack responded, losing her smile.

"So, Applejack, you ready to win second place?"

"I'm ready to run a good, clean race."

"Yeah, yeah..."

"You are not allowed to use your wings!" Applejack assured.

"I could win this race with both wings tied behind my back." Rainbow Dash bragged.

Applejack had this seductive look on her face. She grabbed a rope nearby and literally tied Rainbow Dash's wings, making sure she is unable to fly. "Trussed up like a turkey. Well, a turkey who can't fly, that is."

"Very funny." Rainbow Dash responded, sarcastically.

"'least now we know we're racin' fair and square."

Trumpets sounded throughout the area.

"Racers! Please take your positions!" We heard Pinkie Pie announce.

Spike came out of nowhere, in front of us, and called out to Pinkie Pie. "Um... Pinkie Pie?"

"Hey, Spike! What's up? Oh wait, it me, I'm up!" Pinkie Pie laughed.

"Uh, yeah. I know you're doing the announcing today and stuff and... I'm sure you're gonna do a great job and all, but... I was just wondering..."

"What?"

"Aw... Forget it." Spike began walking away, but Pinkie Pie called after him.

"Spike! Would you like to be my co-reporter? We could comment on the action together."

"We could?" Spike replied, excited.

"Climb on up." Pinkie Pie tossed a rope, which Spike grabbed and began climbing on to the balloon.

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, I readied ourselves into our positions, but all of a sudden, Twilight jumped into the starting line with us.

"Twilight? What in tarnation are you doin' up here?" Applejack asked.

"I'm racing." Twilight responded.

Rainbow Dash laughed. "Good one, Twilight!"

"I'm not joking." Twilight replied, keeping her positive mood.

"What? You're not an athlete, you're a... well... you're an egghead."

"I am not an egghead, I am well read."

"Egghead" Rainbow Dash whispered over to Applejack who began snickering.

"Just let her race, will you girls?" I asked, looking at them from the corner of my eye while being slightly annoyed.

"Thank you, Alex." Twilight thanked, confidently.

"But have you ever run a race?" Applejack asked.

"Well, no, but I do know a lot about running." Twilight responded.

"And you know this from..." Rainbow Dash added.

"Books. I've read several on the subject."

Rainbow Dash and Applejack continued snickering. "What'd you read, 'The Egghead's Guide to Running'? Did you stretch out your eye muscles to warm up?" Rainbow Dash laughed, even causing Twilight to sigh and become annoyed as well. "Get it? Eye muscles."

I sighed.

"Scoff if you must, Rainbow. But the running of the leaves is a Ponyville tradition, and since I'm here to learn, I've decided I should experience it myself." Twilight replied.

"Well, I think that's just dandy, Twilight. Good luck." Applejack snickered.

"Yeah. See you at the finish line... Tomorrow." Rainbow Dash and Applejack continued laughing.

I rolled my eyes and told Twilight, "I bet you've read this kind of scenario in a book, Twilight. I'm kind of guessing the same outcome is going to happen, just like in the book. Don't worry about Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Just have fun, I bet you'll do great."

My response caused Applejack and Rainbow Dash to burst out laughing. "Stop! I can't breathe!" Rainbow Dash laughed, holding her sides.

Twilight rolled her eyes, but looked at me. "Thanks, Alex." She smiled. "At least SOME pony appreciates me participating in this race!"

Applejack and Rainbow Dash continued laughing until Pinkie Pie announced again.

"All right, ponies, are you ready?"

"Get set." Spike added.

Every pony took their position. The drums rolled and the bell finally rung. I took off, almost starting in the lead.

"And they're off!" I heard from Pinkie Pie. "Welcome to the official coverage of the Running of the Leaves!" Pinkie Pie announced as she hovered above us in her balloon. "You know, Spike, despite its name, the leaves don't do any of the actual running. No, that's left to My Little Ponies."

"Why, yes, Pinkie, it's the running of the ponies that causes the leaves to fall." Spike responded.

Many leaves from the trees fell as we continued running through. "Ugh. Those lazy, lazy leaves. But this year, the run is about more than the weather. It's about the race to the finish and the two runners who want to win it: Applejack and Rainbow Dash."

Applejack was in the lead by a few inches so far, with Rainbow Dash behind her. I was trailing behind both of them, but I was pretty close. I couldn't see Twilight, she must have been somewhere behind me.

"You know, Pinkie, these two ponies have a bit of a grudge match they're trying to settle. Trying to prove who's the most athletic." Spike announced.

"Yes, and 'grudge' rhymes with 'fudge'."

"Yes it... does. What?"

"And I like fudge. But if I eat too much fudge I get a pudge and then I can't budge."

"So... no fudge?"

"Oh, no thanks. I had a big breakfast. Let's check in with our two competitive ponies, Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Having come fast out of the gate, Applejack and Rainbow Dash are evenly matched running neck in neck. But what's this? Applejack is making a move, she's now ahead by a nose. But Rainbow Dash pulls at Applejack's have-it and takes the lead. She's ahead by half a nose. Or maybe three quarters of a nose. No, about sixty-three point seven percent of a nose... Roughly speaking. Applejack sees this move and pushes forth with her strong workhorse legs slinking ahead by three hundred and fifty noses!" Pinkie Pie described exactly what was going on between the two.

Only a few feet away from them both, I continued running, trying to balance myself to where I could eventually pass them. Applejack looked behind at Rainbow Dash and muttered something. Rainbow Dash glanced at her wings, then over to Applejack, saying something as well.

"Ho-hold your horses, Pinkie! Rainbow Dash is catching up the frontrunner Applejack!"

"What an upset. I thought Applejack had this in the bag."

"You didn't think I was gonna let you off that easily, did you?" Rainbow Dash shouted, tying with Applejack ahead of me.

Applejack had her concentration on Rainbow Dash, but she tripped on a rock, falling to the ground while Rainbow Dash continued. I immediately stopped and called over to Applejack.

"Applejack, are you alright?" I shouted over to her.

"I'm fine! Don't worry about me! Keep going!" She yelled back.

I noticed the large crowd of ponies catching up. I nodded and continued to run after Rainbow Dash. The distance between Rainbow Dash and I had significantly grown when I stopped for Applejack. When I had her in my sight, she looked back and laughed.

"Good luck trying to catch me, Alex!"

I didn't say anything, but just continued my concentration on the race. Rainbow Dash stuck out her tongue and purposely lowered her speed. At this point, I took her bragging for an advantage and increased my acceleration, which in a matter of seconds, I passed her while she was having her eyes closed, for the sake of showing off. When she opened them again, she dropped her jaw.

"Huh!" She shouted, surprised. I continued running, lowering my speed by just a pinch to save up some energy.

"Go, Alex!" I heard very softly above me.

I looked up. It was Fluttershy who waved at me, smiling. I nodded at her and continued racing. In back of me, I heard:

"I don't believe it. After a huge setback, Applejack is back at the front of the pack. And Alex managed to beat them both! What an amazing move!" Spike's voice exclaimed.

"She's the head of the pack, all right. The pick of the litter! The CAT'S PAJAMAS! Oh wait, why would Applejack take some poor kitty's PJs? That's not very sporting of her."

"Oookay... Let's get back to the race."

Applejack must have finally caught up to Rainbow Dash.

"Not so fast, Applejack! This race isn't over yet!" I heard Rainbow Dash.

"It is for you. Heh."

"Whoa."

After that, I didn't hear Rainbow Dash anymore… I wondered what happened to her…

I shook my head and kept it in the race.

"Welcome back, Ponyvillians, it's me, Pinkie Pie." Pinkie Pie announced a while later.

"And Spike. Looks like Rainbow is doing her best to catch up."

"I'm not sure how ketchup is going to help her in this contest. Now, in a hot dog eating contest it can make them doggies nice and slippery, but personally I prefer mustard. How about you, Spike?"

"Uh... I... like... pickles?"

"Aaand it looks like Applejack has found herself in quite a pickle as Rainbow overtakes her."

"Look, ma, no wings." I heard Rainbow Dash as she had caught up to Applejack again. I had passed through a forest, quickly dodging a branch that stood in the way by sliding underneath it and continuing to run.

"As the racers enter Equestria's Whitetail Wood, Rainbow Dash is back in the lead, but Alex still has first place!" Spike announced.

I didn't know what was going on behind me. I really wanted to look back, but I was afraid that I might trip. I continued to focus ahead while a little while later, I heard some hooves land and gallop behind me, almost close to me.

"Applejack…? Where in the world did you come from?" I heard Fluttershy above me.

"No time to talk!" Applejack responded as she panted. "Need to make a move!"

"A move?" Fluttershy questioned.

Applejack didn't answer, instead, I heard her stop to kick something behind me.

I had just finished passing through an area with two paths. There was an arrow with a sign pointing to go right. I maneuvered right and continued galloping, hearing much more noise behind me. As much as it tempted me to look behind me, I didn't.

Rainbow Dash had managed to catch up behind me and shouted. "You're not going to get away with first place, Alex!" Then, she shifted the tone of her voice. "What the hay? You said no flying!"

"No, I said no wings!" Applejack exclaimed behind me.

"I must say, Spike, that this has been the most interesting Running of the Leaves in Equestria history!" Pinkie Pie announced as we passed through trees containing buckets to receive their sap.

"With the most interesting announcing."

"But it isn't the running that's been fascinating. It's the lack of running!"

More grunts formed behind me. Then I felt a sudden heavy wind blow my mane, which soon died down. What was that all about?

"Once again, Rainbow Dash and Applejack are neck in neck, jockeying for position. Applejack inches ahead, now it's Rainbow, it's Applejack, it's Rainbow Dash, it's Applejack—

Pinkie Pie announced. I could finally see the finish line in front of me. Was this it? Was I really going to be first?

"You're almost there, Alex!" Fluttershy exclaimed, excitedly.

I had a good, large distance between the crowd and me. I was almost there! The finish line was only several feet away from me! I started giving a final push to my running, however, I somehow tripped and landed on the ground, only a few feet away from the finish line. I could hear the crowd catching up to me.

"Alex!" Fluttershy exclaimed, worried now.

I tried running again, but I grunted in pain when my legs wouldn't run anymore! I must have sprained something! I continuously tried to increase my speed, but I could only limp towards the finish line.

"Ouch!" Pinkie Pie announced on the balloon. "Alex took a fall and that will really affect him since he's in first place! All the other ponies are catching up to him!"

Fluttershy had descended besides me, still flying, and tried to help me.

"No! I can do it!" I responded, still limping towards the finish line.

"C'mon, Alex! You can do it! Just a few more steps!" Fluttershy encouraged.

I continued limping towards the finish line, my heart pounding inside my chest, as if it wanted to come out. I released grunts and groans with each step and strained my eyes. The finish line was only a few feet in front of me.

"Oh no! Is he going to make it? The crowd is right behind him!" Spike exclaimed.

It was true as I could hear the clatter of all their hooves.

"C'mon Alex! I believe in you!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

This had sparked something inside me. I continued to quickly limp towards the finish line, feeling the breath of the crowd of ponies behind me. I gave one last grunt and attempted to leap past the finish line. I felt myself landing on the grass and closed my eyes, panting. I had no idea if I had made it or not. I could hear Pinkie Pie announce something excitedly, but I was too busy taking in rapid air to hear anything clearly. After a moment, Pinkie Pie must have returned to Applejack and Rainbow Dash. "It's Applejack, it's Rainbow Dash, it's Applejack, it's Rainbow Dash—

So did I really not win? And it was actually Applejack or Rainbow Dash?

"Alex! Alex!" I heard Fluttershy's voice. "Are you okay?"

"I won!" I heard Rainbow Dash exclaim.

"No, I won!" Applejack counteracted.

I opened my eyes and noticed Fluttershy looking at me worried.

"I think so…" I responded. "What happened…?"

Fluttershy and I looked towards where Applejack and Rainbow Dash were fighting.

"I won!" Rainbow Dash argued.

"You tied!" Spike announced.

"TIED?" Rainbow Dash and Applejack exclaimed in unison.

"For first?" Applejack asked.

"For last!" Pinkie Pie answered.

"LAST?" Applejack shouted, shocked.

"Then who won?" Rainbow Dash questioned.

Spike and Pinkie Pie walked over to Fluttershy and me.

"Fillies and gentlecolts!" Pinkie Pie announced. "I present to you our winner: Alex!"

My eyes widened immediately when she said that. "Me? I won?"

"Yep!" Pinkie Pie responded while Spike placed a medal on my neck and gave me a trophy.

"Alex, you did it!" Fluttershy exclaimed, hugging me. I could only lay breathless. I actually won? Every pony cheered, leaving me in awe.

"What about Twilight?" I heard Rainbow Dash. "How come SHE has a medal?"

"I got fifth place, which is rather good considering that I've never run a race before." Twilight walked over to me and congratulated me.

"What? How's that even possible?" Applejack asked.

"You ran so slow, and looked at the scenery!" Rainbow Dash added.

"Exactly. I paced myself, just like my book said. Then at the end, when all the other ponies were worn out, I sprinted to the finish." Twilight explained.

"I don't believe it. Twilight beat us." Rainbow Dash exclaimed, surprised.

"Well, with all your horsing around, it was quite easy."

"You're right, Twilight. Our behavior was just terrible." Applejack admitted.

"We weren't very good sports." Rainbow Dash added.

Every pony suddenly gasped and bowed.

"Sounds to me like an important lesson was learned."

"PRINCESS CELESTIA?" Rainbow Dash and Applejack cried out as Fluttershy and I turned around to see Princess Celestia walking towards us.

"W... What are you doin' here?" Applejack asked.

"Fall is one of my favorite seasons, so I came to celebrate the Running of the Leaves." She answered as ever pony bowed… except me... I couldn't since I had sprained my leg…

"I'm sorry you had to see us being such poor sports, Princess." Applejack apologized.

"That's all right, Applejack. Anypony can get swept up in the excitement of competition." Princess Celestia accepted the apology.

"It's important to remember that the friendship is always more important than the competition." Twilight taught them.

"Exactly, Twilight. Now, unfortunately, because the two of you were busy tricking each other instead of shaking down leaves, many of the lovely trees of Equestria are still covered." Princess Celestia looked over at the covered trees.

"Why, Princess, I bet we can knock those leaves down for you lickety-split. Whaddya say, friend? Wanna go for another run?" Applejack asked Rainbow Dash.

"I'd love to stretch my legs." They both sprinted towards another group of covered trees to finish the job.

"Congratulations on achieving first place, Alex." Princess Celestia said, walking over to me.

"…Thank you Princess Celestia… but I couldn't have done it without Fluttershy…" I looked over to her, which caused her to blush.

Princess Celestia smiled. "That's fantastic. You did amazing throughout the whole race."

"You watched me the whole time…?" I asked, shocked.

She chuckled. "Of course… your friend was with you, every second of the race."

I looked at Fluttershy again, who started rubbing her legs with her hooves.

"Your concentration and being focused on a single goal is what brought you to achieving it. You didn't give in nor surrendered to Rainbow Dash's… comments… though suffering a minor unfortunate accident, you still managed to pass the finish line a second before anypony else."

"Wow…" I said. I still couldn't believe that I had actually won. "Well, thank you, Princess."

The princess moved her horn towards my leg and used her magic. My leg felt different afterwards. I shook it and there wasn't any more pain!

"Let this experience be your motivation to continue to work hard to achieve your goals." Princess Celestia told me, giving one of her heartwarming smiles.

I nodded.

"I'll see you soon, Alex! For now, I must speak with Twilight." Princess Celestia announced.

"Goodbye… Princess Celestia." I responded and bowed.

She nodded and smiled. Then, she began walking with Twilight to talk to her, privately.

The crowd had soon vanished when everything was over, leaving Fluttershy and me, once again. Carrying the trophy on my back and the medal on my neck, we began walking towards Fluttershy's home. Night had begun to fall.

"Are you sure you're okay, Alex?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yeah… Princess Celestia cured it." I replied.

"That's great…"

We stopped in front of Fluttershy's door. I looked at the ground.

"…Thank you so much Fluttershy… for being with me while I ran…"

Fluttershy blushed. "It was nothing… I wanted to see you win…"

I looked up to her. "You thought I would win?" I exclaimed.

She shook her head and spoke softly. "I knew you would win."

I stared at her… feeling tears form in the corner of my eyes.

"Fluttershy…"

All of a sudden, something unexpected and amazing happened. I hugged Fluttershy, with no fear of disappointment… for the first time in my life…

"Oh, Alex…" Fluttershy's cheeks bloomed with redness. She accepted my hug by hugging me back. The feeling in my heart was intense and filled my whole body with pleasure.

After a moment, we pulled away, continuing to look at each other.

"I'll see you later…" Fluttershy spoke with a tender smile.

"Of course…" I responded. "Good night, Fluttershy…"

"Good night, Alex." She kissed my cheek and entered her home.

I walked all the way home with my mind paralyzed.

I had placed the trophy on a shelf near my bed and stripped myself of the medal, also placing it near the trophy. Finally, when I had reached my bed and snuggled in it, all these thoughts raced inside. They wouldn't let me sleep, but not in a bad way. It was good as that very strong feeling in my heart was blooming intensely, like if it had filled my entire body instead.

When I was finally able to sleep… I had the best rest ever…

Suited For Success

Episode 14 – Suited For Success

After having a well rested sleep, I scooted out of bed and walked to the outside of my home. I noticed Applejack and Twilight walking past my house. They both noticed and greeted me.

"Oh, hey there, Alex!" Twilight called.

"Howdy!" Applejack greeted.

"Hey, where are you two going?" I asked.

"We're just going over to Rarity's." Twilight replied. "I was going to ask her if she could fix up a button on my dress for the Grand Galloping Gala." She had a saddle bag on her back, which most likely contained the dress.

"I see." I responded.

"You should come with us!" Applejack exclaimed.

"Um, sure okay." I accepted the invitation.

We walked over to Rarity's dress shop, where Applejack pushed open the door.

"Howdy, Rarity!" Applejack shouted.

"Shh..." Twilight shushed. "Can't you see Rarity is trying to concentrate?"

Rarity was designing a dress on a mannequin pony. She was busy doing the stitching on the dress.

"What do you think she's makin'?" Applejack whispered.

"Looks like a dress." Twilight whispered back.

I noticed the Rarity could still hear the other ponies and was beginning to feel irritated.

"Well, that makes sense. Since this is a dressmaker's shop and all." Applejack responded.

Rarity grumbled and looked back with a forced smile on her face. "Is there something I can help you with?" She asked. I noticed she was wearing red glasses I had never seen her wear before.

"Oh, so very sorry to trouble you, Rarity, but I need a quick favor." She pulled out the dress from her bag and placed it on the table. "Could you please fix the button for me? It's my dress for the Grand Galloping Gala."

Rarity gasped after analyzing the dress. "Oh, no, no, no! You can't wear this... old thing. You need a glamorous new outfit for the Gala and I'll make it for you. No problem at all. It will be my pleasure!" Rarity offered cheerfully.

"Oh, that's really sweet of you to offer, Rarity, but I can't let you do that. It would be so much work. This dress is fine."

"Twilight Sparkle. I insist on making you a new dress." Rarity demanded in a sort of a polite way.

"But…"

"Not another word! I won't take no for an answer." Rarity shook her hoof.

"Well, in that case... Thank you for your generosity, Rarity. Knowing your handiwork, I'm sure it will be absolutely beautiful."

Rarity looked over to Applejack and observed her. "Let me guess, Applejack. You don't want a new gown either."

"Gown?" Applejack questioned. "Shoot. I was just gonna wear my old work duds."

"You can't possibly be serious, Applejack! You absolutely must wear formal attire."

"Hm..." Applejack thought as she placed a hoof to her chin. "Nah."

"What if I just spruce up your... duds for you a little bit?" Rarity offered.

"Okay, sure. Why not? Since you're up for it and all. Just don't make them too... froufrou-y."

"Deal! And you, Alex?" Rarity asked.

"Me?" I questioned.

"Yes, are you taking any formal attire to the Grand Galloping Gala? A tux, maybe?"

"Um…" I looked around with my eyes. "I don't have a tux…"

Rarity gasped. "Oh! Then I must make one for you!"

I shook my head. "I don't want to put more than enough in your mind, Rarity."

"Oh, please. I can make one faster than Rainbow Dash can move a cloud!"

"Well… if you say so—

"LOOK OUT BELOW!" Rainbow Dash crashed through the ceiling and bounced into Rarity's designs. "Sorry. New trick. Didn't quite work." She apologized.

Rarity observed Rainbow Dash as she was in the pile of clothes with a bucket on her head. "Idea! I'll make you an outfit for the Gala too, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow Dash looked around, confused. "Outfit for the what now?"

"I'll make one for you and you and all of you. Oh! And of course Pinkie and Fluttershy too. Oh, and when I'm done, we can hold our very own fashion show!" She exclaimed, but then looked over at me. "Well, excluding Alex from presenting at the show, of course." She chuckled.

"What a great idea! If you're sure you can handle it." Twilight encouraged.

"Oh, it'll be a little bit of work, but it will be a wonderful boost for my business. Plus, fun!" She grabbed cloths from her shelf, excitedly.

"Oh, I love fun things!" Rainbow Dash responded, still in the pile of clothes.

"Then it's settled. We'll have a fashion show starring us!" Rarity announced as she already began to get to work on a new design. Every pony cheered.

Applejack walked over to Rarity as she started clipping pieces of the fabric. "So all you have to do is make a different, stunning, original, amazing outfit for one, two, three, four, five, six... plus yourself, seven ponies? And lickety split?"

"Oh, Applejack." Rarity laughed. "You make it sound as if it's going to be hard."

"Oh… well alright then. I'll guess we'll check up on our outfits later!" Applejack replied.

Every pony, even Rainbow Dash who managed to free herself from the tangle of the clothes, left the shop, repeating their thanks. I stayed behind.

"Rarity… I know you think this isn't going to be hard… but… I would really like to help you." I offered.

"Oh, no no no. It's quite alright. As Applejack said, I can do this… 'lickety split'." She tried saying Applejack's quote, but had a hard time saying "lickety split".

"I'm truly grateful and appreciate you doing this for all of the ponies… including me. I insist I help." I replied, demanding politely.

"Oh, Alex… well… if you insist…"

Rarity began sewing a dress with her sewing machine.

"Thread by thread, stitching it together…"

Rarity sang as she used her magic to direct fabric all along the room. I was rushing all over the room, grabbing scissors, pencils, needles, anything needed to help Rarity, although I stumbled by carrying all the items together as it wobbled, almost falling off. I gave Rarity the scissors, which she used to cut more fabric.

"Twilight's dress, cutting out the pattern snip by snip

Making sure the fabric folds nicely

It's the perfect color and so hip

Always gotta keep in mind my pacing

Making sure the clothes' correctly facing

I'm stitching Twilight's dress." She continued singing as she stitched Twilight's dress, obviously. She used her magic to grab some more rolls of fabric her pet was lying on top of. I walked over and grabbed the rest and held them near Rarity.

"Yard by yard, fussing on the details

Jewel neckline, don't you know a stitch in time saves nine?" She was designing another dress for what looked like to be Applejack's.

"Make her something perfect to inspire

Even though she hates formal attire…" My eyes formed the emotion in my thoughts. Yep… definitely Applejack's.

"Gotta mind those intimate details

Even though she's more concerned with sales

It's Applejack's new dress."

She walked over to the design papers on the wall and began drawing colors to other dresses she was going to create.

"Dressmaking's easy, for Pinkie Pie something pink

Fluttershy something breezy

Blend color and form,"

She looked over to her pet, Opalescence.

"Do you think it looks cheesy?"

Her pet gave a useless meow.

"Something brash, perhaps quite fetching…" She looked over to Rainbow Dash's fabric… which was a rainbow…

"Hook and eye, couldn't you just simply die?

Making sure it fits forelock and crest

Don't forget some magic in the dress

Even though it rides high on the flank

Rainbow won't look like a tank

I'm stitching Rainbow's dress"

She sang as she finished Rainbow Dash's dress with details and the fabric.

Piece by piece, snip by snip

Croup, dock, haunch, shoulders, hip

Thread by thread, primmed and pressed

Yard by yard, never stressed

And that's the Art of the Dress!" She finalized as she had finally completed every single one of the girl's dress, including my tux.

"Wow… Rarity" I responded in awe, releasing all the other materials and tools both my hooves were holding and walked over to each dress. "You really did an amazing job with such speed!"

"Why, thank you Alex!" She bowed gracefully. "How do you like your new tux?" She asked.

I walked over to the tux with my mouth slightly agape. I admired the tux's white collar and black necktie. However the rest of the suit was black, having long sleeves with a gold button on each end. I could only continue gazing at the well crafted creation of courteous Rarity.

"Well…?" Rarity asked again.

"It's…" I could hardly speak, stricken by the amazement of the tuxedo. "It's… amazing…I've never seen anything like it…"

"Really?" exclaimed Rarity. "Oh, thank you!" She squealed. "I've got to get the others!" She began running to the outside of the shop but then stopped and glanced back at me. "Thanks for helping, Alex. I appreciate it."

"No problem at all…" I responded. "Especially, after you made me this…"

"Oh, please." Rarity flipped her hoof and giggled. She continued to run outside to fetch the others.

As I waited, I ran my hoof along the soft silk of the suit, identifying each and every perfection Rarity created. Really… it was really nice of her to do this for me… is that what friends really do?

In a short amount of time, as I continued to admire the tux, Rarity came in, walking excitedly backwards, leading the girls to their new dresses. "That's it. Keep them closed." Rarity directed as she brought them in with Fluttershy at the beginning of the line, smiling with her eyes closed. Pinkie Pie was right behind her, hopping excitedly with her eyes closed as well. "Don't look…" Every pony was standing at a line, with their eyes closed. All of them were smiling excitedly. "Okay, you can look now!" All of them gasped as they noticed their new dresses. "These are your new outfits. What do you think of your old duds now, Applejack? Pretty swanky, are they not? And Twilight! I made this dress for you and I designed each outfit theme to perfectly reflect each pony's unique personality. Oh, it took me forever to get the colors right on this one, Rainbow Dash, but I did it. Oh, and it turned out BEAUTIFUL, don't you think? Ooo, and I know you are going to love yours, Fluttershy. It just sings spring! And Pinkie Pie, look! Pink! Your favorite! Aren't they all amazing? "Rarity announced each dress's details very excitedly as she awaited the instant approval from her friends. However… by the look on their faces… they didn't look very much intrigued…

There was a silence so deep, that I could hear every pony's eyes blink, especially Rarity who kept smiling excitedly.

"Wow... They're..." Twilight didn't know what to say.

"Yeah, they're..." Rainbow Dash tried to assist.

"They sure are... sumth'n." Applejack added.

"Yes!" Twilight pointed out. "Something."

"I love something! Something is my favorite!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"It's... nice." Fluttershy commented… but she held her ears and head down as if she looked disappointed.

I was confused by all the girls. Did they not like their new dresses? I'm not a fashion designer, or a filly… but I thought the dresses looked amazing.

"But what's the matter? Don't you like them?" Rarity asked my question, worried.

"They're very nice..." Twilight struggled.

"And we're plum grateful cause you worked so hard on them." Applejack added.

Rainbow Dash had a bored expression on her face and offered her own opinion. "Mine's just not as cool as I was imagining." Twilight and Applejack gave her evil glares. "She asked."

Rarity's expression had now completely changed than when she had came into the room, eagerly awaiting their opinions.

I stepped in front of them and looked at them with a disappointed expression on my face. "You girls don't like them…? They look really amazing…"

All of them struggled for a moment, trying to think of the right words to say.

"No, we do like them… it's just that…" She paused for a moment. "I guess what we're all saying is that they're just not what we had in mind." Twilight informed. There were a collective of "yeah"s.

What did they mean by that? I thought the dresses were perfect… how much more could have been done to make them to as how the other ponies wanted? After I analyzed the expression on Rarity's face, I instantly felt really bad for her… even frowning like she was.

"That's okay." Rarity picked herself up. "Not a problem. There's plenty more where that came from. They were only a first pass. You're my friends and I want you to be 110% satisfied. Not to worry, I'll redo them."

"Oh, Rarity. You don't have to do that. They're fine." Fluttershy tried to reason.

"I want them to be better that just fine." Rarity explained as she began her redoing process. "I want you to think they're absolutely perfect."

"Are you sure? I mean, we wouldn't wanna impose." Applejack asked.

Rarity laughed. "Oh, it's no imposition. Really, I insist."

"Well, in that case... Thank you again, Rarity." Twilight thanked as she and the other ponies began leaving the room.

Rarity laughed nervously. As soon as the door closed, she looked at the ground, sadly. "What have I gotten myself into?"

"Rarity?" I asked as I took a step forward to her. She turned and looked at me, gloomy. " I don't know what the other ponies… had in mind… I thought they were perfect…"

"Oh, thank you Alex… but I really want them to be excited about their dresses… it's not good if they aren't happy with their dresses."

"I see but… you already spent so much time with first set of dresses… won't it be too much to work on the second set?"

Rarity shrugged, but then managed to pull out a smile. "Do not worry about me, Alex. I'll be fine."

"I'll help. I couldn't leave, knowing that you'll be alone working on the dresses all over again."

"Well, that's really nice of you, Alex…" She removed her fake, forced smile and replaced it while a real light one.

I thought about talking Rarity into talking to the girls to leave the dresses as they were… I mean… I know the girls looked disappointed with the dresses, but it would be too much work for Rarity… but then I thought once more… maybe it'll be a few touch ups? Nothing too much… just a little more and they'll be thrilled?

We spent another amount of time, redoing Fluttershy's dress. To be honest, I couldn't help Rarity with much as I didn't know how to design dresses, stitch perfect like Rarity, and do many other things that Rarity could. The only thing I could really do was fetch her more fabric or hold her pins and needles and other things. I really attempted my best to aid her in her time of need, but I wasn't really effective; by the time she was done with Fluttershy's dress, her mane was not puffed up as it was before. Instead, it looked as if it had been sucked up of all life.

"Hello? You wanted to see me, Rarity?" Fluttershy walked in as Rarity was sewing another piece of fabric. I was carrying several rolls of material and placing them back on the shelf.

"Fluttershy! Your new-new gown's ready. I completely revised it and I know you're going to love it." Rarity exclaimed as she escorted Fluttershy somewhere else to place on her dress. I looked back with my eyes and desperately hoped that Rarity wouldn't feel disappointed again. I could tell how much she was already overwhelmed even though she kept a confident and determined expression her face.

I walked over to the storage room to return some items and grab new ones Rarity needed. When I came back to her work place, she was already working like crazy.

"Rarity? What happened with Fluttershy?" I asked.

"She…" She paused. "She liked it…"

"Liked it…?"

"I want her to love it."

"Um…"

However, Rarity was already focused and concentrated on her work, so I decided not to bug her as I placed the items on her desk.

In no time, Twilight was directing Rarity as she continued to design as Twilight asked.

"Now, the stars on my belt need to be technically accurate. Orion has three stars on his belt, not four."

"Stitch by stitch, stitching it together…" Rarity sang, in hopes to increase her production.

"Deadline looms, don't you know the client's always right?

Even if my fabric choice was perfect

Got to get them all done by tonight"

Pinkie Pie had came over and picked a green fabric.

"Pinkie Pie, the color's too obtrusive

Wait until you see it in the light" Rarity opened the curtains.

"I'm sewing them together!"

Pinkie Pie responded. "Don't you think my gown would be more 'me' with some lollipops?"

"Well, I think..." Rarity tried to reason.

"Balloons?"

"Well..."

"DO IT!"

After Pinkie Pie left Rarity to finish her work, I quickly walked up to her and tried to reason her to rest. "Rarity, I really think you should take a break… why don't you hold off making the dresses? The Grand Galloping Gala is still a while away…"

"Oh no, what about the fashion show? I wanted to have it tonight." Rarity responded, very tired.

"Just reschedule it for another day, you really need to get some rest."

"No…I…I can't… I must finish the dresses for the girls…"

"But, Rarity!—

However, she continued to work in another room, leaving me to exhale a very depressing and heavy sigh.

"Hour by hour, one more change

I'm sewing them together, take great pains

Fluttershy, you're putting me in a bind

Rainbow Dash, what is on your mind?

Oh my gosh, there's simply not much time

Don't forget, Applejack's duds must shine

Dressmaking's easy, every customer's call

Brings a whole new revision

Have to pick up the pace, still hold to my vision" Every time, I continued to try talking Rarity out of it. I couldn't watch her struggle with this anymore… but as much as I tried to reason with her, she just refused stubbornly and worked, leaving me to watch as Rarity continued to give in to the ponies' expectations.

"That constellation is Canis Major, not Minor." Twilight presented the constellation to Rarity in an image.

"French haute couture, please." Fluttershy asked, presenting her with another image.

"Ugh..." Rarity could only respond, drastically drained out.

"What if it rains? Galoshes!" Applejack demanded.

"More balloons! Oh no, that's too many balloons. More candy! Oh, less candy. Oh wait, I know. Streamers!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"Streamers?" Rarity asked.

"Whose dress is this?" Pinkie Pie assured.

"Streamers it is…" Rarity surrendered.

When Rainbow Dash came over, she was leaning on a table, waiting for Rarity to finish her dress. Rarity looked over at Rainbow Dash.

"What?" She asked.

"Aren't you going to tell me to change something too?" Rarity questioned.

"No, I just want my dress to be cool."

"Do you not like the color?"

"The color's fine, just make it look cooler."

"Do you not like the shape?"

"The shape's fine, just make the whole thing... you know, cooler. It needs to be about 20% cooler."

Rarity lowered her head at the unspecific directions of Rainbow Dash while she was attacked with other directions from the other ponies.

Pinkie Pie: "All we ever want is indecision."

Rainbow Dash: "All we really like is what we know."

Twilight Sparkle: "Gotta balance style with adherence."

Fluttershy: "Making sure we make a good appearance."

Applejack: "Even if you simply have to fudge it."

Everypony: "Make sure that it stays within our budget."

Rarity: "Got to overcome intimidation

Remember, it's all in the presentation!

Piece by piece, snip by snip

Croup, dock, haunch, shoulders, hip

Bolt by bolt, primmed and pressed

Yard by yard, always stressed

And that's the Art of the Dress!" Rarity finished.

She fell to the floor, exhausted. I quickly ran over to her, calling her name. I didn't bother asking if she was alright because I KNEW she wasn't.

"Okay, Rarity, that is it. You've done too much for every pony. I know you want to make them happy, but look what it has done to you!"

"Oh, Alex… These are the ugliest dresses I've ever made!" She exclaimed as she covered her eyes with her hooves.

I observed the latest dresses… and realized that… she was right…

I had told Rarity to rest because she had done enough. She had asked me to get the others and I confidently agreed. As I called the others and led them back to the shop, I could only think how Rarity must have felt after working non-stop for the happiness from her friends.

"Okay. I did exactly what each of you asked for." Rarity announced when I brought them back to the shop. "Now don't hold back. Let me know what you really think."

Everypony finally released cries of happiness, exclaiming that it was exactly as they asked for. I noticed how Rarity's pet hated the dresses, as it made signs of disgust.

Rarity sighed, relieved.

"Thank you, Rarity." Twilight expressed her gratitude.

"Are you as happy with them as we are? Huh? Huh? HUH?" Pinkie Pie asked, jumping in.

Rarity, thinking first of what to say, responded to Pinkie Pie. "Well, I'm... happy that all of you are happy. I'm just relieved to finally be done."

The door immediately opened, revealing Spike who was panting hard. "You are never gonna believe this! You've heard of Hoity-Toity?" He asked, eagerly.

"The bigwig fashion hotshot in Canterlot?" Twilight answered.

"Uh-huh. He heard about your fashion show. Well, maybe I happened to mention it to him... He's coming here all the way from Canterlot to see your work, Rarity!" Spike exclaimed.

"Whoa, Nelly! You could sell a ton o' dresses to this guy. You business will be boomin'!" Applejack pointed out.

Every pony began exclaiming how cool it was going to be for Rarity, but I saw that she was having trouble inside her mind.

"Hoity-Toity? He's coming here? To see THESE dresses?"

"Yep! Get ready for all of your dreams to come true." Spike replied, which left Rarity's eye twitching.

The girls congratulated Rarity and wished her good luck as they left. Rarity fell to the floor and covered her head with her hooves.

"Rarity…" I said, taking a step forward to her.

"It's okay. Everything will be alright." She chuckled nervously. "Alex, be a dear and go tell the others to be at the fashion show an hour before it starts? They are going to have to get dressed…" Rarity looked back and shivered. "…in these…"

"But…" I tried to speak.

"Please?" She asked.

I sighed and nodded. "Okay…"

I began walking outside, wondering what Rarity was going to do… I want to help… I really do… but how can I fix this problem? I can try talking to the ponies about the whole situation but… what if it breaks their hearts to know that their dresses are actually… well… overdone?

I met up with the girls, who were in a group outside the shop.

"Hey, Alex!" Twilight greeted me when I walked up to them.

"Hey, girls…" I responded, a bit saddened from the thoughts of Rarity. "Rarity would like you five to be at the fashion show an hour before it starts.

"Sure, okay." They agreed and began walking possibly to their homes, most likely to get ready.

Fluttershy had stayed behind. She must have felt my emotions…

"Alex, is something wrong…?" She softly asked, slowly walking towards me.

My thoughts began having a free-for-all match in my head as I tried to figure out what I should say. What if I say the truth and it leads them to be depressed and disappointed, completely ruining the fashion show? Or what if the important person attending the show actually likes the outfits? Or not? Grr! I just can't decide what to do or say!

"Alex…?" Fluttershy asked again.

I shook my head. "Um…uh…"

Fluttershy continued to look worried for me.

"It's… it's nothing…" Maybe I could tell them later…

"Are you sure?"

"Mm-hm." I nodded, even though it stung me that I lied. "You should get ready for the show."

"Okay… I'll see you there?"

I nodded again.

When it was dark, every pony gathered around the catwalk for the fashion show, including Hoity-Toity… I was backstage while Rarity was nervously looking out at the crowd behind the curtains. The girls had just returned from the dressing room, where they placed on their dresses.

The show is about to start! I don't have much time! But… I…I can't tell them! I want to help Rarity but…

Music suddenly began playing and lights flashed on the center of the stage.

"Since the beginning of time the elite of Equestria have longed for pony fashions that that truly expressed the essence of their very souls. Patiently waiting decades... no, centuries! ...for the perfect pony gown. Today at long last, Equestria, your wait is over!" The curtains were being removed from sight! "Let's hear it for the breathtaking designs of Ponyville's own Rarity!" Spike announced on a microphone.

The lights drew attention to the five ponies, causing every pony in the crowd to gasp. As they walked to the center of the catwalk, I could see ponies in the audience sticking out their tongue in disgust and make comments of the horridness. All five ponies spun slowly on the lazy Susan that was at the end of the catwalk.

"Oh, those amateurish designs look like a piled-on mishmash of everything but a kitchen sink!" Hoity-Toity announced, making every pony laugh. Rarity moved a kitchen sink, which was near her, behind her. "It's a travesty, it's what it is. Those outfits are the ugliest things I've ever seen, oh for shame. Who is responsible for subjecting our eyes to these horrors? Not to mention wasting my valuable time!"

Rarity began hiding behind her pet.

"Come on out and take a bow, Rarity. You worked really hard for this." Spike announced. Rarity had no choice but to slowly walk out with her head held down. "Yes! Alright, woohoo! Go, Rarity!" Spike cheered.

Ponies whispered in the crowd, making the five ponies to smile nervously. I covered my eyes with my hoof and just waited until for everything to end…

All the ponies had left the show, including Mr. "Hoity-Toity". Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, and Applejack returned to the safety of their dressing room, removing the dresses. Rarity was backstage, lying on the floor, crying with her face buried in her legs.

"Rarity…" I walked over to her with a frown on my face.

"Oh Alex, I… I…" She continued crying.

I didn't know what to say… I could only just stand there idle, trying to think of the right words…

"I think I need to be alone for awhile…" She stood up and walked out of the stage, sniffling along the way. I wanted to follow her… but I felt that I should stay behind…

All of the other ponies finally came out of the dressing room.

"Hey… where did Rarity go…?" Twilight asked.

"Home…" I responded briefly.

"Why?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"What do you think?" I turned around to face them. "Rarity had an opportunity of a lifetime, but she wanted to make sure you girls were happy with your dresses. Now…" I paused for a moment, sighing and staring at the floor. "It's gone…"

"We're…sorry…" Twilight tried to respond.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to…" With that, I left and headed towards home.

I know I wasn't the one who was stricken with sadness and depression… but it did pass on over to me… seeing a friend… who did something so nice for me… to lose her dream because of it…

The next day, I walked over to Rarity's to check up on her, but I was distracted when I heard meowing near her shop. I looked over to the tree where it had came from to see Rainbow Dash sitting happily while Rarity's cat was clinging for her life on the branch.

"What are you doing?" I asked her, confused.

"Shh!" She shushed.

I stared at her then noticed a dress on a mannequin near the tree, where Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy stood.

"Opal, how did you get up there? Hang on, you poor dear! Mama's coming!" I heard Rarity's voice.

Rarity came outside, rushing to get her cat off until she saw Rainbow Dash the same way I did. "Rainbow Dash? How dare you strand my poor Opal on the tree?"

"Well, how else were we gonna get you out here to show you this!"

The others presented the dress, leaving Rarity breathless.

"What is it? It's not... You..." She gasped.

"We all finished your dress for you!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"Thanks to Fluttershy's freaky knowledge of sewing." Applejack added.

Fluttershy blushed. "Do you like it?" She asked.

"Like it?" She walked around the dress and observed it. "Like it?" She said, in a negative tone.

"Uh-oh. She doesn't like it." Fluttershy reacted.

"No, I don't like it." Rarity replied boldly, causing the girls to be disappointed. Suddenly, she turned around to them and exclaimed proudly, "I LOVE IT!"

"Yay!" Every pony cheered.

"You ponies did an amazing job. It's exactly the way I imagined it."

"We just followed your brilliant design." Fluttershy responded.

"Like we should have let you do for our outfits. Those first dresses you designed were perfect." Twilight added.

"We're so super sorry." Pinkie Pie apologized.

"You worked really hard to make our dresses exactly the way we wanted them." Rainbow Dash explained as she brought down Opal. "We all saw how well that turned out."

"Oh, I forgive you." Rarity accepted.

"Well, that's mighty big of you." Applejack said.

"But my whole career is still ruined!" Rarity dramatically cried.

"Oh, right. That."

"Maybe not." Twilight added, looking over to Hoity-Toity who walked behind me.

"All right, I haven't got all day." He stated.

"Take two." He announced as I waited in the back room to observe the girls' dresses. The second show was taking place in Rarity's shop.

Spike closed the curtains leaving the room engulfed in complete darkness. Rarity used her magic to create a light, which it itself created many special effects, stunning Hoity-Toity. Twilight revealed herself in the perfect dress Rarity had made.

"Hello... Oh, this can't be the same designer." Hoity-Toity commented.

Applejack then revealed herself after.

"Simply magnificent! And suddenly I have a fierce craving for some Dutch apple pie. Candied apples on a stick? Apple turnovers? Apple cobbler?"

Third, it was Pinkie Pie, representing the candy she loves so much.

"Brilliant!" He exclaimed.

Rainbow Dash frightened him when she introduced herself through thunder sound effects.

"Oh, spectacular!" He was really getting excited now…

Lastly, Fluttershy presented herself. I was amazed by how… amazing… she looked wearing the dress.

"Now this is a fashion show. All of these dresses are absolutely amazing. Who is responsible? Step forward, show yourself!" He commanded.

Rarity introduced herself in her new dress, presenting a light.

"Bravo! Bravo! Magnifico! Encore!" He cheered.

"Oh, thank you. Thank you! Oh, thank you so much!" Rarity thanked, joyfully.

Every pony had gathered on the first floor of the shop, where Twilight began speaking her letter to Spike.

"Dear Princess Celestia. This week my very talented friend Rarity learned that if you try to please everypony, you often times end up pleasing nopony, especially yourself. And I learned this: when somepony offers to do you a favor, like making you a beautiful dress, you shouldn't be overly critical of something generously given to you. In other words, you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth."

I know how that feels...

Spike blew and sent the letter.

"Rarity, my congratulations. You are the most impressive fashion maven. Would you do me the great honor of allowing me to feature your couture in my best of the best boutique in Canterlot?" Hoity-Toity asked.

Rarity gasped.

"Now, I'll need you to make a dozen of each dress for me by next Tuesday."

Rarity quickly changed the expression on her face.

"Ta-ta!" Hoity-Toity left the building.

"Oh no! How will I ever be able to make a DOZEN of EACH DRESS by next Tuesday?" Rarity asked.

I looked behind me to see Fluttershy, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack. "I think I know who can help with that…"

Thus, every pony, including Spike and I, worked for the rest of the day to help Rarity with her dresses. Since Fluttershy was amazing at stitching, she was able to help Rarity far more than us. Having known what the dress already looks like and what goes where, Rarity didn't have to spend extra time on planning the dress and deciding what material or fabric to add; she just had to make copies of each dress.

Since every pony worked together in an orderly fashion (no pun intended), we were able to finish ALL of the work in one day. We were exhausted by the end of the day, but every pony was glad that we were able to help Rarity.

"Thank you all very much for assisting me with my work. You ponies were a BIG help. I can't thank you enough." Rarity announced.

"It was nothing, Rarity! After all, we DO owe you so much for all that time you spent on fixing our dresses." Twilight replied.

"Oh, please. Don't worry about it." Rarity chuckled.

Soon, every pony left home for the night, leaving me to walk Fluttershy home.

"Hey, Alex…" Fluttershy softly spoke and she flew gently. "You're not mad at me… are you…?"

"Why would I be mad at you?" I asked.

"Well… because I was one of the ponies who wanted my dress to be exactly as I wanted…"

"Well, I'm not mad at you. I know you didn't mean to be like that…"

Fluttershy giggled a little. "Yes… I guess I just got carried away with my imagination…" She smiled.

"Well… I thought you looked amazing in the dress Rarity had for you…"

Her cheeks glowed as she looked towards me. "Oh, Alex…really?"

I looked away, feeling a little red myself. "Y-yeah…"

We arrived at her door and she looked towards me very joyfully. "Thank you…"

"You're welcome…" I replied, tilting my head a little but keeping my eyes on her.

She hugged me as we both wished each other a good night. I left after I had made sure she safely entered her home.

As I walked up the stairs towards my bed, I realized how I didn't spend much time at home anymore… I didn't stare at the bare wall and shelves nor did I waste my life doing… well… mainly nothing… besides attempting to improve myself…by myself…

I pulled the covers over me, in my bed, and went to sleep… awaiting the next day.

Sonic Rainboom

Episode 16 – Sonic Rainboom

When I woke up, I had covers on me, nicely tucked. I looked around. I realized that I wasn't in my usual home… then I remembered that I had stayed at Fluttershy's home. I listened for any noise but there was only silence. The silence frightened me a bit, even though there was no real danger. I carefully uncovered myself and sat up from the couch. I planted my hooves on the ground and folded the blanket nicely. After, I walked around the house, looking for Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy?" I called her name, but there was no answer.

Maybe she's outside…

I walked outside to hear Rainbow Dash's voice.

"Now, what have we learned?" Rainbow Dash asked Fluttershy as she paced in the air.

"Lots of control." Fluttershy answered in a confident and solid tone.

"Good." Rainbow Dash praised.

"Screaming and hollering."

"Yes, and most importantly?"

"Passion!"

"Right!" Rainbow Dash landed on the ground. "So now that you know the elements of a good cheer, let's hear one."

Fluttershy took a breath in. "Yay." Fluttershy cheered in a very soft tone.

"... Ugh. You're gonna cheer for me like that? Louder."

"Yay." Fluttershy gave it another shot, but the volume remained the same.

"Louder!" Rainbow Dash yelled at Fluttershy, even making her flinch.

"Yay."

"Louder!" Rainbow Dash screamed.

Fluttershy then took a large and deep breath. "Yaay." She still cheered quietly.

"Ugh..." Rainbow Dash placed a hoof on her forehead and fell backwards.

"...Too loud?" Fluttershy asked.

"What's going on?" I asked as I walked towards them.

"Oh, you're awake, Alex! Good morning!" Fluttershy greeted. "Rainbow Dash is helping me cheer for when she performs at the Best Young Flyer Competition!"

Rainbow Dash stood up. "But the problem with that is that Fluttershy needs to learn to cheer louder!" She looked over to me. "Alex, can you please teach her how to cheer the right way?"

"Um…" I paused. "I'm not much of a cheerer…"

"Are you seri—UGH!" Rainbow Dash groaned. "Whatever, I'm just going to go start practicing my stunt! Fluttershy keep working on that cheer!" She flew up the cloud above us and looked down upon us, a little annoyed that Fluttershy couldn't cheer louder.

"Yay." Fluttershy released one quick, short, and soft cheer.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and bounced on the cloud. She began flying straight downwards but shot left before she hit the ground. She began maneuvering through a line of trees accurately, passing us like a rocket. A large gust of wind blew our manes while Fluttershy released another cheer. "Wooo."

Rainbow Dash flew upwards and then headed towards a cloud. She began spinning around it, rapidly, actually causing the cloud to spin itself. She applied the same technique to a couple of more clouds. Watching this, Fluttershy's eyes spun around but regained their position. "Way to go." She spoke softly.

I know how Rainbow Dash wanted Fluttershy to cheer louder… but I had to admit… the way she cheered was so…adorable… Thinking this caused me to actually blush a little on the outside.

Rainbow Dash now shot upwards at an angle and did a few loops before flying straight towards us. She was significantly gaining speed and she continued to dash downwards. Fluttershy could only gaze in suspense as Rainbow Dash was about to finish her performance. Tears formed in Rainbow Dash's eyes as she continued to attempt to break the sound barrier with her speed. She had almost made it, but suddenly the sound barrier won and threw her the opposite direction. As Rainbow Dash screamed, Fluttershy placed a hoof to her mouth.

She looked at me. "C'mon, Alex! Let's go follow her!"

I nodded. She flew as I ran towards where she had fallen at.

It turns out that she actually landed in Twilight's home. I had gone through the front door as Fluttershy flew through the window.

"Rainbow Dash, you rock!" Fluttershy exclaimed softly. "Woohoo." Fluttershy shook her hoof a little. However, we both realized the mess she had caused in Twilight's home; books were scattered everywhere. "Did my cheering do that?" Fluttershy asked.

Rainbow Dash recovered from the fall and stood up. "Hehe. Sorry about that ladies." She shook her head. "THAT was a truly feeble performance."

"Actually, it wasn't all bad." Fluttershy commented. "I particularly liked it when you made the clouds spin."

"Ugh. I'm not talking about MY performance, I'm talking about YOURS." She pointed at Fluttershy. "That feeble cheering!"

I walked towards Fluttershy and defended her. "Calm down, Rainbow Dash… she cheered the best she could. I thought she was great."

"GREAT?" Rainbow Dash scoffed. "You couldn't hear her if you were right next to her in a library!"

I looked around, which ironically, we were in a library.

"What are you three arguing about?" Twilight asked.

"Were we arguing? I'm sorry." Fluttershy apologized.

Rainbow Dash lowered her head sadly as she grunted. "I wish you guys could come to Cloudsdale to see me compete in the Best Young Flyer Competition." Rainbow Dash looked over to the other girls.

"What's that?" Twilight asked.

Pinkie Pie's eyes sparkled with excitement. "It's where all the greatest Pegasus flyers get together and show off their different flying styles! Some are fast!" She spun around in a circle through the clutter of books and created sounds as if she was racing in a track. "And some are graceful." She balanced herself on one hoof, but soon lost balance. "Woah, woah, WooooaaAAAAHH!" She crashed on another pile of books.

"Golly. I'd love to see you strut yer stuff in that competition." Applejack commented.

"Yeah. I wish you guys could be there. Fluttershy's a great support, but her cheering isn't exactly inspirational." Rainbow Dash explained as Fluttershy lowered her head a little in disappointment. I placed a hoof on her.

"OOH! I'd love to see you make a sonic rainboom! It's like, the most coolest thing ever! Even though I've never actually seen it, but I mean COME ON!" Pinkie Pie bounced rapidly. "It's a sonic rainboom! How not cool could it possibly not be?"

"What's a sonic rainboom?" Twilight asked, clueless.

"You really need to get out more." Pinkie Pie told Twilight before she explained the term. "The sonic rainboom is legendary! When a Pegasus like Rainbow Dash gets going soo fast... BOOM!" She crashed on a pile of books. "A sonic boom and a rainbow can happen all at once!"

"And Rainbow Dash here's the only pony to ever pull it off!" Applejack emphasized.

"It was a long time ago... I was just a filly…" Rainbow Dash responded, bashfully.

"Yeah, but you're gonna do it again, right?" Pinkie Pie asked.

Rainbow Dash hesitated for a moment. "Are... you kidding? I'm the greatest flyer to ever come out of Cloudsdale! I could do sonic rainbooms in my sleep."

"Wow." Twilight replied, impressed. "If you pull that off, you'll win the crown for sure!"

"The grand prize is an entire day with the Wonderbolts. A whole day of flying with my life-long heroes... It'll be a dream come true!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Yay." Fluttershy gave another cheer, happily.

Rainbow Dash glared at her for a moment and then returned her attention to the other girls. "I'm gonna go rest up. Don't wanna over prepare myself, y'know. Hehe." Rainbow Dash walked up face-to-face with Fluttershy and emphasized her instructions while Fluttershy looked innocently helpless. "YOU, on the other hand, better keep practicing. I need a cheering section to match my spectacular performance." Rainbow Dash flew off, outside the window.

"She's practiced that move a hundred times, and she's never even come close to doing it." Fluttershy told me. "I don't know if I can cheer loud enough to help her…"

"I know you want to help Rainbow Dash, but you shouldn't force yourself to cheer loudly just because she wants you to…"

"I know but… still…" She sighed. "Sorry, Alex. I have to go follow Rainbow Dash. I would love it if you were able to come… but unfortunately you can't fly…"

"Oh…" I held my head down, a little sad. "Ok… I'll see you later…"

She nodded and flew out the window.

"Well, guess we better get this cleaned up... Again." Twilight announced, annoyed.

Twilight began picking up a book with her magic, but Rarity poked her from behind with her horn. "Go on, go on."

"Go on what?" Twilight asked with the annoyed expression on her face.

"Find a spell that will get us wingless ponies into Cloudsdale. Didn't you see how nervous she was?" Rarity answered.

"Nervous?" Applejack joined the conversation. "Have you spit yer bit or somethin'? She was tootin' her own horn louder than the brass section of a marching band!"

"Oh, puh-lease." Rarity argued. "I have put on enough fashion shows to recognize stage fright when I see it. We've got to find a way to be there for her." She looked over to Twilight and pushed her. "Now go on!"

"Owaa!" Twilight landed in a pile of books and poked her head out. "Ugh. How am I supposed to find a flight spell in this mess?"

"A flight spell? One sec." Pinkie Pie rushed over somewhere to get a book and threw it over to Twilight. "Page twenty-seven."

"How'd you do that?" Applejack asked suspiciously.

"It landed on my face when Rainbow Dash knocked me into the bookcase." Pinkie Pie responded.

"Here it is!" Twilight exclaimed. "A spell that will allow Earth ponies to fly for three days. Ooh, it looks really difficult..." She walked over to the others. "I'm not sure I can do it."

"You've got to try!" Rarity pleaded.

"Ok... But who's gonna volunteer to be the test subject?" Twilight asked.

Everypony remained quiet. Suddenly, transforming from my silence, I walked over to Twilight and offered. "I will."

"Alex? Are you sure?"

I nodded. To be honest… I wasn't doing it for Rainbow Dash… I mean sure… it would be great to watch her perform… but the reason I volunteered for a spell Twilight had not even performed before… was because that special feeling with Fluttershy pushed me to do it. It made me feel… confident… unafraid of whatever consequences that may arise from this spell. The feeling made my heart pump a little faster and stronger as I stood confident in front of Twilight. I really want to see Fluttershy…

"Ok then…here we go!" After reading her book for a moment, she placed it down and pointed her horn at me. Her horn released a faded glow as she closed her eyes on concentrating the spell. She grunted as blue waves, which looked like ribbons, surrounded me. They began levitating me and closing throughout my whole sight and body. A small explosion occurred, however, I was sent falling to the floor and releasing a loud thud sound when my body landed.

"What happened? Did it work?" Rarity asked Twilight.

I stood up and observed myself to see if there were any changes… but there weren't…

"That's weird… why didn't it work?" Twilight asked as she shuffled through the pages of her book.

"Maybe only a certain pony can have the spell?" Applejack suggested.

"No… It's not that… my book doesn't say a pony has to have certain qualifications… unless they already have wings… but Alex doesn't… so… I don't understand…"

Everypony thought for a moment, even me.

Does this mean I can't see Fluttershy…?

"Try me next!" Rarity offered, holding her hoof up. "For Rainbow Dash!"

Twilight looked at Rarity and shrugged. "Here goes…" She faced her horn at Rarity and began casting the spell. The same details occurred with Rarity as it did to me. Finally, another small explosion occurred, pushing us all back.

When we regained our balance, we stood up to look at the new Rarity. She was actually flying in midair! She opened her wings, releasing many colorful shadows when the sunlight was in the room. She had wings… but not exactly pony wings… they were more like… butterfly wings…

"I think it worked!" Twilight responded sluggishly.

"Oh my!" Rarity observed her wings. "They're so… BEAUTIFUL! I must show the other girls right away!" She was about to fly out the window but Twilight stopped her.

"Wait! What about us?" Twilight asked.

"I think I can help with that!" Pinkie Pie announced.

We looked behind us to see her motioning with her hoof. "C'mon! Follow me!"

She led us outside to where she had a huge hot air balloon.

"Pinkie…" Twilight spoke as her eyes were widened in surprise. "How did you…"

"Well, while you ponies were doing your magic mumbo-jumbo, I grabbed the hot air balloon I used for the Running of the Leaves! Pretty cool, huh?"

"Well then, let's go!" Applejack jumped onto the balloon.

The rest of us hopped in while Rarity had a head start. Pinkie Pie released the hot air and we began floating toward the clouds. In the meantime, I looked over the basket to see the ground descending below us. We continued to be separated further and further from land.

"Ok ponies, listen up!" Twilight announced. I turned to face her. "Before we arrive at Cloudsdale, I need to cast a spell on each one of you, so you'll be able to walk on the clouds." She flipped through the spell book she brought. "I was able to find something for us, thanks to Pinkie Pie," Pinkie Pie released a wide grin. "and it's so much easier than making each of us able to fly. Gather around!"

We gathered around Twilight to where she focused her horn and casted the spell on everyone in the balloon.

I didn't feel much different… instead… only a little lighter…

Finally, when we floated through the last cloud, we saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy staring at us in amazement.

"I... I can't believe it!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"It's incredible!" Fluttershy added.

"This is so cool! You guys made it!" Rainbow Dash stated as Pinkie Pie landed the hot air balloon on the cloud.

"Sure did!" Pinkie Pie jumped out of the hot air balloon and was about to land on the cloud.

"WAIT!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, but then she saw Pinkie Pie plant her feet safely on the cloud. Twilight, Applejack, and I hopped out of the hot air balloon as well. "…How'd you do that? Only Pegasus ponies can walk on clouds."

Pinkie Pie performed a cartwheel over to Rainbow Dash. "Haha. Pretty cool, huh?"

"I found a spell that makes temporary wings," Twilight explained. "but it was too difficult to do more than once. So I found an easier spell that lets the rest of us walk on clouds."

"And we came to cheer you to victory!" Applejack added.

"To be honest, I was starting to get just a teeniest, tiniest bit nervous. But I feel a LOT better now that you guys are here." Rainbow Dash paused for a moment. "Hey, we've got some time before the competition. Why don't Fluttershy and I show you around Cloudsdale?"

Everypony cheered and began following Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

As we walked, Fluttershy flew to my side and looked really happy. "I'm so glad you could make it, Alex! It wouldn't feel the same without you…"

"Really…?" I responded lightly.

She blushed and looked away, nodding.

"Here it is:" Rainbow Dash announced. "The greatest city in the sky!" She presented, beyond the clouds, many ponies flying around Cloudsdale, along with the different homes made from clouds.

The ponies new to this city released their amazement through their voices. However, we heard Rarity doing the same thing, only she was observing herself in the mirror along with her wings…

"Uhh..." Rainbow Dash responded after noticing Rarity. "Some of the greatest Pegasi in history came from Cloudsdale!" Rainbow Dash walked us over to another area.

"Oh, wait for me!" Rarity called over to us and flew to catch up.

"Be careful with those wings Rarity." Twilight warned Rarity after she had noticed Rarity showing them off a bit too much. "They're made from gossamer and morning dew, and they're incredibly delicate."

"Don't worry Twilight." Rarity assured. "I'm sure they can't get worn out from too much attention?"

"Since we're up here, I'd sure like to get a look at where the weather's made." Applejack requested.

"Great idea!" Rainbow Dash responded. "C'mon. To the weather factory!" She ran to lead us over to the factory.

Before we entered the factory, we had to follow safety regulations, so we all had to wear a coat and hard hat.

"This is where they make the snowflakes. Each one is hoofmade. As you can see, it's a delicate operation." Rainbow Dash explained as she spoke is a low voice. She pointed out to the other ponies who were working on snowflakes with different kinds of equipment.

"Ooh, the snowflakes look even better from up here!" Rarity said as she flew up to the snowflakes hanging on the ceiling. However, the flapping from her wings caused a breeze to form, blowing all the snowflakes around the area and disturbing the workers. The workers began chasing after the snowflakes before they fell. Sounds of cracks and breaking were heard.

"We better move on before Rarity ruins winter and causes a drought." Rainbow Dash suggested.

Rainbow Dash escorted us to the area where they produced the rainbows in pools full of rainbow, which was stirred by different workers. "And here's where they make the rainbows!"

Pinkie Pie dipped her hoof in the rainbow and licked it. She tasted it for a moment until her face presented all the colors of the rainbow. She screamed and exclaimed, "Spicyyyyyy!..." She ran away to find something to relieve the fire in her mouth. Twilight and Applejack laughed.

"Yeah, rainbows aren't really known for their flavor…" Rainbow Dash explained.

"Woah!" We heard from a distance.

We turned our heads to see a group of three ponies following Rarity as she strutted by them.

"Oh, where'd you get those amazing wings? I want a pair!" The dark brown pony with a sort of… beige… hair color asked as he walked behind Rarity.

"Hmm... Yeah, I guess I could see that." Rarity teased.

The group noticed us and the dark brown pony spoke again. "Oh hey look, it's Rainbow Crash again!"

"Heheheyeah!" The light brown pony with the long brown mane added as they walked towards us. " Rainbow..." He stuttered. "Umm... Eyah... Crash!"

I could already tell that these guys were no good…

"Rarity! What're you doing talking to these guys?" Rainbow Dash immediately questioned, annoyed by the presence of them.

"Oh, they were just admiring my wings Rainbow Dash." Rarity replied.

"Yeah, you should forget the sonic rainboom and just get yourself some wings like these!" The dark brown one exclaimed.

They all began laughing.

"Oohh..." Rainbow Dash groaned.

After seeing a sudden image of the past, I looked from Rainbow Dash and over to the group of guys. I walked towards them firmly as they continued to laugh.

"Why don't you three shut your mouths and put your talent in it instead!" I spoke boldly.

"What are you saying…bub…?" He drew his face closer to mine, responding in a cold and bold voice, almost like mine.

"I'm saying that unless any of you three have some ACTUAL talent besides picking on others, you should keep your mouth shut."

"Oh yeah?" He responded aggressively, having his acquaintances start to surround me.

"Yeah." I replied. "What part of me didn't you understand? Oh that's right… because you're just an ignorant pony who needs to bully somepony else to feel better about yourself!"

They all growled and looked as if they wanted to attack me right there. Rainbow Dash noticed this and instantly cut in between. "Okay boys! That's enough!" She announced as she pulled me out of the aggressive zone.

They all scoffed. "You better tell your little friend to watch what he says!" The dark brown one said as they began flying away. "See you later…RAINBOW CRASH!"

I stared at them with an aggressive mood in my mind as they flew away. Rainbow Dash lowered her head in shame.

"Uhh... C'mon. Why don't we go see how clouds are made?" Fluttershy announced quickly to leave the area. "Don't listen to them." She helped Rainbow Dash as we walked away. "You're gonna win that competition for sure!"

"Are you kidding? I can't DO the sonic rainboom, and just look at these boring, plain old feathered wings. I'm doomed!" Rainbow Dash replied, worried.

"Rainbow Dash, you can. Think about it." I responded. "Who's the only one to have ever done the sonic rainboom? You. Have those idiots ever done it? No. So, don't listen to them. Just believe in yourself and I promise you'll be victorious."

Rainbow Dash managed to pull out a light smile. "Thanks Alex… I guess that makes me feel a little better…"

We arrived at the cloud factory to see all the workers immediately gaze and turn their attention to Rarity's wings as soon as they noticed them.

"Why, these old things?" Rarity bragged. "Go ahead everypony. Photos are encouraged."

Rarity continued showing off, causing Rainbow Dash to lose more of her ego and rise up in being frightened and nervous.

"Rarity." Twilight walked over to Rarity and scolded her while whispering. "We're supposed to be helping Rainbow Dash relax, remember? Put your wings away and stop showing off!"

"Oh pfft. How can you ask me to put away perfection?" Rarity ascended straight towards where the sunlight peeped through the factory. The sunlight passed through Rarity's wings, delicately, and formed several bright colors among the ponies, causing each of them to be amazed.

While every other pony was distracted with Rarity's wings, Rainbow Dash was on the floor shivering.

"Rainbow Dash. Are you ok? You don't look so good." Twilight asked.

"Of course!" Rainbow Dash answered as she panted. "Why wouldn't I be ok? Everyone's so in love with Rarity's wings that they won't even notice when I totally blow it in the Best Young Flyer's Competition."

"Hey! There's an idea!" One of the ponies emerged from the crowd and presented herself. She pointed at Rarity. "YOU should enter the competition!"

"Yeah! I could watch you fly all day long!" Another pony, that was elderly, encouraged.

"There really isn't anypony who uses their wings quite like me. Perhaps I should compete." Rarity responded as she continued striking poses.

"WHAT?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Workers continued following Rarity as they awed of her appearance. "What am I gonna DO? I'll never win the competition now..." Rainbow Dash announced as the rest of the others gathered around her.

"Rarity has taken her temporary wings a bit too far…" I replied. "Don't worry Rainbow Dash, I'll go talk to her. Just… try to remain calm and think of positive thoughts… why don't you remember how you were before you came up here to Cloudsdale today? Or if possible, think of the time you actually did the sonic rainboom…"

"Thanks, Alex… but…" She continued shivering a little.

I looked over to the others. "Stay with Rainbow Dash and get her ready for the competition, I'll go have a talk with Rarity."

They nodded.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Fluttershy asked.

"It's okay, I'll be fine. I'm just going to talk to her really quick and see if I can get her head out of the beauty of the wings and into what actually will happen with the wings."

"Okay…"

"I'll see you at the cloud you'll be on, during the performances."

She nodded and they took Rainbow Dash as I began my way towards Rarity.

She wasn't hard to find as there was a large crowd following her everywhere she went. I struggled passing through the crowd and called her name when I got to the front.

"Rarity."

"Oh, Alex!" Rarity answered. She looked over to her admirers and scooted them away with her hoof. "Go on now. There will be plenty more to admire during my fantastic performance." The crowd left, leaving Rarity and I. She was still flying as she spoke. "So what is it Alex? Come to admire the wings as well?"

"Actually…" I responded, pausing a little. "I wanted to talk to you about the competition…"

"About my performance?" Rarity immediately asked.

"Yeah…I guess…" I looked around with my eyes, and then looked back at Rarity. "Don't you think it's dangerous to be competing?"

"How is competing dangerous?" Rarity questioned. "I have wings, remember?"

"Yeah… temporary wings." I strained. "What if you lose them during your 'performance'? I know Twilight said they lasted three days, but it was the first time she ever did the spell, so who knows how long it will really be? Besides, Twilight also said that they're delicate, so you don't know exactly what might make you lose them..."

"Oh, please, Alex." She chuckled a little. "Thanks for caring, but I'll be fine! With wings this beautiful, I'm destined to win with such grace."

"Rarity…"

"Even if I did lose them during my performance, I would still land safely on the cloud, like you ponies!"

"But, Rarity, Twilight didn't—

"Sorry, Alex. I have to prepare for my performance if I want to win! Wish me luck!" Rarity flew off towards where all the competitors were to ready themselves and wait. I placed a hoof on my head and sighed.

When I arrived at the performance center, I looked for the cloud the girls were on. Luckily, Pinkie Pie had this huge number one foam finger she was holding up. I spotted them and walked over to the cloud they were seated on.

Pinkie Pie continued giggling excitedly as I sat down next to Fluttershy. "Hey…how'd it go with Rainbow Dash?" I asked.

"She's still nervous… I'm afraid something might go wrong…"

I sighed and looked over to the building the competitors were to come out from. "I hope she does alright…even if I get annoyed by her constant bragging…she's still…my friend…"

Below me I could hear the laughter of those despicable ponies once again. I slowly grew angrier every time I heard them. However, Fluttershy placed a hoof on me, giving me this…worried look… as if she didn't want me to confront the ponies. I lightly exhaled the breath inside me.

"Fillies and gentlecolts!" The announcer announced. "Please rise and join me in welcoming our beloved Princess Celestia!" Princess Celestia appeared from the sky and landed on a special cloud reserved just for her. A couple of royal guards each stayed by both sides of her. Princess Celestia waved at every pony watching the event. "Please welcome our celebrity judges for the Best Young Flyer Competition. The Wonderbolts!" A group of six ponies flew by, doing a few tricks and finishing off with a firework. Every pony cheered for each introduction. "And now, let's find out who will take the prize as this year's best young flyer!"

Several performers emerged from the building and performed their own stunts and talents… but I didn't really pay attention as I was thinking more about the risks with Rarity, and the outcome of Rainbow Dash…

"I loved number seven." Twilight stated. "Doing fifteen barrel-rolls in a row can't be easy."

"My favorite is number ten. She just looked like such a nice pony." Fluttershy added.

"Hmm.. Wonder how come we haven't seen Rainbow Dash or Rarity yet? The competition's almost over." Applejack wondered.

"And now, for our final competitor of the day, contestant number fifteen!" Rainbow Dash flew out from the curtains, looking nervous and worried. On the contrary, Rarity appeared gracefully, having a face full of makeup and accessories. I slapped a hoof to my forehead. "Uhh... And apparently contestant number four..."

Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack cheered loudly for them. Rarity spoke to Rainbow Dash for a moment, who was shivering fiercely now, and then skipped to begin her performance.

Rainbow Dash studied the course for a moment and began her routine, just like she had done this morning. As the other girls cheered excitedly for Rainbow Dash, she continued to do her first phase. However, she knocked the last cloud and pummeled straight towards the bottom of us, crashing near the other ponies.

"Nice work Rainbow Crash!" They ignorantly exclaimed and laughed.

I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath… just let it go…

As Rarity continued dancing in mid-air, Rainbow Dash began the second phase, flying upwards and spinning the clouds.

"Look! Phase two is working!" Fluttershy announced, which led to the girls cheering again.

As Rainbow Dash was concentrating on spinning a cloud, a piece of it knocked her off. This caused the cloud to spin straight towards Princess Celestia. The Princess and her royal guards ducked as the cloud dissolved above them.

After, Rarity began flying upwards towards the sun. Hesitating for a moment, Rainbow Dash followed as well… preparing to do the third and final phase… the sonic rainboom…

Rarity arrived at the beam of the sun, panting and sweating heavily. "Look upon me Equestria," She announced loudly. "for I Am Rarity!"

She separated her wings and the sun beamed through the colors, presenting many shiny shades to appear everywhere. The crowd awed at her.

Suddenly, as she was posing, her wings burned up and disintegrated. She opened her eyes and looked at her body, noticing that her "fantastic" wings were gone. She began falling downwards at a rapid speed, screaming along the way.

"Oh no! Her wings evaporated into thin air!" Twilight exclaimed.

I stood up immediately and tried to think of something to do… but there was nothing I COULD do… I had no wings…

The wonderbolts began racing towards Rarity to catch her, but her feet kicking caused them to knock out and fall along with Rarity. Rainbow Dash saw this and immediately turned around, racing towards Rarity.

Fluttershy covered her eyes. "Oh, I can't look!"

She continued rushing at top speed, causing every pony to wait in suspense. Rainbow Dash continued flying and all of sudden; she released an explosion of rainbow, revealing different lights to everypony.

Fluttershy hopped in the air as Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and even I stood in awe. "A sonic rainboom!" She screamed. "She did it! She did it! WOOO!"

Just before the wonderbolts and Rarity were crushed to the ground, Rainbow Dash made it and swooped in to save them. She rushed back toward us and had them land safely, except Rarity, who was carried by a couple of Pegasus ponies. The whole crowd cheered, especially Fluttershy. "A sonic rainboom! Wooo! YEAH!"

Rainbow Dash and Rarity had a quick conversation. I exhaled a breath in relief.

We returned back to Pinkie Pie's hot air balloon, where Rarity was carried and placed inside the basket.

"I want to apologize to all of you for getting so carried away with my... beautiful wings. I guess I just lost my head." Everypony accepted her apology. Rarity looked over at Rainbow Dash and spoke to her. "And I'm especially sorry that I was so thoughtless as to jump into the contest at the last minute after you had worked so hard to win it. Can you ever ever forgive me?"

"Aw, it's ok." Rainbow Dash responded. "Everything turned out alright, right? I just wish I could have met the Wonderbolts when they were awake." The wonderbolts had actually walked over to us and one of them tapped Rainbow Dash. She turned around and her face immediately surrendered it's calm, cool, and collected expression. "Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohMYGOSH!"

"So you're the little pony who saved our lives." The one with a mane resembling of a fire spoke. "We really wanted to meet you, and say thanks."

"Ohmygosh Ohmygosh Ohmygosh Ohmygosh Ohmygosh!" was the only thing Rainbow Dash could reply with.

Princess Celestia and her royal guards flew over to us.

"Princess!" Twilight announced.

Each of us bowed as she spoke. "Hello Twilight Sparkle, and hello to your friends too."

"Princess Celestia, I am sorry I ruined the competition." Rarity spoke as she held her head low. She looked over to Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash here really is the best flyer in Equestria."

Rainbow Dash rubbed her hooves shyly.

"I know she is my dear."Princess Celestia responded. "That's why for her incredible act of bravery, and her spectacular sonic rainboom, I'm presenting the grand prize for best young flyer to this year's winner, Miss Rainbow Dash!" Princess Celestia herself placed the award on Rainbow Dash as every pony cheered.

"Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh!" Rainbow Dash announced excitedly as Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy carried her around for a victory lap.

I remained with Twilight… because I wanted to hear today's report…

"So Twilight Sparkle, did you learn anything about friendship from this experience?" Princess Celestia asked.

"I did Princess," Twilight replied, looking over to Rarity. "but I think Rarity learned even more than me."

"I certainly did. I learned how important it is to keep your hooves on the ground, and be there for your friends… and when a certain friend tries to talk you out of trouble…" Rarity looked gently over to me. "You should listen to them…"

"Excellent. Well done Rarity." Princess Celestia responded.

The rest of the girls brought Rainbow Dash back and placed her on the cloud.

"This really is the best day EVER!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Uhh, hey Rainbow Crash." The dark brown pony had come back.

"Dash!" The tan one nudged and corrected the dark brown one.

"Oh! Uhh... Sorry Rainbow Dash. Uhh, we just wanted to congratulate you on winning the competition."

"That sonic rainboom was awesome!"

I rolled my eyes and hopped in the hot air balloon with Rarity. I sat and looked away. I had seen it all before…

"Heh, thanks guys." Rainbow Dash replied.

"Uhh, we're really sorry we gave you such a hard time before."

"Aww, that's ok. Don't worry about it."

"Hey. Do you want to hang out with us? Maybe you could show us how you did that incredible trick!"

"Sorry boys..." She flew over to the couple of wonderbolts waiting for her. "But I've got plans!" She glided along with her idols as they headed somewhere else.

"Well, I best be going." Princess Celestia announced. "I hope you all had a great day! Night will fall shortly, so farewell all!"

Every pony bowed and Princess Celestia left with her royal guards. Rarity looked over to me and noticed my expression. "Alex, is something bothering you?" She asked.

"I just want to go home." I quickly responded. I didn't really want all of the ponies to start worrying…

Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack climbed aboard.

"Next stop, Ponyville!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed and began descending us back home.

When we arrived, we all hopped off, except Pinkie Pie, who stayed in the balloon so she could take it back to her place. Night fell and everypony responded by wishing each other goodnight. I began walking Fluttershy to her house. She walked by my side, looking a little sleepy. She was probably too tired to fly.

"That was some loud cheering you did…" I told her.

"Oh." She blushed. "I was just so caught up with the excitement…I'm a little embarrassed about it now…"

"Don't be, you were fantastic."

She smiled. "Thank you…" She yawned. "I guess it really wore me out…"

"Well… I still think your soft cheering is perfect."

"You really think so?" She asked as she looked over to me.

"Mmhm." I nodded. "That's just something unique about you."

She giggled a little as she blushed some more.

We walked through the little bridge and stopped at her door. Before she opened it, she turned around to see me.

"You're a great friend… you know that? Not only to me…but to everypony…"

I stared at her with a confused expression on my face.

"You said that you wouldn't let any of us be bullied by some pony else… and you're true to that… you are so helpful and just…" She looked at the ground for a moment and back at me. "…so amazing..."

I couldn't really say anything… I was amazed by what she told me… I stared at the ground myself for a moment and looked back at her. "That's…I…You really think that…?" I asked.

"Yes…" She answered. "Not only me… but the other girls as well…"

I looked away for a moment, muttering "Wow…" under my breath. I stared back at her. "Thank you Fluttershy… that really means a lot…"

"Well it's true…" Her head suddenly dropped a little, but she picked it back up. "I better get some sleep… can I see you tomorrow?" She asked.

"Of course… Goodnight, Fluttershy." I responded.

She smiled and opened her door, glancing back and replying, "Goodnight, Alex." She slowly walked in and closed the door.

I turned around and headed home.

After I finished opening the door and entering inside, I closed the door and placed my hoof on my chest. I closed my eyes and felt each time my heart beat. I opened my eyes again and placed my hoof on the floor, walking up the stairs to my bedroom. I walked over to my bed and slowly tucked myself in.

I closed my eyes and waited for sleep.

Stare Master

Episode 17 – Stare Master

Slowly opening my eyes and getting out of bed, I walked downstairs to the front door. I began walking outside, heading to Fluttershy's but it turns out I didn't need to. I saw her walking by in town, carrying a basket with her teeth. She moved her eyes to see me. She placed the basket down gently and greeted me.

"Hi, Alex." She smiled.

"Hello, Fluttershy. Where are you going with that basket?" I asked, walking towards her.

She looked at the basket and explained. "I just finished grooming Rarity's pet for her. I'm taking her back to her shop. Want to come?"

I nodded, almost immediately.

We began walking through town until we reached Rarity's shop. Fluttershy rang the doorbell and entered a moment after.

"Oh, sorry." Fluttershy apologized after she saw Rarity working with the sewing machine. "I thought the 'open' sign meant you were open, but I must have been mistaken."

Rarity gasped. "Fluttershy! Forgive me!" Rarity apologized as she walked toward us. "I was so wrapped up in my work that I forgot you were bringing Opalescence back from her grooming!"

"No worries, Rarity. I've left her there in the basket."

The cat poked her head out and hopped out of the basket, purring.

"Oh, she looks great! I just don't understand how you're able to do it! I can't get near her without getting a swipe from her claws." Rarity moved her head close to Opalescence, causing her to stop purring with Fluttershy and aggressively attempt to slash Rarity with her claws. "Ahh! Did you use..." Rarity paused for a moment. "…The Stare on her?

I raised an eyebrow. The Stare?

"Oh, no! I wouldn't! I couldn't! I-I don't really have any control over when that happens. I-It just happens." Fluttershy responded uneasily. "No, I'm just good with animals. It's my special gift, you know?"

"Well, you should have a picture of Opal as a cutie mark instead of those butterflies." Rarity winked jokingly.

"Ooh, ooh, oh, oh, oh, oh!" Rarity's little sister, Sweetie Bell, exclaimed. "Maybe I can be good with animals, too!" Rarity's pet glared at her annoyingly and gave a quick swipe at Sweetie Bells mane, cutting off a piece of it in an instant. "Or not."

Rarity and Fluttershy laughed.

"I'm sorry I can't invite you both to stay and chat. I've bitten off a bit more than I can chew with this order." Rarity said.

"But you're not eating anything." Sweetie Bell answered.

"No, Sweetie, it's an expression. It means that I've taken on more work than I can handle. I've got twenty of these special robes to make tonight! They're due in Trottingham tomorrow morning." She grabbed a gold and glittering cloth and presented it to us, causing Fluttershy to gasp. "See? I've lined them in a special gold silk. It took so long to make, but I think it adds just the right touch, don't you?"

"These are lovely," Fluttershy responded as she observed it. "but twenty by tonight? How will you get it all done?"

"Well, I, uh..." Rarity tried to explain.

"Oh, oh oh!" Sweetie Bell cried out. "Maybe I could..." Rarity gave her a cold and irritated stare. "…just... just stand over here and watch." She walked over to a corner.

"I'll manage." Rarity answered.

"Well, maybe we should get out of your mane so you can work." Fluttershy replied as she began walking out the door.

A couple of fillies suddenly rushed through the door, saying Hello to each of us.

"Hello, uh, girls..." Rarity grew another worried expression.

"Hey, Sweetie Belle!" They stopped and greeted her. It was Applebloom and one of her friends.

Sweetie Bell changed her gloomy look to a joyful one. "Scootaloo! Applebloom!" She exclaimed.

"You ready for tonight?" The little orange one, who must have been Scootaloo, asked. She had a pair of small wings, creating an equal diversity in the group. She also had a darkish pinkish mane with light purple colored eyes.

"Yup! Cutie mark planning session is a go!" Sweetie Bell answered, giving a salute.

"Tonight is the night we each try to find our own special talent." Applebloom announced.

"Even if it takes us all night!" Scootaloo added.

"I'm ready! You ready?" Applebloom asked Scootaloo.

"Very ready!" Scootaloo replied confidently.

"Cutie Mark Crusader sleepover at Rarity's!" The three of them shouted loudly. "Yay!"

"And... look what I made us!" Sweetie Bell represented a velvet cape with their insignia on it.

"Oh, wow!" Scootaloo and Applebloom replied as they combined laughs and gasps.

Fluttershy walked over to them, concerned. "What does that patch on your cape mean?" She asked.

"The Cutie Mark Crusaders! Yay!" They shouted.

"We're on a crusade, a mission!" Scootaloo responded.

"To find our cutie marks!" Applebloom added.

"Yup. And look. I lined them with this special gold silk. It took sooo long to make, but I think it adds just the right touch, don't you?" Sweetie Bell finished.

My expression instantly changed to a shocked one when I heard the words "gold" and "silk". I looked over Rarity to see her eye begin twitching. She rushed over to her desk and pulled out her other gold fabric to reveal square holes in it. "Sweetie Belle! What have you DONE? That was the last of the gold silk! Oh, now I'll have to make more! Oh, I hope I can make more. I'm gonna have to work all night! Which means... sorry, girls, I'm afraid the Crusaders sleepover is cancelled."

"WHAT?" Sweetie Bell exclaimed.

"I just won't have any time to watch you if I want to get these robes delivered on time." Rarity answered.

"But—

"No buts this time. I'm sorry, Sweetie Belle; it's just the way it has to be."

"Awwww..." They groaned in disappointment.

"I, ah, I suppose I could take them for the night." Fluttershy offered.

They lifted their heads and looked excitedly at Rarity.

"I couldn't ask you to do that." Rarity replied.

Their heads shifted to Fluttershy.

"Oh, it's no problem at all." Fluttershy responded.

The three of their heads continued to shift to each speaker.

"Have you met my sister and her friends? A problem is all it would be."

"Did I have a problem with Opal? You've seen how well I handle small creatures!"

"I suppose that's true... and I do have a lot of work to do..."

"Come on, it'll be fun."

"I assure you, they're quite a handful."

"These sweet little angels?"

They stood proudly and smiled innocently.

"Well..." Rarity thought for a moment. "…all right."

"Cutie Mark Crusader sleepover at Fluttershy's cottage! Yay!" They shouted out loud, causing our ears to be sore from the volume. They rushed out the door.

"So cute." Fluttershy commented. "W-wait for us!" She grabbed my hoof and flew out the shop.

I walked by Fluttershy as she flew lightly behind the running fillies.

"Oh, won't this be ever so fun." Fluttershy excitedly told me. "We can have a nice little tea party, and braid each other's tails, and sit quietly and color, and tell each other fairy tales, and—

She noticed the fillies rush past Twilight, spinning her around and making her dizzy. When Twilight regained her balance, she noticed us. "Hello, Fluttershy. Hey, Alex."

"Oh! Hello, Twilight." Fluttershy flew over to Twilight. "Where are you off to?" She asked.

"I'm heading to the Everfree Forest, to Zecora's, to get some of my favorite tea." Twilight replied.

"Th-the Everfree Forest?" Fluttershy suddenly returned a worried look. "Ah, you'll be careful, won't you?"

"Of course! How about you? What are you doing with the girls?"

Fluttershy landed as she responded to Twilight. "Rarity has a big order to fill tonight, so I volunteered to take the girls over to my cottage for a sleepover."

"Wow. Sounds like everypony has their hooves full today. Taking care of those three fillies all by yourself? You sure you can handle it?"

"What? These sweet little angels?" Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo ran over to us, smiling innocently. "They'll be no problem at all."

"I could help you with the girls, if you want..." I offered to Fluttershy.

"Oh, you don't have too..." Fluttershy thought for a moment. "Well... okay! The more the merrier, right?" She smiled brightly.

Turning my eyes from the fillies, I looked at Twilight. "Do you want me to walk you over to Zecora's? I don't feel comfortable knowing that you'll be going all by yourself."

"Oh, Alex." Twilight laughed a little. "I'll be fine! What am I going to do? Stand in the middle of the forest like a rock?"

"Um… I guess not…?"

"Don't worry about me Alex! I'll be fine. Besides, I have magic, remember? If I get into a little trouble, I'll just use it then!"

I thought for a moment and trusted Twilight. "Okay… just be careful, alright?"

Twilight nodded. "Sure thing! Well I'll see you two later!" She began walking towards the Everfree forest.

"Well…" Fluttershy announced. "Let's get these three back at my cottage before it gets late."

I nodded and we walked them over to Fluttershy's.

As soon as Fluttershy closed her doors, the little fillies began their hyper activities throughout the home. Fluttershy could only stare confused at what she should do.

"No problem at all…Okay, girls, uh, what should we do?" Fluttershy asked.

"I'm gonna get my mark first!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Girls?" Fluttershy asked again.

"Nuh-uh!" Sweetie Belle counteracted.

"Should we—

"I am!"

"Girls, okay, now settle –

"I'm staying up all night!"

"Me too!"

"Me three!"

"GIRLS!" I shouted after I couldn't take the ignorance anymore. They all stopped what they were doing and walked over to us, in silence. Fluttershy sighed and blew the mane that was in front of her face. "Listen to Fluttershy… please." I told them politely.

Fluttershy smiled at me. "Thank you Alex." She looked over to the girls. "So! What do you wanna do? Play a game?"

"We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"And we want to crusade for our cutie marks!" Applebloom added.

"And, and, and, we, um- yeah! What they said!" Sweetie Belle struggled.

"Mmm, I don't know..." Fluttershy began looking a little nervous again. "how about a nice quiet little tea party?"

"Or... we could go adventuring in the Everfree Forest!" Scootaloo offered.

The rest of the girls agreed and began heading out the front door, but Fluttershy flew in their way. "Oh, no. The Everfree Forest is much too dangerous. It's filled with far too many strange creatures."

"But you could go with us and we could catch those creatures." Sweetie Belle tried to reason. "We could be, umm... creature catchers!"

"YAY!" They all shouted again, damaging our ears with the strength of their voices. "Cutie Mark Crusader creature catchers!"

Scootaloo and Applebloom dressed up with a rug and basket to look like a monster. Scootaloo began making noises. "Arrrr... I am a dangerous creature from the Everfree Forest! Rrrarr!"

Sweetie Belle stared at them in confusion for a moment, but then finally realized at what they were up to. "Halt, dangerous creature from the Everfree Forest. I am Sweetie Belle, the creature catcher, and I'm here to catch you!"

"You can never catch me! I am far too powerful and dangerous!"

"You cannot run from me!"

They began chasing each other as they giggled at the same time. Fluttershy tried to calm them down by trying to talk to them again. "Um, oh, maybe that's not such a- now, girls, how about we do some nice coloring. Dhh—

"Come back, dangerous creature, so I can catch you!" Sweetie Belle bounced off of Fluttershy's head.

"Never!"

After seeing them mess around in the house without any regard for safety or destroying things, I quickly took action. "Alright, that's enough." I said, walking over to them and pulling the rug and basket off. Scootaloo fell off from being on Applebloom and Sweetie Belle stopped running.

I placed the three of them in front of me and began trying to talk some sense into them. "Look, I know how you little girls are really excited about… well… being 'Cutie Mark Crusaders'… but you've got to remember that you need to watch what you're doing. Fluttershy and I don't want you girls to be getting into any trouble or harmed. So please, I don't want to have to continue asking you fillies, but Fluttershy is allowing you three to sleep over at her home and you need to respect that. You girls need to listen to whatever she tells you three to do…"

They sighed and lowered their heads, apologizing.

Fluttershy walked over and sighed as well. "Thank you again, Alex." She looked over to them and continued speaking. "Well, now that we've gotten that out of the way, how about a game?"

"A game?" Applebloom asked as the rest of them walked over to sit on the couch excitedly, but calm so far.

"It's called 'Shhh!'" Fluttershy answered.

"What's that?" Scootaloo questioned as they pulled back confused.

"Well, it's a game about who can be quiet the longest. Sound fun?" Fluttershy asked. The girls didn't say anything but only responded with bored expressions on their faces. Fluttershy noticed this and tried to lift their spirits by introducing a competitive mood. "I'm the world champ, you know. I bet you can't beat me!" Fluttershy released an adorable squeal as she smiled. She suddenly took in a deep breath of air and held it in.

"I lose!" Scootaloo immediately announced.

"Me too!" Sweetie Belle joined.

"Me three!" Applebloom added.

Fluttershy released the breath she held in. We both sighed as the girls returned to being hyper in the house.

"Okay, now what can we do?" Applebloom asked the others. "Oooh! How about Cutie Mark Crusader coal miners?"

"YEAH!" The others agreed.

"NO!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

"Awwww!"

"I mean, it's time for bed, don't you think?" Fluttershy responded, changing the tone of her voice. "Aren't you excited to get all toasty and warm in your snuggly-wuggly widdle beds?"

"Snuggly-wuggly? But we have more crusading to do!" Applebloom replied.

"We've got plans!" Scootaloo added.

"And capes!" Sweetie Belle presented the capes that were in her saddle.

"Um, okay, um. Maybe the crusading can wait until morning? When it's light? And not so... dark?" She began walking the fillies upstairs. "C'mon Alex, I may need your help…"

I nodded and walked behind her to her bedroom, where she was going to let the girls sleep.

"How are we gonna find our special talent in our sleep?" Applebloom asked.

Fluttershy blew out the candle that was lit inside the room. "Maybe you'll have a lovely little dream about your special talent."

"But we're not even tired!" Scootaloo stated as the three of them were under the covers in the bed.

"How about I sing you a lullaby?" Fluttershy offered.

"Mm-hmm, yeah!" They agreed.

Fluttershy cleared her throat, and in the most amazing voice, she sang.

"Hush now, quiet now

It's time to lay your sleepy head

Hush now, quiet now

It's time to go to bed"

The three girls began looking sleepy as they began closing their eyes and yawning. Fluttershy looked over at me. "Alex, do you want to try?" She asked.

"Um…" I began feeling a little nervous. "I'm not much of a singer…"

"Oh, I'm sure you'll do fine!"

I looked at her for a moment, but she gave me this sweet look on her face that I couldn't refuse… I sighed. "Okay…" I walked closer to the bed and looked at the girls. They looked back at me with their sleepy eyes. I looked at Fluttershy, who nodded for me to begin. I took a deep breath and hoped for the best…

"Hush now, quiet now

It's time to lay your sleepy head

Hush now, quiet now

It's time to go to bed…"

"Oh Alex…" Fluttershy spoke behind me. I looked at her. She returned a look with a warm smile. "That was wonderful…"

"You really think so…?" I asked, very surprised.

She nodded.

I looked back at the girls to see Scootaloo and Applebloom close their eyes. However, just when Sweetie Bell was about to do the same, she suddenly opened her eyes again. "I know this one!" She exclaimed, shocking the other girls.

"Oh, how wonderful!" Fluttershy responded. "Why don't you sing it with us?"

Sweetie Belle cleared her throat. She stood up from the bed while the others placed their hooves on their ears.

"Hush now! Quiet now!

It's time to lay your sleepy head!"

Fluttershy shook her hooves to try to quiet Sweetie Belle down… but that didn't work.

"Said hush now! Quiet now!

It's time to go to bed! "

"Okay Sweetie… that was—

"Driftin' off to sleep!

The exciting day behind you!

Driftin' off to sleep!

Let the joy of dream land find you!"

Her enormous and loud voice began causing things from Fluttershy's shelf to fall. I immediately dove to catch them in my hooves.

"Thank you, Sweetie, um..."

"Hush now! Quiet now!

Lay your sleepy head!

Said hush now! Quiet now!

It's time to go to BEEEEEEEEEEEEEED! OW!"

Sweetie Bell had caused her friends to be under the covers while Fluttershy had been on the floor covering her ears. I placed the items back on her shelf, but then heard chickens clucking and flapping.

"What is that?" Scootaloo asked.

Chickens continued squawking outside while I helped Fluttershy from the floor. As soon as we looking towards the bed, we noticed the girls were instantly gone. Fluttershy gasped and called them. "Girls!" We both looked out the window to see them near the chicken pen.

"Fluttershy, your chickens are on the loose!" Applebloom stated.

"I wonder what could have caused that..." Sweetie Belle wondered.

The others glared her for a moment.

"Don't worry, Fluttershy, the Cutie Mark Crusaders will handle this!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Cutie Mark Crusader chicken herders!" Sweetie Belle announced happily. "Yay!"

"No, I don't think that's a- ah, come back! Please!" I groaned and jumped out the window to catch the girls and possibly yell at them again. Fluttershy followed me and flew over to the chicken pen. "Come on, girls, the chickens are fine- oh, girls, um..." Just before I was about to shout their names again, a chicken came out of nowhere and attacked my face. I grabbed it with my hooves and lightly threw it at the ground. "GIRLS!" Fluttershy exclaimed for me, causing the girls to grow very quiet while the chickens continued to be bothersome. Fluttershy managed to group up the chickens and began leading them towards their home. "Come on, in you go." The chicken stopped at the entrance and refused to go inside. Fluttershy saw this and immediately changed the look on her face. She opened her eyes wide and stared right into the chickens' eyes. They immediately grew frightened and slowly backed off to the inside of their house. Fluttershy replaced her expression afterwards. "They're some good chickens." Fluttershy walked over to the fillies. "Okay, you three. Isn't it about time you got into bed?"

"BUT—

"Please? "

They looked at each other and finally gave up, lowering their heads. Fluttershy smiled and led them back into her cottage. I looked around the chicken pen and noticed something odd… there was hole in one part of the fence that surrounded the chickens. It was barely large enough for one to get through. In fact, there were footprints through the hole… I observed the footprints, beginning to follow them, however, Fluttershy called me.

"Alex, are you coming in?" She asked.

I looked back and responded. "Uh… yeah…"

I decided I would come back later and investigate. I didn't want Fluttershy to worry.

By the time I entered her cottage, she was walking down the stairs.

"I just put the girls into bed…" She finished and looked at me. She yawned. "Well, I guess I better get some sleep too… Alex, do you mind if you stay here and help me look after the girls?"

"No I don't. You deserve some sleep." I responded.

"Oh, thank you so much." She walked over to her couch and lay down, sighing. She closed her eyes and she continued to talk to me. "It really wasn't THAT hard ... I mean, all I needed to do was just show them who's in charge. Nothing's gonna get past Fluttershy! Good with animals, good with kids…"

I grabbed the covers from near the couch and placed them over her and she began to sleep.

"Good night, Fluttershy." I softly told her. "You've done enough for today…"

I turned around and walked towards the door, letting myself outside. I began looking for the footprints. When I spotted them, I began following them. They eventually led me to… the Everfree forest. I took a deep breath… this is going to be a challenge…

I continued walking through the eerie sounds of the forest. Owls hooted as I cautiously looked around for any dangers. I continued to search for the missing chicken, but I still hadn't found any yet. After some time, I heard a familiar voice echo through the forest.

"Scootaloo! Scoot-scootalooooo!"

I looked back to try to see where the voice came from. I studied the voice and finally realized that things have gotten much worse. It was Applebloom's voice… don't tell me…

I sighed. Not only do I have to look for the missing chicken… but the girls as well…

I was about to turn around… but I heard something slip by me. I quickly glanced around, searching for the mysterious noise. I walked a bit forward and noticed something shaded out by the night. It was some kind of figure, but I had no idea what it was, due to the fact that it was so dark. I slowly and cautiously walked towards the object. When I was close enough, I found out it was Twilight.

"Twilight?" I questioned her. There was no response. "Twilight?" I asked again, placing a hoof on her… but something was strange… her skin was cold… not only cold but…rock-hard!

"What the—

The dark clouds that covered the moonlight moved out of the way and uncovered Twilight's true state. I gasped when I saw Twilight's condition. She was literally turned to stone. I could only see how her eyes were widened as if she was suddenly surprised. Her mouth was agape to match the same expression.

"What did this?" I exclaimed, observing her. I looked around but there was nothing in sight. "What should I do?" I questioned to myself, worriedly. I tried to put myself where I could carry her but it was too complicated. She seemed too heavy as well.

"Hold on Twilight… I have to find the girls before they get hurt!" I immediately began running to where Applebloom's voice originated from.

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

I followed the voices as I continued to run hastily.

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

After swerving through branches and bushes, I finally spotted them. Applebloom and Scootaloo were arguing while Sweetie Belle was in the front walking.

"Girls!" I called them.

They quickly turned to me, looking very surprised.

"Alex?" They answered.

"Girls, what do you think you're doing here?" I exclaimed as I walked towards them.

"We were just looking for Fluttershy's chicken…" Sweetie Belle explained, lowering her head.

"That doesn't give you the reason to come out here all by yourselves!" I responded. "Don't you know how dangerous the forest is? Especially at night!"

"But…" Applebloom tried to speak.

"No excuses, I'm taking you girls home right now!" I began walking them out of the forest.

"But what about the chicken?" Scootaloo asked.

"Leave that to me, I am getting you three out of here."

Suddenly, we heard a voice call us from above. "Girls? Alex?" A pony flew above us.

"Fluttershy?" I questioned.

She heard me and flew down to us. "Thank goodness I found you!"

Applebloom tried to respond to Fluttershy's appearance. "Fluttershy, what—

"Girls, we have to leave the forest at once!"

"But... we haven't found the chicken yet! " Sweetie Bell replied.

"There's no time for that. There's a cockatrice on the loose!" Fluttershy warned as she began walking them back out of the forest.

"A cockatrice?" I asked.

" It's a frightening creature with the head of a chicken and the body of a snake. Now, come on!"

"The head of a chicken and the body of a snake? That doesn't sound scary, that sounds silly!" Scootaloo stated.

"Well, if I ever saw one of them cockathingies face-to-face, I'd laugh at how silly it was." Applebloom added.

"NO!" Fluttershy demanded. "Never look one in the eye. If you look a cockatrice in the eye—

Brush rustled behind us and a chicken came out, clucking.

"The chicken!" Applebloom exclaimed and the girls immediately rushed over to get it.

"Girls! Wait!" Fluttershy called as I began racing after the girls.

"Here, chick-chick-chick-chick-chick!" They said as they chased it.

They suddenly stopped and were cut off by a loud and distorted growl.

"There he is!" Sweetie Belle pointed to a chicken's head pointing out of a nearby bush.

"Girls!" I exclaimed, catching them and running towards the front of them.

Another chicken's head poked out of another bush in front of us. "Two chickens?" Scootaloo questioned.

"I thought only one escaped!" Applebloom wondered.

"Grab them both!" Sweetie Belle ordered as they began to stick their hooves out to grab them. I immediately placed my hooves in front of them to stop them.

"No! Stay behind me!" I commanded.

Suddenly, the chicken's head in front me gained altitude. It revealed its wings, which were full of scales, along with its snakelike body. It gave a terribly loud roar and flew over to Fluttershy's chicken that was running around in a panicking way. It landed on the ground and roared at the chicken. The chicken screamed and was instantly turned to stone.

The cockatrice began targeting the little girls. The girls immediately screamed and began running away. The cockatrice began following them but I instantly ran over and tackled it down to the ground, trying to keep it in place.

"Alex!" Fluttershy called after me.

"Get the girls!" I exclaimed, struggling to keep the cockatrice in place.

It continued to try to maneuver itself out of my hold but I wouldn't let it budge. It then tried a new tactic, which began being effective. It stared right into my eyes.

I knew that if I closed my eyes to prevent myself from turning into stone, I would lose concentration on holding the cockatrice and it would free itself and chase after the girls. However, I could give them time to escape if I kept my focus, but I would soon join Twilight. I instantly kicked out the "closing my eyes" choice and made sure the cockatrice didn't escape my hold.

I could slowly feel my back legs turn into stone. I was a bit afraid of what was going to happen, but my heart gave me the strength to proceed with it. The cockatrice continued clucking, struggling, and staring at me. I could already feel the stone halfway throughout my body.

I hope the girls made it out in time…

The stone was at my upper body now.

So what will happen when I'm completely paralyzed?

It was at my neck now.

Well… whatever happens… happens…

The stone was just about to completely surround my whole body now…

…for my…friends…

I was completely paralyzed… I couldn't move any part of my body. I could feel the cockatrice release itself from my grasp. I hoped that the girls got out in time…

However… for some reason, I still was able to hear voices…

"GIRLS! Behind me, NOW!"

Fluttershy? What are they still doing here?

I could hear the cockatrice roaring furiously, trying to capture them too…

"YOU!" I heard Fluttershy exclaim suddenly. "Just who do you think you are, going around turning others into stone?" The cockatrice squawked in fear."You should be ashamed of yourself. I have a mind to find your mother and tell her what you've been up to, young man. Now you go over there, and turn Elizabeak and my friends Alex and Twilight back to normal, and don't ever let me catch you doing this again! Do you understand me?"

After that, all the chaotic noise was gone… I heard footsteps near me.

"Alex…" I heard Fluttershy near me, sounding a little depressed.

Fluttershy…

I felt my heart tingle, despite my frozen state. Suddenly, a bright light emerged and I was normal again! I looked at my hooves and body to see that I was alright!

"Oh, Alex!" Fluttershy suddenly embraced me when she saw I was okay.

"Fluttershy…" I was still a little breathless.

"I'm so glad you're alright!" She looked over to the girls. "Are you girls all right? I was so worried!"

"Yeah, fine!" Scootaloo answered.

"Thanks to that stare of yours." Sweetie Belle added.

"You're like the queen of stares." Scootaloo agreed. "You're the—

"Stare Master!" The three of them shouted together.

Fluttershy blushed and giggled a little. "But, I believe it was Alex who gave me the confidence to stare at the cockatrice like that…" She looked at me for a moment, causing me to blush, and then pulled away from her embrace.

"We're sorry we snuck out of the house and into the forest." Sweetie Belle apologized.

"Yeah. We'll listen to you from now on." Applebloom nodded.

"We promise." Scootaloo assured.

"Oh, you DO, do you? Well, you better, or I'll give you..." Fluttershy focused her eye on them. "The Stare."

She made the fillies remain silent while they looked with fright at Fluttershy. Fluttershy began giggling, leading the other girls to begin laughing as well.

Twilight began walking over to us, very confused, as she looked very tired and sluggish. "What..." She shook her head. "What happened?"

We heard a chicken squawk behind us. It was Fluttershy's chicken, who was stuck in the ground, making all the noise. I walked over to it and pulled it out. It shook its head around, insanely confused on what happened. Fluttershy used her talent with animals to lead it back to her home as we followed her.

"So…" Twilight began as she walked by me. "Want to tell me what just happened…?"

I yawned lightly and looked at her sleepily. "Maybe you'll know in the morning… I'm drained out…"

When we arrived at the home, Fluttershy began placing the last chicken back into its pen and putting the fillies into bed. I walked into Fluttershy's cottage and straight to her couch. I threw myself lightly on it and shut my eyes. Right before I fell asleep, I felt something light cover me, as well as something being planted next to me on the couch. Too tired to even open my eyes to find out what it was, I mentally shrugged it off and continued my way towards slumber.

After I spent some time in darkness, I began hearing noises. I was in that type of sleep where you're still asleep… but you could hear noises in the background in your sleep.

I heard a light knocking. Something rose from the couch. Footsteps sounded. A door opened.

"Hey, Fluttershy." It was Twilight's voice. "Did Alex stay over?"

"Mmhm." Fluttershy's voice spoke softly. "He's still asleep so you'll have to be a little quiet."

"Oh, okay. Why don't we talk outside then? I'm still dying to know what happened last night."

"Okay, sure. Let me just get the girls… I wouldn't want them waking up Alex when they wake up."

I heard Twilight chuckle a little. "You're absolutely right on that."

I heard footsteps ascend above me and enter a room.

"Girls… It's time to wake up…" I heard Fluttershy faintly.

There was a moment of silence until they began to exclaim, "ALRI—

Their cheer was cut short. Fluttershy must have done something to keep them quiet…

"Come on now… let's go outside." Fluttershy stated.

I heard footsteps and tip toes walk. After a moment, a door closed and there was only silence.

I remained in this state for a moment until I had finally gained enough energy to slowly open my eyes. When my eyes focused, I noticed I was facing the window that presented the sun outside. I looked around for a moment while not moving my head. After, I picked up my head and my front leg that was hanging on the edge of the couch. I also noticed that I had covers on me, which I lightly moved to the side. I used my hooves to push me off the couch and sit up. I got off the couch and turned around to fold the covers nicely. I finished placing the organized covers on the spot near where I was sleeping. However, I felt that that part of the couch was still warm, which left me questioning a little.

I turned around and began to head outside. I opened the door to hear the sounds of nature, along with the girls running and giggling.

"And that's when it brought you back from stone." Fluttershy said.

I turned my head to see Fluttershy and Twilight both sitting on pillows which were laid on the grass. There was a table between them that contained two small cups and a large container for tea on it. Twilight was using her magic to write a letter above her.

"This is gonna make quite a letter to the princess. I was wrong about you. You certainly do know how to handle those girls." Twilight responded.

Fluttershy looked a little embarrassed. "Oh, I wouldn't go that far."

"Hmm? How so?"

"I assumed that I'd be just as good with kids as I am with animals. Boy, was I wrong. I really learned the hard way not to bite off more than I could chew."

Twilight finished writing her letter and rolled it up. "You and Rarity both."

I walked over to them and greeted. "Good Morning…"

"Oh, good morning, Alex!" Fluttershy answered.

"Morning, Alex!" Twilight added as well. We then heard footsteps behind us and turned to see Rarity. "Good morning, Rarity."

"Did you finish all those capes?" Fluttershy asked.

Rarity gave a sigh of relief. "Just delivered them. I have to admit, if you hadn't come along, I might not have. Thanks again."

"Won't you stay for some tea?" Fluttershy offered.

"I really must get back to the shop and clean up. Girls! Get your things. Time to go." Rarity called. However, the girls were too busy running around and giggling. "Girls! Girls! Time to- Girls! Your things! Girls! It's time to- GIRLS!" Rarity struggled with the little ones.

I looked over to Fluttershy, signaling for her to take care of it.

Fluttershy walked over to Rarity. "Allow me." She cleared her throat. "Girls?"

The fillies immediately stopped talking and ran over to Fluttershy.

"Yes, Fluttershy." Applebloom answered.

"You called?" Scootaloo asked.

"Go and get your things. Rarity is here to see you home."

"Of course, Fluttershy, right away!" Sweetie answered politely and ran with the girls to grab their things.

Rarity stood dumbstruck. "Ah, huh, ah, how did you... how did you do that?"

Fluttershy winked over to Twilight and me. "I guess I'm just as good with kids as I am with animals."

The girls ran out of the cottage with their capes. "Thank you, Fluttershy! Bye! Thank you Stare Master!" They said as they headed towards home.

"Ah, uh, speaking of which, I could use your help with Opal."

"Of course." Fluttershy responded. "How about later today?"

There was a fierce meow as Rarity revealed Opal, who was clinging on to Rarity with her claws. "How about now?" Rarity strained.

Twilight walked over to Fluttershy and me and observed this as well. They began giggling at the sight.

"I guess I could do that." Fluttershy pulled Opal off of Rarity. The cat began to purr sweetly around her.

"Oh, thank you so much, Fluttershy! I should take the girls home now." She began running after the fillies. "Girls! Wait!"

"I should probably head home too… I need Spike to send the letter I just wrote."

"Ok, goodbye, Twilight!" Fluttershy responded as I waved to Twilight.

She waved to the both of us as she walked home.

Fluttershy looked at Opal. "Let's get you groomed, shall we?"

Opal released a meow along with a purr.

We walked back into her cottage, where Fluttershy began Opal's grooming. As I watched Fluttershy take care of the cat, Fluttershy began speaking to me, a little shyly.

"About last night…" She began. "That was really brave of you…"

"What was?" I asked.

"You know… when you distracted the cockatrice to help us…"

"Oh… that?" I looked away. "It was nothing…"

"It was certainly not nothing. To see you sacrificing yourself to stone… just to help us… that's what motivated me to stand up to the cockatrice…"

"Really…?" I asked, calmly surprised, as I looked back towards her.

She nodded. "I don't know how you do it Alex…"

"Do what…?"

"Summon up courage. Just like that…"

I looked away a little gloomy, remembering the past. "I guess… you could just say it's experience…"

She stopped brushing Opal and looked at me. "What do you mean?"

I thought for a moment, wondering if I should tell her right now or not, but whenever I felt like opening my mouth to tell her…something inside just…prevents it…the emotions, maybe? "I…I don't know…"

She observed me worriedly for a moment, but then resumed brushing Opal. "If there's anything you need to tell me Alex… or want to talk about…I'll always be here to listen…"

Her response warmed my heart. "…Thank you, Fluttershy… I'll remember that…"

Fluttershy spent more time in grooming Rarity's cat.

After Fluttershy finished, we walked over to Rarity's shop to bring her back. Rarity thanked Fluttershy for her kindness once again. Fluttershy and I continued walking through town for the rest of the day. We even stopped by Pinkie Pie's to have a treat to eat.

During the night, I walked Fluttershy back to her cottage.

"Well… it's been really fun Alex…" Fluttershy told me when we were at her door. "Aside from the problems that happened yesterday night…"

"Yeah…" I replied. "Thanks for having me over."

"It was my pleasure…"

"Well…" I said, rubbing my head, as we continued to look at each other in the moonlight. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow…"

"Yes…Goodnight Alex."

"Night Fluttershy…"

She smiled warmly at me for a moment and entered her cottage. I returned home.

I entered through the front door and actually turned to the right towards the kitchen. I sat on the chair near the table and just thought in silence for a moment.

Now… I want to tell Fluttershy about many things… but my emotions leave them in… Hm…

I turned my head to the window and looked outside. I began receiving this feeling that I'm not such a fan of. It didn't really hurt me physically nor mentally… it just seemed to disturb me… I exited out of the kitchen and walked upstairs to my room.

I lay on my bed and closed my eyes. I decided that I wanted to go to sleep as quickly as possible, so that the next day would arrive and I would be able to see Fluttershy and my other friends again…

The Show Stoppers

Episode 18 – The Show Stoppers

I woke up, already feeling a little hungry and thirsty. As I walked downstairs, I decided I would probably go to Apple Acres for some breakfast…but first… I wanted to bring Fluttershy along with me. Once I was outside, as I walked through town, I began thinking as usual.

Not only were my feelings for my friends growing stronger… but for Fluttershy as well… I still did not know what they were… and I have no idea when I will… but I trusted the Princess to wait to find out. Fluttershy… she's just so… different from any pony I've met in the past… I mean… the feelings I have for her are just so different… I just feel…so—

Suddenly, I heard a motor sound coming from a distance. Fast enough, it sped towards and past me in an instant, causing me to jump back and out of the way. I could only see an orange blur… was that… Scootaloo? I faced the direction she was going, which seemed to be Applejack's farm. To the right of me, I could see many ponies outside in a group, possibly talking about what had just happened. Regardless, I continued walking over to Fluttershy's cottage.

When I spotted her with her bunnies, I walked across the small bridge towards her.

"Hey, Fluttershy." I greeted her lightly.

"Alex!" She turned her head towards me. She finished feeding the bits of food she had for the bunnies and flew over to me, landing in front of me. "How are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm okay…what about you?"

"I'm better…now that you're here." She smiled warmly.

For some odd reason, I started feeling a little nervous, even a little shy. "I was wondering… if you wanted to grab a bite at Applejack's?"

"I'd love to." She responded.

I felt a pinch in my heart… a good feeling pinch… as we began walking towards Applejack's farm, together.

As we entered Sweet Apple Acres, we saw Applejack lying near a tree with a straw of wheat in her mouth and her cowboy hat leaned over her eyes.

Fluttershy and I walked over to her.

"Hi, Applejack!" Fluttershy greeted her.

Applejack tipped up her hat and noticed us. "Oh, howdy y'all." She smiled. "What brings you two over here?"

"Do you think we could have breakfast here?" I asked.

Her eyes suddenly opened wide, but then she smiled oddly and pulled back her surprised expression. "Sure…" She responded as she started getting up. "I've got some buckets full of apples over here in the barn… I can make y'all some fritters or apple pie…" She chuckled weirdly.

"Um…" I responded hesitantly. "…No thanks… we'll… just… have some apples…"

"Of course, Of course… now, Fluttershy, why don't you get yourself settled over here while I have a word with Alex?"

"Okay." She sat on the grass and waited while Applejack began leading me somewhere else. I walked by her side, very confused.

"Applejack… why did you want to talk to me in private all of a sudden?" I asked.

She stopped when we were far enough and chuckled again. "I see where this is going partner…"

"Sorry?" I responded, still very confused in the bizarre situation.

"Fluttershy… was she the pony you shared apples with last time?"

"You mean the time when you and Rainbow Dash were playing horseshoes?"

"Mm-hm!" She nodded boldly.

"Yeah…why…?"

"Let me tell you something partner…" She placed a hoof around me. "You…" She looked around and then whispered to me. "…like her…" She then spoke in her normal voice. "don't you?"

"Well… of course I do… I like all you ponies…"

She shook her head. "No, not that kind of like… I mean you like her."

"Um…" I stood, still confused. "I don't think I follow… what's the difference between 'like' and 'like'?"

"Are you serious?" She asked and sighed. "Like means that you like her more than any other pony. Like if you've got very special feelings for her, do you know what I mean?"

My heart jumped and suddenly started pounding. "Um…" Is that what it really was? I did have special feelings for Fluttershy… but I had no idea what they were… is that what Applejack means?

"So…do you?" She asked once again.

"I…" I felt a little speechless. "I think so…"

"What do you mean 'you think so'?"

"I don't know, Applejack…" I looked away and stared at the ground. "I mean… I do have these feelings for Fluttershy… but I have no idea what exactly they are… I've never experienced them before."

"Oh…really…?" Applejack responded, more softly now.

"Yeah…so… I don't know…"

"Hm…" She rubbed her hoof on her chin. "I see… well we'll get to that later! I should go get you ponies the apples before Fluttershy wonders what we're doing here."

She turned around to begin walking back towards the barn, but I stopped her. "Wait. Applejack."

"Hm?" She turned her head towards me.

"You won't tell anypony about this… will you…?"

She chuckled again and smiled. "My lips are sealed!"

When we returned, Applejack went into the barn to get us the apples while I sat by Fluttershy, still feeling a little weird about my talk with Applejack.

"Is everything alright?" Fluttershy asked, after noticing my expression.

"Um… yeah…I'm okay…"

After a moment later, Applejack came out and brought us several apples to eat.

"Well here you go! Eat up!" She sat near us, taking a bite of one of the apples as well. "Y'know, I gave my old tree house to my little sister and her friends. Y'all should come with me to see what they've done with it!"

"Oh! That sounds great." Fluttershy replied with a smile.

"Yeah…okay." I responded a little weakly.

Once we finished our breakfast, Applejack led us towards a private part of the farm. We passed some bushes and trees until we spotted a nicely built house on a tree. The house was neatly painted a light pink color. It had hearts on the windows and door. We began walking up a ramp that was painted a greenish color and had steps for climbing. Outside the house were railings for safety reasons as well.

"They all say that you will get your mark, when the time is really right…" A voice sang sweetly as we looked inside the clubhouse through a window.

"And you know just what you're supposed to do…" Applebloom added along with Sweetie Bell, who sang the first verse.

"AND YOUR TALENT COMES TO LIGHT!" Scootaloo's voice suddenly shouted, causing Applejack to lose her sweet expression, as well as piercing our ears.

Applejack placed her hooves on the window sill and poked her head inside. "Well, uh... I'll be, Cutie Mark Crusaders. You've done one fine job with this place. So, what's next?"

"Well…" Applebloom began and walked over to Applejack. "now that we have a real life clubhouse..."

"And a map of Ponyville." Scootaloo added as she presented the map on the wall.

"And a Cutie Mark Crusaders theme song. " Sweetie Bell announced.

"Theme song?" Applejack questioned.

"We're gonna go out in the world and discover our talents." Applebloom replied.

"A new adventure!" Scootaloo said.

"And earn our cutie marks." Sweetie Bell expressed.

"We'll leave no stone unturned!"

"No mountain unclimbed!"

"No meal uncooked!"

"No song unlearned!"

"Well okay then!" Applejack suddenly cut off. "Sounds like you have a plan. I gotta, uh... Leave no apple unpicked! See y'all later!"

Applejack ran off. Before Fluttershy and I followed her, Fluttershy poked her head in the window and commented. "I think what you girls are doing is great! I'm sure you'll get your cutie marks real soon!"

"Thanks, Fluttershy!" They all exclaimed.

Fluttershy smiled and turned back to me.

We caught up to Applejack who seemed a bit freaked out.

"What was that all about?" I asked.

"They're really serious about getting their cutie marks…um, not that it's bad or anything… just, I don't know."

"Well… at least their doing it together… that's something new…"

"Yup… I just hope they don't cause any trouble…" She suddenly changed her expression. "Hey, you ponies going to the school talent show tonight?"

"School talent show?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yep! All those little ponies from the school are going to perform at the talent show in town tonight, y'all should come and watch!"

"Sounds like fun!" Fluttershy replied with some excitement.

"Well then, I guess I'll see you both there then?" Applejack asked.

Fluttershy looked at me, hoping that I would come too. When I saw her face, I turned to Applejack and nodded.

"Well alright then! See you at the talent show!" Applejack began walking to the barn but stopped and looked over at us. "Oh… and if you see Applebloom and her friends, can you please make sure they aren't getting into any trouble or doing anything dangerous?"

"Alright." I responded.

"Thanks!" Applejack resumed walking back to the barn.

"I wonder what we can do to pass the time for the talent show…" Fluttershy told me.

I thought for a minute. "Maybe we can see what Twilight's up to?"

Fluttershy released another soft smile. "Okay."

On the way to Twilight's home, we actually spotted her with another pony.

Twilight noticed us and waved over to us. "Hey, you ponies!" They walked over to us and Twilight introduced the other pony she was with. "This is Ms. Cheerilee. She teaches at the school!"

"It's a pleasure." She held out her hoof to us. She was a dark pinkish colored pony. Her mane and tail was a sort of a sweet cotton candy color; there were waves and swivels of pink and light pink. She had light green eyes and her cutie mark was three smiling flowers. She also had a saddle with green bags on the side. We both shook her hoof and introduced ourselves. After, we began walking with Twilight, who was heading to her home as well.

"Ms. Cheerilee was just telling me about the school talent show that she is putting up, have you ponies heard?" Twilight asked.

"Yes!" Fluttershy answered. "Applejack told us about it!"

"Oh, it's going to be spectacular!" Ms. Cheerilee spoke very excitedly. "The talent show will really bring out the creativity in the little ponies' minds! They will all have a blast while expressing their very own special talent too!"

"I see…" I replied as I looked a little uneasy.

As Twilight was nearing her home, she continued talking to Ms. Cheerilee. "Well, I could surely help if you need some organizing for the talent show!" She opened the door and began walking in. "I could really—

"I had nothing to do with this!" Spike exclaimed as soon as Twilight walked in.

"What is going on here?" Twilight asked in shock as she and Ms. Cheerilee looked inside the home.

Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo had made a messy pile of books, which covered most of the library floor. They were each reading different kinds of books.

"Hmm... Well, we sure aren't gettin' our cutie marks for bein' librarians." Applebloom commented.

"Huh. I should think not." Spike replied. Twilight gave him an irritated stare. "What?"

Twilight began walking towards the fillies. "Girls, I think you're going about this the wrong way. Instead of trying to do things in areas you're not familiar with, why not try doing things in areas that you already like?"

"And I have the perfect place to start!" Ms. Cheerilee opened her bag and took out a poster. She laid it out in front of the three girls. It was the poster for the talent show…

"'Showcase your talents...'" Applebloom began as they read the poster out loud.

"'...for all to see...'" Scootaloo added.

"'Perform in the Ponyville school talent show!'" Sweetie Bell finished.

"There'll be all sorts of awards. Best dramatic performance, best comedy act, best magic act... Surely you can find your talent!" Ms. Cheerilee encouraged.

"This would be the perfect place to discover our talents." Applebloom exclaimed as the three of them were fascinated over the idea of it. "Jugglin'!"

"Acting!"

"Magic tricks!"

"Square dancin'!"

"Tightrope walking!"

"Tiger taming!"

"My little ponies!" Twilight interrupted. "You're missing the point. Think about the things you already enjoy doing. Think about what you're already good at."

"Sure! We can do that." Scootaloo responded.

"Yeah! Sure we can." Sweetie Belle added.

"Well, whatever we do, we'll do it as..." The three of them both exclaimed. "...The Cutie Mark Crusaders!"

They smacked their hooves together and ran out the door.

"Oh, those three…" Ms. Cheerilee said. "So full of energy."

"They're wonderful, aren't they?" Fluttershy added.

"So…" Twilight cut in. "About the talent show… I could organize the events for you, Ms. Cheerilee."

"Oh, that would be great! It would certainly help."Ms. Cheerilee replied. "Although, I could use some help for carrying the equipment…"

"I can help with that…" I offered.

"Me too." Fluttershy offered as well.

"Oh, that's wonderful! Thank you. I appreciate all your help."

Ms. Cheerilee led us to area where they were setting up the stage and equipment for the talent show. Twilight grabbed a clipboard and began creating a checklist of items and tasks in it. While Twilight began doing her own thing, Ms. Cheerilee looked at Fluttershy and me to decide on what we can do.

"I suppose you two can put on the stage curtain, is that alright?" She asked.

Fluttershy and I agreed.

"Great!" Ms. Cheerilee smiled. "The curtain should be over at the front of the stage. Good luck!" She walked off.

Fluttershy and I traveled over to her directions and found the stage curtain folded on the front of the stage. Fluttershy grabbed the curtain with her teeth and began flying upwards towards the top of the stage while I straightened it out to make sure it was placed the right way. Fluttershy and I managed to place the curtain on in several minutes.

"Great job, Fluttershy." I complimented as she flew back towards me.

"Thanks, you did great too." She looked over at the job we completed. "We make a pretty good team…"

"Yeah…" I responded with a hint of nervousness.

However, Twilight had come along to check up on us. "Hey guys, how's it going?" Twilight asked.

"We finished putting on the curtain." I replied.

She looked up to see our task finished. "Wow! It looks amazing! Great job, guys!"

Suddenly, the three fillies, Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle popped up from behind her. Scootaloo was on her scooter, wearing a purple helmet. There was a small wooden cart attached to her scooter. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were riding in that cart, along with other materials such as fabric, a fan, wood, nails, paint, paint brushes, and other things.

"Hi Twilight…" Scootaloo said, causing Twilight to turn around to face them. "I was wondering if we could borrow a book from you."

"Sure thing girls… what's with all the stuff?" Twilight asked.

"You'll see! Now let's go get that book!" Scootaloo began riding her scooter towards Twilight's house.

"I'll be right back!" Twilight announced and left to fetch the girls the book.

There was a moment of silence.

"Alex…" Fluttershy called me.

"What is it?" I asked, turning around.

"You should make sure the girls are alright…"

"What do you mean?"

"Well… they have a lot of things that could be really dangerous for them. You should make sure they don't get hurt."

"What about the talent show?"

"Don't worry. I'll be here to help Ms. Cheerilee."

"Alright… are you sure, Fluttershy?"

She nodded her head. "I'll see you in a bit." She released another warm smile.

I nodded as well and began walking to Applejack's farm.

By the time I reached the girls' clubhouse, it seemed that they had already arrived long before me. I walked near a pond, looking for them. Suddenly, I saw a roll of fabric rolling downhill and heading straight towards the pond of water. I placed my hoof on it, just in time before it plunged into the water. It stopped underneath my hoof. Sweetie Belle had come running after it and noticed I stopped it. She ran towards me, relieved.

"Phew, thanks Alex!"

"Yeah…" I responded as I began rolling the fabric uphill. "What are you girls up to?" I asked.

"We're practicing for the talent show!"

As I finished rolling up the fabric, I heard Scootaloo, who was nearby on a piano, try to come up with lyrics for the talent show. When the fabric was fully rolled, Sweetie Belle gathered different pieces of a variety choice of fabric and began sewing a costume.

"Careful…" I warned. "I don't want you girls getting hurt…"

"Don't worry, Alex! I'll be fine!" She replied as she carefully kept her hooves maneuvering the cloth underneath the sewing machine. When she finished, she held up the costume and counted the amount of legs attached to it. "One, two, three, four, FIVE?" She released a groan and sighed.

Applebloom came over, walking in a disoriented matter and fell backwards.

"Applebloom…" I called as I helped her up. "Be careful…"

"Alex? What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I'm here to make sure you girls are safe…"

"Oh… well that's nice of you!"

"How's the spin coming along?" Sweetie Belle asked Applebloom.

"I think I gotta just stick to punches and kicks." She replied and then looked at Sweetie Belle's work. "You know, ponies only have four legs."

Sweetie Belle moaned again. "I'll never be a designer like my sister Rarity."

"Hey, it's no big deal. Why don't you use the dress form?" She pointed towards one nearby. "It'll help you with your patterns and help you put all the pieces in the right places."

"Oh, is that what that's for?" Sweetie Bell questioned.

"Uh... maybe you should also clean your paintbrush between each color." Applebloom announced after noticing the messy paintings near as well.

"Oh, I was wondering why all the colors looked like mud…"

"You're not using power tools, are you?"

"Um…" Sweetie Belle remained silent.

"Applebloom, what exactly is every pony doing for the talent show?" I asked.

"Well… Scootaloo is writing lyrics for a song, as well as being the main singer. Sweetie Belle is designing the clothes and doing the decorations. Me? I'm doing the coordination for the dances!" She released a grin.

"That's a bit… off…" I replied, a little confused.

"What do you mean?" Applebloom asked.

"Well, coming from your knowledge on paint and fabric… you seem better suited for doing the work Sweetie Belle is doing. Remembering how loud, but well, Sweetie Bell sang when you girls slept over at Fluttershy's, I think she should be doing Scootaloo's work. And seeing Scootaloo's crazy stunts on her scooter from this morning, she would probably be better off doing your work, Applebloom."

"Hey! That's kind of what I said!" Applebloom responded.

"But I can't sing in front of tons of ponies!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

"And Scootaloo would rather sing a rock ballad." Applebloom added.

"Well…" I rubbed my head. "I can't force you girls to do anything… I'm just giving you some suggestions."

"Thanks, Alex, but I think we are doing well so far." Applebloom replied.

I took a glance at Sweetie Belle's costume. "Um… okay… well just stay safe girls, okay?" I began walking out of the area but Applebloom called me back.

"Wait! Alex!"

I turned around.

"We're going to start practicing our performance, want to be the first one to see it?" She asked.

"Um…"

I had no idea how they managed to do it, but they ended up having me watch their practice while they continued to struggle with their dance moves.

"Oh! Sorry, Scootaloo." Applebloom apologized.

"That's okay. Ugh!"

"Oops! Sorry, Scootaloo. Ouch!" Sweetie Belle followed.

"Oh, my bad, Sweetie Belle. Let's sing the chorus again!" Scootaloo advised.

"Well then…" I sat up. "Just keep practicing alright? And don't get into any trouble." I walked out of the tree house, which the three girls soon followed.

"I think that sounded pretty good." Applebloom said.

"Me too. You think we're ready?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Ready as we'll ever be." Scootaloo answered. She looked over to the bottom of their clubhouse and noticed Applejack. I hadn't seen her there before. "Hey! Did you see us practicing?"

"Uh... Yeah." She answered, very uneasily.

"Well? How'd we do? How'd we do?" Applebloom asked.

"Uh..."

"Speechless!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "See, girls? I told you that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna leave them speechless."

"YAY!" They all cheered, clapping hooves.

"'Speechless' is right…" Applejack muttered as I walked towards her.

"Hey, Applejack. Did you come to check up on the fillies?" I asked.

"Yeah… looks like you beat me to it." She chuckled a bit nervously. "C'mon let's go." She said as she began walking me out of the area. She sighed as we walked. "Oh, those girls aren't ready for the talent show…"

"To be honest… I know what you mean…"

"Well…" She looked at me. "I guess we better hope for the best…"

The sun began setting, alarming Applejack and me.

"C'mon, we better head to the talent show." She suggested.

I nodded and we began walking towards the event.

When we arrived, Applejack joined the crowd while I went backstage. I spotted Fluttershy sitting near the dressing room. I immediately walked up to her. "Fluttershy, I'm sorry I've been gone for a long time." I apologized.

"Oh, don't worry about it. How were the girls?" She asked.

"Well… they were okay with being safe and all… but as far as their performance… um…"

Suddenly, the three girls joined us backstage with their new…costumes. Their appearance surprised both Fluttershy and me.

"Hey, Alex! Hey, Fluttershy!" They greeted. They wore hooded clothing, but I could see they wore bizarre make up on their faces. They also styled their manes differently…

Fluttershy and I could only remain silent as we observed their odd appearances.

We began hearing the performances of the little ponies.

"...and on the count of three this rabbit will disappear and something tasty will reappear in its place. A one, a two and a three! Hey! Where are they? Snails, where are the... carrots. SNAILS!"

"Uh, how about a round of applause for the S&S magic act?" We heard Ms. Cheerilee's voice, along with a stomping of hooves on the ground. "Now for our next act we have Sunny Days and Peachy Pie reciting their favorite poem... on rollerskates!"

A couple of ponies passed by us, on rollerskates.

"Break a leg!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, who had her hooves on top of a wooden box with Applebloom and Scootaloo.

Applebloom looked shocked and responded to Sweetie Belle's comment. "Sweetie Belle! What a thing to say!"

"No, no, no." Sweetie Belle explained. "You see, in the theater it's considered bad luck to say 'good luck'. So you say 'break a leg' instead."

"My little ponies!" Twilight had come by. "How are you doing?"

"Nervous..." They all answered, holding their hooves toward their mouths.

"Don't worry. You're gonna be amazing." Twilight encouraged. "Remember, just stick to what you know best. I can't wait to hear you sing, Sweetie Belle."

"Why does everypony always think I'm gonna sing?" Sweetie Belle asked, annoyed.

"Actually, Twilight Sparkle, I'm the main singer tonight." Scootaloo answered.

"Oh?" Twilight questioned surprised.

"And I'm the main dancer. Hai-ya!" Applebloom released a chop.

"Oh?" Twilight repeated, more worriedly.

"And I'm in charge of..."

"Costumes?" Twilight answered for Sweetie Belle.

"And sets and props. How'd you know?"

"Really, girls? Are you sure...?" Twilight released a smile, in hopes to change their minds, which was pretty much too late now…

"Cutie Mark Crusaders, you're on next." Ms. Cheerilee announced nearby. "Break a leg."

"Break a le..." Twilight repeated until Applebloom tripped while running towards the stage. "…Uh... good luck…!" The three threw their hooded capes backstage as they began their performance. Fluttershy and I walked with Twilight to near the stage to watch and see how they do…

The music began playing and the lights dimmed on the stage. The stage curtain opened to a dark set until Scootaloo's face was lit as she started singing.

"Look, here are three little ponies" The faces of Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were lit.

"Ready to sing for this crowd

Listen up, 'cause here's our story

I'm gonna sing it…

"VERY LOUD!" They both screamed out loud, causing Twilight, Fluttershy, and I to stand in shock and silence. I could only imagine how Applejack was feeling at this moment.

"When you're a younger pony…" Applebloom danced very…um…

"And your flank is very bare" Sweetie Belle began pulling a rope which revealed a wooden sun, which it's planks of wood were cut unevenly and all the nails were just… messy…

"Feels like the sun will never come

When your cutie mark's not there

So the three of us will fight the fight!" Applebloom made karate moves.

"There is nothing that we fear…" Sweetie Belle released a rope which lowered fake bats, spiders, and ghosts.

"We'll have to figure out what we'll do next …

The three of them began singing. "Till our cutie marks are here!"

"We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders" My eye started to even twitch at this point.

"On a quest to find out who we are

And we will never stop the journey…" Scootaloo fell off a piece of the scenery.

"Not until we have our cutie marks!" Sweetie Belle activated a fog machine, causing the stage to be engulfed in a fog.

They began jumping around, even bumping into each other again and releasing grunts. Scootaloo began singing solo again.

"They all say that you'll get your mark…

When the time is really right…" Sweetie Bell ran across with a clock in her mouth but tripped over Scootaloo.

"And you know just what you're supposed to do…" The spotlight was accidentally set on Applebloom, who released another kick, but getting her leg stuck on one of the cardboard trees.

"And your talent comes to light

But it's not as easy as it sounds

And that waiting's hard to do

So we test our talents everywhere…" Sweetie Bell ran upwards on to the top of the stage to place a blue filter on one of the spotlights.

"Until our face is blue!" Scootaloo positioned her face on to the blue spotlight.

"We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders

On a quest to find out who we are!" A sudden large wind blew throughout the stage, causing everything to be in complete chaos.

"And we will never stop the journey

Not until we have our cutie marks!" Applebloom finally released her trapped leg from the cardboard tree, only to cause the other cardboard drawings to fall. Sweetie Belle noticed this and ran on top of a platform to prevent it, even as she continued to sing.

"We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders

On a quest to find out who we are…" Another one of the cardboard houses began falling as well, causing Sweetie Belle to lift her other hoof to catch it. As she continued to struggle, holding up the scenery, I could only place my hoof in front of my face.

"And we will never stop the journey

Not until we have our cutie marks!"

Everything in the stage tumbled and crashed upon the girls, creating a very destructive noise. They poked their heads out, smiling at the audience, but they only received an awkward silence and finally laughter. The three fillies widened their eyes in shock and soon began walking back backstage with their heads held low in shame.

"Wow. That did not go as well as I expected." Scootaloo commented as she walked passed us.

"I can't believe they're laughin' at us!" Applebloom added.

"Was it that bad?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Back on stage, girls. It's time for the awards!" Ms. Cheerilee announced as Spike walked by her.

"Back on stage? No." Sweetie Belle answered in a demanding tone.

"They'll just laugh some more." Applebloom tried to reason.

"Yeah, what's the point?" Scootaloo asked.

"Now girls, let's be good sports. You made a great effort. You should be proud. Now come on!" Ms. Cheerilee, along with Spike, walked out into the stage and addressed the audience. "Let's hear it for all our talented fillies and colts." The ponies began stomping their hooves.

"Despite their performance… I hope they get an award for their efforts…" I announced to Twilight and Fluttershy as I looked worriedly out into the stage.

Twilight and Fluttershy could only agree with me by doing the same thing.

"Our first award goes to..." Ms. Cheerilee began. "Snips and Snails, for best magic act."

Spike had placed the awards on their necks. As they moved to the front, I noticed that the girls were trying to hide behind the ponies in order to cover their appearance.

"Hey! Mine's at least shinier." The short one, who must have been Snips, expressed.

"Well, mine's bigger." The tall one, who must have been Snails, argued.

"Oh yeah, well..." Snips tried to counterattack. "Well, mine is, um... heavier?"

"The next award goes to..." Ms. Cheerilee announced as the two left the stage. "Sunny Daze and Peachy Pie for best dramatic performance." Spike walked up to them and presented them with their medals. "And finally, the last award of the night goes to..." The drum rolls began and with my worried expression, I hoped that the girls would receive it. "The Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Ms. Cheerilee exclaimed, leaving the girls very shocked and surprised.

"What?" They questioned.

"For best comedy act." Ms. Cheerilee announced, which the audience followed by cheers.

Spike presented them with awards as they bowed in front of the audience.

"Well… it wasn't as I expected… but… at least they got an award…" I commented.

The three girls ran over backstage very excitedly.

"Can you believe it? We won!" Applebloom exclaimed.

"I knew our act was awesome." Scootaloo stated.

"You know what would be the best?" Sweetie Belle asked. "If we won and we got our cutie marks."

The three of the removed their costumes in hopes to find their cuties marks on their flanks, but groaned in disappointment when they found out they didn't. Twilight, Fluttershy, and I walked over to them.

"Congratulations, ponies!" Twilight exclaimed. "Job well done."

"Thanks, Twilight…" The three of them responded sadly.

"Hey, you don't sound too excited."

They sighed. "We worked really hard and won a prize but we still don't have our cutie marks." Scootaloo replied.

"Which is the prize we really wanted." Sweetie Belle added.

"Oh, girls..."

"But we think we know why." Applebloom said.

"Yes. We know why." Sweetie Belle joined.

"Oh? Tell me. I'd love to make a special report to the Princess." Twilight replied.

"Well, maybe we were trying too hard?" Sweetie Belle guessed.

"Yes? And..."

"And instead of forcing ourselves to do something that's not meant for us..." Scootaloo continued.

"Yes? Yes?" Twilight pursued

"We each should be embracing our true talent!" Applebloom finished.

"And that is...?" Twilight asked.

The girls looked at each other for a moment and answered. "Comedy!"

Their answer did not only shock Twilight, but destroyed the high hopes we all had for the girls, who had a strong chance of actually finding out their true talent…

"Apple Bloom! You did it!" Applejack exclaimed who was on the empty stage with Rarity and Rainbow Dash.

"Did you see our award? Weren't we funny?" They asked excitedly as they ran towards them.

"One day..." Twilight giggled. "One day..."

"I suppose you thought that they'd realize their actual true talents, huh Twilight?" I asked while the girls continued to have an excited conversation with the others.

"Yup." She giggled again. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Yeah…" I looked over at the girls as they continued to jump around while trying to recreate their performance. "They just have to find out themselves… and I have no idea when that will happen…"

"You got that right…" Twilight responded.

"Well, I think they still did a great job!" Fluttershy added.

"Yes…" Twilight replied. "…for comedy."

Twilight and Fluttershy began laughing as I observed the girls behavior with the Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. I could see that spark in their eyes… the spark that shows how determined they are into finding their cutie marks, but the only thing they are missing is that piece to show them how close they actually are towards their cutie marks.

"I can see how surprised they'll be when they realize how close their cutie marks actually were… when they finally get them…" I muttered.

"What was that, Alex?" Fluttershy asked.

"Oh." I glanced back at her. "Nothing…"

After several minutes, the girls went home with their new awards.

Twilight walked over to the dozing Spike, picked him up, and placed him on her back. "C'mon Spike, time to go." She said softly. She looked over to Fluttershy and me. "I'll see you guys tomorrow!"

"Goodnight." We responded as she began walking towards her home.

After, I began walking Fluttershy home.

"Do you think they'll get their cutie marks soon?" Fluttershy asked me.

"Maybe…" I answered. "…may take a while as well as dropping a lot of hints, but… I'm sure they'll get theirs."

Fluttershy giggled. "Yeah…"

We arrived at her front door.

"Thanks for having me, Alex. It was fun today." Fluttershy spoke.

"…I'm still sorry about leaving you to do all the work in the stage…"

"Don't worry about it, Alex." She lightly touched me. "It wasn't a lot of work anyway…"

"Well… I'll try to make it up to you somehow…" I offered.

"Oh, you really don't need too…" She looked away and said something too soft to hear clearly.

"Huh?" I asked.

Fluttershy blushed and smiled at me while she responded nervously. "Oh, nothing!" After a moment, the redness in her cheeks disappeared. "I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah." I answered.

She hugged me and told me Goodnight. I responded to her with the same answer. Afterwards, she safely entered her home, and I headed off to mine.

When I entered the comfort of my bed, I began thinking about what Applejack had said this morning… Like means that you like her more than any other pony. Like if you've got very special feelings for her, do you know what I mean? I did have those kind of feelings for Fluttershy… but I didn't know how to deal with them. Although, even though Applejack answered my feelings partially right… it didn't feel like just a "like". No… that word is not special enough…

My feelings were much more… deeper maybe? I know they were more special… but as I've said before… I have no idea what they are… all I know… is that… Fluttershy is really special to me…

A Dog and Pony Show

Episode 19 – A Dog and Pony Show

I woke up and shook my mane. After getting out of bed, I made the covers nicely and walked downstairs to the kitchen. I looked outside the window and observed the sunny day. On the contrary, something suddenly stood out. A pony was walking down the street… but the pony looked much too different… As she walked proudly among the streets, every other pony could only gaze at her from behind. The pony had too many accessories and clothing to even describe. Basically, she had a mix of blue and light blue color for her mane and tail. She wore light purple eye shadow and a white top hat above her head. She wore many other things which I felt dizzy by just looking at.

I shook my head and walked outside the front door, already hearing the excitement in the crowd following the pony.

"Sapphire Shores, we love you!" Some ponies exclaimed out loud.

The crowd continued to chatter while I continued looking for a moment. I finally turned around and headed to Rarity's shop, which was the place she seemed to walk from.

"Can you believe it?" I heard Rarity as I opened the door to her shop. "I can't! She wants to buy my dresses! But the only thing is…I need to get more gems!"

"I'll help you Rarity!" Spike immediately offered, looking disoriented.

Twilight and Spike were there in Rarity's shop. I guess they heard about Sapphire Shores.

"Oh, Spike really? That would be fantastic!" Rarity replied.

Spike could only respond with a mumble of words.

"Who's Sapphire Shores?" I asked when I walked towards them.

"You don't know?" Rarity gasped. "She's the pony of POP!"

"And Rarity needs to get a lot more gems to make five more dresses for her." Twilight added.

"Yes, indeed, Twilight. And Spike is going to help me!"

"Rarity, finding gems?" I asked. "Wont that be hard?"

"Oh no, no, no, no. You see, not only do I use my horn for designing dresses; I can also find gems with it! Isn't it amazing?"

"Um… I guess…"

"Spike?" Rarity called Spike.

"Yes, Rarity?" Spike immediately rushed over to Rarity, holding his hands together near his chest.

"Get the little red wagon, would you? We're going on a gem hunt!"

"Of course, Rarity!" Spike rushed out to retrieve the item.

"Do you need me to come with you?" I asked Rarity.

"Um, not necessarily. Spike is good enough."

"Are you sure? You'll be bringing back a pile of gems. I want to make sure no one takes them…"

"Well…" Rarity thought. "If you insist… I suppose you could accompany us."

Spike returned with a red wagon. "Here you go, miss Rarity! Anything else you need?"

"Good news Spike! Alex will be accompanying us."

"Oh…" Spike replied, looking a little disappointed.

"Well, good luck, Rarity. Be careful out there!"

"Thank you, Twilight. We shall!" Rarity looked over at us. "Come now then, let's go search for some gems! Spike, bring the red wagon please."

"You got it Rarity!" Spike grabbed the red wagon and I walked by Rarity, following her to wherever she was going to search for the gems.

We arrived at some bare place that was pretty far from Ponyville. I looked around to see just mountains of rocks and absolutely no grass in sight. There was actually no green for that matter, except for the few trees in sight.

"Oh my gosh!" Spike began talking excitedly as Rarity used her horn to search for gems. "Sapphire Shores! The Pony of Pop! She is awesome! I mean, she's gorgeous, talented and-heh" Rarity stared at Spike as if she was offended. "...and not even half the pony you are. I mean, you're ten times more gorgeous and talented and..."

"Spike, a lady is never jealous." Rarity responded.

"Eh, of course not. But were you totally flipping out or what?"

"Ladies do not 'flip out', Spike. However, I was quite in awe." Her horn began glowing, causing her to search around more areas. "I need to find more jewels than ever before to decorate her costumes." As she was pacing around, she suddenly halted and pointed towards a spot beneath her. "O, aha!"

"Did you find some?" Spike hopped.

"Yes, Spike! Right there!" She pointed with her hoof.

Spike hopped over to the spot and began digging with his hands until he spotted them with his own eyes. "Ooooo!" Spike stated as he licked his lips and drooled. "You look so delicious..." He dove into the hole and grabbed the handful of jewels. He was about to shove them down his throat but Rarity stopped him. "Spike! I promised I'll give you gems to snack on, but we need to collect more first or I'll never be able to make these outfits for Sapphire."

Spike lowered his head and walked over to the wagon to place the gems on there. He sighed. "Hm... I will miss you, my sweets."

"Come along." She told us. "We have many jewels to find."

Spike placed the jewels on the wagon and bowed. "At your service, my lady."

During the search, Rarity continued to spot jewels underneath the ground to which Spike dug for. I didn't do much digging, but I did some carrying every now and then. Once in a while, Spike was tempted to eat the gems on the wagon, but Rarity scolded him before he could.

When the wagon was full of gems, Spike stood nearby, drooling and licking his lips. Rarity patted him on the head and spoke. "You've been very patient today, Spike. And for that you'll get the finest reward." She pulled out a light blue gem in the shape of an octagon. "This is from me to you." Spike held his mouth open to eat it, but suddenly he grabbed the gem instead and looked at Rarity, dazed. "Is something wrong, Spike?" Rarity asked.

Spike could only stare at Rarity for a moment and release a smile. "No. It's perfect." He expressed as he held the gem close to his chest.

Rarity horn began glowing and she was pulled over to the next location of gems. "Oh, bring the cart, Spike. There are more over here."

"For me. From Rarity…" Spike said. He began bringing the cart over to Rarity.

"Spike…" I announced as we were walking toward Rarity. "Why do act like that around Rarity?" I asked.

"Well you see…" He stopped and waved for me to bring my head closer. I did so to where he positioned his hands around his mouth and began whispering. "I have a crush on Rarity."

"A crush…?" I questioned.

"Yep. You know… when you really like someone."

"Really like…" I muttered under my breath, thinking about my feelings with Fluttershy.

"But promise me you won't tell anypony! Especially Rarity!"

"Ok, ok. I promise."

"Spike! Where are you?" Rarity called from a distance. "You know, it's terrible to keep a lady waiting."

"Coming!" Spike responded, rushing over to Rarity.

"I think we're really going to strike gold this time." Rarity spoke as Spike began digging. "So to speak."

"Jackpot!" Spike exclaimed, bringing out an armful of jewels.

Spike began placing the gems carefully on the wagon.

"Well, I think that's all we can do for today. And these will certainly get me well on my way with Sapphire's outfits. Why don't we start headi..." Suddenly, Rarity's horn began glowing again, leading her to somewhere else. "Oh! What's this? Another jewel. Oh, strange." She was led into the trees. "It's in the trees. Oooo..." She spotted a gold gem but suddenly a strange creature popped out. "Ewww!" Rarity flinched at the sight of the creature. "Uh... uh... Good day, gentle... uh, fellow. I am Rarity and these are my friends Spike and Alex." She slowly backed away toward us.

"Ehe..." was the only thing Spike could mutter.

Something about this… animal…told me that he was up to no good.

"And you are..." Rarity began.

The creature jumped out of the trees and began walking up to Rarity. "A diamond dog."

Rarity and Spike could only back away while the creature was coming towards them. I suddenly stepped in front of both, Rarity and Spike, and the diamond dog.

"Hey, back up!" I told the dog, standing in front of him. "What do you think you're doing?"

"We hunt." The dog replied.

"Uh... we?" Rarity asked behind me.

"We hunt for gems. But you are a better hunter. So now we hunt... for you!" He replied.

Suddenly we heard digging noises behind us. Two more of those dogs popped up, causing me to look back. One of the dogs tried to grab Rarity but she ducked in time.

"Rarity!" I called and tried to go help her but the dog in front of me had pushed me to the side. I grunted as I landed on the ground from a distance. I saw Spike try to harm the dogs by digging at their tails with his tail. I immediately pushed myself up and began running towards them.

"Run, Rarity! Run!" Spike advised Rarity.

Rarity began running. Spikes grabbed hold onto one of the dog's legs, causing him to trip and grab the other dog's tail and make him fall as well.

"Spike! Alex! Come on! Hurry!" Rarity called for us.

I saw one of the dogs sneaking up from behind her to pounce on her. "Gotcha!"

But before he could grab Rarity, I leapt and pushed him forwards While he was struggling on the ground beneath my hooves, he could only try to push me off. "Get off of me!" He exclaimed.

"Got him, Rarity! I got him!" I heard Spike.

"Haha! Nope!"

"Sorry, scaly one."

Suddenly, a pair of dog arms grabbed me and threw me away from the dog I was holding down. I released more grunts, feeling the pain when I landed back on the ground. I could already feel scratches, maybe even bruises on my body.

"WAAH!" Rarity screamed as the dogs grabbed her and began running towards their hole. I began trying to push myself up once again, but it took me longer as I had to deal with the soreness. "Unhand me this instant, you ruffians. Stop! Put me down, you scum! You rough-!"

"Rarity!" Spike called after her.

I managed to stand back up and notice Rarity in the hole, but she struggled to stay out on top. "Spike! Alex!" She tried to grab hold of the dirt. "Ah, dirt!" I immediately ran over to the hole and slid to prone, grabbing Rarity's hoof.

"Hold on, Rarity!" I tried pulling her up, but I was losing my grip as the three dogs fought back. I wasn't able to keep my hoof wrapped on hers as the dogs finally managed to pull her away from me.

"AAAAAH, ALEX!" She screamed as she was sucked in.

"Which, what, where?" Spike muttered quickly as he ran over to the hole.

"SAVE ME...!" Rarity screamed in an echo from a distance beyond the hole.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Spike shouted.

"Spike! Get the others!" I ordered. "I'm going in!"

Without any hesitation, I dove into the hole.

It was several seconds until I finally landed on the ground. I groaned and stood up, shaking my head. I looked around and noticed many holes throughout the area. Great… how am I supposed to find Rarity in here?

I sighed and tried to find a way out, but it seemed useless…

Suddenly, my heart began beating as if it was trying to tell me something… I closed my eyes and looked deep inside myself. In my mind, it started showing a light… a light to… Rarity?

When I opened my eyes, I somehow knew where to go now. I wasn't completely sure… but I had to… I had to trust my instincts and my heart…

I began running towards the holes which my heart led me to.

"Oh please, diamond dogs. Please let me go." I started hearing from a distance. It was Rarity! I held out my ear in order to find out where it was coming from.

"No!" One of the dogs stated.

"You're our precious little pony."

"For ever! Muhahahaha."

"But what ever do you want from me?" Rarity asked.

"Gemsss!" One hissed.

The voices began getting louder.

"Yes! The gems. The jewels."

"Find them! Find them all!"

"Oh! Is that all?"

I finally arrived to where the voices were coming from. Rarity, along with the other dogs, were in this large area. They were in my sight and I knew I couldn't just barge in there because it would be an instant loss. I quickly found some cover and hid behind it, looking slightly at what was taking place. Rarity was searching for more jewels in the ground. She stopped, picked up a stick and marked the spot with an x.

"There. A lovely pocket of jewels are right there. Now, would you be so kind as to show me the exit? "Rarity asked.

Another dog, which must have been a guard, pointed a sharp spear at Rarity, causing me to gasp quietly.

"Good!" One of the dogs hopped excitedly. "Now, dig them up, pony."

"What? But you said you wanted me to find the gems."

"Yes! Find and then dig."

"Dig?" Rarity asked, irritated now.

"Yes. Dig."

The guard dog led her towards the x as the other dogs pointed straight at it.

"Ohh..." Rarity moaned. She began digging lightly, actually barely tapping the ground. The other dogs looked in surprise. Rarity continued grunting as she lightly tapped the ground, only moving speckles of dirt.

"What are you doing? We said dig!" The big dog commanded.

"Forgive me but prior to you so rudely dragging me into your dirt pit, I had a pony pedi and I am not about to chip a hoof because you dislike my style of digging." Rarity answered boldly. Afterwards, she continued her way of digging.

"Oh, for goodness." The medium-sized dog placed his paw on his face. "Fine! Just stop. Stop! Dig, dogs! Dig!" He called toward the other guard dogs that were in a hole above them. "And fast."

Well… I'm glad I didn't rush in…

The guard dogs began furiously digging at the spot Rarity marked.

"She won't dig, she pulls." The big dog announced, while they held up a saddle and a cart.

"I beg your pardon," Rarity responded as she began backing away. "but what, pray tell, are you doing?"

"Others will dig. You will haul the wagon." The big dog answered.

"Prrrecious pony pedi will be preserved." The small one added as he placed the saddle on Rarity when she reached a dead end.

"Well, somebody certainly needs proper nail care. When was the last time you two had a manicure? You're scratching up my coat with those jagged things." She had noticed their nails as they secured the saddle on her.

"Please be quiet!" The average one answered.

"Good heavens, what is that smell?" Rarity exclaimed.

"Smeeeeeell?" He released a horrid stench of his breath at Rarity.

"Ah, mystery solved. It's your breath." Rarity replied, frankly, which led the dog to turn around and smell his own breath.

"Enough! Search, pony!" He ordered.

"Well, since you insist..." Rarity began pulling the cart while finding gems and marking them with a stick. "But I must say the working conditions in here are simply dreadful. Musty and damp, it's going to wreak havoc on my mane. And this air is stifling, suffocating. And when I try to take a deep breath, the stench of all you dogs makes me nauseated. You look and smell like if you haven't bathed in weeks. Have you never heard of soap? You could all do with a good round of soap and water. Water, water, I'm terribly thirsty. Could I please have some water?"

"Good gracious, I can't take this anymore." The small dog pulled his ears. "BE QUIET, PONY!"

"And that's another thing." Rarity persisted. "I would appreciate if you stopped calling me 'pony'. I am a lady and I wish to be addressed as such. So you may call me 'Miss' or 'Rarity' or 'Miss Rarity'."

"Enough!" The average dog yelled out as he pulled his ears as well. "Your whining! It hurts!"

"Whining? I am not whining. I am complaining. Do you want to hear whining? Thiiis iiis whiiining! Oooh, this harness is too tiiight! It's going to chafe. Can't you loosen it? Oooh, it hurts and it's sooo ruuusty!" Rarity continued to whine in a high pitched voice, even starting to hurt my ears a little. "Why didn't you clean it first? It's gonna leave a staaain! And the wagon's getting heeeavy, why do I have to pull it?"

"Aaah! Make it stop!" The little dog desperately ordered.

"Stop whining!" The average one demanded.

"But I thought you wanted whiiining!" Rarity purposely answered.

"We'll do anything, pony!"

Rarity gave them an annoyed stare.

"Oh, uh, we'll do anything, 'Miss Rarity'." The average one laughed nervously.

"Anything?" Rarity questioned, dreamily.

Soon enough, she had the dogs doing work for her, as well as improving the conditions around her. As much as I wanted to save Rarity, I still couldn't do anything about it… I had to wait until she was alone but there was no possible way to tell her so, so the only thing I could do was just wait it out and see what Rarity did. The area was covered with ribbons as two guard dogs beside her fanned her. She was given water in a gold chalice. Unbelievable… so much for a damsel in distress…

Rarity took a sip from the water and pulled back, slightly disgusted. "Oh, this water is hardly sparkling. But I suppose it will have to do."

The three other dogs were pulling the heavy loads of gems until they stopped for some air. "Wait! Why are we doing this?" The average one asked.

"To stop the awful noises from the pony's mouth, remember?" The little one began imitating Rarity's whining but the average dog placed his paw on his mouth.

"Yes, yes, I know. This is ridiculous! Letting a pony order us around. What are we? Mice or dogs?"

The other dogs began saying "mice", but suddenly changed their answers to "dogs".

The average dog stared at them for a moment, and then continued his speech. "Dogs do not pull. Ponies pull. Let her make the awful noises."

They walked up to Rarity and began placing the saddle on her. "What are you doing?" She asked. The average dog flicked her drink. "Hey, you spilled my drink. Oh!" Rarity began her whining. "Not sooo tiiight!"

"Ha! Make the noises all you want. But move while you make them. Hyah, mule!" He ordered Rarity, slapping her from behind.

I could instantly see the shift in Rarity's eyes. "Did you just call me a... mule?" She asked sadly.

The dog moved his eyes around, wondering what he should say. "Ehh..."

"Mules are ugly. Are you saying that I too am ugly?" Tears formed in Rarity's eyes and she immediately began crying.

"What are these noises?" The little one asked, walking over to them.

"HE CALLED ME UGLY!" Rarity cried out.

"No! Mule! I said mule!" The average one replied quickly.

"An old ugly mule! And it's true! Just look at me. I used to be beautiful, but, but nooow..."

I started thinking… was Rarity doing this on purpose? I honestly couldn't tell if she was really crying, or acting it out. I mean she does have this "thing" on appearance… so I could believe if she was expressing her true feelings. If she's not… then she makes quite the actor…

"No, no! You're still beautiful, po... uh, Miss Rarity." The big dog had come along too.

"You're just saying that!"

"No, you're still pretty and... and..."

"Oh, uh uh, nice. Yeah."

"I don't believe you! You never liked me!" Rarity began wailing out loud.

"I've had just about enough of this!" The average dog exclaimed as the three of them held their ears.

They grabbed her and took her to a cell with a steel door. They placed her in there and shut the door, locking it.

"Now until you learn to stop whining, you're going to stay in here FOREVER!" The average one exclaimed and began walking off, bringing his other guard dogs along with him.

Finally was my chance…

After I made sure they were all gone, I immediately raced over to the cell Rarity was in.

"Forever?" Rarity spoke. "Oh, it can't be! I won't ever see my friends again or get pedicures and… oh no! I'll miss my only chance with Sapphire Shores!" She began crying again.

I sneaked up to her cell door and looked in. "Rarity!" I exclaimed softly.

She gasped and looked up in shock. "Alex? Is that you?" She asked.

"Yes, I'm going to get you out of here! Just hang on!" I looked around for a way to open the door, but as far as I could see, there really wasn't any unless I retrieved the key from the dog that locked her in there… I sighed and looked at Rarity, who returned a worried look. "Rarity, just hold tight… I'll go find the key and get you out."

"Oh, Alex, please hurry!"

I nodded and turned around to follow wherever the dogs walked to. I started at a light sprint as I continued looking for the holes the dogs went through. It wasn't too difficult as I started hearing faint voices when I grew close.

"Geez, it's nice to take a break from all that whining!"

"Yes, but… what if she never stops the whining?"

I followed their voices which led me to the final hole, revealing them around a table in separate chairs. They were playing cards. I quickly ducked behind whatever I could find and continued listening as I tried to find the keys.

"Hmm…" The average one thought. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers. "I got it! How about we put dirt in our ears?"

"But…How will we hear each other then?" The small one replied as I poked my head out of the rock I was using for cover.

"Hand signs?" The average dog suggested.

Fortunately, the average dog was right in front of me, however, he was facing the other dogs, away from me. I slowly began creeping out after I spotted the ring of keys hanging outside his red coat. My hooves pressed lightly on the dirt landscape as I moved closer and closer to the keys. When my hoof was right under the keys, he made a sudden move, which caused me to pull back suddenly and stay still.

"Ah-chew!" He sneezed and wiped his nose. He then began looking around above me.

"What's wrong?" The small dog asked.

"I smell pony…" He responded as he continued looking around suspiciously.

"Don't we have a pony locked up here?" The big dog asked.

"Yes…but… It's as if I can smell one right near me…"

I quickly, but softly crawled towards under the table, just in case he looked down…

"That pony must have just made you keep her scent with all her whining."

How does that even make sense? These dogs must not be very bright…

"Yeah…I guess."

After a while of waiting under the table, once I heard them shuffle cards and deal them, I reached out my hoof to grab the keys. I had to carefully and slowly pull them back because even the slightest jingle of them will alarm the dogs… Once I had carefully retrieved the keys under the table, I held them in my mouth and slowly crawled out of the room.

Once I was far enough, I quickly rushed over to Rarity. She was sitting in the corner of the cell room, very sad. Once she heard me, she quickly turned around and changed the expression on her face to an excited one.

"Oh, Alex!" Rarity exclaimed.

"Shh." I warned her.

Using my mouth to hold the keys, I inserted one of them into the lock and turned. A click sound was heard. As soon as I opened the door, Rarity ran towards me, embracing me with a tight grip and pummeling me with gratitude. "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"C'mon." I said quietly as I lightly pulled her off. "Let's get out of here as quick as possible."

"You don't have to ask me twice!" Rarity replied as she followed me.

I started walking carefully towards the way I came in. When I reached the door, I opened it to find a rather unfortunate surprise. The three dogs were standing on the other side of the door, looking at us as if they were already expecting us.

"I knew I smelled pony…" The average one spoke. "Well, boys, looks like we have another work horse."

As they got ready to breach, I quickly slammed the door on them and barricaded it with my body. As I struggled to keep the door blocked, I looked around for an escape plan. Then, I remembered the carts of jewels.

"Rarity!" I called through strains. "Get those carts over here! ...Now!"

"But, I'll get all sweaty!" Rarity responded through a worried tone.

"Rarity…" I replied as I continued attempting to hold back the door. "Does that really matter right now? I'm trying to save you!"

After she analyzed my troubles, she sighed. "Okay… for you, Alex!" She ran over to one of the carts full of jewels. She began pushing the cart over to where I was, but it was taking time to be done.

"C'mon Rarity…! Hurry!" I exclaimed, already feeling that I'm losing the advantage. She slightly moved faster and managed to bring them over to where I was. "Okay, now place it front of the door!" She did so, and when the cart was able to hold the door, I let go and quickly ran over to another cart and pushed it over to the door in a matter of seconds, just to be safe. Once the door was blocked off for good, I called over Rarity and began running towards another way out. It'd be a while until the dogs realized that there are holes everywhere…

We were running through a long tunnel. We reached another area with a large amount of space between. I looked around and spotted a wooden door.

"There! C'mon!" I pointed towards the door and led Rarity to the door.

Before I could get my hoof on the handle, the door was pushed open, to reveal the dogs once again.

"And where do you think you PONIES are going?" The average one announced. I could only step back to hold back Rarity. "It time you ponies go to work!" He began walking towards us with a harness. He tried to place it on me, but instead, I charged and head butted him in the stomach.

"Oomph!" He released a grunt as he held his stomach "That pony is too much trouble! Get rid of him!" He ordered the big dog.

The large dog walked over to me. "Out of the way, pony!" He grabbed me and threw me to the side. I hit the rocky wall with enough force to cause the rocks above to fall upon me when I landed on the ground. Some rocks hit me, knocking me out and disabling my vision...I could only hear voices.

"Alex!" I heard Rarity called out. Hooves galloped over to where I was, and I assumed Rarity was trying to help me out somehow.

"Come on pony, time to WORK!" One of the dogs announced.

"Noo! Alex!" Rarity began crying again.

"No! Not the terrible noises again!" A dog cried.

"Why, did you have to hurt him?" Rarity combined her crying with her whining as she did before. "You dogs are so mean! Why? Why?"

The dogs screamed. "Stop whining!"

"You hurt my friend! Now he's not okay! I hate you fiends!" Rarity began wailing out loud, for a pretty long time. "Alex, please please open your eyes!"

"I can't take it! I can't take it!" The dogs exclaimed.

Suddenly, I heard something break open near me. "Lady Rarity, I'm here to save you!" It sounded like Spike's voice…

The dogs screamed and ran over to somewhere else nearby. "Please, save us! Make it stop! Please!"

"Excuse me?" Twilight's voice sounded.

The dogs began their reasoning."So picky."

"And critical."

"She won't stop talking."

"And crying about her friend!"

"We, uh, give her back. Yes."

"Friend?" Twilight questioned. "Alex!" She realized and rushed over to the sounds of wails from Rarity. "Rarity? Oh no…"

Rarity continued sniffling. "I don't know what to do!"

"Alex!" I heard Fluttershy's voice as she rushed over to me. "Alex, no!" It sounded as if she was desperately looking for a way to help but she couldn't… "Alex…no… please…" I felt her head rest lightly on mine. After a moment of sniffling, I felt a drop of water fall on me.

I started opening my eyes slowly to a blurry image. Things cleared up afterwards. I looked around to see the other ponies looking away sadly while Fluttershy rested her head on mine. "Girls…?" I asked weakly. Fluttershy gasped while the other ponies immediately turned around.

"Alex?" Fluttershy softly asked. The other ponies moved closer to me.

I looked at them in silence for a moment. "…well that took awhile, Spike…" I addressed the time it took for them to come help. Everypony crowded around me and gave sighs of happiness as they knew that I was okay. Fluttershy held me as she was joyful as well.

"UGH!" The dogs suddenly interrupted. "Just take the jewels and go!"

"You're letting us leave with all these..." Spike looked at the many carts of jewels in front of him. "jewels?"

"Yes. Take them. And her with them!" The average exclaimed in fright as they cowered in a corner.

"Please!" The small one added.

Fluttershy helped me up as the other ponies prepared to take the jewels.

"Alright, girls, let's bring em home!" Applejack announced and she strapped herself in one of the harness. She looked over to me and smiled. "C'mon Alex… Climb up on this here cart, you deserve to rest…" She motioned me to climb on the cart she was taking back to Ponyville. I nodded and walked over to the cart. Fluttershy helped me up. I lay myself down and closed my eyes. The rest of the ponies strapped themselves to the carts and began leaving.

"I can't believe you got all these gems!" I heard Pinkie Pie exclaim, opening my eyes again.

"Heh. I can't believe you tricked all those dogs." Rainbow Dash added.

"Just because I'm a lady doesn't mean I cannot handle myself in a sticky situation. I had them wrapped around my hoof the entire time…well…not the entire time, actually…"

"What do you mean, Rarity?" Twilight asked.

"Had it not been for Alex, I probably wouldn't have been able to get away with all these gems…" Rarity replied. "And my crying at the end…" She began saying softly. "Well…it was real…the thought of almost losing Alex…"

I looked over to Rarity. "Knowing that your 'whining' easily bothers them… I'm pretty sure you would have done it without me Rarity… After all… it was you who defeated them…"

"Oh, thank you, Alex." Rarity responded. "But, for right now, I'm just glad you are alright. By the way... I may have exaggerated a bit too much at the end... but you know me." She chuckled.

"I can't wait to write to Princess Celestia about you ponies and tell her what you taught me today." Twilight said.

"Me? What did I teach you?" Rarity questioned.

"Just because somepony is ladylike doesn't make her weak. In fact, by using her wits a seemingly defenseless pony can be the one who outsmarts and outshines them all."

"Hm... 'Outshines' is right. Now you have enough gems to cover Sapphire Shores's costumes." Spike announced as he was munching on one of the rubies.

"Not if you eat them all, Spike." Rarity used her magic to peel the ruby off of Spike's hands before he could take another bite and place it back on the cart, causing everypony to laugh.

When we arrived at Rarity's shop, all the ponies released the harnesses and began bringing in the gems. I climbed off the cart and was about to go help but Applejack stopped me. "Whoa there, partner. You let us bring them in. You've done enough for today." She released a warm smile.

"Thanks, Applejack…" I responded.

Rarity had come out after dropping off a load of gems and looked over at me. "Oh, my, Alex."

"What?" I asked.

"You're so dirty from being underground." She grabbed my hoof. "Come now, let's get you clean."

She took me to the spa where she ordered a cleaning for me. A couple of the spa workers took and led me to a huge tub of water to which they began washing my mane and allowing me to relax in the soak. They had left while I remained in the water. I closed my eyes and allowed myself to think.

Rarity was generous enough to give me this spa treatment… even though I didn't really need it…

I soaked in the water for several minutes until another pony had come in the room. I opened my eyes to see that it was Rarity.

"Enjoying the water, Alex?" She asked.

"Yeah…" I replied. "Thank you, Rarity."

"Oh, it's no problem at all, Alex. You deserve it." I climbed out of the tub and shook my mane, as well as my whole body. Rarity had walked up to me and smiled warmly. "There's something I wanted to give you…"

"What is it?" I asked.

She opened the stylish bag she was carrying and pulled out a gem… not just any gem… but… a dark blue one with a hint of white in the middle. It shined brightly under the lights. "Here." She held up the gem with her magic towards me.

I lightly took it. "Really, Rarity? For me?" I asked, shocked.

"Like I said, you deserve it." She responded as she observed me analyzing the gem carefully with my hooves. "You know… there aren't many ponies like you anymore…"

I looked up at her…feeling a little emotional, but I didn't say anything…

I had checked out of the Spa with Rarity. She had wished me a goodnight and walked out the Spa doors towards her home. I assumed they most likely finished unloading the carts full of gems…

I walked outside the Spa doors to find Fluttershy under a dark and starry sky, waiting for me.

"Fluttershy?" I asked.

"I just wanted to make sure that you were alright…" She responded.

"I'm better now…thank you…Did you girls finish with the gems?" I asked.

"Mm-hm."

I looked out and observed the environment for a moment. I turned back to Fluttershy. "C'mon, let's get you home."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Fluttershy asked along the way towards her cottage.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." I assured. We stopped in front of her door and looked at each other. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Of course." Fluttershy replied. "But… I have a spa appointment with Rarity tomorrow morning, so you'll know where I'll be at if you try finding me in morning."

"Alright, well I hope you have fun, Fluttershy."

"Thank you." She smiled. "Goodnight, Alex."

"Goodnight, Fluttershy."

She hugged me, a little more tightly, and then pulled away to walk into her home, giving me once last happy glance before closing the door.

I opened the door to my home and closed it when I entered. I walked upstairs to my bedroom and fell on my bed. I looked up at the ceiling in silence for a moment. I pulled out the gem Rarity gave me. The gem was something I've never seen before. I wonder if Rarity had found this gem, and gave it to me even if it was the only one in the pile of jewels? She could have used it for the dress… because it was obviously not a common jewel…but she didn't… she gave it to me…

I held the gem above me, near the window. The light the full moon gave off passed through the window and the jewel. On the other side, it presented a beautiful midnight color. I stared in awe as I observed the light. After a moment, I lowered the jewel and climbed out of bed. I walked towards my shelf that had the trophy and medal for the Running of the Leaves and placed the gem on there, neatly. I stepped back and observed how the gem looked as it sat there on my shelf. It was amazing…

I walked back towards my bed and snuggled under the covers. It was a little cool inside, so I wrapped myself under the blankets. For a moment, I looked out the window at the full moon and then at the gem. Afterwards, I closed my eyes and left slumber to take control for the night.

Green Isn't Your Color

Episode 20 – Green Isn't Your Color

Slowly opening my eyes to the sun's warmth, I looked around with just my eyes. After a moment, I sat up and yawned lightly. I wonder if Fluttershy is still at the spa with Rarity… I moved my legs towards the side of the bed and stepped off. I walked down the stairs and looked out the kitchen window. I continued observing the outside until I saw something from a distance. Near the spa building, I could see…Fluttershy…she was sitting outside alone for some reason… I quickly walked out the front door and began heading towards her.

"Hey, Fluttershy." I greeted as I walked towards her.

She moved her head from looking at the ground to me. She formed a smiled on her face and greeted back. "Hi, Alex!"

I took a seat next to her. "What are you doing here all by yourself? Aren't you supposed to be at the spa with Rarity?"

"Oh, I was. We just finished, but she said that she felt a pimple coming on, so she went back in there."

"That's Rarity…"

There was a short moment of silence until Fluttershy spoke to me. "Hey, Alex?" She called, looking towards me.

"Hm?" I replied, returning a look.

"There's something I was wondering you could do for me…"

"What is it?"

"Well…you see… Rarity met this famous fashion photographer and she wants me to model clothes for her and… I was wondering if you could be there with me…"

"Of course, Fluttershy. I understand… but… why did you agree to be Rarity's model?"

"She was practically begging me to go… I didn't want to let her down."

"But you're shy...wouldn't you really be uncomfortable with that kind of stuff?"

"Well…" She looked away with her eyes. "As long you're there… I think I'll be okay…besides…it's just a few photos… it can't be that bad…right?"

I didn't get to reply as Rarity burst out of the spa exclaiming, "I'm back!" She walked over to us, freshly cleansed, and noticed me. "Oh, hello, Alex. You should have been here earlier. Perhaps you could have joined us?"

"Maybe…" was all I could respond with.

Rarity looked over to Fluttershy. "Come now, Fluttershy. We must get you ready for Photo Finish!"

Fluttershy could only look at me worriedly as she was dragged by Rarity towards her shop. I began following them, making sure that I would be there for Fluttershy.

As soon as I entered the shop, Rarity was already dressing Fluttershy behind some blinds and pulled her out when she was ready. Fluttershy was wearing…some kind of outfit that had a dark pink headdress along with a dress that was speckled with so many different colored dots and with dark pink furry trim at the hem.

"Hm..." Rarity paced around Fluttershy, observing her. "She's going to want to see attitude and pizzazz."

"A-a-attitude and, um... pizzazz." Fluttershy tried to act confident, but she was left was a worried tone.

"More light!" Rarity ordered. "It has to catch the sequins just so or the whole outfit is just a disaster." Twilight used her magic to increase the amount of light. "Oh, and the headdress needs more feathers. Pinkie Pie! More feathers!" Pinkie Pie hopped joyfully over to her, bringing a basket of feathers. Rarity grabbed about five and moved them over to the headdress, causing Fluttershy to flinch a little. Rarity gasped. "And sequins! More sequins!" Spike walked over to her in a dazed look, bringing back the sequins Rarity ordered. Rarity grabbed them as well, throwing them on Fluttershy and making her whine a little as she flinched. "And more ribbon!" Spike placed a couple of bows on Fluttershy. "Oh no! Less ribbon." Spike removed them. "No! More ribbon." Spike reattached them, which led to Fluttershy giving him an annoyed look. "Oh, this hem is completely off." Rarity continued, observing the dress. "PINCUSHION!" Spike rushed back, having a couple of regular pins on his back, along with a couple shaped as hearts. She pulled a few out and scooted Spike away. As Spike backed away slowly, Rarity placed the pins on Fluttershy's dress. "Thank you all for helping me. I'm sorry to be so short with you, but I'm... I'm just so nervous."

"Oh," Twilight expressed, creating a painful expression towards Spike. "Doesn't that hurt?"

"Thick scales. Can't feel a thing." Spike explained. "And even if I could, there is no pain that would keep me from assisting the most beautiful creature in the world. I'm gonna tell you two a secret since Alex already knows." Spike turned to us and spoke softly. "But you have to promise not to tell anyone."

"I promise." Twilight responded.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" Pinkie added, actually poking her eye.

Spike motioned for them to come closer. They did. He motioned more. They followed. He grabbed their faces and whispered to them. "I have a crush on Rarity!"

His answered gave Twilight a very disappointed face while Pinkie Pie was left shocked. She gasped. "We won't say a word!"

"Give me a break." Twilight replied out loud. "Everypony already knows how you..."

"Twilight!" Pinkie Pie interrupted her. "You promised Spike you wouldn't say anything. He trusts you. And losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend forever!" Spike looked at Twilight with his pleading eyes, clearly presenting a message for her to not tell any pony.

"But..."

"FOREVER!"

"My lips are sealed." Twilight surrendered. "Though I'm pretty sure Rarity is gonna pick up on your feelings."

Spike looked down to see the T-shirt he was wearing, which contained Rarity in a big heart right on the middle.

The doorbell suddenly sounded, causing us to turn back. Three ponies were revealed.

"I, Photo Finish... have awwived." The pony in the middle spoke.

"Let me just say, what an honor!" Rarity responded as she walked over to Photo Finish, who turned her attention to Fluttershy instead.

"We begin..." Another pony placed a suitcase in front of her, which she immediately kicked open to set up a camera. "NOW!"

Rarity whispered something to a worried Fluttershy and rushed back toward us. Photo Finish snapped pictures of Fluttershy as she stood there, flinching at each flash of the camera.

"Yes! Show Photo Finish something." Photo Finish encouraged as she continued to snap pictures. Fluttershy began a pose Rarity must have instructed her to do, but Photo Finish disagreed. "No!" Fluttershy immediately lowered herself and held her head low as she let out another whine. "Yeees." Photo Finish took another picture. Rarity instructed another pose behind Photo Finish, which Fluttershy followed. "No!" Fluttershy, shocked, stared at floor in a sad expression. "Yeees." Rarity presented another strong pose, which Fluttershy yet again followed. "No!" Fluttershy laid herself on the platform in another depressing pose. "Yeees." Photo Finish took two more pictures until she finally yelled out, "ENOUGH!"

The camera returned back to its suitcase form and a pony came by to pick it up. As Photo Finish began walking out the shop, Twilight commented. "She hardly took any pictures."

"I'm so sorry. I tried my best." Fluttershy told Rarity, who was removing her headdress.

"Well, the headdress is too big for you and cape had too much sparkle. I can't believe I ever thought I could impress her." Rarity responded.

Photo Finish suddenly returned and made an announcement. "It seems that I, Photo Finish, have found a next fashion star here in Ponyville."

"Really?" Rarity asked, her eyes suddenly glowing with hope.

"Yes. Really. And I, Photo Finish, am going to help her to shine all over Eqvestria." Rarity released a grin. "In an hour, a photo shoot in ze park." There was an awkward pause. "I go!" She ran out the door.

"Did you hear that? I am going to 'shine all over Equestria'." Rarity announced to us.

"Oh, Rarity. I was so worried I'd ruined everything." Fluttershy responded.

"Oh, never. I knew you'd be perfect." Rarity suddenly began giggling, which soon formed into a very excited laughter as she bounced up and down on Spike's tail, inflicting pain on him as he just stood there, staring at Rarity. Twilight noticed this and dragged him out of the way with a bored expression on her face. When Rarity finished her excitement, she looked over to Fluttershy. "Come on, Fluttershy! We have to get ready for another photo shoot!" Rarity rushed outside.

Before Fluttershy and I started following Rarity, we looked over to Twilight and Pinkie Pie. "Are you girls coming?" I asked.

"No thanks, Pinkie Pie, Spike, and I are going to get something to eat." Twilight responded.

"Oh, alright. I'll see you ponies later, I guess." Fluttershy and I continued walking behind Rarity.

When we arrived in the park, Rarity had already set up some dressing blinds and was retrieving the outfits she had for Fluttershy to wear. Rarity moved the outfits behind the blinds and brought Fluttershy as well.

As I stood outside near the blinds, I could hear Rarity dress Fluttershy in various outfits as she offered her opinion on each one. "No, no, no, yes!" She closed the blinds and revealed Fluttershy in a gem-studded outfit. "That is definitely the one. Photo Finish is going to love it. Everypony is going to love it!"

"Oh, I am so excited for you." Fluttershy responded, softly. "Just don't forget us little ponies when you become the most famous designer in all of Equestria."

"Never." Rarity assured.

"Put me down here." A voice commanded near us. We looked to see it was Photo Finish. The ponies carrying her placed her down and she jumped off the platform she was sitting on. She observed Fluttershy's outfit for a moment. "Oh, nonononononono. The model should be in something simple! Something inspired by... the nature!"

"That's just what I was thinking." Rarity responded and rushed over to her cart to look for something else. After, she kicked the cart away, nervously. "Um... give me a moment and I'll, uh, put a little something together."

"Yes... that will not be necessary." Photo Finish replied.

"But... but... how are you going to help me 'shine across Equestria' if I don't design something new for these pictures?"

"I am not going to help you shine across Equestria. I am going to help her shine." She pointed her hoof at Fluttershy, surprising every one of us. A couple of the ponies that assisted her starting pushing Fluttershy off to somewhere else in the park. "She is my star." She looked at Rarity. "You! Go!"

"Fluttershy…" I spoke softly. "…a model…?" I instantly began feeling the illness of depression fall on me as I watched Fluttershy be dragged over to Photo Finish's position so she could be dressed in something new. Beside me, Rarity was shocked and couldn't believe at the fact that Photo Finish was never actually talking about her the entire time.

Rarity and I sadly walked over to Fluttershy who was now dressed in a nature-inspiring dress. Rarity had grabbed the outfit she had place on Fluttershy, which was thrown on the floor, and placed it back on her cart full of other dresses while holding her head low.

"Fluttershy…" I called her with a low voice. "Do you really want to be a model…?"

She shook her head and replied. "I can't."

Rarity immediately heard this and added in on the conversation. "Oh, but you must, Fluttershy. Photo Finish wants to make you a star. This is the opportunity of a lifetime. I know we were all hoping it would be my lifetime, but nonetheless you can't throw away this chance. You must do this for me. You must. You must! YOU MUST!"

I tried to intervene. "But—

Suddenly, Photo Finish's voice erupted. "Floottershy! It is time to make... the magics!" Fluttershy looked over at us. Rarity gave her a wide and accepting grin, but I couldn't help but turn my head away, sadly. Fluttershy turned around and began walking towards Photo Finish. "Oh, wunderbar! You are like a delicate flower. So much more alluring without all those sparkles und feathers." She commented as she walked with Fluttershy.

Rarity sighed sadly as she walked away from the scene. I felt like leaving too… but I couldn't leave Fluttershy behind, so I stayed with her. Photo Finish continued to take photos of Fluttershy's innocent appearance as that somehow… intrigued her…

"Oh, my Floottershy! I neet to show you to everypony immediately!" Photo Finish announced after she was done taking the pictures. "Come now! We have much work to do! We go!" Photo Finish began leading Fluttershy to someplace else. She looked back towards me while giving off another worried expression on her face. Her eyes told me that she needed me to be with her… and I definitely couldn't leave her like that. I began walking behind them, following wherever they walked to.

They arrived at some building where Photo Finish was going to host a fashion show for Fluttershy. Photo Finish, and the other workers and assistants, didn't seem to notice that I was there… which was actually a good thing for me at this point because I didn't want to leave Fluttershy all by herself. Fluttershy was being prepared in the dressing room. They pulled a side of her mane up and left the other side alone while giving her different styled bangs. They dressed her in something, of course, green and nature-presenting. One of the dressers tugged at her dress. Another came by and sprayed her mane. Yet another began placing blush on Fluttershy's cheeks, revealing a pink oval on each cheek that matched the color of her mane.

Photo Finish observed this and commented."Too much blush." The pony wiped Fluttershy's face. "Not enuf." The pony placed it on again. "Too much." She removed it. "Not enuf." For the third and last time, she placed the blush. "Perfiect."

Fluttershy began making the sound when somepony is about to sneeze. At first, it started off as if it was going to be very loud, but at the end, she released a very soft and gentle sneeze.

"Oh, yes! Even her schneezes are gressful." Photo Finish expressed. "NOW GO!" She began walking with Fluttershy towards the curtains as I trailed behind. "How do you feel? Excited? Overjoyed? Frilled beyond your wildest dreams?"

"N... nervous."

"Nervous? Dun be ridiculous. You're only facing a large crowd of ponies, who will be watching your every move and silently judging you." Photo Finish turned around to work on something else.

"Fluttershy…" I walked over to her.

"Alex…" She replied softly. "I'm scared…"

"You know, you don't have to do this…"

"I must… I can't let Rarity down…"

I looked at her, very gloomily. When I felt these entire sad emotions race in my heart, I hugged her. It was the kind of hug that is given when some pony you care about is leaving to somewhere far away… Fluttershy looked at me, as if she wanted to express something more. "Alex…"

Suddenly, music began playing and Photo Finish rushed over to Fluttershy. "Your cue! Now go!" She pushed Fluttershy away from me and onto the catwalk. She realized that she was in front of many ponies and looked around. She seemed as if she didn't know what to do. She began walking to the middle of the catwalk, trying to keep herself calm. When she reached the end, she looked at the ponies and released an innocent pose. After, the ponies watching seemed to be giving her positive reviews as they began cheering.

In no time, she was advertised on covers and many other things. Each little thing I saw seemed to make my feelings even worse, hurting my heart a little more each time. Applejack had even placed Fluttershy's image on her buckets of apples, which showed Fluttershy carrying nests of apples. I saw Rainbow Dash flying in the air, having a rope attached to her which depicted another image of Fluttershy advertising for some carrot juice. I noticed that in that image, she was smiling and looked very happy... but was she...? Really...? Or was it just another deception beyond looks and images?

When Fluttershy was finally free, I ran up to her when I saw her walking through town by herself…

"Fluttershy!" I called her as I raced towards her.

"Alex?" She asked when I reached up to her.

"Fluttershy…it feels like I haven't seen you in forever…well…besides on advertisements…"

"Me too Alex…I…I really miss you…"

Her response surprised me. I felt as if she had glued back the broken pieces of my heart.

"Fluttershy…" I responded. "There's… something I need to tell you…" I wanted to share my feelings… I wanted to share them in hopes that all this separation from her modeling will end.

"What is it, Alex…?"

"You see… I…I really…um…" I felt nervous, but I continued to try to bring out my feelings. "I really…li—

"It's Fluttershy!" One of the ponies exclaimed near us.

Everypony instantly began grouping together and chasing after Fluttershy. "Come on!" I grabbed Fluttershy's hoof and began our escape from the crowd. We could hear their cheers and excitement follow us along with their snapshots of the camera. We stopped nearby a house to see even more ponies with their cameras bombard Fluttershy with pictures. Fluttershy flinched at the sight of the flashes from the camera. I quickly took her somewhere else away from the crowd. Fortunately, I spotted Rarity's shop not far from us. I led Fluttershy towards the shop as fast as I could. I reached the door and immediately opened it, bringing Fluttershy in and slamming the door shut. I lay Fluttershy below the windows as I held the door shut. The crowds outside begged Fluttershy to show her face and take a picture.

"Wow. Look how popular you are." Rarity had spotted us, obviously, and spoke to Fluttershy. "I'm so excited for you. You must be having the best time ever."

The crowds outside finally died down or either left. I released my grip on the door and walked towards Rarity. "Best time ever? Ponies in town won't leave her alone!"

Rarity sighed. "That has always been my dream…"

I turned around and walked towards Fluttershy. "Fluttershy… do you really want to keep modeling?" I asked softly. Her eyes moved away as she thought. "Just tell her how you feel Fluttershy…" Fluttershy's eyes moved back towards me and she held her head down. She rose up from the floor and walked towards Rarity.

"Rarity… I… I think I—

"Flootershy!" The door barged open and in came Photo Finish. "I have been looking for you everywhere. We have the thing at the place."

Fluttershy looked over to Photo Finish and then to me. She hesitated for a moment and then turned towards Rarity. "I'll see you at the spa. Our usual time?"

"Of course!" Rarity replied. "I can't wait to hear all about the... 'thing' at the place."

Before Fluttershy started walking out the door, she looked at me and held her head down. "I'm sorry, Alex…" She said real softly. As Photo Finish pulled her away from the shop, I could only stare at her leave and lower my head in sadness…

Rarity groaned. "I'm the one who should be mobbed by strangers wherever I go."

I looked at her, but didn't say anything…

The door bell suddenly rang as two ponies rushed in.

"Welcome to Carousel Boutique!" Rarity greeted.

"Is she still here? We heard Fluttershy was here." One of the excitedly asked.

"Sorry. You just missed her." Rarity responded, annoyed, but then changed her attitude. "But you're still in luck. I'm having a huge sale of some of my best designs."

The two ponies looked at each other, and then back at Rarity. "And you are...?"

"Rarity, of course."

"Never heard of you." Afterwards, they left the shop.

Rarity cheeks grew red with anger as she steamed. Finally, she sighed and calmed down. "Well, at least I still have our spa time together!" She told herself. After, she noticed my silence and looked over to me. "Is something wrong, Alex?" I didn't answer. I just stared at the floor. "Come now, how about you join us at the spa? That always cheers me up!"

I looked at her, not moving my head, and sighed. "I guess…"

Rarity took me to the spa where she was to have the appointment with Fluttershy. The good thing about going to the spa was that I would be able to see Fluttershy again…

Rarity received a towel and wrapped it around her mane as she entered the huge tub of water inside one of the rooms. I just let myself descend into the water and moved over to the edge of the tub. My hooves fell lifelessly outside the edge of the tub as I stared at the ground beneath it. I remained silent throughout the whole time, only able to think about Fluttershy.

"Cheer up, Alex!" Rarity announced near me. "Fluttershy will be here at any moment, just sit back and relax!"

I glanced back at her with my eyes but then returned to staring at the floor.

A long while passed and Fluttershy had still not shown up… I heard hooves clatter near me, causing me to turn my head quickly until I noticed it was Twilight. I sadly turned my head back to stare gloomily at the floor.

"Hey!" Twilight greeted us.

I remained silent.

"Oh, hello Twilight. What brings you here?" Rarity asked.

"Just thought I could use some relaxing myself… what about you Rarity?"

"Fluttershy and I had an appointment…My hooves are getting positively pruney, I've been waiting here so long. Obviously Fluttershy's just too busy with her new career to spend time with her best friend."

"I'm sure she just got tied up…"

"Of course she did. She's a big bright shining star! I wish that star would burn out."

I was shocked by what Rarity said, but it made me just even more depressed…

"Rarity! Fluttershy is your friend."

"I know, I know. And I should be happy for her, but instead I'm just... jealous! Oh, please promise you won't tell her I feel this way. Please, please, pleasepleasePLEASE!" Rarity begged.

"You have my word. Losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend."

"FOREVER!" Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared in the bowl of sponges nearby, shocking Twilight. She stared at Twilight as she slowly departed back into the bowl.

Rarity had climbed out of the tub and into a new dress.

"Wow! You look great!" Twilight exclaimed to Rarity.

"Fluttershy may be the one who's famous," Rarity explained. "…but that doesn't mean I have to stop looking fabulous." Rarity walked out of the door.

Twilight climbed into the tub and relaxed herself. She looked over to my sulking and asked about me. "So, what's going on with you, Alex?"

I remained silent for a moment as I continued staring at the floor. "Nothing…"

She noticed my tone. "What's the matter, Alex? What's gotten you so down?"

I sighed and looked back at her. "It's…it's Fluttershy…"

"Fluttershy? What do you mean?" She asked.

"She's… she's just been so busy with her modeling… it feels like we aren't friends anymore… it feels like I don't see her anymore… it feels like…" I sighed again, with a little more emotion slipping through my tongue.

"You miss her?" Twilight added.

I looked at her with almost teary eyes and then looked away for a moment, thinking. "Yes…I do…I…miss her…"

There was a pause. "Alex… can I ask you something?" Twilight asked.

"What is it…?" I responded.

"Do you…have special feelings towards Fluttershy…?"

My heart jumped. I turned around and let my hooves hang outside the edge of the tub again. "Yes…"

"Then why don't you tell her, Alex? I'm pretty sure, once she hears them from you, she'll stop modeling."

"I almost did… but we were interrupted by a crowd of ponies…"

"Oh… well tell her when she comes by!"

"What if she never gets to come…?" I questioned softly.

"Alex…?" Twilight asked.

I climbed out of the tub and began walking out the door. "I'll see you later Twilight…" I told her and left the spa.

I left towards my home. Once I entered, I walked upstairs and fell on top of my bed. I placed my face on my pillow and remained there. There was a long silence, but it didn't bother me… I was just too… depressed…

I didn't know how long it was when I woke up. I think I had just dozed off before and took a nap. I had heard a light knocking and wondered on who it could be. I walked downstairs, sluggishly. I opened the door and received a sudden surprise.

"Hey, Alex… can I come in…?"

"Fluttershy…?" I was breathless. I had never had anyone in my home before… I shook my head. "Um…yeah…" I opened the door and she walked in sadly. I walked her to the living room, which just contained a sofa, a coffee table, another table with some drawers, some empty photo frames, and a few other minor things, all which already came with the house. She took a seat on the sofa. "Sorry…" I apologized as I took a seat next to her. "I don't have anything to offer… I've never expected anyone to come for a visit…"

"It's okay Alex… I just wanted talk to you so bad…to see you…"

"See me?" I questioned, surprised.

"Yes… I was so late to the spa, that I found Twilight in there alone. She told me that you were there but you had just left a second before I made it… I had also missed my appointment with Rarity…" She placed her hooves on her eyes. "I feel like such a…jerk…"

"Fluttershy…"

"Alex, I don't like being a model. No, I hate being a model. All this attention is awful, just awful. It's made me just so busy to not even be able to see my friends… and separate myself from them…especially you…Alex…"

"Why don't you tell Rarity, Fluttershy?"

"I'm only doing it because Rarity told me I must. I must! I MUST!" Fluttershy sighed. "I must…"

"Fluttershy…" I responded. "Tell Rarity how you feel... She'll understand…"

"You really think I should?"

I nodded. "I'll go with you."

Fluttershy looked away to think for a moment and then turned back to see me. "Okay, Alex…"

Fluttershy and I walked outside of my home and headed towards Rarity's shop.

When we arrived, we opened the door to see Rarity notice us in shock. "Fluttershy? What are you doing here? I was just getting ready to see your performance at the fashion show!"

"Rarity…" Fluttershy began. "There's something I need to tell you…"

"What is it?" Rarity responded, walking over to us.

"I…" Fluttershy hesitated and looked over to me with worried eyes. I placed my hoof on her. She nodded and looked back to Rarity, who stood waiting to hear what Fluttershy had to say. "…I don't want to be a model anymore…"

"What? Why?" She asked in a very concerned tone.

"I just can't take the attention anymore… it's driving me away from being with my friends…"

"Oh, Fluttershy…why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I was afraid if I quit, you'd be mad at me for not wanting to... 'shine all over Equestria'."

"Oh! Fluttershy! Never! Ugh, I feel so terrible!"

"Why?" Fluttershy asked, shocked.

"Because…I wanted the ponies to turn on you…I'm sorry…I'm so sorry. I was jealous! I wanted all the attention. And instead it was going to you. I even started hoping that you would do something silly so your modeling career would be over. But then I did some thinking and I realized how horrible it was of me to be like that! Especially to a friend!"

"Oh, Rarity! Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought if I told you how jealous I was of your success, you'd think I was a terrible friend…"

"Never!"

"All this time!"

"If we just told each other the truth, we wouldn't have had to go through all this…"

"I promise never to keep my feelings in secret again."

"Me too."

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." The both expressed in unison and laughed happily after.

"Flootershy!" The door suddenly barged open to reveal Photo Finish. "I've been looking everywhere for you! Come! We're going to be late for the photo shoot!"

"I'm sorry, Photo Finish, but I don't think I'll be able to make it." Fluttershy responded.

"Wat?" Photo Finish asked, shocked.

"I don't want to be a model anymore, Photo Finish, so I guess you'll have to find a new one to replace me."

"But… you… I…" Photo Finish stuttered as Rarity began leading her out of the shop.

Once Rarity had removed Photo Finish, she closed the door and walked over to Fluttershy. "We go!" They both exclaimed and clapped hooves together.

"Now that we've gotten all that out of the way…" Rarity began. "How about we have a real spa get together, what do you say ponies?" She asked both of us.

Fluttershy smiled and nodded.

"Yeah." I responded in confidence, suddenly being stripped of all that depression that hung around me earlier.

Fluttershy, Rarity, and I traveled to the spa, where we met with Twilight again. Twilight wondered what we were all doing here for the second time, but Rarity and Fluttershy told her the whole story. Afterwards, they shared a laugh about it, and we all began our relaxation with no distractions.

"Now this is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon." Fluttershy expressed delightfully as we relaxed in the tub.

"Isn't it, though?" Rarity announced from the steam room.

"Dear Princess Celestia," Twilight began her letter while soaking in another smaller tub. "Being a good friend means being able to keep a secret. But you should never be afraid to share your true feelings with a good friend. Did you get all that Spike?"

"I would love to…" Spike replied. "But... I'm a little busy at the moment." Spike was fanning Rarity with a fan that had the same logo as the T-shirt he was wearing at the very beginning.

Twilight sighed happily and rolled her eyes.

After we all had a relaxing day at the spa, everypony departed to their homes, leaving me to walk Fluttershy home…in peace… We walked through the dark, but gentle night sky and cool breeze. This time, we didn't end our day by the door; Fluttershy invited me inside her home and poured me a cup of her amazing tea.

"I hope I never have to go through that again…" Fluttershy spoke as she sat down near me on the couch in the living room.

"Yeah…" I replied as I took a sip of the tea. I remembered what Twilight told me… that I should tell my feelings to Fluttershy. I placed the cup of tea down and looked at Fluttershy. "Listen, Fluttershy…"

"Hm?" She returned a look to me.

"I…" I struggled with what words I should say… "When you were modeling…" I paused for a moment. "I…I… was really sad…"

"Oh, Alex…"

"I really was… I felt like…I don't know… empty… You were just so busy with your modeling… that… I just…" I paused again. "I just…I just missed you so much…"

"Alex." Fluttershy placed her hooves in front of her mouth and blushed.

"I mean…"I continued speaking. "You shouldn't be a model…You're really…beautiful… and nice… and so much more… but… you aren't the type of pony to model. I think it's great when you are only yourself…"

Fluttershy had suddenly embraced me. "Alex… that's so sweet of you to say…"

"It's true…" I responded, starting to feel myself blush as well.

"Thank you…"

"For what?"

"For accepting me for who I am…"

"You know I do, Fluttershy…"

We remained in a heartwarming hug for a while. As she held me, I felt a little... proud... that I was able to share some of my feelings for Fluttershy... though... they weren't all of them... But at least it was a great start. After, Fluttershy slowly pulled herself back and began looking at the floor. "Alex… there's something I've been wanting to ask you for a while…"

"What is it, Fluttershy?" I asked.

She began rubbing her hooves together and looked a little embarrassed. "Well… first of all… has any pony asked you to the Grand Galloping Gala yet?"

I looked away, sadly, to the ground and answered. "No… I told you that no pony will ever want to go with me…"

"Don't you remember?" Fluttershy asked me.

I quickly turned back to face her. "What do you mean?"

"I said that I was sure that there's some pony that does."

"Fluttershy…?" I questioned her, a little confused.

"Alex…" She began as she rubbed her hooves bashfully, looking straight at me while blushing. "…will you… go to the Grand Galloping Gala with me…? As a date?"

My heart suddenly dropped, but in a good way. I felt an intense pleasure in my heart and it was blooming throughout my entire body. "Yes…" The word slipped out almost instantly as I just gazed at Fluttershy, breathless.

"Oh, Alex, I'm so happy to hear you say that!" She hugged me again as I sat, stunned. After a while, she pulled back, a little embarrassed. "Sorry…"

"It's okay…" I looked out the window and noticed how late it was getting. "I guess I should be heading home now…" I stood up from the couch and looked at Fluttershy. "…but thanks for asking me Fluttershy… I… I really appreciate it…"

"It's my pleasure, Alex…" Fluttershy responded, still having a little of a blushed expression. "I can't wait for the Grand Galloping Gala…"

"Me either…but I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Yes…" Fluttershy stood up and planted a kiss on my cheek. "Goodnight Alex."

"Goodnight…Fluttershy…" I walked outside the home, feeling strange.

As I headed towards my house, I couldn't help but feel disoriented. I almost tripped and bumped myself into things. Why was I acting like this?

When I finally reached my door, I opened it and let myself in, closing it after me. I walked carefully up the stairs and to my bed. After, I fell on top of it and turned around to face the ceiling. My heart was pounding almost furiously now as I held my hooves on it.

Fluttershy actually asked me to the Grand Galloping Gala… she actually was the one who wanted to go with me all along? I can't believe it… I feel… I feel…

I dozed off.

Over a Barrel

Episode 21 – Over a Barrel

There was a knock at my front door. I suddenly woke up with a jolt and looked outside my window. It's still very dark… who would be knocking at my door at this time? There was another knock. I lazily removed myself from the bed and walked sleepily down the stairs with careful steps. When I reached the front door, I slowly opened it to see a wonderful surprise.

"Hi, Alex…" Her hooves were shyly dragging on the ground.

"Fluttershy…?" I tiredly asked. "What are you doing here so late? Are you okay? Is something wrong?"

"Oh…" Fluttershy blushed lightly. "Don't worry. I'm okay. Um… sorry for waking you up so early… it's just that Applejack told us to wake up because we're going on a train to Appleloosa…"

"What…?" I slowly asked, confused.

Fluttershy smiled. "Come on. I'll tell you on the way to the train."

As we embarked towards the train station, Fluttershy explained the whole situation for me.

"Applejack is going to take one of her apple trees to her cousin in Appleloosa, as a gift, you know?"

"I see…" I yawned sleepily.

Fluttershy giggled. "Don't worry; you can get all the sleep you want on the train."

When we arrived at the train station, Applejack had just finished loading up her tree in some luxurious part of the train.

"Hey there!" Applejack exclaimed as she noticed us. "Mighty early, huh, Alex?"

I just shrugged with sleepy eyes. I didn't have the energy to say anything back. We began boarding the train, which was going to be pulled by several large stallions. The train included several cars as we passed through each one of them. The lights were lit in the middle of each car as we walked through. Finally, we reached the car where we would be sleeping in. Every pony began settling in their own bed, but it looked as if they were too excited to get some sleep. Twilight noticed Applejack walking into another car after ours.

"Hey, Applejack, where are you going?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, I'm just going to make sure Bloomberg is nice and safe!"Applejack responded and walked into the other train car.

The train began moving slightly at first, but then it accelerated to a faster speed. I had climbed into the bed below Fluttershy and fell on it. It honestly felt so good to be in the warmth and comfort of the bed. Along with the bed, there was a window right next to me, which presented the fast movement outside. There were also small curtains to place in front of the window in case if there were any lights or things outside that were a bother. I left it as it was and closed my eyes, placing the covers over me.

"Bloomberg?" Rarity announced. "How is it that an apple tree gets the best private sleeper car, while we have to be cramped in the same car? I am going to seriously talk some sense into that pony!" Rarity began walking after Applejack into the other car.

All I wanted was some sleep…

After a while, Rarity came back into the car looking upset and placed curlers in her mane, including other accessories for her type of beauty sleep. She jumped on her bed and placed the blankets over her whole body. The other girls continued talking excitedly about their trip towards Appleloosa. I didn't really mind, however. Instead, I was resting peacefully, still hearing their voices.

I heard Spike groan. "Do you guys mind? I was up early fire-roasting those snacks you're all eating, and I'm pooped!"

"Uh, speaking of, some of these popcorn kernels didn't get popped." Rainbow Dash replied.

"Okay, fine..." A sudden burst of flame flashed near me, causing me to open my eyes to see Spike burn Rainbow Dash's entire popcorn bag, except for the one small kernel she was talking about. "Good Night!"

"Uhh... Maybe it's time we all got a little shut-eye. We've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow." Twilight suggested and switched the light in the lantern off.

"Awwww!" The girls groaned.

Soon, the entire car was filled with silence. I closed my eyes to finally get a long sleep, but Rainbow Dash's voice suddenly sounded.

"Psst! Pinkie Pie, you asleep yet?" She whispered.

"No, are you asleep yet?" Pinkie Pie answered.

Rainbow Dash walked over near me, bringing a lit candle to where Pinkie Pie's bed was. "If I was sleeping, how could I have asked you if you were asleep?"

"Oh yeah!" Pinkie Pie giggled.

"When we get to Appleloosa, you think we'll have to carry that heavy tree all the way from the train to the orchard?"

"What tree? You mean Bloomberg?"

"...No, Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash whispered with sarcasm.

"Fluttershy's not a tree, silly!"

"What's going on?" Twilight asked, breaking the whisper chain.

"Rainbow Dash thinks Fluttershy's a tree!" Pinkie Pie answered.

"I do not think she's a tree! I was just –

"Did you say she was a tree?"

"No. Well.. Yes. But not exactly –

"Ya know she's not a tree, right?"

"She's not a tree, Dashy!"

"I'd like to be a tree..." Fluttershy suddenly added in the conversation.

"Oh for pete's sake!" Spike's voice erupted, making me open my eyes again and look sleepily over to him. I could see his dark but small body grab a pillow and jump off the bed. He walked to the cart the apple tree was in and slammed the door shut.

"Well that was kind of huffy…" Twilight announced.

"Huffy the magic dragon!" Fluttershy added, happily.

They all began giggling until Rarity sat up from her bed. "Would you all be QUIET... NOOOOW!" Rarity screamed, presenting her face that was covered with a facial mask. She scared the girls, causing them to scream and immediately blow out the candle, rushing back into their beds.

I sighed and closed my eyes again.

I had received some sleep, but I woke up a while later. I sat up on the bed and looked around. I could hardly see, but it seemed that all the girls were sleeping. I looked back at my bed and stared at it for a moment. After, I turned to look out the window to observe the scenery flow by. It began raining outside as I started hearing the rain drops splash on the ground and on the window. That's good… the rain will help me relax and go to sleep… However, something suddenly came into the picture and caught my eye. It wasn't a good surprise…not at all…

I saw that dark pony again… the one that is like… a shadow… I stared at it as it stared back at me. The duration, what seemed like minutes, was actually just a few seconds as the train rushed by. I continued staring at the window, starting to feel a little fear draw over my heart. I placed my head closer towards the window, attempting to see if the shadow was still there. Suddenly, lightning flashed, covering the outside in a quick and blinding light. The instant the flash disappeared, the shadow reappeared, right outside the window. For those brief seconds, I could see it clearly. The dark pony wasn't any pony at all… its whole body was dark…black… and its eyes glowed with complete whiteness. I was immediately startled, releasing a gasp which caused me to fall off my bed. I landed with a loud thud sound, causing the other girls to wake up quickly and turn on the light.

"What's going on?" Twilight asked.

Fluttershy looked down and noticed me. "Alex!" She flew over to me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" I answered, rubbing my head with my hoof.

"Alex, what happened to you?" Twilight questioned my position.

"Um…" I tried to answer. I didn't want to worry them, so I answered briefly. "Just fell out of my bed… that's all…"

The girls returned to their slumber. Fluttershy told me to be more careful before returning to her bed on top of mine. I climbed back on my bed and looked out the window. It's gone now… but why do I have this feeling that it still lingers?

I pulled the curtains on the window to where it separated me from the outside. I lay down on my bed and pulled my blankets over my body. I thought for a moment and finally closed my eyes.

I had suddenly fell out of bed once again, but it wasn't the same issue… something had bumped onto the train. The girls immediately rushed over to the window as Fluttershy noticed my condition and quickly helped me up.

"A buffalo stampede!" Twilight exclaimed.

"I just love their accessories!" Rarity commented as the girls continued their awing.

"They're getting awfully close to the train…" Twilight announced in a worried tone.

Fluttershy and I rushed over to another window to view the situation going on outside. We saw many buffalo running and they were slowly getting nearer towards the train. Suddenly, several of them threw themselves upon the train, almost taking us off the tracks. Their push caused the girls to be thrown across the car. Fluttershy had been thrown herself, but I caught her with my forelegs and attempted to prevent her from being harmed. The girls shouted and screamed as the train shook forcefully.

Pinkie Pie had somehow regained her balance easily and looked out the window. "Oooh, looky! Now they're doing TRICKS!"

Helping Fluttershy up, we rushed over to the window to begin seeing buffalo pile up on each other. This smaller buffalo ran towards the other buffalo, jumping on one and jumping on the other one that had piled up.

"Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Now do a back-flip!" Pinkie Pie wished. Instead, it jumped over to the top of the train. "Or... Just jump?"

We turned around and heard the noises of the footsteps above us head towards the car the tree was in.

"Hmm…Something tells me this isn't a circus act." Rainbow Dash flew outside to where she was most likely going to confront the animal.

I began running to the other car where the tree was in.

"Alex! Where are you going?" Fluttershy asked, worriedly.

"I need to get Spike! He's still asleep in there!" I responded and continued through the door.

I arrived to see Spike sleeping soundly, which was not such a huge surprise. I raced over to the bed the tree and Spike were in. "Spike! Wake up!" I exclaimed.

"Wha who huh?" He announced when he was startled awake. He looked at me. "Alex, what are you doing here?" He asked.

"Buffalo are surrounding the train for some reason. We have to get out of here, c'mon!"

Suddenly, the car stopped moving and began heading the other direction. We looked over to the window to see the train continue moving while we were being pushed away by the buffaloes surrounding the car.

"Heeeelp!" Spike cried out to the ponies who were staring at us in shock. "Heeeelp!" Spike cried again. Spike looked over to me, panicking. "Oh no! What are we going to do?" He quickly asked. "What are the buffaloes going to do when they find us? NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Calm down Spike." I quickly responded. "The buffalo will hear us."

All of a sudden, the car stopped. The doors were thrown open revealing a horde of buffalo staring at me.

"Pony!" One of them exclaimed. They placed weight on the car to the angle where I fell out and landed in front of all of them. They formed a circle around me and looked at me very seriously. I could only look around with my eyes and analyze them. There was no way I could defend myself from all these huge buffalo… "Get him!" They ordered and began preparing to charge straight at me but Spike gave out a loud yell.

"STOP!" He presented himself from the car in front of all the buffaloes. The buffaloes immediately ceased and stared right at him in widened eyes. They instantly bowed in front of him, making both him and I very surprised at the scene. "…Uh… okay…? What's going on?"

"We honor dragons very much." One stated.

Spike formed a grin on his face. "Well then… My name is Spike!"

"What would you like us to do with the pony?" They asked Spike.

"Leave him alone, of course! He's with me!"

They backed off and gave me some room.

"What is your other wish, Spike?" They asked, continuing to bow.

"Hm…" Spike thought, tapping a finger on his chin.

Suddenly we heard a familiar voice from a distance. "Oh my gosh, so am I!" It sounded like Pinkie Pie's voice… The buffaloes heard this as well and immediately rushed over to where the noise came from.

"And the more of us there are out here, the more chances of us getting..." The buffaloes had all grouped around Rainbow Dash, who was holding Pinkie Pie. They noticed how all the buffaloes surrounded them and Rainbow Dash formed a worried expression on her face. "Caught." Rainbow Dash observed the crowd gathered around them. "Run, Pinkie, I'll hold 'em off. Save yourself!"

"Spike! Tell them to leave them alone!" I exclaimed at Spike after noticing the buffaloes grow angry.

"Don't worry, I've got this!" He replied and began running over to the buffaloes, just as they were about to charge. "Stop!" The buffaloes immediately stopped and looked behind them to see Spike coming their way. They made room for him to meet with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. "Dash, Pinkie... 'Sup? Hey, no worries I know those guys. They're cool."

"If you say so, Spike. Catch ya later, bro." One of them replied and led most of the buffaloes out of the area, leaving a few buffaloes, most likely to see that Spike is safe.

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were confused and stunned. "Uh… What just happened?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Spike looked over to the remaining buffalo. "Hey, do you guys have like a place to crash? We're pretty worn out, and I'm STARVING!"

The buffaloes looked at each other and nodded. "Follow us, Spike. We shall lead you to our village."

"Great!" Spike replied and one of the buffaloes carried him as they began taking him to their village.

Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and I looked at each other and shrugged. We began following Spike.

Once we arrived at the village, the buffalo had already seated Spike near a fireplace. It seemed he had already had some time to spend there, way before we arrived, due to the buffalo carrying him, of course. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and I looked around in the village. We met with Spike and took a seat near him around the fireplace.

"Well, tell us what happened already, Spike!" Rainbow Dash began.

"Oh, yeah!" Spike remembered and began explaining. "Well you see… after we were separated from you guys, the buffalo stopped and found us. They got Alex first, but…" He cleared his throat and brought out his chest. "I stopped them." I rolled my eyes. "Anyways, seems they took us by mistake.. And they feel awful about it, too, poor guys. Fortunately, they totally respect dragons, so they treat me like an honored guest." Spike snapped his fingers, having the buffaloes bring some green goop to us. "Still don't like ponies much, though... But you're with me, so it's cool."

Rainbow Dash sniffed the bowl and released a disgusted face. She pushed away the bowl and stood up. "Huh… Well, I still don't trust them. I say we turn tail and bail while we still –

Pinkie Pie was heard garbling up the mush in bowl. She literally contained her face in the bowl. She finished licking the contents in the bowl and removed her face. She had the mush all over her face and even mane. "Before we finish EATING? Are you loco in the coco?" The young buffalo we had seen earlier brought Spike some gemstones. "Can I please have more of that mushy stuff, whatever it was?"

"Certainly." The young buffalo answered. "And, Mr. Spike, you like gemstones, yes?"

"Turquoise. Mmm!" Spike began munching on the gems.

I looked over at Pinkie Pie who was trying to lick the mush off her face and mane. I sighed and pushed over my bowl to her. "Here… just take mine Pinkie Pie."

Her eyes glowed. "YUM! Thanks, Alex!" She began pummeling her face in the mush and throwing the food, with her tongue, down her throat.

Spike had finished the bowl of jewels and was licking the leftovers in the bowl. "Heh hah! This here is Little Strongheart, and these are my friends Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash." He introduced the young buffalo to us.

Rainbow Dash had turned over to Little Strongheart and instantly grew an aggressive expression. "You!"

"You!" Little Strongheart returned, but instead in a more surprised tone.

"That's it!" Rainbow Dash spoke out boldly. "We are outta here!" Rainbow Dash began leaving the area, but when she noticed that Pinkie Pie wasn't following, she grabbed her tail and began dragging her out. Little Strongheart noticed this and immediately rushed over to stop her.

"Wait! Please accept my apologies for what happened on the train, we didn't mean for anyone to be hurt."

"Yeah, right." Rainbow Dash turned away and began heading the other direction, but Little Strongheart ran in front of her.

"We only wanted the tree. The settler ponies have overtaken the land and have planted an orchard all over it! Because of their thoughtlessness, we can no longer run over our traditional stampeding grounds..."

"Huh?" They both questioned.

"I think it's time they met Chief Thunderhooves." Spike suggested.

Little Strongheart had brought the chief. Along with him, were other buffaloes. Little Strongheart had introduced us to him, and he began speaking to us, explaining the whole situation. "Hmmh. We have a long and winding stampeding trail, that we have run upon for many generations." He took a breath. "My father stampeded upon these grounds, And his father before him, And his father before him, And his father before him." The other buffaloes surrounding us in a circle began falling asleep and shaking their heads to stay awake. "And his father before him. And –

"I think they get the idea, Chief." Little Strongheart intervened.

"Hmph. It is a sacred tradition to run the path every year. But this year, these... Settler ponies, these..." He snorted angrily. "Appleloosians!" He snorted more aggressively. Little Strongheart noticed this and placed a hoof on his nose.

"They planted apple trees all over it without asking our permission." She finished.

"Well that's not very nice. Right, Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie Pie asked.

Rainbow Dash sat down and crossed her forelegs. "Hmph..."

"The ponies refused to move their trees, so we are stuck here, and it is not fair!"

"See Rainbow Dash?" Spike asked. "They had a good reason ta –

Rainbow Dash suddenly rose up in the air and landed with a shake, causing all the buffaloes to gasp. She had a very angry expression on her face. "Huh-ah... I'll say they had a good reason! C'mon. We have some apple-pickin' Appleloosians to talk to!"

"Wait." I announced, making them all look towards me. "I know it was wrong for them to settle without your permission… but… you can't just go and force them to take down their trees. They probably really needed the land to survive… you guys need to just negotiate on what to do…"

The chief stared coldly at me. "And what if you are just another one of them, pony? What if you're just trying to keep the land you stole from us!"

"I've never been to Appleloosa in my whole life! I just don't want anything to get worse because two wrongs don't make a right!"

The chief snorted. "We will do what we please, pony." The chief turned to Little Strongheart. "You will take them back to the town to explain why they must move the trees."

Little Strongheart bowed. "Of course, chief." She looked towards us. "Let's go." Little Strongheart, along with Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Spike, began walking towards the town.

I sighed and just followed them in silence.

Only a short distance away from the town, we spotted a group of five ponies on the road, running straight towards us. This frightened Little Strongheart and she jumped behind a rock to hide. The group of ponies immediately stopped before us in surprised expressions. After having some time to analyze them, I noticed it was actually Rarity, Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, and another pony!

"Hi guys!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

Fluttershy immediately noticed me and reacted by hopping and tackling me to the ground, joyfully. "Alex! We're so glad you're safe!"

The other ponies ran over to Spike, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie, exclaiming in joy. "How did you escape from the buffalo?" Twilight asked.

"We didn't!" Pinkie Pie answered.

Little Strongheart hopped out from the rock and rubbed her hoof on the ground shyly.

"We promised the buffalo a chance to talk." Rainbow Dash added.

"Talk?" I intervened. "You mean demand?"

"No, it's not like that… we just want to talk…" Little Strongheart responded to my comment.

"Oh, yeah? 'Bout what?" Applejack questioned with a hint of aggression.

"We brought our new pal, Little Strongheart here, to explain to the Appleloosians why they should move the apple trees off buffalo land." Rainbow Dash replied.

"That information would be quite help –

"That's weird. 'cause my cousin, Braeburn, here, wants to explain to the buffalo why they should let the apple trees stay." Applejack interrupted the pony who tried to talk.

"That would be a useful thing to –

"The land is theirs! You planted the trees not knowing that. Honest mistake. Now, you just gotta move 'em, that's all." Rainbow Dash interrupted Little Strongheart.

"Well... Eheh..." Braeburn chuckled nervously.

"They busted their rumps here! An' now they're suppos't ta bust their rumps again, just 'cause some buffalo won't stampede someplace else?" Applejack defended.

"Plant the trees somewhere else!" Rainbow Dash continued to argue.

"Where? It's the only flatland around these parts!"

"The BUFFALO had it FIRST!"

"The settler ponies need it to LIVE!"

"Come ON Applejack!"

"That's enough!" I exclaimed as I stood up. "Each side has their own good reasons, but arguing is not the way to fix this issue!"

Pinkie Pie suddenly gasped. "Hey! I've got an idea! Get every buffalo and pony to come in town and I have a foolproof plan to bring them together!" Pinkie Pie rushed off, leaving us confused.

Nonetheless, we did as she asked and managed to gather all the ponies in the town and all the buffalo from the land towards a stage in the middle of the town. The entire crowd gathered around the stage and whispered with many questions on why they were there in the first place… especially with the buffalo. Suddenly, a piano started playing a song, catching all our attention towards the stage. Spike was playing the piano on the right hand of the stage while Pinkie Pie poked out her head from the closed curtains, grinning greatly. She turned her head towards Spike, waving over to him while he returned a thumbs up. …What was Pinkie Pie going to do now…?

Suddenly, the curtains shot open and revealed a closed clam in the middle of the stage. The clam slowly opened, revealing Pinkie Pie, who was lying down. She sat up and began singing.

"We may be divided

But of you all, I beg

To remember we're all hoofed

At the end of each leg…" A couple of ponies softly picked her up from the clam and placed her on the stage.

"No matter what the issue" She began bouncing around the stage.

"Come from wherever you please

All this fighting gets you nothing

But hoof and mouth disease

Arguing's not the way

Hey, come out and play!

It's a shiny, new day

So, what do you say?

You gotta share

You gotta care" Pinkie Pie danced on the stage as the rest of us could only stare in silence.

"It's the right thing to do

You gotta share

You gotta care

And there'll always be a way through" Pinkie Pie popped up between the sheriff of the town and Little Strongheart.

"Both our diets, I should mention

Are completely vegetarian" Pinkie Placed an apple in the mouth of Little Strongheart and the sheriff.

"We all eat hay and oats

Why be at each other's throat?

You gotta share

You gotta care

It's the right thing to do

And there'll always be a way

Thro-o-o-o-ugh!" Pinkie Pie finished.

The audience only returned silence. Spike's clapping was only heard. "All right, Pinkie Pie! That was FANTASTIC! What a great song! You're right on!"

The sheriff and the chief looked at each other for a moment and nodded. "It appears that Sheriff Silverstar and I have come to... An agreement."

"We have." The sheriff agreed, raising the hopes of the ponies as they smiled with open mouths.

"That was the worst performance we've ever seen..." The chief answered, disappointing and surprising Pinkie Pie.

"Teh... Abso-tively!"

"The time for action... Hmh... Is upon us!" The chief began with a threatening tone in his voice. "Our stampede will start at high noon tomorrow. And if the orchard is still there, we'll flatten IT! AND the whole town!"

"But, Chief!" Little Strongheart tried to reason.

"An' we Appleloosians say you'd better bring yer best, 'cause we'll be ready and waitin'." The sheriff counterattacked.

"But, Sheriff..." Braeburn walked towards the sheriff.

The buffalo and ponies went their separate ways to prepare for the fight that was to come.

"Oh... That wasn't the message of my song at all..." Pinkie Pie commented, sadly.

I looked over to Spike. "Spike, take Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie to the buffalo and see if you can prevent them from going on with this mess. The rest of us will talk with the sheriff and see if we can knock some sense into them."

"Got it!" Spike responded. "C'mon Pink!" Spike dragged Pinkie Pie by her tail while Rainbow Dash flew after them.

I looked over to Fluttershy, Applejack, Twilight, and Rarity. "C'mon let's get to the town quick!" They nodded and began following me.

When we arrived at the town, every pony was already boarding their windows, locking their doors, and creating barricades throughout the whole perimeter of the town.

"I want my kin ta have what they need to live... But a storm's a-brewin' here. And I don't like the look of it." Applejack commented.

"We've just got to talk some sense into them before somepony gets hurt." Twilight replied.

We attempted to try to talk the ponies of the town out of fighting, but they were stubborn as mules. Every time we tried to talk, they continued on climbing in their windows and shutting their doors. When we reached their orchards, there were bucking apples, but for defensive uses… Twilight tried to get one of them to stop and talk but all she received was an irritated look. "Why won't anypony be rational and reasonable?" She exclaimed.

We returned back in town where they had just finished barricading the perimeter of the town with wood and nails. I knew that that wouldn't stand a chance against the buffalo…

"Sheriff, if we could only –

Applejack tried to talk to the sheriff but he ignored her and kept moving. We turned over to the bakery to see ponies baking thousands of apple pies. Lastly, in the town square, they raised a flag with their emblem planted proudly on it. The ponies cheered and threw their hats upwards to the sky.

Fluttershy looked worriedly at me. "Alex, there must be something we can do to stop this!"

I lowered my head and closed my eyes. "The way things are going… it looks like the settlers have already made their decision…"

Noon came as fast as the settlers prepared themselves for the attack by the buffalo. Many of the buffalo gathered above a cliff and stared down at us. The settler ponies looked very frightened by the huge mob they formed. The clock was only a few minutes away from hitting twelve. Many ponies watched from the inside of their houses as carts full of apple pies made their way over to the perimeter.

"Come on!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed while she tapped her forehead with her hoof. "THINK. Think, think, think, think, think, think, think!"

The sound of a bell tolled, striking suspense in each of us. The bell continued ringing throughout the silence that filled the entire area. I could only observe as the settler ponies stared beyond the town at the horde of buffalo waiting at the cliff. The girls, including Braeburn, formed worried and frightened expressions as they could only wait to see when the buffalo will make their move. Braeburn took another look at the clock. It was noon.

As we waited for the buffalo to strike, I saw Little Strongheart place a hoof on the chief's face.

Rainbow Dash gasped as she observed what had just happened. "He's not gonna do it!"

So that was it? It was as if Little Strongheart had told him to think twice about what he is doing… without moving her lips at all… It was as if she told him to take another look at us and think if it's really the right thing he's doing… It's if—

"whaddaya say?

You got to share

You got to care

It's the right thing to do"

It was Pinkie Pie's voice! No! She's going to mess the entire thing up!

I quickly jumped over the perimeter and ran over to Pinkie Pie, who was in the middle of the tension, as she continued dancing. I could see the chief grow angry on the cliff.

"Pinkie Pie!" I shouted out to her.

"You got to share…" She continued singing. "You've got to care…"

"CHAAARGE!" The chief's voice erupted. In that second, they began stampeding towards us. Pinkie Pie could only stare, stunned.

I caught up to Pinkie Pie and pulled her away from the path of the stampede. From behind me, I could see the buffalo break through the wooden perimeter as if they were merely branches. I began racing back to the town.

"Ready... Aim... Fire!" The sheriff ordered and the ponies immediately began bombarding the buffalo with their apple pies. One by one, the buffalo were taken down by the pies. Some ponies inside their houses jumped out of their windows and climbed on top of the buffalo, riding them like bulls. Other buffalo charged straight towards the stacks of hay, either knocking the pony out of the hay or diving straight towards an anvil. One of the buffalo was hit in the face by an apple pie and crashed towards the town clock, cracking it and causing it to tumble down onto the road. The chief jumped out of the wreckage and snorted very aggressively. He spotted the sheriff, who was ducking and covering behind several hay stacks, throwing apple pies. The chief began charging towards the sheriff. The sheriff began getting another apple pie, but then he realized he had no more. The chief was reaching the sheriff by the second. The sheriff noticed this and took down his hat in respect as he awaited his defeat. The chief was almost at the sheriff. I had to stop this! I quickly spotted a spare apple pie on the ground. I hastily grabbed it and ran over to where the chief was heading straight towards the sheriff.

As soon as I saw the chief hop into the air to pummel at the sheriff, I quickly threw the pie at the chief's face. Just before he could get the sheriff, the pie came straight towards him. "Nooo!" He screamed and was pulverized by the pie. The sheriff noticed how he tumbled straight towards the ground. The chief lay there as his face was covered with an apple pie mess. The buffalo quickly came to his aid to see him defeated. One of the buffalo observed this and began crying as the pony next to him took her hat off in respect. Spike cried along as well as he hugged Twilight tightly. I instantly began feeling bad about what I did…

However, one of the pieces of the apple pie fell down towards his stuck out tongue. He closed his mouth and swallowed. He opened his eyes and quickly licked the pieces off his face. "Yum! Hey, I've got a much better idea!" He announced. "We... will allow the apple orchard to stay in exchange for a share of it's fruit, heh... Those... Delicious apple pies!"

The settlers cheered as they agreed to the negotiation between the buffalo.

I sighed in relief.

The settler ponies chopped down trees, creating a pathway for the buffalo to use for their stampeding. The ponies used the apples to bake the apple pies they gave out to the buffalo as they passed through the path.

"I'd rather eat turquoise any day of the week." Spike chomped on the bowl of gems he had. "Auhh...!"

"Bloomberg, this is yer special day. Mama's so proud of you!" Applejack announced as she had just finished planting her apple tree in a isolated spot away from the other trees.

The buffalo began roaming back to their village after they finally settled their differences between the settler ponies. Little Strongheart noticed Rainbow Dash and waved over to her.

"Dear, Princess Celestia..." Twilight began speaking near me as she observed the peaceful scene. "Friendship is a wondrous and powerful thing. Even the worst of enemies can become friends. You need understanding and compromise." Rainbow Dash, Little Strongheart, and even Applejack began racing through the road as the sun began setting. "You've got to share. You've got to care –

"HEY! That's what I said!" Pinkie Pie immediately intervened as she walked over to Twilight and I.

Twilight giggled. "Sorry Pinkie… but the way you put it, angered everypony else."

"Hmph!" Pinkie Pie turned her head away, upset.

"C'mon, everypony. It's time to go home." Twilight told us.

Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and I had climbed on the train that was to take us back home. Rainbow Dash had boarded a while after. She flew over to her bed and crashed on there, placing her forelegs behind her head and sighing, happily. As I looked out the window near my bed while placing my hoof under my cheek, I saw Applejack expressing her goodbyes to the town. I noticed how she hugged and waved to her cousin, Braeburn, goodbye. She did the same for the rest of her family that lived there and began walking towards the train to board as well. After seeing her do that, I could only feel depressed about the thought of…

I sighed. I pulled the curtain over the window and lay on my bed, covering myself with the blankets. A little while later, I heard Applejack reach our car, exhausted.

"Boy…that was some day, huh?" Applejack exclaimed as she planted herself on her bed. Every other pony agreed while I remained silent under the covers. She must have noticed my condition. "Is Alex asleep?" She asked, softly.

"I think so…" Twilight responded, whispering.

The girls lowered their voices as I lay under the covers. I wasn't asleep… not at all… I just remained quiet, almost feeling tears run down my face…

I guess I must have dozed off anyway because by the time I opened my eyes, there was only complete silence. I pulled the covers away from my face and sat up. I pulled the curtain on the window slightly to notice how outside was pitch black, except for the little separate stars that slightly lit the area. I could hear the soft sound of the train in motion, which was what I also felt as I lay in my bed. I looked around to the side of me to see the other girls soundly asleep. I sighed sadly and stared at my sheets as I could only see that image in my mind again…

"Alex…?" I heard Applejack's voice whisper beside me. I quickly turned to my right and noticed her holding a lit candle as she stared at me worriedly. "Is everything alright? I heard you sighing… like if you wanted to cry or something."

"Sorry…" I responded as I stared back at my sheets. "I didn't mean to wake you up… it's nothing…"

She remained quiet for a moment and then spoke to me again. "C'mon." She grabbed my hoof and lightly pulled me out of bed. "I want to show you something."

She led me towards the car which used to contain the tree, but now only had an empty bed. She lit a candle in the room and walked over to the bed. She sat down and patted the seat near her to motion for me to sit down next to her. Confused, I did and looked at her.

"What is it, Applejack?"

"Okay, Alex…" She responded as she still had her voice in a low volume. "What's going on? What is it that is always bringing you down? That is always making you sad? That is the reason why you never smile…?"

I turned to stare at the ground as I began feeling the emotions kick in, overwhelming me with sadness to the point where I actually wanted to cry. I couldn't bring up any words as Applejack stared at me with a concerned look. I could only just keep my mouth shut and shake my head lightly as I didn't know what to say.

I sighed heavily. "I don't know what to say…"

"Just tell me what the problem is." Applejack replied.

I thought for a moment, releasing words after, which were brief. "I don't know… I guess it was seeing you with your friends and family or something…"

"What do you mean, Alex? How does that make you sad?" She asked. I responded with silence as I looked away to the ground. After a while of thinking, she spoke again. "Alex… what about your friends and family…?"

I took a sting to the heart. "What about them…?" I answered coldly.

"Well… how are they doing? Like your friends. Are they okay?"

I jumped off the bed, angrily, and walked over to the corner. "How should I know?" I answered, raising my voice a little. "I mean… were they ever even my friends to begin with?"

"Alex…?" Applejack questioned, worriedly.

I suddenly punched the wall of the car, creating a loud smack and thud sound, which frightened Applejack. I took in a few deep breaths and walked back to the corner and sat down with my held hung low. Behind me, I could head soft hooves clatter on the floor of the car. They walked over to me and placed a hoof on my shoulder.

"Alex… you must have had some bad ponies in your life…but…remember…we're your friends… we're not like those other ponies…" Applejack tried to entreat me. I couldn't say anything but just continue breathing angrily, but in a more depressive way. "Look at me, sugarcube." I heard the soft tone she used for her words. I slowly turned around to see her. She looked at me, straight into my eyes. "Let me tell you something…" She pulled out something from her mane and began observing it as she spoke. "You see Alex… you are like an apple…ponies take bites of you until they reach the core…afterwards, they throw you away…leaving you to only gather dirt and dust…alone…but then come the ponies who really care about you…us... We pick you up and dust you off. After, we take the seeds from your core and plant them with tender, love, and care. With our friendship...you'll grow to be a big and strong tree…or pony in this case… and you'll have many more apples to share with everypony… the ones who care about you…" I could only continue staring at her as she described me in her own fashion… "Here, Alex." She showed me the object she had in her hoof. It was a seed… "This is the seed I saved from one of Bloomberg's apples. I was hoping I could plant it, so another tree would grow in our acres...but…" She grabbed my hoof and placed the seed on it. "You should have it… that way… as you see it grow… you can always remember what we talked about…okay…?"

I looked at the seed with careful eyes. I held it tightly in my hoof and looked at Applejack. "Okay…Thank you, Applejack… I… I really appreciate it…"

Applejack gave a warm smile. "You're welcome, Alex. If you ever need to talk to somepony, we're here for you…well… maybe Rainbow Dash or Pinkie Pie wouldn't be the best pony to talk to but… you understand, right?"

I nodded. Applejack hugged me… It felt almost like a motherly hug, even though she was possibly younger or around the same age as me. After a moment, she pulled away and looked at me. "C'mon you should get some shut-eye, now."

I nodded once again. She walked over to the lit candle and blew it out, keeping the other candle lit for us to be able to maneuver through the car.

When we reached the car where all the other ponies were sleeping in, Applejack slowly blew the candle and placed it on a counter.

"Good night, Alex…" She whispered to me.

"Night, Applejack…" I responded.

She began walking off, but then looked as if she remembered something. "Oh." She glanced over to me. "And try to smile now, okay?"

I could only return an unchanged expression. "Um…I can try…"

"It's better than nothing." Applejack waved and returned to her bed.

I climbed on my bed and turned to my side to where I could see the window. I carefully placed the seed in a safe spot and continued observing it for a moment, replaying what Applejack had told me… Soon, I fell asleep.

I awakened when I felt a light shake on my body. I turned around and saw Fluttershy, who was the one that was lightly shaking my body.

"We're home now, Alex…" Fluttershy smiled lightly.

I sat up from my bed and removed the covers. I grabbed the seed and lightly held it as I climbed out of bed. It was still dark out… probably very early in the morning. The other ponies stepped off from the train as Fluttershy and I followed them. They departed towards their homes as I walked Fluttershy home.

When we reached her door, we looked at each other.

"Sleep well, Fluttershy." I told her softly.

"Thank you, Alex…" She responded. "You too…"

She hugged me and walked inside her cottage, giving me a wave before she closed the door. I turned around and started the way towards home.

When I arrived at my door, I stopped before I entered. I looked at the side of the home and noticed an empty area. I thought for a moment and finally pulled out the seed. I dug a hole on the empty area beside my house until it was large enough to drop the seed in. I moved the dirt I had dug up and placed it back on the hole. I patted the hole with my hoofs until the dirt was securely tight above the seed. I walked over to the hose that was placed on the side of the house. It was still rolled up the way it came with the house. For the first time, I grabbed the hose and turned on the water. I moved the hose over to the spot where I planted the seed and began watering it for a few minutes. After, I shut the water and rolled it up nicely. I stared at the spot for a moment, making sure it was just right. Then, I turned towards my door and entered.

I walked over to the kitchen and turned on the sink. I placed my hooves under the cool water and washed them neatly. After, I dried them with a towel nearby and began ascending up the stairs toward my bed.

When I was snuggled and tucked in my bed. I thought about what Applejack had told me…maybe…maybe they are my true friends? Maybe the same outcome won't occur just like those other ponies in my past?

Maybe…

A Bird in the Hoof

Episode 22 – A Bird in the Hoof

"Get out of my face! You make me sick!"

"But…I…"

"I said, GET OUT!"

"You heard mom. Go away you little creep."

"But… I didn't do anything…"

"Oh? And I suppose you're telling me that she broke it?"

"…"

"Of course it was him, mom. He always wrecks everything he sees! I don't even know why he had to be born! He was just a big mistake!"

I woke up, frightened, almost to death. I was breathing heavily. I noticed something in my eyes and on my cheeks. I placed my hoof near my eyes and felt it… It was water…tears… I was…crying…? I wiped my eyes and looked out the window. I noticed the sun shining outside, but it didn't help. I had that feeling after a bad dream. Everything feels very bizarre and awkward, as if you're still in the dream…but awake. I brushed off the blankets from me and stepped off my bed. I slowly walked to bathroom and looked in the mirror…A big mistake… I immediately turned on the cold water and splashed it all over my face. I even let the sink fill up with water and dunked my head in it. After a while, I pulled my head out and looked in the mirror again. I sighed. I turned off the water and watched as it went down the drain. I walked over to the towel and used it to dry the water from my face and mane.

Afterwards, I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. I sat down near the table and closed my eyes, trying to escape into myself. Suddenly, I heard a knock at my door. I sat up and walked over to the door to open it.

"Hey, Alex! Are you coming?"

"Twilight? What do you mean coming? To where?" I asked.

"You didn't forget, did you?"

"Forget what?"

Twilight sighed and smiled. "The big brunch for Princess Celestia at Sugarcube Corner."

"Oh…"

"Well, come on! We can't be late!" Twilight pulled me out of the house and began leading me to the location while walking by my side.

"Does Fluttershy know about this brunch?" I asked.

"Of course! She wouldn't miss it for the world! I'm sure she's already there."

We arrived at Sugarcube Corner to see two guards standing outside the cake shop in silence.

"Hello, I'm Twilight Sparkle." Twilight presented herself to the guards. "And this is my friend Alex. We're on the list."

"You may pass." They answered boldly.

Twilight and I walked through to see ponies celebrating the party. I saw Princess Celestia sitting at a long table. I looked around the party but I didn't see Fluttershy anywhere.

"What's wrong, Alex?" Twilight asked me as she noticed my head constantly looking around the place.

"I don't think Fluttershy is here yet… I'm going to wait outside for her." I responded.

"Okay, then. I hope she gets here real soon." Twilight began walking over to Princess Celestia to greet herself.

I turned around and walked out the building. I noticed how the guards were still there. They were perfectly still, not even moving an inch. They looked straight forward with bold eyes. Despite the mood they brought to the area, I took a seat outside and waited for Fluttershy.

After a while, Rainbow Dash poked her head out of the shop and hopped out. "So... what do I have to do to get to be one of the Princess's royal guards, anyway?" She asked them. They didn't answer but only continued looking forward. "Is the pay good?" She nudged one of them. They still didn't reply. "Hellooo!" She exclaimed in their ears. "Anybody home?" After noticing that they still hadn't move, Rainbow Dash looked at them straight in the eye and began making weird faces. She looked at their face to see if they had any effect. So far, there was none. However, she made me feel a little odd… She then stuck her tongue out and threw her head around. She observed their faces again. "Ooh, you're good." There was only silence. "Too good. I'm bored." She turned around and finally noticed me. "Oh, hey Alex!" She flew over to me. "What's up?"

"I'm just waiting for Fluttershy…"

"Oh, okay." She was silent for a moment. "So… I've kinda realized that I've never seen you smile or even laugh before. What's up with that?" She asked. I didn't want to answer or get involved in that question so I just released a shrug. "Hm…" She tapped her hoof on her chin. "I've got it!" She flew in front of me and looked at me, straight in the eyes. I returned a confused look with a raised eyebrow. She began making those weird faces in front of me, especially the one where she stuck out her tongue and turned her head from left to right. After, she had a wide smile on her face, hoping that I would form one too or at least chuckle or something, but all I returned was a confused look.

"Are you okay…?" I asked while having my head tilted a little.

She groaned. "I was trying to make you laugh or at least smile…"

"Oh… well, I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon…"

"Aw! Why not?"

I shrugged again.

She sighed. "Fine… I'm going inside." She flew in a flash towards the inside of the shop.

After a moment, I saw something galloping towards my way. It was Fluttershy!

"Phew. Made it." She panted, not noticing me yet. She began walking towards the building but the guards suddenly spread their wings and stared at Fluttershy.

"Halt!"

"Who goes there?"

Fluttershy gulped and began backing off. "No one. Never mind. I'll go home."

"Wait!" I exclaimed, rushing towards Fluttershy. I stood by her side and looked at the guards. "It's alright, she's on the list."

The guards lowered their wings and allowed Fluttershy to walk in.

"Thanks, Alex." Fluttershy said as we walked in.

Twilight noticed us and ran over to us. "I'm so glad you could make it, Fluttershy. It wouldn't be the same without you."

We looked over at the party, where Spike had just finished cooking up some small pies with his fiery breath. Spike grabbed another tray and repeated the process. A pony walked by us. "How's everypony doing?" He asked us, however, answered before we could give an answer ourselves. "Good? Good."

"Anything else we can get for you, dearies...? Ooh, I-I mean, esteemed guests." We heard from the table Princess Celestia was sitting at.

"Everything is fine, Mr. and Mrs. Cake." Princess Celestia responded in a sweet tone.

"Sorry I'm late. I had to finish taking care of a patient first." Fluttershy explained to us as we walked over to the table.

"Oh, you and your Tender Loving Care of little animals. I just know Princess Celestia is gonna love that about you. I mean, I hope she will... I mean, of course she will!" Twilight replied nervously, even twitching as she spoke.

"Wow, Twilight. I thought I was the only one who got nervous at social gatherings."

"Oh, it's not that. I just want the princess to approve of my friends. "

"But she's met us all before."

"And read about you in my letters. But besides Alex, this is the first time she's spent any real time with you. I want everypony to make a good impression."

"You don't need to be so nervous Twilight. Princess Celestia will like everypony. She isn't strict on those kinds of things…" I added in on the conversation.

"Yes, Twilight. I'm sure you have nothing to worry about. Besides, it's just a casual get-together, right?" Fluttershy responded.

"Don't touch me! Watch the dress! Careful, you're gonna spill that on me!" We heard Rarity from across the room. She was wearing a very fancy dress to a casual party… As ponies walked by her with drinks or food, she immediately freaked out. Mrs. Cake stopped by and offered her one of the apple cupcakes in a platter. "Oh, oh, that looks delicious. What is it?" Rarity lifted her hoof to get one, then instantly took it back. "Oh, does it stain? Keep it away from me!" She cowered in the room, looking around frightened for any dangers to her dress.

"Or... perhaps not that casual." Fluttershy added.

"Uh... which is the salad and which is the appetizer again?" Applejack questioned near us as she sat next to a table, cautiously looking at the food. "And which am I supposed to eat first?" She began to open her mouth to different kinds of food, but then stopped herself because she wasn't sure of which one to eat. "Oh, never mind. I'm not hungry."

I walked up to her and looked over at the food. "Just eat whichever you want to first, Applejack. I'm sure the Princess doesn't mind if you don't eat the food in a 'fancy way'. It's just a casual party, remember?"

Applejack sighed in relief. "You're right, Alex. I shouldn't worry about this fancy eating." Applejack replied and began eating the first thing she saw.

As I began walking back towards Fluttershy and Twilight, I saw Pinkie Pie suddenly bounce into my path and all over the party. "Woohoo! Cookies, candies and pies, oh my!" She stuffed her face in a pie. "Oooh!" She spotted the chocolate fountain on one of the tables. "Chocolate Fountainy goodness!" She literally stuck her head in the fountain, covering it with chocolate. She pulled out her head as the chocolate began hardening. Once it did, she broke through it and ate all the pieces. She rushed over to the table Princess Celestia was at. Princess Celestia was just about to eat one of the apple cupcakes when Pinkie Pie appeared right in front of her. "You gonna eat that?" However, she didn't give Princess Celestia time to answer before chomping on the cupcake, making loud noises as she chewed openly in front of the Princess. Despite Pinkie Pie's manners, she still smiled warmly. Mrs. Cake gasped widely and rushed over to Pinkie Pie to remove her from the table. "Hey!" Mr. Cake came towards the table and placed a new plate of tea and a cupcake.

"A thousand pardons, Your Majesty." He apologized.

"That's quite all right, thank you." Princess Celestia responded.

Princess Celestia picked up the new cupcake with her magic and took a bite of it. Afterwards, she took a sip of the tea. She placed the teacup back on the small plate.

"Empty teacup at 4 o'clock!" Mrs. Cake suddenly alerted.

"Uh, I see it, honey bun!" Mr. Cake replied, rushing over to refill her teacup.

"Oh, um... thank you." The Princess thanked.

"Not at all, Your Highness."

The Princess took another sip of her tea, bringing Mrs. Cake to immediately refill it again.

"Thank you again."

"Oh, but of course, Your Majesty."

She took another sip. They refilled it again. She took a sip. They refilled it. After, she looked at them each, a little playfully, and made a slurp sound, but didn't drink the tea. They poured more tea in the cup, but it actually overflowed outside the cup. "Gotcha!" The Cakes smiled nervously.

"Oh..." Twilight sunk underneath the table in a worried tone.

The Princess looked over at Fluttershy, who I was with near the table. "And what about you, dear? Fluttershy, is it?" She asked.

"Me?" Fluttershy questioned, surprisingly. "Oh yes, Your Highness."

Princess Celestia returned a look towards me that stated, "So, this was the special pony you were talking about?" I could only return a nervous and slightly embarrassed expression. The Princess continued talking with Fluttershy. "I understand from Twilight Sparkle's letters that you enjoy tending to the needs of woodland creatures."

"Yes, I love to take care of animals." Fluttershy responded, happily.

"As do I. As Princess, I care deeply about all creatures, great and small." We heard a sudden cough in a bird cage near Princess Celestia, surprising us but the Princess. "Nothing means more to me than the well-being of all my subjects." The bird began to furiously cough. After, it presented itself when it flew up and stood in the middle of the cage as its head tilted to the side. "Ah, Philomeena, my pet. You're awake. Do say hello to our gracious hosts." The bird only returned more sickly coughs.

"Oh... my." Fluttershy pulled back with a disturbed expression on her face.

"She is quite a sight, isn't she?" The Princess asked.

"I... I... I've never seen anything like it." Fluttershy replied as she continued to observe the bird cough.

"How about you, Alex? How are you doing?" The Princess asked me.

"Well… I've been doing alright I guess…" I remembered about that frightening shadow I've seen for a couple of times now. "Actually… there's been something that—

One of the royal guards came over to our table and began whispering to the Princess.

"Really? Well, if I must... I'm sorry, everypony. I'm afraid I have to cut the party short." Twilight suddenly spat out the tea she was drinking but immediately covered her mouth with her hoof. "The mayor has requested an audience with me. Royal duty calls. Thank you for a wonderful time. It's been a joy getting to know you all better." Before she left, she apologized to me, but she told me that I could tell her the next time I saw her. Then, she began walking gracefully out the door as the ponies awed in her presence.

Afterwards, Mr. and Mrs. Cake began cleaning up the party. Pinkie Pie performed a cartwheel, hyper, out the door, bumping into the other ponies.

"Stay right where you are." Rarity warned as she trotted slowly out the door. "All I want is a clear path to the exit. NOBODY MOVE and my dress won't get hurt! Stay back! Back, I say!"

Applejack walked out the door, even carrying some more dishes on her nose.

Twilight sighed. "Well, Alex, I don't know for sure how things went with the princess, but at least no big disasters happened."

"Yeah…" I replied. "Don't worry so much about it. I'm sure the Princess thinks everypony is great."

"Hm. You're right! She likes our friends. I'm sure everything is alright!"

I nodded. "Guess we better head out…" I looked around for Fluttershy, but I couldn't find her. "Hey, did you see where Fluttershy went?" I asked.

"Hm. I don't think so… she just… vanished." Twilight responded.

I continued to look around. "Maybe she just went home and I didn't see her…" I paused for a moment and looked at Twilight. "I'm going to go check if she's home. I'll see you later, okay Twilight?"

She nodded and I left the building, walking towards Fluttershy's cottage.

When I arrived, I noticed that her door was open. I slowly walked in, closing the door after me. I looked around the house for Fluttershy. "Fluttershy?" I called her name softly.

"There." I heard her voice.

I walked over to where I heard her and noticed her standing near a bed. "Fluttershy?"

She turned around quickly, frightened, but released a breath when she noticed it was just me. "Oh, hey Alex."

"Why did you leave the party so soon?" I asked, walking towards her.

She didn't say anything but just contained an embarrassed expression on her face.

"Fluttershy?" I asked. Then, my eyes wandered to the bed. I saw an odd-looking bird lying on there with covers over it. It eyes were big and it had this look as if it didn't even know what was going on. After a moment of observing it, I realized it was Princess Celestia's bird. "Fluttershy? What is Princess Celestia's pet doing here?"

Fluttershy stood silent for a moment. "…I couldn't leave her all alone while she was really sick. I had to take care of her."

"Did you get Princess Celestia's permission?" I asked.

Fluttershy looked at the floor. "No…"

"We have to return her, Fluttershy. Princess Celestia will be worried if she finds her pet missing!"

"Can I please hold on to her for just a little while? Look at her." She pointed to the bird, who was hacking and coughing. "I only want to make her feel better. Besides, we still have time until Princess Celestia is done with her royal duties…"

I thought for a moment and then finally sighed. "Alright…but just a while longer, okay?"

Fluttershy smiled brightly. "Don't worry! It'll only take a little while!" Fluttershy picked up a thermometer from the shelf nearby with her teeth and placed it in Philomeena's beak. After a second, she began burning up and the thermometer was at the highest point. Fluttershy gasped and quickly removed the blankets. She placed an ice pack on Philomeena's bare head. Philomeena began cooling down. The thermometer now dropped to the lowest point and Philomeena began shivering fiercely. Fluttershy gasped again and removed the ice pack, placing the blanket over her again. The thermometer immediately filled up again and Philomeena was burning up. Fluttershy removed the blanket and placed on the ice pack again, which made the bird shiver once again. Fluttershy removed the ice pack and placed the blanket, only to repeat the process over and over for several times. This caused the thermometer to repeatedly move up and down until it finally broke. "This is far worse than I thought. What you need is some medicine. Stat!" Philomeena released another fierce hack, causing Fluttershy to flinch back.

Fluttershy walked over to one of her cabinets and searched through them for a while. After, she pulled out a huge pill and placed it on a plate. She brought it over to Philomeena and presented it before her. "Here you go, Philomeena. This will fix you right up." Philomeena moved her head towards it and sniffed it, but then she stuck her tongue out in disgust. "Doctor Fluttershy expected that." Fluttershy responded as she sat on one of her chairs. Fluttershy grabbed a big bag of food and poured it all over the pill. Philomeena stuck her tongue out but licked the food instead. After a moment of silence, she instantly began pecking at the food, devouring everything. "Always works." She released a sly grin towards me. However, she lost the grin when she noticed that the pill was still lying on the plate. "Uh... Almost always." Philomeena released another cough. Fluttershy thought for a moment, and then gained an idea. "Alex, I'm going to go make some soup for Philomeena, mind if you watch her?" She asked.

"Um… sure…" I responded, feeling a little uncomfortable around the bird.

Fluttershy walked towards the kitchen as I stayed behind with the bird. I looked over at Philomeena and noticed how she just stared at me. I returned another stare, leaving us both to just stare at each other for a while. This bird looked really…creepy…

Fluttershy walked into the room a little while later with a bowl of soup. She placed it on the ground near Philomeena and slightly blew on it. "There's nothing like home-made soup to cure what ails you." She pushed the bowl over to Philomeena. The bird looked at the soup for a moment and then pulled back with wings crossed…well bare wings. "Come on now. You're not gonna get better if you don't cooperate." Fluttershy lowered her head towards the bowl of soup and took a sip. "Mmm... See? It's delicious. Good and good for you." The bird still refused to consume the soup. Fluttershy then grabbed the soup with her hooves and tried to playfully get Philomeena to eat it. "Here comes the choo-choo train. Chugga-chugga, chugga-chugga, whoo-whoo!" Honestly, she released sounds that I couldn't help but think were adorable. Despite the effort Fluttershy was placing, Philomeena still refused to eat the soup. Philomeena turned her head away each time Fluttershy tried to show her the bowl of soup until she finally reached her limit and spun around, causing her to fall onto the soup. "Oh dear. Don't worry, Philomeena. I know what'll make you feel better. Wait right here. I have just the thing." Fluttershy trotted away as Philomeena gave another hack in the bowl of soup.

Meanwhile, while Fluttershy was preparing her other idea, I couldn't help but think to myself. How much longer does Fluttershy think she could take? We have no idea when Princess Celestia will return from her business. What if she just got back and is looking for her bird right now? I started feeling a little bad inside as I started worrying what might happen. Okay… I'll just give her a little while longer… maybe she can fix this bird up a bit before we take it back? Besides… if it's too late by the time we take the bird back, I'll take the blame for Fluttershy…

After a moment, Fluttershy came back with another bird on her hoof. "Look, Philomeena. I brought a fellow feathered friend by to cheer you up. Hummingway here was sick once too, but he let me help him and got better in no time. Didn't you, boy?" The hummingbird released an agreed chirp. "Say hello to your new friend Philomeena." The hummingbird flew gently towards Philomeena and rubbed his head on hers. "Aw, look. I think he likes you." The hummingbird flew back to Fluttershy. Fluttershy and her hummingbird flew in the air. Fluttershy began singing several notes, leaving the hummingbird to complete the song. "Your turn now, Philomeena. Go ahead. You can do it." Fluttershy flew towards the bird, repeating the notes she sang for the hummingbird, however, Philomeena returned a look which seemed as if she was to spit something out. After a moment, Philomeena coughed out food which landed on Fluttershy's face. "Um... good try?" She removed the food from her face.

Fluttershy had gone into the bathroom to wash her face. When she returned, she motioned me to bring Philomeena towards the bathroom. Flinching a little, I grabbed Philomeena and brought her over to the bathroom. Fluttershy had wrapped a towel on Philomeena's head and one on her waist. "I know what'll clear up that tickle in your throat. A humidifier." She turned it on and took a deep breath. Refreshing. How's that feeling now for you, Philomeena? Better?"

The room was engulfed in steam. Fluttershy observed Philomeena as she began taking a deep breath. Fluttershy gazed at her excitedly, waiting for her to exhale just fine. Philomeena coughed instead, removing Fluttershy's grin. "Oh..." A few of Philomeena's feathers sprung out. "That's okay. I know lots of other ways to take care of you. Don't worry. You're gonna get better. How about..."

She had set up candles and aroma sticks near the fireplace and sat Philomeena comfortably in a cushion. "Aromatherapy?" Philomeena took in a breath and sneezed afterwards, having more feathers spring from her.

Next, Fluttershy filled her tub with warm water and placed the bird in there. "Warm bath?" Instead, Philomeena sucked up all the water and looked really swollen.

"Uh…" I gave a confused look. "How's that even possible…?"

Fluttershy sighed. She looked through her cabinets and found some cream. "Ointment?" She squeezed some of it on Philomeena's head, but it only caused her to grow pimples on her entire body.

Fluttershy immediately grabbed her and moved her to the living room. She placed on a doctor's scope on her head. "Scalpel." She asked.

I looked around, confusingly. "Um…"

"On the table." She responded. I looked for a scalpel on the table. When I did, I carefully grabbed it and gave it to her. She began using it in order to do something for Philomeena. "Surgical tape." She asked for again, in a more nervous tone. I found the tape on the table as well, giving it to her. "Feathers." I gave her the bowl of feathers. After working for a few seconds, she moved back and presented Philomeena, who was taped with feathers…

Philomeena gave another cough and her head fell to the ground. "Oh, Philomeena. I thought it would be easy to nurse you back to health, but I've tried everything I know. And look at you. You're worse than ever."

"Fluttershy, we should take the bird back now. Princess Celestia will take care of her if she's really in bad shape…" I said.

Fluttershy looked at Philomeena and released a moan. "Oooh…ok…let's go…"

Suddenly, we heard a knock on the door. Fluttershy quickly moved to the door and listened, yet the door burst open, having Twilight walk in to greet her. "Hi, Fluttershy! I just wanted to drop by and say thank you so very much for making such a good impression on the princess today..." She noticed the bird and gasped loudly. "What is Celestia's pet doing here?"

"I couldn't leave the poor thing there. She needed my help." Fluttershy reasoned.

"Oh no. NonononononoNO! This is bad." Twilight placed her hoof to her eye.

"How could I just walk away and not do anything?"

"But... but... she doesn't belong to you!"

"I had to do something."

"Without telling anypony? Without asking permission?"

"But…"

I stepped in between them and held my hooves out. "Alright, girls, calm down. We were just going to return her pet. Let's just stop this arguing and return it before it's too late."

Fluttershy sighed. "You're right. Okay, let's..." Philomeena gave a hack. "...go."

Twilight quickly grabbed the bird and placed it in a basket, which she then placed on Fluttershy. "Alex is right, if we hurry, we can put her back before anypony even realizes she's missing." Twilight ran to the door and opened it to only gasp at what laid beyond the door.

Two guards stood there, looking very seriously at us. Twilight could only return a nervous look as she bit her lips.

"We were told we could find Twilight Sparkle here." The first guard answered.

"We regret to inform you, miss, that the royal pet has gone missing." The second guard added.

"Really? You don't say!" Twilight responded nervously.

Philomeena coughed in the basket, loudly enough for all of us to hear. Twilight quickly rushed over to Fluttershy and began making fake coughs. Twilight kicked Fluttershy in order for her to join her too. Fluttershy realized this and they both coughed excessively as I only stared at them with an awkward look. The royal guards gave the same.

"Bleh. It's that dry night air." Twilight replied in a raspy voice.

"But it's daytime." Fluttershy innocently corrected.

"Well... day air's even drier. You guards better be on your way if you're gonna find the princess's missing pet." Twilight pushed the guards outside the house. "Philomeena, was it? Thank you ever so much for keeping me in the loop. BYE!" Twilight slammed the door shut as she panted hastily. She looked out the window and noticed the guards were leaving the area. "Phew..." She noticed Fluttershy begin heading out the door. "What are you doing?"

"Going to return Philomeena, remember?"

"We can't now!"

"Why not?"

"You have no idea what the princess is gonna do if she finds you're the one who took her pet, do you?"

"Do you?"

"Well... no. But it can't be anything good. She might banish you from Equestria. Or throw you in a dungeon. Or banish you and then throw you in a dungeon in the place that she banishes you to!"

"You really think the princess would do that?" Fluttershy began heading out the door again.

"Okay. Granted that probably won't happen, but do you wanna take any chances?"

Fluttershy stopped and looked back at Twilight. "All that really matters to me is that poor little Philomeena here gets well." Philomeena stuck her head out of the basket and coughed.

"That's very noble of you. I'll write to you when you're banished. Unless I'm banished to somewhere there's no post office. Then you'll have to write to me. Deal?"

"Twilight, stop with this banishing nonsense." I finally joined the conversation. "The Princess would never do that. I'm sure if we just explained what happened she would understand."

Twilight sighed. "Yeah you're right… I'm just overreacting…" She paused for a moment. "C'mon Fluttershy, let's take Philomeena back."

"Okay, but can you help me give Philomeena the rest of the soup? Poor thing hasn't eaten all day…" Fluttershy asked.

"What? This soup over here?" She took a sniff of it. "Smells delicious."

"I made it for Philomeena." Fluttershy explained. "But she wouldn't eat it."

"Oh, she'll eat it, all right." Twilight grabbed the bowl with her magic and looked over to the basket with an aggressive expression on her face. She opened the basket and looked at Philomeena evilly.

"Twilight, don't—

I tried to warn her but as soon as Twilight presented the bowl of soup in front of Philomeena, along with the face she had, Philomeena instantly grew frightened and jumped out of the basket screaming.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Twilight asked as Philomeena fled out of the house.

"No! Philomeena! Come back!" Fluttershy cried out.

I groaned and began running after Philomeena with Twilight and Fluttershy trailing behind me. Philomeena ran towards a tree. As soon as we caught up to her, she began running around the tree, leading us in circles. I stopped and waited for Philomeena to run into my hooves, but she jumped up into the tree and looked down upon us. I tried to jumping and climbing to get her off. It worked, but she jumped over us and continued running.

Further into the park, we lost her and passed by a bench with something sitting on there, reading a newspaper. Fluttershy and Twilight stopped by to ask for the direction of Philomeena. The thing lowered the newspaper, revealing itself. As Twilight and Fluttershy made motions indicating Philomeena, I could only stare at it suspiciously as it looked very familiar. It shrugged and raised its newspaper to read it again. I suddenly grabbed the newspaper and threw it to the side. After, I grabbed the mustache and pulled it off very easily. It was actually Philomeena in disguise. She screamed in surprise and jumped on top of my head. After, she quickly jumped off and began fleeing again, causing us to run after her.

As we ran through town, we saw the couple of guards looking for the royal pet. We couldn't let them know without having Philomeena, so we had to run quietly past them. Philomeena led us to several empty houses. She fled into one, making us follow her. Somehow, she weirdly came out of other houses and eventually led us to what Applejack would call "a wild goose chase". Twilight and Fluttershy bumped into each other after a few seconds. I helped them up and motioned them to keep going.

While we were looking for Philomeena, Rainbow Dash suddenly appeared next to us.

"What are you three doing? Are you having a race? Oh, can I play? 1 2 3 GO!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed without any of us giving an answer.

We continued running until we caught up with Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. Fluttershy had picked up Pinkie Pie, who was chewing on something. "Excuse me!" Fluttershy said as she looked for Philomeena.

"Hi!" Pinkie Pie responded cheerfully, spitting out a few pieces of food.

Twilight grabbed Rarity. "Beg your pardon!" She picked her up and looked beneath at the ground.

"Put me down!" Rarity ordered. Twilight placed her down afterwards.

"What in tarnation?" Applejack exclaimed.

"Sorry, but we've gotta find..."

"The princess's pet bird!" The couple of guards interrupted Fluttershy's explanation.

We looked up to see Philomeena sitting on top of the fountain we were next to. She rarely had any specks of feathers on her now…

"Philomeena, come down from there! You'll hurt yourself!" Fluttershy worriedly commanded.

Philomeena's last feather was separated from her body. She dramatically made an exaggerated death rattle until she finally let her body drop lifelessly on top of the fountain while she stuck her tongue out. For a few seconds, there was this highly awkward moment that seemed to last for minutes. She suddenly began making those dramatic motions again until her body fell off the fountain.

"I'll catch you!" Fluttershy exclaimed as she ran over to where Philomeena was dropping towards the ground.

I began running after Fluttershy. Fluttershy continued running and dove towards Philomeena as she dropped. Suddenly, Philomeena literally burst into flames as she dropped towards Fluttershy. Fluttershy gasped as she saw the ashes of Philomeena fall lightly on her hooves. Every other pony gasped heavily as they saw Philomeena's ashes. I caught up to Fluttershy as she could only stare at the ashes, shocked. As the ashes slipped through her hooves, she started tearing up and biting her lower lip. She began crying and whimpering. I slowly walked up to her and placed my front hoof on her. "Fluttershy…" I spoke softly.

"What is going on here?" A voice suddenly asked in a demanding tone. We quickly looked behind us to see it was Princess Celestia. We all bowed, except for Fluttershy who remained sitting very sadly. Princess Celestia looked over to Twilight. "Twilight?" She questioned, causing Twilight to quit her bow.

"Yes, Your Majesty…" She responded in a depressive tone. "There's been a terrible accident."

"It's all my fault." Fluttershy presented herself to the Princess.

"No, Princess. Fluttershy didn't know any better. It was my fault." Twilight intervened.

"I'm the one who did it."

"But you were only trying to help."

"Some help I was."

"Will ya let me do this? She'll go easier on me."

"But it's my fault!"

"No, it's my fault!"

"Stop!" I suddenly exclaimed and interrupted the argument. I walked towards the front of Fluttershy and Twilight and presented myself in front of the Princess, looking at her boldly. "Princess Celestia… if you are going to punish some pony… let that pony be me…"

Princess Celestia could only stare at me with concerned yet serious eyes.

"Alex, no!" Fluttershy rushed over to me. She placed her hoof on mine and looked at Princess Celestia. "Princess Celestia, I'm the one who took your pet bird. I really was only trying to help the poor little thing. Then I was gonna bring it back to you, honest." Princess Celestia walked over to the burnt ashes. "So, if you wanna banish me and then throw me in a dungeon in the place that you banish me to, then that's what I deserve."

"Fluttershy…" I said weakly.

Princess Celestia looked over at Fluttershy then at the ashes. She lowered her head and remained quiet for a moment.

"Oh, stop fooling around, Philomeena. You're scaring everypony." She suddenly spoke. The ashes moved and shot upwards towards the sky. Everypony gasped. The ashes spun midair and formed something magnificent, causing every pony to awe in its appearance.

"I don't understand!" Fluttershy exclaimed. "What is that thing? What happened to Philomeena?"

It flew and landed on Princess Celestia's foreleg. "This is Philomeena. She's quite a sight, as I said. But nothing unusual for a phoenix. Isn't that right, Philomeena?"

Philomeena released a proud answer, no longer the naked bird she was a few minutes ago, but a majestic creature instead.

"A... A phoenix?" Fluttershy questioned.

"A phoenix is a majestic and magical bird." Princess Celestia explained. "While it appears healthy and happy most of the time…" The phoenix rose from Princess Celestia's foreleg and began flying in the air. "…every so often it must renew itself by shedding all of its feathers and bursting into flame." She lowered her head towards us and whispered. "Rather melodramatic, if you ask me." She pulled away. "It then rises from the ashes, fresh as a daisy. All just a normal part of the life cycle of a phoenix. I'm afraid, mischievous little Philomeena here took the occasion to have a little fun with you, Fluttershy." Philomeena lowered her head in embarrassment. "Say you're sorry, young lady."

Philomeena made an "I'm sorry" sound.

"So... aren't you gonna banish me? Or throw me in a dungeon? Or banish me and then throw me in a dungeon in the place that you banish me to?"

"Of course not, my little pony! Where on Earth would you get such an idea?"

Fluttershy looked over at Twilight, who was staring towards the ground, nervously. "I guess I have some imagination."

"Fluttershy really did do everything she could to try to take care of Philomeena for you." Twilight added.

"And I do appreciate that your heart was in the right place, child. But all you had to do was ask me and I could have told you Philomeena was a phoenix and saved you all this trouble."

"I know. I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions. Next time I'll ask before taking matters into my own hooves."

Twilight made an expression where she looked as if she just remembered something. "Should I write you a letter about that lesson, Princess?" Twilight asked.

"No, that's quite all right. I think I can remember." She responded as she looked at Philomeena standing on her back.

As the royal guards brought over Philomeena's cage, Philomeena rose in the air and flew, giving Fluttershy one of her feathers, which landed softly on her ear. Fluttershy looked back at her and smiled. "It's beautiful. Thank you, Philomeena. No hard feelings."

Rainbow Dash looked at the guards for a moment and flew up to Philomeena. She whispered something to the phoenix. Philomeena nodded and flew to the top of the cage between the guards. She spread her wings and began tickling their noses with the tip of her feathers. After a few seconds, they began snickering and soon laughing out loud. Philomeena flew over to Rainbow Dash and tapped her wings with Rainbow Dash's hooves. "Yeah!" She laughed with Philomeena.

Twilight, Princess Celestia, Fluttershy, and I looked at them. Soon everypony was laughing except me in the area. I felt awkward as I was the only one who didn't laugh.

After the laughter died down, Princess Celestia looked over to me. "Alex, there was something you wanted to tell me?"

I remembered how I wanted to tell her about the shadow that has been following me around at random times… but I suddenly lost the urge to do so. "Never mind about that… it's not important."

Princess Celestia returned a slightly concerned look. "Well then… I should get back to Canterlot." She looked over to Philomeena. "Come on, Philomeena. It's time to go home."

Philomeena gave a squawk and waved to Rainbow Dash. She returned to her birdcage and waved all of us goodbye. The royal guards had also brought a carriage to take Princess Celestia back to Canterlot. The Princess gave us one last wave and smile before she left.

Everypony sighed happily.

"Princess Celestia's pet is so cool! I want one of those!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

Twilight gave a slight chuckle. "Heh. Good luck finding one of those!"

"Oh yeah?" Rainbow Dash responded in a competitive tone. Suddenly, she flew away at top speed, most likely spending the rest of the day trying to find one…

After everypony left, I walked with Fluttershy towards her cottage. She invited me for tea, leading me towards the living room as she poured tea in a cup in front of me.

"Thank you…" I replied, feeling a little…down… as I watched the steam rise from the cup.

"Hey, Alex…" I heard Fluttershy as I carefully picked up the tea to take a sip.

"Huh?" I questioned as I moved my eyes from the tea to Fluttershy's face.

"At the Gala…" She began speaking, a little embarrassed. "I was wondering if you don't mind going to the garden… you see… I really want to see all the cute little animals there… and be around them…"

"I don't mind Fluttershy." I replied, and then took a sip from the tea. It was still a little hot. The tea was really sweet…but at times it could be really hot… I placed the teacup back on the table.

"Oh, wonderful!" Fluttershy instantly rushed over to me and hugged me. "It'll be the best night ever!" Fluttershy noticed as she held me tightly in her arms. She pulled away, embarrassingly. "Sorry… Are you sure it's okay? I mean… we don't have to…"

"Fluttershy… I don't care where we go. I'm okay as long as you're smiling. You want to go to the garden? That's alright if it makes you smile. I really don't mind…" My voice lowered a little to near a soft pitch. "…as long as we're together…"

I looked at Fluttershy. She was presenting a very soft smile. She gently wrapped her arms around me, causing me to feel a little red in my cheeks. "You're such a sweet pony…" She spoke softly.

"You really mean that…?" I asked quietly…

"Mmhm." She answered. "I don't see why there aren't a million ponies around you…"

My eyes formed a sadden expression. "…that's exactly why…" I muttered very softly.

Fluttershy pulled away while keeping her hooves on my shoulders. "Hm?" She asked, concerned.

"Oh. I mean…uh…nothing." I nervously responded. "It's nothing."

"Alex?" She asked, almost in a worried tone.

"Um, thanks for the tea, Fluttershy. It was great, but I think I should head home now. It's pretty late. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Um…okay…" Fluttershy replied a little saddened. "I'll see you, Alex."

"Goodnight, Fluttershy."

"Goodnight…"

I walked out the door and lightly closed it behind me. As I walked away from the house, I couldn't help but feel so bad about leaving like that. I thought about just turning around and explaining everything but… I couldn't… I just couldn't…

Almost at my house, something suddenly dropped in front of me, frightening me a bit.

"Hi, Alex!"

It was Rainbow Dash.

"Uh…hey…?" I responded uneasily.

"How ya doing?" She asked.

I remained silent for a moment. "Um… I don't know…" I paused. "What are you doing out here so late?"

"Well, you know…just flying around and stuff. Actually…I've been looking for you. I noticed you were walking home from Fluttershy's. What's up with that?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, slightly nervous.

"Well, do you like her or something?"

I started feeling a lot more nervous inside me…not this again…

"I don't know…"

"…well…I've seen you two together most of the time. You know… you two would make a really cute couple." Rainbow Dash giggled jokingly. I could only remain silent, looking away embarrassingly. "…well anyway, I've just wanted to give you something."

"Give me something? For what?"

"For being a good friend and all."

"Really?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah!" She lifted up her hooves and grabbed something from her neck. After she removed it, she moved it towards me. "Here."

I analyzed the object. It was colored with a rainbow. "A whistle?" I asked.

"Yeah, you know! Whenever you're in trouble, just blow it and I'll be right there to help ya!"

"Thanks, Rainbow Dash… but I don't think I ne—

"Okay, okay. Fine, Mr. Tough-hooves. But even if you need someone to try to make you laugh or smile…" She stuck her tongue out, playfully. "You count on me!"

I thought about it and slowly took the whistle. I observed it for a moment, analyzing its rainbow finish. "Thanks, Rainbow Dash…"

"No problem, Alex! I really owe you so much, especially after you stood up for me the day I was competing in the Best Young Flyer's competition, so you deserve the same. Anyways, I better let you get some sleep. You look a little tired."

"Yeah… I guess so…"

"Alright then, catch you later!" Rainbow Dash sped off.

After she left, I continued to look at the whistle for a moment more. Afterwards, I entered my house and climbed up the stairs. I carefully placed the whistle on the counter in front of the bed. I walked over to the bed and sat down. I don't think I'll need to use it…but…maybe if I ever do need her…

I lay down on the bed and closed my eyes.

The Cutie Mark Chronicles

Episode 23 – The Cutie Mark Chronicles

I opened my eyes to see daylight. Everything was silent. I rubbed the back of my head with my hoof and climbed out of bed. I looked out the window for a moment, thinking about going to see Fluttershy. I made my decision and began walking out the front door.

As I was walking through the path surrounded by trees towards Fluttershy's cottage, I suddenly began hearing screaming. I quickly looked up to see something tumbling down towards me. After, three fillies crashed on top me from the trees, sticky with tree sap.

"See anything?" One of them said.

"Tree sap and pine needles, but no cutie mark." Another replied.

I lifted my head from the ground to realize it was Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle.

"Girls, what are you doing?" I asked, very concerned about them.

"Oh, Alex! I didn't see you there!" Applebloom responded.

The three of them released their weight on me by jumping off.

"We're trying to earn our cutie marks!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

I pushed myself up and looked above me to see a rope spread across the sky. The middle of it was burnt off by the heat. I looked at their outfits to find out what they were doing. "Ziplining? Really? That's dangerous!"

"Well dangerous or not, we still didn't get our cutie marks…" Scootaloo replied.

"Plan B?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Scootaloo thought for a moment, holding a hoof to her chin. "Yeah. You know where we can find a cannon at this hour?" Scootaloo asked, giving a determined but frightening look on her face. The other girls returned faces filled with fear. I sent a scolding look towards Scootaloo. She noticed this and lowered her head, throwing her helmet across the trees. "It's no use! No matter what we try, we always end up without our cutie marks. And, surprisingly often, covered in tree sap."

"Maybe we should do something less dangerous?" Sweetie Belle offered as I walked over to the helmet to pick it back up. "Like pillow testing. Or flower sniffing."

Applebloom had slid a couple of buckets filled with water and a washing rag towards Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Applebloom washed her hooves and used the rag to clean herself as the other fillies followed. "This town is full of ponies who have their cutie marks. Why don't we ask them how they did it?"

"That's a great safe idea." Sweetie Belle agreed.

My heart began filling with fear when I heard Applebloom say that. I really hoped they didn't ask me…

"Yeah! And we can start with the coolest pony in Ponyville." Scootaloo began.

I gave a sigh of relief.

"Alex!" Sweetie Belle and Applebloom suggested, striking fear into me again.

Scootaloo gave them an irritated expression on her face, leaving me to calm down once again.

The two fillies offered their sisters next.

"Applejack!"

"Rarity!"

"Come on, guys, I said 'cool'! You know who I'm talking about." Scootaloo began racing through the trees with her wings while staying on the ground. "She's fast. She's tough. She's not afraid of anything!"

"Pinkie Pie?" They both asked.

"No! The greatest flyer ever to come out of Cloudsdale!" Scootaloo dropped another hint.

"Fluttershy?"

"No! Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo gave up.

"Oh! Yeah, that makes much more sense." Applebloom realized.

"Of course!" Sweetie Belle added.

"Let's do it. Let's find out how Rainbow Dash found her cutie mark!" Scootaloo held out her hooves.

"YEAH!" Applebloom and Sweetie Belle placed their hooves on Scootaloo to only get themselves stuck with the tree sap Scootaloo still had.

"Aah! Uuh!" They tried to break themselves free but couldn't, causing them to groan.

I walked over to them, bringing the bucket filled with water along with me. I poured water on their hooves and slowly pulled them away from each other.

I brought the three buckets to each of them. "Wash your hooves so you won't have any more tree sap."

"Thanks, Alex." Applebloom thanked as they washed their hooves.

After they finished, Scootaloo immediately exclaimed, "Cutie Mark Crusaders…AWAY!"

They began racing out of the area until I stopped them. "Hold on!" I called after them. They instantly stopped and looked towards me. "If you girls are going to be adventuring, at least let me watch over you three so you don't get hurt."

The three of them looked at each other.

Scootaloo sighed. "Okay…" She began racing over to her parked scooter with a wagon attached from behind. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle ran and jumped into the wagon, placing on the helmets that were lying inside. Scootaloo jumped on her scooter but then realized something. "Wait. Where's my helmet?" She asked. I walked up to her and gave her the helmet she had thrown earlier. She looked at me and smiled, taking the helmet. "Thanks, Alex." She placed on the helmet and began fluttering her wings. In a few seconds, she took off in the scooter.

I trailed behind them, but keeping a careful eye as well. They hadn't traveled much until they came to a sudden stop. I raced over to them to find out what was wrong. I realized they had stopped in front of a triplet of bunnies.

"Get back here, you thievin' varmints!" A familiar voice shouted.

"Thievin' what now?" Applebloom questioned.

Unexpectedly, Applejack jumped out from the bushes nearby. However, she was pouncing straight at me. Applejack realized this and ended up crashing on top of me.

"Alex!" She exclaimed.

"I'm alright…" I responded with a grunt.

She quickly removed herself from on top of me and helped me up. Meanwhile, Applebloom had taken a glance at Applejack's flank and her face filled with joy. "Hey sis! How'd you get your cutie mark?"

Applejack lifted up her eyes in confusion. "I never told you that story?" She asked.

"Hey! I thought we were gonna ask Rainbow Dash." Scootaloo intervened.

"We need all the help we can get." Applebloom reasoned.

"Ugh! Fine." Scootaloo surrendered.

"Why, shoot." Applejack began. "I was just a little filly. Even littler than y'all." Applejack sat down on the ground and brought me closer to hear her story. "I didn't want to spend my life at a muddy old apple farm. I wanted to live the sophisticated life, like my Aunt n' Uncle Orange. So I set out to try my luck in a big city. Manehattan! The most cosmopolitan city in all of Equestria. I knew I'd find out who I was meant to be in Manehattan. When I arrived at my Aunt and Uncle's, I knocked on their door. They let me in to the new life I was going to live!

'Aunt Orange! Uncle Orange! Thank y'all so much for lettin' me stay!' I told them as I walked in to their place.

'"Y'all". Ahahaha... Isn't she just the living end?' My Aunt said.

My Uncle chuckled. 'How quaint.'

'Don't worry. We'll have you acting like a true Manehattanite in no time.' My Aunt assured me. It sure went by faster than a sunrise when they taught me the ways of a Manehattanite! We were having a dinner party as we all sat down at a table with our guests.

'And how are you finding good old Manehattan?' One of the gentlestallions asked me at the table.

'Oh, it's simply divine.' I told him in a voice you wouldn't believe to be mine!

'Very well said, my dear.' My Aunt congratulated me.

'Although, I must admit the city noise took some getting used to. Where I'm from, nights are so quiet you seldom hear a peep until the roosters wake you.' My answer had frightened everypony, as if they had never seen or even heard a rooster before! As my Aunt began covering for me, I quickly grew nervous in my mind. What's he talking about? What do I say? I don't wanna look like a fool. That's what I was thinking until the food had finally arrived at our table.

'Thank goodness. Being a city pony's hard work. I'm so hungry I could eat a...' The top was taken off of the plate to only show a disappointed amount of food on it! I couldn't believe it! That night in my room, as I watched the sunrise, I could only wonder what my family back at Sweet Apple Acres was doing. 'Oh, I wonder what Granny Smith and Big Macintosh are up to. I bet they're applebuckin' their way through the Red Delicious trees. Oh, what I wouldn't give for just one bite...' I never felt so homesick in all my days as I did right then. Then all of a sudden, there was this loud explosion across the sky! It was amazin'! A rainbow pointin' right back to... home. In that moment, it all became clear. I knew right then just who I was supposed to be. That's when this here appeared." She pointed her eyes towards her cutie mark. "I've been happily workin' in the farm ever since." The triplet of bunnies came by once more to provoke Applejack as they blew their tongues while holding the apples they stole. "There they are! Get back here, ya thievin' varmints!" Applejack began racing after them.

"Aww… That was such a sweet story!" Sweetie Belle commented.

"Sweet? Try sappy."Scootaloo climbed on to her scooter and mocked a gag. "Come on! We've got to find Rainbow Dash and hear the cool way to get a cutie mark."

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle climbed into the wagon and Scootaloo sped off. I followed them for several more feet until I heard them scream. I quickly rushed over to them and noticed that Scootaloo had to suddenly brake once more, causing them to fly out of the ride. I ran up to them to make sure if they were alright.

"All right, little ones. This way. This way." I heard another familiar sweet voice. I looked to see Fluttershy directing several chicks across the road. Fluttershy noticed me and instantly grew a wide smile. "Alex!" She rushed over to me and hugged me, almost dropping me towards the ground.

"Hey, Fluttershy…" I responded as Fluttershy kept her forelegs around me.

"You really should be more careful." Fluttershy advised the girls behind me. "Somepony could get hurt. Why are you in such a hurry anyway?"

"We're trying to find Rainbow Dash, so we can hear how she earned her cutie mark." Scootaloo answered.

"Oh…" Fluttershy replied as she slowly pulled away from me. "…that would be interesting. You know, I wouldn't have gotten my cutie mark if it weren't for her."

Fluttershy surprised me a bit with her answer.

"Rainbow Dash? Really?" Scootaloo excitedly asked.

"Oh yes. It all started at Summer Flight Camp." Fluttershy began her story. "You'd never guess, but when I was little I was very shy. And a very weak flyer. When I was practicing my flying, I accidentally messed up and got myself tangled in one of the flags. These two other boys saw me and began making fun of me.

'Nice going, "Klutzershy"! They outta ground you permanently.' One of them, who was named Dumb-bell, laughed.

'HA! My baby brother can fly better than you!' His friend Hoops joined. It was the most humiliating moment of my life…"

As Fluttershy continued with her story, I could only grow a little angry inside of me, guessing that it might have been those boys who were messing with Rainbow Dash at the Best Young Flyer's competition.

"And then, out of nowhere... Rainbow Dash had flown to my side.

'Leave her alone!' She said.

'Ooh, what are you gonna do, "Rainbow Crash"?' Hoops told Rainbow Dash.

'Keep making fun of her and find out!' Rainbow Dash aggressively responded to him.

Eventually, Rainbow Dash got into a race against them. I was the pony who was starting the race. As soon as I waved that flag, they began flying at top speed, making me fall off the cloud I was standing on top of. I could see myself falling straight towards the ground. I thought that was the end of me since I could hardly fly…but then the most wonderful thing happened! All these butterflies caught me! I had never seen such beautiful creatures. Butterflies don't fly as high as my cloud home. And I've never been near the ground before.

' What is this place

filled with so many wonders?'" Fluttershy began singing a song.

"'Casting its spell

That I am now under

Squirrels in the trees

and the cute little bunnies

Birds flying free

and bees with their honey

Hooneeeeey!

Oooh, what a magical place

and I owe it all to the Pegasus race

If I knew the ground had so much up its sleeve

I'd have come here sooner, and never leave

Yes, I love everythiiiiiiiiiing!'" Fluttershy finished her song. She noticed me gazing at her after hearing her beautiful voice. She blushed for a moment and continued her story.

"Anyways… there was this large burst of rainbow in the sky, causing a very loud boom which scared all the animals. However, I walked over to each one of them and told them it was okay. Somehow, I had the ability to communicate with the animals on a different level."

"Wait, wait, wait. What happened to Rainbow Dash? What about the race?" Scootaloo instantly asked.

"Oh. Well, I wasn't there, so I don't really know what happened." Fluttershy responded as she lay down near several butterflies, which also referenced her cutie mark.

"Come on, Crusaders. We've gotta find her. Besides, I can't take any more singing." Scootaloo called out to Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, who climbed on into the cart.

"Maybe my sister knows where she is." Sweetie Bell offered. "Bye, Fluttershy!" She exclaimed as Scootaloo sped off with her scooter again.

"Bye, girls!" Fluttershy replied as they left. She looked over at me and smiled. "So, how are you doing, Alex?"

"I'm okay…" I paused for a moment and then remembered last night. "Listen, Fluttershy…I'm really sorry for how I left last night…I feel really bad about it."

"Oh, don't worry about it, Alex." Fluttershy gave me another quick hug. "I'm just glad you're doing alright."

"T-Thanks…" I responded with some nervousness in my voice. In the silence that followed, I realized that the girls had gone off without me, and I was significantly behind. I gasped slightly. "Sorry, Fluttershy, but I have to catch up to the girls. I don't want them to get hurt."

Fluttershy waved her hoof. "It's okay. Make sure they're alright. We can see each other later this afternoon at Sugarcube corner…if you have time…"

"Of course. I'll meet you right after I'm finished watching the girls. Later, Fluttershy…"

Fluttershy smiled and waved her hoof.

I turned around and began to immediately run towards where they rushed off.

Following the scooter imprints on the ground, it let me towards Rarity's shop. I opened the door to see Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle being used for dresses.

"How did we get roped into this?" Scootaloo groaned. "Oh, we'll never hear Rainbow Dash's story."

"Are you girls still obsessing over your cutie marks?" Rarity asked.

"Of course! Most other fillies at school already have theirs." Sweetie Belle answered.

"Mmm, I know how you feel. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why I didn't have mine." Rarity noticed me walking towards them. "Oh, Alex! You're just in time to hear how I received my cutie mark!" She gestured towards her. "Come! Come! Sit down!" I walked over to them and sat down, beginning to hear the story of Rarity.

"Well, you see…" Rarity began. "I was making the costumes for a play when I was your girls' ages. It was for the same school you three are attending right now. The costumes consisted of a group of fruit, a dandellion, a cake, a stack of hay, and a flower. However, I felt as if they could have still been much more fabulous!

'Well done, Rarity. Your costumes are very nice.' My teacher congratulated me on my effort.

'Nice? They need to be spectacular! And the performance is tomorrow!' I said, wanting to do everything I can to improve my costumes.

The next day, I tried every trick I could think of, but nothing seemed to work. The costumes just weren't right. And the play opened that night. When I was at the point of doubting myself in being into fashion, my horn suddenly began glowing and moving me! I had no idea where my horn was taking me. But unicorn magic doesn't happen without a reason. I knew this had to do with my love of fashion and maybe even my cutie mark! I knew that this was... MY DESTINY! At first, I couldn't believe that my horn had led me to a mere humongous rock. It wasn't until an explosion of rainbow flew throughout the sky. It had split the rock in half revealing many gems! There were so many gems; I could hardly stare away from their beauty!

That night, at the play, I had coated the costumes with gems. Everypony in the audience was amazed at what an amazing job I had done! I looked at my flank and there it was! My cutie mark!"

"Ugh! These namby-pamby stories aren't getting us any closer to our cutie marks!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "They're all about finding who you really are and boring stuff like that."

I narrowed my eyes at Scootaloo's comment.

"Yes, Scootaloo, that's exactly..." Rarity tried to explain.

"Come on, girls! We need action! We need Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo pushed them out the door.

I looked over to Rarity. "Sorry about that Rarity… but you know Scootaloo…"

"Oh no worries, Alex." Rarity chuckled. "How about you? Did you like my story?" She asked.

"Um…yeah…it was nice…"

"Care to tell me how you got your cutie mark?" She asked, pointing her hoof at my flank.

I immediately grew shocked and tried to excuse myself out of the shop. "Um… sorry. I-I don't have time…I need to watch the girls. Uh…maybe…another time…uh…bye…"

I rushed out the door, only hearing Rarity respond, "Bye…" in a concerned and confused tone.

The next stop was outside at a table. I guess Twilight must have gotten the girls to come over to her while I was still at Rarity's. By the time I arrived there, Twilight was already telling her story to the girls. Scootaloo was the only one who looked bored as she sighed and threw her head on her hooves. Twilight noticed me and motioned me to come to the table. I followed and sat near the girls.

"As a young filly in Canterlot, I always wanted to go to the Summer Sun Celebration, where Princess Celestia raises the sun." Twilight spoke. "And I saw the most amazing, most wonderful thing I've ever seen. After seeing Princess Celestia's spectacular appearance, I poured myself into learning everything I could about magic. Thus, I spent every day and night reading through my books, learning many new things! My parents decided to enroll me in Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. It was a dream come true! Except for one thing... I had to pass an entrance exam! I had to hatch a baby dragon from an egg!

'Well, Miss Sparkle?' I could hear the voice of one of the examiners pressure me. I instantly grew nervous. I had no idea what to do! I could only sweat like crazy and try my best. I continued to try to pass it but I just couldn't get my magic to work!

'We don't have all day.' The examiner said, making me even more nervous!

I knew this was the most important day of my life, that my entire future would be affected by the outcome of this day and I was about to blow it!

After trying so much, I finally gave up. 'I'm sorry I wasted your time.' Was what I told the examiners as I could only feel so depressed at my failure…

All of a sudden, this explosion sounded from outside! It scared me so much that magic shot out from my horn and towards the egg! The egg broke, releasing a baby dragon. I screamed as I suddenly lost control of all my magic! I had no idea what was going on! I had never been more scared of anything in my life! It wasn't until the Princess placed her hoof on me. When I saw her, I instantly calmed down. All the bad magic I had caused was undone.

'Twilight Sparkle.' The Princess called my name.

I immediately grew afraid, apologizing greatly for the magic I had caused, but the Princess didn't scold me.

'You have a very special gift.' What was the Princess said instead. 'I don't think I've ever come across a unicorn with your raw abilities.'

'Huh?'

'But you need to learn to tame these abilities through focused study.'

'Huh?' I couldn't believe it.

'Twilight Sparkle, I'd like to make you my own personal protege here at the school.'

'HUH?' I exclaimed, almost believing that it was all a dream.

'Well?' The Princess asked me.

I looked over to my parents to see them exciting nodding for me to accept her offer. 'YES!' I screamed out.

'One other thing, Twilight.' The Princess included.

'More?' I felt my excitement fall, but the Princess pointed her hoof towards my flank revealing such an amazing gift. My cutie mark!

yesyesyesyes yesyesyesyes yesyesyesyes yesyesyesyes"

Twilight was hopping excitedly around us.

"Okay, okay." Applebloom responded, wanting Twilight to cease her celebrating.

"We're happy for you, Twilight." Sweetie Belle added.

"Yeah, thrilled. Let's get out of here while we still can." Scootaloo, along with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, had walked away from the scene as I could only continue to stare at Twilight hop excitedly around the table screaming out "yes". I sighed and looked around and noticed how Twilight had attracted a crowd.

"...yesyes, YEEEES!" She screamed.

I moved in front of her and placed my hooves on her, calming her down. "Calm down, Twilight. Everypony is looking at you…" I told her softly. She lost her grin and stopped bouncing. She looked around to notice the crowd around us.

"Are you okay?" One of the passerbys asked.

Twilight giggled nervously. "Um... yes."

The crowd separated back into their own paths.

"Well… I better go catch up with the girls…" I told Twilight.

"Oh, can I come with you?" Twilight asked.

"Uh… sure, I guess."

"Great!"

As I began walking, looking for where the girls went, Twilight walked alongside me.

"So, what are the girls doing anyway?" Twilight asked.

"They're trying to find Rainbow Dash, so she can tell them how she got her cutie mark. However, they keep bumping into every other pony besides her."

"Rainbow Dash?" A voice exclaimed near us. We looked to our side to see Pinkie Pie bouncing. "If I was her, I'd be at Sugarcube Corner. Of course, if I was anypony, I'd be at Sugarcube Corner. Hey! I have an idea! Wanna go to Sugarcube Corner?"

"Uh…sure?" I replied, remembering that I would meet Fluttershy there anyway… she was probably there… along with the girls…maybe…

"YAY! Come with me and I'll tell you how I got my cutie mark!"

Twilight and I looked at each other and shrugged. As we walked with Pinkie Pie, she began telling us her story. "My sisters and I were raised on a rock farm outside of Ponyville. We spent our days working the fields. There was no talking. There was no smiling." She sighed. "There were only rocks. We were in the south field, preparing to rotate the rocks to the east field when all of a sudden... BOOM!" She shouted. "This huge rainbow exploded in the sky! When I saw it, I was so happy! I never felt joy like that before. It felt so good. I just wanted to keep smiling forever. And I wanted everyone I knew to smile too, but rainbows don't come along that often. I wondered, how else could I create some smiles? I spent that whole night and morning making a huge party for my family! When the sun rose up, I looked out the shed where the party was going to be at.

'Mom! I need you and dad and the sisters to come in. Quick!' I screamed out to my parents, excitedly.

When they came in, I shouted to them, 'Surprise! You like it? It's called... a party!'I made a huge grin! After seeing them tremble with fear, I lost my smile. 'Oh. You don't like it.' I continued to see them shake, seeing all the party stuff I did. Suddenly, they smiled like never before! 'You like it! I'm so happy!'

And that's how Equestria was made." Pinkie finished oddly.

Twilight and I remained silent until I finally broke it. "…what?" I questioned.

"Wait a minute… I heard an explosion too!" Twilight spoke.

"Look! We're here!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, forgetting about Twilight's comment and pointing to the cake shop. "Maybe on the way home I can tell you the story of how I got my cutie mark. It's a gem!" She walked towards the inside of the shop.

I looked over at Twilight with a confused expression on my face.

"Aah. Typical Pinkie." She giggled.

Twilight and I walked in to see Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy inside. Twilight went over to them while I walked over to Fluttershy, who was sitting on the stairs.

"Fluttershy." I greeted her.

"Alex! You made it!" She answered cheerfully.

"Of course…"

"Where are the girls?" She asked.

"Um… to be honest… I lost them…"

"Oh, don't worry! I'm sure they're on their way over here right now! Especially since Rainbow Dash is here."

Fluttershy was right as we heard an exclamation towards the door.

"Rainbow Dash! You're here!" Scootaloo exclaimed out loud.

"I hear you're looking for my cutie mark story?" Rainbow Dash answered as she walked over to the three little girls.

Scootaloo sighed. "You have no idea what I've been through today to hear that story." She immediately sat down to hear it.

Rainbow Dash gave them a grin and began her story. "It all happened during the race at Flight Camp, where I stood alone against all odds to defend Fluttershy's honor. As soon as the flag flashed, I began with an amazing burst of speed! I've never flown like THAT before. That freedom was unlike anything I've ever felt. The speed, the adrenaline, the wind in my mane... I liked it A LOT. Turns out the only thing I liked more than flying fast... was winning! Most ponies thought that the Sonic Rainboom was just an old mare's tail. But that day... The day I discovered racing... I proved that the legends were true. I made the impossible happen! And that, little ones, is how you earn a cutie mark."

"Wooooow..." was all the Cutie Mark Crusaders could reply with.

"Wait a second!" Fluttershy spoke up. "I heard that explosion. And I saw the rainbow too. Rainbow Dash, if you hadn't scared the animals, I never would have learned I could communicate with them and gotten my cutie mark."

"I heard that boom! And right afterwards there was this amazing rainbow that taught me to smile." Pinkie Pie added.

"When I got my cutie mark, I saw a rainbow that pointed me home." Applejack included. "I bet it was your sonic rainboom!"

"There was an explosion I could never explain when I got my cutie mark!" Rarity now exclaimed as well.

"This is uncanny! If that explosion didn't happen when it did, I would have blown my entrance exam. Rainbow Dash, I think you helped me earn my cutie mark too!" Twilight brought up.

"We all owe our cutie marks to you!" Pinkie Pie had tackled Rainbow Dash playfully to the ground.

"Do you realize what this means? All of us had a special connection before we even met." Fluttershy said happily.

"We've been BFFs forever and we didn't even know it!"

"Come here, y'all!" Applejack exclaimed and pulled all of us in for a group hug as they all presented, "AWWW!"

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle repeated the same thing until Scootaloo interrupted. "Ewwww... Gimme a break. Come on, Crusaders! Maybe we just need to try zip-lining again."

They began heading out the door as the girls continued the group hug until they suddenly became silent.

"Wait a minute…" Applejack said. "What about, Alex?"

They all pulled apart and looked at me. My heart started racing as I began feeling sweat form on my head.

"Yeah, Alex!" Pinkie Pie announced cheerfully. "Did you see the rainbow too? Did you?"

"I…uh…I…" I could hardly speak. I was so nervous that I could only switch my eyes toward each one of them. I remembered clearly…everything that happened when I got my mark… I did… I heard the rainbow explode… it was what changed me… what brought the trapped vigor in my heart to come out and stand up for itself… to all those kids… "Y-yeah…" I nervously replied.

"Well, come on! Tell us!" Rainbow Dash encouraged.

While I still felt their eyes stare at me, wanting to hear my story, I began feeling as if I was suffocating. I could hardly breathe as I was very nervous. My whole body was shaking…shivering… Their eyes changed into worried ones as they mostly likely noticed that something was not right with me.

"…Alex?" Twilight asked, walking slowly towards me.

I could only back away slowly, feeling horribly claustrophobic. "I…I… I need some air!" I immediately rushed out the door and planted myself towards an open spot...a spot where no pony was at and where I can breathe in fresh air. I fell to the ground, breathing so deeply that I almost felt as if I was about to faint. I was still shaking like crazy… but I could feel the nervousness inside me slowly pass away. I placed my forelegs around my head and shut myself away from the town for a moment.

"Alex…" I heard a soft and sweet voice, sedating most of myself back to normal.

I pulled my head away from my forelegs and looked at the pony who called my name. "Fluttershy?" I weakly asked.

"What happened, Alex? Why did you run away like that?" Fluttershy asked, very worriedly.

"I…I can't…I can't do it…"

"You can't do what…?"

"My story… I can't relive it…"

"…What do you mean…?"

I remained silent for a moment. Afterwards, I sighed and looked over to Fluttershy. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell anypony how I got my mark…"

"Oh…okay…" Fluttershy lowered her head. "What about you? Are you alright?"

I took another deep breath and stood up, walking towards Fluttershy. "…I'm fine now…"

"Thank goodness…" Fluttershy gave a sigh of relief and hugged me warmly. "You scared all of us badly."

"Sorry…" I apologized.

"Come on." Fluttershy pulled away. "Let's return to our friends."

I slightly nodded. "…Alright."

We returned to the inside of the shop where all the ponies were waiting worriedly.

"I'm sorry everypony…" I apologized. "…for scaring you. It's just that… right now… I can't tell my story… at least for right now… and before any of you ask why… it's just that…" I sighed. "It's too much to deal with…"

"Aw, we're sorry that we asked you…" Applejack apologized.

"Yeah… we just wanted to know so bad…" Pinkie Pie added.

"But, if you're uncomfortable of expressing your story…" Rarity said. "We understand…"

"We can wait until you're ready." Twilight finished.

"Thanks, girls…" I thanked.

"Until then…" Twilight began as she used her magic to bring a letter and pen. "Dear Princess Celestia, Today I learned something amazing. Everypony everywhere has a special magical connection with her friends, maybe even before she's met them. If you're feeling lonely and you're still searching for your true friends, just look up in the sky. Who knows? Maybe you and your future best friends are all looking at the same rainbow."

After, Twilight rolled up the letter and looked outside the window. Everypony followed, except Pinkie Pie, who ran into the kitchen. A moment later, she came back out with a tray of cupcakes. "Hey everypony! I've got cupcakes!"

Everypony looked back at smiled. They each grabbed a cupcake off the tray and began enjoying the treat, together.

"Aren't you going to grab one?" Fluttershy asked me, presenting the cupcake.

"Um… no thanks…" I replied, rubbing the back of my head with my hoof. "Actually, I think I'm going to head off to bed now…"

"Why? Is something wrong?" Fluttershy quickly questioned.

"No… no… I'm just really tired… that's all…"

"Oh…okay…"

"I can stay to walk you home if you want, though…"

"No, it's okay. I can go home by myself. I don't want to keep you if you're really tired…"

"Alright… well I'll see you later. Okay, Fluttershy?"

"Mmk…"

We walked towards the outside of the shop and noticed the stars above us. We actually spent some time looking at them. After a moment, we looked back at each other.

"Goodnight, Alex." Fluttershy said, and moved her head towards the side of me, planting a kiss on my cheek.

"Goodnight, Fluttershy." I responded. Before she turned to walk back inside, I surprised her by giving her a hug. This instantly brought a smile onto her face. When I pulled away, she was blushing and her eyes drifted away from me. Soon, she brought them back to me and hugged me once more. After, she gave me a wave with her hoof. I returned the wave and she began returning to the shop as I walked towards my home.

When I arrived back home, I threw myself on the bed. I thought about what happened at the cake shop…

What if I did tell them the story… how would they react? Would they laugh or make fun of me? No…they wouldn't do that… I mean… would they? They don't seem like the ponies to something horrible like that… but still… there's still that fear of experiencing it all over again… experiencing that fateful day at the playground which transformed me into something more…

Owl's Well That Ends Well

Episode 24 – Owl's Well That Ends Well

A rapid, yet gentle knocking at my door woke me up. I looked out the window and noticed how the sky was a light orange color. I supposed it was early morning or sunrise. I got off from the bed and walked down the stairs to the front door. After opening it, I saw Fluttershy with a beautiful smile on her face.

"Hi, Alex." She greeted.

"Hey, Fluttershy…you're up early…" I responded.

"Early…?" She looked around. "It's almost evening."

"What?" My eyes widened in shock. I looked behind her towards the sky to check the sky again. Then I realized that it was actually sunset instead of sunrise. I placed my hoof on my face and sighed. "Sorry… my mistake…"

Fluttershy giggled. "Have you been asleep this whole time?" She asked.

"Yeah… I guess so…"

"No wonder I hadn't seen you around town. I was worried you might have been sick or something."

"Well, I'm alright… so what's up? You seem excited."

"I am! Guess what's going to happen tonight!"

I thought about it for a moment. Afterwards, I shrugged. "I have no idea."

"A meteor shower!" She cheerfully answered.

"Meteor shower?" I questioned.

"It only happens once out of every hundred years, so we're really lucky to see it for ourselves."

"That sounds…well…great. And you said tonight?"

"Mmhm, which is in a couple of hours. You're coming, right? It would definitely not be the same without you."

I thought how watching the meteor shower would be with Fluttershy. As soon as that thought came into mind, my heart instantly began feeling great and warm. "Of course, Fluttershy."

"Yay! I'm so happy!" Fluttershy replied, happily, although softly. "Is there anything you want to bring with you?" She asked.

I thought for a moment. "Not really…"

"Then, let's go!" She grabbed my hoof and lightly pulled me out of my home. After, we began walking towards the area where everypony, especially us, were going to gather for the meteor shower.

Fluttershy had hummed softly as we arrived at the spot. There were already several ponies around the area, talking excitedly about the show. We saw Rainbow Dash and Rarity as we walked upwards the hill. On each side, Applejack and Rarity were coming with their little sisters while Scootaloo was glued to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash turned around and spotted us. She grew a wide grin and flew over to us.

"Hey, guys. How's it hanging? Come to watch the meteor shower?" She asked.

"Yes!" Fluttershy responded. "I bet it's going to be so amazing."

Beside us, Spike suddenly appeared and began setting up a picnic blanket, along with a bowl of fruit and punch. Rainbow Dash lowered her head and grabbed an apple with her teeth. She took a bite and gulped. "Wow, Twilight! You're lucky to have such a rad assistant. I wish I had someone to do whatever I told them."

Scootaloo had walked over to us and bounced up and down. "Ooh! Ooh! Me! Me! Me! I'll do whatever you want, Rainbow Dash!"

"Oh yeah, pipsqueak?" Rainbow Dash looked over to her slyly. "How about taking out the trash?" She tossed the remainder of the apple in front of Scootaloo.

"Yes ma'am!" Scootaloo exclaimed and picked up the apple with her teeth, running off.

Rarity walked over to us with Sweetie Belle as Scootaloo ran away. "Do we have Spike to thank again for this amazing spread? Isn't he simply amazing?" Rarity faced Spike which led all the other ponies to give their attention to him.

"Oh, come on." Spike responded, bashfully. There was a pause. Spike looked at us a little irritated. "I said come on."

Pinkie Pie immediately began nudging Spike on his head. "Little Spikey-wikey! Who knew that big ferocious dragon started off so cutesy wootsy?"

"Spike, you are such a little star that I had to make a little bow tie for you." Rarity presented a big tie, which was studded in gems. She placed the tie on Spike using her magic.

"Gosh. You guys are embarrassing me." Spike replied. "Stop it." There was another pause. "Twilight and Alex, your turn." He pointed as us.

I gave him an inexpressive look as I narrowed my eyes at him. He must have understood my silence, so he quickly shifted his eyes toward Twilight.

"Spike, that's enough." Twilight answered clearly but nicely.

"All right. That's enough."

"Hey, everypony!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "The show is starting!"

The girls immediately rushed over to the front while Applebloom stood on her sister's back, and Sweetie Belle climbed on to her sister's back. Fluttershy and I looked at each other for a moment and moved over to the front as well. We took a seat together and began observing the sky. As soon as the meteor shower began, everypony already released awes as each spec of light fell down in the sky. As the awes continued, I had received an unexpected surprise. Fluttershy laid her head gently on my shoulder. I was startled for a moment until I turned my head around to look at her. She was happily observing the night sky as I saw the reflection of light in her eyes. My eyes motioned to understanding ones and I slowly turned my head back towards the sky to continue watching the amazing show.

I felt so peaceful… I felt really… warm inside… especially as Fluttershy kept her head on my shoulder. I really felt amazing when she did that… I'm not sure why… but maybe it's because I feel as if I'm protecting her? I shrugged mentally and allowed Fluttershy to continue resting her head on my shoulder as the meteors continued to shower all over Equestria. However, despite the amazing mood Fluttershy and the shower placed me in, I couldn't help but wonder if they were watching it too… I wondered if they even noticed I was gone or even cared…? I sighed, mentally. Probably not…

After the shower finished, the girls and I gathered in the picnic Spike had set up and began having treats on there. Pinkie Pie was happily munching on one of the chocolate cookies, leaving many crumbs on her mouth. Fluttershy dipped her head in the cookie bowl and lightly grabbed a cookie with her teeth. As Fluttershy began munching on the other cookie, Pinkie Pie pressed her hoof towards the bowl, causing the rest of the cookies inside to jump up and fall straight towards her mouth.

"Mmm. Wow! These cookies are deeleesh!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"Spike made them. Speaking of, Spike, can you bring us some punch?" There wasn't an answer. Pinkie Pie and Twilight looked around with a questionable expression. "Spike?" Twilight called again.

We heard an echoed snore near us. We turned our heads to see Spike's head in the punch bowl as he snored loudly, soundly asleep.

"Ooh, poor little thing." Rarity announced.

"Aww... He's worked himself to the bone." Twilight added.

"And now the punch has been... spiked!" Pinkie Pie joked, causing the other girls to laugh happily.

After their moment of laughter, Twilight sighed happily and walked over to Spike to pick him up. "Well, I better get him home and put him in bed. It was fun watching the meteor shower with you guys!"

The girls exclaimed "Bye!" to Twilight and everypony as they departed back towards their homes.

I began walking Fluttershy towards her cottage, safely. When we neared her home, I began feeling cool breezes press against my body.

"Thanks for bringing me to the meteor shower, Fluttershy…" I told her at her door. "I thought it was amazing…"

"Me too…" Fluttershy responded softly and sweetly. "Tonight was so fun being with you and the other ponies."

I nodded. "Well… I guess I better head home now…"

Suddenly, a huge gust of wind blew at us, covering my body in coldness and making it shiver afterwards.

"It's so cold…" Fluttershy announced, shivering herself as well. "Are you sure you can make it home?"

"Yeah… I'll be fine…" I answered.

Another large cold wind blew through our manes.

"Come inside, you're staying here for tonight." Fluttershy told me.

I walked inside as she held the door open. After, she securely closed them and I could already feel the warmth of the cottage… It felt great.

"Fluttershy, are you sure?" I asked.

Fluttershy formed a light smile. "We've been over this, remember? Besides, I don't want you to get sick…"

"Thanks, Fluttershy…"

"Have a seat on the sofa; I'll go make us some nice and warm tea." She said as she began walking towards the kitchen.

"That sounds great, Thank you." I responded as I sat myself on the sofa.

Moments later, Fluttershy returned with a tray of a kettle of tea with steam pouring from it, and two teacups besides it. Fluttershy carefully placed the tray on the table and poured tea into both of the teacups. After, she sat herself next to me and grabbed her teacup. I did the same, lightly blowing on the tea and taking a sip of it. I felt as the liquid warmed my tongue and traveled through my entire body, warming up every part of it.

"How is it?" Fluttershy asked me.

"It's amazing, thank you."

After we finished the tea, Fluttershy placed the tray back in the kitchen and grabbed several sheets, placing them on the couch.

"There you go… all toasty and warm." Fluttershy commented as she aligned the pillow and blankets perfectly.

"Thank you again, Fluttershy… I really appreciate all this…"

"Anytime, Alex…" Fluttershy smiled. "Is there anything else you need?" She asked.

"No, I'm fine. Thank you…"

"Well, I'll be in my room if you need anything… I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay…Goodnight…"

"Goodnight." Fluttershy smiled once more and began walking up the stairs towards her room, shutting the light off after her.

I slowly and carefully tucked myself inside the blankets. I felt really warm as I lay my head on the pillow. As I closed my eyes, I could still hear the sounds of the wind blowing outside.

When I awakened, I felt much warmer. I opened my eyes and noticed how I was looking at the back of the couch. I was about to stretch until I suddenly felt movement near me, causing me to remain still for a moment. I slowly turned around to see another body near me. After noticing the color of the body and mane…I realized it was…Fluttershy…

Not in a bad way but…what was she doing here…? I was surprised…but it felt…nice…to have her here with me…

Her back was facing me, so her front was facing outwards from the couch. I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't want to move because I thought it might wake her up. I remained still for a moment, but then I noticed how she didn't have anything covering her…poor thing… I grabbed my half of the blankets and lightly placed them over her. Afterwards, I lay back down and thought I could probably sleep a little longer until she woke up.

However, I thought about Fluttershy instead… She was so nice to let me stay… not only does she let me stay; she makes sure I'm comfortable enough. For some reason, she even allowed herself to be uncovered while I had the blankets… I wanted to express my gratitude so much to her… but a simple "thank you" wasn't enough…

Fluttershy began moving slightly. Then, she slowly sat up and turned her head towards me. She realized that I was awake and this caused her to be startled.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to wake you up…" She announced while her cheeks were slightly red.

"No, it's okay… I was already awake…" I responded as she began looking at the sheets while she rubbed her left foreleg with her hoof, shyly. "I don't mean this in a bad way…but… why did you come sleep here?"

Fluttershy began looking a little embarrassed. "Well… my room got really chilly…" She continued to rub her foreleg. "…and I was really cold… so I came down here and it was warmer than upstairs… I thought it might have been alright to sleep here…but maybe I should have asked you… I'm sorry…"

"Don't be." I instantly sat up and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "I would have been alright with it… I mean… you're so nice to let me stay here because you don't want something to happen to me from the weather… you shouldn't even have to ask me… I wish I could somehow thank you for all this."

Fluttershy grew a light smile. "You don't have to… it's enough being with you." She suddenly widened her eyes in shock after saying those words, and she turned around in embarrassment as her cheeks blushed.

I didn't really understand why she did that… but her words did make me feel a little warmer and better inside… I moved to the edge of the couch and sat by her as she continued to look away, embarrassingly.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

Fluttershy rubbed her hoofs. "N…no…"

"Are you sure?"

After a moment, Fluttershy turned her head towards me and smiled. "I'm fine, really." She sat up from the couch and held out her hoof towards me. "Come on; let's go see what the others are doing." I grabbed her hoof, allowing her to help me up. We made the blankets neatly and placed them on top of the couch.

Fluttershy and I began walking out of the cottage and towards the town.

"So did you have a nice sleep?" Fluttershy asked me.

"Yeah… thanks to you." I replied, still wanting to somehow express my gratitude with more than a "thank you".

Fluttershy smiled lightly.

We had spotted Twilight, along with Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack, having a conversation near her home. We walked towards them as they had just finished sharing a laugh with each other.

"Hey!" Twilight greeted us. "I have to introduce Owloysius to you both!"

"Owloysius…?" I questioned with a confused expression on my face.

"Yeah! See?" She turned her back towards us, presenting a furry little creature.

"Oh, what a fantastical, fluffelicious feathery little friend!" Pinkie Pie commented. "I'm... HOOked!"

Everypony laughed.

"He's just wonderful." Fluttershy added.

"'He's just wonderful.'" We heard a mocking voice above us, causing us to turn our heads toward it. There, up on a tree, we saw Spike lying down on a branch reading a book. He noticed us stare at him. "Uh, yes. Wonderful. He's quite... the charmer." Spike ended with an irritated tone to his comment.

"And Owloysius is just such a star I just had to make this little bow for you." Rarity pulled out another bow studded with gems and placed it on the owl. It looked just like the bow that Rarity had given Spike the night before. The owl looked down to observe the bow for a second, and then looked back at Rarity with no significant change in his expression.

Spike had seen that and immediately filled his face with redness that he stormed back into the library and slammed the door shut.

"What's he all saddle sore about?" Applejack asked.

"He's probably just jealous of Owloysius." Rainbow Dash answered.

"Maybe Spike feels threatened or worried that Owloysius will replace him?" Fluttershy offered a suggestion. I turned to believe her because she did have a lot of experience and knowledge with animals…

"Replace him? Hah! That's crazy! Spike knows he can't be replaced." Twilight responded with confidence. "Well it's been fun talking with you guys, but I have to finish some work."

"Bye Twilight!" The ponies waved goodbye to her as she walked back inside the home with her owl.

"Hm…so what do y'all want to do next?" Applejack asked.

Pinkie Pie placed a hoof to her chin and thought for a moment. After, she threw it up to the air and answered. "Oooh!Oooh! Let's have some yummy treats over at Sugarcube Corner!"

"Pinkie Pie, is Sugarcube Corner all you think about?" Rarity asked.

"Well, duh! It's my favorite place in the whole wide world!" She hopped cheerfully and waved her forelegs to follow her. "C'mon guys! To Sugarcube Corner!" Pinkie Pie ran off as the rest of the girls looked at each other and giggled.

Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack walked in front of us as they giggled and talked happily to each other. However, I walked with Fluttershy, feeling a little uneasy about Spike's behavior. Fluttershy noticed my silence and looked at me with a questionable expression. "Is something bothering you, Alex?"

"Um… It's just the way Spike's acting… He seems really upset about the whole 'Owloysius' thing." I answered.

"Oh. I know what you mean… I think he just feels like Twilight's owl is going to replace him, but Twilight said that he knows he can't be replaced so… I'm pretty sure he'll get over it after having some time to think about it." Fluttershy released a warm smile afterwards.

"Hm…" I still couldn't help but feel a bad feeling about it.

We arrived at Sugarcube Corner where Pinkie Pie was already baking batches of cupcakes and sweet treats. The girls and I sat down at one of the tables.

"Oh, can you believe it?" Rarity began exclaiming. "The Gala is so close!" She gave a sigh of happiness. "I can't wait to meet the Prince. I'm sure he'll be everything I've dreamed of!"

"And I can't wait to make all the money from selling my apple treats so I can do a heap of fixin' for Sweet Apple Acres! And if I have any bits left over, I can use it for something for us." Applejack shared the excitement as well and winked at us.

"Impressing the wonderbolts is all I dream about!" Rainbow Dash added. "Imagine me! With the wonderbolts! I can already see it now!"

"Didn't you already impress the wonderbolts at the Best Young Flyers' Competition?" I replied. "You saved not only Rarity, but them as well, and did the sonic rainboom. I don't think anypony can pass that."

Rainbow Dash blushed slightly. "Hehe, yeah. But getting into the wonderbolts is hard since it's an elite team of acrobatic ponies and all…"

"Well… whatever you have to do… I'm sure you'll make the team if you really put your mind to it. It seems the sonic rainboom would have been an instant approval."

"Heh, thanks… What about you guys?" Rainbow Dash directed towards Fluttershy and me. "What are you ponies planning on doing at the Gala?"

Fluttershy and I looked at each other for a moment, and then back at the girls awaiting our answer. "Actually, we're—

Fluttershy and I stopped ourselves when we realized we were speaking at the same time. We looked at each other, which led to Fluttershy to begin blushing and looking slightly away.

"So?" The girls asked excitedly, feeling as if the words we were about to speak were really important.

Fluttershy looked as if I should tell them the news, so I turned to face the girls. "Um, we were planning on going to the Gala together…"

Every one of the girls, even Pinkie Pie, who was at the counter in the kitchen baking treats, gasped loudly.

"You mean… as a date…?" Rarity questioned in the silence.

"Um…" I looked over to Fluttershy, who was blushing even more to the point where she would definitely be unable to answer the question. "…yeah…"

There was a long awkward pause as the girls just stared at us with widened eyes. Suddenly, they all cheered about it.

"Oh, I bet you two are going to look so cute together at the Gala!" Rarity exclaimed.

"Um…" I felt a little uncomfortable about the situation. It's wasn't because I was going with Fluttershy… it's just that… this whole "date" thing was a bit of a problem for me. I really had no idea what a date was supposed to be… like I didn't know what you were supposed to do or act or anything… I'm just hoping Fluttershy understands and maybe she would be able to direct me through it…

"Here you go!" Pinkie Pie dropped the tray of cupcakes in front of us and returned to the kitchen to bake something else.

The girls were about to question or bring up something else about Fluttershy and I going to the Gala together, but Applejack immediately interrupted them when she realized something.

"Wait, y'all!" She exclaimed. She looked over to Pinkie Pie, who was busy placing something else in the oven. She waved her hoof in a motion to bring our heads closer to her at the table. Once our heads were close enough, she looked at us with almost worried eyes. "What about Pinkie Pie's birthday…?" She whispered.

"Birthday? Oh dear, I almost forgot!" Rarity exclaimed, but in a whispered tone so Pinkie Pie wouldn't hear.

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash added. "Her birthday is before the Gala. We have to throw her a surprise party before worrying about the Gala!"

Pinkie Pie had walked over to the table to place some plates with pieces of cake. "Watcha guys talking about?" She asked.

"Uh…" Applejack tried to answer. "We were talkin' 'bout…"

"About…how much we love parties!" Rainbow Dash answered, most likely with the first thing that came to her mind, as Rarity smiled nervously at Pinkie Pie.

"Yes, parties!" Rarity emphasized.

"Oh really?" Pinkie Pie asked excitedly. "What kind of parties?"

The girls looked at each other confusingly for a moment.

"…uh…regular parties?" Rainbow Dash guessed at the question.

"Awesome! Regular parties are classic!" Pinkie Pie responded with a gleeful cheer.

"PINKIE PIE!" We heard a voice outside.

Pinkie Pie looked back and walked over to the door. "Oh, hiya, Spike!"

The girls gave sighs of relief.

"Pinkie Pie, I need a quill! Do you have one?" Spike asked.

"I swore I had one here somewhere." Pinkie Pie began searching through the drawers and cabinets. "Ah, here it is! A quince!" She threw it outside towards Spike.

"Not a quince." Spike kicked the quince and continued his pursuit for a quill. "A quill!"

"Right. A quail?" She threw out a quail, which brought me to think why in Equestria would she have a quail? "A quilt!" She threw out a quilt, covering Spike's body. "A quesadilla?" She also threw the piece of food out the door, causing Spike to sigh in frustration. "Aha! A quiche!" She threw out the other piece of food, pronouncing the name phonetically.

"Not a quiche." Spike pronounced correctly. "A quill!"

"Nope. Sorry. All outta quills." Pinkie Pie finally got right.

Spike sighed again. "Shoot." He grabbed a piece of the quiche and took a bite of it. "Well, thanks for your help Pinkie, I need to hurry up and find a quill for Twilight."

"Okay, bye!" Pinkie Pie walked back towards us as Spike ran off. "Well, everypony… dig in!" Pinkie Pie began munching on the cupcakes and cake as we ate our own pieces.

"You know…" Fluttershy spoke. "Since today's such a pretty sunny day. We could have a tea party outside my cottage."

"Oh, that sounds splendid!" Rarity exclaimed. "I'll go freshen up." Rarity began leaving the shop and returning to her own place.

Every other pony agreed and began departing.

However, before they left, Pinkie Pie looked over at the remaining treats and called over to them. "Hey, don't you ponies want the rest of these delicious cupcakes?" She asked. When the other girls politely declined, Pinkie Pie responded happily. "Well, more for me!" She grabbed all the cupcakes and stuffed them in her mouth, giggling afterwards.

Fluttershy and I walked out the shop.

"Are you coming with me?" Fluttershy asked.

"Sure, I'll help you set up." I responded, walking us to Fluttershy's cottage.

"That's sweet… Thank you."

"Anything to help you…"

Fluttershy presented another soft, sweet, and shy smile.

When we arrived, Fluttershy began making the tea while I grabbed a few blankets and placed them lightly on the soft grass outside. I could hear many of Fluttershy's pets speak. Birds chirped, chickens clucked, mice squeaked… well many of the animals seemed to be having a good day outside. I've got to admit… it was a nice day to be outside… being with friends… I grabbed several pillows and carefully and neatly placed them around the area the tea party was to be.

Fluttershy walked out of the cottage with a tray of a tea kettle in the middle and several teacups around it. She carefully placed the tray on the blanket and looked at me. "Great job on setting the blankets, Alex."

"Thank you, Fluttershy…"

We heard hooves plant on the ground as they walked. We turned around to see Applejack walk over to us while Rainbow Dash flew and Pinkie Pie bounced positively toward us.

"Hello, girls." Fluttershy greeted them. "Have a seat over here; I'll pour some tea for you all in a minute."

"Sure thing, Fluttershy!" Applejack replied.

"I brought some cookies too!" Pinkie Pie added as she bounced toward the pillow.

After, we saw Rarity walking towards us with a familiar companion by her side.

"Hello, Rarity. I see you brought Opal with you?" Fluttershy commented.

"Of course, Opal wouldn't miss this for the world!" Rarity responded, to which her cat hissed at afterwards. Rarity didn't seem to notice this reaction as she walked over to the blanket with tea and her pet walked with rather more pride on the way.

Finally, we saw Twilight arrive at the party… but she had a disappointed look on her face…

"Hello, Twilight." Fluttershy looked around Twilight but only noticed Owloysius on her back. "Where's Spike?" She asked.

"He's at home…" Twilight responded in an almost gloomily voice. "I'm very disappointed in him."

Fluttershy returned a light gasp. "Why?"

"I was on my way back towards home to bring him to the tea party after Rainbow Dash told me about it, but when I opened the door, I saw something that truly depressed me. He tried to deliberately set up Owloysius with some pathetic attempt…" She sighed. "He let his jealousy get the best of him…"

"Oh no… I'm sorry to hear that…" Fluttershy responded as we walked with Twilight to the blanket.

"It's alright… hopefully he has the time to think about what he's done. Hopefully, he'll learn how to get over his jealously of Owloysius."

"I hope so too." Fluttershy grabbed the tea and began to pour it in several different teacups. Afterwards, she passed one to everypony, including me.

As everypony began talking about different things, I could only stay silent and think back on Spike's behavior. He is really upset about Owloysius's position… what if after seeing Twilight's reaction to his "pathetic attempt" totally breaks him? What if it causes him to do something he will regret later on?

"Alex, is something on your mind?" Fluttershy had broken me out of the trance I was currently in.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Is something on your mind?" Fluttershy repeated.

"Oh… uh…" I finished the tea in the teacup and lightly placed it back on the tray. "I need to go check up on something really quick… I'll be back in a while. Okay, Fluttershy?"

"Oh, okay, Alex. I'll see you in a while then."

I nodded and stood up. Afterwards, I began walking back into town.

I walked quickly over to Twilight's home. I knocked on the door and called out. "Spike?" There was no answer. I slowly opened the door and walked inside. The library was in total silence. I looked around and called out for Spike again, but received no answer. There was no baby dragon working in the home. I knew that every time Spike was alone at the home, he would always have something to do as Twilight's assistant, but this time… there was nothing…

"Oh no…" I whispered to myself.

I quickly ran out the door and looked around. I took a seat to quickly think about where he would go.

C'mon, think… if you'd run away, you would go to a…

I received an immediate answer which led me to begin running straight towards the Everfree Forest.

I continued running, not stopping at any cost, to find the baby dragon before anything horrible occurred. I searched through the forest for a specific spot Spike might have hidden away to. All of a sudden, it began raining, drenching my mane. But I didn't stop.

I continuously looked around the forest for any signs of Spike. I suddenly heard a loud and fierce roar nearby. I looked for where it came from and noticed a cave nearby. I immediately began sprinting towards that location, hoping I wasn't too late.

When I entered the cave, I quickly looked around and noticed an emerald-colored and huge dragon corner a baby dragon towards a dead end of a wall. Spike! Without hesitation, I galloped toward the dragon as its head moved closer to Spike. Right before it could burn Spike to a crisp, I charged towards the dragon and kicked it on its nose. Its head was pushed away and it began to grab its nose with its hands as I jumped over to the front of Spike.

"Leave him alone!" I ordered in a bold tone.

"Alex!" I heard Spike from behind me.

However, the green dragon roared fiercely at us and was about to swipe its deathly sharp tail at us but something inside me struck, causing a blinding light to emerge. The dragon was actually pushed back by some, but not as much as when Gilda had tried to attack me.

"Spike! Now's your chance! Run!" I commanded Spike.

He began running as the dragon's attention was turned towards me now, as I was its worst threat. The dragon took a swipe at me with its claws but I quickly ducked and ran under the dragon. It noticed this and tried to swing its tail at me, blindly. However, I quickly jumped and grabbed hold onto the tail. It quickly turned around, trying to spot its target. It knew that I was holding on to its tail, but it couldn't find me. After, it began trying to shake me off by shaking its tail wildly.

Eventually, I lost the strength significantly when I had to hold on to such a brute dragon's tail, so it threw me against the rocky wall, almost like when I was trying to save Rarity from those diamond dogs, but this time I didn't pass out. I was struggling, trying to push myself up from the ground, but the dragon had quickly regained its balance and walked towards me, very aggressively and ticked off.

I could hardly move as I began dealing with the pain of the impact. The dragon was preparing to do its attack at me. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to make it out of this one… I felt as it was all over until I heard a sudden noise.

"Uhoo!"

An owl had flown over to the dragon and attacked its face, distracting it. It was Owloysius! Afterwards, the dragon had tried to attack the owl with its sharp tail, but Owloysius had swiftly dodged each attempt. Owloysius created a smart move by having the dragon attack its own face with its own tail, severely hurting the dragon.

"Alex! Over here!" I heard Twilight's voice call for me. I looked over at the cave entrance and noticed Twilight there, waving for me. With all my strength and energy, I pushed myself up and began running towards Twilight. Owloysius had been distracting the dragon as I made my escape. When I reached up to Twilight, Spike was on her back. "C'mon!" She exclaimed. Owloysius flew out of the cave and began following us as we ran out of the area. We could feel the extreme heat the dragon created when it blew fire behind us.

We continued sprinting, but the dragon wasn't going to let us get away as easy as that. It was heavily sprinting behind us as well.

"It's too dark! I can't see!" Twilight exclaimed.

Owloysius had flown to the front of us and began directing us through the dark path. However, my body was too weak to be able to jump successfully over a log Twilight had jumped over. I had almost made it, but my remaining energy preventing me to do so, causing one my hooves to be caught by the log and fall. Twilight continued running as the dragon must have silenced my fall. I was panting heavily as I turned around to face the dragon. There was no time to get up and start over. I was too drained out now. The dragon had stopped and roared in frustration as it lost Twilight and the others. Eventually, the dragon spotted me as I could only feel myself at lost. It raised its claw to strike me while I could only place my foreleg in front of me and flinch, waiting for my defeat.

Suddenly, another bright light emerged. My eyes continued to remain closed as I breathed heavily. Am I… Am I…?

I slowly opened my eyes and noticed something different… I was in a different place… I looked around. There was no dragon in sight. I released a deep exhale and fell to the ground, panting.

"Alex!" I heard a shout of my name not too far away. I turned around and heard the call again. I slowly pushed myself up and began limping my way towards the voice. Slowly managing to walk through several trees, I came upon an open spot. There lay Twilight on the ground, sobbing quietly as Spike tried to comfort her. Owloysius could only stand on a tree branch with his eyes closed solemnly.

I continued limping towards her, releasing light grunts with each step. Twilight must have heard this because she immediately looked up and noticed me walking towards them.

"Alex!" She exclaimed and instantly began running towards me. She threw her arms around me for a hug, almost pushing me towards the ground because of my weak body.

"Easy, Twilight…" I replied, drained of energy.

"What happened? Where were you?" Twilight asked me in a worried tone.

"I don't know… I was too weak to go on and the dragon had caught up to me… but suddenly this light emerged and when I opened my eyes… I was somewhere else…"

"Are you hurt?" She pulled away and asked.

"I don't think so… I'm just in some pain."

Twilight placed her horn on me and did a spell. Afterwards, I felt a little better. I was at least able to walk.

"It's a light painkiller. It won't get rid of all the pain, but at least it will take some of it out."

"Thank you…"

Twilight had carried Spike as Owloysius and I walked towards Twilight's home.

When we arrived, I lay on the floor to try to rest a little while Twilight was questioning Spike.

"Spike. We were so worried about you. I was so worried about you. Why did you run away?"

"I thought you didn't need me anymore. And that you didn't love me anymore."

"Spike… Sure, I was disappointed, but you are my number one assistant! And friend. And you always will be. It's just that sometimes I need some help at night. I can't ask you to stay up late. You're a baby dragon and you need your rest. Owls are nocturnal. So I asked Owloysius to help. But not to take your place. No one could ever replace you, Spike. Not even when you are being a jealous numbskull." Twilight began returning to her happy self.

"I'm sorry, Twilight." Spike hugged Twilight. "I never should have been so jealous."

"And I'm sorry too, Spike. I should have been more sensitive."

"And Owloysius..." Spike walked over to Owloysius, who was sitting on top of a stand nearby. "I know now that you weren't out to take my job. Forgive me?"

"Hoo?" He answered.

"Me. Forgive me, Spike." Spike repeated.

"Hoo!" He repeated the answer as well.

Spike looked over to Twilight and shrugged.

Twilight giggled. "He forgives you, Spike."

"Hey! How did you guys know where I was?" Spike asked.

"It was your ketchup covered feet. Owloysius discovered your footprints and we followed them all the way to the cave." Twilight answered.

"Oh yeah, the ketchup. It looked pretty real though, didn't it?" Twilight returned an annoyed stare, causing Spike to chuckle nervously.

"I know Princess Celestia will wanna read about what happened today..." Twilight said as she walked over to the table with an empty scroll on it. Spike ran over to the table and grabbed the quill to begin the letter.

"I'm ready when you are." He answered.

Twilight opened her mouth to begin the letter, but instead she closed it when she realized something else. "Hey, Spike. Why don't you write to Princess Celestia? And tell her what you've learned?"

"Really? Why, that's a big responsibility!"

"I know. But nothing my number one assistant can't handle."

Spike smiled and began writing the letter. "Dear Princess Celestia, this is Spike, writing to you about my adventures. This week I've learned that being jealous and telling lies gets you nowhere in friendship. I also learned that there's plenty of love for every friend to share. So from here on out, I promise, that I, Spike, will..."

His head had suddenly dropped towards the letter as he began snoring loudly.

"Oh, Spike." Twilight announced.

"Hoo?" Owloysius replied.

"Who? Spike! You kno... Oooooh..." Twilight realized. She began giggling as she took Spike to bed.

I had stood up and walked over to Owloysius as he stared at me, though, not as creepy as Philomeena did, but in a friendly way. I looked towards him and spoke. "Thanks for saving me by the way Owloysius…"

"Hoo."

"Yeah…"

Twilight had walked back in the room moments later.

"Hey, Alex…" She spoke as she walked over to me.

"Oh, hey, Twilight." I replied.

"Thanks, for saving Spike… we'd probably be too late if it wasn't for you."

"Don't worry about it…"

Twilight released a smiled. "There's just one thing I'm wondering about…"

"What is it?" I asked.

"How did you know where Spike was?"

I looked away sadly and answered. "…Let's just say…it's something I've learned from the past…"

Twilight knew she could have easily questioned about my answer, but she somehow also knew that I didn't really want to talk about it. "Pull out your hoof." She said. I pulled out my hoof and she pulled out something with her magic and placed it on my hoof. It was a star that was neatly decorated as a light chain held it. "It's a good luck charm."

"A good luck charm?" I questioned as I held it up and observed it.

"Yup. I made it with magic for you a while back… I figured now is probably a good time to give it to you… you know… since you're my best friend and all…" I turned my head towards her. "And I don't just mean my best friend…" She continued. "I mean like… my best of best friends." She giggled.

"Really…?"

"Mmhm."

"Thanks, Twilight… I really appreciate it… I mean truly…"

"You're welcome, Alex…" She replied while giving a warm smile. "You deserve it."

I gave a light nod and held it in my hoof. "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow. It's late and I need to rest up after what had just happened…"

Twilight chuckled and gave me understanding eyes. "Of course… take care, Alex."

"You too…" I replied as I began heading out the door. "Good night…" I opened the door and closed it lightly behind me.

I walked over to my home to drop off Twilight's good luck charm. I walked up the stairs towards my room and walked over to my shelf. I placed the good luck charm carefully near the trophy and medal from the Running of the Leaves. After observing the charm in its place for a moment, I turned around and walked back downstairs, walking out the front door.

I headed towards Fluttershy's cottage.

When I arrived, I noticed the lights were still on. I knocked on the door. She opened them to see me.

"Oh, Alex! Where have you been? I was so worried you weren't going to come back."

"It's a long story… I'll tell you inside."

"Of course, come inside."

When I walked inside, she noticed how I walked differently than I usually did.

"Are you hurt, Alex?" She asked.

"How'd you know?"

"The way you're slightly limping…" She grabbed my hoof and led me toward the couch. She helped me lay down and covered me with blankets. I felt a lot better and comfortable.

"Thank you, Fluttershy."

"You're welcome." She took a seat near me. "Now, what happened to you?" She asked.

"Well…" I began explaining to her what happened. I told her how I had to excuse myself from the tea party because I felt a bad feeling about Spike. I told her how after realizing he had ran away from Twilight's home; I had raced through the Everfree forest to find him. I also told her what happened with the dragon and how Twilight and Owloysius came to save me. I told her basically everything that happened. At the end, Fluttershy had placed both her hooves on her mouth in shock. "Oh my goodness… I'm so glad you're alright." She embraced me but then pulled back suddenly. "Oh, I'm sorry! I'm not hurting you, am I?"

"No, it's alright. Twilight did a spell on me that lightly relieved the pain."

"Oh, good." She continued embracing me. "You're such a brave pony… I'll stay here all night with you, if you want…"

"You don't have to stay up, I'll be fine. We should both get some sleep."

Fluttershy smiled. "Okay…" She pulled away. "Well, I'll stay in my room this time so you can get some rest… it's not that chilly tonight anyway. Just remember to call me if you need anything…"

"I know… Goodnight, Fluttershy."

"Goodnight, Alex." She began walking towards her room, shutting the light after her.

I was really exhausted from the adventure of today, so I didn't really bother thinking too much. Instead, I closed my eyes and waited for my appointment with sleep.

Party of One

Episode 25 – Party of One

I peacefully woke up and looked around. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. My body felt much better. I think all the pain was gone… I heard some noise behind me. I turned my head to see Fluttershy tending to the birds in the cages. I turned my body around to step off the couch and fold the blankets.

"Are you feeling better?" Fluttershy asked me.

"Much better, thanks."

Fluttershy released a smile, but then was startled a bit when a sudden knock sounded on the door. We both walked towards the door and opened it. Pinkie Pie was there, looking very tired as she blew a festival horn and began singing weakly.

"This is your singing telegram

I hope it finds you well

You're invited to a party

'cause we think you're really swell

Gummy's turning one year old

So help us celebrate

The cake will be delicious

The festivities first-rate

There will be games and dancing

Bob for apples, cut a rug

And when the party's over

We'll gather 'round for a group hug

No need to bring a gift

Being there will be enough

Birthdays mean having fun with friends

Not getting lots of stuff

It won't be the same without you

So we hope that you say yes

So, please, oh please R.S.V.P

And come, and be our guest "

Afterwards, she fell to the floor, bringing down her pet Gummy, who was on her back, with her.

"Oh, my. Pinkie Pie, are you alright?" Fluttershy asked as I grabbed Pinkie Pie's hoof and pulled her up.

"Just…great." Pinkie replied in a raspy voice. She gave a weak smile and turned around to head back towards town. "See you…there…"

"A party…" Fluttershy turned to me. "That sounds like fun. Want to go?"

"Sure… but…um…"

"What is it?"

I thought for a moment and then shook my head. "Nothing. Never mind. Let's get going."

Fluttershy and I began walking towards Sugarcube Corner.

Once we arrived, Pinkie Pie greeted us, now fully restored in energy, and led us to the second floor of the cake shop, which was where she stayed. The room was filled with festivities, cake, punch, and decorations. Twilight and the other girls had made it a little earlier than we did.

Pinkie Pie ran off to dance with Twilight. Beyond them, lay a wide bucket filled with water and apples. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were dunking their heads in to bob for apples. Rarity had spotted Fluttershy with me and called her over.

Before leaving, Fluttershy looked at me. "Remember. It's a party with friends. Enjoy it!" Fluttershy released a warm smile to me and began walking over to Rarity to talk with her.

I looked around the party. I took a deep breath. With friends…just with friends… Fluttershy's right… but still… what do I do besides look?

I took another deep breath and started my attempt by walking over to Applejack and Rainbow Dash.

Applejack had just dunked her head in the bucket of water and brought it back up with an apple in her mouth. She threw it up in the air and caught it with her mouth and began chewing, giving Rainbow Dash a competitive look.

"Nice one!" Rainbow Dash commented. "Now, let me show you how it's really done."

Rainbow Dash was about to dunk her head in, but Pinkie Pie had come over to see what we were up to. "Hiya!"

"Hey, Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow Dash responded.

"Howdy!" Applejack added.

Pinkie Pie released a light squeal. "Just wanted to tell you how happy I am that you can make it to Gummy's party!"

"Are you kiddin'? Ah wouldn't have missed it for the world."

"Me neither. When Pinkie Pie throws a party, I am there!" Rainbow Dash threw her head in the water and pulled out an apple as well. "Ta-da!" She exclaimed as she held the apple in her teeth.

"Aw! It's just a boring old apple. Don't worry, there are plenty of other surprises in there!" Pinkie Pie assured.

Rainbow Dash immediately spat out the apple in her mouth which hit Applejack in the cheek. However, Applejack ignored the hit and managed to share the excitement with Rainbow Dash about the surprises. "What kind of surprises?"

"I can't tell you that, silly. Then it wouldn't be a surprise." Pinkie Pie began walking away, leaving Rainbow Dash and Applejack wanting to find out.

They both stared at the water for a moment and then dunked both their heads in unison. When Applejack brought up her head, she had a green apple in her mouth. However, the green apple was attached to the bucket by a spring, bringing Applejack's face forcefully back into the water. When Rainbow Dash pulled her head out, Gummy was clinging onto her face with his mouth. Applejack had noticed this when she had pulled her head back out and began giggling. Rainbow Dash swung her head to throw Gummy off her face. She turned towards me.

"Why don't you try, Alex?"

After witnessing the kind of "surprises" Pinkie Pie had in store for them, I flinched back and responded. "Uh…no thanks, I'm okay… I think I'll just get some punch."

"Suit yourself." They continued to dunk their heads back into the bucket anyway.

I walked over to the table with a bowl of punch and several glass cups. Pinkie Pie had walked by me to refill Rarity's chalice with more punch.

"This punch is simply divine. Is this the same recipe you used for your 'Spring Has Sprung' party?" Rarity asked.

"Nope! Something new." Pinkie Pie answered as Rarity continued to drink the punch with a straw. We noticed something inside the punch bowl. Gummy lay inside, motionless, as it stared back at Rarity with huge eyes. Rarity noticed this and widened her eyes. She spat out the punch she was drinking straight at Pinkie Pie's cheerful face. "It's Gummy's favorite." Pinkie Pie continued to reply, despite the punch that was dripping from her face. Rarity looked over to Twilight, who returned a worried and confused look. Rarity turned back to Pinkie Pie who remained smiling. Rarity gave a nervous smile and continued to drink some more punch, hesitantly. "Ooh, this is my jam!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed when a new song began playing and she immediately ran from the area.

Rarity had held the punch in her cheeks and instantly spat out the punch in a nearby plant when Pinkie Pie was out of her sight. After seeing that sight… I wasn't really in the mood for punch anymore…

I turned to look at the dance floor where Pinkie Pie had rushed towards to. Twilight and Fluttershy were now dancing happily as Pinkie Pie joined them.

"Having fun?" Pinkie Pie asked as they continued to dance in conversation.

"A blast!" Twilight answered.

"You always throw the best parties, Pinkie Pie." Fluttershy added.

"They're always the best parties 'cause my best friends are always there!" Pinkie Pie began dancing, accidentally bumping Twilight and Fluttershy out of the area. I had caught Fluttershy before she hit the wall. The two ponies were dizzy but regained their coordination quickly. "C'mon, everypony! Gummy wants to dance!" Fluttershy pulled me towards the circle the ponies had made around Gummy. She began dancing along with the other ponies around Gummy, but I stood there, confused and unknowing what to do. "Go, Gummy! It's your birthday! Go, Gummy! It's your birthday!"

I spent the rest of the time of the party trying to look as if I was enjoying myself like Fluttershy said… but I really had no clue of what to do. Most of the time, I excused myself to the outside, but I didn't stay out for long because I didn't want to worry any of them. I could have survived the party easily if I had known what I could have done. In my mind, I continued repeating what Fluttershy told me a thousand times… Enjoy it… It's a party with friends… Enjoy it… but all I did was stress over the idea instead of getting loose and having fun…

"Hey, Alex."

I was startled. I was standing near the punch bowl with a hoof to my cheek as I stared downwards, thinking about all the things having to with the party. Fluttershy had walked over to me with concerned eyes.

"Oh, hey, Fluttershy…"

"Is something the matter? You look like you're not having fun…"

"I'm just tired…"

"Tired…? But…you've just been walking around the party… I haven't seen you have any fun…"

I remained silent; I didn't know what to say.

"It's okay. I'm doing fine." I responded with whatever I could manage to think of. I looked out the window and noticed the moon was out. "Actually… I'm a little sleepy. I think I'll head to bed." I began walking towards the door as Fluttershy followed me.

When we were outside, I looked over to her. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

She nodded, but then she realized something. "Oh!" She moved her head closer to mine and whispered to me. "It's Pinkie Pie's birthday tomorrow, so we're planning to have a surprise party for her at Applejack's barn that afternoon." She slightly pulled away. "Do you think you could help us?"

I nodded. "Yeah…I'll help you girls. Until then… Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Fluttershy hugged me and turned back to the building, glancing back to wave.

I returned a slight wave and headed towards my home.

When I arrived, I lightly placed myself on my bed and closed my eyes. I wasn't really that sleepy… but I just didn't want to keep Fluttershy worrying about me…especially when I don't have anything to say… Regardless, I sighed and tried to see if I could sleep anyway.

I woke up due to a loud knock at my front door. I sleepily crawled out of bed and walked sluggishly towards the front door. When I opened it, I saw Pinkie Pie bouncing excitedly.

"Here's your invitation!" She lowered her head towards me, presenting a basket of invitations. I grabbed one with my teeth and opened the letter to read the contents inside. You're invited to "Gummy's After-Birthday" party. This afternoon at 3 o'clock. Pinkie Pie continued to bounce up and down, very excitedly. "All our bestest friends are invited, and there's gonna be dancing, and games, and cake, and ice-cream, and punch!"

I remembered how Fluttershy told me that they were going to set up Pinkie Pie's birthday party for this afternoon… I can't tell Pinkie Pie that I'll be able to go…

"Oh…sorry, Pinkie Pie. I won't be able to make it…"

"Aw. Why not?" She ceased her bouncing.

"I… I think I'm getting sick." I made a few fake coughs.

"Aw. I understand, it's okay! I'll still be able to invite the girls! I hope you get better!"

"Bye." I waved as she trailed off, bouncing with her basket of invitations. I sighed and entered back home.

Behind the door, I sat and thought about what I had to do. Fluttershy told me the party was going to be at Applejack's barn… so they must be there setting up everything right now. I guess I should start heading over there right now. I hope Pinkie Pie doesn't see me, but even if she does… I'll just tell her that I'm getting medicine…

I opened my door slightly and poked my head out, looking around. Pinkie Pie was out of sight, so I walked out the door and began walking towards Applejack's barn.

I had no trouble on the way over there. I guess Pinkie Pie was too busy asking the other girls. I had reached the barn and looked in to see Applejack carry some materials across different places in the barn.

"Hey, Applejack…" I called.

She was almost startled but then released a relieving breath. "Oh, hey Alex. I was worried Pinkie Pie might have come and seen this…"

"Well, you have to be careful… she came by my house this morning to invite me to another party for Gummy…"

"Another party? For when?"

"The same time for her birthday party…"

"Oh, shoot. We're going to have some trouble then…um…" Applejack thought for a moment, placing a hoof to her chin. "Do you mind watching the place really quick, Alex? I gotta bring in a whole bunch of apples."

"Ok, sure. No problem."

"Thanks." She began racing out the barn while I stayed behind.

I looked around the barn to see decorations being set up. There were a few streamers across the ceiling, but there were still more to be placed. The tables were up and covered with some decorative cloth, but they were empty for the moment.

Soon, I heard some noise outside. I saw Applejack bringing in several carts of a bunch of apples towards the barn. Before she reached the entrance, something suddenly popped out of the hay, surprising Applejack.

"Huh? Oh, hi, Pinkie Pie!" Applejack announced, a little nervous. "What brings you 'round these parts?"

Fortunately, Pinkie Pie didn't notice me.

"Who's ready to shake their hoof-thang?"Applejack noticed the basket on top of Pinkie Pie's head and grabbed one of the invitations, but she didn't read it as she already knew what it was. "It's an invitation to 'Gummy's After-Birthday' party this afternoon. There's gonna be dancing, and games, and cake, and ice-cream, and punch!"

"Uh, well, ah… ah… uh… ah don't think I can make it 'cause… uh… ah have to… uh… uh, you know what? Ah… uh… pick apples! Yup, apples! 'Cause that's what we do! With the… apples. We… uh… pick 'em!" Applejack then threw out a nervous grin.

Pinkie Pie began staring at her weirdly, which caused Applejack to widen her nervous grin even more. Pinkie Pie narrowed her eye towards Applejack in a suspicious matter as Applejack could only return a nervous chuckle and gulp. Pinkie Pie increased the threat towards her stare even further until all of sudden, she responded in a cheerful voice. "Okey dokey lokey! A party is still a party, even if there are only three guests." Pinkie Pie walked off, allowing Applejack and I to sigh in relief.

"Boy, that was a close one…" Applejack commented as she brought the apples into the barn.

"Yeah…"

Applejack began unloading the apples until we heard another sound. It was Twilight.

"Hey, Twilight. Pinkie Pie didn't see you, did she?" Applejack asked.

Twilight sighed. "No, I had to hide from her while she was walking back from here. Did she give you an invitation to her party too?"

"Uh-huh. I had to make an excuse about picking apples…"

"I told her that I was behind in my studying…" Twilight looked over to me. "What about you, Alex?"

"I told her that I thought I was getting sick." I answered.

"Oh, that's good one." Twilight shook her head. "Anyways, so what are we going to do now?"

"We have to wait for Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity to get here. Hopefully they don't run into a problem with Pinkie Pie. I'm sure Pinkie Pie is going to feel weird with no one attending her party, but we can't let her know that we are throwing one for her."

"What about the cake for her at the Sugarcube Corner?"

"Hmm… okay." Applejack turned towards me. "Alex, do you think you can help Twilight and the others watch out for Pinkie Pie while they're bringing the cake?"

I nodded. "Sure."

"Great." She looked back at Twilight. "Alright, Twilight. You and Alex head on the way towards Sugarcube Corner to get the cake. When Rarity gets over here, I'll tell her to meet you on the way, got it?"

Twilight nodded. "Yep!" Twilight looked at me. "Come on, Alex! Let's go get Pinkie Pie's cake!" Twilight began galloping towards our location as I followed her.

Once we neared the building, Twilight placed a hoof in front of me to stop me.

"We have to be careful now because the chances of Pinkie Pie being here are very high." Twilight whispered to me.

I nodded and we began walking quickly but softly towards the building.

Once we were inside, Twilight rang the bell at the counter while I looked for any Pinkie Pie activity.

"Ooh!" Mrs. Cake exclaimed when she spotted us. "You must be here for…"

"Shh!" Twilight immediately shushed. "Is Pinkie Pie around?"

"Oh, I don't think so."

"Good. I don't want her to know anything about this."

"Yes, of course. I'll be right back."

As Mrs. Cake left to receive the cake, I continued looking around. Mrs. Cake thought Pinkie Pie wasn't here… but she loves this place… she'd most likely be here at anytime. When I thought I might be able to take a break from looking around, I heard something dangling above Twilight. I quickly looked and saw a tin can hanging by a string. Twilight was unaware of the object above her head. I jumped on top of the counter and lightly grabbed the tin can without pulling it.

"What are you doing…?" Twilight asked with a confused look.

I placed my teeth on the string and cut it, able to bring the can with me. I jumped off the counter and showed Twilight.

"Look…"

Twilight placed her hooves on her mouth. "Oh my gosh… do you think…?"

I shook my head lightly. "I don't know… but we better hurry just to be sure…"

Mrs. Cake had come back and placed the cake on the counter. "There you go."

"Thanks, and remember, not a word to Pinkie Pie." She grabbed the box the cake was in. "C'mon, Alex. Let's hurry."

We began carefully walking outside Sugarcube Corner as Twilight held the box on her back.

Suddenly, we heard some noise behind us, causing us to quickly turn around, but all we saw was an apple stand. After a moment of carefully looking around and listening, we slowly turned back while I kept my eyes behind me. Soon enough, I turned my head forward and noticed Twilight was taking the cake to Rarity's shop.

Once there, Twilight rang the doorbell. Rarity opened the door and looked around. After, she moved over to Twilight. "She didn't see you at the sweet shop, did she?" She asked.

"I don't think so…" Twilight responded.

"Oh, good. I'd hate for her to ruin everything."

"Me too." Twilight looked to me. "Okay, Alex. Watch over her, alright?"

I nodded. Twilight slipped the box towards the ground, where Rarity walked in front of it and grabbed it with her tail. "Come now, Alex." She whispered as she began tiptoeing towards the next target location. I stayed right behind her, walking carefully and keeping an eye out for Pinkie Pie.

In the center of different houses, we met up with Fluttershy. As they continued on with the package delivering, I looked around behind me.

"Have you seen her?" Rarity asked.

"Not since this morning." Fluttershy replied.

"Me neither. Can you believe she was planning on throwing an after-birthday party today?"

I had suddenly spotted an odd looking stack of hay that had not been there a second earlier. I narrowed my eyes at it and continued observing it for a moment as Rarity and Fluttershy continued talking.

"I'm just glad I was able to come up with an excuse for why I couldn't be there."

"Me too! This is obviously going to be so much better."

"As long as we keep her from finding out about it, it will."

Rarity dropped the box and whispered to Fluttershy. "See you later!"

Fluttershy grabbed the box with her teeth and began walking towards the way where the odd looking stack of hay stood, but I placed my hoof in front of her to prevent her from walking any further.

"…let's go the other way around…" I whispered and led Fluttershy the way Rarity went through but traveled the slightly longer way towards the barn.

"What was wrong with the other way, Alex…?" Fluttershy whispered to me.

"I just didn't trust it…" I responded briefly.

A little while later, we met up with Applejack who was standing outside the barn. She walked over to us while suspiciously looking around. "Do you got the cake?" She asked. Fluttershy nodded and presented the cake she was holding with her mouth. "Alright. Quick, go inside and help the others get the things ready." We nodded and walked into the barn. We saw the others continuing to set the decorations, food, drinks, and other party necessities as Fluttershy and I walked over to the table to place the cake on there.

"Thanks a lot for helping us, Alex." Fluttershy told me.

"You're welcome…" I replied.

"Hey…" We heard Twilight call us. "Do you think you two could help me finish hanging these streamers?"

"Sure." Fluttershy responded.

However, before we could lift one hoof, Rainbow Dash had suddenly dashed into the barn with Applejack running after her and slamming the door shut. There were several bangs on the barn door. "I know you're IN THERE!" We heard Pinkie Pie yell outside the barn.

Applejack looked at us and placed a hoof to her mouth to make sure we kept quiet. She slightly opened the door and looked out. "Oh! Howdy, pardn'r!"

"Mind if I… take a look inside the barn?" Pinkie Pie responded in an irritated tone.

Applejack took a quick glance at us. "No! Uh, I mean, yes, I mean… you can't come in here!"

"Rainbow Dash just went in there."

"Oh, well, she was just bringin' in some… supplies! Yup, supplies for the… renovation! Fixin' up the whole thing, top to bottom… uh, lots of construction goin' on in there right now!" Applejack had looked back towards us, giving all of us a hint to imitate construction work.

"You heard her! Construction!" Rainbow Dash whispered loudly.

All of the ponies began making construction sounds while I could not help but look at them awkwardly. Applejack continued to keep Pinkie Pie from finding out as she purposely blocked the way from Pinkie Pie seeing anything. Pinkie Pie began trying to force her head inside the barn as Applejack tried to fight back. Pinkie Pie was eventually going to beat her at it, so Applejack had no choice but to shut the barn door right on her face. Pinkie Pie managed to free herself and pull her head out.

"Yup! Construction! That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it." Applejack released a nervous laugh. Applejack could only continue grinning very nervously as sweat slowly poured from her face. There was a long silence and eventually Pinkie Pie had given up.

"Okey… dokey… lokey…" Pinkie Pie responded in a very suspicious tone and then we heard her footsteps walk away.

Just as Applejack was about to release a relieved sigh, Pinkie Pie suddenly pressed her face against hers and gave her a suspicious stare while Applejack could only release another nervous grin. Afterwards, Pinkie Pie finally left and Applejack was able to complete her relieved sigh. The girls looked out the barn door and followed in her example.

"Okay, that was too close!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"It's alright…" Applejack answered. "We're almost done." She looked around the barn. "We just need to finish hanging those streamers… we have the music… the punch bowl is filled with punch… hmm…" She tapped her hoof on her chin while continuing to look around. "Oh! And we could use some more balloons; you know how Pinkie Pie loves her balloons."

Every pony nodded and giggled.

Fluttershy and I helped Twilight place the remaining streamers. I grabbed the rest of the streamers and took them to Fluttershy, who flew over to the ceiling and securely placed them on there. Placing the streamers took several minutes, but it wasn't too long.

As we finished placing the streamers, Rarity and Rainbow Dash had gone out to bring the remaining balloons and fill them up. When the girls finished decorating the place with balloons, Applejack noticed this and smiled. "Well, looks like we're finished, ponies!"

Everypony cheered.

"Hmm… Alex, how about you go and bring Pinkie Pie over here? You're the only one guaranteed not to spill the beans." Applejack suggested that I brought Pinkie Pie.

"Um… okay, I guess…" I responded as I began walking out the barn.

Before I exited the barn, I could hear Applejack exclaim over to the other ponies, "Okay, everypony! Find your hiding places!"

When I reached the slightly opened door, the entire area behind me grew dark. I glanced back one more time and closed the door behind me as I exited.

I had arrived over to Sugarcube corner, which also took several minutes coming all the way from Applejack's barn. I opened the door and walked in, letting it close behind me. I walked to the counter and rang the bell. Mrs. Cake had walked from the kitchen towards the counter to see me.

"Oh, hello, dear. What can I do for you?"

"Is Pinkie Pie here?" I asked.

"I believe so. I've been hearing her talk from upstairs. It's strange though, the baby dragon she brought had left a while ago, eating gems, so I'm not sure if she has other company with her."

"What do you mean?" I questioned her comment, slightly confused.

"Well, it sounds like she has company upstairs, but I only saw her bring in a baby dragon, who left not too long ago.

A baby dragon…? Spike?

"Um… well I'll check up on her. I'm taking her back to the barn for her birthday party."

"Oh, sounds delightful! Well you ponies have fun!" Mrs. Cake began walking back towards the kitchen.

"Thanks…"

I began walking up the stairs towards Pinkie Pie's room. Mrs. Cake thinks she has company upstairs… why is that…? All of the other girls are at the barn waiting for Pinkie Pie… and why would she bring Spike anyway?

All these questions were going through my mind until I suddenly began hearing the voices Mrs. Cake was talking about. I finished climbing up the stairs to Pinkie Pie's room to find an odd surprise.

"Thank you all so much for coming! It means so much to Gummy." Pinkie Pie exclaimed near a table which was filled with a giant cake.

Something was different about Pinkie Pie… her hair wasn't as filled up or crazy as it usually is… It was all hanging down from her face, including her tail. That wasn't the only strangest thing… there were balloons, confetti, and streamers everywhere. Gummy was sitting down at the end of the table wearing a party hat… but he wasn't the only one… there was a sack of flour, a pile of rocks, a clump of lint, and a bucket of turnips sitting near the table, all wearing party hats. I could only stare at the whole scene in almost shocking disbelief.

Pinkie Pie rushed over to the bucket of turnips and began nudging it to make it look as if it was talking while she voiced for it. "Could I have some more punch?"She spoke in a deeper tone.

"Well, of course you can have some more punch, Mr. Turnip." Pinkie Pie quickly grabbed a chalice filled with punch and placed it near the bucket of turnips, suddenly twitching after.

Pinkie Pie walked over to the pile of rocks and placed her foreleg around it, beginning to voice for it as well with a deep voice. "This is one great party! You've really outdone yourself!"

"Why, thank you, Rocky." Pinkie Pie replied.

She leaned over to the clump of lint and began voicing for it too, enabling me to see her eyes cross away from each other in a creepy way. "I'm having a delightful time as well." Pinkie Pie spoke for the lint in a high pitched snooty voice.

"I'm so glad Sir Lintsalot." Pinkie Pie's face twitched once again.

Pinkie Pie walked over to the sack of flour and placed her hooves around it, moving it around to make it look as if it was talking again. "Might I tro'ble you for another slice of cake?" Pinkie Pie voiced in a very high pitched and French accent.

"Anything for you, Madame LeFlour." Pinkie Pie grabbed the plate with a slice of cake and moved it over to the sack of flour.

Witnessing this scene actually caused my eye to begin twitching as if she had passed her twitches over to me. I couldn't believe what Pinkie Pie was doing… Has she gone…insane...?

She slipped under the table and moved her hoof across to the pile of rocks to begin her deep voice. "I'm just glad none of them PONIES showed up."

Pinkie Pie pulled herself up from under the table and responded to herself. "Oh, they're not so bad." She began staring up at the ceiling as her eyes rolled away from each other and grew smaller.

To be honest… Pinkie Pie was truly starting to frighten me now as she continued to voice for the inanimate objects.

"Not so bad? Please! They're a buncha losers!" Rocky's voice stated.

Pinkie Pie returned a lifeless stare, but then shook out of it and replied to the pile of rocks. "Oh, c'mon now. 'Losers' might be a little strong, don'cha think?"

"After the way they treated you? I say 'losers' isn't strong enough." The clump of lint's voice sounded.

"Well, it was pretty rude…"

"Pretty rude? It was downright deeespicable!" The sack of flour's voice added.

"It was, wasn't it?" Pinkie Pie's voice assured, sounding irritated now.

"If I were you, I wouldn't speak to them ever again." The bucket's voice suggested.

"You know what? I'm not gonna speak to them ever again. And I'm not gonna invite them to another party as long as I live! They don't deserve to be invited to my parties." Pinkie Pie's face twitched again. "Not after the way they've been acting."

Pinkie Pie continued moving the objects as she voiced for them. "Deeespicable!"

"Such losers!"

"Yes, zat's right."

"Well done."

"Yeah!"

"You show 'em!"

Alright… I've had enough of this creepy scene…

"Pinkie Pie?" I called as I stepped towards the table.

"Who could that be?" She questioned as she snapped out her trance.

"Hey Pinkie Pie…" I began speaking to her as I continued walking towards the table. "I know how the other girls haven't been able to attend your party because they've been really busy… so I thought we could hang out? I've been feeling better…"

"Yeah, you have, haven't you?" Pinkie Pie responded through clenched teeth.

"Yeah…" My eyes couldn't stop glancing over at the inanimate objects as they now creeped me out for some reason. "So why don't we go to Sweet Apple Acres?"

"No thanks." Pinkie Pie declined as she walked over to the sack of flour. "I'm spending time with my real friends. Isn't that right, Madame LeFlour?"

"Oui! Zat iz correct, madame!" She resumed her odd face and voiced for the sack of flour.

"Uh…Pinkie Pie…?"

"Another slice of cake, Sir Lintsalot?" She asked the clump of lint.

"I'd love one." Pinkie Pie voiced the lint as Gummy bounced past me on a balloon.

I sighed and began feeling irritated. "Okay, Pinkie Pie. Why don't you stop being… creepy… and we'll go over to Applejack's and—

Pinkie Pie suddenly cut off my sentence by sliding over the bucket of turnips towards me and voicing it. "She's not going anywhere."

"I most certainly am not." Pinkie Pie agreed. "I'm having a wonderful time right here."

I threw the bucket of turnips away from me with my left foreleg, feeling a lot angrier. "Pinkie Pie, that's enough. You need to get out of here."

From under the table, Pinkie Pie slid the stool holding the pile of rocks in front of me. "You heard the lady! She ain't goin' nowheres, chump!"

I instantly threw the pile of rocks away from me with both hooves now, feeling almost enraged now. "Pinkie Pie!"

"No!"

I pulled her out from under the table. "Come on! We need to go!"

"I said, NO!" She responded like a very stubborn child.

I tried pushing her from behind, but she wouldn't budge. "You…need…to…come…with…me!"

"No… I… DON'T!" She raised her back legs, causing me to fall underneath her as she sat on top of my head. I pulled myself out with enough force, causing me to sit down afterwards. I sighed heavily and closed my eyes. I thought for a moment and suddenly recieved an idea.

I stood up and looked at Pinkie Pie. "Okay, Pinkie Pie. If you want to stay here, then fine! Stay here!" I began storming down the stairs while Pinkie Pie remained sitting above.

After, I calmed myself down and rang the bell at the counter. Mrs. Cake came out and saw me again.

"Oh, hello. Did you find Pinkie Pie?"

"Yeah…" I responded, remembering the awkward and creepy scene. "Um… do you think you can help me with something?"

"Of course, dear. What do you need?"

"Do you happen to have any candy I can use for Pinkie Pie's birthday?"

"Why, of course! We have a huge sack of candy that we weren't planning on using. We we're actually going to throw it out, but if you could use it, be my guest!"

"That would be great. Thanks."

Mrs. Cake walked towards the kitchen for a moment and came back out with a large sack of candy. She placed it on the counter. "Here you go, dearie. Is there anything else you need?"

"No, thank you, Mrs. Cake. This is all I need."

"Alright, then. Have fun!" Mrs. Cake responded as she walked back into the kitchen.

I grabbed the sack of candy with my teeth and placed it on the floor. I sighed and looked at the sack. This is going to be a LONG walk…

I opened the sack, revealing the many pieces of candy in there. I grabbed a handful and placed it them in a line heading towards Pinkie Pie's room. When I was at the top of the stairs, I poked my head upwards to see Pinkie Pie continue to remain seated as she kept the fierce look on her face while her eyes remained closed. I felt the remaining piece of candy in my hoof and threw it at her. I quickly ducked and began heading down the stairs.

"OW! What the hay?" There was a pause. "Is this… CANDY?" I heard her begin to chew noisily for a moment and gulp. "Aw, phooey. Now I want more!"

I was at the door of the sweet shop when I saw Pinkie Pie poke her head from the stairs and look around until she noticed the candy I lined up for her, starting at the top of the stairs. "Oooh! A piece of candy!" She lowered her head and ate the piece of candy. "Ooh! A piece of candy!" She repeated when she spotted the piece of candy on the next stair.

I nodded and walked out the door, placing pieces of candy with each step.

"Ooh! A piece of candy! Ooh! A piece of candy! Ooh! A piece of candy! Ooh! A piece of candy! Ooh! A piece of candy! Ooh! A piece of candy!" Pinkie Pie continued to repeat as she ate each piece of candy off the floor all while Gummy was riding on back of her.

This continued all the way towards Applejack's barn as I finished the remaining pieces of candy in the sack. I shook the sack, feeling only the emptiness in it and threw it away. I could hear Pinkie Pie catching up to the barn as she continued to eat the pieces of candy. "Ooh! A piece of candy! Ooh! A piece of candy! Ooh! A piece of candy! Ooh! A piece of candy!"

She spotted the last piece of candy that was in front of me. "Ooh! A piece of candy!" She finished it and swallowed. Afterwards, she looked around and presented a surprised yet angry expression. "Hey! Where am I?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes. I opened the doors to reveal the darkness in the barn.

"Surprise!" The girls screamed out in unison, happily.

Pinkie Pie widened her eyes as I pushed her towards the girls.

After, she returned an irritated and angry look.

"I really thought she'd be more excited…" Fluttershy whispered to the others.

"Excited? EXCITED? Why would I be excited to attend my own farewell party?" She asked, angrily.

"Farewell party?" Twilight questioned.

"Yes! You don't like me anymore, so you decided to kick me out of the group and throw a great, big party to celebrate! A 'Farewell to Pinkie Pie' party!" Pinkie Pie answered.

"Why in the world would you think we didn't like you anymore, sugarcube?" Applejack asked with concerned eyes.

"Why? Why? WHY? Because you've been lying to me and avoiding me all day, that's why!" She expressed her anger as she answered.

"Uh, yeah! Because we wanted your party to be a surprise." Rainbow Dash explained.

"We've been planning this party for such a long time. We had to make excuses for why we couldn't attend Gummy's party, so that we could get everything ready for yours." Rarity added as she played with a yellow balloon.

"If this is a farewell party, why does the cake I picked up from Sugarcube Corner say, 'Happy Birthday, Pinkie Pie?'" Twilight presented the cake on the table.

Pinkie Pie slowly looked around the room, noticing all the decorations and effort we had placed for her. Suddenly, her hair inflated back to its original self and she smiled happily once again. "Because it's my birthday! Ooh, how could I have forgotten my own birthday?" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she pulled all of us for a group hug. The girls, including me, returned sighs of relief. Pinkie Pie released her grip on us and began bouncing around the barn. "And you like me so much, you decided to throw me a surprise party!"

"That's what we've been trying to tell you, darling." Rarity replied to Pinkie Pie as she smiled.

"You ponies are the best friends ever!" Pinkie Pie grinned, but then lowered her head and frowned. "How could I have ever doubted you?"

"It's okay, Pinkie Pie. It could have happened to any of us." Twilight responded as she walked over to Pinkie Pie.

"All right, girls! Enough of this gab." Applejack exclaimed as she turned on the music. "Let's party!"

As so… the party started. However, before everypony began partying, they walked Pinkie Pie over to the table with the cake. They had several candles on there, which all of them were lit.

"Okay, Pinkie Pie. Make a wish and blow the candles!" Applejack exclaimed.

Pinkie Pie thought for a moment as she placed her hoof under her chin. Afterwards, she thought of something as she glanced back at me. Finally, she blew the candles which led everypony to cheer.

"What did you wish for Pinkie Pie?" Twilight asked.

"Well...I'm not supposed to tell...but..." She grinned and began to speak. "I wished for Alex to smile very soon!"

"Huh?" I quickly responded, surprised.

"Yep!" Pinkie Pie walked over to me. "See?" She pulled out a cupcake. "I made this for you back at Sugarcube Corner! I was hoping it'd help you to smile." I slowly grabbed the cupcake and observed it. It had Pinkie Pie on the top who was pointing at me. At the bottom, it stated: I want YOU to smile!

"I don't know what to say, Pinkie Pie..."

"Just say you'll smile!" Pinkie Pie released a wide grin, but then lowered her head for something else. "Also... I'm really sorry about how I was acting when you came to get me at Sugarcube Corner... Forgive me?"

I wasn't really angry at how she was acting... it was just mostly... I sighed mentally. I instantly accepted her apology.

"Of course, Pinkie Pie. You don't have to worry about it."

"YAY!" She exclaimed out loud and hugged me super tight for a moment. After, she let me breathe and looked out to everypony. "Okay, everypony! Time to PARRR-TAAY!"

Applejack and Fluttershy were bouncing a pink balloon to each other while Gummy stood in the middle trying to grab it with his gums. Rainbow Dash had gone over to the cake and grabbed a slice, taking a bite of it. Rarity was by the music as she was dancing to it.

"Dear Princess Celestia…" I heard Twilight's voice behind me. "…I am writing to you from the most delightful party. I'm not only having a great time with my friends, but also was given the opportunity to learn a valuable lesson about friendship. Always expect the best from your friends, and never assume the worst. Rest assured that a good friend always has your best interests at heart. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

My face saddened at that thought… Always expect the best from your friends…? And never assume the worst…? I lowered my head and looked away. That's what got me in this condition in the first place…

After a moment of closing my eyes and struggling to keep my emotions from spilling out, I noticed how Spike had spotted Rarity dancing. He quickly rushed over to her and began dancing as if he was trying to impress her. However, the second Spike began dancing, Rarity noticed how Twilight placed her hooves on Pinkie Pie, forming some sort of line, and walked away from Spike. Rarity placed her hooves on Twilight and added herself to the line as Spike finally realized how she had left. Fluttershy noticed this too and flew over to the end of the line, placing her hooves on Rarity. Rainbow Dash lifted her head from the cake and followed Fluttershy's example. Applejack had just finished bouncing the pink balloon when she noticed the line. She quickly ran over to join it. Each of the girls continued to follow each other as Pinkie Pie was in the lead.

"You girls wouldn't mind if we celebrated Gummy's after-birthday party too, would you? His party was cut short, and he's pretty upset about it." Pinkie Pie asked as she continued to walk to the music.

The other girls released comments agreeing to the subject.

"Yeah, why not? Let's have a party for Gummy." Twilight accepted and giggled. She noticed me standing to the side and waved over to me. "C'mon, Alex! Join the fun!"

I thought for a moment and started feeling a little better. You know what? Maybe I should join them… I mean… they are my real friends… right…? They won't mind if I join them… they won't… I nodded and formed a determined look on my face.

I lifted my right hoof to take my first step towards them, but all of a sudden, something strange began happening. The music in the barn began fading away. All the laughter of the girls faded away. Things seemed to be getting blurry and worst of all… there was something wrong with my right hoof. I turned my head to look at my right hoof and notice how my hoof began shaking…trembling… My hoof was the only thing in my body to begin shaking uncontrollably. I heard and felt my heart begin pounding as I began to breathe heavily. What is…what is…happening to me…?

"Alex…?" I heard faint voice.

I looked up and noticed the girls continue to walk in a line. My eyes cleared up and everything returned to normal, all except for my shaking hoof. I could see the concern in their eyes as they looked towards me.

"I…uh…I gotta go." I responded a bit weakly and began running out the barn. After leaving the barn, I planted myself against the outside of the barn and lay myself against the wall. The sky was dark. I pulled up my hoof and noticed how it was still shaking. My head started to hurt a little. I had no idea what was going on, and I was really starting to become afraid.

After a moment, I saw Fluttershy fly out of the barn doors and look around. She spotted me and quickly flew over to me. "Alex, what's going on? Are you okay?" She quickly asked.

I immediately placed my left hoof over my right to prevent Fluttershy from seeing it. "Um… my…my head just hurts a little."

"Oh no. Do you want me to get you something for that?"

"Um, no… it's alright… I think I'll just go home and sleep it off."

"Are you sure…?"

"Yeah…"

"Okay… Goodnight, Alex." Fluttershy embraced me, which seemed to ease the shaking a little.

"Goodnight, Fluttershy…" Fluttershy pulled away after a moment. She waved and flew slowly back towards the barn.

I sighed and began walking home.

When I reached home, I opened the door and entered, closing the door behind me. I turned to the kitchen and pulled out the cupcake Pinkie Pie had given me. I observed it once more and then placed it in the fridge. After, I walked up the stairs and sat on my bed.

What was all that about? What had just happened? What…was that…? I looked at my hoof. It wasn't shaking anymore. The pain in my head was gone. Basically, everything was back to normal. I had never experienced that before… I think…

I lay down in my bed and pulled the covers over me.

What if it happens again…? Especially…at the Gala?

The Best Night Ever

Episode 26 – The Best Night Ever

I opened my eyes and felt different. I remembered… for some reason… I remembered right away that today was the day… The Grand Galloping Gala… My date with Fluttershy… will it go well…? I removed myself from bed and walked to the bathroom. I turned on the shower and climbed into the tub. I rinsed myself for a while until I got out again and shook myself dry. I looked in the mirror and observed myself. Was she really right…? Or can I somehow prove her wrong…?

I snapped out of my thoughts and walked out the bathroom. I wonder if the girls are already getting ready for the Gala… I walked down the stairs and out the front door. I began walking through town, thinking about going to Fluttershy's to see what she was going to do, but several ponies caught my attention when I passed by Rarity's shop.

"Ahh! I... can't... believe... the Grand... Galloping... Gala... is... tonight!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed joyfully while she excitedly continued to bounce on a trampoline.

Twilight was by her, trying to read one of her books but was unable to, due to Pinkie Pie disruptive behavior. "Pinkie! Please stop shouting, I'm trying to concentrate." Twilight called out to Pinkie Pie, who was still having fun on her trampoline.

Rarity walked out her shop when she noticed Pinkie Pie bouncing on the trampoline. "Pinkie Pie!" Rarity scolded as she quickly walked over to her. "Stop that right now. It's time to prepare for the Gala and I refuse to let you put on your new dress if you're all sweaty." Pinkie Pie immediately ceased her bouncing and gave Rarity a slightly annoyed look. After, she jumped off the trampoline, obeying Rarity's command. Rarity sighed in relief and spotted me near them. "Oh, Alex! There you are, dear! Quickly, I must get you in your new tux right away!" Rarity began grabbing my hoof and was about to take me into her shop but Twilight stopped her.

"Hold on, Rarity… there's just something I want to try first…" Twilight announced while still keeping her eyes on the book.

Pinkie Pie looked at Twilight with a confused expression on her face, then at Spike, then back at Twilight. "What's Twilight doing?" Pinkie Pie whispered to Spike, most likely to prevent any distractions towards Twilight.

"She's got an awesome magic spell she's been working on for the Gala." Spike answered.

"Where are the others?" Rarity asked in slight frustration as she walked over to Pinkie Pie and Spike. "It's getting late."

"Hold your horses, girl. We're here." Applejack called out as she walked with Fluttershy towards us while Rainbow Dash flew.

Fluttershy saw me and presented a bright, yet slightly shy, smile towards me.

"Perfect!" Twilight closed her book and lifted her head. "I'm ready."

"For what?" Rainbow Dash asked excitedly.

"All right, Spike." Twilight announced to Spike, who was bringing over an apple and then delicately placed it on the grass in front of Twilight.

"An apple!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed out loud. "Are we having pie?"

"Shh!" Spike quickly shushed. "Watch!"

Twilight concentrated herself and soon, a light glow emerged on her horn. The apple began slightly levitating and instantly began shifting into something new. Suddenly, it expanded into a large and magnificent carriage. The girls formed a collective of awes and amazement.

"Thanks. But that's just the start." Twilight walked over to Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, did you bring your friends?"

"Yes." She answered, happily. Four mice appeared from her mane. Fluttershy lowered her head to allow the mice to descend towards the ground. "Will they be safe, Twilight?"

"You have my word." Twilight responded confidently. She focused on the four mice that stood in the ground below and worked her magic to instantly create the mice into stallions… well almost… Instead, their heads still had their mouse features, such as their ears, noses, and teeth…even their tails… "Ta-da!" Twilight presented. There was another collective from the girls, but instead, they returned surprised and slightly confused expressions as the mouse stallions squeaked. "Neat, huh? And don't worry. They'll be mice again at midnight."

"Opalescence, no!" We heard Fluttershy suddenly cry out. Opalescence had been sneaking around the bush. When she spotted the mice, she quickly pounced at them with her sharp nails. The cat scared the mouse stallions and caused them run away while the one that Opal hung on to kicked her off and followed the others.

"Wait! Come back!" Twilight called after them, but they were too frightened to come back. She looked back at us, worried. "Those horses were supposed to pull our carriage. How will we get to the Gala?"

The girls remained silent for a moment until they turned towards me. I confusingly switched my eyes towards each of them. "What?" I questioned.

Rarity cleared her throat. "Ahem. Alex. Would you so kindly pull our carriage to the Gala?" Rarity released a wide grin as she fluttered her eyelashes.

"Um, sure. I guess…" I replied.

"But pulling the carriage with ALL of us in it is would be difficult for Alex, and he's supposed to be enjoying the Gala with us too, you know?" Twilight commented.

Rarity returned an annoyed look and responded with a dramatic mock. "What ever shall we do?" She glanced over to Twilight with another annoyed expression and walked away, heading towards the group of colts hanging by and talking. Rarity walked up to a couple of colts and began talking to them. "Uh... ahem. Excuse me. Uh, would you boys mind pulling our carriage to the Gala?" Afterwards, Rarity grinned at them as they could only return nervous-looking smiles.

They had attached the carriage to themselves and brought it over to the girls and me. "Oh. Yeah. Right…" Twilight presented an embarrassed smile.

"Well, you gentlecolts wait right here. We'll be out in a moment." Rarity told the colts who were going to help me bring the girls' carriage. "Well, come along then!" Rarity told us. "We don't have much time before the Gala begins!"

Rarity led us towards where we were to prepare ourselves for the Grand Galloping Gala. Rarity spoke to Spike and me as she had the girls enter a room. "You boys wait right here, okay?" Rarity looked towards me. "I'll be out as quick as I can to fix you up in your tux."

"Okay…" I replied.

Rarity nodded with a smile on her face and walked into what looked to be a dressing room.

Outside the door, Spike and I waited while we heard the sounds of dryers inside. Soon enough, Spike grew very impatient and began banging on the door for the girls to let him in as I leaned on the wall near him.

"Come on, you guys. Let me in!" Spike exclaimed.

"Sure thing, Spike." Rainbow Dash's voice responded from inside.

Suddenly, Rarity intervened. "Heavens no! We're getting dressed."

"Dressed? Uh, beg your pardon, Rarity, but, uh... we don't normally wear clothes." Applejack added.

Rarity sighed irritably and opened the door. "I'm sorry, Spike. Some of us do have standards."

"I still can't believe we're gonna be at Canterlot tonight." Spike walked in as he excitedly talked about the plans for the event. "Our home town, Twilight! And the best part is that we all get to hang out together all night long!"

The door remained open for me to walk inside, but I continued leaning by the doorway.

"Uh... I-I don't know, Spike." Rainbow Dash responded with a worried tone to her voice. She was laying on one of the chairs with a towel wrapped on her head.

"We'll just have to see." Rarity added as she just finished placing on one of her eyelashes from her makeup accessories.

I saw Applejack wearing a towel on her head as well. She was scrubbing Fluttershy's front right hoof as Fluttershy returned a light smile. However, Fluttershy transformed that smile into a slightly disgusted look when Applejack spat on her hoof. "We're gonna be a mite busy."

"Busy having fun!" Pinkie Pie joined as she just finished using the dryer. Her hair was straight and long like it was during that little…episode…, but it suddenly inflated again.

"Oh… Okay…" Spike replied with a depressive tone, placing his hands on his face.

"Don't worry, Spike. We'll all get to spend some time together." Twilight assured as she placed on the powder with a brush.

"Great!" Spike exclaimed and began running out of the room. "I know just what we're going to do!"

Once he left, the girls continued to get ready as Rarity finished placing on her dress and walked over to me. "Come on, Alex. Let's get you into that new tux!" She glanced over to the girls. "You girls finish getting ready while I work with Alex!" Afterwards, she grabbed my hoof and began leading me to another one of the dressing rooms.

The dressing room was empty except for a few different stands of clothes. Rarity walked me over to one of them which contained my tux. She pulled out each piece of clothing and gave them to me one by one. "Here, put them on."

I did so, with some struggles, but Rarity was able to help me with them. When I had finally placed them on in the correct order and fashion, Rarity observed me with glowing eyes as her mouth was agape with excitement. She walked around me, analyzing how it fitted me. She moved to the front of me and looked at me, observing the tux in front. She continued to lightly fix me up in the front. "You look smashing." She commented with a soft happiness in her voice. "I'm positively sure Fluttershy will be so happy to see you wearing this at the Gala…"

"Thanks, Rarity…"

After Rarity finished with the slight touch ups, she stepped back a few feet and looked at me. "My, my, Alex. You really are such a handsome young star. I almost feel jealous that you're going to Gala with Fluttershy, instead of me." Rarity giggled. I began to feel a little red as I slightly looked away in silence. Rarity noticed this. "Oh, Alex. I'm just playing around with you. Besides, I was hoping to find the Prince at the Gala." Rarity walked up to me and dusted my shoulders a bit. "There! We should get going to the Gala. We don't want to be late!"

I nodded and Rarity led me out of the room and the building.

When we were out, we saw the carriage filled up with excited shadows. It was already nighttime.

"Well, we're ready to go when you are." Rarity told me, forming a smile. Afterwards, she opened the carriage door and jumped inside, closing it after her. I thought about how I could probably get something for Fluttershy at the Gala, so right before leaving, I quickly rushed over to my house and placed several bits of my savings in my tuxedo pockets. Right when I arrived back at the carriage, I walked up to the front and began strapping myself in to start moving the carriage while Spike sat behind us in the coach's seat wearing a tuxedo as well, with a big red bow tie.

As I finished getting ready, Spike commented on how I looked. "Wow, you look great, Alex!"

"Thanks…" was all I could really reply with.

The couple of other colts and I began walking, pulling the carriage towards our next destination: Canterlot.

Spike began talking to the girls in the carriage as he sat behind us with the reins with him. "Oh, tonight's going to be so great! You wanna know why? Cause I planned out my insider's tour of Canterlot. I've gotta show Rarity the crown jewels. And Applejack the Princess's golden apple tree. And Pinkie, we gotta go to my favorite doughnut shop." Spike looked over to the heart shaped window where the girls sat inside speaking to each other. However, the girls didn't seem to be too interested in Spike's plans. Nonetheless, Spike remained excited. "Then let's get moving! Hyah!" Spike slapped us with the reins he had.

The colts instantly reacted by stopped, which also caused me to stop. "Excuse me!" One of them exclaimed, angrily.

"Um... I..." Spike tried to respond to them, nervously.

"If you weren't friends with our neighbor Rarity..." The other one added, shaking his hoof. "Hmph!"

"Easy, guys…" I stated.

The two of them began walking again, however, looked back at Spike coldly. Spike wiped the sweat off his forehead and released a breath in relief. We continued on our way to Canterlot as we passed a waterfall on a bridge.

When we arrived at Canterlot, we saw many ponies outside, gathered in groups and talking. As I began to release my strap, Spike excitedly bounced off the seat he was in and landed by the door. He quickly opened it and jumped off, bowing. As I finished removing myself from the strap, I heard footsteps near me. I turned my head to see all the girls in their dresses, looking absolutely amazing…especially Fluttershy… Spike had reacted for me.

"Wow! You all look... amazing!"

Fluttershy noticed me and rushed over to me, softly excited.

"Fluttershy… you look so…beautiful…" I could hardly express as I remained in awe at her.

Fluttershy blushed as she looked at me while rubbing her hoofs shyly. "Thank you…"

Fluttershy and I walked over to Twilight and the others who were all standing very excitedly in front of the entrance to the Grand Galloping Gala. "I can't believe we're finally here. With all that we've imagined, the reality of this night is sure to make this... The Best Night Ever!"

"At the Gala (at the Gala)," Twilight began singing joyfully as everypony joined her.

"At the Gala, in the garden

I'm going to see them all!" Fluttershy had flown over to me softly, looking at me with such delicate and calm eyes as she sang so sweetly and amazing.

"All the creatures, I'll befriend them at the Gala! (at the Gala!)

All the birdies, and the critters

They will love me big and small!

We'll become good friends forever

Right here at the Gala!" Fluttershy and I began walking towards the gates as she looked back to me after she was finished singing.

"All our dreams will come true right here at the Gala, at the Gala!" Everypony that followed from behind us joined in harmony.

Applejack began walking in front us, introducing her voice to the song.

"At the Gala (it's amazing!), I will sell them (better hurry!)

All my appletastic treats! (yummy, yummy!)

Hungry ponies (they'll be snacking!), they will buy them (bring your money!)

Caramel apples, apple sweets! (gimme some!)

And I'll earn a lot of money for the Apple family!"

"All our dreams and our hopes from now until hereafter

All that we've been wishing for will happen at the Gala, at the Gala!" Several large stallions introduced Rarity, who began her turn.

"At the Gala, all the royals

They will meet fair Rarity

They will see I'm just as regal at the Gala! (at the Gala)

I will find him, my Prince Charming,

And how gallant he will be,

He will treat me like a lady, tonight at the Gala!"

"This is what we've waited for, to have the best night ever!

Each of us will live our dreams, tonight at the Gala, at the Gala!"

Horns sounded throughout the area, introducing the wonderbolts as Rainbow Dash began singing.

"Been dreaming, I've been waiting

To fly with those brave ponies

The Wonderbolts, their daring tricks

Spinning 'round and having kicks

Perform for crowds of thousands They'll shower us with diamonds

The Wonderbolts will see me right here at the Gala!"

"All we've longed for, all we've dreamed, our happy ever after!

Finally will all come true, right here at the Grand Gala, at the Gala!"

I saw Pinkie Pie excitedly bouncing so high above the crowd as she could not wait to enter the Gala.

"I am here at the Grand Gala, for it is the best party

But the one thing it was missing was a pony named Pinkie

For I am the best at parties, all the ponies will agree

Ponies playing, ponies dancing, with me at the Grand Gala!"

"Happiness and laughter at the Gala, at the Gala!"

I saw Princess Celestia rise above us graciously as I stood near Twilight, observing the sky.

"At the Gala (at the Gala), with the Princess (with the Princess)

Is where I'm going to be (she will be)

We will talk all about magic and what I've learned and seen (she will see)

It is going to be so special as she takes time just for me!"

Everypony was singing in unison as they marched towards the entrance of the Gala.

"This will be the best night ever!

Into the Gala we must go, we're ready now, we're all aglow

Into the Gala, let's go in and have the best night ever

Into the Gala, now's the time, we're ready and we look divine."

"Into the Gala, meet new friends" Fluttershy sang as she grabbed my hoof with hers and pulled me towards where Twilight was marching.

"Into the Gala, sell some apples" Applejack joined with us.

"Into the Gala, find my prince" Rarity added herself next to Twilight.

"Prove I'm great!" Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie both sang as they joined us as well.

"as a Wonderbolt is" Rainbow Dash added to her verse.

After, the girls stated their reasons for being so excited at the Gala.

Fluttershy: "To meet!"

Applejack: "To sell!"

Rarity: "To find!"

Rainbow Dash: "To prove!"

Pinkie Pie: "To woop!"

Twilight Sparkle: "To talk!"

"Into the Gala," They all sang. "Into the Gala!

And we'll have the best night ever!

At the Gala!"

We had finally entered the Gala.

"Yeah! This is gonna be the best night ever." Spike exclaimed, excitedly. "You know why? Cause we're all gonna spend time at the Gala to—

Before I could hear Spike finish his sentence, Fluttershy quickly grabbed my hoof and fled me out of there.

She took me towards the garden where she instantly began observing over many things so excitedly, but in a calm way. Something had caught her eye, which she walked over to. When I walked to her, seeing what it was… it was a rose that she was attracted to.

"Oh, my… it's so… it's so pretty." She commented. I thought for a moment, but something inside me had lowered my head to the rose. I grabbed it with my teeth and placed it in Fluttershy's mane, where she had all the other flowers decorating her mane. When I pulled my head back to see Fluttershy's face, she began blushing almost intensely. She held her hooves to her mouth as if she couldn't believe what I had done. "Alex… that's… that's so sweet of you…"

"…Really…?" I asked.

"Yes, really…" She answered as we stared into each other's eyes for a long moment until something had flown between us. Fluttershy turned her head back to analyze it. "Oh my! A meadowlark!" She exclaimed softly. She began following it as I walked behind her.

When we reached between a couple of trees, we heard whistling which caused Fluttershy to gasp happily and look at me. "I think she's calling to me. It's exactly what I wished for!" She began humming out to the bird. Then she held out her ear with a hoof on it to hear if the bird responded back. There was more whistling. "Let's go, Alex!" Fluttershy grabbed my hoof and began to excitedly take me towards where the whistling was heard.

Fluttershy continued humming to call out the bird. When the whistling was very nearby, she immediately began running towards it. "My little meadowlark is right around this bend!" However, she stopped suddenly with a shocked expression on her face. When I caught up with her, I turned towards what she was looking at to find out it was actually an old pony, raking leaves, that was whistling. "Was that you?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yep! I love whistlin' while I work." He replied happily and continued whistling.

"Oh! Yes... Well... Excuse me." Fluttershy responded as she slowly began walking away, looking highly disappointed and gloomy. I was about to comfort her until we suddenly heard more animals sounds, which brought Fluttershy's spirits up again. "Oh! I see a toco toucan! And a spider monkey! And, oh! Is that a wallaroo?" Fluttershy immediately flew towards them, but they all ran away from her. "Oh, Fluttershy. You're such a loudmouth…"

I walked up to her and carefully brought her down from flying, looking at her. "Fluttershy, they've never seen you before. You may have a sweet and innocent face, but you have to show them that you're okay to be around with, do you understand?"

"Yes…I think so…"

"Alright… how about I go get us some punch… will that make you feel better?"

"Yes, that would be lovely… thank you."

"Alright, stay here… I'll be back."

"Okay."

I walked through the gardens to the area where punch was being served outside of the dancing hall.

I suddenly heard a sigh. "This ain't what I expected at all…"

I turned my head to see Applejack who was leaning on her cart of apple treats looking very disappointed and down. I walked over to her to see what was wrong.

"Hey, Applejack… what's wrong?" I asked.

She sighed again. "I've only made ONE sale for the entire time I've been here…"

I looked at her as she rested her head very gloomily. I thought for a moment and then brought out several bits that I had in my tuxedo pocket. "Here." I stated, surprising her when I dropped the bits in front of her. "I'll have a couple drinks of apple juice, a couple of apple fritters, a couple of regular apples, and… a couple of those apple fries."

"Alex…are you serious…?" Applejack asked, still shocked.

"Yes…what's wrong with it?"

"It's just that…you're my friend… and I can just cover you for the food…"

"And I'm your friend, and I can help you with your fundraising for your family. So… please accept my money."

Applejack's eyes formed into sweet and understanding ones. "Thank ya so kindly, Alex…. You're such a great friend…"

"No problem. Friends help friends, right?"

"Yes…they do…" Applejack filled the food I requested into a bag and placed it in front of her, removing the bits and placing them into where she was keeping the money. "I can't thank you enough, Alex. I really hope you have a great time with your date with Fluttershy…you really deserve it…"

"Thanks… Applejack. I hope you sell as much as you can."

As I grabbed the bag with my teeth, Applejack could only send me a sweet and warm smile.

I started my way back towards the garden.

I arrived in the same spot where I left Fluttershy, actually feeling a bit positive about being with Fluttershy.

"Hey, Fluttershy…" I spoke as I walked towards the garden. "…I brought some things for us to eat. I thought we could have a picnic right he—

I dropped the bag of food from my teeth as I saw Fluttershy continuing to chase animals, but they had all continued to run away from her. "This isn't what I wished for…" She muttered softy. When Fluttershy didn't see any more animals, she spotted me and began walking over to me, panting.

"I'm sorry, Alex… what was it you were saying…?" She asked.

"…I was just saying that I thought we could—

"A bunny!" Fluttershy suddenly exclaimed, cutting me off and running towards the bunny that had appeared, which ran towards a hole in the tree after seeing Fluttershy.

As Fluttershy continued to look through the hole and around it, I could only sadly sit down and look away, feeling as if my only piece of being positive had suddenly disappeared. "This isn't a date…" I mumbled depressingly, feeling as if everything was over. However, I shook my head lightly and thought to myself. No… I've got to try… this is my night with Fluttershy… my date with Fluttershy… I have to… I have to make this the best night ever!

During my thoughts, Fluttershy had vanished. I looked around but found no trace of her.

"Fluttershy?" I called but received no answer. I stood up and looked around for her, bringing the bag of food with me until I heard some noises nearby. When I turned at a part in the garden, I managed to find Fluttershy doing something. I was about to talk to her but then I noticed she was doing something very strange now. She had just finished placing a carrot below a box that was held up by a twig. The twig had a rope attached to it… It's a trap!

"I just have to be more bold, like Twilight says." Fluttershy muttered as she brought the end of the rope to where I was. "I'm so sorry to have scared you, my friends!" Fluttershy said out loud. "But I'm leaving now, so you can all come out!" Fluttershy quickly hid behind a rose bush and waited for an animal to enter her trap.

"Fluttershy, listen." I tried to tell her while she was waiting. "You need to—

Something had suddenly eaten the carrot Fluttershy had placed as we heard the crunch. Fluttershy quickly pulled the rope, causing the box to fall. "Gotcha!" Fluttershy exclaimed and quickly began walking over to retrieve the prisoner. "It's okay. I promise not to hurt you. I just wanna be your... friend?"

Fluttershy was shocked as she saw that old whistling pony again eating the carrot she had left. "Mmm... Sounds good to me." He replied as he finished eating the carrot.

Fluttershy returned an angry look and began walking away as if I wasn't even there. I could only close my eyes in sadness and walk away as well, keeping the food on my back. I didn't follow Fluttershy that time. Instead, I went to the dancing hall to see if I could come up with anything to save the night. But so far, nothing had appeared in my mind.

As I was walking through the dance hall, I began hearing two voices, causing me to look up. "Miss Rarity! Stop!"

"Oh. Prince Blueblood! How chivalrous." It was Rarity and another stallion, whom I was guessing to be the Prince. He had prevented Rarity from stepping on a puddle.

"One would hate to slip." He added.

"Yes. 'One' certainly would."

"One's cloak should take care of the problem."

"Oh, of course it will."

They both stared at each other for a moment. I assumed Rarity was guessing that the Prince would sacrifice his cloak, but he wasn't doing anything. Rarity lost her smile and lowered her head in annoyance, she grabbed her cloak and threw it over the puddle, but I suddenly grabbed it and prevented it from being soaked.

Rarity eyes were widened when she was surprised to see me. "Alex?" She questioned.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked the Prince as I held Rarity's cloak on my hoof. "She's a lady and this is how you're treating her?" I started placing the cloak back on Rarity. "She's the most generous pony you'll ever meet. So you have to give her every bit of respect you have."

"Alex…" Rarity answered in shock as I finished placing the cloak on her.

"Sorry, Rarity… I don't really have a "cloak" I can place down on the spill, so I can pretty much only walk you around it…" I grabbed her hoof and gently walked her around it. Afterwards, I let go and looked at her. "Well… I guess I should be going now…" I began walking away as I could feel the "Prince" feel a little angry with what I just did.

After a moment of more walking, I spotted Pinkie Pie who held her head on a table where she sat by herself, almost like Applejack… I walked over to her.

"Pinkie Pie… is something the matter…?" I asked.

"Yes…" She answered gloomily. "This party is totally not what I thought it would be…"

"How so?"

"Well… you know… it's not… super happy… like any of my parties…"

I sighed as I tried to think of an answer to that question. "Sorry… I don't really know what to say…but you're good at making parties right? Well, why don't you see if you can 'liven' up the place?"

Pinkie Pie immediately gasped and pulled her head up. "You're totally right, Alex! Thanks!" She gave me a quick hug and rushed off to start her party plan. I sighed and just decided I should get back to Fluttershy and maybe… just maybe… I can somehow save our night…

"C'mon everypony! I know what will make you shake those groove-thangs!" I heard Pinkie Pie from the microphone onstage as I exited the dance hall.

I passed by where Princess Celestia and Twilight were together, shaking hooves of other ponies, when Pinkie Pie began singing.

"You reach your right hoof in

You reach your right hoof out

You reach your right hoof in"

One pony grabbed Twilight's hoof and shook it very… strongly…

"And you shake it all about

You do the Pony Pokey meeting lots of folks with clout

That's what I'm talking about"

I began heading towards the exit to the garden.

"You step your left hoof in

You pull it right back out

You step your left hoof in

But you better help him out

You do the Pony Pokey but should find a different route

That's what it's all about"

Nearing the entrance towards the garden, I saw Rainbow Dash with a couple of wonderbolts. She was in front of a table. She was whistling but then kicked her back leg towards the table, causing the bowl of water with a straw to fly up in the air.

"You kick your back left in

You pull your back left out

You reach your back left in"

Rainbow Dash caught the bowl with her leg.

"Just be brave and have no doubt

You do the Pony Pokey feeling like you're gonna pout "

She had impressed the couple of wonderbolts behind her, but suddenly another group of people grabbed them and took them to take a picture.

"That's what I'm singing about"

Rainbow Dash returned an annoyed expression.

I was now at the door to the garden, but I spotted two familiar ponies again. It was the Prince and Rarity.

"You tilt your head in" The Prince motioned for Rarity to open the door with his head.

"You tilt your head out" Rarity tried to challenge this by doing the same thing.

"You tilt your head in" The Prince saw this and now shook his head more stubbornly.

"Then you shake it all about" Rarity shook her head more fiercely as the Prince was now upsetting her very much. The Prince saw this and looked away as a stubborn child. Rarity now grew angry and was about to open the door, but seeing this made me really angry now. Instead, I barged through them and slammed open the door, possibly leaving it open enough to go through without holding the door.

"You do the Pony Pokey even though your date's a lout

You're better off without"

I was now at the garden to see even worse things.

"You stomp your whole self in" Fluttershy threw herself to a triplet of ducks who managed to fly away before she caught them.

"You stomp your whole self out" Fluttershy then threw herself to a bunny that ran away in time.

"You stomp your whole self in

And you stomp yourself about" Fluttershy ran over to a couple of squirrels, but when they ran away from her, she began pounding the ground with her hoofs in rage. Her hair was not even delicate as it used to be anymore… I looked around me. I saw animals hiding in the trees and bushes. They were absolutely frightened as they trembled tremendously in the trees, even holding their young ones with them.

"You do the Pony Pokey and you give a little shout—

"COME OUT!" Fluttershy screamed and continued waving her hooves in anger as I heard Pinkie Pie sing inside. I could only stare motionless.

"That's what I'm talking about

You do the Pony Pokey

And that's what it's all about

Yeah!"

Her song had ended but Fluttershy's rage didn't. I could only stare in disbelief as she continued to try to trap animals. This isn't Fluttershy… this isn't Fluttershy! This isn't the Fluttershy I know! How could have she changed so significantly? What happened to the Fluttershy I know? …I miss that Fluttershy… so dearly… I don't know this Fluttershy… I don't… I don't… It's like if the Fluttershy I knew was replaced by the complete opposite… I don't like this Fluttershy… I'd do anything to have the old Fluttershy back… anything… this is not the Fluttershy that I truly—

"I'll catch you yet, my pretties." Fluttershy spoke across me as she stood in front of a net she made to trap animals. She looked at all the animals hiding as her eye continuously twitched. "Oh yes. As soon as one of you little birds or monkeys or bears touches this net... you'll be MINE! MINE!" Fluttershy began laughing… no… cackling… so frightening that I couldn't believe that it was her voice… I couldn't believe it… I just wanted it all to be just another nightmare… Fortunately, she lost her balance and fell into the net. "Whoa!" The net trapped her and had her hanging on a branch. At least the anger ended for the moment… A bunny had hopped below her under the net as she could only just see it and sigh.

I had walked up to the net and looked up at her. She noticed and called out to me. "Oh, Alex… um… do you think you can cut me down?"

I had a bit of an angry and depressive expression on my face. "If I cut you down, will you stop acting like this?"

"Um…" Her eyes moved left to right. "Yes."

I sighed. It wouldn't matter anyway… I couldn't just leave her there. I walked over to the rope and clenched it with my teeth. After, I cut the rope, but quickly grabbed it with my hooves so Fluttershy wouldn't fall. I slowly released it as Fluttershy was lowered carefully towards the ground. When she was set on top of the grass, I walked over to her and tore the net.

When she was free, she slowly stood up and shook her head, even rubbing it a bit. She looked at me and then lowered her head after noticing my expression and possibly the way she's been acting. "I'm sorry, Alex… I didn't mean to do any of this… It's just…it's just…" She sighed. "There's something I need to tell you…" She began rubbing her foreleg. "I…" She paused. "I…uh…" She paused again, causing me to be concerned about what she was trying to tell me. "You see… I… I really… I really l—

She had suddenly stopped and stared at something as if she had been hypnotized.

"Fluttershy…?"

She began speaking in broken sentences. "The… the… animals. They… they're hugging each other… I... want to… no… I need to… join them."

I immediately placed my hooves on her. "Fluttershy. No. Don't go after them. Snap out of it!"

"I…I…I… have to… I need to!" She instantly ran off and charged toward the animals.

"Fluttershy! WAIT!" I cried out to her.

She instantly alerted the animals and caused them to run away while I could only try to run after her to stop her. All the running and stomping caused the ground to actually shake. Then, I realized that they were headed towards the inside of the dancing hall. No!

"Fluttershy!" I called after her but it was too late.

The animals burst through the door while Fluttershy could only remain there panting. "You're... going to LOVE ME!" She screamed out loud, causing the entire dance hall to transform into complete chaos. All the animals Fluttershy had scared into the dancing hall were running wildly inside. All the ponies were freaking out and running along with them as well. Some ponies even had some of the animals on them. I could only stare… unable to believe that what I thought that could have been the perfect night was actually the worst one…

All of a sudden, a whistle broke me out of my trance. I looked to see where it had come from. It was Twilight, who whistled us to get out of here as fast as we can. All of the ponies realized this and began to run out of here. I was the last one to reach the staircase. Before descending down the stairs, I glanced once more toward all the destruction that had been caused. After, I turned back, saddened, and continued my way out of the building.

All the ponies ended their fleeing at a doughnut shop. I slowly and sadly walked in after they did.

"Twilight Sparkle! Ha, ha. Long time no see." The person who ran the shop spoke.

"Hey, how was the Gala? How was your best night ever?" Spike immediately asked Twilight, running over to her. The girls had gathered around a table while they explained briefly what happened. "That sounds like the worst night ever!"

"It was!" The girls exclaimed in unison and began laughing after that. I could only look away… and remain quiet.

"I just hope Princess Celestia isn't upset with us for ruining the Gala…" Twilight hoped.

"That was the best Grand Galloping Gala ever!" Princess Celestia had walked in the doughnut shop, unexpectedly.

"Princess Celestia?" The girls cried out her name in surprise.

"Pardon me, Princess, but tonight was just awful." Twilight noted.

"Oh, Twilight. The Grand Galloping Gala is always awful." Princess Celestia responded in a cheerful tone.

"It is?"

"That is why I was thrilled you were all attending. I was hoping you could liven things up a bit. And while the evening may not have gone as you planned, I'm sure you'll agree that in the end it didn't turn out so bad for this group of friends."

I scoffed mentally.

"You're right, Princess. Friends have a way of making even the worst of times into something pretty great."

"Yeah! Hanging out with friends!" Rainbow Dash added.

"Talking!" Fluttershy added as well.

"Laughing!" Pinkie Pie held her hooves out.

"You mean doing exactly what I wanted to do the whole time?" Spike boasted.

"Yes, Spike. You were right." Twilight responded.

"As horrible as our night was..." Applejack began.

"...being together here has made it all better." Rarity completed the sentence.

"In fact, it's made it..." Pinkie Pie set up.

"...the best night ever!" Every girl exclaimed.

Once more, they all shared a laugh. I had enough…

I immediately sat up and began walking out the doughnut shop, but Rarity called after me. "Alex? Where are you going?" She asked.

Honestly, I didn't want to answer…but I didn't want anypony to worry, so I made an excuse. "I… I just feel like having a fresh breeze…" After, I exited the shop. I sat down outside and stared at the moon. I felt really angry… but… it wasn't because of how the Grand Galloping Gala ended… it was Fluttershy. She made me feel really sad…because… she was a completely different pony… I just couldn't believe it… and I still can't… It all feels like a nightmare… and I actually wish it was one…

"What is wrong, Alex?" Princess Celestia's voice startled me, but I didn't look back. "Are you not having fun with your friends?"

I remained silent for a moment, but then finally replied. "I don't know… I sure don't feel good inside so… I must not be…"

"Why is that?" She lowered her head closer to mine with concerned eyes.

I sighed and took a deep breath. "I saw somepony turn into something I thought I'd never see her as in my life…"

"Let me guess… Fluttershy?"

I sighed again. "…You know me well…"

"I've known you ever since you were little, Alex. Of course, I would know you well and that is why I'm telling you that you need to tell her how you feel."

I slowly looked back at her. "…what?"

Princess Celestia returned a warm smile. "Come with me." She led me back into the doughnut shop. "Sorry, everypony. Everything is alright; we just wanted to talk before you all had to leave."

Everypony understood and began getting ready to leave back to Ponyville.

"But, Princess Celestia… why did you…?"

Princess Celestia placed a hoof on me and smiled. Then, she moved her head closer to mine and whispered. "Trust me." I looked at her face and slowly nodded. "Go now then… You should get back home. It's been wonderful having you here, truly."

"Thanks… Princess…"

"Goodnight, Alex."

"Goodnight, Princess."

She waved as the girls and I walked back to the carriage. I strapped myself to pull the carriage along with the other couple of colts who were going to help. I looked back at Princess Celestia and noticed how she continued to send me a heartwarming smile. I waved and turned the carriage around to begin going back.

Princess Celestia had destroyed the little bit of anger I had left… but there was still sadness in me. A lot of sadness…

I pulled the carriage in silence as I heard the girls talk to each other in the carriage.

When we arrived back in Ponyville, it must have been really late. Spike jumped off the carriage to open the door for the girls as I removed myself from the strap. The colts did the same and then they walked over to Rarity.

"There you go, Rarity. Anything else we can do for you?" They asked.

"No, thank you, boys. You've done quite enough." Rarity replied.

"Okay. You have a goodnight, Rarity." They began walking away.

"Yes, Goodnight." Rarity then walked over to me and smiled. "And thank you, Alex."

"No problem…"

"Not just for pulling our carriage, but for showing me how a true Prince is supposed to be."

"Huh?" I turned towards her in surprise.

"Before we arrived at the Gala, I thought the Prince was to be such a…well…charming Prince. But he was actually such a… rude… stallion. It was you who was the true gentlecolt. I don't see why you aren't the Prince." She giggled, jokingly.

"Wow, thanks, Rarity…" I slightly looked away as I could only keep thinking on how Fluttershy was a completely different pony…

Rarity noticed my behavior and pushed her head towards me in concern. "Is something wrong?"

"Um…" I responded without moving my head. "I'm just tired…you know…?"

"Of course… I should let you go to sleep before I keep on rambling about the Gala." She giggled again. "Um, go ahead and keep the suit at your home. I can probably come by tomorrow or some other time to wash it and make it good as new."

"Okay, thanks, Rarity."

She smiled and nodded. "Goodnight, Alex."

"Goodnight…"

Afterwards, I turned home and began walking.

When I entered the house, I closed the door behind me and walked over to the kitchen. I still had the food I wanted to share with Fluttershy… I sadly placed it on the table and sat down. I closed my eyes as I felt tears begin to form in my eyes. I placed my forelegs on the table and lay my head on them in depression.

Suddenly, a knock sounded at my door. I quickly lifted my head and looked towards the door. I wiped my eyes with my hooves and then walked to the door. I opened it to see Fluttershy. She was looking at the ground, a bit sadly as well.

"Hi, Alex…"

"Fluttershy, what is it…?"

"Can we talk…?"

"Um, sure…"

"Bring the bag of food you got at the Gala."

"Um…okay…" I walked towards the kitchen, grabbing the bag with my teeth and walked back to the door.

Fluttershy grabbed my hoof and led me out of the house. She continued holding on to my hoof as she walked me over to her cottage in silence.

When we arrived, I could only feel confused.

"Fluttershy… what are we…"

She hugged me and pointed towards a blanket outside of her cottage. "Our date's not over yet."

"Huh…?"

She pulled me towards the blanket and sat down. I sat down as well, placing the bag of food on the blanket.

"Listen, Alex… I'm so sorry I ruined everything at the Gala… it was supposed to be the best night ever… but I was so selfish to forget about our date… I was too obsessed with making friends with the animals that… I guess I just lost control of myself…"

I looked at her and sighed. "I just missed you so much Fluttershy…" Fluttershy's head immediately lifted up after she heard me say this. "You were a completely different pony… like… if I had lost the old Fluttershy forever… you weren't you… and that made me…really sad…"

She quickly moved over to me and embraced me. "I'm really sorry, Alex! I really am!" She slowly pulled away. "I can understand if you never want to see me again…"

"No…" I shook my head. "I do want to see you… I just don't want to see you when you're not you… I want to see the real you."

"Oh, Alex… then would you mind if we finished our date the right way? It's the least I can do…"

"Of course not… as long as you're you, Fluttershy."

"I promise!" She embraced me once again.

We began eating the apple treats from Applejack as we sat on the blanket under the moon. The treats were surprisingly still very warm… I felt better… After Fluttershy and I got all that out of the way, I wasn't as sad anymore. I began seeing the Fluttershy I missed for so long, which began to remove the sadness away from me.

After we finished the food and apple juice, Fluttershy looked towards me. "There's still something I want to do before this night ends…"

"What is it?" I asked.

She didn't answer but stood up and held her hoof out towards me. I grabbed it and she began walking me away from the blanket. She stopped when we were in an open grass area. She let go of my hand and walked over to a branch where several birds sat upon. She whispered to them and they nodded their heads happily afterwards. As Fluttershy began walking towards me, the birds began singing a slow song.

"Fluttershy, what are we…?" I tried to say.

She grabbed my forelegs and placed my left one on her shoulder while she placed my right one on her waist. After, she wrapped her forelegs around my neck and held on to me as she began moving. I unknowingly followed.

"We're having our dance." She responded softly.

"I… I don't really know how to dance…"

"That's okay… I'll help you. Just relax and follow my movements…" I calmed myself down and did so. It actually wasn't that hard to follow. I continued to follow her movements, softly. "There you go…" She announced very softly, sounding sleepy. "You're doing great…" She rested her head on my shoulder. "There's something I want to give you…after we finish our dance…"

Something she wants to give me…?

We continued to dance under the moonlight, still in our formal attire. As I continued dancing with Fluttershy, I couldn't help but feel really warm in my heart. It felt great… really great… I didn't want it to stop.

Finally, the birds finished singing, causing me to stop my movements. I looked at Fluttershy and saw that she still hadn't pulled away from me.

"Fluttershy?" I softly called to her.

She didn't answer.

I lightly lifted her to notice her eyes were closed and she was breathing softly. My eyes formed into understanding ones. She had fallen asleep…

I lifted her from me and placed her on my back. I carefully carried her to her cottage and walked inside. Then, I walked up the stairs to her room and opened the door. I turned on the light and walked towards the bed. I lightly placed her on there as she continued to breathe softly, soundly asleep. I was about to walk back, but then I noticed she was holding something in her hooves. I leaned closer to her to grab the object from her hooves.

When I softly and carefully grabbed the item, I noticed it was a hoof-crafted heart… It was made with many things from nature… This must have been the gift Fluttershy wanted to give to me… I continued to analyze the heart, feeling something even more special occur in my mine.

I looked at Fluttershy with caring eyes. "Fluttershy, you're so… amazing…" I softly muttered. I thought I should get out of her home, but there was something I was struggling to do before I left. I continued thinking if I should really do it, but I finally shook my head and prevented my negative thoughts from intriguing between Fluttershy and me. I leaned my head over to Fluttershy's and slowly kissed her on her cheek.

I pulled away and continued looking at her. "Goodnight, Fluttershy…" I grabbed the covers and pulled them over her. After, I began leaving the room, turning the lights off after me. I turned all the lights off in the home and walked out. I began heading home feeling so much warmth in my heart than ever before…

When I arrived, I entered my home and walked upstairs to my room. I spent some time taking off the tux and placing it somewhere neatly. After, I carefully placed Fluttershy's gift on the nightstand near the bed. I lightly lay myself on my bed and continued looking at the heart.

Everything bad that happened at the Gala seemed to vanish when I spent the rest of the night with Fluttershy. I slowly closed my eyes and began to think.

Maybe this was the best night ever…

Return of Harmony : Part One

Episode 27 – Return of Harmony Part One

I opened my eyes and sat up. I looked out the window to notice the bright sunny day outside. I stepped off the bed and began to head downstairs. It looks like a nice day outside… maybe I can meet up with the girls for something…?

I opened the front door and walked out. I was instantly welcomed by a cool and gentle breeze that flowed through my mane. It felt really nice... so nice as if I had been rejuvenated by the energy of the wind...

I continued walking through town, observing the events occurring outside. Everypony seemed to be having a good time. There were ponies selling different kinds of things in their stands. There were ponies talking to each other and laughing. All of them had at least one thing in common...a smile.

While I was distracted by my surroundings, I bumped into something, almost causing me to fall back. I shook my head and turned it to the front of me to see what I bumped into. It was a pony. After analyzing the pony for a moment, I found out that it was actually Ms. Cheerilee.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Ms. Cheerilee. I didn't see you there." I held out my hoof to pick her up from her sitting position after I had bumped into her.

She grabbed my hoof and allowed me to pull her up and she responded back to me. "Oh, that's quite alright... Actually, I'm very glad that I bumped into you. I was hoping you that you might be able to assist me with something."

"What is it?" I asked.

"Well, I'm taking the children on a field trip to the Canterlot sculpture garden! Although, I was hoping if you could help me by watching over them and making sure one of them don't wander off or get in trouble."

"Oh, um. Sure, I could help you with that."

"Really? Thank you!" She exclaimed. "Come on, we are just about to head over there now."

Ms. Cheerilee led me to the schoolhouse where all the children were talking to each other while they were at their desks.

"Settle down! Settle down!" Ms. Cheerilee calmly told the students to cease their excitement as she walked to the front of the class. "I have some great news!" Ms. Cheerilee announced when she arrived to her teaching position. "This is Alex." She introduced me. "He will be helping me on our field trip today, so every one of you be on your best behavior, understand?"

"Yes, Ms. Cheerilee…" The students obediently stated in unison.

"Great! Now I want every one of you to form an orderly single file line and exit the classroom in a calm matter, do you kids understand?"

"Yes, Ms. Cheerilee…" The students repeated their answer.

The children did so and Ms. Cheerilee began leading them out of the school house. When we were outside and began heading on our way towards the field trip location, Ms. Cheerilee allowed them to separate a bit, but stick close enough to where we could keep an eye on them.

Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle moved over to me while we continued to walk.

"Soo…" Applebloom began. "I heard you took Fluttershy to the Grand Galloping Gala, am I right?" She released a sly grin.

I looked at them with slightly nervous eyes. "Yeah… why does it seem to interest you so much?"

"Well…it's just that you had a date with her…so…" Applebloom instantly began bouncing excitedly in front of me. "Is she your girlfriend now? Huh? Huh? Huh?"

"What?" I asked, feeling a little embarrassed. "No…"

"But you went on a date with her. Doesn't that make you both a couple?"

"…Not really…well…I don't think so…"

"Well, if you're not with her yet, then you should totally ask her to be your girlfriend!" Sweetie Belle joined in on the conversation.

"Bleeeeh!" Scootaloo stuck her tongue out in disgust. "Will you guys please stop talking about this? We're finally going on a field trip and I don't want to get sick on it!"

I agreed with Scootaloo, but only because I didn't want to keep talking about…the whole thing with…Fluttershy… I mean…not that it's bad or anything… it's…just…

I sighed.

"Aw…fine." The other girls surrendered and we continued walking towards the Canterlot Sculpture garden.

When we arrived, we saw a lot of white-colored sculptures fill the garden. Besides us, there was an area that looked to be some maze. I didn't have a single clue on why it was there unless it was used for entertainment purposes…

"I want to start our field trip here in the world-famous Canterlot sculpture garden." Ms. Cheerilee announced to the kids. She turned her head to one of them. "That one over there represents 'Friendship'." Applebloom stopped to see the sculpture. I stopped as well to observe it. The sculpture depicted three ponies above each other. The three of them were smiling brightly, almost looking as if they were laughing… Scootaloo had bumped into Applebloom, which caused Sweetie Belle to bump into Scootaloo. They were disoriented for a moment, but when they regained their balance, they looked at each other angrily. Ms. Cheerilee continued speaking, which caused the three little ponies to catch up with the group. "Alright my little ponies, this one represents 'Victory'." She led us to another statue portraying a pony standing proudly with a flag in her hooves. There were a couple of stars by her side as she smiled.

"How cool would it be to have that for a cutie mark?" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Cool, if you were actually victoryful at somethin'." Applebloom replied as she rolled her eyes.

"That's not a word!" Sweetie Belle argued while Scootaloo returned an angry look at Applebloom. However, Scootaloo changed her expression to a slightly annoyed one when she heard Sweetie Belle.

"What are you, a dictionary?" Scootaloo directed at Sweetie Belle.

"Girls!" Ms. Cheerilee scolded, causing the girls to immediately catch up with the group once again. I sighed and caught up with them as well. "Now this is a really interesting statue. What do you notice about it?" Ms. Cheerilee pointed to another statue…but it wasn't like the others…

I looked up to the statue… and it instantly brought a chill to pass through me. It was standing up, looking as if it was laughing. I could only stare at it motionless as the girls brought up the description of it.

"It's got an eagle claw." Applebloom threw out.

"And a lion paw!" Scootaloo added.

"And a snake tail!" Sweetie Belle excitedly threw her forelegs around.

All the girls seemed happy, despite the eerie mood the statue placed.

"This creature is called a draconequus." Ms. Cheerilee added on to the description. "He has the head of a pony and a body made up of all sorts of things. What do you suppose that represents?"

As I continued to stare at the statue, my right hoof immediately began shaking. I pulled it up and looked up at it. No…not again…

"Confusion!"

"Evil!"

"Chaos!"

I heard the girls answer from behind me, but my hoof kept my attention straight towards it.

"It's not chaos, you dodo!" Sweetie Belle argued to Scootaloo.

"Don't call me things I don't know the meaning of, and it is too chaos!" Scootaloo counterattacked.

"Is not!"

"You're both wrong!" Applebloom intervened.

They began fighting over the answer but my eyes were glued on to my hoof. Suddenly, something else caught my attention. A darkened spot had emerged on the statue, but vanished as quickly as it appeared. I gave a light and quiet gasp after I saw it.

"Actually, in a way, you're all right." Ms. Cheerilee answered, instantly bringing the fighting to an end. "This statue represents 'Discord'…" Another chill invaded me. "…which means a lack of harmony between ponies. In fact, you three have demonstrated discord so well, that you're each going to write me an essay explaining it." The rest of the group laughed. "Now let's go, and I don't want any more fighting." Ms. Cheerilee continued walking, bringing the group with her.

However, I stayed behind with my trembling hoof. I was about to look at the statue once again, but Ms. Cheerilee startled me when she called my name. "Alex? Are you coming?"

I looked over to her to find her looking at me, a little concerned.

"Oh…um…" I walked over to her, trying to hide my shaking hoof as much as possible. "Actually, Ms. Cheerilee… I… I don't feel too well… I think I should go home…"

"Oh, no. What's wrong? Do you have a headache? Or does your stomach hurt?" She asked, a little more concerned.

"Um… not really… I just really don't feel good."

"Oh… then by all means, go ahead and return home. You should get some rest, or maybe you could go visit the doctor."

"Thanks, Ms. Cheerilee… are you sure you can go on without me?"

"Of course, don't worry about it. You just worry on getting home. I'll be fine." Ms. Cheerilee returned a smile, just like one the flowers had on her cutie mark.

"Okay… I guess I'll see you some other time, then?"

"Yes. Yes. You should get going before you feel worse."

"Okay…bye…" I turned around and began walking out of the sculpture garden.

After reaching a certain distance from Canterlot, as I was heading back towards Ponyville, I stopped and looked at my hoof again. It had stopped shaking. I sighed in relief and continued walking towards Ponyville. Why did I react like that when I saw the statue…? Discord…

When I arrived at Ponyville, I still had this weird feeling I hate where I feel like there's absolutely no pony around me. I decided to go to Sweet Apple Acres. Maybe seeing my friends will take this feeling off me…

I saw Applejack picking corn from a field of corn and placing them on her cart neatly above each other when I walked into Sweet Apple Acres. I felt a little better when I saw her, so I began walking towards her. She spotted me and smiled. "Howdy, Alex!" She exclaimed.

"Hey, Applejack…" I responded, reaching up to her.

She observed my face. "Somethin' troubling you?"

"Well, a little. I think I just needed to get out…maybe breathe in the air here?"

Applejack was about to ask me something else, but Rainbow Dash suddenly zoomed above us. "Hey, I didn't tell you to go anywhere!"

A storm of pink clouds followed behind her. Brown drops fell upon us. I observed it for a moment. Is this… chocolate milk…?

"Rainbow Dash, what's going on with this rain?" Applejack shook her head. "I mean chocolate milk?" Applejack shook her head again. "I mean chocolate milk rain?" Applejack asked very worriedly.

"There's crazy weather all over Equestria! Cloudsdale is getting soaked by a major cola storm right now!" Rainbow Dash responded, worrying as well. As Rainbow Dash continued to explain the situation, I began hearing popping noises near me, which revealed the corn field around us transforming into popcorn. How in the…? "But don't worry. I'm not leaving you until I get control of Ponyville!" Rainbow Dash left when the corn in front of us suddenly began popping and bombarding us with popcorn.

"Why would you wanna stop this?" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, bouncing over the popcorn filled area. She stuck her tongue out and slurped the chocolate milk that splashed on her.

I grabbed Applejack and pulled her out from the pile of popcorn. We saw Rarity walking towards us, wearing a purple stylish raincoat while she had a fashionable saddle that held an umbrella over her. "Ahem." Rarity cleared her throat. "I heard about your troubles, Applejack, and I came to see if there's anything I can do without getting wet. Or dirty. Or out from under my umbrella…"

Suddenly we heard more awkward noises near us. The apples on the trees grew much more weight that they actually caused the trees to lean helplessly to the side. Squirrels jumped on the apples and began eating them all.

Applejack spotted Fluttershy near one of the trees with a familiar bunny. "Fluttershy! Do somethin'!"

"Now, Angel…" Fluttershy began to softly entreat the bunny. "…you really shouldn't–

The bunny's legs suddenly transformed into very long ones and made him about ten feet taller. "No! It's not possible!" More of Fluttershy's bunnies began running through the trees with the same appearance. "I must be seeing things!"

We saw Twilight and Spike walk over to all us. Twilight contained a very surprised look on her face as she stared at all the unusual things happen everywhere. She held her hoof up and spoke while keeping her eyes in her book. "Don't worry everypony. I've learned a new spell that'll fix everything." She knelt down and began casting magic with her horn. A bright pink color shot from her horn and engulfed everything in light, blinding us for a moment. She recovered from her flinch and looked to observe if her magic had any effect. Unfortunately, it didn't. Long-legged bunnies continued to run around through the chocolate milk rain as the corn field popped. "My fail-safe spell... failed. What do we do?"

"Uh, give up?" Spike suggested.

Rarity walked over to them and surprisingly placed her saddle umbrella on Twilight. "Spike, Twilight will come up with something."

"Hmm…" Twilight thought for a moment. "…time for plan B. Rainbow, can you corral all those clouds in one corner of the sky?" She asked Rainbow Dash who was still struggling with a candy cotton cloud as she contained many pieces of it on her face. She quickly shook it off her and saluted towards Twilight.

Rainbow Dash began flying to catch all the loose cotton candy clouds in the sky. Under one, Pinkie Pie was lying on the ground, happily holding her mouth open for the chocolate milk until Rainbow Dash removed it. She lifted her head up, still having her tongue out and grinning.

"Applejack…" Twilight called as Rainbow Dash continued to bring all the cotton candy clouds closer to each other. "I need you to bring those high-strung storm clouds down to Earth."

Applejack grabbed a lasso and began twirling it around. She threw it out to the clouds as Rainbow Dash removed herself from being near them. Applejack tightened the rope, causing the clouds to cease dripping chocolate milk. Yet again, Pinkie Pie was under them, chugging the milk down her throat until she noticed that it had stopped. "Hey! What happened?"

Nonetheless, Applejack slowly brought the cotton candy clouds down to the ground as they lightly leaked chocolate milk. Twilight was whispering loudly to Fluttershy, although I wasn't able to make out the words. Fluttershy's eyes opened as she looked at the animals around her. "Oh dear. I hope none of the animals see these delicious chocolate-filled cotton candy clouds. I'd hate to have to share them." Fluttershy purposely exaggerated her sentence.

"You and me both, sister!" Pinkie Pie, who was munching loudly on the cotton candy clouds that lay on the ground, exclaimed. However, all the animals immediately ran towards the cotton candy clouds and began chomping down on them. "Hey!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed when the animals pushed her away.

"And when y'all are done with that, feel free to have some popcorn for dessert!" Applejack announced towards the hungry animals.

"You see, Spike?" Twilight said. "You should never give up. There's nothing we can't overcome if we all work together." Spike burped unexpectedly, revealing a letter. Twilight picked up the letter with her magic and read it. She immediately gasped afterwards, concerning us all. "Come on ponies. Princess Celestia wants to see us all in Canterlot immediately!"

All of us began running towards Canterlot, being my second time today, and headed towards Princess Celestia without question.

We rushed through the doors to see Princess Celestia finish her pacing. "Princess Celestia, we came as fast as we could!" Twilight announced as we ran inside.

"Thank you, Twilight. Thank you all." Princess Celestia replied in a serious manner. She no longer had the heartwarming smile. Instead, it was replaced by a serious frown with a worried tone. She stood on top of the stairs as we stopped at the bottom.

"Is this about the weather?" Twilight asked very quickly. "And the animals' weird behavior? What's happening out there? Why isn't my magic working? Is there–

Princess Celestia had raised her hoof, immediately ceasing Twilight's questions. "Follow me."

She led us into a very long hallway, heading us towards the large door at the end of it. As we walked with her, we could see stain-glassed windows depicting the history of Equestria. "I've called you here for a matter of great importance." Princess Celestia announced seriously. "It seems an old foe of mine, someone I thought I had defeated long ago, has returned. His name... is Discord." Fear instantly instilled upon my heart once again, even causing it to pound a little harder. This made me stop and place my hoof on my chest. I heard Fluttershy suddenly shriek. I turned my head to see her hide behind Twilight as Princess Celestia continued speaking. "Discord is the mischievous spirit of disharmony. Before my sister and I stood up to him, he ruled Equestria in an eternal state of unrest and unhappiness. Luna and I saw how miserable life was for Earth ponies, Pegasi, and unicorns alike, so after discovering the Elements of Harmony, we combined our powers and rose up against him, turning him to stone."

"All right, Princess!" Rainbow Dash cheered, but Princess Celestia continued walking us in an unaffected manner.

"I thought the spell we cast would keep him contained forever but since Luna and I are no longer connected to the elements, the spell has been broken."

"No longer connected?" Twilight questioned.

Princess Celestia finished leading us towards the room and stopped in front of it. "This is Canterlot Tower, where the Elements are kept inside since all of you recovered them." She formed a determined and serious expression on her face. "I need you to wield the Elements of Harmony once again and stop Discord before he thrusts all of Equestria into eternal chaos."

"But why us? Why don't you—

"Hey, look!" Pinkie Pie interrupted. "We're famous!" Pinkie Pie pointed towards one of the stain-glassed windows which displayed us defeating Nightmare Moon. Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack were depicted on the left side while Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie were on the right. I was on the middle. We were all using our elements to defeat Nightmare Moon, who was encased in a bubble on the top.

"You seven showed the full potential of the elements by harnessing the magic of your friendship to beat a mighty foe. Although Luna and I once wielded the elements, it is you who now control their power, and it is you who must defeat Discord!"

The girls looked at each other, worriedly, for a moment. However, Twilight formed a bold look as she responded to Princess Celestia. "Princess Celestia, you can count on—

"Hold on a second!" Pinkie Pie cut off Twilight once again, raising her hoof up in the air. "Eternal chaos comes with chocolate rain, you guys. Chocolate rain!"

Twilight looked over to Princess Celestia and smiled. "Don't listen to her, Princess. We'd be honored to use the Elements of Harmony again."

Princess Celestia nodded and turned around to the door. She lowered her head and inserted her horn in the lock of the door, releasing magic and unlocking the door. The door released a bright light blue glow and opened, revealing a decorative chest which presented gems as well.

"Ooh." Rarity gazed in awe. "You can keep the Elements. I'll take that case!"

"Have no fear, ponies." Princess Celestia encouraged us. "I have total confidence that you will be able to defeat Discord…" Princess Celestia moved the chest towards us and opened it. "…with these!"

There was nothing in the chest, causing the girls, even me, to gasp. Princess Celestia suddenly dropped the case in shock as she flinched back in horror. The sound of the chest landing on the ground with no items in it created a very eerie thud that echoed throughout the halls.

The halls remained silent as the ponies slowly walked up to the case. "The elements…They're gone!" Twilight announced as she continued to stare at the empty chest.

Princess Celestia immediately began pacing worriedly near us. "That chamber is protected by a powerful spell that only I can break! This doesn't make sense!"

Suddenly, laughter echoed throughout the halls, causing me to gasp lightly and feel my heart start to pound. "Make sense? Oh, what fun is there in making sense?"

"Discord... Show yourself!" Princess Celestia commanded.

That…was Discord…?

He responded with a chuckle. I looked at my right hoof. It began shaking, uncontrollably… just like this morning… "Did you miss me, Celestia?" We looked around the halls to try to find out where the voice was coming from but he appeared in one of the stain-glassed windows instead. "I missed you. It's quite lonely being encased in stone…" He spoke as he moved throughout the other windows. "…but you wouldn't know that, would you, because I don't turn ponies into stone." He knocked on Fluttershy's portrait in the window that portrayed us with our elements.

"Enough! What have you done with the rest of the Elements of Harmony?" Princess Celestia ordered.

"'Rest'? Oh… of course…" He slid slyly over to the window I stood near. "Alex… the one who bears the element of a pure heart…" Chills began invading my body. I quickly sat down and placed my left hoof over my right. "…an element I cannot physically take, can I? But who says, I can't take it in another way?" Though, he couldn't physically touch me, he still managed to strike more fear into me, somehow. I felt as if I began having trouble breathing. Discord slid back into another window. "About your other elements? Oh, I just borrowed them for a teensy little while." He snapped his fingers and caused the elements in the window to disappear.

"You'll never get away with this, Discord!" Princess Celestia answered boldly.

"Oh, I'd forgotten how grim you can be, Celestia." Discord laid back casually as he seemed unaffected by the threat. "It's really quite boring."

"Hey! Nopony insults the Princess!" Rainbow Dash immediately flew over to the window in an aggressive way. Discord vanished from the window, leaving Rainbow Dash to smash herself into it. He reappeared when Rainbow Dash pulled herself off from the window.

"Oh, you must be Rainbow Dash, famed for her loyalty, the Element of Harmony you represent."

"That's right! I'll always be loyal to the Princess!" Rainbow Dash assured.

Discord disappeared from the window. "We'll see about that…"

"I can't believe we're wasting our time talking to a tacky window." Rarity commented.

"The beautiful Rarity, representing the element of generosity, if I'm not mistaken?" Discord responded, reappearing on the window Rarity was in front of.

My breathing became worse. I began breathing heavily now, feeling as if all the air in the room was beginning to be sucked out. The shaking of my hoof became fiercer as I could only try to keep my composure.

"So you know who we are, big deal." Applejack walked over to Rarity, sounding irritated.

Discord enlarged himself on the window. "Oh, I know much more than that, honest Applejack."

"You seem to know our strengths, too?" Twilight questioned.

"Yes, Twilight Sparkle, and yours is the most powerful and elusive element, magic. Fluttershy's is kindness and Pinkie Pie's is a personal favorite of mine - laughter."

Pinkie Pie couldn't stop snickering for some reason, catching Twilight's attention. "Pinkie!"

Pinkie Pie began laughing out loud. "He's standing on your head!" She pointed towards the window, presenting Discord dancing on top of Twilight, immaturely.

"Stop stalling, Discord!" Princess Celestia exclaimed, shutting Pinkie Pie's laughter. "What have you done with the rest of the Elements of Harmony?"

"Oh, so boring, Celestia." He stopped his dancing. "Really? Fine, I'll tell you, but I'll only tell you my way." He vanished from the window and presented himself from window to window as he spoke... "To retrieve your missing elements just make sense of this change of events. Twists and turns are my master plan. Then find the elements back where you began." He then switched to the window over to me. "You better hurry too, your precious little 'hero', doesn't look too good here!" He laughed as he alerted the other ponies of my current state. I was struggling so much to breathe in air, that I couldn't even speak. My hoof continued shaking, my heart was pounding, my eyes were closed as they were straining, and I didn't know what to do.

"Alex!" Fluttershy announced my name as she raced over to me.

Finally, Discord released one last laugh and vanished for the time being. I felt Fluttershy caress me as she tried to somehow help me. Fortunately, my symptoms began fading away. I was now able to breathe and my hoof stopped shaking. My heart returned to its normal rate as I opened my eyes and looked at Fluttershy. She kept her eyes locked on to me. "I'm…I'm okay…" I announced, panting a little.

"No! We've got to stop him before he does any more harm to Alex!" Applejack exclaimed after noticing what happened to me. "What do you reckon he meant? Twists and turns and ending back where we started?"

"Twists and turns..." Twilight responded as she walked over to the window. "…twists and turns... twists and turns! That's it! I bet Discord hid the elements in the palace labyrinth!"

Princess Celestia nodded. "Good luck, my little ponies. The fate of Equestria is in your hooves."

"Thanks, Princess. We won't let you down." Twilight replied and looked over to me. "Alex… you stay here…"

"What…?" I answered, shocked.

"After what just happened to you, I can't let you come with us."

"No…!" I slowly stood up, struggling a bit. "I'm coming with you girls!"

"But…"

"Let him come with you." Princess Celestia told Twilight. "He will be alright. As long as you all are together, you'll be victorious."

Twilight sighed, but soon nodded. "Okay, Princess." Twilight looked over to me. "Come on then, Alex."

I nodded and was about to run, but Fluttershy kept her hooves on me. "Are you sure you'll be okay, Alex…?" She asked, very concerned.

"Yeah… I'm okay. Let's go…"

She slowly nodded with hesitation.

We commenced our pursuit for the rest of the Elements of Harmony.

The girls gasped when they reached the palace labyrinth. It was the maze I saw earlier in the morning… The entrance contained several flags on the front.

"W-We have to go in there?" Fluttershy asked, worried.

"Nope!" Rainbow Dash stepped forward. "Dopey Discord forgot about these babies!" She presented her wings and began flying upwards, over the labyrinth. "I'll just do a quick flyover and we'll have the Elements in no time." Suddenly, her wings vanished into thin air, causing her to land harshly in front of us. "My wings!"

Fluttershy screamed as her wings disappeared as well.

After, Twilight's and Rarity's magic horns were removed. "Your horn! My horn! Ahhh!" They screamed to each other."

A green ball of light formed in front of us and revealed Discord's true form. He laughed as lightning flashed and thunder boomed around him. I thought I would receive the symptoms like I did back with Princess Celestia… but I didn't… "You–You should see the looks on your faces. Priceless!" He laughed once again, a lot less terrifying now.

"Give us our wings and horns back!" Twilight demanded.

"You'll get them back in good time. I simply took them to ensure there's no cheating. You see, this is the first rule of our game: no flying, and no magic." He explained as he slid around us, ensuring we understood clearly.

"The first rule?" Rainbow Dash asked, a little confused.

"The second rule is everypony has to play or the game is over, and I win. Good luck, everypony!" He laughed once more and vanished.

"Never fear, ponies. We have each other!" Twilight ensured to keep us motivated.

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash confidently agreed. "Like Twilight said, there's nothing we can't overcome if we all stick together!"

"All right, let's do this!" Twilight announced as we all stood at the entrance to the labyrinth. Twilight stood at my far right with Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy in order. I stood right by Fluttershy.

Everypony stomped their hoof forward and cheered loudly. "Together!"

Suddenly, walls of shrubs appeared to Twilight's right and immediately began separating each of us in the labyrinth, causing the girls to scream.

"Stay calm!" Twilight exclaimed. "Everypony head to the middle as fast as you can, and we'll regroup there!"

Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie responded to Twilight's command.

"Moving out!"

"See you in the center."

"Yee-haw!"

"See you guys there!"

However, I could hear Fluttershy panicking on the other side of the wall. "What's that? Who's there? GIRLS!"

"Fluttershy, it's alright!" I tried to calm her down. "Just calm down… and listen to my voice."

Fluttershy began taking deep breaths and finally spoke calmly. "Okay, Alex…"

"I'm sorry I can't be with you… but just head to the middle like Twilight said and we'll all be together again. Okay?"

Fluttershy took another deep breath. "Okay, Alex… I'll see you all in the middle…"

"That's it. Now, go on ahead. The faster we start, the sooner we can regroup."

"Okay!" Fluttershy answered and I could her galloping on her way.

I nodded and began sprinting my way through the maze.

I continued running until I felt fatigue fall upon me. I lightly slowed to a trot and then to a walk as I panted. After a moment of catching my breath, I heard a howl. It wasn't any kind of howl… it was… I looked at my mark. A wolf's howl…

I began walking towards the origins of the howl, but as I walked, the scenery slowly changed. When I entered the part of the maze that the howl originated from, my surroundings were now dark. It was dark with a star-filled sky. There was a large full moon above me. I looked around, confused on how the setting transformed to what it was.

"…what happened…?" I asked myself, softly.

I spotted a pond near a tree. I slowly walked over to it and looked at the water. I saw my reflection.

"Sad, isn't it?" I heard a sudden voice behind me.

I quickly turned around and spotted a wolf sitting as it stared at me. "What the…what are you talking about…?" I asked.

"Isn't it sad to be the outcast, Alex? Isn't it sad to have no friends? No pony to care about you?"

"What…?" I questioned with slight fright. I shook my head and returned a serious look. "I know that's you Discord! Don't play any games!"

The wolf laughed. "You are smart, Alex… you ARE smart. But in all seriousness, with intelligence like yours, how can't you see that no pony really cares about you?"

"No pony cares about me…?" I began to look away sadly, but then stopped myself and continued my serious expression. "No! The girls do! They're my friends!"

"HAH!" The wolf released another laugh. "OH REALLY?" The wolf continued laughing. "Oh, please. Don't make me laugh; you're going to kill me!" I didn't say anything but continued glaring at the wolf. Discord, the wolf, finally stopped laughing and sighed happily. He noticed my expression and then sighed with a frown. "You think they're actually you're friends? They only act like your 'friends' because they pity you for what you are!"

"…what…?"

"Don't you see, Alex? All this time, they've been using you for their own personal needs. Tell me, Alex. Since the first day you met them, why have you still not managed to smile?"

"Well, I…" I couldn't answer that question.

"Well, if they were your REAL friends, you surely would have smiled by now!"

"T…that's not true… I don't believe you…"

"Please, Alex! Turn around! Take a good look at yourself!"

I slowly turned and looked at the pond water. The wolf slowly walked towards me and stopped at my side, observing my reflection in the water as well. "Tell me, do you see anything about you that's happy?" I didn't answer but just continued to stare at my reflection… A big mistake… "You know… you and I aren't so different… we're both lone wolves… destined to be alone forever…"

"No…" I responded.

He looked at me with intrigued eyes. "Don't believe me? Then you must not believe yourself!" He pointed towards the water. "Take a good look at the water, Alex! Oh? What is that on your flank? Tell me, Alex. Please. I'm not sure if what I see is true. C'mon, tell me. What is on your flank?"

I analyzed it…

"A lone wolf…" I answered, solemnly.

"Oh, gosh! A lone wolf! Wow!"

"But…but…my friends…"

He now sighed in annoyance. "Alex! That's your cutie mark! A lone wolf! You're destined to be a lone wolf! You're special talent is being alone! You aren't meant to have 'friends', you are to be alone!"

He did make a point... That was my mark. A lone wolf... alone...

"I…I…"

"Still don't believe me?" He sighed. "I wished I'd never have to do this but… take another good look in the water."

I did and something strange occurred in the pond. It formed ripples to where I saw an image in the water now… I saw myself walking away from Twilight under a dark sky. Wait a minute… this seems familiar… this is… this is the night of the party when I first met the girls!

Twilight sighed and walked back to the party. She met up with Applejack who just finished eating some cake.

"Oh, hey, Twilight. What happened to the new fella?" Applejack asked.

"Eh, he went home I guess." Twilight responded, sounding a little annoyed.

"Oh, well." Applejack replied, cheerfully. " So, what you gonna have him do for you, Twilight?"

"What?"

"What are you going to have him do? I'll see about having him do my applebucking for me…maybe…I'm not sure yet."

"We just met him. We can't just go up to him and ask him for all these 'favors' "

"Yeah, of course! We just gotta pretend that we're his friends. We'll start slow and move up on from there. Got it?"

"Sounds like a plan. I like it!"

Applejack chuckled. "Yeah… C'mon, let's go tell the other ponies."

Twilight nodded as she smiled and followed Applejack to somewhere else. The image slowly faded away as I could only stare in great disbelief.

How…how…how could they do that…?

Discord sensed my emotions. "Oh I'm so sorry Alex… but it's the way it's meant to be. You see, even I am a far better friend than they are! I showed you how they really lied to you, how they laughed at you behind your back, how they really weren't generous or kind to you. They were never loyal to you. Thus, they aren't real friends, which then loses the magic of everything you thought was real. So how about it, Alex? Still think they're your friends?"

I lowered my head, feeling my hair cover my closed eyes as I felt immediate darkness surround my heart. I remained silent for a moment.

"They're not my friends…" I answered coldly.

I instantly saw myself transform into a grayish color… but I didn't care.

"Spendid!" The surroundings reverted back to its originality. The wolf vanished and out released Discord's true self. "Now that you know the truth… I know a perfect way to get back at those ponies!" I didn't say anything but stare at the ground as my mane continued to hang over my eyes. "How about you join me in ruling Equestria in pure chaos, Alex? We can get rid of those ponies once and for all! And when other ponies see how powerful you stand, no pony will ever want to mess with you again!" He teleported to me and brought out his claw. "Do we have a deal?" Instead of responding, I walked by him, shoving his claw out of the way with my shoulder. He chuckled. "Don't worry about it… you can decide later…"

After that, he vanished, leaving me by myself as I reached the other side. An exit formed, revealing Twilight passing by. She suddenly stopped to see that the exit had been uncovered. She looked in and saw me.

"Alex!" She rushed over to me. "I'm so glad you're okay! Something is going on with our friends. They're acting very weird, and I don't know what to do. I was hoping you could—

"What? Help you?" I answered in an irritated tone, cutting off her sentence. I scoffed. "Yeah, you would like that, wouldn't you?"

"Alex…?" She noticed how I was different. However, I walked past her, continuing with the coldness that surrounded me.

When I walked out of the area, I saw all the others. They were shaded with gray too. Twilight continued walking, but Rarity noticed her as she stood next to a huge boulder. "Twilight!" Rarity called after Twilight. Twilight looked back and sighed annoyingly. Twilight walked over to the boulder and picked it up. She continued walking as Rarity walked by her side, proudly.

As Twilight walked, with the boulder on her back, I could see how much she was having trouble with it. Instead, I turned my head angrily to the front of me and didn't bother asking to help her. She just wants to make herself noticeable… they all do…

"Must... find... Rainbow Dash." Twilight grunted through each breath. "As a team... we're unstoppable. Rainbow Dash won't let us down."

"Well, looky there." Applejack suddenly announced, no longer having that cheerful and warm tone to her voice… or was it actually the same, but instead, it's the voice I now hear after finding out the truth? "Rainbow Dash is flying away. She's abandonin' us."

"Now I know that's a lie." Twilight responded and removed the boulder from her back. After we noticed Rainbow Dash fly away from us and towards the sky, Twilight gasped. "How can it be?"

Suddenly the whole maze dissolved towards the ground and left us in a wide, open, and bare crater.

"Well, well, well. Somepony broke the 'no wings, no magic' rule." Discord announced, appearing before us. He returned Twilight's and Rarity's horn, giving Fluttershy her wings as well. "Game's over, my little ponies. You didn't find your precious elements." He began taking out an umbrella. "Looks like we might be due for a big old storm of chaos!" He opened the umbrella upside down. After, he began laughing evilly as thunder cracked and lightning flashed in the sky. Twilight returned a worried expression as her mouth was agape in shock.

As Discord continued laughing under the fierce sky, I could only remain seated and turn my head away in sadness…not caring about anything anymore…

To be continued…

Return of Harmony : Part Two

Episode 28 – Return of Harmony Part 2

Discord fell to his side, continuing to laugh while I could only open my eyes slightly to look at him.

"And what are you laughing at?" Pinkie Pie announced angrily at him.

"Ho, you ponies are just the most fun I've had in eons." Discord responded while wiping a tear from his eye as he finished laughing.

"Well, quit it!" Pinkie Pie screamed at Discord, who managed to keep his grin. "You better think before you laugh at the Pink..." Pinkie Pie looked back for a moment to think. "…ie Pie!"

"Oh, yeah?" Fluttershy questioned with no longer a delicate tone. "Well ha, ha." She purposely laughed.

Pinkie Pie darted towards her. "Quit it!" She replied with anger.

"No. Ha, ha." Fluttershy continued to conjure more anger in Pinkie Pie on purpose.

"QUIT IT!"

"No. Ha ha-ha ha ha."

While Fluttershy continued to tick off Pinkie Pie, I heard Applejack from the side of me.

"Uh...Rarity? This here diamond of yours?" She placed her hooves on the boulder. "Twilight said we should split it six ways since we, uh, found it together."

"HI-YAH!" Rarity immediately flew over to Applejack and kicked her away from the boulder. "Try it, punk. He's mine. All mine! Ya! Ya! Ya!" She continued to frighten away Applejack as Twilight tried to stop them.

"Why are you all acting like this?" Twilight questioned. She rushed over to Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy who remained in their argument. "We need to stick together!"

Discord laughed. "It's just too entertaining." He announced as he sat on a couch, eating popcorn.

"Stop it, Discord. You're not playing fair." Twilight confronted him.

"I'm not playing fair?" Discord asked, placing his paw to his chest and sitting up from his seat. "Perhaps we haven't met. I'm Discord, spirit of chaos and disharmony. Hello?"

"How are we supposed to find the Elements of Harmony when you took away the labyrinth before we could get to the end?"

"Oh, wait, did you...?" Discord laughed with a few wheezes. "How funny! You thought the Elements were in the labyrinth? Why don't I jog your memory?" He cleared his throat. "'Twists and turns are my master plan. Then find the Elements back where you began.' I never said they were in the labyrinth."

"But...but…"

"Keep trying, Twilight Sparkle. Maybe the magic of friendship can help you." Discord mocked as he talked. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some chaos to wreak." He snapped his fingers and disappeared.

Thunder boomed and lightning flashed, revealing the pink clouds once again as they poured down chocolate milk. I observed upwards, but then slowly returned my eyes back towards the ground, sadly.

"Chocolate milk? I hate chocolate milk!" I heard Pinkie Pie exclaim.

Twilight released a frustrated grunt. "Think, Twilight, think!" I noticed Rarity begin to walk with her boulder beside me as Twilight continued talking. 'Find the Elements back where you began.' Back where you began."

Applejack bounced on top of it, alerting Rarity. "Don't touch my gem!"

Fluttershy flew over to the boulder and purposely placed her hoof on it. "I'm touching your gem, Rarity. Ha, ha."

"What 'chu laughin' at?" Pinkie Pie yelled.

I noticed that they all were different as they were shaded gray as well. Unless… after finding out their true intentions, is this the way I hear them now? Their real forms? I sighed sadly. The thought of that made my emotions even worse…

"Ugh. I just want to go home..." Twilight expressed until suddenly she figured out something. "Wait a minute...home! 'Back where you began!' The Elements must be in Ponyville! Come on, ponies!" Twilight directed at us as she began walking. I turned my head towards the others as they walked past me, continuing to complain and argue. I only looked at them with depressed eyes. There's nothing else I can do here… I guess I could just have them lead me back to Ponyville… then I'll leave them forever.

"I'm certain this is what Discord's riddle really meant." Twilight announced cheerfully as we arrived back at Ponyville. "If we get back to the library, I have a book that I just know could give us a clue." All of a sudden, a stampede of long-legged bunnies came out of nowhere and ran over Twilight. "Ah!" She held out a hoof for help, but I looked away and ignored it.

"Good boy, Angel! Mama's so proud." Fluttershy commented, cruelly.

The sun had immediately raced down, revealing night.

"Wow, I can see so much better now." Applejack said, sounding a little sarcastic, as I felt something weird below me. I looked and found out that soap had just magically appeared beneath us. Applejack began walking but eventually slipped through Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, causing them to fall. "Whoa! I meant to do that."

Twilight had soon got up by herself, but just fell down as she slipped on the soap as well. "Wah! Ahh!" The sun had risen once again, revealing the path. "Discord's turned our dirt roads into soap!"

Discord traveled past us as if he had not a single problem with the new road. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Afterwards, he presented the town in its current state. "This is the new and improved Ponyville, and these are only my first of changes."

Pinkie Pie began following Discord's example as she mastered through the soap. She noticed Twilight notice her and responded. "This may look like fun, but it's not." Pinkie Pie contained the straight and angry expression on her face.

"Ugh!" Twilight groaned.

Discord placed his paw around Twilight and raised her. "Picture it: The chaos capital of the world."

The sun had lowered again.

Twilight narrowed her eyes. "I can't picture anything. It's too dark."

Discord released her and she splashed on the soap.

"Well, wait a few minutes and you'll see it in the beautiful light of day. Or not." Discord jumped into a hop and disappeared.

"Ponyville, the chaos capital of the world? Not if I have anything to say about it." Twilight answered to herself as she remained motivated.

"Don't worry, you won't." Fluttershy laughed in a delinquent way as she slid past Twilight.

Twilight sighed in frustration.

Eventually, Twilight led us towards her house. "Okay, we're here. Everypony please, please, please just go inside, please?"

"I absolutely refuse." Applejack lied, walking into the house and turning into an even darker shade of gray.

"With pleasure." Fluttershy flew by and stomped on her flowers first before going inside. She turned into a darker shade as well.

"I hate libraries!" Pinkie Pie shouted as she walked in, changing her appearance as well.

Twilight moaned and noticed Rarity trying to move her boulder. She walked over to her. "Pleeeease, we've gotta hurry!"

"Forget it, Twilight." Rarity replied. "I know what you're up to. The second I go in, you'll have your little minion Spike come and take Tom!" She placed both her hooves on the boulder.

"Tom?" Twilight questioned in a unbelievable tone.

"Well, it's not going to work." Thus, Rarity turned into a darker shade as she continued fascinating over her boulder.

"You're not going in without him, are you?"

"Mm-mm." Rarity grunted through closed lips.

Twilight looked over to me. "Alex, will you please talk some sense into her?"

I gave her a cold stare and turned my head away as I began walking towards the library.

Twilight instantly picked up the boulder. "Fine!" She began walking towards the house, grunting with each step.

Ignoring Twilight's struggles, I arrived inside the library. I saw Fluttershy pick up a bucket full of water and flew over to a sleeping Spike. She immediately turned over the bucket and drenched him in cold water, frightening Spike awake. "Ah! Brrr! What did you do that for, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy returned an evil and seductive expression. "'Cause you just looked so peaceful."

"I...uh..." Spike responded as he squeezed his tail. "…huh?"

A crashed suddenly occurred beside me.

"Careful, Twilight!" Rarity exclaimed as Twilight observed the mess she caused. "You'll ruin his beautiful finish."

"Oh, for the love of... " Twilight replied.

"Twilight, what's going on?" Spike immediately asked. "Why does everybody look so...gray?" He pointed at us.

"Don't ask." Twilight picked up Spike. "I need you to help me find something."

"Hey, Twilight, what's soaking wet and clueless?" Fluttershy asked with the same expression as she held on to the bucket.

"Fluttershy, I've had just about enough…" Fluttershy suddenly poured the water all over Twilight.

"Your face!" She threw the bucket on Twilight's face after, creating a large bang sound.

"What's happened to everypony?" Spike worriedly asked. He ran over to me and began pleading as he held my right foreleg. "Alex, you have to help them, please!"

I pulled away my foreleg and gave him a cold stare as well. "Get away from me…"

He returned a sad look as he walked back over to Twilight.

"Ugh. No time to explain." Twilight announced as she began reading through her book. "We've got to find the reference guide to the Elements of Harmony before somepony does something she'll regret." She muttered under her breath as she stared back at the others with an irritated face.

"The Elements of Harmony?" Spike asked and then brightened his face. "Oh, I know exactly where that book is." He climbed up a ladder and reached out for a book. "Found it!" He exclaimed as he pulled it out.

Fluttershy immediately threw a scroll at Spike, causing him to release the grip on the book and make it fall into her hooves. "Hah!"

"Fluttershy, you better give me that book!" Twilight warned.

"Keep away!" Fluttershy replied in a sing-song voice as she threw the book over to Applejack.

Applejack caught the book on her nose and began balancing it.

"Hey!" Twilight shouted. "Applejack, give me that book!"

"I don't have any book." Applejack answered and threw it over to Pinkie Pie, who bounced it over to Fluttershy.

"Pinkie!" Twilight scolded. "You guys! Stop it right now!" Twilight continued to chase after the book but failed.

I turned around and sat down, closing my eyes.

"Alex, you have to help me! Please!" Twilight pleaded.

However, I didn't answer as I lowered my head even more.

About the third time Fluttershy was about to catch the book, Spike pushed her away instead. The book slid over to Twilight. She was about to grab it but Rarity lifted it with her magic and ran away with it. "Mine!"

"Hey, do you even know what you just stole?"

"No, but if you want it, I want it."

Twilight, now furious, released a long and strained groan. "Give me that book!" She screamed and ran after Rarity. However, Fluttershy lowered her hooves to grab Rarity and lift her off the floor, leaving Twilight to crash into the boulder. "Where is she…?" She recovered, shaking her head. "Where's Rarity?" She asked.

"Beats me." Applejack spoke in a spoiled tone.

"Lies!" Twilight exclaimed and dove at Pinkie Pie and Applejack, beginning a fight. As they fought over the book, I could only remain out of it, feeling depressed and sighing.

Finally, Twilight jumped out of the mess with the book in her hooves.

"Get back! All of you!" She warned as she noticed Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie crawling towards her. Spike presented himself in front of Twilight, swinging a scroll around to try to prevent the others from getting nearer. "This is my book. And I'm going to READ IT!" Twilight opened the book and looked inside. She gasped. "The Elements!" I turned my head to face the book. They were there. All the necklaces and Twilight's tiara lay in the huge hole in the book. "They were here all along!"

"This is great!" Spike ran over to Twilight. "Now you guys can defeat Discord and put everything back to normal!"

"See ponies? We did it! We found the Elements of Harmony! Together!" Twilight announced to us as Spike held the book in hands. However, Applejack leaned on an object in her usual cowboy pose. Fluttershy was purposely annoying Pinkie Pie by flipping her hair around as Pinkie Pie sat in front of the boulder annoyed, which Rarity was polishing with a pink rag. Twilight noticed this and walked over to the girls. "You don't even care, do you?"

"No!" They all exclaimed in unison as I remained silent.

Twilight sighed. "I never thought it would happen. My friends... have turned into complete JERKS!" Unwilling, she began placing the elements on the girls. "Necklace! Necklace! Necklace! Necklace! And big crown thingy!" She placed the tiara on herself. "Come on everypony, let's go!" She began walking out the door.

Spike ran by her side. "But Twilight, aren't you missing somepony?"

"Nope." Twilight stopped. "We've got the liar, the grump, the hoarder, the brute, and…" Twilight halted herself when she looked at me as I looked away, sadly. She sighed sadly as well. "That just about covers it…"

"But what about Rainbow Dash?" Spike asked.

Twilight thought for a moment. "Congratulations Spike, you're the new Rainbow Dash." She placed the necklace on him. "Now let's go!" She began running out the library again.

"Me? B-b-but what if she finds out I've been impersonating her?" He moaned. "That won't end well."

"Too bad, you're Rainbow Dash. Now let's go defeat Discord so we don't ever have to talk to each other again!"

"Yeah! Woo-hoo!" All of them but Rarity cheered as they galloped out the library. Rarity was still pushing her giant boulder out the room.

I slowly sat up and began waking gloomily out of the area. "Whatever…"

Before I exited, Twilight noticed Rarity with her boulder again and ran back inside. "Move!" She shouted to Rarity and picked up the boulder with her magic. "Look out, here comes Tom!" She warned and threw the boulder out the window.

"Well, well, well, I see you've found the Elements of Harmony." I heard Discord when I was outside. "How terrifying!"

"Discord! I've figured out your lame riddle." Twilight responded aggressively. "You're in for it now!"

"I certainly am. You've clearly out-dueled me, and now it's time to meet my fate." He placed on red sunglasses. "I'm prepared to be defeated now, ladies. Fire when ready." He created a red target on himself.

"Formation, now!" Twilight shouted angrily, standing next to me.

"Eh." The others replied, not caring.

"Rainbow Dash, get over here!" Twilight called Spike who was hiding behind a boulder. He ran over to us. "All right, let's get this over with."

The girls and Twilight began their attack as they focused the elements on Discord. Twilight began rising up in the air as she opened her eyes, revealing total whiteness. The girls followed her, activating their elements. Spike and I remained on the ground. I felt… absolutely nothing… I didn't care… I didn't care at all. Discord lowered his sunglasses in surprised as he witnessed the bright light emerge.

Just about as the elements looked as if they were going to work, the bright light suddenly disappeared and they all fell towards the ground.

"What's going on?" Twilight questioned.

"Mine's workin'." Applejack replied. "There must be somethin' wrong with yours." She pointed towards Twilight.

"I HATE the Elements of Harmony!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"Hmph!" Fluttershy threw her necklace away from her. "Garbage."

Rarity immediately rushed over to Fluttershy's necklace when it landed on the floor. "MINE!"

"Sorry, Twilight." Spike apologized as he placed the necklace back on the ground besides Twilight. "I guess I'd better get back upstairs and clean up the library. Good luck with all this- Fluttershy had lowered herself near Spike and placed her tail on the ground as Spike was running. He tripped and landed on the floor. "whoa!"

"Oops." She spoke mockingly. "Sorry, Rainbow Crash." She chuckled afterwards.

"Bravo, ponies, bravo!" Discord clapped his hands as he walked over to us. "Harmony in Equestria is officially dead. Discord rules, Celestia drools." Twilight released a growl as Discord slipped on away on the soap, continuing to laugh. "I await your decision, Alex!"

"What…? Decision? What's he talking about, Alex?" Twilight asked me, but I didn't turn around to respond.

"It's your fault it didn't work." Pinkie Pie announced, interrupting the moment.

"Who are you talking to?" Twilight asked.

"Any of you! ALL OF YOU! I'm outta here!" She bounced angrily out of the area.

"I better go, too. I've got new better friends waiting for me at the farm." Applejack walked out.

Rarity was too busy dragging the boulder away from us.

"Yeah! I'm sick of you losers." Fluttershy flew away.

"FINE! Leave! See if I care! I don't need you guys either! With friends like you, who needs...enemies..." She lowered her head.

I began walking away without saying a word, tired of all the things that happened. I just wanted to go home and lie on my bed, forever.

"Wait!" Twilight exclaimed. I glanced back with a slightly angry expression on my face. I analyzed Twilight's face. She looked very worried. "Alex… don't leave me here by myself… you're my best friend…please…" She looked as if she wanted to cry.

Suddenly, I felt like I wanted to go back to her… as if I wanted to apologize for everything that's happened. I felt like I wanted to just comfort her as she returned a worried and gloomy look towards me. I thought for a moment but then I remembered what Discord told me and showed me in the pond. I'm not letting any pony use me ever again… I turned my head away coldly and began walking away from Twilight. Behind me, I could feel her aura change and even hear a teardrop splash on the ground. As I walked, I noticed my body turn into an even darker shade of gray.

I entered my house and walked up the stairs. Before going to bed, I walked into the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and observed my gray self.

She's right… I AM just a big mistake…why else would no pony want me? My parents didn't want me. My sister didn't want me. Kids at the school didn't want me! I immediately felt enraged, so I filled the sink with ice cold water and forced my head in there. After a moment, I slowly lifted my head. Water was dripping from my face and mane. I was back to being depressed. I let the water flow down the sink and walked over to my bed. I lay myself on there and closed my eyes.

Back to step one… and this has been like what…? The twentieth time? Not only did I experience the same outcome again, I can never go outside again. I came here to get a fresh start, and this happens again? You've got to be kidding me! I released my anger by hitting the pillow. I released a breath and calmed down again.

Discord's right… I'll never have any friends… I'll always be alone… forever… That's what I'll do… I'll stay here… in my bed… and never come out ever again… Maybe everypony will be happy again? Maybe I'll be gone and they won't have to worry about me again? They'll all be happy… because I can never escape to anywhere without feeling the pain all over again…

A tear slipped out of my eye, and I eventually fell asleep.

When I awoke, I heard loud and rapid knockings on my door. I slowly sat up and walked downstairs to the door. I sadly opened it and saw them… the girls…

"What do you want?" I asked in a very irritated tone.

"Alex." Twilight answered. "We're here to fight for our friendship!"

Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash all stood there, smiling. They weren't gray any more…

However, I returned an angry look. "I don't want any of you here! You've done enough damage! Now leave!"

Twilight sighed. "I'm sorry, Alex. But I have to do this…for our friendship…" She looked over to the girls. "Hold him down girls!"

"What?" I responded and was suddenly pushed down by Applejack and Rainbow Dash who held my forelegs on the floor. Pinkie Pie and Rarity held my back legs down. "What are you doing?" I exclaimed, struggling to free myself. "Let me go!" I demanded as Twilight began walking on top of me.

"Don't worry, Alex… we'll get you to your normal self…" She lowered her horn towards me and began using magic as I continued struggling.

Suddenly, memories came back. The memories that I've been wanting to escape for so long. I saw it all again… I relived it all again. The laughter. The cold shoulders. The pointed hooves! The beatings! The using! The loneliness!

"GET OFF ME!" I screamed, forcefully pushing off Twilight with my back legs I had freed. After, I pulled my forelegs away and immediately stood up. I quickly backed away, stumbling into things.

"Alex!" Twilight exclaimed in fright as they all had their hoofs to their mouths in shock.

I was panting heavily. "I've told you all to LEAVE ME ALONE!" I began feeling tears pour down my face. "Why can't you do that? I've been through enough pain! But YOU all had to replay it in my mind AGAIN! JUST. LEAVE. ME. ALONE!" I continued panting heavily as tears fell from my face.

There was a long silence as all the ponies stared at me, highly shocked.

"But… Alex…" Twilight said, moving her hoof in front of her and taking a step forward to touch me, but I quickly took another step back, knocking things off the wall and counter that was behind me.

"NO! Get away from me! All of you! I don't want to see any of you ever again! So, just leave me alone!"

There was another long silence.

"But, Alex…" Applejack now tried to take a step towards me, but Twilight quickly placed her hoof in front of her to stop her.

"No…" Twilight spoke.

"Twilight!" Applejack argued.

Twilight shook her head solemnly. "There's nothing we can do…"

"What? No! There's something we can do!"

Twilight sighed and shook her head again. "Let's just get out of here before we hurt him even more…"

I continued panting as I stared at them. Both sweat and tears fell from my face, and I was bleeding inside…

I knew Applejack wanted to do something, but she took a look at me and noticed the horrible condition I was in. She lowered her head and slowly began walking away. Twilight at the others began walking away sadly as well. There was one pony left at the door… It was Fluttershy… She continued staring at me with teary eyes. We stared at each other for a moment until a tear finally fell out of her eye, causing her to close them and walk away as well.

As soon as they left, I immediately slammed the door shut and planted myself on it. As I sat down behind the door, I looked at my hooves. They were shaking… my whole body was shaking… but it was the usual shakes… They were shaking from fear and sadness, even anger. I was so angry I wanted to grab anything I could find and throw it against the wall and break it.

I stood up and quickly walked over to the wall near the staircase. I instantly grabbed the empty photo frame and lifted my forelegs to throw it against the floor. However, I immediately stopped. My anger began slipping away and I let my forelegs drop back down. I sighed and let the photo frame slip through my hoof.

I walked sadly up the stairs and towards my bed. I lay myself on there once again and closed my eyes. I felt immediately darkness not only surround my heart, but around me as well. I felt as if the little bit of light that was left was dimming.

There it is again… that same feeling of loneliness again. Why am I still here? What purpose do I have here but by miserable? …It's a question I can't answer…

Just about when I felt that total darkness was going to engulf me, I removed my head from the pillow and looked up. I saw the medal and trophy from the Running of the Leaves. I stared at it for a moment but then grew angry and quickly forced my head back under the pillow.

However, my mind calmed down and my head slipped out of the pillow again. My eyes drifted towards the trophy and became locked onto it. After a moment, I slowly walked out of bed and towards the trophy. I grabbed the trophy and analyzed it. On the bottom, it displayed: Running of the Leaves. First Place. I continued observing it, along with the medal.

After I was finished looking at them, I placed them back on the shelf, but then something else caught my eye… a neatly decorated gold star that was hung by a chain. I slowly grabbed it and sat on my bed. The good luck charm…the good luck charm Twilight gave me…

"Pull out your hoof. It's a good luck charm."

"A good luck charm?"

"Yup. I made it with magic for you a while back… I figured now is probably a good time to give it to you… you know… since you're my best friend and all… and I don't just mean my best friend… I mean like… my best of best friends…"

Best of best friends… That's what she told me… That I was her best of best friends… She didn't say it without meaning. I felt that meaning… I felt the heart behind her words when she gave me the good luck charm… and that's it. She gave me something… not only expressed words… but gave me a good luck charm as well!

No pony that used me would have given me anything so magical…

I placed the good luck charm back and noticed the next thing. The gem Rarity gave me… I grabbed it and sat back on my bed.

"There's something I wanted to give you…"

"What is it?"

"Here."

"Really, Rarity? For me?"

"Like I said, you deserve it. You know… there aren't many ponies like you anymore…"

I continued observing the gem…the gem that Rarity most likely had only one of and instead of using it for her dress, she gave it to me. The gem… it is one of kind…wait… is that why she gave it to me…? She told me that there weren't many ponies like me anymore… did that mean… When she gave me the gem that could have instantly made her famous in Equestria, did that mean that she thought I was unique? Just like the gem…? One a kind…

No pony that used me would have been so generous to give me a unique item that represents me…

I carefully placed the gem back and sat on my bed. Afterwards, I turned my head to see the counter in front of the bed. I noticed it…the whistle…the whistle Rainbow Dash had given me. I sat up and walked over to the counter. I grabbed it and sat down on the floor. I analyzed its shiny rainbow color.

"…well anyway, I've just wanted to give you something."

"Give me something? For what?"

"For being a good friend and all."

"Really?"

"Yeah! Here."

"A whistle?"

"Yeah, you know! Whenever you're in trouble, just blow it and I'll be right there to help ya!"

"Thanks, Rainbow Dash… but I don't think I ne—

"Okay, okay. Fine, Mr. Tough-hooves. But even if you need someone to try to make you laugh or smile… You can count on me!"

"Thanks, Rainbow Dash…"

Rainbow Dash gave me this… in case I ever needed someone… even if it was just to make me smile… She spent the time to actually go to me and give me a whistle to call her whenever I needed her… She told me that she'll be right there to help me… at first; I couldn't really believe it, but…

No pony that used me would have proved herself to be so loyal to actually make a calling for me whenever I needed to reach her…

I placed the whistle back on the counter.

Then, it reminded me of something else…

I walked down the stairs towards the kitchen and opened the fridge.

It's still there…

I grabbed the cupcake and closed the refrigerator door. I took it to the table nearby and sat myself. I continued analyzing the cupcake…the cupcake that Pinkie Pie gave me because… she wanted me to smile…

I looked at the top of the cupcake which presented Pinkie Pie pointing at me, stating: I want YOU to smile! The cupcake was still in great and basically new condition… and Pinkie Pie… spent her birthday wish on me…

"Okay, Pinkie Pie. Make a wish and blow the candles!"

"What did you wish for Pinkie Pie?"

"Well…I'm not supposed to tell...but… I wished for Alex to smile very soon!"

"Huh?"

"Yep! See? I made this for you back at Sugarcube Corner! I was hoping it'd help you to smile."

"I don't know what to say, Pinkie Pie…"

"Just say you'll smile!"

Pinkie Pie… to go through so much to just to attempt to make me smile…to make a cupcake and use her annual birthday wish on me… She saw how all her friends smiled except me… and she wanted to change that in any way she could…

No pony that used me would have done so much… just to try to bring laughter into my life…

I continued observing the cupcake for a moment more and then placed it back in the fridge. I turned around and looked outside the window. I saw all the mess Discord had piled up in Ponyville… but something amazing caught my eye and kept me from looking at it… It was the apple tree I had planted with the seed Applejack gave me. The apple tree wasn't majorly grown… but I could see it begin to spread out and slowly grow a piece at a time…

"Look at me, Sugarcube. Let me tell you something… You see Alex… you are like an apple… ponies take bites of you until they reach the core…afterwards, they throw you away… leaving you to only gather dirt and dust…alone…but then come the ponies who really care about you…us… We pick you up and dust you off. After, we take the seeds from your core and plant them with tender, love, and care. With our friendship…you'll grow to be a big and strong tree…or pony in this case… and you'll have many more apples to share with everypony… the ones who care about you… Here, Alex. This is the seed I saved from one of Bloomberg's apples. I was hoping I could plant it, so another tree would grow in our acres…but… You should have it… that way… as you see it grow… you can always remember what we talked about…okay…?"

And I did… I did remember…the way Applejack had talked to me… so sensitive and considerate…caring…compassionate… She was very truthful with me…so… she does care… she can't lie… she wouldn't…not even if it was to use somepony for a personal need… not her…

No pony that used me would have been so honest with me…

I remembered the most special pony to me. I quickly walked up the stairs and over to the bed. I lay down on it and gazed up at the ceiling. After, I turned to my side and noticed the gift on the nightstand. I grabbed it and observed as well… The heart that Fluttershy gave me on the night we had spent together in harmony…

"There's still something I want to do before this night ends…"

"What is it? …Fluttershy, what are we…?"

"We're having our dance."

"I…I don't really know how to dance…"

"That's okay... I'll help you. Just relax and follow my movements… There you go… You're doing great… There's something I want to give you… after we finish our dance…"

She didn't get to tell me why she had made that for me because she fell asleep as I held her… I remembered carrying her to her room and putting her to bed. Before I left… I accepted her gift and gave her a kiss goodnight on her cheek. I had never done that before… nor did I ever think of doing it… it just… happened… my heart… it told me to do that… and when I did… it felt amazing and wonderful… Fluttershy's the pony who's shown me so much affection and caring. She's the pony I have true special feelings for. Whenever I'm around her… I feel so warm and excited on the inside as my heart pumps rapidly when I'm with her at such a time. My heart wants to do something that my head is too afraid to actually comply with…

No pony that used me would have been so kind to me…

Not only was she kind… but she made me feel very special… something that I could not explain or identify… it was just a great feeling that I truly adored… just like I truly adored Fluttershy…

I immediately felt change… a good change. I looked at my body and my color was fully restored. I was no longer gray and dull. I was me. The real me. I carefully placed the hoof-crafted heart back on the nightstand and got off from bed. I quickly walked downstairs and out the door.

I knew what I had to do.

"I'll tell you what we've learned Discord." I heard Twilight's voice as I neared the objective. I saw the girls confront Discord as he kept that goofy smile on his face. I remained hidden behind the giant house of cards. "We've learned that friendship isn't always easy. But there's no doubt it's worth fighting for."

"Ugh, gag. Fine, go ahead, try and use your little Elements. Friend me." He mocked. "Just make it quick. I'm missing some excellent chaos here."

"All right, ladies, let's show him what friendship can do!" Twilight exclaimed as the six of them stood their ground and began releasing their elements. Discord yawned in boredom. Soon, all the girls began shooting light out from the elements. Discord kept his smile as the elements merely missed him, or actually touched him, but didn't do anything.

After a moment, the girls finished, panting. Discord remained at his seat.

"Well, I appreciate the effort girls, but I really must get back to all the chaos that's waiting for me… you know… that kind of stuff…"

Twilight sighed sadly. "It didn't work…"

"Duh!" Discord replied. "Did you actually think it would work without the seventh element, young ladies? It doesn't work like that… it's like eating… hay and oats without a mouth to chew. It doesn't work like that. Well… actually… you know what? I could probably fit that in with my schedule."

"It's no use, Twilight… we can't do this… not without Alex…" Applejack told Twilight.

"But he told us he never wants to see us again… After what we had done to him, I couldn't possibly risk anymore pain towards him."

"I just miss him so much Twilight…"

"Me too…"

Everypony agreed, causing Discord to gag. "Listen, if you ponies aren't going get rid of yourselves and this whole… friendship and love fest… then I'm going to have to do it myself!"

Discord raised his claw, which began glowing. All the girls suddenly began moving towards him by force. When I saw all six of them held up in front of Discord, struggling to be freed, I realized it was time to step in…

"Stop!" I shouted, walking out of the card house and bringing it down with me.

"Oh ho ho! Why here comes your precious little 'hero' now!" Discord responded as he continued holding the girls hostage. "Tell me, Alex. Have you made your decision?"

"Yes." I answered briefly.

"And is that decision the one where you choose to rule alongside me as we make Equestria into eternal chaos?" Discord asked, grinning.

I looked over at the girls. They returned looks combined with struggle and worries. They didn't know what I was going to do; especially on how I reacted the last time I saw them… I looked back at Discord who was awaiting my answer. After a moment of silence, I answered. "Yes…"

"Wonderful!" Discord replied cheerfully.

The six girls gasped loudly.

"No, Alex…" Twilight slipped out.

Discord used his force to grab and place me near him on his throne. "So, Alex… what do you suppose we shall do to these ponies?"

The sent worried eyes as I looked at them, responding to Discord. "Actually, I have something in mind for them. But first… there's something I want to give you for showing me the truth…"

"Oh, really? What is it?" He asked excitedly.

"Close your eyes and stick out your claw."

"Oh, boy! Oh, boy!" Discord began hopping excitedly in his chair.

"Now, lower your head towards me and I'll give you the gift."

"Okie, Dokie!" He did so.

I took a good look at his head. I actually didn't have any gift he was expecting.

Suddenly, I kicked his head with full force, immediately causing him to drop the girls. "WHAT THE?"

"That's what you get for lying about my friends!" I exclaimed and jumped down to meet the girls. "Are you all alright?" I asked.

"We're better now that you're here…" Twilight answered as all the ponies returned smiles.

"You little brat!" Discord announced angrily. "I show you what your 'friends' really are, and this is how you pay me?"

"Well, Discord… I'll admit. You DID show me the truth. But it wasn't the way you expected. You wanted me to abandon them so you could get rid of them, because without the seventh element… there are no Elements of Harmony that can defeat you. Instead, you brought me to discover the truth for myself when I thought about all the things they've done for me…" I looked at them as they smiled with great compassion. "They've done things no pony has ever done for me before…which make them…my friends…"

"Grrr!" Discord growled. "I've had just about enough of this!" Discord began preparing a big storm of chaos towards us, but I instantly summoned something within my heart to prevent him from doing so, causing another blinding light. "What?"

"C'mon, girls." I looked at them seriously. "Let's get rid of this fool."

Everypony began the strength of the Elements of Harmony. Each of the girls' necklaces glowed as they summoned the power of their cutie marks. They began shooting at Discord. This time, they nearly hit him, causing him to freak out. "No." Discord released. I looked at Twilight and nodded. She nodded back with a grin and activated her element. Her eyes glowed white. The girls and I began levitating. They awaited my final move. I looked at Discord as he stared back at us, frightened. I closed my eyes and opened my heart, finishing Discord once at for all. For the first time, my color completely joined with the girls' rainbow as it blasted from us. The rainbow shot towards the sky and turned back down to attack Discord. "NO!" As he was encased inside the rainbow, his body immediately began forming into stone.

The rainbow surrounded the area and burst, creating a light that blinded the entire town. Once we landed safely back on our feet, I could see the other girls smiling as we noticed everything was back to normal. Discord's statue landed roughly on the ground. I took a step forward and observed it. He was not laughing anymore, but now he presented an image of fright as the Elements of Harmony won the battle.

Suddenly, I was tackled by many ponies behind me. All the girls had hugged me so forcefully that they threw me to the grass along with them.

"Alex, I'm so glad you came back!" Twilight exclaimed.

"We sure are. We missed you so much, Sugarcube!" Applejack added.

"Really…?" I responded and narrowed my eyes.

The girls had released their grip on me and stood up. They analyzed my face.

"Well, you still look sad…" Rarity noticed.

I sighed. Discord may have been wrong about my friends wanting to use me… but… he was right about my mark. It was a lone wolf… does that mean I'll still lose them, somehow?

"Alex?" Rainbow Dash asked, taking a step forward to me.

I sat up from lying down on my back and looked at them. "Well… you see… it's just…"

A ball of light formed, and Princess Celestia appeared.

"Princess Celestia!" The girls cried out in surprise and bowed. I stood up and bowed along with them.

"You ponies did it!" Princess Celestia exclaimed joyfully.. "I knew all of you would be victorious!"

"Nothing can defeat true friendship, Princess." Twilight gave a wide smile.

Princess returned a heartwarming smile to all of us. "This calls for a celebration."

Princess Celestia called all the ponies in Ponyville and Canterlot to gather in the royal hall. When it was time for us to walk in, we opened the doors and did so. We saw the Princess standing at the end of the hall with Spike along her side. As we walked towards her, we could see all the ponies looking at us, happily.

When we reached Princess Celestia, she formed a grin that narrowed her eyes. Applejack returned the same expression. Twilight nodded and looked over to Spike, who was waving shyly at her. Twilight shot another bashful expression and looked back to Princess Celestia.

"We are gathered here today to once again honor the heroism of these seven friends who stood up to the villain Discord and saved Equestria from eternal chaos." Princess Celestia announced, proudly.

Everypony behind us cheered loudly. Princess Celestia then opened a curtain nearby with her magic, revealing another stain-glassed window. The window depicted Discord being defeated by all seven of us. I could only narrow my eyes at the window and slightly look away.

However, the girls looked back at the ponies who continued cheering as confetti rained down upon us. They returned gleeful smiles… but I remained the same…

After the ceremony, Princess Celestia held a party in the honor of us. Pinkie Pie was over at the buffet, eating to her heart's desires… being her usual self… Twilight was with the Princess, talking about all sorts of things. Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash were at a table, laughing and talking.

I knew I was supposed to be having a good time… especially after we defeated Discord… but I couldn't shake the feeling off me. I continued to remember what Discord told me. I was a lone wolf… destined to be alone forever… I would have believed it to be another one of Discord's lies, but my mark was planted firmly on my flank. I… I couldn't look away and ignore it…

As I continued to stare at the girls have fun, I could only think if it was time… If I'm going to leave their lives at one point in my life, then I might as well do it now… that way… I don't have to see their tearful faces…

I turned around and walked out of the party, as well as the building. Once I was outside, I began walking towards Ponyville. On the way, I could feel a light drop of water splash on my face.

When I arrived, I didn't go back to my home. I walked over to my true home. The place where I took shelter when I first arrived here.

I saw the cave. I walked over to it and observed it for a moment. In the middle of my analysis, it began to rain. I looked upwards the sky to see the drops of water rain down from lightly to heavily. After, I looked back at the cave and sighed. I tried to take shelter under there but it's been a long time since I have. The cave seemed a little smaller than before, but that's because I had grown since then.

Nonetheless, I managed to crawl under the top of the cave and remain lying down. I placed my hooves in front of me and rested my head on them. I could only feel more and more saddened as I stared out into the rain. I was a pretty far distance away from any houses. There were only trees that surrounded the cave and me. I couldn't stop thinking about the girls, but on the contrary, I couldn't stop thinking about my mark.

It's for the best… I wouldn't want them to grow too attached to me to where they would never be able to get over me. I might as well leave soon before it's too late… It's just the way it has to be… my mark proves it…

I sighed and closed my eyes, back where I started when I was young.

I opened my eyes some time later. It was still raining heavily. I crawled out of my cave and sat in front of it, leaning against a part of the wall. I just couldn't stop thinking about them… about everything we've been through… did it really have to end? I feel so alone that ever before… but I just have to adapt to it again…

I sat there, outside, leaving myself to be drenched out in the rain. I felt tears form in my eyes and fall down my face, but I wasn't so sure if they actually were tears because they mixed with the rain anyway. I guess I'll just remain here forever. I can't go out to anypony again. I can't see the girls again. If I do, I'll just be hurting them more…

"Alex…!" I heard a sudden faint call for my name. "Alex!" The voice sounded really worried. I pulled up my head and looked around me. I didn't see anypony. Who was calling me…? "Alex!" I heard the call again, much closer. All of sudden, a pony flew by me, but she had seen me before she past me. "Alex!" she called me name, racing towards me. "Alex, what are you doing out here? We've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Fluttershy, no!" I immediately began crawling back to my cave but Fluttershy prevented me to do so by placing her hooves against me and holding me gently on the wall.

"Alex, what's wrong? Why are you here? Why are you acting like this?"

"I can't let you girls find me, Fluttershy. You should just go and never come back."

"But…why…?" Fluttershy asked, starting to form tears in her eyes.

"Fluttershy…" I was hurt to see her form tears. I looked away and answered. "Fluttershy…please… I'll just hurt you more if you don't leave…"

"Alex…" She remained and landed on the ground, sitting down. "You need to tell me…why are you like this…? I want to help you…so much…"

I didn't answer as I continued looking away. Maybe if I tell her the truth, she'll go away? She has to… I can't hurt her anymore…

I shook my head lightly. "What if he's right…?" I spoke softly.

"What…?" Fluttershy asked.

I turned my head towards her. "What if he's right, Fluttershy?"

"Who? Right about what?" Fluttershy quickly questioned.

"Discord! He told me that I was destined to be forever alone! And it wasn't a lie! Look!" I showed her my mark. "That's the proof, right there! A lone wolf… that's what I am… There is no expression on the wolf… he is just…blank… I should have known there would be no chance of killing this loneliness permanently…that's the way it's been for my whole life… ever since I was born…"

"Alex…" Fluttershy could only reply.

I turned my head away and began to feel the emotions stream down my face.

"It all started when I was very little. As far as I could remember, I had a pitiful life. I had what was supposed to be a 'family'… a mom, a dad, and a sister who was older than me. They didn't like me. They didn't even want me in the first place. We had a home in Fillydelphia. However, most of the time, my family was never home. My parents had always gone out for some reason, and my sister always left the house with her friends to go somewhere. I remained home alone. When they were home, they always made me feel like…like…garbage… whenever they found an excuse; they would beat me, leaving bruises and other painful memories… That's the reason I always preferred it for them not to be there… I remember one day when they were home… We had this vase. It was beautiful. I didn't know how they got it, but… it was just amazing. Every time I had passed it, I couldn't help but stare at it for a moment. One day, my sister was walking out of her room, getting ready to go out with her friends again. She saw me staring at the vase, so she purposely walked up to me and began her torturing…

'Move!'

I slowly moved out of her way, but she just pushed me anyway. She had knocked me onto the counter which the vase stood on. My impact caused the vase to wobble and fall to its doom. We both heard that piercing shriek of the vase as it cracked open and broke on the floor. I still remember how the scene looked… the vase was pure white on the inside as its pieces were shattered everywhere on the floor.

'See what you did?'

I could only remain silent in shock as I stared at the horrible scene. My parents immediately came out after they heard the crash. They ran over to us and asked what happened.

'This loser broke your priceless vase, mom!'

I could see my mom stare at me with deadly eyes. I could only stare back, frightened of what was to come. Finally, my mom released steam and shouted at me.

'Get out of my face! You make me sick!'

'But…I…'

'I said, GET OUT!'

'You heard mom. Go away you little creep.'

'But… I didn't do anything…'

'Oh? And I suppose you're telling me that she broke it?'

I couldn't say anything…

'Of course it was him, mom. He always wrecks everything he sees! I don't even know why he had to be born! He was just a big mistake!'

At that moment, my father sent me angry eyes as well and dragged me out of there. He took me to another room and… well… you know what happens after…

That night, I slept outside in the rain. I could only remain beside the house as I cried myself to sleep while continuing to feel the soreness throughout my whole body. It was still better than being in there…

As if things weren't already bad enough at home, I had to live with the same thing at school. All the ponies there teased me, humiliated me, bullied me, all just for laughs and feelings of triumph. There were several times where ponies walked up to me and pretended to my friend. Naïve at the time, I agreed. However, I still felt a little uneasy about the agreement. I knew I should have declined… but…"

I sighed.

"…I guess I still had a small light of hope in me… Well they did it. They either took me for granted by assisting or doing something for them and throwing me away, or purposely sabotaging and deceiving me for the enjoyment of other classmates. I couldn't do anything but slowly walk out of there, holding back tears.

Soon, that fateful day came… Unfortunately, I remember like it was yesterday… The classroom was noisy as all the kids talked to each other and laughed. I was fortunate enough to receive some peace as I sat in the way back of the classroom with my desk isolated from the others. The teacher wasn't in the classroom yet, so I began drawing on my paper. I began drawing about what it might feel to have friends and be happy… but nothing ever came to mind. So instead, it turned to just another sad picture of the loneliness I felt.

Not all the ponies in the school hated me, though… there was one pony; the teacher. From the time I spent at school, I never missed a day or behaved disrespectfully. She noticed this and felt something different for me. Especially after receiving enough bad treatment when I was in the playground, I entered the classroom instead to have some time for myself… The teacher would stay in there to read or grade papers, and she noticed how I would enter the classroom and remain quiet as I waited for recess to be over. I could tell she thought I was special… I was a student who always did his work and never disrespected anyone. But she didn't know the real truth about me on that day…

When the teacher finally entered the classroom, she told all the students to settle down. After a moment, they finally quieted down and listened to what the teacher had to announce.

'Okay, my little ponies. Hopefully you all have been writing those essays I assigned you about what friendship really means?'

I remained quiet. I didn't do the essay. Not that I didn't want to… but that I couldn't. I could only wait while the teacher began looking throughout the room for somepony to pick to read their essay.

'Why don't we start off with a great student?'

The teacher had looked over to me.

'Alex, why don't you start us off with your essay, hm?'

She released a gentle smile. I didn't know what to do… After a moment of hesitating and silence, I slowly got up from the desk and began walking towards the front of the classroom. I could feel all their seductive eyes lay on me as I walked. They had something planned… I just knew it…

When I reached the front of the class, the teacher noticed how I came empty-handed.

'Alex, where's your essay…?'

I remained silent for a moment.

'I don't have one…'

'Why not…?'

I couldn't answer that question… to tell her that...

'Because he doesn't have any friends!'

One pony yelled out and all of them followed by laughing.

'Settle down! Settle down!'

The teacher tried to quiet the students, but they all remained laughing at me. I could only feel tears begin to form in my eyes. I grunted and ran out of the classroom, humiliated yet again. I ran out of the schoolhouse and towards the playground. There, I crawled under a slide and hid in silence as I released the tears that I held inside.

As if the day couldn't get any worse, the school bell rang, frightening me. There was no escape now…

Several of the ponies walked to the playground and eventually found me.

'Look it's what's-his-face!'

They pulled me out from the slide and threw me against the sand.

'C'mon, you dumb pony! Do something!'

They began kicking sand at me and laughing as I could only lay there and take it. I didn't know what to do; I could feel every bit of myself breaking as they continued to hurt me. Everything was a stab to the heart. When I was about to break, something strange happened. A rainbow exploded in the sky, sending the colors straight over us. When I heard that explosion, something in my heart unlocked.

'That's it!'

I confronted them, standing up and recovering from the sand.

'I don't need any of you ponies! You all are just a waste of my time! Go ahead and mock me! Go ahead, laugh at me and make my life miserable! You can't change who I am! I won't let any of you have the pleasure in doing that! I don't need any of you!'

They looked at each other and simply ignored it.

'So you think you're so tough, loser? We'll show you who's tough!'

They all began to charge at me with beatings ready, but a bright light suddenly shined and blinded us all. I didn't know what happened, it just did. After the light vanished, all the kids were on the floor, groaning and moaning in pain. I stepped back in fear and finally ran away.

I didn't return home that afternoon. I continued running away from the town. I didn't know where I was going, but I just ran, endlessly.

Soon, I had felt so tired. I hadn't eaten anything and I was exhausted. I saw this cave nearby and took shelter in it. With my stomach grumbling and my body weak, I fell asleep.

I woke up to another light… there I saw… the Princess…

'What's such a darling and cute pony doing here all by himself?'

I began crawling further into my cave, afraid.

'It's okay… I'm not going to bite…'

She smiled at me and sat down. She held out an apple that she had in front of her.

'Are you hungry…?'

She placed the apple in front of the cave. I slowly crawled out and grabbed it, biting into it. After I was finished, I looked up to her.

'Why are you wasting your time with nothing…?'

'Nothing? What do you mean?'

'I mean me. I'm nothing.'

'Why, you certainly are not! What's your name…?'

I hesitated for a moment.

'…Alex…'

Princess Celestia released a warm smile.

'That's an amazing name…Why are you out here all alone? Where are you parents…?'

'Far away…'

'Why…?'

'Because no pony wants me…'

'That's not true.'

She held out a hoof to me. I grabbed it and she helped me up.

'Come on.'

She had taken me to eat and help me out a bit. After, when it was getting dark, she told me that she couldn't bring me with her to Canterlot because of her royal duties. So, she managed to get a new house, just for me. She apologized once again for not being able to take me, but she hoped I would be okay. Before she left, she wished to see me again some time. Afterwards, she waved goodbye to me and left. I could only stare at her as she walked away. Before I slept that night in my new home, in a comfortable bed, I noticed that something had changed about me. I had looked at my flank and noticed something there that wasn't there before… my mark… a lone wolf.

I had guessed I received it after fighting back at the kids in the playground...

I grew older in that home. I had basically already learned how to take care of myself the hard way, so it was actually easier to live alone. I had told myself that I never wanted to see anypony ever again. I never left the house, unless I absolutely needed to. If I did, I avoided everypony and quickly did my business, so I could return to my house as quick as possible. I spent my birthdays alone, as well as all the holidays. It was just like how it was back in Fillydelphia, except my parents or the other ponies weren't there. It was so much better to no longer feel as much pain, but I still felt very lonely. I didn't dare talk to any pony because I didn't want to risk the same from happening again. I spent every day sleeping or staring at nothing…especially me… I even took some chances in trying to improve myself... It wasn't until Princess Celestia invited me to that 'Summer Sun Celebration' because she wanted to see me. I couldn't decline it because she had done so much for me. Well… it was that day that I met you girls as well…

…So you see Fluttershy? I'm meant to be alone. I can't be with you girls any further because the more time I spend with each of you, the more it's going to hurt for all of us when I lose you…so please, Fluttershy… just go… and leave me here by myself so I can be alone and hurt no pony anymore…"

I turned my head to the side and continued my quiet weeping. All of a sudden, I felt a pair of hooves gently caress my face. They lightly turned my face to the front. I looked at Fluttershy. Tears were streaming from her face as well. She looked intently into my eyes as I could only gaze at her back. She slowly moved her face towards me. Suddenly, she pushed her face forward, pressing her lips against mine. Her eyes were closed as she passionately kissed me. My eyes were widened in shock as I could not believe what Fluttershy was doing. I continued staring at Fluttershy in shock, but then… my eyes began surrendering to the power of the kiss. I slowly closed my eyes and accepted the kiss, feeling the warm softness of her lips.

After a moment, she pulled away slowly. Her cheeks were blooming intensely as they were reddened far more than I had ever seen in my life.

"I'm sorry…for what has happened to you, Alex…" Fluttershy apologized. "…but we're your friends. We will never leave you alone, and we will always be there for you…and maybe…" She began looking away as she rubbed her hooves shyly. "…maybe…I…can…be your..." She paused for a moment. "…girlfriend…" I couldn't believe what she told me… I could only stare in awe as she looked away shyly. She noticed my expression and frowned. "Oh…um… I understand…it's okay…I shouldn't have ever asked you… I mean… who would want a pony like m—

I suddenly interrupted her by grabbing her face with my hooves and pressing my lips against hers, repeating the passionate kiss she gave to me. She had the exact same reaction as me, widening her eyes in shock, but soon closing them in pleasure.

After I pulled away, I looked at her with soft eyes. She noticed them and smiled lightly.

"Is that a yes…?" She asked.

I nodded. "I believe you… and I really care about you…"

She embraced me tightly. "So does that mean you'll come back to us…?"

I nodded again. "Of course."

"Oh thank you! I'm so glad!" Fluttershy continued to embrace me tightly as I wrapped my hooves around her and accepted it.

It had stopped raining… the clouds removed themselves and revealed a sunny day. Fluttershy and I stood up and began walking home.

"You know, Alex…" Fluttershy spoke as we walked, holding each others hooves. "If I've learned anything about loving animals… your mark doesn't necessarily mean that you are meant to be alone forever… it may be a symbol of your independence… on how you don't need to depend on any other ponies, especially the ones who didn't love you. Wolves are also protective of their family, and are loyal to do anything for them… and from what I've seen from all the time we have spent together… that is you, Alex. Your special talent isn't being alone… it's about being strong, independent, and protecting the ones you love."

It did make sense… and from what Fluttershy has shown me… I believed her… automatically and without question. "You're right, Fluttershy…you're so right…but I had been blinded by my dark past that I couldn't see that… you girls are my true friends, and that's why I had been so willing to protect you all from any dangers. You girls are my family… and I…love… each one of you…" I had expressed a word I have never done so in my entire life.

"Oh, Alex." Fluttershy smiled and embraced me again.

When we arrived in town, we spotted the other girls there, tired.

"I wonder if Fluttershy found Alex yet…I'm really worried." Twilight expressed to the girls.

"She has." I answered, immediately causing their heads to turn at us.

They dashed towards us, worried sick. "Alex, we were so worried about you! Are you okay?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah…I am now…"

The rest of the girls returned warm smiles as they knew I was okay. Just before the girls were going to ask me more questions, we heard a voice running towards us.

"Guys!" Spike shouted as he ran towards us.

"What is it, Spike?" Twilight asked.

"Princess Celestia wants me to send a picture of you all!"

"Really?" Twilight questioned, intrigued. She looked back at us. "How about it ponies? Ready for a picture?" She smiled.

"Yeah!" Everypony agreed.

Spike pulled out a camera and was ready to aim it.

Twilight sat in the middle as Rainbow Dash flew slightly above her, placing her hooves on her and looking valiant. Applejack stood to the right of Twilight as she presented a small laughter while closing one eye, happily. Rarity sat to the left of Twilight while giving a warm smile as Pinkie Pie placed her right hoof on her head and waved with her left. She was smiling brightly. Fluttershy lay down on the grass on the bottom of them all. She looked over to me and sent me inviting eyes. I joined them and sat down next to Fluttershy. All of them looked towards the camera as Spike began aiming it.

Usually, I wouldn't have joined so quickly and willingly to be with the girls with something like this… but I changed… I was no longer uncomfortable… because I knew I was with the ponies I loved most. I was with true friends.

"Okay, guys. Get ready to smile!" Spike announced as he prepared his camera.

As I looked at all the girls surrounding me, I felt an intense love coming back from them. As I felt their wonderful presence around me, knowing that they ARE my true friends, I did something that even surprised me. For the first time in my life, I did something so amazing that it felt great to express it with my best friends…and girlfriend…

I smiled.

Lesson Zero

After the photo, everypony immediately discovered what had just happened. They all looked at me, breathless and silent.

"What…?" I asked.

"Oh…my…gosh…" Pinkie Pie began. "YOU SMILED!" Everypony immediately let out screams of happiness and tackled me towards the floor. "MY BIRTHDAY WISH CAME TRUE! I'M SO HAPPY!" Pinkie Pie screamed.

"Alright, alright, calm down…" I responded, managing to form a light smile again. "It's because I'm with true friends… and…" I looked at Fluttershy. "…should we tell them the news?" Fluttershy blushed lightly and nodded. I looked back at all the girls who were awaiting my answer. "Fluttershy and I… are a couple."

The girls released their weight off me.

"A couple…?" Rarity questioned, seriously.

"Uh…yes…?" I answered, a bit worried that the rest of the girls might have had some problem with it.

The girls looked at each other for a moment in silence. Finally, they screamed in joy.

"That's fantastic!" Rarity exclaimed.

"It's about time." Applejack added with a smile.

"We knew you both would make a great couple. We couldn't wait until the day you finally saw it." Twilight explained.

I smiled with a slight blush. "Heh…yeah…" Then I looked over to Fluttershy who returned a beautiful smile.

In order to make up for the whole mess that happened, all of us decided to spend some time together at the café.

"So, where did you go, Alex?" Twilight asked as we waited for our pizza. "When we couldn't find you anywhere in the ceremony, we grew really worried about you and we all separated to find you!"

"Well… I went to my first home in Ponyville…" I answered.

"First home?" Rarity questioned, confused.

I sighed, although not depressingly. "I guess I should tell all of you the story, huh? After all, you all are my friends and you should know…" I told them every bit of it, just like I had done with Fluttershy. But this time, I didn't feel sad. I felt comfortable sharing this information with them. "…I never tried to make friends because I thought the same thing would just happen again…so…" I fiddled around with the utensils on the table.

Everypony returned surprised and saddened looks. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Alex." Rarity replied in a compassionate tone. "I never would have known something so…horrible… would have happened to you…"

"Hey, it's okay. As long as I have all of you, it doesn't matter anymore. I can leave it all behind me." I released a warm smile at all of them, but removed it when I thought of the apology I wanted to give them. "…and I'm sorry about how I treated you girls when Discord was messing with Ponyville… it's just that he corrupted my mind into thinking that you girls weren't really my friends, and that you were just using me…but, I know all that was a lie now. I'm really sorry… especially to you, Twilight." I looked towards her. "I was a real jerk to you… I walked away from you when you needed me the most and ignored you the whole time… Can you ever forgive me?"

She looked at me and returned a soft smile while closing her eyes. She opened them and held out her forelegs. I analyzed her pose for a moment and realized what she wanted. I regained my smile and accepted her friendly hug that indicated everything was well.

Soon, every one of the girls saw the chance to make it more meaningful. They all closed in to turn it into an amazing group hug. After a moment of connection and releases of aw, we pulled away, smelling the pizza come.

A large, hay topping pizza was planted on the table in front of us. Each of us grabbed a slice. Rainbow held hers up in the middle of the table and gave a powerful and bold smile. "To friendship!"

"To friendship!" Everypony, including me, exclaimed and began eating our dinner.

After having a fantastic evening with my friends, I told them I would truly enjoy meeting them tomorrow. They all suggested a picnic and I quickly and heartily agreed. They left to go home for tonight while I finally walked Fluttershy home again. This time, we held hooves while we walked in the peaceful and beautiful night environment.

"Alex…" Fluttershy began. "I'm so glad that you're finally happy… it makes me…so happy."

"That's great… you know… I can't believe I missed out on all this happiness… it feels so wonderful… it's like…" I stopped, causing Fluttershy to stop as well. "Wait…"

"What is it?" Fluttershy asked with a concerned look on her face.

"That was it…" I presented, amazed. "That was one of the feelings I couldn't explain… happiness!" I looked at her. "I didn't know what it was before you girls showed me! The feeling I felt deep down…but didn't know how to express it…"

"That's wonderful, Alex." Fluttershy released a delicate smile.

Fluttershy invited me into her cottage so we could talk with each other more.

Fluttershy brought tea and joined me on the couch.

"Although… there's still one feeling I'm not too sure of…" I announced as I grabbed the cup that Fluttershy filled with tea and took a sip.

"What is it?" Fluttershy asked, taking a sip from her cup as well.

"There's this feeling I have for you…" I looked at her. "A really special feeling that makes my heart feel so warm inside. It makes me feel like I always want to be with you… It's a feeling I can't quite describe… but all I know… it's amazing…"

Fluttershy slightly looked away and blushed. "…love…?"

I didn't say anything for a moment. I thought. Love? Love… I loved all the girls, but the kind of love I felt for Fluttershy was so much more…passionate and tender…love… "Fluttershy, what kind of love do you mean?"

Fluttershy's cheeks grew even redder as she answered shyly. "…well, when two ponies really like each other and love being with each other whenever, wherever… it's called love… like you'd want to do anything you can to make that special pony happy…and you're always comfortable around that pony… Especially, being with that pony makes you feel really good inside… like there's nothing better that can happen than being with that special somepony…"

I thought again. Was that it? Did I love Fluttershy? I loved being with her so much… and I do want to do anything to keep her happy… especially if she is saddened by something… But I've felt this feeling when Fluttershy and I first began talking to each other… Hm…were these the feelings that Princess Celestia wanted me to find out for myself when I spoke with her that evening? Now that I think about it…

I looked towards Fluttershy, whose cheeks were still reddened a little as she slightly turned away. She noticed me look at her and turned her head to see me. I slowly pushed my head towards her and kissed her gently. She quickly accepted this kiss and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, I pulled away, causing both of us to open our eyes again.

"I guess I must have loved you since the first sight…" I began. "I started feeling these feelings since the first time I saw you… but I never knew what they were…" I paused for a moment, staring at the floor. "…I love you, Fluttershy."

"Alex…" Fluttershy answered, keeping her flushed cheeks and holding her hooves to her mouth. "…I…I love you too!"

She immediately embraced me and kissed me gently, but passionately. I accepted her gift by wrapping my forelegs around her and closing my eyes. After, we slightly pulled away and looked at each other, blushing. I managed to release a small smile. She returned the same expression when she saw me.

"I never knew love felt this good…" I told her.

"Me either…after all…you're the only pony that I've had such strong feelings for…"

"Really…?"

"Mhm." She nodded. "When I was young, I was always teased and stuff…so…" She slightly moved her eyes from me.

"Hm… I guess we both have had the same experiences…"

"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asked, looking back to me.

"We were both teased and bullied by ponies when we were young…"

"But you had it way worse, Alex."

I shrugged. "Well…whatever's the case… we will always have each other…right…?"

She smiled and nodded. "Of course."

I returned another light smile and hugged her again.

After spending a little while longer with Fluttershy, I walked towards the door as she followed me. I turned around and looked at her. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow morning?"

"Yes, of course. Until then… I can't wait."

I lightly nodded. "Ok, goodnight Fluttershy… I love you."

She smiled and slightly blushed. "Goodnight, Alex. I love you too."

We both traded a small and quick kiss before I walked out the door and headed home.

When I entered and walked upstairs, I threw myself on the bed and looked at the ceiling. I could hardly sleep… My feelings for Fluttershy kept me awake. In some way, I am excited to see how life is now going to be with my friends and my love for Fluttershy. My heart is just so warm. It feels so good and it makes me so happy…

I closed my eyes and began my way to dreamland, hopefully meeting Fluttershy there as well.

I awoke once again, fully awake. The reason for my full attentiveness was because I was too excited to see Fluttershy, especially at our picnic later on in the day. I walked down the stairs, in a quick but happy pace, and out the front door.

I walked through town, seeing everypony outside. They were all smiling as they joyfully hung around others. I joined them by bringing a smile upon my face as well.

"How are we doing Spike?" I heard Twilight's voice nearby.

"Let's see... "I turned my head to see Spike dragging a long scroll as he talked to Twilight. "We've already dropped off your cape at the cleaners, returned the blackboard you borrowed from Cheerilee, ordered new parchment and quills from the stationary shop..."

"Hmm..." Twilight placed a hoof to her chin. "Seems like we just placed an order for those a few days ago."

Spike lowered his eyelids halfway and looked behind him to observe the long scroll that trailed behind them. "Can't imagine why we go through so many of them." He responded with a hint of sarcasm.

"Sounds like we're ahead of schedule." Twilight replied as I walked towards them.

"Hey, Twilight. Spike." I announced, keeping the smile on my face. "How are you two?"

"Hey, Alex!" Twilight greeted cheerfully. "We're doing great, thank you! How about you?"

"I'm fine. I can't wait for our picnic later on today."

"Neither can we!" Twilight observed my face for a moment. "You know… it feels different seeing you smile now…"

"Is that bad…?" I asked, losing the sign of happiness and replacing it with a worried look.

"No, no! Of course not! It's just… The girls and I were used to never seeing you smile before. But I'm really glad you smile now. It's amazing." Twilight returned a smile. "You just keep up with the smiling, okay?"

I formed a light grin again. "Okay."

Twilight nodded, happily, and looked towards Spike. "What's next?"

"Cupcakes!" Spike exclaimed, throwing his arms out, joyfully.

"Excellent!" Twilight replied and looked over to me. "Alex, care to join us?"

"Sure." I began following them, by their side, to where they were headed.

We arrived at Sugarcube Corner and walked through the door. Twilight walked over to the counter and rang the bell.

"Hello, Twilight." Mrs. Cake greeted as she walked out of the kitchen to attend to her. "Are you here for your cupcakes?"

"Yes, mam!" Twilight answered, cheerfully.

Mrs. Cake walked into the kitchen and brought back a white rectangular box. She placed it on the counter and opened it. Twilight, Spike and I moved our heads closer to look inside. While Spike was drooling over the sight of the delicious pink frosted cupcakes, Twilight formed a sort of confused look on her face.

"Uh, I only ordered twelve." Twilight announced.

"Oh, I know, dear," Mrs. Cake answered as she continued to bring out more sweets from the kitchen and place them in boxes to return to the kitchen again. "…but I had an extra. So I thought I'd make it a baker's dozen."

Spike was now trying to lift himself up from the floor to grab one of the cupcakes, but I lightly pulled him away with my hooves and kept him near me. "Take it easy, Spike." I told him with a warm expression.

"Oh, that was very thoughtful of you." Twilight responded. "It's just some of the icing from the extra cupcake is getting all over the one next to it." Twilight pointed to the cupcake with her hoof and pushed the box forward to Mrs. Cake. "See?"

Mrs. Cake looked in the box, causing to look inside to see what Twilight was talking about. We observed it for a moment, but I didn't notice much difference.

"Ohh... sure..." Mrs. Cake answered, uneasily.

"It's just that I'm planning on sharing these at a picnic later and I don't want anypony to feel like somepony else is getting more icing."

"Oh, no... of course not."

"Not to worry…" Twilight grabbed a kitchen utensil from the back with her magic. "I'll just move some of this one to…"

When I saw Twilight about to scoop up a large part of the top of the cupcake, I immediately placed my hooves on her. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, Twilight." I announced, stopping her.

"Hm?" She questioned.

"You don't have to do anything. They're fine."

"But…"

"They're…fine… Twilight." I kept the smile as I looked towards her. "Nopony is going to fight about a cupcake having a little more frosting than the other one. Besides…" I looked over to the cupcakes. "There's no significant change, and I honestly can't tell any difference between them so…" I looked back at Twilight. "They're fine the way they are."

Twilight sighed, but happily. "Okay, Alex…" She chuckled a little and placed the utensil back in the back. "I guess we should get going then."

"Twilight, can I please have one?" Spike asked, pleading on his knees while holding his hands together.

"No, Spike. You wouldn't want to spoil your appetite. You'll just have to wait until the picnic." Twilight replied.

"Aww!"

"Okay, time to tackle the next item on our list." Twilight said, placing the box of cupcakes on her back and beginning to walk out the door. I waved goodbye to Mrs. Cake and followed Twilight out the door.

When we were outside, Twilight looked over to me. "Alright, Alex… Spike and I just have to finish some stuff at home and we'll meet you all at the picnic, okay?"

"Gotcha. I'll see you at the picnic then."

She nodded and smiled, giving a wave before leaving towards her home.

I turned around and began heading towards Fluttershy's house, but then I thought of a fantastic idea.

I had returned home to receive a saddle bag with several bits inside. When I arrived at the market area, I looked around for the flower stand. I spotted a pony with a creamy-colored coat. Her mane consisted of a hot pink and Burgundy color and her eyes were lime green. Her cutie mark contained a rose. I walked happily to the stall, ready to purchase flowers for Fluttershy.

However, there was a pony in front of me talking to the pony selling the flowers. The shopkeeper seemed to be getting frustrated a bit.

"I told you already… I only sell flowers."

"Aw…" The pony in front of me responded with a saddened tone. Her coat was of a bluish-gray color, and her mane was blonde or light yellow. When I saw her eyes, I could see they were yellow-lime or amber. I noticed that her cutie mark contained bubbles… "Are you sure you don't sell muffins here?"

The shopkeeper sighed. "Yes… I'm sure… ONLY flowers."

The pony in front of me lowered her head, sadly, and turned around to walk back. As she walked past me, I could see that her eyes were crossed and staring at the ground. I formed a confused expression. Um…okay…

"I'm sorry about that." The shopkeeper apologized to me. "Would you like to purchase some flowers?"

I looked at her and smiled. "Yes, please. What are your specials?"

"Oh!" She formed a slightly excited expression and pulled out several clusters of flowers. "These were picked just this morning!"

I looked over them, but there one was that caught my eyes. My eyes were attracted to one of the groups that contained a variety of different flowers, such as roses, lilies, and daises. "I'll take that one." I pointed.

"Great!" The shopkeeper smiled. "That'll be three bits!" I opened my saddlebag, pulled out three bits, and placed them on the counter. "Thank you!" She thanked as I grabbed the bouquet of flowers with my teeth. I nodded and placed them in my saddle bag. I turned around and began trotting happily towards Fluttershy's cottage but something startled me as I noticed it in my way. I stopped to notice the same pony, who was in front of me a while ago, was in front of me once again but facing me, sending a smile with her crossed eyes.

"Um…" I slipped out as I saw her.

She continued looking at me in awkward silence. Finally, she spoke. "Hi!"

I looked around, a little uneasily. "Uh…hi?"

"I'm Ditsy Doo, but ponies like to call me Derpy."

"I see…"

"What's your name?" She asked while her eyes still remained crossed. It seemed as if that was her normal expression.

"Um, Alex."

"That's a nice name!"

"Thanks…"

There was a pause.

"Alex, can you help me?" She asked.

"Um, sure. What do you need?"

"I want a muffin, but I can't find a muffin stand."

"Why don't you just go to Sugarcube Corner?"

She pulled her head back, slightly confused. "Sugarcube Corner?"

"You've never been there before?"

She placed a hoof to her chin and thought for a moment. She sucked her in lips, making them look as if she tasted something very sour, and scrunched her nose. After, she returned to her smile. "I don't know."

I thought for a while as well. I guess I could spare some time into helping her… "I suppose I can take you there."

"Really? Thanks, Alex!" She exclaimed.

"Yup... C'mon, let's go."

I walked her over to Sugarcube Corner.

"There you go. Just go in there and ask for muffins, they should have plenty of different kinds." I instructed her from the outside.

"Wooow. Thank you so much, Alex!" She thanked.

"You're welcome…um…Derpy?" I answered, unknowing how to call her by her nickname. "Anyways, I have to meet with somepony, so I guess I'll see you later?"

"Okay! See you soon, Alex!"

I managed to form a light smile and wave as I walked away. As I headed towards Fluttershy's cottage, I could only think about that pony. She's a pony that seems a little… clumsy… but she doesn't seem like such a bad pony…

However, on the way, I heard Twilight nearby once again. "You've got this, Twilight. You still have plenty of time to get that letter to Princess Celestia! Has to be somepony who needs the help of a good friend!"

"Hey, Twilight." I greeted, walking towards her.

"Oh hey, Alex!" Twilight responded. "Do you need help? Do you have a problem or issue on your hooves right now?"

"Um… I don't think so…"

"Oh…" Twilight replied, a little disappointed. She noticed the saddlebag on my back. "What's with the saddle bag?"

"Oh, this?" I questioned, looking at the bag as well. "I'm carrying flowers I bought for Fluttershy."

"Aww." Twilight released. "That's so cute, sweet, and nice. I'm sure you'll make her whole day!"

"Heh, thanks…"

Suddenly, we heard a loud scream coming from Rarity's shop.

"Rarity!" Twilight announced.

We heard another frightening and very loud scream as we rushed over to her shop. We forced open the door and ran inside.

"Rarity, what's wrong?" I quickly asked, spotting Rarity weeping on top of a platform.

"Why me-e-e-e-e-ee..." She sobbed and then gasped. "WHYYYY? Why? Why-y? And of all the worst things that could happen, this is THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!"

I returned a very concerned and worried look as I rushed over to her. However, Twilight looked as if she saw this as more of an opportunity instead.

"What's happened? Are you alright?" Twilight asked.

"I've lost my diamond encrusted purple ribbon!" Rarity responded. "I have searched HIGH, and I have searched LOW. Low and high! High and low! But I can't find it anywhere!" She used her magic to placed a fancy couch near her and threw herself upon it. "Anywhe-e-e-e-ere! How can I possibly finish my latest creation if I can't find it?" Rarity exclaimed as tears streamed down her face.

"Calm down, Rarity…" I replied as I placed a comforting hoof on her. "We'll help you find your—

Meanwhile, Rarity was looking across from the couch when she suddenly opened her eyes in surprise and cut me off. "Oh there it is." She answered in her usual voice and halted the water works. She got up from the couch and began walking towards a bucket where her ribbon lay in plain sight. "Isn't it always just the last place you look?" Rarity picked it up with her magic and began cutting pieces from it. I could only react with a slightly unbelievable expression… but then again… it IS Rarity.

"So... you just lost your ribbon?" Twilight questioned with a sort of worried tone in her voice.

"Mmhm!"

"...but now you've found it?"

"Yea-huh."

"...and nothing else is bothering you? Nothing that I, as a good friend could help you with?" She strained the words "good friend" for some reason.

"Hmm..." Rarity thought and then looked at Twilight. "There is one thing."

"Yes?" Twilight asked in a very excited manner.

"I think I left my measuring tape under the fabric over there." Rarity pointed to some fabric nearby and walked away. "Could you get that for me?"

Twilight lost her excited expression and sighed. "Measuring tape? Sure." Twilight used her magic to grab the measuring tape and place it in front of Rarity.

Rarity must have noticed Twilight's disappointed voice. "Twilight? Is there something bother— We noticed that she had suddenly disappeared. "Twilight?" Rarity called, looking at the open front door. Rarity looked over to me. "Alex, did you see where she ran off to?"

I shrugged. "I don't know… that was odd…"

"Hmm… "Rarity thought. "Well, I'm sure she'll be at the picnic." She looked at me and noticed my saddlebag. "Ooh. Nice bag. I've never seen you carrying one. What's the occasion?"

"Oh… well no occasion, really… I just bought some flowers for Fluttershy."

"Really?" Rarity asked, excitedly. "That's so sweet and charming!"

"Thanks…" I answered, a little embarrassed and red. "Well, I better get to her cottage before I'm too late. I want to give them to her as soon as I can."

"Oh, no worries. I understand!"

I returned a nod and smiled. "Alright, I'll see you at the picnic, Rarity!"

"You too!" Rarity replied and continued cutting strips of her ribbon.

I began hurrying to Fluttershy's, wanting to give her the flowers already.

When I arrived, I walked up to her door and knocked, excited to see her face. She opened the door and noticed me, growing an instant smile.

"Alex!" She quickly embraced me and pulled back after some time. "I'm so glad to see you!"

"The feeling's mutual, Fluttershy." I answered, returning a light grin. "I even got you something too."

"A gift? Oh, you didn't have to, Alex." Fluttershy responded as I opened my saddlebag and pulled out the flowers with my teeth. I presented them to Fluttershy, causing her to open her mouth in awe as she stared at the beauty of the flowers. "Oh, Alex…" I grabbed the bouquet with my hooves and held them out to her. She slowly grabbed them and continued gazing at them. "They're…they're so beautiful…"

"Exactly. I brought the best, just for you Fluttershy."

Fluttershy raised her head and looked at me. She embraced me tightly once again, but added a sweet kiss with it. She pulled back and looked at me, blushing. "Thank you, Alex…"

"You're welcome…" I answered, feeling a little of Fluttershy's redness pass over to me.

She invited me into her cottage. She placed the flowers in a vase filled with water as I sat down on the couch.

"Are you ready for the picnic, Fluttershy?" I asked her.

"Oh, yes." Fluttershy replied as she just finished adjusting the variety of flowers. "But, I have to go attend to a little furry critter for a while before we head off. Do you mind?"

"Not at all, I'll wait while you do that."

"Ok, then." She began walking out through the back door. "Wait right here. I'll be right back, okay?"

"Of course."

She smiled and walked outside the door.

While I waited for her, I looked around her home to see all the nature she welcomed inside. Afterwards, I looked at the flowers in the vase and remembered the scene. She was so happy to see me… I felt so good inside when I gave her the flowers. It was nice to see that sweet smile of hers… it really was…

All of a sudden, I heard a very loud and terrifying roar that startled me.

"Fluttershy!" I exclaimed and ran out the back door. I noticed Fluttershy standing face to face with a bear that was significantly larger than her. She immediately flew under the bear, causing the bear to look below him. I began galloping towards the danger. "Fluttershy, hold on! I'm coming to—!

I immediately stopped when I saw Fluttershy kick the bear fiercely from behind, causing the bear to trip and fall on its belly. After, Fluttershy flew towards his left foot and grabbed it while containing a fierce and bold look on her face. She pulled the foot with so much force that it caused the bear to fall on its face instead. I could only stare at her skills as I was filled with surprise and shock. Fluttershy continued grunting as she fought the bear. She pulled the left leg so far back that her back hooves touched the top part of the bear's back. The bear screamed in pain as it pounded its fist on the ground. Fluttershy released another fierce grunt and she jumped on top of the bear and planted all of her hooves harshly on the bear's back. The bear was now crying as it bit its finger and continued pounding the ground with its fist. Fluttershy flew up to the bear's head and grabbed it firmly. She released a final loud yell as she twisted the bear's neck one hundred and eighty degrees, causing the bear to widen its eyes and stick out its tongue. When she did that, I immediately opened my eyes in high shock and disbelief as I dropped my jaw. After she finished letting out her war cry, she threw the bear's head towards the ground. As she hovered above the bear, she finally noticed me.

"Oh, hi, Alex." Her voice returned to its normal sweet self.

"F…Fluttershy…I…" I couldn't speak from witnessing the scene.

"One second, Alex." She landed on top of the bears back and began rubbing it with her hooves, gently. "You really should have come to me sooner. You were carrying so much tension in that shoulder."

The bear stuck out its tongue and agreed by releasing a soft roar of pleasure.

I shook my head and looked at Fluttershy. Oh… she wasn't fighting with a bear… she was just… massaging it… I sighed in relief… wow…

Once Fluttershy was done massaging the bear, she flew off of it and waved at it as it left happily refreshed. After, she turned around and we began walking back to the cottage.

"What's wrong, Alex?" Fluttershy asked as she noticed the expression on my face. "You look as if you've seen a ghost."

"That was the 'little furry critter' you were talking about?"

"Yep." She smiled. "Isn't he just adorable?"

I chuckled lightly. "Remind me to never get you angry…"

She tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean…?"

I smiled lightly. "Nothing… Come on, we should start heading towards the picnic."

When we arrived at the picnic site, we saw Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie was bouncing over to us happily as she carried a basket with her mouth. Once she caught up to us, she lowered her head and placed the basket on the grass, removing the cloth that covered what sat inside. Three balloons inflated and began rising in the air, bringing the basket along with it. Pinkie Pie gave a wide grin as Applejack noticed the balloons for a few seconds and continued setting up the blanket. Rainbow Dash was nearby, placing on sunscreen while she wore huge dark shaded sunglasses. Her appearance caused me to chuckle a little.

"Well, well, well." Applejack announced as she noticed us. "If it isn't the lovebirds!"

I looked at Fluttershy and placed my foreleg around her, giving her a small hug to which Fluttershy slightly blushed at.

"Please tell me I did not forget the plates." Rarity exclaimed near them, searching through a basket where cups, forks, spoons, and other utensils laid by. She gasped and pulled her head out. "I did. I totally forgot them. Of all the worst things that could happen, this is THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!" She shouted, catching every other pony's attention. She placed her hoof on her forehead dramatically and using her magic, pulled her fancy couch out of nowhere and fell upon it, sobbing. "Why, why, why..."

I spotted several plates not too far from her and called her. "Rarity… the plates are right here…" I pointed towards them.

She opened her eyes and noticed them. "Oh, yes… I knew I had taken them out before…" We returned confused and awkward expressions as we noticed her continue to lie on the couch. "Uh... What? You didn't expect me to lay on the grass, did you?

Rainbow Dash placed the sunglasses over her irritated eyes as Applejack, Fluttershy, and I sighed. After, Rainbow Dash threw herself backwards to lay on the picnic blanket. I looked at Fluttershy to begin talking to her but suddenly we heard another noise besides us. A crushed cardboard box had been thrown on the blanket…were those the cupcakes Twilight had picked up…? I looked up to see who threw them to see an awful sight…

We all saw Twilight as she stared at Rainbow Dash with a creepy huge grin. Rainbow Dash, startled, immediately stood up and looked at her. Twilight continued to share her creepy and odd grin with all of us. I then noticed how her mane was all messed up…like if she had been stressing over something…

"You alright, hun?" Applejack asked, taking a step forward to Twilight.

"No!" Twilight shouted. "I am not alright." Twilight retrieved various shock statements from the girls. "It's just terrible."

"Yes?" The girls questioned, leaning towards her.

"Simply awful." Twilight added.

"Yes?" The girls leaned even more.

"It's the most horrific trouble I've ever been in and I really really really need your help!"

"Yes?" The girls now almost exclaimed.

"My letter to Princess Celestia is almost overdue, and I haven't learned anything about friendship!"

All the girls released sighs of relief while Rainbow Dash looked as if she had been excited for nothing.

"Oh thank goodness." Fluttershy answered. "I thought something really awful had happened."

Twilight released a shocked gasp and teleported towards the picnic blanket. Her teleportation startled Rainbow Dash, who was sitting down near her sun block, and caused her shades to fly away from her eyes. "Something awful has happened!" Twilight exclaimed and teleported to Rarity, causing her to spit out the tea she was drinking. "If I don't turn in the letter on time, I'll be tardy!" She reappeared in the center of the picnic blanket where we all resided. "TARDY!" She yelled as she held Applejack.

All the girls looked at each other and began giggling, which caused Twilight to turn red and begin steaming.

"No offense, sugarcube," Applejack replied as she pushed Twilight's hooves away from her. "…but it looks like somepony's gettin' themselves all worked up over nothin'."

Twilight slapped Applejack's hooves away. "This is not nothing. This is everything. I need you guys to help me find somepony with a problem I can fix before sundown! My whole life depends on it!"

Pinkie Pie giggled. "Oh Twilight, you're such a crack-up!" She fell backwards on the grass as she laughed.

"Come on now." Applejack said. "Have a seat and stop sweatin' the small stuff."

I placed a hoof on Twilight and agreed. "Applejack's right. I'm sure the Princess won't mind if you're a little late. Just tell her that you need a little more time…"

Twilight released a loud annoyed groan as she began walking away, angrily. She released one more annoyed groan before running off and teleporting.

"Wow. I've never seen Twilight so upset before…" Fluttershy commented.

"Oh, what a drama queen!" Rarity exclaimed as she continued lying on her couch. She noticed us realize her irony and cleared her throat. "Mm. Relatively speaking..."

"…I'm going to check up on Twilight." I announced as I stood up. "I'll try to bring her back her so she won't worry so much about the problem she's dealing with.

The girls nodded their heads, and I began heading towards Twilight's house.

As I was walking through the park, I heard some laughter nearby. I looked to my right to see Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo bouncing a ball with their heads. They continued to giggle as they played with the ball. I lightly smiled at their fun and walked over to them.

"Hey, girls." I greeted.

They looked over to me. "Hey, Alex!" Applebloom replied. Then, she placed a hoof to her chin as she observed me. "Hm… there's something different about you…"

"He's smiling!" Sweetie Bell exclaimed a moment after.

Applebloom gasped. "That's true! It's so amazing!" She bounced excitedly towards me. "What made you smile so suddenly, Alex?" She asked.

"It's a long story…" I answered, looking away as I thought about it. After, I turned back towards them. "You girls want to know something amazing?"

"Yes!" Applebloom continued to hop excitedly.

"Tell us! Tell us!" Sweetie Belle added.

"Yeah!" Scootaloo emphasized.

I looked at each one of them, continuing to smile. "Fluttershy and I… are together now."

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other in shock for a moment, but then turned their heads back to me with delicate faces. "Aww!" They released.

"Eww!" Scootaloo exclaimed as she stuck out her tongue.

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at Scootaloo irritably, for a moment, but then turned their attention back towards me. "Well, I'm glad you both are together now!" Applebloom expressed.

"Hey, Alex, want to play with us?" Sweetie Bell offered.

"No thanks, girls. I'm trying to look for Twilight… I'm a bit worried about her."

"Why?" They asked.

Suddenly, we heard a noise where the ball lay on the grass. It surprised us as it grew larger and larger to the point where it popped open. Twilight appeared before us with the creepy smile as she looked at the girls. "Hi girls!" Twilight's ear twitched.

Applebloom returned a slightly frightened look, but then formed a smile. "Oh, hi Twilight. How's it go—

"Gr-eat. Just great." Twilight answered in mid-sentence. Her eyes twitched as a drop of sweat fell from her face. She began walking towards them as they could only slightly flinch back. "You three look like you're doing great too! Looks like three good friends who obviously don't need the help of another good friend."

"Twilight…" I placed my hoof on her. "You're obviously not okay. Are you still obsessing over the letter? Why don't you just take my advice and ask Princess Celestia for more time? I'm sure she'll be okay with it. Then, you can enjoy the picnic with us and worry about the letter later. I'll even help you. You know, like a break?"

"Break?" Twilight questioned. "I don't need any break! I have this all under control!" Her eyes and ears creepily twitched once again, allowing me to see the bags and wrinkles below her eyes. She pulled out a doll with her magic and presented her to the children. "This is Smarty Pants. She was mine when I was your age, and now I want to give her to you!"

The girls remained silent as they could only stare at the ragged doll.

"Uhh... she's... great." Scootaloo answered, nervously.

"Yeeeeeah. Great." Applebloom added.

"I really... like her... mane?" Sweetie Belle returned a squeaky answer that was more of a question.

"She even comes with her own notebook and quill," Twilight squealed as she placed the small notebook on Scootaloo's hoof and the quill on Sweetie Belle's ear. "…for when you want to pretend she's doing her homework!" Twilight tilted her head and rubbed her hooves nervously.

"That's... um... " Scootaloo tried to answer as she held her foreleg with her hoof. "…great."

"Yeah... great." Applebloom repeated and chuckled nervously. She noticed Sweetie Bell not offering an opinion, so she bumped her.

"I really like her... mane?"

I knew Twilight was acting strange… but I couldn't really tell if she was doing something nice for the girls… or if it was for some other strange reason…

"I just hope the fact that there are three of you and only one of her doesn't become a problem! I'd hate to cause a rift between such good friends." She strained. Scootaloo began waving a hoof around her ear to represent that Twilight was messed up in the head. I looked at Twilight and was about to question her, but she immediately asked the girls another question. "So, who wants to play with her first?"

The girls pulled back frightened. "Uh..." Applebloom looked towards Sweetie Belle. "You should play with her first, Sweetie Belle. Y'know, 'cause you like her mane so much." Applebloom immediately began fleeing afterwards.

Sweetie Belle widened her eyes and replied to her answer. "Nonononononono. I think Scootaloo should get to play with her first." She left as well.

"I'd love to, but, um, you take her, Applebloom." Scootaloo walked towards Applebloom, who was being pushed back by Sweetie Belle.

Scootaloo grabbed Applebloom's mane to bring her closer to the doll, but Applebloom quickly pulled herself away and offered Sweetie Belle instead. "Applejack says it's important to share." Applebloom began pushing Sweetie Belle towards the doll while Sweetie Bell could only wave her legs around in a struggle to prevent it.

I turned to face Twilight who was tapping her hooves together. "Okay, Twilight. You're scaring the little girls. Why don't you put that doll away and stop frightening them?" I suggested, but she seemed to ignore me.

I noticed the girls begin fighting to get away from the doll, so I quickly walked over them to stop it.

"Ooh, you're going to like Smarty Pants. And you're going to like her more than anything." Twilight announced as I pulled the girls apart. She began doing a spell which hearts formed from her horn and entered the doll. The girls noticed it and quickly rushed over to the doll.

"I want it." Scootaloo surprisingly expressed.

"I need it." Applebloom added after.

"I really like her mane!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

I turned my head towards the doll and as soon as I did, I began feeling strange. I suddenly started feeling as if I had to get that doll. I quickly looked away and rubbed my eyes. What's going on…? Now, the girls began fighting over the doll, creating a large dust cloud to form around the doll to prevent me from seeing it any further.

"The 'want it, need it' spell. Works every time." Twilight commented.

"What?" I answered in exclamation at Twilight, continuing to rub my eyes.

"Okay okay, let's break it up." Twilight ignored me. "I think we can all see that there is an important lesson to be learned here about—The girls pushed Twilight away from them. "C'mon, girls, we're all friends here, right? Don't you think you ought to share?"

"No way!" Sweetie Belle answered in a bold tone as the girls continued fighting.

Twilight released an annoyed groan and jumped in the dust cloud to try to break them up, but threw her away shortly after. She crashed in front of Big Macintosh.

"Big Macintosh! Thank goodness! You've gotta help me get that doll away from those girls!"

Big Macintosh only stared at the doll as he carried a bucket with his mouth. "...Eeyup." He placed the bucket down and walked over to the girls. He lowered his head and easily grabbed the doll from the girls.

"Oh, thank you so much. Now if you could just give her to me?" Twilight asked, but Big Macintosh began fleeing from the area.

"Mmnope."

Twilight rubbed her face with her hoof. "Oh no!"

"Twilight!" I announced, finally recovering from that weird feeling and walking towards her. "What's going on? What did you do to that doll?"

"I…I…" Twilight tried to answer, but we began hearing arguing.

"Give her back!" Applebloom shouted to Big Macintosh as he continued fleeing. The mayor had seen them running by as they continued arguing. She quickly stood up from her chair and placed her book down.

"What's all the commotion about?" The mayor asked.

"They're fighting over that doll!" A pony answered.

"That incredible, amazing doll!" Another pony added.

Afterwards, they all immediately began raiding Big Macintosh as he stood on top of the pile holding the doll away from the other ponies. I saw the doll again and immediately received the same feeling again. I quickly looked away and rubbed my eyes. There must be something wrong with that doll! Twilight must have placed some sort of spell that made the ponies so crazy about the doll!

"Can't... get... a clear shot!" Twilight grunted as she maneuvered through the crowd but failed.

I didn't want to look because I would run the risk of falling under the spell again.

"Gimme!" I heard the mayor exclaim.

After, I heard an explosion with ponies flying away. I looked to see that the mayor had run off with the doll and Big Macintosh tackled through the crowd to chase after the mayor.

"Oh, what have I done?" Twilight announced, worriedly.

I sighed heavily. "We have to tell the others, come on!"

I began running back towards the picnic area.

We had just arrived to see the many ponies stampede over the picnic area.

"What in the name of all things oats 'n apples is goin' on here?" Applejack demanded.

The mayor continued running with the doll until a Pegasus flew over to her and snatched it away. Another Pegasus began fighting with the other one for the doll which eventually flew over beside Rainbow Dash. While Twilight got Rainbow Dash, I quickly rushed over to Fluttershy to prevent her from looking at it as well.

"Don't look at it!" Twilight warned.

"Don't look at what?" Rarity asked.

"My Smarty Pants doll! I enchanted her and now everypony is fighting over her!"

"Why would you enchant your doll?" Fluttershy asked, worriedly as all the fighting occurred in the background.

"Oh, I had to do something! I had nothing to report to Princess Celestia! I thought if I couldn't find a problem, I'd make a problem! The day is almost over!"

"Not almost!" Applejack added as we began noticing the sun set completely. Twilight dug her head into her hooves, shamefully.

"Twilight Sparkle!" We heard a sudden magnificent voice above us. A bright glow emerged, causing us to face towards an upset Princess Celestia.

"Whoa nelly…" Applejack commented as she removed her hat.

Princess Celestia then used her magic to remove the enchantment and return everypony back to normal. After, Princess Celestia planted her hooves firmly on the ground in front of Twilight. "Meet me in the library." She announced boldly and flew off.

"Goodbye everypony..." Twilight said, now depressingly as she stood up. "If you care to visit, I'll be in magic kindergarten, back in Canterlot." She began walking away as she lowered her head, sadly. I could only feel horrible for Twilight now…

"Magic kindergarten?" Fluttershy questioned.

"Canterlot?" Rainbow Dash added.

"We're never gonna see Twilight again!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"Uh, What are we gonna do, y'all?" Applejack asked, worriedly.

"Of all the worst things that could happen, this is THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!" Rarity yelled, causing the other ponies to look at her irritably. "What? I really mean it this time!"

I remained silent for a moment as I closed my eyes. I opened them again and looked over to where the library was.

"I'm going to take the blame…" I began walking but the girls stopped me.

"Wait!" Fluttershy exclaimed and rushed over to me. "I'll take it too…"

"Fluttershy…" I answered.

"No, we all are." Applejack walked over to us as the others followed her. "We're all in this together, and we stick it out no matter what!" Applejack stomped her hoof on the ground. I looked at them and nodded, returning a light smile. Afterwards, we all began running towards Twilight's library.

When we arrived, we immediately burst open through the door. Rainbow Dash quickly flew in front of Twilight and raised her hoof. "Wait!"

"You can't punish her!" Pinkie Pie cried out.

"It wasn't her fault!" Applejack added.

"I'm listening." Princess Celestia responded to their answers.

"Please, your highness. We all saw that Twilight was upset..." Fluttershy began.

"...but we thought that the thing she was worrying about wasn't worth worrying about." Rainbow Dash continued as Pinkie Pie rubbed her head sadly on Twilight.

"So when she ran off all worked up, only Alex tried to go check up on her!" Applejack explained.

"As Twilight's good friends, we all should have taken her feelings seriously and been there for her!"

"Please don't take her away from us just because we were too insensitive to help her."

"Yes…" I took a step forward to Princess Celestia. "If you're going to punish Twilight… at least let me take it instead… I failed in trying to prevent what had just happened… I guess I'm not such a good friend, so…" I lowered my head in silence.

Princess Celestia thought for a moment and then returned to her smile once again. "Looks like you all learned a pretty valuable lesson today." All the other girls agreed. Princess Celestia walked towards me. "Alex, you are not a bad friend… none of you are. All of you were ready to do anything to prevent a best friend from suffering… and that's a good friend… Very well. I'll forget Twilight's punishment on one condition." All the girls were ready to hear for what she had to say. "From this day forth, I would like you all to report to me your findings on the magic of friendship, when, and only when, you happen to discover them."

All the girls cheered as Princess Celestia began leaving. Twilight noticed this and began rushing over to her as I followed behind.

"Princess Celestia, wait! How did you know I was in trouble?" Twilight asked.

"Your friend Spike made me aware that you were letting your fears get the best of you. I commend him for taking your feelings seriously. Now, if you will all excuse me, I must return to Canterlot. I'm expecting some mail." Princess Celestia was just about to fly away, but suddenly stopped. She looked over to me and smiled. "By the way, Alex, I see you smile now."

"Oh…yeah…" I rubbed my head.

"It's been something I've been waiting to see since I met you."

Her response caused me to smile, which seemed to make her happier. "Just wait for my letter to hear what I learned about friendship."

She nodded and smiled warmly. "I'll be waiting." After, she lifted off and began flying back to Canterlot.

"Y'all heard the Princess." Applejack announced. "Spike, take a letter."

Twilight looked at Spike and hugged him, most likely for the reason that he contacted Princess Celestia.

After, we all gathered around in a circle while Spike began writing the letter.

Applejack cleared her throat and began speaking while she held her hat down. "Dear Princess Celestia, we're writin' to you because today we all learned a little somethin' about friendship."

"We learned that you should take your friends' worries seriously." Fluttershy included.

"Even if you don't think that she has anything to worry about." Rainbow Dash added as she lay on the ground.

"And that you shouldn't let your worries turn a small problem..." Rarity continued.

"...into an enormously huge entire-town-in-total-chaos Princess-has-to-come-and-save-the-day problem!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she expressed each word in her own creative way.

"Signed, your loyal subjects." Applejack finished.

Spike looked at us and then lowered his head deeper into the letter. "P.S. Obviously Spike did not have to learn a lesson, because he is the best, most awesome friend a pony could ask for. Unlike everypony else, he took things seriously, and— He noticed Twilight look at him and shake her head. "Eheh... uh... yeah... I'll just, um..." He crossed out the part he wrote, leading the girls to share a laugh together.

"Hold on…" I announced, walking over to Spike. "There's something I want to include…" The girls looked at me with concerned yet intrigued eyes. "Dear, Princess Celestia…" I began. "There is an amazing lesson I've learned. I used to think that I'd always been alone in my whole life, especially on how other ponies treated me in my past. I used to think that there was no such thing as friendship… but I learned that I was wrong…" I looked at the girls as I continued speaking with my heart. "If you keep a strong and pure heart… you will find your true friends… even if you have to go through so many struggles to find them. I learned that not everypony is bad… and I also learned what you meant Princess. I found out the feelings that I could not describe for such a long time. Those feelings were friendship…happiness…" I looked at all the girls, and then I faced Fluttershy. "…and love…" Fluttershy blushed. " Whatever obstacles I've had to face…they all had been worth it to realize who my true friends are… and I'll do anything to protect them from danger… signed, Alex."

Spike finished writing the letter and sent it.

The girls all returned caring eyes and ran over to hug me. I could only smile embarrassingly as I looked at each one of them, knowing that I'd stay true to my promise.

After, all of the girls headed home. I walked Fluttershy to her cottage and stopped at her door.

"Alex…" Fluttershy spoke.

"Hm…?" I answered.

"I'm so glad you came into our lives…I know for sure that nothing would be the same if you weren't with us."

"I feel the same way Fluttershy… I'm truly grateful that I have such a fantastic friendship with each one of you… and I hope nothing ever ruins it…"

Fluttershy nodded and released a delicate smile towards me. I moved closer to her and kissed her, giving her a passionate hug after.

"I love you."

Fluttershy slightly blushed and responded. "I love you too…"

"Goodnight, Fluttershy."

"Goodnight, Alex…"

Fluttershy kissed me and once more on the cheek. Afterwards, she retired back to her cottage to go to sleep. I turned around to head home.

I lay on my bed when I returned home and closed my eyes. Before I fell asleep, I remembered about my promise… and I'm going to keep it…

Luna Eclipsed

Episode 30 – Luna Eclipsed

I woke up and immediately looked outside. It was a dark night. Separated but united stars filled the sky and there was a huge and glowing full moon facing down at Ponyville. I instantly jumped off my bed and began putting on my costume.

Fluttershy and I had received our costumes the other day. Fluttershy had suggested that we represent our cutie marks, and I thought it was a fantastic idea. My costume is a wolf, of course. It wasn't one of those scary wolves like the werewolves from books and movies, but it was just a wolf. It may have not been "scary", but I still felt as if it was perfect for me.

Fluttershy's costume was a butterfly, and I thought it was perfect for her as well. It was her cutie mark, and since butterfly had wings, she would try to match her wings to those of the butterflies. I thought up of an image on how she would look like and I already thought she would look cute and adorable.

I finished placing on my costume and looked in the bathroom mirror. I smiled at the sight of myself…being myself… I felt proud…that I wasn't afraid to be who I am…because I am a good pony... A loud knocking at my door snapped me out of my light trance. I hurried downstairs to answer the door.

"Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!"

I noticed a triplet of fillies at my door, chanting the usual slogan for treats. One filly was a fairy tale princess, another one was an astronaut, and another one was a ladybug. I couldn't help but smile on how adorable they looked. I grabbed the bowl of candy I had on the counter in the house and passed out several pieces to their bags.

"Great costumes." I chucked lightly. I looked over to Granny Smith who was with them. "Happy Nightmare Night, Granny Smith."

"I should have been asleep five hours ago." Granny Smith answered.

"I'm sorry." I responded, chucking a little again.

Another young one squeezed through the fillies and presented himself, waving his little plastic sword around as he wore a pirate costume. "Pipsqueak the pirate, at your service. It's my very first Nightmare Night."

"What do you know?" I replied. "It's my first too."

"Really?" He sounded intrigued. "Why?"

"It's a long story…"

Suddenly our conversation was interrupted by Pinkie Pie… who was wearing a chicken costume. She squawked loudly. "Enough chitchat! Time is candy!"

"Pinkie…" I began, smiling even more from the sight of her costume. "…A chicken…?"

"Yes, sir!" She suddenly dipped her head in the candy bowl and began picking at it like a chicken.

I sighed happily. "Pinkie… you are so random…"

She gave one last loud squawk before running away to look for more candy. I looked at the bowl to notice it was empty. I placed it back on the counter in my house and closed the door after I was outside. The young ones ran off to go to other houses to find more candy.

I was about to head towards Fluttershy's house, but I saw Twilight walking in town.

"Star Swirl the Bearded is only the most important conjurer of the pre-classical era." She told Spike as he walked behind her. I passed by ponies who had a lion costume, a bumble bee costume, even Big Macintosh had a costume of his own… he looked like some sort of Magician. "He created more than 200 spells! He even has a shelf in the Canterlot library of magic named after him. Maybe I should start up a pony group to teach ponies about history. I bet everypony would love it! Don't you, Spike?"

"Mhmm!" He agreed as he continued to throw candy in his mouth. "I'll love it."

"Hey, Twilight." I greeted her as I walked up to her.

"Alex! Hey!" She observed my costume. "Hey…nice costume. You're a wolf?"

"Yup."

"Oh, Alex!" She looked as if she remembered something. "Please, tell me that you know what my costume is!"

"Um…" I thought. "Star Swirl the Bearded?"

"YES!" She hopped excitedly. "That's it! How did you know?"

"I didn't… I just heard you talking about him when I was walking over to you two. I probably would have gone with…" I observed her costume for a moment. "…a really old wizard?"

Twilight sighed and lowered her head. "Close enough…" She observed our surroundings. "Hey look, we're here already! Should we get something to eat?"

Spike was on the floor rubbing his round full belly, even releasing a belch. There were piles of candy around him. Twilight looked over to me. "Alex?"

"Actually… I was going to get Fluttershy. Her costume is a butterfly."

"Really? Wow! How did you get her to come out in Nightmare Night?"

I shrugged. "I'm not exactly sure… Anyway… we can all grab something to eat once I get Fluttershy. I'm sure she's still going to be a little frightened, but once she starts feeling the fun, I'm sure that'll ease her up a little."

"Okay. Sounds great!" Twilight replied.

Pinkie Pie appeared out of the blue, once again. "Twilight, Alex! Look at our haul!" She presented the bag full of candy she had. "Ah! Can you believe it?" She pecked at the candy. "And then, we went to Cheerilee's house, and got a bunch more goodies. Didn't we, Pip?"

As she talked, I began hearing a weird noise above us. I looked up to see a large dark cloud move towards us.

"Sure did!" The young one who wore the pirate costume spoke.

"And then, we had to stop and wait for Granny Smith, and— Suddenly, lightning zapped from the cloud, scaring Spike, Pinkie Pie, and the other fillies. "Bwak!" The other fillies joined in Pinkie Pie's screaming as they ran away.

We noticed Rainbow Dash laughing on top of the cloud, wearing a wonderbolt costume.

"Rainbow Dash, that wasn't very nice." Twilight scolded.

"Lighten up, old-timer. It's the best night of the year for pranks!" Rainbow Dash responded.

"Look what you did to Spike." Twilight pointed at him. He looked as if he was having a heart attack as he coughed and wheezed.

"It's all in good fun. OH OH, there's another group over there!" She flew off the cloud raced it towards the other victims.

Twilight sighed, picked up Spike, and placed him on her back. "Why don't we see Applejack? She's on the way towards Fluttershy's."

"Sure, alright." I agreed and walked with her as we heard Rainbow Dash receive more frightful screams from other ponies.

"Happy Nightmare Night, Applejack!" Twilight greeted her as we arrived at an apple bobbing area.

She wore a scarecrow costume and noticed us. "Howdy, y'all! Nice costumes." She answered as she observed us.

"Thanks! I'm a dragon." Spike responded, who was fully recovered.

"She means us, Spike." Twilight spoke in an irritated tone.

I looked over to Spike, a little confused. "Spike, aren't you already a dragon?" I asked.

"Yea-… so…?"

"Well… it just seems a little weird that…" I sighed. "Never mind…"

"With that beard, I reckon you're some sorta country music singer." Applejack commented as she flipped Twilight's beard. Spike returned a laugh as Twilight groaned in annoyance. "While y'all here, ya' feel like bobbin' for an apple?" She presented the apple bobbing bucket that was nearby. I noticed Derpy and another pony on the bucket ready to grab an apple.

I noticed Derpy's costume and couldn't help but laugh lightly. I didn't know what she was trying to be, but she wore a large paper bag on her head and small paper bags on her hooves.

The other pony was about to grab an apple with her teeth, but Derpy had suddenly appeared from the inside of the bucket with something in her teeth. She pulled it out and I realized it was the plug for the bucket. She released a saddened look when she realized she had drained the bucket.

"Hey, Derpy…" I greeted, continuing to chuckle as I walked towards her. "What are you supposed to be?"

"Hi, Alex!" She answered, regaining her smile. "Um…I'm a paper bag monster! RAWR!" She attempted to roar but fell backwards in the bucket.

I grabbed her hoof and helped her out of the bucket, smiling. "Well, that's very creative." I replied, continuing to chuckle at her silliness. "I like your costume."

"Thanks, I like your costume too!"

"Thanks." I looked over to everypony. "Well, I'm going to grab Fluttershy. I don't want her to worry. I'll see you all in a bit, okay?"

They all agreed and I turned around to head towards Fluttershy's cottage.

When I arrived, I noticed all the lights were off in the cottage, raising my eyebrow. I walked towards the door and knocked. There was no answer.

"Fluttershy…?" I called.

The door slowly opened and soft eyes peeked out. "Alex… it's you…"

"Fluttershy… are you coming out…?" I asked, concerned.

"Um…Alex… I think I change my mind…"

"What? Why?"

"I'm too scared…"

"Fluttershy…"

She whimpered a little.

"Here…let me in…" She opened the door slightly enough where I could come inside. I entered and noticed that most of the lights were off, most likely to ward off candy-hunting children. I looked at her and through the darkness, I could see she was wearing something, which was probably her costume.

"I'm sorry, Alex… I'm too scared to go out there because of all the scary things…"

"C'mon, Fluttershy…it's alright… they're just ponies having fun and wearing costumes… there's nothing scary about them." I placed my hoof on hers. "I'll be with you the entire time. We'll both go with our friends and hang out together. It'll be fun." I embraced her and kissed her softly. After, I slightly pulled away and presented a warm smile.

She managed to return a smile as well. "Oh, Alex… I love your smile so much…"

"So does that mean you'll come with me?"

She nodded lightly. "Yes…"

I opened the door and grabbed Fluttershy's hoof. I lightly walked her out into the night. She was still a little nervous, but she stayed with me. When we were outside, I closed the door.

"Are you alright?" I asked her.

"Yes…I'm fine…"

I kept her very close as I held her hoof tightly.

I arrived back at town as I carefully walked her. I spotted Twilight and Applejack talking with each other.

"Look, there's Twilight and Applejack." I told her. "Let's go with them."

The nervousness in Fluttershy seemed to ease a little. "Okay…" She smiled lightly.

"Hey, you two!" Applejack exclaimed when she saw us walking towards them.

"Hey." I responded.

"Hi…" Fluttershy joined.

"Oh." Applejack realized when she looked at both of our costumes. "I just realized that you two have costumes of your cutie marks. A wolf and a butterfly." Applejack released a smile. "Well, you both look cute together anyway."

Fluttershy and I looked at each other and smiled.

Suddenly, we heard some loud cheering nearby. "Thank you, everypony, and welcome to the Nightmare Night festival!" The mayor announced from the podium on the stage. We walked over to the group to hear what she had to say. "Now all the little ponies who have been out collecting sweets should follow our friend Zecora to hear the legend of…Nightmare Moon!" She ended with a spooky tone and laugh.

"Spooky voice might work better is she wasn't dressed like that." Spike whispered, which led to Twilight giggling. I could only smile at the truth he spoke of.

The mayor presented a green fog that rose from nowhere. Zecora stepped out of the fog, wearing a witch's wig that contained fake spiders on it, along with a torn dress. "Follow me and very soon you'll hear the tale of Nightmare Moon." Zecora stepped off the stage and began leading the little fillies.

"Oh…" Fluttershy spoke softly and worried to me. "I don't know about this, Alex…"

"It's okay." I gave her another reassuring smile. "I'll hold on to your hoof the whole time."

"Okay…"

We began following the group that Zecora led.

Zecora had led us toward a statue of Nightmare Moon out of town. "Listen close my little dears, and I'll tell you where you got your fears of Nightmare Night, so dark and scary." She pulled out some green dust and blew it. "Of Nightmare Moon, who makes you wary." The green dust formed into an image of Nightmare Moon, who began heading straight towards us with her sharp teeth. Fluttershy began holding me tightly as the image exploded on the ground. "Every year, we put on a disguise, to save ourselves, from her searching eyes." Zecora scared a couple of the fillies, startling them to scream. Pipsqueak was running, screaming, as Zecora continued talking. "But Nightmare Moon wants just one thing." Pipsqueak bumped himself onto the statue. "To gobble up ponies in one quick swing." Pipsqueak had been backing away from the statue but touched Pinkie Pie who dug her head in the ground. They both screamed and fled the opposite direction from each other. Zecora presented another image from the green dust. "Hungrily, she soars the sky. If she sees nopony, she passes by. So if she comes and all is clear, Equestria is safe another year!"

"Uh, Miss Zecora…" Pipsqueak tugged at Zecora's dress. "If we wear costumes to hide from Nightmare Moon, so she won't gobble us up, how come we still need to give her some of our candy?"

"A perfect question, my little friend. For Nightmare Moon you must not offend." Zecora blew more dust, presenting Nightmare Moon with a hungry expression on her face as she stalked towards the children. "Fill up her belly with a treat or two, so she won't return to come eat you!" The image pounced towards the group and filled the area with the dust. The entire group immediately screamed.

"Everypony!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "Just dump some candy and get out of here!" The group had dumped their candy in front of the statue.

However, a heavy wind blew around us and dark clouds formed in the sky. By the look on Zecora's face… it seemed it wasn't planned… A bright light emerged and out came a dark carriage pulled by the same colored ponies.

Pinkie Pie and the children were backing away slowly as Fluttershy was now trembling. I placed my foreleg around her and kept her close.

The carriage had stopped above us, surprising Pinkie Pie. "Ah! It's Nightmare Moon! Run!" She screamed, taking the group with her.

The carriage now began heading towards town, causing us to see what was going on. The hooded figure jumped off from the carriage and landed in the center of everypony. Throwing off the hood, we saw that it was a familiar pony… Princess Luna!

All the ponies immediately cowered in fear.

"Princess Luna!" Twilight announced and began heading towards her, but Spike grabbed her and took her down with him, shushing her.

I remained standing up as Fluttershy began shaking in fear as she lay down as well. Princess Luna walked over to the ponies as her cape dissolved into bats. She spread her wings and looked down at a pony, causing that pony to cower ever more. She raised her hoof towards us.

"Citizens of Ponyville!" Princess Luna spoke in a booming voice so loud that it almost pushed us away. "We have graced your tiny village with our presence, so that you might behold the real princess of the night! A creature of nightmare is no longer, but instead a pony who desires your love and admiration! Together we shall change this dreadful celebration into a bright and glorious feast!" Lightning flashed.

"Did you hear that, everypony? Nightmare Moon says she's gonna feast on us all!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed and screamed, causing the other ponies to scream with her and run.

Princess Luna returned a shock and confused look. "What? No children, no! You no longer have reason to fear us! Screams of delight is what your princess desires, not screams of terror!" She pounded her hoof on the ground in front of a pony who squeaked in terror. "Madame Mayor, the princess of the night hath arrived." She walked towards the mayor and presented her hoof, but the mayor continued to cower in fear. Princess Luna realized this and moved her hoof to another pony, but the pony just followed the same example. "What is the matter with you?" She asked and continued moving her hoof to different ponies, but soon grew tired. "Very well then. Be that way. We won't even bother with the traditional royal farewell." She left.

"I'm gonna go talk to her." Twilight said, standing up.

"You can't talk to her! She's Nightmare Moon!" Spike quickly grabbed Twilight's costume to prevent her from moving.

"No, she's not. I saw the Elements of Harmony change her back to good! But it seems like she's having some trouble adjusting after being gone for a thousand years…"

While Twilight spoke, I looked around me and noticed something missing. Fluttershy was gone.

"Fluttershy…?" I called but she didn't answer.

Twilight heard me and walked over to me. "Alex, what's wrong?" She asked.

"Fluttershy… she's gone." I responded as I continued to look around for her.

"She probably just got too scared and flew back home."

I sighed. "Can I come with you to talk to Princess Luna?"

"Why…?"

"I really want Fluttershy to enjoy this Nightmare Night… and I know I won't enjoy it if she's not with me… so if Princess Luna is the problem, we have to make her a little less… terrifying."

"I understand, Alex. Let's go talk to her then."

Twilight and I walked towards the statue of Nightmare Moon. As we walked, I could see that Twilight had a worried and slightly frightened expression on her face, but I wasn't so easily affected. Finally, when we arrived, we spotted her lying sadly below the shadow of the statue. When I saw her like that, I frowned as I remembered how I felt when I used to be like that…

"Princess Luna?" Twilight called. "Hi, my name is—

"Star Swirl the Bearded." Princess Luna answered as she stood up to face Twilight. "Commendable costume! Thou even got the bells right..."

"Thank you, finally! Somepony who gets my costume!" Twilight realized that she had gotten off topic.
"Uh, I just came to welcome you to our celebration! My actual name is—

"Twilight Sparkle." Princess Luna looked over to me. "And Alexander…" She pronounced my full and formal name. Afterwards, she began flying as dark clouds and heavy winds formed around her. She spoke in a booming voice. "It was thou who unleashed the powers of harmony upon us and took away our dark powers!"

The heavy winds were strong enough to almost blow us away.

"And that was a good thing, right?" Twilight asked.

"But of course." She replied in her normal voice and placed her hooves back on the ground. "We could not be happier. Is that not clear?"

"Well, you kinda sound like you're yelling at us…"

"But this is the traditional royal Canterlot voice! It is tradition to speak, using the royal 'we', and to use…" She began speaking in a booming voice again. "…this much volume when addressing our subjects!"

After she was finished talking, Twilight looked back with widened eyes as her costume was a bit messed up. She fixed her beard and hat. "You know, that might explain why your appearance was met with... mixed results. I think if you just changed your approach a bit, you might be met with a warmer reception."

"Change our approach?" Princess Luna questioned in her booming voice.

"Lower the volume…?" Twilight answered in a gentle and soft voice.

"Ohhh." Princess Luna responded, returning to her normal voice. "We have been locked away for a thousand years. We are... not sure we can."

"Don't worry, Princess. I know the pony just for the job!" Twilight began walking out of the forest, bringing Princess Luna and I with her.

"And who might that be?" Princess Luna asked.

"One of our friends… well… Alex's girlfriend." Twilight giggled lightly. "Her name is Fluttershy."

My eyes widened and I quickly looked at Princess Luna. "Princess, please be gentle with her…she frightens easily…"

"I shall be as gentle as I can." She responded.

When we arrived at Fluttershy's dark cottage, Twilight continued to talk to the Princess. "Fluttershy can give you some great pointers. She's delicate and demure with the sweetest little voice."

We arrived at her door.

"Remember…gentle…" I reminded.

Twilight knocked on the door.

"Go away! No candy here! Visitors not welcome on Nightmare Night!" Fluttershy exclaimed from the inside of the house, causing Twilight to Flinch as Princess Luna kept her unchanged expression.

Twilight nervously chuckled. "Fluttershy, it's us, Alex and Twilight!"

Fluttershy slowly opened the door and saw us. "It is you." She opened the door further to spot Princess Luna. "Oh, and Nightmare Moon." She gasped. "Nightmare Moon?" Fluttershy screamed and instantly closed the door shut.

Twilight nervously laughed. "Wait right here." Twilight began walking towards the door but I stopped her by placing my hoof in front of her.

"Let me handle this…"

Twilight realized that I connect more with her, so she nodded and allowed me to go inside instead. I entered and spotted Fluttershy cowering on the couch in the darkness. I carefully and softly walked towards her and placed my hoof on her. "Fluttershy…"

She screamed again but relaxed when she saw me. "Oh… it's you, Alex. I'm sorry I left like that… it's just that…well…you know…I'm terrified of anything that looks scary…"

I took a seat next to her. "It's alright… Listen… the pony you saw out there is no longer Nightmare Moon, remember? We all changed her when we used the elements of harmony. She's Princess Luna now. She may seem a little scary… but that's what we're trying to remove from her. We want the ponies of Ponyville to stop cowering at the sight of her and become comfortable around her. We just need your help in lowering her volume…"

"Really…?"

"Yes…" I hugged her. "You don't have to worry."

She took a deep breath. "Okay…"

I grabbed her hoof and pulled her up. After, I led her to the door and opened it. I walked her out and faced Princess Luna.

"Princess Luna, this is Fluttershy. Fluttershy, this is Princess Luna." I announced, presenting them to each other.

"Charmed." Princess Luna spoke in her booming voice.

Fluttershy immediately embraced me and cowered in fear.

"Fluttershy…" I tried to entreat her.

"Likewise…" She managed to say.

"Twilight Sparkle hath spoken of the sweetness of thy voice. We ask, thou teachest to us to speak as thou speakest."

Fluttershy continued to embrace me tightly. I placed my foreleg around her and patted her gently.

"Okay." She replied in a quiet voice.

"Shall our lessons begin?"

"Okay…" Fluttershy responded even quieter.

"Shall we mimic thy voice?"

"Okay…"

"How is this?" Princess Luna asked, keeping the same tone.

"Perfect, lesson over." Fluttershy answered hurriedly and wanted to go back home, but I kept her in my arms.

"A little quieter, princess." Twilight advised.

"How is...this?" Princess Luna asked, lowering her voice, but still having a loud tone.

"Better. Right, Fluttershy?"

"Yes…" Fluttershy replied with a little fearful tone.

"How... about... now?" Princess Luna asked.

"Now you're getting it." Twilight praised.

"And... how about now?" Princess Luna finally spoke in her normal voice.

"Yes! Well done."

Fluttershy was just about to sneak back inside but Princess Luna grabbed her with her magic pulled her towards her. "Ah, thank you, dear Fluttershy!" Princess Luna spoke in a booming, but softer, voice as she hugged Fluttershy, who remained paralyzed. "Our normal speaking voice shall surely win us the hearts of thy fellow villagers."

"Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie's voice exclaimed from across the bridge. "You've gotta hide us! Nightmare Moon is here and..." She squawked at the sight of Princess Luna holding Fluttershy. "She stole Fluttershy's voice so she can't scream when she GOBBLES HER UP!"

She led the children out of the area as they continued to scream loudly.

"Nay, children, wait!" She called after them in her booming voice. After, she remembered the lesson and lowered her tone. "I mean... nay, children, wait."

"Come on, princess. Time for plan B. Are you coming, Alex?" Twilight asked me.

"In a second…"

I pulled Fluttershy up. She recovered after some time.

"Alex…Can I go home now…?"

"Fluttershy…" I frowned. "You see…I understand that you're scared…but it's just that…I was really hoping you would spend Nightmare Night with me…because…it wouldn't be the same without you…"

Fluttershy moved her eyes in thought and then looked back at me. "I'm sorry, Alex… I want to spend Nightmare Night with you."

I looked up in surprise. "Really?"

She nodded. "Yes… I always did… but you know… my fears always get the best of me."

"Don't worry." I closed her in an embrace. "I'll protect you, remember?"

She managed to smile and nod. "Yes."

"Come on then." I replied in a light smile. "Let's go."

When we caught up with Princess Luna and Twilight, they had arrived back into town and scared everypony from dancing.

"It is of no use, Twilight Sparkle." Princess Luna commented as we walked through the terrified ponies. "They have never liked us and they never shall."

"Our friend Applejack is one of the most likeable ponies around." Twilight responded, attempting to keep Princess Luna's spirits up. "I'm sure she'll have some ideas."

We walked towards Applejack's apple bobbing station to see her catch Pipsqueak before he fell in the water. After Pipsqueak ran off, she turned around to see Princess Luna and lay in fright. Princess Luna returned an inexpressive look to Twilight as she walked towards the scene. "Uh... Applejack, the princess is looking for a little advice on how to fit in around here."

Applejack removed the hooves from her eyes and looked at Twilight seriously. "'Fit in'? Really?" Twilight snarled at her as she scrunched her nose. Applejack immediately stood up and faced the Princess. "I mean... that's easy! All you gotta do is have the right attitude. Loosen up a bit, be positive, play a few games, have some fun."

"Fun? What is this 'fun' thou speakest of?" Princess Luna replied in confusion. Applejack and Twilight pointed towards a bowl of fake spiders. "Pray tell, what purpose do these serve?"

"Try to land the sp-sp-spiders on the web." A pony, dressed in a bumble bee costume, announced nearby as she continued to cower.

The Princess grabbed a spider with her hoof and aimed towards the web. She gave a light throw which resulted in the spider landing a few inches away from the web. She looked back at us with some worry in her eyes as if she thought she might have done the wrong thing.

"You can do it, princess!" Applejack encouraged.

Princess Luna returned a bold look and took another shot, throwing the spider harder. This time, it landed straight in the middle. "Ha! Your princess enjoys this 'fun!'" She spoke in a slightly excited tone. "In what other ways may we experience it?"

Applejack and Twilight both looked at each other and smiled.

Applejack led us towards another station where pumpkins were fired from a catapult.

"Fire away, princess!" Twilight shouted as Princess Luna loaded a pumpkin onto the catapult.

She pulled back the catapult and released her hooves from it, allowing the catapult to fire the pumpkin. It shot upwards and landed directly on the painted target. "Ha ha! The fun has been doubled!" Other ponies had gathered around to notice the not so terrifying Princess and cheered.

"Why don't you try bobbin' for apples?" Applejack suggested. "We got the best apples in Equestria, princess."

"I ask that thou call us... me... Luna, fair Applejack." She responded and began announcing to the other ponies. "Hear me, villagers! All of you! Call me Luna!" I smiled at Fluttershy to show her that everything was alright. Every other pony spoke in agreement once they heard her less hostile voice. "Show me to these bobbing apples."

However, when reached at the bucket of floating apples, we saw that Pipsqueak was reaching for one, but, due to his size, fell inside instead. Princess Luna quickly rushed over to him to help him out of the water.

"Hey, ponies." We heard Pinkie Pie from behind us. We turned to see her with the children. "Anypony seen Pip? We lost him the last time we had to run..." Pinkie Pie squawked when she saw Princess Luna grab Pipsqueak from out of the bucket with her teeth. "Aaah! Nightmare Moon is gobbling Pipsqueak! Everypony run!" Pinkie Pie ran off, along with the children, screaming.

"Help! My backside has been gobbled!" Pipsqueak cried out and ran away when Princess Luna placed him back on the ground.

"'Tis a lie!" Princess Luna responded in an irritated manner. "Thy backside is whole and ungobbled, thou ungrateful whelp!" She pounded her hoof, causing thunder and lightning in the sky. After seeing this, the other ponies began backing away slowly and fearfully. "Fair villagers, please do not back away. Let us join together in... fun!" She pleaded desperately. She looked around and spotted a spider on the ground. She quickly grabbed it and tossed over to the ponies, who only flinched at the sight and looked back at Princess Luna with widened eyes. "Not enough fun for you? What say you to this?" She pointed her horn towards the spider and shot out magic. When the flash disappeared, the spider transformed into a real one, immediately scaring everypony. Princess Luna repeated the process with the bowl of spiders. The spiders began bombarding everypony as they could only scream. Fluttershy began shaking as she held on to me. I could only hold her back as I tried to keep her away from the spiders. "Huzzah!" Princess Luna yelled out joyfully. "How many points do I receive?" A pony screamed as she still had a spider on her face. After, everypony began running away. "Do not run away! As your princess we command you!" Princess Luna was becoming highly irritated now as she observed all the ponies crash into things and scream. In a deafening voice, the Princess exclaimed towards all the ponies. "Be still!" Her voice echoed throughout the silent town as everypony lay in fear.

"Princess, remember! Watch the screaming!" Twilight warned.

"No, Twilight Sparkle!" Princess Luna responded to Twilight in a booming voice as her eyes glowed white. "We must use the traditional royal Canterlot voice for what we are about to say." After, she turned towards all of us and flew in midair. "Since you choose to fear your princess rather than love her and dishonor her with this insulting celebration, we decree that Nightmare Night shall be canceled! Forever!"

Her response frightened everypony, even me. Nightmare Night canceled…? Forever…?

Afterwards, she immediately fled away, leaving us to look at the whole mess that had been caused in town.

"Shoot. We had everything goin' our way." Applejack spoke. "Luna was happy, everypony in town was happy, now look at 'em."

Children were being confronted by their parents as they tried to make them feel better.

"But I wanted to be a zombie next year!" A blonde colored pony spoke as she cried.

Fluttershy was still holding tightly on to me, closing her eyes in fear and shaking. I looked over to her and placed my hooves around her. "It's alright…" I told her in a soft tone. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at me.

"It's not over yet." Twilight stated from near us.

"What are you gonna do?" Applejack asked.

"I'm going to do what I do best. Lecture her!" Twilight stood proudly.

She was about to run off to find her, but I called after her. "Twilight."

She looked back at me. "Huh?"

I closed my eyes solemnly and shook my head. "Let me talk to her…"

"What…? Why...?" She asked, concerned.

"Just let me talk to her…" I responded and looked at Applejack. "Applejack, keep Fluttershy with you two for a moment, okay?" Applejack nodded. I looked at Fluttershy with careful eyes. "I'll be back…alright?" She nodded and gave me one last squeeze before walking over to Applejack. I walked over to Twilight.

"Alex… are you sure…?" She asked.

I nodded. "Trust me." After, I began running through town to search for the Princess.

After searching several spots, I managed to find her crossing a bridge, sadly. I ran and came to a walk when I was near her.

"Princess…" I spoke as she continued to walk slowly.

"Leave me be, Alexander…" She responded despondently.

I remained silent for a moment as I walked over to her side. "I just want to talk to you…"

"Let me guess… about all the adoring shrieks of the children as they run away?"

I sighed. "No…just listen to me for a moment."

She stopped and turned around. "Fine…"

I pointed towards the spot near the river. "Take a seat." She obeyed and sat down as I sat by her. She stared at the grass, gloomily, as a cool breeze flew by. "I know how you feel, Princess Luna…"

"Really…?" Princess Luna responded in an unbelievable tone. "You've felt how horrible it is to have every pony despise you and fear you every time you show your face?"

I sighed and looked away. "Well… worse, actually…"

"What?"

I remained silent for a moment and looked at her. "When I was young, I was bullied every day. For some unknown reason, all the kids at school loved to pick on me and see me miserable. Not only did I receive enough torture at school, I had the same thing happen at home… Basically…everypony hated me back then… and I had no friends. I was alone…"

Princess Luna returned a look in shocking disbelief. "Are you certain? Is this the truth you speak of…?"

I nodded. "Yes… I know how you feel Princess Luna. I truly do."

She formed a depressive expression. "I'm sorry…"

I shook my head lightly. "It's alright…because I have friends now. Friends who care about me."

"But, everypony still doesn't like me… they always scream at the sight of me…"

"Not, everypony… We are not afraid of you Luna… Applejack, Twilight, Fluttershy, and me…"She turned her head away and closed her eyes, sadly. "I understand you, Luna…" I thought for a moment and pulled out my foreleg. "We're not so different…" I placed it in front of her. She opened her eyes and noticed the color of my coat. She widened her eyes and raised her foreleg next to mine. Both our coats were a dark or night color of blue… almost exactly the same… "I know what you're going through… I know how lonely you feel right now… I know it all from experience. You're not alone…"

"Alexander…"

"Call me Alex."

"Okay, Alex… I believe you… I can certainly see my sister was right…"

"What do you mean…?"

"She's told me so much about you…so many nice things… You really do have a pure heart…"

I slightly looked away. "Yeah…I guess…"

Princess Luna hugged me. "You should be proud…" Suddenly, she gasped and pulled away.

"What is it?" I asked.

She placed a hoof on me and kept her surprised eyes. "There's something about you…"

I was confused. "…What do you mean…?"

"There's something in your heart… something very powerful…as if it's waiting to be unleashed."

"I…I don't really understand…"

Princess Luna remained silent for a moment. "…It's something really rare, that's for sure…"

"Rare…?"

Princess Luna shrugged lightly. "I'm not sure what exactly it is…but I assume it's another mystery you'll have to figure out."

"Hm..." I paused. "Well, that can wait until later." I stood up and held out my hoof. "Why don't our friends help you have fun?" I presented a small smile.

Princess Luna looked at me for a moment, quite shocked. She grabbed my hoof and I pulled her up. "Really…? You ponies would do that for me?"

"Of course. Let's go to Twilight. I'm sure she can figure something out."

She nodded and smiled as well as we began walking back to town.

We spotted Twilight walking around town looking for something. After a moment, she noticed us and ran over to us.

"Alex, Luna!" She exclaimed.

"Hey, Twilight… we need to find another way to get the ponies to stop being afraid of Luna."

"Hm…" She placed a hoof to her chin. After a short while, she suggested something. "Well… Pinkie Pie is the pony who causes it most of the time. If we can find a way to show her that she isn't so scary, maybe she'll tell the other ponies as well!"

"That's a good idea." I responded.

"But how are we going to lure her away from the other ponies?" Twilight asked.

I thought for a moment and gained an answer almost immediately after. "I think I can help with that…" I smiled slyly.

Twilight had taken Luna to a dark alley while I gathered a hoof full of candy. Outside the alley Twilight and Luna awaited in, I placed the candy piece by piece in a line that headed towards the inside of the alley. After I finished placing all the candy, I headed inside with Twilight and Luna, waiting for Pinkie Pie to come eventually.

Moments later, we heard some squawking in the alley. It was Pinkie Pie in her chicken costume. She was pecking at the pieces of candy as she swallowed them happily.

"Okay..." I whispered. "All we need to…" Twilight immediately tackled Pinkie Pie towards the ground. "Or that too…" I added as I walked towards them.

Twilight placed a hoof on Pinkie Pie's mouth to prevent her from screaming. "No! No shrieking. No screaming or squealing either. Okay?" She demanded.

"Okay." Pinkie Pie responded in a high pitched squeal that was muted by Twilight's hoof.

"There's something we want you to see. And we promise that it's safe, but you really, really can't shriek. Do you promise not to shriek?" Twilight asked.

"Mmhm." Pinkie Pie agreed, causing Twilight to remove her hoof from her mouth. We turned our heads to bring Princess Luna with us. She appeared from the darkness in the alley. Pinkie Pie began squawking fearfully, but she immediately placed her hooves on her mouth.

"Pinkie Pie, you remember Princess Luna, right?" Twilight asked.

"Ah. The ringleader of the frightened children." Princess Luna walked over to Pinkie Pie and rubbed her hooves shyly. "Hast thou come to make peace?" She held out her hoof to Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie stared at it for a moment, but soon released a warm smile. She began bringing out her hoof to Princess Luna.

Just before they were going to connect, lightning suddenly flashed above Luna. Pinkie Pie instantly pulled back and shouted. "Nightmare Moon!" She fled.

"Rainbow!" Twilight scolded as I chased after Pinkie Pie.

Before she made it out, I was able to run in front of her and block her from exiting, causing her to fall to the ground. I placed my hooves on hers to make sure she didn't start running again. "Pinkie! She's not evil anymore! Stop running away because she certainly isn't going to gobble you up!"

Pinkie Pie's eyes popped out as she stared at me. "...Well, duh!"

"What…?" I pulled back in confusion.

"I know that. Sheesh, Alex. I'm almost as big as her. How's she gonna gobble me up?" She chuckled lightly.

"So why do you keep running away and screaming?" Twilight asked as she walked over to us.

"Sometimes it's just really fun to be scared." She replied as I pulled back my hooves from her.

"Fun?" Twilight questioned. She thought for a moment and then immediately faced Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie Pie, you're a genius!"

"No, I'm not. I'm a chicken." Pinkie Pie corrected, being her usual silly self, and squawked.

Twilight and I walked over to Princess Luna who was once again gloomy as she lay on the other end of the alley. "Princess Luna! We've finally figured out why you're having so much trouble being liked!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Forgive me if I withhold my enthusiasm." She responded.

"Come with me. I'll explain everything on the way." She looked to me. "Alex, do you think you can get the kids to go the statue of Nightmare Moon?" She asked.

I nodded. "Of course."

"Okay then. Go ahead and do that while I tell the plan to Princess Luna!"

I nodded and raced out the alley to do what Twilight asked.

I spotted Applejack having a conversation with Fluttershy. They noticed me as I walked up to them.

"Alex, you're back!" Applejack spoke. "Where's Twilight?"

"She has a plan for Princess Luna." I replied. "For now, I need to get the kids to Nightmare Moon's statue."

"Tell Zecora! She should be able to do that!"

"Ok." I rushed over to Zecora. "Hey, Zecora."

"Why, hello Alex. You look in a hurry as if the clock ticks."

"Um, a little… Anyway, do you think you can bring the kids to the statue of Nightmare Moon? There is currently a plan in bringing Nightmare Night back."

"Whatever you wish, for Nightmare Night to come back, I'll surely do this without any slack." Zecora released a smile.

"Thanks!"

Zecora walked over to Pipsqueak, who was with the other fillies, sulkily. "Come, little Pip. Now don't you fret. Nightmare Night's not over yet. We still have candy left to give, so Nightmare Moon might let us live."

"Yes. Come on, little ponies." The mayor walked over to them, encouragingly. What's Nightmare Night without the annual candy offering? You don't want Nightmare Moon to gobble you up…" She spoke in a spooky voice. "…do you?"

Spike had been walking past them with some lights in his hand. "Aw, the rainbow wig just kills it for me."

Applejack and Fluttershy had joined us, knowing about the plan. "Come on, kids! Doesn't that sound like fun?" Applejack asked.

The fillies looked at each other, confusingly and fearfully, but nonetheless, they followed us as we walked them towards the location where the plan would take place.

I looked around for Twilight and Princess Luna, but I didn't see them. I wonder if they are hiding… We watched as the kids dropped the candy from their bags in front of the statue of Nightmare Moon. Pipsqueak was the last one to walk towards the pile of candy with his bag clenched by his teeth. He had a saddened look as he deposited his candy in front of the statue.

"Goodbye Nightmare Night. Forever…" Pipsqueak began walking away, but all of a sudden, winds blew heavily around us.

"Citizens of Ponyville!" We heard in a booming voice. "You were wise to bring these candies to me. I am pleased with your offering. So pleased that I may just eat it... instead of eating you!" Nightmare Moon's statue came alive and immediately scared all the ponies. They ran, screaming, while I remained there. The statue transformed into Princess Luna, surprising me. Princess Luna removed the fangs from her teeth as Twilight came out from the bushes.

"I am not certain that did what you meant for it to do, Twilight Sparkle." Princess Luna announced with uncertainty.

"Just wait." Twilight replied, confidently.

"For what?" Princess Luna questioned as she jumped off of the platform. "For... for them to scream some more?"

Pipsqueak had come by and tugged at Princess Luna's hair. "Um... Princess Luna." She turned her head to face him. "I know there's not gonna be any more Nightmare Night, but do you suppose maybe you could come back next year and scare us again anyway?"

She turned her head to see the other fillies hiding behind the bush, but also listening to hear her decision. "Child. Art thou saying that thou... likest me to scare you?"

"It's really fun! Scary, but fun."

"It... is?" Princess Luna questioned, surprised.

"Yeah! Nightmare Night is my favorite night of the year!"

"Well then." Princess Luna replied, bringing a smile to her face. "We shall have to bring…" She began speaking in a booming voice, once again. "…Nightmare Night back!"

"Whoa!" Pipsqueak exclaimed as he was pushed back by the voice of the Princess. "You're my favorite princess ever!" He quickly bowed below her and fled back to his friends. "She said yes, guys!"

"YAY!" The children yelled, bringing a smile to my face as well.

"See?" Twilight asked. "They really do like you, princess."

"Can it be true?" She rose up her hooves and shouted. "Oh, most wonderful of...!" She lowered herself and realized she had been yelling again. "I mean... Oh, most wonderful of nights."

Afterwards, we had returned back to town to begin having the real fun behind Nightmare Night. Fluttershy and I began enjoying the night together, just as I had wished for. We played games, just like the spider throwing game, and bobbed for apples. We even danced and hung out with our friends. It was a truly amazing time. We saw Princess Luna enjoying herself as well. It made me much happier to see that she no longer contained the expression of a lonely one… but one that felt loved. The children even returned to her to give her more candy, which I could tell made Luna feel a lot better and a part of something so inspiring and heartwarming. Princess Luna especially continued to frighten ponies in good fun. One pony, who was dressed as a mouse, was about to bob for an apple when Princess Luna suddenly emerged from the water and scared her. The pony jumped back in fear, but once she saw Princess Luna eating an apple as she hung her hooves over the tub, they all shared a laugh.

Fluttershy and I met up with Twilight, who was with Spike near the statue of Nightmare Moon. We had just arrived to hear her writing her letter to Princess Celestia. "Dear Princess Celestia, When you first sent me to Ponyville, I didn't know anything about friendship. I met somepony tonight who was having the same problem - your sister, Princess Luna. She taught me that one of the best things you can do with friendship is to give it to others and help them find it themselves. I am happy to report that all of Ponyville has learned that even if somepony seems a little intimidating, even scary, when you offer them your friendship, you'll discover a whole new pony underneath. And even if my Star Swirl the Bearded costume didn't go over, this still turned out to be the best Nightmare Night ever." Twilight picked up a candy corn, from the pile of candy near Spike, with her magic and ate it.

Fluttershy and I looked at each other and smiled.

Suddenly, we heard electricity crackle and looked above us to see Rainbow Dash screaming and flying away rapidly. Princess Luna had descended to us as she lay on a dark cloud. She winked at us as she smiled. Then, she began laughing which eventually led us to join her.

After our merry moment, Princess Luna looked at all of us with a warm smile. "It truly has been such a wonderful night with all of you. I never realized I could have this much…fun…"

"Well, we're really glad that you enjoyed Nightmare Night with us, Luna!" Twilight expressed.

All of us nodded.

"Yeah…you aren't so scary, Princess Luna." Fluttershy added as she walked over to her.

"Oh…aren't I?" Princess Luna created lightning above her, causing Fluttershy to shriek and hide behind me. Princess Luna chuckled. "I am just joking with you, Fluttershy."

"Oh…" Fluttershy raised her head. "Hehe…"

"Well, I suppose I should be leaving now." Princess Luna stated as she began preparing herself for her departure.

"You really need to come to Ponyville more often, Luna…" I announced.

"Yes…well… I shall whenever I have the time." She looked over to Fluttershy. "You really have a fantastic pony. I hope you two have the best times in the entire world."

Fluttershy blushed as I responded to Luna. "Thank you, Princess… I hope we see you very soon."

"Indeed." She agreed. "You really showed me how I have friends, and I will be looking forward to the next time I come back. Until then… I shall say farewell." She waved to all of us. "Goodnight and have a happy Nightmare Night."

"Right back at you, Princess." Twilight replied and giggled.

The Princess smiled and began departing back to Canterlot as we waved goodbye.

"Well…it's been really fun with you two…" Twilight told us as she picked up Spike, who was already full and sleeping on the pile of candy. "…but I guess I should call it a night and take Spike to bed."

"Okay, Twilight." I responded. "Goodnight."

She smiled and nodded as she began heading back to her home. I turned around to see Fluttershy who looked tired herself. She seemed like she wanted to go to sleep right there. "Are you tired Fluttershy?" I asked.

"A little, I guess…" She replied, although she seemed a lot more tired than a little.

"C'mon, I'll take you home." I grabbed her hoof and began walking her towards her cottage.

When we arrived, I walked her in and helped her take off her costume, which wasn't too much. Afterwards, I led her up the stairs and into her room. When she lay on the bed, I covered her with the blankets and carefully tucked her in. I looked at her face to see sweet gentle eyes gazing back at me. "You're so sweet, Alex…"

I smiled gently. "Thanks…"

"You know… even though tonight was a bit scary… I still enjoyed it with you…"

"Yeah, same here." I eagerly agreed. "It definitely wouldn't have been the same without you."

Fluttershy smiled. "Thank you, Alex…"

"Huh…?"

"For bringing me to Nightmare Night with you…"

"Oh…" I released a warm smile. "You're welcome…" I lowered my head towards hers and kissed her. "Is there anything else you need, Fluttershy?"

"Mm-mm" She shook her head gently. "I think I'll just get some sleep now."

"Okay, then. Goodnight…"

"Goodnight, Alex." She smiled once more and closed her eyes as I turned off the lights. Before I left, I planted one more kiss on her cheek.

As I passed through town, there were still some ponies out, but most of them were wrapping things up, most likely to respect other ponies who wanted to sleep. I walked tiredly to my home and opened the door. Once inside, I walked up the stairs and removed my costume. I placed the costume inside the wardrobe and planted myself on the bed. I pulled the covers over me and closed my eyes, even continuing to smile.

I can't believe how much fun I had with Fluttershy and the girls tonight… It really was a blast. Now, I can't wait until I see all of them again. Although… I still wonder what Luna told me was about. That "rare" thing that was inside me that was waiting to be unleashed… hm… what could it be…?

Sisterhooves Social

Episode 31 – Sisterhooves Social

I awoke and lifted myself from my bed. I shook my head lightly and stood up. Hm… I wonder if Fluttershy wants to do anything today…maybe I can go see her? I walked downstairs and out the front door. I sniffed the air as I headed towards Fluttershy's home. The wind brought a smell of flowers along with it, even a hint of sweets.

As I continued to breathe in the fresh breeze, I noticed something odd… I began smelling a faint burn. It smelled as if something was on fire… I looked around to try to find the source of the smell and found Rarity's shop nearby. I looked closely to see a faint sight of smoke protrude from the doors. By carefully focusing my hearing towards the shop, I could hear a faint alarm as well. I became immediately alerted and darted towards the doors.

"Rarity!" I exclaimed as I forced myself inside and looked around. I was stunned to see Sweetie Belle by the stove which contained a burning pan on top. Rarity was on the other side of the room, wrapped in her bed sheets. There were two more ponies at the table in the kitchen, who looked much older. All of them stared at me as the room was filled with high awkwardness and silence. "Um…what's going on…?" I questioned.

"Alex?" Rarity asked as she struggled to free herself from the covers. "Why are you here?"

"I smelled smoke and noticed it was coming from here." I explained as I walked over to her to help remove the blanket.

Once she was free, a pony from the table began talking. "Well! G'mornin', Rarity! Who's this fine looking fellow you have here?"

"Father! Mother!" Rarity exclaimed in surprise. Those two were her parents…? "Um…" She managed to say. "This is Alex… He's a good friend of mine."

"Well, nice to meet you, son! Any friend of Rarity's is a friend of ours!" He responded cheerfully as he held his hoof out.

With slight hesitation, I grabbed his hoof and shook it. "Thanks…"

I noticed that the plates on the table were highly burnt and smelled unpleasant to the nose. Sweetie Belle came by to place flowers on the table.

"I'll have you know that Sweetie Belle here cooked this yummy lookin' breakfast all on her own." Rarity's father told Rarity as he lightly nudged Sweetie Belle's mane.

Rarity walked over to the table with confused eyes and observed the contents. "I... figured." She lowered her head to one of the cups and sniffed it, pulling away after. "I didn't know you could burn juice."

"I've been giving her lessons." Rarity's mother answered, placing her elbow on the table which caused the plate of burnt eggs to hop for a second. "I wouldn't be surprised if she's got a cutie mark in fancy cookin' by the time we get back from our vacation."

"Vacation? Is that this week?" Rarity asked, shocked once again. "As in 'starting this very instant this week'?" Sweetie Belle placed a bowl of bubbling gray liquid on the table. "Uurh. Let me guess; apple sauce?"

"Nope. Toast!" Sweetie Belle answered. How can you make toast into liquid…? "We're gonna have the bestest time two sisters could ever have! I'm gonna go grab my stuff from Dad's wagon."

After Sweetie Belle left, Rarity continued her pursuit for the serious answers to her questions. "So, now, when you say 'a week'... is that, um, seven whole days?"

"And six nights, I know! Such a short time to spend with your little sis." Rarity's mother replied, taking the question the wrong way.

"You gonna eat that?" Rarity's father asked, pointing to a plate of unknown substance in it.

Rarity pushed the plate towards her father, who took it without hesitation.

"But I've got such a long to do list. Oh well, I suppose 'spend time with your sister' will just have to be added to the list."

A crash sounded in the kitchen, causing us to look where it came from. Sweetie Belle had brought in many bags from small to large as they lay on the floor. "Just a few necessities."

Rarity sighed but managed to present a false smile towards her parents.

Afterwards, her parents called a taxi carriage to take them wherever they needed to go. I stayed behind with Rarity because I assumed she was going to need help in cleaning up the mess in the kitchen.

"Now, let's get that kitchen all cleaned up." Rarity announced as we walked back into the kitchen.

"Cleaned up? But we haven't even eaten yet." Sweetie Belle responded.

"Well now, Sweetie Belle, I appreciate the gesture, but we simply can't eat this breakfast, it's burnt."

"It's not that burnt." Sweetie Belle answered as she analyzed the totally crisp and black unknown object on the plate.

"Never fear, my dear, I'll get a proper breakfast going." Rarity began taking out things from cabinets as she hummed cheerfully.

"Can I help?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Oh, er, of course, in one moment, Sweetie Belle. Let me just get things started."

"I'll just go ahead and remove the food from the floor…" I said and grabbed a few paper towels to wipe the floor.

Sweetie Belle waited patiently as Rarity began readying breakfast and I cleaned up the mess in the floor. However, after some time, I could see her patience was wearing out as she soon lay herself down in tiredness. When Rarity was mixing something in a bowl, Sweetie Belle finally spoke up. "Rarity! I thought you said I was gonna help!"

"You are! You... can..." Rarity tried to think of something. "…put the garnish on the plates."

"You mean this parsley?" She asked when she spotted it on the counter.

Rarity nodded. Sweetie Belle grabbed it with her mouth and walked over to the plate of eggs.

"Okay, now easy!" Rarity immediately warned when Sweetie Belle took position. "It has to be just right! No need to rush." Sweetie Belle began to carefully lower her head to place the parsley. "No! That's too slow." Sweetie Belle placed her hoof on the table to regain balance. "Careful! Back up!" Rarity placed herself behind Sweetie Belle when the stool she was standing on was wobbling. "Looking for perfection here..."

"Whoa, whoa!" Sweetie Belle lost her balance and fell on top of the table, throwing the food upwards in the air.

I quickly spotted the plates and caught them before they landed on the floor. The piece of parsley had slowly floated onto the plate of eggs.

"Not... bad." Rarity expressed and walked over to me. "Thank you, Alex. That was excellent."

"It's no problem." I responded as she picked up the plates from my back and fixed the table to place them on there.

After breakfast, Rarity and I used towels to clean up the rest of the mess, such as the water that spilled when the plates flew up in the air. Once we were done, we placed them in a pile on top of the table. Rarity looked at the clock and noticed it was two. She gasped. "There are some things I must attend to." She grabbed the towels and moved them towards Sweetie Belle, who was scrubbing the floor with a brush. "Can you take the dirty towels to the laundry room?"

Sweetie Belle held out her forelegs to catch them, but they were dumped on her anyway. "No problem, I'll make myself useful!" She exclaimed cheerfully as she placed them in a basket and with her head, pushed them to the laundry room.

"Sorry, Alex." Rarity told me. "But, I must get to work. Thank you for helping with the mess, however."

"You're welcome. I'll let you go then."

Rarity smiled and walked towards her room.

After, I headed towards Fluttershy's to see if she was hungry.

She opened the door after I knocked. "Hi, Alex!" She gave me a hug.

"Hey, Fluttershy." I replied, releasing a warm smile. "Are you hungry? We could go over to Applejack's to get something to eat."

"That's sounds lovely."

As we began walking over to Sweet Apple Acres, Fluttershy began speaking to me.

"Alex, did you hear about the Sisterhooves Social?"

"Sisterhooves Social?" I asked.

"Yes. It's this event that is hosted at Sweet Apple Acres. Sisters participate in a race with obstacles and whoever reaches the finish line first, wins."

"Sounds like fun. Only sisters can participate?"

"Um…I'm not sure… I've only seen sisters there…"

"Hm…oh well…"

We arrived to see Applejack setting up stacks of hay.

"Hey, Applejack." I greeted as we walked up to her. "Are you working on the Sisterhooves Social?"

"Yes, sir! This here hay is a part of one of the obstacles."

"Well the work you're doing looks great. By the way, I was wondering if Fluttershy and I could grab a bite here."

"Sure thing, Alex! We got a bucket of apples here already!"

"Thanks." I responded with a light smile and picked out some apples for Fluttershy and me. After, I walked over to her and gave the shiniest ones I could find. Fluttershy noticed the gesture and planted a kiss on my cheek.

After we finished eating, we saw Sweetie Belle walk over to Applejack's as well. I looked at the expression on her face, which returned a glum one. She walked over to a stack of hay and laid herself on top of there, blankly.

Applejack noticed this and turned to speak with her. "What's wrong, Sweetie Belle?"

"Nothing…" She replied in a dejected tone as she rubbed her hoof on the stack of hay.

"It sure don't sound like nothing."

Applebloom rushed over to Sweetie Belle in an excited manner. "Well, what'd she say about the Sisterhooves Social?"

"She didn't want to do it… she told me it was uncouth."

"'Uncouth'? She said the Sisterhooves Social was 'uncouth'?" Applejack asked, irritably.

Applebloom had dove into the bucket of apples and chewed on them. She popped her head out of the bucket as she continued to consume apples. "Yeah! Uncouth?" She threw the one she had in her hoof in her mouth and ate it, releasing a loud belch afterwards. "Wait. What's uncouth?" She asked, spraying out pieces of apple which seemed to ironically counterattack or answer her question.

"It's not just the Social. She thinks I'm uncouth." Sweetie Belle added.

"Honey, Rarity thinks everything's uncouth." Applejack assured.

Applebloom walked over to Applejack, continuing to drool and slobber noisily as her mouth was full with apples. "What's uncouth?"

"It means uncivil. Y'know, bad mannered?" Applejack answered. Applebloom released another loud belch and grinned. "Exactly!" Applejack replied cheerfully. "Sweetie Belle, just give Rarity some time. She'll come around. Sisters always do." She explained as both Applebloom and Applejack stood together. My eyes drifted away when a false claim arose from my memories.

"Not sisters like Rarity." Sweetie Belle responded, angrily.

"Come on, now. Applebloom and I got some chores to finish up on. Maybe you can help!"

"You sure you want me to help? I just mess everything up!"

"Oh, come on, that's just stinkin' thinkin'. Watch!" Applejack walked over to a tree, which contained dropped apples below it. She leaned and lowered her head towards a bruised apple that even contained a worm in it. She picked it up carefully with her teeth and threw it over to Applebloom who had pulled out a bucket and placed it on her head. They both giggled and laughed as they continued on with their game. "Good catch there, Apple Bloom! Whoo!"

"This is a chore?" Sweetie Belle asked as they tossed and caught a few more apples.

"Since we can't sell the bruised apples, we gotta collect them all for the pigs to eat." Applejack answered as she kicked another apple which landed inside the bucket.

Applebloom placed the bucket down and hopped in the air to bounce another apple with her flank and have it go inside the bucket. "It's a lot of work, so we make a game of it. Wanna try?"

"Um, okay!" Sweetie Belle accepted, leading Applejack to kick an apple towards Sweetie Belle. However, the apple landed on her horn instead. "Ow." She expressed and began rubbing her head with her hoof.
"You're right, it is hard work."

"That's why we do it..." Applebloom began.

"Together!" They both stated in unison.

"Hmph, Rarity never wants to do chores together." She expressed, returning that irritated look she had before.

I jumped off from the stack of hay Fluttershy and I had been sitting on and walked towards Sweetie Belle. "Cheer up Sweetie Belle. Rarity loves you and she always will. She's just busy at the moment and is feeling a little bit stressed out." Her expression hadn't really changed much. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll do stuff with you."

Sweetie Belle's face brightened up. "Really?"

"Sure." I responded with a smile.

"In that case, why don't y'all help us with some other stuff around the farm? It's a lot of fun!"

"Why not?"

Fluttershy flew over to me. "I'm sorry, Alex. But I need to go feed Angel." She placed a hoof on her chin and looked downwards with a wondering expression. "He's been a little antsy lately…"

"Okay, Fluttershy. I'll see you later."

We exchanged a kiss and she began flying towards her home.

"Well then…" Applejack announced. "Let's get started!"

Applejack walked us over to a large cylinder bucket. She placed several groups of grapes inside and called out to Applebloom. "Applebloom! You're up!"

Applebloom raced over to the job, bouncing happily until she caught up with Applejack and jumped into the bucket. After, she began pounding her hooves on top of the grapes. On the bottom, Applejack turned on the faucet which began leaking juice into a jar. "You're... making... grape juice?" Sweetie Belle asked as she observed the juice pour into the jar. "Rarity would call the fashion police on me if I got grape juice anywhere near her precious outfits!"

"Well that's silly!" Applebloom exclaimed from the bucket. She dove into the grapes, splashing a bucketful of grape juice on Applejack.

"Applebloom!" Applejack replied in an irritated tone.

"Please, Applejack, she didn't mean—

Applejack ran over to the bucket and dove straight towards Applebloom, who was standing on the edge. She playfully tackled Applebloom inside as she began giggling "How d'you like them grapes, y'little whippersnapper!" Applejack joked as she rubbed the juice on Applebloom.

I looked over to Sweetie Belle's face which grew a bright grin. I could tell she liked the kind of fun Applejack had with her sister.

After they finished with the grape juice, they herded the sheep back into their pen.

"Wow. It's as if they were just one pony." Sweetie Belle commented as we saw them cheer and slap hooves.

"Way to corral some critters, sis!" Applejack praised.

"You coulda just asked." One of the sheep expressed, but had the gate to the pen shut in front of her by Applejack.

As Applejack and Applebloom walked together towards the next chore, I noticed Sweetie Belle form a frown. "Rarity never high-hoofs me."

I looked at her and formed a light smile. I held my hoof down towards her. She looked up to me and noticed this. She managed to lightly smile as well and accept my high-hoof.

We walked to Applejack and Applebloom who were wiping their faces clean with a towel. Applejack turned to us and smiled. "Now that we have all our chores done, what do you say we all have a nice camp-out?"

"Ooh! Ooh!" Applebloom bounced joyfully. "That's a great idea!"

"Alex?" She asked me, awaiting my answer.

I smiled and nodded. "Sure."

Applejack had set up a green tent somewhere in her orchards. Even though we weren't really in the forest, it still gave that same feeling as apple trees surrounded us. Applejack made a fire and pulled out a bag of marshmallows. She placed one each on four sticks and gave each of us one. She took a seat on a log while Applebloom took a seat across. I sat with Sweetie Belle as we all held our marshmallows above the fire.

"Thanks for spending time with me, Alex." Sweetie Belle told me as she continued roasting her treat. "I knew you could have spent it on something more important than having fun with me."

"Don't say that Sweetie Belle… You're as much important as any of us are…" I looked over to the other girls and smiled. "Right?"

"Mhm!" They smiled back and nodded.

Sweetie Belle released a light smile to all of us until we suddenly heard a pair of hooves gallop towards us. "Sweetie Belle!" It was Rarity. She had rushed over to Sweetie Belle. "Oh, I have been galloping all over looking for you. I—

Sweetie Belle turned her face away from Rarity, cutting off her sentence and surprising all of us.

"Oh hello, un-sister. What are you doing here? Better be careful. You might get some dust on you." Sweetie Belle replied in a satirical tone.

Applejack, Applebloom, and I could only watch, unwilling to get involved.

"Oh Sweetie Belle, I want to apologize. I am not better off without a sister."

"I'm not better off without a sister either." Sweetie Belle turned her face back towards Rarity. "Spending the day with Alex, Applejack and Apple Bloom made me realize that."

Rarity formed a bright smile. "Oh, Sweetie, you don't know how happy I am to hear—

Rarity had raised her hoof to touch Sweetie Belle, but Sweetie Belle knocked it away. "And that's why I'm adopting Alex as my big brother!"

My eyes suddenly widened in shock and Rarity reacted in her own expression. "WHAT?"

Sweetie Belle dashed over to me and wrapped her arms around my foreleg, causing Applejack and Applebloom to react in shock as well. "A sister is someone who loves and takes care of another sister. Alex may not be a sister, but he can definitely be a brother! He's a real brother."

I analyzed Rarity's face as she grew an annoyed look. "Uh…" I tried to say something. "Sweetie Belle…Rarity's your true sister…I can't be a brother…only a friend."

"Or maybe he should be your brother," Sweetie Belle directed at Rarity. "So he could teach you what a good sister is supposed to be!"

"I…uh…" I couldn't really think of anything to say or reason with.

"But I don't need lessons on being a good sister, I, I promise!" Rarity desperately tried to reason with Sweetie Belle. "Listen! I'll show you how to cook my favorite quiche! Or, or I'll show you the proper way to beautify your mane. Won't that be fun? Hm?"

Sweetie formed an angry and annoyed look on her face. "Hmph!" She grunted as she began walking towards Rarity, forcing her to back away. "You want me to go home with you, so we can do what you wanna do?"

"Uh..." Rarity thought. "…yes?" She brought out a wide grin.

"Just forget it!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed and stormed off. Applebloom ran after her.

"Well, that apology went swimmingly." Rarity strained as she walked over to us. "Alex, why do you have to be so good and make me look so bad?"

"I know you're trying to be a good sister, and apologizing is a step in the right direction… but you have to do much more than that…You've got to understand that Sweetie Belle only wants to spend time with you. She doesn't want to hurt you…" I lowered my head and looked at the ground. "She only wants to feel like you love and appreciate her…"

"Alex is right." Applejack added. "Bein' sisters is like... apple pie. You can have amazin' apples, and you can have a wonderfully crispy crust, but only together you can have a perfect apple pie."

Rarity pulled back and thought about it. "...but apart, all we are is just a pile of mush and some crumbly dry mess..." Rarity gasped and stood proudly. "I know what I need to do! I just hope it isn't too late!" She dashed over to me and placed her hooves on my shoulders. "Alex! I need you to do something for me."

"What is it?" I asked.

She sighed. "I need you to enter the Sisterhooves Social with Sweetie Belle."

"What?" I asked, surprised.

"She'll only attend if she knows she's going with you!"

"But…Isn't the Sisterhooves Social for sisters?"

We looked towards Applejack for an answer. She sighed happily and brought that answer for us. "Well…I suppose I can make an exception." She chuckled.

"Then I guess I can…what do you have in mind, Rarity?"

"Well, you see…as much as I dislike the…unsophisticated manner of the sport…I want to participate with Sweetie Belle, but since she doesn't like me right now, she'll only go with you."

"I see…then what do you have planned?"

"I was hoping for some way to switch with you during the event. And I can't let her know it's me until after, otherwise, she might cause a scene in the middle of it."

"I think I can help with that." Applejack included. We looked to her to see her grinning. "Right in the beginning of the Sisterhooves Social, there is a giant mud pit. If Alex can 'slip' into there, you can switch spots with him. Sweetie Belle won't be able to tell the difference because you'll be covered in mud."

"So…you're saying that I'll have to wait inside the mud until it's time?" Rarity questioned with fear in her tone.

"If you really want Sweetie Belle as your sister, I suggest you take it."

Rarity sighed. "Ooh…Very well then… This is for Sweetie Belle!"

"One thing though…" Applejack added. "How will you be able to hold your breath for so long?"

Rarity presented her horn. "Magic. Duh."

Applejack sighed happily. "Well, we better get some rest before the big event."

"Yes…I must prepare for…" She shivered. "…the mud…" Suddenly, her face glowed in surprise. "A mud bath! Yes! I'll pretend it's a mud bath!" Afterwards, Rarity left the orchards, leaving only Applejack and me.

"I guess we aren't going to have that camp-out after all." I chuckled lightly as I helped Applejack remove the tent.

"It's okay. Some other time, especially when all these 'sister problems' are over."

"Yeah…you're right."

Once Applejack gathered everything she needed to return back, we headed back to the farm. After, she bid me goodnight and headed off to bed while I began walking over to Fluttershy's.

When I arrived, I noticed that her lights were still on. I walked up to her door and knocked lightly. After a moment, she slowly opened it and was surprised to see me.

"Alex! I didn't know you were coming…"

"Sorry." I apologized as I smiled lightly. "I just thought I could sleepover tonight so we could go to the Sisterhooves Social together in the morning. Besides, there's something I need to tell you."

"Of course! Come in." She opened the door enough for me to come inside and closed it after. We both sat on the couch. "What is it that you need to tell me?"

"Well…you know how Sweetie Belle was a bit upset with Rarity?" I asked.

"Mhm." She nodded her head.

"After you had to go, we continued being with Applejack until she decided to have a camp-out. During that camp-out, Rarity had found us and pleaded Sweetie Belle to forgive her. Instead, she…um…'adopted' me as her big brother. Just a little while ago, Rarity, Applejack, and I came up with a plan to fix everything. At the Sisterhooves Social, I'm supposed to participate with Sweetie Belle and switch with Rarity in the mud pit."

"Oh, my…well I really hope everything works out…"

"I'm sure it will…Sweetie Belle is just…a little misled right now…she'll see how good a sister Rarity is when she sees what she does."

Fluttershy managed to form a smile. "You're right." She stood up. "Let me get you some covers."

After a moment, she came back with some blankets and placed them on the couch.

"Thanks, Fluttershy." I told her.

"It's no problem, Alex. It's nice to have you here…"

I smiled and kissed her. "Goodnight, Fluttershy. I love you."

"I love you too." She embraced me for a moment and retired back to her bed upstairs.

I turned off the lights and tucked myself in. I had already felt a little sleepy, so it wasn't much trouble to fall asleep.

"Why did you do it…?"

"What…?"

"Why did you run away?"

I immediately woke up due to the sight of the very familiar pony. I sat up and placed my hooves on my closed eyes. Why did that pony look so familiar…? Could it be…? No. I shook my head. No, it couldn't…

"Are you awake already?" Fluttershy asked me from behind.

I turned around. "Oh…yeah…"

She walked over to me with concerned eyes. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh, no… I just had a weird dream…that's all."

"Oh, okay…but you're feeling better, right?"

I stood up from the couch. "Yeah, much better. Thanks for asking." I presented a smile and kissed her.

She smiled as she slightly blushed. "…you're welcome…"

"Do you think the Sisterhooves Social is set up already?" I asked her.

She recovered from her blush and answered me. "I think so. Want to go see?"

"Sure."

We began heading towards the site of the event after exiting the cottage.

Along the way, we saw Applejack, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle instantly noticed me and ran over to me, joyfully. She wrapped her forelegs around mine and smiled brightly. "Hello! Big Brother!"

"Uh…" I responded, uneasily on what to say.

Applejack looked to me and winked, indicating the plan we had in store to restore the relationship with Sweetie Belle and her big sister. "C'mon, Sweetie Belle. You don't want to miss the Sisterhooves Social, right?"

Sweetie Belle removed her forelegs and looked over to Applejack. "Oh, right!" She looked back to me. "C'mon big brother, let's go!" She began pulling my hoof towards where we were all headed while I could only give Fluttershy a helpless look.

It wasn't that I didn't want to be Sweetie Belle's…brother… It's just that…I'm not supposed to be her brother. I can't be her brother. Rarity is her sister, and as far as I know, her only sibling. That's the way it needs to stay. It wouldn't be right for this to continue. Luckily…we have a plan…which will hopefully work…

As we entered the annual event, a couple of balloons, helplessly floating upwards in the sky, greeted us. We immediately saw a couple of stands set up. One was currently active as we saw a couple pairs of sisters munching competitively on their own apple pies. The pair with the blue handkerchiefs shot their hooves up as soon as they had finished their pie. The referee brought a blue ribbon to their grinning and apple pie-filled faces. The other pair contained bits of pieces of pie on them and noticed how the other team won.

"...well, I guess it's a good thing Rarity isn't here." Sweetie Belle commented as we passed by more fun-filled events. "Do I see 'uncouth' written all over this contest?"

Applebloom and Applejack looked at each other to try to think of something to say, but Applebloom suddenly changed the subject and ran over to the pig pen nearby. "Look at the size of that pig!" She directed to pigs rolling on the mud with their ribbons attached to them. There were more sisters participating inside.

"He sure is a cutie." Applejack added with a grin.

On the contrary, Sweetie Belle continued her annoyed expression. "That's the last word Rarity would use." She began mimicking her. "Oh my, what a repulsive monstrosity! This thing needs a head to toe makeover!"

Applejack and Applebloom looked at each other uneasily once again, but the sound of horns saved them. "It's almost time!" Applejack exclaimed and both of them began walking towards the event.

"Well, you two have fun..." Sweetie Belle announced sadly. "…sure wish I had a sister to run the race with..."

I knew how Sweetie Belle felt. She made herself feel as if she didn't care about her sister anymore…but inside… she didn't want to forget about her. She really didn't want to lose her. She couldn't forget about her. Her heart wouldn't allow it. I wanted to fix this as soon as possible.

"Well, you have a brother, don't you?" I asked Sweetie Belle, smiling at her.

"Alex! Would you? Really?" She questioned my offer with bright and sparkling eyes.

"Sure, why not?"

She immediately placed her hooves on me and hugged me.

Suddenly, we heard a sound on the megaphone. "Is this thing on?" Granny Smith announced. She accidently rotated the megaphone backwards and placed her ear towards the front. "I don't think this thing is on." She told Big Macintosh who was standing near her. "Hello!" She shouted weakly into the front of the megaphone. Big Macintosh came over to her and began whispering to her, pointing at the megaphone. "What is the- e- oh. You have to say so. Confangled modern doohickeys." She raised her hoof from her rocking chair and smacked the megaphone, causing it to twirl until it switched to the right position. "Now, the event you've all been waiting fer! The Sister Soci- The Socialhoof- Oh, dabnabbit, you know, the big race! We have five teams this year fer the event! So y'all head on up to the finish line, y'hear?" Applejack, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and I headed to the starting line as I looked at Fluttershy and nodded, reminding her about the plan. "Eh? The start line!" Granny Smith corrected. "That what I said…"

"That's us!" Sweetie Belle whispered excitedly towards me.

"Good luck!" Applejack and Applebloom expressed to us.

"You too." I responded and prepared myself…for the switch out. Before we started, Applejack placed her hat on my head and winked. Right…the horn…

"And may the best sisters win!" Granny Smith announced as she continued rocking on her chair. "On your marks... get set..." As the other sisters readied themselves, Granny Smith moved too far on her rocking chair and accidentally poked her eye with the megaphone. "Gooooo!"

We immediately started off in a gallop. As the others jumped over the mud pit ahead of us, Sweetie Belle hopped cheerfully on it like it was land. I took a deep breath. Well…this is it. I voluntarily allowed myself to fall in the mud pit.

"Alex, are you alright?" I saw Rarity who had formed a bubble around her and me.

"Yeah…I'm fine." I answered as I felt myself covered with mud. "You should get going, Sweetie Belle's probably wondering what happened to me." I placed the cowboy hat Applejack gave me on Rarity so her horn wouldn't be revealed.

"Of course! Thank you!" She looked as if she wanted to hug me, but I was covered with mud. "Remember…just a mud bath…" She told herself. She took a deep breath and jumped out of her bubble that she left for me.

After a moment of waiting, I exited the bubble and swam upwards. I poked my head out of the mud pit and looked at the status of the race. Rarity and Sweetie Belle were nearing the end when another pair of sisters suddenly raced past them. Rarity and Sweetie Belle saw this and immediately began running after them. They were now side by side, racing for first place. At the last gate, the two pairs both took a leap in hopes that they landed past the finish line. They created a large dust cloud, and I had to wait until it disappeared. When it did, I noticed how Rarity and Sweetie Belle hadn't made it by a few feet, yet neither did the other pair. The successful sisters to win the race were Applejack and Applebloom who flashed through the finish line and were walking proudly after the referee gave them a ribbon. They walked back towards Rarity and Sweetie Belle.

"Ooh, so close! You almost won!" Applebloom exclaimed.

"Thank you, Alex!" Sweetie Belle hugged Rarity. "You were amazing! I don't even care that we didn't win. That was so much fun!" Sweetie Belle excitedly hugged Rarity, but the force of her impact caused the hat to come off and reveal Rarity's white horn. "Huh?" She noticed the horn and scrubbed off the mud from Rarity's flank, revealing her three diamonds. "Rarity?" Rarity easily shook off the mud and presented herself. "Wait, where's Alex?" I pulled myself up from the mud pit and walked over to them, swinging off the mud I had. "I don't get it."

"We switched places in the mud hole." I explained as I formed a smile on my face. Fluttershy flew over to me and joined us.

"So... we did the whole competition... together?" Sweetie Belle asked Rarity.

"That we did, little sister. Well, except for the start line." Rarity answered.

"But you finished together!" Applebloom added.

"You mean... you were all in on it?" We all nodded. "You did this for me?"

"Us. I did it for us." Rarity replied. Sweetie Belle smiled and hugged Rarity, causing us to feel very much relieved to see the scene. "You see? We are apple pie!"

"Huh?" Sweetie Belle questioned, confused.

"Uh…" Rarity chuckled nervously. "I'll explain later. For now, I think we deserve a celebration!"

"Yeah!" Applejack, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle cheered.

"Where?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"The spa, of course." Rarity responded almost quickly, causing the girls to fall to the floor laughing.

"Oh, Rarity."

"No, I, I, I'm serious."

I analyzed Rarity's face and realized that she did deserve a trip to the spa, especially for what she sacrificed to restore the relationship between Sweetie Belle and her. "Come on. I say we all go." I offered, figuring I could probably receive some cleansing myself from diving into the mud.

After spending the rest of the day with the girls at the spa, I felt instantly refreshed. Applejack and Applebloom walked back home while Fluttershy and I stayed with Rarity as she walked with Sweetie Belle towards their home.

In the front of the shop, we saw Spike standing with a bright grin on his face.

"Spike, what are you doing here?" Rarity asked with a puzzled expression on her face.

"I just thought…the most beautiful one… could use any assistance today?" He replied, love struck.

"Actually…" Rarity answered as she tapped her hoof on her chin. "I suppose you could write a letter to Princess Celestia from us."

"Anything you need!" He instantly pulled out a letter and quill.

"Come along, then." Rarity led us inside where she and Sweetie Belle began to do their hair.

Spike sat near the fabric shelf with his quill ready as Fluttershy and I sat on the other side of the room, smiling. Once Rarity and Sweetie Belle finished fixing their manes in bows for some reason, Rarity walked over to her little sister. "Very well then, what should we write to the Princess?" She asked.

Sweetie Belle walked to the mirror and observed herself. "I'll start. Having a sister is just about the bestest thing in the world. But it sure isn't the easiest."

"I agree that being sisters is a wonderful thing, but it takes teamwork." Rarity added. "Sometimes it's about compromising. Sometimes it's about accepting each others' differences. But mostly, it's about having fun together." As much as I loved hearing their letter…I couldn't help but feel saddened when their letter brought up her in my mind again… My eyes lowered themselves to the ground and my eyelids slightly lowered as well. "Even if it means getting your hooves a little bit dirty."

"A lot dirty." Sweetie Belle challenged.

"A little bit dirty." Rarity reassured.

"A lot dirty!"

"A little bit dirty!"

"A lo—

Spike immediately intervened and placed his claws on both of their mouths. "Hold it, hold it! How about a medium amount of dirty, not too little, not too much, just right?"

"Deal!" They both exclaimed and hugged each other.

Fluttershy must have noticed the expression on my face because she looked at me with a frown as well. "What's wrong, Alex…?"

"Oh." I answered, slightly startled. "I, um…" I looked over to Sweetie Belle and Rarity. "I think I'm going to go. I hope you two have fun."

"Thank you, Alex." Rarity responded. "See you tomorrow."

Fluttershy and I began walking towards the door, but I felt something stop me from behind. I looked behind me to see Sweetie Bell smiling at me.

"What is it, Sweetie Belle?" I asked her.

"I'm sorry about the whole 'adopted brother' thing…but if it's okay… I still think of you as a big brother!"

"Really…?" I questioned, emotionally surprised.

"Yep! You're super nice and all that stuff! You'd make an awesome big brother!"

I managed to form a light smile along with the sensation of water in my eyes. "Thank you, Sweetie Belle…"

"You're welcome, Alex! Bye!" She raced back to Rarity to continue their fun together.

I continued walking out, feeling almost a tear drop escape from my eyes.

When I had exited Rarity's shop, I walked Fluttershy home.

"Well…I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Fluttershy…"

"Hold on." Fluttershy placed a hoof on me.

"Huh?"

She remained silent for a moment. "Come inside."

I did so and we both took a seat on the couch.

"What is it, Fluttershy?" I asked her.

"…I want to know what is bothering you." She answered, almost boldly.

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

"You were happy until you suddenly frowned. Something has to be bothering you. Will you please tell me what it is?"

I slightly looked away and sighed. "Well…when I saw Rarity and Sweetie Belle together…it reminded me a lot of my sister…"

"Your sister…?"

I lightly nodded. "Yeah… Sweetie Belle's really lucky to have a sister that cares about her. Sure…Rarity can be a little…too sophisticated at times…but she's a lot better than my sister…you know… I wonder how it feels like to have a sister that really cares about you. How it feels like to spend time together and laughing…" I shook my head. "…but it's over already. I have to get over it."

Fluttershy placed a hoof on my shoulder. "I wish there was something I could do…but that's between only you and your sister. Maybe she'll apologize to you? Maybe you both will settle things together…"

"I doubt it…she and her parents have probably already forgotten about me. But…" I shrugged. "Life goes on, right?"

Fluttershy embraced me passionately. "I really wish I could help you with that, Alex."

I lightly smiled and wrapped my hooves around her. "Hey, hey. It's alright… As long as I have you and the other girls…I'll be fine. You all are my family now."

She slightly pulled away. "Still…"

I replaced her worries with a kiss. "It's alright… You should get some sleep now. I'll go ahead and head on back home. We'll see each other tomorrow, okay?"

She smiled as well. "Okay. I love you, Alex."

"I love you too, Fluttershy." I stood up from the couch and headed towards the door. I opened it and looked behind me before stepping outside. I waved at her and offered one of my smiles before I left.

When I arrived back home, I jumped on my bed as usual. I began thinking about many things as I lay staring at the ceiling. I wanted to believe I was done with my old family, since I had the girls, but why did I still feel like I had unfinished business with them? Aren't they supposed to be forgotten now…? Just as they most likely forgot me? I sighed mentally.

Maybe a little sleep will help me rid of this plague in my mind.

The Cutie Pox

Episode 32 – The Cutie Pox

I opened my eyes to a bright light slipping in through the window, causing me to place my hoof in front of my face to deflect it. I removed myself from the bed and walked to the bathroom. I turned the faucet and allowed the water to run through my hooves. I splashed some on my face to wake me up, drying with a towel after. I walked downstairs and prepared myself for the outside.

Once out the door, I was immediately greeted by a warm sunshine and a fresh breeze. I loved how the weather was in Ponyville most of the time. Just as I was about to make my way towards Fluttershy's cottage, I saw a triplet of fillies running through town with a round heavy object with each of them. After a moment, I realized that they were bowling balls.

As they began heading near me, I saw Applebloom rolling her red bowling ball instead of carrying it. Scootaloo had a saddlebag, but it was barely tied together due to the large size of the black bowling ball she was carrying. However, Sweetie Belle had hers in a more fashionable bag as she carried it with her teeth.

"Hey girls." I greeted, walking towards them as they stopped to see me.

"Hey, Alex!" They answered.

"Where are you all headed towards to?" I asked, continuing to notice the bowling balls they brought.

"We're going to find our cutie marks!" Scootaloo replied, proudly.

"In…bowling…?" I asked, concerned.

"Yep!" The three of them exclaimed.

"Are you sure…? Bowling is a little dangerous for girls your age. The ball is really heavy to use."

"Pssh." Scootaloo pushed away. "Nothing the Cutie Mark Crusaders can't handle!"

"Well…at least let me watch you three so I know you're safe."

"Sure! We'd want somepony we know to be with us when we get our cutie marks!" Applebloom accepted. I didn't care as long as I went with them. All I wanted was for them to be safe. "Hey, Alex, Do you want to bring your girlfriend with you?"

I smiled at her comment. "I would, but I don't want her to get hurt by any bowling balls."

Applebloom had led us to the bowling alley and looked back to her follow allies. "Today's the day, Cutie Mark Crusaders! I can just feel it! Today's the day we are all gonna get our cutie marks in... bowlin'!" She threw out her forelegs towards the building.

"Woohoo!" Scootaloo hopped in the air, even fluttering her small wings, despite the weight of the ball.

"Wooo!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, but her voice was muffled with the bag in her mouth. She spit it out and cheered again. "I mean, yay!"

"Why, after today, we won't even be the Cutie Mark Crusaders anymore! We'll be the... the Three Strikes!" Applebloom shouted, hopping in the air.

"That makes us sound like we've struck out." Scootaloo commented, walking towards her.

"Mmm." Applebloom thought. "How 'bout the Pin Twins?"

"But there are three of us." Sweetie Belle corrected, narrowing her eyes towards Applebloom.

"Okay then... Um... the Bowling Dolls!"

"The Bowling Dolls! That's it!" Sweetie Belle agreed happily.

"Perfect!" Scootaloo offered, hopping again.

"All righty then! Let's bowl 'em over!"

We walked into the bowling alley to see other ponies bowling as well.

"Alex. Do you want to bowl with us too?" Applebloom asked as we walked over to the other side of the building which was much clearer.

"Sure, why not?" I responded.

The girls and I started at the second to the last alley. Sweetie Belle pulled out her blue bowling ball, which was the same kind as Applebloom's, except its color, and rolled it around in the floor with her hoof, presenting a determined smile. After, she focused her attention on the ball and aimed it. She pushed it onto the alley with her head and we watched as it gently rolled towards the middle. However, it curved onto the side lane before it touched the pins at all. Regardless, Sweetie Belle walked past us with a smirk on her face as if she had done a great job. Scootaloo, Applebloom, and I could only offer a slight forced smile to make her feel accomplished.

Scootaloo headed up the aisle next and placed her bowling ball in position. She turned the other way and looked below her, straight at the ball. I assumed it was her way of aiming it. Then, she pulled back her leg and kicked it forcefully. The ball shot towards the top of the aisle at an angle and flew straight towards me. I quickly threw myself towards the ground and looked back to see where the ball went. It actually ended up in the side lane and didn't touch any pins. Everypony in the building looked at Scootaloo, very shocked. She noticed this and nervously laughed, fleeing afterwards. Applebloom then grabbed her red ball with her mouth, after having some trouble first. She began walking towards the aisle, but she was struggling a bit with the weight of the ball. When she was at the point of falling to the ground, she spat out her ball towards the pins. I quickly caught her before she tripped. My eyes were drawn to the red ball as they quickly smashed through the pins, creating a striking sound. Everypony began cheering at the perfect strike.

"Cool! A bowling cutie mark!" One of the ponies exclaimed.

"I did it!" Applebloom yelled out excitedly. "I did it!" She quickly looked at her flank, but we all noticed that it was blank. "Blank?" We turned our attention to another pony that was wearing a black and white bowling shirt as she was fascinated with her mark, which presented a pin and a bowling ball. She walked off proudly as the other ponies continued to cheer for her. "But... but... what about my ball?"

Near the lane with the continuously spinning pin, another red ball was slowly rolling towards the pins in front of it. It came to a stop before the first pin, barely touching it. Applebloom immediately formed a frown as if she wanted to cry.

"Applebloom…" I stated, feeling her sadness and holding a hoof out to her, but she sadly began walking away. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle began walking after her as I trailed behind them.

Somehow, Scootaloo had retrieved her scooter and helmet outside of the bowling alley. They caught up to Applebloom and strolled by her, seeming as if they were unaffected by the sadness that surrounded her.

"That bowling sure was fun, even if all I got was gutter balls." Sweetie Belle announced happily.

"Yeah!" Scootaloo encouraged as she rode her scooter by Applebloom's side. "At least you were able to keep your ball in your lane. I don't think Mr. Kingpin is ever gonna let me play again!" She quickly blasted off in her scooter and jumped over a rock. She halted as Sweetie Belle caught up to her. "Hey, maybe I could get my cutie mark in demolition!" Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo chuckled at the thought, but Applebloom strolled by without a word as she held her head down. "Aw, come on, Applebloom!"

"I know just what you need to put the bloom back on your apple." Sweetie Belle responded and dragged her over to Sugarcube Corner.

"A treat from Sugarcube Corner will cheer you up!" Sweetie Belle had slid a cupcake over to her gloomy and upset face.

"No it won't…" She sadly pushed the cupcake away.

I could only frown at the sight of her. She was just so…sad…and disappointed that she didn't get her cutie mark. I just wish I had something to tell her that would cheer her up…

"Come on. Let's go talk to Pinkie Pie! I'm sure she can help!" Sweetie Belle announced and the three of them walked off.

I sighed and closed my eyes, deciding to stay at the same place. Whenever I see a pony sad or disappointed… I always feel their same emotions as well…

"Hellooo!" I heard a familiar cheery voice besides me.

I turned my head to see Derpy. "Oh, hey Derpy." I replied, trying to sound better, but the tone of sadness still lingered in my voice.

She tilted her head and her ears flopped down, introducing a small frown as well. "Is something wrong?" She asked.

"Oh, um." I tried to think. "It's just a young friend of mine that is having some trouble finding her cutie mark. I feel really bad for her…"

Derpy remained silent for a moment and then lifted a hoof. "You know what will cheer both of you up? Muffins!"

"Derpy, I don't think—

She had forced a muffin into my mouth and shut me up. I chewed it and began feeling delight, as if my spirits were being raised. I swallowed and looked at Derpy in surprise. "That was great! Where did you get that?"

"Really? I made it myself!" She smiled and stood proudly.

"You made it? You must be amazing at baking muffins!"

She slightly blushed. "I don't know…"

"Do you think you can give my friend one of your muffins?" I asked.

"Sure!"

We walked upstairs towards Pinkie's room and noticed a party going on. We looked around, but we only spotted Pinkie Pie, who was dancing with Gummy to the music playing in the background.

"Pinkie?" I called.

"Hm?" She opened her eyes and noticed me. "Oh, hi Alex! Want to party with me?"

"No thanks. I can't right now. Have you seen Applebloom?"

"Yeah! She left a little while ago! Can you believe one of my parties didn't cheer her up? Sheesh!"

"She did? Did you see where she went?"

"Nope. Sorry."

"Alright…Thanks anyway, Pinkie."

Once we walked back downstairs, Derpy looked at me. "What are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to look for her… Derpy, do you think you can give me the muffin to go?"

"Sure!" She pulled out the muffin and a paper bag from the saddlebag she had on. She placed the muffin inside the back and held it out towards me. "Good luck!"

"Thanks, Derpy. I'll see you later." I grabbed the bag with my teeth and began heading outside.

"Bye!"

I walked through town, searching around for Applebloom. After a moment of a careful analysis, I noticed Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle heading my way.

"Scootaloo? Sweetie Belle?" I questioned, placing the bag down and being lightly concerned. "Where's Applebloom?"

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both looked at each other a bit worriedly. Scootaloo looked towards the ground and rubbed the back of her head while Sweetie Belle rubbed her hooves nervously. "Um…she…went into the…Everfree Forest…"

"What!" I exclaimed. I quickly picked up the bag with my teeth and ran straight towards the forest, not even giving the two fillies time to react or respond.

When I arrived, I quickly stopped before a high cliff. I looked at the ground and noticed a vine sticking out, which could easily trip unsuspecting ponies. I looked below the cliff and noticed the ground. I hope Applebloom didn't trip and hurt herself… I swiftly jumped and planted my feet on the slope, sliding until I reach the ground. I think Zecora's hut is near… maybe she's with Zecora?

I continued walking until I reached the hut. I walked towards the door and looked inside. I spotted Applebloom drinking something from the counter.

"Applebloom!" I called her.

She was largely startled and quickly turned around to see me. "Oh…Hi, Alex!"

"What are you doing here all by yourself? You know the Everfree Forest is dangerous." I asked as I walked towards her.

She lowered her head towards the ground. "I'm sorry, Alex…"

I sighed and shook my head. "Come on, let's get out of here." We walked out of the hut and headed towards home. "What were you drinking anyway?" I questioned.

"Oh! Um…" She sounded nervous. "I was just…uh…drinking something Zecora made me!"

"Made you? For what?"

"You see, I wandered off here and tripped over a vine. I ended up chipping my tooth but Zecora mixed something up to fix it!"

"But you're alright?"

"Yes…"

I sighed in relief. "Okay, good. Here." I gave her the bag with the muffin. "It's something a friend of mine made. It's really good. I was hoping it'd cheer you up."

Applebloom smiled and pulled out the muffin. "Thanks, Alex." She threw it up in the air and caught it with her mouth, chewing loudly. After she swallowed, her face grew brighter. "Wow! That was delicious!"

I smiled lightly. "I'm glad you're feeling better." Applebloom returned a smile, but she looked away as if she was worried about something. "Everything alright?"

"Uh…yeah! I'm okay!"

"Okay…" I responded with a hint of uneasiness.

When we returned back to town, we saw Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle at almost the same place I had left them.

"Applebloom! We're going to be late for school!" Scootaloo yelled.

"Oh, geez! I forgot! Sorry, Alex. I have to go." Applebloom told me.

"Don't worry about it. Go on ahead." I allowed.

She nodded and ran off along with her friends.

Finally, I began heading to see my love.

I knocked on her door when I arrived at her cottage. She opened it and immediately embraced me right after she saw me.

"Hey, Fluttershy." I smiled and kissed her.

"How are you?" She asked.

"I'm fine. May I come in?"

"Of course!" She led me inside. "How has your morning been?" She questioned as we both sat on the couch.

"Alright…except Applebloom has been worrying about her cutie mark again. She had wandered into the Everfree Forest but fortunately Zecora was there to help her. But…" I thought for a moment. "She was drinking something in Zecora's hut while she wasn't there, but she told me Zecora had made it for her when she chipped her tooth… Well anyway, I escorted her out of the forest safely and right now she's at school so… I'm glad she's not hurt."

"Oh my… I wish there was something we could do to get her mind off of her cutie mark. I certainly wouldn't want it to lead her to being harmed."

"I feel the same way…" I suddenly remembered something and smacked a hoof to my forehead. "Ugh."

"What? What is it?" Fluttershy asked, concerned.

"I have a friend who makes great muffins. I should have brought one for you…" I replied, frowning.

"Oh. It's alright."

"Hm…" I thought and stood up. "Come on. Maybe she's still at Sugarcube Corner. Her muffins are great. I really want you to try them."

Fluttershy smiled. "If you say so…"

I grabbed her hoof and helped her from the couch. I walked over to the cottage door and opened it, holding it for Fluttershy to pass through. Then, I followed her outside and walked her to Sugarcube Corner.

However, during on the path towards the sweet shop, we saw Applebloom with her classmates, along with Ms. Cheerilee. What Applebloom was doing really surprised us. She was twirling a circular object with her tail and spinning plates on her nose. Where did she learn that from? After, she threw the object from her tail as well as the spinning plates. The hoop flew straight upwards while the plates and sticks perfectly traveled through the hoop. Applebloom swiftly jumped in the air and caught the plates on her nose again, this time the plates begin on top of each other. The hoop came back down and continued moving on her right back leg.

Afterwards, Applebloom hopped on the hoop and began maneuvering on it as she spun the plates with both of her front hoofs. Then, she jumped and did a hoof-stand on the hoop while she spun the plates with her back legs. She hopped off and placed the spinning plates on the ground and continued to spin them while she twirled the hoop with her tail. Ponies continued to applaud and cheer for her as she made more tricks with the items.

They all looked towards a cloud where Rainbow Dash was napping on. Applebloom twirled her hoop a few more times and threw it at the cloud, cutting off the rest of the white puffiness and leaving only the shape of the hoop. Applebloom caught the hoop on her back and spun it insanely on her hoof while her classmates continued to gaze at the amazing ability of Applebloom.

Sweetie Belle had stopped near us, bringing Twilight and Rarity with her.

"Hey guys." Twilight greeted. "What's going on?"

"Look!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, pointing at Applebloom's tricks.

Applebloom was spinning a plate on one hoof and maneuvering the hoop on another when she grabbed the hoop and threw it towards us. The hoop stopped in front of Twilight and spun in front of her mane. When it was returning back to Applebloom, we noticed how it had changed Twilight's mane to the exact style of Rarity's. Rarity saw this and instantly gleamed with joy. Twilight returned annoyed eyes as even Spike came along and looked at Twilight with heart-stricken eyes.

Pinkie Pie was walking joyfully by when Applebloom bounced on her hoop and caught up to her. Pinkie noticed this and tripped while Applebloom bounced over her and continued going. She passed by Applejack, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith, who were also spectators. Applebloom jumped her hoop and placed it over her and Granny Smith's heads. They both smiled as she spun it around their neck. Applejack whistled and kicked the table near her which contained a freshly baked pie and several plates. Applebloom noticed them as they flew up in the air and quickly rushed over to catch them, all while she continued to twirl the hoop. She then bumped the pie towards the sky and used the hoop to cut the pie into equally served pieces and land on each of the plates. Pinkie Pie and some other ponies quickly headed towards the table that they landed on and slurped their tongues. Everypony continued to cheer loudly at her astonishing skills.

"Alright, alright…" Applebloom stated. "That's enough tricks for one day."

Everypony groaned and left the area.

Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, and I walked towards Applebloom to find out what that was all about.

"Two cutie marks?" Twilight questioned. "I've never seen a pony have two cutie marks!"

"Hehe, yep." Applebloom replied.

"How is that possible…?" I asked, concerned.

"I guess I'm just lucky to have two talents." Applebloom said and slightly nervously laughed.

I slightly narrowed my eyes, wondering how there could be two cutie marks on her flank, especially talents that I'd never think she would have.

However, Applejack politely intervened. "Well, Applebloom, we should get you home. You must tired as a pickle from doing all those neat tricks!"

Applebloom quickly nodded and began walking with Applejack and the others back to Sweet Apple Acres. Hm…something is going on with Applebloom that she's not telling me about…

"I'm proud of her!" Twilight announced. "It's great that she finally earned not one, but two cutie marks! I mean… they weren't what I was expecting…but hey! We should be celebrating."

"We could… but night is going to fall soon. We wouldn't want to keep Applebloom up late." Rarity added.

"Mhm. You're right. I guess I'll see you later guys!" Twilight said and departed with Rarity.

I'll worry about that later… "Fluttershy, let's go see if my friend is still at Sugarcube Corner before it gets late, okay?"

"Okay."

We continued our way to the sweet shop.

"And, and, and, there were these plates spinning and, and, loop da hoop flying in the air, and all sorts of things!" A voice sounded excitedly as we walked inside the shop.

"That sounds amazing and fun! Who did you say that was doing all this again?"

"A filly named Applebloom!"

"That's cool!"

We saw two ponies at the counter, eating muffins and drinking chocolate milk. I noticed one of them was Derpy, but there was another pony that looked exactly like her but only smaller.

"Derpy?" I called.

She turned around and noticed me. "Hi, Alex!" She turned to the filly and spoke. "That's my friend, Alex!"

"Hi!" The young filly greeted me.

I walked up to them.

"This is my little sister, Dizzy Doo. Or you can call her Derpy Jr. or Baby Derpy, I don't know." Derpy explained.

"Oh, hey there Dizzy." I held out my hoof to her, which she politely shook. "Um Derpy, I was just wondering if you happened to have another muffin my girlfriend, Fluttershy, could have." I presented Fluttershy, who obviously seemed a little shy.

"Of course!" Derpy reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a muffin. "Here you go!" She presented the muffin in front of Fluttershy.

"Thank you…" Fluttershy said as she carefully took the muffin.

"You're welcome!" Derpy cheerfully exclaimed. "Well, Dizzy and I should start home. It's getting late, right Dizzy?"

"Right!"

Derpy smiled and began leading her little sister out of the sweet shop but stopped by me to whisper really quickly in my ear. "She's really pretty!" After, she continued walking and left as I could only smile at her message.

I looked at Fluttershy. "Come on. Let me take you home."

Fluttershy had eaten the muffin along the way. "That muffin was really good! Is that her special talent?"

"I don't know… She has bubbles for a cutie mark. I don't exactly know what that means yet…"I stopped at her door and smiled. "Well, Goodnight, Fluttershy."

"Goodnight, Alex. I'll see you tomorrow." She responded.

I nodded and embraced her, giving her a kiss. When I pulled away, she was blushing. She nodded and headed inside her cottage. I smiled as I began walking and headed towards home, which I then plopped on the bed and almost immediately fell asleep due to slight fatigue.

I spent some time in bed as the sun peeked in from beyond the window. After, I finally managed to sit up and remove myself from bed. I took a glance out the window and noticed something strange. I saw Applejack running towards Twilight's home while Applebloom was with her. Applebloom was furiously twirling the hoop and spinning the plates from yesterday. Not only that…but there was something new about her appearance. I could see she contained another cutie mark on her flank and she was rapidly tapping her hooves on the ground. I quickly rushed downstairs and out the door to see what the problem was.

I ran over to Twilight's home and opened the door to hear more furious taps to the ground and Applebloom contain a worried and panicking expression glued to her face.

"Three cutie marks. Three talents." Twilight analyzed. "I've never seen anything like it! I was just reading something about unusual equine illnesses. What was it?" Twilight began searching through the shelves of books as I walked towards Applejack.

"What's going on? What's up with Applebloom?" I asked.

"I don't know! She got one more cutie mark and now she can't stop doing neither!" Applejack replied worriedly.

"'Perplexing Pony Plagues', perhaps?" Spike said from the top of a ladder and hopped over to Twilight's back.

"Yes, Spike, you're amazing!" Twilight praised.

"Yes, well, I do have some talents." Spike placed the book on a nearby podium, which Twilight began reading through.

"Hay fever... the trots..." She gasped loudly. "Cutie pox!"

"Cutie pox?" Every other pony, including Spike, exclaimed out loud.

"Cutie pox. This puzzling pony plague afflicted a population of ponies back in the paleopony period!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Heh, say that ten times fast!" Spike joked, pointing his fingers toward the book.

Twilight returned narrowed eyes and bumped him off her back. "Random cutie marks appeared all over the ponies' bodies, causing them to perform all the talents that came with them!"

"Just like me!" Applebloom shouted as she continued to perform the actions of her cutie marks.

"Yes, but what's the cure? What's the cure?" Applejack asked in a demanding tone.

Twilight took another look at her book but opened her mouth in shock. "It says here there's no known cure!"

"No known cure?" The others exclaimed.

"The cause of the breakout was never discovered, and the cutie pox disappears as mysteriously as they arrived!"

"Oh no!" Applebloom expressed worriedly and suddenly received another cutie mark. "Sacrebleu ! Plus de marques de cutie!" She gasped. "Qu'est-ce c'est? Je parle français?"

Her different language surprised us all.

"My sister's speakin' in fancy!" Applejack exclaimed.

"She needs help!" Twilight announced.

"I know she needs help! We can't just wait for this to go away! We gotta find somepony to mix up a cure! And fast!"

"Tout de suite!"

"Not some pony... some zebra!" Twilight offered.

"Zecora!" Applejack realized. "C'mon! We need to go now!"

Twilight picked up Spike and we all exited and headed to Zecora's, galloping rapidly.

Outside, we continued running until we looked back and noticed Applebloom was trailing behind, struggling with her cutie marks.

"Hurry, hurry!" Applejack shouted.

"Dépêchez-vous!"

I quickly turned back and headed towards Applebloom. I picked her up and held her on my back. Her frantic tapping was hurting me but I had to take her to Zecora's as soon as possible. When I caught up with Twilight and Applejack, suddenly, another cutie mark appeared behind Applebloom's flank, revealing sculpture tools. She was forced off my back to retrieve the tools and instantly created a perfect statue in the middle of town. Then, she received another cutie mark and she was immediately on top of a roof, cleaning out a chimney. As expected, she helplessly endured another cutie mark to which she began playing an accordion, all while continuing to spin the plates and twirl the hoop, in front of other ponies. Another cutie mark appeared and soon she was whipping a lion as she held a stool in front of her. Yet another cutie mark was spotted, causing her to run to the park and be victorious against an elderly by playing chess. Right after, she was in front of us, as well as other ponies, fencing with another pony. Twilight and Applejack looked at each other worriedly as Spike was watching Applebloom's struggle while casually eating a bag of popcorn.

"She's cursed!" A pony with a lily in her mane exclaimed.

Applebloom was tightrope walking on some flags tied by a couple of poles.

"Hexed!" The pony from the rose shop added.

Applebloom was now sky flying.

"Enchanted!" A light pink pony finished.

"No, she's not." Spike assured from a stack of hay with narrowed eyes. The ponies sighed in relief. "She just has some weird mysterious disease with no known cure called—

I quickly interrupted and cut off his sentence by placing my hoof on his mouth. I looked at the other ponies. "It's nothing."

Spike removed my hoof and looked at me awkwardly. "What do you mean 'nothing'? She has cutie pox."

"Cutie pox?" Everypony screamed and instantly cowered back into their homes.

We were left by ourselves in a silent town as a roll of tumbleweed passed by us. I looked at Spike with an angry expression.

"What?" He asked, clueless.

"I thought I had removed their fear the last time that I visited here." We heard Zecora as she spoke to us. "But, doors are barred and shutters shut, guess I should've stayed inside my hut."

"Zecora!" Twilight shouted. "Apple Bloom has cutie pox!" She pointed to Applebloom who was too busy doing complex math on a chalkboard. "We were just on our way to see if you had a cure!"

"But magically you're here! Was your zebra sense a-tinglin'?" Applejack asked.

"My 'zebra sense' did not bring me round, it was a special flower that I needed found. I thought I picked enough to fix all the potions I had to mix, but after my visit from Applebloom, some had mysteriously left my room." Zecora walked forward to Applebloom. "Applebloom! What do you say? Did this flower just walk away?"

Applebloom looked at her worriedly as she lifted up weights. Another cutie mark appeared on her forehead. "I, um..." She was instantly forced to move to a nearby window and begin washing it with sponges and bucket of soap and water. Ponies inside the home noticed this and covered their faces with hazard masks.

"A cutie pox cure I have forsooth, for healing power is in the seeds of truth." Zecora pulled out some seeds from her bag.

"Well, well then give 'em to her! Quick!" Applejack quickly responded.

"These seeds must be planted in the ground. With the truth, they'll grow, and the cure is found." Zecora explained as she held up the seeds on her tail.

"Come again?" Applejack asked, confused.

"She means that the seeds have to grow into a flower, but only speaking the truth is its nourishment."

Zecora nodded and returned a scolding look towards Applebloom who was too busy struggling with her heavy weight and other movements.

"Well then let's get to it!" Applejack bumped the seeds from Zecora's tail and planted them in the ground. "Alright, they're planted, now somepony tell the truth!" Applejack shouted for the whole town to hear.

I noticed Pinkie Pie sitting outside in the sweet shop, looking very worried as she began sweating nervously.

Applebloom retrieved another cutie mark in a form a tornado. Thus, it led her to begin spinning like one around us. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!"

"Somepony! Anypony!" Applejack helplessly cried.

Everypony around only stared, cowered, and did nothing. I turned my head back to Pinkie who was now nervously looking around. "Yesterday I told Mrs. Cake that I ate two corn cakes, but I really ate three!" Applejack and Twilight looked at the ground, but didn't notice any changes. They turned their attention back towards Pinkie Pie.

"I don't think that's how it—

"Okay six! I ate six corn cakes!" Pinkie Pie cut off my sentence by shouting panicky. Applejack and Twilight observed the ground in hopes again for it to grow, but it didn't.

After they looked back at Pinkie Pie in confusion and worriment, Pinkie Pie stood up from the ground and waved her hooves around, crying. "Make it stop! Oh, make it stop!"

"It's Applebloom! She needs to tell the truth!" I explained to the others.

"Wah, I can't stand it anymore!" Applebloom shouted as she continued spinning. "It's me! I admit it! I didn't earn my cutie mark! They're all fake!" Her spinning stopped as she plopped back on the floor, but her tapping resumed. Zecora released a grin as we looked at the ground for any changes. There was a twitch. "I figured the Heart's Desire would help me get what I wanted most! So when Zecora left her hut, I mixed up a special potion and put the rest of the Heart's Desire in it!" The planted seeds moved more, and then finally spurted out from the dirt and evolved into a magnificent flower, causing everypony to awe in amazement.

However, Applebloom quickly dove herself to the flower and ate it in one gulp. She sighed and fell to the floor, relieved. All of her cutie marks began disappearing from her body. She stood up and noticed the changes, smiling afterwards.

"Applebloom!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed nearby as she and Scootaloo ran towards her.

"Are you okay?" Scootaloo asked.

"I'm great, and I've never been happier to be a blank flank. But I'm awful sorry I lied, 'specially to you gals. I was so desperate for my cutie mark, I just got carried away." She apologized and walked up to Zecora. "And I'm really sorry I snuck those flowers from you, Zecora. I- I wouldn't blame you if you never wanted me to come by again."

"Now, Applebloom," Zecora lifted her head with her hoof. "…do not be silly. You are always welcome, my little filly. With each mistake you learn something new, growing up into a better you."

When we looked to see Zecora, she had mysteriously disappeared.

"Applebloom…" Twilight turned her attention to her. "Would you mind writing to Princess Celestia and telling her what you've learned?"

"I'd be happy to, Twilight!" Applebloom cheerfully accepted. "Spike?" She called.

Spike immediately ran to her side with a quill and letter in his hand. "Ready!"

"Dear Princess Celestia, waiting for what your heart desires can be really hard. So, you may try to take a shortcut. But this dishonesty never works, because you didn't earn what your heart desired. The only cure is being honest with yourself, and others. And that's something every heart desires." Applebloom presented as her friends smiled at her.

Spike took a deep breath and blew the scroll, sending it to the Princess.

"I sure am proud of you, sis." Applejack announced. "Seems like you finally learned the importance of patience."

"Yeah." I added. "You really don't want to rush things through. I promise you'll find that cutie mark when the time is right."

"Yup! All good things come to those who wait." Applebloom smiled. Just as I thought that she finally learned to become patient, she broke my hopes. "Well! I've waited long enough."

"Actually, that was way too long." Scootaloo agreed as they ran past us.

"What?" Applejack exclaimed in shock.

"So what are we gonna do today to earn our cutie marks?" Applebloom asked.

"Well, I was thinking, for a pony who's never mixed up a potion before, you sure stirred up something fierce." Scootaloo offered.

"Yeah! So what if your talent is potion making?" Sweetie Belle added.

"Oh my gosh, totally! Let's go talk to Zecora, now!" Applebloom realized and the three of them began running towards the forest.

"Yeah!"

"Woohoo!"

I sighed and shook my head…but at least they were okay…

"So…uh…" Applejack began awkwardly. "How about some pizza?"

"Sounds great." Twilight smiled and looked at me. "What about you, Alex?"

"Sure, I'll meet you two at the usual spot." I responded.

"Okay!" They both walked off.

I walked to Fluttershy's cottage and knocked on her door.

"Hi, Alex." She greeted when she opened it to see me.

"Hey, Fluttershy." I smiled lightly. "Sorry, I'm late… there was some…trouble…back in town, but it's all alright now."

"It wasn't too much trouble, was it?" Fluttershy asked, showing a little concern.

"Nope. Twilight and Applejack are getting the others for some pizza. Care to join us?"

"Definitely." She responded, smiling in soft excitement.

We walked happily back to meet with the others.

"Hey, you two!" They greeted as we walked towards the table they were at.

"Hey." I smiled as we sat down together.

"Boy, I'm glad that crazy day is over." Applejack commented.

"Crazy day? What?" Rainbow Dash questioned. "What happened?"

"You mean you didn't see or hear anything?"

"No. I was busy napping."

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Of course you were."

"Well, tell me what happened!"

Applejack sighed and explained everything that occured.

"Really? I missed all that? Wow! Somepony should have woken me up!" She began chuckling.

"Rainbow! That's my sister you're laughing at!" Applejack scolded.

Rainbow Dash continued laughing but once she saw the annoyed expression on Applejack's face, she immediately shut her mouth. "Oh…um… I mean… That must have been horrible…"

Applejack removed the scolding look and replaced it with a joyful one as she smiled proudly.

We took our order for the usual hay topping pizza. As we waited, everypony talked…well…except Twilight… I noticed as she remained silent as she looked towards the ground, gloomily. I tilted my head and looked at her. "Twilight, is everything alright?"

She lifted her head in surprise but regained herself. "Oh, um, yeah!" She formed a light smile. "Don't worry; I'm just thinking about some things…"

"Oh…Alright…"

Twilight didn't eat much when the pizza came. She still looked a little sad. I couldn't stop thinking about what it was that was bothering her so much.

"Well, I'm beat! See y'all tomorrow!" Applejack walked away from the table and everypony followed. Twilight left as well. I wanted to check up on her and see how she was doing, but I slightly felt that I would probably be bothering her. Besides, I have to take Fluttershy home…maybe I'll go check up on her after.

I walked Fluttershy through the starry sky until I reached her door.

"Is there anything else you need?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I'm okay."

I smiled and hugged her for a moment. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight." She replied so soft and sweet like.

I kissed her and repeated it to her as well. She walked inside and I began heading over to Twilight's house.

I knocked on the door when I reached the location. There was a moment of silence for a moment until Twilight had finally opened it.

"Oh, hey Alex." She sniffled a bit. "Is something wrong?"

When I looked at her eyes, I noticed they were a bit watery. "Well…Actually, I've been wanting to know what's bothering you."

"Bothering me? Why would you think something's bothering me?"

"Well…you look like you've been crying."

She lowered her head. "Oh…"

"Do you need somepony to talk to?"

She looked around for a moment as she thought. "It's okay, honestly. It's nothing serious. It's just something that happens once in a while."

"Oh…"

"But I appreciate your concern for me. It really means a lot." Twilight managed to smile.

"Alright… Just remember I'm here if you need somepony to talk to." I assured.

"Don't worry, I will."

I nodded. "I'll see you later then. Goodnight, Twilight."

"Goodnight, Alex."

I waved and began heading home.

Before I walked upstairs, I drank a glass of water really quick since I was feeling a little thirsty. After I lay myself in bed, I began trying to think about what Twilight was crying about. I hope it really is nothing serious. I just wonder what it is. Hm… well I hope she's better tomorrow.

Before falling asleep...for some strange reason...a bad feeling struck me faintly when I thought about the reason...

May The Best Pet Win!

Episode 33 – May The Best Pet Win!

Three soft and light knocks gently startled me awake. Hearing the comfortable taps on the door brought one pony to mind, whom I guessed to be at the door. I quickly, but calmly, unequipped myself from bed and walked towards the front door. There was a beautiful and stunning mare beyond the door.

"Hi, Alex." She gently kissed me. "Guess what?"

"What is it? You sound excited." I responded.

"Today's the Pony Pet Playdate at the park. I would love it if you came…you can have one of the little critters at my cottage if you need a pet…"

"That sounds like fun." I smiled. "But we can both share Angel."

"You're going to be his daddy?" Fluttershy joked sweetly.

I chuckled lightly. "If you want me to be."

She blushed lightly and giggled.

Fluttershy and I met up with the others who all returned with their own pets. We then began our way towards the park, but as soon as Opal hopped off Rarity's back, the other pets grew too excited and ran after her, causing her to flee and climb up the nearest tree. I noticed that Rainbow Dash was on that tree as well. She had a pillow on the branch, on which she nestled her head and slept soundly. It wasn't until Opal's hissing and scratching as the other pets looked upwards, that Rainbow Dash had begun to look bothered. She tossed, turned, and suddenly launched upwards. She noticed Opal in front of her and looked below the tree to see the other pets under there. She wiped her forehead and exhaled a heavy breath.

The other girls were chattering happily as we all descended towards the area with the pets. Pinkie Pie began playing with Gummy as he opened his jaws and chomped down on her hoof. Next, he jumped and clenched on to her forehead with his gums and then moved on to her tail as she continued giggling. Owloysius had flown over to Twilight while Applejack threw a stick for her dog to fetch it and bring it back to her. Fluttershy was running with Angel. Rarity had walked over to the tree for Opal to climb down and nest on her back. Rainbow Dash flew down and met up with Rarity.

"Sincerest apologies, Rainbow, if our pets were bothering you." Rarity apologized and looked at Opal. "Say you're sorry, Opal." Opal turned her back to her and hissed. "She's... sorry."

"What are you all doing out here?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Why, we always round up our critters for a regular ol' Pony Pet Playdate in this park." Applejack answered as she ran past Rainbow and continued to throw the stick that she held on to with her tail.

"Uh, you do?"

"Same time every week."

Fluttershy had stopped by Rainbow Dash with Angel on her back. "I thought you knew. You didn't know?" She looked at us. "She didn't know?" She began rubbing her hoof shyly on the ground.

"Well we had initially planned on inviting Rainbow, of course, except–

"We were totally gonna invite you, Rainbow, then Twilight remembered that you don't even have a pet, and Rarity remembered that you really like to take naps in the afternoon, so Applejack figured you wouldn't be missing out on anything anyway, and Fluttershy and I nodded our heads in agreement like this." Pinkie Pie interrupted Twilight and placed her hooves on Fluttershy, making her head nod.

"Oh, please don't be mad at us." Fluttershy begged.

"Oh, I'm not mad. You all are right. Not much point of a Pony Pet Playdate for me if I'm a pony without a pet, right?" Rainbow Dash replied.

"Eeexactly. So, if'n you'll excuse us." Applejack continued throwing the stick towards her pet while the other girls spent time with theirs as well.

Rainbow Dash flew back up to the tree and laid herself down as she crossed her forelegs behind her head. I walked up to the tree and looked at her. "Are you sure you don't want to join us Rainbow Dash? I mean… you don't need a pet. Fluttershy's sharing Angel with me."

"No thanks." She responded, waving her hoof while keeping her eyes closed. "I'm nice and cozy right here."

However, we began hearing the girls' chattering as they had fun with their pets, causing Rainbow Dash to open her eyes and look at them uneasily. She covered her ears with the pillow, but when that didn't work, she flew towards the ground, near me. "Hey, now wait a minute! Just because I don't have a pet now doesn't mean I never want a pet!"

Fluttershy's eyes immediately widened and her face contained so much joy and excitement. "Ohh! Y, y, Oh, really? You really want a pet? Really?" She flew around Rainbow Dash energetically. "'cause I've got so many wonderful choices at my house." Fluttershy began dragging Rainbow Dash as she flew. "Oh, and I know you'll just love them, and they'll love you, oh!" Rainbow Dash noticed that she was still on the ground, so she rolled her eyes and flapped her wings. "And you'll be best friends forever and ever! Oh!"

I smiled at the sight of Fluttershy being really excited and decided I would follow her, maybe in getting a pet as well.

I arrived at Fluttershy's home to see her flying above her little animals as Rainbow Dash walked with a bored expression on her face.

"Now, Rainbow, my dear, I cannot express my delight!" Fluttershy began singing.

"It's abundantly clear

That somewhere out here

Is the pet that will suit you just right."

"I can't wait to get started, but first let me set a few rules.

It's of utmost importance

The pet that I get

Is something that's awesome and cool!" Rainbow Dash assured, joining in her song as well.

"Awesome and cool, got it.

I have so many wonderful choices, just wait, you will see!"

"I need something real fast like a bullet to keep up with me!" Rainbow Dash presented her speed by flying above the animals.

"Sure! How 'bout a bunny?" Fluttershy grinned as she held out a brown bunny towards Rainbow Dash.

"They're cutesy and wootsie and quick as can be."

Rainbow Dash scrunched her face. "Cutesy? Wootsie? Have you even met me?"

"Rainbow, have faith.

You see, I will bet you

Somewhere in here is the pet that will get you.

C'mon, the sky's the limit!" Fluttershy led Rainbow Dash to a more variety of animals.

"Sky is good. I'd like it to fly."

I noticed a turtle seem to be near Rainbow Dash frequently.

"Really? Because I think this widdle puddy tat has your name written all over it." Fluttershy had pulled out an adorable kitten that stared at Rainbow Dash joyfully as it stuck its tongue out. "Yes, he does." The kitten released a highly adorable sound as it rubbed its head on Rainbow Dash's, but she seemed uninterested. "Aww, look, he likes you!"

"Pass."

I didn't care. I would have wanted to have him as pet. That kitten was too cute.

"I have so many wonderful choices for you to decide!

There are otters and seals

With massive appeal."

"Otters and seals do not fly." Rainbow Dash interrupted angrily.

"Maybe not, but I've seen this particular seal catch ten feet of air when he breaches the water!" Fluttershy grinned widely as the seal raised its front feet and clapped while it sounded happily.

"That's it. I'm outta here." Rainbow Dash began walking away, but I noticed the same tortoise slowly walking towards her.

" Wait!" Fluttershy stopped Rainbow Dash. "There must be a pet here

That will fit the ticket." I noticed how both of them didn't seem to notice the turtle, which made me feel a little bad for it. "How 'bout a ladybug, or a cute cricket?" She presented both of them to Rainbow Dash who returned an annoyed look.

"Bigger. And cooler." The turtle tapped Rainbow Dash on her back leg, but she merely pushed it away, causing it to wobble away. I even felt worse for it…really…

"Bigger. Cooler. Right." Fluttershy gently pushed Rainbow Dash to a tree.

"I've got just the thing in that tree, Dash!

Meet your new fabulous pet, Squirrely!" Fluttershy had revealed a squirrel in the most fashionable state.

"It's just a squirrel."

"Not just any squirrel." Fluttershy grabbed it and launched it towards the air. "A flying squirrel!" The squirrel floated back to the ground lightly.

"...Yeah. So, like I was saying...

Fluttershy, pal, this won't cut it.

I need a pet to keep up with me.

Something awesome, something flying

With coolness that defies gravity!"

"I'm sensing you want an animal that can fly."

"Ya think?"

Fluttershy placed a hoof around her and continued to lead her somewhere else. "I have plenty of wonderful creatures who soar in the sky!

Like a sweet hummingbird or a giant monarch butterfly!"

"Better, but cooler." Again, I noticed the turtle, but this time he sucked his head in his shell and then pulled it back out, wearing shades.

"I see. How 'bout an owl, or a wasp, or a toucan?

There's so many wonderful creatures the likes of that." Fluttershy grabbed Rainbow Dash's hoof and flew her further up in the sky.

"There are falcons and eagles

They are both quite regal,

Or perhaps what you need is a dark and mysterious bat?"

"Now you're talking. But instead of just one standout, now that's too many." Rainbow Dash wondered which one to pick as she looked at each one of them. "So many choices, and such riches aplenty."

"Not a bad problem to have, if you ask me."

"The bat would be awesome, but the wasp I'm digging too.

Do you have something in a yellow striped bat?"

"No." Fluttershy flew back towards the ground to introduce another animal. "I've got a hot pink flamingo, just dying to meet you!" The flamingo held out it's foot to shake with Rainbow Dash's.

"What to do, what to do?" Rainbow Dash suddenly gasped.

"A prize! That's it! There's really just one way!

To find out which animal's best!

Hold a contest of speed, agility, and guts

That will put each pet to the test!"

"Don't forget style, that should be considered."

"Then we'll know for sure who's best of the litter!"

"The one who is awesome and cool,"

"Just like me! Can't settle for less, 'cause I'm the best,"

"So a contest we will see!"

"Who's the number one, greatest, perfectest pet"

"In the world for me!" Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash sang in unison.

"May the games begin."

"And may the best pet win!" Rainbow Dash finished and looked at the pets she was in favor of. "Alright you guys! Line up and follow me! Double time!"

The flying animals lined up and began flying behind Rainbow Dash.

"The way Rainbow Dash is describing doesn't really sound like a pet to me…" I commented to Fluttershy. "It looks like she wants a player for a sports team instead of some critter to love and care for…"

Fluttershy shrugged as she didn't know what to exactly do with her. "I just want her to be happy with a pet she truly likes."

"Hm…" I thought and noticed the turtle that stayed behind due to his lack of speed. "What about that turtle over there?" I asked.

She noticed the animal I was talking about. "Hm? Oh, I don't mean to sound rude… but I don't think Rainbow Dash would want to have him for a pet…"

"Yeah…but still… I just feel so bad for him… he should at least have a chance…"

Fluttershy thought for a moment and nodded. "You're right." She flew over to the turtle and picked him up. "I'll get you a chance to be Rainbow Dash's pet, don't you worry." The turtle returned a weak and slow smile… but it somehow contained its adorableness. Fluttershy flew over to me. "Let's go to where Rainbow Dash is having the competition."

I nodded. "Alright."

We found Rainbow Dash with a cap and a whistle around her neck, lining up the animals in a straight horizontal line at Town Hall. We joined the other girls who were watching from behind the railings.

"Has she started yet?" I asked.

"Nope she's just about to." Applejack answered.

We watched Rainbow Dash blow her whistle loudly. The animals before her stood at attention. The girls began cheering loudly. Rainbow Dash saw this and blew the whistle briefly, causing the girls to quickly quiet down. "Shh!" She turned her head towards the assembled animals and began pacing in front of them. "So! You all think you've got what it takes to be my pet, do ya? Well, we'll just see about that!" She pressed her nose against the flamingo, causing it to take a long gulp. "If any of you don't think you can handle it, bow out now before you humiliate yourself in front of your peers. This competition isn't for the weak. You'd better be prepared to step up your game!" She noticed the butterfly and pressed her face closer towards it. "You call that flapping?" The butterfly began to flap much harder and faster. "That's better. There's only room on Team Dash for one of you, and my future pet needs to be able to take it to the extreme! Any questions?"

"I got one." Applejack whispered. "Does she understand what a pet really needs?"

"That's what I wondered too…" I added.

"Yeah, like care and attention," Twilight answered. Applejack and I noticed Winona begin panting near Twilight. "Love and affection—She suddenly licked Twilight on the cheek, causing Applejack and I to smile— ugh! And breath mints!"

We turned our attention back to the competition. I looked back to see Fluttershy, but I noticed that she was gone. I then saw her gently pushing the turtle towards Rainbow Dash with her nose. "Now, you just pay attention, and try your best, and—

"Seriously, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash interrupted her motivational speech. "The turtle? What did you bring that thing here for?" She pointed towards him, causing him to flinch.

Seeing the turtle look slightly hurt saddened me a bit.

Fluttershy licked a white clean cloth and polished the turtle's shell. "Technically he's a tortoise," Fluttershy placed a hoof around his shell and hugged him. "…and he's always dreamed of being somepony's pet. He just wants a chance to compete, he won't get in the way. You won't even know he's here."

Rainbow Dash observed how he even blinked very slowly. "No."

"Oh, just let him try."

"Ugh, but there's no way he can possibly keep up." She pushed the turtle, causing him to roll on his back and return to his original position. "Look at him!"

"It won't hurt to let him try." Fluttershy repeated, holding him towards her.

"But—

"Please, Rainbow Dash…" I stated, walking over to her. "He deserves a chance…just like anypony or animal…" She returned a groan, looking annoyed. I fought back with a serious and demanding look.

"Grrgh, fine!" She surrendered. Fluttershy gently placed the turtle down, causing Rainbow Dash to fly up to his face. "But don't say I didn't warn you! This isn't a game, you know!" She turned her attention to the other animals. "Alright, now these games will determine which one of you has the most important qualities I'm looking for in a pet." Her paradoxical sentences caused me to shake my head. She suddenly sped away, causing the turtle to spin around on his shell. I walked over to him and placed it back right. "Speed!" Rainbow Dash shouted from a distance. After, she maneuvered through each animal very quickly. "Agility." She stopped by us and puffed herself up. "Guts!" She sped towards a cloud and created a figure with it using her flying. "Style!" She sped back down and presented herself. "Coolness." Then, she created a triumphed pose. "Awesomeness." Finally, she used the cap she had on and turned it backwards, crossing her forelegs together as she wore a pair of shades. "And radicalness."

Twilight had come by. "Aren't those all the same thing?" She asked.

Rainbow Dash lowered her shades to where she could see Twilight. "You would think that, Twilight." She began patting her head. "And that's why you would never qualify to be my pet." She raced away.

Twilight returned an annoyed look. I rolled my eyes. "Don't worry about her. She's just being herself."

"Of course…"

Rainbow Dash had led the animals, as well as us, towards the track for the first part of the test. However, Fluttershy had to pick up the tortoise and fly him over to the starting line and place him on there. She flew back to us as we stood outside of the track.

"Speed!" Rainbow Dash announced. I slapped my hoof on my head because I knew the turtle was going to have trouble with this one… I just wish something could just help him... "On your marks..." The animals lined up at the starting line. "Get set..." They prepared themselves. Rainbow Dash blew the whistle. Immediately at the sound of the whistle, the animals dashed themselves throughout the race. I noticed the turtle barely getting one step on the line. Rainbow Dash analyzed the animals that finished a lap. "Sorta speedy... not speedy... pretty speedy... could be more speedy..." The Falcon cried and instantly flew with a rapid speed and stopped at the line. "Yeah! That's speed!" The girls began cheering loudly. The other animals caught up with it as it stood, full with pride. The turtle had just finished a step on the line when Rainbow Dash walked up to it and clicked her tongue. "That's just sad." I sighed heavily, more in sadness than in anger, when I heard her say that to the innocent turtle.

Rainbow Dash began the next part of the test.

"Agility!" The butterfly began, swiftly moving through the hoops while remaining in control, but did it too soft for Rainbow Dash. "Sorta agile..." The flamingo tried to maneuver on a sort of see-saw obstacle, but failed by slipping and falling towards the ground. "not agile..." The toucan flew through the curved and covered hoop, pretty swiftly. "pretty agile..." The bat flew through a hoop, easily. "could be more agile..." After observing, the turtle tried to jump, but instead, it only remained stretched and fell to the ground. "Wanna know the opposite of agility? That." She directed towards the turtle, making me feel even worse. We all noticed the humming bird swiftly go through every hoop, precisely all while staying speedy. "Yeah baby, now that's what I call agility!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as the others cheered. She pointed to her raised hoof. "Don't leave me hangin'!" The hummingbird slapped one of its wings on Rainbow Dash's hoof, but doing that caused it to halt flying and fall towards the ground for a moment. It quickly returned to Rainbow Dash with nervous eyes. "I'm gonna have to shave a point off your score for that." Rainbow Dash grabbed the clipboard and a pencil to do as she stated as the hummingbird flew away sadly.

Then… there is the next event…

Rainbow Dash placed a cat cage in front of her. "Okay! Which of you has the guts to try and get Opal's favorite toy away from her?" She placed the toy mouse in front of the cage and opened it. Opal revealed herself from the dark and hissed aggressively. She pulled out her paw and revealed the claws hidden inside, immediately scaring all the animals…except for the butterfly… It flew towards the toy mouse. Opal reacted by growling aggressively and rising up her claws to swipe. Instead, the butterfly opened its wings and stunned Opal with their beauty. While Opal was hypnotized, the butterfly grabbed the toy mouse and returned it to Rainbow Dash. "Now that takes guts!"

The girls opened their mouths in awe at the bravery of the butterfly. Meanwhile, the tortoise was trying to be the same by tipping the cage over Opal, but the sly cat saw this and jumped out of the way in time. She charged at the turtle as he cowered back in the shell. Opal continuously swiped his hard shell. Rainbow Dash saw this, slightly uninterested, and resumed her competition.

"Style!" Rainbow Dash announced as Rarity took pictures of her with her camera. She took several pictures. They consisted her with the bat wearing shades, another with the falcon on her shoulder and she stood valiantly, yet another where she was fencing with the hummingbird, then one where dressed up as the complete opposite of herself along with owl who was standing on several books, and one where she was playing something dealing with brooms with the hawk. She had just finished taking one with the butterfly. Rarity removed the accessories from her and puffed her cheeks with powder. "Any pet of mine's gotta look good, 'cause you gotta make me look good!" She turned her head to notice the tortoise standing on the stool beside her with a ribbon on his shell. Right when the flash appeared, he cowered into his shell as Rainbow Dash returned an uncomfortable look in the picture.

"Coolness!" Rainbow Dash sounded smoothly. She pointed at the owl. Hoot. "Sorta cool." She pointed to the duck. Quack. "Not cool." She pointed at the bat. It cried out. "Pretty cool." She pointed to the toucan. It cried as well, but in a much raspier voice. "Could be cooler." She then pointed again, but there was nothing there until she had moved her hoof towards the ground, revealing the wasp. Buzz. "Not what I had in mind." Next was the butterfly. It opened it mouth but no sound was heard. "I can't hear you!" The tortoise began coughing, dryly. "Eugh." She returned a disgusted look until the eagle cried out. "Now that's a cool sound!"

She then judged them on their "awesomeness" which seemed to make no difference, just as Twilight had stated. The bat began by hanging on a tree upside-down and flopping his ears, possibly sending out sound waves. "Sorta awesome." She looked at the toucan who only seemed to twirl his tongue and emit a strange noise. "Not awesome." The flamingo stood on one leg easily. "Could be more awesome." We noticed the owl twist its head three hundred and sixty degrees as if it was completely normal. "Hohoho, yeah, that is awesome!" However, the tortoise appeared before her and showed her how he made his head return into his shell. "Uh, you did that already. That's pretty much all you can do, huh?" I presented a slightly saddened expression with narrowed eyes.

The next event seemed to somewhat ridicule the animals in an odd fashion. The duck danced on the stage, tapping his feet as he pushed and pulled a cane around, as well as wearing an old-fashioned hat. The eagle knitted Rainbow Dash a sweater, even depicting her on the sweater. The falcon used card tricks, which he failed… The wasp weirdly managed to create shadow puppets with his stinger…again…how was that possible? I will never know. All these side show attractions bored Rainbow Dash… The bat's time to shine was up and he hung upside down again. There were several glasses below him and he created a soothing song as he lightly played them. Suddenly, he released a high-pitched squeal and shattered the glasses into bits of pieces. "Whoa! That was truly awesome! But... I'm afraid this is the radicalness competition, so I'm gonna have to take some points off."

When the tortoise was up to present himself, I was really astonished by his bravery and determined attitude to become Rainbow Dash's pet. He had went through the trouble to create an obstacle course consisting of jumping on a spring which would launch him over a pool of sharks, dodge through a continuously swinging guillotine, travel through a roller-coaster style obstacle, jump through a burning hoop of fire, and finally land at a sheet at the end. I truly commended his effort…but unfortunately when he set himself up at the beginning on top of a stool… he could not even make it across to the first obstacle. He jumped and only fell on his shell, helplessly. He waggled his legs as the curtains dropped on him. I saw Rainbow Dash sigh and walk over to him. I began walking towards her…just…just to see if I could do something for the poor animal…

"Listen, turtle..."

"Tortoise." Fluttershy corrected as she popped her head out of the curtains.

"Whatever!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, sending Fluttershy back. "You've had your fun, but I think you and I both know who made the cut and who didn't." He reacted by slowly closing his eyelids and reopening them, looking as if he didn't understand her. Rainbow Dash only stared at him for a moment until he croaked. "You didn't." She pointed at him, then at the flying birds in the sky. The owl, bat, falcon, and hawk had made the cut. "I mean... A for effort and everything, you gave it your best shot, maybe I've got a gold star sticker around here somewhere you can have, but, seriously, go home. You're starting to creep me out…" Rainbow Dash released an uneasy grin. I know those words weren't directed at me… but they still managed to somehow hurt me inside… especially how the turtle could only present gleaming eyes at her, who took it to be uncomfortable. "So, anyway…" She turned around and noticed me standing there in front of her. "Oh. Hey, Alex. What's up?"

"Well…" I thought for a moment. "Is there any way that tortoise has a better chance to be your pet?" I began feeling a little more emotional for some reason… "I mean… he really wants to. I can see he's placed so much effort in doing so…it's just…" I sighed. "He's not used to doing the kind of things that you've set standards for…"

Rainbow Dash returned slightly understanding eyes. "Listen, Alex… I know what you're trying to say and stuff...but he's just not the type of pet I'm looking for…"

"But a pet's supposed to be something to love and care for. Something you have a bond with… not for their superior skills…"

Rainbow Dash sighed. "I like to fly." She pointed to the tortoise that was still on his shell. "He can't fly. So if he can't fly, I can't fly. I would have to stay planted on the ground. Besides, he's slow! Have you seen the way he walks?"

"Can't you make an exception? I mean, you can take a saddlebag with you and place him in there. Or I'm pretty sure there are other ways…"

Rainbow stopped me by shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Alex." She began walking away towards the other pets, leaving me to only stare at the turtle and feel depressed. "You're all outstanding competitors, but there can only be one of you who's number one. So the final, tie-breaking contest is going to be..." She turned the other way for a moment. "…pause for dramatic effect ...a race against me! Through Ghastly Gorge! Dun dun dun!"

As she began escorting the animals to their final test, I looked at the turtle and picked him up. "Don't worry…" I thought for a moment. "I know you'll win… You just have to show her how big of a heart you have…" He could only look at me and release another brief croak. I squinted my eyes and looked back to see the others walking to Ghastly Gorge. Fluttershy had spotted me and flew over to me before leaving.

"Is something the matter?" She asked, aware of my expression.

"This little animal deserves so much more than to be cast aside…" I answered as Fluttershy observed with a concerned expression. I thought for a moment and opened my eyes. "Can you do something for me?"

"What is it?"

"Can you take the tortoise to Ghastly Gorge and have him compete anyway?"

Fluttershy placed her hooves to her mouth. "Isn't that a bit too dangerous?"

"Yeah…I know… I just have faith in this little guy…" I patted his shell.

Fluttershy closed her eyes and nodded. "Okay." She grabbed the turtle and we began heading towards the next area of the competition.

We arrived just in time to see Rainbow Dash giving her speech before the start of the event. "Actually, Ghastly Gorge isn't scary. It's fun. Heh. I've flown through it a million times myself, so, obviously I'll be at the front of the pack." As Rainbow Dash continued to be herself, Fluttershy had flew slyly behind the others and placed the turtle behind them. She patted his shell, whispered a comment, and flew back towards us. "But whichever of you make it across the finish line with me will have proven you can keep up with me," She began doing push-ups. "…and will have earned the honor, and glory, of getting to be my pet!" She stood up and braced herself at the edge of the cliff, seeming as if she didn't even notice the tortoise. "Ready?" She asked and looked towards the gorge. "Setgo!" She quickly announced and sped off. The other animals had hesitated for a second but began flying after her. The tortoise could only release a frightened expression, especially since he couldn't fly. He looked below him and wondered how he would accommodate to this test.

I looked at him seriously and muttered to myself. "Come on…you can do this…" I closed my eyes and felt something immense inside me. When I had opened my eyes, I was surprised to see the turtle at the bottom of the gorge, slowly walking and severely trying his best to have a chance in winning. I had widened eyes and looked at the girls to see if they had an explanation on what happened, but they were too busy cheering for the others.

"Come on!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "Let's go meet them at the end of the finish line!"

The other girls agreed and ran ahead. I shrugged and met up with Fluttershy to head towards the finish line as well.

When we finally arrived, all I could think about was the safety of that tortoise.

Twilight also seemed to notice because she walked up to me. "Is something wrong?"

"I'm just thinking about that poor tortoise…" I answered.

"Because Rainbow doesn't want him as a pet?"

"Exactly…" I sighed. "He may not be good at the things Rainbow is expecting…but he has a lot of potential in him… I can feel it… He really wants to be her pet and I think he deserves to be after all the hard work he's putting into it."

"I understand…but you can't force her to take him."

"Yeah…you're right…" I responded, but still felt a strong confidence for him. "What about you?" I asked her. "Are you doing alright?"

She smiled. "Yeah, I told you it was nothing major. It just happens every once in a while. It probably will again soon…but it goes away. Like I said, it's nothing really bad."

"Oh…" I wanted to ask her what it was…but I felt as if it might be something too personal.

We all heard a cry in the distance and looked up to see the falcon arriving in first place. The girls began cheering for the winner and the rest of the animals as they crossed the finish line. However, their cheering slowed down as they noticed Rainbow Dash wasn't among them as they continued to fly past the end.

"Hm, something's not right here." Twilight commented and grabbed a pair of binoculars with her magic.

Before she could have a second with them, Fluttershy immediately rushed between her and the binoculars to see what happened. "Where's Rainbow Dash?"

Applejack then placed herself between now and looked. "Great galloping galoshes! There's been an avalanche in there!"

"Rainbow!" Spike reacted and the girls began gasping and talking worriedly.

"Wait! Look!" Pinkie Pie suddenly intervened and pointed.

"It's the turtle!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

"Tortoise!" The others corrected.

"...whatever..."

I carefully looked and through a billow of dust, I could see the turtle slowly walking towards us…carrying something…

"And he's carrying something on his back..." Twilight added.

When the dust cleared up, we all saw him carrying Rainbow Dash!

"Ahh! It's Rainbow Dash! It's her! It's Rainbow!" Pinkie Pie shouted and hopped excitedly.

The girls began cheering loudly again as I smiled at the sight of them. However, their cheering slowed down, once again, as they realized they were heading towards us at a very slow and awkward pace.

"Maybe we'd better go meet him half way." Fluttershy offered, grinning.

Twilight walked over to them, bringing the checkered banner and white line along with her and placing them firmly on the ground. The girls resumed cheering loudly as the turtle slowly passed the finish line. He stopped when we all met up with him.

"Huh. Way to go, little guy!" Spike praised as he patted him on the head.

"Oh, thank goodness you're not hurt, Rainbow!" Twilight exchanged words with Rainbow Dash.

"Just my pride…" Rainbow Dash returned softly and dusted herself off.

"I certainly hope all of this dreadful dust was worth it!" Rarity added as the dust flew over to her. She released a mighty sneeze.

"It sure was, if'n it means Rainbow gets to have her own little critter just like the rest of us from now on." Applejack expressed as she petted her dog on the head.

I noticed the turtle look up at Rainbow Dash, wanting to know what her decision would be.

"Uh... thanks." Rainbow thanked and hopped off of his shell. She lowered herself to see him face-to-face. "What you did... I owe you one." They knocked hooves…or feet… and that made me feel warmer inside, but I was still worried about her decision.

"Rainbow!" Fluttershy spoke happily. "Your new pet is over here waiting for you!" She presented the falcon, who spread his wings and flew over to Rainbow Dash, landing above her bandaged wings. The turtle looked at her sadly.

"Oh... right... yeah. That." Rainbow Dash sounded uneasily.

"What's the matter?" Spike asked, noticing this.

"You got your perfect pet, right?" Pinkie Pie added, placing her foreleg on his head.

"The best of the best like you wanted, remember? It can fly and it's not a squirrel!" Fluttershy emphasized. "Should we sing about it again?"

"A falcon sure looks good on ya, Rainbow." Applejack commented.

But is she really happy with it? That's what I thought.

Rarity placed her camera and took a picture, which caused the light bulb above it to flash brightly and scare the turtle. He cowered inside his shell.

"Easy, fella. Nothing to be afraid of." Rainbow Dash comforted the tortoise. "The falcon sure does looks cool... he's absolutely everything I wanted in a pet." She sighed.

"Yay?" Fluttershy expressed in a questionable matter.

"But…?" I asked, longing for her to choose the brave tortoise.

Rainbow Dash looked at me and smiled. "But I said whoever crosses the finish line with me gets to be my pet."

"You did! You did say that!" Pinkie Pie quickly reacted. "She did say that, that was the rule!" She exclaimed as she hopped over us excitedly.

"And the only racer who crossed the finish line with me, was the one who stopped to save me when I needed help." The falcon immediately looked around worriedly and embarrassingly when she had said that. "The tortoise!" She announced and held him up, nuzzling her nose against his. I finally felt warm again inside my heart. I was so happy to see that tortoise smiling in accomplishment. The falcon had cried sadly and flew off of her.

"But what about the—

Twilight had wanted to ask, but we all saw the falcon accept the exchange and shake wings/feet with the tortoise and walk away in defeat. Rainbow Dash placed her hoof on his shell, causing him to look back and smile very slowly. His expression made me want to laugh, but it was mostly because on how happy I was to see him be chosen.

"Wouldja look at that? He even smiles slow." Applejack commented and led the girls to chuckle and awe.

"Spike, take a letter." Rainbow Dash spoke. Spike pulled out a scroll and quill and began writing. "Dear Princess Celestia, I used to think that the most important traits to look for in a pet, or any best friend, were all physical competitive abilities. But now I can see how short-sighted and shallow that was."As she had spoke, I noticed Opal aggressively attack and bite that toy mouse she had in her claws. The winning pet noticed this and slowly walked over to her to take it away. However, Opal realized his attempt and began to furiously swipe her claws at him, but he had covered his head and feet by burrowing them inside his shell. He poked his head out, retrieved the mouse and dragged it inside his cage as Opal began to attack him. "Today I learned what the most important quality really is. A certain kind of spirit. A stick-to-it-ive-ness. A never give up, can-do attitude that's the mark of a real winner. And this tortoise has it." Opal had grown weary of attacking her pet and walked away as if he wasn't worth fighting. I smiled at her behavior and the tortoise's bravery.

"Tenacity." Twilight offered proudly.

"Gesundheit." Rainbow responded in the wrong way. "You just can't stop that little guy. He's like a... like a... Tank!" She placed her hoof on his shell. He poked his head out.

"But Rainbow! You didn't want a pet that couldn't fly because it would keep you grounded and hold you back, remember?" Fluttershy advised, causing his head to lower sadly.

"Hmm..." Rainbow Dash wondered, placing a hoof to her chin. After a moment of thinking, she raised it up and exclaimed. "I've got it! Everypony, go to the park. I have a surprised for all of you!" She chuckled and grabbed him, taking him with her as she flew away.

The girls and I exchanged looks with each other and shrugged.

We did as she asked and walked back to the park.

"What do you suppose the surprise is?" Fluttershy asked me as Angel hopped around her.

"Hm…" I thought about it and shook it away, smiling. "Whatever it is…I'm sure it's a solution for her new pet. I'm happy for him, really…"

"I'm glad you're happy… Are you sure you're still not looking for a pet?"

"Perhaps… I'll wait for now. I'm still not sure if I'm ready for a pet… I want to make sure that I am capable of being fully responsible for it and being there for it at all times. For right now, I'll just share with you."

Fluttershy grabbed my hooves and looked at me with loving eyes. "I'm sure you'd make the best pet owner ever…" After, we shared a kiss until we were interrupted by a loud announcement.

"Heh. C'mon, Tank! We're gonna be late for our very first Pony Pet Playdate!" Rainbow Dash shouted from the top of the hill. We both turned our heads to see her flying towards the others, but what caught our eyes was Tank. He had flying goggles on him and some sort of flying contraption strapped on to his shell with a belt. He was no longer slow and stuck to the ground. He flew over to the others happily. Fluttershy and I both exchanged looks and chuckled at the sight of him.

I spent most of the time on the pet playdate with Fluttershy. We messed around with Angel sometimes, even getting him angry for brief moments. However, Fluttershy would always calm him down by offering him a carrot or a treat to eat. Whenever Fluttershy and I would begin getting intimate or lost in each other, Angel would loudly tap his feet or even slap me, which didn't hurt at all, to gain our attention back to him. I didn't get mad. I would only chuckle at his silliness. I was too happy to lose my smile.

Once the sun had begun setting, everypony began preparing for their leave. Once all our byes were spoken, I walked with Fluttershy to her cottage as Angel hopped along.

"I had fun with you today, Fluttershy." I mentioned.

"So did I Alex. Even if Angel was being a little naughty about us…you know…" She slightly blushed.

I chuckled lightly. "It's all alright. He's just a baby bunny after all." I patted his head, causing him to return an annoyed look.

Fluttershy giggled.

Angel stopped hopping and instead hopped onto her back and laid down.

"Aww. He must have worn himself out."

Or he must be lazy. I chuckled at the thought and didn't bother saying it out loud.

When we arrived at Fluttershy's cottage, I opened her door for her to walk inside.

"Thank you, Alex." She smiled. "You're so sweet." She looked at Angel, expecting him to do some other type of mischief, but instead he was sleeping sounding on her back. "Well, I better put him to bed." She returned her look to me. "I can't wait to see you tomorrow."

"Me either." I smiled and I returned a compassionate expression at her.

She slowly pushed her face towards mine to give me a kiss, but Angel had suddenly woken up with an annoyed look on his face as he crossed his front legs together, standing upright. He tapped his foot on her back, causing her to stop and look back. She blushed. "I better get him to bed…now…" She walked inside and closed the door.

I stood outside for a moment, knowing what she was going to do. After a short while, she quickly opened the door again and surprised me with rapid kiss that lasted for a few seconds. After she pulled away, she blushed and apologized. "Sorry."

I smiled and hugged her. "It's okay. I better let you go before Angel finds out you ditched him."

She giggled slightly. "Hehe, thanks. Goodnight, Alex."

"Goodnight, Fluttershy." I kissed her one more time and waved.

She waved back and walked inside, closing the door quietly.

I walked back home, feeling amazing. I opened the front door and closed it when I was inside. I walked up the stairs and fell on my bed. My heart was happy. I was happy. I was glad to see Tank finally become Rainbow Dash's pet. He really deserved it. He wasn't that type to be selfish and spoiled. He didn't want something that he didn't want to work for. He wanted to be Rainbow's pet, and did everything he could to accomplish that. That's why I knew he would be successful. I sighed in relief. I guess he reminded me a bit...or a lot...of myself when I was young… only I didn't achieve anything a while after… but I did now. I'm with the girls, who are a real family.

I began to frown slightly. Still… I wonder if…

I shook my head. No. I'm going to sleep with a smile on my face tonight.

Sweet and Elite

Episode 35 – Sweet and Elite

I suddenly jolted awake. That's right… Twilight's birthday is this weekend… Hm… I wonder what I'm going to get her… I sat up from bed and continued thinking. I looked at my shelf and noticed the good luck charm Twilight had made for me a while back. I have to get her something very thoughtful…

My ears poked up when I heard a light tap at my front door. I stood up and walked down stairs to see who it was. When I opened the door, my eyes widened when I saw her.

"Princess Celestia!" I bowed, but she placed a hoof on my shoulder.

"You don't need to be so afraid, remember?" She released one of her heart-warming smiles.

"Oh…yeah…" I stood up, feeling slightly embarrassed. "It's just that I haven't seen you in a while, you know?"

She chuckled lightly. "You're right…and that's why I came over here to invite you to the Canterlot castle for a visit."

My eyes widened once again. "Really?"

"Yes. I've wanted to hear how you've been, especially after you've grown such a beautiful smile on your face."

Her comment caused me to release a light smile. "Oh…well… that sounds great. Um… Do you mind if I bring Fluttershy?"

"Not at all. Let's go talk to her."

I continued smiling and nodded. Before leaving, I grabbed a saddlebag with several bits inside and walked out.

I knocked on the door when we arrived at her cottage. When she opened the door, she immediately greeted me with a hug and kiss, but widened her eyes at the sight of Princess Celestia.

"Princess Celestia!" Fluttershy bowed.

"Hello, Fluttershy." She smiled.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come with me to Canterlot castle for a visit." I told Fluttershy as she stood up.

"That sounds wonderful, but I think Angel's getting sick. I want to stay, just to make sure he's alright."

"Oh, okay. I understand. I hope Angel gets better. I'll see you then for Twilight's birthday, alright?"

She nodded. "Mm-hm." She kissed me once more. "I'll see you later."

I smiled and waved.

She released a smile as well and lightly closed the door.

I turned to face Princess Celestia. "Well… I guess it's just me then."

"You can bring her another time." Princess Celestia assured. "Hop on. I'll take you there myself."

"Really?" I responded with a surprised tone. "That sounds a little…disrespectful. I mean, you are a Princess."

She slightly chuckled. "Come now, Alex. Our relationship is much more than of two strangers. I know we don't see each other much because of royal business, as I've said before, but I can feel we're pretty close."

"Yeah…I know what you mean…" I slightly looked away, feeling some sadness.

"So, yes or no?" She asked, playfully.

I shook my head to be rid of the negative thoughts and smiled. "Sure." I hopped on.

She glanced back at me and smiled. "Hold on tight."

"Okay…" I wrapped my forelegs around her neck and she suddenly lifted off and began flying.

I had a great view of the environment and scenery as Princess Celestia flew me to Canterlot. She finally landed near the castle and looked back to me. "Are you alright, Alex?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." I hopped down and looked at her.

She began taking me to where she usually stayed as we walked and talked.

"Do you have anything in mind for a gift to give to Twilight?" Princess Celestia asked me.

"Hm…" I thought. "Not really… I know she's really into books and things like that…but that seems too easy. I want to get her something that requires a lot of thought. You know… a thoughtful gift. Maybe I can find her one here? This is her hometown after all."

We entered her room and continued our conversation as we sat down.

"Well, that's already thoughtful for you to begin thinking like that, Alex. I'm sure you'll find the perfect gift. If you'd like any help, I'll try my best to help you, but it's up to you to find the most thoughtful gift she'll love."

I nodded. "I understand, Princess."

She returned a warm smile but suddenly a letter appeared before her. She grabbed it with her magic and began reading it. "Dear Princess Celestia…My dear friend Rarity will be going to Canterlot for a visit. She needs to gather some things for her shop and I was wondering if you could do me a favor. Could you, perhaps, accommodate her to Canterlot? I would really appreciate it! Please respond as soon as possible! Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle." She placed the scroll away and thought. "Hm… seems like your friend Rarity is coming as well…" She looked over to her desk and pulled out an empty scroll. She grabbed a quill and dipped it in ink, beginning to write a response. "Dear Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student. I'll be glad to accommodate your friend! In fact, I'll give her a suite in the castle. I'm sure she'd love that. Sincerely, Princess Celestia." She sent the letter and looked at me. "I guess we better go meet your friend." She stood up and led me out of the room. She faced one of the guards that were outside her room. "Would you please go find a young pony named Rarity and tell her to meet me at the suite?"

"Of course, Princess." The guard responded and began heading out.

Princess Celestia turned to me. "Come on, Alex. We'll go meet her at the suite."

"Alright."

Princess Celestia walked me to the almost highest tower in the castle. I probably would have gotten lost if she wasn't with me.

"After I show your friend to her room, I'll let you get started on your journey to finding Twilight's gift. We can catch up later." Princess Celestia told me.

I released a smile. "Thank you, Princess."

Soon after, Rarity walked up the steps with Opal by her side and a poor Porter trailing behind her with all her luggage… Knowing Rarity, it must be really heavy… When she reached us, she noticed me and grew surprised. "Oh, Alex! What ever are you doing here?"

"Princess Celestia invited me to visit, and I'm going to be searching for a gift for Twilight." I responded.

"That's really thoughtful of you." She smiled and looked at Princess Celestia. "One of your royal guards pointed me up here?"

"Yes." The Princess began. "How would you like to stay here?" She pointed towards the door and escorted her in.

As I walked behind them, Rarity grew an immediate surprised face with widened eyes, throwing a gasp in as well. "Here? I get to stay here?" Her voice echoed through the large room presented before her. The room contained a large magnificent bed, looking almost like the one Rarity has in her home, a vanity mirror, and some other furniture for her needs.

"Twilight Sparkle said you were coming to Canterlot for a visit, and asked if I might accommodate you." Princess Celestia replied.

Opal began getting comfortable as she patted her paws delightfully on the bed. "Thank you so much, Princess." Rarity announced as she continued to observe the room.

"You're very welcome."

"No, really." Rarity rushed over to her. "This is so nice of you."

"It's nothing, really."

"Oh, but it isn't nothing, it's everything! I, I just don't know what to say but thank you, thank you!" She quickly bowed down and kissed Princess Celestia's hoof. "Thank you!" She kissed her hoof again. "Thank you!" As she kissed her hoof yet again, Princess Celestia began looking at me very awkwardly and slightly uncomfortable. I could only shrug as Rarity continued to bombard the Princess's hoof with kisses. "You are very we—

"Thank you!" Rarity exclaimed, cutting off her sentence.

Finally when the Porter had managed to climb up all the stairs with her luggage, he presented himself by the door, panting. "Your luggage, mademoiselle?" His legs began shaking with all the weight.

"Here, let me help you." I walked towards the entire luggage on his back and grabbed a few.

"I'll leave you to get settled." Princess Celestia announced as she began walking out of the room. She looked at me and smiled. "I'll see you later. Just come by my room when you have the time."

I nodded as I placed the bags I was carrying near the bed.

Princess Celestia walked past the Porter. He somehow managed to bow. "Your highness."

She looked back at Rarity. "Enjoy your stay."

"Thank you!" Rarity called out one last time as Princess Celestia left.

"Where would you like me to put these?" The Porter asked.

I was about to help him with more of the luggage, but his legs gave up and he fell towards the floor. One of the boxes from the luggage rolled over to Rarity and stopped below her hooves. Nonetheless, she smiled. "That's perfect."

The Porter groaned and sighed. He managed to pull himself out of the wreck and walk over to Rarity. "Is there anything else you need?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Okay, then… I'll be on my way." He answered, looking disoriented as he wobbled down the stairs outside.

Once Rarity and I were alone, she closed the doors and began trotting to her luggage to begin unpacking.

"Do you really need that much stuff, Rarity?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Why, of course! These are just a few of the most absolute necessities I had to bring."

"I see…" I responded as I remembered the same scene with Sweetie Belle not too long ago.

"So you said you were going to look for a gift for Twilight?" Rarity asked as she opened one of the bags and pulled out many dresses and hats.

"Yeah… I want to get her something thoughtful though. A book seems…too easy…"

"I understand." She continued to unpack until she suddenly raised her head. "Why don't you come with me for a stroll around Canterlot? You can look for her gift meanwhile."

I formed a light smile. "Sure. That sounds nice."

"Fantastic, we can head off in just a moment."

"Alright."

After waiting for her to finally finish unpacking, she began looking through her wardrobe for what to wear. I sighed quietly and stared tiredly as she continued fuzz over her huge selection. "Hm… what should I wear Opal?" Opal returned a meow and continued licking herself. "Your right… I wouldn't want to get that sort of impression…" After spending some more time watching Rarity choose, she finally pulled out a pink hat with a gem on the midsection. "This should be fine!" She placed it on her and turned around to face me. "Ready, Alex?"

For a while… "Yeah." I answered, standing up.

"Splendid!" She began walking out. "Come along, Opal!"

Opal jumped off from the bed and began walking with her in the usual way she walked. I sighed and followed them.

After walking past ponies that were literally walking head over backwards, I couldn't help but try to hold in a laugh as I saw their ridiculous poses. However, the same thing was occurring with the other hoof as well. As I walked by Rarity, I noticed ponies seemed to be slightly offended or shocked to see that I wasn't wearing anything but my saddlebag. I just rolled my eyes at them and continued walking. Rarity and I stopped at a café. Opal had received a bowl of milk as Rarity and I waited.

"Alex, do you know what I love about Canterlot?" The waiter walked over to our table and brought us two cups of something hot. The waiter noticed my appearance and slightly scoffed, causing me to look back with annoyance as he left. Rarity took a sip from her cup and released a moan of pleasure. "Ahh. Everything!" I looked at my cup and took a sip. After tasting, I slightly pulled away and looked at it with a distasteful look. "I may have been born in Ponyville, but I am a Canterlot pony at heart." Rarity took another sip.

"I can see why you love this place… but I'm starting to find it dreadful. All these "Canterlot" ponies are all too uptight about everything. It's beginning to annoy me…"

"Oh, I'm sure it's not that bad." Rarity continued to sip from her cup. "Now, I know Opal and I are here to pick up some fabrics for the shop, but Twilight was such a dear to get me that suite at the castle I simply must make her something to express my gratitude." Rarity began thinking as she placed a hoof on her chin, but she saw another uptight pony with a scrunched nose wearing a dress, just like every other female. "Hmm... ooh! An outfit for her birthday party this weekend! Perfect! Don't you just love it here, Alex?"

I returned narrowed eyes.

To prove my point, a couple of ponies walked up to the table and faced Rarity as she sipped her drink some more, completely ignoring me. When she saw these ponies and their upright heads, she quickly placed her cup back on the plate and released a nervous grin. However, she still had some foam from the cup and quickly wiped it off.

"Please excuse our interruption." The male with glasses began speaking with the most snooty accent I've ever heard before. It was so ridiculous, that it made me want to laugh again. "I'm Jet Set and this is my wife Upper Crust. We saw you from across the cafe and just had to find out...

"...Where did you get that simply marvelous chapeau?" His wife finished, creating overly dramatic gestures for every word she spoke.

Their speech was highly annoying, but entertaining at the same time.

"Oh, this old thing? Oh, it's just something I—

"Rarity!" We heard as a drop of water splashed on her hat. We turned our attention to see a window washer above us. "Hey Rarity!" However, his movements broke him from his harness and caused him to fall towards us while still hanging on one rope. "Whoo! It's me, Hayseed Turnip Truck!" His presence caused the two ponies to back away, frightened, as the ponies in the background stared at us. "We met at the big hoedown in Ponyville last month?"

Rarity returned a nervous grin. "Oh, yes, of course... how are you?"

"Good! Real good!" The rope snapped and he fell down.

"Hmm..." The two ponies expressed in a disgusted manner. "You're from... Ponyville?"

"Well, yeah, yes, but—

"She sure is! She's a real big-time fancy pants dressmaker there! Probably made that real purty thing she's got on her head!"

The mare looked over at her husband. "I thought it looked a little country."

"I told you it wasn't something you could get here in Canterlot, dear."

"What? Is Ponyville not 'good enough' for your tastes?" I finally spoke, fed up with their attitude.

They looked at each other and shared a highly irritating laugh. "Ponyville is just one of the most uncouth places in Equestria!" The wife responded.

"Such as yourself." The husband directed at me.

I felt myself heat up and slammed my hooves on the table, standing up, ready to explode in anger. "Oh really? Ponyville's pretty much the only sane place I've ever been in. You two are just the stereotypical representation of Canterlot ponies. You two sound like you have a speech impediment with all the arrogant talking and laughing you do! And what's up with the way you walk? Did you receive a sport injury or something? Oh, that's right. You don't play sports because you think that's too 'uncouth'. YOUR obnoxious behavior should be considered uncouth because you're so judgmental on appearances and bad mannered! Why don't you just tick off before I get started on your absurd tastes for spending your money!"

"Well, I never!" The wife responded. "Hmph!" They both expressed and began walking off in their usual manner.

Afterwards, I placed my hooves on the ground and began storming out of the café. I walked for a moment with an angry expression on my face until Rarity came by my side. "Alex, where are you going?" She asked.

"I just need to cool off… Don't worry about me." I answered and continued walking.

I continued walking through town with no direction in mind until I finally sighed and headed towards the castle.

I was too angry to search for Twilight's gift, so I decided to talk to the Princess, hopefully being rid of this anger. When I walked up to the door of her room, the couple of guards were on each side there.

"I'm here to talk to the Princess…"

They both looked at each other and back at me, nodding. They must have recognized me from earlier. I walked through the doors to see her lying on the floor, reading something. She noticed me walk in after the doors closed behind me. "Hello there, Alex." She noticed the expression on my face. "Is something the matter?"

I plopped down on the floor in front of her and sighed heavily. "How do you handle the ponies here in Canterlot, Princess? Their snooty behavior is so aggravating!"

She patted me on the shoulder with her hoof. "I understand how you feel Alex. I don't quite have the same tastes as they do…but…" She shrugged. "It's who they are…" I remained silent. "What's wrong? Did something happen between you and them?"

"Yeah… there was this couple of ponies being so rude because Rarity and I were from Ponyville. Eventually, they took it too far and I just…got so angry."

"I'm sorry to hear that… Would it make you feel better if I banished them and threw them in a dungeon?"

I widened my eyes at her comment. "What?"

She chuckled and waved her hoof. "I'm just kidding."

"Oh…" Her joke managed to make me chuckle slightly and smile.

After, I began telling her how I've been feeling lately. I even told her how I was the "Mysterious Mare Do Well", which she laughed at the thought of ponies thinking of me as a mare.

"I'm glad you've been doing great lately, Alex."

"Yeah… I just hope Rarity is doing alright right now. She takes fashion seriously and I'm sure she didn't let that comment pass by.

Princess Celestia continued her warm smile. "I should let you get back to your gift hunting. It truly has been wonderful having you here."

"Thanks, Princess Celestia. It's been great being here. …I really should thank you for everything you've done. I'm not sure if I'd be in this position if you had never found me when I was little."

"You've turned out to be such an amazing pony, Alex. I'm glad I found you."

I smiled and nodded. "I'll see you later, Princess."

She nodded as well. I walked out of the room, feeling the complete opposite than how I had first came in.

Still having my saddlebag with the bits inside for Twilight's gift, I walked around town, trying to think and look for the best one I could find. Hmm… let's see… I began thinking as I walked. Maybe I can get her something like a book…just not a plain one… something that deals with literacy and our friendship… I was interrupted when I had suddenly bumped into somepony.

"Oh, sorry about that." I heard his voice speak.

I looked to see who it was to find out it was a pony slightly bigger than I was. His eyes were of a Moderate cerulean. His mane was long and consisted of the colors Moderate sapphire blue,
Moderate cerulean, and Dark phthalo blue. His coat was white like Rarity's and he had a horn planted on his head. I noticed his cutie mark consisted of a blue shield with a pink-purple six pointed star in the middle, which also had three light blue stars above the shield. Somehow… his appearance seemed…familiar…but I had never seen him before…

"It's okay…" I replied and noticed something else about him. "Hey, why aren't you like the rest of the ponies here? Snooty?"

He chuckled. "Come on, not all Canterlot ponies are like that."

I shrugged and smiled lightly. "I guess… Well sorry for bumping into you. I have to go find a gift for a friend."

"No problem. See ya."

After that, he continued walking. I took another glance at him, having a strange feeling as if I somehow know him… I shook it off and resumed walking around for the gift. Maybe I could get her a scrapbook dealing with all of us? Hm… I just don't know… Twilight's never really asked or wished for anything. I guess that's why I can't really think of a good thoughtful gift. I know a book will make her happy… but… I sighed.

I took a seat on a nearby bench and thought some more. Alright… she loves checklists, so it can be something that will be useful with her organizing. She loves books, so maybe it can be something to read as well? You know… maybe I can just get her a planner, a best-selling book, and a scrapbook? Hm…that sounds nice…

I stood up from the bench and headed towards a nearby store to see what my options would be. I looked around the store and found rarely anypony inside. Looking inside the store, I found out why. Most of Canterlot consisted of uptight people who desired everything to be formal and perfect, but the shop wasn't like that. It was laidback and casual. I walked around and found the aisle with the notebooks and such. After sorting through some planners, I found one that she might like. When it was opened, there was a little strap to the left side of the planner. It looked to be used for holding quills. The rest of the planner had pages that of course were used for planning things. I closed the planner and grabbed it with my teeth. I'm pretty sure Twilight will like this.

I looked around the store a little more and found a scrapbook with pages for pictures already in it. Hm… which one would fit her personality more? After some searching, I grabbed a scrapbook that would require her to use her organizing skills to place the pictures, which would also be fun for her.

When I walked to the front counter of the store, my eyes slipped into a cardboard cutout of an adventurous looking pony. I analyzed the text and saw Daring Doo and the Swamp Shallows. Hm… I think I've seen Twilight having these books before. Maybe she doesn't have this one yet? It looks like it just recently came out… I shrugged mentally and grabbed it, adding it to my collection of gifts.

After I purchased them, I placed them in my saddlebag and began walking back to the castle. I hope Twilight will love these… I tried to be as thoughtful as possible… I should wrap them when I get back. Maybe Rarity has something I can wrap them in?

When I arrived at her suite, I knocked on her door. She opened it and was delighted to see me. "Oh, Alex! Are you alright now?"

I smiled to assure her. "Yeah, I'm fine. I've been talking with the Princess."

She returned a smile as well. "Well, that's wonderful. Come in." I walked inside as Rarity closed the door behind me. "Oh, did you find a gift for Twilight?"

"…Actually, I got her several. I wanted to be as thoughtful as possible but… I don't know." I responded.

"Let me see what you got her." I opened my saddlebag and pulled out the scrapbook, planner, and the new Daring Doo book. "You don't need to be worried. Twilight will love these!"

"Are you sure?"

"Mm-hm! You know how she is, Alex. That's being thoughtful. If somepony wasn't thoughtful, then they'd get anything they could find at the last second. Do you understand?"

I felt better when I heard that. "Yeah… thanks Rarity."

"You're very welcome." She began pulling out a jewelry box and opened it after, sorting through the jewels inside.

"Are you going somewhere?" I asked.

"Why, yes. I made many new friends while you were cooling off. I was invited to art gallery opening this evening, a charity auction tomorrow morning, and a dinner party tomorrow night." She paused and looked at me. "Alex, you should come with me!"

"Rarity… you know I'm not comfortable with those kind of ponies, remember?"

"Trust me! It'll be fine! I just need the support of a best friend because I'm trying to win over their approval."

"Approval…?"

"Please, Alex! Please, please, please!" She was practically begging at my hooves.

"Alright, alright. Fine." I finally surrendered. "But it's because you're my friend, alright?"

"Thank you!" She quickly hugged me and returned to her preparing.

"How am I going to make it to the other events tomorrow?" I questioned.

"What do you mean?" She looked back at me.

"Well, I don't have a place to stay in Canterlot."

"You can stay here!" She ran to the bed, grabbed two pillows from the many that were on the bed, and placed them on the couch in the room. Next, she opened the wardrobe and grabbed some covers, placing them on the couch as well. "Tada!"

I sighed, but not in frustration or anger. "You really want my support, don't you?"

"It would really help…"

I shrugged, bringing my hooves in the air and slapping them down. "Alright. Like I said, because you're my friend." She released a grin and continued trying on different necklaces and jewelry. "Were you going to attend that art gallery opening right now?"

"Actually, no. I'm going out to find something to wear at the art gallery."

"But… don't you…?" I tried explaining, gesturing towards the suitcases that she packed with many things to wear, which she most likely won't wear at all during this trip.

"Hm?" She questioned as she continued going through her jewelry box.

"Never mind…" I gave up and began looking around. I spotted the dress form which Rarity was using to make Twilight's dress. "What about Twilight's dress for her birthday?"

"Of course," Rarity nodded, looking at me. "…finishing Twilight's dress in time for her birthday party is still my top priority, but I can't possibly disappoint the Canterlot elite by rejecting their invitations now, can I?" She tossed the tiara she pulled out onto the air and lightly placed it on her head with her magic, presenting herself glowingly after. After placing on her mascara, she began singing.

"I'll be the toast of the town, the girl on the go." She brushed her mane and sprayed hairspray after as she trotted to the door, powdering herself as well.

"I'm the type of pony everypony, everypony should know." She messed with Opal's fur.

"I'll be the one to watch, the girl in the flow

I'm the type of pony everypony, everypony should know." She glanced back at me before leaving. I remained in the room, waiting for Rarity to come back.

When she returned, she was wearing, what appeared to be, a French-styled outfit. She almost looked different, but nonetheless, she was styled for fashion and beautiful, as always.

Arriving at the art gallery, Rarity began observing one of the interesting paintings as many ponies stood behind her awaiting her approval, especially the one next to her wearing glasses. I couldn't help but notice Photo Finish there as well… I wonder if she even remembered Rarity.

"Becoming as popular as popular can be…" After observing the painting for a moment, Rarity turned her head and nodded with a grin. Despite the very confused faces the ponies behind her contained, they nodded their heads in agreement after, causing the pony with glasses to sign in relief.

"Making my mark, making my mark in high society." As I analyzed the other ponies nodding their heads in agreement after Rarity, I figured where this was going…

Next morning, we attended the charity action as Rarity wore, yet, another dress. The auctioneer tapped his gavel twice and presented an old vase, containing a pony on it. It seemed to be a little of Greek…

"I'm the belle of the ball, the star of the show, yeah." When Rarity, observed this vase, she raised her hand in confidence, and soon after, all the ponies in the auction house raised theirs, causing the auctioneer to drop his jaw and gavel in shock.

"I'm the type of pony everypony, everypony should know."

We then attended that dinner party as Rarity wore a different dress. I also noticed how the ponies were much nicer to me and seemed to mind that I wasn't dressed properly, but I knew it wasn't actually how they felt. They were just being that way because I was with Rarity, and apparently she was popular."See how they hang on every word that I speak." Rarity continued as we sat by a table when the waiters brought two plates of food.

"My approving glance is what they all seek

"I'm the crème de la crème, not just another Jane Doe." Rarity analyzed each plate and eventually turned her head away in disgust to one of them and grabbed a piece from the other one, immediately causing all of the others to pick the same piece as well.

"I'm the type of pony everypony should know."

Rarity had even managed to squeeze in even more events, drastically cutting in her time to prepare Twilight's dress.

"At home, at the opera, on a fancy yacht

Becoming the talk, the talk of all of Canterlot

I'm the crème de la crème, not just another Jane Doe, yeah

I'm the type of pony everypony, everypony should know."

Finally, we arrived back at the suite. As Rarity opened the doors and walked in, I had hardly realized that she acquired so many things from the events we participated in.

"Because I'm the type of pony

Yes, I'm the type of pony." Opal had persistently tapped her paw on the design, but Rarity walked past it, seeming to not pay attention.

"Yes, I'm the type of pony everypony should know." Rarity placed another piece of cloth on the dress form and was about to add more things, but she placed her head on it in exhaustion, causing the new piece she added to fall off and land on the floor.

Soon after, she didn't move and eventually fell asleep. I sighed and walked towards her. She really wore herself out in attending all those things… I lightly carried her to her bed and gently placed her on there, covering her with the blankets after. Before closing the doors, I took a look at the dress for Twilight. It wasn't the kind of dress Rarity was planning… but it seemed complete. It was plain and I wasn't sure if Twilight would like it…but…you never know…

I walked over to the opened doors and closed them. Afterwards, I headed to the couch and planted myself on there, resting my head on the pillows and covering myself with the blankets. I was tired as well, since I followed Rarity to all of her events to show my support. Oh well… at least Twilight's birthday is tomorrow. I can wrap her gifts in the morning…

When I awoke, I heard Rarity packing her things. I sat up and looked around. She noticed me as she continued packing.

"Good Morning, Alex. We'll be leaving soon, so you should probably get your things ready." Rarity announced.

"Oh…" I looked at my saddlebag that was on the table across me. "I don't really have anything to pack… But I was wondering if you had something I could wrap Twilight's gifts with."

"Of course!" She pulled out some wrapping paper that looked smooth as ribbons. She brought it over to me and I caught it with my hooves.

"Thanks." I placed it on the couch and walked over to the table to grab my saddle bag. After, I returned to the couch and opened the bag, bringing out Twilight's gifts.

I spent the time it took for Rarity to finish packing her things to carefully warp each present neatly. After, I placed them carefully back in my saddle bag and looked over to Rarity. She had brought the Porter back in and began placing her things for him to carry. I could see him struggling as his legs shook violently as last time. Rarity placed the last item and looked around. "Oh, I hope I haven't forgotten anything."

"Me... too..." The Porter managed to reply with.

"We'd better get going." Rarity announced as she dragged Opal out of bed and placed her in a cage that Rarity carried. "Let's go, Alex."

"Alright." I placed the saddlebag on my back and began walking towards the door.

"I must get back to Ponyville with enough time to finish Twilight's ensem—

Rarity was interrupted when the letterbox was opened and a letter flew in. "For me?" Rarity picked up the letter and opened it using her magic. She read it as the Porter slowly moved one leg at a time. "Dearest Rarity, your presence is requested at the Canterlot garden party this afternoon... Yours, Jet Set and Upper Crust!" She gasped and suddenly began speaking excitedly. "The Canterlot garden party! Why, next to the Galloping Gala that is the premier event in Canterlot!" She released a loud squeal.

I raised an eyebrow. "But if you go, you'll miss Twilight's birthday party."

"But if I don't go, my new reputation in Canterlot as a Very Important Pony might be ruined! I might never be invited to another high society event again!" She began deciding which one to choose. "Friend's birthday... Very Important Pony." She sucked her face as she was in conflict with those two events. Come on, Rarity… Twilight's your friend… After releasing a wince, she finally decided. "It's just too important." For a moment there, I felt relieved as I thought she was talking about Twilight's birthday. She brought a scroll and quill out and began writing, taking a deep breath first. "My dear Twilight, I am afraid I won't be able to make it to your birthday party tomorrow, because..." I immediately felt slightly angry because she had chosen the garden party instead… "…because poor Opal is quite ill, and she is in no condition to make the long journey back to Ponyville!" Rarity created a dramatic tone. "I do hope you understand. Your friend, Rarity."

"I suppose this means you don't need me to bring down your bags?" The Porter asked.

"No." Her answer caused the Porter to sigh in relief. "But, I will need some help unpacking them." This answer caused him to fall to the ground and allow all the bags to tumble down.

After she unpacked everything, I lay on the couch waiting for her, still unhappy about her choice. She trotted out of the bathroom, wearing a yellow sundress as flowers were planted on her tail. "What do you think? Too much?" She asked me. I looked at her from over the couch and returned upset narrowed eyes. "You're right. Too little." She grabbed a hat that completed the dress and wore it.

I jumped up from the couch and began walking towards the door. "Fine, go to your garden party. But I'm going back home to make it to Twilight's birthday party."

"I'm terribly sorry, Alex."

"Whatever…just…have a nice party or whatever…"

"Ah, garden party, here I come!"

We both walked towards the door and opened it to see a very shocking surprise, figuratively and literally.

"Surprise!" All of the girls exclaimed beyond the door, causing Rarity to gasp and pass out.

We all looked at each other in silence.

"…what just happened?" Twilight asked.

I shrugged. "I guess she must have been really surprised to see you all." I responded, looking at the unconscious Rarity from the corner of my eyes.

Twilight turned her attention to me. "How was your stay at the castle?"

"It was…fun…" I replied, a bit uneasily. "Anyway, Happy Birthday, Twilight."

"Thanks!" She closed her eyes and smiled.

Fluttershy walked up to me and hugged me. "It felt different not seeing you for a few days…"

I lightly smiled and patted her back. "Yeah… It felt the same way here…"

Pinkie Pie walked up to Rarity and began giggling. "Did you see how surprised she was? Swoosh! And right before she hit the ground, shoom, she— Pinkie Pie's comment was cut off when we all saw her starting to open her eyes. "Hi again!"

Rarity stood up from the ground and looked at the girls with a puzzled expression on her face. "What are you— how did you— Why are you—

"Listen to her. She's so excited to see us she can hardly talk." Applejack stated.

"What I mean to say is, what are you all doing here?" Rarity questioned.

"When I got your letter saying you were stuck in Canterlot, I asked Pinkie Pie if it wouldn't be too much trouble to move my birthday party here, so you wouldn't have to miss it!"

"Balloons are super easy to pack." Pinkie Pie grabbed a suitcase and opened it. Many balloons were released and deflated as they flew outside. One of them flew towards Rarity's gem in her sundress and she only watched as it deflated and fell towards the ground.

"Wow... first you get me a suite at Canterlot castle and now this. I don't know what to say, Twilight."

Rainbow Dash instantly flew up to Rarity's face. "How about you start by saying what you're doing in that fancy getup?"

"This? Uh." Rarity tried to answer as the girls looked at her with tilted heads. "Well I- I always put on something a little fancy when Opal's feeling under the weather... Cheers her right up." She ended with a nervous laugh.

I shook my head in disappointment.

"Oh, poor Opal, where is the sick darling?" Fluttershy asked, wanting to go inside and check up on her, but Rarity stopped her by placing a hoof in front of her.

"Oh, uhh, she's... hold on a minute." She slammed the door shut.

"Huh?" The girls released in unison.

We waited for several seconds, even exchanging looks. I could see that the girls were surprised of Rarity's behavior. I knew I could have told them…but it wouldn't be right…

Rarity opened her door. "She's resting on the bed."

Fluttershy immediately dashed in. She flew over to Opal who looked as if she was drenched in water. Nonetheless, Fluttershy didn't seem to notice this and grabbed her from the bed as she held her up. "Poor baby. She looks awful." She growled at Rarity, who flinched after.

The girls had walked in and looked around. Twilight spotted the dress form which Rarity was preparing her dress…but she had never continued working on it ever since. "Is... that my dress?"

"Yes." Rarity responded with some slight nervousness.

"It's so... simple." Rarity returned nervous appearances as Twilight continued to comment on it. "So practical. So… me! It's the perfect dress for my birthday party! I love it!" Twilight exclaimed and hugged Rarity.

Rarity released a true sigh of relief. "You don't know how glad I am to hear you say that." She looked over to the design she was actually supposed to make and threw it away with her tail.

You got lucky…

Ready to celebrate Twilight's birthday, she led us through the castle in her new dress.

"When I told the Princess that I was moving the party to Canterlot, she was kind enough to offer us the Canterlot castle ballroom!" She opened the doors to reveal the same area where all that chaotic destruction occurred in the Grand Galloping Gala. However, it was fixed up and now filled with party items.

"Isn't it fancy pants?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Fancypants? Where?" She hid behind me. I looked at her with confused eyes. She noticed every other pony stare at her oddly and stood back up. "Ahh, I mean, where did you find the time to put up all these decorations? Haha."

"Oh, I never leave home without my party cannon." She pulled out a cannon and blew the fuse, immediately causing an explosion of streamers, confetti, and the ability to instantly decorate a table in a second. "Tada!"

Rarity noticed the confetti land on her dress and sent an irritated look back at Pinkie Pie.

"I thought about having my birthday outside, but they're having another party on the castle grounds today." Twilight stated as she walked over to the window to look outside.

I walked alongside Rarity to see what she was talking about and noticed a fancy party outside, including those two uptight ponies from the café incident. That must have been the garden party… I narrowed my eyes in slight annoyance.

Pinkie Pie slowly slipped between us and poked her head out, observing the party. "Let's party!"

Immediately after, swing music played loudly.

We began by throwing Twilight up in the air and catching her, repeating the process several times. The music had somehow pumped my blood, making me feel energetic and happy. This was practically the first party which I truly began to enjoy.

Next, we all had stood around the cake. Twilight continued cutting slices for us as Pinkie Pie happily munched on her slice. Fluttershy was doing the same as Twilight gave a slice to Applejack, who began to eat it as well. Fluttershy looked so cute and adorable doing that. Suddenly, there was an interruption when Fluttershy's face was unexpectedly pummeled with cake. The same thing happened with Applejack. I quickly looked to see who the suspect was. I spotted Rainbow Dash laughing out loud as she pointed her hoof full of cake at them.

I grew angry… but the kind of competitive and friendly angry. I grew a smirk and grabbed a slice of cake, having the others join me. We all looked at Rainbow Dash, shutting up her laughter and causing her to grin nervously at us. We all pelted her with cake, causing it to fly everywhere and land on us too. Despite the cake fight, we all laughed at what just happened and how we looked.

Next, we created a line in a sort of "follow the leader" way, just as the girls had during Pinkie's party. Twilight was in front, Pinkie Pie was behind her, Fluttershy was behind Pinkie, I was behind Fluttershy, Applejack was behind me, Rainbow Dash was behind Applejack, and Rarity was behind Rainbow. We held our hooves on to each other and followed the movements of the leader: Twilight.

As we continued to do this, I felt so much exhilaration flowing through me. So this is what it felt like to party and have fun? I can't believe I've missed this in my entire life! What matters now is that I'm doing it with all my friends.

After the line, we hung up piñatas of different things. Each of us were blindfolded and held sticks with our teeth. When the time was right, we immediately began swinging wildly, hoping to break open one of them. I felt my weapon clash through something solid and heard a rain of sweets drop towards the floor. I removed my blindfold and dropped the stick. There was a pile of candy sitting right there to be eaten. I smiled brightly as I noticed the girls break their piñatas soon after.

We used the candy to dip them in a bowl full of chocolate. Twilight dipped a slice of apple, Rainbow Dash dipped a strawberry, I dipped a piece of cake, and Pinkie Pie contained a lollypop, but dipped her whole face in the chocolate instead. I saw Rarity walk by as I began eating the piece of cake and Pinkie Pie removed her face from the bowl, smiling brightly. I noticed Rarity bring something odd towards the bowl as she looked back. It was a piece of food… fancy food… She dipped it in the chocolate and brought it to her face, all while looking outside at the party. She began chewing it, but immediately spat it out and groaned in disgust. We all returned odd expressions at her. Pinkie Pie contained a more worried expression as her face was still covered in chocolate. Rainbow Dash had raised an eyebrow, almost looking in suspicion. Twilight slightly narrowed her eyes as if she was asking Rarity if she was okay. I, however, had narrowed eyes, slightly irritated. Rarity could only return a nervous grin and pointed past us, causing the girls to look back, but I didn't fall for it. I saw her rush towards the other party and sighed. Nonetheless, I shook my head and continued to enjoy the party.

Rarity returned when we were dancing. Twilight was dancing by Rainbow Dash. I was with Fluttershy, but I heard Rarity comment as soon as she rushed in. "I really should go check on Opal..." She rushed out immediately after.

She returned again when Twilight was still dancing and blowing a party kazoo at the same time. She spoke in a hushed tone, but I still managed to hear her. "I need to use the little fillies' room!"

When she returned yet again, she looked highly exhausted. "I... have to go to do the... thing with the... stuff... you know...?" She trailed off and rushed tiredly to the other party.

When she was with us once more, we noticed her with a croquet mallet in her mouth.

"Uh, what's with the croquet mallet?" Rainbow Dash asked as she held a pink party balloon in her hooves.

"What croquet mallet?" Rarity questioned in a muffled tone as a drop of sweat fell from her face.

"Duh, the one in your mouth!" Rainbow Dash pointed out, causing the music to cease and all the girls to return surprised expressions.

Rarity looked at her mouth to see a croquet mallet indeed. She instantly dropped it and laughed nervously. "Ooh, that croquet mallet. I- well I, you know, the truth is... the truth is..."

"Were you at that other party in the garden?" Twilight asked in a shocked tone.

"I, I..."

"Rarity, I'm surprised at you!"

"Twilight let me explain!" Rarity dove to Twilight's hooves. "I—

"I hadn't realized you were such a savvy businesspony!"

"You must understand! I—

"All of those ponies look so posh. And with the Grand Galloping Gala coming up, I bet you could totally get some of them to buy your dresses. Very smart!" Twilight praised.

"Woo, wwwhy yes, I-I didn't want you to think I was being rude, so that's exactly the reason I didn't tell you. The one and only reason." A nervous laughter followed. I narrowed my eyes again but let it slide. I didn't want any other problems occurring after.

"Oh, well you didn't have to do that. You should totally go over there and mingle!" Twilight allowed.

"Twilight, you really are the best friend a pony could ever ask for." She hugged her in relief. "I don't know why I ever thought you wouldn't understand."

"Understand what?" Twilight questioned.

"Nothing." She instantly replied. "See you all later!" She began galloping out the door, but Rainbow Dash stopped her.

"Hey, wait up! We're your friends! I'm sure they won't mind if we check out the party too!" That can't be good for Rarity… Maybe I should stop them… "C'mon you guys! Let's show them how to party Ponyville style!" Then again, I guess we could mess around with those snooty ponies that insulted Ponyville. I smiled and joined the girls with their trotting towards the garden party. Pinkie Pie trailed behind with her huge party cannon as Rarity stayed behind, shocked.

As the girls began to introduce their style of partying, I decided to stay in the garden and watch. I smiled, wanting to laugh as they formed the pony line once again. Pinkie Pie was in the lead, blowing her party cannon as Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Twilight were behind in order. I chuckled at the sight of Twilight carrying the record player on her shoulder.

Next, Rainbow Dash joined the croquet game as the other snooty ponies look at her irritably. For once, I actually allowed and approved of her recklessness as she pulled back the croquet mallet, frightening the ponies. She then swung the croquet mallet so fiercely that she spun wildly. Instead of hitting the ball, the mallet flew from her, causing the other ponies to dive to the floor. The mallet had flew and struck another pony's wig while she was talking to another one. The male noticed how she was actually bald and slipped away from her.

On the tree nearby, a triplet of ponies was being bombarded with bird feed. I looked up to see Fluttershy holding the bird feed on her hooves and even her hair. She attracted many birds, causing them to eat the feed, which made it fall on the ponies below her.

Pinkie Pie moved on to the desert table just as one of the ponies was eating a cupcake with a slice of apple on top. Pinkie immediately began chugging the cake with her whole face, causing the pony to look back at her. She gulped loudly and smiled at the pony as her head was covered in cake. The pony returned an irritated look and walked away. Pinkie Pie pulled her head back in confusion.

I spotted Applejack pulling out roots with her hooves already covered with mud. "How come y'all aren't doing any gardening? This is a garden party, isn't it?" The ponies backed away in horror that was mostly conveyed by disgust.

Twilight was dancing wildly as well, causing the other ponies to back away.

I was watching by a table as Rarity was by me, drinking a glass of punch.

"Can you believe what that pony is wearing?" The same male pony from the café announced to Rarity.

"It's just so plain." His wife finished.

Rarity laughed nervously. "Yeah."

I glared at her with irritated narrowed eyes, which she spotted seconds after.

I could tell Twilight was really having a great time. She was partying hard as she continued to dance with a scrunched nose and a stuck out tongue until another fancy pony walked up to her. "Excuse me, might I ask where you got your ensemble?" He had used his monocle to analyze Twilight's dress.

"Why yes, yes you may." Twilight responded happily. "A very, very close friend of mine from Ponyville made it for me."

Rarity watched as she was drinking more punch, but suddenly spat it out when she heard Twilight's sentence. She walked over to the two as the two ponies from the café were drenched in punch. I smiled at their appearance and joined Rarity.

"Ponyville?" He asked in a sort of lifeless tone. "You don't say?"

Not this again…

"I do say. Her name is—

"Fancypants!" Rarity exclaimed, cutting off Twilight. "Come with me! I'd like to show you this, er, thing, that's over there. On the other side of the room."

"In a moment, my dear." He held his hoof up. "This lovely filly from Ponyville was just about to tell me who made her charming dress."

Hm… well he seems better mannered than the rest of these ponies… I noticed how they gathered around us.

"That dress? Oh come now, who cares, it's just a plain old—

"Oh don't be so modest. This dress you made is beautiful!"Twilight's response caused all the other ponies to return a loud and immediate gasp as they dropped the things they were carrying. The ponies surrounding us only stared in shock. The rest of the girls had joined Twilight and me. "We all think so!"

"You know these ponies?" Fancypants asked Rarity. As Rarity bit her lower lips in nervousness, she observed the other ponies chattering behind her. She looked back at us, causing Twilight and the others to switch their grins in reverse. I furrowed my eyebrows and saw her turn away. Come on Rarity… you know better… She walked towards the "sophisticated" ponies and opened her eyes.

"Yes. Yes, I do know them." She answered in a bold tone. "They may not be as sophisticated as some of you Canterlot ponies, but they are my best friends." She looked back at us with a smiled. "And they are without a doubt the most important ponies I know." I eased my eyebrows and smiled, just as the other girls did.

"Important ponies? These ruffians?" Jet Set questioned, mockingly.

"Don't make me laugh!" His wife added, and the both of them began laughing arrogantly.

Just as I was about to say something in a burst of anger once again, Fancypants took a good look at us and returned his attention towards the two. "I, for one, find them charmingly rustic." His comment caused them to shut their laughter and ponies behind them to gasp. Yeah…not so funny now, is it?

He walked towards Twilight. "And I think the dress you made for your friend is lovely. Mmhm, I dare say every mare in Canterlot will be wanting one."

The wife immediately popped up near Rarity. "Oh, I'd like to place my order right now."

"I think you should get two. Hm?" The husband joined.

Their behavior of always wanting to always conform to the crowd caused me to shake my head.

"Er, yes, now then. How about you introduce me to your friends?"

"With pleasure!"

Rarity did introduce us to him. I found out that he's actually a pretty nice guy. He's not like any of the other usual "Canterlot Ponies". Sure, he acts in a sophisticated way and such, but he's not so uptight like the others. He thought of us as "charming", and he was really well mannered. I definitely don't mind sophisticated, in fact, I think I have some sophistication with my vocabulary, but I just don't like the ones that are uptight about everything. Why do you want somepony to change just because you don't like what they do? They shouldn't change just to be a part of the group, otherwise, in the end, they'll be unhappy and unsatisfied…

After the party, the girls began to prepare to leave. I told them that I would meet up with them after I got my saddlebag from Rarity's suite. When I arrived at her suite, I heard her writing a letter to Princess Celestia.

"Dear Princess Celestia, I wanted to tell you about the important lesson I learned during my visit." Rarity began.

Princess Celestia had appeared out of nowhere and walked towards her. "Now that I would like to hear."

Rarity was surprised by her presence, but turned around to began walking around the room. "I learned that no matter where you go in life, you should never forget that you are the product of your home and your friends. And that is something always to be proud of, no matter what."

"And…" I added, causing them to turn their attention to me in slight surprise. "You should never turn away from your true friends. Otherwise, you'll just end up with regrets and disappointment."

Princess Celestia smiled and closed her eyes. "Hm, a very valuable lesson to have learned."

"Mm-hm." Rarity agreed. I walked over to the table to grab my saddlebag. "Are you leaving with the others tonight?" She asked me.

"Yeah. I figured I could go home. You still need to pack up though." I smiled.

She chuckled. "Yes… I'm going to do it in the morning."

I nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow when you come back then."

"Right. Goodnight, Alex."

"Night." I walked out of the suite and observed the sky outside.

Princess Celestia joined me after. "Did you enjoy your stay here?"

"Mmm…" I thought. "Yeah…" I added a smile after. "It was fun, especially the party."

"I'm glad to hear that. Did you find the gifts for Twilight?"

"Yeah." I motioned towards my saddlebag. "They're right here. I think I'll give them to her before I head off to bed."

Princess Celestia smiled warmly and looked up at the night sky. "Sometimes I wonder about you, Alex…"

"What do you mean?" I asked, losing my smile and raising an eyebrow in concern.

"You're just… a life changer to everypony. You seem to relate to every one of your friends. It's amazing."

"Oh…" I answered, regaining my light smile. "Thanks, Princess… I'm glad."

She nodded and looked at me. "I should let you go so you can earn some rest."

"Alright… Thanks for letting me stay her Princess."

"It's been my pleasure." She hugged me for a moment and then looked at me. "Come back soon, okay?"

I continued releasing my smile. "I'll try."

She looked at me for a moment, not saying anything but just smile. "Goodnight, Alex."

"Goodnight, Princess Celestia."

After, I returned to the girls that were waiting for me. From there, we returned back to Ponyville.

Sharing goodbyes, I departed with Fluttershy towards her cottage.

"I was really glad when you were at the party…" Fluttershy commented as we walked.

"Really? Why?" I asked.

"Because I saw you. You were having so much fun… It really made me happy."

I returned a light smile and looked at her. "Thanks… It was the first time I ever enjoyed a party, and it felt amazing. I can't believe that's what I've been missing my whole life. But it wouldn't have been the same if you all weren't there."

She stopped for a moment, causing me to stop as well, and she embraced me for a while, causing me to smile and wrap my forelegs around her.

Once we were almost at her door, I continued talking with Fluttershy. "Is Angel feeling better?"

"Yes. He seems to be doing much better now." I opened the door and saw Angel with his crossed front feet as he stood up and looked at us annoyingly. "Angel, what are you doing up so late?" He tapped his foot and pointed to something inside the cottage. "Oh… looks like some bunny wants me to put him to sleep." She smiled and giggled a little. "Go on. I'll catch up with you in a second." He returned a brief glare and hopped inside. Fluttershy walked inside and faced me. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Right." I pushed my head forward and kissed her softly but passionately. "Goodnight, Fluttershy."

"Goodnight, Alex." She smiled, blushing slightly and walking inside.

I closed her door and began walking back towards town.

I remembered to drop off the gifts at Twilight's, so I walked to the library and knocked on the door.

She opened it and was slightly surprised to see me. "Oh, hey, Alex. What brings you here?"

"Can I come inside?" I asked.

"Sure." She opened the door and allowed me inside. "Is something wrong?"

"Not at all." I answered and opened my saddlebag, grabbing the gifts and placing them in front of her. "Here."

She stared at the gifts in shock. "…Are these for me...?"

"Of course." I answered with a smile. "It's your birthday, remember?"

"I don't know what to say…"

"Just open them."

She nodded and did so. "A planner, a scrapbook, and the new Daring Doo book that just came out…?" She commented as she stared at them. I felt a little worried that she might have not liked them, but I shook it off and replaced it with a confidence that she would. She placed them on the table nearby and faced. "They're amazing! I love them!"

I sighed in relief. "That's good to hear."

"…Thank you…" She hugged me for a moment and pulled back.

"It's for a close friend. I wanted to be thoughtful."

"You're always thoughtful to us, Alex…"

I smiled and looked away in slight embarrassment. "Thanks…"

"You know…" Twilight began. "You really remind me of him so much…"

I grew concerned at her comment and wanted to ask who she was talking about, but I felt as if it might be too personal. I don't want her to feel bad when she should be going to sleep anyway.

I smiled lightly. "Well, I should let you get to sleep. You were really energetic during the party. You must be worn out."

She blushed and looked back. "Heheh, yeah…"

I walked towards the door and looked back. "Goodnight, Twilight."

"Goodnight." She smiled brightly.

I smiled and nodded. I left her home after and headed towards mine.

Placing my saddlebag on the counter and laying myself on the bed, I thought about today. I really had so much fun at the party, and I still couldn't believe I missed that before, such as when it was Pinkie Pie's birthday. I smiled at the thought of the party. It really was such a burst of adrenaline… I've never felt so energetic than today for a party. I sighed happily and closed my eyes, placing the covers over me. I hope I get to have that much fun again very soon.

Secret of My Excess

Episode 36 – Secret of My Excess

I felt the sunshine slightly warm me up. I slid out of the covers and sat up, opening my eyes. Sitting on my bed in silence for a moment, I thought and remembered something. I smiled, feeling the need to chuckle at the thought. Today's Spike's birthday… It was only a little while after that crazy party we had for Twilight.

I removed myself from bed and walked to the side where I had Spike's present. I had asked Rarity for a favor in gathering gems. Of course, she agreed and eventually, using teamwork, we found quite a load of jewels. I had placed them in a box however, and brought them to my house to wrap it up. I know Spike loves gems, and I'm one hundred percent sure his eyes will glow in happiness when he sees a huge pile of jewels in a single place for him to enjoy.

I grabbed the present with my teeth and placed it on my back. I walked down the stairs and out the door, preparing to pick up Fluttershy so we can meet with the rest of the girls and head off to Twilight's house.

I knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

"Come in!" A soft exclaim sounded from inside.

I carefully walked in and looked for her. "Fluttershy?" I called.

"Over here, Alex."

I walked towards the voice to see her just finish wrapping a gift.

"Is that Spike's present?" I asked.

"Mm-hm." She nodded, smiling. She grabbed it with her teeth as well and placed it on her back. She walked towards me and pressed her lips against mine, wrapping her forelegs around me for a moment as well. "Are you ready to go to Spike's birthday party?"

"Yup." We began walking towards town.

We met up with Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, once there. They each had their gifts wrapped in boxes as well, but Rainbow Dash had a dumbbell with a bow on it. I wasn't so sure it would be safe with Spike… I decided not to question about it.

"Hi guys!" Pinkie Pie greeted. "Are you ready for a super fun birthday party?"

Fluttershy smiled. "Yep."

I looked at Rarity and noticed she was still wearing the necklace from when she was helping me dig up gems.

"You really love that necklace, don't you Rarity?" I asked.

"Why, of course! It is only one of the most thoughtful gifts Spike has given me!" She closed her eyes and placed her hooves on it. "I'll cherish it forever."

I smiled lightly. "Well, c'mon. We should get to Spike's party."

We opened the door to Twilight's home and entered.

"It's over, Spike! I'm cleaning that cheek!" Twilight exclaimed as Spike began running away from her.

Twilight used her magic to teleport him back to her, but he continued running. Nonetheless, Twilight continued casting her spell, creating an unending cycle, tiring both of them. "It's mine!" Spike shouted as Twilight teleported him. "Stop it!"

"Never!"

"Twilight...!"

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie disappeared from our group and reappeared in front of Twilight, blowing a party hooter. After, she rushed over to Spike and greeted him. "Happy birthday!" She threw confetti and streamers over him. For whatever reason, Twilight managed to use the cloth she had and wiped Spike's cheek. "Party time, woohoo!" Pinkie Pie threw more confetti in the air.

The girls grabbed the gifts and held them with their teeth, except Rainbow Dash, who flew and held the dumbbell with her hoof.

"Are those... for me?" Spike questioned, surprised.

"You bet they are, birthday boy." Applejack replied, tossing the gift onto his claws.

"Happy birthday, Spike!" Fluttershy softly exclaimed and placed her gift on top of Applejack's.

"Happy birthday, Spike." I added, placing my gift on top of hers.

Rarity also threw her gift on top of mine. Pinkie Pie stretched her legs and placed hers on Rarity's. And Finally, Rainbow Dash released her dumbbell on top of all of them, causing Spike to lose his balance and fall towards the floor, dropping all the gifts. He looked at all of them with a puzzled expression on his face as he rubbed his head.

"Don't you know you get presents on your birthday?" Rainbow Dash asked him.

"Well, actually, this is my first birthday in Ponyville... I usually just get one present... from Twilight. A book." He explained with a frown.

As Twilight began walking towards him, I could see her carrying a book with a bow on it. However, she stopped upon hearing Spike's sentence and looked back to see the book she was bringing him. She hid it behind her and slowly walked away as she blushed.

"Speaking of presents," Rarity pulled out a cape-like cloth. "…this is from my new line of taffeta capes. I'm going to make one for each of you!" She presented it before us.

All of the girls were fascinated by the cape and offered their surprised thoughts and awes with it.

"Um, Rarity…" I commented as I continued looking at the cape. "Wouldn't these kinds of capes be more for…girls…?"

"Nonsense! You can wear one too! Remember when you were 'The Mysterious Mare Do Well'?"

"I…" I cut myself, not wanting to really argue or reason about that. I sighed. "Alright…"

"I've been inspired by the generosity of my little Spikey-wikey, who gave me this beautiful fire ruby, one of the kindest acts I've ever experienced."Rarity presented her necklace. I noticed Spike gain that love-struck look on his face once again. Rarity rubbed her head compassionately on Spike's as he warmly accepted. "Mmm."

Spike opened the impressively many gifts he received as we ate cake and other treats. Honestly, I had never seen so many gifts in my life. He was just finished digging through a square box to pull out a blanket with apples on it. "Applejack, I can't thank you enough for this great blanket. I really needed a new one." He hugged Applejack, causing her to drop the apple she was in the middle of eating.

"C'mon, Spike, you already thanked me fifteen times." She gently pushed him away from her. "I'm startin' to get a little embarrassed."

"I know I keep thanking you guys, but I'm just so grateful."

"Hold on, Spike." I announced as I walked over to him. "You still have this one to open." I gently pushed the box towards him.

He immediately began tearing the wrapping paper. When he finally opened it, his eyes widened at the sight and he mouth watered. "Gems? You got me all sorts of gems?"

"Of course. Dig in!"

"THANK YOU!" He squeezed me and literally jumped inside the box, munching on all sorts of gems. "I wish this party could last forever!"

Pinkie Pie was bouncing on a blue balloon with a party kazoo in her mouth until it popped. She sat down and spread her hooves. "Duh!" She rushed over to Spike, pushing Applejack and Twilight out of the way. "The party can't last forever 'cause you have to go to Sugarcube Corner, 'cause the Cakes said they have a special surprise for you, 'cause it's your birthday!" Pinkie Pie's excited movements caused her to fall towards the ground.

"No way!" Spike exclaimed loudly and instantly began running out the door.

"I said the party couldn't last forever, but it doesn't need to end right now!"

Spike continued running and ignored her, slamming the door behind him in an excited and happy manner.

I chuckled lightly and looked at the others. "I'll go make sure he doesn't hurt himself on the way over there."

I walked over to Sugarcube Corner to catch up to Spike who was excitedly motioning his feet near the counter. "Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Cake!"

"There's the dragon of the hour! Happy birthday, Spike!" Mr. Cake announced joyfully.

"Thanks!"

"When we found out it was your birthday, we couldn't resist trying out a new recipe!" Mrs. Cake lowered herself below the counter to retrieve something. "Sapphire!" She presented a blue cupcake with sapphires on it. The cupcake stood proudly on the plate.

"Wow!"

The cakes gave him the cupcake, which he returned a series of licking lips and more watering of the mouth. I continued smiling and walked up to him. "C'mon Spike, we can still enjoy your birthday a little more while we still have the time."

"Alright." He answered but laid his eyes on the cupcake.

We started walking out as the Cakes followed us and stopped at the door.

"Thank you so much!" He shouted towards them, waving them goodbye and licking his lips again after. "Man, first I get a bunch of great presents from my best friends, and now an amazing sapphire cupcake!" He excitedly commented to me as I looked at him. "Hohoh, what a day!" He suddenly bumped into somepony. "Whoa!" I noticed the pony was Ms. Cheerilee. The grocery bag on her back was about to fall off. I quickly rushed towards it and prevented it from falling and spilling any of the contents inside. However, Ms. Cheerilee was on the floor with her eyes spinning around in a daze. Spike's cupcake must have flown out of his hands because he caught it with his insanely long tongue and brought it to his claws again."Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry, Cheerilee!"

"That's okay." She responded. I placed the bag back on her back. "Thank you so much, Alex." She thanked, sending a smile to me.

"It's not a problem at all." I replied, returning a smile as well.

She looked over to Spike who still had his cupcake. "What's got you so excited?"

"Pinkie Pie told me I should come see the Cakes, so they could give me a cake 'cause it's my birthday today!" He explained.

"Well, happy birthday, Spike! I wish I had something to give you!" She placed a hoof on her cheek and thought. "Uh... oh!" She raised her hoof with an idea. She dug through her grocery bag with her head and pulled out a hat with a feather on it. "Here you go!"

"Wow, really?" Spike questioned, touching the hat.

"Sure! Everypony should get fun gifts on their birthday!" Spike immediately sprung towards Cheerilee and gave her a grateful hug as well. "Have a great birthday, Spike! Goodbye, Alex!" She announced as she began to walk away.

I waved and looked towards Spike.

"I wish every day was my birthday..." He presented dreamily as he tugged the sides of the hat over him.

I started began having this odd feeling. Hm… was there something I read about Dragons and avarice? I looked around and Spike had begun to continue walking. I shook off my thought and caught up to him.

Heading back to Twilight's, we passed a well with two ponies having a conversation. Spike began to think out loud. "Pinkie Pie mentions my birthday to the Cakes, and I get a cupcake…" Spike continued to mention some other things, but my attention was caught by a familiar pony who just popped out of the well randomly. The two ponies who were having a conversation looked in surprise at her as she contained crossed eyes and a wide smile on her face. The two ponies exchanged looks and walked away awkwardly as she noticed them and formed a slight frown on her face.

"Hey, Derpy." I greeted, walking up to her and changing the expression on her face back.

"Hi, Alex! How are you?"

"I'm fine…" I observed her hanging on the edge of the well. "Just wondering… what are you doing inside a well?"

She looked below her, making that cross-eyed frown expression for a moment and looking back at me. "I forgot."

"Well, you better get out of there before you get hurt." I offered her my hoof and helped her out.

"Thanks, Alex. What have you been up to lately?"

"Well… today's my friend's birthday. His name is Spike and he's a dragon."

"Cool!" She exclaimed and began to pull something out from the saddlebag she had been wearing. "Here, you can go ahead and give him this muffin for his birthday."

I smiled. "Thanks, Derpy. I'll tell him it's from you."

She returned a smile as well. "Well, I'm going to make some more. I'll see you later!"

"Bye."

She waved and headed off to wherever she was going to make more muffins.

I looked around and noticed Spike was gone. "Spike?" I called but received no answer. I continued walking around town, trying to see where we went. I reached an area where the water fountain was planted for ponies to drink from.

"Aren't you gonna give me something? You know, like a birthday present?" Spike's voice sounded from near the fountain, catching my attention and causing me to see what all the commotion was about.

"Um, I... I don't have anything." A pony carrying baskets of flowers responded, giving off an uneasy look.

"Well how about those flowers? I'll take those—

"Spike!" I exclaimed, scolding him for almost taking the flowers away. He turned, surprised, to see me. I placed a hoof in front of him and dragged him behind me. I looked at the pony with the flowers and apologized. "Sorry about that. I don't know what that was all about…"

"Uh, no problem... H-Happy birthday, Spike!" She walked off and managed to exclaim even after being frightened by him.

Spike noticed the muffin that I had on my back from Derpy. "Hey, are you going to eat that?" Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed it and chomped it down, swallowing largely. "Mmm!" I formed a scolding look towards him.

"What?" He questioned.

"What the hay was that all about, Spike? It was one thing for Cheerilee to willingly give you a gift but now you're practically forcing others to give you one too?"

He looked at his tail and noticed a ball behind it, one that I hadn't seen either, which I assumed he probably took as well. He shook his head. "Wow, you're right, Alex. I don't know what got into me. Thanks for snapping me out of it. I'd better go give Cheerilee her hat back. Do you want the muffin too?"

I shook my head and slightly flinched. "No thanks…" I sighed. "It's fine… Just return the gifts quickly and head home or Twilight's going to worry about you." I began walking away. "You should really be grateful with what you have already…"

"Sounds good! Bye!" He yelled and waved.

When I entered back into the library, the girls were cleaning up the mess that Spike had left with all his gifts.

"Hey, Alex. Where's Spike?" Twilight questioned me.

"Oh… He went a little overboard with his gifts that he retrieved from ponies in town… so he's returning them."

"Oh, I see… It is his first birthday here anyway."

"Yeah… He should be coming back in a bit."

"Alright, thanks Alex."

I nodded and walked over to Fluttershy. "Ready to go home?"

"Mm-hm." She nodded and began walking with me to the door.

"See all you girls later." I announced. After being pelted with byes, Fluttershy and I walked out, and I began walking her home.

When we reached her door, she opened it and looked at me. "Come inside, there's actually something I want to give you."

I walked inside. "What is it?" I asked.

She led me to her bedroom and walked towards the nightstand on the left side of her bed. She grabbed something and walked towards me. "Here…" She held a circular object to me. "I made it for you."

I analyzed the object. It looked like a sort of necklace, but it seemed to be more for decorative uses. It was woven with some string, beads, and other decorative items. I carefully took it and continued looking at it. "Wow, Fluttershy… I don't know what to say… This is so thoughtful of you…" I looked at her and smiled. "You're the best girlfriend ever."

She blushed and looked slightly away. "I could say the same thing about you…"

I embraced her passionately and held on to her for several moments as she returned it and wrapped her forelegs around me. When we pulled away, we continued to look at each other. "Thank you, Fluttershy."

She smiled and kissed me. "You're welcome…"

I continued smiling heartily and looked outside to notice nightfall arising. "I guess I should say Goodnight then." She followed me down the stairs and I looked back, once at the door. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Of course." She nodded confidently.

"Great, then. Goodnight, Fluttershy."

"Goodnight, Alex."

We shared one last kiss before I headed towards home.

I wasn't sure if it was meant to be used as a necklace, but I wore it anyway on the walk home. When I entered my house, I climbed up the stairs and walked to my bed. I sat on the bed for a moment, keeping the lamp on. I looked at the wonderful gift Fluttershy gave me and smiled. I also compared it with the heart she had made me as well and saw how they were well together. However, I yawned and decided I could use some sleep. I turned off the lamp and scooted myself into my bed. Taking one last glance at her gift, I closed my eyes and dozed off.

When I awoke, I immediately felt something was off. I looked down to see the gift, but it was gone! I quickly looked around the bed to see if it was hidden somewhere, but I found out that that wasn't the only thing that was gone… I noticed my shelf was bare. All the gifts I had received, even the trophy from the Running of The Leaves, were gone. I turned to my nightstand to see Fluttershy's heart was also missing! Where did they go? I rushed downstairs to see some things missing as well, but there were barely of any importance of me. Was I robbed? Who would rob me while I'm asleep? Who even robs here? This is a peaceful town! Even if I was, why did they take only certain things? And how did I not even hear anything? I shook my head and ran out the door.

I have no idea of where to even start about this puzzling conflict. Maybe Twilight can help? I quickly began running towards Twilight's house. I can't imagine what things I might do when I find out the pony who took those gifts… especially Fluttershy's…

"Twilight!" I called out as I opened the door and rushed inside.

"Alex?" She questioned surprisingly. She was speed reading through some books for some reason, as if she was in a hurry.

"Twilight, when I woke up just a while ago, most of my things were gone!"

"What?" Twilight widened her eyes. "Then that means—

"What's happening to me, Twilight?" Spike exclaimed, causing me to turn my head towards him and returned shocked eyes.

"Spike! You're… huge…!"

"I don't know what's happening to him! When I woke up this morning, he had all this stuff with him." Twilight explained.

"Stuff?" I realized and looked over across the room to see many things in a pile, including my gifts, which I had kept safely in my home. "Spike! You're the one who took my things?"

He rubbed his head embarrassingly.

"Think back to last night." Twilight continued asking him. "Did something happen?" Spike seemed to lose his attention and stare at the things around him until Twilight called him again. "Spike?"

"What did you do after I had left you to return the gifts?" I demanded in a calm tone.

He slapped his head. "I went to talk... to..." His voice trailed off when he was caught staring at a shiny globe nearby. He walked towards it with his hands ready.

"Spike!" Twilight yelled as he touched the globe and spun it with his fingers. She used her magic to remove it from his sight and cause him to fall. "You went to talk to who?"

"Oh, um... I don't remember. Hey, can I have that globe? You're not using it, right?"

"Huh?"

Nonetheless, Spike grabbed the globe and crawled up to the second floor of the library as he held it with his tail. He dug through the pile of items, including my gifts, and planted the globe harshly on top of them. This caused me to grow anger.

"Watch it! You're going to break my gifts!" I exclaimed.

However, he grabbed a book nearby and ignored me. "What about this book?"

Twilight teleported to the top of the globe and began pulling the book away from his claws. "Spike, I'm worried about you. You're usually not so... grabby!" Twilight managed to pry the book away from him, but he suddenly grabbed it from the air.

"My arms aren't usually this long either." His sudden drop in tone surprised us all. Even he noticed it as he dropped the book and forcefully placed his claws over his mouth. "What's happening to me?"

Twilight placed a hoof on her chin and rubbed it as she narrowed her eyes at him.

Recognizing the symptoms, I offered a possible explanation. "His voice deepened… he's twice his size… looks like he's maturing… but that can't really be it… I mean… who grows twice as big over night? And it doesn't explain why keeps taking things… especially my stuff." I emphasized. I was really straining about my things because those were the things that the girls gave me, especially Fluttershy. I don't want him ruining them!

"Spike, give Alex his things back." Twilight told him.

"But…they're so shiny!" He whined.

"Spike!"

I sighed. "You know what? I'll just get them back when he's back to normal. Right now, let's just find somepony who can help us with this…"

Twilight sighed as well and nodded.

She led us towards the doctor where we waited for him to come to the room.

"Twilight, do you really think the doctor will know what's happening to him?"

She shrugged. "It's worth a shot…"

"SHOT?" Spike exclaimed and began freaking out.

"Calm down Spike. You're not getting a shot." Twilight assured.

"Oh…" He regained his composure.

"Maybe…" Twilight added softly, but not loud enough for him to hear.

Spike began looking around the room as he sat on the examination bed, holding his hands and shuffling his feet, while Twilight and I waited nearby, sitting on the floor. We continued to wait for the doctor to come in, causing Twilight to send me a worried look while I could only shrug lightly. Still having the worried expression, she turned her eyes to Spike who seemed to have his attention caught on the bowl of lollipops in front of him. He raised his claw to grab some of them until Twilight noticed and raised her hoof to slap his claws away. He frowned after, rubbing his claw as Twilight looked at the door with an angry expression now. However, the doctor walked in and replaced her look with hope.

"Well now, what seems to be the problem?" He asked in a cheery voice.

"This is Spike." Twilight presented, but noticed Spike about to touch the cup of little wooden sticks. She slapped his claw and continued speaking. "And something's wrong with him." She slapped his claw when tried to touch the cup again. "He used to be half this size! And he keeps trying to take things that aren't…" She slapped it again. "…his!"

"All right then, let's just have a look see, shall we?" He walked towards Spike and faced him seriously. Then, he sat down and began speaking to him in babyish words. "Widdul guy not feewing too good? Who's a brave widdul boy, huh?" He began annoying Spike as he held his claws and played around with them. Spike even tried to bite him, but didn't. "Who's a brave one?" He tapped his hoof on his right knee, causing him to puff up his face and exhaust a large green flame towards the doctor. The doctor's face was scorched. Fine, but scorched.

"So? What do you think, Doctor?" Twilight asked.

"Well, I think I know what the problem is." He answered, causing Twilight to shift from her worried expression to a joyful one. "He's… a dragon!"

"That's not the problem." Twilight responded, lowering her ears and removing the smile off her face. "He's always been a dragon."

"Oh. Well, that would explain it." He began rubbing the soot from his face with a pink cloth. "Listen, I don't know anything about dragons, I know about baby ponies. Maybe you should try a vet."

Twilight sighed. "Okay. Thank you, doctor."

Next, we tried the vet, but I wasn't sure the vet would be much help either as they don't really work with dragons…

The vet had placed Spike on top of an examining counter and analyzed him under the bright light. "Hm, well, I'm flummoxed. Y'bring me a dog, I've got it diagnosed in seconds. Snake even faster, but... to be honest, I've never seen a real live dragon before." She explained. Spike snorted in anger, but the vet began praising him on the head. "Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?" Spike began to ease into her techniques. "Sit." She brought out a jar of dog biscuits. Spike did so and began panting as drool emerged from his mouth, as well as his tongue. The vet tossed a biscuit in the air for Spike to eat, but he grabbed it and saved it in the bowl of lollipops he took from the doctor, causing me to shake my head.

"Thanks anyway…" Twilight replied as she lowered her head. "C'mon, Spike." She turned and began walking out.

As we walked in town, Twilight remained having that hopeless expression on her face. "Oh, Alex… what are we going to do? Nopony in town knows what's going on with Spike…"

I looked at her with a frown, but then came up with a possible solution. "You're right… Nopony can… but I'm pretty sure a zebra may know what's going on."

Twilight widened her eyes and figured what I was getting at. "Zecora!"

"Yeah. She's the only one who can cure what professionals can't."

"Of course! Let's go!" She trotted to a sprint, causing me to do the same as we headed towards Zecora's hut.

After we knocked on her door, Zecora opened it and greeted us. "Oh, hello there you two. What brings you in such a brew?"

"Zecora, we need your help!" Twilight answered. "Spike has had a major growth spurt and he keeps collecting stuff. We don't know why!"

"Bring him in and I shall examine him."

Twilight grabbed Spike, who was just about to grab something else in the woods, and dragged him inside. Afterwards, Zecora began analyzing him by squeezing his head with her hooves and tapping his head as well. After retrieving her results from that test, she placed a gold watch over him and began swinging it, but Spike just saw it and tried to take it as well. Next, Zecora grabbed his left claw and swung it, causing him to swing his right claw, which slapped Twilight.

"Ooh, he is starting to mature. Of this fact I am quite sure."

"Mature?" Twilight rubbed her head with her hoof. "We kind of already know that… but that doesn't explain why he keeps grabbing things." Twilight saw Spike pick up a vase, so she used her magic to pull it away from him.

"A dragon's heart is prone to greed, a steady diet to make growth speed." Zecora threw some green powder she had in the cauldron full of bubbling water. Twilight and I walked closer to look in it. "Then, the resulting bigger size only makes their hunger rise." Zecora's tone and words began making Twilight return a worried look. "If this trait should go unchecked, if Spike continues to collect more growth will certainly occur – he is going to turn into a monster." The green powder she had threw in cauldron created the vision of what would happen if Spike is allowed to continue to gather more things.

Twilight gasped. "You mean the more things a dragon collects, the bigger and greedier he gets? But how do we stop him before he's completely out of control?"

"If his monstrous ways you wish to impede, you must prevent him from practicing greed."

"Alright, so… basically we have to lock him up so he won't touch things anymore?" I sighed. "Well we should hurry and do it now before he gathers more things and completely becomes too humongous to handle."

We suddenly heard a door thrust open, causing us to look back with our eyes. We looked around the room to see it completely bare. The door was swinging as the outside was visible. Zecora returned an irritated expression towards Twilight, causing her to nervously laugh.

"Don't worry Zecora. We'll get your stuff back and stop Spike before this gets out of hoof."

"I wish you both luck for if you do not stop Spike, we may be all sitting ducks."

I nodded. "Come on, Twilight. Let's figure out a way to put an end to this."

With some worry, she nodded as well and followed me out of the hut.

As we ran back into town, we continued to search desperately on where Spike could have gone. After running through buildings for a while, we heard familiar voice scream out. "Get away from her, you brute!" Applebloom? We turned our heads to see the Cutie Mark Crusaders fighting with Spike over Scootaloo's scooter. Scootaloo wrapped her hooves around the scooter as Applebloom held her hooves around Scootaloo, trying to pull her back, while Sweetie Belle was pulling on Scootaloo's tail.

"Spike want!" Spike released as he tried to pry the scooter away from their hooves.

"You're not getting my scooter!" Scootaloo exclaimed, still struggling to gain it back.

"Spike want!" He repeated.

As Twilight looked around for a solution, I ran towards him instead and tackled him to the ground, causing him to lose his grip on the scooter and allowing the others to regain it.

"Girls!" I told them as I continued to struggle to keep Spike on the ground. "Hurry up and get out of here before he tries to take your scooter again!"

They nodded. "Thanks, Alex!" After, they fled off in the scooter.

After a few seconds, Spike managed to kick me off. Fortunately, before he could run after them again, Twilight came out and stopped him. "Hey, Spike! Check out this amazing broom!" Using her magic, she strutted a broom near him, then pulled it away from him to make him chase after it.

"Spike want!" He unexpectedly and surprisingly grew bigger, causing me to widen my eyes at the sight. He hissed and began chasing after the broom. I quickly stood up from the ground and ran after him.

Twilight was surprised at his growth as well. Nonetheless, she continued running and led him back into the library. "C'mon, big boy! Look at this incredible broom!"

Spike tried to reach it as Twilight ran inside the library, but became stuck while trying to fit through the door. After pulling enough, he freed himself and rolled inside, regaining his balance. "Spike want!"

I entered the library to see Twilight twirl the broom and throw it inside another room. Spike ran inside and Twilight immediately closed the door, holding herself on it. I quickly pressed myself on the door as well, and we felt Spike trying to tackle his way through.

"Fight all you want, I'm not letting you out!" Twilight assured. After holding ourselves on to the door for a while, it grew quiet. Twilight and I carefully released ourselves. Twilight opened the door and walked inside to see what was going on. We looked in the room to see Spike holding all the books in the center beneath him, greedily. "Oh Spike, I just re-shelved this room!" Twilight gathered all the books with her magic and brought them to the room we were in, shutting the door after. She sat down and sighed.

I thought for a moment. "If he's that huge… can't he just—

A loud crash interrupted me, which also caused Twilight to groan.

"What now?"

Twilight opened the door again, allowing us to see the same figure of Spike broken through the bark of the tree. I sighed. "This is going to be very challenging…" I looked at her and gave her a suggestion. "Alright, we should go warn the others. Get Applejack, she should be able to help you tie Spike down. I'm going to warn Fluttershy."

She nodded and we began to part ways.

When I arrived at Fluttershy's cottage, I saw her dancing with some squirrels. I quickly ran up to her. "Fluttershy!"

She noticed me and smiled. "Alex!" She hugged me.

"I'm sorry, Fluttershy, but there's a problem right now…"

"A problem?" She formed a frown. "What do you mean?"

I sighed. "I don't mean to scare you or anything but Spike is—

The ground suddenly began shaking, frightening Fluttershy. I saw Spike charge towards the cottage. Fluttershy eventually spotted him and screamed at the sight of him.

"Quickly, go hide!" I told her. She brought her squirrels and flew towards the top of the tree. However, Spike was going after the chicken coop. I ran towards him to try to stop him, but he was too huge. It was impossible! "Spike, listen to me! You need to stop this! Now!" I tried to entreat him, but he just looked at me and picked me up. He tore the chicken coop and threw the leaves and apples he was carrying with him in there, adding me in there as well.

I shook rigorously as he ran. I placed my hooves on the edge of the chicken coop to see where he was going. He's heading back to town!

"Spike, don't do this!" I tried exclaiming to him as I held my hooves tightly on the chicken coop.

He just returned a roar and continued running. My voice isn't going to work! If there's any chance of bringing the old Spike, he's going to need to hear somepony he's close to! He eventually arrived at Sugarcube Corner, barging in the building and causing Pinkie Pie to scream loudly.

"Pinkie! Get out of here!" I shouted to her, but she cowered towards the top of a pastry shelf as Spike began filling the coop with cakes, trays, and other kitchen utensils. I took my opportunity and jumped out of the coop.

"Back! Get back!" Pinkie Pie began pelting him with cake from the shelf. Spike moved his head in order to dodge the cake that later splattered on the wall. He hissed and caught the next cake that Pinkie Pie threw, stuffing it in his box of other things.

As Pinkie Pie continued to grunt as she threw cake at him, I saw Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy enter the building. Fluttershy saw me and immediately ran towards me, hugging me. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine…" I answered.

"Pinkie Pie! Stop giving him cake!" Twilight announced after seeing him gather the cake she threw.

"I'm not giving him cake; I'm assaulting him with cake!" She answered fiercely as she held two plates of large cakes and threw them at him. Pinkie Pie was just about to reload on cake, but Spike grabbed all the treats from the shelf, causing her to fall flat on the floor. She stood back up and shouted. "How dare you take the cake!"

Spike replied with a roar. Then, he looked as if he felt himself changing. Oh no… His body shook and he instantly grew twice the size he already was, breaking the roof off of the building. Spike grinned and carried his box of stolen good with his tail and walked with all four of his feet.

"He's completely out of control!" Twilight exclaimed and began running out. "Who knows where he'll go next!"

We all ran after Twilight, except Applejack who was busy dragging a stunned Pinkie Pie.

"Rarity!" I exclaimed after thinking for a moment. "He's going to go after Rarity!"

Soon, the sirens began sounding throughout the whole town, but Spike shut it off by grabbing the speakers and tearing it off. Everypony was in panic as they ran all over town, trying to avoid the epidemic of Spike. He released a fierce and loud roar. He was so huge that we could all see his body! That wasn't it. I saw a pony held tightly in his tail. It was Rarity! He ran towards the water tower and tore it off, causing the water inside to pour out and flush the town.

"Rainbow Dash! Fluttershy! You girls have to free Rarity from him!" I exclaimed.

"We're on it!" Rainbow Dash responded and brought Fluttershy with her.

"Don't worry Rarity, we'll save you!" Fluttershy said as they flew towards her.

"Put her down, right now!" Rainbow Dash commanded on his left.

"I- if you wouldn't mind, that is..." Fluttershy added fearfully on the other side.

"I mean it, dragon boy!" Rainbow Dash aggressively assured.

"We'll be ever so grateful if you'd be so kind as to possibly consider..." Fluttershy contradicted.

"Drop her, scaly!"

Spike backed away from them and turned around, wildly swinging his tail around to swat them out of the air. "Hey!" Rarity yelled as she was tossed side to side in his tail. "I'm- Not some- -sort of common- fly swatter!" He eventually was successful when Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were caught hold by Rarity's cape, which tore, and began falling straight towards the water as they screamed.

"Fluttershy!" I yelled and quickly began running towards where they were falling. They splashed in the water, but came out okay. I dove into the water and began swimming towards them. Meanwhile, Spike released another fierce and loud roar. As I was helping the two of them back onto land, Rainbow Dash looked up and noticed her role models.

"Look! The Wonderbolts!"

They flew towards Spike and then just flew around him. I had no idea what they were trying to do, or what they could even do to stop him. Spike turned around and spotted a nearby mountain. He immediately began climbing it, holding the water tower full of stuff in his mouth and Rarity in his tail as she screamed. The wonderbolts flew towards him and assaulted him by sniping off a piece of his scales. You guys CAN pull Rarity out and land her to safety, you know! Instead, they even made him angrier. He spotted a hole in the mountain and placed his stolen items in there, emptying the water tower. Observing the directionless flying of the wonderbolts, Spike narrowed his eyes. Just as the wonderbolts were about to fly straight towards him, Spike held out the open end of the water tower and caused them to end their flying in there. He placed the water tower on the mountain, causing them to be unable to escape.

Spike began to roar but Rarity cut him off. They began to have a conversation to which I couldn't hear because of the distance, but for some reason… I did hear. It was as if her voice were in my thoughts… Something felt strange in my heart as I placed my hoof over it.

"Oh be quiet. You've got nothing to be proud of!" Spike opened his mouth and motioned his claw mockingly as Rarity continued to lecture. "You steal everypony's things, terrorize the town, and use me as a weapon against my own friends! Which, as horrible as it is, I can almost understand because you're a dragon and all. But this!" I saw her rip something, most likely her dress. "This is a crime against fashion!" Spike brought her closer to his eyes to observe something on her… Strangely… his expression changed… It wasn't aggressive anymore…"Oh no. You are not getting this gemstone! This was given to me by my dear friend Spikey-wikey... the kindest, sweetest, most generous dragon ever. And it is too precious to me to give to a greedy old beast like you!"

Spike grunted and opened his eyes. They turned into compassionate ones… Maybe… Maybe he's remembering about the gemstone! After a few seconds, Spike shook his head and placed his claw on his cheek.

"Oh, what now? I suppose you'll be eating me or something?" He began shaking and suddenly, through jerky motions, transformed back into himself. "Spike? You're the rampaging dragon?" Afterwards, they began falling straight towards the ground, screaming.

Pinkie Pie was looking through a pair of binoculars as we could only stand watching at the bridge. "Somepony do something!" She cried out loud as Applejack placed her hat over her face, fearing the worst.

"On it!" Rainbow Dash replied and pulled Fluttershy towards her. She grabbed the torn cloth that was floating in the water and both of them flew speedily to the falling pony and dragon.

Come on, girls… you can do it! My thoughts were interrupted when my heart began acting strangely again. I started to hear their voices again…

"Rarity?" Spike began. "I need to tell you something! Just in case we don't make it!" Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were hurrying greatly. "I've always sort of had a crush—

His sentence was cut off when Rarity placed a hoof on his mouth.

Just before they were about to hit the ground, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy caught them with the cloth. They slowed down as they brought them back to us. Then, they finally slowly lowered them to the bridge, causing me to sigh in relief and to relax myself.

Fluttershy gasped as she remained in the air. "We did it! I can't believe we did it!"

The water tower fell from the mountain, revealing the wonderbolts cowering together, but once they noticed they were free, they hovered in the air proudly and flew away.

"All in a day's work." Rainbow Dash commented.

I sighed and joined the others on the other side of the bridge. "I never want to go through that ever again…"

"Ugh… Don't even remind me." Twilight replied.

"I'm just glad that's over. Next time we'll think twice about getting him gifts on his birthday." Applejack added and they all shared a laugh.

As we walked back towards town, Spike began writing a letter. "Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned a great lesson about friendship. Well, you might think that it would feel good to get lots and lots of stuff, but it doesn't feel nearly as good as giving something special to somepony you really care about. But I learned that it truly is better to give than to receive, and that kindness and generosity are what lead to true friendship. And that's more valuable than anything in the world. Well... almost anything." He looked towards his cheek, which presented a pair of lips.

I looked at him and smiled. "That's a good letter, Spike."

"Thanks!" He responded. "Sorry about the way I acted."

"It's alright… you can start by giving me and the other ponies their things back…"

He sighed happily as he held his claw on his cheek. "I'll do anything…"

As Spike was giving everypony their things back, and apologizing, Rarity invited us over to her shop to present the capes she had finished making us. When she gave me mine, it didn't really look girly. I mean… I'm not the type of pony to wear capes… but it did look alright. It was a dark blue color, almost like my coat, and was a bit furry, of course not with real fur, and represented a wolf; me. I smiled and looked at Rarity. "Thank you, Rarity. It's amazing…"

She smiled back. "Anything for my friends."

I looked at Fluttershy who placed her hood on. Her dress, or cape, consisted of a light blue color with a white trim at the end. There was a white ribbon and bow on her neck and a daisy held beautifully on the top of the hood. She looked so amazing that it felt as if I could only stare at her beauty.

Once all the repairs were done and everypony's stuff was given back, including mine, it was nighttime. I walked with Fluttershy to her home, both of us still wearing the capes Rarity gave us. I was already feeling the need to sleep. At her door, I looked at her tiredly, but managed to smile. She returned a smile and kissed me.

"I should let you start heading home. You almost look as if you want to sleep right here." She commented.

I chuckled lightly. "It's alright… I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay. Goodnight…"

"Goodnight." I embraced her for a moment and pulled away.

She smiled lightly and walked back into her home.

I shook my head lightly to try to keep myself awake and walked home as well.

I fell towards the bed, almost exhausted. I looked at my shelf to see everything back to normal. I sighed and closed my eyes. Before falling to sleep, I began thinking. Is it just me? Or do I seem to begin learning these new…powers…? I mean… when Rarity was kidnapped by Diamond Dogs, my heart was able to lead me to her. When I was escaping from that dragon while rescuing Spike, my heart was able to somehow teleport me out of danger's way. Now, I was able to hear Rarity and Spike from a large distance… and so on so forth… Is it all a part of my element? I sighed mentally. There are still so many things to discover… it's almost been keeping me from thinking about...them…

Hearth's Warming Eve

Episode 37 – Hearth's Warming Eve

Something felt strange. I slowly opened my eyes to see a flurry of snow travel past my window. I sat up and looked out, seeing snow everywhere. It's Hearth's Warming Eve… l wonder what the girls are going to do for today?

After hesitating for a moment, I finally escaped from the temptation of slumber and walked downstairs. Before I could open the door, rapid and loud knockings were pummeled on it, causing me to jump a little and open it.

"Hey, Alex!" All six of the girls exclaimed happily, causing me to form a smile.

"Hi, girls. What's got all of you so excited?"

"Princess Celestia selected us to be in the Hearth's Warming Eve pageant!" Twilight answered.

I exited my home and walked alongside with them. "Really? Hm…" I formed a slight saddened/worried face.

Applejack noticed. "What's wrong? Don't ya want to be in an awesome play in front of a bunch of ponies?"

"That's just it…I don't think I'm alright with being in front of many ponies…" I sighed. "I'll probably get stage fright…"

Rainbow Dash flew over to me. "Don't worry about it! We're your friends and we'll help you get through it!"

Fluttershy flew to me as well. "Yes. I don't like going onstage, but at least we'll be together." She released a warm smile that seemed to be able to melt the snow around her.

I smiled warmly as well. "Thanks…"

Pinkie Pie perked up. "Hey, everypony! Let's hurry and get to the train station already!"

"Yeah!" They all agreed, and I joined them in their galloping towards the train station.

Once we boarded, we saw the mayor board in the front of the train, along with some other ponies as well. We stayed almost at the end of the train. We waited for a few minutes as the girls excitedly talked until the train began moving and leaving Ponyville. I opened the window and looked out. I could see Canterlot in the distance as the snow continued to rain down softly. The girls behind me began laughing and talking. I smiled at their behavior and resumed looking out the window. However, something caught my eye. In a small room above the cart the mayor and some other ponies were in, revealed a friend poking her head out happily with crossed eyes. I smiled at her sight and decided I could probably go talk to her. I removed my head and hooves from outside the window and looked at Fluttershy.

"I'll be back in a few minutes, alright?" I said.

"Mmk." She responded, giving me a quick kiss before I started my way to where Derpy was at.

When I walked to the first cabin, I climbed upstairs and spotted Derpy as she continued to gaze out the window.

"Derpy? I didn't know you were heading to Canterlot too."

"Alex?" She turned around and revealed a grin. "Hi! I'm going to Canterlot because I'm going to play an important role in the Hearth's Warming Eve play!"

"Really?" I responded, intrigued. "Who are you going to play as?"

"Oh, I'm not going to be performing in the play, I'm going to be backstage, helping the other ponies get ready for when they go on stage!" She formed a slight frown. "It's a shame though… I really would have loved being a character for the play…"

"Well…why aren't you then?" I asked.

She drifted her hoof on the ground and looked at them. "They told me that I'd mess up the entire play up because I'm so clumsy…"

"What…?" I responded with a slightly puzzled expression. "Come on…"

"It's true. I can't handle things as good as other ponies. Like this one time, I accidentally dropped all this heavy stuff from a moving truck… I was so embarrassed…"

"Derpy…"

She perked up. "It's alright though, Alex, really! I'm just glad I'll be able to help!" She smiled brightly.

I smiled a bit, but felt serious at the same time. "Alright then… just don't let anypony stop you from being who you really are…and what you really want to do."

"Thanks, Alex. I'll remember that! What about you? Are you going to be playing someone in the play?"

"Um…I think so. I'm not sure yet."

"Well then, you'll do great!"

I smiled. "Thanks, Derpy…"

"No problem, Alex!" She returned a bright smile.

"I guess I'll see you backstage?"

"Yep!"

"Alright…See you later then."

"Goodbye!"

I waved and headed back to the cabin the girls were in.

Just as I entered, the room grew dark a couple of times when the train traveled through the mountains. I heard the train whistle several times, and Twilight began looking out the window in amazement. "We're getting closer!" She excitedly announced.

Rainbow Dash opened her window and looked out as well. "I can hardly wait!"

Fluttershy joined them. "I'm so excited, I-I feel like shouting! Woo hoo!" She cheered in the most soft yet adorable voice.

"Whooowee! Canterlot, here we come!" Applejack shouted in the snowy environment.

"Oh, I do hope I look festive enough!" Rarity added, wearing a small miniature tree as her hat, which contained ornaments and decorations already.

Pinkie Pie suddenly popped out from underneath the top of her tree. "There it is! Canterlot!"

"Oooh..." The girls released as we neared closer to the city.

"Isn't it beautiful, Alex?" Fluttershy asked me as she wrapped a hoof around mine.

I smiled lightly. "Yeah…" I looked towards her. "I'm glad I'm coming to Canterlot with all of you. At least we won't be around those snooty ponies."

She giggled lightly and nodded.

Once we arrived at the stop, everypony on the train left, and we trailed behind them. When we stepped out, the train whistled a few more times and began leaving the station.

"Oh, isn't Canterlot wonderful this time of year?" Twilight commented as we all looked around and gazed at the scenery. Pinkie Pie hopped beside us.

"Yeah, I wish it was Hearth's Warming Eve every day." Rainbow Dash added.

As we inched closer to the main part of town, I couldn't help but feel really…warm and special inside. I was with my best friends, and we were out here in the beautiful winter. It felt as if I was the happiest, but calm, pony in the world.

"There's so much to look at! I feel like my durned eyes are gonna pop right out of my head!" Applejack commented in town.

I could see several ponies in the background, but mostly I saw a huge decorated tree, bells, and many decorations! "You're absolutely right there, Applejack…" I added.

"I have an idea; let's play 'I spy with my little eye' as we walk!" Twilight announced. "I'll go first. I spy..." Twilight began looking around. "…an eight-foot candy cane."

I looked towards where Twilight was facing and saw that huge candy cane she was talking about. Scootaloo and another filly were trying to pull their tongues off of it, causing me to chuckle.

"I spy a snowpony!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, causing us to turn our heads towards a pony who was just finishing placing on a hat for it.

"I spy somepony eating a gingerbread house...!" Pinkie Pie waved her hooves excitedly and sped towards a nearby shop, returning with a large gingerbread house and chomping down on the whole treat. "...and it's me!" She spoke as she munched with cheeks full.

The girls laughed and I smiled warmly as she munched loudly.

"C'mon, guys. We better head over to the theater and rehearse a bit before the seats fill up." Twilight advised.

We nodded and followed her towards the performing area.

Backstage, the girls were beginning to dress themselves while I remained clueless.

"Alex, you've heard of the tale we put on for Hearth's Warming Eve, right? On how Equestria was made?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, of course…" I answered. "But…what exactly am I supposed to do in the play? Who am I playing as?"

"Oh!" Twilight pulled out a scroll. "Here!" She brought it towards me. I caught it with my teeth and placed it on a nearby table. "Princess Celestia has a special role for you. She thought she would add an exclusive part for you, considering it follows on with the story well."

I analyzed the script and raised an eyebrow. "The Long Lost Alicorn of Reasoning…? "

"Yup! She thought it would be perfect for you to try to reason with the tree tribes, since you're the voice of reasoning in our friendship…"

"…Twilight… I don't have wings or a horn…"

"Here!" She placed artificial wings and a horn on me, which she retrieved from the box of costumes nearby. "They look pretty real, don't you think?"

I looked at the sides of my body and my head, sighing slightly. "Yeah… I guess… But how am I supposed to fly or cast magic?"

She giggled. "That's all a part of the special effects!"

"You're the boss…"

"Aw, cheer up! Look at the rest of the script. Princess Celestia was really careful and thoughtful with your feelings, so she basically made it just for you!"

I continued reading, and I grew intrigued, raising an eyebrow and even smiling a bit. "I can work with this…" I replied, looking back at Fluttershy who was staring nervously into the mirror.

However, my ears slightly twitched when I began to hear a slowly growing noise outside the curtains. Walking past ponies setting up the stage for the performance, I poked my head outside the curtains and noticed the gigantic crowd outside, talking and waiting for the show to start. I began to feel nervous, but that died when I saw a pony near me. She poked the front of her body out of the curtains and waved happily towards the crowd. It was Derpy. Her actions made me smile. Sadly, another pony came by and tapped her on her back. She turned around, still containing that joyous face with crossed eyes. Nonetheless, the pony pointed away from the curtains, causing her to gloomily walk away with a sour face and scrunched nose. I patted her back, hopefully cheering her up. She saw me and smiled again. She continued walking so she could do whatever she needed to. I returned back to the dressing room to see many other mares dressing for their parts.

"I can't believe that Princess Celestia chose us to put on the most important play of the season! Do you guys know what an honor this is? For all of us?" Twilight shared, closing her eyes while Rarity puffed her cheeks with powder.

"It's a little weird…" I said, looking around and noticing the dressing room full of mares.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Well…I'm pretty much the only guy in here…"

Twilight giggled. "Don't worry, Alex. It'll be fine."

"Oh, I wish she hadn't honored me quite so much... I can't go onstage! I don't want everypony looking at me!" Fluttershy commented, almost in a panicked tone. After, she sped towards the box full of colorful scarves and hid her head inside.

"Fluttershy, darling, there's nothing to feel nervous about." Rarity began comforting her.

"No?" She pulled her head out.

Rarity grabbed her and began pushing her back towards the mirror. "Of course not." Using her magic, she grabbed the brush and ran it through Fluttershy's hair. "All across Equestria, ponies are preparing their own pageants for Hearth's Warming Eve," She grabbed some mascara and used it on Fluttershy's eyelashes. "…in their own towns. It's tradition."

"So you're saying they'll be too busy to come to our play?" Fluttershy asked, replacing the frown with a ray of hope.

"Well no. We're in the Canterlot pageant, the biggest, most important production in all of Equestria. A lot of ponies will come to watch us." She puffed Fluttershy's face as well.

"A lot?" Her frown returned.

"Hundreds."

"Hundreds?" She began trembling in fear.

Rarity gasped. "Maybe even thousands!"

Fluttershy yelped and hid herself back in the box.

"Alright, that's enough 'comforting', Rarity." I told her. "I'll go have a talk with her." I walked towards her as she continued to cower inside the costumes. "Hey, Fluttershy…"

She poked her head out and noticed me. "Oh…hi, Alex… I don't think I can go out there…"

I smiled lightly and pulled her away from the box. I lightly caressed her while continuing to speak to her. "I know how you feel, Fluttershy… but I'm sure that everything will be alright because I'm with my friends…and look at this." I presented the script to her. "Look at what happens."

She read it and smiled lightly while blushing a little. "That sounds nice…"

"Mm-hm." I placed the script away and gave her a quick kiss. "Don't be nervous. We'll all be together."

She nodded. "Okay."

Suddenly, we were interrupted when a gush of wind, along with snow, blew throughout the whole room.

"Oh, my hair!" Rarity exclaimed. "Applejack? Be a dear and shut those windows, will you?" She pointed towards the windows.

As Applejack had just finished placing on her costume, she began walking towards the open windows, annoyed, to close them until she heard Rainbow Dash nearby. "Aaah, Rain-bow-Dash! Rain-bow-Dash! Aaaah! Thank you, thank you!" She created her own noises that simulated the crowd's cheering.

"It's a reenactment of the founding of Equestria. It's not the 'Rainbow Dash Show'!" Applejack held her hoof on the window, but didn't close them.

Rainbow Dash lowered herself with a bored expression and looked at Applejack. "Well it should be the 'Rainbow Dash Show'! I'm the star!"

"The star?" I included myself. "We're all of equal importance in the play, Rainbow Dash…"

"Curtain in two minutes!" Spike announced from the curtains.

"My hair!" Rarity shouted.

"Alex is right." Applejack explained to Rainbow Dash. "The Hearth's Warming Eve pageant is about harmony and friendship."

"Shut the window!" The others girls exclaimed.

I sighed and threw the windows closed, almost harshly. I looked at them all seriously. "Come on, girls. Now's not the time for fighting. Remember, Princess Celestia chose us, no pony else but us, to represent friendship and harmony in the play. You don't want to disappoint her, do you?"

"No…" They sadly answered with lowered heads.

"Exactly, now get your acts together and prove to Princess Celestia what true friendship is!"

"Yeah!" They exclaimed and clapped hooves.

Twilight smiled and faced me. "You prove my point exactly…"

I returned a slightly confused face, but then remembered what she told me and figured out what she meant by that.

We prepared ourselves by the stage curtains and waited for our cue. The curtains opened to reveal Spike near a fireplace, beginning to tell the tale of how Equestria was founded. "Once upon a time, long before the peaceful rule of Celestia, and before ponies discovered our beautiful land of Equestria, ponies did not know harmony." He began with a faux British accent. "It was a strange and dark time. A time when ponies were torn apart, by hatred." The audience gasped, especially Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo, who were in the very front, near the stage. "I know. Can you believe it?" He commented in his normal voice. Then, he returned to his accent and continued speaking. "During this frightful age, each of the three tribes, the Pegasi," The spotlight shone on the winged ponies. "…the unicorns," It shone on them as well. "…and the Earth ponies," Finally, it shone on them. "…cared not for what befell the other tribes, but only for their own welfare. However, rumor has it that another special pony roamed the land…"

"There's your cue! Go!" Twilight whispered to me and lightly shoved me.

"But what about the—

"I've got it, just go!"

I took a quick deep breath and jumped towards the revealed part of the stage. Magic engulfed my artificial wings, causing them to flap and I began flying in mid-air. I was presented in the spotlight in the middle of the stage.

"His name was Alexander the Great." This name caused me to mentally chuckle. Really, Celestia…? "He was a magnificent and majestic Alicorn, not known by any other ponies. However… he may have actually been the one to save all of the tribes from a terrible fate…" Afterwards, when Spike finished, I flew back towards the side of the stage, where Twilight congratulated me.

"In those troubled times, as now, the Pegasi were the stewards of the weather." The curtain opened to reveal Pegasi shaking a cardboard cloud, which formed snow beneath it. "But, they demanded something in return. Food that could only be grown by the Earth ponies." They had removed the cloud and brought out a cardboard sun and a background of fields. The Pegasi brought out their hooves to retrieve the food from the Earth ponies, who could only return angry expressions as their complexion was not as healthy looking as the others, possibly from working so hard.

I noticed the audience whisper about the scene. The Earth ponies had no choice but to give them their food and return the same expression. Then, came out the unicorns. "The unicorns demanded the same, in return for magically bringing forth day and night. And so, mistrust between the tribes festered, until one fateful day, it came to a boil. And what prompted the ponies to clash? 'Twas a mysterious blizzard that overtook the land, and toppled the tribes' precarious peace."

Thus, houses were shown as the Earth ponies desperately tried to find some food that might have been buried under the snow that surrounded them. "The normally industrious Earth ponies were unable to farm their land." A pony was shown discovering something, but it turned to a burnt crisp and floated away. Not only did it blow that away, its heavy winds blew the pony, even the whole house off. It easily turned out the fire, causing the ponies to heavily shiver and shake in the horrible blizzard. "The Earth ponies were freezing. The home of the Pegasi fared no better. The Pegasi were hungry. And the unicorns were freezing and hungry. Even the unicorns' magic was powerless against the storm. Each tribe blamed the others for their suffering, and the angrier everypony grew, the worse the blizzard became. And so it was decided that a grand summit would be held to figure out a way to cope with the blizzard."

The inside of a huge old-fashioned building was shown as the ponies of different descents gathered up for a meeting. "Each tribe sent their leaders." Fanfare played. "Daughter of the unicorn king, Princess Platinum." Rarity walked in, wearing many shiny and stylish things. Fanfare continued to play as Rainbow Dash walked in as well. "Ruler of the Pegasi, Commander Hurricane. And lastly..." Fanfare played once more, but with kazoos. "...leader of the Earth ponies, Chancellor Puddinghead." Pinkie Pie presented herself as she blew out confetti. "Perhaps the three tribes could finally settle their differences, and agree on a way to get through this disaster."

Just as the three of the looked at each other seriously, as if they were preparing to have a calm discussion about the issues they faced, instead, they began babbling insanely and unorganized.

"All I wanna know is why the Earth ponies are hogging all the food!" Rainbow Dash demanded, stomping her hoof on the table.

The Pegasi joined her as they shouted in agreement.

"Us? We're not hogging all the food, you are!" Pinkie Pie counterattacked. "Oh wait. You're right. It's us. Well, it's only 'cause you mean old pegasusususes are making it snow like crazy!"

"For the hundredth time, it's not us! We're not making it snow! It must be the unicorns! They're doing it with their freaky magic!"

Rarity gasped. "How dare you! Unlike you Pegasi ruffians, we unicorns would never stoop to such a thing! H-m-ph!"

The unicorns joined her.

"Well, if you non-earths aren't gonna stop using your weirdo powers to freeze us all, then I'm just plum out of ideas."

"What a shocker. An Earth pony with no ideas."

"Commander Hurricane, please cease with the insults!"

"You're not the boss of me, your royal snootiness!" Rainbow Dash flew up to Rarity's face.

"I beg your pardon? I am a princess!" Rarity placed her crown upside down. "I won't be spoken to that way!"

Following the script, I immediately opened the doors with my hooves and walked in. "Stop!" I shouted, causing for the whole building to grow immediately quiet. I continued walking in towards the table which the three stood. "You're going at this all wrong! You three need to stop arguing and come up with a solution to fix the mess you're in!"

"Pfft!" Rainbow Dash answered. "And who are YOU supposed to be?"

"That isn't important. What's important is to cease you're ignorant behavior!"

"Oh, really? And why should we listen to you?" After noticing me a bit more, Rainbow Dash squinted her eyes. "Wait a minute… you have wings! You're supposed to be with us!"

"No!" Rarity counterattacked. "Can't you see he has a horn? That means he's with us!"

"No!" Pinkie Pie intervened. "He has both! That means… he's with US!"

"Stop this now!" I exclaimed. "Forget about what I have! Concentrate on what you need to do!"

"Why should we listen to some freak with wings and a horn?" Rainbow Dash responded, harshly. "Hey! Maybe he's the one who's causing this storm!"

"What?" I answered with shock.

"Yeah! Maybe he's just a meanie who wants to be a meanie to others!" Pinkie Pie added.

"No! You must listen to me!" I tried to persuade them, but they resumed their stubbornness.

"Guards! Get him!" Rainbow Dash commanded them, causing them to fly over to me. I quickly jumped and flew in the air, causing the guards to bump into each other instead and fall dazed.

"You have to learn to be friends and live in harmony!" I still tried to persuade them.

"Shut up, freak!" Rainbow Dash replied and they all began chasing after me. I had no choice but to run and flee the scene.

"And so, Alexander was forced to leave the others to continue arguing." Spike continued his narrative. "The three of them tried to find him once he fled, but he had disappeared… At that time… they did not know that the one pony that could have prevented the mess that resumed afterwards, was turned away by their ignorance. And the blizzard raged on…

So the summit of the tribes did not turn out as well as hoped, and the three leaders returned home to lick their wounds, and basically complain, while Alexander the Great's location could only remain a mystery…"

Rainbow Dash returned back home. Fluttershy was resting on a cloud until Rainbow Dash ordered her off. "Atten-tion!" Fluttershy was startled and immediately saluted, but this caused her to fall off the cloud and stand back up in a daze. "Well? Aren't you curious about how it went?"

"Oh! Commander Hurricane, sir! How did it go, sir?" Fluttershy walked towards the bottom of the stairs where Rainbow Dash stood above.

"Horribly!" Rainbow Dash kicked a pile of snow which landed on top of Fluttershy's hat. "Those other tribe leaders are so disrespectful! Don't they realize that we are a mighty tribe of warriors, and should not be crossed?" She flicked her hoof up, causing Fluttershy to spin around and fall down the stairs. "We have got to break ranks with those weak foals!"

On the other hoof, Rarity was back at her kingdom, shivering dramatically. "Clover the Clever! I need you!"

"Yes, your majesty." Twilight answered, wrapping a blanket around Rarity. "Did the other pony tribes see reason as I predicted?"

"Those other tribes are impossible!" Rarity exclaimed as she shut the doors. "I, for one, can no longer bear to be anywhere near those lowly creatures." As Rarity rested on a pillow, Twilight brought a bucket of water with narrowed eyes. "The unicorns are noble, and majestic. We will no longer consort with the likes of them!" She slammed her hooves in the water after, even causing a drop of water to splash on Twilight's nose.

Next, Pinkie Pie fell through the chimney and landed back at her home. Applejack noticed this. "Wouldn't it have been easier to use the door, Chancellor?"

"Maybe for you, Smart Cookie. But I am a chancellor. I was elected because I know how to think outside the box. Which means…" She placed her head back in the chimney, causing her voice to echo. "I can also think inside the chimney. Can you think inside a chimney?"

"Uh—

"I didn't think so." Pinkie Pie interrupted, walking past her with her face full of soot.

"Ugh."

"Ohmygosh. Hold on to your hooves – I am just about to be brilliant!"

Applejack muttered under her breath as Pinkie smiled brightly. "That'd be a first…"

"I have decided that the Earth ponies are gonna go it alone!"

"Aw, so you mean the other tribes didn't come around? Shoot... I really thought we could get through to 'em if we—

"Don't worry about them." Pinkie interrupted again. "We're the ones with all the food, right?"

"Actually, we're all out…"

"Fine, then we'll have to go somewhere new where we can grow some new food. And with me as our fearless leader, what could go wrong?" She opened the door, which caused a pile of snow to tumble on her.

"Where should I start?" Applejack muttered under her breath again.

"The point is..."

"We must find a new land!" The three leaders exclaimed confidently in unison.

In Rainbow Dash's side, she was flying as Fluttershy trailed behind. She noticed and immediately flew towards her. "C'mon, Private Pansy, let's get a move on! Hup-one, hup-two!"

Lightning cracked, causing Fluttershy to yelp and hop onto Rainbow Dash's hooves. "Get a hold of yourself, Private! We cannot let anything distract us from the mission at hand. To find, and if necessary, to conquer a new land!" She began pushing Fluttershy ahead.

"Conquer, sir?" She questioned.

"You never know where enemies might be lurking…"

"I don't see any enemies, Commander. Just... snow."

"A-ha! What's that?" Rainbow Dash pointed and fought with a black cloud that appeared to be a monster. Fluttershy looked behind her and spotted a small piece of that cloud float near her. She instantly yelped and hopped onto Rainbow Dash's hooves again. "Okay. This is getting old…"

I made my entrance and flew over to the two. Rainbow Dash spotted me and narrowed her eyes in anger. "You again? Why, I aughta…" She began trying to fight me, but I swiftly dodged her attacks.

"Listen to me! I'm trying help all of you ponies live together in harmony!" I responded while she continued to try to hit me with her hoof.

"Why would we want to live together with the Unicorns and Earth ponies? They are just a buncha liars and thieves!"

"Uh…Commander…maybe we should listen to him…" Fluttershy released softly.

"No!"

"She's right!" I intervened. "You're only going to make this blizzard worse if you continue to fight and argue with the others! You have to come to an agreement!"

"Shut it! Come on, Private!" Rainbow Dash continued flying.

Fluttershy flew over to me with a different expression on her face. "Do you really know how to stop the blizzard…?"

"Yes…but everypony has to work together…"

"…" Fluttershy slightly blushed. "I think I—

"MOVE IT PRIVATE!"

"Eek!" Fluttershy shrieked and instantly flew over to Rainbow Dash.

I tried to reason with her again. "You have to listen!"

"Lalalalalala! I can't hear you! Lalalalala!" Rainbow Dash had placed her hooves on her ears and pretended to not hear me.

I groaned loudly and flew out of there. I was now supposed to try to reach out to the Unicorns.

Rarity and Twilight were on the snowy ground. "Oh, this is simply taking forever. My hooves are killing me! How long have we been walking for?" Rarity whined.

"About five minutes, your highness." Twilight revealed the castle behind them.

"Oh, I never imagined finding a new land would be so hard. But it'll all be worth it, don't you agree?"

"I actually think that the three tribes could've tried harder. "

"Stoooooop!" Rarity suddenly cried out.

"What's wrong?" Twilight immediately trotted over to her.

"That is what's wrong!" She pointed towards a little stream.

"Your highness, it's just a stream. We can cross it easily." Twilight explained, stepping over the rocks.

"I refuse to get my gown wet. I have no intention of arriving at my new land looking like a bedraggled Earth pony, or worse yet a rough-and-tumble Pegasus. I, for one, have no intention of stooping down to their level." Rarity faced away from the stream. "On the other hand, I have no trouble watching you stoop down."

Twilight groaned and rolled her eyes. Rarity then climbed on Twilight and rode her, even having a rope tied to Twilight's mouth. "And do watch the gown, darling. It's worth more than all of the books in your library."

I entered the scene, landing from my wings and walking towards them. "I have come to speak the terms of agreement with you two."

"Ugggghhhh!" Rarity groaned. "Can't you just leave us alone?"

"Hold on, your highness. Who is he?" Twilight asked.

"Just some ruffian. Let us be off."

"But he has a horn AND wings!"

"So?"

"So, I think he might be on to something!"

"…I am" I answered. "I'm trying to get all the tribes to agree to help other. But of course their stubbornness is preventing them from doing so. If all of you don't stop arguing, the blizzard will only become worse and worse!"

Twilight gasped but Rarity shrugged it away. "Oh please, what do you know?"

"I know enough to save all of you from freezing doom!"

"Your highness, I highly recommend we listen to him." Twilight advised.

"Don't be ridiculous! Now keep moving before some ruffians take our land first!"

"But your highness—

"Move! Or you get no new books when we arrive."

Twilight sighed and continued walking. "Sorry…"

I sighed heavily and only watched as they continued to leave. "Won't anypony listen?" I exclaimed and flew out of the area.

The last place was with the Earth ponies.

Pinkie Pie contained the map on her face as she had ripped holes to see and speak. She led Applejack in circles. "Yes, yes. This is definitely the right direction."

"It feels like we're going in circles." Applejack responded.

"But that's impossible." A circle of hooves were planted on the ground. "Are you suggesting that I'm reading the map wrong?"

"Absolutely not, your chancellorness. It's just that there are holes in the map, and—

"Of course! How else could I see where I was going?" Pinkie Pie began walking.

"Yeah, uh—

"Or talk?" Pinkie Pie almost walked over a cliff as pieces of snow fell off. "I need to be able to talk! I mean, how would we survive if I just suddenly shut up?"

"Heaven forbid that should happen, your chancellorship, heh. It's just that... the map is also upside down…"

"I got a newsflash for you, Cookie. The Earth is round. There is no up or down."

"You're right! It's such a relief to me that you're in charge of this map..." Applejack announced sarcastically as Pinkie Pie walked off.

"Relief?" She quickly walked backwards back to Applejack. "You don't need relief! If anypony needs relief around here it's me! I'm a chancellor! I'm a bigshot! You're just my, um... my, uh..."

"Secretary."

"Whatever." She grabbed the map with her mouth and placed it inside. Then, she spat it out onto Applejack's face. "You take the map, while I enjoy some relief." She walked off.

"Yes, Chancellor Puddinghead…"

Pinkie Pie, not watching where she was going, fell off the cliff, but I entered and caught her, bringing her back to the mountain and surprising Applejack.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the big meanie!" Pinkie Pie announced.

"Chancellor… he just saved your life…"

"What are you talking about? I'm fine! See?" She hopped around.

"That's because he placed you back on the mountain."

"…Whatever! What I want to know is what he's doing here!" She pointed at me.

I sighed. "I'm here to attempt to get you Earth ponies on my side…"

"On your side? What do you mean?" Applejack asked, concerned.

"E-pup-pup. I'll do the talking!" Pinkie Pie interfered.

"The blizzard is being caused by all the tribes arguing and fighting! If we are to be rid of this blizzard, we have to stop all this nonsense and be friendly towards one and another!"

"He's not a meanie…" Pinkie Pie responded, widening her eyes. After a moment, she narrowed them in anger. "He's a CRAZY meanie!"

"Crazy?" I replied in confusion.

"Let's go, Secretary! We're wasting our time with some crazy and weird looking pony."

"But Chancellor!" Applejack tried to reason.

"Ah! Less talking! More map reading!"

Thus, Applejack groaned and had no choice to follow her.

As I left the stage, holding my head down in disappointment, the curtains began to drop, and Spike continued to narrate. "Though, Alexander tried his best to win over the three tribes, each of them only returned stubborn responses. And so, each leader encountered obstacles along the way, but eventually, they all arrived in a new and wondrous land…" Spike presented the scenery behind him, which was supposed to represent the land. "Nopony had ever seen paradise before."

"This is the new land we've been searching for!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed joyfully as she bounced on the clouds.

"What a view... I can see my future house from here." Fluttershy pointed towards the ground.

"I proclaim this new land to be..." Rainbow Dash pulled out a flag and placed it on the cloud. "Pegasopolis!"

"I've never seen such jewels!" Rarity was analyzing a pile of jewels on the land. "This ruby is dazzling. This whole land is dazzling. I'm double dazzled!" She squealed as she planted herself near the pile of gems. "In the name of the unicorns, I hereby dub this land Unicornia!" A flag was planted between Twilight and her.

"The air! The trees! The dirt." Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she rubbed herself on the pile of dirt. "This dirt is the dirtiest dirt in the whole dirt world!"

"And fertile, too." Applejack added, holding a pile of dirt in which a seed grew from inside. "Perfect for growing food."

"In the name of the Earth ponies, I think I'm gonna call this new place... uh... Dirtville."

"How about… 'Earth'?" Applejack corrected.

"Earth! Congratulations to me for thinking of it." She bowed, causing her hat to fall off as Applejack could only returned annoyed eyes. From her hat, sprouted a flag as well.

"We found our new home!" The three leaders shouted in unison, but this caused them to be notified of their presences, revealing that they were only short distances away from each other.

"I planted my flag first!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, defensively.

"Did not!" Rarity argued.

"Did too!"

"I planted mine earlier than first." Pinkie Pie intervened, planting her hooves on the ground which caused her flag to easily fall like a toothpick.

"All of you riff-raff are trespassing in Unicornia!" Rarity cried out.

"The name is Pegasopolis!"

"Earth!"

"Pegasopolis!"

"Unicornia!"

"I say we fight for the land." Rainbow Dash offered. "May the best pony win!"

Winds began to blow through the land.

"That's barbaric." Rarity responded and grabbed Twilight. "Clover the Clever? Throw that brute into the dungeon!"

"What dungeon?" Twilight asked, confused. "Look, perhaps if we all calmed down..."

"I agree. Let's all calm down." Applejack added.

"I vote for calm." Fluttershy raised her hoof.

"I'll have you court-martialled for insubordination, Private!" Rainbow Dash reacted to Fluttershy, creating more wind and chilliness to appear in the land. "We settle this on the battlefield!"

A snowball was thrown at Rainbow Dash, causing Rarity to laugh until she was whacked with a snowball as well. As Rarity steamed, Rainbow Dash began laughing at her.

"Who dares throw a snowball at royalty?" She demanded.

Pinkie Pie was revealed to be the one with the snowballs, but then it puzzled her as well. "Wait a minute, where'd all this snow come from anyway?"

"Oh no. Not again." Rainbow Dash expressed as the entire area began filling with snow.

The curtain fell and Spike began speaking.

"And so the paradise that the ponies had found was soon lost, buried beneath a thick blanket of snow, and hard feelings. Instead of beautiful, it was blizzardy. Instead of wonderful, it was wintry! Instead of spectacular, it was snow-tacular! Instead of—

"We get it! Move on!" A pony from the audience yelled out.

Spike laughed nervously and cleared his throat. "Everypony was forced to seek shelter. They searched high and low, but the only shelter for miles was a cold and desolate cave." The curtain opened to reveal the cave, along with the girls inside. "And, of course, the three tribes had to share it, and nopony was too happy about that. Would Alexander the Great be able to save them from the horrible effect of frost?"

"Please, Commander Hothead." Rarity began as they faced off with each other.

"It's Commander Hurricane." Rainbow Dash corrected.

Rarity cleared her throat. "Please, Commander, could you just stand back and give me my royal space?" She pointed towards the ground.

"You mean like this, your highness?" Rainbow Dash purposely placed a hoof in front of Rarity.

"Indeed not!" Rarity repeated her motion. Then, she placed her face near the ground. "You see this invisible line?"

"Private? Outline our territory for everypony to see." Fluttershy began following her order and planted her hoof on the ground. Then, Rainbow Dash grabbed her as she flew and began moving her, creating a line in the dirt. "See this real, non-invisible line? No unicorns or Earth ponies are allowed to cross it!" The line extended between half the cave. "This is the sovereign territory of Pegasopolis!"

"Clover the Clever?" Rarity called.

"Uh... Smart Cookie!" Pinkie Pie called as well.

"I know, I know." Applejack replied.

They began creating their own line too, but Twilight came across Applejack. They looked at each other and nervously began going the other way. Meanwhile, Fluttershy came across a rock as she continued to create the line. She saw this and moved her hoof to the left, giving the others the rock space.

"What are you doing?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Don't go around the rock, go over it! I'm not giving up an inch of territory to the enemy!"

Rarity ran over to the scene. "That rock is clearly on the Unicornia side of the cave, and it belongs to us!" She inched her head closer to Twilight, who walked over. "Who knows, there could be jewels inside." She muttered under her breath.

Rainbow Dash grunted as she kicked the rock over to her side. "I claim this rock for Pegasopolis!"

"Unhand that rock this instant, you scoundrel!" Rarity demanded.

Pinkie Pie ran over to Rainbow Dash, noticing the rock below her. "Oh look, you found my rock. I've been looking for it everywhere." She picked up the rock with her teeth and ran away.

"Hey! You invaded our territory!"

Pinkie Pie placed the rock on the side where Applejack was. "Finders keepers, losers weepers!"

"That's the last straw!" Rainbow Dash assured, placing her hoof down. After, she began walking over to Pinkie as she picked up the rock and looked at Rarity, who was on the other side.

"Give me my rock!" She commanded, causing Pinkie Pie to run.

As soon as they began fighting over the rock, I noticed my cue and flew in through the cave.

"Stop!" I ordered. They all halted their running and looked at me in surprise. "Look at yourselves!" I directed at Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash. "You all are acting like a bunch of children when you are supposed to be leading your tribes! Yet, you're running around, fighting for a rock? You know… I don't find it a surprise that the blizzard came here in the first place… Ponies are just fighting for the little pieces… If you three leaders want this blizzard to disappear, I suggest you stop fighting and work things out, now."

It remained quiet for a moment.

"I agree!" Twilight raised her hoof and walked over to me.

"Me too!" Applejack followed Twilight's motion and joined us.

"As do I…" Fluttershy shyly flew to me.

The three leaders continued to stand still and look at each other. They all frowned but then smiled, almost growing tears in their eyes. They began nodding in agreement until Pinkie Pie spoke up. "So does this mean that the rock is mine?"

Rainbow Dash and Rarity looked at her and before we knew it, they began running around and arguing as they were before I came in. Twilight placed a hoof on her face and shook her head. I sighed and shook my head as well. They each "invaded" each other's side of the line and mocked them.

As expected, the wind began increasing in the cave, bringing the temperature a lot lower inside. A cloud formed above us while the three leaders continued to argue, despite the changing surroundings. Then, ice began forming, starting from above the cave walls and descending rapidly.

"Look, everypony! The entrance!" Twilight pointed to the entrance of the cave. Ice cracked as it covered the only opening. This caused Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie to turn their attentions towards it, but only for a second until they continued arguing again.

"Great. Now there's no way out! We're trapped!" Rainbow Dash announced.

"You two deserve this horrible fate. You've done nothing but argue and fight with each other!" Rarity responded as they all returned to their sides.

"You've been fighting too, your highness."

"Yeah! Worse! I haven't been fighting nearly as much as you!" Pinkie Pie added.

Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, and I began noticing ice moving towards the three arguing leaders and began freezing them from the bottom.

"How ridiculous! A unicorn never stoops to fighting!" Twilight walked away from Rarity as the ice began to devour her completely.

"That's just 'cause you wimpy unicorns know you'd never win!" Fluttershy did the same. "Earth ponies are numbskulls!" Rainbow Dash was now completely frozen.

"Pegasi are brutes!" So was Rarity.

"Unicorns are snobs!" And finally… Pinkie Pie.

All four of us gathered in the middle. Fluttershy even began to wrap her hooves around me for warmth. We heard something roar above us. We looked above to see some kind of spirit horses running around in a circle.

"What is that... thing?" Fluttershy asked as she shivered in both fear and coldness.

"They must be... windigos!" Twilight answered.

"Windigos?" Applejack and Fluttershy questioned.

"My mentor Star Swirl the Bearded taught me about them. They're winter spirits that feed off fighting and hatred. The more hate the spirit feels, the colder things become!"

"Then... this is our fault." Applejack admitted. "We three tribes... we brought this blizzard to our home by fightin' and not trustin' each other. Now it's destroyin' this land, too…" We looked at our surroundings to see everything in ice, and the ice was inching closer to us.

"And now our bodies will become as cold as our hearts... all because we were foolish enough to hate…" Twilight explained as we all began huddling together.

"Well, I don't hate you..." Fluttershy offered to Twilight. "I actually hate Commander Hurricane a lot more than I hate you guys." The girls reacted by giggling. "Actually, I don't really hate her, I just really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really dislike her."

The ice began forming on the legs of Twilight and Applejack as they laughed.

"Well, I don't hate you guys either." Applejack expressed.

"Nor do I." Twilight added.

"No matter what our differences, we're all ponies…" Applejack said lastly as the ice completely froze Twilight and her.

Fluttershy could only become frightened. "What do we do now…?" She asked me.

I sighed and formed a saddened expression. "I guess all we can do is let the ice freeze us…"

Fluttershy wrapped her forelegs around me tighter. "Listen…there's something I need to tell you…"

"What is it?"

She sighed. "I don't know why…but…when I saw you… I felt something different… I don't even know what your name is…but…um…" I continued looking at her for an answer. I began feeling the ice freeze us as well. "Uh…" Fluttershy hesitated. "I…I…I think I'm in love with you…"

I could only stare at her as the ice was now at our necks. "…love…?" I questioned.

"Yes…" She began moving her lips closer to mine as the ice was already completely freezing us. Then, our lips touched. We kissed as the ice was already going to overtake us, but then a bright light appeared and cracked the ice off of us, including Applejack and Twilight. The light attacked the windigos and caused them to halt their coldness. A large heart appeared very brightly above us.

"What was that?" Fluttershy instantly asked.

"How'd you do that?" Applejack asked me, very surprised.

"…I don't know…" I responded. "…but I don't think it was just me… It was all of us. We didn't fight or argue… We all were joined in friendship…" I looked at Fluttershy. "…and love…" We all placed our hooves together. Then, we continued on as Spike spoke.

"All through the night, the four ponies kept the fire of friendship alive by telling stories to one another and by singing songs, which of course became the winter carols that we all still sing today. Eventually, the warmth of the fire and singing and laughing reached the leaders, and their bodies began to thaw. And, it even began to melt their hearts." The three leaders were unfrozen, and the ice blocking the cave entrance melted. We all walked outside to see the new bright sunny day that was held before us. "The three leaders agreed to share the beautiful land, and live in harmony ever afterwards. And together, they named their new land..."

"Equestria!" We all exclaimed, causing the curtains to close and the audience to cheer loudly.

When the curtains opened again, we were all standing in a horizontal line. Spike joined us, and I held Fluttershy's hoof as we bowed. Confetti above us exploded into the air as the bells rang. We began the final song.

"The fire of friendship lives in our hearts

As long as it burns we cannot drift apart

Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few

Laughter and singing will see us through (will see us through)

We are a circle of pony friends

A circle of friends we'll be to the very end."

After, the curtains closed again, and that was the end of the pageant, though, we still heard the audience stomp their hooves and cheer.

Back in the dressing room, ponies were removing their costumes and chattering about the job well done. I could see Derpy holding a hat for somepony as she smiled happily with her crossed eyes.

"We should be so honored that Princess Celestia chose us!" Twilight expressed joyfully. Pinkie Pie placed her hoof around Rarity as she smiled brightly. Rarity could only send an accepting look as Pinkie Pie stuck her tongue out. "She must really think we exemplify what good friends are!"

However, Twilight was interrupted when the window was opened again and a heavy breeze blew through our manes.

"Ugh, Applejack, I thought you closed all the windows." Rarity began.

"Don't blame me." Applejack faced Rarity. "Rainbow Dash should've flown up there and shut it. After all, she's got wings."

"Why do I always have to do all the high up chores?" Rainbow Dash counterattacked. "Why can't Twilight use her magic for a change?"

As the girls began arguing, I shook my head and walked towards the windows. Unexpectedly, we all heard the roar of a windigo, causing them to immediately shut up. I closed the windows shut and looked at them with a slight smile. "Still feel like arguing?"

This caused the girls to begin laughing.

"Once again, Alex… you've proven my point." Twilight added and giggled.

We all boarded the train again, which would be going back to home. I couldn't believe it was already night time. As I began walking towards the window, Twilight's voice stopped me.

"Hey, Alex!"

"Hm?" I turned around.

"Come here!"

I walked towards the girls that were all grouped up together in the middle of the room. "What is it?" I asked.

"Alex, do you know what that is?" Applejack asked me, pointing up.

I looked and saw a mistletoe hanging from the top of the room. "A mistletoe?"

"Right! And do you know what happens when you're under a mistletoe?" Pinkie Pie questioned.

"Um..." I thought. "I don't know..."

They widened their eyes. "Are you joking?" Rarity asked.

"No..."

She sighed and they all exchanged looks with each other. "Then you definitely deserve this..."

"Deserve what?"

They all greatly surprised me when each of them planted a friendly kiss on my cheek, starting with Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. However, Rainbow Dash looked hesitant.

"Rainbow? You're his friend too, you know." Twilight commented.

"Fine..." She flew up to me. "But this is because you're such an awesome friend..." After a few seconds, she quickly kissed me on the cheek and joined the other girls, smiling a bit.

I remained partially speechless. Finally, Fluttershy came by and treated me to the gift of a passionate kiss on the lips, both of us blushing afterwards. While Fluttershy flew back to the other girls to talk and laugh, I moved back to the side of the train, feeling practically confused about what just happened and a bit dazed. I allowed myself to recuperate for a moment. As I looked out the window of the train, I noticed something familiar above the theater in which we performed. There was a glowing heart there as well… I continued to observe it and smile.

When the train began moving, the girls and I began having a conversation with each other.

"So, what did you think about the pageant, Alex?" Twilight asked me.

"It was actually pretty fun… I think I might have actually got really into character though…"

She smiled. "That's good. What about you, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy looked at me and smiled while slightly blushing. "It was fun…"

All of us continued talking on the way home.

When we arrived back in Ponyville, I told Derpy, as well as the others, goodnight before I began walking Fluttershy home.

"Princess Celestia did a great job in adding me in the pageant, don't you think?" I asked Fluttershy.

"Mm-hm. It wouldn't have felt the same if you weren't with us." She replied.

I smiled and nodded. "Now… I feel like I want to do this again soon."

Fluttershy looked over to me and smiled. "Maybe next Hearth's Warming Eve…?"

"Yeah…"

We reached her door. Fluttershy faced me and grabbed my hooves. She passionately kissed me for a few seconds until she looked at me again. "I love you, Alex."

I smiled warmly and gazed at her eyes. "I love you too, Fluttershy." I kissed her once more and allowed her to walk to her home to get some sleep.

After making sure she was comfortable in her home, I began retreating back to mine.

Throwing myself on my bed, I immediately began thinking about today, as always.

So, I'm the voice of reason in my friendship, huh? …I guess I can see it now… I really appreciate how Princess Celestia incorporated that into the pageant. I smiled lightly. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed it. Hm… it seems as long as I'm with those girls… I can do anything…

Then a thought struck me. Hm… Rarity did say that a lot of ponies would come watch us so…

I shook my head.

No, no…I don't think it's possible…

Oh well. I guess I better get some sleep then…

I closed my eyes and waited for the dreams to come forth.

Famiy Appreciation Day

Episode 38 – Family Appreciation Day

I calmly jolted awake when I heard the howls of wolves. I looked up to my window to see the full moon visible. I sighed and laid back on my bed. Hm… I feel like I want Fluttershy next to me right now…she's just so…comforting… I realized that I did feel alone at home when it was time to sleep… I know I have the girls as friends…but I still couldn't really shake the feeling of loneliness at home. Maybe I never really realized it before because usually I was always asleep during the time…but since those wolves woke me up… I feel it…

I closed my eyes, hoping to go back to asleep and be rid of the curse when I wake up tomorrow…but sleep wasn't coming…at least not easy… I tossed and turned for a moment until I was lying down on my back, facing the ceiling with a slight frown and tired eyes. I groaned and sat up, removing myself from bed after. I sat down near the window and stared out. However, that feeling that I was enduring seemed to be nearing me. I sat back up and walked down the stairs. I stayed in the kitchen for a moment, looking out the window and wondering what time it was. It looked to be around midnight or very early in the morning.

Sitting at the table, I placed my foreleg on top of there and rested my chin on my hoof, thinking. Hm…maybe I can sleep at Fluttershy's? I'm sure that'll remove this uncomfortable feeling when I know I have her as company… She must be sleeping, however… I don't want to bother her. But…I really dislike this feeling… I sighed. I hope she doesn't mind… I sat up and walked over to the door, opening it and closing it after me.

Once outside, I looked around and noticed every home with lights out. There was no pony in sight. The sounds of crickets were the only noise under the bright excessive amount of stars. It felt kind of nice. It actually removed some of that feeling that I felt inside the house. It was probably because of the fresh breeze that blew throughout the town. It was beautiful outside…but I was still tired. I began walking over to Fluttershy's cottage.

When I walked across the little bridge near her home, I reached the front door and looked around. Of course, every window of her cottage was dark. I stopped to think for a moment. Hm…maybe I shouldn't do this…but…I don't want to get that feeling again when I return home…will she mind…? I sighed and lightly knocked, hoping that I wouldn't startle her awake.

After a while of worried thinking, the door opened, revealing Fluttershy in her robe as she rubbed her eyes with her hooves. When she saw me, her eyes slightly widened.

"Alex? What's wrong?" She asked.

I looked at the ground. "I'm really sorry to wake and disturb you…"

"No, no. It's alright. Is something the matter?"

"Honestly…yes… You see… I had woken up not too long ago, but I was beginning to feel a little lonesome. I couldn't really sleep afterwards and… I thought I might be able to stay with you tonight…so I won't feel alone…"

"Of course you can, Alex. Here, come in." Her sleepy voice still comforted me. She invited me into her home. I walked in and lay myself on the couch. "Do you want me to get you some blankets?"

"No, I'm okay. I feel comfortable enough now… I can't tell you how much I appreciate this…"

She smiled lightly. "Anything for you, Alex… You know…" She shuffled her hooves a bit shyly. "You can…um…" She paused.

"What is it, Fluttershy?" I questioned.

She blushed a little. "Nothing…" She leaned over to me and kissed me. "Goodnight, Alex."

"Goodnight, Fluttershy." I smiled. "Thank you very much."

"You're welcome." She walked up the stairs to her room.

I closed my eyes and rested my head. I felt relieved. I didn't have that uncomfortable feeling anymore because I knew there was a special pony close to me…

When I awoke again, it was morning. I sat up and looked around. It seemed quiet. I don't think Fluttershy is up yet… I stood up from the couch and walked around. Hm…maybe I can make her some tea or something? I walked to the kitchen and looked around for the ingredients for tea. Once I did, I used them to make tea in my own way. I felt that I should serve it cold, so I let it sit in the fridge for a while. After several minutes, I removed it and brought it with me to Fluttershy's room upstairs. She was still asleep when I walked in. I smiled at her cuteness and walked over to the side of her bed. I placed the tea on her nightstand and suddenly came up with a romantic idea to wake her up. I leaned over to her head and gently pressed my lips on hers. When I pulled away, she was lightly fluttering her eyes. Then, she opened them fully and was partially surprised to see me.

"Alex? You're awake?" She asked.

"Yeah." I answered, smiling lightly. "I made you some iced tea." I gave it to her as she sat up in bed. "I doubt it's as great as yours, but it's just a little something I thought I could do for you."

She held it between her hooves and smiled. "That's so sweet of you…" She took a couple gulps of it. "It's amazing."

"Really? Thanks…" As she continued to drink it, I talked to her some more. "Hey, Fluttershy… Do you want to go out and eat at the café or something?"

She finished the tea and looked at me with a warm smile on her face. "Sure! That sounds lovely."

"Great. I'll let you get ready then." I took the empty glass. "I'll wash this for you."

"Thank you, Alex." She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before I walked downstairs.

I washed the glass under the sink and allowed it to dry on the counter. After a moment, Fluttershy came walking down the stairs. I greeted her at the bottom. "Hey. Are you ready to go?" I asked.

She smiled and nodded. "Mm-hm."

I returned a smile and walked by her side to and out the front door.

In town, we talked a little, even sharing a few laughs, as we observed our surroundings. It felt great. And I am definitely looking forward to spending some time alone with her. I continued walking with her to the café until I turned my head to face the front of me and notice something…completely…off…

My mouth stood agape as I analyzed the two ponies resembling dark blue and grayish blue. One was a male. He wore a brown Fedora hat, and his mane was partially short. He also had dark blue eyes like mine. The other, a female, wore small glasses. She still looked pretty young. Her mane was long, almost like Rarity's but it didn't have the curls and perfection in it. Her eyes seemed to be almost the same color as her coat, but with a greater touch in blue. The male contained a cutie mark of a paper, which contained scribbles on it. The female's flank appeared to contain small luxuries on it. I felt as if I was paralyzed noticing all this.

If my vision was accurate…then these two ponies I was seeing were there… Those two ponies are my mother and father…

"Alex? Alex, are you okay?" I heard Fluttershy calling me, snapping me out of my daze.

"What…?" I responded, weakly.

"Are you okay? You just stopped all of a sudden…"

"I…" I looked over to where I was previously looking but didn't spot the same ponies. Oh…maybe it was just my imagination… "Uh…let's go get a table."

We sat across each other at the table. There were ponies around us, chattering and causing the area to become slightly noisy. Fluttershy and I took our orders, which consisted of two sandwiches that contained flowers. I was rubbing my hoof on the table, waiting, until Fluttershy spoke to me.

"Alex?" I looked up to see her wearing a worried face. "You don't look okay… What's wrong?"

"Um…" I looked back at the table. "I…I thought I saw my parents…"

"Your parents…?"

"Yeah…" I sighed. "If there's anything I'm really afraid of… it's them…"

"Oh…I'm sorry… Are they here…?"

I shrugged. "I don't know…maybe not… maybe it was just a loose memory on the run that seemed to escape my mind and plunge into reality somehow…"

"Well…" She grabbed my hoof and looked at me empathetically. "Whatever the case is…I'm here to give you all my support…"

I looked at her and smiled lightly. "Thank you, Fluttershy…"

We both shared a caring kiss. When we pulled away, our food was coming. Our sandwiches were placed on the table. Fluttershy grabbed hers and began biting it, chewing with a bright smile. Just as I was about to follow in Fluttershy's example, I dropped my sandwich suddenly, causing it to make a squish sound as it landed on the plate.

No…you can't be serious…

I saw them again…and they were heading this way!

"Alex?" Fluttershy questioned in concern and faced the direction I was facing.

Once my functions were working again, I quickly sat up from my seat and looked around for somewhere to hide. The area was basically open unless I ran into the building…but it would make too much of a scene and they were getting nearer! I looked below me to see the stack of hay I had been sitting on. Without question, I dove into the hay and hid myself beneath it.

After several seconds, I heard their voices…

"Hello miss, do you mind if you answer a question we have?"

"Um…" Fluttershy answered a bit hesitantly. "No…"

"We heard about the zap apple jam here in Ponyville. Do you know where we could get some?"

"Um…Sweet Apple Acres is the place to ask for that…."

"Can you point us to the direction?" I assumed Fluttershy did so. "Thank you."

I heard their hooves walk off, but one pair of them stopped. My mother began speaking. "Say…why are there two plates at your table if you're the only one eating here?"

"Oh, um…" Fluttershy began. Just don't give them my name or the fact that I'm hiding in the hay right now… "…my boyfriend is with me…"

"Where is he?" She asked.

I began feeling nervous.

"He's…in the bathroom, washing his hooves."

"Oh…okay…Well have a great day then." They began walking off.

"Yes, you too…" Fluttershy stated and sighed. After several more seconds, she called out to me. "They're gone…"

I removed myself from the hay and sat down again, sighing. "Thanks…"

"You're welcome…but…why do they act as if you're not even missing?"

I frowned and felt myself grow sad. "It's like I told you before…they probably forgot about me already, or if it's like I wasn't even there in the first place…"

"I'm really sorry…"

"It's alright…It's not your fault…"

"I just wish I could somehow make things better…"

"Well…"I began smiling lightly. "You do…"

She smiled lightly as well, and we finished our meal.

As we walked out of the café, Fluttershy looked over to me. "Are you sure you want to stay in town? We can go home if you want…"

"I know…but I don't want to keep you in your home for such a long time… Besides… they should be at Sweet Apple Acres, so I suppose we can spend a little while here… we just have to be careful…I definitely don't want them to know I'm here… I can't imagine what will happen if they know… They might harass me or something…maybe even cause me to leave Ponyville…" I sighed. "I don't know…"

"I'll do anything to keep you here, Alex. I can't bear the thought of you leaving…" Fluttershy responded.

"Me either…"

We walked into the marketplace, seeing a variety of stalls set up.

"Whoo! Why hello bees, Beatrice, Beecher!" We heard as we walked, stopping us due to the familiar voice. We looked over to a stall that contained bees. We saw Granny Smith with a beard of a bees as she poured the honey from the nest into a jar. Applebloom was by her side, wearing a bonnet. "Ooh, you've all been busy little bees, haven't you?" She began making buzzing sounds afterwards.

Applebloom lowered her head in embarrassment and looked around. "Granny, isn't there a less... silly way to get the honey?"

As she spoke, we saw another couple of fillies that were Applebloom's age. I analyzed them and remembered them from the school Applebloom goes to. All I knew was that they weren't friends, and were basically just trouble for Applebloom… They were walking past them. The one wearing a tiara, Princess Tiara if I remember correctly, was walking in front of her friend, Silver Spoon if that is correct, wearing an angry expression as if she was in a bad mood. However, her friend behind her walked with a bright face.

Nonetheless, Applebloom gasped at the sight of them and hid behind a nest of bees. I contained some slight confusion on why Applebloom was hiding from them… unless if it was the same reason I did earlier…but that doesn't seem to be the case.

"Oh, isn't this just precious?" Granny Smith commented loudly as she grabbed Applebloom and picked her up.

"Please stop!" She desperately asked in a whispered tone.

"And it is perfect for makin' our zap apple jam!" Granny Smith announced loudly, beginning to gain the attention of the other ponies around her.

"Shh! Stop it, Granny!" Applebloom pleaded, but the fillies that were walking by her stopped and began laughing. "Granny, please! Those ponies over there are watchin' me!" She pointed to the fillies.

"What?" Granny Smith questioned and looked at them. "Are those fillies your friends? Hello, Half-pint's friends!" She waved to them.

"Hiii, Granny Smith!" Silver Spoon waved as she greeted her. Princess Tiara began to wave as well, but by the look on her face, I could see she was up to no good. "Hi, Half-pint!" She resumed in a mocking tone and laughed with Diamond Tiara after.

Applebloom then lowered her head and looked around uneasily, causing me to form an irritated expression and intervene.

"Alright, alright, that's enough." I stated, walking in front of Applebloom, who was now burying her head in her hooves as she laid on the ground. "Go where you're supposed be, you two."

"Geez." Princess Tiara replied, talking to Silver Spoon. "I wonder who raised him." She shared as they continued walking, laughing afterwards. Her comment seemed as if they struck something sharp through my heart. I frowned a bit, but I lightly looked at Applebloom as Granny Smith continued to talk.

"What dolls. Why, when I was little, ponies didn't come that purdy."

I grabbed Applebloom's hoof and helped her up. When she stood up, she quickly walked behind Granny Smith and began to push her. "Are we done shopping, Granny? 'Cause I'd like to get back to the farm, fast."

"Hold on, smellybelly." She began walking on her own. "I got my honey, gooey-goo!" She hopped cheerfully as she sang, attracting much more attention from the ponies around her. "Got my honey, gooey-ooh! Got my honey, iddley-hoo!"

Applebloom placed her hoof on her bonnet and lowered it towards her face. I looked at her in slight confusion as she walked away, trailing behind Granny Smith who was obviously in the opposite mood she was in. What was all that about…? Maybe I could find out later…when my parents aren't here…

"Are you feeling okay?" Fluttershy asked me.

"Yeah…um…let's go back to your cottage…"

I had walked the way back in silence as Fluttershy could only offer a worried look towards me. When I lay down on the couch, I sighed and couldn't help but feel worry travel through my body. "If you don't mind, Fluttershy… I would like to stay here tonight again…"

"Of course, Alex." She answered as she caressed my cheek. "You stay here as long as you want to…"

"Thank you…" I kissed her gently on the lips. "I'm even too scared to sleep by myself at my own home… Honestly, I'll probably even have nightmares about them…" I sighed. "I've never been so scared in my life…" I managed to chuckle a little. "It seems as if my worst fear is my parents…"

Fluttershy rubbed my back and held herself close to me. "I'm sorry… I'll go get you anything you need, and you can stay here, if you want."

"Thank you, Fluttershy… I really appreciate this…"

"Anything for you…"

I spent the rest of the day in or around the house, as long as I was out of town. Other ponies probably would have thought I was taking this too far because they were just family…but…it was much more to it than that… I just couldn't be near them or face them. I was lucky to be at Fluttershy's cottage. It was a little away from town, so they wouldn't really have a reason to wander off here unless they were lost. Even if they did, I would hide inside the house.

Around the evening, Fluttershy brought some food for us to eat as well. However, I did feel bad that she had to go out to town by herself to get something for the both of us. I wanted to go out with her…but the fear of seeing them continued to strike me, almost making me paralyzed and unable to move. Fluttershy understood what I was going through…but I still couldn't help but feel bad for her… Not only did I feel bad…but I also felt like I was being a bad boyfriend…

"There you go…" Fluttershy said as she finished making the couch for my stay.

"Thank you again, Fluttershy." I sighed. "I just wish there's something I can do for you to show you how much I appreciate what you're doing for me."

"Oh, Alex. You already are…" She responded.

"What do you mean…?" I asked, with some slight confusion.

"Well…I enjoy being with you and having you for company." She smiled. "It's like a mutual relationship."

"Oh…I see… I still feel like if I'm taking advantage of you or something…"

"You've done things for me in the past. We both do things for each other, and that's alright."

"Alright…" I felt a little better. "Well, hopefully, they aren't thinking of staying here for some reason, so we can actually have a day out in town."

She smiled lightly. "Mm-hm. Now get some sleep. It will be good for you after worrying all day."

I nodded. "Okay…" I sat on the couch and began to lie down. She continued to smile and caress my face, slightly playing with my mane. This caused me to smile and gaze at her gently. "If I ever get sick, Fluttershy, you'd be the first pony I'd go to."

She lightly blushed, looking away and feeling a little embarrassed. "Oh, Alex…" When her blush faded away, she moved her eyes back to me and smiled. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Fluttershy…"

She planted a kiss on my lips for a few seconds and then pulled away. I gave her one last smile before I turned my head and closed my eyes. As I felt myself walking towards sleep's embrace, I could still feel Fluttershy by my side, continuing to sedate me as her soft hooves ran through my mane.

Fluttershy really is a special pony… When I woke up, I felt much better, and I had no memory of a nightmare… I looked around, slightly wondering if Fluttershy had stayed with me, but I guessed she went to bed after I had fallen asleep. I carefully removed myself from the couch and made the blankets afterwards. The cottage was quiet, so I assumed that Fluttershy was still asleep. To make sure, I climbed the stairs to her room and observed her bed. She was resting peacefully in it, slowly breathing in and out. I smiled at the sight of her.

I decided I would go check on Applebloom, and possibly do some other errands, at Sweet Apple Acres. Before leaving, I grabbed a piece of a paper and a pencil and wrote a note for Fluttershy. I'm going out to Sweet Apple Acres for a moment. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. So if you wake up and don't see me here, you'll know where I am. I'll be back in a while. Love, Alex. I placed the note on the nightstand near Fluttershy's bed. I added a rose I had retrieved from outside and kissed her on the cheek. After, I walked down the stairs and headed outside. Then, I began walking towards the farm.

I felt happier when I didn't see any trace of my parents during the walk towards the farm. Sure, I had a slight hint of paranoia, but that went away when I didn't see them at all. As I arrived at the farm, I saw Applejack hauling a small cart of tin cans used for watering flowers and plants. Big Macintosh was slightly ahead of her, pulling a larger cart of the same items. Applejack spotted me and greeted me loud and warmly.

"Howdy, Alex!" She waved.

I smiled as well. "Hey, Applejack." I began walking by her side as she pulled the cart towards a field of trees. "What are all these watering cans for?" I asked.

"Oh, it's the Zap Apple Harvest! You see, Granny Smith can tell all the signs of zap apples, which are these amazing apples that are magic!"

"Really? That sounds amazing. I've never seen zap apples before."

"That's because they only grow here in Ponyville!" She chuckled. "Can you believe that? Everypony in Equestria comes to Ponyville, just to get some of our jam!"

"Oh…so what phase are they in now?"

"Well…they're close to being ready to pick, but it's still a few days away." Applejack stopped inside the field of trees, which I assumed to be the zap apple trees, and began removing the cart from her as Big Macintosh watered the trees.

"Do you need any help?" I offered.

She looked at me with a slight grin. "I appreciate the offer, Alex, but we're going to be working all day, since these kinds of apples are too special too miss."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, creating a confused expression with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Well, after the fifth day of the Harvest, they disappear."

"Disappear?" I questioned, surprised. "You mean like vanish?"

"Yup!" Applejack grabbed a watering can with her teeth. "Like I said: Magic!" She began walking to a nearby tree.

"Well…" I began as I walked towards the cart of watering cans. "I can at least help you out a bit." I grabbed a can with my teeth as well and followed Applejack, but to another tree. "I can probably stay for a few minutes before going back to Fluttershy's."

"Well, thanks, Alex." She smiled as she watered the trees.

I followed her example and heard some small steps toward Applejack. Still watering the tree, I used my eyes to look at Applejack and see Applebloom walking towards her. "Applejack!"

Applejack finished watering the tree and looked at Applebloom. "Oh, hey there, Applebloom."

"Can you or Big Macintosh please come to class for Family Appreciation Day?" She asked as she followed Applejack back to the cart.

Applejack placed the can on the wooden cart as Applebloom looked at her worriedly. "I'm sorry, Applebloom. I already told you that we just can't take a break from harvest to come to your school. You know what'll happen."

I finished watering the tree as well and began walking towards the cart.

"I know... after the fifth day the zap apples disappear..."

When I reached the cart to place the can back on there, a sudden gust of wind began blowing through our manes. We looked up to see a sudden change in weather as dark clouds appeared, seeming as if there was a storm forming. Crows flew above us and cawed.

"Look!" Granny Smith rushed to us. "The third sign!" The crows had formed an apple pattern in the sky. "Right on time! Hot diggity!"

Unexpectedly, to me, small blue glowing round objects formed on the trees as electricity cackled around them. The blue objects literally bloomed and formed the base for the apples.

"Wow!" We all emphasized at the sight of the magic.

After a moment of taking in the sight of the pre-zap apples, Granny Smith made her announcement. "Alright, you lazy daisies, move your caboose!" She left, along with Big Macintosh, to continue whatever she was doing.

"I'm sorry Applebloom, but don't you fret. Granny Smith's got no shortage of entertainin' stories to tell." Applejack assured, winking after and resuming to her work.

"I know. That's what I'm worried about…" She muttered.

I looked at her, concerned. "Applebloom, what's going on between you and Granny Smith? Why don't you want her to speak at that 'Family Appreciation Day' thing in your school?"

"Didn't you see what happened yesterday in town, Alex? I was embarrassed!"

"Embarrassed? How did Granny Smith make you feel embarrassed?"

"When she was attracting all the attention of the ponies around us! Doing all those silly things! Ponies were looking at me as if I was some strange creature out of this world!"

I smiled lightly. "She's just being herself. You shouldn't care what people around you think. You have a loving family who cares about you."

She sighed and sat down. "You don't understand… I bet you didn't have a family who embarrassed you every time you were with them."

I lost my smile and immediately shifted towards a frown. I knew Applebloom didn't know…and that she didn't mean it… but it harmed my heart… I lowered my head and answered her. "You're right… I didn't…" I began walking away sadly. I wasn't sure if there was anything to fix this, but I knew for sure that it was going to take some time to restore myself. I decided the best treatment I could receive was from Fluttershy, so I started to head home.

I walked to Applejack, who noticed my expression. "Hey there, Alex. Somethin' wrong?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that… I'm going to Fluttershy's to hopefully get rid of this." I responded.

"Alrighty then." She replied with a light frown. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah. I'll see you." I began walking towards the main part of the farm so I could take the path from there. However, when I reached the barn, something stopped me. My heart jumped at the sight. I saw them again! I quickly hid behind the barn, beginning to feel my heart racing again. But this time, they were talking to another pony… The pony's coat was a grayish amber color, and his mane was dark gray and had lighter highlights. He had three bags of money for his cutie mark.

They shared a laugh and continued to trade words.

"So I see you're here for the zap apple jam as well?" The pony with the money bags cutie mark asked.

"Yep, we heard from many ponies about how well it tastes, so we thought about coming here to Ponyville and taking some jars for all of us." My father replied.

"Ah! What about your daughter? How is she doing?"

"She's great! She has her own place back at Fillydelphia, but she still visits us from time to time. She seems to be leading a happy life."

"That sounds great. I'm glad your daughter is having a successful life. Did she ever have some difficulty being the only child?"

Only child…?

"No, we didn't really have any problems at all. She had her friends at school, and that was enough to please her."

…

"Speaking of schools… I heard something happen over at the school in Fillydelphia many years back. It was something about a teacher resigning from her job and leaving the town?"

"Yes, I remember that. Nopony really knew why she left without a word. I heard she moved to Canterlot, but those were rumors."

"Oh, well I should be heading back home. I'm glad you folks have been doing well!"

"Same here, Filthy Rich. We'll see you some other time? Maybe when we purchase the jars of the jam?"

The pony, who must have been Filthy Rich smiled. "Of course! Till then."

They departed their own separate ways back to town. I placed my back towards the wall of the barn and slid down to a sitting position. I couldn't believe it… What did they mean by that? Did they really forget about me? Well…I did expect that coming…but… I sighed and stood back up. I decided I would take the shortcut to Fluttershy's… the one that didn't go through town…

When I walked through the door to Fluttershy's cottage, I was instantly greeted by her. "Hi, Alex! How did it go at Sweet Apple Acres?" She asked happily. However, she noticed a gloomy expression on my face instead of a smile. "Oh no, what happened, Alex?"

I walked to the couch and sat down, having her join me right by my side. "…I saw my parents again…"

"Oh no…"

"…that wasn't the worst part… They were talking to somepony about how they were doing… And what they responded with sounded as if they never even had a son to begin with…" I sighed, starting to feel emotional again. "I couldn't believe it… and I'm pretty sure they're staying here until the zap apple jam is ready…which is like a couple of days… Do you mind…?"

"Oh, Alex…" She embraced me and rubbed my back. "Of course not… I'm sorry for what you heard… I really am…If there was only something I could do…"

"You help me feel better. This is just something that will stick to me because…well… they're my family in blood… And it's hard to forget about something that's that close to you…"

"I understand…" She carefully pulled away. Then, something tapped her hooves. We looked down to see Angel looking at Fluttershy and pointing to his open mouth. "Oh… hold on… Angel wants me to feed him. I'll be right back."

Angel followed her somewhere else, possibly outside, so he could receive his meal. I lay on the couch and sighed, continuing to think about the whole situation and scene.

When Fluttershy came back, she sat by me again. "Hey, I have an idea."

"Hm?" I turned my head to face her.

"Tomorrow, how about we have a nice little picnic, right outside the cottage? I'll make us some tea and get us some sweets from Sugarcube Corner. How does that sound?"

Her offer managed to make me smile, as I loved the sound of the idea. "Sure. That sounds great."

"Okay!" She softly exclaimed, closing her eyes and smiling.

I partially surprised her when I hugged and kissed her. "Thank you so much, Fluttershy… You're the best."

She accepted my hug warmly. "It's my pleasure…"

I spent the rest of the day at the cottage once again. I helped her with animals and with a little house work as well. When night fell, we prepared for sleep as yesterday. She made sure I was comfortable in every way. Being overtaken by her kindness, I told her that I was. She stayed with me until I fell asleep, which I assumed she left back to her room afterwards.

Sunday, I awoke again. I was feeling pretty excited about the picnic today with Fluttershy. It'd be nice spending some time alone with the pony I love most. Like yesterday, I carefully removed myself from under the blankets and made them. I wasn't planning on going anywhere, since my parents would probably be creeping around town. I decided I would be safe here. I noticed Fluttershy was awake earlier before me this time. She was making her own signature and special tea in the kitchen. She left it heating up and turned around to see me.

"Oh. Hi, Alex." She smiled beautifully.

"Hey." I returned a smile as well. "You're making the tea?" I asked.

"Yes. I'm going to pick up the sweets from Sugarcube Corner right now." She walked over to a table nearby and picked up her saddlebag. "I'll see you in a little while, okay?" She walked towards me and kissed me gently.

"Alright." I hugged her.

She nodded and began walking outside, heading towards town.

I sighed and thought for a moment. Hm…what can I do while she's gone? …I can probably make a couple of sandwiches for us. Nothing too much that we won't be able to eat…

I walked inside and began the process of making a sandwich.

Once I finished, I placed before me two sandwiches of fine detail. There was lettuce, tomato, a variety of flowers, and a slice of cheese between the two slices of bread. I suddenly heard the teakettle begin whistling, so I quickly removed it from the heat and placed it somewhere else.

Then, I heard the door open and quickly ran over to it to greet Fluttershy. I carefully took off her saddlebag and placed in on the table. "Hey, Fluttershy."

"Hi, Alex. Was everything okay while you were here?"

"Yeah. I made us a couple of sandwiches and took the teakettle off."

She smiled and gave me a quick kiss. "Thank you."

We placed a nice and comfortable blanket outside Fluttershy's cottage. I placed the sandwiches and sweet treats as she carefully handled the tea. Once we finally had the picnic ready, we sat down and began enjoying it.

"It's beautiful outside, isn't it?" Fluttershy asked.

I smiled and looked around. "It really is… It's nice just to be here with you… No worries… just a time of relief…"

"I feel the same way…"

We each ate our sandwiches and drank our tea, even sharing laughs every now and then. Then, we started consuming the sweet, soft, and tasty treats Pinkie Pie must have made. I took at glance at Fluttershy and noticed how cute she looked eating it. I chuckled quietly and continued eating my treat.

We spent most of the day being outside, which was a nice way to balance out being in the cottage from all the time I was staying there. I, once again, helped her out with her animals during the daytime, having fun during the time as well. Once the stars were out and the moon was lit, we lay on the blanket awake and visualizing the sky.

"Oh, Alex…I could just fall asleep here with you…" She nuzzled me as she was close.

I smiled lightly and placed a hoof around her. "Right…It's so amazing…" I continued gazing at the sky. "You know… I guess something did come out of my parents coming here…"

She looked at me with a concerned expression. "What do you mean?"

I smiled and returned another look at her. "If they hadn't come here, I probably wouldn't have had such a great time with only you here.

She looked away and blushed. "That's so sweet…"

"Well, it's true. I mean, sure, I have been worrying a bit… but you always take those worries away from me as if it was magic or something…"

"Maybe it's just my love for you…" She answered while her cheeks remained a little red.

I smiled lightly and kissed her. "Perhaps we should get some sleep."

She nodded and smiled.

This time, I walked her to her bed. When she was inside, I wrapped the covers around her and tucked her in.

"Thank you, Alex."

I nodded. "Is there anything else you need?"

"No. I'm fine… I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, I'll be right downstairs. Goodnight."

"Goodnight…"

Afterwards, she turned to her side and closed her eyes. As she did to me the night before, I gently comforted her by rubbing her back until she fell asleep. Once I heard her soft breathing, I lightly kissed her cheek and turned off the light. I walked back downstairs and looked around. I traveled out the door to retrieve the blanket and place it back inside. Then, I got myself comfortable for my sleep as well. I closed my eyes as I waited for Monday to come by.

I felt myself alive, once again, and stretched while yawning. I opened my eyes and looked around. I guess Fluttershy's still asleep. To be sure, I walked upstairs and checked on her. She was. I retreated back downstairs and thought. You know… I want to see what the results of Family Appreciation Day are for Applebloom... I'm going to go to her school to find out…

I began writing a note for Fluttershy, stating that I'm going to Applebloom's school to check out her Family Appreciation Day, and that I'll possibly be at Applejack's farm afterwards. I emphasized that I would be alright. For some reason, I felt like I was willing to take that risk… What was the worst that could happen if they saw me? I mean, judging by their conversation the other day, it seemed as if they completely forgot about me, so they probably wouldn't even recognize me and ignore me… yeah…

I placed the note on the same place near Fluttershy and began heading out.

Fortunately, I still hadn't seen any sight of them. Hm… I wonder if they're still asleep during this time of day…

Near the school, I spotted Granny Smith with another pony that looked to be the same age as her.

"Hey there, Granny Smith." I greeted, walking towards her.

"Well, howdy there…uh…I'm sorry. What was your name again?" She asked.

I smiled lightly. "It's Alex."

"Oh! Alex!"

I chuckled lightly as well. "Who's this?" I asked, directing at the pony besides her.

"Why, this is Uncle Apple Strudel! I was just about to fetch a train to visit him but it turns out he was on it!"

"I see…well mind if I join you on the way to the school?"

"Not at all, sonny!"

When we arrived at the school, Granny Smith walked through the open door and announced for all to hear. "Well howdy, my little ponies!" She continued walking with a huge grin on her face. "Howdy, y'all! I'm as happy as a pig in a fresh mudpile to be here!"

Applebloom quickly rushed over to her and spoke nervously. "Whuh- what are you doing here? Did you miss the train?"

"Er no, it came." She responded. "And Uncle Apple Strudel was on it." She presented him.

"Ooooooh, noogie noogie noggie!" He stretched a hoof to Applebloom's mane and messed with it, laughing madly after. Alright…

As Applebloom walked slowly back to her seat, that same light pink pony, Princess Tiara, spoke mockingly. "I can't wait to hear Granny Smith's presentation." She placed a hoof over her mouth and whispered to her other friend. "If she can remember any of it." They both shared a giggle under their breaths.

I looked at them with an irritated expression on my face, but I decided to not make a scene. I walked over to Ms. Cheerilee. "Is it alright if I hear her presentation?" I asked.

"Of course!" She answered brightly.

"Thanks." I sat by Ms. Cheerilee and waited.

Apple Strudel placed a small chair for Granny Smith to sit on, but when she sat down, she merely caused the seat to fly back. "Long ago, when I was a little pony…" She pulled out a map and showed it to the others while holding it with her teeth. "…things were very different here in Ponyville, 'cause there was no Ponyville! That's right, my little ponies. Me and my family were pilgrim pony folk, back when I was a little filly. Oh, we ventured far and wide, collecting new seeds and sellin' the old. But my pa was the finest seed collector in all of Equestria. Then, one day, the Smith family found themselves in the most brilliant, most grand, most magnificent of all cities. A place called... Canterlot. Well, I bet your hooves to hindquarters I had never seen anything like it before nor since. And as if the beauty of that city wasn't enough, suddenly, she appeared. Princess Celestia, the most regal of all ponies. When lo and behold, she stopped to look at my pa's seed collection. Then Princess Celestia saw that we were plumb-tuckered, and hankerin' to find our forever home. And bein' a royal Princess and all, she knew exactly the place for us to lay down our stakes. My pa gave the Princess a mighty thanks. We quickly found that land near the Everfree Forest, and we built our first home. Next, we planted our first orchards. But an orchard don't grow overnight, and we were getting mighty short on food. Now mind you, we were cautioned about the forest, and we knew that it was not fit to enter. But I knew there was critters livin' there. There must be somethin' to eat. It was dark and musty, and I won't lie, it was scary. But every inch was covered in plant life, and before I knew it wasn't I standin' in front of the most incredible apple trees! I had never seen anything that bore this kind of colorful fruit! Oh I started picking apples quick as a whip! But, somethin' didn't feel right. I turned, and there before me stood the timber wolves! I've never run so fast in my life. I did the only thing I could think of. I scared them away with pots and pans! The next morning, my pa and I planted those special apple seeds, and before our eyes they grew like wildfire. Well, we had full grown trees faster than you could say lickety split. Then each year, I paid close attention to the signs of the zap apple special harvesting times. How the weather affects the Everfree Forest, how the timber wolves howl when the zap apples first start growing, and how they zapped away if you didn't pick 'em all in one day! And the fruits of our labor were the best fruit we ever tasted. Soon enough I was mixing up batches of zap apple jam. Just like harvestin' the zap apples had its special rules, so did makin' zap apple jam. I learned that you gotta be extra friendly with the bees, otherwise their honey won't taste rightly sweet to mix in with the zap apples. Who'd'a thought that glass jars needed talking to? Or that zap apples like pink polka dots? But magic is as magic does. Just funny that way. Then ponies started comin' to our farm from far and wide just to get a taste of my zap apple jam. Some of them decided to stay, like Stinkin' Rich, Diamond Tiara's great grandfather. Matter of fact, the first thing he ever sold was my zap apple jam. And before we knew it, we had ourselves a nice little town, bustling with all kinds of ponies. And that is how Ponyville was founded."

When she finished speaking, she looked at the fillies as we were all shocked in a good way. My eyes were even widened and my mouth was slightly agape as the other fillies. Granny Smith was actually the pony to start the entire town of Ponyville… I couldn't really believe it…

Surprisingly, Silver Spoon began clapping her hooves, which everypony joined, including me but excluding Diamond Tiara.

"Oh, thank you kindly, little ponies." She announced. "Oh, now now, let's settle down."

"So if it weren't for you and the zap apples, Ponyville wouldn't even exist?" Scootaloo excitedly asked.

"Darn tootin', little filly!" Granny Smith answered, stomping a hoof on the ground.

"If it weren't for my Granny Smith, your daddy wouldn't have Barnyard Bargains." Applebloom told Diamond Tiara.

The rest of the fillies agreed as Applebloom sent her a "I've won" look, causing me to smile as well.

Diamond Tiara looked at all of them and raised her hooves up. "But— Granny Smith walked up to the chalkboard and licked the four off from the four plus seven equation, causing me to chuckle a little. "But she's just a... kooky old lady!" Diamond Tiara announced, causing the fillies to gasp.

Applebloom quickly sped towards Granny Smith as she was licking the chalkboard again. "She is not a kooky old lady! She is the most amazing pony in all of Ponyville!" She hugged her lovingly, sending a warm feeling to me.

The other little ponies agreed, causing Diamond Tiara to groan and let her head fall on her desk.

When class was dismissed, I walked with them to Sweet Apple Acres where they prepared the final stages of the zap apple jam. Once they began selling it, I hid while my parents purchased several jars and left, most likely heading back to Fillydelphia. Once I made sure that they were gone, I sighed and revealed myself behind the stand. Applejack saw me as the last of the customers bought the rest of the jam. "Alex? What are you doin'?"

"Well…I was hiding from my parents…"

"Your parents?" Applejack questioned with widened eyes. "They were here?"

"Yeah…" I answered frowning a little. I told her the description of them.

"Geez…I had no idea… I'm sorry, Alex…but…why would you hide from them?"

I sighed. "It's just a little complicated… I guess you could say I don't want to confront them for awkward reasons…"

"Oh…I'm sorry."

I formed a smile. "You know what? Forget it. They're gone now. Let's just eat some zap apple jam."

Applejack managed to smile as well. "You got that, partner." We walked up to Granny Smith and Applebloom, who were hugging. "So I take it Family Appreciation Day went well?" Applejack asked.

"Did it? My Granny Smith is super special!" Applebloom exclaimed as Big Macintosh joined us. "I just forgot that for a little while…"

"Aw, don't fret." Granny Smith added. "I forget things all the time. Now, I'll getcha... er... somethin'."

Nonetheless, Applebloom smiled and hugged her again.

"Who wants to help Granny sing to the water?" Applejack asked the foals before her.

"We do! We do!" They hopped in the air and rushed over to help.

Applejack and I shared a smile when we saw the little ones place on bunny suits and begin hopping over the watering cans.

"A, b, c, d, e f g..." They sang as they all hopped over the cans. They continued when Filthy Rich came over with Diamond Tiara, pushing her towards the children as she wore bunny ears. "Diamond Tiara?"

"But dad!" She tried to protest.

Nonetheless, she was pushed again towards the hopping.

Applejack and Applebloom looked at each other and began laughing. I could only smile as Diamond Tiara was forced to join the others. I knew it wouldn't stop her from a being a jerk…but at least it'll damage her "reputation".

I felt Applejack place something on my back. I looked at what she had placed and saw that they were two jars of zap apple jam.

"Two for you and Fluttershy!" She answered, smiling with her eyes closed.

I returned a warm and light smile towards her as well. "Thank you, Applejack."

"No problem, partner."

I walked up to her and gave her a quick hug. "I should go take these back to her. I'll see you later?"

"Yup, take care now!"

I waved and began walking back to Fluttershy's cottage, feeling finally relieved.

"Alex! Are you alright?" Fluttershy asked as I walked in.

"Yep. Applejack gave us some zap apple jam." I answered, heading towards the kitchen. I grabbed some slices of bread and spread some jam on them. "I actually have never tasted this…but from what I've heard… it's supposed to be amazing." I gave the slice of bread to Fluttershy and held another on my hoof. "Ready?" I asked her.

She smiled and nodded.

We both bit into the bread. As I tasted it in my mouth, it felt really amazing! Weird how rainbows weren't known for their tastes back in Cloudsdale, but with magic, it was probably the best jam ever!

"Mm!" Fluttershy moaned in pleasure as she chewed and swallowed.

"I can see why ponies from all over Equestria come here to buy this. It's incredible!" I commented.

When it was time to go back home, I stayed at the cottage for a little while longer to talk with Fluttershy.

"Thanks again, Fluttershy. I really appreciate you allowing me to stay here."

"It's like I said… It's my pleasure." She gave me a loving grin.

I smiled as well. "Well…I guess I should be heading home now." I looked out the window. "It's getting dark."

"Okay… To be honest…I'm kind of going to miss having you here…"

"Well maybe we can have a sleepover again sometime? When I'm not dealing with family issues."

She giggled a little. "That sounds nice."

I planted a passionate kiss on her lips and embraced her for a moment. "I'll see you tomorrow, Fluttershy." I pulled away. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight…" She answered with flushed cheeks.

I presented one last smile and waved before I headed home.

When I was upstairs on my bed, I felt as if I had not been in my home for a long time, when it really was just for a few days. Spending time at Fluttershy's house felt great… it probably would have felt better if my parents weren't in town… but then again, if they never would have stayed in town, I probably would have never stayed at Fluttershy's… Hm… I guess this proves that not every time, when something bad happens, there will always be a bad result… I suddenly widened my eyes in receiving an idea.

I quickly rushed out of my house and towards Twilight's. I knocked on her door, and she opened it moments after. "Oh, hey, Alex! I haven't seen you for a few days… Is something up?"

"No… I've just been…busy… Um. Is Spike asleep?" I asked.

"Not yet. Why?"

"I need to write a letter to the Princess…"

Her face glowed and she instantly brought me in. "Spike!"

Spike immediately raced over to Twilight. "Yes, ma'm?"

"Take a letter!" He pulled out his quill and scroll. Twilight looked at me. "You may go ahead, Alex."

"Alright…" I took a breath and began speaking. "Dear, Princess Celestia. Everypony always goes through bad situations and experiences in their lives, but that doesn't always necessarily mean a bad thing. Just because you go through a horrible day doesn't mean that nothing good came out of it… I learned that everything happens for a reason. If you just take a minute and look back, you'll find out that it may have actually opened new and better doors…doors that may have been missed if that "bad" thing didn't happen… Your good friend, Alex."

Spike rolled up the letter and sent it. I looked back at Twilight to see understanding eyes. "That was great, Alex…"

I smiled lightly. "Thanks, Twilight. I guess I'll be heading home now."

"Goodnight, Alex."

"Goodnight, Twilight." I waved and exited the tree and back to my house.

Back in my bed, I pulled the covers over me and thought about my letter. I smiled at the thought and felt great about what I shared. It's similar to what I've been through in my life. Sure, I endured a long time of being miserable when I was little…but that all seems worth it because I met the girls. If I hadn't been miserable, I wouldn't have run away. And if I didn't run away, I wouldn't have met them…

Well…I guess that's enough thinking tonight…

I made myself comfortable and closed my eyes, waiting for my sleep.

Baby Cakes

A loud and excited series of knocks pounded on my front door, causing me to jolt awake and in a frightened manner. After a few seconds, they suddenly stopped. I calmed myself down and released a breath. Unexpectedly, something pink flashed in my house and up to my room bouncing everywhere. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" From her actions, I realized the pony was Pinkie Pie. She was literally bouncing off the walls, ceiling…places I wouldn't imagine possible. She then stood on my bed, right in front of me as I was sitting up, and pressed her nose against mine, revealing hyperactive eyes and continuing to babble insanely, almost unclear. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! WAKE UPPP!" She finalized and finished talking as she smiled brightly, showing her clean white teeth.

"Pinkie…" I responded, returning angry narrowed eyes with a slight frown. "I was already awake… ever since you pounded on my door with your hooves."

"Oops…hehe…sorry…" She placed her hoof in front of her mouth, giggling nervously. Despite that, she quickly retreated back to her normal self. "Never mind that! Come with me!" She quickly gestured me to follow her off the bed.

"What? What's going on?" I asked curiously.

"Just come on!" She grabbed my hoof and dragged me through the air as she exited the house in rapid speed.

She eventually led me to the hospital and into a room where the other girls were looking in the window and chattering excitedly. Pinkie then released my hoof and placed herself on the window. I stood up with a raised eyebrow of curiosity and walked towards the window, wanting to know what was on the other side. What I saw shocked me a little…in the good way. I saw many baby ponies in small beds, all sleeping in peace. This caused me to smile lightly, but with great compassion and heart.

"Can you believe the new baby is finally here?" Applejack asked Twilight.

…New baby…?

"Cup Cake and Carrot Cake must be so proud!" Twilight answered.

The Cakes had a baby?

"I wonder if it's a filly or a colt?" Rarity squealed.

…

"I wanna see the new baby pony! I wanna see!" Pinkie Pie excitedly demanded as she rubbed her face on the glass window. "Which one is it?"

"Excuse me…" I announced. "But what's this whole business about a new baby…?"

The girls turned their heads towards me in shock.

"You mean you don't know?" Rarity asked.

"No…that's why I…asked…" I responded, looking around with some awkwardness.

"Mrs and Mr. Cake just had their baby, which was something they were planning for a long time!" Twilight answered.

"Oh, really…?" I grew intrigued.

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie added, facing me then planting her face suddenly towards the window again. "I can't wait to see him or her!"

Standing next to Fluttershy, I looked through the window to see Mr. Cake near a baby bed with a little colt underneath the covers. "Meet our son, Pound Cake." He unveiled the little colt from beneath the covers. He yawned adorably and resumed his sleeping. His action caused all the girls to release a "Awww" in unison, even Rainbow Dash. "...and our daughter, Pumpkin Cake." He removed the covers from another small filly that was wrapped in a pink blanket. She yawned as well and began sucking her hoof.

Instead of the same reaction occurring, the girls released a "Huh?".

"Two new foals for me to play with?" Pinkie Pie reacted, gasping afterwards. "That's two, two, two times the fun! This is the greatest day ever!" She mysterious dashed away from our sight and somehow into the baby room wearing a party hat and kazoo. "We need to celebrate your birthday, babies, 'cause you were just born today! Woohoo!"

She was just about to blow the party kazoo until the nurse came and shushed her. "Shhh. The babies are trying to sleep."

"But I was just—

"Shhh."

"But—

"Shhh!"

After Pinkie Pie remained silent for a moment, watching the nurse walk away, she walked to the space between the two babies and made sure the nurse was gone. Once she believed she was safe, she began singing quietly to the two. "Happy happy birthday, to you and you today—

However, the nurse popped in again and threw her out back to us.

Despite the small commotion, Applejack faced back to the window and formed a determined confused face. "Now how in thunderation is one of them twins a pegasus, and the other one a unicorn?"

Applejack had a point… I looked towards the window to see the colt contain wings, and the filly contain a horn.

"Easy." Mr. Cake answered. "My great-great-great-great grandfather was a unicorn, and Cup Cake's great aunt's second cousin twice removed was a pegasus. That makes sense, right?" He asked, looking as if even he didn't understand what he just said.

"No." I responded, frankly. "No, it doesn't…" Not with those slim chances…both of the babies coming out exactly as a unicorn and Pegasus… Coincidence…? Or fate…?

Regardless, Rainbow Dash threw in her comment. "Aw yeah, heh, just you wait! Once little Pound Cake gets there his wings going, he'll be all over the place!" She flew around the room, demonstrating.

"And be careful around Pumpkin Cake." Twilight added.

"Baby unicorns get strange magic surges that come and go." Rarity explained.

Assuming during their conversations, Pinkie Pie somehow managed to sneak back into the baby room and hold a delicious-looking cake between the babies. "Quick!" She whispered. "Make a wish and blow out your candles! Which is easy, 'cause there are zero candles! You are zero years old, after all!"

"Shhh!" The nurse loudly emphasized, causing Pinkie Pie to flinch and move the cake towards her face, covering her mouth in cake and smiling embarrassingly.

I smiled and shook my head.

I entered the room and began dragging Pinkie Pie out of there. "C'mon, Pinkie… the babies should get some sleep…"

"Aww…" She released and frowned.

"I suppose the babies do deserve some quiet time…" Twilight added, turning away from the window and beginning to walk towards the exit doors. "C'mon, Pinkie. Let's go to Sugarcube Corner."

"Alright!" Pinkie Pie immediately perked up and hopped excitedly out the doors.

Fluttershy walked to my side and sent a smile towards me, causing me to look at her as well and send a smile of my own as we walked towards the sweet shop.

Once there, Pinkie Pie couldn't stop talking about the babies as we ate different sweets.

"Oh my gosh! I want to play with them so badly! Do you know how long we'll play together? Billions of hours! I can't wait! We'll have so much fun! We'll laugh, stuff cake down our throats and—

"Pinkie…" I politely interrupted. "They were just born…it's going to take a while…"

"Oh…" Her ears flopped down. "Right…"

I sent her a warm smile. "That doesn't mean you can't party anymore."

She cheered up once again. "You're right!" She threw streamers in the air. "Woohoo!"

We spent the rest of the day like a normal one.

A month later…

I awoke, stretching and yawning after. I partially jumped off my bed, but made sure to make it after. I walked to the bathroom and washed my face. Next, I jumped in the shower and rinsed for a few minutes. Finally, I traveled downstairs and out the door.

I arrived at Fluttershy's cottage, feeling so happy just to see her. I knocked on her door and waited a few seconds until she opened it.

"Oh, hi, Alex!" She greeted me in her usual loving way.

"Hey, Fluttershy. Can I come in?" I asked.

"Sure!" She quickly replied and invited me in.

I walked inside. "I was wondering if you might want to do something today…"

"Oh, I'd love to…but…I promised Angel a picnic…" She thought for a moment. "Why don't you join us?" She smiled.

"Sure!" I responded quickly, not caring about the situation but just being happy that I would spend time with her.

However, Angel tapped his foot on Fluttershy's hoof, causing her to look at him and see his stubborn and shaking head. Looks like he didn't want me there…

"Angel. Don't be mean." Fluttershy reacted.

I sighed, but showed a slight smile. "It's alright, Fluttershy… we can be together another day."

"Oh, Alex… Are you sure?" She asked with worried eyes.

"Yes. I'm fine." I replied, giving her a hug.

Suddenly, we heard a knock at her door. She looked slightly surprised and walked over to the door to answer it. It was Mr. and Mrs. Cake.

"Hi, Fluttershy." Mr. Cake greeted. "We were wondering if you were available to babysit our babies. We're in a hurry for an important task and we need a babysitter as quick as possible!"

"Oh, I would love to babysit!" Fluttershy answered, raising their hopes. "But I can't today, sorry." They frowned. "I promised Angel we'd go on a picnic." She turned her head to see Angel tapping his foot impatiently and pointing towards the picnic basket. "You understand, don't you?" She said as they began walking away. "Y-you're not mad at me are you? Please don't be mad at me!"

"I'll do it! Pick me!" I heard Pinkie Pie from outside.

I raised an eyebrow and looked out. "What's this talk about babysitting?" I asked. Unexpectedly, the Cakes came rushing back to Fluttershy's cottage, but faced me.

"Alex! Are you free to babysit?" Mrs. Cake asked.

"…um…I suppose…" I answered.

They both sighed in relief. "You can't believe how relieved we are to hear you say that!"

"Hey!" Pinkie Pie included. "What about me?"

However, they seemed to ignore her. "Can you start now?"

I looked at Fluttershy for a moment and then returned the look at the Cakes. "Sure."

"Great, come on over to the shop. We'll explain everything there!" Mrs. Cake announced.

"Come on, honey bun! We have to hurry!" Mr. Cake added, causing the two of them to quickly leave back into town.

I looked over to Fluttershy. "Well, I guess I'll see you later. Have a nice picnic with Angel." I walked up to her, giving her a kiss and a hug.

She returned a warm smile. "Thank you. I bet you'll be a great babysitter!"

I chuckled lightly. "Thanks." I waved and began walking towards Sugarcube Corner, feeling Pinkie Pie sulk behind me.

When I arrived in the sweet shop, I could already see the Cakes hurrying sweets in and out of rooms constantly. As they did so, I saw the little foals sitting beside me on the floor, giggling and waving their little hooves around. However, I noticed Pinkie Pie in the corner of the room, sitting down and wearing a sort of annoyed expression.

"Now, Alex." Mr. Cake faced me as he tapped his hooves rapidly on the floor and sweated nervously. "I'm sure you'll be able to keep the foals nice and safe right?"

I returned a confident smile. "I'm sure. It basically just takes some common sense. I'm responsible."

I heard the oven ding, and Mrs. Cake came out with what appeared to be a giant cake covered in a cloth. "Oh, here you are dearie." She picked up a scroll that was on the covered cake and threw it towards me. "All your responsibilities are on this list." The scroll landed on the floor and unraveled itself, displaying the entire humongous list of things that needed to be done.

I widened my eyes at the sight. "…I'll get them finished as soon as possible. You can count on me." I assured.

Mrs. Cake returned a worried look towards me, seeming as if she thought the items on the list were too much, but Mr. Cake placed his hooves on the covered treat and called out to his wife. "We'll frost it when we get there! C'mon, sugarplum, tick tick!" He then began to push the cake out of the shop.

"Take good care of our two precious little ginger snaps! Everything you need in the shop!" Mrs. Cake announced as she began leaving the door.

"Don't worry." I gave her a reassuring smile and waved. "I can handle a couple of foals."

She smiled lightly and waved. Then, she walked off with Mr. Cake.

I closed the door and turned around. I saw the two babies sitting there, looking at me with bright smiles. However, I noticed Pinkie Pie remaining in the corner of the room, leaning on the wall as she sat down with crossed arms.

"Pinkie? Are you alright?" I asked.

"Just perfect." She answered, sarcastically.

"You wanted to be the one to babysit the foals…didn't you?" I questioned.

She returned silence, tapping her hoof on the floor.

I smiled lightly and looked at her again. "You know… I'm sure I could use some help babysitting them…maybe somepony that could make them laugh…"

She raised her head and widened her eyes. "Are you talking about…"

I nodded.

She then formed a bright grin and created a noise as if she was going to explode in happiness. Although… she literally did explode with joy and flew up in the air, landing back on the ground. The babies returned frightened faces and immediately began crying afterwards. Uh-oh…

I looked at Pinkie Pie. "Looks like you could help right now…"

She looked around worriedly, biting her lip, as I grabbed the babies and held them in my forelegs, patting them gently and ceasing their crying for a moment. "Oh, don't cry little friends! Look, look!" She pointed towards the door to the kitchen and raced towards it. She hid behind it. "Where's Pinkie Pie... Where's Pinkie Pie?" She asked, worriedly. The two looked at each other and began crying again. "Oh no... I'm right here, see!" She opened the doors and revealed herself. I continued patting them as Pinkie Pie rushed over to me and began making goofy faces. The couple stared in an almost flinching manner and continued wailing. "Oh, think think think..." Pinkie Pie closed her eyes and strained her face.

"Pinkie…maybe you should just let me soothe them…you know…let them know that everything's alright?" I suggested.

"Aha! I got it!" She opened her eyes and raised her head. After, she immediately set up a room with a table and curtains. I walked over to the table with the babies, looking around, a little confused. The room was made to where it almost resembled a performance center. "Hey guys, watch this!" A spotlight followed her as she walked over to the center of the curtains and grabbed a broom near a stool. "Hey, you're a wonderful crowd here tonight, where y'all from?" She asked, holding out the end of the broom towards us.

I slightly narrowed my eyes as the babies remained silent. "Not what I had in mind…"

Pumpkin Cake then tried to bite onto the end of the broom, but Pinkie Pie retreated it back towards her. "…Well that's great." She resumed her cheerful speaking. "Y'know, I used to have an ant farm, but I had to get rid of it because I couldn't find tractors that small!" Ba-dum tish… Good effort though, but the audience, including myself, remained silent. "Get it? Tractors that small?" She asked.

I looked at each of the babies and noticed their expression. "Um…yeah… I get it…"

She pulled back. "Um…alright then… Well, the other day, I spilled spot remover on my dog, and now I can't find him!" She immediately rushed over to a drum and cymbal and created that ba-dum tish sound again. When I looked at the babies expressions again, I slightly flinched, knowing what was going to happen. They immediately began bawling. "Phew… Tough crowd." She commented.

"You know what? I'll just put them to bed and lightly rock them to sleep…" I announced as I began to tend to the crying foals, but Pinkie stopped me.

"Alex! Wait!" She placed her hooves on my hoof as she laid down before me.

"What?" I asked.

"I have one more idea! Please let me do it!" She begged.

"Pinkie…" I tried to reason, but then she sent me pitiful puppy eyes. I sighed and lowered my head. "Alright…"

She squealed and ran over to the curtains, beginning to walk behind them. "I wasn't gonna pull off a show stopper, but you're a lovely audience and I think you deserve it!" She disappeared behind the curtains as the babies' crying was beginning to tune out every sound in the room. After a second, she poked her head out, wearing a pig snout and commencing her singing.

"First you jiggle your tail! Oink oink oink!" She bounced on the floor with her behind.

"Then you wriggle your snout!" She appeared between us and shook her head in rhythm. "Oink oink oink!"

"Then you wiggle your rump!" She bounced again. "Oink oink oink!"

"Then shout it out!" She grinned as she balanced on her tail and tilted side to side, keeping rhythm. "Oink oink oink!"

"First you jiggle your tail! Oink oink oink!

Then you wriggle your snout! Oink oink oink!

Then you wiggle your rump! Oink oink oink!

Then shout it out! Oink oink oink!" Pinkie Pie continued to sing as she bounced on the floor. I looked at the babies to see if the song had any effect, but it only seemed to confuse them and cause them to cry even more. This caused Pinkie Pie to increase the speed of her song.

"First you jiggle your tail! Oink oink oink!

Then you wriggle your snout! Oink oink oink!

Then you wiggle your rump! Oink oink oink!

Then shout it out! Oink oink oink!" Her song ended when she lost control of her bouncing and rolled onto a cabinet. I was about to go help her when a bag of flour fell off the top of the cabinet and covered Pinkie Pie in complete whiteness, catching the babies' attention and ceasing their bawling. They stared at Pinkie for a moment, and then began to giggle and soon laugh. "There, see? Nothing to this babysitting business! Ugh!" She fell to the floor, exhausted.

"Well…that's one way of making them laugh…" I spoke as I walked over to her and helped her up. "Go ahead and clean up, I'll watch the babies."

She released a sigh of relief. "Alright…thanks…" She walked off and headed upstairs.

I grabbed the babies as they continued to coo and walked over to the cabinet near the door. I taped the list of responsibilities and began looking at them. "Alright…looks like it's snack time…" I told myself as I read it. I sat the foals in their own special chairs and looked in the fridge. I noticed two bowls of mashed up gooey stuff, so I supposed they were probably for the two. I grabbed them and headed towards the table, noticing Pound Cake pound his hooves on the solid little table in front of him as Pumpkin Cake sucked on her hoof. I placed a bowl on each of their chairs and grabbed two spoons. "Alright…" I used the spoons to pick up some of the food and edge it towards their mouth. "Time to eat. Open your mouths…" I tried to say in a cheery voice. They returned confused looks, so I placed one of the spoons close to my opened mouth and closed it, but kept the spoon out. "Just like that." I moved the spoon back to Pumpkin Cake. She opened her mouth and began to move her head closer to the spoon, but instead, she grabbed the tablecloth and held it in her mouth. "No, no, no." I announced, placing the spoons back in the bowl and gently pulling out the tablecloth from her mouth. "Ponies eat edible food, like this." I pointed to the bowl. "Not this." I pointed to the tablecloth. She stared at me for a moment and then looked at the bowl of food. I grabbed the spoon and brought it up to her again. After a moment, she opened her mouth and placed her lips on the spoon, sucking the food from it and swallowing. Pound Cake was observing this and did the same as well. "There you go."I said, sending a smile to make sure it would soothe them. I continued to feed them until the bowls were finished. I placed the bowls and spoons in the sink and turned to check the list. "Alright… looks like it's bath time…" I gently and carefully picked up the two and headed upstairs to the bathroom.

I saw Pinkie Pie on the way to the bathroom. She was all clean from the flour already.

"Hey, watcha doing?" She asked.

"It's the babies' bath time." I answered, walking in the bathroom.

"Ooh! Can I help?"

I felt a little worried that she might cause the babies to cry again, but I lightly sighed and responded, not wanting to hurt her feelings. "Sure…"

"Yay!" She walked in the bathroom with me.

"Here, hold them for a minute, I'm going to turn the water on." I gave her the babies, allowing her to carry them as I walked over to the bathtub. I twisted the water on, causing water to spray out from the faucet. I used a liquid nearby to create bubbles for the water as the tub continued to fill up. "Can you take off their diapers?" I asked Pinkie Pie as I continued to monitor the water.

"Okie dokie!" She responded and began to do so.

When the water finished filling up, I turned the faucet, causing the water to halt. I turned around to see Pinkie Pie just finished removing the diapers and about to grab the babies to place them in the water. However, the foals cheered and began to run around the room. Pinkie Pie began to chase after them, going after Pound Cake first. On my side, I saw Pumpkin Cake staring at a towel nearby. She began chewing it, allowing me to quickly rush over to her and grab her. She struggled a bit, but I was able to keep her in control and place her in the water. I kept my hooves on her to make sure she didn't get out and follow Pound Cake. "I have Pumpkin Cake!" I told Pinkie Pie as she continued running after Pound Cake. "Just get Pound Cake and put him in the water!"

"On it!" She responded.

I looked at Pumpkin Cake to see her giggling as she watched the scene roll on. I turned my head back to see Pinkie Pie looking around for a missing Pound Cake. She began walking to the mirror, but I noticed a small brown tail poking out from inside the mirror. "Pinkie, in the mirror!" I told her.

She looked at the mirror and opened it. We both noticed Pound Cake hiding in there and as soon as Pinkie Pie could have a chance in grabbing him, he quickly fled. He ran over to behind the curtain near me. Seeing that I had a chance, I quickly moved the curtain and grabbed him, placing him in the water as well. However, noticing how his fun has ended, he began crying which led to Pumpkin Cake to follow the same example as well. Pinkie Pie quickly joined me by the tub and tried to think of something to counterattack this.

"Ooh, look guys, bubbles!" She placed her hoof in the water and pulled out some bubbles, blowing them. As they floated above them, they instantly focused their attention of them and smiled lightly. Observing this work, Pinkie grabbed more bubbles and formed a bubble beard on her face. They smiled more and noticed a huge bubble above them. Pumpkin Cake gazed her eyes at it as she noticed it nearing her. She smiled brightly, but the bubble touched her horn and immediately popped, surprising them and causing them to wail again. "Uh, uh, uh, uh, don't cry…" She looked around and grabbed a rubber duck. "Look, look, uh floating things!" She placed it in the water. "Ooh, aaah, eeh!" The duck then caused them to smile once again.

Pinkie Pie returned an accomplished smile and raced out the room. I turned my head to see what she was going to do to find out that she was bringing in more floating things, literally anything that floated, even a huge raft. Remembering the situation with the bubbles, I quickly halted her, holding my hooves out. "Whoa, whoa, Pinkie. I think a rubber duck is enough."

"Are you sure?" She questioned. I looked back at the bath tub and gestured towards it, noticing the two playing with the duck. Pinkie noticed this as well and placed all the stuff back. "Oh…you're right…"

After, we washed the two, making them clean as possible, and dried them with towels.

After placing on their diapers, we led to their room so they could play. Pinkie Pie and I began looking and reading through the list until a foul putrid stench filled the air and caused our noses to scrunch. We both sniffed, but Pinkie Pie gasped. We held our hooves on our noses and turned our heads to see the two foals playing with the blocks. Pumpkin Cake was watching as she had her binky in her mouth and Pound Cake was repeatedly lightly pounding one of the blocks on top of the other.

"Smells like somepony needs us to changie-wangie their diaper-wiper right now-a-wow!" Pinkie rhymed, grabbing two diapers.

"I'll go grab them and place them on the changing table, alright?" I softly told Pinkie.

Still holding her nose, she nodded with some straining in her face.

I slowly began walking to them, being as silent as possible. However, Pinkie Pie was watching my careful steps. Just as I was about to grab both of them in one quick swipe, Pinkie announced her warning out loud. "Easy... easy..." This caused the foals to look behind to see me and quickly run away before I could catch them, giggling along the way. I sighed and looked around for where they went. I could smell the foul odor and hear their laughter from behind the drawer with diapers on top. "Pinkie! Behind the dresser!"

She nodded and quickly pounced behind there. As I heard her struggles, I quickly rushed over there, just to be dragged into the fight as well. "Wait- no- stay there- just- for a second- stand still I've almost—

Pinkie announced as she struggled with the exchange of diapers. Once she finished, I felt something different about my body… Pumpkin and Pound Cake were on the floor, flinching, but Pound Cake noticed he didn't have his diaper on. Pumpkin found out as well and looked at us. They immediately smiled and began laughing. Pinkie Pie and I looked at each other to find out we each had a diaper on, which caused the babies to laugh out loud. They ran off afterwards. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding me!" Pinkie Pie announced as I looked at the diaper on me and sighed. We heard the bell ring downstairs. "Oh! Thank goodness they're home!"

"Go answer that. I'll try to find the two and put the diapers on them." I spoke as I shook off the diaper from me.

"Okay!" She quickly trotted downstairs.

As she did, I looked around for the babies. "Pound Cake? Pumpkin Cake?" I called slyly, looking around as I walked throughout the room. Soon enough, I heard their giggles faintly. I looked towards the closet, thinking they might be in there. As they continued to giggle, I slowly placed my hoof on the door handle and quickly opened it. I saw them there, hiding and laughing, but when they noticed me, they quickly tried to run away, but I stopped them by placing my hooves in front of them. "No you don't." After, I picked them up and placed them on the changing table. It was a little complicated, but I managed to place their diapers on after a while. I released a breath of relief after the diapers were finally on. I placed them in their bed and pulled up the side gate. Just as I was about to walk towards the door, Pinkie Pie came in.

"Who was it?" I asked.

"Twilight." She answered briefly.

"Twilight?" I questioned. "Why did she come over?"

"She asked if we needed any help with the babies."

"That's great. So, she's here right now?"

Pinkie remained silent for a moment. "…no…"

"No? Why?"

"She thought the responsibilities were too much… so I got mad and told her I didn't want her help…"

"Pinkie!" I lightly scolded. "Twilight could have helped out a lot! I'm sure she's read up on babies and has many tips on taking care of them. She wasn't going to do everything, but she could have helped out a lot and made our babysitting easier!"

"But…" She couldn't really say anything back.

I sighed and began walking out. "Take care of the foals. I'm going to see if I can catch Twilight."

"Okay…"

I walked out the door, hoping Pinkie Pie would be able to handle the babies on her own. I already placed the diapers on…so they shouldn't be too much trouble. She probably just needs to put them to sleep. It's already getting dark. I walked out the front door of the sweet shop and looked around for Twilight. I walked for a moment until I saw a violet pony heading towards a tree. I quickly ran up to her and called out for her. "Twilight!"

"Hm?" She stopped and turned her head around.

"Twilight…" I stopped when I reached up to her. "Geez…I'm sorry about Pinkie Pie, but we could really use your help with the babies. Do you know a lot of tips on how to take care of them?"

She returned a bright smile. "Why, of course I do! I'm glad that you came up to me. I was hoping nothing terrible would happen on your babysitting."

"Great." I returned another smile. "Let's go. I think all we need to do is put them to bed, and that should be enough until Mr. and Mrs. Cake come back."

We walked back to Sugarcube Corner and opened the door to the sweet shop. We began hearing strange loud noises coming from upstairs. We exchanged a slightly shocked look and quickly rushed to the top of the stairs, wondering greatly what was happening.

When we reached the door, all of a sudden, Pinkie Pie began crying out loud. Tears were gushing out from her eyes and falling towards the floor, as a waterfall. Not only did that surprise us, but when we turned our heads towards the babies, we saw Pumpkin Cake with a stash of stuffed animals near her and one being a turtle in her mouth. She placed the turtle on the floor and looked at Pinkie Pie with sadness in her eyes. Pound Cake shocked us when we saw him fluttering his wings and flying. He flew besides Pumpkin Cake, sharing a frown as well. As Pinkie Pie continued to wail, sounding as if she was overwhelmed, the two foals looked at each other. Again, surprising us, Pumpkin Cake began using her magic to grab a sack of flour and bring it towards Pinkie Pie as Pound Cake followed her. When Pinkie noticed this, she halted her loud crying, but was whimpering a bit as the two foals returned light and empathetic smiles. They stood up and stretched their hooves, as if to present themselves, and flour immediately rained down upon them. They flinched as it hit them, but they once again presented themselves with smiles as Pinkie Pie watched.

Wiping her tears, Pinkie began giggling. "Y'know, you're right. That is funny…"

That managed to replace the shocked expressions on our face to compassionate smiles, but it didn't replace our concern.

"Pinkie. What happened?" I asked as I walked in.

She smiled and finished wiping her eyes. "It's a long story… Let's just put them to bed." She looked over to Twilight. "Hey, Twilight… you mind if you take down a letter…?"

"Not at all." Twilight smiled and pulled out a paper and quill, preparing to write the letter herself.

As I grabbed the foals, I began to wipe them clean, wiping off the flour and using baby wipes to clean them as Pinkie Pie spoke. "Dear Princess Celestia, I've always had fun playing with little kids, and I thought babysitting meant just more playtime, right? Wrong! Being a caregiver is way more responsibility than just being a playmate. And today I learned that sometimes our desire for responsibility can outrun our actual ability to handle it."

I finished cleaning the babies and placed them in their crib. As they yawned, stretched, and closed their eyes, I gently pulled the covers over them.

"Great job, Pinkie." Twilight praised. "I'm sure the Princess will like this letter."

"Thanks Twilight." Pinkie Pie smiled and walked over to the foals, giving them a kiss on the forehead each.

"Well, I better go see Spike before he falls asleep. I'll see you all later, okay?"

"Alright. Goodnight, Twilight." I responded as Pinkie Pie waved.

She smiled and nodded, taking the letter with her and leaving the shop.

"Well… we better go clean the mess downstairs…" Pinkie suggested to me.

"Mess? What mess?" I asked.

"You'll see…" She began leading me downstairs and towards the kitchen, turning off the light in the babies' room as they slept.

When we entered through doors to the kitchen, we were instantly met with a splatter of liquids everywhere. Pinkie Pie lowered her head and sighed, holding a bucket of water with her tail.

I smiled and patted her. "Don't worry, Pinkie Pie. We'll get rid of the mess in no time."

Hearing me say this, she turned her head to me and released a hopeful smile.

After, we began scrubbing the messes off the walls, cabinets, floor, etc. Pinkie was wearing a housekeeping uniform as she scrubbed the pools off. When she finished cleaning Pound Cake's table, she wiped her forehead and released a breath of relief, but then she noticed how Pumpkin Cake's table was still dirty. I smiled and began cleaning the table. "Don't worry. I've got this."

She smiled and sat down to take a break.

We finished in around half an hour or a little longer. Suddenly, in a gentle manner, we heard the door open and the bell ring.

"Alex! We're back!" I heard Mr. Cake shout.

"How did everything go?" Mrs. Cake added as well, returning a gasp.

"Are we in the right place?"

Pinkie Pie and I saw them from the top of the stairs. She placed a hoof to her lips and shushed them politely. "Shhh!" Then, she gestured her head towards the room to let them know the babies were sleeping.

We led them towards their room to see them snoring soundly and mumbling in their sleep.

"A…Alex." Mrs. Cake announced. "This is just... just..."

"Amazing, is what it is." Mr. Cake finished.

He was about to continue to speak, but I raised my hoof in front of me. "Let me stop you right there…" I placed my hoof back on the ground and looked at them. "If it's somepony you should be thanking, it should be Pinkie Pie. She's the one who really took care of them. Why…she managed to have them behave all by herself. She's the one who made them laugh and cease their crying. She's responsible. In my opinion, she should be their babysitter."

They looked shocked and faced Pinkie Pie, causing her to slightly flinch in embarrassment. "Pinkie…is this true?" Mrs. Cake asked.

"Hehe… I guess so." Pinkie responded, shyly.

"We had no idea how responsible you really are." They exchanged a look with each other and nodded. "Would you be interested in becoming our go-to babysitter on a permanent basis?"

This caused Pinkie to widen her eyes and open her mouth in shock. "Hm- Ah- lemme check my schedule!" She pulled out a notepad. "I should be available a week from... never!" She answered frankly. "You should let Alex babysit!"

However, we heard the sleeping foals sigh. We looked in to see Pound Cake holding out his hooves. "Pinkie..."

"Pie..." Pumpkin Cake added, turning her body to her side to continue sleeping.

Pinkie smiled and began tearing up. She happily gasped and looked towards the Cakes. "I have some free time next Tuesday."

I smiled lightly. "Well then… I guess I should be going."

The Cakes looked at me. "Well thank you for helping us take care of the little foals as well."

"It's not a problem. I'm happy to help." I turned to walk down the stairs. "Goodnight." I waved as I began walking.

They smiled and waved back too.

When I reached the door, Pinkie quickly caught up to me. "Hold on, Alex."

"Hm?" I turned around.

She placed her hooves around me and hugged me emotionally. "Thanks for showing them how responsible I am."

I smiled and lightly patted her back. "Well, you are, aren't you?"

She lightly giggled and pulled away. "Heh, I guess. Well, thanks anyway."

I nodded. "Goodnight, Pinkie. I'll see you later."

"Goodnight, Alex." She waved and began walking back upstairs to get some sleep herself.

I stepped out the door, but before I could get some sleep, I had to see Fluttershy first.

I knocked on her door and patiently waited.

After a moment, she opened the door and saw me. "Hi, Alex." She greeted me with a quick kiss on the lips. "How was your babysitting?"

I smiled lightly and looked back. "It was a little…difficult. But Pinkie Pie helped out a lot." I faced her. "What about you? How was your picnic?"

"It was great." She answered and looked back. "Angel's asleep…" She faced back towards me. "…but it would have been much better if you were there…"

I lightly chuckled. "Well…another time then. I should let you get some sleep."

She nodded and smiled. "Okay, I'll be waiting. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." I gave her a slower and gentler kiss before heading off. She blushed and walked inside, closing the door.

I smiled and walked back to my home.

I lay down on my bed and pulled the covers over me with nothing much to think about. I began to fall asleep, possibly from how exhausted I was with babysitting. Well…it's nice to know that Pinkie proved her responsibility… looks like she'll be babysitting those two adorable but troublesome foals. I mentally chuckled and closed my eyes.

The Last Roundup

Episode 40 – The Last Roundup

There was a quiet chatter around my home as I tried to sleep. It wasn't actually that bad… The noise simulated being in a crowd, but it was mostly muted. It was possible to sleep through it, but I decided to wake up and get myself out of bed anyway. I could probably check out what all the noise was about as well. As always, I took a few minutes of yawning and stretching, and then headed downstairs to escape through the doors.

When I was outside, I noticed that ponies were strolling and trotting around town in a more social matter. Was there something happening today that I did not know about? As I walked through town, looking around, I spotted several banners being placed upon buildings. It seemed to be a social gathering for some specific reason…

But something in the banners caught my attention. They contained apples and in the middle revealed a drawing of what appeared to be Applejack. The drawing was a bit amateurish, to be honest, but it was clear enough to be certain that it was Applejack depicted on there. So this social gathering has something to do with Applejack… I should go over to Sweet Apple Acres and see what's going on…

I mentally nodded my head and began walking the path to the farm.

After a few minutes, I reached the area near the barn, but I didn't spot anypony. I looked around with a confused expression on my face, even scratching my head a bit. However, my ears slightly twitched when I heard some very faint and soft cheers coming from somewhere. I analyzed my surroundings and finally noticed something I hadn't noticed before. I could see, in the distance, some movement several yards away. The area appeared to be an obstacle course, and I could see two familiar ponies there. I began galloping my way towards there.

I spotted Applebloom standing and holding her hooves over the wooden railing she was leaning against. She seemed to be excited about something… I also noticed that she was wearing Applejack's hat as she watched her run around the obstacle course.

"Hey, Applebloom." I greeted. "What's going on?" I asked as I walked next to her and joined her by the railing.

"Hi, Alex! Applejack's just practicing one more time before she leaves for the rodeo!" She responded as we both watched Applejack.

"Rodeo?" I questioned.

"Yup! Isn't she amazing? She's sure to win the rodeo! Just look at all her blue ribbons!" She pointed towards a wooden wall of ribbons. She had five, and they all looked nice.

"Wow." I observed the wall for a moment and then returned my look towards Applejack. "I'm sure she'll have no problem."

We continued watching Applejack speed through the obstacle course with barely any issues. She galloped until she came upon a wooden gate that was held over a rectangular pool of mud. She swiftly jumped over it, presenting a nice amount of distance. After, she turned at the end of the curve and reached another obstacle. It was another gate, but the mud below it was slightly larger than the first one. Yet, she still managed to jump over with no problem. She turned again and now was heading towards a much taller obstacle, possibly twice the height of the original gates, and the mud below it was larger as well. This caused me to lean my head in, growing excitement and suspense in me as I saw her lick her lips and prepare for it. When the time was right, she then took a giant leap with all of her legs outstretched. As if in slow motion, I could see her leap over the entire blockage, only having the top of it tap her hoof, but she made it out alright! She then continued the speed of galloping and jumped over another obstacle.

After seeing that, Applebloom waved her hoof excitedly and cheered. "Whoo-whoa!" She almost fell back when she released her front hoof from the railing, but I quickly placed my hoof on her back and lightly pushed her back on the railing. The hat tipped over her eyes, but she fixed it by placing it back on the right position. "Thanks." She thanked me and continued watching Applejack, who returned a wink as she continued to run. Applejack then reached an area with hays held by a rope. She grabbed one of the ropes with her teeth and swung it with great force, sending it several feet over a line and passing a couple of other hays. Applejack observed this accomplishment and crossed her legs. "Whoo-hoo!" Applebloom cheered, sending her hooves upwards but throwing the hat she had onto the ground. "Applejack, you're sure to knock everypony's hat off at the Equestria Rodeo competition!"

Applejack smiled and grabbed her hat off from the ground. "Aw shucks, Applebloom." She placed the hat back on. "I sure hope so."

"Hope so? I know so! After all, you're the ten-time rodeo champion of Ponyville! Why, you got more blue ribbons than anypony in Ponyville ever! And I can't wait for my big sis to win every blue ribbon in Equestria and bring home the title of Equestria Rodeo champion!" Applebloom exclaimed, causing Applejack to look away and blush bashfully.

I smiled and turned my attention from Applebloom to Applejack. "You sure are very agile Applejack. I believe that you'll be the best at the rodeo!"

She chuckled lightly as her cheeks remained a little reddened. "Thanks, Alex. That really means a lot…"

"Is that the reason why everyone is putting up banners and things back in town?" I inquired.

"Yup. I guess so. Ponyville's giving me a big send off for going to the rodeo! I promised to use the prize money for fixing Town Hall."

"Fixing Town Hall? What's wrong with Town Hall?" I formed a concerned expression.

She then released a heartily chuckle. "You should go check it out. It's in pretty bad condition, to be honest."

"Oh…" I returned my smile again. "Well, I guess I'll go do that then." I removed my hooves from the wooden railing and began preparing to walk back to town. "Are you coming?"

"Sure. In a little while. I just want to practice a bit more before leaving."

"Alright then. I'll see you in town again."

"Yup! See ya, Alex!"

I waved to Applejack and Applebloom and headed towards town, specifically Town Hall.

Arriving at Town Hall, I looked at the building to see any damage, but I was distracted by seeing Rainbow Dash place another banner on it. After she secured it on the front of the building, she flew near it, looking accomplished. However, a streak of lightning flashed right by her, causing her to move away, but the lightning burnt the tip of her tail a bit. "Huh?" She looked over to a dark cloud nearby. "Now, careful, Derpy!" Derpy? She flew over to the cloud, and I noticed Derpy was bouncing happily on it, creating more lightning below the cloud. "Don't want to do any more damage than you've already done." She stopped bouncing and opened her crossed eyes to observe the building. Now I saw the issue… The roof of the building was literally collapsing.

"I just don't know what went wrong!" Derpy replied as she continued to jump on the cloud, but she ended up shocking herself and became dazed for a moment. Her behavior managed to make me smile again as I watched the scene.

"Yeah…" Rainbow Dash added sarcastically, planting her hoof on the nail that held the banner. "It's a mystery."

"Derpy!" I exclaimed happily towards her.

She looked below her and noticed me. "Alex!" She quickly flew off her cloud and over to me to give me a hug.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Rainbow Dash suddenly exclaimed. "You two know each other?"

"Yup." I answered. "We've known each other for a while actually."

"She hasn't dropped or broke anything of yours, has she?" Rainbow Dash questioned, crossing her forelegs.

This caused Derpy to slightly frown. "Aw, come on Rainbow Dash." I defended Derpy. "She's really a good pony at heart. I'm sure something good comes from everything she does."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, but decided not to continue the conversation any further.

Nonetheless, Derpy, growing a smile once again, began flying back in the air and observed the work Rainbow Dash did. "Nice work, Rainbow Dash!" She flew backwards towards the supporting wood for the building. Her butt accidentally smashed and created a thud on the wooden pillar, causing it to fall and head towards the ground. Rainbow Dash quickly flew over to the end of the pillar and tried to stop or lift it up, but she ended up crashing through the floor, yelping. Derpy landed on the floor with worried eyes as I joined her by the hole. She poked her head in the hole that Rainbow Dash made, and I looked inside as well, seeing Rainbow Dash sitting inside, annoyed. "You okay, Rainbow Dash? Anything I can do to help?" A wooden piece that was hanging by a splinter fell and landed on the floor inside of the hole, causing Derpy to notice it and look downwards.

Rainbow Dash immediately flew out and confronted Derpy. "No! Nothing! In the name of Celestia, just sit there and do nothing!"

Derpy did as she was told, planting her behind on the floor, but it caused several cracks to form and instantly break the part of the floor she was sitting on. When Derpy began falling down, she quickly grabbed Rainbow Dash, bringing her down with her. They landed with a loud thud. "Oops. My bad."

I quickly walked over to the hole to help them up. "Applejack! Applejack! Applejack! Applejack!" I heard the crowd chant, even while the Mayor began her announcement.

"Everypony, can I get your attention? Attention please!" The crowd halted their chanting, and I stretched my hooves out to Rainbow Dash and Derpy to help them out of the hole. "Yes, we are all here to send Applejack to compete in this year's Equestria Rodeo competition in Canterlot." The crowd cheered as I began pulling Rainbow Dash and Derpy up. "And, I want to thank Applejack in advance, for generously offering up her prize money to fix town hall." Rainbow Dash had managed to get back up on the floor, but Derpy was still struggling a bit, so I used my free hoof to help her up. Just as half her body was out, she joined the crowd, verbally.

"Yeah, Applejack! Whoohoo!" Derpy cheered, using the hooves that she was using to hold on to mine and fell back into the hole. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at this and continued observing the event. I lightly chuckled and helped her out again as the crowd pounded their hooves.

"Speech! Speech!" Pinkie Pie demanded, hopping excitedly and happily on the ground.

"Oh, shucks. I'm not much for speeches." Applejack responded, who was standing near the mayor.

"Alright then, no speech!" Pinkie dashed off, but came back when Applejack began speaking.

"Buuut, this here is the nicest send off anypony could ask for. Y'all have been cheering me on in every rodeo since I was a little little pony. So it seems only fittin' to use my winnings to fix up town hall. I promise to make Ponyville proud!"

The crowd cheered, once again, causing Applejack to tip her hat over to us and smile. I looked over to Derpy. "Hey, why don't you go make some muffins for Applejack? I'm pretty sure she'd love that."

She gasped. "You're right! I'll go make them right now!" She sped off, causing me to smile at her kindness that most ponies were too stubborn to see.

I walked towards Applejack to see her. "So…you're leaving in a little while, huh?"

"Yup. Don't worry, I'll only be gone for a week." She responded.

"Well, I hope you have a good time." I sent her a warm smile. "I'm sure you'll win that rodeo and the prize money."

"Gee… Thanks, Alex." She hugged me. "It really means a lot that you believe in me."

"We all do, including the town."

She nodded and pulled away. "And I'll be super proud when I'm bringin' in that prize money to fix Town Hall for everypony!"

"And we'll all be proud of you…"

Her cheeks reddened a little in embarrassment again, but she looked at me. "Thanks."

All of us, including Applejack's family, stayed with her until her train came when we were at the train station. I heard the bells ring as the coal burnt inside. I had already told her my goodbye, so a few other ponies were telling theirs.

"I want you to show all them high-falutin' rodeo ponies what a real rodeo pony's like!" Granny Smith encouraged her before Applejack could begin to board the train.

"You betcha, Granny Smith." Applejack replied with a grin.

"And bring back all that money!" The mayor announced, cheerfully.

"You betcha, Mayor." Applejack responded, beginning to walk towards the train, but Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared in her way.

"And have fun. And don't be nervous. Or if you are, use that nervous energy to do even better than you already would!" Applejack smiled and continued her way towards the train. "And eat peanuts and popcorn and taffy and taffy gives lots of nervous energy!" She held out a bag of candy and began munching on it.

Twilight narrowed her eyes a bit at Pinkie's behavior, but she turned her head to face Applejack. "Just do your best, Applejack."

"I'll do better than my best!" Applejack answered confidently.

I heard some flapping of wings nearby and looked around to see Derpy coming my way. I smiled and waited for her as she came and landed with a saddle bag. "Hi!"

I looked at Applejack. "Hey, Applejack. A good friend here wants to give you a gift before you leave for the week." I gestured my eyes towards Derpy.

Derpy walked towards Applejack and opened her saddlebag, revealing several muffins. "I made these just for you, Applejack!"

Applejack began blushing, once again and rubbed her head embarrassingly. "Aw, shucks. You all always make me feel embarrassed." She placed her hoof down and looked at Derpy. "Thank you, that was real kind of you."

Derpy opened Applejack's saddlebag and placed the muffins in there. "You're welcome! You deserve it, Applejack!"

She returned a friendly smile and nodded.

"The train to Canterlot is about to leave! All aboard who's coming aboard!" We suddenly heard.

"Guess that means me." Applejack told us.

"Seeya in a week!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, excusing Applejack to board the train.

"With lots of new blue ribbons!" Applebloom promoted.

"And lots of money!" The mayor highly emphasized again.

"Darn tootin'!" She entered the train, which began moving. We ran by the train, staying with her as much as we could. "See y'all in a week, with a big bag full of blue ribbons!"

Every one of us released an assortment of byes.

"And drink sarsaparilla!" Pinkie Pie added last. We all looked at her. "What? It gives you extra sass." I only smiled at her comment as some other ponies closed their eyes, sighed, and shook them.

"Well, I guess I better go." Derpy told me. "Maybe I'll make my little sister some." She began flying and waving her hoof. "Bye!"

I waved. "Bye."

Applejack's family then departed back to their farm, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and I remained for a while. Fluttershy flew up to me and hugged me. "Sorry, I didn't see you in the morning, Fluttershy." I told her.

She shook her head lightly. "It's alright."

I placed a hoof around her and looked at the others. "So, surprise party when Applejack comes back?" I questioned, expecting the answer to be yes.

"You know it!" Twilight answered, winking an eye.

"Whohoo!" Pinkie Pie added.

The week seemed to go by slow, but when the time for Applejack to come back came, it seemed that the week actually passed by fast. Of course, we had planned Applejack's surprise party and began setting it up in the barn. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash just finished placing on the banner as I finished setting the balloons.

"Oh, I hope Applejack is surprised by this surprise party!" Fluttershy excitedly, but softly announced.

"Well, that is the point." Rainbow Dash responded as she and Applebloom grabbed streamers from a box nearby.

"I know," Fluttershy caught the end of the streamer that Rainbow Dash threw to her. "…but I hope she isn't so surprised she's startled, because while being surprised can be nice, being startled can be... very startling."

"Surprise!" Pinkie Pie suddenly yelled out at Fluttershy, causing her to gasp in terror and fall back, along with the confetti Pinkie threw.

"Oh, Pinkie, you startled me."

"Sorry!" Pinkie Pie helped Fluttershy up. "I was just practicing my "surprise!" for when we surprise Applejack with this super cool party for becoming rodeo champion of Equestria!" Fluttershy sighed in relief and continued walking until Pinkie Pie appeared in front of her again. "Surprise!"

Fluttershy fell to the floor again. I rushed over to her and grabbed her hooves, pulling her up.

"Quiet, Pinkie, I think Applejack's coming!" Twilight announced as she looked out the door.

I patted Fluttershy on the back and gave her a quick kiss before jumping on the side of the room with Pinkie Pie and Applebloom. Pinkie stood on the left side of me while Applebloom stood on the right. "Don't worry, Twilight. Got my lips all limbered up!" She responded and began making odd faces, which I assumed to be for exercising her lips. Applebloom returned narrowed eyes as if she was becoming annoyed by the weird faces Pinkie was producing, but I looked at Pinkie with a surprised expression on how she could stretch her mouth very wide.

Despite that, I saw Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash hide in the nest of hay above the barn. The last of Applejack's relatives ran and hid behind the table. The lights turned off, and we all hid behind our choice of surfaces. Once the door opened, the light turned on and we all revealed ourselves, yelling "Surprise!"

"Surprise!" Pinkie Pie yelled, a second late. "Aw, shoot!"

However, when we really saw who was at the door, it was actually a mail carrier. "Wow, this is the best surprise ever! How did you know it was my birthday?" This caused all the ponies to frown and lower their heads. He pulled out a letter, which Twilight grabbed with an angry expression. She slammed the door after, causing me to feel bad, since it was his birthday.

"At least give him some cake…"

Pinkie Pie was on it and quickly grabbed a slice, dropping it off outside and shutting the doors again.

"Who's it from, Twilight?" Applebloom asked as I walked near her. "What's it say?"

"It's from Applejack." Twilight answered her happily. " 'Family and friends, not coming back to Ponyville' ." Everypony gasped. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. " '...Don't worry, will send money soon.' Twilight presented the letter before us. "…that's all there is…" Her comment caused the ponies to gasp again.

"Applejack's... not comin' back?" Applebloom questioned with a saddened tone.

"What do you mean Applejack's not coming back? She loves Ponyville!" Rainbow Dash claimed.

"And she loves Sweet Apple Acres!" Granny Smith added.

"And she loves her family!" Applebloom finished with shaking eyes.

Rarity gasped. "Oh, something just dreadful must have happened to Applejack to make her not return!"

"Maybe she's hurt, or sad, or scared!" Fluttershy offered.

"So, what are we waiting for? Let's go find her!" Rainbow Dash released and flew out the barn doors.

"Don't worry." Twilight assured the Apple family. "We'll search all of Equestria if we have to. We'll bring her back." She and the other girls ran up to the door.

"Y'all are the best." Applebloom commented as I caught up with them, still confused with what Applejack said…

"Thank you!" Granny Smith expressed. Twilight saluted and we immediately headed on our way.

"Applejack not coming back?" I announced as we ran towards the train station. "Something must have happened to her! There's no other reason to explain so!"

"I know!" Twilight responded. "That's why we have to find her and help her out and soon as possible!"

We quickly caught the next train to Canterlot and could only be patient enough to wait as the train traveled towards the city.

When it arrived, we quickly headed towards the area that Applejack was supposed to be competing in. Once at the entrance, we all agreed to the split up. While I was looking around for ponies to question about Applejack's location using a picture of her, I saw Rarity approach a couple of ponies and present it. As they shook their heads, Pinkie Pie was following a clown, rolling on a ball as the clown. The clown shook his head as well, causing her to frown and the ball to deflate. Twilight presented the picture using her magic to a couple of ponies with brooms, but the same results occurred. Rainbow Dash stopped a pony rolling a barrel, but the same thing happened as well… Fluttershy flew up to pony above me that was lying lazily on the roof. She tried to show the picture, but the pony merely flipped his hoof to scoot Fluttershy away. As she slowly backed away, I began wishing I had wings so I could fly up to that pony and flip his hat off, making him see the picture.

We continued to ask around for Applejack until the area was deserted. We had no luck. Rarity brushed the dirt off of her flank as Twilight had her head faced downwards on a table. Rainbow Dash was lying on the stands, exhausted, as Pinkie Pie was leaning over the stone railing. I sat with Fluttershy as she sighed in sadness. I placed a hoof over her and patted her back. She placed her head on my shoulder. I turned towards Twilight to see a pony walk up to the table. She noticed the picture and smiled, causing us to quickly rush up to her with high hopes. She turned around and pointed towards a landscape with dry mountains and cactus, much looking like the landscape of Appleloosa. When the girls saw this, they opened their jaws, shocked.

We then caught a train to our next destination as quick as possible. As we watched the scenery go by, Rainbow Dash began a conversation of worriment. "I hope this lead doesn't turn out to be a dead end. I don't wanna go home empty-hooved after promising we'd find her."

I couldn't help but hear Pinkie Pie grunt in high restrain as she crossed her legs.

"I don't know how we'll break it to the Apple family." Fluttershy worried.

"I don't know how we'll break it to Ponyville!" Twilight added.

"I don't know how I'll make it to the next stop!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she sweated.

"Alright, just stop, girls!" I announced, grabbing their attention to me. "Stop thinking so negatively. We'll find her! I know we will! We're all friends, remember? No matter what."

"He's right! We'll find her!" Twilight supported. "Look!" We heard the train whistle. "This is Dodge Junction. Applejack is supposed to have come here after the rodeo ended." The train ceased and we boarded off. "Let's fan out and try to find her."

Pinkie Pie suddenly flashed by us. "Pickles!" As she rushed to the nearest restroom, we began questioning two others ponies for Applejack, but after a short while, she came back. "I found her, I found her, I found her, I found her, I found her!" She exclaimed excitedly as she bounced around us, causing us to quickly run after her.

Around the corner of the building, she pointed to the pony that brightened our faces.

"Oh, Applejack, thank heavens!" Rarity commented as we walked towards her. However, her odd expression, depicting of sadness or disappointment, caught my attention.

"We're so glad you're safe!" Fluttershy added.

"I found her, I found her, I found her, I found her!" Pinkie Pie continued exclaiming as she bounced in the air until she stopped and crossed her legs. "Be right back." She said and quickly rushed to the outhouse.

"Uh, hey, everypony. What's up?" Applejack greeted as we walked by her.

"Why didn't you come back to Ponyville?" Rainbow Dash immediately brought up.

"Yes, why are you here?" Rarity agreed as I heard the toilet flush.

"Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked.

"Do you have any snacks?" Pinkie Pie added.

"Tell us what happened, Applejack!" Twilight demanded with so much care in her voice.

Applejack lowered her head and stared at the floor as waited for an answer. However, we heard another pony call her name. "Applejack? Are these some of your Ponyville friends?"

"Yes ma'am." Twilight answered.

"And you are...?" Rarity questioned the pony with the cherry appearance.

"Why, I'm Cherry Jubilee, boss of Cherry Hill Ranch. Hasn't Applejack told ya?" I looked at Applejack with a raised eyebrow in the corner of my eye. "I saw her compete at the Equestria Rodeo. Never saw anypony win so many ribbons in all my life."

"Aw shucks, Miss Jubilee. You don't have to go into all that."

"Oh, she's so modest. Anyway, I can always use a pony with quick hooves and a strong back. So, when I heard Applejack was looking for a change of scenery, I snapped her up as quick as I could and brought her to Dodge Junction." Change of scenery…? … "Well, I'll let you catch up with your friends. See you back at the ranch."

" 'Change of scenery' ?" Rainbow Dash immediately questioned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"No big deal, guys. I thought cherries would be a nice change from apples, so I took the job and came here. That's it. End of story."

"What?" I instantly stepped up. "So you left your family, your friends, everypony in Ponyville, JUST for change from apples?" My reaction seemed to have struck her as she lowered her head and stared at the floor. "Applejack… I know you're lying. You're keeping something from us."

She lightly shook her head and faced us. "Sorry, but that's all there is to tell. Thanks for checkin' on me, but y'all can go home now. Tell my family hi, and that I'm doing A-okay." She began walking away.

Just as I was about to share my feelings on that comment, Rainbow Dash flew up to her and began making her back away. "Excuse me, AJ, but we didn't travel all over Equestria searching for you to come home without you!"

"Well I didn't ask you to come lookin' for me!" She resumed walking. "There is nothin' to tell and I am not going back to Ponyville!" She galloped away.

"I don't care what she says, Applejack's not telling us something." Twilight commented.

I grunted and began running after Applejack, desperately wanting to know the real reason about this situation.

"Applejack! Applejack!" I called after her as I galloped towards her.

She turned her head to notice me and immediately increased her pace. "Go away!"

I groaned and increased my speed as well. When she noticed that I wasn't stopping to catch her, she began leading me to a high speed chase. She jumped over a wooden gate and galloped near the buildings. I narrowed my eyes and jumped over the gate as well. As I was inching closer to her by the second, she quickly began looking around for something to stop me. She spotted a couple barrels of cherries and knocked them over, causing them to spill over my path. I quickly jumped on the barrels and jumped off them.

Applejack looked back and still noticed me following her. "Leave me alone, Alex!"

I wanted to respond to her comment, but I needed to save my energy as much as I could. She turned to a path between two buildings. I turned on that path as well, but I had lost Applejack. I looked around. She has to be hiding around here somewhere… I don't hear her hooves anymore… I cautiously looked around, keeping my ears listening to any changes in my surroundings. As I walked slowly through the alley, keeping my head still but moving my eyes, I suddenly heard a noise emerge from my right. I saw something being thrown at me, causing me to quickly dodge roll to the right and avoid what was thrown. When I regained my balance, I saw that they were many cherries that most likely came from a bucket. I heard quick taps of hooves and immediately ran around the other side of the building. By the time I made it, I saw Applejack just about to pass me until I tackled her to the ground. I stood over her, placing my hooves on hers so she wouldn't get past me. She continued to struggle to free herself.

"Applejack, stop this, now!" I ordered.

"Just let me go, Alex!" She demanded as well.

"No! Not until you let me know the truth! Why are you acting like this?" She didn't answer, but only looked away. "I know you Applejack. You wouldn't leave Ponyville for a 'change in scenery'. You wouldn't leave your family and friends. You love Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres! Just tell us the truth…we're your friends…"

She looked saddened, but continued to look away. "Alex…I suggest you get off of me right now…"

"Not until you let me know what's going on…"

She sighed and faced me. "I really didn't want to have to do this…but…" She raised her back legs and kicked me off her, causing me to land on my back on the ground with a thud. When I raised my head to look at her, she was already galloping away. I raised my hoof and pounded it on the ground aggressively. What is she hiding? We're her friends! What could she be hiding that is causing her to treat us like this?

"Alex! Alex!" I heard Twilight's voice call me. I looked behind me to see the girls running up to me. They caught up to me, concerned. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" I answered with a sense of disappointment. Fluttershy had stuck her hoof out to me. I grabbed it and allowed her to help me up.

"What happened?" Twilight questioned.

I sighed. "I ran after her and eventually caught up to her… I then tried getting some information out of her…but she kicked me and ran off…"

"Okay, this has gone too far!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "We need some answers, now!"

"You're certainly right there, Rainbow…" Twilight agreed. "We have to come up with a plan."

"Doesn't Applejack work with Cherry Jubilee?" Rarity brought up.

"You're right, Rarity…" Twilight thought. "Hm…we should 'get jobs' there and try to get some answers from Applejack."

"How exactly are we going to get answers? She already knows that we're desperate…" I responded.

"Well, we'll pretend that we don't care anymore. That we just want to know how life is here now."

"I'll try anything…so I guess it's a plan."

Twilight smirked. "Let's go talk to Cherry Jubilee then."

We gathered up and began walking back to the place.

Back where we entered the town, we walked in to Cherry Jubilee's office. She was sitting by a desk, doing some paperwork until she looked up to see us walk in. "Why, hello! You all are Applejack's friends, right?"

"Yes, ma'am." Twilight answered. "We were wondering if you could help us out with something."

"Of course! What do you need?"

"Well, we were wondering if you could hire us for working with the cherries as well."

She studied all of us for a moment. "Sounds splendid! The more the merrier! I was just about to start heading towards the cherry barn to give Applejack the directions, but with you six, you can organize the cherries while she runs the machine. Sound good?"

"Yep!" Twilight cheerfully agreed.

"Perfect!" She stood up and began heading out the door, but suddenly stopped. "Oh, hold on." She poked her head into a closet and tossed us some sort of hat that appeared to be what chefs used and a saddlebag for holding cherries. "Go ahead and put that on. I'll meet you all over there." She headed out the door as we began placing on the uniforms.

We all did so, almost rapidly because we wanted to commence the plan at once.

Eventually, we reached the barn where the cherries were picked, packaged, etc. Cherry Jubilee spotted us and invited us in. "Terr-ific! Come on in, y'all!"

I walked inside as the girls trotted happily towards their stations wearing bright smiles, but my expression wasn't exactly the same as theirs, still remembering how Applejack actually kicked me…

"What are you all doing here?" Applejack asked as she stood inside the moving wheel, forming an angry expression.

"We're your cherry sorters." Twilight answered peacefully. "Shall we get started?"

"Fine." Applejack responded briefly.

"Haha, red cherries go in one bin, and yellow cherries go in the other." Cherry Jubilee directed as she pointed to the two bins. "Simple as cherry pie." It is simple…really simple… as long as Applejack doesn't go too fast… "Uh, just one teensy thing to remember – have fun!" I'll try to keep that in mind… She walked away.

"What are you six up to?" Applejack asked us, annoyingly.

Still feeling a little angry from the scene, I decided to respond to her. "Well, you know, we felt so bad intervening in your new life, so we thought we'd be nice enough to help you out a bit with your job working with cherries for a while to make up for our inclusion, and then be off our own."

She returned silence for a moment, narrowing her eyes towards me. "Uhuh. Well, just remember: No talking about Ponyville."

"Fine!" Rainbow Dash banged on the assembly line with her hoof. "Why don't you quit talking and get walking?"

Applejack turned her head back away from us and began walking, turning the gears that activated the cherries to come towards us. We then began separating the cherries. Twilight, Rarity, and I were handling the red cherries, the ones that mostly represented my mood, while Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie were organizing the yellow cherries. The job was really easy, all it took was teamwork and trust…

Rainbow raised her head and looked towards Applejack, who remained speechless as she walked. Then, she darted her eyes towards Twilight and cocked her head to the right. Twilight raised her head from the cherries and winked, smiling slyly. "...So, AJ, how was Canterlot?" Applejack widened her eyes and looked at Twilight with offended eyes. "Not talking about Ponyville, talking about Canterlot, totally different town." Twilight quickly defended.

"Canterlot was fine." Applejack turned her head away and responded with an irritated tone.

"Was the rodeo fun?"

"Yes."

"Did you meet some nice ponies there?" Twilight asked, now right next to Applejack's wheel, causing the work to become a little harder for the rest of us.

"Some."

"Really?" Rainbow Dash flew over to her, removing herself from the work as well. "Did you see Wild Bull Hickok? What about Calamity Mane?"

"Yes, saw 'em both."

Rainbow Dash nodded excitedly at Applejack, who only returned an even more annoyed expression. Rainbow noticed and crossed her forelegs, returning an upset face.

"And how did you meet Miss Jubilee?" Rarity walked over there now.

"Um, well, Miss Jubilee had a cherry stand at the rodeo. Real good treats." Applejack began trotting, which began to show me how irritated she was becoming now.

"Um, excuse me?" Fluttershy asked softly as the cherries were coming much faster than before and the work was much harder with only the three of us.

"Cherry winks, cherry cheesecake, cherry tarts. We struck up a conversation being orchard folk and all." Applejack responded, ignoring Fluttershy.

"So you told her about Sweet Apple Acres?" Twilight inquired.

"Yes." Applejack answered frankly.

"Did you tell her why you weren't going back?" Rainbow Dash questioned in an aggressive tone.

"No, 'cuz it was none of her business!" Applejack grew quickly defensive, increasing her pace even more.

Even though I didn't want to cause the work to increase for the rest of the girls working, I couldn't help but allow my emotions to take over. I released my hooves from the assembly line and began walking towards Applejack in an irritated manner. "And it's none of your most important friends' business, either?"

"No! Now why don't you all just back off and leave me alone like I asked you all!"

I stomped my hooves on the ground. "Because we're your friends! We care about you! But you're over here, telling us that you left EVERYPONY that was important to you back at Ponyville just because you were bored of the town!"

"NO! That's not it!"

"Then tell us, Applejack! Tell us why you left!"

"No no NO! I'm not telling you why, so just—

"STOP!" Fluttershy screamed, causing Applejack to sit down on the wheel and bring it to a sudden halt.

However, all the cherries that were on the assembly line retained their velocity and flew off, shooting straight towards Applejack and covering her, including the wheel, with them. The girls reacted by returning gasps. Applejack opened her eyes and looked at us. She narrowed them and walked off in silence.

As we were the only ones left behind, we began cleaning up the entire area that was covered with squished cherries after we removed our uniforms.

"Well…we seem to be striking out." Twilight announced as she used her mop with her magic.

Fluttershy was using one to clean the inside of the wheel as Rainbow Dash was doing the same on the other side. Rarity and Pinkie Pie were cleaning the assembly line. I was near the assembly line, holding the mop with my front hooves and removing the spot nearby. I was the only one in the room to have my eyes narrowed in anger as well as an irritated frown planted on my mouth.

I couldn't stop thinking on how Applejack left Ponyville, including us, after she was so thankful for the send off we gave her. It felt like it was just a few minutes ago that we were smiling and saying our farewells before she boarded the train. I growled a bit and threw the mop against the floor, creating the banging sound of wood to clatter on the tiles.

"Alex?" Twilight questioned, concerned.

"How could she leave us like that?" I answered, almost in a loud voice. "Not only does she leave us, she doesn't even want to talk to us! Are we not her friends anymore? Is Cherry Jubilee her new best friend?"

Fluttershy dropped her mop and quickly began flying over to me, placing her hooves on my shoulder to try to soothe me. "Alex… please calm down…"

I sighed angrily and plopped down on to the floor and hanging my head low. I remained silent for a moment. "…I just don't get it…Why won't she tell us…?"

"That's 'cause we're playing too nice." Rainbow Dash pointed out.

"Yes. Desperate times do call for desperate measures." Rarity added.

"It's time to call in the big guns." Rainbow Dash concluded, causing the girls to turn their heads. I raised my head and looked at them, wanting to know what they were staring at. I looked at their direction and saw Pinkie licking off some cherry mush from the assembly line and consuming it, licking her lips happily afterwards. Oh…

"Pinkie Pie," Rainbow Dash began, catching her attention. "Can you do us a favor?"

"Sure! What is it?"

"We want you to go help out Applejack in the back of the barn. She's kicking cherries off the trees. Think you can do that?"

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie Pie began hopping out the back door.

Rainbow Dash smiled competitively and pulled out something. "Here." She revealed earplugs to all of us. "I'm sure you all don't want to hear this."

All the girls took a pair, but I shook my head. "I'm okay…" Pinkie Pie's voice couldn't be that bad…

"Suit yourself." Rainbow Dash shrugged and the girls began following Pinkie Pie.

We saw her bouncing towards Applejack as we arrived at the back.

"Quick! Let's hide in the bushes!" Rainbow Dash advised, and we all dove into the bushes and began watching the scene as we remained hidden. Applejack was aggressively pounding the trees with her back legs, possibly using the anger from a while ago.

"Hey Applejack. Need some help?" Pinkie Pie asked when confronting her.

"You promise not to ask me any questions?" Applejack questioned.

"I promise." Pinkie delightfully agreed.

As Pinkie began shaking the trees with her hooves, I turned to Rainbow Dash. "So you're planning to use Pinkie Pie's voice to get Applejack to tell us what's going on?" I whispered.

"Yep." She answered, keeping her eyes on them.

"And if she doesn't get annoyed?"

"Trust me, she will." She smiled slyly after that.

Pinkie Pie looked back at Applejack. "Have you ever had a cherry changa?" Pinkie asked, but then retreated when she realized it was a question. "Ooh! Sorry, that was a question."

"That kind of question is fine, Pinkie. No, I-I never had a cherry changa." Applejack responded.

Pinkie then bumped her face towards Applejack's and began her supposedly "torturing".

"Well no wonder, because I made it up myself!" Applejack then began slowly backing away from Pinkie as she followed her. "A cherry changa is mashed up cherries in a tortilla that's deep fried. Cherry changa. Great name, huh? Oh, but maybe I should call it a chimmy cherry." Applejack reacted with an annoyed look and was about to attempt to continue her work, but Pinkie unknowingly prevented that. "Ooh, that's good too. Which do you think sounds better? Cherry changa or chimmy cherry? Or what if I combine them? Chimmy cherry changa! What sounds the funniest?" Applejack walked away and grabbed the basket with cherries and continued walking as she was growing more irritated. "I like funny words! One of my favorite funny words is 'kumquat'! I didn't make that one up. I would work in a kumquat orchard just so I could say 'kumquat' all day! Kumquat, kumquat, kumquat! And 'pickle barrel'! Isn't that just the funnest thing to say? Pickle barrel pickle barrel pickle barrel. Say it with me! Pickle barrel kumquat, pickle barrel kumquat, pickle barrel kumquat, chimmy cherry changa-!"

"No!" Applejack screamed out, releasing the basket and cowering while trying to cover her ears. "Make it stop, make it stop!"

"The only way to make it stop is for you to spill the beans." Rainbow Dash negotiated as she revealed herself and held her hoof over Pinkie's mouth, muting the chanting that continued endlessly.

"Never!"

Rainbow Dash just simply released her hoof.

"Speaking of beans, did you ever realize how many words rhyme with 'beans'? Lean, mean, spleen, unclean, bean..."

Applejack then covered her hooves and surrendered as Pinkie resumed her chattering under her. "Alright, alright! I'll tell everypony what's goin' on! Just please stop talkin'!" As soon as she said that, we all revealed ourselves, walking towards her and causing Pinkie to halt her talking. "But... can it wait 'til tomorrow at breakfast? I'm plum tuckered out."

I narrowed my eyes.

"Tomorrow, huh?" Rainbow Dash responded suspiciously or uneasily. "I don't know..."

"Do you Pinkie promise?" Pinkie Pie asked, crossing her hoof and placing it on her eye.

Applejack sighed. "I will tell you the whole truth at breakfast. Pinkie promise." She repeated Pinkie's movements.

The girls then returned confident smiles, but I wasn't so easily bought…

After, we found out that the barn was also a type of inn as well. There were beds on the second floor. As we headed to our rooms, I couldn't help but feel uneasy. "Pinkie… are you sure Applejack will tell us? That seemed too easy…"

"Don't worry!" She assured. "She Pinkie Pie promised! She has to!"

"…and if she doesn't…?" I questioned, knowing that a promise could be easily broken.

However, she remained smiling brightly and patted my head. "Let's just say Pinkie won't be so Pinkie when a Pinkie Promise is broken."

"She's right…" Twilight agreed.

I remained silent.

"Well, Goodnight, everypony!" She exclaimed cheerfully and rushed off to her room.

"Yeah, Goodnight…" Everypony replied and headed off to their rooms as well, leaving Fluttershy and me.

"I guess I'll see you in the morning, Fluttershy." I told her.

"Okay…sleep well." She offered me a kiss and a hug.

I managed to smile lightly and accept it, feeling better afterwards. As she walked into the room next to mine, I retired to bed as well.

I snuggled inside the bed, looking out the window for a bit, but I ended up dozing off.

When I opened my eyes, I didn't know what time it was, but when I looked out the window, the sun was just rising, so I assumed I was up a little early. I was actually looking forward to some breakfast as I was beginning to feel a little hungry and the thought of eating breakfast sounded well. I got off from bed and began walking towards the door.

After I opened it, I spotted Twilight and the other girls.

"Oh, hey Alex." Twilight greeted. "We were just about to wake you. Are you ready to wake Applejack?"

"Oh…sure…" I responded, almost forgetting about that.

"Great!" We began walking towards her room. "I'm glad we're finally gonna get some answers from Applejack."

"Yeah…maybe." Rainbow Dash added, lacking faith in Applejack as I was.

"Don't worry, Rainbow." Pinkie Pie emphasized, majorly confident. "She's gotta 'fess up after making a Pinkie promise."

We reached her door. Twilight raised her hoof and began knocking. After, she opened the door, allowing Pinkie to poke her head in. "Good morning, Applejack. You ready for br—

Her sentence was interrupted when we noticed that there was no pony in the room…

Pinkie Pie immediately gasped and sucked in her face. She lowered it and her face immediately turned red in anger as her cheeks blew up. Afterwards, she raised it and spoke angrily as she blew steam through her ears and her eyes turned…well…deathly. "Nopony breaks a Pinkie promise!" Her immediate shift did surprise me… but it wasn't much of a surprise when we weren't going to get the answers we wanted to know. Pinkie Pie darted out of the room, causing us to follow her as well.

She led us towards the train station, which was most likely the place she would be in if we made it in time. When we had her in our sights, Pinkie instantly took action. "Applejack!" She screamed. "You Pinkie promised!" She shouted, even being slightly distorted which actually terrified me a bit, but my attention was mostly on preventing Applejack of escaping. Applejack yelped and began running away, making us increase our speed even more. "Applejack, come back here!"

"Giddy up, fellas, I gotta get the heck out of Dodge!" Applejack ordered as she jumped onto a carriage pulled by four coach ponies.

"She's gonna get away!" Pinkie Pie stated, stopping us for a moment.

"Oh no, she won't! Look!" Twilight responded, pointing to a cart that contained two straps.

Knowing Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash could fly, I allowed them to pull the carriage, just in case we needed to take any drastic measures. Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and I jumped on the back of the cart as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash began galloping.

"Follow that stagecoach!" Pinkie demanded. Passing through several startled and surprised ponies, we eventually caught up to Applejack. "Oh, we have you now!" Just as we began closing in to her, Fluttershy widened her eyes. I looked at the road and noticed a bunny cross in our path. She immediately halted, pressing her hooves against the dirt. However, Rainbow Dash didn't notice this and continued moving, which caused the cart to turn and drift. Involuntarily, I was thrown out of the cart and landed near the bunny with a thud. The bunny remained in its place and merely sniffed me. Afterwards, it just hopped off.

"Alex! Are you alright?" Fluttershy asked, worriedly.

I grunted as I pushed myself off the ground. "Yeah…I'm fine…" I dusted myself off and climbed back in the cart, suffering some pain.

Rainbow Dash looked at her, narrowing her eyes and then rolling them, causing Fluttershy to frown. Nonetheless, Rainbow Dash continued, startling Fluttershy when she began without her.

Eventually, we managed to catch up to her once again. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy maneuvered the cart to the side of the carriage and began striking it against hers.

"Whoa! What the hay?" Applejack questioned, surprised.

"Pull over!" Rainbow Dash ordered and crashed the cart against the carriage again.

"Hey! Cut that out!" They did, once again, causing Applejack to almost fall off. "Whoa!" She looked over to the ponies pulling her carriage. "I'll pay you double to outrun them."

They smirked and increased their pace.

"We'll pay you triple to slow down!" Twilight counterattacked.

They agreed and slowed down.

"I'll pay you quadruple to leave them in the dust!" Applejack demanded, obviously causing them to quicken their pace and literally leave us in the dust, which then caused us to close our eyes and cough.

"That was rude!" Rarity commented.

"Get them! Get them!" Pinkie Pie emphasized, highly irritated of Applejack's behavior.

"Come on, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash encouraged, causing them both to gallop faster to catch up to Applejack.

Applejack turned around to face us, but dropped her jaw when she saw we were catching up to her. "Hyah! C'mon, y'all! Go, go!"

However, Pinkie Pie stood up, looking as if she was ready to jump over to the carriage. In fact, she did hop on over to the carriage and began having a heated conversation with Applejack. "Applejack, you broke your Pinkie promise! Apologize!"

"Pinkie, I did not break my promise!"

"Wha?"

"If y'all reckon back, I told you that I would tell you everything at breakfast. But I didn't come to breakfast. I couldn't come to that breakfast, not if it meant telling y'all what happened."

"Well, I... I..."

"I'm sorry, Pinkie, but I can't tell y'all the truth. I just can't."

"Well I heard a sorry in there, so that'll have to do for now. I'll get a real apology later. Rarity, catch me." Pinkie Pie suddenly jumped, expecting Rarity to catch her when she actually wasn't expecting that.

"What? Pinkie-

As I saw Pinkie flying back towards us, I quickly stepped in front of Rarity and placed my hooves around Pinkie. Her impact almost caused me to fall off the cart, but with the rest of my strength, I managed to balance myself back.

"Let me take care of this!" I exclaimed and hopped over to the carriage. "Applejack!" I called, as I saw her holding the reigns. "Stop this carriage right now!"

"No! Now get off!"

"Listen to me! You have to stop this before anypony gets hurt! We only want to know why you're acting like this! You just need to tell us the truth!"

"I told y'all I can't! Now go!" She faced back at the road, and we both noticed the lights flashing on the railroad crossing. The two striped bars began coming down, sending a warning that we needed to stop. However, Applejack saw this as an advantage and continued racing towards it.

"Applejack!" I tried the only option I had left…emotional appeal… "Remember when we were in the train ride home from Appleloosa? Remember what you told me?" Her eyes seemed to widen and slowly frown. "You told me that you girls were my friends and that whenever I needed to, I could come talk to you… Well it works both ways, Applejack! You really want to throw everything we all have been through, just for some stupid little thing? No matter what, Applejack, we'll understand! You can talk to me, Applejack! You know I'm here for you…"

She sadly turned her head towards me to see me as she presented a frown on her face. "Alex…"

However, our talk was interrupted when we heard the train whistle blow and the train speeding across the tracks. Applejack tried to stop, but it was too late. The ponies pulling the carriage broke through the wooden barriers, causing a sudden bounce and impact on the carriage that threw me out behind. I heard Applejack call my name, but I didn't see her since the train blocked the other side. I landed harshly on the ground, twice now today, making me be unable to get up for a while since I had to deal with the pain.

"Alex!" Fluttershy called, causing her to halt along with Rainbow Dash nearby.

"Are you alright?" Rainbow Dash asked.

I groaned, but threw in a sigh as well.

Twilight jumped off from the cart and quickly came by to my aid. She focused her horn on me and worked her magic. She eased the pain a little, and I was able to at least sit up.

"Thank you, Twilight…"

Before any of the girls could say anything, the train finally passed by, and we were pretty shocked to see Applejack waiting on the other side as we mostly thought that she would have left. Once she saw me, she came running towards me, calling my name again. Once she reached me, she quickly threw her forelegs around me. "I'm so sorry!"

I patted her gently, feeling her understanding and removing the anger I had about her.

"There she is!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "Get her before she gets away!"

I quickly placed my hoof in front of her, preventing her from tackling Applejack.

"I don't think she's going anywhere, Rainbow…" Twilight commented, causing Rainbow to loosen up a bit and back away a little.

"No." Applejack responded, pulling away from me and placing her hooves on her saddlebag. "You want to know the truth?" She pulled her saddlebag off and threw it on the ground, causing it to open and reveal many ribbons. "Fine. Now you know." She spoke in an irritated but disappointed tone and laid herself down, covering her face with her hooves.

"Know what?" Twilight questioned, not seeing anything that represented negativity.

Applejack raised her head and looked at the ribbons that were splattered on the ground. She stood up and pointed at them. "Well, just look!"

"I am. You won an amazing number of ribbons, just like Miss Jubilee said!"

Unaffected, Applejack continued. "Don't you get it?" She presented a medal with a red strap. "There's every color of ribbon down there. Every color... but... blue." She planted herself on the ground, beginning to look as if she was about to cry, causing me to frown as I continued to observe her. "I came in fourth, third, even second, but I didn't win one first prize, and I certainly didn't win any prize money."

"But the telegram said you were gonna send money." Rainbow Dash stated.

"That's why I came here. I wanted to earn some money. After that big old send off Ponyville gave me, I just didn't have the nerve to come back empty-hooved. I couldn't come home a failure…"

"You're not a failure Applejack…" I answered, looking at her with depressive yet understanding eyes. "You're an amazing pony who loves to help out any other pony…you should never feel like that…ever…"

She returned watery eyes towards me.

"And we're your friends!" Rainbow Dash added. "We don't care if you came in fiftieth place! You're still number one in our books."

"So... you're not upset, or disappointed…?" Applejack asked as she looked at each one of us.

I shook my head as the girls responded. "Nn-nn."

"But what about the mayor?" Applejack inquired. "I don't think I can face her and tell her I didn't get that money to fix the broken roof."

"Applejack," Fluttershy added in to the encouragement. "We can always find a way to fix that hole in the roof. But if you don't come back, we'll never be able to fix the hole in our hearts." The rest of the girls nuzzled Applejack as I heard crying above me. I looked to see tears streaming from Rainbow Dash's face. She felt them and shook her head.

"Darn it! Now you got me acting all sappy!"

Applejack smiled and felt relieved. When I saw her, it made me smile. Now I know why she wanted me to smile so badly back before…

"Come on girls." I announced. "Let's go back home."

They looked at each other and agreed, beginning our journey back to the nearest train station.

I sighed as we finally boarded the train back home. Everything got settled out. Applejack had told Cherry Jubilee of the need to return back to Ponyville. Of course, Cherry Jubilee understood and expressed her farewells to Applejack.

As we finally relaxed on the train, Applejack had something to announce. "Twilight…mind if you take a letter?" She asked.

"Of course not, Applejack." She answered, taking out a quill and scroll.

She smiled and looked out the window as she spoke. "Dear Princess Celestia, it's a tad easier to be proud when you come in first than it is when you finish further back. But there's no reason to hide when you don't do as well as you'd hoped. You can't run away from your problems. Better to run to your friends and family."

"Excellent." Twilight commented and rolled the scroll up for Spike to send later on. I smiled lightly and understandingly as I nodded.

"I must thank you, Alex…" I heard Rarity speak, who was also wiping the leftover dirt I had off of me.

"Hm?" I turned my head towards her.

"If you would had never caught Pinkie Pie, I would've been thrown out, and who'd know how angry and annoyed I would be if I had to come back home all by myself with her!" She looked towards Pinkie Pie, who seemed to have not heard anything at all. She was too busy sticking her head out the window.

This caused us to chuckle.

I looked over to Fluttershy and lightly nuzzled her with a smile.

Applejack was looking out the window to see Ponyville near closer to us. She lifted her hoof and smiled brightly to wave to her friends and family she returned to. When the train stopped, we began leaving to see Applejack tackled by her dog. We all presented smiles to show how happy we were to see everypony reunited with each other. Seeing the fun, Big Macintosh began a dog pile which was joined by Granny Smith and Applebloom. Applejack laughed and managed to escape from the dog pile, but formed a frown when she faced the mayor.

"Um…I just want to get this off my chest…" She sighed. "I don't have any prize money…"

Instead of looking shocked, the mayor returned a warm smile. "That's alright… You did your best, but everypony always dont get what they want… No matter, we can fix the roof somehow else. Perhaps a fundraiser."

"You got that right." Applejack replied and created a light smile.

The Mayor nodded and began walking away. Applejack's family also began walking back to the farm. Before Applejack began leaving with them, she turned to face me and smiled. "Thanks again, Alex… I owe you one…"

"For what?" I asked.

"Well for being such a good friend like always." She chuckled.

I smiled and shook my head. "Don't worry about it."

She shrugged playfully and gave me a quick hug before running off with her family.

"Well, I guess we should be heading home too." Twilight offered.

The girls agreed and responded. "Bye!" They all exclaimed in unison and parted towards their homes as well.

I looked at Fluttershy and sent a smile, causing her to return a smile as well. Thus, we began walking to her cottage.

Arriving at her door, I looked at her lovingly.

She lightly giggled and blushed, slightly looking away embarrassingly.

I smiled at her cute reaction. "I guess I'll bid you Goodnight, Fluttershy?"

"Hehe, okay 'Mr. Alex'." She responded, causing me to chuckle. She wrapped her hooves around my neck and brought me in for a soft and gentle but passionate kiss. When she pulled away, I felt almost dazed actually, in a good way, while she reacted with a strong blush. "Goodnight, Alex." She then retired to her bedroom inside her cottage.

I continued staring at her as she left, feeling a little love struck like Spike is when he sees Rarity. I couldn't really understand how he could be attracted to her…but… I shrugged that thought off and returned home.

As I was walking towards my front door, I came to a stop when something caught my eye. I looked at the ground to notice a flyer near the door. I picked it up and tried to read it, but it was a tad dark outside. I carried it with my teeth as I walked inside and shut the door. I walked to the kitchen and flicked the light on. I placed it on the table and began reading it.

There was a picture that caught most of the eye's attention firsthand. There was a pony that posed in the picture. She held a microphone to her hoof and her mouth was opened to look as if she was singing. She appeared to be staring back at me with mocking eyes. I narrowed my eyes in anger at this. However, I looked below the picture to see something in captions. Four Hooves Strong. Below the large letters, there were smaller ones, depicting to come see the show that would be playing in Canterlot on the sixth of June. I narrowed my eyes in anger and felt my teeth clench. I grabbed the flyer and tore it to pieces. Afterwards, I immediately threw it in the trash. I quietly stormed to bed, flicking the light off in the kitchen.

I lay in my bed, unable to believe that that was able to remove my good mood so easily…but as I thought for a moment before closing my eyes… I realized that it actually was believable…

The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000

Episode 41 – The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000

I couldn't sleep well.

I woke up after shifting around in my bed for a while. Despite having blankets over me, I still felt cold for some reason. I finally gave up and opened my eyes. I tried wrapping the blankets around me tightly, but it didn't seem to help. I sighed. Maybe being at Fluttershy's will help me again… I don't want to bother her but… I just hate having this feeling… I rose out of bed, tiredly. Sure, I was exhausted…but it wouldn't help staying here and not getting any sleep at all… I walked downstairs, continuously bumping into the wall, and eventually reached the door.

Finally, when I was outside, I looked around under the night sky. I took in a deep breath and exhaled, allowing me to relax a bit. I began walking to Fluttershy's cottage, hoping she wouldn't get upset…well…maybe not…based on what she told me last time..

When I arrived at her silent home, I took another deep breath and knocked on the door, lightly enough to not startle her, but loud enough for her to hear. As last time, she walked out rubbing her eye after a moment.

"Oh, Alex… It's you."

"Yes…I'm sorry. I'm just having some trouble again like last time…" I looked away apologetically.

Fluttershy managed to smile. "You don't need to be sorry. Come on in." She grabbed my hoof and led me inside.

"Thank you, Fluttershy." I gave her a soft and gentle kiss, since we were both tired. "Let me get the blankets. You should get back to sleep."

"Are you sure?"

"Mm-hm." I kissed her cheek. "Sweet dreams."

She smiled and blushed lightly. "You too." Afterwards, she began walking back upstairs to her room.

I carefully grabbed a couple of blankets near the couch and placed them on there. I laid down and close my eyes, wishing to go to sleep as quick as possible. I sighed mentally. I love Fluttershy so much…

Around the middle of my sleep, I heard a slight harsh knocking. However, I remained asleep…but I began to hear Fluttershy. She yawned. "Who could that be? It's still dark!" Suddenly, something crashed in her room and spoke to her.

"C'mon, Fluttershy! Cider season's about to start!" It sounded like Rainbow Dash. She seemed very anxious… Something was thrown, and then I heard a squeak in embarrassment. "Fluttershy! I don't have any time to waste, c'mon!"

"Shh." Fluttershy shushed. "Can I at least wake up Alex?"

"Fine! Hurry and wake up your boyfriend, we don't have time to waste!"

Fluttershy began walking down the stairs, nearing closer to me. Once I felt and heard her beside me as I continued to sleep, she slightly giggled. "Aw, look at him, Rainbow Dash. Isn't he so cute when's he's asleep?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just hurry and wake him up!" Rainbow Dash impatiently responded.

"Okay…" Fluttershy began speaking softly to me. "Alex, it's time to wa—

"WAKE UP ALEX!" Rainbow Dash shouted loudly, causing me to become startled, jolt awake, and fall off the couch.

"Oh, my, Alex. Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked, placing her hooves to her mouth. Before I could answer, Rainbow Dash grabbed me and placed me on her without question. She then flew speedily out the cottage. I had to wrap my hooves around her to make sure I didn't fall. She was flying to somewhere I had no idea of and was pretty high off the ground. Fluttershy was flying by her side. "Careful, Rainbow."

"We have to make it before any other pony does!"

"What are you talking about?" I tried to question as I attempted to stay on Rainbow Dash. "Why are you in such a rush?"

"Yes, Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy agreed. "What's the rush?"

"The rush? Don't you remember what happened last year? Or the year before that? Or pretty much any cider season ever?

"Um, well, uh—

"Pinkie Pie." Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. "She always ends up ahead of us in line and then they always run out of cider!"

"I guess I—

"Well not this year! This year I'm gonna get there before sunrise, so I can drink all the cider I want, and laugh when she doesn't get any! It's the perfect plan. Y'know, I might even buy some cider and hold onto it for a while, drinking it drop by drop in front of her—

Her sentence was cut short when we noticed a huge line of tents in Sweet Apple Acres, causing her to gasp.

"Gee Rainbow Dash. It looks like a few other ponies had the same idea."

"Few…?" I expressed.

When Rainbow Dash was close enough to the ground, I carefully jumped off of her and observed the huge line. I heard a zipping noise from a pink-colored tent and noticed balloons being released along with Pinkie walking out as if she just woke up. She had bed-mane.

"Oh, gosh Pinkie." Fluttershy commented, observing her messed up mane. "I love your new style."

"Who are all these ponies?" Rainbow Dash joined us, looking back at all the tents.

"Isn't this great?" Pinkie Pie waved her hooves excitedly, replacing her bed-mane with her regular one. "I couldn't sleep last night 'cause I was so excited about cider season, and I had this brilliant idea to come down here and camp out, so I told a few others about it and they all thought it was a great idea too and now it's just a big old cider party! Woohoo! Oh gosh, that's a lot of ponies. Hope they don't run out before you get any."

Rainbow Dash returned a growl.

"Pinkie Pie? What's all this talk about cider season?" I asked her.

She immediately rushed towards me and grabbed my cheeks with her hooves. "You don't know what CIDER SEASON is?"

"No…" I responded, grabbing her hoofs and gently pulling them away from my cheeks. "It has something to do with Sweet Apple Acres?"

"Of course! Apple cider! Duh! Haven't you ever had a cup of it?"

"No…" I repeated.

She gasped. "I can't believe it! You really need to try it!"

I observed the huge line that camped out just to buy cider. "Uh… No thanks… Not with this kind of line…"

"No, worries!" Pinkie replied. "I've got you covered!" She smiled brightly. "I'll buy you a cup!"

"Pinkie…that's really not necessary." I tried to reason with her.

"Alex, you need to taste the magic of apple cider! And after all those things you've done for me, you deserve it! Don't worry about it! I always buy a whole bunch of cups of apple cider!"

"Well…if it's no problem then…"

"Of course not!"

"What?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed in disbelief and groaned.

"Well, I say we should start waiting in line Rainbow." Fluttershy advised.

"Whatever…" She muttered, dragging herself all the way at the end of the line.

"You're really going to wait in a line this huge?" I asked Fluttershy.

"Sure. Apple cider is really good, and I don't really mind waiting."

"Oh… Well." I rubbed the back of my head and yawned. "I think I'm going to take a nap… I'm still tired."

"Okay." She kissed me and began walking away. "I'll see you when you wake up."

I lightly smiled and waved. Afterwards, I walked to a nearby tree and made myself comfortable. I lay down on the grass and closed my eyes, beginning to feel good when they were closed completely.

When I reopened them, I was surprised to see everypony awake and eagerly standing in line. Obviously, Pinkie Pie was the first one in line, waiting to receive her apple cider. I looked in front of me to see Twilight, Spike, and Rarity standing in line. I assumed that they hadn't noticed me, so I stood up and began walking towards them.

"Isn't this exciting, Spike? Opening day of cider season!" Twilight expressed.

"Yeah! That means it's only thirty more days 'til sapphire season!" Spike looked up and rubbed his claws together as he licked his lips.

Rarity and Twilight rolled their eyes.

"Hey." I greeted briefly along with a small smile towards them.

"Hi, Alex." Twilight responded.

"Alex, where did you come from?" Rarity asked a bit surprised.

"Oh, I was taking a nap over there." I pointed towards a tree past the white wooden face.

"Oh…wait…Aren't you going to get some apple cider?" Twilight questioned.

"Well…Pinkie said she'll give me a cup, but it's because I've never tasted apple cider…" I answered.

"Never?" The girls exclaimed, now highly surprised.

I shook my head. "I don't know how it tastes…but obviously it has to be amazing if so many ponies line up like this…" I looked at the line that trailed behind them continuously.

"Well you have to taste it. It's simply divine!" Rarity commented.

I smiled lightly. "Alright. What about you girls? How did you get this place in line?"

"Oh. Pinkie Pie told us about it and we all camped out here last night." Twilight replied. "What about Fluttershy? Is she waiting in line for apple cider too?"

"Oh." I looked at the line to see if I could see her. "Yeah… she's waiting in line somewhere back there…but I can't see where…"

"Well I hope—

"Attention, everypony! Cider season is now officially open!" Applejack announced suddenly in the megaphone, interrupting Twilight's sentence.

Ponies waiting in line, especially at the front, began chattering excitedly. I looked towards the front to see Pinkie Pie bring a huge bag of money and spill it in the pink box for collecting the funds. Granny Smith then signaled Applebloom, who was working the pump, making her fill the cups with the cider. Pinkie wrapped her hoof around the beverage and chugged it down, releasing a great breath in pleasure as she still contained some foam on her lips. Afterwards, she collected several cups of cider and carried them all with both of her front hooves as she walked on her two back ones. She saw me and tossed a cup towards me. I quickly caught it and looked at it.

"There you go, Alex! Bye!" She walked carefully off, continuing to hold her cider.

I could only seem to stare at it for a moment in silence.

"Aren't you going to drink it?" Twilight asked me as they were nearing the stand.

"Um…I guess…" I carefully raised the cups to my lips and slowly took a sip of it. Hm… it tasted really sweet… of course the taste of apples was in there…but it just somehow seemed to attract me… I began drinking more. I wasn't chugging the whole drink down my throat, but it was tastefully excellent. As I continued to drink the contents in my cup, the line resumed its shortening of the length; ponies continued to place their bits in the stash and purchase a cup of cider, drinking it happily and excitedly after. I also stood by the stand until Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash came by. I had just finished my cup, even licking my lips a bit, when Fluttershy walked by the stand. They were on their last barrel. Fluttershy happily placed her bits and walked over to Applebloom to receive her drink. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash excitedly placed in her two bits as well. She watched as the cider poured into Fluttershy's drink. When they began preparing Rainbow Dash's cider, she opened out her mouth and released her tongue.

However, the faucet sprayed out the remaining cider leftover, which was barely anything. Fluttershy had received the last cup. This caused Rainbow Dash to form tears in her eyes sadly. Afterwards, she growled in annoyance.

"Heh, Sorry everypony! That's it for today!" Applejack announced.

The other ponies waiting in line groaned. Wow…I think I would be annoyed if I had to wait in such a long line, just to find out that the cider ran out when I was at the front…

"Surprise surprise. You ran out again!" Rainbow Dash pointed out in anger.

"Yeah, you always run out!" Another pony joined her.

"For the record, I don't mind—

"Why can't you make enough cider for all of us? Or at least for me!" Rainbow Dash interrupted Fluttershy's sentence and caused all the other ponies to agree and share general complaints.

Applejack jumped on the stand. "Hold on everypony. We've done our best to improve supply this year—

"You always say that!" The same pony attacked.

"And it's always true. But Apple family cider is made with love and integrity, and only the highest quality apples in Equestria. Sorry, but that recipe takes time." Nonetheless, more of the ponies continued complaining. I guess I could understand how they felt… They were too angry and thought more about how they waited in line so long, just to be disappointed with no cider. "If y'all just be patient, we'll have plenty more tomorrow." Applejack announced as the other ponies began leaving angrily.

"She's right, y'know!" Pinkie Pie added cheerfully. "You can't rush perfection! And this year's batch was perfection! Right, Alex?" She asked me.

"Uh…" I could only release as I began analyzing Rainbow Dash glare violently and steam.

"I'll never forget the cider I just drank! It was a moment in time that will never exist again..."

Rainbow Dash began growling as if she was literally going to explode, but a sudden honking interrupted us all. Motorized noises followed after. We looked to the left side of the trail to see something come our way. It seemed to be some kind of vehicle or machine. I could see some kind of light bulb on the top.

"What in Equestria is that?" Applejack asked, walking towards us.

Two objects near the light bulb polluted the air, releasing small puffs of smoke. The machine seemed to somehow gain the attention of Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. They widened their eyes at the sight and walked towards the machine excitedly, being followed by other ponies as well. The machine moved closer to the stand until it halted after damaging the white fence nearby, annoying Granny Smith. Well… there goes my first impression.

Two tall ponies jumped out of the machine and faced the crowd. They looked…odd…

"Well, lookie what we got here, brother of mine, it's the same in every town." He randomly began singing. "Ponies with thirsty throats, dry tongues, and not a drop of cider to be found." He provided an example of this with one of the ponies in the crowd. "Maybe they're not aware that there's really no need for this teary despair"

"That the key that they need to solve this sad cider shortage you and I will share." His obviously twin brother finished, causing the other ponies to awe and excitedly chatter.

"Well you've got opportunity

In this very community" They both sang.

"He's Flim."

"He's Flam"

"We're the world famous Flim Flam brothers

Traveling salesponies nonpareil"

I narrowed my eyes.

"Non-pa what?" Pinkie Pie questioned.

"Nonpareil," Flim answered. "And that's exactly the reason why, you see

No pony else in this whole place will give you such a chance to be where you need to be." He grabbed Applebloom and kissed her on the forehead.

"And that's a new world, with tons of cider

Fresh squeezed and ready for drinking."

"More cider than you can drink in all your days of thinking." Flam slid down a sort of tube that was connected to the machine. It appeared to be some sort of vacuum or suction device. However, I managed to spot Derpy in the crowd as well. She was flying above us, noticing the scene as well.

"I doubt that." Rainbow Dash commented.

"So take this opportunity." They sang.

"In this very community." The crowd joined.

"He's Flim"

"He's Flam"

"We're the world famous Flim Flam brothers

Traveling salesponies nonpareil

"I suppose by now you're wondering 'bout our peculiar mode of transport."

"I say, our mode of locomotion."

"And I suppose by now you're wondering, where is this promised cider?"

"Any horse can make a claim and any pony can do the same."

"But my brother and I have something most unique and superb

Unseen at any time in this big new world."

"And that's opportunity"

"Folks, it's the one and only, the biggest and the best"

"The unbelievable"

"Unimpeachable"

"Indispensable"

"I can't believe-able"

"Flim Flam brothers' Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000!"

"What d'you say, sister?" Flam asked Rarity, oddly causing her to sigh and faint with her hoof on her head, causing me to catch her before she fell to the ground as the crowd now joined the brothers in their song.

"Oh, we got opportunity

In this very community

Please Flim, please Flam, help us out of this jam

With your Flim Flam brothers' Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" I could only look at the crowd in surprise.

"Young filly, I would be ever so honored if you might see fit to let my brother and I borrow some of your delicious, and might I add spell-bindingly fragrant apples for our little demonstration here?" Flim asked Applejack.

"Uh, sure, I guess." Applejack answered, still a little confused about what is going on.

"Opportunity, in our community." The crowd added.

"Ready Flim?"

"Ready Flam?"

"Let's bing-bang zam!"

"And show these thirsty ponies a world of delectable cider!" They exclaimed as they powered the machine with their magic."

"Cider, cider, cider, cider, cider, cider, cider, cider..." The crowd continuously began to chant.

"Watch closely my friends!" Flim advised as the suction device hovered over a tree and sucked in the apples from it.

"The fun begins!"

"Now, here's where the magic happens." Flim stood on top of the machine. "Right here in this heaving roiling cider press boiling guts of the very machine…" I looked to my sides to see Twilight, Spike, and Rarity all chanting with the crowd as well. I could hardly believe it. "Those apples plucked fresh are right now as we speak being turned into grade-A top-notch five-star blow-your-horseshoes-off one-of-a-kind cider!"

"Feel free to take a sneak peek!" Flam encouraged, causing several ponies to race over to the machine.

Although, Granny Smith interrupted, causing the crowd to cease their chant.

"Now wait, you fellers, hold it!

You went and over-sold it!

I guarantee that what you have there won't compare

For the very most important ingredient

Can't be added or done expedient

And it's quality, friends, Apple Acre's quality and care!"

"Well Granny, I'm glad you brought that up, my dear, I say I'm glad you brought that up" Flim responded. "You see that we are very picky when it comes to cider if you'll kindly try a cup." He caught a cup out of nowhere and hoofed it to Granny Smith, who took a sip and looked shock.

"Yes, sir, yes ma'am this great machine, it's just the very best" I looked over to the machine to see it perfected in passing fine apples and discarding the bad ones.

"So whaddaya say then, Apples

Care to step into the modern world

And put the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 to the test?"

"Cider, cider, cider, cider, cider, cider, cider, cider, cider, cider, cider…" The crowd again began to chant while I could only remain speechless, feeling that these two were bad news…

"What do you think, folks? Do you see what the Apples can't? I see it clear as day! I know she does! So does he!" He pointed at me, causing me to feel very irritated. "C'mon Ponyville, you know what I'm talking about!"

"We're saying you've got," They began.

"Opportunity" The crowd joined.

"In this very community

He's Flim, he's Flam

We're the world famous Flim Flam brothers

Traveling salesponies nonpareil"

"Yeah!" They finally finished.

"You got a deal!" Applebloom announced out of nowhere, causing the ponies to chatter excitedly.

"Not so fast!" Granny Smith exclaimed, stomping her hooves on the ground. She and the Apple family then huddled together for a team talk.

"Isn't this great, Alex?" Twilight asked me. "If these ponies work with Sweet Apple Acres, then that means there will be enough cider for everypony!"

"It won't be the same…" I sighed. "I don't feel good about these guys… There's something about them… What if it proves to be a threat again Sweet Apple Acres? The crowd doesn't really care about how special it's made…as long as it's just as good or even better."

"What do you mean…?" Twilight asked, beginning to feel concerned.

"Well…"

"Don't you worry, everypony!" Flam announced by the podium near the machine. "There'll be plenty of cider for all of you!"

After, I looked at Twilight and pointed at Flam to try to reference what I meant. Then, we saw Applejack walking towards as the Flim Flam brothers began leaving in their machine. Applejack stopped by us, looking down literally and figuratively.

"AJ, what's wrong?" Twilight asked, noticing her expression.

"…They said that they're going to drive us out of business…"

"What?" I quickly exclaimed.

"We wouldn't be partners with them because they would be makin' seventy-five of the profits, so now they're going to be competitors."

"That's unreasonable!" I felt like bursting. I began feeling so much anger swell up inside of me. "We can't allow them to do that!"

Twilight placed a hoof on me and patted lightly. "Don't worry, Applejack. Sweet Apple Acres has been able to withstand anything, I mean think about Zap Apple Jam! They can't make that, can they?"

Applejack managed to smile a bit. "Yeah… Yeah, you're right Twilight. Their machine can't make zap apple jam!" She paused for a moment. "Or can it…?"

I sighed and finally cooled down. "Don't worry about it Applejack… if they try anything, I'll be there to support you. I won't let everything you love be destroyed by some random show ponies."

She smiled lightly at my comment. "Thanks, Alex… You're the best..."

I nodded. "Well, I'm going to go check up on Fluttershy. I'll see you girls tomorrow."

They waved and continued to talk as I left looking for Fluttershy. Fluttershy seemed to be flying in the air talking with Rainbow Dash about something, probably with what just happened a while ago. I began waiting below her until Derpy came up to me and smiled. "Hi, Alex."

"Hey, Derpy." I smiled and offered her a quick hug. "You saw that whole scene, right?"

"Yep. They look pretty cool." She responded, accepting my hug.

I shrugged, beginning to feel a little irritated about them again. "Maybe…but I have a bad feeling about them…"

"Why?" She asked, tilting her head and looking at me with crossed concerned eyes.

"Well… They're threatening to take the farm. I don't know if they are just talking bluff, but I always take these kinds of threats seriously…"

"Really? Oh no! Is there something I can do to help?"

I thought for a moment, but didn't really come up with anything. "I'm not sure at the moment… but first we'll see what happens tomorrow."

"Okay, Alex. I'll try thinking up of something." She began flapping her wings.

I smiled. "Thanks, Derpy."

"You're welcome, Alex!" She waved. "See you tomorrow."

"See you." I waved as well. She flew away, and after a moment, Fluttershy landed next to me. "Hey, Fluttershy. Where's Rainbow Dash?"

"She left home. What'd you think about those two new ponies?"

I sighed and repeated how I felt about them and what they said they were planning to do.

"They want to take away the farm?" Fluttershy softly exclaimed with slightly widened eyes.

"Yeah…we're not sure…but they might be serious. We'll just have to wait until tomorrow…"

She lightly sighed. "Okay…"

We had not much of a choice but to wait to see what would happen. We spent the day a little uneasily about their threat. It actually made a little anxious about the next day coming, but that was the day we would know for sure. No matter… Applejack's my friend, she's family, and I'll make sure she doesn't lose her farm…somehow…

Tomorrow…

Applejack continued to sell her signature apple cider to thirsty pony folk. However, judging by the length of the line, and how much apple cider was left, I knew there wasn't going to be enough for all the ponies again…

Applejack noticed this and returned a worried look when she saw the last barrel being loaded but still many ponies were waiting in line…

"Still worried about Flim and Flam?" Twilight asked as she held a cup of apple cider in her hoof.

"Granny Smith says they were just blowing hot air." Spike, who was with us, also stated.

"I'm not so sure. They sounded mighty serious when they threatened to run us out of business." Applejack responded.

"I agree…" I added. "Not to make things seem worse… but these guys seem too confident about their machine. I'm pretty sure they feel like they have the power to do anything…"

"That's just what I'm afraid of…"

"That's it! Last cup!" Applebloom sounded from the stand.

"Oh for Pete's sake!" We heard Rainbow Dash from the far end of the line as everypony, who didn't get a cup, groaned.

"C'mon back tomorrow, everypony!" Applebloom directed, causing for all the ponies to complain. I heard a flutter of wings and looked to my side to Derpy landing beside me.

"I thought of something!" She said.

"Really? What?" I questioned.

She pulled out something from her saddlebag. "We should politely ask them to leave with these muffins!" She presented a tray with muffins.

I sighed. "Derpy…you're really nice…but some ponies care about business more than about friendship…"

She frowned. "…then what should we do…?"

"Well…"

We suddenly heard that machine clunking its way over here. We knew that there was going to be bad news… Granny Smith had just finished fixing the wooden fence, but the machine just broke it again. I'm really starting to dislike these guys…REALLY…

"What seems to be the problem here?" Flim asked, arrogantly.

"Oh my oh my, out of cider again?" His brother repeated.

"What have we here?" Flim leaned by the back of the machine as a barrel began being manufactured out. "Who'd like a cup?"

The crowd that still needed a cup of cider quickly ran over to the machine, sending cries of excitement along the way.

"Don't worry, everypony, we've got the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 to make more in an instant!" One of them created a cup of cider and gave it to Rainbow Dash. She was just about to take a sip until Applejack grabbed a lasso, caught the barrel with the rope, and pulled it towards her, knocking Rainbow's cup out of her hooves along the way.

"You can't sell that cider!" Applejack announced as she placed her hooves on the lid of the barrel. "That's made from Apple family apples!"

As Applejack acknowledged that, I saw Rainbow Dash desperately tugging at the ground to see if she could suck up any remaining cider that spilled out, but instead, she grabbed a bunch of mud and placed it her mouth, crying a little. "Is this some kind of cruel joke?"

"Don't worry, everypony, there are plenty of apples in Equestria. We'll find some others and make more cider than all of Ponyville can drink!"

"Why don't you just leave Ponyville alone and go sell somewhere else!" I exclaimed stepping up. "Ponyville already has a great apple cider seller: The Apple family!"

"But what about all these other poor thirsty ponies?" Flim presented, raising his hoof at them.

"You don't care about them! All you want to do is destroy the family business and keep all the profits towards yourself!"

"Us? Why we never! We just want to make the best quality cider available for everypony." Flam answered. "Am I right everypony?" He asked, beginning to make the crowd around us discuss and mumble.

I growled and grabbed the tray of muffins from Derpy's saddlebag. "Here's what I think of your cider!" I began to furiously throw the muffins at them, causing them to widen their eyes and try to avoid them. I'm not sure if I managed to hit them, but they did jump over their machine and hide behind it. Before I could throw more, Fluttershy quickly grabbed my hooves and held them back.

"Alex, Alex, please calm down."

I released a deep breath and calmed myself down. "Sorry…"

One of them poked their heads out from behind the machine. "Looks like some of our cider will calm that angry self of yours!"

I wanted to literally chase after them, bursting in anger, but I shook my head and took in a deep breath. Don't let them get to you…

"Well… As we were saying before we were so rudely interrupted…" Flim continued, both of them now standing on the machine. "We'll make enough cider for the whole town!"

"We'll make more cider than you could ever imagine!" Applebloom joined in on the fight, possibly feeling the same emotions I was feeling. She caused the crowd to gasp.

Big Macintosh quickly grabbed her and pulled her away by the tail. "Now, it ain't about the speed, young'un, it's about quality." Granny Smith commented to her.

The crowd returned disappointed sighs.

"Who cares how good the cider is if I never get to drink any?" Rainbow Dash explained irritably, which made Flim grab her cheeks with his hooves.

"Oh, look at these poor, dissatisfied ponies."

"Ponyville is Sweet Apple Cider country!" Applebloom argued. Big Macintosh released the grip of her tail, having her land on the ground harshly.

"Our cider speaks for itself!" Applejack added.

"Let's put it to the test!" Flim, who was now lying on the couch lazily as he wore his hat, expressed confidently.

"Anywhere, anytime!" Applebloom responded competitively, causing the crowd to form shocked mutters.

"Well, that's enough, now." Granny Smith whispered to Applebloom.

"With our machine, we can make enough cider in one hour to satisfy this entire town!" Flam replied, announcing to the whole town.

"We'll do it in 45 minutes!" Applebloom exclaimed, ignoring Granny Smith and gaining positive remarks from the crowd of ponies.

"Easy, Applebloom, easy." Granny Smith resumed her warning.

"What's the matter, Granny Smith?" Flim asked, continuing to lay on his couch. "Chicken?"

"What did you call me, sonny?" Granny Smith asked, changing the tone of her voice.

"If you're so confident in your cider, then what's the problem?"

Granny Smith rushed over to Flim and challenged him face to face, which also surprised him. "Tomorrow mornin', right here!"

"But I'm afraid we haven't any..." Flam expressed as he grabbed an apple from a bucket with his magic and spat on it. "...apples." He rubbed it on his shirt.

"You can use our south field, and it'd be worth it to teach you all a thing or two about cider making!" Granny Smith responded.

Observing Granny Smith… it seems that these two annoying and arrogant ponies were getting to a lot of us…

"Excellent; we have a bet. Whoever produces the most barrels in one hour wins the exclusive right to sell cider in Ponyville." After Flim negotiated the details, I noticed Applejack begin to sweat nervously.

Nonetheless, Granny Smith agreed by accepting his hoof-shake angrily. "And after we beat ya, I don't never want to see you bimbahoozalers around here again!"

This caused the ponies around us to chatter about the situation. The two brothers stood on their machine and prepared for their leave. "Until tomorrow." Flam expressed, allowing them to both bow and their machine to drive off.

"Don't worry, Applejack, I know you'll win tomorrow!" Twilight encouraged.

"We'd better, 'cause if we don't, we're gonna lose our farm." Applejack answered, walking off with closed eyes afterwards as the crowd dispensed.

I realized I had been quiet the whole time after the little burst I had. I sighed and looked at Derpy, who was still standing next to me. I immediately felt bad. "I'm really sorry, Derpy… I'm really sorry I threw your muffins just like that…" I lowered my head and frowned.

However, Derpy smiled. "It's okay! I made those muffins for them and you sure gave it to them good!"

This caused me to smile lightly and chuckle a little as well. "I guess I did…"

Derpy giggled a little. "Well, don't worry about them. I can always make more! In fact, once Applejack wins and keeps the farm, I'll make a whole bunch of muffins to celebrate!"

"That sounds great."

She smiled while closing her eyes. "I better go. Bye, Alex!" She waved and flew off.

"Bye." I now turned to face Fluttershy who was smiling lightly at my better mood. "Thank you too, Fluttershy."

"For what?" She asked.

"For calming me down. I don't know what I would have done if you weren't here…"

"Yeah… you really surprised us." Twilight added as she and Rarity walked over to me. "I don't think I've ever seen you get so mad like that…"

"Yes, it almost scared us to where we began worrying about you…" Rarity commented.

"Sorry, about that girls… I guess it's easier to push me beyond my limits when some random ponies are messing with my family."

They all smiled understandably and created a group hug, involving me.

"Still…" Twilight offered when we pulled away. "I'm worried about Applejack… What if they aren't able to catch up with the cider making machine? Even if they are able to keep up, the machine is powered by magic. As long as it is powered by magic, it won't have to rest. But with Applejack and her family… they have limits to what they can do…"

I sighed. "You're right… The best option we can take to support her is to be there in the crowd and cheer and encourage her… and hopefully they will win or we'll find something to help them…"

They nodded their heads and agreed. Thus… we could only wait until the next day came…hoping some ray of light would shine on Applejack and her family.

The next day, all six of us stood behind the white wooden fence in front of the crowd. I was standing next to Fluttershy, looking a bit worried as I saw the Apple family prepare intensely for their challenge as the twin brothers just lazily laid on their couch. Big Macintosh was pacing his legs, warming them up. Granny Smith smelled the apples, probably for seeing which one is good and which one is not. Applejack was harshly kicking a punching bag while Applebloom held on to it, allowing for the bag to carry more weight.

"I'm going to go check on Applejack…" Twilight announced and hopped over the white fence.

I looked at the others and decided I could give some encouragement to Applejack. "I'll be back too…" I hopped over the fence and walked towards Applejack.

"Applejack? Are you sure this is such a good idea?" Twilight asked as she continued to release sounds of exertion.

"Me 'n' the family are..." She kicked the bag. "…one hundred percent confident..." She kicked it again. "…in our cider making capabilities."

"And besides, nopony calls Granny a chicken." Applebloom added, Applejack knocking her off the bag after kicking it with enough force.

"Attention everypony!" The Mayor announced in the megaphone.

"Well, good luck." Twilight offered with a hint of unease as Applejack continued to kick the bag and walked away.

"Thanks Twilight." Applejack responded, but then noticed her sister fall after being dazed. "We'll need it…"

I walked up to Applejack, placing a hoof on her shoulder. "You've got this… don't worry… I believe in you. After all the work you've put into this farm, there's no way you're going to lose it… You've always stood up for what you believe in, and it will all pay off, trust me. You'll win this battle…"

Applejack looked at me understandingly and nodded. "Thanks, Alex… That really means a lot."

I nodded and smiled a bit. "I better get back."

"Alright…"

After I stood back in my spot near Fluttershy, the mayor continued on with her announcement as another pony and Spike stood near a huge hourglass. "The teams have one hour to produce as much cider as they can, after which the barrels will be counted, and the winner will be named the sole cider provider for all of Ponyville!" The crowd returned shocked gasps. "Are both teams ready?"

"Ready!" Applejack answered boldly, standing near her family.

"Ready!" The two brothers answered in unison, continuing to lay on the couch.

"Then let's..." The mayor began, causing the pony to turn the hourglass and start the time. "Go!"

The Apple family quickly rushed off to begin their work, except Granny Smith… She was trying to rush too, but her age kept her behind…

The twin brothers merely yawned and casually laid on the sofa as they used their magic to power the machine. As the suction tube began attracting all the apples in the machine, Applejack was fiercely kicking the apple trees, allowing for all of them to fall and Applebloom to come by and catch them with a bucket. She dropped the bucket by Granny Smith, who began smelling them to see if they were good or not, and quickly picked up another bucket to catch more. The apples rolled on to a horse-powered machine ran by Big Macintosh, literally. He ran on a treadmill in order to crush the apples for cider. When a barrel filled up, he quickly placed a lid on it and removed it from sight in order to place another one.

"Great job, y'all! We've already filled an entire barrel!" Applejack encouraged.

"I'll bet you those guys don't even have—

Applebloom's sentence was cut short when they noticed the machine working smoothly and easy, already making five barrels to one of theirs. The two brothers waved tauntingly, causing Applejack to gulp nervously and sweat while I could only narrow my eyes in anger.

The machine continued to work their magic as it made barrels of cider rapidly… I couldn't believe it! The sight of this even began distracting Applebloom as she stared with widened eyes, missing the apples that Applejack kicked off.

"C'mon, Applebloom, focus! We gotta forget those guys if we're gonna have a chance of winnin'!" Applejack explained.

"Sorry, sis!" Applebloom shook her head. She raced over to Granny Smith with another full bucket. I noticed that there were many buckets full of apples near her that were way too much for her to keep up."Better keep up, Granny, we're fallin' behind!"

She wiped the sweat off of her head and continued, tiredly.

She wasn't the only one. At the machine, I could see Big Macintosh panting heavily as he sweated as well.

"Rest when it's over, Big Macintosh! Ride! Ride!" Applejack ordered encouragingly, causing him to try to remove the thought of fatigue from his mind and continue on with a determined face.

As I continued to observe all this, I couldn't take it anymore. I had to help them! They were working miserably and exhaustively!

"This is just dreadful. Even at top speed the Apples are only making one barrel to the twins' three!" Rarity commented.

"I can't take this anymore!" I exclaimed and jumped over the fence to go help Big Macintosh run the machine, but Twilight's voice stopped me.

"Alex, wait!" She called after me.

I turned around and looked at them with a determined face. "We can't just stand around here and do nothing! We're a part of her family too! We have to help her!"

Twilight then thought for a moment, moving her eyes away. She looked at me and hopped over the white fence. Then, she walked towards the mayor, who was observing the hourglass. "Um, Miss Mayor! Are honorary family members allowed to help in the competition?" She asked, having the other girls join her.

"Well, I'm not sure..." She faced towards the brothers who were still lying on the couch under no pressure. "Flim, Flam, would you object to honorary family members helping?"

"Are you kidding?" Flim responded calmly.

"We don't care if the whole kingdom of Canterlot helps. It's a lost cause." Flam finished.

I furrowed my eyebrows in anger from their response, but then I slipped out a smile as well when I realized that they made a terrible mistake.

"Hm, I guess it's okay. Applejack? What do you think?" The Mayor asked.

Just as Applejack finished kicking another tree, she looked at us, tiredly. "I think I'd love to have the rest of my family helpin' out."

"All right!" The girls cheered.

Afterwards, Twilight and the other girls lined up in an ordered line before me. "What are your orders, sir?" Twilight asked, playfully, but determined at the same time.

I smiled defiantly and walked across them. "Alright, everypony. We're not going to let some obnoxious twin brothers take the heart of Ponyville and destroy it completely, are we?"

"Sir, no, sir!" They responded in unison with a proud and bold voice.

I walked towards Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, go and help shake the apples off the trees."

She returned eye contact and agreed. "Got it."

"Pinkie Pie, use your ability of quick sense and speed to catch the apples that fall off of the trees."

"Sir, yes, sir!" Pinkie responded, saluting me.

"Rarity, you have a great eye in inspection and quality. Help Granny Smith with figuring out which apples are good or not."

"Of course."

"Twilight, use your magic and amazing organization skill to quickly stack and refill the barrels of cider."

"No problem!"

"Rainbow Dash, you and I will give Big Macintosh a break and run the pressing machine, alright?"

"Sure thing!"

"Alright, then let's save Sweet Apple Acres!"

"All right!" They cheered and we immediately took action.

Fluttershy doubled the speed of shaking the apples off the tree as she swiftly flew tree by tree. Pinkie Pie held a bucket on her head and caught the apples that Fluttershy removed. "Over there, Applebloom! Don't miss them!" She advised cheerfully.

Applebloom quickly dove to the ground to catch the apples. "Right behind you, Pinkie Pie!"

Granny Smith and Rarity were quickly separating the spoiled apples from the good ones. "Good 'un, bad 'un, bad 'un, good 'un..."

"Lovely, horrid, horrid, lovely..."

Rainbow Dash and I allowed Big Macintosh to rest as we ran the pressing machine. We looked at each other and nodded. As we pressed the apples to fill the barrels with apple cider, Twilight was placing the lid on them and stacking them as she placed another barrel under the faucet. "Based on these figures, we're making five barrels for every three of theirs!"

The crowd watching cheered.

"Keep it up, everypony!" Applejack encouraged. "We're back in this!"

As I continued to run, I noticed Flim spit out his apple cider on his brothers face. "Come on, brother, we've gotta pick up the pace!" I heard them… was it like last time when I was heard Spike and Rarity during that whole "huge dragon" incident?

"Right, uh, double the power!" He agreed. They both produced more magic towards the machine. The suction tube stretched out and not only sucked all of the apples, but literally tore the whole tree off, surprising me.

I could somehow hear the noises from the machine, indicating that all the apples were bad, due to the tree coming with them.

"We gotta try something else!" Flim panicked.

"I've got it, brother of mine." Flam answered and pressed the red button below the green check mark. All of the apples were now being accepted into the cider making, even the ones covered in leafs and twigs. Those little…

"Well done, Flam! We're at top productivity!"

The crowd, seeming not to notice this, cheered.

Rainbow Dash noticed how they were now making barrels faster than before, even if they were cheating. She flew off the treadmill, causing me to almost lose control until I had to achieve the same speed we were running at to keep up. "Rainbow Dash!" I scolded.

"We don't have time for quality control if we wanna win this thing!"

"No, Rainbow Dash!" I tried to say as I attempted to keep up. "We can't conform to them! We won't be any better if we cheat!"

"He's right, Rainbow Dash!" Applejack agreed.

"We'll just have to work harder! C'mon, everypony!" Twilight announced.

"All right then, double time!" Rainbow Dash then joined me back on the treadmill. We increased our pace. We were growing tired, but we can rest once it's over. For now, we have to focus and give it our all!

As I continued to run, I controlled my breathing in a rhythmic motion, allowing me to preserve longer in my sprinting. At the same time, it felt as if time was going by slowly from all the hard work we were doing, but then again it felt fast as we had to hurry and create as much barrels as we could under the clock.

"Time's up!" We suddenly heard, causing us to all look back and groan, falling to the floor exhausted. We could hear the crowd cheer as the mayor began to count the barrels created.

"I'm proud of you, Applejack." I heard Twilight tell Applejack as we all panted to regain our energy.

"Thanks." She replied.

"Integrity like that will always be... rewarded." Twilight added.

"She's right." I told Fluttershy, who was lying next to me, through heavy breaths as I smiled. "We did it…"

"So the farm is safe…?" Fluttershy asked me, tired as well.

"It should be…especially with all the hard work we did… I won't let anypony ruin our family!"

Fluttershy smiled and we both began to lean in to share a victory kiss until we were interrupted by a horrible announcement.

"Flim and Flam win!"

"What…?" I questioned, shocked.

We all stood up, surprised by the outcome.

"Wh, wh— Applebloom tried to speak, but couldn't…

"We... lost?" Applejack questioned, highly surprised as well.

"Daww, too bad, Apples." Flim commented, causing me to furrow my eyebrows and narrow my eyes in anger at them.

"Guess you'll just have to find a new line of work that doesn't match your names quite so... perfectly." Flam added.

"Now should we tear down all these tacky old buildings and put up new ones, brother?"

"I don't see why not, brother. After all, this isn't Sweet Apple Acres anymore. How about 'Flim Flam Fields'?" Flam tugged at a rope, causing their banner to cover Applejack's family's one.

"I ought to press you into jerk cider!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed and began flying towards them, but Applejack caught her tail with her teeth and stopped her.

"No Rainbow Dash. A deal's a deal." The two brothers began laughing highly obnoxiously and arrogantly, reminding me just like what happened with the snooty ponies. The anger inside me continued to grow. "Congratulations to y'all. The cider business in Ponyville... is yours. C'mon, Apples. Let's go pack up our things." They began walking off while I could only send worried eyes towards them.

"Fear not, everypony, there's more than enough cider to go around." Flim announced to the saddened crowd and the two joined in laughter once again. That's it…

"What's wrong with you two!" I asked, shouting at them as I stood directly in front of them. "Haven't you ever heard of 'Quality or Quantity'? You two aren't cider makers! You're just jokes!"

"It's no use, little pony." Flam answered, placing a hoof on me which I quickly slapped away. "We made the most barrels of cider. We won. We win the farm." They laughed once again.

"Oh really?" I questioned and walked over to their huge stack of spoiled barrels. I kicked the bottom portion of the stack of barrels, causing the one at the very top to fall and land on my back. I stretched my hooves and caught the barrel. After, I carried it near the brothers and in front of the crowd. I placed it and immediately removed the lid. Then I kicked it, revealing the contents of spoiled apples, twigs, leaves, and other disgusting things as it spilled all over the ground. "Tell me something." I directed towards the crowd of ponies. "Is that something you'd really want to drink?"

The crowd of ponies all shared looks with each other, mumbling and questioning a bit.

"It doesn't matter!" Flim responded confidently. "It is still cider! Cider that was made in our wonderful machine." They placed several cups of their spoiled cider on a table. "Drink up, Ponyville! Down the hatch!"

The ponies showed some hesitation, but tried the apple cider anyway. Expecting it, they immediately spat out whatever they had in their mouths, responding in disgust.

"I can't get the taste off my tongue!"

"Mine's got rocks in it."

"I wouldn't pay one cent for this dreck!"

I smiled defiantly, knowing that I now had the crowd of ponies on my side.

"You wouldn't pay even one cent?" Flam asked.

"No!" The crowd of angry ponies answered.

Flim and Flam then turned to their sides and mumbled to each other. "How about two cups for one cent?" Flam asked the crowd.

"No!"

They mumbled to each other again. "Two bits for a barrel?" They nervously asked. These guys weren't getting the message…were they…?

"No!"

Finally, they began responding with nervous sounds from their shaking voices. "It looks like we've encountered a slight... problem here in Ponyville." They tried to dance to try to save their ego…but it really only made it worse.

"Nopony wants our product. Next town?" Flim asked.

"Next town. Let's go, Flim!"

"Let's go, Flam."

They hopped on to their machine and began driving off, but before they could get far, I grabbed a cup of their own cider and threw it over to them, causing their own spoiled and hideous product to spill all over them. Now they were drenched in their own shame… This caused them to hurry even more to race out of Ponyville. Yeah… they won't be coming back.

When I turned around, Applejack had raced towards me and quickly wrapped her hooves around me. "Alex! You did it! They're gone!"

"No, Applejack." I patted her. "The ponies of Ponyville would have already found out on their own because it's you and your family who are the real cider makers."

Applejack pulled away and sent me a thankful expression anyway. Twilight walked over to us happily as well. "That means Sweet Apple Acres is still in business!"

"Plus we can have high quality Apple family cider!" One of the ponies from the crowd announced as he pointed towards the stacks of barrels we had made in the competition.

"Because of this silly competition, we've made enough of our cider for the whole town!"

The crowd cheered loudly afterwards.

As other ponies celebrated by drinking a lot of cider and knocking them together in victory, Twilight was taking down a letter for Applejack. "Dear Princess Celestia, I wanted to share my thoughts with you." She cleared her throat. "I didn't learn anythin'!" She began skipping around as she bounced a cup of cider on her head. "Ha! I was right all along! If you take your time to do things the right way, your work will speak for itself. Sure I could tell you I learned something about how my friends are always there to help me, and I can count on them no matter what, but truth is, I knew that already too."

I smiled as she celebrated in joy. I felt the cup of cider in my hoof. I raised it to my lips, about to take a sip from it until I noticed Rainbow Dash waiting anxiously at the stand. Applebloom raised her hooves to press the lever down. When she did, she was surprised to see that there wasn't any cider left in the barrel. Rainbow Dash widened her eyes as the same outcome occurred and began to cry. But, I walked up to her and placed a hoof around her shoulder. I held out my cider with a smile planted on my face, offering it to Rainbow Dash. She smiled and thankfully grabbed it. We joined the other girls who were gathered in a circle. Pinkie Pie noticed how I was empty-hooved, so she tossed me a cup of cider that she seemed to have sneaked out. I chuckled and raised my cup of cider proudly towards all the girls. They smiled and gladly knocked their cups with mine.

Afterwards, we drank our cider together…as a family…

We spent the rest of the day having a party…well…more like an outdoor and not as much Pinkie Pie party… but it felt great. Derpy had also kept her word and brought muffins for us to eat and enjoy. However, each of us had to go home as it was getting late. As usual, we exchanged goodbyes and goodnights to each other, Applejack expressing it a bit more to me as she felt that I was the reason Sweet Apple Acres was still in control when I thought it really wasn't. Then, I walked Fluttershy home, holding one of the cups of spoiled apple cider the twins made.

As we walked towards the cottage, Fluttershy noticed this. "Alex, why do you have one of those cups? Aren't they bad?"

I chuckled a little. "Heheh, yeah. Exactly."

We reached her door. Fluttershy turned around to look at me with a couple of concerned eyes. "What are you going to do with it?"

I smiled and stared at the cup of cider that was full of unnaturalness, inequity, and arrogant pride. "Let's just say I'm going to put this right where it belongs…"

"Alright…I'll see you tomorrow, Alex."

"Same here, Fluttershy." I replied. "Goodnight. I love you."

She smiled when she heard me say that and wrapped her hooves around me. I was only able to wrap a hoof back due to the other holding the cup.

"I love you too, Alex." She answered and then pulled away to kiss me.

As she did, I couldn't help but add in a little more passion to the kiss, pushing my lips on hers a little more. When our lips parted, she was blushing. I returned a loving look towards her. She smiled softly and turned around to enter her home. I watched as I made sure she ended the night in a comfortable manner. She sent me one last wave before closing the door. I felt great, especially for what I was about to do when I reached my house.

Returning to my home, I walked inside and pushed the trash can from the kitchen towards the outside. I placed the cup of spoiled cider on the ground and picked up the trash with my hooves. I poured all of the contents that were inside on to the ground. I placed the trash can back and stared at the trash that was on the ground. The only actually trash that was in my trash can were the pieces that I tore from the flyer. I stared at them for a moment, even being able to still see her face through the dark night. I didn't get angry. I didn't become sad. I kept my smile on and grabbed the cup again. Then, I rotated the cup upside down and poured all of the same cider onto the pieces of the flyer. Once every last drop was spilled onto the paper, I walked back inside and threw the cup in the trash. I closed my door and walked upstairs to my bed. I nestled warmly under my covers and closed my eyes.

I slept well.

Read It and Weep

Episode 42 – Read it and Weep

I woke up and yawned. I stretched and loosened myself a bit. Afterwards, I walked out of bed, feeling hungry. I walked to my bathroom and splashed some cold water on my face to wake me up a bit more. Then, I headed out and walked downstairs. I placed my hoof on the door and opened it. Before walking out, I looked outside to notice the beautiful day that awaited me. I smiled and felt much happier. Looks like I'll be spending this day with Fluttershy! I began walking outside, even feeling so happy that I could have probably skipped. I closed my eyes, inhaling the nice breeze as it flew through my mane. Yes! Such a beautiful day! And I can't wait to spend every second of it with Fluttershy!

All of a sudden, I heard a yelp coming from above me, which caused me to quickly open my eyes and look upwards. I saw Rainbow Dash heading straight towards me. I widened my eyes in surprise, but before I could do anything, she crashed towards me. That's all I remembered seeing before everything turned black.

I began hearing something beep… It sounded like…like a heart monitor. I felt the ability to open my eyes, so I did so. Everything appeared to be blurry at first when I slightly opened them. Even though my vision was blurry, I could see yellow, pink, purple, white, and orange smears in my eyes.

"Oh no… I hope he's okay…" A familiar voice spoke muffled and faintly.

"Don't worry Fluttershy. I'm sure he's alright." Another voice spoke in the same way.

"Hehe, he looks funny."

I groaned and my vision finally cleared up, revealing Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack all by my side. I could feel myself lying down on something comfortable…a bed?

"…what…what happened…?" I asked weakly. "…Where am I…?" I tried looking around.

"You're in the hospital, Alex…" Twilight answered. "Rainbow Dash was doing some daredevil flying until she lost control and crashed onto you…"

"…Rainbow Dash…? …Is she okay…?"

"I think so. She's still asleep."

"…oh…well… I feel alright… just a little sore…" I tried moving my left back leg, but I grunted a little in pain when I did.

Fluttershy quickly lightly placed her hooves on me. "Don't move, Alex… The doctor said that you had a sprained hoof…"

"That is correct." I heard another male voice walk in. I looked up to see the doctor walking in and near me. He fixed his glasses and continued speaking to me. "You know, you're very very lucky to only have a sprained hoof. After your friends brought you both in as quick as possible and told me what happened, getting a sprained hoof from that huge of a crash is very lucky. Normally, you would have probably received more serious injuries, such as a broken hoof or leg, or possibly something more life threatening."

"Oh…so that's all there is…? Just a sprained hoof?" I inquired.

"Yep. You just have to spend a few days in here, then that sprain should heal up just nicely."

"Oh…okay…" I sighed and planted my head on my pillow. "Wait… what about Rainbow Dash? Is she alright?" I almost quickly questioned.

"Hey, I think she's waking up!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed and pointed, causing the girls to walk to her bed. I turned my head towards my right side of the room and spotted Rainbow Dash barely waking up, almost like I did. I noticed that she had a bandage on the right side of her forehead, and bandages wrapped around her wing on the same side. She rubbed her head and suddenly faced towards her bandaged wing. She rubbed it and then groaned. "Awwww."

Meanwhile, the doctor was looking at some x-rays of Rainbow Dash's wing, which seemed to be broken.

"How is she, doctor?" Twilight asked my question again to him.

"She's going to be fine. Luckily she has friends like you who got her over here in a jiffy."

"Huh, how long do I need to lie here? I've got things I need to do!" Rainbow Dash argued.

"Well, that all depends on your recovery, but I'd say a few days minimum."

"You guys have gotta get me out of here, I'm gonna climb the walls!"

Pinkie Pie quickly ran over to Rainbow Dash. "Ooh, just like a spider!" She turned her body towards the doctor and placed her hooves on him. "Did the crash somehow give her super-duper spider powers?"

"Nnnno…" He turned away, causing Pinkie Pie to fall on the ground. "Nor did it give her amazing healing powers. She needs to stay in bed for a few days."

"Few days?" Rainbow questioned, falling back on the pillow and lying down. "Might as well be a few months, or few years!"

"It's not so bad Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy assured.

"I bet the chow in here is hoof-lickin' good." Applejack encouraged.

"And the hospital gowns, they match the curtains!" Rarity added, holding one up near the window where the curtains presented themselves.

"And look!" Pinkie Pie pointed a hoof towards me. "You have a roommate!"

They all turned their heads to face me, but Rainbow Dash was greatly surprised. "Alex? What are you doing here?"

I managed to chuckle a little. "Don't you remember the pony you crashed on to?"

She placed a hoof under her chin and thought for a moment until she widened her eyes. "Oh my gosh, Alex! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. I just have a sprained hoof. It's no problem."

She sighed and looked back at the ceiling. "Well, what am I going to do for a few days while I'm here?" After, she covered herself with the blanket.

Twilight rubbed her chin and noticed a cart of books being pushed past the room. She smiled and ran towards the cart bringing back a book for Rainbow Dash. She held it near her and poked her with it, placing it by the side of her bed afterwards.

"What's this?" Rainbow Dash questioned in an irritable tone. She picked it up and analyzed the cover. "'Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone'."

"This is the first story in the series." Twilight patted the book cover. "I own all of them." She released a squee.

However, Rainbow Dash returned an annoyed look at her. "No thanks. I so don't read. I'm a world-class athlete. Reading's for eggheads like you, Twilight." Rainbow Dash responded as Twilight formed narrowed eyes. "Heh, no offense, but I am not reading. It's undeniably, unquestionably, uncool."

I'm not going to even comment on that…

However, the rest of the girls laughed.

"Is she serious?" Applejack asked. "Who doesn't like to read a bang-up tale from time to time?"

"Why, a good book is almost as magnificent as silk pajamas on a Sunday morning, heh!" Rarity expressed.

"Reading is for everypony, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight agreed, placing the book back in front of her.

"Yeah! I love reading!" Pinkie Pie added, hopping excitedly. "And my head isn't even close to the shape of an egg! It's more the shape of an apple, or maybe an orange, but a big orange, more like a grapefruit really..." She placed her hoof to her chin to think about it.

"Anyway…" I began speaking. "Twilight, do you mind if you grab a book for me as well?"

"Not at all! Do you have anything specific in mind?" She asked.

"Not really. Just grab anything."

"Mmk!" She trotted out the door and came back in a few seconds with a book. She lightly placed it in front of me. "The name seemed interesting, so I thought you might like it."

I narrowed my eyes towards the title and read it. Super Urban Pony Legends… "Hm… Thanks Twilight. This should keep me busy…"

"You're welcome, Alex!" She smiled brightly.

"All right, my little ponies." One of the nurses announced from the door. "Rainbow Dash and Alex need their rest. You'll have to come back tomorrow."

The girls began walking out except Fluttershy and Twilight. Twilight was talking to Rainbow Dash when Fluttershy walked up towards me.

She placed a hoof on my face, causing me to smile gently at her. "I'll see you tomorrow, sweetie."

I felt something warm when she called me that. I nodded. "I'll see you too."

She leaned and lowered her head towards me, giving me a quick kiss before she began walking out.

"I think you'd like Daring." Twilight explained to Rainbow Dash as she began walking out as well. "She's a lot like you. Adventurous, fierce, and undeniably, unquestionably, unstoppable." She stood at the door, waiting for a response from Rainbow Dash, but she merely flicked her hoof away. Twilight smiled and waved to me. "Bye, Alex!"

I smiled as well and waved back, allowing her to walk away and the door to close.

After, I looked towards Rainbow Dash. "Well, are you going to get some rest or read?"

"Are you kidding?" She responded. "I'm too bored to sleep, and there's no way I'm reading!" She sighed. "I'm just going to have to find something else to do to pass the time…" She began looking around.

I sighed as well as she was passing on something that might interest her. Nonetheless, I shrugged and made myself comfortable in the bed. "Well, I'm going to take a nap. Try not to make too much noise…"

"Alright…" She stated as I placed the covers over my head and closed my eyes.

I was feeling well as I rested, breathing softly and quietly through my nose, but suddenly, I was lightly startled awake when I heard bouncing. I sighed and pulled the covers off of me and saw Rainbow Dash bouncing a ball off the wall with a bored expression on her face.

"Rainbow…how did you get that ball…?" I asked, still a little tiredly.

"Found it." She answered briefly.

I remained silent for a moment as I watched her continue to bounce the ball. "Well, can you keep it down? I'm trying to sleep…"

"Sorry. I'm just so bored!" She continued bouncing the ball until the ball didn't bounce as high as it did before and hit the bottom of the bed, rolling back towards the wall, causing Rainbow Dash to sigh quietly and lower her head. She looked back at me. "Can you get that for me?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Rainbow… I have a sprained hoof…"

She replied with silence and looked back at her sheets. I replaced my expression with a little saddened one when I saw her face. Even though she wasn't totally miserable, I still couldn't help but feel sorry for her. I sighed quietly and lay back in my bed, closing my eyes again. After a few minutes, the door opened, revealing one of the nurses bringing in two trays of food.

"Lunchtime, you two." The nurse announced as she placed the trays of food on our beds.

I observed the meal. There was a glass of juice, some green mashed up vegetables, and a gelatin for dessert. Hm… I didn't get to eat breakfast and I'm pretty hungry… My head is almost starting to hurt from barely eating anything at all today. I looked up to see the nurse had already left. I then turned my attention to Rainbow Dash, who contained the same bored expression on her face as she stared at the food. She placed her snout in the glass of juice to try to take a drink, but when she lifted her head up, the glass was stuck on it. She then used both of her hooves to try to take it out, but it didn't. However, when she released her hooves, the glass slipped out, dropping on the floor.

The sight of her caused me to chuckle.

"What are you laughing at?" Rainbow asked me, looking a bit irritated.

"You're just funny, Rainbow." I answered, continuing to smile and then looking at my food. "In a good way, though."

She sighed and crossed her hooves. "Whatever…"

I began eating the mush. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. It just felt good to get some food in my body. After, I drank the juice and chewed the gelatin, savoring its sweet taste. After, I happily placed the tray on the nightstand as I felt satisfied. Rainbow Dash eventually finished her food as well, and the nurse came by with a cart to pick the trays up and go, but before she left the room, I called for her.

"Excuse me, Miss?"

"Yes?" She asked, turning her head towards me with a smile.

"Would it be any trouble if you brought me some scratch paper and a pencil?"

"Of course not! I'll come bring that right after I put these away."

"Thanks."

The nurse left the room with the trays on the cart.

"What'd you want paper and a pencil for?" Rainbow Dash asked.

I shrugged. "I thought I could do some drawing…"

"What about the book?"

"I'll read it later."

After a moment, the nurse came by with a pencil and some blank paper. "There you go. Anything else?"

"No, thank you."

She smiled and left the room again.

I grabbed the pencil with my mouth and began creating some lines for a sketch.

"What are you going to draw?" Rainbow Dash inquired.

I smiled and continued to draw. "You'll see."

After maybe an hour, I spent the whole time, thinking and carefully drawing out what I had in mind while Rainbow Dash remained bored and tried to do things that kept her busy. I finally finished and observed my work. I really loved it. I placed the pencil down and grabbed the paper with my mouth. "Look!" I presented it to Rainbow Dash with a smile.

Rainbow Dash analyzed my picture and sent me narrowed eyes. "Really…?"

I chuckled and placed the paper back down on the blankets, observing it again. "Hey, I was thinking about Fluttershy the whole time." I responded as I stared at my drawing of Fluttershy. "You know… I think I'll give it to her on Hearts and Hooves Day. Isn't it nearby?"

"Yeah… So?"

"Hm…" I thought. "I think I'll plan a nice picnic for her once I'm out of here."

"That's nice…" She sighed in boredom.

I placed the picture of her on the nightstand and then looked at Rainbow Dash. "Why don't you take a nap?"

"I don't really feel tired…just bored…" She answered.

"So you always take naps when it's perfect for being awake, but now that you have the time in the hospital, you don't want to?"

She merely shrugged. "I really feel like flying now."

"Not with that kind of wing." I stated and then crossed my forelegs on the back of my head. "Hm… I wonder how it feels to fly or cast magic whenever you want. I'm just a simple earth pony and I've only flown once in my life. It actually felt amazing!" I sighed contently.

"If you had wings, I would totally race you!" Rainbow Dash responded competitively. "You're super fast on the ground, what if you're fast in air too?"

"I doubt it." I answered. "I'm likely only fast on the ground because I've only used my legs in my entire life. You, on the other hoof, have used both your legs and wings. You're able to pull off a sonic rainboom. I'm sure you'd beat me without breaking a sweat."

"Hehe." She chuckled a little. "You never know. You sometimes pull off lots of surprises."

I shrugged and continued staring at the ceiling. "Was it hard to fly for you the first time, Rainbow Dash?" I asked.

"Hm…" She thought. "A little… but I got used to it fast."

"Oh…"

"Why?"

"Just curious…" I looked at the time. It was almost evening.

Waiting for dinner, I continued to draw a bit longer until I heard the door open. The nurse came in, announcing the serving of dinner and placed the trays before us again. She left the room, and I began to observe the food again. This time, it was a cup of cold milk, a sandwich, and a cupcake for dessert. "Looks delicious." I slightly joked and began eating it.

Once Rainbow Dash and I finished, the nurse came by and picked it up. I finally began getting ready for bed, yawning and stretching a bit. Then, I lay on my side and closed my eyes, but a repeated clicking sound prevented me from being able to sleep. I turned and saw Rainbow Dash repeatedly clicking the button on the lamp, flicking the light off and on and off and on many times. I observed the expression on her face and found out she was bored again. After clicking the button with her hoof a few times, she then formed an aggressive face and clicked the button harshly and rapidly, but then she returned to her calm pressing.

"Rainbow… just get some sleep…" I told her.

"I'm too bored to sleep…" She answered, continuing to click the button.

I sighed. "C'mon, I'm sure you're tired from being 'bored' all day. Just lie down and rest. You'll feel better in the morning."

She stopped her button-pushing and finally turned off the lamp. "Fine…" She lay down on her side and remained quiet.

I lay down as well and tried to get some sleep, feeling myself doze off after a moment.

I woke up again when I heard whispers calling my name.

"Hey, Alex. Alex. Psst. Alex."

"H…huh…? I questioned, opening my eyes sleepily. I saw Rainbow Dash calling me from her bed. "…what…Rainbow Dash…?"

"I have a joke for you!" She responded.

I sighed, tiredly, but agreed. "Okay…"

"Alright. Why did the pony cross the road?"

"I don't know Rainbow… Why…?"

"To get to the other side! Get it?" She asked as she grinned. I remained silent, almost narrowing my eyes but too tired to do so. She frowned and narrowed her eyes instead. "Nevermind…" She added, lying back on her side again.

I slightly yawned and traveled back to sleep again.

When I felt more awake, I lifted my upper body up and stretched, but I noticed Rainbow Dash staring tiredly at the clock. I faced the clock as well and noticed that it was exactly one in the afternoon. After a moment, the long hand moved a minute to the right. Rainbow Dash dropped her jaw and growled in frustration into her blanket. Afterwards she sighed and banged her head on the back of her bed three times.

"Rainbow… just read the book… If you don't like it then fine, but at least give it a try. It seems like something you'll like."

She remained silent and eyed the book. She stared at the cover for a moment but then turned away crossing her forelegs, but then she opened one eye at it, staring at the cover again. Then, she placed hoof to her chin and seemed to think about it for a moment. She sighed and responded to me. "Fine… but I'm only going to try reading it, then I'm going stop."

I shrugged and allowed her to.

She stretched her hooves towards the book and began reading the cover. She turned to the first page, looking uninterested and speaking unenthusiastically. "As Daring Do trekked through the tropical jungle, the wet heat sapped her energy and slowed her every step. If only she could escape this oppressive atmosphere and fly up into the cool blue sky. But her crash landing in the jungle had injured her wing and she was grounded for a few days. Few days... it might as well be a few months, or a few years! Huh." She looked at her wings. "I'm right there with you, sister." I smiled and thought I could do a little reading myself. "The mosquitoes buzzed loudly. The macaws cried from the high trees. Yet all of these distracting noises were not enough to cover the sound of the predators following her every step…"

As she continued reading, I grabbed the book Twilight retrieved for me and opened it. In the first page were its table of contents. There were several legends I've heard, all being clichés of one another, but there was one that caught my interest… I stared at the name for a moment. Chrysalis: Queen of the Changelings. I remained on the page for a moment, seeming as if placed in a trance. However, Rainbow Dash snapped me out of it when she began to excitedly read more of the story.

"Safely landing on the other side, Daring finally allowed herself a moment to breathe. She turned around to find herself face to face with the long lost temple that she had sought tirelessly for over sixty days and nights!" I glanced at her as she now discovered the joy of reading. "I hate to admit it to myself, and would really hate to admit it to my friends, but... I love this story!"She exclaimed to herself, but then widened her eyes when she remembered I was right by her. She looked towards me, shocked, but I returned an understanding look.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anypony else. Your 'secret' is safe with me."

She sighed in relief and hugged the book to her chest. "Thanks, Alex… I, I- I love reading!" Although, she suddenly widened her eyes in a worried manner. "I'm an egghead…"

"…what…?" I questioned.

"I'm an egghead, Alex! I called every other pony an egghead for reading, but now I'm reading…"

"Rainbow Dash, don't worry about that other stuff. I'm sure they don't care. Don't let it stop you from reading the book."

She sighed. "I'll try…" She picked the book back up and began reading it once again. "The smell of decay and danger hit Daring Do as she peered into the dimly-lit entrance of the ancient temple…"

I opened the book I was analyzing before and turned to the table of contents again. After, I turned to the page where the legend about Chrysalis was supposed to be. At the page, I saw the same title, and below it presented an old drawing of what was supposed to be her. As I studied the picture more, it seemed to look as if she was a large pony, but an insect at the same time. She had the wings of an insect and a horn… but it was twisted and not perfected as any other unicorn's horn. Her body featured many distorting things…including where her hooves were supposed to be… Actually… I'm not sure if I could say if she has hooves… I don't really know what she is supposed to be besides a…changeling…

I then began reading the description and text below the drawing. Unlike Rainbow Dash, I read the text in my mind.

Queen Chrysalis, a mysterious changeling that seems to be frighteningly intimidating. She has an army of minions who take the same form as her. Being a changeling, she takes the form of somepony another pony loves, and feeds off the love of that pony, gaining power and stronger as well… I've never heard about this kind of legend before… I continued reading. Ponies have reported sightings of her throughout Equestria, but many ponies disagree on this. They believe her existence is false, but no pony really knows the truth of this…

A sudden knocking lightly startled me, causing me to look up from the book. The door began opening slowly. I looked at Rainbow Dash to see her quickly hiding the book under the covers and sitting on the bed nervously. The door then fully opened to reveal Fluttershy and Twilight. "Hi Alex! Hi Rainbow Dash!"

I kept the book open, but placed it on the side of the bed so I wouldn't lose the page.

"Uh, hey, guys..." Rainbow Dash answered uneasily.

"We thought we'd come and cheer you up!" Fluttershy responded to Rainbow Dash.

"We brought your favorite board game!" Twilight pulled it out with her magic and placed it on the bed, setting it up.

"We know how much you like to win!" Fluttershy stated and looked back at me. "Alex, do you want to play too?"

I returned a light smile. "No, thank you, girls. I'm fine."

"Mmk."

"You go first, Rainbow Dash!" Twilight directed.

Rainbow Dash released a short nervous laugh. "No no, you first."

The two of them returned confused looks.

"Alright…" Twilight answered. "uh... cloud three."

"Aw, shucks, you... rained on my cumulus, heh." She quickly responded. "Go again!"

"Um... sky five?" Fluttershy guessed.

"Whoaa, you found my seagull." Rainbow Dash picked it up and tossed it aside. I figured that she wanted to be done with the game so the girls would leave and she would return to her book…

"Uh... cloud two?" Twilight asked.

"You zapped my weather pony!" Rainbow Dash responded and continued to answer the same thing for every move the girls made, not even giving herself a turn. "Uh-huh, you stung my bumblebee. Oh, my thunderbolt. Aw, and that's my last cloud. You found it. Guess you guys win, I lose."

"But Rainbow Dash, you, you didn't even get a turn." Fluttershy pointed out as Rainbow Dash tried to force the game box to close.

"You win some, you lose some."

"But you don't lose some. I don't think you've ever lost a game of—

Rainbow Dash yawned, interrupting Twilight. "Thanks for coming!"

"But yesterday you were desperate for things to do!"

"Do?" Rainbow Dash answered defensively, giving the game back to Twilight. "Who said anything about Daring Do? I told you I'm not interested in reading." She yawned again, turning off the light. "It's nap time for me!" She began to snore mockingly, pretending to fall asleep…badly…

"Glad we could... cheer you up?" Fluttershy replied as she began walking towards me. However, Twilight remained there furrowing her eyebrows at Rainbow Dash as she opened one eye. Twilight moved her head closer to Rainbow Dash, which caused her to stop snoring and yawn loudly.

"Alright then…" Twilight responded and walked over to me as well, holding the game. "Alex, are you in the mood for a game?" She asked smiling.

Figuring that I'd love spending some time with them after not seeing them for a while, I was going to agree, but Rainbow Dash sent me this look behind their backs. Using nonverbal language, she told me to please allow them to leave because she wanted to keep reading the book. I sighed heavily in my mind and looked at the girls with saddened eyes. "Actually… I think I need to catch up on my sleep too…sorry girls."

"Oh…alright, then…" Twilight answered, frowning a little. "I guess we'll both let you sleep." She began walking away. "Come on, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy looked at Twilight and then at me. She moved closer to me and kissed me. After, she pulled away. "I miss you, Alex…"

"I miss you too, Fluttershy… but don't worry. I'll be out real soon."

She nodded and began walking towards the door as well. Both of the girls waved at me as Rainbow Dash continued to sleep artificially. I waved back, still saddened, and eventually they left, closing the door behind them. I sighed heavily, out loud now, as Rainbow Dash sat up from her bed and checked to see if they were really gone.

"I hope you're happy… I really wanted to spend some time with them…" I answered, depressingly.

"I'll make it up to you." She answered briefly and pulled out the book from under the covers. "Daring Do stood at the entrance to the central temple chamber. At last, she was face-to-face with the legendary sapphire statue!"

I sighed again, but quietly. That's okay, Alex… You'll see them again… I grabbed the book from the side of the bed and continued reading.

One strange thing about Chrysalis is that there is no known way to defeat her. This is why she is so threatening. Any pony who is unfortunate to meet face to face with her will either come back empty of love, or go completely missing…

Wow…she does seem a bit scary…hm…I wonder how it would feel to have your love sucked up by some witch…? I looked at the bed sheets. I wonder how I would be if that happened to me… That would probably be the worst thing to happen to me… I would probably be just like before I met the girls… but worse. I sighed and shook my head. I brought the book to my face again and continued reading.

She is known to lurk around places that contain the most love, so ponies—

"Hello, Alex and Rainbow Dash!" I heard Pinkie Pie's voice, causing me to almost jump, but I quickly regained myself.

I saw Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity walk in through the door. I'm not going to have to not see them too, am I? Of course, Rainbow Dash immediately hid the book under the covers. Why can't you just tell them…?

"How are our patients doing today?" Rarity asked.

I placed the book in the same fashion, not losing the page, on the bed and managed to smile. "I'm fine."

However, I could see Rainbow Dash begin to sweat nervously, causing Applejack to notice. "Ugh, we need to get some fresh air in here. You're lookin' sweatier than a pig wrangler on a summer's day."

"Uh, well, guys, thanks for visiting, but—

"Okay, now, dinner time for Alex and Rainbow Dash." Another nurse came by and announced. She walked and left the cart in the middle of the room. Hm… I grabbed the tray as Rainbow Dash grabbed hers.

"Oh, just in time. I am soo hungry." Rainbow Dash emphasized, but didn't actually mean it.

"Oh, well don't mind us Rainbow Dash." Rarity responded.

"Yeah, just go ahead and eat up." Applejack added. Then, the girls began walking over to me to talk to me.

"So, Alex. How has everything been going so far?" Rarity asked as she sat down near the left side of my bed.

"Everything's been going well, but to be honest, I'm kind of missing all of you girls…" I spoke the truth, especially knowing how I didn't get to spend time with Twilight and Fluttershy…

"Aww." Rarity replied.

"Don't worry, Alex." Pinkie Pie hopped. "You'll be out of here sooner before you realize it!"

I smiled lightly. "Thanks, Pinkie."

Applejack analyzed the book I had on the side of my bed. "Is that the book Twilight got for you?"

"Yeah…"

"What's it about?"

"Well, just some old legends. They're actually pretty scary, but they're probably not even true anyway…"

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. We all looked at her to see her narrowing her eyes annoyingly. I clearly got the message, but the others were having trouble decoding it.

"What is it, Rainbow Dash?" Rarity inquired.

Rainbow looked at me impatiently. I returned narrowed eyes, as if objecting to her demand for their early departure. She narrowed her eyes as well, appearing as if she was going to get rid of them by herself. She then moved her head towards the green mush and bit it a bit inappropriately, making exaggerated eating noises. "NOM NOM NOM!" She then literally licked her plate clean, grabbing the gelatin and chewing it noisily as her mouth remained open. The girls were shocked as she continued to swing her head in the rest of the green mush, causing for Rarity to place her hoof on Pinkie and lead the rest of them out.

"Uh, on second thought—

"Uh, we'll see you tomorrow, Rainbow Dash, aheh..." Pinkie Pie commented and closed the door after they left.

After, Rainbow Dash spat out the food in her mouth and cleaned it. Then, she looked at me to see angry eyes staring at her. "What?" She asked.

I sighed angrily as well. "Why can't you allow me to have at least a few minutes with them? I know you want to read and hide that from them at the same time, but…" I sighed again. "Just forget it…"

"…sorry…" She responded.

"…whatever…" I closed the book and placed it on the nightstand, turning off the lamp afterwards. "I'm going to bed…"

I heard her grab the book and speak a little quieter. " 'You thought you could evade me and capture the relic for yourself, but you are sadly mistaken, Miss Do.'"

I closed my eyes and began drifting off to sleep, wanting the next day to come by already so hopefully I can see the girls with no problem. But Rainbow Dash startled me a bit when she exclaimed out loud.

"Whoa! Who is this dude?" I turned my head around to look at her. She noticed me and returned a slightly embarrassed expression. "Sorry…"

I waved it off and turned back, pulling the covers over me and closing my eyes. As I began to finally rest and doze off, I could still hear Rainbow Dash excitedly speak, but quietly, reading her story, which didn't bother me.

I awoke once more upon hearing the door open. I sat up and opened my eyes, rubbing them. I saw the Doctor come in with a smile on his face. "Is everything alright here?"

"Yeah…" I answered in a sleepy tone.

"What about your friend, Rainbow Dash?" He asked me.

"Um…" I responded and looked over to her bed. "I think she's still asleep…" I noticed how her whole body was under the covers.

"Well, I should wake her up to tell her the good news!"

"Good news?"

"You'll see." He smiled and faced towards Rainbow Dash's bed. "Rainbow Dash?" He called. "Rainbow Dash? Rainbow Da-ash!"

The body under the covers suddenly began moving around. Then, she popped her head out from the other side of the bed with surprised eyes and a slightly agape mouth. I could see a lantern filled with fireflies. "H- oh, good evening—

"Morning." The Doctor corrected her, continuing to smile.

"-morning. Doc." Rainbow Dash expressed, using that correction and stretching her hooves, saluting as well. Then, she suddenly looked out the window to observe the sky.

"Have you been up all night?" The doctor asked, observing the lantern full of fireflies with his glasses.

"Of course not." Rainbow Dash quickly replied, grabbing the lantern with her hoof and blowing the fireflies out.

The doctor chuckled. "Well, I'll be quick." He looked at both of us. "Congratulations, we're checking you both out of the hospital."

"Really?" I asked, excitedly.

However, Rainbow Dash seemed to feel the opposite way. "What? Later today?" She began biting her hoof.

"Yes!" He answered me. "No. Right now!" He directed to Rainbow Dash.

"Right now?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "'Right now' right now?"

"'Right now' right now." The doctor answered happily, causing two of the nurses to come in with a wheelchair and struggle to place her on there. I, on the other hoof, walked towards the door, bringing the drawing of Fluttershy with me and feeling better with my hoof. I watched as Rainbow Dash's robe and bandages were thrown.

"But I don't feel better!" Rainbow Dash argued.

"Now take it easy, Rainbow Dash." He ignored. "Remember to stay off that wing for a week." The doctor began leaving as the two nurses pushed Rainbow Dash out in a wheelchair.

"What about me, doctor?" I inquired as we walked in the hallway.

"You're fine! You might want to not do any intense running or sprinting, etc, for a few more days, just to be sure. But you're fine."

"Alright!" I smiled and continued walking to the exit while Rainbow Dash looked miserable.

Finally, the nurses pushed Rainbow Dash out of the hospital with her wheelchair while I waved them goodbye.

"How will I ever find out what happens to Daring Do?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed loudly, motioning her hooves as well.

"…Just ask—

"Is Ahuizotl going to get away with the statuette?" She continued to panic as she paced around the road. "What's gonna happen to Daring? Ah-ha! Twilight has a copy of the book! Uh, but I can't ask her after I called her an egghead and all..." She placed her hooves on her head and fell to the floor, groaning. "Ugh, this is making me sick all over again!" I grabbed her hoof and helped her up, but she grew a devious smile.

"Rainbow…?" I questioned.

She smirked and chuckled a little. "Just watch me, Alex. I'll get that book back." She then traveled over to the doors and walked in, holding her hoof to her forehead over-dramatically. "Owww..." She grunted in pain, most unrealistically, as I walked behind her, narrowing my eyes. "Oh, the pain... the pain!" She fell towards the cushions on the side of the room.

"Rainbow Dash! What are you doing here, a, anything wrong?" The Doctor asked, creating a worried expression, as well as the same type of tone.

"Well, uh, my wing!" Rainbow Dash pointed out. "It's still hurtin', Doc." Rainbow Dash presented and then placed herself on the cushions. The Doctor walked over to her and began touching her right wing... "Oh, ouch! Right there."

The Doctor returned a stern and irritated face. "I was touching your good wing."

"Uh, right… Well, I think that one's hurting now too!" Rainbow Dash responded as she continued to flinch that wing.

The Doctor chuckled and smiled. "I think I know what the trouble is." He answered as Rainbow Dash whimpered. "A severe case of lazy-itis." Afterwards, he pushed her outside as I once again followed her with narrowed eyes.

"B-But, you got me all wrong, Doc! I'm not being lazy!" Rainbow pleaded, ironically speaking the truth.

"You're fine, Rainbow Dash. Give it some time and you'll be right back in the swing of things." The Doctor explained and then walked back into the hospital.

"Good day, Rainbow Dash." The first nurse stated and followed the Doctor.

"Take care!" The second nurse added, repeating the same action.

"What am I gonna do? I'll never get to sleep without knowing what happens to Daring Do!" Rainbow Dash announced and then paused. "...Which may not be such a bad thing..."

"Alright, then…" I replied, eager to see Fluttershy again. "Well, do whatever you want. I'm telling you the best option is to ask Twilight, but…" I shrugged. "It's your choice."

"Don't worry, Alex." She smiled deviously once again. "I've got a plan…" She rubbed her hooves together.

"…okay… Well, I'm going to see Fluttershy. I'll see you later." I replied and began walking towards the path.

She chuckled lightly. "Don't worry…you will…"

I glanced back at her a bit, raising an eyebrow, but then I rolled my eyes and continued walking.

I actually dropped off the drawing at my house before heading to Fluttershy's. When I reached Fluttershy's cottage, I smiled, knowing what I was going to do to surprise her. I knocked on her cottage door and quickly hid nearby. After a moment, the door open, and she walked out, looking around. "Hello…?" When she turned her back towards me, I quickly jumped out from my hiding spot and embraced her tightly.

"Guess who's all better?"

She gasped and instantly brightened up. "Alex!"

"Fluttershy, I missed you." I responded. "You made me want to come out of the hospital so soon."

"Well, I missed you too… But you're here now!" She smiled brightly.

"Yeah! I'm ready to spend some time with you. Want to play that game you and Twilight brought for Rainbow Dash?"

"Sure!" Fluttershy smiled and led me inside.

We both sat on the floor and set up the game between us, of course, us being across each other. We set up the pieces on our own custom spaces on our side and began preparing for the sinking of clouds and whatnot.

"Do you want to go first, Alex?" Fluttershy asked me.

"No, no." I shook my head as I smiled. "You go first."

She giggled a little and faced her side of the board. "Okay. Um…" She placed her hoof to her chin. "Sky five?"

I chuckled lightly. "You got a part of my cloud…"

She giggled and delightfully clapped her hooves, creating such a cute reaction, which then caused me to smile a bit more. She went again and eventually destroyed my whole cloud. We both shared a laugh and continued playing, causing us to lose track of the time.

It was already night time outside, surprising us almost greatly. We had played several games, but we were too busy to notice the day go by fast. After our last game, we finished and placed it in the box. Fluttershy yawned and looked tired.

"Are you sleepy, Fluttershy?" I asked.

"Yes…a little…" She responded, a little weary.

I smiled lightly. "Go to bed. I'll finish up here."

She returned a tired smile. "Thank you, Alex…" She gave me a kiss and a short cuddle before turning around towards the stairs, also taking a glance at me. "You're the best…" Afterwards, she began walking up the stairs. I continued to smile and began cleaning up, placing the board game away and cleaning up several other things.

After several minutes, I began hearing a faint barking in the distance. I walked towards the window and looked outside. I could see lights dancing in the sky, causing me to form a questionable face. I walked up to Fluttershy's room. I could see her resting on the bed.

"Fluttershy…" I called her, whispering to see if she was asleep or not.

"Hm…?" She answered softly, raising her head and looking at me.

"I'm sorry; I didn't wake you up, did I?" I asked.

"No… I was just about to go to sleep. Why? What's wrong?"

"There's something going on in town… I don't know what it is and I want to go check it out…"

"I'll come with you…" She answered, already beginning to get out of bed.

"Are you sure, Fluttershy…? I mean…I'd rather you get some sleep."

"It's okay…" She responded as she placed on her robe. "Let's go."

"Alright…"

We walked over to town, but in a more rushed matter. We came across several ponies near Twilight's house. One was a light blue one in a skin tight black suit… Rainbow Dash…? The other ponies were the staff from the hospital…

"Rainbow Dash, what in the world is going on? Why are you stealing slippers?" The Doctor asked, demandingly.

We continued to hear barking, causing us to look at where the sound was coming from. We widened our eyes when we saw it was one of the patients…

"Hey, get back to the hospital!" The security guard that was with them ordered and ran her to the hospital.

"What's all the ruckus?" Applejack asked as she walked towards us.

"Oh, I'd say it's more of a fracas than a ruckus." Pinkie Pie randomly popped up in front of us.

"What's going on, Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked, highly intrigued on why she's in the situation she is now, as the Doctor gave her the same look.

Rainbow Dash hesitated and crossed her forelegs. Finally… she sighed. "I'm an egghead…"

"Pardon?" Rarity questioned.

"See, I was trying to get back into the hospital to finish the last chapter of—

"-'Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone'!" Twilight finished Rainbow Dash's sentence.

"You got me…" Rainbow Dash responded, lowering her head in angry shame.

"Wow, I knew the book was good, but I didn't know it could drive a pony to petty theft!" Twilight commented.

"Good? Try awesomely amazing." Rainbow corrected. "That book is undeniably, unquestionably, un-put-down-able! But then I had to put it down; I was sent home before I could finish it."

"Well, I'm glad that's all this is about." Twilight replied.

"There's no reason to go around causin' a ruckus—

"Fracas!" Pinkie Pie interrupted Applejack, sticking her tongue out and closing her eyes afterwards.

"...causin' a fracas…" She corrected. "Just because you like to read."

The hospital staff sighed and left almost angrily.

"Do you feel better now, Rainbow Dash?" I asked, helping her up from the ground. "No pony here cares that you called us an egghead. We actually just care that you finally discovered reading to be a nice way to spend your time."

She smiled lightly. "You're right…" She looked over to Twilight. "Twilight! I need to borrow that book right now!"

Twilight giggled. "Of course Rainbow Dash, come on in." She led her inside.

Applejack yawned. "Well, everypony! Let's get us back to sleep then!"

The rest of the girls agreed as they walked away. I chuckled a little and began walking Fluttershy back to her cottage.

When we were both at her door, I began to retire myself for the night. I looked at her, making eye contact, and smiled. "Well, Goodnight, Fluttershy. Sleep well."

"You too, Alex." Fluttershy returned a smile as well and kissed me.

After I made sure she returned home well, I retired to mine.

Comfortably tucking myself in bed, I looked to the side of me to see my drawing of Fluttershy right there, lying on the nightstand. I smiled warmly and closed my eyes. Yeah…I'll give it to her on Hearts and Hooves Day… just another holiday I used to think that I would never celebrate. I mentally chuckled. Well… I will now.

Just as I finally began to step into slumber…somehow… that picture of…Chrysalis… seemed to lurk around my mind a little…remaining there before it finally vanished after a few seconds…

Hearts and Hooves Day

Episode 43 – Hearts and Hooves Day

I woke up, feeling excited. I already knew it was Hearts and Hooves Day. I basically had memorized it when I continuously began to think about spending the wonderful day with Fluttershy all the time. Of course, I didn't buy her the gifts beforehand. Flowers? They wouldn't have been as fresh as if I had bought them the day before. I noticed how I continued to think so much about the day already that I quickly jumped out of bed, but quickly made it before leaving to do something else.

My ears perked up and I remembered to take a shower. I raced to the bathroom and jumped into the tub. I turned on the shower and bathed myself. I made sure to scrub/rinse really well. I have to look my best for Fluttershy! Afterwards, I jumped out of the tub and shook my coat and mane, drying anything left with a towel. I walked towards the mirror and smiled, showing my teeth. I observed myself for a moment, feeling highly confident. Then, I quickly walked out of the bathroom and downstairs. I grabbed my saddlebag from the counter in the hallway and placed it on.

Of course, I had placed several bits inside, making sure I had everything I needed to make sure our day was fantastic. I also inserted my drawing of Fluttershy. Before, heading out, I walked to the refrigerator and grabbed the picnic basket I had inside and placed it in my saddlebag as well. After, I took in a deep breath and presented a great smile. I opened the door and walked outside.

I was immediately confronted by many decorations for Hearts and Hooves Day. There were couples everywhere, obviously being intimate, and the color of red and even light pink flooded the entire town. Nonetheless, I trotted towards the stands of items they were selling for this special day.

As I waited in line, I began hearing small grunts of effort. I turned my head to try to find out where it was coming from, but I actually saw a huge card in the form of a heart being carried past me. I managed to spot Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle struggling with it. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were on each side of the card, grabbing it with their teeth and trying to keep a grip on it while not ruining it. Scootaloo was underneath, giving support for the middle.

"Um…hey girls… need any help…?"

"No…thank you!" Applebloom responded, her words being slightly muffled due to the card in her mouth.

"Alright… be careful…" I replied.

"Okay!" Applebloom exclaimed, still muffled, as they continued to walk away carefully.

Hm... I thought. I wonder if they are taking that to school… They're probably having a party or something… I lightly shook my head and faced the stand, becoming the first pony in line now.

I ended up buying a bouquet of flowers that were just wonderful, beautiful, and perfect for Fluttershy. I placed them in my saddlebag. Then, I bought a heart box that was filled with chocolates. I placed that in my saddlebag as well. Next, I also bought a stuffed teddy bear for Fluttershy…yes… I also placed that in my bag. Finally, I began walking out of the market place until Derpy nicely stopped to see me.

"Hi, Alex! Happy Hearts and Hooves Day!" Derpy exclaimed and presented a card towards me. I slightly widened my eyes and grabbed it. I opened it and read it. It was a Hearts and Hooves Day card…expressing her wishes for me to have a happy Hearts and Hooves Day…just like she told me… I smiled and hugged her.

"Thanks Derpy. That really means a lot." I placed it in my saddle bag.

"You deserve it!" She smiled brightly. "Are you going to see your very special somepony?" She asked.

"Yeah." I nodded. "What about you? Do you have a very special somepony?"

She slightly frowned. "No…"

I tilted my head and became concerned for her. "Do you want me to help you look for one?"

She managed to smile again. "Thanks, Alex, but I don't want to interrupt your Hearts and Hooves Day. I'll be fine! Maybe I'll meet some pony."

I still felt a little bad, definitely knowing how it feels like to be alone. "Alright… Well I really hope you find somepony, Derpy. You really deserve it as well."

"Thanks, Alex." She smiled a bit more. "Well, I should let you get back to your day. See you later!" She waved and began flying away.

I waved as well and began heading towards Fluttershy's, hoping she has a fantastic one as well.

When I arrived at Fluttershy's door, I began feeling romantic, so I knocked on her door and waited with a smile on my face. Seconds later, she opened it and smiled to see me as well. Instead of our usual greeting, I bowed and began to speak.

"Hello madam, I was wondering if you might spend this wonderful day with me as my very special somepony?"

She giggled and decided to play along. "Sorry, I already have a very special somepony. I'm actually waiting for him right now."

"Oh…?" I raised an eyebrow, still continuing the fun. "And who exactly is this 'very special somepony'?"

"Oh! He's just so amazing! He's so nice…caring…considerate…strong…brave…Oh! There are so many things to say about him! He's the best pony ever! Hooves down!"

"I see… I guess I'll just have to wait for him to come over. And then we'll so who's the best pony!"

"Careful!" Fluttershy pointed out. "He's right there!" She pointed right at me, but I playfully turned around, searching for him(myself) intensely.

"Where? Where?"I questioned quickly.

"Right here!" I was surprised to see Fluttershy tackle me to the ground after she flew up in the air and landed on me.

We both shared a laugh and looked at each other. "You're so amazing, Fluttershy." I commented.

"You are too!" She exclaimed softly and carefully pulled away from me, allowing me to stand up.

I chuckled a bit. "So ready for our very special day?"

"Of course!" She responded. "Let me get one thing though…" She raced back into her house. After a few moments, she walked back out, carrying something in her mouth. She walked towards me with her wings spread out. She looked at me with the most innocent eyes I could ever observe. Only one of her ears, the right one, was visible as her mane covered her left one. When she was in front of me, I could see what she was carrying. It was a big red heart that was hung by a small piece of rope which she carried with her mouth. I could only widen my eyes in surprise. "I made it myself… I hope you like it…"

I smiled warmly and sent her loving eyes. "I love it…" I purposely placed my lips on hers, wanting to retrieve her gift, but mostly to touch her lips. When I pulled away, holding her gift in my mouth instead, she was blushing so adorably. I smiled and placed the gift in my saddlebag. "Wait until you see the picnic I planned out for you."

Fluttershy gasped lightly in excitement. "You planned a picnic?"

"Yup. So many fantastic things wait for you ahead."

She smiled brightly and quickly embraced me.

After, we began strolling towards the park for the perfect picnic spot.

After walking through town and noticing how many couples were at the café or restaurants sitting across from each other romantically, we arrived at the park, looking around for a spot to place our picnic. There didn't seem to be that many ponies here. I assumed that most of them were spending their date…well… in town. Walking around for a few minutes, we came across a spot that attracted me. It looked as if that spot was prepared for us. Grass laid in the middle as trees stood guard around it. Fluttershy shared a joyful look and walked towards it.

I placed my saddlebag on the ground and retrieved the picnic basket from inside. I then placed the picnic basket on the ground and began setting up the area for our romantic lunch. I grabbed the blanket from inside the basket and carefully placed it on the grass. Before retrieving the food, I looked at Fluttershy. "Please, sit down, madam." She giggled and did so. I quickly reached into my saddlebag and pulled out the bouquet of flowers I bought. "For you, madam." I told her as I held it out to her.

"Oh…" She carefully grabbed it with her hooves and began smelling them.

Before she could say another word, I retrieved the chocolates from my saddlebag and also offered them to her. "Also for you, madam."

She placed the flowers down to retrieve the heart-shaped box, releasing a surprised expression again. Yet again, before she could say one word, I grabbed the stuffed teddy bear and gently placed it in front of her. Afterwards, I smiled brightly as I faced her, sitting down.

"Oh, Alex… you're so thoughtful… I appreciate this… I really do! These are just so many nice things… I feel bad now…"

"Why? I quickly asked, tilting my head and looking concerned.

"Well… I feel as if I wasn't fair with the gift exchanging…"

"Are you serious?" I replied. "You made me something so beautifully! Nothing can surpass that! I promise!"

"Really…?"

"Yes, ma'am!" I answered, confidently.

She smiled and placed the items to the side and wrapped her forelegs around me. "You're the best boyfriend ever, Alex…"

I returned another smile and placed my hooves on her back. "I feel the same way about you, Fluttershy…"

We pulled away and looked at each other's eyes for a moment. We then closed our eyes and began leaning in to kiss each other. Just as our lips were about to touch, we suddenly heard little filly voices from a short distance.

"Hey, look! It's Alex!"

We opened our eyes and turned our heads to see where it came from. I noticed Scootaloo, along with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle running towards us.

"Alex! Alex!" Scootaloo called my name as she arrived and bounced happily near us.

"What? What's up?" I asked.

"Alex, we need somepony to be Mrs. Cheerilee's very special somepony!" Applebloom responded.

"Will you be her special somepony? Huh?" Sweetie Belle questioned.

"Uh…girls…" I answered, looking over to Fluttershy.

"What?" They answered, obviously not getting the hint.

"I'm kind of in the middle of something…?" I gestured my head towards Fluttershy, trying to make them remember that she's my girlfriend and we're both celebrating Hearts and Hooves Day together.

"…what do you mean…?" Applebloom inquired with a confused expression on her face.

I sighed and decided to just say it frankly. "Fluttershy's my girlfriend, remember? We're each other's very special somepony and we're spending Hearts and Hooves Day together."

"Oh…" They lowered their heads and returned a disappointed look.

"Sorry, girls…" I expressed, frowning a bit as well. "I'm sure there are other ponies who will be Cheerilee's very special somepony…"

Scootaloo sighed. "Alright… let's go." She directed towards the others and began walking away.

I frowned at them as I saw them walk away, feeling a little bad. I would go help them find a very special somepony, as well as help Derpy find hers, but I definitely can't leave Fluttershy and spend the whole day helping other ponies when I should be spending it with the one I really love…

"Alex?" Fluttershy called me, looking a bit worried. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah…" I rubbed my head with my hoof. "I'm fine, sorry about that." I began sorting through the picnic basket. "Alright…let's see…" I brought out several food items and placed them neatly on the blanket. I had personally made food for our date, with the help of Pinkie at her sweet shop. She had also had those special heart shaped candies to put on cupcakes and other things. I managed to bake some sweets and also make some sandwiches and other foods for us to eat.

When I finished, I remembered one more gift that I had for her. "Oh." I announced when I realized it. I began going through my saddlebag and finally pulled out the drawing of Fluttershy that I had made. I turned my heads towards her and offered it to her. She looked a little surprised again as she slightly widened her eyes and accepted the offer. She observed it for a moment and then looked at me with her eyes remaining open a little more than usual.

"…is this me…?" She asked, a little shocked in a good way.

I smiled gently. "Yeah…"

"…and…you drew this…?"

I nodded lightly. "I drew it in the hospital." I chuckled a little. "All I was thinking at that moment was you."

Fluttershy embraced me. "I love it…" She sighed. "You really are the best ever…I am so lucky to have you… I don't see why you were so lonely before you met us…"

I shrugged and wrapped my hooves around her as well. "I wonder about that myself too…but I guess ponies just wanted to take advantage of that instead… But it doesn't matter now. What matters is that I have an amazing girlfriend, and we have such wonderful friends.

Fluttershy lightly pulled away and faced me. "You're right… And I have such an amazing boyfriend."

I smiled, and afterwards, I closed my eyes to attempt our passionate kiss again. We both leaned towards each other. We both shared a fantastic and uninterrupted kiss this time. After several seconds, we pulled away. I spotted some activity of blush in Fluttershy's cheeks as she returned a good kind of embarrassing look to me.

"I love you…" She announced softly, almost in a whisper, to me.

I sent her loving eyes once again. "I love you too, Fluttershy."

After a moment, we began eating our lunch. I attempted to be as romantic as possible. Honestly, I wasn't too much familiar with the kind of romance that is produced today, but I figured the romance that came from my heart would be enough. I'd kindly offer anything Fluttershy seemed interested in. We even shared a few laughs when I fed Fluttershy myself. Things are going so great…

I began to reach out my hoof to pick up a cupcake with a heart on top of the frosting until I heard some movement near us, catching our attention. We turned our heads to see Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, walking towards us with some things that seemed to be for a picnic as well.

"Hi, Alex!" Sweetie Belle greeted when they stopped in front of us.

"Uh…hi, girls… What's with all this stuff?" I answered.

"Mind if you share that spot with us?"

"Uh…well…" I tried to respond. I really wanted to be alone with Fluttershy…but I wasn't really the type of pony to reject others, especially little fillies, with this sort of thing… Actually…I can just try to tell them gently… Before I could open my mouth, they began placing a blanket near us.

"Thanks!" Sweetie Belle thanked and her friends helped her set up the area.

I looked at Fluttershy and sighed. "Um…girls… what exactly are you doing…?"

"We're making a romantic setting for Big Macintosh and Cheerilee!" Scootaloo answered.

"…what…?"

"That sounds wonderful!" Fluttershy commented, smiling and closing her eyes. She didn't really seem bothered by more company…

"Thanks, Fluttershy!" Scootaloo and Applebloom retrieved plates and placed them on the blanket near us.

"Flowers!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, directing towards the empty vase. "Don't forget the flowers."

"Oops. I'm on it!" Applebloom responded and left to bring back flowers.

Scootaloo raised her head and looked at the two paths in the park, revealing Ms. Cheerilee and Big Macintosh walking from opposite sides. She gasped. "They're coming! This is gonna be perfect. Miss Cheerilee is gonna have the best Hearts and Hooves Day ever."

"With her new very special somepony." Sweetie Belle commented and giggled.

I sighed. I don't want to seem like…well…a jerk…but I really just want to spend some alone time with Fluttershy… I looked at Fluttershy and tried to continue our lunch…but it just didn't seem that great anymore…

"Hi girls." Ms. Cheerilee greeted them as they stood excitedly by us.

"Hi Miss Cheerilee!" They answered together in unison.

She spotted us and waved, greeting us both as well. Fluttershy smiled and waved back while I tried to bring a smile as well.

"So you three said you needed help identifying a tree you found here near the gazebo?" She asked them. They nodded and spread their hooves towards a nearby apple tree as they smiled brightly, showing all their teeth. Cheerilee formed a sort of confused expression for a moment and then narrowed her eyes, speaking dryly. "That's an apple tree…" Wow… I don't think I've ever heard Ms. Cheerilee speak like that before…

"Is it?" Applebloom asked and they resumed their giggling. Ms. Cheerilee lowered her head and almost actually looked annoyed. Don't worry… I think I feel the same way as you do… Then, Big Macintosh came by, carrying a toolbox and placing it down on the ground. He opened it and picked up a hammer, looking towards the perfectly fine gazebo above us. He noticed this and widened his eyes. "Oh, sorry big brother. We went and fixed up the gazebo all on our own." She pushed him closer towards Ms. Cheerilee, causing him to drop his hammer and remain silent. "See?" Um…

Scootaloo also pushed Cheerilee closer to Big Macintosh. "As long as you're here, why not have a bite to eat from this romantic-looking picnic?" She pointed towards the picnic near us. "Oh gosh, seems like there's only room for two."

"I guess we'll just be going then, huh." Applebloom added and they immediately sped off, but not before Sweetie Belle came back and began playing a gramophone. Afterwards, they hid in a nearby bush as classical, and in some way cheesy, romantic music filled the air. I narrowed my eyes and lowered my head, beginning to feel annoyed. Couldn't they have just chosen somewhere else…?

What the girls did really resulted in an awkward silence from all of us. I couldn't even really speak to Fluttershy because the situation with Big Macintosh and Cheerilee was really bothering me and making me uncomfortable. All I could really do was wait, and hopefully we both might somehow be alone again… Big Macintosh and Ms. Cheerilee could only look at each other awkwardly. She tried to look around and made some uneasy small talk. "Beautiful day we're having…"

Big Macintosh merely looked straight upwards and around us. "Eeyup."

"Any big plans for tonight?" She asked.

He picked up his hoof and rubbed it on his chin as he looked back in thought. "Nope." He answered, shaking his head.

They could only look around, even glancing at us a bit. Then, Cheerilee turned her attention back towards Big Macintosh. Unexpectedly, she stared at him and slowly began to lean towards him, inch by inch as he could only stare back with a blank expression.

"Big Mac..." Cheerilee announced, almost as if she was ready to ask something…

"Eeyup?"

"You have something stuck in your teeth…" She pointed out, pulling away. Coincidentally, the record scratched and stopped playing.

"AW COME ON!" Sweetie Belle announced loudly from the bush, but was quickly pulled back in by Scootaloo.

The record then strangely began playing erratically.

"Well this has been... strange." Ms. Cheerilee said as Big Macintosh finished picking his teeth with a toothpick.

"Eeyup." He answered with a widened eye.

I agree…

"I need to get going. I'm pretty sure Alex and Fluttershy here don't want to be disturbed." I mentally nodded. Cheerilee began turning around. "But it's always great running into a good friend."

"Yup." Big Macintosh answered briefly, returning to his smile, and then they both walked away casually.

I sighed… Finally… That was really… uncomfortable…

The three girls eventually came out of the bush and walked towards where they set up the picnic.

"Aw! What did we do wrong?" Sweetie Belle asked as they began removing what they set up.

"I don't know…" Applebloom returned an answer sadly. "We were so close!" She sighed. "I guess we should be going…" They finished packing and Applebloom glanced over at us. "Sorry to bother you two."

"It's…alright…" I responded. I'm just glad that we can finally be alone again…

Afterwards, they began walking, possibly towards town.

"Is everything alright?" Fluttershy asked, most likely noticing my expression.

I shrugged. "It's just that… I don't really want to be interrupted while we're spending some time together like this… This is our special day, and I want to make the most of it…together…alone…"

"I understand…" Fluttershy placed a hoof on my shoulder and managed to slip out a soft smile.

As usual, her smile caused me to return one as well. "Come on, let's finish. There are still other things I want to do with you today."

She lightly giggled and nodded. "Okay."

After, we finished our sweets and drank up our drinks. We finished with our lunch. Just as I was beginning to fold the blanket to place it back in the picnic basket, Applebloom and her friends came by us again.

"Oh…sorry…" She apologized. "Were you still using this spot…?"

"No, it's okay, Applebloom." I answered, giving a smile. "We just finished eating and Fluttershy and I were about to go do something else."

"Oh, okay!" Her face brightened up. "So it's alright if we use this spot?"

"Sure. Knock yourselves out." I replied as I placed the blanket in the basket, along with the other things leftover.

"Alright!" They cheered and slapped hooves.

We both released a small chuckle.

"Come on." I told Fluttershy, placing her gifts in my saddlebag, along with the picnic basket. "Let's go drop off your stuff at home. Then, we'll do something else together!"

"Mmk." She nodded happily.

As we began walking away from the area, I noticed the girls setting up a picnic again, bringing out two cups of something pink… Hm…

Strolling through town, we came across Twilight. She contained a saddlebag full of books. She spotted us as well and walked over to us, sending a greeting. "Hey, you two! How is Hearts and Hooves Day going for you?" She asked.

We exchanged a brief look with each other and faced Twilight again. "It's going great." I answered. "We're actually off to Fluttershy's cottage to drop off her stuff and then we're going to go do something together!"

"That's great." Twilight replied, smiling with her eyes closed.

"What about you?" I teased, nudging her with my hoof. "Do you have a very special somepony you're spending this fine day with?"

She blushed and looked away bashfully. "No…" She looked back at us, her blush fading away. "I'm too busy reading books." She presented the books in her saddlebag to us. "It's all fine."

"Alright. Well, I hope you have a great day, Twilight."

"You too! Have fun, you two!" She teased me as well, beginning to walk away.

However, I wasn't going to let her end with that comment, playfully. I turned back to look at her. "Why don't you ask Spike to be your very special somedragon!"

I heard her giggle from a small distance. "Shut up!" She told me playfully.

I smiled and looked at Fluttershy, who was also giggling a little. Then, we resumed our way towards her cottage.

When we arrived, I helped her place the bouquet of flowers somewhere in water, then I placed the half-filled box of chocolates in the fridge (the other half was eaten when we shared them at the picnic), and finally placed the teddy bear on her bed upstairs. I also managed to place the drawing in a picture frame and place it on a counter inside.

Doing this made some room in my saddlebag. It wasn't heavy, but it had made it slightly lighter. The things that remained in my saddlebag were some bits, Fluttershy's amazing hoof-crafted gift, Derpy's nice card, and the picnic basket. I thought for a moment and decided I could probably drop the stuff at my home so there will be absolutely no distractions when spending the rest of the day with Fluttershy.

"What do you want to do now?" Fluttershy asked me as I walked down the stairs.

"Hm…" I thought about that, placing my hoof on my chin. "Maybe something calm…soothing…where we can just do nothing but be together…"

"Lie on the grass and stare at clouds?" Fluttershy offered.

I placed my hoof back on the floor and nodded. "That sounds nice." I walked to Fluttershy and gave her a quick kiss. "I'll be right back. I'm going to drop off this saddlebag at my house and then we'll go out, alright?"

"Okay." Fluttershy agreed, smiling.

"See you in a few minutes!" I announced and began rushing towards my home, not wanting to waste any second without her.

I quickly returned back to her home after getting rid of my saddlebag back home. I opened the door to see Fluttershy playing with Angel. I smiled at the scene and walked up to her. "Ready to go?" I asked.

"Oh." She looked up to me, almost surprised to see me. "Okay!" She began standing from the floor until Angel tugged at her front hoof, wanting her to stay with him. Fluttershy noticed and lowered herself again to speak with him. "Sorry, Angel. I have to go for a while now…" He lowered his head sadly and began hopping away.

I felt a little bad for him. "Why don't you bring him along?" I suggested.

"Are you sure it's fine…?" Fluttershy questioned.

"Sure!" I responded, smiling.

Fluttershy sent me a thankful smile and called out to Angel. "Angel!" He perked his head up and looked at Fluttershy. "Want to come with us?" He didn't seem too excited. Nonetheless, he hopped onto Fluttershy's back, and we began to leave the cottage.

Outside, we decided to head to the park again to relax. However, I noticed Fluttershy flying softly beside me, causing me to feel a little of longing for…

Fluttershy noticed my expression and frowned. "What's wrong?"

I sighed. "Lately… I've been feeling a little…hm…what's the word I'm looking for…" I shrugged. "Longing, I guess…"

"What do you mean?" Fluttershy inquired, concerned.

"Well… especially since you're my girlfriend… there's so much more we could do if I was able to fly… I mean… we could fly so high in the sky!" I chuckled at the thought, but slightly frowned again. "But… I'm limiting you to the ground… and I'm starting to feel bad about it…"

"Oh…don't feel bad about it…" Fluttershy tried to comfort me. "Really, I don't mind if we both can't fly. I love being with you. It doesn't matter where we are, as long as we're together…

I looked at her and observed her for a moment. I noticed how she smiled lightly, wanting me to feel the same way as well… Again… as always… I managed to smile lightly because of her. "Thanks, Fluttershy…"

When we arrived at the park, we picked a spot to lie in. Fluttershy then landed, allowing Angel to hop off and begin to scurry around near us. We then lay next to each other, looking at the clouds above us. I inhaled the air and then exhaled. I looked at Fluttershy's side, noticing how her hoof was alone. I slid my hoof on the grass and gently grabbed her hoof, causing Fluttershy to be gently startled, but she looked over to me and noticed what I did. Afterwards, she blushed and tightened the grip on my hoof.

Staring at the clouds was a nice and gentle way to spend our time with each other. Most ponies would consider it as a waste of time actually…probably because you don't really do anything…but that's more for ponies like Rainbow Dash.

"Still…" I slipped out from my thoughts.

"Hm?" Fluttershy questioned, looking at me…

"It would be great being up there…" I pointed towards the clouds. I chuckled a little and shook my head. "Sorry, Fluttershy. I'm rambling again…"

"No, don't be…" Fluttershy responded, placing her hoof on my chest. "It's great to have dreams…"

"Hm…" I frowned slightly. "I know I can probably ask Twilight to put that spell on me…but it only lasts for a while and it's very hard for her to do… I don't want to bother her… Even so… I still wouldn't really feel…me…" I sighed. "I hope I'm not sounding selfish or anything… but I would only feel me if I was born with wings… but as you can see…" I looked at my sides. "I wasn't…"

"Well… either way, Alex… all I can do is hope or wish for you to have some…"

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to make you feel sad…"

"It's okay…" She managed to smile a bit. "I'll take a kiss…" She told me while beginning to pull back her head bashfully as her cheeks reddened.

I smiled as well and brought my head closer to her. "Of course…" Just as I was about to lean in for a sweet agreement, Angel hopped between us and slapped me in the face. Of course, it didn't hurt, but it did distract me and caused me to open my eyes. "Angel?" I questioned. He tapped his feet on the ground as he crossed his legs and looked at me with an irritated look on his face. I lightly smirked and decided I could do a little teasing since he interrupted our kiss. "What's wrong? Afraid that I'm going to take your mom away from you?" He furrowed his eyebrows and raised his paw to possibly slap me again, but a rumble in his tummy stopped him and caused his eyes to widen.

Fluttershy giggled. "Looks like Angel's hungry."

"I suppose we can go to the sweet shop and get some snacks…" I looked at Fluttershy and formed loving eyes. "And maybe we can share a ice cream float together…"

She did the same to me. "That sounds wonderful…"

But before we could show any love or affection, Angel tapped his foot impatiently between us, causing us to share a small laughter and agree to his demands. I stood up and helped Fluttershy with my hoof. Angel hopped on Fluttershy's back and we then began heading towards the sweet shop at Sugarcube Corner, stopping on the way to retrieve my saddlebag with bits.

Arriving at Sugarcube Corner, we walked through the door, hearing the bell ring after. Mrs. Cake heard this too as she trotted over to us. "Hello! I'm guessing you two are here for the special too?"

"Special?" I asked, a little confused.

"Yes! In Hearts and Hooves day, we have discounts on all our couple-themed treats!"

"Alright then." I replied, smiling. I looked at Fluttershy. "Anything you want?"

"I'm fine with that ice cream float." She answered me.

I nodded and faced back at Mrs. Cake. "We'll take an ice cream float." I heard Angel tap his foot. "And a small piece of carrot cake."

"Coming right up! Go ahead and take a seat!" Mrs. Cake then began trotting into the kitchen. We walked towards a nearby table and sat across from each other. Angel moved to Fluttershy's shoulder, excitedly waiting for that carrot cake we promised him.

We heard the bell ring as another couple of ponies walked in.

"You're my shmoopy-doopy sweedy-weedy pony pie." We heard, causing us to look back to see it was actually Big Macintosh expressing that sentence to Ms. Cheerilee.

"No, you're my shmoopy-doopy sweedy-weedy pony pie." Cheerilee responded.

They obviously looked in love…which really confused me.

Mrs. Cake came out and brought us our order, noticing them as well. "Why, hello! What can I get for you two today?"

"I'll have an ice cream float… for my cutie-patootie lovie-dovie honey-bunny!" Cheerilee responded.

"Um…okay…" Mrs. Cake responded and awkwardly walked back in the kitchen.

"You're my heartie-smartie smirchy-wirchy baby-waby." Big Macintosh told Ms. Cheerilee as they took a seat in the table near us.

"You're my cuddly-wuddly boopsie-woopsie pumpkin pie." Cheerilee answered, and only continued to stare into his eyes.

"Um…what's going on with them…?" I asked. "Just a while ago, they were just friends…but now they're all…" I observed them as they continued to be overly dramatic about their…romance…?

Angel didn't really care as he hopped off of Fluttershy's shoulder and began to devour the carrot cake.

"It's a little…strange…" Fluttershy slightly flinched at the sight of them.

Then, as Mrs. Cake was bringing back the float for the two of them, we heard the door bell ring again as three little fillies walked inside. It was Applejack, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. Mrs. Cake placed the float on the table between them, but they continued to stare directly at each other's eyes. They had planted their back legs on the stool and their front legs on the table, supporting their chins as they resumed their gazing. "Here you go…"

"You take the first sip, snuggle-wuggles." Cheerilee offered, pushing the float towards him.

"No, you take it, schnoodle-bump." Big Macintosh suggested, pushing the float back.

"No, you, shnooky-lumps." Cheerilee objected, repeating the same action.

"No, you, pookie-pie."

Fluttershy and I could only stare at them a little uneasily, instead of enjoying our float. Mrs. Cake turned around after witnessing the apparent love-fest they were bringing up. She walked towards the fillies. "I'm all for romance, but this is…quite uncomfortable…" I agreed with Mrs. Cake on that. Fluttershy and I were stuck with watching Big Macintosh and Cheerilee both have the same cherry in each of their mouths, playing with it. "What's happened to these two?"

Sweetie Belle chuckled nervously. "Who knows?"

Mrs. Cake could only stare at them for a while as they shifted around uneasily. I could already tell these three must have had something to do with this…especially with all their picnic planning they had been doing… "Well, these love birds will probably be planning a wedding soon. I can always use the catering business."

A wedding…?

"A wedding! That's it! Miss Cheerilee and Big Mac should get married!" Sweetie Belle suggested as Fluttershy and I continued to become uncomfortable with the scene Big Macintosh and Cheerilee were putting up. …They were both holding up the float, licking each side of it…

"How is gettin' hitched gonna keep them apart?" Applebloom asked.

"They aren't really gonna get married. They're just gonna get ready to get married."

"Sweetie Belle…" I spoke up, still being disturbed when the couple continued to be…odd… "What's going on?"

"Oh…" She answered nervously. "You see…" She rubbed her hoof on the back of her head. "We…may…have…um…got them too in love…"

"…what…?" I questioned with a confused face, but our conversation was interrupted by them, once again.

"No you biscuit-wiscuit bear!" Ms. Cheerilee exclaimed.

"Nope, you huggy-wuggy snuggy bunny!" Big Macintosh now pressed his hoof forward, actually causing the float to fly off the table and spill over its contents on the floor. Wow…

Sweetie Belle walked over to them and confronted Ms. Cheerilee. "Hi Miss Cheerilee, how are you?"

"I have a very special somepony!" She presented a photo frame with Big Macintosh inside…

"I have a very special somepony." Big Macintosh repeated…

"Yeah… we noticed." Applebloom commented.

They both leaned in more and now started rubbing their noses together…definitely starting to distract and creep me out a little… It wasn't bad or anything… It was just a little weird… I mean… just earlier today… they were just friendly… and now… I sighed mentally as they continued. What could have made them fall so madly in love with each other so quick?

"Gosh!" Sweetie Belle suddenly intervened, placing her hooves on them and spreading them apart, which they reacted by trying to reach out to each other again. "You two are so in love, the next thing you know, you'll be getting married." Sweetie Belle released her hooves, causing them to bump onto each other and then return a shocked silence.

"Married?" They both questioned in unison.

"That's right." Sweetie Bell emphasized. "Maaariiied."

"Married." They repeated, now love-struck again as they sat on their seats.

Applebloom then created a vomiting gesture and noise. "Ugh." After, she formed a stern face and walked towards Big Macintosh as they were rubbing their noses again. "'Course, if you're gonna get married…" She began pushing him away from Ms. Cheerilee. "…you wanna pick out a really nice diamond for your…" She stuck out her tongue and groaned in disgust. "ugh... shmoopy-doopy-uh-pookie-pie."

"Diamond!" Big Macintosh exclaimed and sped away, causing Applebloom to shut the door immediately after.

"Shmoopy!" Cheerilee called out in distress, having Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo try to hold her back.

"Don't you think you should start looking for your wedding dress?" Scootaloo asked. "You'll wanna look your best for your... honey-bunny snuggle-baby…"

Cheerilee suddenly stopped and waved her hooves in the air. "Oh, dress!" She sped out, even breaking the door to pieces which surprised all of us.

Before I could question anypony, the three girls ran outside. Alright… I won't go after them this time… I'm just going to spend this time with Fluttershy and hopefully the issue gets resolved some other way.

"Okay…" I announced. "At least we can spend some time alone now…" I faced Fluttershy.

She managed to form a smile and leaned forward to begin to place her lips on the straw in the float. I repeated her action and placed my lips on the other straw as well. I somehow became trapped in her gaze as we both stared into each other's eyes, drinking the float slowly. After some time, Mrs. Cake came back in.

"Whoa! What happened?" She exclaimed as she spotted the door completely broken and the other couple's former float on the floor.

"Oh…" I shook my head, being broken from our gazing. "Um, the girls placed the idea of marriage in their heads…and…well…to be honest… a lot of things happened that I am still very confused about…"

She sighed. "I'll go call a handypony…"

She left the room, allowing us to continue to drink our float.

When we finished, Fluttershy retrieved Angel from the table, who seemed to be too stuffed to move, and placed him on her back. Meanwhile, I went to the counter and placed my bits on there, paying a little more to hopefully cover the damage. However, I wanted to leave before Mrs. Cake came back so she wouldn't try to argue with me in keeping the bits I don't owe.

"Ready to go, Fluttershy?" I asked her.

"Mm-hm." She nodded, and then we began leaving through the open hole in wall which used to be the front door…

We began strolling through town, heading towards Fluttershy's cottage to drop off the sleeping Angel.

"Looks like Angel had a little too much than his little body could handle." I commented, laughing a little.

Fluttershy giggled as well. "Yup… I hope his tummy doesn't hurt when he wakes up…"

"Yeah… me eith—

We suddenly heard rumbling on the ground. We looked behind us to see Big Macintosh pulling an entire house on the ground. "What the…?" He was pulling it by a rope… and the rope didn't even snap! I also noticed Applebloom trail behind him as they passed us. I exchanged a look with Fluttershy and then began to run after them, causing Fluttershy to follow me as well.

As I began getting nearer to them, I saw Applebloom jump towards Big Macintosh and wrap her hooves around him to try to stop him, but it didn't work. He continued bouncing and I could see him heading straight for the Carousel Boutique! At the front of the building, I also saw Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle pop up, looking dirty.

"Move away!" Scootaloo announced, waving her forelegs.

"He'll get to her! He's too strong!" Applebloom responded.

The rope finally snapped, and Big Macintosh continued bouncing.

"Let him go!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, flailing her forelegs as well.

Applebloom received the message and jumped off from him.

"Huh…?" I questioned, but continued running.

"Shmoopy-doo–whoa!" Big Macintosh exclaimed joyfully until he suddenly fell through the ground. I almost actually fell inside the hole that lay before me, but I quickly stopped right in front of it, kicking some dirt inside. Fluttershy stopped behind me.

"What's going on?" She asked.

I couldn't really answer that… I honestly have no clue…

Scootaloo sighed. "I sure am glad you found those shovels."

I looked in the hole to see Big Macintosh face down on a mattress.

"One more minute and the spell will be broken!" Applebloom commented.

"Girls, what is going o—

"Shmoopy-doo!" Big Macintosh suddenly called out desperately, raising his hoof and interrupting me.

"Sweetums?" We heard Ms. Cheerilee's voice inside the boutique. Then crashes sounded after, causing the girls to look back at the boutique in surprise. They looked over to the clock tower to hear it chime. Then, the front door of the boutique was being harshly banged on until the whole wall was broken! What even surprised me more was that it was Cheerilee who did that! She literally burst out, wearing a wedding veil.

"Shmoopy-doo!" Big Macintosh called from inside the hole again.

The girls then attempted to block his view of him from her for some reason, causing her to quickly charge towards him. Fluttershy and I could only stare at the scene, switching our view from one another as Cheerilee continued to hurriedly rush towards Big Macintosh. The girls also continued to stare at the clock tower until Cheerilee was nearing them. Then, they closed their eyes tightly and braced themselves for impact.

Ms. Cheerilee went through them, knocking them like bowling pins and causing them to fly up in the air. She then jumped towards the hole, preparing to meet Big Macintosh. Really… we both could only stare in utter confusion, making everything look as if they were in slow motion.

Finally, Cheerilee bumped into Big Macintosh, landing in the hole as well. The clock tower bell chimed as dust sprayed out from the hole.

"Oh please be normal, please be normal." Applebloom cried.

Fluttershy and I looked at each other and then in the hole to see Big Macintosh and Cheerilee inside the hole, looking completely confused as well.

"Hey, Ms. Cheerilee…" I announced as stared downwards at them. "You alright?"

"Um…" She responded, looking as if she had suddenly just woke up. "Am I wearing a wedding veil?"

"Eeyup." Big Macintosh answered.

Cheerilee observed what they were standing on. "Are you sitting on a feather bed in a hole in the ground?"

"Eeyup." He repeated his answer.

"Girls!" She called out. "Can you explain why I look like I'm getting married at the bottom of a pit?"

"…We may have given you the teeny-tiniest bit of love potion... that may have turned out to actually be a love poison, and you may have gone just a teeny-tiniest bit nutty…" Sweetie Belle answered, trying to sound careful with her words.

"But we only did it because we thought you and Big Mac would be really happy if you could be each other's very special someponies on Hearts and Hooves Day." Applebloom explained.

"Our hearts and hooves were in the right place." Scootaloo added, flinching a bit.

"We appreciate that you care about us and want us to be happy but–

"But no matter how good our intentions might have been, we shoulda never meddled in your relationship." Applebloom finished Ms. Cheerilee's sentence.

"No pony can force two ponies to be together." Scootaloo agreed.

"It's up to everypony to choose that very special somepony for themselves." Sweetie Belle included.

"We're sorry." They finished with a big apology in unison.

"And you can think about how sorry you are while you're doing all of Big Mac's chores at Sweet Apple Acres." Cheerilee responded and faced Big Macintosh. "Does that seem like a fair punishment to you?"

"Eeyup." He agreed, closing his eyes in settling the deal.

"So that explains everything." I spoke as I began helping Ms. Cheerilee out of the hole.

"What do you mean?" She questioned when she was out of the hole now.

"Well…" I grunted as I tried helping Big Macintosh now. "Fluttershy and I were seeing you both all over town looking really…well…you know… and acting sappy." Big Macintosh was now out. "But, we honestly had absolutely no clue about the whole situation. Finally, we understand after the girls explained what happened to you two."

"I see…" Ms. Cheerilee responded and then looked over to the girls. "Girls, before you start with Big Mac's chores, you can start by filling in the hole again. You don't want any pony to fall and get hurt, do you?"

They sighed. "No, Miss Cheerilee…"

"Great then! Let's go, Big Mac." She began walking away with him. "Bye you two!" She directed towards us and left.

The girls then grabbed their shovels and began undoing their hole.

"Well…see you three later…" I announced, beginning to turn around with Fluttershy.

"Bye, Alex. Bye, Fluttershy." They answered.

"Bye, girls." Fluttershy said as well, and we began walking to her cottage again. I would have helped the girls with this… but it was their punishment… Anyways… as I walked nearby Fluttershy, I could still see Angel sleeping with his stomach full, causing me to chuckle lightly.

When we arrived at the cottage, Fluttershy placed Angel in his bed and then faced me. "Is there anything else you want to do for the rest of this day, Alex?" She asked.

"Well…" I tapped a hoof to my chin. "Maybe we can just spend the evening together… I don't know… perhaps… cuddling outside or something…" I felt a little embarrassed when saying this… but I did love body contact with Fluttershy. It was something that was still a bit new to me…

Fluttershy's cheeks bloomed as she looked away, but moved her eyes towards me. "Okay…"

We spent the rest of the day in and out her cottage, just being together. We kissed several times, feeling a lot of emotions between us. We played a few games, but eventually night fell. We cuddled outside, watching the stars and beautiful night sky.

"This has been the best Hearts and Hooves Day ever…" Fluttershy commented as we both continued to gaze upwards. "Well… it's really the only Hearts and Hooves Day I've spent with a special somepony… you…"

I smiled and chuckled a little. "Yeah…same here…" After a moment, I looked at her and noticed her becoming a little tired. "I should probably let you get some sleep, especially from everything we've been through today."

"Oh, alright." She replied as we both stood up. "I'll see you tomorrow though, right?"

I nodded and grabbed my saddlebag that was sitting by me, placing it on. "Of course." I walked her to her door and opened it for her. She walked in and faced me.

"Okay… Goodnight, Alex." Fluttershy pulled me closer to her for an embrace and a passionate kiss.

I smiled warmly and once again sent her loving eyes. "Goodnight, Fluttershy." I returned the kiss and after several seconds, I carefully pulled away from her.

She smiled and turned around to head to bed as I slowly closed the door behind her. I turned around as well and began to head home.

I arrived at my front door and walked in, shutting the door behind me. I placed my saddle bag on the counter and opened it. I grabbed Fluttershy's gift and took it with me upstairs. I placed it on the shelf along with my other possessions. I hung it on there actually, so I would be able to see it every time I lay in bed. Afterwards, I walked back downstairs and went through my saddlebag again. I brought out the picnic basket and placed it in the kitchen. Then, I took out Derpy's card and observed it. Hm… that reminds me… I wonder how she spent her day? Or if she found somepony too? I continued thinking about it for a moment, but eventually took the card upstairs. I placed it on my nightstand near the lit lamp and finally began getting ready for bed.

However, I felt like I wanted to take a shower first, so I entered the bathroom and turned the shower on. I rinsed for a moment until I came back out, shaking and using a towel to dry myself. I walked back to my bedroom and yawned, stretching a little as well. I wrapped myself inside the blankets in my bed and turned off the lamp. I closed my eyes and immediately began thinking about Fluttershy. Hm… I wonder if she's thinking about me right now too? I mentally shrugged and waited for dreamland.

This Hearts and Hooves Day was great…

A Friend in Deed

Episode 44 – A Friend in Deed

I opened my eyes, bringing a smile to my face again. I didn't spend much time in bed. I slightly jumped out of bed, of course, making it afterwards, and trotted downstairs. I already wanted to see Fluttershy, so I didn't care much about anything else. I opened the front door to see a pretty much normal and casual day… Hm… the sky was actually pretty orange as if it was still early… I guess I woke up a little early in the morning…

Anyways, I closed my door and began walking happily towards Fluttershy's cottage.

When I reached her front door, I knocked gently and waited for a few moments. However, I didn't hear an answer. "Fluttershy?" I gently called, trying to listen for any sounds of movement, but I didn't hear any. I placed my hoof on the door and opened carefully. I looked inside and didn't see her. I walked in and closed the door behind me. I continued walking through the cottage, looking around for any sign of Fluttershy, but it was really quiet… Hm… maybe she's actually still sleeping…

I turned towards the stairs and walked upwards, planting my hooves very softly on the ground. I eventually reached her room and peeked inside. Yeah… she's right there on the bed… I slowly and carefully stepped in her room, nearing towards her. When I was at her bedside, I observed her and immediately thought she looked so cute.

She was lying on her side in her bed with the blankets halfway on her body. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing softly and gently. I looked out the window and remembered that it was early in the morning. I sighed contently in my mind. That's right… it's too early in the morning… I continued gazing at her beauty when I noticed something that she was holding close to her chest. It was the teddy bear I gave her… I felt warm in my heart to see this. I smiled warmly and brought the blankets closer to her, gently pulling it towards her neck and silently tucking her in. She moaned lightly and snuggled herself in the bed, almost like a baby.

I continued to smile at her cuteness and lowered my head towards her cheek, planting a nice and soft kiss on there. I stroked her mane a bit and then prepared to leave her to sleep. When reaching the stairs, I took one last glance at her and sent her a loving look, even though she was asleep to see it. I then reached the end of the stairs and began walking out to the outside.

As I arrived in town and began walking towards the central part around Sugarcube Corner, I starting feeling like I wanted to frown. I thought about it for a moment and realized that I was already missing Fluttershy. Hm… She's asleep and I don't want to bother her… I sighed. I'll just have to find something else to do…but what is there to do at this time of day? I heard a rooster crow. Yep… I did wake up too early…

When I raised my head to look straight ahead of me, I saw the sweet shop and a cow walking towards the front door. When she placed her hoof on the front step, Pinkie suddenly popped out. "Morning, Daisy Jo! You here to pick up some cookies to go with your milk?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Oh ya, Pinkie, don'tcha know?" She replied, cheerfully.

"Well Mrs. Cake just baked a fresh batch of your favorite oatmeal!" Pinkie offered, jumping and sliding off of her.

"Mooo, sounds delightful!" She cried out in joy.

Pinkie Pie smiled back at her and continued trotting until she noticed me. "Oh, hey Alex!" She smiled brightly and trotted to me instead.

"Hey Pinkie." I managed to smile when I saw her reach me.

"You're up early! What's up?" She asked.

"Oh… nothing. I just woke up early I guess…no real reason…" Even though I wanted to keep a smile, it still formed into a frown.

Pinkie Pie, of course, noticed it instantly and frowned as well. "What's wrong?"

I sighed. "Well… it's just that… when I woke up a while ago, I wanted to spend some time with Fluttershy… but she's asleep and I don't want to bother her… I guess I'm really attached to her."

Pinkie giggled. "Well, she is the one who made you smile! I mean I'm jealous actually! If anypony was to make you smile, it'd be me! Pinkie Pie! But oh well, I guess love comes first, doesn't it?"

I chuckled a little. "Heheh… Yeah, I guess…"

"So what are you going to do now?" She asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. What do you normally do at this time of day?"

"I greet everypony warmly!" She closed her eyes at first, but then opened them suddenly and gasped. "Why don't you come and greet everypony with me?"

"Greet everypony…? You mean… you just go around saying hi to random ponies?" I inquired, a little confused.

"They aren't random! Everypony here is my friend! Besides, even if I haven't seen them before, I still love to make new friends!"

"Oh…" I answered, feeling inexperienced on that subject because I've never really gone out and tried to make new friends…

"Come on!" She grabbed my hoof and pulled me towards her. "Just walk by my side!" She then began trotting happily through town as I walked by her. After a few seconds, something caught her eyes. I faced her direction to see a stand set up with flowers on display. "Oh, Rose, your Calla lilies look even better than last year!" Pinkie Pie stated to a nearby familiar pony. I recognize this pony… She was the one who sold me the flowers right before I had met Derpy for the first time… "I bet you'll take first prize at the flower show again."

"Thanks, Pinkie!" She responded joyfully. "Would you like one?"

"Absolutely!" Pinkie accepted, allowing Rose to grab the flower and toss it over to her. She caught it with her mouth. She turned around and resumed walking, jumping mid-air and clapping her back hooves.

Rose turned and faced me, seeming to remember me. "Would you like one as well?"

I smiled and shook my head. "No, thanks." I waved and caught up with Pinkie, who was still walking happily. I looked at her. "So you talk to everypony, just like that?"

"Yup! Watch!" She faced towards an elderly pony walking nearby. "Looking fit as a fiddle, Mr. Waddle, and you're wearing my favorite tie!" She complimented, winking and continuing to walk afterwards.

"Aw shucks Miss Pinkie, you flatterer you." He responded, his blush causing me to smile and continue feeling happier as I walked by Pinkie.

She smiled back and faced in front of her, noticing Ms. Cheerilee and raising her hoof. "Well, happy birthday, Cheerilee."

"Thank you, Pinkie." She responded as Pinkie Pie began to walk again.

"Happy birthday, Cheerilee." I announced as well, causing her to cheerfully thank me as well.

"Happy day-after-your-birthday, Zecora!" Pinkie exclaimed towards Zecora who was walking by as well.

"What a lovely hi, Miss Pinkie Pie!" She replied.

I sent her a salute, expressing my wish for a happy birthday as well, non-verbally.

"And Miss Matilda…" She faced a donkey near an apple stand. "Happy birthday to you..." The donkey returned a confused expression. "…in one hundred and thirty two days!"

"Pinkie Pie…!" She formed an embarrassed but thankful look. "How do you remember everything about everypony?"

Pinkie Pie smiled brightly as we both continued walking away. "'Cause everypony's my friend and I love to see my friends smile!" Afterwards, she released a huge grin, causing me to notice and grin as well, revealing my upper front teeth in view.

Then, she began walking in a rhythmic motion, causing me to follow as well and share the great happiness that she was producing as she smiled with her eyes closed. I stood by her left side, joining in her rhythmic motion as I looked at her with my eyes and my face towards the front.

"My name is Pinkie Pie (Hello!)" She waved towards a passing pony by my side.

"And I am here to say (How ya doin'?)" She waved towards another pony that walked by her side.

"I'm gonna make you smile, and I will brighten up your day-aaay!" Pinkie had noticed a pony with glasses trying to tan herself, but a tree had been in her way, blocking the sunshine, so she jumped on the tree beginning to lower it down. I noticed and instantly felt the need to join, so I helped Pinkie by holding the end of the tree with my hooves and smiling at the pony lying on the chair as she returned a smile to each of us as well.

"It doesn't matter now (What's up?)" Pinkie then greeted two fillies sitting sadly nearby a building.

"If you are sad or blue (Howdy!)" The blonde filly looked at Pinkie with a confused yet still sad expression while the light blue unicorn contained a depressed face.

"'Cause cheering up my friends is just what Pinkie's here to do" Pinkie had sent me a wink and grabbed the two fillies, surprising them and tossing them towards the exit of another building, signaling for me to catch one while Pinkie caught the other. The blonde filly landed on my back while Pinkie caught the unicorn. Pinkie then jumped on to the pink railing and began sliding down, cuing me to smile and follow her lead.

"'Cause I love to make you smile, smile, smile" She sang as I slid with her, carrying the blonde-coated pony as they both stood upwards, smiling and feeling happy. This made me feel highly happy and I returned a smile towards them, sliding towards the cart of hay that Big Macintosh was pulling before us.

"Yes I do" We flew and landed on to the cart, causing Big Macintosh to wave his hooves and begin running happily.

"It fills my heart with sunshine all the while

Yes it does" I could only keep my grin as I faced the front, feeling the need to sing along with Pinkie.

"'Cause all I really need's a smile, smile, smile" Pinkie and I faced back at the two little fillies to now see them full of joy, causing me to benefit from that joy as well as I felt so much better.

"From these happy friends of mine" We then jumped off the cart. Pinkie Pie began trotting and skipping towards the schoolyard, causing me to notice and quickly sprint towards her as well, wanting to continue with the smiles she was bringing across the whole town.

"I like to see you grin (Awesome!)" Pinkie continued singing as I jump roped with her. Two fillies were holding the rope at the sides of us. She encouraged when Scootaloo ran towards us and joined us in our jumping.

"I love to see you beam (Rock on!)" Another small unicorn joined us as well.

"The corners of your mouth turned up" Pinkie placed her hooves around us, even bringing the fillies holding the jump rope together and allowing us to all jump rope at the same time happily. I didn't care on how the rope was moving by itself, but all I was caring about was how happy we were.

"Is always Pinkie's dream (Hoof-bump!)" Pinkie Pie held out her hoof towards me, making me quickly bump it with mine cheerfully.

"But if you're kind of worried" We suddenly noticed Applebloom sitting by herself sadly with a jump rope in her hooves as the other fillies continued to jump rope happily, causing me to immediately frown at her appearance. I noticed her throw the jump rope from her hooves as a sign as if she had given up.

"And your face has made a frown"

As I continued to observe her facing back from everypony while being alone, I quickly took action and carried her on my head, grabbing the rope, and jump roping while I looked at Applebloom and sang meaningfully. "I'll work real hard and do my best

To turn that sad frown upside down" I immediately felt so warm in my heart when I saw her glance at me, along with my action, and smile so warmly from it.

As Pinkie and I resumed our strolling through town, I decided to join her in her song, feeling so much happiness from it. "'Cause I love to make you grin, grin, grin" We sang together, seeing ponies gather around us.

"Yes I do" Pinkie added.

"Bust it out from ear to ear, let it begin" Pinkie and I spotted Applejack painting her barn. She contained a very tired look as she showed the wall to us and how she had only painted a small part of it while she still had much more to do. I looked at Pinkie and nodded. I then grabbed the brush from Applejack, assuring her to take a rest while we do the rest. Pinkie grabbed a brush from the yellow paint can and we immediately began painting our hearts out, using several colors to depict different images.

"Just give me a joyful grin, grin, grin" We looked back to see our work. We ended up painting the background scarlet while we added a smiling sun with hearts around it, along with clouds. Pinkie and I even added ourselves to the side of the barn, smiling brightly. We looked back at Applejack to see her highly impressed and joyful, sending us the only reward we needed.

"And you fill me with good cheer"

"It's true, some days are dark and lonely…" Pinkie sang a little sadly, causing me to lower my head and frown as I started to remember about them…

"And maybe you feel sad…" Pinkie placed her hooves on me, noticing my expression and began to embrace me.

"But Pinkie will be there to show you that it isn't that bad…" She looked at me, smiling, causing me to observe her smile and smile back. She turned around and continued walking as I joined her by her side.

"There's one thing that makes me happy

And makes my whole life worthwhile

And that's when I talk to my friends and get them to smile" Pinkie pointed her hoof to all her friends as they presented smiles as well.

"I really am so happy!" She faced the ponies to the left.

"Your smile fills me with glee!" She faced the ponies to right and resumed our walking as the ponies around us joined us in harmony.

"I give a smile, I get a smile" She faced me, causing me to smile brightly and sing her with her.

"And that's so special to me."

Afterwards, she ran along ahead of me, now beginning to cheerfully bounce off the top of roofs, allowing her other friends to join her as well.

"'Cause I love to see you beam, beam, beam

Yes I do" She landed back next to me, causing me to grin.

Tell me…" I happily joined her now. "What more can I say to make you see"

"That I do" She added once again.

"It makes me happy when you beam, beam, beam" Rarity, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy! They suddenly joined us, causing me to feel even more happiness, especially since I saw Fluttershy grinning softly at me!

"Yes, it always makes my day!" Pinkie raised her hooves as Applejack carried her, beginning to now sing softly but still very happily.

"Come on everypony smile, smile, smile

Fill my heart up with sunshine, sunshine

All I really need's a smile, smile, smile

From these happy friends of mine!"

"Come on everypony smile, smile, smile" The crowd around us suddenly joined as well.

"Fill my heart up with sunshine, sunshine" Even windows opened in nearby buildings, presenting ponies that sang along joyously as well.

"All I really need's a smile, smile, smile

From these happy friends of mine!"

I placed a hoof around Fluttershy and we sang with the crowd as Pinkie continued on with her own verse.

"Yes a perfect gift for me

Is a smile as wide as a mile

To make me happy as can be

Smile, smile, smile, smile, smile

Come on and smile

Come on and smile!" She finished, causing us to feel so much exhilaration afterwards.

I quickly faced Fluttershy, feeling so happy to see her. "Fluttershy!" I quickly wrapped my forelegs around her and gave her a tight, but soft enough, hug.

"Alex…" She called my name softly, but happily. She lightly pulled her head away and pressed her lips against mine, giving me a passionate kiss that went well.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. "I thought you were sleeping."

"Well…I was…but I woke up and came here to find you… I wanted to see you so bad..."

I gave her an understanding look. "I wanted to see you too…"

She smiled and closed her eyes, but suddenly opened them again as if she remembered something. "Oh. I just remembered that there's something I need to do in my cottage…"

I frowned slight. "Aww…Really…?"

She nodded. "Yes…I'm sorry."

I managed to smile anyway and brush her cheek with my hoof. "It's alright. I'll spend some time with Pinkie or Twilight…"

"…you can come over if you want…"

I shook my head. "I don't want to bother you while you're possibly working on something very important."

"oh…okay…I'll try to see you later…"

I nodded. "Alright. Until then, Fluttershy…" I kissed her. She hugged me and then started walking back to her cottage, giving me one last wave. I smiled and decided to look for Pinkie. I looked around first, observing to see if she was near me…but she wasn't apparently. "Pinkie?" I lightly called, continuing to look for her until I spotted her sitting on the floor as if she was thinking about something. "Pinkie? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, Alex!" She sprung up. "Maybe you can help me!"

"Help you with what?" I questioned, a little confused.

"Just come on!" She grabbed my hoof and pulled me with her.

Once she stopped, she led me towards a space between two buildings, causing me to question her. "What are we doing?"

"Okay, so you see…" She looked around slyly from outside the space and then looked back at me once she felt it was clear from some certain thing. "…there's this new donkey in town carrying this cart full of stuff. His name is Cranky Doodle Donkey. And I want to help him smile and become friends with him! But for some reason… he won't… and he won't smile." She rubbed her chin for a moment as she continued to analyze outside.

I thought for a moment as well and maybe figured out a reason. "Well…maybe…"

"Shh!" She placed a hoof to my mouth as she continued to look outside. We both saw a donkey with a huge cart of things walk past us, not noticing us. Afterwards, she pulled back and looked at me. "Okay, Alex, are you willing to help me?"

"Um sure… I guess…" I assumed I could give it a try or support Pinkie.

"Great!" She planted her hoof on her other hoof. "It's time to bring my A game! Let's do this!" She immediately sped out of the alley and began bouncing happily near him. "Howdy doody, Cranky Doodle!" He didn't answer her, but instead increased his pace, ignoring her. Pinkie grew a frown and looked at me for a moment when I caught up with her. Nonetheless, she managed to grow a smile again and bounced towards the front of him, but walked backwards as he continued to walk annoyed. "So, uh, are you moving to Ponyville, Cranky?"

"What gave you the hint there, kid?" He finally answered her and looked back to his cart. "The cart full of stuff, maybe?"

Wow…he sure was cranky… I would have stepped in to say something as he was kind of disrespecting Pinkie…but I knew what this donkey was going through… He doesn't really mean any harm… he's just that cranky to just not want to have to deal with anything…

"Well, I'd be happy to show you around!" Pinkie Pie offered, placing a hoof around him and pointed towards the town. "It's the least a new friend can do."

He managed to pull himself away from Pinkie and respond. "Listen, kid, I traveled around Equestria my entire life. I've made many friends. I don't need any more."

"Gosh!" Pinkie then spotted a couple ponies nearby who noticed her and waved, causing her to wave as well. "I could never have too many friends!"

"Well, why don't you go and make some more?" Cranky replied, flipping his hoof off to gesture Pinkie Pie.

"But I don't need to go, when I can stay and make friends..." She grabbed his ears and made them into a bow tie. "…with you." However, the ears slipped out and formed to their usual selves.

He sighed. "Look, kid, y—

"Oh, Cranky, you can call me Pinkie." She suddenly interrupted and surprised him. "All of my friends do." She fluttered her eyelashes and rushed towards me. "Right, Alex?" She asked, placing her hoof around me and smiling brightly.

"Uh…right…" I answered.

The donkey seemed to be unmotivated. "Look, kid, I came to Ponyville for some peace and quiet and privacy, to be alone with my memories." This somehow interested Pinkie, causing her to bounce towards the cart of stuff. "All I want is to get to my new home and unpack my stuff."

She jumped inside and pulled out a bauble. "Ooh, what does this bauble do?" She then stuck out her tongue and began shaking and playing with it.

"Don't touch that!" He ordered.

Pinkie threw it to the side and began shuffling through the stuff more.

"Uh…Pinkie…" I tried to say.

"Ooooooh, what's this?" She pulled out some toy that she spun into the air, causing it to float away.

"Please, don't!" He now pleaded.

"Oooh, look at these!" She pulled out wind chimes and ran her hooves through them, placing her ear near them and listening to the sounds they made. "Eeeheeeheee!"

Before he could explode in anger, I quickly placed my hooves on Pinkie and dragged her out of there. "Pinkie… I don't think you should be touching his stuff."

"Your friend has the right idea, kid." He responded, calming down a little.

I faced towards the donkey. "Listen…um…Cranky… I understand how you feel…but Pinkie's only trying to help you feel better… She doesn't mean to cause you any harm…"

"Just tell her to keep her hooves off my wagon…"

I looked at Pinkie and shrugged.

She lowered her head sadly. "Okay, Cranky." She began walking away until she suddenly jumped into the air, gasping and rushing out. I stood there for a second, confused on what she was planning next until she came running back with a party wagon, speaking quickly to Cranky. "I promised not to touch your wagon so I brought one of my own! I use it to welcome folks!" She presented it.

"Who'd'a guessed…" He briefly replied.

"Maybe we can be wagon buddies?" She suggested cheerfully, but he turned himself and his cart around and continued walking. "Well, you've gotta at least let me give you the special welcome that comes with it..." She said…a little sadder.

He stopped to take a glance at her, which Pinkie then drew a puppy face and whined. He groaned. "Let's get this over with…"

Pinkie placed her hooves on Cranky. "That's the spirit!" She then pulled him away from his wagon, facing him towards hers. She pressed a button on the side, causing it to open and suddenly play music, surprising me a bit as it revealed sweets outside as well.

"Welcome welcome welcome" She sang as she bounced around.

"A fine welcome to you

Welcome welcome welcome" She placed a party hat on his head and pulled out a trumpet.

"I say how do you do?" She blew it loudly through his ears.

"Welcome welcome welcome" She now played a loud drum.

"I say hip hip hurray

Welcome welcome welcome

to Ponyville today!" She slid on her knees as she finished, smiling brightly for a few seconds. "Wait for it!"

A sudden ding sounded and confetti unexpectedly exploded from the oven, blowing off the wig that Cranky had on his head. "Noooo!" He cried out.

Cake was then shot towards the sky from the cannons in the wagon, causing me to notice and widen my eyes. I quickly jumped back a few steps as Pinkie could only stare upwards and Cranky looked for his wig. I flinched, placing my hoof in front of my head when the cake splattered everywhere, especially on the two of them. I knew Pinkie wasn't going to mind at all…but as for Cranky…

"Oh, silly me!" She opened her eyes. "I must've put the confetti in the oven and the cake in the confetti cannons! Again!" She giggled and weirdly escaped from the cake, causing it to stay in her form and for her to chomp it all in one bite. "Mmm, still delicious! Try some, Cranky, it's sure to make you smile." She faced me. "Alex? Want some?"

"Uh…no thanks…" I answered, almost in a flinching way.

Cranky, however, continued to looked around with his hooves as he remained covered in cake.

"Oh, where is it, where is it?"

"Where is what?" She asked, turning around and revealing the wig on her flank. I assumed she must have felt it because she suddenly turned around, noticing it and widening her eyes. She yelped and jumped in the air. "Spider! Big hairy spider!" She began to jump to pound on it, but I quickly dove on top of it, protecting it from damage. Pinkie was too busy being scared that she continued to pound aggressively…but on me.

"Pinkie! Stop that!" I exclaimed through grunts.

"Huh?" She opened her eyes and noticed me. "Alex! There's a spider under you!"

"Get off…" I groaned out. She did so, allowing me to stand up. She shrieked when she saw the wig again but I quickly stopped her. "It's not a spider!"

"Huh?"

"It's a wig!"

"A wig…?"

Cranky finally wiped the cake off his eyes and growled. He grabbed the wig from the floor and angrily began to walk off in a storm of silence.

She gasped lightly. "You're losing him, Pinkie." She quickly bounced over to him before he got too far. "Wait, Cranky! Please, let me make it up to you..."

"No!" He shouted and demanded.

Nonetheless, Pinkie began dragging him against his will. "Please! Oh, please please please..." Her voice faded out as she left the area with I standing there in pain a bit.

"Alright…" I commented out loud and decided I could go see Twilight… After all… I didn't visit her as much as I used to…

I walked towards Twilight's house and knocked on the door. After a few moments, she opened and immediately smiled when she saw me. "Alex, hi!"

"Hey, Twilight." I smiled as well. "Mind if I come in?"

"Of course not!" She instantly moved to the side so I could come in. I walked in, allowing her to close the door. "What brings you here? Where's Fluttershy?"

"Well…Fluttershy had to go do something back at her cottage…and I don't want to bother her. Pinkie ran off with some donkey, so I thought I could hang out with you for a while, figuring we haven't done so in a while actually…"

"Aw… Well that's actually nice of you, Alex. Though… I'm just reading books, so I hope I don't bore you." She responded.

I chuckled a little. "Don't worry about it. It's just nice to be spending some time with my s— I quickly paused myself for some reason…

"Hm…?" She glanced at me, tilting her head a bit in concern.

"Nothing…" I walked towards the round table where a statue of a horse's head was presented. I noticed a book open on there, which I assumed to be the book Twilight was reading.

"Everything alright?" She inquired.

"Yeah…yeah…" I looked at the shelf and then walked towards it, looking for a certain book that may be interesting to read.

"Okay…" She then sat down and began reading her book, holding her cheeks with her hooves.

I continued looking through the shelves, but then my mind seemed to wander off… Then, I saw a book on magic and I suddenly came back to myself. "Hey, Twilight…" I called.

"Yes?" She questioned, removing her eyes from the book and looked towards me.

"Um…how does it feel like to cast magic?" I asked.

"Well…that's a bit of a tough question to answer, Alex…why?" She looked at me with concerned eyes.

"I don't know… I'm just curious, I guess…"

"What do you mean?"

I sighed, walked to her, and sat down next to her. I shrugged as she continued to look at me, turning her expression to a more worried one. "I mean…I don't want to sound self-centered…but lately… I've been feeling so curious about being more than a simple earth pony…"

"You mean…you want to know what it's like to be a unicorn or Pegasus?"

"Yeah…I guess…like…if I was a Pegasus… I wouldn't have to limit Fluttershy to the ground."

"But, Alex…" She placed a hoof on my shoulder. "She doesn't care about that. You know she loves you…"

I lightly nodded. "I know… I just sometimes feel bad."

"Well don't be. She loves you the way you are, no matter what."

I managed to smile a bit. "Thanks, Twilight…still… I wonder—

The door suddenly opened, interrupting my sentence.

"Hey, Twilight!" A familiar voice exclaimed.

"Rainbow? What are you doing here?" Twilight asked.

"I finished the Daring Do books you lent me." She placed them on the table we were at, noticing me as well. "Oh, hey, Alex. What's up?"

"Oh, hey, Rainbow Dash." I replied to her.

"You already finished all those books?" Twilight asked.

"Yep, are there more in the series?"

"Of course. I'm just surprised you read all these so fast…" She stood up and grabbed the books, organizing them carefully back on the shelf and pulling out the ones that I assumed Rainbow hadn't read yet. She used her magic to hold them in the air and carefully place them on Rainbow Dash's hooves.

"Thanks!" She exclaimed and flew over to the staircase, where she lay and opened the first book to begin reading with her left foreleg behind her head.

Twilight faced me again. "Was there something else you wanted to talk to me about?" She asked.

"Oh…no… I'm fine." Actually… I think there was…but I forgot about it already… "Anyway, I guess I'll just look for a book to read. Thanks, Twilight."

She smiled lightly. "Anytime, Alex."

I stood up and walked to the shelves, resuming my search for an interesting book to pass the time.

Suddenly, we all head the door open almost softly. We looked over to it to see Pinkie sadly walking inside. She almost appeared to have tears in her eyes.

"Pinkie?" Twilight questioned. "What's wrong?"

"There's this new donkey in town named Cranky… I want to be his friend and make him smile so bad…but…" She sighed as she continued pacing around the room. "I just can't believe it. Cranky said he would never forever be my friend. It was horrible."

"I know this is hard for you, Pinkie, seeing that you're friends with everypony, but you just have to accept that Cranky is gonna be an exception." Twilight understandingly responded to Pinkie's distress call. "He just... doesn't want to be bothered."

"She's right…Pinkie…" I added and sat next to Twilight, placing my hooves on the table and forgetting about retrieving a book. "Remember how I was before I realized that all you girls were my friends…? I honestly wanted to be alone... For example… Before I met you girls, all I wanted to do was stay home and be hidden away from everypony. I don't know what Cranky's been through, but obviously he doesn't want to be bothered… I remember him saying something about "being alone with his memories" so I assume he just doesn't want things to deescalate from the position they are now. You know, not to get any worse than they already are…so…maybe you should just leave him alone…at least for now…"

"Yeah, he doesn't want to be bothered by your over-the-top super-hyper antics." Rainbow added, practically ruining my explanation.

"Rainbow!" Twilight scolded.

"No, no." Pinkie shook her head lightly and sadly. "It's okay, Twilight. I get what you're saying. What you're all saying. And I guess... I can leave Cranky alone." Hearing this made Twilight return a smile with her eyes closed as she nodded her head in agreement. "...Right after he accepts my apology!" Twilight then widened her eyes and slammed her head on her book as Pinkie ran out the door.

I sighed and patted Twilight on the shoulder. "Maybe I should go make sure she doesn't… I don't know… make things worse?"

Twilight lifted her head to look towards me. "Yeah…go ahead and do that…"

I nodded and began walking out the door.

When I was outside, I just realized that I had no idea where Cranky lived. I just continued walking around town, looking for any sign of Pinkie before she arrived at his home…but I didn't have any luck. After walking around for a while, I sighed. Maybe she's already at his house…

"...SORRY!" I suddenly heard Pinkie's loud voice exclaim through town and then saw a quick pink flash speed past me. My ears perked up and I knew it was Pinkie. Immediately, I quickly ran after the flash as fast as I could.

Pinkie eventually led me to a home that seemed to be on the outskirts of town or far away. I saw her banging on the door desperately. Afterwards, she walked away, heading around the house. …what is she doing…? Then, I saw her somehow climb the roof and head down the chimney. I quickly ran to the door to try to hear what was going on.

"Cranky, please, please accept my apology!" I heard a bang sound of something harshly closing and all of sudden Pinkie was at my side, looking through the lock hole, which caused me to jump and startle me a little. "I'd do anything to make it up to you!"

"But there's nothing you can do!" He answered from within the home. "You ruined my book! You destroyed all I have to remember her by!"

"Her? Her who?" She tapped a hoof to her chin. "The special friend?"

"Go away, Pinkie!" He now shouted angrily, causing Pinkie to turn away sadly.

I frowned and placed a hoof on her. "Just leave him alone Pinkie… I know you have a good heart and you're trying to make things right or better with him…but it's best to leave him alone…from what I can see…you can't really do much more that will have him smile… Just give him time…a lot of time…"

"Okay, Alex…" She replied depressingly to me. "I guess I can…" She suddenly perked up happily as if she remembered something. "Hold on!" She then sped off.

This caused me to raise an eyebrow in curiosity, but nonetheless, I decided I could probably offer some empathy towards the donkey. I walked towards the door and remained there, silent, for a few moments, trying to think of what to say. Then, I looked at the door and took in a deep breath.

"Hey Cranky… it's Pinkie's friend… Alex… I know we don't even know each other… but I know how you're feeling right now… I don't know exactly what you've been through in your past…but all I can say is that I've been through enough to know how you feel. It's understandable that you need time to yourself…and that's what we'll give you. I know there's not much more we can do for you besides granting you this wish. I understand…" I placed my ear towards the door for any type of response, but there was none. Only silence. I sighed and began turning around, but then I saw Pinkie Pie coming back with…a donkey…? Hold on… I've seen that donkey before… Isn't that…Matilda from this morning? As Pinkie walked past me, I could only try to wonder what she was doing. "Pinkie…?"

"Shh." She shushed and began preparing herself to talk to Cranky again. She knocked and began speaking. "Cranky? It's me again. I understand that you don't wanna be my friend or accept my apology... before I leave you alone forever, I have something to at least try to make up for ruining your book."

"No, I don't want it, kid! Anything you would give me is sure to lead to some sort of disaster!" He answered harshly.

"Goodness, you really are cranky." Matilda responded.

We heard some movement of locks and chains, and Cranky slowly opened the door. Pinkie moved her head to face him, but he placed his hooves on her head and pushed it away, as if something else caught his attention… He then began staring at Matilda… These two must know each other…

"It can't be..." He quickly rushed back in to retrieve his wig and place it back on. "Is it really you?"

"It can, and it is."

"Matilda!" He exclaimed and walked towards her. "But how?"

"Pinkie." She faced Pinkie, who returned a bright smile as she waved her hoof.

"But... I never told you about her!"

"You didn't have to." Pinkie Pie responded. "I put two and two and two together and it added up to Matilda." She pointed her hoof towards her.

"What?"

"Well when you were talking about your souvenirs, you said something about trying to find a special friend!" Pinkie Pie explained. "And y'know, I wasn't just born yesterday, nuh-uh! My birthday isn't for another seventy five days!"

"Huh?" He questioned, still confused.

"And then, in your scrapbook, there was a flower, an old ticket, and a menu from the Grand Galloping Gala! And I knew I recognized all these things."

"But how could you have ever seen them before?"

"Because I also have them in my scrapbook." Matilda answered his question, presenting a pink scrapbook with a blue bow in the top.

"And I'd seen them in Matilda's book!" Pinkie added excitedly, pointing towards the book.

Matilda then opened her scrapbook, allowing Cranky to take a view inside it. "Oh, Matilda. The night we met at the gala was the most magical night of my life…" He took a pause to continue to analyze the pictures and such. "I couldn't wait to see you again. But when I came to your room the next day, you were gone."

"Didn't you get my note?" Matilda asked.

"No, I never got it! Ever since that day I've gone from town, to town, to town... searching all over Equestria for you, until finally I gave up. I came to Ponyville to retire from my search…"

"I was living in Ponyville the whole time. I always hoped that someday you would come and find me. Doodle."

Pinkie Pie widened her eyes from shock. "Uh. Matilda? Nopony calls him Doodle..." She rubbed her hooves anxiously.

Cranky walked closer to Matilda in a sort of romantic way. "Nopony... but Matilda. Mmm." They then began rubbing each other's head, causing me to smile and begin to see things lighten up and quickly escalate to better statuses. I also noticed Pinkie grin brightly.

"Oh, Doodle, I'm so happy to see you." Matilda commented and kissed him on the nose.

Cranky suddenly widened his eyes in shock and began quivering. Pinkie widened her eyes as well, but in excitement. We both observed how his mouth continued shaking and quivering until it finally transformed into a bright smile. Pinkie gasped and smiled very brightly as well, seeing how her wish was complete. Both of the donkeys looked at each other and rubbed their heads happily.

"So does this mean that you accept my apology?" Pinkie asked hopefully.

"Yes, Pinkie, I accept your apology, and I am honored to call you my friend." Cranky responded proudly.

From standing up, Pinkie quickly sat down and began grinning as if she was holding something in. But then I noticed that she was actually about to literally explode in happiness as I could only slightly widen my eyes at her. She shook violently and suddenly burst upwards in the air like a rocket. "Woohoo! This is just fantastic!" She began falling back towards the ground, causing me to quickly hold out my hooves and catch her. Nonetheless, she continued her cheering as she bounced around happily. "Ooh, now we can hang out together, and chat, and sing songs, and…" She gasped. "Party! Oh, I can throw you guys a big party! It'll be called a 'Welcome to Ponyville, I found my lost love, I'm BFF's with Pinkie Pie Party'!" She raised her hooves in excitement, but then noticed how calm they were with each other. "...Or maybe something less over-the-top and not so super-hyper."

"Pinkie, we're eternally grateful to you." Cranky explained. "But... Matilda and I just want to spend some time together in peace and quiet."

"Oh. Um, but we're still friends?"

"Pinkie, you went way, way, way out of your way to make me happy." Cranky walked over to Pinkie and placed his hoof on her shoulder. "Of course we're friends."

Matilda then walked over to Cranky, which caused him to begin walking her to his home.

"Great!" Pinkie exclaimed and watched as they both walked inside.

"Come on, Pinkie." I announced. "Let's go home."

She smiled brightly and began walking with me as we headed towards home.

"I'm so glad!" She commented.

I chuckled lightly. "Yeah… me too…" I then turned from her to face the road. "You know… it kind of reminds me of myself… Cranky didn't smile until he was reunited with his long lost 'special friend'. Now he's happy. I met you girls and realized you all were my friends… and… I smiled. And I can't thank you all enough for that."

She smiled at my comment and nodded. "You're really welcome, Alex. But like I said before, I'm sure it was mostly Fluttershy!" She grinned brightly. I could only chuckle warmly at that. "Hey, Alex!"

"Hm?" I faced her.

"I just got an idea for a letter to the Princess. Want to hear it?"

I then smiled warmly. "Sure, Pinkie."

She cleared her throat and began speaking. "Dear Princess Celestia, there are many different kinds of friends, and many ways to express friendship. Some friends like to run and laugh and play together! But others just like to be left alone, and that's fine too. But the best thing about friendship is being able to make your friends smile!" She finished as she looked at me, which only made me smile even more.

"That's perfect Pinkie. Great job."

She returned a smile as well and lightly nodded. Then, she began singing.

"He had a Cranky Doodle sweetheart

She's his cranky doodle joy" Suddenly, she shifted her tone from sweet and nice to excited and rapid, singing loudly outside Cranky's window.

"I helped the Cranky Doodle boy, yeah!

I helped the Cranky Doodle boy!"

"Pinkie!" Cranky and Matilda both scolded.

"Whoops, privacy. Sorry." Pinkie apologized.

I grabbed her hoof and began leading her back on the road, still retaining my smile from her crazy, yet positive, antics.

When we were back in town, Pinkie faced towards me. "Hey, Alex. Are you coming with me to Twilight's so she can write the letter?"

I shook my head lightly. "Sorry. I have to go see Fluttershy. Can you tell her I said Goodnight?"

"Sure! Goodbye, Alex!" She gave me a hug before hopping cheerfully towards Twilight's home.

I smiled at her action and began walking towards to Fluttershy's cottage.

Arriving at her door, I lightly knocked. Moments later, she opened it to see me. "Oh, Alex!" She quickly embraced me. "I'm so sorry I was home all day."

I placed my hooves on her wings and patted them softly, smiling and assuring my words. "It's alright, really."

She pulled her head back to see my eyes. "Did you have fun…?"

I nodded. "Today was an interesting day with Pinkie…" I chuckled lightly.

Fluttershy smiled as well. "I was taking care of an injured animal…it seemed serious…"

"Is that animal alright now?" I asked, almost concerned.

She nodded. "Yes. All better."

"That's great." I then pushed my head towards her and gave her a passionate kiss. After a few seconds, we pulled away and observed our surroundings. It was night time already. We looked back at each other. "I guess I should leave you to rest now. I'm pretty sure you're tired, especially after taking care for an animal."

She giggled. "A little…but I guess I'll go ahead and get some sleep."

"Alright." I carefully and lightly pulled away from our tight embrace. "Goodnight, Fluttershy."

"Goodnight." She kissed me once more before retiring back to her home.

I smiled lovingly and turned around, beginning to head home as well.

I arrived home, feeling a little tired myself. I walked upstairs and towards my bed, planting myself on the softness of the covers and snuggling with them. As I closed my eyes and covered myself, I began thinking about today.

Pinkie really did teach me that the ponies here are friendly… and I found out how great it feels to make somepony smile. Heh… it felt good to sing with her too as well… I never really sing much…but… it just felt so right… I sighed contently mentally. Well…time to get some sleep…and remember to make sure everypony smiles.

Putting Your Hoof Down

Episode 45 – Putting Your Hoof Down

I became conscious, but my eyes remained closed. I made little movements in bed, feeling like I wanted to go back to sleep. However, I opened my eyes and just sat up, yawning and looking around. I decided to walk to the bathroom and turn on the water in the sink. I placed my hooves under the running water and rubbed some of it on my face and eyes. Afterwards, I turned it off and looked in the mirror. I observed myself for a moment and played with my mane a bit, fixing it up for my presence with Fluttershy. Seeing Fluttershy in my mind, I quickly brightened up and felt excited to see her. I walked out of the bathroom with a smile and down the stairs. I stretched and loosened myself up a bit before opening the front door and walking out.

Standing outside, I looked at the clear blue sky above me. It presented maybe noonish? The breeze around town was like a cooling fan that renewed me. I inhaled its wonders and began walking towards Fluttershy's cottage, hoping I have a wonderful time with her.

I arrived at her door, beginning to her some noises inside. Good, she's awake! I smiled and lightly knocked. She opened it and smiled brightly, but softly.

"Alex! I was just about to feed my animals."

"Really?" I responded. "Can I come in?"

"Of course!" She led me inside. I noticed that there weren't any animals around. I assumed that she was just about to call them.

"Lunch time!" She rang a bell and called so gently and sweetly. "Who's hungry?" Many animals immediately came out from their homes, even from the outside, and scurried inside, ready to receive their meal. "Plenty for everypony." She began pouring a box of animal food. However, one of the squirrels unexpectedly fell on her head and on the floor. Fluttershy had made a huge pile of food, and all the animals were rushing to eat it. I slightly widened my eyes at their behavior. Another mouse came by and knocked the bunny that was eating on top of the hill off from the hill, even shocking me a bit more. Wow…these animals are really…competitive for their food… "Slow down, sweetie." She suggested. All the animals suddenly stopped chewing on their food and looked at Fluttershy for a moment. Then, they just continued to chomp rapidly on the meal, practically ignoring her. Nonetheless, Fluttershy began flying, continuing to carry the box of food until a mouse somehow jumped and pulled the box away from her. He impressively held the whole box above him and literally swallowed every piece of the food, causing him to grow significantly until Fluttershy flew towards him and took the box away, giggling.

"Fluttershy… your pets are really…um…hungry?" I commented, still a little shocked at their behavior.

She giggled once more. "Yes, they are really nice though." Suddenly, we began hearing loud thumping on the ground, causing us to look back. It was Angel. He had his front legs crossed and his eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Here you go, Angel bunny." Fluttershy began pouring the food in a bowl in front of him but he kicked it upwards, causing it to land on Fluttershy's head, bringing her down from flight and making her release the box.

"Fluttershy! Are you okay?" I quickly asked, readying my hooves to touch her.

"Yes, I'm fine." She pulled the bowl off her head and shook her mane to remove the bits of food. Angel continued his thumping, causing me to look at him in annoyance instead. "Okay, Mister Picky-pants, you win." She flew over to a table to retrieve a beautifully made salad. "Carrots, lettuce and apples, yum yum yum!" He sniffed it and merely throw it away, causing me to widen my eyes in shock. Wow… I never knew he was that spoiled… "What? But— Angel grabbed one of the cucumbers, but he purposely turned his face to a green sickly color, falling to the floor and holding a flower on his body. "Then, what will you eat?" Angel brightened up, stood up, and sped off somewhere. He came back with a recipe book, placing his paw on a picture of the same salad Fluttershy had made, except it had bananas, nuts, whipped cream, and a cherry on top, possibly other sweets inside… "I'm not sure I can even make that." He then thumped his paw angrily on the picture. "Well... I don't want you to starve... Oh, are you sure I can't tempt you with a nice crisp piece of— She had held up a piece of lettuce, but Angel just slapped it off her hoof, slapped her face, and placed the picture right on her. She sighed. "I'll make your special recipe."

As Fluttershy continued to read the recipe, I looked at Angel angrily. "What's with that, Angel? Don't bite the hoof that feeds you!"

He then returned an annoyed expression towards me and threw a bowl of food at me. The food flung all over me, but I quickly caught the bowl, not wanting it to break. I sighed heavily in anger. There wasn't really anything I could do to punish him. He was Fluttershy's pet, not mine.

"It's okay, Alex… I'll make his recipe." She continued analyzing the book. "It looks like I have to go to town to get the rest of the ingredients I need…" She stood up and placed the book on the table. Then she flew over to her room to retrieve something.

I looked at Angel annoyingly. "You're lucky you have such a beautiful and sweet mare as your owner…"

He merely stuck out and blew his tongue at me and then hopped off. I rolled my eyes, and Fluttershy came down with a saddlebag attached to her body. "Are you coming with me, Alex?" She asked.

I managed to smile a bit. "Of course!"

She giggled a little and flew over to me to kiss my cheek. "Thank you."

Afterwards, we both walked out of the cottage and began heading to town.

Fluttershy led me to the marketplace. Several ponies were there, buying, looking, or just hanging around in the tables nearby. She pulled a list from her bag and observed it. The list contained the contents and checklist for the recipe Fluttershy had to make. "Hmm, let's see. Asparagus." She placed a hoof near the item on the list. After, we began walking towards the line that had a couple of ponies that later bought their asparagus. Just as the last pony received his item, Fluttershy was about to purchase one until a unicorn suddenly cut in front of her, shocking me a bit. "Excuse me... umm... I think you just stepped in front of me...?" Fluttershy tried to point out, but she was too soft. The unicorn ignored her and made her purchase. "Excuse me, I think you made a mistake?" The unicorn grabbed the asparagus with her magic and began walking away with annoyed eyes. "You see I was actually here first and—

"Sorry, didn't notice you there." The unicorn announced, but didn't even mean it as she walked away.

"I know…" Fluttershy lowered her head, looking at the ground sadly.

Seeing her frown at that, I quickly looked at the unicorn with narrowed angry eyes and began walking up to her, calling her and ready to confront her. "Hey!"

She sighed, heavily annoyed and turned around to face me, speaking in the same tone. "What?"

"You just cut in front of my girlfriend and walked away like nothing. Apologize to her!"

"Uh… Didn't you just hear me? I said I was sorry." She rolled her eyes and began walking away.

"She was right there! How could you not notice her?"

However, she continued to walk away. I sighed and found no point in trying to continue this, so I turned around and began walking towards Fluttershy, noticing an old pony purchasing asparagus as well.

"Ohoh, no need, dearie, I'm already in front!" He grabbed his purchase and walked away, leaving Fluttershy to look back and mumble something.

Fluttershy was just about to step towards the stand again but a couple of girls rudely popped in front of her chattering senselessly. "…like, oh well…"

"Hey!" Fluttershy softly exclaimed.

The mare with the huge mane and hot pink bow looked back at her disrespectfully and responded. "Would you mind moving back? You're in my personal space."

Fluttershy returned widened eyes and looked around to see if she really was. "But—

"Seriously, do you need your asparagus so badly? Get a life." The second pony responded in the same manner as her friend, causing Fluttershy to sadly walk away. They both giggled, and made me feel my blood boil.

"Hey!" I confronted them as well. "Don't you two talk to her that way!"

"Ugh…" The one with a bow responded in disgust as she rolled her eyes. "And who are you, the loser patrol?"

"I'm an adult! Unlike you two little spoiled brats here!"

"Excuse me?" Her friend replied. "You're like totally uncool, you know that?"

I growled, ready to raise my voice and lose control of myself until Rarity suddenly intervened and placed her hoofs on me. "Alex, darling, let's not settle this with anger shall we?" I let out a angry breath and looked away. Rarity faced the girls and talked to them. "Girls, please take your asparagus and go." They rolled their eyes, grabbing their asparagus, and walked away. After, Pinkie led Fluttershy back to us. She still had a saddened look to her face. Rarity talked to Fluttershy as I continued to calm down. "Fluttershy, you mustn't let them treat you that way."

"Oh, it-it's really no big deal..." Fluttershy replied.

"It's bigger than big, it's double big, you are a pony with a problem." Pinkie Pie added.

"What problem?" Fluttershy asked. Pinkie exchanged a look with Rarity and nodded. Then, she moved Fluttershy to the side and quickly took her place on the front of the line, causing Fluttershy to spin and fall to the floor. "Oh, go right ahead Pinkie Pie, you first."

"Right there!" Pinkie pointed out. "That's the problem."

"You've got to stop being such a doormat." Rarity added.

"A doormat?" Fluttershy questioned, surprised.

"A pushover, darling." Rarity explained. "You've got to stand up for yourself, promise us. Alex won't always be here to do that for you…"

"Oh, okay. I promise." She answered hesitantly and began walking to the stand. "Oh! Good!" However, a um…nerdy…pony came by and picked up the last one, dropping the bit. "Oh, that's okay, I don't mind." I would have confronted him as well… but I think he's been through enough in his life to not see my anger explode… To be honest… I think he'd actually start crying or something…

Rarity quickly rushed to Fluttershy's side. "Watch and learn." She began walking towards the pony. "Hold it right there, mister small and handsome."

"Uh, who, me?" He asked.

"Oh, of course, you." Rarity worked her charm. "Nopony ever called you handsome before?"

"Uhh, that'd be a big no." He answered frankly.

"Oh, well they should! How about flexing some of your muscles for me?" Rarity asked, grabbing his hoof which caused him to quickly grow excited that even his tie spun rapidly. He then flexed his left hoof really hard to only present a…small…size of a… should I even say… muscle? Nonetheless, Rarity gasped, and responded in a surprised manner, making me want to snicker as I tried to hold in a laugh. "Oh my heavens! Do you think a strong, handsome stallion such as yourself could give my friend the last asparagus?" She grabbed the asparagus from his saddlebag and placed a bit on his nose.

He mumbled bashfully as Rarity walked back with the asparagus. "Nuhh."

"See, that's not so hard, is it?" Rarity asked as she opened Fluttershy's saddlebag and placed the asparagus in there.

"...um... I guess not." Fluttershy responded.

I chuckled a little. "Well, Rarity… that's one way to assert yourself."

She winked playfully at me and began grabbing the list from her bag. "Alright then! What else is on your list?" She opened it to view it.

"Let's see... I also need tomatoes." Fluttershy announced, which led us to the tomato stand. This time, there was no pony in line. Fluttershy walked up to the stand and used her wing to brush the three tomatoes off and into her saddlebag. Then, she placed a bit on the counter. "Here you go." Afterwards, she began walking back to us happily.

The tomato stallholder looked at the bit, a bit surprised, and cleared her throat, catching Fluttershy attention. "That'll be two bits. Not one."

"Oh, but last week it was only one bit…"

"That was then, this is now."

"Oh, okay. I don't wanna argue about it." Fluttershy replied, placing a bit on the counter. Rarity placed a hoof on me, preventing me to confront her when I began feeling angry again. Pinkie Pie bounced over to the stall and confronted her instead.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Mindin' my own business, maybe you should try it!"

I looked at Rarity, desperately wanting to step in. "Rarity!"

She just shook her head and continued to observe the scene.

"Two bits for tomatoes is outrageous, one bit is the right price." Pinkie placed a hoof on one bit and brought it back to her side.

"I say it's two bits." The stallholder placed her hoof on the bit and brought it back to her.

Pinkie narrowed her eyes and brought it back. "One bit."

"Two bits!" The stallholder pointed towards the sign that presented two bits for three tomatoes.

"One bit!" Pinkie brought up her own custom made sign that actually displayed one bit for three tomatoes.

"Two bits!" The stallholder argued.

"One bit!" Pinkie pounded her hoof on the counter, causing the bit to hop back to her side.

"Two bits!" The stall holder did the same, but with both of her hooves.

"Two bits!" Pinkie Pie argued, now using reverse psychology and pulling the bit, but merely placing it on the stallholder's side again.

"One bit!" The stallholder exclaimed, now proving Pinkie's method successful and placing the bit on her side.

"Two bits!" Pinkie moved it back.

"One bit!" She repeated.

"I insist it's two bits or nothing!"

"One bit and that's my final offer!"

"Have it your way, one bit it is!" Pinkie Pie quickly responded and took the bit with her. After, we quickly walked away from the stand, smiling after seeing Pinkie do her job. We shared a small laughter. "See? Asserting yourself can be fun!"

"I guess you're right!" Fluttershy replied, feeling better now.

"So, Fluttershy, do you feel like giving it a try?" Rarity asked.

"Um... okay." She then stopped, seeing something that caught her eye. "I need that cherry." She quickly flew to the stall holder and began speaking to him. However, I managed to spot a pony with a saddlebag that presented a muffin. I smiled, knowing it was Derpy. From what I could see, she looked to be asking the asparagus stallholder for something, but he shook his head in a sort of annoyed way. She opened her eyes and frowned, lowering her head. I would have gone and spoken with her…but I needed to make sure Fluttershy was doing fine. "Boy am I glad you have one cherry left." Fluttershy explained to cherry stallholder as she began landing and using her wing to retrieve the bit from her saddlebag.. "You see I'm making this special meal for my bunny Angel, he's a very picky eater, and the recipe calls for a cherry on top." She placed her mouth inside and grabbed the bit. "Here you go." She said as the bit clinked on the stall.

"So, you say you need this cherry 'very badly'." He responded, causing me to narrow my eyes in suspicion.

"Oh, yes, I'm desperate for it!"

"Then it'll be ten bits!"

"Ten?" Fluttershy widened her eyes and looked at us. I was ready to strike, maybe even with my hooves since this pony was a guy, but then I remembered Fluttershy had to learn… So I took in a deep breath and allowed the girls to motion her to do what they taught her. Fluttershy narrowed her eyes in determination and then began her attempt to win the cherry. "Oh, hey, mister handsome, I know you wanna do the right thing because you're handsome and strong and big, handsome, strong guys are always nice to everypony, right?" Her attempt was cute and adorable…but it didn't win over the stall holder.

"Ten bits for the cherry."

Fluttershy looked over at us again, noticing Rarity nod her head as Pinkie flipped her hoof to motion Fluttershy to try her method.

"Ten bits for one cherry's outrageous! I insist on paying you... eleven bits!"

"Eleven bits?"

"Umm...I mean, nine bits!"

"Er, now wait a minute."

"Okay, twelve bits, but that's my final offer!"

I looked over to Rarity and Pinkie Pie to see them notice that Fluttershy was just making things worse. Pinkie dug a hole in the ground and stuck her head in there while Rarity only placed a hoof to her face.

"I think you're confused."

"It's twelve bits, take it or leave it."

"Okay, I'll take it!"

Fluttershy was actually just about to give him her bag of money, but I quickly intervened, standing in front of Fluttershy and facing the stallholder. "One bit or nothing. Don't you dare try to scam her from her money."

"Or what, kid?" He responded, aggressively.

I reacted by narrowing my eyes in aggression, and was just about to literally attack by pouncing on him, but Pinkie and Rarity quickly wrapped their hooves around me, preventing me from leaping, and dragging me away from the stand.

"Calm down, Alex." Rarity advised as they continued dragging me away from there. "Violence is not the best answer for this type of situation…"

I sighed and calmed myself down, allowing them to stop dragging me. "I know… I'm just so protective of Fluttershy. Anypony that wants to mess with her makes me just want to… explode…"

"It's understandable, Alex." Pinkie placed her hoof on me and then looked at Fluttershy. "You shouldn't give him your money! One cherry is not worth twelve bits!"

"But... I was only doing what you did…"

"It was a valiant effort, but you should refuse to give him your business and just walk away." Rarity responded.

"But... I can't let Angel starve! He won't eat it unless I make it just right! I need that cherry no matter what it costs!" Fluttershy began flying towards the stand, but stallholder heard us and changed the deal.

"In that case, twenty bits!"

"Twenty?" Fluttershy widened her eyes and stopped. "Oh, but, I don't have that much!"

"Then why're you wasting my time?"

I narrowed my eyes in anger again as Fluttershy could only form a saddened expression.

Another pony walked by, carrying two bits with her magic. "I'll give you two bits for that cherry!" She placed the bits and removed the cherry from the stall.

"Sold! Eh, tough break, kid. Next time, don't be such a doormat."

Fluttershy frowned and began walking away sadly, causing my blood to boil. I immediately began charging at him but Rarity and Pinkie Pie grabbed me and stopped me before I could do any damage. I gave a few huffs of angry air and then finally took in a deep breath, sighing heavily. I stood up and faced them. "Where did Fluttershy go?"

"She left…" Rarity answered.

"I'll go talk to her…" Afterwards, I began looking for Fluttershy, who was most likely going back to her cottage.

When I reached the bridge outside her cottage, I saw a goat walking past me, bleating a little. I raised an eyebrow in confusion but nonetheless I continued walking towards her door. I noticed the top part of her door was open. Right when I reached it, Fluttershy suddenly flew outside all of a sudden, which caused me to widen my eyes and quickly catch her, or at least attempt to. She landed in my hooves, but her impact caused me to fall to the ground with her. At least she is safe.

"Fluttershy?" I called her, surprised. "What's going on? What happened?"

"Oh…um…" She frowned. "I made Angel the salad he wanted… it just didn't have a cherry on top… I gave it to him…but…" She sighed sadly. "He didn't eat it…"

I sighed as well after hearing her answer. "Fluttershy…You can't let Angel boss you around… You feed him, shelter him, and do so many more things for him. I know you care about him…but right now, he's just being a spoiled pet. You have to do something about it… otherwise he's going to keep treating you like this… you have to put your hoof down when he crosses the line."

She looked at me sadly for a moment and then buried her face in my chest. "Look at me... I really am a doormat."

I could only place my hooves on her back and pat her lightly to comfort her…

"Come on… let's go inside…"

She nodded. "Okay…" She stood up and allowed me to stand up as well. She noticed her mailbox was full of mail. "Hold on…" She opened it and pulled out all the mail, but there was one that really caught our attention. We took the mail back in the cottage and placed it on the table while we sat down. Fluttershy grabbed the strange-looking one first. It was a pamphlet… She began reading what was on it. "The incredible Iron Will turns doormats into dynamos. Assertiveness seminar today, hedge maze center." She narrowed her eyes in determination as she thought about something. "As Celestia is my witness, I'm never gonna be a pushover again!"

"Fluttershy… do you really think you should go to this thing?" I asked, a little worried.

"Alex." She placed her hooves on me desperately. "I have to! I don't want to be a doormat for everypony to step on! Like you said, I have to put my hoof down! Please Alex! Please let me go! It's my only chance!"

I could only think about it as she continued to look at me with pleading eyes. Maybe she can have a better life with this…but… I sighed. "Alright…but I'm coming with you."

"Thank you!" She thanked and squeezed me.

I could only wrap my hooves around her as I hoped that nothing negative would come out from this…

We traveled to the hedge maze center almost immediately after. The front of the maze contained a banner with the same symbol that was on the pamphlet. Fluttershy did sound determined back at the cottage, but when we actually arrived inside the maze, she was a bit shy and scared. I just held her hoof and led her inside where the crowd was at.

"Oh! Ah! Uh... excuse me!" Fluttershy stated softly as we tried to find a spot at the front of the crowd. She squeaked shyly when we tugged ourselves into a spot. She retrieved angry stares from the other ponies as if they wanted to kick her out of the group, but I returned the same stare at them, causing them to look a little frightened and look back at the stage.

Suddenly, loud music began playing. The spotlight shined on the stage as smoke filled the area. All of this was run by two goats of the opposite color. Okay…? Then, a large Minotaur appeared on the stage, swinging and flinging his arms around as fireworks exploded on stage. The crowd responded with the stomping of their hooves. He then flexed his arms, displaying his muscles as he kissed each one tenderly. I narrowed my eyes and shook my head.

"Welcome, friends!" He announced as he walked on the stage. "My name is Iron Will, and today is the first day of your new life! I wanna hear you stomp if you're tired of being a pushover!" The crowd stomped, excluding Fluttershy and me. "Stomp if you're tired of being a doormat!" They repeated their action. "Stomp if you wanna pay nothing for this seminar!" They stomped and cheered, but it soon slowed down into general confusion and then laughter. Iron Will looked at the crowd seriously and snorted causing them to immediately become silent. "That's no joke, friends. Iron Will is so confident that you will be one hundred percent satisfied with Iron Will's assertiveness techniques, that if you are not one hundred percent satisfied, you. Pay. Nothing. But I pity the fool who doubts Iron Will's methods." He faced directly with a pony beside us. "You don't doubt me, do you?"

"Uh-uh, no sir..." He responded along with the general agreement from the others, providing a nervous face.

"That, my friends, is your first lesson." He announced as he stood on top of the two goats, who seemed to not mind it at all. "'Don't be shy, look 'em in the eye.'" The ponies in the crowd chattered in agreement. "Now, to demonstrate that Iron Will's techniques will work for anypony, I'm gonna need a volunteer." Everypony immediately raised their hooves except Fluttershy and me. Instead, she timidly and slowly slid behind me and hid. Well… I didn't really want her to go up there… especially on how shy she is… I faced the front and tried to keep her hidden as well. However, the goats that were helping him were looking around the crowd, obviously looking for somepony that wasn't raising a hoof. The white one spotted Fluttershy hiding behind me and called out to the black one, causing him to talk to Iron Will. He stood up and faced my direction. "You, behind the blue one!" Everypony immediately separated from us, causing Fluttershy to poke her head and become clearly visible.

"Who, me?" She questioned.

"Yes, you! Iron Will wants you onstage!"

She gulped. "Uh, well..."

I looked at her and then faced Iron Will. "I'll take her place."

"What?" He questioned me and studied me. "No… you're too easy. I need somepony… like her!" He pointed at Fluttershy.

"But—

"That's okay, Alex… I'll go…" Fluttershy interrupted me softly.

"Fluttershy…"

"Now!" Iron Will commanded, causing Fluttershy to flinch and respond in a whisper.

"Okay…" She timidly walked from me to the stage, where she was immediately confronted by the white goat. She moved around him and tried to walk, but the goat just got in her way again.

"Whoaa! He's blocking your path. What are you gonna do about it?" Iron Will asked.

"Um, politely walk around him?" Fluttershy guessed.

"No." He answered, crossing his arms.

"Gingerly tip-toe around him?"

"No." He emphasized.

"Go back home and try again tomorrow?"

"No! 'When somepony tries to block, show them that you rock!'" He lightly pushed her towards the goat, causing the goat to fall down on the floor.

"Oh! Sorry." Fluttershy apologized.

"Don't be sorry! Be assertive! 'Never apologize, when you can criticize.'" He cleared his throat and then planted his face in front of the goat. "Why don't you watch where you're going!" He faced Fluttershy again. "Now, you try."

"Uh... next time, get out of the way before... I bump into you, 'cause... I totally won't be sorry when I do!"

It wasn't exactly what Iron Will was looking for…but he grabbed Fluttershy's hoof and raised in front of all of us to see. "You see my friends! If my techniques can work for this shy, little pony, then they can work for anypony!"

Fireworks exploded as the crowd cheered. Fluttershy looked around the crowd and then at me, smiling adorably.

After the seminar, we began walking back home to the cottage.

"Alex, did you see me? I was so assertive!" She excitedly stated.

I chuckled a little, but I still didn't feel good about the "assertive" techniques that were mentioned. "Maybe you shouldn't go to that extreme…"

"What do you mean?" She asked, looking at me.

I then remembered how sweet she really was. She didn't explode towards the goat like Iron Will did… so maybe she won't be that bad… maybe she'll just be…assertive. I shook my head. "Never mind."

"Well, come on, Alex!" She exclaimed joyfully, but still softly, as we neared her cottage and walked in. "It's time for doormat Fluttershy to become assertive Fluttershy!" She walked to her mirror and taped the pamphlets on there. Um… "Okay, I feel good. I feel ready to 'attack the day', as Iron Will says." She slightly giggled as she looked at me. "Ready or not, here comes assertive Fluttershy now!" She walked to the door and opened it, beginning to walk outside.

"Why don't we go see Pinkie and Rarity so they can see how you are now?" I asked, making a suggestion.

"Sure! We can also— Her sentence was cut short when she saw an elderly pony over-watering her flowers. "Excuse me, Mr. Greenhooves, but I-I think you might be over-watering my petunias..." She commented as we walked over to him. He responded with a chuckle. "...again..."

"Let the professional handle it." Professional…? He continued humming.

"Sir, you're—

Fluttershy placed a hoof on me with a determined but angrier face. "' Treat me like a pushover, and you'll get the once over'" She faced the hose and stepped on it, halting the water flow towards the outside. The pony noticed this and shook it. After, he placed the hole in front of his eye. Fluttershy then released the water, causing it burst on him. He coughed and sputtered. "Well, perhaps that is enough water…"

"Thank you." She responded and walked me across the bridge. She giggled excitedly and faced me. "I can't believe it worked!"

"Yeah…but…was it really necessary to do that? You could have at least swiped the hose away from him or turn it off or something…"

"It doesn't matter. I'm not a pushover anymore! I'm so excited!" She smiled brightly.

"Uh-huh…" I answered, feeling uneasy as I walked with her and looked slightly away.

When we reached the main bridge to town, we saw a couple of ponies each carrying a cart full of garbage for some odd reason. They were both blocking the way as they talked to each other. "Showpony business is tough." The one on the left said.

"Go ahead, try one of your jokes out on me, I laugh at everything." The other added.

"Okay, okay, okay. A donkey and a mule are stuck on a desert island..."

Fluttershy noticed how they were lagging around, so she cleared her throat boldly. "Excuse me? Would you mind moving your carts so we can pass?"

They poked their heads around to see us right behind them. "Yeah yeah, in a minute, I just wanna finish up this story. And so the donkey says to the mule—

"A-hemmmm, can you move, you're blocking my path." Fluttershy interrupted, growing angrier.

"Fluttershy, maybe you want to tone down a bi—

"Yeah yeah, in a minute! So the donkey says to the mule...

"'When somepony tries to block, show them that you rock!'" Fluttershy commented and walked up to the carts.

"...and the mule says—

Fluttershy kicked the carts, causing them to fly upwards and leak all the garbage on top of the two ponies.

"Ugh, easy does it, lady. We're moving, okay?" They began moving while I could only stare at the mess made with widened eyes.

"Good!" Fluttershy announced and began walking towards town while I could only trail behind her a bit, starting to feel worried about this new "assertiveness" thing with her... That could have gone a lot better…

Fluttershy and I eventually arrived at Sugarcube Corner.

"Who's next, please, and what can I get for you today?" Pinkie Pie announced in a question as we walked in the building. I began standing in line behind another pony while Fluttershy stood behind me. I heard a tap, causing me to look back to see that somepony had slipped between Fluttershy and me and took her place, bumping her away from her.

I would have definitely said something about that…but Fluttershy took control instead…

"What do you think you're doing? Didn't you see me?" Fluttershy asked, aggressively.

"Uh, I guess maybe." She merely responded.

"'Maybe'? 'Maybes are for babies!'" She placed her hoof on the pony and spun her around, making her face her. "Now go to the back of the line where you belong!"

The pony smiled nervously and did so. The ponies that were in front of us watched the whole thing and quickly did so as well, as they were all highly intimidated of her. Afterwards, Fluttershy released a jerky smirk, causing me to feel even more worried that this mess is beginning to get out of hoof. I mean sure… that pony practically deserved it…but did everypony really need to go to the back of the line?

"Heyyy, look at you!" Pinkie expressed at the counter.

"Oh, your attitude is so feisty, it's fabulous." Rarity added as Pinkie nodded.

"Maybe a little too feisty…" I muttered under my breath as Fluttershy gracefully flew towards the counter.

"Thanks." Fluttershy replied, a little arrogantly. "I learned it from Iron Will's seminar."

"Well, looks like that monster's workshop really paid off!" Pinkie stated.

"Iron Will's not a monster, he's a minotaur, and a true inspiration. His techniques really work." I remained silent and walked over to the counter as Fluttershy explained.

"Well, they've certainly made a difference in the way you carry yourself. You truly are a whole new Fluttershy." Rarity replied.

"Yes I am." Fluttershy looked at her hoof as if she had just received a pedicure. "And new Fluttershy feels pretty stoked about new Fluttershy."

"What about you, Alex?" Rarity asked me. "Are you proud of your new girlfriend?"

I couldn't really answer. I just looked away, beginning to feel that sadness that I felt at the gala. Oh no… don't tell me Fluttershy is…

"Well, old Pinkie Pie feels really proud of new Fluttershy." Pinkie Pie prevented the possible awkwardness that might have happened. "Proud as pink punch." She dove under the counter and pulled out a bowl of pink punch. "Want some?" She snorted and giggled, falling towards the floor from her own joke, but by the look on Fluttershy, she didn't take it that way…

" 'You laugh at me, I wrath at you!' "

"Fluttershy, hold on! She wasn't—

Fluttershy pushed the bowl of pink punch towards Pinkie, shocking both Rarity and Pinkie as she held the bowl on her head. Afterwards, Fluttershy began walking out the door. "Come on, Alex." No, I definitely do not like this… "Bye, girls!" As Fluttershy jumped out of the sweet shop, everypony outside immediately ran away. "What a day. Taxi!" She waved her hoof and called a nearby taxi as I stood at the porch of the building. Pinkie and Rarity soon joined me. The taxi came towards Fluttershy to give her a ride, but suddenly another pony jumped on the carriage and smiled happily as if she wasn't even there.

"Uh-oh…" I slipped out.

"Oh no you don't. 'Cut in line, I'll take what's mine!'" Fluttershy instantly pounced in the air and right on top of him, furiously fighting, landing punches and throwing out the pony in front of us. "Nopony pushes new Fluttershy around!" Fluttershy exclaimed as she raised a curved hoof. "Nopony!" She screamed loudly, causing the taxi driver to become frightened and quickly take off with her inside.

I could only remain at the porch with widened eyes and an agape mouth as I could not believe what kind of pony Fluttershy had turned into…

"Old Pinkie Pie is not so sure new Fluttershy is such a good idea after all." Pinkie commented after watching the mess happen.

"Old Rarity agrees." Rarity responded.

"Oh no…no…" I slipped out, sitting down and shaking my head, as well as catching their attention. "Fluttershy can't be turning like this… she's sweet and gentle… not a…a monster…" I sighed sadly and covered my face with my hooves.

Rarity and Pinkie placed their hooves on me. "Don't worry, Alex." Rarity assured. "We should go and try to stop her before it's too late!"

"Yeah! I'm pretty sure she'll listen!" Pinkie Pie agreed happily.

"...You're right… Nice Fluttershy is still in her… we just need to reach out to her… Come on!" I quickly stood up. "Let's go find her!"

"Yeah!" They both agreed and followed me towards the direction she left.

The path eventually led us towards the road to her cottage. We stopped to see Fluttershy with some tourist.

"Excuse me, do you know how to get to the Ponyville tower?" He asked.

"Sure, you just—

Fluttershy gasped when the mail she had in her mouth dropped and fell into the puddle.

"Oh, that's a shame."

Fluttershy growled loudly. " 'You make me lose, I blow my fuse!'"She quickly grabbed the tourist's camera and literally swung him around until she let go and had him fly towards a nearby stack of hay while the camera rung the bell in the tower.

I quickly rushed over to Fluttershy while Pinkie and Rarity trailed behind me.

"Fluttershy! What are you doing? This isn't you!" I questioned, almost in desperate voice.

"Didn't you see what he did to new Fluttershy? And he thought new Fluttershy was a pushover!"

"No sweetie, he didn't." Rarity answered for me while I could only stare at Fluttershy with pleading eyes, even feeling the emotions being to swell up inside me. "We saw the whole thing. We think that you've taken your assertiveness training a little too far."

"What? You just want new Fluttershy to be a doormat like old Fluttershy! But old Fluttershy is gone!"

"I just want my girlfriend back! The nice and sweet one!" I pleaded, even starting to feel like my voice wanted to break.

"Yes, we want that Fluttershy back." Rarity agreed.

"No, you want wimp Fluttershy." She argued as she flew around us. "You want pushover Fluttershy. You want do-anything-to-her-and-she-won't-complain Fluttershy!"

"Nyaaaaah! Too many Fluttershies to keep track of! Make it stop!" Pinkie Pie announced in a confused manner, holding her hooves to her head.

"Things getting too complicated for your simple little brain, Pinkie Pie?" Fluttershy asked mockingly as she placed a hoof on her forehead and pushed her to the ground.

My heart felt like it was pierced and skipped a beat while Rarity caught Pinkie Pie before she fell to the ground. "Now, stop right there! Let's not let things descend into petty insults!" Rarity demanded.

"Why not? I thought 'petty' was what you're all about, Rarity. With your 'petty' concerns about fashion." Fluttershy attacked with her words, causing Rarity to gasp and begin tearing up, using my shoulder to cry on. I could only try to comfort Rarity by placing my hoof on her, but I was way too shocked by Fluttershy's behavior that I was literally speechless…

"Hey, leave her alone!" Pinkie defended. "Fashion is her passion!"

"Oh, and what are you passionate about? Birthday cake? Party hats?" My eyes continued to widen, as well as my mouth agape, when I continued to hear Fluttershy be such a…such a…bully… "I can't believe that the two most frivolous ponies in Ponyville are trying to tell new Fluttershy how to live her life when they are throwing their own lives away on pointless pursuits that nopony else gives a flying feather about!" She exclaimed as both Rarity and Pinkie Pie formed tears in their eyes.

"Looks like nasty Fluttershy is here to stay!" Pinkie responded as she began to cry.

"I cannot believe what that monster Iron Will has done to you!" Rarity added in the same manner.

Then, they immediately ran away crying as I could only call after them, feeling highly bad for them. "Girls, wait!"

"Iron Will's not a monster, he's a minotaur!" She screamed out and landed, facing me. "Now, KISS ME ALEX!" She grabbed my cheeks with her hooves and forcefully planted my lips on hers. …for the first time…I didn't feel anything… I didn't feel the spark…

"No!" I pulled her away from me.

"What?" Fluttershy responded aggressively. "I thought I was your girlfriend, Alex!"

"No, you're not!" I answered, boldly, but feeling tears form in my eyes. "My girlfriend was the Fluttershy I loved. Now, you're a completely different Fluttershy! You are not the Fluttershy that helped me through my depression! You aren't the Fluttershy I fell in love with! You're just a… a…" My lips trembled as I spoke. "…a bully!" My words caused her to suddenly widen her eyes and open her mouth as I immediately turned away and ran after the girls, feeling tears drop from my face.

I caught up with the girls after a few moments. They stopped by a river, sitting and allowing tears to drop from their face. I frowned sadly and lowered my head as I walked towards them. "I'm sorry girls…"

"…what?" They looked back at me, to see me teary as well.

"I don't know what got into her…" I sighed sadly. " I should have never let her go to that seminar…"

"Oh, Alex…" Rarity replied as they both walked over to me to comfort and hug me. "It wasn't your fault… It was that 'Iron Will' fellow…"

"Wait a minute…" Pinkie commented. "Does this mean…" She paused. "…that you two are…broken up…?"

"I…I don't know…" I lowered my head and stared at the floor. "Maybe…I mean…if she stays like this…because…I…I can't… she isn't the pony I fell in love with…"

"No." Rarity boldly stated, beginning to wipe the tears from her eyes. "I will not allow for the both of you to separate. You two were meant for each other. This is just an obstacle you both have to jump over together…"

"You're right…" I perked up a little. "I really love Fluttershy… I won't let this ruin it. We need to go try to talk to her again…also because… I think I may have been too harsh with her…"

"Then what are we waiting for?" Pinkie asked. "We can't let this ruin our friendship either! Let's go!"

After, Pinkie immediately took us back to the cottage.

We slowed down to walk when we discovered the condition the cottage was in. I was shocked to see the cottage covered with wooden boards everywhere there was a possible escape, condemning the whole building. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and I all exchanged a look of worry and shock.

We walked towards the door and stood there for a moment. I looked at the girls. Rarity gave me a confident nod. I nodded as well and knocked on the door. "…Fluttershy…? Are you in there…? It's us… Alex, Pinkie, and Rarity…"

"Go away!" She exclaimed from inside, sounding muffled on the out. "Go away before nasty Fluttershy strikes again!"

"Oh, sweetie, we all said things that we regret." Rarity added.

"We did?" Pinkie questioned.

Rarity immediately placed her hoof on Pinkie's mouth and shushed her.

"Pinkie's right. I'm the only one to blame." Fluttershy continued. "But don't worry, I'm never coming out of my house again. Everypony will be a lot safer with me and my mean mouth locked away."

"Fluttershy…listen… I love you with all my heart. I don't blame you for anything you've done… Iron Will was just a bad influence on you. We can change you back to your normal self…

"Yeah! He's the one that made you act super-duper nasty!" Pinkie added, but Rarity kicked her. "What I mean is, there are other ways to assert yourself besides yelling at everypony."

"Yes! You can stand up for yourself without being unpleasant about it." Rarity agreed.

"They're right… being assertive isn't about being a jerk… Being assertive is letting others know that you won't be bossed around, and that you're your own pony…You just need to come out and we'll help you…"

"I, I'm not sure I can, I'm too far gone. Whenever I try to assert myself, I become a monster." Fluttershy responded.

"Oh, sweetie, you're not a monster." Rarity assured.

"No, but he is." Pinkie pointed towards Iron Will, who was standing on top of the black goat that was on top of the bridge.

They both walked over to him while I stayed near the door of Fluttershy's cottage.

"Iron Will's my name, training ponies is my game." He announced with a thumbs up.

There was a pause as Pinkie and Rarity tried to understand what he just meant.

"What a darling little catchphrase." Rarity expressed.

"Your friend Fluttershy loved Iron Will's catchphrases. Word on the street is that she doesn't take no guff from nopony! So, Iron Will is here to collect Iron Will's fee." He stated and began making his way up here.

"Fluttershy is in no shape to deal with that creep!" Pinkie told Rarity.

Rarity took in a breath as she began running after Iron Will. "I'm sure a big, brave, powerful and rich monster- I mean, minotaur, like you, doesn't need that money right away. You can afford to come back later."

"Are you kidding? Fluttershy is overdue as it is. Iron Will collects now." He grabbed Rarity's horn and placed her over a bush, dropping her there. I growled and took a defensive stance in front of the door as he was right in front of me. "Get out of the way!"

"No!" I boldly refused.

Just before he was about to make a move, Pinkie Pie quickly intervened.

"We're not even sure Fluttershy is home right now." He grabbed her and held her up to move her out of the way. "Uh, she might be off frolicking with some woodland creatures, uh, why don't you give us some time to track her down for ya?"

He then released her. "Iron Will does have some grocery shopping to do…" He pulled out a list and carried a small white basket with his left arm. "Iron Will will come back this evening!"

"But that's only half a day. We need one full day at least." Pinkie argued.

"Iron Will will delay for half a day and no longer!"

"A full day!" Pinkie now began her method of asserting.

"Half day!"

"Full day!"

"Half day!"

"Full day!"

"We need half a day and no more!" Pinkie shouted as she jumped in the air.

"Well you'll get a full day and no less!" Iron Will caught her by the tail and responded as well.

"Okie dokie. See you tomorrow." Pinkie Pie cheerfully replied as she walked on air.

"Wait, what?" Iron Will questioned, confused, and lowered Pinkie.

Then, we suddenly heard Fluttershy sneeze inside.

"Huh, sounds like the search won't be necessary. Iron Will collects now." He stood in front of me, ready to strike, but Pinkie intervened again.

"But we had an agreement! You gotta come back tomorrow!"

" 'When somepony tries to block, show them that you rock!' " Iron Will stated and grabbed Pinkie, throwing her off the hill and into a mud puddle.

I felt my blood boil and immediately charged directly at him, wanting to protect Fluttershy. I tried pushing him away with my body, but he merely grabbed me and threw me against the wooden railing. I grunted as I felt the impact on my body. He then grabbed all the wooden boards and threw them away. "Your payment is overdue, Fluttershy!" He raised his fist, as if he was about to strike down the door, but he actually just knocked lightly. Fluttershy opened the door and came out as we stared in suspense. Iron Will snorted and began speaking. "You were nothing but a doormat, and Iron Will turned you into a lean, mean, assertive machine!" He created those ridiculous reflex moves again… "Now, pay Iron Will what you owe Iron Will!"

"Um, no." Fluttershy frankly responded.

My jaw almost completely dropped from that.

"What did you say?" He asked in an intimidating way.

Fluttershy didn't look scared. She didn't look timid. She just looked him right in the eye. "No."

"Ohhh, I'd hate to be you right now," He replied as he bended the wood with anger. "Because Iron Will is gonna to rain down a world of hurt unless Iron Will gets his money pronto!"

As he snorted, Fluttershy only returned a determined and challenging look as she began to create a response. "As I recall, during your workshop you promised one hundred percent satisfaction guaranteed, or you pay nothing." She stated as she walked over to me to help me. "Well, I'm not satisfied." She boldly glanced over at him.

"What do you mean you're not satisfied? Everypony has always been satisfied!"

"Well I guess I'm the first then." She responded as she helped me up. "But since I'm not satisfied, I refuse to pay." She wrapped her hoof around mine. "It's as simple as that." I could only stare at Fluttershy in silence as she was being so…amazing…

Fluttershy stood right by my side as she continued to face Iron Will in a bold manner. He returned a surprised look. The two goats of his joined him in a circle talk about what to do with the situation he was in. After several seconds of their bleating, they glanced back at us (but mostly at Fluttershy), and then returned to their bleating.

"Ohh, are you... sure you're not just a little bit satisfied?" He asked as he rubbed his head and then began to mess with his tie nervously. "B-because maybe... we could, cut a deal, I-I mean, we're both reasonable creatures, aren't we?"

"I'm sorry, but no means no." Fluttershy clearly and boldly stated.

"No means no, huh?" The black goat began carrying him. "Nopony's ever said that to me before. Huh... I gotta remember that one. That's a good catchphrase for my next workshop." He grabbed the white basket from the white goat and soon was on his way out of here.

Rarity and Pinkie Pie immediately rushed over to us.

"You were amazing, Fluttershy! You totally stood up to that monster!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as they both held out their hooves to hug Fluttershy.

"In fact, you didn't change at all! You were the same old Fluttershy that we've always loved!" Rarity added.

"The one we've missed!" Pinkie included.

"Don't worry, old Fluttershy's back for good. I'm sorry I took the whole assertiveness thing too far. Friends?" She offered.

The two of them returned teary eyes, but of joy this time. "Friends!"

They hugged each other, giggling as well as I could only smile warmly at the scene. Fluttershy lightly pulled away from them and faced me. "Um…" She announced, almost a little shyly, as she blushed. "…girlfriend…?"

I didn't even answer her. I returned a lovingly look and grabbed her hooves. Suddenly, I planted my lips on her passionately with my eyes closed. She remained surprised for a moment, but then closed her eyes as well as she held my hooves tightly. There's the spark...

"Aww!" I could hear Pinkie and Rarity express.

After a moment, I pulled away from the kiss and continue to gaze at her. "Of course."

When Pinkie Pie and Rarity left, now happily resolved of the problem, it was night time. I stayed with Fluttershy longer to be with the old self that I missed so dearly. I was on the couch as she began to prepare to feed her animals dinner.

"Hey, Alex…" She spoke.

"Uh-huh?" I answered.

"Do you mind if you write a letter for me to take to Twilight so she can send it to the Princess?"

I smiled warmly. "Sure." I found a spare piece of paper around and a pencil. I placed the pencil in my mouth and was ready to write.

Fluttershy smiled and closed her eyes to begin speaking. "Dear Princess Celestia, sometimes it can be hard for a shy pony like me to stand up for myself, and when I first tried it, I didn't like the pony I became." Fluttershy began placing food in the animals' bowls as she continued talking. "But I've learned that standing up for yourself isn't the same as changing who you are. Now I know how to put my hoof down without being unpleasant, or mean." She stood with the box of food below her, looking at me.

I nodded. "That was fantastic. I rolled up the paper. However we noticed Angel begin his tantrum again. He crossed his paws and pushed away the delicious salad Fluttershy made for him. Fluttershy then narrowed her eyes at him, in her own cute way. Angel jumped in the air and pounded his feet angrily. Fluttershy then used her signature move, The Stare, and immediately caused Angel to widen his eyes and try a piece of cucumber. He flinched and looked away, thinking it was actually going to taste bad…but he realized he was wrong. He smiled brightly and began chomping down on the salad in the bowl.

Fluttershy, then looked at me again as I returned a look of accomplishment towards her.

"Well… I guess I better leave you to finish taking care of your animals." I spoke as I stood up.

"Mmk." Fluttershy walked over to me and looked at me for a moment. Then, she slowly, but meaningfully, placed her forelegs around me, as well as even her wings. I slightly widened my eyes, but she shut them when she planted a very passionate kiss on my lips. After several seconds, I looked at her lovingly and smiled. "Goodnight, Alex. I love you."

I nodded. "Goodnight, Fluttershy. I love you too."

With that kept with her and me, I left her home happy and loved, carrying the letter in my mouth.

I passed by Twilight's house to drop the letter off. I knocked on her door lightly, as I could still see the lights on in the tree. She opened the door after a moment.

"Hey, Alex."

"Hey, Twilight." I grabbed the letter from my mouth and presented it to her. "Here. Fluttershy wrote this letter to the Princess."

"Really?" She questioned, quite surprised. "What happened today?"

I chuckled lightly. "Something you'd probably never believe…"

She giggled. "Well I'll find out somehow. Anyways, I better let you go to bed. You look pretty tired."

"Heh… I guess I am…"

She sent a smile with her eyes closed and then wished me a goodnight. "Goodnight, Alex."

"Goodnight, Twilight."

After, I left towards home.

I then began becoming comfortable in my bed. I smiled as I closed my eyes.

I know that that was almost like a fight between Fluttershy and me… but somehow from that… I could feel our bond grow even stronger…

It's About Time

Episode 46 – It's About Time

I was there. I was with her. I was with Fluttershy. I could see her sweet, soft, and delicate smile piercing through the magnificent and blinding rays which the sun that Princess Celestia brought up shone. I was by Fluttershy's side… in the sky. I looked at my sides. I had wings. I smiled brightly and looked back at Fluttershy who could only return another soft smile. We flew over Cloudsdale and then soon, we landed back on the ground. I felt so exhilarated. She continued to look at me and smile.

"I'll be back, sweetie." She told me and kissed me on the cheek.

I could only continue to smile and nod. "Alright."

As soon as she left, I waited in silence for a moment until I began noticing something strange… Darkness was starting to surround me. Then… I saw her… she came out of the darkness…proceeding as her name ironically entitled her to. I could only stare in shock.

"Well, hey there, little brother." She smiled almost wickedly at me.

I shook my head. "You can't hurt me anymore, I have real friends who care about me…who treat me like family unlike you…"

She continued to keep that same smile. "Oh really?" She slowly walked over to me and looked at my wings, mischievously. She then placed her hooves on them and eerily glided her hooves on them. "You seem to enjoy these very much…" I could only remain silent. "Hm…I'm sure you won't like it if I do…" She tightened her grip on them. "…this." She literally tore them off as if they were some parts of a plastic doll. I could only stare in horror as she took away the freedom of flight. "Not so happy, are you, little brother?" She looked over to her side. "Why don't you come and meet your…well…former mom and dad?"

"No…"

She smirked evilly and grabbed my hoof to begin to take me towards them.

"No!" I almost shouted when I awoke. I looked at my sides, but remembered I never had wings. I lowered my head and sighed. I looked out the window and noticed the darkness that stirred up the night. Something caught my eye. There was a home that was lit. It was the only one. I rubbed my eyes a bit and noticed it was Twilight's house. What is she doing up this late? Maybe I better go check up on her…

Yawning a bit, but figuring I could go out for a nice walk to try to be rid of the nightmare that occurred, I walked downstairs and out the door. It only took a few minutes to arrive at Twilight's home. I knocked on the door with tired eyes and waited. The door was almost immediately opened.

"Oh, hi, Alex." She greeted in an almost worried and nervous tone. "What are you doing here? It's late."

"Well…I was about to ask you the same question…" She moved to the side to let me in, so I accepted it as she closed the door behind me. "I saw your house was the only one lit up and I wanted to check up on you…"

"Well that's nice of you…" She responded as she began pacing around in a circle. It looked as if she had been doing that for a while… "But unfortunately, I'm not doing okay."

"Why? What's wrong?" I asked, concerned.

"What's wrong is that I just finished planning my schedule for the month, but I forgot to leave time to plan for next month! Don't you see? There's no time in my schedule to put together another schedule! I could move my meeting with the Ponyville Hay Board to the following Tuesday, but then I have to reschedule my lunch with Pinkie Pie, and you know what a nightmare she is with scheduling. This is an absolute disaster. My whole year could be thrown off!"

"And that's the reason why you can't sleep…?"

"Yes!" She answered as she continued to pace around the table.

"Well then… instead of pacing around, worrying about what to do, why don't you just start putting another schedule right now while you can't sleep?" She suddenly stopped and widened her eyes. "It's better to start right now and feel better when you know you're doing some work, and it's a better use of the time if you can't sleep."

"Alex! You're a genius!" She hugged me and quickly began using a quill to plan out her schedule on a nearby table. "Hm…" She brought up as she continued to look at her planner. "What about you?" She asked me.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, what are you doing up so late?"

I frowned a little as I remembered that horrid depiction of my sister and her usual crushing of dreams… "I…uh…" I sighed. "I had a nightmare…"

This caused her to turn from her work and face me in a concerned way. "What? What was it about?"

I slightly looked away and then shook my head. "It was just a little nightmare. You should get back to your work. I don't want you to feel pressured or stressed about whatever it is you need to do."

"Oh… Alright…um…" She faced her paper again. "Just come talk to me whenever you want…"

I nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. I guess I'll go try to get some sleep again. Goodnight, Twilight."

"Goodnight, Alex."

Afterwards, I left back towards my home.

Inside, I lay myself back down and closed my eyes, trying to get some sleep again…but it was pretty hard after that nightmare continued to lurk around and plague my mind…

I heard the rooster sound its alarm, waking me up. I groaned and mumbled a bit, but I managed to lift myself up a bit and begin to crawl out of bed. After, I remembered about Twilight's problem last night. I'm pretty sure she didn't get any rest…but I wonder how she's doing… I decided to go see and visit her.

Once again, I walked downstairs and out the door.

Just before I was about to walk towards her door to knock, I noticed something strange. There was this bright light that flashed beyond Twilight's window. Is she practicing her magic…? I walked toward the window and looked around to see something very odd. There were…two Twilight's in there? One Twilight looked the same, another looked almost completely opposite. Her mane stuck up, as if a sudden and powerful wind blew it. She wore a bandage on her head, along with a skin tight black suit that was ripped and scratched up in different places. There was also an eye patch on her eye and little scar on the left side of her cheek.

Twilight yelped as I rubbed my eyes to see if I was seeing correctly…

The other Twilight shook her head and ran up to her. "Twilight, you've got to listen to me!" I could hear her voice from the building. It was the exact same as Twilight's.

"Who are you? I mean, you're me, but I'm me too. How can there be two 'me's? It's not scientifically possible. You are not scientifically possible!" The original Twilight pointed out, placing her hoof on…herself…?

"Twilight, please! I have a very important message for you from the future!" She responded, trying to reach her point.

Future…?

"You're from the future?" Twilight asked, beginning to show excitement.

"That's right, now listen—

"What happened to you?" The original Twilight questioned as she walked around future Twilight. "The future must be awful."

"Please! I don't have much time!"

"Is there some sort of epic pony war in the distant future or something?"

"Actually, I'm from next Tuesday morning, but that's not important right now!"

"I can't believe time travel is really possible!" Twilight continued to remain off topic. "How did you, I mean, I figure it out?"

"The time spells are in the Canterlot archives. But that's not—

"Really? Where? I've never seen them."

"They're in the Star Swirl the Bearded wing. Now, you have to listen to—

"Is time travel fun, or does it hurt? I have so many questions—

Future Twilight placed a hoof to her mouth to get her to listen to her. "I have something extremely important to tell you about the future, and I only have a few seconds, so you've got to listen! Whatever you do, don't—

Future Twilight disappeared. After that, I turned away from the window with my eyes widened. "Maybe that nightmare is making me hallucinate…" I told myself.

"C'mon, Fluttershy! The party can't start until the party supplies get there!" I heard Pinkie's voice nearby. I turned my head to see Pinkie floating in the air by several balloons that were wrapped around her, yet she looked as if she was walking in mid-air. I also saw Fluttershy grunting as she crawled on the floor, holding many bags full of party things.

"Happy to... help... but... can I carry... the balloons next time?" Fluttershy managed to stand up, but I quickly rushed over to her.

"Fluttershy!" I began placing my hooves on some of the bags. "Let me help you with those…"

She smiled lightly, but still strained from the amount of weight on her back. "Oh…thank you, Alex…" Just as I began to remove some of the bags from her back, something suddenly knocked us to the ground. I opened my eyes from the impact to see that it was Twilight. One of those joke masks with the glasses, big nose, and mustache landed on her, looking as if she was actually wearing it. She quickly recovered and dashed over to the pillar near the bridge.

"Listen, everypony! I've got something really important to say!" She began announcing, still wearing those joke glasses. Ponies stared at her for a moment and then began to laugh, causing Twilight to notice and brush them off her face. "This is no laughing matter! We have a crisis on our hooves!" Her sentence now caused them to gasp and us to exchange looks with each other. "I've just been visited by myself from the future!" Applejack and Rarity joined the crowd. …so I wasn't hallucinating…? However, the crowd began laughing again. "This isn't a joke!" She exclaimed, jumping off the pillar. "My future self tried to warn me about a horrible disaster that's going to occur sometime before next Tuesday morning!"

"What kind of disaster?" Applejack asked, worriedly.

"I don't know! I got sucked back into the future before I could explain!"

"Run for your liiiiiiiives!" Pinkie cried out as she galloped rapidly but still moved very slowly due to the balloons.

"What ever should we do, Twilight?" Rarity questioned. "How do we stop the disaster if we don't know what it is?"

"We'll just have to work together to make sure we're safe." She responded and then faced Rainbow. "Rainbow Dash, you and the other pegasi spread out over Equestria, and look for any kind of problem that could lead to a disaster, and I mean anything."

"You got it!" She replied and flew off.

"Everypony else—

Her sentence was interrupted by Pinkie's screaming. She screamed, flailing her legs around as she tried run away, but was limited from her balloons. She stopped screaming when she reached the crowd of ponies staring at her. "Anypony else wanna panic with me?" She asked cheerfully. "No?" Afterwards of not receiving an answer, she continued to scream out loud while galloping in the air.

"Everypony else, time to disaster-proof Equestria!" Twilight announced after Pinkie's…scene… She faced Applejack and Rarity. "Applejack and Rarity, you two fix any cracks in the dam!"

"Yes ma'am." Applejack saluted and began walking with Rarity towards the dam.

Twilight nodded and then faced Pinkie. "Pinkie, do you think you can find Big Macintosh to secure the bridges?"

Pinkie, who seemed to have stopped screaming a while ago, nodded brightly. "Okie dokie lokie!" She sped off.

Twilight then faced Fluttershy and me. "Alex and Fluttershy, can you make sure all the animals are safe and sound?"

"Sure." I answered as Fluttershy nodded.

We began walking away. I thought for a moment, looking up. "How are we going to make sure all the animals are safe?"

"Oh…" Fluttershy responded. "We just need to make sure that there are no dangers near them. Don't worry." She smiled brightly at me. "I can take care of most of that. Then we can go to my cottage and make sure the animals are safe there."

I smiled lightly. "Alright. Let's do it then."

We scouted around the park and any other place that an animal took shelter in. We made sure that their homes weren't too fragile and in good shape. Hm… I wonder if we're doing this to make sure the animals don't invade other ponies' homes… We also made sure that there were no dangers lurking around, such as sharp or poisonous objects. Next, we walked to Fluttershy's cottage, where a lot of critters lived. We made sure the chicken coop was nice and sturdy, also making sure that there we no sharp wooden pieces or cracks. We placed enough nourishment, such as food and water for every animal, looking out for anything that might catch our eyes. Finally, after some time, we finished and began heading to town.

"I wonder if everypony is done with their tasks…" I expressed out loud.

"I hope so…" Fluttershy frowned a little. "I sure hope that disaster Twilight is talking about is prevented or really small…"

"Don't worry…" I sent her a reassuring smile. "I'm sure we'll be fine."

We saw Twilight holding the end of a long checklist with her magic when we arrived at town. She was checking off on a lot of things. "Done, and done, and done." She announced as we approached her. She turned her head to see us. "Hey, you two. Everything alright with the animals?"

"Yup." I answered.

She smiled and nodded. Then, we noticed Applejack and Rarity walk towards us. Rarity was removing the leaves that were in Applejack's mane. "Applejack, what about the Everfree Forest?"

"The perimeter's clear." She replied.

"Great." Twilight checked off on that.

"And my team gave the all clear from Fillydelphia to Las Pegasus." Rainbow Dash announced from the sky. That town name still bothered me…

"Excellent." Twilight checked off on it again. "Well, we've done everything on the list, but still... future Twilight looked like she'd been through a horrible ordeal." Twilight rolled up the list and put it away, beginning to walk off. "I just have this nagging feeling we should be looking for something bigger than loose bolts and leaky pipes."

Suddenly, a loud roar sounded throughout town, surprising us and even causing Fluttershy to jump a little. A three-headed huge black dog appeared out of a nowhere in the middle of town, roaring again.

"Okay everypony," Pinkie Pie stood in front of all of them, looking confident. "Follow my lead." Immediately, she began screaming and running away, causing everypony to panic with her. Ponies shut their windows and found anywhere else to hide.

"What is that thing?" Spike asked worriedly, running out.

"That's Cerberus!" Twilight answered. "He's supposed to be guarding the gates of Tartarus, but if he's here, then all of the ancient evil creatures that have been imprisoned there could escape and destroy Equestria!"

"Destroy Equestria?"

"Yeah, isn't it great?" Twilight walked towards the monster. "Hey, Cerberus! You look like you could use some obedience training! Magic obedience training!"

Cerberus responded with a loud roar.

I looked towards Fluttershy. "We have to do something."

She smiled. "I've got this."

She began flying towards it, surprising Twilight when she immediately had Cerberus under her control. Fluttershy began rubbing its torso, speaking as if she was speaking to one of her pets. "Who's the cute widdle three-headed dog?" She asked playfully as the giant monster really…acted like a dog…

"Wow, I knew you were good with animals, but this is amazing." Twilight commented.

"Heheh." I chuckled lightly. "That's one reason why she's so amazing."

She blushed lightly and continued to rub its belly. "Aww, he's just a big furry guy who got out of his yard, that's all. Right, Cerberus? Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?"

Pinkie startled us when she came galloping by us, continuing to scream out loudly.

"Pinkie." Twilight called, causing Pinkie to instantly stop screaming and go over to her.

"Yes, Twilight?" She asked.

"Do you have a ball I can borrow?"

She rushed over to a nearby tree with a huge hole and began reaching inside. "I have balls stashed all over Ponyville," She brought out a yellow ball with a blue stripe. " …in case of ball emergency."

"…you don't have them stashed in my home, do you…?" I asked Pinkie.

She giggled. "That's a surprise for you to find out."

I shrugged and Twilight grabbed the ball with Pinkie walking over to her.

"Hey, Cerberus!" She called in a sing song voice. "Look what I have!" She waved the ball around in front of the three heads, causing them to grow excited. "I'll be back as soon as I've returned him to the gates of Tartarus." Twilight stated as she began leading him with the ball. "Once he's back at home, there'll be no disaster."

"Alright…be safe…" I commented, even though she was too far to hear me.

That night, I curiously searched my home for Pinkie's "stash". I didn't do a very detailed and thorough search…but just a quick look around. After spending a few minutes, I narrowed my eyes and placed a hoof to my chin. Hm… "Not sure if Pinkie was telling the truth or just joking…" I told myself.

The next morning, I rose up a bit early to see if Twilight had made it back in town safely.

Just as I began heading towards her home, I saw her walking, looking very dirty with her mane messed up a bit. "Twilight!" I called, rushing towards her. "Did everything go well?"

"Oh. Yeah, he's back where he belongs." She giggled a little as I walked by her side.

"Oh, alright. So you're barely just coming back to town now?"

"Mm-hm."

"Well…at least you're back in one piece. I was a little worried knowing that you were out there the whole night…"

Twilight sent me a caring smile. "Thanks, Alex. But don't worry. I'm fine."

I smiled lightly. "Alright…"

I followed her into her home where she was confronted by Spike. "Hey Twilight. How'd it go with Cerberus?"

"Great. I got him back before any of the evil creatures could escape." She responded.

"Hurrh... hu— Spike belched, throwing out a scroll from his mouth and hitting Twilight with it.

Twilight returned a yelp. "Oh no." She rushed over to the mirror, staring at it afterwards.

"What? What's wrong, Twilight?" I asked, walking over to her and beginning to become concerned.

"What's the big deal, it's just a 'lost dog' flyer." Spike explained the letter. "I guess the Princess hasn't heard we found Cerberus yet."

"It's not that, it's this!" She pointed towards a cut on her left cheek.

"...A paper cut...?" Spike asked with an unconcerned expression. "Come on, Twilight, you really need to toughen up. Just clean it out and you'll be fine." He advised as he walked away.

"The cut's in the exact same spot as the scar on future Twilight's cheek!" She exclaimed as she continued observing herself in the mirror. "We haven't changed the future at all! The disaster is still coming!"

"Paper cut or not…" I added as I looked closely at Twilight's cut. "It's still pretty big…"

"It doesn't matter, Alex! What matters is about the disaster!"

"Alright…alright… I understand. Right now, let's just worry about that cut. Where do you keep your bandages and whatnot?"

"In the drawer upstairs…"

I nodded and walked upstairs, searching through the drawer. I found a bandage, some cotton balls, and something to clean out the cut. I walked back downstairs with the items. "Alright. Sit down."

Twilight returned a worried expression. "Alex, do we really need to be worrying about this right now?"

"It'll only take a few seconds… You don't want it to become infected, do you?" I asked.

She sighed. "No…"

I grabbed a cotton ball with my hoof and poured some of the cleaning liquid on it. Afterwards, I carefully pressed the cotton ball on her cut, causing her to flinch a bit. "Are you alright?" I asked. She nodded lightly. I continued to clean the cut. After a moment, I placed the cotton ball back down, and placed the bandage on her check. When I was done, she seemed to be staring at me for a while. "Is something wrong…?" I asked, still a little concerned.

She shook her head and looked away. "N…no…"

"Alright… Well," I stood up. "You should go take a shower. Then, you can start thinking about this again."

"Okay… Thanks, Alex."

I nodded. "I'll check up on you in a bit." I waved and began walking out from the home, heading towards Fluttershy's.

On the road, only a moment away from her cottage, I actually met up with her and Rainbow Dash. They surprised me a bit when I saw them flying in the opposite direction.

"Oh, hey girls…" I greeted with slightly widened eyes.

"Hey, Alex." Rainbow Dash replied. "I just got some news back from Baltimare and we were just about to head to Twilight's. Wanna come?"

I lightly chuckled. "Actually… I just came back from there, but alright." I turned around and began walking by Fluttershy, who offered a kiss on the cheek for her greeting. I smiled at her and then looked at Rainbow Dash. "So I'm assuming that everything is alright?"

"Yup. Just gotta tell Twilight the news and maybe this whole disaster thing will be over."

"Hm…" I thought about how Twilight received that same cut as her future self did. "…maybe…"

When we arrived back at the house, Rainbow Dash knocked on the door and walked in. "Hey, Twilight, another pegasus just got back from Baltimare with an all-clear and— She suddenly stopped talking when we walked in with her to see Spike chugging away on an ice cream bucket while Twilight stood motionless. She flew closer to him to observe his action and laughed. "What's going on? Aren't you gonna stop him?"

"She sure isn't!" Spike responded, pointing at a sweaty Twilight, who just wanted to do something about it but couldn't. "In fact, she's not gonna move 'til next Tuesday! She thinks it's gonna prevent the disaster from happening!"

Rainbow laughed. "Oh, this is too rich." Then, she suddenly gasped. "Hey Twilight! There's a mouse right behind you!" This caused Twilight to bite her lower lip and widen her eyes in shock, but of course, this led to Rainbow Dash and Spike laughing out loud when she fell for her joke.

"Wait, waitwait, let me try!" Spike grabbed a feather off from the table and began tickling Twilight's cheek with it. I sighed and walked towards him, wanting to stop him.

"Spike, that's enough." I placed a hoof on him and slowly pushed him away.

He looked at me and slowly edged the feather towards Twilight, but I placed a hoof on his claw and brought it down. Nonetheless, he edged it towards her again, leading me to push it back down. This kept going on several times, seeming as if I was trying to prevent a baby from reaching something. Finally, after a moment, he slowly began walking away. "Okay… I guess I'll just go over here and— Immediately, he rushed over to Twilight and furiously tickled her again, causing her to feel helpless and grab him with her magic, throwing him across the room and against the wall. "Whoaoa— He belched when he hit the wall, sending a burst fire that headed straight for Twilight, almost touching me. Although… I was too busy with Spike's shenanigans that I wasn't expecting him to throw out a flame like that…so I couldn't remove Twilight out of the way…

After flinching from the sight, I quickly looked back at Twilight. "Twilight, are you ok— I widened my eyes at the sight of her as Fluttershy placed her hooves to her mouth. Rainbow Dash and Spike returned widened eyes as well.

"Oh no!" Rainbow announced.

"What happened?" Twilight asked in an irritating tone. At least she was okay…

"I'm so sorry!" Spike apologized. "I didn't mean to! It was a total accident!"

"Show me." Twilight demanded.

"Uhhh... I'm not so sure that's a—

"Show me!" Twilight ordered, cutting off Rainbow's sentence. Spike hesitantly grabbed a nearby mirror and held it up, facing towards Twilight's face, revealing the same styled mane cut that her future self had. "Oh no! This is the same mane cut as future Twilight!"

"Y'know... it really doesn't look too bad..." Rainbow offered.

"I don't care how it looks! It's just another sign that the future hasn't changed! Not doing anything didn't work either! Oh, I wish there was a way to know what was going to happen so I could stop it!"

"You wanna see the future? I might know somepony who can help!" Spike claimed.

"Alright, well come on Fluttershy. We need to go check and see what the other Pegasi have found!" Rainbow Dash suggested to her.

"Oh…alright…" She responded and looked to me. "Well, I guess I should go… I'll see you later."

"Okay. See you later." I placed a gentle kiss on her lips before she left with Rainbow.

"Well, come on! Follow me!" Spike began walking out the front door.

Twilight sighed and followed him anyway, causing me to walk by her side, a little worried about her.

As Spike led us through town, I looked at Twilight. "Twilight...maybe…maybe you can't really change the future? I mean…whatever you're doing is just making the signs appear anyway."

She sighed. "I don't know Alex…what else can I do? What if whatever happens destroys everything? I mean… I don't know…"

"Well… if it makes you feel any better… I'll help you with this."

She managed to smile lightly at me. "Thanks, Alex…"

"Here we are!" Spike announced, causing us to look around and notice that we were right next to the sweet shop.

"What's this?" Twilight asked, noticing the strange tent ahead of us, containing many…weird artifacts and such…

"It's Madame Pinkie's place."

"Madame Pinkie?" She questioned.

Spike answered her question by walking us in, hearing Pinkie's voice speak in a spooky tone. "Come... enter the chamber of Madame Pinkie Pie... For the answers you seek, let us consult the mystical orb of fate's destiny..." When we took a seat across the table from Pinkie Pie, she smiled and spoke in her normal voice. "Do you like my mystical orb of fate's destiny? I just got it. Cool, huh?"

"Yeah, uh... best one I've seen." Twilight responded.

Only one I've seen…

Pinkie then resumed her spooky tone. "Look deep into the crystal ball... for soon it will reveal all! Ah yes, I see something... It is a vision of the future... I see... you, Twilight." Twilight then widened her eyes in suspense. "You will get a really cool birthday present next year..."

"Yes, and?"

"That's it."

"Are you sure?"

Pinkie placed her hooves around the back of her head. "Yep. Cool birthday present."

"Pinkie, I need your Pinkie Sense to tell me what the impending disaster is that future Twilight was trying to warn me about!" She announced a little angrily as she placed her hooves on the table with the crystal ball.

"Oh, my fortune telling has nothing to do with my Pinkie Sense, silly. It's only good for vague and immediate events." She replied and then her tail suddenly began shaking, surprising us. A flower pot unexpectedly fell and landed on Twilight's head. "Like that, see? Where did that even come from?"

"I have the same question…" I commented as I threw the flower pot off her head. "Are you alright?" I asked, giving her a concerned look.

She rubbed her head with her hoof. "Yeah…ouch…"

"Come on." I offered, grabbing her hoof to lead her outside. "Let's go take care of that." I faced Pinkie. "See you later, Pinkie."

"Wait!" She lifted her hoof, stopping me and causing me to look back at her. "Want your fortune, Alex?" She asked, smiling brightly.

I slightly flinched and responded. "No thanks…"

"Okay!"

Afterwards, I took Twilight home while Spike trailed behind us.

Arriving at the tree, I grabbed another bandage and wrapped it around Twilight head. Almost immediately after, she gasped and ran towards the mirror. "There's another sign!" I looked at her, confused for a moment, but then I thought about it and remembered how Future Twilight also had a bandage at the exact same spot.

"Oh…yeah…"

She placed her hooves on her face, leading me to walk towards her and pat her back. "It's been a long day, Twilight. Just get some sleep and rest. Then, you can think about this tomorrow. I'm sure a good sleep will remove all that stress and pressure you're feeling."

She sighed. "Maybe you're right… I'm just going to stay up for a little while, thinking of what to do."

"Just for a little while." I emphasized. "I don't think Fluttershy is back yet…Hm…" I thought for a moment and wondered if I could stay over, just in case Twilight needed anything and I could watch her. "Mind if I sleepover?" I asked.

"Yeah…sure…" She responded, still seeming to worry about the future.

"Alright…well I'll be downstairs. Call me if you need anything, okay?"

"Okay…"

After observing her for a moment, I retired to first floor, still feeling a little worried about her… Using a few pillows, I created a sort of bed on the floor. I made myself comfortable and closed my eyes. Still beats sleeping outside in the rain. I chuckled a little at my own comment and finally fell asleep after some time.

When I awoke, I heard some small beeping noises from upstairs as I slowly opened my eyes. I looked out the window to see that it was early in the morning; sunrise. I yawned and rubbed my eyes a bit. I hope Twilight got some sleep last night… As I stood up, the door opened and in hopped Pinkie. She spotted me. "Oh, hi, Alex! Did you sleep over?"

"Yeah… I was a little worried about Twilight, so I thought I could spend the night here."

"Well, I hope she isn't still mad from the flower pot incident."

"She shouldn't be… I was just about to go check up on her."

"I'll come with!" She hopped by my side up the stairs. When we arrived, we were surprised to see many scientific machines set up everywhere. Twilight was frantically rushing to each one of them…using them… "Uhhhh..." Pinkie commented on the sight.

"'Off by point zero two from yesterday." Twilight said as she looked through the huge telescope. "Carry the fifteen..." She analyzed a graph. "Negative azimuth on the fourteenth moon..."

"Hey Pinkie. Hey Alex." Spike greeted as he continued to swallow large amounts of ice cream with a spoon.

I slightly narrowed my eyes in almost an irritating manner. "Wow, Spike. You're still eating that freaking ice cream?"

"Man, Spike! You keep eating all that ice cream, you're gonna get a wicked bad tummy-ache!" Pinkie Pie added.

"Who cares?" He responded, holding up another spoonful of ice cream. "As long as I can keep eating ice cream. Sorry, future Spike."

"Spike, you do know that "future Spike" will be you, right?" I stated.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" He asked, holding a claw to his ear. I shook my head and rolled my eyes.

I walked over to Twilight, who was writing in her book. "Twilight? What's up with all this…" I looked around. "…machinery in your room?"

"Ah, Pinkie, Alex, I'm glad you're here." She ignored my comment. "Can you help me recalibrate the apertures on the nine and quarter catadioptric telescopes?" She asked as she led us to a telescope.

I returned a puzzled look. "…what…?"

Pinkie, on the other hoof, replied cheerfully. "Sure!" But she didn't really do anything besides look around and smile. I couldn't blame her… I didn't know what Twilight was talking about either…

"So I was thinking, after I came to see Madame Pinkie and the flowerpot landed on my head, see the bandage, just like the bandage from the future..." Twilight began as she analyzed something through another telescope.

"Nice!" Pinkie commented.

"I had an epiphany after that flowerpot. Doing things didn't work, not doing things didn't work, and I couldn't predict the future either, so I only had one other choice." Twilight then pressed her nose against mine, her face directly in front of my vision. "Monitor everything." She emphasized as she revealed her eyes, which almost looked as if they were bloodshot. This actually scared me a bit.

"Makes sense to me!" Pinkie added.

I ignored her comment and looked at Twilight's eyes. "Uh…Twilight… Are you sure you're okay? I mean… I think you're letting this get out of hoof too much…"

She pulled away. "Oh! I'm better than okay! I feel like I'm finally getting somewhere! That way no matter what happens in the future, I'll be ready! I thought I saw something last night in the Horsehead nebula, but after staring at it for three straight hours I realized, I was wrong!"

"Three hours?" I inquired. "So when did you sleep?"

"Oh I didn't sleep. I haven't slept since future Twilight was here." She replied as she continued to write notes and do other things to "monitor everything". "There are only three days left until next Tuesday, I can sleep all I want after that!"

Three days? It's tomorrow…

"You've been awake too long, Twilight." Spike included in the conversation, now opening another bucket of ice cream and munching, even having an empty bucket on his head.

I looked at him, a bit annoyed, but returned my attention Twilight. "Twilight… Tuesday is not in three days. It's tomorrow…"

Twilight gasped. "What?" She teleported towards the telescope Pinkie was originally nearby and looked through it. "Pinkie, did you finish recalibrating the apertures on the nine and quarter inch catadioptric telescopes?"

"I have no idea!" She responded, cheerfully once again.

Nonetheless, Twilight continued to observe through the telescope, moving it a bit upwards when she suddenly pulled away, placing a hoof on her right eye. "Ah! My eye!"

"Twilight!" I called out, rushing to her.

"Don't worry, Twilight," Pinkie stated from the bottom of the stairs, scuffling her hoof through the fireplace. "I have eye patches stashed all over Ponyville, in case of eye patch emergency." She placed it on her right eye. "There!" She began bringing over a mirror. "Now you look like a pirate! A sleepy pirate, with a really weird mane cut."

Twilight was surprised to notice another sign when observing the mirror. "The eye patch...! Another sign!" She rushed over across the room to look at a piece of paper, which I assumed to be the list of signs. "Nearly all the signs have come true! I haven't done a thing to prevent the catastrophe!" She waved her hooves in desperation and then rushed over to the chalkboard that contained a long equation. Yeah...I'm not even smart enough to figure that out… "If Tuesday's tomorrow, and the disaster happens by Tuesday morning, then there's only one solution. I'll just have to... stop time."

"…what…?" I asked again in a confused expression.

She pressed her face against mine again. "Stop time! I can't let Ponyville fall when I can prevent the disaster that's coming! I need to stop time, that way I have enough time to figure out and prevent this disaster!"

"But…" I slightly stuttered. "That's crazy! You can't just stop time to prevent this! Is it even possible?"

She pulled away. "Future Twilight was able to go back in time to try to warn me, but she didn't have enough time to! She told me the spell was in the Canterlot archives. If she can go back in time then that means it's possible to stop time."

"But… don't you think that's a little overboard on the solution?"

"Better safe than sorry, right? Now get ready. We're going to have to sneak in the archives if we want to do this."

"Sneak into the archives… what?" I questioned, now feeling that Twilight really needs her rest.

"Yes! Please come with us, Alex! You said you'd help me with this problem, didn't you?"

"I…" I tried to respond but Twilight sent me pleading eyes with her hooves together, practically begging before me. I sighed and basically had no other choice. "Fine…"

Her face brightened and she threw us each a black skin tight suit.

"Ooh!" Pinkie held it up to her face and gazed at it.

Spike continued to pig out with the ice cream.

I just looked at it…

"Get ready everypony. We leave… at night."

When night fell, we caught a train to Canterlot. I had ended up placing on the suit she gave me, though I didn't stretch the hoodie part over my head. As I looked out the window towards the night sky by myself, I could only think of Fluttershy. I hope she's doing okay… maybe she's even back home? I sighed. I hope she's not worried about me. I haven't seen her since the last time she left. I shook my head. After we're finished with this mess, I'm going to rush over to her cottage as quick as I can.

The train arrived a moment after, cueing us to leave. Steam hissed as the train began to leave the station. Twilight then began galloping out of the area. Pinkie bounced happily behind her with Spike following as well, eating an ice cream cone. I mentally shook my head. If you want that stomach-ache, then go right ahead…

We ended up in town. "Okay, the Canterlot archives are right over there." She directed us in a hushed tone. "Let's move!" She began sneaking through the town.

However, Pinkie, Spike, and I casually maneuvered through town behind her. Traveling through the park, I noticed Twilight seriously taking this a little too…much… She was sneaking and rolling around by trees and fountains.

"Uhh... I don't think we need to sneak around, Twilight. It's not illegal to walk around Canterlot." He added a chomp of his ice cream after his sentence.

"He has a point…" I included.

"Guard!" She exclaimed and struck a pose near a statue. She looked at us and spoke in a hushed tone. "C'mon, you guys!" Not really seeing a point on why we have to do this, I narrowed my eyes and sat down as Pinkie and Spike struck a pose as well. For Pinkie, it was more for fun and laughter, but for Spike, it was more like he had to. Nonetheless, the guard walked past us, smiling, looking as if he didn't even notice or care that we were there. Twilight exhaled. "That was close."

"I dunno why we have to wear these things, either." Spike stretched part of the suit he was wearing.

"Aren't we wearing them for fun?" Pinkie questioned.

"No, there's nothing fun about this!" Twilight continued to speak in a hushed tone.

"Oh... Are you sure?"

"Focus, guys! The only way to prevent this disaster is to stop time! Time spells are kept in the Star Swirl the Bearded wing, the most secure section of the archives. That's why we're sneaking around!"

"Awesome! That sounds fun!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"No, it's not fun!"

"Aww." Twilight sneaked towards a bush and out of it, ripping a part of her suit that was left behind in the bush. We continued to casually walk towards the location. "I still don't understand how sneaking into the archives is gonna help her find out about her birthday present." Pinkie commented as we walked and Spike licked his ice cream.

"Pinkie…" I tried to explain. "We're not "sneaking into the archives" so Twilight can find out about her birthday present. She wants to stop time so we can prevent the disaster that is supposedly going to happen.

"Oh! So that disaster is her birthday present?"

I sighed. "Never mind Pinkie…"

Afterwards, Twilight had us climbing up to the floor with the archives. She opened the window and looked inside. "The coast is clear. Now slowly lift me into the window so we can- AH!" Pinkie pushed her inside, allowing herself to hop inside while I used my strength to climb through, especially while Spike sat on my shoulders, eating ice cream.

Once we were all in, Pinkie trotted ahead while Spike jumped off my shoulders and continued to slurp his ice cream. He sighed. "Let's get this over with."

I walked towards Twilight and helped her up. I looked around and noticed the archives directly in front of us.

"Let's go, Alex!" Twilight exclaimed in a hushed tone.

"Wait, Twilight. Hold on!" I responded, but she had already run off with the others.

I sighed and narrowed my eyes. Then, I leaned against the wall and patiently, but while being a little annoyed as well, waited for those ponies, just to go around in a complete circle to discover that they had done it all for nothing.

After a few minutes, I heard Twilight's hushed voice. "Okay, if my calculations are correct, the Star Swirl the Bearded wing should be right... here." She stopped, right beside me, but not noticing me at all. I purposely cleared my throat in order for her to hear me. Her ears perked up and she turned her head to see me. "Alex? How did you get here so quick?"

"Me?" I placed a hoof on my chest. "I didn't move at all."

"What do you mean…?"

"This is the same exact spot where we first began…"

"Hi, Alex!" Pinkie waved her hoof at me from the window nearby.

"Then…" She looked around. "I don't understand. It's supposed to be right here... How are we supposed to find it now?"

"Why don't you look in front of you…?" I suggested, pointing my hoof directly towards the room.

She turned her head to see a room with a locked gate. "Huh. How'd I miss that?" She walked towards the room to get a closer look, placing her hooves on the bars. "Look at all those priceless magic scrolls. There are more than I ever imagined!"

"Twilight," Pinkie tapped her on the shoulder. "The guard!"

We looked to see a shadow of a guard proceeding towards us.

Twilight gasped. "What do we do, what do we do?" She dug her head in her hooves and trembled in fear as we stood there with the guard walking towards us.

He stopped in front of Twilight, causing her to look up. The guard released a smile and spoke. "Hey, Twilight, haven't seen you in a while. Let me open that for ya."

The guard used his magic to open the gate, allowing us to walk in.

Twilight chuckled nervously. "Thanks!" She walked in as well, leading us around the archive as we tried to find these "stop time" scrolls. "Oh no!" She expressed, causing us to bump into each other when we stopped. She rushed over to a nearby mirror and observed herself. "Look! I look just like future Twilight... the last sign has come true!"

"And that's bad, right?" Pinkie questioned.

"Come on!" She exclaimed.

However, I couldn't help but place a hoof on my chin. "…is it just me or does something about this seem very familiar…?" They seemed to ignore my comment, especially Spike as he walked past me, dropping another scoop of ice cream from who knows where.

"It's almost Tuesday morning! The disaster could happen at any moment!" She announced as we noticed the sun begin to slowly rise.

"But how do we find the time-stopping spell? There must be a million scrolls here!" Spike responded.

"I. Don't. Know!" She exclaimed dramatically. She grabbed my hoof and sent me pleading eyes. "Come on, Alex! We have to find the scrolls before it's too late!"

"Twilight… you really expect to find the spell in such a short period amount of time?" I replied.

"Please Alex!" She almost looked as if she wanted to cry, so I gave in and sighed.

"Alright…"

For whatever time we had left, we began searching through the shelves for the spell. I wasn't the type of pony to be negative about everything…but I did feel that it was a lost cause in finding this spell… We don't even know if it even exists! I was surprised to see a light shine on my side of the shelf. I looked out the window to see the sun had risen.

"Twilight, it's over! It's officially Tuesday morning." Spike pointed out as Twilight panicked around the room.

"Nnngh, no!" She rushed over to the window. "Tuesday morning, the disaster! Incoming!" She yelled out, pushing Spike away and covering herself with her hooves.

I remained there, standing up and looking around with my eyes. There was just silence as Twilight continued to tremble. I walked over to Twilight and held out my hoof. "Twilight, it's alright. I don't notice anything wrong, nor do I feel anything bad…"

"Good morning, Twilight, love the new hairstyle." Princess Celestia announced out of nowhere, surprising us. "Morning, Alex! Looking as great as ever!" She complimented. "Well, happy Tuesday!"

I couldn't help but smile and wave back at her.

Twilight grabbed my hoof and pulled herself up. "Why isn't anypony surprised to see me sneaking around in here?" She placed her hooves on the windowsill and looked out. "Is it possible there never was a disaster? That I've just been making myself frantic over nothing?"

"Maybe…" I responded, placing my hooves near her and looking out as well.

"I don't get it." Spike added as we began to walk away. "If future Twilight wasn't warning you about a disaster, then what was she trying to tell you?"

Twilight looked at herself and returned a giggle. "I don't know. But I do know one thing. I look ridiculous."

Twilight and Spike then shared a laugh while I smiled warmly.

"Yeah, you do!" Spike agreed.

"And it's all because I couldn't stop worrying and let the future handle itself! Well, not anymore. From now on, I'm gonna solve problems as they come, and stop worrying about every little thing!"

"That's great! Does that mean there won't be any more late night pacing?" Spike asked.

"No more late night pacing. If only I had learned this lesson a week ago, we wouldn't have had to go through all this."

That seemed to spark something sudden in my mind. "Um…there's one thing that's bothering me though…" I announced.

"What is it, Alex?" Twilight asked.

"Well... You said all the signs had come true, so you're supposed to look like Future Twilight. If there's no disaster… then what's the relation with your appearance to Future Twilight's? Perhaps, Future Twilight was actually—

"Twilight, Twilight, I found something!" Pinkie Pie suddenly presented a scroll from a shelf nearby. Twilight grabbed it with her magic and read it. "It doesn't stop time, but it lets you go back in time. It says you can go back once, and it only lasts for a few moments. Does that help?"

I remained silent as Twilight answered her question. Is it just me… or did I just solve this problem in my brain…?

"Pinkie, you're a genius!"

"Woohoo!" Pinkie cheered.

"Now I can go back and tell past Twilight that she doesn't need to go berserk with worry about a disaster that's never gonna come!"

Before she could get started, I stopped her. "Twilight, wait!"

"What? What is it?" She asked, looking towards me as I walked towards her.

"Let me come with you."

"What? Why?"

"Just trust me on this."

"Alright…" She read the scroll. "Well… I'm not sure if I'll be able to take you with me…but it's worth a shot."

I nodded and she began concentrating on her horn. The papers in the room began to fly as Pinkie and Spike stared at us. I could feel a rush of wind blow through my mane. Finally, an explosion of light formed and blinded me.

When I was able to see, I was in Twilight's home.

"Twilight, you've got to listen to me!" I heard Twilight now say to Past Twilight.

"Alex?" Past Twilight widened her eyes to see me. "What are you doing here?" She looked at Twilight. "And who are you? I mean, you're me, but I'm me too. How can there be two 'me's? It's not scientifically possible. You are not scientifically possible!"

"Twilight, please! I have a very important message for you from the future!" As Twilight spoke, I then got the idea that I might actually be able to see myself from the past. I looked at the window I was supposed to be looking in…but for some reason… I didn't see myself…which really intrigued me…

"You're from the future?"

"That's right, now listen—

"What happened to you? The future must be awful."

As these two continued to speak to each other in a highly odd conversation, I remembered that there was a specific reason why I came here…

"Please! I don't have much time!"

"Is there some sort of epic pony war in the distant future or something?"

"Actually, I'm from next Tuesday morning, but that's not important right now!"

These two ponies created the exact nonverbal movements as the last time when I saw them. That's the reason why I came here… I knew this would happen…

"I can't believe time travel is really possible! How did you, I mean, I figure it out?"

"The time spells are in the Canterlot archives. But that's not—

"Really? Where? I've never seen them."

"They're in the Star Swirl the Bearded wing. Now, you have to listen to—

"Is time travel fun, or does it hurt? I have so many questions—

Before Twilight could place her hoof on Past Twilight's mouth, I quickly confronted Past Twilight, placing my hooves on her while I heard static crack behind me. "Listen, Twilight! Do not waste your time worrying about the— I heard a loud explosion of light and looked back to see Twilight gone. "Um…" This created the largest awkward silence I've ever been in. Twilight could only look behind her and back at me in confusion as I looked around. The entire suspense was taken out, so I looked at Twilight calmly and finished what I had to say. "…Anyway…don't worry about the future. Let the future handle itself." I sighed. "I know this is all confusing. How I'm here and these many other things. To be honest, I'm completely confused about all this myself, but I'm just trying to do whatever I can to help. Just don't worry about the future, alright? Trust me, there's no disaster coming."

"…okay…" Twilight released, still shocked about what was going on.

I chuckled a little and heard static cracking on me. I looked at myself to notice the signs that I was going back. "Well… looks like I'm out of time." I looked back at Twilight to still see her shocked. "It was nice running into you in the past. I'm sure this is a day I'll never forget." I chuckled again and waved. Then, an explosion of light occurred and I was finally back.

"Alex!" Twilight exclaimed and rushed over to me. "Where were you?"

"Um… I'm not sure how… but I managed to stay in Twilight's house a little while longer after you left."

"Did you tell her what I needed to tell her about?" Twilight almost quickly asked me.

"Don't worry." I gave her an assuring smile. "I did."

She sighed in relief. "How did you know, Alex?"

"You see… I had actually managed to witness the whole thing when Future Twilight came to warn you. When Pinkie found the spell to go back in time, that's when it hit me. You looked exactly like Future Twilight, and I knew you were going back in time to try to stop yourself. And that's exactly what Future Twilight did last week. Even though I'm still very much confused about this time traveling mess, that was basically you trying to warn yourself not to worry so much. So I had to go with you to make sure Twilight got the message, otherwise you'd make the same mistake again and it'd be a technically unending loop of the same mistake!"

They returned widened eyes, looking as if they were confused.

"Wow… Alex… That's… that's so smart… I… I can't believe I didn't notice it before…" I gave a shrug. Twilight smiled and hugged me. "Thanks."

However, we heard a stomach growl near us. "Ohhh... my stomach..." Spike announced, falling back towards the floor. "I, I think it's all that ice cream... I thought the stomach ache would be future Spike's problem... but now I am future Spike. Ohh..."

I chuckled a bit. "That's what I was trying to warn you about there, buddy."

Pinkie Pie and Twilight giggled.

"Come on, future Spike." Twilight walked over to him and placed him on her back. "Let's get you home."

Afterwards, we finally left the area and headed back to the train station…

As we began taking the train ride home, we ditched the black skin tight costumes. I sat by near a window and began thinking about the situation once more. After a moment of critical thinking… that's when I discovered something that was still completely off about this…

"Um…girls…" I announced, turning my vision towards them.

"Yes, Alex?" Twilight asked.

"There's still something else that's bothering me…"

"Like what?" Pinkie questioned.

"Well…" I walked over to the both of them. "Remember how Future Twilight was really Twilight trying to warn herself about a disaster that actually never really existed?"

"Yes?" They inquired, leaning in with their heads.

"Well… if it was Twilight trying to warn herself about the disaster… then how did this whole loop even begin?"

"Huh?" The returned highly confused looks.

"Look, it's like this." I faced Twilight. "Say you were the first Twilight in the beginning of this loop of time. How in Equestria did Future Twilight start worrying about the disaster if there was not another Twilight to warn her in the first place? The very first Twilight would have not been able to know how to time travel if that Twilight didn't have another Twilight come to warn her so the same events would proceed after…" They returned widened eyes, looking highly surprised as their brains seemed to not be able to decode the information I sent them. I sighed and tried to think of a simpler way to say this. "Alright… let me see if I can say it in a simpler way… If Twilight needed to tell her past self how to time travel and she didn't know it before, then there would not be a reason to time travel in the original timeline, creating a situation in which the original, unmodified timeline could not exist. It's a paradox."

Their eyes still remained widened. They looked at each other briefly and back at me. I returned silence as I wanted to hear a response from them.

"Um…" Twilight managed to say, but I didn't think she had anything to say about it.

I sighed and released a small smile. "You know what? Let's just leave this mystery unsolved…" I turned around and looked out the window. "As stated before, just leave the future to worry about its self…"

After a while, we finally arrived back at Ponyville. Pinkie bounced back to her home, hoping to remove the thought of the paradox by stuffing her stomach with sweets while Twilight and I walked back to her home with Spike on her back.

"Hm…" I expressed. "I still don't know how time travel works…but since I was successful in warning Twilight, were you supposed to change as well? As if none of this ever actually happened? Or is it only in that Twilight's timeline?"

Twilight thought about it for a moment and then shook her head, giggling warmly. "I don't know Alex. I absolutely don't know. But we should just let this go; otherwise this is all we're going to be wondering throughout our entire lives."

I chuckled. "You're right. Sorry."

We entered the home, and Twilight placed Spike to bed. After, she walked towards me and faced me. "But you know Alex…" She began.

"Hm?"

"You are really smart… I may be a brainiac with equations and such, but you really know how to think outside the box."

I chuckled lightly and almost blushed in embarrassment. "I guess that's the benefit of spending most of your life thinking about everything, huh?"

She giggled lightly. "Whatever it is, you're amazing and really intelligent."

"Thanks Twilight…"

She nodded and smiled. "Well, I better get to bed. I'm pooped for not being able to sleep for such a long time!"

I smiled as well and nodded. "Right, Twilight. Have a nice sleep. I'll be glad when I can put this all away."

She continued to send me a smile and began walking to her room. She waved and allowed me to leave the home.

Of course, I kept my word and rushed over to Fluttershy's as fast as I could.

I knocked on her door and began feeling very sleepy. She opened the door to see me. "Oh hi, Alex! I was starting to wonder where you were…"

"Sorry, Fluttershy…" I answered, very tiredly. "Um…I would tell you everything that happened…but…" I yawned. "I am very sleepy right now."

"Oh…" She giggled adorably. "Okay." She hugged me firmly but softly. "I'll talk to you later then." She whispered into my ear. Then, she planted a kiss on my lips, making me feel like I wanted to sleep right there.

I smiled lightly and waved. "I'll see you…when I…wake up."

She nodded and waved, excusing me to return back home.

I quickly planted myself on the bed after being near it. This was just like Winter Wrap up… I closed my eyes and immediately fell asleep, not giving me time to think about my day.

Dragon Quest

Episode 47 – Dragon Quest

I woke up and yawned. I sat up and stretched my hooves. I moved to the side and jumped out of bed. It was pretty simple as that. I made my bed and walked to the bathroom. I splashed some water on my face to cleanse it a bit, as well as wake me up. Going back to the bedroom, I even did a few pushups to pump my blood a bit. Afterwards, when I felt a little better, I walked downstairs and out the front door. The first place I wanted to go to was Fluttershy's cottage. Thus, I began walking my way over there.

On the road to her cottage, I spotted Pinkie and Applejack digging a hole in the ground. I stopped and furrowed my eyebrows a bit in confusion. I walked a little closer to them, but they were too busy digging to notice me.

"Uh… What are you two doing?" I inquired.

"Makin' a trench for the Dragon Migration." Applejack responded, continuing to shovel.

"Dragon Migration…?" I questioned, never hearing of such a thing before.

"Can't talk! Too busy shoveling!" Pinkie responded and continued to pierce the dirt with her tool rapidly.

"Alright…" I slowly turned away and continued walking over to Fluttershy's cottage, which was now in sight.

When I arrived at her door, I noticed it was open. I was about to look in to call her name, but she suddenly appeared at the doorway. She had her hooves in the home, looking as if she was struggling to stay in. I could see Rainbow Dash trying to push her out from behind. "Now that you put it that way, yes!"

Twilight unexpectedly teleported by my side as well. "Aw Fluttershy, we just don't want you to miss out."

"What is going on here?" I asked, highly confused but concerned at the same time with Fluttershy's behavior.

"Oh, hi, Alex. I didn't see you there." Twilight responded. "We're trying to get Fluttershy to come with us to the Dragon Migration."

"Dragon Migration? How come I haven't heard about this?"

"Sorry, Alex… We were going to your house to invite you, but we've been stuck here with Fluttershy for a while." She faced Fluttershy, who continued to struggle. "Come on, Fluttershy! It only happens once in a generation. You'd be missing out on a lot!"

"Miss out on what? Dragons? Big, scaly, fire-breathing dragons?"

"Well... yeah!"

"Thanks, but... no thanks!"

After finally being fed up with trying to push Fluttershy through the door, Rainbow Dash stopped and tried to reason with her. "Look, Fluttershy, I watched that boring butterfly migration with you," Rainbow Dash held up a picture depicting Fluttershy watching butterflies with binoculars while Rainbow Dash remained highly bored and irritated. However, I noticed the expression on Fluttershy's face change. She now narrowed her eyes in anger and was looking very irritated as her chest forcefully pumped up and down. "…so now it's your turn to watch the dragon migration with me!"

"Uh, Rainbow Dash… I really think you should sto—

"You owe me!" Rainbow continued, interrupting my sentence.

"I. Said. NO!" She screamed out and tackled Rainbow towards the ground roughly. She even planted her back hooves on her torso harshly and began running towards the window in her home, causing Twilight to gasp and I to widen my eyes in surprise. She released a high-pitched growl when charging towards the window. When she reached it, she lifted up her hooves, looking as if she was actually going to burst open the window, but instead, she lowered herself and gently opened the windows, whimpering as she jumped out.

When Twilight and I ran towards the window in shock, we saw her running away. We looked back to see Rainbow Dash lying on the ground in a daze. "Okay, I guess I'll let you off the hook this time…"

I sighed and planted a hoof on my face. "Why did you guys have to force her like that? You know she's scared of those kinds of dragons…You should have asked her gently, if not, then come get me…" I walked over to window to see if I could still see her. I remained silent for a moment, continuing to look for any sign of her. "…I'll be back, I'm going to go look for her…"

Rainbow Dash finally rolled over on her belly and stood up. "Well, hurry and find her before the Dragon Migration starts!"

Twilight returned a scolding look towards her. "Rainbow!"

"What? I'm just saying!"

"Whatever, I don't care." I responded. "I just want to find her." I looked back at them. "I'll try to get her to come with us. If she really doesn't want to, after I talk to her, then I understand. I won't force her to do something she doesn't want to do."

Twilight nodded lightly. I looked back out the window and jumped out. As soon as my hooves were planted on the ground, I quickly rushed towards the direction I last saw Fluttershy heading at.

After reaching as far as I remembered Fluttershy ran…I looked around and tried to call for her. "Fluttershy?" I walked a bit while continuing to call her. "Fluttershy?" After a moment of silence, I began hearing soft whimpers. My right ear perked up, and I traveled towards the direction where I assumed the sound was coming from. When the noise finally sounded as if it was right in front of me, I looked around once more, but realized it was coming below me. I looked down to see Fluttershy trembling in a little hole.

"Fluttershy…" I frowned and gently lay next to her, placing my hoof around her in a very comforting manner.

"Please don't make me go, Alex…" She answered in an almost teary response.

I shook my head and continued to look at her. "I'm not going to make you go Fluttershy… I won't ever force you to do something you don't want to do… I just want you to hear me out…" She ceased her whimpering a bit and looked at me with watery eyes. "Listen… I've never heard of this Dragon Migration thing, but Twilight says it only happens once in a generation. Now… I want to go because… this is just one of these "once-in-a-lifetime" events, and I want to experience it with all my friends…but… I also want my girlfriend to be there as well…" I tightened the embrace. "In events like these… it's never the same when you're not around…just like Nightmare Night. If you wouldn't have came over your fear to be with me, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it much or at all." I paused for a moment to think more. "I know you're terribly afraid of dragons… but I'm here to help you… If you come with me to see the Dragon Migration, I'll have you around my hooves the entire time. I won't ever let you go unless you feel comfortable enough. I'll make sure you're safe, just as I've always done… But as I said… If you really don't want to go… I won't force you… Actually… I'd rather be with you for whatever choice you make because I just want to be with you the whole time… So just tell me right now what you want to do… and I'll support you."

She remained silent for a moment and looked at the ground. After looking around with her eyes a bit, she looked back at me. "…you'll have me around your hooves the whole time…?" I nodded confidently. "Oh…Okay…I…I…I guess I can…try…"

"Are you sure?" I questioned.

She nodded. "I want to be with you. And I want you to be happy. Even if it means that I need to overcome my fears." She managed to smile a bit. "It was you who made me stand up to that dragon a long time ago… I just have to watch…right…?"

I kissed her passionately on the lips. "Right." I stood up and gently pulled her up. "Come on. Let's go meet up with the others.

She smiled lightly as I wrapped my hoof around hers and walked her back to the cottage.

When we arrived back at the cottage, we found out that it was empty. I then remembered about the trench Applejack and Pinkie Pie were digging up, so I led Fluttershy towards that area. When we reached it in a short amount of time, we were surprised to see it finished already. It was basically just a long rectangular line dug in a few feet. Fluttershy and I walked in, meeting with Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash in camouflage.

Twilight turned around and noticed me with Fluttershy. "Alex! Fluttershy! You decided to come?"

"Um…yes…" She answered, still a little nervous.

"Just don't really bring up dragons too much…she's still a little nervous…" I suggested.

"Oh, alright. Well you guys aren't going to wear camouflage?"

I chuckled lightly. "Um…no, I think we'll be fine."

"Alright…" She looked up from the trench with binoculars. "I don't see any dragons." She commented in a hushed tone after observing the sky for a moment.

"Me neither." Applejack added, looking with her binoculars as well in the same tone.

"Me neither neither." Pinkie included, looking up with her binoculars as well…but in the opposite side…"

"Shoot! You don't think we missed them, do you?" Rainbow Dash asked, causing Pinkie to look at her with the wrong side of the binoculars.

"No, I don't think so." Twilight replied as I grabbed Pinkie's binoculars and turned them around for her. "We're just a little early, and I'm glad we are. This way we can watch every moment of the migration without bringing any unwanted attention to ourselves!"

"Wait a minute…" I looked around and noticed somepony missing. "Where's Rarity?"

"Oh…" Rainbow Dash rubbed her head. "I don't know… Maybe she's not coming?" She turned her head towards the sky and looked with her binoculars. "It'd probably be best anyway. You know how she always loves to be the center of attention."

"She's right." Applejack added. "She'd probably come in some fancy getup."

"Like what?" I questioned.

"Yoo-hoo!" We heard a voice announce from a distance in an overly exaggerated and dramatic tone. "Well?" She asked as she rolled over the end of the red carpet she was walking on, which then led to a bursting of confetti around us. "What do you think? Am I the toast of the trench or what?"

"You'll be toast alright," Applejack continued to speak in a hushed tone. "…when the dragons see you parading around in that getup."

"You look very nice, Rarity," Twilight commented. "But could you maybe look nice down here in the trench with us?" She used her magic to form a bubble around the confetti and red carpet and caused them to disappear as Rarity joined us in the trench.

"Nice is an understatement. I look fabulous! Who says camouflage has to be drab?"

I slightly narrowed my eyes. "Well… the whole point of camouflage is to be blend in with the environment, hiding from something specifically. It isn't really to be used with fashion…"

"Ahoy, maties! Dragons ho!" Pinkie Pie announced, causing us to look back and up towards the sky. As soon as the first huge shadow of a dragon hovered above us, Fluttershy quickly whimpered and clutched her hooves around me, beginning to tremble.

"Oooh... Ahhhh!" The girls expressed while I held Fluttershy in my hooves and patted her comfortingly.

"It's okay, Fluttershy. Look… it's not so bad… they're just flying over us. No more." I whispered to her, causing her to slowly lift her head and look up.

We saw many dragons of different kinds and colors flying in a pattern. One yellow dragon even lowered himself and created a somersault in the air.

"Wow, amazing!" Twilight commented.

"Pfft." Rainbow Dash blew her tongue. "Pretty lame move. Is that all they've got?"

One green dragon bumped onto a fiery red one, whether on accident or purpose, and caused him to blow out a huge wave of fire towards us. The girls quickly ducked while I brought Fluttershy and lay her down with me. I could feel the heat. Once it stopped, I carefully and safely brought Fluttershy with me as she began trembling again. I quickly held her tightly, hoping she would calm down a bit.

"What do ya think of that 'move', Rainbow Dash? Still think they're lame?" Applejack asked with a smirk on her face.

Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, contained an almost shocked expression on her face, which was a bit charred, along with her mane. "Uh, not so much. The word 'fierce' comes to mind."

"And 'formidable'." Rarity added with some admiration in her tone.

"And 'super-duper scary'!" Pinkie included, lying on the ground in fear, but was immediately cheered up when Spike came along and brought a cupcake to her hooves.

"Yeah. Us dragons are definitely a force to be reckoned with." He took out a cookie from the bowl of sweets he made and handed it over to Applejack.

However, Rainbow Dash was on the ground laughing. "Yeah, right, Spike. That's one of the scariest aprons I've ever seen!" Applejack and Pinkie Pie joined her in her laughter.

"What's wrong with wearing an apron?" Spike asked, looking at his pink apron with furry trims that presented a hot pink heart in the middle. "You won't be laughing when you spill blueberries all over your scales. Feathers. That's one tough stain!"

"One tough stain against one lame dragon." She continued to laugh.

"Alright, that's enough, Rainbow Dash…" I stated as I continued to pat Fluttershy, who seemed be loosening up a bit. "Spike made us these nice treats. Let him wear whatever he wants."

"Absolutely!" Rarity agreed. "You leave him alone, Rainbow Dash! Spike's style is unique. He doesn't have to look like other dragons."

"Or act like them." Twilight offered.

"My little Spikey-wikey is perfect the way he is." She complimented, flicking his top scale with her hoof.

"I don't act like other dragons?" Spike asked in a worried tone.

"Oh, not even close!" Pinkie answered.

"But why would you want to, Spike?" Applejack questioned.

"Yes. You've got something those dreadfully fierce dragons can only dream of." Rarity stated, causing my to raise an eyebrow on what she meant.

"What's that?" Spike asked in a hopeful manner.

"The cutest widdle chubby cheeks!" Rarity spoke in a babyish voice while pressing her hooves on his face and squishing them. "Ooooo!"

"Cute? Dragons aren't supposed to be cute!" Spike began blushing very heavily. "Right?"

"Oh, sweetie, you are turning the most delightful shade of red, it is most becoming."

When he noticed every one of the girls staring at him in acceptance, he growled in annoyance. "Rrrgh!" Afterwards, he jumped out from the trench and began storming off.

"Oh, isn't he adorable when he waddles off in anger?" Rarity expressed.

"Waddle? Rrrrrggggh!" He released before leaving the area angrily.

"Wow…" I said. "And I thought he loved getting attention…"

"I don't see what's to get so upset about." Rarity responded. "He's so adorable! What's the harm in that?"

"Hm…" I turned away and placed my head on my hooves on top of the trench, continuing to watch the pattern of dragons fly above us.

Fluttershy seemed to have calmed down, as she began to watch the dragons without trembling so much. "I guess this isn't actually too bad…" She offered. "Besides the part where the dragon roared out fire… this is actually pretty nice…" She observed the sky. "They're too far away…it isn't bad…"

I managed to lightly smile at her. "Well, I'm glad you're feeling better, Fluttershy."

She smiled and nodded.

We spent most of the day watching the migration. The girls continued to eat off the tray of sweets Spike had made, but I didn't really pick at them. I felt a little bad for how Spike left in anger, especially after making us those… I mean… he did love receiving attention…especially if Rarity was the pony giving it. But for some reason, it just made him mad. Hm…perhaps he feels left out. Those dragons up in the migration are fierce and powerful, while he's here being told that he's "cute". I mean… I have no problem with how Spike is now… Just as Rarity stated, "He's perfect the way he is."

I was interrupted by Fluttershy, who tapped me on the shoulder. I shook my head as I was snapped out of the trance I was in. I looked around to see that the other girls had left, and it was night time. Whoa…

"Alex… Are you coming in?" She asked me.

"Oh…um…" I responded, trying to catch up with the situation I was in right now. "Yeah…" I stood up from the trench and began walking with Fluttershy out of there. I then walked with her towards the cottage, where we sat on the couch and began drinking some tea. "So overall, the Dragon Migration was okay, Fluttershy?"

She looked down at her tea as some small steam lifted upwards towards the air from it. She smiled lightly. "I guess you could say it wasn't as bad as I thought."

I smiled as well. "Well, that's great. I'm glad you weren't uncomfortable during the entire event."

"Well…it's because of you." She placed the tea down on the table and looked at me, causing me to place the tea on the table as well. She grabbed my hoof and held it with both of hers. "You know…sometimes…whenever I'm with you… I feel like…like… I can do anything." She leaned her head closer to mine. "You always comfort me when I'm down…" She leaned towards me a little more to the point where our noses were touching now. "I may feel really sad at some point…but you always bring me back up within time."

"I can say the same thing about you, Fluttershy…" I responded. She smiled and gently kissed me, causing us to both close our eyes. Her movements sort of made me lay on the couch while she continued to kiss me. This lasted for a while in silence. It wasn't awkward. It was beautiful actually… We exchanged a few more kisses until we opened our eyes and smiled, revealing some redness in both our cheeks. I looked out the window and back at Fluttershy. "Can I sleepover? I actually already feel pretty cozy and even a bit lazy to go back home."

She giggled. "Of course."

She removed herself from on top of me and sat back down on her side. We both finished our tea, which she then took to the kitchen. When she was washing those teacups, I grabbed the blankets myself and set them up on the couch. When Fluttershy came back in the living room, she wished me Goodnight and kissed my cheek. I greatly accepted it as I watched her go back up the stairs. After she entered her room, I turned off the lights. Then, I made myself comfortable on the bed, wrapping the covers around me. I closed my eyes and smiled while I waited to go to sleep.

"You're love smells alluring."

I quickly opened my eyes and looked around. I didn't see anypony. I almost felt like I wanted to breathe heavily in fright. What the… What was that voice? It sounded so close… I sighed and shook my head. Maybe it was just my imagination… I lay back down and rested my head hesitantly. I closed my eyes once again, feeling a little uneasy from it. I was actually a little frightened to where I felt like I just wanted to sleep with Fluttershy in her bed… I know she's upstairs…but now…now I feel like I need somepony right next to me…

I opened my eyes to see a bright sunny day outside. I sighed and rubbed my head with my hoof. I wonder what time I went to sleep last night…

"Morning, sweetie." Fluttershy announced softly as she walked downstairs, almost making me jump a bit.

"Oh… Morning, Fluttershy." I responded.

"How did you sleep last night?"

"Um…" What should I tell her? I guess I was able to sleep fine…but it wasn't exactly the best I've had… Besides, I don't want to worry her. "It was alright." I answered her. I stood up from the couch and made the covers neatly. Afterwards, I walked to her. "Want to get some breakfast?"

She smiled and nodded. "Okay."

I led her to the door, opening it and allowing her to walk through and then closing it behind her when I was outside. Then, we walked side by side towards town.

In the middle of town, we caught Rainbow Dash and Rarity, who spotted us as well and walked over to us. "Hey, you two!" Rainbow Dash greeted.

"Morning." Rarity added warmly.

"Hey, Good Morning, girls." I responded, smiling lightly.

"We were just about to get some breakfast, want to join us?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Oh, sure! We were going to get some breakfast too."

"Great! You know, why don't we ask Twilight? She's nearby."

"Okay."

Rarity and I walked while Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew. We all headed to Twilight's home, arriving at the door moments after. Rarity and Rainbow Dash immediately barged inside, in a calm way, exclaiming out greetings.

"Yoo-hoo!"

"Hey guys!"

Their sudden greetings startled Spike, causing him to fall into the large pile of books that were near him and Twilight.

"Good Morning!" Rarity spoke in a lively tone.

"Ya wanna join us for breakfast?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"That sounds great. I'm famished." Twilight answered.

"Count me out. I've gotta get an early start!" Spike replied, jumping out from the pile of books.

"An early start?" Rarity inquired, her eyes revealing that she was growing concerned.

"Yes! I'm going on a quest of self-discovery! I need to learn what it means to be a dragon! And the only way I'm gonna do that is to join the dragon migration!"

"What?" The girls, even I, exclaimed with widened eyes.

"Spike, that's nonsense talk!" Rainbow Dash tried to talk some sense into Spike. "I know that you're a dragon, but those dragons mean business!" He turned around with a serious face, but ironically he had a picnic blanket, a sandwich, and that same apron he wore yesterday on his claw. "They're big, and tough, and scary..."

"And I'm small, and meek... and I like to wear aprons." He finished, presenting the apron in front of her. "See?" He threw the apron away from him. "This is exactly why I need to spend time with them."

"She's just looking out for you Spike." I intervened. "I mean… you don't exactly see any dragons your size that are in that migration. You can really get hurt if you're not careful…"

"Darling, this time I really do have to agree with them." Rarity brought herself into the conversation as well. "I don't want those big, ugly, nasty dragons to hurt one little scale on your cutsey-wutsey head!" She rubbed her hoof gently on his head. Nonetheless, this made him even more irritated and he slapped it away with the old-fashioned "run-away briefcase" he finished making.

"I'm sorry, but I've made up my mind." He began walking out the door.

"Oh, uh, quick, do something!" Rarity directed desperately to Rainbow Dash and me. "Stop him before it's too late!"

Rainbow Dash quickly flew over to the sack he was carrying and grabbed it with her teeth pulling it away and preventing Spike to move any further. "Ngh! Hey! Give it back!"

After thinking for a moment… I realized that I should probably step in and see what my mind gives me to say. I walked over to the middle of the scene and pulled away the sack from both of them. I sighed and began speaking. "…I think Spike has the right to go…I mean… there's no other answer he can find about himself here…so…the only way he has a chance in finding out who he is, is to go to the migration…" I gave him back the sack. "I just honestly think it would be better if you waited a bit until you were more grown up…but…the dragon migration does only happen once in a generation…"

After thinking for a moment, Twilight also stopped by my side. "Yes…you should go Spike…"

"Really?" Spike asked, surprised.

"Yes, Spike. Alex is right." She spoke compassionately. "I couldn't answer your questions. My books couldn't either. I understand why you want to look elsewhere. I truly believe you need to go on this quest. And we have no right to stop you." She looked towards Rarity and Rainbow.

"I suppose not." Rarity finally agreed, rubbing her head with her hoof.

"I still say you're nutty, but hey, I've done lots of nutty things." Rainbow added.

"We know." We all responded to that comment. …It's true…

Rainbow groaned under her breath.

"Well then, I guess this is goodbye, Spike." Twilight hugged him before sending him off. "We can't wait to hear about it when you return."

"Yeah, we hope your trip—

"Quest." Twilight corrected Rainbow Dash.

"-your quest answers some of your pesky "who am I" questions."

"Thanks, everypony. I know it will."

"Goodbye, Spike. I hope you're safe while you stay there…" Fluttershy added, waving her hoof a little.

"Thanks, Fluttershy." Spike replied before turning away and walking off, ready to find what he's looking for.

"Goodbye, Spikey-wikey!" Rarity waved as he continued walking.

"Go get 'em, big guy!" Rainbow Dash included.

"We have faith in you!" Twilight finished.

I waved as well, but I was a bit surprised when I saw them grinning widely. Um…that's the look that means they have something in mind, right?

"We're following him, right?" Rarity asked through her grin.

"Of course." Twilight answered in the same manner.

I couldn't help but smile a little at their plan. "I suppose we can follow him for his safety…"

Fluttershy gasped and placed her hooves on me. "Alex! Are you really going to follow them?"

"Yeah…why…?" I questioned, becoming concerned.

"Because there are a lot of scary dragons there! What if you get hurt?"

I returned an assuring smile and placed my hooves on her. "I'll be fine, Fluttershy. We all will as long as we're together." I faced the others. "Am I right?"

The nodded with bright smiles.

"Oh…alright…" She retracted her hooves, becoming a little gloomy.

"Come on, let's get breakfast." I offered.

We sat at a table in the café and waited for our orders, which consisted of mainly grass pancakes. As we waited, I noticed Rarity drawing on a piece of paper with a pencil she carried with her magic.

"What are you doing, Rarity?" I asked, a little intrigued.

"Why, I'm creating a design for us."

"Huh…?"

"Well, we can't just go in there to watch Spike like this! We need a disguise! And that's what I'm designing right now."

"Nice work, Rarity." I praised.

Once the food came, we ate and didn't stay long. Rarity organized her papers of the design and turned away to head off to her boutique. "I'm going to go work on this right away!"

"Alright." I nodded. "I'll meet you at the boutique in a bit."

Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight began trotting that direction while I remained with Fluttershy. I was ready to walk her home, but she seemed to know that I was planning that.

"It's okay, Alex. There are a few things I need to do here anyway."

"Oh…alright. Um…"

She placed her hooves on my cheek, causing us to both stare into each other's eyes for a moment. "Please come back safely, Alex…"

Once again, I sent her an assuring and light smile. "Don't worry, Fluttershy… I'll come back nice and safe, just for you, I promise."

"Do you Pinkie Promise?"

I sat down and raised my hoof. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." I finished by gesturing the cupcake with my hoof.

She smiled lightly, embraced me and then passionately kissed me for a few seconds. After, she pulled away and continued looking at me. "Okay then. I'll see you tonight."

"Mm-hm." I nodded. "See you tonight."

Then, we embraced each other for a longer moment until she allowed me to walk back to Rarity's boutique.

Opening the door to her dress shop, I looked around and called for their names. "Rarity? Twilight? Rainbow Dash?" I continued to walk around, looking for them until I suddenly came across a weird looking creature. I slightly jumped until I noticed that it was supposed to be a dragon. The scales were studded with gems and each side of the dragon had holes for wings, which Rainbow Dash filled. There was a large bow wrapped around the neck, and it was clearly made to present a female dragon. "Uh-huh…That was fast…"

"Well you know how fast I work. Like it?" I heard Rarity say from inside the dragon.

"Um…sure…" I responded, a little uneasy. "Are you sure this will actually make the other dragons believe we're one of them…?"

"That's what I was asking." Rainbow Dash added from inside as well.

"It'll have to do." Twilight answered while her face appeared inside the dragon's mouth. She must have been on top of Rainbow…

"Yes… it's the best I could do…" Rarity stated. "This is the first time of ever creating a dragon by fabrics…"

"Alright… so… I have to hide under there as well?"

"Yup." Twilight replied.

"Okay…" I walked towards the costume, opening the flap on the bottom and stretching it over my head so I could walk in. I saw Rarity at the end of the tail, Rainbow Dash at the front with her wings, and Twilight on top of her.

"Just go ahead and squeeze in over here." Rarity directed, making some space and allowing me to stand between her and Rainbow Dash.

"Okay… so how are we going to go all the way towards the dragon migration in this…?" I asked.

"After researching up the migration in my books, and of course watching the direction they flew, I found out that they stay in a volcano… and it's not extinct."

"Okay…so how are we going to get over there then?" Rainbow Dash questioned.

"I've been working on my teleportation spell. It may wear me out a bit… but hopefully it takes us over there."

"Alright! So what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Rainbow Dash announced, feeling confident.

"Okay… Here goes nothing…" Twilight began closing her eyes and grunting. I could hear the magic begin to work. She let out a puff of air, breathing in a new take, and strained herself again. After a few seconds, she finally caused something and we were instantly teleported in front of a volcano. "Wow…" Twilight sighed in relief. "That was exhausting…"

"Hey! I can see Spike! He's climbing up the volcano! Let's go!" Rainbow announced and began racing uphill with her hooves. I helped her by using mine as well, while Rarity followed.

"Alright, teenage dragons!" I heard from outside the costume. "Now that's more my speed. And size."

From what I could see with the two eye holes Rarity placed at the front of the neck, we finally made it to the top, and there were many dragons inside the dent of the volcano. After having some time to observe the other dragons, Rainbow spoke up in a hushed tone. "I'm telling you, we'll never pass for a real dragon!"

"Oh, pish-posh! This costume is fabulous, one of my finer creations." Rarity added, causing Twilight to shush them both.

"We'll never pass if they hear three voices coming out of one dragon! Now come on, let's go!"

Rainbow Dash took a first step, but being hard as it is already, we actually slid downhill. When we finally regained our balance, we began trying to walk over to the group Spike joined. Trying to see as much as I could through the holes, I saw two dragons wrestling when Spike spoke. "Um, excuse me? Uh, hi. I'm Spike." The red teenage dragon released his grip on the other, dropping him towards the floor in silence.

Another purple teenage dragon walked up to Spike. "You sure your name is Spike and not Shrimp?" This caused them to all laugh. I narrowed my eyes.

"No, it's Spike! I'm not, I mean, I'm sure about that..."

"You look more like Peewee to me." A large brown teenage dragon pointed out, causing them to laugh once again.

"Hey guys, c'mon, seriously." The red teenage dragon spoke. "Leave him alone, or he might fly away. That is, uh, if he had any wings!" He grabbed Spike by his tail and held him upside down. He released him once they began laughing.

"You fly in on your mommy's back during the migration?" The brown one asked, mockingly.

"Not exactly..." Spike responded, who was obviously not aware of their teasing methods…

"No, no, can't you see baby Spike just hatched? I bet he still sucks his claw at night!" The purple one announced.

"No, I haven't sucked my claw in months!"

This, again, caused them to all laugh.

Spike then began sucking on his claw, but quickly pulled it back when the red one began speaking to him. "Well if you weren't just hatched, how come we haven't seen you around before?"

"Oh, well, y'see, I live in Ponyville and—

"Hahaha! Ponyville? That explains it! I knew there was something vaguely pony-ish about you! If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were part pony!" He began inching closer to him in an intimidating manner.

"Who, me? I'm not part pony!" Spike replied, slowly backing away to a rock. "I'm all dragon, see? Raar!" He created a small roar…

"Or maybe you're a pony in a dragon costume." He suggested, mockingly, which then caused the others to laugh. The purple one stood right by us, laughing, and placed his claws around our costume…ironically…

"A pony in a dragon costume...!" He laughed, causing Twilight to go with the flow and deepen her voice.

"Aheh... yeah... hilarious."

These dragons are really idiots… I sighed. It probably is for the best if she does the voice…otherwise I might just say something out of the emotion I'm feeling right now…

"Nnh, I am a real dragon!" Spike emphasized.

"Oh yeah? Prove it." The red one responded.

"Well... how?"

"By acting like one!" He looked towards the other dragons. "Who's up for a little belching contest?" He announced, leading the others to cheer about it.

Are you serious?

As we stood in the crowd, each one of them stood up and released a belch, along with some flames. I flinched my eyes in disgust. When the large one finally stood up, he released the loudest and biggest belch, causing the flames to pass by us. Twilight had to lower herself more into the costume to avoid the heat. I found this to be so repulsive…

The crowd of dragons responded by cheering out loud.

"You think you can beat that, Peewee?" The red one teased harshly towards Spike.

Spike gulped and walked towards the front of the crowd. I looked at Twilight's face to see that she was worried about him. Finally, when Spike was next to those other dragons, his face puffed up, and he released a small and light belch. A letter from the Princess came out… The red one retrieved it with his claw and began reading it. "From the desk of Princess Celestia. Dear Spike, please te- Ha! Get this, guys! Spike's pen-pals with a namby-pamby pony princess!"

As they laughed, I narrowed my eyes in anger and growled. "How dare they insult her…" I whispered inside.

Rarity patted me. "Easy there, Alex… You don't want to blow our cover…"

I could only release a sigh. I looked out to see the red dragon crumple up the paper and throw it in the lava, burning it completely. I seriously wanted to just jump out and teach this dragon a lesson on discipline, but I couldn't risk the safety of the other girls, so I took in a deep breath and tried to relax.

However, Twilight gasped at the sight of this. "How can he just throw that away? That letter could be something important!"

"We can't worry about that now, Twilight. We're here to help Spike!" Rainbow Dash responded.

"I know, I know!" She faced towards the obnoxious dragons. "That's no reason to disrespect Princess Celestia that way!"

"Maybe tail wrestling is more your speed." The red one suggested.

"Uh..."

"Yeah!" The teenage dragons agreed.

The red one then led two different dragons to use their tails to wrestle. It was just like hoof wrestling…except with their tails… "Ready... go!" They both gave sounds of exertion, but there was eventually a winner. "The winner!" The red one presented, causing every dragon to cheer.

"We can't let little Spikey-wikey wrestle one of them!" Rarity announced as she sort of squished me when trying to view through the eye hole. "He'll get clobbered!"

"Let's go!" Twilight rushed and caused us to walk over to Spike. "I challenge Spike to a tail wrestle!" She announced in a deep voice.

They looked at us funny, but eventually allowed us to challenge Spike. Since we were not an actually live dragon, Rarity had a hard time picking up the tail. She had to lift it up twice until it was planted on Spike's.

"Ready? Go!" The red one announced, causing to Spike to return sounds of exertion. We weren't putting up any resistance, which Rarity and Rainbow Dash knew about when they exchanged a look about it. Rarity looked at me and nodded. We then purposely fell to the ground, looking as if we lost. "Spike's the winner!" They cheered. "Nice going, little Spike! Maybe you are a dragon after all!"

"Yeah! Maybe I am!"

We finally managed to stand up and walk away from the scene.

"Rainbow Dash, I can't believe your silly plan actually worked." Rainbow Dash bumped me aggressively with her flank, which caused me to bump into Rarity. "Ow."

"Hey, watch it…" I commented from the impact.

"Alright, who's next?" I heard Spike's voice from the outside. Oh, wow…

"Getting a little cocky, huh? I like that. So how about you wrestle... him!" He stated to some other dragon. "Go!"

"Whooooooooa!" Spike immediately lost.

In the next event, the red dragon was taking him up a hill of jewels.

"So Spike, you haven't exactly proven yourself as a dragon yet, have you?"

"But... I get an A for effort?"

"Huh, maybe. Let's see how you do in this next contest." He pushed Spike off the hill.

"Whaaaaa!" Spike cried out, creating grunts and he took impacts of the hill. "Oof! Wha! Oah! Oof!"

"King of the hoard!" The red one cried out, which led the other dragons to begin to race towards the top.

Spike began climbing to the top as the red dragon threw off the others. He was almost there when he was wrestling with the brown one. The purple dragon was racing towards him, but Rainbow Dash took notice of this. "Not so fast!" She jumped towards him, taking us with her and knocking him out of the hill. After, we noticed Spike poke the other two off the hill, surprisingly.

Okay…that's good… just stay there and don't move…

"King of the ho- whoa!" He began to cry out until he lost his balance and fell off… "Oof! Uh! Nuh! Oof!"

Despite his efforts, the red one crossed his arms when Spike landed in front of him. "Looks like this is another fail for you, little Spike. Can't wait to watch you fail at lava cannonball, too." Spike returned a gulp to this…

We then joined them at a cliff which was above a pool of lava. I wanted to make a suggestion about this to the girls, but I didn't want the others to hear.

"Whoever makes the biggest lava splash is the ultimate dragon!" The red one announced. "Geronimo!" He dove into the lava, causing a splash that sent a drop of lava near us. Rainbow Dash had to quickly lift her hoof in order to avoid it.

"Spike's on his own this time…" Twilight commented, catching my suggestion and causing us to leave the area.

Each of the other dragons dipped in as well, each causing their own splash.

"Cannonball!" The large brown one dove in, expectantly creating a humongous lava splash that poured down everywhere. …Good thing we got out of there in time… Spike looked down to see the incredible height he was at.

"Guh!" He almost fell in and quickly raced to the back of the wall.

"What's wrong, Spike? You afraid the lava will hurt your soft pony hide?" The red one mocked, allowing the others to laugh.

After a moment, Spike stopped shaking and stood confidently at the end of the cliff. Finally, he took a gulp and dove in, screaming as he fell. Unfortunately, he dove the wrong way, causing him to create a loud smack when touching the lava and most likely a lot of pain for him.

"Oooh..." They reacted, showing painful expressions.

Spike poked his head out of the lava and sprayed some out from his mouth. "Ugh... Was I... that bad?"

"No, dude... that was awesome!" The red one responded. Typical… But at least he's okay and he seemed to gain more of their so called "respect". "No pony could live through a belly flop like that!" He chuckled and lifted him by his scale. "You're one tough little dragon." He released him.

As expected, he gained their general approval.

After that event, they created some ritual they made themselves. Dragons stood by the side of a straight line, erecting their tails towards one another and producing a sort of path for Spike. He walked in, a little confused, but reached the red dragon.

"Spike, by belly flopping so hard, you have proven yourself worthy. I hereby dub you 'rookie dragon'" He did so by patting Spike's shoulders with his tail. "…and will now perform the initiation ritual. Rrrrgh." He rubbed Spike's head with his fist, chuckling. "Now let's party dragon style!"

They began to dance and eat maniacally while we could only try to remain hidden and watch.

"Girls…I'm not so sure this is the type of crowd Spike should be around…" I whispered.

"I agree." Rarity added. "I mean, look at them. They're so…so…"

"Rowdy and uncouth?" I finished her sentence.

"Yes. Exactly so."

"Well, we can't ruin this for Spike... We just have to watch and help him in any way we can…" Twilight responded, continuing to look out of the head.

I sighed and muttered. "Well, I'm just trying to resist blowing my fuse…"

When they finally finished, they were lying on the ground with crossed arms and bellies full.

"Man, was that a great party." Spike commented.

"Great?" The red one began. "Huh, maybe by Ponyville standards. Stick with us, Spike." He playfully punched him. "We still got plenty to teach you about being a dragon."

"I'm not going anywhere. The way I feel right now, I could hang out with you guys forever."

His words surprised us.

"Forever?" The girls exclaimed in a whispered tone.

They dove into the boulder behind them and decided to carry on this conversation.

"Spikey-wikey is going to stay with these awful dragons? Forever?" Rarity questioned.

"Oh no, this is terrible!" Twilight commented.

"I should've stopped him back at the library when I had the chance!" Rainbow Dash added.

"No, Rainbow Dash, this is all my fault! I encouraged him to go!" Twilight responded.

"Girls, calm down, alright?" I took part. "Spike's been with us for a long time. There's no way he'll stay with those dragons just because they're dragons… We're his real family…"

They didn't know what to respond with…so we looked back at the dragons to see them up and ready. "Y'know, Spike, I think you just might be ready for a real dragon raid." The rest of them cheered. "There's a nest full of phoenix eggs nearby, and we're gonna swipe 'em!" However, this caused Spike to turn his excitement upside down.

"Aren't you totally psyched to go on this raid?" The brown one noticed and pushed him down to the ground roughly.

"Oh yeah, I'm excited." He stood back up. "I mean, I'm psyched."

"Alright then. Let's fly!" The red one commanded and began leading the rest of them out of the volcano.

Spike realized how he didn't have any wings, so he smiled and took this opportunity. "Uh, sorry guys! I guess I'll meet you back here at the crater! After the whole raid thing's over? We'll totally hang then!" Nonetheless, the brown one came by and swooped him up, bringing him with them. "Whoahoa!"

"Oh no, they took Spike!" Rainbow pointed out, watching from the mouth. She quickly lowered herself to the bottom. "We've gotta go after them!" She tried flying, causing Rarity to scream as she was only dragging us.

Twilight yelped. "Rainbow Dash, stop! We can't fly!"

"And you're ruining my fabulous costume!" Rarity added.

When I noticed Rainbow wasn't stopping, I quickly jumped and grabbed her flanks with my hooves, bringing her back down. She quickly took notice of this and looked out. She realized how we were almost sucked into the lava… "I'm sorry, but we gotta help Spike!"

"Well, we're just gonna have to hoof it!" Twilight responded and let us to the edge of the volcano. "They're heading towards the forest, come on!"

"Hold on a minute, we're going downhill so we have to—

I was interrupted when Rainbow Dash went on ahead and jumped off, causing us to slide down the volcano roughly. Once we finally reach the end, we rolled over together and stopped after several seconds, groaning.

"…Everypony okay…?" Twilight asked.

"Uh-huh…" Rarity answered.

"Yeah…" I answered as well.

We saw a bright beam of light come from the forest.

"Look! Spike might be in trouble! Let's go!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed and began forcing us to run before we were fully recovered.

We continued running through the forest. Since I was behind Rainbow Dash, I could hardly see anything but green and darkness. It wasn't until a little while when we started hearing voices. "Well, what are you waiting for, Spike? Smash it!"

"Oh no!" Rainbow announced. "Spike's in trouble!" She made us sprint even faster.

"Smash the egg?"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah, throw it on the ground as hard as you can!"

We finally came to the source of the noise to see Spike holding a beautifully colored egg as the other dragons demanded that he smash it. "Yeah! Smash it! Smash it! Smash it! Smash it! Smash it!" They ceased their cheering when Spike raised his arms to throw it on the ground. I could only observe it in silence and suspense. No, Spike…you know better…you know you were an egg yourself… Spike left his arms shooting upwards towards the sky. I could see some strain and struggle in his face, indicating that he was struggling with what to do; win the respect of the teenage dragons which probably won't last forever? Or destroy a completely harmless egg? Finally, after a few tense seconds which seemed to be longer, Spike grew tears in his eyes.

"No!" He lowered his arms and turned away. "It's just a defenseless egg, like I was! And I'm not gonna let you hurt it!"

"What did you say?" The red one asked in an intimidating way.

"I said no." Spike responded boldly.

"No one says no to me." The red dragon inched over to Spike, causing him to slowly back away until he bumped into us.

We finally revealed ourselves when Spike was in danger. And I was ready to strike at these adolescent fools.

"Nopony's gonna lay a claw on him!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she flew and held her hooves up.

"That's right!" Twilight agreed in the same pose on the ground as she shook her hooves.

"Fighting's not really my thing, I'm more into fashion," Rarity flipped her hair as I remained in my defensive stance. "…but I'll rip you to pieces if you touch one scale on his cute little head!" Rarity finished aggressively.

Our responses caused the dragons to laugh out loud. "Ooh, scary, hehe! Spike, are these namby-pamby ponies your friends?"

"Yes, they are." He responded firmly. "And they're better friends than you could ever be. Now, if you don't back off, you'll see what us ponies do when confronted by a huge group of jerky dragons."

"Oh yeah?" The red fool snorted. "What's that?"

"THIS!" I suddenly intervened and charged at him. I pounced onto him, causing him to fall down on his back with me holding him down.

"What the-? Get this pony off of me!"

The other dragons were beginning to come closer to me with their claws ready, but I closed my eyes and felt myself take control of my heart. At that instant, I grunted and growled. Then, I released a large bright light from within. The other dragons that were beginning to surround me immediately fell backwards while the red one was blinded. Those other dragons looked at each other and instantly began running away as they saw me as a terrible threat.

"Where are you guys going?" The red one exclaimed, looking back at the others. Then, he turned his head to see me and immediately became frightened.

"Somewhere where you should have stayed!" I answered his question and raised my hoof, striking him in the cheek after. I raised my right hoof again while I clenched his neck with my left. "This is for threatening Spike!" I hammered him in the cheek again, and then raised my hoof. "This is for insulting the Princess!" I slugged him yet again in the same area and then raised my hoof once more. "And this is for pissing me off!" Using all of my strength, and the adrenaline in my body, I ended with a mighty haymaker. After, I was panting heavily, feeling the adrenaline wear out. I looked up to see him completely unconscious. I looked behind me to see every one of them, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Rarity, and Spike, with their jaws hung out and revealing extremely widened eyes. I looked back at the dragon and then at the others, realizing what I did. "Um…"

"Dude…" Rainbow Dash began.

"That…" Twilight added.

"Was…" Rarity included.

"AMAZING!" Spike hopped and cheered. "Alex, I honestly had no idea that you would do that! I really wouldn't have known what to do if you hadn't beat him up like that."

"Yeah!" Twilight giggled as I hopped off of him. She poked her hoof at his body. "Look! He's completely knocked out!"

"Normally, I wouldn't support such aggressive behavior, but in this case, that was the most spectacular performance I have ever seen!"

When I recovered to my normal breathing, I began feeling a little embarrassed of my actions. "Wow…" I rubbed my head with my hoof.

"Yeah! You were all like…" Rainbow Dash flew around and made swinging noises. "And then you just completely finished with that single punch! Hah!" She flew up to the dragon's face, which his eyes remained closed, and laughed. "Not so tough now, are you dragon?"

Their reactions caused me to chuckle. "Come on. Let's get out of here before he wakes up."

"Why worry?" Rainbow responded. "You can just knock him out again."

I chuckled again, but Twilight stood near us. "Here, I'll try to use my teleportation spell to take us back to Ponyville again." She closed her eyes and grunted as she tried to cast her spell. However, she was successful in casting it, teleporting us to Ponyville eventually.

We seemed to be on the outskirts of town.

"Still…" Spike began. "That was a close one… Thanks you guys. Especially to you Alex. You really saved all our butts.

"Of course." I smiled, holding out my hoof that was slightly hurting from the impact of the punches. "What are friends for?"

Spike accepted my bump and smiled. "You're more than friends. You're my family." He expressed, his eyes tearing up a bit.

This caused Rarity to squeak as we all joined in for a group hug.

After, we began to head back towards town under the night sky. Spike placed the egg on Twilight back. Then, he brought out a scroll and quill and began writing his letter to Princess Celestia. "Dear Princess Celestia, seeing the great dragon migration made me wonder what it meant to be a dragon. But now I realize that who I am is not the same as what I am. I may have been born a dragon, but Equestria and my pony friends have taught me how to be kind, loyal, and true! I'm proud to call Ponyville my home, and to have my pony friends as my family. Yours truly, Spike. P.S. ALEX IS SO AWESOME!" Afterwards, he rolled it up and sent it to the Princess while I tried to hold in a laugh. He grabbed the egg again and observed it. "Stick with me. I've got plenty to teach you about being a pony."

I smiled and chuckled lightly as the other girls smiled warmly.

Once in town, the girls once again began to recall on how I bested the dragon.

"Alex, I still can't believe you beat that huge dragon like it was nothing!" Rainbow Dash announced excitedly.

I lightly blushed and looked away. "Come on…do you really still need to talk about it?"

"YES! Geez! I wish Fluttershy was there! She would have seen how such a great hero you were, she would have rewarded you with so many kisses like a damsel in distress!"

"Heheh, I don't know Rainbow. I don't know if I was exactly heroic, but I was just defending my family…that's all…"

"Well you certainly are a hero to us Alex!" Rarity expressed and hugged me.

"Alright…alright… I just don't want you all in making a big deal out of this. I'm still Alex, okay?"

Rarity pulled away. "Indeed!" She looked upwards at the sky. "Well, then. We may continue to discuss this with the others tomorrow. Until then, we shall receive some beauty sleep! Ciao!" Rarity began walking away.

Rainbow Dash chuckled a little and waved to me. "See ya, Alex." She flew away, leaving Twilight, Spike, and me.

I turned around to see Spike lying on the floor, sleeping with the egg above him.

Twilight giggled and grabbed him gently with her magic. She carefully placed him on her back and looked at me. "Well, I guess I should take him home then."

I smiled warmly. "Alright, Twilight."

She was silent for a moment as she continued to look at me. "Thanks for defending not only Spike, but us as well, Alex"

"Like I said. You all are my family. I'll protect you all no matter what."

She giggled lightly again and sent me a smile with closed eyes. "I'm sure Fluttershy will love to hear this story."

I chuckled lightly. "Maybe…"

Twilight gave me a hug, but a careful one as she didn't want Spike and the egg to fall, and then pulled away after a few seconds. "Goodnight, Alex."

I nodded. "Goodnight, Twilight."

After I saw her leave, I smiled and began to rush over to Fluttershy's cottage.

When I arrived, I quickly knocked on her door. After a moment, she opened it and brightened up to see me. "Alex!" She threw her hooves around me while I wrapped my hooves around her as well. "I'm so glad you're alright! What about the others?"

"Yeah. They're all fine. Spike's back home. Let me tell you everything inside."

"Okay!" She pulled away and led me inside. As we sat on the couch, I told her everything that happened, hoping to not sound like I was bragging at the end. Her eyes widened and beamed when she heard about the "incident" with the dragon and me. "You beat up a dragon?"

"Yeah…I guess I kind of lost control with that…" I rubbed my head with my hoof embarrassingly.

She surprised me with a kiss. She pulled away and continued to look at me. "You're so brave."

"No…no… I was just protecting my family…that's all…"

"Either way…you're amazing…" She leaned towards me and continued to kiss me softly, but passionately.

We continued to kiss for a moment in each other's hooves. When we were finished, we looked at each other and blushed warmly again.

"Mind if I sleep over again, Fluttershy?" I asked.

She giggled. "Hehe, of course not. Like I said, you're always welcome to stay here."

I smiled warmly. "Thanks."

When she grabbed the covers for the couch, I tucked myself in as Fluttershy flew beside me. She looked at me lovingly and lowered her head to kiss me on the lips. "Goodnight, Alex."

I smiled. "Goodnight, Fluttershy."

Afterwards, she kissed my cheek and began flying up to her room, turning the light off after her.

For some reason, I felt excited to fall asleep already. Was it because of what I did today? I don't know…but I have to admit that it was pretty amazing, hah. I closed my eyes as I continued to smile. Well I guess all that paid off when I finally was able to teach those dragons a lesson. They now should think twice before messing with a pony from Ponyville ever again.

Hurricane Fluttershy

Episode 48 – Hurricane Fluttershy

"Where are you?"

"…huh…?" I whispered, opening my eyes slowly. When my vision cleared up, and my eyes fully opened, I was welcomed by darkness. I groaned and looked around. I tried to lay my head back and close my eyes to sleep, but I couldn't. I started feeling chilly, even with the blankets. However, the chills were mostly composed of hidden fears. I began feeling a little afraid…I don't know why… I'm not scared of the dark…but…why is this happening to me…? I also got up in a rapid movement and paced around. I'm still in Fluttershy's cottage…so why do I feel like this? It was still dark, and I wasn't feeling any better. I sighed. Maybe…maybe…I… Maybe I can stay with Fluttershy? I mean… not just in her home but…have her close to me… But… I don't want her to her to get the wrong idea…

I growled mentally.

I can't sleep…but I don't want her to feel awkward or uncomfortable, especially if she sees or wakes up to see me near her in bed…

I stopped pacing and looked up the stairs where Fluttershy's room was at. I sighed. I really hope she doesn't take this the wrong way… I quietly walked the stairs up to her room and looked in. It was a little too dark, but I could see her body under the covers and on the bed. I carefully and softly maneuvered in her room. I looked for an empty space on her bed. Her bed wasn't made for two ponies, so I was a little worried I wouldn't fit. Nonetheless, I carefully and softly placed my hooves on the empty space. I spent a few moments, trying to lift myself up while not making too much noise. Finally, when I was on, I carefully shifted a little more into the bed, not wanting to fall off. I almost jumped when I felt her body. I released a quiet breath and decided that it would be good enough. I already had enough trouble trying to get on the bed, so I didn't bother trying to slip in the covers. I waited a little to get comfortable and finally closed my eyes. As I felt her soft and warm body touch me, I felt much better than before… I knew that I wasn't alone. I knew that the love of my life was right beside me. And whatever it was that was bothering me, wont bother me as much since Fluttershy is right by my side…

I awakened to hear some birds chirping outside. I lightly opened my eyes to see daylight. I rubbed my eyes to open them fully, but in doing this, I discovered that I had the covers from Fluttershy's bed wrapped around me. I quickly looked to my right to see if Fluttershy was still there. She wasn't. Then, I began hearing some humming at the bottom of the stairs. I sat there a little shocked, and then looked at the blankets on top of me. So…she found out that I slept by her and didn't get mad? Hm… I lightly brushed the blankets off me and stepped out from the bed. I made those covers and began walking downstairs.

I saw Fluttershy tending to her animals as she continued to hum. She seemed to hear me when I reached the bottom of the stairs and turned to see me. She smiled warmly. "Good morning, Alex."

"Oh… Good morning, Fluttershy… um…" I rubbed my head with my hoof. "…sorry I slept with you last night…"

She lightly flew over to me and kissed me. "That's alright. Did something happen?"

"Well…" I continued to rub my head. "Yeah…I guess… I just couldn't sleep… Even though I was in your home, I began feeling alone again and scared… I felt like I needed some pony else with me…"

She placed a hoof on my shoulder. "Don't worry, Alex… I understand." She kissed my cheek and embraced me. After a moment, she pulled away and looked at me again. "Are you hungry?"

"Sure. Want to go to town?"

She lightly smiled. "Okay."

We walked out the front door and began heading towards town.

We arrived in the middle of town. Strangely, there were only pegasi in this area… However, I did manage to see Derpy with her usual crossed eyed expression.

"Hey, Derpy." I greeted her with a smile. "You remember Fluttershy, right?"

"Hi, Alex! Of course I do!" She responded happily. "Hi, Fluttershy!" Derpy waved over to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy didn't seem as shy as in their first encounter. She smiled lightly and waved to her as well. Before I could continue on with the conversation, I heard some whooshing above us. "Calling all pegasus ponies! Meeting tonight!" We heard Rainbow Dash announce above us as she rained down flyers.

Derpy began reading one flyer that landed on the ground in front of her while a flyer landed on Fluttershy's mane. I noticed how Derpy moved her eyes in a reading motion, yet they remained crossed. Fluttershy grabbed the flyer off from her mane with her hoof. In only one second, she looked at the flyer and quickly fled away, catching Derpy's and my attention.

"Mandatory meeting for all Ponyville pegasi." I heard a Pegasus read nearby.

"Library, tonight. Be cool, or be mule." Rainbow continued, dumping all of the papers in her sack and flying near a familiar mule. "No offense."

"None taken." He responded.

I remember that… I shook my head and looked at Derpy. "Sorry, Derpy. I have to go find Fluttershy. I don't know why she left just like that."

"It's okay. I hope everything's alright." She responded.

"Thanks." I nodded. "I'll probably see you later."

She smiled and waved.

I trotted throughout town, looking around for Fluttershy. "Fluttershy?" I heard some soft whimpers coming from a nearby barrel. I walked towards it and opened it to see Fluttershy trembling inside. "Fluttershy…What are you doing in there?" I asked gently. She didn't really answer but looked up to see me. "Come on…" I grabbed her hoof and gently pulled her out. "Let's talk this over breakfast."

We sat at a table outside the café, waiting for our orders. I looked at Fluttershy and noticed her frowning. I grabbed her hoof and held it on the table. "Fluttershy, what's wrong?"

"Um…You know those flyers Rainbow Dash was passing out…?" She responded.

"Yes?"

"Well…I…um…you know how I'm shy? Well… it has something to do with that…"

"I don't understand…"

She hesitated for a moment, looking around uneasily with her eyes. "Listen… I think it's just best if I don't go to the meeting…"

"Why not?" I asked. "I'll go with you, if you need me to…"

"But it's only for Pegasi…"

"I'll ask Rainbow if I can go in. I'm sure she'll let me."

"Well…" She thought about it for a moment. "Okay… I guess I can try…"

The waiter brought us our food after. I smiled at her, hoping to ease and comfort her a little bit. She saw it and managed to smile a bit as well. Then, we looked at our food and began consuming it, together.

That night, when the meeting was to take place, we walked over to Twilight's home, where it would take place as well. We saw many Pegasi in a line around the home.

"Don't worry… I'll be right by your side…" I told Fluttershy as I kept my eyes on the line.

"Alright, go on in, find a seat." She directed the ones in the line, causing them to walk in. I caught up with Rainbow Dash as she looked inside and began counting. "Ohh..." She groaned for some reason.

"What is it, Rainbow?" I inquired.

"It's Fluttershy, she isn't in there." She responded.

"Oh, she's right— I turned to face Fluttershy, but she actually wasn't there beside me. I looked around me. "Fluttershy?" I continued looking around. "Where did she go…?"

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. "Don't worry. She's pulled this trick tons of times before." She flew over to a tree, which looked perfectly normal. I raised an eyebrow in slight confusion. "You too, Fluttershy." Suddenly, a pair of eyes opened up. Rainbow Dash flew behind the tree, causing Fluttershy to reveal herself. Was this some kind of tree costume…? "Come on, let's go." Rainbow Dash stated as she began pushing her towards the house.

"Hold on, Rainbow." I told her, rushing towards her. "Let me handle this."

"Alright…" She released her hooves on the tree and allowed me to talk to Fluttershy.

I gently grabbed Fluttershy's hooves from inside the tree and began to lightly pull her out. "It's okay, Fluttershy… I'm right here… remember?" I looked at Rainbow Dash. "Is it alright if I come in with Fluttershy?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure. As long as she comes in." Rainbow Dash replied with crossed forelegs.

I nodded and presented an assuring smile to Fluttershy. "See? It won't be so bad. I promise. I'll be right with you."

"…okay…" She lifted herself out of the tree costume and began walking by my side, holding my hoof tightly.

"Let's go." Rainbow led us towards the house. "The presentation's about to start." She flew inside, causing us to walk inside as well.

As soon as we were inside, Fluttershy and I sat at the back of the room, especially since I didn't want to push her too much. A film began playing as the lights were turned off. Based on how the film was displayed, I figured that it was a really old film… Once the countdown was complete, a black horse with wings was depicted on the screen and old music played. After, the announcer in the film began speaking.

"Every living thing depends on the life-giving nourishment of rainwater, and it is up to Cloudsdale to provide rain-filled clouds to every corner of Equestria." As the announcer spoke, the film depicted small choppy drawings in order to allow every pony watching to understand. "But how, one pony might ask, does Cloudsdale gather all this extra water? Tornado power! That's right, pegasi-driven tornado power. A team of pegasi combine their wing power to create a jumbo tornado, powerful enough to pull water out of the local reservoir, and funnel it all the way up to Cloudsdale. Remember, pegasi, your jumbo tornado must reach a minimum of eight hundred wing power to lift that water up to Cloudsdale. So, the next time you're wondering "Where does all that extra rainwater come from?", just remem—

Everything in the film suddenly halted in a distorted way. This caused for the ponies watching to return confused chatter. When the lights turned on, we turned our heads to see Spike having some trouble with the projector as there was film spread everywhere in a mess. "Uh... intermission?" He shrugged.

"So, here's the scoop." Rainbow Dash announced in front of us as she flew. "Cloudsdale has chosen our own highland reservoir as a source of the rainwater they need for all of Equestria. And you know what that means. It means it's up to Ponyville's pegasi to bring that water up to Cloudsdale." She received excited chatter from the crowd. "Not only that, but Spitfire," She pulled down a poster, depicting Spitfire. "…captain of the Wonderbolts, will be here to oversee the water transfer and record our top tornado windspeed. Now last year," She pulled down a chart. "…Fillydelphia broke the windspeed record with a top speed of nine hundred and ten wing power." I would have never known… "But I think we can do better." She pulled down another chart that I assumed was supposed to be us. "I think we can get a top speed over a thousand!" This increased the excited chatter in the crowd even more. I looked over to see Fluttershy and notice her beginning to become uncomfortable. "...if each and every pony trains, and trains hard to get their wing power numbers up." There was coughing. "That coughing better be from a popcorn kernel, Thunderlane. Nopony's getting sick on my watch. So, are we gonna train hard?"

"Yeah!" The Pegasi cheered.

"Are we gonna be strong?"

"Yeah!"

"Are we gonna be fast?"

"Yeah!"

I now noticed Fluttershy lying on the floor with her hooves covering her eyes, significantly growing my concern.

"Record-smashing fast?" She asked a pony with a white coat. Dare I even say pony? He's huge! He was seriously extremely buff in every part of his body, wearing a piercing on his ear and having weights for his cutie mark. Ironically…he had small wings… but I'm sure that didn't stop him.

"YEAH!" He emphasized loudly.

"Who's with me?"

The crowd cheered loudly. As they cheered, Fluttershy quickly grabbed my hoof and caused me to give her my full attention.

"Alex…please come out…now…" She whispered.

"What…?" I asked, a little concerned and confused.

"Just please. Come." She quickly took me out of the home and outside. Afterwards, she frowned and lowered her head as she walked away.

I quickly walked to her and by her side, looking at her in a very concerned manner. "Fluttershy, what's going on? You've been so…uncomfortable ever since you got the flyers…"

She sighed while continuing to stare at the ground. "It's…I…" She whimpered a little.

"Fluttershy…"

"I'll try to explain to you at the cottage…"

"Alright…"

We walked back to the cottage, almost in absolute silence as I could only remain concerned for her…

Inside, we sat on the couch together. I placed my hoof on hers as I could only stare at her frown and worried eyes, which looked away from me. "Fluttershy…tell me… what's going on…? What's making you like this…?"

I saw her start to form a bit of tears in her eyes. "I'm…I'm afraid of others…"

"What do you mean?" I asked, leaning in a bit closer to her.

"Well…back at flight camp…when I was just a little filly… Um…" She paused for a moment. "The others there used to tease me…a lot… Ever since… I've been afraid to perform in front of others… I just can't stand it… the fear is always there…" A tear fell from her face and she began to cry a bit …

"Oh, Fluttershy…" I lightly caressed her face and turned it towards me. "Trust me…" I stated, looking into her eyes. "No pony will tease you here if you try your best. And even if they do… I'll be there to make sure they keep their mouths shut."

"You'd really do that for me, Alex…?" She asked.

"Of course. You're my girlfriend and I love you very much."

"Oh…" She groaned softly. "But… I understand…and I love you too… it's just…so very hard…I don't think I can go…"

"Well…whatever choice you make, I'll support it. Honestly, in my opinion, I think you should face your fear. But if it really hurts you too much to where you can't do anything about it… then I understand, and I'll be there for you."

"Thank you, Alex." She leaned her head towards mine and kissed me softly on the lips. "You're the best…"

I nodded. "Why don't you get some rest? I'm sure that'll make you feel a little better."

She managed to smile lightly. "Okay." She began walking towards the stairs, but then glanced at me. "Um…will you be sleeping over again?"

"Sure. If that's okay with you…"

She smiled and nodded. "Mm-hm. Goodnight, Sweetie."

Before she began to walk upstairs, I walked up to her and embraced her for a moment. Then, I kissed her gently on the lips and allowed her to retire to the room. She bloomed a bit in her cheeks before she walked up to her room. I smiled lightly and walked back to the couch. I took in a deep breath and hoped that I would get a good sleep without those disturbances that have been happening randomly lately…

Fortunately, when I woke up, I didn't recall any disturbances bothering me last night. I heard some soft hooves tap the area near me, causing me to open my eyes and sit up. I turned my head to see Fluttershy in her robe…but she had spots all over her body. "Fluttershy!" I quickly rushed out of the couch and towards her. "What's wrong? Are you sick?"

"N-no…" She shook her head. "I'm fine."

"Why do you have those spots all around you then?" I asked, still concerned.

"I'm just trying to pretend I'm sick so I don't have to go to training today…"

"Oh…Fluttershy…"

We suddenly heard knocking on the door. "Fluttershy? I know you're in there!" It was Rainbow Dash. "You're avoiding tornado duty and I want to know why! Fluttershy, open—

Fluttershy walked towards the door and opened it slightly. Then, she opened it and walked out, revealing herself in a very sickly manner. "Achoo." She created a sneeze, which was able to be distinguished as fake. "Hi, Rainbow Dash." She coughed weakly.

"Fluttershy, what happened to you?" Rainbow asked.

"Oh I" She sniffed. "I think I have" She coughed weakly. "the pony pox. I'm sorry, I really, really wanted to come to training day today" She weakly coughed again, sliding herself on the floor a little dramatically. "but this pony pox has really knocked me for a loop. Achoo." She coughed again.

However, I had a feeling Rainbow Dash wouldn't give up so easily… "Oh, you poor thing." She responded. "You know, there's only one cure for pony pox."

"I know, plenty of bed—

Fluttershy yelped when Rainbow Dash suddenly rained down a bucket of water on top of her, drenching all of her mane and robe. "Cold water! Those pony pox are clearing right up." She stated as the dots Fluttershy had wore off and sunk to floor.

"Oh, y'know, all of a sudden I'm, I'm starting to feel better." Fluttershy laughed nervously. "I'll just get out of these robes and- She fell to the floor and landed on her wing, causing me to widen my eyes and quickly rush over to her- ow!"

"Fluttershy!" I picked her up and held her in my hooves. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, my wing, oh, ow, it's hurt, I guess I can't fly after all—

Rainbow Dash blew her whistle all of a sudden, causing Fluttershy to yelp and jump from my hooves. She even escaped from her robe as she flew above us, presenting that her wing was perfectly fine. "Messed up wing, huh?" Fluttershy looked around and shrugged. "Stop horsing around, Fluttershy." She landed by me and lowered her head. "We've got a lot of training to do. Come on now, what's going on?" Rainbow Dash placed a hoof over her shoulder.

"Well, y'see, uh, well," Fluttershy struggled. "Oh, Rainbow Dash, I just can't do it! I can't fly!" Fluttershy placed her hooves on hers, lying on the ground, which caused me to frown.

"What are you talking about?" Rainbow Dash flew in mid-air. "Just last week you went into that wicked nose dive to save that falling baby bird right before it hit the ground!" She depicted the move inside.

"But that was different, that was an emergency! This whole tornado thing, it's more like a performance, and you know how I hate performing in front of others. Don't you remember flight camp? I couldn't gallop hard, or fly fast, not with everypony looking at me!" She walked towards me and placed her head on my shoulder sadly.

"It wasn't that bad."

"You're right, Rainbow Dash, it wasn't bad. It was horrible!" She paused for a moment. "The other foals used to tease me, a lot!" She walked over to Rainbow Dash and placed her hooves on her shoulders. "I just can't risk that sort of humiliation again."

"Suck it up, Fluttershy! This is no time for—

"Rainbow, stop." I announced, grabbing Fluttershy and holding her close to me. "I know exactly how she feels, and the thing she certainly doesn't need right now is somepony yelling at her…"

Rainbow sighed and lowered her tone. "Alright…what I mean is… confidence or no confidence, I'm gonna need every pegasus to break the record, including you. I need every ounce of wing power I can get."

"Oh, I-I don't think so, Rainbow Dash..." Fluttershy responded, shaking her head and holding her hooves around my neck.

Rainbow sighed again and began flying out sadly. "Thanks anyway."

I frowned and looked at Fluttershy. She noticed and looked into my eyes. She frowned as well and looked around with her eyes, beginning to think about it. Just before Rainbow could reach the door, she spoke. "Wait." Rainbow Dash stopped. "I'll do it…"

"You will?" Rainbow rushed back over to her, grinning brightly.

"I will." Fluttershy answered, managing to smile softly.

"You're game?" Rainbow asked, flapping her wings.

"I'm game." Fluttershy agreed.

"Alright!" Rainbow Dash grabbed her and flew her around in excitement. I looked at Fluttershy's expression and I could still spot uneasiness in it. Rainbow Dash then placed her back on the ground and was ready to fly out. "Come on, Fluttershy! The training is still going on!"

"Okay…um…" She glanced over to me. "Can I just have a moment, please…?"

"Alright…don't take too long though." Rainbow Dash stated and then left.

After, Fluttershy walked over to me and embraced me. She looked like a little girl who didn't want to leave her parents… I frowned and placed my hooves around her. "It'll be alright, Fluttershy… I'll come with you. I'll be there for you and cheer for you, even if the others don't. I don't care what they think. I only care about you."

She tightened her embrace. "Thank you, Alex…" She sighed and grabbed my hoof, ready to walk by my side. I lightly nodded and stood up. Afterwards, I began walking her out the door and towards the training grounds.

Arriving there, we saw Twilight and Spike sitting in the middle of the track with a small machine. I walked over to them with Fluttershy, hoping that seeing one of her good friends would calm her down a bit.

"Hey, Twilight, Spike." I greeted with a small smile.

"Hey, Alex." Twilight returned and then faced Fluttershy. "Are you going to train for bringing the water up to Cloudsdale?"

"Um…" Fluttershy replied, hesitating a bit. "Yes…"

I leaned in towards Twilight a little and whispered. "She's a little nervous right now…"

"Oh. I see. Well, with you by her side, I'm sure she'll feel better." Twilight added confidently.

"I hope so…"

A couple of ponies walked towards us, noticing the machine, and asked about it, which was what I was going to do. "What exactly does this machine do?"

"This is an anemometer." Twilight explained, pointing towards the machine. "It measures your accelerative velocity and translates it into wing power, thus gauging your cumulative H2O anti-gravitational potential. Any other questions?"

"Yeah." The other one answered after looking confused at Twilight's explanation. "What exactly does this machine do?" She asked, directing towards me or Spike.

"Um…I'm assuming it measures how fast your speed is and how strong your wings are?" Hence, the context clues "accelerative velocity" and "wing power".

"Ohhhh...okay...I see..." The two Pegasi, including the crowd, responded and seemed to have understand.

Twilight formed a sort of irritated expression on her face, though not directly at me, until we heard a pegasus cough in the crowd. Twilight poked her head out to see who it was. "Is that you again, Thunderlane? Please," She sprayed an anti-germ can near him. "…we need to have a germ-free environment."

"It wasn't me, it was Blossomforth." He argued.

"Don't worry, Twilight." Rainbow Dash flew in front of Twilight with her forelegs crossed. "Thunderlane's just cooking up an excuse to spend tornado day in bed. Why don't you get over here and be our first test flyer, Thunderlane?" This caused him to return an angry expression while the pony beside him giggled. He flew over to the starting line of the track and readied his wings. Once he was ready, he fluttered his wings rapidly and flew past the anemometer, causing it spin with the wind.

Once it stopped, Twilight analyzed the gauge. "We have 9.3 wing power."

This caused the other ponies to congratulate and praise him, especially that rather large and muscular fellow who exclaimed his usual "YEAH!"

"Not bad...not bad." Rainbow Dash commented, looking at the notes Spike was taking. Then, she flew over to the starting line and cracked every one of her joints, preparing herself in the sprinting position. Once she was ready, she quickly flashed her wings, increased her velocity significantly and even created a rainbow behind her as she flew. The huge gust of wind she caused even made us feel like we were going to be blown away. I looked to my side to see Fluttershy being slightly dragged away from me, causing me to quickly grab her and hold her close to me.

"16.5 wing power!" Twilight announced, leaving the crowd to respond in mighty cheers.

"Now listen up!" Rainbow Dash caught each of their attention. "If each of you can get your numbers up to at least 10.0 wing power by the end of the week, we'll no doubt set a new tornado speed record. We'll be number one!"

The other pegasi cheered and began flying around above us in excitement. However, Fluttershy remained with me staring at the ground sadly. She looked up to see the pegasi in their celebration. When she saw them having fun, her wings began to flap on their own. She also smiled lightly, looking as if she wanted to join them. She noticed her wings and quickly placed them away, staring back at the ground. She seemed…insecure…

"Fluttershy…" I commented, wrapping my hoof around her. "I don't like to see you like this…you seem so…sad…"

"I'm sorry, Alex… It's all my fault."

"No it isn't." I looked into her eyes. "You're perfect the way you are, and I believe in you. You just need to believe in yourself…and you'll do fine…"

She looked at me and closed her eyes, nuzzling her head on my chest, but continuing to keep the frown. "Thank you, Alex…"

I sighed silently and held her as I nuzzled my head on hers as well.

Later on, Twilight and Spike continued to measure each pegasus's wing power. Fluttershy remained by my side the whole time, seeming to become a little more nervous every time she saw a pegasus speed its way on the track. She dug her head in my chest as I could only continue to pat and try to comfort her. Finally, it seemed as if the last pegasus had had his turn, leaving only Fluttershy left. Spike revealed the records in the notepad towards Rainbow Dash, who observed them and smiled. "Impressive. Fluttershy, your turn." Fluttershy instantly jumped. Rainbow blew her whistle and clapped her hooves.

"Come on, Fluttershy. You'll do great." I stood up and walked her to the starting line. She didn't answer but only walked towards the line, looking downwards. Once she started looking around, her legs began trembling. She noticed how every pony was looking at her. "Just look at me, Fluttershy. I'm here." I told her softly. She did so and then at her wings, flapping them a bit. She took in a deep breath and began to fly with a lowered head. However, it seemed as if she was beginning to become a little more comfortable as she raised her head and continued flying, smiling at her wings. Unfortunately, those two other pegasi were watching and laughed. Fluttershy noticed this and immediately came to a very slow speed, looking back with a worried face. I quickly ran over to the end to meet up with her.

"Tell her!" I heard Twilight say to Rainbow Dash in a hushed tone.

"No, you tell her!" Rainbow Dash argued in the same tone.

"No, you!"

"Um... great job, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash gave up and placed her hooves behind her back. "You measured, uh, uh, .5."

Fluttershy returned a smile with ears perked up anyway.

".5? Isn't that like... less than one?" Spike commented, causing Twilight to bonk him on the head. "Ow!"

Fluttershy immediately shifted from her happy expression to a saddened one. Then, I noticed her staring at the other pegasi. They weren't laughing, and I think they honestly didn't care at all, but she seemed to take it the wrong way. In only a few moments, she seemed to be panicking greatly on the inside, causing me to run to her aid.

"Fluttershy…don't worry about it, you did— She immediately turned around and began running away, sobbing as her mane covered her teary face. "Fluttershy, wait!" I called for her, beginning to run after her.

Rainbow Dash noticed her and called out to her as well. "Fluttershy, wait!" She quickly flew by her as she galloped away. "So some punks poked a little fun at you and you got stage fright, big deal. You aren't gonna go quit just because of that, are you?"

Fluttershy stopped and turned around, looking at Rainbow Dash with tears streaming from her face. "Yes!" She exclaimed through her crying.

As I saw her cry, I widened my eyes in shock and chills were sent throughout my body. Oh, Fluttershy…don't…

"But I need you!" Rainbow Dash pleaded, seeming to not understand how to comfort Fluttershy.

"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy apologized, speaking between sobs. "I just don't have the courage right now..." She continued to gallop away as she cried.

"Fluttershy!" I called out to her again, sprinting heavily to catch up to her.

I continued running, but I eventually lost her. I looked around desperately to find her, but I pounded the ground with my hooves, sighing heavily and feeling the need to cry myself. However, I continued walking near a stream, now feeling tears that wanted to fall from my eyes. I was just about to fall to the ground to cry myself until I heard whimpers. My ears perked as I looked around. There, I saw Fluttershy, lying under a large tree in the shade. I quickly ran towards her and came to a trot, then a walk, when I was only a few feet away from her. She continued crying as she laid down, digging her face in her hooves. Her quiet sobs made me feel even worse, but they motivated me to quickly confront her.

I quickly, but quietly, laid by her side. She didn't notice me yet and continued to cry. I raised my hoof and stroked her mane. "Fluttershy…"

She slowly lifted her head, revealing tears still streaming from her face. She had a few pieces of grass on her face. I lifted my other hoof and caressed her cheek, using my right hoof to lightly remove the pieces of grass on her. "Alex…why are you even still my boyfriend…?"

Her questioned shocked me, causing me to frown as I looked at her. "Why would you ask something like that, Fluttershy…?"

"Well…" She continued to sniffle, crying lightly. "I don't see how you could love me. I can hardly fly and all those ponies were laughing at me. "She dug her head back in her hooves. "I'm the worst girlfriend ever…"

"Don't say that, Fluttershy." I responded, catching her attention and causing her to look at me. "I don't care about any of that. I love you for who you are. To me, Fluttershy… you're the most beautiful and perfect pony. I love everything about you. You're sweet, gentle, and especially great with animals. You're not selfish, spoiled, or mean."

She nuzzled her head with mine. "But…how can I help the other pegasi? I can't fly…"

"Yes, you can, Fluttershy. You just need to be confident… you can't let those other ponies distract you…"

"But…but…" Tears continued to stream from her eyes. "It's just so hard…"

I sighed. "Listen, Fluttershy… I know what you've been through. Trust me… When I was a little colt, I was always humiliated in my life. You know… It wasn't just teasing… It was basically torture. Whenever I would go home, hoping to just escape everything that happened at school, home actually made everything worse. There, I met my parents and sister who just…" I paused and shook my head. "Listen… I know how you feel Fluttershy… I really do… But you can't just lie here and expect it to solve itself. You have to try… You have to do something about it… And I'm here to support you in any way I can…"

"Alex…" She continued to look at me with watery eyes.

I lightly touched the left side of her face with my hoof and leaned in to kiss her passionately. I could feel her tears press on my cheeks. After a moment, I lightly pulled away and continued to gaze at her. She did the same and then looked around. She moved her eyes back to me in a determined sort of way. "You know what… you're right, Alex… I shouldn't give up." She sat up and began flying. "I will get my confidence up and show everypony that I am a good flyer!" She flew upwards towards the sky. "A great flyer!"

I stood up and looked at her with a smile across my face. "That's the spirit, Fluttershy!"

After that, we planned to spend as much time as we needed to get Fluttershy in tip-top shape. She managed to grab her animal friends to help her train, including Angel. Fluttershy was running in place as she wore a workout uniform, consisting of bands on her legs and one on her head. Angel wore a coach's cap and a whistle, just like Rainbow Dash wore. We stood by the stream and I was prepared to keep Fluttershy motivated. Angel blew the whistle, allowing her to rise up in the air as I followed below her. She then began flying, but two of her bunnies and a squirrel pulled out pony masks in order to resemble a crowd. Fluttershy noticed this and covered her eyes with her hooves, crashing through a tree afterwards.

After pulling her out, Fluttershy then began doing pushups with her wings. As she struggled to do so, the critters pulled out the pony masks again, frightening Fluttershy and allowing her to drop to the floor.

Next, Fluttershy played tug-of-war with a butterfly as three other critters wore the masks. She failed as she was pulled in the mud.

Then, she flew over a patch of dandelions as the animals stared at her with the masks. Her speed represented to be only a little as she only blew off one little piece of the dandelion.

When she tried doing the pushups again, she was able to do them, but she sweated nervously, creating a pool of her sweat under her as she uncomfortably did the pushups. I stopped her for a moment and looked into her eyes with a determined face of my own. I placed my hooves on her cheeks and kissed her passionately for a few seconds. I pulled away and continued to stare into her eyes with a determined face. "You can do this." I stated, causing her to look at me for a moment and then nod confidently.

She moved on to the tug-of-war. This time it was with three butterflies. She was winning at the beginning but then the butterflies managed to drag her across the white line. After, she flew over the patch of dandelions again, managing to blow off one complete dandelion. She was getting better, much better, causing me to cheer for her. "There you go, Fluttershy! You're doing great!"

In the pushup trial, she was now able to do them confidently and boldly, even sucking in any tears that wanted to come out. In the tug-of-war trial, she was able to be triumph against a group of many butterflies, throwing all of them against a tree. At first, she was worried, but they all presented themselves to be fine.

Finally, Fluttershy flew over the dandelions again and blew them all off!

When she realized how much better and more confident she became, she quickly flew over to me and tackled me to the ground in happiness. "Oh, Alex! I think I'm finally ready!" She hugged me tightly.

I smiled and hugged her as well. "I knew you could do it Fluttershy, and I know you'll be brave back at the track."

"You're right!" She responded confidently. "Let's go! Right now!"

I nodded and quickly stood up to walk with her towards the track.

As we neared towards the track, I trotted by Fluttershy as she flew confidently. Several of her animal friends followed us as well. I followed her to the starting line at the track. As the critters prepared her, I kissed her on the cheek. When she was ready, the animals and I walked back to the sidelines and began to watch to see how she would do. She flapped her wings and sped off as fast as she could, causing me to run and head towards the end.

"2.3. 2.3?" I heard Fluttershy say in an unbelievable tone, causing me to become concerned. "That has to be some kind of mistake! I worked so hard!" I noticed Fluttershy beginning to become disappointed with herself now…

"Fluttershy, that's a huge improvement!" Twilight told her. I could see tears form in her eyes again… Oh no…

"She's right, Fluttershy." I added, hoping that she wouldn't become depressed again. "You were amazing."

"You did awesome, Fluttershy." Rainbow encouraged, patting her on the back.

"No I didn't." Fluttershy responded. "I thought I'd gotten over my nerves, but they still got the best of me!" She began walking away sadly, causing me to step towards her with my hoof out. "There's no way I'll fly with 10.0 wing power by tomorrow!"

"So you won't fly with 10.0 wing power." Rainbow Dash said, placing a hoof around her. "Every bit counts!"

"How would you feel if everypony else was flying with 10.0 wing power and you were flying with 2.5?" Fluttershy stated, facing directly at her with an annoyed expression.

"Actually, it was only 2.3, and- ow!" Twilight slapped a hoof on him again, making gestures to shut him up.

"Well, uh..." Rainbow Dash grabbed her cap and took it off. She rubbed it and was speechless of words as Fluttershy stared at her in an irritating manner. "I'd feel... um..."

"Exactly! Humiliated!" She began speaking between sobs again, walking away. "I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, I just can't do it!"

I formed a saddened expression and frowned. "Fluttershy, wait…" I called, trotting after her.

"Leave me alone, Alex…" She answered, her voice beginning to break.

"No, Fluttershy, hang on…" I continued to catch up to her.

She finally stopped and turned around to see me, revealing her watery eyes and the tears that were beginning to stream down her face. She whimpered a little and suddenly wrapped her hooves around me, placing her head on my chest and crying. I looked around me. The sun was beginning to set. I looked back at Fluttershy, who continued to release her emotions. I gently placed a hoof around her and patted her, feeling those soft and depressing tears spill onto my coat and wet it…

It was dark when I finally took her to her home. She was still sad. I frowned as well, because whenever she was sad, I was sad. I took her up the stairs to her room and gently placed her on the bed. She was still sniffling a bit and her eyes remained closed. I grabbed the covers from her bed and pulled them over her. I neatly and softly tucked her in. Her whimpering ceased to soft ones. I stroked her mane a bit and kissed her cheek. Then, I walked downstairs and turned out the lights. I began getting ready to sleep on the couch, but I could hear her soft whimpers and sniffles from her room. I furrowed my eyebrows in a depressing way and sighed. She needs me… I forgot about getting the covers for the couch. Instead, I walked up the stairs and back to her bedroom. Near her bed, I gently and carefully climbed on. I slid into the covers and patted her. She then turned around and embraced me, surprising me a bit. She continued to cry a little on my chest, but I definitely didn't care about that. I just didn't like to see her so upset… I'm going to do whatever I can to comfort her… I wrapped my hooves around her and continued to pat her back. I repeated this until her quiet sobbing slowly faded away and she now began to sleep, breathing in and out softly. Her hooves were still around me. I guess I was now her teddy bear… It doesn't matter… I love her… I closed my eyes and began to sleep as I held her in my hooves.

When I slowly opened my eyes, it was daylight. Not only did I notice the light, but I also noticed Fluttershy. She was still asleep. I carefully and quietly maneuvered through her embrace. It took a while, but I was able to be successful in not waking her up. I sat at the side of the bed, looking out the window. It looked to be early in the morning. Hm… I guess I should go see how it goes with the water… I glanced back at Fluttershy. I should let her sleep… I grabbed a piece of a paper and wrote on it with a pencil from the nightstand by her bed. I'm going to the watch the pegasi lift the water to Cloudsdale. Don't worry. You don't have to come. I can't stand to see you become more hurt… If you don't want to come, it's perfectly fine. I absolutely understand. I'll see you in a bit, okay? I love you. Alex. Afterwards, I placed the pencil back and slid the note under Fluttershy's hoof. I stood up from the bed and began to quietly walk across the room and down the stairs. When I did, I opened the front door and began walking towards the location where the whole thing would take place.

Once I arrived, I spotted a huge line of pegasi. There was also a huge anemometer near Twilight and Spike. Rainbow noticed me and flew over to me.

"Hey, Alex… How's Fluttershy…?" She asked me, rubbing her head a bit.

"Well…she's sleeping right now… I told her that she didn't have to come if she didn't want to…especially if it would hurt her…"

"Oh…right…" She continued to rub her head. "I guess I understand…" We heard a whooshing above us, causing us to look up. If I remembered correctly, it was Spitfire from the wonderbolts. She flew towards us, stopping by the anemometer. Her presence allowed the other pegasi to cheer loudly as she waved at all of them. Rainbow Dash took notice and flew in front of the other pegasi. "Are we ready to do this?"

"Yeah!" The crowd cheered.

Before Rainbow Dash could blow her whistle, Spike came running towards her. "Look!" He presented his notepad before her.

She analyzed it for a moment. "Lazy Thunderlane! Where is he? He's been trying to get out of tornado duty the whole time with his fake coughing and all. Rumble, where's your lazy brother?" She asked a little colt in the line of pegasi.

"He's got the feather flu. He's down at Ponyville hospital." He answered.

"But he's not the only one." Spike added, presenting his list again, showing several ponies absent as there was an x on each of their names.

Twilight grabbed an old calculator and began calculating the results with the missing pegasi. "Let's see, with those eight sick pegasi out with the feather flu..." She gasped. "Oh no…"

"Don't tell me we won't be able to break the windspeed record!" Rainbow Dash shared, becoming worried.

"No..." Twilight shook her head, but obviously had more to share.

"Phew!"

"...you might not have enough wing power to create a tornado powerful enough to lift the water to Cloudsdale!"

"Well, should we pack up?" Spike asked.

Rainbow Dash stood silent as she looked at the other pegasi in line, especially Spitfire who was fumbling with her watch. "No. Of course not. Forget the record." She lowered the goggles she had to her eyes. "Cloudsdale still needs water!" She flew before the crowd of ponies. "Okay, everypony! Let's give it all we've got!" She announced, causing them to place on their goggles. "On the sound of the horn, we take off!"

After checking the anemometer, Twilight tapped it, gesturing that it was good to go. Spike took in a deep breath and blew the horn. Every pegasi lifted off into the air and began flying in a formation, already creating a tornado that spun the anemometer. "You think they're gonna make it to eight hundred wing power?" Spike asked.

"I sure hope so!" Twilight responded and began reading off the anemometer. "One hundred and fifty wing power. Two hundred and fifty wing power. Five hundred wing power!"

"Good so far…" I commented under my breath, continuing to analyze the scene. The water beneath them began being lifted.

"Seven hundred and fifty wing power!"

The wind was now growing really strong.

"Alex!" I heard a soft voice behind me.

I turned around to see Fluttershy struggling to reach towards me. "Fluttershy! What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I figured... if I couldn't help Rainbow Dash with the tornado... the least I could do was offer moral support!" She exclaimed softly through the powerful wind.

"She could sure use it, considering eight pegasi are sick with the feather flu!" Twilight announced as I grabbed Fluttershy's hoof and helped bring her to me, where I held on to the machine.

"Oh no! That's terrible news!"

All of the water was beginning to lift up, but one of the pegasi became tired and softened his flying, crashing against the other pegasi which led to a whole mess… Every pegasi was thrown out and the water that was inside the tornado fell back inside, where it started. Rainbow Dash landed near us, on a tree, causing us to rush over to her.

"Are you okay?" Twilight asked.

"I'm fine!" Rainbow muffled, trying to pull herself out.

I placed my hooves on her and helped her.

"Oh, you were so close to the eight hundred wing power minimum! I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash…" Twilight stated, sadly.

I managed to pull Rainbow out. "We've got to try again!" She exclaimed, beginning to start over.

"But you've pushed your crew to their limit already!" Twilight responded, grabbing Rainbow's tail with her magic and pulling her back on the ground. "If you break apart again, somepony could get hurt!" She pointed towards the ponies that were lying on the ground and shaking off the water they had. "You should quit, it's not safe!" I even saw Derpy flying with her head lowered, panting from exhaustion.

"No! One more time!" Rainbow slapped Twilight's hoof away. "I've gotta know we gave it our all! If I'm going down, I'm going down flying!" She flew above us and announced towards the pegasi. "C'mon, ponies, let's make this happen!"

Nonetheless, the ponies returned respectful cheers. Spike blew the horn once more, causing the pegasi to fly in a formation again.

"Okay, here we go..." Twilight began to announce, observing the anemometer. "One hundred wing power! Two hundred... five hundred!" Inside, I could see Rainbow Dash trying to keep the pegasi ponies' motivation up. "Seven hundred! Seven hundred and fifty wing power!"

Fluttershy was forced to fall back towards the machine, causing her to hold on to it.

"They fell apart right after this!" Spike shouted out.

"Oh, I'm too nervous to look!" Fluttershy commented, placing her hooves on her face.

"C'mon! Just a little harder! I can see the water trying to funnel through!" I heard Rainbow Dash exclaim from inside.

"Seven ninety five! We are so close!" Twilight announced. "Fluttershy, they need you up there!"

"I won't make a difference!" She responded, shaking her head.

"You can make a difference!" Twilight argued.

"My measly 2.3 wing power is still too little!"

"It's sticking at seven ninety five! I don't know if they've got any more in 'em!" Spike exclaimed after reading the anemometer.

"Do it for Equestria! Do it for Rainbow Dash! Do it for yourself!" Twilight held a pair of goggles near Fluttershy.

She only looked at them and then closed her eyes, looking away. "I can't! I just… can't!"

"Fluttershy!" Twilight responded, but Fluttershy wasn't budging. To make matters worse, the anemometer wasn't moving either. I looked at the ground and shifted my eyes in thought. I looked at the tornado and realized what I had to do. I removed my hooves from the anemometer and began to slowly walk towards the tornado, struggling with the wind. Twilight noticed me and shouted out to me. "Alex, what are you doing?" I didn't answer but only continued to slowly fight against the wind and walk closer to it. "Alex, are you crazy? You can't—

I looked back and noticed Fluttershy. She could only stare at me in suspense. I narrowed my eyes in determination and raised my hooves with the tornado right behind my back. Finally, I fell backwards inside, being sucked in with it as well. It was unbelievable; I was being thrown around in a circle. I couldn't do anything. I didn't have wings, so I was stuck in the tornado.

"Alex!" I heard Twilight and Fluttershy call out my name.

"Fluttershy!" Twilight exclaimed. "You have to help him!"

There was silence. Come on, Fluttershy… Soon enough, I saw her being sucked in as if she forced herself to come in. She yelped as she tried to take control of flight. Once she did, she spotted me and called out to me. "Alex!" She then began trying to reach towards me. She slowly was catching up to me, but she noticed how other ponies were besting her. She tried to strain herself to go fast, but she released a breath in exhaustion. Afterwards, I noticed her begin to struggle with herself once again as she placed her hooves on her eyes.

"Fluttershy!" I called out to her. "Listen to me! You can do this! Just believe in yourself! Think of me!"

She continued struggling for a moment until she finally strained her eyes and screamed out. "No!" She began racing towards me, faster than any other of the pegasi! She finally caught up to me, allowing me to wrap my hooves around her and hold on to her.

"Fluttershy! You did it!" I praised, grinning in joy for her. I could see the water increasing and finally being lifted towards Cloudsdale! When all the water was lifted towards Cloudsdale, I heard Spike blow the horn, allowing all the pegasi to slow down and land on the ground. However, Fluttershy continued to fly around as she carried me. It wasn't until Rainbow Dash came by and stopped her with a cloud.

"Whoa, girl, take it easy!"

"Whuh, what? Did we do it?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yeah, we did it! You did it!" Rainbow Dash hugged Fluttershy. She lifted her wing and slapped it with Fluttershy's causing them to grunt and giggle afterwards.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy landed, allowing me to hop off.

"Great job, Fluttershy, that was awesome!" One of the pegasus ponies praised.

"Yeah, we couldn't have done it without you." Her friend joined as Fluttershy rubbed her hoof embarrassingly.

"Nice job, Rainbow Dash. You may not have set a new record, but you showed a lot of guts." Spitfire showed up by Rainbow and congratulated her.

"Thanks, but if you wanna talk guts, then you've gotta give it to my number one flyer, Fluttershy!" She pointed towards her, who waved her hoof shyly and held it near her face bashfully. "Let's hear it for Fluttershy!"

As Fluttershy placed her hooves on her face in fear, the crowd grabbed her and began throwing her up in the air, catching her in victory. "Fluttershy! Fluttershy! Fluttershy can really fly!" They chanted and cheered. They began carrying her as I trotted by the crowd, smiling so proudly for her. She noticed me and shyly waved her hoof. I nodded and continued to follow the crowd.

Once the crowd finally allowed Fluttershy to retire home, we both walked back to her cottage. Inside, she hugged me so tightly. "I can't believe it, Alex! I flew!"

I smiled and patted her. "You sure did, Fluttershy! You were amazing!"

"Thank you, Alex!" She pulled away lightly and faced me, blushing a bit. "But… I couldn't have done it without you…"

"Hm?"

She pulled back her hooves and began walking away. "Well…you purposely dove yourself into that tornado…for me… You knew that I cared about you so much. You knew that I would come in to save you…"

I smiled and rubbed my head a little embarrassingly. "Heh…well…"

She smiled as well and walked over to me and kissed me. "Don't say that it was an accident." She teased.

"Alright, alright." I chuckled a little. "Yes, I did that because I knew you would come in to save me. I trusted you completely."

She giggled lightly and embraced me again. "Well thank you, Alex… thank you for everything… especially for believing in me…"

I smiled playfully and decided to tease her a bit as well. "That's because I love you." I told her as I nuzzled her nose with mine.

She giggled for a moment and then looked at me. She kissed me passionately, even purposely placing more pressure on her lips towards mine. After several seconds of our intimacy, we pulled away, smiling at each other. Fluttershy turned around and began walking happily. "Alex?" She glanced at me.

"Yes, ma'am?"

She grinned. "Do you mind if you take a letter for me?"

I chuckled a bit. "Not at all." I grabbed a piece of paper and pencil, sat on the couch, and readied myself to write.

She nodded and looked out the window. "Dear Princess Celestia, sometimes you can feel like what you have to offer is too little to make a difference, but today, I learned that everypony's contribution is important, no matter how small." She turned back towards me and continued to speak as she walked to me. "If you just keep your head high, do your best, and believe in yourself, anything can happen." After I finished writing that last sentence, she lowered her head towards me and kissed me.

I returned a warm smile. "I guess I should go take this to Twilight."

"Mmk, sweetie. Goodnight."

I nodded and continued to smile. "Goodnight, Fluttershy."

We shared one more kiss before I waved and walked out of her cottage with her letter.

Once again, I stopped by Twilight's house to drop off the letter.

She opened the door after I knocked.

"Oh. Why, hello, Alex."

"Hey, Twilight." I presented the letter to her. "Here's another letter from Fluttershy."

"Great!" She smiled brightly. "I'm sure Princess Celestia will love this."

"Mm-hm." I nodded. "I'm glad Fluttershy is feeling much more confident… Anyways, I should let you get to bed."

She giggled a little. "Okay. Goodnight, Alex."

"Goodnight, Twilight."

Before she closed the door, she looked as if she remembered something. "Oh. Nice move almost sacrificing yourself in order to help Fluttershy."

"Heh, you found out why I did that too?"

She smiled brightly. "Yup. I'm not stupid, you know? I know how much you love Fluttershy."

I smiled as well, a little embarrassingly."Right..."

She nodded and waved.

I waved and began heading towards my home.

I arrived, closing the door behind me. I walked up the stairs, feeling pretty tired, especially after that exhausting ride from the tornado. I chuckled mentally. I then walked to my bed and began feeling cozy. I wrapped the covers around me and smiled as I closed my eyes.

To be honest…sleeping with Fluttershy was comfortable. Hm…I wonder if I'll ever do it again? I mean… I don't mean it in a bad way… It just felt nice having a pony I love next to me… It's something that I've never really experienced before… Huh… I should stop there before my mood dissolves...

MMMystery on the Friendship Express

Episode 50 – MMMystery on the Friendship Express

I lightly sniffed the air when I was conscious. I rolled to my side and nuzzled my pillow with my head a bit. After a moment of warming up my body in order to try to fully awake, I finally opened my eyes. I yawned and felt like rolling over in bed and landing on the floor. But I didn't do that. I rolled over to the side of bed and stuck my hooves out so I could plant them on the ground and lift myself from bed. I really wasn't that awake yet. Nonetheless, I walked over to the stairs and traveled down them. Once I reached the front door, I opened it and walked outside.

Closing the door behind me, I looked around and heard some noise coming from Sugarcube Corner, attracting my attention towards that area. I walked for a moment, heading in that direction, until I finally spotted the sweet shop. One unusual thing I noticed was that there were obstacles near the entrance of the building, as if there was a parade or something. Is there an event going on inside…? I even saw several ponies outside holding signs. Okay… I walked towards the shop and stepped in anyway.

I was immediately welcome by Pinkie. "Hey, Alex!"

"Oh, hey Pinkie…" I responded. "I saw some weird things going outside…what's up with tha— I stopped myself when I saw an enormous cake that had four layers, becoming smaller on the way to the top, which was finished with an apple and orange surrounded by whip cream. It absolutely looked delicious.

"Neat, huh?" Pinkie asked me.

"Yeah…" I answered, still stunned a bit. I looked over to Mr. and Mrs. Cake, who were nearby as well. "When did you two make this…?"

"Remember when I bumped into you the other day?" Mrs. Cake responded.

"Ugh. Don't remind me…" I replied, remembering the whole mess with Derpy and stuff…

She chuckled a little. "Sorry. Well, I was carrying this beauty." She pointed at the cake. "Back then, it wasn't finished yet, but after working on it almost nonstop, we finally finished it! Just in time for the national dessert competition!"

"That's great news. Congratulations."

"Thank you."

"What'd you call it?"

"Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness." Pinkie Pie answered, still observing its beauty. "You've really outdone yourselves, Mr. and Mrs. Cake. This is sure to be the winning entry of this year's national dessert competition!"

"Oh, thank you Pinkie!" Mrs. Cake thanked her.

"And thanks for transporting it all the way to Canterlot for us." Mr. Cake added.

"Absolutely! It's my honor and I—

"Uh, beg pardon but, could we maybe move things along?" Applejack suddenly spoke. I didn't even notice her before. "This here cake's a mite heavy, right Big Macintosh?" She asked, surprising me once again. I hadn't even noticed Big Macintosh either due to the cake.

"Ehee..." He struggled, grunting and groaning. "Eeyup." He strained.

"Here, let me help you." I quickly rushed to his side, trying to carry some of the cake as well. Pinkie Pie rushed over to us and tried to even out and balance the cake to where we could both carry it. They're right… it is heavy..

"Alrighty then!" Pinkie announced and placed on a blue construction hat that held a red light above it. "To the train depot!" She faced us and began moving backwards, cuing us to both move at the same time towards her. "That's it, nice and slow." She directed as we were now outside. "This is precious cargo you're carrying."

"Yes, it took months of planning and testing." I heard Mr. Cake say worriedly behind us.

"I would hate for it to—

Big Macintosh suddenly stumbled, causing me to wrestle with the weight. We almost dropped it, but luckily, we managed to balance it out again…somehow…

"Fall!" They finished, but Mr. Cake passed out from almost witnessing the cake to crumble like a cookie.

"Don't worry Mr. and Mrs. Cake." Pinkie Pie assured. "Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, a little pegassistance?" She called out to them after spotting them in the air. They both wrapped a rope around their body and each held a piece of the rope. The ends of the rope were tied on the sides of the plate. Whenever the cake would tilt too much to one side, Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash would pull the rope to bring it back to place. "I'll get it there safely, you'll see!"

"Ahahah, oh... of course Pinkie." Mrs. Cake nervously laughed, revealing a hint of doubt.

"We never doubted you." Mr. Cake, who was conscious again, ironically stated.

The cake then began sliding off the side of Big Macintosh, causing Rainbow Dash to quickly fly over to Fluttershy and help pull it back into place. After another close call, Mr. Cake fainted once again. "Twilight, can I see you a second?" Pinkie Pie called over to Twilight, who was reading a book and drinking a hayshake. She managed to get Twilight to place a shield around the cake and walk behind us as she concentrated on the spell. "A nice protective spell as extra insurance," She laughed. "…better safe than sorry." Twilight then noticed Mr. and Mrs. Cake begin to shift their heads to her and the cake, worriedly. Pinkie Pie spotted this and quickly looked over to Applejack and Rarity nearby. "AJ, Rarity, one last thing?" She then had them bring over a trampoline, just in case the cake somehow fell, but I honestly didn't think the trampoline was going to save the cake…unless it somehow fell while it was still pointing straight upwards… "All right everypony, we're in the home stretch here." Pinkie encouraged after we noticed the train behind her. Mr. Cake was heavily breathing in a nervous manner. "See Mr. and Mrs. Cake?" Pinkie asked after we finally reached the train. "I got it here without a hitch!" She opened the door, looking at us. "Now all we have to do is get it... in?" Pinkie noticed the size of the door and the size of the cake. Yeah…it's not going to fit… Behind me, I could hear Mr. Cake faint once again.

"I guess you're just going to have to open the side of the train car…" I stated.

"Hm… Big Mac can open it. Can you hold it while he does that, Alex?" Applejack asked me.

I groaned. "I'll try…"

"Don't worry, Alex." Twilight assured me. "I'll help you carry it with my spell."

"Yeah, and we'll help you." Rainbow Dash added above me.

"Alright…after all… I'm just standing. I'm not moving." I faced Big Macintosh. "Alright, go ahead…" He nodded and carefully shifted the weight of the cake onto me. I began struggling a bit with the cake, but it wasn't so bad. I just maintained a nice posture and took in calm breaths as he tried to quickly open the side of the train car. After several moments, which seemed longer than it actually was, he opened the wall of the train car and lowered the side of it down. "Okay, girls… I'm going to move it just a little more…" They nodded, and I took soft and almost baby steps. After several seconds, I finally managed to enter the train car and place it on a table inside. "Phew!" I gave a breath of relief. "Wow…" Big Macintosh then lifted up the side of the car and began hammering it back to place.

Pinkie Pie sighed as well. "Thank you all for helping me get the cake safely on the dessert car."

"Thank you for inviting us all to go with you to Canterlot for the National Dessert Competition." Twilight responded.

"What about my invitation?" I asked, playfully.

Pinkie Pie giggled and faced me. "Alex, would you like to go to the National Dessert Competition with us?"

"I'd love to." I smiled.

"I'm sure the festivities will be just lovely." Rarity commented, placing a hoof on her chest.

"Phooey on the festivities," Applejack intervened, bumping Rarity on the shoulder. "I can't wait to try all those tasty treats!" She turned to face the cake and licked her lips hungrily. She was about to touch it with her hoof, but Pinkie Pie slapped it away.

"Well the tastiest treat of all is sure to be the Cake's Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness." Pinkie answered. "All that rich creamy goodness of the marzipan, combined with the tart tanginess of the mascarpone, blended perfectly with the smooth, silky sweetness of the meringue." As she detailed the cake very descriptively, this caused the ponies to gaze at its glory, such as Applejack panting like a dog and Rainbow Dash licking her lips. "That's why I call the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness the 'MMMM'."

"Haha." I chuckled lightly. "Clever."

"MMMM." The other girls joined.

"Exactly." She responded, jumping on the table near the cake. "It's the most delicious delectable delightful de-lovely cake in Equestria, and it's sure to win first prize."

"Zis is not so," We suddenly heard a French accent coming from the door to the train car. "For I, Gustave le Grand, do challenge your crude cake to a duel of delectable delicacies, against my Exceptionally Exquisite Éclairs!" The French griffon had walked in and presented his dessert in a very bright manner, literally, almost blinding us. However, he was actually using a spotlight to make them shine. He turned it off and threw it to the side. "They will undoubtedly strike down all ze competition, winning first prize and crowning me le champion." He pointed, placing the éclairs on another table.

"Not a chance le Grand." We heard a familiar voice come in as well, causing us to look at the entrance to see a familiar pony walking in with a cart behind him.

"Donut Joe! What are you doing in Ponyville?" Twilight asked, reminding me that this was the pony from the Grand Galloping Gala.

"Picking up the final all-important ingredient for my contest entry, 'Donutopia!'" He presented the doughnut city with his hoof as well. "And with these super-sprinkles," He shook a can of sprinkles above it. "My donuts are going to dunk all the other lousy desserts, steal first prize, and make my donut shop famous, forever!" He laughed dramatically.

Just when I thought this couldn't get any more ridiculous, I heard an elderly female join us in the car. "Oh, Joe..." She laughed, and we began seeing a chocolate moose slide in the car. "Your dippy donuts could never out-rival me." She laughed once again, bringing in the dessert into the car. I could see Fluttershy, pulling back from fear, causing me to place a hoof around her and hold her.

"Hello. What's your name?" Pinkie asked the moose, thinking it was actually the dessert talking. "I, am Mulia Mild." The actual one talking, a mule, appeared out of nowhere. "Behold, my chocolate mousse moose." She presented, causing me to chuckle a bit once again. Clever. "It will trample all your treats, be given first prize, and make me the greatest chef in Equestria."

"Madame Mild," The griffon confronted her. "You and your mousse moose are mistaken."

"Your frou-frou éclairs will never defeat my donuts." Donut Joe intervened.

"The Cakes' Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness is going to win!" Pinkie added herself in the competition.

"Your simple cake could never take my moose." However, we heard the train whistle blow, causing her to gasp. It was an indication that told us that the train was beginning to move. As the bakers stared at each other in an aggressive and competitive way, we began hearing the wheels on the train move.

"Well it sure looks like we're in for a delicious competition tomorrow." Twilight announced, breaking off the competitive moment. "Maybe we should all settle in for a good night's sleep."

"Hmph." Donut Joe released, walking to his room.

"Nyahh." Mulia Mild whined, following the same movement.

"Huh!" Gustave mumbled.

They all shut their doors angrily.

Rainbow Dash yawned, cracking her back. "I gotta admit I'm pretty beat."

"Yeah, I'm gonna hit the hay myself." Applejack added, lowering her head sleepily, leading the girls to the hallways with the rooms.

However, Pinkie Pie quickly blocked their path. "Wait! Didn't you hear those chefs? We have to protect 'MMMM.'" She pointed towards the cake.

"MMMM?" Rarity questioned, pointing to the cake as well.

"Mmm hmmm." Pinkie nodded. "I know for super sure that 'MMMM' is the best dessert in all of Equestria, and I know that they know it too."

"So..." Rainbow Dash responded.

"So... one of them is going to sabotage the Cakes' cake tonight! You have to help me stand guard!"

The other girls exchanged looks, which described that Pinkie was being ridiculous. "Pinkie... you're overreacting." Twilight answered.

"Yeah, those chefs aren't going to do your cake any harm." Applejack agreed.

"But they are!" Pinkie exclaimed, grabbing Applejack's cheeks. "I just know it."

"Fine!" Rainbow Dash replied. "If you want to stand guard, go for it. We're going to bed." She flew above Pinkie, causing a dent to appear in her mane, which fixed itself anyway. The other girls began going to bed as well.

"Alex!" Pinkie placed her hooves on me. "You'll help me watch 'MMMM' won't you?"

I sighed. "Pinkie… I know how you're feeling right now… but I don't think those bakers are that crazy about sabotaging your cake. I mean, look." I pointed towards their other desserts. "They left their desserts unprotected too. You don't see them standing guard out here to protect them from each other as well, do you?"

Pinkie sighed. "I guess you make a point… still… I'm going to take advantage of protecting 'MMMM'. I want to make sure nopony messes with it."

"Alright… well try to get some sleep soon. Good luck." I told her as I began heading towards the hallway. I looked around and placed a hoof to my chin. Um…where do I go? Is there even a room for me? I heard Fluttershy open her door and face me.

"What's wrong, Alex? Aren't you going to bed?"

"Well…uh…I think all the rooms are full…" I responded.

"What about Pinkie's? She looks like she going to stay up all night watching the cake…"

"Hm… I'd rather not take it, just in case she ends up going to bed anyway. That's alright. I'll just sleep near the cake." I began to walk off, but Fluttershy grabbed my hoof to stop me.

"Wait…"

"Hm?" I glanced back at her.

"…you can come sleep with me…if you want..." She told me, a little embarrassingly.

"Are you sure, Fluttershy…?"

"Yes, I don't mind at all…"

"Okay…" I walked into her room. Being a single room in a train car, it was pretty small. Across the room from the door, there was a window with small curtains. Right near the window, there was a bed. On the sides of the room, there were things such as a small table, drawers, and other accessories that might make things a bit more comfortable. As I finished walking, Fluttershy walked in as well and closed the door. Out the window, I could see the sun begin to set outside as the scenery moved. Wow…today went by fast… Anyway, I walked to a piece of the room and began to lay myself down to sleep until Fluttershy stopped me.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm going to sleep…" I responded.

"On the floor…?"

"Mm-hm. I don't mind."

"Nonsense." She grabbed my hoof and pulled me up. "You're sleeping right here with me in bed."

"It doesn't look that big…" I stated, analyzing the bed.

"It's okay. I don't mind… I am your girlfriend after all…"

"Oh…alright then, Fluttershy… Thank you…" I walked over to the bed and climbed on, taking the space next the window.

"You're welcome." Fluttershy smiled and took the space near the other side of the bed. We weren't cramped actually, not to the point where if we barely moved, we'd probably fall of the bed. It was actually quite comfortable and…nice… "I have to be honest…this is…nice…" Fluttershy expressed.

I nodded and looked out the window.

When night fell, the lamp on the wall turned on. However, it was possible to turn it off using the switch on it. I looked at Fluttershy. "Do you want to go to sleep already?"

"Mmk." She spoke softly, showing some signs of sleepiness. I smiled at her cuteness and kissed her on the cheek. I reached my hoof towards the lamp and shut it off, causing the room to become dark. The only light that was coming in the room was the moonlight from outside the window. However, I pulled the curtains over the window anyway, making the room now almost completely dark. I felt her hooves wrap around and touch my chest. "I'm glad you're here with me anyway… I probably would have been too scared to sleep in here by myself…"

"Why? Because of the dark?"

"Mm-hm." I felt her head nod. "You make me feel better when you're here with me… Thank you…"

I smiled and stroked her mane in the dark. "You're welcome, Fluttershy… Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

After a moment, there was only silence. I assumed she closed her eyes and began to fall asleep. I decided to follow her same movements and do the same, drifting off to sleep myself.

I could feel some shifting on the bed. There was some movement and a quiet clatter of hooves with the floor. I felt myself toss and turn a bit until I opened my eyes. It was still dark. I looked to my side to notice Fluttershy not there, startling me a bit. "Fluttershy?" I whispered, wondering if she's still in the room, but it looked like she wasn't. I removed myself from the bed and stood on the floor, still feeling a little tired, but alarmed enough to find Fluttershy.

I walked towards the door and opened it. In the hallway, I looked around, but suddenly everything became engulfed by darkness. "Huh? Who turned out the moon? Don't go near that cake, thief!" I heard Pinkie's voice exclaim, along with the sounds of hooves galloping along the floor. "Stop thief!" Then a crash and clang sounded in front of me, specifically a few spaces in front of me that leaned over to the right a bit. "Oh, are you okay thief?" Suddenly, I felt myself drop to the floor, along with a weight of another pony on me. After a few seconds, the weight was gone, and the light returned to the car. I groaned a bit and began standing back up. Pinkie suddenly opened the door, growling. She noticed me and gasped. "Alex! Please don't tell me it was you!"

"What?" I responded rubbing my head a bit.

"You're the thief?" She asked in shock.

"What? No! I just came out here when I was suddenly pushed down to the floor. It was completely dark and I couldn't see anything."

"Are you sure you're telling the truth?"

"Yes, Pinkie…"

"Pinkie Promise?"

I sighed, unwilling to continue this conversation anymore. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

Afterwards, she smiled brightly and nodded. "Good!"

"So what's all this commotion about this 'thief'?"

"I don't know, but some funny business has been going on around here and I want to know what's up!" She walked back out and looked at something to the right side of the wall. "Huh..." She walked back over to the cake on the table. "Overreacting my hoof. I knew I was going to have to keep a close eye on you, and that's just what I'm gonna do." Then, she began eyeing the cake, keeping her eyes narrowed and focused. She stared at it for a moment in silence as I continued to hear the train run on the train tracks. Finally, her head fell down and she began snoring soundly.

I sighed and placed her on the ground, patting her a bit. I heard some noises in front of me and looked up to see what it was. Fluttershy was standing there. "Fluttershy…?" I whispered. "What are you doing up so late? I was getting worried about you."

"Oh…um…" She responded, walking towards me. "I…uh…I…" She looked around for a moment with her eyes. "…had to go to the bathroom."

"Bathroom?"

"Yes, bathroom. I think I drank too much yesterday, sorry."

"Oh…don't worry about it… I just wanted to know that you were safe. Come on," I grabbed her hoof and began leading her back to the room. "Let's get back to bed…"

"Okay…"

I took her to the room, where we climbed in bed again and laid down. I looked at her and was able to see her expression a bit through the darkness. "Are you alright?" I asked, frowning a bit.

She smiled softly. "Yes, I'm fine." She kissed me on the lips for a moment and snuggled me.

For a moment, I felt that I could taste something sweet on her lips… but I shrugged and held her in my hooves, closing my eyes to fall asleep, once again.

We heard a sudden loud shriek of terror, causing us to jolt awake and run out the room to see what was going on. The other girls had also woken up due to the loud scream.

"What is it?" Applejack asked, still a little tired.

"What happened?" Rainbow Dash questioned as well.

"It's the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness," Pinkie explained. "It's been…" She cried. "mutilated." This caused everypony to gasp. "Now we just need to find out who done it."

"You mean, who 'did it.'" Twilight corrected.

"Exactly. Who did-done-dood it."

"Well, having read many mystery novels, I know that the only way to discover the culprit is to investigate."

"Exactly." Pinkie placed an old-fashioned detective hat on her, as well as a pipe that blew out bubbles in her mouth. "And as chief detective, that's exactly what I'm gonna do."

"Uh, you're investigatin'?" Applejack asked.

"Yes!" Pinkie responded, placing on another hat on Twilight. "And Twilight shall be my lowly assistant who asks silly questions with obvious answers."

"Fine, Pinkie. Should we start looking for clues?" Twilight inquired.

"Perfect silly question, my dear Twilight. Because the obvious answer is..."

"Yes?"

"No!" Pinkie pointed out, still holding the pipe in her hooves. "'Cause I know who did it."

Everypony gasped once again.

"Pinkie, how could you possibly know?"

"How could I possibly not know?" Pinkie answered Twilight's question with another question and walked past us. "Clearly this dastardly deed was done by the baker, who knew their dessert could not measure up to the mastery of the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness. I guess you feared your éclairs lacked flair, Gustave!" She exclaimed.

"Moi?" He answered, placing a claw on him, surprised.

"Yes!" She backed off and began walking around, beginning to tell the story. "While you were wearing your old-fashioned villain costume, you came around the cake while I was watching it! You tried to touch it but I quickly slapped your dirty little claws away from it! You knew you had to shut me up and get rid of me, so you tied me up and put me on the train tracks. I could only scream for help while you laughed evilly! Just as a train was coming right at me, you pulled a lever and sawed the cake in half, laughing at your success as you twirled your mustache! Thus, destroying the cake, and the Cakes' chance of winning the National Dessert Competition!"

Just as I raised my hoof and opened my mouth to intervene on the completely off story, Twilight filled in for me instead. "But it makes no sense!"

"What do you mean, lowly assistant?" Pinkie asked, poking her face with the pipe.

"Well first," She began, pushing away the pipe. "If you were tied to the train tracks, how are you now here?"

Pinkie created some more bubbles as she thought about that statement for a moment. "Huh... guess that isn't a totally silly question."

"And second," Twilight pointed towards the cake. "The cake hasn't been sliced, it's been bitten. Just look at the teeth marks!"

"Hm... you're right, my fine fellow." Pinkie observed the cake. "Gustave le Grand is clearly in the clear, which means the 'MMMM' was destroyed by another baker. A baker who's donuts are do-nots. That's right, it was Joe!" She pointed a hoof directly towards him. "Or as he's known the spy world, Mane. Con Mane." She pulled away and walked around us, telling us another story. "Just as he was charming the other girls in this train in his tuxedo, he received a call from his watch, which told him to destroy the cake!" She pointed towards the cake and exclaimed. "Then, he used one of those scissor cut thingies to cut open the glass on the car door, throwing in a ball that made me go to sleep! After, he sprayed a laser-detecting spray from his tie, showing the laser beams that were protecting the cake and using a mirror to slice the cake in pieces, crushing the Cakes' chances to win!"

"What?" I let out, twitching my right eye and holding up a hoof, due to the silliness of the story.

"Pinkie!" Twilight interrupted, pointing to the cake. "There is no laser beam security system. And Joe is not sleek, stealthy Con Mane! He's big, gruff, and messy!"

"Hey!" He responded.

"Although," Rarity brought up. "You would look rather dapper in a tuxedo."

I narrowed my eyes as I noticed something different about her mane. "Are you wearing your mane differently, today…?" I asked.

"Uh…" She hesitated a bit. "Yes…that's not bad, is it?"

"I guess not…?"

"Huh... you may be right, lowly assistant." Pinkie continued.

"May be?" Twilight replied.

"Now that I'm taking a closer look at these desserts, I see that one simply cannot look me in the eye." She commented, staring at the mousse dessert.

"Pinkie... that mousse is a moose!"

"Yes, and the mule behind the moose panicked when she saw the mastery of the 'MMMM'."

"So you're saying that the culprit is...?"

"Mulia Mild! Of course, being a super stealthy ninja, she jumped over car by car until she reached the one with the cake, hiding in the darkness! When she was behind me, she used a frying pan to knock me out! Afterwards, she drew out her sword and used it to slice the cake to pieces, putting an end to the Cakes' dreams of taking first prize. Huh, I hope you're proud of yourself Mulia." She strained, completely frightening her to trembling in fear.

"Pinkie stop! This is ridiculous! Look at her!" Twilight pointed to the mule lying on the floor, shaking and whimpering in fear.

Pinkie sighed. "I guess you're right..."

"Thank you!"

"But I was so sure that it was one of the other bitter bakers that destroyed the 'MMMM'. That way, their delicious dessert would reign supreme. I mean, just look at Joe's Donutopia." She began detailing as she observed it, causing for everypony to gaze at its glory. Sure, it was delicious, but I wasn't drooling all over it… "It's a spectacular city of donutty delight, topped temptingly in sprinklicious sprinkles. And Gustave's éclairs look incredibly edible," She revealed the éclairs to everypony, causing Rarity and Fluttershy to smile at its delight. "…with glistening glaziness. But then there's Mulia Mild's Mousse Moose." She wrapped a hoof around it, continuing to describe it in a way that made everypony to continue to gaze as it with their mouths watering. "Hoh, why this mouth-wateringly marvelous mousse moose tempts the taste buds with its silky, smooth, yummy-nummy, chocolateyness." That's a lot of alliteration... "So why did this criminal devour the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness while leaving this trio of tasty treats untouched?" Suddenly, the train car was engulfed in complete darkness. There were munching sounds and a horrible scream, alarming me. When the car was filled with light again, we noticed every single one of the desserts touched and torn apart, causing Pinkie to gasp. "Now I have no idea who do-doned it! This mystery gets more mysterious every minute."

"Well, you have to stop the wild accusations and get to the truth. Everypony go back to your cars while we do a little investigating." Everypony did so. Just as I was about to head back into the hallway as well, Twilight stopped me. "Hang on, Alex."

"Hm?" I glanced back.

"You're smart. You can help us figure out this mystery."

"Um…alright." I walked back towards them.

Twilight nodded and faced Pinkie, switching hats with her. "Okay Pinkie, in order to really solve this mystery, we're going to have to find clues." She grabbed the pipe from Pinkie's mouth and rubbed it with a cloth, placing it in her mouth afterwards. "Now you were here at the scene of the crime all night."

"Huh! You're not accusing me, are you?" She responded defensively.

"No!" Twilight blew some bubbles. "But maybe you saw something that will help us."

"I saw a silhouette in the moonlight!"

"Good... let's retrace your steps."

Pinkie saluted and looked at her hooves. Then, she began walking backwards, literally retracing her steps. Twilight lowered her head due to Pinkie's action, but we followed her anyway. She led us through several cars, explaining her recall of the events. "And then, I chased the culprit down the train towards the caboose, but when I got there he was gone." She opened the door, allowing us to see the room.

"Hm..." Twilight looked around as Pinkie crossed her hooves confidently.

I looked around, thinking for a bit as I rubbed my chin. If Pinkie had chased the culprit down that train, and he/she suddenly disappeared…he/she would have to either be able to fly or teleport… Pinkie didn't say that she saw a big flash of magic…so it most likely had to be with flying. I turned my head upwards and noticed something strange and unusual on the ceiling of the car. "What's that?" I asked Twilight, pointing towards the object.

"Huh?" She looked in my direction. "A-ha! Our first clue." She grabbed a folder, which was going to be used to carry evidence, and grabbed the item, placing it inside. I noticed it was a blue feather… Pinkie rushed towards us. "Good job, Alex. I think I know who did it Pinkie." Twilight told her, placing the slip back in her saddlebag.

"Already?" She questioned.

"Yes, but I need more evidence to confirm. Tell me what happened next."

Pinkie rubbed her chin. "I heard somepony else in the dessert car, and chased them up to the engine." She turned around and began running towards the car.

As we walked behind her, I whispered to Twilight. "A blue feather…? You don't suppose it's…"

"We'll just see once we get all our evidence." She whispered back.

"Alright…"

We arrived at the car with the engine, we saw the conductor sitting there and watching over the engine. "But, when I got there, all I saw was the conductor shoveling coal." Pinkie finished.

"The conductor, huh?" Twilight asked and grabbed the hat from him. She looked inside as I stood next to her, Pinkie being behind us. I looked inside to become shocked as Twilight gasped. There was a pink strand of hair inside… "But, that doesn't make any sense." Nonetheless, she grabbed her folder and placed the clue inside. She turned around and placed the cap back on the conductor. "What happened next Pinkie?"

"Well..." She answered, switching hats with Twilight quickly before she left. "I went back to the dessert car." She began to desperately look around for clues with her magnifying glass, stopping in front of Twilight and noticing her expression. She sighed as she realized that Twilight was the pony in charge and offered the hat back. Twilight grabbed it with her magic and placed it on herself, placing the other hat on Pinkie.

"Yes?" Twilight asked after Pinkie returned an annoyed look on her face.

Pinkie placed a hoof on her chin and thought for a moment, shifting her eyes again. "The curtains mysteriously closed, all on their own.

"Interesting. Anything else?"

"I heard hoofsteps, a loud thud," She crashed on the car door. "…and then they were gone! When I opened the curtains, I saw that the portrait by the door was all crooked." She pointed to it.

"I heard that too!" I added and looked at the portrait. Then, I immediately rushed over to it, noticing something completely off with the picture. "What the…" I rubbed my chin, focusing on the eye as it contained, what appeared to be, an eyelash.

Twilight joined me and stared at it as well. "Oh my, what is that?" She asked, focusing on the eyelash as well. As Pinkie tried to see what we were up to, Twilight grabbed the folder of evidence and placed the eyelash in there. Pinkie growled and steamed due to this. "What next Pinkie?"

"Well…" She stopped growling and rubbed her chin. "I saw Alex! At first, I thought he was the thief, but he Pinkie Promised me that he wasn't."

"Alex?" Twilight turned to me. "What happened? Did you see anything strange?"

"Well…" I rubbed my chin. "Some odd things did happen. I woke up to look for Fluttershy because she was gone. When I walked out the room and entered the hallway, the area was completely engulfed in darkness. Then, I fell to the floor, feeling as if somepony had bumped into me harshly. However, they managed to escape without me seeing anything. After I Pinkie Promised to Pinkie, she was going to watch the cake very closely, but she ended up falling asleep. I then saw Fluttershy walking back towards my way. I asked her what she was doing up so late, but she told me that she had to go to the bathroom. After, we went back to bed… That's pretty much it…"

"Interesting…" Twilight commented and faced Pinkie. "And when you woke up, half the cake was gone?"

"Exactly!" Pinkie answered.

Twilight studied the cake for a moment. "By Jove, I think I've got it. Call everypony back. We have a cake culprit to catch." Twilight turned to me. "Alex, come with me. Let's reach our final decision towards the case."

I nodded and followed her to another room. There, she placed the evidence on the table and studied them. The clues she had collected were a blue feather, a strand of pink hair, and an eyelash… I rubbed my chin as I studied them and continued to think. "But even if it was them… are you saying they all took a bite of the cake?"

"Seems like that's the only possible explanation…" She looked at me. "Tell me, Alex. What do you think of this case and the clues relating to it?"

"Well…" I thought about it for a moment and started with the blue feather. "Pinkie said that the culprit had mysteriously disappeared when she chased him/her down the car. My first thought about it was that the culprit had to either fly or use magic to teleport. But now that I see this feather," I pointed at it. "The culprit had to have flown away… and the only pegasus here that has blue feathers is…Rainbow Dash…"

Twilight nodded, understanding my thoughts. "Right…"

"Now about the pink strand of hair… Pinkie said she chased another pony down the car, but stopped at the engine room to see the conductor shoveling coal. You found this in his hat and last night, I unexpectedly saw Fluttershy near the conductor room, not to mention that sweetness I tasted from kissing her, so…this strand of hair must belong to…" I sighed "…Fluttershy…"

"And the eyelash?"

I looked at the eyelash. "I noticed this right when I looked at the portrait. Last night, when I walked out of the room, I heard a crash around the location where the portrait hung, just as Pinkie described it as well. Remembering from when we were preparing for the Grand Galloping Gala a while back, Rarity wears fake eyelashes. It all comes together when I saw Rarity with her mane styled differently today. Her mane was specifically covering the side of her face, blinding us from noticing her right eye. So, it obviously narrows down to Rarity…especially when the curtains closed by themselves, as that could have only been done by magic."

"Precisely." Twilight replied.

"But what about the other desserts?"

She shrugged. "I don't know… these were all the clues we could find, and we were right there when it happened…"

I sighed. "I guess… We'll try figuring it out after we explain the details of this case…"

She nodded. "Come on, let's go. The others must be waiting for us already." Twilight gathered all the evidence, placed it back in the folder, and opened the car door, leading me out. "I bet you're wondering why you're all here again." She announced to the ponies with heads full of questions.

"She's good." Donut Joe responded, surprised, causing me to furrow my eyebrows.

"We have discovered the true culprit of this cake carnage." Twilight spoke, walking past them.

"But how?" Gustave asked.

"Well you see, when committing a crime, it's crucial that one never leaves behind clues, especially an obvious clue like this." She pulled out the folder and then pulled out the blue feather in it, causing everypony to gasp while Rainbow Dash lowered her head.

"A-ha! A blue feather." Pinkie pointed out. "I knew it was you, Gustave le Grand."

"Gustave doesn't have blue feathers, Pinkie…" I responded with narrowed eyes.

"No, 'cause he's been dying them!" She pulled his feathers up, revealing his bare skin.

"Pinkie!" I scolded, pulling her away from the griffon. "Don't you remember how you chased the culprit to the caboose? You said that they suddenly disappeared. Well, the only possible ways they could have disappeared was by teleporting or flying away. But after discovering this blue feather," I pointed towards it. "We discovered that the culprit flew away. And the only pony with blue feathers is…" I looked towards Rainbow. "Rainbow…"

My answer caused all of the other ponies to stare at her, causing her to become nervous. "I-I don't even like cake!"

"So Rainbow Dash did it! Case solved!" Pinkie announced.

"Case not solved," Twilight responded. "Because when we went to the engine, I saw the conductor's hat. And inside the hat was... this." Twilight pulled out the pink strand of hair.

"So it was you," Pinkie stood face-to-face with Rainbow. "That pink hair came from your rainbow colored mane!" She placed a hoof on her mane.

Rainbow slapped it away. "I don't have pink in my mane, Pinkie!"

"So you're wearing a wig?" Pinkie asked, stretching her own neck and looking around Rainbow's mane.

She then began pulling on Rainbow's mane. "Ow! Cut it out!"

"Pinkie, remember?" Twilight intervened. "You chased a pony to the engine, where you thought you saw the conductor shoveling coal, but that wasn't the conductor at all. It was, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy gasped once she saw Pinkie's face eyeing her angrily. "Oh my."

"You're goin' down, Fluttershy!" Pinkie began pouncing on the air, causing Fluttershy to flinch in fear.

I quickly ran over to Fluttershy and pulled Pinkie down. "Pinkie!"

"But then another clue confounded my suspicions." Twilight continued. "You were guarding the cake when the curtains mysteriously closed. But that's no mystery, that's magic. But when the thief tried to make their great escape, they left a little addition to the portrait." She held the eyelash on her hoof. "Has anypony else noticed that Rarity is wearing her hair rather differently today?" She asked, looking at Rarity. Pinkie joined her.

Rarity lightly gasped. "What? Is it a crime to change one's style every now and again? Why, I think it's a crime not to."

"Really?" Twilight grabbed the front of her mane with her magic and pulled it away from her face, revealing that her right eye did not have the eyelash.

"Fine, I'm guilty!" She exclaimed and began crying as she placed a hoof to her head dramatically. "I wear false eyelashes." She stopped suddenly. "Oh, and I took a bite of the cake." She responded casually, pointing towards the cake.

"So did I." Fluttershy added.

"Aw nuts, so did I." Rainbow included.

"You just made it sound so delectable." Rarity explained.

"So tasty." Fluttershy brought up.

"And boy was it!" Rainbow commented.

"I only meant to take a little, lady-like bite." Rarity tried to reason with Pinkie.

"And it was so good." Fluttershy added.

"Yeah, I just dove right in!" Rainbow joined as well.

"But I'm really really sorry." Fluttershy apologized, glancing at me as well, and lowering her head.

"Terribly sorry."

"Sorry Pinkie."

"That's okay." Pinkie responded as I placed a hoof around Fluttershy and smiled softly. "At least this mystery is finally solved."

"But it isn't." Twilight repeated, yet again. "We figured out who ate the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness, but we still don't know who devoured the other bakers' goods." She pointed towards their other desserts that were practically destroyed.

"You're right Twilight. You know what we have to do?"

"Well, yes I do. Do you?"

"Look for clues!" Pinkie held up a magnifying glass. Twilight took notice of this and switched hats with Pinkie, causing her to grin and quickly look around for clues. She sniffed and crawled above and around us. " Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh."

"Well Pinkie. Did you find the devourer of the desserts?" Twilight asked, purposely asking that "silly" question.

"I most certainly did. It was, none other than, Alex!" She pointed at me, causing me to widen my eyes and form a confused look as the others gasped.

"What?" I expressed, shocked.

Pinkie then giggled. "I'm just kidding. It was…the bakers!" She exclaimed, causing everypony to gasp again and stare at them. "First of all," She rushed over to Gustave. "Gustave has mousse in his moustache!" She pulled his mustache in order to present the evidence. Afterwards, she rushed over to Donut Joe. "And Joe has éclair in his hair!" She pointed to the piece of éclair on the top of his mane near his horn. Then, she moved over to Mulia and stretched her cheek. "And Mulia has sprinkles in her wrinkles!" She shook them, causing for sprinkles to fall out onto the floor.

"What do you say bakers?" Twilight asked in a scolding way.

"Oh I am so sorry, Mulia," Gustave apologized. "…but Pinkie made your mousse moose sound... très magnifique."

"And Pinkie's description of your éclairs really did make 'em sound scrumptious." Donut Joe added.

"And the way she spoke of your Donutopia, ohh, was too delectable to resist." Mulia finished.

"Well everypony, we finally have the mystery solved." Twilight announced as the train finally stopped at Canterlot.

"Yes, but now we don't have any desserts to enter into the contest!" Gustave pointed out, holding out his plate of éclairs.

Pinkie raised her hoof. "I think we can fix that. Come on!" She walked us out of the train, eventually sharing the idea of mixing the desserts together. Her idea was actually splendid. It's better to unite the desserts, rather than have them destroyed and separated.

Using what was left of the éclairs, donuts, and cake, Pinkie managed to mix them together in each layer of the cake. As she did this, Pinkie looked over to Twilight. "Hey, Twilight…mind if you take down a letter to Princess Celestia?" She asked.

"Sure, but Spike isn't here, so he can't send it to her." Twilight responded.

"No worries! I'll give the letter to her myself!" Twilight smiled and nodded, pulling out a quill and a scroll to begin writing.

"Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned that it is not good to jump to conclusions." She began speaking. "You have to find out all the facts before saying somepony did something. If you don't, you could end up blaming somepony for something they never did. This could hurt their feelings, and it can make you look really foolish. So from now on, I will always make sure to get all the facts." Finally, Pinkie placed the mousse moose head on the top, presenting an actually outstanding looking cake.

"That looks amazing, Pinkie!" I shared.

"Why, thank you, Alex!" She responded and placed a cover over the cake. "Come on, let's take it out!"

Mulia pulled it with a rope attached on the wagon the cake was on. She led it and us towards the area where the competition was to take place. When it was in the right place, Pinkie quickly uncovered it, revealing its sugary goodness.

The judges immediately returned widened eyes with excited expressions from their much boring ones. They instantly placed a blue ribbon on it, indicating that it was first place. I noticed Princess Celestia come by and gaze at its sweetness and glory, causing me to smile at her reaction.

"How's that for a lesson, Princess Celestia?" Pinkie Pie asked, presenting her letter.

However, Princess Celestia didn't respond, due to Twilight bringing a slice of the cake towards her. "Care for a bite?"

Princess Celestia licked her lips and opened her mouth to take a bite.

"I don't mind if I do." Pinkie intervened and jumped in midair, coming back down as she swallowed the entire cake. She laid down on the plate as she made loud munching noises. "Mmmmm."

Her action was responded by the laughter of everypony else. As the others continued to have fun, Princess Celestia walked up to me, continuing to take bites of the cake. "Why, hello, Alex."

I bowed and greeted her back. "Hello, Princess Celestia."

She smiled warmly. "How have you been doing so far?"

I chuckled lightly. "Well, I've been having unusual and crazy adventures with the girls, as always, but it somehow becomes worth it in the end. Fluttershy and I have been through a few obstacles ourselves, due to these adventures, but it's made our relationship even stronger in the end."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that." She looked back for a moment and then back at me. "Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but there is something important I must attend. Don't worry; I'll see you again very soon."

I nodded and smiled. "I understand, Princess. Good luck with your royal duties. I'll see you when the time comes."

She nodded as well and waved. "Enjoy the rest of the desserts." After, she flew off.

Fluttershy had walked by and joined me by my side. "Hey, Alex…"

"Hm?" I turned to face her.

"You're not mad at me for taking a bite of the cake, are you…?"

I chuckled and hugged her. "No. We're all having fun, aren't we?"

She giggled. "I guess you're right."

I kissed her cheek and looked around at all the desserts that we were allowed to eat after the competition. "Come on, there are a lot of tasty treats waiting for us to eat."

She smiled brightly and followed me as we started to fill our appetites with such yummy goodness.

When the evening twilight was presented in the sky before us, that's when we began heading back to the train station. We boarded the train with our stomachs full, and headed back to the car where our rooms were.

"Well, that was a great competition, Pinkie." Twilight announced as we walked towards the hallway. "Even though you practically won instantly." She giggled a bit.

"Thanks, Twilight. I'm so stuffed, I can barely move!" Pinkie responded.

"Well, you did eat the entire cake, Pinkie." I added, chuckling a little. "Plus a few more desserts in the competition."

"Sorry! Welp, time for a good sleep!" Pinkie rushed to her room, despite being full.

"Hehe, yeah. Goodnight, everypony." Twilight included and walked to her room as well.

"Goodnight!" Everypony stated and left to their rooms too, leaving Fluttershy and I to attend to ours.

We walked inside and began climbing in the bed.

"What a day, huh?" I commented as I began becoming comfortable.

Fluttershy giggled. "Yes… I wonder what crazy adventure we'll have next?"

I smiled. "Me too." I looked out the window and began seeing the train move as the scenery slowly changed outside. I turned to Fluttershy and gave her a kiss on the lips. "Goodnight, Fluttershy."

"Goodnight, Alex." She smiled as she nuzzled herself close to me.

I placed a hoof around her and closed my eyes, hearing the motion of the train as it moved, which somehow seemed to soothe me a bit.

All of a sudden, I was plagued with images of the girls. They were all on the floor…unconscious… as if something had wiped them all out. Then, I saw Fluttershy. She was kneeling on the floor, crying. I could feel myself pant, and my heart rate was rapidly increasing. Her face appeared out of nowhere. That same…thing… from the book which was supposed to be Queen Chrysalis. She narrowed her eyes and stared deeply in to mine.

"I found you…"

I suddenly awoke, gasping for air as I sat up from the bed. Fluttershy was startled when she heard me and felt the movement from my jolt. "Alex, sweetie, what's wrong?" She asked, placing a hoof on my chest and feeling my heart beat rapidly. "Your heart is beating so fast… what happened?"

My breathing slowly calmed down, and I looked at Fluttershy. She contained much worried eyes in her face as she frowned a bit. I sighed. "I had…another nightmare…"

"About…?"

I shook my head. "I can't really remember much now… All I remember was that something happened to you girls…you were crying…and then I saw this face of this…monster…I read about in a book a while back." I released another heavy breath. "It's gone now… I wonder if it was all that sugar and sweets I ate…"

"Well… I'm sorry. I didn't have a nightmare…"

I shrugged lightly. "I don't know…" I felt my heart rate slow down back to normal now. "I guess we should just go back to sleep… I hope I don't have that nightmare, or any other one, again…"

"Me too…" Fluttershy responded as we lay back on the bed. She rubbed and patted my chest a bit. "Have sweet dreams." She kissed my cheek and rested her head near me.

I remained, looking at the ceiling, sighing a bit, while I couldn't close my eyes for a while. I could only think about that strange nightmare. Finally, after remembering that Fluttershy was right by my side, holding me, I closed my eyes and allowed myself to rest once again.

I was lightly shook awake by Fluttershy. She was looking at me with slightly sleepy eyes. "Alex…we're back home."

I looked at the window to see that it was still dark. I groaned a bit, feeling glued to the bed. Nonetheless, I sat up and climbed out of bed, following Fluttershy out of the room and off the train. The other girls walked back to their homes as I stayed in the train station with Fluttershy for a bit. "Do you need me to walk you home, Fluttershy?"

She shook her head lightly as she smiled. "No, thank you. You look really tired, so you should go home. I can fly back to my cottage. A very special day is coming up, you know…"

"A very special day?" I asked, a little confused. "What do you mean?"

She giggled. "I can't tell you."

I managed to smile lightly at her. "Can you at least give me a hint?"

"Hehe, alright. Let's just say that all the girls, including me, know about it, and Pinkie's the best pony for the type of thing."

"Um…" I tried to think, but I was too tired to think at all. "Heheh, you got me there, Fluttershy. I guess I'll just have to find out later."

"Oh, don't worry, Alex." She winked playfully at me. "You will." Afterwards, she leaned in her lips towards mine and kissed me gently, but passionately. "I'll see you later, okay?"

I nodded and continued to smile warmly at her. "Yeah. I'll see you, Fluttershy."

She smiled with her eyes closed for a moment and then began flying back to her cottage. I turned around and headed straight towards my home, desperately wanting to go back to bed.

Once I arrived at my house, I headed straight towards bed, allowing myself to fall on top of the covers. With my eyes already closed, I managed to work around the blankets as I pulled them over me. Once I was finally comfortable, I began my soft breathing as I managed to think for a moment. However, having some time to think to myself caused me to recall that nightmare…

Why did I have such a horrible nightmare like that? Was it really because of the sweets? Maybe… but why bring up something that I've only read about a while back? Wait a minute… That voice…has it been her voice all along? That changeling queen? Have I actually been hearing her voice all along? But… but… I don't get it… why her? Why is this happening? I really don't understand… Now I'm beginning to feel like I'm being haunted… In my nightmare, she told me that she found me… should I be scared of this? Is she really coming for me, proving that she exists? Will I find the answers to these questions? I sighed. Calm down, Alex… maybe it's just your imagination… Maybe… But, I can't help but have this worried feeling at the bottom of my heart...

A Canterlot Wedding : Part One

Episode 51 – A Canterlot Wedding : Part One

Today felt strange for some reason. I was conscious, but I hadn't opened my eyes yet. For some time, I thought a little while my eyes remained closed. Then, I began hearing some soft voices around me, even a few giggles.

"Wait until he wakes up!"

"Hehe! I can't wait! Either he wakes up or I wake him up!"

"Calm down, Pinkie…"

"I can't! I'm just so excited!"

I made some soft mumbling sounds.

"Look! I think he's waking up!"

"Oh boy! Oh boy!"

I slowly began opening my eyes. My vision was a bit blurry, but as I opened them more, it cleared up. There I saw all the girls: Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy.

"SURPRISE!" They all exclaimed, startling and causing me to jolt in bed. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

"…what…?" I questioned, a bit confused as I looked at all of them smile brightly at me. Pinkie was holding a birthday cake that said Happy Birthday Alex!

"It's your birthday, Alex!" Twilight announced cheerfully.

"My birthday…?" I responded, even forgetting my own birthday for a moment there.

"Yep! I remember it exactly!" Pinkie Pie answered.

"But…how did you girls know…? I don't think I ever even mentioned it to you all before…"

"Darling, you know Pinkie Pie." Rarity responded. "She mysteriously figures out every pony's birthday somehow."

"Yep!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Come on! Get up so we can party!"

"Pinkie…" Twilight faced her. "It's Alex's birthday. Let him choose what he wants to do." Her response caused Pinkie to frown a bit.

"Yeah, Alex!" Applejack included. "What do ya wanna do?"

"Hm…" I thought about it a little and faced them, smiling a bit. "A picnic sounds nice…"

Pinkie Pie managed to smile a bit. "I guess I can work with that."

After I got out of bed, the girls and I fixed up a picnic basket with a variety of foods in there. As they finished the finishing touches to the picnic basket, Pinkie came up to me with the birthday cake still on her hooves. "Come on, Alex! Make a birthday wish before the candles go out!"

I chuckled lightly. "Alright…" I closed my eyes and began thinking of a wish I've been thinking for a while now… When I finished thinking about it and making it a wish, I opened my eyes and blew out the candles. Afterwards, the girls cheered and clapped their hooves.

"Go ahead and put that in the basket, Pinkie." Twilight recommended. "We can eat it at the picnic."

"Okie Dokie Lokie!" She answered and stuck it in there.

Next, we began walking to the picnic site as Fluttershy walked by my side and offered me a birthday kiss, which I gladly accepted.

We picked a perfect spot in the park for our picnic. The area was covered in green. Different colored flowers populated the ground. Nearby, there was a stream of water. The girls and I began setting up the picnic basket, along with the other foods and drinks. There was water and tea for the drinks. For the food, we had, of course, the cake, sandwiches, fruits, and other sweets. Rarity, however, came with us wearing a yellow sunhat and a pink little scarf around her neck. She grabbed a piece of cake while Rainbow Dash grabbed a sandwich. Each of us had a glass of water while Pinkie Pie was pouring some tea for herself.

I looked around me to see the beautiful scenery that was perfect for this amazing day. I could see a couple of butterflies, pink and sunny yellow, parade past us as the girls began enjoying their food. I sat nearby Twilight and Fluttershy with the picnic basket near me. Rarity was by Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie was across the picnic blanket from me, sitting next to Rarity. Rainbow Dash was across Rarity and was sitting by Applejack, who was across Fluttershy and by Twilight.

"Ahh!" Rarity expressed out loud. "It is gorgeous out." She spoke as she looked around, gazing at our surroundings. "Just gorgeous!"

"The feeling's mutual right here, Rarity." I responded as I looked around as well.

I could see Rainbow Dash enjoying her sandwich that was filled with cheese and many vegetables. Applejack responded with a slurp of her water as she lay down. I took a slice of the cake and began eating it delightfully. "Great cake, Pinkie Pie!" I commented, facing towards her.

"Thanks!" She replied cheerfully and closed her eyes, smiling.

Twilight smiled as well and picked out an apple from the basket with her magic. She was just about to eat it until we suddenly heard rapid running footsteps heading towards us, catching all of our attention and causing Twilight to drop the apple and look ahead.

"Twi... light!" Spike came out of nowhere, exclaiming as he was out of breath. "...I... have..." He stopped and bent over, trying to regain his breath. "…lemme just..." He took in deep breaths and suddenly burped out a letter.

Twilight grabbed the letter and began reading it with a smile. "Dear Twilight, I am sure you are as excited as I am about the upcoming wedding in Canterlot." She gasped and looked at us with a confused expression. "Wedding?" Nonetheless, she smirked lightly and continued reading. I was pretty shocked about it as well. I wonder who's getting married… "I will be presiding over the ceremony, but would very much like you and your friends to help with the preparations for this wonderful occasion. Fluttershy, I would like you and your songbird choir to provide the music."

"Oh my goodness!" Fluttershy exclaimed softly and looked towards me, causing me to smile. "What an honor!"

"Pinkie Pie, I can think of no one more qualified than you to host the reception."

"Hip, hip, hooray!" Pinkie cheered, doing a cartwheel which flipped over a tea cup and a plate of cake, also creating a dent on the main cake as well.

"Applejack, you will be in charge of the catering for the reception." Twilight read as she fixed the flipped over items and even the dent on the cake.

"Well, color me pleased as punch!" Applejack responded as she held a hoof in front of her chest. However, I noticed Rainbow Dash wear a bored expression on her face.

"Rainbow Dash," Rainbow yawned, showing how uninterested she was in this project. "...I would very much appreciate it if you could perform a sonic rainboom as the bride and groom complete their I do's."

She suddenly changed her expression, cheering and flying upwards in the air. "Yes!"

"Rarity, you will be responsible for designing the dresses for the bride and her bridesmaids."

Rarity widened her eyes in shock. "Princess Celestia wants me to- She broke down into gibberish nonsense. "...wedding dress? For a Canterlot wedding..." She began looking woozy…in a good way. Fluttershy tried to help her, but she was moving too much. "I, ah, ooh, oooh!" She feel backwards on the grass, allowing her sunhat to fall off as she released a huge grin.

"Alex, there is something I'd like to speak with you in private." Twilight read, catching my attention. "Please meet me in the Canterlot Watchtower." She looked up from the paper at me to return a confused expression, but I could only return a shrug, not knowing what the Princess was talking about either. "And as for you, Twilight, you will be playing the most important role of all: Making sure that everything goes as planned. See you all very soon. Yours, Princess Celestia." She looked up and turned the paper around from backwards to sideways, checking to see if there was anymore. "But... I don't understand. Who's getting married?" She asked.

"Oh, wait!" Spike released, widening his eyes. "Uh, I was probably supposed to give you this one first." He turned around and pulled out another letter. Twilight looked back in slight annoyance and grabbed the letter with her magic, causing us to all peak and listen carefully for what she had to say.

"Princess Celestia cordially invites you to the wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and..." She looked up and gasped. "My brother?" She exclaimed.

I was about to immediately question about her brother, since I never knew she had one, but Spike intervened again, laughing a little nervously. "Oh, and this one…heh…" He held out the letter, a little embarrassingly.

Twilight rolled her eyes and grabbed the letter with her magic, still feeling shocked about the last one. She read it for a moment. "Oh…Alex…this one's for you…"

"What does it say?" I asked, becoming concerned, but picking out an apple from the basket.

Twilight began reading it. "Dear Alex, I am very pleased to announce that Starlight will be visiting Canterlot as the upcoming wedding takes place." I instantly widened my eyes in shock and dropped the apple I was carrying on my hoof. "I am sure it'll be great catching up, considering that you two must have not seen each other in so long. Have fun! Princess Celestia."

I could only sit there as I remained highly shock. "…who…?" I barely whispered.

Twilight looked back at the paper, focusing her eyes on the words. "Starlight."

After that name was repeated, I immediately and suddenly began feeling weak and faint, as well as light headed. Then, my eyes lifted upwards and I involuntary fell to the ground, passing out.

I felt my body being shook lightly.

"Alex…Alex…"

"Wha…huh…?" I mumbled, placing my hoof on my head and sitting up. "What happened?"

"Dude, you just passed out." Rainbow Dash answered me.

"Yes, darling." Rarity added. "Just like me except it was more in terror."

"…is everything alright?" Fluttershy asked, keeping her hooves on me.

I sighed and stared at the picnic blanket. "I don't know…" Looks like the first birthday I'm celebrating may be ruined again by the one and only.

Despite what just happened, Applejack walked over to the still stunned Twilight. "Your brother's getting married?" Applejack asked and then picked up her hoof with both of her own hooves to shake it. "Congratulations, Twilight, that's great news!"

Twilight returned an annoyed expression and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, great news." She responded sarcastically and walked off. "That I just got from a wedding invitation! Not from my brother, but from a piece of paper! Thanks a lot, Shining Armor." She pointed towards Canterlot. "I mean, really, he couldn't tell me personally?" She grabbed a sandwich that had two olives on top with her magic and made it look like it was talking, deepening her voice to represent her brother's. "Hey, Twilight, just thought you should know I'm making a really big decision that changes everything. Oh, nevermind, you'll hear about it when you get the invitation." The girls exchanged worried looks with each other. Twilight returned to her normal voice. "Princess Mi Amore Cadenza? Who in the hoof is that?" She exclaimed, snorting angrily.

"Um, Twilight? Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked, holding out a hoof to her.

"Sorry," She apologized, walking away. "It's just that Shining Armor and I have always been so close. He's my B.B.B.F.F!" The other girls responded with questioning looks. Twilight looked back annoyingly and then back at us, explaining. "Big Brother Best Friend Forever?"

"Ohhh!"

"Before I came here and learned the importance of friendship, Shining Armor was the only pony I really accepted as a friend." One of the birds flying past us landed on Twilight's hoof. She nuzzled it compassionately and allowed it to fly away. She began walking as she looked back at us, singing. "When I was just a filly, I found it rather silly

To see how many other ponies I could meet

I had my books to read, didn't know that I would ever need

Other ponies to make my life complete

But there was one colt that I cared for

I knew he would be there for me

My big brother, best friend forever!

Like two peas in a pod, we did everything together

He taught me how to fly a kite (Best friend forever!)

We never had a single fight (We did everything together!)

We shared our hopes, we shared our dreams

I miss him more than I realized

It seems..." She released a few tears, causing me to feel emotional as well.

"Your big brother, best friend forever" The rest of the girls sang along.

"Like two peas in a pod, you did everything together"

"And though he's, oh, so far away" Twilight continued.

"I hoped that he would stay" she began walking, causing Fluttershy to share glances with me while the other girls exchanged the same expression. After, we looked back at her in worriment.

"My big brother best friend

Forever...

Forever..." She stared out into the sky and lowered her head, releasing another tear.

Applejack walked over to her and placed a hoof on her comfortingly. "As one of your P.F.F.'s..." Applejack received questioning looks as well. "Pony Friends Forever..." She answered, causing the girls to exclaim in understanding the abbreviation. "... I wanna tell you that I think your brother sounds like a real good guy."

"He is pretty special." She responded, walking back to the picnic area and sitting by her piece of cake as she flipped it lightly. "I mean, they don't let just anypony be Captain of the Royal Guard."

"So let me get this straight." Rarity quickly rushed over to Twilight. "We're helping out with the wedding of not only a princess, but a Captain of the Royal Guard?"

"I guess we are..." Twilight replied in a saddened yet annoyed expression as well.

"Ooh, ooh, oooh!" Rarity began joyfully fainting again, causing Twilight to pull out a pillow with her magic and place it behind Rarity before she fell to the ground. As everypony returned excited chatter, Fluttershy flying around with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie holding hooves with Applejack, I could only remain there near Twilight and look at her with gloomy eyes and a frown on my face.

I understand how you feel Twilight… I have my own share of problems…

Keeping her annoyed look, her eyes shifted over to me and immediately became concerned ones. "Alex, what's wrong? You're supposed to be happy… It's your birthday and even Princess Celestia said that Starlight will be at Canterlot during the wedding, whoever she is…"

I groaned. "Ugh… Never mind that…" I shook my head. "What about you? I never heard you mention about a brother before…"

"Oh…" She rubbed her head a little. "…Remember when you caught me crying some time back…?"

"Yeah…?"

"Well…I was crying because my brother had sent me a letter from the royal guard… He told me everything was well and he hoped I was having a good time in Ponyville…and you know…other stuff…" She sighed. "I was sad after that letter because I missed him so much..."

"Oh…that's why…"

Twilight was about to ask me another question, but Rainbow Dash suddenly intervened. "What are you guys doing? Come on! We have to get to Canterlot right away!"

Twilight returned an irritated expression. "Rainbow, we haven't even finished the picnic yet. It wouldn't be fair to Alex."

"I don't really mind…" I responded, feeling my mind plagued already. "But I guess we can finish up a bit to fill up our stomachs…"

Twilight looked at me in a concerning matter. I could only stare at the picnic blanket in silence as the other girls continued to eat in excitement and chatter about the upcoming wedding in Canterlot.

When we finished the picnic, we wrapped it up and placed the picnic basket away in order to prepare for our train ride to Canterlot. I tried to eat something, but the thought of the horrible disaster that might occur continued to corrupt my mind, making my hunger and appetite disappear.

We waited for our train to arrive in the train station. As I continued to wait patiently in silence, as the other girls continued to chatter excitedly, I heard a flapping of wings near me. Derpy landed by me and smiled. "Hi, Alex." She noticed my expression. "Is something wrong?" She asked, frowning and flapping her ears down.

Remembering how she doesn't know about my personal problems, I shook my head and tried to pull out a smile. "I'm fine. What are you doing here?"

She then smiled brightly and hugged me. "Happy Birthday!"

I managed to feel better for a moment, chuckling lightly. "Thank you, Derpy."

"Are you going on the train to Canterlot too?" She asked, pulling away.

"Yeah…We all got invited to a wedding."

"Me too! The Captain of the Royal Guard and a Princess are getting married! I can't wait!" She giggled a bit and noticed Fluttershy. "Hi, Fluttershy!"

Fluttershy was startled a bit but turned her head to see Derpy. "Hi." She waved.

"I'm sure everything's alright after that whole…um…you know…"

Fluttershy giggled a bit and shook her head. "Don't worry. Everything's fine."

Derpy smiled brightly and nodded.

We finally heard the train arrive as the sounds of wheels braking pierced the surrounding peace. Derpy boarded along with us, staying in our car. She looked out the window and stared out at the open, letting the wind blow threw her mane. Pinkie Pie and Applejack sat on one of the seats, looking out the window. Rarity and Spike were on the other side, along with Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy was on the seat opposite of Rarity, Spike, and Rainbow, looking out the window as well with soft excitement. I lay on the seat in the way back. Twilight joined me across the other side of the train, looking out the window and resting her left foreleg on the windowsill. The left part of her cheek and chin were resting on her left hoof as she looked out in thought.

Usually, I would have been comforting her at such a time, but I was in trouble myself. I was stuck deep in thought as I couldn't stop thinking of what could happen… I was actually growing scared a bit…but why…? Why should I be scared…? I sighed lightly, staring at the seat as I continued to lay on it.

"A sonic rainboom? At a wedding? Can you say 'best wedding ever'!" I heard Rainbow Dash exclaim in excitement.

"Best wedding ever!" Pinkie Pie screamed in joy as we passed through a dark tunnel in the train.

"So you all get to help with the big fancy wedding," Spike spoke. "But I'm the one who gets to host the bachelor party! I have just one question. What's a bachelor party?"

This caused the all the girls except Twilight to giggle and laugh.

After a moment, I heard Applejack's voice behind me. "Why the long face, sugarcube?"

"I'm just thinking about Shining Armor." Twilight answered, crossing her forelegs and resting her head on them. "Ever since I moved to Ponyville we've been seeing each other less and less. And now that he's starting a new family with this 'Princess Mi Amore Cal-whatshername', we'll probably never see each other."

"Come on, now. You're his sister. He'll always make time for you."

"Couldn't seem to make time to tell me he was getting married." Twilight grabbed the window cover with her magic and angrily slid it down.

Applejack sighed and turned towards me. "Alex? You awake?"

"Hm?" I answered, glancing towards her.

"Alex?" She walked towards me and sat down by me. "Is there something up with you too?" She questioned with a frown.

"Why do you ask that?"

"Because it's your birthday. You should be all over the place with joy, but instead you're lying down here as if you're depressed or somethin'."

I sighed. "Unfortunately, Applejack, I'm not filled with joy right now…" I looked up and out the window. "…not with Starlight coming to Canterlot."

"If you don't mind me askin'," Applejack responded. "Who's this 'Starlight' pony anyway?"

I remained silent for a moment, shifting my eyes around. Finally, I opened my eyes, ready to speak up. "Starlight's… my sister…"

Her eyes widened. "You mean the one…"

"Yes…" I answered frankly. "The one from my past."

"Oh, gosh…I'm so sorry, Alex…but that shouldn't stop you from celebrating your birthday… You can't let one little pony ruin your special day."

I scoffed. "Heh. Well, she always finds her way to ruin every single one of my days."

"Alex…" She placed a hoof on my shoulder. "If she tries to bother you…we'll be there to support and protect you, alright?"

I turned my head over to her, a bit surprised. "…really?"

She nodded, confidently. "Yes. You're our friend, and we'll do anythin' to make you happy."

I managed to smile a bit. "…thanks, Applejack."

She smiled as well and patted my back. "You deserve it. Now, come on. Try to enjoy your birthday." She turned around and began heading back to the others, but stopped and glanced over to me. "Do you mind if I tell the others about Starlight bein' your sister?" She asked.

"No." I shook my head. "Just don't tell them in a way that will make them worried."

She nodded. "Gotcha." Afterwards, she began returning back.

"We're here, we're here!" I heard Pinkie Pie exclaim almost immediately after.

When a few seconds passed, a pink wall of magic passed through us, surprising me a little. …What was that…? Finally, I heard the train stop. We all headed to the exit of the train and looked out to see a large amount of guards waiting outside with motionless expressions. "Whoa, what's with all the guards?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I'm sure they're just taking the necessary precautions." Rarity explained. "Royal weddings do bring out the strangest ponies."

"Aaaaaaaaa— Pinkie sneezed, releasing confetti from out her nose and proving Rarity's point exactly. Afterwards, she just walked off happily.

"Now let's get going, we've got work to do!" Rarity announced as Fluttershy boarded off as well. Derpy and I followed.

"And you've got a big brother to go congratulate." Applejack reminded Twilight, who was still on the train.

"Yeah. Congratulate. And then give him a piece of my mind." Twilight answered, still showing that irritated mood she's been having. She walked past the guards that were guarding one section of the place. The other girls responded with confused looks.

"Well…I guess we better get started on those tasks the Princess wanted us to fulfill." I announced, breaking the awkward silence.

"Right…" Rainbow Dash replied. "Come on, guys." She began leaving as everypony followed to their other stations.

Before leaving, Fluttershy turned to see me. "You're going to meet with the Princess, right?" She asked. I returned a nod. She nodded as well and placed a kiss on my lips. "I'll see you later then, sweetie."

"See you later." I responded, giving her a quick hug and waving as she flew off. I turned to Derpy who was still standing by me. "Sorry, I have to go see the Princess. See you later?"

Derpy nodded. "Of course! Good luck!"

"Thanks." I waved and looked up, seeing the Canterlot Watchtower Princess Celestia was talking about. As Derpy flew off, I could see Princess Celestia looking through a telescope for some reason. That reminds me… why is there a huge magic bubble around Canterlot? I decided to put these questions on hold until I met up with the Princess.

When I finally arrived at the Canterlot Watchtower, I could still see Princess Celestia looking through the telescope. Her eyes were narrowed in determination and seriousness, much the opposite than her face usually contained. I slowly approached her and called out her name. "…Princess Celestia…?"

She pulled away from the telescope and turned around to see me. "Oh, Alex. I'm glad you're here."

"Mm-hm. You said you wanted to speak to me about something in private. What was it?"

She sighed and closed her eyes. "You may have noticed a higher increase in security around Canterlot, haven't you?"

"Yeah…I heard it was about the wedding…"

She shook her head. "Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with the wedding…"

"What…? What do you mean?" I asked, becoming concerned now.

"A threat has been made against Canterlot…and we don't know who's responsible for it. That's why I asked Shining Armor, Twilight's brother, to provide additional protection. Come with me." She turned around and gestured me to follow her out on the balcony. "Do you see that magic bubble around the town?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Watch closely." I turned my attention from her towards the magic bubble. Suddenly, I saw something being shot upwards towards the bubble. It looked to be some magic and it combined with the bubble, reinforcing the protection. I widened my eyes a bit. "That was Shining Armor's protection spell. If it wasn't for it, we'd probably be much more vulnerable and probably have to cancel the wedding."

"Oh…that reminds me… Who is this Princess Mi Amore Cadenza Twilight's brother is marrying anyway?"

"She's my niece."

"Your niece…?"

"Yes!" Princess Celestia managed to smile warmly now. "Why don't you go meet her and Shining Armor? I'm sure you'll like them…"

"Oh. Alright… but what about the task you wanted to assign me?"

"Right, that. I just wanted to let you know about the threat we're dealing with, and if you see or feel anything suspicious, let me know, or tell Princess Luna if you feel something during the night. I just want you to be aware and not let your whole guard down. Otherwise, enjoy the wedding and feel free to help the others with their tasks."

"Okay. I'll keep an eye out. Thank you, Princess Celestia." I bowed and began walking out.

"One more thing." Princess Celestia announced.

"Hm?" I glanced back.

"Starlight may be arriving a little late, so I don't think she is here yet." I released a hidden sigh of relief. "But, don't worry; she'll be here before the day is completely over."

I nodded. "Thanks…I'll keep that I mind."

Obviously, Princess Celestia didn't know the issues I had between my family and me. I never really did tell her the situation between us, only that I felt that nopony wanted me. Hm…she probably would have tried to look for them herself, but I'm pretty sure that her royal duties, along with having no clue of where they could be, did not allow her to do so. It was actually better for her not to try to reach them because…well…chaos would have probably broken loose. Now, she thinks that Starlight actually cares about me and wants to see me because we haven't seen each other in so long. That's why the Princess is excited for our meeting. I wonder how Princess Celestia figured out about Starlight and how she is my sister? That's what I find strange. Maybe it was… I sighed mentally. Anyway, I can't tell Princess Celestia about the truth of Starlight and why I don't want to see her. That'll distract her from her royal duties and it especially won't be good since there is apparently a threat in Canterlot… I'll just have to suck it up, possibly my pride, and see what happens…

"Alex, are you alright?" Princess Celestia asked me, snapping me out of my trance.

"Oh, yeah…" I shook my head lightly and rubbed it a bit. "I'll go find Shining Armor now."

"He should be at the main Royal Guard quarters."

I nodded. "Thanks. I'll see you later Princess."

She nodded as well. "See you soon, Alex."

I walked out of the Canterlot Watchtower and began heading towards the direction of the Royal Guard quarters.

"How many unicorns can just spread love wherever they go?" I heard Twilight when I arrived, catching my attention. "I only know of one! And you're marrying her!" I entered a bridge, where I saw Twilight with another familiar pony, who must have been her brother. She was jumping around while announcing in a singsong voice. "You're marrying Cadence, you're marrying Cadence!" Twilight bounced towards me, opening her eyes. "Oh, Alex! Hey!"

"Hey, Twilight." I looked past her to see her brother. "Is this your brother?" I asked.

"Yeah!" She looked towards him. "Shining Armor, this is Alex. Alex, this is Shining Armor." She introduced us.

"Hey." He observed me, holding out his hoof, but then he stopped suddenly. "Wait a minute… Haven't I seen you around before?"

I analyzed him and rubbed my chin. "I could ask you the same thing…"

He thought as well and then suddenly clapped his hoof. "Dude! I bumped into you a while back!"

His response clicked in me and I immediately remembered who he was. "Oh, yeah!"

"Alex? Shining Armor? You two have met before?"

"Yeah!" Shining Armor responded. "We bumped into each other." He chuckled a bit. "I remembered him asking if I was like the other snooty ponies."

I chuckled as well. "Right." I faced Twilight. "I saw him that time I visited Canterlot with Rarity, remember?" I faced back at Shining Armor. "I never knew he was your brother…"

"You said you were looking for a gift for a friend?" He questioned.

"Yeah. I was looking for a gift for Twilight for her birthday."

"Wow!" Shining Armor expressed. "This really is all amazing. Y'know, Twilight really has told me so much about you in her letters actually. It's really all overwhelming to know what an amazing pony you are."

I chuckled a little in embarrassment. "Thanks."

"No really! To know that you are one of the Elements of Harmony as well? That's awesome!" He waved his front hooves in joy.

"Well, you're the one who's Captain of the Royal Guard."

We all began laughing, having a joyous moment until we were suddenly interrupted.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything important." A pony that appeared near us ironically announced…rather rude…

I turned around to see a pink pony, basically having the same coat as Pinkie. She wore a golden necklace, and her mane consisted of a variety of colors. She also wore a tiara on her head. The most important features I discovered were that she had both a horn and wings… Hm…

"Cadence!" Twilight announced and rushed over to her. "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" She shook her behind, apparently doing some secret greeting or such.

Cadence observed her for a moment. "What are you doing?" She asked with an expression of confusion and a hint of disgust.

Twilight frowned a bit, but quickly regained her smile, turning back around. "Cadence, it's me, Twilight!"

"Uh-huh." She merely and uninterestedly returned, walking past Twilight and me, not even sparing a word to me. I slightly narrowed my eyes. Well…she doesn't seem all that friendly like Shining Armor… Nonetheless, she grinned as she walked towards Shining Armor, who placed a hoof around her and grinned as well.

"I've gotta get back to my station," Shining Armor announced. "But Cadence will be checking in with all of you to see how things are going. I think I speak for both of us when I say we couldn't be more excited to have you guys here. Right, dear?"

"Absolutely." She returned a narrowed look directly at us, actually bringing some chills up in my spine.

Twilight returned a confused look.

"Well, we'll let you get to it." Shining Armor stated and began walking away with…Cadence…

Twilight sighed and began walking away as well. I noticed this and quickly walked to her side. "You know her?" I asked.

"Yeah…" She answered. "She used to be my foalsitter when I was little. Now, she acts like she doesn't even remember me and she doesn't seem as friendly as she was before…"

"Huh…" I commented and looked back to the front of where I was walking. "Sorry, Twilight… I don't know what to say… I've never met her before."

Twilight could only return a heavy sigh that had a little anger inside. "Whatever, Alex. Let's just go check up on Applejack."

"Alright…" I responded, looking at her with some concern as she led me towards the next destination.

When we entered the kitchen, we could see several ponies creating the desserts for the wedding. Applejack spotted us and walked up to us. "Hiya, Alex. Hey Twilight."

Twilight didn't respond, so I decided to reply instead. "Hey, Applejack." I answered, releasing a small smile.

"You feeling better, Alex?" She asked.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." At least until Starlight comes into town…

"Well, I'm just putting the finishing touches on these beauties." She directed towards the desserts she was making. "Twilight, mind checking off on the things I finished?"

"Sure…" She answered a little angrily and sat near a pillar with crossed forelegs. She held the notepad and a pencil with her magic.

Applejack then began running and finished what she had to do while I continued to feel concerned for Twilight. I took a seat next to her. Applejack had climbed up a ladder near a huge cake and finished placing some frosting, which decorated the hearts that surrounded the layers. "Cake, check." She announced, making Twilight check off on that item as she retained the same mood. Applejack ran towards another direction. She chiseled on some sculpture, which seemed to be a huge heart. "Ice sculpture, check." Twilight checked that off. Applejack ran over to the oven and pulled out a tray of desserts. "Best darn bitesize apple fritter you ever tasted..." She grabbed one of them and forced them in our mouths with her hooves.

"Mmm." Twilight moaned happily, changing her mood instantly as she checked off on that as well. "Check." She spoke with her cheeks full.

"Great fritters, Applejack." I responded, chewing and swallowing it. "It's amazing."

She crossed her legs and closed her eyes, almost seeming to be a bow. "Why, thank you, Alex."

I smiled and began hearing some noises near us, catching our attention towards a counter. "I do. Do you? I do!" Twilight and I stood up and walked over to the counter to see Spike making some kissing noises with the figures that were supposed to be on the cake. Twilight narrowed her eyes and grabbed them with her magic, taking them from his claws and placing them on the space near him. He nervously laughed.

We then heard the door open and Applejack's voice.

"Hiya, Princess!"

We looked back to see Cadence walking in the kitchen with a bored expression on her face. "Please, call me Princess Mi Amore Cadenza." She answered as the other ponies bowed, which also caused Twilight to roll her eyes and look at me with anger again.

"Hiya, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza." Applejack repeated with the correction as the princess had looked at her with annoyance. However, when Applejack looked up to see her, she quickly changed the expression to a fake excited one. "You come to check out what's on the menu for your big day?"

"I have!" She replied in artificial excitement, but quickly returned to her annoyed expression when Applejack turned around. Twilight noted every action she made.

Applejack grabbed the tray of her amazing apple fritters and turned around to present them to the princess. Cadence grabbed one with her magic and took a bite. As she did, I noticed something strange. Huh..I've never see a horn glow green before… As she chewed, she finally swallowed and chuckled a little in a nervous manner. "Delicious! I love, love, love them." She laughed nervously.

"Aw, shucks. Why don't you take a few to go?" Applejack asked, presenting her with a bag of them, giving a little squee. Cadence looked back in regret. Nonetheless, she looked towards the bag and grabbed it with her magic, holding it with her teeth. "I know how you brides can be. So busy, you forget to get a little somethin' in your belly." When Cadence reached the door, she merely threw it in the trash can and walked off, slamming the doors behind her.

Twilight gasped. "Did... you see what she..." She directed towards me.

"I did…" I answered, narrowing my eyes in irritation.

Twilight faced Applejack. "Applejack, did you see what she di—

"Sorry Twi." Applejack responded, taking out several more treats out of the oven. "I'm a little busy now. We'll talk later, okay?"

"But…"

I placed a hoof on Twilight. "Forget about it… let's go check on Rarity."

She sighed and agreed.

When we arrived at the suite Rarity was creating the dresses in, Twilight couldn't help but talk about the little scene we just witnessed earlier.

"I can't believe it, Alex! I can't believe that she did that!" She faced Rarity who was too busy working on the dresses. "Oh Rarity, you should have seen how she acted back there. I don't know when she changed, but she changed!"

"Twilight… I understand how you're feeling, and I don't exactly approve what she did either, but there's nothing much we can do about it…"

"Ugh!" She yelled in frustration. "She's just so annoying! I mean, really, 'Please, call me Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.'" She mocked her.

"Did I hear someone say my name?" We ironically heard her come in. She was followed by three more mares, whom must be the bridesmaids.

"Your highness!" Rarity announced, quickly rushing over to her. "Let me just start by saying what an honor it is to play a role in such a momentous occasion." She bowed and laughed nervously.

"A-ha." She responded unenthusiastically, walking over to her dress as Twilight watched the scene with the same annoyed expression on her face. "Is my dress ready?"

"Uh…e…" Rarity stammered, walking over to the dress. "Yes, of course. Um, I've been working on it ever since I was given the assignment, and I think you'll be pleased with the results! Mmm!" She grinned brightly as Cadence observed it with a rather different point of view. I thought the dress was lovely, as all the other products from Rarity were.

"I was hoping for something with more beading and a longer train." She commented, walking off as Rarity brought out a notepad and began making some notes.

"Oh, yes, of course."

"And those should be a different color." Cadence pointed out, directing towards the bridesmaids' dresses.

"I think they're lovely." The unicorn in the middle of the group commented.

"Me too!" The earth pony added.

"I love them." The aqua-colored unicorn with the heartstrings for a cutie mark included.

Cadence suddenly looked at them scoldingly, surprising and causing me to widen my eyes. Cadence's reaction caused them to quickly disengage eye contact and look around nervously. "Make them a different color." She ordered and then walked off with her bridesmaids.

"Gee, maybe her name should be 'Princess Demandy-pants.'" Twilight expressed and began walking out, highly annoyed.

Before I sat up to follow Twilight, I looked at Rarity and gave my opinion. "I think they're wonderful, Rarity…but I guess you have to do what the princess wants, huh?"

"Looks that way, Alex… I'll see you later."

"See you…" I sat up and began following Twilight.

Twilight eventually led me towards the party hall, which was used for the Grand Galloping Gala and Twilight's birthday, in silence. The party hall was decorated with fun accessories, such as balloons and streamers. It seemed that Cadence had already arrived there before us as we saw her discussing some things with Pinkie Pie. Twilight gasped and quickly took me behind a pillar.

"Twilight, what are you—

"Shh!" She shushed me and looked back at the discussion with Cadence and Pinkie.

"Okay, let me see." Pinkie began excitedly. "We've been over the games..." She rushed towards a nearby game board and rattled the dice in her hooves, smiling brightly as they landed on the board. I also noticed a "pin the tail on the pony" poster near the wall. She returned a very bright smile, even sticking out her tongue in excitement. She hopped near Cadence. "...the dances..." She began doing, which I think was, the chicken dance near a music player that seemed to be playing the polka from the parasprite infestation… Pinkie stuck out her tongue again and bounced happily in front of Cadence. "I think this reception is gonna be perfect! Don't you?"

"Perfect!" Cadence responded cheerfully. "...if we were celebrating a six-year-old's birthday party." She added with the usual tone she contained as she walked off.

Pinkie gasped. "Thank you!" She answered cheerfully, taking it the wrong way by what she meant…

As I looked at Twilight's expression on her face, I could only observe the narrowed irritated eyes she had as she stared at Cadence walk away.

"Come on, Twilight…" I whispered, patting her a bit. "Let's get out of here…"

When we walked outside, we were surprised to see that it was already night. Pinkie Pie hopped from inside the party hall to where we were standing. "Hi, guys!" She greeted warmly, continuing to bounce past us.

"Pinkie, where are you going?" I asked.

"Oh! The girls and I were going to meet up for a drink. Come on!" She waved her hoof to gesture us to follow her and continued bouncing.

I looked at Twilight and used my head to gesture her to come along. She merely sighed and walked with her head lowered. I could only returned a frown and worried eyes as she walked by me, following me as I followed Pinkie to where the girls were meeting up.

When we arrived, I looked at the Canterlot Watchtower to see Princess Celestia tiredly looking through the telescope. Princess Luna flew through the magic shield and stood by her sister. I assumed she told her to rest, as Princess Luna guarded the night. Then, I looked back in the direction we were walking towards. We saw them sitting at the table near the doors of the building by them. They all sat on the pillows with their drinks, even Spike, who sat on three pillows to reach the table. Twilight and I walked inside the building to order and receive our drinks, walking back outside towards the table after.

"Bet I can guess what you're all thinking!" Twilight announced cheerfully as we began to sit at the table. "Cadence is the absolute worst bride-to-be ever." She emphasized, placing her drink on the table which grabbed the attention of the others as I sat near her and Fluttershy.

"Who, me?" Spike asked in a high voice, controlling the Cadence figure that's supposed to be on the cake.

"Spike!" Applejack exclaimed. "That goes on the cake."

Spike laughed nervously and placed the piece on the table.

"Twilight, whatever are you talking about?" Rarity asked as Twilight sipped her drink. "Cadence is an absolute gem!"

Twilight opened her eyes and pushed away the drink in order to respond to Rarity. "Rarity, she was so demanding!"

"Well of course she is! Why shouldn't she expect the very best on her wedding day?"

Twilight furrowed her eyebrows and placed a hoof to her forehead, sighing. After, she looked towards Applejack. "Applejack, did you know that after she told you how much she just 'love-love-loved' your hors d'eouvres she threw them in the trash?"

"Aw, she was probably just trying to spare my feelin's." Applejack responded and began sipping her drink as well.

"No, she was just being fake, and totally insincere!"

Fluttershy lowered her head and slightly looked around in thought. "She did raise her voice at one of my birds during rehearsal."

"See? Rude!" Twilight pointed out.

"But... he was singing really off-key." She responded, bringing out the bird which began singing terribly off-key, causing us to place our hooves on our ears.

"Even if he was singing badly," I added. "I don't think she should have raised her voice at him… there are other proper ways of teaching…"

"Exactly!" Twilight stretched her hoof. "I mean, Pinkie Pie, you had to have noticed how Cadence treated—

She was interrupted when we saw Pinkie Pie and Spike making kissing noises as they played with the figures that are supposed to be on the cake. They continued to laugh as they had fun.

"Never mind." Twilight rolled her eyes and rested her head on the table in a frustrated manner. "Rainbow Dash," Twilight lifted her head. "You're with me, right?"

"Sorry Twi." Rainbow answered, rubbing her muscles and stretching her wings. "Been too busy prepping for my sonic rainboom to pay much attention to the bride's bad attitude."

"Alex." Twilight placed her hooves on me. "Please tell me you're with me."

"Well… I have to admit, I don't completely condone Cadence's actions. I mean…they could have been a lot nicer but…" I shrugged. "What can you do about it?"

Twilight responded with an angry growl.

"The princess is about to get married." Rarity tried to reason with her, placing her hoof on her. "I'm sure any negative behavior she might be displaying is simply the result of nerves."

Twilight stood up and slammed her hoof on the table, causing her purple drink to jump slightly above the table. "And I'm sure it's the result of being an awful pony who doesn't deserve to even know Shining Armor let alone marry him!" She answered, emphasizing with her hooves and slamming them back down again.

Before I could try to calm Twilight down, Applejack decided to fill in for me and create the wrong move. "Think maybe you're being just a tiny bit possessive of your brother?"

To make things worse, the rest of the girls agreed. "Uh-huh."

"I am not being possessive, and I am not taking it out on Cadence!" Twilight responded angrily. "You're all just too caught up in your wedding planning to notice that maybe there shouldn't even- she slammed her hoof harshly on the table, causing all the drinks on the table to jump upwards in the air and splatter everywhere. -be a wedding!" Her actions had startled and surprised us. She turned around and began storming away from us.

I sighed and frowned, looking back at the other girls. "I'll go talk to her…" Then, I pulled my hooves away from the table and began walking after Twilight. "Twilight." I called her name after reaching some distance away from the other girls. "Twilight…" She stopped and sighed, turning around to face me. "I know how you're feeling now…but…you just need to calm down and think about this for a moment… I know how you feel about Cadence…"

"Listen, Alex…I just need to talk to my brother right now…" She added, forming a more saddened look now.

"But…"

"Please…Just let me go talk to my brother…"

I sighed and nodded lightly. "Alright…"

"Thanks…" She responded and continued walking off.

I remained standing there for a moment as I stared at her walk off. After, I turned around and sat down at a nearby table, placing my hooves on it. "I hope she somehow finds a way to work this out…" I spoke quietly under my breath.

Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice behind me. "Why did you do it…?"

I formed a confused expression on my face and began turning my head to face this pony. "What…?"

"Why did you run away…?" I fully turned around to become immediately startled. I jumped, causing the table to shake as I placed my hooves on it in shock. There, I saw grayish blue pony, who actually was just a bit smaller than me. She had a long mane that seemed to match the color of her coat. Her mane also created a bang across her face, covering her right eye. Her eyes were the same color as her coat as well, but with a greater touch in blue, although, I was only able to see her left eye as she stared intensely at me. I noticed her cutie mark on her flank. There lay a microphone. I could only stare in shock as she formed a smirk across her face. "Hello, little brother."

I tried to speak, but I couldn't… I was too speechless… My mouth could only remain agape as I tried to think of what words to say… I completely forgot that she was supposed to arrive late today… but I had been completely distracted with the whole situation with Cadence. I could feel my mouth shake and quiver. "…Starlight…what are you doing here…?"

"I could ask you the same question, Alex." She spoke in such a sly and seductive tone. "But if you must know…" She began to slowly walk around me. "I'm here with my band. Four Hooves Strong? I'm pretty sure you've heard of them…"

"Don't play games with me…" I answered, starting to feel a little bolder. "Why must you try to suck me into this heart-piercing torture you call fun?"

"Oh, Alex…" She continued to smirk softly, purposely letting her tail lightly hit me. "You and your 'big' words. That was always you. The smart one. You always got good grades at school. It seemed too easy for you, actually… But it was a shame you ran away…for who knows what…"

"A shame?" I raised my voice a little. "It was your fault! It was everypony in Fillydelphia's fault! I was treated so horribly! As if I was some kind of… outcast!" I directly faced towards her, pointing at her angrily. "You're my sister! You're supposed to be family!" As I continued speaking my emotions, she could only continue smirking as if she was taking everything I was saying as a joke. "Instead of comforting me when I needed it, you just did the complete opposite!" I sighed and began feeling a little down again as I stared at the floor. "Not even mom and dad liked me…" I scoffed softly. "They don't even remember me…" I slowly looked up to her again. "I'm actually surprised somepony like you would remember me."

"Really?" She pretended to act like she was surprised. "I even remember your birthday, Alex. Happy birthday."

I scoffed again. "That makes me even more surprised…"

"Why, how could I forget everything about my little brother? It's hard to forget how you always messed things up…but that's okay…" She placed a hoof on my shoulder. "I accept you for you who are…"

I slapped her hoof away and began to feel myself heat up. "Shut up…"

She laughed a little and continued to analyze me as I looked away from her. "Wow…you've grown so much, to be honest. Oh, look!" She pointed out, observing my flank. "You even got you're cutie mark! Yay. What is it?" She narrowed her eyes. "A wolf…huh…is that even a talent?" I continued to breathe heavily in an angry matter. She is really pissing me off… She looked at me and noticed my status. "Oh, Alex. You're selfish you know that? Leaving your poor mom and dad, including me."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, still feeling angry. "I thought I 'messed everything up' and that I was a 'mistake'. Considering your harmful words, I'd guess that I was actually considerate of leaving the household and making your lives better."

"But it was so much fun to see you cry and be scared of dad. It actually wanted to make me laugh."

"…you're sick…"

"Hm…?" She questioned, continuing to smirk in a sly manner.

"…How could you enjoy me getting hurt both physically and mentally everyday…? You even saw dad hit me with either his hooves or leather strap…and you just stood there…and watched… You even…" I began feeling tears form in my eyes. "…you even…purposely created scenarios that caused dad to beat me in order to 'discipline' me…when I didn't even do a single thing… You knew you could get him to hit me whenever you wanted because… you were his 'little princess'."

"Still am." She responded with the same smirk. "You should see how proud he is of me. A singer in a band that is growing more popular by the minute. And you?" She scoffed in a laughing way. "You seemed to have done nothing but mope about everything in your life."

I remained silent and continued to look away. I could have easily told her about the Elements of Harmony and how I basically saved Equestria a couple times, but I didn't want to look like I was bragging about it. She would have probably taken it as a joke anyway, like always. Besides…I felt too emotional to talk… She continued to eye me as I just wished for her to go away and leave me alone.

"Alex?" I heard a call for me from a short distance. It sounded like Applejack. Starlight and I turned around to see Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash appear. They seemed to have not noticed me yet…

Starlight smirked and looked at me again. "Are those your friends?" She asked. I still didn't answer. "Ha, I'm shocked. They must be another group of ponies who don't even like you. Just watch." She turned around and faced them. She raised her hoof and waved, calling them out loudly. "Hey!"

They heard the call and immediately noticed me. They walked over to me. "Alex, where were you?" Applejack asked. "We've been wonderin' what happened to you."

Before I could try to even answer, Starlight immediately intervened, holding out her hoof. "Hi, I'm Starlight, Alex's sister."

"Starlight…?" Applejack slightly flinched.

"Alex's sister…?" Fluttershy questioned.

"Yes! You all must be his friends." She raised her hoof and wrapped it around me. "We were just catching up."

I shook her hoof off from me. "Forget it, Starlight. They already know about you."

"Yeah, from what we've heard, you're not such a nice pony." Rainbow Dash stated, crossing her forelegs as she flew.

However, Starlight was able to work her twisted little mind. "Oh." She shared a friendly laugh. "It's always the same story. Alex tells everypony about how I'm this mean sister. The truth is that when he was little, he would always get mad over how he never got what he wanted. Now, he takes the blame out on me."

I narrowed my eyes irritatingly at her answer, but I remained quiet.

"Psh. Yeah, right." Rainbow Dash responded, clearly not believing a word she said.

"We have known Alex long enough to know that he isn't that kind of pony." Rarity added politely, but wore a slightly annoyed and irritated expression on her face. "He's sweet, gentle, and kind to all of us. There are absolutely not enough words to describe him on what a wonderful pony he is."

"Yeah, so I reckon you leave him alone and mind your own business." Applejack finished.

Nonetheless, she continued to smirk and glanced over to me. "Looks like your friends are smarter than I thought."

"Excuse me?" Pinkie exclaimed.

"Although…" She began walking around slowly again. "I can't see why they would ever like a pony like you…" She directed towards me. "Look at you. You're pathetic."

Rarity gasped. "He is not pathetic! We love him for who he is! It's as simple as that!"

"Yeah." Fluttershy now flew over to me, standing in front of me in a protective kind of way. "He's the best boyfriend ever." She stated boldly.

"Hah! Boyfriend?" She reacted and looked back at me. "So this is your girlfriend?"

"Yes…" I answered briefly. "With the kind of pony you are, I doubt you have a relationship yourself."

She scoffed. "I'm the lead singer of a band. I can get anypony I want."

"You must not understand what true love is then."

"Please. You and your friends are just lost causes." This caused Pinkie and Rainbow to become aggressive. Rarity had to hold Pinkie while she tried to go after Starlight, and Applejack had to hold down Rainbow's tail in order to hold her back as well. "Now if you excuse me, I have to go get ready for my concert." She began turning away and managed to smirk irritatingly at us. "See you all norms later." Afterwards, she began walking away as I could only stare angrily at her.

Once Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash finally calmed down, they were released. "Come on, Alex." Applejack told me. "Let's get to the suites Princess Celestia prepared for us."

Still feeling a little…bothered…I sighed. "Okay…"

As we began walking, Rarity scoffed in a lady-like way and looked at me with annoyed eyes. "I can believe why you dislike your sister so much, Alex. She's absolutely horrid and so…so rude!"

"…if you don't mind, Rarity… I really don't feel like talking about what just happened or anything about her right now…" I answered with a frown on my face and my head lowered.

"Oh…right…I'm sorry…" She responded and continued walking.

Fluttershy could only look at me sadly and nuzzled her head lightly on mine.

When we arrived, we were immediately confronted by Cadence.

"Hello, girls." She announced.

"Why, hello, princess!" Rarity instantly responded.

"I was wondering if you girls would be my new bridesmaids… I would love love love it if you'd fill in for them…" Without question, the girls immediately accepted her offer, growing excited already. "I'm glad you all are able to. I'll send you your dresses right away." She smiled and began leaving. "I'll see you girls later…"

The girls continued to chatter excitedly. I felt too down that I just wanted to go up to the room and go to sleep already… I didn't even want to question Cadence's reason for making the girls the new bridesmaids. I just wanted this day to end. I walked up to Fluttershy. "Fluttershy…what's our room number?"

"Um…" She thought for a moment and remembered it, telling me. "Are you going to bed already…?"

"Yeah…" I nodded. "I'm really tired…"

"Okay…I'll see you in a bit, Alex."

"Alright…" She kissed me in the cheek and allowed me to go find our room number.

Since the suites are in towers here, such as Rarity's from last time, I had to go through the outside and climb some stairs. However, before I could get started on the way to our suite, I was stopped by her voice again.

"Hello, little brother." She greeted behind me.

"Ugh." I slapped a hoof to my face, highly annoyed already. "Can't you just leave me alone, Starlight? Don't you have a concert to go to?"

"I just thought I could help out my poor brother before leaving for the concert…"

"…what…?" I turned around to face her. She only returned a sly smirk. I sighed heavily and thought I could ask how she even knew Princess Celestia. "How did you even get to talk to Princess Celestia, Starlight? Based on what she told me, it seems you've mentioned me to her not too long ago."

"Oh, that." She replied. "It was the band, Alex. She noticed my talent in singing, and I got a chance to talk to her. I told her about how you ran away from home, just in case she knew about you. It turns out, she did. She never knew that you ran away though. When she found out that I was playing here today, she told me that she was inviting you to the upcoming wedding, so we could both meet up. Especially after how I told her that playing music made me happy, but it could never fill the hole in my heart from when you ran away." She managed to laugh softly. I could only look away and growl softly. "Oh! That reminds me. I have a present for you, Alex. It's very special. Come on." She grabbed my hoof and began leading me somewhere else.

I wanted to just tear my hoof away from her, but I knew she would never leave me alone about it. So I decided to just take the hit and be able to leave back to the room after. She led me to this type of social gathering place outside. There were tables that held up a sun umbrella on each of them. There was nopony here except for two ponies, who were sitting at one table.

"Mom? Dad?" Starlight called, immediately widening my eyes. Mom…? Dad…? She began pulling me towards them. I would have instantly broken free and ran away, but I was too shocked and stunned do anything but widen my eyes. When she pulled me near them, they turned their heads towards us. My heart was beating very rapidly and I began feeling so hot inside, almost to the point where I just wanted to pass out again.

"Hey, Starlight." My dad smiled and hugged her. "Who's this?" He asked, glancing at me for a moment.

"Dad!" Starlight giggled. "Don't you remember? It's Alex!"

"Alex…?" He rubbed his chin. "Is he one of your friends?"

"No, dad!" She giggled again. "He's your son, remember? The one who ran away from home?"

"Starlight, have you been drinking too much? You know we only had you."

"No, dad." She answered playfully. "Come on? Really? It's his birthday today!"

He shrugged. Even though I was highly stiff as a board, I managed to look at my mother. She was looking away with a saddened look. My father turned his head to see my mother and chuckled. "Do you know what she's talking about, honey?"

She was silent for a few seconds. "…no…"

I couldn't believe it. My sister did this on purpose. She just wants to see me break down again. I growled and forcefully pulled my hoof away from her. I turned around and began storming off to somewhere far away from here.

"Hey, little brother!" She called. "Where are you going?" I didn't answer but continued walking off in a very pissed off mood. "Okay! See you at the wedding!"

She's going to wedding too? Ugh! I can't believe it! How much more does she need to see me get hurt! I was beyond pissed off now, but I didn't answer her to that either. I just wanted to get out of there…

When I arrived in the room Fluttershy told me, I stormed into bed and threw myself on there. Now, I couldn't even go to sleep because of the such irritating things Starlight told and did to me. I was living it all over again. After so many years, I had to confront her…on my birthday? I knew it! She ruined my birthday! Yet again! The only one I've ever celebrated! I grabbed the pillow and forcefully planted it above my head in anger. After a moment, I felt the need to cry… It wasn't even voluntary, the tears just started coming out on their own. She won…she did it… I felt the tears form in my eyes and stream down my face to the bed.

This continued to happen in silence when I heard the door open. I was completely startled, jumping and thinking that it would be Starlight there to torture me again, but it was only Fluttershy. "Alex…?" She called noticing the condition I was in. She flew over to me on the bed and laid down next to me. "…what's wrong, Alex…? Why are you crying…?"

I began feeling that feeling that if I began to try to talk, I would probably just cry even more. Nonetheless, I sighed sadly and tried to answer her. "It was her again, Fluttershy… She just won't leave me alone…" I shook my head, feeling more tears fall from my face. "I don't know what I ever did to have them despise me so much… I don't know…" I planted my head on the pillow and continued to release tears, feeling too emotional to even talk anymore.

"Oh, Alex…" Fluttershy responded and embraced me from behind, wrapping her hooves so caringly around me. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…but I don't know what to tell you. All I can really say is to just not care what she does and only care about your friends…but I know that it's easier said than done… the only thing I can really do is be there to support you… I'm really sorry I can't help you much…"

I turned around to face her. "Thanks for just being here with me anyway. It's a lot better to have you than to deal with this alone."

"I'll do anything to help you…" Fluttershy responded and then closed her eyes to kiss me. I wrapped my forelegs around her to continue kissing her.

After several seconds of this intimate moment, I pulled away and decided that it would be best if we just got some sleep. "We should get some sleep, Fluttershy… you have to practice tomorrow…"

"Okay…" She nuzzled herself close to me and closed her eyes.

I nuzzled her back, but I couldn't help but continue to feel the corruption of my mind as Starlight plagued it with the usual images she hosts. Either she has successfully implanted the parasite into my mind again, or she's very close into doing so. Either way… I don't know if I can take much more of this…

"Alex…" I heard Fluttershy speak softly, causing me to open my eyes.

"Huh…?" I mumbled.

"I'm going to the practice session of the wedding…do you want to come with me…?" She asked.

"Oh…" I thought about it for a moment. I was partially scared of going out, due to the possibility of seeing Starlight again, but I was most likely to be even more scared to stay here by myself… "Um…sure…" I messed with my mane a bit and flattened it down a little. "I'll go." I moved and removed myself out of bed. Afterwards, when I began walking towards the door, Fluttershy wrapped her hoof around mine and locked it with hers.

Fluttershy led me to the wedding hall, where they would be practicing for the real wedding. Fortunately, I did not spot Starlight or my parents… they must be asleep…especially since Starlight had that concert late at night. Still… I sighed. She was supposed to attend the wedding as well…

When we entered the wedding hall, we could see the other girls there, along with Shining Armor, Princess Celestia, Cadence, and Spike.

"Perfect. Are you girls ready to begin?" Princess Celestia asked, noticing Fluttershy come in with me.

"Yeah!" They answered.

As Cadence walked out of the room and the girls walked to the end of the room, I decided to just take the spot between Shining Armor and Spike. I sat down and just kept mostly a blank expression. Shining Armor turned his head to see the look on my face. "Hey, Alex…" He called me softly. "Are you alright…?"

"Huh…?" I answered a bit dazed. "Oh…yeah…I'm okay…"

Nonetheless, he had to look back when Princess Celestia began the practice session. As the church organ began playing, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash all began walking towards us in a straight horizontal row with smiles on their faces. "Perfect, girls. No need to rush!" Princess Celestia commented. "Then of course, Cadence will enter." We all looked towards the door, which the royal guards nearby opened and presented Cadence. I could see Shining Armor open his mouth slightly as he gazed at her beauty. Princess Celestia continued speaking as Cadence walked up to her. "I'll say a few words, and then we'll begin with the vows. Shining Armor, you'll get the ring from your Best Mare." Shining Armor turned his head to see her Best Mare, but she wasn't there. I hadn't even noticed Twilight was missing, to be honest…

"Do you?" Spike nearby asked in a deep voice. "I do!" He answered himself with a high voice as he was playing with those figures again, even accidentally throwing the Shining Armor one across the floor.

"Hey... has anypony seen Twilight?" Shining Armor asked.

Afterwards, we heard the door open, catching all of our attention.

"I'm here!" Twilight answered, walking in. "I'm not gonna stand next to her. And neither should you!"

Shining Armor returned an embarrassed expression as he looked around nervously. He faced towards Cadence and apologized. "I'm sorry, I don't, I don't know why she's acting like this."

"Maybe we should just ignore her." Cadence responded in a rude tone.

"You have to listen to me!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Oh goodness!" Fluttershy reacted, rushing towards her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Twilight responded briefly.

"Ya sure about that?" Applejack asked, leaning towards her.

Twilight grabbed her hat with her magic and pulled it over her face in response. "I've got something to say!" Twilight walked a few more steps towards them. "She's evil!" She pointed, causing Shining Armor to become alarmed as Cadence returned an innocent and frightened look. He quickly stepped in front of Cadence with an irritated frown as the girls, even the guards at the end of the hall, responded with concerned chatter. "She's been horrible to my friends," Twilight disappeared and reappeared next to Cadence. "She's obviously done something to her bridesmaids," She continued speaking as she inched closer to Cadence, causing her to back away. "And if that wasn't enough, I saw her put a spell on my brother that made his eyes go all…" She rattled her eyes around in confusion as she stuck out her tongue.

The others, including I, could only return surprised and questionable looks. Cadence tried to look around, but Twilight walked closer towards her, eyeing her with a smirk across her face. Twilight's look on her face seemed to display "I've got you now", as everypony else stared in confusion. Cadence then sucked in a breath and began crying. "Why are you doing this to me?" She asked as tears fell from her eyes.

"Because you're evil!" Twilight responded, continuing to point at her as she began running out of the room, continuing to cry. "Evil!" She repeated, teleporting back at the door. "And if I don't stop you you're gonna ruin my brother's life!"

The other ponies and I could only return shocked expressions. Twilight began walking back into the hall as she looked back, seeming to look as if she was successful in her task, but she quickly bumped into an angry Shining Armor. Twilight could only grin nervously at him.

"You want to know why my eyes went all…?" He rattled his eyes as Twilight did. "Nuh!" He placed his hoof on his head in pain. "Because ever since I started having to perform my protection spell, I've been getting terrible migraines." He began walking around Twilight. "Cadence hasn't been casting spells on me, she's been using her magic to heal me!" He emphasized. Twilight inhaled, picking up her hoof in order to speak up, but Shining Armor continued to talk. "And she decided to replace her bridesmaids because she found out the only reason they wanted to be in the wedding was so that they could meet Canterlot royalty!" As Shining Armor continued to explain everything to Twilight in a way that was obviously going to end bad, the rest of the girls could only return surprised and suspenseful looks. "And if she hasn't been on her best behavior with your friends," He slammed a hoof on the floor. "It's because with me being so busy, she's had to make all the decisions about the wedding!"

"I was just trying to—

"She's been completely stressed out because it's really important to her that her big day be perfect!" He slammed his hooves on the ground again as he interrupted Twilight. "Something that obviously wasn't important to you." He responded, directly at Twilight's face. He gasped, due to placing his hoof in pain at his head again. Despite the fight, Twilight tried to reach out to him with a small smile, but he quickly declined it. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and comfort my bride." He said as he began walking away. "And you can forget about being my best mare." He added, shocking me and widening my eyes. "In fact, if I were you, I wouldn't show up to the wedding at all." This last comment caused me to feel chills in shock as I could only stare at the scene, unable to speak.

Twilight sat down, gloomily, as she looked back at us in the same way.

The girls were speechless as well. Rainbow Dash had widened eyes. Fluttershy was on the floor, placing her hooves to her mouth in shock. Pinkie Pie was leaning towards the floor in shock as well. Rarity was surprised as she placed her hoof to her chest. But Applejack… she returned a more annoyed and irritated expression towards Twilight. "C'mon, y'all. Let's go check on the princess."

They all began walking past her, ignoring her completely, shocking me in a frightening manner even more. Rarity walked past her, closing her eyes and furrowing them in an angry manner. Applejack did the same thing, but left her eyes open to glare at her. Pinkie Pie didn't furrow her eyebrows, but had them closed as if she was ignoring her as well. Fluttershy followed them as well, but she had a bit of a worried face. Rainbow Dash followed them as she flew away with an angry mood. Spike followed all of them as he held the pillow in his claws, feeling the need to follow them too. Twilight tried to hold out a hoof to them in order to try to explain, but they all completely ignored her. I was left just standing there in shock. When Twilight realized that they had all ignored her, she placed her hoof to her mouth in worry. Princess Celestia began walking past her in the same annoyed and disappointed expression.

"I was—

"You have a lot to think about." Princess Celestia cut her off, boldly, and with no longer the warm tone of her voice. This caused me to feel even more chills of shock, especially on how I saw Twilight form tears in her eyes as she held her mouth agape. I could only stand there…pretty much stunned. The doors slammed shut after they all left.

"Twilight…" I released, feeling speechless.

"Maybe I was being overprotective…" She commented, walking back to the stairs that Shining Armor and Cadence were on top of. "I could've gained a sister." She laid down on them. "But instead... I just lost a brother." As I tried to approach her, she began singing very sadly, causing the emotions to swell up inside me as I even felt the need to cry as she did, adding in more chills of shock. "He was my big brother, best friend

Forever...

And now, we'll never do anything

Together..."

"Twilight…" I called again, reaching out a hoof towards her.

"Leave me alone, Alex… I deserve to be alone…especially after what I did…"

"No you don't Twilight…" I answered, shaking my head. "It was just a misunderstanding…"

"Didn't you see how I hurt everypony?" She asked, turning her head towards me. "They completely ignored me! Even the Princess!" She sighed sadly. "Just leave me alone so I can think about what I've done…"

"You know I can't do that, Twilight… Not when you're like this…" I responded, gloomily as well. She didn't answer, causing me to call her again after a moment. "Twilight…"

"Please, Alex…go…" She looked at me with teary eyes as they began to stream from her face.

I could only stare at her, understanding her pain. I knew exactly how she felt. I sighed sadly as I looked at her for a few more seconds. Then, I turned around and began walking away. When I saw all the girls leaving and ignoring her like that… I instantly knew how that felt like… I would most likely be in the same position Twilight is in if that happened to me… I'll just give her some time to think… then I'll come back to check up on her. Meanwhile… I'll see if I can talk to Shining Armor about this…

When I reached the doors, I glanced back at her to see her crying all alone at the stairs. It truly stung my heart to see her like this. I lowered my head sadly and continued walking to the doors. I opened them and walked out. I turned around to close them, but then I suddenly saw something off…surprising me. In front of Twilight, I saw Cadence walking towards her. What the…didn't she just run off in tears…?

Cadence walked up to Twilight and began stroking her mane as she continued crying. Twilight looked up to her, feeling this. Cadence returned a soft smile. "I'm sorry!" She apologized.

Suddenly, I saw Cadence's eyes shift to a light green for a split second. Then, she changed her expression to an evil and revengeful one. "You will be." Unexpectedly, Cadence's horn formed that same green glow. Green flames began surrounding Twilight, trapping her in a circle. Cadence returned an evil grin as she glared at Twilight through the green flames. Twilight tried to break out, but the green flames had produced a green shield above her, completely trapping her as it dug her through the ground. Cadence glanced back at her completed evil task as I could only stand there, out the room, with my eyes widened and my mouth agape in shock. Cadence then continued to walk away, as I was left speechless…

TWILIGHT!

To be continued…

A Canterlot Wedding : Part Two

Episode 52 – A Canterlot Wedding : Part Two

I stood in horror at the disappearance of Twilight. She was right… Cadence is evil! I… I began walking away slowly. I have to warn the others! As quick as I could, I immediately turned around and began rushing towards the direction they last walked off. As I ran through many rooms, I could hear giggling and excitement from one. I turned my head towards the door that was ajar. Only needing a second, I could tell that the girls were in there. I immediately slammed open the doors and rushed inside.

"Girls! I need your help!" I announced desperately.

They quickly returned puzzled and worried looks at me.

"What? What's going on?" Rarity asked.

"It's Twilight!" I exclaimed, looking back out the door. "She's in trouble! You have to help me find her!"

"Okay, calm down, Alex." Applejack answered and began walking towards me. "What's going on? What's up with Twilight?"

"Twilight was right all along! Cadence is evil! I just saw Cadence putting a spell on Twilight that moved her through the floor and under the ground!"

Instead of returning a shocked look, Applejack raised her eyebrow in suspicion and exchanged a look with the girls. Then, she looked back at me and sighed. "I think I know what's going on here."

"…what…?" I questioned.

"Listen, Alex. I know you and Twilight are really close, but that doesn't mean you should be going around and makin' up stories." My eyebrows began furrowing in anger. "I thought you knew better than to do that. Cadence ran out of the wedding hall crying, remember? Now if Twilight wants us to forgive her again, then she should be the one comin' up to us and apologizing. Not getting her best friend to make up some random desperate stories."

I immediately felt my blood boil from hearing her say this. I couldn't believe she was actually telling me this! I raised both my hooves in anger and slammed them down on a nearby table, practically breaking it. "LISTEN TO ME!" I shouted in so much anger. "Twilight Sparkle was telling the truth! If you all aren't going to help me find and save her, then I'll just have to do it myself!" I flipped over the table and kicked it, completely breaking it and shocking the other girls. Afterwards, I began running out, not staying to hear for what they had to say.

I continued to run endlessly in the hall, but I began slowing down to catch my breath. Then, I realized something. How am I supposed to find her…? All I know is that Cadence took her underground or something… is there even an entrance there…? I sighed and planted myself on the floor, burying my face in my hooves. "Just give me a sign, Twilight…I don't know how…I just want to know where you are…" I spoke quietly under my breath.

"Hello?" I suddenly heard a faint voice echo through my mind. It sounded like… Twilight's! "Is anyone there?" I continued to hear her voice echo throughout my mind. I placed a hoof to my heart and continued to think critically. Twilight! Where are you…? Then…I heard Cadence's laughter…frightening me a bit. "Where am I?" Twilight asked, afraid.

"The caves beneath Canterlot," Cadence's voice echoed throughout my mind as well. "Once home to greedy unicorns who wanted to claim the gems that could be found inside. And now, your prison."

"Help! Help!" Twilight pleaded, causing me to strain my eyes and wish for me to just somehow teleport to where she was.

Cadence laughed. "It's no use. No one can hear you. And no one will ever think to look for you, either." No! Come on! I don't care what happens! Just take me to her! I have to save her! Please! I pleaded. I'm not sure to who or what, but I guess I really spoke to my heart. Suddenly, I felt something change, I was surrounded in darkness. I looked around and was able to see a small light coming from nearby. It was Twilight! She was sitting by herself, all alone, looking as if she was about to cry.

"Twilight!" I exclaimed, causing her to immediately look around and see me.

"Alex!" She instantly stood up and ran over to me, wrapping her hooves around me and hugging me tightly. "I'm so glad you're here! How did you even find me?"

"I don't know…" I responded, shaking my head a little. "After I saw the whole incident on what Cadence did to you, I tried to get help, but the girls wouldn't listen to me! All I could really do was just wish to find you and somehow… I appeared here… I don't know how…"

"Oh, Alex, I—

We heard Cadence's laugh again, causing for Twilight to pull back her hooves and place them back on the ground. "It's no use! You know, you really just made things worse." I saw her image in the crystals around us. She directed her words to me. "If you saw what happened, you could have tried to get somepony's help, but now you're both trapped here!" She continued to transport her image from crystal to crystal. "Most ponies have forgotten that these caves even exist, which is why they are the ideal place to keep the ones who try to interfere with my plans." She laughed evilly once again. They echoed throughout the cave.

"Plans? What plans?" Twilight asked desperately.

Cadence created a small agape with her mouth and raised her hoof in slight surprise. "The plans I have for your brother, of course."

This immediately caused Twilight to form an aggressive stance and intensify the glow on her horn. "Don't you dare do anything to my brother, you... you monster!"

"Only way to stop me is to catch me!" She purposely provoked Twilight, flipping her hoof towards herself.

"Twilight, hold on!" I exclaimed, trying to place my hooves on her.

Cadence laughed and appeared in another crystal. "Over here!" She taunted. Twilight charged her horn as she continued to laugh in enjoyment. Twilight shot out a huge beam of magic towards the crystal, which actually reflected off it, causing it ricochet all over the cave. We both lowered ourselves in order to attempt to dodge the beam of magic. But this didn't stop Twilight. Once the beam struck the ground near us, she quickly stood back up. "Nope," Cadence spoke appearing on the floor below us. Then, she switched over to all the crystals that surrounded us. "Over here!" She laughed, causing Twilight to shoot her beam at every single crystal that Cadence appeared in, causing me to flinch at each target as the shards almost hit me.

Finally, Twilight turned around to face another image of Cadence. Her horn was pointing directly at me, causing me to quickly dive to the ground to avoid the beam. The beam struck the wall behind me, actually breaking the entire wall to pieces. I looked back to see not only another path, but Cadence behind it. However… she looked different… Her mane was messed up and her whole coat was scratched up and dirty… She looked like she had been here for a while…

"No! Wait!" She held out her hooves, trying to shuffle backwards, when she noticed Twilight charging at her. I quickly got in the way of Twilight, preventing her from charging at her as I held her.

"Let me go! Cadence is right there!" Twilight pointed out, trying to escape from my grip.

"No, hold on!" I responded.

"Please!" Cadence pleaded, holding her hooves to her head and closing her eyes. She shook and trembled in fear. "Don't hurt me!" Then, she opened them to notice Twilight. "Twilight, it's me!" I felt Twilight's body unwind a bit, so I released her. She remained standing near me. "Please, you have to believe me. I've been imprisoned like you. The Cadence who brought you down here was an imposter."

"Likely story!" Twilight answered with a narrowed face.

"Sunshine, sunshine," Cadence suddenly began dancing, even with the weak body that she seemed to have. "Ladybugs awake." She had placed her hooves over her eyes and removed them, catching Twilight's attention. Twilight sat down and observed this greeting. "Clap your hooves..." Twilight clapped her hoof with Cadence's and joined her in her song. "...and do a little shake." Cadence looked back at her, trying to smile, despite the condition she was in.

Twilight stared at her for a moment and then grinned happily. "You remember me!" She threw herself at Cadence, wrapping her hooves around her.

Cadence greatly accepted by repeating the same action. "Of course I do. How could I forget the filly I love to sit for the most?" She closed her eyes and continued embracing Twilight for a moment. Then, she opened her eyes and looked at me. She observed me for a moment and then suddenly slightly widened her eyes. "…Alex…? Alex, is that you…?"

I returned a puzzled look. "…how do you know my name…?"

Twilight looked at me and then pulled away from Cadence, allowing her to continue to speak to me. Cadence sat up and walked a few steps towards me. "Alex, it's me." She placed a hoof on her chest. "Miss Cadence." Miss Cadence? I shifted my eyes in thought. Miss Cadence… why does that name seem so familiar? I swear…I can feel the answer on the tip of my tongue, but what…? What is it? She sighed and spoke softly to me. "I was your teacher, Alex…"

I widened my eyes and responded weakly to her, looking at her eyes. "…my teacher…?"

"Yes…" She sat back down and continued speaking to me. "I wasn't exactly a professional teacher yet… I was still learning… but that's what I wanted to be for the rest of my life." She looked up in thought. "I always wanted to teach little fillies and colts and fill their minds with joy." She looked back at me. "That was my first year of teaching. I thought I would be able to handle it. I actually thought it was going well. I noticed the children seemed to get along with each other…but you… You were the one who caught my attention the most. You always seemed to distance yourself away from the others. I rarely heard you speak. You always did your work and turned it in on time. You basically always received perfect grades all the time. I even remember how you would come inside the classroom while all the other kids were at the playground. I never understood why… You would just come in and work on something. I wanted to talk with you…but I felt that it might have been something too personal…or that you wouldn't like to talk to me at all… At first, I thought you were shy… that's why… I picked you first to share your essay on friendship. I knew you were a smart kid, and I thought you were very special. Since I thought you were first shy, I picked you to come up to speak, thinking that more ponies would talk to you after." She sighed and shook her head. "I was so stupid. It was my entire fault. What kind of pony wants to give an essay on friendship when he or she doesn't even know how having friends feels like?" Tears began to lightly fill her eyes. "When I first heard those horrible words one of the kids announced, I couldn't believe it. I had made things worse and so much more uncomfortable for you. I tried to settle them down after they began laughing…but they didn't… I felt like the worst teacher ever. I had made you leave the classroom because of my amateur thinking. Immediately after, I told them that they were dismissed and I ran out the classroom to find you. I looked all over the school, but I couldn't find you. In my search, I even heard this huge explosion in the sky. I saw a rainbow stretch over the entire sky...but I was too worried to find you to pay much attention. I couldn't even reach your parents. I had never seen them walk you to school and back home. They had never come by to talk to me, and they were never there to congratulate you on anything. I looked all over the town, Alex. But I just couldn't find you… I couldn't even sleep that night. I felt too guilty. It wasn't until the day after, that I resigned from my career in teaching and gave up… I had lost one student. What if I lost more?" She shook her head again. "I couldn't even stand living in that town. Everything reminded me of the stupid little mistake I made. I decided I would try to start a new life in Canterlot, since that's where my aunt, Princess Celestia, lived. She told me about the new student she had: Twilight." Cadence glanced at her and then turned back at me. "Since she had been accepted into Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, she needed a foalsitter, and Celestia believed that I was perfect for the role. At first, I felt that I would just mess everything up again, but then I thought on how it was just one little filly. I took the job, knowing that taking care of one little filly wouldn't be hard, because I just needed to give all my attention and focus to her. That's when I met Twilight, including her brother Shining Armor. Twilight slowly lifted me from the sadness I felt. While I had so much fun with her, she still reminded me so much of you…" She walked up to me and continued to frown with a few tears releasing from her eyes. "You were my best student, Alex… I'm so sorry for making you leave like that…" She wrapped her hooves around me comfortingly. "It was my entire fault…"

"No, it wasn't…" I finally answered, accepting her embrace. "It was both school and home that made my life miserable… You had nothing to do with it… You were actually the only pony in my life to ever care or like me at that time. And it was a good thing that I ran away, Miss Cadence…" I looked up to her with understanding eyes. "If I hadn't run away, I would probably still be miserable, and…" I shook my head. "I don't even know what other possible worse things that may have happened if I stayed. Sure…I lived many years of my life in depression and loneliness, but I met the girls in Ponyville. To be honest, I wasn't completely comfortable with them at first, but they slowly peeled the layers from me and discovered who I am. I also discovered that they were truly my friends, and that I loved every one of them. My life is so much better with them now, Miss Cadence…so please don't feel bad. I'm fine. It wasn't your fault."

"Oh, Alex…" She continued to hug me compassionately. "It's just so great to see that you're okay… A pony like you didn't deserve those horrible things…" She stroked my mane, just like a mother would, and rubbed my back comfortingly.

Suddenly, we heard the evil laughter of the imposter once again. I could see the sparkle in the distance, which Cadence saw as well. I looked back at her and lightly pulled away from her. "I'm sorry to interrupt this moment…but I won't let your wedding be ruined! We have to get out of here." I ran a few steps ahead of them, continuing to face them "We have to stop her!" My announcement caused for her and Twilight to nod confidently in agreement. They began running ahead of me. I started following them as well…but that same evil laughter from the imposter continued to lurk around my mind…

"This day is going to be perfect" A sudden image began playing in my mind, causing me to stop and clench my heart as I closed my eyes. I heard Cadence's imposter began singing. She was facing a mirror as she placed a rose in her mane.

"The kind of day of which I dreamed since I was small" She twirled around and gazed at her royal hoof.

"Everypony will gather round

Say I look lovely in my gown" She gestured the dress forms around her with that same disturbing green glow…

"What they don't know is that I have fooled them all" As she finished, I felt chills when I could see her eyes change to another color…from a dark blue to a light green…

I opened my eyes, feeling myself pant heavily after, actually almost in fear. Then, I heard Cadence's soothing voice, but she was singing in a type of desperate tone…

"This day was going to be perfect" She released as she ran to find her loved one.

"The kind of day of which I dreamed since I was small" She slowed down and sat down to face the crystal in front of her, sadly.

"But instead of having cake

With all my friends to celebrate

My wedding bells, they may not ring for me at all…" I caught up to her to place a hoof on her comfortingly and look around, desperate myself to get this bride back where she belonged…

"I could care less about the dress" As they began moving, I suddenly clenched my heart again, seeing that image of the imposter as I closed my eyes.

"I won't partake in any cake" She stopped to kick the basket of apples off the table near her.

"Vows, well I'll be lying when I say" She walked by a dress form that was dressed.

"That through any kind of weather

I'll want us to be together" She mocked, taunting the dress form.

"The truth is I don't care for him at all!" She lifted up the top hat with her magic and disintegrated it to pieces, sending more chills through my body.

"No I do not love the groom" She sang loudly as she placed her hoof on the pieces.

"In my heart there is no room" She faced the mirror again.

"But I still want him to be all mine!" She turned her head and I could see her directly stare violently and crazily into my eyes, frightening me. It was as if she actually knew that I was able to see her…

I shook my head and tried to be rid of the image, opening my eyes and noticing that Cadence and Twilight were running throughout the entire area, trying to look for a way out. I quickly began catching up to them, trying to help them as well.

"We must escape before it's too late

Find a way to save the day

Hope, I'll be lying if I say" They stopped to look around a part while I stood across from them, looking at two parts of the cave that were too far of a distance. Once, I realized that there was no way to escape from here, I slammed my hoof on the crystal in desperation and pressure.

"I don't fear that I may lose him

To one who wants to use him" She continued as we ran in desperation.

"Not care for, love and cherish him each day" We were forced to stop due to the end of the road. The only way possible to continue on further was an old mining cart, but it seemed stuck, due to all the rocks inside. However, that didn't stop Cadence. She ran towards it.

"For I oh-so love the groom" She tried to push it desperately, but she felt too weak as she fell towards the floor, holding her hooves on the cart.

"All my thoughts he does consume" As soon as I saw her release a tear, I felt immediately moved. At first, I frowned sadly at her appearance, but then I furrowed my eyebrows in anger and determination.

"Get on!" I exclaimed, causing for Twilight and Cadence to jump in as I began to push violently on the cart. Twilight had removed the rocks inside, along with the other ones that may have been in the way.

"Oh Shining Armor, I'll be there very soon!" Cadence finished as she realized that there may be a hope after all. I gave one last grunt, feeling something release and realized that I pushed it with so much force that it caused it to race off, heading down the spiral track as I was pulled along with it. At the end, we noticed that the track was incomplete. Nonetheless, the cart flew through the wooden barrier and off the track, causing me to fly alongside Twilight and Cadence.

"Alex! Grab my hoof!" I heard Twilight exclaim. Cadence began flying in determination as she spread her wings with Twilight holding on to her. Twilight held a hoof out to me, which I quickly caught hold on to.

As Cadence flew us to another direction, I clenched my heart with my free hoof once again and saw the image of the imposter parading down the wedding hall as she sang in joy.

"Finally the moment has arrived

For me to be one lucky bride!"

When Cadence, landed at an area, we all heard the noise that was going on above us, worrying her.

"Oh, the wedding we won't make

He'll end up marrying a fake

Shining Armor will be…" Cadence immediately fell to the ground and buried her head in her hooves.

"Mine, all mine." Her imposter spoke, chuckling evilly afterwards…

"Miss Cadence." I spoke up, placing a hoof on her, despite all the frightening images I've seen. "I promise you. I won't let your wedding be ruined by some imposter. I won't let that happen!"

"Thank you, Alex…" She responded and stood up, rushing over to the wall to search for a way out. Twilight looked below the platform we were on.

"Mares and gentlecolts," We suddenly heard Princess Celestia's voice muffled slightly above us. "We are gathered here today to witness the union of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Shining Armor."

"Oh, we're never going to save him." Cadence shook her head, placing it on the wall in tears after hearing the announcement.

"We will." Twilight assured, looking back. "We just have to find..." She turned her head to view a light at another platform. "There!" Twilight closed her eyes and focused her magic. I assumed she was concentrating on that certain spot. We suddenly disappeared and reappeared at the area she was talking about.

We were about to start moving, but then we were interrupted by something else that was disturbing… We saw those three old bridesmaids walking towards us, their eyes depicting the same green… "You're not going anywhere." The three of them said in union, looking directly at us with evil intentions.

"Oh no!" Cadence exclaimed as they continued walking towards us. "What are we going to do?"

I planted my hooves firmly on the ground and displayed a defensive stance. "Twilight… Miss Cadence… Run…"

"What?" Twilight questioned.

"What about you, Alex?" Cadence inquired.

"I'll distract them. Go!"

"But…" Cadence released.

"I won't let your wedding be ruined! I promised! Now go! I'll be fine!"

After some hesitation, she finally nodded and began running off with Twilight.

"Be careful, Alex…" Twilight expressed as she followed Cadence.

The three bridesmaids saw them running and began to turn around to catch them, but I quickly charged and pounced on them, trapping them on the ground. They began to violently struggling, almost making me lose my grip on them. I grunted as I continued to try to keep them in place. "Stay…still!" I ordered and closed my eyes. Suddenly, a bright light emerged from inside. We were all blinded for a moment, but when I opened my eyes again, I saw the bridesmaids looking around with a puzzled expression on their face.

"…what just happened…?" The one with the heartstrings asked, looking around.

"Who are you?" The one with the hourglass cutie mark asked.

I shook my head, confused. "Alex… what are your names?"

"Lyra Heartstrings." The aqua colored one answered.

"Minuette." The light blue coated pony with the hourglass responded as well.

"Twinkleshine." The ivory coated pony with the three sparkly stars as her cutie mark replied.

I sighed in relief and released them, having no clue what happened.

"Can you tell us what happened or why we're here?" Lyra asked.

"I have no idea, to be honest. I'm trying to find the way out…" I looked past them towards the light that revealed a part of the exit. "There…" I spoke under my breath and faced towards Lyra, Minuette, and Twinkleshine. "Follow me, girls. I'll take you back where you're supposed to be, safely." They nodded and began following me as I rushed and climbed towards the light using the wall of rocks. I had to stop and help some of them when they had troubled climbing, but we eventually reached the top. We were back in some room of the building where the wedding was to take place. I looked around for a door and spotted one. I quickly ran over to it and opened it, revealing a long hallway that seemed familiar. When the girls walked out with me, I turned around to face them. "Do you girls know where you're rooms are?"

"…I…I think so…" Minuette answered.

"Well, rush over to them and stay inside. Lock your doors if you see anything dangerous."

"Why? What's going on?" Twinkleshine asked.

"I don't know." I shook my head. "But there is something dangerous going back at the wedding. I just need you girls to stay safe in your rooms…"

"Oh…okay…" Lyra responded, still confused. "Um…thank you…"

I nodded and turned around to quickly sprint, wanting to find where the wedding hall was.

"Stop!" I head Twilight's voice exclaim. It sounded not too far. I was also beginning to hear the noises of the crowd in the wedding! I quickly turned around another hallway, hearing the imposter speak.

"Ugh! Why does she have to be so possessive of her brother?" She began sobbing. "Why does she have to ruin my special day?"

I finally entered another hallway where I saw Twilight and Cadence at the end, past the door of the wedding hall.

"Because it's not your special day. It's mine!" Cadence corrected. I began running towards them, hearing the crowd gasp inside.

"What?" The imposter asked, presenting a surprised expression. "But how did you escape my bridesmaids?"

Cadence and Twilight looked at each other, beginning to reveal worried faces, but I quickly caught up to them and spoke up. "Don't worry… I'm here…"

"Alex!" Cadence exclaimed in surprise, yet joy.

"I told you I'd be fine." I responded with a light smirk.

"But…how did you escape them…?" Twilight asked.

I shrugged. "Right after you two left, I held them down, so they wouldn't stop you, but somehow…after a bright light, they immediately returned back to normal… Then, I led them outside of the caves and ran back here."

"Hmph. Clever." The imposter commented, causing us to return our attention to her. "But you're still too late."

"I-I don't understand. How can there be two of 'em?" Applejack questioned from her spot with the other girls.

"She's a changeling!" Cadence explained, walking a few more steps forward. "She takes the form of somepony you love and gains power by feeding off your love for them."

That immediately clicked in my mind…

However, the imposter's eyes immediately glowed green, along with her horn. Suddenly, a green wall of fire formed around her, causing us to place our hooves in front of our eyes, due to the brightness. I began widening my eyes when I saw her change. Both of her wings transformed into insect-like ones. Her hooves formed into distorted ones. Her horn became dark and crooked. Her whole body changed into very dark grey, her mane and tail being a dark cerulean. She flapped her wings rapidly and laughed evilly. "Right you are, Princess. And as queen of the changelings, it is up to me to find food for my subjects."

This was her… This was… "Queen Chrysalis!" I released, directing towards her. I then realized what she was looking for when I remembered what was stated in the book. "You must be here for the love Equestria has…that's the food you're looking for!"

She smirked and chuckled a little. "It seems like somepony has been doing his homework…Equestria has more love than any place I've ever encountered." She spoke as she began walking towards us. "My fellow changelings will be able to devour so much of it that we will gain more power than we have ever dreamed of!" She reached Cadence and me.

"They'll never get the chance!" Cadence responded confidently. "Shining Armor's protection spell will keep them from ever even reaching us."

Chrysalis chuckled. "Oh, I doubt that. Isn't that right, dear?" She asked, glancing over to Shining Armor while she produced a beam on her horn.

"Mm-hmm." He nodded his head, looking completely brainwashed.

Cadence noticed this and gasped. She then began trying to run towards him, but Chrysalis immediately placed a hoof in front of her. "Ah, ah, ah. Don't want to go back to the caves, now do you?" She asked, producing a green glow on her horn, which made Cadence back away a little bit as she still contained that determined look. I placed a hoof on Cadence and continued to look back at the queen. "Ever since I took your place," Chrysalis continued speaking as Twilight joined us as well. "I've been feeding off Shining Armor's love for you." She hopped towards him and walked around him. "Every moment he grows weaker and so does his spell. Even now my minions are chipping away at it." She looked upwards, showing us the direction that they were. We could hear them tackling the shield. During this, I also felt my heart pound slightly harder. Queen Chrysalis laughed. "He may not be my husband," She turned his head towards hers. "But he is under my total control now." Twilight and Cadence gasped. She pushed his head back in place. "And I'm sorry to say, unable to perform his duties as captain of the royal guard."

"Not my Shining Armor!" Cadence expressed.

"Soon, my changeling army will break through. First, we take Canterlot. And then, all of Equestria!" She exclaimed, rising in to the air and flapping her wings.

"No." Princess Celestia intervened with a serious expression on her face. "You won't." Queen Chrysalis slowly landed back on the ground, facing Princess Celestia. "You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell, but now that you have so foolishly revealed your true self," Princess Celestia leaned in, causing for the queen to do so as well. They began battling each other with their horns. "I can protect my subjects from you!" She rose in the air and began shooting out a beam of magic from her horn towards the queen. Chrysalis took notice of this and quickly counterattacked by shooting out a beam of her own. The two beams clashed. At first, Chrysalis was struggling with Celestia's magic, but then, unexpectedly, Chrysalis's beam was advancing towards Celestia at such a faster rate, causing Celestia to widen her eyes. The queen's beam reached towards Celestia's horn causing a bright light to appear. Before I knew it, I saw Princess Celestia's crown being thrown to the side, just as if it was in slow motion. I widened my eyes and opened my mouth in shock as I saw Princess Celestia skidding on the floor. The crowd gasped.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight and I exclaimed, running towards her. The other girls joined us as well.

"Ah! Shining Armor's love for you is even stronger than I thought!" Chrysalis released. "Consuming him has made me even more powerful than Celestia!"

We were more worried with Princess Celestia's condition. I stood right by her as Twilight placed her hooves on her.

"The Elements of Harmony. You must get to them, and use their power to defeat the queen." She responded, sounding as if she was dealing with the pain.

Twilight and I stood up and looked at every one of the girls, nodding all together. Now's not the time for apologies… Afterwards, the girls immediately ditched and threw out their dresses. Rarity stayed behind, trying to catch the dresses, but the girls quickly called for her. After a moment, she came running along with us without her dress.

Queen Chrysalis laughed. "You can run, but you can't hide!" She announced as we galloped out of the building, heading towards the Elements.

Above, I could hear her minions continuing to tackle the shield. They were finally starting to crack it. As they did, I could feel small sharp pains in my heart, causing me to clench it as I strained my eyes. Finally, the shield was completely broken. I had to stop, due to the pain in my heart. The girls had to stop as well as to keep their balance, due to the shaking of the shield breaking. After a moment, the pain in my heart faded away, and I looked above to see the minions charging at us. Their horns glowed and they were now heading straight towards us like missiles. "Go! Go!" I exclaimed.

We began running, now having to deal with dodging the minions as they forcefully planted themselves on the ground, missing us. We continued to sprint through the town, seeing and hearing all the minions miss us. However, after several seconds, I was hit. One of the minions was successful on placing the impact, throwing me to the ground where I rolled over in pain. "Alex!" Twilight called my name and quickly looked at the changeling with angry narrowed eyes. The changeling growled at her, but she instantly silenced it by stomping on his head. She rushed over to me and picked me up. "Are you okay?"

I grunted. "I'm fine! Keep moving!"

We reached the stairs of our destination to be much surprised. There, we saw a huge army of her minions. They were all waiting for us in their battle positions. I looked back to see that they had surrounded us completely. We could only look around, wondering what to do.

"Looks like we're gonna have to do this the hard way!" Rainbow Dash clapped her hooves. She ran over to one of them to actually see a mirror of herself. She formed a puzzled face and made different movements and actions, seeing her mirror copy each movement exactly. Suddenly, her mirror attacked her by pushing her towards us. "How did you...?"

Then, all the changelings in front of us began transforming into each one of us, surprising all of us.

"They're changelings, remember?" Twilight explained.

"They're changelings, remember?" A group of five changelings that transformed into Twilight repeated, provokingly.

"Don't let them distract you." Twilight announced as we all positioned ourselves in defense. "We have to get to the Elements of Harmony. They're our only hope."

After, the girls engaged in battle as they began rushing towards them. I immediately remembered about Fluttershy. Fluttershy isn't the type of pony to fight! "Fluttershy!" I looked around quickly, calling and trying to find her, but the crowd was too messy. I continued to look around for her, but suddenly, I was tackled to the ground. I turned around to see that it was a mirror of me holding me down. I seriously thought it was completely weird. Nonetheless, the mirror raised its hoof to hit me but I quickly pulled my other hoof and pushed its hoof to the side. When it was open, I pulled back my other hoof and landed a punch on it, causing it to stagger back and allow me to hit it once more with my other hoof. I used my back hoof to kick it off. Once it was knocked out on the floor, I looked around to see more of them around me, about three. I stood my ground and waited until one of them made the first move. One of them suddenly leaped, causing me to quickly dive to the ground and use my back legs to grip it in mid-air and force it to the ground, knocking it unconscious again. Just as I stood up, another one was already charging at me. I moved to the side and kicked it away, throwing it at some random part of the huge crowd. The last one had gotten a hold of me, causing me to struggle for a bit. I used my back hoof to kick it's back hoof, causing it to fumble a bit until it released me and I was able to turn around and deliver one straight to its face. "Girls!" I called again, but all I could hear was struggling and fighting noises. Then, I looked around me to see several of the girls inching towards me. I knew they were changelings, but…but… I couldn't fight them…not when they looked like the girls… My heart began pumping. Was it fear? Nervousness? Still… As I looked towards the mirrored girls, I still couldn't bring up my hooves to fight them. I just couldn't… My heart started making me clench it, causing me to be vulnerable. All of a sudden, I began feeling something build up inside me. The changelings were inching closer to me. Something just wanted to explode. My heart rate continued going faster. I was straining my eyes. It continued pumping faster. The changelings were right in front me, surrounding every part of me. Before they could attack, I suddenly felt an explosion. I opened my eyes to feel different as I saw an explosion of light emerge from me, literally clearing all the changelings around me. When the dust disappeared, I panted heavily as if all the energy I had was used up. However, I was able to see all the girls, the real ones, as piles of changelings laid around us.

"Uh… What just happened…?" Applejack asked, looking around at the surprise.

Twilight noticed my condition and gasped. "Alex? Are you okay?"

I began hearing the changelings' buzzing behind us, causing me to shake my head and order them to continue on. "I'm fine!" I exclaimed between breaths. "Go!"

Without hesitation, we quickly began running towards the hall which contained the Elements of Harmony. The door was in our sight as I could barely run. I felt completely out of breath. Nonetheless, Twilight made it, opening the doors and expecting to receive the Elements right away. However when we looked inside, we immediately heard buzzing sounds, shocking us. There, we saw another army of minions…literally thousands of them that were just waiting for us as they stood and crawled all over the place like disgusting insects. Still panting as I placed my hoof on my heart, we turned around to see more of them blocking the path. They had us completely surrounded. We could only watch as they inched closer to us. I couldn't do anything… I was slightly injured and I felt like all my energy was gone. I could only stare as they reached us, ready to take us.

They had forced us to walk back to the wedding hall, eyeing us very carefully to make sure we didn't do anything. Rainbow Dash tried to start a fight with them, but they quickly stopped her and two of them had to hold her up, dragging her in the air along with us. We traveled through the doors of the wedding hall. I was slightly limping, but I could notice the condition that everypony was in, such as Princess Celestia, who was trapped in some kind of pod on the ceiling.

"You were saying?" Queen Chrysalis asked, facing at Cadence. "You do realize the reception's been cancelled, don't you?" She questioned us aggressively. "Go! Feed!" She ordered her minions and looked over to another group. "You seven! Stay here!" As the other minions were dismissed, we began hearing screaming outside in town, causing Chrysalis to laugh. "It's funny, really. Twilight here was suspicious of my behavior all along." She placed a hoof under Twilight's chin, but she quickly slapped it away, irritatingly. "Too bad the rest of you were too caught up in your wedding planning to realize those suspicions were correct."

"Sorry, Twi. We should've listened to you…" Applejack approached Twilight and then looked at me. "I can't believe I didn't listen to you when you were trying to get our help… I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Twilight responded as I was still trying to regain my energy and breath. "She fooled everypony."

"Hmm, I did, didn't I?" She commented and began walking towards the window. "This day has been just perfect" She sang as she looked out the window, enjoying all the chaos and destruction that was occurring outside.

"The kind of day of which I've dreamed since I was small

Everypony I'll soon control

Every stallion, mare and foal

Who says a girl can't really have it all?" She ended with an evil chuckle.

Twilight had been observing her and quietly began sneaking over to Cadence, who seemed to be trapped by some kind of sticky substance. "Quick! Go to him while you still have the chance!" She whispered to her when she reached her. Her horn began glowing as she was about to cast a spell, but she was suddenly interrupted by Chrysalis.

"Not so fast!" Chrysalis had somehow heard her and grabbed her with her magic, throwing her against the wall.

"Twilight!" I exclaimed, feeling myself regain a little more energy.

"Did you really think it would be that easy?" She laughed. "You all are pathetic." She looked to her other seven minions and announced an order. "Hold them! I don't want any interruptions!" They did so and grabbed every one of us, holding us up in the air with our hooves. "Time for my royal dinner!" She turned around and began to delightfully head to Princess Cadence and Shining Armor.

I need to protect them! Somehow! I can't and won't break my promise!

"Wait!" I shouted.

"Ugh. What is it now?" Chrysalis exclaimed as she turned towards me, highly annoyed.

"A duel." Two words suddenly slipped out of my mouth intentionally.

"What?" She asked, confused.

"A duel; a fight." I explained. "Between you and me…"

She burst out laughing. "You!" She pointed a hoof towards me. "And me?" She placed her hoof on her chest and continued laughing out loud. "Why would I want to waste my time with you?"

"A wager; If I win, you don't feed off of anypony's love and you leave every pony alone…forever…"

Queen Chrysalis returned an intrigued look. "Interesting… And if I win?"

I remained silent for a moment…in thought…

"…you can feed off my love…"

Every one of the girls gasped.

"Alex! Don't do it!" Princess Cadence exclaimed, trying to prevent me from my decision. However, I didn't answer her.

"Your love?" Chrysalis questioned. "What makes your love so special?"

I looked at the ground for a moment and then at the girls. "If you take my love…you'd basically be taking my whole life… My love fuels it…" I looked compassionately at the girls. "I love each one of them…They changed my entire life around…" I chuckled lightly and looked back at the ground. "I thought I'd never see happiness…but they're the miracle that changed that… They're my true family…and…I love them all…" I looked towards Fluttershy. "Especially you, Fluttershy… You showed me what true love is… and…" I chuckled a little more. "I can't even try to explain how much I love you… I just…really do…" Fluttershy could only look at me understandingly. Afterwards, I looked at Chrysalis. "So as I said…you'd be destroying me completely if you sucked my love out of me… I, the element of a pure heart, would be nothing but an empty shell…"

My answer somehow caused her to widen her eyes. "You're the element of a pure heart?" I nodded. She laughed. "I can't believe it! You were the one I was looking for all along! Not this 'Shining Armor'!" I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "I felt that presence right here in Canterlot. I instantly thought it was Shining Armor, since he was the captain of the royal guard and about to get married to a princess!" She laughed once again. "Wow!" She turned her head back to me. "But you…" She hungrily licked her lips. "You made yours sound so delicious."

"Then what are you waiting for?" I asked.

She smirked and looked towards the minion carrying me. She made a gesture and released me, allowing me to plant my hooves back on the ground.

"You're so willing to give up that love for me so easily?" She asked.

"No." I shook my head. "I'm wagering my love because I know I'll win. My loved ones are all the support I need…"

The queen laughed. "Please… You have yourself a bet…" She looked towards the girls and continued smiling evilly. "You better say you're final goodbyes…" She looked back at me. "…because he's about to be my royal dessert." I didn't say anything. I only stared as she stared hungrily and intently towards me.

"Ready…" She announced softly, causing me to plant and firm my hooves on where I was standing at. We already began to battle with stares; we only stared off at each other as she continued to prepare herself for her fight with me. "Set…" She added, increasing the tension and suspense that filled the air, purposely trying to strike fear in me. But I didn't become scared… or at least… I tried not to… She purposely paused for a long while, as I didn't know when she would strike. She narrowed her eyes, all while continuing to smirk evilly. We stared at each other in silence. "GO!" She exclaimed, instantly teleporting towards me to swipe me, but I quickly dodged to the right, rolling out of the way. She stopped and looked back to see me. She laughed. "You're agile. I'll give you that. But, please, do you really think you can beat me? You can survive for a few minutes at most, but after that you're…toast…" She laughed, almost manically. "Look at that! I made a rhyme!" I could only glare at her in silence.

"Alex…" I heard a sudden voice in my head. It sounded like Princess Celestia's. I quickly looked up to see her. She was looking at me directly. "You…have to use your…element, Alex!"

I looked back at Chrysalis who was slowly walking towards me in purpose. She's right… but I can't attack her directly… that's what she wants! I looked around and observed my surroundings. I have to fall back and come up with a plan!

"What's wrong little pony?" Chrysalis asked, continuing to slowly walk towards me. "I'm not going to bite… I'm just going to suck up every ounce of your love." She laughed once again as I could only narrow my in annoyance at her.

"You're insane." I responded.

"Tell me. What else can you do?"

She's practically right…there nothing I can really use around me…unless…

I looked directly at her and began motioning my hoof against the floor intimidatingly, indicating for us to charge at each other head on. She observed this motion and laughed. "Are you joking?" My face remained dead serious. She shrugged. "As long as I take your love." She positioned herself in the same manner as me and created the same action. I continued doing it, preparing myself for my plan. She awaited my move. I took in a silent deep breath and immediately began sprinting towards her. She repeated the action and I could see her running towards me. I have to time this perfectly… "I have you now!" She exclaimed as she was right in front of me. Instead, I dove to the floor and slid under her, causing her to stop in confusion. She was turning back to see me, but I quickly grabbed hold of her tail and jumped on her. I saw her horn and rushed towards it. "Get off me!" She exclaimed trying to shake me off. I held a tight grip on her and closed my eyes when her horn was right in front of me. I began focusing my heart on the horn. I didn't exactly know what I was doing, but I just did it. I could hear Chrysalis begin to grunt in slight pain. I continued doing this for a moment until she managed to somehow throw me off of her, causing me to land harshly on the floor. This injured me a bit, especially since I was still tired from that big outburst and injuries I received from before. "You're going to pay for that…" She announced, slowly walking towards me again.

I grunted a little as I pushed myself to stand back up. "Not laughing so much now, are you Chrysalis?"

She growled. "I will be when I'm feeding off your love!" Suddenly, her body fell through the floor, and I could hear her evil laughter. I began to look around, trying to find her, but I didn't see her at all. While she was still missing, I began to walk, keeping my guard up as much as I could while looking around with my eyes carefully.

"Alex! To your right!" I suddenly heard Fluttershy exclaim, causing me to quickly turn to my right. There, I could see some green beams of magic, where Chrysalis suddenly appeared. I quickly rolled to the left, avoiding her swipe.

"Stay still you little runt!" She tried to reach for me again, but I quickly moved to the right. She repeated this, causing me to duck. She continued to do this a few more times, but I was fortunate enough to be able to dodge them all. Finally, when I felt the time was right, I immediately dove under her hoof and over to her backside.

"Chrysalis!" I exclaimed, catching her attention as she turned around to see me. She was immediately welcomed by my hooves as I used my right one to plant a hook on the right side of her face, my left one to plant a hook on the left side of her face, and then my right one to punch her chest, which was where my left hoof was immediately planted after. Then, I finally used my right hoof to strike her a few more times and used my left hoof to punch and throw her to the ground. She groaned and grunted as landed on the floor, stunned for a short period amount of time. I quickly took action and rushed to the front of her. There, I planted my hooves on her and began focusing on her horn again. I continued to feel my element mysteriously hurt her until I felt her move after several seconds. She managed to stagger me by swinging her head and throwing me against the wall with her magic.

Once again, I fell to the floor harshly. I was losing my endurance, almost quickly, but I couldn't give up… I was on my backside, and when I opened my eyes after the impact, I could see Chrysalis walking towards me, seriously pissed off now. She was only a few steps away from me. I didn't have time to push myself back up. All I could do was use my hoof to try to drag and crawl myself away from her.

"Where's your courage and bravery now, little pony?" She asked. I didn't answer. She continued to walk towards me as I crawled away. "You're mine!" She exclaimed and began running towards me. Just as she was about to touch me, I quickly closed my eyes and focused my heart, creating an explosion of light. She was shortly thrown backwards. I opened my eyes and noticed this. She was still blinded by the light, trying to rub her eyes with her hoof. At this point, I pushed myself up as quickly as I could and rushed over to her. I grabbed her head with my left hoof and swung my right hoof harshly at her head, causing her to fall to the floor from the impact and be stunned for a few moments. I then placed both my hooves on her head and began focusing my heart on her. I heard more grunts and groans in pain. I could tell that she was either becoming weaker or the pain was becoming stronger. After several seconds, she managed to move her head and push me back with her magic. I didn't fly towards the wall, so it proved that her powers had weakened. Instead, I stumbled and almost fell back due to my strength almost giving out. However, I managed to stretch my hooves firmly and gain my balance once again. She was now growling much fiercer. "You are really starting to make me angry!"

"What's wrong?" I asked, panting a bit. "I thought you were going to get my love so 'easily'?" Normally, I didn't taunt or provoke, but in this case, it was an advantage.

She growled and sprinted towards me to attack me. I readied my hooves and dodged to the side, stretching my hooves and kicking her fiercely when she passed me, causing her to fall towards the floor in pain again. When I regained my balance, I rushed over to her and began concentrating my heart on her again. I could hear louder groans in pain. Just as I felt that I was close to defeating her, she sent a burst of magic towards me, causing me to fly back again. "That's it!" She yelled as I landed harshly on the ground. "I've had enough of you! It's time to end this once and for all!"

Just as I managed to push myself up again, she disappeared, and the entire wedding hall was covered in darkness. I couldn't see a thing! I looked around, trying to see if there was any sign of her, but it was no use! Even so, I tried walking and looking around for her, but I was limping and my hoof was clenching my side in pain. I don't know how much more I can take… After some time, I heard her voice. "Over here!" I turned around to see her, but right before I had time to react, she clenched my neck with her hoof and brought me to the floor. I was grunting and groaning in pain and struggles. I tried to escape by lifting my hoof to hit her. First, I tried hitting her chest a couple of times, but all she did was laugh evilly. Then, I brought my right hoof over to the left side of my body and winded it up like a golf club. Finally, I swung it across her face, slapping her squarely on her left cheek. Her head was flung to the right. However, she brought it back slowly, glaring angrily at me. She edged her hoof closer to me, creating a green glow. "Your time's up…pony…" Afterwards, she brought it to my chest, sending shocks throughout me. I released more painful grunts as I felt trapped. It felt as if she was sucking up every last bit of endurance and strength I had in me. She continued doing this until I felt my hooves drop lifelessly. The light in the wedding hall reappeared; there was no more darkness. Chrysalis picked up my almost lifeless body and smirked, chucking a bit after she observed how fragile I was. Then, she tossed me away and towards the floor, causing me to roll over a few times before I stopped. I felt completely at lost…but I still managed to feel a bit of strength left in me.

As Chrysalis began walking back with her back turned at me, as if she was victorious, I slowly began bringing out my hooves towards the front of my face, feeling my heart pound loudly and echo through my mind.

"I told you I'd win…" She laughed. "Now I get to have a meal fit for years!" As she continued talking, I could hear a small ringing noise… My vision also became blurry at random times. With my hooves in front of my face, I turned to my left to see black walls of darkness slowly reaching towards me. I turned to my right to see the same thing. My heart was pounding loudly as if it wanted to give out. Chrysalis sighed as she continued to keep her attention away from me, but directed every word she said at me. "It was really pathetic of you to even try to stand up to me…" I could feel the dark walls gaining on me… I directed my attention towards Chrysalis. I don't care what happens to me… as I long as I save everyone… I began reaching out my right hoof. "I mean really? Who thinks that a small little pony can stand a chance against a queen like me?" I planted my right hoof on the floor in front of me, dragging me slowly towards her as I breathed heavily. "Hah…it's sad really…hm…a tiny bit funny too I guess…" I was now ignoring every word she was saying…or was it because I was too close to the end to hear? Nonetheless, as she continued to boast, not paying any attention to me, I raised my left hoof.

I placed it down on the floor and dragged myself closer, grunting and breathing heavily.

I raised my right hoof.

I placed it on the floor.

I dragged myself a bit.

I continued doing this until I had to stop to breathe heavily.

I don't think I can do this…

I looked behind me to see the black walls of darkness still chasing after me very slowly.

No…

I immediately thought about the girls, especially Fluttershy.

I have a will to live…

I regained my breathing and continued moving towards Chrysalis.

I continued my motion of movement, dragging myself slowly towards her.

I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my side, causing me to grunt and place a hoof to my side.

Images of all of the ones I loved filled in my mind.

I won't stop until I save them…

After trying to regain myself for a moment, I started my way towards Chrysalis again, feeling my heart pound harder and louder.

The ringing increased as well.

The closer I was to Chrysalis, the louder everything became.

I finally dragged myself one last time with my left hoof until I reached Chrysalis. She had stopped boasting and was about to head towards Cadence and Shining Armor, but I reached out my right hoof weakly towards her, hoping that I would be able to do something. She must have heard me because she stopped and slowly turned around.

She faced me and smirked evilly.

She held out a hoof, looking as if she was going to help me, but instead a green glow emerged from her hoof. I could only stare in silence and suspense. All of sudden, it shot out towards me, impacting me and throwing me towards the place where I had started.

I landed harshly with all four of my hooves spread out to the side.

My body gave out.

I can't do anything anymore.

My eyes began to slowly close by themselves.

My heart was now pounding faintly.

Everything seemed to fade away.

The walls of darkness had now completely surrounded me.

There's no way out.

My eyes continued to slowly close.

As soon as they did, I only felt one more beat of my heart.

Then it was gone.

"ALEX!"

Fluttershy:

"ALEX!" I cried out, seeing him on the floor. He wasn't moving! I struggled to get out of the grip of the changeling that held me.

Queen Chrysalis laughed. "Let her go. Her mourning will increase the love between them." She ordered the changeling. Her minion finally let me go, allowing me to quickly run towards him while the others only contained widened eyes. "Alex!" I called his name again and reached towards him. I placed my hooves on him. There was no response… I immediately felt tears begin appearing in my eyes. Chrysalis laughed again. "You know what? Let them all go! The more the merrier!"

Her minions did so. All the girls were released and came running towards Alex.

"Oh no…" Twilight released in a whisper.

"Alex…" Rainbow Dash whispered as well, sadly.

Queen Chrysalis laughed evilly once again. "That's it! Cry! Bring out your love! It'll make his even sweeter!"

Twilight then narrowed her eyes in anger and turned to face the queen. "You won't get away with this!" I could see her eyes fill up with some tears, just as mine did as I could only remain silent in shock.

"Oh? Do you want to fight me too?" She asked, entertained.

"Yes!" Twilight answered. "All of us will! For what you did to Alex!" Her voice was slightly breaking.

"Great idea." Queen Chrysalis replied. "Fighting? Hah! His love will be the best thing I ever had! Yes! Let's do it. Whenever you're ready…"

Twilight looked back at us. "Are you ready, girls? For Alex?"

I couldn't answer. I couldn't fight. But the girls did.

"She'll pay!" Rainbow Dash responded aggressively, clapping her hoof with her other one, but I could still see a tear form at the corner of her eye. Every one of us had watery eyes, but the girls accepted… because…they wanted to fight for Alex… for what she had done to him…

"Bring it on, then." Chrysalis smirked and provoked.

"Applejack!" Twilight called, getting Applejack's attention. "Get your lasso! Rarity! Get one of those curtains by the window! Pinkie! Get your party cannon! Rainbow! Have your hooves and wings ready! Fluttershy…" She faced me to see teary eyes. "Watch Alex…"

I nodded sadly and turned to face his lifeless body.

"Come on, girls! We'll defeat her…for Alex!" Twilight announced, receiving nods from them.

"Oh. I'm so scared." Chrysalis mocked.

Twilight and the other girls began charging towards her. "Applejack! Secure her with your rope!" Applejack used her teeth to spin the rope and place it around the queen's body, tightening it and making her unable to move. "Rarity! Use the curtains and wrap them around her!" Rarity used her magic to wrap the curtains all over her as she struggled with the rope.

"You fools!" She growled angrily and began making her horn glow.

"Pinkie!" Twilight called. "Use your party cannon to interrupt her spell casting and distract her!"

Pinkie Pie, no longer having her cheerful grin, angrily pulled the fuse of the cannon and blew confetti and streamers all over her. They were shot out so forcefully that her head was thrown back by the impact and unable to finish her spell.

"Rainbow! Knock her out!" Twilight ordered.

Rainbow Dash quickly flew over to her face eye-to-eye. "This is for Alex!" She pulled back her hoof and punched Chrysalis, which made her grunt in pain. Rainbow Dash was going to hit her more, but Twilight quickly stopped her.

"Rainbow, let me handle this!" Twilight rushed over to Chrysalis and began charging up her horn. Twilight's horn emitted a large light purple glow. Before Twilight could shoot it out, Chrysalis opened her eyes and used her magic to throw Twilight back. She also shot out another wave of magic that pushed the other girls, who were trying to go after her as well, back.

"You mere ponies can't defeat me!" She began struggling to free herself from the rope and curtains.

As Twilight and the other girls stood back on their hooves to try again, I could only look at Alex sadly. His eyes were closed. He wasn't even breathing. He was just…there… "Alex…" I released softly. I closed my eyes and began feeling tears fall out of my face. Suddenly, I felt something from his body. I quickly opened my eyes to see him. He wasn't moving… he still wasn't breathing… but somehow I still felt something from him… I formed determined eyes and shook my head. "Hold on, Alex! You still have to be there!" I turned him towards me. I placed my hooves on his chest and began pumping as hard as I could. "Please, Alex! You can't be!" After, I placed my hooves on his mouth and opened it slightly. I leaned my head in towards his and placed my lips on his. I blew in air, which I took with deep breaths. Then, I moved my hooves back to his chest and pumped desperately. "Don't leave me!" Behind me, I could still hear the girls' struggle…and it didn't sound like they were winning… After pumping his chest a few times, I placed my lips on his and blew in air again. I placed my hooves on his chest and continued to press down. "Breathe, Alex! Breathe! Please!" I could feel tears start falling from my eyes in desperation and fear. I blew air in his mouth and continued to pump. But no matter how much I did this, his body only returned lifeless motions. "Alex!" I called his name, sadly.

I heard Chrysalis laugh behind me while I continued to repeat these motions rapidly. "You girls are all pathetic! Look at you! You're merely scratching me!" As their battle continued on, I could only try to revive Alex, but… I saw no sign of any progress… I continued pumping, but it slowed down once I realized that I wasn't doing anything at all… There was no beating of his heart. There was no breathing. I didn't even feel whatever I felt about him earlier. Everything was just…gone… I sadly just pressed down on his chest with my hooves. Tears were streaming down my face. After a few more pumps, with each pace becoming slower, I finally stopped and realized that I failed…

I looked back when I heard multiple thumps and thuds behind me. Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie were all thrown against the floor. They all tried to stand back up with tears in their eyes…but they couldn't… Their hooves gave up on them… And all I did was nothing…

Queen Chrysalis had broken free from whatever bonded her. She laughed and looked at all the girls on the floor. "See? Thanks to you, your love for him has grown much more, and will taste much more satisfying for me!"

"N…no…" Twilight expressed weakly, still trying to push herself back up.

Chrysalis walked over to her and placed her hoof under her chin. "Sorry…" She smiled and released her hoof, causing for Twilight's hooves to give out and fall to the floor. She turned around and began walking to me. I immediately became frightened as I flinched and whimpered in fear. "Don't worry…" She responded. "I won't hurt you. Not as long as you continue mourning for him." She released a small chuckle and walked back to Cadence and Shining Armor. Shining Armor was still brainwashed, but Cadence was in tears. "Oh, don't worry." She assured Cadence. "I'll give you a few minutes before I start on you. I need my dessert fully prepped before I can start on dinner." She chuckled once again.

I can't believe it. This all feels like a nightmare. I sniffled, continuing to feel tears fall from my eyes. I slowly wrapped my hooves around Alex and continued crying. "Alex…please…" I wept lightly. "Just please come back… The girls need you… I need you… You're the only one that can save us… You can't be gone… you just can't… I love you so much, Alex… I love you…so much…" Hearing or feeling nothing from him, I sighed and lowered my head sadly. I leaned over to his face. I passionately placed my lips on his, kissing him for a moment before pulling back slightly and having a few more of my tears land on his face. I sniffled and rested my head on his body, continuing to weep.

"Aw…" I heard Chrysalis say. "Well, I guess that should do it." She turned to face Cadence and Shining Armor. "I'm sure my dinner is ready?"

Alex:

"I'm sure my dinner is ready?"

I heard Chrysalis's voice speak.

My heart slowly began beating again.

I felt something soft on my body.

…I'm…I'm alive…?

I was still in pain, but I was able to slowly open my eyes. My vision cleared up and I was able to see Fluttershy. She was crying on my chest. I looked around to see the other girls on the floor…unconscious… what happened…?

Fluttershy slowly opened her eyes to see me and suddenly widened them. "Alex…!" She exclaimed softly, removing herself from on top of me.

"No! Get away!" I heard Cadence yell.

As quickly as I could, I tried to push myself up, but I was having trouble. Fluttershy quickly came to my aid and helped me up.

"Thank you…" I responded softly. I weakly placed a hoof on her. "Stay here…"

"But…"

"Trust me…"

She remained silent for a moment and nodded.

I placed my hoof back on the ground and looked over at Chrysalis, who was just about to touch Cadence with her horn. "Chrysalis!" I exclaimed. She turned around, highly surprised, and faced me. "I'm not done yet…"

"You?" She responded. "I thought I finished you off!" I could see Cadence open her eyes and gasp at the sight of me.

I shook my head. "I made a promise…and I'm going to keep it…" I began to slowly and weakly walk towards her. With each step, I could feel my legs tremble as if they wanted to give out. But I didn't give up.

"Oh really? Can you still keep your promise if I do this?" She shot out a beam of magic towards me, hitting me and causing me to fall to the floor.

"Alex!" I heard Fluttershy exclaim and rush over to me.

I grunted and groaned, struggling to push myself back up. Fluttershy tried to help me, but I weakly placed my hoof on her, telling her to not. I continued pushing myself up, feeling my hooves shake. But I still didn't give up. I finally stretched my hooves and I was now standing back up.

"Impressive… but it's still a waste of time." Chrysalis commented.

I shook my head and continued walking towards her. "I won't let you…win…"

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes in anger. "I really suggest you just give up. Or you'll really suffer."

"I won't…" I responded, continuing to walk a few more steps.

"Okay, now you're really annoying me!" She shot out several more beams of magic at me, each of them hitting me and causing me to grunt in pain. I was pushed back a few steps, but I didn't fall to the floor this time.

Chrysalis widened her eyes. "Why won't you give up!" She shouted angrily.

After I recovered from her last attack, I continued to walk towards her. "I will never give up…"

She growled and began to furiously shoot out many beams of magic at me, but they all missed me as I continued taking careful steps.

"What the…" She growled more. "What are you?"

I managed to chuckle lightly. "I'm just a pony who loves his friends and girlfriend…"

She slammed her hooves on the ground and became furious. She continued shooting out beams of magic towards me, but they all missed again. "Why don't you just give up and accept your fate?"

"Because…" I answered, continuing to walk as I was almost near her. "My fate isn't giving up on the ones I love and being some witch's 'dessert'…" I stopped and raised my head towards her. "…It's about protecting the ones I love!" Suddenly, I felt something occur inside my heart. It felt like some kind of sharp pain…but a good pain… I grunted as I clenched my chest with my hoof, closing my eyes and straining them.

"Hm." I heard Chrysalis scoff. "I knew it. You're no special pony."

I didn't reply. I couldn't reply. I continued to hold my chest as I felt something growing inside.

Chrysalis chuckled. "Minions!" She called for a whole horde and army of changelings by her side. "Get rid of this pony, please. It should be easy. He's already broken." They all began surrounding me, but I could only clench my chest and continue grunting. I opened my eyes slightly to see an actual white light appear in my chest. Chrysalis noticed this and looked a bit panicky. "Hurry! Get rid of him!"

They began charging at me, but as they did, the glow grew even more. I clenched my chest tighter, breathing in and out heavier. Something inside was growing! As they continued to lurk nearer towards me, the larger this feeling in my heart felt. Just as they were about to touch me, a sudden explosion released from me, throwing back all of the minions out the window. My eyes forcefully opened as the explosion occurred and I could feel as if they were glowing themselves. During this blinding light, I felt something form on my sides. The light from my heart somehow formed wings from the base to the top. This highly surprised me. Not only did I feel these form on my sides, something began occurring on my head as well. The same light formed a horn on my head. When the light surrounding me faded out, I could see Chrysalis. She was staring at me with an open jaw and widened eyes. She was speechless. I formed a serious and determined expression on my face. I felt full of energy, like if nothing had even happened to me. I casually began walking towards Chrysalis.

"Do you want to know what I find ironic, Chrysalis?"

"What are you…" She could only respond.

"You feed off love…" I continued. "But you're afraid of it…"

"Get away from me!" She began backing away, frightened now.

"You really shouldn't play with fire, Chrysalis. Or you'll burn yourself." I was now climbing up the steps towards her. She could only shiver in terror as she stared at me with the same widened eyes. "Now you're going to feel the burn…" I honestly didn't know what I was doing…but I trusted myself enough to do it… I felt a glow form on my horn. It was magic… It suddenly shot towards Chrysalis, causing her to flinch. The spell covered Chrysalis and forced her to the ground, preventing her from getting up. It all seemed to be hurting her.

After a moment, she laughed. "Don't you see?" She questioned. "You still can't defeat me! It's going to take something much more than that!" She continued to laugh. I furrowed my eyebrows and heard another voice.

"Alex!" It was Twilight.

I looked back to see her. I saw all of the girls. They were awake again. I knew they were highly surprised of my appearance, but I didn't worry about that right now. "Girls! We need more power!"

Twilight looked around for a moment and then ran over to Cadence, who was also staring at my appearance. "Cadence! You have to get Shining Armor to activate his protection spell again!"

Cadence, already somehow freed from the sticky substance that rooted her to the ground, ran over to Shining Armor. She looked at his eyes, hoping to see some spark inside them, but she frowned as tears formed in her eyes when she didn't. She placed a hoof on him and hugged him as she continued to cry. I could only frown at this while Chrysalis was still being trapped by my spell. Then, I noticed some spark and crackle on her horn. A heart was shot out of it. It floated over to Shining Armor, changing the look on his face. He shook his head in confusion. "Wha- whe- huh? Is...is the wedding over?"

"It's all over!" Chrysalis managed to exclaimed, laughing as she was now beginning to push herself up from the floor. I narrowed my eyes at her and tried to increase the strength of the spell, but I was still unfamiliar with the new powers I was given.

"Your spell! Perform your spell!" Twilight announced towards Shining Armor.

Chrysalis laughed much more, now halfway on her progress to standing up fully. "What good would that do? My changelings already roam free!" She directed towards the outside, where many changelings were still terrorizing the town.

"No!" He tried to activate his spell, but he was too weak. He lowered his head in exhaustion and sweat. "My power is useless now. I don't have the strength to repel them."

"My love will give you strength." Cadence expressed, embracing him.

"Ahaha." Chrysalis cackled, now standing up fully and trying to move from my spell. I felt myself losing control of it… "What a lovely but absolutely ridiculous sentiment."

Shining Armor narrowed his eyes. Then, he faced Cadence and closed them. Both of their horns were near each other. There was a cackle of magic between them, but no significant changes whatsoever. Shining Armor released an exhausted breath. "It still won't work…!"

Chrysalis continued to laugh as she was now walking slowly towards me. I tried to hold her off with my spell. "Who's the one who should be afraid now?" I only stood my ground, backing away slowly when I needed to. I tried to strengthen my spell, but I didn't know how!

Then, I felt a hoof being placed on my shoulder. I looked back to see Princess Celestia smiling warmly at me. "Let me take care of this…" She spoke as I could only gaze at her. She continued to smile. "You know what you have to do…" She took a glance over to Fluttershy. I looked at Fluttershy as well and then back at the Princess. I nodded. Once Princess Celestia stepped by my side and began casting her spell on Chrysalis, the queen was forced to fall back to the floor again, struggling to get up. "Go…" Celestia directed me. I nodded and pulled my horn, causing for the beam of magic from it to disappear. Princess Celestia grew a determined and serious face towards Chrysalis in order to keep her from moving.

I walked towards Fluttershy as she could only gaze at me. "You're…a…a…" She tried to speak, but I placed my hoof on her lips softly.

I smiled lightly and shook my head. "Are you ready to finish this?" I asked.

She could only remain speechless and nod. I smiled warmly and began leaning my head towards hers. She repeated the same movement towards me. Finally, our lips touched with our eyes closed. I could feel a large amount of love coming from us as both our wings were outstretched. Then, I heard Cadence's and Shining Armor's love work as well. As Fluttershy and I continued to kiss, I could feel a swirl of wind surround us. This caused us to open our eyes and look around us. This was it…the power of love… I looked back at Fluttershy, who returned a soft smile towards me, still blooming in her cheeks. I smiled at her expression and kissed her once again. This time, I could feel my horn glow brightly and we were soon levitating off the ground. After a moment, everything began shaking. Across the wedding hall, Shining Armor and Cadence were in the same position we were in. I smiled and suddenly both of our eyes were opened, revealing another strong bright light. The wind around us swirled faster and finally exploded. Princess Celestia purposely released Chrysalis, who could only stare in fear before our power. The winds headed straight towards her.

"Noooooo!" She screamed out as the winds of love pushed her out of the wedding hall. Her changeling minions were also forcefully pushed back along with the winds as well, pushing all of them out of Canterlot and literally so far away that they disappeared into the sky. Fluttershy and I began slowly landing back at the ground as we could only gaze at each other. Once on the floor, I turned my head to see Shining Armor and Cadence embracing each other. I looked at Fluttershy to embrace her as well. As I did this, I spotted Twilight running over to Princess Celestia.

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine." Princess Celestia announced towards her. "You have a real wedding to put together."

Twilight released a warm smile and sighed in relief. "I'm just glad all of this is over…" Princess Celestia nodded and began walking towards me, causing for Fluttershy and I to pull away. She stopped in front of me to observe me. "I see you've unlocked your true power Alex…"

"Huh…?" I questioned, a little confused. She smiled and pointed towards my horn and wings. "Oh…but…how…? I don't understand…"

"You're an Alicorn… just like us…"

"What?" I exclaimed, widening my eyes.

She chuckled and began to explain. "You were so willing to sacrifice yourself in order to protect your loved ones in the face of danger. When you realized what your true goal was, protecting the ones you love, that unlocked that hidden power in your heart. And now…" She presented me. "It has shown…"

"So…" I looked at my wings and horn as well. "Am I like this forever…?"

"Not exactly…"

After she said that, I felt something occurring in my heart. I clenched it and felt the same way as I was last time. I strained my eyes and released a bright light from within me. When I opened my eyes again, I saw that my wings and horn were gone. "…what happened…?" I asked, a little disappointed.

"Don't worry…" Princess Celestia assured. "You still have your wings and horn. It's just something you have to learn to control." She placed a hoof on me. "Once you learn to control this, you can change into an Alicorn or back to the way you are right now… It's an advantage, really."

"So…I can change back…"

"Mm-hm." She nodded. "For right now, you just have to work really hard into changing into one. The more you practice, the easier it becomes, where you could change into one in a snap. But since you're still unfamiliar about this, you may change into one randomly for a special reason…"

"Special reason…?"

"Whenever you see your friends in danger, that's most likely when you'll change into one without hesitation."

I looked down and in thought. I remembered back when I was able to fly. That time when I was the Mysterious Mare Do Well. I had no idea how the dam fixed itself… but now… I realize it was me! The same thing with I being able to fly! It wasn't Twilight's spell… It was never Twilight's spell… the reason it didn't work was because I technically already had wings… And the reason why I changed all of a sudden that time was because I saw Rainbow Dash in danger in the river… It explains it… "I understand now…"

"I'll be honest with you, Alex…" Princess Celestia spoke, causing me to look up towards her again. "I am quite surprised at this as well. I never suspected you of being an Alicorn, and I'm not completely sure why this is so… but I guess we'll just have to find out another time, won't we?"

I smiled. "Yeah… I guess so."

She looked around the room. "Come on, everypony. We have a wedding to prepare for."

As all of us began leaving the room for our preparations, I walked with Fluttershy by my side, smiling so lovingly at her. Then, the other girls joined me as well.

"So you're seriously an Alicorn? I can't believe it!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, causing for all the girls to begin chattering excitedly around me.

"Girls, girls…"I announced softly. "I may be an Alicorn…but I don't want our relationship with each other to change… I'm still Alex."

"You're right…" Twilight replied, nodding her head and looking at me with understanding eyes. "We all are just glad that you're okay…" She embraced me first, causing each one of the other girls to join in for a group hug. I could only smile and chuckle a little as I felt not only Fluttershy's, but all their love combine with mine.

In order to prepare for the wedding that still needed to take place today, Twilight, Cadence, and I began going around, checking with each one of the girls with their same tasks.

Twilight pulled out her checklist as Cadence met up with Applejack to taste her apple treats. Cadence's body, mane, and tail were completely renewed and cleansed. She looked as beautiful as I could remember. I could only smile as Cadence tasted Applejack's treats. Once she swallowed it, she quickly picked up another one to eat it as well, causing me to chuckle as Twilight checked off on that part of the list.

Next, the three of us met with Rarity. Rarity went out of her way to place on the dress and other accessories on Cadence. Once she finally finished, she held a mirror to allow her to observe herself. Cadence looked at herself for a moment and grinned brightly, showing that she loved it, which caused Twilight to check off as well. Cadence looked at me. I nodded my head in agreement, indicating that she looked perfect.

After, we arrived at the area Fluttershy was with her songbirds. All the birds landed on Cadence, having her hold up a hoof to support two. Fluttershy directed them, using her musical wand to do so. They all sang beautifully. Cadence enjoyed it, allowing Twilight check off on it once again.

Finally, we traveled to the party hall. Pinkie was dancing happily as Cadence joined her. Seeing them two have so much fun made my heart warm up so much. I looked over to Twilight to see her check off on that and grin happily.

When everything was prepped up, I went to go visit Rarity while the bride and groom were getting ready. I entered her room. "Hey, Rarity, is my outfit ready?"

"Just a moment…" She snipped a few times and presented the formal and dressy outfit towards me. I looked at it and noticed that there was a slip on each side.

"Rarity, what are the slips for?" I asked.

"For your wings, of course!" She grinned brightly.

"Rarity…you know I can't change whenever I want yet…"

"Don't worry…" She continued grinning. "I have that covered." She began walking out towards the balcony.

I raised my eyebrow. "…what are you doing…?" She turned back to me and still continued to smile. Then, she suddenly jumped off the balcony, causing me to widen my eyes and exclaim. "Rarity!" My appearance changed, but I was too worried to retrieve Rarity. With my wings spreading, I ran out towards the balcony and looked downwards to see where she was at. However, I was shocked to see Rarity relaxing on some sort of hammock she created with the curtains near the railing of the balcony. When she jumped, she actually just placed herself safely on the curtains.

She looked at me and giggled. "What did I tell you?"

I looked at my wings and horn. Then, I lowered my head, shook it, and chuckled. "Rarity…" Nonetheless, I grabbed her hoof with my hoof and helped her back up on the balcony.

"Now, let's get you in that suit, shall we?" She began grabbing the suit with her magic and fitting it on me. She worked my wings through the slip and placed the finishing touches. She tugged it a bit until it fitted on me perfectly.

I observed myself. "Wow, it looks amazing, Rarity." I commented.

"Why, thank you, Alex." She grabbed her dress nearby and quickly placed it on. "Let's go meet the other girls before the wedding begins."

"That sounds good." I responded, beginning to walk with her towards the girls' location.

We met up with the rest of the girls, who were also in their dresses for the wedding. Rarity looked towards Fluttershy. "What do you think, Fluttershy? Is he just smashing or what?"

Fluttershy noticed me and blushed.

I smiled warmly at her cuteness and walked over to her to kiss her lightly. But, then I remembered something. I looked at Rarity. "Rarity, what if I change back at a random time?" I asked, forming a concerned look.

"Don't worry. I just have a hunch you'll last during this joyous occasion."

"Hm."I smiled again. "Maybe you're right…"

We heard the door in the room open, causing us look at who was coming in. It was Shining Armor. He was wearing his uniform for the wedding. "Hey everypony." He greeted, receiving greetings from us as well. He chuckled and then faced Twilight, walking towards her. "Hey, kiddo."

"Hey, bro." Twilight responded and giggled.

He chuckled. "Listen… I just wanted to apologize for how I didn't listen to you before… I mean… I had told you all those horrible things that I'm sure I hurt your feelings with… I was just being stupid… Will you still be my Best Mare?"

"Oh, Shining Armor…" Twilight smiled and hugged him. "Of course I will. And it's okay, it's all over now."

"We want to apologize too." Pinkie announced when Shining Armor and Twilight pulled away.

"Yes, we're terribly sorry for being such jerks to you too…" Rarity added.

"Yeah, sorry, Twilight…" Rainbow Dash included.

"Sorry, Twi." Applejack apologized.

"Sorry." Fluttershy finished, causing for all them to hug Twilight together.

Twilight smiled warmly. "It's all okay girls. I'm just glad we're all together and okay. We're about celebrate a momentous occasion."

"Right…" Applejack replied, pulling back, along with the other girls, and looking at me. "But I'm really sorry for doubting you as well, Alex. I definitely should have listened to you… Forgive me…?"

I smiled and embraced her in a friendly and forgiving hug. "Of course I do."

"Aww!" The rest of the girls exclaimed and created a group hug once again.

When we pulled away, Shining Armor walked up to me. "That reminds me… I have a favor to ask of you."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Well… I know it's short notice…but… Will you be my Best Stallion along with Twilight?"

I widened my eyes. "Really?"

He nodded. "Yes. You deserve to be."

"Wow…I don't know what to say…"

He chuckled. "Just say yes."

I chuckled as well. "Okay then. Yes!"

He smiled. "Great then. See you all at the wedding. I have another favor to ask of you after." He directed at me and then left the room.

The girls congratulated me as I could only feel a bit surprised and happy in a good way…

When the wedding started, we were all in our positions. Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie were on the left side of the stairs in front of the crowd. Fluttershy was on a balcony in the wedding hall, having a musical wand with her to direct the birds. I looked over to her and waved. She noticed it and waved back shyly, but happily. I smiled and looked at Twilight. I was on the left side of Shining Armor, near the girls, but leaving enough room for the bride. Twilight was on the right side of Shining Armor while Princess Celestia was behind both of them. As we all eagerly waited for the bride to come in, I noticed Twilight spot something with her brother's uniform. She grabbed the front piece with her magic and fixed it up, sharing a smile with him after.

Finally, Fluttershy began waving her wand, beginning to direct the birds. They sang the Bridal Chorus, causing for the crowd to look over to the door. The two royal guards by it opened it, revealing Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. They were the flower girls. I smiled sweetly as I saw they skip in, throwing flower petals from their basket onto the floor. Then, Cadence began walking in after them. Several birds lifted the end of her dress as she headed towards us.

"Seriously, though." Twilight bumped her foreleg playfully on Shining Armor. "I get why the queen of the Changelings wanted to be with you, but how did you get someone as amazing as Cadence to marry you?" She joked.

"I told her she wouldn't just be gaining a husband; she'd be getting a pretty great sister, too." He answered, causing Twilight to return a warm smile.

Afterwards, we looked back at Cadence as the birds continued singing. Nearby, I could see Rarity begin crying as she pulled out a cloth and wiped her tears. Applejack looked back at her slyly and pulled out her hat. She placed it on, sending that sour face to Rarity as if she might get after her. Nonetheless, she faced back towards Cadence, causing me to chuckle a bit at her actions. Cadence now walked up the steps to meet Shining Armor. They both looked at each other and then at Princess Celestia.

"Mares and gentlecolts," She began, grabbing our attention towards her. "We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of the real Princess Mi Amore Cadenza..."

"Princess Cadence is fine." Cadence responded.

"Hm." Princess Celestia smiled warmly and continued. "The union of Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. The strength of their commitment is clear. The power of their love, undeniable. May we have the rings please?" Spike, who was carrying the pillow with the rings, presented them. The Princess lifted them with her magic and gently began placing them on each of their horns. "I now pronounce you mare and colt." The wedding halls were immediately filled with joyful cheers. Cadence and Shining Armor walked out to the balcony to meet the huge crowd that was outside as well, cheering loudly for them. They both waved happily out to them. "This is your victory as much as theirs." Princess Celestia announced, placing a hoof on Twilight. "You persisted in the face of doubt, and your actions led to your being able to bring the real Princess Cadence back to us. Learning to trust your instincts is a valuable lesson to learn. Especially you, Alex." She turned to face me and placed a hoof on me as well. "Had you not truly believed in yourself and the will to protect the ones you love, you probably would have not discovered your true strength, which was the key into saving the day. That and the love you have for Fluttershy and your friends."

I smiled warmly. "Thank you, Princess…"

She nodded and we turned our heads to see Shining Armor and Princess Cadence kissing, causing us to watch the scene warmly. Suddenly, Princess Celestia lifted a wing around Rainbow Dash and whispered to her. "Rainbow Dash, that's your cue!"

Rainbow widened her eyes and then narrowed them in determination, spreading out her wings. She quickly flew out towards the balcony, ditching her dress behind. She rose into the air at an incredible height and then quickly dove downwards. She increased her speed greatly until she performed the sonic rainboom in front of us, sending a bright colored rainbow behind her.

As we continued to watch, Fluttershy wrapped her hoof around and smiled lovingly at me. I looked at her and formed the same expression. Then, I heard a flapping of wings near me. I turned to see Derpy.

"Best Wedding Ever!" She exclaimed and looked at me. "Where'd you get the horns and wings? They look so real!"

I chuckled. "Well…they are, Derpy. I guess I'm an Alicorn."

She widened her eyes. "Whoa! Should I bow down now?" She asked, beginning to lower herself but I quickly shook my head and placed my hoof on her.

"No, Derpy. Please don't. I'm still the same pony you knew."

"That reminds me." Princess Celestia added. "I'm sure you wouldn't want to become a Prince, would you?" She asked.

I shook my head politely. "No thanks. That sounds really exciting…but I want to just live my life with them…" I directed towards my friends…

She smiled warmly. "Hm. I understand completely." She turned around and began walking. "Come now. We still have that party for the new married couple." She faced Pinkie. "Right?"

Pinkie gasped. "Yeah!" She rushed out, causing us to laugh and follow her.

However, before I started heading towards the party grounds, I excused myself and left towards the suite really quick.

Inside the suite, I looked at myself in the mirror. I smiled as I observed my horn and wings. I just can't believe it… I chuckled a little. I still have to learn to use them though… I touched my horn a bit with my hoof, as well as my wings. I placed it back on the ground and continued observing myself. " 'Mistake, huh?' Yeah, right…" I spoke out loud. Then, I began walking out the door.

As I began making my way to the party, I managed to come across Starlight. She was directly in my path. But I wasn't afraid. I wasn't nervous. I was just…happy.

"Hey, Starlight." I greeted with a smile.

However, she narrowed her eyes and returned an irritated frown. "Don't, 'Hey, Starlight' me. Did you really have to put on some fake wings and horn to make yourself look important?"

I chuckled and shook my head. "First of all, I don't need anything to make me feel important. All that matters is that I believe I'm important. Second of all, these aren't fake or artificial." I managed to spread my wings and flap them a little, causing her to widen her eyes. "And finally, you can tell mom and dad that I don't care anymore if they don't remember me." I began walking past her. "I have a new and better family to care for."

I could hear her growl as I continued to walk away. "This isn't over, Alex…"

I continued to smile as I rolled my eyes at her comment. I don't know if she was attacked during the invasion. I have no idea where she was. But I don't really care... I headed towards the party.

The sun had set when I arrived, revealing a dark and starry night. I saw the girls, along with Princess Celestia, in a group as the newlywed couple prepared for their dance in the spotlight. I walked over to them and stood by Fluttershy, grabbing her hoof as she was just so beautiful in her dress. She looked at me in smiled.

Soft piano music began playing as Shining Armor and Cadence looked at each other romantically. They both walked closer to each other, beginning to dance. They continued to sway in a rhythmic motion as we watched. It really was beautiful to see this…

"Hello, everypony." We heard Princess Luna announce, landing near us. "Did I miss anything?" She asked.

I chuckled and responded. "You sure did Luna…"

She noticed me and instantly widened her eyes. "Alex…how…"

I closed my eyes and smiled warmly. "It's a long story… But, apparently, I'm actually an Alicorn."

"I see." She answered, recovering from her widened eyes and now smiling. "So that's what I felt that last time I visited Ponyville…"

"Hm?" I answered, becoming interested. "You mean during Nightmare Night?"

"Yes. I told you that there was something rare and powerful in your heart, which was waiting to be unleashed." She presented me with her hooves. "This was it."

I smiled and nodded. "I guess it was."

Suddenly, Pinkie rushed out of the group and headed towards the DJ machines. She placed one of the cups of the headphones near her ear and brought out another pony. "Let's get this party started!" A loud beat began playing as she threw a microphone to Twilight, who caught it with her magic and began singing.

"Love is in bloom

A beautiful bride, a handsome groom," She presented Shining Armor and Cadence.

"Two hearts, becoming one" I became excited and quickly rushed over to Twilight, singing along with her.

"A bond, that cannot be undone, because

Love is in bloom

A beautiful bride, a handsome groom

I said, love is in bloom

Starting a life and making room

For us (For us, For us...)"

As we sang, we could see everypony having a great time. Shining Armor and Cadence were dancing so happily and joyously. Pinkie was on the floor, munching on a huge piece of cake. Applejack was playing a violin with her relatives. Spike was dancing with Sweetie Belle. Rainbow Dash was talking with one of the members of the Wonderbolts. Rarity had found Fancypants. Fluttershy joined me and kissed me passionately, filling me with so much happiness.

I also noticed those three bridesmaids I saved rush over to me.

"Oh my gosh, Alex!" Lyra exclaimed excitedly towards me.

"You're so amazing!" Minuette added.

"And incredible!" Twinkleshine included.

"Will you marry me?" They all exclaimed at the same time, but then looked at each other angrily and competitively.

"Sorry, girls." I answered, shaking my head. "There's only one pony that has my heart." I looked towards Fluttershy, who returned a loving look. We both shared a kiss, causing for the three girls to walk away and groan.

Later, we saw Cadence and Shining Armor trotting towards their carriage. Twilight opened the door as I walked to her side. We both bowed until Shining Armor called us.

"Twilight! Alex! None of this would've been possible without you two... Love ya, Twily."

"Love you too, B.B.B.F.F." Twilight responded warmly.

They both exchanged a warm hug.

"That reminds me…" Shining Armor added when he pulled away. He looked towards me. "I still have that favor to ask of you…"

"What is it?" I asked.

"I may not be able to spend time with Twilight as much as I did before…so…" He paused for a moment, looking at the ground and back at me. "I want you to be her B.B.B.F.F. when I can't."

"Huh…?" I slightly widened my eyes.

He continued smiling lightly as he looked at me. "Can you do that for me? Please?"

I looked at Twilight and then smiled at her. I looked back at Shining Armor and nodded. "Of course I can… To be honest…" I looked back at Twilight and placed a hoof around her. "…she's like the sister I never had…"

Twilight was touched by my words. She widened her eyes and then narrowed them caringly, placing her hoof around me tightly.

Shining Armor nodded and smiled. "Thank you." Afterwards, he climbed on the carriage and faced Cadence. "Ready to go?"

"Oh. Can I say one more thing to Alex?" She asked.

Shining Armor nodded his head.

Cadence placed her hooves on the window and looked towards me. "Alex…"

I walked towards her, eagerly listening to what she had to say. "Yes, Miss Cadence?"

She smiled warmly and continued looking at me with serious and caring eyes. "Don't let anypony prevent you from doing what you believe in. You were my best student and you still are." She chuckled. "You're very bright and I know you'll succeed in anything you put your mind and heart to."

I could only warmly smile back at her after those words. She held out her hooves, offering a hug. I walked towards the window of the carriage and accepted her hug, placing my hooves around her. "Thank you, Miss Cadence… You were the best teacher and still are." I chuckled a little. "I'm glad I saw you again."

"I am too, Alex…" We both lightly pulled away and faced each other. "I hope I'll see you again soon, Alex."

I nodded. "I hope so too, Miss Cadence. Until then…"

She nodded as well and was about to go back in the carriage, but she suddenly stopped herself. "Oh! Almost forgot." She stretched her hooves and threw the bouquet of flowers.

The flowers were heading to a group of girls, but Rarity immediately intervened aggressively. "IT'S MINE!" She announced crazily, waving her hooves around the air to catch it. However, instead of calmly holding out her hooves, she threw it even higher in the air, causing it to fly over to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy wasn't even suspecting such a thing. The bouquet of flowers landed on her hooves as she innocently caught them. She noticed them and blushed, looking towards me. I could only send her a loving smile. She returned another one, lowering her head a bit embarrassingly.

Shining Armor and Cadence gave one last wave before the carriage began moving away, causing the horseshoes behind it to clatter and create sound.

The other girls had joined us. Rarity had a sort of disappointed look on her face.

"Now this was a great wedding." Twilight commented as Fluttershy stood by me, still carrying the bouquet of flowers.

"Oh yeah?" Spike announced, standing on top of Pinkie's head. "Just wait until you see what I have planned for the bachelor party!" He chuckled as we returned confused looks.

Then, we all shared a laugh as fireworks popped in the sky. Fluttershy and I especially noticed one that presented a heart. We looked at each other and shared a passionate kiss. Afterwards, I wrapped a hoof around her and continued to gaze at the fireworks for a while.

After the party, we began boarding the train ride home. I noticed Derpy come in with a paper bag over her head, covering her eyes. "Whoo!" She exclaimed.

I chuckled and removed the paper bag from her head. She noticed me and giggled. "Here, Alex." She opened her saddlebag that she was wearing and pulled out some photos. "I'm no photographer but I took these of you and your friends at the party. " She presented them towards me, allowing me to notice that they were the things I witnessed at the party, especially the one with Fluttershy and me kissing.

I looked up at Derpy and smiled. "Thanks Derpy."

She grabbed the paper bag that I had removed from her head and placed the photos inside. She gave it back to me, allowing me to carry it with my teeth. "You're welcome, Alex. You've been such an awesome friend. We can still hang out, right?"

I nodded. "Of course, Derpy."

She smiled and closed her eyes. "Cool!" Afterwards, she walked to her seat and sat down, looking out the window.

I returned back to the other girls that were waiting for me at their seats. Twilight saw me carrying the paper bag with the photos inside as I sat down.

"Here, why don't you let me teach you how to carry it with your magic?" She asked.

I placed it on the ground and chuckled. "Alright."

"Now, all you have to do is stare at it and focus that magic on it. Just focus on the paper bag only." She directed.

"Alright…" I narrowed my eyes and stared at the paper bag. I closed my eyes and began trying to focus my horn. A dark blue aura surrounded the bag.

"Okay, now try to think of lifting it up without using anything but your mind." I nodded and began trying to pick it up. It would slowly jump up and land back on the floor. However, I continued, remembering what Cadence told me. After a few moments, I finally managed to lift it up in the air and hold it there as I opened my eyes. I grinned brightly as I saw my success. "Good job, Alex." Twilight congratulated with a soft smile. "Once you keep practicing, it'll become much easier. Rarity and I can teach you other things to do with your magic now."

"Of course." Rarity agreed.

"And Fluttershy and I can help you get those wings started!" Rainbow Dash added. "I still want that race, remember?"

I chuckled and looked at all of them. "Thank you, girls. I really appreciate all of this."

They returned beautiful smiles.

"Although, I still can't believe you caught the bouquet of flowers, Fluttershy…" Rarity expressed to her. "I really wanted them…"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Rarity…" Fluttershy apologized, beginning to stretch her hoofs to Rarity to give them to her. "Here, you can them."

"No, no." Rarity shook her head, smiling. "You deserve them. After all…" Rarity looked towards me with her eyes and then at Fluttershy.

I lightly blushed, and so did Fluttershy. I then turned around, still looking out the window and seeing fireworks explode in the sky as we grew further away from Canterlot. I could only smile and feel incredibly happy as every one of family was right by me, and I could still feel their love surrounding me.

When we arrived back at Ponyville, we began leaving the train. Before leaving, Derpy faced me and smiled, noticing how I was still carrying the paper bag with my magic. "Great job, Alex!"

I returned a soft smile. "Thanks, Derpy…"

"You're welcome. See you around!" She waved and began flying away.

After, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash began leaving as well, expressing their farewells towards me before heading to their homes and bed. Twilight then faced me, smiling so caringly. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

I returned the same smile and nodded. "Of course."

She looked at me for a moment and then embraced me. "…Goodnight, B.B.B.F.F."

I embraced her as well and patted her back. "Goodnight, L.S.B.F.F"

"L.S.B.F.F?" She asked, pulling back and forming a confused expression.

"Little Sister Best Friend Forever?" I explained, chuckling.

"Oh, of course!" She giggled and nodded. Afterwards, she waved and began walking home with Spike.

Lastly, Fluttershy appeared by my side, smiling. I returned a smile to her and then remembered something. "Oh, Fluttershy. Do you mind if we stop by my house?"

"Not at all." She responded, still holding that beautiful smile.

We walked to my house, arriving shortly after.

"Do you want me to wait out here?" She asked.

"Sure. I'll just be a moment."

She nodded, and I walked in. I was still carrying the paper bag with my magic. I placed it on the counter and looked around. I noticed all the photo frames that were still empty, except one specific one. Afterwards, I closed my eyes and began concentrating. I opened them slightly, leaving them narrowed. A dark blue aura formed around the paper bag, opening it. I also used my magic to pick up the photos inside. Then, the same colored auras surrounded the photo frames. I placed the photos inside the empty photo frames. When I was finished, I released a breath and looked around. I smiled. They weren't empty anymore. They were filled with my friends. I looked to my left to see the one specific one I was talking about. It was the picture that I had first taken with the girls. I smiled warmly while looking at it, even feeling the need to chuckle a little because of how happy I was.

Finally, I nodded and walked back out. Not bad for a beginner.

I reached Fluttershy, who was waiting for me outside. "Ready?" I asked.

She nodded, and we began walking. As we did, she turned to face me. "Are you going to sleepover again?" She asked.

"Mm-hm." I nodded. "If it's okay with you…"

She smiled warmly. "Of course it is."

"Thank you…" I thanked and kissed her on the cheek.

She slightly blushed. "You know… I can help you with your flying tomorrow if you want…"

"That sounds great." I answered. "I can't wait to be able to fly with you now. I'm getting excited just thinking about it!"

Fluttershy giggled. "Me too…"

Once we arrived at her cottage, we removed our formal attire and began preparing for bed. This time, I wanted to sleep by her tonight.

"You don't mind if I sleep by you tonight either, do you?" I asked.

"Hehe…no." She responded. She placed the flowers in a bowl of water and began walking upstairs to her bedroom. I followed her.

There, we both began lying on bed. Fluttershy couldn't help but keep gazing at my new appearance, but the same pony.

"What is it?" I asked, still grinning at her.

"You… You're just…so…amazing…"

"I can say the same thing about you…"

Fluttershy giggled softly and nuzzled herself in my hooves. Using my magic, I grabbed the covers at the end of bed and pulled them over us. Fluttershy looked up to me and smiled adorably. "Goodnight, Alex…"

"Goodnight, Fluttershy…"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

We both shared a very passionate kiss that lasted for a while. Afterwards, she closed her eyes as she lay in my hooves. I smiled and managed to wrap my wing around her, comfortingly. Then, I closed my eyes and began falling asleep.

At that moment, I realized something.

My birthday wish came true.

The Crystal Empire : Part One

Prelude

I began waking from a daze. I felt in total control now. My vision being blurry for a moment, I looked around and saw her with me in what appeared to be in the middle of nowhere. I noticed her, sadly. I sighed.

"Sorry, Luna…" I apologized to her unconscious face, knowing that it was my complete fault. I grunted and groaned in pain as I moved my hooves to push myself up from the ground. I was still a little sore. When I was fully up, I looked at her again, but then something suddenly caught my attention. I quickly looked back forward, noticing a bright light in the distance headed this way. I placed my hoof in front of my face to try to analyze the object accurately. It wasn't a false alarm. I had to move. "Quick." I stated boldly, but weakly. I limped towards her and used what was left of my magic to help her. The dark blue aura surrounded her, allowing me to move her. I continued to grunt, attempting to use the rest of my strength to transport her away from danger's way.

I looked ahead, noticing the bright light coming closer, causing me to move quicker. As I did, I looked around, attempting to find a place to hide. I spotted a closed off alley behind me. Nonetheless, I struggled towards in a charged motion, bursting through the light barricade. After the impact, I fell to the ground, due to the lack of strength, as well as causing me to accidentally drop Luna. She fell to the ground and released a groan. I released a weak breath and quickly rushed to her. I began slightly lifting her up with my forelegs, holding her in them. My ears perked, causing me to quickly look back to see the bright light. It was dead ahead of me. I began preparing my horn for any defensive attacks, no matter what the cost, as I continued to pant quietly. Fortunately the light seemed to look around for a moment and then vanished. I released a breath of relief and rested my horn. With Luna still in my forelegs, I looked back to see a passage through where we could escape and remain hidden.

Feeling my magical strength weaken, I decided to slowly erect my wings and wrap my right one around Luna.

"Come on… It's not over yet…" I spoke softly.

I began walking her through the passage, having some trouble with passing the barricades. I continued walking, reaching a small wooden ramp. I walked Luna to it, but at the end of the ramp, it collapsed, most likely due to our weight. This caused me to fall and accidentally release Luna's body from my wing. We both fell harshly to the ground as we both released a grunt of pain. Nonetheless, I managed to get on my legs and kneel by her, placing a hoof on her shoulder.

"I'll only slow you down…Just go…" She announced weakly, shaking her head and lying herself on the dirty floor.

I held out a hoof towards her. "You're not getting off that easily… Come on… You still have a whole lot of explaining to do…" She didn't reply, but instead weakly lifted her foreleg to touch mine. After, I gripped it, pulling her up from the floor and caressing her with my right wing again. I continued to slowly walk towards the door at the end. "After all we've been through…" I began as I continued to move. "It'd be a waste to give up now…" I reached the door but noticed an issue. It was barricaded with a wooden plank. I would've sighed, but I was too weak, and there was no time. Taking a risk, I readied my horn and concentrated on the plank. A dark blue aura formed around it. I took a moment, and then finally tried to pull the plank. It slightly formed cracks. I took a breath and tried pulling it off again. More cracks formed, and it looked as it was about to come off. I took another breath and gave one last pull. It broke off, causing me to throw it to the side and rest my horn. I raised my left hoof and pushed the door open.

It led me into a hall with an opening to the left. I saw a small light appear on the floor, causing me to quickly hug the wall and look around the corner. He was still there, continuing his possibly desperate search to find us. I waited until he finally left. Then, I continued walking Luna through the room.

"Let's try this way…" I released, continuing to hold Luna as I walked her through. As I did, I looked around, noticing how completely quiet and empty it was. I shook my head, refusing to allow any distractions disrupt us. "We're almost through this…"

When we stumbled through a hallway, Luna fell weakly to her knees, causing me to stop and hold a hoof on her back. I sighed and looked around. "Let's take a break…" We seemed to be safe for now…

I assisted Luna in placing her against the wall, allowing her to sit and rest. I moved next to her, forcefully planting myself in a seating manner against the wall as well, due to the lack of strength to do it slowly. I looked towards the ceiling. It was silent for a moment. I thought about everything…on how it came so suddenly…

"So…" I began. "Is it true…? Is he really…?"

"Yes…" Luna responded. "Unfortunately…it is…"

I sighed and looked towards the ground, shaking my head. "I just can't believe it… Why…? I had no idea about this…about any of this… It all seems like a nightmare to me really…" I looked towards her. "I respect and trust you Princess…but…I just can't seem to believe what he said…"

"I'm sorry, Alex… I did not know of it either… Tis quite shocking…" She looked at me. "But I just need thou to know that what thine did was the best for everypony…"

I didn't answer her for a moment. "…I suppose…"

Unexpectedly, my heart began racing. I placed a hoof to my heart and strained my eyes.

"Alex?" Princess Luna questioned.

I grunted. "Not again…" I could feel strands of darkness consume me. I tried to fight it. I shook my head and tried to push it away from me. After a while, I felt a relief of light flow through me. My heart resumed to its normal speed. I turned my head around and faced Luna.

She had just finished resting her horn and planted her head back against the wall. "Tis lucky it wasn't too late."

I released a deep breath of relief. I was still panting for several seconds. "Can't let your guard down for a second…" I grunted a few more times and crawled back next to Luna. I inhaled and exhaled for a few seconds, looking up towards the ceiling. Then, I turned to Luna. "How do you feel?"

"I think I'm going to be okay…" She thought for a moment and then faced me as well. "Thank you…" She added, most likely referring back to when I helped her through the whole mess…

I only nodded, my thoughts still battling with each other. I shook my head and stood up. "Come on…we still have a lot of work to do…" I held out my hoof.

She grabbed it and pulled herself up. Afterwards, we began walking towards the exit.

When we were out of our hiding spot, we took notice on how the streets were completely deserted. All that remained was darkness and silence. This frightened me.

"Dear Celestia…" I slipped out in a whisper.

"No time to waste, Alex." Luna looked towards me seriously. "We have to end this…"

I looked at her in silence for a moment. I nodded. "Right…"

We began walking towards the destination. I walked almost slowly, still feeling fear surround my heart. My head bobbed slightly as I stared at the floor, noticing my hooves move in motion. To my left, I could feel Luna looking at me, worriedly. It seemed as if she still wanted to talk about the situation, but we both knew there was no time for that.

Something suddenly stung my heart. I placed a hoof on my chest and then heard the sounds of small taps. I focused my eyes towards the ground and noticed a pebble bouncing rapidly on the floor. I motioned my facial expression to an alarmed and confused one and began hearing a sound that sounded like wind howling… It frightened me…

"Do you hear that…?" I asked Luna in a soft tone.

She nodded.

The noise grew louder, causing us to turn back. We noticed a huge wall of darkness that seemed to slightly grow larger as the noise grew louder. We analyzed it and found that it seemed to be hurtling towards us like an avalanche as it became nearer. I widened my eyes and held a hoof outstretched towards the other way. "Go… Go! RUN!"

We immediately began running in the opposite direction, away from the black wall of darkness that seemed to be slowly catching up to us with our current speed. We saw our destination not too far off. Believing we could make it, I sprinted faster. Letting my fears get the best of me, I tripped and landed on my stomach. Luna continued running until she noticed I wasn't by her side. She stopped, right in front of the doors. "Alex!" She exclaimed looking back towards me.

I tried crawling towards her, due to my leg being in pain, but I soon noticed that I wouldn't make it at that rate. Luna, without hesitation, quickly ran towards me, despite the wall of darkness gaining on me. When she was in front me, she picked me up and placed me on her back. She then sprinted and headed towards the doors to our destination. She barged it open and slammed it shut after charging inside. Once she knew we were safe, I rolled off her back and landed on the floor with a thud. We both were panting heavily.

After a short while of regaining our breath, I looked at Luna.

"…is that why you came back for me…?"

She shook her head. "Do not be silly. Anypony would have done the same…but I suppose it emphasizes it…"

I remained silent, looking at the floor, still in disbelief. I just couldn't believe it was true…

I slowly stood up and looked forward to two more double doors. I looked away for a moment, thinking. Then, I began walking.

When we reached the doors, I placed my hoof on them, but looked down in hesitation.

"What's wrong?" Luna asked.

I remained silent for a few seconds. "…I'm just scared, I guess…"

Luna placed a hoof on me. "I know how thou feels…but everypony is counting on us…"

I sighed. "Okay…" I pushed my hoof forward, opening the door and hearing the eerie creak of the door open. We walked in, looking around and seeing the place completely empty. "Something doesn't feel right…" I slipped softly. We continued walking cautiously. After a while, I stopped, feeling my legs tremble in fear and my heart beat pound.

"Alex…?" Luna inquired.

Suddenly, hooves pounded and shook the ground in front of us, catching our attention towards it.

It was him…

I furrowed my eyebrows in anger and readied my horn to attack.

"Back for more?"

Episode 53 – The Crystal Empire Part One

I slightly opened my eyes to notice the sun's morning rays of light shine on my face. I groaned softly and turned around to see Fluttershy right behind me, nuzzling my back. I formed a soft light smile and gazed at her adoring expression.

I slowly and quietly removed myself out of bed. Once I was on my four hooves, I looked around and startled myself when I spotted a pair of wings, along with a horn on my head. Then, I quickly remembered on what happened. I released a breath of relief. Right… I'm an Alicorn… Hm… I wonder when I'll change back…

"Good Morning." I heard a soft comforting voice behind me, causing me to turn my eyesight towards the direction.

I saw Fluttershy sitting up there, revealing morning eyes as her mane with a little ruffled in a very cute way. She rubbed her left eye with her left hoof and yawned.

"Good Morning, Fluttershy." I responded, turning my body towards her. "Did you sleep well?"

"Mm-hm." She nodded. "What about you?"

"Fantastic." I continued smiling at her warmly.

She removed herself from bed as well and walked to her mirror. She grabbed a brush and brushed her mane for a moment. After she finished, she turned to me. "What do you say we go practice those wings?"

"Sounds good to me."

She led me down the stairs and out the cottage.

When we were in a grassy field out back, she turned to me and smiled.

"Okay now, let's get started! First off, can you open your wings?"

"I…I think so…" I responded and looked at my wings. I tried to remember how I opened them last night, but it was pretty hard. I could feel some extra muscles on my side, but I couldn't really move them. My wings would slowly attempt to open in a stumbled motion, but they retracted back to the sides of my body. I slightly frowned.

"Don't worry about it." Fluttershy assured with her soft smile, placing her hoofs on my shoulders. I just couldn't help but gaze at her magnificent eyes, feeling the need to place another fervent kiss on her lips. "You just need to relax a bit… You might be tense." She rubbed me a little with her hooves in a circular motion.

I released a breath and nodded. I closed my eyes and tried imagining myself open my wings. Slowly, but surely, my wings began to extend. In a matter of seconds, they were fully erect. I opened my eyes and looked at them. "Phew."

Fluttershy giggled. "If that was hard, you might have some trouble in getting them to flap. Don't worry; the first time is the hardest. After, it'll be a breeze!" I smiled at her cute reaction. Afterwards, I began to attempt to bend and flex them. Still with some struggles, I managed to flap them a few times over time. "Woohoo!" She repeated that adorable soft cheering. She stretched out her wings and began lifting from the ground. "Now to get off the ground, you have to remove the weight from your body and just focus on your wings. It's like floating on water." I concentrated on her directions, removing the weight from my body and placing that energy on my wings. I began to lift off as well and achieved several feet to where Fluttershy was. She sent a sweet smile as she closed her eyes, slightly tilting her head. "Ready to go higher?"

"Sure."

She grabbed my hoof and led me higher in altitude. "Now, we just need to practice flying around." She released her soft grip from my hoof and began her directions for my training. "Try flying from left to right." Almost feeling like it's my first time roller skating, with the roller blades being my wings, I attempted flying as she told me. Fortunately, it felt as if I had some experience before, which I technically did, so I didn't have too much trouble. "Good!" She praised after I completed the task. "Now try lifting yourself up and down." I placed a little more force on flapping my wings, causing me to rise in altitude. Then, I did the complete opposite, lowering myself back down to Fluttershy after some time. She giggled and embraced me adorably, possibly due to how happy she was to see me flying with her.

She continued to coach me in my practice for flying. As time passed, I slightly became better with maneuvering and other tactics with flight.

I released a breath of relief. "Phew… My wings are already feeling tired."

"Don't worry." Fluttershy assured. "You'll become much better in no time."

I smiled lightly and placed a kiss on her cheek. "Thanks, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy slightly blushed and continued to look at me. "Why don't we go to Twilight's? She can help you practice your magic."

"Sure. I could give my wings a break."

Fluttershy continued to lightly smile as she grabbed my hoof and began leading me towards Twilight's home in Ponyville.

Having her library in our sight, we both decreased our speed and landed lightly on the ground, closing our wings and placing them back on our sides. We walked to her door, allowing me to knock pleasantly. After a few seconds, the door was opened.

"Oh, hey you two!" Twilight announced cheerfully, turning to me. "What brings you here?"

"I just thought I could use some magic training from my L.S.B.F.F." I added with a lightly playfully smirk.

She returned a favored smile and stepped to the side. "Come on in!" Fluttershy and I walked in as Twilight closed the door behind us. "So, what'd you have in mind?" She asked.

I shrugged. "Nothing in particular. I guess we could just start off from the basics and go on from there?"

"Sure thing." She looked around and analyzed the books on her shelves. "Alright… I think I know what we can do…" She focused on one specific book. "See that book right there?" She pointed. "The blue one."

"Yeah." I nodded.

"Go ahead and try to pull it out, and then put it back in."

"Okay…" I closed my eyes and began focusing my horn towards the book. I had some experience from last night with the bag of photos Derpy gave me, so it wasn't too unfamiliar. A dark blue aura formed around the book and I pulled it out almost easily. I slowly opened my eyes, not wanting to disrupt the spell. Twilight continued to observe my progress. Then, I pushed it back in while keeping my eyes slightly open.

"Excellent." Twilight commented. "How about two? And just don't pull them out and put them back in. This time, pull them out, switch them, and then place them back in the shelf."

"Got it…" Along with the blue book, I managed to order the aura to include the red one on the side as well. Once I did, I pulled them out, almost being as easy as pulling only the blue one. Once they were out, I had to focus them on switching. It was almost like juggling in a way. It felt like I had to create two different pathways, intersect them, and then separate them on the opposite sides, all this occurring in my mind.

Once I placed them back on the shelf, Twilight congratulated me and offered a supportive and encouraging high hoof.

As with the flight training, I spent some time working with my magic skills as well. Twilight tested me while using her books. She had me slowly increase the difficulty of the course by increasing the number of books I had to work with.

After finishing the last objective and feeling the need to rest my horn, I heard a familiar voice by the door. "Well look at you!"

I turned my head to the left and noticed Applejack, along with Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash standing there.

I slightly chuckled. "Thanks. What are you girls doing here?"

"We'd figured you'd be practicin' with Twilight here, so we came to watch and offer the support you need."

I sent a sweet smile. "I really appreciate that…"

"It's our pleasure, Alex." Rarity added, walking a step towards me. "Especially to such a handsome young stallion as yourself." She looked at me, tilting her head and blinking her long eyelashes.

I chuckled and slightly blushed, looking away as well. "Thanks, Rarity."

Twilight, smiling at the situation as well, began to speak. "Well, then. I guess that's enough training for now, isn't it?"

I nodded. "I should let both my wings and horn rest."

Twilight placed a hoof under her chin and rubbed it. "I wonder what Spike is up to… I haven't really seen him all morning…" She looked up towards her stairs. "Spike?" She called.

Spike came walking down the stairs after a few seconds, carrying something in his right claw. "Sorry. I've been busy with the Princess. She uh…" He rubbed his head and looked at the ground. He faced Twilight. "She wants to give you a test…and she seemed pretty serious about it."

"A test?!" Twilight gasped. "Spike, please tell me your joking. I haven't had any time to study for a test! I didn't even know there was a test!"

He returned a shrug. "Sorry, Twilight. She just sent this letter this morning."

"Oh no!" Twilight began releasing signs of panic. "She must be waiting for me right now! I can't keep her waiting!" She began breathing deeply, running all over the room. "Where are all my quills?" She ran across the room as Spike retrieved and held a giant sack to hold her things. "Brbrbr." She desperately looked around until she found a cup holding a few quills. She quickly grabbed them with her magic and threw them towards the sack Spike was holding as he leaped into the air to catch them. They were shot so rapidly that the sharp ends of the quills pierced through the bag. "No, no, no, no, no..." She expressed as she examined through every book she pulled out of the shelf. "Ugh! I need the Magical Compendium volumes 1-36!" She exclaimed as I notice the girls at the door give their own expressions to the scene. Applejack was smiling, as if her body language responded the message "Twi, you're overreacting again." Rarity could only stare at the scene with a slightly agape mouth. Fluttershy lowered her head and appeared as if she was trying to hold in laughter, smiling widely but lightly. Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, returned a worried expression. "Where is it?" She asked as Rarity and Applejack exchanged looks, of course Rarity looking concerned about the scene as Applejack shrugged it off. Twilight threw out books from the shelf until she spotted a huge one, revealing a face of delight. Spike noticed the bookasaur, holding out his claws to catch it. However, I knew he wouldn't be able to hold it up, so as soon as it dropped, I quickly focused my horn and caught it, helping Spike place it inside the bag. Twilight merely observed for a second and continued her pursuit of preparations. "Flash cards!" She clapped her hooves and raced to another part of the room. "I should make some flash cards." Twilight opened a drawer and pulled out many stacks of flashcards. "Spike, I'm gonna need you to quiz me. On everything." She threw the cards towards him, causing him to quickly react and catch them. "Everything I've ever learned. Ever." She observed the amount of cards Spike was holding and rubbed her chin. "That isn't going to be enough cards."

Twilight ran across the room. Spike returned an irritated expression and placed the cards on the floor, outstretching his arms down his body. "Twilight, calm down. It's just a test."

Twilight canceled her search for her cards and turned her head to Spike. "Just a test?" She sped towards Spike and exclaimed loudly, causing me to widen my eyes. "Just a test?" Twilight continued speaking in a rush as she walked towards Spike, causing him to slowly back away. "Princess Celestia wants to give me some kind of exam and you're trying to tell me to calm down because it's just a test?!" She asked in disbelief.

Spike quickly retrieved some protective equipment for some reason and placed it on. "Uh...yes?"

Twilight stretched out her face in stress and her horn began glowing, causing me to slightly frown in worry. As her eye twitched, Applejack decided to comment on the situation. "I'd say she's handling things pretty well," She directed to Rarity, causing her frown to shift to a smile. "…considering."

"Uh…"

Before I could try to speak, the tree house was suddenly shot towards the air and forced back down as Twilight exploded in anger. "Urgh!"

She was huffing and puffing deeply. I walked towards her, still containing my worried frown on my face. "Twilight…" I held out a hoof and placed it on her shoulder. "You'll do fine. Since when did you ever fail a test?" I asked, forming an assuring smile.

"Oh that reminds me…" Spike continued, removing the protection from his body. "Princess Celestia wanted to see you too, Alex."

"Me?" I inquired, becoming slightly confused. "Why? Am I going to get a test too?"

He shrugged. "Not sure." He responded, walking over to a broom to begin sweeping. "Maybe, I don't know."

Twilight looked over to me, cooling down a little more. "Are we taking a test together…? I mean…I understand about me, because I'm her student, but…you…?"

"I don't know…but we better go see what she needs us to do then."

"Well…I guess I feel a little better since I won't be alone."

I returned a confident smile. "Anything to make you feel better."

She smiled as well and looked back to face Spike. "Come on, Spike. We're leaving."

As he finished sweeping and began running to place the broom away, we faced the girls.

"Well, I guess we'll see you girls later…" I believed.

"Don't worry. Ya'll do great!" Applejack guaranteed.

"Yes." Rarity nodded. "If there's any two ponies smart enough to ace a test like nothing, it's you two!"

I chuckled slightly in embarrassment. "Thanks, again."

Once Spike caught up to us, I gave Fluttershy a quick hug and walked with Twilight towards the train station as she carried a huge saddlebag full of supplies.

When we arrived in Canterlot, we began making our way towards Princess Celestia's location. From my peripheral view, I observed Twilight. She seemed to becoming a tad nervous again. Deciding I could ease her a little, I smiled and slipped out a joke. "Let's sit together so I can take a few peeks of your answers."

Twilight shifted her eyes towards me and giggled. "Oh, Alex. This could be the most important test of our lives, and you're here joking about it?"

"Well… I suppose you can't take everything too serious… I just want to ease your nerves a little, that's all. It's most likely that you won't do as great as you would when you're not nervous."

"Yeah… You know what? You're right. I can handle any test! Right, Spike?" She asked Spike, who was sitting on her back.

"Mm-hm!" He mumbled, chewing on some snacks he appeared to have brought along.

We reached the staircase to the building and stopped. Twilight placed Spike on the ground and spoke to him. "Okay, you stay here Spike. We'll be out in a while.

"Sure thing." He sat on the first step of the staircase and continued eating. "Good luck!"

Twilight grinned and looked towards me, motioning her head to start our journey. I nodded and felt a lot better now that Twilight seemed to be confident.

We walked through the halls, eventually arriving in the huge hall Princess Celestia was in. "Ahem." As Twilight cleared her throat, catching the Princess's attention, I noticed there was another pony with her…Princess Luna! Princess Celestia whispered something to her, allowing her to walk away. I couldn't help but notice a real…irritated or annoyed expression on Luna's face for some reason… "You wanted to see us? To give us a test?" Twilight continued as Princess Luna walked past us. Princess Luna glanced at Twilight for a moment. Then, she turned straight forward and continued walking. I just couldn't help but feel something bothering her… I returned a frown as I observed her continuing to walk. I decided I could find out what's wrong before starting this test… "I brought my own quills. And plenty of paper to show my work…"

I walked out of the hall and looked around for her. I spotted her waiting near the doors. She was sitting and staring at the ground in an irritated manner. I walked up to her. "Princess Luna…!" I announced in slight surprise. This caused her to widen her eyes a little and immediately stand up to face me. My eyebrows furrowed concernedly as I tilted my head to the side. "…Are you okay…?"

She sighed and faced the ground. "I'm fine, Alexander…"

"You don't sound fine… It looks like something specific is troubling you greatly…"

She looked around and narrowed her eyes in an annoyed manner. "It is nothing…"

I pushed my head a little towards her. "But…"

"You should go listen to what Princess Celestia has to say… It is important…"

I sighed. "Okay…" I turned around and began heading back to the hall. However, I stopped for a moment and glanced at her. "Come talk to me anytime you want…" She returned silence, not even sparing a look towards me. This caused me to look forward and walk towards the hall, almost sadly. As I entered, I shook my head and tried to not let it distract me for now. I faced Princess Celestia and Twilight, who seemed to be waiting for me. "So…what's our assignment?" I asked.

"This is no ordinary assignment…" She began. She remained silent for a moment, closing her eyes in a pause. Then, she inhaled a breath and continued. "The Crystal Empire has returned."

"Crystal Empire…?" I questioned, forming an intrigued face.

However, Twilight quickly pulled out the books in her saddlebag and began flipping through them quickly. "I'm sorry, I-I thought I'd studied. Ooh. I don't think there's anything in any of my books th—

"There wouldn't be." Princess Celestia answered and turned to face her throne. "Few remember it ever existed at all." She used her magic to lift up a glass case protecting some kind of stone that looked like a long diamond. She placed it in front of us, causing Twilight to lift up a hoof and tilt her head in curiosity. "Even my knowledge of the empire is limited." Princess Celestia suddenly shot a beam of magic towards it, causing both the diamond to reveal a map and us to back away. The magic surrounding the diamond shot upwards and revealed a large castle in the middle of the map. "But what I do know is that it contains a powerful magic. One thousand years ago, King Sombra, a unicorn whose heart was black as night," The map depicted a peaceful and beautiful town ran by calm ponies, but suddenly transformed into what appeared to be a desert landscape with stones everywhere. "…took over the Crystal Empire." In the center, the top of the castle was suddenly transformed into a face of a horrendous pony. He watched as the other crystal ponies, now appearing to be sickly ill and dull as they were slaved and chained. "Then He was ultimately overthrown, turning to shadow and banished to the ice of the arctic north." She added as the image depicted both her and Princess Luna working together to defeat him and send him away in frozen ice. "But not before he was able to put a curse upon the empire. A curse that caused it to vanish into thin air." The image held before us suddenly disappeared back into the crystal. "If the empire is filled with hope and love," Princess Celestia lifted the crystal and shot a beam at it. "…those things are reflected across all of Equestria." A beautifully colored and transparent rainbow formed throughout the room, causing Twilight to reveal an expression of awe. "If hatred and fear take hold..." Princess Celestia suddenly shifted her facial expression and formed a dark and disturbing one, shocking me as I had never seen a face anywhere CLOSE to what she presented. She sent out another beam of magic, this one being darker and dull. It entered the crystal, infusing it with its color and causing for a shadow to head towards us, revealing what appeared to be thorny stones. This shocked Twilight and me as we looked around us, noticing the stones grow and spread. However, Princess Celestia destroyed them with her magic. "Which is why I need your help finding a way to protect it."

"You want us to help protect an entire empire?" She lowered her head, now looking sadly.

"It is, as I said, a different kind of test. But for Alex, it's more a challenge to see if he's fit to handle his new abilities." She looked towards me, directing at my wings and horn. "Remember… With great power comes great responsibility." I looked at her for a moment and then nodded confidently. "This assignment, I'm certain you both will pass."

Twilight stared at the floor for a moment and then revealed a confident facial expression as well. "How do I begin?"

"By joining Princess Cadence and Shining Armor in the Crystal Empire." She answered as she walked past us.

Miss Cadence?

"My brother is there?" Twilight asked, excitedly.

"He is." Twilight and I caught up with her and began walking by her side. "And your Ponyville friends will join you there as well. I have every confidence you will succeed. And when you do, I'll know you are ready to move on to the next level of your studies." We reached the end of the hall. Twilight and I looked to our right to see Princess Luna standing there. She returned a very strict and joyless expression, causing me to increase my worry about her, but for Twilight to worry about the assignment.

"But…what if I mess everything up and cause both of us to fail…?" Twilight asked.

"You wont."

"But what if—

Princess Celestia stopped her by placing a hoof on her. "You won't." However, seeming to be unconvinced, Twilight continued walking with a lowered head. "But Twilight," She glanced back at the Princess. "In the end, it must be you two and you two alone who ultimately assists Princess Cadence and Shining Armor in doing what needs to be done to protect the empire...together. Do you understand?"

As Princess Celestia spoke, I could only keep my eyes drawn to Princess Luna's face. She seemed so…lifeless…and if not that, irritated. She didn't smile or offer one sign of encouragement towards us. I was beginning to worry greatly about her…

Twilight looked towards me when Princess Celestia finished and smiled in a determined matter. She stomped her hoof on the ground and stood proudly. "Mm-hm!"

"Then go. There is no time to lose."

The last thing I could see as Princess Celestia closed the doors shut was Luna's exasperated expression. She was staring intensely at me, and then the doors shut, breaking it. I was frightened. It almost appeared as if she actually hated me… Of course, I know that's not the case…but her appearance was just…

My thoughts were cut short when Twilight began walking off. I quickly looked back and followed her.

We found Spike continuing to sit on the step, waiting for us as he placed his face on his claws, empty of snacks. When he heard our hoofsteps, he quickly jumped. "Ah! Twilight! Alex! That was fast! Let me guess, you got a perfect score?" He bumped her nose with his claw playfully, standing proudly. I remained silent, mostly due to Luna's expression. Twilight repeated me, but walked away sadly. "A-minus?" Spike guessed, catching up with Twilight and holding a grin as I walked by her. "B-plus?" Twilight stopped a few steps ahead of him and continued to form a gloomy expression. This caused Spike to gasp and rub his claws nervously. "Did you…" He spoke quietly. "…fail…?"

Twilight looked back at him with her gloomy expression. She inhaled a breath and began singing.

"I was prepared to do my best" She began walking, causing me to frown and form a concerned expression for her as I followed her.

"Thought I could handle any test" Spike tagged along as well.

"For I can do so many tricks

But I wasn't prepared for this"

We reached town, noticing a waiter bring a mare tea.

"Levitation would have been a breeze" Twilight had poured the tea into the mare's cup, surprising both the waiter and her a bit.

"Facts and figures I recite with ease"

She sat down and lifted a hoof to the air. "The square root of five hundred and forty-six is twenty-three point three six six six four two eight nine one zero nine."

She answered her own number so quickly, causing Spike and I to return widened eyes. We exchanged a short look with each other, and then, using my magic, I grabbed a pencil and paper nearby and did the calculations myself, taking a few seconds. When I received the result, I widened my eyes and answered. "She's correct…"

Nonetheless, Twilight grabbed Spike and lifted him up, twirling him in the air.

"I could ace a quiz on friendship's bliss" She dropped him and ran towards the edge of Canterlot, looking out towards the view as the wind blew our manes.

"But I wasn't prepared for this

Will I fail, or will I pass?

I can't be sure..."

"She can't be sure…" Spike joined as Twilight ran off to another place.

She stopped near a pond with a bridge.

"My mind is sharp, my skills intact

My heart is pure..." She teleported to each Lilli pad gracefully.

"Her heart is pure…" Spike joined in rhythm.

"Oh, I've taken my share of licks" Twilight continued as Spike danced around her.

"I've made it through the thin and thick

But no I wasn't" She emphasized as the town bells began ringing.

"Oh no, she wasn't"

"Oh no, I wasn't"

"Oh no, she wasn't"

"No I wasn't…" Spike joined her for her last words. "Prepared... for this!"

After finishing, Twilight and I reached the train station. Spike was jogging behind us, happily. However, noticing and recognizing Twilight's condition again, he frowned. "Uh, prepared for what, exactly?"

Twilight only glanced at him before we heard Applejack's voice call us. "Alex! Twilight!" She jumped over to us and hugged us, managing to bring a smile upon our faces. "Did ya'll pass?"

Pinkie Pie knocked Spike out of the way with her party cannon. "Are we gonna celebrate your awesomeness with Princess Celestia?" She had lit the fuse and placed her hooves on her ears. Oncee the cannon exploded confetti upwards, Pinkie jumped into the air along with them as well.

"Not quite." Twilight responded, causing Pinkie to stop and reverse her movements, somehow affecting the confetti as well. "We're going to the Crystal Empire!"

The girls immediately shared looks of confusion towards each other.

"The Crystal Empire." I began explaining. "It's supposed to be where the crystal ponies live. Princess Celestia stated that it's mysteriously come back after one thousand years. It's still pretty confusing to me right now, really…"

"Right…" Twilight and agreed and looked towards ahead, noticing something coming on the train tracks. "That must our ride." She looked towards the other ponies. "Do any of you need stop for anything? It's going to be a little chilly on the way…"

"Oh! In that case, let me get my new scarves!" Rarity responded excitedly as the train arrived and stopped for us.

"Fine… Just make it quick, we don't have much time to lose." Twilight answered as we began boarding.

The train ride was pretty quick, although it would have gone faster if Rarity hadn't packed so many scarves… All of us had returned a look towards her when she walked in the train with Spike trailing behind her, carrying all of her suitcases.

Right now, we were in a freezing area. I looked out the window, seeing a somewhat small blizzard outside. The train whistle blew. Once we felt the train coming to a stop, we all walked towards the door and waited for it to open. When it did, we were immediately welcomed with snow and heavy cold winds. Twilight had to place a hoof in front of her due to this. Everypony, including me, walked out of the train, except for Rarity, who was lagging along with Spike.

"Ha!" She laughed. "And you all made fun of me for packing so many scarves."

Spike grunted, carrying so many items on his back. "I didn't say a word. Whoa!" He slipped on the ice, causing me to quickly focus my magic and hold the items before the fell.

I grunted slightly, still not used to the amount of weight I could hold with magic. "Rarity…could you have at least brought only one suitcase of scarves…?"

"My apologies, Alex, but I must have a different scarf that fits the occasion!" She grinned happily.

I grunted once more, feeling a drop a sweat fall from my face. "What occasion?"

"Twilight!" We heard a familiar voice.

"Shining Armor?" Twilight responded, causing me to look to my right and notice her brother coming towards us.

"I'll take it from here Alex." Spike offered.

"Thanks…" I replied and placed the stuff gently back on him.

Shining Armor removed the winter gear from his face. "Twily! You made it." They both exchanged a hug as I walked towards them. Shining Armor noticed me and stuck out his hoof. "It's nice to see you again."

I grabbed it and shook it. "The feeling's mutual."

"I'd love to ask how things are, but right now, we better get moving. There are things out here we really don't want to run into after dark."

I could hear Fluttershy gulp behind me. "What kind of things?" She asked in a soft and fearful tone.

"Let's just say the empire... isn't the only thing that's returned." His response caused the girls behind us to exchange worried expressions. "Come on. Let's get moving." He began leading the way.

I followed him but slowed down to allow Fluttershy to catch up to me. Once she did, I noticed she was slightly shivering. I didn't blame her. It was freezing out here. I stretched out a wing and wrapped it around her. She noticed this and released a soft smile towards me.

As we continued moving, the blizzard began getting stronger.

"What's with this blizzard?" I asked, having to put some extra effort to both raise my voice and walk through the snow.

"Something keeps trying to get in! We think it's the unicorn king who originally cursed the place." He answered, raising his voice as well.

"…King Sombra?"

"But Princess Celestia said I was being sent here to find a way to protect the empire!" Twilight yelled through the blizzard. "If King Sombra can't get in, then it must already be protected."

Suddenly, we heard something in the distance, causing us to stop in our tracks. It sounded like…a roar…

Fluttershy gasped. "Th-That's one of the things, isn't it?"

"Guh. We have to get to the Crystal Empire. Now." Shining Armor highly recommended.

Unexpectedly, we heard something form behind us, causing us to look back. This humongous shadow appeared right before us, and we could see these terrifying eyes on it.

"What the… What the hay is that!?" I exclaimed. Spike on the other hoof was trembling, stunned by the shadow, making Shining Armor pull him away and leaving the baggage behind. The shadow noticed and began rushing towards us like an avalanche! "Run!" I yelled, commencing us to dash away.

Twilight noticed Spike running in front of her. She lowered her head and picked up Spike, placing him on her back. "Go, go!" She exclaimed.

I remained with Fluttershy, making sure she didn't get left behind. But I couldn't help and look back at the shadow as I ran, feeling more than just fear…

"Almost there." I heard Shining Armor say. I looked to the front to see some kind of bubble ahead. We all continued running until we finally reached the bubble. The girls quickly dashed inside, but I felt somepony was missing. I looked back to see Shining Armor struggling with the shadow. "Shining Armor!" I yelled out and quickly sprinted towards him. He appeared to be forced inside towards the shadow. Once I reached him, I quickly dove inside, using as much as I could to free him with my own magic and heart. I managed to create a bright light inside, damaging the shadow temporarily enough to free Shining Armor. However, during the process, I felt something change inside of me… I didn't worry about it at that time. Instead, I focused on Shining Armor. "Come on! Let's go!" I shouted, grabbing his hoof and helping him up. Then, we quickly sprinted towards the bubble and dove inside, making it just in time before the shadow could get us.

Once in, I was panting heavily as I clenched my hooves towards my heart. What was that…?

"Alex! Shining Armor! Are you okay?" Twilight asked us.

"I…think so…" I replied between breaths.

"Oh no, Shining Armor, your horn!" Twilight raced towards him, noticing the top of his horn appear to be blocked by those familiar looking stones Twilight and I witnessed during Princess Celestia's instructions.

He tried casting some magic, but it failed. He shook his head to emphasize it.

Once we finally caught our breath, we stood up and walked towards the location we were in.

"Sparklriffic!" Pinkie Pie cried in awe, due to the appearance of the town. The Crystal Empire.

"It's gorgeous! Absolutely gorgeous!" Rarity exclaimed in excitement as well as she observed the crystal layer of the entire area. She mumbled incoherently. "There are no words!"

"Focus, Rarity." Applejack placed a hoof on her. "We're here to help Twilight, not admire the scenery."

"Eh, I don't see what the big deal is. Just looks like another old castle to me." Rainbow Dash commented on her point of view.

"A- p- guh!" Rarity reacted dramatically. " Another old...! Have you lost your mind?! Look at the mag—Applejack and Rainbow Dash began laughing, cutting her off and making her realize the joke they played on her. "Very funny." She responded as we walked through the doors into the castle.

"Thanks for saving me back there, Alex." Shining Armor expressed towards me as we continued to walk. "I owe you big."

I shook my head. "It was nothing." I looked around the interior of the castle. "…so this is where you and Miss Cadence live now?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "Do you mind if I ask why you add the Miss in the beginning of her name?"

"She used to be my teacher when I was young."

"Oh, right! She told me about that."

We entered through another couple doors, noticing Miss Cadence sitting at the far end of the room. She didn't look the same…

"Cadence!" Twilight shouted out, running towards her.

Miss Cadence lifted her head and smiled, rushing towards Twilight as well. When they were close to each other they began dancing that same dance from before, affecting me to smile as I walked towards them.

"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" They both laughed. Miss Cadence opened her eyes and noticed me. "Alex!" She stretched out her hooves and brought me in for a warm embrace. I chuckled and placed my hooves on her as well. "It feels so good to see you!"

"You too, Miss Cadence." I replied. After a few seconds, she pulled away. When she did, I was shocked to notice the changes to her face. There were bags under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept in a long time. "Miss Cadence…?" I asked, very worriedly.

Before she could answer, she closed her eyes, straining them as the aura from her horn flickered. "One of these days we need to get together when the fate of Equestria isn't hanging in the balance." She closed her eyes and sighed tiredly.

"Miss Cadence…you don't look so good… Are you alright?" I inquired.

"Cadence has been able to use her magic to spread love and light." Shining Armor answered stepping next to her. "That seems to be what is protecting it. But she hasn't slept, barely eats." Poor Miss Cadence…I could only feel sorry for her as I noticed her close her eyes and lower her head in extreme fatigue. "I want to help her, but my protection spell has been countered by King Sombra."

Miss Cadence released a deep breath. "It's alright Shining Armor, I'm fine."

"She's not fine. She can't go on like this forever, and if her magic were to fade, well, you saw what's out there waiting for that to happen."

"That's why we're here." Twilight announced.

"Why we're all here." Applejack added, triggering the girls to agree along.

"Well, with Cadence putting all her strength into keeping her spell going," Shining Armor spoke as I continued to notice Miss Cadence swing gently and keep her eyes closed. "…and me trying to keep an eye on signs of trouble in the arctic, we haven't been able to gather much information from the Crystal Ponies."

"Crystal Ponies?" Rarity suddenly exclaimed, forgetting about the big picture here. "Hahaha, there are Crystal Ponies?!" She pulled her hair down in excitement, but when she noticed the looks the other girls gave her, she stopped. "Umm, hmm. Please continue."

"But we have to believe one of them knows how to protect the empire, without having to use Cadence's magic."

"And we have to do it fast…" I expressed, continuing to observe Miss Cadence. "I can't stand to see her like this…"

Shining Armor suddenly gasped and looked towards me. "Alex!"

"Hm?"

"You're an Alicorn! Can't you place a protection spell on the empire yourself?"

I frowned and shook my head solemnly. "As much as I would love to do that, I can't right now… My magic is not that advanced yet. I barely know how to move things around…"

"Oh…" He looked disappointed.

"Sorry…"

"A research paper!" Twilight suddenly cried out.

"Huh?" Shining Armor formed a confused expression.

"That must be part of our test; to gather information from the crystal ponies and deliver it to you!" Twilight paced around excitedly. "This is gonna be great! I love research papers!"

I don't think Princess Celestia sent us on a dangerous mission, just to write research papers…

"Yeah…" Rainbow Dash nudged Pinkie and added sarcastically. "Who doesn't?"

"Ohohoh! Lemme guess!" Pinkie Pie waved her hoof around excitedly and held up Spike. "Is it Spike?" She placed him to the side and retrieved Fluttershy. "Nono, Fluttershy! Rarity?"

"Don't worry, big brother. I'm really good at this sort of thing." Twilight assured.

"Please hurry. I don't know how much more Cadence can keep up with this…"

"Got it." She faced everypony. "Okay, girls. Spread out and try to find out as much as you can. Alex, Spike, and I will look for ponies to talk to."

They all nodded and raced out the hallway. Twilight followed in their motion, but stopped when she noticed I wasn't by her side. "Alex? Are you coming?"

"Y-yeah…" I glanced back at Cadence to notice her horrible condition. I sighed mentally and muttered under my breath. "Don't worry…I'll do this as quick as possible, Miss Cadence…" Afterwards, I caught up with her and followed her outside of the castle.

"Okay…let's start looking around here." She led us towards the left side of town, revealing houses. We walked up the small steps towards a red crystallized house. Twilight knocked on the door. After several slow seconds, the door opened.

"H…Hello…?"

"Hello." Twilight greeted one of the crystal ponies that seemed to be very…depressed and dull… "We were just wondering if you might know any information special to the Crystal Empire, like an automatic protection spell or something."

"…huh…?"

"You ponies have been gone for a thousand years. It's only today that this place reappeared all of a sudden. We need your help; any information is truly accepted and appreciated."

"I…" The mare paused for a moment. "I'm sorry…I don't know anything…"

"Are you sure? Absolutely sure?" Twilight formed a frown.

"I'm sorry. I wish I could help you. But I... can't seem to remember anything before King Sombra came to power." She suddenly lowered her head and strained her eyes, causing me to become concerned, but feel a little chill as well. "And I don't want to remember anything about the time he ruled over us." She shuddered.

"King Sombra's spell must be why their coats aren't... crystally." Twilight whispered to us.

"Have we really been gone a thousand years?" The mare asked.

"Yes." Twilight answered.

"It feels like it was just yesterday…"

"If you think of anything, even the smallest thing..."

"Of course." She walked backwards and slowly closed the door shut.

"Well that was a total bust." Spike commented and walked down the steps.

I shook my head. "I don't like the look of this. First, Miss Cadence looks horrible from having her protection spell activated so long without rest. Now, the Crystal Ponies look significantly depressed…"

"I know…" Twilight agreed. "Maybe the others are having better luck."

After several more failed attempts in receiving any information, Twilight, Spike, and I returned to the center of the castle, meeting the others there as well. Rainbow Dash had just flown by, sighing when she landed. "I got nothing so far."

"Oh, me neither." Rarity was fluffing her hair and added in a more non-serious way.

"Are you sure you were trying to get some information…?" I asked, based on how her behavior was. However, I heard some hoofsteps, noticing Fluttershy step next to me. "Oh, hey Fluttershy." I began moving my face towards her to plant my lips on hers, as I had not done so in a long while.

Just before I could, I heard something unzip and fall to the floor. I opened my eyes and noticed my mouth right in front of Pinkie's as she just smiled straight at me. I widened my eyes and looked at the floor. I saw Fluttershy's outer appearance wrinkled all over the floor. "What the?!" I exclaimed in surprise.

"That reminds me!" Pinkie responded. She looked around suspiciously and then at Twilight. "My cover has been blown." She spoke in a hushed tone and placed a hoof on Twilight's head. "I repeat, my cover has been blown!"

"Ooookay." Twilight responded as she fled. I noticed the real Fluttershy walk towards me as I released a breath of relief.

"Sorry, Twilight." Applejack apologized as Fluttershy stepped onto of the costume of herself, forming a shocked and confused look while backing away from it. "These crystal ponies seem to have some kinda collective amnesia or somethin'. Only thing I was able to get out of 'em was somethin' about a library."

Twilight immediately gasped and placed both of her hooves on her cheeks. "A library?" She then placed her hooves on Applejack. "Why didn't you say so?!"

"Uh... thought I just did." Applejack replied as Twilight galloped off.

The rest of us looked at her direction and followed her.

Reaching the library, I wanted to kiss Fluttershy, but I still felt worried with the almost accident that could have happened with Pinkie. I needed time to recover. We walked up the stairs and opened the doors, which revealed a large and vast amount of books in different shelves, everything crystallized as well.

"I just... I don't even know what to... There are no words." Twilight released in awe as she must have recognized that her favorite place in the world did not compare to this library.

"Ahem." We heard a soft, almost quiet, voice announce. We turned to see an older mare, who appeared to be the librarian. "May I help you?"

"Yes. We're looking for a book." Twilight answered happily.

"We have plenty of those." The librarian pointed a hoof towards the vast majority of them, but kept her monotone expression.

"You do. You really do." Twilight expressed, continuing to be in stunning awe as she twirled around in place.

"Alright…" I said and shifted my eyes towards the librarian. "We're looking for some kind of book, history preferably, that'll tell us how a protective spell was placed in the past for any kind of dangers."

"Yes. Of course." She thought and rubbed her chin. "History, history... Ah, yes." She pointed a hoof upwards, seeming to remember.

The girls returned huge grins of accomplishment.

However, the librarian continued to look at us saying nothing. I looked around a bit awkwardly until Twilight spoke up, broken from her spell. "...which is where, exactly?"

"I... I can't seem to remember. I'm not sure I actually work here."

"Uh…" I slipped out in slight confusion.

On the contrary, Rainbow Dash rubbed a hoof on her face, groaning in frustration. "Guh!"

"We'll just take a look around." Twilight offered, allowing the girls to feel a little more confident as I walked with her to the main part of the library. "I'm sure we can find it on our own."

"Let me know if you find anything." We heard the librarian say behind us.

"I like her!" Pinkie Pie expressed joyfully, catching up to us.

As we continued to walk, I looked at Twilight. "Do you really think we can find the specific book we're looking for in this library?" I shook my head. "There doesn't even appear to be any signs anywhere to guide us."

"Don't worry." Twilight assured. "With the eight of us, we're bound to find it!"

"Whatever you say…"

As the girls separated to look in different parts of the library, I stayed with Fluttershy, figuring I haven't spent much time with her on this mission.

"Hey, Fluttershy… sorry I've been mainly too serious about this to spend time with you right now…" I announced as Fluttershy and I were both looking and flipping our hooves through books.

"Oh, it's alright. I understand. This is really important, and there's always enough time to spend together after."

I nodded. "Alright…" I placed a kiss on her cheek and continued looking through the books.

She paused for a moment, smiling at me, and resumed her work.

We felt a rush of wind blow through us. I turned my head around to notice Rainbow Dash had past by us on a ladder. Several books had fallen to the floor around us.

"Any luck up there?" I asked.

Rainbow sighed. "Nope…"

"Uh, anyone else startin' to think this is a lost cause?" Applejack asked after she finished shuffling through several books.

"No, no, no, no, no..." We heard Twilight comment. We turned to see her looking through books as well, using her magic. Suddenly, she wrapped her hooves around a book and exclaimed. "Yes!" We stopped searching and walked towards her. Twilight placed the book on the floor in front of us, allowing to see the cover. In the center, there were three crystals of different colors but same shape. "History of the Crystal Empire. I just hope it has the answers we need." She flipped through the pages and skimmed it a little. Then she closed the book and looked at all of us. "This looks trustworthy enough. Come on. Let's get back to the castle."

As we began walking out the library, I noticed the librarian seem to walk around, lost, dazed, and confused. We really need to get these ponies back to normal…

Arriving at the castle, we stepped inside a conference room and gathered around a table. Twilight placed the book in the middle and began flipping through the pages. After spending some time reading the table of contents, she widened her eyes and cried out. "Look at this! A Crystal Faire!" The others, including me, analyzed the page for a moment. "I've got to show this to my brother really quick!" Twilight closed the book and faced me. "Alex, Spike, come with me! The rest of you, stay here. We'll be back with the news."

They nodded and allowed us to leave the room. Twilight appeared to be excited, seeming to feel as if she finally figured out the plan to save the Crystal Empire.

Walking in the room Miss Cadence and Shining Armor were in, Twilight looked over at Spike. "Spike can you hold the book for me really quick?"

"Sure thing!" Spike ran over to the front of Shining Armor and held out his claws.

Twilight placed the book on them. Spike appeared to be struggling with the weight a bit, but he managed to hold it up. "Hey Shining Armor, I have some great news that might save the Crystal Empire!"

"What? What is it?" He asked, pushing his head forward.

"Look!" She flipped through the pages and stopped at the one we just found out. "A 'Crystal Faire'. According to this book, it was established by their first queen, and became their most important tradition. The Faire was held every year to…" She placed a hoof and began quoting from the book. "…'restore the spirit of love and unity in the empire so they could protect it from harm.'" She looked towards her brother joyfully. "My friends and I could put it together. Everything we need to know is in the book!"

"That sounds pretty promising." Shining Armor approved and looked towards Miss Cadence for her reaction, but she was too busy keeping her eyes shut, wanting to sleep. I noticed this and could only frown, my determination for this plan increasing significantly.

"We'll get started right away." Twilight assured after noticing Miss Cadence's condition. "C'mon, Spike, we've got a Crystal Faire to put together!"

Spike closed the book and grunted as he tried to walk with the weight of the book. Don't worry Miss Cadence… We'll fix this… I promise… And if you remember from last time… I don't break a promise.

As soon as we walked in the room with the other girls, Twilight, Spike, and I walked over to the open space near the table. Twilight looked at me, revealing a smile. I smiled back, nodding confidently and ready to get this plan to action.

"Princess Cadence needs our help" Twilight began singing, encouraging the other girls.

"Her magic will not last forever

I think we can do it

But we need to work together" We all looked at each other, smiling and believing we could get this through.

"We have to get this right" Twilight placed the book in the middle of the table.

"Yes we have to make them see

We can save the Crystal Ponies with their history"

She flipped through the pages, starting with the first chapter in jousting.

"It says that they liked jousting" Rainbow Dash joined as I stood by her, watching her as she placed on the jousting gear and analyzing its fit.

The next page was the flag.

"They flew a flag of many hues" Rarity sang as she twirled around a long piece of fabric. I smiled at her and worked my magic into picking up the fabric with her. She noticed this and smiled at me as well.

The page after was the food.

"Made sweets with crystal berries" Applejack added while picking the berries with Pinkie Pie. She grabbed a few and threw them in the air for her and I to catch. I caught one with my mouth and chewed, savoring the sweet flavor they actually held inside.

There was a page for the animals as well.

"They had a petting zoo with tiny ewes" Fluttershy sang as she led several of those cute furry little creatures joyfully, appearing adorable herself.

"Oh, we have to get this right" We all sang together in unison, looking at each other and feeling extremely motivated with teamwork.

"Yes we have to make them see

We can save the Crystal Ponies with their history"

Pinkie Pie flipped the page and reached a part about a horn.

"There was a crystal flugelhorn

That everypony liked to play" She blew a horn loudly in front of us all. Everypony seemed to be negatively affected by this sound. Rainbow Dash strained her eyes and placed both of her hooves on her ears. Applejack only remained surprised. Spike was backing away due to the sound. Rarity was on the floor, trying to block the sound away from her ears by covering them both with her hooves as well. Fluttershy turned her head away, closed her eyes, and placed a hoof to her right ear. Twilight returned a response that seemed to say "Pinkie, that's too loud" as she slightly flinched. I, on the other hoof, flinched slightly as well, but managed to smile due to Pinkie's hyperactive silliness.

"And the Crystal Kingdom anthem" Twilight and I sang together, placing a hoof to our hearts, towards the flag.

"Can you learn it in a day?"

"Oh, we have to get this right" We all continued as we set up the final touches. Rainbow Dash held little flags and flew them across buildings.

"Yes we have to make them see" The rest of the girls contributed to their part.

"We can save the Crystal Ponies..." Spike ran over to Twilight and me with several balloons and released them in the air. Feeling joyful, I flew up to the balloons and seperated them by going through them. "…with their history!" We sustained and finished.

Twilight opened her eyes and looked around, having her mouth become slightly agape in accomplishment. "It looks amazing! I don't know how I could've done this without you!" She directed towards all of us. She opened the book and continued to look around. "One last check to make sure everything is in place, and then the festivities can begin!"

"What's this thing for?" We heard Applejack say, tapping some kind of statue or artifact with her hoof and creating a thunk sound.

"The last page of the book mentioned a crystal heart as the Faire's centerpiece, so I used my magic to cut one out of a crystal block." Twilight explained, using her book.

"Nice work, Twi! Think we're ready to get this Faire up and runnin'!" Applejack emphasized.

"Great." Twilight replied. "The rest of you girls, go do your parts." Then, she looked towards Spike and me. "Spike, Alex, let's go call Shining Armor and Cadence and finally save the Crystal Ponies!"

I sighed in relief and began trotting towards her to follow her. "Sounds good to me. I can't wait to allow Miss Cadence to rest."

Twilight chuckled as I walked by her side. "Me either."

We reached Miss Cadence and Shining Armor's throne room.

"Shining Armor, all festivities appear to be in order, care to start the Crystal Faire?" Twilight announced with enjoyment.

"With great pleasure." He looked towards Miss Cadence. "Come on, honey."

Unfortunately, she returned a mumble, still looking very drained in fatigue, but I was glad to know that this would be fixed soon enough.

As we walked out into the balcony, we heard Pinkie playing the horn very loudly…but not so accurately. It actually sounded as if she was screaming into the wrong end of the horn…

Nonetheless, we continued walking towards the end of the balcony and towards the railing, where Twilight began announcing the opening of the Crystal Faire. "Hear ye, hear—

I heard Pinkie Pie swallow a deep breath and then blow the horn furiously, interrupting Twilight's announcement. We all looked back at Pinkie, I almost wanting to ask if she was alright, due to the way the horn sounded. Instead, she chuckled nervously and placed the horn behind her. "Heheh, my bad…"

When it was clear, I looked towards Twilight and nodded. "Go on."

She nodded as well and looked out towards the town, clearing her throat. "Ahem. Hear ye, hear ye. Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor cordially invite you to the Crystal Faire!"

After her announcement, I placed my hooves onto the railing and looked out towards the town. The ponies had come out from their homes and looked at what was going on. I then immediately noticed that the majority of them instantly brightened up, having crystal coats and instantly looking intrigued and bright.

"This is great! Their spirits are lifting up!" I exclaimed.

Pinkie Pie walked over to us, initiating a high hoof between the three of us.

We then observed Applejack and Rainbow Dash lead and instruct the new lively Crystal Ponies towards the activities of the Crystal Faire.

As progress and productivity skyrocketed, I turned around to the others, excited myself. "This is great!" I cheered and walked over to Miss Cadence. "Don't worry, Miss Cadence! Just give us a little more time and you'll be able to sleep all you want!"

She managed to smile lightly. "Thank you, Alex. That's really great to hear. I don't really know how much longer I can keep this up, to be honest." She chuckled weakly.

I nodded and looked over to Twilight. "What next?"

"Well, we should probably go check and make sure everything is going as planned."

"Alright then. Let's go!"

"Yippee!" Pinkie Pie cheered. "I'm going to get me some COTTON CANDY!" She sped off.

Twilight and I traveled down towards the center of the castle where the Crystal Heart stood. We stood by it as Twilight opened her book and began reading through it. "Alright… if everything is going well, we should be able to— Suddenly, a large violet cloth was placed over us, causing us to remove it from our heads and look back. We noticed Rainbow Dash…and she seemed tense… "Why did you—

"I think we may have a problem..." Rainbow Dash responded, keeping her hoof on the artifact.

"What do you mean?" I asked raising an eyebrow but also become deeply worried for Miss Cadence.

"Come with me. We have to let your brother and the Princess know!"

Twilight and I exchanged confused looks, but there was no time for questions.

Rainbow Dash, Twilight and I raced towards the balcony where Shining Armor and Miss Cadence remained.

I demanded to know what was going on. "Okay, Rainbow Dash, what is going on?" I asked.

"Okay, Twilight, you know how you crafted the Crystal Heart yourself?" She questioned.

"Yeah…?"

"Well…" She rubbed her head and looked away. "It turns out we actually need the real Crystal Heart."

"What…?" I inquired, confused.

"Twilight just crafted the heart herself." Rainbow Dash explained to me. "What the Crystal Ponies actually do is use a real Crystal Heart, not just some crafted thing, and with their lifted spirits and light within them, it powers the Crystal Heart and THAT'S what creates the protective spell!"

"What?!" I exclaimed, beginning to feel panicked. "We don't have time to find the actual relic! There's no telling how long Princess Cadence's magic will last!"

Twilight began panicking as well and quickly flipped through the book. "I didn't know it was an actual relic! The book didn't mention anything about the crystal ponies powering the Crystal Heart!" She reached the end of the book and noticed something odd. "There was a page missing... how did I not notice?!"

I spotted Miss Cadence swerving greatly, as if she was about to give up. "It's okay, Twilight." Suddenly, she lost her balance and fell back, having Shining Armor catch her in his forelegs. Her magic ran out, widening my eyes and looking out to the shield.

"Twily..." Shining Armor announced desperately.

We all heard a howl. Twilight and the others joined me by looking in the same direction I was. The protective shield was flickering off and on like a light switch!

"The spell!" I cried out. As soon as that spell went out, an avalanche of darkness began flooding the outskirts of the Crystal Empire! I looked around to see it completely surrounding us. "Oh no… We…"

It was then when I saw his face appear from the mist of the darkness…

King Sombra…

To be continued…

The Crystal Empire : Part Two

Episode 54 – The Crystal Empire : Part Two

Beginning to see chaos erupt around the empire, I had no idea if we completely failed or if there was still time to fix our mistakes.

"The empire is under attack." Shining Armor announced towards us. He then walked towards Miss Cadence and helped her up. She was conscious now. She managed to smile at Shining Armor. Then, she focused her horn. I quickly looked out towards the field and noticed that Miss Cadence surprisingly reactivated the spell again. I sighed. Maybe there's still time… "I have to find the Crystal Heart!"

"No." Twilight prevented. "You stay here with Cadence. She needs you, Shining Armor." I could see that Twilight had the right idea. Miss Cadence was certainly weak, and she could not be left alone. "Alex and I will retrieve the heart. Come on." She told me, beginning to run. I galloped after her.

"Let's do this!" Rainbow Dash explained and followed us as she flew.

"I've been trying to figure out how we're meant to pass Celestia's test." Twilight spoke during our rush. "Retrieving the Crystal Heart must be it. But there is something else you can do." Twilight looked towards Rainbow.

"Name it." She ordered valiantly.

"You and the rest of our friends have to keep the Faire going."

"What? With that thing moving into the empire?!" Rainbow questioned as we traveled down a flight of stairs.

"The whole purpose of the Crystal Faire is to lift the spirits of the crystal ponies, so they can activate the Crystal Heart." Twilight explained.

"Yeah…and?" Rainbow Dash seemed to hold a vexed expression.

"If the crystal ponies find out King Sombra is trying to take over the empire again, their spirits are gonna be anything but lifted. It won't matter if we find the Crystal Heart." We reached the outside of the castle and noticed Applejack attempting to prevent any crystal pony finding the fake heart. We turned to the right and continued running. "We won't be able to make it work." We stopped for a moment. "You have to keep them happy here at the faire."

"Keep the Faire going and the crystal ponies' spirits high. Done and done." Rainbow Dash accepted the order, seeing the great significance in it now.

"Twily, Alex, be careful." We heard Shining Armor's voice from the balcony above us.

"I will." Twilight responded while I nodded in agreement.

We ran off towards the center of the Faire. I didn't stop until I noticed Twilight halt and slow to a walk, sighing. I turned around and faced her. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"…I don't know where to find the Crystal Heart…" She looked towards the sky and noticed how little time we had before Miss Cadence's magic wore out. "…and…" She looked at me with worried, almost watery eyes. "…what if we don't find it, Alex? …What if we…fail everypony…?"

I stopped and furrowed my eyebrows towards her. I walked up to her and gave her an assuring embrace. "Twilight… Stop talking like that… You know how much all of us have been through. We will find it… I promise you, Twilight… And you know that I keep a promise, even if I have to stake my life on it."

After I pulled away, continuing to look at her, she lowered her head towards me and smiled lightly. "Thank you, Alex… You always manage to make me feel better somehow…" She started walking, causing me to walk by her side. "I guess it's because we have so much in common… It makes me feel not alone."

I nodded. "Let's just think of a way to fix this whole mess."

"You're right." She placed a hoof to her chin and faced the ground, shifting her eyes in thought. I followed in her example as we passed by different Faire carts.

"Who wants a flugelhorn?" Rainbow Dash cried out nearby, waving around the horn almost in a desperate way.

"I wanna flugelhorn!" Pinkie Pie answered, waving her hoof and showing frantic actions to obtain the horn as well.

Rainbow looked back in an irritated manner as Pinkie did not seem to understand the situation we were in to keep the ponies happy. She looked back out towards the crowd and ignored her. "Who else wants a flugelhorn?"

"I wanna flugelhorn!" Pinkie now threw a bit of a tantrum as she yelled and stomped her hooves on the ground. Normally, I would have chuckled or laughed at her silly behavior, but right now is not the time. There is a time for jokes, and there is a time for seriousness. Right now is not the time for silliness.

I continued thinking in my mind. Then, the words "Crystal Heart" suddenly clicked in my mind. Crystal… Heart… Heart… Crystal Empire… Heart… Heart! Maybe the Crystal Heart is in the heart of the city! As Twilight continued to think and walk, I stopped and looked back towards the castle, feeling confident about my answer. Where else would the Crystal Heart be other than the castle itself?

Twilight noticed my sudden halt and turned to face me. "Alex? What's up?"

"I think I just found where our Crystal Heart is, Twilight…" I responded as I continued looking towards the castle.

She turned around and walked towards my side. "Are you…looking at the castle? You think it's in there?"

"Yes, I'm sure of it."

"But…we just came back from there. Do you think it'd be really that easy?"

I stopped looking towards the castle and faced Twilight with serious eyes, producing her to return her face towards me as well. "Think about it Twilight. Crystal Heart. It just clicks in your mind with you think about a heart, and it being in the center of the city, doesn't it? And the center of the city is there." I pointed towards the castle.

Twilight widened her eyes. "You have a point, Alex." She suddenly gasped. "Yes! It makes a lot of sense! When King Sombra was in power, he must have kept the Crystal Heart there, because no pony would dare try to reach it!"

"Exactly!"

Twilight was about to squee and grin in joy, but we began hearing panting behind us.

"Twilight, Alex, wait!" We turned back to see Spike running towards us, stopping in front of us to catch his breath. "I'm coming with you!"

"You can't… We have to retrieve the Crystal Heart by ourselves." Twilight answered and began walking away.

However, I placed a hoof on her shoulder, turning her head towards me. "Hold on… He doesn't exactly have to retrieve the Crystal Heart… He can just…keep us company…"

"Yeah. I promise I won't lift a claw to help you." He emphasized by motioning his claws upwards the sky.

Twilight looked at him for a moment and then sighed. Using her magic, she picked up Spike and placed him on her back. "Not a claw, Spike." She managed to reveal a grin and face me. "Let's go."

After, we began running straight towards the castle, dodging anything and anypony in the way as they looked back to see why we were in such a rush.

"So... where are we going, exactly?" Spike asked.

"We think we might know where King Sombra hid the Crystal Heart." Twilight answered as she looked towards the castle.

"The castle?"

"The king would've been counting on the fact that nopony would dare come looking for it here." Twilight explained. "They'd've been too afraid to even try."

"Right, and it's our job we find it and finish this King Sombra mess once and for all." I added with straightforward determination, reaching the doors to the castle.

"I hope your right…" Spike commented.

"Everyone of us…" Twilight finished and we entered through them, closing them afterwards.

We rushed through the castle, landing in the hallway where we ran through the left staircase last time. Spike was trying to keep up while Twilight immediately started searching everywhere, even under a small statue of a unicorn. She panted, released noises of exertion and then sighed heavily. Spike, on the other hoof, was panting and sweating as Twilight looked around on the ground. "It's gotta be here somewhere." She announced, causing me to stop, place a hoof on my chin, and think. "It's just gotta be!" I looked to the side to see Spike notice an uneven spot on the carpet. Twilight was looking through several books at the same time with her magic, but stopped when she spotted Spike looking under the carpet. "Not a claw, Spike." She emphasized, initiating Spike to quickly pull away his claws and wave them in the air nervously. "Celestia's orders!"

I placed my hoof back on the floor. "My thoughts would be that King Sombra didn't just place the Crystal Heart anywhere in the castle, even if he knew ponies wouldn't try to look for it here. My guess would be that he'd hide it in some secret passageway room of some sort…" I walked around, continuing to release my opinion. "Something that would be complementary towards the structure of this castle…"

Twilight glanced at me and thought about it for a moment. She walked around, noticing the throne room and entering inside. I followed her and stopped by her side. She widened her eyes, allowing me to dart my eyes towards the direction she was looking at as well, suddenly noticing something familiar: the crystal at the highest point of the throne chair…

I played Celestia's instructions in my mind…remembering when she was holding the exact same crystal. If the empire is filled with hope and love, those things are reflected across all of Equestria. If hatred and fear take hold... She had worked some kind of dark magic on it, creating a large shadow…but…how am I supposed to do that…?

"Of course!" Twilight unexpectedly cried out, startling Spike and throwing him against the floor.

"Argh! What? Did you find it?"

"No." Twilight winked in joy. "Because this isn't King Sombra's castle." She walked through the throne, causing me to walk by her in interest. Spike followed along as well.

"Wh- Isn't this where he lived when he was in power?" He questioned.

"It is. But it didn't look like this." She directed to the crystal I was looking at earlier. She must have been thinking about what I was thinking…

"So…" I commented. "Don't you have to cast that same type of magic Celestia did?"

"Yep. Exactly…" She removed her smile and formed a working expression, grunting as she managed to slowly perform that dark magic Celestia had. Her horn changed from the normal aura to a darker one, just as Princess Celestia. My eyes widened when it then shifted to those purple and greenish misty spots as the same aura formed around her eyes. It was then shot towards the crystal, commencing that same shadow to cover the floor between us as we backed away from it. To my surprise, it uncovered a huge stairway down.

"Whoa..." Spike expressed as Twilight clapped her hooves, again in joy. "When did you learn to do that?" He asked as he looked downwards the new pathway.

"That was a little trick Celestia taught me." Twilight replied.

I stared towards the stairway down, feeling the need to quickly push on forward. "I'm glad we're finally making some real progress…"

Spike observed the height and depth of the staircase towards the foggy and obscure bottom. He gulped and produced a nervous noise as Twilight lit her horn to begin descending the stairs with me. Before continuing on further, Twilight turned around to view a hesitant Spike. "You stay here." She turned back and continued walking by my side.

"Huh, if you insist." He quickly turned around and remained at the top of the stairs. We continued walking a little faster than average until we heard Spike's voice echo from the top of us. "Can you see what's down there yet?"

"Not yet." Twilight answered. "I can't even tell how far down this goes!" She looked around and found a piece of rock or crystal by the side of the wall. She pulled it out with her magic and dropped it in the middle of the circular staircase. She held out her right ear with a smile. However, she shifted that smile when she noticed the sound of the tool landing wasn't present. She rubbed her ear and placed a hoof by it. After several seconds, we heard it clang on the floor, surprising mostly Twilight. "Spike?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you see outside?"

As Spike ran to do what he was asked, I faced Twilight to notice her expression. "Do you want me to fly us down there?"

She shook her head. "It's too risky and dangerous. We'll go down the long way if it means we'll be safe…"

"It's not good! Cadence's magic must be fading faster than before!" Spike's voice echoed throughout the area.

"Let's go!" Twilight exclaimed and began running down the stairs.

Before I could warn her about galloping down, she tripped when a piece of the stairs broke off. "Twilight!" I called her name and quickly flew to her, catching her on my back.

She opened her eyes and noticed where she was. She released a breath of relief. "Thanks." I looked back towards the floor of the castle and slowly descended downwards until the fog cleared up and I was fortunately able to land.

"Twilight, Alex, are you okay?" Spike asked from the top.

"Yes." Twilight answered and jumped off my back.

"Twilight, look." I pointed to a door that I spotted.

She turned towards my direction and saw it. "This must be the way!" She was about to open it with her magic, but it suddenly disappeared. We looked around, noticing it reappear on the right side of her. She narrowed her eyes and worked her magic again, only to produce the same outcome. The door was now behind us. "What in the..." She charged towards it and activated her magic, but the door lifted upwards and dodged her attack, causing her to smack herself on the wall. "Stop..." She removed herself from the wall. "…moving!" She continued to chase it, but all it did was move away. Finally, when it appeared in front of her, she released sounds of exertion and immediately produced that dark magic as soon as she could, shooting it towards the top of the door.

Successfully, the door opened, revealing a bright light that blew our manes as well. Twilight smiled brightly due to this. "Alex! I think it's here!" She exclaimed as she ran towards the door.

A bright light is a good sign, right?

Nonetheless, with some slight hesitation, I ran after her.

All of a sudden, I was welcomed by unusual surroundings. "Huh?" I questioned, looking around. I then widened my eyes as I saw darkness and stars everywhere. "Am I…" I looked below me to see whitish dust on my hooves. "…on the moon…?"

I heard a small chuckle. "So it's you…"

I quickly looked forward to see some shadowy pony in front of me. I couldn't really tell what he looked like, but all I could come up with was lots of shadow and darkness that surrounded him. "What…? Who are you…?"

"Hmph." He slightly inched and angled his head towards me. "You don't remember, do you?"

I shook my head. "I don't know what you're talking about…"

He chuckled a little once again. "Of course you wouldn't… I'm sure she wouldn't recognize you either… Not like I do…"

I furrowed my eyebrows and angled my head to depict confusion upon my face. "Look… I have no idea what you're talking about, nor do I have any idea how I got here…" I looked around. And what happened to Twilight…?

"Don't worry…" He responded, ceasing my questioning looks and causing me to face towards him again. "You'll know soon enough…and when you do…" He stood up, still facing the other way. "It'll change your whole life…" He quickly glanced at me. "Forever." I was able to see his face for a split-second, but it was too fast to remember.

Then, my whole vision was blinded by light.

I heard my name being called. "Alex! Alex" I felt my body being rocked almost violently. Suddenly, I truly opened my eyes and shook my head. "Huh? What happened?" I turned to my left to see Twilight with worried eyes. "Twilight…? Where'd you go?"

She looked towards Spike, who was down here for some reason. "Spike woke me up from some sort of nightmare."

"Spike?" I questioned, looking at him.

"A nightmare?" Spike questioned, lost in confusion as well. "What were you looking at? I mean..." He ran towards the open door that revealed the wall. "It's just a wall." Unexpectedly, the magic on top of the door began forming and affected Spike's eyes. They shifted into a background green, but red pupil, surprising me. Was that what I looked like…? "...Ponyville?!" He began speaking while staring blankly to the wall. "But how did I get... no! I don't wanna go!" His eyes began forming up with tears. "Please, Twilight, don't leave me!"

Twilight immediately slammed the door shut with her back left leg. "King Sombra's dark magic." She explained. "A doorway that leads to your worst fear." She continued to analyze the door as Spike wiped the tears from his eyes.

Worst fear…? How was what I saw my worst fear…?

"We were home... you told me you didn't need me anymore." Spike rubbed his left eye as he retold his fear. "You were sending me away..."

"A fear that will never come to pass." Twilight assured as she emphasized it by bringing him towards her with her right hoof and hugging him gently. "I'm never gonna send you away. And I'm not gonna fail my test!" This time, Twilight performed her regular magic on the door and formed a thin slice of light on the outline of the door. Thus, it finally opened through the thick rocky wall, revealing another pathway that was brighter inside. She walked inside, analyzing her surroundings.

"What's in there?" Spike asked.

Twilight returned a sigh. "Stairs." She looked upwards as I walked in and joined her. "Lots and lots of stairs." She emphasized by straining the words with her voice. She released one quick sigh as we began heading up the "lots and lots" of stairs. However, she quickly turned around and faced Spike, who was leaning against the wall at the bottom. "Maybe you should come with me this time." This caused Spike to release a grin of joy and begin to run behind us.

As we continued to walk in silence up the stairs, I could feel Twilight shift her eyes towards me. "…Alex…" I returned my eyes back to her. "…If you don't mind me asking… What was your worst fear…?"

I remained silent for a moment. "…I don't even know if it was my worst fear. I mean… All I remember is being on the moon or something, seeing this shadowy pony, and him telling me these odd things, which I didn't even understand. It wasn't really fear…just confusion… I don't understand it at all…"

"Oh…that's weird…" Twilight responded with, as we continued trotting up the stairs.

I began to think about Fluttershy. I wonder what she's doing… It feels like a really long time since I've talked to her or showed her any affection…almost like I was ignoring her… I felt really bad… I shook my head. Once this is over, I hope I can replace all that back to the way it's supposed to be.

I looked above me and still noticed a long way to go. I sighed. "We should hurry. It feels like at this pace, we're not going to make it in time."

"You're right." Twilight replied and looked at Spike. "C'mon Spike, let's move!" Her order initiated all of us to begin sprinting and dashing towards the top of the stairs.

Nonetheless, no matter how fast or much we ran, it seemed like an endless flight of stairs. In only a few minutes, Twilight, Spike, and I were already panting, revealing our fatigue and our bodies slowing down to a more "climb with much effort" technique.

"What if this is just more of his magic?" Spike commented through pants as he had to push himself on top of each step. "He makes a door that leads to your worst nightmare... why not a staircase that goes on forever?"

Twilight looked down to see Spike a floor behind us. She licked her lips and faced her head upwards. I did so too, noticing the many more flights of stairs that lay before us. I sighed and placed a hoof on my face, rubbing it tiredly. However, I noticed Twilight continue to twist her head around, directing her vision towards the stairs above us. Then, she suddenly grinned, instigating me to form a facial expression of confusion and wonder what she was smiling about.

"Hold on to me." Twilight announced towards Spike, bringing the tired dragon body up a floor and on her back. She glanced over to me. "Brace yourself and plant your hooves firmly on the floor."

"Alright…" I responded and did so.

She closed her eyes and began grunting to perform a spell. Unexpectedly, Twilight and I, including Spike, began lifting off from the ground.

"Uh…" Spike released.

Twilight released sounds of exertion and yelled out. "Whoaaa! Whooaaaa!" All of sudden, we were flipped upside down and sliding down the top of the stairs.

I formed widened eyes and exclaimed to Twilight. "What did you do?!"

"Whoooooahaha!" Twilight cheered, actually getting a kick out of this "ride" as the wind blew through our manes. "I actually studied gravity spells, thinking it might be on my test! Turns out I was prepared for this!" She answered as Spike tried so hard to keep himself on her. "Wooohooo!" As soon as she ended her cheering with a heartily laugh, we were immediately flipped around again and landed on the floor harshly.

Recovering our balance, we could hear the wind blow strongly through our manes. We looked to our left to see it there; the real Crystal Heart floating in mid-air. Spike released a grin and gestured Twilight and I to step forward and take it. Twilight returned a smile and looked over to me, gesturing to me as well with her head.

As I stood up on four of my hooves, I noticed Twilight highly enchanted by its beauty. She began walking towards it as I saw the very heart reflected off of her huge eyes. "Twilight… Hold on a second… I don't we should be so quick to—

Before I could complete my sentence, she stepped onto the middle of the platform where the Crystal Heart was held. Darkness immediately covered the area where she stood, sending out some sort of alarm. I quickly looked back to see King Sombra actually notice this, and how we were trying to retrieve the Crystal Heart. I quickly looked back towards Twilight, dashing to her to push her out of the way, but instead, I smacked myself on some sort of rocky wall. Twilight tried to grab the Crystal Heart, but flung it away from her instead. I could hear the Crystal Heart tap on the ground several times, but I was more concerned about Twilight, especially after hearing King Sombra's laugh…

Lighting began striking, but all my attention was focused on Twilight's safety.

"Twilight!" I exclaimed out her name, banging on the rocky walls with my hooves. "Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine!" She answered, yelling as well. "The Heart... where's the Crystal—

"Here!" I heard Spike, turning my head towards him and spotting him crossing his arms and walking towards the Crystal Heart. "It rolled over to me when you dropped it!"

"Don't move!" Twilight commanded boldly. Spike immediately obeyed her order, stopping right behind me and sweating nervously. "You can move, just not towards me!" Twilight added when she noticed rocky spikes forming around us. As Spike backed away, Twilight focused her magic and tried to teleport out of there, but she was sucked back in somehow! "How could I have been so foolish...? I was just so eager to get it! Then when I saw what was going on outside, I..."

"You have to get out of there, Twilight!" Spike shouted. "You two have to be the ones to take the Heart to Princess Cadence! If you don't, you'll both fail Celestia's test!"

"King Sombra is already attacking the Empire." Twilight replied solemnly, looking out towards the area. "He could reach the crystal ponies at any moment... reach Princess Cadence, my brother, my friends... there may not be enough time for me to find a way to escape…" She paused for a moment and widened her eyes. Then, she looked straight towards me. "Alex, you have to be the one to bring the Crystal Heart to the Faire."

"What?!" I exclaimed and then immediately shook my head. "No, Twilight! I'm not leaving you here by yourself!"

"You have to, Alex! If you don't, then the Crystal Empire will fall under King Sombra's hooves!"

I looked down at the ground and quickly shifted my eyes around, thinking under high pressure, as Twilight could only desperately look at me. Then, I quickly turned my head towards Spike. "Spike!" I used my magic to grab the Crystal Heart and toss it to him. "Take the Crystal Heart to Miss Cadence, now!"

"Me? But Alex—

"Go!" I ordered, cutting him off.

"But—

"GO!" I strained, frightening him a little and causing him to quickly run off, dodging the rocky spikes that continued to form from the floor.

As soon as Spike was able to escape, I turned around to see Twilight, who was only looking at me with saddened eyes. "Alex? Why didn't you take it? You could've passed and let me fail." She expressed as the rocky barriers surrounded the entire area now. "Now you're going to be stuck here with me, and we'll both fail and disappoint Princess Celestia…"

"I don't care about that, Twilight." I explained, still sending a straight and confident look at her. "I don't care if we fail, not as long as we save the Crystal Empire." I placed my hooves on the wall and looked directly at her through the space. "Twilight, to me, you're my sister, and you're the best sister I could ever have. I'm serious. I don't care if we aren't related by blood; you're still my little sister! And I'm going to protect you no matter what! If you fail, then I fail! We either pass together, or we fail together!"

"Alex…" She responded, her voice almost seeming as if it was going to break. Her eyes also seemed to become watery as well. Then, she suddenly widened her eyes and looked past my face. "Spike!" I quickly turned around and saw Spike struggling to move the Crystal Heart. However, in the distance, I noticed King Sombra just waiting for him!

"Don't y'all worry your pretty little crystal heads!" I heard Applejack's voice nervously announce. "The real Crystal Heart will be here any second!"

After several seconds from that announcement, I noticed that the shield protecting the city began to shatter and disappear. Miss Cadence's magic must have completely worn off! Spike!

"He's back! I can't take it!" I heard a female crystal pony cry out and shriek.

"Ahhhhhh..." His voice protruded through the city. "My crystal slaves..." He hissed, just like a venomous snake.

"Whoa! Huh!" We heard Spike spit out fire towards the spikes that continued to form behind him. "Yah!" He looked downwards, where the other ponies must have been. "Hey! Up here! I got the Crystal Heart!" He held up the Heart with both his claws.

King Sombra released a mighty growl. "That is mine!"

At that moment, he instantly dove into the ground and began forming much fiercer and larger crystal rocks that shot upwards from the ground.

"Alex!" Twilight's voice called, catching my attention towards her. "You have to help Spike! Please!" She pleaded desperately. "He can't make it all by himself!"

Once again, I looked towards the ground and shifted my eyes rapidly in thought. After a few seconds, I noticed pieces of crystal rocks nearby me. I widened my eyes and faced Twilight. "Twilight! Can you make another fake Crystal Heart?"

"What? I-I guess, but how is that going to—

"Just trust me!" I interrupted and used my magic to transport the pieces towards her. "But this time, give it a shiny coat like glass!"

She grabbed the pieces with her own magic and looked at me for a moment. Then, she closed her eyes and focused on the pieces. After a very short moment, she crafted it into another fake Crystal Heart, adding the final touches with she pulled another fierce grunt. When she opened her eyes, the artificial Heart was complete and it almost looked exactly like the original Crystal Heart. "What are you going to do with this?!" She continued to yell out.

"I'm going to pretend that I'm switching with Spike, but what I'm actually going to do is give him more time to reach Miss Cadence!" Before I could grab it and run off, Twilight stopped me.

"Wait!" I turned back to see Twilight straining her eyes on the fake Heart. She infused something inside and transported it to me with her magic. "I placed a spell inside, so when King Sombra thinks it's the real one and takes it for himself, it'll actually paralyze him long enough for Spike to reach the Princess safely!"

I quickly nodded and held the false Heart with my magic. "Thanks, Twilight!" I turned around to begin running off. "I'll come back for you!"

"Be careful!" She shouted as I ran.

When I reached the wall covering the area, a beam of magic shot out from my horn, breaking the wall and creating a small hole enough for me to get through. I heard King Sombra growl loudly again, who was now heading towards the little dragon at high speeds. "Spike, wait!" I called out to him, causing him to turn around and see me in surprise. "Switch with me!" I exclaimed and used my magic to make it look like I grabbed the real Crystal Heart, but I actually just created a circle motion and had him keep the real one.

"Alex, what—

I didn't stick around to hear what he had to say. As soon as I saw King Sombra speeding towards me, I narrowed my eyes in anger and determination. I noticed the end of the rocky passage away and spread my wings to begin flying. I jumped off the ground, also noticing that he analyzed me and slightly widened his eyes for some reason. Nonetheless, I began flapping my wings, quickly flying towards him. However, my heart was beating fast, as I was under a lot of pressure. All of a sudden, I felt each wing of mine begin to flap unevenly. "Come on wings… Don't fail me now…!" I muttered under my breath, straining and struggling to keep them in an even motion. Even so, they had begun flapping terribly uneven and unbalanced to the point where they had just snapped shut, causing me to fall. On the bright side, I had flown far enough to reach the platform King Sombra had created when his true body was formed. Unfortunately when I landed harshly with a thud in front of him, my spell holding the fake Crystal Heart was interrupted, causing for the Heart itself to fall and slide towards him, which actually wasn't necessarily a bad thing…

As I began pushing myself up through grunts and groans, he kept his eyes on the Heart.

"The Crystal Heart!" He hissed and licked his licks. "It's mine! It's finally mine!" Just as he opened his mouth and was about to consume it, an odor traveled towards his nose. He sniffed it and then grew an irritated expression. "This… This isn't the REAL Crystal Heart!" He growled angrily and looked straight towards me as I just finished standing up.

As he continued to stare angrily at me, he held up his right hoof and fiercely kicked the artificial Crystal Heart off the cliff to his left. I merely looked at the falling fake Heart as it fell towards the ground beneath us, my expression unfazed and undaunted. There goes my free spell… However, I kept a cool facial expression, seeming as to speak, "So what?" No matter, I'm going to keep my promise. I turned my head back towards King Sombra to still see him sending me a fierce expression.

I lowered myself in a battle position and prepared myself for any attacks. "I guess we're going to have to settle this casco a casco." He growled, seeming to be annoyed by my sentence. As I began carefully heading towards him, he released a fierce yell and shot out mists of darkness towards me. I wasn't expecting for him to break the rules of a pure stallion fight, so I was hit by them. I grunted and groaned as I took the hits, flinching and stumbling back. Once I was able to recover, I looked at him with one eye open. "You like to play rough, huh? OK."

As he held his place, I quickly charged towards him. Once he was about to counter-attack, I quickly jumped off the cliff and flew around him. As he was searching for me, I used my hoof to swipe at his on the floor. He fell towards the floor, giving me a chance to get on him and strike him with my hooves. As I began striking him with punches and kicks, I released a statement to him. "This is what happens when you decide to cheat out on a real…" I ended with a severe kick to his face. "FIGHT!"

He released painful grunt, but managed to send out an aggressive growl as well. An explosion of darkness derived from him, sending me a few feet away from him. I landed on my back, incapacitated for just a few seconds. As he began pushing himself up, I did so as well, looking to my back and seeing Spike try to travel towards Miss Cadence with the heart. On the other hoof, I could see the other girls staring at me in worriment, maybe even Twilight.

When King Sombra was back on his hooves, he noticed the direction I was staring at and realized that Spike still contained the real Crystal Heart in his claws. He released another deeply effective growl and began charging towards Spike, possibly to pounce on him from here.

I noticed this and returned a little growl of my own, narrowing my eyes in an aggressive matter. "No, you don't!" I ran towards him and blocked his path, grabbing the front part of his body and his forelegs as well, holding him back. Using his magic, he managed to pull me off and throw me to the side, as he was more experienced with his horn. Nonetheless, when I was on the floor, I think I managed to piss him off when I grabbed a few pieces of crystal stone and shot them towards him. They landed on his head, causing him to turn his face towards me and return a seriously ticked off expression.

"That's it…" I mumbled, wanting to draw his attention towards me.

He released a ferocious yell and began running towards me. I managed to stand on my hooves in time. Once he was about to attack me, I quickly jumped towards the sky and actually hop over him, almost in a somewhat leapfrog style. As I did so, I managed to land a kick on his back, causing him to stumble towards the front and trip, falling on his hooves. I took a quick breath and spat a little to the side. I allowed him to turn towards me. As soon as he did so, he raised his hoof and was about to attack me, almost like a lion when it raises his paw. I spotted this and quickly raised my right hoof to block it. He growled and raised his other hoof, allowing me to block it with my left hoof as well. We only stared at each other fiercely, the aura on our horns glowing immensely. Realizing I had the chance, I head-butted him, causing him to strain his eyes and release a groan of pain. He placed his hooves down on the floor, shaking his head as he kneeled on the floor.

It's time to finish this!

I raised my hoof and began to release a small war cry to accommodate my landing punches. "Tick off!" I yelled, beginning my rapid movement of my hooves. "Don't ever terrorize this town again!" I began punching him very fiercely and rapidly. "Just leave everypony alone already!" Finally, I released a vicious grunt and punched him squarely on the jaw. He fell to the floor, allowing me to jump on his body and aim my horn towards him. He could only stare me, his aggressiveness seeming to fade away.

I was panting heavily, but I kept my eyes glued on to him. He was breathing heavily as well, but he managed to smile evilly and chuckle. "I can see your father in you…" He announced towards me.

This caused me to widen my eyes. Nonetheless, I narrowed them and placed my horn closer to his face. "What?" I strained. "How do you know about my father?" I now revealed my teeth, seeming to become angry at this.

He laughed for a moment, looking away. Then, he faced me and continued to grin mischievously. "Why, he's none other than—

Suddenly, an explosion of crystal light radiated through us. As it flowed through me, I felt the proof of my struggles, my bruises, fade away and cleanse themselves. On the other hoof, this damaged King Sombra before he could complete his sentence. He released one last vulgar roar as the Crystal light destroyed him.

As I looked around me, I noticed everything go back to the way it was, destroying the darkened crystal rocks that had formed, including the one I was standing upon. I quickly spread my wings and began flying in mid-air. I observed myself, noticing that my mane was combed neatly to the side and that I now contained a crystal appearance. Then, I heard something shoot up loudly from the castle. Strong, bright, nylon colors emerged from the top of the castle, exploding and sending each of its colors throughout the entire sky.

I released a breath of relief. Spike did it… Keeping my promise, I flew back towards Twilight, landing where she stood with her mane styled differently as well. As soon as she saw me, she ran towards me and wrapped her hooves around me. "Alex! Are you alright?"

I placed my hooves on her shoulders and smiled, sighing contently. "Yeah… I'm fine…"

When we pulled away, we turned around and looked out towards where the crowd stood. We saw every single one of them with their manes styled differently, including their coats crystallized as well. This affected the girls down there, including Miss Cadence. Shining Armor hugged her greatly and proudly. After, Miss Cadence turned around and closed her eyes as she smiled and waved out to the Crystal Ponies. The crowd returned a motivated and loud cheer towards her. Twilight grinned joyously from this and placed her hooves on the ledge, sighing. "Good job, Spike." After looking out at the crowd for a moment, she turned her face towards me. "You too, Alex… I'm sure you'll pass…" She then remembered about the directions for our test and frowned, causing me to frown along with her as well…

When we finally arrived at the bottom of the castle, we were met with the other girls.

"Oh heavens, you two." Rarity began. "Are you both alright?"

"Yeah, we're fine." I managed to pull out a light smile, but when I looked over to Twilight, she still looked away with a frown.

"Looks like every one of you did it." Shining Armor announced to all of us. "The Crystal Empire is safe now. The Crystal Heart is in its rightful place. All the crystal ponies are back to normal. You all did a great job today in defending this home." He looked towards me. "That was quite a fight you put up there." He commented, causing me to chuckle and slightly look away in embarrassment. "I wouldn't be surprised if you became Captain of the Royal Guard yourself." He formed a smile on his face.

"That sounds nice…" I replied. "But I'd rather stick to my friends here…" I directed towards all of them. "They're pretty much all I need…"

He nodded and continued to smile. "I understand."

Extremely pleased of my safe condition, Fluttershy ran over to me and hugged me, allowing me to rub my hooves on her back and smile.

We decided we best leave the Crystal Empire as soon as possible, mostly due to the reason that Twilight and I needed to find out if we passed. I didn't really care if I did, not to disrespect Princess Celestia, but I was only more concerned about Twilight. She took her studies and tests to her heart, and if she failed this…then she could really break down…

Passing by all the Crystal Ponies who waved farewell to us and seeing them completely rejoiced in their crystallized appearances, Shining Armor and Miss Cadence walked us all back towards the train station. However, all of our coats and manes had returned to normal, possibly after leaving the Crystal Empire.

Rarity looked at her body and released a disappointed sigh. "I do so wish it was permanent. Did you see how my mane just absolutely sparkled?" She commented to Applejack.

"But... good things are better when they're a rarity." Applejack winked at her last word, emphasizing a pun towards Rarity.

"Aww." Rarity laughed and released a warm smile.

"Everything's gonna be okay." Shining Armor advised Twilight, who continued to walk in a gloomy motion. "You've gotta stop saving my rump like this, it's starting to get embarrassing."

"Wasn't me who saved you in the end… It was Spike." Twilight responded.

"It's just a test. Maybe she'll let you retake it." Shining Armor added as we stopped in front of the train.

Nonetheless, Twilight continued walking towards the train, seeming to feel as if she just wanted to get it over with. "I don't think she's gonna give me a new test…"

I frowned and formed a depressive expression on my face. I shook it and faced Miss Cadence and Shining Armor. "I don't know what's going to happen…" I took a pause. "But… I'd rather her pass and me fail." I looked towards the train window where I could see her take a seat with her back away. "This is more important to her… So… If I can… I'll take the blame for any penalties against her…"

"But Alex…" Miss Cadence held out a hoof towards me.

I shook my head. "I was in this too. Worst Case Scenario: We both fail. Hopefully… That won't happen…"

Miss Cadence sighed. "I guess we understand…"

I nodded. "Yeah…" I faced them. "I guess I'll see you both later. The other girls must be waiting for me."

"Okay…" Miss Cadence offered an embrace, which I warmly accepted. "Take care, Alex. Okay?"

"Sure, Miss Cadence." I responded, allowing her to smile softly as I gave one last quick wave to Shining Armor. Then, I turned around and boarded the train.

When the train began moving, I walked over to Fluttershy, who was sitting by the window.

"Hey, Fluttershy."

She turned around and spotted me, smiling instantly. "Hello, Alex."

"I just thought I could at least spend the time in the train with you… It feels like it's been so long since I've seen your face or talked to you…"

She embraced me and returned a peck on my lips, but lightly shook her head after. "Go talk to Twilight. She needs you right now."

"Are you sure…?"

She nodded. "This is the most important thing to her right now. She needs all the comfort she can get, and you understand her more than any of us do. We can wait until another day to spend some nice time together. Right now, she needs you to get through this."

I nodded and glanced over to Twilight. "Okay…" I faced Fluttershy. "Thanks, Fluttershy."

She released a warm smile and nodded as well. "You're welcome."

After, we pulled away, and she allowed me to walk over to Twilight, who was at the end of the train, looking out the window in silence. Once I reached her, I sat by her and slightly looked towards her eyes. "Hey… How's it going…?" I asked.

She sighed, and I could almost hear her voice break. "I'm so worried… I feel like I'm going to completely fail."

I remained silent for a moment, thinking about what to say. Then, I looked out the window and spoke. "I don't want to lie and say that everything is going to be okay…but… I'm really sure we'll be fine Twilight…"

"For you, I'm sure." She replied, almost instantly. "You did so much! And all I did was…get into worse situations…"

I placed a hoof on her hoof and looked at her emphatically and empathetically. "It was a team effort, Twilight. You may think it like that, but I know that if you didn't help, we both would have failed. You found the book to the Crystal Faire. You found the hidden passageway towards the Crystal Heart. You even used an anti-gravity spell to get us to it in time! If you wouldn't have done any of those things, we probably would have never made it in time."

Twilight looked at the floor for a moment and then back at me, managing to release a small smile. "I…I guess you're right…Thank you, Alex…" She looked out the window. "Maybe everything will be alright… I mean… When has it never been…?"

"We saved the Crystal Empire… I think that's more important than taking the Crystal Heart to Miss Cadence yourself. We did the job, and we did it great."

"Yeah…" She paused and then looked at me. "Did you really mean what you said back there? About me being your sister?"

I smiled and nodded confidently. "Trust me. If I could replace Starlight with you, I would so in an instant."

She managed to giggle softly. "You're too nice."

As soon as the train stopped, we all walked out and traveled towards Princess Celestia's quarters. Reaching the doors where we first were when we were summoned to take the test, everypony stopped.

"We'll wait for you both right here." Applejack announced.

Twilight and I looked at each other. She inhaled and exhaled a deep breath and nodded. Then, we both turned to the door and entered through. As we grew nearer to where Princess Celestia stood, I could feel Twilight beginning to grow nervous, as I spotted her legs trembling and shaking a bit.

We saw her looking out the window, noticing the colors radiate through the sky. We stopped a few feet from her.

"Princess Celestia… We're back…" Twilight announced.

She formed a warm smile. "It seems like the both of you completed the task well. It's beautiful."

Twilight lowered her head sadly, almost in guilt. "I wish it had been us who ultimately made it so. But it wasn't. Spike took the Heart and saved the Crystal Empire. Even so, Alex still did much more than me… I'm sorry…"

I shook my head. "That's not true." I faced Princess Celestia. "Twilight held as much importance as we all did. Princess Celestia…" I took a step towards her. "If you count anything against Twilight…please blame it on me." This caused Twilight to raise her head and look at me in surprise. "I know I could have done better to support her, but…" I chuckled lightly. "I guess I'm still a little…inexperienced…with my powers. Twilight was the one who really prepared and focused on this test. She deserves to pass. I don't meant to disrespect you, Princess Celestia, but it's more important to me if Twilight passes instead of me."

Princess Celestia thought about my small speech and then closed her eyes and smiled. "Hm. Don't speak such nonsense." She answered, surprising us both. She faced Twilight. "Twilight, as I understand it," She began walking towards us, glancing over to a glass window that actually depicted Spike bringing the Heart to Miss Cadence. "Spike brought Princess Cadence the Crystal Heart because you weren't sure how quickly you could find a way to escape the tower. You weren't willing to risk the future of the citizens of the Crystal Empire in an effort to guarantee your own. Far better that I have a student who understands the meaning of self-sacrifice than one who only looks out for her own best interests." She faced me. "As for you, you have surpassed the highest expectations I've had for you. You were so willing to stay with Twilight to protect her. You don't know how many other ponies would have taken it for granted if they contained the same powers you did, such as being arrogant and willing to take all the credit for themselves for the protection of the Crystal Empire." She placed a hoof on my shoulder. "You are extremely protective and valuable to your team, Alex. I'm sure you'll do nothing but impress and help your friends with your new powers, as you grow used to them."

I thought about her words and sent a warm smile to complete hers. "Thank you, Princess Celestia…"

Twilight formed a hopeful grin. "Does this mean...?"

Princess Celestia removed her hoof from my shoulder and stood back, proudly. "Yes, you both passed."

Twilight gasped loudly and suddenly shouted, screaming in joy. "Thank you, Princess Celestia! Thank you! I'm so glad!"

I was glad that we both passed, but I honestly wasn't as excited as Twilight was. However, I was certainly blissful that she achieved her goal. Princess Celestia looked at me and winked. "You better go tell your friends. I'm sure they're still out there worrying."

"Of course." I bowed. "Thank you, Princess Celestia."

"Oh, right!" Twilight ceased her jumping and hopping around and bowed as well. "Thank you again, Princess Celestia!"

Princess Celestia could only return a smirk and lightly chuckle as she saw Twilight run out the room with me following her.

Twilight wasn't hesitant to slam open the doors to the outside. She quickly kicked it, surprising the other ponies as they were looking inside. Twilight jumped out and exclaimed. "We passed!"

This immediately caused the other girls to grin, release breaths of relief, and cheer. As Twilight continued to hop excited, Spike ran over to her to hug her. I looked at all the other girls with a bright smile. Rarity glanced over to Fluttershy and then began walking towards us, catching the others' attention as she sang.

"You were prepared to do your best

Had what it takes to pass the test" Rarity's verse caused Twilight to raise her hoof and look away while blushing intensely. I smiled and placed a hoof over her, bringing her slightly closer to me and feeling ever so proud for her.

"All those doubts you can dismiss" I removed my hoof as Rarity began leading us out.

Turns out you were"

"Prepared for this!" The other girls finished as I walked between Twilight and Rarity.

"You clearly have just what it takes!" Applejack popped up between Twilight and I and placed her hooves around us, grinning.

"To pass a test with such high stakes!" Pinkie Pie added, somehow wearing literally high stakes on her hooves on Twilight's side. She lost her balance and fell, breaking the stakes. At this point, I smiled at her silliness, seeing how all the trouble was now over.

"We knew for sure you would prevail!" Fluttershy joined my side next to Rarity as she flew gracefully.

"Since when does Twilight Sparkle and Alex ever fail?" Rainbow Dash sang as well, lying on a cloud that hovered above us.

I grinned brightly and decided to add my own verse to their song. "I'm so happy I could really yell!"

"All those doubts that you can dismiss" We all sang as we crossed the bridge of the castle.

"Trust yourself and you cannot miss" The girls and I assured as Twilight Sparkle walked gracefully and smiled brightly with her eyes closed.

"Turns out you were!" Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity sang.

"Turns out we were!" Twilight and I returned.

"Turns out you were!" Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Spike joined.

"Turns out we were!" Twilight and I emphasized.

"Turns out you were" Rarity placed a hoof on both of ours as we were on the train ride home.

"Prepared... for this!" We all finished together.

"Heheh." Spike laughed both nervously and exhaustedly. "Yeah, I knew everything was going to be fine." Afterwards, he sighed and planted himself on Twilight's back, causing her to look back at him with a soft smile.

"BEST DAY EVER!" Pinkie screamed, causing me to chuckle.

Fluttershy walked by my side and wrapped her hoof delicately around me. I looked at her and smiled. Then, we both shared a kiss and looked out the window as we headed back home.

Finally…we can all have some rest…

It was already night time by the time we arrived. Twilight was holding Spike on her back when we were outside. She faced me and released a soft beam that formed on her expression. "Thanks, Alex. Even by my own vocabulary, I cannot bring up the exact words to describe how amazing you are. It's just like…" She looked away with her eyes trying to think. "Like…" She turned back towards me. "You're a miracle that saved and changed our lives."

I chuckled and shook my head. "I don't know if that's the case…but I'll tell you one thing… You all are the ones who saved and changed my life."

She smiled and chuckled. "Hm. Nevertheless, we're all so happy to have you as our outstanding friend. For me, my B.B.B.F.F."

I released a warm smile as well. "Thank you, Twilight."

"You're welcome." She placed a hoof around me to hug me for a moment. When she pulled away, she looked back. "I guess Spike and I better get some sleep. I'll see you around, okay? Especially to help you out with your magic skills."

"Of course." I nodded. "Goodnight L.S.B.F.F."

She giggled lightly and waved. "Goodnight." After, she began walking.

I heard something fly out of the train and yawn. "Welp, time to get some shut-eye!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she stretched her hooves far out. Before she left, she flew towards me and looked at me with competitive eyes. "Hey! Don't think I forgot about that race we're supposed to have!"

I managed to chuckle at her comment, as well as send a soft smile her way. "I'm still going to need a lot of training to put up a chance against you, Rainbow Dash."

"You bet your flank you do!" She exclaimed. "Of course, I don't want too boring of a competition, so come by my place or see me if you need any help or coaching."

"Will do."

She released one last competitive smile and saluted, flying off towards her home in the clouds.

Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy came out from the train after.

Rarity commented towards me as she walked past me, stopping by my side. "Don't worry. I'm absolutely sure your pure heart can beat her 'incredible speed' any time." She whispered and giggled.

I smirked. "Thanks, Rarity. Goodnight."

"Goodnight!" She exclaimed and trotted off to her boutique.

"Goodnight, Alex." Applejack announced, trotting past me as well. "See y'all tomorrow!"

I waved back at her.

"Goodnight?!" Pinkie Pie questioned in an exclaimed voice. "I'm still wide awake. WHEEEE!" She raced past me, still presenting a hyperactive mood.

Lastly, Fluttershy flew towards me, gazing at me with those signature soft sweet eyes of hers. "Well, I guess I better go home too now. I'll see you later, sweetie."

Just as she was about to fly past me, I quickly turned around and grabbed her hoof. "No, you don't." She turned to face me in slight surprise. I released a soft and small smile. "I'm taking you home."

Hearing this, she released a facial expression that expressed how glad she was to hear this from me.

Thus, I grabbed her hoof and began walking her, even flying a bit along the way as well.

When we reached her cottage, I stood by her at the door. She turned to face me. "Do you need to stay here, again?" She asked.

I shook my head lightly. "No thanks, I'll be fine."

Fluttershy managed to giggle a bit, despite the tired look in her eyes. "Okay then. Goodnight, darling."

"Goodnight, Fluttershy." I responded and then we both exchanged an avid caress of our lips. An immense glow grew on her cheeks, which was always adored by me. Then, she waved lightly and walked into her house.

Once safely in her home, I turned around and began trotting happily towards my own home.

By the time I opened the doors, walked up stairs, and landed on my bed, I was yawning and mumbling tiredly.

Time for some sleep…

I closed my eyes and began soothing myself into the dream world…

"Don't worry…You'll know soon enough…and when you do…It'll change your whole life… Forever."

My sleep was suddenly interrupted that I couldn't even remember what it was about.

The muffled yet loud sound of the bass was piercing through my ears. I groaned and pressed the pillow over me, but it still wasn't enough. I sighed heavily and opened my eyes, looking at the ceiling, annoyed. I had been tossing and turning for I don't know how long. Who would be playing loud music at this time of night? I placed hoof on my face and rubbed it. I lay there in my bed with my forelegs outstretched, continuing to look at the ceiling. I was becoming very annoyed and irritated. I guess I have to deal with this myself… I climbed out of bed and began walking down the stairs as I continued to hear that loud bass play. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Bump. Bump. Bump. Bump. That's how it sounded. Over and over. Once I reached the door, I opened it and the sound became even louder. I looked around to see where it was coming from. I found it was the house right next to mine. But as I looked around at the other houses, their lights were out. How could they be sleeping through this? I shook my head and began walking towards the house with bright lights coming from it.

Once I reached the door, I saw a round object hanging on it. It appeared to look like a…disk…or one of those old vinyl records. I sighed and knocked on the door. I waited for a moment, but there was no answer. Beginning to grow impatient, due to the lack of sleep, I knocked louder. After a while, there still was no answer. I placed my hoof on the door handle to see if it was unlocked. It was.

I really don't want to do this…but… It seems I don't have any other choice…

I twisted it and opened it, now fully hearing the supreme loud music coming from within. I walked inside and quickly closed it, placing my hooves on my ears. I looked in front of me to see a familiar pony nodding her head with the beat. As I continued to stare at her, as she seemed highly unaware of my presence, I observed her appearance. She looked highly familiar. She wore these odd shades, and she had a musical note as her cutie mark. I swear I've seen this pony before…

Nonetheless, I shook my head and formed furrowed eyebrows. "Hey!" I shouted, trying to catch her attention. However, she continued to nod her head with the beat. I sighed, and even I couldn't hear it, due to the loud music. "HEY!" I shouted louder, but she still didn't hear me. I sighed heavily and closed my eyes, focusing my magic. A dark blue aura formed on the speakers and shut them off suddenly.

"Huh?" The pony questioned, surprised, as she looked around. Finally, she spotted me and jumped a little. She wasn't scared, though. Instead, she stared at me. "Whoa…" She began as she lifted her shades, revealing her, which appeared to be, violet eyes that contained a hint of red, which was mixed in. "Am I tripping or do you have a horn and wings…"

"Finally, I have your attention…" I responded. "Yes, I do. But I'm here because your insanely loud music has been keeping me up. I don't know how it hasn't been bothering others, but it's been keeping me awake."

"Oh…sorry, dude…" She rubbed her hoof on the back of her head as she looked tired. "It's just that… I'm so bored…" She rubbed her chin as she removed her shades with her magic. "Say…haven't I seen you before?" I shrugged. She continued to think as she rubbed her chin and finally snapped her hoof. "Dude! I saw you at the wedding with Shining Armor and Princess Cadence!"

I thought about it. "Oh…right…" I remembered that she was the DJ for the party… I shook my head. "Anyway, what do you mean you're bored? Shouldn't you be getting some sleep?"

"Yeah, I know. But I'm just…like…bored. It's hard to understand…but, I'm that kind of bored where I can't sleep. Like, I have to do something fun. Then, I can get some sleep."

"Well, can't you just do something else that's, you know, not too loud?"

She sighed. "I tried thinking of something to write for a song, but I'm completely blank right now. Well…I'm pretty much too tired to do anything besides listen to music. Besides, it helps keep me awake and be able to think of things to write a song with."

"And you need to have that music really loud?"

"I have to have it loud… It pumps me up."

I sighed. "Well, I can't sleep with the music that loud."

"Hm…" She rubbed her chin for a moment and thought of something else. "I got it."

"Hm?"

"Hang out with me, dude."

"…what…?"

"You know, let's do something fun."

"I really want to go back to sleep…"

"Come on, just for a little while, that's all. I just need to have some fun and then we can both get some sleep."

I sighed and rubbed a hoof on my face. "Well, what do you have in mind?"

She looked around and shrugged. "I don't know. Let's just chill together for a moment."

"…chill…?"

"You know, hang out. Just be cool."

"For just a few minutes…?"

"Just a few minutes."

I sighed again. "Fine."

"Awesome!" She walked to her fridge and scuffled through it. "Hm…" I returned a confused look at her. She glanced back at me. "Want something to drink or something?"

"Uh…no thanks…" I responded.

"Are you sure?" She asked, continuing to lean her head inside the fridge and move things around. "I have this great punch. It tastes amazing."

I thought about it for a moment and realized that I could use something to drink, especially since I was up in two in the morning. I shrugged. "Sure, I'll try it."

She lifted the plastic bottle of punch and threw it towards me with her magic. I saw it coming towards me and quickly caught it with my magic as well. She smiled and grabbed herself a bottle of the punch, closing the refrigerator door after. "Nice catch."

"Thanks." I answered, looking at the bottle and beginning to open it.

"So…how do you have those wings and horn anyway?" She asked as she began relaxing herself on a nearby beanbag. "I thought Alicorns only had those."

"Well…I am an Alicorn."

She widened her eyes. "Really? So that means you're like a prince?"

I shook my head. "No… I don't want to become a prince anyway. I want to stay here and be with my friends. I pretty much want to stay the same way I was. I don't want anypony thinking of me as high royalty or anything…"

"Hm…" She responded, opening her punch and taking a sip of it. "That's cool of you." She took a gulp of it and thought for a moment. "You want to know what I just realized?"

"What?" I asked, taking a drink of the punch as well. It was addicting.

"You're like either, the first or only guy Alicorn ever. Well, at least from what everypony knows."

"What do you mean?"

"Princess Celestia. Princess Luna. Princess Cadence. They're all Alicorns, and they're all girls. You're like the only Alicorn who's a guy."

"Oh, right." I realized it too, taking another drink of the punch.

"Well, let's not be strangers here. I haven't even gotten your name." She announced, placing the punch on the floor. She held out a hoof towards me. "Vinyl Scratch, or DJ-PON3, if you want to call me by my DJ name."

"Alex." I accepted her hoofshake.

"Alex, huh?" She spoke as she retracted her body back towards the beanbag. "That's a unique name. It fits you, though."

I smiled a bit. "Thanks."

"No problem. So you just hang around Ponyville with your friends?"

"Yeah… I always somehow get sucked into crazy adventures with them… Nonetheless, they're fun in some way."

"Ah. Well, as I already told you…" She turned around, while still in her seat, and retrieved some papers, turning back to me. "I write songs and perform as a DJ." She looked at me and gestured her with her hoof to sit next to her. "Check these out." She presented the papers as I did so.

I looked and observed them for a moment. "Wow… you must have some talent in music, don't you?"

"Heh." She chuckled a little. "I guess. I don't know. It's just something I like to do."

"Well, it's your cutie mark, isn't it? I'm sure you'll be a great DJ and musician."

"Thanks." She smiled at me, but then frowned a bit. "Though… I'm not known as much as her…" She pointed towards a picture of Starlight on a newspaper nearby. "It seems her band is becoming known all over Equestria. Her fans are crazy about her. I mean… they'll even kill each other to get a ticket…" She faced me and noticed my narrowed eyes. "What? Something wrong?"

"Yeah, her." I pointed to the picture. "Believe or not, she's my sister."

"Whoa…really?"

"Yeah…"

"What's she like?"

I shook my head and looked at the ground. "She's definitely not nice." I chuckled a little. "It's a long story."

"Oh…" She frowned a bit. "I can see what you mean. I mean…" She looked towards the picture again. "It's really no surprise… It's like…anypony that becomes this famous is usually really mean… They let their fame and success get to their head… That's something I'm afraid about too. What if I turn like that…?"

"First of all, Starlight was born as a spoiled and ignorant pony, at least from what I can remember. She was already like this. I have no idea how she became this 'famous' piece of trash. She's just an ironic twist bent over on the acceptance of others that worship her. End of story."

"Whoa…" Vinyl sent me slightly worried and concerned eyes. "You two must have had some really bad problems, didn't you?"

"It goes a little beyond 'really bad' problems…" I could feel myself already becoming irritated with the thought of her.

"…Mind if you tell me about it…?" She asked.

I sighed. "Maybe some other time… For right now, let's just forget about that…"

"Oh, okay… I understand. I've heard her music. I'm not jealous of her or anything, but to be honest, her music doesn't really have any…heart… When I hear her sing, I don't feel any passion or heart behind it. There are just…lyrics… That's why I'm not a fan. I also use this to try to improve myself. I write what I feel, and I try my best to put that passion I long for so much into music."

"Vinyl…" I began, placing a hoof on her shoulder. "Hearing you say that makes me feel one hundred percent confident that you won't let fame get into your head. You seem very caring and passionate about your music and work. I can feel that too. As long as you focus on accomplishing your dream goal, with no intentions of selfishness interfering, I'm sure you'll succeed and be satisfied when the time comes."

"Wow…" Vinyl reacted with slightly widened eyes, which soon turned slightly narrowed into a caring manner as she released a warm smile. "Thanks, Alex… Coming from an Alicorn yourself, that really means a lot." She chuckled a little. "You know, you seem like a really cool guy, Alex."

I smiled as well and retracted my hoof. "Thanks, Vinyl, I can say the same thing about you."

She smiled with her eyes closed for a moment until she opened them again to tell me something. "Oh! That reminds me! Want to see something funny?" She asked.

"Sure." I responded.

She grabbed the newspaper we were looking at earlier and flipped a few pages. "Check this out." She laughed when she reached the page. She continued speaking as she showed me the page. "This guy took a picture of himself burning one of the tickets to one of her concerts!" I observed the page to see a picture with a pony purposely burning a ticket. "What's so funny about it, is that he got so much negative comments about it!" I read the text under the picture, which depicted several ponies commenting so childishly at it. Some ponies agreed with this pony, others didn't care.

"Wow…" I released. "I have to admit… some ponies don't know how to handle this maturely. Their comments reveal their true ignorance, just like my sister." I shook my head. "It seems like concert tickets, or Starlight, is all they care about… I swear, these 'fans' of her seem to care more about some idol than the Princess herself."

"Looks that way." She placed the newspaper to the side. "Well, anyway, let's not let our chill time be interrupted by that kind of stuff. Want to play a game or something?"

"A game?" I rubbed the back of my head. "Well…" When I looked at her face, she sent me some familiar eyes. She wasn't exactly begging me to stay, but she seemed as if she would really like for me to spend some time with her. I sighed. She seems like a really cool pony anyway. I guess I can stay a little while longer. "Alright."

She smiled warmly, though a bit tiredly, and began scuffling through some of her stuff. "Cool." She answered and brought out a board game. When she looked at the cover, she chuckled a bit. "Ponopoly… I don't think I've ever played this…"

I chuckled as well. "I've never really played any board game at all actually."

"Really?" She inquired, revealing intrigued eyes. "Well, it's your lucky day…I mean…lucky night…morning?" She giggled a bit. "I don't know… I'm pretty much too tired to think…yet…I can't even sleep." She sighed. "I'm sure I'll fall asleep some time… Anyway… let's get this started." She placed the board game on the floor and opened the box. Many items, figures, play money, etc, were revealed. Vinyl grabbed the instructions from within with her magic and read them. "Every pony gets fifteen hundred bits… Okay…" She grabbed the fake bits and gave her and me fifteen hundred. Then, she continued reading. "Now every pony grabs a figure." We both looked at the figures in the box. There was a saddle, a pony, a top hat, etc. "Grab whatever you want." She just got the saddle tiredly. I retrieved the pony. "Okay… now place the figures on 'Go' and roll the dice. Move the amount of spaces, due to the amount of numbers you got from the dice." She looked up to me. "Want to go first?"

"I don't really care." I responded.

She smiled a bit and yawned. "Well, go ahead then." Using my magic, I shook the dice in the air and threw them against the board. They clattered along the board until they stopped, revealing two sixes. "Nice throw." She commented and looked at the instructions. "It says here that when you get two of the same number, you get to go again.

"Alright…" Being too tired to move the piece with my hooves, I used my magic to move it twelve spaces. I landed on Fillydelphia. How ironic.

"Mmk…" She studied the instructions again. "It says you can buy that property for what it says under it." She looked at the space. "Two hundred and forty bits."

I chuckled a little. "Is Fillydelphia really worth two hundred and forty bits? I can believe that...possibly less. I'll skip it."

"Okay… Go ahead and roll again." I grabbed the dice and shook them a little. Then, I threw them gently on the board. I earned a three and a six. I moved the piece nine spaces and landed on something called, "Community Chest". "Huh. Says here you pick a card from the yellow stack." I picked up a card and read it. Princess Celestia awards you for good behavior. You've earned one hundred bits. I chuckled at this. "What does it say?" I showed her the card. She smiled a bit. "Oh wow." She fetched one hundred bits and gave them to me. After, she yawned and rolled the dice, getting two fives. She moved her piece ten spaces and landed on Las Pegasus. "Las Pegasus… three hundred bits…" She giggled a little. "Oh yeah… I'm taking it." She placed the bits somewhere away and grabbed a little card for it.

The game lasted for a while, which I don't even know for how long. Vinyl looked at the board and groaned. "Tired?" I asked.

"Tired of the game…to be honest… I didn't know it would take this long! And I still can't sleep…"

I smiled lightly. "That's alright." I began putting the pieces away in an organized fashion. All this was pretty much good practice for my magic.

"What do you want to do?" She asked, lying on the floor and looking up towards the ceiling.

I yawned and rubbed my eyes a bit. I chuckled a little. "I could use some sleep."

She sighed. "Sorry… You go ahead and sleep. I'll try to get some myself…"

I shook my head. "Nope. I'm not leaving until you finally get some sleep."

"What…?" She asked, turning her face towards me. "But I've been making you stay awake for so long. I don't want to keep you up much longer."

I smiled lightly. "You're in need of some help. And I always help my friends in any way I can."

"Friend, huh…?" She chuckled a little and looked up at the ceiling. "Cool…"

"Come on. Maybe we can try some traditional or homemade recipes for inducing sleep?"

"Sure… Sounds good."

"You don't go through this every night though, do you?"

"No…no…" She answered tiredly. "Just tonight for some reason…"

"Uh-huh… I see… Alright…" I looked around. "How about some warm milk? Do you have milk?"

"Yeah… It's in the refrigerator. On the door to the right."

I nodded and walked over to the fridge. I opened it and looked at the location of her directions. There was a bottle of cold milk inside. I lifted it up with my magic and brought it out, closing the door after. I looked around and spotted a clean cup. I opened the bottle of milk and poured some into the cup. I closed the bottle and placed it back in the fridge. I looked at the cup and focused my eyes a bit on it. A dark blue aura formed around it and slight bubbling occurred. After a moment, I placed a hoof on the cup and felt the warmness. Then, I lifted the cup and brought it over to Vinyl. "Here."

"Thanks." She smiled lightly and began to drink it. "Mmm." She commented as she sipped it. "This is pretty good…" She blinked her eyes a bit. "You know… I think it's actually helping…"

I smiled, tiredly. "That's good." I placed my hoof on my chin and thought for a moment. Hm…what if I finish off? I nodded a bit and looked at her.

My soft smile caused her to look at me questionably and reveal sleepy eyes. "Why are you smiling like that?" She asked, a little playfully.

I chuckled a little. "How about I sing you a lullaby?" I answered, actually still being able to hear Fluttershy's own words in my mind.

Vinyl slightly widened her eyes. "A lullaby…? Are you sure I'm not too old for one?"

I smiled and shook my head. "Anypony can hear a lullaby."

She smiled as well and sighed contently. "Well then, Alex, if you're going to sing me a lullaby, I might as well get in bed." She sat up from the floor and began walking towards the bed. There, she laid herself down and snuggled under the covers. "There. All ready now. What about you?"

I took in a deep breath and cleared my throat a bit. Then, I closed my eyes and began to sing.

"Hush now, quiet now,

It's time to lay your sleepy head,

Hush now, quiet now,

It's time to go to bed…"

I opened my eyes to see Vinyl with a soft smile and soft eyes. "That…was amazing…" She yawned and began to flutter her eyes sleepily. "You may not be a professional vocalist like your sister…but you have something she doesn't…heart." With this, she smiled a little more.

I blushed slightly and rubbed the back of my head. "Thanks."

"No…thank you…" She responded, catching my attention. "You know…you're a really cool gu-I mean…friend." She giggled a little. "We should definitely hang again sometime…when it's day time…heh."

I removed my slightly surprised expression and formed it into a warm content one. "Sure thing, Vinyl."

After smiling for a moment towards me, she began closing her eyes. "…night…" Finally, they fully closed and it seemed that she began to sleep.

Keeping the same expression, I responded one more time. "Goodnight…" After, I turned around and used my magic to turn off the lights. I headed towards the door and walked out.

As I exited past the door, closing it after, I observed the night sky with tired eyes. I yawned greatly and began heading towards my home to finally get some sleep. However, a flapping of wings surprised me. Hooves planted on the ground behind me, and I could hear my name being mentioned.

"Hello, Alexander."

I turned around to see Princess Luna.

"Princess Luna…" I asked, even too tired to widen my eyes. "What are you doing here…?"

She smiled, almost in a kind of embarrassing way, and looked towards somewhere in town. "Care to take a stroll with me?"

"Um…" I rubbed my head and looked at my house, which was right nearby. Nonetheless, I looked at Luna and shrugged, deciding I could spend just a few moments with her. "Sure. Why not?"

We walked towards the lake, or stream, in town. There, we began walking along the edge by the water.

I decided to start the conversation.

"So…why are you here in Ponyville anyway, Princess Luna?"

"Oh…" She lowered her head a bit. "I had just been feeling pretty lonesome…"

"Right…" I frowned a little. "You're the Princess of the night… I'm sorry…"

She managed to smile a little. "Don't worry about it, Alexander, er, I mean, Alex."

I chuckled a little. "It's okay, Princess Luna."

"Why must thou call me Princess Luna? Can thou not just call me Luna?"

"Well… I can… But I like to show respect to my Princesses, so I usually always include Princess whenever possible."

"I see…well…call me Luna whenever thou wishes."

I smiled. "Sure thing, Luna."

She smiled as well. "So how have thy wings and magic been treating you?"

"I'm still getting used to them…" I flapped my wings a bit. "That…and I need to control my shifting between forms." I chuckled a bit. "I've actually been like this for a while, and I don't really know exactly how to get back…but that time will come when it comes…"

"I see…" She looked towards the moon. I yawned, causing her to turn her head towards me and look at me. "Are thou tired?"

"Yeah…to be honest…"

"Oh…" She lowered her head sadly. "My sincerest apologizes… I did not mean to keep you up… I just thought you were able to be awake during the night easier than others…"

I smiled a bit, assuring her that it was okay. "It's alright, Luna. Why would you think that, though?"

"Well…you're an Alicorn…"

"Princess Celestia is an Alicorn too, but she can't stay up during the night…"

Her eyes shifted around a little in thought, perhaps. She stopped and sat down, causing me to stop and look at her. "Sorry…"

"Why?" I asked, walking towards her and sitting down next to her.

She faced the stream of water and looked up towards the moon. "Wasn't it thou that spoke of us being not so different?"

"You mean…back at Nightmare Night?" I inquired.

"Yes…" She lowered her head to observe the color of her coat, pulling out her hoof. "I believe it to be so… Thou color of coat is almost the exact of thine. Both of us have felt the terrible curse of loneliness. And now…you are an Alicorn…" She looked towards me and smiled. "I was hoping you would be able to last during the night as well." Then, she turned her vision towards the lightly flowing grass that swayed in a gentle motion as the cool breeze around us continued to lift the feathers of our wings away. She continued staring at the ground as I could only remain staring at her face.

My eyes shifted around in thought. I thought of something crazy…something even I thought that would be too stupid to slip through my lips. But for some reason… I felt…as if I just had to get this off my chest… "Luna…" Her name slipped through my lips and off my tongue. She lifted her head and looked towards me.

"Yes, Alex?"

"Do you…" I felt my lips tremble a bit in hesitation. It wasn't fear… It was… I can't explain it… "…do you…think…" I looked at the ground a bit. After a moment of thinking more, I looked back at her face, noticing her eyes fully attentive towards mine. "Do you think…we could…somehow…be…related?" She slightly widened her eyes and looked back towards the ground, causing me to frown and look away. "Sorry… I already knew it was a stupid question… I just felt like… I needed to ask it…"

"It's not, Alex…" She looked up towards the sky once again and analyzed the stars. "It's possible… I mean… thou are an Alicorn. I am Princess Celestia's sister. Princess Cadence is her niece. Thou may be related to us… But it is not certain. Princess Celestia and I have no idea of how thou came across of being an Alicorn. It is certainly quite a mystery… It is not only that…but you have the ability to shift between being an Alicorn and an earth pony. It is really quite puzzling." She chuckled a bit. "We don't quite contain a clue at all."

"I understand…" I nodded and looked towards the moon. "But…I'm sure we'll find out soon enough…"

"Indeed…" She answered, and we both sat there by the river, staring at the night sky and the moon. Then, I started to remember her behavior before we set off towards saving the Crystal Empire. "Luna…"

"Hm?" She answered.

I remained silent for a moment, remembering how hurting it was to see her stare at me like that. "…Why did you seem so…bothered and irritated back when Princess Celestia summoned Twilight and I for a test? I swear…" I paused. "It looked like…you hated my guts or something…"

She turned her head towards the water, significantly frowning. "My deepest apologizes, Alexander. I did not mean thou to think of thine like that…" She paused for a moment, in thought. "It's just…" She sighed. "Things are complicated right now…"

"…What do you mean?" I asked, growing concerned. "What things?"

She glanced over to me. "Do not worry yourself… They are…personal…things…"

"Oh…" I frowned. "Sorry for asking…"

"It is completely fine, Alex…" She looked up towards the moon, her eyes squinted. "It is something I feel comfortable sharing with you…but…" She lowered her head back to the river and shook it, almost looking like she wanted to release a few tears. "…now is just not the time…"

"Luna…" I looked towards her face, feeling some pain slip from her into me.

She sniffled a bit and wiped her eyes with her hooves. "It is nothing…" I continued looking at her for a moment, but then returned my attention to the moon. It is definitely not nothing… What could it be…? Sigh. Well… I don't want to rush her… I'm pretty surprised she came to visit me herself. After a few moments, I heard her call me. "Alex…"

"Hm?" I turned my head to look at her. She stared at me for a moment and placed her hooves on my cheeks. Then, she closed her eyes and leaned her head towards mine, stunning me a bit. She kissed my forehead and pulled away, causing me to feel shocked and surprised. "…what was that for…?"

She looked a little embarrassed. "My apologies… I just felt…as if I needed to do that as well…"

"Oh… It's alright… It was just a little sudden…"

She managed to smile a bit. "Well… I should probably allow thou to rest for the night.

I chuckled a little. "Okay, Luna. But I understand how you can feel lonely, especially when every pony is asleep at this time of night, so we can try to get together some nights."

"I appreciate the effort, Alex, but thou shall not worry about it. Thou shall see me whenever thou wishes."

I chuckled. "Heheh, okay 'thou'."

She smiled and laughed along me as well. "I assume I shall speak with tho- I mean… you… later…"

I nodded. "Of course, Luna. I really need to spend some more time with you. I've only spoken to you a few times, and there's so much to share."

She smiled warmly. "I would really appreciate that… Thy heart feels so triumphant from the lack of social interaction when speaking with somepony, especially you… I feel…as if I can really relate to you…"

I returned another warm smile as well. "I feel the same way, Luna…" I looked at the color of my coat, remembering of all the things we shared in common.

"It's been wonderful talking to you, Alex." She held out her forelegs, sending me an invitation for an embrace. I sent a small smile and accepted her friendly motion. We both hugged each other for a while until we pulled away. "Goodnight, Alex…"

"Goodnight, Luna."

Afterwards, she began flapping her wings and retiring herself back to Canterlot. I continued observing her fly off, noticing how her appearance melted along with the soft pastel depicted across the ever free sky. My thoughts were interrupted when my head began drooping towards the ground, eyes becoming weary and fatigue. I shook my head a little and decided to walk back to my home.

When I entered using the door, I began to drag myself up the stairs. I was so tired, I couldn't think straight. Ugh…so much…need…sleep… When I finally reached the bed, I weakly planted myself on there and immediately closed my eyes.

I wonder how Princess Luna is able to be awake during the night. Well… I guess it's as simple as us. She sleeps during the day, except during the Crystal Empire incident for some reason, and is awake during the night. That must be pretty annoying… being able to do practically nothing because of the lack of activity during the night… I'll try to bring some social activities to her as much as possible… She deserves to be as happy as any pony.

I shifted around in bed.

This sure was a crazy night…meeting Vinyl Scratch during two in the morning, and ending our "hang out" time with a nice conversation with Princess Luna. But I'm thankful for that. I'm sure my life would be pretty different if none of that had happened. Everything happens for a reason. Vinyl Scratch may possibly impact my life somehow, and I know the conversation Princess Luna and I had had strengthened the bond of our relationship. That reminds me… I don't know why… but for some reason… I just feel really…close…to Luna… Hm… Well, I guess it'll all come to me one day…

Just as I was about to finally receive my rest, something suddenly popped into my mind.

King Sombra. I can see your father in you…

What did he mean by that…? How in Equestria does he know about my father? Somepony powerful like King Sombra knowing some piece of trash "father" who beated his kid every day for unreasonable actions? It just doesn't make sense to me. Maybe he mistook me for some pony else… That must be it… Seriously… I had no idea what he was talking about… Oh well… I sighed and closed my eyes.

Thou shall retire to slumber for the night.

Too Many Pinkie Pies

Episode 55 – Too Many Pinkie Pies

Soon enough, and perhaps a bit longer than usual, I opened my eyes to welcome the conscience of the outside into my mind. I looked out to the window and noticed a nice sunny day waiting for me outside. Still waiting for me to fully awake, I continued observing the activities outside while placing a hoof on my chin.

Fluttershy definitely deserves some time together with me…

I continued looking out the window for a moment, just enjoying the sight of everypony sucking in the sunny sunshine. I smiled softly, beginning to remove the hoof from under my chin and hopping out of bed. There was total silence for a moment until the soft but sharp chirps of the soaring creatures pierced through the walls surrounding me. I was able to hear these pleasurable sounds as I walked down the steps of my stairs.

I arrived at the door and gently pushed it open with my hoof. As soon I did, I was immediately welcomed and bathed in the sunlight produced by Princess Celestia. I turned my head up and smiled softly, basking in its ambience.

I looked around town and realized it was pretty much an average day in Ponyville. There were group of ponies, each doing their own thing, which would follow walking together or sitting at tables, talking. I looked towards the café area, deciding I would cut through there to start heading to Fluttershy's.

Walking through the middle of the action, I began to hear familiar sounds vibrating around me. My ears slightly twitching, I looked around, almost instantly spotting a familiar pony and dragon.

"Try again, Twi, you can do it!" Spike encouraged as a focused Twilight stared at an apple on top of a mushroom table.

"Phew, this spell's a toughie." Twilight responded, wiping her forehead with her hoof.

Deciding I would stop by and say hello, I walked towards them. "Hey, you two." I greeted warmly.

Twilight removed her sight on the apple towards me. "Oh, hey, Alex! How are you doing?"

"I'm fine. I was just about to go to Fluttershy's." I looked towards the apple, intrigued by their reasons for staring at it. "What's going on?"

Twilight faced towards the apple as well. "Well, I was practicing on turning this apple here into an orange."

"Turning an apple into an orange?" I asked. "Comparing that to teleportation, I'd say that it would be a piece a cake for you."

She slightly chuckled. "Trust me. It's not. I've been trying for quite a while right now, and I still haven't been able to do it." She looked at me for a moment and slightly tilted her head. "Say, if you think it's so easy, why don't you try it?" She asked, teasing me playfully.

"Me?" I questioned, widening my eyes a little. "If you can't do it, then I'll be a fool to try it."

"Aw, come on. You're full of miracles. I'd say it's worth a little try."

I thought about it for a moment and decided I could quickly take her up on her offer. I sighed and walked to her side. "I suppose so."

Twilight released a smile. "Alright. Now, knowing what to do is easy. The hard part is putting what you know into action. Basically, you just have to imagine that apple turning into orange. Sounds easy, doesn't it? Not exactly. It's like trying to think clearly when there are a bunch of distractions around you. Understand what I mean?"

"Yeah…" I glanced over to Twilight and then back at the apple. "I think so…"

"Well, take the time you need to concentrate."

"Okay…" As I began narrowing my eyes to focus on the apple, I suddenly started thinking about my worst fear back at the Crystal Empire. It was random at the time, but catching me thinking about that allowed me to share it with Twilight. "Hey, Twilight…"

"Hm?"

"…Remember when we stepped through the door to our worst fear back at the Crystal Empire?"

"Yeah?"

"…Now that I think about it…I find it really strange…"

"Why? What do you mean?"

"Well… The vision I had wasn't exactly my worst fear. I didn't know what it was at all. But now that I know what my real worst fear is… It definitely doesn't make any sense."

"Well… What is your fear?" Twilight asked, seeming to become a little more concerned now.

I remained silent, taking my eyes off from the apple and looking at the ground for a brief second. Then, I turned my head and viewed Twilight's expression with serious eyes. "Losing you girls…"

"Alex…" She reacted with for a moment and then placed both of her front hooves around my neck. "Just like I told Spike that that is a fear that will never come to pass. You don't have to worry about that, Alex. We'll never leave you."

I returned a soft smile. "I trust you." I faced towards the apple once again and placed my hooves firmly on the ground. "Now, let's try making this into an orange." I began closing my eyes and tried to imagine the apple being forged into an orange, which was really complicated. It sounded stress-free, like Twilight mentioned, but it felt as if I had to imagine every small detail on how the apple could possibly

form into a fruit of opposite descent. Nonetheless, I hoped for the best and began feeling the magic on my horn work. "Here we go…" I mumbled, ready to shoot it out.

Just when I was about to, I was suddenly forcefully pushed to the side. "Hiiiiiiii!" A cheerful voice screamed out in joy as it tightly embraced my whole body with its hooves.

Surprisingly, I was able to analyze the pony, even though I was practically suffering at its mercy. It was none other than Pinkie Pie. She literally squeezed me, holding her mouth open and her eyes closed in jubilant celebration. I was running out of oxygen, and I was too breathless to speak up.

Twilight aided me in time as she pulled Pinkie off from me, causing me to fall back on the floor starkly and take in deep breaths to regulate my respiratory cycle. "Pinkie, why'd you do that?!" Twilight scolded in an almost loud and irritated manner, frightening Pinkie a bit as she sat on the floor with a sour face.

"'Cause hugs are funnerific," Pinkie explained her sudden actions, quickly hopping back on her hooves and emphasizing her emotions with her whole body. "Especially when you throw one around a friend." She wrapped herself with her own hooves and then let them unwind hastily. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Trying to turn that apple into an orange!" Twilight answered for me, most likely as I was just about to finish my breathing.

"But you kinda threw his aim off..." Spike added, rubbing the back of his head.

Twilight walked over to me and held out a hoof. "Are you alright, A—

She suddenly gasped as I began grabbing her hoof.

"What?" I questioned, wondering what she seemed to be shocked about as she pulled me up from the ground.

"Your horns and wings! They're gone!" Twilight exclaimed.

"What?" I moved my eyes upwards to look at the top of my head. My horn wasn't there. I quickly turned my head to view my sides. My wings weren't there either. I sighed and lowered my head. "They must have disappeared when Pinkie surprised and caught me off-guard…somehow…"

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Alex!" Pinkie cried out and now wrapping her hooves around me once again, except not as tight. She released these huge puppy eyes and pursed her lips in a saddened frown as if she wanted to cry. "Please, please, please, please, please, please, forgive me! Please?" She pleaded.

I patted her back, assuring her forgiveness. "Don't worry about it, Pinkie. It's completely fine. I can just find a way to get them back. It's only temporary. Besides, I guess I could take a break from that form…" I lightly chuckled, rubbing my head with my hoof.

"Thank you!" She squeezed a little tighter for only a few seconds and then released to bounce around in joy.

However, when doing this, she bumped into another familiar pony, who was wearing a black robe for some reason.

"Rarity?" I inquired after analyzing the pony for some time.

"Mm-hm!" She delightfully nodded her head and responded. "Guess what I'm wearing!"

"Another one of your fantastic creations?" I accepted her offer, guessing at her question.

She slightly giggled in flattery and nodded. She grabbed the robe with her left hoof and pulled it off. "Allow me to introduce to you this haute-couture ensemble that I just finished making!" She presented brightly and fashionably. "Delightful, no?" She added a little cute accent at the end.

Pinkie Pie suddenly gasped and placed her hooves to her face in horror. "This is terrible!"

"I admit it's perhaps not my finest work, but I-

Pinkie interrupted Rarity by pushing her face against hers in surprise. "You had total-awesome-amazing fun and I missed out on it?!" Hey eyes stretched out in emphasis. "Eeh!" She bounced back towards us. "Wait! What if there's more awesome amazing fun with friends happening somewhere in Ponyville right now that I'm missing out on too?!" She tip-toed around us quickly and then placed her hooves to her face in shock.

Without another word, she quickly evacuated the area by fleeing away in a dash.

Rarity could only turn her sight back towards us in widened confusion. However, her expression changed when she focused her attention towards me. She walked towards me, continuing to look at my face. "Alex, it has come to my attention that you are missing your horn and wings."

I narrowed my eyes and looked back in irritation. "No, really…?" I replied sarcastically. "I can't believe I didn't notice before…"

She formed saddened eyes and moved back one step away from me. "I-I'm sorry I brought it up…"

When I realized what I did to shift her expression to a frown, I quickly shook my head and hooves, slapping myself mentally for acting like a common donkey. "No no no. I'm sorry, Rarity. I really am. I didn't mean to act like that."

"It's okay…" She replied, still a little saddened. "I understand I can be annoying sometimes…"

Feeling worse for having placed Rarity in this type of behavior, I quickly placed my hooves around her in an apologetic manner, which Pinkie had ironically done a few minutes ago. "No, Rarity. It was my fault. I should have known better than to act like that, especially to a friend like you… I'm sorry…"

Fortunately, Rarity managed to pull a soft smile and placed her hoof around me as well. Then, we both pulled away and looked at each other. "I forgive you, Alex." She answered. She placed a hoof to her mouth and slightly looked away. "Saying that almost makes me feel like I had no fault in it whatsoever…"

"You didn't, Rarity." I responded, emphasizing the complete blame on me. "It was my complete fault. Don't worry about it."

"Well…" She turned her head back towards me. "As long as nothing happens to our friendship." She thought for a moment and giggled a bit. "Hehe, I almost feel stupid for overreacting to that one small remark…"

Her response caused me to chuckle slightly as well. "Don't worry about it. I completely understand. I wouldn't say it was an overreaction." I then suddenly remembered about seeing Fluttershy. My eyes widened at the thought. "Oh! Sorry." I apologized to Rarity and the others. "I should go to Fluttershy's now before I forget again. See you three later!"

They waved as I ran through the café and towards Fluttershy's cottage.

After a short moment of rushing, I reached Fluttershy's cottage, bumping into her just as she was exiting the front door. "Oh, hey, Fluttershy!" I greeted, panting a little. "I'm glad I ran into you."

"Why?" She asked, tilting her head slightly in a questioning yet adorable manner.

"I wanted to spend some time with you." I formed a warm smile.

"Aw, that's so sweet of you." She placed a peck on my lips. "I would love that very much."

"You're not busy, are you?" I asked.

"Oh no no." She shook her head. "I was just going to fly over to my butterfly grove because I let Pinkie Pie rest there."

"What do you mean?"

"When Angel and I were having some tea together, she found us and asked me if I was having any fun. Then, she found out I wasn't and passed out. I think she was really tired because she was breathing really hard. Anyway, I was just going to check up on her. Want to come with me?"

"Sure."

Before she began spreading her wings, she narrowed her eyes towards me. "You look different…"

"Yeah…" I looked at an angle towards the ground. "I don't have my wings or horn anymore…"

"Oh my goodness." Fluttershy answered with shock, placing a hoof to her mouth. "What happened?"

"Pinkie Pie startled me with this really tight hug, and I guess they somehow disappeared because of that. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll get them back soon, or maybe even manage to transform on my own."

"Aww." Fluttershy frowned, looking towards the floor. "You could've flown with me…"

I placed a hoof on her shoulder and created an assuring smile. "Don't worry, I'm fine with walking."

"Well, okay then." Fluttershy lifted her head and managed to add a soft small smile when she saw my expression. "Let's go."

I nodded and began walking as Fluttershy flew closely by my side.

When we reached the butterfly grove, we saw thousands of butterflies surrounding this comfortable couch. At the end, I could see a large poofy pink tail. Fluttershy landed in front of the couch, facing the pony on it. "Feeling better, Pinkie?" She asked as I stood by her side.

"Abso-tootley-lutely!" Pinkie Pie responded, seeming as she never even lost her energy at all. "What's up, Alex?" She exclaimed when she noticed me.

I reacted with a light smirk. "Geez, Pinkie… I never thought you'd actually be out of energy."

She sighed. "I know! It's just so much work when you're trying to have fun with everypony!" She faced Fluttershy. "Anyway, thanks for letting me rest in your butterfly grove while I get my Pinkie-Strength back!" She laid back on the couch, allowing one of the butterflies to hover above her and land delicately on her nose.

"What are friends for?" Fluttershy softly, but happily, answered, closing her eyes.

"That's just the thing!" Pinkie Pie suddenly squeezed Fluttershy's cheeks with her hooves and brought her closer. "I've got so many wonderful friends having fun in every last corner of Ponyville, I can't figure out how to keep up with it all!" She released her grip and allowed Fluttershy back by my side. "It's driving me even more coco-loco than usual!" She stood up on the couch with two of her back hooves, rolled her eyes in dizziness, and hung over the couch on her backside.

"I can promise to not do anything fun at all if that would help." Fluttershy offered.

"You are such a good friend." Pinkie responded, keeping her awkward posture.

"Yeah." I added. "Fluttershy and I can just spend some nice quiet time alone together, so you don't have to worry about us."

Before Pinkie could comment on that, we heard Applejack's voice sound from behind her. "There y'are, Pinkie. Been lookin' everywhere for ya, girl."

Then, there was flapping above us. "Hey Pinkie, got some fun planned this afternoon thought you might wanna know about." Rainbow Dash announced, landing beside us.

"Heh, well I'll be an apple crisp, I'm here for the same reason." Applejack added further.

"This is perfect!" Pinkie widened her eyes and exclaimed. "Everyone will now bring their fun to me." She rubbed her hooves and dashed out of the couch, blowing our manes. "Ha, this'll solve everything!" She bounced with the butterflies. "Why didn't I think of that?"

Rainbow Dash flew towards her to face her when she landed. "Actually, what I meant is after I'm done whipping up today's weather, I'll be chilling by the lake catching some rays. Wanna hang?"

"I am so there." Pinkie emphasized and waved her hooves joyfully in the air. "Wheee!"

"My family's havin' a barn-raisin' this afternoon at Sweet Apple Acres." Applejack shared.

"And I'm also so there." She bounced happily. "Whee, whee!"

"But... that's when I'll be at the swimming hole." Rainbow Dash lightly and politely cut in between. "Ah well, doesn't matter, whichever one you choose is okay with me."

As that last sentence left Rainbow and entered Pinkie's ears, it seemed to have struck her mind, bringing her to a conflict and paralyzing her to a silence as her expression immediately shifted to the opposite direction.

"Me too." Applejack ensured.

Pinkie gasped shortly. "Choose?"

"Yep." Applejack answered. "Don't worry. We'll give y'all some time to think about it. Don't need to tell us, just come on by when you decide!" Applejack began turning around to walk away.

"Yeah! See you later Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash finished and flew away.

"Oh no." Pinkie expressed and placed her hoof to her teeth, chattering them nervously.

"Are you alright?" I asked, leaning towards her a bit.

"Sorry! I don't have time to talk! I have to start moving and planning my time wisely!" Pinkie Pie declared rapidly and darted out of the area as quick as she could.

"Okay…" I responded with and looked towards Fluttershy. "Ready for some time together?"

She returned a soft look towards me and nodded. Just as we were about to leave, a squirrel scampered by and stopped at Fluttershy's hooves. It tapped them, catching her attention. She looked down in surprise, which commenced the critter to begin squeaking in communication.

"Yes? Uh-huh?" Fluttershy responded to it. "Oh, that sounds nice! Um… Let me ask him." Fluttershy ceased her eyesight towards the critter and lifted it up towards me. "This little critter here wants to know if you'd like to have a picnic with the others."

"Others?" I questioned, raising my eyebrow. The squirrel turned it head and blew a whistle. Unexpectedly, many of Fluttershy's animals removed themselves from within the bushes and trees, including a giant bear. "Whoa!" I exclaimed in surprise, jumping back a little.

Fluttershy giggled and flew over to the bear, beginning to rub its back. "Don't worry. He's very friendly and harmless. What do you say?"

"Uh…" I looked at each one of them. They all returned bright smiles towards me. "…sure, why not?" I answered.

Fluttershy turned towards them and nodded. "Go bring what you want for the picnic, everyone. Alex and I will bring some food and tea."

They all responded with their own form of communication and scattered away, beginning their search for food. Fluttershy chuckled a bit at their actions and flew towards me. "Ready to go make something back at the cottage?"

I returned the same facial expression that always formed when I saw her cute, soft, and adorable face; a smile. "Of course."

When Fluttershy and I walked into her cottage, she began heading her way into the kitchen. I heard her setting the kettle to begin to create tea. As she did, I looked around. I walked through the living room, smiling at most things. It was just now that I seemed to begin remembering the memories here, especially the ones before I was with Fluttershy. I chuckled at my own thoughts, even remembering the asocial behavior I used to have. I couldn't believe that was actually me. After so much time with the girls, it almost feels like it was a dream. It even feels like it was a completely different pony. I shrugged, consumed in my thoughts as I stared at the floor. Then, I looked to my right to see a photo frame on the counter. It was a picture of a pony staring back at me. I drew closer to it as its presence intrigued me. After standing right in front of the frame, I realized it was the drawing I drew for Fluttershy. Well, the drawing was her. As I noticed every simple detail of it, something awakened inside of me.

I sat down, lifted up my hoof, and carefully grabbed the shot, holding it delicately. I analyzed how her form was so perfect, the eyes and her smile being absolutely fit into her mood. I observed the shading throughout her, especially the shading on her cheeks which was supposed to depict the blush on them. As I gazed at the facial expression of hers even further, I noticed that she was looking back shyly at me in the most adorable and beautiful way, as she held up a hoof, almost striking a pose. Her wings were outstretched elegantly, the rest of her body in perfect motion.

It never occurred to me before. This drawing was…perfect…I mean… It was perfect to begin with as it held the most perfect pony in the center of attention, but… I never knew I had such amazing drawing skills… Everything in this shot was just…absolute…just like…Fluttershy…

Then, it clicked in me.

Why the hay am I sitting around like a complete bum when the other girls have their own jobs? Twilight works with her studies. Rainbow Dash manages the weather. Pinkie Pie is a baker back at Sugarcube Corner. Applejack works at Sweet Apple Acres. Rarity uniquely designs clothes. I don't think Fluttershy exactly works…but she takes care of animals, darn it! Like a vet… So why the hay haven't I been doing something productive lately? Ugh… I shook my head in disgust. All I've been doing is mooching off the money Princess Celestia had given me way back when she bought the house for me. Wow… I'm a loser… I've been living off her bits while the others worked for them.

I remained silent for a moment, and then looked at the drawing with furrowed eyebrows. That's it. I know what I'll do. I placed the drawing back on the counter and stood up.

"The tea and food is ready!" Fluttershy announced from the kitchen, entering the living room seconds later with a picnic basket. She sniffed for a moment and released a breath of satisfaction. "Ahh. It smells delicious!" She faced me. "Everything alright, sweetie?"

"Yeah…" I walked towards her. "Ready to go?"

"Mm-hm." She was about to walk, but I stopped her.

I grabbed the picnic basket from her back and placed it on mine. She returned a questionable look, causing me to explain. "You've done enough. It's my turn to do my part."

She lightly blushed and slightly turned away from me as she kept her eyes on mine. "What a gentlecolt." She commented in a joking yet serious manner.

This brought a smile on my face and allowed me to kiss her on the cheek. However, I suddenly remembered something. "Fluttershy, do you have a pencil and paper?"

"Mmm." She thought for a moment, placing a hoof on her chin. "I think there might be some in that drawer over there." She pointed towards a drawer in the counter. I walked over to it and opened it. I spotted some blank paper and a pencil inside. I used my teeth to take them out and place them in the basket. "What are you going to do?"

"Practice." I answered with a smile as I walked back to her.

"Practice?" She questioned, revealing that slightly tilted head.

"You'll see." I assured, caught by the net she weaves with her cuteness.

After, we both walked out and began heading towards the area where we would have the picnic.

Arriving at the spot, I looked around, but didn't see any of them in sight.

"…Where are they?" I asked.

Fluttershy placed a hoof by her ear and stretched out her neck, looking around and focusing on any sounds. After several seconds, she placed her hoof back and giggled lightly. I only looked at her in slight confusion. "They're right here." She walked over and pushed the leaves of a nearby bush away. The spot she opened revealed all of them already munching on their snacks while sitting on the ground.

"Whoa…" I expressed, slowly walking towards the sight in awe. "To be honest… I don't think I've ever seen a lot of critters gather together to have a picnic…"

She giggled and led me towards them. "You'd be surprised."

I placed the picnic basket down, and that's when we began setting the event up. I set the paper and pencil aside, and helped Fluttershy bring out the blanket and food. Once everything seemed to be in order, Fluttershy sat down and looked around. However, in a few seconds, her expression changed. "Oh no."

"What is it?" I inquired.

"I forgot the berries." She sat up and began walking out of the area. "I'll be right back."

"Need me to come with you?" I asked, beginning to stand up myself.

She stopped and looked back to send me a warm smile. "No, that's fine. I won't take long. While I'm gone, why don't you introduce yourself to the others?"

"Okay…" Afterwards, she exited out of the bush and I was left with the critters. I looked at them and began feeling a bit awkward… I don't know how to talk to these animals…and I don't know how to understand them… "Um…" I began. "Hey…I'm Alex…" They all returned what seemed to be a greeting of their own sounds. I remained silent for a moment and then looked up to the bear. "…what's up?" He just returned a happy grunt and roar. "Uh-huh…" I began to feel extremely awkward as I had no idea on what they were saying. I rubbed the back of my head for a moment and looked around. Finally, when I felt like I couldn't really take it anymore, I stood up and excused myself. "Excuse me…I'm going to…check on Fluttershy. I'll be right back…"

As soon as I exited out of the area using the bush, from a distance, I could see Fluttershy picking berries and placing them in a basket nearby. Near her was Angel. As I walked towards her, I noticed the basket was almost full. She must have heard my hooves because she turned around to see me. "Oh! Alex. How'd it go?"

"Um… No idea…heh… I honestly have no clue on what they're saying…"

This caused her to begin laughing for a short while. When she finished, she faced me, opening her eyes. "You're so cute."

"Sorry?" I answered, beginning to blush a bit.

She continued to smile for a few seconds. "Want to help me pick the rest of these berries?" She asked.

"Sure." I walked towards her side and picked them with my teeth, placing them in the basket after.

However, witnessing the scene that just took place seemed to have caused Angel to grow an irritated frown on his face, but I didn't care. I was too happy at the moment.

After a few minutes of berry picking, we heard bouncing behind us, causing us to turn around to see what it was. We noticed it was Pinkie Pie.

"Oh, Pinkie Pie, I'm so glad you wandered by." Fluttershy began walking towards her. I grabbed the basket and placed it on my back to bring it along with me. Pinkie stopped bouncing, skidded on the ground for a moment, and turned around to see Fluttershy. "I know Alex and I promised not to have any fun today, but, oh, we couldn't help ourselves." She flew over to the bush where the animals were behind and opened it with a wide grin. "All of my critter friends wanted a picnic, and I couldn't disappoint them." They all sent another greeting towards Pinkie, causing her to grin significantly. "Come join us." Fluttershy welcomed as I brought the berries over to the picnic blanket. We have plenty of hay juice and marmalade to go around," She laid down by me. "…don't we, critters?" She asked them, receiving a warm agreement.

A mouse carried a piece of cheese in its mouth and brought it over to Pinkie. Stopping at her hooves, the mouse held it up to her. Pinkie smiled and lowered her head to take the piece of cheese and chew on it. As soon as she swallowed, she spoke. "Wait, but that sounds super fun! Oh, but Applejohn sounds super fun too!" Applejohn…? "Uh, and, and, I can't do one without missing out on the other!"

"...who's Applejohn?" Fluttershy asked the question for me, highly confused as I was.

"Two fun things, at once?" She bumped her nose against Fluttershy and then backed away, tip toeing on her hooves nervously. "But which, which? Oh, can't decide..." She began breathing heavily. "Trouble breathing... walls closing in!"

"Walls? But we're outside." Pinkie Pie suddenly shrieked, ran around us very hastily, and then dashed off. "Goodness. Was it something I said?" Fluttershy asked me.

I shrugged, unknowing what to say.

"Yes!" Pinkie returned to scream and then leave once again.

"Huh?" Fluttershy looked over to me, still tangled upon Pinkie's dialogue.

"Uh…why don't we get started on our picnic?"

Despite the strange encounter with Pinkie Pie, we began eating our nice lunch together. As I observed my surroundings, noticing Fluttershy and her animal friends, my eyes grew and my brain clicked in an idea. I walked over to where I had left the paper and pencil and grabbed them. Conversely, I had some trouble keeping it all together in place. Hm… This would be easier if I still had my horn… Oh well. Needing to improvise, I grabbed the basket, which was empty at the time, flipped it around and used my mouth to grab the pencil. When I had the paper placed on the back of the basket, I tested it out by drawing a few lines with the pencil. Once I received some positive feedback, I nodded my head and began observing my shot. Fluttershy was eating and talking to her animal friends. This initiated me to smile and begin drawing the scene. I began performing a basic sketch and outline of them, taking some time, but not making the lines too perfect. Once I sketched everything, I removed some of the lines that leaked out of the main ones with the eraser. After fixing it up a bit, I now had a good outline of the critters and Fluttershy. Basically, it was all of them as they were, just in black and white. Now, all I need to do is add some shading…

Manipulating the pencil to where the lead was on its side to touching the paper, I began to lightly color the spots requiring shading. I pressed very lightly in areas that contained more light than others. For the shadows and darker places, I pressed harder, creating a much thicker and darker shade to go along with it. This certainly didn't take me a few minutes or even half an hour. These things took time, but somehow, I managed to be patient enough to complete this task. I had fun while chewing on my sandwich from time to time. Yes…this is definitely what I want to do…

For the rest of the time, I was just adding a few touch ups, darkening the outlines and fixing up a few pieces. Once I felt it was complete, I dropped the pencil from my mouth and grabbed the paper instead. I walked over to Fluttershy and laid down next to her with a grin.

"Why are you smiling like that?" She asked, intrigued by revealing a raised eyebrow and giggly smile. I answered her question by placing the work in front of her. She observed it for a moment with an agape mouth. "Wow…You just drew this now?" She asked.

"Yep."

"This is amazing, Alex!" She continued to gaze at it. "It looks so…real…"

I chuckled a bit, slightly looking away in modest embarrassment. "Well…I wouldn't really go that far… I don't think I'm that great…"

"It's still better than anything I've ever seen."

"Really?"

"Mm-hm." She faced me now. "You are quite the artist."

"Thanks, Fluttershy…" I responded with a warm soft smile.

We were just about to share a fanatical kiss as we leaned our heads towards each other, but suddenly we began hearing something in the distance.

Fluttershy opened her eyes, which were only inches away from me. "Do you hear that…?" She questioned, almost in a whisper.

"Yeah…" I answered.

The sound continued to grow louder, and in several seconds, we were able to distinguish the sound as a crowd of ponies…but they had the same voice…a familiar voice…

"Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun!" We heard the same word overlapping each other.

"Is that…" I began. "…Pinkie Pie…?"

As soon as I mentioned that, the entire area was filled with Pinkie Pies. I could only stare, stunned in confusion as they bounced all over the place, terrifying the critters away, even the humongous bear, and trashing our picnic. They all were clobbering down the food and tea Fluttershy had made.

"No!" Fluttershy yelled softly. "Stop!"

I turned to see one of the Pinkie Pies messing around with my drawing in her hooves. Her tongue stuck out as she meddled around with it in curiosity, looking almost exactly like a monkey. "Fun?"

"No! Don't touch that!" I exclaimed, holding out my hoof towards the Pinkie that had my drawing.

"Fun!" She exclaimed and created a hole that covered ninety percent of the page by sticking her head in the middle, wearing it around as she resumed bouncing.

Witnessing this caused me to feel my spirits shattered. I began becoming highly irritated, my mouth stretching out in a growl. "Pinkieeee!" I scolded loudly, causing them to now flee away while keeping their spirits up and repeating the same word over and over.

Once they left, all I could see was a chaotic mess that appeared to be as if a tornado passed through. I stood up and noticed the remaining pieces of my drawing. I walked over to a couple, picking them up and turning them around to see the separated pencil lines in each. I released them off my hoof, feeling terribly torn to pieces myself. I allowed myself to fall to the ground, pounding my hooves in anger after.

I felt Fluttershy quickly place her hooves on me, wanting to comfort me. "I'm so sorry, Alex… I know how much work you placed into that drawing…" She looked around. "Our picnic…"

I lifted my head from the ground and looked around. "What the hay just happened…? Where the hay did all those Pinkies come from?"

"I don't know…" Fluttershy shook her head. "But if there's anypony that knows how to make duplicates of Pinkie, it's Twilight."

"…you're not saying Twilight did all this…are you…?" I asked, unable to believe Twilight would create all those Pinkies, even though she had unfortunately caused some trouble in the past…

"Well…no…but… Twilight's pretty much the only one who could possibly know how to make a spell to clone a pony. I'm not saying she did this on purpose…but…" She sighed. "I don't know…"

"Then, let's go see her and find out…" I mentioned, picking myself up from the ground and walking away from the disaster of the place, still feeling…demotivated…

Fluttershy seemed to notice and feel this as well, only walking by me in silence with a frown.

When we arrived at Twilight's library, we also noticed a crowd gathered around the tree as well. A very angry crowd. I suppose they had the same issue? We made it to the front, where we also saw Rarity and few other familiar faces. They were all chattering and speaking out very angrily, eventually causing Twilight and Spike to come out to see what all the noise was about.

"What's going on…?" Twilight asked, confused. Everypony was answering her question, but they were all talking over each other that nopony could understand what they were saying. As Twilight looked around, dazed and stunned, looking unaware of what was going on, more ponies continued to join in with the crowd. "Okay, everypony, please, calm down!" Twilight announced, wanting to receive a clear answer.

"Calm down?" Rarity exclaimed in an extremely maddened manner. "I have just had a Pinkie hurricane raging through my shop!"

"And they ruined Alex's drawing and trashed our critter picnic!" Fluttershy now seemed steamed, mostly due to how let down I was when the Pinkies ruined everything. However… I still couldn't help but find her cute, even when she was mad…

Ponies continued this outrage by talking over each other in shouts, complains, and exclaims.

"Please, everypony, hang on while I try to figure something out!" Twilight tried to cope with the situation, turning around and heading into the library. "Come on, Spike."

The crowd continued to hang outside the library. Fluttershy continued to have that soft expression of anger on her face. I placed a hoof on her and looked at her caringly. "Fluttershy, it's not that bad… It was just a drawing… It didn't take me too long to do…"

"Even if that's so, it was a picture drawn of what was going on at the time." She shook her head and looked towards the floor. "It could've been really important…almost like the perfect shot you take in a camera, and then lose it in a fire." She raised her head and looked towards me. "You don't know if you could ever draw something like that again… What I mean is… You probably wouldn't be able to draw exactly how the picture was…" She sighed. "Sorry… I don't think I'm making much sense…"

"No…No… I understand… You mean that even if I try to draw it again, it most likely won't be the same way it was the first time…"

She nodded. "Right…"

"Still… It was just a drawing… Now the drawing I made for you…that's something different. I made that because I was thinking about you. It may have not seemed or looked like it, but I had placed my heart and soul into that picture. If such a picture like that was merely torn apart by all those Pinkie antics, that's when I would be really mad…"

She formed a small smile and embraced me, sighing contently. "I love you…" She whispered.

"I love you too…" I whispered back.

Soon enough, Twilight came back out with a book hovering beside her. "Does anypony here know how we can tell the real Pinkie from all the rest of them?"

Drifting away from the anger, the crowd shifted into a clueless stage, responding with "Uh…" and "I don't know."

"Twilight!" Pinkie jumped from the middle of the crowd. "I have to talk to you, I need your help!"

"Excuse me, whoever you are," Twilight's response was joined by another Pinkie who was mocking her by moving her lips to match Twilight's but made no sound. "…but I'm not talking to any of you Pinkies unless you're the real Pinkie."

"Oh, but, but, I am the real Pinkie!" The Pinkie who first spoke stated.

I don't know why…but I have a feeling that that is the real Pinkie. Judging by the way she spoke…it just seems…to fit… I can't explain it.

"No you're not, I'm the real Pinkie!" Another one challenged her.

"I'm the real Pinkie!"

"No, I'm the real Pinkie!"

"I'm the real Pinkie!"

"No, I'm the real Pinkie!"

"I'm the real Pinkie!" More of her duplicates counterattacked each other.

"How in tarnation are we supposed to tell which is the real Pinkie?" Applejack reached Twilight, beginning to become worried.

"I have no idea." Twilight reacted blankly.

"Me either." Pinkie, who I assumed and felt really good about being the real one, added. "Ohh... We've all got the same adorable tails, we've all got the same adorable manes, we all got the same adorable hooves!" She compared herself to the others. "Which one of us is the real Pinkie?! Oh! I haven't the slightest clue! And if I can't tell us apart... who can?" She placed herself on the ground and began crying as the other Pinkie's were now just beginning to go berserk in joy.

As I continued to observe the crying Pinkie, my thought process was suddenly interrupted when Fluttershy wrapped her hoof around me and looked at me worriedly. "Alex…we need to hide. Who knows what else all these Pinkie's will do…"

"I…" I looked back to see the only sad Pinkie lying on the ground. "I understand…but…" I released a breath of being unable to make a choice. I thought for a moment and then looked at her. "You go on ahead… I have to stay here for a bit…"

She tugged at me a little tighter. "Are you sure…?"

"Yes." I formed a confident smile. "I'll be fine."

"Alright then… Be careful, sweetie…" She placed a kiss on my lips and then began flying away.

The whole platoon of Pinkies continued to bounce around in complete chaos, screaming out "Fun" repeatedly and endlessly. I managed to squeeze through and walk up towards the distressed Pinkie in the middle. She still laid her head on her hooves, her body motioning in a jerky motion as she continued to cry. I lightly frowned and kneeled towards her, placing a caring hoof on her shoulder. She felt this and lifted her head, wiping the tears away from her eyes. She turned her head and noticed me. "Alex…?"

"You're the real Pinkie…aren't you?" I asked.

She sighed sadly and looked at the ground, motioning her hoof across the dirt. "Who knows? We all look the same. We all have the same adorable voice. I don't think there's anything that can make any Pinkie different from the others…"

"But… You're the only one that's not acting crazy like the rest of them…"

"So? Maybe I'm just another clone that just happened to be the sad part of Pinkie instead… The real Pinkie could be in the crowd trying to get your attention by being crazy too. Anyway, that's how the real Pinkie acts. Not super down like me…"

"Pinkie, if you're really the real Pinkie, then you should know that you are."

"That's just it… I don't… So I must not be the real Pinkie…" She pushed herself up and began to walk away sadly. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going to go stay in one place and just be sad forever." She stopped and glanced over to me. "That's something the real Pinkie wouldn't do." Then, she continued to walk away, all while I could only stand there like an idiot and feel so sorry for her.

I know that's the real Pinkie. I just know it… But how am I going to prove it to the other girls? Even if I do explain how this Pinkie is different from the others, they are still going to want evidence to make sure they don't risk anything in sending back the real Pinkie.

"Fun!" One of the Pinkies bounced on top of me and jumped, placing her hooves on my back and causing me to fall down flat to the ground. Then, a few other Pinkies bounced on me, causing me to grunt and groan in pain. However, they only just passed me, beginning to bounce crazily onto another area.

Once I managed to push myself back up, I growled in slight anger and turned around. There was no pony in sight. They all must have fled. I sighed and walked towards Twilight's library. I sat nearby the door and began thinking.

The problem is that we need to find a way to prove Pinkie's differentiation between the others. But how? We would need something that only the real Pinkie can do… Something that the others can't… Let's see… I tapped my hooves. These Pinkies obviously have no self-control whatsoever. You can't keep them still for a second. And to me, they obviously just seem to have this same vibe and voice, including attitude. That's why I truly believed that the Pinkie I just talked to was the real one.

How am I going to prove she is? Hm… I continued to think more, reviewing over what I had just thought. A test… A test for Pinkie Pie. A test that would prove it. But what will the test be? It has to be something in which the hyperactive Pinkies can't handle. Something that's… I widened my eyes and looked upwards in the click of a mind. …not fun… That's it! All we have to do is round up all these Pinkies and put them in the same room. That's where we can give them a test that's not fun at all! Only the real Pinkie would be able to last the longest, since she was the saddest of them!

I began walking, starting to place a hoof of my chin in thought. But what is the test going to be? What is something that's obviously not fun and that will definitely single the real Pinkie out…

A strong odor entered through my nose, causing me to look up and to the side to see town hall. There were buckets of paint outside, and it appeared to be that the building was in the middle of being repainted, but the situation with the many Pinkies caused the work to stop and the workers to flee. Paint… Is that something I can use…? I walked a little closer the wall, noticing that the paint was still wet.

Wet paint… Wet paint takes a long time to dry… My head lifted up from an idea once again. If there's anything that takes a really long time, it's watching the paint dry! …or watching the grass grow, but we can't do that inside…

I shook my head. No time to waste. I've got to get this started. I looked at the bucket of paints that were opened and revealing their colors. Hm… What's a real boring color…? Something that's not bright… something dull…

My eyes scanned the buckets, noticing blue, purple, and gray. My search stopped at gray. Gray! Of course! I placed a large brush inside the can of gray paint and grabbed the handle with my teeth. I carefully tried to move it inside town hall, since it was the largest area to place all the Pinkies in.

Once it was inside, I looked around for something to place the paint on. I was on the stage, so I decided to look around backstage. I didn't seem to find anything, but then I noticed that the background of the stage was actually a curtain. I poked my hoof through, finding that there was a space beyond the curtain. I entered, noticing a large room with a large piece of wood in the middle of it.

"Huh…" I muttered tapping my hoof on my chin and observing the piece. "I don't know what it was supposed to be for…but this disaster obviously seems the first priority urgent matter right now…" I walked back out to bring the can from outside into the room with the board. After I placed the can on the floor, I studied the board a bit. Well, this is no painting I'm going to do…all I have to do is cover the board with the dull and boring paint. That's all. Oh well.

I picked up the paint brush with my teeth and began sweeping the bristles across the board. All this took some time, of course not as long as it did for my drawing. All I had to do was cover one part of the board and dip the brush in paint when I was running dry, repeating the process after.

When I was finally done, I stepped back and placed the brush back in the paint can. I moved the can to the side and then brought myself to the front of the board, observing my work. Yeah… even this is making me pretty sleepy…or maybe it's because of all the tiring things that occurred today…

I stepped out of the back curtain and was now on the stage. The place was still empty. I removed myself from the stage and headed towards the exit. When I was outside, I managed to fortunately bump into Twilight.

"Alex!" She exclaimed in surprise. "I've been looking everywhere for you! I thought the Pinkies might have actually did something with you!"

I released a small smile and shook my head. "No. I think I may have finally figured out how to find real Pinkie now."

"Me too!" Twilight responded.

"This sad Pinkie told us that we should make some sort of test." Spike, who was on Twilight's back, announced.

"Exactly, but we still don't know what to do yet. We asked Applejack to round up all the Pinkies and bring them over here while we thought of something to do."

"I'm way ahead of you Twilight." I replied, turning around and leading her to the inside of town hall. "Follow me."

I brought her towards the room where I had painted the entire board with gray paint. Twilight noticed this and studied the board. "…paint?" She asked.

"And what's not fun about paint?" I answered her question with another question.

In a few seconds, her face lit up and she gasped loudly. "Watching it dry! Alex you're a genius!"

"Not really…"

"Yes you are! This is a sure way to bring out the real Pinkie! Those other fake ones can't keep still for any moment at all!"

We heard the door to the town hall open, initiating us to leave the room with the board and figure out who it was. It was Fluttershy and Rarity. Fluttershy's face lit up when she saw me, allowing her to quickly fly and almost tackle me to the ground. "Alex, you're okay!"

I chuckled a bit. "Of course I am."

"Fluttershy told us that you had stayed behind with those terrible Pinkies." Rarity announced to me. "We were beginning to worry about you."

"No need to worry, I'm fine." I responded.

"Alex here thought of a fool-proof plan to find out who the real Pinkie is."

"Really? How?" Rarity inquired.

"Watching paint dry." Twilight placed simply.

"That makes sense… Those disastrous Pinkie Pies cannot withstand a minute without their 'fun'."

"Exactly." Soon enough, we began hearing the chanting of the word "fun" as it grew louder. "That must be Applejack." Twilight announced.

The door was immediately opened and the entire room was filled with the Pinkies as they continued to chant their favorite word in a disorderly fashion and bounce all over the place.

"Oh, give it a rest." Applejack mentioned.

Twilight looked over at us and nodded. Then, she faced all the bouncing flashes of pink. "Welcome, Pinkies, welcome. Please have a seat and make yourselves comfortable." Twilight paused, waiting for them to do so, but they obviously weren't paying attention. "Okay, I suppose you can't be comfortable staying in one place, but have a seat anyway." Pausing for another second, she then grew an irritated frown that stretched across her face as the Pinkies continued to not listen. "Sit down!" Twilight shouted, catching every one of their attention and immediately sitting them down. "Better." Twilight shifted back into her normal voice. "Now, I suppose you're all wondering why I've gathered you all here today."

One of the Pinkies looked at another one and then back at Twilight, shrugging. "For fun?"

"No, just the opposite, actually."

Hm…where's the real Pinkie? It doesn't seem like she came in…

"Wait up, I got one more!" The door suddenly opened, revealing Rainbow Dash as she carried in a very depressed Pinkie. "I found this one poking at the ground with her hoof and drawing frowny faces."

"Have her come sit with the others." Twilight announced, seeming as to be unaffected by this particular Pinkie's behavior.

That's the real Pinkie…

However, Rainbow Dash merely lowered her hooves and dropped her towards the ground, causing me to close one eye in almost feeling the pain.

"Pinkies, you've been brought here to take a test." Twilight continued.

"Awwww!" They all exclaimed, covering their faces with their hooves and throwing back their head.

"Don't worry; it's a simple test, about as simple as they come, and whoever passes gets to stay." This statement caused all the duplicates to look at each other and respond with "huh" and shrugs. "Curtain, please." Twilight cued Spike, who pulled down the rope and raised the curtain. Rarity and Fluttershy had walked towards the back of the board to push it forward. "The test will be watching paint dry!" This caused the Pinkies to return gasps of horror, as if this could actually kill them…well…technically it could send them back to wherever they came from… "On your mark, get set, go!" Twilight threw her hoof, signaling for them to start.

They immediately leaned their head forward, keeping their eyes on the paint.

"Ooh, this is so exciting!" Spike exclaimed, forcing his claw into the popcorn he was carrying and consuming some of it. However, after pretty much a long while, he decided to revoke his answer. "Okay, maybe not that exciting…"

As I waited for any Pinkie to make a move, I was beginning to almost fall asleep myself as I sat against the wall with my forelegs crossed. Rainbow Dash looked at her watch, which she somehow retrieved or had… Applejack was sitting by her, looking tired as well. Every Pinkie looked to be struggling as they all purposely strained and focused their eyes on the paint. One Pinkie began rubbing her head nervously. Then, I heard a bird chirp near the window.

"Oh, hey, look, it's a birdie!" The Pinkie turned away from the paint and looked at the window.

Suddenly, a beam of magic was shot towards her, causing her to inflate greatly and disappear into a mist, traveling out of the town hall and most likely back to the where she originated from. This surprised me, causing me to widen my eyes and to see what did this. It was none other than Twilight. She was eyeing each Pinkie and made sure to take care of any that failed.

Another Pinkie turned her head to look at another Pinkie beside her. "Watch me bounce and touch the ceiling!" She jumped up and bounced off the ground as Twilight immediately zapped the one watching. Just as the Pinkie was about to touch the ceiling, Twilight zapped her as well.

"Is that... is that a frog crossed with an orange?" One more looked out the window after hearing a frog croak.

"Cool!"

"Where?" Two more joined, but they were all instantly vaporized.

Only eight Pinkies remained.

"Look what I can do with my hooves!" Yet another began, pulling out her hoof. She then brought up her right hoof and blew onto it, somehow and weirdly causing the left hoof to grow…fingers…? As the Pinkie she was talking to returned a positively shocked expression, I could only slightly twitch my right eye in confusion and almost in disgust.

"What the…?" I commented.

However, the both of them were caught and inflated, being sent back home.

"Betcha can't make a face crazier than…" One of the Pinkies left spoke and turned her face away to mess with it. "…this!" She turned around to reveal a completely different face, shocking me and making me rub my eyes in disbelief.

Am I seeing things…?

Twilight sent the two of them back home and continued to remove the rest, leaving only two Pinkies left at this point.

I studied them carefully, but I couldn't tell which one was which anymore. They were both staring intensely at the wall of wet paint. It was a very suspenseful moment. Each of them appeared to want to give up. It also looked as if the wait was going to be long, especially since there were no more Pinkies to distract the last fake Pinkie. Each of the girls could only wait carefully and patiently as the both of them continued to stare in silence. Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, seemed to be losing her patience.

One of the Pinkie's eyes began twitching. Sweat began to drip from her face and she seemed to struggle so hard as the other one seemed to have less of a hard time. "I…" She bit her lip. "I…can't…look…any…more!" Her face suddenly dropped to floor as she began crying.

"Yay!" The other Pinkie bounced into the air and cheered. "That means I'm the real Pinkie! Yipee!"

I narrowed my eyes, not quite believing it was true just yet, so I walked to the front of the stage and faced the Pinkie that cheered. "That's great, Pinkie. How about a celebratory hug?" I offered.

"No thanks." She responded. "I'm way too tired from watching paint dry."

Uh-huh…

Twilight walked over to the bawling Pinkie, reading her horn. She stood right in front of her, causing for Pinkie to look up with tears in her eyes. Twilight frowned and spoke. "Sorry, but you have to go back where you belong now."

Pinkie sighed and looked away. "I understand… I couldn't stare long enough to stay here…so I deserve to be sent away with the rest. I'm sorry. I'm sorry everypony." She looked at all of us and sighed once again. "Have fun with the real Pinkie…"

Twilight hesitated for a moment, looking to be struggling with thoughts. Nonetheless, she began preparing her horn as she allowed statistics and data to win over. The Pinkie in front of her could only strain her eyes and flinch greatly as the magic on Twilight's horn glowed immensely.

Just as Twilight was about to shoot it towards Pinkie, I exclaimed. "Wait!" The sudden sound of my voice stopped Twilight and caused her to look over to me, along with the other girls. "That's Pinkie." I pointed towards the one Twilight was standing in front of.

"Huh? But…" Pinkie answered, opening her eyes.

"I knew it was you. You were the only one to stand out from the other Pinkies. All of them appeared to be as if they were about to go to an amusement park. Sure, there was still a one percent chance of the real Pinkie hanging among the crowd of those bouncing around, but come on. How would the real Pinkie feel when she's put herself into deep trouble that could take her away from her friends? Sad, of course. I know I would. Plus…" I looked over to the other Pinkie, who carried widened eyes. "The real Pinkie Pie would never refuse a hug from me."

Every one of the girls eyed the other Pinkie, who was beginning to grow nervous as sweat dripped from her face. "Uh…" She suddenly began running away, panting heavily, to bolt out the door.

However, Twilight quickly readied her horn and shot it towards her, just before she could escape. She inflated towards the air and disappeared.

I sighed in relief, smiling now to finally have this mess over with. We all walked over to Pinkie Pie, who was pretty much surprised herself. She looked towards me. "…You really knew who I was…?"

"Of course." I released a smile. "I'll admit…I didn't really have enough evidence to prove it was you…but that's what this test was all about. Now… How about a celebratory hug?" I offered, holding out my hooves.

She grinned widely and greatly accepted it, throwing her hooves around me tightly. "You're right! I'd never refuse a hug from you!" Then, she pulled away and looked towards the girls sadly. "I'm sorry I got you all into this mess. I'm sorry for everything the other Pinkies have done to all of you. It's my entire fault. You all were just having so much fun and I wanted to have fun with each of you. I couldn't leave my friends, I just couldn't. But I guess sometimes I will have to choose between them."

"That's right." Twilight answered. "We're not asking or forcing you to be there with us. We just want you to do whatever you want to do."

Pinkie smiled and tapped her hooves a little embarrassingly. "I guess so." Then, she stood up and observed herself. "I'm me! I'm me! I'm me!" She exclaimed bouncing and flipping in the air. "Or am I?" She messed around with her face with a frightened expression, but then removed it. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure I am." She grinned significantly after nodding her head.

"Come on, let's go make sure everypony knows that this whole Pinkie mess if over." I advised.

The other girls agreed, walking with me towards the door to the outside.

Before we exited, I looked at Pinkie and asked her a question that I should have asked a long time ago. "Pinkie… How did this all start anyway? How were there a bunch of you running around?"

"Oh! My Nana Pinkie used to tell me this story about a Mirror Pool, so I figured I would try to find it. When I did, all I had to do was remember the rhyme and say it while looking into the pool. That's when my reflection would come out of the water and tada! Another Pinkie!"

"And let me guess, when you created more, they all lost control and created a mirror of themselves as well?"

"Heheh…" She laughed a little nervously. "Yeah…"

"Well, it's all over now."

"We should block the path to the Mirror Pool as soon as possible, so this will never happen again to nopony." Twilight recommended.

"You're right about that…" I agreed. "I don't think I could survive another event like this…"

We spent almost the rest of the day advising the ponies and cleaning the rest of the mess up. Applejack headed back to her farm to complete the barn raising she was doing. After Pinkie had taken Twilight to the entrance of the Mirror Pool to block and hide it, she decided she would go help Applejack with the barn raising. Then, she spent some time with Rainbow Dash by the lake.

When everything finally returned to normal, we all decided to visit Pinkie Pie at Sugarcube Corner, who was writing a letter to Princess Celestia. In front of the shop, we spotted her standing by the door with Spike, who just sent the letter.

"Hi Pinkie Pie, we were thinking we should go out and celebrate." Twilight announced.

"You up for some wheelbarrow races?" Applejack offered.

"Or I could take everypony on a cloud ride!" Rainbow Dash added.

"I could throw a party with punch and zesty cucumber sandwiches! Ooh!" She waved her hooves excitedly in the air.

"You wanna know exactly what I feel like doing right now?" She responded tiredly and backed away. Once she was in the shop, she fell towards the floor on her back and sighed, beginning to snore immediately as her right back leg twitched.

"That looks like fun." Fluttershy announced after everypony observed Pinkie Pie for a moment.

This caused me to release a weary smile as the rest of them laughed.

Twilight selected the door with her magic and closed it.

"What about you, Alex? Are you up for some fun?" Twilight asked.

"Thanks…but I feel like I could catch some sleep myself." I sighed. "Today has been one heck of a day…"

Twilight giggled. "I understand. Have a nice sleep."

Applejack looked at me curiously for a moment while rubbing her chin with her hoof. "Hey…um… Are your… horns and wings missin'?"

"Yeah, yeah…" I responded with tiredness in my voice, feeling my eyes need rest. "It's a long story, but maybe the others can tell you what happened."

"Oh, alright then. Well G'night!"

I answered with a nod, feeling too tired to speak.

As the girls began leaving, Fluttershy stayed with me to give me a quick farewell. "Bye, sweetie." She kissed me and then began on her way.

I immediately walked towards my home.

Lowering my head in sleepiness and fatigue, I walked into my home and up the stairs. I fell onto my bed once reaching it, closing my eyes.

I guess I'll try getting that job next time I see Mayor Mare… For now… I just want to get some sleep…

I sighed. I still can't believe I was able to survive a day full of Pinkies. That's pretty much an experience I never want to go through again. Hm… Not only do I want to get that job, I also need to figure out to change forms easily. But then again… I guess it is a little nice to be like this way for a bit…

Ugh… Shut up and get some sleep already.

One Bad Apple

Episode 56 – One Bad Apple

I shifted around in bed for a few moments, believing I had some weird dream. All I could see were rapid images flashing in my mind, all of them seeming to look dark. After they flashed through my mind, they suddenly stopped, and I found myself waking much slower than usual. This was all bizarre. It felt as if my body was waking itself up without me doing anything. It seemed to take a good five seconds for my eyes to slowly open and realize that I was awake. My body felt as it was shaking fiercely for a moment, but it quickly died down as I woke. When my eyes were fully open, I was just shaking slightly, but after a few seconds, it was gone.

Despite what had just happened, I noticed that it seemed to be a sunny day outside. I sighed and sat myself up, rubbing my head over the thought of what just happened.

I feel really weird… What was that all about? It's probably just one of those strange things that happen and after maybe a few hours, it becomes normal… Well, forget about it… I have to get ready to get that job…

I continued sitting on the edge of my bed, planning out my day.

Alright…so what am I going to do? Maybe I can go to Twilight's, send a letter to Princess Celestia about the situation, and then find Mayor Mare to ask her for the job. That sounds legit…

I hopped off my bed and walked down the stairs, fixing my mane a little. After, I walked out the front door and headed towards Twilight's library.

Arriving at the location, I lightly knocked on her door, seeing her friendly face after a few seconds.

"Oh, hey, Alex." She answered with a delicate smile. "What brings you here?"

"Do you mind if I send a letter to Princess Celestia?" I asked.

"Not at all." She responded, inviting me in. "Spike?" She called towards the upper floor as I walked in. "Can you come down here?"

After she closed the door, I heard small dragon steps rush downstairs. "Sure! Whatcha need, Twilight?"

"It's not what I need." Twilight corrected. "Alex wants to send a letter to the Princess."

"Okay!" Spike quickly pulled out a quill and empty scroll. "I'm ready when you are!"

I thought for a moment, thinking on how to put the words together. When I felt ready, I opened my mouth and began speaking. "Dear Princess Celestia, It's come to my attention that I haven't been doing exactly much in the community. I feel as if I've just been sitting around like a bum doing nothing." As I spoke these words, Twilight seemed to return confused faces, and I understood why. "I mean… every one of my friends have their own job to do…so what's mine? That's something I never even thought about… However, I had this epiphany during a visit at my girlfriend's house. I realized my true passion, which I also found that I could put to good use here in Ponyville. Sorry, for mooching off your—

"…uh… How do you spell 'mooching'?" Spike asked.

"M-O-O-C-H-I-N-G". I spelled out. Once he continued writing, I resumed my letter. "…off your bits that you gave to me when I was young. I feel like a loser and a bad pony for doing so. So, my decision is to become an artist here in Ponyville. I don't have much to worry about. I pretty much only need the money for food, supplies, and other few things. It's nothing major. I'll also place some bits on the side to repay you back. Um…" I rubbed my chin. "I think that's pretty much it… Well then, thanks for everything Princess. Love, Alex."

When Spike finished writing it, he immediately sent it while I looked over to Twilight to see that confused expression remain planted on her face. "…You're going to become an Artist…?" She questioned.

"Yeah…" I responded, beginning to feel a little worried on what she was thinking about that decision. "There's nothing wrong with that, is there?"

Her expression shifted into an understanding and soft joyful one. "No…" She walked over to me and placed her hooves around me, bringing her body closer to where our cheeks were touching each other. "I think it's great that you've found something you're very passionate about!" After a moment, she pulled away and continued to look at me. "Besides, I never knew you were an artist."

"Heh…yeah… I've never truly embraced that skill. It's like having a special talent, but never realizing it until now."

"So what are you planning on doing as an artist?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure exactly." I thought for a moment. "I've noticed things, such as banners, in Ponyville could use just a little few touch-ups. I'll just have to see what Mayor Mare would like or need."

Before Twilight could respond, we heard a belch near us. Spike grabbed ahold of another letter and read it. "This one's for you, Alex." He announced, bringing it towards me. He opened it up and held it towards me so I could read it.

"Dear Alex," I read. "I am proud to see that you are interested in helping your community with a talent that has interested you and which you seem to have a passion for. You don't know how happy I am to see how you'd love to help out everypony in every way you can. Don't worry about repaying those bits back to me. Those were for you. Knowing you, you'd probably tell me that you were going to pay them back anyway. For that, just think of it this way: You've repaid me back more than enough for all of the favors you've done for every pony. You've all defeated Nightmare Moon. You've all defeated Discord. You placed your life on the line during the encounter with Queen Chrysalis. And you all saved the Crystal Empire. I think that's more than enough for those bits, don't you think? Anyway, I'm glad to hear that you are doing great, and I hope I can see you soon. Princess Luna has also been thinking about you and feels the same way. Your adoptive mother, Princess Celestia. *wink*" I figured she was joking about that last part in a way. After all, she was technically my adoptive mother for a day. I smiled and chuckled at it.

Twilight followed in my example as well. "'adoptive mother'?" She questioned.

I reacted with a friendly shaking of my head and decided to send one more. "Spike, can you just send one more?" He nodded and pulled out another empty letter. With his quill ready. "Dear Princess Celestia, thanks for understanding. I suppose you're right on the 'repayment' situation. I'd still love to help you or Luna out in anyway, so ask me for anything whenever you want. Tell Princess Luna that I said hello and that I hope she's doing well. Talk to you later. Your adoptive son, Alex." I smiled as I continued with the joke. After, Spike sent it. "Thanks, Spike." I turned around to face Twilight. "Well, I better go find the mayor so I can see if I can that job."

Twilight returned another warm smile. "Good luck, Alex. I'm sure you'll be the best artist ever."

"Thank you, sis." My heart jumped when that slipped out. I felt the same way when I was falling in love with Fluttershy, only it was a brother-sister relationship in this case. Fortunately, Twilight didn't find this weird, but instead continued to smile contently and offer one last hug before I left for my job hunt.

As I began walking through town, I decided to check out Town Hall to see if the mayor was there. I reached the area and looked around. It took me a while until I was able to see her studying the area that was now repainted. She seemed to be observing how the paint job was done as she rubbed a hoof on her chin.

I walked next to her, hoping not to startle her. "Mrs. Mayor?" I questioned.

She faced me, only becoming slightly startled. "Oh, hello there…Alex, is it?"

"Yes, ma'am. I wondering if I could apply for a job here in Ponyville."

"A job? What job?" She inquired.

"I'd like to be an Artist."

"An Artist…? Wow…" She responded in such a way that seemed to depict her surprise and shock in the subject of the matter.

"What is it?" I asked, becoming worried of the possibility that I may not achieve this occupation.

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just that… I don't think I've ever heard or seen a pony applying to be an Artist here in Ponyville…"

"Really…?" I questioned, becoming surprised myself.

"Yes. In fact, all of the artwork created here in Ponyville is done by volunteers."

"Wow…" I turned my head away and faced the ground for the moment. Then, I faced the mayor once again. "So…does that mean…I have a good chance of obtaining the job…?"

"Good chance? Hah." The mayor laughed in a positive way. "You have it with no question. We could really use an actual Artist in Ponyville. Although…" She paused.

"Hm?"

"I'd like to see some of your work before we get started. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course." I replied quickly. "What exactly do you want to see?"

She faced the ground and placed a hoof on her chin in thought. "Oh!" She looked up with an idea. "There is a Summer Harvest Parade in a few days. You could make some work for it. Perhaps some banners or decorations?"

"That sounds like a great idea, ma'am. So you basically want me to make some decorations involving harvesting food? Such as apples, carrots, lettuce, and others?"

"Sure, if that's alright with you."

"Of course. I'll start getting the necessary supplies."

"Alright then. Good luck, Alex."

"Thank you, Mayor Mare."

With my objectives clearly in sight, and with the conversation finished, I raced back home to retrieve my saddle bag and bits.

I had looked throughout the whole marketplace for the art supplies I needed. I wasn't sure if there was an art shop in Ponyville, but I ended up managing to retrieve these supplies from different shops in the marketplace. I bought top quality pencils, a variety of brushes, sketching paper, acrylic and watercolor paints, paper specifically used for those of paints, some plastic cups, and finally, some large banners for the final draft of my work. All these supplies practically filled my saddlebags.

I trotted home happily, feeling excited for this new type of work. I entered through my front door and looked around, once I was in the hallway. I thought for a short moment.

Hm… Where am I going to put all these things?

I mentally slapped myself for missing the complete obvious.

The living room, of course. I have nothing in there but a couch and some other casual objects.

I walked into the living room to see how mainly dull and boring it was, to be honest. Spotting a shelf nearby, I took some time to organize the supplies I had neatly onto it. Once I did, I placed my saddlebag back on a counter nearby and then walked back to look at the fairly filled shelf. I looked around the room.

Maybe, when I have the time, I can paint the entire house…most likely when I retrieve my horn and wings back… It'll be much easier…

I made sure to put the banners in the very back to where they wouldn't get in the way. I sat down and looked over the new materials I now contained in my household. I took in a deep breath and grinned. "Alright… Let's get to work."

I spent the days remaining before the Summer Harvest Parade on working on the work I would present to Mayor Mare. During the first part of the time allotted, I grabbed my pieces of sketch paper and just drew and drew like no tomorrow. A few times, I would come up with something that looked great, but in the end, I screwed it up and the outcome was throwing it in the trash.

Nonetheless, the sketching was to be of simple fruit. I only wanted to create something with more dynamic appeal; something that would show that I just didn't do it in ten minutes or even an hour.

By the next day, I had finally finished all the sketches I needed. I was ready to transfer it into the banner. I placed the sketches to where I could see them easily and readied my paints. I filled up a plastic cup with water and created a plate of different colors to use, leaving some space to blend them easily. I began working on painting my sketches onto the banner, which I had taped onto the wall. Honestly, all of this would have been much easier if I had magic to work with…

I spent all of this work time in silence. I was surprised I had the patience to withstand this loneliness as I worked. But this was all…somehow…keeping me busy in a good way… Somehow, I just liked working on this, that I couldn't be pried away. It's something that you just don't want to stop until you finish it…

Finally, by the last day before the Summer Harvest Parade, I had finally finished.

As I observed my work, I chuckled and shook my head. Good thing it was only sketching and painting into a few banners. At least I didn't have to stay up all night…

I sighed, cleaning up any messes I had, which involved rinsing out the cup and brushes and tidying up the living room a bit. After I was finished with that task, I decided I could go outside for some fresh air and spend time with my friends as the paint on the banners dried carefully.

I yawned as I trotted outside. I was thinking aimlessly, stumbling on thoughts of my friends.

Oh no… I hope they aren't worried about me. I pretty much didn't come out at all during the time I was working. I'm sorry, Fluttershy… Well, I'm sure I'll see them at the Summer Harvest Parade. When I finally present my work to the Mayor, I'll spend as much time as I can with all of them. Yeah…

The mere thought of being with the ponies I love placed a smile upon my face. However, this unfortunately also caused me to literally bump into somepony.

"Ouch." The pony expressed.

When I was able to analyze who the pony was, I found it to be a very familiar friend. She was wearing a black stylish vest with light green fabric underneath on the upper part of her body. On her waist, she wore a brownish belt that held her scarlet skirt securely to the upper part of her back legs. She was also wearing a necklace with an oval ruby in the middle.

"Oh, I'm really sorry…Vinyl?" I expressed, becoming slightly surprised by her appearance.

Once Vinyl retrieved her balance, she looked towards me and smiled when she recognized me. "Oh, Alex! Hey, man! How are you doing?" This smile shifted into a curious one when she noticed my different appearance as well. "Hey… Didn't you have both a horn and wings?" She asked.

"Yeah…" I rubbed the back of my head. "A friend of mine just startled me and I suppose I lost them that way. I know it doesn't make sense but…" I shrugged.

"Oh, no worries. I totally understand."

I observed her for a moment, presenting a curious expression. She noticed this and smirked playfully. "Hey, Vinyl… Why are you dressed up like that? If you don't mind me asking."

"You know how I'm a DJ?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm going to be a DJ at this party while I enjoy the party myself! I can already tell it's going to be a load of fun! A DJ has to look her best, you know?" She grinned cheerfully.

"Oh, that sounds nice. When's the party?"

"Tonight. Want to come?"

"Mmm… No thanks…" I declined, mainly on the thought of knowing nopony there besides Vinyl. "May I ask why you're dressed up so early though?"

"I decided I could get ready and watch a movie." She gasped in obtaining an idea. "Dude! We should totally watch a movie together!"

"A movie?" I questioned. "There's a movie theater here?"

"Yeah! You didn't know that?"

I chuckled slightly. "Not really… I've never really paid much attention to things around here, I guess… In fact… I don't think I've ever been to the movie theater before."

She gasped in surprised now. "Then you really need to come watch a movie with me."

"Hm…" I placed a hoof on my chin, thinking if I had the time to. Well, I did finish my work. I think I deserve a little break… I suppose I could go see a movie with Vinyl… "Alright, why not?"

"Awesome!" She exclaimed and began leading me towards the theater as I walked by her side. "So anything interesting you've been doing lately?" She asked.

"Well, I recently just applied to be an Artist here in Ponyville. Right now, I'm pretty much working on the banner for the Summer Harvest Parade as a…piece of work I can show the mayor. I just finished it a while ago. It would have gone much quicker if I had my horn…"

She chuckled. "I feel you man. That's great though. An Artist? Maybe we can work together somehow! Like, you can probably design decorations for the parties I DJ, I don't know."

"Heh… Maybe…" We began nearing the movie theater as I stumbled upon new thoughts. Vinyl was a new friend I met. What about Derpy? I haven't seen her around… I wonder if she's busy… Then, a terrible thought caused unbalance in my mind. Oh… I hope not… "Hey… Vinyl…"

"Hm?" She faced me.

"This isn't…like…a…how do I put this…like…date or anything, right?"

This caused her to slightly blush, but she shook her head and laughed. "No! Just a friendly thing, dude. Why would you ask me something like that? I don't mean to sound negative or anything…but just curious."

"Oh sorry… It's just that…not too long ago, I was at Sugarcube Corner with my friend. We were both eating muffins. She has these…crossed eyes and I wanted to get a closer look, so of course, I moved closer to her. However, another pony had bumped into me, causing me to be pushed forward and…you know… It sparked this whole thing between my friends, girlfriend, and me. I mean, it wasn't bad, but it's just something I wouldn't want to go through again, you know?"

She released a soft and comforting smile. "Don't worry, I completely understand. It's nothing like that. It's just two friends hanging out with each other."

I sighed in relief. "Alright."

We reached the movie theater and were about to enter through the main door, but all of a sudden and unexpectedly, we spotted Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo running out of the theater, causing us to move to the side and out of their way. I could only stare in confusion, wondering why they were in such a rush. Then, after a few seconds, we noticed another filly walking out of the theater with a soft drink wrapped by her right hoof. She closed her eyes and smirked deviously as she walked past us. She wore a dark orangish coat with three freckles on each side of her face, just like Applejack. I also noticed that there was a bang across her face…just like Starlight… except it was more cut to a pointy end, like a square. She didn't have a cutie mark, and she continued to walk away, heading towards where the girls were running as she continuously blew the bang out of her face.

Vinyl chuckled lightly from this scene. "Fillies these days, huh?"

However, I remained silent for a moment, continuing to think about what just happened. "Y-yeah…" I responded. Something was bothering me. I just couldn't help but feel something wrong with what just happened.

Nonetheless, Vinyl and I entered the movie theater.

Before heading to the movie, Vinyl stopped by the concession stands, producing me to wait by her. As she was ordering, she looked towards me. "You want anything?" She asked.

"Oh…" I was caught off-guard as I continued to be surrounded by the thoughts of the girls running off like that. "No thanks, I'm fine."

"You sure?" She questioned, adding that playful smirk once again.

"I'm sure, Vinyl. Thanks for the offer, though."

Vinyl retrieved her popcorn and drink. She held them up with her horn and led me towards the movie we were going to watch. I had no idea what we were going to watch, especially since I don't remember ever stepping hoof onto a theater before.

We entered in a fairly large room. Immediately in front of us, there was a huge projected screen, where the movie would be displayed. I looked around the room. It was practically empty; there were only a few ponies inside. Some were sitting with no snacks. Others were leaning forwards happily and taking a seat in the front row as they held their popcorn excitedly.

Vinyl and I took a seat in the middle of the room. As we waited for the movie to start, I began talking to her. "I've noticed you seem a little different from the last time I saw you." I mentioned.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"You're livelier, I guess."

"Well, I was up at two in the morning last time." She giggled.

"Oh, right." I placed a hoof on my forehead and shook it.

"You alright?" She questioned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just starting to think about stuff now."

"Well, you better stop thinking because the movie is about to start!" She joked and faced the screen, using her right hoof to hold both the popcorn and drink to her chest as she rested her other hoof. She began taking a sip of her soda through the straw as she stared up towards the movie screen.

However, I looked up towards the screen as well, but I seemed to be more distracted by the scene again. I just couldn't stop thinking about them running off like that…

Vinyl lightly startled me when she tapped me on the shoulder and whispered. "Are you sure you don't want any?" She asked, directing it towards her popcorn and drink.

Her generosity caused me to smile. "You're too kind, Vinyl…"

Vinyl and I continued watching the movie. Sometimes I couldn't understand the motion picture…but I didn't really pay attention anyway. As stated earlier, I was thinking more about the girls.

When it ended, Vinyl stretched out her forelegs and groaned. "Eh, it was alright." She turned to me. "What did you think?"

"Oh…Um…Nothing much." I pretty much could only respond with.

Nevertheless, Vinyl giggled a little and began getting up, holding the empty cup and bag of popcorn with her horn. "Ready to go?" She asked.

"Sure." I replied and followed her out of the theater.

She stopped for a moment to throw away the trash. Once we were outside, the sunlight was really bright. I covered my eyes with my right hoof. "Whoa…"

Vinyl chuckled. "Yeah, that happens. It'll go away after a few seconds." She looked around and inhaled the fresh air outside. "Well, I guess I should be going now. It's been fun hanging with you, Alex. Another time?"

"Yeah, sure." I answered, still waiting for my eyes to adjust to the light.

She chuckled a little and waved. "See ya, Alex. Good luck with your art."

I smiled softly and waved back. "Good luck with your party."

"Thanks." She expressed and began walking away.

After a few more seconds, there was no more bright light, and I was able to see clearly now. Well… I guess can go check if the banner is ready. I began walking towards my home, yawning a bit.

Arriving back, I opened the door and walked inside. I headed towards the living room, turning right to view the work I left. The banner was still hanging there. I raised my hoof and lightly wiped it on the banner. It felt clean. I looked at my hoof. There were no marks of any paint whatsoever. Alright. Seems my work here is done. I guess all I need to do is wait for the Summer Harvest Parade.

As soon as I turned around, I was immediately tackled to the ground, hearing the word "Surprise!". When I was able to see who this mysterious pony was, I observed her bright yellow coat, her warm pink mane, and her soft blue-green eyes.

"Fluttershy…" I responded, being captured in her captivating gaze and releasing a loving smile.

She kissed me for a moment and then allowed me to get up. "I missed you. The girls and I haven't seen you in days, so I decided to check up on you."

"I know, Fluttershy. I'm sorry about that. I've just been working on my art." I answered.

"Twilight told me that you were getting a job as an Artist." She embraced me proudly. "I'm so proud of you!" I slightly chuckled and patted her back. She left her forelegs around me but pulled her face back so she could see my eyes. "How about we go and eat? You deserve it."

"Sure, Fluttershy. That sounds great."

She pulled away, and we both began walking towards the outside, holding each other's hoof.

Sweetie Belle:

I was lying down on the bed with my hooves in front of my face. I just couldn't stop crying. Babs Seed was just so mean! Meaner than Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon! Meanwhile, I could hear Applebloom pacing around my room.

"That Babs has really gone too far this time!" Applebloom exclaimed.

"Kicked out of our clubhouse...!" Scootaloo stretched her forelegs out and threw them on the bed in front of me.

"And my own bed!" Applebloom added, surprising both Scootaloo and me.

"Seriously?" Scootaloo asked in an unbelievable tone.

"Super-seriously." Applebloom walked over to the side of the bed and laid herself down on the ground sadly.

I didn't care what would happen; I just wanted this to end! I'm so sick of being bullied by Applebloom's cousin! "We need to talk to Applejack." I offered.

"No!" Applebloom and Scootaloo suddenly screamed out in fear.

"Rarity?"

"No!"

I placed a hoof on my cheek, thinking for a short while. "Twilight?"

"No, no, no!" Applebloom shook her head with each word, emphasizing her need to express her feelings. "We can't talk to anypony! Don't you understand that, Sweetie Belle?"

"Well…" I began feeling my eyes water again as my voice shook. "I…I…I just don't want to keep being bullied like this Applebloom… I'm sick of it… I really am…" I dug my head in my hooves again, trying to keep the tears from falling out.

She sighed, walking away from the bed. "I'm sorry, Sweetie Belle, but we talking to somepony is not an option. Not with the risk of being snitches and babies."

I lifted my head to look at Applebloom. "Applebloom! What's worse? Being called a 'snitch' and 'baby' or being treated like a 'snitch' and 'baby'?" Applebloom could only remain silent, keeping her back away from me. I sighed sadly and looked at the covers on my bed, rubbing my hoof on them. "If there was only somepony who could help us out of this…" I mumbled softly. However, saying this made me think. Then, I suddenly came up with the answer that could save us! "Applebloom…" I spoke towards her. She turned her head towards me. "There is somepony we could talk to…"

"Hmph." She looked away, becoming mad. "Like who?"

I remained silent for a moment. "Alex…"

"Alex?" Applebloom now turned her whole body around to see me.

"Remember when Diamond Tiara was going to publish those embarrassing photos of us because we wouldn't publish the gossip that we hated?" I asked. Applebloom responded by looking towards the ground in silence. "We talked to Alex and he fixed it. Things didn't become worse than they already were! They became better! If anypony can help us and understand what we're going through, it's Alex!"

"Sweetie Belle does have a point…" Scootaloo agreed with me.

Applebloom sighed. "Fine… Let's go talk to Alex…" She turned around and began heading towards the door slowly. "…I guess it's better than doing nothing…"

She walked out, making Scootaloo and me look at each other for a moment and follow her. As we began our journey to find my big brother, we hoped we wouldn't bump into Babs Seed along the way…

Alex:

Fluttershy and I had walked over to the café and settled down there. We were just finished eating our meals full of a variety of hay, oats, and flowers. I looked at Fluttershy to see her with her eyes closed and smiling as she rubbed her tummy in such an adorable way.

I gazed at her lovingly for a moment, and then decided to speak to her. "Hey, Fluttershy…"

"Hm?" She opened her eyes and placed her sight on mine.

"Do you know a pony named Vinyl Scratch?" I asked.

She thought for a moment. "I don't think so… I only know the girls and Derpy."

"Hm… Well, I just met her a while ago, after we came back from the Crystal Empire. I should introduce you to her. She's a real nice pony."

Fluttershy looked away shyly and blushed. "Not nicer than me…right…?" She asked in a joking manner, but was slightly embarrassed to say it.

I chuckled at her comment and shook my head lightly. "Oh, Fluttershy…"

"Alex?" I heard a filly voice say behind me.

I widened my eyes in surprised and looked back. I saw Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle there behind me. Their manes appeared to be dripping wet as they were draining water towards the grass. "Girls…?" I questioned, becoming concerned.

"…C…can we talk…? In private…?" Sweetie Belle's voice sounded very fragile, concerning me greatly.

"Uh…sure…" I looked back at Fluttershy. "I'll be back." Then, I quickly sat up from the hay I was sitting on and walked over to the girls. They led me away from the public area of the café and to somewhere more distant from anypony else. They stopped and turned around. Applebloom and Scootaloo looked at Sweetie Belle as if she was going to talk, but Sweetie Belle kept her eyes glued to the ground.

"Um…A…Alex…we…uh…we…" Sweetie Belle continued to pause in hesitation. She lifted her head to where I could see her eyes, but she didn't make eye contact. I was very shocked to see her eyes watering up quickly. "You see…we…um…we…h-have…a" Sweetie Belle's voice was now breaking terribly. Applebloom and Scootaloo frowned as they knew this. "We…have…a…" Sweetie Belle paused and immediately began crying.

I furrowed my eyebrows in a very concerned matter. Seeing Sweetie Belle cry like this truly pierced my heart. I just couldn't take observing her like this… "Hey, hey…" I quickly expressed softly, placing my hoof on Sweetie Belle and bringing her closer to me. She wrapped her little hooves around my chest tightly, burying her face on my coat and soaking it with her brittle tears.

The two other girls continued to look at Sweetie Belle sadly as the three of their manes were still soaked and drenched somehow. Scootaloo lowered her head to the ground and looked at me. "What she's trying to say is… We have a bully…"

"A bully?" I questioned, wanting to know what they meant. "Do you mean Diamond Tiara?" I inquired while patting Sweetie Belle's back softly with my hoof.

Scootaloo shook her head sadly.

Applebloom now looked like she wanted to say something. She hesitated for a moment and then finally spoke up. "It's my cousin… Babs Seed."

"…Your cousin…?" I questioned, confused.

Applebloom nodded her head. "She's been botherin' us the whole time she's been here. I didn't want to talk to anypony about it, but Sweetie Belle wanted to talk to you…since you saved us with the whole gossip thing…

"You came to the right pony, girls…" I announced, truly knowing on the painful impacts a bully can make on a pony. I looked at the floor for a moment, thinking about what I should do. Of course, I should tell them on what to do, but is it a good time here…? No… I managed to release a small smile as I looked at all of them. "Why don't I buy you three some floats?" I asked.

"Really?" Applebloom asked.

"Yeah." I nodded my head and looked at Sweetie Belle, who seemed to ease up a little on her crying. "What do you think about that, Sweetie Belle?"

She pulled her head away from my coat and sniffled, wiping the tears away from her face. She was able to form a light smile and look at me with lightly watered eyes. "That sounds nice…"

"Yeah." Scootaloo agreed. "Especially after that dumb bully stole our floats this morning…"

"Not to mention our own clubhouse…" Sweetie Belle added.

"Your clubhouse too?" I almost exclaimed.

They nodded their heads.

I sighed and gently placed Sweetie Belle back on the ground. "Come on. I'll let you know what to do…"

I walked the girls over to Fluttershy, who was concerned on the matter. I didn't tell her at the moment, but suggested we take the girls over to Sugarcube Corner. She agreed and walked with me as I led the three young fillies.

Once we arrived at Sugarcube Corner, I bought the girls their own floats. Sweetie Belle retrieved a vanilla float. Applebloom retrieved a strawberry one. Lastly, Scootaloo retrieved a chocolate one. Then, we all took a seat at a table near the window.

The moods of the three girls seemed to increase significantly as they drank their floats, bringing a smile to my face.

"Thanks for gettin' us these floats, Alex." Applebloom expressed.

"Yeah, thank you, big brother." Sweetie Belle quickly hugged me and then continued to drink her float adorably.

I slightly chuckled, still remembering the time Sweetie Belle declared me as her "big brother". Anyways… now's the time to get serious…

"So, tell me about this 'Babs Seed', girls…" I began.

"She's my cousin." Applebloom responded. "She came to town a few days ago. We tried initiating her to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, since she didn't have a cutie mark of her own, but she didn't seem impressed."

"When we showed her our float for the Summer Harvest Parade," Scootaloo added. "Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon started calling her the new 'blank flank'. Applebloom was defending Babs Seed, but she just joined the bullies' side and bullied us! Ever since then, she's never left us alone! We tried avoiding her, but we ended up getting our clubhouse stolen! We don't know what to do!"

I sighed and stared at the table for a moment. Then, I shifted my attention towards them. "Let me tell you something, girls… Bullies only bully others because they feel insecure about themselves. What this means is that they tease others to feel good about themselves."

"Why would they feel bad about themselves in the first place?" Sweetie Belle asked as she continued to drink her treat.

"Well, most of the time, bullies are going through personal problems of their own, such as their families fighting or being bullied themselves by other ponies. So, when they bully others, they feel better, like if they're putting the weight of their own problems to other innocent ponies."

"How do you know about this, Alex?" Applebloom inquired.

"Well… I know I haven't mentioned this to you girls yet…but I've been bullied myself."

"Really?" They all questioned in union, highly surprised.

"Yes…by mostly everypony when I was young."

"But why?" Scootaloo added to their large amount of questions. "You're like a super awesome pony. Why would anypony want to bully you?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I'll probably never know. I've always asked that questioned to myself actually…" I paused for a moment. "But… I know how to get rid of a bully."

"Do we stop them by talking to another pony? Like Applejack?" Sweetie Belle asked, now finishing her float.

"Usually, Sweetie Belle, adults don't do anything. Based on my experience, the adults usually just give bullies a slap on the hoof. In fact, most of the time, they would always make things worse. They would either not care or just give a slap on the hoof. Then, the bullies would hate you even more and opt to make your life worse."

"What's 'opt'?"

"It means to make a choice from a range of possibilities… So they'd basically try thinking up of anything to make your life worse and choose from that list. Then, they just keep choosing from that list until the break you… So… The only real way to stop a bully would be to stand up to him/her."

"Stand up?" Scootaloo inquired with a confused face.

"Show them that you're not going to stand to be bullied anymore." I answered. "Fight if necessary. Bullies only pick on you because they see you as an easy target. They won't stop until you show them that you won't stand around to be picked on. Honestly, telling an adult every single time will just tell them that you're weak and that you can't fight your battles on your own, which angers them. I don't know why, but… that's just the way it is."

"So…you're saying that we have to fight back?" Applebloom asked.

I nodded. "In most cases, yes. However, in your case, I would—

"Thanks, Alex!" They all exclaimed and dashed out of the building.

Well…I was going to say to speak with Applejack…but then again…I'm not sure if she might make things worse… I don't know… I sighed. Maybe they'll resolve things? I placed my hooves on the table and then laid my face on them. I don't know…

"Alex, are you alright…?" Fluttershy asked, placing her hoof delicately on me.

"Oh." I lifted myself up. "Yeah… I guess I'm just tired. I guess I could some sleep." We began hearing polka music outside of Sugarcube Corner. We looked out the window to see ponies readying their floats that they were going to use. "Oh right…" I mentioned. "I almost forgot about that."

"Well, you better get some rest for the parade tomorrow then." Fluttershy advised.

"Okay." I sat up, and we began walking outside, hearing the music louder. I faced Fluttershy. "Want me to walk you home?" I asked.

She shook her head lightly. "No thank you. It's alright. You should get your rest, Mr. Artist." Fluttershy adorably joked once again.

I managed to slip out a smile and kiss her gently. "Right… I'll see you tomorrow Fluttershy."

She nodded and embraced me with a tender smile. "I'll see you too."

Afterwards, we pulled away and waved each other goodbye. I began walking towards my home, feeling exhausted.

Once I was inside, I fell on my bed and covered myself with the blankets. I closed my eyes and began breathing softly, feeling the fatigue fade away. At least I'll be able to wake up early tomorrow to hang up my banners…

When I awoke, it seemed to be as if the sun was just rising. The sky was filled with a light orange instead of a light blue. I yawned and stretched out my hooves. I better go hang up my banners before the event starts…

I trotted down the stairs and towards my finished banners on the wall. I removed the tape and grabbed the banners with my teeth. I placed them in my saddlebag and began heading out the door.

Once I was outside, I looked around. There didn't seem to be many ponies out, but it seemed that they took care of everything the day before. I walked over to the main area where all the floats were going to pass through.

Okay... Where am I going to put these…? I looked up and noticed perfect spots to place across buildings. However, I looked at the sides of my body and sighed. Why now? I looked to the right at several buildings and spotted a ladder. I better get started…

It took me a long while to finally finish placing the banners across the buildings. Trying to stay still on the ladder while attempting to remove the banners from my saddle bag and wrap the corners perfectly wasn't exactly as easy as it would have been having my wings or a horn… I'm beginning to complain too much…

After I had finally placed the last corner of my last banner, I released a breath of relief and wiped my forehead. I looked upwards to notice that the sky had transformed into a more sunny color with a strong blue coverage. Wow…did I really take that long? I shrugged and jumped off the ladder. The same polka music from yesterday caused me to pay attention towards the street, just noticing that the area was now filled with ponies as well! I rubbed my eyes and shook my head. Wow… I really must have been busy with the banners to not notice this…

As I began walking on the side by the crowd, I heard my name being called. "Alex! Alex!" This caused me to turn in the direction that the sound was originating from. Immediately, I saw Twilight looking at me and waving her hoof. I formed a smile and began walking towards her.

"Hot carrot crêpes! Get 'em here, get 'em hot!" I heard this announcement as I reached Twilight and the other girls who were all together.

I could smell the sweet aroma of these carrot crepes, but Spike was really intrigued but it, his nose held upwards towards the sky. He dropped the little flag he was carrying and began to somehow levitate in the air, initiating me to return a confused expression on my face. Pinkie Pie noticed this and quickly waved her hoof in front him, causing him to stop and fall back towards the floor. At first, I thought Pinkie Pie was trying to save him from somehow floating away. Instead, she stuck her tongue out towards Spike and took his spot in the levitation. All the girls placed their attention towards Spike when he fell. Spike looked up to see Pinkie taking the aroma for herself, causing him to raise a fist in anger, along with an irritated look. Nonetheless, he licked his lips and ran off after her.

This scene produced a bright grin on Twilight's face. She turned her attention back towards me. "How'd the whole art work thing go?" She asked.

I released a breath of relief. "I finished in time, but it was pretty hard getting these banners up…"

"You could've asked me to help. I would've finished in a snap!" She replied confidently.

I lightly chuckled. "I'm sure you would have…"

She returned another warm smile and looked across the parade with her hoof on top of her eyes to see well. Rarity joined her as she held one of those binoculars with some sort of stick below to be able to hold them with a single hoof… I'm not that well with sophisticated things…

"So those are your banners, Alex?" Twilight asked.

"Yep."

"Oh, I must say they are amazingly done!" Rarity complimented, moving the binoculars away from her eyes to look at me.

I lowered my head in slight embarrassment. "Thanks, Rarity."

"Well, I'ma get some balloons for those Cutie Mark Crusaders! They really did a great job with that float!" Applejack pointed to the way start of the parade, allowing me to turn my head and view those three little fillies. As Applejack walked away, I placed a hoof above my eyes and saw them speaking with some other filly that I recognized. It was the same filly that was walking out of the theater with that same smirk that Starlight usually wore. That must have been Babs Seed… Should I go over there and make sure everything is alright…? I don't think I need to… Applejack is already headed over there…

I felt a hoof being placed on my shoulder. I turned my head to see that it was Fluttershy. "So you're not going to tell Applejack about what's really going on?" She whispered.

I thought about it for a moment, but I couldn't really decide on what was best to do. "…For right now… No… I know Applejack is a great pony, and that she'd most likely be able to handle this…but… I don't know… I guess I'll just see what the Cutie Mark Crusaders come up with, and if it deescalates from there, I'll handle it."

Fluttershy nodded. "Okay." Then, she wrapped her hoof around mine as we began to watch the Parade.

Soon enough, Applejack returned with a smile on her face.

"What happened?" I asked, curious to know what was going on with the girls and the bully.

"Aw, the girls are so sweet and nice. They let Babs Seed ride in their float. Isn't that just the nicest and most special thing ever?" She questioned, clearly proud of those three.

"Yeah… Yeah, it is…" I answered, turning my head back towards the floats. I don't get it… Are these girls trying to make friends with Babs?

The floats were now beginning to pass us, all representing a fruit from the harvest. As the band marched, each playing their own instrument, their music and notes flowed throughout the whole area loudly, making everything but their sounds inaudible.

Unexpectedly, I heard my name being called out. "Alex!" I turned my attention to the front of me, seeing Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. They appeared to be highly in distress. "Quick, you have to—

However, the band passing us was clearly making their voices so inferior in volume, and I could barely hear a word they were saying.

"What?" I asked, trying to allow my ears to grasp their sounds clearly.

"Quick, you have to help us—

"What?" I repeated, due to the horns and pounding of the drums drowning the sounds of their voices.

Applebloom looked very annoyed by the band blocking her voice, so she jumped into the air and screamed out loud. "We booby-trapped it!"

However, the band had already finished passing the area, so Applebloom's statement was audible by everypony around us, causing them to all look at her. There was an immediate awkward pause.

"Babs, bully, payback!" Scootaloo quickly shuffled her hooves. "No time to explain!" They all ran off towards the direction of the floats.

Fluttershy and I exchanged a look with each other.

"You don't think…" She began.

I continued to look at her for a few seconds. Then, I furrowed my eyebrows and gently removed my hoof from her. "I'll be back." I began trotting on the side of the crowd, trying to keep my eyes on those three little fillies. But the crowd was blocking most of my view.

I was able to see them quickly maneuver past floats that were moving slowly. They had to stop, due to another float blocking their path. This made them cut through the crowd and begin running. I spotted them and quickly began to run after them. As they moved, they were bumping into the crowd, dropping their popcorn and other snacks they were holding.

"Oof, My popcorn!"

"Sorry!"

"'Scuse me! Ah, whoops."

I heard these voices exclaim in the crowd.

By the time I was able to cut through the crowd as well, slowing down so I didn't hurt any of them, I saw them chasing after a lettuce float. What are those three doing? I didn't want to go down the parade area, so I decided to go around instead.

By the time I reached the side of the parade where there were not as many ponies, I noticed the lettuce float had gained much more distance. The apple float, which Babs Seed was in, was headed towards the corner where the floats were supposed to turn. However, the lettuce float gained enough distance to be side to side with Babs.

At this moment, I honestly didn't know what to do. What had Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle done? I couldn't think. What am I supposed to do?

Nonetheless, I shook my head and decided to follow those floats, chasing after them. As I was sprinting after them, the float Babs Seed was suddenly thrusted towards the side, impacting the lettuce float and throwing it off course.

I gasped and quickly ran over to the runaway lettuce, assuming the girls were inside.

"Veggie salad!" I suddenly heard Pinkie's voice cry out. "Veggie salad!" The lettuce bumped onto a stack of hay and lost complete control. The entire float was broken, only revealing many lettuce leaves on the grass. I immediately began sprinting as much as I could, desperately wanting to know if they were okay.

I halted, reaching the crash site. "Girls!" I exclaimed. Pinkie, Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle all popped up from under the lettuce. I was surprised. "…Are you all alright…?"

"Veggie salad." Pinkie announced cheerfully, presenting the lettuce in front of her. Afterwards, she began chomping on the lettuce.

"Seriously?" Applebloom commented.

Then, they all dashed away, seeming to not notice me.

I quickly turned towards the direction they were running off, chasing after them. "Wait! Girls!"

"Hey! Don't leave me!" I heard Pinkie announce behind me, but I didn't have time to stop. Soon enough, Pinkie began laughing. "Leaf me!" She continued.

Just as the apple float was not arriving at the turn site, it itself began swerving out of control, knocking bales of hay away from the course.

"Babs! Babs!" Applebloom cried out.

The float now completely missed the turn and jumped off course, heading down the steep cliff, shocking me. Arriving, but not stopping, at the cliff, I noticed the girls push Babs Seed out of the float. She was knocked onto a bush, landing safely. However, the girls were the ones in deep trouble now.

"No!" I exclaimed and immediately jumped off the ground. I headed towards them at an incredible speed. I had no idea why, but I didn't have time to figure it out. I was too busy trying to remove those girls away from the trouble!

"Oooh sweet applesauce!" I heard Applebloom yell out, commencing a significant increase in my speed.

I only realized that I was actually off the ground, but due to the pressure and high tension, I didn't stop to see why. I narrowed my eyes and focused on the float. Amazingly, I reached the door just before the float was about to crash. I saw the girls as they could only brace for the impact. I dashed inside and pushed them out towards a bush, where they landed safely.

However, due to the significant amount momentum on my speed, saving the girls caused me to land on the dirt roughly and roll over to the mud, where I joined the pigs. When I was able to move, I groaned, feeling drenched in mud. I raised my hoof, feeling a piece of land. I placed my left hoof on there, as well as my right hoof. Then, I slowly pulled myself up, feeling completely exhausted. Then, I heard a snap of a camera and a couple of flashes.

I looked up to see the girls arriving at the top of the cliff. "Alex!" They all exclaimed, noticing my condition. Applejack offered to come, seeing as there was not enough space for all of them to come help me. She hopped over the bale of hay and began trotting towards me. Behind her, I could see Babs Seed walk with a saddened expression.

Applejack reached me and grabbed my muddy hoof to help me up. "Are you okay?" She inquired with a worried expression.

"Yeah… I'm fine…" I answered and looked to my side to see the girls. "Are you three alright?" I asked them.

"Yeah... we're fine." Sweetie Belle answered.

"No sweat." Scootaloo added.

Babs Seed walked over to them. "After I'd been so mean to ya... you saved me!" She mentioned, clearly astonished.

Applejack could only reveal an expression of confusion as she didn't know what was going on.

Applebloom sighed. "About that…"

"Hold on, y'all." Applejack interrupted. "I want to know what all this was about, but first we gotta get Alex here tidied up."

Her statement caused the conversation to be held off.

After the whole mess, Applejack led me to Sweet Apple Acres where I would wash off all this mud I had on me. Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash joined us to make sure I was alright. I had no idea where Pinkie was.

Applejack brought out a huge wooden tub and filled it water and soap. I jumped in and began cleansing myself of the leftover mud. Applejack left to retrieve some towels for me. As I washed myself in the tub, the three girls were continuing their conversation with their former bully.

"I don't get it! I saw it all happen! You pushed me out just when the float was about to head into the lake!" Babs Seed exclaimed.

"Except... we were the reason it was headed into the lake." Scootaloo explained.

I heard some hoofsteps. It was Applejack. She held a towel in her mouth as she brought it to me.

"We booby trapped the float." Sweetie Belle added.

Once I finished scrubbing my body and being rid of the mud, Applejack placed a towel over me, allowing me to get out.

"Y'see Babs, we were tryin' to get you back for bein' a big bully.." Applebloom held Babs hoof in an apologetic manner. This caused her to look away sadly.

"But then Applejack told us about how you were being bullied back in Manehatten." Scootaloo joined. Babs Seed then covered her flank with her tail in shame.

"And we figured out you were just doing it to avoid getting picked on in Ponyville." Sweetie Belle combined her sentence with theirs. "But, by then... we were the ones being bullies. And..." She placed her hooves to her head in frustration. "Oh, why does life have to be so ironic?!" She yelled out loud, pounding her hooves to the ground.

"Guess what we're trying to say is..." Applebloom began.

"We're sorry." The Cutie Mark Crusaders apologized all together.

Babs blew the mane away from her face. "I'm sorry too."

Applejack sighed and trotted over to them. "Y'know this all could've been avoided if y'all just came to me in the very beginning."

"It's my fault too." I announced, joining her by her side. "They came to me and spoke with me. They didn't know what to do and they were so clueless…" I looked over to them to see them lowering their heads in sadness. "I told them that most of the time, you have to fight and stand up for yourself, because usually adults don't do anything or only give the bully a slap on the hoof. I don't mean to say that you wouldn't have done anything Applejack…" I looked at the ground as well. "It's just that… It's the way I'm used to…"

Applejack placed a hoof on my shoulder in an understanding manner. "I understand, Alex. You're right. In most cases, that is true… But…" She looked over to the little ones. "Now you all know what to do if this happens again, right?"

The three little girls nodded their heads.

"So... can we... start over?" Babs Seed offered.

"Defintely." Applebloom accepted, placing a hoof on her shoulder.

"Yeah!" Scootaloo raised her hoof for all of them to place together.

Sweetie Belle and Applebloom joined, but Babs Seed looked hesitant. The three fillies looked over to her, waiting for her to join in as well. Babs Seed was surprised, placing a hoof on herself. The girls nodded, allowing Babs to place her hoof in the bond as well.

"Wait!" Applebloom exclaimed. "Does that mean you'll join the Cutie Mark Crusaders?"

Babs Seed only responded with a light nod and smile.

"YAY!" The three of them exclaimed together. "Cutie Mark Crusaders Initiation!"

They were about to rush to their clubhouse, but they stopped and turned to see me. Sweetie Belle took a step closer to me and smiled brightly. "Thanks for everything, Alex, especially for saving us back there."

"It's no problem, Sweetie Belle." I returned, lifting my hoof up to remove the towel from my head. "Anything for my family." I removed the towel, which Sweetie Belle, including the other girls, gasped at for some reason.

"A horn?" Sweetie Belle exclaimed, causing me to look up to see my horn right there. I turned my head to view the sides of my body and remove the towel on my back as well. And…there were my wings…

The sight of this caused all of the fillies to drop their jaw. "Huh… Would you look at that…" I mentioned.

"I AM looking!" Sweetie Belle cried out in surprise. "You have both a horn and wings!"

Rarity walked to my side to help me out. "It's a long story, Sweetie. Let's just say Alex discovered his true power, but he's still the same pony we all know and love."

Rarity's comment caused me to blush a little in embarrassment.

"Ooh!" Sweetie Belle gazed at me for a while. She looked back to see the other girls waiting for her, removing the shocked expressions from their faces. I'm sure they had a lot of questions they wanted to ask me, but right now, they wanted to start their first ever initiation. "Well, I guess I better go!" Sweetie Belle hugged me for a short moment and then ran off. "Bye, big brother!"

"Big brother?" Rarity questioned, glancing at me.

I chuckled. "Remember? She adopted me as her 'big brother'?"

"Oh right… She didn't replace you with me, right?"

"No, of course not." I placed my eyesight towards where the other girls were running off. "It's just her way of viewing and appreciating me…"

"Oh, okay. I see your point. Well then." She looked over to the other girls. "Anypony want to do something?"

"Let's go see what Pinkie's up to." Rainbow Dash offered.

"Yeah." Twilight agreed. "Whatever did happen to Pinkie?" She asked, joining Rainbow Dash as they began exiting out of the farm.

Before leaving, Fluttershy walked over to me. "Are you coming with us, sweetie?" She asked.

"Actually." Applejack spoke. "I wanted to talk to Alex about somethin', if he doesn't mind."

"Uh, sure, I guess not." I answered.

"Mmk. Well you go do whatever you want, Alex. Have fun." She released a smile with closed eyes.

"Don't you want me to come be with you later on?"

"You don't have to come see me or be with me every day, Alex. I love spending time with you, but I want you to do whatever you want to do. I don't want you to feel forced that you have to be with me just because I'm your girlfriend. I'm fine spending time with the others as well."

"I don't feel forced to, Fluttershy. It's just…you know…"

She lightly giggled and continued to smile. "I understand. You can spend time with the other girls. I don't want them to feel as if you're ignoring them."

"Ah don't mean to interrupt… but we, or at least I, don't feel Alex is ignorin' us. But I guess we could do things together like old times!" Applejack added.

I chuckled. "Alright…alright… I suppose so, as long as you're alright with it." Fluttershy nodded. "Then, I'll guess I'll see you tomorrow, maybe?"

"Whenever you want." Fluttershy assured.

"Alright." I placed a small adoring kiss on her lips and hugged her. "Until then, Fluttershy."

"Until then." She repeated.

She softly pulled away and began walking, leaving me love-struck for a moment.

Applejack noticed this and chuckled. "Anyways, I remembered about that campout we were supposed to have until the whole thing between Rarity and Sweetie Belle happened. I was wonderin' if you wanted to have it with Applebloom and me?"

"Sure." I responded, placing a hoof on my chin and thinking. "That sounds really nice actually. Hm… I don't remember if I've ever had one before… I don't think so…"

"Well great! You're gonna love it! I promise!"

"Okay, but before doing that, can I go see the mayor really quick?"

"Sure! You can come with us to drop Babs Seed off at the train station and see her when we get to town. Speakin' of that… I better go tell those Cutie Mark Crusaders to get ready to come to the train station…"

Thus, we began walking towards their clubhouse.

Applejack and I walked up the steps to their clubhouse, just in time to see them finish the initiation.

"Babs?" Applejack called. She looked back, wearing one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders cloak as well. "Go get your things. We have to be at the train station to take you back to Manehattan."

"Aww." The other girls expressed.

"Don't worry." Babs assured. "I'll continue the Cutie Mark Crusaders back in Manehattan. It'll feel good to have friends that I can relate to instead of going through stuff alone."

"That sounds amazin'!" Applebloom exclaimed.

As they continued talk excitedly about the idea, I smiled and looked at Applejack. "Actually, I'll head over to the mayor right now, and then meet you at the train station, okay?"

"Sure thing, Alex."

After, I turned around and was about to begin walking, but then I remembered I retrieved my Alicorn form back. So, I decided I could practice and fly back to town. I opened my wings and traveled by flight.

I scanned the area near where the parade took place. I happened to see the mayor observing my banners. I landed on the ground and walked over to her. "What do you think?" I asked.

"Oh, Alex." She turned around, breaking her analysis on the banners. She seemed to stare at me for a moment.

That's when I remembered that not everypony knew that I was actually an Alicorn. "Oh, sorry…" I quickly stated. "I forgot to tell you that I'm…"

"It's alright." She answered. "Princess Celestia had sent me a message about it not too long ago. She told me that you wanted to be treated just as you were before, am I correct?"

"Yes, ma'am."

She formed a calm smile. "I should get started on announcing it to the everypony, don't you think?"

"That would be nice. I don't really want anypony freaking out to try to treat me as a Prince or anything…"

"I understand." She turned her head back to view the banners. "You've done an excellent job." She faced me again. "We'll be glad to have you as an Artist here in Ponyville."

"That sounds great, Mayor Mare! Thanks!"

"You're very welcome. I'll send a letter if I have anything for you to do. If you want, you can visit Miss Cheerilee and see if she has any work you can do as well. Until then, I'll be glad to see you spread your creativity around Ponyville and maybe even Equestria."

"Thank you Mayor. I'll keep that in mind."

"Good luck, Alex." She then began walking away.

I was left with a bit of excite in me, but for now I had to go meet Applejack back at the train station. Spreading my wings, I started my way by flight once again.

"So you promise you're gonna start our Manehatten branch of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, right?" I heard Applebloom ask when I landed by the train station.

"Yeah, and I promise to keep talking to my big sis about the teasing back home." Bab Seed responded as she stood by her suitcase in front of the train.

"Good." Applejack stated as I walked towards them. "And if you have any problems, we've got your back too, y'hear?" Applejack placed her forelegs around the fillies.

"That's right." I announced, surprising them a bit. "Let me just share a piece of advice with you…" I directed towards Babs Seed. I stopped in front of her. "It's good to talk to your big sister about the bullying, so you don't feel alone. But next time somepony tries to put you down, stand up for yourself. Show them that you're not going to take any more of their teasing. Use the strength you used for bullying and place it into defending yourself this time. When the bullies know that you're not going to stand around to be messed with, they'll leave you alone. I promise. Worst thing they can do is get somepony else to do their dirty work for them, but I'm sure you'll make it through anything they come out with. Understand?"

"Yes." She nodded, forming a soft smile. "Thank you."

I returned a smile as well, but it was interrupted by a familiar voice behind us.

"So you're leaving, huh?" We looked back to see that it was Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon on the other side. "Great! Now we're stuck here with these lame blank flanks."

The three girls formed negative responses, especially Sweetie Belle who was looking teary once again as the symbol on her cloak fell off. Of course, I would have dealt with this myself, but I realized it could be a test for Babs. I sent her a look, more of a smirk. She looked back at me, noticing this. I tilted my head and bumped it against those mean fillies, signaling her to try my advice out. She received the message I was sending and returned another look of annoyance towards Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

"Hey! That's not how you talk to my friends!" She exclaimed confidently as she walked towards them.

"F-friends?" Silver Spoon stuttered.

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?"

"Well, what if I do? What are you gonna do about it?" Diamond Tiara tried to counterattack, but Babs kept a straight face.

She glanced over to me. I nodded my head for her to continue on. She faced them and grinned mischievously. "Tell your mothers about your bad attitudes!" She moved a few steps towards them, causing them to back away.

Diamond Tiara shook her head as Silver Spoon pleaded with shaky hooves, surprisingly. Babs Seed leaned her head forward, scaring them into tripping over the platform and into a mud puddle. Babs trotted back over to us and knocked her hooves with Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle, climbing aboard the train after.

"Not exactly my choice of dialogue for standing up to bullies...but hey... It works..." I mumbled.

"I'm sure gonna miss that bad seed." Sweetie Belle mentioned, confusing Applejack.

"Bad seed? I thought y'all were friends now?" Applejack questioned as they waved to Babs on the train.

"No, see, first we called her 'bad seed' as in actually a bad seed, but now she's bad as in good." Sweetie Belle explained. "Get it?"

"Yea- no." Applejack's sustained answer caused the Cutie Mark Crusaders to laugh as the train now left Ponyville.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo eventually went home, as it was growing late. Applejack had mentioned the campout to Applebloom, who very well liked the idea of it. When we were at Sweet Apple Acres, we each carried items for the event, such as a tent, firewood, marshmallows, and sleeping bags.

We traveled to a private part of the farm, where the area was surrounded by trees. Honestly, if Applejack and Applebloom left me here, I would be forever lost… Well… with my wings, I could just fly up and scout the area.

"Alright, let's get started." Applejack announced after we placed all of the materials on the floor.

"Allow me." I offered and began working my magic.

First, I stretched out the tent and managed to stick the stakes firmly on the ground, attaching the rope on after. Next, I held up the firewood and placed them in the middle of the campsite. I grabbed a few smaller sticks and rubbed them together fast enough to create friction and start a fire. Finally, I released a breath and rested my horn, already feeling exhausted.

"Whoa." Applejack commented. "You seem to be gettin' better with your magic, Alex."

I chuckled a little through small pants. "I guess… Although, Twilight would have had this running in a second."

"You'll get there. Don't worry." Applejack assured.

"Thanks." I expressed with a light smile.

We began sitting around the fire in a triangle style. We placed marshmallows on our sticks and roasted them in fire. We blew on our marshmallows and took a bite. They tasted amazing with their melted goodness.

"Say…" Applejack began, swallowing her marshmallow and capturing our attention. "Why don't we tell some spooky stories?"

"I…uh… I don't know, Applejack." Applebloom responded, beginning to sound frightened as we sat under the dark sky and lit moon.

"Aw, come on, Applebloom. It's fun, besides they ain't real. I thought you weren't a baby anymore."

"I-I'm not!" Applebloom crossed her forelegs, trying to present a signal of courage.

"Well then, get ready for a spooky story." She cleared her throat. "This one is called… Night Terror."

I raised an eyebrow. "Night Terror?"

Applejack nodded. "It's about this dark and mysterious pony called Night Terror. It was this legend I found in one of Twilight's books. I thought right now would be the best time to share it with you ponies."

"Um…" I looked over to Applebloom, who seemed to be shaking a little in fear. "Alright…"

"Well then… Long ago, this pony named Night Terror used to terrorize Equestria. If he caught you… You'd have a high chance of never falling asleep again… He'd roam the lands like a sly shadow, haunting every pony that happened to be wandering around in the middle of the night. Apparently, this took place before Princess Luna's heart became corrupted and turned into Nightmare Moon. This became such a big problem that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had to fix right away. Using the Elements of Harmony, they eventually confronted Night Terror and defeated him. It was said that he turned to a normal pony, and was banished to the moon to make sure that he would never roam the lands again, so there would be no danger of his terrible powers at all. However… Rumor has it that he managed to escape his banishment somehow and still stalks around Equestria." Applejack was now talking in a creepier tone, starting to make me feel uncomfortable. "There was once a group of friends that was having a campout, just like this one." Applebloom was now beginning to feel uncomfortable and frightened. "The friends first felt something weird around them…but they just shrugged it off. Little did they know, Night Terror was right…behind…them… To this day, they still can't sleep, having to relive it over and over. So…" Applejack stood up and began walking around eerily. "You best be careful when you're out here in parts like these…because…" She paused for a moment, growing closer to Applebloom. "You never know when he can come…get… YOU!" She exclaimed right behind Applebloom, causing her to scream and jump in fear. Applejack began laughing out loud, holding her own stomach.

"Applejack! That's not funny!" Applebloom exclaimed as Applejack continued pounding the floor with her hooves.

"It is to me!"

"But…what if he really is here, Applejack…?" Applebloom's fear was growing.

"Hehe." Applejack chuckled, recovering from her laugh. "Don't worry, Applebloom. The whole story is fake! It was just in some dumb urban legend book. Usually one of those books that sound like they're real, but they actually aren't."

Applebloom released a breath of relief. "It better…"

"Come on." Applejack offered, beginning to kick sand on the fire so it would go out. "We best get some sleep. You don't want Night Terror to come get you, do you?" Applejack brought up, once again.

"Stop it, Applejack!" Applebloom reacted, walking inside the tent.

Applejack continued chuckling, but then stopped to look at me, noticing on how I was just staring at the floor in silence. "You comin' in, Alex?" She asked.

"Oh, yeah." I stood up and began walking towards the tent.

"You don't believe that story, do you?"

"N…No… I don't think so…" I shrugged. "I'll probably just forget about it tomorrow." I entered the tent. Applebloom was already making herself comfortable in the sleeping bag.

"I hope I didn't scare you as much as Applebloom." Applejack mentioned, being the last one to enter the tent. Applebloom rolled her eyes and turned to her side. Applejack closed the tent entrance and yawned. Using my magic, I unrolled Applejack's and my sleeping bag. "Thank ya, kindly." She expressed and began lying comfortably in her sleeping bag. I did the same to mine. "Goodnight, you two."

"Goodnight…" Applebloom mumbled.

"Night…" I added softly…

Afterwards, there was only silence.

I tried closing my eyes and getting sleep, but I just couldn't get any. I fumbled around in bed. That story just stuck to my mind. Finally, I just stared at the ceiling for a moment. Then, I looked towards the entrance, almost actually believing that dumb story. I sighed and placed the cover of the sleeping bag over my face.

Just forget about it… Think about Fluttershy…

Eventually, when I finally managed to fall asleep, it seemed as if I was woken a second after. I felt a hoof on my body shaking me lightly and calling my name.

"Alex…Alex…"

"H…Hm…?" I opened my eyes and looked at who was shaking me. Once my eyes adjusted, I saw that it was Applejack. "W…What is it Applejack?" I asked tiredly.

"Are you okay…?" She asked, seeming to be a little worried.

"Yeah, why?"

She released a breath relief. "I was so worried. Scared, actually."

"Why? What happened?"

"Well…I heard something, so I woke up. When I did, I saw you weren't in your sleepin' bag. I was callin' your name but you didn't answer. I walked outside to look for you but then there you were. You were just outside lookin' at the moon. I called you, but you didn't budge. I wanted to go see what you were doin' but I decided it'd be best to not bother you, or I might scare or startle you, so I went back inside and hoped that you'd come back in. Otherwise, I would go see what you were doin'. However, I was lying in my sleeping bag, waiting, and you came back in. You didn't say anything. You just got in your sleeping bag and I guessed that you fell asleep."

"…what…?" I questioned, unable to understand what she was saying. "I wasn't outside looking at the moon… I don't remember any of that."

"Hm…" Applejack thought. "Either you were sleepwalkin' or I was dreamin'."

I sighed. "I don't know… I don't even remember ever sleepwalking in my life… I don't know if that would be a dream for you either."

"I probably was dreaming… That was too weird… Anyway, sorry for waking you up, Alex. I was just worried."

"It's okay, Applejack." I yawned. "You were just looking out for me."

I managed to see her smile through the darkness. "Hehe… Yeah… Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Afterwards, she crawled back to her sleeping bag and began to rest her eyes. I closed my eyes as well. However, what Applejack told me was starting to bother me now.

What did she mean that I was out there staring at the moon? Was I really? I don't think I'd be sleepwalking… I don't remember ever sleepwalking… Maybe Applejack was dreaming… That seems to make more sense… Still… I just can't help but find this really disturbing…

Magic Duel

Episode 57 – Magic Duel

I was woken by the several soft taps on the ground outside. I slowly opened my eyes and yawned quietly. I crawled out of my sleeping bag and crawled over to the entrance of the tent. When I was a little more alert, I realized something. Is it…raining…? I slightly opened the entrance of the tent with my hoof, looking outside and smelling and hearing the water collide with the dirt. No wonder it's so dark… I wonder what time it is…

I heard Applejack yawn and sit up.

"Mornin'." She walked to my side and looked out. "Is it rainin'?"

"Yeah…" I answered softly, noticing Applebloom was still asleep.

"Aw shoot." Applejack expressed and walked back to her sleeping bag. "I guess we're going to be in here for a while unless you wanna try heading back and getting' mud all over your hooves, slippin' and slidin' all over the place, trying to get everythin' we brought back to Sweet Apple Acres."

"Uh…" I responded after her long statement. "I don't mind staying here to wait for the rain to pass…" I walked over to my sleeping bag and faced her. "What do you suppose we do?"

"Don't know." She rubbed the back of her head, having her usual hat by her side. "I never expected rain today."

I shrugged. It was silent for a moment until I remembered about last night. "Hey AJ…" I began, catching her attention. "Are you still bothered by last night…?" I asked.

"Not really… I was at first, but now it's kinda faded away."

"And you're really sure that you saw me do all this?"

"It felt really real, as if I was awake, but I don't know…" She shrugged. "I don't see any reason why you would do somethin' like that."

"Huh…" I could only respond with, feeling empty of words as the rain continued to pour outside.

Applejack chuckled. "This brings back memories though…"

"Hm?"

"When Rarity, you, and I were sleepin' over at Twilight's. Rarity and I fought so much. It almost feels like it was yesterday…"

"Oh, yeah…" I answered. "I know how you feel…"

"Say, why don't we actually go campin'? We'll invite the other ponies to come with, includin' Applebloom's friends!"

"Sure. That sounds great, Applejack. What do you mean by 'actually' camping, though?"

"We'll go to an actual campground, hiking, and all that good stuff!"

"Sounds like a plan." I finished with a soft smile.

The raindrops outside seemed to lower their pace. I walked over to the entrance and stuck my head out. There seemed to be bits and pieces of where the sun was able to peek through and warm the environment with its beams of light.

"Don't need to thank me twice!" I heard a voice above me, causing me to shift my eyesight towards the sky. It was Rainbow Dash. She was flapping her wings as she crossed her forelegs proudly.

"Rainbow?" I asked, surprised to see her.

"Yup. Sorry for the sudden rain weather. We kinda fell a little behind on the schedule." She rubbed the back of her head. As she flew lower to view me closer, Applejack walked out of the tent to see her as well. "Oh, hey, Applejack. Were you guys having a campout or something?"

"Mm-hm." Applejack nodded.

"Aw sweet!" Rainbow exclaimed. "I'd love to have one with you guys."

"We were planning another one a while ago. You can join us on that one."

She grinned. "I am so there!"

Then, we heard a soft pair of hooves walk towards us from behind us. Applebloom popped her head out of the tent and yawned. "What time is it?"

Applejack smiled and rubbed her sister's mane playfully.

"Hey, Alex!" Rainbow Dash announced to catch my attention. "I'll race you to Town Hall! Of course, that isn't our official race, but just a warm up. You know, to see how far you are!" She grinned, knowing that she'd easily beat me.

Nonetheless, I looked at Applejack and Applebloom. "Uh… I don't know, Rainbow. I need to help Applejack and Applebloom pack up the stuff here and carry it back to their farm."

"Aw, don't sweat it, Alex." Applejack assured. "You go have your little race with Rainbow. We'll finish up here."

"Are you sure?" I questioned.

"Yup."

"Alright… We'll I'll see you later then, Applejack. Okay?"

"You got it."

I spread my wings and flew towards Rainbow Dash. She led me higher towards the sky, allowing the back of my coat to become completely sun kissed in warmth. Rainbow led me over to a cloud and placed her hooves on it. She looked at me, waiting for me to do the same. I hesitated for a moment, feeling like I would just sink in.

"C'mon!" She emphasized. "It's not gonna bite ya!" I slowly landed, placing my hooves on the cloud carefully next to her. Once I felt safe enough, I relaxed myself and found that it was all okay. Rainbow positioned herself in the way that runners usually prepared themselves at the start of a line and looked at me competitively. "Ready?" She asked as she shook her rear energetically, definitely in the mood to win.

"I suppose so…" I answered, slightly positioning myself in the same way as her.

"Alright then! Just so you know, with me, I'm full of surprises!" She mentioned, causing me to look at her in somewhat confusion. "3 2 1 GO!" She announced so quickly, catching me off guard and already flying off in such a great speed.

You've got to be kidding me… Even if Rainbow gave me a long head start, she still would have finished first…

Nonetheless, I began flapping my wings, trying to catch up to her. I flapped them as hard as I could, but only in a way where they wouldn't grow tired fast and I would have trouble keeping balance. On the way, I noticed Rainbow Dash in the distance. It appeared to be as if I was actually slowly catching up to her. Am I really going faster than her…?

However, I found out that she was only toying with me. When she was clear enough to see, she was lying on her back in mid-air, flapping her wings so gently while she appeared to be having no trouble at all. She noticed me and turned her body around, keeping up with my pace easily. "Took you long enough." She smirked. "Come on, I know you can do better than that!"

I was starting to pant, feeling my wings reveal signs that they were now reaching their limit. "Unfortunately…I…can't, Rainbow…"

She chuckled and shook her head. "Looks like you're going to need my coaching after all…" Unexpectedly, she rose above me and allowed herself to fall on top of my body. The force of her impact caused me to drop significantly in the air. I was falling towards the ground at an unbelievable rate. I had to strain myself to lift her up while continuing to fly.

"Rainbow!" I exclaimed through painful grunts. "What are you doing? You're…going to make me crash!"

"No pain, no gain, mister!" She wrapped her hooves around me in order to keep a tight grip on me, most likely so I wouldn't try getting her off. "If you want to learn to stand a chance against me, you've gotta go the extra mile!"

"What…?" I answered through another grunt of pain with one eye closed in the strain of my energy.

"If you can learn to fly fast while managing to carry me at the same time, flying without me on you is going to be a breeze! You'll be able to fly at a much faster rate!" She explained.

Her explanation did make sense…but it didn't help that my whole body felt as if it was about to shut down. "Rainbow…" I spoke between great pants now. "I don't think I can do this! I feel like my wings are just going to give up!"

"What kind of talk is that?" She exclaimed. "That's not the Alex I know! Come on! You, the element of a pure heart, giving up? You're an Alicorn for Celestia's sake! Show some pride!"

"Easy for you to say…" I responded softly through heavy breaths.

"Come on, Alex! Almost there! Don't you dare give up on me!" Was this supposed to be motivation? In order to attempt to fulfill her wish, I closed my eyes and strained my teeth, trying to just focus everything on my wings, as well as removing the pain through my body. "We're nearly there, buddy! Keep going!" I kept my eyes closed as I continued to return signs of positive pain. I felt as if I opened them, I would completely just spin out of control. "And… Stop!" She ordered, allowing me to halt my movement, but continue flapping my wings to stay in the air. This offered me some relief, but not completely.

I looked back at Rainbow who appeared to be sending a soft look of pride. She patted me on the back as I continued to pant. "Thanks for the ride." She chuckled and lifted herself from me, granting me even more relief. She flew over to a nearby cloud and grabbed it. She brought it over to me and placed it under me, allowing me to rest on top of it. "Now it's my turn." She lowered it enough to where we could see the town clearly under us. As I continued to regain my strength, Rainbow landed on top of the cloud and continued to look at me with a smile on her face. "I'm proud of you, Alex." She stretched her hoof and patted me once again. "You'll become as great as me in no time." I managed to chuckle at her high self-esteem and shake my head. She tilted her head slightly at me. "Feeling good enough to walk?" She asked.

"I think so… I'm still a bit tired, but I think I can walk…" I answered.

She lightly chuckled. "Don't think that was the only time we're going to do this." She mentioned. "I'm going to coach you, and I'm going to push you to your limits!"

"Heh…alright then, coach…"

"C'mon, I'll give you a lift." She carried me on her back and began flying towards town.

Once on the ground, she allowed me to get off her. Starting to feel the symptoms of soreness, I managed to stand up and look at her. "Thanks for that, Rainbow Dash. I appreciate it."

"No problem!" She placed a hoof around me, pulling me closer to her. If I was a colt, she probably would have rubbed my mane like she sometimes does with Scootaloo. "It's nice to help out a friend in need."

"In need…?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow at her.

"In need of standing a chance against me of course!"

Afterwards, she pulled back her hoof and placed it on the ground.

To our surprised, Rarity and Pinkie Pie walked over to us.

"Wow! That was super-duper amazing, Alex!" Pinkie exclaimed as she bounced very energetically.

"Yes, we saw what happened from down here." Rarity explained. "It must have taken a lot of strength to do that."

I smiled softly at the two of them. "Thanks… I'm a little embarrassed to hear that though…"

"Don't worry, you guys!" Rainbow Dash joined. "With Alex under my wing, he's going to become the second fastest pony to fly in Equestria! Me being the first of course." She looked around. "You two seen Twilight or Fluttershy around?" She asked.

"Twilight said she was going to Fluttershy's to practice her magic on the animals there. She told us that she was chosen to provide the entertainment for the delegates Princess Celestia is bringing from Saddle Arabia."

"Delegates?" I questioned. "Huh… I've never really knew much about Saddle Arabia."

"Whatever's the case, I'm sure it'll be nice to have some exotic ponies in our town, no?" She chuckled a little. "What about Applejack? Have you two seen her around?"

"Yeah." Rainbow answered. "She should be getting here in a while."

"Wonderful!" Rarity responded. "We should all get together for some breakfast." Rarity faced me. "I'm sure you could some food after that haul, am I correct?"

"Yeah…" I answered, beginning to feel my stomach rumble. "Food sure sounds good right now…"

"Let's get moving then." Rarity announced, leading us over to the café.

While waiting for Applejack, we all sat by a table and started off with a nice glass of orange juice.

Rarity lifted her glass up and took a lady-like sip from it. She placed it down and looked towards all of us. "What do you all feel like doing today?"

"Eh." Rainbow answered, throwing in a shrug. "Doesn't matter to me."

"Ooh! Ooh!" Pinkie Pie waved her hoof in the air and then slammed it down on the table, shaking our juices a bit. "We should totally have cupcake eating contest at Sugarcube Corner!"

"As much as I love your cupcakes…" Rarity began, signaling a decline. "I do not wish to be a part of such a fierce and monstrous competition. It's uncouth and unladylike."

I released a smile and chuckled. "Of course, Rarity."

"You don't have any work to do today, do you Alex?" Rarity asked.

"No." I answered. "I don't think the Mayor has anything planned. Princess Celestia is bringing those foreign delegates, but I think Twilight is handling it instead." I placed a hoof on my chin and thought for a moment. "Well… I could go to Miss Cheerilee and see if she could use any artwork, but I suppose that can wait until later."

"Then let us enjoy the day. Something not dealing with…" Rarity paused for a moment. "…a cupcake eating contest…" She shuddered.

I lightly chuckled and lifted my glass with my magic. Just as I was about to drink some of the juice, a ruby beam of magic was suddenly shot in front of me and shattered the glass to pieces. "What the…?" I quickly looked to my right to see a hooded pony standing right there, directly facing us.

"Call me an 'ignorant show off', will you…" The pony answered, revealing a very familiar voice that I was unable to recognize at the moment.

"What?" I asked, noticing the necklace she wore on her neck. My eyes widened and were focused on it…as if…I had made some kind of connection to it.

"Like it?" She questioned, noticing my unusual attraction towards it. "Oh, I'm sure you will." Suddenly, a beam was conjured from it, shooting straight towards me and knocking me away from the others.

I was almost knocked out on the floor. What the hay…? This wasn't any ordinary magic… I tried pushing myself off from the floor, but the beam of magic had really worn me out… It was much more painful than regular magic…

The mare walked up to me as I struggled to push myself back up. "Stay there and bow down to me. I believe I deserve an apology."

I grunted. "…an apology…? You just shot me with that strange necklace of yours! I don't owe you any apology!" I exclaimed, beginning to feel angrier.

"Oh, is that how it's going to be?" She questioned. "After such a long time of agony and humiliation, this is what I get? We'll see about that…" Magic conjured from her necklace and shot out towards me again. This time, she allowed the beam to be continuous.

When the beam attacked me, the pain was almost unbearable. I began to release grunts and cries of pain, almost as if I was being tortured.

"Hey, leave him alone!" Rainbow Dash quickly flew towards me and pushed the pony away, interrupting her spell and allowing me to breathe. "Alex, you okay?" She asked worriedly, placing her hooves on me.

"Get Twilight…" I answered weakly through heavy breaths. "I…I don't know what's going on…"

"Don't worry! I will!" She looked at Rarity and Pinkie Pie. "Take care of him! Make sure he doesn't get hurt!" Afterwards, she flew off towards Fluttershy's cottage in a rush.

As the two began rushing towards me, the mysterious pony walked towards me once again. "Hah. Even as an Alicorn, you're still nowhere close to being as great and powerful as me…" Great and powerful… Why did those words seem so familiar…? "Are you ready to apologize now?"

I scoffed. "You're 'nowhere close' to an apology…"

I could see the pony's facial expression change into an angry one. She was just about to shoot out another beam of magic, but Rarity quickly stepped in to help me. "Stop right there, you monster! Don't even think about hurting him again!"

"Oh, I'm the monster?" She placed a hoof to her chest. "Why don't I show you who the real monster is? And this time, I'm not going to mess with your mane…"

"Huh…?" Rarity slipped out, confused and beginning to flinch when the pony aimed at her next target.

"Rarity…!" I held out my hoof. I wanted to help so badly, but I felt too stunned that I couldn't move from my current position.

The beam shot towards Rarity, but received unexpected results… Instead of enduring pain like me…she endured the pain of horrible fashion. The beam caused for some dress to appear on her body, which she obviously didn't like, emphasizing it with a gasp. "You beast! This shade of brown should only be used for accents!"

Rarity was about to fall to the floor from fainting, but Applejack unexpectedly came to her side and prevented her from falling to the ground. She carried her as Pinkie Pie followed her. "Come on, Applejack. We've got to get her into a nice, soothing pink. Stat!"

As they left, I immediately heard my name being called. I looked to my side to see it was Twilight. She quickly rushed to my side, kneeling down to place her hooves on me. "What's going on here?"

"Well, well, well." The pony walked closer towards us. "If it isn't..." She grabbed her hood and threw it off, revealing an immediately recognizable face. "Twilight Sparkle." Her eyes glowed scarlet for a short second.

Twilight gasped. "Trixie!"

"What's she doing here?" Spike, who was by Twilight, questioned, forming a heated face.

"You call that great and powerful?" Rainbow Dash asked, flying above me. "More like a coward's work to me!"

Trixie revealed a corrupted face, shooting out another beam of magic towards Rainbow Dash. The result of this beam was a completely over-sized wing on the right side of Rainbow's body. She tried flapping her wings, but due to the weight and size, she was wobbling around the airspace. "Rainbow!" I exclaimed.

"Oh! She's Rainbow Wobble, now!" Snips, who was among the crowd we seemed to have attracted, commented as he watched Rainbow struggle with his friend Snails.

"Yeah! Ha ha ha ha!" Snails laughed. I narrowed my eyes in irritancy from this. "Good spell, oh Great and Powerful Trixie!" He waved towards her, seeming to forget everything about what happened last time. Are you serious? You're going to side with her again?

"You two! Quiet!" Trixie ordered, sending out another beam of magic towards them.

"Uh, hey! W-What happened?" Snips asked after the blast.

It was revealed that he was hanging on top of Snails, due to their horns being somehow mixed with each other.

Sorry I asked…

"Get off of me!" He exclaimed. He ran around in an attempt to somehow remove him, but they were stuck like glue.

"Stop picking on my friends, Trixie!" Twilight ordered after witnessing this scene.

"You and I have some unfinished business." Trixie replied. "My magic's gotten better since I was here last." She began walking towards us to meet Twilight face-to-face. "And I'm going to prove it! Me and you. A magic duel. Winner stays, loser leaves Ponyville forever!" Her eyes flashed red once again.

"Forget it! I'd never make a deal like that!" Twilight declined.

"Hm, your choice." After saying this, Trixie looked over to Spike and grabbed him with her magic. Spike released yelps as he was somehow formed into a basketball. Trixie then began mocking him by bouncing him around.

"Trixie, put him down!" Twilight demanded. Trixie shot Spike towards a basket, ending her mischievous action. "Why are you doing this?"

"Why? Because you humiliated me!" She pointed at Twilight and then presented screen before us with her magic, recalling what happened the last time she was here. "After you showed me up with that Ursa Minor, I became a laughingstock! Everywhere I went I was laughed at and ostracized. I even had to take a job on a rock farm just to earn a living! A rock farm!"

"She didn't humiliate you!" I exclaimed, beginning to push myself back up. "You humiliated yourself with all that arrogant boasting you were doing! Don't put the blame on somepony else! Grow up and learn to take the responsibility for yourself!"

"Shut up!" She shot out another beam towards me, causing to be thrown a few feet from where I was currently at and release another painful cry.

"Stop it, Trixie!" Twilight demanded desperately, unable to stand the sound of when I was harmed.

Pinkie stepped in, but was more focused on the rock farm issue. "Hey! You're lucky a rock farm would take the likes of you!"

Trixie formed an arrow near Pinkie's head. She dragged it towards her mouth, pulling it off her head and dumping it in her own trash can. How the…?

"Now I want revenge! And I'll just keep casting spells 'til you agree." Trixie focused her attention towards me and shot out another ray of magic, causing me to release cries that recognized my pain. Trixie stopped for a moment, ready to continue but facing Twilight for her decision. "Well? What do you say?"

After noticing how every one of her friends was negatively affected by this, including me, she answered Trixie. "Okay! Just stop it! Let's duel…"

"Twilight… No…" I commented weakly.

"Excellent." Trixie responded and placed everything the way it was before…except Pinkie's mouth. Pinkie Pie noticed this as she searched her face for it. She tried to point it out, but all she could give was indignant muffled noises. She was ignored. "If I lose, I won't set hoof in Ponyville again. But if you lose, you're the one banished from this one-horse town!"

The girls responded with gasps.

Twilight and Trixie began narrowing their eyes at each other. Trixie contained a more defiant expression, as if she knew she was going to win. Twilight began to sweat, giving off signals of uneasiness about the deal.

"Draw!" Trixie suddenly shouted, shooting her magic towards a nearby cart that was full of crates and barrels.

The cart was heading towards a group of ponies, initiating them to run. However, one of them tripped and could only stare at the cart headed straight towards her. Fortunately, Twilight managed to grab a hold of the cart and place it down away from her. "Phew…" She wiped her forehead with her hoof.

I noticed Trixie lift up several pies, ready to pelt them at Twilight. "Twilight, look out!" I warned, causing her to turn and gasp.

Trixie threw towards her. Twilight quickly thought for a moment. Her face brightened up and she formed something with her magic. It was… a parasprite…? The parasprite licked its lips when it noticed the pie hurling towards Twilight. It widely opened its mouth and consumed all of the pies, burping out another parasprite. Twilight quickly sent them away before they could continue.

As Twilight released another breath of relief, a large cloud hovered above us and suddenly bombarded us with snow. Twilight managed to melt it all off, shaking her mane. She counter-attacked by forming a moustache on Trixie's snout. This caused for the other girls to release laughter.

Nonetheless, she brought out scissors and snipped it cleanly off her.

"Snips, Snails, step forward!" She ordered.

"Wh- what is it, oh Great and P-P-Powerful Trixie?" They knelt before her, now in fear as Snips laughed nervously.

Trixie affected them with magic, causing them to levitate from the ground for a short moment until they fell back, revealing that both of their ages were affected. Snips was a baby and Snails was an elder one. Snips cried fiercely as Snails's hooves shook.

"An age spell?" Twilight inquired, highly surprised. "But- how could you do an age spell? That's only for the highest level unicorns!"

Trixie rubbed her necklace and looked at Twilight with confidence smeared all over her face. "Well, Twilight? Give up?"

Twilight sighed but decided to try, grunting and focusing her magic on the two.

"Come on, Twilight! You can do it!" Spike encouraged.

The look on her face stated otherwise. My fear only grew as I felt for the worst. Twilight did her best, but it was no use. The magic on her horn was fading away until it finally halted. She released a breath and fell to the floor.

"Trixie is the highest level unicorn!" She stated and laughed at Twilight's defeat. "And now it's time for you to leave Ponyville! Forever!"

I quickly pushed myself back up to protect Twilight, allowing the other girls to rush over to us and help me as well.

"That's enough, Trixie!" Applejack exclaimed.

"You proved your point, but you can't possibly expect Twilight to leave Ponyville!" Rarity added.

"You fools!" Trixie responded and managed to hold Twilight up behind us. "She's already gone!"

"Twilight!" I shouted, trying to pull her back down. However, Twilight was thrown away from me towards the outskirts of town, causing me to immediately run after her desperately. When far enough, she was let go as she bounced on the ground away from us a few times. I spotted something above us that was going to cover the entrance. I narrowed my eyes and sprinted faster. As I grew nearer to Twilight, the shield was lowering itself more. Right before I could make it, the shield completed its task and prevented me from reaching her. I smacked myself on the glass-like structure. I quickly shook my head and looked out to see Twilight only able to look in, helplessly. "Twilight! Twilight!" I pounded my hooves fiercely on it, but not even a small crack formed.

"It's okay guys…" Twilight managed to say, placing a hoof on the same spot I placed mine. "I'll figure something out. Just take care of each other. And keep an eye on Trixie – there's something strange about her..."

She then turned around and ran off, causing for a large amount of anger to build inside me.

"Twilight…?" Spike asked, sadness beginning to overwhelm him.

I growled and punched the glass with immense anger. "That's it!" I exclaimed. I pushed myself off from the glass, turned around, and began storming back into town. "She's not getting away with this!"

"Alex, wait!" Rainbow Dash called and flew by my side. However, I didn't stop. "Alex, you can't duel her! You're not experienced with magic yet! Not to sound negative, but you don't stand a chance against her!"

"Yes, darling." Rarity pleaded desperately. "We don't want you to be banished either!"

"Please Alex…" Fluttershy now flew over to me and wrapped her hooves around me.

I stopped, staring at the ground with irritated eyes. Nonetheless, I closed them and sighed. "Fine…" I turned my head back to look at the others. "But if Trixie continues this…and it gets out of hoof…" I paused for a moment. "…I'm not hesitating…"

Afterwards, I began walking back towards town, leaving the other girls to follow me in silence.

By the time we arrived back at town, Trixie was there waiting for us.

"And where do you think you're going?" Trixie asked all of us with no good intention in mind. "Trixie is an honored guest in Ponyville and Trixie demands some changes around here!"

I scoffed. "Who are you to tell us what to do?"

"Oh?" Trixie stuck out her ear with a raised hoof near it. "Could you repeat that again? It sounded as if somepony wants to be tortured by the Great and Powerful Trixie again." She then readied her horn, presenting and immense glow.

Before things could escalate, Applejack immediately spoke up. "Stop! We'll do what you want…"

"Excellent." Trixie ended her hostile threat and looked around. "You all can start by redoing this mess of a place you call 'Ponyville'." I clenched my teeth in anger. She spotted Town Hall and continued to command us. "In there. Now." She readied her horn again, causing us to obey her order and head inside Town Hall. Once there, she looked around and rubbed her chin. Then, she pointed at Rarity. "You, create some banners of the Great and Powerful Trixie." Next, was Applejack. "You, make me some applesauce for a nice facial." Now, she pointed at Pinkie Pie. "You… Hm… I guess we could use a little entertainment, can't we?" Pinkie responded with an unintelligible but questioned grunt. Trixie pointed at me. "You…" She thought for a moment. "I'll think of something for you…" She looked at the door and then back at us. "I'll come back with something for you to do…" She directed towards me and then looked at Pinkie. "You better be dancing when I return! The rest of you, place the banners around here!" She began walking out but glanced at us for a short minute. "And don't you even think of any funny business… The Great and Powerful Trixie knows all."

Afterwards, she left the building, leaving me with a highly irritated expression planted on my face.

"She's pissing me off." I answered in a straightforward manner.

"I don't like what she's doin' either…but what can we do?" Applejack asked.

"Let me make her leave Ponyville…" I muttered, almost under my breath.

"It's too dangerous, Alex." Rarity placed a hoof on me comfortingly. "Let us just…comply with her demands…"

I sighed both depressingly and angrily.

By the time Trixie came back, Rarity was on her sewing machine, creating the banners that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy held up. To my surprise, Trixie had returned with a few more ponies. The mayor was in a cage, and Mr. and Mrs. Cake were pushing a chair inside that was made out of their sweets.

Of course, Trixie was an obnoxiously impatient pony, so she was already becoming irritated with the fact that she had to wait a while for everything to be finished.

"You two! Hurry up with my throne." She ordered the Cakes.

She faced Applejack, who was already fuming at the idea that she was crushing apples for some pony no pony even liked. "And you, how long do I have to wait for my apple sauce facial?"

"Forget it, Trixie, I ain't doing nothin' 'til you let Twilight come home!" Applejack responded firmly, crossing her forelegs and halting her productivity.

Nonetheless, her efforts were useless. Trixie easily began casting her magic to lift Applejack up and bombard her with feathers around her entire body. Applejack laughed uncontrollably.

"Trixie, stop being a coward." I spoke out, causing her to turn her head towards me. "We all know that you're making us do this for you because of that amulet around your neck."

"Hm…" She released Applejack back into the crushed apples. "Instead of whining, why don't you paint a magnificent portrait of the Great and Powerful Trixie?" She threw an easel, canvas, brushes, and paint towards me. They landed on my hooves. "I hear you're an artist." She added with a smirk. I reacted with a rebellious expression on my face. She began readying her horn while continuing to slyly smile at me. "Don't want to do your work? That's fine. You can just spend the time in misery instead."

I released one more fuming breath out of my nose while glaring at her. "Fine…" I began picking up the easel and placing it in front of me, organizing all of the other essentials she threw at me.

She grinned at her mischievous success and turned around, facing Pinkie who was just standing there, messing with her face. "I thought I told you to dance!" Trixie blasted another beam of magic at Pinkie, forcing her to dance uncontrollably.

I began painting in so much anger, using my magic to use the brush instead. I just wanted to attack her right there, but losing control of your anger usually left you in a worse position… I learned that the hard way…

Just as Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash picked up another banner that Rarity just finished, she groaned in fatigue. "Oh, Trixie's cruel magic is ruining Ponyville. Ow!" She poked her hoof with the needle she was using, causing me to widen my eyes at her pain. "Oh, somepony has to help us!" She finished with a shaking frown.

I cursed at Trixie under my breath, all while placing my anger towards the painting. I'll make her a portrait all right…

"You!" She directed towards me. "How long until my portrait is finished?" She demanded.

"Oh." I began in sarcastic tone. "Just a few more finishing touches." I strained the last few words through my teeth. For the finishing touches, I grabbed a whole blob of red paint on my brush and splattered it fiercely over the portrait of Trixie.

After, I grabbed the finished canvas with my magic and shot it towards her, having it land below her in front of her hooves, just like she did with me. She realized what I had done. I had actually painted a crudely and amateurish Trixie on the canvas on purpose. However, I covered it with the splatter of red paints I used my anger to express in. Overall, it pretty much symbolized how I felt about her.

"You…!" She commented, enraged. "How dare you slander the Great and Powerful Trixie's name with your filth!"

"Slander is when I'm announcing a false statement that damages your reputation. Looks like Trixie isn't all that 'Great and Powerful'."

She growled and immediately attacked me with her magic. The next thing I knew, I was on the floor suffering from pain.

"While I have control over you, I am!" She declared.

"Stop it, Trixie!" Applejack exclaimed immediately. "I made your darn applesauce so leave him alone!"

This statement caused Trixie to back off and look in the direction of Applejack. She narrowed her eyes angrily and looked at everypony else. "Everyone, leave now! Trixie is completely outraged with you pathetic ponies! Leave me be so I can enjoy my facial alone in peace and quiet!"

Applejack walked towards me and lifted me up on my hooves. Still feeling a little weak, she helped me walk out of Trixie's sight. The rest of the girls followed.

The escorted me to Twilight's library. All over town, I could see that everywhere was plastered with her banners… The weather was horrible. Dark clouds corrupted the entire town, filling it with its harsh winds. I was brought inside the tree. Applejack allowed me to sit on the floor. Then, she closed the door and looked at the other girls. "We can't live like this. We have to find some way to defeat Trixie."

Fluttershy flew over to me and placed her hooves on me, observing me to make sure I was okay.

"She's right." Rainbow Dash agreed. "There must be at least one book in here that'll tell us what we need to know!"

"Then let us begin searching, shall we?" Rarity added, commencing their search through the entire library.

As the rest of the girls read books, threw them when they figured they weren't good, and continued moving on, Fluttershy hugged me. I could feel she was becoming worried about me. I placed my hoof on her back and patted it gently. "Don't worry, Fluttershy… I'm okay…"

"I don't like to see you get hurt like that…" She responded sadly. "When I do…it feels like… like if I'm getting hurt too…" Her eyes were brimming with tears as they began lightly pouring out.

"I'm sorry, Fluttershy…" I apologized. "I don't mean to hurt you… It's just that… Trixie always makes me furious… I try to calm down…but with her… it seems to be not as effective… especially when she begins messing with you girls…" I raised my hoof and wiped the tears from her eyes, planting a kiss on her lips afterwards. "Go help the others… I'm fine…"

"Okay…" She pulled away and began flapping her wings, searching the top layer of the shelves.

After a moment, I stood up and joined them as well.

When most of the books were already on the floor, Spike formed a worried look. He walked over to the window and looked out, observing how awful the outside appeared to be.

"Ugh, this really doesn't seem to be getting us anywhere." Rarity skimmed through a book with her magic and tossed it over to a pile.

Pinkie Pie popped up from under the pile of books, releasing muffled noises that I could not understand at all. However, Applejack responded to this. "I hear you, Pinkie. I can't find anything that describes the kind of magic Trixie's doin'."

"Ugh, there must be something! Twilight has every magic book there is!" Spike emphasized as I was able to hear the wind howling furiously outside.

"Um, I think I may have found something?" Fluttershy announced softly, holding a book open for the rest of the girls to see.

"Yes, it's time for us to consider our futures in this new Trixie-led Ponyville." Rarity spoke, obviously ignoring Fluttershy.

"Um, this sounds an awful lot like Trixie's magic—

"She wants me to grow apples with no peels! Now how the hay am I supposed to do that?" Fluttershy's sharing of information was interrupted by Applejack. I began narrowing my eyes in irritancy, as I continued seeing Fluttershy continuously cut off.

"Um, there's a picture here of that necklace—

Fluttershy's statement was once again thrown to the side as Pinkie released muffled noises.

"Shut the hay up!" I shouted, immediately causing the girls to stare at me in silence. I looked at Fluttershy, who also seemed to be shocked by my sudden outburst. "Go on…"

Since I had filled the room with so much silence, every one of them was now able to finally hear Fluttershy. "This book has a picture of Trixie's necklace… It's called the Alicorn Amulet, and whoever wears it is blessed with untold powers. If you read a little further you'll see that even though it provides great power, it also corrupts the user…but you can't just take the Alicorn Amulet off her neck, it has a magical lock… Trixie's the only pony who can take it off…"

"We need to get this information to Twilight. She'll know what to do." Applejack recommended after hearing Fluttershy's speech.

"If any of us try to leave, Trixie's magical force field will tell her!" Rarity responded.

"I've got it!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed and flew up in front of us. "Trying to sneak past the force field would be impossible without help, but I know who's got the goods to get into those woods!" Rainbow Dash flew over to Fluttershy and lifted her up, scaring her. "Fluttershy!"

"Whaaat?!" Fluttershy exclaimed in terror and fell to the floor, covering her head with a book and shaking fiercely.

"What do you say, Fluttershy? Can you handle the mission?" Applejack questioned.

"No! I'll crack under the pressure, I'll snap like a twig!" She emphasized.

"Perfect!" Rainbow Dash lifted her up. "Fluttershy'll sneak out of Ponyville and find Twilight."

"But- but I—

"No! That is it!" I announced suddenly, startling the others. I was already majorly incensed by the girls' continuous disregard for Fluttershy's opinion. Not only did that outrage me so much, it was mainly the thought of Trixie causing all this in the first place! "If Trixie wants a fight, she'll get one!" I began storming out of the library.

"Alex!" Rarity cried out. "You can't possibly duel her! She's too powerful! You're magic is not well enough!"

"I don't care!" I exclaimed, turning around before slamming the door open. "Somepony has to stop this before she goes too far! She's done enough damage! I'm not letting her hurt one more pony!"

"But—

I barged the door open and ran out. The storm caused a heavy shower of rain. This is insane… Before they could stop me, I quickly spread my wings as I ran and lifted off from the ground, looking for that menace.

I gained the idea of Trixie still being in Town Hall, especially due to the rain. I narrowed my eyes slightly, not feeling my usual self. Once I spotted the building, everything else seemed to fade away from importance. I landed on the ground, directly in front of Town Hall. I walked towards the doors, and raised my hooves to open them. I hesitated for a moment, thinking if I should stand down on my decision, but then I remembered the behavior of Trixie, which motivated me to continue on.

I forcefully opened the doors, seeing Trixie inside. She was resting lazily on her throne, which was the chair that was made out of sweets. Both of the Cakes were fanning her as she drank a hay shake noisily.

"Trixie!" I called her name, causing her to stop drinking and place it away.

She furrowed her eyes angrily at me as she crossed her back legs. "What do you want? I thought I told everypony to leave Trixie to herself!"

"I'm done with your obnoxious behavior! We're settling this right now!" I demanded.

She reacted with intrigued eyes and a raised eyebrow. "Oh really? So it's duel you want? Just like with that pathetic Twilight Sparkle?"

I growled. "Don't you dare call her pathetic…"

She laughed and removed herself from the throne. "Okay then. It's settled. If you win, I'll leave Ponyville forever. If I win, which I obviously will, you can join your little friend in her banishment."

"You're not just going to leave… I'm going to throw you out myself…"

She continued to laugh at my responses. "You're very amusing, you know that? You expect to win this duel when you yourself can take a measly pinch of my power. Hmph." She paused for a short moment. "Let's take this outside." Using her magic, she forced a heavy wind that blew me towards the outside, but I managed to straighten myself in the air and land safely. She casually walked out to meet me. "Let me make sure you're ready. You're going to need everything you can get to stand a chance against me."

"I'm ready, you dumb mule…"

This response caused her to remove the smirk on her face and replace it with an annoyed one. A glow began lighting on her horn, but then we suddenly heard multiple voices from the side.

"Alex!" I looked to my left to see the girls calling my name and running towards me. However, bright and tall flames suddenly blocked my vision from seeing them. As I looked around, they were surrounding only Trixie and me. I faced Trixie for an explanation. She was the one forming the flames on purpose, which contradicted the heavy rain from above.

"That's just some extra insurance to make sure there are no distractions…" Trixie explained and then looked at my wings. "Or escape…" I placed my hooves firmly on the ground and glared at her. She returned the same expression towards me. There was a moment of intense silence and suspense, just like with Twilight. "Draw!" Trixie announced and shot out a beam of her magic towards me. She wanted to quickly end this by using her magic directly on me, which harmed only me for some reason. However, I shot out a ray of magic myself, impacting her beam and throwing it to the side. "Hm… It seems your magic has grown slightly stronger…but it's still never going to be enough to defeat me!"

Fed up with her unending arrogance already, I focused my magic on the rain that fell upon us. I managed to gather the rain drops and form it all together into a large water ball. "Shut up already!" I shouted and brought it upon her in order to "cool" her down. It landed all over her, soaking her entire mane and tail.

She noticed this and growled. "Why you! I just had my mane the way I wanted it! You ruined it!"

"You're an idiot! We're already in the rain! It was going to ruin it anyway!"

"No it wasn't!" She shot out another beam of magic towards me, but I quickly rolled to the right. "You like playing with elemental powers, huh? What's say you to this!" She formed a dark cloud above me. I looked up to see that lightning was crackling inside. Once I realized what she was doing, I quickly jumped out of the way, feeling the heat of the electricity strike down where my previous position was. However, that wasn't it. She continued motioning this cloud to follow me in order to strike me with its lightning. I swiftly began running in order to stay clear out of the way. I could feel it continue to strike behind me every time. Nonetheless, Trixie grew smart and moved the cloud in front of me in order to strike me in sync with my sprinting. I quickly hopped to the side, barely dodging the lightning. I continued to evade Trixie's attacks, but I knew she was eventually going to get me somehow. I had to figure out a way. Then, it came to me. Trixie can't be moving herself if she's controlling the cloud! I stopped in my tracks, causing the cloud to aim its lightning to shoot towards me. I quickly jumped out of the way and headed for Trixie. Once I was in front of her, I stopped, having the cloud be ready to shoot its lightning at me again, but this time, I jumped out of the way and pushed Trixie in my spot with my magic, having her accidentally strike herself. Being electrocuted, the cloud disappeared. She glared at me with a charred expression. "Now I'm angry!" She growled. "You owe me an entire spa treatment!"

I scoffed. "Get it yourself."

She growled loudly and instantly teleported. I quickly looked around for her, but I couldn't find her. All of a sudden, she appeared behind me and captured me in her beam of magic, causing me to fall to the floor and suffer from its pain inducing effect. "I've got you now!"

I'm not going to give up that easily! Even though I was experiencing the same pain as the last few times, I began forcing myself to get up from the floor. While trying to push myself up, my hooves slipped a couple of times, causing me to land on the floor again. Seeing this made Trixie laugh. I growled mentally and pushed myself up firmly as I grunted and groaned in pain. As I finished, I somehow managed to deflect her beam of magic and use it in my power instead. The pain was gone, and I had several rays of her scarlet magic in my command. She was highly surprised of this. To my advantage, I threw each of them at her, all hitting her successfully. Finally, with a large amount of vigor in my heart, I shot the last one, increasing its magical effect significantly. It caused her to be thrown to the ground. She was panting heavily and pushed herself up a bit as she continued lying on her back. She looked at me, still stunned in surprise as I was panting a bit myself.

"How is that possible…?" She asked. "The other times I did that, you couldn't even move your hooves! You cried in pain! How are you able to get yourself out of that!?" She demanded greatly.

"What now, Trixie?" I stood my ground. "You don't have your little cheap moves to hurt me anymore?"

She growled loudly and forced herself up from the ground. "I won't lose! Not to you!" Then, the Alicorn Amulet on her neck seemed to corrupt her entire body, covering every piece of it with darkness. She rose in the air without even needing wings. This caused me to gasp and stare in shock. "It's over for you!" To my great surprise, literally thousands of beams of magic surrounded me, pointing at me like arrows. "Now, to finish this!" She exclaimed and commanded the beams to shoot towards me. I quickly closed my eyes and summoned whatever I could to help me. Judging that I wasn't being hurt by anything, I assumed that I created some kind of magical shield around me, protecting me from the beams. However, this came at a great cost. Keeping the shield up from the thousands of beams of magic was excruciatingly tiring. Every bit of my energy, including my magic, was being depleted as I was trying to protect myself from this. I strained every single part of myself to do whatever I could to prevent the beams from attacking me. I knew that if I didn't have this shield, I definitely would have been done for.

After what felt like hours, the beams halted. My shield automatically disappeared as I was breathing heavily on the floor, unable to do anything as I was completely out of energy. Trixie landed on the floor, the darkness disappearing from her body but the scarlet beam remaining in her eyes. She walked towards me. Once she was in front of me, she pushed her head towards mine and looked into my eyes. "You were saying?" She asked with a great smirk. Then, she laughed and pulled her face away from mine. She placed a hoof on my shoulder and pushed me to the ground. I couldn't get up. I just didn't have the energy to… "You're just as pathetic as Twilight Sparkle is… But don't worry, you can see her now, because by me, you're hereby banished from Ponyville!" She extinguished the flames around us. Just before the girls could come to my aid, she grabbed me with her magic and shot me out of Ponyville through the shield around the town.

I landed on the ground outside of Ponyville, only to helplessly grunt and groan in pain. My whole body was exhausted. I could only just lay there and do nothing. My sight was facing towards the town. I could see the girls rush to the force field around, but they only stared at me worriedly. I stared back, unable to form an expression but one full of fatigue. Then, I just began closing my eyes, feeling very sleepy…

"Alex." I felt my body being shaken lightly. "Alex, please tell me you're okay… Please…"

I opened my eyes. My vision was blurry for a moment, but then they cleared up, revealing Fluttershy holding on to me.

"Fluttershy…?" I slipped out softly.

"Oh! Thank goodness you're okay!" She responded, holding me tightly.

I grunted softly. "I don't know… I feel horrible right now… so tired… I can't even move…" I observed her and noticed she was wearing some kind of outfit that was torn up. "What happened to you…? Why are you here…?" I asked.

"After Trixie kicked you out of Ponyville, I couldn't dare bear the thought of you out here by yourself…so… I voluntarily came out here with the plan the girls came up with…" She snuggled her head against my chest. "I was so worried about you… We all were…"

"Thank you, Fluttershy…" I held her back. "It was very brave of you to come out here…"

"Only for you…"

I managed to release a soft smile. I looked behind me to see the Everfree Forest. I remembered Zecora's hut is in there. Not only that… Twilight must be there too! "Fluttershy…" I called her name lightly. She returned soft eyes. "Can you help me to Zecora's please…?" I asked.

"Of course…but…" She looked towards the forest. "That's the Everfree Forest… Are you sure you want to go in there…?"

I nodded. "Yeah… We'll be fine. Don't worry."

"Okay…" She helped me up and held on to me with her right wing. She carefully walked towards the forest, attempting to pull out all of her courage and bravery to go in.

After walking for a few minutes into the forest, we fortunately arrived at Zecora's hut with no interruptions. Fluttershy led me towards the door. She opened it and walked in.

"Zecora? Are you in here?" She called.

"Fluttershy?" I heard Twilight's voice surprisingly ask. "What are you doing here?" Twilight gasped when she noticed me. "Dear Celestia!" She ran over to me. "What happened to you, Alex?"

"He got into a duel with Trixie… He needs help…"

"Don't worry, my dear friend," Zecora's voice announced. "A helping hoof, I can surely lend." Zecora walked over to me with a cup on her hoof. "Drink this trick. It will fix you up quick."

I grabbed it with both my hooves as I sat down and swallowed the liquid in it. It tasted a bit funny, but it seemed to help as I was already starting to feel better. "Thank you, Zecora…"

Then, I was able to move, so I walked towards the table with Fluttershy and sat down. Zecora sat across from us. "You look very different from the last time I saw you." Zecora told me. "Tell me, what did you do?"

"It's a long story." Twilight answered for me. "He's actually an Alicorn."

"An Alicorn, you say?" Zecora responded, highly intrigued. "I never thought I'd see the day."

"Look…" Twilight began, walking towards me. "I don't mean to interrupt… but we don't really have time for this. What happened, Alex? With the duel and everything?"

I sighed. "She defeated me…" I paused for a moment, remembering what happened. "Something's wrong with her Twilight. It's the amulet she's wearing. That's what's causing all this trouble." As I answered, Zecora offered Fluttershy a cup of her own brew. Fluttershy hesitantly accepted.

"Amulet?" Twilight asked.

"The Alicorn Amulet…" Fluttershy added. "We saw a picture of it in one of your books…"

"The Alicorn Amulet?" Twilight questioned, highly surprised. "I remember that! I had read all about it!" Fluttershy raised the cup to her lips a bit and took a sip as Twilight paced around. "I can't believe I didn't recognize the Alicorn Amulet!"

"The more she uses it, the more it will corrupt her!" Fluttershy included.

"But how am I supposed to beat that amulet? My magic's not good enough!"

"Twilight Sparkle, much work have you done." Zecora responded. "You learned all of my lessons; all but one." She held up a hoof. "If Trixie's tricks have you in a fix, you must create a leaven and use the seven."

"Create a leaven, use the seven..." Twilight thought for a moment, shuffling her eyes. "Create a leaven, use the seven!" Twilight exclaimed, gaining an answer. "Use the seven, that's it! Zecora, you're a genius!" Zecora responded with a smile and nodded. "Now we'll need to get you back inside Ponyville, Fluttershy." Twilight added and brought out a quill and paper to write on.

"What are you planning to do…?" I asked, concerned.

"I'm writing a letter to Fluttershy to take to the others. What we're going to do is exactly what Trixie did the last time she was here!"

"Boast?"

"Nope. Let's just say she's in for quite a show." She finished writing the letter and gave it to Fluttershy. "Fluttershy take this back to the others, okay?"

"Oh…" Fluttershy glanced over to me. "Is Alex going to be okay?"

"Don't worry." Twilight assured. "He'll be fine."

Fluttershy inhaled and exhaled a deep breath. "Be careful…" She told me and hugged me before she left.

Once she was gone, Twilight looked towards Zecora. "There's one thing I don't understand Zecora… You said 'Use the seven', but Alex won't be able to help. Trixie already knows he's out of town. There's no way he'll be able to help in time when we're inside."

"You'll see, dear Twilight." Zecora answered. "There's always a place for his light."

"I see…" Twilight looked around. "So what are we going to use for our own 'amulet'."

"Huh…?" I questioned, confused.

"Ah, that is easy to find." Zecora replied, sitting up and walking towards a shelf. "All we really need to use is what's mine." She brought out some sort of necklace and placed it on the table. Then, she walked towards the door, retrieved something else, and placed it on the table as well. It appeared to be some green stone.

Twilight observed these items for a moment. She placed the stone on the necklace and glued it with her magic. "Hm…" Twilight grew a smirk. "Looks believable, doesn't it, Alex?" She asked.

"I…uh…don't really know what's going on here…"

Twilight giggled. "Just wait. One thing, though. Do not mention anything about this, got it?"

"Got it…"

Twilight looked at Zecora. "Shall we return back to Ponyville?"

Zecora nodded and followed her as they began walking out of the hut. Confused, I did so as well.

They led me towards the outskirts of town, where I originally was after being "banished".

"Twilight, what are we doing here?" I asked.

"Trying to get Trixie's attention." She answered briefly and walked up to the magical force field. She purposely began banging on it. "Trixie will sense a disruption in her shield and will come check it out."

Moments later, Twilight's statement proved to be correct. Trixie was soon in sight with Snips and Snails pulling her bed towards us…with no wheels… "This better not be another false alarm, or the Great and Powerful Trixie will—Trixie gasped when she spotted us. "You!" She hopped off her bed and walked towards us with another smirk planted on her face, causing me to shift my expression to an angry one. "What's the matter, you two? Not enjoying your exile?" Trixie's voice was muffled beyond the force field.

"I know about the Alicorn Amulet. I know you cheated." Twilight answered.

"Cheated? Moi?" Trixie tried to present fake innocence by placing her hoof to her chest in an unbelievable tone.

"Yeah. And I thought you might wanna see what a real magical amulet looks like." She held it up in the air for Trixie to see. "Zecora gave it to me." Trixie began tapping a hoof to her chin in interest. "It's from beyond the Everfree Forest, and it's way more powerful than your measly little Alicorn Amulet!" Twilight finished as she placed the necklace on.

"Ha!" Trixie mocked. "Nothing's more powerful than the Alicorn Amulet! And nopony's more powerful than the Great and Powerful Trixie! Not even an actual Alicorn!" She pointed towards me.

"Care to put your amulet where your mouth is?" Twilight provoked, surprising me. "How about another duel?"

"Twilight!" I commented. "You can't be serious!"

However, Twilight didn't answer for some reason.

"Why should I? I already beat you." Trixie responded.

"That's up to you!" Twilight turned around and began walking away. "But I guess you'll never see the totally awesome magic from beyond the Everfree Forest... Come on, guys." She called us to walk with her.

What the hay is going on…? Nonetheless, I followed her.

"Wait!" Trixie suddenly cried out, stopping us. She used the power from her necklace to destroy the force field and teleport to us. "Okay, okay, you're on! A second duel."

Twilight sent a look over to Zecora, appearing as if they were on to something…

Nevertheless, Trixie led us back to the outside of Town Hall. Whatever Twilight had planned… I just had to trust her until it was over…

Trixie and Twilight both faced each other from a distance. Trixie glared intensely towards Twilight as thunder rumbled and lightning cracked in the sky. Twilight placed her hooves firmly on the ground. The rest of the girls were behind her.

"Let's start with a simple age spell, shall we?" Trixie announced.

"Let's." Twilight agreed.

"Snips, Snails." Trixie called, of course, bringing them over to be her guinea pigs. When they were soon in range, Trixie used her magic to turn them both into babies. They immediately began crying. "An oldie, but a goodie, ha." Trixie commented. "Now, let's see what your little charm can do."

"No problem. Um, Applejack, Rarity? Could you help me, please?" She called.

"Huh?" They both questioned and then walked towards the spot near the statue of Trixie.

Is it just me, or do I sense some…acting… going on here?

To further emphasize my feeling, Applejack and Rarity returned narrowed grins, appearing as if they were going to have fun with what Twilight was going to do… Twilight focused her horn as Trixie filed her hoof. Twilight shot the beam of magic, creating a cloud of magic dust. When the dust was out of the way, Rarity and Applejack were immediately brought down to size, appearing their filly selves. I widened my eyes greatly.

"How the…" I could only slip out.

Trixie dropped both her filer and her jaw when she saw the results. "...oh, ho hum. So you can do an age spell, big deal." She rolled her eyes and quickly regained her composure. Twilight released another beam and turned them back to normal. Twilight shot out another ray and turned Rarity into a filly again, having her stand gracefully on Applejack. Twilight shot out one more and turned Rarity back, but Applejack into an old pony. Finally, Twilight turned them both back to normal. "That's... that's impossible!" Trixie exclaimed in a real unbelievable tone.

"That's nothing!" Twilight replied and looked over to Rainbow Dash, nodding her head. Twilight fired her magic at a flinching Rainbow Dash. After the dust disappeared, another pair of the same wings appeared behind her. It turns out there was another Rainbow Dash that appeared above her, surprising her greatly.

"Yow!" Rainbow Dash cried out, but they soon looked at each other, grinning.

"How did you—

"Duplication spell." Twilight answered before Trixie finished her sentence. "Ever see one pony play ten instruments?" Twilight faced Pinkie Pie, who was standing near several ponies. One I really noticed was Lyra, who was too busy drinking a hay shake. Twilight shot another beam of magic towards Pinkie Pie, causing the other ponies around her to fall to the floor. Pinkie Pie immediately began playing the ten instruments.

Okay, that's not magic… That's definitely Pinkie Pie… Nice job.

Pinkie Pie played the instruments all around Trixie, shocking her.

"This- just can't be!"

"Ooh, one more. I can turn a mare into a stallion." She stared at Applejack, frightening her. Applejack tried to run away, but Twilight's beam reached her before she could.

What I saw after… It… It… No comment…

Soon enough, Applejack returned.

"Well, Trixie, looks like my amulet is more powerful than yours— Trixie's aura surrounded Twilight's amulet, tearing it off her. "Hey! Give it back!"

Trixie laughed evilly, holding Twilight's amulet. "With both of these amulets, I shall now rule all of Equestria and become the most powerful pony ever!" She secured it on top of the Alicorn Amulet. First, she tried using Twilight's amulet and shot it towards a random target. However, the result was nothing. "What? Why didn't anything happen?" She continued to zap its magic, but the result was the same. She stood in confusion for a moment, but then she turned towards Twilight and glared at her. "You! This doesn't work at all! You were trying to have me remove the Alicorn Amulet! Weren't you?" Twilight only remained silent. "No more games! Everypony is going to writhe in agony for this, Twilight Sparkle!" She tore off the apparently "broken" amulet and threw it to her side. Her eyes began glowing an immense red as she began preparing her magical attack.

"She didn't take it off!" Twilight cried out. "What do we do?!" Trixie's scarlet aura surrounded the entire area, filling every pony with its chaotic destruction. Its aura affected me as well, having me be the only one who suffers true pain from it. "We have to get it off her!"

"How? She's the only one that can take it off!" Rainbow Dash responded, her wings growing different sizes now.

I'll take my chances…

Having been forced to the ground, I lifted up my hoof in great struggle. Trixie is only several feet away from me. I have to stop her before this gets out of hoof! I then began crawling as much as I could through grunts of both pain and effort. I lifted each of my front hooves and dragged myself closer to Trixie while moving as quickly as possible. The pain slightly increased the nearer I became. I had to stop during the way because the pain was beginning to become unbearable like the first few times I received it. I couldn't afford to stop for too long, otherwise I'd give up! I shook my head and released a few more grunts before attempting my movement once again. I continued dragging myself with whatever strength I had left.

Finally, when I was in front of Trixie, who was completely controlled by her power and unable to stop, I placed my hooves firmly in front of my face. With great exertion, I slowly pushed myself up. When I was on all fours, it was a great struggle to even stay in that position. When Trixie's Alicorn Amulet was in sight, I slowly lifted up my hooves and placed them on the amulet. Using my magic to help me pry it off, I began pulling as hard as I could.

If I don't get this amulet off in time, I won't be able to handle it anymore!

Gritting my teeth, I continued to pull as I grunted. My magic and strength was weakening. I looked deep into my heart to find whatever strength I could use to take it off. Just as everything in my body was about to give up, I released a yell and finally tore off the amulet.

Everything, including the scarlet aura, halted. Everypony was left alone. I panted and released heavy breaths, throwing the amulet away from Trixie. Rainbow Dash quickly retrieved the amulet and brought it over to Zecora, who placed it inside a chest.

"Alex…!" Twilight ran towards me in surprise. "You… You took it off! How? I thought only Trixie could take it off!"

"Don't know… Don't care…" I responded, relieved that the whole incident was over already.

"What I want to know is how you did those spells!" Trixie, who seemed to not care and be out of control from the Alicorn Amulet. "Nopony can do those spells!"

"You're right." Twilight answered as she helped me up. "Not even me. Zecora taught me so much about magic while I was in exile. She even taught me when not to use it. My magic alone wasn't powerful enough to take on the Alicorn Amulet head to head, so I needed to use a different kind of magic – the magic of friendship. I also knew that the only pony who could get the amulet off your neck was you. But I was honestly surprised when you didn't." She chuckled. "I guess I should have seen that coming… Still… I don't know how you were able to take the amulet off, Alex…"

I only shrugged, once again, just happy to be out of that completely annoying pain.

"But what about the pony with the ten instruments?" Trixie asked.

"That's not magic, that was just Pinkie Pie." Twilight directed towards Pinkie, who was cheering by playing the instruments.

As every other pony cheered with our mission accomplished, Rainbow Dash suddenly flew towards me and embraced me. Before I could speak a word, she kissed me, surprising me and widening my eyes significantly. When she pulled her face away to look at me, I was shocked. "Rainbow Dash, what are you—

She giggled, cutting my sentence off. "It's me, silly." She removed her mane, actually revealing a familiar long pink one.

"F…Fluttershy…?" I asked.

Twilight noticed this and giggled as well. "Yep. Fluttershy dressed up as Rainbow Dash in order to look like her clone, since she was the only other Pegasus in the group. Sweetie Belle was also Rarity's "filly" appearance. Applebloom was Applejack. Granny Smith was the older version of Applejack. Even Big Macintosh was the stallion version of Applejack." She continued to chuckle at the thought.

"Ooh…" I released, seeing clearly what happened now. "Now, I get it… It all makes sense now." I looked around, noticing somepony missing. "Where's Trixie?"

Twilight looked around and noticed as well. "She's gone…"

I sighed. "I hope she's not getting herself in more trouble again…"

"Hm. Let's hope not…" Twilight paused and then suddenly remembered something, gasping. "The delegates! They're coming here in a few hours and we have to fix this mess!"

"Don't worry, Twilight." I responded with an assuring smile on my face. "We all have that covered. After all, that's the power of friendship, isn't it?"

After that statement, everypony began working on restoring Ponyville back to normal, removing the trash that the corrupted Trixie brought upon. We had no idea where Trixie had run off to, but we didn't worry about that at the time. Once we had everything up and ready for the delegates and Princess Celestia, Fluttershy hesitantly brought Twilight a variety of her critter friends. I didn't know what Twilight was going to do with them, but I assumed I was going to find out.

Once Princess Celestia arrived with the delegates from Saddle Arabia, they indeed proved to be very exotic, especially with what they were wearing, in a good way. It was very surprising to see an entire crowd of ponies on each stand that was set up to be available for the observance of the event. Princess Celestia and the delegates were on their own private area of the audience.

Fluttershy and I were close up front to the stage Twilight was going to perform on. Fluttershy began trembling in my hooves for some reason.

"What? What's wrong?" I asked.

"I can't look…" She responded.

"Huh…?"

Soon enough, Twilight began using her magic to raise the critters in the air. Then, she magnificently began to twirl and float them around in the air, almost as if it was a circus act. Everypony was releasing sounds of awe and amazement, including the Saddle Arabian delegates. I could only stare in awe as well as I patted Fluttershy's back, assuring her that everything was okay. She sneaked a peak, but quickly retracted it, continuing to tremble in my forelegs.

In the middle of one of her tricks, fireworks exploded above, emphasizing the beauty of the performance. However, it didn't seem to be Twilight who was doing that, which surprised me. Twilight looked around in confusion as she lowered the critters back safely on the ground. "Trixie?" She called, causing me to quickly look her way.

"It's the least I could do." Trixie spoke by me, placing her hat back on and ending the fireworks. "I treated you and your friends so horribly when I was wearing that Alicorn Amulet... I just couldn't control myself. You both can forgive me, can't you?" She released a pouty face.

Twilight narrowed her eyes and thought for a moment. "Hmmm." She smiled lightly. "Sure. What about you, Alex?" She asked.

"I don't know…" I answered, causing Trixie to worry. "I'm not sure I can forgive you so easily after all the pain you caused me with that dumb Alicorn Amulet…"

"I wasn't in control." Trixie immediately answered. "I really didn't mean to, honest. I only wanted to feel like somepony… Like I was better than Twilight at magic… but…" She looked away. "I understand if you don't…"

I sighed and remained silent for a moment. "I forgive you…" This instantly caused her to face me again. "On one condition… Don't ever make the same mistake again… Just be you and don't try to make yourself look better than everypony."

She nodded and released a breath of relief. "Oh, good. Don't you think the Great and Apologetic Trixie is the most magnificent humble pony you've ever seen?"

As Twilight rolled her eyes and shook her head, I responded against that. "Trixie…"

"Oops." She placed a hoof to her mouth. "I mean… Thank you." Afterwards she waved her hooves in the air and dust exploded in her position.

However, just like last time, when the dust disappeared, she was revealed running off. Only this time, she accidentally tripped, but continued running. I chuckled and shook my head. "Oh, Trixie…"

It actually seems to be that she only wants friends…but she believes to do so, she has to appear to be somepony great… I hope she realizes that she really doesn't have to be…

After the show, Princess Celestia spoke with Twilight and I was with Fluttershy.

"Are you sure you don't want me to walk you home?" I asked Fluttershy, who was gathering her animal friends that were safe and sound.

She released a soft smile and shook her head. "No, no. You need rest after everything you've been through today. My little critters here will keep me company."

I lightly chuckled. "I guess you're right. Well, I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Goodnight." She placed a kiss that lasted for a few seconds on my lips.

"Goodnight." I replied after she pulled away.

She then began leading her friends back towards her cottage.

Twilight walked to me afterwards.

"Hey. What did Princess Celestia think?" I asked her.

"She thought it was amazing." Twilight responded. "She said the delegates thought so also. She said that I did a wonderful job."

"You sure did." I smiled as I was really proud of her.

"Were you going to go home?"

"Yeah. I figured I could use some rest after today."

"Mind if I walk with you?"

"Why not?"

She released a smile and walked to my side.

I began walking with her towards my home.

"So…" Twilight began during our walk. "You really don't know how you were able to take off the amulet off of Trixie?" She asked.

I shook my head. "I have no idea. I'm just glad that that whole mess is finally over…"

"Me too… Was it hard taking it off?"

I released one quick laugh. "Definitely. It was like…" I looked up and thought for a moment. "Like if you were trying to pry a bit off the ground, which is super-glued to begin with."

Twilight giggled. "Wow. That sounds really hard then."

"Exactly."

"Well, we're just glad that you're okay. You're really amazing, you know that?" I looked at her, revealing an emotional face. "I guess that's what Zecora meant by your part of the 'seven'."

"I guess so…" We reached my home. I stopped, and so did Twilight. "You know… You girls are the best… You all always make me feel appreciated and that I'm important… That's why I love you all so much."

"Aww." Twilight expressed and hugged me. "Well, it's true." She pulled away and looked at me. "Anyway… I guess I better let you get some sleep. You sure look tired."

"Heh… Alright. Thanks, Twilight." I responded. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

I turned around and opened my door. However, I suddenly heard muffled yelling. While being inside, I turned around to look at what was going on. It was Pinkie. She was trying to yell and send a message about her mouth problem.

"Oh, Pinkie!" Twilight spoke. "I almost forgot about you." Come on, Pinkie… I love you and everything but I don't really have the energy to hear you talk for so long, especially for being unable to talk for a whole day… Twilight focused her magic to bring Pinkie's mouth back. There was a poof, and just like that, it was there again.

Sorry, Pinkie…but I'm going to have to do this… I just don't have the energy right now…

Pinkie immediately grinned and grew excited. She inhaled a huge breath, ready to transform it into a chatter of words.

I slammed the door shut.

Sleepless in Ponyville

Episode 58 – Sleepless in Ponyville

When I awoke, I felt really hot, as if I was sweating. I kicked the blankets off of me and turned to my side. It didn't appear to be hot at all. I looked out the window to see a pretty cloudy day.

A cool shower should help me…

I walked towards the bathroom and turned on the valve for the water. As soon as the water showered over the tub, I jumped in, immediately feeling the cooling sensation of each drop contradicting the heat coming off from my coat. After a moment of silence and relief, my body temperature seemed to return to normal.

It wasn't a fever. I would have felt many more symptoms than just heat. I closed the valve, halting the spray of water over me. I looked at the bottom of the tub, noticing how the rest of the water flowed down the drain. As the front of my mane hung over my face, drops of water continued to drop. As I rested at that position for a moment, I suddenly noticed something weird. I saw, what appeared to be, black for a quick second.

Was…that my imagination…?

Nonetheless, I shook my head and reached for the nearby towel.

After I dried myself thoroughly, I decided to let any dampness left on my coat to be dried up by Celestia's sun. I could also see what every pony was up to as well. I walked downstairs and out my door. A motorized sound was heard coming across my way.

Huh… That's familiar…

Looking to my right, I spotted none other than Scootaloo riding her scooter to the extreme once again. She maneuvered past me, heading towards a cart that seemed to have accidentally rolled over and dropped all the contents within.

I began running to catch up to Scootaloo, not for safety purposes, but just to say hi. I spread my wings and began flying so I wouldn't grow tired from sprinting. Scootaloo reached the cart and lifted into the air, cheering in joy and exhilaration. "Whoo-hoo!"

"Nice moves, kid." Rainbow Dash expertly flew on her back while sipping on a glass of juice. She flipped her hoof with a sense of arrogance and continued to fly away.

"Nice moves?" Scootaloo suddenly stopped in midair, crying out in disbelief. "Rainbow Dash thinks I've got— I managed to barely catch up to her, catching her just before she fell into the hay. "...nice moves!" She continued, seeming to not even notice what just happened.

However, soon after, she gasped when she noticed me carrying her. I sent her a playful smirk, but that was interrupted when a cow nearby us released a loud and prideful moo.

"Good Morning, Scootaloo." I greeted, retrieving her scooter from the stack of hay as she climbed off me.

"Morning, Alex!" She responded, accepting the scooter as I stretched it towards her. "Did you see my awesome moves?"

I chuckled. "I sure did. That was great. Where are you headed?"

She climbed back on her scooter and fluttered her wings, keeping a slow pace as I walked alongside her. "The Cutie Mark Crusaders tree house, of course!" She sighed contently. "I still can't believe Rainbow Dash told me 'Nice moves'."

"Why?"

"Why? She's the pony I look up to! I want to be just like her when I grow up! Tell me, Alex. What's it like to be friends with such a cool pony?" She asked, clearly wanting to really know.

"Um…" I tried to answer. "It's not like…anything special really… Not the way you'd imagine it. She's great, but it's pretty much just…any other kind of friendship, especially since she's coaching me to become a better flier with my wings and whatnot."

"And Twilight's helping you with your magic, right?"

"Yeah. Rarity has been helping too, but Twilight knows more about the stuff I need to know. I say I've been making some good progress."

"Well that's great to hear. You deserve it."

I released a soft smile when she said that. "Thanks, Scootaloo."

She came to a stop, placing her hooves on her helmet and taking it off. She shook her mane and looked up to me. "You're welcome. I better get going." She stated, as we were already near the clubhouse. "Can you tell Rainbow Dash that I said 'Hi' and that's she really amazing? Oh wait. Um… Maybe leave out the amazing part… I'm trying to be cool as she is and I don't want to look like…well…you know…"

"I'll tell her you said 'Hi'." I answered, continuing to smile.

"Thanks, Alex." She placed her helmet on her scooter and began to run inside. "See you later!"

I returned a short wave and decided to head back towards the farm.

Once I was in the area of trees near the barn, I spotted Applejack bucking apples, first hearing the sounds of the thumps on the tree. She grunted, giving one last mighty blow to the tree, which immediately surrendered its apples to a bucket underneath.

"Hey, Applejack." I greeted.

"Why, howdy, Alex." She wiped her forehead with her hoof. "I'd hug you, but I'm not sure if you'd mind a little hard workin' sweat on me."

Her statement caused me to release a grin, as I remembered Rarity's behavior towards this type of situation. "It doesn't really matter to me. I'm fine either way."

She wrapped her hooves around me and offered one giant squeeze. Then, she pulled away and began walking back towards the farm as I stayed by her side. "What are you doin' here?"

"I saw Scootaloo riding through town on her scooter. I said hi and we talked a little. She's in the clubhouse right now and…well…here I am."

"Well it's neighborly of you to stop by and say hi to me too." We stopped in the front of the barn as Applejack grabbed a nearby towel and wiped herself with it. "Say, remember about that real camping trip I offered?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you say you come with me and Applebloom to Winsome Falls?" She placed the towel away. "It's going to be a ton of fun! I promise! You can bring Fluttershy along with you too!"

"She does love her woodland critters…" I commented, looking towards the floor. Then, I looked up with my answer. "Sure, that sounds great. When were you planning on doing this?"

"I was actually going to start packing up the things for the trip after finishing these last trees here. If don't mind and can make it, we can go in a few hours!"

"Sounds good. I'll get Fluttershy then. Do we need to bring anything?"

"Don't need to. I have everythin' right here!"

"Well, fantastic. I'll see you in a while then, Applejack."

"See you then, pardner!"

I smiled and began walking off to Fluttershy's cottage, realizing I could fly there instead shortly after.

I knocked on her door upon arriving. It was opened a few seconds after. I saw her delicate face appear, causing my lovely expression to lose balance on my face.

"Hi, Alex." She greeted warmly.

"Fluttershy…" I placed a warm kiss on her lips. "How do you feel about camping?"

"Camping? Where?"

"Winsome Falls in a few hours. Applejack invited me along with her little sister. I figured it'd be fun for us, wouldn't it?"

"Winsome Falls…" Fluttershy repeated with some fearful hesitation. "I just don't like that place when it's dark… It's scary…"

"Don't worry!" I assured greatly. "You're not going to be alone. We'll all be together! I guarantee nothing will happen to you."

"Well…" Fluttershy paused for a moment. "Camping does sound fun… and I do like the critters there during daytime…" She released a small smile. "I guess I can give it a try…"

"That's great!" I embraced her in joy.

"You'll be with me though…right…?" She asked.

"Don't worry…" I rubbed the back of her mane gently. "I'll keep you safe." I released a soft smile as well, thinking that I sounded too protective when nothing will most likely happen.

After we pulled away, she looked back and spoke. "Let me just go leave enough food and water for Angel and the others. Should I bring anything for the camping trip?"

I shook my head. "You don't need to. Applejack will have everything we need."

"Okay. I'll be right back." Fluttershy excused herself and walked inside to complete the task.

It wasn't until a few minutes after until we began to head back to Sweet Apple Acres.

We arrived at the farm, entering inside the barn where we spotted Applejack placing some items in several saddlebags.

"Hey, Applejack." I spoke. "We're here."

Applejack finished up by placing one more item in one of the saddlebags and pulling the strap tightly. "I got both your things ready."

"That's great." I looked around for her little sister. "Where's Applebloom?"

"She's bringin' Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle along with her, so she's packing her things as well. I'm guessin' Sweetie Belle is bringin' Rarity, especially since Rainbow Dash is comin' along." She chuckled.

"Wow…" I commented. "I guess this is going to be a pretty big camping trip, huh?"

"Haha." Applejack placed on her saddlebag. "You betcha." She scooted to the side and allowed Fluttershy and I to retrieve our saddlebags as well. "Come on. We'll start heading over there and wait for Applebloom and Scootaloo to swing by."

"That sounds good." I strapped the saddlebag on me securely, along with Fluttershy's. "It'll be nice doing some sight-seeing. Do the little girls know where to go?"

"Applebloom does. Don't worry; we won't be too far from town when we start. We'll push on further when every pony is accounted for."

"Applejack…" Fluttershy spoke. "What are your…preparations…for the dark…?"

"Don't you worry your pretty little head." Applejack rubbed Fluttershy's head playfully. "We're all going to be together. There aren't any monsters in the woods anyhow." After that statement, Applejack placed a hoof on her chin while looking up in thought. "Least not any that I know of."

Fluttershy released some signs of doubt, but I assured her safety by sending a smile towards her. "We'll be fine, Fluttershy."

She shook her head a bit to regain herself, and then finally looked up to me with some confidence in her eyes. "Okay. We'll all be alright."

"Well then. Let's get to it, ponies!"

We walked out of the barn to soon be confronted by Rainbow Dash.

"Hey, Applejack!" She exclaimed, flapping her wings as she flew. "I just wanted to say that I'm totally stoked to come on this trip! Anything I should bring?"

"Not necessarily." Applejack responded. "Want to join us on our hike up there?"

"No offense, Applejack, but that sounds a little boring. I'm going to clear some clouds while I wait for you all to reach the first campsite. See you later!" She was about to leave the area, but I quickly called her name.

"Rainbow!" She stopped to see what I was calling her for. "Scootaloo says 'Hi'!"

She chuckled and shook her head. "Haha. That filly." Afterwards, she raced out of the farm and headed quickly to where we were supposed to meet.

"Heh." Applejack chuckled. "That Rainbow Dash. I can already see her frightening the little fillies with camp stories at night."

"Camp stories…?" Fluttershy questioned, beginning to show some body language of fear. "You don't mean…spooky ones…do you?"

"That's what makes camping during the night fun, Fluttershy! It's like Nightmare Night. People get scared for fun!"

"Um… I'm not so sure I should go now…" Fluttershy responded.

I placed a hoof over her tightly. "Don't worry, I'll be there holding you tightly if you get scared. Otherwise…if you really don't feel comfortable with the stories, you can just hit the tent early. Does that sound good?"

"The second one sounds comfortable… Okay…I'll go…"

I patted her back gently and placed my hoof back on the ground. Applejack was smiling at us, seeming to like and adore how cute we appeared to be together. Then, she began leading us out of the farm and onto the dirt path, initiating our hike and sight-seeing.

I looked around, feeling the warmth of the sunshine shine upon my coat and feeling the wind blow through my mane. "Wow, Applejack." I expressed in awe. "This really is nice. I can already tell this is going to be a great camping trip!"

"That's real nice to hear, Alex." Applejack replied. "I'm glad you're already enjoying the trip!"

"Haha, yeah." We reached this area with a stream of water to our right. I stopped and stepped towards the water, noticing how there was actually a small waterfall over the cliff. "Wow…" I expressed once again. "This is beautiful…"

Applejack released a small chuckle, observing me as if I was some small colt in an all-you-can-eat candy store.

"Applejack! Hey, Applejack!" We heard a small filly's voice echo from a distance.

The three of us turned to see Scootaloo and Applebloom quickly trotting towards us.

"You packed your bug spray?" Applejack asked Applebloom.

"Yup." She flung her back hooves upwards in the air, throwing a can of bug spray for all of us to see. "You got the canteens?"

"Yup." Applejack followed in the same manner. "Looks like we're all set then."

Unexpectedly, a shadow formed upon us all, blocking the sweet sunshine that was warming my coat. We heard a cart trundling, causing us to turn our heads to the direction it was coming from. It was Rarity. She was trotting delicately as her little sister pulled the extremely heavy cart, which was full of Rarity's things. Sweetie Belle was sweating greatly as Rarity trotted over to us with another one of her outfits. I could not clearly describe her outfit in detail, but I could tell it was an outfit more suited for summer relaxation… It wasn't that surprising to know that she was the only one who was going to wear an outfit, let alone bring many other things with her as well.

"Hey!" Rarity greeted us.

"Gee Rarity, did you remember to pack?" Applejack asked sarcastically after observing the cart.

"Oh, well let's see who gets the last laugh when you're absolutely desperate to curl your lashes, and you realize you didn't bring your eyelash curler." Rarity responded.

As she walked away, Applejack could only return a slightly confused expression, shaking her head afterwards. "Well, looks like we're all set now."

Scootaloo was a few hooves in front of us, searching desperately in the sky for something specifically as she fluttered her wings excitedly. "But- what about Rainbow Dash? Isn't Rainbow Dash coming?"

"'Course she is, sugarcube." Applejack answered, walking a bit more to catch up to her. "She's gonna meet us up at our first campsite."

"Oh." Scootaloo expressed, seeming to be a little embarrassed.

"Alright, y'all, let's move 'em out!" Applejack announced, commencing everypony to walk.

Sweetie Belle began pulling to walk as well, straining her little adorable face in order to move the cart. No matter how much weight she was pulling, she still managed to keep a grin on her face. I chuckled and walked over to her. "Why don't you let me pull that?"

"That would mean a lot, Alex." Sweetie Belle stopped, releasing a few more drops of sweat.

Using my magic, I released her and switched positions with her. I then tried walking, but was pulled back significantly. I widened my eyes and looked at the cart. "Geez, Sweetie Belle, you were able to pull this cart all the way over here?"

"Anything to get my sister to come along!" She released a wide grin. "But I'm sure my big brother could handle it!"

I began walking, feeling the force of the cart weigh me down. "I sure hope he can too…"

After walking for a while, along with hearing the same question from Rarity a thousand times, I seemed to still being doing okay with the cart. I was able to keep up with the group.

Fluttershy walked by my side. "Are you sure you're able to pull that, Alex?" She asked and observed the mountain on the cart. "It sure looks heavy…"

I managed to chuckle through some grunts. "If Sweetie Belle can pull this, so can I."

"Oh, are we there yet?" Rarity asked, yet again.

"The last thousand times you asked that, the answer was no." Applejack answered, releasing an annoyed expression. Then, she lifted up her hoof upwards. "This time, it's actually yes." She revealed a large area in front us. A flash of rainbow was spotted in the sky through the trees. "There's Rainbow Dash up there right now."

Rainbow suddenly dashed into area we were in, impressively cutting through four trees in order to obtain four giant logs of wood. She quickly placed them in front of us. Next, she dove into the nearby stream and retrieved several rocks with moisture retained on the outside, constructing them into a ring in the middle of the logs.

"Impressive, Rainbow." I commented, sending her a bright smile, which hinted at my eagerness for this camp. She quickly dusted herself off.

"I know!" She boasted loudly.

"Hey Rai— Scootaloo was about to greet Rainbow Dash, but she accidently tripped over one of the logs, dropping her stuff and performing some rather uncomfortable and unintentional tricks in front of us. She landed back at the ground, holding her head in pain. Nonetheless, she cleared her throat and crossed her back legs. "Hey, Rainbow Dash! What's up?" She asked, trying to hold back tears but one that slipped out of her eye.

Rainbow Dash only eyed her for a second before she turned her attention towards us. "What took you guys so long?"

Applejack placed her things on the ground and glared at Rarity, who was too busy filing her hoof. "Well, some of us didn't pack as light as the others. So we were slowed down a bit."

I brought the cart over to Rarity, who was just finished blowing her hoof. "Here you go, Rarity…" I grunted, finally stopping by her side. "Really… I don't see why you have to pack so many things when you really don't end up using them…"

"Oh." She blushed lightly and giggled a bit. "Sorry, Alex…"

I removed myself from the cart, noticing the strange behavior from her. "Are you alright?" I asked with an eyebrow lifted up.

"Yes, yes. I'm fine. It's just that…" She paused and shook her head. "Never mind."

"Okay…" I observed her, noticing her to continue to act a little strange. "Well, come on." I began trotting towards the campsite. "Let's go set up camp."

"But, of course." She followed me as well.

As I arrived near Applejack and Applebloom, who had already brought out the supplies to set up camp, I began focusing my horn to prepare the tents and such, but Applejack stopped me. "Don't worry, Alex. We've got this." She faced Applebloom and winked. "Right, Applebloom?"

"You got it, sis!" She exclaimed.

They both stretched out the tents and planted the wooden sticks, which were holding the rope that was attached to the tent, into the ground with their hooves like a hammer. When the tents were finally set up, Scootaloo grabbed a seat on one of the wooden logs as Rainbow Dash flew and joined her.

"Looks like you'll be sharing a tent with me, huh?" Rainbow nudged Scootaloo.

"Heh, if that's okay with you." Scootaloo shrugged and responded.

Not too far away, I could see Rarity having Sweetie Belle bring the cart to a specific area.

"Sure!" Rainbow Dash messed with her mane a bit. "Long as you don't snore." Scootaloo could only look dumbfounded with that last statement as Rarity allowed Sweetie Belle to remove herself from the cart. "You don't snore, do you?"

"Nope. No way. Not me. Never snored a day or night in my life." Scootaloo laughed nervously.

Rarity and Sweetie Belle retrieved some things from the cart and then walked over to another spot.

"Then you and I are gonna get along just fine." Rainbow commented. Suddenly, a large gust of wind blew through every single one of us, immediately catching our attention. In just a half-second, we noticed this humongous and sophisticated tent inflate before us, surprising us this time. "...You have got to be kidding me."

"Sweetie Belle," Rarity announced from the balcony of the tent, which I couldn't really find possible to do… "Do be a dear and see if you can get me some fresh flowers for my bedside vase." She pronounced in the not so common way anypony would pronounce "vase". She dropped the vase, which bounced on the top cover of the entrance of the tent, having Sweetie Belle run to catch it.

"Hey Scootaloo," Rainbow Dash mimicked, "Do be a sweetheart and see if you can gather some firewood. This caused Applebloom and Scootaloo to laugh out loud. "Seriously though. Can you get us some wood for the fire?"

"Of course!" Scootaloo quickly agreed and sped out.

"I'm going to go put our things in our tent." Fluttershy told me.

"Okay, thank you." I kissed her cheek, allowing her to do so. After, I walked over to Rarity's tent and continued observing it. Rarity popped out in the balcony. "Wow, Rarity…" I expressed. "No wonder you packed so many things… You're basically moving a house here."

"I wasn't comfortable camping in the first place, so I decided I would make myself as comfortable as I could to home." She answered and then entered through the tent, coming back down outside. "You like it?"

"Uh, sure, I guess… It just seems to…kind of… take away from the spirit of camping…"

"Well, I—

"Got the firewood!" Rarity's sentence was cut short when Scootaloo dashed in and dropped several pieces of wood onto the ring of rocks.

"Nice job, kid." Rainbow Dash rubbed Scootaloo's mane playfully.

I noticed Applejack prepping some tools, so I walked over to her. "Hey, Applejack. Need me to set up the fire?"

"No thanks." She responded, carrying a bow-looking item with her teeth. "I'll do it the old-fashioned way." She walked over to where the firewood was placed. She grabbed a stick and wrapped the string attached to the bow with it. Securely placing the end of the stick on top of the others, she began swinging her head in a horizontal motion, creating friction among the sticks and soon lighting up a flame.

As Applejack was doing that, Sweetie Belle had brought out a very comfortable, what appeared to be, fancy lawn chair, which allow Rarity to rest delightfully on. Fluttershy had come out to observe what was going on. Little did I know, the sun had already set as well, revealing the beautiful night sky and diamonds among it.

"Okay, everybody get comfortable." Rainbow Dash announced, commencing me to walk over to a nearby log, which was between Rarity and Applejack, and sit on there. I looked over to Fluttershy and smiled, patting my hoof on the seat next to me in order for her to come and sit down. She hesitantly walked over to the seat and sat down. I placed my hoof around her, causing her to lean her head on my shoulder and rest her nerves a little. On the other hoof, Sweetie Belle brought a cup of tea for Rarity, who accepted it with her magic. Sweetie Belle walked over and joined Applejack and Scootaloo, who were sitting on the log opposite of Fluttershy and me across the fire. "…'cause I'm about to tell you the best story you've ever heard."

Scootaloo quickly jumped off the log and gestured excitedly with her body. "Is it about the time when Rarity had wings, and then they got ruined, and then you saved her from plummeting to her doom?"

Rarity widened her eyes when she heard this. She quickly lifted the shades of her dark pink sunglasses closer to her eyes, which rolled backwards embarrassingly. A warm oval shade of pink formed across her cheeks as sucked in her lips, staring at her cup.

"Okay, maybe it's the second best story you've ever heard…" Rainbow continued. "But probably still the scariest." She then began speaking in a spooky tone as she hovered over the fillies. "You like scary stories, right?"

Scootaloo gasped, nonetheless nodded. "Mmhmm."

Fluttershy returned a gasp as well and shivered in my in my hoof. "I don't! Please don't tell any stories, Rainbow Dash!"

Rainbow hovered to us and whispered between us. "Come on, Fluttershy. They're not that bad."

"Are you sure…?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yeah. Stick around! It's real fun!"

"…alright…" Fluttershy answered softly, allowing Rainbow Dash to continue on.

I rubbed Fluttershy's back gently as she wrapped her hooves around my chest.

"It all happened on a night just like this one, in a forest, just like this..." Rainbow paused to view her audience's facial expressions. "Campers, who were camping in this exact same spot were having fun, telling stories just like us. But then, they started hearing noises in woods around them, and it wasn't just the crickets. Of course, they ignored them and continued talking about the story of the pony, who lost her rusty horseshoe in the exact same place. They were all told that she still walks among these very woods, looking for the very pony who took the horseshoe from her. It wasn't until they put out the flame when the noises became louder." Rainbow Dash landed on the ground and began stalking around the campfire, creating the noises with her hooves loudly enough to echo throughout forest. After a moment, she stopped. "Soon enough, they saw somepony in the darkness. One of the ponies in the group, who was brave like me, decided to find out who it was. And then, the olden pony asked, 'Who's got my rusty horseshoe?'." Rainbow mimicked an elderly and aged voiced, focusing more of her attention towards the young fillies.

"Not me!" Sweetie Belle quickly responded as she shivered in fear, placing her hooves around the others.

Fluttershy was by me, shaking in fear as well. She held me tightly.

There was a suspenseful pause until Rainbow Dash suddenly appeared behind the fillies and poked them. "You do!"

They all screamed, including Fluttershy, who quickly raced towards our tent. Scootaloo was the only one left on the log as Rainbow laughed. She cleared her throat, removing any sign of fear. "Something in my throat. I wasn't scared at all, heheh. Good story."

"Knew you wouldn't be scared." Rainbow Dash ruffled her mane. The way you jumped that cart the other day…" She flew up towards the pole of Rarity's tent and stood on top of it valiantly. "You're like me; fearless."

"Yeah. Fearless." Scootaloo repeated nervously.

An owl hooted around us.

By Rarity, I could see Sweetie Belle looking at her sister for comfort.

"Don't worry," Rarity told Sweetie Belle in a coddling manner. "Rarity is here to keep you safe and sound, ooh!"

On the right side of me, Applejack yawned. "Think it's about time for me to hit the straw." She turned around to reveal Applebloom on her back shaking terribly in fear. Applejack noticed this and rubbed her mane softly. "Don't you worry, little sis. No 'olden pony' in our tent."

I decided to jump off the log to go check on Fluttershy. When I poked my head through our tent, I could see Fluttershy shivering under the covers.

"Fluttershy, are you alright?" I asked, which seemed to startle her a bit.

"Oh… It's just you…" She answered.

"Yep. Don't worry. Those stories are fake. They're just made to scare ponies. That's all." I chuckled a bit, being reminded of the one Applejack told me back at the last campout.

"Are you sure?"

"Yep. I totally guarantee it."

"Okay… If you say so…" She commented and took in a deep breath. "Are you coming to sleep…?"

"In a while. Let me just go make sure the fire is out, and then I'll come back."

"Okay… Hurry, please… I don't want to be by myself…"

I nodded. "I'll be right back."

I looked back out towards the campsite, noticing the fire was already out. Hm, looks like Rainbow Dash already put it out. However, I spotted Scootaloo looking around fearfully alone. I walked towards her. "Scootaloo, are you alright?" I asked.

"Uh-huh…" She answered in a shivering tone, continuing to look around her.

"You don't believe that story, do you?"

"Who me?" She placed a hoof on her chest. "As if! I know that story isn't true! Heh, heh. Yes, sir. I'm cool as ice."

I returned a little smirk, noticing her behavior. "Well, you better head in with Rainbow Dash; otherwise you will be cold as ice if you stay out here."

"Oh… Right… Gotcha." Scootaloo replied and began jumping off of the log, but the howling of a wolf frightened her greatly and instead caused her to rush in towards the tent.

I hope she's going to be alright and not have nightmares…

"Alex?" I heard my name being called by a different pony. I looked around to see that it was Rarity near the entrance of her tent. "May I have a word with you?"

"Uh…" I answered back, being partially surprised of her unexpected invitation for a conversation. "Sure." She sat on the nearby log, surprising me even more. Nonetheless, I joined her, sitting by her on the log. "What's up? Is Sweetie Belle alright?"

"Yes, she's fine. She's already nice and cozy and sleeping like a baby." She giggled a little.

I followed with a small chuckle.

There was a moment of silence as a breeze followed along as well.

"So…" I expressed.

"So?" She threw back.

"So, what did you need to talk to me about?" I asked.

"Oh!" She looked at the ground, a little embarrassed. "Right. That… Um…" She paused for a moment. "There's…no real easy way of sharing this with you…but…" She sucked in her lips and rubbed her left foreleg with her right hoof. "Promise you won't laugh or make fun of me."

"Why would I do that?"

"Just promise me."

"Okay, I promise."

"Pinkie promise?" I released a breath through my nose and smiled, looking back with my eyes. I used my hoof to create a crossing motion in front of my heart and place a cupcake on my eye. "Okay well…" She rubbed her hooves together quite nervously. "Um… Let us just say that… I've…rather…admired you…from afar…"

"Admired?" I questioned with a slightly confused expression. "What do you mean?"

She began blushing, almost intensely. "Um…for some time now… I've kind of…liked you… in a certain way."

I continued looking at her for a moment, trying to decode what she was trying to tell me. Then, it clicked in me, causing me to widen my eyes. "Rarity… Are you saying that…"

She slightly looked away. "Yes… I believe so…"

I stared at the ground, almost in disbelief. "I don't get it… I'm almost the complete opposite of you. I'm not a sophisticated pony or have the characteristics of one of those Canterlot ponies like Fancypants. Why me?"

"Well…you may not be sophisticated like them… But you surely are a gentlecolt…"

"Huh…?"

"You see… I think it all started back at the Grand Galloping Gala. Back when I was trying to charm that rather rude Prince Blueblood, you stumbled upon us, walking me around the puddle we came across. It was so generous for you to do that. I wasn't even your date, and you were kind enough to do that. It was at that moment that I discovered the actual Prince of the night was really you…" She giggled a little. "It's a little funny now that you're actually an Alicorn… Anyway, I suppose my feelings for you have quite…changed…little by little, since then."

"Rarity, I did that because you deserved to be treated much better than the Prince was treating you. I would have done that for any of you girls, because you all deserve it."

"I know… That's one of the reasons…why I'm feeling like this…" She sighed. "I know you're in a relationship with Fluttershy, but I just felt as if I needed to share this with you… It'd feel strange going through these feelings while you're completely clueless of them. I hope I didn't make things…awkward…between us now."

I shook my head. "Not at all. I completely understand why you told me this, and I won't judge you in any way. I just don't want any problems to arise from this…such as…tension… between you and Fluttershy or for anything between us to change from what it already is."

"Don't worry, Alex. This won't change anything between you and me. You see… These feelings are not exactly 'in love' feelings. They are more like… admiration. I guess you could see it as if I have this…attraction…to you…but not in such a way to where I so desperately want to be with you." She sighed. "I suppose what I'm trying to say is that… Perhaps, I have this tiny little crush on you, but it's not supreme to where I completely change who I am and try to be your new girlfriend, things like that. I hope you understand…"

I released a soft warm smile towards her, feeling actually flattered about what she told me. "I think I do understand, Rarity." I placed a friendly hoof on her back. "As long as it doesn't change who you are and our relationship between each other, I don't mind at all."

Rarity continued blushing lightly. "So…you don't think I'm a little…odd… for this?"

"Not at all."

She released a breath of relief. "Oh good. I'm glad…"

I continued to grin and patted her back gently with my hoof. "You better get some sleep then." I began to remove myself from the log until she stopped me.

"Alex?"

"Hm?" I looked back at her.

"Can you not tell anypony this…? I really wouldn't want to be made fun of…just in case…"

"Don't worry about it."

She released a soft smile as well. "Thank you… Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Afterwards, I retreated back to my tent.

When I opened the flap of the tent, the moonlight revealed that Fluttershy was already sleeping gently. I smiled at her cuteness and entered the tent. I zipped down the entrance and grabbed the covers with my magic and held them up as I entered in bed cozily. Afterwards, I tucked in both Fluttershy and I comfortably together.

Feeling my eyes yearning sleep, I closed them and awaited the next day while taking a ride through dreamland.

I opened my eyes, feeling almost terrified. I wiped my face, sensing dampness among my cheeks. I sighed, realizing that I did have that nightmare. All I could remember was that it had to do mostly with my sister. I forgot mostly about it though. That's usually what happens right after the dream… All I remember was… that it had to do something with my sister. I think…I think there was a scene in there had to do with Hearth's Warming Eve…when my family would usually be together in the living room, opening presents, all while I would be in my room in both silence and alone….

I sat there, continuing to look at the sheets. I placed a hoof on my face and shook my head while straining my eyes. Then, an image of Princess Luna appeared in my head. Ugh… Was she in my nightmare too…? I thought for a moment, trying to focus on remembering, but it was as if I was trying to look in my dream, but somepony was blocking my view, even when I tried to look around. I could remember some images… I think there was Luna… Rain… and… a note?

Some noises outside interrupted my deep thinking. I was lightly started. I looked to my side to see Fluttershy continuing to sleep. I removed the covers off of me and began to walk outside to see what was going on.

After opening the tent and walking out, I saw Rarity in her outfit once again. She was lying on the fancy lawn chair, appearing as if she was sun-bathing. Applejack and Applebloom were already removing their tent. Applejack spotted me and released a greeting grin. "Rise and shine, Alex!"

"I'm already up." I lightly chuckled.

"What about Fluttershy?"

"No, she's still sleeping. Are we leaving already?" I asked.

"Yup. You might want to wake her up." She advised.

"Alright." I turned around to head back in the tent.

Inside, I quietly walked to her side and sat down. There, I gently placed my hooves on her and shook her lightly. She mumbled a bit and turned to where she was lying on her back. I kissed her cheek, causing her to slowly open her eyes. "Hm?" She softly murmured.

"It's morning." I greeted with a warm smile. "We're all getting ready to leave."

"Leave…?" She asked.

"Yeah. We still have to walk a little more to get to Winsome Falls."

"Oh, okay…" She rubbed her eyes and yawned adorably.

I grabbed her hoof and helped her out of bed. After, using my magic, I was able to fold the covers neatly, allowing Fluttershy to place them back in our saddlebags. I brought Fluttershy outside so I could remove the tent.

Once Fluttershy and I were finally finished with our things, we looked back to see Rarity filling her cart with her personal tastes once again. Sweetie Belle was about to be the one to pull the heavy weight, but I quickly trotted towards her position. "Don't worry about that heavy pulling." I placed the harness attached to the cart on my body. "I've got this."

Sweetie Belle only returned a thankful smile.

After Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash appeared to be ready, we soon continued our journey to Winsome Falls…that is…until Rarity stopped me for second.

"Excuse me, Alex." Rarity spoke, allowing me to notice that she was still lying on her lawn chair.

I formed an expression of confusion. "Rarity? We've got to get moving."

"That's just the thing… You wouldn't mind helping me on the way over there, would you?"

"Pardon…?"

"Maybe a little…push?" She gestured her hoof towards the wheels on the lawn chair.

When I realized what she was asking for, my ears flopped down as I lowered my head as well. I sighed, but agreed. "Okay, fine…"

"Hehe," Rarity giggled. "Thank you!" She expressed as I walked behind her and began to push the chair with my magic.

The rest of the girls, besides Rarity and Sweetie Belle, walked a little further from me. Fluttershy managed to find some of her critter friends along the way. A couple of squirrels climbed onto her back as she began to talk to them happily.

Of course, Rarity was right in front of me. Sweetie Belle was by side, appearing as if she wanted to ask me something.

"Hey, Alex…" Sweetie Belle began, initiating me to look at her while keeping my head straight to the front.

"Hm?" I questioned.

"Do you think… I can have a piggyback ride on you?"

"A piggyback ride…?" I repeated, feeling a little too occupied with the tasks I was already doing. "I don't know…" However, Sweetie Belle's face formed mostly into a pout, making me think twice. I released a breath and responded with a smile. "Sure. Why not?"

"Yay!" She cheered. I managed to create another aura around her as I placed her on my back. She allowed her hooves to dangle on the sides of my body as she giggled and observed the scenery.

It wasn't long before I began sweating quite a bit, due to the force and energy I was putting in.

"Ohh..." Rarity muttered as she appeared to be resting on the chair with her eyes closed. One of my drops of sweat seemed to reach her. She quickly sat up, alarmed. "Am I sweating?" She lifted her sun glasses and looked up. "Oh! I think I'm sweating!" She quickly flapped her hoof in front of her face. However, she noticed Sweetie Belle on my back, reaching a hoof towards her head, petting her mane. "Oh, but it's absolutely worth it to get to spend time with my little sister." She looked at the cart. "It just feels like this cart is getting heavier all the time!"

I stopped to catch my breath, panting a bit. "How can you tell it's getting heavier? I'm the one who's pulling it…"

However, Applejack added her share into the conversation. "I don't care if that's cart's as heavy as a pack of mules." She was so distant and ahead of us, that her voice sounded more of an echo instead. "If we don't get a move on, it'll be dark before we get to the campsite!"

"Dark?!" We suddenly heard a gasp behind us. Then, Scootaloo popped out of nowhere to our side, riding her scooter. "I'll just ride ahead and make sure the path is clear." She announced, stopping and facing us. "We don't wanna be out here after dark, right?" She rode a little further towards Rainbow Dash and told her.

"Doesn't matter to me." Rainbow shrugged.

"Well, y'know," Scootaloo responded and hushed something towards Rainbow, pointing at Sweetie Bell and Applebloom.

Rainbow Dash nodded her head and allowed Scootaloo to scoot on ahead.

"I'm done sun-bathing." Rarity announced and hopped off from the lawn chair, placing it back on the cart with her magic. "I think I'll take a nice stroll now!"

"Sure…" I commented, continuing to struggle a bit while Sweetie Belle remained on my back.

I looked at Rainbow Dash, who was nearby. "Do you really think it was a good idea to let her go off on her own?"

"She's a brave pony! She'll be fine!" Rainbow replied.

"I hope so…" I muttered under my breath.

Applejack looked back and noticed how I was still pulling Rarity's luggage. She turned her attention towards Rarity. "Rarity, did you really have to bring all that stuff on this trip? Poor Alex over there looks like he can hardly breathe."

Rarity returned a soft chuckle. "Nonsense! A strong stallion is sure to pull it just fine!" She turned back to view me. "I mean, just look at those muscles!"

I couldn't help but release a snicker that soon grew into a short laugh, causing me to stop for a moment. I couldn't tell if she was being serious or just joking around. Nevertheless, that comment was really funny. "I don't think that's going to help me move this cart, Rarity."

"Oh! That reminds me!" She added. "You must all know why it is essential to pack these many items. First, it is crucial to bring as many outfits as you possibly can. Otherwise, your opinion on one outfit may differ, so you'd have to clearly pick another one. Or, there can be a change in mood or scenery, and you definitely have to change it then!" Everypony could only exchange looks as they knew this was going to continue on for a while. "The same thing applies to everything else, such as eyelash curlers, mascara, furniture, and other wardrobe necessities!" Rarity then began to spend her time on telling us pretty useless information. "That's why it's always important to bring your trunk on any public outing."

A noise to our right caused us to turn our attention to a nearby bush. We were all surprised to see Scootaloo lying on there, appearing as if she was sleeping. She gasped and turned to see us. "Um... don't come this way!" She waved her hooves frantically. "Take the path!" She jumped onto the path we were on. "It's, aheh, um, way better than going through the bushes."

Despite her odd entrance, we continued on.

"I'm glad to see you're okay, Scoots." I told her, passing by.

"Heh…right…" She answered back and walked along as well.

This time, further along the path, Applejack slowed down to stick with Scootaloo, since she was acting a bit strange. The others remained in front of me.

I heard a twig snap and a sudden yelp. I quickly stopped and looked back to see what was going on. Scootaloo had disappeared, but suddenly she dropped back to the ground, having a rather rough landing.

"You're more nervous than a worm in an apple on cider making day." Applejack confronted her. "What gives, Scootaloo?"

"Heh, nothing, just thought I heard something, aheh." She quickly returned.

An owl nearby hooted.

Scootaloo released another loud yelp. She quickly ran back, beginning to worry me greatly.

"What are you doing here?" Fluttershy asked, flying towards the owl. She petted it and giggled softly.

"You sure you're okay?" Applejack continued. "Cause you seem a little jumpy."

"Just getting my exercise! You know how important it is to stretch out those hindquarters every so often, aheh." She moved her back legs in a stretching motion. A nearby frog croaked. Scootaloo immediately rushed over to the front of Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and me. "Uh, d-do you need a little help?"

"That's so sweet," Rarity placed Scootaloo in the right position and removed the harness on me, placing it on Scootaloo instead. "Thank you."

"Um- What are friends for?" She tried pulling the cart, but made very little progress as she released sounds of exertion.

I released a small smile and placed the harness back on me. "Don't worry. I've got this."

"T-thanks…" She responded, seeming a little shaken.

Night was already falling, making it unable to believe that time had flown so quickly. The cart creaked as I continued pulling. Applejack stopped ahead of me, facing all of us. "No need for tents tonight, y'all. We'll just take shelter in that cave." She pointed to the cave ahead of us.

"All right!" Rainbow Dash cheered. "A deep, dark cave! Perfect for the story I've got for tonight. All we need is a campfire, and we're good to go." She directed towards Scootaloo.

Scootaloo gulped and seemed to respond with nervousness in her voice. "Uh, of course..." Wolves howling could be heard. "I'll be right back with loads of firewood from the deep, dark, not-scary-at-all forest!"

"Thanks." Rainbow Dash expressed as Scootaloo began walking off.

I released a breath of relief and removed the harness from me, already beginning to feel sore. "Alright, Sweetie Belle…" I used my magic to gently remove her from my back and place her back on the ground.

"Thanks for the ride!" She exclaimed.

"No problem…" I looked at the others, who were already getting settled at the campsite. "I don't think it's very safe letting Scootaloo off in the woods. It's bad enough as it is during the day time. At night, it's even worse!" I spoke as I walked towards them.

"Come on! She'll be fine." Rainbow responded with the same answer as last time.

"Yeah… That's what you said last time…" I took a seat next to Fluttershy on the log.

After a few minutes, Applejack rubbed her forelegs on her body and shivered in coldness. "Bbbbrrr, whooee, it's colder than a timberwolf's toenail. Bbbrr, where's that Scootaloo?" She looked around.

I was already feeling uncomfortable, so I decided I to go check up on her. "I'm going to make sure she's okay…" I removed myself from my seat and began walking. Not even a few steps away from the campsite, I heard, what sounded like, panicked laughter. Scootaloo immediately ran past me. I turned around to see her place a few sticks in the middle of the stones. "Here you go!" She presented.

"That's it?" Rainbow questioned.

"That's all I could find, 'cause, y'know, there aren't that many trees around here!"

I looked around, seeing the many contradictions surrounding us.

"It's all we need." Applejack assured. "Why don't you sit with Rainbow Dash for a while?"

Scootaloo quickly rushed over to her, knocking the stick with marshmallow from her hoof.

"Actually... I'll go get us some more." I offered. "It'd be better in this cold."

"You sure, Alex?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah. I'll be right back." I returned and began walking deeper in the forest.

I readied my horn, looking for any twigs or sticks I could add to the collection of the firewood. I managed to pick up a few from the ground and hold them up with my magic. I stopped for a moment and looked around. It was chilly and dark. I began feeling fear linger upon me. These woods really are pretty creepy at night... I know Rainbow Dash's stories aren't true...but just thinking about them makes these woods scarier... I released a breath and shook my head, continuing my search for firewood.

When I finally believed I grabbed enough, I felt something behind me... I quickly turned around, noticing nothing there. I looked around suspiciously, wondering if it was just my imagination. Before I allowed my nerves to rest, something rustled through the trees and bushes, causing me to quickly turn around and scan the area. Forget this... I'm not sticking around to see what it is...

I began trotting quickly with the firewood with me. As I grew closer to the campsite, something rustled in the bush in front of me. I paused and stared at it for a moment. I slowly began walking towards it to see what was inside of it. I placed my hoof softly on the bush and began moving the leaves towards the right side.

All of a sudden, a light blue pony popped out and roared in front of me. My heart jumped as I gasped. I fell backwards towards the ground with the pile of firewood scattering around me.

She laughed out loud, holding a hoof to her stomach. "I totally got you! Haha!"

As I was panting, I formed an angry expression on my face. "Rainbow!"

"That was so priceless!" She continued as I angrily got up and tried to rejoin the pieces of sticks that scattered around the area. She released a contented sigh as she placed her hooves on my back, resting her head on them. "Watcha doing?"

"Trying to find the pieces of firewood you made me drop..." I answered, still irritated.

"Aw, come on. I'm sorry. But you have to admit it was pretty funny."

"Yeah... Whatever..."

When I finally retrieved all the firewood I could find, I returned to the campsite with Rainbow Dash. I placed the rest of the firewood with the few sticks Scootaloo brought, and sat down next to Fluttershy.

"Are you alright?" She asked softly to me.

"Yeah... I'm fine..." I answered.

Applejack quickly lit up the fire.

"Now, where was I?" Rainbow Dash asked herself. "Oh yeah! The scary part." She ended with a spooky tone, waving her hooves around. She then released an evil laugh.

"Hey, I have an idea! How about I tell tonight's story?" Scootaloo suddenly brought up, holding her hoof up high.

Rainbow Dash returned an odd expression. However, she laid down on the log and decided to allow it. "Alright, just make sure it's a horrible one."

Applejack and Rarity drew their sisters closer, revealing grins as they braced for the mental impact the story would create. I could feel Fluttershy's body tense up as she placed her body as closest as she could towards me.

"There once was a really really nice pony who lived in a bright and sunny land, where there are rainbows every day, and lots and lots of happy friends, and—

The others, who had exchanged odd looks, allowed Rainbow Dash to cut Scootaloo's "story" short. "No offense, but it's not a real campfire story unless somepony's shaking." She rubbed Scootaloo's mane and jumped off the log, beginning to tell her own story in a spooky tone. "I've been told that these very woods are haunted..."

"Um… If nopony minds, I think I'm going to skip out in this one!" Fluttershy quickly flew inside the cave, where she probably began setting up the place to sleep and hide under the covers.

Rainbow Dash paused for a moment after Fluttershy's departure, but continued on. "…by the headless horse!" Her shadow began forming into the figure of the headless horse. "It gallops only at night—

"If it doesn't have a head, then how in tarnation does this pony know where it's goin'?" Applejack interrupted.

"It's headless, not brainless." Rainbow Dash explained…but what she didn't know was that the brain was in the head… However, she continued, creeping behind Applejack and Applebloom. "...looking for little lost ponies—

"So where's its brain?" Applejack asked.

"Ugh." Rainbow Dash released and gave up on explaining. "Fear was dripping from the air..."

My eyes felt as if they were drooping. I slowly found myself lightly leaning in as if I was falling asleep. Soon enough, everything seemed to fade out, making my conscious slip out.

"...and they were never heard from ever again!"

I seemed to begin regaining my conscious again, as I had just started waking up from a nap.

I heard Sweetie Belle gasp. "Never?"

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "Never."

Fire sparked, causing Applebloom and Sweetie Belle to scream out loud. They surprised me and allowed me to fully open my eyes. However, it quickly transformed into laughter by how they realized they were startled so easily by the fire. They both hugged their sisters.

"Don't worry," Rarity rubbed her sister's mane. "You'll be safe with me tonight." She looked towards the cave where we'll be staying.

"It's not time for bed yet, is it?" Scootaloo asked, jumping in the middle of Rarity and Applejack.

"'Fraid so, Scootaloo." Applejack answered. "It seems we all need our sleep."

"Uh, but we haven't even sung any campfire songs yet!" Scootaloo brought out.

However, I was feeling too…empty of energy to make an argument, so I just sat there and watched with droopy eyes like a zombie.

"You don't have to ask me twice!" Sweetie Belle responded and ran over to where Rainbow Dash was standing on. She pushed her off and inhaled a breath to begin singing loudly. "Ninety-nine buckets of oats on the wall, ninety-nine buckets of oats! Take one down…" Everypony was becoming tired. Each of us was already beginning to fall asleep, all but Scootaloo. She was the only one who was moving her head in a rhythmic motion. This song continued for a long time… I couldn't keep track of it… "…pass it around, you got eighty-one buckets of oats on the wall!" "…forty-one buckets of oats! Take one down, pass it around you got forty…" Sweetie Belle paused for a moment, trying to remember what number came next "…buckets of oats on the wall!" Ugh… "...buckets of oats! Take one down, pass it around, you've got zero buckets of oats on the waaaaaaaalllllll!" Her last extended word startled us all back to our nerves as it was so loud and just…screechy.

She stood there, proud to have finally finished the song, but she suddenly fell to the ground asleep. Rarity grabbed her with her magic and we were all finally allowed to walk into the cave to get some sleep. Everypony said their Goodnight's, but for some reason, Scootaloo wanted to stay up.

"Oh, just one more song! Anyone?" She asked as I was already making myself comfortable near Fluttershy, who was already asleep. "How about a dance contest?" She continuously asked each of us, but we all worked on getting our rest. "I know you love to cut a rug, so how 'bout we mess up a cave floor? I have a brilliant idea! Hide and seek, who's with me?"

Applebloom yawned. "Maybe tomorrow." Her face fell towards her sheets.

"Aww…" Scootaloo returned.

"Seems like you don't really wanna go to sleep tonight." Applejack included, already lying in her bed. "Is there some reason why?"

"Pfft, of course not!" Scootaloo answered. "I just love camping and hanging out with Rainbow Dash so much that I don't wanna waste a single minute with sleep!" However, she yawned greatly. "Heh, silly sleep."

Rainbow Dash began putting plugs in her ears. "That's cool and all, Scoot, but this pony needs her shut-eye and she needs it now!" She laid on her side and began to rest her eyes.

"We'll spend some more time together, Scoots." I mumbled loud enough for her to hear. "Right now… We could all really just use some sleep. Goodnight…" I pulled the covers over me and closed my eyes, already becoming instantly affected.

"Alex. Alex."

This familiar voice echoed through my mind. I opened my eyes to see a pony with a dark blue coat in front of me.

"Princess Luna!" I announced with a surprised expression. "What are you doing here?"

"I am the princess of the night, thus it is my duty to come into your dreams." She answered.

"I…I never knew you could visit ponies in their dreams…" I responded, but then widened my eyes when I realized that I WAS in a dream. "Wait! I'm in a dream right now? It doesn't feel like it at all!" I stretched out a hoof to Princess Luna, touching the coat on her chest. "This is crazy…" I retracted my hoof. "Wait… What if I dream within a dream?"

"…You probably shouldn't…"

"Why not?"

"…I just advise you not to…"

"Okay… Anyway, why are you in my dream? I don't think you've ever stopped by."

Princess Luna slightly looked away. "Well… I must admit that a part of the reason falls on Scootaloo…"

"Scootaloo?"

"Yes, you see, she has this certain fear that she must take care of. If she doesn't…worse things may happen." She looked back towards me. "I wanted you to help her conquer that fear, and make sure things don't go out of hoof."

"Sure, of course…" I agreed. "But…if you don't mind… What is this fear? It's not from those campfire stories Rainbow Dash told everypony, is it?"

"No… It is the teller behind those stories."

I formed a confused expression. "Rainbow Dash…?"

Princess Luna nodded her head.

"It's the wicked whinny of the headless horse!" I heard Scootaloo's voice echo throughout the area we were in. All of a sudden, these ripples formed, seeming to look as if the dream was interrupted.

Princess Luna soon began flying away from me.

"Luna! What's going on?" I exclaimed.

"You have to help Scootaloo face her fear with Rainbow Dash!"

"But how?!"

She was already gone before I could get an answer. I began groaning, feeling the dream fade away from me.

I opened my eyes and lifted my body in shock.

Was that dream real…? If it was…

I looked to where Scootaloo was supposed to be. I found out that she was gone. I gasped softly and quickly removed myself from bed. I heard a loud whining that echoed throughout the cave, which almost sounded a bit scary. However, I realized it was actually just Rainbow Dash's snoring as her mouth stretched out and in a repeated motion. I quickly rushed over to her and kneeled by her side, remembering what Luna told me. I shook her body and spoke softly enough to not wake any other pony else.

"Rainbow…! Rainbow!"

"Hu-huh?" She opened her eyes and rubbed them when she saw me. "Alex? What are you doing?"

"Scootaloo's gone. I think she may have run off into the forest. We have to go find her!"

"Huh…?" She looked at Scootaloo's bed and realized she wasn't there as well. "Whoa! Are you sure?" I nodded. "Well then, let's go find her!"

Rainbow Dash quickly flew out of her bed. I joined her when she flew out of the cave. We both rose up into the air. Rainbow placed her eyes on me. "Alex, you search that part of the forest. I'll search this way. Got it?"

"Yeah."

"Let's move out!" She immediately dashed away, initiating me to begin my search as well.

I flew above the forest, attempting to thoroughly search every part of it for her.

"Come on, Scootaloo… Where are you…?"

Suddenly, I heard screaming coming from a nearby waterfall. I was immediately alarmed and quickly sped in that direction.

"Hello?! Is anyone out there?" I heard. It was definitely Scootaloo's voice. Her voice allowed me to specify which exact area she might be.

"Hold on, Scootaloo…" I muttered under my breath.

When I reached the waterfall, I searched desperately for the orange little filly. I had no clue where she was until I heard a cry. "Heellllp—

I quickly turned my attention to where it came from, noticing something struggling in the water. It was Scootaloo! Just like Rainbow Dash the last time she was forced by the current, Scootaloo was desperately trying to survive the strong current of the water. I quickly flew towards her location, feeling my heart pump drastically as she almost was at the end of the waterfall. She struggled to somehow fight against the current, but no matter how hard she tried, she fell victim to it.

She screamed as she began to fall the great height of the waterfall.

"Scootaloo!" I exclaimed and quickly strained my wings as much as I could to gather that extra burst of speed.

As she was falling, she closed her eyes and braced for any impact her little body could take. Nonetheless, I focused my eyes and strained my wings as much as I could to catch up to her. I was worrying greatly that I might not catch up to her, causing something to stir in my heart.

As I drew nearer, I held out my hooves, hoping I would feel myself catch and hold her in them. I closed my eyes for just a moment, hoping I would have her in my hooves when I opened them. As soon as I felt something on my hooves, I stopped and slowly opened my eyes, clearly having the fear that Scootaloo might not be there.

Nonetheless, when I opened them, Scootaloo was there, clenching my body tightly. I released a great breath of relief and grinned. "Scootaloo! You're alright!"

She gasped and opened her eyes, noticing me. "Alex! How did you—

"Princess Luna came to my dream and asked me to help you with your fear. I woke up when I heard you." I explained.

"Oh…" She looked down sadly. "So you know then…"

Looking down and realizing we really shouldn't be flying at the height, I flew back towards the top of the waterfall and landed somewhere safe, finally allowing my wings to rest. I placed Scootaloo on the ground and began to speak with her.

"Scootaloo… It's okay to have fears… But you're going to have to confront them soon… Otherwise they'll bother you for the rest of your life. They may even make your life worse. I've seen you act strange around Rainbow Dash. Are you trying to impress her, or make her think you're cool?"

She sighed and rubbed her right foreleg with her left hoof. "Yeah… Kinda… I mean… I just wanted her to think that I'm good enough so she can take me under her wing. It would have been so cool to have her as like my big sister. But…" She began sniffling as her voice broke and tears fled from her eyes. "After she finds out that I was scared by her stories, I doubt that'll happen… She wouldn't want to have some little crybaby filly to be around her."

I frowned. Just as I was about to comfort her, I heard another voice near me.

"What are you talking about, kid?" I quickly looked to my right to see Rainbow Dash standing there. She walked towards us as Scootaloo appeared to be surprised and frightened.

"Rainbow Dash! I'm so sorry! Please don't think I'm so weak that you wouldn't want to ever hang out with me ever again! Please!"

"Hey, hey…" Rainbow Dash reached us and took a seat between us, placing a hoof on Scootaloo's mane. "I'm not going to think that kind of stuff just because you got spooked out by a couple of stories."

"…You're not…?"

"No! Look… I'm gonna tell you guys something, but if you every tell anypony else, I'm gonna deny it. First time I heard those stories..."

"You were scared too?" I guessed.

"Yeah…" She returned a confused and slightly suspicious look towards me. "How'd you know?"

"Well, you kind of hinted on it…" I formed a light smirk.

Scootaloo sniffled once more, looking up at Rainbow with a smile. "...You were?"

"Sure! I mean, I got over it because I realized pretty quick that if there was such thing as a headless horse, I could totally take it on." That statement caused me to roll my eyes. However, it wasn't in a bad way. "So, you're looking for somepony to take you under their wing, huh?"

"Mm-hm!" Scootaloo quickly nodded.

"Yeah, I might be up for something like that." Rainbow Dash stretched out her wing and brought Scootaloo closer to her with it.

"Really?"

"As long as you don't go falling into any more rivers in the middle of the night." Rainbow joked.

Scootaloo returned a giggle. "It's a deal."

Afterwards, they nuzzled each other as they hugged, causing me to smile as I felt a warm feeling surround my heart.

"We better get back before any other pony finds out we're here." Rainbow Dash advised and looked at me. "You comin', Alex?"

"Yeah. Go on ahead." I looked towards the river, remembering something. "I'll catch up."

"Okay." Rainbow Dash began carrying Scootaloo back towards the Cave. "See ya there." After, she began flying back.

I released a short chuckle. I stretched out my wings and flew over to the river. Searching for a moment, I spotted the scooter lodged between a rock and a hard place. I quickly flew over to it and managed to pull it out.

I brought it back with me on my way back.

Once I reached the cave, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were already sleeping soundly. On Scootaloo's face, I could see a bright smile planted there. This caused me to release a soft, yet tired, smile of my own. I placed the scooter by her bed and yawned. Finally, I walked to my bed and made myself cozy near Fluttershy.

I closed my eyes, hoping to meet Princess Luna again.

"I'm proud of you."

Her voice almost startled me. I opened my eyes, ironically still being in a dream.

"Oh, Princess Luna… Thanks… I didn't really do much…" I answered.

"You did plenty. For that, I am grateful."

"Well, thanks…" I looked at her and smiled. "I've noticed that you seem to be getting better with…modern language…"

"Have I? I have been practicing a little…"

"Nevertheless, it's always warming and great to see you…"

"The feeling's mutual, Alexander." This phrase being highly familiar, I chuckled and hugged her. She was surprised at my motion for a moment, but then wrapped her hooves around me as well. When I pulled away, she continued to reveal a grin on her face. "That's enough to keep me happy for the night. I suppose I should leave you to your dreams now…"

"Come visit me whenever you want. This must be less of a hassle than coming to meet me outside of my dreams."

Luna returned a soft chuckle. "Very well then. I will. Sweet dreams, Alex."

"You too, Luna…"

Afterwards, she departed out of my dream, leaving me to encounter whatever my mind wanted to show me.

"Mornin', you two." I heard, waking me up.

Fluttershy mumbled by my side. I groaned a little as well, opening my eyes to see Applejack. The others were already getting ready to leave. I rubbed my head a little. "Geez, Applejack… You always seem to wake us up when everyone is already leaving…"

She released a small chuckle. "Heheh, yeah. Sorry about that, but Winsome Falls is just around the corner!"

"If you say so…" I responded, rubbing my eyes and beginning to get ready to continue on further.

When we arrived at Winsome Falls, which actually wasn't too far from our last camping location and ironically contained the river where Scootaloo fell in, Sweetie Belle hopped off from my back and exclaimed out to everyone else.

"I call sister teams! Last herd to make it to the falls is a moldy carrot!"

"Ugh, if you insist." Rarity trotted past Sweetie Belle, holding a disgusted expression. However, I knew she couldn't hide it in. She began trotting very quickly until she just couldn't take it anymore. "It is so on!" She waved her hooves excitedly and began racing with Sweetie Belle.

As Applebloom and Applejack joined them, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo stayed behind. "They think they can beat the two of us?" Rainbow Dash stretched out her wings as she faced Scootaloo.

Scootaloo returned a determined and competitive expression, fluttering her wings.

I found it very adorable and sweet to what happened next. Rainbow Dash held Scootaloo up towards the air, making it appear as if Scootaloo was flying herself.

I chuckled as I observed this scene.

Fluttershy giggled a bit as well. "I guess we're both going to be moldy carrots."

"Meh." I shrugged. "I don't mind if I'm a 'moldy carrot' as long as I'm with you."

"Aww…" She returned a blush and then kissed me on the cheek.

When we finally arrived back at town, it was already night time. We had taken a path that didn't take us two days as it did when going to Winsome Falls. We returned the stuff back at Sweet Apple Acres. I bade Applejack a good night and proceeded to walk Fluttershy back home to her cottage. She placed such an adorably and cute goodnight kiss before she walked off to bed.

Before I reached my home, I met up with Rarity, who was outside her boutique, removing the last of her things from the cart.

"Oh, sorry, Rarity." I apologized. "I should have helped you with your things."

She smiled. "It's quite alright, Alex. I appreciate the concern." She paused for a moment and then placed the things she was carrying with her magic on the ground. "Um… I still hope I didn't bother you or make you feel uncomfortable with that talk we had…"

"It's alright. I'm not going to freak out just because you have a little crush on me." I laughed a little. "It's flattering really…"

Rarity's cheeks filled up with some redness. "I suppose so…"

"You know… I've got to admit something to you…" I walked over to her and sat down. She sat down next to me as well.

"What is it?"

I chuckled a little at the thought. "Well…back when I was…asocial… I used to…dislike you…"

This caused Rarity to gasp. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah. I mean. Of course, not anymore, but… it was just your behavior and attitude that would kind of annoy me…just like Rainbow Dash annoyed me with her arrogance. However… I realized how I focused too much on what annoyed me about you instead of seeing the beautiful heart you really have." This caused Rarity to blush once again, facing the ground. "Just like you said when your feelings started at the Grand Galloping Gala, my different view on you started when you made me that tux for the Grand Galloping Gala. I saw how you truly represented your element of Generosity and went out of your way to please the girls. You really shifted my impression on you to a good one."

"Well… I'm glad you don't think of me in such a way anymore… I certainly don't want you thinking of me in such a bad way…"

I released a grin. "You're a beautiful pony, Rarity. I may not be able to have that kind of relationship with you, but I'll always be there for you if you need somepony to talk to. I may not completely understand if the talk is about… fashion necessities and such, but I'll still have both my ears out willing to listen. Even if you're in distress and just need a great meaningful hug, I'll be really glad to give you one."

Rarity sighed happily and faced me. "Alex, you're such a sweet pony, you know that? Fluttershy is really one lucky mare to have you…" I could only shrug modestly. She looked towards the entrance of her door and back at me. "I suppose it's not too much to ask if I could have one of those hugs right now?"

I released a small breath through my nose, which indicated that I found that question funny. "Of course."

After, we both hugged each other for a moment. I made sure to make it a meaningful one, just like the one I wished I could have so much back when I was a little colt.

When we pulled away, Rarity still retained a little of her blush. "Goodnight, Alex."

"Goodnight, Rarity."

She grabbed the rest of her things from the ground and walked into her boutique.

I returned home.

I jumped on my bed and covered myself with the blankets. I inhaled and exhaled a deep breath. I closed my eyes, awaiting sleep.

I was a little colt again. Everypony around me was ignoring me, even my own family. I could only look at the ground sadly, feeling my own tear drop from my eye and melt on the ground. However, I was confronted by her. She released a comforting look towards me and embraced me, assuring me that I wasn't alone. Princess Luna had entered my dream again, even in my current state. Wanting to make sure that I didn't have a nightmare, she stayed with me. She even summoned the rest of my true friends; the girls. She brought them along with me, and they were in their filly state as well. I looked at Luna, forming a light smile across my face. She returned another expression of warmth towards me as well and winked. She chuckled and continued to embrace me in the way I wished my mother would have.

Best dream ever.

Wonderbolts Academy

Episode 59 – Wonderbolts Academy

After I rose out of bed, I already started my way out the door. I looked up to see a sunny clear sky. This caused me to think about today's pending adventure.

Suddenly, a light blue face appeared in front of me in an upside down position. The bright rainbow mane hung from her head as she stared at me with a curious expression.

"Watcha doin'?" She asked.

"Nice to see you too, Rainbow…" I returned. "Nothing at the moment."

She flipped her body around in the air to where I could see her correctly. "That's awesome because I need you to come over to my place really quick."

"Huh?" I drew out a questionable expression. "Why? Are we training today?"

"Better." She formed a bright smile. "I'm sure there's going to be a surprise for you in it."

"Um…" I could only express before she grabbed my hoof and forced me up from the ground. I quickly spread my wings and began flapping them in order to stay by her.

"Come on!" She slightly lunged her head to the side in order to gesture me to follow her.

"Right behind you, Captain…" I muttered, initiating our leave.

When we arrived under her home in the clouds, I noticed the rest of the girls there. There was a huge sun umbrella covering Twilight's area, providing her with enough shade to read the book in front of her. A picnic basket also sat by her. Rarity sat on my right after her, sipping on a glass of water as she wore dark purple shades with hot pink trimming. Then, there was Applejack by a plate full of apples. She was munching on one as she laid down on her stomach. Fluttershy was by her in the same position, only she was observing the scenery and her surroundings. Pinkie Pie sat in front of them, eyeing the mailbox excitedly and carefully for some reason.

I looked around, a little confused. "What's going on?" I asked.

Pinkie gasped. "You didn't hear?!" She quickly sat up and dashed over to me. "Dashie is waiting for an acceptance letter from the Wonderbolts!"

As Pinkie spoke, Rainbow tried to shush her and make her stop talking, but she failed. "Pinkie! That was supposed to be a surprise for Alex!"

"Oh…" She released a small nervous chuckle. "Sorry…"

Rainbow smiled proudly nonetheless. "That's alright. It's not the main surprise I have for him." She crossed her forelegs as she flew.

"Okay…" I returned, trying to put the pieces together. "So…you're waiting to be accepted in the Wonderbolts? Huh?"

"Not exactly. You see…" Rainbow began explaining the situation. "I'm going to be enrolled in the Wonderbolt Academy." She gazed out towards the sky. "It's like a boot camp for those who want to have the chance to be in the Wonderbolts. Knowing how I'm an awesome flyer, I'm sure to get in. Then, I'll start training there. I'll get in the Wonderbolts in no time!"

"Well, that's great, Rainbow!" I encouraged. "I'm really glad to see you becoming closer to your dreams by the minute."

She returned a light smile. "Thanks, Alex." She chuckled a little. "I can't wait to see how surprised you are when my letter gets here."

"What?" I responded. "Why would I be surprised?"

"Hm. You'll see… Come on." She joined the other girls, sitting between Twilight and Rarity. I walked over to Fluttershy, lying myself down on her left side. We shared a look and smiled. I nuzzled her playfully a bit, causing her to giggle softly and kiss me.

Pinkie Pie released a nervous squeal, beginning to jump around the mailbox and never taking her anxious eyes off of it. "Ooooh, I wish the mailpony would just come already! I can't wait another minute to find out if Rainbow Dash got in or not!"

"Pinkie Pie, you're more nervous than Rainbow Dash." Twilight raised her eyes from the book and commented on Pinkie's behavior.

Rainbow Dash immediately scoffed. "I'm not nervous at all. When I get into the Wonderbolt Academy..."

Pinkie clenched Rainbow's coat with her hooves. "IF you get in!" She shook her. "If you get in! Don't jinx it!"

"I'm telling you, it's in the bag." Rainbow Dash assured and pushed her hooves away.

"Don't jinx it!" Pinkie warned greatly once again.

"She is the best flyer in Ponyville." Applejack added, chomping on another apple.

Rainbow ensured this, dashing past us in flight and blowing our manes, along with Applejack's hat, which Applejack quickly caught. "In Ponyville?" She rapidly maneuvered to a nearby cloud and instantly formed it into a slide. "I'm probably the best flyer in all of Equestria." She spoke as she easily slid down with her wings outstretched. "I wouldn't be surprised if they just went ahead and made me a Wonderbolt on the first day." She flew calmly on her back and landed back near us.

"You have a lot of credibility for it." I added. "I don't see why not. You're pretty much the only one there that's done much more for Equestria than just fly expertly."

"I wouldn't say the only one…" she returned.

I raised an eyebrow, still becoming confused about these odd things Rainbow was mentioning. However, this expression was quickly broken when a familiar voice arose from a distance. "Rainbow Daaaash!" I quickly looked to see a familiar gray Pegasus with a blond mane fly towards us. "I've got your letter for you!" She announced when arriving in our area.

Rainbow Dash quickly snatched the letter without question, but I was more concerned about the pony delivering the letter. "Derpy…!" I performed a quick flight towards her. "Where the hay have you been all this time?"

"Sorry." She apologized with her cheery smile. "I've been busy with work."

"…You work as a mailpony?" I asked, noticing her saddlebag that contained one more last letter.

"Yup! I saved the last mail for the best! I just finished with my morning." She answered.

"What about that last letter right there?" I pointed towards it.

"That's for me! But first, I want to see Rainbow Dash get into the Wonderbolt Academy!"

"Wait… How did you know that Rainbow Dash—"

"Enough talkin'!" Rainbow ordered. "Watch as I open my ticket to my dreams!" She gripped the top part of the letter with her teeth and ripped it off. As she flapped her wings, she held the letter with her hooves and quickly began reading through it. However, her expression changed to the opposite direction, indicating a bad signal. "I... didn't get in." She announced sadly. These thoughts raced through my head, trying to figure out the reasons why in Equestria would Rainbow Dash not get in. On the side, I heard Pinkie Pie gasp horridly as Derpy as the others returned frowns and surprised expressions. After a moment, she presented the paper to us and revoked her frown. "Gotcha!" She laughed, revealing the green checkmark on the letter and removing our frowns from our faces. "Ha, you guys are so gullible. Like I wasn't gonna get in!"

"So what's the surprise you kept bringing me on about?" I asked.

She tossed the paper over to me. I caught it with my magic and began scanning through it to see what the "surprise" was supposed to be. "I may have mentioned you when applying for the Wonderbolt Academy."

I widened my eyes and looked up from the paper. "You didn't…"

She rubbed her hoof on her stomach and observed it from front and back. "Did I?" After seeing the proof on the paper, Rainbow continued to speak. "Apparently, an Alicorn gets automatically accepted, seeing as they're super rare and special."

"But, Rainbow…! I don't want to be in the Wonderbolts!"

"You don't have to be!" She quickly flew over to me and grabbed my cheeks, squishing them. " Don't you see?" She removed her hooves. "This is the best chance for you to get better with your flying! I'm already a great coach, but imagine being trained by a Wonderbolt? You should become as awesome as me in no time! Well…maybe not as awesome…but a great flyer!"

"That's…actually pretty smart of you, Rainbow…but…" I sighed. "I'm not really…familiar…with their type of training. It's focused more on discipline…so I've heard…"

"Come on, you've been through worse things. The type of training shouldn't matter. What matters is how amazing your flying becomes!"

"Well… I suppose I can give it a sh—"

"I got accepted!" A giggled occurred afterwards, drawing our attention towards a dancing gray Pegasus to our side.

"What?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "How did a Pegasus like you get in?"

Derpy stopped dancing and faced Rainbow. "I don't know. But they must have really liked those muffins I've sent them!"

"Huh?" Rainbow was really surprised at this. "But—"

Pinkie Pie quickly rushed towards her and began squeezing her tightly. "I'm just sooooooooooo happy for you!"

While this was occurring, I walked over to Derpy. "Why'd you want to get into Wonderbolt Academy?" I asked. "I don't think you ever had dreams of becoming one…"

The grin on her face faded away a little. "Well… The truth is…"

"Come on, Alex!" Rainbow Dash called after finally being freed from Pinkie. "We've got to get moving! The sooner I get there, the sooner I get to show my stuff!" She dashed between Applejack and Rarity, retrieving the saddlebag they had packed for her.

"Wow…" I rubbed my head. "Well, sorry for the…sudden goodbye…but…see you girls la—"

"Come on!" She grabbed me by my coat on my back and forced me off the ground to begin flying. "See you guys in a week!"

I looked directly at Fluttershy, feeling a little blue that I wasn't even able to give her a hug before I left. However, she managed to smile lightly and wave at me.

"Wait for me!" Derpy announced and began flying towards us as well.

"Good luck!" Applejack wished.

"Won't need it!" Rainbow returned.

"DON'T FORGET TO WRITE!" Pinkie Pie's voice echoed throughout the entire airspace, shocking me for a bit.

"Whoa…" I commented, noticing the aftermath from the wave of volume.

"This is going to be so fun!" Derpy exclaimed. "Especially since I'm going to be with my best friends in the world!"

"Ugh." Rainbow expressed. "Derpy, this isn't supposed to be fun. We're receiving high quality training from the one and only Wonderbolts. However, it will be fun for me, because I'll see myself being the best out of all the rookies there."

"Oh…" Derpy frowned and slightly lowered her head.

I patted a hoof on her back and sent her a warm smile. "Don't worry. We'll still have fun."

She managed to lightly smile after my comment.

When we finally entered into the academy in the sky, we looked around to see many ponies on the clouds. Several lifted upwards to the sky, several performed tricks on the obstacle course, and several trained on the training grounds. Rainbow Dash returned a competitive yet excited look.

"Oh yeah! This is gonna be sweet!"

"Whatever you say…" I responded as I continued to look around. "Where are we supposed to go?"

Rainbow Dash scanned the area. "Over there." She pointed to a spot near the flagpole holding a red flag. "That's where all the recruits are at."

We flew towards where the pegasi were at and landed at the end of the horizontal line. I remained silent in the line, standing between Derpy and Rainbow Dash, until I felt some curious eyes creep up on me. I slowly looked towards my right, which was Derpy's way. Every pony, except Derpy, was just staring at me. I could only look at them back for a few seconds and turn my head away awkwardly. "Must be surprised of an Alicorn joining them…" I muttered softly.

"Just watch." Rainbow Dash heard my comment and responded. "I'll be drawing their attention away from you. No sweat."

"You're excessively proud today." I answered.

"Gotta be. I have to stay positive if I really want to impress the Wonderbolts."

"Uh-huh…"

When they finally stopped gluing their attention towards me, for the time being, I couldn't help but notice familiar pegasi in the line, mostly from the event with bringing water to Cloudsdale. The pony I recognized most was the huge bulky white one with tiny wings. He was too busy flexing his muscles to the mare by him. After, the last pegasus seemed to join us. Her coat seemed to be of a light opal color, while her mane and eyes, to be put simply, were different shades of amber. She landed at the end of the line, to Rainbow Dash's left. I looked around as everypony seemed to have their suitcase and saddlebags ready. Derpy and I seemed to be the only ones without one…

"Well lookie what we got here." A voice suddenly sounded, causing for everypony to look at one direction and quickly straightened their posture. Wondering why they did this, I followed their example anyway. "Betcha'll think you're Wonderbolt material, don't ya?" The mare walked in front of us, revealing herself. She looked familiar. Spitfire, if I remember correctly.

"Yes ma'am!" Everypony but I answered.

Fortunately, Spitfire didn't seem to tell the difference. "Think you got what it takes to be an elite flyer?" She asked, pacing in front of us and eyeing us carefully.

"Yes ma'am!"

"Well then. Let me be the first to tell you..." She began. "You don't!" She placed her hoof on somepony in the beginning of the line, surprising me. I began feeling a little nervous. Never have I encountered a pony that gave such an outburst like that… Well…excluding my father… "If you had what it took to be an elite flyer, you'd already be a Wonderbolt!" She began walking towards more of my way. I didn't know why, but I continued to grow more nervous, feeling my body shiver and tremble on the inside. "Still think you're something special?" She exclaimed towards the pony near the white buff one.

Trembling in fear, she shook her head and responded. "No ma'am!"

Spitfire then shifted her attention towards the white one, eyeing him and startling him. Afterwards, she looked at his wings, which she was about to make a comment on, despite his large appearance. "Ya think you're hot stuff?" He quickly lowered himself in defeat.

Spitfire shook her head and moved on to the next pony in line…Derpy. Oh no… Will she be able to handle the pressure and not to mention such terrifying outbursts…? She analyzed her from hoof to mane. She then placed her attention towards Derpy's eyes, which of course were crossed. "What's with those eyes?" Spitfire began, causing me to flinch at the thought of what Derpy might react with. "Do you have some problem with your eyesight or do you think you're just better than everyone else here to fly with those kinds of eyes?"

"No, ma'am!" Derpy quickly responded, returning a somewhat bold statement.

"Listen here, muffin." Spitfire placed a hoof on her chest. "Your muffins may have been appealing enough to the others to get you in here, but I'll let you know right now that that won't fly by me. If you think you can impress me by flying swiftly with crossed eyes like that, then be my guest. But unless you really just want to be kicked out of this Academy, then I suggest you fix them!"

I heard a gulp and it seemed that Derpy ended up listening to her orders. Spitfire remained silent and began moving down the line. Oh Celestia… Help me out in this…

She stopped in front of me and I could feel her eyes creeping all over me. I looked straight ahead, as every other pony was doing, but inside I was only wondering desperately on what she was going to do. I braced myself for whatever she was going to throw. However, I had a very good guess on what was the first thing she was going to bring up.

"An Alicorn, huh?" She finally brought to my attention. "Are you really here to become a Wonderbolt, or are you just here so you can get special attention from the others?"

She glared at me, waiting for my answer. "…no, ma'am?" I returned, not quite as bold as I usually would be.

"So, which is it!?" She exclaimed, getting a little more into my face.

Ugh…why are you acting like this, Alex? "…none of those, ma'am…"

"Oh, really? Mind telling me the truth then?"

I sighed inside my mind, just wanting for this fierce interrogation to be over already. "…I want to become a better flyer, ma'am…"

"A better flyer?" She replied with an intimidating and unbelievable tone. However, she paused for a moment and added an unexpected continuation. "…Just don't think you're getting any special treatment just because you're an Alicorn…"

Finally, she moved on, allowing me to calm my nerves.

"You look like you're the worst flyer in the whole academy!" She told Rainbow Dash as she looked over her. This statement caused Rainbow Dash to furrow her eyebrows in an irritated manner. "You'll probably quit after the first day!"

"No ma'am! I'd never quit, ma'am!" Rainbow Dash responded, clearly revealing no sign of nervousness.

"Ha." Spitfire released and moved on to the last pony. "What about you? Bet you couldn't fly past the first flagpole without getting winded."

"Try me, ma'am." The mare responded.

"What's that?" Spitfire lowered her shades.

"Let me show you what I've got, ma'am."

"Ah. You want a chance to prove yourself, huh?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Well then, now's your chance. Give me five hundred laps! All of you!" She announced loudly. Everypony released a moan. "Now!" She ordered, blowing her whistle and initiating us to begin our laps.

I began flying, feeling the last of my nerves slip away. Rainbow Dash, of course, flashed by me every time, but I wasn't bothered. Derpy managed to stay by me, speaking with me as we continued to fly at a normal pace.

"That was a little scary…" She told me, no longer having her crossed eyes. "I never thought I'd you see that nervous… You don't seem like the pony to be that way…"

I remained silent for a moment. "Let's just say… She awfully reminded me of someone…"

"Who?" She asked.

Knowing as she still has no clue about that experience, I shook my head. "You wouldn't know why if I told you."

"Oh, okay…"

We continued our five hundred lap flight, which really wasn't much of a problem until after the first one hundred laps or so. By then, our fatigue was already setting in, but we couldn't stop, especially since Spitfire was down below, watching us. This was all good practice for my wings, but maybe this was too big of a step…?

"Lap four-hundred and ninety-nine!" Spitfire announced, directing towards Rainbow Dash and the other competitive mare. They seemed to be getting along quite well… After a few seconds, they passed us once again. "Five hundred!" They immediately stopped while Derpy, I, and the other cadets had to complete our laps.

I was panting heavily when I finally finished. I didn't even land smoothly. I just allowed myself to fall to the ground as my sweat dropped from my head. Derpy was tired as well, but not as much as me. She landed by me and provided shade by stretching out her wing to cover my face from the sun. "Thanks Derpy…" I managed to hack out.

"What you need is some energy." She offered and opened her saddle bag. She pulled out a muffin and quickly shoved it down my throat. I coughed out pieces of the muffin as I did not eat it properly. Nonetheless, it helped a little. Derpy helped me up.

"Now, I'm thirsty…" I looked around. "Is there someplace we can get something to drink?" I asked.

Derpy scanned the area. "I think that's the cafeteria right there." She pointed towards a building that presented a sign which depicted food."

"Come on. I need all the water I can drink…" I announced with an almost raspy voice and began walking.

When we were inside, there was actually an upside to being in the Academy. The food looked delicious, even when I was enormously parched. It was somewhat of a buffet. There were different sections that contained different plates of different types of meals. As soon as I spotted the first liquid drink I could find, I rushed towards it, filled a glass with it, and drank it all down like I've never done before.

"Punch…?" I expressed after looking at my empty glass.

"Come on! Let's eat!" Derpy exclaimed and clapped her hooves cheerfully.

After we grabbed our meal and dessert, we spotted Rainbow Dash and that other mare with her. We decided to go sit with them.

"Hey, what took you guys so long?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"We were just strolling around and checking out the scenery." I responded sarcastically, but with Rainbow Dash, it wasn't obvious.

"Okay…" She replied. "Anyway, this is Lightning Dust." Rainbow Dash presented a hoof towards the other competitive mare. "Lightning, this is Alex and Derpy."

Derpy and I both returned a greeting.

"So you're here to become a better flyer, huh?" Lightning Dust directed towards me. "Never thought I'd see an Alicorn needing to become one. I thought they were already good flyers."

"Alex hasn't had his wings since the very day he was born, so he got a little of a… late start…"

"Huh?" She asked, confused about the matter.

"It's a long story…" I quickly added and began to consume my food.

It wasn't long until Spitfire called everypony out again for the main event of the day. I began feeling like I didn't belong in this Academy, but I had to shake it off because this was pretty much the best opportunity to take in order to increase my wing skill the quickest way.

Before actually getting started, we were given Wonderbolt-styled uniforms to put on. Rainbow Dash was so eager and excited when she did. It seemed like she felt invincible wearing that suit. To me, it was nothing really amazing…

We were all gathered towards the area where pegasi usually took off in flight. Spitfire stood in front of all of us with something huge hidden behind by a violet cloth. She then began explaining what we were doing and why we were there in the first place. "The Wonderbolts are the fastest, best precision flyers in the world. And spin-outs can still happen. And when they do, a Wonderbolt must be able to recover quickly. This..." She signaled the assistant behind her, who removed the cloth and revealed what was behind Spitfire. "…is the Dizzitron." It was actually some sort of large machine. It appeared to be a large target while having a cogwheel in the middle and one on the side to its right. "It's gonna make you very, I repeat, very dizzy." …Very dizzy…? "Your task is to try and recover, and fly straight again. As soon as possible. Once you have recovered, you must come in for a smooth landing. Now, who's first?" Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust immediately and voluntarily rose their hoof. "You." Spitfire directed. Rainbow Dash thought Spitfire had picked her, as she placed a hoof on her chest. However, she was surprised when she actually picked the pink pony near her. "You're up."

"Me?" The mare responded fearfully. She looked past Spitfire, observing the Dizzitron. She gulped.

"Now!" Spitfire commanded, rushing the frightened mare. Nonetheless, her first victim placed herself inside the strap. "Ready?" She asked.

The mare looked both sides and replied in a nervous tone. "Yes ma'am!" She placed her goggles on.

"Go!" Spitfire ordered, allowing the assistant to turn on the machine. It began circling around, both the main wheel and the cog wheel. As I could only observe the machine moving faster and faster, I began getting my nerves back.

"Oh boy…" I muttered under my breath.

"Release!" Spitfire shouted. The wheel stopped and the mare was thrown off the machine. She flipped in a circular motion in the air several times, slowing down eventually. When she was in the right position, she tried to regain herself. She managed to skid lightly to a stop, but still remained dizzy as she wobbled on the floor. "Huh. Fifteen seconds." Spitfire commented, looking at her stopwatch. "Decent. But I wouldn't go writin' home about it! Who's next?" Rainbow Dash quickly lifted her hoof, having Spitfire notice her as the mare was pulled away. "Alright, Rainbow Dash. Let's see what you got."

"Yes ma'am!" Rainbow Dash saluted boldly and quickly strapped herself in. She placed on her goggles and braced valiantly for the ride.

"Okay, go!" Spitfire clicked her stopwatch as the machine began spinning. "Release!" Rainbow Dash was released after a few seconds. However, Rainbow quickly recovered her balance and sped to where we were in a matter of seconds. "Six seconds?" Spitfire commented with widened eyes. "That's an academy record."

"You made it look so easy." The pink mare whispered.

Rainbow Dash removed the goggles from her rolling eyes and chuckled. "I make everything look easy."

"Okay Lightning Dust, you're up." Spitfire called.

As Lightning Dust began preparing herself, she requested a favor from Spitfire. "Ma'am, can you put the Dizzitron at maximum speed?" She strapped herself in. "I wanna push my limits."

Spitfire shared a look with her assistant. "You sure about that?"

"Yes ma'am." Lightning placed on her goggles.

"Okay. You asked for it." She signaled the other assistant by the machine. He pulled the lever to start it. As it spun up, he increased the speed, which surprisingly was on the turtle speed at first. The target spun wildly, beginning to make me feel dizzy by just looking at it. "Release!" Lightning was released, and I thought she might have actually been too cocky. However, almost as fast as Rainbow, she recovered herself and dashed down towards us, surprising Spitfire. "Six point five seconds. Not bad."

Lightning Dust walked over to Rainbow Dash, creating a hoof bump with one another.

"Next!" Spitfire exclaimed, shocking everypony.

Completely unexpected, Derpy shot her hoof in the air.

"You?" Spitfire returned, walking towards her. "You want to go on the Dizzatron so quickly?"

"Yes ma'am!" Derpy answered with a bright smile on her face.

"What's the occasion?"

"It just looks easy and fun, ma'am!" Derpy continued to smile brightly.

"Oh! Easy and fun! Watch out! We have a bad pony over here!" Derpy returned a slightly confused expression towards Spitfire's mocking statement. "Tell you what. You prove to me how easy and fun it is, and I'll let you keep those eyes of yours crossed." Derpy formed a happy agape mouth when she heard this. "BUT, if you don't, you'll be cleaning the mess hall every night you're staying here… Deal…?"

Derpy formed her agape mouth towards the opposite way when she heard that last statement. Nevertheless, she placed on her goggles, formed a determined expression, flew over to the machine and strapped herself in. "Deal."

Spitfire seemed to be intrigued by Derpy's sudden change. Nonetheless, she looked over to the assistant and signaled him. I don't know if Derpy forgot to mention to change the speed, but it looked like it wasn't changing. This frightened me. I looked at Derpy prepare herself in a bold manner, hoping she wouldn't fail somehow. The machine began spinning. It spun so fast that I couldn't even see Derpy clearly anymore. My heart was pumping fast for her.

"Release!" Derpy was flung and thrown through a cloud, disappearing from our eyes. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds. Everypony looked at each other in silence. However, my eyes were glued to the spot where she disappeared.

"Come on, Derpy…" I muttered under my breath.

"Well, looks like it wasn't fun for her after her all." Spitfire expressed as she was about to click the stopwatch.

However, I began hearing distant laughter and glee. Derpy revealed herself after flying through the same cloud. She continued giggling as she slowly landed before us. "Hahaha! That was fun! Can I go again?"

Spitfire widened her eyes greatly and looked at her stopwatch when she clicked it. "Twelve seconds… At that speed…" She shook her head in disbelief and walked over to Derpy. "Not bad, kid." She placed a hoof on her shoulder. "You proved me wrong. You don't have to clean the mess hall and you can keep those crossed eyes of yours."

"Alright!" Derpy cheered and crossed her eyes again, freely.

I smiled warmly at her victory, but it was cut short when Spitfire placed her attention on me. "You! The Alicorn!" I widened my eyes in surprise at her call. "Why don't show us some of us your stuff?"

Uh-oh… I remained silent and hesitant for a moment. However, I knew I had to do it. "…okay…" I answered, feeling a little like Fluttershy now. I despondently flew towards the Dizzatron and nervously strapped myself in.

"Ready?" She asked. Before I could make sure she lowered the speed first, she called out the order to begin. "Go!" Dear Celestia… The wheel began spinning and quickly escalated to its top speed. I could not describe how horrendous it felt. I don't know why, but I hated the feeling I got when ponies usually loved it. It felt like hours until I heard Spitfire. I was released from the wheel. I was spinning so uncontrollably that I tried to even use my magic to help, but it was pretty much useless. I managed to turn my direction towards the others, but I still couldn't fly straight. I attempted to flap my wings, but my situation became worse. Soon enough, I crashed right on the spot I began in. Everypony could only groan in my pain as I slowly slid down the machine and fell on the ground, losing conscious.

When I began opening my eyes, I released a groan. My vision removed its blur and I could clearly see Derpy staring at me with concerned eyes.

"Derpy…?" I asked, not fully aware yet.

"Are you okay, Alex? Your crash looked really painful…"

"Ugh…" I placed a hoof to my head and rubbed it.

"Listen up!" I heard Spitfire announce, despite my condition. "For the rest of the camp, you'll be working in pairs. 'Morrow morning I'll post the teams including who'll be lead pony, and who'll be wing pony. Good luck." After that announcement, she left.

"…was I out for that long?" I asked.

"Hehe." Derpy giggled. "Yeah." She grabbed my hoof and helped me back up.

I shook my head and thanked her. "I'm expecting to be your wing pony." I told her in a silly yet serious manner.

"Hey, Alex." Rainbow Dash walked up to me. "You, okay? You took a pretty big hit there." Rainbow Dash brought up with a slight smirk on her face.

"Yeah… Yeah… I'm fine…" I sighed and rubbed my face. "I don't ever want to do that again…"

"Probably want to get used to it." Rainbow advised. "There's going to be plenty more where that came from." She chuckled. "Better hit the bunks. It's going to be dark soon." She turned around, ready to walk off. "See you tomorrow, Alex!"

As she and Lightning Dust walked away, I stayed behind with Derpy.

"Aren't you going with them?" I asked.

"I'm not really tired." She responded.

"Well, come on. Let's go walk around or something." I offered.

"Okay." She accepted with a smile.

Stopping at a lake when the sun was setting, we both sat down and relaxed for a bit.

"Oh." I expressed, remembering something. "I forgot to ask you again."

"Huh?" She returned a confused expression.

"Why do you want to become a Wonderbolt? Not in a bad way, but I've never seen your goal as being one." I asked.

"Oh…" She released a frown as she stared into the water.

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to sound bad…"

She shook her head. "No, no… It's not that… It's just the reason why I want to be a Wonderbolt."

"Well… What's the reason, if you don't mind me asking?"

She remained silent for a moment. She shook her head and looked almost like she wanted to cry. "A lot of ponies see me the way I don't want them to see me. They see me as clumsy and too easily distracted to do anything. Sometimes… I feel like I am clumsy and all those other things they say when I screw things up…" She sighed. "I guess that's why I don't have a lot of friends…" She looked at me with gloomy eyes. "I guess I look pretty sad to you now, don't I?"

After looking at her with empathetic eyes, I shook my head. "Derpy… You're a lot stronger than I am."

"What…?" She questioned with a slightly surprised expression. "How?"

"There's…still a lot you don't know about me… But I used to be really depressed. I couldn't ever smile until my true friends, the girls, entered my life. But you… You always can find a reason to smile when times are tough." I chuckled. "It actually makes me feel weak compared to you."

"But you're not." Derpy quickly added.

"I know…but… You know what I mean."

"Right…" Derpy paused for a second. "Well, just so you know… I consider you one of my true friends. You're the only pony who actually believes I can do something. You know… All that good stuff you've said about me."

"Well, it's all true." I confidently replied with a light smile. "After the time I've spent with you, I've seen how some ponies see you as clumsy, annoying, unreliable, etc. But it's not true… Sure, you might make some mistakes. But that's why you learn from them. To me, you're a pony with a really good heart, no matter the mistakes."

Derpy released a small smile and quickly embraced me. "Thanks, Alex."

I placed my hooves on her back and patted her lightly. "You're welcome." She pulled away, allowing me to continue on with my question. "So, how does that relate with you becoming a Wonderbolt?"

"If I become a Wonderbolt…" She sat up and stood on her four hooves, looking out towards the moon that was now visible. "I'm sure ponies won't see me as some clumsy oaf anymore. They'll see me as some pony responsible and capable of tasks besides delivering mail and baking muffins. No longer will I be known as clumsy old cross-eyed Derpy."

"Wow…" I released, never really experiencing a deep Derpy. "That's really noble of you…"

"You really think so?" She asked, facing me.

"Yeah. You're really confident in achieving this goal… Just to let you know…" I sat up and stood by her. I placed a hoof on her shoulder. "I support you all the way, if this is really what you want."

"Thank you again, Alex…" She expressed.

I nodded. "Just be yourself. That's all that matters, at least to me…"

It seemed that Derpy just couldn't hold back another hug, so she quickly squeezed me once again, which was a little tighter this time. When she pulled away, she smiled brightly. "You're the greatest, you know that?"

"Oh, come on…" I responded with a hint of embarrassment and a platter of modesty.

Derpy released a small giggle. "Well… I guess we better get some sleep then. It seems we have a big week ahead of us."

"You've got that right…"

She expressed one last smile and waved. "Goodnight, Alex."

"Goodnight, Derpy." I returned.

Afterwards, she headed towards the dorms where the mares were staying.

I decided to go check out the dorms the stallions were going to be sleeping in, but I felt like I wasn't really going to like it…

As soon as I entered the large room with bunk beds, every one of the stallions weren't asleep at all. They were all excessively talking about who was tougher and who they'd think will be the lead pony and wing pony. I sighed, which was actually a bad move. They turned towards me and stared at me a little as I walked. When I walked to one of the beds that weren't taken, they immediately began bombarding me with questions about my appearance.

"So you're really an Alicorn?"

"Do you actually get to talk with the Princesses?"

"How come you're the only Alicorn here?"

"How is it that you're an Alicorn but can barely fly?"

"You should totally hoof-wrestle Snowflake."

Seeing that putting the pillow over my head was clearly ineffective, I sighed once again and removed my head from under the pillow. I looked at all of them as they awaited my answer. "Listen guys, I'd love to answer your questions, but I'm feeling a little hungry, so I think I'm going to get myself a snack." I jumped off my bed and began walking off.

Once I was outside in the night-blue sky, I rubbed my head, feeling my eyes scream for sleep. I groaned.

"I don't think those guys are ever going to let me sleep…" I spoke to myself.

"Did I hear somepony say 'sleep'?" I heard a voice speak above me, startling me a bit.

I looked above to see Princess Luna smiling at me from the cloud she was on. I looked around; making sure no one was nearby. Afterwards, I quickly lifted up into the air and met Princess Luna on the cloud. "Princess Luna, what are you doing here?" I questioned.

"I heard you had become a part of the Wonderbolt Academy." She responded.

"I see." I yawned. "Well, the stallions are too busy staying up and talking about all these things. It's like they don't even care about sleep."

"You need not to worry about sleeping around such bothersome stallions. You can sleep away right here on this comfortable cloud."

"What if Spitfire or somepony else finds out I'm here? I don't think she'll be very happy…" Luna released a small smile and focused her horn. She created a magic bubble around the cloud. "What'd you do?" I inquired, looking around.

"You could say I casted an…invincibility spell." She answered. "However, it takes quite amount of power and concentration, so I'll need my rest as well."

"Hm…" I commented. "So I guess you'll be staying with me, huh?" I asked.

"Well…" Princess Luna slightly looked away. "If you do not feel comfortable about it, I can find another way for you to sleep comfortably…"

I released a soft and tired smile. "It's okay. You're my Princess. Of course I feel comfortable by you." I laid down and nestled my head on the amazingly comfy and soft cloud. "Goodnight, Princess."

"Goodnight, Alex…" She responded softly. "Don't worry… I'll watch over and protect you…"

Before I fell asleep, I felt something in my heart about her last statement. It was just so…kind and warming to hear that. It felt really special and…just…so amazing…

A tune that sounded loudly from a horn woke me up. I opened my eyes and shook my head. I groaned and stood up, beginning to walk. However, I had forgotten that I was on a cloud, so I almost fell towards the ground below. A pair of hooves quickly caught me by the side and pulled me back onto the cloud.

"Careful, Alex." Luna spoke.

"Oh, Luna…" I rubbed my eyes. "Thank you. I had forgotten I stayed up here." I released a quick yawn and looked below. "I better get going before any pony sees me coming from an invisible cloud."

"I understand. Have a nice day, Alex. I'll be here if you wish to sleep in peace once again…"

I returned a small beam. "Thanks Luna. I'll see you tonight then." Afterwards, I opened my wings, flapping them as I waved Luna goodbye. She returned to Canterlot Castle as I descended back to Academy grounds. I noticed ponies starting to head towards the mess hall, which reminded me of the wall posting dealing with wing pony and lead pony.

When I arrived in the area, I spotted Derpy already gazing at the wall with a bright grin. She noticed me walking towards her. She unexpectedly hugged me in joy. "Guess what?!" She exclaimed excitedly.

"What?" I asked through a short chuckle.

"They put us both as a team!"

"Really? Let me guess. You're lead pony?"

"Nope!"

My expression changed to a confused one. "What? Then who is?"

"You, silly!"

My eyes widened. "Me?" I rushed over to the posting and noticed what she spoke of was true. "But… I'm a terrible flyer!" I turned around to face Derpy. "I crashed at the Dizzatron. You flew almost perfectly at the top speed!"

"You said it yourself, Alex." Derpy responded. "One mistake doesn't make you who you are."

I was caught off-guard by her statement. I realized how true it was. "You're right…but… I probably should go talk to Spitfire… just to make sure she didn't make some mistake."

"I'm sure she didn't." She grinned. "Come on soon so we can grab some breakfast. I know what I'm having!"

"Hm." I smiled softly. "Yeah…"

"And you made me a wing pony!" I heard Rainbow Dash's voice echo throughout the hall as I walked towards Spitfire's office.

"Because I believe you and Lightning Dust will be an unstoppable team. Do you not think you'll be an unstoppable team?" Spitfire answered.

"Yes ma'am! I mean, no ma'am! I mean... We'll be an unstoppable team, ma'am."

"Then what's the problem?"

"I think I should be lead pony, ma'am."

"And I think Lightning Dust likes to push herself a little harder than you do. That's why I made her lead pony. Got it?"

There was a pause for a second. "Yes ma'am…"

"Good." Afterwards, I heard stomps on the desk, reaching the open door to her office. Rainbow Dash walked out sadly, passing me and keeping her head down. I was disturbed by her appearance. Never before have I seen her in such a state…at least… rarely… "What is it, Alex?" Spitfire's slightly annoyed and cold voice startled me. I looked towards her as she continued to stamp these flyers with her hooves.

"Um… May I come in, ma'am?" I asked.

"Go ahead." She continued. I walked, noticing two guards that were separated on each side of the room. Wow… "Let me guess. It's about the wall posting, isn't it?"

"Yes, ma'am… I just want to know… Why did you make me lead pony. I crashed on the Dizzatron. Derpy executed it almost perfectly. Don't you think Derpy deserves to be lead pony instead?"

She stopped stamping her hooves on the flyers and looked at me with one eyebrow raised. "Are you questioning my decisions?"

"No, ma'am." I quickly replied, a little nervously. "It's just that… To put it simply… I sucked."

Spitfire looked at her desk for a moment and sighed. Then, she returned her attention back towards me. "Derpy may have performed the task better than you, but that's not the reason why I made you lead pony. You said you wanted to be a better flyer, correct?"

"Yes… ma'am?"

"If you really want to be a better flyer, you have to not just follow orders. You have to have the experience of leading others as well, this case, in flight. Being a lead pony is not all about flying the best or having the shortest time. It's about leading your fellow wing pony to victory and knowing what's best for your team. If you and your wing pony are successful, and I don't mean finishing first, then that shows me that you truly are willing to be a better flyer. But if you don't… well, it doesn't look so good to me then. Do you understand?"

"I…I think so, ma'am…"

"You're not going to fail your wing pony, are you?"

I formed a determined look when I thought about her. "No, ma'am. I'll keep her safe and guide her in the right direction."

"Then get to it!"

"Thank you, ma'am!" I saluted and walked out the office.

After breakfast, everypony, including Derpy and me, got their pins, which symbolized their rank. They were both identical except in color. The pin that was gold was the lead pony rank. The one with silver was the wing pony rank.

We all were then led back towards the takeoff area. There was each a couple to every team. Derpy stuck by me, completely comfortable of the fact that I was lead pony. However… I looked to Rainbow Dash's team, which consisted of her as wing pony and Lightning Dust as lead pony. I couldn't say the same for Rainbow Dash…

"Today you will all be participating in a flag hunt." Spitfire walked in front of us, giving our directions. "We'll divide you into two teams. Red…" One of her assistants held up a red flag among a group of ponies. "…and blue." A blue flag was lifted among Rainbow Dash, Lightning Dust, Derpy, and me. "Whoever finds the most flags of the opposing team's color wins."

Everypony cheered.

"Oh, this is gonna be so much fun!" The pink mare told her teammate.

"If you think this is gonna to be fun, you are sadly mistaken." Spitfire quickly attended to. "This is for training purposes. This is not recess. Lead ponies and wing ponies must fly together. If any pair splits apart, they will be immediately disqualified." Spitfire emphasized. "Do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am!" We all responded and placed our goggles on.

"Then let's go!" She blew the whistle, beginning our "training".

As our team lifted into the skies, Lightning Dust looked towards us. "You guys scout over there, we'll scout over here!"

"Got it." I responded and began turning towards our objective area. "C'mon Derpy." She followed me. As my eyes scanned any area capable of holding a flag, I spoke to Derpy. "No need to rush." I advised. "We could easily miss the flags if we move too fast. Look especially in any dark or hidden spots."

"Found one!" Derpy exclaimed cheerfully. She pointed towards a mountainside, specifically a hole where a very faint and barely visible red flag was shown.

"Good eye, Derpy!" I praised as she returned a delighted and bright grin with closed eyes. "Let's go get it!" Derpy and I dashed towards the hole, slowing down to make sure we didn't crash inside. "Grab this one; I'll look for anymore on the way back towards where we started."

"Got it, Captain!" Derpy replied both playfully and seriously at the same time. She grabbed the pole part of the flag with her mouth and brought it with her on the outside.

I left my eyes scanning every part of the area around us as I stuck close by Derpy. It wasn't until we began passing a waterfall that was not too far away. I noticed something red being flushed by the pouring water as it remained on the rock. "Derpy." I mentioned, stopping and keeping my eyes on it.

"Hm?" She asked, looking at me as she kept the flag in her mouth.

"I think I found one, come on." I waved my hoof in a gesture to follow me.

She did so. We both flew over to the waterfall, landing near the rock which held the flag. I observed it for a moment, noticing a slight issue. "We can't get it so easily…"

"Why not?" Derpy asked after placing the flag on the ground near her.

"I'm not sure, but the pressure of that water coming down might hurt one of us if we just rushed in there and tried to pull the flag out." I sighed, tapping my chin with my hoof. "Problem is… How do we get it…?" Derpy looked on the ground for a moment and picked something up. She threw it towards the flag, causing it to angle more to the right and clearly reveal its color. I gasped, realizing that Derpy found the answer. "Derpy! You're a genius!"

"What?" She asked, not knowing what she actually did.

"Let's play this safe." I directed. "Stay here and keep throwing rocks at the flag so it can come out enough for me to grab it, okay?"

"Okay!"

I flew towards the stream at the end of the waterfall, signaling Derpy to start.

She began throwing rocks at it, eventually knocking it off the rock. It began floating along the stream. I quickly dove enough to retrieve the pole with my mouth and bring it back to Derpy.

"Hoof bump!" I cheered, holding out a hoof towards her. She giggled and energetically bumped my hoof. "Come on, we better get these flags back to Spitfire!"

She nodded and we each held the flag, returning both of them to base.

When we placed the flags before Spitfire, she seemed impressed.

"Wow." She expressed while lowering her shades. "You brought two?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Derpy responded cheerfully.

"Impressive. First three flags down, keep up the good work."

We then continued our searched for more. Looks like Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust found the first one…

When the event was over, our team ended up winning, despite the red team having more ponies. I guess Spitfire "evened us out" by having the two best flyers and us in one team while the rest of the cadets were on the other.

"Nice job, guys." Lightning Dust praised as she walked past us.

"Yeah…" Rainbow Dash slowly walked past us as well, holding the tip of her left wing in pain. "Nice job…"

"Rainbow Dash." I called her. She stopped and turned around to face me. "Do you need some help…?"

"Nah. Just clipped my wing. That's all."

"Here." I walked up to her and focused my horn on the tip of her wing. I performed a light pain reliever Twilight had taught me not too long ago.

Rainbow Dash felt this and flapped it a little. "Thanks, Alex. I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome. Take it easy, okay?"

"Heh… I'll try…" Afterwards, she began walking away. I felt a little unhappiness coming from her, but there was nothing I could really do…

That was the last event of the day. Derpy and I grabbed some dinner. Then, Derpy headed off to sleep. I met with Luna again in the same area as last night.

"You seem happy to see me." I told her playfully as I made myself comfortable on the cloud.

"Well... I'm not lonely when I'm with you. It's a very nice feeling." She expressed.

I smiled warmly. "I know you what you mean… I'm really glad I help you stop feeling such loneliness when I'm with you. In a way, you do the same for me."

She returned the same smile. "Rest now, little one. It appears that this academy wakes you early in the morning."

I scoffed in a laughing matter. "Little one?" Nonetheless, I rested my head and closed my eyes, sighing softly. "If I only had a mom like you when I was little…"

I unexpectedly felt Luna's hoof rub my back gently. This surprised me, but it felt really…loving and warm…just…like a real mother would…

The next morning, I became conscious the same way as the day before. Then, I gave Luna her farewell and told her that I'd come back the same night. I had breakfast with Derpy, Rainbow Dash, and Lightning Dust. Lightning Dust was excited for the upcoming event that would take place today. Derpy was excited as well, believing that she and I will do as great as or even better than last time. I could only agree with her with a smile.

Afterwards, we all were summoned to the takeoff track that was in the clouds instead. Spitfire was already there, waiting for us with those two assistants of hers. When everypony was present, one of her assistants blew the horn he held loudly. This caused Spitfire to turn around and angrily push it down, away from his lips.

"Today we'll be doing our famous air obstacle course." She announced, presenting the rings of cloud in front of us. "The object of this exercise is to work on your precision flying under extreme circumstances. And don't worry about winning. It's not a race. Now everypony, get on your marks!" Every one of us placed on our goggles and readied ourselves.

One of the assistants blew the whistle, initiating our takeoff. Every couple flew off at a time as the assistants signaled for us to do so. While Derpy and I were waiting for our takeoff, I looked at her. "Don't worry. Just stick close and we'll make it through this."

"Roger that, Captain!" She responded.

After we were signaled to fly, we both jumped from the ground and began flapping our wings. We began going through the hoops. However, during this exercise, I heard a poof. I looked below to see a pink cloud coming our way in a rush. Derpy didn't notice.

"Watch out!" I quickly placed my hooves in front of Derpy, stopping both of us. The pink cloud passed upwards in front of us by an inch. I released a breath of relief. "That was too close." I looked at Derpy. "Go through the hoops but be sure to keep an eye where those clouds are coming from, okay?"

She nodded and we continued on through. We made sure to take it slow and careful while going through the first part of the obstacle course to ensure we weren't hit by one of those pink clouds. Fortunately, Derpy and I were able to make it through, reaching some huge stormy cloud. I could hear the strong winds and thunder coming from inside. Lightning flashed. I stopped, causing Derpy to stop as well. "Uh-oh…" I stated with hesitation.

"Hey, as long as we stick together, right?" Derpy comforted me.

Realizing it, I nodded. "Yeah. Let's go." As soon as we entered, I could already feel the rain spray on our coats. The strong winds were a bother as well. They seemed to be pushing Derpy away from me, so I quickly grabbed her hoof and pulled her closer. "Keep a hoof on me so we don't get separated!" I exclaimed in the weather in order for her to hear me.

"Okay." She managed to say while being bothered by the winds as well.

Flapping my wings harder, I had to guide her through the storm. Eventually, I saw a small hole of light protruding at the end of the stormy tunnel. "There's the exit!" I began pushing on harder, feeling the light coming closer and closer to me.

When we finally made it, we could see the last part of the obstacle, ready to engage it. However, the ponies ahead of us had all been forced back towards us, as Derpy and I were the last ones. Completely unexpected, their crash brought us along for the ride as well, pushing us back and landing on the cloud not too far away.

I groaned as I sat up and rubbed my head. I looked around for Derpy, only to see half of her body stuck in the part of the cloud. I quickly pushed myself up and rushed over to her. I placed my hooves on her flanks and pulled greatly until she was successfully out. Once she was, I grabbed her hoof and helped her up. "Are you alright…?"

"Mh-hm." She nodded. "Thank you." She looked around, noticing the other teams helping each other out. "I wonder what happened."

"Me too." I agreed. "Everypony crashed except Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust."

"They must be really good then."

"Everypony okay?" Spitfire and her assistants met with us on the cloud and asked.

With groans, everypony answered. "Yes, ma'am."

"Well, come on, come on." Spitfire gestured back towards the course. "Dust yourselves off and continue with the obstacle course!"

Every couple went at a time in order to be in an organized line again.

"So you're fine to go on, right?" I asked Derpy, just to make sure.

"Mm-hm." She nodded.

"Alright." I patted her twice on the back. Then, when signaled to do so, we took off to complete the course.

The last obstacle wasn't that challenging. Derpy and I just had to take it slow and not rush through it. Following that method, we were able to carefully stay away from the high pressured winds. It reminded me of those strategic traps from the Daring Do novels.

When we finally finished, we were allowed to recover our energy in the mess hall.

Derpy and I grabbed our lunch and walked to find the table Rainbow Dash was in.

"You and I make a pretty good team, don't you think?" Derpy asked.

"Yeah." I agreed. "This definitely makes up for not seeing you all those days since the wedding." Derpy and I reached the table Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust were on. We both sat down. "Looks like you two finished early again." I was disturbed when I saw Rainbow Dash messing around with her food in a gloomy matter. "Rainbow… Are you alright…?"

"Huh…?" She asked, slightly lifting her head to notice me. "Oh, yeah… I guess…"

"Eh." Lightning Dust commented. "She must feel bad since we beat everypony else so easily. Come on, it's not our fault we're the best."

I became slightly annoyed at that comment, but I let it slip, since Rainbow Dash was that kind of pony… But… It was just the idea of something bothering her which bothered me.

After lunch, we gathered outside once again for what appeared to be the last event of the day. We were ordered to remove clouds, just like Rainbow Dash did back at Ponyville. Never doing that before, I figured it couldn't be too hard. Once the whistle was blown, we all raced towards the clouds to do our job with our teams.

"Have you ever done this before, Derpy?" I asked her as we headed towards the group of clouds.

"I don't think so. One time, maybe." She responded.

"Well, I've seen Rainbow Dash do it many times before, so I think you just kick or punch them or something." I looked around, seeing other couples separate. "Looks like we don't need to stick together for this one. Just be close when removing the clouds, okay?"

"Got it!" She saluted and we began attempting to remove the clouds.

As we were doing this, the assistant back on the ground was keeping count on how many clouds disappeared for each team. The team that removed most of the clouds won, which would obviously be Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust.

Getting rid of the puffy clouds wasn't hard. All it took was one quick swipe of the hoof against them. However, I didn't have the skills Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust had, so I couldn't remove them as quickly as they did.

There were some clouds that were thicker, leading the rest of the cadets to repeatedly punch and kick them. Derpy found one of them, and I saw her struggling a bit with it. I flew over to her side and helped her with a mighty kick.

"Are you doing alright?" I asked with a warm smile.

She wiped her forehead and nodded. "This takes a little hard work, but it's still pretty fun!"

I chuckled a little until heavy winds intruded our area. "What the… Are there supposed to be these kinds of winds here right now?" I placed my hoof in front of my face and noticed something strange. "Is that… Is that a tornado…?" I asked, noticing a dark object spin around rapidly.

"Uh…" Derpy mentioned as she became a little worried now. "I don't think there are supposed to be any tornados right now!"

I was alarmed to see the tornado coming our way in a rush.

"Watch out!" I grabbed Derpy and forcefully lowered her away from the tornado's grip. As I looked back to see where it was going, I noticed it had reached where the assistant was keeping score. He had to flee to escape. The board was broken to pieces. Then, I now noticed it was heading towards a hot air balloon. Inside that balloon were familiar ponies… "Are those…?" I tried to focus my eyes and realized those ponies were the girls. I gasped and quickly looked at Derpy. "Stay out of the tornado's way! I'll be right back!" Afterwards, I hastily raced towards them.

Before I was even close, their balloon had been caught and was now swinging wildly in the tornado. My eyes widened and my heart beat rapidly as I began panicking crazily inside at the sight of each one of the girls falling to their doom. Reaching them, I managed to only get Fluttershy. Seeing the girls continue to fall as they screamed, I had no time to waste. "Fluttershy, use your wings!"

Fluttershy realized this and quickly began flying, allowing me to race towards the others. I began growing worried because at my speed and theirs, I felt like I wasn't going to make it. However, a flash of rainbow below the girls relieved me. It was Rainbow Dash. She constructed a major cloud to be able to hold the girls. When they landed on the cloud, Rainbow Dash bounced them back up to catch. Oh Celestia… How the hay am I going to hold all of them? Nonetheless, I flew upwards to meet Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy, get Pinkie!"

When they lifted into the same altitude we were in, Fluttershy held out her hooves in a flinching matter to catch Pinkie. Rarity was the nearest pony to catch, so I quickly held out my hooves and caught her. Seeing Fluttershy manage to catch and hold Pinkie, I hurryingly focused my horn to place a dark blue aura around Twilight and Applejack. I struggled mentally to keep them held in the air. Some box reached Pinkie. She grinned and caught it with her hooves. Eventually, Rainbow Dash rushed towards us, helping me by carrying Applejack. Finally, we descended towards the training grounds to place them safely on there. While Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack were released onto the ground, Rarity opened her eyes to realize she was still healthy and alive. She shook her head as I remained in the air, looking at her to make sure she was okay. As soon as she noticed me, she immediately threw her hooves around me in joy, causing me to release a smile.

I placed her on the ground.

"Are you guys okay?" Rainbow Dash quickly questioned.

"Uh-huh." All of them but Pinkie Pie answered, relieved.

"Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow Dash noticed Pinkie on the ground for some reason with her box.

Pinkie opened her eyes and noticed Rainbow looking at her. Her mouth trembled as if she was about to cry in joy. Water filled her eyes. "You..." She placed her hooves around Rainbow's neck and pulled herself towards her. "…remember me!"

"Well... yeah, of course I remember you. But... what are you all doing here?"

"We wanted to bring you both a care package." Applejack explained. "Didn't realize you'd be in the middle of some crazy tornado drill."

Derpy landed near us. "That was so scary! But I'm glad you all are okay!"

Over conversation was suddenly interrupted. "That... was... awesome!" We looked to our side to see Lightning Dust appear from the crowd.

Unaware of what she was talking about, I could only return a confused look.

"Awesome? My friends could have been smashed to pieces!" Rainbow Dash scolded.

Every one of the cadets was now looking at Lightning Dust with irritated eyes.

"Yeah, but they weren't, right? Can't say the same for the clouds. We totally wiped them out with that tornado. The other cadets will have to be up there for days to bust as many as we did." After that statement, she held out a hoof towards Rainbow Dash as I formed narrowed irritated eyes.

"A hoof bump? Seriously?" Rainbow Dash placed her hoof on top of hers and pushed it away. "You made me clip my wing. You sent half of our class into serious tail spins on the obstacle course. You unleashed a tornado that nearly demolished my friends!"

"Yeah, and?" She asked, making a gesture and facial expression that reminded me a lot of Starlight.

"And I get that you want to be the best. So do I! But you're going about it in the wrong way."

"The Wonderbolts don't seem to think so. After all, Spitfire did make me the leader and you the wing pony."

After a moment of silence, Rainbow Dash could only sigh. "You're right. She did." She then turned around and began walking away. Under her breath, I could hear say something faintly. "I'm done with this…"

"Rainbow, wait." I called after her, galloping enough to reach her and stay by her side. "Where are you going…?"

"I'm talking to Spitfire. I'm not doing this anymore…"

"What…? You don't mean…"

"I do… So you better stay here."

I thought for a moment as I continued to follow her. Then, I responded. "I'm coming with you."

As soon as we reached Spitfire's office, Rainbow Dash placed her hoof on the door and opened it. Spitfire lifted her head in irritancy. "This better be important." Rainbow Dash walked in as I stayed at the door. "You're supposed to be up there busting clouds with your partner."

Rainbow Dash performed a salute. "We're done with that, ma'am."

"Already?" Spitfire returned widened eyes and removed her shades, glancing at the clock. "That's an academy record! Explain your methods."

"That's why I'm here ma'am. Lightning Dust decided to use a tornado." Rainbow Dash explained.

"A bit excessive for cloud-busting." Spitfire commented. "But judging from your time, it was obviously an effective tactic."

"Yeah, well that 'effective tactic' nearly took out my friends!" Rainbow emphasized. "No disrespect ma'am, but there's a big difference between pushing yourself as hard as you can, and just being reckless. And if being reckless is what gets rewarded around here, if that's what it means to be a Wonderbolt, then I don't want any part of it."

"What are you saying, newbie?"

Rainbow Dash placed her badge on the desk firmly with a bold expression. "I quit." Afterwards, leaving Spitfire with a shocked expression, she walked past me.

Spitfire noticed me and furrowed her eyebrows. "You're not quitting on me too, are you?" She asked with not a worried expression, but an irritated one.

I looked at the floor for a moment and then walked towards her desk in silence. "…Rainbow Dash is right."

"I thought you wanted to become a better flyer?"

I remained silent for a moment. "…I do… But… Based on Lightning Dust's behavior and her being rewarded for it, it seems to me that this is no suitable place to become a better flyer if our learning experience is just going to be disrupted by her recklessness." I shook my head. "Rainbow Dash tried to do her best and do things the right way instead of rushing through them. That deserves to be rewarded…" I lifted my head to look at Spitfire. "To be honest, the way things work around here disgusts me." I removed the lead pony badge from my suit and looked at it for a moment. "Sorry ma'am, but I'm going to have to quit too." I placed it on her desk and walked away, leaving her office.

"You did what?" I heard Applejack ask in a tone of disbelief as I met back with them.

"Being a Wonderbolt was your dream!" Rarity added as Rainbow Dash pulled the strap on her saddlebag.

"Not anymore." Rainbow shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash." Twilight placed a hoof on her. "I know how much this meant to you."

Afterwards, Applejack placed a hoof around Rainbow Dash, which led the rest of the girls to join for a sad group hug.

"You're leaving…?" I heard nearby, causing me to turn around. It was Derpy. She had an almost trembling frown on her face.

I looked at the ground, feeling terribly awful for leaving her at the academy, just like that. "Yeah… I'm sorry, Derpy…"

"Who's going to be my lead pony…?"

I placed a hoof on her shoulder. "You'll make a great lead pony, Derpy."

She looked away sadly. "It won't be the same…" I could see some water appear in her eyes, causing for my feelings inside to stir around in a depressive state. She looked back at me and hugged me.

"I'm sorry, Derpy… I really am…" I apologized as I rubbed her back.

"Alex! Rainbow Dash!" I heard, startling me and causing me to look at who shouted the names. "How dare you storm out of my office without giving me a chance to respond!" Spitfire trotted towards us, looking as if she was about to scold us even more. I pulled away from Derpy and joined Rainbow Dash's side to take whatever Spitfire had to throw at us. "The Wonderbolts are looking for the best flyers in Equestria, but you were right." She removed her shades and stared at the ground, surprising both of us. "Being the best should never come at the expense of our fellow ponies. It's not just about pushing ourselves. It's about pushing ourselves in the right direction. You've shown that you're capable of doing just that." She looked back, facing the two assistants that were holding Lightning Dust for some reason. Spitfire glared at Lightning Dust angrily and ripped the badge off of her uniform. She then pointed her other hoof towards the other direction, signaling her to leave as the assistants escorted her out. She only walked away gloomily as she lowered her head. She glanced back for a moment and then continued on. Even if Lightning Dust did something completely inappropriate, I still didn't feel like the result for her was right… "You're no wing pony, Rainbow Dash." Spitfire placed the gold badge on her. "You're a leader."

"OhmygoshOhmygoshOhmygoshOhmy goshOhmygosh!" Rainbow flapped her wings excitedly.

"What about you, Alex?" Spitfire faced me. "Are you still willing to stay with us for a while longer?" She asked, holding the gold badge out to me.

I glanced at Derpy, noticing how she returned a surprised expression that was just waiting to be bombarded with happiness. I looked at ground and then at Spitfire. "I suppose I could stay here for the remainder of the week." As expected, Derpy instantly beamed with happiness, grinning widely. Spitfire was about to place the badge on me. "But." I stopped her. "I want to talk to you about Lightning Dust first."

"She's expelled, don't worry about it." Spitfire answered.

"That's just it…" I continued. "I believe she deserves a second chance…"

"Huh?" Spitfire replied, holding confusion in her face.

"I know she did something completely wild…but it was just a mistake… We all make mistakes. None of us are perfect. Her mistake might have been a little excessive…but… she was only trying to prove herself to be the best and guarantee herself a spot in the Wonderbolts. I don't think her whole dream of being a Wonderbolt should be crushed by that… Punished? Yes. But to receive something that ultimately doesn't give her a chance to get back up and change for the better? No offense ma'am, but some of the blame falls on you. If you hadn't rewarded her for her previous actions, it may have not escalated this far. But, like I said, we all make mistakes." I sighed. "I think she deserves another shot. But this time, you know who the better lead pony is, and you can even punish her to where she knows not to do it again. At least just let her have a chance to follow her dream…"

Spitfire looked towards the ground and sighed. She picked up her whistle and wiped it a bit. "That's quite a favor you're asking from me, Alex... I don't follow the advice of just anypony." I formed a frown, feeling like she was going to decline my offer. "But. I know you're a stallion of good word, and you only want the best for everypony. So…" She looked at me. "Fine. I'll give her another shot, but I'm keeping a close eye on her." I replaced my frown with a grin. Spitfire turned around and faced Lightning Dust, who was just about to leave. She blew her whistle loudly, causing for Lightning Dust to turn her head. "Get over here!" She shouted.

Lightning Dust slowly walked back towards us, feeling like she was going to be let down even more. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I screwed up. Can I just go?"

"You're not going anywhere." Spitfire answered, surprising her. "You can thank your fellow cadet here." She gestured towards me. "You're getting another chance, but I'm keeping my eye on you. You even think about pulling another stunt like that, then there are no more chances! Got it?!"

"Y-Yes, ma'am!" Lightning Dust responded and saluted.

Spitfire placed the wing pony badge on her. "You follow Rainbow Dash from now on, got it?"

Lightning Dust appeared to be a little disappointed on her switched position, but almost being expelled and losing what she had completely, it was better than nothing. "Yes, ma'am!"

Spitfire placed on her shades. "Now all of you, get out there and give me twenty!" She shouted out.

"Yes ma'am!" Rainbow Dash, Derpy, Lightning Dust, and I exclaimed. Afterwards, we rose up and joined the other cadets, who were waiting on what the outcome was going to be. Despite the conflict, each of us left to take on Spitfire's orders.

"Wait! You didn't even get to open your care package!" I could hear Pinkie exclaim behind us.

I chuckled at this.

Maybe at lunch…

The remaining days at the academy were pretty short. Lightning Dust never really went beyond a "Thank you", and that's because she barely managed to say it. She appeared like she was really grateful for her chance to reach her dream once again, but it seemed like she didn't want to lose her toughness, so she didn't show emotion too much. Nonetheless, that didn't really matter. It just made me content to see that she was able to have something to look forward to.

Of course, in the end, no pony was told whether or not they were going to become a Wonderbolt, but it was more of a step completed towards that direction. Rainbow Dash told me that Spitfire would keep a close eye on her in figuring out whether or not she'd become an official Wonderbolt. I was glad to hear that. I figured that Lightning Dust didn't have such a high chance as Rainbow Dash did, but she did behave better and was willing to be her wing pony as long as she had the chance to be. From that, I could feel that she at least regained some of her trust.

Back home at Ponyville, Derpy decided to accompany me as I walked Fluttershy home. After I tried to make up with a deeply passionate kiss for the affection I didn't show her all week, I allowed her to retire inside her cottage for sleep.

I flew with Derpy by my side on the way to the main part of town.

"So, did Spitfire give you any hint on becoming a Wonderbolt or not?" I asked.

"Hm…" She thought. "Nothing major. But… I don't think I want to become a Wonderbolt anymore."

"Huh?" I responded with a surprised expression. "Why not?"

"Well… I've been doing some thinking… I then thought about what it'd be like if I did become a Wonderbolt. Would I actually like or love being a Wonderbolt in doing what they do? I only actually wanted to be a Wonderbolt so ponies could take me more seriously. But I never thought if I'd actually love being a Wonderbolt. That got me thinking. If I became a Wonderbolt, what if I become so busy that I won't be able to see and hang out with friends like you? So… I'm probably not going to be a Wonderbolt after all. If ponies can't take me seriously and don't want to see me for who I really am, then I think they shouldn't be my friends, don't you think?"

I could only return a warm smile. "Of course… If ponies only want to see you in a good way because of your reputation and social status, then they aren't true friends." Derpy smiled brightly with her eyes closed. "Hey, why don't you send that as a letter to Princess Celestia?" I offered.

"Huh? Really? Me send a letter to the Princess?" She asked.

I nodded. "Of course."

"How?" Derpy's excitement grew.

"Come on. Let's go to my friend Twilight's house."

Arriving at her home, I knocked on the door.

Twilight soon answered. "Oh, hey Alex." She noticed Derpy and became lightly surprised. "Oh, this is your friend Derpy, right?"

"Yeah. She has something she'd like to share to the Princess in a letter."

"Oh really?" Twilight didn't seem to mind. "That'd be a first. Come on in."

She invited us in, which led Derpy to look around in amazement. "Wow! You have a lot of books here!"

"Well, I do love my books." Twilight giggled and called Spike. "Spike!"

Spike walked down the stairs, yawning. "Uh-huh?"

"Before you go to bed, can you send a letter to Princess Celestia from Alex's friend?" Twilight asked.

Spike seemed to perk up and become a little energetic. "Sure! It's been a while since I've sent one!" He immediately pulled out a quill and scroll.

I looked at Derpy and nodded. "Go ahead."

"Oh!" She responded and then thought. "Um… Dear Princess Celestia, you may not know me, but you can call me Derpy! I've discovered a little something about friendship. First off, a lot of ponies don't really take me seriously in life. It could be because I may look funny or weird when I really just want to have fun. I thought about becoming a Wonderbolt. I even enrolled in Wonderbolt Academy this past week, but then I did some thinking and realized how I probably wouldn't love being a Wonderbolt. I realized how I only wanted to become one because I thought it would make ponies like me more. I then learned that true friends accept you for who you are." Derpy glanced at me. "If friends only like you for what you do or because you're somepony famous, then they aren't real friends at all. My best friend Alex taught me that. He taught me that I should just be who I am and not change for any other pony. Your friend, Derpy!"

"Nicely done." I complimented with an appreciative smile.

"Yes, that was excellent." Twilight added as Spike sent the letter. "Nice to have you alongside us, Derpy."

Derpy opened her mouth in happiness. "Thanks!"

Seeing her joy just made me feel so warm inside. "Come on, Derpy. We better let Twilight sleep. Goodnight, Twilight!" I expressed as I began walking Derpy out of the tree.

"Night!" She answered with a light giggle.

I closed the door, leaving Derpy and me outside.

"I just can't express how much I appreciate your help, Alex." Derpy mentioned and embraced me again. "You're such a true friend and I'm glad I met you! Thanks to you, I think I'm going to be meeting more friends very soon!"

I smiled and placed my hoof on her back. "I just love to see my true friends happy, Derpy. I love to help them in any way I can as long as it makes them smile."

Derpy giggled and pulled away. "I need to make you a muffin cake someday."

"I bet it'll be delicious."

"Hehe." Derpy looked out at the night sky for a moment. "I should be getting home now, Alex. Goodnight!"

"Goodnight, Derpy."

She began flying home while I walked to mine.

"I see everything went well?" Luna asked me, who seemed to be waiting by my door.

I chuckled a little. "Yeah, I guess… Thanks for being there for me, Luna. I appreciate it." I hugged her for a moment, which surprised her a little. When I pulled away, she was sending me a warm smile. "Goodnight, Luna."

"Goodnight, Alex."

She retired to Canterlot Castle as I entered my home.

As I readied myself for bed, becoming comfortable under the covers, I closed my eyes. Before completely falling asleep, I could hear Luna say one more thing.

I'll be in your dreams, watching over you.

Apple Family Reunion

Episode 60 – Apple Family Reunion

When I awoke, I felt something completely strange and…abnormal… I groaned and opened my eyes slightly. My bed felt different. My whole atmosphere felt off. I sat up and managed to look around while wiping my eyes. I looked to my right, seeing a lamp, photo frame, and vase on a nightstand near the bed. But that wasn't just it. What really caught me was the western equipment on the wall to my left. There was a cowboy hat and a lasso. After having a few seconds to think to myself as I stared sleepily, my eyes suddenly widened.

Am I…?

I looked at the bed, seeing apples everywhere on the pillows. I don't mean actual apples, just depictions.

What the… Am I in Applejack's room? What the hay am I doing in Applejack's room? I don't remember ever coming in here!

I gasped when I heard the door by me open.

"Howdy there, hun." Applejack spoke, walking in and observing me.

"What…?" I could only respond with, completely confused.

"Did ya have a nice sleep?" She asked, sitting on the side of her bed next to me.

"What… I don't even… How did I…?" I looked around, trying to ask questions but unable to complete them fully.

She chuckled. "You know what today is, don't you?"

"Uh…" Was she really asking me this? "Tuesday…?"

"Not exactly…" Applejack answered, shifting her back hooves a little…oddly… "It's our wedding anniversary!"

My eyes widened in shock when I heard this. I even flew back a few inches on the bed. "WHAT?!" I exclaimed.

"Aw." Applejack released a small frown. "You didn't forget about it, did you?"

"Forget? Applejack! We aren't even married! Did you hit your head or hurt yourself applebucking?!"

"Did you hit your head? We've been married for a year already!"

I could only stammer and stutter. "I…but…what…huh…?"

Applejack released a giggle and leaned her head closer to mine. "Hehe, you're so cute when you're like that." I could only stare at her, feeling nervous and still completely jumbled about the situation. "So we're we goin' tonight for our anniversary?"

"…Applejack… We're not married… I'm in a relationship with Fluttershy…" I attempted to reason.

"Don't be silly now!" She responded. "C'mon…" She began giving me these…eyes…as if she was about to do something…out of the ordinary in a calm way. "I betcha a kiss will jog your memory?" She closed her eyes and puckered out her lips.

I began to seriously freak out. She continued bringing her head closer to me. After a moment, I began quickly scattering away from her, continuing to stare at her to make sure she didn't make any sudden moves, but I quickly used my hooves to crawl as fast as I could away from her.

Then, she opened her eyes and noticed me. She brought a hoof to her face and sucked in her bottom lip a bit. She began snickering as I continued staring at her in shock with my heart pumping out of my chest. All of a sudden, I heard laughter out of her room.

"Bahaha!" Rainbow Dash revealed herself from the door, laughing out loud. Soon, she fell on her back towards the floor, kicking her hooves up as Pinkie Pie revealed herself as well. She was giggling loudly as she snorted in between breaths. When Applejack saw them laughing, she began releasing laughter of her own as well.

"Ooh." A moan was heard by Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. Rarity appeared from the doorway as well, being the only mare to not laugh while the others did. "Why couldn't have I been the one in the prank?"

"Are you kidding?" Rainbow managed to say through battles with her laughter. "You probably would have kissed him for sure! Haha!"

Rarity could only immediately shut her mouth, blushing intensely and holding a hoof to her face in embarrassment.

"Now that that's over," Applejack began. "Why don't you meet us for breakfast downstairs?" She asked me. "I'm sure you're really hungry after that big scare." Afterwards, she began walking out with the others, their laughter slowly fading away into an echo.

I could only remain there with a hoof placed on my heart as if I had just been completely startled or scared.

"…what the buck…?"

After recovering from that…surprise… I slowly began walking downstairs. I looked around to find them. I turned towards the window to see them sitting around a table outside. I took a deep breath and walked out to meet them.

When I was only a few steps away from them, they noticed me and smirked.

"C'mon, Alex." Applejack announced. "We're not gonna bite, I mean kiss." Afterwards, she snickered, sending the rest of the girls, except Rarity, to laugh softly. Rarity rolled her eyes and placed her cheek on her hoof instead.

I sighed and walked towards them. "That wasn't funny… You really had me scared there…"

"Which part?" Applejack asked as I joined them at the table, sitting down. "The kiss or the marriage part?" She questioned, continuing to send a smirk with a jokey tone.

I looked at the large breakfast laid out in front of me, but I seemed to have lost my appetite after the prank. "All of it. You all almost had me believing I was in some alternate reality or something…"

"You have to admit it was pretty funny, haha." Rainbow brought up and laughed.

"How did you all even get me in Applejack's bed?" I asked, really wanting to know how they managed to pull it off.

"You tired yourself out after that amazingly super-duper party we all had last night, remember?" Pinkie Pie explained. "I think you had so much sugar, you crashed!" She giggled.

"I thought it would be a neat idea to prank you right there. You always have the best reactions." Rainbow Dash looked at the others that were involved with the scheme. "We didn't want to do some pretty cheap prank though. It was a rare moment, so we decided to make the best of it. When Pinkie Pie and I finally thought up of an idea to have you married to some pony, we began brainstorming on who would be the married pony. Pinkie Pie most likely would have given the whole thing away, because I'm pretty sure she would have never stopped laughing throughout the prank!" Pinkie giggled at this nonetheless. "Me? Ha. Everypony knows I'm not that type of pony. We were thinking about Rarity, but then we realized how overdramatic she is, so she probably would have given it away too early." Rarity looked away and blushed slightly. "You know how she is, right Alex?"

"…Yeah…" I replied, glancing at her for a second.

"Anyways, we definitely thought about Fluttershy, but we wanted it to be a SURPRISE. You two are already a couple; you'll probably be marrying each other soon!" My eyes widened at this, and then they slowly moved away to the ground in slight embarrassment. "You'd probably actually like the prank, and we all know if someone doesn't freak out, it's not really funny. Twilight, of course, wouldn't have approved the idea of the prank anyway. So finally, we thought Applejack was the perfect pony to be 'married' to you."

"Oh… I see… Well, I guess you girls got me good…"

"Heck yeah we did!" Rainbow emphasized.

"Why don't you have a nice breakfast?" Applejack asked me, gesturing towards the food. "You deserve some delicious food in your belly after that big scare!"

"Yeah, okay…" I looked at the food. It did look delicious… I probably would have eaten as fast as Pinkie Pie, but ever since that prank, it seemed like I needed some time to get over the shock of it. Sure, it wasn't like a devastating prank. It was a good harmless prank. However, the shock was going to take a while to get over.

I managed to eat somewhat. However, our breakfast was slightly interrupted when Granny Smith creakily walked over to our table to speak with Applejack.

"Pardon, Applejack. I need ya to help me find dem box with the reunion things and whatnot! You know the reunion is coming along real soon and we need to start makin' preparations!"

"Of course, Granny Smith." Applejack responded and looked at the rest of us. "Sorry, y'all, but I need to go take care of some important business."

"No sweat, Applejack!" Rainbow Dash stated. "C'mon, Pinkie! Let's go find somepony else to prank!"

"Hehe!" Pinkie giggled and ran off with Rainbow Dash. Applejack walked off with Granny Smith.

"I suppose I shall see you later, Alex." Rarity rubbed her hoof a little embarrassingly, seeming to still be stuck on the prank situation.

"See you, Rarity." I replied to her.

Afterwards, she left in an almost hesitant motion. I looked back at where Applejack and Granny Smith walked off to. I decided I could go see what was going on. Maybe I could lend a hoof?

It seemed that they had headed towards the big red barn, so I began my way over there. Only taking a few steps, I arrived at the doors and slightly pushed the left one open.

"Nope! Not here either!" I heard Applejack's voice.

I walked in and looked around, noticing them looking for something.

"What are you all looking for?" I asked, spotting Applebloom near a bale of hay, working with letters.

"Oh, howdy, Alex." Applejack greeted. "You're still not afraid of big bad me, are ya?" She teased.

"Haha." I responded with a sarcastic, but friendly, tone. "I just thought I could probably lend a hoof or so."

"Well, we'd sure appreciate it!" Applejack answered as she continued looking around. "Our big Apple Family Reunion is tomorrow afternoon, so we're lookin' for our box that holds every single little thing that has been passed down from generation to generation from each reunion."

"Tomorrow?" I inquired. "And you're barely getting started on it right now?"

"Not to worry, sonny." Granny Smith explained. "We've been doin' this for a whole long time now. We've gone through this far enough to have everythin' ready in a jimmy!"

"Well then." I replied. "I'd love to help out. I don't really know what a family reunion is. It sounds nice."

"Never?" Applejack questioned with widened eyes and then narrowed them a bit angrily. "Huh! Don't you worry! When we find that darn box, we'll show you!"

I noticed a darkened area near the ceiling of the barn. "Have you tried looking up there?" I asked, keeping my head still but moving my eyes towards the area.

"I think I did… Let me double-check." Applejack looked towards me. "Alex, toss me that ladder there, will ya?" She pointed towards the wooden ladder on the side of the barn wall. Using my magic, I grabbed a hold of it and placed it where Applejack needed it.

"You know I could just fly up there and check for you?" I mentioned as she climbed up the ladder.

"Haha." Applejack chuckled, reaching the top. "I don't want you to start thinkin' about this morning, freak out, and hurt yourself. I merely rolled my eyes with a slight smirk at her comment. Soon enough, Applejack made an announcement. "Ha! Found 'em!"

She tossed the box towards the hay-filled floor. The impact caused dust to spew out from the box, making me flinch while Granny Smith accidentally inhaled it. "Aaa-choooo!" She sneezed, flying back a few steps.

"Heh! Gesundhoof!" Applejack expressed, reaching the floor level again.

"Why, thank you, Applejack." Granny Smith fixed her mane and turned her attention to the box. "I still can't believe it's been almost one hundred moons since our last family reunion." She shuffled through the box with her hooves and pulled out a quilt. "Aw, I remember it like it was yesterday."

"Well, you have been talkin' about it pretty much every day since then."

"Applebloom?" Granny Smith looked over to Applebloom, who continued to work with the letters. "How them RSVPs comin' along? Who's showin' their muzzle at the reunion?"

"Everypony!" Applebloom exclaimed, throwing out her hooves in a joyful manner while spraying a few letters from the hay.

"Everypony?" Granny Smith repeated in a shocked tone. "Feathers on a goat." She commented towards Applejack. "Are you sure?" She asked Applebloom.

"Well, I got RSVPs from Apples from Yonder Hill, Hollow Shades, Galloping Gorge, Foal Mountain, Apples from Fillydelphia," As soon as I heard that town, I was so glad to know my parents were fortunately not any part of an Apple family. "Tall Tale Town, and all the Apples from Appleloosa!"

"Guh?" Granny Smith seemed to be blown away by the information Applebloom provided.

"Oh! And how could I forget? Manehatten!" Applebloom threw out the letters excitedly. "Babs is comin'!" Applebloom bounced and hopped around jubilantly. "I get to see my favorite cousin!"

"I think we're gonna need a bigger cider trough." Granny Smith expressed, seeming to still be stunned.

I managed to reveal a small grin. "It looks like you all could really use my help. Don't worry." I shook my head. "It'd be my pleasure."

"I suppose usin' your fancy smanshy magic and whatnot could help indeedy with different things." Granny Smith responded and then began walking out of the barn. "C'mon young'uns, let's go get Big Mac to help us with these confangled RSVPs."

Granny Smith began to look like she was going to dash out of the barn, but her elderly age prevented her so. Instead, she only slowly and creakily walked towards the exit with her body lunched forward. Applejack and I shared a smile and followed her out.

The whole Apple family gathered around the table in their home. While Applebloom had brought some of the letters she was looking at, Big Macintosh had to bring the rest of them in a wheelbarrow, literally.

"Whooeee! Looks like the family's grown tenfold since the last reunion!"

"Ten times?" I responded with slightly widened eyes. "And when was the last family reunion?"

"The day when Nightmare Moon came around." Applejack added with a smirk.

"Ten times in such a short period of time…? Wow…" I commented, shocked.

"Yes siree." Granny Smith nodded her head and continued to observe the letters. "I'm gonna be busier than a worm in a rotten tomater tryin' to get everything ready!"

"I could always help out." Applejack reminded.

"Me, too!" Applebloom added.

"Eeyup." Big Macintosh only offered.

"I'll be glad to help out in anyway." I spoke. "Whether it be painting, working, serving, or even just baking and cooking. I may not be a usual baker, but I sure can cook up something satisfactory…sometimes…"

"Oh, I sure would appreciate that. Granny's a little rustier in the giddy-up since the last time the Apples all got together." Granny Smith literally pulled her face up, removing all the wrinkle and saggy parts of her face. I widened my eyes at this, but soon enough they returned.

Applejack and I had a brief moment of exchanging odd looks between each other. Nonetheless, she offered to speak. "You may be a tad old, Granny, but you're as feisty and full of spark as ever—"

"Who you callin' old?!" Granny Smith cut Applejack off in mid-sentence to scold her greatly, frightening her as well as me.

"Uh... I just meant..." Applejack stumbled with her words for a moment. "Why don't you let me take over puttin' the reunion together this time round? Then all you need to worry about is enjoyin' yourself."

"Hmmm." Granny Smith wondered, removing the fierce look at her face. "Alright, young'un, you got yourself a deal. You are in charge."

"I won't let you down, Granny." Applejack assured. You just tell me what the reunion needs, and I'll take care of the rest!"

"I'll do better than tell you what the reunion'll need. I'll show ya!" Afterwards, she stood up and began walking out of the room.

Applejack and I exchanged a look for another time today, wondering what she meant. Nonetheless, we followed her to the next room. She brought out something that appeared to be an old album full of pictures. She took a seat on the couch near the doorway, prompting Applebloom to quickly jump on the couch and sit to her left. I sat by Granny Smith's right while Applejack sat by my right.

Granny Smith opened the album as we began paying attention to her. I already knew what interesting stories she had to tell after Family Appreciation Day back at Applebloom's school. I wasn't going to miss out on what she had to say now. "We've been hostin' these things at Sweet Apple Acres every hundred moons since we first planted roots here in Ponyville.

"Hey, who's that?" Applebloom pointed to one of the pictures in the album.

"That'd be your Great-Great-Auntie Applesauce when she was just about your age." Granny Smith explained and then moved on to the next picture with the same pony in the same position, only a lot older. "Now, she used to go by another name, but everypony started calling her Applesauce after half her teeth fell out when she was makin' apple jam." There I saw her dentures falling into the cauldron. I slightly flinched a bit in…disgust…just imagining apple jam having dentures inside… "Yeah. Never did find them teeth in all those jars."

"Hey! That's you, Granny!" Applebloom pointed to one of the mares lying among the other mares in the picture. In front of all of them was a quilt, and it appeared that they were in the works of finishing it.

"Sure is. Apple family's been workin' on that same old quilt since our first reunion. I thought I could finish that dern quilt, but when I finished one side, the needle and thread just came out like nothin'!" Applebloom returned a giggle. "Well, nopony told me you actually had to knot the end of the thread!" Applebloom released one more giggle.

"Okay, so I'll need to get new quiltin' materials, fabric, needles, thread..." Applejack thought out loud to herself. "You've really been workin' on the same quilt since the first reunion?" Applejack asked Granny Smith.

"Surely have. I don't think we're ever gonna finish that doggone thing!"

"Hey, what's goin' on here?" Applebloom pointed towards another picture while Applejack was thinking to herself as she held a hoof below her chin.

"Well, you know us Apples enjoy a good fritter..." Granny Smith explained. "Why in one of them reunions, the family started noticing all our apple fritters disappearing like magic! At first we thought some dern unicorn was running around and taking all our fritters, but we heard the culprit right under the table! We saw little ol' Applejack under there, her face full of fritter mess!" Granny smith pointed to one of the pictures that had Applejack as a baby. She had cute little pigtails for her mane and sat down holding her tongue out so adorably. Of course, she wore a diaper at the time. "That's how we figured out your sister had the appetite of a full-grown stallion!"

"Aww." I commented looking at the picture and then switching over to Applejack. "Applejack, you were so cute and adorable as a baby."

I was expecting her to return an embarrassed or flushed expression, but instead she continued to mumble things about the reunion. "Better get twice as much honey and flour, then... fifty more buckets of apples... more oil... wood for the fire..."

Nonetheless, Granny Smith continued to flip the pages. "Now, stick an apple in my mouth and roast my rump! This one sure brings back memories." She directed towards a picture of her younger self and another mare. "Y'know how Babs is your favorite cousin? Well, Apple Rose is mine. The two of us entered the seven-legged race every reunion!" Granny Smith looked at the picture for a moment and sighed happily. "Never won a single one of them races."

Applejack sat herself up from the couch next to me and walked towards the barn door, pacing around. "Races. We'll need cloth ties, finish line... not much to a seven-legged race. Hmm..."

"And, of course, we can't forget to take the big family photo!" Granny Smith continued, starting at the first one. "We always snapped a photo in front of the barn at the end of every reunion, let's us see how our family's grown!" Surprisingly, the family did grow significantly…

"Photo in front of the barn. Got it." Applejack checked, leaning on the barn door.

"You sure have some great memories of these reunions, don'tcha?" Applebloom asked.

"Indeedy, and I'm lookin' forward to makin' more this one." She rubbed Applebloom's mane. "Oh, I'm sure everypony is, and I do mean everypony! We got the whole family together this time round! Who knows if they'll all be able to make the next one?"

"That's true!" Applejack added from the barn door. "Busy as everypony's lives are gettin' these days, chances are pretty slim we'll be this lucky next time round." She pushed herself off from the door and walked towards where we were. "Don't worry, Granny, I'm gonna make sure this is the most memorable reunion we've ever had! I'd better get started... I've got some plannin' to do!" She walked back towards her room.

Granny Smith and Applebloom focused their attention back to the album. "Oh, hootenanny! Would you look what your second cousin is wearin' on her head?"

Both of them shared a giggle while I looked back at the direction Applejack left to. "I'm going to see if Applejack could use any help…" I announced and began heading to where she was. When I entered her room, she was already bringing out pencils and paper to start her planning. "Need a hoof?" I asked.

"Oh!" She was lightly startled. "You scared me a bit there, Alex." She walked towards me. "You sure you really want to lend a hoof on this?" She inquired.

"Of course!" I released a heartily smile. "I wouldn't want you stressing over this, to be honest."

"Aw, that's sweet of ya." She expressed.

I walked in and closed the door. "So, what are we working on?"

"I'm just planin' the things I need to prepare."

"Got it." I grabbed one of the pencils with my magic and began writing down the list from what I could remember Applejack speaking of.

"That's just the least of it." Applejack explained. "If you really want to help me out, you're going to have to stay here all night."

I shrugged. "I can make it."

"You sure about that?" She asked, adding a little smirk.

"I've been up longer." I answered.

"Hehe." She chuckled. "Okay." Before she was about to get to work, she stopped herself for a moment and paused. "I guess I should say sorry about the prank this mornin'… I'm starting to think we went a little too far, considerin' you're not the prankin' type."

"Don't sweat it, Applejack." I released an assuring smile. "You didn't scar me for life or anything…I hope…" I joked.

She chuckled once more before she resumed working as I assisted her.

After so much work, my eyes were already starting to droop. I could hear the clock tick and tock every second. I looked at where the hands where. Observing them, I figured out that it was just about to be two in the morning. I looked at Applejack who seemed to be pacing around, too frantic to be tired. "Aren't you tired, AJ?" I asked, noticing her mane which was a bit messy due to the work for the past time.

"I am…but I'm too busy thinking about other things to plan for the reunion tomorrow…" She stopped and looked at the clock. "I mean today…"

"You don't have to go overboard with this." I mentioned. "It's just a family reunion, not an amusement park."

"I know. I know. I just want this to be the most memorable and best family reunion ever." She sighed and walked over to the bed, throwing herself on it for a moment. She laid down and looked at the ceiling. "What if I don't do good?"

"Don't think like that." I immediately responded. "You're going to do great. You've already placed so much thought to this. I think you deserve a big rest for the reunion."

"Maybe…" Applejack began to close her eyes. She seemed like she was about to finally fall asleep until the door opened and we heard a small soft yawn. Applejack rose her body up from the bed as we noticed Applebloom poke her head inside the room and look around, having bed mane herself. "Applebloom!" Applejack spoke in a hushed tone. "What are you doin' up?"

"I was gonna ask you the same thing." Applebloom answered as Applejack sat on the side of her bed.

"I can't sleep. My gears are turnin' in my head about this reunion!" She threw herself on the bed.

Applebloom repeated the same action, yawning again. "Yeah... I can't wait to see my cousin Babs. We're gonna do so many fun things together..."

"Fun?" Applejack sat back up. "That's just the beginnin' of it! Granny Smith handed me the reins of this reunion, and I'm gonna make the most of it!" Applejack jumped from the bed and began skipping excitedly towards the wooden board we had recorded the activities on. "Applebloom, I've got so many things planned you won't even have a minute's rest!"

We heard snoring, causing us to turn our heads towards the bed. Applebloom was soundly asleep. Applejack released a soft smile and placed a small blanket over her little sister's body. "Trust me, little sis." She patted her softly. "This reunion I'm puttin' together is gonna be worth the wait." Applebloom released one last loud snore and then continued to sleep on Applejack's bed.

I yawned and rubbed my hooves on my head. "I guess I better get home then." I sat up and faced Applejack.

"See ya, Alex." She hugged me warmly. "Thanks for staying up late to help me out. I really appreciate it."

"Haha." I chuckled softly. "You're welcome. Goodnight, Applejack. Take it easy, okay?"

"Will do." I began walking out the door, but she quickly stopped me. "Hey, Alex…"

"Hm?" I looked back.

"You'll be comin' to the reunion, right?" She asked.

"Huh…? But I thought the reunion is only for the Apple family?" I questioned.

"Usually… But you said that you've never experienced or even know about a family reunion. I'd like you to come and enjoy it with all of us. After all, you are my honorary family member, right?"

I smiled warmly. "Yeah… Okay, I'd like to come and see the family reunion. Since you're the one who's running it this time, I'm sure it'll be a blast. Heh… My first family reunion with one of my best friends… It'll be amazing."

"Geez, Alex." Applejack slightly blushed and looked away. "You're always makin' us feel good about ourselves. Do you even try?"

"Don't know." I shrugged. "I usually say what I mean."

"Aw." Applejack expressed. "Get outta here before I hug ya to death."

That statement seriously made me want to laugh out loud, but I left it inside. "Hm. I should. I still have much more to look forward in life." We shared a little laugh. "Have a goodnight, Applejack."

"Nighty night." She waved.

Afterwards, I climbed down the steps, careful to make no noises while doing so. Then, I left their home and began heading towards my own…which was actually a pretty a long walk from here.

Heh… What I would do for the girls…

Staying up late last night had me oversleep a bit. I awoke, remembering the reunion and thinking that it might have already begun. I quickly scurried out of bed, fixed my mane a bit, and hurried out the door towards her farm.

I landed from flight, thinking that the wind might increase my speed and I wouldn't sweat so much. I arrived just in time to see Applejack placing the last rope of flags on the pole that held the welcoming fabric as well. She used Big Macintosh to reach the height. "H-ah. Think that'll do it!"

"And just in time, too." Granny Smith commented as Applejack jumped off of Big Macintosh.

Applejack noticed me and smiled. She skipped over to me and greeted me. "Howdy, Alex!"

"Hey, Applejack. I'm sorry. I didn't get to help you with setting up the reunion." I replied.

"Don't you worry about it!" She assured. " Besides, it was my fault for keeping you up late."

"No." I shook my head with a smile. "I stayed up to help you."

"Well, you're just in time to meet the family!" She placed a hoof around me and turned me towards the other direction. "Look! They're here!" A loud rumbling noise sounded from not too far. We saw many ponies arriving using different methods of old-fashioned transportation. I was surprised to see how many ponies came. As Granny Smith went to reunite with her old friend, I noticed other ponies come from the sky. A couple of fillies saw each other and started playing a little rough with each other in an adorable way. It was truly amazing to see how each one of them was joyous to see each other. I could only remain there in awe. Applejack noticed me, excited as well. "C'mon!" She grabbed my hoof and pulled me out of my daze, taking me with her to a megaphone. She tapped it and began speaking into it. "Howdy, y'all, and welcome to the Apple family reunion!" Everypony came to pay their attention to her. They all cheered loudly. "My name's Applejack, and I just want to let y'all know that I got a real big day planned for ya! But, first off, I'd like y'all to meet a very special friend of mine!" She presented me. "His name is Alex!" As soon as the rest of her family saw me, they immediately grew quiet as they stared at me. Applejack noticed this and quickly began to resolve the problem. "Don't worry, folks. He may be an Alicorn, but don't let that stop you from enjoyin' this reunion! He just wants to be treated like any other pony, nothing more! Got it?" They looked at each other and cheered nonetheless, quickly recovering from their shock. Applejack turned her head to me and returned a smile with closed eyes. Afterwards, she faced back to the audience. "Now, we're gonna start off with an obstacle course for the young'uns, and some fritter makin' and quiltin' for the not-so-young'uns. And there's lots more to come after that! Hope y'all enjoy it!" The family released a mighty cheer, ready to begin the reunion. "You're gonna love this, Alex!" Applejack told me. "It's gonna be the best one we've ever had!"

I released a soft but energetic smile. "I know it is, Applejack. I can feel it already."

Applejack looked over to the crowd and seemed to notice something. "It's Babs Seed!" She exclaimed.

"Babs?" I asked. "Hm. I wonder how she's been doing ever since the last time she visited Ponyville…"

"Come on." Applejack gestured her head towards the area where she was. "Let's go see her!" As we began walking to approach her, we saw her speaking with Applebloom. Applejack grew excited, so she called out for her again. "Babs! Huh, so glad you could come!"

"What am I, gonna miss out on spendin' time with my favorite cousin? Forget about it!" She blew her mane away from her face again.

"I'm glad to see you again, Babs." I expressed. "I'd really like to hear how it's going for you now."

"Well, I—"

"Why don't you two head over to the obstacle course?" Applejack offered, cutting Babs in mid-sentence.

"We kinda wanna catch up a little bit first..." Applebloom responded as Applejack began pushing the both of them towards the obstacle course.

"Don't you worry. There'll be plenty of time for family bondin' while you're racin' against your other cousins."

Applebloom and Babs exchanged a look with each other. I faced Applejack. "I'm not so sure you can bond when you're racing…"

"When everypony gets together later on, everypony will have time to bond. Trust me. It's only the beginning!"

"Alright…I guess."

Applebloom and Babs tied their hooves together with a rope, along with two other couples of fillies. They lined up at the starting line as Applejack and I stood by them.

"Alrighty, ponies! Ready to have some fun?" Applejack asked.

"Whoa, is that the finish line?" Babs asked, pointing towards a hill with a barely visible flag. "It's like a mile away or somethin'!"

"Actually, that's just the marker where you go on to the next leg of the race." Applejack explained.

"There's more?" Applebloom asked as both Babs and her presented a worried expression.

"Much more. Trust me, I have put together somethin' you are never gonna forget." Applejack walked towards the front of them.

"Maybe a little too much…?" I muttered.

"After the seven-legged race you're gonna wanna hurry up and head over here," she pointed and ran over to a bucket full of apples. "…where you'll be bobbin' for apples!" She dove her head inside the water and brought out three apples with her mouth. "Then you'll run around these trees…" She quickly dashed over to several trees and demonstrated. "…fifty times until you're real good and dizzy, then you'll jump these big wooden hurdles," She continued demonstrating. "…and then there's the final leg, where you'll balance plates on your head while sayin' "Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets" over and over and over again." After the final obstacle course, she raced back towards the front of us. "Last pony standin' wins!"

The fillies remained silent for a moment, only returning a stare towards Applejack.

"...Seriously?" Applebloom asked, pointing a hoof up.

"Seriously!" Applejack quickly answered. "C'mon, y'all, let's start makin' some memories! On your mark... get set..." Applejack held up a flag. "…go!" She waved it, initiating the start. The fillies began running, except for one couple that accidentally tripped as soon as they began. However, they quickly recovered from their fall and continued on, attempting to catch up with the others. Applejack chuckled. "Looks like they'll be havin' a good time."

Noticing how they might be eventually having trouble with the insanely long obstacle, I faced towards Applejack. "Why don't you let me watch the fillies? I'll take them back to the barn when they're finished."

"That's mighty kind of you, Alex!" Applejack responded. "Sure! I'll go get the quilt started!" Afterwards, she rushed out, continuing to seem very excited.

I looked out towards the fillies and decided they could use some help…

Applebloom and Babs Seed were in first place, sprinting through the course with perfect precision even with both of their hooves strapped together with a rope. I have to admit Applejack did go a little overboard with this activity. Even with the accurate steps the fillies made, they were still too far from the checkpoint. I flew towards Applebloom and Babs, catching and keeping up with them as they were slowing down on their running. They sweated and breathed heavily as they were growing tired.

"Hey, you two." I greeted, flapping my wings lightly. "You both sure look like you could use some help…"

"Help…?" Applebloom questioned tiredly. "How?"

"Well, first off… Why don't you two go ahead and…" I glanced over to where the flag was. "…skip the part of going all the way over there…"

"Skip…? Wouldn't that be cheatin'? We have to reach the flag first before movin' on."

"Well in that case…" I increased the pace of my wings and flew over to the flag. Using my magic, I grabbed ahold of the flag and pulled it off the ground. After, I flew back towards Applebloom and Babs and placed the flag a few steps in front of them. "There you go." They looked at each other and returned a light shrug. Afterwards, the passed the flag and finally stopped to catch a break. As they regained their breath, I could see the other fillies running up to the area we were in. "At least you only have to bob for apples for the next round."

"I guess you're right…" Applebloom responded.

I led the fillies towards the apple bobbing station, where I began watching them. They were just dunking their heads in the bucket with water and apples, so there wasn't much of a safety hazard. However, I was waiting for the rest of the obstacles to make sure they didn't hurt themselves.

"Howdy, Alex!" Applejack dropped by. "How are the little ones doing?"

"Oh, they're fine." I responded, feeling a little nervous and hoping she wouldn't realize that I cut the race short. "They just started bobbing for apples."

"Huh. Really? That was fast…" Applejack mentioned.

"Yeah…" I chuckled a little nervously.

"Dang! They must be so full of energy! I should've made the running longer!"

"…I think it was long enough, Applejack." I replied as I continued to watch the fillies struggle to retrieve apples with their mouths.

"If you say so. Say, why don't you come and meet more of my family? We can eat some delicious home-made apple fritters! Whaddya say?" She offered.

"That sounds great, but can that wait until the girls finish the obstacle course? I really just want to make sure they're safe…"

"Oh, they're fine!" Applejack emphasized. "I made sure there'll be no harm in this obstacle course."

"Are you sure about that…?" I questioned, remembering and specifying towards the dizzy tree part of the course.

"Like a cow on milking day!"

I looked back and sighed a bit. " I suppose I can spare just a few minutes…"

"Great! C'mon!" Applejack immediately grabbed my hoof and almost dragged me away from the fillies.

When we reached the area where the fritters were being made and eaten, we saw cauldrons and tables. Big Macintosh was at a table with a steaming apple fritter in front of him. He stuck out his tongue and appeared to be attracted to it, eyeing it carefully. As Applejack and I walked towards him, he immediately sucked the fritter into his mouth and began to chew. Applejack reached the table and noticed the fritter was gone as Big Macintosh gulped. Applejack returned a not-so-angry-but-odd-stare at him as he whistled and looked back nervously.

When Applejack turned her attention towards the fritter-making mares, he quickly took evasive maneuvers to escape the situation.

"You've got eight now, dont'cha?" One asked the mare next to her.

"Oh, sure do. Tell you what, my Apple Tart may just be a baby, but he is a hoot!" The other mare responded.

"Havin' fun?" Applejack asked them as I noticed Braeburn walking by with a platter of hot apple fritters.

I decided I could say hi, since I hadn't seen him for quite a while since that whole feud with the buffalo and ponies.

"Hey, Braeburn." I greeted as he placed the platter on the nearby table.

He noticed me and looked slightly puzzled. "Howdy, uh…Alex, right?"

"Yes, sir." I responded. "Do you remember me? I was with Applejack and the others during the whole hostility between the buffalo and the settlers."

"I remember now. Those were some crazy times…" He shook his head with a slight grin as he looked back in thought. "So you're Alicorn? How? I don't remember you bein' like this back then."

"You know… I really hate to say this, but it's a long story. Really, it is." I answered. "I mean, I'd love to tell the story to anypony that wanted to know, but it's too long to recall in words and you don't know how exhausted I'd be after sharing the events to every single pony that wanted to know."

"Oh, don't worry. I hear ya." He looked to the side. "I better get goin'. I still need to set the apple fritters. It was nice talkin' to you, Alex."

"You too, Braeburn."

Afterwards, he moved along to continue his work.

"That's it! Gotta keep this assembly line movin', gals! We want every Apple here to get a chance to taste the best darn fritters in Equestria!" I heard Applejack say to the mares that were working.

"What's going on?" I asked, walking towards her as she was ready to leave the area.

"I'm just givin' them a few tips to make the best fritters we'll ever eat." She replied.

"Oh." I glanced back to see them working on the fritters. "Okay."

We walked out, reminding me to go see how the fillies were doing.

"I should go check on the girls, just to make sure they're alright…" I mentioned.

"No worries, partner. I'm about to give everypony a nice little break, c'mon!" Applejack led me back towards the area where she had the megaphone in order to make an announcement for everypony. She placed a hoof on it and lowered enough to bring it to her lips. "Alright, Apples, break!" Everypony immediately fell to the floor, looking exhausted. "Ooh," Applejack expressed as she began aiming a camera at different spots. "…can't forget to capture all these memories for Granny's album! Huh. Nothin' all that memorable there. Or there. Or there." I looked at the areas she observed. Why did everypony appear to be so weary? The area with fritters really surprised me. They had already made so fritters, it looked as if they could last a whole year. "C'mon, Applejack, think... you gotta kick this thing up a notch! Hm..."

"Uh…Applejack…" I mentioned. "Have you been…working them too hard?"

"What do ya mean?" She asked.

"Look." I pointed. "The fillies are tired from the obstacle course. Granny Smith and the other elders are rubbing their hooves as if they were sore. And the fritter makers made too many apple fritters!" I faced back at Applejack. "It doesn't look they're getting to enjoy the reunion at all. You know… They aren't reuniting with each other… They're working instead."

Applejack gasped. "That's it!"

"What?" I questioned.

"That's what I can do! I can organize a hay ride through the orchards!"

"Oh." I reacted with widened eyes. "Y-yeah… That's a good start."

"Haha." She chuckled and ruffled my mane a little. "I knew you'd like it. Can you tell the other ponies to come near the west orchard?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Great! I'm going to get the hayride started. See ya then, partner!" She waved and ran off to accomplish her duty.

I waved as I watched her leave. Well, at least she's finally offering the family to bond a little in a gentle hay ride. Come to think of it… I don't think I've ever been in a hay ride before… Hm… I wonder what it's like… Anyway, I better get going and tell the other Apples.

Afterwards, I began at the fritter area, having a bite of their delicious fritters while directing them towards the area Applejack told me about.

Once I had notified everypony, I followed one group to the location. Once I was there, I saw a couple of stallions holding a cart full of hay behind them. Huh… Looks nice so far…

It was a moment until Applejack arrived with Babs Seed and Applebloom. "Alright, everypony! Step right up, take a seat, and leave the drivin' to these stallions!" She directed, pointing towards the inside of the cart. I walked inside, taking a seat next to a fellow pony. The three other ponies seemed to glance at me, appearing to be amazed as they were actually near an Alicorn. I couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, wishing a bit that they wouldn't look at me so much because of my appearance… Applebloom and Babs walked inside to take a seat by me as well. Another elderly mare walked in and sat near Babs. I believed it was Applesauce or so? "Now, I know ya'll've been workin' real hard makin' some awesome memories, and in all of our past reunions, we always had a nice and relaxin' hayride around the farm." Applejack continued to speak as a few more ponies, including Granny Smith, sat on the other side of the cart. "Which is why I decided to change things up a bit, and try somethin' just a wee bit more excitin'."

It appeared Applejack was staying out of the cart, so I brought it up. "Hey, Applejack… Aren't you getting in too?" I asked.

"Nope! I've got somethin' better in mind, so let's get this show on the road!" She closed the gate for the cart and fiercely kicked the end of it. "Giddyup!"

As soon as she said that, the cart began moving at much higher speeds than I was expecting. Everypony tried to keep still as the wind was roughly blowing at us. "Whoa!" They all expressed.

"Umm." I announced rather a bit shakily. "Is this what a hayride is supposed to be, or is it some kind of Apple family tradition?"

"Neither!" Applebloom exclaimed.

After a moment, the cart hit a nasty bump along the ride, causing for everypony to jump a little. Applesauce's dentures chattered and accidently flew out, biting Big Macintosh on the nose.

"I just had those professionally polished." She mumbled. Speaking without her teeth, I was unable to hear her clearly.

"Where in the world does that girl have us headed?" Granny Smith asked. "The west orchard?"

Big Macintosh walked to the front and placed a hoof above his eyes. "Eeyup." He answered.

"What?!" Granny Smith immediately exclaimed. "I was jokin'! Why, we haven't tended those fields since all the trees went and got filled up with…" She suddenly paused for a moment and later gulped, sucking in her lips significantly in a frightened motion.

"What?" I inquired. "What's wrong with the west orchard?"

"Those trees got infested with fruit bats!" Applebloom answered.

"…fruit bats…?" I asked. I looked over and noticed our distance between the trees and the cart growing less. All of the sudden, fruit bats invaded the sky, hovering above us. What I found impressive was that the fruit bats together actually depicted a rainbow, due to their different coats of color. Everypony released sounds of awe as they observed the sky.

"Wowsa!" Babs exclaimed. "Never seen real fruit bats before!"

I smiled in amazement. It sure was an incredible display to go along with the hayride. However, a bolt of fear struck me when I saw one of the fruit bats looking our way. Remembering that a lot of the Apple family were working with apples, I turned my head towards them and revealed a hint of worry. "Um… No pony brought any fruits...did they…?"

All of sudden, they came raining down upon us like water drops falling from the sky. They began swarming us like bees, causing for everypony to release cries of panic and yelps. The fruit bats caused for the stallions running the cart to drift off course and head straight for the barn.

"Everypony! Jump out!" Applebloom cried out when she realized this.

Everypony immediately began getting out of the way, including the stallions.

"Wait! Hold on!" I exclaimed, even though they didn't hear me from all the panic. "I can stop this!" I tried activating my magic, but as soon I saw the barn growing closer to me by the second, my nerves prevented me from casting anything that could help. I tried working my horn, but it was as if trying to light a lighter with no fuel. Before I could see if I did anything, the cart immediately crashed into the barn, having every fruit bat scatter and scamper away in flight. I groaned from the impact and looked above me to see the ceiling shake terribly as if everything was about to fall down. "Oh Celestia…" I muttered. As soon as everything began crashing down, I immediately flinched and braced myself for whatever to come, hoping I would cast a spell in the process.

There were many loud noises and crashes as I held my eyes shut. However… I didn't feel any pain or damage to my body… Once the cacophony halted, I slowly opened one eye. I fully opened both of them when I noticed a dark blue bubble around me. There were many planks of wood that could have landed on top of me, but the bubble prevented so. I allowed my horn to rest, which then allowed the planks to touch me. I pushed the planks off and away enough for me to escape without a scratch.

When I was out of the rubble, I noticed Applejack running towards me. "Alex, are you okay?" She immediately asked.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine…" I dusted off my shoulder a bit. "I guess I was able to protect myself…but I couldn't protect the barn from being demolished. I'm sorry, Applejack…"

Tears began forming in her eyes as she noticed the mess behind me. "Don't be… It's my fault. Look at it…" She pointed towards it. "Ruined. Everythin' is ruined." Her lips trembled. I could only frown at her distraught. There was a crunch as a wooden plank tore from another and fell towards the bottom of the rubble. Applebloom and Granny Smith joined us. "Oh Granny, I'm so, so sorry..." She rubbed her hoof on the dirt.

"Oh, it's alright, child." Granny Smith advised.

"But it's not alright." Applejack countered. "Just look at this!" She walked a few more steps towards the pile of rubble and harshly sat down. "The barn, and all my plans for the perfect family reunion are completely destroyed!"

I walked to her side, wanting to comfort her.

"Maybe that's a good thing." Applebloom offered to her big sister.

"How can that possibly be a good thing?" Applejack asked in a lightly angry manner.

"Applejack, you had us so caught up in all the doin', we haven't had a second to enjoy the company of the folks we've been doin' it with!" Granny Smith brought up as I heard everyponys' hooves step on the ground as they gathered around us.

"Really?" Applejack asked in surprise. Everypony agreed. "Oh Granny Smith, here you let me be in charge of creatin' great memories, and the only thing anypony's gonna remember about this reunion... is that it was the worst one we ever had…" Applejack's tears began to flow once again.

"Hey…" I placed a hoof around her and brought her closer to me, placing a small smile on my face. "Your whole family is still here. Isn't that the main idea of this reunion thing?" She turned her head to see me as water still nested in her eyes. "Listen… I've never been to a family reunion, or any reunion for that matter, but from what I can understand, it's supposed to be a family reunion. The activities shouldn't matter. They don't make the reunion great. It's the reunion that makes it great. Reuniting with the ones you love."

"He's right, Applejack." Granny Smith added. "There's still plenty of time to make good memories! You've just got to give everypony a chance to actually make 'em."

"The family photo!" Applejack immediately perked up and raised herself. However, she lowered herself down sadly. "Guess we can't take it in front of the barn this year..."

"Not unless you can get the barn up together." I glanced towards the destroyed barn.

This caused Applejack to release a light gasp. "Everypony! I have one more activity!"

"Applejack..." Granny Smith strained in a scolding manner, believing it would be another one of Applejack's troublesome activities.

"Trust me, Granny Smith. This'll be one we'll remember for all the right reasons." Applejack winked, removing her doubt. Applejack called three of her relatives to come up, confusing me a bit. She whispered to them. Each of them grinned and nodded. Then, they each pulled out a different instrument, one being a harmonica, another being a violin, and the last one being a banjo. Applejack tapped her hoof on the ground four times in a rhythmic motion and suddenly the air was filled with delightful country-styled music. "Yee-hoo!" She cheered and began singing.

"Raise this barn, raise this barn

One, two, three, four

Together, we can raise this barn

One, two, three, four" A grin formed on my face as Applejack grabbed Granny Smith's hoof and twirled her around.

As Applejack continued with the lively and motivational music, the entire family, especially me, helped rebuild the barn. I grabbed some beams of wood with my magic and lifted them up to build the structure of the wall.

"Up, up, up, go the beams

Hammer those joints, work in teams

Turn 'em round quick by the right elbow

Grab a new partner, here we go!"

"Yeah!" Her entire family cheered and began to dance, each with a partner.

"Come on, Apple family! Let's get to it!" Applejack motivated as I stood by her in amazement. "Wee-hoo!" She cheered loudly and lifted her hat up into the air.

"Raise this barn, raise this barn" I decided to sing along as Applejack allowed me to. We were both on top of a structure of a wall as ponies were lifting the actual wall.

"One, two, three, four

Together, we can raise this barn

One, two, three, four

Finish the frame, recycling wood

Workin' hard, you're doin' good

Turn 'em round quick by the right elbow

Grab your partner, here we go!"

"Yeah!" The Apple family cheered, especially as we were already finished with the basic framework of the barn.

Applejack caught me by surprise when she grabbed my hoof and began dancing with me, leading me into energetic and quick steps.

"Raise this barn, oh, raise this barn" We both continued together.

"One, two, three, four" Applejack held out some apple fritters to further increase the production process. I delightfully grabbed one and bit into it as other family members took one as well.

"Together, we can raise this barn

One, two, three, four

Slats of wood come off the ground

Hold 'em up and nail 'em down

Turn 'em round quick by the left elbow

Grab a new partner, here we go!"

"Yeah!" The Apple family cheered once again, presenting a very neat produce of the barn!

"Come on, Apples! Get 'er done!" Applejack inspired significantly.

Applejack and I dashed over to Applebloom and Babs Seed, who were trimming a large piece of wood nicely together. They stood at each end and tossed the trimmer to each other in a controlled and rhythmic motion.

"Look at us, we're family!" Applebloom sang.

"Workin' together thankfully!" Applejack and I added.

"We Apples, we are proud to say!" Applebloom continued.

"Stick together the pony way!" We all finished.

"Bow to your partner, circle right" Applejack continued.

"Get down if you're scared of heights" She advised towards a pony holding on to a piece of wood on the roof. I decided to surprise Applejack as she did to me, so I grabbed her hoof as she continued to sing.

"Forward back and twirl around" I did exactly as she instructed, twirling her around. I allowed her to lean towards the floor before I caught her with my hoof across her back, holding her up.

"The barn's gonna be the best in town"

"Yeah!" The family cheered once more.

Applejack noticed Applebloom riding an ox energetically as it was bringing in some more supplies. "Yee-haw! Attagirl!" She cheered as she remained in my hooves.

"Alright, let's get to it!" Applebloom expressed jubilantly.

"Raise this barn, raise this barn" We all continued, bringing in buckets of red paint as we were ready to paint the almost finished barn.

"One, two, three, four

Together, we can raise this barn

One, two, three, four"

When we had brought the buckets, along with the paint brushes, Applejack was ready to instruct us.

"Take your brushes, young and old

Together, paint it, bright and bold

Turn 'em round quick by the left elbow

Grab a new partner, here we go!"

Feeling so alive, I grinned and held my brush with my magic. I began painting the barn along with the others. The paint was finished so quick, it was truly amazing to see how the family worked so well together. Soon enough, the violin, along with the song, slowed down, but continued the rhythm.

"We raised this barn, we raised this barn" We all sang as we gazed at our finished product. I stood by Applejack.

"Yes, we did

Together we sure raised this barn

Yes, we did

Being together counts the most

We all came here from coast to coast" Applejack readied a camera to take a picture of all us in front of the barn. I looked at Applejack and gestured my head towards us, insisting that I would take the picture by pressing the button with my magic. She presented a warm smile and ran back towards us.

"All we need to strive to be" Applejack arrived and sat by my left. I beamed as I continued singing, placing a hoof around Applejack and looking at her for a moment.

"Is part of the Apple family" We all finished as I turned my eyes towards the camera.

"Yeah!" Finally, I used my magic to activate the camera.

Afterwards, everypony was enjoying the rest of the reunion. As they did, I couldn't help but feel this really warm feeling in my heart. I looked in the scrapbook where the new family photo was placed. I smiled warmly as well, feeling so…gifted to have taken the family photo with them. It was really exciting and so…swell…

I looked up from the scrapbook to see members of the family beginning to leave.

"I can't wait for the next reunion!" Applebloom exclaimed to Babs who was readying her stuff on the taxi.

"Me neither!" Babs responded.

"I mean, obviously we have to get together before then!"

Babs chuckled. "Obviously."

She placed a hoof around her and nuzzled her head against her, presenting a good sign of best childhood friends. This emphasized my soft but warm smile even more. I walked towards them.

"Well, I can't wait to hear how things are for you when you get back, Babs." I told her. "I'm sure you'll do great on the branch of Cutie Mark Crusaders over at Manehattan. Soon enough, every single little colt or filly will never feel alone when they don't have their cutie mark. They'll be united and connected."

"Hehe." Babs lightly chuckled. "Thanks. I'm sure too."

Applebloom waved at Babs. "I'll see ya later, cuz!"

"You too, cuz." She jumped onto the taxi and waved at all of us. After, the taxi began moving out of Sweet Apple Acres.

"I'm gonna go see if there are any fritters left!" Applebloom exclaimed and dashed out.

I chuckled lightly and noticed Applejack washing dishes in a tub filled with soap. I walked over to her. "Need a hoof?" I asked.

She was lightly and softly startled when she heard me, but she chuckled when I joined her by her side and grabbed a dish to work on as well. "Thanks, Alex." As I continued to wash the dish, she paused for a moment and then looked at me. "Y'know… It's been a real treat havin' you here."

"Huh?" I asked, finishing up and placing the clean plate away to grab another one.

"It really feels like you're a part of the family. Like…if it wouldn't have been complete without ya in the family photo."

I released a smile at the comment, washing up the plate I had. "Hm. Thanks, Applejack. I really appreciate that… I mean… I believe you girls are my family…but this family feels like a much more explored and extended part of the complex chain we all hold as a tight family." Applejack responded with a raised eyebrow in a confused sort of way. I lightly chuckled and looked away with my eyes. "I mean… We're all just one big happy family."

Applejack returned to her grin and chuckled. "Hehe. Yeah…"

By the time we finally finished up cleaning and putting away things, night fell once again. I decided I could stay a little while longer to review over the new pictures taken at the reunion. I sat by Granny Smith once again as Applebloom was by her. Big Macintosh was at the back of the sofa this time to look at the book. Applejack was lying on the floor, holding a pencil in her mouth as she was writing on a piece of paper.

"Ohohoh, that's a good one." Granny Smith commented as she observed the pictures.

Granny Smith, Applebloom, and I shared a small laugh when we noticed how silly, in a good way, some of the pictures were.

"Oh!" Applebloom pointed towards one.

We came across a picture that Applebloom and Babs Seed were in. Applebloom was hopping high into the air as Babs sat by Wionna delightfully. Next was Braeburn and Applejack. He was smiling as he held a hammer with his mouth. Applejack appeared to be laughing with her eyes closed as she held a couple of nails with her closed teeth. On the next picture, Applebloom and Babs were depicted dancing, along with a few of the family, with the band. I chuckled softly when a silly picture of Applebloom and Babs came along next. They were both wearing empty buckets, which used to hold nails, on their heads. Applebloom was saluting as she held a nail with her teeth. Babs appeared to be a grunt as she held two nails with her teeth and positioned herself to appear tough. The rest of the pictures involved family members fooling around during the building process of the barn. Then, there was another one that depicted Applejack with the elders as they held up a quilt. It was finally finished.

I continued smiling at the pictures until Applejack suddenly jumped on the couch and placed her hooves on my back. She raised herself a little using my back and looked past my shoulder to analyze the pictures as well. I smiled brightly at her and returned my attention to the book. There, I saw our picture with Applejack and I. We were both holding our hooves over each other and smiling brightly at the camera. However, Applejack was tilting her head towards me a bit and looked up with her eyes to see me when the shot was taken. I was really proud to see the picture.

Granny Smith soon yawned loudly. "After a heck of a reunion like that, this granny sure needs her rest!" She closed the book and placed it away as Applebloom yawned as well.

"Night, y'all!" Applebloom announced as Granny Smith, Big Macintosh, and she walked off to bed.

When they left, I faced Applejack. "Hm. I guess I better be going too."

"Before you leave… Can you come up and hear my letter to the Princess real quick?" She asked.

"Sure." I answered and walked with her to her room.

Once there, she pulled out the letter she was writing on and began reading it. "Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned a great lesson about family, which, if you think about it, is really the first group of friends you ever make. Turns out that when you're with folks you care about, you don't have to do much to make that time memorable. Even the simplest of activities can take on a whole lotta meanin'! And you'll find that you'll remember the who long after you've forgotten the what. Your humble subject, Applejack." She lowered the letter from her face. "Whaddya think?" She asked.

"Fantastic as always." I replied with an assuring smile. "Great job, Applejack."

"Thanks, Alex." She smiled as well and pulled me in for a squeeze.

"I'll deliver this to Twilight." I said when we pulled away.

"Alrighty then, Goodnight." Applejack answered.

"Goodnight." I stated and turned around to leave until she stopped me.

"Oh."

"Hm?" I turned back to see her.

"I forgot to tell you. Somepony came lookin' for you when you were too busy cleanin' up. She asked me if I knew who you were and if you were around here. I didn't know who she was, so I wasn't too open on givin' her any information about you. I didn't know where you were at the time anyway, so I told her I wasn't sure exactly where you were. She looked a little sad after that and thanked me for the time. After, she left."

"Another pony…?" I questioned, looking at the floor in thought. Then, I raised my head and looked back at Applejack. "And it wasn't somepony you knew living in Ponyville?"

"Nope." She answered. "And that's because I know almost every pony here in Ponyville!"

"Huh…" I muttered, pausing for a moment. "How'd she look like?"

"Hmm…" Applejack thought. "I think…she looked a little like you, but with a lighter coat." She continued thinking. "Glasses too, I think. Sorry. That's all I can remember."

"Oh…okay…" I responded and began trying to think of any pony that fits that description.

"Any pony you know?" Applejack asked.

"I don't know... Don't think so…"

"Who knows?" Applejack jumped on her bed and laid down, resting her forelegs above her head. "Maybe just some pony who wants to meet you because you're an Alicorn."

"Why would she go out of her way to look for me? I mean…she wouldn't just know where I am…"

"You got me there…"

I sighed. "Well… I guess I can just think about this later. Right now, I could use some sleep." I grabbed the letter and rolled it up with my magic. "Goodnight, Applejack."

"G'night, Alex."

Afterwards, I exited her home and headed back towards town.

I arrived back at my home after dropping off the letter at Twilight's. I walked up the stairs and made myself comfortable in my own bed. I closed my eyes and tried to go to sleep, but I just couldn't shake the thought of that pony that was supposedly looking for me. Why would a mare be looking for me? I doubt it was just to meet an Alicorn…I think… I don't know… This is really weird… I don't even know if I know who the pony is…

I groaned.

Hm… A mare that has a lighter coat than me who also wears glasses…

Spike at Your Service

Episode 61 – Spike at Your Service

Soft taps on constructed wood, along with a few barks, slightly startled me awake. As I rubbed my head and slowly opened my eyes, the barking got me thinking. Who's the only pony who has a dog that I know of…? Applejack? Is she at my door? I removed myself off the bed, continuing to hear a few barks. When I was downstairs, I used my magic to open the door.

The first thing I saw was Winona. She was wagging her tail happily as she stared at me with her panting mouth. Surprisingly, I saw bright sunny hooves instead of orange ones. I looked up to see the one and only. Her cute little teeth held a leash attached to Winona's collar. I could clearly see her soft yet excited and warming grin towards me.

"Fluttershy…" I mumbled, feeling struck down by the overkilling power of her cuteness. She didn't return anything. Instead, she raised her hoof and wrapped the leash around it. Then, she moved a step closer to me, instantly taking me into a vivid state of ecstasy when she placed her lips on mine fervently. Both our wings perked up strongly. I could truly feel a bright spark establishing on our connection when we held our eyes closed. After a few seconds, I could feel her lips lightly pull away. I slowly opened my eyes as if I had just felt a huge wind of excitement blow against me. "…wow…" I expressed softly.

A small tender oval of light pink formed on each cheek of hers. "Hi, sweetie." She greeted a little shyly.

"Hey… What are you doing here…?" I asked, still a little blown away.

"Applejack asked me if I could walk Winona around town while she finishes up her chores. I thought I could stop by and see if you were asleep or not." She answered.

"Oh, really…? That's nice…"

"Mm-hm…" She nodded her head, the blush remaining in her cheeks. "Want to walk with me?"

"Of course I want to." I answered and walked outside, closing the door behind me.

Before we began walking, I smiled and nuzzled my nose playfully with hers. She giggled softly enough for only me to hear.

We only walked for a while before Fluttershy decided to take Winona back to Sweet Apple Acres. We arrived to see Applejack near a bucket full of water. She dipped a towel inside the bucket and pulled it out. She squeezed out the excess water and then lightly wiped her face with the towel. She heard and later noticed us coming, so she placed the towel away and greeted us.

"Howdy, y'all!" She exclaimed proudly.

"Hello, Applejack." Fluttershy responded, bringing Winona, who began barking happily, to Applejack while continuing to hold the leash. "I'm bringing back Winona. I'm sure she's had lots of fun on our walk. She couldn't wait to see you again!"

"Aww." Applejack expressed, removing the leash from Winona's collar. Winona immediately jumped onto Applejack and began licking her. "Haha, whoa there, girl. It's only been an hour or so."

I smiled and looked around, noticing Sweet Apple Acres actually being pretty empty. "It doesn't look like anyone else is here." I mentioned.

Applejack brought Winona back to the floor. "Big Macintosh and Granny Smith are out shoppin'. Applebloom is at school. I was just finishin' up some chores around here while everypony else was gone."

"Oh." I responded. "I hope it didn't feel too lonely. Even when I'm by myself for just a while, I sometimes get this…weird feeling I can't describe. It's just really…uncomfortable."

"Sorry about that." Applejack apologized. "No, I've been fine. Chores have been keepin' me busy enough. What about you? Have any fancy artist work?"

I chuckled lightly. "Nothing lately. At least not from the mayor." I placed a hoof to my chin and looked slightly away in thought. "I could go see if Cheerilee needs anything. I'm sure I can help her with something…"

"Righty, then." Applejack paused for a moment and looked towards the sky, placing a hoof above her eyes. "…what in tarnation is that…?"

Fluttershy and I both turned our attention towards something floating in the sky from some distance. After a closer and longer analysis, it appeared to be…a hot air balloon… "It looks like a hot air balloon… I don't see anypony in it… Maybe somepony accidentally let it go?" I assumed.

"You might be right, Alex." Applejack added. Surprisingly, the hot air balloon began to descend towards the middle of the Everfree Forest. "It's going to the Everfree forest… How in tarnation did it do that?"

"Do you think somepony is actually in there…?" Fluttershy asked, a bit worriedly.

"Well, whatever it is, we better go investigate." Applejack suggested.

"Yeah… We should return it and check if there might be somepony in danger." I included.

"Oh, my…" Fluttershy expressed.

"Fluttershy, you stay here. Me and Alex will go check it out." Applejack stated.

"But…it's the Everfree Forest… What if something happens?" Fluttershy worriedly questioned.

"We'll be alright." Applejack assured.

"Yeah." I agreed nodding my head. "I have magic and wings." I gestured towards them. "If something happens, we'll be able to handle it. If any worst case scenario happens, I'll just get Applejack out of there."

"Um…okay…" Fluttershy hesitantly allowed. "…be safe…"

I released a warm smile and embraced her gently. "We will." Afterwards, I looked towards Applejack and gestured my head towards the direction of the forest. "Let's go, Applejack."

Applejack made a sort of gesture with her hat in order to signify her understanding. "Right behind you, partner."

After we entered the Everfree Forest, its creepiness immediately surrounded us. We were able to hear the distant sounds and noises of who-knew-what that crept into the depths of the tall blades of grass.

Applejack must have noticed my slight uneasiness as I walked because she turned her head towards me and smirked. "Are you scared, Alex? Y'know, you can hold my hoof if you want." She stretched out her right hoof towards me.

"Haha." I responded, sarcastically, and rolled my eyes with a slight smile. I sighed and looked around. "I haven't been in here for a long time… Aren't you ever afraid of getting lost in here?"

"Not really…" Applejack replied. "I usually just don't go any deeper or any parts that don't have paths to walk on."

"I see…" I continued cautiously looking around. "Let's just find that balloon and get out of here. I don't want to disturb anything in here." A distant howling jolted me. "…So… Those timberwolves Granny Smith always talked about… They lurk around here…don't they…?"

"I reckon so."

"Don't ever come back out here alone, Applejack. What if you got surrounded by many creatures of the forest? You don't have wings to fly away, nor magic to at least defend yourself. I know your legs are absolutely strong…but they aren't that helpful if you have a bunch of creatures after your tail…"

"Aw." Applejack released a soft smile towards me. "Thanks for thinkin' about me, Alex. But I—"

Loud barking suddenly sounded off in the distance, seeming to come from where the balloon was last seen at.

I lightly gasped. "You don't suppose…" I commented, thinking that somepony might have actually been inside the hot air balloon.

"Only one way to find out." Applejack answered, alert. "C'mon!"

We began sprinting towards the location, dodging tree branches and rocks. Soon enough, a very putrid stench entered through my nose, causing my face to lightly scrunch. "What the hay is that smell?" I inquired.

"Timberwolves!" Applejack exclaimed, stopping ahead at the end of a cliff. I caught up with her and saw a little purple baby dragon at the bottom of the rocky cliff. "Alex, find me somethin' to throw!" I quickly looked around; only spotting a few rocks from the cliff that could cause some damage. Using my magic, I picked them up and tossed them towards her. She quickly winded up her right foreleg and threw it towards one of the timberwolves. "Come 'n' get me, ya big goons!" Applejack provoked, tossing another one before calling to Spike. "Run!" She threw one in the air and kicked it with her mighty back legs.

Seeing as Applejack had turned their attention towards us, we immediately began running, feeling them right behind our tail.

"Now what are we supposed to do?!" I exclaimed towards Applejack, knowing that we weren't going to be able to get rid of them so easily.

"You can fight em, can't cha?" Applejack answered. I couldn't tell if she was actually being serious or if just providing comic relief.

"Not when they're wood!" I explained nonetheless.

Applejack turned her head towards the front and noticed something. "Here! Duck!"

"What?!" I questioned.

I noticed her jump a bit and grab a hold of a branch with her teeth. I finally figured out what she meant, so when she pulled back the branch, I slid below the line of fire to avoid being hit. When the branch was flung back, this destroyed two of the timberwolves, but two more remained. Ahead of Applejack, I could see Spike running around in a panic. Applejack stopped ahead of me and threw up some rocks in the air in order to kick them back. She allowed me to gain some space between the timberwolves that were right behind me, even destroying another one in the process. However, the last timberwolf noticed his last comrade fall. He focused his attention to the highest threat in the area: Applejack. He began sprinting past me, heading towards Applejack. She noticed this creature gaining on her by the second. Feeling some weird instincts break out in me, I pushed myself even more to catch up to the timberwolf and threw myself at its legs, wrapping my forelegs and at its back legs. This actually caused the back legs to break off from the timberwolf, sending it some distance in the air and completely breaking it apart when it came back down.

When I looked at my hooves, I noticed the wooden legs right there. "…oops…" I commented. Nevertheless, I threw them away from me and rushed over to Applejack to see if she was okay. "Applejack, are you alright?" I asked, placing a hoof on her as she placed a hoof to her chest. She panted a bit.

"Yes. I'm fine. Thank ya." She expressed.

"Thank me?" I questioned. "You're the one who did most of the work."

She lightly chuckled and looked away in slight embarrassment.

"Wow! That was amazing!" Spike came running towards us. "I mean," Spike began flailing his arms around. "…you rocketed those boulders at them like they were... rockets! Pow, pow, pow pow pow! You both saved my life!" His excitement suddenly halted and he looked down with widened eyes. "You both... saved... my life." He repeated softly. He then walked towards the both of us and placed his arms around us, even having to tiptoe due to shortness of reach. His action really seemed to resemble his age.

"Aw, don't mention it, Spike." Applejack gently pushed him away. "C'mon, we should be headin' on back, now." She began walking out.

"Man, am I lucky you two were out here." Spike commented as Applejack noticed a rope hang nearby, which was attached to a branch. "Uh, why were you out here?"

"Saw the balloon floatin' by with nopony in it, came out here to investigate." Applejack explained. "Guess you did too, huh?" Applejack tugged on the rope to untie it and began tying it on her tail.

"Uh... yeah..." Spike kicked the piece of wood left over from the timberwolves. "I was investigating the runaway hot air balloon too! So, uh, now that the mystery's been solved, let's get outta here, huh?" Spike offered. Both of them continued walking while I remained there for a while, strangely feeling eerie all of a sudden. Something bothered me. I glanced back at the shattered wood.

"You comin, Alex?" Applejack asked, catching me off guard when she looked over by me. "Don't wanna stay here with no pony to hold on to, do you?" She joked once again.

Normally, I would have played along or laughed…but I just felt…odd… "Um…yeah…" I merely responded and began joining them to get out of the Everfree Forest. As we left, I couldn't help but get this feeling inside of me that made me want to place a hoof to my heart. A feeling that I had not recieved for such a very long time…

"Goodness. Are you all alright?" Fluttershy asked, standing by the fencepost outside of Applejack's farm.

"Yes, indeedy." Applejack replied.

"There it is!" Another mare's voice sounded. We looked down the road to see a familiar pony walking towards us, particularly the hot air balloon. I could tell she was the pony who owned the balloon from the headgear she wore. Not only that, but she was the same pony that I saved when she almost plummeted to her doom in the same hot air balloon… "I've been looking for that thing everywhere!" She wore an expression of not such jubilance. It was more of one that contained anger due to the fact that she almost lost something very important to her and that she had to look all over town for it.

"Sorry about that." Applejack apologized, beginning to untie the rope from her tail. "We saw it floatin' over to the Everfree Forest, so we went out to investigate. Didn't know what happened." Applejack gave the balloon back to the mare.

The mare rolled her eyes and spared one word. "Whatever." Holding the rope of the balloon with her teeth, she began walking back out of the farm towards Ponyville. Hm… I can somewhat see why she would be so rude.

"You take care now!" Applejack called out nonetheless, especially on being the best kind of friendly pony to meet. After, she looked at us. "Well, I best be getting back to work. I have chores that need tendin' to, so see you all later."

"What chores? I'll do them!" Spike pointed his finger up as he ran after Applejack.

Fluttershy could only observe the scene in silence. "What's with Spike?" She asked, holding a hoof up below her face in a questionable manner.

"He's probably really grateful that Applejack and I 'saved his life' back in the Everfree Forest from a bunch of timberwolves." I answered as I began walking with Fluttershy back to Ponyville.

"Oh my." Fluttershy placed a hoof to her mouth. "But you're okay, right?"

"Yeah, Yeah. I'm fine." I answered. "I wonder what Spike was doing out here by himself anyway? He usually never is unless Twilight's busy or something…"

"She probably is." Fluttershy added. "Everypony seems to be busy today…"

"Huh. I guess I should look for some work myself… The Mayor hasn't sent me anything. I could check on Cheerilee and see if she needs anything."

"Okay, sweetie. I'll see you later then?"

"Sure. Maybe. If I'm finished with whatever I need to do." I shrugged. "You can still come and see me, if you want."

"I'll see you when you're free. Mmk?"

"Okay."

She leaned her head forward and planted a kiss on my lips. She smiled and waved, flying away afterwards.

Ah. Her majestic beauty.

When I arrived at the school, it seemed like there were no more foals. I walked inside to see an empty classroom. All but Miss Cheerilee, who was sitting at her desk.

"Still stuck in class, Miss Cheerilee?" I asked, surprising her a bit.

"Oh. Why, hello, Alex." She greeted as I walked towards her. "What brings you here?"

"I thought I could help you around here." I looked around the classroom. "I don't really have any work today."

"Help with what exactly?" She questioned.

"Do you want any new paintings on the walls for the classroom? Or perhaps something else artistic?" I offered.

Cheerilee seemed to be confused for a moment, but suddenly she slightly widened her eyes. "Oh! Yes! The Mayor had told me about your new job and how she mentioned you could see if I had anything for you. Hm…" She placed a hoof under her chin and thought. "Oh! The little ones and I are having a bake sale in order to fund raise for another field trip. Perhaps you could help us by making a stand and decorations here?"

"Consider it a work in progress." I answered confidently with a smile.

"Thank you, Alex." Cheerilee expressed. "I'll still be here if you can finish within several hours. I'm just grading papers and doing some other work." She chuckled.

"Of course, Miss Cheerilee. I think I can get it done by then. It's not too much work!"

"I'm glad to hear that. Hopefully, I see you in a few hours or so then?"

"Yes ma'am." I turned around and began walking out the front door of the classroom. "See you!" I waved as she waved back. Once I was outside, I placed a hoof under my chin and began thinking on what to do.

Okay… A stand and some decorations. Shouldn't be too hard, especially since I have my horn. I should probably even be finished in an hour, tops. For the stand, I can probably easily build one using some wood and nails. For the decorations on and near the stand, I could definitely not only use some paintings, but fabric and cloth as well.

I looked up ahead towards town.

Rarity is nearby! I could grab some of her material while I'm here.

Afterwards, I began trotting over to Rarity's boutique in order to begin my task.

The doorbell rang as I pushed my hoof on the door. I walked in, immediately hearing voices inside.

"What was that all about?" I heard Rarity ask in the kitchen.

There was a deep sigh. "Alex and I saved Spike from some timberwolves in the Everfree Forest. I decided he could help out a little so he won't feel so bad about his 'debt', and now he thinks he has to serve me forever." That was Applejack.

I reached the kitchen just in time to see a whirl of excitement hit Rarity. She squealed delightedly. "Oh, what I wouldn't give to have somepony forever in my debt! I'd get them to organize my closets, and give me pedicures, and help me with my sewing and—"

"Okay, I get it." Applejack cut Rarity's sentence short before it could get out of hoof. "Havin' somepony to do things for you would be a dream come true. But I don't feel right havin' Spike thinkin' he owes me somethin'. Sure, his help is really nice, but at this rate, if he continues to help me, there's literally goin' to be nothin' for any of us back at the farm to do. And I'm going to feel bad that they were all done by Spike."

"What's going on?" I asked, entering and meeting up with them at the table, which contained a pretty decent pie on there.

"Oh, Alex!" Rarity greeted. "How nice is it for you to drop by!"

"I wanted to talk to you, Rarity. But first, what's going on with Spike?" I asked.

"He's been helpin' me with my chores ever since we returned that balloon, Alex. Like I said, it's real nice, but now I'm just becoming too uncomfortable about it. I'd really like it if he could think he paid his debt and leave us to finish our chores. It just doesn't feel right." Applejack explained.

"Ooh. I see. He must be really grateful, huh?" I assumed.

"Yeah. But it's mostly because he has this 'dragon code' and he doesn't want to break it. He wants to be a noble dragon, and no matter how many times I tell him he will be, even if he doesn't help me, he just won't listen."

"Hm…" I thought for a moment. "I'm not exactly sure how you can get him to stop helping you… If he's really stuck to this moral code, he's going to be disappointed if you don't want his help anymore…"

Applejack released another sigh. "I know…"

"AJ, Rarity, Alex!" Rainbow Dash suddenly appeared at the window, flapping her wings. "What's happening?"

"Applejack and Alex saved Spike's life and now he has to serve Applejack forever." Rarity responded, explaining the whole situation in a nutshell.

"Sweet!" Rainbow Dash commented and then faced Applejack. "What are you having him do? Wash your laundry? Clean your room? Help you with your unfinished novel? Mine's about this awesome pegasus who's the best flyer ever, and becomes the captain of the Wonderbolts!"

"How ever did you come up with that ingeniously woven intricate plot line?" Rarity asked sarcastically, which Rainbow Dash did not receive the same message. Rarity included an eye rolling as well.

"Just came to me." She answered with a short smile.

"You're writing a novel?" I questioned Rainbow Dash with a smile as well. "I never knew you were the type of pony to do so."

"Yeah! It's a lot of fun! What about you, Alex? You writing any novels?" She asked.

I thought back and grinned a little. I looked back in slight embarrassment. "Yeah. You could say it's like an…autobiography or life story…"

"Sweet!" Rainbow Dash repeated. "Can't wait to read it!"

"Thing is," Applejack spoke, getting back on topic. "I don't really want him to serve me forever, but I don't know how to get him to stop."

"That's easy!" Rainbow replied. "Just make him help you with something really, really hard."

"I don't know... I don't want him to get hurt."

"Puh-lease, he'll quit way before there's even a chance of getting hurt!"

We heard Spike walk back in, drying his claws with a towel. "I finished! I even washed the rest of the dishes you had in the sink, Rarity!"

"Oh. Why, thank you, Spike! That was very noble of you." Rarity expressed.

Rainbow looked over to Applejack and leaned in her head a bit closer to her. "Leave this to me." She whispered. After, she looked at Spike and began speaking. "Sooo, Spike, Applejack was gonna help me stack some hay so I could practice smashing through it, but I'm feeling extra extra powerful today."

As Rainbow Dash talked, Applejack nodded in agreement until that last statement she made. "You are?" She questioned in a worried tone.

"Yeah, I am. So instead of hay, I'm gonna smash through rocks!" This caused Applejack to grow widened eyes.

"Rocks?" Spike inquired, trying to make sense of it. He tapped his fingers together as a look of confusion remained on his face.

"Yeah! A huge tower of rocks! And you're gonna build it!"

"I am?"

"Yeah, I mean, unless you don't wanna help Applejack..."

"I do!" He performed a bow to enhance his point. "It is Spike's dragon code!"

"Then get to it!" Rainbow Dash ordered, having Spike run out. "Trust me. This is gonna work like a charm!" She told Applejack.

"Well, you two better go with him to ensure he doesn't hurt himself." I suggested.

"Yeah! Come on, Applejack!" Rainbow Dash flew away from the outside.

"See y'all later." Applejack spoke and trotted out the kitchen in a slight hurry.

"Well then, Alex." Rarity faced me and blinked her long eyelashes a few times. "Now that everypony is gone… What is it you wanted to speak to me about?"

"I was just wondering if you had any fabric or material I could use for this job I'm doing. I'm pretty much making a stand for a bake sale at the schoolhouse, along with decorations. I'm sure your keen eye knows just what's perfect?"

"Of course!" Rarity immediately agreed in delight. "I am quite flattered you came to me upon the subject, darling. Follow me! I know just what is perfect for such an occasion!" She led me up the stairs towards her bedroom/workroom and began skimming through different types of fabric and material. Once she found was she was looking for, she released an expression. "Aha!" She revealed the material towards me. "This should do just the trick!"

"Looks great." I returned. "Thanks, Rarity. I think this should be enough. I'm just going to use some of it for the stand and the rest for the banners."

"It's my pleasure, Alex." She stated. "It's always such a delight to assist you." She fluttered her eyelashes once again.

I chuckled a little. "Thanks…" I began turning towards the door. "I'll see if I can make you something in return for the fabric."

"Oh. There's really no need to." She assured.

"I insist."

"Well... Whatever you wish, Alex."

I nodded and smiled. "See you later!"

She waved as I left.

After I left Rarity's, I had dropped off the fabric in my home and went out to purchase some simple wooden planks and nails. I was heading towards my home to drop off the materials and begin working on the stand until I came across Rainbow Dash and Applejack after seeing a huge tower of rocks.

"He actually built the tower?" I asked, surprised when I saw him bringing rocks in and climbing towards the top to place them. "How do you expect to knock down that?" I pointed towards the tower than must have been visible by all of Ponyville.

"I was sure he'd give up after, like, three rocks." Rainbow returned, keeping her eyes on the tower.

"Three rocks? You know Spike has I-don't-know-how many years in being Twilight's assistant. Being on a life-saving debt, it's no surprise he'd actually go this far to help Applejack."

"Oh goodness." I heard Fluttershy, who must have been around, speak. She walked towards us, stuck on the sight of the tower as well. "If it'd been me, I'd have just pretended I didn't have anything for him to do."

"Why didn't I think of that?" Applejack shared.

"Is this high enough?" Spike yelled out from the top of the tower, which was literally ten times taller than we were.

"That's plenty high! Come on down, Spike!" Applejack called out.

"Bad news: He actually ended up building the whole rock tower. Good news..." Spike had come down, wiping his claws from dirt. He bowed and presented the rock tower to Rainbow. "I've got a rock tower to knock down." She spoke nervously.

"Haha, yeah! You can do it! Haha, hahah, alright, yeah!" Spike cheered as Rainbow slowly lifted herself up and faced the rock tower.

As we all backed away to avoid any rocks hitting us, I looked at the rock tower and decided I could help Rainbow and prevent her from getting hurt. "Don't worry… I've got this…" I whispered to Fluttershy and Applejack.

Rainbow Dash stretched out her leg in front of her and pulled back. Once she began flying towards the middle of the tower to kick it, I quickly focused my horn on one of the rocks in the same area. I quickly pulled it out, caused for the whole tower to collapse, due to the sudden shift in balance. Rainbow had been bracing herself for impact, but she was surprised when she didn't feel anything.

"That... was... awesome!" Spike commented as many of the rocks fell nearby. "Wanna do it again, Rainbow Dash?" He offered. "Applejack can rebuild it for you, and when I say 'Applejack', I of course mean me!"

"Haha!" Rainbow Dash laughed, appearing to look proud of the outcome. "Sure thing, Spike! I never thought I would be able to take down a rock tower all by myself!"

"No!" Applejack immediately intervened, rushing towards where Rainbow Dash was flying above the rocks. "I mean, I don't think Rainbow Dash needs any more of your help. My help. She doesn't need it. Right, Rainbow Dash?"

"What do you mean?" Rainbow Dash asked, still blind to the fact that I was the one who brought the rock tower down. "I can totally go for another smashing!" Applejack eyed her in a scolding manner, leading her to a sigh. "Yeah. I guess I'm good. For now…"

"And so am I!" Applejack added. "I just can't think of one more thing I need help with, so you don't have to do anything else."

Fluttershy walked to my side and nodded her head in agreement.

Spike fell to the floor in shock. "W-What do you mean you can't think of anything else I can help with?"

"Exactly that!" Applejack answered. "There's nothin' else, I don't want you to do anything."

"If I don't help you, how will I know I'm a noble dragon?" Spike asked frightfully.

"Well, I—"

I placed a hoof on Applejack to stop her. "I suppose I can have him help me for a while. After all, I did save his life too, didn't I?"

"That's true!" Spike exclaimed. "And if I help Alex, I can still stick with my dragon code!" He immediately rushed over to me. "What do you need? Spike the noble dragon is here to help!"

I looked over to the wooden boards and box of nails I had placed on the ground. "Why don't you carry those boards and the box of nails for me and take them to my house?" I asked.

"Of course!" He ran towards the boards and picked them up. Afterwards, he began carrying them back home.

Applejack released a long drawn sigh. "Thank ya so much, Alex. Why don't you keep him busy for a little while and the others and I will think up of something to stop him from helping us so much?"

"Sure thing, Applejack. I'll see you all when I'm done." I stopped by Fluttershy and placed a kiss on her cheek. "See you in a while, Fluttershy."

"Bye." Fluttershy softly but happily replied.

When I arrived back home, I saw Spike sitting near the materials outside my door. He immediately perked up when he saw me. "So, what do you want me to do, Alex?"

"Hm." I thought. "Right now, I'm just going to build a stand for Miss Cheerilee." I looked at my materials and realized I forgot a hammer. "Ugh. I forgot a hammer."

"I can get one for you! Don't worry! I'll be right back!" Afterwards, he raced off to find a hammer.

I softly chuckled and turned to the planks of wood. I picked each one of them up with my magic and began planning out on how the stand would look. Once I reached a sort of agreement with myself, I walked inside my house and retrieved the paint and paintbrushes. I picked up one plank of the wood that would serve as the sign for the stand.

While Spike was out retrieving the hammer, I managed to paint a few treats, such as a cake and some cookies, on the sign that held a pink background to match the school's colors. After I had just finished placing the last few touches, I heard him running back.

"I got one!" He held up the hammer straight towards the sky with his claw.

"Great job." I praised. "Thanks."

"Now what?" He asked.

I placed the sign I painted on away and grabbed two pieces of planks to nail together. "Here. Hold these together, just like this." I showed him by placing one of the planks on top of the other vertically. "I'm going to nail them together."

"Got it!" He stretched out his arms and held both of the boards still.

As he did this, I picked out a nail from the nail box and carefully positioned it where it could nail both of the board. I held the hammer up, all using magic, and lightly attacked the end of the nail to make a small hole on the wood. Once it was safe, I hammered harder to get the nail stuck on both boards. After there were enough nails on both of them, I continued to instruct Spike on his assistance. Creating the stand itself sure provided Spike a lot of time of helping me.

Of course, finishing the stand didn't take as short as I thought it would. I would have finished quickly if I had just used my magic to hold all the boards in the right place and nail them all together, but having Spike help me took longer. He definitely would have provided excellent help had I been just an earth pony. However, having the opportunity and privilege of magic honestly made his help unneeded.

Once the stand was completed, excluding the painting and decorations, Spike immediately brought his question up.

"Anything else I can help with?" He asked excitedly.

"Um…"I thought and looked around. I wasn't so sure if he was good with painting, but I rather him not, especially since this was a task for Cheerilee. I decided I could let him return the hammer. "Why don't you return the hammer where you found it?"

"Sure thing!" He began running off.

Afterwards, I grabbed my paint brushes and paint and quickly began painting on the wood. Painting did not take long at all. There was no necessity of including fancy and completely sophisticated depictions on the wood. What I had planned was just perhaps a pink background and some hearts and sweets on the front portion of the stand. The top part of the stand, where the goods would be placed, would be covered with the material Rarity gave me.

After placing the finishing touches with the paint, I retrieved the fabric, along with some scissors by my art materials in my home. I trotted outside and carefully placed the fabric on the stand. I used the scissors to cut and remove any excess part of the fabric. I allowed it to cover the top part of the stand, the sides, and a little on the front, giving just enough viewing space on the paintings I created.

Then, I walked backwards and noticed my product whole. I analyzed the colorful stand that seemed to perfectly match the color of the schoolhouse. The sign above the stand depicted BAKE SALE in friendly and bright letters, along with using the fabric to decorate it a bit on the corners in a bow-like way. The small cylinder pieces of wood used to hold up the sign, which was placed on the stand, were decorated with the left over pieces of the fabric as well. It was used as a ribbon wrapped around the wood as it descended towards the top of the stand, the portion where the sweets would be placed, almost looking like a flat staircase.

"Done and done!" I heard Spike from a short distance. He came running towards me, already ready for action. "What next?"

I observed the stand for a moment. "Do you have a wagon or something we can put this on to take to Cheerilee?" I asked.

Once we already had placed the stand on the wagon to take to Cheerilee, I felt a little bad for having Spike run around three times to get a few things I forgot or didn't think about. However, he seemed to not mind and actually enjoy helping me out anyway. He walked behind me a little to my side holding the handle of the red wagon firmly. I led him on the road to the schoolhouse. When we reached the flagpole, I had Spike bring the wagon towards the left corner of the school on the grass. I used my magic to pick up the stand and carefully place it on the ground.

"Stay here, Spike. I'm going to go talk to Miss Cheerilee really quick." I told him.

"You betcha!" He confidentially replied.

I returned a small smile and then walked towards the building.

Just as I entered, I saw Cheerilee packing up to leave.

"Miss Cheerilee!" I spoke. "I'm glad I caught you before you left. Sorry it took a little longer than expected. But I'm done and it's waiting outside for you to see!"

"Really?" She responded, placing on her saddlebag. "Oh, I can't wait to see it!"

"Follow me, ma'am." I waited by the door. When she walked towards it, I politely stepped back and lifted my hoof and lowered my head in a bowing motion, bringing up the old "Mares first" gentlecolt code.

She lightly blushed and giggled. "Why, thank you, Alex."

After she walked out of the building, I accompanied her and walked her towards the stand. "Here it is!"

As soon as Cheerilee saw it, she widened her eyes and released a soft gasp. "Oh my!"

"What do you think?" I asked.

"It's…lovely!" She answered and walked a bit closer to it.

"Thank this little guy here too." I stood by Spike and lightly messed with the top of his head. "He helped."

"I see…" Cheerilee commented as she continued to observe the stand. "Well, thank you both for this lovely stand. I'm sure it'll attract a lot of ponies to our bake sale!" Once she was finished analyzing the stand, she walked towards me. "I'll let the mayor know what a terrific job you've done. Now, I must get home and rest after all that paperwork." She began walking down the road while waving back at us. "See you all later!" She ended with a cheery statement.

I waved and sent back another smile until Spike tugged at my coat.

"Hey! Since we're finished with the stand, why don't we see what Applejack is up to? Maybe she could use some help again!" He continued to be such a little excited and energetic dragon.

"Hm…" I rubbed my head lightly, thinking that Applejack wasn't exactly ready yet. "I don't know, Spike…"

"Come on. Please?" He begged.

I sighed and wondered if I should take him. After all, it has been a while… Maybe she's come up with something already… I couldn't really let him down anyway.

"Alright… Let's go…" I answered.

He cheered as we began our way towards the barn.

Just as I arrived in the middle of the farm, I spotted Applejack walking out of the red barn. She hadn't noticed me yet until Spike ran towards her, eager to see if she had anything to do.

"Hey, Applejack! What's next? I'm up for anything!" He exclaimed.

"Uh…" Applejack could only respond with.

I walked up to her as well. "Sorry, Applejack. Spike wanted to come here so bad…so…you know…"

"Oh, I understand, Alex…um…" Applejack faced towards Spike. "Spike, why don't ya…um…" She looked around the area. "uh…" She focused her attention towards the grass. "Why don't you…" She narrowed her eyes and then gasped. "Why don't you count the blades of grass here at Sweet Apple Acres?"

"Okay!" He quickly agreed. "Where do you want me to start?"

"Uh, just go on and start over there." She pointed towards the first patch of grass nearby.

"Right away!" He ran off and then threw himself to the grass to begin counting.

As he did, I looked towards Applejack to begin speaking with her. "Good idea of keeping him busy… But you don't expect him to count every single blade of grass, do you?" I asked.

She released a heavy sigh. "I just need to keep him busy while we discuss and set up the plan."

"Plan?" I questioned.

"Come inside the barn." She offered. "The others are waitin' for ya."

As I walked inside, I could hear Spike already somewhat far in his counting.

"Seventy, seventy-one, seventy-two, seventy-three, seventy-four, seventy-five..."

Once I was in, I saw the other girls standing inside. Behind me, Applejack walked in and shut the barn doors. Afterwards, she faced all of us. "All right, y'all, here's the deal. Spike needs to save my life."

Pinkie Pie immediately raised her hoof. "And you want us to shoot you out of a cannon towards a hornet's nest…" She explained thoroughly as she brought out a cannon and placed a protective mask on Twilight. "…and give Spike a butterfly net so he can catch you mere seconds before you hit the nest and are stung by a thousand angry hornets!" Fluttershy only retained a widened expression after Pinkie had placed the net in her mouth. "I'll wear this mustache." She placed an artificial mustache above her lips while rubbing her hooves and grinning defiantly.

"...No." Applejack answered frankly while rolling her eyes back in annoyance. "I am gonna be attacked by a timberwolf!"

The rest of the girls gasped while Pinkie kept the mustache on her face. "Can I still wear the mustache?"

Applejack only returned an irritated expression.

"You're not really going to be attacked by a timberwolf, are you Applejack?" I inquired heavily. "That's too dangerous!"

"No, no." She responded. "I've got a plan. C'mon, y'all." She turned around and began heading out the barn doors. "I'll explain it when we get there." All of us merely exchanged looks and shrugged. We followed Applejack out of the barn and to someplace else in the farm as we passed by Spike, who continued to count the blades of grass all around him. "When you're done counting those blades Spike, I have one more thing for you to do, okay?"

"Sure thing, Applejack!" Spike responded cheerfully. "Happy to help!" After, he continued his task.

Geez…he seriously cannot keep count while making sure he doesn't make a mistake…

Applejack led us back towards where the rock tower was built, right next to the entrance of the Everfree Forest. She stood in front of all us right by the destroyed rock tower.

"Now, before y'all keep asking about me getting attacked by a timberwolf, I just wanna let y'all know that I'm not going to be attacked by a real timberwolf, just a fake one." She explained.

"Fake one?" I questioned. "How are you going to pull off that?"

She faced Twilight. "Twilight'll make one out of the pieces of wood right next to the trees over there." She pointed towards the Everfree Forest. "Can't you, Twi?"

"Sure. Sounds easy enough." Twilight answered and began gathering some wood nearby.

"Now, Pinkie Pie and Rarity will be hidin' in the bushes until it's time to run out screamin'. Fluttershy, you make the sounds of a timberwolf runnin', okay?"

"Okay…" Fluttershy replied.

"Rainbow Dash, you know how to make a good roar, am I right?" Applejack asked Rainbow.

"Psh." Rainbow Dash flipped her hoof. "You know I do!"

"Great." Applejack stated. "Then it's, settled. When I give the signal, Pinkie Pie and Rarity will come runnin' out of the woods, bein' pursued by the timberwolf. I'll start to run, too, but then pretend to get my hoof stuck. I'll ask Spike to help me dislodge it, and he will, and I'll be able to get away from the terrifyin' timberwolf! Havin' saved me from certain doom, Spike will then consider us even. Everybody get it?"

"Uh-huh!" Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash nodded their heads.

"I'll do my best." Twilight returned, raising her finished timberwolf and teleporting towards the branch of a tree.

"Mm-hm." Rarity added delightfully.

"Just one question." Pinkie Pie brought up.

"Yes?" Applejack inquired. Pinkie immediately had the same black twirled mustache from earlier on her face. She sent a widened expression in anticipation for Applejack's answer. "No." She frankly answered.

Pinkie sighed, dropping the mustache from her face. "Suit yourself." She kicked the rest of the supplies from her own plan away.

"What about me?" I asked Applejack about my task.

"Why don't you get Spike when we're all ready?" She offered.

"Okay…" I responded.

Rarity cleared her throat loudly but politely. "We are all ready to play our parts," She cleared her throat again for a second. "…but are you sure you are ready to play yours, Applejack?"

"What d'you mean?" Applejack inquired about.

"Show us your best 'damsel in distress' move." Rarity responded, flipping her mane up in the air a bit.

"Uh..." Applejack tilted her head towards the floor a bit and then brought it up. "Oh, well, aheh," She spoke a little nervously and looked around, seeming to not have such experience with the part. "…how's this?" She threw a hoof to her side and groaned…rather…oddly… "Hooooooo."

"Absolutely horrendous." Rarity immediately intervened. "Okay, this needs some serious work! Now, first, you must lift your foreleg up to your forehead, like so—"

"Applejack?" We heard Spike's voice exclaim in the distance. We could see his little figure running towards us.

"No time! Here he comes!" Applejack warned, having the girls quickly dash out of visibility. Then, she faced me. "Forget about calling Spike, just stay here with me! He doesn't know the other girls are here!" She looked towards Spike to see him coming closer. "Uh... over here, Spike!" She waved her hoof high in the air.

Spike reached us and panted lightly as he spoke. "You said you had something else you needed me to do?"

"Oh, yes, I," She turned her head to see a pile of leaves nearby. "…I was just hopin' you could maybe, uh, sweep up all those leaves for a compost pile, and—"

"But of course." Spike bowed and grabbed the rake Applejack had been holding up. He started to make his way towards the leaves. "Oh, by the way, there are exactly twenty-four million, five hundred and sixty-seven thousand, eight hundred and thirty seven blades of grass at Sweet Apple Acres."

His response caused me to widen my eyes in disbelief of him actually counting every single blade of grass… Even I wouldn't have done such a thing…

"I can't believe you counted every single one of 'em..." Applejack returned with the same expression as mine. Afterwards, she looked towards Rainbow Dash, who was hiding behind some cover near Fluttershy, and winked.

Rainbow winked back and began to inhale to release a mighty roar.

"You asked me to." Spike replied.

I looked at the timberwolf Twilight was holding while hiding under the tree on the branch and had second thoughts. I tilted my head towards Applejack to engage in a whisper.

"You really think this is going to work…? The fake timberwolf looks nothing like a real one except for the fact that it's wood…"

"It's got to." Applejack answered. "Spike is only a baby dragon after all, you know how kids believe more into this kind of scary stuff?"

"I guess you're right…"

"And, as a noble dragon and follower of my Dragon Code, I—" Spike's continued dialogue was suddenly interrupted by a loud roar, which to no worry was by Rainbow Dash. Spike immediately dropped the rake and stared in horror towards the Everfree Forest.

"Timberwolf!" Rarity screamed as she ran out of the forest towards Spike. Pinkie followed along with her but made no sound. "We are doomed!" She yelled as she sobbed artificially. Now I can tell what Rainbow meant by…over exaggerating… Pinkie released a scream of her own as well, but it was more like a happy scream of joy. After they finished their parts, they merely stopped their acting and trotted towards us. "See? Like that." Rarity pointed out as she trotted past Applejack and me.

After, the puppet timberwolf appeared from the ground, walking towards us uncoordinatedly. The wooden claws weren't even touching the ground… Fluttershy creating the clacking noise of the creature. Spike could only hold his claws to his face as he actually bought the whole scheme. Its mouth opened very crookedly, but Spike continued to be frightened nonetheless. After a moment of awkward silence with its crooked mouth, along with Spike slowly backing away, Rainbow Dash released another loud roar.

"Oh no!" Applejack exclaimed unconvincingly as she walked towards a pile of rocks nearby. "I seem to have got my hoof caught in between two rocks!" She placed her hoof between the rocks. "I cannot run away!" The fake wooden creature was then brought closer to her. "I am…" She looked around, trying to remember the specific line. She waved her hoof around when she got it. "…a damsel in distress! Help me, Spike!" The timberwolf's mouth opened up and Applejack placed her head inside while continuing to look at Spike.

However, Spike continued to reveal a face of fright. Afterwards, he looked towards me to plead. "I can't do anything! Help her, Alex! Please!"

I widened my eyes and then turned my look from Spike to Applejack. She didn't seem to know what to do either. She merely shrugged as she gestured her head more into the timberwolf's head. I sighed and walked towards it. No point in trying to make a good scene if everything is already pretty disorganized…

"Don't worry, Applejack. I'll save you!" I announced unconvincingly as Applejack did as well. I raised a hoof in order to hit the timberwolf, but Twilight merely moved its body to lightly pat me while keeping Applejack's head in its mouth. When I felt the wooden touch, I began falling to the floor purposely. "Oh no!" I felt the dirt spray up from the ground when I hit it. "Ouch! I'm hurt! I can't move!" I looked at Spike. "Spike! You have to help us! Please! You're our only hope!" Geez…what the hay was I even saying?

Spike continued standing there frightened, unknowing what to do until he unexpectedly removed all fear from his face. "Wait a minute…"

Applejack removed her head from the timberwolf's mouth as we all, including the fake creature, looked at Spike.

"No, no, don't wait a minute." Applejack responded as she scooted the others away from sight with her hoof. "Save us from the terrifyin' timberwolf!

"Well, he would be terrifying if he wasn't…" He had begun walking towards us as I placed my forelegs in front of me and lifted my head off the ground. "…a fake!" Applejack returned a surprised expression. Spike began to analyze and critique the puppet. "You got the clomping on his claws..." Despite his comment, the string holding a piece of wood, which was supposed to be his claw, merely snapped. "...The roar was spot on, and the detail on his face is pretty good." He continued as he held the face. When he let go, it fell to ground. "But you forgot one thing: His breath! You could smell a real timberwolf's breath from a mile—"

He suddenly stopped to smell the horrible stench we all began smelling. Nonetheless, he shook his head and laughed. "Too late, I'm already on—"

Twilight suddenly teleported between Spike and Applejack and screamed out loudly, running away.

"Timberwolf!" Rainbow Dash yelled out.

We darted our sight to the forest to notice three familiar creatures back for their revenge. They all roared loudly to initiate their charge towards us. We all gasped and immediately began running.

"Timberwolf!" Spike exclaimed.

As we headed towards the direction where the other girls had left off, Applejack instead took a detour towards the pile of rocks. When I saw Applejack pushing a huge boulder to smash the timberwolves into pieces, I quickly jumped out of the way and used my magic to have them slip right on target. The boulder attacked the first one and tumbled on to the rest of them, instantly spreading their entire wooden parts across the ground.

Spike saw what happened and became relieved. He sent a thumbs up towards Applejack.

I released a sigh of relief and looked towards Applejack. "I thought we took care of those three earlier this morning!"

"They must kind of have some magic or somethin' to—"

The rock she was lying on suddenly broke apart and took her to the ground.

"Applejack!" I called her name as I ran towards her.

Another piece of rock fell harshly on her back left leg. "Ow!" She exclaimed.

I immediately crouched when I reached her, hurrying to help until I felt movement near me. I looked to see the pieces of wood lifting up in the air.

"Uh oh..." Spike expressed as all the pieces of wood were now reattaching together…but they weren't reattaching to three different beings… "Applejack, Alex, come on!" Spike yelled.

Applejack stood up and tried to pull her hoof out from the pile of rocks, but she couldn't. "I can't! I'm really stuck!"

Even small trees and logs were being pulled out of the forest.

"No more messing around!" Spike slightly panicked. I analyzed the final form to see that all the pieces of wood were actually forming a huge timberwolf in front of us. "Let's go!"

I placed both my hooves on the boulder that was trapping Applejack. I strained, but I just couldn't pull it out! "I can't remove it! It's stuck on there like glue!" I exclaimed as I even tried using magic.

"Come on...!" Applejack strained as she continued to try to pull out her leg.

However, a large drop of liquid splattered on the ground nearby, causing us to look back. The giant timberwolf roared greatly, filling our airspace with its musty and horrible stench.

"Forget it, Spike! You gotta get out of here!" Applejack ordered.

"No!" I intervened and lifted myself away from Applejack. "Spike, get Applejack out of here! I'll keep it busy!" I faced the timberwolf aggressively with my hooves planted on the ground. Inside me, I could feel myself growling in defense. Not only did I feel that, I also felt this dark energy leave and possibly even surround me.

"No!" Spike returned. "It's in my dragon code and to be a noble dragon I have to save the both of you!"

I continued to glare at the timberwolf as it returned the same expression towards me. However, right when it appeared as if it was about to take a lunge at me, a rock flew right into its throat, halting it in motion. It immediately began choking, making me gasp and look back. "Come on, Spike!" I rushed towards Applejack to begin helping her out by trying to pull the boulder off with both my magic and hooves. Spike helped by using a solid stick that seemed to have come out from the timberwolf. As we attempted to get Applejack out, the timberwolf raised a claw in order to signal us to wait as it continued to try hacking out the rock. But we weren't idiots to stay there and be eaten. Finally, Applejack's hoof was freed, allowing us to all run back away from the danger.

As I ran, I looked back to see the timberwolf struggling until it finally released a last breath and fell to the floor, crashing and scattering all of its wood once again.

We panted as we reached all of the other girls, who seemed to have been waiting for us.

"What happened to you guys back there?" Twilight asked. "Thought you were right behind us!"

"My hoof was stuck, and that timberwolf was coming right at us!" Applejack explained.

"Wait, you were actually stuck?" Rarity questioned in surprise.

"Uh-huh!" Spike answered.

Applejack nudged him on his belly, causing him to fall back towards the floor. "But Spike picked up a pebble, and rocketed that thing right at the huge timberwolf's mouth, and saved our lives!" She emphasized.

"Aw, it was nothing." Spike rubbed his head as he blushed.

"It was somethin' alright!" Applejack expressed. "'Course, We wouldn't've needed help if I hadn't been tryin' to stage a fake timberwolf attack in the first place…"

"Yeah." Spike rolled his eyes. "What was that all about?"

She sighed. "I know this Code thing's important to you, but if somethin' like this comes up in the future, think maybe we can go back to my code, say 'that's what friends do' and leave it at that? I promise I won't think of you as any less noble." Applejack removed her hat and placed it on her chest.

Spike shrugged and nodded his head. "Sounds good to me. But, maybe let's just try to avoid situations where one of us actually needs the other one to save their life?"

"You got yourself a deal." Applejack happily held out her hoof.

Spike was about to shake it, but realizing how she didn't have a claw like his, he bumped it instead.

I released a final sigh of relief. "Well, I'm just glad that's over. Spike, maybe you want to change your moral code a bit? If you keep returning a life debt like you did with Applejack, you'd have to serve a lot of ponies for life instead of assisting the one that really matters like Twilight." I glanced towards her.

"Yeah. You're right…" He rubbed his head and looked at Twilight. "From now, I should only return the favor by helping others if they need it."

I released a sweet smile. "Exactly."

As we began heading back towards town, Applejack trotted to my side. "Boy! How'd you learn to do that back there, Alex?" She asked, confusing me.

"Huh? Learned to do what?" I questioned.

"That thing that made you look really intimidatin' to that timberwolf! Like if your magic made some weird shadows around your body!"

"I…" I couldn't answer her question because I didn't remember anything about what she was describing about. "…I don't know…?"

"Well, either way, that was really amazin', Alex!"

"Thanks…"

After we had all excused ourselves for the night, I walked back home to get some sleep. However, Applejack's statement continued to bother me. I didn't know why. I actually wanted to work on that gift for Rarity in order to show my appreciation for her...but...I just felt...well...not in the mood. When I tucked myself into bed, I closed my eyes and tried to get some sleep.

But I couldn't.

It wasn't long until I began shaking and feeling chills throughout my body, even with the blankets held tightly around me. I shuffled and moved around my bed until I just gave up. I almost angrily removed the sheets from my bed and immediately threw myself off the bed.

As I tried to descend down the stairs, I felt myself becoming wobbly as if I couldn't walk straight. I began panting a little softly. When I finally reached the bottom of the stairs, I opened the door, walked out, and slammed it shut behind me.

The symptoms I was suffering from were really bothering me. They were not only bothering me…but they were making me angry for some reason.

Fluttershy's… I need to get to…Fluttershy's…

The more I walked, the more the wobbling and weakness seemed to grow. During the middle of my trip, she appeared before me as she landed in front of me.

"Alex… Are you alright?" She asked.

"Luna…" I responded weakly. "I…I just need to head to Fluttershy's…" I tried to walk past her, but instead, the weight of my body moved towards the front, bringing me to Luna's body automatically. My body collided with hers, and I felt too weak to move any further. Luna instantly brought her wings to my back, holding me so I wouldn't fall. Afterwards, I felt my eyes just close by themselves.

Luna

It was he who stated that he must reach Fluttershy's home. After seeing him in such the terrible state he was in, I brought him to her. After Fluttershy learned of the situation that was going on, she quickly escorted me to her bedroom and allowed me to drop him carefully on the left side of her bed. I uneasily glanced at Fluttershy.

"Take good care of him…please…" I asked so softly of her.

"Don't worry, Princess." Fluttershy answered me with. "He might just be exhausted from today, or maybe he got a little sick. Whatever it is, I'll make sure to keep him in good hooves."

"Thank you, Fluttershy…" I sighed wearily as I retained my eyes on his closed ones. "I…I must retire back to Canterlot Castle now… Goodnight, Fluttershy…"

"Goodnight, Princess Luna."

Afterwards, I hesitantly walked out of the cottage. I, in all honestly, did not want to leave his side, as I was beginning to grow worried about him, but perhaps Fluttershy was right. However, it still did not remove the uneasiness about that awful feeling I had received from him.

I spread my wings and flew towards Canterlot Castle to tell my sister of the news.

When I opened the doors to her study, she was lying on the ground, reading a book near the lit fireplace by her.

"Sister…" I spoke.

"Luna?" She answered, turning her head towards me.

"I'm…I'm becoming concerned about Alex."

"Why?" Celestia inquired. "What is it that is bothering you about him, little sister?"

"…I found him wandering all by himself in Ponyville tonight… He looked really…weak…and troubled… A few minutes earlier, I had received a bad vibe about him, so I flew to Ponyville to check on him. He's at Fluttershy's right now, and she suggests that he's probably tired or a little ill."

"I see…" She answered with some thought. "I don't know what to say, sister. I know you're worried about him, but perhaps Fluttershy is right. However, right now, we have many things to plan and prepare for. I'll check on him when I return to Ponyville and see how he's doing."

"Return to Ponyville?" I repeated with surprise. "For what occasion?"

"I'm going to have Discord released."

"What?!" I exclaimed in shock. "You must not be serious, sister!"

"I am. I know what I'm doing." She paused and looked towards the fireplace for a moment. "I've been feeling odd things as well, little sister. I've…decided it's best to release Discord and have the mighty group of friends reform him to good. That way, in any possible danger, his chaotic magic certainly could help if it was used for good."

"But…what if he hides the elements again?" I questioned.

"I'll place a spell on them so he won't be able to do so, don't worry."

I sighed and slightly looked away. "Okay… I understand…"

There was a moment of silence between us.

"…I must ask you something, Luna…"

"What is it?" I looked towards her.

"…does Alex remind you of…" She stopped there, feeling a little hesitant for saying it.

I sighed and gloomily stared at the floor. "Now that you speak of it…he does…"

Celestia pushed herself up and walked towards me. She placed a hoof delicately and comfortingly on my shoulder. "What's done is done, sister. You cannot change the past. There may be spells for such a thing…but we both know it's too dangerous to use them. It's best to leave things as they are."

"…you're right, sister…" I responded with sadness in my tone.

She patted my shoulder and then removed her hoof. "I must get my rest now, little sister. I'll see you in the morning…if you're awake."

"I understand, big sister. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." She responded as I left her room and closed the doors behind me.

As I stood silent outside of the hallway, I could only think about Alex and wish for him to get well…

Alex

I groaned softly as I awoke.

What happened…?

I slowly opened my eyes and looked around to see what appeared to be Fluttershy's room in the darkness.

I'm at Fluttershy's… How…?

After thinking for a second, I remember encountering Luna on the way. She must have brought me here…

I sighed softly, unable to recall what happened after.

I looked at my side to see Fluttershy resting peacefully right by me. I didn't feel as bad as I did before, and it was extremely nice to be by her side. I relaxed myself and closed my eyes as the moon's light pierced through the window and lit a bit of the room.

I just hope it wasn't anything serious…

Keep Calm and Flutter On

Episode 62 – Keep Calm and Flutter On

I felt myself cough a little, bringing myself back to conscious. I looked to the other side of the bed. It was empty. Fluttershy must have gotten up early… My throat felt extremely parched. I felt a little warm. Not only was I thirsty, but my throat felt stuffed up as well, along with my nose.

"Oh, you're awake." Fluttershy mentioned from the entrance towards the room. She lightly flapped her wings, bringing me something on a tray. "Here you go, sweetie. I made this just for you." There was a white and fragile cup on the tray. Steam protruded from it. It must have been her hot tea. I lightly grabbed it and blew on it a little. Afterwards, I took small sips from the tea, feeling it clear up both my throat and nose.

"Thank you, Fluttershy…" I expressed.

She placed the tray down on the nightstand nearby and flew to my side. She placed a caring hoof on my chest and rubbed it gently. "How are you feeling?" She asked.

"…fine…" I responded.

"Princess Luna brought you to me. She said you weren't doing so well and that you were heading to my cottage. I'm glad she did…" She placed a hoof on my mane and softly removed it away from my eyes and to my side.

"…I had this crazy dream last night…" I told her as I stared at the bed sheets.

"What dream?" She questioned.

"I…don't remember…" I remained silent for a moment. "All I remember was…" I sighed. "It's something I didn't like…"

"Well, everything is fine now…" She pushed her head towards mine and pressed her lips on my cheek, leaving them there for a nice few seconds. We suddenly heard a frantic knock downstairs, startling Fluttershy a bit. "I'll get that…" She removed herself from my side and flew downstairs.

As she went to go answer it, I continued staring at the sheets while cautiously taking a sip of the tea every once in a while.

"Fluttershy!" I heard Applejack's voice exclaim.

"Oh, why hello, Applejack. Is something wrong?" Fluttershy answered.

"Hay yeah, somthin's wrong! Your darn beaver is flooding my trees with its dam!" Applejack replied.

"Oh no… Give me one moment, Applejack. I'll be right out." Fluttershy closed the door and flew back upstairs to me. "I have to go to Sweet Apple Acres, Alex. Why don't you go outside and meet the others? Or you can stay here if you want… Just do anything you're comfortable with." She placed a kiss on my lips. "I love you."

"I love you too." I expressed back.

Afterwards, she flew back down and out the door to walk with Applejack.

I finished the tea and placed it back on the tray. I removed myself out of bed and picked up the tray with my magic. I traveled down the steps towards the kitchen. I washed the cup and left it out to dry. I was about to place the tray away when something suddenly occurred with my horn. My magic was interrupted unexpectedly. It formed some kind of crackle on it, causing me to place a hoof on it while gasping in pain. The tray created a loud cacophony as it crashed on the floor.

"Ugh." I released, shaking my head with strained eyes.

When I opened them, I looked at the tray on the floor. Instead of using my magic, I picked it up with my hoof and placed it on the counter.

I walked outside as I had decided to get some fresh air in my lungs. Moving along the dirt path, I could see Ponyville in the distance. That's when I heard my name.

"Alex!"

I looked to see who it was. It was the lavender mare, Twilight.

"Twilight?" I questioned.

She trotted towards me. "I'm glad I caught you! I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Oh… Sorry. I stayed at Fluttershy's. I wasn't feeling too well…"

"Is everything alright?" She asked with a slight look of worriment.

"Yeah… I'm fine now. What's up?" I asked.

"Princess Celestia is bringing an important visitor." She explained. "I got the letter just this morning. Rarity, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Spike are not too far away." She gestured with her head to follow her. "C'mon!" She began walking as I stayed behind her.

She led me to this wide green field. Spike was walking in circles, staring at the ground from boredom. Rarity was too busy spraying perfume on herself while Rainbow could only watch and cover her mouth with her hoof. Pinkie bounced over to Rarity. "I love it when Princess Celestia comes to Ponyville! I got my hooves shined just like Rarity for the occasion." She lifted her left hoof towards Rarity for her to observe. "Ya like?" She asked, presenting a hoof that was shined so brilliantly that it casted a reflection.

"I certainly do!" Rarity answered with glee.

"Huh?" Twilight looked around. "I'm surprised she's not here yet."

Spike sighed. "I wonder what's taking so long?"

"And where are Applejack and Fluttershy?" Twilight questioned.

"Oh." I spoke. "She went with Applejack to take care of something at Sweet Apple Acres…" I answered. "Something about a…dam…and beaver."

"But, I still don't get why the Princess would be so late." Spike added.

"She's bringing an important visitor. That could be part of it." Twilight offered.

"A visitor who's important and slow." Rainbow Dash flew hastily towards us, continuing to flap her wings in impatience.

"Maybe it's somepony so terribly important, she still had many more terribly important things to do before she got here." Rarity offered her own explanation, walking towards us.

Spike looked the other way and suddenly gasped, tugging at Twilight's tail. "Maybe the visitor has a deer antler, a goat leg, a bat wing, and a snake tail!"

His description caused me to form a confused expression on my face.

"Yeah, right. That's Discord." Twilight responded.

"Why in the wide-wide world of Equestria would Princess Celestia bring along someone like that?" Rarity added into the disbelief among us.

"M-m-maybe you should ask...her!" Spike pointed out, revealing Princess Celestia, who was escorted by her royal guards to our location. Her carriage wasn't the only one… Another group of royal guards were bringing something else… It was… Discord…

All six of us could only stare at the frozen stature in confusion and disbelief.

Wow… I haven't seen him in a long time…

Princess Celestia removed herself from the carriage and stood before us with a warm smile, especially at me. I walked towards her with an agape mouth directed at Discord. When I reached her, I looked at her eyes and began to speak. "Princess Celestia, please tell me you brought that statue here in order for us to break it into pieces."

"I must say, I didn't." She answered.

Twilight walked to my side to speak with the Princess as well. "With all due respect, Princess Celestia…" She began, "How could you bring Discord here?!" She screamed out loud, clearing her throat afterwards. "Your majesty."

"I'm fully aware that the last time Discord was here, he created serious havoc." She answered as she turned her head to see the royal guards removing him from the carriage.

"If by 'serious havoc' you mean 'turning Ponyville into the chaos capital of the world'..." Rainbow Dash countered.

"...and tricking us all into being the opposite of our true selves..." Rarity included.

"And making yummy delicious chocolate milk rain all over the place without a single dollop of whipped cream to go with it anywhere in sight! Not a single dollop!" Pinkie finished unnecessarily.

"Including being a major annoyance who tried to use me for his chaotic control…" I mentioned.

"Yes, I understand. But I have use for Discord's magic if it can be reformed to serve good instead of evil." Princess Celestia explained. "This is why I've brought Discord here, because I believe that you are the ponies who can help him do just that."

"This will never work!" Spike immediately began panicking. "This is a disaster! How will we ever control him?! We're doomed!"

"Need I remind you that you are the ponies who turned him back into stone like this in the first place?" Princess Celestia assured.

Twilight looked back at the other ponies with a soft smile. All of them were smiling back except for Spike, who released a face of fear. However, I continued eyeing Discord's statue aggressively. "...I suppose we can just use the Elements of Harmony against him again if it gets out of hand."

"Uh," Spike stammered. "W-w-we probably need a volunteer to run away from here right away to get them. I'll do it!" He was ready to leave until Princess Celestia stopped him.

"No need, Spike. I have them right here." Two royal guards placed the chest holding the elements down. "And I've cast a spell so Discord can't take them and hide them again." She opened the chest with her magic to reveal them. I haven't seen them in such a long time either… "Now where is Fluttershy? I believe she may know best how to begin reforming Discord."

"Fluttershy? Really?" Rainbow Dash questioned, holding no faith in her.

I sent an irritated frown at Rainbow, catching her attention. She sighed and looked away while crossing her forelegs. "Fine. I'll go get her and Applejack." She dashed away after.

As I watched her fly away, I heard Princess Celestia call my name. "Alex?" I looked towards her. "A word with you, if I may?"

"Sure…" I answered. She began walking me away from the other mares as she stretched out her wings and placed one behind me. "What is it?"

"…My sister told me about you…"

"Huh?"

"She told me that she was worrying about you. I just wanted to know if everything is alright with you… Have you been experiencing any…odd…behavior?" She inquired.

I sighed, beginning to feel a little irritated that every mare seemed to be worrying about me. "No, Princess. I'm fine."

"Are you absolutely sure?" She questioned, leaning her head towards me a bit more.

"I was just a little sick. I'm fine now, Princess."

She paused for a moment. "…Just let me know if you do…I want you to be safe…"

"I will."

"They're on their way." Rainbow's voice sounded, causing us to turn to face back at the girls.

"Good." Princess Celestia responded.

When Fluttershy and Applejack arrived, Fluttershy was really surprised to see the Princess.

"…Princess Celestia!" Fluttershy softly exclaimed with widened eyes.

"Hello, Fluttershy." Princess Celestia sent a warm smile in order to calm Fluttershy's nerves a little. "I was hoping you would know the most in reforming Discord to good."

"…reform him…?" Fluttershy questioned. "…to good? I…I don't know…"

"I realize that this is a tall order, but I wouldn't ask if I weren't confident you could get him to use magic obediently of his own free will."

"And...you really think I'll know best how to do that?" Fluttershy lowered her head and lightly looked away.

Princess Celestia placed a hoof under her chin and raised her head a little in order to meet eye to eye. "I do." Fluttershy immediately blushed and turned away. "Now, I must return to Canterlot for Equestria's royal summit." Princess Celestia flapped her wings and landed back on the carriage. "You may release Discord when ready." Afterwards, she returned one last look at me before her royal guards began taking her back to Canterlot.

Once she was gone, Twilight turned around and began leading the others towards Discord's statue as she held the chest holding the elements close to her. "Okay ponies, guess it's time to get started. Let's just hope this releasing spell works."

"Or... let's not." Spike appeared from behind Twilight's tail.

"We'd best keep our elements on at all times 'til further notice." Twilight advised, placing each of the elements on the other girls, including herself.

"Check!" They all responded.

"Alex, are you ready?" Twilight asked.

I sighed, already feeling irritated that I'm going to have to release this troublesome nuisance in our town. "Let's see if I still remember how to do this…" I joined them in their circle.

Twilight nodded her head and began focusing her magic. Soon enough, she activated her element, which immediately focused ours. I lifted into the air along with the other girls, feeling the element within me activate from such a long time. All of our colors mixed together, going through Twilight's tiara to complete the process. Discord's imprisonment began cracking and breaking. As soon as he was released he screamed out loud, which soon turned into a yawn. "Oh! Ooh! Ooooh!" He expressed as he wobbled himself around. "Well, it's about time somepony got me out of that prison block. What a relief!" He snapped his finger, making the squirrel nearby into a monstrous one. It tore off the branch it was on and began biting it.

The girls released a gasp while I already knew he was going to start doing mischievous things like this.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Twilight scolded.

Discord continued 'stretching'. "Nnnnnnnnngh- why, stretching, of course. When you're a creature of chaos, stone bodysuits aren't your typical go-to fashion choice. Nnngh..." He folded his arms/forelegs back behind his head and quickly snapped to pretend it went along with his stretching. A nearby bunny, which was sniffing a flower, was immediately turned in a monstrous bunny as well. It roared and hopped away.

Pinkie gasped. "Make that bunny cute again! Now!"

"Oh..." He sniggered. "He's adorable the way he is." He petted the bunny under its chin as it growled at him. It tried chomping at him, but Discord pulled back his head and blew a raspberry. "You know what else is adorable? You ponies truly believe that you can reform me, and that you're putting your faith in this one here to make it happen." He emphasized towards Fluttershy, causing me to narrow my eyes irritatingly. "Makes me wanna pinch your little horsey cheeks..." I growled when he pinched Fluttershy's cheeks as so.

"How'd you know about that?!" Twilight demanded.

"Being turned to stone doesn't keep me from hearing every word Celestia says." He explained, regarding the time he spent in stone. However, he removed his eyeballs, shook them, and threw them to the ground like dice. "Although I admit it makes rolling my eyes a challenge."

"Well, unless you want us to turn you back to stone, you'll zap those animals back the way they were, pronto!" Twilight warned.

"Oh, you wouldn't dare turn me back to stone and risk disappointing your precious princess." He responded.

"Try us, 'Dip-cord'!" Rainbow Dash provoked.

"You think you can treat poor defenseless animals like that and get away with it?!" Fluttershy pointed out, flying towards Discord in order to scold him face-to-face.

"You go, Fluttershy!" Rainbow cheered.

"You'd best watch your step, buster, or I'll give you the Stare!"

"The Stare?" Discord reacted frightfully in a mocking way. "Oh no, please, not that! Anything but your disapproving eyeballs!" He immediately laughed as he rolled around in the air. Fluttershy took this in and instantly released her signature stare. "Oh no! No no no, stop! No, no!" He began making strangling noises as if he was choking, but I knew it was all an act. I merely rolled my eyes and waited for him to finish with his childish behavior. "I can't! Stop! I can't take it anymore! I'll do whatever you say! Because..." He laughed out loud, ending his mock. "You are hilarious!" He continued laughing.

"If it turns out we need to use our elements against you, I'm sure we can convince Princess Celestia it was for a good reason!" Twilight mentioned.

"Mmm..." Discord thought twice and decided to give in. "I suppose that's correct." He snapped his fingers, immediately turning the animals back to normal. Once he was finished, he looked away and muttered something under his breath, causing an eyebrow to rise on my face. "Well, it looks like I know where I'll be crashing while I'm being 'reformed'." He added the quotation marks with his fingers. "With you, Fluttershy." He teleported her to him and held her as he messed with her mane playfully.

He laughed evilly as Fluttershy could only stare at me in horror. "Oh, dear."

I growled and flew towards him, taking Fluttershy back and pushing him away from her. "You keep your hooves off her!"

"Oh, why if it isn't good ole' Alex?" He commented, observing me. "It looks like you got some pretty wings and a horn there. Did you get some lipstick with that too?" He laughed as I huffed out an aggressive breath from my nose. "You 'Alicorns' think you're so high and mighty just because you have both of the special gifts to ponies."

I pointed a hoof towards him. "And you need to learn when to shut the h—"

Fluttershy interrupted me, pushing me away from him and shaking her head. "We don't have time for arguing, Alex. If we have any chance of turning Discord to good, then we have to start by being friendly towards him."

"Fluttershy! Look at him!" I pointed towards him, who continued to mess around like an ignorant child. "You really think you can reform that to good? He's a lost cause!"

She shook her head once again. "Nothing's a lost cause…" She looked at me carefully. "Do you believe in me…?"

I could only gaze back at her. I sighed and stared at the ground for a moment, and then I turned back to her. "…yes…"

"Then please give me a chance to do this…"

"…okay…"

She flew over to Discord and began leading him over to her cottage. "Come on, Discord. I'll get you nice and cozy at the cottage!"

"Well, it's about time!" He added as he followed Fluttershy.

I bit my tongue in anger and began flying behind them, keeping a close eye on Discord while the girls were a witness to my feelings and walked behind me.

Discord planted himself on the couch and seriously presented no sign of respect or consideration as he stretched himself in comfort. I literally could not find a moment of relief in my body ever since he was brought back from his frozen state.

"Fluttershy, are you really going to be treating him like this?" Twilight asked, clearly not wanting Fluttershy to go on with her plan.

"He may be horrible, but that doesn't mean we have to act the same way." Fluttershy responded as she began tidying up the place, placing a book back on the shelf and replacing it with a vase of flowers. "We should at least try to be hospitable." She noticed Discord and then faced Angel. "You don't mind giving up your favorite spot on the couch, do you, Angel Bunny?"

Angel quickly jumped, wanting to disagree on her question. He dashed over to Discord and began pulling his hoof in order to attempt to remove him from the couch. Discord merely looked at him struggle with a smile. After Angel realized it was no use, he gave up and walked away with a grumpy mood. Looks like he has someone new to hate in this home…

"Oh, I'm sorry about Angel. Are you alright?" Fluttershy asked Discord.

"Oh, yes. Thank you, Fluttershy, for your concern. If only your pony friends could be as considerate..."

Rainbow Dash flew up into the air in order to respond. "Don't listen to him, Fluttershy! He's just trying to drive a wedge between us like he always does."

"Now why in the world would I ever try to do a thing like that?" He asked, trying to sound innocent.

"So we can't unite and use the Elements of Harmony against you, that's why!" Rainbow answered boldly.

"I never thought of that..." He replied, staying in the same tone.

"You big liar!"

"Now, look who's a liar." Discord shrunk himself in order to make Rainbow Dash look like the liar instead. "Anyone can plainly see that I'm not big at all." Angel noticed that since he was small, he could get back on the couch. However, when he did, Discord reverted back to his size and pushed Angel off the couch, along with pushing the lamp near him.

I caught it with my magic and carefully placed it back on the table. "Watch it." I warned him in an unfriendly tone. There was so much more I wanted to say, but I couldn't if I wanted to help Fluttershy…

Applejack tilted her hat over her face and spoke. "I can't watch..." She turned around and began walking out.

"We'll be outside." Rainbow Dash assured and flew out.

Twilight began walking out as well, but stopped to speak with Fluttershy. "You sure you're okay with this?" She asked.

"I know it's not gonna be easy, but Princess Celestia's counting on me. And... I think I actually know what to do." Fluttershy returned.

"You do?" Twilight questioned with her hopes raised up.

"I think the key is to befriend him." As Fluttershy explained, I noticed Discord messing with Angel. Angel continued to try to take back his spot on the couch, but Discord would purposely move the couch so Angel couldn't get on. I decided I could help Angel, so I picked up Angel with my magic and threw him at Discord's face. Angel took this gesture and began trying to attack Discord's face, keeping him busy for while so I could pay my attention towards Fluttershy. "Being kind to him and letting him be my house guest is probably the best way to do that."

"And you really think that'll work?"

"I think it's worth a try!"

"Okay, but if you need us, all you need to do is whisper 'help', and we'll be back here with our Elements." Twilight whispered.

"Don't worry, Twilight." I added. "I'm staying here with her." I squinted my eyes towards Discord to see him struggling with Angel. "There's no way I'm leaving him with Fluttershy. I'm keeping a close eye on him and I'm not letting him do any funny business…" I ended by facing Fluttershy's eyes.

Unexpectedly, I felt Angel thrown back at me, causing me to fall to the floor while bringing Fluttershy down with me.

"Watch that goat-legged step of yours, pal!" Twilight warned and scolded.

"Wh-what?!" Discord asked, bringing Angel from the ground and placing both of them on a chair with a cup of tea, appearing to look sophisticated. "Look at me! I'm practically reformed already."

I released a heavy breath and helped Fluttershy up while glaring angrily at Discord. "Sorry, Fluttershy…"

"Don't worry about it." She replied and faced Twilight. "We'll see you later Twilight." She escorted her out and closed the door.

When we turned around to face Discord, he began grabbing Angel and purposely moved his lips in order to make him appear to be talking. "Look at me, I'm Alex." He spoke in a high-pitched tone. "I can fly around and cast magic at the same time!" He began moving Angel around in mid-air. "I think I'm so cool and I'm totally jealous of Discord's good looks!"

"Fluttershy." I pushed through clenched teeth. "Can I speak with you in the kitchen?" As he continued to mess around with Angel, I walked with Fluttershy in the kitchen. "Fluttershy, I know you're trying to 'reform' him but…does he really need to stay in your cottage? The thought of it makes me so very uncomfortable. I literally just want to throw him out the window."

She sighed. "Alex, please. I love you. I really do. But we…or at least I…have to be as friendly as possible to him. He's only going to become more a nuisance if we get after him. He pretty much feeds off of our anger and it's only fun to him when people get upset. It's all a game to him. But maybe he'll realize how…awful…he is when he's treated so very nicely."

I released another heavy breath through my nose. "Fine…"

"Come on." She kissed me and smiled. "Why don't we get some cupcakes for all of us? I'm sure that's a good start."

"Okay…"

She poked her head out of the kitchen and looked at Discord. "Discord?" She called. I walked out of the kitchen. "Listen, Discord, I just want to make sure you know that if there's anything I can do to—" She stopped to see him chewing blissfully on a bowl of paper. "uh, umm. Are you eating... paper?"

He swallowed and answered as he poked his fork onto another piece of paper. "Am I? Huh, how odd of me." He started chewing on another piece as I lightly squinted my eyes.

"Well, um... I'm just heading out, so, you just make yourself at home while I'm gone." She began leaving as I stuck by close to her, eyeing back at Discord as we left the cottage.

"Buh-bye, have a nice time!" He waved as he already appeared to have a robe for wearing at home. He also held a cup of coffee. "Everything is fine here, bye bye... Bye bye..." He went back inside and closed the door.

"...You really think it's a good idea to leave him alone in your cottage?" I asked Fluttershy as I just finished staring at the house.

"Well…why wouldn't it be?" She questioned my question.

"He's Discord. The whole place can be out of order by the time we get back."

"Oh…well…whatever makes him happy. I'm sure it won't be that bad."

"I hope so…"

It didn't take us too long to get the cupcakes. After all, I wanted to get back to the cottage as soon as possible because I didn't trust Discord staying there by himself, so I may have rushed Fluttershy a bit.

As soon as we arrived back near the bridge outside the cottage, we surely were in for quite a surprise. There, in front of us and high up in the air was the cottage. It was spinning round and round slowly in an endless motion. Fluttershy's mouth became agape, dropping the bag of cupcakes to the floor. She spread her wings and began flying towards the cottage. I looked at the bag of cupcakes and decided I could bring them in for her. I grabbed them with my magic and began flying towards the entrance of the cottage…which confused me for a while…

"Discord… Why is the cottage like this…?" Fluttershy asked politely as I flew inside.

"What?" He asked, eating the napkin he used to wipe his mouth. "This isn't overdoing it, is it? You said to make myself at home while you were gone, but I wouldn't want to overstep my bounds."

"Nngh..." Fluttershy hesitated as I flew to her side, beginning to glare at Discord again. "I did say that, so... if this makes you more comfortable... by all means, please feel free."

"Oh. Well, it does, very much so. You're so very kind, my dear Fluttershy." He placed his claw and paw on her shoulders, but I quickly pushed them away.

"Don't touch her." I ordered boldly.

He merely shrugged, unaffected by my statement. Nonetheless, he didn't place his claw and paw back on her again. Instead, he wanted to prove his point. "I always knew that you were the understanding one, not like those nasty friends of yours." He explained to Fluttershy, directing the "nasty" part towards me. "Especially him."

My face burned with anger, as I wanted to hit him so hard again, but I couldn't let him win by annoying me.

Fluttershy gasped. "My friends aren't nasty!" She flew closer to me to grab my hoof. "And neither is Alex! You only think he's nasty because you're annoying him!"

"Well, of course you'd say that, it just goes to show how understanding you truly are." He responded. Analyzing Fluttershy's face, I could tell that she was becoming annoyed as well, but she couldn't let it distract her from her objective. "You know, I think Princess Celestia is right when she singles you out as the one who could reform me. You're off to such a good start I'm seriously considering actually being reformed." This caused Fluttershy to form a soft smile, but I wasn't buying any of it.

"Fluttershy! Alex! Can you both hear me?" We heard Twilight's voice outside of the cottage.

"Goodness! I hear Twilight!" Fluttershy exclaimed. She was about to leave, but she remembered about Angel and held out her hooves to catch him. When he landed in them, she brought him outside. I gave one last glare at Discord and threw the bag of cupcakes at him before I flew after her.

"Alex, Fluttershy, what's going on? Are you two okay?!" Twilight asked us in an urgent way.

"We're fine, everything's going great. Isn't it, Angel?" She asked him as she placed him down on the ground. However, he didn't answer and walked off in a dizzy motion away from the cottage.

"Hmph… If you count the cottage spinning in mid-air and ruining everything inside, then yeah, I guess it's fine…" I muttered. Nonetheless, I looked at Twilight. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"We've come to get you away from Discord! He's just terrible and, from the looks of it, completely out of control!" Twilight mentioned as Spike agreed with her by nodding his head and holding angry eyes.

"Oh, but you're wrong! We're making great progress!" Fluttershy answered delightfully.

"Seriously?!" Twilight, Spike, and I questioned her.

"I'm earning his trust by giving him a little space to be himself." Fluttershy explained.

"Hate to break it to you, but he used that 'space to be himself' to tear out all the reforming spells from the library!" Spike held up a book to reveal that pages have been ripped apart from it.

Fluttershy placed a hoof to her mouth and looked down to the ground in thought. "That does explain the paper eating..."

"He ate them?!" Twilight yelled out in question. "Ugggghhhh!" She groaned while rubbing her hoof to her head aggressively.

"But we aren't gonna need a spell. He's already really considering being reformed! He said so." Fluttershy included.

"And you believed him?" Twilight asked the obvious question.

"If I'm going to be his friend, I have to start by giving him the benefit of the doubt! Tell you what. Bring all the ponies over for a dinner party this evening, and I'll bet his manners will have really improved by then." She rose up into the air and pointed towards the cottage. "I'll even get him to put the cottage back on the ground first." Afterwards, she flew back inside.

Twilight sighed. "Alright. Dinner it is."

I released a soft sigh of myself. "I know how you feel, Twilight. I really want to support Fluttershy with her mission to reform Discord, but he's just been getting under my skin lately. You don't know how irritating it is to even be near him. I just want to…" I growled and clenched my teeth. "But I have to hold my anger in. I don't want to disappoint Fluttershy…"

"I understand, Alex. I just hope Fluttershy really can reform him soon. I don't know if I can last more than a day with him running around like this…"

"Me either…" I paused as I looked towards the cottage. "Well, I better go watch Discord and make sure he doesn't pull any tricks up his sleeve…"

"Alright. I'll go tell the ponies about the…" She stopped, placed a hoof on her forehead, and shook it with her eyes closed. "…dinner party…" She walked off as Spike followed her.

I flew towards inside of the cottage to catch Discord in his sentence as he ate the cupcakes noisily. "Why, of course, Fluttershy. You bought me these delicious cupcakes. I suppose I can put the cottage back down for you in order to show my appreciation."

As the cottage began to stop moving and lower itself, I narrowed my eyes. "It's not even your cottage. Why are you acting like you own it?" I asked, hinting my anger beneath the sentence.

"Was it not Fluttershy who said to make myself at home? This is what I'm comfortable with. Do you wish to make your guest uncomfortable and angry?" He questioned, wanting to have me let him do whatever he wants.

"That doesn't mean you should do whatever you want. Fluttershy is letting you stay here and you should respect her for doing so. She's the only pony who is actually trying to be nice to you. You're only doing all of…" I looked at all the mess inside of the cottage. "…this…because you like to tick ponies off."

"Who me?" He placed a paw to himself with his little 'innocence' game once again. I only rolled my eyes and shook my head, not even wanting to talk to him anymore. "Don't worry, Fluttershy. I'm putting the cottage down because I want to respect you for letting me stay here." He mocked. When the cottage was finally back in place, he looked around. "Why, I'll even spruce this place up a bit for you!"

"Actually…" Fluttershy spoke. "I was hoping we could have a dinner party with the other ponies this evening…"

"A dinner party!" Discord immediately perked up. "How wonderful! That's a perfect idea, Fluttershy! I have a setting for just the occasion!"

"Good!" Fluttershy expressed, lowering herself back on the ground. "You set everything up. Alex and I will go make dinner."

"But, of course." He bowed.

I released another angry breath through my nose and landed on the floor, hanging my head down low as I followed her in the kitchen.

Fluttershy began humming delightfully as she began preparing the dinner. I just couldn't see how she could handle Discord so much. She's able to handle Discord… She's able to handle three energetic young fillies… She'd possibly be able to even handle the Cakes' babies! Wow… I bet she'll turn out as a great mom…

I immediately snapped myself out of that thought and blushed a bit. I had been lost in thought for a while...

"Are you hungry yet, sweetie?" Fluttershy asked me, seeming to bring me back into reality.

"Oh, uh…" I looked around, noticing that I had been sitting in the corner. "…yeah, I guess."

"Dinner's almost ready. Why don't you make sure the girls are already on their way here?"

"Alright." I responded, standing up.

I walked out of the kitchen, not paying any attention to the living room. I placed my hoof on the handle until Discord interrupted me. "You like?" He asked. I turned my head to see him in a fancy waiter's outfit. There was a somewhat hourglass-looking table in the middle of the room, except it had round ends instead. The living room was completely redone, and I couldn't offer any piece of what I really thought about it. As I finished observing the huge chandelier on top, the plates, glasses, and food utilities on the table, and the pillows on the ground for all of us to sit down. I merely rolled my narrowed eyes. "Sure." I responded briefly. I opened the door to already see the girls coming with their elements. Huh… I guess I don't have to go out after all…

"Oh, our pony guests!" Discord suddenly cut through me. He released a loud belched and unrolled a red carpet in front of the cottage to welcome the girls. Ugh… Being Discord, he appeared at the end of the red carpet surprising all the girls. "We're so delighted that you've come." He spoke in an upper class voice. "Please, do come in." He teleported by me and welcomed them inside.

Continuing my glare at Discord, I turned around and began walking towards the table.

Fluttershy poked her head out of the kitchen. "Oh!" She flew over to the table as well, noticing the new changes, which she took to be positive. She faced all of the other girls and pointed towards the new look inside her cottage. "See what a beautiful job he did helping? Discord set the entire table himself. I'm so proud."

After that compliment, Discord teleported to where the hat rack was, having his paw already over Twilight's element. "May I take your..." He cleared his throat as he tried to politely snatch Twilight's tiara away. "hats, ladies?" However, Twilight quickly moved her head to avoid the snatch and walked backwards, closer to the others.

"Hang on to your elements, girls." Twilight advised, holding her tiara with her hoof. "It's gonna be a bumpy night."

Spike was among them, as he still looked fearful as ever.

Nonetheless, they joined us at the table. I sat by Fluttershy as Discord was on the other side. I could only detain from removing my glare towards him. When I wasn't looking at him so angrily and to make sure he wasn't doing anything behind his back, I kept him in the corner of my eye.

"As you all know, Princess Celestia hoped we'd help Discord use his magic for good instead of evil." Fluttershy reminded. Discord nodded his head in agreement. Pinkie Pie immediately dove her mouth into the mashed potatoes, catching Fluttershy's attention. "Pinkie Pie, care for some gravy?"

Pinkie lifted her head, revealing a beard of the food. "You bet!"

"Allow me." Discord responded with that same high class tone. I quickly kept my eyes glued on him, not trusting him one bit. He faced towards the gravy boat and snapped his fingers. The gravy boat became alive and began panting like an excited dog. The tongue was the…gravy… Using the stands on the bottom as its legs, it ran over to Pinkie Pie, continuing to pant happily.

"Oh, what a cute little gravy boat you are! Yes you are! Yes you are!" She rubbed the glass part of it playfully. The gravy boat returned a lick of gravy on Pinkie's face and then filled her mashed potatoes with it.

"That's one creepy little gravy boat if you ask me." Rainbow Dash commented.

"Oh, come on now, Dashie. You're not even giving this a chance." Fluttershy returned.

The gravy boat ran over to Rainbow and released hot gravy on her. She immediately jumped into the air and began flying. "Hey! That's hot!"

"Whoops!" He chuckled, causing me to squint and narrow my eyes at him. "I'm so sorry!"

"He did that on purpose!" Rainbow accused.

Fluttershy formed a suspicious-like expression on her face, seeming to hesitate whether to believe Rainbow Dash or not.

"Oh, well, I don't know about that. Mistakes happen." He mentioned and then looked towards the table. "Oh, look, everypony, dancing candles!" Lit candles began to move around the table. The more things like this he did, the more suspicious I became of him. However, Spike, ironically, seemed the only one to be fascinated by the show of the candles.

Rainbow protested by blowing them out. "I'm not falling for that! Discord's just trying to distract us from—" The candles interrupted her as they started poking her annoyingly. She grunted as she tried to speak. "Hey! Knock it off! I suppose that's another 'mistake'?"

"No, I think you just made them mad." Discord responded with narrowed questionable eyes.

"There's something fishy going on…" Twilight brought up.

As soon as she mentioned that, the soup tureen, which looked like a fish, immediately spat out soup from inside towards Twilight, causing her to fall to the floor. It faced Spike and repeated the same action.

"Discord?" Fluttershy scolded as I widened at my eyes at the fish's action.

"Well it's hardly my fault if the soup tureen finds the term 'something fishy' to be offensive." Discord explained, wanting to point the blame on something else rather than himself.

The soup tureen slowly angled towards Rarity. She immediately gasped and flinched, placing her hooves in front of her. "Not the dress! Not the dress!" She cried out as the tureen was ready to spit out some more soup. However, I quickly used my magic to grab a pan cover nearby and place it on top of it, preventing it from doing anything else.

"Stop it, Discord!" I exclaimed, having enough of his shenanigans already. "We all know it's you! You're the only one who could make inanimate objects move like that!"

"Yeah!" Applejack joined. "That tureen's only doin' what you're makin' it do!"

"Now let's not jump to any conclusions." Fluttershy spoke as Discord was trying so hard to hide a chuckle. He had placed his paw and claw in front of his face to hold in a snicker until Fluttershy faced him. He quickly removed the smile. "Come on everypony, why don't we just enjoy our dinner together like we're supposed to do?"

"Fluttershy's right." Discord agreed. "Bon Appetit." He mentioned as he bowed 'graciously'.

"Come on, everypony! Let's dig in!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed cheerfully as she threw her hooves up into the air.

I merely rolled my eyes, annoyed by Discord's "innocence" and presence. Everypony, including Discord, began consuming their food as I could barely do so. I didn't let my guard down as easily as Fluttershy did.

"So..." Discord began, catching my attention. "You've been kicking any other ponies in the face lately, Alex?" He asked me, instantly turning on the aggression switch in my heart.

"No, I haven't. But now that you've mentioned it, I think I might be doing so right now." The tone of my voice began becoming solid.

"Oh, come on." Fluttershy tried to intervene. "That was in the past. Let's all just try to enjoy our dinner. Right, Discord?"

"Yes! Yes! Of course!" He responded heartily. "Assuming that I don't get kicked in the face while eating my mashed potatoes!"

"Discord!" Fluttershy scolded.

"Oh no!" I began raising my voice and straightening myself out more. "Unless you're an obnoxiously ignorant slug that needs to learn a thing or two about good manners and discipline, you don't have to worry about getting a good kick to the face!"

"Alex, please!" Fluttershy pleaded.

"Oh, what? A good Draconequus can't have some fun around here without getting punished for it?"

"Not when you try to make Ponyville the chaos capital of Equestria and screw up our friendship!"

"Oh, please, like you would care. You weren't much of a lively fellow anyway. In fact, you were my least favorite of all of these other ladies."

"Mmmm." Pinkie moaned during our discord. "The food is so good!"

Discord looked around innocently when he used his destructive magic to have the tureen come out from the cover and spit out the soup towards me.

I grew angrier by the second. I stood up in an aggressive matter, which Discord followed the same way. I grabbed the tureen with my magic until Discord used his power to counteract it. We both tried getting it on our side, but it suddenly flew up in the air.

This caused Fluttershy to gasp.

"Discord!" Twilight scolded him.

"Alex!" Fluttershy pleaded.

"Fluttershy!" I stretched my hooves towards Discord.

"Fluttershy!" Discord repeated the same manner.

"Discord!" Fluttershy switched her attention towards him.

"Discord!" Applejack joined.

"Applejack?" Rarity questioned.

"Rarity!" Twilight caught her eyes and pointed to Discord.

"Discord!" Rainbow Dash slammed her hooves on the table.

"Rainbow!" Fluttershy called.

"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash switched, directing at Discord.

"Pinkie!" Pinkie Pie yelled out happily.

Immediately after, the tureen landed harshly on the table, spitting out its soup on everypony.

Discord noticed this and laughed loudly. I could only have my hooves firmly placed on the table and glare at Discord as if he was the only pony to have ever made me this angry in silence, all while the liquid was dripping off my mane.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry…" Discord tried to apologize in a bogus manner.

Rainbow Dash shook her mane to remove the soup and began intervening in his rude behavior. "Fluttershy! Can't you see what he's doing? He's playing innocent with you so you'll never agree to use the Elements of Harmony against him!"

"Oh, well, that's a bit harsh, isn't it?" Discord responded.

"You see what I'm saying, right, Fluttershy?" Fluttershy couldn't say anything, remaining quiet. "Fluttershy!"

"You know what I see? I see that Discord's far from perfect, but I also see none of you giving him a chance!" Fluttershy replied.

The other girls instantly returned with complaints, even Spike and Pinkie.

"What's gotten into you?! Why do you keep cutting him so much slack?" Rainbow Dash demandingly questioned.

"Because that's what friends do." Fluttershy assured, surprising me and widening my eyes.

"We're friends?" Discord asked, seeming to be as surprised as I was.

"Why, of course!" Fluttershy answered, lifting herself up into the air and flapping her wings. "I can't remember my house being this lively before you came along."

"Oh. Well, I've... never really had a friend before." Discord began to look as if he was growing emotional, which surprised me even more. Well, it's no wonder you've never had a friend…

"Well now you do!" Fluttershy assured. Discord could only slightly look away gleefully while the other girls and Spike returned shocked faces. The moment was interrupted when the window opened and Angel jumped in, hopping frantically in front of us. "And now is not a good time, Angel. We're having a dinner party."

Angel continued his loud worried chitter, catching Applejack's attention as she was trying to decode the message. "Hold up! I-I think he's tryin' to tell us somethin'!"

Angel poured a glass of water on himself and began splashing around.

"…drowning…?" I threw out.

He pointed at me and hopped towards the plate of apples. He grabbed an apple and held it up.

"Apple!" The girls exclaimed, leading Angel to point towards Applejack. "Applejack!" He narrowed his eyes in order to send us the message that the girls didn't get the guess right. He slapped a paw on his forehead and strained his face. He pushed another jar towards us, with what looked like tea, and threw the apple inside.

"Oh, oh, oh!" Rarity exclaimed, analyzing the jar that held the apple inside of the liquid carefully. "Sweet Apple Acres?"

Angel bounced happily on the table, granting us with an expression that revealed the girls were right.

"Flooding at Sweet Apple Acres!" Rainbow pointed out. "And we all know who's behind that now, don't we?!" She directed at Discord.

"Who, me?" He asked, providing a halo above his head.

"Oh, give it a rest!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as the other girls had already walked to the door and began leaving. "What do you think of your 'friend' now, Fluttershy?" With that she stormed out of the cottage while Fluttershy faced Discord with a significant change in her expression. Discord shrugged while Fluttershy appeared to have realize the mistake she made in labeling him as her 'friend'.

I scoffed. "I knew it. You just don't know when to quit, do you?!" I pushed myself away from the table. "If you excuse me, I'm going to help the others clean up the mess you made!"

As I angrily fumed out of the cottage, I could hear Discord behind me try to persuade Fluttershy. "Oh, come now, Fluttershy. You don't actually believe I flooded Sweet Apple Acres, do you?"

Fluttershy remained silent for a moment. "I do now." Then she flew away from him and caught up with me. As she walked by me, she stared at the floor and sighed sadly. I looked at her and placed a caring hoof on her back, sorry that her attempt to reform him didn't work.

When we arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, I widened my eyes and opened my mouth in shock as Fluttershy gasped and placed her hoof to her mouth. From what I could see, the entire area had been completely flooded! The water was so high that it reached the leaves of the trees! And the rest of the Apple family was on buckets, trying to retrieve floating apples! And the source of what was holding all this water were the beavers nearby. There were about four beavers that were just about to finish their third dam.

"I've never seen the floodin' this bad!" Applejack commented on the sight. "They've built dams round here before, but never like this! What's goin' on?"

Fluttershy quickly attended to the problem by flying over to the beavers to speak with them. When she calmly and politely tried to persuade them to cease what they were doing, they only angrily chittered and chattered at her, one of them waving a stick around. Fluttershy gasped. "Such language!" The beaver that spoke back threw the stick he was holding at her. She flew out of the way and towards us, sighing. "It's no use. They won't listen to a word I say!"

"You see Discord's behind all this, right?" Rainbow asked again.

"Oh, of course I do!" Fluttershy surrendered her trust towards Discord. "Do you all think I'm a silly, gullible fool?"

"Only in the sense of being silly and gullible..." Rarity mentioned as the other girls simultaneously spoke in broken sentences and muttered words.

"I've just been trying to gain his friendship any way I can, so he'd come to trust and listen to me!" Fluttershy explained her efforts.

"And we understand that." I replied, holding a hoof up. "But there are just some things we can't change. Discord's just one of those…things… that are stuck in their own world and are too stubborn to come out and see what damage they're causing to other ponies. Maybe it's just best to turn him back to stone…"

"…maybe…" Fluttershy returned softly.

"Hey there, Fluttershy, you want a turn?" We heard Discord's voice echo from a distance. We all turned our heads to see him waterskiing in the flood like it was all just fun and games. Of course… "The water's great!"

Fluttershy looked back at us with pleading eyes. "Just give me one more chance."

"Fluttershy, oh, there you are." He jumped off his…soup tureens…and ran over to Fluttershy. "A sight for sore eyes."

"As you can see, there's a big mess down here at Sweet Apple Acres." Fluttershy pointed out towards all the water in the farm.

"Oh, yes. Awful business, that. Mm." He responded, obviously not caring about the serious manner as he wiped himself dry with a towel.

"It is awful. This is Applejack's home, and it's being destroyed by innocent creatures who would never be acting this way if it weren't for your reckless behavior. You need to fix this." Fluttershy ended by turning her body away from him and shutting her eyes boldly.

Discord thought for a moment as he placed a finger below his chin. "Oh, yes, very well, I will fix it. I only ask one thing in return." I raised an eyebrow.

"Yes?" Fluttershy asked, growing happier.

"I ask that you never use your Element of Harmony against me." He pointed at the necklace. "As a sign of our friendship."

I scoffed again. "Fluttershy, you're not going to believe him, are you? He's the one that caused all this trouble and has so far shown no signs of friendship to either of us! It's obvious he only wants to stay free to do whatever he wants!"

Fluttershy opened her mouth, stuck in predicament, as she heard my warning. She looked at the other girls who only shook their heads in agreement with me. After, she turned to face Discord with narrowed eyes. He tapped his pointed fingers together in patience. Fluttershy sighed and placed her hooves behind her neck to remove the necklace. "I will never use my Element of Harmony against you."

I became shocked as she threw the element towards Spike to catch.

"Excellent!" Discord exclaimed and snapped his fingers. This is bad… Fluttershy was expecting him to remove all of the water, but instead he created a huge ice rink instead, shocking her. "There, much better! I do prefer ice skating to water skiing! Don't you?" With his magic, he created three clones of himself to give him a perfect score each as a nonexistent crowd cheered.

"Discord!" Fluttershy scolded, sending out a cold puff of her breath. "That's not fixing it!" She jumped off towards the slippery ice.

"Fluttershy!" I ran after her, realizing that she could really hurt herself if she slipped. Before I left, I made sure to get her element from Spike.

Discord noticed Fluttershy's angry attitude and stopped in his tracks. "Why, I oughta..." Fluttershy continued running towards him until she lost the movement of her hooves and slid past him.

"Where are you going?" Discord asked in a flippant manner, skiing towards Fluttershy."What's wrong, pal?"

I growled and quickly maneuvered to Fluttershy while using my wings to stay off the ice.

"Don't call me your pal!" Fluttershy returned angrily as I landed in front of her, having to steady my hooves like she was doing.

"Oh, pfft, come skating with me…" He began touching her face. I raised my hooves and angrily pushed him away from her. However, during this process, I slipped and fell to the ground. Discord was only pushed a few steps away from Fluttershy. He released a breath through his nose and didn't pay attention to me as I struggled to bring myself back up. "…and we'll let bygones be bygones." He created ice skates for Fluttershy's hooves, dangling them in front of her.

"Fluttershy, come on!" I grunted as I finally pushed myself up, but continued to stumble on the ice. "He's going to continue acting like a spoiled brat! We have to turn him back if he's never going to learn when to stop!" I mentioned as I held the element near her.

"He fixes this or he goes back to being stone!" Twilight yelled out from where we previously were. "Princess Celestia will understand!"

Fluttershy looked at the element and then at Discord's skates. She turned her head back to the element and then back at the skate. I could only remain there in suspense as Fluttershy didn't automatically decide to use her element. She strained her face very much in the decision she had to make. After a few seconds of holding it in, she made her decision. "I made a promise not to use my element against him and I'm going to keep it."

Discord grinned gleefully as Fluttershy took the skates from him and walked away with an expression on her face that sent a message that even she was disappointed in keeping the promise. I returned a shocked expression as I watched her walk away with the skates.

Back where the other girls were, Pinkie Pie gasped as Rainbow Dash groaned. Discord teleported next to Fluttershy and laughed out loud. "Hahah! You see? She wants to have fun with me because we're friends." As I switched my view towards Fluttershy, I could see her eyes lightly shaking as if the anger inside began growing immensely. Her ears flopped down and she began growling, stretching her irritated frown across her face. "She can't use the elements against me because we're friends. I'm free forever!"

Fluttershy growled. "Not. Your. Friend!" She screamed out loud, throwing the skates so fiercely away from her, causing me to gasp. She then turned away and began walking by me as she held both her ears and head down in calm anger. I quickly moved to her side and stayed by her as I frowned at her non-cheery nor soft expression.

"Who cares? I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. I'm Discord, the master of chaos!" He teleported behind Fluttershy, remaining on his skates as he stretched his neck to look over her. I could tell he tried so hard to prove the nonexistent point he had, but Fluttershy didn't pay any attention to him. She only looked forward in silence, slipping slightly once in a while. "You think you can boss Discord around? You think I'm just going to turn all this back because you say so? Because if I don't I'll lose the one friend I ever had?"

Fed up with this jerk's behavior, I grunted and pushed him away from her once again, almost slipping like last time. "You just don't get it, do you?!" I asked as he stopped to listen to me with selfish eyes. "I've met other ponies like you before! Normal ponies! And all they would do is just purposely act like a child to make others angry! They enjoyed the way other ponies would react to them because they found it funny, just like you do! But guess what? After they went home, alone because nopony would ever like them due to their behavior, they wept in silence as they realized how meaningless they were! And that's exactly you! Sure, you may be having your little 'freedom' and 'fun' right now, but just wait until you realize how nopony likes you! Then you'll especially realize how the only pony who actually offered to try to befriend you, despite all your childish acts, turned away from you because of your childish behavior! All in taking her for granted! So enjoy your little 'paradise'. Soon, you'll realize how alone and pathetic you really are…" After releasing as much anger as I could through speech, I turned away to begin helping Fluttershy out from the ice.

Discord surprisingly didn't say anything after that. There was a moment of silence before he softly expressed something. "Well played, Alex. Well played…" He then skated gloomily towards the top of a tree and sat there. Soon, everything was reverted everything back to the way it was before.

When the other girls realized how Applejack's farm was back to normal, they all cheered and raced towards Fluttershy and me. Discord appeared before us and offered to spare a few words. "I liked it better my way, but... I guess when you're friends, you can't always have things exactly your way all the time, eh?"

"Exactly…" I responded. "Was that so hard to understand? In order to be friends, you have to sacrifice a few things, which you may not enjoy doing…but it's all worth it in the end. You could have all the freedom in the world…but not having any friend to do those things with really ruins everything…" I shared a look towards all the girls as they placed warm and understanding smiles on all their faces.

"I suppose a huge sacrifice I'll have to make is…using my magic for good…"

"You can still have fun. Just don't do anything drastically horrendous like last time." I offered.

"Perhaps, you're right…"

When we finally got all that mush out of the way, Twilight sent out a letter, calling Princess Celestia to our location back in town.

She stood before us, smiling as if she was already expecting Discord to come clean. Her royal guards were waiting behind her with her carriage ready.

"So," She began. "I see you've all completed your task."

"Yes, Princess," Discord walked towards Princess Celestia. "I'm ready to use my magic for good instead of evil." He bowed but then muttered something under his breath. "Most of the time."

I narrowed my eyes, but decided to let it slip.

"Congratulations on your success, ponies." Princess Celestia told us. "I definitely sense a big change in Discord." Then she placed her head near Twilight's to speak softly to her. "I'll leave the Elements of Harmony with you, Twilight. Just in case."

Twilight nodded her head in agreement. "You were right when you said Fluttershy would be the one to find the way to reform Discord." She explained on who the real credible pony was. "By treating Discord as a friend, she got him to realize that friendship was actually important to him." Fluttershy revealed a flushed face after I grabbed and held her hoof with a smile. "And something that, once he had, he didn't want to lose."

"Go on. Say it..." Fluttershy nudged Discord.

He groaned and hesitated, just like a little foal. "Alright." He closed his eyes and turned away. "Friendship is magic." He quickly announced, looking around afterwards.

"See? He can be a real teddy bear once you get to know him." Fluttershy mentioned.

The other girls, including Spike and Princess Celestia, turned away in embarrassment as my smile grew a bit.

"Well…come along then." Princess Celestia spoke after recovering from her shade of embarrassment. "We should get you to Canterlot."

"But of course." Discord answered and began walking to the extra carriage.

As Princess Celestia began settling herself in, she looked out to all of us and congratulated us again, even though it was really Fluttershy who handled all the work. Before they left, Discord called me to him. Despite feeling a little odd as he did so, I walked over to him anyway.

"So…I guess you still hate me, don't you?" He asked, rubbing one of his many…arms.

Never before have I seen him so fragile and child-like. "Well… I'm not going to go ahead and immediately call you my friend…" This caused him to frown. "…yet…" I continued, perking him up a bit. "After all the mess you had me put up with, it should be understandable. But hey…" I shrugged. "At least you're at a good start, I suppose."

"I guess you're right." Discord returned. "Maybe I'll change more the next time I see any of you ponies."

"Well…" I answered, beginning to walk back to the girls. "Until then."

Afterwards, Princess Celestia waved and the royal guards escorted both her and Discord to Canterlot. We all watched as the both of them left.

"Well, I guess we all deserve some rest after that." Twilight offered to all of us. "Right?"

Every one of the girls agreed, even giving sighs of relief.

I was delightfully left with escorting Fluttershy to her cottage. I opened the door for her, seeing everything back the way it was before this short catastrophe.

"There's something I want to say before I go, Fluttershy…" I mentioned, surprising her a bit. I stared at the floor in silence and then faced her. "I'm sorry for not exactly showing my support as I should have. It's just that…you know how Discord aggravates me. Especially when he's near you. I love you Fluttershy. And I'm so protective of you. I'm protective of all the other girls, but with you…it's much more enforced. That's why I didn't even want him touching you… You pulled through on reforming him and I'm so proud of you, even when I was rooting for using your element. Once again, I'm sorry."

"Aw…" She placed a hoof under my chin and planted a soft meaningful kiss on my lips. "It's alright, Alex. I understand how you feel…and… I guess I love you so much to where I'm protective of you too…only I'm not so aggressive because of how I am…"

"You're perfect just the way you are." I stated.

"As are you." She returned.

I smiled and chuckled a little inside me. "Goodnight, Fluttershy."

She smiled as well. "Goodnight, Alex. I can't wait to see you again."

"Then, I'll be sure to see you again as soon as I can."

We shared one last kiss before we both departed to bed.

Princess Luna caught up with me before I headed inside my home.

"Hello, Alex."

"Oh." I turned around to see her. "Hey, Luna…"

"…is…thou alright?" She asked.

"Yes, I'm fine… Thank you, Luna." I expressed.

"For what?" She questioned.

"For taking me to Flutters. I really appreciate that."

"But, of course. It was only right to do so."

"And that's why I love you, Luna."

She widened her eyes in shock and surprise. "Love?" She placed a hoof to her heart.

"Heh, yeah." I answered. "Just how I dearly love every one of my true friends."

"…you really mean that?"

"Yeah." I returned in soft confidence.

"I…I see…" Luna responded, seeming to be blown away by my comment. "…Thank you for that."

"You deserve it." She surprised me when she suddenly embraced me. As she wrapped her forelegs, even including her wings, I could feel something completely different about this expression. It felt…a lot more meaningful, like she threw every one of her emotions inside. When I returned the favor, I could hear her mutter something quietly. "Huh?" I asked.

"N-nothing…" She pulled away and seemed to be a little embarrassed. "I'll…let you rest now. Goodnight, Alex."

"Goodnight…Luna…" I reacted.

She began flying back to Canterlot while I slowly headed to bed.

As I laid down, I was curious to why Luna was so…embarrassed all of a sudden. Hm…maybe "love" was new to her all of a sudden. She spends most of her time by herself and this was pretty much the first time I ever expressed the word towards her. I sighed. Well, I just hope I didn't have her worrying about it or anything.

I faced the ceiling.

It's just that… I really connect with her so much. I could probably talk to her with deep things that only she could most likely understand, especially since we've shared the same experience in a major part of our lives.

I looked out the window to see the fully visible moon staring back at me. I turned to my side and gently placed the soft blankets over me, allowing myself to grow comfortable enough to sleep in the bed. I closed my eyes and released a soothing breath through my nose, beginning to enter that rhythmic breathing I enter every time I go to sleep. My remaining thoughts seemed to be with Luna and her character, including the close and deep bond we share with each other. There was one more breath in my conscious state. I'll see her again soon.

As will I.

The Trouble with Mares

Episode 65 – The Trouble with Mares

A feeling of eeriness surrounded me. My coat was immediately chilled to the bone. I almost didn't want to wake up because it was so cold, but curiosity won the battle for that one. I opened my eyes and, without moving my head, looked around. I grew frightened at what I saw. Every single little area was empty. There was no pony around. And it wasn't just a peaceful night. There was fog everywhere. But it was more of a…darkness…that slowly crept around me. I was becoming really afraid. I was all alone…

I immediately noticed Twilight's home right in front of me. It was so cold that I really wanted to run inside. I placed my forelegs in front of me and pushed myself up. I began walking towards the tree.

Please, Twilight… Please be inside…

Once I felt my legs were just about to go numb, I quickly pushed myself inside and shut the door behind me. I released a breath, and in doing so, was able to see my breath in front of me, due to the temperature. It was not as cold as outside, but still a little chilly. I looked around and rubbed my hoof on my other leg to produce some kind of warmth.

While shaking lightly, I continued my way to the middle of the library.

"Twilight?" I called. The library was just so fearfully dark and empty. So cold…

I actually felt like…crying…because there was just…no pony around me…not one of the girls… It was like a nightmare…but much worse…

"Spike…Twilight…" I called once again, feeling absolutely horrible to have no pony by my side.

In somewhat slim hopes, I headed towards the stairs that maybe I would find her there.

Alas, once I quickly darted my eyes towards the bed, she wasn't. I sighed gloomily.

However, there was one thing that caught my attention. The object was too dark to see clearly, but it appeared to be very familiar. When I walked towards it, I was able to see it with whatever light I had. It was Twilight's good luck charm that she gave me…

What's this doing over here? It's supposed to be back home…

Nonetheless, that wasn't all. Below the charm was a scrapbook. The same scrapbook I bought Twilight for her birthday. I placed the good luck charm on me and opened the scrapbook with my magic. I flipped through all the pages. They were all empty.

What…? I'd think they'd be filled by now…

At the very last page, there was a letter in it. Growing awfully interested in it, I picked it up and observed it. There was only writing on the first page. With nothing else to do, I decided to read what was on it.

I narrowed my eyes and began reading out loud.

"With family love,

You shall succeed.

As of right now,

You will only bleed."

Muttering that in the dreaded silence instilled much more fear into me. It felt as if…somepony was just there…watching me.

I suddenly heard a loud noise downstairs, causing me to quickly turn around. A light revealed itself, initiating me to go check it. I quickly flew down the stairs and stopped when I noticed something completely different about the door. The door was now shining brightly as if somepony had placed magic on it.

I gasped, desperately hoping it was Twilight.

"Twilight?" I called again, flying towards the door and opening it.

Instead, the door led an ambush of an immensely bright beams of light to attack my face. I shielded my eyes with my hoof until it reverted back to darkness. The door changed to a different look. I observed my surroundings and found out that everything had changed. Even the good luck charm I placed on wasn't there anymore… The place looked to be familiar, but all the windows were barred shut by wooden planks, allowing only a little light to seep through. Dust particles floated around the airspace.

Immediately after spotting pony dress forms, which were actually very disturbing and creepy in my situation, I realized I was in Rarity's boutique. Feeling fear beginning to make me panic, I desperately looked around. "Rarity, please tell me you're here!" My hooves began trembling and I was slowly breathing heavily in a quiet voice. No pony answered my call. "Rarity please…" I pleaded, walking towards the stairs towards her room.

Inside her bedroom where she studied the most, I quickly looked all over for her, but I couldn't find her at all. "Rarity…" It was to my surprise, when I turned to the window, to see more of those completely disturbing pony forms staring at me again. I quickly turned around so I wouldn't have to look at them, but it still felt as if they were all living things that were only watching my every movement.

My heart jumped when I saw something in the bed sheets of Rarity's bed.

"Rarity?" I quickly called, desperately so wishing it was her, despite the extremely low chances.

I ran towards the bed and quickly removed the colors to only see a dark gem with a paper beneath it. I lightly growled and punched the bed with my hoof. Nevertheless, I placed my hoof on the gem and picked it up. It was the same gem Rarity gave to me after I rescued her from those Diamond Dogs!

I released another chilly breath, continuing to see it appear before my eyes. I used my magic to pick up the letter on her bed and began to try to read it.

"With a heart so beautiful,

She completely adores,

That which will only perish

Upon the shores…"

Why is this happening to me…?

Another loud cacophony sounded from the front of the building. Without hesitation, I ran towards where the sound originated to only see the door glowing bright again. Feeling anger evolve inside me, I pulled the door open to be covered by an immense light once again.

After covering my eyes, I cleared them to only notice that I was in a not so recognizable place. However, it was still familiar. The front door was behind me. I turned around and opened it, only to realize that the house was off the ground. I tried walking out, but I couldn't for some reason. It was as if an invisible barrier was preventing me to do so.

I sighed and turned around to observe the area I was in. Everything seemed fluffy…

I stumbled upon a room. Analyzing inside for a moment, I spotted a bed and some windows nearby. There was each a nightstand on the side. The most interesting thing that caught my eye was the huge rainbow in the middle of the bed sheet.

This is definitely Rainbow Dash's house!

On the nightstand right to her bed, I saw that same rainbow-colored whistle she gave me. Dashing to it, I quickly grabbed it and placed it to my lips. I took a heavy breath and blew strongly into the whistle. Perking my left ear up, I was so urgently hoping that Rainbow Dash would come flying in the room to help me and keep me company, but after waiting for a while…nopony came…

I blew the whistle again with a lot less strength this time and didn't see anypony come inside. Instead of drawing out a sigh, I used that breath to weakly blow the whistle. I let myself fall onto a seated motion and stared at the floor sadly, feeling the whistle drop from my lips.

A piece of paper suddenly blew my way, sending a wind of freezing temperature through me. I shivered greatly for a moment and grabbed the paper, wrapping my body with my own hooves and wishing that somepony would be here to keep me up.

Keeping my eyes on the paper, I read what I could see with the few lines on it.

"With wings so bright,

Soaring in the sky,

As the darkness falls,

She will only lie…"

No…

Another bright light emerged from the hallway.

Why?

I picked myself up and dragged myself towards the hallway, feeling my body become colder by the second.

Knowing what came next; I opened the door and allowed the light to pierce my eyes.

"Howdy, Alex!" I was immediately playfully tackled down by Applejack.

"Applejack?!" I beamingly exclaimed. However, she quickly disappeared like dust blowing into the wind. "what…?" I could only mutter softly.

…am I being played with on purpose…?

I began feeling sadness slip onto me as well. I lightly frowned and dragged myself more towards the places I needed to go. After that encounter with Applejack, I figured I was in her home.

Indeed, the theme of the walls and post decorations proved it to be. I was just…saddened to see no pony around them.

I walked up the stairs towards the rooms of Applejack and Applebloom, hanging my head down low.

"Applejack…? Applebloom…?" I called, directing at each of their rooms. On the other hoof, I had already learned that something was playing with my mind, and I knew they weren't going to come out… Even if they did, it would only be to hurt me more…

I sadly walked inside Applejack's room and sat on her empty and dark bed. I placed my hoof on the bed sheets and rubbed it among them a bit. I instantly began remembering the prank mainly Rainbow, Pinkie, and Applejack played on me…with Applejack pretending that I was married to her and even scaring me with a kiss…

I managed to chuckle and smile a little at the thought, but as soon as I entered back into reality with the darkness right in front of me, I shifted that smile back into a frown.

"Applejack…" I mumbled softly. "I could really use you right now…Just like when you spoke with me on the train ride home from Appleloosa…" I felt the need to spill some of my emotions out. "Where are you…? If I could just see you without my mind playing tricks on me…it'd help me enough to get through this nightmare…this…really real nightmare…"

I continued rubbing my hoof on the bed sheets until I felt a lump, which alarmed me. I slipped my hoof under the bed sheets and grabbed whatever was under there. When I pulled it out to observe it, it was a seed. Remembering back at my deep talk with Applejack, it was the same seed that she gave me…just not in the same condition…

In fact, it was in a horrible condition. The seed wasn't perked up and healthy looking. It was so…dried up and crushed.

As soon as I saw that, I felt tears begin their way to move out of my eyes. I immediately closed my eyes and strained them, feeling anger rise.

"Whatever this is, stop doing this to me!" I exclaimed.

But there was no pony to listen…so it utterly made it useless…

I felt so weak and allowed myself to fall back on the bed. However, there was a crunching noise. Once again, I felt it come from under the bed sheets and pulled it out. It was just another piece of paper. What is it going to say now…?

"With a strong platonic relationship,

She holds the truth in her eyes,

Only to see her friend fall,

Right before she even says goodbye…"

I allowed the paper to slip away and fall slowly back on the floor. I already sensed her front door awaiting my entrance. For a moment, I placed both my hooves to my forehead and shook it. Why is this haunting me…? Maybe if I just get it all over with, it'll all go away sooner? Then maybe I can finally be with the girls and just give each of them a great big hug to show them how much I've missed them? Yeah… This is all a bad dream… I just can't wake up right now… I just need to get this all over with. And then I'll finally be with those I love.

I hastily stood up and raced towards Applejack's front door so I could move onto the next stage.

I arrived in a dark and damp sweet shop; Sugarcube Corner… The only difference now was that there weren't any sweets or color. It was all obscure and hollow like the rest of the homes.

I received a big squeeze from behind me, startling me greatly.

"Where have you been, silly?" A mare asked.

I turned around to see Pinkie embracing me tightly.

"Pinkie!" I exclaimed. "Please tell me it's really you!"

"Who else can it be?" She asked.

Feeling my depression lower, I quickly wrapped my forelegs to return the huge squeeze, but it wasn't long before I discovered I was hugging myself. I realized this and growled. I wanted to scream and yell so loud, but it was too cold to do anything major. Continuing to shiver mildly, I walked towards Pinkie Pie's room and didn't see any sign of her, proving that it was just my mind playing tricks on me once again. Her room was completely bare.

Had her things not been occupying the space in the room, it would have appeared to be that she actually moved out. But it didn't matter. She still wasn't in the room and she still couldn't give me that loving and caring hug that I wanted so badly at the moment.

However, something caught my eye by her bed. At the nightstand, there was a candle…a candle on a cupcake. I slowly walked towards it and noticed it was a familiar cupcake. Feeling some warmth from the lit candle, I could also read the print there was.

I want YOU to smile! She pointed at me.

Pinkie…

Once again, that same annoying piece of paper was by the cupcake. Using the light from the candle, I was able to read the letter on the nightstand.

"With her joy so high,

Beaming with sweetness in her taste.

Now with gloom she shall face,

No longer filled with haste."

How long is this going to keep going…? I'm sick of it… Please… I just want to wake up and have the girls around me…

Wanting to get this nightmare over already, I headed towards the front door to the sweet shop. I just wanted to find whatever these letters were and go to the front door so hopefully I could wake soon.

After walking through the door to light, I was now in a completely different atmosphere. I looked around me to not see Ponyville anymore. Instead…there were so many crystals. The Crystal Empire… I was in front of the castle.

"Alex? Do you mind giving me a hoof up here?" I heard Miss Cadence's voice from the top of the castle.

"Miss Cadence…?" I questioned, but I quickly stopped myself. "No…it's just another trick your mind wants to play with you…but…" I grunted in frustration and ran towards the top of the steps. "Miss Cadence?" I quickly called in a cold breath, looking around where I heard the sound from. However, to my miserable expectations, there was no pony around here. "…Miss Cadence…? Shining Armor…?" Nopony answered. I punched the floor with my hoof. "I can't believe it… You're being a puppet to your own self…"

I was startled when something was thrown towards me. It landed firmly in front of my hooves on the ground and slowly slid to touch them. I looked down to be surprised. It was the Crystal Heart. I raised my hoof and slowly inched it towards the Crystal Heart. As soon as I placed my tip on it, it immediately shattered into pieces, frightening and causing me to gasp.

It appeared that inside the heart, there was once again that same piece of paper, but with different words.

"Let's just get this over with…" I muttered and picked up the piece of paper with my magic.

"With teachings so lively,

She greats with a friendly smile,

But once she hears the news,

It will only be a while…"

I threw the paper towards the floor. "What's all this supposed to mean?!" I exclaimed, hearing my voice strongly echo through the empty halls.

However, as I was expecting for some door to glow from light to step through, the Crystal Heart formed a heart of light instead. Gazing at the formation of the heart, I felt my hoof lift to touch it by itself. Once the tip of my hoof was through, I was blinded by light everywhere.

Hush now, quiet now

It's time to lay your sleepy head.

Hush now quiet now

It's time to go to bed…

I gasped lightly. I opened my eyes to see I was in Fluttershy's cottage.

Once again, there was nothing alive inside. The animals and critters were all gone. I could only hear the wind whistle loudly outside. Joining the vast chills, rain, thunder, and lightning appeared outside. I walked towards the window to gain a brief moment of deja vu.

I remember looking out the window just like this…but there's something missing…

Alex, you don't know how happy I am to hear you say that.

I placed my hooves on my head and closed my eyes.

Why are you doing this to me? Now you're playing these voices in my head as well?!

I opened my eyes and placed my hooves back on the ground.

I have to get through this as soon as possible! I'm tired of all of this! After I'm through with all this, I never want to sleep again!

I flew up the stairs and looked around. On the nightstand by her bed was another lit candle. This time, it was by a heart. It was the heart she gave me on the night of our first date… I picked it up, feeling the texture of the twigs she weaved on the outside. I lowered my eyes sadly and held the heart close to my chest, missing her so much. After some time, I felt it crumble on my hoof. I looked at the heart which was now just…separated… All the twigs were falling to the ground, losing the structure of the heart and causing it to become just a pile of twigs, leaves, and other lovely materials.

I could only stare at the pile, feeling so horrible. I almost fell to the floor, keeping my hooves on the floor in front of me. I noticed something sticking out from the pile. I quickly grabbed it with my magic to notice it was a letter. Following my determination to end this, I quickly began reading through, no matter how much horror entered into me by the disturbing words on the paper.

"With love so strong,

She will desperately long,

The bold stallion she wishes a future,

Who will only remain a creature."

No…just stop…stop…

This time, the bright light appeared in the middle of my chest. It was coming from my heart.

Without any voluntary action, it automatically transported me somewhere else while it covered my entire vision with light. As soon as I was able to see again, I noticed that I was now in my home. The coldness grew colder. The rain fell harder. The lightning became brighter. And the thunder boomed louder.

My voice quivered a bit. I was now breathing heavier while remaining quiet. My breath was shaking as if I could hardly breathe. I was even shocked to see all the photo frames empty…not holding those pictures with the girls that should be there… I walked up the stairs, feeling as if the end had to finally be near.

In both expectancy and surprise, I noticed that all of the girls' gifts to me were gone when I arrived in my room. They were no longer on the shelf, leaving it mostly bare. I sighed after seeing this sight, feeling already almost out of energy. I walked gloomily towards my bed while continuing to shake. I placed myself under the covers and tried just to hope to wake up somehow. No matter how tightly I wrapped the blankets around me, I continued to feel the icy touch linger on me.

I opened my eyes as I received no progress in making any progress whatsoever. There, I saw what would hopefully be the final note on the side of my bed. I sat upwards on my bed, continuing to rub my body to produce some kind of warmth. I picked up the note and read it, preparing for this entire nightmare to end.

"The truth you will find,

That which will bind,

For now you see,

That darkness is eternity."

I immediately felt sleepy and began falling to my back on the bed. My eyes closed on their own and I couldn't describe what happened to me next.

Finally, I opened my eyes, hoping that the girls would be right there in front of me to comfort me. But I was wrong. I appeared to be outside, beginning to be drenched with the rain. Thunder boomed in the sky above me, but fortunately not too loud. I looked back to see that I was, what appeared to be, on the outskirts of Ponyville. My eyes scanned around to spot that I was near the dangerous and steep cliffs. I pushed myself up and walked over to the edge of one. There was usually supposed to be the ocean, but I gasped and walked back when all I saw was darkness. It appeared as if you accidentally fell, you would never reach your end…and in speaking of dreams…you'd never wake up…

"This appears to be a perfect spot to place my new castle, don't you think?" I heard a dark voice ask, almost having that disturbing raspy tone in it. I turned my head to notice a larger pony looking out towards the ocean of dark fog. His coat was completely black. He wore armor on his legs and flanks. There was also a sharp helmet on his head. From what I could see, there seemed to be both a horn on his head and wings on his body. I was shocked. His mane also shot out from his back. His tail was long and rested on the floor. The colors of these strands of hair were too dark to see clearly. "Yes…perfect indeed."

"…who are you?" I asked.

"Once again, you don't remember me?" He tilted his head towards my way, becoming briefly familiar.

"I…" I gasped after analyzing his face for a moment. "You… Are you that same pony I saw when I was on the moon in a dream or something…?"

"Perhaps." He answered. "Who else could it be?"

"Then…" I clenched my teeth and growled. "Are you the one who's doing all this?!" I pointed around me.

"Well…I am the only stallion here besides you, aren't I?" He returned, beginning to anger me with his "smart talk".

"Leave me alone! Change everything back! Stop plaguing me with whatever you're doing! Just go away!" I ordered.

He chuckled. "Oh, I'm sorry. I suppose I should leave just because you told me to. No, I don't think so. Thinking how I actually own this place, I believe I'll stay and create my new castle right here." I growled and charged towards him, but as soon as I reached him, he merely used his magic to push me to the side and cause me to fall on the ground, scraping myself. "Come on. You're going to have to do much better than that." I began trying to push myself up. He walked towards me and lowered his head to my ear. "Take this in. I'm. Not. Leaving."

"Then…" I responded as I pushed myself back up. "I'll just have to make you leave!"

"Oh,ho,ho." He slightly laughed. "You really think you can do that?"

"I don't care. I just want you out of my life this instant."

"Hm…" He grinned. "I don't think you can be rid of me so easily."

As he stared at me with a smug look on his face, I began to feel the anger rise inside of me. He was provoking me to attack, and I couldn't help but fall victim to his trap. I immediately created a glow on my horn and tried to attack him with magic, but he easily deflected it. I attempted to attack him once again, but he blocked it and forcefully threw me to the ground. I continued staring at him while I slowly got back on my hooves.

"Come on. I know you can do better than that." He told me. "Here, why don't I start?" He then produced a glow on his horn.

Whatever it was began to shoot out towards me. I quickly jumped to the side and kicked him at the side of his face.

His head was only slightly thrown to the side. Nonetheless, he revealed no sign of pain, just evil laughter. "Impressive. Perhaps you will make me proud."

"What…?" I questioned, beginning to become confused by his statements.

"If you really want to hurt me, then you must release and use your anger and hatred." He offered.

I scoffed. "Anger and hatred only lead to blind strength. If you can't see what you're hitting, then a pony who really knows how to fight can easily win."

"Haha. Yes, perhaps. It seems you're not gullible either."

"What's with this talk of me with you?! Why are you analyzing me like I'm some kind of trophy? What do you want with me?!" I demanded.

"Hm." He smirked and pointed his horn towards me.

I dodged his magical attack, initiating him to continue on further instead of stopping this time. After ducking and avoiding a series of his attacks, I attempted to try to hit him, but he would only block or deflect all my attacks. If any of my attacks actually hit him, they only grazed him lightly. He pointed his horn at me again. This time, I tried going for his chest to move on to his face, but he suddenly grabbed a hold of me and threw me towards the ground.

I landed on my back. Before I could try to get up, he already had his horn in front of me.

"Give it up. To think you even stand a chance is foolish." He spoke. "It is useless to resist defeat and for what you really are."

"…you don't know who I am!" I exclaimed and kicked him with my back left leg. It only moved him back slightly, but it gave me enough time to surprisingly teleport some distance away from him and be back on my hooves.

Seeing how I wasn't so close to him, he began firing shots towards me with his horn. I created a blue transparent shield in front of me, negating his attacks. He stopped firing for a moment, leading me to shoot a beam towards him. It landed on his shoulder. He pulled back and placed a hoof to his shoulder as if it actually somewhat hurt him, but he didn't release a cry of pain. He looked towards me and shook his head emotionlessly. He readied his horn again. I quickly placed the shield in front of me, but once he released that dark beam from his horn, it broke through my shield and stopped when landing at my chest. I grunted and was thrown back towards the ground again. This time, I was stunned as I was placing my hoof to my chest. I then clenched it as something felt completely off in my heart.

He began slowly walking towards me again, placing his evil smile on his face. Once he was in front of me, he looked at me for a while. "There is no escape. I can destroy you in an instant. Just like that." I lightly shook my head and began trying to crawl away from him as I could not stand back up. "Alexander, you do not know what importance you hold. There is so much power inside of you that could really help you fulfill your destiny."

"Guh…" I grunted. "How do you know my name?! Who are you?!"

"If you join me by my side, you shall know everything." He tried to persuade me as I attempted to stay back. "I will teach you everything you need to know. You will become so powerful. Perhaps even more powerful than me! We can end this conflict between us and rebuild our relationship."

"…what?" I inquired and then shook my head in determination. "What makes you think I'll ever help the likes of you? I don't stand by evil!"

He chuckled and shook his head as well. "If you only knew…"

Something suddenly glowed at his neck, allowing me to clearly see it. Wait…is this…

"The Alicorn Amulet…"I muttered softly but loud enough for him to hear. "You have it?!"

"Yes." He smiled and observed it, placing a hoof on it. "I must thank you for retrieving it for me. It was quite nice of you indeed. It's been so long since I've last parted with it…"

"What? I didn't place my hooves anywhere near it! How did you get it?!"

"Indeed you did. Remember how you had those 'sleeping walking episodes'?" He asked, surprising me.

I lightly gasped. "How do you know that?!"

"How do I know that?" He repeated the question. "I have watched you all your life. From the day you were born to now. I've seen how those girls you call friends lifted your spirits from the bottom of the depths where they were." I could only shake my head, unable to share anything else. "I'm surprised. I'm sure you've seen me a few times before… Anyways, moving back to your other question, I have to say that it was no 'sleep walking' at all. It was you. The darkness inside you that wants to be released. All you have to do is allow it." The pinch in my heart increased, causing me to strain my closed eyes. "Allow it, Alexander. Allow it to consume and control you. Then, we both can work together and become so more powerful than the Princesses combined."

"Shut up…" I managed to spit out.

"Oh, isn't that disrespectful."

"You don't deserve any respect!"

He chuckled. "It seems Luna still hasn't told you, has she?"

"What are you talking about…?" I asked him, continuing to glare as I clenched my chest.

"It seems I have to take matters onto my hooves now…" He spoke softly. I remained silent as he turned his head towards me. "Alexander… I am your father."

His answer struck me. It stunned me so badly that I couldn't think or talk for a few seconds. It wasn't just his statement. It was the fact that my mother had told me that I wasn't really a part of her family. All this was scaring me. I didn't want to believe it. I couldn't believe it. No. It was all a lie!

"No…" I shook my head. "Stop feeding me lies! That's impossible! I would never have a father like you! I already have one that's bad enough!"

He sighed. "I can see you are in such great denial. This is why you must accept the darkness. Accept it, and you will never feel pain like this again… Alexander…rule by my side. We can both control the dream realm as father and son." He held out his hoof.

I began feeling myself lose control of my body. The darkness that was surrounding my heart was now winning. I felt my hoof raise towards his without control of mine whatsoever.

Before his and mine could touch, he was suddenly blasted to the side with another dark blue beam of magic. He was pushed back away a bit, but he still didn't offer any sign of pain.

"Alex!" I heard a voice cry.

I felt hooves land on the ground near me. I lightly looked towards the mare by me, not feeling so well anymore. I would have been jumping with joy, but at the certain state I was, I couldn't. "Luna…?" I asked.

"Alex, are you alright?" She asked, placing her hooves on me.

"…how…how did you find me?" I questioned.

"Oh, Alex. Twilight Sparkle called me and required my urgent presence for you. She told me what happened and when I saw you, I realized you had entered the dream realm. Alex, you're not just dreaming, this is much worse."

"…huh…?"

The stallion trying to persuade me laughed. "Oh Luna, you make me laugh so much. It seems that 'Nightmare Moon' had corrupted you enough for you to forget every little detail."

"I remember you, Night Terror…" Luna answered.

I widened my eyes as much as I could. Night Terror? The Night Terror from Applejack's story? He's real?!

"Of course you would. You'd never forget about me. But I'm talking about him." He pointed towards me.

"What are you talking about?" Luna inquired. "He has nothing to do with us!"

"He does indeed." He returned. "Remember your meddling sister that visited the moon every several years to check up on you? Despite the fact that you completely turned against her? Remember how she helped you do what you needed to do for the future of one little foal? By abandoning him and leaving him all alone in Fillydelphia? It was a good thing you gave me some of your corrupted power, my dear Luna. Had you not, I would have never been able to find my way back into the lands of Equestria while you and your imbecile sister were ridding of Alexander. I actually did the sensible thing and watched him for you because you wanted nothing to do with him."

"I…what…?" Luna was speechless.

"You know what you did, Luna." He added. "You know…"

Luna placed her hooves on her head. She appeared to have such a hard time trying to remember such things. I remained lying on the ground with my hoof to my heart, unable to accept any information as I began panting hard. Luna suddenly gasped. "…are you saying that foal was…?"

"No, I'm saying it was that dreaded and annoying Discord." He answered sarcastically.

Once I was finally able to interpret these messages, I looked towards Luna, expressing little of what was really going on inside me. "Luna…he's lying, right? None of that stuff makes sense… None of it."

She remained silent for a moment. "No…no…" Luna tried to remember and explain. "I loved him… I didn't want to leave him…but I had to… He needed a better home… My sister agreed…"

"Your sister doesn't know jack." He replied. "Just because she's some 'Princess' doesn't mean she knows what's best for what. She just didn't want every pony in Equestria to find another nephew in her name and you didn't want him at all as he would only be a burden."

"…Luna…?" I asked her, unable to take anything in. I wanted her to explain what was going on to me.

After Luna's silence, Night Terror began speaking again. "Enough of this." He boldly stated. "You must accept the punishment for your bad deeds. I'm taking Alexander under my wings and I'll become a real father to him, unlike his mother!"

He focused his attention towards me and all of a sudden, I felt him controlling my heart. I closed my eyes and clenched my chest. I tried fighting it but it was too powerful. I could feel all that darkness begin to take control of me. I slightly opened an eye to see my whole body turning black as wisps of obscurity surrounded me.

"Alex!" Luna exclaimed.

"Come now, my son! We shall rule together!"

Shadow covered my eyes, and I was unable to do anything anymore.

Luna

In my eyes, I could see Alex slowly taking steps towards him.

"That's it, Alex! Come to your father!" He spoke proudly,

"No!" I quickly flew over to Alex and grabbed him with my hooves.

I desperately needed to get him away from Night Terror. I looked back to see his result of Ponyville behind us. It was the only place to go hide.

Flapping my wings strongly, I commenced my departure towards the town as Alex struggled in my hooves. I placed him on my back with my magic and held on to him tightly.

"You can run, my dear. But you can't hide!" I heard his voice boom behind me.

I didn't pay any attention to his statement. I had to get Alex away from him if I had any chance to free him from his imprisonment!

I searched dreadfully for a place to help Alex in the deserted and obscure Ponyville. I managed to come across a narrow street between tall buildings. I realized I did not have much time for in fact, if allowed, it may become completely permanent. I lightly settled him down in the middle of the street. As soon as he was on the ground, he waved his forelegs frantically to return to Night Terror. I had to hold him down with my magic to prevent him from doing so.

"Just be patient, Alex… I'll get you back to normal… Don't worry… I'll protect you…" I placed myself over him and lowered my horn towards him. I began allowing the magic from my horn to touch him in attempts to heal him before the corruption planted itself permanently inside him. The longer I stayed on him to heal him, the more he struggled to remove my magic from him. I could certainly tell he received pain due to this and the fact that he wasn't even in control caused him to want to remove himself and follow Night Terror. "Please be still…" I pleaded softly, continuing to focus my magic.

Just as I felt I was about to temporarily remove his corruption, the darkness inside performed an explosion, throwing me so forcefully off from him and hurtling me towards the ground. Having hit my head on the ground with enough force, I lost conscious by him.

Alex

"Sorry, Luna…" I apologized to her unconscious face, knowing that it was my complete fault. Something I had noticed was that I was completely drained of energy, as if the corruption and transformation just depleted everything I had. I did have some energy to perform small movements, but I was a little weak. I grunted and groaned in pain as I moved my hooves to push myself up from the ground. I was a little sore as well. When I was fully up, I looked at her again, but then something suddenly caught my attention. I quickly looked back forward, noticing a bright light in the distance headed this way. I placed my hoof in front of my face to try to analyze the object accurately. It wasn't a false alarm. I had to move. "Quick." I stated boldly, but weakly. I limped towards her and used what was left of my magic to help her. The dark blue aura surrounded her, allowing me to move her. I continued to grunt, attempting to use the rest of my strength to transport her away from danger's way.

I looked ahead, noticing the bright light coming closer, causing me to move quicker. As I did, I looked around, attempting to find a place to hide. I spotted a closed off alley behind me. Nonetheless, I struggled towards it in a charged motion, bursting through the light barricade. After the impact, I fell to the ground, due to the lack of strength, as well as causing me to accidentally drop Luna. She fell to the ground and released a groan. I released a weak breath and quickly rushed to her. I began slightly lifting her up with my forelegs, holding her in them. My ears perked, causing me to quickly look back to see the bright light. It was dead ahead of me. I began preparing my horn for any defensive attacks, no matter what the cost, as I continued to pant quietly. Fortunately the light seemed to look around for a moment and then vanished. I released a breath of relief and rested my horn. With Luna still in my forelegs, I looked back to see a passage through where we could escape and remain hidden.

Feeling my magical strength weaken, I decided to slowly erect my wings and wrap my right one around Luna.

"Come on… It's not over yet…" I spoke softly.

"I'll only slow you down…Just go…" She announced weakly, shaking her head and lying herself on the dirty floor.

When we stumbled through a hallway, Luna fell weakly to her knees, causing me to stop and hold a hoof on her back. I sighed and looked around. "Let's take a break…" We seemed to be safe for now…

"So…" I began. "Is it true…? Is he really…?"

"Yes…" Luna responded. "Unfortunately…it is…"

"I'm sorry, Alex… I did not know of it either… Tis quite shocking…" She looked at me. "But I just need thou to know that what thine did was the best for everypony…"

I didn't answer her for a moment. "…I suppose…"

Unexpectedly, my heart began racing. I placed a hoof to my heart and strained my eyes.

"Alex?" Princess Luna questioned.

She had just finished resting her horn and planted her head back against the wall. "Tis lucky it wasn't too late."

"I think I'm going to be okay…" She thought for a moment and then faced me as well. "Thank you…" She added, most likely referring back to when I helped her through the whole mess…

I only nodded, my thoughts still battling with each other. I shook my head and stood up. "Come on…we still have a lot of work to do…" I held out my hoof.

She grabbed it and pulled herself up.

Afterwards, we began walking towards the exit.

When we were out of our hiding spot, we took notice on how the streets were completely deserted. All that remained was darkness and silence. This frightened me. I never thought I would see Ponyville like this…so empty of life…

"Dear Celestia…" I slipped out in a whisper.

"No time to waste, Alex." Luna looked towards me seriously. "We have to end this…"

I looked at her in silence for a moment. I nodded. "Right…"

We decided we needed to confront Night Terror in order to stop this and hopefully go back home in one piece, so we began our way to his castle which was already forming tall and proud in the exact spot near the cliffs. I walked almost slowly, still feeling fear surround my heart. My head bobbed slightly as I stared at the floor, noticing my hooves move in motion. To my left, I could feel Luna looking at me worriedly. It seemed as if she still wanted to talk about the situation, but we both knew there was no time for that.

"Do you hear that…?" I asked Luna in a soft tone.

She nodded.

We immediately began running in the opposite direction, away from the black wall of darkness that seemed to be slowly catching up to us with our current speed. We saw his castle not too far off. Believing we could make it, I sprinted faster. Letting my fears get the best of me, I tripped and landed on my stomach. Luna continued running until she noticed I wasn't by her side. She stopped, right in front of the doors. "Alex!" She exclaimed looking back towards me.

I tried crawling towards her, due to my leg being in pain, but I soon noticed that I wouldn't make it at that rate. Luna, without hesitation, quickly ran towards me, despite the wall of darkness gaining on me. When she was in front me, she picked me up and placed me on her back. She then sprinted and headed towards the doors to the castle. She barged it open and slammed it shut after charging inside. Once she knew we were safe, I rolled off her back and landed on the floor with a thud. We both were panting heavily.

After a short while of regaining our breath, I looked at Luna.

"…is that why you came back for me…?"

She shook her head. "Do not be silly. Anypony would have done the same…but I suppose it emphasizes it…"

I remained silent, looking at the floor, still in disbelief. I just couldn't believe it was true…

I slowly stood up and looked forward to two more double doors. I looked away for a moment, thinking. Then, I began walking.

When we reached the doors, I placed my hoof on them, but looked down in hesitation.

"What's wrong?" Luna asked.

I remained silent for a few seconds. "…I'm just scared, I guess…"

Luna placed a hoof on me. "I know how you feel…but everypony is counting on us…"

I sighed. "Okay…" I pushed my hoof forward, opening the door and hearing the eerie creak of the door open. We walked in, looking around and seeing the place completely empty. "Something doesn't feel right…" I slipped softly. I noticed the entire castle wasn't exactly finished. The exterior was done, but in the inside, there was a very large distance between the ceiling and us. There was still much more that needed to be added. We continued walking cautiously. After a while, I stopped, feeling my legs tremble in fear and my heartbeat pound.

"Alex…?" Luna inquired.

Suddenly, hooves pounded and shook the ground in front of us, catching our attention towards it.

It was him…

I furrowed my eyebrows in anger and readied my horn to attack.

"Back for more?"

He only stared at us with an evil smirk, clearly not intimidated at all. "King Sombra did a great job returning the favor after I freed him in the North. He was able to activate the potential darkness inside you, but I'd rather prefer making it stronger than it is now. Oh well." He shrugged. "It'll have to do."

I growled. "I'm not letting you take control of me… It's my life. Not yours!"

"Alexander…I'm doing this because I care for you as a father. It's what best for you, trust me."

"Best for me? More like best for you!" I exclaimed.

He clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Tch. Tch. Tch. Poor Alexander, still misguided by so many ponies." He looked towards Luna. "I know what you did, Luna. You clearly disobeyed me and took my own son away." He turned back towards me. "Don't you see, Alexander? She took you away so she wouldn't have to worry about you. She didn't want to bother taking care of you, so she dropped you off with parents who even went on to abuse you. How's that for a mother?"

"I know Luna…" I answered. "She's not like that…"

"But clearly you're calling her 'Luna'. You're not even sparing one 'mom'?" He brought up.

I remained silent.

"I know what I did, Night Terror." Princess Luna spoke. "And it wasn't for any of the reasons you've listed. I did what was best. I couldn't leave him with the likes of you… He needed to be protected."

"Ha." He laughed. "I could have easily taken him whenever I wanted, but proving as a good father, I allowed him to mature and wait until he's ready… Yes…waiting until the darkness inside him fully matures so he can realize that he belongs to me… It may have taken many years, but after I've finished with my plans, it'll all be worth it… Isn't that right, son?"

"I'm not your son!" I scolded. "And you're not my father!"

"You better watch that mouth of yours. It's very disrespectful to a father who only wanted the best for you." He answered, frowning in irritation.

"Shut up!" I returned, fuming over this talk about family. I had it! "I don't believe anyone, alright?! I've had enough of all this talk about family! I just want to go home and be done with this already!"

"You don't want me to lose my temper…" He added softly, presenting an angry expression underneath.

"You're no father of mine…" I continued. I shook my head, having enough of his lies. "I hope you have friends back on the moon…because no one's going to miss you here…"

The Alicorn Amulet on his neck began glowing very brightly. He finally released his anger slowly. "Why you ungrateful whelp… Here I am trying to help you and you're going to disrespect me? You don't realize…" Strands of his dark power began to suddenly evolve around him. "…how you are…" Using the Alicorn Amulet, he increased the power and his form began to change, surprising both Luna and me. "in…so…much…" Darkness wrapped around him, covering his entire body and creating something much more significantly larger. "TROUBLE!" He shouted in a distorted voice.

Luna and I both gasped to see that with his power combined with the Alicorn Amulet, it created a form so much more tremendous than us. Using his dark power, he actually formed himself into somewhat a dark dragon! The size of the dragon was about the same size of the dragon that brought smoke upon Ponyville or the one that attacked Spike when he ran away!

I could only widen my eyes at this in shock. He inhaled a heavy breath and released it all out as a roar. This roar was so loud that it instantly brought pain among our ears. Luna and I released both a painful groan while holding our hooves to our ears.

Once we recovered, Luna was in terrible shock as well. "He's…He's…"

I sighed. "Great…"

"Come here you piece of scum!" He shouted, continuing to use the distorted voice. He immediately began pounding his claws towards me. He raised his other claw and tried to swoop it across me, causing me to quickly duck before he could grab ahold of me.

"That Alicorn Amulet!" Luna pointed out in exclaim. "We have to get it off him if he is to revert back!"

"What? I can't even see it!" I returned.

Nonetheless, Night Terror quickly took action and began chasing me. I had no choice but to run, considering I had nothing that could possibly do any damage. I continued sprinting away from him, feeling the pounding of his claws grow closer. However, he stopped suddenly, causing me to cease my motion and look back. I saw Luna on his back, attempting to remove one of his scales. It must have been really difficult as she struggled so much to do so. Night Terror on the other hoof was trying to reach his claws back at Luna.

"What are you doing?! Get off me; I'm trying to teach a valuable lesson to our son!" He commanded. Just as he had her claw right next to Luna, she tore off the scale from his back with her magic. Night Terror released an actual roar of pain. Afterwards, he was severely close to grabbing Luna. She was forced to throw the scale to the side and fly off. As she did so, I noticed a red glow coming from underneath the scales. "Grraggh! You want to suffer with him as well, Luna?! Then you shall!" He yelled and began chasing after her.

"Hurry, Alex!" Luna yelled from across the interior of the castle.

As he began chasing her, having her dodge each of his swipes and pounding with his claws, I focused my attention toward the scale Luna dropped. I ran towards it and picked it up with my magic. I spread out my wings and began cutting across towards Night Terror to cause some damage. As soon as I reached him, he was too busy trying to reach Luna. I landed on him, causing him to stop and soon enough try to get me off as well.

However, I raised the scale and forcefully thrusted into where the red glow was at. He roared out once again as I attempted to also use the scale as leverage in order to remove the other scales. The scale in front began coming out slowly. It felt like removing a certain piece of fabric that was stitched onto another securely.

I released a loud grunt and finally removed the other scale, having it being thrown towards the floor. Night Terror growled loudly and immediately shook his entire body. I was forcefully thrown off his back, landing on the floor harshly. I groaned and tried to get up, but it was taking me a while as I had to deal with the pain.

"Alex!" Luna called, racing towards me to help me.

"You're all mine now!" Night Terror exclaimed and began storming our way towards us.

I felt my heart pound as if he was finally going to reach us. However, a lavender wall of magic suddenly blocked his way, causing him to hit against it and be thrown back, surprising him.

"Alex! Luna!" We heard a familiar voice. We turned back to see Twilight landing before us. "What the hay happened here…?" She asked, observing the huge problematic situation we were in.

"Twilight? How did you even—"

"Princess Celestia taught me! C'mon! We don't have much time!" She pointed towards her shield which was already breaking as Night Terror forcefully attacked it with his gigantic claws.

Princess Luna helped me up and began gesturing me to follow her and Twilight. They both began running. I had no idea what they wanted to do, but I started to follow nonetheless.

A loud boom and shatter of glass startled me. I saw Night Terror finish breaking off the shield. "Where do you think you're going?!" He began racing towards me. I quickly turned around and began sprinting as fast as I could to catch up with the others, but a blazing wall of flame appeared in front of me, stopping me in my tracks. "There's nowhere to run!" His dark flames weren't going anywhere. I had no choice but to run the other direction. "I've got you now!" Using his dragon tail, he pulled it back and swung it towards me. I quickly jumped and flew high enough to avoid being hit by it. Doing this allowed me to be away from him enough to where he had to chase me. "Ugh!" He groaned. "You imbecile! Come back here!"

"Alex!" I heard Twilight yell out, even though I had no idea where she was.

"I'm a little busy here!" I returned back, jumping once in a while to avoid Night Terror's stomping claws.

Soon enough, I began hearing beams of magic hitting against Night Terror, which seemed to be more than bothering him. Nonetheless, he avoided it like pests and continued chasing after me, not wanting to be distracted so he could finally catch up to me. However, he realized the magic was bothering him so much that he was slightly slowing down and couldn't catch up to me. He growled and suddenly lifted himself up in the air. Using his wings, he flew enough just to drop down right in front of me, startling me and causing me to slip and fall. He began opening his mouth to possibly throw fire at me. I was so shocked that I could barely do anything. Fortunately, I saw continuously lavender and dark blue beams of magic attack his face.

"Run!" Twilight announced.

I quickly got up as fast as I could and began running again.

This time, it seemed that Luna and Twilight had annoyed him enough. He turned his gigantic head towards them and began aiming his flames to be rid of them. Seeing this as an opportunity, I raced back and managed to pick up one of his scales along the way. I jumped onto his back and climbed hastily until I reached the part of his back with the red glow. I still needed to remove just at least two scales until I could fit my hoof and try to remove the Alicorn Amulet, so I raised the broken scale and struck it into him, interrupting his planned attack towards the girls. With the rising Adrenaline, I quickly used my magic to harshly peel his other scale off.

He released a loud roar of pain and whipped me off with his tail. I flew a bit in the air without my wings and felt my body landing painfully back on the floor. Princess Luna quickly attended to me while Twilight remained in the air with her wings.

"Alex…!" She expressed, placing her hooves on me to help me up.

She sacrificed a bit of her magical strength to heal me. I felt it easier to get up. As I did, Night Terror spotted us and released another deafening roar.

"I think he's pissed off…" I shared to Luna.

"Just stay focused, we've almost got him!" Luna returned.

Night Terror began stomping towards us, but Twilight immediately shot out beams of magic towards him. Seeming to have a very short temper, he quickly turned around to face Twilight, who continued to shoot beams of magic at him as she slowly maneuvered away from him. I heard him growl loudly. He raised his head and released large flames towards Twilight, causing her to yelp and quickly move away, almost burning her wings.

"Twilight!" I exclaimed. I immediately began running, picking up all his scales that I could find. Then, I finally jumped onto his and pierced him with every scale with a loud grunt of force. As he roared loudly, revealing the pain his received, I kept one scale to break off one last one so I could finally reach the Alicorn Amulet. Once I stuck the tip of the scale under the last one I needed, I flew above it and forcefully landed on the other end of scale, immediately flicking off the scale that needed to come off. Afterwards, I struck my hoof deep into that red glow and felt something tangible inside. I clenched it tightly with all my strength to pull it out. Almost as hard as pulling off one of his scales, I finally managed to take it out, causing him to release one last painful roar and fall to his side on the floor.

I fell off, holding the Alicorn Amulet. I felt a little pain when I hit the floor, accidentally releasing the Alicorn Amulet, but it wasn't as bad. As I grunted while pushing myself back up, I noticed Night Terror's form reverting back to normal.

I was panting heavily, trying to regain my breath as I only watched. All the darkness that had evolved now disappeared from him. He still remained the same way, but something about him was missing… He didn't have wings anymore. Did the Alicorn Amulet actually make him an Alicorn? Perhaps if known how to be used properly…there is so much more to gain from the amulet…

Nonetheless, he lay on his side, seeming to be unconscious either way. The walls of the castle seemed to be fading away, seeming to represent his defeat. Luna joined me by my side, spotting Night Terror as well. She wasn't as stunned and shocked as I was.

"Are you both alright?" Twilight asked us, landing before us.

"Y…yeah…" I answered, beginning to feel awful and depressed, despite the two ponies near me.

Twilight released a breath of relief and used her magic to grab the Alicorn Amulet. "So this is where it was, huh?" She moved it towards me, allowing me to receive it. "Here, hold on to this, I'm going to go tell Princess Celestia really quick on what's going on. She can probably send him back to the moon where he belongs." Afterwards, she flew away, possibly to cast a spell to get out of my apparent dream.

I looked around to notice how we were in the exact same spot as before. We were now outside as everything Night Terror had created disappeared as his power died. I picked up the Alicorn Amulet to my eyes and observed it for a moment. I growled softly and narrowed my eyes towards it. After, I immediately threw the stupid thing away from me, feeling so silently irritated.

"What's wrong…?" Luna asked, wanting to place a hoof on me.

I remained silent for a moment. "…nothing…" I turned away from her. "…I just need some time to myself…" I walked away from her towards the cliff. Once I reached the edge, I looked down. There were still some strands of darkness below, but after Night Terror is done with, it'd probably leave.

I continued staring at the depths of endless darkness, feeling just as empty as it was. So many things were going through my mind. So much to take in. I didn't know what to do… All I could do was…well…nothing…

I heard soft and gentle hoofsteps approaching by my side, but I didn't look back. I sighed quietly and continued staring at the abyss.

"I'm sorry…" I heard Luna softly apologize, slightly looking her way but not making contact with her eyes as I kept my head towards the ground. "That's all I can say… I'm sorry… I know it's all hard to take in…but… I've been a terrible mother… I had no idea the foal I had to give up was you, Alex… I just… I completely forgot… I know it sounds unbelievable but… I could only remember having to give up a foal back when I was at the moon…but I completely forgot how you looked like…even what your name was… No wonder your name felt so easily memorable afterwards..." She sighed. "It was all because of the corruption of 'Nightmare Moon'…almost the same thing you're going through… Listen… I'm just sorry I forgot. I'm sorry about everything… I needed to give you up because I couldn't let you be anywhere near that monster… As I was possessed with the darkness of Nightmare Moon, my sister so badly wanted to find a way to break the spell, but she couldn't… When she visited me in the moon after you were born…she found out what happened… We both discussed it for a while and realized that…you couldn't be with me. Even I was too dangerous for you… She allowed me to come back to Equestria only to leave you to another family. Of course…we didn't know of any perfect family for you and we wanted to keep you away from Canterlot, so Princess Celestia advised me that I should place you in Fillydelphia. I wrote a note and placed you inside a basket and covered you with a blanket Princess Celestia gave me for you. Then… I could only just…" She paused for a moment, seeming to struggle with her emotions. "…I…I had to put you down in front of some random home I had no idea about… After I did… I couldn't leave your side… I was crying so much…so much… I was biting my lips and everything… I just could not leave… But my sister insisted that we needed to leave before any pony found us. I could only nod while wiping the tears from my face, despite the rain. When I finally found the strength, I quickly knocked on the door and flew away with my sister to safety. I needed to go back to the moon, which saddened me even more because I knew I was going to be all alone once again…especially without you…but…" She shook her head as I felt tears fall to the ground. "It was for the best… I apologize for leaving with you with such an abusive family, Alex. I really am. I had no idea. Princess Celestia never even had a chance to have a good look at you because… I kept you wrapped around a blanket." She sniffled a bit. "For all it's worth… I'm sorry…"

I remained silent, too depressed to even ask the more questions in my mind. I could only ready myself to release my thoughts about this.

"I'm sorry too, Luna…" I presented, catching her attention. "But I can't believe it… I can't believe you…" She slightly widened her eyes. "This is…all too much…" I shook my head. "I mean… I really trust you, Princess… but… I just can't… Everyone expects me to believe everything I hear… I've had enough of it… I can't take it anymore… It's all too much… Why does everypony put so much weight on me? Just today, I've had to deal with my mom bringing me down with a story about how I was actually taken in. Just when I thought I had enough, I had to deal with everypony being everything but themselves. Fortunately, that's in the past now, but… now I have to deal with this? I can't… I mean… I know it all connects but… I just can't… I can't believe anything anymore… I'm sorry, Luna…"

Luna remained silent for a moment. She looked out towards another piece of the land on our lower right. "…I understand. Perhaps, it's just best if we forget everything… It was fine the way things were… I didn't mean to bring all this on you. I'm sorry. Just…forget everything…"

She looked away sadly.

I couldn't help but lift up my eyes to see her appear to be lonely once again.

"LUNAAA!" A voice suddenly screamed out.

Luna and I both gasped and looked back to see Night Terror there, huffing angrily as he wore the Alicorn Amulet around his neck. How stupid of me! I let my anger get ahold of me and make the biggest mistake ever!

"I thought we finished him?!" I asked Luna as he stared at us with revenge in his intentions.

"Well…just another reason to believe he's your father." She returned.

I answered with silence towards that comment.

"Alexander is not taking you away from me!" He exclaimed and shot out a beam that headed towards Luna.

I widened my eyes and quickly pushed Luna out of the way to be hit instead. The impact of this shot caused me to be thrown back towards the edge of the cliff and fall down. Realizing how I was growing closer to the darkness by the second, I quickly pressed my hooves towards the rocky texture of the cliff. I caught several rocks that were sticking out from the cliff, but they were extremely not reliable to be safe on. I began to try to flap my wings, but I immediately noticed they were missing. I looked at my sides to see they weren't there. Neither was my horn!

I was back to my Earth Pony form and I tried so desperately to shift back. I couldn't, not at all. Something in my heart was blocking me to do so! It must have been his magic!

"Alex!" I heard Luna's voice cry out.

"Forget him!" Night Terror answered. "Come, Luna. Why don't we just start over?"

I can't let him hurt Luna…

I began lifting my hooves from rock to rock in hopes to climb up. I was already tired enough and climbing things rocks caused me to be even more exhausted. However, I had to do this. I had to protect Luna…if I can reach her in time…

Suddenly, I felt wings flap loudly above me. As I continued to carefully climb up, I slightly looked back to see Luna and Night Terror on the piece of land to the left of me. It wasn't that safe to be on. The land was very narrow and contained cliffs on each side.

"Luna! Welcome back!" Night Terror announced as Luna seemed to try to distract him from me. "You've finally come back to me."

I couldn't tell if Luna was ignoring him or was responding too quietly to hear. Nonetheless, I continued releasing grunts in attempts to reach the top. Unfortunately, it was… a while long…

Ugh… I don't know if I can last this long… My forelegs are already shaking and they almost feel like giving out…

"You and I… We're destined to be together." Night Terror continued to say.

Fortunately, I spotted a piece of land that was attached towards the cliff. It wasn't big at all, but it seemed large enough to allow me to rest for a while. I continued climbing, focusing on the area.

"You're mine! Every inch of you belongs to me!"

He began becoming really obsessive… What is wrong with him…? He's starting to frighten me… I have to get to Luna as quick as possible…

"Give in to your feelings! You can't live without me!"

Once I reached the piece, I quickly but sorely placed my hoof on there. I gave one last strain on my muscles to pull myself up. When I was finally sitting on the piece, I panted greatly. As I did, I looked out to where Luna was. That's when I widened my eyes. Night Terror used the Alicorn Amulet to shift again! Only this time, it was a wolf! His form contained the structure more of a timberwolf. He continuously tried to seize Luna, but she made every move to dodge his attacks.

"You were to be at my side, when I sat on my throne! You are the one! My beautiful pony!"

I continued regaining my breath as I sat there helplessly. I would be a lot more of use if I could get my form back!

"I want you by my side! Come to me, Luna!"

Even while in his shadowy wolf form, he was able to somehow use magic as well. He fired out a shadow bolt, but it headed in the wrong direction, straight towards me. I widened my eyes and felt the bolt impact the piece I was resting on. It immediately began breaking off from the cliff. I quickly turned around and attempted to find pieces where I could hold on to. Nevertheless, I was forced to jump and grab ahold whatever I could.

"Why can't you understand my…my love for you?"

I fortunately was able to hold on to several rocks that were peeking out from the cliff. However, the rain that was pouring down made it really challenging. The rocks were becoming very slippery and were slowly slipping out from the cliff. I knew I couldn't stay at one place too long. Otherwise, the rocks would slip out and take me down with them.

"Look at me, Luna! Yes. Yes! Look at me!"

I grunted, having the motivation to save Luna from that wretched stallion. I continued pressing on forward, using whatever available energy I had left.

"Why must you torture me?!"

I continued climbing until I heard another mare's voice.

"Alex!" I looked up to see Twilight worriedly gazing at me from the top. "Hold on, Alex! I'll get you out of there!" She began focusing her horn to use her magic on me, possibly in an attempt to teleport me out of harm's way.

However, Night Terror had fired out another one of his shadow bolts. This time, it had impacted the ground Twilight was standing on.

"Twilight, watch out!" I yelled.

"Ah!" She yelped when the ground she was standing on collapsed enough to bring her down. I quickly held out my hoof to catch her before she passed me. The weight of her body almost pulled me off from the cliff, but I managed to find the strength to pull her up enough for her to wrap her forelegs around my waist. As I held on firmly to the rocks so difficultly, I allowed Twilight to climb onto my back. She wrapped her forelegs across my chest and her back legs around my waist. She also looked down to see how high we were up.

"Hold on…" I grunted and groaned, straining in physical exhaustion. "I'll get us up…"

"Alex…" Twilight returned softly.

"It's him, isn't it?!" Night Terror growled. "He's the one keeping you away from me! Don't worry, I'll get rid of him, and then we can be together once and for all!" He exclaimed.

"Alex, watch out! He's coming!" Twilight warned, causing me to look back to see him roughly land on the part of the cliff below us.

Using his nails, he dug them through the side of the cliff and hastily climbed up towards me. He already caught up to me before I can move one step ahead. He raised his claw to swipe at us. I grunted and quickly attempted to dodge it by releasing my right hoof from the rock and turning to the side. He missed, striking the exact area where my body would have been had I not moved. Losing his grip for a moment, he slid down the cliff before he stopped some distance from us.

"Twilight! You need to get out of here!" I demanded weakly.

"Hold on! I'll get us both of here!" She focused her magic to form a spell around us. All of sudden, she teleported and disappeared from my back. There was less weight, allowing for the climbing to be easier, but the bad news was that I didn't move at all with her teleportation. She appeared at the top, which was not too far away. She noticed how I hadn't moved from my original spot. "Why didn't it work?! I performed the spell correctly!"

"It must be his magic! I can't even shift back to my Alicorn form!" I answered.

Once I felt the vibration of his movement again, I quickly took action and took every measure to get back up to where Twilight was.

She held out her hoof towards me, stretching it as much as she could. "Come on! I'll help you up!"

As I continued growing closer to Twilight, I looked below me to see Night Terror growing closer to me by the second.

Seeing how I was becoming very close to Twilight, I pushed myself as much as I could to reach her. Once my hoof was finally at the length of hers, I was just about to grab it until my back leg was grabbed ahold of tightly.

"I've got you now!" Night Terror announced and began to pull me down.

However, a beam of dark blue magic struck him, causing him to release the grip he had on my back leg. I strongly pulled it out away from him and struck the end of the hoof at the front of his head. He stumbled back in pain, granting me an opportunity to remove myself from climbing the cliff. As he was stunned, I took my chances and pushed myself to where I lifted into the air a bit and quickly caught Twilight's hoof. She grabbed ahold of it and quickly began pulling me up.

Night Terror growled and looked back at where Luna was supposed to be. "Curse you, you vile mare!"

As soon as I finished pulling myself up onto the safety of the ground where Twilight was on, I looked back to see Night Terror push himself away from the cliff. He quickly headed towards Luna and struck her with his claw, sending her back towards my side while Night Terror was on the opposite side of the narrow land. I only watched in horror as I observed Luna being struck so horridly.

"Luna!" I exclaimed as Night Terror faced her unconscious body. I shook my head and quickly ran to jump towards the plateau. "Twilight, stay here!" I ordered before I jumped off.

"Alex, wait!" Twilight tried to warn. "You don't have your wings! You're too weak!" Nevertheless, it was too late. I had already leaped off and knew I was going to have a harsh landing at the bottom. I immediately fell when my hooves touched the ground. I released a small cry of pain as I closed my eyes. "Alex!"

However, I opened them once again and pulled out my hooves to slowly push myself back up. Once I was finally back on my hooves, I rushed over to Luna, despite the pain.

"Luna, Luna!" I called her as I wrapped my right foreleg around the back of her upper body and placed my left foreleg on her chest. "Can you hear me?" I asked her, desperately searching in her face for any sign of vitality as I slightly lifted her upper body a bit. However, her eyes remained closed and her head merely fell lifelessly towards the right side of her body. I released an almost worried breath and looked towards Night Terror to see him only looking our way. "Don't let it end like this…"

Night Terror then voluntarily reverted back to his stallion form, instantly revealing an irritated face towards me. "Get away from her, Alexander! You're not HALF the stallion she needs!" Afterwards, he began walking towards us with an evil grin on his face. "Come with me, my love…" He directed towards Luna. "We'll be together…forever…"

I clenched my teeth and narrowed my eyes in anger, immediately feeling my wings and horn form back. "Not if I can help it!" I growled, pointing my horn towards him and attempting to form magic. However, the magic on the tip of my horn merely crackled and barely revealed any power, proving no intimidation. Nonetheless, I kept it pointed at Night Terror as he showed no sign of fear or hesitation while slowly continuing to walk towards us. Twilight seemed to have tried to keep him away from me by shooting her beams of magic towards him, but they seemed to have no effect as he continued walking with no indication of damage. As I remained my glare towards Night Terror, I directed my voice towards Luna. "Come on… Wake up…" I pleaded softly, almost to a whisper. "…If you're really my mom… I know you can pull through this…" I paused for a moment. "…we both can…"

After realizing that I wasn't going to move from my spot at all, Night Terror stopped and faced towards me with a frown. "Why must you continue to protect this mare?! She left you for dead and she didn't give a single care about you! She left you with abusive parents which only led to so many miserable years of your life! And you're still going to protect this mare?!"

"Yes…" I answered calmly. "She may have made a few mistakes in her life…but she's learned from them… She's become a better pony from those mistakes… She knows not to make them again… She may have…left me with…not so loving parents… But it was all worth it in order to meet the girls that I now love today. And guess what…?" I felt a few tears begin forming in my eyes. I was ready. "It's still bringing me good things because…my life is slowly becoming better…" I sniffed a bit. "Why…? Well…" I looked towards Luna. "She's not just a mare… She's my mom… She loves me… And I love her… And I'm going to do whatever it takes to protect her…no matter the cost…"

Hearing my emotional speech, he growled loudly, being fed up with my presence being in his way. "Then, what about these costs?!" He instantly began shifting back towards his shadow wolf form. As soon as he was finished transforming, he raised his body and began forming almost hundreds of his shadow bolts to attack us. I gasped and widened my eyes at this. I quickly placed my body in front of Luna's and used my wings to cover any part of her body left that was vulnerable. After hearing the bolts of shadow shoot out, I felt their stings pierce me, causing me to release cries of pain as I endured each one.

Finally, when it was over, I was panting very heavily as I tried to deal with the extraordinary amount of pain. I felt like it was over for me, as if I was just about to fall over and see my life fade away. However, as I closed my strained eyes, I felt a very strong relief flow through me. It removed most of the pain from my body. I slowly opened my eyes to face Luna, continuing to pant softly. I spotted a smile lightly stretched on her face. She slowly opened her eyes as well and looked directly in to mine.

"I was just resting my eyes…" She joked warmly.

I shook my head and began helping her back on her hooves, chuckling a bit throughout my answer. "Shouldn't sleep on the job…" I teased as well, realizing how we were in my dream, it was nighttime, and that we needed to remove Night Terror's danger on everypony.

Night Terror on the other hoof growled as his effort was useless.

"As you can tell…your father is quite obsessive over me." Luna commented as we noticed Night Terror grow furious.

"So…are you ever going to tell me how you ended up with this jerk anyway…?" I asked.

"Perhaps when you're older." She answered, which I couldn't exactly tell whether she was joking or not.

Nonetheless, I sighed lightly. "Fair enough…"

"Hang on! I'm coming!" Twilight exclaimed from the higher ground.

"You're not going anywhere!" Night Terror returned towards Twilight and used his magic.

Shadows immediately were summoned near Twilight, startling her and causing her to begin shooting them with her magic. She was able to keep them off her while using her magic to defeat them with light, but Night Terror summoned enough to keep her busy for a while.

"Twilight!" I called.

"Don't worry!" She assured. "I'll be fine! You two take care of him!"

As soon as we returned our attention back to Night Terror, he began charging towards us hastily. "You should have listened to me! We all could have ruled both the dream realm and even Equestria with our power! I guess I'm going to have to do it by myself, and nopony's stopping me!"

When he was a few steps in front of us, he leapt towards us. Luna and I quickly ran to the side to avoid being captured or even crushed by him.

"Come on!" I directed Luna, hurrying to gain some distance away from him. She followed me in a sprint as well.

"Come out and face your destiny!" Night Terror order and turned around. He summoned some more shadow bolts and began shooting them towards us. Feeling my magical strength return, I formed a shield in front of us, deflecting the bolts.

"What's the plan?!" I asked Luna, concentrating on keeping the shield active. "How are we supposed to take off the Alicorn Amulet now?"

"He no longer has scales to remove. You will be able to reach your hoof directly where the amulet is at, but it is going to be much harder to pull it out."

"I guess we pretty much don't have a choice…"

Night Terror ceased his firing and began running straight towards us. By his attacks, I was beginning to assume that he now was using a strategy of calm rage. He wasn't going completely berserk, but he wasn't exactly thinking on his actions. He just wanted to be rid of us once and for all.

I stopped forming my shield and headed towards him as well. As he continued charging, I slid down on my back at the right time and as soon as I saw the red glow within him, I grabbed ahold of it with my hoof and attempted to remove it with the force of his momentum. He stopped and roared in pain a bit. Nonetheless, he immediately turned around and swiped me with his claw. I was thrown back a bit away from him and he used this advantage to pounce on me. He held me down with his strong claw and raised his other to swipe at me. However, he immediately threw back his head in pain as Luna seemed to have done something behind him. I focused my magic from my heart and drew out a small blinding light strong enough to force him off me.

Afterwards, I quickly got up and regrouped back with Luna.

"You both should have accepted the opportunity of a lifetime when you had the chance!" He growled and faced towards us. He lowered his body and quickly leapt. Luna and I ducked down to avoid it. However, as soon as he landed, he readied his shadow bolts and fired them as he turned back around towards us.

Not expecting this, we were hit on our hooves, causing us to fall to the ground. As soon as I began to try to push myself back up, Night Terror had shifted back to his normal form and stopped in front of me. He quickly grabbed ahold of my neck and lifted me up in the air as I struggled to somehow remove his grip with my hooves. He held an expression fuming with anger as he glared at me. He lifted me up a bit more and suddenly threw my body forcefully at the ground. Feeling completely stunned for a moment, I tried to turn my body and slowly bring myself back up again. However, he winded up his leg and kicked me fiercely, actually bringing me off the ground for a second until I landed once again and rolled over for a bit. Having felt so hurt from this, I released a painful cry.

When I stopped, I was on my back, feeling incapacitated. I instantly began feeling the end linger over me once again. I breathed heavily as I slowly lifted my upper body towards Night Terror while keeping my right hoof on the ground to give me support. In the corner of my eyes, I noticed those black walls reaching for my life again. The only difference was that this time, I most likely wouldn't survive. Night Terror began shifting back to his wolf form as I felt the end reach nearer and nearer.

"Hang in there, hun!" I heard Luna faintly. She immediately rushed to my side and lifted my upper back a bit. She placed a hoof on my chest as well and lowered her horn towards me. Using her magic, she was able to heal me enough to get back up. The black walls faded away and I could now hear everything clear once again. She stayed by me, helping me get up hoof by hoof. "Be careful…" She shared softly.

I lightly nodded a bit tiredly once I was up. When I was finally able to move on my own, I heard Night Terror's voice raise in anger.

"Stop helping him, you revolting mare!" He shifted back into his normal form to grab Luna's neck the same way as he did to me.

When he raised her up in the air, ready to throw her to the ground, I immediately felt my energy unexpectedly rise significantly. My eyes widened as I became alerted. He threw her in the ground, stunning her for a moment as he was ready to kick her as well. I growled and ran towards him, tackling him and throwing him to the ground. Once his back was on the ground beneath me, I rose my hooves and began striking him fiercely.

"Keep! Your! Hooves!" I exclaimed between my three punches to the right side of his face. "Off!" I added with my left hoof to the left side of his face. "My!" I placed one more punch to the right side again. "MOM!" I finished with striking my backhoof across his left cheek, causing his head to be thrown to the right side.

Afterwards, feeling I needed to exert one more action. I jumped off him and raised his upper body a bit with my magic. I turned around and pointed my back legs towards his face. I finally released a loud grunt and bucked him straight in the face.

Being knocked out for just a short while, I climbed back on him and attempted to pull out the amulet from him. I was able to loosen it a bit before he threw me back with a small explosion of his dark power.

Luna, having already recovered, rushed to my side and made sure I was okay.

On the other side, Night Terror remained in his form for a while. All of a sudden, he began softly laughing in a maniacal way. "You all just don't see it, do you…?" His laughed became louder. "It's all over! Your efforts are useless! I will become the ruler of the dream realm and soon, ALL of Equestria!" He began turning back into his shadow wolf form.

"I won't allow you to plague the mind of innocent little ponies with your corruptive powers!" Luna asserted. She ran forcefully towards Night Terror and flew over him, causing him to quickly search around. However, she surprised him when she used her magic to pull his body back and completely leave his chest vulnerable, where the red glow was held. "Now, Alex!"

I understood her signal and quickly rushed towards his chest. Striking my hoof deep towards the glow, I rapidly began attempting to pull it out as Night Terror groaned and grunted. As soon as I was so close to removing it, feeling the glow actually move, he somehow was able to release Luna's grip and throw her back. He struck me off and away from him. I landed on the ground with pain that held me back from getting up for a while. He turned back to Luna and used his power to place some darkness that trapped her to the ground, having her unable to get back up.

He slowly turned towards me. I shook my head and attempted to get back up as he slowly walked over to me. Before I could proceed any further, he gripped his strength at my neck again, lifting me up. "It's not too late, Alexander… Join me… We both know that there's no chance for you to resist my power… It's time to allow the darkness inside of you to take control… It is your destiny…" I began feeling the darkness inside do as he instructed. Revealing the progress, the end of my body was becoming completely black. It slowly moved on upwards. I grunted and groaned as I tried to remove his corruption from me. "Don't fight it… Let it control you…consume you…then you'll never have to feel pain ever again…" No matter how hard I tried, the darkness continued its progress, eventually arriving at my chest. I felt myself give up and release a weakened breath. "That's it…what do you say you and your father finally fulfill our dreams and use our power to become such great leaders?"

I grunted and managed to growl a bit, shaking my hoof in determination to gain some of the control back. "Like Pinkie Pie…I say…" I returned weakly, raising my hoof slightly towards his neck. "Yippee ki-yay, motherfudger!" I exclaimed and gripped the Alicorn Amulet from his chest. I ripped it off, causing him to be startled and growl angrily. His wings disappeared, leaving only his horn. He raised my body and threw me to the ground, causing for the Alicorn Amulet to slip from my hooves and slide some distance towards the side.

"Alex!" I heard Luna call in a struggle.

Seeming to not care about the amulet anymore, he focused my attention towards me. He slowly walked over to me as I attempted to push myself back up. Before I could straighten my hooves, he kicked me a few steps closer to the edge of endless darkness. "Do you want to live…?" He asked as I placed my hoof in front of me to try to get up again. My legs were shaking in weakness greatly. However, it seemed that my efforts were useless as he only kicked me again, bringing me closer to the edge. "Then beg! Beg for your miserable life!"

I released a small grunt and positioned my hooves to restart my try. "I'll pass." I muttered through clenched teeth.

Fuming at my response, he kicked me once again, leaving me directly on the edge towards the darkness.

Just as he was about to kick me once more to end me, Luna suddenly appeared from behind him. "Don't you dare lay another hoof on my son!" Something formed in her horn and shocked Night Terror, paralyzing him long enough for Luna to cast another spell.

"No! Noo!" He cried in defeat.

Luna released a burst of power from her horn and sent it towards Night Terror, causing him to fade away along with his dark power. "Have fun back at the moon…" She finished.

After, she looked at me and held out a caring hoof towards me. Panting a little, I raised my hoof and grabbed hers. As soon as she pulled me up, she immediately brought me in for an embrace. She closed her eyes as she caringly wrapped her hooves around me and stroked my mane. I released another few pants and closed my eyes as well to accommodate her.

A few hoof steps sounded towards us, causing me to open my eyes. Twilight was standing behind Luna, smiling warmly at the scene we produced. It seemed she had already been there for a while. I could tell she had so many questions running through her mind, but she allowed them to relax as she spotted our heartwarming scene.

After Luna was done, she softly and lightly pulled away. I looked into her eyes to see them narrow sadly as she slightly look away.

"Are you ponies ready to go?" Twilight asked.

I remained silent for a moment when noticing Luna's apologetic expression. "Y-yeah…" I answered. "Just…give us a moment…"

"Okay." Twilight returned and walked some distance away to give us some private time.

Luna continued to stare at the ground, seeming to be lost in regrets. I frowned and looked at her face softly. I turned my gaze towards the ground for a moment and thought. Then, I lifted it back up to her. "…Mom…" She gasped and widened her eyes which were immediately placed on mine. "…you saved me… You know that don't you…?" She could only react with a fully silent and shocked expression. I tilted my head a bit in a shrugging motion and blinked my eyes. "Thank you…" Luna slowly changed the expression on her face towards a warm one. Seeing this, I formed a warm smile on my face as well and walked towards Twilight who was waiting patiently. "We're ready…"

Twilight released a breath of relief. "I'm glad we'll finally be able to go back… This has been the longest night ever…"

"Hm." I chuckled a little as Luna joined us.

"Don't worry, I can send us all back." Twilight offered and closed her eyes, holding the Alicorn Amulet safely near her and beginning to work her magic. "Stay together!"

Keeping the smile upon my face, I looked towards Luna. She performed the same expression. As soon as Twilight's magic began its duty, Luna quickly grabbed my hoof lovingly before we were sent back.

I groaned a bit as I felt myself slowly opening my eyes. As my vision cleared, I looked up to notice many mares staring at me.

"You're alright!" Pinkie Pie hopped and tackled me with a tight hug.

"Pinkie…?" I looked around to notice all my loved ones standing before me. "Girls! I'm so glad to see you all again!"

Princess Celestia turned her attention towards Luna. "Sister, tell me. What happened in there?" She asked.

"Well…this may be hard to believe, sister, but…" Luna paused for a moment, trying to think of the correct words. "…Remember that foal I had to give up many years ago…?"

"…the foal Alex reminded you of…?" Princess Celestia questioned.

"Yes…well…" Princess Luna placed her lips near Princess Celestia's ear and began whispering.

During her explanation, Princess Celestia suddenly widened her eyes in shock. "Are you sure you heard right, Luna?!"

Luna returned a nod.

Princess Celestia seemed to be stunned for a moment. "Why…this is…this is…astonishing…" Princess Celestia remained silent for a moment and then faced back to Luna. "Are you absolutely sure of this, sister?"

Princess Luna warmly chuckled. "Look for yourself, sister." She placed the tip of her horn on Celestia's. They both closed their eyes.

As they did so, Luna retained a grin on her face while Celestia's changed every once in a while. She would form an agape mouth in interest and then silently gasp as she seemed to see the images inside her mind.

When their connection was over, Princess Luna opened her eyes and looked at Princess Celestia with a slight proud look on her face. Princess Celestia only opened her eyes to widen them. She slowly turned her head towards me with an agape mouth.

I could only begin feeling a little embarrassment as Princess Celestia stared at me in amazement.

"This is…this is truly astounding, sister… We must get the preparations ready immediately…!"

I placed a look of confusion on my face. "For what…?"

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Standing inside an empty room at Canterlot Castle, I walked towards the mirror and looked myself over. The shoes on my hooves were somewhat similar to my mom's. Not the one who took me in, but Princess Luna. Actually, she even offered to share me her recently unlocked memories that Twilight assisted her with in order to give me confidence that she was truly indeed my mother.

Now… I do believe it… She really is… And I couldn't be happier…

Returning back to my shoes, they were a darker shade of blue, rather than Princess Luna's which were tinted in white instead. While the Princesses wore fantastic and royal dresses, I wore a piece of royalty as well. The lower sleeves on my forelegs were touched and trimmed with gold silk, matching the lunar plate I wore, which was also similar to Luna's as well. The rest of the upper half of my body was covered by a dark night blue royal suit. The lunar plate I wore hung over it, just like Luna. While Luna's moon in her plate was purple to match her dress, mine was a creamy white, almost just like the coat of Celestia, my aunt.

Lastly, my mane was combed very neatly and formal to the side. Fluttershy and the other girls had to wait to notice my new appearance; otherwise Fluttershy, and perhaps even Rarity, most likely would have blushed in seeing me before.

I smiled lightly and placed my hoof on the mirror, noticing that throughout my many struggles, I've come this far to be so happy.

I heard the door behind me softly open.

"There's my Prince." I looked back to see her gazing at me warmly. I grinned a little embarrassingly while she walked towards me, continuing to observe me. The tiara she wore was different from the one she usually wore. It was a lot brighter in color. I noticed that it was not intended to only match her dress, but to symbolize how much joy was brought upon her life as well. She placed her left hoof on my shoulder and then her right hoof on my mane. She brushed my mane a bit, causing me to chuckle a little. "You look so handsome…"

"Mom…" I slipped a little bashfully.

She stopped brushing my mane and faced me with softly beaming eyes. She embraced me for a while before she pulled back. "I'm so proud of you…"

"Thanks, mom…" I returned gently. "I'm just glad to know…that…I've actually had a loving mother my whole life…who just needed to come at the right moment…"

"I understand how you feel, Alex…but I just want you to know to not forget about your other mother…"

"Huh?" I questioned.

"From what you've told me, your other mother may have not been the best mother in Equestria…but she was willing to ask for your forgiveness. And she did take you in and somewhat raised you to be the bold stallion you are today. The life may not have been perfect…but look where you are now."

I thought about it and lightly smiled. "I guess you're right, mom…" I paused for a moment. "…after all, forgive and forget, am I right?"

"Of course." She answered. "Go check on your friend, Twilight Sparkle. We'll all be waiting for you to begin…"

I nodded. "Okay, mom. I'll see you then."

She smiled and turned around to begin walking out the room.

Wondering how my L.S.B.F.F. looked, I walked out the room after a moment and began heading down the hall towards the room she was preparing herself in.

I stopped in front of her door before the two guards standing outside. They took a glance at me and nodded their heads, allowing me to enter through. I opened the door and entered the room, lightly closing it behind me. I saw Twilight brushing her mane as she sat in front of her mirror. I placed a small smirk on my face and walked towards her.

"You look beautiful, sis…" I commented, slightly surprising her. She turned around and noticed me. "…if that's okay…"

Twilight released a smile as well. "Of course it is. You look great yourself too, you know?"

"Heh, thanks…" I sat by her as she turned back to the mirror and continued brushing her mane.

"Isn't it amazing…?" Twilight asked softly while keeping her eyes on the mirror.

"Hm?"

"We're both becoming a Prince and Princess together at the same time." She explained. "It's really just…well…awesome." She giggled.

"I know. It's one of those events that you can't just help but feel proud and happy…" I returned.

"But I thought you didn't want to be a Prince, Alex?" Twilight brought up.

"Well…I didn't…because at the time of the discovery of my true being, being a Prince at that time would only feel like I was trying to be the best of everypony. But now…it feels just right. My real mother is Princess Luna, and that just makes me related to the other Princesses as well. Plus, you're being crowned as a Princess as well so…what better time than now?"

"I understand you, Alex." Twilight responded. She placed a hoof around me and pulled me towards her, smiling brightly when we were both visible in the mirror. Then she giggled lightly again. "Hehe, and when you marry Fluttershy, she'll probably become a Princess too."

I immediately widened my eyes and blushed, becoming slightly nervous. "Whoa, that's a little too big of a jump, don't you think?"

"I'm just teasing you." She giggled once again. "…but you are thinking of a future with Fluttershy, aren't you…?" She asked a little more seriously. "I mean…you both are perfect for each other."

I nodded. "…I know… And I've caught myself between thoughts before… For right now…I just want to worry about the present. Things that are meant to happen will happen when they're supposed to. As of right now, I just want to spend my life with her, and have the amazing company of all you girls."

"Hehe." Twilight lightly blushed. "Aww."

There was a knock at our door, causing Twilight to stop brushing her hair, place the brush down, and for the both of us to look back.

One of the royal guards entered.

"The Princesses are waiting and are ready with the preparations. They shall start whenever you are ready."

Twilight glanced at me and replied to the royal guard. "Tell them we're ready."

The guard nodded his head and walked out.

Twilight sent another smile towards me. "Let's go and begin our new change."

"I'm right with you." I answered.

Together, we walked out of the room to then be escorted by some more royal guards. We were taken to the front of the main hall which we were to present ourselves. However, the doors in front were closed. Four mares accompanied us. Two of them were holding Twilight's cutie mark on a banner while the other two were holding mine on another banner. The guards that escorted us aligned themselves behind the mares to join us as well. As I stood behind the huge double doors, I began feeling nervous; the good kind of nervous. I was pretty excited.

After a moment, we began hearing Princess Celestia's voice announce from the room.

"We are gathered here today in celebration of a momentous occasion. My most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, has done many extraordinary things since she's lived in Ponyville. She even helped reunite me with my sister, Princess Luna. However, that wasn't the only reunion that has taken place. Not too long ago, a noble stallion discovered that he was in fact an Alicorn. As of right now, I am pleased to announce that not only is he an Alicorn, but my loving nephew as well… Alexander, or as he wishes to be called Alex, is the proud son of Princess Luna." I lightly stared at the floor and looked around a little bashfully. "Today, the both of them did something extraordinary. Twilight Sparkle created new magic, proving without a doubt that she is ready to be crowned Equestria's newest princess. Alex, using the great help from Twilight Sparkle and Princess Luna, defeated the fearing Night Terror from plaguing the lands of Equestria and corrupting the dreams of everypony. But the most heartwarming scene I've seen is his reunion with Princess Luna…" Princess Celestia paused for a moment. "Now, fillies and gentlecolts, may I present for the very first time, Princess Twilight Sparkle and Prince Alex!"

The doors opened and we began our walk together, side by side. The four mares and guards followed us, beginning to chant a song in union.

"Thou Princess Twilight and Prince Alex cometh

Behold, behold" As Twilight and I reached where the Princesses where, I noticed my true mom gazing me with proud eyes, appearing as if she wanted to spare a few tears herself. As Twilight looked towards Princess Celestia, Spike walked over to us with a smile on his face and presented two pillows. One held a crown for Twilight…and the other one held my crown…

"A Princess and Prince here before us

Behold, behold, behold" As the choir raised their voices, Princess Celestia raised Twilight's crown and placed it on Twilight's head delicately. Princess Luna, actually unable to hold one tear, held my crown with her magic and placed it on me as well. I couldn't help but release a grin full of heart towards her. Afterwards, Twilight and I shared a look to our pony friends on the side. Pinkie Pie raised a hoof as she cheered excitedly in silence. Fluttershy smiled at me softly, but I could tell she was holding in so much excitement within her instead. Rarity looked proudly among us. Rainbow even presented a wink. Applejack held the look Rarity was giving us as well. Twilight released a modest response while I grinned softly.

"Behold, behold (behold, behold)" Twilight and I looked out to the crowd of ponies before us. It was really just…breathtaking to have so many ponies celebrating an occasion about us… Afterwards, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna escorted us out towards the balcony thousands of ponies were awaiting our presence from different parts of Equestria. This all reminded me of the wedding Shining Armor and Miss Cadence had…

"The Princess Twilight and Prince Alex cometh

Behold, behold (behold, behold)

The Princess and Prince are

The Princess and Prince are here" The choir finished as Twilight and I waved out towards the thousands of ponies cheering.

As Twilight continued waving with slight nervousness, Princess Celestia walked up to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Say something, Princess."

"Oh. Um..." Twilight cleared her throat and began announcing to everypony looking before us. The crowd lowered their cheering and Luna grinned while placing a hoof around me warmly. "A little while ago, my teacher and mentor Princess Celestia sent me to live in Ponyville. She sent me to study friendship…" She looked over to the girls and me, keeping her attention locked onto us. "…which is something I didn't really care much about. But now, on a day like today," Twilight gestured her hoof towards the girls, signaling them to join her on the balcony. "I can honestly say I wouldn't be standing here if it weren't for the friendships I've made with all of you." Twilight began acknowledging each one of us, causing for every one of the girld to form tears in their eyes…even Rainbow Dash. "Each one of you taught me something about friendship, and for that, I will always be grateful. Today, I consider myself the luckiest pony in Equestria. Thank you, friends. Thank you, everypony!" Twilight finished as the girls looked down at everypony as well. The crowd immediately resumed their cheering.

Next, Princess Luna placed a hoof on my shoulder.

"I'm sure you have a few words to spare yourself, Alex?"

I smiled lightly and nodded.

When I stepped forward in the balcony, everypony allowed their cheering to fade out to listen on what I had to say. I looked among them and took in a deep breath. I then allowed my heart to take charge.

"I'm speechless." I announced. "But at the same time…there's so much I want to say… I honestly never expected seeing myself up here in front of you all. In similar experiences with my very best friend Twilight…I knew nothing about true friendship before I met all those girls that I now hold dear to me. They changed me. They really changed me for the better…" I felt a few tears form in my eyes by themselves. "Back before I met them, I wouldn't even want to speak to any of you because I was so afraid of society. I always dreaded and expected the worst to come… I've learned that you have to take risks if you ever want the chance for something great to happen. These girls give me the motivation and power to do what I want and need to do. If it weren't for them, none of this would be possible. I love them all so much because…they're just a huge piece of my life! And listen… This is for all of you ponies out there. I may be a Prince. I may be the son of Princess Luna. I may be an Alicorn. But it doesn't matter… I don't want any of you to work out of your way to treat me like I'm better than the rest of you. I want you all to just treat me like any other friend. I want to be treated for who I am, not what. I know most of you probably won't be able to help feeling nervous when you're apparently talking to a 'celebrity'…but just know that I don't find any of you less important than I am… Thank you everypony…" I looked back to face the girls. "Thank you all…"

Ending my speech, everypony in crowd before the castle cheered.

Before we could move on, Princess Luna walked towards Princess Celestia and asked for a favor. "Sister…may I share a song to Alex?"

Princess Celestia was slightly surprised of this request. Nonetheless, she smiled warmly and nodded. "Of course."

Princess Luna returned another soft smile and then turned her head towards me. I slightly formed an agape mouth, wondering what she was going to sing about.

She lowered her head a little and then closed her eyes. She opened them and began softly singing.

"You've come…such a long, long way…" I widened my eyes at her blissful voice. She was singing Celestia's ballad, only a little different and softer.

"Since I've seen your face…from that very first day…

To see how you might grow…" She slowly walked towards me, step by step.

"To see what you might do…

To see what you'll go through…" She stopped in front of me.

"And all the ways you've made me proud of you…" She tenderly placed her hooves around me and held me closely.

"It's time now…for a new change to come…" I could feel tears from her eyes drop onto my coat.

"You've grown up…and your new life…has begun…" I could only truly feel so warm inside my heart with her completely meaningful words. I smiled lightly, feeling tears fall from my eyes as well as I placed my hooves around her.

"To go where you will go…

To see what you will see…

To find what you will be…"

She paused for a moment and sniffled.

"For it's time for you…to fulfill your destiny…" She ended, giving me so many mixed emotions inside me.

I sniffled and whispered into her ear. "I love you, mom…"

"I love you too, son…" She returned.

After, she pulled away and held her hoof around me as she escorted the other girls and I back towards the castle.

Twilight was immediately confronted by Shining Armor and Miss Cadence upon returning inside.

"Twilight! I'm so proud of you!" He hugged Twilight slightly, revealing teary eyes when pulling back.

"Are you crying?" Twilight asked, hinting a little laughter in her voice.

"Of course not, it's... it's liquid pride." He wiped his eyes. "Totally different thing."

Shining Armor, Twilight and I laughed.

"You know, Shining Armor…" I shared. "I think the stronger stallion is the one who admits he cries." I teased playfully.

However, Miss Cadence immediately intervened before allowing Shining Armor a chance to response. She threw her hooves around me and held me tightly. "I'm so proud of you, Alex!" She exclaimed. "I just can't take it all in! A Prince? Luna's son? That makes me not only your teacher but…but…your cousin!" Miss Cadence paused for a moment, holding a hoof to her chin. "I think…" Nonetheless, she shook her head. "Still it's really amazing that I'm actually related to you!"

I chuckled softly. "Yeah…" I suddenly realized something. "Wait…if I'm related to you…and you're married to Shining Armor…and Shining Armor is Twilight's brother…then…then that means that I'm…actually…technically related to Twilight!"

Twilight grinned at my announcement while Shining Armor laughed.

"Then that makes you my…" He thought for a moment. "…brocousin?" He guessed and stuck with that word. "And every brocousin gets one of these!" He placed his foreleg around my neck and pulled me towards him. He raised his hoof in order to playfully mess with my mane, but Princess Luna suddenly stopped his hoof with hers.

"Ah. Ah. Ah. Alex's mane is perfect the way it is as of now. I wouldn't be so happy shall I see even one strand of his hair misaligned. Understand?" She expressed politely, but I could tell she was dead serious in her eyes.

Shining Armor noticed and quickly released me, laughing nervously and beginning to sweat. "O-Of course!"

"Way to go Prince and Princess!" Applejack cheered, the girls joining us.

"Best coronation day ever!" Pinkie Pie screamed out loud.

"We all love you both!" Fluttershy added, initiating a large group hug between us all.

"We love you all too!" Twilight and I answered warmly.

After we pulled away, Princess Celestia stopped between Twilight and me. "Come on you two, it's time to finish your coronation." She smiled.

Twilight and I looked at each other chuckled a bit. "Sure thing, Tia." I answered.

At the bottom of Canterlot Castle, Twilight and I were then pulled through the crowd of ponies on a carriage by two royal guards. Once we were pulled out to see the ponies before us, Twilight and I both began waving at them.

"Life in Equestria shimmers" Twilight and I both sang, continuing to wave with a big grin on our faces.

"Life in Equestria shines" Twilight had caught a bouquet of flowers from the crowd. Once we saw the girls ahead of us, skipping in a trot, we both jumped off the carriage and joined them.

"And we know for absolute certain"

"That everything (everything)" The girls joined us in our song. Twilight and I looked back to see Princess Celestia and Luna were looking back at us. However, I paid most attention to my mother, Luna, who was looking at me directly. I could just really see how proud she was of me.

"Yes, everything

Yes, everything is certainly fine" We all sang loudly and proudly at the end of the overlook.

"It's fine!"

Twilight suddenly spread her wings and began flying excitedly. "Yes! Everything's going to be just fine!" She exclaimed as she soared the skies.

"Hey…" I chuckled a little. "How come she knows how to fly so great like that while I'm still learning?" I playfully asked the girls.

"Well…" Rainbow Dash returned as we continued to see Twilight spread her joy. "She's really magical, isn't she?"

"Yeah…" I smiled as I observed Twilight. "She really is…"

"We best be getting to the train station soon." Rarity offered. "Pinkie Pie is absolutely exhilarated to continue this party back at Ponyville." She faced Pinkie Pie who was literally vigorously shaking in the same place while grinning extremely brightly.

"You girls go on ahead. I'll catch up." I responded.

The girls returned simultaneous agreements as they began walking and waved. Fluttershy shyly looked at me with blooming cheeks and quickly kissed me so adorably. Afterwards, she quickly fluttered away. I smiled at her action and decided to take my first quiet stroll around Canterlot with the new title I held.

However, before I began to move, I was immediately confronted by another familiar mare. She gazed at me with a light smile on her face.

"I'm proud of you." She walked towards me. "I'm glad that…you're living a great life now…" She looked downwards at the ground for a moment. "I just hope…you can find it in your heart to forgive me…"

I managed to send a smile to her. "I forgive you, mom… Thanks for clearing it up with me and actually doing your best for my forgiveness…"

She looked up and resumed her smile. "Thank you… You know…you don't have to call me mom… You can call me…Rosy…"

"Rosy…" I allowed the name to roll my tongue off a bit. "Well…you are still my foster mother…"

"I know…but I wouldn't like for you to be exactly calling me mom when your real mother is a great Princess. I think it's fine to call me Rosy… Besides…I wanted to start over and begin anew with you, remember…? Maybe…we can get lunch some time…and you can…tell me more about your friends." She giggled lightly. "And that cute little mare you're seeing…"

"Haha, sure thing, Rosy." I answered.

She nodded, sustaining her smile. "I'll see you later then, Alex. I guess I should start heading back to Fillydelphia…" She was about to leave, but not before I landed a big and warm hug with her. She was largely surprised at my action, but she soon shifted that expression towards a heartfelt one. She accepted my embrace, and we both pulled away after a few seconds. "Thank you…"

I merely nodded. She returned one as well and turned around to begin walking towards the train station to take the train to Fillydelphia.

Afterwards, I began my walk.

Wanting to stay close to the train station, I decided to spend some time near the enormous waterfall by Canterlot . As I heard the soothing sound of the rushing water splashing against the moderate currents, I smiled lightly and sat down.

I began slipping into my deep thinking process. After the whole ordeal with family, I slowly realized something I had not before. From my light smile, it formed in the opposite direction. I now sighed at the waterfall in silence.

"Alex?" I heard behind me.

I looked back to see Princess Luna. "Oh…hey, mom…" I returned despondently.

"What's wrong?" She asked, walking to my side and sitting down.

"I've just been thinking…" I answered, staring at the gentle currents.

"About what?"

I laughed in a scoffing way. "It's funny, isn't it? I just realized that from the two of my mothers, both of my fathers wanted nothing to do with me…"

"That's not true." She responded, surprising me.

"Huh?" I questioned.

"Your father loved you very much."

I was silent for a moment. "…what are you…?"

"Remember when you wanted to know why I ended up with a 'jerk'?"

"Well…yeah, but you saw how—"

"I did." She assured. "Listen…do you also remember how I used to be Nightmare Moon?" I nodded. "Well, after I was banished to the moon, Celestia tried to find some way to be rid of the corrupted spirit so I could come back…but it was one of the most challenging things she had to face in her life. She couldn't…and she wasn't sure if I could ever be rid of it… It wasn't until I met your father on the moon. He had been stripped of all his dark power and completely normal. He offered to remove, if not some, most of the corruption from me, Alex. He's the reason why I had been able to be myself again. He's not really this 'all-fearing' Night Terror. If it wasn't for him, I would have never been able to be Princess Luna again and you would have never been able to find your real mother. So…what I'm trying to say is… He does love you, Alex. He really does. He's just been possessed by the evil spirit that once lingered in me. But…" She paused for a moment. "…I still have hope that when he comes back…maybe…we can remove that darkness from him and we can all be a family again."

"I…I can't believe it…" I reacted a little speechless. "…why didn't you tell me this before?"

"Well…for one…you didn't believe me… And if you did, you would have allowed your emotions to control your actions. You wouldn't have fought so valiantly and he might have accomplished his evil task. However… I can feel that he's proud of you for what you did…"

"So…about that darkness inside of me…is it still there…?"

"Yes…it has always technically been there, but in different stages. As of right now…you could say it is…hibernating… As long as Night Terror cannot control it, hence being at the moon, it will not bother you. But as I stated, he will eventually come back, and once you begin feeling those sudden and bothersome moments once again, hopefully we'll be ready to try to change him for the better…"

"What about the Elements of Harmony?" I offered. "Will those work?"

She released a smile. "That is a possible solution; something I have great faith in. Unfortunately, we weren't able to use them recently because we were all completely surprised of his return, especially since he was inside your dream. If that shall be the place he returns next time, then perhaps Twilight Sparkle can bring your friends into your dream and use your Elements of Harmony then."

"Wow…" I stared towards the grass. "I can't believe it… I mean I really can this time but…it's just that… there's actually a chance to have a father who really loves me for once…"

"Indeed there is." My mother placed a caring hoof on my back, sharing a grin.

I remained staring at the grass in positive disbelief until I heard my name being called.

"Hey, Alex!" I looked up and around to see who it was. I spotted a group of six girls waiting on the road nearby. "Come on! We're going to miss our train!" Rainbow Dash warned out loud.

I looked at my mom to see her smile and gesture her head towards them, allowing me to move on. I returned a nod and stood up to begin walking towards them. When I had walked a few steps forward, Luna suddenly called my name back.

"Alex." I turned around to see her suddenly throw something my way with her magic. I quickly caught it with my own magic and dropped it down to observe it. It was a baby blue blanket with my name engraved on to it. I lifted my eyes towards her for an answer. She smiled both warmly and teasingly. "For the next time you see him." Afterwards, she turned around and began leaving with that.

I felt touched in a surprised expression. I lowered my eyes towards the blanket again and felt the emotions within me kick in.

"Come on, 'Prince'! Let's go!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed from the short distance, revealing her somehow cute impatience.

I glanced at them for moment and then back at the blanket. I chuckled a little as my eyes brimmed with tears, having a few escape. I softly shook my head and then wiped my eyes lightly.

"Mares." I slipped softly.

I placed the blanket somewhere safe and began walking towards the girls, reaching them to begin heading towards the train station.

After we arrived back at Ponyville, Rainbow stretched her legs widely while the others were just great to be back home.

I noticed Twilight's eyes beaming towards the sky. In those eyes, I could see the days she was looking forward to on being an Alicorn.

I walked towards her and placed a hoof caringly on her. She was startled a bit, but the expression on her face beautifully melted into a warm one when she saw me.

"So, what do you suppose we do now?" Applejack asked.

I thought for a moment. The next idea that came to me wasn't by thought at all…but I could feel it come from my heart.

I took a moment before offering it. "…hey…"I announced, capturing all their attention. "…how about a big sleepover at my place tonight?" I asked.

They all looked at each other and began agreeing on the idea.

"Why, absolutely!" Rarity commented.

"Sounds fun!" Rainbow agreed.

"Nice way to end the day." Applejack included.

Twilight giggled. "Yeah. Ending the day with all of us together. It's about time we had a sleepover again, except every one of you is coming."

"Actually…" I added. "There are a few more friends I'd like to invite…" They returned slightly surprised expressions. I chuckled a bit. "Don't worry. You'll get along fine." I sent an assuring smile.

"Well then, alright." Twilight responded and looked at the others. "Let's get ready, girls!"

"I"LL BRING THE CUPCAKES!" Pinkie screamed out loud and fled the area.

"See you in a while, Alex." Twilight smiled and brought the girls with her to leave and prepare themselves.

I remained in my place, observing the girls walk away for a moment with a smile plastered on my face as well. I could already feel like tonight was going to be a great night.

On the way to the first mare to invite, I accidentally bumped onto another pony.

"Oh, sorry." I rubbed my head a bit.

"Well, well, well. That was quite a performance." She answered with a familiar voice.

"Huh?" I looked up to see that the mare was…Trixie. Only…something was really different about her… "Trixie…you aren't wearing that cape or magician's hat…"

"I know." She responded. "I've decided that…perhaps…I don't need them. They only made me feel important…and…" She paused for a moment, trying to think of the right words to say. "Well…it only made others think of me as a foolish Trixie. I'm going to try doing without them. Maybe one day…I'll wear them for fun…just to laugh back."

I was amazed by the change she was going through. "Wow, Trixie…" I chuckled a bit. "Just by your response…I'm already seeing you as the Great and Powerful Trixie…with words…"

She blushed for a moment and then shook her head. "Then stop trying to flatter the Great and Powerful Trixie with your own words. Trixie's trying to be modest, not egotistical."

"Haha. Alright, Trixie…say… Do you want to come over to a sleepover I'm having tonight?" I offered.

"Sleepover?" She questioned. She was a little surprised at first, but then she lowered her eyes tenderly. "That sounds nice…but maybe another time. Maybe when Trixie is sure she'll be more considerate of others. For now, Trixie must continue her work in the rock farm." She began walking past me, but I was completely surprised when she stopped to hug me. "Thank you." She added and then pulled away to continue on.

"Rock farm?" I questioned. "Don't you want a better job? I'm sure I can help you get one…"

Trixie stopped to look back at me. She chuckled softly. "Thank you for the offer, Alex, but I think I'll keep my work until I learn to be a better pony. Until then, I shall get what I deserve." Afterwards, she looked back to the front and continued moving.

I chuckled inside me as well. "You're already at a great start, Trixie…" I stated quietly.

When she opened the door, her face was immediately revealed with all the attention held towards the muffin in her mouth. She tried to ask something, but the sound was completely muffled with the muffin. She quickly swallowed it in order to the ask question again clearer.

"Alex? Hi!" Derpy exclaimed her greeting.

"Derpy, hey." I responded with a smile.

She hugged me with a bright smile that an excited little sister would appear to have. "I saw the coronation! It was awesome! You're awesome!"

I laughed as I patted her back. "I'm still Alex, though. No matter what."

"Of course! I know that!" She agreed.

"I came by to see if you wanted to come over to my sleepover tonight. All of the girls will be there. You know… Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash…"

Derpy gasped and beamed excitedly. "I'll bring muffins!"

"You can go ahead and do that." I warmly allowed. "I'll see you tonight. Okay?"

"Okay!" She returned and happily began her baking.

Next, becoming nearer to my home, I stopped by my favorite DJ's house.

Once she saw me as she opened her door, she instantly perked up.

"Alex, yo!" She greeted. "How are you?" She suddenly stopped herself as if she remembered something. "Oh… Sorry about what I said about your girlfriend… I didn't mean it like that."

"It's alright, Vinyl. There's no harm to it." I assured her with a smile.

"Cool." She returned, smiling as well. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to see if you'd like to come over to a sleepover I'm having with my friends. You could meet them, and I'm sure you'll like them."

"A sleepover? Beats spending my nights listening to beats! Sounds like fun!" Vinyl reacted.

I grinned. "I'll see you tonight then."

"Of course you will, dude!" She brightly and playfully punched my foreleg.

"Let's just hope you don't stay up all night like that other night." I joked.

"Please, with the fun that'll be in that sleepover, I'm sure I'll knock out before the fun's even started!"

"I'll hold you to that." I chuckled and then allowed her to prepare herself for tonight as well.

On the way to my house to set up, three little fillies ran into me.

"Big Brother!" Sweetie Belle's voice cried. "Since you're a Prince, does that mean you won't see us anymore?"

"What?" I questioned and then lowered myself to her height. "Of course not. I'll still be your old Big Brother Alex." I smiled and messed with her mane lightly.

She jumped towards me and wrapped her little hooves around my neck. "You Pinkie Promise?"

"Cross my heart." I created a crossing motion against my chest. "Hope to fly." I flapped my wings. "Stick a cupcake in my eye." I finished.

Sweetie Belle held me tighter in happiness as Applebloom reinforced my statement. "It's true, Sweetie Belle! Alex would never leave his pony friends like my sister Applejack! Neither will Twilight!"

"Yeah!" Scootaloo agreed. "I know if Rainbow Dash became a Princess, she'd never leave me!"

I chuckled.

Sweetie Belle slowly pulled away and continued looking at me. "Good! Big Brother is the best!"

"We just wanted to make sure you'd still be around." Scootaloo explained. "After all, who's going to watch after us when we keep doing some crusading, huh?"

Sending me some little nostalgic memories, I smiled warmly at her. "Me."

"Come on, y'all!" Applebloom encouraged her friends. "Let's go look for somethin' else to do!"

"Yeah!" They all cheered. "Bye, Alex!" They ran off.

I continued gazing at them as they fled. I just can't wait to see the looks on their faces when they get their cutie marks…but at the same time, I'll miss all their adventures in doing so… It's like raising a child… You enjoy the time they spend when they're little, and you can't wait to see how mature and bold they become as an adult, but you'll miss the times enjoyed when they were still your child…

I shook my head.

Who am I to talk about memories with your children?

I'm not even married…

…yet.

When I was back home, I decided we could all be in the living room since there was barely anything in there except my art supplies. There was a lot of room and if I did some small moving, I could really make it comfortable to be in. I removed any art supplies on the floor and organized them on the shelf.

Noticing the couch being in the middle of the room, I decided to use my magic to move it to the side, where it could be a place used to sleep on, but not in the way.

After messing with the small stuff, I managed to make a nice amount of space in the living room.

As I waited for the girls to arrive, I carefully removed my uniform from my body and placed it neatly and caringly away. For my crown, I slowly removed it from my head and stared at it for a moment. I felt like releasing a few tears once again, but I shook my head and placed it on the middle of my shelf, allowing it stand out from the other items. Lastly, I folded the baby blue blanket of mine and placed it right on the night stand. My mane style remained the same, but I had removed the clothing from me.

I heard a knock on my front door.

I walked back downstairs to open it.

Twilight revealed herself and grinned in silence. Afterwards, she walked in, holding a sleeping bag to her side while also holding a cake. She also had removed her formal clothes.

"Where do I put the cake?" She asked.

"Here, let me go ahead and take that for you." I returned and grabbed the cake with my own magic to place it on a counter in the kitchen. After, I walked back to Twilight as she settled her matching sleeping bag on the ground. "Where's Spike?"

She giggled lightly. "He's staying home. He thinks that sleepovers are for girls and that it is only going to be girly gunk and whatnot."

"Oh really?" I raised an eyebrow. "So, he's calling me a mare then?"

She giggled again. "I don't know. Maybe."

I shrugged. "You know… I've come to realize something…"

"What's that?"

"Pretty much ALL my friends are mares, excluding Spike and Shining Armor. That makes me wonder whether other ponies I don't know might think that it's a little odd to be around girls all the time…but you know what? I don't care. My life may just be full of mares, but it's alright because you all make me happy. I don't care what others think as long as you all accept me. You all are all I need."

"Aww." Twilight expressed and hugged me. "That reminds me. I just want to thank you for what an amazing friend and B.B.B.F.F. you've been. You've accompanied me through many times, good and bad. You're just a big part of my life and I can't imagine how it would be without you. Really. I can't even wonder how things would be now if I or any of the other girls never met you." She paused for a bit. "Also…if you don't mind, this is just a little bit to show my appreciation for you." She sympathetically and friendly placed a gentle kiss on my right cheek.

I smirked a little and rubbed her mane. "Thank you. It might be a little, but it sure means a lot to me. After all… It's just another one of our destinies right?"

"You're totally right…"

I remembered something.

"Hey…did you take care of the Alicorn Amulet?" I asked.

"Yep. It's back with Zecora and she's going to try to find something to ensure that it doesn't get taken again." She answered. I frowned a little as I remembered that I was still the one who took it, even if it was out of my control. "Hey, hey." She noticed my changed expression. "Don't worry about it. I explained to Zecora what happened and she understood. She's also sorry if she kind of got a little too judgmental on you."

I perked up a little again. "Alright. Thanks, Twi…"

There was another loud knock.

"Yo, yo!" Rainbow Dash burst in with her own sleeping bag as well. She brought some sodas and threw them over to me while she flew over to the living room to set up her bag.

I chuckled and then walked over to the kitchen to place the sodas near the cake. Before I was able to walk out of the kitchen, the others immediately came in; each carrying both their sleeping bag and something for the sleepover that made it seem like it was going to become a party instead. The girls gave me their snacks, treats and consumable items as they walked past by me happily with their sleeping bags. Once I had finally organized them all on the counter, I walked out into the living room to see the rest of the girls setting up their sleeping bags. The only ones missing were Derpy and Vinyl Scratch.

Pinkie was already bouncing her body in a rhythmic motion happily. She had already stuck her back hooves in her sleeping bag. She closed her eyes and nodded her head with a grin. The girls already began talking to each other as I noticed the sun set in the background outside the window.

Before I could join them, there was yet another knock.

I turned around and opened the door.

"Hi, Alex!" Derpy exclaimed and brought a plate of muffins for me.

I grabbed them. "Welcome, Derpy. Go ahead and come in."

"Thanks!" She flew inside.

I placed the plate in the kitchen and walked back to the living room to introduce Derpy to those who have not met her.

"Everypony, this is Derpy." I spoke. "To every one of you that hasn't met her before, she's a fun and lovable gray pegasus."

Derpy blushed cheerfully at my comment.

"Fun?" Rainbow Dash asked in a negative manner.

"Rainbow…" I lightly scolded. "I will not have any rudeness at this sleepover. Only fun, right, Pinkie?"

"Right!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. She noticed Derpy's eyes. "Oooh!"

Already seeing a fantastic conversation coming on, I walked back to the door, expecting Vinyl to arrive soon.

There was a knock once more.

I opened it.

And there she was.

"Am I late?" She asked with a small smirk. Spotting the musical themed sleeping bag on her back, I also noticed she didn't have her DJ glasses. Her eyes were completely revealed.

"Not at all." I gestured my head towards the inside.

She walked in to hear the small conversation of the girls in the living room. She looked around and continued to smirk a bit. "Nice place you got here."

"Hardly." I answered. I looked at her. "Come on. I'll introduce you to the others."

"Cool." She followed me into the living room.

"Alright, for the last pony of the night…" I announced towards the girls. "Everypony, meet Vinyl Scratch, Equestria's best DJ pony."

"Hi, Vinyl!" Pinkie greeted.

"Sup, Pinkie." Vinyl returned.

"You ponies get to know each other. I'll get some snacks ready." I walked back out of the living room and into the kitchen.

I sliced some of the cake Twilight brought me into pieces, poured some soda into different glasses, and brought along a cupcake for the first round. I moved the treats towards the living room and placed them on the coffee table for the girls to grab.

"So you're Alex's girlfriend, huh?" Vinyl asked Fluttershy. "Nice to meet you." She held out her hoof towards Fluttershy.

"Nice to meet you too." Fluttershy hesitantly raised her hoof, but accepted the hoof shake nonetheless.

"So…" Rainbow Dash began speaking with a mouth half full of cake. "Why did you want to have a sleepover so suddenly, Alex?" She asked. "I never thought you would ever invite us to your place."

"Rainbow…" Twilight slightly scolded.

Nonetheless, I lightly chuckled. "Well…I just thought…it would be the perfect way to end the day…and to somehow show all of you how much you mean to me." I paused for a moment, feeling an emotional speech come up my throat. As the words processed through my head, they engaged my tear ducts to become active. "I'm just so…happy with you all…" The tears brimmed in my eyes and slowly fell out. I shook my head. "Look at me. I always cry so much…heh…" I wiped my eyes even though the tears continued forming. "I'm not sure if I have already mentioned this to the most of you but… you all are my everything. Miracles that have entered my lives. You all are perfect the way you are to me… I never ever want any of you to change one bit."

They were silent, but their soft and heartfelt smiles broke through it.

"Never thought you'd go so deep, Alex." Vinyl lightly joked.

I wiped the rest of the tears and chuckled. "You'd be surprised, Vinyl. You'd be surprised…"

After several hours, when it was around midnight, the girls began feeling sleepy.

Twilight yawned. "Derpy, if you don't mind me asking, why do you cross your eyes like that?"

"Yes," Rarity agreed. "It seems awfully painful." Rarity was just finished placing on her curlers and face mask for the night.

"It's just fun to do." Derpy answered with a smile. "It doesn't hurt, so don't worry."

"Derpy has had her eyes crossed like that since Flight Camp. She's trained herself to fly with those kinds of eyes! Can you believe that?!" Rainbow Dash pointed out a bit…rudely…

"And that's what makes her special and unique." I added happily towards her comment.

"Yeah, dude." Vinyl included, holding a muffin in her hooves and looking at it. "Not only does she make these best tasting muffins I've ever tasted, she can cross her eyes like that and fly perfectly." She looked towards Derpy and smiled. "You have a lot of talent to share with Equestria."

Derpy lightly blushed and looked towards the floor bashfully. "Thanks."

"It's been fun, y'all, but I suppose we get a little shut-eye." Applejack offered. "Don't wanna keep the neighbors up."

Vinyl laughed. "Ha. Please, I've done loads worse. No pony has ever gotten after me about it…" She stopped herself and looked at me. "I mean…heh…only one."

"If there's any candy left over for tomorrow morning, I'm having it for breakfast!" Pinkie exclaimed cheerfully and threw the covers of her sleeping bag over her.

"I do need my beauty sleep." Rarity fluffed her mane a bit and then laid down in her own sleeping bag as well.

Everypony had already had a part of their body in their sleeping bags, they just needed to cover themselves in order to go to sleep.

"I suppose so." Twilight yawned again. "Goodnight, everypony."

"Nighty-night!" Derpy exclaimed cheerfully.

"Night." Vinyl added with a smile.

I chuckled inside and turned out the lights in the living room, letting the light outside lightly light the inside.

Strange… It seemed darker than usual…

"Alex…" I heard a whisper by me.

I was almost startled when I saw soft eyes near me. "Oh. Hey, Flutters. What's wrong?"

"I forgot my sleeping bag…"

I released a questionable smirk. "Forgot? Or accidentally on purpose forgot?"

I could feel Fluttershy's mouth stretch softly across her face. "You know…"

I placed a light kiss on her lips. "Come on." I took her upstairs to sleep with me in my bed. I lifted up the covers for her to be able to fly and land on the bed. She lied down and looked at me with adorable eyes. I placed the covers on her and lightly tucked it around her with my magic. "Comfortable?"

"Mm-hm." She nodded her head.

I flew towards the bed and joined her.

I heard her mumble something quietly under her breath as she closed her eyes to sleep.

"Huh?" I questioned in a whisper.

She slightly widened her eyes and I felt her cheeks become hot a bit. "Nothing…"

I smiled at her reaction and kissed her cheek, then her lips. "Goodnight, Fluttershy."

"Goodnight, Alex… I love you…"

"I love you too."

I closed my eyes in order to fall asleep, but she didn't allow me to win the battle. She forcefully, in an enchanting and beautiful moment, placed her lips on me. I was surprised by this action. However, I placed my hooves on her and closed my eyes dreamily.

After a moment, she giggled softly and then pulled away to start sleeping as well.

I smiled in the darkness and closed my eyes, feeling so much…relief that all the girls were indeed with me, Fluttershy being the closest.

I had fallen asleep until my state of rejuvenation was interrupted by a voice.

Come outside.

"Huh…?" I softly spoke. I lifted myself up to see Fluttershy resting with her chest raising up and lowering down in a rhythmic motion.

I slowly removed myself from the bed in order to not wake her up. I quietly walked down the stairs to see if anything was going on downstairs. I looked towards the dark living room to hear silence. It seemed the girls were still asleep as well.

Taking that voice in my head a chance, I turned to the front door and gently opened it enough to be able to slip through. I quietly pulled it back to close it, but not fully.

"Why, hello, Alex." I heard behind me.

I turned around to be surprised by her appearance. "Mom…! What are you doing here?"

Princess Luna released a tender beam. "I'd like to accomplish our first bonding task as mother and son."

"Huh…?" I tilted my head in confusion. "It's a little too late for that, isn't it…?"

"Not exactly." She returned. "Tell me, Alex. Is there anything different you notice about tonight?"

I looked around for a moment. It took me a while to figure out since I was half-asleep, but I understood what she was talking about when remembering the "not as much light" thought I brought up earlier. "The moon… You didn't raise it up?" I slipped out a whispered laugh. "Don't tell me you're letting your motherly duties get the best of your royal duties, Mom."

"Hmm." She smiled and closed her eyes. "Once again, you are wrong, Alex." I looked at her questionably. She opened her eyes again and looked at me passionately. "You are a Prince, remember? The Prince of the Night." I remained silent, continuing to look at her with a question that I wanted an answer for. "…let us raise the moon together."

I gasped. "…you and me…?" She nodded her head lovingly. "Mom…I don't know a single thing about raising the moon…"

"As the Prince of the Night, you do indeed. Here, I shall guide you." A glow emerged from her horn. "The important piece comes from your heart, Alex. It knows what to do. Allow it to accomplish this task with your magic. Let it be what it wishes to be." I released a deep breath and closed my eyes. Without actually trying to cast a spell or such, I felt the glow on my horn slowly become brighter. "That is it… Now…just let it take control of your body for just a moment, Alex… You don't need to be afraid. It is your heart. You know you can trust it…"

"…Okay…Mom…" I relaxed my body and soon, it actually felt as if I was being controlled by a good spirit this time. We were both levitated in the air.

"Now…let us accomplish this together…" She placed the tip of her horn on mine.

Both of our glows combined and created an immense light between the both of us. I opened my eyes to see this light. Then, before me, the enormous moon slowly rose to its usual position in the sky. I was astonished in its beauty.

After several seconds, it stopped where it needed to be. My mom and I were slowly lowered to the ground.

"Mom…" I whispered, stunned by the amazement of both our powers.

"Shh…" She returned, lightly shushing me. "You must receive your rest now… We shall see each other very soon…"

I felt myself weakly smirk. "What about my goodnight kiss?"

She chuckled and lowered her head towards mine. She kissed my left cheek and embraced me. "Have a goodnight, honey… Remember… I'll drop by in your dreams if you ever feel lonely or fearful again…"

"Thanks, mom… I love you…"

"I love you too…"

She allowed me to return to bed for the rest of the night.

I laid in my bed for a while, but I quite couldn't go to sleep yet. There was nothing bad about that however. There was an accomplishment that kept me thinking for a while. I sat up on my bed and looked out the window, noticing the slight increase in light and brightness in the room.

What will go on from now, I wonder?

I looked at my bed sheets and continued thinking.

This is just the beginning… So many new doors and opportunities have been opened… Twilight is both a Princess and Alicorn… Princess Luna is my real loving mom on who I plan to treat as such… and…apparently my father…Night Terror…actually loves me but is just…not himself right now…

I sighed quietly in a contented manner.

This is just the beginning…

I can't wait for the next day… I want to spend my whole life with the girls because they are just my whole life. This statement may sound redundant but that's how much it means to me. And Fluttershy… I looked towards her sleeping face and smiled at her adorableness that sure could kill anypony if used to its fullest extent. I feel…in my heart…for a future with her… I don't know if I'm getting ahead of myself…but it's true… She's just my…soul mate, I believe. Sometimes, I just want to show my affection to her as much as I can, but we all have limits…

I yawned.

I always find myself thinking too much at night…

Noticing the light of the moon on my bed sheets, I turned my head out the window once again.

Before finally allowing myself to shift into slumber, I took a notice at the accomplishment my mother and I achieved.

It was a full moon.

Prince Alexander and Princess Twilight Sparkle : Part One

???

Hey.

Heeey.

Astro, wake up!

I opened my eyes to see a shocking surprise from his bothersome face.

"Ugh…" I rubbed my eye roughly. "What?!" I asked in a crudely soft voice, being irritated that I was interrupted from slumber. I looked out the window and noticed the moon fully visible. "It's the middle of the night! What are you doing?!" I demanded like a ruler.

"Stargazing. I found out something you need to see!" He quickly waved his hoof his way, desperately wanting me to get out of bed to follow him. "Come on!"

I sighed greatly, dragged myself out of bed, and sluggishly walked after my ridiculous roommate.

He led me to the balcony, where there stood a golden telescope tarnished by the darkness of night.

"Go! Go take a look!" He emphasized.

"…okay?" I answered and walked towards the telescope to poke my eye through the socket. My entire right eye was covered with the dark sky.

"Well?! Do you see it?!" He asked quickly in his unstoppable excited voice.

"See what?" I returned, not knowing what the big deal was.

"The correlation!" I could feel a rush of air beside me as if he jerked up his hoof and pointed straight towards the area I was analyzing. "It…it…it's different! I've never seen anything like it!" My mouth slowly opened as I soon realized what he was beginning to talk about. "We've never studied anything about this! I can't tell if it's something completely rare, or new, or what!"

"Mother of Celestia…" I whispered. His stuttering explanation opened my eyes. What once seemed like nothing immediately became a completely new discovery…perhaps even for all ponykind! I pulled away my head and looked at him seriously, but energetically at the same time. "Are you sure this is right? Are you sure you didn't count one off or something?"

"I'm positive!" He answered enthusiastically. "That telescope is brand new! I just cleaned the lens!"

"Well," I began as I placed my hoof on my chin and grinned in thought. "If what we're seeing is really true, we can really wow our audience and even all of the astronomers here in Canterlot!"

"Yeah!" He exclaimed out loud excitedly. "And…" He walked over to me and nudged me with eyelids closed halfway. "Maybe, you can even get the attention of one of the princesses. One certain one, if you know who I'm talking about?"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." I lowered down his nudging foreleg and turned to head back inside. "Come on. We should start writing this stuff down. We need to do as much research and studying as we can handle. No time to lose on this gem."

"You got it, bro!" He answered as he trotted happily inside.

However, I was kept standing there for a moment. Ever since he had to mention her, she was stuck in my head. If this discovery was really worthwhile as we thought, perhaps I could finally receive the chance to actually…

…talk to her.

Episode 66 – Prince Alexander and Princess Twilight Sparkle – Part One

I heard the fresh sound of wind going through my ears as I came to conscious. My eyes were closed, but I knew I was awake now. After taking it in for a peaceful moment, I slowly opened my eyes to see that the sun was almost directly in my face. It took a moment for my vision to adjust. Then, I raised myself to see ponies preparing for the anniversary of the best thing to have ever happened to me.

Nonetheless, I smiled and released a huge yawn to accommodate my wake from sleep with. I began lowering myself on the soft and somewhat fluffy grass to either rest or fall back into a nap again. However, I suddenly found a darkened face staring right at me with a smile as I laid back.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed out, jumping up and feeling any sign of sleep flee away. I heard her instantly giggle as she held a curved hoof to her grin. Despite being almost scared out of my body, I laughed with her. "Give me a break, Twilight."

"Alex, you lazy bum." She joked in a playful tone. "I knew I'd find you snoozing down here."

I continued to reveal my warm prideful smile. "I can't help it. Ever since you showed me around here, I've found there's more to Canterlot than just rich snobby ponies."

"Of course there is." She took a seat next to me. "Didn't you get enough sleep last night?"

"Yeah, I guess." I answered as I stared off at the decorating ponies. "Still…I just took a nap and I had the weirdest dream."

"Like what?" She asked.

I placed a hoof to my mouth and tried to remember. There were only bits and pieces, and I couldn't remember them so clearly. "Something to do with…stargazing…correlation…having an annoying roommate…" I suddenly felt a light slap on the head, leading my head to slightly push forward. "Ow!"

"Are you still dreaming?" She questioned with the same spirited expression. She must have thought I was talking about her.

"Relax, princess." I settled. "I wasn't talking about you. It was someone else. I think…someone I didn't even know…"

"Well…being a prince and son of Princess Luna…" She fought back. "Wouldn't you be able to control your dreams too?"

"I don't know." I answered as I crossed my forelegs, threw myself on the grass, and looked up to the sky. "I'm not sure if I'd want to do that and go into other ponies' dreams as well. I'd rather leave that up to my mom."

Twilight joined me by lying herself by me as well. "Even so…I think we have a bunch of new things heading our way…"

"Yeah…" I responded, beginning to think about this new and maybe drastic change. I kind of…began feeling a little worried on how this change affected me. Affected us. Would things still be the same? Or… I shook my head rid of these thoughts. No time for thinking such things…at least not on a day like today.

"Alright! Come on! Get em up! We've got training to do!" We both heard an immediately recognizable voice not far from us. We quickly turned off our backs and on to our hooves to push us up.

"Rainbow Dash?!" We exclaimed in unison at her presence. She walked towards us and led us to see those who accompanied her behind. The rest of the girls were all there. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy…

"You got it!" Rainbow acknowledged. "You didn't think I'd forget about that training you need, did you?"

"W-well." Twilight looked back with slightly worried eyes. "I don't know if I have time for that…"

"C'mon!" Rainbow encouraged. "Just a quick flight session! Something to warm up those wings!"

Twilight looked over to me, as if she was yearning some reasonable advice from me. I smiled at her and motioned with a hoof. "Go on. We have time."

She turned her head back at Rainbow Dash and sighed heavily while lightly nodding. "Fine. Just a quick one, alright?"

"You got it, princess!" Rainbow returned. She slapped Twilight's sides, causing her to slightly yelp and for her wings to immediately pop up. "Let's get to it!" She lifted herself in flight, awaiting for Twilight to do the same.

I took this time to turn over to Fluttershy, who looked as adorable as ever. I calmly walked over to her as she noticed me stopping by. She slightly turned her head, and a section of her mane accidentally fell over her eye. Nevertheless, I used my left hoof to raise that part and place it back where it belonged. Then, I used my right hoof to grab hers and hold it close to me.

Both of our heads touched each other as we looked into each other's eyes.

"Hey." I softly greeted.

"Hi." She returned in the same manner.

"It's been a while since I've seen you…" I mentioned. "Sorry about that…"

"It's fine…" She understood. "You're a prince now. You have a lot of important things to take care of."

"I guess I do…" I looked towards the floor in light sadness for a moment before returning my eyes back to Fluttershy. "I guess that means I can't really be an artist back in Ponyville, huh?"

"You don't have to be if you're too busy."

"Hm." I thought for a bit. "If I have any free time, I want it to be with you girls…so…remember, Fluttershy. If you ever have a problem, and you need somepony, you can still come to me, okay? I'll make time for you."

"Hehe." She giggled a little with a hint of blush. "Okay."

We shared a kiss before Applejack stepped by us.

"Don't you two forget about the rest of us either!" Applejack shared, directing towards Twilight and me, but Twilight was too busy with her flight lesson.

"How could we?" I turned towards her, assuring confidently. "You all are the reason this happened. You all made this possible. You'll never leave our hearts." I began growing emotional, holding a clenching hoof on my heart. "Besides…I don't really like it when you say stuff like that… It makes it sound like we're going far away…"

Applejack walked towards me and placed a hoof on my shoulder. "Sorry. I didn't mean to cause you no harm. You're right. You two won't forget about us. In fact, forget I ever said that!"

I felt her promising warmth and smiled to it.

"Correct, darling!" Rarity joined and lightly hugged her head to mine. "We'll still have the company of one another all the time!"

"Bunch of parties!" Pinkie Pie dove from above, leading us to laugh at her silliness.

"You gotta really flap 'em hard!" We heard Rainbow Dash above, having us turn to see their current session. Twilight nodded and closed her eyes to focus all of her strength to her wings. However, doing so led her to spiraling a bit out of control and stop hunched over a tree branch. "Maybe not quite that hard."

Twilight recovered and leapt off the tree where she began attempting to lower herself down, but it was quite obvious that she was still having trouble keeping her wings in sync. She began flailing her hooves in a circular motion as if she was desperately trying to stop before she could crash on the ground.

I jumped and flew over to her, placing my hooves on her and slowing down her speed. "I've got you." I assured before I gently placed her on the ground.

"Thanks…" she expressed with a light smile.

"Lookin' good up there, Princess Twilight!" Applejack praised as she and the other girls joined us.

"Applejack, you know you don't have to call me that." Twilight returned.

"Why do you protest so?" Rarity included in. "You two have already given up wearing your crown all the time. The least you both can do is embrace your new title."

"If other ponies want to address me that way, I suppose it's fine, but..." She paused and looked out to the rest of them. "…not my friends. It just doesn't feel right."

"Twilight's right." I added. "That title…is what separates you girls and any other ponies. Using that title with us… It just honestly makes you all sound like…I don't know…any other pony pretty much. You all are our best friends, and it should stay that way. Don't see us as some royal rulers. See us as your same friends…please."

"Heh." Twilight shared with another smile at me. "I couldn't have said it any better myself…"

"Okay, okay." Applejack waved her hoof. "We getcha. We understand."

Twilight nodded her head in approval. "Thanks, besides…" She looked towards her wings and sighed. "I just can't get this flying business done… The Summer Sun Celebration is only two days away, and I'm never gonna be ready to perform my part."

"Not if you spend all your time down here, you won't!" Rainbow Dash intervened energetically. "Now get up there and show everypony the big finish!" She pointed out above.

Twilight nodded and spread out her wings. Then, she took off beyond to begin practicing her routine. In order to give her some encouragement, I decided to spread out my wings as well and accompany her by her side.

As the girls down below cheered, I stayed by her side to tell her how well she was doing. "There you go, Twilight! You've got it!"

Twilight realized this and began to feel the excitement of flight. "Woohoo!" She exclaimed. However, her eyes seemed to widen and she immediately began throwing out her hooves after. "Whaaaa!" She screamed, trying to stop, but her wings continued flapping. Before I could grasp what was going on, she had already flown through three clouds. I rushed to her in time to see her coughing out parts of the clouds.

"Hey, are you okay?!" I quickly and worriedly asked.

"Yeah." Twilight nodded. "I'm just—"

She began plummeting towards the ground, realizing that she hadn't been keeping her wings in movement. She began screaming again, swinging her hooves around and soon enough her wings. I dashed over to her to catch her, but flapping her wings in panic prevented her from crashing at the ground for a moment. She turned back above, and it looked as if she had enough of fear from her session. I flew as fast as I could to her and wrapped my forelegs around her to stop her, but she continued panicking and throwing her hooves and wings all over the place. Instead of stopping her, I was forced to spiral out of control with her. After one somersault in the air, we ended up crashing in the ground and spreading out lots of dirt.

Twilight and I remained there almost motionless, just trying to get our senses back.

"Wow! That was a big finish!" Pinkie Pie arrived at the crash site, exclaiming out happily.

Twilight narrowed her eyes in frustration and groaned loudly.

"Uh…I guess that's enough flying for today…" Rainbow Dash suggested as she rubbed the back of her head with her hoof.

"Hey! I heard you two have a spot on a stained glass window in the castle! Can we go see? Huh? Huh?" Pinkie eagerly questioned.

Twilight and I managed to sit back up.

"Sure, I guess." Twilight responded.

"Yipee!" Pinkie Pie jumped and wiggled her hooves for as long as she remained in the air.

"You alright?" I inquired, presenting a hoof in front of Twilight.

"Yeah." She accepted my hoof and allowed me to pull her up. "Thanks for breaking my fall. I hope I didn't hurt you…"

"No, I'm fine. I'm just glad you're not hurt." I answered.

"Thanks." She smiled and placed a hoof on me before she began leading the others to Canterlot Castle.

We entered the magnificent hall which apparently held all historic and significant events from the past, far or close. Of course, the newest addition was the coronation of Twilight and me. It was just another one of the huge stained glass windows, but Twilight and I were the center of attention. Both of us were wearing our crowns, and seeing such a thing made me think so much of the present and the past.

"You two look amazing!" Rarity commented at the sight of it. "They really captured your regalities."

"I suppose." Twilight answered with a retracted pose.

"Meh…" I returned, not too fascinated about the idea of being a prince as Rarity was to being a princess.

"Don't be so modest." Rarity reacted. "It's everypony's dream to someday wear a crown and have their coronation ceremony preserved in stained glass for all to see! Aah!" She squealed shortly.

"I don't think that's entirely correct, Rarity…" I responded with a lowered eyebrow.

"Yeah…" Rainbow agreed.

"Most of my dreams are about frosting!" Pinkie Pie suddenly cut in and slurped loudly, already beginning to drool at the thought. "Ohohohoho..."

"We'd better get going." Fluttershy stepped in, pointing to the outside. "We don't want to miss our train."

"Fluttershy's right." Applejack agreed. "Don't know about y'all but I still got bushels to do to get ready. The official celebration may be here in Canterlot, but hoo-ee has the Mayor put us in charge of one heck of a party back home."

"Oh…" I returned, sadness arising as I remembered about the celebration back home. "…right."

Twilight and I looked at each other with gloomy expressions, leaving Applejack to confront us. "Aw, don't look like that, sugarcubes." She grabbed our chins with her hooves and lifted them as they faced her. "You two get to be right there with the other Princesses when Celestia raises the sun."

"And we're honored. Really, we are." Twilight reacted, having me nod in agreement. "It's just that the Summer Sun Celebration is what first brought us all together. It just doesn't feel right not getting to spend such a special day with my Ponyville friends."

"It doesn't feel right to us either, darling." Rarity quickly tended to. "If the Mayor wasn't so desperate for our assistance, we'd most certainly stay here in Canterlot. And of course we do understand that your royal duties must come first."

"The Summer Sun Celebration may have brought us together, but it's something much bigger that'll always keep us connected." Applejack assured, standing between Twilight and I and placing her hooves on us. "Exhibit A:" She directed at the very first stained glass window of us. "The seven of us are united by the Elements of Harmony." I looked down to my chest and placed a hoof on it when she said that. "No amount of royal duties is gonna change that. Right, everypony?" The rest of the girls, excluding Pinkie Pie, agreed delightfully, which led us to turn in Pinkie's direction. "Right, Pinkie Pie?" Applejack strained.

Instead of giving a solid answer, Pinkie Pie only continued to drool at the thought of whatever she was imagining. "Creamy, creamy frosting..." She slurped and chuckled.

Fluttershy quickly dashed over to her to wipe her mouth with a cloth. "You should take that as a yes." Fluttershy recommended as she looked back at us.

"Guess we should start heading off then…" Applejack reminded everypony.

"Let us walk you out." I quickly offered.

Twilight nodded and accompanied me by my side as we led them out the hall.

The train whistle blew as we all stood right by the train itself. Pinkie Pie was already excitedly telling us what she wanted to do as they were preparing for their departure.

"We're gonna write you and give you so many details, it'll be like you're in Ponyville with us!" She exclaimed excitedly, turning towards the others after. "Right, girls?"

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." They all chanted in unison, including that exact same motion Pinkie Pie used and taught to us.

"And you will be with us right after the Celebration." Rarity brought up, holding up several supplies including a color palette derived from a single basic color. "We already have an appointment on the books to discuss the royal upgrades to your loft decor." Rarity stopped to look at me. "I'm sure Alex would love to help me with that?"

I chuckled lightly. "Sure thing, Rarity."

The train whistle blew once again, leading the conductor to shout out loud. "All aboard for Ponyville!"

The girls took notice and immediately gathered around us for a group hug. Afterwards, they all began boarding the train. Fluttershy stayed behind for a while, as she seemed to want to express something more with me. I would have wanted to take my time with my farewell for her, but I had to be quick since the train was already readying to leave.

"I guess…I'll see you later, then." I mentioned sadly towards her.

"Right…" She nodded in an understanding way, but felt the same feelings about it. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too, Flutters…" I pulled her in for longing kiss and a lasting hug. I waved to her when she turned to board the train. However, Pinkie Pie surprised us when she cheered and dropped from above us, squeezing Twilight and me tightly. She bounced back through the window just as the train began leaving. We were left to see the girls still releasing encouraging waves as they slowly grew smaller and smaller from our sight. Their lasting presence was able to have me continue to smile warmly until I noticed Twilight wasn't doing so well.

After she sighed depressingly, I lowered my head to plant my eyes on hers. "You're really going to miss them…aren't you?"

"I can't help it, Alex." She answered with inner distress. "They've only been gone a minute, and I already feel like I'm missing something."

Before I could attend to her comment, the pony courier in Canterlot stopped by with a letter held in his hoof. "For the Prince and Princess."

Spike, who had been accompanying Twilight and me, took the letter as he usually handled such business. "Dear Twilight, you aren't missing anything. Your friend, Pinkie Pie."

"That's me!" We heard the same sender shout through the distance. After, we could hear all the girls cheer and laugh beyond as if they were proud of our positions.

With a short smile, I shook my head. "Typical Pinkie."

"But I am." Twilight suddenly sounded and caught my attention. "I just know it."

"Hey, listen…" I tended to her, placing a compassionate hoof on her shoulder. "I really know how you feel. How we're separated from each other for this moment because of royal duties…but at least we have each other, right?" This allowed her to raise her head up a bit to me. "After all, this isn't going to last forever. Just for a little while… It's going to be a little hard without missing them…but we'll get through it."

She smiled in silence at me for a second. "Yeah…you're right."

"I don't mean to interrupt you guys…" Spike spoke. "But it'd probably be a good idea to go over the things we've already done for the celebration. Maybe we can squeeze in a good amount of free time before the actual event starts?"

"Yeah, okay, Spike." Twilight began walking back towards the interior of Canterlot. "Let's go do that."

"Sounds good to me." I included, feeling a little better. I sort of felt the closer we were to finishing this, the closer we could see the others again. It's not that I hated the Summer Sun Celebration or didn't want to accomplish our tasks… It was just like Twilight had said… It was going to be really weird without the others, and it was already feeling different without them now…

Once, Twilight, Spike, and I returned to the room in Canterlot Castle we were staying in, Spike immediately began sorting out the checklist business. Twilight decided to work it out with him so she could leave me to my own matters. I had received a letter personally addressed to me on the way to the castle, and it was addressed only to me. So, it couldn't have been the girls…I think…

As Spike reviewed over the things we'd already done, I carefully opened the letter in front of me with my magic. I pulled out the message from within and straightened out the flaps. After I was able to straighten it out correctly, I began carefully reading it.

Dear Alex, I know you're very busy with the Summer Sun Celebration, but I was thinking about having dinner with you afterwards, if you're free, of course. I was going to take a trip to Canterlot to see you participate in it anyway, so if you're able to, we can see each other after. I don't want to take too much of your time, so it can only be for half an hour or so, whatever you're comfortable with. Once again, I suppose it depends on what your answer is. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Rosy.

Hm… It would be nice to see her again…just to catch up a bit…but…

I looked back at Twilight, who was keeping her eyes on Spike as she was practicing her flight skills again. Then, I turned back to the letter.

…will I have time to do that? I don't want to miss the time Rarity is going to work on that décor thing she was talking about…

I lowered my head to keep staring at the letter.

…she's going to be in Canterlot anyway. Just half an hour, right? I'm sure the girls will be here longer than that. Yeah… just for half an hour.

I took out a pencil, levitated it with my magic, and began scribbling my response in another letter.

Dear Rosy, I am in fact very busy with…well…I guess you could say my 'royal duties'…but I think I can see you after the celebration. Unfortunately, it will probably have to be only for half an hour, as I have other plans I need to attend to. Unless there is an emergency summon of me for something important, I believe I shall make it to see you. I guess, we'll know when the time comes. Until then… Alex.

I sealed the letter securely and left it on the desk to send later. I sighed from my thoughts.

I really hope this royal business doesn't change anything with all of us…

"Check, check, check, check, and... check!" I heard Spike count off when I was finally done in my own little world. "Huh, whaddaya know? We're way ahead of schedule! I credit your extremely competent assistant."

Interested on this matter, I stood up and walked towards him while Twilight managed to carefully lower herself from flight. She only had slight trouble with her balance when placing her hooves firmly on the floor.

"So do I." She answered to that.

"The Celebration isn't until the day after tomorrow." He reminded. "We could still fit in a quick trip to Ponyville and be back in plenty of time to finish off these last few things before the main event!"

Seeing how visiting the others sooner than planned might help with these slowly evolving feelings of doubt, I nodded with an enlightened smile. "Yeah. That sounds good." I commented enthusiastically.

However, Twilight seemed to not stand mutual on this decision. She sighed and appeared apologetic for what she was about to say. "That would be nice…but what if something else came up while we were gone? What if we were delayed getting back and I wasn't able to finish everything on that list?" She walked over to another area in the room, placing a hoof upwards. Then, she began flying ahead, paying more attention to what she was saying rather than knowing where she was going. "What if we lost the list on the way to Ponyville and then couldn't remember which things we'd done and which things we hadn't done, and then spent so much time trying to figure out what we hadn't done and what we had done, and we ruined the entire Celebration by not doing the one really important thing that we were supposed to do?!"

I flew above her and cushioned her before she could hit herself against the ceiling.

"I understand what you're going at…" I answered as I lowered her down gently. "We can just leave the list here. We don't have to take it with us…unless you're worried it might be missing when we get back. Then, we can just make copies of the list if it really bothers you…unless you're…" I sighed and placed a tired hoof to my aching forehead. It seemed I had enough on my mind to worry about the little things.

"I'm sorry, Alex…" She apologized softly. "But…it's just… These are the first royal duties Princess Celestia has given us. We can't risk letting her down…"

"And I'm sure you won't." We coincidentally heard her voice from the doorway.

"Your highness!" Spike called out, walked towards her, and bowed quickly, which also led Twilight and I to join him.

"No need for that now, Princess Twilight and Prince Alex." She corrected warmly.

"Sorry." Twilight expressed as we both stood up.

Princess Celestia giggled. "No need to apologize."

"Sorry!" Twilight apologized again, grinning nervously.

"I must admit that it is wonderful to actually be looking forward to the Summer Sun Celebration." Celestia stated as she walked in the room.

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, seeming to be unexpected by this answer.

Her smile disappeared for the moment as she walked over to the window to observe something. "For my subjects, it has always been a celebration of my defeat of Nightmare Moon. But for me..." She sighed. "It was just a terrible reminder that I'd had to banish my own sister." I joined her, placing my hooves on the windowsill to give me a better view outside.

I saw my mother on one of the highest towers in Canterlot Castle. She was greatly focusing her magic on the moon as it lifted upwards slowly. Hm… She must have thought I was really busy…so she didn't ask me if I would've of liked to help her…

"I…kind of always wondered about that…" I mentioned as I continued gazing outside. "How it must have felt to have gone through a thousand years with that reminder stuck in your head." I raised a hoof and turned towards Celestia. "Tia, I know you did it because you had to…but…was there any…hostility between the two of you after it had been done?"

She held her head down low a bit as she recounted the events. "Not exactly… There was just…sadness and…sickness of separation. It was a very hard time to go through."

"Oh…" I expressed with a slight loss of words. "I'm sorry… It must have been very painful…"

"Never mind that now, child." Celestia placed a hoof on me and turned me towards Twilight with her warm smile retrieved. "The Summer Sun Celebration has become a wonderful reminder of her transformation back into Princess Luna, and our happy reunion. I am so pleased that you two will be playing a role in the festivities." She conveyed with great heart. "I know it must have been difficult to see your friends return to Ponyville without you."

This led Twilight to frown a bit and look away. "Maybe a little."

"You may no longer be my student, Princess Twilight…" Celestia referred to her. "…but I hope not just you, but the both of you, know that I will always be here if you need me. Just as I hope that you two will always be here when I need you." With those words, she caressed each of our heads with hers, sending her warmth into my heart as well.

However, we suddenly heard Spike clear his throat, catching our attention abruptly. "I think this guy needs you?"

The courier stuttered a bit, possibly due to the presence of Princess Celestia. "Uh, a message for Princess Twilight and Prince Alex."

"Oh, here." I looked over to the letter I wanted to send as Twilight grabbed the one he held. I used my magic to hover it over to the courier. "Could you send this one?" He nodded, leaving me to thank him as he left.

When I directed my attention towards the new letter we received, Twilight began opening it. As soon as she tore the top off, a party popper went off and a bunch of confetti exploded from inside, giving us the instant assumption that it was once again Pinkie who sent it.

"A letter from Ponyville, I presume?" Celestia asked, catching on with us.

"Never mind." Twilight placed it away with a smile on her face. "It's not important. Spike, where were we?"

"About to call it a night?" Spike suggested but guessed at the same time.

"We should probably go over the checklist one more time." Twilight recommended.

"I knew you were gonna say that..." Spike's hopes vanished, having him pull out the checklist once more.

"I'll leave you to it." Celestia excused herself with a kind grin.

Although, I ended up stopping her outside the room.

"Tia?" She turned around to face me. "Um…" I glanced over to the floor for a moment. "Would you say…Twilight and I are going to be alright?"

"Of course." She answered with no sign of hesitation. "Why? Is something troubling you?"

I motioned my mouth in a way that revealed uncertainty. "I don't know…" I rubbed the end of my hoof against the floor.

Celestia's hoof picked up my head and rubbed my mane. "You two will do just fine. If there's anything you need to discuss to me about, you can see me in my room."

"Thanks." I nodded, feeling a little better, even though I felt it wouldn't last too long. "Goodnight, Tia."

"Goodnight, Alex." She returned with one last soft beam and headed off on her way again.

I turned as well and entered back inside the room, closing the door shut.

As Twilight and Spike were busy with their checklist, I walked over to window to see if my mother was done raising the moon. However, when I looked out, I noticed the moon was visible, but her work wasn't completed. She wasn't at the tower anymore.

I wonder where she went…

Suddenly, something dropped in my heart, and I felt a chilly strike invade my body. It was almost frightening.

"Alex, is everything alright?" Twilight asked nearby.

I looked back to see her staring at me a little worriedly.

"Oh…yeah." I returned, not sure what to make of on what just happened. "I guess I just got a bad vibe, that's all."

"Maybe you need to rest." She suggested.

"Yeah…I guess…" I accepted. "What about you?"

"I'm going to stay up a bit thinking about the Summer Sun Celebration. Just to make sure we didn't miss anything."

"I'm hitting the sack. I'm pooped!" Spike began rummaging around in his own tiny bed, which was just his size.

"Do you need any help…?" I inquired, not wanting her to stay up too late.

"No." She waved her hoof and shook her head. "I'm fine."

"Okay… Well…just wake me up if you need anything."

"Will do."

"Goodnight, Twi."

"Goodnight, Alex."

She sent me a smile as well, even though I still couldn't shake off that weird feeling I had. Despite that, I climbed into bed and made myself comfortable before closing my eyes and waiting to go unconscious.

Alex…Alex…

I felt a couple of hooves gently shake my body.

"H…huh?" I mumbled sleepily.

"Wake up! Something weird is going on!" Twilight exclaimed in a whispered tone.

I finally opened my eyes to see her standing by my bedside.

"What? What's wrong?" I asked, attempting to become fully awake.

"Come look outside!" She motioned.

I slid out of bed and followed her to the window. What was presented before me had me staring for a moment until I finally realized what I saw.

"Ungh..." Spike was heard stretching behind us. He possibly woke up due to the noise we might have been making. "What time is it?"

"It's the middle of the night!" Twilight answered. "But it could be morning." She added, unable to confirm just like me. "That's just it! I can't tell!"

"What are you talking about?" He asked, getting out of bed and walking towards us. "You're the one who looking outside…huh?!" As soon as he caught a glimpse of both the sun and moon parallel to each other, he became clueless as we were. "Whoa. That is weird!"

"Come on, we have to find out what's going on!" Twilight stated, leaving Spike and I to stay on her tail as she left in a hurry.

The minute the three of us exited Canterlot Castle and into the streets, we were immediately confronted by a pony who announced our appearance out loud. "The Prince and Princess will know!"

Many of the residents of Canterlot quickly approached us after that statement, gathering up a large crowd to follow.

"I'm-I'm sure it's just... There's certainly a logical ex—"

She tried to explain to the chattering ponies before one of the royal guards interrupted.

"Your Highnesses, you must come with us." They recommended seriously.

We didn't have any other clue on what to do, so we obviously followed their direction. They took us back inside the castle where they shut the door, separating us from the fearing citizens.

"It's Princess Luna and Princess Celestia…" One told us dreadfully.

"They're gone!" The other shouted out in slight panic.

Twilight and Spike immediately gasped at this alarming news while I could only be silently caught off guard.

"But I don't understand! Where are they?" Twilight questioned in great fright.

"We don't know." The guard answered. "It seems that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have simply... vanished." He emphasized that last word.

"Well, how could have they vanished?" I wondered from my confusion. "We saw them only the night before!"

"This is why we have come to you." He responded.

The both of them bowed before us. "We await your command."

"Our command?!" Twilight asked in boundless shock. I was surprised just as much as she was. I never actually expected giving commands for royalty before.

"We're officers of the Royal Guard." The guard explained. "We take our orders from royalty. With Princess Luna and Princess Celestia gone, and Princess Cadence overseeing the Crystal Empire now, that means we take our orders from you two." Twilight could only look forward with a pressuring puzzle in her mind. "Princess Twilight. Prince Alex. There's no time to waste. We need to know what you want us to do."

Twilight looked towards me, desperately wanting to know what I was thinking about the situation. We need to make the most important things our first priority.

"We need to find the princesses." I offered. "They're the only ones who would know what's going on."

Twilight quickly nodded and faced the guards. "Yes, continue the search for Princess Luna and Princess Celestia. We have to find them before ponies start to panic. There must be some clue that can tell us what's happened to them. If you find something, anything, let us know immediately."

The guards nodded, saluted, and then quickly went off on their way.

"Wow." Spike mentioned in somewhat small surprise. "Way to take charge."

"Your highnesses!" The doors suddenly slammed opened. "News from Ponyville!" Another guard rushed in while explaining his message. "The Everfree Forest appears to be... well... invading!"

Twilight gasped at the new threat which clearly brought massive pressure among us.

"Wha-what do you mean?!" Twilight questioned in surprise.

"Things that come from the Everfree Forest! They're attacking Ponyville!"

"Quick!" I announced. "Join the other guards in search of the princesses! We'll handle this!"

As soon as he took his leave, Twilight turned and began racing up towards our room.

"Twilight?" I called before following her.

She burst into our room and quickly went through the drawer as if she was desperately looking for something. "Here it is!" She exclaimed when she pulled out her crown.

"Your crown?" I asked.

"Come on!" She exclaimed, grabbing my hoof to take me back downstairs. On the way, we passed Spike who just arrived in a breathless manner. He released a loud exhausted groan and turned to try to catch up to us again.

"Where are we going?!" Spike asked us as he panted when we ran down the steps outside of the castle.

"The Everfree Forest is... 'invading'." Twilight answered as she placed the crown firmly on her head. "Whatever is going on, I'm sure we're going to need our friends and the Elements of Harmony to stop it! I just hope we haven't missed the train..."

Spike returned a few gasps as he became short on breath. "Twilight? There is another way for us to get to Ponyville, remember?"

"There is?" Twilight inquired, bringing herself into a sudden stop. Spike accidentally bumped into her and almost fell in the water under the bridge we were on. I managed to quickly grab hold onto his claw with my hoof and pull him back up.

"You guys can fly!" He pointed out.

"Oh. Right!" She stated, realizing the unlocked option that required her wings. She grabbed Spike and placed him on her back.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" I asked her. "We're not practicing in the same area; we're moving to a different town."

"What's the worst that can happen?" She returned with a smile. "Besides, you'll be there to catch me if I fall, right?"

I chuckled a little. "I'll try."

"Come on!" She directed, attempting to fly off the ground. "It's time to perform our royal duty!"

As she struggled a little in getting her wings in sync, I hopped off the ground, grabbed her hoof, and gave her a boost, which set her off in the right path.

"You're doing great so far." I praised as I noticed her flying smoothly.

"Let's just hope that doesn't change too soon!" She replied as she tried to focus on her flying as much as possible.

"Just relax your wings!" I advised. "Don't keep them clenched." She made a few grunts and sounds to her attempt to keep her flying straight. "If you feel like you need to, hold on to my hoof!" I offered.

"Thanks, Alex." She expressed. "But for now, I need to try on my own."

"Understood." I answered before looking ahead. I then spotted something abnormal in the distance. "What's that?"

Twilight squinted her eyes at the unidentified flying objects ahead. "Those are Everfree clouds!" She looked below. "And Ponyville is right there!"

"Watch out!" I warned, seeing the clouds move on their own unlike the usual Ponyville clouds. "They're moving around!"

We were heading right in their direction, just as they were moving towards us. It didn't equal such a good outcome. I managed to dodge the few that strayed off, but Twilight had a few problems on the other hoof. She managed to miss them as well, but her sharp and sudden jerks almost caused Spike to fall off. Spike was holding on to her tail when I grabbed her hoof and brought her back up with me in a balanced manner. Twilight's tail swung enough to have Spike land back on her back, but he held a nauseated look instead.

"I'm starting to wish... we'd taken the train!" He regretted.

"Almost there!" Twilight pointed. "Come on! We need to get the Elements of Harmony and find the others!" She announced before focusing forward and increasing her speed.

"Twilight!" I called out, trailing behind her. "I think you're going too fast!"

"Incoming!" Spike shouted out.

Twilight tried to stop by pushing out her legs, but her wings remained at the same speed. In the next second, she ended up disappearing by teleporting inside the treehouse, leaving Spike to slam straight against the window. I quickly attended to him and noticed how he was barely conscious. His tongue was sticking out of his open mouth.

"Uh…" I expressed, uncertain of his status. However, I picked him up and headed towards the front door of the library.

When I entered, he suddenly became fully aware, as the sight of the ground revived him. He jumped towards his sight and began kissing thankfully. "Sweet ground! Sweet, sweet, wonderful ground!"

"Okay, I get it! I need to work on my flying!" Twilight acknowledged as she looked back in annoyance.

"Alex!" Fluttershy tackled me to the ground and nuzzled her head with mine.

"Hello to you too, Fluttershy." I answered with a smile.

"I dunno if you've noticed, but the Everfree Forest is just a teeny-tiny bit out of control." Pinkie Pie pointed out towards the window. However, her tail suddenly began twitching, causing her to quickly duck down.

Then, something immediately shot out towards Rarity and took her against the library wall. I gasped and quickly glared at the evil-looking branch before cutting it in half with my magic. Applejack quickly closed the opened window as I tended to Rarity. I grabbed her hoof and pulled her up as I looked worriedly to her. "Are you alright?"

She was still a little dazed, but shook out of it. When she realized I was holding on to her, she grinned softly and nodded. "Now am I."

"Guess it turned out you were missin' something here in Ponyville after all." Applejack continued the conversation.

"But perhaps you already know what's causing all of this calamity." Rarity glanced between Twilight and me. "Has Princess Celestia sent you two to dispel it posthaste?"

Before Rarity could become too comfortable, I gently placed her back on her hooves.

"Not exactly. You see, Princess Celestia is, well... she and Princess Luna are both..." Twilight tried to explain, but hesitated as she didn't want to upset the others.

"Gone missing!" Spike cried out.

The girls all gasped loudly.

"I don't know who has taken them, but I've got a hunch we're going to need the Elements of Harmony to get them back." She looked over to the glass case holding the Elements and brought them out, placing the belonging one to each pony.

"Oh, yeah!" Rainbow Dash cheered when her element was placed on hers. "Just like old times."

"A-boo-yah!" Pinkie Pie bumped hooves with Twilight when receiving hers.

"I told ya we'd always be connected by the Elements." Applejack assured Twilight. Releasing a sigh, she began offering her plan. "Now we just gotta figure out who to aim these bad boys at so we can get Celestia and Luna back and keep the rest of Equestria from becoming plant food!" Another one of those branches or weeds slipped in, having Applejack quickly step on it before it grew any longer. "Any ideas?"

"Hmm..." Twilight wondered with a hoof to her chin.

"I haven't found squat in any of the books I've been looking through!" Pinkie announced, revealing that she wasn't looking at any informative books, instead, it was a coloring one. "Oopsies! Missed a spot!" She scribbled with a crayon.

"Well, we've just got to work with what we've got." I suggested to them all. I turned towards the window and looked out. "What would cause these abnormal things to happen? And how could they occur with the princesses missing? Why would they be missing in the first place?"

"Half day, half night..." Twilight joined me, analyzing the clues held outside. "…strange weather patterns... out of control plants. I think I'm starting to get a pretty good idea of who we're up against." She turned and began walking towards the door.

"And who exactly would that be?" I questioned as I followed her. I didn't exactly have someone in mind.

"Who's the one being we didn't kick out of Ponyville? The only specialty he had was being abnormal?" Twilight hinted at as the girls and I followed her outside.

After that, someone did come to mind…but it didn't feel right. For some reason…it did seem to make sense, but it didn't seem to be actually true. I could see it happening, but I couldn't just seem to connect it now. "Are you sure he would actually do this?"

"Who else would?" Twilight questioned.

"I'm with Twilight on this one. That fella is just full of no-good surprises!" Applejack added, narrowing her eyes angrily.

"Yeah! Me too!" Pinkie Pie added in the same tone, but then quickly retracted. "Wait…who are we talking about?"

"You're about to find out." Twilight answered. "Let get into position!"

Without question, the girls aligned themselves in a circle, leaving me to stay by Twilight. Twilight closed her eyes with force and began activating her Element. The other Elements lit up and joined in as well. Lastly, the light from within me appeared as we all levitated from the ground. Closing my eyes and feeling the warmth within, all of the Elements bonded together strongly. Finally, a swirling rainbow formed at the center of our circle, and something unexpected appeared.

"Winter Wrap Up, Winter Wrap…" He sang as he apparently bathed in a bathtub.

"Discord…?" I questioned at his status.

"Ooh!" He laughed as he quickly wrapped himself with a towel. "Now, Twilight, you know Princess Celestia said that you were to give me a heads up before you summon me with that little spell she gave you." He tapped his paw on the tip of her crown. "In case you haven't noticed, I was in the middle of a particularly invigorating shower." The bathtub disappeared away with magic as he rubbed himself with the towel right in front of her.

Twilight sent a slight look of disgust and grew angry at his silly antics. "E-nough! Release Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and stop the Everfree Forest from invading!" She stormed towards Discord, causing him to back away slowly as held the ends of the towel behind his back.

"Why…" He laughed as he wrapped himself around Twilight as one of those ugly weed things first, and then turned himself back to normal. "Whatever are you talking about?"

"Don't you play dumb with us, Discord!" Applejack struck a hoof towards him. "We know you're the one behind all of this!"

Usually, I would have been so quickly persuaded that it was in fact Discord, but for some reason, I just still couldn't be convinced that he was the mastermind.

"Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love what you've done with the place," He mentioned as he took pictures all around. "But I couldn't possibly take responsibility. I'm reformed, don't you remember?" He nudged Fluttershy.

"Yeah, right! This has got your cloven hoofprints all over it!" Rainbow Dash furiously contested.

"I'll have you know that I have only one cloven hoof." Discord wittily corrected and then kicked her in the flank with such hoof before disappearing. "Such accusations." He reappeared walking away from us. "And here I thought we were friends."

"Drop the act, buster! We're onto you!" Pinkie Pie warned with eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Alright, hang on." I finally spoke after allowing the girls to have at it. "Normally, I would be with you all on this." I pointed out a hoof towards the irregular events happening in Ponyville. "I mean, it looks like Discord's name is all over this. But for some reason…I don't feel like he's really the suspect here. For some reason…it just doesn't really seem to fit or connect to me…"

"Your dear friend, Prince Alex, is right." Discord spoke, grabbing me and holding me up with the lion part of his body before I could attest to my opinion any further. "I'm innocent!" He messed with my mane with his fist of a claw. "Would he lie to you?"

"Don't bring him in this!" Twilight pointed out defensively. "We know you would!"

"Well then…" He released me to the ground, feeling offended. "It seems we've reached an impasse. I'm telling the truth, but you think I'm lying. What do friends like us do in a situation like this, Princess Twilight?" However, he placed his paw around Twilight. "Congrats, by the way, on the promotion. You totally deserve it." I couldn't exactly tell if he was being sarcastic or not…

"I say we blast him back to stone!" Rainbow Dash offered bluntly.

"Works for me!" Applejack heavily agreed.

"Hear, hear!" Rarity added.

The three of them began activating their Elements until Fluttershy intervened.

"Hey! We can't do that! What if he really is telling the truth?" She directed to Discord, who was once flinching but then placed an innocent halo above his head.

"Yeah. It's Discord." I included my statement on the matter. "Now that I think of it, if Discord was to do something like this, I'd figured it'd suit more to his 'fun' style than creepy and evil from the Everfree Forest." I pointed around. "Remember the cotton candy clouds raining chocolate rain?" I reminded.

Pinkie Pie slurped and drooled at the idea. "Best. Rain. Ever."

"If Discord was going to mess around with Ponyville, I'd figure he'd do it in a way to amuse himself." I continued.

"Exactly!" Discord approved. "These two ponies have the right idea." He mentioned as he brought the two of us together. "The rest of you could learn a lot about friendship from my dear friends Shutterfly and Alex here."

"Um…it's Fluttershy…" Fluttershy corrected quietly.

"Oh, right, whatever." Discord quickly dismissed.

"If you're not the one responsible, then help us figure out who is!" Twilight demanded.

"I suppose I could, but after all the hoof pointing and besmirching of my good name, I just don't know if I'm up to it." He refused and brought out a couple of knitting needles, using the slithering dark vines to knit with.

"Rrrgh!" Twilight expressed angrily.

"Why don't you ask your zebra friend if she knows anything?" He suggested, actually knitting an arrow that pointed nearby.

There, we saw Zecora hauling a large amount of things behind and on her.

"Zecora!" Twilight called out, happy to see her. We all rushed towards her to confront her.

Most likely due to the weight on her, she stopped in her tracks with her hooves falling forward. Twilight used her magic to detach the large bag of her things while Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash carried them off. I worked on removing the cart so she could finally stand up to speak with us. "From my home, I have had to flee! The forest has grown too wild, even for me!"

"Any idea why all this is happenin'?" Applejack asked until one of the weeds from the forest snapped off her hat from the top of her head.

"I'm afraid it is a mystery to me as well, but I may have something that, if combined with a spell..." She answered and walked over to her cart to retrieve something. "I do not dare to use it myself." She stated as she presented a vial with purple liquid inside. "The results would be tragic. It only responds to Alicorn magic." She directed to Twilight and me. "Princess Twilight and Prince Alex, you can turn the potion from purple to white. After a sip, you may see why the sky is day and night." She displayed overhead.

Twilight and I shared a look between another and then nodded. We both began working our magic together and caused them to collide and blend to enter the potion. It wasn't easy as any other spell. It took some time and concentration, but we were able to succeed, making the potion transform into a pure white color. Huh…

"Oooh!" Pinkie Pie expressed in awe.

Standing right by Twilight's side, she raised the vial in front of her head. She looked over to me a little worriedly.

"I'll drink it as soon as you do." I offered, hoping to comfort her in the chances we experience whatever happens together.

She looked back at it as Zecora nodded in confidence. Then, Zecora used her head to lift the potion up to Twilight's lips. Twilight immediately began drinking for a good amount of time and then stopped. I quickly used my magic to bring the vial over to me and took in the same amount as she did. Just as I finished, Twilight licked her lips, waiting for something to happen.

"…Doesn't seem to be worki—"

She was cut off in mid-sentence before her eyes became pure white.

Shortly after, my eyes were blinded by light.

Twilight

I shook my head to try to figure out what happened. I looked around to find myself in a completely different area. Somewhere I don't recall ever being in before…

"Where are we—" I asked before I suddenly realized someone was missing. "Alex!" I looked around desperately. "Alex, where are you?!"

I tried to move forward until I heard another voice boom behind me.

"Not... another step!"

I looked towards the source of the sound to find Princess Luna revealing herself in front of me.

"Princess Luna!" I cried out, hoping she could help me. "I don't understand." I told her as I walked towards her and sat down. "Where are we? Why did you and Celestia disappear?"

"Did you really expect me to sit idly by while they all basked in your precious light?" Princess Luna questioned angrily, seeming to ignore my questions.

"Precious light?" I repeated in confusion.

"There can only be one princess in Equestria!" She shouted out as she moved over to a piece of wall that was a part of the stairs. "And that princess... will be me!" She emphasized her rage by smashing the same piece into millions of other pieces. The force of the blow led a huge crack to form from beneath her and towards the wall behind her. A large shadow began forming at the same area. A large piece of the wall behind her broke off, revealing the bright sun and causing me to flinch greatly.

Princess Luna began raising herself in mid-air, using her magic for some reason. Then, I realized that she was moving the moon behind her to directly block out the sun! It was a full eclipse! Suddenly, these wisps of darkness began surrounding Princess Luna and enveloped her in total darkness. I had no idea what was going on, and before I knew it, she transformed into something completely different!

She cackled fearfully as she presented her new monstrous self. I could only stare in total shock as I observed this. I didn't know what else to do but step back. However, the expression on her face changed into an angry one. She immediately shot out magic from her horn and directed it at the ceiling. I looked up to notice large pieces of the building coming down my way, instantly having me jump out before I could get hit.

As I recovered from my dive, I noticed another pair of hooves appear before me. I looked up to see that it was Princess Celestia! She rose in the air to only be attacked by Luna, but she was able to dodge it just in time. The attack broke yet another part of the ceiling, revealing the moonlight inside.

"Luna!" I cried out, attempting to reason with her. "Think of how long you were banished to the moon! You'll give us no choice but to send you back there if you don't stop!"

"Luna, I will not fight you!" Princess Celestia spoke sternly behind me. "You must lower the moon! It is your duty!"

"Luna?" She questioned. "I am... Nightmare Moon!" My eyes gave into worry after hearing this familiar name. "I have but one royal duty now: to destroy you!" She shot out another powerful laser towards Celestia, causing her to jump and flee away. "And where do you think you're going?"

Seeing Nightmare Moon fly off, I quickly sprung to my hooves and took off after them. Nightmare Moon desperately attempted to harm Celestia, but Celestia could only dodge these beam of magic as if there was nothing else she could do. This harmful magic landed at the sides of buildings and even destroyed a supporting arch! I had to quickly fly around the falling debris to avoid being hit. Nevertheless, it didn't stop me from chasing the two sisters.

However, it wasn't long before I heard the shrieking sound of Celestia's scream. Nightmare Moon had struck her and she was falling back into the castle hall I was previously in. "Celestia!" I quickly cried out and raced towards her. The echo of Nightmare Moon's evil laughter echoed behind me. I landed in front of Celestia's motionless body and was deeply shocked. I tried to raise out a hoof to her, but quickly retracted it towards my mouth. My heart was aching terribly at the horrible sight I had to witness.

"No..." I expressed as my eyes brimmed with tears. "Why would Luna do this?" I asked, even though no pony was there to answer. My tears were now flowing out freely and hitting the floor. "Why now?" Feeling completely isolated and alone, I began to cry. I had never felt so horribly miserable. Where was he? I needed him… I needed him so badly… "Alex?" I called out, hoping so desperately that he would just somehow appear by my side to comfort me. "Alex… Where are you…?" My voice broke a little every now and then as I sniffled. "Please…"

I need you.

Prince Alexander and Princess Twilight Sparkle : Part Two

Episode 67 – Princess Alexander and Princess Twilight Sparkle – Part Two

My eyes suddenly threw themselves open. The sound of heavily pouring rain sounded. Thunder boomed in the skies. Lightning flashed frightfully. I breathed and gasped heavily for a moment, having no idea where I was. As I managed to keep my vision clear through the rain, I noticed familiar buildings I had seen hours before.

"Is this…Canterlot?!" I asked, continuing to scan around. However, one particular thing caught my eye. One highly familiar pony, even though I knew I'd never met him, ran across my sight in the distance. He appeared to be in a dreadful hurry, as if he had to stop something. I held out a hoof towards him, either to try to get his attention or walk forward, but then I noticed something even more questioning than my surroundings. My hoof was a transparent white color. "What the…?" I questioned to myself in a shocked tone. I brought it closer to me and noticed not only my hoof held the same appearance, but my entire body. "Why am I…?" I didn't finish my sentence, the status of my body intrigued me too much, but not exactly in a positive way.

Nevertheless, I looked out to where the stallion was last seen running. I had to get to the bottom of this and he was my only clue. I placed my hooves down and began galloping through the rain, hearing my hooves splash through the puddles underneath.

I came to a sudden skid, stopping at the sight of darkness in front of me. It appeared as if it came from the sky and it transformed into these visible evil beings. Although, they seemed to hold a ghostly sight, as if I couldn't even touch them, but they still seemed hostile. I readied myself, whether I needed to run or fight, but I suddenly heard a voice from within me.

Don't worry… You're safe.

"Huh?" I mentioned.

The beings didn't attack me. Instead, they headed off in the direction where that stallion was rushing. I quickly grunted and continued galloping after them.

They led me to this home that appeared to have many scientific artifacts. Astronomy to be precise.

"What are you doing?!" I heard an exclaim come from upstairs. I quickly ascended the flight of stairs inside. "Are you crazy?!"

I arrived just in time to see an intense scene between two stallions.

"I did this, Comet!" This other stallion returned both angrily and depressively. "This is my fault! I have to make it right! I have to fix this!"

"Not like this!" Comet pleaded. "We can find another way!"

"Look around you, Comet! It's chaos! There is no other way! I need to do this!"

"But…"

"Give it to me." He demanded. Comet was holding onto something, but I couldn't see it clearly. He didn't bother answering or obeying him. "For Celestia's sake, GIVE IT, COMET!"

Comet quickly threw whatever it was he held towards the other stallion regrettably.

He retrieved it and then looked at Comet seriously. "I'm sorry, but this has to happen… For Equestria…" Using his horn, he began casting magic on the object he held. All of a sudden, darkness revolved and swirled around him like a vortex.

"No!" Comet cried out and ran towards him, attempting to pull him out. But he only tried grabbing nothing.

Darkness not only covered the mysterious unicorn, but began affecting my vision as well. I tried to see through it, but nothing worked. My body returned to normal for some reason, but that wasn't my concern at the moment. Darkness only wrapped around me as if I was falling asleep. I heard Comet scream out something, but it was too indistinct and distant to hear.

I began opening my eyes and realized I had almost forgotten that everything that happened was all…a vision. It all felt so real… I rubbed my eyes and was immediately tackled by Twilight before I could know what was going on.

"It's you!" She cried out loud, almost sounding as if she was about to cry. "You're here! You're safe!"

"W-what?" I asked, confused on what she was talking about. "What do you mean?"

Twilight pulled back a little and wiped a tear away from her eye. "I didn't see you after we drank the potion, Alex. And I got scared…so scared…" I couldn't really answer, as I still didn't have a clue on what actually happened with her, but she ended up turning to the right to notice the girls staring at us in an odd way. "Why are you all looking at us like that?"

"Well…" Applejack began, her eyes staring from the floor. "Besides what's goin' on right now… It's just... you two were mumblin' to yourselves..."

"Twilight mostly!" Pinkie Pie included. "Ooh! And don't forget the uncontrollable sobbing!"

"We were really worried about you both." Fluttershy expressed.

"I for one found it delightful." Discord, on the other hoof, laid down on one of the spiky branches from the Everfree Forest. "Sort of a one-pony theater piece, if you will." He revealed a scroll that held a moving picture with Twilight crying inside. "You should really consider taking it on the road."

"Hey!" I pushed away his lion foreleg. "That's not funny!"

"It is to me!" He chuckled as he continued glancing over the scroll a few times.

I began sending an irritated look, but Twilight placed a hoof on me and shook her head.

"Did you find out whose rump we need to kick and where we can find them?" Rainbow Dash asked, aggressively ready for the name.

"I saw something from a long time ago." Twilight answered. "But it didn't explain what's happening now." She ended as she turned her head towards me, as if she was ready to hear me speak. All of the other girls turned my way as well.

"I don't know what I saw…" I turned my head towards the floor. "I was in Canterlot… It looked like the whole town was invaded by darkness itself. I don't know if that really happened, or if it was a false vision. Either way, it doesn't really seem to explain anything about what's going on now too."

"Perhaps farther back still are the answers you seek." Zecora approached us, pulling out the vial once more. "Another sip of the potion will give you a peek."

Twilight hesitantly retrieved the potion. She released a heavy sign and looked at me. "I don't want to go through another one without you."

I noticed how serious she was, so I nodded. I looked towards Discord in order to ask for a favor.

"Discord, toss me a glass of chocolate milk."

"Eh." He answered, stretching out his entire body. "I don't really feel like it…"

"Come on. I had your side with the accusations." I reminded.

He released a lazy sigh. "Oh fine, whatever." He popped out a cotton candy cloud, as well as an empty glass, and squeezed the candy cloud to fill the glass with chocolate milk. Then, he tossed the glass over to me and began eating the pink cloud.

I retrieved the glass and called Pinkie over.

"Ooh!" She gleefully expressed and bounced over to where I was.

Knowing what I was already going to do, she lowered her jaw wide open, allowing me to easily pour the milk in. Afterwards, she slurped loudly and bounced back where she originally was.

"Why didn't you just ask for the glass by itself?" Twilight asked curiously.

"Pinkie Pie likes chocolate milk." I answered briefly and then borrowed the potion. I carefully poured a reasonable amount in the glass and gave the potion back to Twilight. "Alright…" I began. "This should hopefully definitely work… We both drink at the same time and hold hooves, okay?"

"Mm-hm." She confidently nodded, seeming much better from my idea.

"Okay…" We looked at our containers holding the liquid and grabbed each other's hoof. "On three… One… Two… Three!" We both quickly closed our eyes and guzzled down our drinks.

As the girls released a few antsy expressions, Discord appeared in front of us with an old-fashioned filmmaker rolling. "Oh, I do hope they break into a song this time!"

After that, I could feel my eyes jerk wide open with a powerful blinding light, assuming Twilight experienced it at the same time.

As soon as my vision returned, I immediately noticed the weather was completely opposite from the last vision. I turned my head just in time to see Twilight turn her head in my direction. She immediately brightened up when she saw me and threw her forelegs around me. I grinned at her reaction, but our moment was cut short when we saw schools of fish swimming around us, even though there was no water at all.

"Does this…remind of you of anything?" Twilight asked.

Before I answered, I looked further on to notice a couple of ponies walking away from where we were standing. "Look." I pointed. "They're…the princesses." I included after being able to analyze them.

Twilight and I quickly hurried and trotted closer in order to hear what they had to say.

Whoever was on the throne chair obviously revealed himself to be Discord, especially after he spun around to see my mother and Tia. The both of them clearly looked fed up with his act. "Oh, this is so much fun. How about a game of 'Pin the Tail on the Pony'?" He surprisingly held up Tia's sparkling tail.

In reaction, she gasped as she looked back to see her tail no longer there. Being even further angered by Discord's childish antics, she led my mom closer to him. "Play time is over for you, Discord!"

"Oh, I doubt that." He swung around a bag that was filled with what looked like black popcorn kernels. He munched loudly as he offered them some from the bag. "Hungry?" They only gave him a cold glare, even when the apparent food tapped them right on the face. "Suit yourselves." He threw in another clawful into his mouth and munched. Celestia and Luna pulled out what appeared to be the Elements…but by how they looked before Twilight and the others harnessed them. "Oh! What have you got there?" Discord questioned, showing no sign of fear.

"The Elements of Harmony." Celestia briefly answered.

"With them, we shall defeat you!" Luna added.

"This must be when they turned Discord into stone!" Twilight whispered to me, continuing to view the scene.

"Yeah…but…" I responded, noticing something odd. "What about the seventh Element? My Element. I mean…does…one of them have the pure heart?"

Discord laughed, causing us to place our focus back on the scene. "You should see yourselves right now. The expressions on your face. So intense. So sure of yourselves!" He continued laughing while the two princesses connected each other's horn. "Hilarious!" He chortled, holding a claw out and his paw to his stomach just as the Elements seized him. He was immediately encased in stone in the same exact way we first found him.

Suddenly, my eyes were blinded yet again, and I soon noticed Twilight and I were taken someplace else. When we saw what was shining right in front of us, the both of us gasped.

Joining us was Luna. She was walking with Princess Celestia when they approached this highly mystical tree. "The Tree of Harmony!"

"The Tree of Harmony?" Twilight spoke out for me. We both took the time to analyze the tree until Twilight called out to me. "Alex, look!" She pointed right at the middle. "My cutie mark..."

I looked in the direction she was pointing at and noticed that she was right. Her own cutie mark was branded right in the middle of the tree…right above Celestia's and Luna's cutie mark.

Nonetheless, Tia flew up towards Twilight's cutie mark on the tree and sent out a beam of her magic at it.

"Are you sure?" My mother worriedly asked, flying above to join Tia.

"We have managed to discover the only means by which we can defeat Discord and free the citizens of Equestria." Celestia explained, and then began manually taking out each Element inside, including Twilight's. "Even without these elements, the Tree of Harmony will possess a powerful magic. As long as that magic remains, it will continue to control and contain all that grows here."

"…magic?" Luna repeated in the form of curiosity. She slowly approached the tree and placed a hoof on it. Suddenly, the tree flashed brighter for a second and Luna returned a small and quick yelp.

"Luna, are you alright?!" Celestia quickly met with my mother after that reaction.

Luna stared at her hoof for a moment and then looked downwards at her chest. She gave a few sharp breaths. "Yes… I'm fine."

Before we could see anymore, we were blinded yet again.

We were back to the original timeline, out of the visions.

"So what did you find out?" Spike instantly asked us as Twilight rattled her head.

"We still don't know what's happened to Princess Luna and Princess Celestia," Twilight answered and then looked towards me. "But we think we know why the Everfree Forest is acting this way." She looked back at the audience before us. "Something's happened to the Tree of Harmony."

Each of the girls, including Zecora, looked at one another in a very questionable manner.

"The tree of what now?" Rainbow asked.

"It's apparently where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna found the Elements." I answered.

"We think it's in danger." Twilight included importantly.

"Well, all right then!" Applejack walked towards us confidently. "Let's go save a... tree." She hesitated on the subject of the matter. "Uh... where is it exactly?"

"I think it's in... there." Twilight expressed fearfully as pointed straight towards the invading Everfree Forest.

"Ooh-hoo! I'm going to need more popcorn!" Discord reacted joyfully with his recliner chair, empty bag of popcorn, and drink, as if he was really watching a movie.

Choosing to ignore Discord this time, I looked at the others and walked a bit forward. "Well…we can do it. We always have in the past."

"Yeah, come on, girls. We need to do this for not only the princesses, but for all of Equestria." Twilight followed in my example and walked alongside me.

"You heard them, y'all." Applejack emphasized, beginning to walk after us and leading the girls in our direction. "Let's find this here tree and save everypony!"

All of us, including Spike, walked on and stopped at the entrance of the forest, leaving a highly familiar sight implemented in my mind.

"Seems like only yesterday we were heading into these woods to find the Elements of Harmony." Rarity recalled the night we all eventually grouped together to defeat Nightmare Moon.

"Seems like only yesterday I was foolish enough to think I should go after them on my own." Twilight joined in on the memories as well, beginning to step inside the forest as I made sure to stay by her. "I don't know what we're going to face in there. But whatever it is, I know we need to face it together." She ended, sharing a glance at me and earning agreeing nods from the girls behind us.

"Hmph." I began expressing my own thoughts. "Seems like only yesterday when I was too blind to see all that."

We continued walking in silent confidence until we came across this foggy swamp. The sight of the water actually looked acidic, leaving no intention to touch it whatsoever.

"We can use those to cross." Twilight pointed towards the rocky stones above the water.

"Careful!" I tried to warn, but she went ahead and leapt ahead. I began wishing that I went ahead first because it looked too risky.

However, when Twilight was having trouble balancing herself, the situation grew even worse. Some horrible creature suddenly emerged from beneath the water and glared at Twilight angrily. She was actually standing on its tail before it threw her off. Twilight yelped, and I quickly jumped up to catch her. The monster growled furiously as it headed straight towards us.

"A cragadile! Run for your lives!" Rarity shouted out, leading us to all spread out.

I kept an eye on who the cragadile was targeting. It was directly heading towards Twilight and Spike. To make things worse, they stopped due to a tree blocking their path. Twilight tried to set herself in flight, but it seemed she was panicking greatly to where her wings wouldn't take off. In an attempt to save her, I ran towards the horrendous rocky beast and climbed upon its back. Using my magic, I formed an aura around its head and pulled it back as forcefully as I could. It tried to snap its immense jaws at me, but then I suddenly received help from behind. The rest of the girls had been pulling the tail of the cragadile with a black vine they found, explaining why the beast had fell to the floor so roughly.

"Alex! Help me tie this to the tree over here!" Applejack directed.

I quickly focused my magic at the end of the vine, tying it securely and tightly around the sturdy tree. Applejack then closed its jaws with another before it could bite me. I tied that one as well. As Applejack began focusing on the other parts of the body, Twilight caught on to what we were doing and helped tie the vines too.

Finally, we managed to make it immobile, at least for the time we need.

"That was close." Twilight shared.

Applejack released a quick breath. "A little too close, if you ask me. You sure you're all right?"

"I'm fine." Twilight returned, opening her wings. "I just can't seem to get these new wings to do what I want them to do when I want them to do it."

"Aw, you'll figure it out eventually." Rainbow Dash assured. "Just like Alex here!" She presented me with her hoof.

"'Eventually' isn't soon enough." Twilight stated and began walking ahead, leading me to follow.

"You have been having an awful lot of trouble with those things." Applejack mentioned. "And, well, who knows what else is gonna to come after us?" Unexpectedly, she increased the pace of her next sentence. "You know, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea for Twilight to go back to Ponyville and let us look for the Tree of Harmony without her."

This not only brought me to turn around and stare at Applejack in surprise, but especially Twilight.

"What? Why?" Twilight inquired a little angrily.

"For starters, you just about got eaten by a cragadilly." Applejack brought up.

"We all did. He wasn't after just me." Twilight shot back, turning her head away.

"Sure, but..." Applejack brought herself closer to Twilight. "…well, the rest of us aren't princesses."

"What's that got to do with anything?" Twilight asked in more of a protective kind of stance.

"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are gone. If something happened to you, I-I just don't think Equestria can risk losing another princess." Applejack said, leading me to become defensive and angry of such a matter and outcome.

"Hey!" I brought up, putting myself in front of Twilight. "Twilight's staying with us! I'll make sure to protect her before anything tries to touch her!"

"In that case, maybe you should leave on with her." Applejack added.

"What?" I could only return back.

"Applejack does make a valid point." Rarity sided with her. "Even if we manage to save the Tree of Harmony, it won't necessarily mean Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will return. Equestria will need somepony to lead in their absence. If we lost the both of you, there would be no one to rule Equestria."

"So, you expect us to leave the rest of you by yourselves?! What if something happens to any of you?!" I argued.

"We'll be fine, Alex…" Applejack tried to assure. "It's just that… something might happen to Twilight because she's not used to her wings yet, and something might happen to you because you'll put yourself at risk before anypony else." She sighed. "In other words, we rather not take that risk in losing either of you."

"I…I can't believe what I'm hearing…" I sent in a struggle.

"All of you feel this way?" Twilight asked, allowing me to notice the tears that already formed in her eyes. "Feel like we shouldn't be here?"

They didn't answer. They either looked away or towards the ground. This sent a clear message to Twilight. I remained standing there and staring at them until Twilight just began walking off in silence. That left me no choice but to leave with her, as I couldn't have left her all alone. I followed, catching slightly up to her. I heard another pair of steps running after us, which I assumed were Spike's. In uttermost silence, the girls went on ahead.

I looked back and noticed Fluttershy's eyes staring at mine. She was obviously sad, but she looked like she couldn't say anything. She didn't know what to do. She really cared about me…but she just seemed like she couldn't come up with a negotiation for any of us. She couldn't turn back now, as she'd slow down the group.

I turned back and stared at the floor in silence as I walked through the forest. Even with such a dangerous forest surrounding us, the fear slipped right past us when sorrow took ahold.

Yes, things were very silent on our walk. Twilight was slightly ahead of Spike and me. Spike sent me a worried look, as he didn't know what to do or say. He only kept his claws in front of him together. I turned back to Twilight as she held her head down low. I lightly increased my pace to catch up to her and try to see her in her watery eyes. Seeing this tore me up inside and practically made me weak. "Hey…" I told her softly. "They're just looking out for you…"

"…but…but we were supposed to find it together." She stumbled in her words as she desperately tried not to tear up more.

"I know… I know…" I agreed. "But…we're royalty now and apparently that drives the security sky-high."

Twilight sighed, sending me a hint that she didn't know what else to say anymore. I wanted to comfort her, so I lifted my left wing and attempted to wrap it around her. Then, she rested her head lightly on my body. She closed her eyes and seemed to allow me to direct her out of the forest.

All of sudden, a tear easily escaped from my left eye, surprising me. I raised a hoof and felt the dampness that it left. I was unhappy, but I had no intention of crying…so why did this come out?

We arrived back in Ponyville to hear loud cries of help. We noticed Discord filing his nails with Gummy's scaly back, and Gummy appeared to completely not mind. Other than that, a couple of ponies were held hostage as they were wrapped tightly by the Everfree roots. Discord obviously found pleasure from their fear.

"Discord!" Twilight quickly scolded, causing him to quickly get rid of Gummy and snap to remove the danger from the two ponies. "You're welcome!" Discord shouted out as they quickly dashed away, sounding like if they were supposed to thank him for freeing them as soon as Twilight and I showed up. "Hmph. No luck finding your tree?" He turned around, asking us the question to change the subject.

"We ran into some trouble…" Twilight turned away and sat down, being troubled of the reminder. "Our friends decided it would be best if we returned to Ponyville while they continue the search. Equestria will need us if Princess Celestia and Princess Luna don't return." She sighed and then looked towards me. "Maybe you shouldn't have stuck up for me that time… Maybe you could have still been with them…"

"Hey!" I brought out boldly. "I don't care what the matter is! I will always protect you. I'd never want to leave you alone either…"

Twilight softly smiled until Discord intruded into our conversation.

"I'm just surprised that you agreed to their plan." Discord spoke, directing more towards Twilight. "I never thought you'd be the kind of pony who would think she was better than everypony else."

"I don't think I'm better than anypony!" Twilight immediately shot back.

"Twilight would never put herself before anypony!" I included sternly. "Especially her friends!"

"Oh, well, how silly of me to assume that you would think that. All you did was choose to keep your precious princess self out of harm's way while your friends thrust themselves right into it." He pointed towards the growing Everfree Forest after creating an old monarch robe and scepter for Twilight. However, Twilight silently threw both the robe and scepter to the side, but it was clear she wasn't putting up with this. "I'm sure you'll all be the best of pals again when they return from their terrifying yet deeply bonding experience that they're having without you." Discord appeared from within Twilight's ears, chuckling about the matter.

Before I could attack Discord verbally for his ridiculous commentary, Twilight quickly turned around and began sprinting, leading me to immediately follow on after her.

"I never should have agreed to come back here!" She thought out loud.

Spike ran right by her. "Come on, Twilight. Discord may be reformed, but he's not that reformed. He's just trying to get under your skin."

"Well, it's working!" Twilight returned angrily before using her magic to place Spike on her back. "Alex, let's go!"

I strongly nodded and increased my speed to catch up with her.

To be honest, even though our hearts were in the right place, our guide-less galloping led us nowhere. We had no map or idea where the girls had gone off to. The fear from the forest slipped into us once again, causing for Twilight and I to slow down. We rather focused more on keeping our guard up than blindly running through the dangerous forest.

"Are we there yet?" Spike asked, which I wasn't able to distinguish from excitement, boredom, or fear.

"Ugh!" Twilight grunted in anger. "I don't know where we are. We're lost." She allowed herself to sit down on the floor roughly and shake her head. "This is all my fault."

"Hey, don't worry." I assured her, placing a caring hoof on her shoulder. "We'll find a way. We always do."

"Yeah, we can't just give up." Spike added and looked towards a tall tree nearby. "Maybe if I get up there, I'll be able to spot 'em."

"Let me give you a boost." I offered, later having Spike hop on my back so I could take him to the top of the tree. "You look from there. I'll fly around and search from a few other areas nearby." He nodded and crawled on the branch as I returned back to the ground. Twilight remained sitting on the ground in a very gloomy matter. I felt better about finding the others and finishing our goal, but I also wanted her to feel the same. I placed my hooves around her greatly and closed my eyes so. "Don't worry, Twilight. We'll find our friends and save Equestria. I just know it."

"And the princesses too…?" Twilight inquired.

"Yeah…" I offered a warm smile. "We both know they don't go down that easily…"

Twilight chuckled lightly and nodded. "Alright."

"Stay here." I directed. "I'm just going to look around really quick. I'll be right back."

"Okay." She acknowledged.

I turned around and launched shortly into the air. I tried to get a clear view from nearby the top of the trees, but being the Everfree Forest, it was mainly foggy and obscure. I wasn't able to search very well until I heard my name being cried out by what sounded like Spike.

"Alex! Twilight needs help!"

I gasped and quickly rushed back to where she was. Feeling the wind rush through my mane and my heart pounding, I flew as fast as I could. I landed as soon as I returned only to witness a horrifying scene. What looked like mutated Venus Flytraps seemed to be spraying some kind of mist towards Twilight. There were four of them at each direction she faced. The mist caused her to cough, having her be unable to even speak.

"Twilight!" I exclaimed. Before heading in there, I managed to form a protective shield around me, which was something I wasn't a complete master at. It was risky, but I wasn't going to leave Twilight helplessly attacked. I dove right in the mist, my shield hopefully repelling the spray, and immediately approached Twilight. "Twilight, Twilight!" I called out to her as I held her up with my hooves. Her eyes were slowly closing as if she was falling asleep. I placed a hoof on her chest, feeling that her heart was still going strong and her breathing remained normal. To the best of my knowledge, it seemed the mist had only caused her to pretty much faint or lose consciousness. I then looked out my shield to notice the wicked plants continuously spray out its mist in attempts to break the shield. I sighed, seeing no exact way out of this. "I'm sorry, Twilight…" I apologized as I looked around, uncertain if the magical barrier would break soon. "I can't carry you away from here…these things would remain right on our tail… I can't attack them…or they'll just blast me with that… Maybe I can try to fly us out of here…but would I make it off the ground in time before they hit me anyway?" I sighed again. "There's nothing I can really do Twilight… I'm not as good in magic as you are…" I told her earnestly, even though she remained asleep. "I guess we just need…a miracle…" Suddenly, something began glowing with a pulse from within my heart. I stared at it in slight awe. "Can light really help with malicious plants…?"

It can with anything.

And then, there was this sudden burst of light, and I couldn't see anything after that.

I felt the respiration in my lungs. The air circulating. I was okay…I think…

I slowly opened my eyes and was immediately greeted by a blurry light. But once my vision was restored clearly, it was the light from the sun… A sunset…

"W…" I tried to speak and stood up from where I was at. I was on solid ground. Well…not exactly. I reached out towards the railing that was in front of me and grabbed ahold. I looked downwards and almost grew dizzy to the height I was at. I was on some kind of balcony, and I couldn't exactly tell how far off I was from the actual ground. "…wha…?" I tried to question to myself, looking back at the sunset.

"Beautiful. Isn't it?" I heard a voice by me, causing me to turn my head towards the source.

It was a mare…but a mare I'd never seen before. She was smiling out gently towards the sunset as she held out her back legs under the railing. As they were hanging above the disorientating height, she remained unfazed as she calmly held her hooves on the surface she sat on.

Seeing her reminded me about Twilight and the trouble we were in.

"Twilight?!" I called out worriedly.

This caused the mare to giggle for some reason. "Relax, she's fine. You both are."

For some reason…this…soothed me. I felt like…I could trust her.

"Who are you…?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Really?" She turned towards me, revealing her entire face which both shocked and intrigued me. "You forgot already?"

The first thing I noticed were her eyes. I'd never seen a pony with eyes like hers. They were…each a different color. Her left eye was a darkened bluish color. I couldn't exactly tell…but it looked perhaps the same or identical as my eye color. However, her right eye was filled with the opposite of the same color. In other words, it was blue as well, but more of a…baby blue. Apart from that, her layered mane almost covered them from being seen.

"…huh?" I expressed in confusion, but mainly due to her appearance paralyzing me a bit.

Nonetheless, she chuckled with a soft warm smile. "I guess it's not surprising." She shrugged off. "After all, it's been a pretty long while since we've last seen each other…"

"We've…met before?" I questioned.

"Ouch…" She returned. I could deeply tell she was hurt by that, even though she left her smile on. "A little rough, don't you think?" She managed to bring in a sense of humor.

"I'm sorry…" I took seriously. "Did…I do something wrong…?"

"Don't worry about it." She assured as she looked downwards and swung her back hooves. "It's not like… I really had a chance to experience the world out there with you."

This puzzled me significantly. "…I'm sorry… I'm getting really confused here. I don't understand."

"Oopsie." She reacted, as if she had made a mistake. "Guess I probably shouldn't have mentioned that, huh?"

"Uh…" I had no idea of what to say to that. Nevertheless, she tenderly stood up and began walking around lightly as she remained staring at the endless but breath-taking sky. I shook my head and popped out another question I should have asked before. "What's your name anyway?"

She stopped in her tracks in silence. "This is going to sound really silly…but…" She turned towards me. "I don't actually have a name."

"What…?" I was filled with confusion yet again for obvious reasons. "You don't have a name…?"

"Nope." She answered as if it was actually really no big deal for her. "Unless…you have one for me?"

"No offense…" I responded. "…but why would I?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if you did."

She was leaving me with so many questions than I had before that I slipped out a drawn out sigh. I even shook my head a bit in slight frustration. "Geez… You're acting like if you're my spirit or something…"

"Hey…" She spoke out in an interested tone. "That doesn't sound too bad at all."

"Huh?" I questioned.

"Spirit. Spirit…" She stared down with a hoof placed to her mouth in thought. "Sounds fitting…no?" She looked up towards me. "At least for now." She giggled with a closed smile.

"Well…that wasn't really my intention but…if it makes you happy." I mentioned honestly.

"Mm-hm." She nodded her head and sat right down next to me, returning to gazing out at the sunset. "You know… I'm really glad I was able to spend time with you like this, Alex…"

Becoming confused yet again, I had to ask another question. "How do you know my name?"

"Oops." She quickly reacted. "There I go running off my mouth again." She giggled. "But you should probably wake up now, Alex. Return to your friends. And celebrate with them when you save everypony. It makes me happy either way."

My right eye squinted in confusion. "What are you—?"

"Sorry!" She immediately interrupted with an apology. "My mistake again! Bye bye!" She waved her hoof before another flash of light erupted before my eyes, blinding me from everything else.

I felt my hooves slowly touch the floor, as if they had been in mid-air. My eyes began opening, and I was surprised to see all the girls there in front of me. Was this another dream? Or was this real?

"Alex!" Fluttershy rushed towards me to place a hoof on me.

"Are you okay?!" Twilight approached me as well. "Are you hurt?!"

Still feeling a little light-headed, I shook my head and answered. "I don't think so… What happened?"

"Spike came running towards us when we found the Tree of Harmony." Applejack explained. "He told us you two were in trouble. When we rushed over here, we only found you two. Only… Twilight was on the ground sleeping and you were more like…levitatin'…"

"…you didn't see any of those flower things…?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Nope. I don't know what happened to 'em."

"It must have been you…" Twilight stated. "You did something to save me…"

"I don't know…" I placed a hoof to my head. "I don't even know what I did…but… I'm just glad you all are safe."

Applejack released a breath of relief. "We're all glad that you came looking for us."

"Not as glad as we are that you found us." Twilight instantly returned with a relieved smile.

"The truth of it is…" Rarity included. "…we're simply lost without you two."

"Yeah. Equestria may need its prince and princess..." Rainbow began.

"...but we need our friends." Fluttershy finished, leading to a group hug among them all. "…you being a special occasion…" Fluttershy whispered to me with a blush.

I couldn't help but warm up as well to that comment.

After everypony pulled away, I looked towards all of them. "Now, where did you find the Tree of Harmony?"

"It's right over here." Applejack directed, walking us to our objective. "C'mon!"

The result Twilight and I saw after following Applejack was not surprising to us, but still very shocking. What once appeared as a beautiful tree in our vision of the past was now no longer filled with light as the evil of the Everfree Forest was wrapped tightly around it.

Twilight walked ahead foremost, leading me to follow her. She then spread out her wings and flew towards the tree. I repeated the same action and flew by her side. She was in front of her cutie mark, so I allowed her to do what she felt she needed to do. When she tried to stretch out a hoof to touch it, one of the roots immediately wrapped itself around Twilight's hoof, causing her to gasp and lightly yelp. I quickly focused my horn to aggressively shoot out a beam at it, splitting it in half. Nonetheless, it grew even more defensive of the tree, wrapping more around Twilight's cutie mark.

"Are you okay?" I asked Twilight as she lightly rubbed her attacked hoof.

"Y…yeah…" She answered while continuing to look at the tree.

"What do you think we should do…?" I questioned, returning my attention to the tree.

Twilight analyzed all over the tree and thought for a moment. Then, she furrowed her eyebrows and sighed. "Something we thought we'd never have to do…" She turned around and landed on the ground in front of the girls as I joined her. "I know how we can save the tree." Twilight announced. "We have to give it the Elements of Harmony."

All of the girls immediately reacted with stunned and concerned faces.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, heh. How are we supposed to protect Equestria?" Rainbow Dash brought up, landing in front of Twilight.

"How are we meant to rein Discord in if we can't use the Elements to turn him back to stone?" Rarity added, stepping forward.

"Twilight... The Elements of Harmony..." Applejack mentioned, bringing herself in front. "They're what keep us connected no matter what."

"You're right about one thing, Applejack. The Elements of Harmony did bring us together. But it isn't the Elements that will keep us connected. It's our friendship. And it's more important and more powerful than any magic." Twilight returned, beginning to relieve those who were once upset. "Our new role in Equestria may mean we have to take on new responsibilities, and our friendships may be tested, but it will never, ever be broken."

"Twilight's right…" I spoke out. "But to be more specific, it's our hearts." I placed a hoof in my chest. "If you truly care about someone…" I closed my eyes and looked inside of me. "You won't forget about them, even if you lose the one thing that originally connected you in the first place. They'll always hold a place in your heart…and that'll never go away. Even if you do forget them, it doesn't erase that memory that's engraved in your heart. You'll just have to work a little harder to remember it, step by step." I opened my eyes and looked at them all with a smile. "The Elements of Harmony are just objects for our friendship. I can feel…our connection in my heart, at least. It's almost like there's an invisible and limitless cord holding you all in. I know from experience… No matter how far you all are, I'll always feel your presence somehow…"

Twilight nodded. "Exactly… The fate of Equestria needs our Elements a lot more than we do. We can go on without keeping them." Returning back to the matter, she readied herself. "There's no time to lose. Everypony ready?"

"Wait, hold on a second!" Applejack suddenly halted with her hoof. "What about Alex?!"

"Huh…?" I questioned, looking at her curiously.

Applejack walked towards me with worried eyes. "Twilight, you said we needed to give it the Elements of Harmony. But what about Alex? His Element is inside him. How is that going to work? Are we going to lose him?"

This immediately brought distress among all of the girls, causing them to talk out fearfully.

I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. "Relax, everyone…" I said, ceasing their restless comments. For some reason…I didn't think too much of it, and I didn't worry about it either. It just felt like…something I just needed to do. "Don't think the worst in this situation. Whatever happens happens. If this is supposed to be the end, then it is. But… I know I won't go out like this." I assured. "You just have to trust that things will be alright in this predicament. I don't feel like it's my time yet."

There was a moment of silence before Applejack finally sighed. "Okay. We trust you."

I nodded and then turned to Twilight. "We're all ready."

Hesitating for a moment, she managed to nod as well. She focused her magic on the girls' necklaces, taking out their Elements one by one. As they circled around her, she finally removed hers. Then, she turned towards the tree and placed them all carefully in the area they belonged. When she was finished, nothing happened, but that was expected.

"Alright…" I mentioned under my breath. "Looks like I'm up…"

As soon as I began walking towards the tree, something strange happened. Each of the Elements began glowing, and the closer I got, the brighter the glow grew. The same exact thing happened with the glow that formed from my heart. When I was right in front of the tree, the light was at its highest potential, as if something was ready to unleash significantly. I took in another deep breath and then slowly flew up towards the middle. However, I was attacked by the roots trying to kill the tree. They began wrapping themselves around my hooves and pulling, attempting to stop me from doing my job. I knew I needed to not panic, otherwise I couldn't do anything. I closed my eyes and pretended nothing was trying to stop me. I took in another deep breath and finally allowed the power from my heart to take over.

A burst of light seemed to explode from me. As I felt the power purifying everything from the Tree of Harmony towards the plague of Everfree roots, I continued feeling…fine… But that wasn't the end, I remained levitating in the air, my eyes filled with blinding light once again. I felt the tree regain it's power while I continued to be the source.

"We know how difficult it must have been for you to give up the Elements." I heard distinctly behind me. It was Princess Celestia… That's it… They were freed… "It took great courage to relinquish them."

"But… Alex…" Twilight answered, afraid that the possibility of losing me was creeping onto them.

However, I felt one more pump from within me, transferring the light onto the tree. Through the light in my eyes, I could see all of the Elements connect towards Twilight's, and then finally lower towards Celestia's and Luna's cutie marks.

I lastly found myself slowly drifting towards the floor until I just rested upon it. I still felt…normal…but very weak. I heard Twilight quickly dash over to me. She kneeled towards me and placed her hooves on my body. "Alex?! Are you okay?!"

I couldn't really bring up the strength to form a word. I only almost mumbled something.

Another pair of hooves joined us. "He's fine." My mother's voice assured. "He needs rest. His strength has been almost completely exhausted."

Twilight released a relieved sigh. However, through my slightly opened eyes, we all noticed something sprout from within the tree. Everypony gazed at it earnestly in awe. Twilight slowly pulled out a hoof and poked at it. The flower bloomed, revealing more striking light for a moment before it faded away. A box specific to a certain shape was inside. There were…keyholes on each side… Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and even I were able to gaze in curiosity at it.

"What's inside it? How am I supposed to open it?" Twilight asked between them.

"Six locks, six keys." My mother explained the situation.

"I do not know where they are." Tia shared after having both my mom and Twilight look at her for answers. "But I do know that it is a mystery you will not be solving alone."

"Come on, young one…" Luna used her magic to place my worn out body on her. "Let us return home."

It was funny and even a little bit scary that I really couldn't move any of my legs or wings, but I was just really relieved I seemed to be fine, and I was surrounded by the ones I loved. With this, I was easily able to rest my eyes, so I could at least get some energy back.

What seemed after a short time, I was suddenly jolted awake with the sound of a loud party horn. I quickly looked around to see confetti, banners, and signs pointed towards us. Normally, I would have guessed it was Pinkie, but Discord had appeared before us with a foam finger of number one. Princess Celestia seemed to have left, but my mother was still carrying me as we had just escaped the forest.

"Bravo, ladies, bravo!" Discord cheered out loud, seeming to not notice how weary I was. "How ever did you save the day this time? Blast the beastie with your magic necklaces, I presume? Where are those little trinkets of yours? You know, the ones you use to send me back to my extremely uncomfortable stone prison?" He noticed that the Elements were gone.

Applejack sighed, knowing what ideas he most likely would get if he found out what happened. "Gone." She answered.

"Gone? Gone?" He repeated in a very intrigued tone, tapping his paw and claw together while looking up with obvious bad intentions.

"But our friendship remains!" Fluttershy immediately tended to, having him remove that smug grin off his face. "And if you want to remain friends, you'll stop thinking whatever it is you're thinking and help us clean up!" Her scolding had him slowly shrink to a miniscule size before he disappeared and reappeared in a maid's outfit.

"Fine. But I don't do windows." He returned, holding up a feather duster.

I couldn't really go back to sleep, but it was still nice to rest in the comfort of Luna.

"One thing I don't get. Why did all this happen now?" Applejack inquired about to Twilight.

"I have no idea." Discord surprisingly answered. "Those seeds I planted should have sprouted up ages ago."

"What did you say?!" Twilight instantly reacted in a hostile manner.

"Oh, why should I try to explain it when you can see for yourself?" Discord summoned the same vial that held the white liquid, allowing Twilight to retrieve it with her magic. "Oh, and one for you too." He slightly mocked, having the same fluid in a glass to make it appear as if it was a glass of warm milk. He gave it to me carefully and patted my mane like a baby.

My mother returned an angry look towards him. Nevertheless, she was more concerned about my well-being. "Are you sure you're well enough in partaking of this…?"

"I'm fine…" I managed to express tiredly. "It's just a vision…" I turned towards Twilight and weakly nodded.

She understood and we both took several gulps of the liquid until our eyes filled with bright light.

"Play time is over for you, Discord!" We saw Tia and my mother confronting Discord again.

"Oh, I doubt that." He returned and offered his bag of snacks. "Hungry?"

However, instead, we were focused more towards those "snacks" that fell towards the ground. At the same time, we could hear Discord's present voice. "Well, obviously things didn't go according to my original plan. My plunder seeds should have stolen the magic from the Tree of Harmony and captured Princess Celestia and Princess Luna thousands of moons ago." He explained as we were able to see the roots spread all throughout the ground until they were directly under the Tree of Harmony. However, there was some sort of magic protecting it, preventing the roots from ever reaching the top. "Alas, it seems the tree had enough magic to keep the seeds from growing up big and strong. Until now, that is."

After, we were immediately back to the present, leaving Twilight to shake her head. "You realize this is information we could have used hours ago?!" She expressed furiously.

"And rob you of a valuable lesson about being prince and princess? What kind of friend do you think I am?" He pulled against Twilight's cheek. She only returned silence as she glared ahead in irritation.

I had no energy to give commentary on any of that. I rather allowed my head to fall on my mother and for my eyes to slowly droop downwards. Anything that was spoken after that was drained and faded out.

I didn't know how much time had gone by, but the next thing I remembered seeing was that same sunset from before. I was lying down, but I had the energy to sit back up. In fact, I felt full of energy at the current moment.

"Hi, again." Her voice lightly startled me.

I turned in an almost jerky motion and noticed her observing me. "Oh, it's you…"

"I guess you're not too happy to see me, huh?" She answered, unclear whether she was joking or not.

"What? No, no." I quickly corrected. "I didn't mean it like that."

"I know." She glanced downwards and swung her back legs again. Then, she picked up her left hoof and rubbed her right foreleg with it. It appeared as if something was bothering her.

"…are you okay?" I asked, walking towards her.

"Mmm." She responded, hesitating on her words. She sucked her lips in worriedly. She turned back to me and looked me over for a moment. She sighed and looked away.

I don't know why, but for some reason, this mare felt nowhere close to a stranger to me. Spirit…the name I had apparently given her… A lot of things confused me about her. I wonder if she knew what we were doing where we were in the first place. Nonetheless, I decided to sit next to her. "What's the matter?" I tried to talk to her.

She remained silent for a moment until she hurriedly shook her head. "Forget about it." She then seemed to forcefully pull out a smile. "So, what's up?"

"…I still have a lot of questions for you…" I answered truthfully while keeping my eyes on hers.

"Like what…?" The meaningless joy she revealed seemed to disappear despite her effort.

"I still don't know who exactly you are." I began. "I mean, first of all, where are we? Is this like a dream or something?"

"Yeah…" She looked upwards towards the sky. "I guess you could say it's like a dream. I mean…it's really more complex than that…but…" She shrugged lightly.

"What about you?" I brought up yet again. "How come I've never seen you before? And why is it I've only seen you here, just now? Do you live in Equestria too somewhere? Do you have the power to manipulate dreams as well?"

She continued to stare almost emotionlessly off into the distance. "…I'm afraid…I can't tell you that."

"You can't tell me because…you don't know or you just don't want to tell me…?" I followed up.

She stopped right there. She made another small sound, as if she couldn't talk anymore because of her emotions. Realizing that, I quickly disengaged the topic. "You know what? Forget I asked…" I told her in a caring way, rather than a rude manner.

It was silent for yet another moment until she managed to talk again. "Listen…" She spoke, catching my attention. "…can I…do you…think…" She stumbled upon words for some reason. "I mean…" She sighed, giving up for a second. "Okay…I know this is going to sound weird…and I hope I don't weird you out but…" She paused. "…can I please hug you?"

For another strange reason, there was this jolt inside me, as if this simple request actually struck me deeply inside. I definitely couldn't decline that request, she looked like she absolutely needed it. Besides, I wouldn't have anyway…

"Sure…" I returned, a little stunned.

She lightly gasped, but quickly tried to hold it back. She looked away for a moment and then softly stood up. I stood up as well in order to meet her face-to-face. We looked at each other for a while. I don't know why, but as I looked at her eyes, I could see that she saw me in a much different way. It's like…she knew me as if she's known me all my life while I only knew her for a day. Well, by what I could remember…

She slowly lifted up her hoof and touched me. As she did, her mouth was slightly agape as if she was experiencing something she's been waiting her whole life for. Water then began filling in her eyes as she felt my coat. After several seconds, she quickly and instantly threw her forelegs around me. Her embrace was tight, proving more meaningful than any other ordinary hug. The force she placed caused me to release a puff of air, but it didn't make me uncomfortable. My heart dropped, but it was in a positive reaction. For some reason, I've been wanting this certain connection…but why? It was all still so confusing to me…I didn't know what to make of it…

She closed in her forelegs more, tightening her grip and bringing her closer to me. I could feel her rub her head against mainly my neck. It almost seemed as if she didn't want to let go. Despite my mixed feelings about this, I decided to place my forelegs around her as well. I couldn't return the same effort she placed, as I…well…didn't seem to have the same feelings she had.

After a moment, she slowly pulled away, raising a hoof to place a loose strand of her mane behind her ear. "Sorry…I probably did it for too long…"

"No…no… It's fine…" I answered softly.

She stared down at the floor. "…thank you."

"Anytime…" I could only respond with.

Finally, she looked up with a warm smile once again. "You like the night, right?"

"Oh…yeah." I answered.

She looked out towards the sunset and placed her hooves on the railing. "I personally like the sunset. It's like…a balance between both day and night. It's not too sunny, but it's not too dark either…"

"I see what you mean." I returned, joining her and placing my hooves on the railing as well.

"You want to see how it looks during night?" She asked.

"Huh?" I responded with. Nevertheless, she closed her eyes, focused a bit, and suddenly the sunset vanished, and the sky was greeted with a full moon. There were many stars lit up across the sky itself. I was pretty amazed to this. It was like a dream…but there was still many questions I had. "Wow…" I shared as I was almost breathless.

She lightly giggled. "Yeah." We both looked around in silence for a moment before she spoke again. "Well, I guess you should probably wake up now. You've got something important planned to do."

"What was that again…?" I questioned, not being able to remember at the moment.

"Summer Sun Celebration silly." She briefly answered.

Those words immediately clicked in my mind. "Oh, right! Um…" I looked around in question. "…how do I wake up?"

"Just close your eyes in here." She directed. "And kind of focus on opening them in real life. If you wanted to just remain dreaming normally, then you'd just keep your eyes closed and your mind clear."

"Okay…" I understood, but for some reason hesitated waking up as soon as I heard those instructions. "I guess…I'll see you later."

Her smile slightly stretched. "Don't worry. You will."

"Goodnight." I expressed until I realized that I was technically already sleeping and was about to wake up. "I mean…" I tried thinking of what the appropriate phrase would be but failed and gave up. "…you know what I mean."

She giggled with a hoof in front of her mouth. "Bye." She waved.

I nodded and then closed my eyes. The transition from the dream world to real life felt very weird, but I suppose that how dreams always worked. Sooner or later, I found myself opening my eyes for real this time. Doing so gave me a strange feeling. Even though seeing Spirit felt so real, I somewhat still felt that she was just a part of my imagination. I couldn't officially decide as if she was totally something, or just a figment of my subconscious.

"You're awake now, my son." I heard by me.

I turned to see Luna staring at me softly as she rested her head on her front hooves. "Oh…hey, Mom…" I looked around to notice we were in her room. "…how long was I out?"

"Long enough for the Summer Sun Celebration to be beginning in a few hours." She answered.

"Oh, geez…" I rubbed my head lightly.

She placed a hoof on my head and brushed my mane carefully. "You were deeply exhausted, Alex. You nearly deprived yourself of life."

"What?" I questioned with widened eyes. "Really?"

"Well…perhaps I was stretching it a bit…" She reassured. "But you were certainly unfit for any kind of activity. The first thing you needed was slumber and rest."

"Oh…okay…"

"Do you believe you're strong enough to participate in the Summer Sun Celebration?" She asked caringly.

I stood up, mainly to emphasize how ready I was. "Yeah, of course."

Luna stood as well and nodded in agreement. "Then, let us join the others."

At the main stage in Canterlot, where the event would take place, I waited almost nervously for the arrival of the entire crowds. With me was Celestia, Luna, and Twilight.

"Hey…how are you doing?" Twilight approached me, wanting to know of my condition ever since the return of the Elements of Harmony.

"I feel okay. I don't really feel like anything's changed…" I stared down at my chest.

Twilight smiled softly and looked slightly away. "That's good… I wanted to come see you while you were resting, but Princess Luna was with you, and you know how protective she is over you."

"Hm." I only returned, feeling a little embarrassed. "Yeah…"

"Also…um…" She paused for a small while. "Do you…still have your Element?"

"I… I think so…" I thought about it pretty hard. "I mean…if the Element is my heart…and I pretty much need a heart to live…I would think I still held it." I chuckled a bit at the thought.

"Hm. That's interesting…" Twilight replied. "Maybe…all the tree needed was your light to activate all the Elements inside?"

"Maybe." The loud and interruptive sound of the trumpet fanfare ceased our conversation short, causing us to focus back on the event. "I guess that's our cue." I turned to Twilight. "Good luck, Twilight."

"You too, Alex." She returned meaningfully and trotted over to her spot.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna began walking ahead to meet with the entire city of Canterlot, plus some others. "Citizens of Equestria," Celestia began proudly. "It is no longer with a heavy heart but with great joy that I raise the summer sun. For this celebration now represents not the defeat of Nightmare Moon, but the return of my sister, Princess Luna!"

As the ponies in the crowd cheered, my mother turned her head towards me and motioned me to join her by her side. With a positively anxious smile, I quickly did so. After being in position, we both raised ourselves in the air to represent the motion of the moon. Using our magic together, the moon slowly lowered itself behind us.

Tia then gladly joined us by raising both herself and the sun behind us.

I opened my eyes to notice Twilight just about to play her part. She spread out her wings and dashed towards the middle between us as fast as she could. Hoping to help with the appearance, I attempted to use some light from within, leading to an explosion of it just as Twilight performed her act. This led to a truly dazzling display for all the ponies watching.

Afterwards, the sun finally was lit up fantastically in the sky as every one of the ponies released their impressed awe. Tia, Luna, and I landed back on the stage to watch Twilight pull off her landing perfectly. Twilight also turned back to us.

"Now, that's what I call a Sonic Twiboom." I joked, leading her to chuckle almost loudly and grin brightly.

As the crowd dispersed over Canterlot, the girls and Spike were the ones who stayed behind. Twilight and I flew over to greet with them.

"Hey, I really appreciate all of you taking the time to make it here." Twilight glanced over to me. "We both really appreciate it."

"We wouldn't miss it for the world!" Applejack responded gleefully.

"And remember we still have our little appointment?" Rarity reminded.

Twilight delightedly nodded until I spoke up.

"About that…" I began. "Since you all are taking the train ride home back to Ponyville, do you think you could wait half an hour? There's something I need to do first…"

"Sure thing!" Applejack accepted.

"Hey!" Pinkie Pie brought up. "Why don't we go to the sweet shop here?! I really need a cake to stuff my face in right now!"

This led everypony to laugh at hyperactive Pinkie.

"Great then." I shared with a smile. "I'll see you girls really soon, okay?"

They all waved and headed out as they expressed it. After they left, I scanned among the remaining ponies scattered around to see if I could find Rosy. Going through some walking and head turning, I believe I found her sitting on a bench.

Wanting to make sure it was her, I carefully walked towards her. I took advantage, as she was staring quietly and patiently to the floor. Fortunately, there were some key things that revealed it was the right pony, especially her small and petite glasses.

"Hey, sorry to keep you waiting." I greeted her.

"Oh!" She answered, not expecting to see me at the time she must have been thinking about something else. "Sorry… I was daydreaming a bit…"

"It's fine." I assured with a soft smile. "I don't mean to rush you, but we better get going. I'd like to make with the most time we have."

"Yes, of course." She stood up.

When we were ready, we began heading towards the nearest outdoor restaurant in Canterlot.

"You looked really amazing back there…" She complimented as we sat across from each other in one of the tables. "I hope this doesn't sound rude…but I never really expected you would be where you are now…"

"Yeah…" I answered as I slightly looked away. "I guess I didn't either…"

"If I'm still in such a position to say so… I'm proud of you." She mentioned sincerely.

"…thanks for that." I took a while to return something, but I really did mean it.

"While we're here, is there anything you wanted to talk about?" She asked.

I thought about it for some time. "Well…" Since she was here…I was…kind of…wanting to know what Starlight had been up to lately. "Have you seen Starlight lately?"

"Hm…" She took a moment to think. "She's visited home every now and then. Why?"

"I've…seen her for a few times now."

"Oh…" She returned, recalling the time she saw us together. "…right. Are things still…?"

I lightly shook my head. "I don't know. Things have been really weird for us… She acts like she hates me…but I can tell there's something much more to her than she's putting out."

This caused Rosy to grin a bit for some reason. "You should have seen her when she was just a teenager. She went through this…crazy phase."

"What do you mean?" I asked, quite interested now.

"She…did a lot of crazy things. She dyed her hair these dark and bright colors. That's also when she started styling her bang right over her right eye. She was just…dressing really…punkish, I guess you could say."

"Wow." I reacted pretty surprised, but after seeing it in my head for a moment, I kind of wasn't anymore. "I wonder if that's where her aggressive attitude came from."

"Aggressive?" Rosy questioned about, not really being familiar with it.

"Yeah…" I felt a little hesitant in recalling the events. "She even…punched me one time."

She gasped lightly upon hearing this. "Really? When?"

"Eh, just…someday. It's not really a big deal."

"Do you want me to try to talk to her about it?" She offered.

"No thanks. I'd rather handle this on my own. I don't want her getting even angrier because I won't fight my own battles."

"Oh…okay."

When our meals came, we ate for a bit in silence. I don't know about her…but I was still curious about a few other things.

"Hey, Rosy…" I called out softly, staring at my plate.

"Hm?" She looked up in question.

I was hesitant to bring up…him… "…what about…him…?"

"…you mean…?" She seemed to catch on who I was talking about.

"…yeah…" I merely returned.

"I can't really say…" She fumbled a bit with her food. "Honestly…he doesn't seem to be affected by your position at all. I mean…he just seems not to care." Even though I knew I shouldn't have cared for whatever he thought, I still couldn't help but feel…affected by it. "It's like before. He just acts like you've never even existed. Maybe he's even trained himself to completely forget about you." She shrugged lightly. "I just deal with it."

"Oh…" I answered a little depressingly. I knew I couldn't expect him to be…well…better in behavior about it but…

I sighed, accidentally letting Rosy know of a potential weakness.

"Don't let it get to you." Rosy comforted me, placing a hoof on my mine. "You have much more important things to worry about instead of a little old grumpy stallion."

"Yeah…I guess…" I returned.

"…like that sweet pretty mare you're with." She added.

After hearing her say this, a smile was brought upon my face. Seeing Fluttershy's face, it could form a smile on anypony.

Afterwards, I briefly talked to her about the girls and Fluttershy. I didn't have too much time, so I couldn't go over everything. That's when she believed it was time to take off.

"I guess I should be heading home now." She stated. "I know about the many important things you need to take care of."

"Right… Sorry about that." I apologized.

"No need to be sorry." She assured. "I understand your duties are the best for us. We can see each other again another time, okay?"

With a small smile, I nodded. "Okay."

We wished each other a good night...uh...good morning...and temporarily went our own ways.

I met up with the girls at the train station, where I found Pinkie Pie munching on a bundle of cookies before we boarded the train back home. At the same time, I felt happy to be returning home with my best friends, but I also felt distracted by other things on my mind. It was one of the reasons why I didn't talk much during the train ride, but it also could have been for the reason that I felt tired, despite sleeping the entire day/night.

When we finally hopped off the train onto the grounds of Ponyville, we all headed towards Twilight's home, where Rarity was going to begin the discussion of "royal upgrades". I seemed to participate in the manner as I did on the train ride. Don't get me wrong, I loved finally being able to spend time with the girls, but…something just bothered me. I tried to make it unnoticeable towards the others, as I didn't want to ruin their plans just so they could focus on my behavior. After all, I did exert myself so much, which already brought enough concern to me.

Overall, Twilight usually tried to convince Rarity that she didn't really want to be royal with her home when Rarity talked about plans that seemed to completely change the outlook of the library. When Rarity asked for my opinion, I could only try to stick with Twilight's idea or form up my own. Either way, it didn't fuel up my energy.

"Hey, are you alright…?" Fluttershy confronted me after I tended to myself a bit.

"Yeah yeah…" I guaranteed. "I'm just…tired. I guess I'm still pretty exhausted after we fixed the Tree of Harmony."

"Maybe you should get some rest…" She suggested lightly.

"I will in a while. I just want to spend the rest of the night..." I shook my head, correcting myself. "...early morning with you girls." I shared truthfully. "I don't want any of you to worry about me either. I feel fine. Just…really tired."

Fluttershy placed the side of her head against my chest and rubbed warmly. "Okay."

Fluttershy stayed by my side as I couldn't help but slowly feel more and more weary. I even almost fell asleep a few times every now and then. On the other hoof, Twilight and the others, excluding Fluttershy as she was with me, did their own thing together.

Soon enough, the time came when the girls believed it was time to go to bed themselves. Despite feeling a little lightheaded, I really wanted to show the girls how much I appreciated them, especially for those days we were separated temporarily. Managing to make of whatever energy I had left, I hugged each of them meaningfully for a good night/morning whatever. They chuckled warmly, mentioning something about how cute it was that I did that. Nonetheless, they cherished it.

Of course, lastly, I saved a kiss for Fluttershy.

"You'll be okay, right?" Fluttershy asked when the others had already departed.

"Yeah…" I slowly nodded. "Gosh…" I rubbed my eye with my hoof. "It's been a while since I've been this real…you know…"

"Right." Fluttershy understood. "I should let you get some rest now. You need it. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Okay, Fluttershy. Goodnight..." I stated but felt too lazy to correct myself yet again. "...morning..." I mumbled out.

She giggled and decided to stick with my first choice anyway. "Goodnight." She returned, sharing another kiss with me before turning around and heading out the open door.

I sighed sleepily and sat down for a moment, just to rest my eyes so I could maybe last the walk home.

"Hey…" I heard Twilight's voice. "You heading home now?"

"Y…yeah…" I answered, wanting to open my eyes to see her, but they felt comfortable enough to remain shut.

I heard Twilight softly chuckle. She stepped closer to me, and the door closed shut. "How about you sleepover?"

I was pretty surprised to hear this, but my body didn't have the energy to show it. "W…wha… Really…?" I managed to say with my eyes slightly opening.

"Look at you." Twilight presented. "You'll probably fall asleep in the middle of the road." She joked. "C'mon." She grabbed my hoof and guided me upstairs.

"Go ahead and make yourself comfortable." She offered towards her bed. "I'm going to probably be up reading anyway."

"Reading what?" I asked, sitting at the side of the bed.

"That mysterious chest with the six locks we found." She answered, setting herself near a desk with a book. "I'm curious to what may be inside."

"Okay…well, don't…" I felt my body fall against the comfort of the bed as I closed my eyes. "…stay up too late…"

I heard Twilight giggle softly.

"I think you need the sleep more than I do."

Castle Mane-ia

Episode 68 – Castle Mane-ia

The full remembrance of my dreams were gone the instant I became conscious. There were only a few hanging on by a thread and could only be saved if I chose to make the effort to keep them in mind. The dreams themselves were very…intriguing yet disturbing at the same time. I couldn't describe it, nor put them in simple words. However, among these scattered dreams, I could feel that I had another dream with those astronomers. There was something to do with a notebook…or journal that they were keeping information in. This biggest part that bugged me about this was that I still couldn't tell whether they were just playing with my mind or if they were trying to tell me something. It kind of felt the same way I felt about Spirit…

Was I going insane somehow? Or were these things really real?

All of a sudden, I heard a loud groan come from a direction beneath me, along with a book slamming across the wall. This caused me to stretch my eyelids outwards in a shock. My heart gave a great leap before I pushed myself from the bed with my hooves.

"What's wrong, Twilight?" I heard Spike ask downstairs, causing me to stretch my head over to see what was going on.

"Ugh, I've gone through every book I could find here, Spike, and there isn't a single mention of the mysterious chest that came from the Tree of Harmony, nor anything about keys to unlock it!" She explained and held a book open while I decided to get out of bed and walk downstairs. "But something tells me that opening it is pretty important. I hope Princess Celestia has some ideas. If the library in Canterlot doesn't have anything, I-I don't know where else to look!"

Hearing this news, I confronted Twilight about it. "You didn't get any sleep at all, did you, Twilight?" Some of my worry slipped in, knowing that all of the work she supposedly done definitely wouldn't have allowed her time to rest.

Instead of responding to my question, she grew more concerned about me. "Oh gosh, Alex. Did I wake you up?! I'm sorry!" She apologized.

"Don't worry about me." I walked towards her and placed a hoof around her while speaking to her caringly. "What about you, Twilight? Aren't you exhausted?"

"No, no…" She shook her head. "I'm fine, really. I've gone longer days without sleeping…"

Remembering back before with the whole time business dilemma, I reconsidered my concern. "No kidding…" Still, even so, I felt she might have been too worked up over the chest we found at the Tree of Harmony. "I just don't want you to get so stressed out over this locked chest, Twilight… Maybe it's just something we'll need to let time do most of the work on."

Twilight sighed and looked over to the floor with a troubled frown. "I suppose you're right, Alex… But still… It's something that I just can't easily let go…"

Feeling it suitable to offer an easing smile, I lifted up a hoof in preparation to offer a suggestion. "Maybe there's something else you'd like exploring to keep your mind off it?"

Spike unexpectedly released a loud belch in the middle of our conversation. Twilight turned towards him to receive the letter that appeared. Finally forming a grin, she opened the letter and began reading out loud. "My dearest pupils, while it would be perfectly lovely to have you two in Canterlot once more, I have another option in mind much closer to Ponyville." Twilight paused for a moment, glanced over to me, and shared a word in slight surprise and question. "Huh?" Nonetheless, she returned to her reading. "As you know, the ancient castle that I once shared with Princess Luna lies mostly in ruins, deep in the Everfree Forest. But if you look carefully, you may find a book that could prove helpful to your research, hidden somewhere in what's left of the castle library." Twilight slowly lowered the letter below her sight. "A book? Research? Relating to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?" Her eyes raced side to side from her excited thoughts. "That sounds like so much fun!"

"But…that means we have to go through the Everfree Forest again…" Spike brought up a little fearfully.

"We just have to take the path towards the old castle the Princesses used to live in." I mentioned to hopefully ease his distress. "The Everfree Forest isn't as crazy as it was. It's back to being its creepy average self."

"Yeah, Spike!" Twilight agreed gleefully as she already began walking her way to the front door. "It'll be like a walk in the park!"

"Huh…" Spike returned, walking after her in a little irritated mood. "I'd rather take a walk in a real park…"

Shaking my head with light happiness, I walked on after them.

Ever since that crazy ordeal with the Everfree Forest, I've started feeling calmer about the forest overall. Of course, it was still dangerous, but seeing the area spiral out of control recently makes the usual scene easy to endure.

It wasn't until the bridge leading towards the ruins stopped me for a moment. Something about it just…had me thinking for a while. Ever since our last use when we stopped Nightmare Moon, it's apparently been restored from a once rickety old creaky wooden bridge. But for some reason…invisible memories seemed to appear in my mind.

"Hey, Alex…?" Twilight caught my attention, leading me to notice her looking back at me while she and Spike were in the middle of the bridge. "You coming?"

"Oh yeah." I shook my head to focus on our new task. "Sorry about that." I trotted towards them to catch up.

"Everything okay?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah. I was just thinking for a bit." I answered as we continued heading towards the former castle.

Once we were inside, we looked around for a bit. It had been so long since I last was here. I could barely remember anything about it. I turned to Twilight, hoping she would know where to go. "Do you have any idea how to find the library here?"

She returned a shrug with a sense of hope. "How hard can it be? We just have to look through every room we find. Every library has to be some place you can find easily."

"Okay…" I responded, continuing to walk along with her.

I would have advised splitting up to find it, but seeing the structure of the castle, I figured that wasn't such a good idea. Besides, certain areas were blocked up with fallen pieces of the building. Of course, we probably could have moved them with magic, but the most sensible thing would be to check the easiest areas first.

Twilight and I decided to check the lower levels first. When we descended down the stairs with an uneasy Spike, we noticed a room straight ahead in the hallway. Around the sides were a few broken pieces of the wall as well. Twilight walked towards the first room we saw with the huge opened double doors. Seeing what laid ahead, she immediately gasped in a joyous manner.

Assuming she found it, I stepped out of staring out into the dark hallways and joined Twilight and Spike.

"Wow! Look at all these ancient books!" She rushed inside and flew all around what she visualized as treasure. "It's a veritable goldmine of information! I can't believe it! Woo-hoo!"

Meanwhile, Spike walked forward, cautiously eyeing the place until he stumbled onto a web. "Whoa, whoa-whoa!" He shortly freaked out, flailing his claws around. He tripped just after. "Oof!" When he began recovering, he yelped in fear due to seeing an Alicorn statue with spiders staring back at him. "Uh, heh-heh. So, uh, Twilight." He managed to remove the webs from him. "Uh, ready to head home?"

"Are you kidding?" Twilight beamed from the stack of books she was already working on. "This place is perfect!" She grinned and dove straight inside of them.

Spike rocked to himself fearfully with teeth chattering as spiders roamed around him.

Using my magic, I picked him up and placed him on my back. "I don't really like the look of this place either…" I answered as I looked around cautiously. "I don't like the sight of…these types of insects…" I raised a hoof in order to keep it clear from another spider.

"Aw, come on." Twilight spoke during her shuffling of several books. "They aren't going to bother you. Just keep your mind off them."

"That's easy for you to say…" I returned, heading towards where Twilight was at while making sure to steer clear from the spiders.

Nonetheless, Twilight continued rummaging through any piece of information she could find. "I still can't believe it! A whole new discovery of fascinating and remarkable information!" She grabbed several books and hugged them all together. "Wait!" She realized. "We're going to need something first so there're no interruptions…"

"…what exactly?" I asked.

She hopped off the pile of books she was on and landed in front of me. "Light!" She poked me in the chest, and then walked past me to head out of the room.

However, as she walked behind me, I managed to look upwards and notice there was a second floor to this library. "Maybe there are some candles up there?" I pointed.

Twilight changed her direction and analyzed the area along with me. "Oh, hey. What do you know? Good eye!"

I smirked and decided to tease her a bit. "Coming from the mare who fell in love with these books as soon as she saw them?"

"Shut up!" She shoved me playfully and then laughed when she began flying over to the second floor.

Finding it silly how we didn't bother to look for stairs, I spread out my wings and flew after her.

I looked around in a skim while Twilight focused on one particular area. Spike held his claws on my coat as he struggled to climb down. "Geez." He mentioned. "Maybe I should start riding on your back from now on."

"You should know Twilight would probably go through anything for books." I answered with a small grin.

"Hmph." He concluded with crossed claws.

"Did you find any candles?" Twilight called out to us.

Spike and I looked around, but couldn't see anything from our limited sight. Just a bunch of dusty old books I'd personally rather not open.

"I don't think so." I returned back.

"Hmm." She rubbed her chin with her hoof. "There must be another place we can look in… Some place that is sure to have some source of light."

"As long as it's not dark or scary or anything…" Spike commented while shivering lightly as we returned to Twilight.

"You sure anything like that is still here?" I inquired as Twilight, Spike, and I walked towards on the path that remained on the second floor.

"There has to be!" Twilight responded hopefully. "There's no way these books can be here all on their own!"

Feeling encouraged along with her, I smiled lightly. "Whatever you say, Twi."

Surprisingly, taking the path on the second floor led us back to the center of where we started in the first place. We were at the far end of the room where across us lied another hallway. Connecting the same route we were on were stairs that led to the first floor. Interesting…design?

Nonetheless, Twilight led us towards the extended hallway across us. "Ooh! Maybe there's a study room nearby? That's bound to have a few candles in there!"

When we reached the location, there were several rooms, but most of them were closed, either locked or unlocked. There was one, in which the door was ajar. However, there was no light within. Twilight used her magic to open the door fully. But the room was still completely dark.

"Uh…Twilight…?" Spike began rubbing his claws together fearfully. "A-are you sure you want to go in there?"

"Please, Spike. There's nothing to be afraid of." Twilight assured. "The worst things that can be inside are more spiders."

Spike's eyes dilated. "Yeah…um…I…I'm not going in there."

"Fine." Twilight agreed easily, closing her eyes with her beam remaining. "Alex and I will just go inside alone instead. "C'mon!" She cheerfully but calmly requested me to follow her.

"…alright." I answered a little hesitantly. Darkness and spiders definitely did not mix well in my book, but I still couldn't let her go on her own. Twilight and I managed to produce some light from our horns in order for us to see better, but it still didn't reveal the entire room. As we walked further inside, I swore I could see some black spots move across the room. Nevertheless, Twilight and I searched any areas that would most likely contain a possible light source. I really didn't want to touch anything, considering about how much dust, webs, or even insects could be lying on the spot I'd place my hoof on. Wow… Am I turning into Rarity?

"See anything, Alex?" Twilight asked casually.

"Not really…" I only sent back.

"Hmm…" She expressed curiously as she continued to fumble with stuff. "Hey!" She suddenly exclaimed out, starling me a bit. "I think I found something!" I walked over to her to bring the light of my horn closer. It appeared to be one of those objects to hold several candles on. Directing my light more towards the top, I could see whitish slick items in a pattern.

"Let's bring it outside." I advised.

Twilight used her magic to hold the object while I kept my magic on to light the way. Fortunately, whatever light there was outside of the room managed to make things just a little easier.

"Did you guys find anything?" Spike immediately asked as we walked out.

"Let's see…" Twilight placed the item down for all of us to see. "Aha! Yes!" She expressed as we saw it to be more than what we were looking for. "Wow…" Twilight rather gazed at it. "I wonder if this is the same candle holder Princess Celestia would use to read back then."

"Maybe…" Spike contributed briefly.

"Spike, light these for me, please?" Twilight asked. Seeing it'd be better anyway, Spike released out a belch of flame to light all the candles on one go. "Thank you!" She expressed before heading back most likely to the library.

"You guys didn't have to go through all that trouble to find these candles, you know…" Spike spoke as the three of us walked across the far end of the center of the building again. "I don't think I'll need all these candles. I was really only scared for a second."

"Oh, these aren't for you, Spike." Twilight answered as she held the lit candles with her magic. "We're gonna be studying late into the night, and we're gonna need all the light we can get."

This caused him to stop for a moment to express his hidden misery. "Oh, great." He continued on behind us.

"Here?" I questioned to clarify on. "Late into the night?"

"Yep." Twilight's bright face soon formed into a saddened one. "Unless…you didn't want to stay here…?"

"Well…I have to admit…this place is already a little…uncomfortable…" I answered truthfully, but I didn't want to let her down. "…but I suppose I can stay here as long as you're around." I ended with an assuring smile.

"Thanks…" She released the same expression. "But I also don't want to make you feel like you have to stay…"

"It's fine." I responded. "It'll be kind of like…I don't know…a Nightmare Night thing?" I shrugged, not knowing what exactly to compare it to.

Twilight chuckled softly. "Sure…"

Remaining on the second floor, Twilight turned to a long-lengthed table and placed the candles in the middle. As she continued setting up her station, I couldn't help but notice how dark it already was. It wasn't clear on whether it was still sunny outside, as the structure of the building seemed to hold back most of the light anyway. Either way, it was like night time inside, proving the usefulness of the lit candles.

Twilight had organized a large stack of books for her to read through and placed them on the table. Spike decided to take one and sit on the chair across the table from Twilight, since he was going to have to stay with her apparently all night anyway. Twilight grabbed a book from the top of her stack and began focusing her attention on it.

I honestly didn't feel like reading, but I sat near Twilight anyway. The library was engulfed with silence, and I could only hear the little things in the background. I waited a while, but then soon grew tired of sitting and doing nothing. Instead, I rested my head on the table and closed my eyes. I was just happy that there were no spiders creeping around.

"You sure you don't want to go home…?" I heard Twilight softly ask me.

"Oh…" I opened my eyes to see her. "No, it's okay…" I yawned a bit. "I'd rather stay here with you, anyway. I wouldn't want anything bad to happen."

"Hm…" She could only smile a bit at me and then face Spike. "Find anything, Spike?"

He allowed the huge book he had to fall directly on the table. "Uh, nope. Nothing yet." However, he turned his eyes towards something moving near the table. It suddenly jumped out towards him, causing him to scream and fall back. "Aaah!"

However, it was to all of our surprise when we noticed what it actually was.

"Angel? What are you doing here?" Twilight asked, completely not expecting his visit. Before I could have any say, the two bookcases closest to us spread out, blowing out the candles and revealing a secret room beyond. The four of us gathered at this sight, leaving Twilight to gasp. "Whoa!" We noticed very recognizable decorations, which mainly displayed the use of the sun and the moon. But the most intriguing part was a certain book right in the center of the room. Twilight pondered about it and then appeared right before it, leading us to walk in after her. "The Journal of the Two Sisters." She read.

Gasping yet again, she quickly took the book and sat nearby on the closest cushion, immediately making herself comfortable. "Maybe this is the book Princess Celestia was talking about!" Angel hopped over to her and sat on her back to look at the book as well.

"Well…" I looked around, noticing how much…cleaner it was. "It does look a lot better to stay in than outside…" However, I placed my attention back to the sudden appearance of Angel. "Anyways, Angel, where did you come from? Shouldn't you be with Fluttershy at her cottage?"

He only returned a narrowed stare as if he had no intention to talking to me.

I sighed, feeling no point to continue on with the questions any further. "Fluttershy's probably worried sick about you and you don't care. Okay." I placed myself on the pillow near Twilight, but I thought more about other things than the book Twilight found. Ever since discovering Angel, I began only really thinking about Fluttershy. Did Angel scamper away from home and into the Everfree Forest, later wondering onto this castle? I don't know…but what if Fluttershy is actually around here herself? …what would she be doing here anyway?

These thoughts began worrying me, but there was nothing I could do to relieve them. I couldn't go out around the castle looking for her if it's only a possibility. Besides…if she was really in trouble, Angel would at least tell me or give me a sign about it…right?

"Psst!" I heard, jolting me away from my thoughts. I quickly looked towards the source of the sound, which was at the doorway. I found it to be an immediately recognizable mare, who was motioning her hoof to follow her outside.

"Spirit?" I asked with a soft surprised expression.

"What was that?" Twilight questioned, having me turn to face Twilight, and then turn back to see Spirit.

However, she wasn't there anymore, leaving me really puzzled.

"Uh…nothing…" I answered. But I couldn't let that go. I stood up and faced Twilight. "Hey…you're going to stay here and read that book right?"

"Yeah, why?" Twilight returned.

Trying to form a sentence that won't worry or concern her, I still answered her truthfully. "I'm just going…to walk around a bit. Maybe explore a little."

"Are you sure you want to go off on your own?"

"Don't worry." I assured. "I won't be far off."

"Okay…" Twilight allowed her nerves to cease a little. "You'll be careful, right?"

"Yeah, yeah." I nodded.

"Alright…well…please don't take too long."

"Okay." I understood. "I'll be back, okay?"

"Mm-hm." She expressed as she watched me walk off and out the door.

Once I was out and out of sight, I released a relieved sigh before I was suddenly grabbed ahold of and placed against the wall with another hoof on my mouth.

"Okay, that was close." She said right in front of me, allowing me to speak by removing her hoof.

"Spirit..? What are you doing here?" I questioned greatly before she shushed me.

"Shh!" She looked towards the doorway and then back at me. "Talk softly, okay?"

"…okay…" I decreased the volume of my voice. "…so…are you going to answer my question?"

"Come on." She merely answered with a smile and motioned me to walk with her further away from the room. When we were back at the center of the castle, Spirit spoke more towards me. "Just like old times, huh?" She asked, referencing towards something I still knew nothing of.

"…what?" I could only ask in a confused manner.

Stretching her smile to the side of her cheek, we continued walking. "You really don't remember me, do you?"

"No…I don't…" I responded. "That's something I'd really like to know."

She sighed and shook her head. "Fine. You win." She stated. "Remember that filly you helped in the Everfree Forest? The same exact day you discovered about the Elements of Harmony? Including your Element?"

"…filly?" I took a moment to look down in thought. It only took a short while until I suddenly remembered and realized what she was talking about. "…yeah. There was a filly crying in the forest… She said she wanted to go home…but then she disappeared when I reached the castle…"

"Now you're getting it." She somewhat praised, intriguing me.

"Hold on…" I immediately stopped in my tracks, causing her to stop as well and turn towards me. After piecing everything I could remember and what was going on now, I came up with the craziest conclusion. "Are you telling me…that that filly was you?!"

"Bingo." She answered with a small but bright grin.

"But…" I tried to comprehend the facts, which was beginning to make my head hurt. "You were just a filly!" I stared towards her and analyzed her facial features and body structure. "You're a mare now! You…look my age!"

"I grew up." She stated the obvious, but didn't quite answer the problem.

"B…but…how…?" I attempted to ask.

She rather sighed and shook her head happily. "You've got a lot to learn…"

"Then, why don't you just tell me now?" I tried to convince.

"It's a secret." She was a really tough mare to crack… I only returned an almost defeated narrow stare at her. "Come on!" She ignored it and grabbed my hoof. "Let's go exploring!"

Releasing a sigh of my own, I allowed her to lead me to wherever she had planned. "Sure…why not…"

"Hm…" She thought as she looked around while I stayed behind her, being led to places I was clueless of. "Where should we start our fun adventure?"

"Fun adventure?" I questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah!" She hopped around a hundred and eighty degrees to face me while she continued walking backwards. "Because this place is like an amusement park once you get to really know it!"

"And you know this how…?"

"Secret." She closed her eyes and zipped her mouth shut with a smug smile.

I sighed and lowered my head in slight frustration. "I'm think I'm going insane…"

"Trust me, you're not." She assured.

"And how am I supposed to trust you if you never tell me anything?"

"Well…" Her happy and excited mood died down a little. "I guess you'll just have to trust me blindly then."

"I guess I don't really have a choice…" I mumbled under my breath until Spirit suddenly stretched out a hoof towards me.

"Watch out!" She warned suddenly.

"What?" I alertly scanned the area for any threats.

"Don't step on that area right there." She pointed to a specific spot on the hallway floor.

"Why?"

"Look for yourself." She directed to the floor.

At first, I was confused with what she was trying to tell me, but after analyzing the floor for a bit, I noticed that there was actually a drawn outline if looked at carefully. I looked at the exact spot where my hoof almost touched and noticed another outline as well. Putting two and two together, I had a pretty good guess on what it was.

"Trapdoor?" I asked.

"Mm-hm!" She nodded firmly.

"Wow. Um." I carefully maneuvered my hoof over the danger spot and continued walking cautiously. "…thanks for the tip." I even felt a sort of hollowness as my hooves stepped over the area that was mechanically opened.

In a sudden gasp, she cried out. "That reminds me! Come on!" She began galloping ahead, leading me to quickly follow her. She stopped in front of a wall with a large blue banner over it. But it wasn't just the color, I noticed that it actually resembled my mother, Princess Luna. I was pretty amazed at the sight until Spirit directed my attention to her. "Want to see something cool?"

"What?" I wondered what else she could find so fascinating about the wall besides the tapestry.

She walked directly under the fabric and looked upwards. "Fly up there, beneath the banner."

"…uh…what?" I had no idea why she'd want me to do that.

"Just do it, please."

I stared at her silently for a moment until I decided to obey. Keeping my eyes on the cloth, I joined Spirit and then flew directly beneath the center of the fabric, hugging the wall. "So…what am I supposed to do exa—" Suddenly, I felt the wall push against me, placing great force for a moment until it stopped and I flew off, hitting the ground roughly. "Ugh, what the—?"

Spirit was laughing incredibly loud. "Sorry!" She apologized between breaths. "I didn't mean to scare you or anything! It's supposed to be really fun!"

"Yeah…that was really fun…" I answered calmly in a sarcastic manner.

"Okay, Mr. Grumpy Pants." She presented her hoof. I grabbed it and allowed her to help me up. "How about we try something else?"

"Like what?"

"Like…" She mentioned as her eyes rolled. "Tag! You're it!" She surprisingly poked me and then ran off directly in the hallway across.

"Spirit! Wait!" I tried to call out, but she already disappeared in the distance. I sighed and flopped my ears down in exhaustion. What is with her…?

I was about to start walking until I felt a sudden tug in me… It was in my heart… And then I felt some kind of disturbance. Either way, I didn't want to lose her, so I began trotting in the direction she ran off to. Several seconds passed as I hurriedly trotted in the long hallway. "Spirit?" I called, but received no answer. I began wondering if she was hiding so I would have to find her, but I was startled to see what looked like her sitting in the middle of the hallway ahead. "Spirit…?" I called again softly, and quickened my pace. As I grew closer, I noticed she was holding her hooves to her head greatly, as if she was having a horrible headache. I approached and spotted her eyes clenched shut, along with her gritting teeth. "Hey, Spirit." I placed my hooves on her. "What's wrong? Are you hurt? Did you hurt yourself running over here?"

She groaned in pain for a short moment until she slowly placed her hooves down on the floor and shook her head. "I'm fine now. Sorry. It was my fault."

I released a relieved breath. "Geez… Don't scare me like that again…"

"Hm." Her tender smile returned. "Okay. I'll stay close to you from now on." She turned her head to the right to discover a spiral staircase. "Ooh! Let's go down here!"

"…are you sure?" I asked, hesitant to go on any further, especially after seeing how much pain she seemed to somehow be in.

"Yeah! It'll be fine! I promise!" She enthusiastically encouraged.

"…alright." I finally allowed. "But if you get hurt again, we're going back. No exceptions."

"Fine with me." She agreed and then stepped in the room with the staircase to lead the way.

The walk down the spiral staircase was rather long. But that didn't stop Spirit. She only continued to lightly trot as she hummed happily, despite everything that happened. She obviously and clearly revealed no fear from the castle whatsoever. However, I was finally content to have reached the bottom of the stairs, which led out into another hallway.

"Ooh!" She expressed, her interest caught on something among the walls.

Once I got a closer look, I realized on what hung on the sides was nothing to gaze about at all. "Are those…pony hooves?!"

"Yeah." She answered and trotted along, observing each one. "But it's nothing to be scared about. They aren't really pony hooves."

"Well…that's a relief." I returned as I cautiously eyed each one and followed her. I came to a stop once I found a disturbance in the pattern. To the right, there was one part of the wall that did not have the pony hoof while across it did. Instead, there was a hole that seemed to be large enough to stick a hoof through. "What's this for?"

"Remember about that trapdoor upstairs?" Spirit reminded.

"Yeah?"

"If you fell, the room right in there…" She tapped her hoof on the wall above the hole. "…is where you'd end up."

"…really? Is there any way out?" I asked worriedly, imagining if one pony had ever fell victim to the trap.

"Yeah!" She seemed happy to answer that. "It's a puzzle when you're first in there." She then suddenly gasped, as if she realized something. "Wait a minute…"

"What? What is it?"

She rubbed her chin with her hoof. "Actually…it looks like somepony was here recently…"

"Why would you say that?" I questioned, becoming much more interested in a slightly negative manner.

She placed her hoof on the wall. "Normally, another hoof would be out here facing this way, and that would be the way to get out, but it's not."

"…so you're saying somepony recently fell through the trapdoor and managed to get out by the pony hoof?"

"Yeah. Poke your hoof through the hole." She pointed.

I took a short glance at the hole. "I'm not entirely sure if I want to…"

"It's fine. It's fine." She assured. "Just put your hoof through, search for something above inside, and pull on it."

I sighed and decided to comply. "Fine." I hesitantly moved my hoof through until I felt no surface. Afterwards, I attempted to search for the object I was supposed to find. It wasn't until I found something else besides air and gave a tug. Unexpectedly, the both of us were brought in to a rapid spin. When we finally stopped, I couldn't help but feel dizzy and a little nauseous.

Spirit, on the other hoof, giggled. "Oops. I forgot to tell you about that."

"Hm." I only released and pulled back my hoof. Almost immediately noticing it was dark after recovering, I formed a light source from the tip of my horn. Then, I looked around to see the rather small space we were in. With nothing else new to see, I decided to come out. "Alright, I think I'm done here now." I pushed my hoof through the hole and looked for the switch to spin right back out. After I had to go through that same thing again, I placed a hoof to my head in slight pain and groaned. "Ugh. I kind of hate that."

Spirit giggled again and lightly punched me.

Immediately after, our ears were caught onto a sound of a very loud organ being played, which seemed to come from somewhere beneath us.

I have to admit, it did frighten me a little.

"What was that?" I quickly asked.

"Ooohh…" Spirit strained in an intrigued manner as she slowly looked towards me. "A mystery…"

The sound of the organ played roughly and creepily again for a few seconds.

Releasing another grunt, I stood up. "I have no clue on what's going on. All I know if that we're totally lost in a castle that is practically falling apart."

"Correction:" Spirit included. "You're totally lost in a castle that is practically falling apart."

I turned to face her with a slightly skeptical look. "So, you know where we are and how to get out?"

"Duh!" She chuckled. "Why do you think I know so much about the traps here?"

"That's my question exactly…" I returned.

"Come on!" She jumped up and in front of me. "Follow me! I'll take you back if you're such a scaredy cat."

I sighed and walked after her with a lowered head. "Whatever…"

Once again, Spirit led me through hallways and areas I would be completely lost in without her. Even though I've never really known her, I didn't see any reason why I couldn't trust her. Especially after telling me when I first actually met her, I felt a lot more willing to trust her than before. I guess I could say I felt safe in Spirit's hooves.

Although, that still didn't prevent me from feeling doubtful every now and then.

"…you're sure you know where you're going…?" I asked, looking around and feeling a little like we were worse off than we were before.

"Trust me, Alex. I know my way around." She answered, keeping her confident smile.

I sighed and tried to get ahold of myself. "Okay… Okay…"

From out of nowhere, the sound of the organ played once again, causing me to jump in surprise a bit. "Urgh. Whatever is doing that is really annoying me!"

"It's a ghost…" Spirit whispered playfully but eerily as well.

The sound of the organ played again.

"Guh…" I looked around behind me. "Don't say things like that…"

Another note sounded.

"Spooky…" For some reason, Spirit didn't reveal slightest hint of fear at all.

Three notes then played one after the other.

"Hmph." I expressed. "I hope you don't have anything to do with this…"

"No, actually." She responded. "I'm just as curious as you are."

"But you're not scared whatsoever?"

"There's really nothing to be scared of here." She spoke with a lifted head, closed eyes, and a poised smile.

To make things worse, we both heard a loud shriek echo through the hall.

"Who was that?!" I jumped and turned around, quickly looking for any signs of anything. It only seemed fitting for the notes of the organ to play a few more times before everything became silent again. After having a moment to think while my heart pounded like crazy, I seemed to connect the two things we witnessed so far. "Hold on. What if somepony is here?!" I faced Spirit. "Back there, you said that the wall looked like it was recently used, and just now was a sound of a blood-curdling scream!" I then began panicking at the thought of it being anypony I knew. "What if it's somepony I know?!" I gasped. "What if it's Twilight?! What if she came looking for me but got in trouble and now—"

I was silenced when Spirit abruptly placed her hoof on my mouth. "Alex, Alex." She spoke in a more sensitive tone. "I promise you, nothing in this castle could really hurt your friends, just spook them out." She removed her hoof. "Well…the only thing that could hurt them is falling debris of the castle, but I'm sure they're careful enough to avoid that."

After calming myself for a moment, I released a sigh. "Yeah…I think it would be better if we returned as soon as possible, Spirit. I want to at least make sure Twilight's okay…"

"Alright, alright…" She returned with a soft smile. "Let's go."

"Now, there's one last hallway we have to go through that'll seem creepy, but it's the shortest way from here." Spirit explained as we were approaching another doorway to a hall that seemed to have a little more light.

"I suppose it's fine as long as it takes us back…" I responded.

Standing side by side, we reached the entrance to notice a hallway full of armored ponies.

Spirit, as always, began stepping in with no change in her mood whatsoever. I still felt a little hesitant, but I supposed it was still better than huge crawling spiders.

Spirit gasped, startling me as soon as I walked in. "Look! Somepony was here before!" This caused me to gallop over to where she was and observe what she was analyzing. On the floor were broken pieces of one of the armored ponies, which were hopefully not alive. Spirit then looked over to the other side of the wall and noticed an empty spot. "And there's one of them missing there."

"Ugh…" I released vocally with worry, hoping no pony was hurt, but then I remembered about Spirit's word.

"Alex…put up your hooves and get ready…" Spirit announced in a weird way.

"What? Why?" I questioned confusingly. Unexpectedly, the armored ponies began shaking and vibrating. I looked around me to see every single one of them performing the same manner. "What's going on?!" I exclaimed alarmed.

"It's an ambush!" She yelled out, but strangely as if she was wanting this to happen. One of the armored ponies began shakily walking out from its initial position. It seemed to be heading towards Spirit first, so she readied herself and then pounced in the air. "Hyah!" She stretched out her back hoof and kicked the pony, leading to all of the armor easily dropping onto the floor. "C'mon, Alex!" She stated once her hooves landed on the floor. "Let's show them what we got!"

This was all so puzzling to me, but I had absolutely no time to think about it. I heard a clanking of armor moving towards me. There were two armored ponies alive and walking slowly towards me. I had no choice but to use my back hooves to kick the one closest to me, but it was mainly due to confusion and slight fear. Afterwards, I managed to pick up the armor that cluttered on the floor from the first one and shoot it towards the second one, defeating it as well. Behind me, Spirit was making battle grunts and noises as she literally kicked each one of the armored ponies to the ground. In fact, she looked like she was having fun doing so. By the time I reached her, she was already done with her fight.

"Spirit, are you okay? Did you get hurt at all?" I quickly inquired to her.

"Nope!" She answered with a bright smile.

I released a sigh of relief. "What was that all about? I thought you said this castle had nothing that could hurt anypony?"

She returned a joyful chuckle. "It's okay. They wouldn't have really done anything. Think of it like target practice!"

"…you had me worried back there."

Spirit looked around me and spoke another sentence. "I think you might want to hold on to that worry just one more time!" She pointed past me, leading me to turn and see every single piece of armor that was scattered on the floor to form this absolutely huge armored pony. "Don't worry! We've got this, Alex!"

With a simple shove from her head, she surprisingly launched me high enough as I involuntarily flew straight towards the menace. I could only widen my eyes and then flinch greatly as I felt my horn take action. Like a bowling ball, I shot straight towards the middle and scattered every piece of armor that gathered back onto the floor. I fell to the floor and remained lying there for a moment. "…ow…"

Spirit walked towards me with a soft smile on her face. "Hehe, sorry." She held out her hoof. "You okay?"

I grabbed hold on to her hoof and allowed her to pull me up. "Yeah…I'm fine…I think." I stretched out a bit. "That's weird…usually I'd think I'd be in some pain after a stunt like that…but I feel fine, I think."

"I told you…" Her excitement calmed down to more of a soft tone. "As long as I'm with you, you're safe." She brushed my shoulders off a bit and then proceeded to close her eyes and smile assuringly.

I couldn't help but feel warmed up to her words. I chuckled a little. "Don't you mean, 'if you're with me'?"

She only giggled, released a happy sigh, rolled her eyes, and blushed lightly. "Come on. I think that's enough fun for a day." She grabbed my hoof and began leading me towards a dark passage that appeared odd for the hallway's structure.

Using the light from my horn to walk through the passage, we eventually came to a secret exit that slid to the side, allowing us to walk through. Spirit led me for a moment longer until we stopped in a familiar area. "There you go! We're back where we started!"

I released a breath of relief. "Wow… Well, thanks, Spirit."

"Aren't you going to see if your friend is okay?" She asked, nudging her head in the direction of the stairs.

"You know…" I began, feeling and realizing something. "…I don't really think I need to. I mean…knowing Twilight, she's probably too distracted with that book she found." I chuckled softly. "I'm still going to go back to her, but I feel a lot more at ease with it."

Spirit giggled lightly as well. "I'm glad you feel that way."

"Yeah…" I stared at the floor until my eyes drifted towards Spirit's. "You may still be a mysterious pony to me, Spirit. But…I guess that doesn't stop you from being a pony I can trust…"

"Ooh…" She laughed a little embarrassedly and slightly looked away with a small blush.

I continued smiling friendly at her until we suddenly heard a noise behind me. We both turned to see another pony grunt as she rolled and bounced towards us. Spirit gasped sharply and quickly ran away.

"Spirit!" I called after her, but she fled and hopped out of sight.

I was then pushed towards the ground by the rolling pony. Not seeming to notice me yet, she messed with her mane, which had twigs and leaves stuck in it. "Of all the castles in Equestria, this is by far the most ungrateful!" She shouted out angrily.

"Rarity?!" I asked out of surprise.

She turned towards me and gasped loudly. "Alex!" She wrapped her hooves around me and held me tightly. "I'm so glad to see you in this horrendous castle!"

I lightly pulled away and helped her up, beginning to brush off the rough objects in her mane. "What in the world are you doing here, Rarity?"

"It was absolutely dreadful, darling!" She pulled herself closer to me for a protective hug. "It was just that Fluttershy and I—" Her sentence was cut short when a very small piece of debris hit her against the head, leaving her in dazed silence for a bit.

"Rarity!" I called out, trying to see if she was still alright. However, I began hearing a clatter of hooves grow louder from being originally distant. I turned to be completely shocked and surprised. For some reason, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy were in my sight. The three of them slowly gathered together as if they were cautiously looking out for something dangerous. But the three of them didn't appear to be aware of each other's presence. "Girls!" I cried out.

As soon as the three bumped into each other, the three of them screamed out very loud and began running around in great panic. Rainbow Dash bumped and bounced off of everything she touched in her flight as she yelled. Fluttershy and Applejack ran past each other as they both screamed in fear. I tried to approach them, but the situation was too chaotic to try to take control of. I didn't know what to do besides just look. Rainbow Dash flew past one of the banners of Princess Luna, accidentally removing it from the wall. Rarity just shook her head and recovered from her daze when she noticed the banner falling straight towards her.

"Aaaah!" She whimpered out when she noticed it. "I was only trying to restore ancient art!" Her desperate crying became muffled as she joined in on the panic and began running around with the fabric covering her entire body.

She ran past Fluttershy, who was whimpering and hiding herself. "Fluttershy!" I called out to her.

"Alex?!" Her face immediately brightened up when she noticed me. She was starting to walk towards me until a pillar suddenly crashed down straight in front of me, greatly startling me towards the floor and widening my eyes. "AAALLLLEEEEEEEEXX!" I heard her scream out softly in terror.

Everypony was now panicking even worse, I really didn't know what to do. My mind felt as if it was on pause. They all screamed and shouted out so much, it was making it almost unbelievable that this all started from a simple call and bump. On the other side of the pillar, I could hear Fluttershy struggling greatly. "Alex, please be okay! Please be okay!"

I wanted to try to tell Fluttershy that I was indeed okay, but then Applejack jumped out of nowhere, scaring me. She tapped her hooves rapidly on the pillar that Fluttershy was trying to move. "Yaaaaah! Shadows everywhere!"

With a great burst of air shooting swiftly through my mane, I heard Rainbow Dash continue to scream out loud.

On the other side of the room, Rarity was wailing out tears.

To join her, Fluttershy rested her hooves and head on the pillar as she sobbed out my name. "Aaalleeeexx!" She had flew right next to me and didn't even notice me almost cowering for my life after that close call.

Before I could yet again try to show her my well-being, there was another announcement that prevented me from the stairs. "Alright, everypony, stop!" A burst of magic was released, freezing me in place. After the panic immediately died down, I assumed every other pony was affected as well.

"Twilight?" I heard Applejack question the presence of.

"Must... save... Al—"

"Fluttershy… I'm right here." I managed to tell her, surprising her as her eyes moved to spot me on the floor.

"…oh…" She expressed before she bit her bottom lip in embarrassment and blushed greatly.

"Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash questioned, only able to move her eyes and mouth, just like us. "What are you doing here?"

"She's with me..." Rarity cried out in the same tone of angst.

We were finally released from the spell locking our movement. As soon as Fluttershy was able to move, she threw herself to me, having the potential to tackle me to the floor if I wasn't already on the floor. She was shaking terribly, having me pat her in comfort to let her know everything was okay.

I heard Rarity gasp, as if the fabric on her was removed. "Thank you." She expressed in relief.

Fluttershy and I sat up to notice Angel hopping towards us.

"Angel! Where did you go?!" Fluttershy asked. "I was so worried about you!"

Angel only returned crossed paws and a tapping foot after seeing Fluttershy clinging on to me.

"Hey…it's your fault for staying with Twilight the whole time…" I mentioned, leading him to almost begin a tantrum.

"Have you all spent the whole night running around, scaring each other?" Twilight confronted the others.

"Well…that depends." Applejack answered calmly.

"On what?" Twilight asked.

"On whether or not you're the Pony of Shadows." Rainbow Dash pointed at Twilight suspiciously in flight.

"Twilight?" I poked my head above the pillar. "She was in the castle library the whole time." I corrected in Rainbow's ridiculous accusation.

"Question?" Spike brought up. "Uh… What's... the Pony of Shadows?"

"Oh, that's just an old ponies' tale." Twilight assured.

Immediately after she said that, the sound of the organ played once again, leaving all the girls except Fluttershy to huddle around Twilight. Fluttershy was instead trembling as she held on to me in fear.

"Then who's playing... that?" Spike asked with a quaking voice.

"We're going to find out." Twilight stated and began walking, even though the others held on to her.

"Come on…" I encouraged Fluttershy. "It's alright." I held on to her hoof as I walked her alongside Twilight.

Twilight seemed to lead us all towards the source of the sound, taking me to familiar surroundings I had been in before…with Spirit…

Nevertheless, the sound of the organ continued to grow louder and louder as it played creepily, just as if the entire castle was a haunted house during Nightmare Night. We stopped by a doorway that I seemed to have passed by with Spirit.

The girls and I looked through the doorway, spotting a pony dressed in a complete hooded robe. They all gasped through the striking ominous music that protruded from the organ.

"The Pony of Shadows!" Twilight whispered fearfully before going out to walk towards the pony while the girls huddled together in shivers.

"Hold on, Twilight." I whispered so I could trot towards her.

Then, we began walking carefully towards the mysterious pony together. The closer we got, the higher the suspense became with both the music and for us. Once we were right behind the pony, we both nodded to signal we were ready. Afterwards, Twilight directed her horn towards the pony and removed the robe, leaving us with a very significant surprise.

"Hey, you guys!" Pinkie Pie greeted us loudly. "Did you know I can totally play the organ? Because I didn't!"

"Pinkie?!" We all said in unison.

"Check it out!" She began playing the organ in a sporty fashion, rather than continuing the spooky song she was playing before.

"You're the Pony of Shadows?" Rainbow Dash asked her in disbelief.

"The pony of what?" Pinkie unknowingly questioned as she focused her eyes on her hooves playing the light melody.

"See? What'd I tell ya?" Twilight pointed out to Rainbow.

"I thought you went to ring the school bell all week!" Applejack brought up.

"Oh, yeah!" Pinkie nodded her head, being reminded of the task. "I only had to ring it for, like, five minutes! They said that was good enough! Eh, can't imagine why…" She then pounded her hooves on the organ keys, playing random notes. Then, she turned back towards us once she was done. "So then, I decided to throw a 'finish ringing the school bell' party! But I didn't have any bluebells, and you can't throw a 'finish ringing the school bell' party without bluebells, so I went to Everfree Forest to pick some, but it started to get so chilly." She shivered and then began playing the organ once again. "I had to wrap myself up in the tarp I was gonna use to gather flowers, and then I saw Fluttershy and Rarity. But they went into the castle before I could invite them to my party. Luckily, I followed them inside so I could help you all with your party!"

"What party is that?" Rarity asked.

"Uh, the 'everypony come to the scary old castle and hide from each other while I play the organ' party?" She returned. I only furrowed my eyebrows incomprehensibly as she played a note, which, to our surprise, led Spike to fly off and land behind the girls. "Duh!" Pinkie Pie seemed to be finished with the organ as she happily bounced off and left the room.

"Huh…" I shook my head, astounded by this discovery. "Looks like there really was nothing to be scared of this castle…"

Twilight gasped in realization. "That reminds me! Follow me, everypony!"

Twilight led us all back to where we both originally were, which was where I also saw Spirit calling to me from the doorway. From there, the rest of the girls were able to relax and put their terrifying experiences behind them.

"Alex, Spike, and I found this room when Angel found us." Twilight explained and held up the book she had been reading. "That's when we also found this! It's Celestia's diary when she was living here with Luna!"

"Oh, Angel." Fluttershy faced her little bunny. "I'm so glad you were okay the whole time."

Uh-huh…

"By the way…" Twilight turned her head towards me. "Whatever happened to you, Alex? You were gone for a very long time. I was starting to get worried."

"Oh…" I responded and looked away in thought. Remembering Spirit, I chuckled lightly. "…it's a long story…"

"Ugh." Rarity groaned as she focused her magic on sewing a piece of fabric together. "I can't believe I had to go through so much, just because I wanted to do some restoration work here. I swear, this is going right back where I found it just as soon as I've returned it to its former glory."

"Now don't go running off again!" Fluttershy politely ordered Angel. "Oh, I can't believe I was so frightened." Fluttershy turned her eyes towards me and nudged me warmly with her head. "Guess I let my imagination get the best of me."

"I think we all did." Applejack included as she stood in front of the flying Rainbow.

"I always let my imagination run away from me!" Pinkie Pie shared, ending her bouncing near the two. "Then it comes back... with cake!"

"Pinkie…"I spoke. "You are so random."

Twilight chuckled. "Well, it's good to know that whenever your imagination is getting away from you, a good friend can help you rein it in." She returned her gaze towards Celestia's journal and began flipping through the pages. "And even though I didn't find anything out about the mysterious chest, I'm glad we were here to help all of you."

"You certainly did that." Rarity emphasized.

"Yeah!" Rainbow joined. "Why weren't you two scared?"

Twilight shut the book in front of her. "Reading Celestia's diary made it hard to be afraid, because I knew what it was like when she and Luna lived here. Knowing something about the past made it easier to deal with my problems in the present, even the scary ones." She nudged Spike, which led him to blush and bury his face in the book he was reading.

The girls returned embarrassed remarks of agreement and turned to me, wanting to hear my story.

"Well… I have to admit…" I began. "I was kind of scared at first…but then…" I chuckled at the sight of her in my mind. "…let's just say a good spirit helped me see the truth."

Possibly not knowing what I really meant, I noticed Twilight smile warmly at that. And then, her face brightened with an idea. "I've just thought of a great idea! Why don't we keep a journal, just like the royal pony sisters?" She held up the book as an example for all of us.

"All of us?" Fluttershy questioned.

"Sure!" Twilight encouraged enthusiastically. "That way we can learn from each other! And maybe someday, other ponies will read it and learn something, too!"

When Twilight mentioned that last part, Fluttershy and I looked at each other for some reason, but then we both blushed, leading us to slightly look away. I guess she was thinking the same thing I was…

"What a splendid idea!" Rarity approved.

"I know what my first entry will be!" Applejack added. "'Dear Diary, I'm glad Granny Smith's legend wasn't true.'" She faced Rainbow Dash happily.

"Me too!" Rainbow agreed.

"Me three!" Pinkie popped out from between them. "Because that means you two are still tied for Most Daring Pony!"

After Pinkie said that, it led to Rainbow and Applejack staring at each other competitively.

"Heh, Shadow Ponies..." Spike brushed off with a laugh. "How ridiculous is that?"

"…you never know…" I rubbed my hoof against the carpet, recalling the past enemies we've faced. Especially one…

As a group, the girls and I later on returned to Ponyville. It seemed that Celestia's journal was more than enough to keep Twilight reading and busy. It was almost unbelievable on how much time had flew back when we were at the castle. Fluttershy and I were the only ones left near Twilight's home, seeing as it was time to head to sleep.

"Are you sure you don't need me to stay over tonight?" I asked, teasing her a little. "I just don't want you to have any nightmares from the castle."

"Well…" Fluttershy shyly looked away. "Maybe for one night…just so I'm not so scared anymore…" She played along. However, Angel sent an irritated look. His body language caught Fluttershy's attention. "Actually, I have to put Angel to sleep instead…" She leaned herself closer to me, specifically my ear, and raised a hoof to her mouth. "Maybe another night…" She whispered and smiled softly.

I chuckled and nodded. "Okay. Goodnight, Fluttershy."

"Goodnight, Alex."

We both leaned in to kiss each other before Angel grew impatient and angry with our joining.

After Fluttershy went ahead and took her leave, I remained gazing at her beauty until Twilight startled me by placing a hoof on my shoulder.

"You sure you're not too exhausted to go home tonight?" She joked.

"Heh. I'll be fine." I answered.

Twilight giggled softly. "Till our next 'fantastic adventure'." She then proceeded to hug me warmly. "Night."

I returned the same action. "You too, Twi."

After Twilight returned home, I was eager to return to mine. I believe it was due to the reason that…well…I wanted to see Spirit again, especially how she left back at the castle. Normally, I would have wanted to look for her, but she certainly is some kind of…strange pony. Not in her behavior…but her relation with me. It didn't seem she was like any other pony. Apparently, I knew her the first night I became friends with the girls. I see her in my dreams and in real life as well. I want to really understand, but for now, I can only go with the flow with what she gives me.

Once I was in my room, I walked over to my desk. I searched the drawer to find a fragile stack of papers. Reading through them for several seconds, I grinned softly at the old memories that faded into my mind. I closed my eyes in thought and allowed myself to enjoy them for a moment. When I opened my eyes again, I organized the papers into one and placed them back into the drawer.

"Those would make a good intro to my journal…" I mentioned to myself.

Afterwards, I rested myself on my bed, closed my eyes, and relaxed.

I'm expecting to see you again, Spirit…

This time…my body slept…differently. I didn't just lose conscious like I normally did. My eyes were shut close, but I still felt aware. It was maybe after half an hour or so that I underwent through this weird transition. Next thing I knew, I was opening my eyes to be in a slightly different place.

I was still on a bed, but the room looked different. I sat up and looked around, but it appeared no one was around me. I found the exit in the bedroom, which actually led out to the same balcony I met Spirit in. Once again, the sunset revealed its display for us to see. I walked calmly towards it as much as I could, only to be stopped by the railing. Releasing a peaceful sigh, I decided to sit down and observe it in silence.

"Hey!" I heard a cheerful greeting behind me.

I looked back to notice Spirit, as expected. "Hey." I greeted warmly, feeling delighted to see her.

She grinned brightly and then started walking towards me. "Guess what I got?" She asked in an excited tone as she took a seat right next to me. However, it appeared she couldn't wait for me to actually guess, so she revealed her surprise either way. "Ice cream!" She presented two ice cream bars in front of me.

"Ice cream…?" I questioned as I retrieved one with my magic. "Where'd you get this from?"

"It's a dream, remember?" She giggled as she focused on her bar.

"Oh…right…"

She brought hers to her mouth and took a bite out of it happily. "Mmm! Yummy!"

I grinned softly at her action and looked at my treat. I took a bite for myself and found that it had a very sweet taste to it…like caramel… "It's…really good." I commented, actually liking the ice cream a lot.

She giggled lightly and nodded. "Yeah…" She stared downwards with her eyelids closing halfway. "It's…a lot better when you have someone to share it with…"

I stopped and turned to her. She was still smiling, but I could tell. Through that warm smile, I could still tell there was sadness hidden behind it. Lowering the ice cream from my mouth, I decided to do something about it. "Hey, listen. How about I come and see you every night? That way, there'll be no distractions. No danger. No horror. Just the two of us eating ice cream peacefully as we watch the sunset?" I chucked a little. "How does that sound?"

Her jaw dropped slightly and she immediately widened her eyes. "You would…do that for me?"

"I don't mind." I answered, bringing back the ice cream towards my mouth and staring out towards the sun. "I…actually like spending time with you. Besides…" I looked back at her. "You're a good pony, Spirit. I can tell that. Everypony deserves at least one friend, especially a pony like you."

After those words, she just…formed this beautiful grin, and her eyes lightly brimmed with tears. "…wow…" She turned away, wiping them. "Thank you…" She sniffled a bit. "I mean…even getting the chance to be with you at the castle was enough to bring me happiness…but…" She paused for a moment to lightly express her joy. "…having someone here to actually talk to me…that makes me really happy… Thank you…"

"Of course." I continued gazing at her lightly until she turned and noticed me doing so.

"Hurry up and eat it!" She lightly nudged me and pointed at my ice cream. "It's melting."

I chuckled. "Right. I suppose you can't just use this dream to make it not melt?"

"It's not fun to use a dream to do everything for you."

"Hm…" Nevertheless, I took another bite it and realized it was a lot softer than it was a while ago. I looked towards Spirit and just noticed that her ice cream was floating right in front of her, as if she was using magic herself. "So…are you able to hold on to that ice cream in front of you like magic because of the dream too?"

This question seemed to startle her for some reason. "Y-yeah. Sure." She answered a little weirdly.

"Oh…" I looked back to my ice cream, and then at the sunset. "Hm."

"Hey…listen…" She announced softer than usual. "…can I ask you for a favor?"

"What is it?" I faced her.

"…can you not tell anypony, like your friends, about me?" She continued staring at her treat.

"What? Why not?"

She took a while to respond. "…trust me… It's for the best."

Already knowing how she was, I didn't attempt to ask why. I only sat in silence and took another bite of the ice cream.

"Okay. I trust you."

From there on, we continued to consume our delectable treats while staring off into the slow sunset.

Daring Don't

Episode 69 - Daring Don't

"Now slide that this way."

"Okay?"

"And finally, press that big bucking button right there!"

As soon as I did, the entire house shook with greatly startling and heart pumping sounds of music. I had to place my hooves to my ears, as they were already ringing. My heart was pounding uncomfortably as another symptom of this loud volume. Vinyl was too busy nodding her head with her shut eyes in rhythm to the music. I couldn't help but give up as I pressed the button to immediately shut it off.

"Aw." Vinyl expressed a little playfully. "Too much for you?"

"Way too much." I rubbed my ear, hoping the ringing would go away soon. "How the hay can you listen to music like that?"

"You get used to it." She answered with a smile as she messed with her settings.

"Yeah. If it doesn't blow off your ears first…" I mentioned.

"You know…" She brought up, catching my attention. "I think there's somepony you'd really like…"

"Hm?"

"I wonder…" She tapped a hoof to her chin. "What time does she get back from her recital again?" She asked herself.

However, I suddenly gasped, remembering something urgently important. "Time?!"

"Huh?" She turned to face me.

"Ugh! I almost forgot!" I looked out the window to see it was already dark. "Sorry, Vinyl." I quickly apologized and readied myself to leave. "I have to go. I have a date."

"Oooooh." Vinyl smirked teasingly.

"Yeah." I answered with a grin nonetheless. "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Yeah, sure! See you around!"

I swiftly raced out her door and began heading out to Fluttershy's cottage.

Once I arrived, I left no time to knock, I entered and trotted towards the dinner table. I was shocked to see two lit candles and two empty seats across each other. I formed a frown as my ears flopped down. "Oh no… Don't tell me she got tired of waiting and went off to bed…" I spoke sadly to myself and shook my head.

"Oh, Alex!" I heard a soft voice behind me, leading me to quickly turn around to spot Fluttershy surprised to see me.

"Fluttershy!" I immediately ran towards her and hugged her significantly. "I'm so sorry I'm late!"

"It's okay." She soothingly smiled at me. "I was able to put Angel to sleep while you were still out."

"Really?" I chuckled lightly. "That's good. We won't have any interruptions then."

She returned a giggle of slight embarrassment.

Fluttershy and I sat across each other as she revealed the dinner she made for the two of us.

"Wow, Fluttershy." I expressed as I examined the food. "It all looks delicious." I then sent her sweetened soft eyes. "Just like it always does…"

"You're too sweet." Fluttershy looked away with a blush in her cheeks, but then looked back to send me the same eyes. "I like it…"

"I'm just glad we can keep spending time together."

"Me too."

We both couldn't help but lean in towards each other as if we were both being attracted by a force. Our lips met and touched for a few seconds, which was the best way to start our meal. From there on, we continued our calm romantic arrangement.

I felt a lenient nudging against my head, waking me up from my apparent sleep.

"Alex…" The beautiful mare called my name. I opened my eyes and noticed her looking down at me as her hair fell down the side of her neck. "You better wake up if you want to make it to Pinkie Pie's party."

"Mm." I mumbled sleepily. "What party?"

"I'm not really sure, actually…" She answered, looking back with a face of slight confusion. "She said something about a… 'National Random Holiday Party Day'"

"Hm." I expressed with a smile. "Of course it would be."

Fluttershy hopped off the bed and began going through her wardrobe cabinet. "She said we could wear whatever random hats we wanted to wear." She pulled out something and placed it on her head. "How does this look?" She presented herself wearing a purple top hat with flowers.

"It looks really cute on you." I returned with a wondering gaze at her.

"It's supposed to be random." She half-joked.

"That too." I assured. "Cute in a random way. Or…random in a cute way."

She smiled and hugged her head to mine. "What are you going to wear?"

"Me? I don't really wear hats." I replied.

"But…you might be the only one not wearing one at the party. Is that okay?"

I shrugged. "Well…since it's random… I could always say I'm wearing an invisible hat. I'm pretty sure Pinkie will buy that." I laughed, visualizing the thought.

"Hehe." She giggled lightly. "Fair enough." She held out a hoof towards me. "Come on."

For a second, her appearance suddenly flashed and became Spirit's. "Let's go." I heard in her voice. I was shocked and rubbed my eyes quickly.

"Is something wrong?" Fluttershy asked concerningly.

"Ugh." I ended my eye-rubbing and saw Fluttershy as she was. "Oh. Yeah. Sorry. Guess I'm still kind of sleepy." I accepted her hoof to get off the bed.

Fluttershy rubbed my mane and coat. "Well, we better hurry. We don't want to be late."

"Yeah, sure." I answered, still a little dazed from that unusual sight.

Afterwards, we left the cottage, leaving me to stay by Fluttershy's side so she could lead me to the location of the party.

"Hey, there you two are!" Twilight greeted us as we walked inside. "Glad you could make it."

"Thanks." I answered, noticing how Twilight wasn't wearing a completely random but still fitting party hat. "We wouldn't want to miss Pinkie's parties."

"Feel free to help yourselves." Twilight happily offered, gesturing her head and eyes towards the middle table with a lot of absolutely delicious treats. "There's plenty to go around."

"She's certainly right about that, dear." Rarity added as she walked to us and offered each of us a balloon. Instead of a hat, she was rather wearing an adorable tiara that somehow made her look to be a princess.

"Hat?!" Pinkie Pie bounced from in front of me and offered a party hat. "No thanks." I grinned playfully. "I have one. It's invisible." I joke with closed eyes.

"Ooh! Really?" She raised her hoof as if she wanted to touch it.

However, I politely placed my hoof on hers and slowly lowered it down. "Careful. I wouldn't want you to tip it over and have it fall to the floor. Otherwise, it'd be pretty hard to find."

"Good point!" She dashed over to the dessert table.

I couldn't help but chuckle happily at Applejack who was dancing to her heart's content with a large country party hat with apples all over it. However, I felt there was one off at this party, so I looked around to find that it was Rainbow Dash. "Where's Rainbow?" I asked.

Applejack took a break from her dancing to answer me. "I went over to invite her, but I should've known nothing gets in that pony's head when she's reading her Daring Do books."

"Really?" I looked over to Twilight. "I thought she finished the whole series like a while back?"

"She's probably been rereading them ever since the announcement of the next book that's coming up." She took a sip of her liquid refreshment. "Too bad it was pushed back another two months."

"Huh." I returned, and then noticed Rarity offering Fluttershy and me a drink. I offered her a smile in thanks and continued my statement. "To be honest, it doesn't seem like such a big deal…but of course that's because I'm not exactly a fan…"

"Aw." Twilight responded. "I'm sure you'd like the series, though!"

"Probably." I answered, drinking the punch that really hit the spot. "But as of right now, I don't really have any intention of making the time to read them."

"Your lost!" Twilight teased with a grin.

I returned another raised smirk until the door suddenly burst open.

"Heya, Twilight!" It was Rainbow Dash. "Aren't you excited that—"

Pinkie Pie suddenly blew a loud party horn, cutting her off.

"So glad you've finally made it!" Twilight exclaimed to her as our attendance was finally complete.

"What's everypony doing here?" Rainbow asked confusingly after staring weirdly at Applejack dancing.

"We're having a holiday party!" Pinkie Pie answered and blew another horn right at her face.

"So what holiday would today be?" Rainbow questioned with no surprise.

"National Random Holiday Party Day! Woo-hoo!" Pinkie cheered.

"I've never heard of it either." Rarity took a sip from her cup. "But the punch is quite tasty."

"You might say the secret ingredient is..." Pinkie moved her head closer to Rainbow Dash and looked around cautiously. She raised Rainbow's ear and resumed. "…a secret!" She squeed and dashed out.

"How come nopony bothered to invite me?" Rainbow Dash asked, slightly growing angry but mainly shocked.

"I came to invite you personally," Applejack ceased her dancing to irritatingly answer Rainbow. "…but it seems you were a speck too busy reading the last Daring Do book for the twelfth time."

"Yeah, well, in three months and twenty six more days," Rainbow turned over to the tray Twilight was holding up while speaking with Rarity and grabbed a cup of punch. "I'll be able to read the next one." She lifted it up to began gulping it down.

"Oh, haven't you heard?" Twilight turned her head around to attend to Rainbow Dash. "The release of the next book got pushed another two months."

Rainbow's eyes suddenly widened and she shot out punch from her lips as soon as she heard the news, spraying Twilight in the process. "Two more months?! I've been waiting so long already! I don't think I can take another two months! I'll never make it!" Her legs began terribly trembling before she fell flat to the floor.

"Yeah. I can vouch for that..." Fluttershy added, as if she had experience with Rainbow's dilemma before.

"Easy." I spoke. "It's just a book. You've just got to do something else to get your mind off it."

"It's not just a book! It's my reason to live!" She grabbed ahold of my coat and clenched it tightly.

"And what happens when the series ends eventually?"

"Don't. You. Ever. Dare. Say. That. Again." She inched closer to me with every one word sentence, becoming so close to the point she was bumping and squeezing her nose against mine. I could utterly stare into her eyes and see how crazily serious she was. When the only thing I could return was slightly fearing silence, she released me and faced back to Twilight. "Did they give a reason?"

"The publisher just said author A.K. Yearling won't be able to finish the book for another two months." Twilight casually responded and then held up a tray of cupcakes. "Cupcakes?"

Pinkie Pie slid over to the tray and caught the pink frosted one with her teeth.

Rainbow Dash growled. "How could you possibly know that before me? I'm the series' biggest fan!"

"I'm just as big a fan as you!" Twilight fought back. "In fact, I'm the one who first introduced you to the books, remember?"

"Oh. Right." Rainbow Dash looked back in thought, realizing her mistake.

"A.K. Yearling just might be my favorite author." Twilight continued, leading Rainbow to rock her head in anger and mockery. "I know everything about her. Where she grew up, where she studied literature, where she wrote the first Daring Do book..."

This snapped her out of her aggressive mood to happily question Twilight. "Where she lives?"

"Uh... no, though I could probably find out somehow. Why?"

"Don't you get it? The new book is obviously delayed because she needs help dealing with whatever everyday nonsense is distracting her from spending her every living breathing second writing!" I felt the need to furrow my eyebrows a little irritatingly to Rainbow's speech. "So I—" She stopped to correct herself sheepishly. "I mean, fans like me, can get to read the new book ASAP!" Twilight, seeming to be on the same page with me, shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Think about it! We could help her with her laundry, buy her groceries, cooking her meals, whatever! Now, who wouldn't appreciate that?"

"Hmm, I don't know..." Twilight expressed, releasing a hint of doubt.

"I would think writers like to write in solitude, Rainbow." I voiced my opinion. "I mean, what authors can get great and enriching ideas when you have ponies breathing down your neck for every second you do your work? It's hard enough to fulfill the needs of anxious ponies awaiting your work, authors certainly don't need ponies pestering to them about when their next novel will come out… It obviously puts too much pressure on them."

"Yeah, exactly." Twilight agreed. "What she probably wants most of all is respect for her privacy."

Of course, we should have already known how stubborn Rainbow was. "She can always just say no." She pointed out.

Seeing the others approve her offer with a shrug, Twilight responded. "Mmh... I suppose you're right..."

"Of course I am." Rainbow readied herself for action. "So... how's about getting that address?"

"I still think this is a bad idea. Are we even allowed to personally go to where she lives like this?" I asked.

"We're just a few ponies strolling by the neighborhood that happen to ask for help when some pony needs it." Rainbow Dash tried to reason, bringing up a story for our search.

I sighed and looked at Rainbow with a narrowed look. "You aren't going to give this up, are you?"

"Nope." She answered confidently.

"Okay. Fine." I withdrew my argument. "But if this turns out for the worst, don't blame it on us."

"Really, what's the worst that can happen?"

I had no interest in answering, so I only rolled my eyes and looked away.

I don't know how Twilight did it, but she found the address this author apparently lived in. I couldn't really see how exactly you could find the location of such a pony, but thinking twice about it led me to reconsider. I suppose it was possible if enough research was placed into it, especially for a famous author. I knew Twilight wasn't on board with Rainbow on doing such a thing, but it seemed she was more on my route for Rainbow learning a lesson the hard way.

However, it was both a surprise, but somehow not shocking, that the address Twilight had had led us to roam inside a forest, which fortunately wasn't as creepy as taking a trip to Zecora's.

"You still want to tell her we were in the neighborhood, Rainbow?" I asked her as she flew above me, referring to all the trees as they secluded the author from any town if the address was correct.

"Yeah!" She answered, seeming too excited about meeting her favorite, or perhaps only, author to place any thought to what she heard. "Hang on! Lemme see if I can't find the house up higher!"

"Ugh!" Twilight rubbed a hoof on her face in frustration. "You see what I mean? Why would she live in this remote part of Equestria except to keep folks from intruding on her privacy?" Twilight tried to explain how absurd it was to undertake such a task. "We should respect—"

"I think I spotted the house!" Rainbow Dash interrupted, suddenly coming out from the bushes nearby. "We're super close! This way!" She pointed, leading the other girls to quickly follow her.

"Wait!" Twilight called out, and then we trotted after them. However, they had come to a stop not too far in their rush. "Oh no. What happened?" Twilight asked after we noticed a practically destroyed house. It looked like if ponies had ransacked the place, as there was furniture overturned and thrown out outside.

"Apparently somepony has intruded on her privacy pretty hard already..." Rainbow Dash said worriedly.

"Maybe it's abandoned?" I included, finding it hard to believe the house would be in the horrible condition it was in if it was located far from other ponies. "I wouldn't think A. K. Yearling would live in such a place if this happens…"

"Let's go check it out." Rainbow nonetheless offered and jumped over to the entrance of the house, leaving me with a bad feeling inside. Rainbow Dash knocked on the crooked wooden door as she looked inside the window, but the door ended up falling to the ground. She poked her head inside, along with the other girls, in pure curiosity.

I managed to fit my head through to see the utter destruction and mess that was left inside the house. It absolutely looked like somepony was in a hurry to go through the place.

"Hoo-wee, somepony really trashed this place." Applejack commented.

"Hmm... Maybe..." Pinkie Pie went through the piles of broken furniture. "…or maybe A.K. Yearling's just a terrible, horrible, unbelievable slob!"

"That's…pretty unlikely." I returned and then looked around a little worriedly. "I keep getting the feeling we shouldn't be in here."

Rarity walked over to a broken mirror. "I hope A.K. Yearling's alright!"

"You and me both." Twilight approached me by the pile of broken objects. "What if something terrible happened to her?"

"I know!" Rainbow Dash appeared from inside, searching around extensively. "There might be no more books!" As expected, Twilight shot back an aggravated look. "Uh... But, of course, I'd be worried about her, too. Heh." She laughed nervously.

"What are you all doing here?" We suddenly heard an unfamiliar face by the doorway.

We looked back to see a rather innocently looking mare walk in. She didn't look shocked or surprised. She seemed calm but a little annoyed.

"Uh... A... K-K... Yearling...?" Rainbow managed to pull out, too stunned at the sight of her apparent hero, in literature terms.

"What have you done to my house?" She asked, walking in a bit of hurry.

"We didn't do this, Ms. Yearling— whoa!" Applejack tried to answer, but Yearling walked over to the rug she was on and pulled it off from under her hooves. She then walked quickly to an area near Twilight and appeared to be searching for something in specific.

"We're awfully glad to see you're alright." Twilight expressed calmly.

But this didn't affect Yearling. She seemed to block out what the others had said in her desperate search. She now galloped over to an area Rainbow Dash was skimming through herself to throw out books and other objects in her way.

Rainbow whistled casually, seeing as she had been looking for any sign of the next book. "Okay, clearly this isn't the best time, but I've just gotta say how much we all really love your books..." She chuckled nervously.

Yearling once again blocked out Rainbow's comment and rather noticed something under her. She grinned in relief and pulled it out, tossing Rainbow away. She placed the odd-looking book to the ground and messed with it, leading to a clicking of sounds. The book opened weirdly and a golden ring popped out. Even though I had never read the books, I immediately got the craziest and most unbelievable idea.

Yearling sighed in relief as she held it up. "It's safe." She put it away and began fixing up the mess in her home as if the ring was really the only thing she cared about.

"Great!" Rainbow moved towards her. "Maybe now would be a good time for me to ask her how we can help move the new book along a little faster." She rudely pushed the typewriter in front of Yearling. "Chop chop!" Yearling only returned an annoyed set of rolled eyes.

"Rainbow Dash, a minute please!" Twilight exclaimed in a hushed tone, observing her rude behavior and taking her outside with her magic. The rest of the girls followed her while I decided to stay inside.

"Uh… Sorry about my friend, Miss…Yearling." I apologized, even though I knew she wouldn't really pay attention as she continued to fix up her stuff around her house. "We honestly don't know who did this to your house…but if you'd like…we'd be happy to help you fix up the place…"

Remaining concentrated and silent, she moved on to lift a wooden board against the wall and place back her mirror in the correct position.

I sighed, finding it completely understandable for her to be quietly furious with us. "Okay…" I turned around to walk out until a group of strangers approached me. "Uh…can I help you?"

"Are you working with Ms. Do?" One of them asked.

"W-what?" I questioned confusingly.

"We are taking back what belongs to us." Another announced until he was silenced by the dress Yearling was wearing. The other two were each shot by her glasses and sunhat.

When I looked back to look for reason in Yearling's actions, I was completely shocked to what I saw. In all of her glory, it was none other than Daring Do. Granted, if I actually read the books and was a fan, I probably would have been…well…completely paralyzed. But the idea of a character that was once only known in a book actually come to life…well…that is pretty darn something to be shocked at.

"Daring Do?! You're real?!" I exclaimed in astonishment.

She only prepared herself as the three stallions surrounded her, and I wasn't entirely sure if I should help. She is supposed to be the good mare in the series, but how the hay do you explain in getting involved in a once fictional character's adventure?

Daring Do tried to back away, but one of the stallions suddenly snatched the ring off her, which is something she was dreadfully trying to protect. She kicked the ring high up in the air to have it escape his mouth. The stallion with the shades tried to hold on to her tail as she caught the ring, but she merely kicked him off. She was backed into a corner, leading for one of the stallions to charge at her. She threw him to the side, having the other two run at her while she was recovering from her movement. They began fighting in a too fast-paced motion to keep up with. The ring flew up from them and ricocheted off the ceiling and walls. Finally, it surprisingly ended up on my neck, and I could only look up in surprise to see the angry stallions run after me. The biggest one, with no sign of patience, roughly removed it from me and punched me towards the ground.

Whether it was right or not, I knew who's side I was on now. Furiously, my teeth clenched as I glared at the stallions attempting to escape Daring Do.

"Alright…" I wiped my mouth with my hoof. "You've asked for it now."

Turning towards the pile of broken furniture nearby, I angrily picked them up with my magic and threw them towards the stallions. To their surprise, it smacked them at mainly their head. They were stunned, but I targeted and focused my attention mainly at the one that attacked me. I leapt into the air and kicked him right in the face. He shook his head and tried to swing at me, but I quickly ducked, grabbed any object I could find in the ground, and dazed him when I broke it on his head. Using this time, I used the strength of my magic and threw him across the room. The force of the impact clearly incapacitated him for the fight. The ring he had had flown from him and bounced off the wall. Daring Do tried to catch it as the other stallions ran after me, seeing me as a new threat.

Finding an empty bucket, I used my magic to hold one of them and have another stallion's head smack into it, depriving his vision for a moment as it covered his entire face. The last stallion attempted to make his move on me, but Daring Do came by with the ring held in her mouth. She pushed him away with a chair she held up. As she kept her eyes on him, I noticed the bucket-covered stallion managing to finally remove the vision-obscuring object on him.

"Watch out!" I warned and was about to prevent him from doing anything with my magic, but suddenly something blunt struck my horn directly. The pain was screeching, proving the horn was very sensitive to any damage. I placed my hooves on my horn and felt myself drop to the floor as my eyes clenched tightly.

Daring Do was distracted by my fall, allowing the bad guy to escape her hold and throw her down. The other stallion removed the bucket from his face and joined in on the fight. Daring Do had accidentally released the ring, leaving it to fly over to the doorway behind me.

"Many thanks, Daring Do." Another stallion spoke in a foreign accent. I managed to open one eye while pressing my hooves on my horn in pain. He was standing at the doorway while successfully twirling the ring on his hoof. "As you've probably surmised, our earlier search for this treasure was... unsuccessful. So kind of you to find it for us."

The fight with Daring Do had ceased, and the other incapacitated pony had managed to recover and join the two. She tried to stand up and gallop towards this stallion, but her front leg suddenly twisted, leaving her to fall towards the floor in pain as well.

"Give it back, Caballeron!" She ordered.

"That's Doctor Caballeron to you." He corrected. His eyes lowered towards mine. "I see you allow such a rare…Alicorn pony to accompany you. Is that why you refused?"

"He has nothing to do with this!" Daring Do returned, trying to fix herself up to stand.

"Oh but of course." Caballeron responded and then eyed me greedily. "Perhaps…we should take him as well. I can only imagine how many riches there will be when we offer this one to our buyer."

"Like hay you will!" I shot back. I so desperately wanted to shoot a beam of my magic at him to shut him up, but my horn was still stinging painfully. "I'm not some kind of object for you to sell off!"

The stallions around Daring Do began stepping towards me, but Caballeron stopped them. "No. We've had enough trouble as it is."

"Let me guess:" Daring Do managed to push herself back up. "Ahuizotl has put you up to this? You're stealing the ring to give to him so his hold on the Fortress of Talicon will be good for eight centuries as foretold by prophecy!"

"Close, but... no." He confronted Daring Do. "I'm going to sell this to him, make a bundle, and retire from archaeology in splendor."

"Caballeron, you fool!" She grunted, trying to stop him, but her damaged hoof, along with the other stallions, stopped her. "You're dooming the valley to eight centuries of unrelenting heat!"

Clearly ignoring her, he placed the ring around his neck and trotted off. "To market, henchponies!" They threw Daring Do to the floor and trotted after their leader, leaving her to grunt in pain. The stinging sensation in my horn slowly went away, but I still suffered some pain if I touched it or tried using magic.

Daring Do continued to have problems with her hoof. She tried to walk forward, but she obviously suffered a lot of pain as well. Even though I would have felt pain for doing so, I decided I would relieve whatever she was undergoing with her hoof.

She sat on the floor, gathering the materials to make a splint, as I approached her. At least I was still able to walk.

"Hold still." I advised, pointing my horn at her affected foreleg.

"I don't need—" She irritatingly responded until she began feeling my magic on her foreleg. She was surprised when she was able to move it again.

There was a gasp beside me. "Are you okay?" Rainbow Dash asked, leading Daring Do to slap her reaching hoof away.

"I got this." She refused. I suppose she was still angry for losing the ring.

"Um, she was just trying to help, Ms. Do." Fluttershy tried to relieve the tension with her soft voice.

"Daring Do doesn't need help." She began walking away, still limping a little. "She handles her business herself." After she was outside, she flew away, leaving us in silence.

I signed and poked my horn, glad it wasn't broken or anything. "It would have been nice to have some help earlier…"

"Sorry…" Twilight apologized. "We were…just shocked about Daring Do. We didn't really know what to do at the moment." Fluttershy carefully approached me and gently caressed my horn with her hoof. It caused me to flinch a little. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah… It's just my horn…" I answered. Twilight walked herself to me, placed tip of her horn on mine, and closed her eyes.

After using some magic, she opened them again. "Better?"

"Yeah…" I returned after feeling the pain soothed.

"Come on!" Rainbow Dash raced out to fly outside. "We've gotta go help!"

"You heard her!" Twilight ran after her, leading for me and the others to follow. "She says she works alone!"

"How can we just stand by and do nothing?" Rainbow tried to reason with Twilight. "You know what's at stake here! Ahuizotl has sought control of the Tenochtitlan Basin since book three!"

"True, but in book four, she defeated Ahuizotl and secured control of the Amulet of Atonement, dispelling the dark magic of the Quetzalcóatl Empress, and thus protecting the basin with the Radiant Shield of Rasdon!" Twilight reacted in defense.

"But the Radiant Shield of Rasdon is vulnerable to the dark enchantment of the Rings of Scorcherro!" Rainbow returned, leaving me to scrunch in confusion.

"But are you forgetting that the Rings were scattered to the four corners of Tenochtitlan, thus rendering the dark enchantment powerless?" I didn't know if Pinkie Pie actually understood this, but she nodded her head in agreement at Twilight's statement.

"Only if you assume that the Rings have yet to be retrieved, and the ring Caballeron just stole isn't the last to completely restore the dark tower and its cruel hold on Tenochtitlan! Did you ever think of that?!"

"You gotta admit, Rainbow Dash makes a pretty good point." Pinkie Pie delightedly pointed.

"We gotta help Daring Do retrieve the ring for safekeeping before it's too late!" Rainbow Dash pleaded to us.

Twilight released a defeated sigh. "Okay, but sounds to me like we're in way, way, way over our heads. We're going to need a carefully thought out plan..."

"I'm coming, Daring Do!" Rainbow Dash's voice echoed throughout the forest as she twirled around in the sky to assist her hero.

"That's not a plan!" Twilight shouted out and then groaned at her unthinking behavior.

"I better go after her." I advised the others. "The rest of you should stay together. I'll try make sure Rainbow doesn't screw things up."

"Are you sure?" Twilight questioned hesitantly.

I nodded. "The only flyers are you and Fluttershy, and I much rather have all of you together. I'll try to keep Rainbow in place until you meet back with us."

"Okay. Be careful." Twilight warned considerately.

"Got it." I granted and then waved off to the others for our later meeting.

I flew up to the air and attempted to figure out the direction Rainbow Dash left to.

I didn't know if she had changed directions during her flight time, but I hope she didn't. Otherwise, I'd probably be completely lost. However, I wasn't able to find her in the air anytime soon, so I turned my sight downwards and slowed down to see if I could see her through the trees.

"Rainbow Dash...where did you go?" I asked under my breath.

All of sudden, I heard a rush of wind and a spiraling rainbow ahead of me. I gasped and tried to call out to her. "Rainbow!" I shouted, but of course, it seemed she didn't hear me or listen. I sighed and looked downwards where Rainbow Dash flew from. I noticed another pony walking inwards, and based from the outfit, I could tell it was Daring Do. Of course, Rainbow Dash was going to go anywhere Daring Do was going to go, so I thought it'd be best to stay with her.

I lowered myself to approach Daring Do.

Once she spotted me, she scoffed irritatingly. "Don't tell me. You want to tell me how much of a big fan you are too?"

"What? No." I shook my head. "To be honest, I've never even read your books, but that's beside the point. I was just trying to catch Rainbow Dash before she did anything without thinking."

"Well, you're too late for that." She looked off in the direction that Rainbow headed off in. "Looks like she already getting in the way."

"I know how you feel…but you've got to know that she's only just trying to help, even though she's made herself to fangirl everything about you." I responded.

"Her 'help' is going to doom the valley! If you want to help, get her off my back and let me do my job." She returned in a deeply irritated manner.

I sighed once again, not wanting to anger her any further. "…alright. You've made your point clear enough…"

I followed her the rest of the way as we both remained silent. It took a while until we found Rainbow hiding behind a couple of bushes.

"Hey, Daring Do! I found them camping out here!" She announced in a hushed tone.

Daring Do narrowed her eyes irritably as she looked towards me.

Fed up with the angry looks she's been giving me, I walked towards Rainbow Dash.

"Alex? Where are the others?" She asked.

"Come on." I grabbed her hoof. "We're going home."

"What? No! We've gotta help Daring Do!"

"She wants to work alone!" I tried to get through her thick skull.

"But we need to!"

Daring Do scrunched her face in anger and finally stormed her hoof to the ground. "Fine!" She exclaimed in a hushed tone. "You can stay, but do not get in my way!"

"Sure! Anything, Daring Do!" Rainbow saluted while I released an angry breath. The both of them gathered around the bush Rainbow Dash was hiding behind and looked out beyond. "Looks like they decided to have an early dinner before making their way back down the hill to the marketplace in town." Not really caring about Rainbow's advisement, Daring Do turned to the ground and scraped up some mud with her hooves. Then, she began rubbing it on the bottom of her head, confusing me. "Oh, I see." Rainbow began. "You're gonna ambush them like in book four at the Haravian caves!" Daring Do threw her hat to the ground and crushed it a bit. "Or maybe, that neat trick you did in book three, where you swoop in and knock three guys down with one swing!" She was starting to get seriously loud, having me want to shut her up, but Daring Do did it instead. "Or maybe—" Daring Do sent her a glare, having her realize her mistake. "Okay. I'll be quiet now." She lowered the volume of her voice. "Just watching very quietly, heh. Shh. So, what kind of ambush are you gonna use then?" Daring Do raised her head from the ground, presenting a beard made of leaves and twigs. After, she held up a bag full of bits. "Wow!"

As Daring Do went to approach the camping stallions, I stayed behind to make sure Rainbow stayed out of it. However, I couldn't help but become concerned for Daring Do's plan.

"Are you sure that's going to work? I don't know if they'll believe it…" I mentioned.

"Of course it's going to work!" Rainbow answered confidently. "Daring Do's plans always work!"

In a low-pitched voice, Daring Do spoke to the stallions after dropping the bits to the ground and catching their wide eyes. "I have been led to believe you have in your possession an item of significant importance that might be... for sale."

They quickly raced towards the bag of bits. "Oh, uh, well..." Caballeron returned. "I did have another buyer lined up, but he's not here, so..." He held up the ring he had took. "…sounds like we have a deal."

Daring Do raised her hoof to accept it until we all heard a loud and fierce roar echo throughout the forest. Trees tumbled down until this large odd-looking monster appeared before the two. "Caballeron!" He shouted in anger. "The ring!" He demanded.

Caballeron gasped and released the ring, making sure to bring the bag of bits when he fled.

The ring clanked on the ground, leaving Daring Do and the beast to look at it in silence for a moment. Daring Do took the initiative to pounce towards it and grab it with her teeth. However, in the process, she knowingly revealed who she really was. The antagonist roared out loudly once again and chased after Daring Do.

"Be cool, Rainbow Dash, be cool... she's got this!" She covered her eyes with her forelegs.

"Don't do anything stupid, Rainbow." I placed a hoof on her. "Just let it play out."

"The ring, Daring Do! Give it to me!" The monster demanded as he inched closer to her like a cat, later pounding the ground which Daring Do easily escaped.

"Now, Ahuizotl, you know I love you, but I can't give you the ring 'til I've properly proposed." She wittily replied.

This led to Rainbow Dash smirking in a smug manner.

Nonetheless, Ahuizotl laughed. "Interesting, because my friends here have a proposal of their own." He snapped his…tail apparently, and summon several of feline species by his side, which even held a small household cat for some reason… They all growled ferociously at Daring Do, leading to her backing away and Rainbow sweating nervously.

Daring Do prepared herself for combat and narrowed her eyes. "Bring it!"

The panther ran towards her, only to receive a fierce uppercut that sent it flying back. The tiger pounced over to Daring Do next, but it missed when she jumped in the air. She pounded on its head and headed for the cougar with an outstretched back leg. She shot it backwards and then began fighting with the last big cat.

"Come on, Daring Do, come on...!" Rainbow pounded the ground in extreme anxiety.

"Rainbow, you should know she'll be alright. You've read all the books, haven't you?" I asked, but didn't receive an answer. "Rainbow?"

"Daring Do! I've got your hat! You want me to toss it?" She yelled out a few steps away from me while holding Daring Do's hat. Meanwhile, Daring Do was too busy fighting the summoned cats. "Daring Do! Daring Do!"

"Rainbow!" I shouted out and threw myself her to get her out of sight.

It seemed that it was a good thing I did, because Ahuizotl apparently tried to snatch Rainbow. However, when we were able to see what was going on again, Daring Do had been captured by the cats. She was tied up with a rope, which prevented her from moving at all. The tiger grabbed ahold of her with its fangs.

"Don't worry, Daring Do! I'll come help you!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed and tried to reach out, but the response she earned left her stunned.

"Don't bother! I'd say you've already helped plenty." Daring Do returned sarcastically, leaving Rainbow to watch the character she loved so much to be taken away hostage. She took a moment to realize that her action had led to Daring Do's defeat.

"…What have I done?" She asked as she flopped down her ears in sadness.

I sighed, seeing how she was now realizing the consequences of her actions. "You let your excitement get the better of you…" I wanted her to realize what she had done…but not in a negative way. I know it sounded a little mean…but I wanted her to learn. I couldn't help but comfort her about it though…

"I just…was so anxious to see her…" She spoke miserably as she stared at the ground. "I was just so excited to meet not only the author of my favorite books, but Daring Do herself." She sighed. "I can't believe how much I messed up…"

I sat by her and placed a foreleg around her. "We all make mistakes. You must know that we all aren't perfect, and whoever says they are is only a fool. But we can only learn from our mistakes."

"And how exactly will that help Daring Do?" She questioned, not really looking better than before.

"Well…it's up to you to realize what you did wrong, and avoid it the next time you want to help her out."

Rainbow Dash returned a quick scoff. "That's never going to happen. I'm not ever going to try to help her again after what I did."

"Rainbow…" I spoke, trying to get her to look at me, but she only remained staring at the floor.

I heard a galloping of hooves getting louder by the second. Suddenly, a group of mares ran out from within the forest to approach us. The girls had caught up.

"Thank goodness you two are alright!" Rarity exclaimed after a gasp.

"Quick, where does it hurt?" Twilight asked Rainbow, noticing her painful appearance.

"In here." She placed her hooves to her chest, directly pointing at her heart. "Daring Do and the ring have been captured by the dreaded Ahuizotl, and it's all my fault."

All of the girls gasped.

"Dash, I'm sure whatever you did was an honest mistake." Twilight assured.

"Whatever." Rainbow shook her head, noticing how Twilight was starting to sound like she came off of my speech. "Let's just go home." She turned away and began walking off sadly with her head held down low.

"We can't go back now!" Applejack announced. "Looks a mite like she needs our help more than ever!"

"Trying to help is how I got in this mess in the first place." Rainbow stopped in her tracks to answer Applejack. "You were right, guys." She directed towards Twilight and me. "We should've stayed out of this."

Twilight joined her in her walk while I tenderly followed along.

"Look, there is more going on here than meets the eye. In every Daring Do book, there always is! We can't turn our backs on her!" Twilight tried to reason with her.

"She doesn't want my help, Twilight."

"Perhaps. But she might need it anyway." Twilight did offer good points in the first place…

"No. My hero's way better off without me." Rainbow Dash declined, despite Twilight's reasoning.

"This don't sound like you." Applejack joined, nudging her in the chest.

"Where's the Rainbow Dash who would help anypony at the drop of a hat?" Pinkie Pie included as well, hugging Rainbow.

"Or pith helmet, as the case may be." Rarity added happily.

"She's here where she's got no business being." She pushed Pinkie away off her. "She should be at home." She continued walking.

"It's fine to look up to Daring Do, but you've put her so high up on a pedestal, you can't even see your own worth anymore!" Twilight proclaimed earnestly. "She's in the fortress, and we're here, and we wouldn't be who we are if we didn't go in after her! And neither would you! So, are you with us, or not?"

Rainbow Dash stared at the ground for a moment, and then looked at us as she held the same mood. It seemed she just needed a little more to finally be motivated and fix the mistakes she made in the first place.

"Rainbow…" I stepped forward. "She's your hero, right? And you'd want more than anything for her to notice you? Well, she needs you right now, even though she might not show it. You say it's your fault. Fine. And what are you going to do to fix it? Just walk away from the problem? I thought the Rainbow Dash we know is better than that. You want to feel better, Rainbow? Then you've got to do something about it. Like I said, use what you've learned from your mistakes and put it to good use for the better." I noticed she looked downwards in thought. "Come on… Come with us, and we'll all save Daring Do together. That's what you want, don't you?"

After finally putting some thought into it, rather than just jumping the horn, she looked up in determination. "Alright. Yeah. Let's go help Daring Do!"

"That's the spirit, Rainbow!" Twilight exclaimed joyously. "But first…" She held up a hoof. "Let's come up with a plan this time?"

Rainbow nodded, knowing how leaving without one didn't help last time. "Right…"

The seven of us gathered in a circle figure.

"Okay, Rainbow." Twilight began. "As in every book, Daring Do will be in a very dangerous and heart-trembling trap. However, this time, you'll be helping her."

"You go find and patch up things with her, and of course…make sure she gets out alive first." I continued. "We'll take care of Ahuizotl and the ring meanwhile."

"Got it!" Rainbow Dash nodded determinedly.

"Everypony ready?" I asked, holding out my hoof in the middle of our circle.

"Ready!" They all exclaimed and placed their hooves on mine.

"Then let's go help Daring Do complete her quest!"

"Yeah!" They shouted out in unison, leading Rainbow to begin her task in flying over to the temple she was last seen being taken to.

"Come on." I directed the others. "Let's not waste any time." I turned to Twilight. "Twilight, you lead, since you know everything about the books."

"Roger that, captain!" Twilight saluted playfully and then began leading us towards the temple as well.

Wondering inside the temple, we heard a clanking of objects striking the ground in rhythm. We poked our heads through the main doorway, which inside held a rather larger crowd than we were expecting. They were all observing Ahuizotl seriously, who was performing some kind of ritual with the ring. He gave a loud laughter until I jumped in to stop him.

"Hey, Ahuizotl!" I called out to him, interrupting his joyous occasion. "Don't you know the bride is supposed to receive her ring first?" I announced, following Daring Do's witty manner. Then, I signaled the girls to begin the rowdy rumble.

"Hmph, place the ring, quickly!" Ahuizotl commanded his followers, but Pinkie Pie quickly bounced and jumped towards where the two ponies were holding up the ring. She placed herself inside the ring, twirling it around like a hula-hoop. She sent it at another direction and happily hopped off before Ahuizotl could grab ahold of her. "Get it!" He shouted out angrily.

Two of them tried to catch it, but Applejack intervened and kicked it up into the air. Those two were my first victims. Using my magic, I shot a few beams at them, similar to what Twilight used against the changelings back when they invaded Canterlot. Successfully, they knocked them out from the fight.

Applejack was running with the ring in her mouth, but one of the ponies tripped her with her weapon, grabbing ahold of the ring after. He tried to toss to Ahuizotl, but Fluttershy impressively intercepted it. Ahuizotl then gave chase after Fluttershy, frightening her. I growled but maintained my cool as I ran towards him. I hopped onto him and pulled his ears backwards. "You really don't have any manners, do you?" As I saw Twilight retrieve the ring from Fluttershy, I released Ahuizotl's ears and hopped off of him, just in time to avoid his grabbing tail.

Another two tried to pounce on Twilight, but she successfully used her horn to teleport out of harm's way, causing them to smack each other and knock themselves out. I used my magic to throw them on the initial pile. Another couple ran after Twilight, leading her to toss it back to Applejack.

"Twilight!" I called after her, grabbing her attention. "Let's show them what a little magic can do!" I grinned with a sneer as I provided a glow to my horn.

Twilight caught my invitation and nodded in the same manner. "You've got it."

The two of us gathered together in flight and then worked as a team to send out beams towards the bad guys, leaving us to almost look like a disco ball in the area. Our improvised tactic significantly helped the others, giving them an edge on keeping the ring off the wrong hooves. Once we noticed every one of the ponies were unconscious from our magic, we then worked together to place them all in the same pile. "That's the last of them!"

However, there was a loud laughter as Ahuizotl had somehow managed to receive the ring. But the temple began shaking and giving off huge vibrations, stopping him. We all noticed Rainbow Dash and Daring Do both trying to lift up the largest ring from the bottom.

"Stop her!" He commanded, pointing a finger towards the two. However, it was to his surprise when he noticed that all of his ponies were knocked out in the corner.

"Ponies! Run!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed to us, just about as they were going to completely remove the current ring they were holding. "This place is goin' down!" Ahuizotl tried to jump and grabbed ahold of them, but failed as they got away from the exit on the ceiling. He then turned around and his eyes shot towards the exit the others were using to escape. He looked as if he was about to chase after them before the temple could collapse, but seeing as he was the only one to handle, I stood in his way and prevented him from leaving.

"I don't think you're going anywhere." I stood my ground, despite the destruction of the temple that was to occur any minute. "You made a commitment to that ring and you're going to stay with it." I smirked with adrenaline pumping inside me and feeling no linger of fear whatsoever.

All of his fists clenched, and he shook them with absolute hatred. It seemed he had enough. His whole body shook, not because of the falling temple, but to release a loud and mighty roar. He stretched his tail to reach one of the fallen weapons his pony followers were using. "No pony will stand in my way! No pony!" He tried to strike me with the spear, but I quickly drew out a shield with my magic to block it. "You can't overpower me!" He was attempting to push through and knock my balance off, but with all my strength, both physical and magical, I grunted and pushed forward, earning a step each time.

When the time was right, I pushed through with a force and knocked him unbalanced instead. However, he wasn't giving up so easily. Using this momentum, he tried to swipe the spear at me, but I jumped and flipped in flight, knocking him back with a magical burst from my horn. Staggered from my blow, I then chained in a quick combo of several small bursts from horn, and then ended with bucking him with my back legs.

I would have probably been able to handle him perfectly, but with the falling debris, it made it a little harder. The falling rocks got in my line of sight, having me place a hoof in front of me to try to see clearly. However, I was caught off guard when he charged his massive body at me. I was thrown towards the floor. Then, he used his tail to grab ahold of me and then swung it around to fling me towards the wall. I roughly slammed into it, and it caused me to be inactive for a moment. This was the perfect time for him to try to attack me with the spear again, but I quickly regained my focus and summoned another shield to defend myself.

I managed to push myself back up and force him to back off. However, he learned from his last failure and didn't push on to be knocked back. While I still was recovering from the impact of the wall, he grabbed ahold of me with his tail again and held on while he glared at me angrily. "You are such an imbecile, do you realize that? You dare challenge me?!"

"He's not the only one!" I heard nearby. A couple of falling debris struck him at his face, causing him to let go of me. "You've still got me to deal with, Ahuizotl!" Daring Do revealed herself with a sly grin. She then flew towards me to ready herself by me. "I've still gotta repay the favor to you and your friends, y'know?"

Smiling back at her, I nodded. "Gotcha."

Ahuizotl rubbed his face and he was really getting steamed now. "Curse you…DARING DO!"

Daring Do launched herself in the air and faced me. "Toss a few of those rocks, will you?" She requested towards the projectiles on the ground.

"Roger!" I grabbed the majority of them with my magic and tossed them up in the air.

Daring Do licked her lips and bucked them straight at Ahuizotl, who couldn't gain any ground towards us because of it. As he fumbled due to our move, Daring Do took another look at me. "What do you say we finally end this reception?"

"Let's do it!" I agreed as I joined her to charge at Ahuizotl. Once we were on opposite sides around him, I signaled her. "Daring Do!" I called. I rose up in the air, and we both began smacking him with our back hooves from every side. Once he grew nice and dizzy, we both grabbed hold onto his tail instead and wrapped it around him. Finally, we gave one last tug and spun him rapidly. He fell to the ground, severely dazed.

"Come on!" Daring Do called out to me, grabbing my hoof. "Let's get out of here before we're crushed!"

She led me, flying us straight out the temple just as it fell into pieces.

Once we were on solid ground again, all of the girls raced towards us, absolutely appearing to be almost killed with worry over the fact that we could have been crushed in there.

"Daring Do! I will have my revenge!" We could hear Ahuizotl scream out from the ruins of the temple.

I looked towards Daring Do. "Are you sure you still want him holding out his revenge on you every single time?" I asked.

"Hey." She answered in a rather enthusiastic manner. "If he didn't, how would there ever be any more books? Plus, he's the only thing that keeps my life exciting!"

"Hm" I smiled at her comment. "I would say so."

She looked out to each of us. "I know I didn't want any pony's help before…but I really couldn't have done all of this without you all." She turned to Rainbow Dash. "Especially you, Rainbow Dash."

Daring Do held out a hoof towards her to shake, but Rainbow couldn't hold in her excitement. Instead, she wrapped her hooves around Daring Do, and I could tell she was squeezing tightly. Being surprised for a moment, she accepted it nonetheless and had to softly push her away when Rainbow wouldn't let go.

"It was truly an honor helping you in your adventure, Ms. Do!" Twilight expressed calmly but brightly.

Daring Do chuckled. "Well, if you all will excuse me… I've got a book to finish!" She waved and flew back towards the direction of her home.

Rainbow Dash returned to us and suddenly I was swarmed by every one of them in a group hug.

"Keep squeezing that tight…and it'll feel like if I had stayed in the temple…" I managed to say as I felt hardly any room.

Afterwards, they pulled back, allowing me to breathe.

After such a long and tiring day, Twilight suggested we return back home. There was just something quick I needed to do before doing so, so I told them to go on ahead and I would catch up to them in a few minutes.

I actually wanted to see Daring Do one last time, so I could thank her for her help back in the temple, which is something I didn't get to express before she left. I managed to track back to her house in the woods. The door was still pretty crooked and broken, but it appeared she was able to place it back on somewhat. I knocked and later heard her voice inside.

"That better not be you, Caballeron!" She threatened.

"Don't worry. It's Alex." I assured.

After a moment of silence and hoofsteps, the door opened, revealing Daring Do. "Oh, hey."

"Were you able to fix the place up?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah. Mostly." She looked back inside. "I'll get the rest of it done after I finish the book."

I had noticed she didn't have on her disguise, which must have been placed on only for when she went out. "Well, I don't want to take too much of your time… I just wanted to thank you for helping me out at the temple." I looked at the floor and messed with the back part of my mane with my hoof. "I don't know if I would have been able to handle Ahuizotl all by myself."

Daring Do chuckled and waved her hoof. "Alright, alright, I get it."

"Huh?" I questioned, confused on what she was getting at.

"You want a hug from the adventurous Daring Do too, don't you?"

"…uh, well I wasn't really—"

"Come on, don't deny it."

Finding humor in Daring Do's sudden accusation, I decided to give up and just let her have her judgment. "Okay, sure." I held with a touch of sarcasm. Smugly, she held out her forelegs in her usual witty manner. I accepted, leaving us in a strong squeeze for a while before we pulled away. "Thanks for…accepting my thanks…" I expressed. "I guess I better let you get to writing then. Rainbow Dash is still going to be crazy about the next book, even though she just experienced it for herself."

Daring Do chuckled. "Right. Oh, and I trust you and your friends won't be ridiculously stupid and blab about this to everypony…right?"

I motioned my hoof in the manner of a Pinkie Promise. "Pinkie Promise and Alicorn's honor."

Before I could take up too much of her time, I allowed her to return back to her work as I quickly flew up to catch up with the girls before they got too far ahead.

After everypony went to bed, and I ended the night with Fluttershy in our usual manner, I visited the one pony who I knew wouldn't be asleep anytime soon.

"Hey, Vinyl." I greeted in a rather cheery manner as I walked in through her front door.

"Sup!" She removed her headphones and trotted over to me. "I was saving the bass just for you! How'd your date with Fluttershy go?"

"Great." I answered, taking a seat nearby. "She said she managed to put her pet bunny to sleep during the time I was running late, and that's a good thing because that bunny really doesn't like it when I show my love for his 'mommy'." I chuckled.

Vinyl laughed as well. "Right on!" We slapped hooves. "So, hey. Remember about that pony I was talking about earlier? Before you left?"

I placed a hoof to my chin, trying to remember. "I think so…"

"Well, I wanted to introduce you two!" She announced excitedly. "Despite our differences, we get along nicely, but you should really see her for herself. I may be an awesome DJ, but she's amazing with string instruments."

"Oh, uh…" I returned, surprised for her offer. "Well, I don't see why not. I do like making more friends like you Vinyl."

"Heh heh." She looked back with a blush of embarrassment. "Aw." She faced me again. "But this time, she won't wake you up in the middle of the night. I'll try to find a time when she's free in the day. Is that alright with you?"

"Yeah, sure." I agreed. "I guess I better get some sleep then. You won't believe how crazy my day was…"

"Go ahead!" She enthusiastically offered. "We can jam out again some other time!"

Grinning at her attitude and personality, I nodded. "Sure thing, Vinyl."

Lastly, the next thing on my list was sleep, which most likely meant seeing Spirit again.

Undergoing the same transition, I awoke in my dream state on the same bed as before. I looked out towards the doorway that led to the balcony. I walked calmly through and looked around for any sign of Spirit. This time, she was present and sat in the usual spot staring out at the sunset.

I carefully approached her and greeted her. "Hey." I announced with a smile.

She quickly turned and reacted defensively for some reason. "I'm not eating your ice cream!"

"Huh?" I raised my eyebrow in confusion.

Nevertheless, she giggled and pulled out a separate one for me. "Just kidding."

"Good." I played along and sat by her as I retrieved it with my magic. "You know I get cranky when ponies eat my ice cream." I rested my bottom and sighed in relief. "What a day… You should've been there."

"Oh, don't worry." She assured, taking a bite out of her treat. "I was."

"Oh, right." I joined her in our consumption. "You and your mysterious ways. As like any of the others, don't go on telling any other pony about Daring Do and such."

"Hm." She paused. "Even if I could, I wouldn't."

"Hm?" I questioned, looking at her.

"Nothing." She returned a slightly forced smile and then turned back at the sunset.

"Hm…" I took a moment to think about her. "…you know…you remind me of the girls back home." In silence, she faced me with the ice cream in her mouth. "You can kind of be hyperish like Pinkie Pie…or calm and trusting like Twilight, or even a little shy like Fluttershy." I turned my head up towards the sky. "Oh, definitely honest like Applejack." I placed my hoof to my cheek in continuation. "Come to think of it…brave like Rainbow Dash when it came to the castle…and for Rarity? Hm. I'm not too sure for her…" I turned my head back towards Spirit. "But I'm sure you've got a bit of her in you as well."

"Yeah…" She looked away. "I guess so…"

"Something the matter?" I inquired about.

"Not really." She answered steadily. "I guess I'm just starting to think about stuff…"

"Well…" I closed my eyes and took in one more bite of the treat, fumbling with the wooden stick in my mouth. "If you ever need to express something about yourself, or something that's on your mind. I'm here to listen."

"What if it might be something that makes you mad?" She asked a little worriedly.

"I try my best to understand anything told to me." I spoke to Spirit as I focused my visual attention at the sunset. "But, I don't think there's anything about you specifically that can make me upset. I don't see how."

"Oh…right…" She softly released. "Well…okay. I'll keep that to mind then." She referred to her expression of her thoughts. "Oh." She noticed the wobbling stick in my mouth. "Do you mind letting me keep those sticks after you're done with them?"

"Oh." I removed the stick from my lips and presented it in front of her. She removed hers and placed the two together. "Sure. What's the occasion?"

With her eyes half-opened towards me and a soft smirk, she answered. "It's a secret."

"Of course…" I returned, knowing she would have said something like that.

"Don't worry." She assured. "It's a secret you'll know soon enough."

"Well then, I guess I can't wait." I stated and remained quiet until Spirit spoke up.

"Hey…um…" She began, grabbing my attention. "Do you think…a wish can really come true?"

"Hm…" I thought about it for a moment. "Maybe… I can't just tell you it will…but I'd like to believe that anything you wish for can come true…"

"Well…I've made it this far…so I still have hope…" She responded, having me look at her a little confusingly for a bit until she quickly retracted it. "Sorry, just thinking out loud here."

Nonetheless, I smiled softly and felt gratitude for her part in my life, even though she was still mysterious. I placed my foreleg around her and expressed it. "Thanks."

She was a little surprised, but she didn't question about it.

We sat together as the day faded away.

Flight to the Finish

Episode 70 – Flight to the Finish

"Wubs. Wubs. Wubs. Wubs. Wubs."

I heard this whispering in the background of my head. It only seemed to blend in on what already was going on inside, but this was persisted to sound off.

"Wuuubbbssss." It strained.

I mumbled to myself and I could feel my eyes clench.

"Don't make me bring out the wubs."

"…what wubs…?" I murmured out.

"You are sooo lucky I couldn't move my speakers here."

"What…?" I questioned confusingly, finally opening my eyes.

As soon as my eyes cleared, I was immediately welcomed by a grinning white mare. "Surprise!"

I was immediately startled to where I practically fell off the bed. "Vinyl! What are you doing here?!"

"Sorry. I hoped you wouldn't mind if I let myself in." She trotted to my side. "Come on! We gotta go!"

"What? Where?" I asked as I tried pull myself back together.

"Your meeting! Let's go!"

"Meeting? What?"

She took in no time to answer my questions, so she grabbed my hoof and dragged me excitedly out of my home.

For some reason, we waited out in the middle of town as other ponies passed by minding their own business.

"So…you mind telling me what we're waiting for exactly…?" I asked, rubbing my eyes as I was still a little sleepy.

"I arranged a time with that pony I wanted to introduce you to." She continued looking around as she spoke. "Man, I'm so excited!"

"You act like you're setting the two of us date." I mentioned.

"No, I just want you two to get to know each other! Then, we can like hang out at my place and listen to music and stuff!" She shuddered in eagerness. "Agh, I can't wait!"

"Well, what does she look like?" I joined her in her enthusiastic search for this certain pony.

"You'll find out!" She continued moving her head around and squinted her eyes. After a short moment, she gasped and widened her eyes. "I think that's her right there!"

I looked on ahead at where she was pointing to see not a pony, but a musical instrument case that appeared to be carried by the pony. As I stared at the case in analysis, it appeared to be a case for a cello. The case grew larger and larger, indicating how close this pony got to us. For some reason, this began making me feel nervous. All the suspense was starting to kind of kill me, especially since the cello was blocking the pony's face and I wasn't able to see who it was. The closer she got, the harder my heart pounded. Finally, she stopped, holding only several steps before us.

Next, the case was carefully dropped to the floor, followed by a tired exhaust of air.

Then, I could see her hoof stretch out and move the case aside, allowing me to finally view her completely.

"Ugh. Carrying that thing everywhere certainly tires me." She mentioned before Vinyl dove into the conversation.

"Tavi!" Vinyl hugged this mare tightly, as her excitement still appeared to be in play. "I'm glad you could make it!" She then released her from their embrace and looked towards me. "This is the stallion I'm always tellling you about!" She waved a hoof over to me, presenting me in front of her. "He's a prince!" She poked the mare's chest.

"A prince…" She returned, rather sounding unenthused.

"Alex, this Octavia." Vinyl presented the new friend to me. "Octavia, Alex."

"Hey." I took the initiative and presented a hoof in front of Octavia. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Octavia." I greeted clearly and warmly with a bright but soft smile.

However…things…suddenly began turning out weird when she didn't return a greeting in the same manner. She only seemed to glare at me as I began feeling awkward when I was holding my hoof up for no reason.

"Uh…Tavi?" Vinyl broke the short awkward silence. "You know you're supposed to connect your hoof with his, right?" Vinyl tried to raise her hoof to touch mine, but she quickly withdrew it.

"I don't shake hooves with a prince." She returned rudely.

My smile faded away after I began hearing this.

"What?" Vinyl asked, quite in disbelief at what she was hearing. "What are you talking about? He's awesome!"

"To you, maybe." She answered angrily, switching between glances at Vinyl and deathly glares at me. "But I know how you princes really are." I had time to slip in a few words or so, but I was pretty shocked as Vinyl was. "Sure, you present yourself as royal, sophisticated, and perhaps even polite, but what you really are inside is an arrogant self-centered snob!"

"W-what are you talking about?" I managed to say, but I was already feeling the emotions within kick in.

"Playing innocent, are we?" She pursued. "Why don't you ask your other buddy Prince Blueblood? I'm sure he'd love to explain how well he treated that mare during the Grand Galloping Gala. Oh, and maybe you can ask him how well he's treated other ponies before that as well?"

"But… Prince Blueblood is an a—"

She cut me off when she presented a hoof in front of me. "I will not stand to hear it. All you princes are the same." She scoffed in disgust. "I can only wonder how the princesses handle such revolting stallions that deserve nothing near to a real prince."

"Tavi!" Vinyl intervened. "Come on!"

"I am taking my leave, Vinyl!" Octavia shot back. "I have no time to waste on an obnoxious overrated stallion! I must practice for the symphony that will be played at the Crystal Empire in a few days and I will not have any unimportant interruptions!" She angrily grabbed her cello case with her teeth and stormed off.

"Tavi!" Vinyl tried to call, but she didn't listen. Vinyl was left in shock as she stared at Octavia walk off. I was left extremely saddened by what just happened. My ears flopped down and my eyes felt heavy as I continued observing Octavia leave. My hopes for a fun new friend were immediately shot down, and it wasn't like I could have just ignored what happened. Vinyl quickly looked towards me and tried to apologize. "Alex, I'm so sorry! I have no idea what got into her!"

"…she hates me…?" I questioned softly.

"No…" Vinyl tried to comfort me, placing a hoof on me. "I'm sure she's just having a bad day or something. She did say she had to practice for something. Maybe the stress or pressure just got to her?"

"I don't know, Vinyl…" I shook my head in doubt. "It seemed a lot more than just 'a bad day'…"

"Alex…" I assumed she was at a loss of words.

"Listen…" I responded. "I think I need to take a walk…"

"You want me to come with you?" She offered.

"No thanks." I declined. "I think…I just need a moment to myself…"

"Okay…" She hesitantly allowed. "Don't be on your own for too long."

I merely shrugged on her suggestion and began walking off.

I really didn't pay attention to where I went. I faced the ground and only noticed my hooves in motion. Even then, I didn't pay too much attention at this. All of my focus was on my thoughts. All I could ever think about was what Octavia said to me, and her facial expressions accompanied with it. I remembered every last detail, and no matter how much I tried to shake it off, it wouldn't leave. It just kept bugging the hay out of me.

I heard a voice outside my thoughts, but I didn't bother turning to it. The only lines I was hearing were about how I was obnoxious and self-centered because I was a prince. They wouldn't leave no matter what and it was really getting to me. And what bothered me the most was that while those accusations may have been true for the horrid Blueblood, it wasn't for me. Because of his loathsome behavior I had to suffer from it while he can give a flying hoof about friendship!

"Alex!" I heard the same voice call me.

"What?!" I asked angrily, turning around and realizing it was Twilight.

"Whoa." She immediately formed a face of worry. "What happened to you?"

I sighed and tried to exhale all the anger building up inside of me. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout at you… It's just…" I couldn't explain it at the time.

"Here." She placed a hoof on me and began leading me. "Come with me."

She led me towards her home and opened the door to allow me to walk in. Sulkily, I did so. When she walked in after me, she approached me and sat me down with her. "Now tell me. What's going on? What happened?"

"Ugh…" I groaned and placed a hoof to my forehead with clenched eyes as I tried to recall what happened. "Vinyl wanted to introduce me to a friend of hers, but things didn't go so well… She wouldn't accept my hoof and now, she practically hates me because she thinks all princes are scum."

"Why would she think that?" Twilight asked, quite surprised of this.

"Because Prince Blueblood is actually self-centered and obnoxious." I answered.

"Even so, that doesn't mean that all princes are bad!" Twilight reacted. "I mean, you and Shining Armor are two examples of great caring princes."

"Well, apparently, she doesn't think so." I looked away, still feeling absolutely bummed.

"Hiya, Twilight!" The door suddenly burst open, revealing Applejack. "I was wondering if you could come on over and—" She stopped when she spotted the current situation Twilight and I were in. "Whoa. What's going on over here?" She trotted towards us and looked over to me. "Everythin' alright, Sugarcube?"

"Somepony thought Alex was a horrible pony since he's a prince, and this pony has the wrong idea of princes." Twilight answered for me.

"That's crazy!" Applejack reacted. "Did you just meet this pony for the first time?"

"Yeah…" I nodded. "I don't really know what to do…"

"Well…" Twilight began. "I know you can't let this go so easily… That means you just have to change her mind about you. You have to show her what kind of a pony you really are." Twilight offered a smile along with that suggestion.

"How can I do that?" I asked, not completely convinced. "I don't even think she wants to see me again." I sighed. "I don't even think I'd be able to change her mind, anyway."

"You can do it, Sugarcube." Applejack assured, revealing a sweet smile as well.

"She's right, Alex." Twilight continued. "You don't need to force her to like you. Just being yourself is enough." I turned my eyes and looked towards the ground in thought. "You might not be able to convince her right away, but with time, I'm sure she'll realize she made a mistake!"

"Why don't you go talk to Pinkie?" Applejack happily offered. "That pony is friends with every single pony here, right? Maybe she's got some good ideas!"

"Yeah!" Twilight nodded her head in enthused agreement at Applejack's contribution. "Pinkie Pie is sure to know how you can be friends with this pony!"

I felt myself slowly lift from the dumps as I thought more about it. "I suppose you're right… Maybe… Maybe Pinkie can really help me with this." The more that idea wondered inside of me, the more willing I was to taking that idea instead of doing absolutely nothing. "Yeah! She can help me show her that I'm not such a bad pony!"

"You're not a bad pony at all, Alex." Twilight offered truthfully. "You're the best and you know we mean that. We know you can do it."

"Right on that train with you, Twilight!" Applejack eagerly included.

"Thanks, you two." I expressed, feeling my smile return. "I really appreciate your help." I placed my hooves around them in a very appreciative manner. "I'll go do that right now!" I began galloping towards the door. "See you girls, later!"

They waved as I raced out the door.

I took a big breath of the fresh air out in Ponyville. I felt renewed and thanks to Applejack and Twilight, I got that motivation to make this change happen. As I trotted on the road towards Sugarcube Corner, I felt so joyous, that I even wanted to remind myself personally that I could make this happen.

"I'm the toughest caring pony in town," I began singing proudly.

"Got the moves, got the mojo, no harder working pony around

I've got the strength to overcome,

And then she'll see that my pure heart is the next string she'll strum~" I pressed on, striding quickly through the center of town.

"I get going when the going gets tough" I jumped over a couch that two pegasi were having trouble lifting.

"I know my very best is just never enough"

"I'm a Prince, but so what? I don't get defeated" I saw a little filly with a gloomy face as she had tried to reach a ball stuck in a tree, so I used my magic to retrieve it and placed a smile on her face when she got it back.

"I'm not a bad pony, because I can beat it!" I nodded confidently.

"I've got heart as pure as light

I've got heart that knows no boundaries

I've got heart that never fails me

A pure hea-a-a-art, heart pure as light" I could now smell the sweet sensation of treats being baked within the sweet shop.

"With support from my friends, I can achieve

I'm more than just a prince, and you should believe

I've got determination with a strong foundation

I'll be in~

I've got heart as pure as light

I've got heart that knows no boundaries

I've got heart that never fails me

And I'm hoping to win as I gallop to glory

I can conquer any challenge I'm in

I've got heart, heart pure as light

Heart pure as light~!" I concluded as I jumped up the steps towards the shop door.

Afterwards, I brightly pushed my hoof through, hearing the sound of the doorbell ring.

"Welcome to Sugarcube Corner!" I heard Pinkie Pie announce. "How can I help you today?" She exclaimed cheerfully as I approached the counter.

"Pinkie, I could really use a favor." I returned.

"Sure! What is it?" She asked, placing her forelegs on the counter and her hooves on her cheeks.

"You're friends with everypony in town, right?"

"Of course!" She threw out her hooves. "Why? Did you want a 'everypony in town come to Sugarcube Corner and have fun' party?!"

"Uh… Not exactly." I shook my head, but still held my smile. "Do you have a minute? I need to tell you something."

"Okay! I was waiting on a batch of cookies in the oven anyway!" She giggled as she left the counter.

After we gathered to a table nearby, I explained to her what had happened earlier in the morning about how Octavia didn't return a friendly approach, but I didn't mention any names.

"Oh no!" Pinkie pressed her hooves to her cheeks. "How can no pony like you?! That's like no pony liking me! And everypony likes me!"

"What do you think?" I raised my hoof up, hoping for a foolproof suggestion or idea. "Do you know how I can fix this?"

"Mmm." She placed a hoof to her chin and looked up in thought. As soon as the oven dinged in completion, she gasped in realization. "That's it!" She grabbed my hoof and raced towards the kitchen. There, she removed the tray of cookies that had been baking and placed them out to cool. "You can give her some cookies!" She paused and then revoked her thought. "Better yet, you can bake her a cake! That'll be truly thoughtful of you!"

I thought about it for a moment and nodded my head. "Yeah. That could work. There's just one problem… How do we get her to come here?" I questioned. "I highly doubt she'll listen to me if I try to invite her."

"No problemo!" Pinkie pointed out. "You stay here and bake the cake. I'll go invite her myself! What's her name?"

I didn't want to let her know who it was originally, just to prevent any unforeseen bad things...but I didn't really have a choice. I had to let her know who it was so she could invite her.

"Her name is Octavia…" I answered with slight hesitation.

"Gotcha!" Pinkie Pie nonetheless winked and bounced off. "Be right back!"

I took in a deep breath and released when I was ready. I looked at the tools in the kitchen and prepared myself to fix up a cake. Hopefully, it would be one that is sure to change her mind…

I followed a few delicious-sounding recipes and tried to add a bit of careful creativity to the mix. Once I believed I was done, I poured the mix into a baking pan, set the oven timer, and moved the cake inside. I released a sigh of relief to hopefully ease the nerves that were already starting to shake inside of me.

After several minutes, I heard the doorbell ring, which scared me for a moment until I realized a different voice sounded.

"Helloooo!"

I trotted out to see who it was.

"Derpy?" I questioned her appearance before me.

"Oh, Alex! Hi!" She greeted blissfully. "I'm here to pick up today's lemon muffin surprise!"

"Oh. Uh…" I rubbed the back of my head. "Pinkie's not here right now. She'll be back in a moment."

"That's okay!" She responded. "She told me they'd be in a box inside. I'll go get it!"

"Oh…okay…" I said as she walked inside.

Continuing to take deep breaths, I walked towards the window and looked out for any sign of Pinkie Pie and Octavia. Tapping my hoof nervously on the floor, time passed on. As soon as I saw Pinkie bouncing by the side of the pony who currently despised me, I was immediately alarmed. I heard the oven ding and quickly raced towards it. I passed Derpy, who was too busy humming and going through her box of muffins. I quickly but carefully took out the cake and placed it into a box to easily carry it.

Even though I couldn't see them, I felt my nerves acting up again.

"Calm down… She's just a pony…" I told myself and tried to breathe in calmly.

Using my magic, I carried the box and took it towards the counter. After I placed it on the surface, I ducked behind the counter and tried to pull myself together. "Come on… She has to see you're at least trying if you made her a cake… She can't hate you for that…"

I heard the doorbell ring, including Pinkie's hearty chatter. "Just wait until you try the cake, it'll make you smile all day long!"

Octavia sighed. "I hope so… I sure could use one right now."

Come on! This is it!

I sucked in a deep breath and quickly raised myself, grabbing the box. As soon as Octavia turned to notice me, her eyes were widened in surprise.

Before she could say anything or throw more angry words at me, Derpy came in holding two muffins with her hooves.

"Hey, Alex! Want to try one of these muffins? They're delicious!" As Derpy flapped her wings in mid-flight, she threw out her hooves holding the muffins. With no grip, the muffins flew from her hooves freely. I moved forward to try to catch the one nearest to me, but when I realized where the other one was going, it was too late.

The last muffin flew straight towards Octavia, knocking her in the face. She was blinded for a moment as she tried to remove the crumbs and sweet cream from her face. In the process, she stumbled towards me and before I could react, she accidentally dove her face in the cake I had made, taking it down with her to the floor.

Everypony in the room was in total shock and silence. Except for Pinkie Pie. She was just quiet with an agape mouth from the suspense.

"…oops." Derpy expressed with a flinching reaction.

I could only watch in horror as Octavia slowly raised her head from the mess and opened her eyes through the matter.

"…Octavia…I'm…I'm so sorry!" I apologized dearly.

As soon as she saw me, her eyebrows furrowed angrily. But she didn't say anything. She only stood up while continuing to glare intensely at me and turned around. From there, she walked out, sparing not a single world.

In the silence she left us all in, Pinkie Pie slipped over to the cake that splattered on the floor. She took a lick and soon a huge chomp. "Mmm!" She expressed loudly. "This cake is super good! She's sure to like you now!"

I had nothing of the like on my mind. I only looked towards the side sadly as my ears flopped down in defeat.

I couldn't sleep that night. Instead, I stayed up thinking about what I did and what I could do to still have a chance in earning her friendship. I knew I couldn't give up, but the chances were so slim after that incident. What could I possibly do to make things better? That's what I wanted to know…

"Watcha doing?" I heard near me.

I was frightened as I quickly looked to my side, but I found it to be Spirit, who was staring at my blank piece of paper on the desk.

"Spirit? What are… How did you…" Knowing she wouldn't answer directly about that, I took it back. "Never mind…"

"I was waiting for you, but you never came." She explained her visit. "Our ice cream melted."

I sighed, feeling even more at defeat, and placed my head on the desk. "Sorry…"

"It's okay." She assured. "Are you still worrying over about her?" She asked.

I still didn't know how she found out about these things, but I couldn't be surprised of it anymore. "Yeah… I can't handle knowing somepony hates me for something that's not true…well…about me…"

"Then you've got to keep going." She briefly recommended.

"I know but…" I placed my hooves on my temples. "…what else can I possibly do? I really screwed things up back there…"

"I know Pinkie is supposed to be friends with everypony, but that shouldn't stop you from asking your other friends."

"Huh?" I looked over to her in question.

"Your friends, silly." She repeated with a smile. "Pinkie's not the only one to look for advice about friends."

"Oh…" I looked back towards the paper that was empty of ideas. "That's true…"

"Cheer up." She nudged me playfully. "If want to increase your chances, you're going to want to do anything in a positive mood."

"Yeah…I guess…" I answered with not much of an increase in mood.

"Come on." She grabbed my foreleg and lifted me up. Then, she took me towards the bed and pointed at it, signaling me to lie down. I sighed and decided to do so, knowing I needed rest anyway. "Now, close your eyes."

"…okay…" She stood in front of me as I began closing them. My eyes actually blinked a few times before they fell heavy enough to stay closed. I continued seeing Spirit through my blurry eyes until at the last blink. She had disappeared, and I fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes again, I realized it was daylight again. I stood up and tried to form a positive mood for the day.

"It's a new day… You can still change things…" I told myself. "You said it yourself… You can take on any challenge…" I breathed in calmly and exhaled it out. Then, I hopped out of bed and headed towards the door to the outside.

I walked, tending to myself in thought.

Pinkie Pie is already out of the question… Even if I did want to try another one of her ideas, Octavia would probably figure out it'd be me. So…no… There's Rarity…Fluttershy…and probably even Rainbow Dash… Twilight and Applejack already told me to be myself…but that's not enough… I need something to give Octavia a chance, and then I can show her how I'm not the pony she thinks I am…

Hm…

I looked out to the direction of Rarity's boutique.

I suppose I can ask her for help first…

Once I reached her place, I rang the doorbell and waited for an answer.

When the door opened, Rarity poked her head out to spot me standing before her.

"Oh, Alex! Whatever brings you here?"

"Hey, Rarity…" I returned, trying to not let my emotions get me down. "I could really use some help…"

"Of course! Come in!" She eagerly invited.

Once we sat together inside, I told her everything that had happened as briefly as I could, leaving her to react as usually as she did.

She was at a loss of words for a quick moment after I had told her about the whole prince thing. "Wha? How could she dare compare you to that dastardly Prince Blueblood?! Why, you are nothing like him!" She exclaimed in disbelief.

"I don't know." I shrugged. "That's why I need help getting her to change her mind."

"Not to worry, Alex!" She pointed out proudly. "You've come to the right pony for the job!" She began trotting upstairs to her bedroom/work space, leading me to follow. "Generosity is the best tool for the job." She continued. "Why, I already know the perfect thing to give her! Something that clearly can't cause a mess…"

"What?" I questioned curiously.

"I'll design and create her a dress!" She answered. "Once she receives this thoughtful gift, she simply has to remove such rudeness from her attitude." Once she readied her work station and placed on her glasses, she turned her head towards me. "Now tell me, do you know anything about her, including her physical appearance?"

"Well…" I tapped a hoof to my chin. "All I really know is…she plays a cello, like if she's in an orchestra. Adding to that, she seems to be a little sophisticated as well, you know, she has that kind of…elegance to her look and tone. Well…at least when she's not spewing her hate out on me…"

"Mmm." She hummed as she closed her eyes and imagined the outfit in her head. "I think I've got something to work with!" She looked back at me. "Why don't you go out and enjoy the day for a moment? I'm sure I'll have your gift ready in about an hour or so."

"Wow, really?" I asked, feeling a lot better and having confidence in Rarity's skills. "Thanks, Rarity!" I approached her from behind and embraced her. "I really appreciate it!"

She laughed a little nervously when I pulled away, holding a blush to her cheeks at the same time. "Of course, darling. You deserve the best."

I smiled warmly at that. "Thanks again… I'll see you in a bit then, okay?"

"Yes. Of course, dear." She focused back on designing the dress with her pencil.

Mentally sighing, I turned back and began heading towards the front door of the boutique.

Let's just hope this can't backfire like the cake did…

If I was going to spend the waiting time outside, I didn't really want have it in town. Otherwise…I probably…would have seen her walking around… And I'd really want to avoid any more hostility or awkward anger towards me.

I stayed on the outskirts, even passing by the schoolhouse. I continued on the path until I heard noises outside. A whistle blew sharply, causing for me to turn to the field across the school. I hadn't even realized that there was a huge stage out in the middle, as if there was supposed to be a performance. I placed my hooves on the wooden gate and lifted myself to get a better view.

I noticed there were a bunch of colts and fillies. Miss Cheerilee was tending to them near the stage. However, in front of the stage was Rainbow Dash, easily identified due to her rainbow mane and tail.

I placed a hoof to my chin and thought.

I know Rarity was going to help me with my problem…but I wonder if Rainbow has any useful advice for me as well? Can't hurt to try…

I looked out and jumped over the wooden gate to begin walking towards her.

I brought myself closer to Rainbow Dash as she began observing two fillies circle around the air like a coach. In fact, she was even wearing a cap along with a whistle.

"Hey, Rainbow…" I announced, surprising her a bit.

"Alex?" She glanced over to me with her eyes, and then moved her attention back at the fillies. "What's up?"

"What are you doing?" I asked, curious of what she was participating in.

"Just helping the little ones for the opening ceremony at the Crystal Empire in a couple of days." She answered, shocking me with the connecting news. The two fillies finished their motion and landed back on their hooves. "Good work on that routine. Keep practicing!" She shared before waving and walking off.

I followed her, staying by her side. "Opening Ceremony? At the Crystal Empire?" I asked, eagerly wanted to learn more.

"Yeah." She stopped, picked up a water bottle on the grass with her wing, and drank it briefly. "All these ponies have their own routine, but only one team is going to be picked by Ms. Harshwhinny. Whoever she picks will carry the Ponyville flag at the Equestria Games!"

Hearing of the Equestria Games even reminded me of Starlight, but she wasn't the case right now. "Oh…so that's what Octavia is practicing that symphony for…" I mentioned under my breath.

"Huh?" Rainbow questioned, managing to hear me.

"Uh. Nothing." I shook my head. "Listen… Can I have your advice on something really quick?"

"Sure thing!" She rested, eagerly wanting to offer what she had.

"Say…somepony had the wrong idea of you…" I began. "But you didn't want them to think of you like that, because it wasn't true… What would you do?"

"Pssh." She pushed away her hoof. "That's easy! I would impress them with my mind-blowing moves! Show off some muscle! If that doesn't change their mind, I wouldn't know what would!"

"Uh-huh…" I looked away, not exactly feeling comfortable with what she offered.

"Why? Something on your mind? Somepony bothering you?"

"I'm fine…" I disengaged, seeing as she was busy enough. "Thanks for the advice anyway, Rainbow."

"No problem!" She looked out to the field where the school foals continued to work on whatever they were working on. "I better get back to coaching these fillies. See you later, kay?" Afterwards, she flew off to tend to another group of fillies.

At that time, I began wondering how Rarity was progressing with the dress. I wasn't sure if Octavia would really put away her hatred for me and see how I'm not such a bad pony, but I couldn't guarantee anything… I just had to hope everything would turn out for the better.

Fortunately, I was glad Rarity told me it wouldn't take too long, otherwise I probably wouldn't have been able to handle the wait. I really wanted to try to patch things up as soon as possible. I was so eager, that I returned to Rarity's home and waited several minutes before she said she would be done. Of course, I didn't want to distract her, so I stayed at the bottom floor. My thoughts kept me occupied for the time underway.

"Oh, Alex!" I heard Rarity call my name from upstairs, leading me to quickly trot back to her. "I believe I am finished!" She removed and placed away her glasses. "Look, I even gifted wrapped it for you!" She presented a small lightweight box beautifully wrapped in front of me. "I almost wondered why in the world I was making such a dress for a rather…" She cleared her throat a little angrily. "…rude pony…" She recovered from her trailing off mood. "But I remembered it was for you and not…her..." She cleared her throat again and shook away any negative emotions. "Excuse me. Here it is." She placed it in front of me.

"Wow…" I stared at the box in astonishment. "Thank you, Rarity… Really…" I brought her in with my hoof meaningfully. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate this."

"Yes, yes, of course." She expressed with a faint flushed face. Once we pulled away, she proceeded to tell me a few more things before I left. "Be sure to tell me what she thinks of it, and if she treats you any better, okay?"

"Yeah, I will. Thanks." I formed a smile and then hurried out with the gift by my side.

For the next part, I would need Vinyl's help as I didn't know where she resided. I took a content quickened-paced stroll over to her home and knocked on the door.

"Oh hey, Alex." Vinyl greeted, a little surprised to see me. "Hey…I hope you're still not upset over what happened with Tavi…" She looked away worriedly, as if she was hesitant to speak her next sentence. "I…heard about what happened at Sugarcube Corner…"

"Oh…that…" I was sadly reminded. "Yeah…" I shook my head. "I didn't mean to get her face covered in cake…" I sighed. "I guess…it was just bad luck…but…" I brought up the present I held towards Vinyl. "I'm hoping I can at least make it up with this. Rarity whipped this gift up for me. She made a dress for Octavia. I haven't seen what it looks like…but I don't want to open the box. Rarity's dresses are always amazing anyway…so… I trust her that it'll look great."

"Wow, that's cool, Alex!" She hopped out from inside her home to gaze at the wrapped gift. "There's no way you can go wrong with a gift! Even if it's something she doesn't like, at least you were still thoughtful to get it, right?"

"Yeah… I guess." I merely returned, feeling a little doubt dwell within me for some reason.

"Were you planning on taking it over to her right now?" She asked.

"Yeah. I came by to see if you could help me over to where she lives."

"Yes, dude!" She exclaimed out loud excitedly. "Come on!" She directed. "We've gotta patch things up between you as soon as possible!"

In a hurry, she led me over to where Octavia lived. She was so eager to get there, she'd trot faster than I did and continuously called over to me to increase my pace. It was no more than several minutes when we approached the house to be where she seemed to live.

"This is the place!" She stared out at the home happily and then turned to me. "Go ahead and ring the doorbell!"

I took in a deep breath and released it slowly. When I felt I was ready, I slowly brought up my hoof towards the doorbell. However, I was hesitating and then began having thoughts of finding another way to do this without me confronting her. I couldn't let these thoughts plague my mind, so in a sudden moment, I quickly pressed the doorbell and placed my hoof back down on the ground. My heart was furiously pounding as I now endured the anticipation of her appearing before her door.

"Chill, dude." Vinyl expressed, placing the top part of her body over my back playfully.

She seemed awfully very enthusiastic about my gift-giving.

Despite my nerves, I had to admit that having Vinyl close by felt a lot better.

However, the suspense grew once I heard hoofsteps behind the door. The door was finally opening as I could only wait in hidden horror.

Octavia revealed herself. Before she could say anything when her eyes analyzed who I was, Vinyl quickly placed a hoof in front of her. "Ah! Ah! Ah! He just wants to give you gift, Tavi."

"…a gift?" She questioned plainly, showing no interest.

"Yeah…" I finally spoke. "I'm…really sorry about what happened the other day… I didn't mean for that to happen… Here…" I moved the gift towards her.

She was quite surprised of the present, but she still didn't appear to be the least forgiving. She hesitantly grabbed it with her hooves and began unwrapping it in silence. Vinyl could only react with widening eyes of excitement while I was more worried about the gift failing somehow.

When Octavia finally finished unwrapping it, she then proceeded to remove the cover on the small box. From there, she seemed to have a very small moment of shock. "…a dress?" She pulled it out and began observing it.

"I think she likes it!" Vinyl whispered to me eagerly.

I felt a little relieved once I saw the dress. It looked magnificent actually. I couldn't really see what could go wrong with this.

"…it's…actually…quite…" Octavia stretched out the dress with her hooves and remained dead silent after. Vinyl and I exchanged a look between each other. "…is this a joke?" She asked, catching me completely off guard.

"…what?" I questioned.

"Oh, I get it." She continued in a negative tone. "You think this is funny, do you?"

"What are you talking about?" I desperately wanted to know what the problem was.

"Vinyl." She called calmly. "Hold this up for him, please." She held up the dress towards her.

"Uh…okay…" Vinyl accepted and used her magic to hold out the dress in front of me.

"Do you now see what the problem is?" Octavia asked me as I stared out at the dress directed towards my eyes.

I scanned the dress but honestly found nothing wrong with it. "…n…no…"

"Of course you wouldn't." Octavia sighed aggressively and walked towards me to where I could see her and the dress. "If you must insist on acting like the fool you are, I believe I have to plainly point it out for you." She lifted her hoof and pointed towards the bottom portion of the dress, where the mare's belly would usually be when worn. "See this?"

"…yes…?" I cautiously returned.

"If I were to wear this right now, you'd know where this would be?" She sternly inquired. I only returned a flinching shrug. "This." She pointed aggressively. "THIS…would hang inches beneath where it should be!"

"…I…" I wanted to tell her that I didn't have an exact idea to what she was referring to, but she continued angrily on her rant.

"Don't you dare say you don't know what I'm talking about!" She exclaimed. "Don't think I'm stupid! After that demeaning incident with the cake, now you offer me a 'gift' which is actually your sick way of calling me obese?! Of course, you pummel my face with cake, as if I'm some kind of disgusting pig! Now, you insult me with this?!" She snatched the dress and held up it as she was now snorting fiercely with steam escaping from her nose.

"Tavi, calm down!" Vinyl pointed out. "I'm sure this is just a misunderstanding!"

Octavia managed to breathe in more slowly to calm herself down, but that didn't seem to change her attitude towards me.

"I'm…I'm really—" I tried to apologize, but she pushed the dress irritably towards my front hooves for me to hold, backed away into her house, and slammed the door shut.

I remained standing there in total shock as my ears slowly lowered themselves down naturally.

"Alex…" Vinyl placed her hoof on me. "I'm so sorry…"

"Everything I do for her is a mistake…isn't it?" I asked gloomily before feeling the need to get out of her front doorway.

Vinyl didn't move and decided to stay back at Octavia's house, perhaps to try to convince her to think the opposite. Either way, I needed to go back to Rarity's to tell her the news. The bad news.

Holding the dress tightly to my side, I approached Rarity's door and rang the doorbell. I wasn't sure if I should force a positive representation on my face, so Rarity wouldn't immediately catch on to what happened, but in the end, I just let whatever show.

"It's you, darling." Rarity's voice spoke after the door opened. "How did it go?"

I sighed and walked inside. "I'm pretty sure you can have a good idea of how it went…"

"Whatever happened? I thought she would have loved the dress." Rarity reacted deeply surprised.

Taking a seat, I continued to recall the past recent events that haunted me. "Apparently it was too big for her where she actually got the idea I was calling her fat." I shrugged. "I didn't know she was actually skinner that she looked to be…"

"Uhm…" Rarity announced a little nervously. "…Pardon me…but…I…believe that may have been…my fault…"

I looked up in surprise. "What?"

"You see…" She tapped her front hooves together in embarrassment. "…I may have…allowed my…" She cleared her throat. "…anger…to slip by…just a little bit…"

"What are you talking about?" I reacted in confusion.

"While I was working on the dress…" She began explaining. "I began remembering what you told me about her. About how she treated you. Mm… I had…shall we say…not so positive thoughts about her… But I didn't think I'd actually allow my thoughts to intervene with my work!" She tapped her hooves in embarrassment again. "I apologize sincerely, dear. I didn't mean to ruin everything… I suppose…my feelings…for you…got in the way."

I remained silent for a moment as I looked towards the floor, which must had brought worry to her. "…it's okay…" I finally shared. "I understand…" I sighed and looked away. "It's already done anyway."

"I can fix the dress for you." Rarity offered.

"It's okay." I placed it on the table. "The dress isn't going to work anymore. I don't even know if I have any more chances left. I really ticked her off."

"Is there anything else I can do for you then?" She asked earnestly.

I shook my head. "No… I think I'll just call it a day…" I stood up and prepared myself to leave. "At most, I think I only have tomorrow left to change any bit of her mind. If I make no progress or fail even worse, then I'll probably have to give up and deal with a pony who hates me in Ponyville."

"I'm still so terribly sorry." Rarity continued to apologize.

"Hey…" I embraced her gently to hopefully ease her worry. "It's not your fault. Honestly. You were already doing so much for me. I still appreciate it."

Rarity sighed, seeming to still be struck with what she did. "Okay, darling."

I slowly pulled away and left a hoof on her shoulder. "I'll see you later, okay?"

She nodded, continuing to observe me walk out with a troubled expression on her face.

Just as yesterday, I was having trouble sleeping. I couldn't believe that one pony was getting to me, but I guessed it was just how I was. I also hoped that Spirit wasn't waiting for me, but if she already knew what I was going through, which she usually does, then hopefully she wasn't wasting her time.

Instead of being at my desk to think of new ideas on what I could do to prove my innocence, I rather remained on my bed. I had tossed and turned, and then later on, I just stared at the ceiling.

"Another hard day?" I heard her voice.

I looked to my side to see her lying down next to me, staring at the ceiling as well. I jumped a bit from being startled.

"Geez…" I placed a hoof on my chest. "You scare me sometimes when you just pop out like that."

"Sorry." She added with a short giggle.

I sighed and then continued staring at the ceiling. "…are you sure you're not just a part of my subconscious? Possibly, I'm going insane, which would probably explain how you appear out of nowhere and in my dreams too?"

"Come on…" She turned her head towards me. "Don't let your negativity from today get to you."

I allowed that to slide and referred back to my current problem. "I don't know what to do."

"But you do know not to give up." She returned.

I scoffed and shook my head. "I have a feeling that being persistent is going to get me deeper in the doghouse."

"That's why a lot of ponies give up on so much." She spoke. "Sure…there may be times where things end up not so great…but a lot of the times, it's because ponies give up. They give up before they see the light at the end of the tunnel." She faced me and poked my chest. "That's something to think about."

I didn't answer to that. I continued staring off into space. I didn't hear anything more from her, causing me to look to the side to see her gone. I placed a hoof to my forehead and sighed. I guess a night's rest could refresh my mind.

I'm going to need it anyway.

The next day, I wondered on what I was going to do. Even though it wasn't exactly the last chance I had, I still felt it would be personally the final chance I would take. Spirit's words last night gave me some sort of encouragement, but it wasn't enough to see the day as brand new. There was still hurt lingering from yesterday, but I just had to deal with it.

I've gotten Twilight's and Applejack's opinions on the situation. Pinkie Pie's plan went wrong. Rarity's didn't work. I clearly wasn't going to follow through with Rainbow's. So…the only mare left was Fluttershy… Maybe she can help…

"Alex…!" Fluttershy announced in slight shock after she noticed me standing at her front door. "What a nice surprise."

"Hey, Fluttershy…" I greeted in a way I didn't usually use towards her, which then worried her.

"I haven't seen you these past few days. Has everything been alright?" She asked concerningly.

"That's just what I wanted to talk to you about." I returned.

"Of course!" She quickly encouraged me to walk in. "Come in!"

So, as with her, I also had to take the time to explain everything that had happened so far as briefly as I could. She reacted in a more sympathetic manner.

"I'm so sorry, Alex…" She held my hoof with both of hers. "Nopony deserves to be not liked like that, especially you. None of that stuff is true…"

I nodded, understanding her. "Yeah…you're…kind of my last hope Fluttershy. I don't think I want to keep trying if I fail again…"

She placed a hoof to her chin and thought a moment. "We both agree that kindness is the best way to go in earning a friend, right?" I shrugged lightly, agreeing with that statement. "Does she like animals? Pets?"

"I don't really know…" I answered uneasily. "Every time I try to do something nice for her, it always backfires right in my face…"

"What if you offer her one of the bunnies here? They're really adorable, cuddly, soft, and gentle. I don't see how anypony could resist one." She offered an assuring gleeful smile.

"Maybe…" I looked away with doubt, feeling that anything could have failed.

"If you want my opinion, Alex…" She rubbed her hoof on the couch where we sat on. "I would offer her a pet…but that's just me. It's up to you on what you want to do."

I looked towards her seriously but softly. "Trust me, Fluttershy. If I knew what I had to give didn't turn out as a failure so easily, I would totally accept your idea, but I just feel like it might turn out badly again… I don't know how, but somehow, it will." Fluttershy placed a hoof on me and began rubbing comfortingly. "I mean…just maybe…it'll work… I don't know… Food is off the list. So is clothing…" I remained silent and thought about it for a short moment, following with a sigh afterwards. "I guess it's better than doing nothing…" I looked up towards Fluttershy. "Sorry, Fluttershy. I don't mean it in a rude way, I'm just exhausted."

"I understand." She responded. "Maybe if you see what cute little bunnies I have, you'll feel better?"

I offered a small smile. "Sure."

Fluttershy led me outside where every one of the animals were peacefully minding their business. It's still a wonder how Fluttershy could really handle a bear and have him in absolute good behavior. Then again…so is getting a dragon to leave from near Ponyville.

She took me towards a group of bunnies playing with each other, eating carrots, or just sleeping on the large billowy grass. One of the bunnies spotted Fluttershy coming and began hopping towards her. He resembled Angel, but it obviously wasn't him as he threw no glares at me.

"Look at this little one. Isn't he the cutest?" Fluttershy asked me as she knelt in front of him and held him closely. "He's been wanting a home, and if you are able to give him to that pony you were talking about, you'd both be doing each other a favor."

"He is pretty cute…" I petted his fluffy head, which he seemed to adore a lot.

"What do you think?" She asked.

"Sure." I accepted, feeling more relaxed. The bunny hopped onto my back and sat there with an eager beam. "I mean…who can resist such an adorable thing?" I looked towards the critter to feel his presence calm me more. "Even if she can't take him…she couldn't possibly shoot me angry looks with this little guy around…"

Fluttershy radiated in excitement and tenderly threw her hooves around me. I chuckled a little and returned the same thing. It was nice that I didn't get a kick to the head after doing this.

I then proceeded on my way to Ponyville while carrying the cute critter on my back. Later, I would report the progress to Fluttershy, but for right now, I wanted to see what would happen.

After I stepped in front of Octavia's house, I took in a deep breath and retrieved the bunny from behind me.

"Alright, little guy…" I began speaking towards him, holding him in my hooves. "You're going to be my shield as soon as she comes out." He flopped his ears and tilted his head at me in confusion. "You're not going to get hurt, of course. She'd usually send me glares, but when she looks at you, she should at least be stunned in a good way. Okay?" He nodded his head with a smile. "Alright… Let's do this…" I held him with my left hoof and I rang the doorbell with my right.

I prepared myself to see Octavia's face before I held the bunny right before her.

A moment later, the door began opening.

Instead of appearing surprised, she rather reacted in disgust once she saw me. "Why must you continue—?"

I held up the bunny in front of her with both of my hooves, preventing her from finishing whatever she was going to say. She was silent for a moment until I began speaking.

"…in hopes to try to…make up for the other mistakes…I was wondering if you wanted this little guy… He's looking for a good home." I offered.

Octavia was slightly hesitant, but she carefully grabbed him from my hooves. She observed him for a moment while the bunny could only adorably smile at her.

"He's…" She began saying. "…he's…" She then began to make weird noises, as if she was about to sneeze. Soon enough, she sneezed out loudly, accidentally losing the grip of the critter from her hooves. I quickly caught him with mine and held him close to me as I witnessed Octavia continuously sneeze. When she had a break, she quickly placed her foreleg to her nose and sniffed a few times before staring irritably at me. "What's with you and the annoying gifts? You're purposely trying to ruin my days, aren't you? After I spoke how horrible you princes really are." She sniffed once more. "You want to do me a favor? Stop trying to give me gifts!" She then slammed her door shut.

I sighed and then looked towards the bunny that had to witness such a hope-depriving scene. "Sorry… I hope your hopes weren't too high enough." I shrugged. "It's not like she ever liked me to begin with…"

I had to admit… It didn't feel bad as those other favors I had tried to do for her, but still… It was a failure after another failure after another. To make things worse, this guy may have been expecting a new home, and I killed his hopes for that.

I returned him back to Fluttershy at her cottage.

She was sitting outside as she tended to the other animals. She was actually surprised to see how short I had taken.

"Sorry…" I apologized as I allowed the little bunny to hop off and around the grass. "She didn't take him…she started sneezing and…well, you know… ended up getting irritated at me again." I sighed. "I guess I'm done with the 'gift-giving'." I looked towards the bunny sitting between us. "I hope he's not disappointed about what happened…"

The bunny jumped onto Fluttershy as she giggled out softly. "He isn't. He's glad that you tried, and he's happy that he's able to stay here anyway."

Managing to smile slightly for a second, I replied. "I guess that's a relief."

Fluttershy placed a hoof on my shoulder. "Are you going to be okay?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Is it over in getting Octavia's friendship? I don't know either. I don't know anything at all. I just didn't want a pony hating me for the wrong reason…especially in this town."

"I know…things seem a little…bad right now…" Fluttershy began sharing. "But…I still know you can do it. You've been through worse."

"Are you sure about that?" I questioned a little sadly.

"Positive." She brought herself closer and rested her head on my shoulder while she closed her eyes.

Staring out into the grassy field as a calm wind blew, I closed my eyes and joined her, taking a moment to mediate and let the day in.

Fluttershy offered me the night to stay, but I politely declined as I thought Spirit might show up again. Either way, as I laid awake in my bed, she appeared sooner or later. I wasn't restless this time, I was just thinking, wondering if I just had to learn to accept that she would just be a pony who would be more than not a friend on the negative side. I didn't feel like making the effort for the next day to change anything with her.

"Are you giving up?" Spirit asked, lying herself on my bed again as she rested the bottom of her head with her foreleg.

"I don't know." I answered, already growing used to her sudden visits. "I don't really feel the motivation to do anything anymore. Everything I've done just…fails…"

"Does it? Really?" She asked, as if there was something more into what I wasn't seeing. I only turned to her, but I didn't say anything. "Wasn't there some pony who said that everything happens for a reason?" Knowing she was referring to me, I moved my eyes downwards and thought about that. "You just don't know it right now, and things seem useless. But…" She stood up and jumped off the bed. "Maybe you're just knocking a few dominos. You still need a few more to go."

"So what? These failure of attempts are supposed to happen in order to possibly accomplish my goal?" I inquired.

"Maybe." She returned. "The only way you can know is if you push on and see what you get."

Not knowing what to say or believe at the moment, I faced the ceiling in silence. "I think I'm going to sleep."

"Night Night." Spirit shared before my eyes felt too heavy to keep open.

My eyes slowly seemed to open themselves. I was facing right at the window. I wasn't sure if it was a coincidence or not, but the first thing I saw was Octavia. She was walking across town with her cello case, and seemed to be struggling with it, as she had no magic to easily carry it. I pushed myself off of bed and decided to give it one last go.

"Octavia!" I called out, galloping towards her.

She looked towards me with her eyes, but couldn't spare a word as she was too busy attempting to move her case using her teeth. However, she couldn't last not releasing a breath of frustration, so she released the case and continued to drag with her hoof. This brought her speed down.

"What do you want?" She asked, not wanting to have to deal with me.

"I…just wanted to see if you could use some help with your cello case…" I offered softly.

She remained silent for a moment. "I have it under control."

"…I can help…" I continued.

"I said I don't need help!" She took the time to glare at me during that statement, and then she looked back forward to continue walking.

At that moment, I not only felt sadness, but my anger was slightly on the rise as well.

"What's your problem, Octavia?! These past few days, I've been going over and beyond to get you just to like me. I know you think all princes are jerks, but I've been trying my hardest to get you to show you that isn't true!"

"You princes let fame get to your head! For the sake of publicity, you all act like if you're the nicest pony in Equestria, but you really aren't! You may have other ponies like Vinyl fooled with your 'precious little gifts', but I see your real intentions!"

"My real intentions are to be thoughtful and kind. If I really didn't care about anypony, would you really think I'd go all the way to get you a gift every single bucking day to try to get the least bit a friendship from you?!"

"It's not friendship you want, that's for sure." She answered, grunting a bit as she was beginning to grow slightly tired from pushing her case. "Why focus on such a little pony like me when you're royalty? Perhaps you want me to see how tall you stand over me? So, in your attempts, you rather give me such insulting gifts that I've been able to see through?"

All of a sudden, we heard an announcement from not too far away. "Crystal Empire! All aboard!" I realized that she was heading towards the train station.

"I don't have time for your pathetic nonsense. I've got a train to catch." She ceased her pushing and returned to carrying the cello case with her teeth to walk faster.

"But, Tavi—"

"Do not dare call me that!" She offensively ordered. "Only my friends call me by that!"

"You know what?!" I stomped my hoof on the ground. "I've been wasting my time trying to get you to like me! You think I'm giving you a hard time? You're the one who can't spare a second to try to understand what I'm going through for you!"

She stopped in her tracks and stood silent for a moment. Then, she dropped her case and turned towards me with a stern glare.

"I've never asked for anything from you!" She walked towards me, angrily pushing her face at me. "It's you who doesn't seem to take the hint that I don't want anything to do with you! I don't care if Vinyl is your friend. I don't care if everypony in Equestria is your friend. I do not want anything to do with you! So like I said, you really want to do me a favor? Stay out of my way!"

"All aboard!" We heard the train puff and whistle blow.

Octavia immediately gasped. "Oh no!" She quickly grabbed her case and ran towards the train that was already in motion. "Wait! Wait!" She called out as I followed behind her. But it seemed no pony heard her as the train didn't stop. "Wait!" She called out desperately while the train was already yards away. Octavia's ears flopped down as she fell on her bottom in defeat. Realizing what just happened, my anger died and my whole body was replaced with shock and sadness. I tried to bring out a hoof towards Octavia, but she quickly snapped back. "Have you realized what you've done?!" She exclaimed out loud. "Because of you, I've missed my opportunity to play my symphony for the Equestria Games at the Crystal Empire!" At this point, I could tell she was trying hard to prevent her voice from breaking. "The opening ceremony today was my chance to prove myself and you blew it all for me!"

"I…" I struggled to say. "…I…just didn't want you to hate me…"

"Hate you?!" She emotionally shouted out. "I despise you! You're nothing but royal scum! Even Prince Blueblood wouldn't had caused as much damage as you have! What more do you want?! You've already easily taken what I've worked so hard for!"

"…but…" I was really broken.

"Get your selfish royal ego and get out of my sight!" She yelled out, startling me. "And don't ever bother getting anywhere near me because we will never be friends!"

She breathed in very furiously as I could only stare back in shock at her. Her glare was pushing me back. In silence, I could only slowly walk backwards until I was out of her sight. Realizing what I had done, I couldn't move. I felt myself stumble towards the back part of the train station building and lied there. I could hardly bring any words to my thoughts. I was just in…total shock…

My thoughts were just blank. I remained there paralyzed with nothing in mind to do.

"What are you doing?!" Spirit jumped in front of me and my stunned eyes. "She needs help!"

"Help?" I managed to state a rhetorical question. "Didn't you see what I just did? From trying to 'help' her with her cello, I escalated all the way to ruining her chances, even dreams, for playing at the Crystal Empire!" I returned completely irritated with myself. "What if I try helping more? Am I going to get her killed then?!" I sighed heavily and buried my head in my forelegs. "She has every right to hate…no…despise me…"

"Listen to yourself, Alex!" Spirit exclaimed in slight desperation. "Didn't you just go through the same thing with another pony?" I looked up at her to see what she was talking about. "Remember Rainbow Dash? How she didn't want to help Daring Do because she thought she'd make things worse? Well, she didn't! And the same goes for you!"

Even though I knew she was right, I still couldn't help but feel no motivation to do so. "Even if I wanted to…what the hay could I possibly do? She missed the train all the way to the Crystal Empire."

"Look at yourself…" Spirit shared softly. "I think the answer's plainly clear." She pointed towards specific spots. I looked up and to my sides to see my wings and horn. "That's what they're there for…" Spirit mentioned. "Not because of royalty or power…but for your friends…ponies you care about…"

"But…" I answered gloomily, almost feeling on the verge of tears. "…what if something happens and we get stranded in the middle of—"

Spirit immediately silenced me by placing her hoof on my mouth. "Stop with the negativity, Alex…" She spoke earnestly. "That isn't you. Come on…you can overcome any challenge, right?" I only stared indecisively at the ground. "As long as you stay true to your pure intentions…nothing can ultimately end wrong…" She placed her hoof around me and hugged me comfortingly. "Who's the toughest caring pony in town?" Looking at her questionably, she pulled away and stayed by my side, beginning to sing softly. "Got the moves, got the mojo… No harder working pony around…"

Seeing at what she was referring at, I stared at her in slow realization.

"I've got the strength…" I joined staring towards the ground until I finally truly felt the strength within me rise. "…to overcome." I sang a lot more loudly and enthusiastically.

"And then she'll see that my pure heart is the next string she'll strum!" We both concluded in unison.

I immediately stood up, knowing that whatever happened, I needed to help no matter what.

"You're right, Spirit. You're absolutely right! This is my fault and I need to fix this! I don't care what happens, I'm doing whatever it takes to make this right again!" I faced towards Spirit and embraced her tightly. "Thank you, Spirit!"

Afterwards, I pulled away to immediately tend to Octavia as I galloped to glory.

When I reached her, I noticed how she was sobbing quietly as she rested her head on her cello. I furrowed my eyes in determination, wanting to put a stop to this. "Get on." I ordered boldly.

She raised her head to wipe a few tears and look at me. "What? You keep on insisting? I told you that I—"

Seeing how she wasn't going to shut up about her rant on me, I grabbed her cello with my magic and placed her on me. Before she could do anything, I quickly soared above and flew as swiftly as I could along the train tracks.

When Octavia realized how high she was off from the ground, she had no choice but to wrap her hooves tightly around my neck as she widened her eyes fearfully. "What do you think you're doing?! Are you insane as well?!" She shouted out.

"Do you want to make it to the Crystal Empire or not?!" I returned, leaving her to remain silent on the situation.

I focused ahead and narrowed my eyes, making sure I kept my focus on where I was going.

"Do you even know where the Crystal Empire is?!" She asked.

"I've been there enough times to know where to go." I answered while continuing to keep my pace.

"The train's already probably going to arrive there, we won't make it!"

"I'll make us make it…" I mentioned and began flapping my wings as hard as I could without breaking them out of sync. Just by a quick estimation, it seemed I was going just a little faster than the train usually traveled by. Even if the train did arrive before us, we could still make it before the actual event started. "When do you play at the opening ceremony?" I asked Octavia.

"Right before the routines are shown!" She answered, struggling with the wind and speed. Even with how much she hated me, she couldn't help but clench around me tightly while closing her eyes to cope with the height.

"I promise." I told her through the sound of the wind. "I promise I'll make things right again, and then I'll leave you alone!"

I didn't hear anything from Octavia after that. It wasn't until she pointed out in front of me and warned me. "Watch out!" She cried.

She had pointed towards a tree which branch was sticking out right in front of us and in the way.

"Don't worry!" I assured and then lowered myself to avoid the branch. However, I actually performed a careful but swift somersault, using the speed boost to get through the area quickly. Through the whole time, I could hear Octavia screaming in fear with what she had to experience. Keeping the cello intact by my side, I continued my confident and determined pursuit to the Crystal Empire.

By the time we arrived, we had already noticed the train was at the station. However, there were no fillies or anypony leaving from the train, so that meant we had to hurry.

"Over there!" Octavia pointed towards the location of the event. "It's almost starting!"

I quickly dashed in flight towards her direction, surprising everypony below me. As soon as I arrived, I quickly lowered my altitude and skidded to a stop.

"Hurry. Go on ahead." I told her, placing the case on the floor and awaiting her leave.

Octavia slowly removed herself from me and didn't seem to be in a hurry. "I…I don't know what to say…"

"Don't say anything." I shook my head and then pointed towards the entrance. "Just go!"

She grabbed her case, took a short glance at me, and then quickly galloped inside.

I sighed in relief, and felt myself drop to the floor in exhaustion.

I must had fallen asleep because I was awoken by a voice from somepony. At first, I thought it was Spirit, but instead, it was actually Octavia.

"Hey…" She greeted me as I was still lying outside of the area she was supposed to be at.

"Octavia?" I rubbed my eyes. "How did it go, did you make it?"

"Barely." She returned. "But yes… Yes, I did. And it's all thanks to you…"

I released a relieved exhale. "That's good…" I stood up from the ground. "I guess we better wait a for a train back home to Ponyville. I'm pooped."

"Would you…like to grab a cup of tea at the station?" She asked, surprising me greatly.

"Uh…sure." I accepted.

Octavia and I sat across each other at a table with a cup of warm tea in front of us. She blew gently at the still liquid and took a lady-like sip from the cup. I didn't really know what to say for conversation, seeing as I was surprised enough she invited me for a cup of tea with her, so I only stared down at my cup.

She cleared her throat. "I must…apologize for my behavior…" She expressed, staring down at her tea. "I've been acting so…foolish to you… Now, I understand that…you were only trying to…gain my friendship…"

"Yeah…" I looked away, tapping my hoof on the table.

"I didn't see it until you went all the way into taking me here… I've should have seen it earlier… Baking a cake, bringing me a dress, even offering me a pet… Even though accidents happened, I should have seen the work you put in." She added.

"Yeah…"I repeated, but offered more. "It was just dumb luck that all of those things happened. I had no idea they would, and I only wanted to show you that I'm not such a bad pony…"

"I see that now." Octavia expressed, now looking directly at me. "I must thank you…for all of your hard work for a pony like me. I'm absolutely sorry. I sincerely hope you can forgive me…"

I stared at her in silence for a moment and then softly nodded. "Of course…"

Finally, she offered a warm smile straight to me, which had really stunned me. I was now learning to get used to having her like me after all this time.

"Big Brother!" I heard a squeaky voice behind me. As soon as I turned around, a creamy white unicorn jumped towards me, holding me tightly as she rubbed her head on me.

"Sweetie Belle? What are you doing here?" I asked, surprised of her appearance.

"I'm with Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Rainbow Dash!" She explained. "We came for the opening ceremony and now we get to carry the flag for Ponyville at the Equestria Games! Did you see us?!"

"Oh!" I reacted, forgetting about the connection with the fillies. "Sorry…I was a bit busy…" I glanced over to Octavia, who returned an embarrassed blush.

Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Rainbow Dash came by, seeing Sweetie Belle with me.

"Hey, Alex!" Rainbow Dash greeted. "Didn't know you were coming to the Crystal Empire."

I chuckled a little. "I didn't either."

Seeing how Octavia was being left out, I grabbed everyone's attention and faced her. "Hey, everypony, this is Octavia." I presented. "Octavia, this is Rainbow Dash, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo." I revealed everypony to their respectful names.

"Pleased to meet you…" She managed to share, seeming a lot different in introductions than she was at first.

When the train arrived, Octavia and I sat together while Rainbow Dash and the fillies tended to their own celebration.

"So…that little filly is your sister?" She asked as I looked at the window.

"Sweetie Belle? Not exactly…" I responded. "Not biologically, but she tends to see me as a big brother to her." I smiled lightly and chuckled.

"I see…" She returned, as if she was still a little embarrassed. "You must have a wonderful family…of friends that is…"

"Wait till you still the rest of them." I added, referring to the other girls that were important to my life.

"I really…misjudged you…" She commented, rubbing her hooves together.

"Hey. It's in the past, okay?" I assured. "All is forgiven, and you don't need go back to it."

Smiling gently, she nodded. "Okay."

This time, after leaving the train and waving goodbye to the others, Octavia allowed me to help her with her cello case to take home. Once we were at her doorway, I carefully placed down her case and looked at her.

"Alright." I finished with a smile.

"I…appreciate your help." She returned, thankful.

"I'm glad I could help. Anything else?" I asked.

"No, thank you. I'm off to receive some rest after such a stressful week…"

I looked away, recalling all of it. "Yeah… Tell me about it…"

She suddenly placed her hooves around me as she closed her eyes. "Thank you so much…after today…Prince Alex."

"Please…" I patted her coat gently. "Just call me Alex."

"Very well." She gently pulled away, opened the door, grabbed her cello, and looked back to me. "Goodnight, Alex."

"Goodnight, Tavi."

She smirked at me with half-lids at that last remark, and then proceeded to enter inside.

At home, I yawned as soon as I approached my bed. I wanted to tell the others about how Octavia and I were stable now, but I was too tired.

Before I could hit the hay, I wanted to share a quick summary of my experience in my journal.

It's always amazing to make new friends, but some ponies may have the wrong idea of you. If you're strong enough you can simply ignore it, but for me, I just couldn't do that. Even though I went through so much trouble, I was able to keep going until the end, only by one special pony. Thanks to her, I ultimately succeeded in the end. Otherwise, I probably would have given up hope and took the turn for the worse. Overall, it's important to stay on your goal and see it to the end, otherwise, just as she says, you may never have the chance to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I took a bit of ice cream as I sat by Spirit in front of the sunset. We both remained happily silent while we focused on enjoying the treat of the night. Once I finished, I held up the wooden stick and then presented it to her.

"Here." I offered.

Spirit smiled adorably and took one last bite of hers before she kept them together. "Thanks."

"I'm the one who should be thanking you." I reminded. "If it wasn't for you, I don't know if I would have ever been able to become friends with Octavia."

"It's my pleasure." She answered. "I don't like it when you're sad."

"That's thoughtful of you…" I turned my head downwards to myself. "It all is…"

"Hm." Spirit paused for a moment. "I hope we go on an adventure again soon…"

"What are you talking about? I'm always on adventures." I shared with a grin.

"Just the two of us." She returned in a tone that wasn't like mine.

"Oh…" I assumed it had to do with her being a secret to every other pony. "Well…I wouldn't really know when it's comfortable for you to…you know…show up, I guess."

"Yeah… I guess I don't either."

Things were silent for a moment until I felt the need to ask her something.

"Spirit…" I called, causing her to turn her head towards me. "…I know…you really don't want to tell me things…but do you think…one day you might explain the reasons why you do certain things to me?"

"…what do you mean?" She asked with slight hesitation.

"Like…why you don't want anypony else to know about you. Or why you appear randomly back when I'm conscious."

She took some amount of time to answer that. "…I don't know…maybe…"

"Maybe?"

"…it's complicated…" She looked up towards the sky. "…when there comes a time…when I feel like you need to know…then I guess I'll tell you…"

"Is it really that serious?" I questioned with a worried look to my face.

"To me it is." She responded briefly.

"Okay then…" I ended the subject. "Even then…thanks for being there for me…especially when I need it…"

Slowly smiling lightly, she replied. "You're welcome."

We continued sitting there in peaceful silence until it was time for my total rest.

Power Ponies

Episode 71 – Power Ponies

???

"What do you think it is?" Comet asked me as we carefully examined the meteorite on the ground before us. "Besides a meteorite, of course…"

"I don't know…" I returned, poking my hoof at the lightly glowing rock. "I've never seen any like this. It's weird."

"Hey, um…" Comet began, showing some signs of imbalance. "Do you think…this has something to do with that strange correlation?"

I merely shrugged. "I don't know…" I used my magic to finally pick up the rock and hold it up.

"It's just that…strange things seem to be happening now that relate to the stars and sky." He included.

I faced him, not believing there was any reason to be afraid of this…at least for the time being. "I'm not sure there's anything to be afraid of." I offered. "Sure, there was some weird correlation in the sky, but that could have been due to almost anything. This…" I analyzed the rock. "I don't know…maybe…maybe there's some foreign magic in it…"

"Well, I guess we better take good care of it, huh?" He asked.

"Yeah." I agreed. "We should keep this a secret. I don't want anypony getting an eye for bits once they hear this news. You know how corrupt ponies can get by one little thing."

"Yeah, of course." Comet heavily agreed. "We've gotta find something to put that in back home for safe keeping." He looked around throughout the moon-lit distance. "Come on. We should probably hurry before anypony can see us."

"Alright…" I stared at the rock for a few more seconds and then turned to face Comet to follow him back home. Throughout the walk, I swear I could feel something odd with the discovery I held.

Alex

"Wakey-wakey. Come on." I heard a voice, leading my eyes to open slowly. "You know you aren't supposed to be sleeping on the job." She stated playfully. Once everything was visible, I was surprised to see Spirit in front of me. "Finally."

"H…huh…?" I looked around to see that I was still in the certain area I was working at, but I had somehow fallen asleep. "How'd I doze off? I don't remember being tired at all…"

Spirit giggled. "Well, you better get moving, you don't want to have any of the others see you sitting out on your part." As I shook my head and stood up to focus back on my task, Spirit took a glance around the hallway we were in. "Still…it's so nice of you all to fix up this place… It'll be just like home…"

I soaked my sponges and scrubs with the bucket full of soap and water and began cleaning the floor and walls. "Hey…" I realized something after she said that. "Isn't that what you said the very first time we met?" I turned my head over to her. "The last time I saw you before you vanished. We stopped in front of these same ruins and you said that you were home. I never got that…"

"Well…" She reacted a little nervously and hesitantly. "I mean…" She released a breath of defeat. "This is…where we…kind of…hang out."

"Huh?" I questioned while I continued to try to clean the hallway.

"In your dream, where we eat ice cream. That's the balcony."

"So, you're saying where we see each other every night…is here…?"

"Yeah…" She picked at the floor with her hoof. "But…being a dream…things may not seem the same as you see here."

"So…" I rolled my eyes around in thought. "…do you actually live here? Not in the dream, but in your real body? Is that why you pretty much know this place?"

"…you could say that…but it's not exactly the way you think…"

I wanted to keep thinking about how that actually would work, especially connecting it with her as a filly. And then I realized about the rapid increase in age. I became confused all over again and just shook my head. I had to focus on my part in the restoration of the castle.

"Hm." I released and then continued cleaning the hallways.

After washing some, I threw the sponges and scrubs back in the bucket and released a breath of rest.

"Tired already?" Spirit smirked teasingly.

I scoffed friendly and grinned at her. "You could help too, you know."

She sat down, placed a hoof over her agape mouth, and yawned loudly. "I don't feel like it." She mentioned jokingly.

"Well, you sure feel lazy, don't you?" I asked, joining her playful manner.

She returned another giggle.

I smiled at her until I heard another voice speak by the side.

"Alex?" I quickly looked to notice Spike as he stared at me weirdly. "…is there somepony else up here with you…?"

I widened my eyes, deeply surprised of his sudden appearance. I quickly glanced over to where Spirit was to notice she wasn't there anymore. "Um…"

"It sounded like you were talking to somepony. But they're all out at the main hallway."

I tried to rapidly think of an excuse. "Sorry…I was just…uh…" I had nothing good to make up, so I tried to do with whatever came to mind. "…remembering a conversation I had with some other pony…I sometimes get so into it that I talk to myself about it…"

"Oh." He appeared to accept it. "Okay." He began walking past me with a comic in his claw.

"Where are you going?" I questioned.

"It seems like the girls have everything under control so…" He shrugged. "I guess no pony needs my help."

"Well…" I looked towards the bucket of water to the side. "If you want, you could help me."

He stopped in his tracks and turned to me. "Really?"

"Yeah… I mean, if you don't mind."

"Cool, okay." He ran over to me. "What can I do?"

"You can help clean the floor and walls in this hallway." I looked towards the bucket and retrieved a couple of sponges. "There are a few more in there." Remembering Spirit, I decided to send him to the end of the hallway so we could be alone. "Why don't you go to the other side of the hallway, I've already almost finished with the one."

"Okay." He grabbed the bucket and then headed over to his designated location.

Once he was out of sight and hearing distance, I looked around for Spirit.

"Boop." Something poked and startled me.

I jumped a little and quickly turned around to see Spirit giggling softly. "How did you—?"

"You could say I'm like…" She prepared herself dramatically. "…a ghost!"

"No kidding…" I mentioned.

She looked around for any more sign of ponies…or dragons. "I better stick back to hiding. It's a little too risky now. I wouldn't want to have another situation like that."

"Oh…okay…" I returned. "…I'll…see you later then…?"

"As usual." She grinned and poked my coat. Afterwards, she turned and jumped out of sight.

I could only stand there, wondering how her personality could fit with her wanting to hide so much and stay a secret from everypony but me.

After I finished my side of the hallway, I roamed across to check on Spike.

"Spike?" I called and looked around. There was only silence. I managed to find the pail of water and soap to the side, and the sponges were placed back in there. I turned to the walls and floors to analyze them. They appeared as if they were cleaned…but where was Spike?

I lifted my head and continued on towards the library, as that was the only direction he could have gone without me seeing him. I scanned all over from what I could see for him. I noticed that hidden passageway we had stumbled upon the last time we were here and decided to check inside.

"Mane-iac breaks into the museum... Okay, here we go." I heard inside. "...Ugh, what a surprise! Hum Drum is in the way again while the Power Ponies do all the work! I guess I know what that feels like..."

"Spike?" I called again, walking in. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hey…" He remained lying down on the two pillows below him. "Don't worry about the work…I already finished…"

"Oh…that's great." I returned and looked around. "But…why are you here all by yourself?"

"Eh…" He answered with little effort. "Every other pony has everything in control. They don't need me, so I decided to just finish up my comic…"

"Comic?" I sat by him.

"Yeah. It's about these Power Ponies who fight against their archenemy, the Mane-iac. You know, that good versus evil thing." He explained somewhat of the plot.

"Hm. I was never too into comics…" I responded honestly.

"It's pretty good when you're bored." He focused on the inside of the comic. "I was just about to finish it. Let's see how the Power Ponies deal with the Mane-iac." He narrowed his eyes and then turned the page. However, he immediately gasped in surprise afterwards. "Wait. What?" He questioned at the blank page in front of him. "How can that be the end?!" He then noticed some marking at the very bottom right of the page. "What's... that? 'You can... retr-' What? 'You can... return...' Urgh!" He groaned out loud and placed the comic down on the floor. Then, he placed his claws to his head in frustration. "I know I saw a magnifying glass laying around the last time I was here..." He sat up and began searching.

Wanting to see what exactly was bothering him, I grabbed ahold of the comic and looked at the last page. I tried to read what the words said, but it required a whole lot of attention and focus to barely make it out.

"Spike! Alex! Where are ya?" I heard Applejack call from outside the room.

"We're breaking for tea and biscuits!" Rarity cheerfully exclaimed, sounding as if they were calling from the hallway.

As Spike just found a magnifying glass, I turned towards the door to begin trotting out.

"Guys!" Rainbow Dash called before I found them walking towards me.

"We're over here." I announced, catching their attention.

"Oh, great!" Twilight replied from the group. "We can have our little break in here." She directed towards the room with a smile.

Just as we began entering the room again, a sudden bright and cackling light formed in the center where Spike was standing at.

"Spike! What are you—?"

Twilight didn't have the chance to finish her sentence when, what looked like the comic book Spike had, began sucking him in with great force.

"Heeeeeelp!" He cried out.

"Spike!" Twilight exclaimed before grabbing ahold of his tail tightly and attempted to pull him out to safely.

Rainbow flew after Twilight, who was getting sucked in along with Spike. She grabbed her body and tried to pull her out as well, but it only prolonged whatever what was happening. Applejack raced over to Rainbow and tried pulling on her tail. Fluttershy and Rarity gasped, quickly attending towards Applejack in a line. Seeing the only thing I could do was help, I galloped over to Rarity, who was at the end of the line, and wrapped my hooves around her to try to pull everyone out while flapping my wings. But then there was a sudden tug and we were all forced into the comic.

Everything was dark and silent for a moment. I felt the muscles in my face twitch for my eyes to open. As soon as I was able to see, I completely noticed everything was not the way as it seemed. I appeared to be on top of a roof top in a strange city I had never seen before. Everything looked far more advanced, perhaps similar to Manehattan if I had ever been there before.

"…what the…" I mentioned, speechless. "…where am I…?"

I heard a female groan behind me. "How'd I get out here? I didn't do anything…"

I looked back to see an immediately recognizable pony. She was questioning her position as well. "Spirit?"

"Oh!" She jumped lightly from being startled. "Alex!"

"Do you have any idea where we are?" I asked, continuing to look around.

"Oh um…" She seemed to recover from something. She stood up and looked around. "I think this is the world your friend Spike was reading. The last thing I remember is the both of us getting sucked into that comic."

"But…I don't remember you being there with us…" I stated from my memory.

"Oh!" She reacted nervously. "Well… I um...was sucked in at the last second." She laughed nervously and quickly threw out something else after analyzing me. "Oh, look! You look different."

"Huh? Different?" I inquired and then looked down at my hooves to see them covered with something. "How'd I…?"

"Wow...!" Spirit continued to excitedly observe me all around. "You look so cool! You look like a superhero! Oh!" She stopped to notice something around my head. "Someone like you shouldn't have their identity out like that." She grabbed what appeared to be some sort of cloth or handkerchief around my neck and covered the muzzle portion of my head. She moved something from the top of my head to my eyes. "There!" After, she released a quick gasp and stared at her hooves. "…did I just…?"

"What?" I asked concerningly.

"Nothing." She swiftly stated and then changed the subject once again. "What about me?" She positioned herself in a readied and heroic manner. "Am I some kind of awesome superhero too?"

I observed her and didn't see much of a difference. In fact, she only wore goggles on the top of her head and mane. There was also a loose scarf around her neck. Otherwise, that was pretty much it.

"I'm not sure…" I answered. "The only think you have on are those goggles and scarf." I pointed.

She looked at both of them and pouted a bit. "Aw…what's that supposed to do…?"

"No idea." I shrugged. "I've never really read comics."

"Hmph." She reacted a little disappointingly. "What am I supposed to do then?" With her hooves, she grabbed a hold of her goggles and stretched them over her eyes. "Be some sort of distraction and put these stupid things on—?"

As soon as she placed those on her eyes, I immediately fell towards the ground and my eyes closed on their own.

"Alex!" She called out, racing towards my body.

What bothered me more is how I knew this. My eyes were closed. I could see that. But yet I was looking through another pair of eyes… Being already obvious enough, I could tell I was looking through Spirit's eyes.

Spirit, can you hear me?

"…Alex…?" She questioned. "…are you…?"

I have no clue. I can see what you see, Spirit.

"…whoa…" She moved her hooves to place them on her goggles, but then she quickly realized that they weren't there. She couldn't see any part of her body at all! "Where am I!?"

Can you still feel your body? Along with your goggles?

She seemed to struggle with her disappeared hooves. "I…I think so… Yeah…"

Take off the goggles.

When she did, I immediately felt my eyes open in my true body. I checked out my hooves to make sure that I was indeed in my body. Spirit was visible in front of me.

"Now I can see myself…" She looked at her hooves with her goggles back on her head.

"Huh…" I expressed and observed her carefully for a bit. "It seems that…whenever you put on those goggles, I see through your eyes and you turn invisible…"

"Really?" Spirit laughed softly for a bit. "…usually it's the other way around…"

"What do you mean?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing!" She ended once again and changed the subject. "So…if I do that…then what do you do?"

I looked over myself. "I still don't know about that…"

"Try running around for a bit." Spirit directed around me. "See if anything strange happens."

I looked around. "On a building this tall from the ground…?"

"Hey…" She poked my wings. "You still have your wings."

"Yeah… I guess that's true…" I said and then focused towards another building near the one we were on. "I'll try galloping and jumping right over there."

"Go right ahead." Spirit happily encouraged.

I backed away a few steps and focused my attention towards the rooftop in front of me. I took in a deep breath and then sprinted towards my target. As I sprinted, I felt something odd about and in me. However, I continued as planned and leapt towards the other rooftop. The strange feeling increased during this airtime. For some reason, I smoothly seemed to glide over to the other rooftop. It wasn't because of my wings. I didn't even need them for the jump. My vision was weird, but it felt necessary. I didn't know how to explain it. It felt like I had some wild primal instincts within me or something… I galloped over to the rooftop Spirit was back on to endure the same feeling.

"Whoa! That looked so cool!" Spirit commented on the run. "You blended in the night so well, I almost lost track where you were!" I continued observing myself and my hooves to see what exactly I represented. "It's like you're a wolf! A night wolf!" She then gasped upon realizing something. "A natural instinct to protect others whenever possible… You shall now be known as Knight Wolf!"

"Knight Wolf…?" I questioned a little confusingly.

"And me?" She placed a hoof to her chest and closed her eyes in proud thought. She remained still for a moment before she slowly placed her hoof back on the floor and narrowed her eyes in determination. "Call me… GHOST."

"GHOST?" I once again inquired about.

"Yeah…because I'm just like… a ghost…" She referenced.

"Well…" I wasn't too into the name calling. I turned around to notice the streets where several ponies occupied. "We have to find out why we're here and how we get back." I gasped, realizing something else. "And where the others are! They got sucked in here first!"

Spirit joined me by the edge. "Then let's begin our mission, shall we…?" She presented with a smirk. "And we stick together, seeing how our powers clearly are connected."

I nodded. "Yeah. Of course." I looked out and formed an idea. "I'll get a better view up ahead." I spread out my wings and launched off. However, Spirit instantly stopped me.

"Wait!" She called. I looked back at her. "…I can't fly…"

"Oh…" I returned, seeing this true. "…right…" I landed back by her. "I guess we have to do this on hoof then."

"It'll be okay." Spirit comforted me. "We'll be okay as long as we're together."

"Yeah…" I nodded again. "Okay." I lowered myself for Spirit to climb on. "Come on. Let's get down."

"Roger!" She jumped on, causing me to grunt a bit, and then held on tight.

"Here we go…" I hopped off, but before I could spread out my wings, I somehow felt my hooves plant themselves on the side of the building. Immediately after, I appeared to be galloping straight across the side of the building with no problem!

"Woohoo!" I could hear Spirit cheer as we ran straight downwards, which increased our speed significantly more.

After we reached the ground, my hooves hopped off the side of the building and onto the ground. I felt myself wobble a little out of balance, actually almost tripping and falling.

"Whoa…" I expressed after feeling that rush. "I never knew I could do that…"

"Isn't this world amazing?" She asked, fascinated with our new abilities.

"Maybe…" I mentioned. "But that doesn't mean I want to stay here forever."

Suddenly, we heard a loud explosion and felt a huge rumble. Looking at the sky, we could see a cloud of smoke across the town. I gasped lightly and faced Spirit. "Come on! We have to go check that out."

I was about to head towards the street in front of us, but Spirit quickly stopped me. "Wait! We can't go out in plain sight. We need to be stealthy. We need to stick with the shadows. Especially you."

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"If we are superheroes, we wouldn't want the bad guys to see us out in plain sight. Besides, you seem you have more of an advantage in the shadows." She advised.

"And you?" I added.

"Me?" She postured herself in a lightly smug manner. "I'm your advantage as long as we're together."

I sighed, seeing that we had no more time to waste. "Alright. Come on. Let's be quick about it." Taking Spirit's advice, I turned away from the main part of the street and looked around for paths that involved no lights. Usually, this wouldn't be safe…but hey…we're more than average ponies right now…

We stopped about halfway in a darkened alley with the only light source being a flickering light. We noticed that a heavy wind began bllowing through the entire city, which was pretty odd.

"I hope Spike and the girls are alright…" I mentioned worriedly.

Spirit placed a hoof on me. "I'm sure they're fine. We should get moving if you want to find them."

"Yeah." I nodded. "You're right."

Just as we raised our hooves, we heard a group of hooves behind us.

"Well look at what we've got here, fellas." A pony spoke. We turned around to see a group of at least five stallions smirking with bad intentions. "You two must be lost. Why don't we introduce you to the dark side of Maretropolis?"

"Maretropolis…?" I questioned under my breath.

"No thanks." Spirit answered, showing no fear. "We're doing fine on our own."

"Ooh." The stallion out front, which looked to be the leader, returned. "How's about you come with me? I could use a queen to rule this city."

I narrowed my eyes angrily, but Spirit didn't seem to be affected at all.

"Ugh." Spirit stuck out her tongue in disgust and wittily replied. "Sorry for the bad news, but you're really not my type."

"Oh, you're really gonna wish you never said that…" He responded with clenched teeth.

Spirit narrowed her eyes and nonetheless smiled valiantly. "Make me."

"Should've kept your mouth shut you little—"

I dashed over to this scum stallion and clenched his coat with my hoof. "Listen. We don't want any trouble. If you want to get out of here in one piece, I recommend you walk. Now." I asserted aggressively.

The stallion shoved me off. "Like hay we will." He faced his acquaintances and motioned his head. "Get em' boys."

The rest of the stallions began angrily walking towards us as they held blunt weapons in their mouths. I back away over to Spirit who readied herself bravely. "Let's show them what the two of us can do!"

I felt my muscles inside my clench angrily. "Right…"

One of them rushed towards me with a wooden plank. Just as he was about to strike me, I dashed like a swift wild animal towards the wall of the alley and bounced off it, pouncing vigorously at the attacker.

"What are you waiting for!?" The leader pointed out aggressively. "Get them!"

Seeing the rest of them begin to swarm in, I used the stallion I attacked to send as a body weight towards them, knocking down at least one of them. Spirit, seeming to be very agile, dodged one of her attackers and jumped over to the dumpster behind her. She kicked it with all of her strength, sending it flying towards not one but two of them, having them crash unconsciously towards a brick wall. Another tried to flank Spirit, but I rapidly ran and reached him in a matter of seconds, knocking him off his hooves. I rather sent him towards the air, leaving me to shoot a few beams of magic towards him and then finally use my magic to have him sent flying who knows where.

This time, Spirit protected me when she climbed up a few obstacles and then severely kicked the leader behind me right in the face. He skidded on the floor and came to stop. While he was trying to recover from that attack, I walked up to him and grabbed his coat aggressively, bringing him up to face me.

"W-what do you want from me?!" He asked, now ironically and extremely fearing us.

I narrowed my eyes seriously at him. "Justice." I answered in a raspy voice and then threw him off to where he was out of our sight.

Spirit giggled, despite our whole fight. "Nice one."

I approached her concerningly. "You okay?"

"Yep. That was so much fun!" She answered gleefully.

I released a sigh of relief. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"Aw." Spirit nudged me with her head and then looked out. "Let's go look for your friends!"

"Right." I agreed and walked with her out of the alley.

I began feeling bothered at one point when we were walking by a building that held a sign with a continuous buzzing noise. I looked up to see one of those animated lit signs. In the first frame, it was a mare with what looked like a shampoo bottle on her head. In the second frame, it depicted how apparently gorgeous the mare's hair became after the shampoo was used.

That wasn't what bothered me though. Everything was just too quiet. I felt pretty sure that if the girls were in the area we saw the smoke coming from, they'd probably already be out of there. I wasn't sure if we were on the right track.

Spirit stopped to notice my troubles. "Something bothering you?"

"…I don't know…" I answered. "Just feeling unsure, I guess…"

"If it's about your friends, you don't need to worry. We're bound to come across them sooner or later."

Her statement caused me to think for a moment. "…but I thought you wanted to stay a secret to them?"

"That's why you keep me a secret, silly." She poked my head. "Call me by my codename, and mention nothing but what's happened here."

"Uh…okay…" I returned. Hooves suddenly echoed from a distance before us. "Come on." I whispered, grabbed her hoof, and hid the both us in a slim area where we were out of sight from the ponies that walked.

"Want me to go check it out?" Spirit asked, readying her goggles.

"…sure…" I answered. I sat myself down at the floor to make sure I wouldn't fall roughly. "Okay…do it."

Spirit nodded and placed on her goggles. My eyes closed by themselves, leading to later see my own body unconscious against the wall.

Alright. Let's see what we're up with.

"Okay." She whispered and climbed up the wall of the building we were hiding against. Once she was on the rooftop, she slowly walked towards the edge, where the sounds of hooves grew louder. She placed herself close to the floor and poked her head out to see what was in the alley across the building. "It's…six ponies and a baby dragon…they don't look like bad guys."

Once I was able to get a clear view of them, I could immediately recognize who they were, even while wearing their own costumes.

It's them! It's Spike and the girls! They're safe!

"I'll buy some time for you to meet them."

You sure about that…?

"Yeah. Remember, we've only known each other in this comic."

…yeah…okay…

Afterwards, she slipped her goggles off, having me see through my own eyes again.

"There it is!" I heard Spike point out in a hushed tone.

I shook my head and stood up to recover from the recent transition.

"Is that a... shampoo factory?" Applejack asked.

I began walking towards them to hear Spirit speak.

"Hi." She greeted, startling them as she revealed her face in an upside down manner.

"…who are you?" Twilight questioned, curious about the mysterious mare only I have seen.

"I think you should be asking him." Spirit turned to my direction as I finally revealed myself from within the shadows.

They all turned their heads over to me to be quite surprised of my sudden appearance and even a little worried/scared.

"…and who would you be?" Rarity asked, flinching a bit.

"I'm Knight Wolf." I answered with a raspy voice again, leading me to quickly cough and clear my throat. "Sorry." I returned in my normal voice. I used my magic to pull off the accessories covering my face from clear identification. "It's me. Alex."

"Alex!" Twilight rushed over to me in jubilance. "We were so worried about you when we didn't find you with us!"

"So, you're Knight Wolf!" Spike brought up. "That's why you were separated from us." Spike faced the other girls to explain. "Knight Wolf usually works alone. But he always comes by and helps the Power Ponies when they need him the most. Because he's so secretive, villains don't really usually know about him."

"What about that mare that was up in the rooftop?" Rarity asked, recalling about Spirit. She turned towards me for a question. "Is she with you?"

Before I could answer, Spirit hopped to my side and joined me with a smile. "I sure am. The name's GHOST."

"GHOST?" Spike questioned. "I don't remember anything about you… Did you get sucked in along with us…?" He asked, tapping his claw on his chin.

"Sucked in? What are you talking about?" Spirit asked, pretending as if she belonged to the world.

"She must belong here, Spike." Twilight spoke. "She doesn't know anything about what happened before we got here."

"I guess…" Spike allowed. "But it's still weird… I never read about any pony named GHOST…"

"Don't mind that now, Spike." Applejack included herself. "We've got to focus on getting out of here."

"Oh, right." Spike responded and looked towards me. "Those words I was trying to read at the end of the comic book. It said the only way to return back home was to defeat the Mane-iac." He looked past me and pointed towards the shampoo factory. "She's in there right now building her doomsday device! We have to stop her before she uses it!"

I covered my face in preparation for whatever we needed to endure to get back home. "Then let's get at it."

"All right, Power Ponies, here's the plan." Twilight announced, facing all of us. "Rarity, you, me and—"

"Come on out, Mane-iac! Or the Power Ponies are comin' in!" Rainbow Dash yelled out loud, already flying in front of the building and holding up a lightning necklace that seemed to produce thunder and lightning in the sky instantly. The lightning actually struck the sign, zapping it off, while the thunder continued to boom very loudly.

"So much for 'element of surprise'." Twilight commented in a disgruntled manner.

"Didn't she just learn this lesson a while back?" I asked, referring to Daring Do as Spirit and I walked with the others towards the factory.

Surprisingly, no pony came out after that loud noise.

"You know…" Spirit announced. "If you haven't already alerted the ponies inside, I can just go in there undetected and do some recon…" She shared both sarcastically and seriously.

"Actually…" Fluttershy timidly offered. "I don't think she's home. Maybe we should just come back later."

Immediately after, there was this booming evil laughter that originated from within the factory.

"She's home." Rarity responded to Fluttershy with a fearful tone.

The garage door in front of the building began opening, revealing a large group of ponies that seemed to plainly care a heavily lot of fashion…but were prone to hostile attacks nonetheless.

"Time to Power Pony up!" Applejack announced as we all readied ourselves.

"Ooh! Nice catchphrase!" Pinkie couldn't help but excitedly share as she quickly tapped each of her hooves on the floor.

As the fight begun, the girls began spreading out. On the other hoof, I could hear Spike call out my name. "Alex!" I turned to see him as he was pointing towards the shadows around the block. "Stick to the shadows! You have the best advantage in them!"

Just in time, Spirit defended me from one of the ponies released within the factory. "I've got your back." She smirked confidently.

I nodded and then dash over to the shadows as directed by Spike.

As a power, the shadows seemed to increased my speed dramatically, and of course keep me out of sight. When moving from one shadow to another, it was like I was teleporting, only I was moving so fast you could only see a wisp of air.

Spirit followed behind me and tried to not remain too much in the open. Instead of going immediately on the offensive, I stayed behind and looked around for any pony in need of help. Everypony actually seemed to have it covered, but something seemed strange. I had noticed a lot more ponies than the ones in the street fighting. My eyes scanned across the area to where I saw Rarity tying a bad guy with a thread and needle gracefully. What she didn't notice was the sound of something being struck harshly. At the top of the building, somepony was striking the sign with his back leg.

I noticed the sign was just about to break off, and when it did, it would land on Rarity if I didn't do anything about it. I gasped and focused my attention on Rarity.

"Rarity!" I called, alarming her.

She only looked up in surprise to see what all the commotion was about. I quickly jumped out of the shadows and dashed over to her, grabbing her and bringing her out of the way as the sign crashed in front of us.

Before she could say anything, I narrowed my eyes in anger and quickly hastened to jump between each surface of each building to reach the top where the suspect was at. Before he could see where I had appeared, I shot a few beams of my magic at him, slid and kicked him from underneath, and then whipped up another kick to send him flying off. At the bottom I could see Spirit helping Rarity up with a smile.

She noticed another stallion running behind her towards a Fluttershy who was too busy flinching and unfortunately cowering in fear.

"Not so fast!" She ran towards the stallion and bumped him with her body, sending him flying and crashing towards another building.

I raced over to Fluttershy and grabbed her hoof to pick her up gently.

"Are you alright…?" I asked.

"Honestly… I'm terribly frightened." She answered with shivers.

"Seriously?" Rainbow Dash joined us in flight. "You aren't even just a little angry right now?"

Fluttershy only returned an embarrassed smile with a shrug and shaking head.

"Nice work, Power Ponies!" I heard Twilight behind me, turning to see how quickly the other girls had disposed the attackers. Wow. "Now let's take care of the Mane-iac and get ourselves home!"

"I don't think so!" Another mare crawled around from within the building. She didn't use her hooves… She creepily used her mane which was insanely spread out everywhere. "I have a city to destroy, and I'm not about to let the Power Ponies stop me! Not this time!"

"Just watch us!" Rainbow Dash grabbed a hold of her necklace and flew hurriedly towards the villain.

However, the Mane-iac held up some can of spray, leading Spike to yell out in warning.

"The Hairspray Ray of Doom! It stops you in your tracks and renders your powers useless!"

There was a loud hiss as the cloud of spray touched Rainbow. She suddenly halted in mid-flight and fell to the floor like an ice cube.

"We'll just see about that!" Rarity announced, leading the rest of them to charge straight at the Mane-iac.

"Wait!" I warned, trying to stop them from running towards the mare like that, but something else grabbed ahold of me and dragged me away from the scene. I could only witness the girls utterly fail as the spray affected them as well. The Mane-iac laughed evilly as her henchponies escaped from their restraints and walked towards the girls to take them in. The only two that were missing were Fluttershy and Spike.

"Stop. Don't go." I heard a pony exclaim in a whisper.

I turned to see Spirit looking at me seriously.

"But they're in trouble! I have to go help them!" I desperately returned.

Spirit placed a hoof on my mouth due to my volume and shook her head. "I know they are, but you can just go out there like that. You'll just be sprayed too. You need to stay out of sight and make sure she hasn't seen you."

"Don't spray!" I heard Spike cry out, driving my attention back to the scene to see The Mane-iac retrieving a frozen Fluttershy and pointing the can at Spike.

She cackled right in front of his fearful face. "Oh, Hum Drum, why in all of Maretropolis would I use the Hairspray Ray of Doom on you? Rather pointless, don't you think?" She mocked.

All of the girls released shouts of concern and cries for assistance as they were dragged into the factory. I tried to step forward in attempts to save them but Spirit continued to hold me back. Once the garage door slammed shut, she finally released me. I ran towards the door and placed my hooves on it, but I had no idea what to do.

"Sorry, I had to do that…" Spirit apologized, approaching me. "But if I let you run off like that, you would have been taken hostage too."

I sighed, pummeled with the pressure of figuring out a way to get them back.

"You two are the ones that have to save them…" Spike spoke from behind us. He looked away in sadness. "I'll just have to stay here and be Hum Drum. Otherwise, I'll just mess things up as usual."

"What are you talking about, Spike?" I asked, walking towards him. "You're just as important as we are."

"No, I'm not. All of you didn't really need me back when we were at the castle. You all were fine on your own. You all took place as Power Ponies while I became Hum Drum." He groaned in disgust, looking at his cape. "That proves it."

"Spike. Just because you don't have superpowers, doesn't mean you're not important." I approached in a comforting manner. I removed the cloth covering my face to see him more directly. "Remember when we first saw the Crystal Empire? When we retrieved the Crystal Heart? It was you who ultimately returned the heart. I stuck around with Twilight and even distracted King Sombra a little. Without you, who knows what would have happened?"

"I don't exactly have superpowers." Spirit presented herself. "But that doesn't keep me from going on. You acknowledge your talents and what you can do. As long as you're really helping your friends, then you aren't useless. You're only useless when you ignore what you have, do nothing with it, or take advantage of it for the worse."

Spike took a moment to take all that in. "…you really think so?"

"Yeah." I returned. "I mean…why else would Twilight have you as her number one assistant? You'd have to be pretty useful for that."

"Yeah…you're right." Spike recognized. "They need us now more than ever and we have to help them."

"More importantly, you're the only one who knows this comic book from apparently front to back." I reminded. "You lead the way, and we'll tell you what you can do to help." I patted his back, assuring him with confidence.

"Okay!" He nodded with confidence and looked towards the shampoo factory. After a moment, he pointed and shouted out. "There's a vent on the side of the building! We can use it to sneak in."

Spirit smirked, ready for action as she tapped her goggles. "Perfect plan."

"Let's get to it then!" I announced.

As if it was already a routine, Spirit climbed on me while I grabbed Spike with my magic. Then, I ran straight towards the wall and then directly up onto the top with the vent.

After removing the screws, we squeezed into the vents and tried to move. However, there was some difficulty in doing this for Spirit and me.

"Geez…" Spirit mentioned. "Maybe we should have looked for an easier way to get in for us."

"It's good enough…" I returned, struggling with my motion while Spike rather had an easier time in front of us. "We'll be out of here soon enough."

We then began hearing a creaking sound all around us.

"…uh…what's that?" Spike questioned.

Immediately after, Spike fell outside from below.

"Spike!" I exclaimed in a whisper, crawling towards the open hole and hopping out.

After I did, I was immediately tackled to the floor by Spirit, who landed in front of me. She giggled and apologized. "Sorry."

I shook my head and managed to stand up. "It's fine." I faced Spike. "Spike, you okay?"

"I am…but they're not!" He pointed out towards the girls, who were frozen inside a cage.

I noticed Twilight try to move a hoof, and she actually was having some success in doing so. However, a timer rung, leading the pony who was right by it reading the newspaper to shoot out another large mist of spray at the girls. Their paralysis state was once again renewed.

"Congratulations, Power Ponies!" We heard the Mane-iac's demented laughter sound. "You shall live just long enough to see me fire..." A pony by the covered machine revealed it. "…the instrument of your destruction!" She cackled again, proceeding to insert the orb inside. "Once the Electro-Orb has powered it up completely, this cannon will amplify the power of my mane one million times, expelling an energy blast that will cause everypony in Maretropolis's mane to grow wild!" By the sound of her laughter, I could truly tell she was absolutely insane. So insane, I don't even believe she had a true reason to be a villain. "You will be my weapon's first victims, and there is nopony who can save you from this fate!" She resumed her annoying laughter.

"Ahem." Fluttershy cleared her throat. "I don't mean to interrupt, but aren't you forgetting about a few others?"

"Who else?" The Mane-iac questioned ignorantly. "Hum Drum? Little guy? No superpowers whatsoever?" She laughed. "He's utterly useless!" The timer rung again, leading the pony with the newspaper to spray the girls again. "Puh-lease. Everypony knows you just keep him around because you feel sowwy for him." She switched into a condescending tone. "Wah. Wah."

This brought Spike down a bit, but I placed a hoof on him to try to get him to remember who he really was.

"Maybe in your world. But in our world, Spike— uh, Hum Drum always comes through when we need him! Always!" Twilight assured confidently.

As the rest of the girls agreed together, this brought Spike to stand up proudly. "I'm not like Hum Drum! When my friends really need me, I do come through! And they need us now!"

The Mane-iac laughed yet again. "I see dementia must be a side-effect of prolonged exposure to the Hairspray Ray of Doom."

As she continued speaking, Spirit pointed out something.

"Spike!" She pointed her hoof towards the red cover that was originally on the machine that was resting on the floor. "Let's use that to snatch up all the other ponies!"

"How are you going to do that?" I asked.

She tapped her goggles with a smirk. "Remember?"

"Right…" I nodded. "Okay."

She looked towards Spike. "Spike, go sneak down there and attach the curtain to those hanging chains." She directed. "I'll be down there to help you out."

"Got it!" He saluted and then proceeded to start on his task.

Spirit looked towards me in preparation. "Ready to do this?"

"Yeah." I answered. "As soon as you start the fight, take off your goggles so I can join in, okay?"

"You got it, chief." She responded and then wrapped her goggles around her eyes, causing the usual transition.

Once I saw through her eyes, she proceeded to easily hop off the floor we were on, as she was invisible. As Spike began attaching the curtain to the chain, Spirit helped him by doing the other end, all while the Mane-iac still continued to talk. "Tonight, we stand upon the brink of immortality, for we collectively – though, mostly me – have finally defeated our most hated nemeses! We have hurled the brush of badness into the now fearful face of…" She snuck in another wild laugh. "…goodness, and have struck a blow for freedom in the name of oppression! And nothing will stop us!" She laughed for the final time when Spirit and Spike joined me back up in the same level. She removed her goggles to allow me to wake up and help them with pushing off a crate to drag the covering and all the ponies within it as well.

The ringer had rung again, but this time, the stallion was distracted when Spike went ahead and knocked him off, along with the spray. The spray now affected the ponies on the first floor, paralyzing them instantly.

"Way to go!" Twilight praised, noticing the cause of such actions.

Once they were finally able to move, I spread my wings and flew over to the cage to try to help them. However, Rarity formed a huge filler and made an opening herself.

"Get mad!" Rainbow Dash told Fluttershy for some reason.

"I'm trying!" Fluttershy strained to follow her recommendation.

However, the rest of the girls left, preparing to enter battle that would soon commence below. Rarity even formed a staircase to gracefully walk downwards.

"Why does she want you to get mad…?" I asked, holding Fluttershy hoof with mine carefully.

"Well…"

Fluttershy's explanation was interrupted when we heard Pinkie excitedly shouting from below.

"Tag you're it! Tag you're it! Tag you're it! Tag you're it!" She was speedily messing with the ponies below.

"Over there! There! There! Idiots!" The Mane-iac screamed out in frustration.

I could see Spirit was glad to hop in on the fun.

"I'll be back, Fluttershy." I told her with a valiant smile. "I've got a Mane-iac to deal with." Afterwards, I hopped and flew towards where the large cannon and weapon stood. The Mane-iac was too distracted by her failures of henchponies. "You know… A pony like you really shouldn't be out in the streets…" I caught her attention. "It's time we put an end to that."

In order to make sure she didn't have the chance to use her weapon, I continued to annoyingly distract her while she continued to turn away from her maniacal laughter to aggressive anger.

It wasn't until when Spike spoke out loud that I made the mistake of being distracted with my focus on the villain. "Fluttershy, we need you! You have to power up!"

The Mane-iac was able to get me off when she used the tip of her harsh mane to strike me and send me flying towards the garage door. Of course, the door stopped me, but it so happened to hurt…quite a lot… I slid towards the ground and remained there, feeling too much pain to move.

"Oh, goodness! Are you okay?" Fluttershy immediately rushed over to me to ask me. She delicately placed her hooves on me while I could only return a few mumbles. In a short silence, Fluttershy angrily and aggressively turned towards the Mane-iac, despite the huge weapon she had. "Are you kidding me?" She then began walking to approach her personally. "I mean, I know you're evil and everything, but…" I could tell in her tone she was now getting extremely frustrated. "…you dare harm my boyfriend?! Really?!" She began screaming out loud, getting angrier than I had ever seen her get before. "Why, you're just a great, big, meanie!" Immediately after, her voice got shockingly deeper as veins appeared at her neck. "There! I said it! What makes you think you're so special?! Like the rules of common courtesy don't apply to you?!" Her voice even proceeded to grow much deeper as she insanely began growing in size as well, leaving me to snap out of my daze and widen my eyes immensely along with my agape mouth. "Why don't you pick on somepony your own size?!" She roared out loud, leading the Mane-iac to begin working her machine in extreme panic. The laser struck Fluttershy, but it didn't affect her at all. Actually, she sent it straight back to the Mane-iac with another loud roar, sending her flying instead this time. She jumped onto the machine and began pounding it furiously, leaving me with unending widened eyes and an extremely dropped jaw. She literally went on a rampage, leaving the others in extreme shock.

With a piece of the machine still in her mouth, she noticed how speechless we were. She stopped, spat out the piece from her mouth, and tapped her hooves embarrassingly.

On the other hoof, we could hear the Mane-iac crying from across the factory. "My mane!" Her own mane grew and wrapped all around her, preventing and securing her from going anywhere. "My maaaaaane!" She nonetheless continued to cackle insanely.

With a smile, Spirit approached me with an outstretched hoof. "You've got a great girlfriend there." She giggled.

Despite what I had just witnessed of Fluttershy, I managed to shake my head and pull out a smile. "You know it…" I accepted her hoof as she pulled me up.

We regrouped with the others to see Spike proudly standing among them.

"Once again, the day is saved by—"

He was interrupted when we were all sucked out of the world.

The next place we found ourselves in a pile was fortunately back in Celestia's former room.

Every pony immediately began excitedly chattering about the amazing adventure they just had and how well they pulled it off.

"Did you see how I was raining down a storm of justice at the end there?!" Rainbow Dash recalled.

"You catch how I was wieldin' that lasso?" Applejack included.

"Cupcakes?" Pinkie Pie surprisingly revealed a plate of cupcakes to us.

"How did you—"

"Eh, we had a good half second before we got sucked back out of the comic, and the Maretropolis bakery was only sixty-five blocks away!" Pinkie answered Rarity, linking towards her former superpower.

"I'm just glad to be back." Spike walked over to the cushion on the floor and planted himself on it with no hesitation.

"We wouldn't have made it without you, Spike." Twilight mentioned and then faced me. "Along with you, Alex." She turned back to Spike. "And I hope you realize that just because we don't always need your help, it doesn't mean that we don't think you're helpful."

I faced Spike and motioned with my forelegs to show how right Twilight was.

"And that you don't have to have superpowers to be a super friend." Spike agreed, leading for the others agree along as well.

"But I do have one question. Where exactly did you get that comic book?" Twilight asked.

"This one I got in Canterlot at the House of Enchanted Comics." Spike explained, leading for the girls to exchange a look and send back a disgruntled one at Spike. "Well, I didn't know it meant they were literally enchanted!" The girls only shook their heads in talk as they began walking out the door of the room. "I thought it just meant, like, the comics they sold there had really enchanting storylines! Hey, wait up! I'm an important part of this team, remember?!" Spike called out, running after them.

I was about to walk after them as well, but then a presence in the room stopped me. I looked back to see Spirit smiling eagerly.

"See you tonight for ice cream."

I smiled as well and nodded. "Of course."

"Okay, everypony! That's a wrap for today!" Twilight announced in the center of the main hallway.

All of us gathered together to head out into the forest and back home.

Even though we were pretty much exhausted from the journey in the comic book, we had surprisingly managed to pull off some restoration before returning home.

"Hey…" Twilight walked towards my side. "I meant to ask you something…"

"Yeah?" I answered.

"That mare…" Twilight began, most likely referring to Spirit. "Did you…know her? I don't know why…but I'm starting to feel like she didn't just belong in the comic book. It feels much more than that… But the thing is…nopony else got sucked in along with us… I think… I don't know… It was just weird…"

"Yeah!" Spike popped out from riding on her back. "I get what she means, Alex. The ponies in the comic all seemed to stick to their own script…but her…GHOST…I don't know…she just popped out."

I didn't really get nervous, seeing how I honestly didn't understand exactly how she did what she did either. "To tell you the truth, I can't really explain it at all. I honestly don't really understand either. It's…really a mystery…"

"Hm…" Twilight only returned as we continued to walk back home through the forest.

After our goodnights, I decided to spend the night with Fluttershy, really feeling like I just wanted to.

"It was quite a surprise when you asked if you could sleep over…" Fluttershy mentioned as she readied the bed. "…not that I mind it, of course…"

I smiled warmly and responded to her. "I just felt like I wanted to. Maybe it was because how protective you were of me…" I recalled, reminding her of the shocking incident back at the comic world.

Fluttershy's face flushed with red and she had to look away in embarrassment. "Oh dear… I… I never knew I had it in me…"

I chuckled. "Just be glad you don't actually transform like that here."

Fluttershy couldn't help but giggle herself.

We then made ourselves comfortable in her warm bed and cuddled a little when we felt each other's bodies.

"Goodnight, Alex." She spoke softly.

"Goodnight, Fluttershy." I returned in the same manner, leading for the both of us to gently close our eyes.

Spirit and I sat together on the balcony once again, staring out into the sunset. I glanced over to her to see her naturally beaming.

"You sure are happy." I commented.

"Today…was just so much fun. Words can't describe it." She answered contently.

"So practically being in danger all the time is the most fun to you?" I half-joked.

"It gives me the most excitement." She gladly responded. "I'm not afraid of danger… At least…under one circumstance…"

"I suppose if I ask you what circumstance that is, you'll tell me it's a secret, right?" I threw out before I actually asked.

"Hehe…" She giggled. "You read my mind."

I exhaled a heavy breath and turned back to the sunset. "Oh boy…"

"Believe me, I don't like keeping secrets from you, but I have to." She confessed.

"Well…I wouldn't want to force something out of you anyway…" I mentioned and took another bite of my ice cream.

"You have to admit…at least for me…spending time together at the end of a day like this is really great. It's just like having our own summer vacation." She said.

"I wouldn't know…" I responded uncomfortably as I looked away.

"Hm?" She turned to me.

"I never really had a summer vacation like the one you're imagining. I've practically been homeschooled…usually on my own." I stared at my treat and paused for a moment. "It sucks…but what can you do? It can't be your fault if you've never really had a childhood you wanted."

"I know where you're getting at…" Spirit replied understandably. "Let's just say…I've never really had a life at all."

"What do you mean?" I asked, intrigued by her answer.

Spirit stood up and pointed at her flank. "Look right here, and you tell me what comes to mind."

My eyes widened lightly when I just barely realized she had no cutie mark… She…just had a blank flank.

"…you never got your cutie mark?"

Spirit sighed and sat back down. "It's a little more complicated than that…"

I turned back to face below us. "Sorry…" I apologized sincerely.

"It's fine." She excused. "The way I think of it…it's what you do now that matters. So what if we didn't have a childhood? We can still make up for it now. In fact, that's what we're doing now, right?" She expressed that last sentence with a bright grin and closed eyes.

"Yeah…" I agreed, nodding my head. "It's you all that makes up for everything that's happened before… And I shouldn't look back…" I took one last bite of the ice cream and hoofed the stick over to Spirit. She accepted it as she added it along with hers. "You want to play a game?" I asked, standing up near her.

"Really?" She asked in surprise. "What game?"

"I don't know…" I tapped a hoof on my chin. "How about…" I quickly poked Spirit and flew off. "Tag! You're it!"

"Hey!" She stood up, disappointed. "No fair. You know I can't fly."

"I guess I win this one then." I laughed in enjoyment.

Spirit couldn't help but laugh along as well. "You cheater."

I returned back to her as the two of us resumed our amusement for the rest of the sunset.

Bats!

Episode 72 – Bats!

My eyes were a little tired, but that didn't stop from finishing my special treat. Eyeing the perfectly sliced and separated apples on the plate, I carefully used my horn to drizzle some caramel over each slice. Ultimately, I let the flow of the caramel leak over to the middle of the plate. There, I placed a large juicy strawberry with some whipped cream.

I observed the meal from all sides to see its perfection, just as she deserved it. I heard something hop in, causing me to glance over to the lower part of the door. I saw Angel with his head held up high and curiously sniffing the air for what smelled so delicious. I picked up the plate and cautiously stepped over to the door to make sure nothing became unaligned and incorrect.

Angel hopped onto my back to get a closer look at what was on the plate. He continued to slowly inch his head towards the food as the aroma brought him closer and closer.

I moved the plate further away from him. "No, Angel. This is for your momma." As expected he furrowed his eyebrows angrily and crossed his front bunny legs. I sighed and picked up just one and gave it to him. "Fine. Here. But please leave Fluttershy and me to ourselves, okay?"

He didn't really return an answer. With his licked lips, he hopped off to begin nibbling on the slice with caramel.

I climbed up the stairs to see Fluttershy still safely asleep in bed. I placed the plate softly on her nightstand. In a matter of seconds, her nose was active as it lightly stretched back and forth. She tenderly opened her eyes to look around and eventually notice me.

"Oh. Good morning, Alex. What smells so yummy?" She asked while rubbing her eyes.

"I made you some breakfast." I responded, bringing the plate to her. "It's nothing special, but I thought you'd like it."

Fluttershy gazed over the meal and even licked her lips a bit as well. "It looks so…delicious. This is wonderful. I love it." She answered with a soft smile.

"Go on." I encouraged. "Take a bite."

She adorably brought one to her mouth and chewed it with closed eyes. "Mmm." She moaned happily. "Did you make all this from scratch?"

I shrugged embarrassingly. "I just kind of threw some things together. You know…I'm really creative…"

Fluttershy giggled softly. "Of course you are. Thank you, Alex. I love you."

With a warm smile, I answered. "I love you too."

Afterwards, we both leaned in for a sensual kiss.

Fluttershy enjoyed every last bit of what I made her. In fact, she literally cleaned her plate. However, I had used up the rest of the apples she had, so we decided to walk over to Sweet Apple Acres to refill our stock.

Fluttershy was delightfully rubbing her head against mine and holding herself close to me as if the weather was super chilly. I assumed she was very grateful for the meal I made her in the morning, and she was willing to return the favor.

"Is there anything you want to do today?" I asked.

"It doesn't matter." She answered, resting her head against me. "It's fine as long as we're together."

I looked out toward the skies. "It's a pretty great day outside. Maybe we can go swimming or something."

"That's a wonderful idea." She ended with a beam.

Suddenly, our delightful conversation was interrupted when we heard a loud bell ringing that directly came from Applejack's farm. We both looked at each other in surprise and then hurried off to the direction of the sound.

"Attention!" We heard Applejack announce loudly. "This is a Sweet Apple Acres code red! I need all hooves – and claws – on deck!"

When we trotted over to Applejack to see what the problem was, we also noticed the rest of the girls, including Spike join us, as if they were already nearby.

"Calm down, Applejack." Rarity steadily suggested to Applejack.

"Calm down?!" Applejack angrily exclaimed right in front of Rarity's face. "How can I calm down at a time like this?!"

"Applejack, what's going on?" I asked her, wanting to be informed of the issue.

"Vampire fruit bats are attackin' Sweet Apple Acres!" She explained, leaving me with a slightly puzzled face as I had not exactly heard of vampire fruit bats before.

"But I thought the fruit bats usually stayed put in the west orchard." Twilight brought up.

"The fruit bats do, but these aren't just your everyday ordinary fruit bats." Applejack clarified as she paced around uneasily. "They're vampire fruit bats! I'll be durned if they think they're gonna sink their fangs into my blue ribbon apple." She trotted over to something that was covered near a tree. What was obviously abnormal about it was that it was connected to the tree, and it was so heavy that it actually brought the tree leaning towards the ground. She revealed it to be a humongous bright and shiny red apple to all of us.

The girls expressed their awe for it while I only stared with astonishment.

"This here's our entry into the Appleloosa State Fair's produce competition." Applejack presented and then exhaled in front of it, allowing herself to wipe it after with her tail. "You know how much TLC goes into getting an apple to grow like this?"

"Applejack!" Rarity exclaimed in admiration, walking towards the apple and observing her reflection on it. "When you go big, you really go big!"

"Them vampire bats want to shrivel it up like a raisin!" Applejack returned while Rarity was too busy looking over her own beauty.

Fluttershy flew over to Applejack to offer her own thoughts on the situation. "Oh, I'm sure if we just let them know how special that particular apple is to you, they'll leave it alone."

"Yeah, right." Applejack responded skeptically. "Be my guest." She pointed over to the area they were supposed to be in.

Fluttershy grinned brightly and was about to move before I held her back.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" I asked concerningly.

"Oh, I'm sure they're really not that bad."

"Okay…" I stated before she gently flew off.

"Fluttershy is great with animals." Twilight assured with a smile. "She can probably get them to leave the orchard, just like she did with that dragon."

Applejack scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't exactly call them vermins animals."

"…so…are vampire fruit bats…really dangerous? Like to ponies?" I wondered fearfully with the thought of Fluttershy approaching them.

"They could be if they ruin my entire orchard. They can leave everypony in Ponyville without apples!" Applejack replied. Before I could elaborate more on what I meant by "dangerous". Fluttershy came back, shaking a few apple seeds off her mane. "Well?" She immediately questioned. "What'd they say?"

"Um... yes." She answered without a confident look.

Nonetheless, Applejack's faced beamed with happiness. "Huh?!"

"But... it could've been a no." Fluttershy added.

"Oh." Applejack's ears flopped down as she groaned with a lowered head in irritation.

"This is the first vampire fruit bat I've ever met and, well, it might take some time for me to really understand their language." Fluttershy softly and politely explained the reason.

"Uh-huh." Applejack answered unenthused and moved on into the problem. "And in the meantime, this pest and his vermin friends are gonna go after my prized apple!" She pointed defensively at her apple. "And while they're at it, every other apple in the orchard! These vampire bats are nothin' but a bunch of monsters!"

"Monsters?!" Fluttershy shockingly repeated in question. "Oh, that's a bit harsh, don't you think?"

"No, I do not." Applejack boldly expressed before they turned their attention towards the trees affected by the vampire bats.

"Those vampire bats will give you a fright

Eating apples both day and night" Applejack sang, expressing the horridness of the bats up front to both Twilight and Spike.

"They rest for a minute, maybe three

Then they're eatin' every apple in your apple tree" She once again pointed towards the literally sucked state of the trees.

"They don't care about nada," Applejack directly faced me. "…not zilch," She turned towards Rarity. "…no, nothin'" She ended with Pinkie.

"'Cept bringin' about an orchard's destruction"

"Now wait just a minute, there's another side to this" Fluttershy intervened, attempting to point the other side of the story.

"And if I did not defend them, then I would be remiss" She pointed out sadly.

"These bats are mamas and papas too

They care for their young just like we ponies do" She directed towards a group of vampire bats that actually didn't look all scary.

"Oh, give me a break, you're bein' too kind

These creatures have a one-track mind" Applejack determinedly returned.

"The orchard is not their restaurant

But do they ever think what others may want?

No! They don't! And that is just a fact

These bats, they simply don't know how to act!" She walked over to a couple of much terrifying looking vampire bats that were fighting over an apple. She tried to swipe it away from them, but only caused them to flee.

"That's where I have to disagree" Fluttershy resumed the lighter side of the story.

"They're loyal to their family

Spreading seeds both far and wide"

"You see one comin', you'd better run and hide!" Applejack suddenly cut off, greatly appealing to fear as she held a cover to represent the vampire bat.

"They're big and ugly and mean as sin

Will ya look at the state my trees are in?" She revealed the reality of the orchard.

"They help your trees, they'll grow stronger faster!" Fluttershy continued to attempt to convince.

"They've turned my life to a total disaster!" Applejack completely disregarded Fluttershy's persuasive statement.

"Well, I for one don't have a doubt

These vermin must be stamped right out" Rarity revealed her opinion on the matter.

"I second that, they've got to go

These bats, they've got to hit the road" Rainbow Dash joined in with Rarity.

"It comes down to just one simple fact" Applejack walked towards Fluttershy, decisive on being completely rid of the bats.

"They've crossed the line, it's time to fight them back!"

Now, everypony began circling around Fluttershy, chanting their arguments to change Fluttershy's opinion.

"Stop the bats! Stop the bats!

Make them go and not come back!

Stop the bats! Stop the bats!

Make them go and not come back!

Stop the bats! Stop the—"

"Wait!" I jumped in, standing in front of Fluttershy. "Stop this! You're scaring Fluttershy! …and me too a little…" I could feel Fluttershy shaking behind me a bit.

"I'm sorry," Rarity apologized. "…but I believe Applejack has made the better argument. These vampire fruit bats sound downright dreadful."

"So let's get to roundin' them up so they don't destroy the rest of my orchard." Applejack announced, beginning to step in further towards her field of trees.

"Fruit bat round-up, fruit bat round-up!" Pinkie Pie sung a familiar tune as she bounced after Applejack.

"Um, excuse me, but, um, what if instead of rounding them up, we... let them have part of the orchard?" Fluttershy hopefully tried to convince once more as the rest of the girls had begun leaving with Applejack.

Applejack stopped in her tracks, released a whinny, and quickly turned around. "Have you lost your pest-lovin' mind?!"

"They're only here because they're hungry!" Fluttershy poked out from behind me. "If we build a sanctuary for them, they could have their own apples to enjoy! After a while, they could even help the rest of your orchard! The vampire bats don't eat the seeds of the apples, and when they spit them out, they grow into even more productive apple trees!" Fluttershy walked and presented one nearby that stood proudly.

"Listen, Fluttershy." Applejack began responding, using more of a sensitive and soft tone this time. "That sounds real nice 'n all, but every second we spend buildin' this so-called 'sanctuary' is a second they'll spend destroyin' orchards! You don't know what it was like the last time there was an infestation! But Granny Smith has told me enough stories about it that just the thought of it gives me nightmares!" Applejack placed her hooves on the gate by her and looked worriedly out towards the orchard. "Granny says we lost a huge section of orchard one year when she was a filly. They had to ration out apples all winter!"

"What about the cider? There was still cider, right?" Rainbow Dash inquired about worriedly.

"Not. A. Drop." Applejack emphasized greatly.

"No cider?! No cider?!" Rainbow Dash switched over to Fluttershy as if she was seeing the end of Equestria in her eyes. "We need to round up these monsters, and we need to do it now!"

"If Granny Smith wasn't with Apple Bloom an' Big Mac checkin' out our produce competition in Appleloosa, she'd be here tellin' us to do just that!" Applejack asserted while Fluttershy looked away sadly.

"I'm sorry, Fluttershy, but I think Applejack is right." Twilight approached Fluttershy sympathetically. "I just wish there was another way we could convince them not to eat them in the first place..." Twilight thought to herself for a moment before coming out with a possible answer. "Maybe there is!"

Twilight led us back to her library, where she skimmed through her books and stopped at a particular one. She laid it out on the floor and faced us. "So, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that I found a spell that can get the vampire fruit bats to stop wanting to suck the juice from the apples." She analyzed a particular page in the book while holding it up with her magic. "But in order for the spell to work, I need the bats' full and complete attention." Twilight advised, directing the job to be done by Fluttershy.

Fluttershy widened her eyes and looked away, gasping. "Oh no."

"Fluttershy, I need you to do your Stare on the bats." Twilight called for.

"Oh, gosh, I don't know." Fluttershy shook her head uneasily.

"What's the problem?" Rainbow Dash raced over to Fluttershy. "You've used the Stare plenty of times before!"

"But Fluttershy only uses it in reasonable emergencies!" I intervened, feeling Fluttershy being overwhelmed and pressured with all this talk at her.

"This emergency is plenty reasonable to me!" Applejack returned, clearly defensive of her farm.

"Me too!" Rainbow joined, dramatizing the situation. She really became Rarity when it came to cider. "Think of the cider! Won't somepony please think of the cider?!"

Before I could explain how the cider might have been a good luxury to have, but it wasn't necessary to live, Fluttershy placed a hoof on my chest to stand up for herself. "I'm sorry. I just don't like the idea of taking away the thing that really makes the vampire fruit bats…" She paused quickly to inhale. "…vampire fruit bats! It just feels wrong!" She expressed dearly, only receiving a discounting look from Applejack.

"But if we don't do this, there won't be any apples left for anypony here in Ponyville." Twilight actually brought up reasonably. "Doesn't that feel wrong, too?"

Everypony looked at Fluttershy for her answer. Her nerves shook terribly as she stared back at everyone with an indecisive mind.

"I…I need some time to think about this…!" She rushed out the door, leaving me behind.

"What about you, Alex?" Twilight asked me. "Are you with us?"

"You have to be!" Applejack approached me. "You can't let yourself in Fluttershy's side because she's your girlfriend! You can't just turn away from the fact that my orchard is being sucked dry as we speak! We know Fluttershy cares an awful lot about animals, even if they're downright evil, and that's what's stopping her!"

Twilight sighed and talked to me more calmly. "I hate to admit it, but she's right, Alex. I know you really care about Fluttershy, but you can't let your relationship affect your decision with this."

"Ugh!" I turned away and growled. "Just stop this!" I squeezed my eyes shut and looked away. "I-I can see both your points. Yes, the bats are sucking all the apples dry, and…I… I think we need to stop them too…but… Isn't there a way to work together on this?"

"Alex." Applejack walked over to me. "Those vampire fruit bats have probably already sucked out half my orchard already. "We could probably come up with something if they didn't suck out all the apples so fast, but we honestly have no time to try to please Fluttershy. We need to do this for Ponyville. Those vampire fruit bats can get their fillings elsewhere."

I couldn't exactly argue, as I had no prior knowledge of vampire fruit bats at all.

"It comes down to just one simple fact…" Applejack sang, referring to the continuation of her argument before. "They've crossed the line, it's time to fight them back!"

All of the girls joined in except Twilight.

"Talk to her! Talk to her!

Make her see that they can't be!"

They began placing the pressure on me to convince Fluttershy to stand down on her side of the argument.

"Talk to her! Talk to her!

Make her see that they can't be!

Talk to her! Talk to her!

Make her see that they can't be!"

"Yes, it comes down to just one simple fact" Applejack emphasized.

"They've crossed the line, it's time that we attack!" Those who joined nodded their heads in unison.

I stomped my hooves on the floor, fed up with all this. "You all are crazy!" I spoke out of anger and ran out the door.

With a grumpy look on my face, I walked outside in Ponyville. I assumed Fluttershy left to her cottage to think things through, so I decided to head that direction. I knew that the vampire bats weren't exactly helping the orchards, well at least not in the moment, but the girls were going way too far. They made good points on stopping them…but…Fluttershy just can't be ignored…

All these thoughts were giving me a headache.

"Why, where are you off to in such a foul mood?" I heard, leading me to turn back to see a friend facing back at me. It was Octavia. She was carrying a paper cup with a heat sealing lid on top with her hoof.

I sighed, honestly feeling no intention to talk to her, even though I most likely would have wanted to had I not been upset. "Sorry, Octavia. I can't talk right now. I've got somewhere to be."

She began walking towards me. "Surely you could use some easing. I can tell you're tense." She offered me the drink she had been holding. I only stared at it. "It's some warm green tea. It should calm you down a bit."

"…thanks." I expressed and grabbed the cup. I could feel the heat coming from inside and decided to take a drink out of it. The taste took a small amount of time to get used to, but nonetheless, it was pretty sweet.

"Better?" She asked.

"I guess." I admitted, feeling some of my anger fade away. I returned the cup.

"I was on my way to Vinyl's, but you look like you could use some help." She informed.

"Thanks…but…" I looked away. "It's not really a problem you should get involved with."

"May I at least share a few words of encouragement?" She offered, taking a sip of the tea herself.

I couldn't help but find how funny it was that she seemed so cool and calm. "Wow, you look rather collected unlike last time." I manage to smirk due to this.

Not wanting to overreact, she turned away with closed eyes and an embarrassed blush. "Do you want my help or not?"

I sighed and turned away. "I'm just dealing with a dilemma right now."

"Could you be more specific?" Octavia requested, bringing herself closer.

I only really wanted to keep the outline of the problem open to her, rather than the problem itself. "You could say…a situation where I have to make two choices. And…well…those two choices each have something that I don't like."

"Why don't you take the time for another possibility? Surely those two choices can't be the only choices you have to make."

"Apparently there's no time to do that…and it's actually kind of true…"

"Hm…" Octavia rubbed her hoof against her chin. "Believe me, I've taken many risks myself…but…I believe…as long as you do what you think is absolutely best, you should come out alright."

"Hm." I managed to form a small smile. "Yeah… Thanks, Octavia…" I turned my head towards her. "My problem still may exist…but at least you managed to calm me down."

"Sorry I couldn't be much help." Octavia shrugged a bit as she apologized.

"Every bit counts." I mentioned. "I'll see you later, Octavia." I excused myself before I began trotting towards Fluttershy's.

When I reached her cottage, I knocked a bit and called her name. When nopony answered, I walked inside and closed the door behind me. I looked around the living room and noticed her sulking on the couch. She didn't look gloomy. She was more frustrated about the fact of having to choose between saving the farm or taking away the freedom of vampire fruit bats being vampire fruit bats.

I slowly approached her as she stared quietly at the floor.

"Hey…" I announced.

She glanced over to me and then lowered her ears.

"I don't know what to do…" She stated quietly and then faced away, resting her head on the hoofrest on the couch.

I took a seat by her on the couch and placed a hoof on her.

"I know it's hard…especially when you stand for the animals…but as much as you don't like it, you might have to go on ahead with the plan." She returned silence. "Trust me, I don't like it either, and I wish we could come up with something better to do, but…" I shrugged. "I don't know. They can spit out seeds that will have the trees grow stronger and faster, but everypony might starve if they take out the entire orchard. We will still have to wait for those spat out seeds to grow."

"…but…what about giving them a part of the orchard to stay in…?" She questioned softly.

I placed a hoof on my forehead and squinted my eyes. "I really don't know. I don't know how they work. I mean…it sounds like a good idea…but the others don't think so and I know nothing about how to do that and…" I sighed. "I'm sorry, Fluttershy. I wish I could be of more help to you."

"It's okay…" She slowly raised her head. "…I understand…"

In hopes to cheer her up, I thought of something we could do afterwards. "Hey. Maybe after Twilight uses her spell, we can work something out for the better, and then she can reverse the spell? I mean…they've had to have enough to eat already. I don't think they're going to live their life completely without being themselves."

"…okay…" She still felt uncertain, but she turned towards me and rested her head on me.

I comforted her for moments longer until she seemed ready to do her part.

When it was time, we headed over to Sweet Apple Acres where we saw all of the girls already waiting for us. I couldn't help but feel bad as I saw Fluttershy sulk along gloomily the whole way through.

"So what's it gonna be, Fluttershy? Will you do your Stare on the bats or not?" Applejack asked, surprisingly not as kind as she normally would be.

Proving she still held uncertainty and hesitation, she took a moment to respond. "Um... Um... Okay, I'll do it." She gave up.

"Good choice. I knew you wouldn't side with those icky bats!" Rarity praised and then whimpered at the thought of the bats.

"They're not icky." Fluttershy replied in soft anger, looking away.

"First round of cider's on me!" Rainbow announced loudly, getting ahead of herself.

"Hold it right there!" Applejack halted. "We've gotta round up these beasts with wings first. Time's a-wastin'!"

In order to gather them together, Pinkie Pie went out free-spiritedly with a mountain of apples wrapped on her head. Rarity, on the other hoof, took the extreme measures to wear a hazmat suit for these bats. I don't actually blame her, I didn't really want to get near them either. With determination to make sure she'd be receiving her cider, Rainbow rather flew up to every one of them and grabbed ahold of them with her hoof.

In the end, Pinkie Pie led them to the tree that was being served as bait. Seeming to be having a lot of fun, she giggled out loud, throwing the apples she carried to the floor for the bats. Rarity came in screaming with a few bats behind her, but they quickly changed their attention towards the tree. Twilight and Fluttershy placed several buckets on the trees for the bats that Rainbow carried. They all began filling their hunger with the apples on the tree. One of them tried to get out, but Rainbow pointed him back to his place.

"Good work, everypony!" Applejack praised out loud. "I think we got 'em all!" She turned to Fluttershy. "Now all we need is for you do to your Stare."

"Oh, um, are you sure I really need—" The others stopped her when they nodded their heads in answer. "Okay." She walked over to the tree and flew in front of them, facing the bats. "I really, really, really hate to do this to you... I just hope you can forgive me..." She closed her eyes for a quiet moment and then suddenly released out a focused and unintentionally scolding stare. All of the bats hissed at this, but they were quick to retract that reaction and only stare back blankly at Fluttershy in silence.

"Good..." Applejack nodded and then turned to Twilight. "Now you go, Twilight!"

"Alright." She walked over to the tree and then began working her magic. Several seconds took place as the magic aura surrounded the bats. The reflection of the magic's light appeared in Fluttershy's eyes as she refrained from blinking without any issue. Once Twilight was done, she turned over to Fluttershy who continued to stare. "You can stop staring, Fluttershy." Fluttershy's eyes twitched with struggle until she closed them and finally allowed herself to take over.

"Did it work?" Spike asked.

"Only one way to find out for sure." Applejack returned and then nodded in Rainbow's direction.

Rainbow Dash accepted the signal and then offered a recovering bat an apple. The vampire bat took a sniff out of the apple and quickly declined it, flying away.

"Ye-he-heah, whoo!" Rainbow cheered.

"My crop is saved! Yee-haw!" Applejack joined in, waving her hooves in the air.

"We'll be drinking cider all winter long!" Rainbow added loudly.

"I wanna thank you for your help. I couldn't have done it without you." Applejack expressed, mainly directing towards Fluttershy for her Stare.

"Aw, don't mention it, Applejack. It was my pleasure! Really!" Spike apparently received the wrong message as we walked away.

"Now all we gotta do is sweep up these cores so I can start buckin' fresh tomorrow mornin'!" Applejack disregarded and then pointed towards the sucked apples on the ground. They began walking back to the barn.

I kept a worried eye on Fluttershy. She looked around in silence and sniffed the air. She turned and looked towards an apple that wasn't affected by the vampire bats.

"Hey…are you alright?" I asked, placing a concerned hoof on her.

"Mmm." She groaned and placed a hoof to her forehead. "My head hurts a little."

"I can't blame you." I spoke understandingly. "You've had so much to do today. You must be stressed out, especially after doing your Stare. Come on. I'll take you home." I offered and then began walking her out of the orchards.

Applejack managed to understand about Fluttershy's condition. I assumed she was just happy to have the vampire bats out of her hooves. I was more concerned about Fluttershy, as she didn't look so good. I took her straight home to her cottage and helped tucked her into bed.

"Thank you…" Fluttershy expressed a little tiredly. "…will you please stay with me?"

"Yeah, of course." I answered. I placed a hoof to her forehead to feel she was a little warm, but fortunately it wasn't hot. "Just get some rest now. I'll stay the night with you."

"Okay…" She understood and then closed her eyes.

I had allowed myself to soon doze off and fall asleep by her bed.

I woke in the middle of the night to find that Fluttershy was missing, as the lump on her bed was gone. I looked around to try to find her, but I didn't see her anywhere. I walked downstairs, continuing to turn at every side.

"Fluttershy?" I called, wondering greatly where she went. I didn't find her in the living room, nor in the kitchen. I headed towards the front door to see if she went outside. Just as I opened the door, I was startled to see Fluttershy standing there and facing me almost emotionless. "Fluttershy!" I called out in shock. "You had me worried. Are you okay?"

She didn't answer. She only looked at me for a moment and then headed towards the stairs to her bedroom. I followed her and saw her climb onto her bed, pull the covers over her, and remain silent for the rest of the night. I didn't know what that was all about, but besides the weird looks and silence, she seemed fine…

Nonetheless, I decided to join her in bed. I placed myself by her. I closed my eyes to receive an unexpected embrace from behind by Fluttershy. Without a word, she held me close by. Hm. Despite that, I managed to fall asleep anyway.

When I woke up the next morning, I could feel Fluttershy's presence near me. I carefully and slowly turned around to see her resting by me peacefully.

Last night was weird. She had this kind of face as if she was some silent stranger, but viewing her face now as she slept, it was her usual self. It was almost as if she was…sleep walking…

I heard some soft mumbling coming from Fluttershy. I looked over to her to see her beginning to wake up. When she gently fluttered her eyes open, the first thing she saw was me.

She released a small groan. "Good morning, Alex."

"Good morning…" I returned, growing a little concerned. "…what was up with last night?"

"Last night?" She questioned about, becoming a little puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"Last night…" I reminded. "I don't really know what you did, but when I woke up, you weren't in bed. Just when I was about to look outside for you, you were right there in the doorway. You were speechless, and even a little emotionless. You didn't say anything but only walked back upstairs and climbed into bed."

"…I…did…?" She responded as if didn't remember the act at all.

"Yeah… Don't you remember?" I asked.

"N…no…" Fluttershy looked downwards in surprising thought. "I don't."

"You think you may have been sleepwalking?"

"I don't think so…" Fluttershy shook her head. "I don't think I've ever sleepwalked before… I mean…you've never seen me do that until now, right?"

"Yeah… Hm…" I thought until there was a loud knocking on the front door.

Fluttershy and I removed ourselves from bed to see what it was. Fluttershy opened the door to realize it was Applejack.

"Fluttershy." Applejack announced and then noticed me by Fluttershy as well. "Alex. We need y'all at the farm right now. Our work isn't done yet."

Fluttershy and I exchanged a look with each other questionably.

We both followed Applejack back to Sweet Apple Acres, where we confronted the others staring at rotten apples on the ground. Twilight was analyzing one of them closely.

"The spell didn't work!" She exclaimed in surprise.

"You're darn tootin' the spell didn't work!" Applejack shot back, angry that she was going to have to deal with this for another day. "I think we're gonna have to take more extreme measures!"

"I hear ya, Applejack! C'mon, everypony! Let's track down those vampire bats!" Rainbow Dash led the group, taking us back where the vampire fruit bats resided.

However, everything seemed the way it should have been after Twilight performed her spell. The bats were looking around with no intention of sucking an apple dry. In fact, they were doing anything but the like. Rainbow Dash flew over to one of them that was apparently reading something and offered an apple. The bat merely slapped it away, uninterested in the fruit.

It landed on and through Rarity's horn, having her remove it with her magic with slight disgust.

"Wait a minute..." Applejack paused to think. "I don't think these bats are the ones that sucked my apples dry."

"But if the vampire bats aren't eating your apples..." Rarity questionably brought.

"Who is?" Twilight ended in question and then walked over to Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, you're our animal expert. Do you know of any other creature that might be capable of this?"

"I'm sorry." Fluttershy apologized and looked away, completely clueless of the scene. "I don't."

"Well, there's only one way to find out. We'll have to catch whoever it is in the act." Twilight suggested.

"And how do you propose we do that?" Rarity inquired.

"A stakeout!" Twilight grinned, confident that her idea would reveal the cause of the continued mishap. "Everypony, let's meet back here when night falls. Then, we'll find the culprit and put an end to this mystery."

Everypony agreed except Fluttershy and me.

We didn't go against it. We just weren't as following and motivated with it as the others were. For some reason, with this problem, we just felt a little distant from the others…

I sighed and turned away to speak under my breath. "I just hope this madness ends soon enough…"

As Fluttershy and I almost reluctantly joined the girls for their night search, I honestly wanted to get to the bottom of this and be over with it already. I don't know why, but all this nonsense about the bats didn't feel right. I was somewhat feeling that we were handling this separately instead of closely like we usually did. It just bothered me a lot.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Fluttershy asked me worriedly as we walked inside Sweet Apple Acres on a windy night.

I sighed. "I haven't been feeling myself ever since this bat nonsense started." I looked out, wanting the feeling to go away. "I just want to be done with this."

"I know how you feel…" Fluttershy worriedly looked downwards. "I don't like it either…"

"The witching hour..." Rainbow Dash suddenly creepily voiced among us.

I didn't know that Sweet Apple Acres would almost be as frightening as walking through the Everfree Forest at night.

I wasn't sure if fear had taken over Fluttershy, or if she was more concerned about how I felt. "Maybe we should just call this off." She suggested. "Not sure about the rest of you guys, but I'm…" She turned her head towards the side and unexpectedly sounded entranced by something. "…really hungry..." Her mouth became agape, and she allowed her saliva to leak and drop out freely.

I gently caressed her head and turned her head towards me, fearing that she might have been receiving stress again. She seemed to come to her senses when she saw me.

"Oh, Fluttershy, it'll be okay." Rarity assured. "Don't forget, darling, we're all in this together."

Hm. Doesn't seem like it for the entire issue we've been dealing with…

"That's right. Nopony leaves this orchard until we've solved this mystery." Twilight included, sounding like one of us was actually the culprit. "Agreed?"

"Agreed!" Every other pony agreed, draining out the silence that Fluttershy and I returned.

"Does everypony have their pony signals?" Applejack asked, receiving a nod from both Twilight and Rarity as they used their magic to form a signal towards the sky. Pinkie Pie received a flashlight and carried it with her mane. "Now remember, Pinkie Pie, only use the signal if you see somethin' suspicious."

"I got it!" She answered, shining the light directly at Applejack and caused her to become shortly dazed. "Something suspicious..."

I felt Fluttershy by my side stop, leading me to turn around to see her. She was by a tree, delightfully sniffing an apple that hung on the branch.

"Don't worry, Fluttershy." I assured, walking towards her. "We'll be out of here soon enough. I'll get you something to eat."

A light suddenly appeared on Fluttershy's face, catching her attention.

"Whatcha doin'?!" Pinkie Pie screamed out loud, alarming Fluttershy. Fluttershy looked at the apple and then back at Pinkie Pie. She resumed walking, looking back at Pinkie Pie fearfully while Pinkie followed closely in a suspicious manner.

I walked along in a puzzled manner.

"Alright, now everypony split up." Applejack announced. "We'll each patrol our own row of the orchard. Whoever or whatever's destroyin' my apples has gotta be here somewhere." She released while the others began to separate into their own row.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Fluttershy worriedly told me as we walked inside. I could tell she really just wanted to head home. "A really bad feeling about this..."

"Don't worry." I assured. "I won't leave your side." I looked around the trees for anything "suspicious". "Let's just try to find what we're looking for as soon as possible and we can go back ho—" When I turned to face Fluttershy, she wasn't there anymore. She just vanished. "Fluttershy?" I called, quickly turning around in a hurried search for her. "Fluttershy!" I called out once again, almost feeling the need to panic as there was no way she could have left me on her own.

Now, I was terrified. It wasn't the creepy atmosphere that struck me. It was the thought of what could have happened to Fluttershy from her disappearance. I hurriedly trotted everywhere with no intention of looking for the cause of the rotten apples, but only for Fluttershy. In my search, I heard sounds of another pair of hooves. Hoping it was Fluttershy, I trotted through the maze of the trees to enter another clear path beyond.

After hearing a sharp gasp, I stumbled upon Twilight, who was startled at the moment of seeing me.

"Oh, gosh." She expressed, recovering from her short scare. "You scared me, Alex."

"Twilight." I anxiously walked to her. "Have you seen, Fluttershy?"

"No, why?"

"She was with me just a minute ago. I turned away for a few seconds and she just vanished!" I explained.

Twilight was confused at my explanation. "…how…?" She was interrupted when we saw Applejack's signal up ahead. We ended our conversation to hurry over to Applejack to see what she found. "Applejack, what is it?"

Applejack didn't answer, as she only remained staring in shock with a fallen jaw at something that was making loud slurping sounds. A sucked apple hit Twilight in the head, later falling towards the floor. We both turned towards the tree where it came from, where Pinkie Pie appeared. She was hanging on the branch and shined the light brightly on the culprit.

"Suspicious!"

From what I could see, this creature looked like a bat…but…a much larger bat than any other vampire fruit bat. No…what bothered me even more about it was how familiar it looked. Hearing Pinkie Pie's loud voice, the creature removed its sharp wings and hissed loudly at Pinkie. At this moment, I was severely stunned. Through her reddened eyes and sharp fangs, I could absolutely tell it was my dear Fluttershy.

The others finally joined us after seeing Applejack's signal as well. However, after hissing loudly, Fluttershy didn't seem to be hostile. She didn't attack Pinkie, but only another juicy apple in front of her.

"Fluttershy?" Pinkie questioned in surprise. "Yoo-hoo! Fluttershy!"

After returning immense and serious silence, she hissed loudly at Pinkie Pie, causing her to lose her grip and fall back towards the floor.

"That's not Fluttershy... That's Flutterbat!" Rarity corrected.

"We've gotta get her down from there!" Twilight recommended, growing worried about the situation as well.

"Uh... Fluttershy, sweetness, please come down, and... do stop being a vampire bat." Rarity offered. Of course, it wasn't that easy.

Fluttershy hissed loudly once again and retrieved another apple to slurp, suck on, and spit back out.

"Fluttershy! It's me, Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow flew up towards her, shouting directly in her ear. "Why don't you cut the bat act and come on down?!"

Hissing angrily, Fluttershy threw Rainbow Dash out of flight, flapping her own batty wings at her.

"Maybe we should just let her come down when she's ready…" Rainbow Dash suggested after being knocked back by her.

Fluttershy began flying swiftly around us, causing the other girls to duck down and cover themselves from her.

"Flutterbat on the loose!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed out loud. "Run for your lives!" She began digging quickly against the ground.

"Pinkie Pie, calm down!" Twilight tended to Pinkie and then turned towards the branch Fluttershy was on. "See? She's back on her... branch."

"She's just biding her time! Waiting for the right moment to pounce!" Pinkie Pie fearfully responded.

"Pinkie Pie, bats don't eat ponies. Not even vampire bats." Applejack pointed out.

"But maybe vampire ponies eat other ponies!" Pinkie remained in the hole she dug. "I'm not taking any chances!" Using her mane as a drill, she escaped by digging underground.

"How did this happen? That's what I don't understand." Rarity requested.

"I think this was actually our fault." Twilight believed.

"Our fault?" Rainbow Dash questioned surprisingly.

"And how'd you figure that?" Applejack inquired.

Using her magic, Twilight formed an electronic grid before us. She presented herself on the top left of the grid. "Okay, so this is me…" She formed the bats on the bottom center. "…these are the bats…" She finally depicted Fluttershy on the top right. "…and this is Fluttershy doing her Stare. The spell was supposed to go right onto the bats like this, but somehow the spell must have backfired. It took the vampire fruit bats' desire to be vampire fruit bats and transferred that desire into Fluttershy. C'mon! We'll reverse the spell and make it right!"

Appearing from within the ground, Pinkie Pie popped out. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's save Fluttershy before that thing eats us all!"

"Ugh!" I groaned out loud, feeling upset. "This wouldn't have happened if nopony pressured Fluttershy into doing something she didn't want to! We could've just—"

"Hit the deck!" Rainbow Dash suddenly cried out before I grunted and felt myself grabbed ahold of.

I could see myself soaring high above the ground with no idea what was going on. Soon enough, I was softly placed back on the ground, leaving me to quickly turn and see Fluttershy staring wordlessly at me.

I was silent as well until I decided to gently pick up my hoof and move it towards her. "…Fluttershy…?" However, she startled me when she suddenly shot out her tongue and brought back an apple from behind me. She stuck her fangs into the apple, but she didn't suck it out immediately this time. She only remained staring at me, as if she was waiting for me to do something. However, I only stared back, having no idea of what it is she wanted.

She then nudged the apple closer to me, mostly at my mouth. It was then when I guessed that she wanted me to take a bite of the apple. I only stared hesitantly at it. When Fluttershy saw that I wouldn't take the apple so easily, she dropped it in front of my hooves, which they quickly caught.

I stared at the apple and then lifted my eyes back at Fluttershy. She continued to stare at me. Even though she was heavily silent, I could…actually…kind of see her kindness in her eyes…which was only presented to me. She moved quietly closer to me. I only sat there motionless, unsure of what I should do. She then presented her fangs when she was only inches away from me. She slowly opened her mouth until a noise around us startled her.

We turned to see the girls had caught up and were carefully looking at us. Fluttershy hissed angrily and wrapped her forelegs around me to carry me off somewhere else, most likely where the two of us…could be alone…

Once she felt the two of us were safe, she landed once again.

She sat down and resumed her staring at me.

I sat down in front of her and decided to speak to her this time.

"Fluttershy…you…you know it's me…right…?" I asked.

Of course, she didn't return anything.

I lifted my hoof and gently grabbed hers. She only stared at my action and retained the same face. I continued to stare at her sympathetically, seeing if I could probably change her back with emotion somehow. However, she suddenly lunged at me with her mouth. To my surprise, she kissed me fervently and allowed her fangs to lightly poke me.

When she pulled away, I wasn't sure what to make of this. Did she really still see me…like she did before? However, her expression hadn't really changed. She continued eyeing me and then began moving closer to me, but not towards my mouth. She opened her mouth and allowed her fangs to reveal themselves more. Softly, she inched towards the side of my neck and aimed her fangs there.

I didn't know what she was doing. She…didn't look like she wanted to hurt me…

Nonetheless, just as she was about to tenderly bite down, she stopped and began sniffing the air. She retracted from her action and then looked out to get a better sense of what she was smelling. She didn't grab me this time. She stood up and began flying towards the source of the smell. With nothing really else to do, I spread my wings and flew after her.

When I was close enough to smell it for myself, I could tell it was an apple, but not any ordinary apple. The smell was overwhelming in intriguing aroma. I was actually able to see it for myself and find that it was that humongous apple Applejack had been protecting dearly. Fluttershy hissed, heading straight towards it.

Right before she could sink her teeth in it, Applejack kicked the apple out of the way, revealing a mirror that was directly behind it. Fluttershy immediately stopped in her tracks and stared at the mirror. She quickly turned and flew away, covering her eyes from the sight of her reflect. However, as soon as she opened her eyes, she was greeted with another reflection of her in the mirror Pinkie Pie was holding up. Fluttershy turned away and shook her head vigorously, attempting to flee away in flight. Lastly, she stumbled upon Rarity, who was yet holding up another mirror with her magic.

This time, Fluttershy couldn't escape her reflection. I didn't exactly know why viewing herself had her stop and stare. Nonetheless, this gave Twilight time to step up and work her magic to cast the reverse spell on Fluttershy. The magic enveloped her and kept her hidden inside like a cocoon.

As soon as she was visible, I could finally see that she returned back to normal. I quickly landed on the ground beneath her and caught her, preventing her from hitting the ground. I laid her on the ground, but kept my hooves on her caringly. I waited until she began slowly opening her eyes. Her eyes were staring at me, and then she looked around a little confusingly.

"Oh... where am I?" She asked a little weakly.

The girls only answered with loud cheers while I smiled in relief at her.

"Thank goodness you're okay!" Applejack expressed as the girls approached us.

"But... what happened to me?" Fluttershy questioned, completely clueless of what just happened.

"You turned into a vampire pony!" Pinkie Pie answered, jumping in front of Applejack.

Fluttershy gasped. "I tried to eat ponies?!"

"Of course not!" Pinkie returned, rolling her eyes backwards.

"So I wasn't a vampire?"

"Yes!"

"Yes I was, or yes I wasn't?"

"Yes, you were!"

"But I didn't try and eat ponies?"

"Yes!"

"I did?!"

"No!"

"I'm confused..." Fluttershy gave up, lowering her head and ears downwards.

"Me too... and I was there!" Rarity shared, recalling the past events that were downright…unexplainable.

"It doesn't matter." I spoke, shaking my head. "I'm just glad that you're okay and back to the way you are." I nuzzled my muzzle with hers. "Come on. We need to take you back home. It's been one heck of a night."

All of us gathered in the living room of Fluttershy's cottage while Spike wrote inside of a journal.

"Fluttershy, I'm real sorry." Applejack apologized to Fluttershy, who was resting on the couch. "I should have taken your suggestion instead, and we could have probably avoided all this mess. I shouldn't have pressured the both of you to do something you weren't really comfortable with." Applejack directed at Fluttershy and me. "I guess I learned my lesson. If I would have just left an orchard for them like you told me to, I'd probably could have still had my big Appleloosa apple intact." She chuckled a little, but still held a saddened look. "Starting tomorrow morning, I'll get that reserved orchard going." She assured.

"Don't forget." Fluttershy reminded. "You'll get seeds that will grow into even bigger and better apple trees."

"Does that mean what I think it means?" Rainbow asked, providing a grin that was holding back a lot of excitement.

"Yup! More cider too." Applejack clarified.

"Yea-he-heah, whoo!" Rainbow Dash performed several somersaults in the air, expressing her anticipation for the news.

"Okay, got the part about the spell, Fluttershy turning into a bat, plans to build a sanctuary..." Spike mentioned, referring to what he was writing about.

"Be sure to put in there that I came to see that my short-term solution was a little short-sighted." Applejack included.

"And that you shouldn't let anypony pressure you into doing something that you don't think is right." Fluttershy added, having Spike glance over to Applejack who only blushed at the statement in embarrassment. "Sometimes you have to tell even your closest friends 'no'."

Every one of the girls nodded their heads in agreement, even me.

"Now how about we celebrate our stronger than ever friendship with a nice, ripe, juicy apple?" Applejack suggested, holding an apple in front of Fluttershy.

"Stand back!" Pinkie Pie suddenly exclaimed, appearing between them. Applejack accidentally released the apple from her grip and had it drop to the floor. Holding a pair of fangs in her mouth, Pinkie Pie eyed the apple playfully. "I vant to suck its juuuice!" She expressed with a fake accent and attempted to take a bite of it. However, her fangs became stuck inside, having the others sound out in laughter in unison.

After the others left, Fluttershy and I began getting ready for bed, since I decided to stay one more night. I especially wanted to make sure she didn't have another episode like the night before. Lying on her bed in her bedroom, Fluttershy wanted me to tell her what happened when she was the batpony everypony was making a fuss about.

"Well…you certainly didn't eat anypony." I laughed a little at that thought. "You were only feeding on the apples, just like the vampire fruit bats. You were really silent and serious. You didn't even talk. Then…you kind of kidnapped me. But a strange thing happened… You kind of treated me…like…you normally would… Like if I was still your special somepony or in that case somebat. Of course…you still didn't speak or smile or anything…" I shrugged as I stared at the ceiling. "It was kind of weird."

"Oh…" Fluttershy looked downwards and blushed. "I just hope I didn't hurt you or anything…"

"Don't worry. You didn't." I placed a hoof to my chin in thought. "The closest you got was to biting me…I think."

"Biting you?" Fluttershy questioned. "…you mean…like this?" She stretched her mouth over to my neck and nibbled a bit.

"H-hey…" I blushed in embarrassment. Fluttershy pulled away and began giggling at her move.

I chuckled a little too until I looked out the window. "I guess we better get some shuteye."

Fluttershy nodded. "I'm pretty tired after everything that happened."

I agreed. "You definitely should get some rest. See you in the morning."

"Mm-hm. Goodnight, Alex."

"Goodnight, Fluttershy."

We kissed each other one last time, and made ourselves comfortable under the covers. Recalling the events that occurred earlier a few times, I finally fell asleep to prepare for the next day.

Spirit and I remained quiet as the two of us held our ice cream in our mouths. I would have been willing to share the story about today, but I had a strong feeling she already knew. Instead, she surprised me when she began the conversation.

"Hey, Alex…"

"Hm?" I turned towards her.

"How…" She paused and looked downwards in thought. "…how exactly does it feel like having a best friend?"

I tried to think about it, but those feelings weren't really easy to describe. You just felt them and enjoyed them.

"…that's hard to answer, Spirit." I thought about it some more and figured possibly the easiest way to tell her. "How do you think it feels?"

"Huh?" She answered a little startled.

"Well…" I shrugged a little. "I kind of see you as another one of my best friends…I mean…why wouldn't I? If you feel the same way about me, then I think you should have your own taste on how it feels to have a best friend."

She remained silent and swung her back hooves a bit. "…you're different…"

I became slightly puzzled. "So…I'm not your best friend?"

"N-no!" She quickly answered. "I mean…" She sighed, attempted to reorganize her words. "I'm sorry. I can't explain it."

"That's okay." I merely returned and looked back out at the sunset.

"But I don't mean it like you're not my best friend." She clarified. "It's just…you're not just my best friend…"

"I see…" I finished the last piece of ice cream on the stick. "Is it…a good thing then?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "It really is. I guess I just confused you. Sorry."

"Don't apologize." I mentioned and presented the stick in front of her. "I guess you just need time to sort things out. Everything out." I referred hopefully to the secrets she kept to herself. She quietly accepted the stick and added it to her collection. "Say…don't you…ever get lonely here? When I'm not with you?"

"Well…" She took a moment to answer. "I'm not really alone…" She shook her head and apologized for some reason. "Sorry. Can I ask you another question?"

"What is it?"

"Have you ever had anyone you kind of wanted to meet so much?"

I placed a hoof to my chin and thought about it. "…not that I know of… Like…I don't think I've ever wished I could meet someone specific like a celebrity or something."

"Oh…"

"What about you?" I asked, hoping she'd be willing to answer it.

"You could say that…" She returned and shrugged off. "But it's not that important… I mean…you know…it's probably more hurtful in meeting somepony who doesn't even know you exist, right?" She chuckled a bit at that thought.

I furrowed my eyebrows a little in concern. "You make it sound like if it's somepony you like and they don't even notice you."

"No." She shook her head. "It's not like that… It's…" She rubbed her temples, as if she was getting frustrated in thinking of a way to put it. "…let's…just leave it at as if I'm generally invisible…you know…"

"Oh…yeah…" I paused and thought about it. "I think I get what you mean…" I looked upwards. "Just like when I was little. Pretty much the lowest of the low. You know, invisible to everypony except one… Miss Cadence." I then laughed a little at the sight of her. "I guess I kind of see why you keep secrets. I wouldn't want to make you feel uncomfortable anyway. I'm just curious about you."

"Sorry…" Spirit apologized again, growing a little tense. "I kind of feel bad for doing that. It's like I said…I really don't mean to keep things from you. In fact, if I could, I would tell you everything, but that would be selfish of me. Besides, I wouldn't think you'd believe me anyway."

"Why would you say that?" I asked.

"I'm sure you've had things you've kept to yourself because you thought other ponies wouldn't believe you, right? No matter how true they really were?"

Looking back, I could count a few times where that was true. "Yeah… I kind of grew up believing that I had to see it to really believe it."

"And that's understandable." Spirit assured with a smile.

I managed to smile as well after seeing hers. "I guess I can try to cope a little longer."

She lowered her head and mouthed a few words.

I didn't question her about it. She's probably telling herself something and it wasn't really my business to know.

Still…there's so much I really want to know about her…and I'll keep hoping I'll find out soon enough.

It's Genealogical Research!

Episode 74 – It's Genealogical Research!

A loud knocking sounded at my door, knocking me conscious and almost groggily having to remove myself from bed. Having no choice but to head straight downstairs towards the door, I opened it to see a very huge pink grin only a step in front of me.

"Hey, cousin!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed for some reason and threw her forelegs around me, squeezing tightly.

"Pinkie Pie?" I questioned, deeply confused about the situation. "What are you talking about? We're not cousins. I don't even think you have any relation to the princesses."

Pinkie pulled away and stared at me for a moment in silence. Then, she placed a hoof on her chin and looked upwards in thought. Afterwards, she immediately burst into a loud giggle. "Silly me! It was Applejack I was supposed to go to!" She continued giggling jubilantly. "I mixed up your names because they start with an A and…" She was cut off by more of her laughter, finding it absolutely funny for I don't know what exactly. She turned around and continued walking off. "Haha, I'm so silly!"

I observed her walk off with one of my lower lids raised below my eye. That was certainly a strange first conversation in the morning. However, I heard another sound of hoofsteps come my way. I looked around to see Twilight walking my way as she stared at Pinkie begin hopping off. Nonetheless, she turned to me when she arrived at my doorstep. "Morning." She greeted with a soft smile.

"Morning…" I returned, still feeling a little of that last conversation last. "Would you…happen to know what that was all about?"

"She was by earlier and apparently found out she has this relation to Applejack." Twilight shrugged. "As you can tell, it got her really excited."

"…uh-huh…" I briefly expressed.

"Anyways…" Twilight changed the subject. "I just wanted to come by and see if you'd be in the spirit to help me with something?" Her facial expressions began brightening, as if she was holding a surprise for me.

"Uh…what exactly?" I asked, curious of her offer.

"Follow me, and you'll find out!" She began walking off, already expecting me to follow her.

I stood there for a second, wondering what she seemed to be subtly hyped up for. Nonetheless, I closed the door behind me and walked after her to discover what she was holding.

Twilight directed me inside her home, where I was able to see several columns of books standing upright or even a little tilted. The many stacks of tall books were evidence for the obvious holes in the shelves. But all of this really wasn't any surprise.

"We're here." I recalled. "So what was it you wanted my help on?"

Twilight shoved a book in my face, instantly greeting me with a picture of what appeared to be a tree of information. Afterwards, she placed a hoof on her chest to be playfully arrogant. "Since I'm the best L.S.B.F.F. and cousin-in-law ever, I wanted to do something special for you."

"Huh?" I inquired, feeling really calmly intrigued now.

"I know how you've always had questions and issues with you family…" Twilight began picking a few books thrown on the floor and stacked them neatly on the piles of books around us. "And then something clicked in my mind. Hey. How awesome would it be to do some genealogical research on your family history? I would be helping you and doing research!"

"Wow." I was stunned for a moment by her generosity, but I wasn't really excited to actually find anything on my family roots. "That was really nice of you Twilight…but I honestly don't think we'll really find anything… At least not what I already know…" I thought back on the princesses.

"Back in your dream…" Twilight began skimming through some books. "…when I found out that Night Terror was actually your dad… I mean… There has to be some reason he ended up with Luna, right? How did he ever end up being your father in the first place? I'm sure you'd love to know as well."

Staring at the floor, I thought about that. "Yeah…I guess that's true…"

"And the first step to know that is to figure who exactly he is." She placed a hoof on my shoulder to pull me back from any sadness I've might have been digging into. "He must have not been Night Terror at some point. I don't know what happened, but we're going to find out!"

"You think it's possible?" I asked, requesting for one bit of assurance.

"Anything's possible!" She exclaimed and then pointed out towards her books. "Especially with these!"

"Look at what we have here, Alex" She began singing brightly to me as she pointed one of her favorite sources of knowledge.

"Isn't it warming to see so much stunning information?

This is just another problem we two can fix

So, let's get started on this equation!"

Of course, with this, she was able to place a beam on my face. She spread out her wings and began flying around her stacks of books and shelves.

"So many books, but that's not the problem!

Just don't start from top to bottom!" She guided by pointing her hoof.

"Don't need to read every book

Just peek inside and take a look!" She grabbed one of the books and presented the words inside, quickly shutting it closed after to demonstrate her point.

"What you need is family reference" She presented an informative book relating to family growth.

"Not what you believe is a personal preference." She showed me another book dealing with heated discussions and thrown opinions but quickly tossed it to the side.

"You certainly got a hang on this, Twilight." I joined her, feeling a little safe as I was with the lovable bookworm. "I just hope we aren't here all night." I looked around a little worriedlysee the massive amount of books.

"Alex, you're talking to a library expert." She placed a foreleg around me and poked me in the chest.

"I practically don't even need to make an effort!" She moved on to the tallest section of her shelf, as if she was searching for a certain title.

"Searching high,

Searching low

Can you find it?" She turned her head towards me.

"I don't know." I shrugged in answer.

"There must be something," Twilight continued as she looked around with a hoof to her chin.

"Something that'll give us a clue."

Feeling doubt rise up again, I decided maybe to call off the whole.

"Twilight, face it." I tried to put it nicely.

"I appreciate your gesture,

But this isn't easy as a lecture." I began bringing a few points up.

"My family history is very vague

Only my mother would know anything that was made"

Twilight suddenly flew towards me, pressing her muzzle against mine in excitement.

"That's it! Let's ask her! She should know!"

"Are you absolutely sure?" I asked.

"Positive! Let's go!" Twilight grabbed a hold of my hoof and almost dragged me towards her bedroom.

Twilight began stuffing her saddlebag with pencils, note cards, notepads, and whatever else she felt she needed to take down notes about what we were apparently trying to figure out. I never did ask my mom more about my dad…but maybe it was because I didn't really want to know. Our whole business wasn't really finished yet. I kind of knew he was going to come back, and I didn't really want to keep being reminded of it. Nonetheless, Twilight seemed very enthusiastic of finding out the history behind him though. Maybe she felt it would make me feel better… Who knows…?

Twilight gasped sharply and shortly. "I forgot 'A Pony's Guide to Taking Notes' downstairs! Of course, I've already memorized everything in it, but you never know when it can still be useful!" Twilight shared that brief humorous comment with me and then turned to trot back downstairs. "Spike! Alex and I are going to be heading to Canterlot for a while! Can you watch the place for a bit?" I heard her shout as the volume of her voice decreased the further she was from me.

As I waited, I began lightly messing around with some things in her room. It wasn't until a voice lightly startled me inside.

"Alex." She spoke in a way she had never really greeted me before.

I turned to see her standing behind me looking very worried.

"Spirit? What's the matter?" I inquired about the expression on her face.

"You're not really going to Canterlot, are you?"

"Yeah… Why?" I responded, wondering why she was asking me this.

Spirit shook her head. "You can't go."

"What? Why not?" I was now concerned by her sudden behavior.

"You just can't. Please." She pleaded.

"Spirit. What's wrong with you?" I questioned her. "Why are you worried about me going?"

"Y-you can't go b-because…because you two will do your extensive research and for that research you'll talk to her and if you talk to her you might just find—" Spirit took a sharp breath after unusually responding so quickly, but she stopped herself from talking anymore after that.

I took a step closer to her, tilting my head in concern. "…Spirit?"

Spirit placed her hooves on my chest and looked up at me, continuing to plead greatly. "Please, Alex! You can't go! You just can't!"

I only stared at her with nothing really to make out of her sudden defensive stance. Before I could form anything to tell her, we suddenly heard another voice in the room.

"…who are you?" We both quickly looked at the stairway, which served as the exit and entrance to Twilight's bedroom. Twilight was standing there, looking directly at Spirit in question. Spirit immediately froze to the point where it looked like she stopped breathing. Twilight continued staring at Spirit questionably, walking towards her slowly. "…have I seen you before?" Spirit gasped and jerkily began walking backwards, also beginning to look left and right as if she was trying to find a hiding spot, despite it being too late already. "Wait a minute… I have seen you before!" She continued stepping towards Spirit, who fearfully stepped back. "You're that mare we saw in that comic book world! The one with the scarf and goggles. How'd you get in here? Where are you from? Who exactly are you?"

After being backed up to the wall, Spirit realized she had nowhere to go. She seemed to be panicking greatly inside. At that moment, my heart also was thumping and pounding. However, I didn't want to stand there doing nothing, but there was nothing I could actually really do. All I could muster up was calling Twilight's name.

"Twilight…"

As soon as Twilight turned to me, Spirit grunted and quickly ran past her with closed eyes. In a strong and fast gallop, she fled the room.

"Wait!" Twilight called out, but it seemed she had escaped. After a moment of silence, Twilight turned to me. "…did you know her?"

I looked at the floor, unsure of what to say. "…well…that's a bit difficult to answer…" Twilight raised a hoof as she continued waiting for what I had to say. I sighed heavily. "I guess it's no use holding it back…seeing as you saw her already." I paused for a moment to try to gather my thoughts. "I… I honestly don't know much about her Twilight. She…goes by the name Spirit, because she told me she didn't originally have one. Apparently…we knew each other since the time Nightmare Moon wanted to bask Equestria in eternal night. I can't really explain everything, as I've just been going along for the ride." I shrugged. "I don't really know what else to say. Even though she's mysterious…she's still a friend of mine…"

Twilight was silent for a moment. "…does anypony else know about her…?"

I shook my head. "No…and that's something you have to promise me…for her sake…"

"Huh?" She asked confusingly.

"You have to promise that you won't tell anypony else. Until she finds that it's alright." I shared seriously.

"But…why—"

"Twilight…" I stated.

Twilight sighed lightly and nodded. "Okay… I promise."

I turned away to stare at her saddlebag on her bed. "Sorry for all the confusion… I wish I could give you the answers, but I don't know them myself either." I turned back to her. "If you want my honest word…you don't have to worry about what just happened. Like I said…I can't explain it…"

"Oh…" Twilight stared at the floor in silence as well, most likely confused but willing to trust me. "…so that mare…she's your friend?" I nodded. "…and you trust her?"

"Yeah…I do." I felt myself able to say without any hesitation.

"Hm." Twilight hummed for a moment. "Well, good enough for me." She returned to her bright and cheery self. "Come on, we better hurry if we want to make it to the next train to Canterlot."

"Oh…Okay…" I merely returned, surprised of Twilight's recovery from the scene.

Twilight grabbed her saddlebag and placed it on her. Then she turned towards me and gestured her head so I could follow her.

Twilight and I boarded the train to Canterlot and sat on a seat that kind of gave us privacy if we were to talk about more personal matters. Speaking of such manners, I couldn't help but have my mind remain on the scene back at the library. I began worrying greatly on how Spirit felt after that encounter. I even began wondering if she'd ever show up like that again.

"Hey, um…" Twilight began reaching out. "You still bothered about what happened a while ago?"

"Yeah…" I answered. "I kind of feel bummed for having you trust me when you really don't know much about it."

"What are best friends for?" She asked rhetorically with a smile.

I nodded, acknowledging that. "Let me just tell you right now. I know she isn't a bad pony. She's just…different… But not in a bad way. I just don't have enough information to assure it…"

"Well, if she acts the same way just like when we were in the comic book, I can get a good feeling on what you mean." She mentioned.

I managed to smile, feeling better when she realized that. "Yeah. That's probably the best way to express her at the moment." I then turned out the window, seeing the background travel further away from us. "For now, let's just get this research done and out of the—" I stopped, suddenly remembering how badly Spirit didn't want us to go on with this for some reason. I was conflicted whether I should truly call it off or just let things go on as planned.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked me concerningly.

I shook my head lightly, trying to push those struggling thoughts out of my head. "It's nothing…" In fact, it wasn't nothing. But I couldn't involve Twilight with what Spirit was trying to tell me. Spirit was already mysterious and confusing to Twilight enough.

When the train wheels screeched and the train itself began halting to a stop, we took the liberty to stand up and began exiting when it was safe to do so. Standing in the city of Canterlot, we looked towards the direction of the castle of the two sisters.

"Oh, I hope they're not busy…" Twilight brought up and then suddenly gasped. "Maybe I should've have made an appointment first. Yes, an appointment would have given them time to prepare and we would have had a more organized schedule to follow so we could—"

I placed a hoof on her mouth to silence her. "It's fine. We'll just ask if they're available. If not, we can do this some other time. This isn't important, you know."

I released my hoof to allow her to talk. "Yeah…I guess… But still, I want to do this for you."

I turned my head forward and spoke lightly under my breath. "You really don't have to…"

Twilight and I walked up the steps to Canterlot Castle. With a bright grin, she was already using her magic to ready her saddlebag. However, I calmly stepped forward to the door and pushed it open. Inside, we looked around to see the area in a very…not lively state. Then again, it never was…I believe…

We continued heading towards the main throne area, wondering if one of the princesses might have been there. It was so silent, that all we heard along the way were the echoes of our hooves, especially the loud echo of the doors to the throne room. Once we were inside, the first thing we turned our heads at was the throne at the end of the room. However, there was no guards…no princess…nothing…

"Where are they…?" Twilight asked.

"…beats me…" I answered, studying every little piece of space visible.

"Well…if none of them are in here…they must be working somewhere." Twilight advised.

I turned around to face her. "Where do you expect to find them in a castle this huge? In fact, do you even think they're here in this castle? Or Canterlot?"

Twilight sighed. "I knew I should have sent them a letter…"

"I guess we can ask for help…" I walked past her and headed back out the doors. When Twilight caught up to my side, I slightly turned my head towards her. "Do you know where we can ask for some information?"

"Well…" Twilight rubbed her chin in thought. "There's usually an information booth near the entrance of the castle. But I don't even know if anypony's there, considering how we haven't seen anypony in the castle since we got here."

"Looks like that's pretty much the best place to start…" I mentioned, working my hooves towards the area Twilight was talking about.

I wasn't sure if we should have declared ourselves lucky when we found a pony focusing on a stack of papers at this booth. She wore glasses and held her mane in a bun. Hm. Nonetheless, we approached her, but she seemed too busy to even look at us. I didn't even know if she knew we were there until we called out.

"Excuse me?" I spoke.

"Yes?" She returned in a somewhat plain manner. It wasn't rude, but it wasn't lively either.

"Do you happen to know where we might find any of the princesses?" I asked.

Without turning her eyes away from her papers, she used the magic from her horn to grab several sheets of paper and placed them towards us, along with a spare pen. "Look over and sign the forms accordingly and then you may set an appointment time for your visit."

I took a glance over these papers and read such requests of information from me. Whoever was wanting this information, they apparently wanted to know what town I came from or if I resided locally in Canterlot. Along with wanting my personal information, there was also a need to know my medical conditions, reason for summoning, and a bunch of other stuff that might have been unnecessary…at least for us. "Um…I think this is a little unnecessary…we're just—"

"I'm sorry, but if you don't fill out those forms, you can't set up a time for an appointment." She answered, not allowing me to finish my sentence.

I shared a slightly offended look with Twilight.

Twilight stepped forward and offered her attempt. "Pardon me, but you see, we just wanted to—"

The pony in front of us lifted a hoof our way while continuing to focus on her work. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but I can't help you unless you fill out those forms."

I rolled my eyes and placed a hoof around Twilight to bring her with me out of the area. "Let's just try asking someone else…"

"Like who?" Twilight questioned. "She seemed to be the only pony there that seemed to know where the princesses might be."

"Apparently not enough…" I returned a little frankly. "We're not going to use all of our time to fill out a form just to get an appointment time. In that case, it'd be better just to return back home so you could send out a letter instead.

Twilight's face appeared to stress with worry about the thoughts going inside my head. "…do you want to go back?"

I studied her expression for a while and began feeling bad. I felt that I was getting irritated with what she was trying to do for me, and I didn't know why. I don't like to see her so negatively, especially if it's because of me. I shook my head and looked around us. "There has to be someone who can help us. If one of the princesses could just magically walk by us out of nowhere, that would be great…" I sighed. "Come on." I led her back in the way to venture further into the castle.

My feelings were unreadable on this goal we were trying to achieve, and I couldn't really explain it…or maybe it's because I didn't feel like I wanted to. In fact…I felt…off. I don't know… I didn't really feel willing for some reason. Ever since that event with Spirit and Twilight, I just began feeling so…not much of myself.

"I do wonder where everypony is at… You'd at least expect some guards here…" Twilight questionably mentioned as we continued walking down the long hallway.

I remained silent to that comment until we heard whistling from not too far away, catching our interest. Out from the fork in the hallway, a guard appeared while happily whistling to himself. Soon enough, he noticed us and proceeded to greet us warmly.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle! Prince Alexander!" He was quite alarmed of our presence. "What brings you two to Canterlot Castle?"

"We were just looking for Princess Celestia or Princess Luna." Twilight answered. "Do you have any idea of where they might be?"

The guard thought to himself for a moment, appearing to look back to see if he has any memory of the two. "I think I saw Princess Celestia heading into the Star Swirl the Bearded wing a while back… Want me to open it for you?"

"Yes, please!" Twilight exclaimed excitedly. "Thank you so much!"

"Sure thing, Princess Twilight!" He politely returned and then proceeded to escort us towards the wing.

Once there, he gladly opened it with his magic and left the door open for us. "Just lock it back up when you're done." He instructed.

"Of course! Thank you!" Twilight waved as he took his leave. "Alright. Let's see if she's in here!" She walked in, leading me along. The both of us continued to look around and through the bookshelves for any sign of Celestia, but I had a feeling she wasn't in here at all. It was too quiet… "Princess Celestia?" Twilight called and received no answer. We looked and poked around for a while before we came to a conclusion that she wasn't in here. Twilight sighed. "Looks like she isn't here…"

I shrugged and shook my head a little.

"Hello? Is anyone in here?" We heard another stallion's voice call out from the doorway. Twilight and I looked back and then headed towards the source of the sound to see who it was. It was another one of Princess Celestia's guards. Once we were visible to him, he was pretty surprised to see us as well. "Oh! It's you two." He gave a quick bow. "I thought some new recruit might have left this open for any pony to just come in."

"I don't suppose you know where the Princess is…do you?" Twilight questioned.

"The Princess?" The guard returned. "I think she said something about going out to get snacks."

"Snacks?" Twilight asked in a little puzzling matter.

"Yes, ma'am. She must have been pretty hungry."

Twilight looked at me, briefly shrugged, and then looked back at the guard. "Thanks for the information. We appreciate it."

"Of course. Are you two going to stay or be heading out?"

"We're going to look for the Princess outside the castle. Did she say where exactly she was going for snacks?" Twilight inquired.

"I'm not sure." The guard was unable to recall. "But you might want to check at that sweet shop close by. I'll go ahead and lock this up for you."

"Okay, thanks!" Twilight responded and we walked out of the wing to once again take the long walk out the castle.

Once we were outside, we began traveling in the Canterlot city to look for that place the guard was talking about. However, Twilight managed to notice how quiet I seemed I was unusually being, and she felt the need to question it. "What's wrong? You've been so quiet… Is…all this walking around bothering you…?"

"I…I just don't really feel like talking…" I was unable to explain the matter. "I don't know why… Let's just look for the Princess…"

"…okay…" Twilight answered uneasily and we continued to walk in silence until we reached the closest sweet shop near the location of the castle.

We walked inside to see it absolutely packed. Fortunately, it wasn't like overflowing or crowded, but there were no available tables at all apparently. Even Twilight felt like she had to point this out loud.

"Wow… Look at this place… It's full!" Twilight depicted her surprise of the sight. "I wonder why…"

I looked around for a moment. "It doesn't look like the Princess is here…otherwise, we'd be able to tell easily… It doesn't even feel like she's been here at all." I noticed a pony up at the counter who received orders. "I guess we can still ask…" I walked up to the counter while Twilight accompanied me. "Excuse me, did you happen to see Princess Celestia come by or something?" I asked the pony at the front.

"Princess Celestia?" The pony questioned with widened eyes. "Oh, no! I don't believe I have. And believe me, I would know if royalty stood before my eyes!"

Twilight and I just had to exchange a look with each other on that ironic remark. After we looked back at this pony, she was wondering why we were looking at her so weirdly. Then, she suddenly stretched out her eyes in panic. "Oh! It's you, Prince and Princess! Please, excuse me!" In order to attempt to apologize, she quickly began scrambling things together. "Can I get you anything?! Coffee? Sweets? Treats?! It's all on the house!"

"Uh, n-no…" I shook my head, feeling like we should get out as soon possible. "Thanks… We'll be going now…" I turned around and began heading to the exit with Twilight. "Come on… I don't think we should stay here any longer… I don't know how any other pony would react from our presence…" I explained to Twilight as we left out the front door. I walked with Twilight outside with my head held low in what I guessed was exhaustion. "Still no lead on any of the princesses… Everywhere we looked with their mention has been a total dud…"

"I don't suppose you have some spiritual or telepathic link to your mom, do you?" Twilight appeared to joke with a small smile.

"Hm." I merely returned, feeling no urge to laugh.

"You really seem not yourself today, Alex…" Twilight shared in concern. "Are you sure you don't want to just head back home…?"

"No…" I answered tiredly. "I don't know… Let's just go back to the castle…" I suggested, feeling no strength to continuously look for a princess.

Once we were back in the castle, I felt there was something we could do that would possibly better than to go around with no accurate lead to help.

"Maybe we can just wait in Princess Celestia's room instead." I offered. "She's bound to be there at some point during the day. I'd say it's a lot easier and less exhausting than looking around cluelessly in Canterlot.

"What if she never returns to her room? Like if she was in another town?" Twilight brought up.

I shrugged. "Then…I guess…we'll just try some other time…"

"Okay…" Twilight responded and remained silent afterwards.

Still seeing no guards in sight, we walked up to Princess Celestia's room and entered through.

"I just hope she gets here soon though…" I commented as I headed over to one of Tia's comfortable pillows to rest on. "I'm not sure if I can take another day like this…" I allowed myself to plop down at the ground, but the result wasn't as expected. Landing on the pillows was not as soft. In fact, I even heard a sound coming from beneath them.

"Oh!"

I quickly stood up and turned around to see what had just happened.

To our great surprise, a long white horn shot out from beneath the pillows, along with a head with a flowy colorful mane. It certainly didn't take long for us to realize that we had finally found one of the ponies we were looking for.

"Princess Celestia…!" Twilight and I exclaimed in unison.

"Twilight…Alex…" She rubbed her eye softly, as if she had been sleeping. "What brings you here?"

"We've been looking all over for you!" Twilight answered. "We've been getting so much wrong information that we thought we'd never find you!"

Celestia managed to smile warmly at that statement she received from Twilight. "I've been here the whole time."

"Seriously?!" Twilight responded in complete surprise, not being able to believe how easy the search could have actually been. "But…what about the others here? The guards? Where is everyone?"

"Lunch hour." Princess Celestia answered briefly.

Twilight was frozen for a moment, unable to form any words to speak with.

"There was still somepony working at the information counter." I brought up, referring to the pony in the glasses and the mane bun.

"Oh her?" Princess Celestia replied. "She worries too much on working. Sometimes, I don't even know if she eats or if she eats while she works. I've tried to convince her in joining the others for a lunch break, but she says she has no time for such a thing."

"Huh…" I turned to Twilight who was slowly recovering from her paralysis. "Guess that explains why she didn't even bother looking at us and wanting us to fill out forms or something."

"Oh…that pony…" Princess Celestia shook her head in thought. "Maybe I need to give her a vacation sometime…that is…if she'll take it."

"Well…I guess that explains a lot…" I answered, crossing my foreleg over the other in somewhat relief that we managed to finish this search…hopefully.

"So, you two were looking for me? Was there something you needed?" She asked.

Finally recovering from her stunned expression, Twilight spoke up. "Well, actually, we wanted to speak with Princess Luna. But we were hoping we could at least find you, since you might know where she is."

"Luna…" Celestia repeated to herself. "I have to admit that I don't know where exactly she would be right now…but I would say the best place to look for her is in her room."

"Hm. Considering on how you were here the whole time, I would say so…" I answered to that.

"We'll leave you to your…um…nap." Twilight announced, ready to walk out of her quarters.

"Of course." Princess Celestia returned politely. "It was still nice receiving a visit from you two under such circumstances. I just wasn't expecting to have it on my break." She chuckled lightly.

"We'll let you get back to your rest then." I stated, also preparing to leave. "See you later, Tia." She waved with another lasting smile before we walked out the room and closed the door lightly behind her. I sighed in either relief or exhaustion. "Alright…let's just hope Celestia is right so we don't have to chase anypony down anymore…"

Twilight nodded and followed me to our next destination.

Standing in front of my mother's door, I raised a hoof and knocked lightly a few times. We waited there for a moment and glanced at each other for a second. "Mom?" I called out, but received no answer. My ears flopped slightly down as I spoke to myself. "Don't tell me…" I hesitantly opened the door to allow myself in. Once inside, I looked around to notice the room empty of anypony. I wanted to make absolutely sure, just to see if I might have missed her somehow, but of course, I received nothing. Standing in front of her pillow, I groaned out loud and allowed myself to fall flat on the pillow.

"I'm sorry, Alex…" Twilight apologized from behind. "Do you…want to stay or leave…?"

"I don't know…" I didn't feel like thinking about that decision. I just wanted to lay there on the pillow and just do nothing until I felt ready to do something. However, at that moment, I felt like a miracle just worked it's way to us when I heard another voice behind Twilight and me.

"Alex? Twilight?" I quickly pushed myself up from the pillow and turned around to see the pony we've been looking for this whole time FINALLY standing before us. I never knew how bucking hard it was to find such a pony. "What are you two doing here?"

"Mom!" I galloped towards her and immediately embraced her, mainly because I was just so relieved to be finished with our troublesome search.

"Alex…" She ran her hoof through my mane for a short moment. "What is the matter? Is everything alright?"

"Yes... Where have you been?" I asked, interested to know what she had been doing.

"Oh…" She seemed to be a little embarrassed over the next words she was about to speak out. "I was…a bit hungry…so I went out a little while ago to retrieve some snacks…" She lightly sheepishly held up a plastic bag that contained her treats. "Either way, I'm glad you two stopped by. I don't think I would have been able to eat these all by myself." She released a short smile as she stared into her bag. However, she returned her attention to me. "Was there something you needed?"

"It's just…well… I guess we wanted to ask you a few things for some research…" I glanced over to Twilight, who was finally setting down her saddlebag, along with the materials she brought to take down a few notes…or a lot.

"…research?" Luna asked a little curiously.

"Genealogical to be exact." Twilight answered delightfully. "If you don't mind."

"Well…" Luna looked back a little worriedly. "What is it that you want to know?"

"I wanted to know more about Alex's family history… I also thought he'd really like to know as well. So…since we already know a good amount of your side, you know, the royal family, I was wondering if you knew anything about Alex's father's side?"

"I don't even know his name…" I shook my head in thought. "I mean…he wasn't always Night Terror, right?"

"His name…?" Luna repeated. She seemed to stare downwards in worried thought as she set the bag away.

"Mom…?" I called out in concern for her.

"…" She returned silence for a moment, leaving us in suspense on what was going through her head. "I'm sorry… I don't believe…I remember."

"You don't remember?" Twilight questioned. "Didn't my memory spell work?"

"Indeed, it did." My mother answered. "But your memory spell can only go so far." She walked towards the fireplace and lit it up, dimming the lights around us so we were more in her atmosphere. "It has been…many years since I've actually last called him by his name… I don't even know if the only time I called him by his name was before being banished to the moon. Even then…" She paused for a moment, placing a careful hoof to her slightly aching head. "When…I first succumbed to Nightmare Moon…it certainly did mess with my memory… I am still able to remember certain things in the past…but his name is unfortunately one of those few things I cannot easily remember…"

"Oh…" Twilight answered a little gloomily, seeing as she probably wasn't going to get anything for her research after all.

"However…" Luna included, stopping Twilight from putting back her note-taking materials. "There is certainly something I remember…back on the moon… But…" She stared at the floor in silence again and then faced over to me. "It is something…that I wasn't and am still not sure you should know."

"What do you mean…?" I stepped towards her, anxious to hear whatever news she held. "Is it…something bad?"

"Not necessarily…" She shook her head lightly. "But…it may change the way you think of your father… I understand how sensitive you are to family…and…I just didn't know if you'd be able to hear this information I hold."

"Well…I mean…he's not instinctively and naturally evil like he was at that time we faced him, right?"

"No." She shook her head calmly.

"Well, what exactly could make me think any differently or less of him?"

"…It's about your relation with him…"

I was surprised for a moment there, beginning to wonder greatly on what she meant by this. "Huh…?"

Luna faced the fireplace and stood there in uneasy silence. "I'm not sure…if keeping it away from you is the right thing to do…but I believe you have a right to know, and if you ever so wish so, I understand and will explain to you."

I glanced over to Twilight, who sent me another worried/concerning look about what Luna was talking about. This appeared to be a private manner to speak in depth with, but since Twilight was a part of my family in many ways, I didn't mind her staying to hear this. "I think…you can tell me, mom. It's probably best for us to stay honest with each other than to keep things hidden. Otherwise, it's not so healthy either way…"

Luna nodded softly and then turned to face us. "Then gather around, my children."

Twilight and I walked closer to her, sitting down afterwards. Most likely to ease any nerves, she retrieved her bag of treats and offered us whatever was inside as she placed it in the middle of our small circle. As we eagerly and anxiously waited for what she had to say, she took a deep breath and exhaled it out slowly.

"You see…Alex…" She stopped herself and thought for a moment. "I'm not sure what is the best way to say this…" She tapped her hoof on her head to prove her struggle with her thoughts. "Don't be alarmed when I say this, son, but…your father…may not exactly be…your biological father…or at least one you've been thinking of for this past time."

"W…what do you mean?" I was starting to feel a little worried…worried at the thought that something might have actually gone wrong in our family.

"I…I was conceived with you…a little differently… I'm not sure if your father really had anything to do with it." She rubbed her hoof against the floor, continuing to devise a route for her words to flow easily out of her mouth. "It was unexpected… I had no idea what happened… But… After your father used his magic to somehow…seep most of the darkness out from me, I soon began feeling…a little ill. Many days after, I believe… I don't know. It's terribly hard to keep track of time when you're imprisoned on the moon." I continued to listen intently while Twilight decided to keep her interest strong but take a piece of candy from Luna's bag. "These symptoms I was undergoing…were strange. I was afraid that your father's work might have actually made things worse, and that I might become an even worse pony than Nightmare Moon. I told him about what I was feeling, and he felt he could look into it to the best of his magic and knowledge. He was no doctor…but he asked me if I had ever been with a stallion before being banished to the moon. I found it a bit odd, but answered him honestly nevertheless. I hadn't. He told me…he believed I was going through the symptoms of pregnancy. I was truly shocked. I couldn't believe it at first and actually believed he might have read something wrong. I wouldn't blame him. He wasn't specialized for such work. Sometime later, the symptoms became more obvious. He used some kind of magic that allowed him to read somewhat inside me. It was very limited…but I remember him stating that there was…life…inside me. I can't remember what he specifically said…but it was along those lines. He sensed…a pulse inside me. I still had a hard time believing what he said was true… Of course… I was proven wrong when you began growing inside me." She chuckled lightly. "By all means…I still loved your father for what he did for me… And…I'm sure he loved me back since he was brave enough to take in most of the corrupting darkness inside me. If he hadn't done that, I'm sure you might have not been able to sit here as you are now. As strange as it was of your surprise inside me, that's why I consider him your father." Luna caressed my cheek, even though I didn't really take any time to form facial expressions after hearing her story. "However, I hope you don't think that you weren't meant to be born. All in all, you are my son. I gave birth to you, so I can assure you that I'm truly your biological mother, and I love you very dearly. I'm just worried that…you might have…different feelings about your father, since he didn't exactly…you know…"

"N…no…I get what you mean…" I thought about it for a moment… But after that moment to myself, I honestly…wasn't really affected as she thought I might have been. "To tell you the truth, mom… I'm…not really bothered by it actually. I think…it's probably because…" I laughed a little when referring to my memory. "The only time I actually got to interact with him was when he was possessed by that dark power. However, if it had been you, then maybe I'd feel upset by it. I might have not been accompanied by you since the time I was born to now, but I still feel we share a close relationship. And having that close relationship, if I found out that you weren't actually my true real mother, I'd be really disturbed by it. But since I never actually spent time with my…dad… It's not so troubling."

"Do you…still see him now the way you saw him previously before this conversation?" She asked as she started intently in my eyes.

I shrugged lightly, not to seem disrespectful or anything, but to show that it didn't leave much of an imprint. "Sure. I just have to be honest because since I've never really actually spent time with him, I don't have much of an opinion of him. But since you believe he was the reason I was able to live life, I think he's pretty important." I managed to share a small stretched smiled.

Luna was able to push aside her worry and pull me in for another embrace. "I am glad." She held me earnestly.

"Wow…" Twilight managed to express. I had actually almost forgotten she was with us. "That's certainly…some story."

"Yeah…" I rubbed my head a little in slight embarrassment. "I guess I'm just…a little weird."

Twilight smirked tenderly and playfully nudged me. "You're not weird. You're unique." I was now able to feel myself regain my happiness. "But I'm really curious though. If you don't technically have two biological parents, by what I understand from Luna, then…how exactly were you…" Twilight appeared to be trying to formulate a hypothesis in her mind.

"I'm sure his father would be the best pony to turn to in this case…but unfortunately…" Luna stopped there, as she didn't really want think about the condition he was now in.

"I guess that's enough news for one day anyway." I managed to present a soft smile to them. "Maybe we can find that out some other day."

"Hm." Twilight smiled delicately as well, beginning to put away her notepad and pencils which she barely touched at all during the talk. "I guess things didn't go out as expected. Here, I thought we were going to get more into your father's side of the family but…" She merely shrugged and closed her saddlebag holding her items.

"I sincerely hope that that isn't all what you two came here for." Princess Luna seemed to share teasingly, looking towards her bag of treats. "I still have plenty of sweets that I won't be able to finish on my own. Besides…" She glanced over to Twilight. "I'd like to interact more with my niece-in-law who my son is so fond of."

Twilight sent me a funny look, which led me to returning rolled eyes and a slight flush in my face.

"…even though it's official that we're cousin-in-laws, I still don't think that matches for what we have as L.S.B.F.F. and B.B.B.F.F." Twilight explained, grinning brightly after.

"Um…" Luna sat puzzled, pausing from the confusion. "What you have as what again?"

"Little Sister Best Friend Forever and Big Brother Best Friend Forever." I explained with a soft yet humble smile at her.

"Yep." Twilight acknowledged pulling me up close to her side. "Even though we originally met as friends, we're close as family."

"So, shall I begin acknowledging you as my daughter as well?" My mother teased.

"Only if you don't mind one that has her face stuffed in books every day." Twilight shot back to the tease, leading for her and Luna to have one good moment of laughter. I joined in a little, chuckling along with them, but not as loud as they were being. However, they surprised me when they suddenly turned to face me and their expressions became the opposite they originally were. "Whoa, Alex…! Are you okay?"

"Yeah?" I answered, wondering why she'd ask that all of a sudden. "Why?"

"You're crying…" Twilight pointed towards my left eye. I raised a hoof towards my eye to see what she was talking about. I felt a small stream of dampness left under my eye. I looked at my hoof and was once again surprised to see this happening a second time. "Is…everything alright…?"

"Yeah…" I returned, almost speechless. "I…I don't know why that came out…"

"Did something get in your eye?" Twilight asked.

"I…don't think so…" I rubbed it a bit. "I don't know."

"Perhaps you two should return to Ponyville. It'll be time to prepare to raise the moon soon anyway. I've enjoyed you company here with me." Luna took the liberty to even bow shortly for us, most likely to express how much she appreciated it.

"Of course." Twilight bowed as well. "We feel the same way. It's been nice talking to you, Princess Luna. We'll see you again soon." Twilight turned to face me. "We better go catch the next train."

"Okay." I nodded. "Go on ahead. I'm just going to say bye to my mom."

Twilight understood and began lightly trotting out the door.

I walked towards my mother and lightly embraced her for our goodbye. "I'll see you around, mom. Perhaps in my dreams." I smiled warmly and then began to pull away to start walking after Twilight.

"That reminds me…" Luna suddenly spoke, ceasing me in my tracks. "Have you been…sleeping alright?" She asked.

"Yeah…" I answered, pondering of where she got that question from. "Why?"

"I've…tried to visit you in your dreams…but recently…it seems you've been resting in a deep sleep."

"Deep…sleep?" I questioned.

"Yes… It's not necessarily bad…but…it's a bit strange. I haven't really allowed myself to visit you in your dreams because I don't want to somehow hurt you from doing so. Being in a deep sleep makes you a little…more sensitive, for lack of a better word."

"Oh…" I looked towards the floor in intrigued, but also a little worried, thought. "I see…" I began remembering about dreaming of Spirit and felt that she possibly had something to do with it. After all, it might lead to explain how she's appearing in my dreams, as well as in real life.

"Do not worry too much into it, Alex." Luna assured. "I will keep a strong and caring eye on you. Shall anything become too dangerous, I will be sure to let you know."

"Okay…" I nodded lightly. "I'll…see you sometime then."

"Of course. Have a good evening, son."

"You too, mom."

With that, I turned and began walking out the room, wondering if Twilight was still within range to catch up on.

Twilight and I boarded the train back to Ponyville, catching a seat together as last time.

"Sorry you had to carry all that stuff for pretty much nothing." I apologized.

"It's okay." Twilight measly shrugged off. "I'm kind of used to it anyway. Besides, I learned so much about you today."

"Oh really…?" I returned with a playfully raised eyebrow.

"I can't get over it. By what Luna was talking about it, it seems you were born with her alone. I've never met anypony that had anything to do with that. In fact, I don't even know if it's possible!"

"Well…" I didn't really think much of it. "You are talking to a pony that apparently has an element inside him."

"Aren't you wondering about that just as much as I am? About how you were born?" She seemed surprised that I wasn't taking it as seriously.

"No. Not really. I don't know." I looked at the floor of the train while lightly swinging my back legs. "I mean… It's not that I don't care, it's just…whatever. I don't know if that's a wrong way to go about it though… I'm just kind of…focusing that I'm here now."

"Geez. Maybe you are a little weird." Twilight smirked, giving away her usual sign of teasing.

"Since when was I never not?" I added in, sparking a small laughter between the two of us.

However, shortly afterwards, she gasped lightly. "Ugh. Since I've never heard such a case…I'm starting to wonder about something else too."

"Hm?"

"If only Luna's genes apparently carried over to you…does that mean…" She motioned her hooves along with her statement. "Are you…um…actually a mare?"

I was startled by this question. "What?! Pfft. No."

"It's just that…you were born from only a female…so there would be no male to…"

"I think there are some pretty obvious things about me that allow you to plainly see how I'm a stallion, even if your science can't explain it." I stated pretty bluntly.

Twilight blushed lightly and slightly looked away, admitting to the fact. "Yeah. I guess you're right."

I offered a half-stretched smile and softly nudged her. "Don't take this too seriously though. Everything's been fine before we knew any of this. You don't have to raise so many questions about me."

"Aw. I was just about to start thinking of a few tests I could run on you." She expressed jokingly.

After a short chuckle, I yawned lightly and stretched out my forelegs behind me. "I'm ready for home."

After we walked off the train and entered our beloved town, we were soon surprisingly accompanied by Pinkie Pie and Applejack.

"Twilight! Alex! We just had the most amazing super-fun adventure ever!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed out loud, hopping excitedly.

"I honestly doubt that was the uh… 'most amazing super-fun adventure ever'… but it certainly was something." Applejack somewhat agreed.

"We have to tell you all about it!" Pinkie practically screamed.

"Okay, okay." Twilight motioned with her hoof in an attempt to calm Pinkie Pie down. "Let's get to the library. I have to put all the stuff I have with me away."

Once we arrived there, Pinkie immediately began endlessly talking about her day with Applejack and their search for reinforcement of their apparent discovery, all while Twilight managed to listen while also focusing on placing away her things in an organized manner. Since Pinkie Pie talked blazingly fast, she was actually able to go through the story fairly quick.

"…and then we jumped on the wagon, and then we sung all the way back home, and now we're back, and now we're talking to you, and now I'm finished with this story!" She laughed out loud, falling to the floor and waving her hooves rapidly in the air.

"Wow. That's certainly a story, Pinkie." Twilight reacted, placing her full attention towards the hyper pink pony on the ground after she had finished her task.

"We were thinking about putting that in the journal." Applejack pointed out. "Seems like it'd be a mighty good read for later on, heh."

"I agree." Twilight nodded her head enthusiastically. She turned to retrieve the journal with her magic and place it in Applejack's hooves as Pinkie Pie quickly recovered to join her. "If it's about family, you're definitely going to want to write that down there."

"Gee, thanks, Twilight!" Applejack stood up, beginning to leave with Pinkie. "See y'all later!" She waved towards us.

After waving back and seeing them walk out the library, Twilight and I looked at each other.

"Hey, do you want to stay for a bit?" Twilight offered. "We can practice spells, if you want. I know we haven't done that in a while, and there are probably still a few things I can teach you."

"Hmm, yeah, sure." I accepted.

"Great!" Twilight clapped her hooves together as she beamed in soft excitement. Then, she turned around and headed towards her shelves to analyze book titles. "Let's get going! Lemme just find a few certain books and we'll get straight to work!"

"Understood, chief." I acknowledged as I walked after her.

We didn't spend too long practicing magic, as it wasn't too long before the moon was raised and it was night time.

"Are you thinking about heading to bed?" Twilight asked me after noticing me yawn more immensely.

"Yeah… I guess so…" I decided, seeing I could use some rest after the tiring and walking around Canterlot day we had. "Even if I had to rummage through parts of Canterlot looking for a princess, I'm glad at least it was with you."

"Oh, you." Twilight reacted, almost brushing it off. "You don't have to kiss flank."

"Okay." I shrugged and held my hooves up, following along. "I guess you want me to lie to you then?"

Twilight rolled her eyes and brought me in for a warm hug.

"See you tomorrow, B.B.B.F.F., cousin-in-law, and friend for life." She expressed meaningfully.

I chuckled a little, but took it to heart as well. "Yeah, see you…everything you said."

Twilight giggled and lightly shoved me. "Go get your sleep."

I did as Twilight told me and headed home afterwards. When I reached my bed, I was quite eager to head to sleep, as the last time I had seen Spirit was from the scene earlier. In fact, the more I thought about her, the more I wanted to see her, especially from how anxious she was about Twilight and I doing our research…if there was any research…

Either way, I just hoped she was okay.

When I walked onto the balcony, I looked around for the sight of her. Usually, she would be directly in front of me, but she wasn't. I didn't see her anywhere at all actually. I wondered if she was running late. Despite that, I walked towards the edge of the balcony and allowed my back legs to hang out freely. I didn't believe I ever had sat out here on my own. It was still peaceful, but it could have never been better than spending it with Spirit. However, I allowed time to fly as I closed my eyes and took in the fresh breeze.

"Hm. You're early…" I heard behind me in a tender tone.

I looked back and noticed Spirit walking towards me. She was smiling lightly, but it wasn't her usual bright gleam. I sent her back another smile, possibly just a bit happier than hers. "No, you're just late." I teased.

"So I am." She acknowledged and sat down next to me calmly.

"How have you've been?" I questioned, continuing to try to peek in her eyes while she was facing towards the ground.

"Okay." She replied briefly.

"Twilight isn't going to tell anyone." I assured, feeling that that may have been the problem. "You can trust her."

"Hm." She softly expressed.

"You don't look alright…" I commented, seeing her mood remain.

"I guess I'm a little sad…" She responded.

"Oh…" I looked away, wondering what to say to that. "…do you need a hug?"

This finally caused some change. Her frown automatically lifted upwards in a subtle motion. "Maybe."

I placed a foreleg around her and held on to her for some time. After pulling away, I smirked lightly and decided to increase the mood even more with a joke. "If you want anymore, you better have some ice cream for me."

Spirit giggled softly and pulled out a couple of ice cream bars. After she gave one to me, we both smiled at each other and then looked out to the sunset.

"Guess I'm not going crazy after all." I commented after remembering the memory from this morning.

"Huh?" Spirit looked over to me in a slightly puzzled manner.

"Somepony else was able to see you. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to sound like I'm giving off a bad vibe. It's just…kind of relieving to know that you're really real, you know?"

"…right." She faced back at the ground.

"Come on…" I turned to her and nudged her a little. "Don't let your ice cream melt." I referenced as an attempt to hopefully cheer her up.

"Yeah. Yeah." She managed to smile and continued biting into her treat.

Smiling lightly after taking another piece of the cool but very sweet and soft ice cube, I decided I could humor her a little.

"Hey. Why is six afraid of seven?"

Rainbow Falls

Episode 75 – Rainbow Falls

Very disruptive and loud banging on the door woke me up…again… I didn't even feel the need to get out and answer it. Nevertheless, it was barged open and a swift of wind flooded the face I tried to cover using the blankets.

"Come on, soldier! It's time to rise and shine!" Rainbow's voice sounded loudly.

I groaned, beginning to feel grumpy since I really didn't like my sleep being ripped apart like this. "…what for…?"

"Training for the team!" Rainbow stood firmly on my bed, shadowing over me. "We gotta practice if we want to make the tryouts for the Equestria Games!"

I slightly supported my tired self by using my hooves and planted them on the bed to push myself forward. "W-what?" I asked with lightly narrowed, aggravated, and squinting eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"You!" Rainbow Dash pointed a hoof towards me, specifically placing it on my muzzle. "You're on my team! Come on! Get up! We gotta go now!"

"Ugh." I groaned again but managed to remove myself from bed. "I need to take a shower. Need to wake up…" I mentioned, feeling my head dip forward every now and then.

"A shower? Really?!" Rainbow Dash asked behind me as if she couldn't believe I was serious about the subject for some reason.

"Yeah." I placed my hoof on the doorway to the bathroom and looked back. "Really."

I made my way to the tub until Rainbow faced me at the doorway. "You get in that tub, I'm going to get in there with you and scrub you so hard you're never going to want to take a shower again!"

Before I could turn on the water, I turned around and faced her with no real change in my expression. "You're kidding." I responded skeptically.

"Does it look like I'm kidding?" Rainbow stepped towards me to where she was able to aggressively have her muzzle pressing against mine.

Feeling she was all talk about it, I lifted my hoof and slowly reached for the handle. Rainbow didn't say anything, but she did squint her eyes at me even more. It was only a little later when I took a hold of the handle and turned it, hearing the squeak before the water starting running.

I actually believed that Rainbow wouldn't do anything about it.

Turns out…she kept her word.

"Ow… Ow… Ow…" I couldn't help but express in pain as I walked with Rainbow to wherever she was leading me. "I can't believe you did that…" I could feel the burning sensation mainly on my back. I was worried that Rainbow might have even taken a few pieces of my coat along with her.

"I warned you, didn't I?" Rainbow returned, bringing about a more smug tone to her question.

"Well, excuse me for trying to wake myself up after the sudden and abrupt greeting from you." I sighed. "I've gotten so many surprises from you girls, but you're the worst."

"You know what they say." Rainbow flew lightly in the air. "If I wasn't tough on you, then I wouldn't care."

Taking the opportunity to smirk to myself, I acknowledged her statement. "Isn't that the truth…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rainbow quickly asked in a defensive sort of manner.

"Oh, nothing." I dismissed, despite remembering those little things she had done in the past that I never knew she would actually do…such as that little thing from Hearth's Warming Eve…

"Whatever you're thinking…you better shut it out!" Rainbow reacted as if I was thinking something embarrassing about her. "You need to focus on the Equestria Games now!"

"About that…" I referred. "You mind explaining to me about what you were talking about earlier? You have a tendency to include me in things that you tell me about at the last second…"

"That's because I believe in you." She answered, catching my attention quickly. "I mean." She immediately included. "You see, you and I are in a team of three to participate in the Equestria Games. But before we can be officially competing in the Equestria Games, we need to qualify first! That's why we're going to train for it. I personally don't need to, but the two of you could still use some improvement."

"So, you signed me up for the Equestria Games without telling me about it at all?"

"Hey, I'm still your coach for your flying. Just because you've gotten better on your own doesn't mean we're finished yet! Just like the Academy, this is going to be like another exam for you!"

"Whatever you say." I managed to lightly shrug it off. "So, if we're in a team of three, who's the other pony?"

Rainbow stopped her forward motion and pointed out. "Right in front of you."

Our teammate, who was tenderly playing with a butterfly, spotted us in front of her and waved, mainly to me. "Hi, Alex!"

"Fluttershy!?" I trotted over to her with widened eyes. "You're going to be in the team for the Equestria Games?"

"Yes." She answered and then quickly withdrew the volume of her voice while looking away. "I mean…I don't have to be if you don't want me to…"

"No, no, no!" I shook my head and hooves. "It's just… I thought it'd be something you wouldn't really like to do."

"Rainbow said it'd be a good opportunity to face my fear of performing in front of others. And then when she mentioned that you would be on the team…well…" She slightly looked away and blushed. "How could I say no to that?"

"Plus!" Rainbow Dash added. "Fluttershy may not be the fastest or strongest flyer, but she's got a strong heart! I've seen it back when we were lifting that water up to Cloudsdale."

"I'd have to agree with that." I smiled towards Fluttershy. "I think a pony with heart is stronger than a pony with muscle."

"MUSCLE!" A voice suddenly burst out loud, startling me and especially Fluttershy.

We looked to see a familiar immensely buffed pony doing pushups while performing a hoof stand at the same time.

"What the…" I stared in shock. "Isn't that…Snowflake…?" I recalled from the academy. I'd have to try really hard not to remember.

"Bulk Biceps." Rainbow Dash corrected. "Ponies call him Snowflake because…" Her eyes drifted towards his wings. "Well…yeah…"

"Uh…okay… What's he doing here?"

"A team's gotta have some motivation support too, y'know?" Rainbow Dash pointed out.

"I guess…" I couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable around this extremely huge pony.

"Enough chit-chat!" Rainbow cleared and then ordered Fluttershy and me to stand before her. "Front and Center!" The two of us did so and watched as she began pacing in front of us. "Alright, ponies, listen up!"

"We're all ears." Fluttershy happily returned.

"I'M ALL MUSCLES! YEAH!" Bulk Biceps screamed out loud from the sidelines.

"I like your attitude, Bulk Biceps, but it's gonna take more than muscles and 'Yeah!'s to get us to the Equestria Games!" Rainbow responded to Bulk Biceps's unnecessary comment and then focused on the three of us. "We are the Aerial Relay team, and it's up to the three of us to make sure that we qualify at the tryouts. And do I need to remind you how much I - I mean, Ponyville, heh – wants to qualify and make it to the Games?"

"I remember!" Fluttershy lifted the mane that hung downwards on the side her head, sinking into a warm and pleased thought. "I really, really, really want to qualify for you and Ponyville."

I merely shrugged for Rainbow's question.

"BRING IT ON!" Bulk Biceps continued his ear-piercing outbursts.

"Gimme a 'P' for 'Ponyville'!" Pinkie suddenly appeared before us, wearing a cheerleader's outfit and shaking her hay pompoms excitedly. Fluttershy yelped in terror from being startled by Pinkie's loud voice as well. "P, Ponyville!"

"P!" Bulk Biceps joined.

"You guys are starting to give me a headache." I shared as I rubbed my ears.

"Oh, thanks, Pinkie Pie." Fluttershy nevertheless thanked Pinkie. "That was a scary- I mean, great cheer." Fluttershy quickly changed her word choice when she saw Pinkie returning a worried look at the word "scary". Pinkie managed to smile gleefully when Fluttershy finished her sentence.

"Just make sure you have one ready for when we qualify for the Aerial Relay." Rainbow Dash reminded.

"AND AFTER THAT, FOR WHEN WE WIN GOLD MEDALS IN THE EQUESTRIA GAMES!" Bulk Biceps continued, causing me to place my hooves on my ears.

"Not so fast!" Applejack's voice sounded from a short distance away. She revealed herself carrying a cart behind her with her homemade treats. "If you're gonna be good, you're gonna be better with some of my apple brown betties in ya. They're perfect." She stopped the cart in front of us. Bulk Biceps and Fluttershy seemed highly interested in the food while Pinkie Pie popped out from within the cart and shook her hooves in cheer again.

"'P' is for 'perfect'!"

While everypony besides Rainbow Dash began working their mouths on the apple brown betties, I heard even more voices coming from another side of the area we were in.

"Hey, hey, hey!" I looked over to see Vinyl, Octavia, and Derpy inviting themselves in. "We heard you were in our team for the Equestria Games." Vinyl pointed out, her eyes free of her usual DJ glasses.

I quickly faced Rainbow Dash to somewhat get after her. "Was I seriously the last one to know about me being in the team?"

Rainbow only shrugged with a sheepish smile.

"It's all good." Vinyl walked towards me and placed a hoof on my shoulder. "Like you need to prepare for something like this."

"We've all come to support you and your friends to make it in to the Equestria Games." Octavia shared, stepping forward as well. "We'll be at the Games as well, but I would have to see if I will be allowed to join Vinyl and the others here after my performance…" Octavia thought to herself for a moment.

"You guys are going to be amazing!" Derpy hopped excitedly with her usual crossed eyes.

"Gee…thanks…" I returned a little embarrassingly, seeing how I began to feel overwhelmed by all this support.

"Alright, team!" Rainbow Dash suddenly called out, requesting us to get back on track. Fluttershy cut her chewing on the snacks short while I had to excuse myself from the mares by me. "Show me what you got! Put some bend into those knees!" Rainbow Dash pointed, leading for Fluttershy and I do so. "Flap those wings!" Got it. "And I want to see all four hooves off the ground on the count of three!" She paused and stared at us with a smirk for a moment. "One two three!" She counted off quickly.

I didn't know what Rainbow Dash wanted exactly, but all I really did was just get off the ground like she said. Fluttershy was having trouble doing so for some reason, perhaps because she was trying to be as fast as Rainbow. Nevertheless, I lowered myself a bit and grabbed her hoof to help her up with a smile.

"Aww!" I could hear Vinyl express from below. "That's so cute!"

"We aren't gonna win the Games with cuteness!" Rainbow Dash commented and continued to focus on us. "We gotta strain our physical bodies and push ourselves to the limit!"

"How's everything going up there?" Yet another voice spoke from below us.

Rainbow looked downwards to notice Twilight observing the scene between us. "Just trying to warm up here."

"Well, you better warm up soon." Twilight warned. "You don't want to miss the train to Rainbow Falls do you?"

"It's coming already?" Rainbow asked in shock.

"It's supposed to be arriving and boarding ponies in about thirty minutes. I told you this hours ago!"

"Oh." Rainbow merely expressed and then looked at us.

"No offense, Rainbow, but you need to get a little more organized…" I honestly shared.

Rainbow stared at me for a moment and only managed to briefly answer as she crossed her forelegs. "…shut up."

I didn't realize how big a party we were bringing in when we boarded the train. I believed we almost filled up an entire cart, especially with Bulk Biceps himself. In the train, I sat with Fluttershy in front of Twilight, who was sitting with Rainbow. The other girls, including Octavia, Vinyl, Derpy, and Bulk Biceps sat around us.

As the train was on its way to this new area, Rainbow Falls, Rainbow Dash stared out the window, possibly thinking of what the future held for the Equestria Games and us.

"You know, Rainbow Dash…" Twilight began. "Knowing you, I would've thought you'd gone out and search for the best flyers out in Ponyville." Twilight looked towards Fluttershy and me to clear something up. "No offense, of course."

"None taken." Fluttershy answered with a smile and nod while I merely shrugged it off.

"Yeah…but…" Rainbow continued staring out while thinking on her words. When she had given it enough thought, she turned to join in our space and continue talking. "It's a lot more fun winning with your friends. I mean, not that I have anything against winning with other ponies…it'd just be…a little weird without you guys. Besides, I know that I can pick up the slack for anypony. With me on the team, we'll qualify. I'm sure of it." She managed to retrieve the confidence within her and wear it on her face.

"Ponyville is very lucky to have you." Twilight added.

"Yeah, I'm pretty awesome." Rainbow shrugged a little arrogantly.

"'Awesome' must be your favorite word, huh?" I asked teasingly, believing that if I counted all the times she had ever used that word, I probably wouldn't be able to finish.

"You're only jealous because you know it's true." Rainbow referred to her self-description.

"What? About it being your favorite word?" I smirked, seeing an opening to her talk.

"You keep that kind of mouth, I'm going to double the work for you." She pointed intimidation. "Don't think I'm joking. You know what I did in the morning."

"Huh?" Twilight questioned, clueless of what had happened.

"Nothing." I closed and decided to stop. "Fine, you win."

Rainbow laughed. "You know it!"

"I am so proud to be representing Ponyville." Fluttershy shared her excitement, holding up a flag that represented our team. "Oh, it's such an honor to even try out for the Games. I just hope I don't let anypony down."

"You'll be fine." I assured and placed a hoof on her.

"We'll make them proud!" Bulk Biceps shouted out, rocking the conversation roughly. At least it wasn't as loud as before…

"'P' is for 'proud'!" Pinkie Pie danced on the seat behind us. "We're gonna be the best fans anypony has ever seen!"

"Ooh!" Rarity hopped onto the seat as well and placed her hooves on my back to support her height. "Can't wait to see what everypony else is wearing, even though I am absolutely sure they won't be better than the Ponyville uniforms I'm designing for the Equestria Games."

"And we will make it to the Games once everypony carbo-loads on my apple brown betties." Applejack joined in, holding one of her treats as an example.

"I can't wait!" Pinkie cried out.

"I've almost forgotten how big of a deal the Equestria Games are…and even how they're going to be held at the Crystal Empire… Miss Cadence will be there…" I thought about it, seeing as I hadn't been taking it to great thought before.

"Yeah, also your nutty sister!" Rainbow felt the need to mention to me. "Don't forget that she's going to be the one performing at the Equestria Games!"

"Performing?" I heard Octavia ask, get off her seat, and then sit next to me. "What do you mean performing?"

"Y'know?" Rainbow answered. "She's going to be the 'entertainment' for the Equestria Games."

"Are you talking about that band that'll be playing after the Games start?"

"I donnu." Rainbow shrugged. "I guess."

"Starlight." Octavia mentioned her name. "If I recall correctly…" She then faced me. "She's your…sister?"

"Foster." I corrected briefly and the looked away with half-opened eyes. "It's a long story…"

"Her music's not that great." Vinyl couldn't help but walk over and say half-jokingly.

"We may have our differences in our taste of music, but…" Octavia appeared to have something related with her. She looked up to Rainbow Dash. "Why would you call her…ahem…'nutty'?"

"Because she's a brat." Rainbow explained a little angrily. "She likes to mess with Alex, and by mess I mean try her best to hurt him anyway she can."

"Really…?" Octavia glanced over to me and then back at Rainbow Dash. I really didn't want to get involved with this talk of her.

"Yeah, but I think Alex has been getting a soft spot for her. He's had opportunities to ruin her and he just doesn't take it!"

That really bugged me, but I only sighed to release as much irritation as I could along with it.

"That's strange…" Octavia continued. "I believe I've seen her with my own eyes before, but I don't believe I've ever seen her do anything that would relate to the behavior you're speaking of now."

"Of course she wouldn't. She wouldn't want her 'fans' to know the kind of pony she really is." Rainbow replied.

"Well…I remember hearing her talking about something along the lines of…getting her music from someone special."

As much as I wanted to drive away from this talk, I just couldn't resist being intrigued by this information. "What?" I asked Octavia.

"Some ponies were interviewing her…um…I think in…Canterlot. Sometimes we pass each other every now and then because she either plays near or at the same area I do with my orchestra. All I really heard and can remember is her speaking about a certain somepony that inspires her music, but she didn't seem to want to get into it."

I then stared out into the floor, distinctively remembering the song she was singing the night the Crystal Empire was chosen to host the Games. Her heart, by all means, seemed to actually be placed in that song. Did…that have something to do with it…?

"Hm." Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs in disbelief. "Probably to just look better."

We all felt the train coming to stop.

"We're here." Twilight looked out the window and announced to us. "Better get going."

"Right…" I spoke softly and stood up so we could all start heading off the train.

All of us walked inside the training grounds, where all of the other competing teams were doing their exercises. My eyes even caught hold onto this specific group of competitors. They weren't ponies… They were griffons! I was immediately reminded of…Gilda.

Geez…it's been so long so I had seen her. I can't help but wonder how she would react if she was here and saw me for who I was today.

Nevertheless, I also saw some ponies staring or glancing at us walk by. I wondered if it might have been due to the fact that an Alicorn like me was competing in the Games…

"Here's a good spot!" Rainbow Dash presented with her hoof towards an empty area of grass.

Several of the ponies helped sent up a tent while I felt a little distracted. A distant boom startled me and caused all of us to look up. It was immediately recognizable that another team dashed by in the sky, which were the Wonderbolts. In awe, Rainbow Dash walked forward a bit to get a better view until they stopped by in front of her.

"And the game is on!" Spitfire expressed with a grin.

"Hah, nice to see there's some real competition here!" Soarin added, removing the googles on his eyes.

"Two more days of practice, then we'll see you in the air, Rainbow Dash!" Another one of the Wonderbolts friendly placed a hoof on Rainbow. I don't believe I had ever conversed with this one, but if I recalled correctly, the name was Fleetfoot. "If you're lucky." She walked off, having the rest of her teammates follow behind her.

"Don't need luck!" Rainbow shouted towards them. "Got some awesome flyers with me!" She sighed contently and turned to us. "The Wonderbolts know a winner when they see one, and we'll be winners just as soon as we practice! Right team?"

"Right." Fluttershy gleefully returned.

"Sure." I commonly replied, not feeling the best of moods. I probably needed time to get back to normal.

"Hooray!" Pinkie beamed and blew a party hooter.

Rainbow Dash looked over to Twilight as if she was expecting something. "And, um, I'm with her! Hooray!" Twilight cheered with an unprepared look.

"Give us some clouds! Give us some dale! And what do you get? Cloudsdale!" We heard a couple of other cheerleaders working their positions for the Cloudsdale team. "Woo-hoo!"

Pinkie stared in silence for a moment until she immediately gasped. "Where can I get pompoms like those?!"

Twilight and Fluttershy each exchanged a look of delight.

"Alright! No time to lose!" Rainbow Dash announced. "You see the other teams here, so we should get straight to training!"

"Yay." Fluttershy answered in soft excitement.

"Okay." I returned.

"C'mon. Let's get to it!" Rainbow began leading Fluttershy towards an area with more space to work in.

"We'll hang back here." Vinyl informed me as she came along with Octavia.

"Good luck, Alex." Octavia expressed with a raised hoof and a smile.

"Thanks…" I managed to smile just a bit. Then, I trotted away to catch up to the team.

I joined Fluttershy at the spot as Rainbow Dash was waiting for me to get into listening position. After, she flew up into the air and began pacing around in flight for a moment in silence. Fluttershy and I glanced at each other with our eyes and then back at Rainbow Dash.

"So, do I need to remind you of what our goal is here?" Rainbow began, asking us and crossing her forelegs to reveal her seriousness on the subject.

Fluttershy and I returned silence for a few seconds.

"…winning?" I guessed, feeling that that's what Rainbow Dash most likely saw.

"We want to qualify!" Rainbow specified. "We need to be one of the first four teams to cross the finish line!" She looked over her shoulder towards a checkered banner hovering over a cloud outlined with a rainbow." She looked to me and pointed. "Alex, you're the first flyer, so let me see you flap it!"

"…okay." I returned and was about to start flapping my wings until Rainbow Dash stopped me.

"Oh, and for the record, keep in mind that no magic is allowed. We're lucky enough to be able to have an Alicorn on the team, y'know, fairness and all that."

"Yeah… I get it." I responded, having no intention to use magic in the first place, but I guessed she was just being cautious. I pushed my hooves off the ground and began working my way towards the objective destination until I suddenly saw something fly up right in front of me, stopping me in my tracks. I kept my eyes on the unidentified flying object until it began hurling back to the ground. It splattered on the grass, allowing me to see that it was one of Applejack's apple brown betties.

Rainbow had flew to me to see what the commotion was about. Applejack grabbed another one with her tail and flipped it over to me once again. However, the motion of the food was really…uneasy, so I couldn't just go ahead and eat it if that was what Applejack wanted me to do.

"What the?" Rainbow Dash shared.

"Sorry! Got the idea from them, but..." Applejack turned towards where the Cloudsdale team, the Wonderbolts, was practicing.

"Hooves down! Cakes up!" A couple of ponies working launchers that were holding cakes exclaimed out loud. Spitfire and Fleetfoot were in the sky at the time. They swirled around and perfectly caught the cakes in their mouth, chewing as they continued flying.

"...It looks like they got better aim." Applejack admitted.

"I don't even think eating while flying is a good idea." I mentioned. "I don't imagine it sitting well while you're doing work…"

"Never mind that." Rainbow Dash redirected my attention back at the task at hoof. "The passing of the baton needs to be seamless." She held it up towards me. You shouldn't miss a wing beat or drop a hair in altitude!" She grabbed my hoof and lifted it up. "And whatever you do, don't let go of it!" She firmly planted it on my hoof.

Fluttershy flew up towards me, seeming to already know how it worked. "Are you really, really, really sure you're ready? I mean, I don't want to take it if you're not super sure."

With a small smile, I nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready." I carefully passed it on to her by pressing it against her hoof.

She went ahead and retracted her hoof to hold on to it, but she accidentally somehow lost her grip on it. The baton flew off her hoof, and she so desperately tried to catch it again with her hoof. However, it ended up falling towards the ground and landing there.

Rarity walked by and spotted the baton lying on the ground in front of her. "Ponyville could do so much better." She shared, referring to the appearance of the baton. "I'll be back with a freshly painted one in no time!" Despite the fact that we were using it at the time, she went ahead and trotted off with it.

"We were using that!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed after her. "And it's not like anypony else has color-coordinated horseshoes or anything!" After hearing a bold clink, she looked ahead to see Spitfire pass Fleetfoot a shiny gold baton. Sighing, she headed back to the ground. "I guess some ponies do."

Twilight, who was observing a hot pink pompom of her own, attended to Rainbow. "Some ponies do what?"

Rainbow Dash sighed again. "Have a better chance of qualifying and going to the Equestria Games than others." She walked off, sparing a sentence to Fluttershy and me before leaving. "Take five, guys."

Fluttershy and I landed back on the ground near Twilight.

"I don't know what she's worried about." I mentioned. "We're not that bad. I'm sure we'll still make the qualifications."

"Maybe she's worried about looking bad in front of the Wonderbolts?" Twilight offered.

Fluttershy and I could only return shaking heads and shrugs.

"I can go talk to her." I suggested and then began heading off in the direction Rainbow left to.

She wasn't too far away as I found her sitting and watching the Wonderbolts practice by herself.

"Everything alright…?" I asked as I approached her.

Rainbow seemed to take my voice for a slight surprise when she turned around. "Y-yeah, everything's great!" She seemed to place on a false smile. "Don't even know why you're asking me that question!"

"I don't know." I answered in a sarcastic but lightly playful manner. "You kind of walked off looking a little less than energetic."

"Me? I was just…taking a break." She falsely excused.

"Since when do you ever take a break?" I returned, but she remained quiet, possibly from being unable to come up with another excuse. I walked towards her and placed a hoof around her to sympathize. "Listen, Rainbow, I know we don't really…talk like this much…but I'd like to know what's going on. What's bothering you?"

She struggled to respond, as if she wasn't really good at this type of conversing. I wasn't surprised. She always allowed her ego to do the talking.

"It's kind of nerve-wracking to be training next to the Wonderbolts." She answered.

"Is it? Really?" I frowned lightly.

Rainbow looked behind us and then carefully around to make sure no pony was looking at us. "I'm going to tell you this, but you better not tell anypony else." She punched me in the gut, lightly to where it didn't hurt but firm enough to show me she was serious. "I'm trusting you with this."

"Since when have I blabbed about anything you did in the past you considered embarrassing?" I reminded. "Especially that little soft spot you had back after the wedding in Canterlot?" I specifically recalled.

Rainbow's face warmed up a little, but she quickly shook her head. "Shut up. Do you want to know what's going on or not?" I nodded. She sighed. "You know how the Wonderbolts are my all-time heroes?"

"Yeah?" I softly acknowledged.

"Well…" Rainbow rubbed her head. "I don't want them to see me fail. Don't take this the wrong way, but it'll really look bad on me if we make one little mistake and fail at qualifying for the Equestria Games."

"Wow…" I expressed as I was surprised this was coming out of her mouth. "That doesn't sound like you. You're awesome, aren't you?"

"Yeah…" She answered with slight hesitation.

"So? What has you worried?"

"Well…it's not me that I'm worried about." She continued. "What if something goes wrong between you and Fluttershy during the qualifications? What if Fluttershy accidentally lets the baton slip through her hoof again?"

Releasing a small smile of assurance, I responded. "That's why you're there to coach us, remember? I know Fluttershy will do anything at her best to make you happy."

"Yeah, I know." She stood up and looked towards the sky, observing the Wonderbolts practice in almost perfect unison. "And who else better to learn from than the Wonderbolts themselves? Come on. We should get back to practice. Don't wanna fall behind."

"Yeah." I agreed, stood up, and began following her back to the field.

After catching Fluttershy, she began leading us in the direction of where the Wonderbolts were practicing. In a matter of time, Rainbow stopped us in front of their camp, where they seemed to even have a team that coordinated their moves. Not only that, they seemed to have more luxuries to go along as well. For example, Spitfire was receiving an energy boost massage from an elder pony that seemed fit enough to be a trainer himself. Meanwhile, there were loud sounds of rushing air coming from Soarin's run in the skies.

"Watch and learn." Rainbow Dash announced. "The Cloudsdales are Wonderbolts, and Wonderbolts are the best flyers there are." She pointed her head in the direction of the soaring Soarin'. "And my personal heroes. So, maybe you two can learn something."

My attention turned back to Spitfire who was casually receiving the massage.

"They even get massages in their training…" I rather learned about the bonuses they received. "Wow."

"I can give you a massage." Fluttershy said out loud, causing me to turn my head back to her in slight surprise. She quickly withdrew her enthusiasm and embarrassingly turned her head away with a blush. "…if you want…"

Before I could return a slightly flushed face, Rainbow Dash placed her hooves to the bottom of our muzzles and turned our heads upwards to get us back on focusing. "Please learn something?"

"C'mon, Soarin', pick up the pace!" Fleetfoot had shouted from the ground near Spitfire. "You can do better than that!"

"I sure hope so." Spitfire agreed.

"Practice, practice, yay, practice!" The Cloudsdale cheerleaders continued to work their gleeful motivation.

However, the pegasus Rainbow Dash wanted us to keep our eyes on made the not very smart mistake of turning his head away from the course and to the cheerleaders, acknowledging their peppy existence. By the time he turned his head back to the course, his wing caught hold onto the ring he was supposed to fly through, botching his task severely. He then began spiraling uncontrollably towards the ground, about to botch his landing harmfully as well.

Everypony seemed to either be struck with shock or just trotting in to see what the situation was about as he screamed for help. This even reminded me the time Rarity had lost her wings and was falling endlessly towards the ground. Unfortunately, the thought had practically paralyzed me too when I remembered how I could only watch her fall as I had no wings. However, Rainbow luckily sped out from the ground and rescued Soarin' just before he was about to pummel to the ground.

"Gotcha!" Rainbow Dash stated and then landed back, allowing us to race over to her and Soarin'.

As there were cheering from both teams, the rest of the Cloudsdale team proceeded to congratulate Rainbow on her spectacular save.

"Awe-some!" Fleetfoot commented.

"As good as any Wonderbolt!" Spitfire added.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash, I'm just so proud of you." Fluttershy proceeded to praise Rainbow. "You scooped Soarin' out of the sky and brought him down to the ground and now, now he's okay. At least, I hope he's okay." She turned to ask Soarin' herself. "Are you okay?"

"Uh, my wing hurts…" He stretched out his wing, which didn't look too good. "…but I-I'm sure it'll be okay by the competition." He quickly included when Fleetfoot and Spitfire's expressions were widened with surprise. A siren wailed, presenting a cart to carry him to his recovery. Soarin' seemed to have some trouble getting on. Nonetheless, he rested upon it and looked at Rainbow Dash with relieved smile. "You're the best, Rainbow Dash." He groaned afterwards.

"Ah, it was nothin'." Rainbow replied. "But, if you feel like talking about how great I am, don't let me stop you!" She chuckled lightly and perhaps even a bit nervously.

As he was escorted out of the area, Bulk Biceps suddenly dashed in, surprising everypony with his insanely loud voice. "'P' IS FOR RAINBOW DASH!"

Realizing his mistake, Fluttershy flew a bit off the ground in order to match the height to his ears. "Um, 'Rainbow Dash' actually starts with an 'R'." She whispered.

Bulk Biceps was confused for a second, but then he immediately revealed a sheepish expression. "NEVER MIND!" He shouted.

"Tough break to lose a teammate right before the tryouts." Rainbow Dash mentioned to Spitfire and Fleetfoot.

Spitfire and Fleetfoot exchanged an odd look with each for a moment and then faced Rainbow Dash. "You mind if we have a word with you, Rainbow Dash?" Spitfire requested. "In private?"

"Sure." Rainbow accepted with a tone that revealed her anticipation for that request. She looked back to face us. "Go ahead and head back guys, I'll catch up in a bit."

"Okay…" I answered and then faced Fluttershy. "Come on." I motioned my head back to where everyone else on our team was at."

As we walked to regroup with the family, Fluttershy seemed to slip a statement towards me.

"I can give you a massage, you know…" She spared, still a little embarrassed by it.

"It won't be like your 'bear' massage, right?" I joked, still distinctively remembering how rough she handled that one.

"Oh, no!" She reacted heavily, shaking her head. "Yours will be nice, soothing, and gentle." She assured with a small beam and closed eyes.

"Maybe I'll take your offer then." I shared with a warm smile as well.

As we arrived back to everypony, I heard my name being called, along with a waving hoof from Vinyl Scratch, who was sitting with Octavia.

"Oh, excuse me, Fluttershy." I expressed.

"Of course." She motioned.

I trotted over to the two to see what it was they were calling me for.

"How's it going?" Vinyl asked.

"Okay, I guess." I looked back to see Rainbow still talking with Spitfire and Fleetfoot in the distance. "Although, we still haven't really gotten too into the training yet…"

"That's cool." Vinyl returned and then looked at Octavia, who seemed to have nothing to say. Vinyl nudged her for some reason, bringing up Octavia's voice in a startle.

"O-oh." She caught herself mentally. "Ahem. So…these are all your friends?" She directed towards everypony surrounding us.

"Yeah." I looked in her panning direction. "Well…Bulk Biceps…the huge guy…I don't know so much. I've seen him a few times before, especially at the Wonderbolt Academy, but other than that…that's pretty much it…"

"You want to be a Wonderbolt?" Octavia asked curiously.

"Me?" I placed a hoof on my chest. "No." I shook my head. "Rainbow Dash sort of dragged me into that one…literally. She said it was good for my wing practice and I guess I can say it was." I smiled at the few memories forming my head. "I was paired up with Derpy there." I directed to Derpy, who was hanging around the others.

"I see…" Octavia stated and sat silent for a second. "I've…heard that all these mares are really special to you."

"Yeah…they really are…" I mentioned, glancing at each one of them. "They all helped me get back on my hooves. Well..." I thought about it. "I'm not sure that's the right way to put it. More like…they woke me up. Sorry if it sounds weird."

"No." Octavia shook her head lightly. "I understand."

"Hey, Alex…" Vinyl's voice stepped in for a moment. "You ever worry about your special somepony?" She asked, looking past me.

"Special somepony?" Octavia questioned, seeming to be lightly surprised.

"Fluttershy?" I inquired, wondering why Vinyl brought that question up all of a sudden. "What do you mean worry about her?"

"Like…if some other pony is trying to…I don't know…act 'funny' around her." Vinyl somewhat attempted to explain.

"'Act funny'…?" I repeated, still not really getting Vinyl's message. "You mean like…Pinkie Pie?"

Instead of trying to get the message across, Vinyl stood up, placed her hooves on my head, and turned it around in a specific direction. I immediately saw Fluttershy with Bulk Biceps. She was giggling for some reason…and then my eyes drew towards Bulk Biceps who seemed to obviously be…flexing his muscles. Something instantly stirred up inside me. I didn't really like seeing this…

"Do you see what I mean now?" Vinyl asked.

I did…and I didn't like it…but I couldn't just go based on sudden thoughts.

"Maybe…he's just…flexing his muscles…" I guessed.

"Why would somepony flex his muscles for no reason?" Vinyl brought up.

"I don't know…" I shrugged. "I mean…he was kind of doing that earlier this morning. Maybe it's just his thing."

"And was Fluttershy around with you at the time?" Vinyl questioned yet again.

"…yeah…" I answered.

"Maybe you should see what's up." Vinyl suggested.

"I don't know…" I shook my head. "I just don't want to go in there thinking one thing when it actually could be another… I mean…I don't like the sight of it…but I can't just…you know." I tried to say. I looked back and saw Fluttershy now paying attention to a small baby blue butterfly in front of her. It landed on her muzzle which she found adorably amusing. "See? Now, she's just focusing on the butterfly."

"But he's still flexing." Vinyl pointed out.

I didn't really know what to say to that. He was indeed doing what Vinyl was pointing out. I grunted lightly from the thought. "…I don't know… I won't…get involved right now…but if things get obvious…then maybe."

"Just keep an eye on her, okay?" Vinyl suggested.

"Okay…" I returned. I shook my head, remembering Octavia had said something before. "Sorry, you were saying something, Tavi?"

"Oh, it was nothing." Octavia waved her hoof. "You probably need to be getting ready soon, though."

"Speaking of that…" I looked back to notice Rainbow Dash wasn't in sight anymore. "I'm not sure where Rainbow went… I guess we have to wait for her to come back."

Rainbow Dash seemed to be gone a lot longer than we had expected. It was odd, but the only reason I could think of was that she was allowing time to slip by since she was with her "personal heroes". When she finally returned, we were able to start our training…but it wasn't as focused as I expected it to be.

Rainbow Dash merely guided us on what we needed to do: Fly through the hoops and safely pass on the baton to each other. However, she didn't seem to be placing in the focus on helping us do just that for the qualifications. Instead, she seemed to be more worried on disappearing all of a sudden, leaving us to practice on our own.

I wasn't sure if this was her method of "coaching", but either way, the same pattern seemed to occur in the next day. Fluttershy and I were left to do our wing-ups, but after Rainbow Dash disappeared once again, I was more concerned about Fluttershy than my wing-ups. She would place both of her wings on the ground while she supported herself with her hooves, and then she would take her hooves off to see if she could then support herself with her wings. However, she lost her balance and was about to fall flat on the floor until I stretched out my forelegs and connected hers with mine.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Mm-hm." She nodded her head and pushed herself up. "Doing wing-ups are hard…" She rubbed her wings lightly.

"What about when you were training hard to improve your wing power?" I reminded her of her workout back then.

Fluttershy rubbed her hoof on her foreleg a little embarrassingly. "That was a while ago… I guess I forgot…"

"It's fine." I nudged her wing with mine. "At least…I think it is…" I looked around for any sign of Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow has been disappearing so much lately…it's hard to know if we're going in the direction she wants us to be in."

"I know…" Fluttershy acknowledged. "I hope everything's okay…"

"How about you two take a lil' break and come have some apple brown betties?" Applejack walked in from the side to suggest. "I've got a heap more waitin' for ya."

"Yeah, sure." I accepted, leading Fluttershy along with a gesture of a head.

Applejack led us to a spot she had covered with a blanket. Nearby was her full cart of her baked goods. She sat us down while she retrieved a plate holding a plentiful amount of the apple brown betties. "You two seen Rainbow around?"

We both shrugged until we unexpectedly heard a voice quickly growing louder.

"I'm here!" We saw Rainbow fly in and land at the blanket, sitting down. She seemed to be lightly out of breath.

"You look a little tired." I pointed out, casually analyzing her face. "I thought you went out to get some water."

"I did! I just…had a little race with myself on the way there and back." Rainbow grinned a little oddly.

"Oh… Okay…" I dismissed and turned to the plate Applejack had placed before us.

"It's all fine!" Applejack announced lively. "Go ahead and dig in! There's plenty to go around!"

Just as I was about grab one, something fierce suddenly charged right in. "DON'T MIND IF I DO!" He grabbed a hoof-full and shoved them in mouth.

Despite his sudden action, Fluttershy went ahead and grabbed one to delightfully chew it.

Seeming to be unable to help himself, Bulk Biceps went ahead and shoved the rest but one on the plate into his mouth. Before he swallowed, he laughed for a reason I did not know of. Noticing Rainbow Dash at the other end of the blanket, he grabbed the last one and offered it to her. However, Rainbow took a glance at the treat and then waved her hoof, rubbing her belly afterwards to show that she was full.

I hadn't seen Rainbow Dash eat at all lately, so I couldn't understand why she didn't accept the offer. Then again, maybe it was how Bulk Biceps shoved all the food into his mouth like that…

Bulk Biceps shrugged and decided to bounce the last piece from the plate with his muscles. This caused Applejack and Fluttershy to laugh while I could really only feel the opposite of laughing.

"…heh…heh…" I subtly feigned a laugh, but then decided to leave the area before anypony could really see what I was feeling.

It was one thing to dive in all of a sudden, but it was another to eat everything that was available to numerous ponies, knowing that one pony didn't even have a turn…

The little event wasn't the end of it though. A little later on, when Rainbow Dash had to go do whatever it was she always left for, I found the both of them laughing and…prancing? …together… They were wearing these outfits that only Fluttershy seemed to wear well.

"Oh, Alex!" Rarity had spotted me as she was wearing her designer glasses and holding the fabric the two were wearing with her hoof. She walked towards me to speak further. "I had been looking all over for you so you could test out these new outfits for the Equestria Games I designed."

My eyes narrowed towards Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps who seemed to be having…fun together… "They're too…"

"Too much?" Rarity guessed.

Remembering how Rarity was talking about the designs, I shook my head mentally but physically nodded. "Yeah… Too much…"

"Oh, dear…" Rarity noticed my sulking attitude. "They aren't that bad, are they?"

"It's… It's not that at all…" I slightly looked away.

"What's the matter, darling?" Rarity asked.

Unwilling to get into the matter, especially at this place and time, I decided to avoid it. "I think I just need some time…to myself." I began turning away. "See you."

"…bye…" Rarity answered, seeming to be bothered by the way I had talked to her and was leaving.

I sat in a spot where I wouldn't catch any other pony's attention and just be allowed to think to myself. I did a lot of thinking.

Why was I obsessing over this thing between Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps? They're just friends, right? It's no different as if Fluttershy was spending time with her animal friends…is it?

I groaned and placed my hooves to my temples.

I can't help feeling this way…but I don't want to show it. Bulk Biceps is technically not doing anything wrong, and I don't want to make a fool out of myself for overreacting. That actually…might drive Fluttershy away… I don't know… I just can't help but feel bothered by this…

"Hi, Alex." I heard in front of me, quickly catching my attention.

I immediately noticed it was Fluttershy. "Fluttershy!" I softly exclaimed in surprise. "I thought you were with Bulk Biceps."

"Rarity told me you were acting a little off, and that you were starting to worry her." Fluttershy took a seat next to me. "Is something wrong?"

Remembering that I didn't want to make a big scene out of it, I decided against telling her about what was going on inside. "I don't know…" I answered. "I guess I'm just having an off day."

Fluttershy surprised me again when she placed a soft and gentle kiss to my lips. "Let's turn it to an on day then. We have to give it our all so we can qualify and make it to the Equestria Games, remember?"

After receiving that gift from Fluttershy, I had to be dead to not smile. "Yeah, okay."

After that, everything appeared to be going great as Fluttershy and I started to train together…until Fluttershy ended up accidentally hitting Bulk Biceps with the baton as we attempted to pass it to each other. For a big guy, he was a real softie when it came to such things to have Fluttershy chase after him to apologize.

Sigh.

The next day came, which was the day of whether we passed our qualification or not, and Rainbow still hadn't really kept her focus on us. It seemed like she was doing two things at once, but not telling us. What could she possibly be doing that was more important than getting us ready for what she wanted in the first place?

Either way, Fluttershy confronted me with a warm smile on her face. Whatever I had been feeling before, I had to suck it up whether I liked it or not and attempt to look at least content for her.

"Ready for some more training?" She asked.

If you could say being interrupted by Bulk Biceps was training…

"Yeah, sure." I agreed nonetheless and had to go on with the flow.

"Look." She pulled something delicate out and held it up to me. "I brought something to lift as a weight."

"Fluttershy, that's a flower." I stated truthfully. "I'm sure you're able to work with something heavier than that."

"Really?" She questioned.

"Angel weighs more than that. For Celestia's sake, I've seen you even lift a bear off the ground before!" I mentioned.

"That's true…" Fluttershy giggled.

A sudden loud and exaggerated groan was heard throughout the practice area. All of our attention was brought to this familiar-looking pony in a wheelchair. "Woe is me! Oooh!" She cried as everypony, especially Fluttershy and me, trotted to see who it actually was.

As the surrounding crowd chattered concerningly, we rushed in to the distraught pony. "Rainbow Dash!" I approached her wheelchair and placed a hoof on her wrapped one. "What happened to you?!"

"Urgh, I've hurt my hoof..." She announced, holding up the hoof I had been lightly touching and received gasps from Pinkie Pie and Rarity behind us.

"All of them?" Spitfire questioned, noticing how all of her hooves were wrapped instead of that just one.

"I, uh, tripped on a-a foam hoof and landed on a..." Rainbow then placed a hoof over her mouth and the rest of her explanation came out muffled and indistinct. All I was able to really get was something about a "pokey stick" and something to do with the ground.

Pinkie Pie growled loudly, shaking the pompoms on her hooves. "If I get my hooves on that…" She repeated the same unintelligible words that Rainbow mumbled and continued clearly after. "…it'll be in BIG TROUBLE!"

"There is no way I can fly now." Rainbow sadly stated.

"Do you think you'll be better by tryouts?" Fluttershy asked worriedly.

Rainbow continued to groan very exaggeratedly, which seemed…unnecessary. She also fell over the hoofrest of her chair. "I'll be lucky if I ever fly again!" She sighed deeply. "I just need a little rest."

"Oh, don't worry, Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy quickly lifted her back up onto the wheelchair and began moving her out of the area. "We'll take care of you... or, at least, somepony will. Like, a medic or-or a doctor, or a nurse."

Twilight stepped in, offering to take Rainbow Dash to receive care. "I'll take her, Fluttershy. You and Alex should keep practicing…" Twilight stopped to look at Rainbow. "That is…if you're still going to try out for the Games…"

Rainbow Dash sat silent as the rest of the girls followed. The only ones that were left behind was Fluttershy, Vinyl, Octavia, Derpy, and me.

"Is she going to be alright?" Vinyl asked as she came our way with Octavia and Derpy.

"I usually wouldn't worry about her too much in situations like this…" I began. "…but something seems a little off. I wouldn't think that Rainbow Dash would actually let an injury with her hoof stop her from doing this with us unless she actually messed up her wings."

"If she can't compete in the tryouts, who else are we going to find to fly with us?" Fluttershy questioned fearfully.

"Me!" Derpy's hoof shot upwards. "I can do it!"

"Actually…she can." I mentioned, remembering her previous flights. "She was pretty good back at the Academy. Better than me, really."

"Well, that's wonderful news!" Fluttershy smiled. "If Rainbow Dash really isn't able to fly with us, then we can try. If we do end up winning, I'll gladly be willing to give her my gold medal."

"Yeah…" I lightly nodded. "I mean…it must suck getting hurt all of a sudden and being unable to compete when you really wanted to. There's something about this that's still a little weird, but either way, I guess I don't mind either."

"Me too!" Derpy agreed.

"Shall we go see how your friend is doing then?" Octavia suggested.

"Yeah." I agreed. "Wouldn't be fair when everypony is with her except us…"

Fluttershy opened the door to the room Rainbow Dash was in to lead us inside.

"And how is our patient doing?" She asked warmly.

"I've been better…" Rainbow Dash answered as all of her legs were held up on her bed. It appeared her injury was worse than she explained it to be.

"We just wanted to let you know that we're so sorry you're hurt, but you shouldn't worry a bit about not being able to be in the tryouts." Fluttershy expressed earnestly. "We'll be alright. We even have a replacement." We turned our heads to see Derpy walking in the room, waving a flag excitedly.

"Hi!" She exclaimed.

"We're so, so sorry that you can't compete." Fluttershy continued. "We all know how much you love to fly. And we promise that if we qualify and make it to the Equestria Games and all win gold medals, you can have ours, because we know how much a gold medal means to you."

Fluttershy's sharing of our feelings on the subject seemed to strike Rainbow Dash emotionally. She remained silent for just a second before she softly responded. "Thanks..."

"Hey, Rainbow…" I walked towards her and lightly placed a hoof on her chest carefully so I wouldn't hurt her. "I'm not sure what exactly brought you down…but…" I chuckled over what I was about to say next. "You know… I kind of feel like there's a chance of you getting up and flying with us again. You're awesome, remember? I feel like you can just get the strength to at least fly with us in the tryouts. But if you really can't fly at all, we understand. Get better, okay?"

Twilight walked from behind me and gently placed a hoof on my shoulder. "We should probably let her rest."

I nodded. "Okay."

The rest of us began leaving the room while Twilight remained inside a bit for some reason. When she rejoined us, she advised that we returned to the practicing area. "Come on. We should head back."

Everypony seemed to be in a negative and saddened mood as we all sat outside together. I had suddenly felt a peak of warmth inside me, staring endlessly for just a quick moment. Nevertheless, I was too concerned about Rainbow Dash.

"You know… I still can't believe Rainbow Dash was easily injured like that." I mentioned.

"To be honest, even with Derpy as Rainbow Dash's replacement, I don't think we're gonna qualify." Twilight responded and looked over to Derpy. "No offense." Derpy merely shrugged it off, absolutely finding no offense to that. "Rainbow Dash was almost a complete guarantee to qualifying with her speed. I don't know if we can do it without her."

"Gah!" Pinkie Pie threw her wig from her head and pointed towards the huge pile of collected pompoms. "What am I gonna do with all these now?!"

"Uh, what were you gonna do with them before?" Applejack asked curiously.

Rarity sighed miserably. "Maybe my Equestria Games uniforms will still be in style next year. I mean, I am pretty fashion-forward." She accidentally released the uniforms she was holding up by her magic, and they landed right on top of Twilight.

Just as she removed the clothing, her eyes caught on to something in motion, and hoofsteps were heard.

"Is that Rainbow Dash... walking?" She asked, quickly getting everypony's attention.

We noticed Rainbow seriously walking, as if she had miraculously recovered from her injury or possessed a strong enough endurance to move about. Soarin' appeared from behind her as they seemed to be heading towards the Cloudsdale team. Spitfire was in the middle of drinking a bottle of water until she spotted Rainbow Dash and allowed the bottle to fall from her mouth. Fleetfoot lowered the shades she was wearing in order to see if what she was seeing was actually true.

"Does... this mean you're feeling better?" Fleetfoot asked strangely.

"I feel great, because..." Rainbow Dash returned as we walked up behind her. "I was never hurt in the first place." She shook and removed off her bandages. This immediately caused for mostly everypony in the vicinity to gasp in shock. I was pretty surprised, but mainly confused.

"I faked my injury so that I wouldn't have to choose between flying for Ponyville or Cloudsdale…" She explained, glancing at each of us with a lowered head. I was then lightly shocked to hear this coming from Rainbow Dash. "I wanted to fly with you both, and the decision was too hard!"

"Oh, Rainbow Dash, you don't have to choose us." Fluttershy spoke up and walked towards Rainbow. "I know you love to win, and you should go with the team that surely will."

To be honest…that would be pretty deceiving of her for choosing the winners over her friends like that…

"I know now who I should've been loyal to." Rainbow concluded.

"Good choice." Spitfire assumed in a practically disgusting manner. "Always stick with the winners."

"Ponyville." Rainbow corrected, pointing at us without hesitation. This caused a major but subtle look of confusion to strike Spitfire and Fleetfoot's face. "Because it's not just where I live, but it's where my friends are." She approached us. "The ponies who really care about me, whether I can help them win a race or not." She turned to all of us, but mostly directed her attention to Fluttershy and me.

Everyone in the team cheered loudly for Rainbow's choice.

"Are you sure that's the right decision?" Spitfire seemed to have the nerve to ask.

"You lied to me about Soarin's wing just so you could get a better flyer!" Rainbow immediately confronted, leading Soarin' to cross his forelegs in aggravation. "You may be a winning team, but you're still not the kind of team I wanna be a part of."

Silent for a second, Spitfire removed her sunglasses. "Huh. Rainbow Dash, you are something." She admitted in a stiff and stern manner. "Saw it at the Academy, seeing it again here. We could learn a lot from a competitor like you." Her voice and state of mind seemed to change after that.

"Think we already have." Fleetfoot added.

Despite their shifts in tone, I still couldn't really believe they tried to convince Rainbow Dash to fly with them. It was really scandalous…at least to me.

Spitfire walked up to Soarin' and asked him a question.

"Ready to fly?"

"Really?" Soarin' returned in an unnecessary surprised tone.

"Never should've lied and tried to replace you to begin with." Spitfire answered. It was starting to sound almost like they had recently fought and that was the actual motive for Spitfire to replace Soarin'.

Soarin' gasped in glee. "Go, Cloudsdale!" He shouted as he soared upwards to the sky.

"Come on, Ponyville relay team!" Rainbow Dash faced us enthusiastically. "We've got a race to get ready for!"

"Right behind you." I expressed and followed along with Fluttershy. I was just happy that she was willing to stay loyal to her friends.

Our turn at qualifying for the Equestria Games came soon enough.

The Cloudsdale team had made it through clearly and obviously.

"Come on, Ponyville! You can do it!" Soarin' shouted out from the finish line.

I looked towards Rainbow Dash, who was already posed in her position. She glanced over to me and nodded as a signal to start.

"Here we go…" I told myself and then began racing through the hoops with the baton. I was sure to be careful enough to not make a mistake.

After the final rainbow ring, I could see Fluttershy flying gleefully and excitedly at the blue banner ahead. She encouragingly waved her hoofs towards her direction for me to exchange the baton. I did so, firmly connecting the baton to her hoof. However, it almost slipped out from her hooves, but she quickly caught on to it and carefully held it.

"Go, Fluttershy!" I heard Twilight from down below. I looked to see her wearing a cheerleader outfit herself along with a wig like Pinkie. It was pretty adorable. "Woo-hoo!"

Fluttershy gently breezed through the rings, knowing she didn't have any time to waste. By the time Fluttershy made it to Rainbow Dash, it was the time that the last flyer had already made it to the finish for the Cloudsdale team. It was up to Rainbow to make it, which I was confident she would. She wouldn't let something like this slow her down.

"Qualify, Ponyville! Qualify, Ponyville!" The Cloudsdale cheerleaders decided to cheer considerately.

"Woo-hoo! Go, Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie Pie jumped on top of them in a pyramid form and shouted.

It was astounding to see how Rainbow completely dashed through every ring as if she had been practicing this exact course all her life. Finally, all she had to do was fly straight towards the cloud the timer was on. But no pony really knew how much time we had left, and everypony was pretty much left in suspense as Rainbow flew as hard as she could.

As Rainbow burst through the cloud with a puff, the pony with the stopwatch clicked it.

"Ponyville qualifies!" He happily announced, leading for everypony to cheer immensely.

The three of us gathered together and lowered down to the crowd.

Next, all of the teams that qualified, including us, stood on a wooden platform to accept the medals we were receiving…but they weren't the last medals we would be getting.

After the official wrapped the medals around our necks, somepony had poked Rainbow Dash. We turned to see it was Spitfire, who placed a pin of her very own on Rainbow's medal. Rainbow was pretty shocked, but Spitfire shook it off as she nodded and flew along with the rest of her team, who were also the only ones wearing their actual outfits.

"YEAH!" Bulk Biceps expressed loudly, leading the other girls in the crowd join in.

"Yeah!" They repeated and walked in towards us.

"Woo-hoo!" Pinkie cheered.

Twilight squeezed in between Rainbow Dash and me and grinned brightly as she wrapped her forelegs around the both of us. Rarity posed casually on the other side of Rainbow. Fluttershy remained by my side. I felt a sudden addition of weight on my back, leading me to notice that Vinyl placed herself partly on me to grin. Octavia, seeing as it was already getting crowded where I was at, decided to stay in a place that was a little more open. Applejack stood on my far right while Bulk Biceps stood hugely beside her. Pinkie Pie eagerly jumped on to him while Derpy appeared behind as she held our flag excitedly.

"Equestria Games, here we come!" Twilight shouted proudly and happily, and everypony looked towards the front.

Barely realizing that we were going to have our picture taken, I managed to quickly perk up with a big grin to see the flash of the camera.

When we were finally back home, I wasn't sure what the girls were going to do, but they were most likely going to celebrate about Ponyville making the qualifications. Knowing Pinkie, she just had to have party about this succeeded goal.

I caught Pinkie and Twilight running outside the library. I couldn't help but grin to the point where I could have easily cried tears of joy. It was just so…I don't know…amazing to see how every one of them was excited that we made the qualifications. The Cloudsdale team may have been all about winning, but what's special about us is the friendship that gets us through anything, even if we aren't the best.

I noticed the door to the library was open, and then I spotted Rainbow Dash writing in the journal inside. I walked in to see her writing quickly, which expressed how many thoughts were going through her head that she wanted to plant on paper.

I leaned on the wall, smirking lightly as I waited for her to finish. When she spat out of the pencil from her mouth, she removed the medal from around her neck and then placed it on the bookstand she was using to write on.

As soon she turned around and spotted me, she stopped in flight and then landed softly.

"Oh, hey." She greeted. "Sup?"

"Nothing." I shrugged, walking closer to her.

"Hey…uh…" She rubbed her head a little embarrassingly. "Sorry about…what happened. I know I should have never even let the Cloudsdale team be an option…but it's just…I can't help but want to win for sure. Besides…flying with the Wonderbolts… It's…you know…"

I nodded, understanding her. "I know. They may be a dream…but they aren't your life, are they?"

"Hm." Rainbow Dash looked away with a soft smile. "No. You guys are. And I'm gonna make sure we give it our all at the Games!"

My smile stretched, and I surprised her with a strong embrace. "Gotta remember that we're strong together."

Rainbow placed a hoof around me as well and smiled. "Yeah. Of course."

This lasted for several seconds until we suddenly heard Twilight's voice outside.

"Rainbow, let's go!"

Rainbow quickly pulled herself away, still afraid to let the others know or see her affection for me. Of course, I remained assuming it was because she didn't want to look weak. Either way, I take what I can get.

"Guess Pinkie Pie has a party us." Rainbow Dash mentioned.

"Who would've guessed?" I returned, feeling my warm smile remain.

I walked onto the balcony to join Spirit at the edge. I had been a little tuckered out after Pinkie's party, so the first thing I did was pretty much hit the bed afterwards. Also, it was a little weird not seeing Spirit when I was awake lately…and my best guess was that she was still afraid. Then again…I was always surrounded by others most of the time.

I sat on the edge and accepted the ice cream Spirit already had ready for me.

"Thanks." I smiled at her and then looked out to the warm sky.

"You're welcome." She returned and remained quiet as I took a bite. After a while, she spoke once again. "You really don't like that big guy, do you?"

This stopped me in my tracks just when I was about to take another bite of my ice cream, and I also released a small gasp. I remained silent in thought about it. "…it's not that… It's…"

Spirit kept her eyes on me, as if she was calmly eager to hear my thoughts on the matter. "You're scared?"

"Mmm." I groaned lightly, unable to answer her question clearly. "I don't know…" I shook my head. "I don't know why… It feels like…the answer is in my heart…but I just can't look inside."

"And who do you remember resides deeply in your heart?" She asked in the way that she knew I knew the answer, and she wanted me to give it to her.

I looked at my ice cream and slightly motioned it around in front of the sun. "All of them…" I thought about the girls I cared deeply about. All of my real friends.

Spirit managed to smile lightly and continue. "You're just really protective about Fluttershy." She turned towards the sunset. "And if it was any other pony that was special to you, you'd probably be the same way." She giggled in fond bliss. "That's always been you."

"Yeah…" I laughed a little, being able to remember many times where I cared so deeply about them. "Same goes for you too." She ceased for a second and looked at me. "What?" I asked.

"Nothing…" She turned back away. "You probably should be ready to see him again at the Equestria Games."

"You're acting like if he's my sworn enemy or something." I smirked a little, finding it pretty funny.

"Well, just make sure you don't…I don't know." She shrugged and smiled a bit.

"Yeah, I think I get what you mean." I rested my forelegs on the solid floor. "I probably shouldn't even be talking about him right now, otherwise it might sound like I'm overreacting about him."

"You're right." She agreed and looked at her own ice cream. "I don't think you know the flavor of this ice cream, do you?"

"No." I looked at mine. "I kind of felt like…you've always made it yourself or something."

She shrugged and continued gazing at it.

"Sweet Caramel Delight…"

Three's A Crowd

Episode 76 – Three's a Crowd

"Why am I jealous over this… What is making me jealous… What am I trying to keep… Why do I feel threatened…" I spoke softly to myself as I handled the informative book above me while I laid on the floor reading it.

These were questions in the book that tried to explore the unfortunate new feelings I had recently felt about Fluttershy and the…other guy. I didn't want to start hating him for something that could very easily be stupid to worry about. But ever since the idea got planted into me…I just couldn't let it go so easily…

I was surprised Twilight was too busy pacing around excitedly to pay attention on what I was actually studying on. In a way, it was a good thing.

"I almost haven't even been able to sleep! I've been waiting for her answer for so long!" She expressed anxiously.

I shut the book closed and placed it away with my magic, figuring I might or might not return to it. "Unless she's got some major things to handle right now, I'm sure she'd go through hoops to see and spend time with us." I attempted to assure Twilight.

"All I can think about is her answer!" She continued pacing in a trot.

"Mail's here!" We heard Spike exclaimed at the front doorway.

Twilight quickly faced him and forcibly pulled the mail from his claws. "Please be a yes, please be a yes, please be a yes..." She shuffled through her stack of letters, completely ignoring any other one to find the one she was mainly interested in. She came across one that stood out from the stack and immediately removed the top flap to grab ahold of the letter inside. Taking one quick glance at the paragraph written, she beamed and smiled like no tomorrow. "Yes! She can make it, she can make it!" She spread out her wings and flew to me to hold on to me and rock me a little harder than gently.

"I'm guessing that Princess Cadence said she can come this weekend?" Spike took a shot at the celebration.

"We're finally gonna get to spend some quality time with my sister-in-law!" Twilight released her grip on me and turned to Spike to release her energetic approval. "This is the best news ever!"

"I just hope this is the time where there are finally no interruptions?" I pointed out.

"I planned ahead for just the occasion. Everything should be just fine!" Twilight responded with hooves planted firmly on the ground.

There was a light knocking on the door. After, it slowly opened.

"Um, so sorry for barging in like this..." A timid head poked in, receiving absolutely no backlash for her claim. "…but I'm so excited, I just couldn't wait to tell somepony!" She headed straight towards me, seeming to know that I was already in here.

"Flutters, what's up?" I questioned, seeing her tapping her hooves quickly in her excitement.

She pulled out something to show not only me but to all of us. "The Equestrian Society for the Preservation of Rare Creatures have given me permission to observe the rarest, tiniest, most adorable magical creatures in all of Equestria – the Breezies!"

Twilight had borrowed the letter from Fluttershy, read it, and then passed it along to Spike to read it as well.

"Wow, Fluttershy, that's fantastic!" Twilight congratulated.

"Oh, it's not just fantastic; it just might be the best news ever!" She cheered happily.

I know news that would surely top the Breezies…

The library door suddenly came tumbling down onto Spike, revealing Pinkie Pie hopping in.

"I just got the most incredible mail anypony's ever received in all of recorded pony postal history!" She informed, leading for Fluttershy and Twilight to open their jaws in apprehension. "It's a flyer about a one-day sale on used patio furniture!" She held up a flyer with her tail. However, this "used patio furniture" was clearly broken, and it seemed whoever was selling it was just trying to make a quick bit. "Aah! Could this day get any better? Woo-hoo!"

Twilight and Fluttershy sent a look to each other and then responded by rolling their eyes and shaking their heads, all while retaining their smiles from the news before.

Not wanting to burst Pinkie's bubble, I didn't inform her on the condition and quality of the furniture. She could take care of herself, so I allowed her to keep her fun.

"I've gotta see this furniture for myself!" After telling us her news, Pinkie Pie hopped up and dashed out of the room.

Twilight walked over to the fallen door and used her magic to lift it back up and into place.

"Alex." Fluttershy called me, turning my head to see her delicate face. "I was hoping you could come with me to see the Breezies. I'm sure it'd be a lot of fun!" She expressed with closed eyes and a small warm but bright smile.

"Sure." I felt a warm embrace on my heart for hearing Fluttershy's invitation to spend the time with her. "That's sounds great. When are you going?"

"Actually, I'll be taking the train in a few hours! That'll give us plenty of time to get ready!"

"Okay then." I nodded.

"Oh." Twilight released in an odd kind of way, as if she received a sudden unexpected disappointment. "I thought you were going to be with Princess Cadence and me."

"I am." I returned, but somewhat ended it with a questionable tone. "Um…when is she coming by?"

"She said she would be able to make it…today…" Twilight hesitantly answered, seeing the conflict that would calmly arise.

"Oh…" I felt immediately pressured by this. "…uh-oh…"

Before I could fall apart on what to do, Fluttershy quickly came to my aid. "It's okay, Alex. You can stay here and spend the day with Twilight and Princess Cadence."

"…but Fluttershy…" I sighed. "I feel really bad in letting you go when you were already excited that I was coming with you."

"I'll be fine." She assured. "I'm already glad enough that I'll get to see the Breezies. We can probably see them together another time. But you should really spend some time with your family. After all, it's not like you've spent a lot of time with Princess Cadence as you have with me."

I thought about it for a moment and decided to accept. "I guess you're right… Are you sure you'll be fine?"

"Mm-hm." She returned, continuing to smile.

A thought suddenly formed in my head, causing me to feel the need to ask one more concerning question. "Are you…going alone?"

"I suppose so… Why?" She asked.

"…just wondering…" I subtly disengaged.

Fluttershy was all dressed up and ready to go when the train skidded controllably to a stop.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" I asked worriedly as I faced her.

"Yes." She nodded calmly with a smile. "I'll be fine."

"Here's a wrap, in case it gets cold." Rarity offered with a bright grin, opening Fluttershy's saddlebag and placing it in there.

"And I packed you a basket of nice fresh apples in case you get hungry." Applejack placed the basket on the floor in front of Fluttershy warmly.

"Have a great time!" Twilight expressed.

"Oh, I will. And I hope you two have fun with Cadence." Fluttershy returned as Twilight fixed her explorer's hat. She turned to me and embraced me before she had to go. "I'll see you later, cutie." She added in a way that revealed her slight worry in her new term. Her tone seemed to show that she wasn't sure if it fit.

Nevertheless, the train whistle blew, leading Fluttershy to become aware that it would be leaving soon.

"Cutie?" I questioned.

Fluttershy silenced my curiosity with a soft peck on the lips and then turned to trot towards the train entrance, carrying the basket of apples with her.

"All aboard!" The conductor shouted, checked his pocket watch, and then climbed in himself.

Fluttershy made her way to the cart at the end to wave goodbye to us all.

"Goodbye! Goodbye, everypony!" She softly exclaimed as she waved, her figure shrinking in size from the distance.

"Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie shouted and then quickly chased after the train that was leaving her in the dust."I'll never forget youuuuuuu!"

Twilight's face was stricken with worry, leaving her to spill out what was on her mind. "Oh, I'm a bit nervous about Cadence's visit!"

"What could you be nervous about, Twilight?" Applejack asked with a reassuring smile on her face. "With the kind of relationship Cadence has with you two, there's no doubt on my mind that she just loves you both to pieces!"

"I know, but I really want her visit to go without a hitch!" Twilight acknowledged.

"Oh, why wouldn't it?" Pinkie Pie asked, releasing the red balloon she had somehow grabbed ahold of on the way here. She immediately formed a saddened expression from helplessly seeing it fly away from her. I managed to focus my magic on the string and bring it back to her while Twilight responded.

"Well, the last few times we've seen each other haven't exactly been worry-free." Twilight reminded.

"I can vouch for that…" I agreed with a low voice, remembering those specific times.

"The fate of Equestria has hung in the balance during most of your visits with her." Rarity joined as well.

"Exactly. Cadence and I haven't really had a chance to just enjoy being friends again. Which is why it is so important that this visit be about the three of us having some real quality time together." Twilight pulled me in as she wrapped her hoof around me, pushing her cheek against mine with a smile.

"Actually…" I began to bring up. "Is that really a good idea? You know what they say…two's a company, three's a crowd."

"Please." She brushed off. "We both share the same kind of bond with Cadence. It's only a 'crowd' when said pony seems to interrupt the other ponies from enjoying whatever they're experiencing, intentionally or not."

"I guess you're right." I smiled lightly.

"I'm guessin' you've already got a plan for the day." Applejack pointed out with smirk.

"The timing couldn't be more perfect. For one day only, right here in Ponyville, the Star Swirl the Bearded Traveling Museum!" She pointed towards a poster right behind us on the wall of the train station. "Cadence, Alex, and I can spend the whole day looking at Star Swirl the Bearded artifacts!"

"Only I wouldn't have any idea what the two of you would be talking about or what we'd even be looking at." I expressed half-jokingly.

"Perfect time to teach you then." Twilight winked.

"Sounds like a perfect drama-free way to spend the day then." Rarity shared her enthusiasm.

"Not counting the drama surrounding which of the bells from his cloak they've chosen to put on display. Spoiler alert: it's this one!" She patted the paper in withheld excitement.

I still had no idea on what to think of anything Star Swirl the Bearded related, but as long as it made Twilight happy, I didn't care.

Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, hacked out loudly. She stopped when the others looked at her. She chuckled nervously. "Uh, sorry. Something in my throat... like a big ball of 'lame'!" She shifted tone quickly.

"I think it sounds delightful." Rarity disagreed politely.

"Yup, definitely sounds like you three will have some real quality time together." Applejack added.

"Exactly. Just quiet time!" Twilight reinforced before we heard another train whistle blow.

Coming in next on schedule, we clearly saw Miss Cadence arriving. The crystal train was the obvious reveal. The screeching of the train as it came to a stop caused a mass of hooves to block pairs of ears. Fanfare played loudly and the side door opened. Two of the crystal guards walked out, a red roll of carpet spat out, and finally the pony we had been waiting for walked out with a flashy appearance.

Twilight's eyes sparkled in glee as she took the first move to greet her. However, Miss Cadence bowed down, surprising and stopping Twilight in her tracks. "Your Highness." She announced.

Twilight was struck silent for a moment, glancing back at the girls. Nevertheless, she returned the bow, leading the others to bow along as well. "Your Highness."

Miss Cadence lifted up her eyes to see Twilight and the others bowing while I stood there a bit confused. She chuckled and continued talking. "I'm teasing, Twilight. We're sisters-in-law. We don't have to be so formal." She looked over to her guards and nodded, allowing them to head back into the cabin and leave with the train. She then walked over to me and messed with my mane a little. "And how's my little cousin doing?"

"Psh." I pulled my head back lightly with a smile. "I'm practically as big as you are."

"Not by age, you're not." She teased back. "You were a little colt when I was young, remember?"

"You still are." I answered in the same manner even though it was seriously the truth.

"You're a flatterer, aren't you?" She chuckled again before facing Twilight. "Knowing you, you've made some plans."

"Boy, have I." Twilight delightfully revealed, and then paused to remember about the others in the station. "Hang on just one second." She excused herself and ran over to the girls.

I remained with Miss Cadence as she began conversing with me. "So, how has everything been since the last time we've seen each other?"

"Oh, you know." I shrugged lightly. "Strange as usual. You never know when something completely unexpected might just happen one day or another."

"To be honest, that sounds fun." She stated. "I think I've been relaxing too much back at the Crystal Empire. However, knowing the Equestria Games will be occurring soon enough, that kind of puts me on the edge of my hooves, which reminds me… I've heard you're on the team for Ponyville…" She sent a light smirk towards me.

"Oh…that…" I rubbed my head lightly while being a bit embarrassed. "It wasn't really my choice at first… Rainbow kind of dragged me into that one…but it's not like I mind or anything. It sounds like it could be fun, I guess."

"Especially when you three will be taking the grand prize for your town." She shared, feeling as if she knew we were already going to win.

"Oh, come on." I returned, believing she was being too generous.

"By the way…" Her tone and expression seemed to change to a negative point. She placed her wing around me and directed me to face away from the others. "I've been meaning to ask you… Is there something going on with Starlight and you that I don't know about?"

I was quickly stripped from my joyous face. "W-what?"

"Well…it's just that Rainbow Dash seemed to really dislike her, and recently I—"

"Coming, Cadence!" Twilight had shouted and raced over to us, fortunately cutting our unexpected talk short.

"Oh, there you are, Twilight." Miss Cadence refrained from speaking about the prior subject and went to talk about our plans as we began walking off. "So, what are we going to do today?"

"We're going to have the perfect day!" Twilight excitedly shared. "You made it just in time for the Star Swirl the Bearded Traveling Museum! We'll be looking at a whole bunch of artifacts!"

"Sounds interesting!" Miss Cadence shared Twilight's enthusiasm.

"What we do after before you need to go is up to Alex." Twilight faced me, lightly tilting her head to see me.

"Huh?" I poked my head up.

"I figured it would only be fair you decide on something for the three of us to do." Twilight explained.

"Oh…" I didn't really put too much thought into it. "It really doesn't matter. Maybe somewhere we can sit back and relax…" Spirit's idea of a hangout was influenced on mine.

"Sounds like you're talking about the spa there." Twilight switched her view to Miss Cadence. "Actually, that's sounds pretty great, figuring we might be walking and standing the entire time at the museum." She giggled lightly with Miss Cadence.

Unfortunately, I couldn't help but feel a little down, but I tried hard not to show it.

"I'll be right back!" Twilight informed as she stood in the front doorway of her home. "I'm going to get my costume!" She ended in a sing-song voice before eagerly slamming the door and possibly racing to get dressed.

I looked towards the ground and didn't feel a need to talk. Spotting a few rocks and pebbles, I began lightly kicking them around.

"Sorry for asking…" Miss Cadence suddenly apologized, catching my attention. "I was just…concerned about you." She expounded. "It's just…thinking way back…" She paused and seemed to shake her head a little. "Well, never mind." She formed an engaging smile. "If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine. Just…let me know as soon as you can, alright?" She placed a hoof on me, suddenly sending me a quick flashback image of her years ago. I don't know why…but this image made me feel…happy…but, at the same time, nostalgic for some reason. I didn't see anything nostalgic the time before I met the girls though…

"Yeah." I nodded, feeling a little better. "I got you."

Miss Cadence tightened her grip on me a little and then released for the two of us to see Twilight speed out her front door.

"I'm back!" She somewhat presented herself very flashy and forward, despite the costume not fitting so well in the category.

"Isn't that your costume from Nightmare Night?" I asked, lightly pointing a hoof toward it.

"What? You'd think I'd only wear it once?" Twilight asked back, expecting me to know the answer.

"You got me there…" I admitted.

"Come on!" Twilight tried to rush as quick as she could, but the long robe of her costume prevented her from doing so. "I can't wait to see everything!"

Miss Cadence chuckled a little as Twilight sped on ahead.

"What?" I questioned, looking towards her.

"Reminds me when I was still babysitting her…" She answered.

"Hm." I studied Twilight for a moment, who almost entirely left us behind. "I can see why…"

"A whole day to celebrate Star Swirl the Bearded!" Twilight gleefully examined anywhere that was in relation to what she came here for in the first place. "What could be better?"

"Absolutely nothing." Miss Cadence warmly responded and then quickly paused, immediately gasping and trotting over to something that caught her eye. "Is that the candlestick he used to light the way when he was exploring the caverns of Maretania?" She asked, goggling a certain candle on a holder while Twilight joined her.

"It sure is!" Twilight answered.

"Oh, I can't believe I'm getting to see it in real life!" Miss Cadence continued.

Surprisingly, I never knew she was as big of a fan as Twilight was. I snickered and heartily joked. "Nerds."

"You won't be laughing when Star Swirl the Bearded himself plays one of his cunning tricks on you!" Twilight shot back in the same playful manner. However, the candle inside the showcase began rattling greatly, causing for Twilight and Miss Cadence to back away a bit slowly. "Uh… I didn't mean it…"

Twilight and Miss Cadence yelped when something strange suddenly took place of the candle.

"Achoo!" He sneezed, forming some kind of blue bubbly liquid. It crept out of the showcase and towards us, leading us to back up until it stopped. A body formed in its place and it reached toward the ground to retrieve its head.

"Discord!" Twilight called out angrily at the unamused looking creature. "What are you doing here?!"

"Oh, dear, dear Princesses." He announced strangely and then paused, spotting me. "And Prince." He resumed. "I'm sorry to say that I'm sick." He turned his head and coughed disturbingly, causing Miss Cadence and Twilight to pull back their heads uncomfortably. "Blue flu." He clarified.

"Blue flu?" Miss Cadence questioned, digging in to what I wanted to know as well.

"Ah, I fear I've already given it to poor Applejack and Rarity." He admitted.

As Twilight and Miss Cadence exchanged concerned looks with each other. I quickly stepped forward. "W-what?!" I already began worrying if they were alright or not.

"Oh, they'll be fine." He flipped his paw, revealing no anguish for his actions. "It's me you should be worrying about." He began stuttering, foreshadowing that he was about to sneeze. A light blue transparent bubble suddenly formed around us, creating a barrier from whatever Discord was apparently infected with.

"Magic health bubble." Miss Cadence explained within.

"Good thinking!" Twilight thankfully praised.

"Indeed!" Discord agreed as he pressed his face against the bubble. "How would Twilight nurse me back to health if she were sick too?" He brought up while playing with the barrier of the bubble with his claw. "You will be letting me stay at your place until I'm all better, won't you?"

"Stay? With me?!" Twilight exclaimed in the both question and shock. Twilight glanced over to Miss Cadence and me to remind herself that we were in the middle of something. "Uh, now is not really the best time, though I'm sure you already knew that..." She shot her eyes away from Discord, showing that she was already becoming heavily annoyed.

"But taking in the sick and the desperate - isn't that what Fluttershy would do? Isn't 'helping' something that friends do for friends?" Discord tried to reason with an appeal to pity. "Unless, of course, you're really saying that you're not my friend." He added when Twilight didn't show much concern for his "pleads" and turned around to cross his forelimbs.

Twilight scrunched her face angrily and gritted her teeth. "No, that is not what I'm saying."

"Oh, how elated I am to hear that." He quickly returned to his mischievous behavior. "Shall the four of us head back to your place? I don't want to get anypony else sick."

Twilight sighed. "Guess we don't have much choice."

"If you're so sick, why did you come all the way here instead of staying at home and resting?" I questioned skeptically.

"Why, I'm simply helpless." Discord returned. "I feel I could just pass out at any minute."

"So…being helpless, you were able to pull yourself together to come out here and move pretty fine to me?"

Discord stood silent for a moment, looked back with a blank face, and then faced me with an odd smile. "The thought of friends can do only so much." He seemed to fall towards the floor and hold out an aching hoof, later allowing his wings to fall off his body.

"It isn't far." Miss Cadence answered, not liking the idea of doing just that. "If you were able to make it here all by yourself, I think you can manage."

"Oh, poo." He shared before he used his body to get around instead of his legs.

Discord already seemed to be enjoying himself as Miss Cadence fluffed his pillow. He fell on his back, aiming straight at the bed. Miss Cadence then worked the covers as Twilight was already becoming grumpy at the fact that we were missing the museum.

"Need anything else?" She asked with a harsh tone once Discord had made himself in her bed.

"Just knowing that I have a good friend like you to take care of me has made me feel better already." He began going through her stuff, opening the drawer in the nightstand and pulling out scrolls messily. "I'll be fine here on my own."

Becoming annoyed myself, I grabbed the book he just picked up to open, and with a hint of anger, placed it back where it was and almost slammed the drawer shut with the scrolls inside. "You know, it's really rude to go through things that don't belong to you, especially if those things belong to the pony that's taking care of you."

"Please, excuse me." He answered in what I assumed to be a feigned apologetic tone. "My illness must be having forget my manners."

"Uh-huh…"

Twilight placed her hoof on me, shaking her head and signaling that we should get going before he could intentionally bother us more. The three of us turned and began heading out. I was already readying myself to ask Twilight if she was okay with the idea of Discord being alone in her house…until he suddenly stopped us in our tracks.

"Oh, just before you go, just a little small request." Discord used his paw to emphasis how apparently small it was.

Twilight sighed heavily.

"It's going to be fine." Miss Cadence assured in a whispered. "We'll just get him what he wants and be back to the exhibit in no time." Her hopeful statement allowed Twilight's smile to return, but I honestly found it funny to see how quick it disappeared when they faced Discord. "What was it that you needed?" Miss Cadence attempted to ask nicely.

"A little glass of water please" He suddenly shot out a paw holding an empty glass while standing up from bed. He also…began breaking into song.

"A fresh pressed hanky if I sneeze" He pulled out one from the back of Twilight's head, causing her to rub it.

"Some tea with honey from the bees" He formed a tea cup with bees flying out and then allowed it to disappear.

"Whenever you can brew it" He fluttered his eyelashes innocently.

"Okay." I returned. "Um, why can't you just make whatever you need yourself like you always do?"

"Boy, haven't you been listening to me? I'm just too sick." His excuses were beginning to become obvious…

I began furrowing my eyebrows until Miss Cadence stretched her foreleg out in front of me. I believed she felt it would be better to stick with what she stated before. "I'll get your tea." She answered with a forced grin and turned around to head downstairs.

"And while I get a little rest" He returned to the bed, but then began using his abnormal magic to create duplicates of himself as if they were models of him.

"A teeny tiny small request" His miniature self pulled out a bottle of oil.

"Some codfish oil for my chest

Poured from a crystal cruet" The last line was rather spoken by the fish that appeared from the bottle.

"A crystal cruet?" Twilight questioned as Miss Cadence returned with the tea.

"My goodness, I'm a nincompoop" He began singing much faster, almost being hard to keep up with. In fact, everything he was saying and doing was just too fast, it all moved on before my mind could make up what exactly what was going on.

"Because I fear I've got the croup

I need a vat of pumpkin soup

And scarves made out of zinnias

Did I say zinnias? I meant silk

Or something shiny of that ilk

And then I'll need some nice warm milk

And pastries from Abyssinia

And since my stomach's feeling crummy

Why not give my aching tummy

Something soothing, something yummy

Piled up with noodles?

Add a slice of homemade rye

With stacks of Swiss way up high

Served with sides of sweet mince pie

More basil; I need oodles!"

The next thing I remembered was Twilight asking a question while wearing a nostalgic diner outfit for a waitress.

"Anything else?"

"I'll be grateful for your charity" Discord finally slowed down, and he was dancing with Twilight in a spotlight. I could tell she had absolutely no idea what was going on either.

"Until the bitter end

Because I've heard that tenderness

Is what you lend an ailing friend

Tenderness, isn't that right, friend?"

"Right, but—"

"So, who's ready for my big reprise?" He cut off Twilight by dropping her to the floor.

"Oh, no…" I mentioned softly before he continued singing very quickly once again.

"I'd like that glass of water please

Some magic spell to cure disease

A firm 'gesundhoof' when I sneeze

A fresh bouquet of roses

Some lozenges will soon appease

My wheezing when I start to sneeze

A wig to keep me from the breeze

And blankets for my toes-es

Take tweezers out of my valise

And then massage my knobby knees

A bowl of peas, some extra cheese

A cuddle with a Pekingese

A singing harp who's named Louise

A goat on skis, a new trapeze

And more and more and more and more of these~

And just because I oughta...

Make sure I'm drinking in the right

Amount of fluids day and night

I wish I may, I wish I might

Have just one little thing

Oh, would you please finally bring

Me that tiny glass

Of water?!"

The entire area was extremely flooded with water, soon spiraling down and out of sight as if there was a drain. Then, Discord fell to the bed casually, coughing and happily facing us as we were drenched in water. Using the water Discord had stupidly summoned, Miss Cadence used the empty glass to fill it up with water.

She passed it over to Discord, who calmly took it. He turned his head to the side and was just about to take of a sip of it until he allowed it to easily slip from his grip and break on the floor. "Oops. Sorry." He "apologized", having me narrow my eyes in annoyance. However, he suddenly sneezed and exploded into hundreds of bubbles.

"Alright, this is ridiculous!" Twilight turned and headed out, being fed up with his nonsense.

"How did you even catch this flu?" Miss Cadence curiously asked, having Discord appear in front of her and spray the magic health bubble with an anti-germ spray.

"Inadequate hoof and claw washing?" He answered in the form of a question, revealing his uncertainty for his answer as he wiped the bubble with a cloth.

"I'm kind of starting to think you aren't really sick." I responded. "Why now? I have a feeling you're just doing this to mess with us."

"Oh, but I am!" He answered boldly, but then pulled back when he noticed me push my head closer to him suspiciously with a raised eyebrow. "I mean…sick that is."

"There must be some way to just cure you!" Twilight mentioned, flipping through different pages in her books. "There has to be a spell or remedy in one of my books!"

"Maybe there's no remedy because it's not real?" I offered, raising a hoof at Discord.

However, Discord spoke out, ignoring my comment. "There is one way... "He laid with a casual pose on the bed, further proving to me that this was all a stunt.

"And you didn't think to mention it earlier?" Miss Cadence returned.

"Slipped my mind." He merely answered.

"Apparently your huge list didn't…" I mentioned under my breath before he created this cloud in front of us, depicting another scene.

"On a hill at the very edge of Equestria, there grows an exquisite magic flower. Pick the flower as it drops its petals at sunset. Then you can make a magical soothing elixir to cure the blue flu." He snapped his claw, making the images disappear.

"I suppose you have a good reason you didn't bother to get this flower as soon as you realized you were sick?" Twilight angrily expected an answer from him.

"Well, I couldn't travel that far in my condition. By the time I got there, I'd be too weak to even attempt to retrieve the flower." He trembled under the blanket. He really wasn't that great at convincing others…

"So where exactly are we headed?" Twilight asked, keeping her tone.

"Well…" Discord appeared beside us in a second, holding a map along with a lollipop in his mouth, sunglasses on his eyes…and…he pretty much looked like he was going on vacation. He cleared his throat. "You'll want to head north, turn left, th— Oh..." He paused after having twisted and turned the map he held. "You know, it'd be much easier if I took you there myself." He messed with the map and instead made a paper hat out of it to place on Twilight's head.

"I thought you were in no condition to travel." Miss Cadence recalled, her suspicions arising.

"I'm not." He responded and placed his forelegs around us. "We'll need to make some arrangements." He chuckled, giving me, if not us, the feeling that we were going to waste our time in an annoying journey for nothing. I just knew it.

I couldn't believe Discord had the nerve to appoint us to carry him to wherever it was we were heading. I didn't want to sound self-centered…but he had the nerve to appoint royalty to serve him! The thought of this really angered me when I saw Miss Cadence struggling. I couldn't blame her as the weight of the throne we were carrying that Discord rested easily in was tremendous. In fact, she appeared to be struggling ever more than Twilight and I were. The sounds of her strains concerned me greatly.

"Miss Cadence." I managed to speak out. "You shouldn't…be pulling this. In fact, neither of us should!"

Miss Cadence shook her head. "I'm-I'm fine… To be honest, I'm a little out of practice when it comes to flying."

"Well, then lucky for you." The inconsiderate jerk said. "We're here."

We were finally allowed to lower down to the ground and remove the weight of the troublesome carriage off our shoulders.

"It's just at the top of that hill." Discord pointed, turning our heads to see what he was talking about.

It wasn't as bad as carrying the carriage, but it still seemed quite a long walk to reach the hill. Twilight sighed as we began heading over to this "flower" Discord talked about.

"I'm really sorry about this." She apologized to the both of us. "All I wanted was to have some peaceful quality time together."

"I know." Miss Cadence returned understandably. "I was looking forward to it too."

She turned sadly to me. "You probably would have had a better time with Fluttershy…"

"Don't talk like that…" I asked of her. "I'm pretty sure Discord is just doing this because he's bored out of his mind. I bet you that when we're just about to get this 'flower', he's going to pop out in fireworks and say that he got us or whatever."

"I'll hurt him if he does." Twilight answered seriously with furrowed eyebrows.

"Let's just hope we can do whatever it is he wants and finally be on our way." Miss Cadence suggested, leaving us to silently agree as we arrived at the top.

However, being at the absolute top of the cliff, there was no flower waiting for us there. I could already feel him getting ready to come out and surprise us.

"This is the top." Twilight stated, continuing to look around past the edge of the cliff. "But where is that flower?" Something soft immediately fell over her, almost as if she was stuck under a blanket. I trotted to her and help removed whatever it was off of her. However, I felt this object and noticed it was very soft and silky…almost like a…

I looked upwards to see where it had dropped from to immediately spot what we were all looking for. "There it is." I pointed out.

"Oh." Twilight expressed and then became quick to place a smile on her face in glee. "Come on, if we hurry, we can still have some time together!" The three of us began flying and faced the stem of the flower.

"So, how exactly are we going to pull this out?" I questioned, looking around its huge body.

"Let's trying using our magic." Twilight suggested. "With the three of us, we should be able to pull it out!"

We spread out to have a better focus and grip. Surrounding the flower with our aura, we began pulling ourselves outward, slowly removing its connection to the ground. The base where the dirt was slowly cracked and broke apart.

"One... last... pull!" Miss Cadence mentioned before we forcefully jerked backwards and finally removed this gigantic flower from the ground.

"Phew!" Twilight released a great breath of relief as we regrouped back to take this to Discord. "Let's get Discord and this flower back home, then all our problems are solved—"

"What in Equestria?!" Miss Cadence exclaimed when a large rumbling and vibrating noise came from the ground.

Dashing from the huge hole in the ground, we all quickly turned to see what was going on. All of a sudden, this gigantic wormlike creature shot out, surprising us greatly. What appeared to be the head folded forward and faced directly at us. It's immense mouth opened in three flaps and screeched out loud, revealing it's three tentacles inside used for its prey and leading Twilight and Miss Cadence to scream out in fear.

This creature tried to lunge out at Twilight and snap at her, but Twilight quickly flew out of the way, appearing to be unsure of what to do. The creature tried to bite at Miss Cadence as well, but she flew up to avoid it.

"Get out of its reach!" I pointed upwards.

As Miss Cadence and Twilight did so, the creature tried to snap at me as well, but I was able to dodge it just as the others had done. The creature turned to noticed Twilight and Miss Cadence too far to snap and returned inside its hole. At first, I thought it was done trying to get its dinner, but I thought too soon when it launched out into the air, leaving me greatly surprised.

It gained more speed, opening its mouth as it caught up to the two of them. One of its tentacles from its mouth stretched out and curled around Miss Cadence's back leg, pulling fiercely. "Twilight! Help!" She called out to her.

Hearing this, something inside me immediately felt like it wanted to pull me to the scene. As if I needed to know!

I quickly began hurrying to the two to see Twilight stop and turn to angrily chase after the creature. "Get your coils off my sister-in-law!" She began shooting beams at the attacker. After it took enough damage, it released Miss Cadence, continuing to fall back at its hole. However, it landed on the cliff instead of back inside the hole, seeing as it placed its body horizontally out. It took another shot at grabbing a pony by shooting out three of its tentacles. They flew right by me, but caught another pony instead. I heard Twilight yelp and quickly looked to see her being dragged instead with a struggle.

I growled and decided to cease this creature's attacks at the root, so I headed to the base where the tentacles were at.

"Let go of my sister-in-law!" Miss Cadence shouted and began magically attacking the tentacles herself, allowing Twilight to be freed.

When the creature saw its failure in catching its prey, it yet again decided to continue its determination. However, just as soon as it stretched out its tentacles, I grabbed ahold of them and stretched them forcibly away from the direction of its mouth. Instead, I tried to wrap it around its head with the intention to hurt it enough to make it retreat back to its dirty hole.

"Attack it now!" I ordered as I struggled to keep the tentacles in place.

Twilight and Miss Cadence focused their magic and began shooting continuous beams, all while the worm was now trying to shake its tentacles out from me. It screeched, cried, and flinched once it knew it was unable to react. It began sliding its body back into its hole. Eventually, it finally pulled its tentacles back away from me.

"Just... a little... more!" Twilight exclaimed and added in a little more power to push the creature back even further.

"And for good measure...!" Miss Cadence concluded once it was inside the hole. She grabbed ahold of several boulders that were pushed aside by the huge worm and stuffed them inside the entrance of the hole. The monster tried escaping again, but the weight of the rocks kept it from doing so. We were finally allowed to breathe…

Panting, Twilight raced over to me and placed a hoof on me. "Are you okay?" She asked, also looking over to Miss Cadence.

"Better than okay actually." Miss Cadence answered, just ceasing her panting.

I managed to smile lightly, nodding at Twilight.

"Then let's get Discord back to Ponyville, make that elixir, and finally get a chance to spend some quality time together!" She expressed, being unable to wait to finally get this entire mess behind us.

Miss Cadence also nodded with a huge grin to share her excitement.

Focusing our magic on the flower, we picked it up and carefully moved it ahead of us to get it back to Discord.

I wasn't sure it was just me, but I began hearing something like…Discord cheering. "To the ends of Equestria!" I glanced over to Miss Cadence and Twilight to see if they were hearing this. Observing their faces, it appeared they did. We then widened our eyes when we noticed Discord dancing in front of us as we grew closer. The most noticeable thing was that he wasn't blue anymore. "To face such great danger! And they did it for me! They did it all for me, for me, for me!"

We landed on the ground with angry eyes just as his slid over to us wearing ridiculous clothes. He stopped and raised his shades to notice us in silence.

"You... were... faking?!" Twilight shouted out angrily even though Discord kept that stupid smile of his.

"I was!" He admitted bravely. "But I had a very good reason."

"We're listening." Twilight returned.

"Well…" Discord began raising a tree out of nowhere. "I was in my thinking tree – that's where I do most of my really deep thinking – I was there, and I said to myself, I said, 'Discord, your friends Twilight and Alex say that they're your pals, but they never write and they never pop in for a visit.'"

I never really said that…

"We don't even know where you li—"

Discord closed her lips shut so he could continue speaking. "'Now that they're a prince and princess, maybe they've decided that they're too good for you.'"

"We've never considered ourselves t-

"But how was I supposed to know for sure that I'm truly still friends with one of the most important pair of ponies around?" He interrupted Twilight again as she tried to assure to Miss Cadence.

"We're not more—"

Using his tail, Discord grabbed a hold of Twilight and raised her up.

"By seeing if you two would go to the ends of Equestria for me, of course. Which you both did, literally." He began shaking Twilight's hoof. "Congratulations, Twilight and Alex, you both passed my friendship test!" He placed some kind of necklace around Twilight while he tossed another one to me, I grabbed ahold of it and lifted it up to analyze it. It was one of those necklaces where you connected your piece to some other pony who's really special to you. However, Discord was pretty far being that. Nonetheless, the piece I had was of Discord. He connected the other piece for me, showing that he was blocking away my face with his claw…stupidly… I assumed Twilight's was the same.

As Discord waved around a flag, that still didn't change the look on our faces.

"Why the angry eyes?" He asked. "Don't you love passing tests? It's not because my little exam put a damper on your visit with Princess Cadence, is it? Made it so that there was no time for you three to focus on your friendship?" He pointed out rudely, even causing Twilight to sink sadly from her flying.

Just when I was about to give him a piece of my mind, Miss Cadence spoke up. "You didn't put a damper on our visit at all." She stated gladly.

"He didn't?!" Twilight exclaimed in surprised.

"I didn't?!" Discord responded in the same manner simultaneously.

"Spending the day at the Star Swirl the Bearded exhibit would've been more relaxing, but to be honest, relaxation is the last thing I need." She explained as Twilight landed back on the ground with a big grin.

"It is?" Twilight questioned eagerly.

"Don't get me wrong. Life in the Crystal Empire is wonderful, but it's become a little... predictable." She honestly shared. "I enjoy a little excitement now and then. Getting to face all these challenges today was just what I needed. And facing them with you two just made me realize even more how lucky I am to have such fantastic and fun ponies like you both for friends." She placed her hooves around us. "We may not see each other very often, but I know you'll always be there when I need you." She confidentially looked at the both of us, and then turned to Discord. "Just like they were there for you, Discord."

Meh.

"Yes, they're both a couple of real sweethearts." He grumbled with crossed forelegs, seeing as he didn't get the real result he wanted. "We're all so lucky to have them in our lives."

Nonetheless, I furrowed my eyebrows and lightly stormed over to Discord. "You!" I pointed. "You should count yourself lucky nopony got hurt! I swear, if anything had happened to Miss Cadence or Twilight, I would have ripped you apart!"

"Whoa, settle down there, cowboy." Discord raised his paw and claw, subtly walked around me, and faced his back towards the others. "Aren't we friends?" He seemed to continue his prankster tone.

"Friends?" I felt slightly angry at the kind of idea of what a friend is to him. "I don't even know if you can call me your friend! After all, all you do is just—"

The ground began trembling and rumbling greatly, shocking all of us. There was a loud cracking noise and soon a burst of rock splattering all over a specific area. Noticing Discord back away quickly, I turned around to stand stunned at the appearance of the recently made foe.

"What in the world?!" Discord cried out fearfully.

The creature roared out loud, leaving its tentacles to give one last shot. Before I could move out of the way, it grabbed ahold of my back leg and began dragging me towards it.

"Alex!" Twilight held out a hoof and tried to run to me.

Instead, the worm began dragging me inside the hole along with it. I tried to grab ahold of anything on the ground to keep me away, but it held too much force. Before I knew it, all light disappeared before my eyes, leaving me completely blind.

After a moment of only hearing rocky sounds, everything was dead silent. I didn't know where I was, and I couldn't tell as everything was just dark. I focused on my horn and managed to spark up a beam of light on there. It was too bad the radius of light wasn't strong or large enough to see everything, but it was workable. When I looked around, it looked like if I was in a cave. I was on solid ground, but around me seemed to be almost endless. I continued carefully wandering my eyes around the area, trying to think where the monster could have been. However, I heard a slow movement behind me. I quickly turned around to see something large come onto place. As it revealed its head first, I immediately knew what it was. I began slowly backing away as it slipped its tentacles from its mouth.

It was ready to eat me alive.

As soon as it came into full view, ready to attack, I turned back around and began running the other direction in hopes to find some kind of escape, but I found the area was closed off when I reached a dead end. I could only see walls of rock. I placed my hooves on the walls, but it was completely solid. As I heard the monster slowly cornering me, I could only turn back to see his hungry and dark eyes ogling me.

"…oh, geez…" I worriedly mentioned.

I quickly looked around to see if I could use anything as a weapon. I had my horn and magic, but it was be difficult to use since I was already counting on my magic for light. If I used my magic, I would have to sacrifice being able to see. However, the only thing I could make out were rocks… I guess I had to use whatever I could…

I spread out my wings and grabbed ahold of the fairly large rocks, keeping myself in flight so I could throw or kick the rocks at it. As soon as it started opening its mouth to possibly throw out one or all its tentacles at me, I threw a few rocks using my forelegs and then ended by kicking the last one roughly. The worm flinched its head as it had no legs to protect its head.

Yes, this is good.

I quickly swooped down and grabbed another hoof-full.

Hoping I could lose it momentarily, I began flying around it. Its reaction time was pretty slow, so it allowed me to attack it from behind just before it could turn around. As long as I didn't stay directly in its sight, it couldn't have the chance to pull me in with its tentacle.

But then that hatched an idea in me… What if I could get a few rocks inside his mouth and body? That would surely incapacitate him long enough to allow me to find a way out of here. After reloading on my rocks, I permitted it to turn around and face me. It roared out a hiss and began opening its flaps for a mouth. As soon as it began to shoot out its tentacles, I quickly swooped around to dodge it and immediately focused on aiming the rocks inside the mouth. I threw and kicked them before it could have the chance to grab ahold of me. This seemed to work effectively as it began coughing and struggling with what just entered its body. Nonetheless, it seemed more obsessed with washing down the rocks with me. It continued to try to catch me with its tentacles as I gathered more rocks to use. At the current time, I was so thankful to be an Alicorn. I resumed my tactic of swiftly flying past and around the tentacles, shoving more rocks down this creature's throat.

The more rocks entered its body, the more time it took in struggling with my weapons.

"Just a few more and I should be able to get out of here…" I said to myself as I took a short break to catch my breath. However, something strange happened all of a sudden. A faint glow soon grew brighter in my chest. "What's…going…" Instead of complete darkness, light blinded me instead. I didn't know what happened, but this remained for several seconds. The next thing I saw when I was permitted to see again was nothing. I was in the same area, but nothing was in front of me. Something strange was going on though. I was in the air, but I didn't feel my wings flapping! I quickly looked around and then up to notice that my hooves were tied together… They were tied together by its tentacles!

The creature revealed itself by showing the body of the tentacles slipping through its mouth. It soon opened up its mouth and was ready to drag me in. There was nothing I could do at the moment. I could only let it begin to drag me up until the point where I was heading inside its mouth. I had no other choice but to somewhat swing myself, since the creature only tied my forelegs together, and kick the inside of its mouth. This caused it to shake his head greatly as it recovered from the damage. Doing so, its tentacles threw me upwards into the air. However, I was too out of balance and needed time to flap my wings simultaneously to be able to escape, and seeing the worm see me and open its mouth for me to fall straight in didn't help. I decided to take a small risk and use a beam of light for a quick second of complete darkness. I heard the worm cry out, and when my light lit back up, I was able to land firmly on my hooves. When I turned around to face the creature, I noticed it was gone, causing me to quickly keep my guard up. I had no idea where it went.

I cautiously walked around, slightly worrying on where the monster went. If I was lucky, it had hopefully escaped. But it wasn't too long before the area began shaking, leaving me to try to balance my hooves and prevent myself from falling to the ground.

Something slippery then grabbed ahold of not my body, but specifically my right wing. I was surprised at this move, but before I could do anything, it pulled greatly. Something in that wing went wrong, and I cried out in pain as I was thrown towards the air. As I was scrunching my face from the pain, I could see the worm creature already prepared to eat me as I fell straight towards him. Everything seemed to slow down as I began fearing if this was the end. But at the same time…the pain in my right wing kept me from thinking straight…and I could hardly do anything…

Before I knew it, a glow from my chest radiated within. A burst of light suddenly exploded, lighting up almost the entire area for a second before I continued falling helpless towards the floor. But…I didn't land inside any creature's stomach… I think… No… Instead, I painfully hit the ground a couple of times as there was a bounce in between. At the same as I as crashed, I could hear and partially see the creature in front of me fall towards the ground weakly as well, its head bouncing on the rocky floor too.

I landed on my back, along with both my wings…so the pain increased. I could only lie there, unable to do anything. Then, I believed I could hear a faint voice and see a faint light…but at the time, all I wanted to do was pass out…and I did.

I could hear the thumping sound of my heart, which beat normally…

I could hear myself groaning and then moving my forelegs…

Soon, I saw my eyelids were opening to a blurry sight, which soon cleared up.

The first pony I saw was Twilight.

"Oh, thank goodness! You're awake!" She wrapped her forelegs around my neck, leaving me to grunt lightly in pain. "Sorry!" She pulled away.

"He is?!" I heard another voice softly exclaim. This pony came running to my sight and was about to hug me as well, but then remembered what happened with Twilight. Instead she placed her hoof worriedly on my chest. "Oh, dear… Are you feeling okay?" She asked. It was Fluttershy… She was back… In fact, I had realized that I was in Fluttershy's room…in her cottage…

"Fluttershy…" I glanced over to Twilight. "Twilight…" I groaned. "What happened?"

"After you were dragged in underground by that Tatzlwurm, Princess Cadence and I went right after you!" Twilight explained. "It took so long to reach you, but I'm glad we made it just in time! We were so worried about you when we found out you were unconscious. We thankfully were able to bring you back home and get you checked out…and well…" Twilight turned her eyes towards my wings, which I noticed they were bandaged to my body. "The doctor said you were going to be fine…you just…can't use your wings for a while… One of them was more damaged than the other…but thankfully nothing permanent… You just have refrain from using them until they get better."

"Ugh…" I groaned. "And what about Discord?"

"Hmph." Twilight expressed. "He got exactly what he deserved…or you know what…maybe not enough for what he put you through."

"…huh?" I was pretty confused.

"Are you okay to walk?" Twilight asked.

I motioned my legs a bit. "I think so…"

"Come on." She helped me out of bed and made sure I was standing right. After that, she and Fluttershy kept an eye on me as she led me down the stairs of the cottage.

"Twilight!" I heard Spike's voice. "How is he? Is he going to be okay?" Twilight faced the direction Spike was seen with a book. She glanced over to me to silently ask if I indeed was doing fine. I shrugged lightly and nodded. She smiled warmly and then nodded at Spike. "Well then, should we get started on finishing up your entry for today?"

"Sure thing, Spike." She returned and cleared her throat. "I think it's pretty clear that our visit with Cadence didn't go quite the way I expected. But in the end, I realized that when you're with amazing friends, even the most chaotic day can end up being a great experience that brings you closer. For now, I am just completely grateful that one of the most important ponies to me is still with us…" She turned over to a specific area. "Wouldn't you agree, Discord?"

"Yes, Twilight." His voice spoke after snorting.

Being confused for a moment, I turned to see Discord in a pink bubble while appearing sickly green.

Before I could make out completely what exactly was going on, I heard my name being called. I turned to see Applejack trot towards me and hug me herself. Rarity followed along by her side, revealing the same relieved expression.

"We're so glad you're alright!" Applejack expressed meaningfully.

I chuckled just a little. "Well…you know. It's going to take a lot more than a gigantic worm to take me down." I said half-jokingly.

Applejack turned her eyes past me to angrily face Discord.

"I don't wanna go sayin' you got what you deserved..." She began, but Rarity decided to take over.

"Well, I have no trouble saying it. You got what you deserved!" Rarity, while keeping her lady-like tone, threw out bitterly, bringing an accomplished smile to Applejack.

"Now, now, he's learned his lesson." Fluttershy stepped in. "Isn't that right, my little patient?" She lightly rubbed him with her hoof, using some kind of protective bag that was attached to the bubble.

Discord nodded, and I could truly see that he was sick for some reason.

"I'm so glad that you're back from your trip, Fluttershy. Just your presence here is making me feel so much better." He exchanged thankfully.

"I'm glad to help." Fluttershy returned with a bright smile. "But next time…I hope you don't put the lives of others on the line for your mischievous actions…" Fluttershy began forming a serious and even intimidating look when stared through her eyes. "I may be taking care of you now, but if anything severe happens to anypony because of your carelessness…well…" She paused. "Let's just say you'd be better off staying away from me."

Discord was stunned for a moment as he held his blanket close to his mouth. Nonetheless, he nervously nodded. "Of course, Fluttershy."

"What happened to you anyway?" I asked curiously.

"After we got you out, the Tatzlworm dug out yet again." Twilight explained. "Only this time…it only spat out some gooey stuff." She giggled at the thought. "Cadence, you, and I were protected by her health bubble. Discord wasn't. That's when he really got sick. I guess something must have got that Taztlworm sick while you were down there."

"Huh…" I figured that it was most likely all the rocks in its stomach that made it sick… Sorry…but I warned you…sort of…

Miss Cadence walked in next with Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. I wondered if they already knew how well I was doing as Pinkie Pie gleefully jumped at the sight of the bubble and allowed herself to lie on top playfully. Rainbow Dash flew upwards and allowed herself to hang on the ceiling like a branch while holding glaring eyes at Discord.

"I got you something." Miss Cadence spoke, turning my head towards her. She held out this…very familiar ice cream bar in front of me. "Ice cream." She explained as I carefully grabbed it with my magic, which was still working perfectly fine. "It's called Sweet Caramel Delight. I heard it was a big thing in Fillydelphia when it came out." She chuckled lightly. "I thought you deserved something sweet for all the trouble you went through…"

I could only stare at this particular ice cream as this was just what Spirit and I were eating every time we hung out! "Thank you… Miss Cadence."

"Better hurry up." She advised with a bright grin. "Don't want it to melt now, do you?"

"Right…" I moved it over to my mouth and took a bite of it. It tasted the same…

Miss Cadence observed my bandaged wings and frowned slightly. "I'm sorry…my visit wasn't as great as planned. It makes me feel even worse that you were hurt from it…but I'm glad you'll be better soon."

"It's fine." I assured with a soft smile. "After all, what I'm really thankful is that no pony else got hurt."

"I know somepony I want to hurt…" Rainbow Dash muttered.

"Fluttershy, they're picking on me!" Discord cried.

Fluttershy crossed her forelegs. "You just lie there and get your rest, Discord."

"Oh, poo…" He turned to his side and placed the blanket over him.

"I guess I better be going." Miss Cadence announced. "Once again, I'm really sorry about the trouble, but I'll see if we can schedule another time together."

"Yeah." I nodded. "But we understand that you're busy too, so don't push yourself."

She returned a short chuckle. "I'll keep that in mind." Afterwards, she placed her hoof around me, careful to avoid the area where my wings were. "I'll see you when you're all better."

"Of course." I responded when she pulled away.

She then turned to Twilight to tend to her. "See you too, sister-in-law." She added with a smirk.

Twilight giggled. "You too."

Miss Cadence faced everypony. "Farewell to all of you as well!" She announced.

She left after she received an accommodating goodbye from the others.

Twilight released a sigh of relief. "Either way…I'm glad that's all over."

"Oh!" Discord suddenly appeared from beneath the blankets. "I was just wondering, could I trouble you for just one more thing?" He asked of Twilight.

Remaining silent for just a split second, Twilight furrowed her eyebrows and dilated her eyes. "No!" She shouted out.

"What?" He questioned innocently. "I was simply going to ask for a teeny, tiny glass…of water." He smirked, showing me he still hadn't really changed.

Before Twilight could blow a fuse, Fluttershy patted him. "I'll get your water, Discord."

"I see you still haven't changed…" I mentioned.

"You'll be staying with me too, right?" Fluttershy approached me.

"Huh?" I questioned with a tilted head.

"I want to make sure you're not alone in your condition." Fluttershy assured. "I know it's just your wings, but what if something happens to them and you have no pony to call to help? And you'll be all alone with no pony knowing what's happened to you and your condition might even worsen and—"

Fluttershy began worrying greatly at the possibilities, so I stopped her by placing a hoof at her mouth. "I'll stay." I answered briefly with a smile.

"Ooh!" Discord exclaimed happily. "That means we'll see each other a lot more often too!" He expressed with not such friendly intentions.

"Ugh." I flopped my ears down when I just realized that this was true with him being sick and all.

"If you just need somepony to watch over you and make sure you're okay, you can stay with me." Twilight offered. "It's a lot better than having some annoying being bug you for a living…" She added with a bothered tone.

"He can stay with me too!" Rarity suddenly exclaimed out loud, but once she realized how everypony stared at her oddly, she calmly cleared her throat. "I mean… I don't mind offering to watch over him as well… We can add some artistic beauty to your bandages there." She pointed at them on my wings.

"Thanks…" I thanked them. "But for now… I'll try staying with Flutters and putting up with Discord."

"Are you sure?" Twilight asked.

I nodded.

Let's just hope things don't get too…bad…

Suddenly, the front door of the cottage burst open. At the next second, I was being held tightly by none other than my mom. She closed her eyes and appeared to be relieved to see me okay as if she had gotten the news of what had happened.

"Mom…you're…" I tried to tell her that she was causing me some pain with the embrace, but I didn't have to finish as she released me and quickly stormed towards the bubble Discord was in.

She threw her hooves at it and released a fear-inducing face, frightening Discord greatly. He yelped, but Luna was unable to pass through the bubble. "You ungrateful whelp! How dare you endanger Alexander because of your obnoxious antics!"

"Princess Luna, please!" Fluttershy pleaded softly and placed her hooves on her in an attempt to back her away from the bubble. "Discord is already ill. You don't want to pop the bubble and get everypony sick here too, do you?"

Once hearing this, she glanced over to me and formed a slightly worried face. She took a deep breath and removed her hooves from the bubble. "Forgive me. I was just…"

"We know…" I stated understandably and approached her.

She smiled softly and decided to hold me closer in a softer way now.

My mom, of course, offered me to stay with her, but I told her I was fine staying with Fluttershy. She was a bit…concerned about that choice, since Discord would be nursed to health at the same time by Fluttershy. Nonetheless, she respected my choice, seeing as I was capable of making my own decisions.

Fluttershy tucked me in carefully with a warm smile on her face.

"How's that?" She asked.

"Great." I returned with another smile. "Thanks, Fluttershy."

She flew upwards and over to me to fill the spot next to me. "Ready to go to sleep?" She questioned.

"Mm-hm." I nodded.

"Okay. Goodnight then!"

"Goodnight."

We both closed our eyes to sink in the silence and rest peacefully.

However, there was suddenly a loud disturbance.

"Fluttershy!" We heard Discord call from below.

…Are you serious?

"So…I got attacked by a Taztlworm today…" I told Spirit as we sat on the edge of the balcony.

"Of course you did…" She responded with a hint of joy. "Not even disgusting horrible abominations can resist eating you up." She broke into a giggle.

"Oh wow." It was all I could say while not taking it seriously.

From her giggle, her face transformed into a frown. "Hey...I'm really sorry about your wings..."

I glanced at them for a moment. "Don't worry about it. It'll only be a while until I can use them again."

"Hmm." She smiled lightly, but something seemed to be holding more happiness back. "Yeah."

"Anything new with you?" I asked her as I faced her.

"Not really…" She looked downwards. Something seemed to be on her mind. "Hey…um…do you mind if we cut this short for tonight? There's…something I have to take care of."

"Sure…" I became a little troubled. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah." She smiled brightly to assure her response. "I just have to take care of this thing that has been bugging me."

"Well, as long as everything is fine…"

"Of course." She nodded. "See you soon, okay?" She stood up and walked back to the room in the balcony.

I remained there, sitting and staring at the sunset for a moment before I decided to rest through a regular dream.

As I closed my eyes to feel myself fade away from awareness, I swear I heard a loud cry of pain…but it wasn't from Spirit…

Serves him right.

Pinkie Pride

Episode 77 – Pinkie Pride

I finished with the last color of the rainbow as I laid the final stroke of her tail. Afterwards, I returned the brush back inside the cup of water.

"Thank you so much for helping me with the decorations, Alex!" Pinkie Pie thanked as the two of us stood in front of Sugarcube Corner. The banner of Rainbow Dash we had made laid on the ground calmly, so I decided to wrap the ends of the banner on the wooden sticks to have it stand upright on the ground in front of the bakery.

"It's totally fine." I answered with a smile. "Knowing you, I thought you would've been able to handle it all by yourself."

"Maybe, but I really think we need to spend more time together. I mean, when's the last time we ever did something together like this? Even at parties? Sure, we always talk to each other, but I mean I can't really remember the last time we actually did something together, so now I thought it would be perfect for us to work on Rainbow's party together! That way, we can plan a super fantastic fun party for Rainbow Dash all while doing it together!"

I knew Pinkie Pie was being super talkative, but she was just being herself of course.

"I can help every now and then, but I really think it's going to be you working on her party." I admitted. "You know your stuff, and I'm not going to be here to stop you." I chuckled a little.

Pinkie Pie giggled a little as well and looked back in thought. "You know, it seems only like yesterday when you really didn't want anything to do with me and my parties."

"I was stupid and inconsiderate at that time." I quickly addressed.

"Aww." Pinkie Pie rushed to squeeze me with both forelegs. "You just needed some extra motivation!"

With a small smirk, I responded. "Whatever you say, Pinkie."

Pinkie turned and released me when she noticed the others joining us.

"Hey, things are starting to look pretty good!" Twilight commented as she walked towards us along with the other girls.

"It's…just a banner." I glanced over to the banner and then back at Twilight with a jokey smile.

"It'll be a lot more than that later on today!" Pinkie heartily chirped in. "We'll get a whole bunch of balloons! And cake! And party games! Party hats! Eeee! Ooh, I am just so, so, SO excited because today I'm planning the birthday bash of... Rainbow Dash!" She pointed towards the banner.

I looked up to see the picture of Rainbow Dash look a little more…realistic than before. However, it suddenly popped out with a "Yeah!". She observed her own depiction on the banner. After, she raced over to Pinkie to slap her some high-hooves. However, Pinkie then grabbed onto Rainbow's hooves and held close to her seriously.

"Rainbow Dash." She expressed with a stern face.

"Yes, Pinkie?" Rainbow returned.

"You realize that, by enlisting me as your party planner, I guarantee that this is going to be the funnest, most fantabulous, superbial party in Ponyville?" Pinkie stated boldly, having Rainbow Dash slowly lower herself below Pinkie Pie until she was lying down on the floor.

"Uh...yeah?" Rainbow flopped her ears down, proving to be not on the same length as Pinkie. "I guess."

"No guesses!" She stuffed a hoof on her mouth. "Parties are no picnic."

"Oh, I like a nice picnic party." Fluttershy raised her hoof and added with a soft smile. Pinkie Pie quickly shot back a glare at Fluttershy along with a growl. "Oh!" Fluttershy quickly retracted, seeing as how she somehow interrupted Pinkie's serious party mood.

"Parties. Are. Serious!" She faced back to Rainbow Dash. "And you have my certified Pinkie Party Promise that you will have the best birthday party ever!"

"Hoh-Okay." Rainbow Dash nodded with a nervous smile, never had expecting such a…change in Pinkie's attitude about parties.

"Great!" Pinkie reverted back to her cheerful self and bounced around. "Now, who's ready to join this super duper party pony to plan this super duper pa-rty?"

"I am." A sudden low voice broke through the positive atmosphere, surprising the girls. We looked to the source of this response to see some pony hiding in the shadows…yet…he blew a party horn.

"Who are you, stranger?" Pinkie Pie immediately asked with a bright smile.

"Name's Cheese Sandwich." He spat out the party horn from his mouth and began walking towards us. "I plan parties."

"What an amazing coincidence! I'm Pinkie Pie, and I'm planning a party!" Pinkie Pie threw out happily.

"Oh, it's no coincidence, my little pony." He answered, but I managed to spot some kind of rubber chicken on his back, leading me to be confused on what exactly kind of pony he was. "My cheesy sense was a-tingling, telling me a party was in the works."

"A cheesy sense? Ah! Double amazing! I have a Pinkie Sense!" Pinkie Pie brought up.

"Yes. I sensed you did." This new pony kept his cool, being the complete opposite of Pinkie Pie. "And I happen to be the premiere party planner in all of Equestria. If there's a party in need, there I'll be. Be it wingding, hoedown, hootenanny, or shindig, I'm your pony."

"Um…excuse me… Cheese Sandwich?" I caught his attention. "It's nice of you to offer…but…Pinkie Pie here is already planning this party for Rainbow Dash."

"Alex!" Pinkie Pie bounced over to me. "Don't you see what this means?! We want Rainbow's party to be as awesome as ever! A pair of party pony planners in Ponyville?! What can be more perfect?!"

"I'll tell you what - making this party epic!" Rainbow joined. "'Cause this isn't just any birthday. It's also the anniversary of when I moved to Ponyville!"

"Good heavens, Rainbow Dash." Rarity spoke. "It's your 'birth-iversary'!"

"Exactly! So what do you say, party planners?" Rainbow held her hooves towards the duo.

"Oh, I think we can do it!" Pinkie Pie jumped up and down in excitement and glee.

"Oh, I don't think so." Cheese Sandwich emphasized, having Rainbow and Pinkie gasp in shock. Immediately after in all of a sudden, he threw out his desperado outfit to expose his kooky self. "I know so! After all...

The super-duper party pony–that pony is me" He began singing loudly and proudly.

"I always knew that was the kind of pony I would be"

"Me too!" Pinkie cheered.

"Come on, ponies! Who here likes to party?" He asked and then rushed over to an elder pony walking by. "Ha-ha! You do! I can tell!"

"When I was but a little colt, I just wanted to play"

"Like me!" Pinkie added.

"But everypony told me, 'Cheese, that fun just wastes the day'"

"As if!"

"But when I threw a party and I busted out some moves"

"Uh-huh!"

"The ponies finally saw the light and got into the groove"

"You know it!"

"The super-duper party pony–that pony is me" He busted out an accordion and began playing it.

"And me!" Pinkie continued.

"You'll never meet another party pony quite like Cheese!" He had already attracted a huge crowd.

"Uh, Pinkie?"

"Hey, good-lookin', want some mayonnaise?" He randomly pulled out a jar of mayonnaise and asked somepony in the audience.

"My parties are all off the hook

I never plan them by the book

I start out fun, then whoopsie-daisy

Everybody just gets crazy!

Bored of snacks made by your mom?

How about a giant party bomb?

Huge piñatas filled with cake

Or dive into my fruit punch lake!

The super-duper party pony–that pony is me

You'll never meet another party pony quite like Cheese" He danced wildly in front of the crowd and they all seemed to greatly accept him.

"Oh, when I throw a Cheese party, be sure to not be lame

And miss my pie fights, wacky kites, and streamers in your mane

Fizzy drinks, Hawaiian shirts, and brie fondue delight

You know that with Cheese Sandwich, you'll be partying all night!"

"C'mon, everypony! Let's party down with Cheese!" Rainbow Dash announced and invited everypony to crowd around Cheese Sandwich. Of course, they all did in a flash, leaving Pinkie and me outside.

"You're really a certified party pony?" Fluttershy asked with soft excitement to him.

"That's right! That's my guarantee!

The super-duper party pony–that pony is me-e-e-e-e" The ponies carrying him moved him over to someplace else after throwing him in the air for a moment.

"But what about the super party pony named Pinkie...?" Pinkie Pie tried to sadly reach out, but simply laid down on the floor after feeling defeated.

"Pinkie…?" I walked towards her and placed a hoof on her.

She quickly opened her eyes, startled that I was right there next to her. "Oh? What? Hm?"

"I'm sorry about what just happened right now…" It was all I could think of to say at the moment.

Pinkie Pie forced out a giggle. "What are you talking about? Now, Cheese and I can plan this party together and make it extra special."

"But…you just…"

"Come on!" Pinkie Pie cut off my sentence by grabbing my hoof and taking me along with her to follow Cheese Sandwich. "This party isn't going to plan itself!"

Whatever Pinkie Pie said, I knew she couldn't fool me what for how she was really feeling.

"Yeah! Hah, now that's what I'm talking about! I'm so stoked you're here, Cheese Sandwich!" Rainbow Dash announced loudly as we caught up to the crowd. However, we remained a few steps behind them.

"Yeah. You sure did come on the right day." Applejack added from the ground.

Rarity seemed to release a small relieved sigh. "Your party sounds simply divine."

"We're so lucky to have you here!" Twilight exclaimed brightly.

I furrowed eyebrows, feeling honestly bothered that everypony just seemed to forget about Pinkie Pie.

"Just doing my job, little fillies." Cheese Sandwich answered in accomplishment, placing another hat on his head.

I glanced over to Pinkie Pie to see her walking slowly slow down as she lowered her head. Nonetheless, she kept her eyes and ears up to continue seeing what was being said afterwards.

"I mean, Pinkie Pie's parties are fun and sweet and all, but now this party's gonna be—"

"Epic?" Cheese Sandwich finished, all while I noticed Pinkie Pie quickly lower her head as I knew she couldn't control the tears that were about to come out.

"You said it! Oh, yeah!" Rainbow Dash spun around and slapped hooves with Cheese Sandwich.

"Feels gouda!" He replied when Rainbow Dash noticed us in the back, but mostly stared at Pinkie Pie.

"Uh, heh, no offense, Pinkie." Rainbow added at the last second.

Pinkie quickly lifted up her head and licked clean the tears from her eyes, feigning a bright smile. "Uh, n-none taken." She closed her eyes, but then opened one to see if Rainbow Dash was still looking at her. Rainbow Dash, thinking everything was okay since she saw Pinkie smile, turned around and quickly caught back up with Cheese Sandwich.

As soon as Pinkie saw her dash out, her eyebrows furrowed worriedly, and it was if something on her back forcefully pushed her forward when she looked heartbroken. And like a lost dog, she turned around in a very small manner and walked away sadly.

I couldn't describe how horrible I felt after seeing that. I didn't need to feel disbanded to know exactly how she felt, and I definitely couldn't let her go on like that.

"Pinkie…" I called after her.

"Oh, hey… What's up?" She continued to try to smile as I was able to easily catch up to her, due to her very slow walking.

I still didn't really know what to say, so it took me some time to make something out. "…you're not going to let them just go on without you, are you? I mean…you're the party pony here and to not be participating in a party…it just isn't like you."

She returned a nervous and small chuckle. "What are you talking about?" She asked as we now arrived back at Sugarcube Corner. "I'm sure they're just excited because of the new pony in town." She nodded and stopped in front of the door to the sweet shop. "I mean, I would be too. He's such a goofy and cool pony. They'll come back when the hype is done." She added another nervous and short giggle. She sat and waited under the banner we had made. It was extremely silent as I took a look at the banner and then thought back to what Cheese Sandwich had done in mere seconds.

I glanced back at Pinkie to see she was still staring out to the distance in silence.

"Pinkie…" I tried to softly get her attention.

"Any time now…" She tried to keep her grin, but as she noticed no sign whatsoever, her stretched nervous smile dropped and her eyes widened in disbelief. A couple of purple balloons passed by and easily knocked down the banner to the floor. She observed this, looking up, and then slowly tilted her head downwards. I continued witnessing the changes in her face as tears swelled up in her eyes.

Feeling extremely empathetic, I raised a hoof and placed it around her. Instead of tackling me to the floor, she only calmly turned her head towards my body to rest it on me lightly.

"At least you're still with me…" She tried to appreciate.

"Pinkie!" We suddenly heard a yell coming from nearby. Pinkie Pie quickly raised her head and looked around in panic. She spotted a tin watering can near the bushes of flowers and quickly rushed towards it to hold it up and…water nothing. "Aren't you gonna help Cheese Sandwich plan the party?" Twilight walked by, holding a couple of small rainbow flags.

"That's okay." Pinkie chuckled nervously. "He obviously has what it takes to do it all by himself. Heh." She messed around with the watering can, not actually focusing on what she was really watering.

"Really?" Twilight returned in surprise.

"Yes, indeedy!" Pinkie nervously chuckled again and stretched out an immensely huge grin, especially when her watering can had run out of water.

Twilight continued staring at Pinkie Pie as she held the odd grin. Then, she glanced over to me with a both confused and concerned face. "…is something going on?"

I turned my eyes toward Pinkie, who only remained stretching her grin at both me and Twilight.

"Um… I'm just going to be hanging around here with Pinkie for a bit…"

"Oh…okay…" Twilight was a little…unsure of what to say. "Well…I guess I'll see you both later on then…" Afterwards, she turned and began walking away.

Once Twilight was out of the picture, Pinkie allowed herself to finally relax her face and lower the watering can towards the ground.

"After all…" She began speaking. "…if Cheese really is the super duperiest partying-est pony of them all.." She scrunched her face, as if she was beginning to attempt to hold back tears. "…maybe that means... I'm... not." The last word she spoke already broke at the end. I quickly turned around to see her heading back inside the shop.

"Pinkie." I called out as I followed her.

I trotted after her, reaching her side in the shop.

"It's okay, Alex… I mean… I was just out-partied by another pony. It's no biggie…" She chuckled, but then sighed heavily at her own statement.

"For all my life, all I've wanted to do

Was make my friends want to smile true

But maybe I was wrong…" She began singing, sparing a tear in between.

"And Pinkie Pie shouldn't plan parties at all…"

"That's not right." I shook my head. "You can't just…stop."

She shook her head and thought of what to do next.

"I'll try to get up on my hooves

And try a different task

I'll find something new to do

There's gotta be more to me than planning a party or two…"

She led me towards her room, where she began getting rid of anything that was party.

"It's…your cutie mark." I tried to subtly convince.

"I put away my party cannon, I deflated all my balloons" She did so as she seemed to ignore what I said.

"The bubbles all burst, now what is next for you?" She walked towards her wall, where there hung pictures with her inside them.

"For you..." She brought this one picture frame closer to her, revealing that it was when she was a filly.

"Oh, I remember this one: my first party ever. My whole family was there." She turned towards another that depicted all of the girls at a certain scene I did not remember… "And that's Twilight's welcome-to-Ponyville party. She didn't even expect that one." Pinkie giggled. Oh…that's right. "Oh, look at Gummy! He just looks so excited for this birthday party!" She explained another picture and lastly moved on to the one we all couldn't forget… "Hmm. Shining Armor and Cadence's wedding sure was special, especially once I got a hold of the music."

"Oh, look at those happy faces" She resumed singing, except this time, it was much brighter than before.

"All the parties that I had thrown

I made them laugh…"

"Had such a blast…" I added, feeling Pinkie regain herself.

"A smile that's all their own" We both expressed simultaneously.

"They loved seeing me" She stated in song.

"The real Pinkie" I emphasized.

"Show them the time of their life like they've never known" She threw open the doors to her balcony and threw her sorrow out the door.

"Like they've never kno-o-own" I mixed in my voice with hers.

"I've got to get back out there, have to show them that I've tried" Pinkie Pie rushed back in her room and began getting out much of her goofiness back inside and on her.

"For there's only one great party pony - that is Pinkie Pie

Won't let Cheese Sandwich beat me, won't let him get me down

For I am Pinkie, the bestest party pony around!" She sang out loud as she stepped out the door of the shop.

"Now that's the Pinkie I remember." I stated with a relieved smirk.

"You're right, Alex." She held a firm hoof. "I've been doing this ever since I was just a little filly! Why should I stop become some other pony thinks he's the best party planner in all of Equestria? No! It's my job to show my stuff and keep my title!" She hopped forward and boldly stood on her hooves. "I've got to show everypony what I can do!" She pointed out a hoof in the air. "To the…uhm…" She thought for a moment before she spoke up again. "Party…Planning Place!"

After following her serious bouncing, we seemed to arrive where everypony was at. We looked around a house to see Rarity and Applejack following behind Cheese Sandwich, who held a clipboard close to his chest along with a smug smile.

"I must say I marvel at your superior party planning expertise, Cheese Sandwich." Rarity shared behind him along with a giggle.

"Well, they don't call him the super duper party planner for nothin'." Applejack added.

"That's it!" Pinkie Pie pushed herself forward after hearing this. "This pony has gotta get her title back! And I know just what to do!"

"…and what is that?" I asked.

"A Goof-Off…"

"…a Goof-Off?" I questioned in confusion.

"It's elementary, my dear." She turned and explained to me. "Whoever is the best goofer-offer wins."

"…so…what you're saying is that whoever acts the silliest wins?"

"Precisely, amigo!" Then, she turned back and looked around with squinted eyes. "Now…where is that Cheese Sandwich?"

"I think he was headed over there…" I pointed towards a large area that was now occupied with a bunch of decorations and even a stage with stage lights.

"That Cheese is going down…" She began her serious hopping once again over to the new destination. I followed behind, wondering how exactly this would turn out. Cheese Sandwich didn't seem like a bad guy…but I have to admit, practically taking over this party that Pinkie was supposed to run wasn't a great move…

"Totally awesome!" We heard Rainbow Dash yell out.

"Huh. Best I've ever seen." Applejack commented as we saw Rainbow Dash's cutie mark appear above using the spotlight.

"I can't believe it!" Twilight shared her enthusiasm.

However, my interest was significantly brought in when I saw what the ponies nearby were in awe about. Cheese Sandwich was standing on a wooden scaffold along with that rubber chicken of his, and they both held ice picks. Cheese Sandwich was observing proudly at his…ice sculpture. And of course, everypony was complimenting him on his work…

Really?

"Freeze, Cheese!" Pinkie Pie shouted out from behind Fluttershy and Rarity whom were observing the sculpture. Both of them were alarmed of her sudden presence. "I challenge you... to a Goof-Off!" She exclaimed loudly, causing every single one of the girls to gasp.

"Oh, no! Not a Goof-Off!" Fluttershy cried out softly, as if she had experienced one of these before.

"What's a Goof-Off?" Applejack whispered to her.

"I have no idea, hehe." Fluttershy admitted, leaving Applejack to return an unamused look.

"This Cheese has stood alone a long time, Pinkie Pie." He returned boldly, placing on another hat. "You think you can out-goof me?" He squinted his eyes seriously.

"Oh, I don't think so. I know so!" Pinkie Pie continued viciously as they grew close together. "And the stakes are high, Cheese Sandwich. Whoever wins will be dubbed the ultimate super duper party pony and headline the Rainbow Dash birth-iversary bash!" Her voiced echoed throughout the space we stood in.

"And the loser?" Twilight inquired.

"Doesn't!" Pinkie responded, creating another collection of gasps from the others.

"So, are you in, Cheese?" Pinkie nudged him. "Or are you... boneless?"

"Nopony calls me boneless." He answered with a rough voice and then looked back at his rubber chicken. "Right, Boneless?"

He didn't answer.

"Then the Goof-Off is on for high noon!" Pinkie Pie settled.

"Um, Pinkie? It's already 3 o'clock…" Twilight pointed out.

"Oh. Oh, well then." Pinkie Pie retracted in an admittedly silly manner. "Make it 3:10 to Goof-Off!"

"I'll be there…and not be…square…" Cheese Sandwich stated lowly, and this led for the two of them to back off slowly away from each other while continuing to stare intensely.

"Oh my." Rarity expressed as she placed a hoof to her chest in slight shock. "Whatever would cause Pinkie Pie to behave in such a way?"

Glancing back over to the ice sculpture, I narrowed my eyes into a half-lidded state and began to turn around.

"Think about it."

In ten minutes, the streets of Ponyville were already crowded with ponies eager to observe the competition that would be fierce and aggressive on silly matters. I looked up at the clock to be certain it was exactly ten past three. That's when I began hearing spurs jangling and rubber squeaking.

Both of the competitors' eyes met, but from a fairly far distance. Pinkie ended with blowing a party horn. Afterwards, Twilight walked in with an announcement. "All right, everypony. According to my official goof off rulebook..." She went ahead and pulled out a rulebook, which I actually didn't believe there would be one for such an event. She turned to a specific page and glued her eyes onto it as she spoke out loud. "The two competitors have free range to goof about - be it by singing, dancing, playing, prancing, joking, or performing - to make the judge chortle, chuckle, giggle, guffaw, hoot and holler, whoop it up, and party down." All while Twilight explained the rules, Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich would make silly faces to each other. "The funnier, sillier, wilder, and goofier, the better. Rainbow Dash, since the winner will be headlining your party, you are the judge."

"Heh. Big tense competition on my birth-iversary." Rainbow Dash responded a little anxiously. "What could be better?"

"Cheese Sandwich, Pinkie Pie, are you ready?" Twilight asked the two.

"I was born ready!" Pinkie slammed her boot firmly on the ground.

"I was ready before I was born!" Cheese Sandwich countered.

"Then... Let the goofing begin!" Twilight announced and then flew out of the space to allow the competitors to start.

They both began slowly advancing at each other. Cheese Sandwich would step with his squeaking shoes while Pinkie would bounce about with her boots, all while Rainbow Dash remained in the middle and observed the both of them.

Cheese Sandwich immediately drew by walking on a ball while playing the accordion, but Pinkie Pie cut in as she sang to Rainbow Dash as she repeated Cheese Sandwich's move. Instead of playing the accordion, she juggled cupcakes and wore a spinning hat and moustache.

"It's your birthday party, a very special day"

I've got a song, it won't take long, I just wanted to say

Happy, happy, happy, happy

Happy, happy, happy, happy birthday to you!" Pinkie had tossed cupcakes into Rainbow's mouth, which Rainbow seemed to highly enjoy. Pinkie Pie even added a little extra by forming some of the frosting on the last cupcake in the shape of Rainbow.

Next, Cheese Sandwich came in while rolling on a cylinder block of cheese, continuing to play with his accordion.

"If you wanna be the life of the party

But you're feeling just a little uptight" He dropped off and began singing to Rainbow, leaving Pinkie with an unamused expression.

"Call the doctor, beg and plead

'Doctor, tell me what I need'

Try to put a little cheese in your knees!" He chomped at the cheese he was wearing on his hooves. He continued walking around Rainbow with his cheese while making silly noises until Pinkie Pie picked Rainbow up with a fishing rod.

"Bubbles and balloons, bubbles and balloons" Pinkie Pie presented in her balloon and bubble basket.

"What's a birthday party without bubbles and balloons?

Star-shaped or trapezoid, look what I can do

Only Pinkie Pie can make a bubble shaped like you!"

Twilight had landed near me, but I continued to have my silent attention on the competition.

Cheese Sandwich grabbed ahold of Rainbow and continuing dancing in front of her on top of Town Hall.

"Just let yourself go floppy, for now this is your chance"

"Pretend you have no bones and do the rubber chicken dance!" He rested his singing voice and pointed out to his rubber chicken.

"Hit it, Boneless!"

His rubber chicken suddenly sprung to life and began dancing uncontrollably for a short period of time.

"Cooler than a rubber chicken and tastier than cake" Pinkie Pie bounced on a trampoline to meet up with Rainbow Dash until she dropped down to the ground.

"Come on, you, let's party down and do the Gummy shake!" She now switched it to Gummy.

"Hit it, Gummy! Uh-huh!" She cheered, even though he did absolutely nothing but bloat out his throat. "You know it! Shake it!"

"Is something bothering you?" Twilight asked meanwhile the competition.

I remained silent for a moment until I decided to vaguely express my feelings. "I can't believe you girls even need this stupid competition."

Twilight was confused at that statement, but remained quiet to allow the competitors to compete clearly.

"'Cause I like to make you smile, smile, smile" Cheese Sandwich began singing a highly familiar song as he took Rainbow Dash in a ride on a parade float.

"Yes I do

It fills my heart with sunshine all the while

Yes it does

'Cause all I really need's a smile, smile, smile

From these happy friends of mine"

"That's my song!" Pinkie Pie angrily appeared from beneath the float.

"What do you mean? I have no idea what you're talking about." Cheese Sandwich laughed it off.

Okay… That was a cheap shot…

"THAT'S IT!" Pinkie screamed out and then immediately switched to a cheerful tone as she brought out her party cannon.

"Roll out the party cannon" She pressed a button and covered Cheese Sandwich's face with confetti.

When you hear the party cannon song

Ka-BOOM!" She shot herself out into the sky using the cannon.

"Why should you compromise? Try this one on for size" Cheese Sandwich brought out a really large cannon to match with Pinkie's.

"'Cause nothing quite says cheer like the ringing in your ear

Of the cheese supreme cannonball surprise!" He blew out confetti and even a few seagulls from his.

Pinkie Pie appeared by my side with a serious expression and placed a sombrero on both of our heads. She somehow took me on top of a giant piñata and began dancing almost wildly with me while singing in Spanish.

"¡Dale, dale, dale

No pierdas el tino!

Porque si lo pierdes

¡Pierdes el camino!" Before Pinkie could continue any further, something caused the piñata to suddenly become unattached and drop towards the ground, pausing the Goof-Off. Pinkie Pie and I jumped down to see the piñata break apart on the inside, but what alarmed me was Rainbow Dash. It had landed on top of her, leaving the front half of her body exposed while the rest was trapped inside beneath the piñata. I quickly trotted over to her while Pinkie Pie seemed to be frozen for a bit.

Rainbow Dash tried to pull herself out, but it wasn't until I came and offered a hoof that she was slowly managing to free herself.

It didn't seem that Cheese Sandwich got the message, as he was now training an otter to speak in a formal matter.

"Stop!" Pinkie Pie screamed. "The Goof-Off is off!"

Ponies murmured in surprised at this.

"But I haven't named the winner!" Rainbow Dash pointed out as I finally pulled out her whole body from beneath the piñata.

"You don't have to. I forfeit." Pinkie Pie sadly resigned. "Which means... Cheese Sandwich wins."

Cheese Sandwich laughed and then stopped a bit abruptly in shock. "...I do?"

"Yes. You get to headline Rainbow Dash's party." Pinkie admitted.

"But, what about you, Pinkie?" Twilight joined in concern.

"I..." She paused and sniffled with tears beginning to form in her eyes. "I don't…" Afterwards, she stood up and began walking with her head held low as I trotted after her. Every other pony continued to be utter confusion as we escaped the scene.

"I… I guess this is it…" Pinkie Pie stopped in front of the bakery as her muzzle pointed straight at the floor.

"Pinkie, come on…" I tried to encourage. "This feels all stupid." I shook my head. "I mean… Partying and making your friends laugh has been your whole life. You're not going to end all that just because you forfeited, are you?"

"You're right." Pinkie lifted up her head and turned to me, but the water in her eyes didn't go away. "I'm not. That's why I'm moving."

"What?" I widened my eyes.

"If Cheese Sandwich can do all the things I can, plus ten times better, then he's better for Ponyville. I'll…just move someplace else where there aren't so many parties…and do my job there. Don't worry." She grinned for just a second. "I'll come back to visit, but I think my job here is done."

I glanced over to the floor depressingly as Pinkie began to walk inside, but then I furrowed my eyebrows, not in anger, but in determination. I rushed over to Pinkie and blocked her path inside.

"I'm not going to let you do that."

"What? Why not?" She questioned, allowing me to believe she truly allowed her defeat to blind for her the time being.

"Look at what you're doing, Pinkie." I pointed out. "You're not just giving up your partying, you're giving up your friends. What would they think if you just moved out? Like me…" I felt myself almost turn weak inside. "If you're not partying, you're making ponies smile. You really expect me to smile knowing that you moved out because you thought your parties didn't matter? To be honest…" I looked down at the floor. "…if you and Cheese Sandwich made a party…and everypony else went to Cheese Sandwich's…I would stay at yours no matter what. It doesn't matter what he has. I couldn't live with myself knowing that I chose his party for some stupid 'cool' things while you would be out here on your own. And I definitely couldn't forgive myself if I didn't go to yours, knowing that what you really need are your best friends." I looked up in a serious manner at Pinkie to see her just staring at me in the same saddened manner, but there was evidence that she was deeply listening to what I had to say. "I can't control or make decisions for any other pony…but I can control mine. It's my life, and I want to be sure that I'm there for my friends…especially those that mean more to me than anything in the world." For a while there, we stared at each other in silence. In that moment, I was surprised myself to notice how it was a time I could really see the deep Pinkie. Usually, any sign of her deep emotions was covered by her sense of joy and cheer. Any other pony besides her close friends would think that she never had problems to go through, so she was happy twenty-four seven. I was almost speechless as Pinkie to realize that I was seeing her in her time of need.

Pinkie broke the staring when she scattered her eyesight at the floor in thought.

"You know what…?" She finally spoke. "…you're right, Alex." She lifted up her head and looked back at me. "You're right… Maybe I just needed to hear that from somepony... I mean…what if my parties won't be the same anymore? Leaving my friends wouldn't make it any better." She shook her head. "Parties only last a while. Friends last forever. At least friends like you." I lowered my eyelids compassionately and heartfelt by this. "Even if the others like Cheese Sandwich's parties more than mine, they're still my friends, and they shouldn't feel tied down to like mine, just because I'm their friend." She formed a very small and soft smile. "As a friend who loves to see ponies smile, they should like and do whatever they want. Who am I to stop them?" Pinkie's smile stretched out as her eyes beamed at me. She lifted up her forelegs and suddenly squeezed me tight in a meaningful manner. "Just knowing you'd be at my parties means a lot." I felt another tear slip out from her eye and leave a warm spot on my coat. I was so glad that this was now from happiness.

I almost laughed at myself since I even felt like crying to join her, but then I was shocked to see the other girls standing in front of me at a distance.

"Pinkie…wait…" Rainbow Dash announced softly as she flew in mid-air. Pinkie's head pulled up and away from my body to turn around and see what was going on. "I'm sorry I got all swept away by Cheese Sandwich." She apologized.

"We all are." Twilight added, followed by general agreement from the others.

Even Spike came walking in to apologize. "Sorry, Pinkie." He said with a sigh.

"No. I'm sorry I let my pride get in the way of you having the best birth-iversary ever." Pinkie returned. "Cheese Sandwich really is a super duper party planner, and he'll be a terrific headliner. I should've been a big enough pony to admit that and let you have your day. It's more important for you to have what you want, Rainbow Dash, because it's your day. Not mine. I was wrong to try to force my party methods on you."

"But don't you get it?" Rainbow Dash pushed herself forward in flight. "You're both super duper party ponies. Sure, Cheese Sandwich is a great guest party pony, but you're Ponyville's permanent party pony. Nopony could ever take your place, and we could never have a party without you!" Rainbow admitted, hugging Pinkie for a moment and allowing the others to do so as well.

"Rainbow Dash is right." Cheese Sandwich's voice suddenly spoke out, causing us to turn to see him walk in while holding his hat to his chest. "I never meant to take your place in Ponyville. I just wanted to show you what a great party pony I am, Pinkie."

"Why me?" Pinkie asked with great surprise.

"Well..." Cheese Sandwich thought back with rolled eyes.

"I fear I told a little fib about my pony past" He began singing.

"I hope that when you hear the truth, you will not be aghast

I wasn't quite the super party pony like I claim

The fact is that I was so shy, nopony knew my name

I stumbled into Ponyville one afternoon by chance

And found the biggest ever celebration party dance

Everything was perfect, cheer was filling up the place

And I saw that everypony had a smile upon their face

I vowed that day to change my life, the past I did set free

For now Cheese Sandwich was a party pony full of glee

A super duper party pony - that's what I became

I traveled all Equestria, and all did know my name

But that never would have happened on my own, I'll tell you why" He placed a hoof on Pinkie and brought her closer to him while looking up in reminisce.

For the one who threw that party, it was you, Pinkie Pie."

"Me?" Pinkie exclaimed in shock.

"Yes!" Cheese answered.

"Hah, really?!"

"Really!"

"So I was the pony that threw the awesomely spectacular party that inspired you to become an awesome spectacular party thrower?" She questioned as she bounced excitedly around him.

"Swear on Camembert!"

"Enough with the warm fuzzy stuff, you two." Rainbow Dash suddenly interrupted by cutting between in flight. "It's my birth-iversary, and you gotta throw me a bash!"

"Yeah!" Pinkie threw her hoof out into the sky.

"Let's go!" Cheese cheered.

"Super duper party ponies - that is me and you" Pinkie and Cheese began singing together, ready to use both their skills to plan this bash.

"A party thrown by one is good, but not as great as two

Come on and let's join forces, have twice the expertise

Now let's all go to the party planned by Pinkie Pie and Cheese!"

That night, I swear my heart wouldn't stop glowing figuratively. All those lights and decorations for Rainbow Dash's birthday were amazing to see. Geez, there were so many things I thought I'd never see for a birthday. Even a punch bowl to act as a swimming pool? Wow…

Rainbow Dash's party proved to be a party not just fit for her, but for everyone. I smiled in pure glee and soft excitement when I saw everyone having a good time, even the fillies that had their own little rides.

"All right, everypony! We are here to celebrate the birthday..." Cheese Sandwich announced from the stage at the center of the area.

"...and anniversary... "Pinkie Pie added.

"...of Rainbow Dash!" They both finished.

A light blue gift box flew upwards into the sky and then exploded to reveal Rainbow Dash. "Hey, everypony! Who's ready to get their party on?! Hit it!"

"Get your hooves up, party's starting out right now" Pinkie Pie began, greatly earning the hooves of ponies.

"Everypony, everypony get down" Cheese rolled on a giant cheese wheel as Pinkie continued.

"Time to make a wish, better make it right now

It's been a year and today is your birthday party" Rainbow blew out the candle of her giant cake and removed the rest by blowing wind with her wings.

"Make a wish, it's your birthday" Pinkie Pie invited me up on stage with her while Rainbow Dash continued to go all out.

"Make a wish, it's your birthday party" Applejack, Rarity, and Twilight even joined by dancing to the beat of her song.

"Make a wish, it's your birthday

Make a wish, it's your birthday party!"

The excitement and adrenaline of the party was vivid, far more than any other party I had experienced. Well…maybe it was on the same length as Miss Cadence's and Shining Armor's wedding…

Either way, as the party continued to live on, I rummaged around to find Pinkie writing in the journal as she sat in front of a table. I walked towards her as she paused her writing for a second to tap her chip and play with the pencil in her mouth in thought.

"Watcha doing?" I asked, despite the fact I already knew.

"Writing about Rainbow Dash's birth-iversary and what I learned today." She answered with a smile as I took a seat next to her. "I'm just about on the part where I was going to move and you came in and starting talking to me when I was all sad and then you said how no matter what you'd be at my parties because you love them and me too much to skip them and I was like 'Aww' and then the other girls came and started apologizing because they thought they were—"

I placed a hoof on Pinkie's mouth, causing her to puff out her cheeks for a bit. "I think we all know what happened." I honestly expressed with a warm smile.

"Oh yeah." She cheerfully responded and the stretched out her beam brightly.

Something unexpectedly was slid over to us in a wooden box.

"Just a little memento of my visit." Cheese's voice explained.

It opened and released a bright light that cause Pinkie's head to be turned away.

"You're giving me your special rubber chicken friend?" Pinkie Pie asked once she turned back to it.

I, for one, was staring more intensely and frozen-like at it.

"Oh, he's not the only one." Cheese Sandwich placed another rubber chicken on his back with a great big red two on it. "Well, Boneless Two, another job well done. But it's time we mosey along. Another town, another party."

Before he got going, I held out a hoof and called out to him.

"Wait, Cheese."

He stopped and turned his head towards me.

"Is there…anything else you do besides parties?" I asked.

"I like to make fun of songs from time to time." He answered in a goofy smile. "Smack me up if you're interested in an album." He then turned back to face away from us. "See you on…the cheese side…" Afterwards, he resumed walking, continuing on his…deep quest to be known all over Equestria. Huh…

The other girls had joined to see Cheese make his way off.

"I never did get that pony's name." Pinkie surprisingly mentioned.

"Cheese Sandwich!" All of the other girls answered with mixed tones: anger, worry, and concern.

Pinkie Pie giggled out loud. "Oh, yeah!" Then, she lifted her eyes up to take one last look at her new gift.

Pinkie placed the pretty flimsy rubber chicken on her table for the moment and turned around to see me.

"Thanks for telling me how you really felt back there, Alex." She placed a hoof to her chest and teared up in a silly manner. "It warmed my little Pinkie heart."

"It's what I do." I answered with a soft grin.

"Does that mean…" Pinkie glanced over to floor to think for a bit. "You'll show up at every one of my parties?"

"Well…" I rubbed my head. "Probably not every one…you know…if I'm sick or something. Sometimes you do throw parties at the randomest times."

"Hehe!" Pinkie giggled. "Oh yeah! Well, as your bestest friend, I respect your choice! Don't worry, on your next birthday, I'll be sure to make it the best birthday ever!" She announced happily, but then pulled back some. "Unless you want another picnic…"

"Hm…" I placed a hoof to my chin in thought. "I think I'd love to have a party officially ran by you, Pinkie."

"Eehee!" Pinkie expressed in excitement and then bounced over to me to squeeze me tightly.

I chuckled lightly and warmly accepted her embrace.

"So what happened today?" Spirit surprised me as we began eating our ice cream.

"What?" I returned. "I thought you'd already know."

"Nah…" She responded gently with half-lidded eyes and a smooth smile. "I think I'm going to give you your space now. I mean… I might bump in every once in a while…but…if I already knew what happened for the day, then we wouldn't have much to talk about at the end." She explained, taking another bite of her ice cream. She closed her eyes and seemed to savor the piece for a moment. "Besides… I've been thinking about and looking for something I seemed to misplace anyway."

"Oh really?" I wondered. "And what is that?"

"Something really important to me."

"Hm." My smile stretched as I leaned back. "Mysterious as always." I referenced her unspecified reasons.

Once the tasty treat disappeared from the sticks they stuck on, the sticks themselves laid in the middle between us, crossed together in a sort of 'X' shape, as I finished telling Spirit about today.

"She even told me, that if I was sick, she would plan a party for when I would get better, that way…everyone could celebrate that I was okay." I chuckled and shook my head. "Even if it was just a runny nose or cough."

"She sounds great." Spirit commented and continued staring out into the sunset.

"By the way…" I recalled another event. "Fluttershy had told me that Discord was crying about somepony coming and… 'hurting' him. Would that have…happened to be your doing by any chance?"

Spirit's smile grew immediately. "Maybe."

Knowing what that meant, I laughed a little. "Well, you have nothing to worry about. Even though Discord thought it was pretty real, Fluttershy believed he was just dreaming. Woosh." I motioned with my hoof. "Like a ghost."

"It's what…" Spirit began, but then paused slightly in an odd way. "…friends do."

"Thanks." I thanked nonetheless. "You're really growing on me."

Spirit looked downwards and swung her back hooves a little.

"You have no idea…"

Simple Ways

Episode 78 – Simple Ways

I stared at the mirror and adjusted my suit accordingly to the formal transition I was about to go through.

"I can't believe it!" Comet exclaimed. "You're a big shot now! Sitting at the table with royalty?! And most importantly, you're going to closer to Princess Luna than any one of us could get to!"

"Calm down." I advised with a soft smirk. "It sounds like you're separating me from anypony else as if I'm more important than anyone else."

"But you are! You're eating dinner with royalty!" He persisted.

"Shut up, you idiot." I returned. "I better not hear another word about being 'more important' from you anymore."

"Geez…" He pulled back a little. "I was just trying to help you."

"I know…" I nodded, understanding what he was trying to do. "I just…I don't want to get corrupted with the thought of being 'big', you know? I'm just going to eat some dinner with some pretty important ponies, and that's that. I'm not going to change or anything."

"Okay, sure." He agreed. "But what about Princess Luna? That's more important. Now you're going to finally meet and even have a chance to talk to her!"

The thought of it in my mind made the butterflies in my stomach rattle around. "Stop…you're going to get me more nervous than I should be…"

"Well, I mean, I think you really have a chance! Look at your cutie mark! Stars? Her specialty with the moon? It works perfectly!" He continued to be his excitingly self.

"Yeah, and you're cutie mark is a comet, Comet." I pointed out the resemblance too.

"No, no!" He shook his head. "Mine doesn't count. It's all about you-" He quickly paused and cleared his throat. "Ehem, not that I'm saying you're more important or anything."

"Hm." I chuckled slightly. "Either way, I hope you're right…maybe…"

Comet glanced over to clock and lightly shoved me. "Yeah, yeah, you better get going. You're going to want to make a first good impression."

"Yeah." I agreed when I was out the front door. "I'll try."

Alex

I sat up on my bed after hearing three light pounds on the door downstairs. I groaned and paid more attention on thinking over my recent dream, as it had left me with a really weird feeling than the average dream.

"Alex! We're going to be late for the Ponyville Days pony of ceremonies selection!" I heard Twilight's voice from outside muffle out as it came through the door and up the stairs.

That's a mouthful…

Trying let the feeling shake off me, I began walking in the almost eerie silence and headed down the stairs to the front door.

I opened the door to be greeted by all of my best friends…well…maybe not all of them.

"There you are." Twilight mentioned with a smile.

"Oh…yeah." I rubbed my head a little tiredly. "Sorry, I had weird dream."

"About?" Twilight tilted her head in curiosity, keeping her small beam.

"Eh…" I lightly shrugged it off. "The same random stuff when we were in Canterlot."

"I see… Well, we don't want to be late for the selection, do we? Who knows who going to get picked this time!"

"Uh, sure." I returned, not quite remembering what the whole ceremony was about again.

"How have your wings been feeling?" Fluttershy asked me as we headed towards Town Hall.

They were still wrapped, so I couldn't really move them at all. "They haven't really been hurting that much, like if you were to poke them or something. I still can't fly…yet…but it won't be too long until I get there…I hope." I thought ahead about the Equestria Games, believing they would be just as good as new in time for the largely massed event.

"Oh, don't worry." Fluttershy assured me with her grin. "You'll get there in no time." Fluttershy rubbed her head with mine, which I warmly accepted.

"Wow!" Rainbow Dash suddenly exclaimed as she hovered in flight. "I can't believe how many ponies showed up!" She pointed out as we crossed the bridge to Town Hall. It was true. There were tons of other ponies gathering around, just like Winter Wrap only, only they weren't wearing any vests.

"I can!" Pinkie Pie added in excitedly. "I mean, finding out who the Ponyville Days pony of ceremonies is is a pretty big deal!"

As we joined in with the other ponies, Mayor Mare stepped up to the podium while three elder ponies sat at a table, one of them being recognized by all of us.

"I didn't know Granny Smith was on the selection committee." Twilight mentioned.

"Of course she is." Applejack assured confidently. "Ponyville Days celebrates the founding of Ponyville, and she was right there." She explained as a little filly with a balloon had walked up to Granny Smith, whom pat the little filly's mane lightly.

"I'm glad the committee didn't automatically pick me so everypony gets a chance to see how great being me actually is!" Pinkie began to excitedly let herself go verbally, leaving upset frowns on everypony. "Even though the festival's basically a party and the pony of ceremonies gets to organize the whole thing! So it'd totally make sense if they did pick me."

"Shhh!" Everypony shushed her, as the event seemed to be starting.

During that time, I noticed Vinyl actually not to far from we were. In fact, she was pretty close. She noticed me and sent a small smile. I returned the same thing, but then I noticed…him… Bulk Biceps stood out from the crowd like nothing, and I couldn't help but lose my smile when I turned my attention back to Mayor Mare, who began talking.

"Citizens of Ponyville, this year's applicants were all exceptional, but there can only be one Ponyville Days pony of ceremonies." I looked to see who she could have been talking about, and I assumed it were the ponies that were…dressed a little…differently. "And that pony is..." Mayor Mare paused and looked at the selection committee as they talked quietly and eventually agreed on something…or somepony.

Pinkie Pie inhaled in a lot longer than anypony could actually take and then surprised me when she inflated herself and floated above us.

"What the…?!" I exclaimed quietly, being unable to believe what I saw.

Granny Smith walked over to Mayor Mare and placed a slip of paper on the podium for her to see. The mayor's smile disappeared for a quick moment, as if she was surprised to see who it was, but then it quickly grew back when she announced the name. "Rarity!"

Rarity was shocked herself to hear such a thing, placing a hoof to her chest. As the others cheered and congratulated her, ponies around her shook hooves with her and one even gave her a bouquet of flowers.

"Congratulations, Rarity!" Twilight expressed, facing Rarity. "Do you know what you're gonna do?"

As soon as Twilight asked that, Spike came in, rolling over a model scale of Ponyville. However, this model had a bunch of red banners that connected each and every building.

"Oh, I might have a few ideas." She admitted.

Walking up to the model, I felt poised about Rarity's intentions. "Whatever they are, I'm sure they'll be worth it."

"Aw." Rarity lightly played with her hair and blushed lightly. "Believe me, I've recently formed many more ideas that don't all adhere to Ponyville."

"What you mean?" I asked curiously.

"Oh, never mind that. Please, if you all will, we must continue this at the boutique. That is where…the magic begins." Rarity stroke a short pose and then walked fashionably ahead in a ladylike manner.

At the boutique, Rarity set up the stage in the middle and asked for Spike's help on other things. For the moment, I found it a bit…surprising or odd that she didn't really request assistance from me, especially since she loved to always include me in art-related projects, but I didn't really think much of it and waited for Rarity and Spike to finish whatever they needed to do.

The six of us, Pinkie, Rainbow, Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, and I stood in front of the stage. There was an easel holding Rarity's presentation and, of course, some music ready to play.

"I'm so excited for the festival, I can hardly stand up straight!" Pinkie Pie eagerly bounced and hopped up and down until she fell flat on her face to prove her point.

I used my magic to gently pick her back up to place while Twilight added in to the conversation.

"Me too. I'm glad Rarity was picked. I know she'll add a touch of elegance to the whole thing!"

"Probably more than a touch!" Applejack stated right before the lights turned off.

Next, the spotlights at the front of the stage directed themselves at the curtains. Spike walked out and cranked on the music. He messed with his bow tie and cleared his throat. Another spotlight from the ceiling lit up and faced him. He pulled out several notecards and held them up to his face, reading off them. "This year's Ponyville Days festival, designed by Rarity, will feature various high-class events such as..." He grabbed ahold of the first page on the easel and turned it over to reveal another page that depicted a drawn picture of ponies tasting a certain drink. It was most likely done by Rarity. "…a silent cider auction and tasting."

"Ooooh!" The others returned.

"A Ponyville gala in town square." Spike revealed another page depicting couples dancing with each other.

Fluttershy and I exchanged a look with each other. It seemed we silently already made plans to dance at this event. However, I also imagined Rarity asking for a dance.

"Ahhhh!" The girls continued.

"And, of course, a Ponyville fashion show." Another drawing was shown revealing the scene.

"Ooooh!"

"This year's Ponyville Days festival pony of ceremonies creates shimmering couture of her own design." Spike continued professionally, directing our attention to the circular light on the curtains.

Of course, they opened sideways to reveal the important pony behind this project. Rarity was wearing a beautiful and shining dress that was studded with gems, along with the accessories like the ring on her horn and her earrings.

"And the theme is..." Rarity kept us in suspense as she walked into the middle of the catwalk. "'Small Town Chic'!" She threw her head around with each word pronounced, ending with a presentable grin.

"Wow, Rarity. You really have put a lot of effort into this." Twilight commented.

"I'll say." Applejack added.

"Oh, I think it's going to be magical." Fluttershy mentioned, possibly continuing to be excited from the thought earlier with the dance.

Rarity gasped, seeming to actually be surprised to hear this. "Do you really think so?"

"Are you kidding? I can't wait!" Pinkie expressed clearly.

"Me either." I joined with a smile.

"Oh, that's such a relief. But of course, I couldn't possibly do it all on my own." Rarity said as the lights turned back on and Spike rolled over some steps for her to walk down from the catwalk. "The festival is in three days!"

"Pinkie Pie and I can hang lights and decorations in the town square!" Rainbow Dash immediately offered.

"And I can get Sweet Apple Acres all ready for the cider tastin'." Applejack added.

"Oh, that's just perfect!" Rarity's face was struck with glee. "And now, Twilight, if you and Fluttershy wouldn't mind helping with the fashion show..."

"Of course!" Twilight responded.

"I'd be honored." Fluttershy softly replied.

I was expecting to…receive a job too, but she didn't seem to have something in store for me right away. I decided to not mention anything, seeing as she might have wanted to wait until later to tell me. She usually always had something planned for me… Even for projects I felt I wouldn't be great at, she'd always try to include me somehow…

"I can focus on the thing I'm worried about most of all." Rarity stated, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"What?" The rest of the girls inquired about.

"Creating a Ponyville Days festival fantastic enough to impress..." Rarity paused and then squished her cheeks with her hooves while her eyes gleamed with the lights in the boutique. "Trenderhoof!"

As everypony remained silent at the sudden name that came out of her mouth, I could only feel… I don't know what I felt… My face made its own expression by lowering an eyebrow in both curiosity and concern, but I just couldn't…describe what I felt.

After receiving a shrug from Fluttershy, Applejack decided to bring the question up to Rarity. "Uh, who's Trenderhoof?"

"What?!" Rarity exclaimed out loud in a sharp tone, seeming to expect us to automatically know who this…Trenderhoof was. "How can you not know who Trenderhoof is?" Rarity trotted a bit angrily to the side of the room and pushed a couple of curtains away with her magic. I had no idea she would reveal this…hidden room that actually held a huge collection of this pony she must have been talking about. "Trenderhoof is only the most amazing, handsomest travel writer to have ever traveled or written! Before Las Pegasus became an Equestria travel destination, he wrote about it! Before the culinary revolution in Trottingham, he discovered it!" As Rarity excitedly described him, I could only let my eyes squint and my eyebrows furrow by themselves. "He knows what's going to be hot even before it's tepid!" She grabbed ahold of one of the posters of him, brought it close to her, and hugged it while giggling and slightly squealing.

I couldn't give a reason why…but I felt a little angry at the sight of this.

"Sounds like somepony has a little bit of a crush!" Twilight nudged Rarity playfully.

"Oh, Twilight, 'crush' doesn't even begin to describe it!" She allowed herself to fall in Twilight's hooves, as if she was really love-struck with this guy. "He's practically divine. I can't believe he's coming!" She twirled and spin eagerly, later to follow with a lot of tittering.

The more she obsessed over him, the angrier I felt.

After sharing similar looks with each other about Rarity's obsession, the girls decided to excuse themselves. "Well, I guess we better get going so we can start on our parts." Twilight announced. "C'mon, girls." Twilight advised, bringing the others with her to the outside, including Spike.

Once the door was shut, there was only Rarity and me in the same area we were standing on. I turned from the door to Rarity, whom was continuing to stare at her poster. Despite the new unexpected feelings that formed and wanted to come out, I had to swallow it all in to talk to her.

"Rarity…" I stepped forward, trying to feign a…barely content mood. "…I never knew you…um…had a crush on this…Trenderhoof."

"Oh." Rarity placed the poster away and turned to me to walk towards me. "Don't tell the others this but…" She lowered her tone to almost a whisper. "…I actually had forgotten about him for a while…" She noticed my lightly furrowed eyebrows that resulted after her explanation. "…a long while…um…" She cleared her throat. "…perhaps…before I met you. Um. Either way…" She turned and tapped her hooves together. "Recently, I was just reminded about him. I had forgotten that I left all the stuff I collected of him in my closet, and getting back into him, I decided to make this." She presented her hoof at the very thing I did not need another look at. "Never mind that, Alex." She turned back to me. "This is perfect, don't you see?" She walked closer to me. "Now, we don't have to worry about that silly little crush I have for you anymore! Now, you don't need to worry about me getting in the way of you and Fluttershy, and I can focus on Trenderhoof!"

"Uh…huh…" I really had no words to say…not after she just…explained everything just like that.

"That reminds me!" Rarity recalled. "Trenderhoof is supposed to be arriving in Ponyville today! Would you please ever do me the favor to come with me? I could really use somepony like you."

"Why?" I questioned, feeling a little better just to hear that she needed me.

"I'll be meeting the Trenderhoof, Alex. I might just die of nervousness if I was to be all by myself!"

And just like that, I kind of felt shattered inside. Nonetheless, I still felt the need to go with her. "…sure…" I answered reluctantly.

As we stood waiting at the train station, Rarity was anxiously waving a paper fan in front of her face. I had to angrily look away, but I hoped that I wasn't making it too obvious… When the train arrived in sight and later stopped, Rarity felt right to talk to me then.

"Thank you ever so much for joining me, Alex." Rarity expressed quickly, clearly revealing her nerves. "It's so delighting to have some support."

"Uh-huh…" I responded, feeling completely opposite than content.

The train door slid open, unboarding the chattering ponies from inside.

"Is that him?" Rarity immediately asked and continued to question with her nervous striking high. "Is he here? Alex, is he there?"

"I don't know." I answered emotionlessly without trying too hard to look.

"You don't suppose he's decided not to come?" Rarity continued to fretfully interrogate. "Alex, I don't see him! What if he doesn't arrive? The whole festival will be a disaster! Alex, where is he?!" She exclaimed out loud, alarming all of the ponies around us and causing an awkward silence. She darted her eyes around the train station to notice so and cleared her throat. "Sorry."

"Is he seriously that important to make you nervous?" I asked a little bitterly. "What's so great about him?"

"'What's so great about him'?!" Rarity repeated in disbelief.

Not wanting to hear it, I decided to retract that question. "Never mind…"

Lastly, one especially different pony stood out from the rest when he stepped out the train. And from seeing the posters Rarity had…I could tell it was him. After all, the way he was dressed…was the first time I've ever seen a pony dress like that, at least face-to-face. When I glanced over to Rarity, she was completely stuck with her gaze at him, leaving me to frown irritably at her.

She released a loud gasp and then hid behind me under my tail while clenching onto my back legs.

"So?" I spoke, beginning to become annoyed.

"It's him, it's him, is it him? Is it him? It's him, he's here, he's here!" She stuttered and released quickly and anxiously.

"Aren't you going to talk to him?" I asked, unable to believe she was actually too nervous to talk to this guy when usually it was the other way around.

Rarity shook and returned some unintelligible screeching. "I can't!"

I narrowed my eyes and began turning to leave. "Then, I'll just get going then."

"No, wait!" Rarity called me.

I sighed and turned back.

She took in a deep breath and exhaled it. Afterwards, she walked towards this stallion while I could only be forced to watch this conversation I so much cringed at.

After nervously laughing, Rarity began rubbing her hoof as she stood in front of him. "Uh, hi—" She cleared her throat in midsentence. "Hello, Mr. Trenderhoof. I am Rarity, and I have been chosen as pony of ceremonies for the Ponyville Days festival." She continued to laugh while blushing at the sight of him.

I only shook my head and rolled my eyes.

"Please, call me 'Trend'." He stated in this really…in my opinion…obnoxious way.

Rarity turned from her flushed grin to a twitching eye and appeared to faint and fall to the floor.

"Seriously?" I questioned heatedly and walked to her to wake her back up.

As I began trying to pull her up, Trenderhoof began speaking to me. "Ah, you must be the Prince."

"Yeah, I guess so…" I answered unwillingly.

"It's fantastic to meet you. It'd be amazing to do a story on you. There's just so much to write about." He continued. "You wouldn't mind, would you?"

As much as I really felt like returning an outburst, I kept it inside. "Sorry…I'm not too comfortable about that…"

He shrugged and seemed to take it lightly. "Oh well, there's always next time."

Sorry, there is no next time.

"Rarity, come on. Wake up." I lightly shook her.

She lightly fluttered her eyelashes as her eyes opened. "Hm? Is that you, Trend?" She was quick to narrow my eyes again. However, once she knew it was me, she quickly retracted that name. "Oh, I mean, it's you, Alex!"

"Yeah…" I returned uneasily, pulling her up back on her hooves.

"Well then." She looked at the both of us as she dusted herself off. "Why don't you say we get started on our look of Ponyville?"

"After you." Trenderhoof presented, causing Rarity to giggle with a blush as she led him out of the train station.

I only rolled my eyes again as I regrettably followed them.

"And over here will be the climax of the festival, the Ponyville Days gala! Music, dancing!" Rarity chuckled in a certain way as she glanced over to Trenderhoof at that last word. "And of course a locally sourced menu of delicious treats." She added.

"Reminds me of the 'Spring Fling meets Manehattan Wedding' I wrote about in Gallop & Prance." He mentioned.

Sure, why don't you tell us all about it?

"Exactly! I, I can't even describe how much your work has influenced me!" Rarity returned.

I couldn't really take all this talk anymore, so I decided to excuse myself.

"You know, I think I'll go check on the others and how they're getting on with this festival." I stated.

"Oh, of course, of course." Rarity easily responded. "You go on ahead."

I flopped my ears down as I stood there speechless when she continued to walk along with Trenderhoof by her side. This was the first time she so easily dismissed me from her company…and I could hardly believe it. I scrunched my face in anger for a moment and then turned around to find something else…far away.

I came across Twilight's door like a helpless dog and knocked.

"Hey there. What's up?" Twilight asked as she answered the door.

"Hey…you've got any room for helping with fashion show?" I questioned.

"Actually…" Twilight glanced back inside. "We haven't really started on the fashion show. We're waiting until things are a little more put together. After all, I believe the fashion show is at the end after the gala." She chuckled a little.

"Oh, right…" I responded with.

"What's bothering you?" Twilight noticed my trouble through my tone.

"I guess I just feel a little…I don't know…left out." I answered truthfully, but it wasn't everything I was enduring. Twilight stepped to the side for me to walk in. "Rarity didn't have anything for me like she usually does for projects like this. And…it doesn't seem she…" And that point, I wanted to put "care"…but I couldn't allow myself. She had to care… "I don't know."

"Oh, Alex." Twilight placed a hoof on my shoulder. "I'm sure she didn't want to bother you. If she always wants to include you in her art projects, maybe she felt she needed to give you a break? Otherwise, she'd feel like she's asking too much of you."

"Twilight's right." Fluttershy had come from another area. She must have been in here because she was supposed to work with Twilight on the fashion show. "I know I'd feel like that if I was always asking for favors from you."

"Hm…" I looked slightly away. "I don't know… It just…feels weird."

"When's she done planning for the festival, you can talk to her. Then, she'll tell you what she was really trying to do for you." Twilight appeared to feel highly confident about that suggestion.

"Hey." Spike walked towards us but mostly faced me. "If it makes you feel any better, I was going to go Rarity's to see if she wanted to taste the cider when it's finished." He held up a cup in his claw. "I have my cider-tasting cup!"

I managed to smile lightly. "Gee, thanks, Spike. Normally, I thought you would rather want to be…you know…" I lowered the tone of my voice. "…alone with Rarity?"

"I wouldn't enjoy it knowing that one of my best buds is feeling down. Besides, she's all over that Trenderhoof guy anyway."

I sighed and spoke under my breath. "Don't remind me…"

"Listen, Alex." Spike began telling me as we were on our walk to Rarity's boutique. "Let's be real here, we're pretty much the only dudes here in our huge group of friends. Shining Armor and any other guys are too busy doing their own thing, so that leaves us. I just want to tell you that if you ever need anything, I'm your guy to help you out." He pointed to himself proudly. "You've been there for me before and I can't really remember when I actually did something for you, so I'm just letting you know."

"Oh… Thanks, Spike." I responded, feeling a bit grateful for his offer.

"Believe it!" Spike assured. "I'll even mess with the ponies that bother you the most!" He pulled out his claw and used it for his thoughts. "Like that Starlight I've heard you guys talk about."

I widened my eyes in surprise for a second and then allowed them to rest as I turned my head to Spike. "Uh…let's just…leave her out of this conversation, okay?"

"Oh!" Spike understood. "Yeah, gotcha!"

We reached the door to Rarity's boutique. Spike raised his free claw to knock on the front door.

There was no answer.

"Maybe she's still with Trenderhoof." I assumed.

"She couldn't have taken that long…" Spike scratched his head. "Besides, we're supposed to go try the cider samples, and this festival is important to her!" He opened the door and I followed in after him, closing it behind me. "Rarity? Rarity! Hello?" Spike called out.

We suddenly heard what sounded like muffled sobbing coming from that room that held the huge collection of Trenderhoof. From the entrance of the room, I looked down to see a huge trail of water leading straight to it.

"…what the?" I questioned.

Spike walked up to the curtain and opened it to reveal Rarity crying at the table holding all her Trenderhoof stuff.

"I brought my cider-tasting cup, and Alex is coming with me!" Spike approached Rarity happily, seeming to not know or realize that she was crying loudly right in front of him. "Are you ready to go try the samples?" He held out his cup towards her.

"What's the point?!" She answered loudly, throwing her hooves out and knocking the cup out of Spike's claws.

"Rarity, what happened?" I walked in, beginning to greatly feel concerned about her.

"Nothing!" She paused between quick breaths.

"Is it…Trenderhoof?" I guessed.

"He doesn't like me." She stated almost quietly.

"What?" Spike asked.

"He doesn't like me." Rarity repeated in the same manner.

"Rarity, I can't hear what you're—"

"He doesn't like me because he has a crush on Applejack, even though I've had a crush on him ever since the beginning of time, and it's not fair!" Rarity turned and cried out loud through huge sobs.

Really…?

"Trenderhoof doesn't like you? That's ridiculous!" Spike continued conversing with Rarity while I could only remain silent.

"Oh, Spike, how could you ever know what it's like to be totally obsessed with a pony only to find out they're obsessed with somepony else?" She asked as she focused her eyes on a poster of him. Spike crossed the claws in front of him and looked at me with ironic eyes. "I mean, what could Applejack possibly have that I don't?!"

"I 'unno." He merely shrugged, still pretty annoyed at the thought that Rarity had no idea what he himself had to go through.

"Well, to be honest, Rarity. You two are completely different." I spoke up. "For example, you have your thing with fashion. She has her thing with the farm. You hate getting dirty. She doesn't mind it as long as she gets her work done."

"Hmm..." Rarity rubbed her chin in thought after hearing this. "That's it!" She suddenly perked up.

"What?" Spike inquired.

"If Trenderhoof likes Applejack because of what she does…" Rarity rubbed her hooves together in thought. "Then if I do what Applejack does, he has to like me then!"

"What?!" I exclaimed, unable to believe that she was going to go this far. "Why don't you just give it a rest!?"

"No!" Rarity shouted out. "I HAVE to get him to like me!" She then dashed out of the curtained room to who knew where.

"So…I guess she doesn't want to go cider-tasting then…?" Spike assumed.

I sighed and began walking out. "Come on, Spike…"

"I think Applejack should have some samples ready for us back at the farm." Spike mentioned as we walked through town, everywhere being busy with ponies.

"Alright then." I merely responded, but I was too distracted by Rarity's behavior.

"Hi, Alex!" I heard a cheerful voice exclaim and land by me.

I turned my head to see Derpy joining me by my side. "Oh, hey, Derpy." I greeted, surprised by her appearance.

Derpy tilted her head to notice my bandaged wings. "Ooh. What happened to your wings?"

"I…got into a little trouble…" I tried to explain subtly. "…with a creature…"

"Oh! I hope everything is okay."

"Yeah, don't worry. They'll get better over time." I assured with a small smile.

"That's good to hear!" Derpy grinned before we heard another voice behind us.

"Alex!" I looked back to see Applejack trotting towards us with another pony strictly following behind her. "I'm so glad to see you."

"Why?" I questioned in concern.

"Well…"

Trenderhoof suddenly cut in between us. "As I was saying before, I wanna know about you! What do apples mean to Applejack?"

Applejack sighed and focused her eyes seriously on Trenderhoof. "Look, I'm glad you're interested in Ponyville 'n' all, but I'm kinda busy with my chores. And if I can't get 'em done, there won't be a Ponyville Days festival for you to write about."

"Well, that will never do!" Another pony sounded, having us turn to see Rarity dressed in a different style that she managed to work to her liking.

"I should probably get going now…" Derpy whispered and then flew away from the scene, believing it was getting too crowded.

"Rarity, what are you wearin'?" Applejack asked with a touch of humor in her tone.

"What, this old thing?" She presented her outfit. Her fashionable cowgirl presentation didn't look old at all…

"Aren't you too busy plannin' the festival to keep makin' new outfits for it?" Applejack questioned as Trenderhoof continued to obviously gaze at her.

"I am. But the thought of hauling apples inspired me, and I just couldn't stop myself!" Rarity explained, stepping forward next to Trenderhoof.

Sure.

"Really?" Applejack included a skeptical tone now.

"If there's one thing I love, it's hauling apples!" Rarity flipped her mane right in front of Trenderhoof, trying to earn his attention.

"I'm growing fond of it myself." Trenderhoof added in dreamily, continuing his sight on Applejack after she rolled her eyes.

"Maybe you two should try it sometime…" I could hear Applejack speak under her breath.

"I'm feeling a tad inspired." Trenderhoof voiced, earning Rarity's admiration. "Without farm life, there'd be such disparity…" He began in a poetic tone. "These thoughts I think with great clarity…"

I narrowed my eyes and began leaving as he continued doing what he apparently did best. "I'll see you at the farm, Applejack." Spike quickly followed me by my side.

"I, uh…" Applejack tried to say something, but seemed to be stuck with Rarity and Trenderhoof when he directed his attention to her.

Spike and I waited at the farm, seeing as we needed Applejack to get on with tasting the cider. For some reason, Rarity arrived first, but it didn't seem she bothered stopping by to talk to us.

"There's Rarity." Spike brought up and stood up from sitting on a hay bale. "I'm going to see what's up!" He quickly caught up after her.

I sighed and placed a hoof to my face. What had this day come to?

"Looks like you need somepony." I heard before looking up from my hoof.

Spirit was smiling softly at me as she took Spike's place on the hay bale.

"Spirit!" I softly exclaimed. "It's been quite a long time since I've seen you…that is…outside our dream."

"I noticed you were kind of lonely…" She answered. "I thought I could cheer you up if I came by."

"Well, you did." I smiled back at her. "But I can't promise I'll continue like this if things don't change."

"Want to fill me in?" She asked, reminding me that she wasn't going to know my days already before I told her anymore.

"It's Rarity. Ever since this morning, all she's been talking about is Trenderhoof. She's so crazy about him…I feel like it's changing her."

"Trenderhoof, huh…"

"Do you know him?" I asked.

"…not really." It took some time for her to think about it and respond.

"Whoever he is…I can't help but feel angry towards him. I know I shouldn't be, because he didn't do anything specifically to me…but the way he's having Rarity change… Ugh. It's just getting on my nerves."

"Excuse me, Mr. Trenderhoof, but are you just going to keep following all day?" We heard Applejack in the distance.

"I should get going." Spirit hopped off the hay bale. "We'll talk about this later, kay?"

"Okay…" I said before she headed off.

"Oh, I'd just love to hear all about your farm, Applejack. More importantly, I'd love to hear what you offer for it." I could hear Trenderhoof continue to persistently bug her.

"Funny thing about that. It's really hard for me to offer anything if you keep trailing behind me like a hungry dog." The both of them came into view. Once, Applejack spotted me, she quickly trotted to me while trying to keep the apples in her basket intact. When she reached me, she placed down her apples and almost frantically appeared to speak. "Alex, quick. I could really use your help. I need—" She suddenly stopped midsentence when we both noticed Trenderhoof happily listening in on our conversation. Applejack irritably cleared her throat and turned her head to Trenderhoof. "Ah-hem. Do you mind…?"

"Oh! Not at all!" He shook his head, but continued to remain there.

Applejack narrowed her eyes in annoyance and spoke in a defeated manner. "Never mind…" We then heard some high-pitched grunts somewhere by, catching Applejack's ears. "What in tarnation…?"

Applejack and I began heading towards the source of this noise, but of course, Trenderhoof stupidly followed.

"…you want me to…you know…?" I spoke softly to Applejack and subtly directed my eyes towards Trenderhoof.

Applejack shook her head and responded in the same tone. "We can't risk anything against the festival." She stopped in both talk and walk after seeing Rarity on top of a plow as if she was trying to get it to work by riding it like a carriage. "That is…if the festival even happens…"

Rarity ceased her efforts and sighed. "Oh, how does Applejack do it?"

"Well, it would help if the harness was on right!" Applejack answered to the flaws in her actions, walking over to Rarity on the plow. "What are you doin'?"

"I am simply lending a hoof with the chores, which I love doing ever so much." She returned.

Annoyingly lowering my eyelids was beginning to become a normal thing now.

Applejack shared a quick glance at Trenderhoof and then worked on getting the harness correctly on herself. "Well if you're still interested after the festival I can teach you all about it. But right now, I need to get the plowin' done, if you don't mind." In a second, she immediately worked her hind legs to move the plow across the field very easily. It was just so surprising how much strength was really in that pretty slim body of hers.

Besides that, Rarity was thrown off the plow as soon as Applejack dragged it. "Not at all." Rarity returned dreamily once she realized she was in Trenderhoof's forelegs. Seeing how he was too interested in Applejack, he merely let her go to get a better look at Applejack's work. "Ugh! Oh!"

I sighed, seeing how even though I was pretty silently furious with Rarity's behavior, I still couldn't resist helping her in her need, whether it was short or long. I grabbed her hoof and gently pulled her up.

"Thank you…Alex…" She expressed a little slowly.

"She makes it look so easy." Spike shared with Trenderhoof.

"I know. Isn't she fantastic?" Trenderhoof responded in the same manner as Rarity had with him.

Rarity took notice of this comment and lowered her head as if she was disappointed that her efforts made no change.

I silently furrowed my eyebrows and placed on a disgruntled face while I walked away with my eyes facing the floor. "Sure." I said before I left the area.

From the sidelines, I watched bitterly as I rested my head on my forelegs and my forelegs on the white fence. Applejack was doing her job in bucking the apples from the trees. Trenderhoof was clinging on to her figuratively. And Rarity was attempting to do the same to Trenderhoof. Normally, I would have loved to help out, but I was in too of a bad mood to even think about it. I really felt like giving Trenderhoof a piece of my mind, but there were two things that stopped me. One: Applejack preferred for me to not be straight up with him like that, most likely because he might write negative things about Ponyville or something. Two: I had to admit that Trenderhoof really didn't do anything. Well…he was bothering Applejack while she was trying to work, which annoyed me as well. But focusing on Rarity, he wasn't actually doing anything. Just the…sight of Trenderhoof apparently made Rarity feel like gelatin. And now…it doesn't even really feel like we're friends anymore… Am I selfish for thinking this? Is this really the right thing to think about?

Trenderhoof clapped yet again after Applejack performed a swift kick to the tree.

"I really don't see what the fuss is all about." Rarity announced and then turned to the tree behind her to lightly knock on it with her hoof.

"Now, Rarity, you be careful." Applejack cautiously warned. "If you don't get the buckin' just right, you could sprain a hoof."

"I am perfectly familiar with the apple-bucking process, thank you very much." Rarity reacted, appearing slightly offended by Applejack's warning. "But while you seem to rely on raw power, I believe a certain amount of style is required. It's really more of a dance, if you ask me." She specifically mentioned the last part to Trenderhoof and then went on to do whatever she meant.

She hopped and lightly danced, as told, while making happy sounds as if she was humming a song. After taking a few seconds, she sent one of her hind legs out and knocking at the tree and causing one apple to barely fall and land in her basket. "Et voilà!"

"Well, your way is definitely long on style." Applejack critiqued with a hint of sarcasm.

"Thank you." Rarity answered in almost a relieved tone.

"Now, if you'll all excuse me, Alex and I have some more chores to do." Applejack unexpected included me. She was just about to reach me when she noticed Trenderhoof was still following her with a big grin. She turned and controllably asserted herself. "Inside!" She continued on her way and grabbed ahold of my hoof to lead me to a chicken coop. "C'mon." She let go and squeezed into the coop while I did the same. I had a little more trouble, seeing as I was a bit bigger than her, but she helped me by pulling me inside with her hoof. Afterwards, she shut the door to the coop.

"Do you really have chores in here?" I asked as I looked around at all the chickens clucking inside. "Or did you just need a reason to get away from Trenderhoof?"

"I do." Applejack answered, showing a little of her frustration. "But it's just so darn annoyin' to be having that Trenderhoof following me. There's no doubt about it, that pony's got a hardcore crush on me or somethin'."

"No kidding…" I looked towards the door to where he probably roamed about.

"I would really appreciate if you could do me a favor. I know you probably want nothing to do with him, but could you somehow just distract him so he can lose his scent on me? Or do you at least know a way that'll distract him?"

I shrugged. "Let me go see what he's doing outside, you just do what you need to do here." I turned and slightly opened the door enough to see what he was doing.

He seemed to be focused on a tree. I didn't know if he was "observing the ethic lifestyle around here", but either way, he seemed distracted for a moment. But just to be sure…

"What'd you need to do here?" I asked.

"Just needed to make sure the chickens were doin' alright. Why?"

"Can I have an egg?"

"Uh…" I could see the curiosity in her eyes. "I guess." She hoofed me an egg, leading me to look back outside. "What are you gonna do?"

I crawled outside and hid behind a bush. Trenderhoof had messed with the tree enough to have one of its apples land on his head. I used my magic to carry the egg as I narrowed my eyes in concentration. I let go of the egg with my magic and then used my foreleg to throw it across the field towards him. As soon as I did that, I rushed over to Applejack as quietly as I could and pulled her along with me under cover. I could hear the crack of the egg as we both were able to silently escape.

At the end, we were able to gallop into the barn. Applejack immediately slammed the door shut and placed her body on it to make sure there was no way for him to walk in.

"Whew! Well, that was close." Applejack mentioned. "Tha—"

"If you've come to apologize, there's really no need." Rarity spoke, showing her back to us, but mostly at Applejack.

"What are you talkin' about?" Applejack confronted.

"Let's dispense with the charade, shall we?"

"Listen, I know you really want Trend to like you—"

"And he does! Despite somepony's best efforts!" Rarity pushed herself close up and face-to-face with Applejack and then walked away. She headed towards the wooden cart that Big Macintosh seemed to be filling up with a bunch of tools.

"I swear I don't know why he has to pay so much attention to me. And I don't know anypony who's that interested in farmin'. Not even me!" Applejack responded truthfully.

"Well, maybe it's time Trend met a real country pony." Rarity began walking off with the cart, holding her eyes dramatically closed.

"Shouldn't you be workin' on the festival instead of comin' up with new ways to impress Trend?" Applejack reminded.

"Oh, I'm sure you'd love that. Well, I have a new vision for the festival…" She turned to speaking in a very off country accent. "…and it's gonna be more country than the whole Apple family put together!"

Applejack exchanged a look of concern with me. "You've got to knock some sense into that pony, Alex."

"Seriously?" I replied. "Apparently, she's too obsessed over Trenderhoof to listen to anypony. She's going way too far with this."

"That's exactly why you need her to see what she's doing over a single pony!"

"Hmph." I turned around and crossed my forelegs on the ground. "Seems a lot more than just a 'crush'…"

"Listen, Alex." Applejack brought up. "I'll come with you, alright? We'll both try to knock some sense to that pony. She has to listen if we pester her long enough!"

I sighed and decided that I saw no harm in that. "I guess."

"Good." Applejack reached my side to walk me to the barn door. "We gotta reach her before she gets too crazy."

It took us a little longer than usual to get to Ponyville as we had to be extra careful that Trenderhoof wasn't in sight or following us. Seeing as she would most likely be at the boutique, we headed there first to see…something different than the last time we were there.

The steps of Applejack's trots surprised the girls that were already inside.

"Applejack, Alex, what's going on?" Twilight questioned with a hint of fear.

"I'm too scared to guess." Applejack responded as we noticed the obvious change in scenery.

I, for one, began to realize what Rarity was trying to prove with this new change.

The lights buzzed and turned off.

We began hearing that same country accent Rarity was trying to imitate from the barn sound from within the stage. "Firstly, I just want to thank you all for comin', and second, I know y'all will all adore my new festival theme!" Spike then came walking out while playing a banjo with a straw hat. Oh, geez… "'Simple Ways'!" Rarity announced as she opened the curtains to reveal herself in a farmer's outfit along with the same styled scenery behind her.

As she received questionable looks from the others, I could only slap a hoof to my forehead.

However, Applejack soon burst out laughing, having to hold a foreleg on Fluttershy for support.

"Well? What's so funny?" Rarity continued with her accent.

"Rarity, that is the silliest getup I have ever seen!" Applejack answered in a heartily tone.

"It is a little funny." Fluttershy giggled.

"Fun-nay?" Rarity replied in surprise.

Twilight joined in by laughing as well. "Rarity, you aren't serious, are you?"

"Well of course I'm serious!" Rarity walked down and angrily responded in her normal voice but then quickly cleared her throat and returned to her ridiculous voice. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Because you would never dress like that!" Applejack pointed out. "You like fashion and high society and fancy things."

"And I can like plowin' fields and haulin' apples just as much." Rarity argued.

"But you don't!" Applejack shot.

"How do you know what I like?" Rarity asked.

"Because I know you." Applejack reasoned.

"Wail, maybe you don't know me as well as you thank." Rarity pushed Applejack away and began walking off.

"And I suppose it's just a coincidence that Trenderhoof seemed so interested in country life, too?" Applejack didn't hesitate to mention.

Rarity had stopped at the name of Trenderhoof and turned around. "I don't know what you're gittin' at!"

"Well then, I guess I'll just have to show you!" Applejack stated, leading me to wonder how exactly Applejack was going to do that.

"Be my guest!" Rarity continued walking out the boutique. "Now, if you all will excuse me, I have a hootenanny of a festival to put on."

Applejack growled deeply while holding her ears down.

"What's going on?" Twilight asked out loud concerningly.

"I'll take care of this!" Applejack began storming up the stairs inside the boutique.

I glanced over to the rest of the girls, noticing how they still held questions in their mind. Nonetheless, I trotted over to Applejack to catch up with her upstairs.

"What are you planning to do?" I asked, keeping up the same fast pace as she held.

"We'll have to fight fire with fire." She answered as she entered Rarity's room.

"You don't mean…" I released, having a good idea on what she meant.

"You know plenty what I mean!" She began going through Rarity's closet, retrieving a particular outfit along with a few accessories.

"But you hate wearing "girly frou-frou" outfits."

"Well, I gotta." This is the only way I can think of that can work." She began working herself in placing on the outfit. "Help me out, will ya?!" She requested in almost an aggressive tone.

Applejack was really angry from that argument with Rarity…and I couldn't blame her.

Applejack almost looked like a new pony once she had her targeted appearance on. Not only did she wear the accessories and dress in Rarity's closet, she even took the time to style her mane in a perfectly sophisticated and formal manner.

"Applejack… How were you even able to do your mane?" I questioned with a serious interest.

She sighed as if she was ashamed to answer. "I never really forgot the process after leaving my Aunt and Uncle Orange." She messed with the twirls of her mane at the sides of her head to make sure they were just perfect. "I never thought this would actually come in handy." She took a moment to place a hoof to her chest and inhale a deep breath and later exhale it. "C'mon. The day is going to end before we know it and Rarity is still ragging on her ridiculous idea."

"Okay…" I couldn't help but keep staring at her for a while longer as we walked.

I really never thought I'd see Applejack this sophisticated-looking.

Once Applejack and I were at the barn, we noticed Rarity was tending to some fillies that were apparently going to be in the fashion show.

"Okay." Applejack whispered. "I'll go around the back and get behind that stage. You tell Spike that 'Apple Jewel' is on the list."

"Sure…" I accepted.

She patted me and made her way around the barn.

I sighed, unable to assure myself that this would actually work.

As Rarity spoke to the fillies, I caught up to Spike by his side. He was still wearing the straw hat while holding his checklist.

"Alex?" He asked, pretty surprised of my visit.

"Hey…um." I rubbed my head a little. "There's another pony that's going to be modeling for the fashion show."

"Oh cool! Who is it?"

"… 'Apple Jewel'"

"Huh." Spike scratched his cheek as he thought about that name. "I don't think I remember anypony by that name…"

We heard the fillies began leaving the barn, along with Applebloom…covered in just…something I didn't feel like describing.

Rarity turned to Spike without really acknowledging my presence. "Who's our next model for the fashion show?" She was just trying way too hard on her accent.

"Um... Apple... Jewel?" Spike faced me, questioning the name in his head.

"Who the hay is that?" Rarity asked before the lights inside the barn dimmed.

Everything was focused on the center of the stage. The curtains opened to reveal Applejack. I still could hardly believe Applejack was standing before my eyes wearing something I never thought she would wear before. I could tell this certainly caught Rarity's attention more than it did from Spike. Applejack was really good at pushing away her actual feelings on the subject as she walked fashionably towards us. Then, she gave a spin and walked back in the same manner. She even went as far as to stop in the middle of her walk, pause, and then turn to strike a pose, pursing her lips.

I think we were all shocked to see this actually coming from her. At least…I was…

"Is this some kind of joke?" Rarity demanded.

Stepping up her upper-class accent to counter Rarity's country one, she began speaking loud and clear elegantly. "Why, Rarity, whatever would make you think I was joking?"

"Because you would never wear an ensemble like that." Rarity returned to her normal voice to argue a similar argument from before. "You like plowing fields and hauling apples—"

"And I can like fashion just as much." Applejack explained with Rarity's previous reason, pushing the straw hat of her hers down to her face.

"But you don't!" Rarity switched back to her country accent and lifted the hat back up.

"Well, maybe you do not know me as well as you think." Applejack continued.

"Fine." Rarity allowed for Applejack's behavior to slide off. "But I got a whole festival to plan, so if you're goin' to start modelin', just get on with it!" It seemed Rarity was having trouble keeping up with her accent, or she was already getting fed up with continuously talking like that.

Applejack angrily glared at her but then switched to a more deviant face that held a smirk. It showed that she had something in stock to use. "Life is a festival, and you should celebrate it by looking just like me!" She presented herself girly-like. "Because I'm a trend-setting fashionista!" She struck several poses, even blowing a kiss at the last one.

Honestly, if they were just messing around, I probably would had found the situation absolutely hilarious, but just to remember that this was all because of one freaking pony, it really ticked me off.

"You're a trend-setting fashionista?!" Rarity allowed her anger to slip once she realized the satire slipping from Applejack's lips. "Why, that is the most ridiculous thing I've ever—" She caught herself in midsentence. "I mean..." She now forcibly used her country accent again while taking it up a notch… "Good for you. I, on the other hoof, couldn't care less how I look, long as I get the chores done." Rarity had scratched her mane with her hind leg. Then, she moved on to pressing her nose against her face with her hoof as if she was stupid.

Okay…she's going too far…

"Oh, is that so?" Applejack reacted calmly but was ready to counteract as she stepped down from the catwalk.

"Yes, indeedy-doodle!" Rarity resumed.

Applejack gasped. "Not me!" She held up a mirror, looking into it, and puffed up her mane. "My mane needs to be perfectly coiffed at all times."

Rarity removed the straw hat from her head and presented her mane. "Well, my mane is full of dust and split ends."

Applejack held up her hooves and observed them. "My hooves are so polished, you can see your reflection in them."

Rarity presented hers. "My hooves are cracked and dry from working in the fields!"

"I'm so fashion-forward."

"I wear droopy drawers!"

"I find sophisticated and well-groomed stallions attractive." Applejack placed her hooves on me.

"I like strong and pure-hearted stallions to help me with chores!" Rarity continued to counterattack.

"I smell like rosebuds!" Applejack held up a bouquet of roses close to her.

"I love being covered in mud!" Rarity shouted out crazily and then jumped and dove towards a puddle of mud in one of the stalls inside the barn.

This led mud being thrown at me, along with some landing on Applejack's outfit.

I just had enough.

"Are you serious?!" I shouted angrily, feeling the mud dry up on my coat and face. "I can't believe it! All for one stallion?!" I growled heavily. "Look at yourselves! Rarity, you're covered in mud! Applejack, you're wearing the type of dress you so much despise! Because of one hipster stallion! Who's next?! Twilight?! Rainbow Dash?! Fluttershy?! This isn't like you at all! I thought feeling like you didn't need me anymore was enough!" I directed that last statement at Rarity, who opened her jaw in shock. "But now I have to see all my friends change too?!" I forced my eyes shut, immediately feeling tears want to escape like a fire was in town. I grunted and turned towards the barn door to rush out and disappear from sight.

I fled towards the orchards where I could just be by myself. I threw myself to the grass and covered my face with my forelegs. I tried to not let myself sound like a baby as I allowed the tears to stream down my face.

"Don't cry." I looked up from the startling but soothing voice in front of me. It was Spirit. "I don't like seeing you cry." She expressed with an earnest as well as saddened expression.

I sniffled and wiped the tears off with my hooves. "Sorry." I apologized.

"It's okay…" She returned. "It just hurts me…when I see you cry."

I took in a deep breath and released it in hopes to stop the waterworks. "I…I just…" I sighed at the frustration of trying to come up with what exactly to say. "I don't know if I'm selfish for thinking this…but I just hate the idea of…one…stallion changing all my friends. At first…it was just Rarity… As soon as she just moved on to that stallion…I felt kind of…heartbroken." I shook my head. "I don't mean it like romantically, but… It's just… She used to look up to me so much…I guess…" I chuckled at the silly thought of it. "It just…made me feel so good inside when she would act nervous around me because of her little crush…and to just have that all ignored and taken away overnight because of some one random stallion… It hurts…" I placed a hoof at my chest, feeling a heartache inside. Spirit released a short gasp as she furrowed her eyebrows sadly. "Her admiration was like…" I paused in order to attempt to compare it to something easy. "…was like a little filly who looked up to you so much because you were a really big hero to her… She wanted to be like you…act like you…be brave like you… Her motivation… Just like…" I allowed one more tear to slip by. "…Sweetie Belle…" Spirit frowned and looked away towards the ground. "For now… I guess I just have to get used to it… I just hope…my friends don't change…"

Spirit threw her hooves around me and held on tight. "You'll be okay…" She spoke softly…and I felt like I could even hear some emotional breakage in her voice. "You're always okay. You want to know why?" She pulled away and revealed her watery eyes. "Because you're you. And what does Alex do? He doesn't give up. Never. What would Alex do at a time like this?"

I looked away and thought about it for a moment. "Talk… I need to…talk to Rarity…"

Spirit nodded and smiled, even through her watery eyes. "She's your best friend. She'll listen to you no matter what."

"Thanks…Spirit…" I felt a warmth radiate from her.

She managed to chuckle a bit. "No problem." She closed her eyes, tilted her head, and grinned.

However, she quickly jerked back and placed a hoof at her forehead, appearing to be in pain. She began grunting and clenching the hoof she held.

"Spirit." I held out a hoof towards her in great surprise and concern. "Are you okay?"

She slowly turned her head to the side as if she saw something. Her left eye was clenched shut while she was able to open her right one. I looked in the same direction she was staring at to see an almost grim surprise. There stood an unknown pony who seemed to just stare at us. This pony was unidentifiable as he wore a hoodie that covered most of his body, as well as his face.

"…that's…" Spirit continued to struggle. "…that's my… That's my hoodie…!"

"What?" I exclaimed, glancing at her and then facing back to this pony. "Hey!" I called, but received no answer. "Who are you?!" I asked again, but this pony remained silent. I growled and headed towards him. "Answer me!"

This pony answered with silence, and as soon as I got close enough, he bailed.

"Hey!" I shouted and then ran after him, whom seemed to lead me back all the way to Ponyville.

Whoever this pony was, he clearly wanted to be seen as little as possible. Since everypony must have been preparing for the festival in the middle of town, he led me to empty streets and alleys in Ponyville. He must have been looking for an escape…but he wasn't going to have one if I could help it…

I continued to follow this pony's moves as fast as I could, but he was pretty fast himself. Around one corner, he had disappeared, and he could have gone in four different directions! I quickly looked and galloped around until I actually noticed him standing still. Was he…waiting for me?! Nevertheless, I readied my hooves and ran after him. Hearing the sound, he continued on with the chase.

What kind of thief was this?!

In the middle of the chase, he jumped on the walls and climbed ahead to higher ground. I gasped shortly and stared at him as looked back at me, continuing to wait. Was he mocking me? I glanced over to my wings and remembered the fact that I was rooted to the ground. I grunted and decided that I had to continue going on my four hooves. I climbed up to reach toward him, but as soon as I could start getting on my hooves to run, he fled.

After this, he jumped back down to the streets, leaving me to glare at him from atop.

"Are you kidding me?!" I stomped hooves.

I jumped downwards, took a second to recover, and then continued galloping.

The thief eventually led me to this dead end alleyway. I wasn't sure if he knew it was a dead end or not, but either way, I had to get that hoodie back!

He turned around the corner and had to just reach the dead end as I caught up with him.

"There's nowhere to run now!" I exclaimed and skidded from the corner to face him.

What?!

I quickly looked around and noticed that he just vanished. There was nowhere that he could have escaped! Where could have he gone?!

"Alex…" I heard a breathless voice, just like me.

I turned to notice Spirit worriedly catching her breath.

"Spirit…" After I regained control of my breathing, I sighed greatly. "I'm sorry… I couldn't get your hoodie back."

"It's okay…" She stepped up to me. "I'm just glad…that you're safe."

I nodded. "…what about you? Are you okay?"

She nodded as well. "I'm fine."

This time, I gave a sigh of relief. "Good. I'm glad."

"Come on…" She gestured with her head. "Let's go. I don't like it here…"

I understood. I didn't know where he was…but I felt like I could still feel his presence lurking around.

Spirit left and told me she'd see me later at the balcony sometime after we left that abandoned-looking place. I made my way back in town to see preparations being made for the festival. Right…the festival… However, as soon I took a closer look, I recognized that the decorations weren't from that "Simple Ways" theme. It looked…elegant and formal.

"Alex!" Twilight spotted and flew down. "What happened to you?" She looked me over from down to up.

"I…uh…" I could only really shrug.

"There's no time." She shook her head. "You look pretty dirty, to be honest. No offense. The festival's going to start soon, and you want to look clean for your date, don't you?" She smirked lightly.

"H…huh?" I tilted my head in slight confusion, not being able to get my thoughts straight for the moment.

Twilight rolled her eyes and grabbed ahold of me. "Come on."

She took me the boutique and opened the door. "Go on in and wash up. Rarity left something special for you in her room."

"But…what about the decorations? And the…the other stuff? Don't you need help?" I asked about.

"Don't worry about it!" Twilight pushed me in. "Just worry about getting clean and looking good!" Afterwards, she closed the door and left me in the silence of the boutique. I assumed Rarity wasn't home…

After I rinsed and dried off with a towel, I walked up the stairs to Rarity's room to see what she had apparently left me. The door was ajar, so I lightly pressed my hoof against it to open it. I walked in, looking around for a bit until I saw a dress form that stood out from the rest. I walked towards it to see a familiar tux on it that appeared to be upgraded to match my personality more. I noticed a note on top of the dress form. When I picked it up, I figured it wasn't really quite a note. It just held my name so I would know it was mine. Still…

I placed my hoof on the tux and lightly rubbed it.

There was no way she could have done this in such a short time…

Despite feeling a little lonely inside the boutique, once I was dressed up and ready, I began to exit Rarity's room to receive yet another surprise. There was a rose along with a note in her writing as well.

For her.

I picked up the rose with my magic and stared at it for a moment. I glanced back at the note and then back at the rose. I sighed and fit the rose into my pocket. I carefully placed the note back onto the counter from whence it came.

I stepped out into which was now the night sky. There was a bustling of people in the middle of town. As I moved closer into the heart of the festival, which looked gorgeous, I remained pretty confused. I wasn't exactly sure what to do now.

"Heeey!" I heard, turning to see Twilight approaching me. "Don't you look handsome?" She was wearing her own dress for the festival.

I laughed a little at her humor. "What are you? My mom?"

"Nope!" She answered with a smug grin. "She's right behind you!"

"Huh?" I was struck with confusion for a second until I turned around and noticed that Princess Luna was right there with a softly bright smile. "M-mom!" I almost stuttered at the sight of her. She herself was dressed for the occasion.

She immediately greeted me with an enormous embrace, especially counting the size of her. "Twilight is right. You look very handsome."

"Eheh heh." I shrugged embarrassingly. "What are you doing here? Is Tia here too?"

"Unfortunately, she couldn't make it as she's resting right now. I, for one, am a different story. I am the princess of the night, am I not?" She replied.

"Oh, right…" I remembered.

"Don't worry though." She assured. "I will be roaming about and greeting others. You, on the other hoof, have somepony to be with." Her smile stretched as she looked past me.

I turned yet again to see Twilight stepping to the side to reveal Fluttershy.

I was truly stunned at the sight of her. She was just as, if not more, beautiful as she was at the Grand Galloping Gala. This even gave me nostalgic memories of that night, even though it ironically had gone wrong and I was the sucky self at that time.

Fluttershy timidly walked over to me, the blush increasing in her cheeks and her eyes almost wanted to lower away from mine. Once she was in front of me, she looked away with her eyes and shyly rubbed her right foreleg with her left.

"Come on, Princess Luna." I heard Twilight suggest. "Let's go get something to drink!"

They both left, leaving us two alone besides the other ponies mingling around.

I quickly got the rose and offered to her. Not with my magic, but with my mouth.

"Oh…!" Fluttershy took sight of it and the redness in her cheeks radiated further.

"For you." I stated.

Fluttershy smiled softly and grabbed ahold of it, purposely touching my lips with hers. I feel my heart bloom intensely. I couldn't resist offering her another kiss at her cheek after she pulled away with the rose.

"Thank you…" She expressed tender-like.

"Shall we go then?" I turned, stood by her side, and offered my hoof.

"Let's." She accepted, grabbing ahold of mine and allowed me to escort her.

We followed on schedule to what Rarity had originally planned. I didn't know what exactly changed her mind back, but I could always find out about it after the festival. Either way, we had tasted the cider and moved on to the dancing.

Despite the unbothering noise and ponies around us, it almost actually only felt like the two of us as I held Fluttershy close to me. She closed her eyes as she swung lightly with my body. I opened my eyes for a brief moment to look around and notice Trenderhoof walking towards Applejack's direction. Applejack still had the outfit she "borrowed" from Rarity on! Heh. Only, it was good as new now. Hm. I wonder what had her actually look and feel comfortable in it while being at the festival. However, Trenderhoof surprised me greatly when he offered a hoof, but not to Applejack. He offered it to Granny Smith who was besides her. Applejack sure was happy about that.

I heard a clearing of a throat nearby, catching Fluttershy's and my attention.

"Ahem." Rarity stood near us. "Please…forgive me for the interruption but…" She turned to Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, do you mind if I can have a dance with Alex?"

"Oh, not at all!" Fluttershy kindly approved. She turned to face me. "If that's okay with you."

I was a bit shocked that Rarity asked, but I shook my head nonetheless. "I don't mind."

Fluttershy carefully pulled away and smiled. "I'll go have a drink."

"Okay." I nodded.

When she began walking off, I turned back to Rarity to feel a little awkward about earlier. "Um…"

"Don't just stand there." Rarity began and lifted her hoof. "Aren't you going to accept my hoof?"

"Oh…! Okay…" I grabbed onto her hoof and she began generously placing her hooves on me for the dance.

She closed her eyes and then began to move softly as well. I could only stay there with my eyes lightly opened and followed her movements. It was a while until she spoke up.

"Listen…" She said. "I must…apologize for my behavior before… It was very…selfish of me…to act such a way."

"No…no…" I shook my head lightly. "If anyone's selfish…it's me." Rarity slightly widened her eyes and lifted them up towards me. "I guess I…started feeling angry…" I paused. "…jealous…about you and Trenderhoof."

"W-what ever d-do you m-mean?" She questioned shockingly.

"Well…just in case you might be thinking about that kind of jealous…it's not that. What I mean is… I guess…it was just so flattering about you…you know…having that little crush…" Rarity quickly darted her eyes away and blushed. "You know…this probably sounds weird…but it really showed how much you cared about me. And when you kind of just gave up that crush. Those feelings… It seemed like you kind of broke my heart as a friend, you know? Maybe it's just me though… It's still pretty crazy how there are feelings I still haven't even experienced before, or at least remember experiencing. Maybe I'm just the one being crazy. Either way…it just really hurt me. And when I saw you and Applejack fighting back in the barn, I got really scared… It looked like…I was losing my friends and they were losing who they really were."

"Oh, Alex, darling…" She looked up to me and shook her head. "I…have to be completely honest with you…"

"What is it?" I asked, not expecting this from Rarity.

"I…never really liked Trenderhoof…"

"…what?!" I softly exclaimed.

"Mm-mm." She reinforced. "You see…sometimes…I think about you… You and Fluttershy. Then…I think about my feelings…for you… I then begin feeling bad because…I feel I might stand in the way between you and Fluttershy." I continued to carefully listen to her. "I don't want to do that…but I can't just throw away the way I feel. So…I pretended to be completely obsessed with Trenderhoof. I used to like Trenderhoof when I was a tad younger, before I ever met you. I thought if I could become obsessed with somepony else, maybe I won't have such feelings for you and I wouldn't have to worry about getting in the way between you and Fluttershy. So, I brought out the collection I had of him from the old closet and made some silly part of my boutique of him. That's why…I unfortunately made myself…avoid and ignore you…at least for the most part. My feelings then wouldn't be able to get in the way of attempting to develop new feelings for Trenderhoof." She chuckled a little. "I guess it didn't work out either. Even after the hectic day of today, I feel no difference for Trenderhoof." She lifted up her head and looked at me. "You saw and remember how desperate I was to change those feelings, right?"

I looked back and thought about how many crazy things she went through. "Yeah." I smiled lightly.

She shrugged. "If anything, I probably even made them even bigger."

"Rarity…" I mentioned. "I don't want you to force yourself to make your feelings a lie so you yourself don't feel bothering to anyone. I think that would be much worse. But at the same time…I want you to be happy. I don't want you stay stuck with the crush, thinking we could eventually be together or anything. Don't take this the wrong way…but frankly…I don't think that'll happen…" Rarity subtly frowned and lowered her eyes. "I really wish, Rarity." I tightened my grip on her a little. "I really wish that I could, you know, just make you content too by just the way we are right now." I sighed. "It's complicated, but I'd hate keeping you away from love with the whole 'crush' business."

"I understand, Alex." She nodded. "But I suppose…just your regular love…the love you give to each one of us…is enough. Although I may feel bothered about…you know…sometimes…I will always be happy and grateful for your special love." She smiled at me, leading me to smile back. "Besides, if I ever meet a stallion as great as you, then it'll probably take a lot longer than one night." She giggled. "I can wait."

"I want you to be happy too, Rarity. I just…honestly don't want you or anything to change between us." I shared.

"Don't worry." She patted my chest. "I know now how you really feel, and I won't be hurting you in such a way again."

"I'm glad to hear that." I stated before we ended with a warm hug.

"Hi, Rarity!" Fluttershy returned back. "Did you have a nice time?"

"Oh, yes!" Rarity quickly pulled away while sharing flushed cheeks. "Thank you, Fluttershy." She lightly bowed. "I truly appreciate it."

"Of course!" Fluttershy smiled brightly with a tilted head.

Spike came running along. "Rarity! It's time for the fashion show!"

"Of course!" She remembered and then faced the both of us. "I'll see you later!" Afterwards, she hurried on to the catwalk.

Fluttershy turned to me. "Did you have a good time too?"

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I did. Thanks for being so kind, Fluttershy. You're the best."

Fluttershy reached for my lips and placed a peck on them. "Anytime."

I chuckled lightly and noticed that Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo were having their turn at the catwalk. "Want to go check it out?"

"Sure!" Fluttershy agreed and took a hold of my hoof for me to escort her.

As we reached the stage, the Cutie Mark Crusaders headed back with beams on their faces for the crowd. Afterwards, Rarity finally presented herself. Anypony with cameras took pictures at the sight of her. She obviously didn't mind. As she came to the end, she gave a graceful bow to everypony. At the other side of the catwalk, I could see Trenderhoof offer a rose to Rarity. Looking back at the silly things she had done, she smiled, accepted, and held it in her teeth. Then, she turned specifically towards Fluttershy and me and grinned brightly before she headed back beyond the curtains.

At the balcony with Spirit, I felt really warm and jubilant from the festival. I wasn't sure if it was just me, but the sun providing the sunset felt extra radiant today.

Holding my ice cream in front of me, I turned to Spirit to apologize.

"Hey, Spirit… I'm still really sorry I couldn't get your hoodie back."

"It's okay." She gave another lick at her ice cream and then paused. "Actually… It was really special to me…"

"Sorry…" I apologized again and frowned as I lowered my head to face the ground below us.

"But honestly…you're still more special to me than the hoodie." She added.

I looked up in surprise and turned back to her. "Really?"

"Yep." She took a bite. "In ways you couldn't understand."

"Spirit…" I looked back out at the sunset.

"Hm?" She questioned.

I held out my ice cream directly in front of the sunset and narrowed my eyes. "If I ever see that thief again… I promise I won't let him get away again."

"Come on… You don't have to promise that…" She slightly mentioned worriedly.

"If I don't promise, then I might not feel as motivated as I should be." I explained.

"Hm." Spirit took a moment to continue. "Okay. Fine. But instead of promising that, you have to promise you'll do what you have to and not give up."

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Because sometimes…" She paused and narrowed her eyes troublingly as she stared at her ice cream. "…things don't turn out the way we plan…and…we do whatever we have to do to help the ones we love…no matter how much it hurts us."

That was…surprisingly deep… There seemed to be much more underneath that…but I didn't ask. I knew what I'd get if I did.

"Okay…" I nodded. I looked at my ice cream and focused. "I promise."

I took a strong bite out of it, the bite serving as my indication of my promise.

Filli Vanilli

Episode 79 – Filli Vanilli

"There's music in the treetops

And there's music in the vale" This sweet sound coming from honey-battered vocals woke me in the bed of Fluttershy's cottage. As soon as I got a glimpse of what was going on outside, I immediately strapped on a smile and rushed out.

"And all around the music fills the sky~"

"There's music by the river" I joined her by the river near her cottage where she began feeding her ducks. She was happily surprised of my presence.

"And there's music in the grass"

"And the music makes your heart soar in reply" We both sang simultaneously, caressing our heads with each other.

After, Fluttershy began vocalizing strongly while she finished feeding the rest of her animals and trotted joyously as I followed by her side. I would have loved vocalizing as much as she did, but unfortunately my voice couldn't reach the lengths her did.

As soon as she finished, I grabbed ahold of some flowers with my teeth and delicately placed them in her hair. Her critters greatly cheered for her as she blushed at my action and then at her other little friends.

"Oh, thank you so much." Fluttershy giggled. "You're too kind."

"Wow!" We heard, which startled Fluttershy. We turned to see the others, Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie, stare at us in awe.

"Oh..." Fluttershy's voice lowered as she stared back with her four hooves covering her body. She sounded as if she began to deeply regret her most recent action. "You... um... you didn't hear us... um..."

"Singing with your most beautiful voices ever?!" Pinkie screeched in excitement.

"Uh, yeah, we did!" Rainbow nodded and reinforced in flight.

I found their sudden appearances surprising, but nevertheless, appreciated what they had to say about the two of us. However, as I turned to Fluttershy, I noticed she didn't have the mutual feeling. Her eyebrows furrowed as she began looking downwards as if she wanted to cry right there. She released a short and almost unhearable gasp before she lowly whimpered and covered her face with her hooves. She lowered her head out of sight as she allowed the flowers I placed in her mane to fall out along with a strand of her mane to fall down on her face.

"Wow!" Twilight continued with the praise. "I don't think I've ever heard you two sing a duet before! At least like that!"

"It was like a little slice of heaven." Applejack sweetly motioned her head to emphasize her point.

"With ice cream on top!" Pinkie Pie couldn't help but add in.

"Fluttershy, Alex, I cannot believe your spectacular voices aren't part of the Ponytones quartet!" Rarity confronted us.

"It's not that 'spectacular'…" I mentioned. "Mine, I mean." I added, just to make sure no pony thought I was talking about Fluttershy's.

"Oh don't be silly." Rarity flipped her hoof. "It is simply gorgeous!" I honestly couldn't hold back a smile at the thought of wondering whether Rarity was being too generous or if she actually thought this was true. "You two would be perfect! Especially since Fluttershy is having us perform for her Ponyville Pet Center fundraiser tomorrow night!"

"Well, you see, I—"

"This simply must be rectified. You must share those stunning voices at the event!" Rarity's excitement was overwhelming, but never as much as Pinkie's. "So many ponies would be driven by their emotions by the sight of cute little critters in front of them. Imagine the results of seeing the cutest couple ever to arise in Ponyville? Singing!?"

"Yeah! It'll be so amazing!" Pinkie Pie imagining the scene in her own head. "You'll be there on stage, basking in the hooflights! The center of attention! A shining star! Everypony staring at you, judging you, jealously noting how they could be way better than you? Why wasn't it them? Why wasn't it them? But they wouldn't know that it was the small little courage and bravery of two ponies! Bound forever by their love for one another and that's what makes them the stars of the show, bringing hope to every single pony in their eyes and making every heart exploded into a bunch of little thumping hearts at the sight of true love!"

Fluttershy's face proved to remain uneasy as she offered a few words back. "Wait…so…everypony will hate us not because of our voices but…our love?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Rarity immediately tended to. "What Pinkie Pie is trying to say is that the two of you aren't amazing just because of your voices, but also because you're able to get so well along with each other." She explained. "There are many voices out there in Equestria, but a lot of them fail to have that same passion within. Cleverly speaking, 'heart'." Rarity referenced. Fluttershy seemed to ease a little, but she still didn't seem too keen on the idea of singing with her group. "Come, you two, you shall see what I mean."

Fluttershy glanced over to me with a worried look and then back at Rarity, whom had turned and began walking off, expecting us to follow her. "No."

"Pardon me?" Rarity stopped in her tracks and looked back with a tone that proved her shock and surprise.

"I love the Ponytones, I'm one of their biggest fans!" Fluttershy made clear about. "But I do not want to perform with them."

"Why not, Fluttershy?" Twilight asked as Rarity returned a disappointed and greatly worried face.

"Well, you see... I... I have... um... I... I have..." Fluttershy troubled greatly in explaining her reason.

"Stage fright?" I guess, feeling strongly about it.

"Is this true, Fluttershy?" Rarity stepped up to her.

Fluttershy only nodded sadly.

"I don't blame her." I shook my head, knowing what kind of pony she was, especially after she would tell me the things that had happened to her in flight camp and the matter. "As for me, I'm okay with crowds, but I don't know if I'm actually confident with singing in front of them."

"I'm very thankful the Ponytones are singing at the Pet Center fundraiser, and I'm really looking forward to the performance, but I'll be watching safely from the audience." Fluttershy stated.

Rarity sighed after her eyes wandered around in thought during Fluttershy's response. "Well... I think it's a terrible waste of an exquisite talent, but I understand that you're not comfortable." She offered an understood smile afterwards.

"Thank you." Fluttershy warmly expressed. Angel began jumping right in front of her, as if he was trying to tell her something. "Oh! Angel's right. We'd better get going. There's a lot of work to do before tomorrow's event." She mentioned before the rest of us caught word on moving on ahead.

Despite Fluttershy's timid self, everypony didn't mind helping her at all. I was expecting only our group of friends to help out with the fundraiser, but it seemed, if not all, most of Ponyville helped decorate the entire place. It looked exquisite, as Rarity would say.

I stood by Fluttershy and assisted her as she stacked birdhouses on a table.

"I have to say, Fluttershy…" I began as I looked around the area and the table. "…you really outdid yourself with the fundraiser. Everything looks just so great."

"Thank you, Alex." Fluttershy returned with a smile, stopped her stacking, and lifted a hoof to place it on mine. "But it really was the effort of everypony that made this possible. I'm also really glad when you came outside to sing with me." She blushed and slightly turned her head away. "I really think we need to spend more time singing with and to each other."

"I'd love that." I finished so we could gaze at each other's eyes for a moment until we heard Rarity speaking from underneath the gazebo with the rest of her members.

She cleared her throat. "Alright, Ponytones, let's run through that again!" She blew a pitch pipe that led Big Macintosh to begin his beginning part of the song.

Later, the team joined in by their harmonizing.

"Everypony's sayin' you should learn to express your voice" I began contently singing along with Fluttershy until she suddenly stopped when she noticed a couple of other ponies walking by while moving a barrel. She slightly looked around worriedly and resumed her birdhouse stacking while I only remained in concern for her. I knew the reason why she acted so…but I just felt that she shouldn't stop doing what she loved because of what she thought.

"But if talk doesn't seem like it's the answer

Luckily you have a choice

When you find you've got the music" Rarity's voice is what intrigued me the most. It was her voice that I can easily tell out of the group, probably because of how high in pitch she was able to go in her own path.

"Got the music in you

Find you've got the music

Got the music in you"

Despite being scared of singing near others, Fluttershy was still able to calmly shake her behind to the music as she rested her head on her hooves. She sighed happily and led me to meet with the stars themselves.

"Woo-hoo, yeah! Rarity, you were awesome!" Spike jumped and cheered loudly for her as we met up with them.

"Uh, thank you, Spike, but this is an ensemble." Rarity reminded subtly, pointing towards the others that were standing right there.

Spike stared at them for a while as they eagerly waited for some feedback. "Eh, the rest of you were pretty good too." Spike walked off in an unenthused manner, possibly offending one or two of the group.

"Oh, I thought you were all amazing, Ponytones!" Fluttershy jumped in, bringing the smiles back on the others.

"Thanks, Fluttershy!" The other female on the team besides Rarity expressed.

"Same here." I agreed with Fluttershy's opinion. "I think you all are going to do just great."

"Wow!" The same mare stated. "That really means a lot coming from a Prince!"

"Can I have your autograph?" The tall, but not as tall as Big Macintosh, slender stallion stepped up actually asking for my autograph.

"Nope!" I happily declined. "Because I'm not any better than you all are, and I wouldn't want any of you to think so."

"So humble." He commented before Rarity stepped in to get them back on track.

"Now, Ponytones, I want you all to rest your voices for the remainder of the day. We'll do a final run-through tomorrow before the big event, alright?"

"Eeyup." Big Macintosh replied.

"Sounds great!" The other mare agreed, leaving everypony else except Rarity to head on out.

"Oh, Rarity." Fluttershy joined Rarity by her side after she flew up on top of the stage. "The Ponytones are really gonna make the Ponyville Pet Center fundraiser so special. Thank you so much for helping me help the animals." She mentioned gratefully.

"Oh, yes. It is wonderful when a plan comes together without any sort of drama, isn't it?"

Afterwards, they somewhat hugged each other by rubbing their head against each other and giggling.

I laughed and smiled heartily at their little girl moment they shared. It really felt great to see them getting along with each other just fine. It made me think back on the talk Rarity and I shared the other night and if it helped her cope with the situation a lot better. The only thing that would really keep her worry-free was probably telling Fluttershy how she honestly felt about me, so she possibility wouldn't feel guilty. Honestly…knowing the type of mare Fluttershy is…I didn't think she would mind. For now, I just allowed them to get along perfectly.

Tomorrow morning, Fluttershy and I ventured through the park, seeing the apparent completion and transformation from emptiness to crowded neatness.

"Ooh." Fluttershy released a light moan of pleasure as she observed the area around us. "It's gorgeous, isn't it?"

"Yeah." I agreed. "Everyone really outdid themselves with this. But it's really your passion for what you love that made it possible."

Fluttershy giggled softly as she rubbed her head with mine sensually.

Angel, who was riding on her back, took notice of this and immediately began trying to obtain Fluttershy's attention, attempting to cuddle with her in a way that seemed to want to get me jealous as a result. I only chuckled and shook my head at Angel's reaction as we continued further towards the gazebo.

That's where we saw those two new ponies from the quartet.

"Morning, Fluttershy!" The nice mare greeted. "Morning, Alex!"

"Good morning, Ponytones!" Fluttershy returned as I offered a wave.

"Actually, we're the Ponytones minus one tone." Rarity poked her head out from behind the stage. "Big Mac is inconveniently late." It was after this when we began hearing wheezing and snorting from not too far. The volume of the noises grew as the source of the sounds came closer. It was Big Macintosh as he galloped up the steps of the stage, seeming to be greatly exhausted and out of breath. "Well, there you are!" Rarity almost angrily confronted. "Haven't I told you about punctuality?" Before he could speak, Rarity turned her head to end the discussion. "Nah-ah! I don't want to hear it!" She used her magic to fix the bow tie that had been untied. She moved forward to the stage, allowing the others to get in formation, and blew her pitch pipe. They began moving along in a silent rhythm, but Big Macintosh only stood nervously still. Rarity noticed this and stopped, forming a frown. Big Macintosh gulped. "Big Mac? Can you please start the song?" Rarity requested politely.

Big Macintosh's voice sounded really rough and painful as he struggled to speak. "Nope." He answered with a croaking voice.

"Big Mac! Did you lose your voice?" Rarity questioned worriedly.

Big Macintosh gulped and nodded. "Eeyup."

This led everypony to gasp in surprise, especially Fluttershy.

"Whatever did you do to cause this?" Rarity asked.

"Well..." Big Macintosh began. He went on to try to explain in the most simplest and shortest form of communication, seeing as his voice was just not fit to explain things clearly. Apparently, he had participated in a turkey call and…that was enough to explain how he lost his voice.

"A...a...a turkey call?" Rarity struggled to question over the idea of Big Macintosh participating in an event she probably resorted to as uncouth. "You lost your voice doing a... a turkey call?!" She pulled on his bow tie angrily.

"Lost his voice and the title!" Pinkie Pie hopped by, wearing a medallion on her neck. She proved so by gobbling exactly as a turkey as she left.

"Now we can't perform tonight!" Rarity stated and turned to walk off in an upset manner.

"Wait, what? No!" Fluttershy shook her head in disbelief. "You have to perform! Otherwise, the fundraiser will be a disaster!"

"Hm…" Rarity rubbed her chin and then looked over to me. "Well…if somepony was willing to take Big Mac's place during the performance…" She continued staring at me as the others turned their attention to me. Rarity approached me to settle their thoughts. "Alex…would you be willing to perform for Fluttershy's fundraiser?"

I glanced over to Fluttershy and noticed the worry in her eyes. "As much as I'd love to for Fluttershy…I don't think I can." I shook my head. "For one, I don't think I'd be able to sing deeply like Big Macintosh." I pointed out. "Even if I could or tried, it probably would sound pretty horrible…"

Rarity sighed. "I understand."

"Isn't there another way?" Fluttershy anxiously inquired.

"Unless there is another voice willing to be our bass vocals, we cannot perform tonight with only three voices." Rarity indicated.

"Why not?"

"It would take rearranging all the music, and we just don't have time." Rarity explained. "I'm sorry, Fluttershy, but I have no remedy for this situation."

Fluttershy suddenly gasped. "Of course! A remedy! Follow me!" Fluttershy suddenly took off on hoof, leading for Rarity and Big Macintosh to follow while the others stayed behind.

I wasn't sure whether to go along or not, as I felt awkward in leaving the two on the stage, but I decided it'd probably be more important to tag along.

Fluttershy had a good idea in leading the group to Zecora's, as it was true that Zecora had the answer for a lot of things. Especially with the potions she would brew up.

Big Macintosh opened his mouth as wide as he could for Zecora to inspect. "Ahhhh."

"Hmmm." Zecora continued to calmly wander her eyes around the inside of his mouth.

"Ahhh—" Big Macintosh continued until Zecora placed her hooves on his mouth and closed it for him.

"I can cure this pony that is hoarse, but it will take a longer course." Zecora mentioned in the results of her inspection, jumping off the stool she had been standing on.

"Uh, come again?" Rarity questioned.

"Mm." She returned as she analyzed her shelf. "I can mix a brew that can work just right, but it cannot heal him by tonight."

"Oh, no!" Fluttershy expressed with a deeply upset tone. "Ah! Where are we ever going to find a deep voice to replace Big Mac's?"

Zecora suddenly began chuckling loudly after Fluttershy's worry.

"Pardon me, Zecora, but this is no laughing matter!" Rarity assured. "We need a bass voice for the harmonies to work! Without it, the performance will be ruined!"

"Please, forgive my strange elation, but I was not laughing at your situation." Zecora clarified.

"Then what?" Rarity questioned.

"Remember when you pony folk stumbled into poison joke? Miss Fluttershy had an unusual change, deepening her vocal range." She reminded.

Oh yeah…I remember that… El problema que todos teníamos…

"Yes, yes!" Rarity recalled as her mood elevated positively. "Your voice became really low, making it sound like..."

Fluttershy gasped. "Flutterguy!"

"With these leaves I can mix a brew, creating the same effect on you." Zecora had retrieved and held up a bowl of poison joke leaves.

"Zecora, that's fantastic!" Rarity praised.

"Yes! I'll do it!" Fluttershy quickly agreed. "I'd do anything for the animals!"

"Why, you'd even appear on stage!" Rarity included.

"Oh." Fluttershy paused and faced downwards. "Except that. I just can't bring myself to sing on stage in front of everypony."

"What if you sang not in front of everypony?" Rarity offered after placing a hoof in front of her in thought for a moment.

"Huh?" Fluttershy questioned.

"What if Big Mac was onstage, moving his lips while you're behind the curtains singing his part? It would be just like singing in your house! Nopony would know it was you!" Rarity described her idea while even Big Macintosh heavily agreed by nodding enthusiastically.

"You mean…lip-syncing?" I simplified.

"Well…yes…" Rarity pulled back some. "But not in the way as if we're deceiving others! We just need to let the show go on while Big Macintosh is healing!"

"I guess so…" I rubbed my chin with my hoof and thought about it. "Hold on…" I mentioned, referring to what would happen after the show. "What about when Big Macintosh needs to speak with other ponies outside of the show? Wouldn't ponies catch on or at the very least become suspicious when they find out the condition of his voice contradicts to the one he has on stage?"

"Oh…" Rarity's excitement died down. "I suppose…you do have a point. I mean…we might have a chance if Big Macintosh doesn't talk at all…but…that most likely would still bring some suspicion…" She sighed. "We need a better option."

Rarity stared down at the floor with a frown while Fluttershy did the same with a pout. The hut was filled with silence. It didn't take long for me to realize that…I was suitable candidate. I didn't exactly…feel comfortable going on stage and pretending to have a voice I didn't have in front of a bunch of other ponies… In fact, I felt better about the idea of actually performing on stage with my real voice…but I didn't have a voice like Big Macintosh's. Nevertheless, I couldn't let them down, especially as I glanced over to Fluttershy's upset face.

I sighed internally and just decided to do it. "What about me?"

"You?" Rarity perked her head up in surprise.

"Yeah." I shrugged. "It'd be a lot more believable and convenient if you told the audience that Big Macintosh can't perform because of his voice's condition and I was there to be a substitute."

"Yes…yes!" Rarity agreed. "That sounds like it can work out much better! For the time being after all."

"You'd really do this for the fundraiser?" Fluttershy asked in surprise.

"Well…for you…" I answered truthfully with a bit of embarrassment.

"What do you say, Fluttershy?" Rarity queried.

"Oh…" Fluttershy kicked her hoof lightly at the floor a bit. "I just… I want to…but…just the thought of other ponies hearing my voice…"

"Hey…" I lifted up her head with my hoof. "You know the best way to handle that? You're going to be behind the curtains anyway. All you have to do is just close your eyes and sing your heart out. In fact, pretend your singing to me. Just me. No pony else."

Fluttershy stared at me in silence for a while until her eyes wandered away in thought. "Okay… I'll do it." She inhaled a long breath and soon released it. "Mix it up!" Fluttershy mentioned to Zecora.

"Fluttershy, how are you feeling?" Rarity asked once we returned back under the gazebo and sat Fluttershy down. Rarity had made sure to explain the situation and plan to the other members of the team before we got down to business.

Fluttershy remained silent and motioned her eyes among the ground. "…I feel fine." She suddenly clasped her hooves on her mouth once she discovered it was deepened.

Rarity gasped. "Good! That's good! I mean—" She cleared her throat, stopping herself. "This is good for the occasion, now we need to practice as much as we can for the actual showing. There's not much time until we perform for the fundraiser."

"So…how are we going to do this?" I questioned a little worriedly.

"We're all going to perform on stage like normal." Rarity reminded. "Fluttershy will be behind the curtains and will project her voice. What you have to do is match your lips with her voice so it's as if you're the one who's singing."

I already felt the nerves getting the best of me on this. Just the thought of knowingly lip-syncing in front of a fairly large audience had me feeling like chickening out. "You really think I can do that?"

"You can do anything!" Rarity assured. "All you need is some practice. Come up, everypony. Let's get singing!"

Rarity gave us the practice by performing some mock performances. Fluttershy and I would signal each other that we were ready by clearly inhaling in preparation of song. However, the first few times, I would find myself drifting from the bass vocals into Rarity's soprano voice. I didn't know why, her part just seemed more appealing to me than the bass. Either way, she excused those mistakes and it took a while to finally get used to the bass track. It wasn't long until the time of the actual performance reached.

Ponies began attending and filling up the park at the time advertised. Rarity led us inside backstage to talk with us so no other pony could hear.

"Okay, we don't have any more time to work on these new changes. However, I believe it's well enough to work with. As long as you stick to the practice, you should be fine." Rarity specifically told Fluttershy and me, since the others pretty much just had to stick with what they already had. She paused in her instructions to hear the sound of a crowd gather up to the stage. She hushed down her voice and mentioned one last thing. "Remember, do it just like we practiced!" Afterwards, she turned and headed out the curtains to greet the audience.

Fluttershy inhaled her breath greatly and held it inside. She still seemed very nervous.

"Remember what I said too." I approached her, softly massaging her back. "Just close your eyes and think of me alright?"

She nodded, not sparing a word from her new and temporary voice.

"Good evening, citizens of Ponyville!" Rarity announced outside. "I want to thank you all for coming out tonight and generously supporting the Ponyville Pet Center! Thanks to your kindness, pets are finding loving homes, and we're sure to meet our fundraising goal! I'd also like to inform you that, unfortunately, mister Big Macintosh will not be singing at this show. He has come across the burden of losing his voice and we are eagerly awaiting for him to recover. However…" Rarity directed her voice towards backstage. "We have someone who is willing to replace him for the time being! Please welcome your friendly Prince Alex!" I took it that she wanted me to present myself…so I slightly nervously did. I almost hesitantly waved at everyone. Even Rarity offered some applause for me. "Relax, you'll do fine." She whispered. I did my best to keep my worry inside. "So, with no further ado, please welcome the Ponytones!" She moved on to the rest of the team as they walked out.

What made everything even more nerve wrecking and worse was that I was the first pony to start the song off, so it didn't even give me the comfort of joining somepony else. Once everypony was in formation, Rarity picked up her pitch pipe to blow. I quickly tried to spare in a deep breath to breathe in and breathe out. Rarity blew, leading me to hear Fluttershy inhale backstage. I inhaled as well and counted the seconds until it was time to…move my mouth.

It still honestly felt weird to move my mouth but intentionally make nothing come out of it. I could only wait while I lip-synced the first verse of the song until the others came and joined me. During that time, Rarity opened her eyes and looked at me to make sure I was doing alright. She offered a smile in hopes to get me to show one too.

I took it and tried to erase the worries within me.

"Trot outside and you see the sunshine

Something's in the air today

Sky is clear and you're feelin' so fine

Everything's gonna be a-okay" I moved my lips to Fluttershy's temporary voice.

"If you listen carefully

On every corner there's a rhythm playing" The others took control while Rarity and I were allowed to rest in the background.

"Then it happens suddenly

The music takes you over and you'll"

"Find you've got the music

Got the music in you" We all sang together while Rarity stayed to emphasize her words with her soprano voice.

"Find you've got the music

Got the music in you"

"Oh, o-o-oh" Fluttershy and I continued.

"Everypony's sayin' you should learn to express your voice

But if talk doesn't seem like it's the answer"

"Luckily you have a choice" We all resumed. It was almost over!

"When you find you've got the music

Got the music in you

Find you've got the music

Got the music in you

Got the music, got the music in you!"

I was almost breathing heavily inside, completely relieved once we heard the ponies in front of us cheer loudly. I was finally done with performing in front of them.

"Ponytones! Ponytones!" They cheered and immediately ran off to find any pet they could get their hooves on to take home.

"Ponytones!" I heard Twilight exclaim, spotting her running towards us while leading the others behind her. "That was truly amazing!" She turned to me. "Alex, I never knew you could sing so deep!"

I didn't want to lie, so I only scratched my head and silently shrugged.

"Fluttershy, you were on the wrong side of the curtain!" We heard Pinkie Pie nearby, seeing her confront Fluttershy exiting the back of the stage. "You totally missed the show!"

Rarity quickly caught ahold of her nerves and calmly walked to the two. "Uh, just like a true professional, Fluttershy was backstage making sure everything ran smoothly!" Then, she winked and lowered her voice. "And it was perfect." She mentioned, bringing a smile to her face. "Besides, I think Fluttershy was waiting to give Alex here a little something for his performance tonight!" She added, causing for the two of us to catch on what she was saying and become a little embarrassed because of it.

"That was fantastic, Ponytones!" A large pegasus stallion approached us holding a certain accent to his voice.

"My new puppy and I thought it was super-duper crazy good!" A little filly excitedly flew towards us, holding an adorable puppy that seemed to be dazed by her quick movements in flight.

"Why, thank you!" Rarity expressed.

The filly raced over to whom seemed to be her dad and nudged him on the cheek. "And we were wondering if you would consider performing at my daughter Zipporwhill's cute-ceañera." He asked of after.

"Will you? Will you?" She eagerly joined.

"We'd love to!" Rarity accepted. "When is it? Next week? Next month?"

"Tomorrow!" They both answered, surprising the three of us.

Rarity noticed the look on our faces and began to confront the two. "Oh, gracious, I'm terribly sorry, but that's much too last minute."

"Oh, no..." Zipporwhill sadly expressed her grief.

"Well... I understand." Her dad replied and turned around to where they both began walking off gloomily.

I really did feel bad for them, as they were expecting our performance…but could we really be able to pull this off again?

"Oh, Rarity, we can't disappoint that sweet little filly…" Fluttershy mentioned.

"Are you sure you're up for it?" Rarity softly questioned.

Fluttershy nodded.

Rarity turned to me. "What about you, Alex…?"

Seeing both Rarity's and Fluttershy's faces…my instincts just told me to do it.

I sighed lightly. "Okay."

They both smiled, and Rarity turned to shout out to the walking family. "Hold on just a second!" Rarity stopped them and began trotting towards them. "We've had a quick conversation about the plans for this cute-ceañera, and we've agreed that we can perform at the party."

Their faces immediately brightened up, especially the filly's. She squeezed Rarity tightly in glee. "Really? That's so amazing! I can't wait!"

"Well, then, Ponytones." Her dad responded. "We shall see you tomorrow. The cute-ceañera will be held in the Town Hall afternoon!"

"Okay!" Rarity waved as they turned to leave. "Goodbye!" She then turned back to us. "Okay, Ponytones, looks like we're up for tomorrow then! Rest your voices and I'll see you at Town Hall tomorrow afternoon!"

It shouldn't be as bad… After all…there should only be mainly colts and fillies that will watching. No big pressure.

"When you find you've got the music

Got the music in you" We repeated at the party. Fortunately, it wasn't as nerve-wrecking.

"Find you've got the music

Got the music in you

Got the music, got the music in you!" We ended.

"Whoo, yeah, alright! We got the Ponytones, we got the Ponytones!" The little filly Zipporwhill cheered excitedly among her foal friends.

Fluttershy greeted us backstage, but before she could say anything, Mayor Mare came over to congratulate us. Fluttershy quickly flew out of sight.

"Amazing, Ponytones!" She expressed earnestly. "And it would be even more amazing if you could perform at my ribbon-cutting ceremony tomorrow!"

"Oh, Mayor, we would love to, but..." Rarity began realizing that we should end our plan so Big Macintosh could get better and join back with the team, but Fluttershy dipped out from the air and requested a word with Rarity and me. "Would you excuse us for a second, Mayor?" Rarity asked after clearing her throat.

"Certainly." Mayor Mare allowed and turned to continue with her business.

Rarity and I walked a little away from the others to talk with Fluttershy, and I was pretty surprised with what Rarity immediately said.

"Don't worry, Fluttershy, you don't have to perform again." She assured in a hushed tone.

"But we wouldn't want to disappoint the Mayor." Fluttershy didn't appear to mind at all.

"Yes…but…" Rarity glanced over to me. "What about Alex? I'm not so sure he'd like to do this again. I think he should be able to stop if he's not comfortable."

Well…doing this thing with the Ponytones didn't exactly make me feel good…but…either way, I felt I couldn't just bail on them, especially Fluttershy. Everything at the moment felt complicated to me, and it felt like I should just move on along until Fluttershy felt she was finished with performing. Hopefully…it wouldn't be too long…

"As long as Fluttershy wants to keep going…then I guess I don't mind." I stated.

"Are you absolutely sure?" Rarity inquired.

I nodded, hoping love would keep me in the clear until then.

"Well, then..." Rarity lightly smirked, seeing the situation between Fluttershy and me. "Mayor?" She called. "The Ponytones will happily perform at your ceremony!"

The Mayor returned a bright grin, and the others surrounding me did so as well. I tried to join in their excitement, but I wasn't so sure if I was able to really be happy with what we were going to do.

During the next performance, I actually didn't feel too bad. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Usually, problems arose when a friend was in trouble, but it was only really me that felt some discomfort. However, I was able to go through it seeing that my friends were alright with it. Fluttershy especially loved singing. She seemed really joyous about being able to project her voice and stay away from ponies' sight. It wasn't exactly…progressing for her self-esteem, but it was a good start nevertheless, even if she had to hide inside a barrel with a hole for voice during the Mayor's ceremony.

Of course, Fluttershy's specialty being kindness, she didn't want to disappoint the spa patrons either when they asked us to play at their spa. That led us to playing at the spa next. I was kind of getting used to the idea of lip-syncing, but that little feeling about not truthfully expressing myself still seemed to bother me. Nonetheless, I knew I would still be able to follow through, as I felt no problems arise.

As for performing at the spa, Fluttershy had to sing underwater in the huge tub. However, she wore a helmet with the tube sticking out of the water for air and for her voice to sound out. She obviously didn't mind as she happily sung her heart out, so still no problems.

After that…is when Cheerilee wanted us to play at the school of fillies. Fluttershy immediately wanted the school ponies to enjoy the music the Ponytones had to offer. Okay, still no big deal. Big Macintosh's voice would get better soon, and it was another performance closer to that.

However, at the schoolhouse, things…started to get a little nerve-wracking. During the song, I noticed that Fluttershy was really putting her heart into the song, and this meant slightly modifying the lyrics to focus more on her passion of the song and her love of singing. At that point, I began feeling a little hot and sweaty when I wasn't exactly able to perfectly keep up with her. In fact, I had to use lucky predictions and swift fixations on my lips to hopefully put up a believable performance. On the other hoof, it seemed she was having the time of her life as she wiggled her butt outside excitedly. All I could remember thinking about was how much I hoped for Fluttershy to not get too out of track.

Fortunately, everypony in the classroom cheered at the end of the song, leaving me to exhaust a breath in relief. It seemed like nopony else asked our appearance elsewhere, so we were able to exit out easier. Outside the schoolhouse, I walked to where Fluttershy was to speak to her about her singing.

"Fluttershy?" I called.

"Oh, Alex!" She jumped out of the bush and tackled me down on the grass, nuzzling her muzzle with mine. "That was so amazing! I've almost never felt alive like that before!"

I couldn't help smiling softly. "That's great…but you kind of…got just a little out of hoof."

"What do you mean?" Her smile disappeared.

"I don't mean it in a bad way." I assured. "It's just that…we're supposed to stick to the lyrics of the song, and if you go a little off, it gets tricky on my end because I don't know how exactly you're going to sing it. I don't know what words to mouth if you change any little part of it. Do you understand?"

"Oh…yes…" She nodded her head. "I'm sorry. I'll try not to let myself get carried away again."

I brushed her mane softly and gave her a little peck. "Come on. We should head back." I stood back up on my legs to begin walking until we're confronted by Rarity.

"Pinkie Pie just told me that the Cakes wanted us to perform at Sugarcube Corner! Are you two up for it?!"

Fluttershy and I exchanged a look with each other. She smiled lightly and nodded.

"Sure." I returned.

"Come then!" Rarity directed. "We must set up for tonight!"

Fluttershy and I waited backstage as the others prepared for the performance. Waiting at the time made me wonder when Big Macintosh's voice would be fine. Honestly, it shouldn't be too long until he's okay again…

I stepped towards the window and looked out. Fluttershy joined me to see a long line of ponies ready to enter the shop. Wow… I wasn't sure if I would be able to handle another large crowd… Nevertheless, Fluttershy didn't seem to mind as she presented a large grin at the sight of the ponies. Let's just hope this goes well…

"Fluttershy, Alex, we must talk to you!" Rarity called. We turned to see her walking towards us with Big Macintosh. "Big Mac's voice is all better!"

"Eeyup!" He proudly answered.

His answer made me suddenly feel as if I had nothing to worry about anymore.

Despite the grins Rarity and Big Macintosh had, Fluttershy looked away and pouted.

"Now you can bathe in the poison joke antidote and sound like your lovely self again!" Rarity mentioned to try to get Fluttershy's excitement up and going, but it was actually the opposite of that.

Fluttershy sighed quietly. "It's just... I didn't know that last performance was my last performance." Afterwards, she turned around and began walking away sadly.

I was glad at the thought of being finished…but seeing Fluttershy walk off like that…made me think twice.

"Fluttershy, stop!" Rarity called out, being affected by Fluttershy expression as well. She did so and looked back with a raised hoof. "Ohhh..." Rarity sighed lightly. "…this is…troubling."

"Why? What's wrong?" I asked.

"Well…" Rarity looked back at the curtains to where everypony was waiting. "Everypony saw Big Macintosh coming. In fact, I even told a few ponies that he would be able to perform tonight. I think everypony is expecting to see him tonight…and I can't just come up with an excuse to excuse him for tonight as well. It would be too strange."

I glanced over to the ground in thought and then back at Rarity. "Can't you just have Big Macintosh out there instead of me for Fluttershy?"

"Even then…" Rarity continued her worry. "What if ponies noticed the same voice with Big Mac out there?"

"Hm…" I rubbed my chin slightly. "Maybe do some alterations with the other voices to try to cover up the obvious similarities?"

"Or…" Rarity thought as well. "He can be out there, and Fluttershy can sing for him. If anypony asks, I can say that you were backstage singing along as well?" Rarity seemed settled on that explanation. "It's not a perfect excuse, but it sure is better than nothing."

I shrugged, not exactly in absolute confidence. "As long as it works."

"Let's hope it does." Rarity nodded her head and the remembered Big Macintosh besides her. "Oh! I should have asked…Would it be okay if Fluttershy sang for you one last time?"

"Hmm." Big Macintosh noticed Fluttershy's pouty and gloomy face. "Eeyup." He formed a warm smile.

Fluttershy immediately beamed brightly at his response.

"I'll stay back here and try to keep her calm so Big Macintosh won't have much trouble with…you know." I mentioned, feeling both relieved that I wouldn't have to go back out on stage and that Fluttershy got what she wanted at the same time.

"Sure thing." Rarity lightly laughed and nodded her head. "Come on, Big Mac. Let's go get ready for the song."

As Rarity and Big Macintosh left, I faced Fluttershy to remind her to keep herself calm and within the song's original lyrics. "Alright, Fluttershy. Just remember. Try not to get too excited alright? If you do, you'll probably give Big Macintosh a hard time to match his words to yours."

Fluttershy nodded and mouthed me the words: "Okay.".

"Welcome everypony!" Rarity announced on the other side of the curtains. "As you may have already noticed, Big Macintosh has returned to perform in the Ponytones! His voice is all better, so why don't we all give him a round of applause?" She asked, initiating applause from the crowd that almost was to the point of shaking the building. Afterwards, Rarity blew her pitch pipe, leading Big Macintosh to inhale. Fluttershy was quick to follow on. That's when Fluttershy began singing, which Big Macintosh hopefully caught on.

As Fluttershy started the song, she seemed to calmly begin singing through it. She began dancing after a few verses. I smiled at her as I gazed while she had fun doing her own thing while remaining in song.

Everything seemed to go well until near the end of the song. Everypony began cheering and smacking their hooves on the ground, possibly due to the great performance by the Ponytones. This must have sparked the passion in Fluttershy's heart because that's when I noticed her going way over and beyond.

"Hey, find it, oh why, you can find it!"

"Uh…Fluttershy—" I tried to speak quietly and uninterruptively.

"In your heart, yeah, yeah, find the music, yeah!" She seemed to be too focused on her song to notice me trying to keep her down. In fact, she was dancing and motioning her hips so lively as if she was actually on stage, but being backstage gave her the confidence to do so in the first place.

"It's in you right now! Oh, yeah!" She picked herself up in flight and actually pushed her hooves through the curtains, unfortunately pushing whoever was outside.

Uh oh…

"Fluttersh—!" I tried to warn, as Fluttershy was dangerously close to knocking the curtain from the ceiling.

"You can find the music!" Her butt smacked against the pole on the top part of the curtain, completely knocking off the curtain and covering the performing ponies in front of the stage. I swore my heart almost stopped when Fluttershy was completely visible, as she was in flight, and the spotlight was right on her.

"Yeah, yeah, I love the music, ye—" She continued to sing and dance until she suddenly stopped herself after realizing the only thing making sound in the building was her transformed voice.

"Fluttershy?!" The main girls, who had been watching from the audience, shouted out in surprise at Fluttershy's appearance.

Fluttershy huddled her tail close to her face and slowly lowered herself to the floor. However, it wasn't long before she began shivering and shaking greatly to everypony staring at her. I quickly galloped towards her and tried to get her attention away from the crowd. "Fluttershy, look at me. Just look at me!" I attempted, but her face only remained straight at the audience as her jaw was opened immensely.

However, it was a great surprise when everypony began cheering for Fluttershy, as they stated her name between their loud shouts of encouragement. Fluttershy didn't receive the same message though. Just like back when every pegasus was training to lift the water up from Ponyville to Cloudsdale, Fluttershy began panicking greatly. Her heartbeat significantly increased and she shook even more. Eventually, her eyes brimmed full of tears and she ran out crying loudly.

"Fluttershy!" I called and ran straight after her, leaving no time to wonder what the crowd thought afterwards.

She didn't stop until she was safely inside her cottage. In fact, she was even prepared to barricade her door when she slammed the cottage door shut before I came in after her. Before I knew it, I teleported in there and surprised her. Instead of speaking, she stepped to the side and galloped up the stairs where she wanted to barricade herself inside the bathroom. Once again, I teleported past the shut door to see Fluttershy almost angrily turning the faucet on for the bathtub, leaving the water to slowly fill. At the moment, she saw nothing else to do, so she merely rested her forelegs on the side of the bathtub and planted her head on her forelegs.

I carefully walked up to her and placed a soft hoof on her back. I didn't need to hear it from her to know that she wasn't eager to sing for the Ponytones after what had happened, so I grabbed the antidote that was ready near the bathtub and began pouring it as the water filled up.

"Come on." I gently helped her in so the antidote could begin working on getting Fluttershy's voice back. When the tub had filled up, I shut off the faucet and only delicately stared at Fluttershy as she felt no intention to talk. "Here, I'll wash your mane…" I offered. She seemed too busy staring at the water. I assumed her focus was in her thoughts, possibly replaying what happened back at Sugarcube Corner, but in a very negative view. I gently washed and brushed her mane, hoping she would soon feel comfortable and relaxed. When I was done, I filled a bucket with water and washed her mane clean. Since she was already sad to begin with, it made me feel even worse when her mane was dripping wet, looking as if she was soaked horribly by harsh rain or something. "How are you feeling…?" I asked.

She slightly opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something, but all that really came out was a soft whine. Almost right after, she began breaking down into tears. She'd try to breathe normally so she could talk easily, but I could tell it was hard for her to do so. "I think…" Her sadness weighed heavily on her tone. "…I just want to go to bed…and forget about this." Her voice had, of course, returned, making it even worse to hear. She stood up from the tub and allowed water to drip onto the floor after she got out.

As the water fled down the drain, I carefully dried her as much as I could with a towel. During the whole time, she only stared at the floor, her body lightly swinging in different directions when I would rub her dry with the towel. "Is…there anything else I can do for you?" I was really eager to help her in any way I could, as seeing her in her current state wrecked me.

She only pushed herself to me. Her body was still a little damp, but it wasn't something that a little of time wouldn't fix, or in this case, dry. She pressed her head against my chest and then allowed it to rest on my shoulder. After, she seemed to just let go of everything inside her she seemed to be holding. It obviously was a lot because I could feel my coat become drenched from all the tears that escaped her eyes.

Truth be told, I spent some time being…intimate with her. It was nothing more than we usually did, but since she was such in a devastated and distressed state, I guess we both kind of…felt comfortable with exchanging almost fiery kisses that seemed to warm us up than just the leftover steam in the bathroom. Either way, the session didn't last long when we heard a voice coming from downstairs.

"Fluttershy?" The muffled sound protruded through the closed door.

I looked at her for a little moment and gave her the towel so she could dry her mane. "I'll get that…" I turned and exited the bathroom to meet whoever was downstairs.

It turned out to be Twilight, along with the rest of the girls behind her.

"Alex? Is Fluttershy here?" She asked me worriedly.

"Yeah…" I returned a little hesitantly. "But I'm not so sure she wants to—"

"I'm here." Fluttershy's voice softly announced dejectedly from the top of the stairs. Her mane was wrapped with the towel in order to sap out as much water that was still in her mane.

"That was totally unbelievable!" Pinkie suddenly exclaimed, crawling up the wall of Fluttershy's cottage and somewhat breaking the solemn mood of the scene. "I mean, the curtain came up and there you were, singing in front of everypony!" She reminded. "And you know, I don't think anypony was jealous, 'cause there certainly wasn't an angry mob! No! Everypony cheered and cheered until they couldn't cheer no more! But it was too bad you couldn't really stay because everypony really liked you."

Fluttershy bit her lip, worrying about how the scene looked back at the shop. "Pinkie…" I trotted up the stairs to meet with her and Fluttershy. "I know you're trying to…make things better." I began. "But…for right now, Fluttershy needs to take it easy."

"What do you mean?" Pinkie wondered, sticking to the wall. "It's not like she was living her worst possible nightmare."

Tears began falling down from Fluttershy's eyes again. She covered them with her hooves and spared a response. "I was!"

I quickly appeared near Fluttershy to offer her a swift shoulder to lean on.

"What's wrong, Fluttershy?" Pinkie asked, her eyebrows furrowing at the sight of her despair. "Shouldn't you be happy as ever? Everypony went crazy when they saw that it was you singing."

Fluttershy lifted her head and widened her eyes when hearing this. "They went crazy?" She reacted between sobs. "Oh no! They all hate me now!" She burrowed her head in my coat again.

"No, no!" Twilight stepped up. "What Pinkie is trying to say is that you were really great!"

Fluttershy's sob lightened. "Great…?" She lifted her head back up.

"You totally blew my mind!" Rainbow Dash enthusiastically shared.

"Incredible!" Applejack added.

Fluttershy remained silent and pulled back her head from my body. She stared at the floor and removed her towel to wipe the tears away from her eyes. "Thank you…everypony…" She mentioned. "But…I can't forget about what happened tonight. There'll always be that painful blinding spotlight right on my face in my memories, along with everypony staring right at me. I can't ever relive that again. So…" She took a moment to finish her response. "I'm never ever going to sing in front of anypony ever again."

This received gasps of shocks from the others, including a skipped heartbeat from me.

Rarity immediately began trotting up the stairs to confront Fluttershy.

"I just don't understand why, Fluttershy." Rarity mentioned. "After all, you're the one that wanted the Ponytones to sing for every silly thing that was requested of us."

"You mean…you knew I really wanted to perform?" Fluttershy replied.

"Of course I knew!" Rarity stated.

"Oh..." Fluttershy looked away, almost as if she was ashamed.

"Fluttershy…you have an amazing voice." I caught her attention. "And honestly, to me, you don't have to sing, or share it, to others. But whenever you began singing because you loved the song you were hearing, you'd immediately stop out of fear when other ponies would walk by. I hate seeing that happen to you." I placed a hoof under her chin. "You should be able to sing whenever you want to, even if there are ponies nearby. They would all think that your voice is amazing. Tonight proved that…" I looked back a little in thought and remember she still had that "Flutterguy" voice. "…well…kind of, since you had the Poison Joke, but either way, you know what I mean."

"…but…but…" Fluttershy tried to say.

"Fluttershy, when that curtain fell, and everypony saw you singing, you say you lived your worst nightmare!" Rarity pointed out, and then lowered the tone of her voice to sympathize. "Was it really that bad?"

Fluttershy gave it some thought before she quickly nodded her head and answered fearfully. "Yes! I never felt more embarrassed in my life!"

"What could you be so embarrassed about?" Twilight questioned.

"The thunderous applause?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"The praise for your fantastic singin'?" Applejack included.

"The screaming fans?!" Pinkie screamed out in emphasis.

After Fluttershy received these last words of encouragement from the others, I decided to offer a little something myself.

"Think about it, Fluttershy." I said, catching her eyes with a smile. "Play that scene in your head again, but this time, keep in what the others just told you, and kick out whatever you thought happened."

Fluttershy stood quiet and then closed her eyes to imagine so in her head. After taking a moment, she slowly opened her eyes and looked at us as we all waited for a reply.

"Okay." She stated, not giving us a clear mood she was feeling. "I'll…do another performance." As soon as she said this, the girls' instantly placed grins of accomplishment on their faces until Fluttershy interrupted. "But…only under a few conditions."

"…what conditions may those be?" Rarity inquired.

"I'll sing here, right outside the cottage in front of only you girls and the animals." Fluttershy clarified.

"Oh…okay!" Rarity returned, slightly relieved that it wasn't anything over the top. "What else?"

Fluttershy turned her head to me. "Alex has to sing with me."

Everypony else then turned their heads to me.

I was a bit surprised by her unexpected additional request. Nevertheless, I completely understood and smiled softly. "I think that can be arranged."

"There's music in the treetops

And there's music in the vale" Fluttershy and I sang to each other as wore the uniforms with the Ponytones, whom sang in the background to help the meaning of our song.

"And all around the music fills the sky

There's music by the river

And there's music in the grass

And the music makes your heart soar in reply~!" Fluttershy rushed towards me and almost cuddled with me during the break of the song.

"When you find you've got the music" The background voices continued.

"You've got to look inside and find" Fluttershy and I resumed, holding each other's hooves.

"Find you've got the music" The rest followed after.

"The music deep inside you" We increased in emphasis as we stared into each other's eyes.

"Find you've got the music"

"'Cause when you look inside, you'll see it" Fluttershy and I kept our fixtures at one another.

"Find you've got the music"

"You're gonna find it, gonna find" Fluttershy's eyes sparkled as we sang our last line as a couple.

"You've got the music

Got the music, got the music

Got the music in you!" We ended all together.

Every one of the girls, who had been watching from the bottom of the stage, and Fluttershy's critters cheered out loudly for us, but mostly for Fluttershy and me to encourage and praise Fluttershy for her confidence in her performance. Fluttershy humbly and a bit shyly placed a hoof to her cheek.

"You did it, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash commended.

"See? That wasn't so bad." Applejack joined.

"And you didn't look completely petrified by the fact that we're all staring at you at all!" Pinkie Pie mentioned as she was about to hop towards us until Twilight stopped her with magic and placed her back down.

"A little too much Pinkie…" I mentioned honestly.

"How do you feel?" Twilight questioned Fluttershy.

"Surprisingly... okay!" Fluttershy glanced at me and then turned back to Twilight.

"Fantastic, because the Ponytones have been booked for the Apple Family Zap Apple Jam Extraordinaire!" Rarity giggled, hoping that what we did here in front of them would convince the both of us to accept her offer.

"Oh, no... I couldn't do that!" Fluttershy reacted fearfully and slightly hid behind me.

The girls were surprised by her behavior, actually expecting her to have been cured by our performance.

"Come on, everyone." I reasoned. "This was a huge step for Fluttershy. You should be proud that she was able to get this far. It's enough for now."

"Don't worry." Fluttershy assured, pulling herself up. "I'll get there someday. But for now... baby steps, everypony. Baby steps."

"Yeah, that's good enough." Twilight agreed, receiving nods from everyone.

"Although, if you don't mind…" I began, turning to Rarity. "I'd…actually like to try singing with your group for the event you've been booked at."

"Really?!" Rarity's eyes widened in surprise.

"Yeah. I mean…" I scratched my head. "I guess I just want to try singing with the group with my real voice. You know? Besides, I don't want everypony to think that…well…you know." I referenced about what I was doing with Fluttershy before Big Macintosh's voice got better.

"I completely understand." Rarity nodded. "And that would be just delightful!"

"Okay then, I'll see you later then to talk details." I winked happily, seeing everything come to a happy conclusion.

When every pony but Fluttershy had left, I actually found her lying down on the front of the stage writing in the journal we shared. It was pretty intriguing to see this because to me, it was a sort of symbol or motif of Fluttershy's victory towards stage fright. While she didn't overcome it completely, she did make good progress.

I joined her by lying down next to her and observed her delicately write down in the journal. She finished using the blue pencil she scribbled with using her mouth and looked at me with a bright grin.

"So…what did you learn today?" I asked a little jokingly.

Fluttershy closed both the journal and eyes to show that she kept what she learned in her mind and heart. "Sometimes, being afraid can stop you from doing something that you love, but hiding behind these fears means you're only hiding from your true self. It's much better to face those fears so you can shine and be the best pony you can possibly be."

"Exactly." I rubbed her head playfully with mine for a bit.

"Thanks for supporting through such times…" She earnestly but softly expressed. "I really appreciate it…"

"I'd do anything to make you happy." I indicated.

"Oh really?" Fluttershy adorably smirked and then raised herself in flight. She moved over to the top part of the curtain and purposely struck it with her butt, removing it from being hung. "Oops." The curtain lightly fell over me, and she soon joined me underneath it. "Oh no…" She shared before she giggled happily.

My smile stretched as I gazed at her under the covers. "Curtains are out for you, miss."

I held the wooden little stick in front of both me and the sunset, recalling the events at the Apple Family Zap Apple Jam Extraordinaire for Spirit. "It was funny…" I shared. "When Rarity announced to the audience that I would be a guest and sing with the four of them…she even promised that there would be no 'tricks' this time and winked at the viewers." I chuckled a little. "However, this time, I mostly stuck with Rarity's part in the song. I still couldn't really go as high as her, I think, but whatever." I shrugged. "It was better having everypony listening and seeing us to know my real voice instead."

"You're such a good pony." Spirit responded, crossing her forelegs and viewing me.

"I try…I guess." I tilted my head towards the sight ahead of us. I thought for a moment and then turned to her. "Hey…if you've got any stories yourself, I'd love to hear them too. I don't want to be the one hogging all the talk time."

"Meh." She turned away. "I really…don't have anything interesting."

"What about that hoodie?" I reminded. "You said it was really special to you. Was it…like a gift from someone or something?"

"Yeah…" Her smile disappeared for a brief moment. "You could say that…" After a while, she shook her head at whatever she had in mind. "But believe me, it's way too complicated to explain. I really don't want to go over it…"

"Oh, sorry…" I apologized and looked forward.

"Please, forgive me." She expressed. "You don't know how much I want to tell you everything… Maybe…" She pouted and stretched her lips a little. "…maybe I just need..."

"Need what?" I asked, leaning in a little closer to her.

She closed her eyes, sighed, and remained silent for a few seconds. Later, she answered in a somewhat frustrated voice.

"…time."

Twilight Time

Episode 80 – Twilight Time

I thought back on the gifts that the girls had given me way back before any of this Prince and Alicorn business had ever happened. Even before I started intimately seeing Fluttershy. The collection stood out to me on my desk, and I could only feel nostalgia flowing from each one of them. It's funny though. I didn't like myself back then, but there was just something about remembering when each was given to me.

The first one was Rarity's heart shaped gemstone. It still appeared to be new as ever. As I realized how it was in a shape of heart, I laughed a little to wonder if it had been actually foreshadowing Rarity's admiration all long. The whiteness inside revealed itself as it was kind of an explosion of light that was frozen inside. Still, I would never sell or give this away. I just had to hope it would never be stolen… I reminisced the memory of Rarity for a moment and then placed the gift back on the table.

Next was Applejack's…which was outside. Being a tree, it takes a long time to grow. Even after all these conflicts that occurred in the past time, the tree was still pretty young. In fact, it was at the stage of appearing to be a very small tree. No apples yet. At least…I don't think so. Despite the growth, I cared more about the story behind it. I thought back on Applejack and remembered that late night encounter with her. I recalled almost confiding the personal matters that had been stuck on me to her. It was the first time I felt anypony cared…and that hug…that warm hug… It really struck me. I think I almost didn't want her to let go because it was just so…defending? In comparison, it would be like Princess Luna holding me during a time I really needed some pony. I guess I was never really good in detailing sensitive situations…only feeling them. Either way, she had always been somepony who wanted to approach me and help me in any way she could. I guess we had such a close relationship in being honest with each other, referring back to how I almost told her the whole truth on that train ride. She was even the first pony I told about Starlight being my sister on the train ride to Canterlot. Heh. Now, it actually makes me feel bad because I don't feel like I've recently spent time with her as much anymore. We need to do something soon.

I turned to the rainbow and shiny whistle. Rainbow Dash sure surprised me when she stopped me on my hooves to give me that whistle. She told me to use it whenever I needed her. I never did blow it, to be honest. I only did that one time I was stuck in my nightmare…

I sighed, trying to remove that thought from leading into anything else.

Still… I smirked when I brought the whistle closer to me and narrowed my eyes in joy. I know she has this tough act, but I can sense a soft spot in her. Why else would she give me this whistle in the first place?

I focused on Twilight's good luck charm and held it up. The star on the chain lightly spun around in silence. Twilight, in a way, had always been there for me. Ever since we talked to each other after the Summer Sun Celebration when we used the Elements of Harmony for the first time, she seemed…to really want to be my friend. However, of course, I stupidly pushed her away…or I at least didn't let her in. I never knew it would come to the both of us being crowned together at the same time, making us kind of a pair of Prince and Princess. Our relationship really grew throughout the time. And even then, I think it's still continuing to grow.

Unfortunately, I didn't have Pinkie's gift anymore. I had eaten it, which I'm sure she would have wanted me to do anyways. It's okay though. I think it's her silly way of saying that she'll always be inside of me to make sure I smile. Haha. Even though Pinkie…is always smiling…she still has her…sad side. But hey, she wants to me to smile, and I'll be there to try to do the same for her.

Lastly, there was Fluttershy's heart-shaped gift as well, but referring to the theme of nature. I could tell she placed a lot of work on it because it was expertly woven with different sized twigs and grass. I chuckled as I thought that maybe the woven twigs and grass resembled the twists and knots she'd feel when she saw me. Oh, Fluttershy…you adorable mare.

My eyes wondered back to Twilight's good luck charm, and that made me begin thinking deeply… It made me think a lot more about…the whole Prince and Princess thing. Were we really meant to become Prince and Princess like this? Twilight from her studies, and me because of all the weird things about me. The more I thought about our connection, the more I pondered. It wasn't bad…it definitely wasn't…it was just really…questionable.

I pouted a little, perhaps saddened by the confusion and uncomfortable thoughts in my head.

I sighed and placed all of the items in a safe spot in a little drawer.

It all couldn't be a coincidence…

I approached the door to the library and knocked lightly. As I waited, I heard some faint coughing inside. In reaction, I tilted my head and squinted my right eye a bit, wondering if I was hearing things or if somepony was really sick inside there.

The door opened, and the coughing grew much louder and clearer.

"Oh, hi, Alex!" Twilight greeted me with a hug. "Watcha been up to?"

"Oh. Nothing much." I shook my head lightly to reinforce my answer. The coughing continued to sound, making me wonder if it was Spike or something. It did sound like him… "I guess I was just wondering…" The coughing was beginning to interrupt me, but Twilight continued to smile at me as if nothing was going on at all. "…if you wanted to…" They were now hacks like if somepony was about to die in there. "hang ou—" I finally stopped midsentence to question what in Equestria the sound was coming from. "Where is that coughing coming from?"

"Oh." Twilight giggled as she held a hoof in front of her muzzle. "It's just a little mishap of Applebloom's project."

"Huh?" I tilted my head and scrunched my eye in confusion.

"Come in." She turned to lead me inside and explain what she meant. She presented me this flowerpot with a little yellow flower planted on top.

I never knew that the source of the coughing was actually this plant she showed me. In fact, I didn't even understand how a flower could even cough as it didn't even have lungs…or…

"How is that even possible?" I questioned greatly as the flower continued to cough annoyingly.

"I was just trying to teach some potion mixing to Applebloom and the others." Twilight explained. "Well, actually, Applebloom is doing the potion mixing, Scootaloo is working on putting back a unicycle by herself, and Sweetie Belle is trying to use her magic." She recalled by using her hoof to tap her memory in place.

"You know…" I responded. "I'd love to hear all about this, but I think you might want to quiet that…plant…first."

"Oh!" She returned. "I was just about to get on that." She turned to a table nearby, looked at her book for a moment, and then mixed something up to finally swirl it around in a tube and release a drop on the coughing flower. Before it could breathe in another breath to hack it out, it was silenced…and it remained a normal average flower. "There you go."

"So you were teaching things to the little fillies?" I asked.

"Yep." She answered contently. "We spend time with each other every now and then. We call it 'Twilight Time'." She smirked a little.

"'Twilight Time', huh…?"

"If you want to join us, it could be Alex and Twilight time." She chuckled as she began placing the potion mixing and other things away.

"I could probably stay for a session or two…" I replied. "…but you don't need to change the name." I smiled at her little comment.

"Whatever you say." She mentioned teasingly as she placed the last of her books on the shelf. "They said they'd come back in the afternoon after school to give it another go on the projects. You can come and check on them then."

"Actually, I wanted to see if you wanted to hang out or something…" I shared truthfully.

"Oh really?" She looked back in surprise. "What's the occasion?"

"No occasion." I shook my head. "I just thought you might want to do something."

"I'd be happy to hang out with you." She answered with a small beam. "What do you want to do? Study? Take notes? Read?"

I smirked lightly at her, but honestly wasn't completely sure if she was serious or not. "Seriously?"

"Na." She shook her head and laughed it off. "…unless you really want to do that."

"To be honest…" I looked towards the side with my eyes. "I don't even have an idea of what to do to hang out with you."

"We can do whatever you want. Go for a walk. Grab a bite somewhere. Work on magic." She suggested.

"Hm…" I thought softly. "If you don't mind…I think I'd like to stay inside." I decided, not quite feeling the need to go out.

"Okay." Twilight understood my choice. "No biggie. Um." She looked around for a bit. "Well…whatever you want to do!" She grinned a little, seeming to be just a bit uneasy about what I would find to do inside to hang out with her.

I didn't know why, but I just…kind of wanted to give her space for some reason. I allowed her to know that I perhaps just needed her presence, so she could go on to do whatever she wanted to do. In the end, she read or reread her books while I did something I had not done in a while: drew.

I felt content enough that I was lying near Twilight as she calmly read her books, but my mind seemed to slip by as I laid marks on the paper with the pencil. If Twilight had her focus on me, I probably would have been a zombie to her.

Twilight closed her book shut and placed it on the ground. She stared at it in silence for a moment and then turned to me.

"Hey…" She mentioned.

"Hm?" I felt back in focus when she called my name.

"I'm just wondering about something…" She spoke. "…about that ma—" A couple of knocks interrupted her, catching her off-guard. "Oh!" She turned her head to a clock nearby. "That must be them." She stood up and began heading towards the door.

Meanwhile, I turned to my drawing and found something really strange. The subject of what I had been drawing the whole time was…Fillydelphia. The town shops and streets… Why in Equestria would I draw anything from the town I hated the most? In fact, I'd rather hang out with Discord than draw anything about or relating to that horrid town.

I simply pushed away the paper and turned my head to expect Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo to come in.

"Hey there, guys! Come on in!" Twilight greeted the three fillies warmly, happily inviting them inside.

However, very loud and high-pitched squealing sounded immediately after Twilight revealed herself at the door. "Princess Twilight!" I squinted my eye in confusion and stretched my neck to see who exactly it was that made those noises. "Oh, it's really her!"

"Oh, my gosh, I don't believe it!" Another similar sounding filly exclaimed.

The voices sounded familiar, so they peaked my curiosity which in turn had me stand up.

"Oh, and, uh, you brought guests. Great!" Twilight answered in a subtly surprised tone.

"Princess Twilight, it is such a thrill and honor to be here!" An excited apparent fan of Twilight's spoke in star-struck. "You have no idea." She paused for a second. "Oh my gosh, who dyes your tail?"

Twilight looked back, picked up her tail, and observed it with tangled expression on her face.

"I so have to get that done." The other filly mentioned.

"Actually, it's not dyed." Twilight corrected. "I've always—"

There was a loud gasp. "Are those books in there? What a bold design choice!"

"You should so do that, Di!"

Di?

"I know, right?"

The memory of these two ponies suddenly clicked in me when they came into view. These were the ponies that supposedly were bullies to the other girls. What in the…?

Before I could react, they stopped when spotting me and immediately gave an unexpected reaction themselves.

"Look! Prince Alex is here too!" Diamond Tiara cried out.

"Twice the royalty!" Silver Spoon added.

Soon enough, they bounced up and down excitedly in front of me, which really…jumbled my mind. "Um…" I could only slip out, remembering how specifically Diamond Tiara didn't really care much for me, especially since I had gotten her in trouble in the past.

"Can you believe it?!" Diamond Tiara continued to express as if there was a famous celebrity right in front of her. "It's the son of Princess Luna! And he's living right here in Ponyville with Princess Twilight!"

"Can you raise the moon too?!" Silver Spoon asked.

"Of course he can!" Diamond Tiara answered.

I didn't really know how to react, so I could only go along. "Actually…not exactly…"

"Oh, you have to take us to see the rest of the princesses!" Diamond Tiara requested as Silver Spoon eagerly nodded her head, which held a stretched smile. "My dad can cover everything." She threw out her hoof smugly.

"The other princesses are too busy doing their own jobs, you can't just—"

"Applebloom, go ahead. Let's see how your plant potions are coming!" Twilight stated from across us, catching our attention as she held up pot with a little seedling planted inside.

"I want to see this." Diamond Tiara mentioned a little oddly, bringing along her friend to observe Twilight's group.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders each exchanged a sort of worried look with each other, leading Applebloom to step forward. "Alright then…"

Twilight gently placed the pot in front of Applebloom as she stared at it for a moment. Twilight went ahead and took out the materials necessary for potion mixing. "Anytime you're ready."

"Okay…" Applebloom walked over to the table and began looking at the various fluids in front of her. "I think I got this." She began messing with a few vials here and there until she finished with this one final flask of different colored liquid. I knew nothing when it came to things like this, so…I didn't know what they mixed or what it was called. Applebloom grabbed a hold of the finished product and moved it over to the top of the plant. "Let's hope this works…" She flinched and pulled her head back while keeping one eye open on her plant. She hesitantly and a bit shakily poured a drop on the plant.

The seedling grew just a little bit, presenting itself as a flower. Applebloom continued to flinch, preparing to endure something terribly bad come from the flower…but nothing really happened. There was silence for a few seconds before Applebloom loosened her flinch.

"Hey, Applebloom." Scootaloo began speaking. "I think you finally might of—"

The plant suddenly began screaming loudly instead of coughing this time. Everypony in the library had to cover their ears greatly, including me. Twilight quickly took action and found something to place over and cover the plant, reducing the volume of the screams greatly. However, it was still clearly audible under the cover.

"It's okay!" Twilight shared. "You're still learning!" Twilight mixed up a quick remedy and silenced that flower for good. "There's still a lot room for improvement, Applebloom." She critiqued politely with a smile. Applebloom only returned an embarrassed expression while she rubbed her foreleg uneasily. Twilight moved on to Sweetie Belle. "Let's see how you're doing with your magic, Sweetie Belle!"

"Uh…" Sweetie Belle slowly crept over to me. "Can I just come over here and talk with Alex?"

"Now, now." Twilight talked in the tone she used with foals. "There's plenty of time for that later. I'd like to see you give it another go with your magic."

Sweetie Belle sighed. "Okay." She focused her eyes on a broom nearby and squinted them. However, it seemed she was really nervous as she couldn't get any part of her magic to work right. It was a like a light switch that continued to flip itself off and on. She released a groan and shook her head.

Twilight returned an understanding expression and then turned to Scootaloo. "How about you, Scootaloo?"

Behaving in the same way as the others had, Scootaloo reluctantly walked over to a part of the room to look over the parts of a unicycle that had been saved in the corner. "Okay…let's see…uh…" She moved around different parts in front of her, but she appeared to have no idea of what to do. "I think this…" She tried to connect two parts, but they remained completely loose and fell apart. "No…" She turned to another pair of parts. "How about…?" She received another unsuccessful outcome. "…that's not right…" Eventually, she was left with staring at the parts scattered on the floor in failure.

"That was a good try, Scootaloo. Don't worry about it." Twilight assured. "You're still learning. You'll get there!"

Scootaloo stood up and joined Applebloom by the door. "Thanks, Twilight…" She sounded really dissatisfied. "We need to go. We'll see you later…" She turned to Sweetie Belle, who was still at my side. "Let's go, Sweetie Belle."

Feeling the same mood, Sweetie Belle did so and arrived at the door. They turned to us to say goodbye and began leaving, holding their heads down in shame…

Twilight turned to the two who were still standing in the library. "You two better get home too."

"But we still have so much to admire about you!" Princess Tiara whined.

"Sorry." Twilight apologized. "But we've got some pretty important things to do."

"Aww…" They expressed and began almost sadly walking out the front door.

Once Twilight closed it shut, I turned to her to begin speaking. "We do?"

Twilight smiled a bit. "Not really. I just wouldn't feel comfortable with them staying."

"Yeah…I get what you mean…" I looked back at the door where the fillies had left through. "I never even got to tell Sweetie Belle how surprised I was at her practicing her magic. They didn't look happy."

"I know. I noticed that too." Twilight rubbed her chin. "I wonder what that was all about."

"Hm…" I wondered if it had to do with the other fillies that accompanied them. I don't know if Twilight was able to tell…but it was pretty obvious that they were only interested in us since we were…pretty important ponies now. Remembering that Twilight wanted to tell me something before the fillies had come in, I turned to her to ask about it. "What were you saying to me before, Twi?"

"Huh?" She questioned, seeming to not remember it herself.

"I think you said you were wondering about something." I recalled.

"Oh. That." She returned briefly. "I'll…tell you later."

"Oh…okay." I responded.

Twilight remained silent until she drew her eyes towards something on the floor. She had spotted the paper I drew on and picked it up to analyze it. "You drew this?"

"Oh…" I didn't feel happy or proud that I did. "…yeah."

"It looks nice. Really neat." She commented.

"Actually, you can just go ahead and throw that in the trash." I mentioned as I walked over to her. "I have no idea why I drew it in the first place."

"What?" Twilight was shocked and surprised of my suggestion. "Why would you want this in the trash?"

I sighed as I reluctantly stood by her side to take another view of the subject. "It's my old town, Fillydelphia." For some stupid reason, I lifted up my hoof and began pointing out things for her. "That busy place is where ponies would always be. That's the little candy shop." I placed my hoof on a small shop in the town. "And there are also some other shops in the area. Of course, I never bought anything from them. I didn't have the bits to anyway." I placed my hoof down to continue thinking out loud. "I'd always pass through here to get to school… I still remember how isolated I felt from every other pony…" I walked off a little and sat down to feel saddened by the thoughts back then. "That's why I'm telling you it belongs in the trash. I don't need that kind of negativity. I kind of just want to forget everything in the past."

Twilight took a moment of silence and another glance at the picture to form a response. "I understand that you really…dislike your town because of what happened…but…you can't really hate it…can you? What if you ended up having some good memories back there?"

I merely shrugged, not thinking too much into it. "Point is, I didn't. And just thinking about the name almost sends me back to those days."

"Sorry…" Twilight apologized and walked upstairs, taking the drawing with her.

That night, I laid on my bed thinking over what happened at Twilight's. I felt bad for reacting in such a way to her. It was just…the idea of what I drew that got to me. Inside…I knew that I really didn't have a reason to hate the town…but either way…I just did. Because of its inhabitants. I stared at the ceiling in more or less worry thought.

"You should probably give me a tour of your house sometime." I heard her voice speak.

I was already used to the sound of her voice to know it was her.

"There's nothing much to see, Spirit." I responded with a brief smirk.

"What's gotcha down now?" She asked, placing the half of her body on the bed.

"I feel bad for how I reacted to Twilight. For some reason…I feel like…I hurt her…even though she doesn't really have anything to do with Fillydelphia." I explained.

"Oh…right…" Spirit's tone lowered a little. "Her…"

"There was just this spot in my heart that felt bad… The feeling I have for her…how close and special she is to me…it's like…that feeling was affected after what happened." I sighed. "I don't know."

"You don't have to worry about it." She placed a delicate hoof on me. "Trust me. You have nothing to worry about."

"You think so?" I questioned.

"I know so." She offered a small smile.

I didn't know how she did it, but I was able to feel her warmth cheer me up as I turned over on my bed. "You up for some ice cream?"

She gave a little hop. "You know it!"

The next day, Twilight had invited me over to a little hay burger restaurant in town. In fact, the girls had actually invited her to the restaurant in the first place while highly recommending I came along as well. It was a bit of a surprise…but maybe they wanted to hang out with us because it had honestly been a while since we interacted with those fillies…well, at least for me.

"Sorry about the way I reacted yesterday…" I apologized as we walked side by side. "I kind of felt bad for it…"

Twilight reacted with a small smile. "You don't have to worry about that. I understand how you feel about…you know…what happened then. If there's anyone to apologize, it would be me. I'm the one who kind of pushed the subject on you."

Sending her the same reassuring smile, I responded. "Don't worry about it. You were only concerned."

"But um…" Twilight's smile disappeared temporarily. "Don't you just…" She fell silent as I stood staring at her during our walk. She noticed and then shook her head. "Never mind." She pulled her head up and noticed the area in front of us. "Oh, look! There they are!" She directed towards the three fillies that were oddly standing in front of the restaurant doors.

"Twilight! Alex! You're both here!" Sweetie Belle pointed out and greeted a little far from her usual self.

"Yeah. We are." I merely acknowledged.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders stood there awkwardly while Sweetie Belle seemed to nervously look around. It wasn't until Scootaloo raised up her hoof and spoke.

"Well…let's eat!"

The five of us grabbed a table close by and not too far from the door. I guess it was somewhat in the middle of the restaurant. As the waiter came by to take our order, Twilight seemed to be completely ready while he only halted in sheer shock.

"I'd love a combination of one of your original hay burgers with a medium sized carbonated drink and fantastic tasting horseshoe crispers." Twilight described in exact detail.

"It's you two!" The waiter announced afterwards, recognizing us. "Oh, please, ask for anything you want, how much you want!" He surprisingly addressed. "It's on the house for ponies like you!"

"Does that go for them too?" I asked, pointing towards the fillies.

"Yeah, yeah!" He nodded greatly. "Anything for the Prince and Princess's friends!" He took out a notepad and readied a pencil. "So, Princess Twilight wanted the…" He scribbled on his notepad and then looked back at Twilight. "Anything else?"

"I'm fine, thanks." Twilight politely raised her hoof in conclusion.

"Are you sure? Anything you want, ma'am!" He eagerly encouraged.

"Well…" Twilight placed a hoof on her chin in both thought and silence for a moment. "…if you insist…" She turned over to the fillies. "Does anypony want to munch out on a bunch of hay burgers and fries?"

"Sure…" Applebloom returning, seeming not as enthused as I thought any one of them would be.

"Yeah…" Scootaloo added.

"That's fine." Sweetie Belle nodded her head.

Twilight turned her head to me to observe my say. "Okay." I answered with a shrug and "what the heck" smile.

Twilight faced back to the waiter and completed her request. "We'll go ahead and go with that." She mentioned.

"Right away!" He raced back to kitchen to get those orders in queue.

"So, have you two been continuing to practice with your projects?" Twilight asked the three of them.

"O-oh. Y-yeah." Scootaloo took some time to answer. "We try working in some practice when we're not in school." She released a grin.

"Speakin' of school…" Applebloom lowered her tone, and then coughed and darted her eyes towards a specific part of the restaurant.

"What?" Scootaloo questioned. "They're not bothering us right now."

This statement raised the curiosity in Twilight. "Who's not bothering you?"

Sweetie Belle returned a nervous giggle. "What she means is…" Her eyes moved towards the kitchen and she quickly pointed. "Oh look! Our food's ready!"

I turned to see several baskets of fries, burgers, and drinks headed our way. "That was fast…" I commented.

As he carefully placed all of the food down on the table, he continued to eagerly encourage us. "Please. Let me know if you'd like anything more."

"Thanks!" Twilight beamed brightly, allowing him to leave. After, she examined all of the food on the table. "Wow, this all looks delicious!" She turned towards the girls. "Go ahead! Grab some!"

They expressed their thanks a little oddly and almost hesitantly grabbed their own portion of the combination. It was my turn when Twilight turned to me and smiled. I chuckled at her facial appearance and gently acquired some food for myself. There was still enough left over to allow everyone seconds. Twilight grabbed the box that held her burger and licked her lips. She cautiously opened and only stared at the burger as she brought it up to her eyes with her magic. She took a bite, leading her eyes to immediately widen in positive feedback.

"So, do you like it?" I asked with a smirk, knowing I really didn't need to ask in the first place.

"Of course I do!" She took another bite and moaned in pleasure. "It's been so long, I forgot how delicious these were!" Soon, she allowed her hunger and taste to eat for her, which resulted her to disregard any "sophisticated" presentations of consuming food and just be herself. "Mmm! Mmmm, mm!" She continued to represent. Her cheeks had soon messily been covered in ketchup, but she obviously didn't care. "I didn't realize how hungry I was!" She mentioned truthfully with her cheeks full. "I'm so glad you asked us to join you here today..."

"Twilight…you got a little…" I held up a napkin, ready to clean her cheeks.

Twilight lifted up her head and swallowed the remains that were formerly in her cheeks. "That's okay! I got it!" She picked up the burger she had been eating from, wiped the ketchup off from her cheeks with it, and threw it in her mouth to resume her chewing.

"You really are hungry, aren't you?" I asked with a soft smile. Being unable to answer clearly, she only closed her eyes and nodded. "I was kind of surprised when you three invited us." I turned towards the fillies. "Well…Twilight I can understand." I glanced over to her to see her attempting to finish the burger that remained in her mouth. "But wanting me to tag along caught me a bit off-guard."

"Well, you know." Scootaloo rubbed the back of her head. "We just wanted to let you know about our appreciation."

Twilight managed to finally swallow what she had been chewing. "That's great news!"

"It is?" Sweetie Belle asked in surprise.

"When you first asked me to help you develop new skills, I thought, 'Working with young students so devoted to the joy of learning purely for its own sake? What could be better?' You all remind me of myself when I was your age!" Twilight explained the intention of the get-together and moved on to her crispers.

"Yes, well... we feel the same way!" Sweetie Belle acknowledged.

"That's why we invited you here." Applebloom added.

"All because of our love of learning!" Scootaloo included.

They grinned weirdly.

I thought about it for a moment and how it related to my invitation.

"What exactly did I teach you three?" I asked.

"Uh…" Scootaloo responded.

"You taught us to…" Applebloom continued for her.

"To…" Sweetie Belle circled her hooves. "You know. I mean, you're always there for us and willing to help us in our time of need. That's what we really appreciate!"

"Oh." I saw how they drove it away from the original reason for teaching with me, but I didn't mind it much. "Okay." I went on to consuming my burger.

Twilight sipped her drink loudly before Pinkie came by our table. "Twilight!" She exclaimed, noticing Twilight eating her meal. "Haven't seen you here in, like, forever and a half!"

"I know. I've been so busy I forgot how delicious everything is here!" Twilight replied, holding up another burger.

"Totally!" Pinkie Pie tilted her head to the side adorably and her eyes moved over to me. "Hi, Alex!" She waved enthusiastically.

"Hey, Pinkie." I answered warmly as I rested my forelegs on the table and waved my hoof. I noticed the sort of table contraption she wore around her neck to keep hold of her drink. "Nice…table you've got there."

"Thanks!" She responded cheerfully. "It sure comes to good use when it comes to food eating!" She giggled and then looked past us. "Hey, what's going on out there?" She pointed behind us towards a window, but as soon as we turned, we didn't see anything out of the ordinary. "Oh, never mind, they're gone." Pinkie said, causing us to turn back to her. "They're back!" She exclaimed just as we faced her. However, as soon as we turned our heads yet again, there was nothing for us to see. "Never mind, they're gone."

"You sure you aren't messing with us, Pinkie?" I asked.

"Nope! I'm going to go chow down now. Byee!" She left, skipping in joy.

After she left, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were only seen stretching some seemingly forced grins.

As Twilight began working on another burger, I decided to question the fillies due to their different behavior. "Are you girls alright?" I asked with a concerned raised eyebrow.

"Of course!" Sweetie Belle quickly answered.

"We're just…so excited because we can't wait until we perfect our…um…learning!" Scootaloo finished, and then began acting even more strangely as she turned to the side as she seemed to strike a pose like a model. She moved on to purse her lips for another pose. She grabbed Sweetie Belle and grinned my way as if I was some kind of camera or something.

"Knock it off!" Applebloom pushed out through gritted teeth.

"What are you girls looking at?" Twilight asked before she turned around to gasp.

By the time I turned around to see what Twilight was confusingly staring at, I saw nothing.

"What is it?" I inquired.

However, Twilight didn't answer, she only began walking off and led me to follow her.

"Pinkie's right." Twilight mentioned as she walked towards the front doors. "Something is going on out there."

"And how exactly does that involve us?" I questioned as we walked through the door before we were confronted by a litter of little ponies staring right at us in silence.

After a long pause, Twilight decided to speak. "Uh, can I... help you?"

All of the foals instantly began screaming, surrounding us as if we were some kind of famous fictional figure they read in books or something.

"Get my picture with them!" Diamond Tiara shouted as she and Silver Spoon huddled around us.

"Me first!" A familiar looking colt dashed in.

"Hey! Get out of the shot!" Silver Spoon pushed him away.

Soon enough, they all began holding pieces of paper, to which I could only react in dumbfoundedness.

"You seriously all want my autograph?" Twilight reacted to the situation, but then quickly accepted the groove of it. "Okay!"

The familiar looking colt approached me. "I can't believe it! You're related to my favorite princess! I want to know all about her! Actually, I want to see her again!"

"Uh…" I didn't know what to say to that. I couldn't even remember the colt's name. I knew I had seen him before…but I just couldn't put it together.

"Now, now." Twilight had caught hold of the conversation even while signing the papers the foals held up. "The princesses are too busy with their own work. They can't really find the time to visit."

"She was here the other night." I recalled. "During the big Gala here in Ponyville."

"Oh shoot!" The little colt lowered his head sadly. "That happened during my bedtime."

We heard some soft steps behind us, gathering our attention to look back and noticed Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom had come out.

"Oh, there you are!" Twilight acknowledged their presence.

"To think I've been to the Hay Burger so many times, never knowing it's a regular hangout for a prince and princess!" The little colt continued with his excitement.

"This isn't our regular hangout." Twilight corrected. "We're only here to be with them." She subtly pointed towards the fillies behind us.

"You mean, Princess Twilight and Prince Alex decide where it's cool to go based on where they go?" He asked in surprise and shock.

"Huh?" The Cutie Mark Crusaders exclaimed simultaneously.

"Um…sure." Twilight seemed to be unsure on how to answer that. She noticed how I was starting to get a little overwhelmed about what was going on around us. It was almost a state of utter confusion. I've never even gotten these many ponies freaking out about the tier Twilight and I held. But I guess they were kids after all. "We'd love to stay and chat, but I think it's time for the both of us to go."

"Aww!" They all expressed disappointingly.

"Thanks for the hangout, you three!" Twilight directed at Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom. "It was fun! See ya!" She looked at me and nudged me to let me know we should get moving.

I lightly shook my head, still a bit dazed from all the attention. "Bye." I shared before I followed Twilight and onto the road. "That was…weird." I shared once we were away from the scene, heading possibly back to Twilight's library.

"What? All the foals freaking out about us?" Twilight responded. "I think it's perfectly normal! After all, I was so crazy about Princess Celestia when I was their age."

"I guess…" I returned, but couldn't stop thinking about it. "Why now though? They were just…" There was so much going on about the situation in my mind, but I kind of figured I was just overthinking it. I was still kind of new to that stuff anyway. "Never mind. I'm probably thinking about it too much." I chuckled a little. We both eventually arrived at her front door. "You've got anything planned for the rest of the day?"

"Actually…" Twilight thought about it, rolling her eyes backwards. "I think I'll be studying a little more."

"Studying?" I asked. "Studying what exactly?"

"The thing that's always somehow been on my mind ever since we discovered it." Twilight began walking through her front door, leading me inside. She stopped in front of this design layout of a familiar-looking box. "This box is truly something special, Alex." She placed a hoof on the paper which revealed her intent description and notes about the locked box. "Six keys…" She mentioned, rubbing her hoof… "And they all have a specific shape for each lock. Why would this box have six locks? Well…it came from the Tree of Harmony…and the Tree of Harmony holds the Elements of Harmony. So…maybe each lock is related to an element?" She widened her eyes at her realization, but then she lowered them quickly after. "Wait…that doesn't make any sense."

"Hm?" I wondered.

"Why six locks? If there are seven elements?" She asked.

"You've got to remember that mine is not tangible." I reminded.

"Yeah…yeah…that's true…" She rubbed her head and closed her eyes in thought. "Yeah, this is totally what I need to think about." She stopped rubbing and opened her eyes to turn to me. "I wouldn't want to bore you with my silent reading. You don't need to stick around."

"You sure you don't want me to stay and help you with figuring this box out?" I inquired.

"If I have any questions for you, I'll be sure to call you as soon as possible." She assured with a smile.

"Okay." I understood. "I guess I'll leave you to it." She smiled and closed her eyes, giving off a little wave. I walked towards the front door and looked back. "You're smart. You'll figure it out." She only returned a funny look before I lightly smirked and exited. Once I was outside, I placed a hoof to my chin and thought about what I could do now. "Hm. I guess I could go see what Vinyl's up too…" I mentioned to myself, seeing as her place wasn't too far from where I currently was at.

I trotted towards her door and knocked a couple of times. She expectedly answered and greeted me.

"Alex! Just in time!"

"Just in time for what?" I questioned before I realized she was already pulling me inside.

"We're having just a little hangout party." Vinyl explained. "Just the three of us, and it's going pretty good!"

"Three?" I pondered until she presented two other ponies inside. Derpy was, what Vinyl would say, "chilling" as she sat on a beanbag. She was normally chewing a muffin with her usual crossed eyes. However, I realized a violin had been playing the whole time, and I scanned the room to see none other than the musician Octavia casually playing it. "Wow." I expressed towards the get-together they had.

"Alex!" Derpy noticed me and flew over to greet me with an embrace. Derpy spotting me also caused Octavia to cease her playing, as she didn't realize I was in here. "Hi!"

"Hey." I returned another smile. "How have you been?"

"Great!" Derpy answered cheerfully. "I've been spending time with Vinyl and Octavia lately! They're a lot of fun to be with!"

"Heh heh." Vinyl chuckled a little proudly. "Well, I try."

"Do you, Vinyl?" Octavia questioned, looking up from her violin. Vinyl cleared her throat and sort of stared back at Octavia. "Never mind…"

"Well, yeah." Vinyl turned her attention back to me. "If you want to chill with us, you're more than welcome to!"

"Okay, thanks." I acknowledged.

Vinyl patted me with a little force and then turned to focus back on her music. I looked around, taking a glance at the three ponies that I could talk to. Vinyl went on to placing on some headphones and shaking her head to the beat. Derpy resumed eating her muffins. Octavia played a little more towards the back with her violin, possibly to be in an area where she was able to concentrate on her practice the most. I honestly didn't know much about Octavia, since we had recently just became friends, so I walked towards Vinyl to ask about her a little more.

I tapped Vinyl on the shoulder, catching her attention.

"What's up?" She asked with a smile.

"I was wondering if I could ask you a little more about Octavia." I requested in a soft voice, since I didn't really want Octavia hearing the conversation.

"Sure! What do ya wanna know?"

I guess I started with one of my first questions. "It seems you two are…pretty good friends. How long have you known each other?"

"A long while, actually." Vinyl responded, thinking back. "In fact, we were friends ever since we were foals! Even though we may not seem like it or show it, I'd say we're super tight. We both love music…but uh…" She took a glance at Octavia's sophistication with her violin. "…we do have our different tastes…"

"So…you've always gotten along anyway, despite your different tastes?"

"She may get a little upset at times, but yeah. We're good friends. Of course, sometimes she has to be away for a while because of her orchestra and stuff. But when she's able to, we hang."

I tapped my hoof at my chin and managed to sneak a subtle glance at her. "Is it…normal for her to have a temper?"

"Actually…not really." Vinyl responded, a bit inexperienced in the subject. "That's why I was so surprised for the way she got after you when you two first met. She usually is so calm and collected, which is why I thought you two would get along great at first. Hm." She wondered. "The only times I can remember her being upset is when she wouldn't talk to me at certain times years back. I don't think she was upset with me. She probably had a bad day or something… She wouldn't want to talk with me about it though…"

"Huh…" This interested me.

"Yeah, afterwards, she kinda started being grumpy at everything. I think she lost a bit of herself…I still don't really know why."

"Is she still like that now?" I asked worriedly.

"Actually…not really." Vinyl mentioned. "I can't say she's totally happy, but she does seem a little better recently. I wondering if making up with you after that whole fiasco had her think about her actions and all that stuff." She shrugged. "I still honestly think all that 'bad stuff about princes' was stupid."

"Hm." I only expressed, beginning to already get deep into thought about Octavia.

"Don't tick her off though." Vinyl warned. "She can get really feisty. She knows martial arts, dude."

"Really?" I widened my eyes at this news.

"Yup." She nodded. "But of course, she only uses it in self-defense or protection of others. So…she shouldn't use it unless you try to hit her."

"I wouldn't ever do anything like that!" I exclaimed almost loudly.

"I know." Vinyl smirked at my reaction. "You should get to know her more yourself. I'm sure she has a lot of stories in mind to tell you."

"Okay." I lifted up a hoof to turn and walk. "Talk to you later, Vinyl."

She waved and turned back to place back on her headphones.

Before I could begin conversing with Octavia, I decided to drop by with Derpy.

"Hey, Derpy." I sat in front of her.

"Hi!" She returned back.

"How have things been? You said you've been spending time with Vinyl and Octavia?" I mentioned.

"Yep! It's been really fun!" She answered cheerfully.

"Sorry if you and I haven't been spending much time together lately." I apologized, seeing this to be pretty true in my eyes. "A lot of things have changed from the first time we met."

"It's okay." She assured, keeping her smile. "Because of you, I got to know Vinyl during that sleepover you had. And when Octavia came back from Canterlot, I got to know her too! Ever since then, I've been hanging out with them and it's been real fun!"

Her response made me smile. "I'm glad to hear that. So you three are pretty much a 'regular hangout group' kind of thing?"

"I think so." She stated.

"Well, either way, I'm glad they're ponies you can have fun with when I'm not really around to do so." I shared honestly.

"I understand." Derpy nodded. "You're a Prince now. There are a lot more important things you have to do now than just hanging out."

"I guess Twilight and I are pretty lucky that we aren't as busy as the other princesses…but then again…maybe it's because Princess Celestia wants us to focus more on our friendship." I chuckled. "That's how it all started anyway." Derpy only returned a happy grin. I continued smiling warmly at her and then patted her. "Have fun. I'll see you later."

"Bye!"

Afterwards, I faced towards Octavia who continued to play her violin in silence, non-talking I mean, despite the music that was coming from Vinyl's area. I sat in front of her lastly, as she stared towards the floor and practiced. It seemed she didn't even realize when I sat in front of her, because she proceeded as usual. As she finished with one last motion of her bow, her eyes lifted just a bit upwards. I could see she was a little shocked when she noticed something different. She looked up and gasped at my sudden appearance for her.

"How long have you been there?!" She asked.

"Relax." I returned. "I just came by right now."

"Oh…" Octavia placed down her violin and bow. "Perhaps you should say something next time."

"I didn't want to interrupt you." I perfectly reasoned.

"Mm-hm." She responded briefly. "…is there something you wanted?"

"I guess I just wanted to talk." I said. "I already did to Vinyl and Derpy. I don't want to leave without talking to you too. Besides, I've known the others for a while now. I think we should probably get to know each other more if we want to be good friends too."

"I see…" She returned. She looked calm…but just a bit…uneasy? "What do you want to talk about?"

I shrugged and looked around. "Anything, really." I took a glance at her violin. "So you're practicing a violin now?"

"Yes." Her eyes wandered towards the violin as she placed a hoof on it. "I really…hold an appreciation for classical instruments."

"You sound like my friend, Rarity." I referred with a smile. "Only her interest is with fashion and not instruments." I thought for a moment. "I think I might have thought about playing something one time…but I guess I was never really interested about it." Especially with a…troublesome sister that partakes in that field of music...

"Would you…like to try it?" Octavia presented her violin towards me.

"Me?" I replied. "I don't know. I wouldn't want to break it."

"It should be fine as long as you're careful with it, especially with the bow. Those can be heavily expensive." She directed.

"If you're really fine with it…" I completely focused on the caretaking of the violin as I raised it and the bow with my magic.

"Perhaps…you should leave your magic out for right now." Octavia suggested. "Magic can really help in playing instruments, but I believe you need to have a feel physically for yourself first."

"Oh…um…" I lowered it to the floor and held on to it, but I had no idea what to do with it.

"Here." Octavia was about to reach a hoof towards me until she stopped herself and looked at me. "Um…may I?"

I guessed Octavia felt comfortable in getting consent first, even though she really didn't need to. "Oh, yeah. Sure."

She grabbed ahold of my left hoof and placed it on the part where the strings originated. "This is the neck." She taught. "Here, you have your G, D, A, and E strings. The G string is the lowest sounding, and it goes higher from there. Overall, the violin is played a little differently than other string instruments. It is usually played while standing, and you have to put the chinrest right here…" She pointed at it. "…on your chin, of course."

"Uh-huh…" I stated, but I was still pretty confused…or I was at least getting to the point of confusion.

She grabbed her bow and placed it on my right hoof. She fixed the violin towards my chin while I could only remain still for her, so I wouldn't mess anything up. After, she picked up my hoof worked the bow with the strings. I could only sit there in tangled silence.

"Go ahead. Play something." She offered. My face revealed my uncertainty. However, I tried…producing sound using the bow of the violin with the strings but…let's just say it came out horrid enough to gather the attention of Derpy and Vinyl. This caused Octavia to laugh a bit. "Don't worry. It's your first note anyway."

"Heh." I chuckled a little with a hint of embarrassment.

"If you're interested in learning to play…" She began. "I don't mind helping you…"

"Thanks, Tavi." I used her nick name this time. "You're probably too busy on your own playing anyway. I wouldn't want to bother you. Besides, I probably don't have any time on my plate to squeeze in learning the violin."

"Of course, of course." She understood. "But if you ever want help, please, know it's not any trouble for me."

I shared a warm smile. "Thanks." I returned her violin and bow to her. "I appreciate it."

"Anytime." She sent back the same smile.

We looked at each other for a while longer until we heard a loud boom. I looked at Vinyl for an answer. "Vinyl, was that you?"

"Huh, what?" She removed her headphones. "What was me?"

"That loud boom." She only shrugged. "I'll go check it out…" I told them and walked towards the door to head out.

Once I was outside, I gasped loudly at the sight that wasn't too far. I had no idea what had happened, but Twilight's treehouse has spat some kind of goo, which looked like applesauce, from within. It was…a lot. Then, I saw a large group of fillies walk out the home, each of them filled with that goo junk too. What in Equestria had happened?!

I quickly trotted over to her home to see what the problem was, and if she was okay.

"Twilight!" I called, hurrying in through her front door. "I saw what happened, are you alri—"

I suddenly stopped due to the sight of her well-being. She looked perfectly fine. She was only covered a bit in that same substance, for lack of knowing what exactly it was that spilled everywhere. However, this wasn't what stopped me. There was a flower that was attached to her mane. It wasn't that she looked pretty enough to stun me. No. Something about the sight of her like that stopped me in my tracks. It had to do something with the flower that was on her mane. Nevertheless, I didn't have time to think about it, as my head began to pinch and hurt, leading me to place a hoof on my temple and close my eyes in flinching. It felt like…if something didn't want to work right inside my head…

"Hey, are you alright?!" Twilight rushed over to me.

"Ehm." I grunted and tried to let whatever it was pass over me. "I was. I mean…" I shook my head lightly. "I don't know. I'm okay now, I guess." I looked around. "What happened here?"

"Just a little mishap." Sweetie Belle approached me.

"We should probably get to cleaning…" Scootaloo suggested.

I looked over to Twilight once more, noticing pieces of the mess on her coat. "I'll say…" I lightly wiped it off her chest.

I suppose it didn't take too long to clean up the mess, considering how the use of our magic made a lot of things much easier. Had things been broken apart…that's another story.

I didn't know what happened, but whatever did had Sweetie Belle writing in the journal we wrote in. Meanwhile, Applebloom was practicing her project she had been doing in Twilight Time. It seemed she had perfected it, seeing as she created a beautiful and unique plant, instead of that incredibly loud screaming one the previous time. Twilight praised Applebloom as Scootaloo rode around on her unicycle that she proudly put together on her own.

I got to see Sweetie Belle carry around a broom very easily around the room, surprising me. I sent her a congratulating smile and lightly patted her in the back. She returned a grin and we both accompanied the others to hear how Twilight felt about their progress.

"Wow, all three of you have made so much progress! I'm really proud of you. See you next time!" Twilight shared, sending the three off.

"Great work, girls!" I commended as well.

However, they surprised me when they all placed on some highly concealing outfits. "Bye!" The responded back.

"I just hope no one sees us." Sweetie Belle told her friends as they walked calmly out the door.

"'Cause we're tryin' to keep Twilight Time a secret now?" Applebloom questioned.

"Or because we look ridiculous?" Scootaloo added.

"A little of both, actually." Sweetie Belle answered.

Twilight returned a heartwarming laugh as she stood at the door after them. Meanwhile, I stood there extremely confused.

"What happened, Twilight?" I asked.

"It's a long story." She shot teasing eyes. Afterwards, she closed them and headed back into the middle of the library.

"You just don't want to tell me." I replied playfully.

"Honestly, it's really something that doesn't need to be repeated." She responded.

"Um. Okay then." I said and turned towards the window to see the day soon coming to an end. I continued staring, remembering about the sunset, which soon after would disappear to a sky full of stars. I had finally found the perfect way to hang out with Twilight, or at least to make up for yesterday. I turned to face her as she placed the broom away neatly. "Hey, Twilight…"

"Hm?" She looked back.

"You want to go stargazing?"

Twilight and I laid outside on her balcony waiting for the stars to come light up the night sky. At the time, I believed Spike was already getting ready for bed, especially since Twilight told me he had made a bunch of nachos for foals that had already left. I would've been mad as well.

"I was a little surprised you asked me if I wanted to stargaze. I don't remember the last time I've ever did it. If it did, it would have been for research anyway. Not just for…you know…hanging out." Twilight mentioned.

"It just…popped in my mind." I responded.

"It's funny." Twilight chuckled softly. "Usually, I'd think you'd want to spend a time like this with Fluttershy instead. Actually…when you two started being together, I thought you'd never want to leave each other's side."

I thought about it for a moment. "Yeah… I…kind of really thought that for a while. I just really loved her a lot, that I let it blind me for a bit. Of course, I'm not saying it was bad but…" I sighed, trying to think of the right words to use. "All of you are important to me. As much as I love being with Fluttershy, it wouldn't really be fair to…ditch you other girls… Besides… I don't think we need to be together all the time. I'd feel like I was bothering her anyway if I was right by her side twenty-four seven." I laughed a little too. "Do you get what I'm saying?"

"Yeah." Twilight nodded. "As long as you two don't stop loving each other like you do now…that's all that matters."

The sun began lowering itself while the moon raised. During the middle of this, I smirked and pointed it out to Twilight. "Look, Twilight. It's you."

"Huh?" Twilight questioned in a puzzled manner, not grasping the humor of the matter.

"Twilight." I pointed.

"What?" She continued to share unknowingly.

"No, it's twilight!" I tried to send the right message.

"What are you talking about? I'm right here!" She continued.

"Look at the sky." I merely directed.

She did so, and stared at it for a moment until she finally received what I was trying to tell her. "Ooh." She released a joyous giggle. "I get it."

"Finally." I rolled my eyes playfully.

When the moon was finally up, and all its stars supported the light from the night sky, we were allowed to draw up what we saw using each star point.

"You know…I really never got to just…look at the night sky and carelessly see what I want to see. I can turn to you right now and tell you all the constellations I see, but…that's probably not any fun for you." She shared a giggle. "But just looking up…thinking about the future…smiling at fun memories…it's all really fascinating."

"Mm-hm…" I expressed while only smiling and staring at the night sky.

"Oh…before I forget…" Twilight turned to me. "That question I wanted to ask you…"

"Yeah?" I turned my head to her.

"I hope…I don't make you feel uncomfortable…but I'm still really curious about that mare I saw that day." She brought up.

Immediately, I could tell who she was talking about. "Oh…her…"

"You're wondering about me, huh?" We suddenly heard behind, causing us to quickly roll over and stand up.

Spirit was standing there right before us and completely took me by surprise. "You're…!" I tried to say, but remained speechless.

"It's fine." Spirit assured me and then inhaled and exhaled a deep breath before walking towards Twilight. "I guess I should introduce myself." She held out her hoof and managed to pull out a small smile, glancing once at me. "My name's Spirit."

"Spirit…?" Twilight repeated and then looked at her hoof. Afterwards, she extended hers out and shook it with Spirit's. "I'm Twilight. There's…something about you, Spirit…" Twilight mentioned after they retracted forelegs.

"Yeah…" Spirit took as a light joke. "I think I've heard that before."

"So…you've been Alex's friend for a while now?" Twilight asked.

"Mm-hm." She seemed to react shyly, rubbing her hoof against the wooden floor of the balcony. "But…I guess I should get this out there before you ask. Um… I'm not really…comfortable talking about myself… It may seem strange, and in some cases even suspicious…but…in the end…I just hope to have the trust of somepony." Spirit looked at Twilight a little seriously. "I can truly be a friend." Spirit held a hoof to her chest. "But I understand if you don't trust me because of the way I am."

Twilight couldn't really understand what Spirit was really going on with the whole "not talking about herself" kind of thing, just like I had been when I met her, nevertheless she smiled softly and understandably. "I guess that's understandable. In fact, when I first met Alex, he was kind of like that too. Heck…" She shared a look with me. "He didn't even really open up to us until Discord came by to change that in the end." She turned back to Spirit. "I guess I'm in no position to demand information from you. All I ask is…well…you know…as long as you don't mean any harm, then I'm fine."

Spirit managed to smile a little more. "I hope you can understand that…I wouldn't really like to be mentioned to other ponies. It's just…honestly the best thing for right now."

Twilight nodded. "I don't see any harm in obeying that request."

"Thank you very much, Twilight." Spirit expressed meaningfully.

"Of course." Twilight returned gratefully. "Um…did you want to…?" She motioned, wondering if Spirit wanted to stargaze with us too.

"No thanks." Spirit shook her head. "I should be heading off. Bye." Spirit grinned lightly and turned before Twilight stopped her.

"Wait." She called, catching Spirit's attention. "How'd you know when to come by and where we were in the first place?"

Spirit sucked in her lips, seeming to have trouble in answering that. "…that's something…I unfortunately can't really answer… I'm weird." She released a small playful beam. "Don't worry. This'll probably be the last time I do this. It was nice meeting you, Twilight." Afterwards, she trotted off.

"…yeah…" I felt a little scared of what Twilight might have felt after Spirit's interaction.

"Huh…" Twilight stared off. "It's weird…"

"What?" I questioned.

"That was a bit strange…" She began. "But for some reason…I feel like she only has good intentions. The way she answered…it's like if she couldn't answer for the better. Do you understand me?" She asked me.

"I think so." I rubbed my head, thinking about the previous conversations with Spirit. I never really did feel anything bad from her. "But I'm sure we both have a mutual curiosity about her. Let's just hope she's willing to come out of her shell soon..."

Twilight only agreed by nodding her head.

"That was pretty brave of you to do." I told Spirit as we ended the time with an ice cream and sunset. "I never thought you would do something like that."

"I just felt like it had to be done." Spirit took a bite of her ice cream and stared at it afterwards. "It was my fault for being caught the last time. I just didn't want Twilight to think I was a bad pony or anything… I don't think I gave off a good first impression anyway."

"Twilight's a good pony. She'll like you once you get to know her." I assured.

"Hm." Spirit paused and remained silent.

"Then again…" I brought up. "You didn't really have plans to see her again, did you?"

She sighed lightly. "I don't know, Alex… I guess we'll just have to wait and see…" She took another bite of her ice cream, which was a little rougher than usual. "I feel like I've made up a lot more loose ends than I've tied up."

It Ain't Easy Being Breezies

Episode 81 – It Ain't Easy Being Breezies

"Why'd you want to come here?" I asked Twilight, who led me inside the Castle of the Two Sisters.

"I just wanted to look up some spells while the others are getting ready for the Breezies." Twilight responded. "Maybe there's one that can help the little things?" She turned her head over her shoulder to look at me. "After all, they're so fragile. It wouldn't hurt to have something in case anything happens, right?"

"Yeah, I guess…" I looked around as we headed into the library. "I guess it's a good thing we cleaned up in here. It's not as…creepy anymore." Twilight returned a short giggle. "Do you think there'd be anything specific that could help the Breezies?"

"I donnu." Twilight pondered. "Maybe there might be a spell that can magically create a breeze for them to get back home. Right now, Rainbow Dash and a couple of other Pegasi are trying to create a small enough breeze for them."

"If the breeze has to be so weak, can't one pegasus just do it?" I questioned.

"It's complicated, I think." Twilight honestly shared. "You have to have the breeze just perfect, and you also have to take in account of the radius of the wind velocity, otherwise, a few of the Breezies in the group might fall behind for having a lighter breeze than the ones in the middle."

"Yeah…" I believed I understood what Twilight meant. "Well…as long as it gets them home, I guess they can do whatever they want."

Twilight looked through the shelves in the library. "It's a good thing that these books are still in alphabetical order. I wouldn't mind alphabetizing if they weren't, but I'm not sure how long it would take, considering we need to get back soon to watch the Breezies."

"Uh-huh…" I returned, scanning among the library and comparing it to Twilight's, which made Twilight's look like only a small section to the library of the Two Sisters.

"There's just so much I haven't read from here…" Twilight seemed to wander in thought. "Sometimes…I wish I could just…I don't know…stop time and read everything here."

"Yeah…?" I fiddled around with some books on the shelves while presenting a slightly worried expression for some reason.

Twilight noticed the look on my face. "Don't worry. If I had to choose between reading books or you all. With no doubt, I would choose all of my friends."

"I got you…" I answered, but still couldn't seem to put away the expression I held temporarily.

"Here's something." She stated when she grabbed ahold of a certain book and pulled it off the bookshelf. She flipped it open and expressed her interest upon reading the pages. "Oooh!" She analyzed. "Some of the stuff here is just a little different from what I know, but there are some pretty interesting and new spells here!" I joined her by her side to see what she was talking about. She raised her hoof and planted it on the current page. "Look at this one! Apparently, you can take on the form of living creatures!" She dragged her hoof on the page and stopped at a certain point. "And for safety measures, this does have a counter spell, so we can change back whenever we want."

"Would there be any actual use for this?" I asked.

"We never know." Twilight returned. "Hm…reminds me back when Fluttershy became Flutterbat. Only…she didn't completely take the form of a vampire fruit bat. It was more like she earned the instincts of a vampire fruit bat…and a changed a little in appearance."

"That sure was something…" I remembered as I rubbed my head.

"I'll borrow this book to read back in Ponyville." Twilight closed the book and began walking back out of the library. "We don't want to be late for the Breezies."

"Do you know what they look like?" I asked, catching up to her side.

"Only by book, but this'll be the first time for me." She responded, continuing to carry her borrowed book with her magic.

"However they look like…I'm pretty sure everypony in Ponyville will be outside waiting to see them…" I mentioned before we exited out of the castle to head through the Everfree Forest and back in Ponyville.

"That's too strong!" We heard Rainbow Dash yell out to her team of Pegasi, who were focusing their wings on following Rainbow's instructions. "We gotta slow this breeze down or we're gonna blow those Breezies apart!" They worked at moving just a little slower, providing a gentler breeze.

"Hey!" Twilight brought my attention and pointed. "There are the Cakes and Fluttershy!"

Continuing to hear a mariachi band play in the background where a bunch of foals and other ponies were in what appeared to actually be a celebration, Twilight and I walked to approach the three setting down a plate of cupcakes on a table.

"What I don't understand is why they need the Pegasi to make a breeze for them." Mr. Cake mentioned.

"Well, you see, it's the breeze that activates the Breezies' magic, and that magic protects the pollen they're carrying from being destroyed." Fluttershy happily answered.

"So, no breeze means no magic means the pollen goes bad?" He tried to hold clear.

"That's right!" Fluttershy returned. "And they only have two days to get that pollen back before the portal to their home closes. That's why it's ever-so-important that we help them make their way through Ponyville safely."

"We certainly wouldn't want to scare them and divert them from their path!" Mrs. Cake told her husband.

"Now you understand!" Fluttershy exclaimed in joy softly.

"Hm, you certainly know a lot about them." Mr. Cake stated.

"Oh, thank you." Fluttershy looked away in bashfulness, having to pull back the part of her mane that was beginning to hover over her face. "I went to see them gathering their pollen in western Equestria."

"Hey, cutie." I caught Fluttershy's attention, referencing the same exact word she used before she left on the train to see the Breezies the first time.

"Alex!" Fluttershy mentioned at the sight of my presence, rushing towards me to give me an embrace. When she pulled away, she noticed something different about how I looked. "There's something a little different about you."

I lightly smirked, knowing that she didn't know the news yet. I glanced at my uncovered wings and back at her. "I've got good news." I indicated as I continued to hold her hooves. "I'm A-Okay to fly now."

"That's wonderful news!" Fluttershy sounded as if she wanted to shout out in joy.

"But…" I had to list the slight catch as well. "Doctor said I had to take it easy. No rough flying and I can't take any…harsh impacts on my wings. They're still recovering for a while longer, but as of right now I can fly again. Shouldn't be too long before I don't have to worry about anything about them, so no problem."

"Well, I'm glad for you. I really am!" She expressed.

"I felt the same way seeing him before we left to stop by the Castle of the Two Sisters." Twilight joined in with a smile.

"Do the others know?" Fluttershy asked.

I shook my head. "I don't think so. But I think I oughta give them a little surprise sometime." I flapped my wings a bit to give off a little foreshadowing.

This blinding light began interrupting our meeting, but it certainly wasn't coming from me. "Uh-oh…" Fluttershy mentioned, looking at another area. She walked off to confront the source of this light, which happened to be none other than Rarity herself. "Um, Rarity?" Fluttershy called, seeing other ponies being bothered by it. "I, uh, hate to weigh in with you when it comes to fashion, but..."

"Oh, there's too much purple on this, isn't there?" Rarity guessed. "I knew it! But Twilight refused to admit it."

"What?!" Twilight heard what Rarity said as she was right beside me. "I—"

"Oh, no-no-no-no-no." Fluttershy corrected. "It's the perfect amount of purple. It's just that there's an awful lot of sequins on your jacket."

"Oh, darling, please! One can never have too many sequins!" Rarity chuckled.

"You can if they reflect the sun, and the light catches a group of Breezies right in their eyes, and blinds them long enough to get them off their course so they never get home!" Fluttershy panicked internally at the thought of something going horribly wrong with the Breezies.

"I stand corrected!" Rarity realized the danger behind her outfit. "I suppose there is the rare instance where one can have too many sequins. I'll just take off my jacket." As soon as she did, she revealed yet another outfit that was way brighter than the last. "I suppose this won't do either?" She asked, believing it didn't help the cause at all.

Fluttershy only shook her head, flinching greatly at the sight of it.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash had been observing the distance. Afterwards, she lowered herself towards Twilight and whispered in her ear, bringing a large grin to her face. "Everypony!" She exclaimed out in whisper and waved to catch the attention of everyone in the area. "It's time! Please welcome... the Breezies!" She directed their attention towards a huge crowd of tiny creatures that began breezing by. They looked liked butterflies…but they were also like tiny ponies as well… Huh… It was like a mix of the two actually. Either way, they were fascinating to see for the first time.

Everypony behaved amazingly and remained absolutely silent as they all watched the Breezies float by in awe. Fortunately, Rarity had already ditched the outfits she had been wearing, so there were no dangerous distractions.

"Lun! Arshen aifo!" One of them yelled in a very high-pitched voice.

"So... cute! Can't... take... it!" I could hear Pinkie want to burst out.

"Hold your excitement, Pinkie…" I warned, holding a hoof on her while I noticed her holding air in her cheeks immensely. After, I moved on to look for Fluttershy in the crowd to be with. Once I found her gazing up just like any other pony, I grabbed ahold of her and gave her a little smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Isn't it amazing?" Fluttershy asked, lightly strengthening her grip on my hoof. "It's beautiful to see how such adorable creatures exist in this world."

"I wonder about the same thing with you." I decided to answer a bit wittily, seeing as it was the perfect opportunity.

Fluttershy was a bit surprised to hear this, but she quickly recovered and blushed to pull herself closer to me. "Nature is so fascinating."

Being able to see Fluttershy take a foal out to see the beauty in nature that other ponies were too busy to see made me slip a meaningful sentence out.

"You're going to be a great mom…" I stated softly.

Fluttershy widened her eyes and her blush grew even heavier. "What?"

"W-what?" I immediately felt embarrassed. "I meant that, uh, you…"

All of sudden we heard panicking from above us, and all of the crowd gasped loudly, gaining Fluttershy's and my attention.

"Slow down the breeze for the other group to catch up!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed out loud.

"They're too far back! We can't connect the breeze to both sets of Breezies!" The Pegasus stallion that was helping her answered through the wind.

"What if we speed it up?" Rainbow Dash questioned.

"Then the first group'll be going too fast, and they'll get separated from each other!" The other responded.

Rainbow Dash could only look back, having no idea what to do as the group that had been separated somehow spun around uncontrollably in the ending breeze. Fluttershy only stared in pure horror, leaving me almost speechless just by looking at her face.

"Fluttershy!" I called her. "You're the only one here out of all of us that knows what to do with the Breezies. What do we do?!" I tried to quickly ask her for instructions while trying to not place pressure on her at the same time.

"Tanagretu nik mir! Maisegu de piripa!" We heard in the background.

Turning her head back to the Breezies, she gasped at the sight of the worsening condition they were getting into. She gasped loudly, sharply, and quickly attended to them. What Fluttershy had actually gone to do was save a Breezie from roaming too far away, stopping her gently with her chest. Afterwards, she hurried to the rest where one of the Breezies was shouting.

"Mekenar stuf!"

"He's right!" Fluttershy agreed, seeming to completely understand the language they spoke. "You must all gather as close as you possibly can!"

After, they all managed to quickly grab ahold of Fluttershy by either her tail, mane, or coat. As soon as everypony in the crowd saw that they were saved because of Fluttershy, they immediately began cheering loudly. Fluttershy landed near the nearest stump and placed them on there to receive cheers from them as well. I made my way over there by trotting.

"Mugudi saikendus?" The same one that had been yelling during the mishap asked Fluttershy.

"Oh, I understand the language of all kinds of creatures!" Fluttershy informed happily.

"You must be so proud." He answered with a kind of accent that seemed foreign here.

"Not very polite for the one who helped saved you all." I mentioned once I caught up, becoming a little annoyed to this creature's sarcastic response along with rolling eyes.

Before he had the chance to have a say, Fluttershy asked him a question in return. "You speak our language too?"

"I can. This lot can only understand you. Clearly, they're not the brightest bunch around." He really sounded like he wanted to purposely provoke and insult them.

As a just reaction, they all returned shouts of indignation towards him, to which he seemed to look back at in a "could care less" attitude.

"That was amazing!" Pinkie Pie screamed out loud behind us, having had brought the others with her.

"I'm sorry we couldn't get a breeze going that would get them back to the others." Rainbow Dash apologized.

"Oh, it's not your fault." Fluttershy assured politely.

"I, for one, am very proud of you, Fluttershy. Leaping into action like that." Twilight reminded her, causing her to blush in modesty and look back.

"So am I." I placed a hoof around her and appropriately snuggled her.

"I feel like I should design you a special hero's gown! Heh..." Rarity offered, gaining the nods of approval from both Pinkie Pie and Applejack. "Or a sash. At least a sash."

"Okay, okay, okay!" Spike suddenly ran into the scene, babbling about something. I know what you're all thinking! Why don't you just say it?!" He threw himself at Fluttershy's hooves, as if he desperately wanted forgiveness.

"Spike, what are you talking about?" I questioned, unable to comprehend what he was so upset about.

"I'm the one who messed up the breeze! It was an accident, I swear! I didn't mean it! I'm sorry! This is all my fault! I'm so, so sorry!" He cried in response.

"Oh, Spike, it's okay!" Fluttershy swiftly and softly assured. "It could have happened with any one of us."

Spike's tears immediately disappeared, grinning in relief. "Okay... Thank you!" He hopped towards Fluttershy, wrapping his claws around her neck and pushing her back a bit. Based on the look on her face, it somewhat surprised/shocked her as she slightly flinched and bit her lower lip in fear. Nevertheless, the shouting from the Breezies was what caught everypony's attention, as Spike had almost pushed them off the stump they were on.

"Uh..." Spike was swift to back off and away from the Breezies to avoid angering them again. "I'm... just... gonna stay over here." He remained an unnecessary large distance away from us.

"So, Fluttershy, you want us to get the breeze going again so these little guys can get a move on?" Rainbow asked.

On the contrary, all of the Breezies except the one "loudmouth", as Fluttershy would say, returned cries of protest, holding on to Fluttershy and not wanting to let go.

"Maybe we should wait just a moment or so." Fluttershy suggested, seeing as they didn't want to leave her side. "They've been through so much..."

Knowing Fluttershy was the expert with such matters, Rainbow Dash merely shrugged. "Just gimme the word when you think they're ready." She mentioned with a smile.

"Guess they must have been terrified after what happened." I turned towards the group on Fluttershy. "I can't really blame them. It may have looked just a little mishap, but to them must have been an utter catastrophe."

They nodded to agree with my assumption and some of them even flew over from Fluttershy to hang with me on my coat. I couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"What are you talking about?!" The one that stayed behind angrily spoke with his heavy accent. "The only catastrophe is not getting back home before it's too late!"

"Don't worry. You all still have plenty of time before the portal closes." Fluttershy guaranteed. "I'm sure you can just spare some time to relax after what happened."

He only turned around, crossed his forelegs, and muttered under his breath.

Fluttershy took the little Breezies to her cottage, where she allowed them to ease their nerves after that unfortunate disaster. I was with her decision, as I remembered seeing their little faces full with despair and confusion. I could tell they had no idea what was going on at the time, and it only seemed appropriate for them to take a breather before heading back. It was nice to see them grow comfortable once inside Fluttershy's cottage. Fluttershy had placed all their pollen on a table and made sure it stayed safe. There was time for introductions and for Fluttershy to learn their names. Meanwhile, they made themselves at home, unfortunately taking the birdhouses and even Angel's bed.

I would have wanted to interact with them as much as Fluttershy did, but I did not know their language, and Fluttershy couldn't translate for me every moment as she was fulfilling several of their requests.

"Oh, my, Twirly, you look like you need a blanket." Fluttershy spotted a shaking and shivering Breezie, who actually wore the same coat color as Fluttershy did. Fluttershy turned to me to ask for a favor. "Alex, can you grab me a tissue from that tissue box over there?" She directed.

"Sure." I returned and did so, easily giving it to her.

She placed over the Breezie, ending the shivers.

"Sanken." Twirly expressed, which I assumed was a thanks after the big grin.

"Oh, no problem!" Fluttershy responded and then lowered her head to face another Breezie sitting on the ground and holding up an empty thimble.

"Malenki?" She asked.

"Oh, did you need some more water?" Fluttershy was quick to grab the eyedropper in a small bottle of water and squeeze out just a drop of refreshing fluid. The Breezie happily slurped it, reminding me of how surprising it was that these tiny creatures took so little. "Now, who else needed a hoof-knitted sweater?" Fluttershy asked, presenting a super tiny sweater that would, of course, fit the body of one of the Breezies. Another one of them flew up and delightfully took it. Afterwards, they all cheered at Fluttershy's high level of hospitality.

"Wow, Fluttershy. You really are making them feel at home." I mentioned by the sight of their happiness.

"Well, you know." She answered. "I always love to help every creature in need. Especially something so cute like the Breezies!" Fluttershy paused and lowered her head a little shyly. She used her hoof to move a strand of her mane that fell in front of her face back in place. "You know…it…um…it…sort of…" She began rubbing her foreleg. "…makes me feel…um…like…"

"Hey there!" Applejack had suddenly opened the front door to the cottage. "Can we come in?" She presented Twilight, whom was at her side.

"Oh, of course!" Fluttershy responded after being a little startled. However, when she noticed Applejack trotting in, she quickly dashed to her and placed a hoof in front of her chest. "But watch your step!" She held her eyes towards the floor, leading the others to do so as well.

"Oop, sorry about that, little one." Applejack apologized to the frightened Breezie on the floor that she had almost stepped on.

"We just wanted to see if you thought the Breezies were ready to give it another try." Twilight explained as the Breezie that was on the floor climbed up Fluttershy's mane.

"Has it been an hour already?" Fluttershy faced me, unable to believe how much time had passed so quickly. "Oh, my goodness! Time flies when you're making sure little creatures don't feel that you're abandoning them to the cruel world." She mentioned, staring out the window to see a scenery didn't really depict what she meant.

"But they're not going to a cruel world, right?" Twilight clarified. "They're going home."

Fluttershy turned towards the Breezies, whom all stared back at her questionably. She looked at them a little oddly and proceeded to reply to Twilight. "Oh, yes, that's right!"

All of the Breezies swiftly sprung up to the air and used their wings to fly over to Fluttershy and release cries of protests, attempting to convince not to do just that. "On second thought, I don't think they're quite ready…"

"Are you sure about that?" I questioned, looking at them and feeling that they were fine. Physically, at least. I know they went through a rough patch, or leaf in this case, but they couldn't stay here forever…

Fluttershy nodded her head. "I'm sure they can stay just a little while longer."

"Supa laipas data kurpa!" The same rude Breezie that stood out from the others shouted angrily out from Fluttershy's couch. "Mise neku ersken laika maur! Siripat sulat!"

While Twilight, Applejack, and I returned puzzled faces, Fluttershy was the only one who held her jaw open in shock.

"Uh... what did he say?" Applejack asked.

"I'd... rather not say." With a strong flushed look, she strongly hinted that his words were too foul to repeat.

"Okay, well, I'm sure you know what you're doin'." Applejack turned around and began heading out. "No one knows rare magical creatures like you do."

"We'll just wait for your word." Twilight stated, leaving with Applejack.

"Thank you. I'll be in touch very soon." Fluttershy mentioned before closing the door.

"We need to go now, or we will never get home!" He spoke clearly now to have us both know how he felt. "I wish we did not need that stupid breeze to activate our magic, or I would just force you all to fly home right now! Why do we have to need magic to keep our pollen safe?"

"Um, now, Seabreeze—"

"Why are you giving in to these wimps?!" Seabreeze rudely interrupted her. "If they had not been so scared in the first place, this never would have happened!"

"But that is just not true, Seabreeze. It was because of a leaf, and you know that!" Fluttershy politely pointed out.

"Oh, please! They have no idea what they're doing out there!" He continued. "Like you said, we need as much time as we can get because they are so incompetent!"

"Well, I didn't say that exactly now, did I?" Fluttershy corrected.

If I had been sitting or flying, I would have crossed my forelegs in annoyance. "If that's the way you talk to them all the time, it's no wonder they don't listen to you."

He froze up a bit and then quickly turned to angrily face me. "Ganich ut ermda nipche edjonep!"

Fluttershy immediately widened her eyes and covered her mouth with both her hooves.

"What'd he say?" I quickly asked.

Fluttershy took a moment to regain her composure. It was that bad? "Trust me…" Fluttershy responded weakly as if she couldn't even talk. "You really don't want to know…especially if you love Princess Luna too much."

I looked back at Seabreeze with narrowing eyes. You're lucky you can hide behind your language…

"Hey um…!" Fluttershy noticed the discomfortable growing situation. "Maybe a snack will lighten the mood." She offered to everyone in the cottage.

After their coos of interest, Fluttershy happily went on to make them their snacks. Meanwhile, I could only be stuck in thought, wondering what Seabreeze had said. He had to say something about my mother if Fluttershy brought Princess Luna into this. Just the thought of him saying something unnecessarily insulting just got me angry. Even then, what could I do? Nothing really…

I guess my mood did lighten up when I saw how adorable the little Breezies were when they were eating their snacks. For Celestia's sake, there were even four to one cookie. Fluttershy handed me a few cookies, and they were just delish. By the time the most of them were done, a hoof full were resting peacefully on Fluttershy. One of the Breezies holding a full stomach burped all of a sudden and reacted appropriately. "Mi fargen."

"You're excused." Fluttershy expressed in an enlightened manner. Afterwards, she softly grabbed them using her tail and placed them on the couch. "Well, my Breezies, I think we can all agree that now that you've eaten and you have a little energy going in your breezy bodies, you're strong enough to face the breeze! I've loved having you here, and I hope I've made you all feel loved and special. But you have to go. Nopony here will deny that—"

"There is nothing special about these losers!" Seabreeze had to foully cut in again. "They cannot handle a simple breeze home! If they could just stick with the program and listen to me, we would be safe! At home!" He tone surprisingly lowered sadly. "Home, where every Breezie is like us!" I almost couldn't believe that he actually allowed several tears to escape his eyes before he flew past Fluttershy and towards her peephole, sighing greatly. At that moment, I actually felt sorry for him, despite all the garbage he had been spewing out of his mouth. I could tell that for some reason he really wanted to go home…and maybe all that badmouthing was just a part of it…

Yeah…I was starting to feel that it was time for them to leave. They had all gotten what they wanted and it had been long enough to feel the need to go back. Besides, the earlier they leave, the less of a chance they give Seabreeze to continue giving them a bad name.

"We should send them on their way home now, Fluttershy." I suggested, placing a hoof on her shoulder.

Looking away sadly for a moment, she nodded her head in return. "I do know that if you don't leave soon, you may never make it back, and that would be terrible!" She told the Breezies.

They remained silent until one of them sneezed. "Merte marshken farde." She said and then nudged Twirly, prompting an odd response.

"Merki marshken plumatu." Twirly included after coughing.

"I had no idea you all have colds!" Fluttershy translated in a shocked manner. "Really? All of you?" They all began coughing to apparently prove their point. However, this sudden display of sickness seemed a little too fishy… "Oh, dear. I can't let you go out there sick! What kind of a friend would I be if I made you go now?" She allowed them to gather on her left foreleg and held them close, gaining excited chatter from all of them.

"D'oh! Irde turten manes pudenhel! Nievo ut! Parde tarmen!" Seabreeze muttered the rest of his sentence inside a birdhouse.

"Uh…Fluttershy…" I called for her attention. "Can I…speak with you in the kitchen?" I requested.

"Of course!" She gently placed the Breezies down and followed me to the kitchen where we could speak in private. "What is it?"

Looking to the side towards where the living room was, I expressed my slight suspicions. "Don't you think…it's kind of weird that they got sick all of a sudden?"

"No. I think they must have had their colds for a while now." Fluttershy replied.

"Well…I mean…" I rubbed my head. "It's just…they were fine a while ago. Hours ago actually. In fact, if they really did have colds, how do you expect them to have rode the breeze up until here?"

"Well…maybe…" Fluttershy thought about it. "Maybe it wasn't so bad then. You know… Sometimes, you feel yourself getting sick, or sometimes you don't even know you're sick at first. But then after some time, you start feeling the symptoms of that sickness." I didn't know what else to tell Fluttershy. I wasn't sure that I was right to feel a little suspicious, and even if I was, I couldn't just…plain out tell her that she needed to see what I saw… "Oh, please don't worry, Alex." Fluttershy noticed my unconvinced expression. "Let them just stay a little while longer. I'll give them some medicine. It should at least make them feel better until they get home. Please…?" Fluttershy placed her hooves on my chest and pouted her lips while her eyes lightly shook. There was no way I could have resisted that…

"Okay…" I surrendered. "You're the animal expert after all. But please…you know they can't stay here forever." I reminded. "For their sake…just don't keep them here for long."

"Oh, thank you!" She squeezed me tight and hopped back out into the living room. "Alright, my little Breezies, I'm going to go ahead and make some medicine for you all and your colds. Meanwhile, you can just stay here for a little while longer until you feel better."

Disturbing to me, they all cheered loudly as if they felt absolutely fine. But Fluttershy just didn't seem to see that…

As Fluttershy was giving them their remedy, my eyes wandered to Seabreeze whom continued to stare at the peephole. And I swore, at that time, I somehow saw myself in him by just the way he stared out to what was a window to him.

"Hey, Fluttershy?" I called.

"Mm-hm?" She returned, continued to tend to the little Breezies.

"I'm going to take Seabreeze out for some fresh air." This caught his attention, leading him to look back in surprise at me.

Fluttershy also turned her head to me in worry. "Oh…but he's so fragile."

"Don't worry." I assured. "I'll keep an eye on him."

"Okay…" Fluttershy allowed after a moment of hesitation. "Please be careful."

I nodded and then headed towards the door where Seabreeze continued to fly.

"What are you doing?" He asked, curious of my sudden action from nowhere.

"Just come on." I said and opened the door to let him out. Once we were outside, I could see the light breeze that began to form begin to stir him around a bit. "If you want to stay put, you might want to grab ahold of me."

"I'd rather be leaving right now that staying put here!" He responded, but nevertheless did as I suggested.

"I can tell you really want to leave…" I mentioned from his behavior inside and walked a little away from the cottage.

"Oh, you think so, Captain Obvious?" He replied sarcastically. "I was just angry because I was hungry."

"Hey." I furrowed my eyebrows as I was upset with his attitude. "You keep that up, and you're never going to get home."

"So, what do you expect me to do? Be nice and let those incompetent Breezies stay here forever because they're so lazy?" He questioned.

"Have you even tried to talking to them and figuring out why they're not as willing to leave as you are?"

"No. What matters most is that we get home right now!"

There had to be a reason why Seabreeze was such in a hurry to leave than the others were… "Seabreeze… I understand about the whole 'portal' thing back at your home…but why are you the only one freaking out about this? Freaking out to the point where you insult everyone, including my mother and me. There's something that's really bugging you."

Seabreeze didn't react in such a hotheaded manner this time. He turned his head from a show of sadness. "These Breezies don't understand why I want to leave so bad. They don't realize how much my family is important to me. They need me, and I need them. Those two are the most important things in my life…"

I began feeling extremely sympathetic for Seabreeze, seeing as it had made so much sense to why he reacted in such a way. "Wow… See…that's makes so much sense, Seabreeze." I almost placed myself in his situation, with his loved ones being the girls. "Why can't you just talk to them? If all you're going to do is yell at them, they'll just be bitter back at you."

"You don't know them like I do!" Seabreeze quickly responded. "When you are easy on them, they slack off and do nothing! Just like what's going on in there right now!" He pointed at the cottage. "That's why I yell at them because then they finally do something! If it wasn't for her and the breeze, I would have already had them getting back home!"

"Fluttershy's only trying to help your Breezie friends. After all, she did save you guys back when the breeze messed up." I reminded.

"Well, if she continues to baby them like she is doing now, they will never want to leave, and we will never get back home!" He almost broke into tears.

I sighed and felt guilt begin to lay down on me. "Alright. Alright. I'll…try talking to her. Just…" I looked at the cottage door and then remember the face she sent me when she wanted to keep them a little longer. "Just…give her some time with the Breezies. Whether or not they are sick, with Fluttershy's medicine, they should be feeling better soon either way. Then, I promise I'll talk to her in letting the Breezies go…assertively."

Seabreeze sighed. "You are the only one who seems to understand my need to get back home."

"Well…" I looked to the side in thought. "I've got a family too…and I sure would feel the same way if I was in your place." I then suddenly received the memory of my rush to find Twilight during the Canterlot wedding. "Yeah…definitely."

"I guess I must apologize for what I said about you and your mother back there." Seabreeze mentioned.

"You guess?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Okay, okay. Fine. I'm sorry." He finished.

"It's fine… It's not like I really knew what you said anyway. Otherwise, we probably wouldn't have had this talk in the first place. Let's get back inside." I turned to head back until I saw Rainbow Dash flying away from the cottage.

"We just have to trust Fluttershy. She must know what she's doing." Rainbow Dash was heard saying as she fled away with the two other pegasi in her team.

"Do not tell me!" Seabreeze began to show huge signs of frustration. "She did it again! She will not let them leave so we can all go home!"

"Calm down." I tried to convince. "She just wants to be a kind pony. I'll talk to her."

I arrived at the front door and began hearing some active sounds coming from within. As soon as I pushed it open and walked inside, we were both surprised to the sudden change and well-being representation of all the Breezies inside the cottage. Their "colds" mysteriously vanished as they were all having a good time partying in up in Fluttershy's cottage. Even one of the Breezies was playing a saxophone from who knew where. Near the slide they must had made, Fluttershy lightly danced to the jazz the Breezie with the saxophone produced.

Growing absolutely furious, Seabreeze flew over to the Breezie with the saxophone, grabbed it, and wrathfully threw it towards the floor, breaking it apart and gathering the attention of ever individual in the house.

"Aww!" They reacted.

"Why are you spending your time on this?! I will never get home!" Seabreeze questioned angrily.

"Breezies, I must say, Seabreeze has a point." Fluttershy admitted. "I think it's time for me to get Rainbow Dash and her friends so they can create the breeze for you to get home." The lot of them grabbed ahold of her tail and frantically pulled on it, giving dismayed shouts. "Ooh... You're all awfully anxious... Oh, I don't want you to feel abandoned, or that I wasn't the kindest host I could possibly be..."

If it wasn't for the fact that they were on a time limit, I wouldn't have minded. But enough was enough.

"Fluttershy." I placed a hoof on her. "The Breezies need to go home now. I understand you want to keep these Breezies happy, but that's not going to be possible if they stay here and miss their chance to get back home."

"Ooh…" Fluttershy worriedly returned. "But look at them…they're so upset about leaving…"

"Their home is where they belong…" I reminded. "Seabreeze wants to return because he has others he cares for. I think they're forgetting about how much time they have left because of how much fun they're having here." I turned my head to face Seabreeze. "Right, Seabreeze?" However, he wasn't in sight, and there was definitely no trace of his voice.

"Seabreeze?" Fluttershy called and looked around. "Seabreeze?" She checked her hoof. "Has anypony seen Seabreeze?" She asked, but only received a shrug from one of the Breezies. She turned towards her door to notice that her peep hole was open. She galloped over to it and looked through to find any sign of him outside. After a moment, she gasped. "Where's he going? There's no way he can handle being out there on his own!"

"Well, we have to go get him!" I recommended. "Fluttershy, I'm sorry, but after we bring him back, we're getting the Breezies to go back home. It's for the best."

She only looked sadly away and didn't answer that, leaving me to open the door and prep my now useful wings to look for him.

"He couldn't have gone far!" Fluttershy mentioned once she caught up to me.

I thought about it for a brief moment and felt the gentle breeze brush on me. I realized that the breeze gave me an idea of where to look. "He can't fly still with this breeze, so all we need to do is follow the breeze. Just keep an eye out for him!"

Fluttershy and I looked around in our specific search until she suddenly gasped. "Over there! The bees' nest!" She pointed and quickly went on ahead as I followed her. I could see Seabreeze slowly backing away from a group of angry bees that were absolutely deadly for his size. However, he ended at a dead end of the branch he was on and could only hug the tip in horror, clinging for his life.

As they pointed their sharp stingers at him, Fluttershy quickly and calmly came to the rescue. "Excuse me, bees? Can you please back off my Breezie friend? He didn't mean any harm. It was just an accident." The bees returned no type of response but only the sounds of their buzz and completely ignored Fluttershy to ready their stingers. "I'm working on a bee-type dance and was hoping you could help me?" Fluttershy stopped them and had placed on a bee's outfit as she shook her rump. "Does this bring to mind any images for you? Perhaps a bee?" However, the bees still showed no change in attitude and ignored Fluttershy yet again, bringing out her temper. "Excuse me! I have done nothing but be kind, but I guess that is not working! You bees know better than to hurt a helpless Breezie! I demand that you go away now, or you'll have to answer to me!"

The bees were now stripped of their hostility and only quietly returned to their nest.

"Menkyulen." Seabreeze shared once he realized he was free of danger. "Thank you! Thank you so much! Thank you for coming after me!" He expressed completely earnestly after noticing the both of us.

"Of course. You could've gotten seriously hurt out there. Ponyville is much too dangerous for you. One tiny acorn is a threat!" Fluttershy answered.

"Yeah, I know!" Seabreeze acknowledged greatly. "That is one reason why I have been trying to get us to go from the beginning!"

"You should have waited as I was talking to Fluttershy." I mentioned. "I understand how badly you want to go, but going it all on your own? Do you really expect to get back home all by yourself?"

"I'd rather try getting back home by myself than stay here and do nothing but wait for a time that may never come." He responded truthfully. "I don't even care about bringing back the pollen! I just want to see them again…" He referenced back to his loved ones as he slipped a tear out of his eye.

"Oh, my goodness." Fluttershy conveyed her realization as Seabreeze stated his reason himself. "I was just trying not to hurt any creature's feelings, but my displays of kindness may have cost you everything..." She added in a quick gasp and continued. "Time is running out, and you may never make it home!"

"That is exactly what I have been telling all of them! But they do not listen to me! Nobreezie ever listens to me!" He turned, showing me that he definitely had dealt with this an insane amount of times before.

Fluttershy exchanged a look with me before she went on to tend to Seabreeze. "Seabreeze, I understand your feelings are hurt, but it's hard for them to hear you when you're shouting and being mean. The message doesn't get across."

"But what about those bees?" Seabreeze pointed back as an example. "You were not nice to them, and that was the only way they listened!"

"Yes, but they had to go, and they wouldn't listen to me any other way."

"Fluttershy…" I said, grabbing her attention to nonverbally remind her what she had to do with the Breezies. She turned back to Seabreeze and stared weirdly for some reason.

I turned as well to see what caught her attention until I froze up for the moment. Something flashed in my mind, and I was sure that I saw something in his wing. But I couldn't explain any of this…

Fluttershy furrowed her eyebrows in determination and held out her hoof towards Seabreeze. "We need to go, now!" Seabreeze jumped onto her hoof without question and allowed her to take him back to the cottage.

At first, Fluttershy was rushing a bit in her flight, but once she saw Seabreeze having a bit of a hard time holding on, she stopped and gently continued along the way.

Once we returned, we saw the Breezies continuing their fun, even during the time we were away looking for Seabreeze. Fluttershy placed on a serious face and called them all up for their attention. "Every Breezie, please come up. Now." Silently, they did and all looked at Fluttershy to see what she had to say. "My dear Breezies, I had to rescue Seabreeze from serious harm, and now I know more than ever that you must leave before it's too late! You would never survive in Ponyville."

In emphasis and disappointment, Seabreeze crossed his forelegs and shook his head.

"Erski parli polin!" They all simultaneously shouted out and ran towards Fluttershy's hooves in an effort to beg her to do the opposite.

"I can't help you anymore." Fluttershy asserted, not falling into the trap like the last few times. "In fact, I wasn't helping you at all by being nice. Oh..." She shared a short moment of weakness but quickly turned back. "But the truth of the matter is that I must be firm!" She walked over to her front door and held a hoof on the handle. "You must go, now!" She opened the door and pointed outside.

They silently lowered their heads and finally did as Fluttershy directed, picking up their pollen on the way out. Seabreeze followed behind them, making sure no Breezie stayed behind. After they were all out, Seabreeze turned back to Fluttershy and nodded with a grateful smile, thanking her for standing up to them. Then, he continued on his way out.

Fluttershy had returned what was barely a smile and immediately sniffed in tears once they were all out of sight. I felt daggers pierce and stab my heart once I heard the depressing sounds of her crying. She closed the door and sat in front of it as tears continued streaming down her face.

I grabbed ahold of her and held her tightly.

"You did good, Fluttershy…" I assured gently. "You did good… You know it was for the best…"

She struggled through her words as she rubbed her mane against my neck. "I'm going to miss them all. I just can't help but feel…mean…making them leave like that…I wanted to see smiles if they left…not frowns…"

"I know…" I patted her comfortingly. "But sometimes…" I looked away a bit sadly. "We've got to do whatever takes to help the ones we love…no matter how much it hurts us…"

I didn't know what Fluttershy wanted to do after that. I didn't know if she wanted to go outside, or stay inside and burrow herself beneath her sheets. Fluttershy's whimpers and cries slowly came to a calm stop. It wasn't until a knock at the door that allowed a possibility for Fluttershy to leave her anguish. I left Fluttershy to attempt to rest her worries away while I went and answered the door.

"Alex." Twilight appeared from behind the door. "Where's Fluttershy?" She asked.

"She's resting inside… Why?"

"We've got a problem…" She mentioned.

"Problem? What problem?" I continued to question.

"The Breezies." She answered, slightly alarming me. "Rainbow Dash and the others can't find the right breeze for them, and we don't know what else to do."

Fluttershy must have had her resting cease once she heard of this trouble with the Breezies because she was swift to appear by us. "What?! The Breezies can't get home?!"

"Not if the Pegasi can't create an accurate and balanced breeze for them." Twilight returned.

"Oh!" Fluttershy released worriedly. "We have to help them!" Fluttershy fled out and down the road, leading Twilight and I to follow her.

Everypony else was gathered where the Breezies remained standing with their pollen. Rainbow Dash and the two helping her were too busy trying to complete a task that ironically proved itself to be difficult.

"It's too strong!" Rainbow Dash announced, seeing the leaves on the branch look like they wanted to be torn off.

"I can't do it any lighter!" The one with the bow in her mane stated.

"Neither can I!" The other stallion reported.

"Fly back! I'm gonna try and see if I can slow it down." Rainbow directed and then began to focus her concentration on doing just that. However, the breeze declined greatly, becoming to the point where it would be terribly slow for them. "Now it's too light! Oh, this will never get them home!"

"Oh, my." Fluttershy expressed after observing the situation. "Maybe it's because there are too few of them. When they started their journey, there was more of them to face the breeze together."

"So…you're saying that if there were more Breezies, they'd be able to handle the breeze that Rainbow Dash thinks would be too fast?" Twilight inquired.

Fluttershy nodded her head. "Yes. Even a few more would be a great help."

"I get it!" Pinkie Pie suddenly exclaimed. "It's like one pony having to eat a whole bunch of pie compared to a whole bunch of ponies eating that whole bunch of pie! Teamwork!"

"Yes…" Fluttershy slightly flinched at the idea of Pinkie's example. "I guess so…if you put it that way…" Fluttershy looked around. "But there's a big problem… You can find anypony to help you here in Ponyville…but all of the rest of the Breezies already left back home. Where are we going to find some more Breezies to help them?"

After she had been tapping her chin in thought, Twilight immediately gasped after hearing this from Fluttershy. "That reminds me! I've been studying an old spell book from the Castle of the Two Sisters I got earlier when I left with Alex." Twilight turned to Fluttershy and placed a hoof on her shoulder in praise. "Fluttershy, you said that we needed more Breezies to help them get home, right? Well, we can do just that!"

"…huh?" Fluttershy was becoming confused, seeing that we couldn't help them since we weren't Breezies.

However, since I was with Twilight at the time she looked through the book at the castle, I realized what she was getting at. "That spell you found in the book back at the castle!" I pointed out. "If you use that, we could definitely get these guys back home!"

"Precisely!" Twilight returned. "But…" She paused, feeling the need to warn us about something. "I haven't actually tested this yet, so it's probably gonna feel a little funny at first. But you're gonna have to trust me. Group up together."

"Uh…are you sure about this, Twi?" Applejack asked a little worriedly as everypony including me gathered.

"What'd I say about trust?" Twilight lightheartedly asked.

"Alright, alright, fine." Applejack surrendered.

"I love new ideas that make me feel funny at first!" Pinkie couldn't help but express her excitement.

Twilight began working her magic, leading to an orb of it forming and spreading out in a certain radius we were in. All six of us levitated in the air, surprising mainly everyone. Twilight shot a beam out to everypony that connected to her. Pinkie Pie was the only one that couldn't wait to see what would happen.

After I saw Twilight shoot the beam at the Breezies to involve them in the connection as well, I just remembered and realized what was going to happen to us…

Oh gosh…the transformation felt just uncomfortable. It honestly disturbed me to feel and see myself growing smaller in every part and growing new things in different places. It almost made me want to close my eyes, despite the transformation honestly not being that bad. It was clear that Pinkie had a fun time, as I could distinctively make out the giggles she let out.

Fortunately, it was only a matter of seconds that the transformation took place. And soon enough…well…look at that. We were all Breezies as well. Even this shocked the Breezies, since they possibly never believed such a thing was able to do. Nevertheless, they were delighted to see their problem see a breakthrough.

"Maifo flai batendud!" Fluttershy stood in front of both groups and faced us, speaking in a high-pitched voice too, along in the foreign language. This received looks of confusions from the girls. "Um, I mean, let's go!" Fluttershy corrected a bit sheepishly.

Rainbow Dash flew up to her partners to speak with them.

"You guys can handle the breeze, right?" She asked. The two looked at each other and then responded with a nod and small grin. "Don't let me down!" She stated and then returned back to us. "You guys might want to get ready. We'll be taking off in a few."

"Group together, everyone!" Fluttershy instructed at the front of the pack.

As the breeze began to help us move along, the formation consisted of Fluttershy in the front with Seabreeze nearby. It was Fluttershy's time to shine after all. Other than that, the girls and I remained behind, but still at the front of the group of Breezies.

Considering how the seven of us had joined this small group of Breezies, I say we made a big difference. The only thing I didn't know was how much time there was, and if we'd be able to make it in time.

During the journey, two of the Breezies suddenly fell apart from the group. Seabreeze noticed this and quickly rushed over to the two.

"Marskin farskin." One of them stated.

"Metar." The other answered, looking completely exhausted.

"You can do this!" Seabreeze surprisingly encouraged, most likely taking on from Fluttershy. "I am sorry for how I treated you before! It was not right that I called you names! I did not even really believe those things I said! I was worried we would never get back to our home, and I lashed out..." He explained his reasons for his actions. He looked back at Fluttershy to receive a proud smile from her. "I know you can do this! I believe in you! Hold on to me, let us join the group!" He grabbed ahold of their forelegs and brought them back to us.

I couldn't help but feel a smile coming on as well, seeing this new change of a leader.

Soon enough, we were led towards the canyon where I wasn't sure where we were going. However, Seabreeze pointed out an area towards Fluttershy and helped us turn in there. From there, I noticed him, for the first time throughout the entire day, actually smile. It was as if all his worries and troubles were gone once he saw that space in front of us still open. However, I noticed it slowly closing, meaning we didn't have long to stay inside.

Once inside, we all gasped at the sight that laid in front of us. It was…indescribable. It was like…an enchanted getaway place that only peace resided in.

"Holy mini-sized paradise!" Rainbow Dash commented.

"This is simply beautiful!" Rarity expressed her thoughts on the location as well. "So much inspiration. Where's my sketchpad when I need it?" She looked around as if her sketchpad would magically appear just for the occasion.

"So...stinkin'...cute!" Pinkie included excitedly.

Of course, the sound of Pinkie's loud voice caused commotion from the Breezies that lived within. Those that were inside quickly confronted those that were with us, conveying their joy for the reunion.

But what specifically got my attention was Seabreeze. His eyes were staring at this one other Breezie holding something in her forelegs.

"No…way…" I was deeply shocked for what I saw and remained staring in high surprise.

Seabreeze rushed over to this female Breezie who held tears in her eyes as soon as she saw him. The baby in her forelegs cooed happily at the sight of his…his…father…

Seabreeze gently grabbed ahold of his son and embraced him dearly as his special Breezie only held her forelegs to her mouth as if she could still not believe he was right in front of her. She must had been so worried sick that he had not arrived home when the others did… Predictably, she wrapped her forelegs around him as he held their baby.

Before I knew it, Fluttershy and I had actually been holding each other's hooves, if that's what they still were, and staring at Seabreeze's reunion in tears.

"You okay, you two?" Applejack asked, noticing how we both we reacting.

"I'm just so very happy they got to be reunited with their family!" Fluttershy gasped lightly in her tears of joy.

Applejack drew her eyes over to the sight of Seabreeze's family and then back at us, smirking lightly. "Do I hear wedding bells?"

Both of our bodies jumped in shock, and we were frozen in some form of embarrassment until Rarity pointed something out. "We'd better get going before the entrance- well, exit for us, closes."

Applejack went on ahead to regroup with the others, leaving Fluttershy to share a look with me. Then, she took me along with her to express her farewells, not wanting let go of our connection. "Goodbye, Breezies. We must go now."

She was about to turn around until Seabreeze presented a flower to her. "To remember us by." He explained.

At that time, my eyes locked into that flower in that odd way again. There was just something about it!

Fluttershy allowed Seabreeze to place that flower in her mane.

"Thank you!" Fluttershy tearfully but gratefully thanked, hugging Seabreeze goodbye. "I'll miss you. I'll miss all of you!"

I shook my head, to shake off whatever it was that was bothering me. I extended a foreleg over to Seabreeze. "It's been nice."

He accepted it, sparing a few words to me as well. "Thank you for listening."

I gave a quick nod and proceeded to fly over to the portal before it closed while Fluttershy continued to wave back. We regrouped with the others and began going through the portal until Fluttershy stopped to look back with a hint of worry in her eyes.

Seabreeze sent one last positive expression to her, allowing her to grin and continue on through the portal.

"Whoa! That was a close one!" Rainbow Dash mentioned, seeing as we barely got out in time.

As the others agreed with her comment, I looked at Fluttershy and surprised her with a kiss.

With a blush, Fluttershy reacted to it. "What was that for…?"

"I just wanted to do that before we changed back…" I truthfully answered with a hint of embarrassment.

Fluttershy only returned a somewhat pleased smile at me.

"Okay, gather round." We heard Twilight say, gaining our presence in the circle. She then used her magic to zap us all back to normal without a hitch.

"So, uh…" Rainbow Dash began, slyly approaching Twilight. "I've always kinda wondered what it would be like to be a griffon."

Twilight returned a slightly peeved reaction, but then it transformed to a more mischievous one. "Not a chance." She shook her head and turned around to trot back, crushing Rainbow's hopes.

"You sure? What about a dragon?" Rainbow galloped after her, persistent to have her accept her offer. "No? It doesn't have to shoot fire!"

The others tagged along as Fluttershy and I stayed behind for a moment.

Fluttershy looked above at her gift. I followed along, seeing that same flash of rainbow run through it once again. Why…?

"It looks like I have something for the journal…" Fluttershy mentioned, snapping me out of it.

"Huh?" I asked.

"I learned a lesson today." Fluttershy began our walk back. "My experiences with the Breezies have helped me to see that kindness can take many forms, and sometimes being too kind can actually keep a friend from doing what they need to do. Pushing them away may seem cruel, but it's sometimes the kindest thing you can do."

"Oh. Right." I smiled lightly. "It's just like if we were to have a ki—" I quickly caught on to what I was about to say and stopped myself.

"What?" Fluttershy immediately asked, as if she actually knew what I was about to say.

"Heh heh." I nervously chuckled with a sheepish grin. "Nothing."

Fluttershy seemed to be a little disappointed that I didn't finish my sentence, but she smiled through it nonetheless. "I love you."

Able to escape the embarrassment from before, I returned to my mellow mood and nodded. "I love you too." I stated as I brushed up against her.

I finished telling Spirit all about the day as we sat on the balcony, especially about Seabreeze and his family.

"It made so much sense then, you know?" I referred. "The way he was so eagerly rude to get back home. He only wanted to see his…special someone and child…" I stayed stuck at the sight of them. "Makes me think…back at everyone I love…and how much I would do for them…" Spirit seemed to stare a little gravely at her finished ice cream and then away to the side. "I want all of us to be together forever…" I stared up to the sky. "But…it makes me a little sad to know that…well…nothing lasts forever…"

"Hey…" Spirit turned to me. "At least if you have memories of all the fun times you've had engraved in your mind…that's something, right?"

"Yeah…I guess." I answered.

But for right now, we needed to make every moment last…and cherish every single one.

Somepony to Watch Over Me

Episode 82 – Somepony to Watch Over Me

I don't think I enjoyed the dinner as much as I wanted to. I was just so nervous and answering questions about my profession and me was hard enough. I tried so hard not to stutter or embarrass myself, but having royalty look directly at you was enough to freeze you up.

"Dessert, your highnesses." A waiter had dropped by to place several platters.

By the look of it, it looked like we were about to be served an entire cake itself. However, as the top was lifted off, it was only a slice. Still, it looked amazingly delicious though.

Before anypony started eating, I had to ask a question that was burning inside me and daring to be asked. "Um, excuse me." I almost softly announced. "If I may address as so, Princess Luna, Princess Celestia…"

"Go on." Princess Celestia smiled warmly to reveal her calm pleasure while Princess Luna rather remained silent.

"To be honest…I've been dying to ask something all night…"

"What is it?" Princess Celestia questioned.

"Out of everyone in Equestria…" I emphasized greatly. "Why me? Why was I given the opportunity to sit here with the famous rulers of Equestria?"

"You've studied long in Astronomy, have you not?" Princess Celestia asked.

"Well…yeah, I guess." I acknowledged a little confusingly.

"You're recognized as one of the most intellectual astronomers in Canterlot. I've heard that you've even taught it to different age groups?" She continued her questioning sentences.

"Uh…yeah…" I looked away and rubbed my head, becoming a little bashful. "But that's really nothing…"

Princess Celestia continued her graceful smile and closed her eyes for a moment. "I can tell you hold something special."

"Huh?!" I almost flipped over the table from being startled at her words.

"You hold a lot of potential…Astro Eclipse, am I correct?" She stated.

My eyes widened. She remembered my name!

"Ye-yes, Princess!" I quickly nodded.

She chuckled at my excitement. "Your vast knowledge and study of the stars can really prove useful for not only us, but to everypony in Equestria."

"What do you mean?" I had to continue asking in perplexed inquisition. "How does that make me any different from any other super intelligent astronomers out there?"

"The potential you hold not only covers your intelligence, but you as a pony overall, Astro." As much as I wanted to almost explode in excitement, confusion continued to hold me still. "You care about your best friend, Comet, and you find joy in sharing your knowledge and friendship with other ponies. What we need is somepony that not only knows astronomy, but a pony that is wholesome and humble inside… Somepony that will not abuse their power if they should receive it."

"You're saying…that's me…? No other astronomer is like that?" I couldn't help but feel as she might have been playing a trick on me.

"The others…well… Some are not so good in their heart, and some don't seem to have taste in befriending other ponies…" She mentioned honestly.

"Oh…" I expressed, kind of feeling down that this was apparently truth, despite the fact that I should be happy for being this "special". Comet studied in my field too, but…he was kind of at the level of an apprentice for me. He always liked being the follower instead of the leader though…so I guess it worked out for him anyway.

"However…" Princess Celestia caught my attention. "You will not only be focusing on your field of study…but will be learning new things, such as magic, from someone very special."

"Oh really…? Who?"

Princess Celestia closed her eyes again and appeared to feel proud for what she was about to say. "Star Swirl the Bearded himself."

I almost dropped my jaw at the sound of his name. I had heard many things about him, but I never thought I was be in contact with him face-to-face! "Seriously?!" Princess Celestia only nodded calmly. "When does all this start for me?!" I inquired about the whole new delightful opportunity given to me.

"We shall let you know." Princess Celestia responded. "But be sure to expect some mail soon." She ended with a smile.

"Wow…" I expressed to myself quietly, only lying back on my chair as I stared up at the ceiling, unable to grasp that this was actually happening to me.

After dessert, Princess Celestia was to retire, but she made sure to let me know to tell her guards whenever I wanted to return back home. I was just about to do that until the craziest thing surprised me.

"May I have a word with you?" The Princess of the Night had asked me, leaving me almost speechless.

"A word? With m-me?" I was just being completely shocked throughout the entire night.

"Please. Join me." She stated without much enthusiasm, turned, and headed to leave the dining hall. One of the guards that had been standing in the room during our entire dinner began following her until she stopped him. "I'd like to be on my own for now."

"Are you sure?" He asked, not completely sure with the idea of leaving Princess Luna with me unguarded.

"I'll be fine." She assured seriously, seeming to feel the opposite attitude that Princess Celestia felt.

The guard backed off a little and looked at me for a bit more as I passed him and followed Princess Luna.

She took me out to a bridge between towers of the castle, which was outside under the starry sky. She stopped there in the middle and only turned to stare at her moon. I had no clue on what to do, so I only stood nearby and placed my hooves on the wall of the bridge to observe the scenery as well.

"Can I ask you something?" Princess Luna actually spoke in an unexpected way.

"Uh, sure." I merely replied.

"What is it…that drove you into studying Astronomy?" She questioned.

"Um…" I tapped my hoof on my chin. I didn't know what to say. It just…felt right to me. "I guess…I've always like the night." I shrugged and chuckled. "It's just something about the stars…and everything around them." I stared directly at the light that twinkled with every star. "I mean…who would be afraid of such a thing? They're all beautiful." I described. "There are even some ponies afraid of the night…afraid of the dark…which is something I don't really get. It's only as scary as you make it seem. In fact, the darkness itself can't hurt you. It's only what you make of it that makes it scary. But in the end…having light like those stars reveal what's behind that darkness… It really shows you there's nothing to be afraid of." I smiled softly at the sight until I realized what I had done. I turned to Princess Luna, whom only stared intently at me in silence. "Sorry!" I immediately apologized. "I rambled too much for a bit there…"

"Do not apologize." She placed a hoof on my shoulder, immediately causing a reaction from my heart and commenced pounding strikes. "Your…description of the night…is very relieving to hear." She removed her hoof and continued gazing out. "Sometimes…I feel…worried…" She paused for a moment. "Is there any purpose in creating such a time where ponies only seem to sleep through it? Perhaps even be afraid of it?"

"I appreciate it." I instantly spat out. Then, I felt I needed to not make it as personal…just so things didn't seem weird. "And I know a lot of other ponies love the night too."

Princess Luna stared at me for a moment, and then formed an emotion just a little happier than her usual expressionless one. "I thank you for that."

"Of course!" I was completely honored to hear such a thing.

"As Princess of the Night, it is not only my duty to raise the moon, but keep order in the dreams of ponies as well." Princess Luna educated me. "You see…" She turned to me a bit seriously. "Dreams are a lot more important than we think."

"How so…?" I asked, seriously intrigued in silence.

"You understand…in dreams…anything can happen." She acknowledged, leaving me to nod. "When you have control of your dreams, you can almost do anything. But ponies never really do, as they are not aware they are asleep. It is ironic how they do not see it so…immediately when they shift from reality into fantasy. Usually, they only live out their dream, controlling it as much as if it was an actual experience in their lives."

"I understand that, Princess…" I mentioned. "But what is so important that we don't exactly know already?" I felt that was too harsh to ask to her, so I quickly tried to fix it. "…with all due respect."

"Astro." Princess Luna labeled me, bringing me to my fullest attention with the way she said my name. "If dreams were ever able to escape their unrealistic hold, the world would truly be at great risk for utter chaos." She proceeded to list some examples. "I'm sure you've had nightmares before, am I correct?"

"Yeah…" I returned.

"Imagine those creatures, monstrosities, and utter disasters happen to you realistically? Only, it wouldn't just 'be a dream'. It would be real. And considering how powerful and limitless our dreams can be…they may just be our worst enemy of all time…if they should ever become real. Do you understand what I'm saying?" I nodded attentively, astonished for what she had to say. I never actually thought of it like that before… "Let that be your first lesson…" She stated. "For now, you should return home and receive your rest."

"Okay, Princess…" I bowed generously. "Goodnight."

She nodded in response. "As to you."

Alex

Before the dream sequence could prolong any further, I was startled awake by knocking at the front door. I could still feel its effects linger on me as I fumbled around in bed. They slowly began to wear off when I gained the strength to push myself off and head towards the door. I was really forced awake when the sun outside attacked me with its intense light.

"Were you sleepin' in there, Alex?" Applejack asked, looking slightly worried from the thought of waking me up.

"Kind of…" I rubbed my eyes.

"I'm a bit surprised. It's a little late. You feelin' okay?"

"I'm fine." I answered. "What's up?"

"I've just gotta…ask you for a favor." She rubbed her foreleg a little nervously. "Applebloom is gonna be staying home alone for the afternoon while the rest of us got some errands to take care of."

"Uh-huh?" I followed.

"Thing is…I'm still not really sure if Applebloom is safe at home…alone…"

"She knows how to take care of herself, doesn't she?" I asked.

"Yes…well…I think so…maybe…" Applejack sighed greatly. "Listen…I don't really want to leave her home alone…but I also want to trust her. Could you just…pop in sometime and see if she's doing alright? I don't mean stay there… Actually, if you could, that would be great, but at least just check in to see if she's okay?"

"Um…" I became a little lost in Applejack's words, but was able to obtain the meaning behind it. "Yeah…sure, Applejack."

"Great!" Applejack formed a relieved grin. "If anything bad happens, stay there and watch her for me until I come back. I'll be sure to get the job done as quickly as possible."

"I'm sure she'll be fine home alone, Applejack." I assured with a small smile. "She's going to stay home after all. She's not wandering to the Everfree Forest."

"What if she does?" Applejack immediately pointed out.

"Don't worry…" I reassured. "Just… I'll check in with her, okay?"

Applejack nodded. "Thank you kindly. I better be off now." She turned to start leaving.

"See you later." I waved, receiving another back from her. Before I could think of what exactly I was going to do today, I felt a delicate tap on my shoulder. I almost jumped out of my spot to see it was Spirit, but her visit wasn't exactly a surprise. "Oh, hey…"

"Is it too much to ask if we hang out today?" She asked a little…differently.

"Um…I guess not. Where would you want to be, considering you prefer places where no others ponies are?" I responded.

Spirit looked past my shoulder. "Her farm is good. Nopony is there right? And she said something about her little sister staying home alone."

"So…you want to be out in the orchards?" I clarified.

"That sounds fun." She offered a little smile.

"Well…" I turned around to start heading out. "I don't know if you've got a plan to keep yourself hidden from others on the way over there because—" As I turned back to allow her through the door and close it behind her, I noticed she was gone…mysteriously as usual. "Like I need to worry…" I stretched the casual look on my face lightly, showing no shock of her behavior, and closed the door anyway.

By the time I arrived in Sweet Apple Acres, I noticed I was pretty early for what Applejack asked me to do since she was just about ready to leave with a huge cart.

"It's just, I take my job as your big sister real serious." I heard Applejack say. She was talking to Applebloom, which the subject must have been relating to her spending the afternoon home alone. Once her eyes looked past Applebloom to mine, I could tell she was really surprised to see me so early. "Alex…! I wasn't expectin' ya to…"

As she had a hard time finishing that sentence, Applebloom noticed me and then began furrowing her eyebrows angrily. "Wait a minute. Did you get a babysitter for me?!"

"No! No!" Applejack quickly shook her head. "I just…"

"I just came by to wish Applejack the best on her trip." I managed to muster up a bit easily, seeing as it wasn't too hard to answer. I walked to Applejack, so she wouldn't have to move with that huge cart she was carrying.

"That's right!" Applejack greatly nodded her head. "Just here to see me off. Besides, he offered to help ya out with the chores too so you can have more of the afternoon to yourself!"

In my mind, I was thinking "Huh?", but I couldn't blow her cover.

"I guess that's alright…" Applebloom rubbed her chin a little, seeming to have some suspicion for Applejack.

"Here." Applejack pulled out a rolled up piece of paper and tossed it over to Applebloom. "I spent all night makin' you this."

"What is it?" Applebloom asked curiously, opening it to a certain extent.

"Just a little list of helpful reminders." She looked smugly back as she crossed her forelegs.

"'There's some soup for you in the 'frigerator.'" She read. "'Be sure not to heat it up too much. If it's hot, blow on it to cool it off. And take little sips — if you gulp, you could get hiccups.'" She looked back unamused, seeing as Applejack's reminders were unneeded. "You don't have to worry about me. I can take care of myself and the chores! I'm ready for this."

Applejack sighed shortly. "I guess you are. I'm just not so sure I am."

"But you trust me and believe I'm grown up enough to handle this, right?" Applebloom placed her hooves on her sister and waited for her approval as she held an eager grin.

Applejack sighed again, appearing to reveal hesitation. "Right. Okay then. Good luck, little sis— whoa!" Before Applejack completely finished, Applebloom pressed against the end of her cart to get her on her way already.

"Okaygreatseeyousoonbye!" She expressed quickly.

Applejack expressed a short wave with a small grin, but it soon turned to a worried frown. Before she could leave entirely, I caught up with her to gain a little more instructions and explanation. "So…you want me to help Applebloom with her chores?"

Applejack released yet another sigh, proving her stress building up at the thought of her little sister being home alone. "I'm really sorry… I didn't mean to drag you into that… I guess I must have been thinking about you staying there instead. If you don't want to, it's fine. I have no right forcin' you to do so."

I thought back on what Spirit wanted to do, seeing it as a perfect excuse to stay anyway. "No, it's fine. I can totally do that."

Applejack stopped in her tracks to release a sigh of relief and possibly her worries away as well. "I don't know how to thank ya."

"Just take it easy on your trip." I wished.

"Will try." She responded and chuckled a little. "Come over here really quick." She requested.

"What do you mean?" I asked, since I was already next to her.

"Stand right in front of me." She directed.

"…okay." I stepped a few steps ahead, turned, and then face Applejack. Afterwards, she explained her call by moving closer to me and embracing me as much as she could with the cart she was carrying.

"Sorry, if I might be fretting so much…" She apologized. "But…when you have a little sister you've known your whole life…you really just can't help but feel so darn protective of her."

Even though I only really had a surrogate little sister or two, I could still understand where she came from. "Don't worry. It only shows how much you care about her." I replied as I placed my hoof over her.

Applejack remained silent and then breathed in heavily. She later released it out sharply and pulled away so she could continue on. "I'll see you later, Alex."

"You too, AJ." I stepped to the side to see her send back a small grin before she moved on to get working on her errand. When I returned to Applebloom, I noticed she was on the ground with this huge grin on her face. Her eyes were closed and she appeared to be daydreaming about the possible benefits of being home alone. "You alright there, Applebloom?" I asked.

She opened her eyes to notice me standing in front of her and quickly pushed herself off the ground. "Yeah, I am! Listen, my sister didn't secretly set you up to be my babysitter, right?"

"Not that I know of." I answered truthfully, seeing how I really wasn't supposed to be watching her. At the very least, Applejack wanted me to just be around so if she did get in trouble, I could be nearby to help her out. "So…did you need help in some of your chores?"

"Actually…I think I've got everything." Applebloom shared with confidence. "If I'm gonna get Applejack to see that I can really responsibly handle being home alone, then I should be able to do all the chores on my own!"

"Well, that's really mature of you, Applebloom." I responded. "That's a big step to showing her that you're growing up." That was nice…but I still needed to be around for Applejack's sake, as well as being with Spirit. "Hey, if you don't mind, I'm going to be at the orchards."

"Watcha gonna do?" Applebloom questioned curiously.

"Just…a few things Applejack asked me for." I was able to fortunately say, especially since it was still technically the truth. "You're still going to be home alone." I assured with a smile. "But if you ever come across something that you can't do on your own, you can just come and find me, okay?"

"Okay, sure!" Applebloom seemed relieved that I wasn't going to be babying her at all. "Thanks, Alex!"

"Of course." I returned before I started heading towards the orchards. "Stay safe!" I added before I left.

As I entered an isolated part of the orchard that was surrounded by many apple trees, I already knew that if I spoke to Spirit, she would hear it. "So, what do you want to do—?" There was an immediate ecstatic and almost childish laughter coming from one single pony. Completely almost like Pinkie Pie, she ran among the grass, hopped all over as if she had been holding in so much energy for so long, and already even tried to climb the trees. "Hey, hey…!" I raced over to her, seeing as she had no real protection if she were to fall. "You should be careful… You don't want to get hurt."

"Oh please." Spirit brushed off. "You really don't have to worry about me!" After exhausting a few grunts, she managed to climb atop a branch. Then, she swung herself for a bit and let her go like she was completely not afraid of danger or pain. She landed on the grass and laid herself there while she continued to laugh out loud. Eventually, she sighed in relief.

"Wow…"I expressed, being a little surprised and speechless as I had never seen her act so wildly before. At least…not as hyper as she did just now. "You were…pretty crazy there." I chuckled a little.

"Sorry." She apologized, but kept that silly grin of hers. "I guess you could say…it's been a while when I've just been able to roam freely outside like this."

"I guess I can see why you wanted to come here." I sat next to her. "No one would be able to really hear you here. Plus, there's nopony here either, so…you're pretty much free to do whatever you want."

"Mm-hm." She responded and then looked towards one of the trees in the area. "Your friend likes to kick these, right? And make apples fall off?"

"Oh yeah. It's her thing…" I answered. Spirit stood back up from the ground and wandered over to the tree as she rubbed her chin. "You're going to try it too, aren't you?" She only turned her head to me, closed her eyes, and returned an immense grin before she gave a great buck to the tree. The tree shook, and apples soon stormed their way to the ground. As I watched them fall, almost one by one, I was pretty surprised by her strength. "Wow… I have a feeling you're a tougher mare than you look…"

"I learn from the best." She answered a little proudly.

"I'm assuming you're talking about me?" I surely believed.

"Who else, dummy?" She confronted me with a fierce yet playful attitude.

"Applebloom, is that you?" We heard a voice growing closer. This alarmed Spirit, having her flee from sight once again. Two fillies emerged from a nearby bush, who revealed themselves to be Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. "Alex? What are you doing here?" Scootaloo questioned, noticing me instead of Applebloom.

"Just…taking care of something for Applejack…" I repeated. "What about you two?"

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle exchanged a look with each other. "We were just waiting for Applebloom to finish her chores. We offered to help so things would go quicker, but she wanted to do them herself. So, we've just been waiting in the clubhouse since."

"Ah…" I rubbed my head a bit. "I sometimes forget you three have a clubhouse here. Did you hear me bucking the tree?" I asked, wanting to take Spirit's place so they wouldn't figure somepony else was with me.

"We didn't hear any bucking at all." Sweetie Belle answered.

"Really?" I turned towards the tree that had been bucked and picked up an apple that laid on the ground. "I've got the apples right here."

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo both widened their eyes a bit and looked at each other a bit oddly.

"Alex…" Sweetie Belle walked towards me worriedly. "…are you alright?"

I found that question completely odd to be asked towards me. "Yeah…? Why are you asking me that?"

"It's just that…you don't have any apples." She mentioned.

"Huh?" I questioned and looked at my hoof, noticing the apple had disappeared. I looked at the ground and realized that all the other apples weren't there either. In fact, when I looked back at the tree that had been bucked, all of the apples were hanging back there! "I…" I was speechless. "I swear I just had an apple right now…"

"Maybe you're hungry." Scootaloo offered. "You want to come with us back to the barn? We're gonna see if Applebloom might have baked something for us."

"…um…sure…" I was still shocked at what had just happened. As they began heading back towards the barn, I looked back for any sign of Spirit. However, I noticed Sweetie Belle looking back at me, appearing to begin looking worried for me by the way I was acting. I shook my head and decided to follow them, feeling absolutely weird and misplaced.

As we pushed opened the front door to head inside, we noticed quite a mess in the kitchen. But there was a complete surprise when we spotted another pony with Applebloom.

"Applejack!" I called the pony who held a strong grip on Applebloom and wouldn't let go. "What are you doing here so early?"

"Well, I couldn't stand the thought of forgetting something back here, so I came back to make sure I left one hundred percent clear instructions for staying here alone." She answered, letting go of Applebloom. "And good riddance! It was a good thing because as I came back, there was a huge mess here already!"

Scootaloo walked in, observing the mess around her in the kitchen. "Geez, did you have trouble baking, Applebloom?"

Applejack's jaw dropped as if she was completely shocked by this news. "Applebloom, you were bakin' home alone?! You know how dangerous that is?!"

Applebloom sighed and rolled her eyes over to Scootaloo. "Thanks a lot, Scootaloo."

"Don't fret, Applebloom." Applejack reassured. "I'm gonna get this mess cleaned up, and then I'm gonna make you a nice warm and safe meal!"

Applebloom only returned an exhausted growl and turned her way to escape out the front door while the other fillies followed after her.

"Applejack, what's going on?" I questioned a bit worriedly, feeling her behavior wasn't exactly a good thing. "Didn't you have an errand to take care of?"

"I've changed my mind about letting Applebloom stay home." Applejack responded as she began cleaning up the mess in the kitchen. "After seeing this, I think she still needs a while longer before she can stay."

"Then, I'll watch her." I offered, seeing as I wouldn't be so clingy on Applebloom and still let her have her space while staying nearby. "You need to go do what you need to do."

"Sorry, Alex." She denied. "It's just…you're not too familiar with the dangers around here. I'm not saying you wouldn't take good care of her…it's just…she might mess with something dangerous you might not know about and hurt herself, you know?"

"Then might I at least help you with your errand, so you can have that off your back?" I asked.

"Thanks for the offer, but I don't think it's such a good idea." Applejack replied. "I'm supposed to make a delivery of apple pies to a certain area, but going there is very dangerous. You'd need me to accompany you through either way."

I didn't know what else to do. My mind was blank afterwards.

I decided to let Applejack…do her own thing and returned back to an isolated spot on the orchard. I wasn't done with Spirit, and I honestly wasn't sure if she still wanted to hang out…

I sat near a tree and waited for Spirit to subtly pop out. It wasn't long before she did, as if she knew I was waiting for her. She didn't really look as cheerful as she did before Scootaloo kind of interrupted our meeting. I can't say I wasn't expecting that. She appeared from behind the tree and approached me with a sulking head.

"Do you still want to…?" I questioned.

"Meh…" She shared gloomily. "I'm sorry. It was my mistake. I always make mistakes."

"What are you getting so worked up about?" I asked, feeling she might have been worrying about something so little, at least for me. "You didn't do anything wrong."

She chuckled after I said that, but not exactly in a good way. "You have no idea, Alex. I guess I'm just getting so worked up about how stupid I am. I let myself lose sight of what the consequences could be, just to blow it on having fun with you. Gosh, I'm so dumb." She placed her hoof on her forehead in frustration.

"Spirit…" I reached out a hoof towards her. "You really don't have to worry about it… Really…"

"It wasn't the first time I screwed up, Alex." She turned over to me a little more seriously and even a bit in anger. "Just like when I let myself be seen by Twilight! And then, I introduced myself to her later on so she wouldn't feel like I was some kind of creep or stalker or something. But after doing that, I feel like…even worse!"

"I'm sorry, Spirit…" I could only apologize. "But…I can't really understand why you feel like this if I don't know why you're trying to hide from everypony in the first place…"

Spirit turned away and sighed. "Let's just say…it all started with me making so many little dumb mistakes and ultimately a big one in the end. You haven't seen how many things I've screwed up, Alex. And…" She paused, and I was shaken to hear her voice sound like it trembled. "I honestly can guarantee I'm going to make more… I guess it's just the type of pony I am."

"Spirit…" I was at a loss of words. Even though I was still jumbled in her attempts to make me understand with the least amount of information as possible, I could still feel the pain she felt.

"You know what, Alex?" She turned back at me after wiping her eyes. "Maybe we should stick to seeing each other at the balcony. Somewhere where for sure nopony will…you know…be."

"…are you sure?" I hesitantly asked.

"Yeah… Maybe I just need time to think… Sorry." She began walking past me behind the tree. "I'll see you later."

"…bye…" I expressed, but felt she was gone before she could hear that.

The last talk with Spirit stuck with me for a while. In fact, it even left me sitting under a tree in silence. Not to sound like it was any of her fault, but what she said just bothered me so much. Actually, I was beginning to feel like it was my fault for some reason. I didn't know if this would affect the relationship between Spirit and me, and it gave me time to think about her falling behavior from the first time I met her.

She seemed to completely not give a care in the world as her joy was never-ending. Ever since then, it seemed like she fell slowly short of that joy and into a state of depression. As I thought more about it, something kicked inside of me. Over time, I've learned a little more about her related to what she was hiding. And it seemed…that the more I learned about her, or the more I stepped closer to the truth behind her, the unhappier she became. Was it really my fault for stepping in? Was I pressuring her too much to speak up? Maybe it was really my fault after all.

I decided to take a breather back at Applejack's, but I almost forgot about the ordeal occurring between Applebloom and Applejack. It didn't really bother me, as it seemed to happen along in the background. I laid myself on the couch as if I wanted to sleep, but I didn't. I just kept thinking. When I wasn't thinking, my mind was just…clear. Blank. And I felt like I was an empty shell staring at nothing.

Applejack definitely would have stopped by to see what was wrong, but she was too busy watching over Applebloom every second of the day.

Watching over her nonstop…

I began hearing the door upstairs open and close continuously every five seconds. I groaned and got up to see what the problem was. As I walked upstairs, I immediately spotted Applejack outside of Applebloom's bedroom as if her legs were rooted to the floor. She continued to open the door, peek in, and then pull her head back out, only to repeat the process until she felt Applebloom was safe…which was never really…

Seeing this wasn't healthy, I placed a hoof on her shoulder and prevented her from reaching for the door again. "Applejack, we need to talk…"

"Sure thing, Alex." She answered while trying to stretch her hoof over to the door. "Lemme just check on Applebloom first."

"You already have the last hundreds of times. We need to talk now." I began leading her away, even though she continued to glance back.

"Can you make it quick? I'd really like to get back up there." Applejack asked politely but in a kind of clingy way as well.

"Applejack…" I began. "I really don't want to tell you how to handle your little sister…but I think this needs to stop."

"What are you talking about?" She questioned, as if it didn't hit her right away.

"You're continuously checking on Applebloom, Applejack. She needs her space."

"Aw, I'm just trying to make sure she's doing alright. I don't want no accidents to happen or anything…" She began trying to reason with me.

"I understand that…but if you keep pestering her for help like you are now…you might just go on and drive her away." I slowly acquired the feeling that this was coming from what happened with Spirit. "I don't know how long exactly you're planning on doing this, but…" I paused to prepare to speak a bit harshly to Applejack, but it was only because I cared. "…I feel she might just run away if you do it for too long." Any sign of Applejack's grin or smile was now gone. "She loves you, Applejack. And she wouldn't run away because she doesn't love you… It's just…sometimes you do something so sudden and desperate when you have no air to breathe. She might just stay over at a friend's house or so, but it could really hurt your bond with her Applejack… You don't want that, do you?"

The reaction I got from Applejack was something I really wasn't expecting. I thought it might bring her a little down but just enough to wake her up to see what she was doing. No... It looked like I got into really personal matters with her to the point that she started tearing up.

"I just…want to know she's okay." She answered with a wobbly mouth as she lowered her sight. "I don't want to lose her too." This alerted me strongly inside as it told me she had lost something significant to her before. "She's my little sister, Alex. I love her more than anythin' and I don't want anythin' to happen to her." She sighed and allowed her voice to break in pieces of her sentences. "I don't know what to do." She shook her head. "Now that you're tellin' me this, I'm scared. If I keep watchin' over her, she'll leave… If I don't, somethin' might happen. Somethin' bad."

"Applejack…" I placed a hoof on her shoulder and looked at her directly in her eyes in a serious but comforting manner. "I can't tell you what'll happen with whatever you choose to do. We can't control the future. If you want my opinion, you can only choose what feels right to you. Right now, I can see your head's telling you to watch Applebloom like a hawk, because you're so afraid of what might happen to her at any given second. But as selfish as it might sound, you need to think about what you really want. You want Applebloom to grow up to be a strong independent mare, don't you? Well, you have to let her make her share of mistakes. But that doesn't mean you have to stop watching her." I was able to form a soft smile as I placed my hoof on her cheeks and wiped away the tears. I actually felt like the roles were reversed comparing to the time in the train. "Just…ease up on her. She isn't a baby anymore, remember? You were doing pretty great before, until the whole thing with her staying at home happened. It's an obstacle you need to get through mentally. It's just another part of her growing up…"

Her ears slowly lowered downwards, and she lowered her head to exhale a heavy sign.

"Okay." She returned briefly. "If that's what I need to do…then I'll do it. And it starts…with letting her stay home…and trustin' that she'll be safe. Thank you, Alex… I'm sorry."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to." I smirked lightly and reminded her.

She nodded. "Right." She turned and headed up the stairs as I quietly followed her. She slowly opened the door to reveal a dark room and carefully walked in. Applebloom must had been asleep. Applejack reached the bed and placed her hooves on the railing of the bed, which I just realized that Applejack actually installed for Applebloom's protection. She lowered a hoof over to Applebloom and patted her lightly. "I'm so sorry, Applebloom. I guess I just let the past get ahold of me, hm? Don't worry, Sugarcube. I won't be holding you back from being independent so much, and I'll always be your big sister." There were some sleepy moaning sounds as Applebloom turned in bed, but for some reason, Applejack was surprised at this. "Huh?!" I turned on the light nearby to see what was going on. "Sweetie Belle?!" The filly on the bed wasn't Applebloom at all. Instead, it was Sweetie Belle wearing one of Applebloom's bows. Sweetie Belle appeared to just wake up as she rubbed her eyes. However, she immediately widened them at the sight of Applejack. Her eyes turned towards the drawer near the door. Applejack noticed this and turned towards the drawer to quickly open them. "Scootaloo?!"

"Uh, um, n-no." Scootaloo shook her head.

However, the reason why Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were there instead of Applebloom seemed to be the least of Applejack's worries. "Where's Apple Bloom? She's not here!" She immediately went to search the whole room in panic. "Where is she?!"

"Don't worry, we know exactly where she is!" Sweetie Belle quickly assured.

"Yeah, she's making your pie delivery." Scootaloo happily informed.

"What?!" Applebloom turned back to them in shock. "No! Didn't she hear how difficult and dangerous it was?!" Afterwards, she held her hooves to her head in great distress and gasped loudly. "I may never see my little sister again!"

I ran towards Applejack after seeing the great fear in her eyes. "Where is she? I can go look for her!"

Applejack was almost to the point of hyperventilating before she took a quick hefty breath and heavily blew it out. "I've got to draw you a map!" She galloped out of the room and downstairs with me being on her tail. On the kitchen table, she began quickly drawing a map. She was going so fast that the pencil marks almost appeared scribbly and unclear, but thankfully she wasn't going into detail. "You see this?" She pointed with her hoof. "This is here. She had to go through this path and eventually meet up to a swamp. If we're lucky, she might still be on the safe path and not on the swamp yet. The swamp is the very dangerous part of this trip! It's probably even worse than the Everfree Forest considerin' the fire geysers. Oh sweet Celestia, I hope she's okay!"

"Don't worry, Applejack." I tried to calm her down. "I'll go look for her."

"You're gonna need some equipment!" Applejack pointed out.

I shook my head. "It's fine. I can fly, see?" I spread out my wings, and seemed to relieve her a bit.

"Oh, that's so great! Thank you!" Applejack held me tightly. "You listen here. Alright, Alex? As soon as you find my sister, do NOT move from that spot unless you're in danger. I'm gonna go get somepony to watch the fillies, so I can get ready to come to y'all. Understand?"

"Yeah, of course." I was crystal.

"Now, go! Please find her!"

I nodded determinedly and quickly ran out the door. I spread out my wings and quickly headed towards the direction that Applebloom had left.

I had seen nopony on the peaceful path, which began to worry me and for Applejack. I couldn't let anything happen to Applebloom. I just had to be lucky enough to find her absolutely fine, even if she was in dangerous surroundings. I would have had a better feeling if she was in the Everfree Forest, considering she's been in there before. Zecora living there was another advantage. However, Applejack spoke of fire geysers and that's way too dangerous! Even for me!

I finally entered the hazardous swamp Applejack had talked about. My first scare was my first sight of the fire geyser. The swamp was extremely burdened with a heavy fog that I almost got scorched up by one of the geysers. If that wasn't enough, after I was startled, I was startled yet again and once more by several lying around the first one. I could handle the Everfree Forest with friends, but this swamp on my own? No way!

But I had to find someone special, and that was the only thing driving me. I pushed on, calling Applebloom's name loudly. I didn't get any sign of her. I didn't pass her, did I? If I did, then it must have meant she was deeper in this swamp! Either way, I had to check the swamp thoroughly. She'd be safer back on the path than in the swamp.

I didn't have any clues until I found some unusual prints on the ground. They were large prints…and they definitely couldn't have been friendly. I quickly increased my speed to catch up to the source of these prints. I could only continuously run hope by my mind that Applebloom was okay.

"I really wish my sister were here!" I heard Applebloom's voice cry out in distress.

I gasped and dashed in the direction of the sound to see little Applebloom cornered by some kind of huge three different headed monster. The snake part of the body hissed as it opened its mouth wide to take out a bite of Applebloom.

"Not on my watch…!" I growled under my breath and strung out a beam of magic to intervene.

"Hhuaah?!" The snake, which seemed to be a female by the sound of the voice, shook her head in either pain or confusion.

I used that time to make my way towards Applebloom and stand protectively in front of her. "Way to stoop so low that you tried to take a little girl!" I exclaimed in disgust.

"Alex, you're here!" Applebloom expressed in surprise.

"Go hide, Applebloom." I glanced over and directed.

She did so, leaving me with the gigantic creature in front me.

"I hope you're substituting for that little filly because my sisters and I have a really big appetite." The somewhat saber-toothed cat part of the body mentioned, also producing a female voice.

"I guess you're going home hungry, because you're surely getting no piece from me." I readied myself for anything they might try at the sudden.

"You're on our territory now." The goat informed by threat. "If you think you have any chance of escaping, you're going to have a bad time!" She pointed at me and commanded her sisters. "Charge!"

I focused on the ground behind them and teleported so, confusing them for a second. "Looks like you've never handled an Alicorn before, so I think you're going to be the ones having a bad time!" Of course, I knew I couldn't rely on teleportation if they didn't give me enough time to focus it.

They faced me and squished against their legs to pounce on me. I jumped as far as I could to the side, avoiding any contact with their physical body. Noticing that I was still in their reach, the cat tried to bite at me, having me jump and fly up to only be attacked by the snake several times while I had to swiftly dodge each lunge.

Then again…it was technically three-against-one.

I tried to work with what I had and grabbed the snake's head just as it tried to lunge at me. I wrapped it around the body of the monster to meet back up at the top. As they tried to kick me off, I instead focused my kicks to their head in order to get them to knock out or surrender. "Stand…down…!" I grunted as I ordered.

The snake managed to free herself as I was too focused on the other heads and allowed her other sisters to turn the entire body around fiercely. The force knocked me off and pushed me towards the ground. Unfortunately, I landed on my side and felt a light sore pain coming from the area. I wasn't sure if there was a direct impact on my wing. Either way, I had actually forgotten that I was supposed to be careful with my wings, and here I was fighting a three-headed monster.

Nevertheless, I quickly pushed myself up before the creature could land a blow.

"Those look tasty…" The snake ogled my wings. "You won't be able to escape without your wings if they happened to be bitten off."

Great. Now, they're going to be after my wings.

As they rushed towards me, I tried to keep them off by shooting them with my magic, but it wasn't until later that I realized what they were trying to do.

"Can't keep up with all of us now, can you?" The cat questioned sinisterly.

"Get away!" I exclaimed and continued to try keep them off.

Suddenly, I heard a low whisper behind me. "Boo."

The snake had snuck behind me while I was too busy with the big problems. Before I could react accordingly, the snake took its chance to bite ahold of me and earned a cry of pain in reaction. I focused my horn angrily and blasted it off my wing. She took a few of its feathers along with her.

"Nice work, sister!" The cat praised. "He's just about worn himself out!"

She lunged at me once again, and I jumped to the first open place I could find.

I really hadn't thought things through as a fire geyser burst out just as I passed by to escape. Fortunately, I wasn't directly in the flames, but some of it caught hold of my left wing. It was an extremely intense burn, leaving me to fall to the floor to try to put it out.

"Why, look, sisters!" One of them enjoyed the sight of the state I was in. "Our dinner is preparing himself! Oh, but he's only partially cooked. We're going to need to finish that, aren't we?"

I don't know if I was able to put the same flame out by somewhat rolling on my side against the dirt, but I could hardly move because of the pain. At that time, I felt it immediately relieve…but consequentially my eyes lost their sight and I believed I was passing out.

Spirit

"Ugh!" The goat head spoke up. "Finally! I really hate fumbling around with our dinner."

"Ssstill better than having that filly." The snake added.

"Would've been better with both." The cat expressed before they began taking their first steps towards devouring Alex.

But, to their surprise, Alex was safely encased inside a force of pure light.

"What's going on?!" The big sister questioned in the state of utter confusion.

"You're not taking one step closer to him!" I revealed myself in front of Alex, putting on my angriest face.

"Well, well. Our dinner just seems to be walking straight towards us this afternoon. I can't believe how lucky we are." The big sister told the others.

"Just try me!" I narrowed my eyes.

"We'd be happy to include you in our meal!" The goat head shared before they began charging straight towards me.

I ran around them and climbed on their back to do what Alex should have done in the first place. I jumped on top of the body and began aggressively hopping and stomping with each of my hooves against the snake, just like any other pony would do to an ugly bug they see. Once the snake was taken care of, I grabbed ahold of her with my teeth and began bashing the others' heads with their own sister. Finally, I spat out the snake once they were dazed enough. "Try to take a bite out of this!" I exclaimed, grabbed ahold of the snake, and jumped down to swing in front of them. They shook their heads to get out of their daze, but it was all a part of the plan. Once they saw me swinging in front of them, they focused on biting me instead of realizing that their sister was with me. They both lunged their heads to chomp, but they ended up chomping on their own snake sister. They must have shared the pain because once they did, they all groaned and yelled loudly in pain.

"Don't worry! I'm comin'!" I heard a familiar voice shout from not too far.

I turned to tend to Alex. "You've got this, Alex…" I mentioned with a small smile before I went on to help him up.

Alex

Light flashed and faded around me, and I was soon back up on my hooves. I didn't even feel the pain anymore! I quickly looked at my wings to see that…they were good as before! What just happened?!

"Alex, I'm right here!" I heard Applejack shout out. She quickly spotted me and raced towards me, wearing most likely the equipment she had told me about earlier. "What happened?! Are you okay?! Where's Applebloom?!"

"I'm fine." I nodded. "I just—"

"RRAAGH!" I heard a ferocious growl coming our way.

The three-headed monster ran and soon began to pounce towards us. Without even doing anything, a beam of light shot out from me and landed a critical hit towards the sisters. They both fell in their place and knocked out cold.

Applejack allowed her jaw to open in shock while I had no clue on how to explain what I just did. I didn't believe I did anything. It felt more of a self-protection mechanism to me. Nevertheless, Applejack shook her head and faced me again. "Is Applebloom okay?"

"I'm right here, sis!" Applebloom walked out of her hiding space.

Applejack released a great relieved sigh and faced the unconscious fiend. "Good thing I brought my rope." Applejack unraveled it and easily wrapped it around the creature, tying it up tightly to make sure the sisters couldn't move at all. At least for a long time. She turned back to Applebloom. "Are you okay?"

Applebloom nodded gratefully. "Thanks for coming to get me!" She thanked.

Applejack was relieved to see her little sister safe, but that didn't excuse Applebloom for what she did.

"I told you you need your big sister lookin' after you!" Applejack immediately scolded when she replaced her relieved smile with a frown. "I'm just glad this wasn't a whole lot worse." As Applejack continued ranting, Applebloom lowered her eyelids halfway in an unenthused manner and turned around to walk somewhere specific. "I mean, sure we lost the cart and all the pies, but at least you're—" Applejack shut her mouth once she saw Applebloom bring out the huge cart she had been needing to take earlier. "Huh, the cart! And all the pies! You actually got them all the way up here? In the dark? Through the Flame Geyser Swamp? Past that monster?" Applejack lowered her shock and looked back in slight regret. "...By yourself?"

"Well... yeah." Applebloom responded briefly, surprisingly showing no hint of pride of her actions whatsoever.

"Huh, wow." Applejack imagined the scene in her mind. "That's mighty impressive! Anypony who can do that on her own, well, she don't need somepony like me babyin' her."

Applebloom eyes subtly shook with excitement after hearing that come straight out of Applejack's mouth. The two expressed their sisterly love as they shared a meaningful hug. Even in the horrid setting we were in, the two of them still managed to warm my heart.

Once they pulled away, Applebloom walked up to me. "Alex, are you okay? I heard some pretty awful things. It sounded like even somepony like you was in trouble."

"I'm fine actually." I replied with a both happy and relieved facial expression. I lightly patted and rubbed her mane playfully. "Come on. We don't want to stick around here for the pies to get all burned up, now do we?"

"Yup." Applejack agreed. "We gotta get this grub to their respectful owners!"

When we finally arrived at the location, I could hardly believe that someone in a swamp ordered a bunch of pies that had to be delivered through a dangerous route. In fact, I never knew a town in a swamp even existed. There was kind of an icky feeling in the air, which I'm sure Rarity would think twice about before coming here. Actually…she wouldn't even come here in the first place…

Applejack had set up shop to see the ponies that lived in the apparent town immensely enjoy the treats they bought. They ate them as if it was the only time they could in the year, which was pretty believable after what we had been through.

"Mm-hm!" One of them expressed joyfully with cheeks full of pie. "Andouille! This pie's even tastier than my momma's swamp water casserole!" I slightly flinched at the sound of that. Swamp Water Casserole…? No offense but…blegh. Nevertheless, they all cheered in agreement to that statement. However there was a certain pony standing at the porch of a home who clearly had her feelings hurt. "Aw, now, momma, don't be like that."

"Just remember, you fellas wouldn't be enjoyin' these pies if it weren't for my sister!" Applejack mentioned and indirectly praised.

"And my friends!" Applebloom jumped in joy after hearing Applejack say that.

"But this don't change the fact that tryin' to make this delivery on your own was a plumb crazy thing to do!" Applejack reminded, bringing a saddened frown to Applebloom's face.

"I know..." Applebloom acknowledged.

Applejack scoffed. "I bet Granny Smith grounds you for a month for sneakin' out! And if Big Mac, Granny Smith 'n I ever have to be away for the day again..." Applebloom lowered her head in order to prepare for what she was about to hear until something else surprised her. "I would totally trust you to stay home and take care of things on your own. I guess I did get a little carried away watchin' over you…" Applejack eyes glanced over to me with a small sheepish smile. "You don't know how much you scared me, Applebloom. And knowing that you actually snuck out and almost made me sisterless, I'd love it a heaps more if you stayed at home alone instead."

"Yes!" Applebloom exclaimed in pure joy. "Now that is the kind of 'looking after me' that I can definitely appreciate! So... we're good?"

"Little sister…" Applejack placed a hoof around Applebloom to bring her in for another hug. "We're always good."

As I smiled warmly at the sight again, I felt something behind me. I turned to look around in surprise until I saw Spirit smiling in the same manner as I did. She had been poking out from behind a tree. Once she knew that I saw her, she turned around and quietly walked off.

Applebloom laid asleep on top of the cart with the springy pie as we were close to entering Sweet Apple Acres. My mother's moon was up, and it seemed Applejack could use some rest herself as well. As should would say, she was "plum tuckered out".

"You know…" Applejack spoke a bit quietly. "I can't ever thank you enough for what you did."

"It's what I do." I answered with a bit of a short shrug and small smile.

"Hm." Applejack beamed lightly. "I know they would've loved you…"

"Who?" I asked, intrigued by Applejack's sudden comment. However, she didn't really answer. By the look on her face, I wasn't sure if she even could have, leading me to let her know something. "Applejack…" I called her, breaking the short silence that had been created. "If there's anything ever bothering you. Something you need to let out. I'm right here, okay? Or whenever you want to talk about it, just let me know."

Applejack's eyes moved away to the side. "Hm. You're sweet." She looked back at me. "Thanks, Alex."

"Of course." I affirmed.

We walked onto the soil of Sweet Apple Acres before we knew it, leaving Applejack to put away the cart and pick up her sleeping little sister. I stayed with Applejack until we were at her front door.

"I'm really glad I got to know you more than just a customer." She reminded. "Guess my heart was in the right place when I felt I should get to know you, even though my head was worried you'd push me away."

"I can't blame you…" I looked away, rubbing my head at the memory of it. "I kinda did."

"But we became friends anyway, right?" Applejack poked my chest in a playful manner.

"Yeah, we did." I nodded and laughed a little.

Applejack chuckled along as well until we heard Applebloom mumble a bit. "I'm gonna go get this one to bed, then grab some shut-eye for myself. You have a good night, Alex."

"Same to you."

Applejack's smile stretched lightly. She decided to give me a peck on the cheek before she turned and waved. "See you." She was about to head inside before she was confronted by another pony.

"It's about time!" Her voice mentioned worriedly. "I was wondering when you'd be back! Is Applebloom fine?"

"She's just great, Rarity." Applejack answered. "Just tuckered out. Thanks for watching the little ones."

"But of course!" Rarity accepted gracefully.

"See you next time, Rarity." Applejack said as Rarity walked out with a relieved Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.

"Yes, indeed!" Rarity waved, exiting out of the home. She stopped to notice me. "Oh, there you are!" She grabbed my head to observe me all around. "How are you feeling?!"

"Just fine, Rarity." I assured with a smile as I placed her hooves back down.

"Well, that's a relief." Rarity expressed as she held a hoof to her chest.

"Alex can do anything!" Sweetie Belle stated. "He's an Alicorn Prince!"

"You'd be surprised…" I told Sweetie Belle, as she would have probably been crying had she seen me almost lose to that monster. "It's always friends that matter the most."

"Yeah!" Scootaloo agreed. "Just like how we helped Applebloom escape!" Rarity returned a stern look while I formed a more "unapproving" one. "Heheh…" Scootaloo chuckled nervously. "But I mean, you guys all helped in getting Applebloom in the end, so that's what counts!"

"Yes." Rarity agreed. "But you need to learn to not have your friends be placed in such dangerous circumstances."

"I know." Sweetie Belle accepted. "We were just trying to help Applebloom. We didn't know that she would actually have to go through a dangerous swamp."

"Well, worry no more. Everypony is safe and we can all have a good night's rest!" Rarity said proudly.

"Boy…" Scootaloo mentioned. "I guess sometimes it's good to have a pony watching over you, huh?"

"Hm…" I thought back when I saw Spirit in the swamp. There was no way I could have gotten up in time before being eaten by that creature… Spirit was there…in the swamp… She was the only one who could have saved me before Applejack got there… I smiled lightly at the thought. "You know…" I spoke to the others.

"Hm?" They all wondered.

Feeling confident in my answer, I responded.

"I think I've got somepony watching over me too."

Maud Pie

Episode 83 – Maud Pie

At first, it was a little hard to chew the candy Pinkie Pie recently made…literally. It was almost like a solid frozen piece of candy that was just soft enough to break through with teeth. After the candy was chewed, the remains sure were determined to stick on the teeth.

"Gummy and I are so happy you're already here to help us taste test this candy!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed in glee, mentioning her pet alligator whom held the entire piece of candy in his mouth and remained motionless. He only blinked his eyes every now and then and didn't seem to show any signs of swallowing it anytime soon.

"I'm glad to." I responded back, picking out another piece to struggle in chewing. "Well…to be honest, I'm a little tired. Why'd you make so much of this and why'd you wake me up so early?" I asked.

"I spent all night making this." Pinkie proceeded to explain as she messed with a few more rock candies in a bowl, appearing to want to mix multiple things that were too solid to do so. "You won't believe it, but one of my sisters - her name is Maud - is finally coming to Ponyville! You don't know how long it's been since I've actually seen her. This whole time, we've just been sending each other letters and our rock candy necklaces!"

"Rock candy necklaces?" I questioned.

"Yeah!" She replied. "Necklaces made of rock candy! Oh, I love her so much. That's why I need all this rock candy to be perfect for her! She's going to be here later on today, and I need as much help and time I can get!"

I looked at the piles of rock candy she had in her room. "I hope the help you're talking about is a lot more than just me…"

"Of course, silly!" Pinkie assured. "I just didn't go to you. I knocked on Rarity's, Twilight's, Rainbow Dash's, Fluttershy's, and Applejack's door and left a note. It should only be a matter of time until they get here!"

"Well, seeing all the effort you put here, it seems you really want to surprise your sister in the best way you can. You must really love her a lot." I stated.

"You have no idea!" She dumped the candy she had been mixing into the large pile of rock candy. "Since we were raised in a rock farm, we didn't really have any other ponies to talk to! She was like my bestest friend and at the same time my sister! You know what that feels like, don't you?!"

That kind of hit me in my soft spot. "Actually…" I paused to be reminded of Starlight.

"Oh, no no no!" Pinkie quickly shook her hooves and her head. "I'm so sorry! Just forget that last part! I mean, it's not like I'm saying if you had a sister she would be like that to you, it's just that you didn't and I forgot and now I have no idea of what I'm trying to say!"

"Pinkie." I called her as she already seemed to be stressing out to the point of tears. "You don't have to worry about me. I really kind of do know what you mean." I tapped a hoof at my chin in thought. "It's just like Twilight…only the friend part comes first before the sister…" I shrugged. "But I guess not all of us can grow up with our sisters being our best friends, huh?"

"I guess." Pinkie slightly agreed a bit sadly.

Figuring I needed to get Pinkie back on track, I walked over to her and hugged her to get her mind off it.

Growing a grin, she turned her eyes towards me. "If it makes it any better, I know Maud will really like you, so that's another friend on your list!"

"I believe you." I confirmed with another smile.

There was a knock on a door, alarming Pinkie Pie. "Ooh! That must be them!" She dashed out for several seconds before she quickly came back and returned to her rock candy business. A group of hooves stepped on the ground before they came in sight, leading Pinkie to issue out a warning. "Careful!" She pointed towards the pieces of rock candy on the floor.

"What is all this?" Twilight asked after shaking the pieces of rock candy off her hoof. She was with the others as they had their first sight of the candy fiesta that stood before them.

"My sister Maud's gonna be here soon, and I need your help taste-testing my rock candy recipes!" Pinkie Pie explained.

"Uh, we're happy to help you, Pinkie Pie, but this seems like an awful lot of candy." Applejack mentioned after noticing the entire piles of candy literally almost everywhere.

"Even for you!" Rarity added fearfully.

"I may have gone a teensy bit overboard." She sheepishly shared and revealed a large grin afterwards.

"There's so much of it…" I pushed away my bowl that still contained a mild amount of various pieces of rock candy. "I'm already full…"

"I can help you with that." Fluttershy lightly flew over to me with a soft smile, seeing the opportunity as a semi-date. She sat in front of the bowl I had and picked up a piece of candy. She brought it to her mouth and began to chew. However, she was surprised at first, seeing how the candy was pretty rocky and somewhat hard. Nevertheless, she managed to finish and swallow. "It's good…" She commented. "But it's a little crunchy…"

"Welp. Better get started." Rainbow headed towards a pile, leading for the others to do the same.

They all started slow, as I didn't believe that they had actually eaten this type of candy before. Eventually, they picked up the pace as if they were eating regular candy while I playfully fed the pieces of candy to Fluttershy. Despite all the candy that was already present, Pinkie Pie seemed to believe she needed to make more, and she did so, all while giving us more details on her sister Maud. In time, the pace slowed down once again. Even if I wasn't painfully full, there's a limit to how much candy you could eat before you got sick. With the rock candy, I didn't feel that good after consuming a certain amount, so I had to stop. Everypony soon seemed to feel the same way.

Stomachs and appetites were bloated, and there was a collection of groaning moans. Twilight even had the courage to toss one more red one in her mouth before Pinkie Pie, whom was the only one not feeling the pain of full capacities, rolled over a can overfilled with more rock candies. "Everypony ready for more?" The piles in the background weren't even finished yet!

"Ugh. My teeth hurt." Rainbow Dash spat pieces of rock candy out of her mouth as she held her hooves to her stomach. That was another reason for the pain, especially since this was our first time eating rock candy really.

Fluttershy was only able to respond with a groan, having me feel sorry that she came along to help with us.

"I think we've had plenty." Applejack answered for us. "You said Maud was going to be here soon a while back. Shouldn't you be on your way to pick her up from the train station?"

"Oh, but you've only tried half of the flavors, and we have to choose the perfect ones before she gets here so I have time to make more!" Pinkie Pie denied the need to go out and grabbed a legfull of candy to stuff down her throat. She obviously seemed to have no problem swallowing it.

"Maud is your sister. I'm sure she'll love your rock candy." Twilight confronted Pinkie Pie and assured her. "And I'm pretty sure you've made enough." She glanced back at the unfinished stacks of rock candy. "She's only staying for the week, right?"

"Aw, it's not just for Maud, silly." Pinkie Pie responded, surprising Twilight. "I'm making candy for all of us!" Her correction led to another simultaneous group of moans from the girls. "It's part of a very important, super-duper special tradition that only the closest and bestest of friends can share!" She made her point clearly and seriously. "We're going to make rock candy necklaces together!" She held up an example of the necklace and squealed excitedly loud.

"About that…" I began as I soothed my ears after hearing that loud scream. "What's so important about the rock candy necklaces?"

Pinkie looked back in thought and appeared to begin drifting off into the days of her memories. "It all started when Maud and I were fillies on the rock farm." She then pointed a hoof upwards to reveal she had gotten an idea. She ran to retrieve a coloring book, placed it in front of us, and began using her crayons to draw colorful pictures to describe what she meant. "She taught me the Pie family rock candy recipe! It adds a secret ingredient." She looked towards us and held a hoof near her mouth. She answered with a loud whisper. "It's rocks!" Afterwards, she continued normally. "And she showed me how to string the pieces to make them into a necklace! And once we were done, we'd trade!" She dropped her crayon and bounced back up to continue speaking. "Maud and I have been trading necklaces back and forth since I moved to Ponyville. They're a sign that we'll always be best friends!" Pinkie ended with a bright beam.

"Aw, what a great tradition." Applejack expressed, seeing how adorable the relationship between Pinkie and her sister was.

The rest of the girls showed similar expressions except for one.

"Hold on. The secret ingredient is rocks?" Rainbow Dash questioned shockingly.

I just realized that specific part and held a hoof towards my stomach. "…we ate…rock?"

"Yes and no!" Pinkie Pie responded. "These are a special kind of rock that Maud discovered!"

"Oh, what kind of a rock are they?" Fluttershy asked intriguingly.

"Can't tell ya that, silly!" Pinkie then proceeded in a whisper. "It's a secret!" She whispered and patted Fluttershy's head. "Now that Maud is heading out to get her rocktorate in rock science, this may be our last chance to trade them for a really long time."

After she mentioned that last part about her education, I actually grew pretty interested. "Wow. She must really be interested in rocks to pursue a learning in…rock science."

"Wait till you see her! She's all about rocks!" Pinkie Pie replied and then sighed lightly. "I can't wait for you all to meet her. I just know that my best Ponyville friends and my best sister friend are gonna become bestest friends! We can make bestest-est friend rock candy necklaces together!" She galloped over to Rarity and wrapped a hoof around her. "She expresses herself through fashion just like Rarity, and she's really smart and loves reading just like Twilight!" She held Twilight as well. "And she's honest, and loves forest things, and is good at games, and artsy, and..." Pinkie had grabbed ahold of all us and held us all closely bunched up together. "Well, oh, she's awesome!"

"She sounds amazing, but won't she start worrying if you aren't at the train station when she gets here?" Rarity strained the sound through her lips as she was being squeezed between Pinkie and Twilight.

"She sure will!" Pinkie Pie reacted casually before she realized how awful that really was with a loud gasp. "I gotta get out of here!" She accidentally threw all of us aside and ran out the door to do so.

"A-hem…" Rarity reacted as she recovered from the impact Pinkie gave us. She wiped her forelegs free of dirt as the others got back on their hooves. "Shall we get the picnic started then?"

"Picnic?" I asked, not familiar that we had planned to do this.

"Yeah." Twilight stated. "In Pinkie's note she had left for each of us. Didn't you get one?"

Looking back in the morning, I believed I hadn't, especially with how Pinkie notified me about her rock candy. "Actually…I didn't get a note. She waited until I came out. I guess she must have come to me last." I shrugged.

"If you all don't mind…" Rarity spoke as she stood in front of Pinkie's mirror to observe herself. "I would truly appreciate it if you can get the food and refreshments ready."

"What do you mean?" Applejack questioned.

"It's just that…I need to find and put together something to wear for Pinkie's sister." She paused and looked closely at her reflection, making several gestures. "Oh… This might be a bit hard… I need to find something that just speaks rock."

"I don't think you need to do that, Rarity." Applejack offered her thoughts.

"If I'm ever to befriend this Maud, I say I must!" She turned and faced Applejack dramatically serious.

"I think you can do just fine being yourself." I offered.

That kept Rarity silent for a moment as her eyes wandered around. Even though she seemed to take it to thought, she didn't really budge. "First impressions are important! I must go now." Afterwards, she trotted out.

"Don't forgot about Opal!" Rainbow Dash reminded.

"What?" I questioned. "You're bringing the pets too?"

"Course." Applejack answered. "I think it's a good thing to do. We want to be sure that we are as friendly as possible to Pinkie's sister. We sure don't want her getting any wrong ideas."

"Pinkie said Maud had a pet too." Fluttershy added.

"Ah." I certainly seemed to be the only one lost since I didn't exactly get a note. "Makes sense. Alright then."

After everypony decided on what they were going to bring for the picnic, I stuck with Fluttershy for her list until we headed to the area of the picnic. We weren't in a super rush or anything, but we couldn't exactly dilly dally either. Pinkie Pie had already gone to the train station to wait for/pick up Maud, and we had to be ready so Maud wouldn't have to wait to eat and enjoy herself.

As Fluttershy and I walked on the road, I was actually pretty nervous/excited for some reason. I guess for the first time, we were meeting somepony we were going to befriend. All of the other friends I had made, like Octavia, Derpy, Vinyl, even Coco Pommel, were kind of on accident and unintentional. Not that it was a bad thing, of course, I just wasn't…expecting to make a friend at the time.

Actually…Octavia would have been one of those friends had she not performed that outburst the first time I met her. As soon as those memories flooded back in my mind, I began feeling more nervous than excited, as I worried if Maud might be the same way. However, this time, I had all my friends with me, so I didn't think I should worry.

"Are you nervous?" Fluttershy asked me.

"A little, I guess…" I briefly answered.

"She's Pinkie's sister…so I think she should be fun." She told me.

"Yeah… Right…" I took in a heavy breath and released it to hopefully ease my nerves.

We found Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Applejack already having a nice set up as their pets roamed around. Fluttershy walked in with a smile and placed the basket of sandwiches and bowl of salad she brought. "I sure hope Maud has an appetite."

Angel had poked his head from Fluttershy's body and smelled something in the air. He focused his eyes on a certain basket and ran for it.

"Never met a pony or critter who didn't love Granny Smith's apple spiced muffins!" Applejack mentioned, noticing Angel heading for her basket full of muffins. However, she easily rejected him from digging in.

"Rarity's not here yet?" I asked, noticing she was the only one not around besides Pinkie Pie.

"Not that we know of…" Rainbow Dash answered.

"Oh, it's no use! I simply cannot find anything suitable to wear!" We finally heard her voice make its way towards us. Rarity took her seat as she revealed this out of the ordinary hat she was wearing. In fact, it looked more like she had thrown on a purple top hat and just glued what looked like glass rocks on them. Despite her efforts, one of the pieces of rocks fell off and landed inside the muffin basket.

"I doubt she'll notice what anypony's wearing, so what's the big deal?" Rainbow asked.

"The big deal is that it will be very difficult to show Maud what a strong fashion presence we have in Ponyville if the most fashion-forward pony here can't keep her hat from falling apart!" Rarity answered as pieces continued to fall off and ended with a scrunched face in distress.

"I thought you wanted to make a good first impression." Rainbow recalled.

"Well… That too!" Rarity replied.

"Can't blame anypony for being nervous." Twilight said. "Maud is Pinkie Pie's sister, and it's obvious Pinkie really wants us to hit it off. Being able to make those rock candy necklaces together is really important to her. I'm sure everything will be fine—"

"We're heeeere!" We heard Pinkie's voice from the distance. We looked to see her waving from the top of the hill. Then, she started to excitedly bounce back towards us.

I couldn't help but feel a little nervous for meeting this new pony, but I noticed that I didn't see anypony right behind Pinkie.

"Where's Maud?" Twilight asked when Pinkie Pie was back, noticing that Maud wasn't with her.

"She's coming!" Pinkie assured and looked back with a wide grin in anticipation.

However, as we all stared at the top of the hill to wait for her to come out in sight, it began to appear as if somehow Pinkie Pie had actually forgotten about her.

"Uh... you sure?" Rainbow questioned after the moment of silence.

"She's not quite as fast as me." Pinkie Pie explained, making some sense. "I asked Gummy to stay with her in case she got lost!" She turned back to the top of the hill, excitedly expecting Maud to show up while we all remained pretty clueless and lost with a hint of doubt.

After another moment with slight awkward silence, we finally noticed something appear. It was a head, but the body was slow to join in sight. After a little uncomfortable while, the body was now fully visible, but it was growing at a slow pace…very slow place.

"Is she even moving?" I heard Rainbow whisper.

Despite going downhill, Maud really took her time in joining us.

"We're over here, Maud!" Pinkie screamed energetically.

As far as I could tell, there was no change in Maud's facial expressions. She retained the same expression throughout the entire walk. There was no smile after hearing Pinkie Pie's scream. There was no worry that she might have been taking too long. There was not even any sign of nervousness coming from her end. It was just…blank.

Nevertheless, when she finally arrived, the others and I lifted up our smiles to begin our friendly approach. As Gummy remained attached to her tail with his gums, she only stared at us with no expression at all. In fact, it looked like she may have been irritated to be here with us today, or it was as if she had had a bad day. But then she faced her eyes towards the ground, seeming to notice a rock.

She lowered her head at the rock and closed her eyes, allowing me to notice eye shadow she wore like Rarity, only it was a purple color instead. She took a sniff at this rock and began to speak. "Hm. Sedimentary." She recorded with an absolute deadpan expression.

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash reacted, landing on her hooves and narrowing her eyes.

"This is a sedimentary rock." She picked it up and showed it to us in a very calm manner.

That's an…odd way to start a conversation with a group of ponies you've never met before…

After yet another short awkward moment, Twilight decided to be the first to break it. "That's... really fascinating, isn't it?" She commented. Then, she approached Maud to speak with her. "We're just so thrilled you could come for a visit before your big trip. Pinkie Pie has told us so much about you. I'm Twilight…" She presented herself. "…and this is Applejack…" She pointed a hoof at Applejack, whom tipped her hat. "…Fluttershy…" Fluttershy waved her hoof shyly. "…Alex…" I only stretched a smile. "…Rainbow Dash…" Rainbow saluted. "…and Rarity." Rarity bowed gracefully.

"We're ever so glad to meet you." Fluttershy shared.

"We're just gonna have the best time!" Applejack included.

Even after the welcoming gesture, it looked to have no effect whatsoever on Maud. She only stood there and continued staring lifelessly at us. The girls were quick to notice this, but this seemed to be a completely normal thing for Pinkie Pie.

"Pinkie Pie tells me you share my love for fashion." Rarity advanced towards Maud, starting another topic to hopefully have a long-lasting conversation.

"I'm really into expressing myself through my wardrobe." Maud responded in an unchanging tone.

"A-and what is the delightful frock you're wearing now saying?" Rarity asked with a bit a nervousness in her eyes.

"It doesn't talk. It's a dress." Maud answered dryly, giving Rarity an odd look.

I honestly couldn't help but snicker at this comment. I know Rarity hadn't meant by the dress literally talking, but the way that Maud answered was just too funny.

Rarity appeared to not know how to handle or respond to that statement, so I joined in to help her out.

"What Rarity means is what does that dress you're wearing express about you?" I said.

"That I like this dress." Her response sounded more like it wanted to be a question, but her tone made it sound more of a statement.

I didn't exactly know how I could have made myself any clearer to what Rarity was asking about, so I remained silent. Winona seemed to prevent yet another awkward moment by running in and barking happily around Maud, to which Maud still showed no change of emotion to.

"Uh, so this here's Winona." Applejack began introducing the pets. "That's Owlowiscious, Tank, Opal, and Angel. Pinkie Pie told us you have a pet, too."

"He's in my pocket." Maud mentioned.

"Oh, you have a pocket pet?" Fluttershy's excitement rose at the thought of Maud's pet, which also led to a rise in Angel's jealousy. "Like a tiny mouse? Or a baby bird? Or a trained butterfly?"

"It's a rock." She answered and tossed out a little pebble towards the ground, surprising and deeply confusing Fluttershy. "His name is Boulder."

Before another awkward silence could ensue, Pinkie Pie screamed out in delight. "This is going to be the best, most awesome, funnest week ever! I can't wait for us all to become bestest friends!"

However, the rest of the girls seemed to laugh rather uncomfortably.

I didn't know why, but I for one kind of liked Maud. Her unintentional humor and serious yet not intimidating attitude amused me. It was weird though. She was so different from the others, but I didn't find it as uncomfortable as anypony else besides Pinkie did.

Things seemed to lighten up when we all began eating though. Maud had been consuming one of Fluttershy's sandwiches until she placed it down on the ground and slid her pet rock right in front of it as if she was offering a bite. She wasn't even joking or anything. By the look on her face, she was dead serious. Even then…for some reason…it really intrigued me.

"Maud?" Applejack called, bringing her attention away from her rock. "Would you like to try one of Granny Smith's famous apple spiced muffins?" She pushed the basket towards Maud, kindly offering one of them.

Maud sniffed them for a while. Instead of grabbing a muffin, she had actually grabbed the piece of rock that had fallen from Rarity's hat earlier.

"Oh, uh, heh, that's not– Um..." Applejack tried to stop/warn her, but Maud continued chewing, which sounded more like crunching, the rock inside her mouth. It didn't even faze her. She was eating the rock like it was nothing to her!

After performing one big crunch, she faced Applejack to get her thoughts on what she just ate. "It's crunchy." She mentioned with her mouth full of rock.

Pinkie Pie decided to take a bite of one of the actual muffins in the basket to join her sister. "Maud's right! They are crunchy!" She slurped the pieces off her mouth. "Yum!"

"So, uh, Pinkie Pie tells us you like games." Rainbow Dash felt the need to change the topic.

"Boulder and I sometimes play a game called 'Camouflage'. It's kind of like hide and seek but way more intense." She actually emphasized without changing her tone at all other than just increasing her pitch by just a little.

"…Awesome?" Rainbow returned confusingly.

"Why don't you go ahead and show them how you play it, Maud? I'm sure they'd love to play along!" Pinkie encouraged.

"Okay." Maud stood up and placed Boulder back in her pocket. "I'm going to go find a bunch of rocks so Boulder can hide." She stood up, turned, and left.

"Wait a minute…" Rainbow began. "She's going to find a bunch of rocks…so Boulder can hide…?!" She turned to us in disbelief. "We have to find an itty bitty pebble in a bunch of rocks?!"

"Of course, silly!" Pinkie answered. "It wouldn't be fun if he had no chance in hiding!"

"It's a rock." Rainbow replied.

"Now, now." Twilight attempted to calm. "It's just a little game. Let's play it with Maud. It shouldn't be too bad."

"He's ready to be found now." Maud appeared nearby and spoke expressionless as usual.

Everypony but Pinkie Pie, whom looked too excited for the game, exchanged unsure looks with one another.

We searched at a sight not too far from the picnic area. There was weirdly a pile of rocks waiting for us to search through. Fortunately, there were a lot of us, so it wasn't as boring or slow as it could have been. Everypony calmly flipped and picked up numerous rocks until things began to become a little unsettling, especially with Rainbow Dash.

"Any luck?" Twilight asked us, despite none of us showing any sign of finding this rock.

"I truly wish I'd spent more time with Boulder, because I'm having a very hard time remembering what he looks like." Fluttershy held up a rock and observed it closely.

"He's a small pebble." I continued through my share of rocks.

"It's like looking for a pebble in a haystack." Applejack compared as she kicked a rock beside her.

"More like in a pile of pebbles." Rarity declared even further as yet another piece of rock on her hat fell to the ground.

"Well, you don't have to make it even harder!" Applejack mentioned to Rarity.

"Ugh! I give up! This is impossible!" Rarity submitted in frustration.

"It'll hurt Maud's feelings if we all stop playing." Twilight argued. "Besides, look how much fun Pinkie Pie's having."

"Is this him? Is this him? Is this him? Is this him?" Pinkie Pie continuously asked Maud, presenting various kinds of rocks and never seeming to lose an ounce of the energy inside her.

"To be honest…" I tapped a hoof on my chin as I stared at the unchanging look on Maud's face. "…I'm not really sure if Maud even has any feelings."

"Of course she does." Twilight said. "Everypony does. She…probably needs a little more time with us to show us so. Just a little longer, okay?" She asked of everypony.

Every one of the girls returned collective groans and continued to unenthusiastically search for Boulder. However, Maud unexpectedly made a deadpan announcement. "Found him." She held the pebble up.

"Oh!" Pinkie Pie concentrated her eyes on him in surprise. "Where was he?"

"He was hiding in my pocket." She answered.

"Oh, come on!" Rainbow shouted out, pushing away the pile of rocks she had been searching in.

"Mm…" I merely tossed the rock away I had on hoof.

Angel hopped by and tapped Fluttershy, pointing her in the direction where the other animals were. They seemed to be bored out of their minds. "I don't mean to interrupt, but we really should get these little critters home." Fluttershy pointed out. "It's getting awfully late, and they've had a very busy day."

"Maud and I better get going too." Pinkie Pie immediately agreed. "I want her to taste the rock candy we're gonna use for our best friends necklaces! Aw, yeah!" She cheered and left with Maud, bringing Gummy along with her.

"She sure is... different from what I expected." Applejack commented after the two were gone.

"We spent all day digging in the dirt, and he was in her pocket the whole time?!" Rainbow complained furiously.

"On the bright side, Boulder seemed really sweet." Fluttershy presented politely.

"He's a rock!" Rainbow Dash screamed out after appearing to be highly in disbelief after Fluttershy's statement.

"Maud was probably just as nervous as we were in meeting her." Twilight offered.

"Maybe she was just acting a little 'off' because she was shy or somethin'." Applejack wondered.

"Good point." Twilight acknowledged. "It must be awfully intimidating to meet all of us at once, especially since we're already such good friends."

"That's true." I agreed, remembering past fake relationships. "We wanted to make good first impressions, right? Well, maybe she wanted to do the same. I think ponies usually don't reveal their true selves until they're comfortable with the ponies they're with."

"Well, she didn't exactly make a good first impression…" Rainbow Dash mentioned with crossed forelegs.

"Look…" Twilight intervened before Rainbow could upset anypony with her stress on the matter. "Maybe we have to put ourselves in Maud's place. Alex is on to something. That could explain why she's so…quiet. If seeing all of us is intimidating her, why don't we all try spending some time with her one-on-one and see where that takes us?"

"I suppose that could work." Rarity accepted, removing the hat off of her head. "I could finally show her how fashionable I can be around here. Perhaps, I can even design her something in start of a good friendship!" Rarity began brainstorming ideas.

"I'm sure she won't mind seeing the beauties of nature." Fluttershy thought with a smile.

"Pinkie Pie said she loves books." Twilight recalled, growing a smile upon her face as well. "I'd love to discuss some of my favorite novels with her."

"She's sure to perk up after drinking the best cider here in Ponyville!" Applejack hoped.

"And…!" Rainbow Dash landed firmly on the ground between us. "This time, I'll show her a real game to play."

After I had only listened quietly at each one of their plans, Twilight turned to me to see what I had in store. "What about you, Alex?"

I thought for a brief moment. Pinkie Pie did say she was artsy. "I guess I could see how creative she is with, you know, art."

"Sounds good. It's settled then." Twilight faced the others in hope and faith. "Tomorrow, we'll show Maud how much fun we can really be."

I used the time before Maud's arrival to prepare what we two could exactly do to bond. I brought out some paints to see if it was something Maud wanted to do…but for some reason, I wasn't really feeling it. Either way, my job was to get closer to Maud.

Knocks tapped on the front door, leading me to excitedly and a bit nervously answer the door. Two mares awaited my appearance. There was Pinkie Pie, whom grinned as widely as she could due to the possibility that she was excited for the time spending between Maud and me, and then there was Maud, whom unfortunately looked like she was going to hate being at my house. However, it was the way she looked throughout her entire visit, so I couldn't let that bother me.

"Come on in." I invited with a confident smile.

"Eehee!" Pinkie giggled and hopped in.

Maud walked in instead in a sort of slow and casual way.

I closed the door and faced her. "Hey." I greeted in an effort to have her respond back, especially if she was shy or nervous as the girls had thought of as an option.

"Hi." She answered, but there was no smile or warming reaction.

It was still something though. She actually said hello to me, which is something that didn't really happen the first time the girls and I met her.

"So, what do you have, Alex?!" Pinkie Pie animatedly bounced repeatedly as she questioned me.

"Just a little painting, I guess." I replied and turned to Maud. "Come on, Maud." If it wasn't for Pinkie, Maud would have followed me into the living room in dead silence. The two of them gathered by me as I revealed to them the paints, paintbrushes, and canvases I had in store. "I don't really get to do art stuff as much anymore, so I'm going to have a nice time doing it with you two." I mentioned.

"Oh boy!" Pinkie expressed. "I'm pretty sure Maud already has a masterpiece waiting to explode out of her mind!"

I glanced over to Maud to see her rest a hoof on the empty canvas, as if she was silently thinking of what she was going to create. Even though I still felt a little uneasy around Maud, it was mainly towards not being a bad pony to her. I didn't want her to get the bad idea of me as Octavia could have. I wanted her to like me and be another friend to add to the list. With the way Maud was, it was very difficult telling how she felt about me. Other than that, I was actually cool with her. I understood that sometimes you don't have to be outgoing or talkative. Maybe you just want to keep to yourself once in a while. After all, if you always spend your time socializing, you don't really have time to get to know yourself. Of course, having a balance is always usually the best option and habit to have.

I didn't really know what to paint when the painting started. Pinkie Pie was already energetically on her way to making something lively and silly like balloons or cupcakes. Maud was calmly doing her own thing. I looked around cluelessly, as I had absolutely no idea. But then, out of nowhere, something came across my mind. I suddenly had the urge to paint the sunset. Of course. It felt perfect. For some reason, it was what I wanted and what I was feeling.

So I did it. Using one light color, I drew out a rough sketch in which details didn't matter. Then, I painted out simple colors like orange, yellow, and red. After that, I began working on the precise matters. I used white, black, and even a few other colors to the first ones to add on to the realism of the scene. Since it was just a sunset, it didn't take much time to finish. I looked around when I was done to ask of the others.

"What do you have, Pinkie Pie?" I asked.

"I've got all things happy!" She threw her brush down and presented her finished canvas. It certainly was what she mentioned. There were just smiles, happiness, and figures/objects that made you smile when you laid your eyes on it.

"Nice." I felt warmth by her painting and then turned to Maud. "What about you, Maud?"

Blankly, she placed her brush on the floor and revealed her painting. "I've got a rock."

Pinkie Pie continued smiling which unintentionally sent a message to me. Maud's actions always made Pinkie smile no matter what. So despite Maud's deadpan personality, she had to be a good pony. I had to ignore any awkward feelings given from the literally expressionless tone she had and see her for who she really was inside. Just like the girls had when they first met me…

Even though Maud's creation was a rock…it was still beautifully done. The details were impressively put into place. Actually, it appeared far better than anything I had ever done. And that was something I could really appreciate about her…

"That's amazing, Maud." I told with a legitimate smile, not one feigned to an uncomfortable situation.

"Thank you." She responded with no change in her tone.

I thought to myself. I didn't really want to end it there with painting. I felt there was a lot more potential to get closer to her. Just like Pinkie Pie wanted. I remembered again about the girls, and took their actions as an example. I wanted to get to know her more, even if I wasn't exactly used to communicating the way she did.

"Hey, Maud." I called. "You want to come upstairs? I've got something you might like to see."

"Sure." She said and stood up to follow me.

"You two go on ahead. I want to stay here and paint more!" Pinkie mentioned as she remained on the floor downstairs.

Maud subtly looked around as she arrived on the second floor. Meanwhile, I carefully searched and pulled out the gem Rarity had given me. I safely placed it where Maud's attention was caught. She observed it in unclear silence for a moment before she returned a comment.

"That rock is beautiful."

"A gem to be exact…" I lightly corrected. "Actually, I think it's a sapphire…" Maud only looked at me, which others would have immediately taken that she was bored. "Sorry." I chuckled a bit and apologized.

"Why?" She questioned.

"It's just…" I tried to explain the truth in a way that wouldn't upset her. After all, I wouldn't even know if she would be upset in the first place. "…it's kind of hard to tell how you're feeling."

"I'm feeling fine." She answered.

"That's…good to hear." I could only really reply, and decided to continue back with what I wanted to do. "Well…all of the girls you've been spending time with are all really important to me." I stated and look towards the gem. "Rarity, the pony who's always on her own tail about what to wear and how to look gave me this literal gem right here." I presented. "Twilight, the bookworm but extremely pleasant pony to be with, gave me this good luck charm." I pulled the charm out. "Rainbow Dash, the absolute jock but loyal and usually dependable one, passed me this whistle if I ever 'needed' her, heh heh." I showed her so. "Fluttershy, the timid but very kind and friendly pony once you get to know her, entrusted me her heart through her own gift." I displayed passionately. "Applejack, the pony you could always count on and hear honestly, donated a seed that is now a little tree outside, and your very sister made a cupcake for me to enjoy and remember." As I saw Maud's unchanging face again, I felt that I might have been trailing off a bit once more. "What I'm trying to say is…these ponies gave me chance when I was at my lowest, and I could never forget that. I'm hoping that we could…be really good friends too."

Maud blinked and then responded. "Okay."

I didn't feel too confident about that. "So…" I paused and thought for a moment on how I could connect more with her. Stupidly or not, I decided to try to match the tone of my voice with hers. "Would you like it more if I talked like this?" I offered.

She remained silent for a few seconds before she answered. "I like you."

I shook my head in surprising disbelief. "You do?" My expressions returned.

"But you don't have to change yourself if you want to be my friend. It's better when ponies are just themselves." Maud clarified.

"Sorry…" I apologized again, but I at least began feeling more comfortable in explaining the truth to her. "It's just that…it's really hard to tell whether you're being serious or sarcastic…"

"I'm not being sarcastic. I'm being totally serious." She mentioned, which didn't exactly help.

"Like that sentence right there." I referred to with a little laugh. "Sorry, I don't want you to change anything about yourself either…I mean…unless you want to change…" I shook my head, feeling I was getting off track. "You get my point. I just wish I kind of…knew absolutely what you felt."

"Well…" Maud looked to the side before facing back to me. "I guess you just have to trust me until you get used to me."

"I guess I can't argue with that." I declared with a small grin. "In the meantime, you've been hearing what I've said about me. I'd like to hear more about you, if you don't mind. Like…how's it like back on the rock farm?"

"It's pretty calm." She responded. "Back when we were little, besides working on the rock farm, I always used to crush rocks."

"Really?" I returned and became intrigued, showing it by motioning my head closer to hear her story. "Why?"

"For one, it was something to pass the time." She answered. "But also…it was for Pinkie Pie." This immediately caught all of my attention. "I love all my sisters, but Pinkie Pie concerned me the most. I don't know if she's told you the story, but she wasn't as energetic and enthusiastic as she is now. One day, she was just all happy and bouncy. And she even threw a party for us that…well…kind of made us felt what she felt that day. That was a good thing…but it wasn't until later that I realized it was also a bit of a bad thing." I didn't need to question her again to show her that I really wanted to know why. "Since Pinkie Pie was a lot more energetic, she was more prone to accidents on the rock farm. Seeing as we only have rocks and rocks, boulders and boulders, and stones and stones, who knows if Pinkie might one day cause a rock slide or something worse?" At that point, she actually revealed a small bit of real expression. "I don't know." She continued. "But I wanted to make sure my sister stayed safe around a rock farm so…" She didn't need to explain any further.

"Wow…" I reacted. "That's…really caring of you. I really respect that."

"Thank you." She returned. "I hope she's been safe here too?"

"We do the best we can to stay on her." I stated with a small chuckle.

Pinkie Pie suddenly rushed up the stairs to meet with us. "Hey, Maud! We better get going! We don't want to miss any of the fun things we have to do before you leave!"

"Okay." Maud answered in the opposite way, leaving Pinkie to dash back down and wait at the front door.

"So…is it safe to say that we're friends?" I hoped.

"Yeah." She shared with no expression as usual, but this led me to remember her words.

"Great." I smiled and saw her off to leave with Pinkie.

When I walked back into the living room after they left, I noticed how Pinkie made a few more paintings with us being friends with Maud and making our rock candy necklaces.

The girls and I all met in front of Sugarcube Corner to prepare ourselves in making the rock candy necklaces. It was a bit worrying when I seemed to be the only one holding an eager smile on my face while the others didn't.

"How'd it go with you all?" I asked.

Instead of answering, they only looked at each other with frowning faces. Before I could question them on that, Pinkie Pie, who had been the only one absent from the group, showed up at the front of the shop as she forced the door open excitedly. "Great, you're all here! Maud is out looking for rocks, so this is the perfect time for us to set up everything we'll need to make our best friend rock candy necklaces!" Pinkie whirled her hooves around in front of her, but she soon found it odd when I was the only one who appeared ready. She stopped and looked around to observe the girls' faces. "What's wrong?"

"Well, I'm not sure it's the best time to make best friend rock candy necklaces." Twilight took a moment to respond as she kicked her hoof in the dirt.

"Why not?" Pinkie Pie cluelessly asked, bearing my curiosity as well.

"Uh..." Twilight struggled to speak.

"Well, darling, you see..." Rarity tried continuing after Twilight glanced over to her but immediately paused. She turned her eyes towards Fluttershy and backed off nervously.

"You're ever so thoughtful to share your special bonding ritual with us, but, uh..." Fluttershy stopped, proving unable to explain either.

"But what?" Pinkie Pie pursued, seeming to not catch on to their nervous behavior.

Rainbow Dash buried her mouth in front of her hooves and she held on to the mailbox in front of the building, not sparing a single word. It was as if all of these girls accidentally hurt Maud badly or something…

It wasn't until the Element of Honestly finally sighed and spoke up. "The truth is, we've all been tryin' real hard to get closer to Maud, but, well... maybe some ponies just don't click the way others do." After hearing Applejack perform the most difficult part, the rest of them muttered in agreement. "We just wouldn't feel right makin' somethin' that means we're best friends if, well, we aren't."

After hearing those last brutal words, Pinkie's hair instantly deflated as her heart was shattered in pieces, almost just like when Cheese Sandwich came into town. "Oh. Okay." Despite the obvious reaction, she still tried to answer in a happy manner. "If anypony needs me, I'll be in here trying to figure out what to do with two hundred pounds of rock candy." She backed away, grabbed the door handle, and closed the door shut. I could only imagine what she was now doing inside.

As the girls all shared and exchanged looks of remorse and guilt, I brought myself up to question what exactly happened to make them sound as if they could not get along with Maud at all.

"None of you were able to feel like friends with Maud?" I asked. I wasn't expecting them to be best friends…but at least feel a bit more comfortable with her, especially how they got along with me at the state I was way before.

"Believe us, we all did." Twilight answered. "But…we just didn't…feel anything…" Twilight glanced over to the girls around her. "We didn't feel…any spark."

Rarity stepped up. "I thought I'd have a better time knowing we'd focus solely on fashion…but I wasn't expecting her to find a dish towel suitable as something to wear. I thought she'd adore fashion such as the dresses I design. To be frank, darling, I don't see how I could share any common interests with a pony who wears a dish towel as a scarf."

Fluttershy continued next. "I tried sharing my love of animals with her…but all she seemed to be interested was rocks…"

"Same here…" Twilight agreed. "But instead of animals, it was with my books and literature. I thought we'd have something to talk all day about when Maud said she writes her own poetry…but when I heard some samples of it…they were all just about rocks… She said she's written thousands of poems about rocks! How am I supposed to connect with that?"

"Speaking of rocks…" Applejack made her turn. "I was trying to make apple cider with her, but when I asked her to peel some apples for me, she crushed them with a huge rock instead! I don't mean to be rude, but who uses a rock to peel an apple if that's even possible? It's like the pony uses rocks for everythin'!"

"That's not surprising." Rainbow Dash finally said. "She actually beat me in a game of who could throw a rock the farthest! I thought I was the strongest! But I guess since she's so about rocks, she was able to throw it to the ends of Equestria! And then she tells me she's not into winning!"

"What about you?" Twilight mentioned. "You sound like you actually got along with her."

"I did…" I returned, feeling a bit sad that I was the only one. "It was a little hard at first…but I don't know… Even though she's the way she is, I actually think she's pretty cool. Am I weird for thinking that?"

"Yes." Rainbow Dash immediately answered before Applejack furrowed her eyebrows angrily and pushed her off the mailbox she had been on.

"Huh…" I lowered my head a bit gloomily, feeling off and isolated with how I was pretty much the only one who felt befriended by Maud. "I guess it's not surprising… After all, I was as dull as you think she is, right?" None of them seemed to know how to answer that. In fact, they were surprised that that even came out of my mouth. "I'm going to check in with Pinkie." I mentioned before I turned and headed inside the sweet shop.

As I entered inside, I already noticed Pinkie Pie wallowing in her piles of rock candy. She rolled around the pieces of rock candy and ate one every now and then.

"Hey, Pinkie Pie…" I began as I walked towards her. "If it makes you feel any better…I'd be glad to make rock candy necklaces with you and Maud."

Pinkie sighed as she rolled around another piece of rock candy. "That's sweet…" She threw it up into the air and caught it with her tongue to slip into her mouth. "…but I was really hoping for all of us to do it together… All of my best friends with my best sister friend." She groaned sadly as she rested her head on her forelegs.

"Sorry, Pinkie…" I apologized. "I really am. The girls just…can't really find anything that they can enjoy comfortably with Maud."

"What do you mean?" Pinkie raised her head.

"Well, if they were to do something with Maud that wouldn't be unfamiliar to them, then maybe they can be cool with her like I am. You know… They all do something with Maud that is a common interest between all of them." Pinkie began thinking silently as she rubbed her hoof beneath her chin. "It's difficult, though, because Maud seems to be only interested with rocks."

"…what if I get them all together with something each of them like and combine into one big fun game?!" Her voice gradually increased in volume and excitement, leading to a great gasp. "I think I got it!"

"What?" I inquired.

"I'll show you!" Pinkie Pie grabbed my hoof, and with Pinkie speed, led me outside the building.

Pinkie Pie stopped when we were in a great, big, and open landscape, which kept me puzzled. "What are you showing me exactly?" I asked.

"Close your eyes and count to ten!" Pinkie Pie directed. "And don't open them until you finished counting!"

"…okay…" I responded as Pinkie Pie gawked at me until I closed my eyes.

"One…Two…Three…" I counted, hearing nothing but my voice. "…Four…Five…Six…" Why was I doing this? "…Seven…Eight…Nine…" I paused to see if I was able to hear any little change in sound at all. "…Ten." I ended and opened my eyes. What I saw afterwards truly surprised me. My eyes popped open when I saw what looked like a huge unique playground before me.

Pinkie Pie bounced excitedly. "Like it?!"

"H…How did you…?" I tried to gain the words to speak as I slowly recovered from being stunned at the sight. "How did you build this so fast?!"

Pinkie Pie shrugged it off. "It really helps when you've eaten a ton of rock candy."

I still couldn't see how it still would have been possible, but Pinkie Pie quickly dismissed the question about it. "I'm going to get everyone else! Wait right here!" She excused herself from the area and left me to silently wait by the sight of Pinkie's quick creation.

It wasn't until Maud appeared by my side to present me the feeling of company.

"What's going on?" She asked blankly.

"Um…" I responded without a clue of what to say.

Pinkie Pie finally made her entrance to explain what was going on herself. "Come on! Come on! This way! Keep going!" She directed the mares she brought for one last chance to bond with Maud.

They all held pretty surprised expressions when they arrived at the scene. They noticed Maud, who continued to look like nothing was amusing to her, even the playground Pinkie somehow had managed to build. Maud glanced back at them for a second but returned her expressionless sight towards the playground.

"Pinkie…" Twilight called once clearly observing her creation. "What is that?"

"I call it 'Pinkie-Rainbow-Rari-Twi-Apple-Flutter-Maud Fun Time'!" She cheerfully announced.

They had no answer to that until Rainbow felt the means to question it. "Huh?"

"It combines everypony's interests into one giant activity that we can all enjoy together and that will totally bring all of my bestest friends together as bestestest friends!" She explained and directed its focus to complete the friendship between Maud. "You'll need these." She presented dress forms that wore some silly outfits. I had no idea where she got all of this in such a short amount of time.

"Like I said: 'Huh?'" Rainbow repeated.

"Probably better for me to show you." Pinkie Pie suggested and placed on a swimming outfit. "Watch this! Applesauce tunnel for Applejack." She swam through the applesauce that was in a tunnel. "Pretty shiny stuff for Rarity." She landed in a pile of shimmering fabric. "Reading material for Twilight." She broke through a wall of books. "Critter time for Fluttershy..." She played poker with a table of animals. "Cupcakes for yours truly..." She caught a cupcake with her mouth after having had them float in midair inside a small dome. "…and it's a race for Rainbow Dash!" She finished.

Twilight released a short gasp. "Pinkie Pie, what is that?!" She pointed out, revealing how there had been a huge pile of rocks with a dangerous and immense boulder hazardously tipping over at the top.

"A rock slide, of course!" Pinkie happily answered. "For Maud! First you climb, then you slide!"

As Pinkie Pie traveled through the slide that would apparently lead to this part of the obstacle course, I nervously began trotting towards her. "Pinkie! You're crazy if you think anypony is going to go through that!"

"No, I'm not!" Pinkie Pie responded as she began skipping onto the rocks. "I'm more genius than I've ever been!" She continued her journey up the rocky mountain as she giggled playfully, reminding me of Spirit at Sweet Apple Acres even during the dangerous situation. I was distracted by the thought that I hadn't even realized Pinkie Pie stopped moving. "Huh?" She wondered as she tried to move her back hoof to continue on forward.

"Pinkie!" I began making my way up to her from the bottom of the rocks, hoping I wouldn't slip and slide back down. I could have cheated my way by flying, but it would still be difficult landing without having the rocks beneath my hooves take me back down to the ground.

"My hoof's stuck!" She informed as she strained to pull herself out.

"Hold on! I'm com—" I tried to say until the mountain began shaking violently. The entire mountain seemed to be collapsing, leaving Pinkie to tap the rock on her hoof desperately. It was too late to fly now, as I could hardly keep my balance on the motioning rocks. I tried to point my horn towards the rock holding Pinkie captive, but the rock itself was too small, and the shaky surroundings killed my accuracy, making it too risky that I'd hit Pinkie instead.

"Watch out!" Applejack had warned from the bottom.

"Huh?" Pinkie and I had both looked to see that huge boulder at the top come falling down at a very fast speed. The sight of this caused Pinkie to shriek in complete terror. "Help!"

Disregarding any thought of falling down, I tried somewhat hopping and clenching on to the rocks below me. As quick as I could, I worked my magic as I arrived at Pinkie's side. Instead of using a beam, as it had might have not been enough to destroy even a large part of it, I tried holding on to it. But magic didn't give you invisible strength. It was just as hard holding a boulder with mental muscles. "Pinkie!" I struggled to say through my grunts and efforts. "You gotta…get out of here!"

"I'm trying! But I can't get out!" Pinkie responded in panic.

"I don't know how much longer…I can hold onto this thing!" I struggled.

"Hang on!" Applejack approached me by my side, using her back legs to hold back the boulder as much as she could.

Twilight then appeared from the sky to also try to help me with her own magic. Rainbow Dash placed herself on to the boulder to try to pull it back as much as she could.

"Rarity, get Pinkie out, will you?!" Applejack strained out, due to the rocks immense weight.

"I'm trying!" Rarity cried as she tried smashing the rock on Pinkie's hoof into bits while Fluttershy seemed to try digging into the rocks instead. "It's just too hard!"

I felt myself giving out. "I don't think I can…hold it anymore…!"

Just before I felt the grip I held onto it give out, something suddenly drilled into the middle of the rock. When I was able to get a good look, I noticed it was Maud who wore the helmet and leg pads from the beginning of the obstacle course. She also revealed a fierce and aggressive look in her eyes as she literally drilled the entire boulder into bits and pieces. Once she was finished, she dashed over to Pinkie Pie and broke the rock holding her like a toothpick, allowing everyone to quickly jump down the rocky hill before anything else could happen.

"What– how– what?!" Rainbow Dash reacted in flight.

As Pinkie Pie and Maud made it back down, Maud actually furrowed her eyebrows and looked as if she was about to deeply scold her sister, whom returned a flinching face. However, Maud only wrapped a hoof around her in a sign of great relief and love.

"Pinkie Pie, what were you thinking?" Maud revealed present emotion as she worriedly asked her.

"I guess I wasn't…" Pinkie sadly responded. "It just…looked so much better in my head. I thought we'd all have a fun time and get along."

"Listen." Maud held a hoof under Pinkie's chin and brought it up. "I know how important it is to you that your friends become my friends, but I just don't think it's going to happen. If it has to come down to risking your life, I just don't think it's worth trying. I think it would be best if I just go back to the rock farm and spend the rest of the week there." After Pinkie had removed the equipment off herself, her jaw immediately fell wide open when she heard her sister say that. Maud turned to us as she returned back to her expressionless tone. "It was nice to meet you all. Makes me happy knowing Pinkie Pie has such good friends." With that, she began leaving, lowering all of the other girls' heads in guilt.

"But... we never even got to make our rock candy necklaces..." Pinkie Pie cried out softly and gloomily. "Wait, Maud! I'll come with you!" She began galloping after her, leaving us all in silence.

"I can't believe…what just happened…" Twilight finally spoke. "We almost lost Pinkie…all because she wanted us to be friends with Maud."

"I don't know how she did it, but if it wasn't for Maud, none of us probably would be here right now!" Rainbow Dash mentioned.

"She did all of us a big favor." Rarity pointed out. "We have to be grateful for that!"

"I'm pretty sure we all are." Twilight acknowledged, glancing at each one of us. "…but that doesn't change the fact that we're incapable of being best friends with Maud. She may have saved our lives, but it wouldn't exactly be moral to use that to be friends with her. Friends usually have mutual interests together…and I can't seem to find any if it's just all about rocks…"

"So then, what brought me to your eyes?" I asked all of them seriously. I didn't feel like they didn't actually love me. I just needed to hear their story. "I wasn't as happy and go-lucky as you all were. In fact, I think I was too boring and moody to hang around with."

"That's not true!" Twilight almost immediately exclaimed. "How we saw you is still how we see you now! The real you!"

"It's true." Applejack confirmed. "If I didn't, I would've kept our connection to business matters only."

"I was actually able to work up the courage to talk to you because…" Fluttershy began. "…well…you seemed really quiet like me…you know…"

"Darling." Rarity included in. "I saw the artistic potential you held, despite how timid you seemed to really be. I just had to converse with you more than the time we met."

"It was pretty fun pushing you around." Rainbow landed and nudged me. "How couldn't I be your friend with the heart inside you?"

"There are a million things to give reason why you're a part of our lives and vice versa, but if you're looking for a straightforward one from me, well…we were both kind of shut-ins." Twilight giggled lightly, hinting a bit of embarrassment.

As I felt the reinforcement of their words come through my ears, erasing the wandering doubts in my mind of possibly befriending me out of pity in the beginning, I used this information to work with Maud. "Exactly…" I mentioned, feeling somewhat idealistic comparisons come on. "You all were able to look past from what I appeared on the outside and be able to get to know me for me. Right now, all you're really seeing from Maud is just that she's all about rocks and lifeless expressions. However, I was able to befriend her because…I appreciated and saw her past her 'rocks'." I turned to Twilight. "Twilight, you said she's written thousands of poems about rocks, right?"

"Yeah…?" She responded, not quite getting my point.

"That's something you should be amazed at!" I pointed out. "It doesn't matter if they're just about rocks! The fact that she's written thousands of poems about a single thing is worth talking about! Can't you share a mutual liking to somepony who's written that many poems? Whether they were about rocks or not?" As I left Twilight to ponder about that, I continued with Applejack, feeling absolutely fired up in Maud's defense. "Applejack, she used a rock to peel your apples. She uses a rock for practically anything. You both have a passion for something specific. You and your love of apples, and her and her love of rocks. That's something you two can understand about each other, and I'm sure it's worth striking up a conversation for how you two have an insane love for something." I then faced Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow, you said Maud threw a rock farther than you. She beat you in an athletic event! Who cares if she's not into winning? Maybe she could actually help you in winning that game next time!" Next was Rarity. "Rarity, you two share an interest in fashion, but you don't find a friendship suitable because of her different taste in fashion…a different and odd taste… But that should be something that brings you closer! It's just like with art. If everyone did the same thing, things would get boring, and you'd have nothing new to talk about. Isn't her taste something that interests you? What is it that she likes about a dish rag for a scarf? That's something that's worth finding out." Finally, I finished with Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, she may have not been as interested in animals as you were, but that's something you could get to know her for. You have a vast knowledge on almost every single critter in the world. She has a vast knowledge too, but on rocks. Wouldn't it be interesting to be able to learn where she comes from as well?"

"Alex…" Twilight spoke after I fired the shots from my mind. "I don't know how I didn't see it before…but it makes a lot of sense…"

"We weren't able to look past her 'rocky' attitude, Twilight." Applejack strengthened. "We were so blinded about how she brought rocks in everything we did that we didn't see her for who she really was. Her true character. And I think, just after what she did for Pinkie Pie, we saw a bit of her real character right there."

"Oh!" Rarity placed a hoof to her forehead in shock. "How did I not find her different fashion taste interesting before? Had I reacted to you, Alex, as I reacted to her before, we may have never had the friendship we have now!"

"Well…to be fair…" I began, thinking a little more into it. "My behavior was probably a little more…acceptable… After all, she grew up in a rock farm."

"That doesn't matter now." Twilight shook her head. "We need to fix this!"

"Pinkie might probably still be at Sugarcube Corner." Fluttershy offered.

"We need to hurry before they head to the train station!" Rainbow Dash ordered and flew out, leading us to follow after.

By the time we arrived, Maud was already heading for the door of the shop with her saddlebags intact and Pinkie trailing miserably behind her. When Maud saw us, she revealed no change of expression. She only stopped and pointed us out to Pinkie Pie.

"What are you doing here?" Pinkie asked in soft surprise.

"Pinkie Pie," Twilight began sincerely. "We're so sorry we hurt your feelings by not bonding with Maud right away. And Maud, we're sorry that you felt the only way to spare Pinkie Pie's feelings was to leave Ponyville early." The others agreed. "But we're especially sorry that we didn't get to see the real pony you are because we let our…" Twilight paused for a moment to shift her hooves in thought. "…cultural differences get between us. We just thought none of us besides Alex were compatible because we just couldn't click due to our behavioral differences. But now, we realize that that shouldn't matter. What should manner is what we see in ourselves. If Pinkie Pie can see you for the great sister you are, than we can do the same as a friend. In fact, if you don't mind, we'd love to get to know you more, so we can understand you just like we understand Pinkie Pie."

"Actually…" Rainbow Dash joined in. "Even sometimes we still don't understand Pinkie Pie."

Twilight giggled. "But we still love her like you do, Maud, and that's something that should keep us together. Why?" Twilight turned to me and unexpectedly brought me along with her hooves. "There's no way we want to miss the chance of befriending a significant pony. You may be just as beneficial to our lives just like somepony else." Twilight glanced over to me from Maud and revealed an honest smile, leading me to feel quite embarrassed. "How about it, Maud?" Twilight asked.

Maud stared at all of us blankly for a second until she opened her mouth to respond. "Sure." The tone of her voice seemed happy for what she heard, but the expression she wore throughout the entire trip just couldn't help itself in making us doubt that.

This had the girls look around a little uncomfortably.

"What's wrong?" Pinkie noticed their reactions.

"Sorry, darling. I think we all just thought she'd be a bit more excited about this." Rarity apologized.

"Are you kidding me?!" Pinkie returned. "I've never seen her more excited in my entire life!" She pointed out to Maud's face, which still didn't seem much different to us.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but I don't show my enthusiasm for things quite in the same way my sister does." Maud explained as Pinkie performed excited cartwheels around.

"Uh, we noticed." Rainbow Dash acknowledged after sharing a look with the others. "And we're totally cool with it."

As a group of clear agreements was collected, Pinkie Pie couldn't help herself but internally explode from excitement.

"I guess, just give us a heads up when something is bothering you, so we'll know accordingly." I offered to Maud in assurance. "Maybe we just need some time to know how you're feeling without having to rely on your 'enthusiasm'."

"Okay." She merely answered with.

We all stayed with her until it was time for her to head back. Pinkie was sure to take up as much time as she could in saying goodbye. Pinkie soon allowed us to wish Maud well.

"Maud, we'd like to give you something to take on your trip, so that you remember all your friends from Ponyville." Twilight said and pulled out the rock necklace she had made for Maud to place it around her neck. Each of the others brought up their own unique designed necklaces to share with Maud, especially Rainbow, whom seemed to use a rather large carved piece of multi-colored rock.

I was the last one before Pinkie to place my necklace over her head, leading her to thank all of us. "Thank you."

"Try not to eat all the candy before you leave!" Pinkie suggested as she held out her rock candy necklace towards Maud.

The two exchanged necklaces as tradition, and Pinkie Pie was already working her teeth to consume the candy. However, Maud pulled a box out of her saddlebag and opened it up to reveal a bunch of more necklaces. She dropped Pinkie's inside.

"Are those all the necklaces Pinkie Pie sent you?" Twilight questioned after seeing them.

"Mm-hm." Maud answered in a kind of exaggerated way.

"You haven't eaten any of them?" Twilight reacted in surprise.

"I don't really like candy." Maud paused to look back at Pinkie and smile for the first time ever! "But I do love Pinkie Pie."

"Mmm!" Pinkie finished as she threw the last piece of rock candy in her mouth.

I guess I felt so relieved when I saw her smile. It was just a reassuring sign of how she felt. Knowing the train was going to leave soon, I decided to announce a little reminder. "I suppose we better leave you to your trip, Maud." I mentioned. "You've got so much ahead of you, and I'm sure all of us here wish you good luck and a safe trip."

"Thanks. That means a lot." She returned. At least her tone was just a bit more positive than before.

"Psst." I heard Pinkie Pie whisper in my ear as she tapped me. "She likes hugs."

For no real reason, I was a bit surprised by that. "You sure?" I asked, gaining a faithful nod from Pinkie. "Um. See you later, Maud." I said, softly embracing her afterwards.

"I don't like to be touched." She stated frankly. I immediately backed off after she said that, feeling embarrassed for my action. Unexpectedly, after observing my reaction, she didn't laugh. Her eyes didn't widen. She didn't say anything. She only smiled once more. "Just kidding." Afterwards, she proceeded to enter the train. "It was nice seeing you all." She stated before she boarded and left our sight.

I was relieved, but silent for a moment. "…I didn't know your sister had such a sense of humor…" I mentioned.

"Are you kidding?" Pinkie replied. "She has tons of jokes!"

"Let me guess." Rainbow added, crossing her forelegs in flight. "They're all about rocks?"

As I opened my eyes on the balcony to meet with Spirit, I moved myself off of the bed I never really questioned about "waking up" in. As I began heading towards the outside of the room, I noticed something different. There was something under the covers on the other side of the bed I had stood up from. Before I could check what it was, there was a piece of paper at the front of the bed. I brought it towards me and read it to see what it said.

I'm feeling a little sick today. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?

I looked up from the note to see the covers slowly moving.

Duh. This must have been the bed Spirit slept on.

Smiling lightly, I spoke softly. "Get well."

For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils

Episode 84 – For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils

Rarity led the six of us into her workroom/bedroom as she anxiously apologized, thinking she was being a bother.

"I so very apologize for bringing you all up here instead of enjoying the show my sister is putting on." Rarity worriedly rummaged through her fabrics. "You don't know how behind I am in getting these orders ready for Sapphire Shores in Canterlot."

"Sapphire Shores?" Twilight questioned in surprise.

"That pony you needed to get all those gems for a while back?" I added on.

"Yes, precisely." Rarity answered as she didn't take her eyes off her work. "However, it's not only her outfit I needed to slave over. It's much more than that!"

"How much of your order have you been able to finish?" I wondered, looking over her work.

"I barely just finished the outfit for Sapphire Shores." Rarity responded. "However, I still need a slightly different outfit for her back-up dancers, which won't be too difficult with all of your help. We'll just need four outfits of the same design for the dancers." Rarity sighed a bit in relief, but she knew she still needed the work to be done. "I am just so relieved. Without any of your help, I'd never be able to get all this done in time!"

"Don't worry about it, Rarity." I assured. "Just tell us what you need us to do. Only this time, try to be a little more…generous, okay?" I lightly smirked.

Remembering, she placed a hoof to her face and looked away with a blush and nervous giggle.

There wasn't anything new or interesting with helping Rarity with her order. It was just delightfully helping her put the pieces together. It actually reminded me more of the time she had to fulfill such a big order for Hoity what's his face, than the last minute preparations back in Manehattan. Either way, it was just good to see her facing pressure in a calm manner.

At the end, Twilight was doing what she fit best; using a checklist to make sure everything was in order. Applejack pushed along the cart holding Rarity's entire order while Pinkie Pie surprisingly carried over some boxes calmly. I suppose she was actually being careful with them because she knew how important it was to Rarity.

"Fluttershy, would you be a darling and help me put together this headpiece?" Rarity requested.

"Sure, Rarity." Fluttershy approached Rarity. "What do I do?"

"Just stand there still, please." Rarity directed and then began bringing up several pieces towards Fluttershy's head.

Fluttershy was quite surprised, as she seemed to not be expecting so many pieces to complete a single headpiece. "All of this is one headpiece?"

"Indeed." Rarity continued to focus her attention on arranging the pieces carefully. "This marvelous extravagance is the créme de la créme of the entire wardrobe!" She narrowed her eyes and cautiously sewed a stitch at the center. "But alas, without this key hidden stitch, it's just a..." She paused to place a hoof on her chin and think. "I'm trying to think of a nicer way to say 'big bummer'." Hearing those last two words actually sounded a little weird coming from Rarity, especially since she was always speaking so eloquently. Rarity finally released an expression of relief when the headdress was finally complete. She moved it carefully towards an open box and slowly placed it inside. Afterwards, she cleanly closed the flaps. Rarity sighed as she removed her signature red glasses from her face. "Now perhaps we can all at last take a moment to relax!"

I looked back to the cart Applejack had been pushing to see the final products. However, I realized something was a bit off. Nothing was wrong, or at least I didn't think so. Among Rarity's uniformed wardrobe, there was one dress that absolutely stood out. I wasn't sure if Rarity had accidentally mixed up at one point, so I decided to point it out. "Hey, Rarity… What's up with that one?" I asked, standing near the stand-out.

"Oh, this?" Rarity trotted over to where I was to answer. "I'm not sure why…" Rarity lifted up the sleeve of the dress with her hoof. "…but Sapphire Shores also requested this one on her list. At first, I was puzzled, and I wasn't quite sure if I'd be able to pull it off. After all, this particular one isn't exactly my area of expertise, but hey, fashion is fashion!"

"Huh…" I also placed my hoof on the dress and felt it. "I can see why… It kind of looks like a…punkish kind of thing." I turned back to Rarity. "Does Sapphire Shores have some kind of song that…well…fits to this outfit?"

"I don't believe so." Rarity shook her head. "I don't think I've ever seen her wear such a type of dress like this before, so it is indeed quite odd."

"Hmm…" I pondered as I continued observing the dress.

All of a sudden, there was a loud slam of the door nearby. Sweetie Belle had walked inside holding three dresses that must have been from her play. However, she angrily threw them at the floor, as if something was wrong with them. "Whatever's the matter, Sweetie Belle? Didn't the play go all right?" Rarity worriedly questioned, approaching her little sister as she glared back at her.

"Not even close." Sweetie Belle sternly responded.

"Oh, dear. Was something amiss with the dresses I made you?"

"No, they were perfect, and that was the whole problem!" Sweetie Belle explained, raising confusion from everypony in the room.

Feeling the need to escape the uncomfortable and possibly awkward situation, Fluttershy spoke up. "Oh, um, I think maybe I'll go take that moment to relax now." She turned towards the others and gestured them to leave with her.

"Heh, sure do feel like relaxing!" Rainbow Dash added with an odd grin, escaping the room with a trot.

"Right behind ya!" Applejack mentioned as everypony followed in a rush.

Even though I could see it was business more between Rarity and Sweetie Belle, I actually wanted to stay behind to see what the whole fuss was about and why Sweetie Belle was so upset.

"How could you?!" Sweetie Belle walked past Rarity, continuing and leaving her dresses behind her. "'Oh, what amazing dresses!'" Sweetie Belle began quoting and acting out. "'Oh, how I love the dresses! Ooh, dresses, dresses, dresses, dresses!'" She ended angrily.

From the look on Rarity's face, it seemed like she had no idea what her little sister was talking about. But she ended up coming to the conclusion that there was nothing wrong with the dresses Sweetie Belle seemed to be griping harshly on. "Oh, so they did like them." She chuckled happily as she placed the dresses away. "You had me worried, you silly filly."

"There! I knew it!" Sweetie Belle interruptively shouted out. "You did this on purpose! Stealing the spotlight like you always do! It's my fifth birthday party all over again!"

Wow, I had actually never seen this side of Sweetie Belle. Well…I kind of did before…but this was different. Either way, I believed I was just as confused as Rarity was with what Sweetie Belle was talking about.

"The... the what now?" Rarity asked.

"Don't act like you don't remember. Or are you trying to prove you're a better actress than me too?!" Sweetie Belle fired.

"Sweetie Belle, if I did anything to upset you, then—"

"Admit you made those dresses too good on purpose!"

"I thought they were supposed to be good." Rarity and Sweetie Belle continued as I could only switch my sight between each one with my eyes.

"Yes, good. Not jaw-dropping amazing!"

"I only tried to do what I thought you wanted."

"Ha!" Sweetie Belle angrily squeaked before leaving the room and slamming the door behind her.

There was a long confusing silence before Rarity managed to mutter a few words. "I…uh…um…"

I turned to her with one thing immediately running to my mind. "You want me to go talk to her?"

"Perhaps…that would be best." Rarity replied, appearing to still be both confused and shocked. She cautiously followed me out of her bedroom door in case Sweetie Belle was still lingering by. "She must have locked herself in her room…" Rarity advised. "It doesn't sound like she's downstairs. I'll let the others off on their way so they're not preoccupied with this little…situation."

"Are you all finished with your order to Sapphire Shores?" I asked about, remembering that she had been completely focused and occupationally obsessed with the wardrobe.

"Oh, don't worry about that." Rarity gently tried to push my thoughts away from that topic. "I've got the strings under my control now." She paused for a moment and sighed while looking away. "I almost feel bad that I'm having you go talk to Sweetie Belle instead of me, but for one, she won't even want to hear my voice, and two, as selfish as it sounds, I can't worry about her right now."

"It's fine." I assured her. "Let me try at it. As much as you love your little sister, sometimes, you can't let things like this get in the way of work."

"You're so understanding." She hugged me to express her appreciation. "Thank you so much."

"Anything to take a load off."

I allowed her to be on her way to take care of business while I walked a small distance to Sweetie Belle's room. I was pretty surprised because things seemed to be quiet inside. Nonetheless, I knocked on the door, immediately earning a loud and throat throbbing yell. "GO AWAY!"

Her voice startled me, especially for how upset she sounded. I was even pretty scared to see the look on her face she had at the current moment.

"Sweetie Belle? It's me." I informed. "Can I come in?"

There was what seemed like a long silence.

"…okay."

Hesitating for a bit, I managed to open the door cautiously until I saw Sweetie Belle facing away from me on her bed. Not really wanting to make any noise, I slowly entered and shut the door behind me before I began approaching her. "Hey there, lil' sis." I mentioned in hopes to cheer her up.

"I'm not in the mood, Alex." She answered frankly, striking me in the heart a bit.

"Ouch…" I expressed, still dragging myself over to her. "I've, uh…never really seen you this upset before… What's going on?"

"My sister is what's going on!" Sweetie Belle raised her voice loudly once again. "Why does she always have to make everything about her all the time?! Ugh, I don't believe it. After everything I put up with all week long!" She sat up from her bed in frustration and began mocking a certain pony. "'Sweetie Belle, get me some red ribbon! No, that's not red, that's cherry! No, that's not red, that's cinnamon!' For Pete's sake, it's all red!" She released another angry statement that possibly could have shook the house had it not been for the tiny body it came from.

Recovering from the flinch I have performed due to Sweetie Belle's outburst, I tried to cut in on her ranting. "Sweetie—"

"At least Sapphire Shores won't be all like 'Ooh, who fetched you that red ribbon? Because I don't care about anything else you made. All I care about is that amazing red ribbon!'" She continued.

I never thought she could hold so much in…

I walked over to her bed and sat down next to her. "Sweetie Belle, Rarity is your sister. The only reason she's always so specific and nitpicky is because that's how you pretty much have to be in the fashion world. No designer is going to handle a designer's career if they're that simple with things like colors."

"That's not the point!" Sweetie Belle almost threw off her bed sheets. The point is, whenever I'm supposed to be under the spotlight, she comes and takes it from me! No pony even paid attention to the script I worked so very hard on because they were all staring at the dresses instead! All three of us could have gone up there with no script in mind or acting whatsoever and still be applauded because of our dresses!" She threw her head to her pillow and screamed loudly. The scream itself fortunately came out muffled enough.

"Just calm down, Sweetie Belle." I placed a hoof on her shoulder. "I know your sister didn't mean to 'take the spotlight' and so should you. From what I understand, she made those dresses the way they turned out to be for your benefit. She didn't know they'd be too much of what you wanted. It's just the way she is, and she can't really help it." Sweetie Belle remained silent as she continued to huff out a few more fuming breaths. I looked out the window to see that the sun was no longer visible. "Listen… it's getting late. Just get some sleep, and you can talk to Rarity later about this. She needs to know about how you feel, but it has to wait until after she delivers her order to Canterlot. For now, just please take it easy on her, okay? She has enough to worry about as it is."

"Hmph." She sounded out.

I wasn't sure what else to say. I just hoped she could last until Rarity was finished with work.

"If you want, maybe we can do something together tomorrow until your big sister is free?" I offered. Sweetie Belle continued facing away and curled herself up, metaphorically hiding in her shell. Seeing that I couldn't really do anything anymore, I decided to leave her be for the night. "I guess I'll see you later, Sweetie. Have a goodnight." I got up from her bed and walked away to exit through her door. During the whole process, I didn't seem to hear one peep come from her again.

Hopefully, she just needs some time to cool off…

I sat on the side of my bed as I silently stared at the floor. I thought about how it would work out between Rarity and Sweetie Belle. It wasn't the first time they were in a tough situation, and Rarity had always been able to get herself out a jam when it came to her career. I guess it just kind of bothered me how I knew Sweetie Belle was in such a furious mood, and I didn't do much to alleviate it.

I suppose I needed rest too. Tomorrow is when I would be able to do something more about it.

I began prepping myself to sleep and visit Spirit for the night, stretching and fumbling a bit under the covers. I closed my eyes and allowed the stillness to engulf my ears. The muscles in my body unwinded and felt a bit mushy in relaxation. I continued to wait to lose my awareness until I felt a sort of presence near me.

What felt like a hoof brushed against my forehead, leading me to slowly open my eyes and become startled at the sight of my mother.

"Mom?" I questioned softly yet in surprise.

"Please, excuse my sudden visit." She apologized. "I just…wanted to make sure you were alright." She continued examining me a little bit. "It would appear so."

"Uh-huh…?" I continued looking at her, waiting to see if there was anything else on her mind other than my condition.

"Also…there's something I believe you should…'experience'." She brought up, but I wasn't really quite in the mood to do anything else but sleep, especially since I had already gotten comfy.

"Can that wait until tomorrow?" I asked. "I'm…kind of trying to sleep here."

"Hmph." That last statement caused her to lightly smile for some reason. "If you come with me, you'll still get your sleep."

"Huh?" I questioned. I wasn't really getting at what she was trying to say.

"Alex…" Princess Luna looked at me sincerely. "Would you please accompany me to Canterlot?"

"What?" I sat up to look at her closely. "I don't understand, Mom…"

"Trust me. Please." She held out her hoof and had me stare at it for a moment until I finally decided to take it.

She escorted me to her own bedroom, which puzzled me a bit. What exactly did she need to do that couldn't be done in my own bedroom?

Once her doors were firmly shut, I stood there in somewhat exhausted confusion. While I was curious to what she was up to, I really felt more interested in sleeping instead. "What's going on?" I asked anyway with a yawn.

"Please, lay yourself down and rest, Alex." She offered her bed.

"Oh." I reacted in both surprise and relief. "Okay." I climbed up on the bed and started making myself comfortable as if I was actually spending a night with Princess Luna. I followed my body and closed my eyes. I already began feeling light-headed, but Luna had more to say.

"Wait just a moment, child." She gently stopped, causing me to open my eyes again. She approached me calm-like. "You will be receiving your sleep, but not in the way you're expecting."

"Huh?" I felt too tired to get into the details.

"You recall about my ability in visiting one's dreams, correct?" She questioned.

"Yeah…?" I answered.

"I'd like for you to endure the process and experience it yourself." She explained, practically having me stand up from bed.

"Are you sure I can do that?" I asked, not being familiar with her dream works.

"I believe you can." Luna briefly expressed. "Being a child of mine, you have the potential to raise the moon. You should also hold the capability of undergoing dreams the way I do."

"Uh…" I wasn't too keen on the idea. I understood what she was trying to mean or say, but I never really did feel comfortable when my mother talked about me doing things she usually did. I believed they were things that should be exclusive to her no matter what…unless she was to…yeah… But it was likely something like that wouldn't happen any time soon.

"I understand a loved one is undertaking some difficulties right now." She mentioned, catching my attention. I raised my head at her. Seeing so, she continued. "Sweetie Belle, is it?"

"How do you know about that?" I asked.

"She's been having trouble sleeping." Princess Luna explained and then turned around for a short moment. "And…I do not have a good feeling where this is leading… This is not good at all."

"What?" I began becoming concerned. "Is it affecting her health? I knew she was really upset, but I thought she'd cool off eventually."

She sighed deeply and took her time in answering. "You know what I had to deal with when I felt like I lived in my sister's shadow."

With the one immediate certain mental picture coming into mind, I couldn't see Sweetie Belle doing something as harmful as that. "You really think that, Mom? I know what happened between you and Tia was bad, but Sweetie Belle is just a little girl. I don't think she'd ever do something to hurt her sister."

"Maybe not physically…" Luna turned back to face me seriously. "But when we allow our negative emotions to control us, our anger, envy, and/or hatred, we do certain things without thinking about them or the consequences. We only want to fulfill our blinded desires, but we could care less about the future in the heated moment. Sweetie Belle is a pony like anypony else. And I feel she is just as capable in doing severe damage as anypony else."

I couldn't argue with what she brought up, no matter how much I still couldn't see Sweetie Belle doing something as horrid as Princess Luna was making it seem. But I had to remember that even so, I didn't know everything about Sweetie Belle. I didn't know her whole life-story or everything she felt. Even the nicest pony is capable of being a total jerk, even if the chances are very slim.

"Okay…" I understood and remained silent for a moment until I remembered that the original topic was about dreams. "Wait…so what does Sweetie Belle have to do with the dream thing?"

"You will accompany me into Sweetie Belle's dream." She returned.

It wasn't mind-blowing news honestly. In fact, instead of being shocked or surprised, I remembered the last time I recalled her visiting someone's dream besides mine. "Is this going to be just like that time with Scootaloo?"

"Perhaps." She was unable to give a clear answer. "But mostly everything will be unfamiliar and new to you. I cannot give a good description. You'd have to experience it for yourself."

Almost feeling like sighing, I relaxed back on the bed. "Let's get started then."

Luna nodded her head and stayed close to me. "You will fall asleep. However, the difference is that you'll remain conscious. During this consciousness, you will actually experience a transition that will highly confuse you at first. Keep in mind that you've actually been through this type of transition before, only you weren't conscious to remember or really feel it."

"Uh-huh…" I merely returned.

Princess Luna placed a hoof on me as she continued keeping her eyes on mine. An aura started to lightly form around her horn. "Now, remember. Try to not panic when you're in this transition. Otherwise, you might startle yourself back to unconscious sleep or possibly even endure a worse state."

"Okay…" I began feeling a little queasy. "You're starting to make me feel a little nervous…"

"My apologies." She expressed and soothingly rubbed my body. "Please relax and close your eyes when you are ready. I will take care of the rest."

I took in a deep breath and released it out before beginning whatever she was preparing me for. "Okay." I stated before I closed my eyes and soon felt whatever it was to change me.

After a while…I felt like…wind rushing through my mane. Actually, it was like more towards all of the upper half of my body. All in all, I think the easiest way to compare it to was like…skydiving. I realized my eyes were still closed, and as curious as I was to see what was going on, I decided to open them. However, doing so had me believe I should have kept them shut.

What I saw was immediately frightening as everything transformed in practically a blink of an eye. Not only did the scenery change, but for some reason I was free falling into what appeared to be an endless distance. As for my surroundings…they were pretty unexplainable. It was as if I was in the sky, but there were no clouds or anything…just particular vivid colors.

"What's going on?!" I virtually screamed.

"Stay calm!" I heard my mother direct. She flew over to my side, appearing to have perfect control over the situation. "You mustn't panic or you will startle yourself back awake! Heed control, Alex. Even out your wings and balance yourself as if you were diving towards the ground!" I attempted to calm the out of order emotions inside me and stretched out my wings. I positioned my hooves accordingly and focused on the particular direction I was apparently diving towards. "That's good! You've got it! Just continue to be aware and don't cause any sudden change in your emotions!"

"Uh." I mentioned as I felt as if I was getting nowhere. "Where am I even going?!"

"We are diving into Sweetie Belle's dream, Alex. Notice your surroundings." Luna pointed out.

As she revealed them to me, I noticed everywhere began to subtly shift and change into something new. The colors became gradients of a darker sky, light stars surrounded me, and I began seeing small lights appear in the distance. After getting in a little closer, flashes popped in every now and then, as if they were coming from cameras. Soon, there were spotlights lighting the areas around me.

"And the winner of the "Best Writer, Director, Actor in an Awesome Play Put on by a Pony and Her Awesome Best Friends" goes to..." I began hearing faintly but clearly.

"Sweetie Belle!"

After a moment of hearing cheering, thunder roared and the "night sky" that appeared around me shifted into dark clouds and rain.

"Don't go!" I heard Sweetie Belles voice yell out.

"That's Sweetie Belle!" I stated towards Luna.

"Stop! Why do you have to ruin everything?!" Sweetie Belle cried out.

Princess Luna narrowed her eyes, appearing to focus on something. There had been, what appeared to be, a large dark gray cloud covering our vision in front of us, but Luna began working her magic. The cloud soon disappeared as it cried out in agony like a live pony. "Enough!" She stated sternly.

From there on, everything was clearly visible. We were heading straight towards the ground located outside. And at our speed, it appeared as if we were about to experience a large bundle of pain. However, Luna grabbed my hoof and angled her wings in a certain way, actually slowing down our speed like a parachute. In an expertly performed manner, we ended with a comfortable landing on a walkway, meeting Sweetie Belle who was completely boggled by our arrival.

"H-huh- wha- I-I, h-how are you…?" Sweetie Belle switched her eyes between us in a state of confusion. "Am I dreaming?!"

"What do you think?" Princess Luna responded with.

"Let me see..." Sweetie Belle rubbed her chin to think. You and Alex just rescued me from a maniacal laughing Rarity-cloud. Yeah, probably dreaming."

"That was Rarity?" I asked, turning to my mother for answer.

However, she decided to focus on the real task at hoof. "I understand what you're going through, Sweetie Belle. I too have a sister who often shines more brightly than me, and with this, I have struggled." She placed a hoof on Sweetie Belle's shoulder. "However, having someone in mind to fight for helps cope with this struggle."

She turned to me but did not say anything. She only spread out her wings and began flapping them to fly away from us, seeming to disappear from within the dream. "Wait, come back! Luna? Can you hear me? Thank you for what you did!" Sweetie Belle tried to chase after her and didn't pay attention to the end of the runway.

"Sweetie Belle!" I caught up to her to hold her back from falling.

She seemed to switch her interest towards how I was in her dream as well. "Alex? What's going on? Why are you in my dream too? How are you in my dream?"

"That's…something I can't really answer right now…" I admitted. "How about you and Rarity? It doesn't look like you feel any better about what happened."

"Actually… I feel loads better!" Sweetie Belle contradicted.

"W-what?" I was surprised to hear this, as it kind of went against what Luna said to me. "Really?"

"Yep! I'll be all better in the morning."

I looked at her in question, wondering what she was talking about really meant. However, I heard what sounded like Luna's voice echo inside me. Take her down the runway. Growing curious, I stepped ahead to look down the runway to see something completely different. Sweetie Belle joined me by my side to notice that the few steps had transformed into flights of stairs, leading down a long confused trail of disorientating steps.

"How did that happen?!" Sweetie Belle questioned in shock.

"It's a dream." I answered. "Anything can happen." I gestured her over to my back. "Climb on. I'll take you down there."

"Are we supposed to go down there…?" Sweetie Belle asked a little fearfully as she did so.

"Well… Don't really want to stay in one place in a dream…" I shrugged a bit as I grinned lightly at her. "I mean, why not, right?" Afterwards, I jumped off to carefully descend the flight of stairs, noticing bizarre staircases around the main one we were following. I knew dreams were bizarre at times…but I never really knew how bizarre they actually were when you knew you were dreaming.

Things soon shifted as we partially came across the end of the stairs. We appeared to be at the near-end of the staircase for a home, which didn't look too familiar to me at least.

"Hey, I know where we are!" Sweetie Belle announced as we began seeing little foals excitedly fill up the room at the bottom of the staircase.

"You do?" I asked, just noticing Rarity after.

"I remember this!" Sweetie Belle nodded. "This is my fifth birthday party!" She jumped off my back and raced up the stairs, taking me to a room where another version of Sweetie Belle stood in. However, she was a lot younger. "I decided to make a grand entrance." She explained, pointing out how her younger self was applying lipstick on a little…messily. "I made myself all beautiful, just like my big sister." She didn't seem to notice that the lipstick wasn't exactly applied correctly, even at the age she was at now. Her younger self hopped in into a pair of oversized dress shoes and dragged along the dress she wore that was clearly too big for her as she exited out of her room. This caused her to trip, but she quickly got back up with the same proud smile she wore. "Finally, I was perfect, and then went to the stairs to enter like the belle of the ball." We followed her to the stairs. "When I finally came out of my room, I found the party going on without me." Back in the room that the foals were in, we saw them jumping with joy as Rarity held up party favors. "And I kept posing at the top of the stairs, waiting to be noticed, but all I heard was..."

"These party favors are the coolest!" One of the kids commented, blowing one loudly.

"Awesome! Where did you get these?" Another asked Rarity.

"Made them myself." Rarity answered. "And of course, you'll all want cake, won't you?" She held up a plate with a piece of cake sitting delightfully on it.

This led to a great roar of cheers emerging in the same room.

"You're the greatest, Rarity!" The same foal expressed.

"Who needs a birthday girl when you've got the birthday girl's amazing big sister?" Yet another one that wore glasses mentioned.

The younger version of Sweetie Belle began sniffling as tears brimmed in her eyes. She then ran up the stairs, fell on her bed, and cried at the failure of her actions and intentions to be the "birthday girl". I couldn't help but frown upon this sight, knowing the kind of pain she had gone through.

"That's when I learned 'never try to shine with my big sister around'." She said.

"I'm sorry, Sweetie Belle…" I apologized after seeing the sight she had been in. "But…did you ever think about seeing it from another side besides yours?" I asked, feeling that Rarity wouldn't purposely steal the spotlight from her own sister. Especially on her own birthday party.

"What do you mean?" Sweetie Belle questioned.

"He is saying that perhaps you don't have the whole story." Princess Luna suddenly appeared beside us.

"Huh? Princess Luna?" Sweetie Belle noticed her presence, but didn't stick too long on it. "I thought you said you understood?" She referred to the current situation. "Luna?" She called again when Princess Luna only answered with silence and shut eyes.

Luna then raised a hoof and stomped it fiercely on the ground, causing the background to move quickly in place. The next thing we knew, we were standing inside the room under the staircase, facing into the room that was at the bottom of the stairs.

"Where's Sweetie Belle?" We heard a foal ask.

"I'm sure she'll be along in any moment." Rarity tried to assure.

However, the foals in the room appeared to have been waiting for a long time as they all sat at the table and couch.

"I'm tired of waiting." One of them mentioned after yawning clearly. "I say we get out of here before we all kill over from boredom." The way she pronounced "kill" made it sound more like "keel" instead. "Who's with me?" She received tired nods from the rest of the foals, leading them to begin walking out. "Poor Sweetie Belle. Nopony's gonna come to another one of her parties after this fiasco."

Rarity revealed the internal panic after casting a worried expression from her eyes. "Don't go!" She held her hooves out in front of the doorway leading out the room. "You'll miss out on the, uh, party favors!" She pulled out a box full of these noise-makers and planted them in front of the children. "I was going to save them 'til the end, but..." She began passing them out to achieve their attention.

"These party favors are the coolest!" The same fillies began repeating what I had seen earlier.

"Awesome! Where did you get these?"

"Made them myself. And of course, you'll all want cake, won't you?"

"You're the greatest, Rarity!"

"Who needs a birthday girl when you've got the birthday girl's amazing big sister?" From there, we could see Sweetie Belle run back up the staircase again in remorse. Throughout the entire scene, my mother only seemed to react in an unenthused manner for some reason, making me wonder what was going on in her own head.

"Oh, no-no-no. All of these things were Sweetie Belle's idea. I just assisted with the execution." Rarity gave credit where credit was due.

"I guess Rarity wasn't trying to steal the spotlight." Sweetie Belle now began to reveal her guilt for believing Rarity's behavior was against her. "She was trying to save my party." We turned towards the staircase to see Luna walking through the walls. "Luna?" Not knowing what to do next, I trotted after her, seeing Sweetie Belle stay by my side. As soon as we walked through the same corner Princess Luna did, we were immediately taken towards somewhere else. Our surroundings were…something irregular. In fact, they were very familiar to me. It appeared to be…the same area where Twilight first got her wings! "Luna!" Sweetie Belle went on ahead to chase after Princess Luna, whom continued to be a little mysterious herself with her silent leavings. I chased after Sweetie Belle, coming across an edge where my mother casually dove off of. I stopped behind Sweetie Belle as she looked past the edge in hopes to see any sign of Luna. However, before I could do anything else, it seemed our weight had disproportioned the cliff holding us and caused us to fall in the same space Luna dove through.

If there was any reason or understanding to it, we somehow were now in the water, spotting dolphins and dress forms in the same area. Of course, it being a dream, we were allowed to freely breathe in the water, just as if it was air. In front of us, I could see the transformation of Rarity's boutique, providing a similar, but calmer and smoother, experience like when I was diving into Sweetie Belle's dream. We then easily landed in Rarity's room, where Princess Luna already seemed to be waiting for us.

"Should I hem the cloaks now or wait until I'm there?" We heard Rarity's voice, having me look in front of me to see her worrying with lightly stressed hair. "I could hem them now, but I might have to redo them..." She talked to herself as she looked quickly over her work.

"When was this?" Sweetie Belle asked, not remembering seeing this scene before.

"But if I wait until I'm in Canterlot to hem them, Sapphire Shores might not get the best first impression..." Rarity mentioned, leading me to believe this happened after Sweetie Belle's outburst.

"This must have been after your little argument with Rarity." I stated to Sweetie Belle. "You might have not known, but Rarity was so concerned about you. She wanted to understand what you were going through, Sweetie Belle…" I turned back to Rarity to see her distressing over her work. "But she just couldn't make the time to because of her big order for Sapphire Shores…"

"Ooh... Sapphire Shores is such a big star and such a stickler for details. What if everything's not perfect enough?" Rarity continued, proving my point.

"Funny, I thought I was the only one who got worried about stuff like that…" Sweetie Belle mentioned.

"Oh, buck up, Rarity, stop this foolishness." Rarity snapped herself out of her worrying as she talked to herself in front of the mirror. "You've done your best and left nothing to chance! All that's needed now is a good night's rest." She held up her sleeping mask as she made herself comfortable in bed. "I just hope everything went alright with Alex and Sweetie Belle…" She sighed and placed on her mask to lie on her bed and turn out the lights.

Sweetie Belle sighed, seeming to have turned over a new leaf with her attitude against Rarity."I hope everything goes alright for her tomorrow."

"Hm. How curious you should say that." Princess Luna stated weirdly and turned over to the side of the darkened room where a door of light revealed itself. "Go. Go see what the future holds if you fail to rein in your worst instincts, as I once did."

The light grew brighter, blinding me of my vision for a moment before a room appeared before my eyes again. I saw Sapphire Shores and what appeared to be a bunch of back-up dancers with her. I was standing at the doorway of the room with my mother, hearing Rarity speak from the catwalk. "And here it is! The créme de la crème…"

"Noooo!" Sweetie Belle suddenly cried out, trying to reach out, but it seemed she was literally glued to the floor.

"Mom, what's going on?!" I turned to her for an answer.

She held a hoof in front of me to prevent me from moving.

"What needs to be done." She returned seriously.

"The piéce de resistance..." Rarity continued.

"Don't!" Sweetie Belle shouted.

Rarity pulled out the headdress she had made the night before and placed it on top of Sapphire Shore's head. However, it was quick to completely fall apart, alarming and surprising everyone in the room.

"The headdress!" Rarity stated in shock and disbelief, earning a completely disappointed and irritated look from Sapphire Shores.

"Looks like I made a mistake here." The pony of pop told the pony next to her.

"But, but this is impossible!" Rarity held up the feathers of her headdress as she knelt on the floor in surprise. "I, I, I checked and rechecked everything! This couldn't have happened!"

"You sure about that, honey?" Sapphire Shores shook her head with rather a lack of sympathy.

"Please, you must believe me!" Rarity begged.

"Listen to my sister!" Sweetie Belle requested, but they all didn't listen and proceeded to laugh at Rarity.

Everything began becoming distorted, and Sweetie Belle was falling and fading away from me. "Sweetie Belle!" I held out my hoof in fear and progressed to run after her after things seemed to go hectic.

"Alex, wait!" Luna called out. "You're not supposed to go in there!"

Her voice drained out as I had now been separated from the both of them. From the darkness I resided in, I could see many images being thrown chaotically around, but it was the sound coming from these pictures that terrified me the most. The first was Rarity's crying, and it literally all began feeling like a nightmare as I felt myself lose control of everything.

I then heard Sweetie Belle scream horribly. "I don't wanna see any more!"

"Always check and recheck!" Rarity's voice sounded.

"Who all wants to hear a funny story about my ex-costume designer?" Sapphire Shore's was next.

"Check, recheck, recheck, then recheck!"

"Make it stop! Princess Luna, can you hear me?!"

"Make me a dress, Rarity, please?"

"Go away! You know I don't do that anymore!"

"Wake me up, Princess Luna, wake me up, wake me uuuup!"

I had closed my eyes, desperately not wanting to hear any of these voices and sounds anymore. At the moment, it felt as if it was the worst torture/pain I had ever felt. It wasn't until I strained my eyes so much, everything eventually halted. My heart was pounding like crazy, and I felt sweat dripping from my face…almost as if I…woke up from the nightmare?

I slowly opened my eyes, afraid that the nightmare might still be in front of me.

But it wasn't…

However, I was still in a place I wasn't supposed to be in.

As I took a good look around at the spot I was standing still on, I realized that out of all places, the one I was in was the last place I wanted to be in.

"This is…" I didn't want to say the next word waiting to come out…but even so, I felt the need to acknowledge it. "…Fillydelphia."

I had no clue what I should have done. Should I have waited for Princess Luna? What if she didn't find me? Was I still even in a dream? If so, then who's? All these questions bugged me, and I didn't think I could stand just standing around while staring at the place I hated the most. So, I began walking, unfortunately taking sight of what I passed by.

When I did, I began remembering the past, reinforcing my hate for the town even more. I didn't know if it was possible to just ignore everything and look for a way out, but either way, it was hard for me to do so. I don't know why I couldn't just let it go. During my walk, I looked at mostly every building, weirdly able to remember what it was used for and the events that partook around and inside. I even saw the candy shop and other things that were from the drawing made when I was with Twilight. Oh, how annoying it was to know how good of a memory I had of everything in town.

I came across this grate on the floor. Of course, it was used for the rain and prevented the streets from getting flooded. However, it was broken, and it seemed that somepony had placed a plank over it to prevent the possibility of anypony falling in. Huh… I began getting a bad vibe from the specific spot, so I walked away from it.

Eventually, I came across the area that would be used for big events, such as parades or showings. Carnivals and festivals. Warm "get-togethers" for the town. Things I never attended.

I sighed. I was already starting to feel angry at the memories that I never really made. At that point, I questioned to why I was there in the first place. I needed to hear myself talk, so I spoke my thoughts out loud.

"Why am I here in this stupid place?" I asked. "Out of any place, this is it." I crossed my forelegs on the ground. "I hope it isn't getting to me… After all…that drawing of Fillydelphia came out of nowhere… I'm…I'm not even sure if it came from me…" I sighed again. "What's wrong with me…?" I suddenly felt another vibe, and it was really bugging me. I felt like somepony was watching me…watching me with bad intentions. I looked up to see a figure up above one of the buildings in the town. After a second, I realized that it just wasn't a figure. It was the thief I lost last time back in Ponyville! "Hey!" I called out. He didn't show any reaction. However, as soon as I stepped forward, he turned and began running off. I growled and clenched my teeth. "You're not getting away from me this time…!" I spread out my wings and began my search for him.

Even with my wings, this thief was smart. After I spotted his location, he jumped down into yet another alley. Even so, I still won't have the trouble from my bandaged wings to slow me down. I followed him and landed on the ground to continue to chase him. From in the alley, he kicked down some crates and barrels, but I reacted by blasting them away with my magic.

He took me on a stupid chase once again, drifting from corner to corner. I promised Spirit I would get her hoodie back, so this lowlife wasn't going to get away if that's what he thought. He continued to try to slow me down at what seemed to be with little effort actually. What bothered me more is that he seemed more interested in defiantly messing with me. This included taking risks of being caught as he purposely waited when he had the lead.

It wasn't until he weirdly led me back to the event center of town. As soon as I entered the area, I didn't continue finding him as I expected to. At first, I sort of brushed off the possibility of losing him and saw it as another time to be screwed with. I stopped in the middle, turning my head and scanning around as I tried to catch my breath. However, as I searched around the area I didn't find him as quick as I hoped. My teeth clenched as I now began realizing that I might have lost him yet again. "Come on…!" I exclaimed softly. "This is so annoying!" I wanted to scream out loud. As I continued breathing in and out, I felt myself calm down nonetheless.

Just as I felt the need to give up and walk away to find the exit to this place, I suddenly heard an echo of hoofbeats behind me, quickly having me turn to look. It was him… He was tapping his fore hooves on the ground as if he was applauding me. But to me, it was pretty clear he was still mocking me, so I only glared back at him with a face that was ready to settle this unfinished business. After he was done, he began walking to me in silence. He walked a few steps before he stopped another few steps away from me.

We stared at each other in silence. Even though I was unable to see his eyes because of the hoodie he wore over his head, I was seriously glaring at where they should have been. I waited several seconds for him to say something, but he didn't. So, I decided to speak up.

"What's your deal?" I asked in a calm anger. "Why do you have Spirit's hoodie? And why have you been creeping around me?"

Coolly, he turned his head around and reached for something on him. I didn't take my eyes off him, so I noticed as he pulled out something…odd. It looked like this foam thing that seemed to be safely swung around. It also appeared to resemble something familiar. The only thing I could have gotten from this was that it was yet another thing he stole from somepony else…Spirit? Nevertheless, he surprising threw it towards me.

I looked at it in wonder, but quickly darted my eyes back to him to make sure he didn't do anything sudden. He didn't though. He just seemed to continue looking my way. I wanted to take a closer look at this object, so while cautiously keeping my eyes on him, I picked it up with my magic. I placed it in the same direction as the thief was so I would still be able to have him in my sight. As I began to briefly analyze the object, something strange began happening. My head was buzzing and even kind of stinging. It felt just like that time I saw Twilight wearing a flower in her mane…only it was a little worse. It lasted longer, and it was causing me to clench a hoof to my head. Something in my brain just seemed to not want to work. It didn't want to work with whatever I was holding.

However, the pain and bothersome twisting managed to fade away, but it left me feeling very angry for some reason. This feeling didn't feel like me. It felt like I was angry for no reason at all. When I was able to put my hoof back down to the ground, I continued staring at this object. Then, I growled softly and breathed short fumes through my nostrils.

"What's going on?!" I almost screamed out and threw the object against the floor, feeling a sudden state of confusion as well.

The thief continued to remain silent, and only retrieved the object back from the floor. There was something about this guy… I didn't think he was just a thief anymore… It was much more than that… It was then when I finally heard something from him…a short chuckle. He held this foam thing with his mouth and only stared at me as he continued to mock me.

Being in the state I was, I couldn't refuse just knocking his lights out. "Okay, fine! You asked for it!"

As soon as I said that, he stretched out his legs and prepared himself. Judging from his stance, it looked like he was wanting this. But I didn't care. I just really wanted to hurt this pest.

Before he actually did anything, something happened that caught me off-guard. That foam sword-like object began warping, specifically with what appeared to be darkness. Whoever this pony was…he was definitely more than just an average thief… and I was getting the impression that it was more than Spirit's hoodie he wanted.

He lowered his head slowly and then suddenly lunged out at me. I only quickly jumped over to the side to avoid the attack. Even after the missing the lunge, he appeared to remain his cool. He seemed to not be frantic with keeping me in his sights.

I went on ahead to hit him with what I had…but he just took it. I didn't hear him grunt or show any evidence of pain. His body only went with the motions of receiving the hits. Afterwards, he continued on using his strange but intimidating weapon to swing at me. This time, he was being quick with his attacks. Before I could have enough time to recover, he begin swinging again. When I finally received the chance to push on forward, he only easily stepped to the side to avoid it.

He then took his turn, but I backed up as much as I could to have him miss. When I went on to attack yet again, he dodged it by merely an inch and struck me with his weapon. I released a gasp of breath as I pulled back from the hit. There was this pain that was lasting a lot longer than it should have been, but I couldn't let that stop me. Oddly enough, this weapon didn't seem to actually cut me or anything…just cause me this longing pain.

I looked up as the thief patiently waited in front of me to make my move. I growled in anger and jumped forward to now use my magic. However, in that second, he kicked away my horn and slashed at me again, striking my wings at my side. Overall, it was a successful two-hit move that left me griping internally in pain even more.

This time, he didn't wait. He went on ahead to pounce towards me, leading me to quickly jump away while trying to ignore the longing pain. Going for another magical attack, I readied my horn as I lunged my head towards him, but he quickly hopped to the side around me. Before I could turn, he struck me yet again. As I released a small groan of hurt, I angrily lifted my hind legs to kick him. As I stretched them out, he swiftly stepped to the side to avoid it again.

My heart was beginning to beat irregularly, signaling distress for my body. It was as if the thief knew of my condition, now waiting as if to give me a break. Oh, he just loved messing with me, didn't he? I shook my head to try to ignore the pain. I lifted off from the ground to try attacking from above with my magic. But it was as if he had anything I could do planned already. He dashed underneath and struck me under.

There was something about his weapon that made each hit too hard to endure. It wasn't just like being punched or struck with an average weapon. For some reason, it was a lot more incapacitating that didn't fall on pain. I was kicked out from flying as my wings glued to my body. I landed harshly as my body responded with quicker heart beats. To prove further that it wasn't just pain, my heart felt afraid and scared. I would still be able to get up and fight if it was normal pain, but… I just couldn't explain any of it!

The thief now stood still and crossed his forelegs to show that he was waiting for me to get up, possibly silently laughing underneath the hoodie that was covering his face. He began walking to me as I tried to deal with my heart's condition. As he grew close, I decided to attack with all that I could. I pushed him with a flash of my magic and then kicked him with my hind legs.

As he balanced himself on his hooves, his weapon began moving away from the mouth he carried it with. It was now levitating and more darkness sprouted from within. Unexpectedly, it flew towards me and swung by itself as if it had been a ghost doing the deed instead. I tried to avoid it as much as I could expect, but at one point, I had no other choice but to try to grab ahold of the bat. It was still a mistake doing so, as my horn stung with a similar feeling as before the fight. I placed a hoof to my head and practically fell to my knees.

At first, he waited, but then it seemed he realized he didn't want to wait anymore. He began walking towards me as I tried to cope. As he drew by my side, he raised his weapon and pointed at it me. I moved my hoof to my chest, desperately calling out assistance from my heart. Just about as he was going to perhaps stab/finish me off, this light flashed before both our eyes. It seemed to blind him for a moment as he placed a hoof in front of his face. Taking this opportunity, I tried to aim my legs towards the perp's head and gave the hardest kick I could.

The weapon he held dropped to the ground and faded away. He was facing away from me, as if the impact of my kick really got him. Nevertheless, he turned around slowly as he released a sound. "Hmph." Once he faced me with his darkened face, he actually proceeded to talk for the first time. "Not bad, Alex."

The sound of his voice stuck with me, even though he vanished without sparing another word. The sound of his voice was so…dark…and it was clear to tell that he had no good intentions whatsoever. Just by the sound of his voice…it seemed all he was aiming for was pure destruction and chaos…but not with a booming and powerful tone. It was more like…softly sinister.

I then began hearing my name, and my surroundings began moving like the waves of water. Everything seemed to begin to fall apart, and like magic, the next thing I knew was waking up from a dark cover.

"Alex!" I heard and then felt my cheeks being squished. My mother's face was the first thing I saw in front of me. "Where in Equestria did you go?! I couldn't find you!"

I lightly pulled away her hooves on my cheeks and then placed a hoof on my forehead. "I don't know…" I answered as I groaned. "I…couldn't tell if I was still in a dream or not."

"You must have been." Luna returned. "You were still asleep…but why couldn't I find you?"

I shook my head. "I don't know… I don't know what happened."

"Are you okay?" She continued her concern for me. "Are you feeling well?"

"Yeah…I think so."

She then concluded her worry with a great embrace, clenching me tightly but not to the point of choking me. "Never do that again."

"What?" I asked as I didn't know what she was talking about at the moment..

"When Sweetie Belle was being shown what would happened if she did not fix the situation. You dove into something you were not supposed to be in." She sighed greatly. "I didn't know what to do. Even I didn't know where you would go or what would happen to you."

"Sorry…" I apologized.

"It's fine…" Luna pulled away while continuing to hold on to me. "Just don't do it again…please." She seriously requested as she intently looked at my eyes.

"Yeah…" I nodded a bit weakly.

She let go and stood up to face her door. "We must go now."

"To where?" I questioned.

"Sweetie Belle. We aren't finished with her issue yet."

"Oh." I remembered. "Right..."

Princess Luna escorted me into this specific building in Canterlot. A bodyguard had allowed us through for obvious reasons. I realized that it must have been the building Sapphire Shores and her dancers were in, considering it was guarded, of course. Luna stopped once we were inside this certain room.

"Now what?" I asked.

"We wait." She sat.

"Oh…for Sweetie Belle?"

"Mm-hm." She nodded and pulled out a pink thread, along with a needle.

"What's that for?"

"Just a little something to seal the deal for Sweetie Belle." She responded. Remembering that the headdress had fallen in the dream, I assumed it had something to do with that. It wasn't until we heard muffled scuffling outside the room when Luna prepared herself for an encounter. "That's her."

Sweetie Belle bashed through the door and slammed it shut to catch her breath. However, her eyes widened immensely when she noticed us. Luna reacted with a small smile. "Oh, good!" Sweetie Belle allowed herself to relax. "This is just a dream!"

"Actually, no. This is very much real." Luna contradicted.

Sweetie Belle sighed and rested herself on the box she had brought, which I just realized was the box Rarity had placed the headdress in for her lineup. "Oh, Luna... I wish none of this ever happened... What am I gonna do?"

"Let's begin with this." Princess Luna held up the thread and needle she had been carrying, even taking the second to place the thread in the hole of the needle with her magic. "And I think I know how you can even improve it." She mentioned as she opened the box while Sweetie Belle held the thread and needle with her mouth. She pulled out the headdress and presented it to all of us. "Would you like to do the stitching?" She asked Sweetie Belle.

"Oh, yes, please!" Sweetie Belle answered with great enthusiasm.

She was just about to insert the needle into the particular spot of the headdress until Luna stopped her. "Wait for just a moment."

"What is it?"

"Do it like this." Princess Luna pointed out in a specific path.

Sweetie Belle seemed to wonder why, but she performed according to her instructions nonetheless. She trusted her.

After Sweetie Belle had sewn it in, she wiped her forehead in relief. "There. It's finished." She gasped suddenly. "I need to take this back!" She placed it on her back. "Thank you so much!" She waved as she smiled back at us, exiting out the room.

"So…she had taken out the hidden stitch Rarity needed, otherwise the headdress would fall apart?" I asked, seeing the connection.

"Yes. Out of anger. That is a mistake I would never like to see again." Luna replied.

"Wow…" I looked at the floor, thinking about how bad it could have been. "Just during the heat of the moment…ruining another pony's life…that's so…"

She placed a hoof on my chest in hopes to stop me from thinking like that. "Let us be grateful we helped just in time."

"It was you, really… I just kind of watched…" I admitted.

Princess Luna smiled softly and rubbed her head against mine. "Come now. Let us see the result." She led me out the back of the room.

My mother took me upstairs to remain out of sight in another room while we observed the inside of the one Sapphire Shores was in. It seemed the building had at least another pair of stairs as we noticed Rarity and Sweetie Belle make their way up back in the same room.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Rarity apologized as she carried the box holding the headdress over to Sapphire Shores. "My sister, Sweetie Belle, just had rushed in to add a little finishing touch to perfect what I made for you."

However, Sapphire Shores didn't return a relaxed or forgiving face. She didn't look too happy with what must have happened with the interruption. In fact, Sapphire Shores began referring to the situation as Rarity placed the box down and grabbed a nearby mirror. "Rarity, this isn't going to work out. You don't get to my level of success without learning to read the signs, and this situation has bad luck written all over it."

Rarity and Sweetie Belle both flinched in slightly visible horror when they heard this. But Rarity didn't give up so easily. "I promise you'll absolutely adore the headdress as soon as you see it!" She assured and then proceeded to reveal the headdress she had made for Sapphire Shores. She placed it on her head and pulled the mirror closer to her.

Once Sapphire Shores was allowed to see herself with the headdress on, she gave a second thought to her feelings. "My, it is attractive, but..."

"Look at the stitching!" Sweetie Belle pointed. "Real close."

Sapphire Shores almost reluctantly did so, but she began staring straight at the stitching that was embroidered at the center of her headdress. "Well, I'll be. It's a dolphin!" She immediately recognized. "That's my lucky animal! They swim with me in my dreams."

"Wherever did you come up with the idea for a dolphin?" Rarity asked Sweetie Belle out of curiosity.

"Oh, it just came to me..." Sweetie Belle looked away and noticed us in the other room observing them. "…in a dream." Princess Luna closed her eyes and nodded silently at Sweetie Belle. Sweetie turned back around to face her sister. "I'm sorry I got jealous about those dresses. I know now that you were only trying to help."

"Oh, Sweetie, I forgive you! But my friends and I never did get to see your play. Any chance we could catch an encore performance?" Rarity requested.

"Uh, I don't think the play went all that good." Sweetie Belle scoffed lightly in laughter. "To be honest, the costumes were the best part."

Sweetie Belle then embraced Rarity, receiving a heartfelt "Awww!".

"Rarity!" Sapphire Shores approached her, continuing to wear her outfit. "Despite what happened here today, you do never fail to impress me! After all, you are my favorite designer."

"Oooh." Rarity almost looked like she wanted to faint from that statement. "You don't know how happy that makes me."

"Oh!" Sapphire Shores released, seeming to appear as if she forgot something. "Almost forgot. There's still one other pony that needs to try on that last outfit you made her." She turned around to face the door Rarity and Sweetie Belle had come in through. "Starlight, you hear me? Come on in here!"

My heart jumped as I reacted with stretched eyes.

Rarity seemed to be a bit surprised herself, but not as much as I was.

Holding not much of an expression, she walked in the room. She almost even looked like Maud, but she still had a little expression in her face nonetheless. She didn't say anything, but only looked at Sapphire Shores with a questioning expression.

"Come here and see what I got you for your big show!" Sapphire Shores called, bringing her over to the last dress Rarity had made. The one that stood out from all of the rest. Rarity stood silent throughout the entire moment while Sweetie Belle didn't really have a clue on what was going on. I wasn't sure if Starlight had seen Rarity yet, but she only followed Sapphire Shores to see the dress. "What do you think?" She asked with a smug look on her face.

Starlight placed a hoof under the dress, which Rarity seemed to look a little disgusted/offended by. "It's nice, I guess." Starlight returned, sounding like she lacked a bit of energy. I glanced over to Rarity, whom didn't spare a word. "I was just going to throw on a loose shirt and some shorts though…"

"Don't be silly, girl!" Sapphire Shores countered the lack of liveliness Starlight provided. "You're playing at the Equestria Games, you've got to wear something new!" She turned her head to Rarity. "You can thank my favorite designer for it."

Starlight turned and faced Rarity. The two stared at each other for a few seconds, which I'm sure must have felt like minutes. Starlight didn't seem to react negatively. She only turned back and muttered the word. "Thanks."

Feign or not, Rarity chuckled lightly and friendly. "Well, Sweetie Belle and I better be off back to Ponyville. Please, let me know if there's anything else you'd like!"

"Of, course! Keep up the great work, Rarity!" Sapphire Shores responded while Starlight continued to observe the dress silently.

"Will do!" Rarity said before she brought Sweetie Belle out of the room and most likely left.

"Would you like to get going now, Alex?" Princess Luna asked.

"No…no…" I answered. "I mean…I'm going to stay for just a minute…"

I didn't mind if my mother had left, but she decided to stick with me. Perhaps it was because of the way I was acting.

"Go on! Try it on!" Sapphire Shores insisted. Calmly, Starlight did so. She then stood in front of the mirror to observe herself in it, but she still don't bother offering any word on it. "Oh, you look just adorable!"

"Hmph." She released briefly.

Sapphire Shores took the liberty to observe Starlight all around as well. "Have you ever thought about changing your look a bit?"

"'Changing my look'?" Starlight asked with a hint of raised awareness.

"Well, for all this time, you've been performing with that bang over your eye, honey. I understand you into the whole punk rock genre, but did you ever think about doing something different with your mane?"

"No." She answered flatly.

"Aw, come on now." Sapphire Shores encouraged. "Look here, let me see if I can do something with it."

Sapphire Shores was just about to lay her hoof on Starlight's mane, but she suddenly pulled away while crying out. "No!" This both shocked Sapphire Shores and caught the attention of her backup dancers. Starlight noticed this and released a calming breath. "I mean…no… I just… don't want anypony to see that side of my face."

This brought seriousness into Sapphire Shore's eyes. "Are you alright? What's wrong with that part of your face? Did somepony hit you?"

"No, no." Starlight brushed away. "It's just… I don't want to talk about it."

"Are you sure?" Sapphire Shores asked.

"Yeah… I'm fine… It's nothing to worry about." She looked back at the mirror and sighed greatly. "I don't even know if I want to perform at the Equestria Games… I think I might cancel…"

"What are you talking about?!" Sapphire Shores quickly jumped in. "This is practically an event of a lifetime! You can't throw away this opportunity!"

"I don't know… I just haven't been feeling it lately…" Starlight continued staring tiredly at her reflection.

"You've still got quite a while before the show, honey. Have you been taking it easy?"

"Aside from band practice and all that junk, yeah, kind of."

"Try taking a week off, and then get back on track. Sometimes, it helps taking a break." Sapphire Shores suggested.

"Hm. Maybe…" Starlight shared before I felt I had enough.

"Come on…" I told my mom. "Let's go."

"She looked kind of worried for the way I acted…but I think she kind of knows about the tense situation between her and me. She just doesn't know exactly what it is." I told Spirit about how concerned my mom was after seeing Starlight. Afterwards, I sighed and shook my head as some drops of my ice cream fell towards the long drop below. "Man…what a day."

"Trust me." Spirit returned with a confident tone. "I know that feeling."

"What about you?" I asked, remembering the note she had left. "Have you been feeling alright?"

"Yeah." She nodded as she licked her lips from the last bite of her ice cream. "It was just one of those days where you don't feel so good at the moment."

"Well, I'm glad it wasn't worse." I took a bite out of my ice cream as well, feeling it soften up from the warmth of the sunset. "Sorry I didn't check up on you last night." I apologized. "I actually spent the night experiencing dreams with my mom. We went into Rarity's little sister's dream."

"Why?" Spirit asked.

"She was having this kind of fight with Rarity. Rarity didn't even really understand what was going on herself. It was just one way of resolving it, I guess." I took another bite. "Man…Sweetie Belle sure is growing up…"

"We all do…" Spirit added.

Just then, I realized I had forgotten something important, and just the thought made me groan in annoyance. This caught Spirit's attention, leading me to explain what it was. "I just remembered…" I recalled. "At one point of the dream thing, something weird happened. I couldn't tell if I was still in a dream or not, but I was like…transported to Fillydelphia or something." I glanced over to Spirit, whom now had her mouth open as if she was interested, shocked, or surprised. "That's not the worst part. I saw that thief again! I don't know how he got in there, but I eventually caught him." I paused. "…or did he let me catch him?" I shook it off, wanting to get back to the point. "Either way, I fought him and…ugh." I groaned again. "I have no idea what's going on! This guy was so…off…out of it. At first, I used to think he was just some lowlife thug, but there's something about it that bothers me! He turned this foam sword thing or whatever into a dark weapon that actually hurt!" I sighed and then realized something. "Wait a minute… Maybe it was all just a dream? An illusion? But his voice… I never heard his voice…"

"You heard his voice…?" Spirit inquired.

"Yeah…" I answered. "But…it was really like…dark, deep, and mysterious… If it really was all unreal, then maybe it just came out of nowhere…" I shook my head again in confusion. "I don't know… It felt pretty real and intentional to me…"

"Maybe it was just a dream…" Spirit offered. "I don't see how some random guy that takes stuff can grow dark powers."

"Maybe…"I felt a little like ignoring what happened. "But I'm not going to let it go completely until I'm sure of what happened. I still have to get your hoodie back after all."

She didn't answer to that right away. Instead, she surprised me with her next sentence. "Hey, Alex… I have something I need to ask you…"

"What is it?" I replied attentively.

"I've, um, been thinking… Well… You know how there are things I've been keeping from you?"

"Yeah?"

"Well…" She took another moment. "Say I was…ready to…um…tell at least a few… Would you be angry? Or not believe me if it was the case for such feelings?"

"Hm…" I took a moment to think about it. "Well… Honestly, I feel like I've known you enough to trust you about pretty much anything. About the angry part? I can't tell. I can't say that for whatever you tell me, I won't get angry because it's hard to control such a feeling. It's not like I can just shut off the angry switch." I laughed a little. "Even if I did get angry, or angry at you specifically, I'm pretty sure I couldn't stay upset for long with you." I stopped and looked at her for an answer for bringing up such a thing. "Why? Were you really thinking about telling me some of your secrets?"

She giggled. "Maybe… I don't know. I kind of…feel like…you know. I'm just scared of what you might think." She sighed and shook her head. "I don't know. Now, I'm starting to have mixed feelings. It's really bothering me."

"Hm. I'd really like getting to know you more, Spirit. I really do. Like where you come from or how it was we got to meet in the first place. Things like that."

"Wow." She responded. "I actually could answer all of that with one sentence really…"

"Really?" I questioned, immediately intrigued.

"Yeah…" She pulled back a little. "Well, we'll see. I'm still thinking about it." She turned towards the sunset. "But, you know… Just maybe…"

"Here's me hoping to that." I held up my ice cream and took a bite.

Spirit chuckled a little. After, she stuck the ice cream in her mouth and took a rather large bite. In a moment, she held her hoof to her forehead and wiggled her back hooves as she strained the look on her face. "Aah! Brain freeze!" She then began laughing out loud at her silliness, leading me to join in gently.

For some reason, I felt like Spirit would have been the perfect friend to have during my school years. In fact, she probably would been the only thing worth staying at that town for…

Leap of Faith

Episode 85 – Leap of Faith

I was walking alone in the Everfree Forest, preferably heading towards the Castle of the Two Sisters. For some reason, I didn't find it odd. In fact, I was merely observing the twisted trees around me. I seemed to not even mind the possible dangers lurking around the forest.

Everything seemed to be going well until something stopped me. My hooves ceased to walk when I noticed this familiar figure a few steps away from me. Normally, I seemed to react hostilely after I realized it was the thief that had been able to escape from me twice now.

As he stared with an unclear but dark expression, I furrowed my eyebrows to yell at him.

"Hey!" I pointed out my hoof towards him. "I'm not finished with you until I get that hoodie back!"

As a reaction, he pointed past me, as if he was trying to warn me of something. I was puzzled at first, but as soon as I cautiously looked behind me while trying not to lower my guard, I noticed those creepy plant things that attacked Twilight when the Tree of Harmony was under attack. It tried to bite at me, but I quickly jumped back and shot at it with my magic. However, there were many more beginning to surround us.

As I was too busy fighting these things off as much as I could, it took me a while before I actually noticed the thief fighting alongside me. Not only was this odd, but the thief was using a different kind of magic now! Every time I had a few seconds to breathe, I was able to notice that the thief was using some kind of…light magic, literally. What baffled me was it was the kind of power that was completely opposite of what he was using before when I was stuck in Fillydelphia. He was good at it too. Wait a minute…is this magic? Or…is it light...just like the light that comes from within me?

As many questions as I had, I couldn't think about it as I had to worry about the rising threats around the both of us. At some times, the thief would use some kind of light rays that would attack multiple targets, saving me from attacking myself. I found it even weirder how I wasn't able to use my light as easily as he did. In fact, my light only really came in dire situations, and this guy was using it like nothing! If it wasn't for the bad history we already had, I would have said we were pretty good working together back-to-back style.

We finished off what was left when it died down. Breathing in a bit heavily to catch my breath, I turned my head back to face the thief in confusion, feeling my guard lower for some reason. I knew it totally wasn't safe…but I kind of…allowed myself to relax a bit after seeing him help me out. I would have thought he'd just team up with those creatures and finish me…but he didn't.

We both stared at each other for a moment, but the experience wasn't as hostile or aggressive as before. Actually, one thing I noticed was that he didn't seem to try to be mocking me at all. Other than that, the time allowed me to notice a few things I didn't notice before the ambush.

For some weird reason, he wore black coverings on his legs, which didn't seem to do much but make them darker. His legs were already pretty dark if I remembered correctly. However, when I looked into this a little more, I noticed that this same covering was on the whole body as well. It looked like the coat-tight hoodie Twilight had us wear when she was freaking out about time, but it was worn under the stolen hoodie. It wasn't just that, his muzzle was covered up as well, and his tail seemed to be wrapped and covered too.

What was he trying to do?

The thief seemed to jump a little, possibly seeing that I was analyzing his outfit. The jump seemed to come from surprise actually. Before I could look and think any further, he turned and ran away. I tried to run after him, but he disappeared from sight…again.

I finally returned to the real world when I opened my eyes and stood up from bed. I held a hoof to my head and felt almost drained, even though I had just woken from slumber. There was a kind of sinking feeling inside me, and it wasn't exactly the greatest way to start the day. I was able to recall my dream enough to know that I had encountered the thief again in a weird way. However, this recent dream must have been an actual made-up dream because I knew the thief didn't act the same way the one did a moment ago.

There was a knock downstairs, to which I descended to the first floor to answer. Applejack was standing outside, looking to the side towards her tree. When she realized I was in front of her, she turned back to me and chuckled lightly. "Howdy."

"Hey…" I responded, feeling she was up to something different.

"Feel like swimmin'?" She asked unexpectedly.

My answer didn't rely on the swimming part. Instead, I was more inclined to the thought of spending some time with her, seeing as I hadn't truly in a long while. "Yeah, sure." I answered with my widened eyes, still surprised by her sudden question.

"Well, come on then." She gestured her head to her side. I glanced back inside my house, but then walked out and closed the door behind me. Applejack waited as I caught up by her side to begin walking. "How've you been?" She inquired.

"Okay, I guess…" I returned, feeling influenced by the weird dream I had today.

"Just okay?" She turned her head towards me with a light smirk.

"I had a weird dream. A lot of weird stuff has been happening to me lately." I specified.

"Really? Like what?" Applejack yearned.

"It's…things you wouldn't really understand. Even I don't understand them." I admitted.

"Ah… Dreams can be weird." Applejack contributed. "A lot of the times, I think I have dreams I kind of wish were true instead of them being weird."

"Oh…" I expressed. "You mind if I ask what exactly?"

"Let's just say, seeing some important ponies." She cut short.

"Hm." I didn't really know what to say to that, so I decided to return back to our walking. "Where are we going?"

"Swimmin' hole." She responded.

"Swimming hole?" I repeated in question.

"It's like a pool…but hoof-made." She described. "Well…sometimes it's not hoof-made…but you get the idea."

"Oh." I tried to recall any experiences of actually swimming before. "I don't know if I've even swam before."

"It's real fun." She assured. "Especially on a warm sunny day like this. The water is so refreshin'."

"Oh, good. I'll get to see you in a swimsuit then." I light-heartedly joked.

"I thought you said you never went swimmin' before?" Applejack turned her head to me with raised eyebrow and suspicious eyes.

"I never said I didn't see other ponies go swimming." I replied truthfully.

Applejack chuckled and formed a smile. "I'm sure as heck you'd like to somepony else in a swimsuit." She referred to somepony specific. I already knew who she was talking about. However, she continued talking before I could fish out a proper reaction. "Anyway, I don't wear one. It's not like you need one anyway."

"Are you good at it?" I asked.

"Swimming? Yeah, I suppose so." She returned. "You just gotta be calm about it."

"Uh-huh… Well, I guess we'll see how I handle it." I focused back on the road until Applejack let me know she wasn't finished conversing yet.

"Hey, uh, there's been something on my mind for a while now." She mentioned.

"What's that?" I replied.

"Well…I kind of noticed…out of our other friends…we're the only ones who have actually really…argued a bit with each other." She stated.

"What do you mean?" I requested, feeling a little concerned.

"I believe we've said a few things to each other that weren't exactly nice…" She added.

I think I knew what she was talking about. As far as I could remember, we did have a few times where tension was a little high. "Uh-huh…?"

"That's not necessarily bad, is it?" She questioned a little worriedly.

"We're still friends, aren't we?" I reminded. "Sometimes…nopony can help but get into an argument with another. Actually, arguments can even show how much you care for someone, in a good way."

"You sure about that?" Applejack seemed to doubt.

"What?" I wondered. "You care about me, don't you?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "I just mean…" She paused and sighed shortly. "Never mind. I guess you're right. As long as we're still friends, right?"

"Of course. After all, you're not the only one." I remembered. "Rainbow and I have heaps of…heated talk…but I know she still loves me." I kind of said that in a joking way, knowing Rainbow wouldn't really associate love in a sentence in such a way, due to her tough ego.

Applejack chuckled at that as we made our way to the swimming hole.

"And…here we are!" Applejack presented as it was revealed to us. There was this pond-looking area, which probably was a lot deeper than I thought it was. Already inside was Big Macintosh and Applebloom. Staying on the sidelines outside of the hole was Granny Smith. She was casually resting on a lawn chair. Applejack furrowed her eyebrows in a competitive spirit. "Comin' through!" She yelled out to the others and galloped towards the swimming hole. Then, she ended with a mighty jump and crashed through the water, sending waves at a certain radius outside the hole that even wet me a bit. When she resurfaced, she shared a laugh with the others inside.

I looked at the pool and began feeling queasy for some reason. The sight of it made me feel uncomfortable, and even my legs began feel a little limp. I didn't really have any interest of going inside, so I stayed out of the water as well as Applejack continued to have a blast with her relatives.

To kind of prevent any awkwardness of me just sitting there and either staring or looking around with no clue on what to do, I walked over to the swing around where Granny Smith was sleeping in her chair and sat on it. I looked at the ground for a moment and didn't really feel the urge to actually swing. I just continued sitting there while motioning ever so lightly.

"Just one more time? Please?" I heard Applebloom beg and lifted my head in curiosity.

"Alright, but this is the last one." Applejack responded.

Applebloom grinned widely and began running towards the hole. "Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!" She hopped onto a rock and then onto Big Macintosh. He pushed her up onto the air, leading her to flip several times until she landed on Applejack's back legs. From there, she was thrown onto the air again to dive back into the water. "Woooo!"

This splash threw water out to both Granny Smith and me, but it was mostly Granny Smith that took the hit. She sputtered out in surprise as she awoke from her nap. "Who done that?!" She asked frantically after coughing and spitting a bit.

"Sure wish you'd come swim with us, Granny." Applebloom wished.

"Uh, sorry, dear. I just can't bring myself anywhere near that there swimmin' hole." Granny Smith pointed out, as if she had a grudge against the thing.

"How come?" Applebloom wondered.

"Well, I wasn't always this way..." Granny Smith responded, readying herself for another story from the past. "Time was, I was an aquapony all-star! In fact, I was the only Apple to ever come close to breaking the Equestria high-diving record! Falling six stories into a deep dish pie pan takes a toll on the hindquarters. Oh, I was so sore, took years before I could even look at the water again! Just the idea of swimmin' makes my whole body ache!" She creakily pushed herself off her chair. "Besides, these old legs can't even paddle fast enough to stay afloat." She walked towards the water, but then suddenly almost slipped when coming across a small puddle. However, she managed to worriedly balance herself out.

"Boy, I sure would hate to be afraid of swimmin'." Applebloom expressed with great disbelief and fear. "You think I'll ever be scared of the water?" She asked Applejack.

As soon as she said that, this shark fin appeared in front of them, sending Applebloom running out of the water. Big Macintosh then popped out, revealing that he had been wearing one of those unnecessary shock hats for scaring people in the water. "Nope."

Both he and Applejack laughed, all while I keep watching silently. My silence must have caught Applejack's attention though because she turned to look for me until she spotted me at the swing. "Alex? Whatcha doin' over there? Don't tell me you're afraid of swimmin' too!"

"I don't know." I shared. "I don't really feel like getting in now…"

"Why not?" Applejack began making her way out. "The water's great! You'd have to be sick to miss out on it!" My lips only pushed towards the left side of my face, showing my uncertainty. I just couldn't feel confident about going in, which was a weird thing. It wasn't like I've been in there before and experienced a bad time. "If you're a little scared, that's okay." Applejack assured while still staying in her friendly playful mood. "You can hold on to me, if you want. After all, Big Macintosh has his little duck thing. Applebloom has her floaties. You don't need to be embarrassed about being scared." Applejack showed me the accessories her siblings wore, but it definitely didn't have anything to do with that.

"It's not really that…" I replied.

"Well, whatever it is, I'll be right next to ya." She mentioned honestly. "As long as I'm around, you don't need to be afraid of somethin' happening to ya here."

That was reassuring, but it still didn't help me much from going in. Weird, I know.

"Thanks…but…" I looked away, clueless of what to do.

"Why don't I get you up and runnin'?" She offered as she walked around behind me.

"What are you doing?" I asked before I was pushed.

Since I remained on the swing, Applejack was beginning to swing me, actually raising my fears if anything.

"This is going to be fun. Applebloom loves this trick!" She said as she continued pushing me to bring me higher.

"Applejack, I don't feel so good…" I felt so many uncomfortable tugs inside of me.

"Your call!" She did one last final push that didn't matter whether I gripped my hooves tightly on the sides of the swing. I was sent flying towards the swimming hole. I wasn't sure if it was nervousness or not, but at the moment, I didn't even think of flying to remove myself from that tense situation. Even if I tried, my wings were probably too locked up from the scary feelings inside.

"Nice one, Applejack!" Applebloom observed from the side with an astonished face.

Immediately, I was driven towards the water. From what I could see, the bottom of the hole wasn't too far in. Either way, I began panicking more than ever. I still didn't know what was wrong with me. It wasn't my first time in the water, but I still overreacted fearfully. I swung my forelegs around a bit, but before I could even try to get myself out, my body just shut off as if I knocked out.

I was coughing when I woke up. Included was the feeling of water being forced out of my mouth. It wasn't exactly a good feeling, but I was too out of it to care. When I was able to focus on what I saw, I noticed Applejack's worried face and the sky behind her.

"Sugarcube, are you alright?" She asked.

I groaned a bit and managed to rub my face with my hooves. "What just happened…?"

She sighed in both relief and worry. "So sorry." She apologized. "I wasn't expectin' for that to happen. It was my fault. I didn't know you absolutely couldn't swim."

"H-huh?" I slowly sat up and noticed the rest of her family looking our way a little further away. "What?" I was still confused.

"You almost drowned because of me." Applejack admitted.

"Drowned?" I continued to question.

"When I pushed you over to the swimmin' hole. We were all waitin' for you to come back up, but you never did, so I went in there after you. Afterwards, I had to get you up again with some CPR. Good thing I was here to because nopony else here knows squat about—"

"Hold on a second." I cut her off, clinging on to another idea that worried me. "You had to use CPR?"

"Yeah… Why?" She seemed to wonder why, out of everything else that happened, I focused on that.

"So…that means…you…" I began feeling worse than before. My heart sank as I feared the future.

"What? What's wrong?" She questioned.

"What's Fluttershy going to think?" I began fretting internally. "How's she going to react?"

"What in Equestria are you talkin' about?" Applejack couldn't understand my behavior.

"CPR includes mouth-to-mouth…so that means you…"

Judging from the way she positioned her eyebrows and eyes, she was unable to understand what I was trying to get across. However, after a moment, she managed to finally get the point. "Seriously?" She formed a near-laughing smile, which I couldn't get because of the current situation. "After everything that happened, that's what you're worried about?"

"I don't want to see Fluttershy cry again!" I shook my head, desperately wanting to avoid any re-experiences.

"Sugarcube, calm down. Everything's going to be fine." Applejack assured.

"But, what about Fluttershy?" I did not yet cease to worry.

"You really think she cares more about that over a life?" She answered my question with another.

As I heard that, the worry began to fade away, as it had made sense. "Well…no…" I thought more about it. "Of course not…"

Applejack continued to smile as she sat next to me. "I didn't think you'd react so sensitively."

"Sorry…" I apologized for overreacting. "It's just…ever since that uh… 'incident'… It really got me worrying about another accident like that happening again." Even though I was vague about the event, it was pretty clear after putting two and two together.

Applejack chuckled lightly. "I understand. Even then, that was an accident. This was to save a life. Imagine if I was to be 'You know what? Fluttershy might get upset, so I better go get her instead.' You probably wouldn't be here speakin' if I did."

"Yeah, yeah…" I agreed, seeing her point. "You're right."

I guess I was the one at fault when everyone packed up and left the swimming hole. It was understandable. After all, how could anypony else find the mood again to swim after seeing somepony else almost lose their life? I, for one, am not sure I even want to try swimming again. Thinking this, I inevitably formed a small frown as we walked away from the area where the swimming hole was at.

"Aw, don't worry now, young'un." I heard Granny Smith express in the opposite mood I was in. "Lots of ponies always almost drown in the water all the time."

"I don't think that's helping, Granny…" Applejack stated. "…or entirely true for that matter…"

"It's not that." I pointed out. "It's just…" I sighed. "I hope you guys aren't mad at me for kind of ruining the whole swimming thing."

"Pffft." Granny Smith brushed off in an elderly kind of way. "I was getting tired of the water anyway."

"You didn't even swim, Granny." Applejack mentioned while smirking a bit.

"Good thing I didn't neither!" She responded loudly.

"Anyway…" Applejack continued. "You don't need to fret, Alex." She assured. "We had our fun, and safety always comes first, no matter what."

"Thanks…" I managed to smile softly and felt a bit better hearing that from her.

"Hey, Granny…" Applebloom now spoke. "You were a high diver, right?"

"The best one in Ponyville!" Granny Smith replied proudly.

"So, don't you ever think about going into the water again?" Applebloom asked.

"Not at my age, child." Granny Smith stated.

"Well…" Applebloom looked away and then brought back her eyes to her grandmother with a hopeful grin. "Do you think I could be a high diver?"

"Nope." Big Macintosh immediately came out of his silent form to address to Applebloom.

"Absolutely not." Applejack joined in sternly.

"But—"

"Now you hold your horsefeathers, little seed!" Granny Smith clarified. "I never said bein' a high diver was a smart decision! It's incredibly dangerous!"

"I know, but—"

"But nothin'!" Granny Smith strictly ceased. "It is the riskiest, scariest, darn-fool thing I ever did do! That's not to say I didn't wish I was still young and spry and confident, but let's leave the flyin' through the air to the Pegasi." She ended with a wink.

"Wow, when you put it that way, it doesn't sound so fun…" Applebloom said.

"I wouldn't do anything as dangerous as that for fun anyway…" I added in at the same time I began hearing noises of a crowd growing louder.

All of us then noticed ponies passing by us on the road. They all seemed to have something wrong with them, such as a handicap or sickness. Either way, they all seem curiously excited for something.

"Wow." Applejack expressed after noticing the huge unexpected crowd. "I wonder where everypony's headed."

My left ear twitched with a strange tune coming from the distance. "You guys hear that?" I asked.

"That sounds fun!" Applebloom responded after listening for a moment.

Granny Smith actually took the first step towards joining the crowd, leading Applebloom to walk on after her.

"Now where in Ponyville do you two think you're goin'?" Applejack asked, as if this certain direction or place was bad.

"Aw, quit bein' such a worry-worm and follow your ears!" Granny Smith returned.

"Come on, Applejack, aren't you curious?" Applebloom asked her before she continued walking.

Applejack sent me an uncertain look, and then another to her brother. Eventually, she decided to follow along as well. The music was playing loudly now at our ears when we came across this stripe-colored tent, which provided a carnival type theme. Applejack, Big Macintosh, and I walked in to see the crowd aligned as if they were about to see some show. Granny Smith and Applebloom were joining them.

As the crowd continued chattering, I looked around, feeling a sense of déjà vu. "Is it just me, or does this seem familiar?" I asked with a questioning face.

Before Applejack could give an answer, the lights dimmed and spotlights formed on the stage. Magic grasped the crank on the cart on the stage and began turning it. This led to steam being puffed out of the cart. Yeah. Definitely familiar.

A silhouette banner appeared in front of the cart and two almost immediately-recognizable voices sounded from behind a curtain.

"Thank you, one and all, for your attendance, and we guarantee that your time here will not be spent in vain!"

"In fact, we think it will prove to be the most valuable time you've ever spent!"

Two ponies revealed themselves, having us immediately recognize their identities.

"The Flim Flam Brothers!" Applejack pointed out in a soft exclaim. "What are they doin' here?"

"I'm guessing to cause trouble again?" I assumed, feeling a bit of anger hit me.

"Eeyup." Big Macintosh shared.

"Welcome, one and all, to the demonstration of a lifetime!" Flim started.

"A demonstration of a better life!" Flam carried on.

"A demonstration of a better time!" Flim continued on the turn-taking announcement. "And if we haven't captured your interest just yet, by the time we've finished, an unfortunate phenomenon practically guarantees that we will!"

"A phenomenon? What's that?" Flam joined his brother to question.

"It's a circumstance perceptible by the senses, but in this case, it's the simple fact that…" Flim then proceeded to work into another song, just like last time. "There's ailments all around us in everything we touch and see"

"A sickness that lies waiting there in every breath you breathe" Flam exaggerated.

"Disease will up and grab you as it crawls from land and sea" Flim pointed out using pictures on his cart.

"It's amazing how infected that the natural world and all its things can be" Flam ended the section for the song.

"Now I understand that some of you don't think you're sick." Flim spoke.

"But twisted hooves and aching joints don't heal all that quick." Flam added.

"Consider just how dangerous this world is! You might..." Flim once again prepared for song.

"Slip and fall, break or sprain something here tonight" Flam started this time.

"But luckily for you, we've got the thing you need" The two began singing together.

"And it's easier when all you need's the cure

The Flim Flam Miracle Curative Tonic

Is just what the doctor ordered, I'm sure" They now presented their product.

"Now I know our claims seem fantastical." Flim returned to speaking.

"Impractical." His brother added.

"Improbable." They popped up in random places of the crowd.

"Impossible."

"And magical!" The two appeared back on stage after a smoky entrance.

"So we welcome every suffering pony to make their way up to the stage." Flim encouraged.

"Now don't crowd." Flam requested.

"And we'll prove our tonic's effectiveness before your very eyes."

"You there!" Flam oddly singled out a pony with glasses and crutches from the crowd. "Come up here, good sir." He did so as if honored to be called out.

"I'll wager you're tired of those crutches, my friend." Flim guessed.

"Try taking a sip of this!" Flam presented a bottle of their product.

As soon as he drank a mouthful, he began busting his forelegs out from the crutches and then proceeded to shimmer in glee. Everypony in the crowd was shocked and surprised, including Granny Smith and Applebloom.

However, I felt skeptical. Knowing these guys, there had to be a catch.

"That's why you're so lucky we've got the thing for you

Just come on up, we've always got some more" They sang with the recently disabled pony as they all danced together.

"Of the Flim Flam Miracle Curative Tonic" They revealed the stock they had behind the stage.

"I won't need these crutches to dance out the door!" This now "cured" pony threw his crutches away and did so out the exit.

"Now how do ya like that?" Granny Smith asked Applebloom.

"I don't." Applejack answered Granny Smith's question, but it didn't seem she bothered listening. "There's somethin' funny about this whole thing."

I couldn't agree any more.

"Now some of you may suffer from feelings of despair" Flim targeted an elder pony.

"You're old, you're tired, your legs won't work, there's graying in your hair"

"Just listen and I'll tell you that you don't need to fear" Flam assured the pony.

"Your ears will work, your muscles tone, your eyes will see so clear"

"Luckily for us, you've got the thing we need" The crowd began joining…just like last time!

"The answer to our problems in a jar

The Flim Flam Miracle Curative Tonic

Is the greatest ever miracle by far!"

"It cures the reins, the spurs, and the Clydesdale fur blight." Flim began pointed out different illnesses.

"Hooferia and horsentery cured in just a night." Flam joined.

"You've got swollen hooves and hindquarters or terrible bridle-bit cleft."

"Saunter sitz and gallop plop or give your tail some heft."

As I listened to all these things it was able to cure, I felt a lot more skeptical after hearing each one. There was no way it could cure everything!

"Mane loss, hay fever, or terrible tonsillitis."

"You heard it here, folks - this is the only place in all of Equestria you'll find it!"

"It can make you shorter, taller, or even grow old"

"But who'd want that?"

"When with one drink"

"You can be young again—"

"SOLD!" Granny Smith suddenly threw up her money high into air, cutting Flim and Flam from properly ending their song.

"Congratulations, Granny Smith! You just made the purchase of a lifetime!" Flim easily and shadily accepted her money while exchanging a "tonic" to her. I honestly couldn't believe that she didn't seem to take into account of the damage they almost caused last time they were here.

"Are you as worried as I am?" Applejack asked us uncomfortably.

"Eeyup." Big Macintosh answered for me as well as I was too busy thinking into the situation.

The large group of ponies that attended this advertisement began crowding around the stage. I felt the need to confront these two salesponies before anything else damaging could happen.

"Excuse me." I expressed as I spread out my wings and flew over to the stage. "What do you think you two are doing here?" I asked, not really surprising them.

"Well, well, well." Flim began. "If it isn't, Prince Alexander."

"Care for a complimentary free bottle of tonic?" Flam tried to persuade, holding over the bottle near me.

"No." I pushed it away with my hoof. "I'm wondering what you two are trying to do here after your little mess from last time."

"What? Can't two innocent salesponies not sell an innocent product that is designed to help and support the community and fine fine ponies of Ponyville?" Flim questioned.

"Not if there's something shady going on here." I emphasized subtly.

"And what proof do you have of that?" Flam asked smugly.

Thinking back, I didn't have anything. And so, I couldn't do much. "…nothing yet…" I returned. "…but how are you so sure this tonic cures everything you just mentioned so far?"

"Didn't you just see that nice stallion dance out of here without his crutches? I'm pretty sure that's enough to believe our product works!" Flam responded.

"Even so, that was one pony." I reminded. "It doesn't mean it will work for everypony with any illness."

"We've sold our product all over Equestria and have received nothing but positive feedback." Flim said. "Now, if you so kindly let us sell it to these fine eager ponies, we'll be happy to serve and make everypony happy."

Returning a lightly glaring eye, I realized there was nothing more I could do, so I lifted off over the crowd and joined Applejack by the exit.

Granny Smith had seemed to disappear from the crowd right after she received her purchase, which left the rest of us behind to ponder somewhat negatively over what Flim and Flam might have been up to.

Big Macintosh silently fished at the top of this small cliff, possibly going over the events that just occurred. So, Applejack, Applebloom, and I also sat nearby. Applejack was still looking absolutely worried while Applebloom was happily recalling what happened.

"Boy, I just can't believe all the things that Flim Flam Tonic can do!" She exclaimed.

"When somepony says somethin's too good to be true, it usually is." Applejack referred to my confrontation. "Maybe you should've took the bottle, Alex. See if it worked."

I groaned a bit. "Ugh… I probably should have." However, I stopped feeling a bit stupid for my choice after thinking a bit. "But there isn't really anything wrong with me." I pointed out. "At least…I don't think so. Even if I wanted to become taller or something, I don't see how the tonic will know I want to be taller. See, that's another thing!" I began feeling angry that my thinking wasn't enough to prove Flim and Flam's product wrong. "How does the tonic even work to what you want? And how is the tonic able to cure everything, and anything, at one time? It just doesn't make any sense!"

"Are you two sayin'… that Granny wasted her money?" Applebloom responded with a slightly saddened tone.

"Well, I don't know about that, but I don't think there's a tonic in Equestria that can cure anythin', much less make an old pony young again." Applejack answered.

"We just need to find some way to prove them wrong." I believed. "It can't be that hard…"

"Howdy!" We unexpectedly heard happily sung from the river below us.

"Granny?!" Applebloom shouted out in complete surprise as we saw Granny Smith casually and calmly backstroking along the river.

"Hang on now! We'll get ya!" Applejack assured worriedly as she ran ahead to help, even though Granny Smith didn't look like she needed help at all.

Big Macintosh tried throwing the thing he always wore around his neck as a lifesaver. However, Granny Smith clearly ignored it and swam around it. As she worked on another swimming technique, Applejack ran over to a huge tree and managed to buck it straight across the river. Granny Smith yet ignored this again. I caught up with the rest of them as they met up with Granny Smith when she got out of the water.

"Granny, I thought you were too afraid of the water to swim!" Applebloom ran over to her. "And, and what about your hip?!" Applebloom reminded worriedly.

"Well, I reckon it might have been a problem before I had myself a dose of that there Flim Flam Tonic!" She mentioned and pulled it out.

"I'm not so sure that tonic really does anythin'." Applejack stated.

"Doesn't do anythin'?! What d'you call this?" She took another drink of it and began dancing in such a way that a pony her age would find impossible to do while humming a song. It was…quite surprising.

"I'm glad you're feelin' good, but how do you know it's from the tonic?" Applejack shared an interesting point.

"I looked out at the water this mornin' and I felt the same terrifyin' aches and pains I always do." Granny Smith began explaining. "But one sip of that magic elixir and it all went away! Why, I might even get a head start on my chores! What do you say, Big Mac-a-doo? Up for a little afternoon applebuckin'?" She even kicked her legs up in the air with ease.

"Uh, no." Big Macintosh looked away in a disturbed kind of way.

"Oh, quit your bellyachin'!" Granny Smith directed before she took him away from us.

"Gee, it looks like that tonic works after all!" Applebloom mentioned to Applejack and me. "I wonder what's in it."

"I think maybe it's time we found out." Applejack suggested and turned to me. "What do you say, Alex? Up for a lil' investigatin'?"

"Yeah." I nodded acceptingly. "I'm all up for exposing whatever these guys are doing behind the stage."

Applejack and I decided to take another visit later on in the night while Applebloom followed. As we heard another repeat of the song in the distance as we made our way through, it was presumed that they were playing to a later crowd.

"So you're just gonna walk up and ask them how it works?" Applebloom questioned.

"I guess." Applejack didn't seem too planned on how to confront Flim and Flam. "Though if it's a genuine cure, I don't suppose they'll be too keen on sharin' the recipe."

"I think if it was a genuine cure for anything, they'd be looking at broader ways to advertise their product." I mentioned. "In fact, I feel it'd become a thing known all over Equestria before they started selling he—"

"–out the door!" We heard a highly familiar line from earlier escape through the tent.

"Wait a second!" Applebloom shouted out, pointing towards the pony that was wiping the sweat off his face. "That's that same pony from before!"

Immediately arousing suspicion, Applejack narrowed her eyes greatly at this pony. He instantly reacted by galloping out of sight.

"Hey!" Applejack called out and ran after him, bringing Applebloom and me with her. We followed him around the carnival tent where Flim and Flam were. It seemed to be the "backstage" part of the area. It appeared we brought him across a dead end because he stopped and quickly looked around for an escape. Applejack resumed her speaking. "Now hold it right there, Mister...uh…?"

"Shill. Silver Shill." He answered weakly as he trembled and flinched cowardly. "Ooh, what do you three want?"

"Our Granny took some tonic and we want to know how it works." Applejack demanded, confronting him as he was cornered.

"Granny couldn't swim before, and now she can. Just like you couldn't walk and now you can." Applebloom included doubtfully. "But what are you doin' back here? I mean, if the tonic cured you and all..."

Studying the surroundings and the reason why he was seen walking out the tent in the same fashion as earlier while the conversation was spoken, it clicked to me on what was going on. It was plainly obvious why this pony repeated his take on the song. He never needed crutches… He wasn't even a part of the crowd! "He's part of the act!" I pointed out. "Flim and Flam wanted to convince the crowd their tonic worked, so they made it look as if they chose a random pony out in the crowd so he can be miraculously 'cured' by the tonic!"

Applejack found this reasonably true. She looked towards the shaking pony with glaring eyes and intimidatingly brought herself closer to him. "What's really going on around here? And don't bother lyin' to us neither! We want the complete truth!"

"I, uh..." He struggled before he looked around and unexpectedly hit a lever nearby. The lowering of the lever caused steam to spew out on us from some pipes close by.

"Hey!" Applejack exclaimed as we heard a gallop of hooves run off. As soon as we were able to see, he was nowhere to be found. "Applebloom, go around. We'll go this way!" Applejack directed, receiving a nod from her sister. We ran back the way we originally came from to be back at the corner near the entrance of the tent. There we saw the late crowd of ponies exiting the tent, but most importantly, the pony that had disappeared was seen running back inside.

As soon as we threw the flap of the tent to the side to enter, we were confronted by the two unreliable ponies.

"Well, if it isn't our most favorite visitors!" Flim greeted.

"What brings you two back to our humble abode?" Flam asked, as if he didn't have the slightest clue for the reason.

Silver Shill had popped out from behind Flim, using the two brothers as protection from us. Applejack only returned an angry glare at him before focusing on the two real problems. "You two charlatans sold my Granny a bottle of tonic, and now she's off actin' like a filly again."

"What's so bad about that?" Flim questioned after exchanging a smug look with his brother.

"If she keeps gallavantin' around like a yearlin', she's apt to drop from exhaustion or worse! What's more, we know for a fact that your friend here is dressin' up as a different pony every night so he can pretend to be cured!" Applejack pointed out, having them quietly gesture Silver Shill out of the area.

"Well, well, well, that's quite an accusation." Flam began calmly.

"But let's say that it's true..." Flim continued.

"Hypothetically..." Flam pushed over the mountains of bits they had on a table.

"Theoretically..." Flim pulled out what appeared to be some kind of juicing machine.

"As I understand, your Granny was a famous aquapony." Flam mentioned, somehow already knowing this.

"The star of the show, once upon a time." Flim contributed, bringing Applejack and I to send a look to each other expressing curious concern.

"But hasn't set so much as a hoof in the water since." Flam emptied out a sack of apples on the table.

"Until today, that's right." Applejack uneasily admitted.

"Well, then even if our tonic were nothing more than a mixture of apple juice and beet leaves..." Flim listed.

"Hypothetically..." Flam tried to cunningly disengage the thought of the actual list of ingredients being true.

"Theoretically..." Flim repeated, throwing an apple he had received from his brother into the juicer.

"The fact is that Granny is happier now than before she tried it." Flam stated as he poured in the produce from the juicer into an empty bottle.

"I guess..." Applejack replied hesitantly.

"You know…" I thought about it for a moment. "I really hate to say this…but…in a way…they kind of are right about the product working…" Applejack turned her head to me with widened eyes, as if she could not believe that that statement actually came out of my mouth. "Even if the product itself doesn't do any of the work, as long as it gets the job done either way…then…" I paused and then shook my head. "But it can only go so far!" I turned to the brothers before they could get any idea of believing they were off the case. "You might get the ponies thinking that they are feeling better, but it still won't do anything physically! If they're old, the pain might stop from doing an activity, such as swimming, but that doesn't mean it keeps their bodies or bones from being fragile!"

"Yeah!" Applejack seemed to be relieved when seeing that I was still against them. "You could easily put ponies' lives in danger! All for some bits!"

"So, say everything you said is true…" Flim began.

"You'd rather not give those ponies a chance to be happy again and let them be miserable for the rest of their lives, just to make sure they're safe?" Flam appeared to twist words around in his favor.

"What are you gettin' at?" Applejack inquired heatedly.

"The question is..." Flim approached.

"Do you really want to be the pony who takes all that happiness away?" Flam questioned, placing a bottle of tonic on Applejack's hoof.

Applejack was baffled at the moment with her choice. "I..."

"There you are!" We unexpectedly heard Applebloom exclaim. We spotted her walking inside. "I've been lookin' all over! Did you find out what's in the tonic?"

Applejack looked absolutely troubled. She glanced over to me, and then to the brothers, whom reacted confidently. After looking once more at the tonic, she sighed heavily and responded. "Honestly, Applebloom... as long as it works, I... don't suppose it really matters."

"Well, if it doesn't matter to you, then it doesn't matter to me either, sis." Applebloom reacted in the way I thought she would, since Applejack was her role model after all…

Applejack smiled back at her, but immediately released a worried frown when turning away from her to walk out. As always, I wasn't too sure how to react myself in the given situation. The choice that was given wasn't something that could be answered on the spot. It needed to be thought over, so I felt Applejack's reaction was appropriate. Either way, I only followed after her, having the plan of talking it over with her later on.

"That's the spirit!" Flim encouraged from the tent as we left.

"Come back anytime!" Flam shared, waving along with his brother.

After Applebloom had gone to bed for the night, I stayed with Applejack in her room to discuss about what to ultimately do with the tonic situation.

"So…are you really thinking about…just letting it go?" I asked her.

"I don't know…" She replied with uncertainty. "What they said back there really got to me. Who am I to take somepony's happiness because of what I think."

"But you said it yourself." I recalled. "If Granny Smith ends up doing something dangerous, there's no way a fake tonic is going to keep her safe."

"I know." She acknowledged. "But…she's just so happy swimmin'. Maybe she knows her limits?"

"I don't know." I felt jumbled about it as well, and plopped down next to Applejack on the bed. "You know what? Maybe you're right."

"Really?" Applejack questioned a little surprisingly.

"Yeah…I mean…" I thought a little and remembered back to their first visit. "Last time they were here, it was Ponyville that drew them away, remember? When everypony tasted their messed up cider, they complained and caused them to leave. If it really causes a problem in Ponyville, I'm pretty sure everyone will let them know and scare them out again if they have to. As of right now, though, I guess I would just keep Granny Smith from doing anything extreme." I rolled my eyes around the room. "Casual swimming should be fine."

Applejack managed to grin a bit. "Hearin' you say that makes me feel a little better about the decision I made… Thanks."

I smiled in response as I looked over to her. "You should probably sleep on it. You'll probably feel a lot better in the morning."

"Uh-huh." She nodded. "I will."

I stood up to prepare to leave. "Goodnight, Applejack." I mentioned and wrapped a hoof around her for a farewell embrace.

When I pulled away, she smiled lightly and a bit tiredly as well. "Night."

I turned and began walking out the room until I remembered something else from earlier today. "Oh, and…" I placed a hoof on the part of her wall near her door. "…thanks…" I turned my head towards her. "…for saving my life today."

She chuckled lightly. "Anytime, partner."

I felt a little sheepish with my last smile. Nevertheless, I nodded and then proceeded to head back home to sleep.

In the next day, I headed to the swimming hole, thinking I'd find Applejack there. However, something preoccupied my mind during the walk. I realized that I didn't remember visiting Spirit the night before. I didn't even remember being on the balcony with her. It was just like as soon as I went to sleep, I dreamt regularly. No ice cream intermission in between. It got me a little worried, but I decided I would focus on that next after Applejack's issue was resolved.

I heard water splashing, which meant a good sign that she was there. However, I noticed she was actually sitting quietly on a swing while watching the other members of her family play around in the swimming hole, including Granny Smith.

"How are you doing?" I asked, taking a seat next to her.

"I'm fine, I guess…" She returned but didn't take her eyes off of those in the water. "But…I'm kind of finding it hard to relax…"

"Hm." I stood up and placed myself behind Applejack to lay my hooves on the ropes of the swing. "Usually, I'd think you'd be in the water yourself to keep a better eye on Granny Smith." I mentioned as I began to lightly push her.

"I don't feel like swimmin'…" She replied gloomily.

"Still worried about whether or not to say that the tonic really doesn't do anything?" I guessed.

She sighed after being reminded. "I feel like it's somethin' I need to take care of now. Waitin' just seems to be buggin' me all over."

"I guess I understand that." I responded. "I wish there was more I could do to help."

"Hey, Granny! Think you can buck me over the water?" We heard Applebloom exclaim over at the water.

"I don't see why not!" Granny Smith positively accepted the challenge. "Come on, Big Mac, toss her this way!"

In a sign of distress, Applejack threw herself from the seat of the swing to gallop over to the water. "Granny, wait!"

"Woo-hoo-hoo!" Granny Smith expressed, stopping Applejack in her tracks. Granny Smith tossed Applebloom delightfully in flips over the water as the two laughed. It amazed me to know how much strength and stamina Granny Smith actually had, considering the tonic was really fake. "Uh, what were you sayin', dear?"

"Granny, don't you think you should take it kinda easy?" Applejack concerningly suggested as she walked backwards to sit back on the swing.

"I've been takin' it easy for too long!" Granny Smith replied as she continued to hold Applebloom on her shoulders, whom decided to later dive back into the water. "And now, thanks to that Flim Flam Tonic, I don't have to!"

"Granny, you think I could be an aquapony like you?" Applebloom asked with soft excitement.

"Of course you can, sapling. There's nothin' to it but to do it!" Granny Smith answered, which, for some reason, brought Applejack to place a hoof to her mouth in thought.

"Well, the Ponyville swim meet is comin' up." Applebloom brought up as they all began getting out of the water. "We could enter together! A legendary water pony like you? We'd be a cinch to win!"

"Mm, ee, uh, I don't know..." Granny Smith proved to be uncertain about the idea. "Bein' back in the water is one thing, but a competition is a pony of a different color." That was actually a good thing for Applejack. Knowing Granny Smith wasn't so keen on doing dangerous stuff, it could probably allow her to breathe easier.

"Oh. Okay." Applebloom lowered her head down sadly once hearing the news.

I noticed Applejack immediately have this sort of guilty look on her face. Taking a moment before speaking, she surprised me a little with what she said. "I don't know, Granny. A swim meet sounds pretty safe." She encouraged and got off the swing to walk towards Granny Smith. "And after all, if that tonic lets you swim in a river and a swimmin' hole, a pool should be no problem at all."

"Well, I'll be a tart turnover, you are right!" Granny Smith changed her mind. "All we need now is more tonic!" She pulled out a bottle of tonic she had apparently been keeping inside the headpiece of her swimwear.

Applejack only looked away with an uneasy and forced grin.

I stayed with Applejack when she tagged along with Granny Smith to buy more tonic. However, Applejack was silent the whole way through. I could tell she had a lot of worries and stress in mind.

"I'm a little surprised that you suggested Granny Smith to go to the pool…" I told her softly.

"I don't know if it was the right thing to do." She worriedly responded. "But when I saw the look on Applebloom's face…I don't know…I just said it…"

I sighed. "Flim and Flam are better at selling pressure instead of useful products…" I felt a little resentment towards them.

"Welcome, friends, and step right up! The next show starts in five minutes!" I heard Flam announce and looked up to see a huge line of ponies wanting to buy a bottle of their tonic.

"But why not buy your tonic now and avoid the rush?" Flim used an old trick from the book of selling products.

"Right this way, good sir!" Flam led, speaking to who I could now tell was Silver Shill in another costume. That guy was really starting to bug me now.

"We'll take the whole case!" Granny Smith shouted out, catching everypony's attention as she dropped the large bag of bits she had been carrying.

Flim and Flam walked up, noticing the huge sack of money to add to their profit. They both looked at each other in accomplishment and grinned in interest.

"Are you saying this stuff actually works?" A pony that had her back legs on a wheelbarrow for support and a bandage on her head asked.

"It seems to work for Granny…" Applejack tried to answer in the most honest way she could.

"You heard it here first, folks!" Flim shouted out, using Applejack's statement to their advantage. "Flim Flam Miracle Curative Tonic is Granny Smith-tested and Applejack-approved!"

Applejack formed a certain face that clearly revealed she wasn't expecting that.

"If Applejack says it works, that's good enough for me!" The same pony held up her money.

"Hey!" I tried intervening to make clear that Flim and Flam actually took Applejack's words out of context, but everypony rushed through to make their purchase. It was too loud and busy to get anypony's attention.

The crowd continued rushing past us in a close manner.

"Move your caboose!" We heard Granny Smith from behind the large group of ponies. She was already ready to leave with her bottles of tonic close by. "We gotta a competition to win!"

From there on, there was nothing much to do than to head to the pool with Applejack for the competition.

Ponies were seen diving and performing watersport tricks, which is what they would be graded on by the three judges in a stand on top of the audience. Applebloom and Granny Smith were busy preparing themselves for whatever they had to contribute with. "Hoo-ha, hee-hee, ha-hoo-ha!" They somewhat chanted as they warmed up and stretched.

"Just remember, you two." Applejack stated as she approached them. "The most important thing is to be safe and have fun, right?" She questioned with a worried grin.

"Fiddlesticks!" Granny Smith threw out confidently. "With the routine we've been workin' on, I'll be a plum puddin' if we don't win this thing!"

"Uh... good luck, then!" Applejack seemed to not know what else to say.

"Luck? Pfft, who needs luck?" Granny Smith returned with Applebloom following her attitude. "We got tonic on our side!" Granny Smith pulled out another bottle of tonic she had stashed in her headpiece.

"Flim Flam's Magical Curative Tonic!" Flam specified from afar.

"Get your Applejack-approved tonic!" Flim brought in attention to the stand by using Applejack's statement yet again. "Granny Smith drinks it – why shouldn't you?" He was going too far bringing Applejack into this.

Applejack sighed after observing at what was going on at the stand, along with Granny Smith drinking the last of her next bottle of tonic. "Right…"

"Now, if'n you'll excuse us, we got some swimmin' to do!" Granny Smith stated, having Applejack and I remove ourselves from the performing area.

"I think I'm going to see if being a Prince holds anything up to what they're doing…" I mentioned to Applejack. I was already starting to head to Flim and Flam's stand until Applejack stopped me.

"Don't!" Applejack held out a hoof and released a stressed sigh. "Let's just…try to breathe for a minute and watch what Granny Smith and Applebloom do."

Almost reluctantly, I turned back and stood near Applejack. "I'm getting really worried about you, you know?" I expressed as she continued to observe the performance Granny Smith and Applebloom put up. "Flim and Flam are putting everypony's trust on you now, so if their product fails, which it probably will soon, they're going to use you to take the fall. You don't want that, do you?"

"I…" Her head lowered in thought. "…I don't know… I can't think straight right now… Everythin' is happening so fast. So many things to worry about. Sometimes, I don't even know what's going on anymore." Our conversation was momentarily halted when everypony watching the performance cheered out loudly. "Well, I'll be..." Applejack shared a bit in astonished after noticing the immense positive feedback the two Apples had received.

Afterwards, they received their trophy immediately. Then, their pictures were taken and were questioned by a photographer. "That was some of the most amazing aquabatics I've ever seen! How in Equestria did you do it? Hard work? Lots of practice?"

"Yeah, but mostly it's the tonic!" Granny Smith directed.

"That's Flim Flam Miracle Curative Tonic, to be precise." Flim stated while he and his brother joined in with the two to advertise their product.

"Buy it now while supplies last." Flam added.

Their arrogance distracted me into losing sight of Applejack. She was no longer by my side, and as I turned my head around to look for her, I heard a loud yelling of "Hey! Heeey!"

It had sounded like it came above the seats that contained most of the ponies before they left for Flim and Flam. I looked around that area before my eyes were caught onto a pair of aquamarine hooves waving in the air. I noticed a certain pony waving right at me. She looked very familiar, so I made my way up there to see her.

She actually seemed to have been one of the judges, as she stood in the stand they had been in. "You called?" I asked.

"Yeah!" She cheerfully clarified. "Do you remember me?"

"Yeah, I think so." I rubbed my hoof on my chin. Her name was right on the tip of my tongue. It took a few seconds of silent name-throwing before the right one came to mind. "Lyra Heartstrings, right?"

"Yeah!" She said and then rested her head on both her front hooves. "You know, from the wedding and stuff?"

"Right. Uh… How are you?" I asked. I wasn't sure what type of conversation to have with her other than small talk.

"I'm really good!" She expressed lively. "What about you? I'm sure things are all busy and stuff since you're a prince now, huh?!"

"Um…" I wondered how to answer that until I heard Applejack's voice shout out.

"No!" I noticed she was getting bombarded with cameras.

"Sorry. I have to go." I informed Lyra. "I'll see you another time."

"Bye!" She waved her hoof as I rushed over to Applejack.

"This has gotta stop!" She continued, appearing to be fed up with the tension that had been building up in her. "If ponies keep believin' that tonic can do things it can't, who knows what'll happen?"

"Maybe something like that?" Silver Shill, who was now selling those bottles of tonic himself, notified Applejack.

"Applejack!" I called her as I reached her side, but she seem way too focused on something else.

"Granny!" Applejack cried out and ran over to the platform where the long-distanced diving board was at. I looked up to see that Applejack was frantically panicking because Granny Smith was about to dive off at such a height that her brittle bones were no match for. I rushed after her. "What in blazes does she think she's doin'?!" She inquired about to Applebloom, whom was bringing over a small pool of water that only a little foal could enjoy.

"Granny's gonna break the Equestria high divin' record!" Applebloom explained happily.

Applejack noticed the small pool and the height Granny Smith was diving from. "Land sakes!" She ran over to the ladder of the platform while I remained standing and kept an eye on Granny Smith. At the top of the diving board, she proceeded to take a swig of her tonic. As I noticed her preparing to jump off, I quickly readied and hoped to catch her successfully with magic before she hit the ground. At the same time, I was worrying greatly that we'd see something tragic instead of stunning all over the news.

My heart began pounding the second I saw her lay on air. She was coming down fast, and I could only hope with all my might that she'd be caught with my magic. However, that didn't happen. Fortunately, neither did the worst case scenario either. She had been caught on with rope and dangled right in front of the pool she was apparently supposed to land or dive in. Still seeing the two try to work was absolutely and ridiculously insane. Applejack was at the top, holding her with her strength from the impact of the drop.

"Now what in tarnation did you do that for?!" Granny Smith bitterly asked, believing that the tonic would really keep her invincible from harm.

Applejack released the rope once she had safely stepped back on the ground. "That was the most fool-pony thing I've ever seen anypony do in all my life!" Applejack argued back. She ran over to the ladder and quickly slid down to meet with us. "You can't do a dive like that!"

"Oh, quit your fussin'! I had enough tonic to do a dive ten times as high!" Granny Smith estimated.

"Twenty times, by my count." Flim horribly encouraged.

"Thirty, with a favorable breeze." Flam also added into the ill-mannered intention, holding up another bottle of the tonic.

"Shut up!" I exclaimed out of anger, accidentally shooting out a beam towards the bottle of the tonic and shattering it to pieces.

The area grew quiet, and Applejack was left staring as the beverage inside fell towards the ground. I turned towards her, and was caught motionless for the same time she was. I felt a connection being made inside and my heart endured this weird feeling. I was finally able to focus once again when Applejack spoke out loud.

"I hate to disappoint everypony, but there's no way Granny could have made that dive, because this tonic is a fake!" She pointed out the shattered pieces and spilt liquid of the tonic that laid on the ground.

The entire crowd gasped.

"But you gave it your stamp of approval!" The pony from before mentioned.

"Are you saying you lied?" Another pony had questioned from the crowd.

"...I am." She submitted willingly…but the way I saw it was different. Technically, she lied about lying without really knowing about it. After another gasp, Applejack went on to give an explanation. "I didn't mean to! But everypony seemed so much happier, I couldn't bring myself to tell you when I found out the tonic wasn't real." She grabbed ahold of her hat and lowered it respectfully. "I know it was wrong. I just hope with time, I can win back everypony's trust."

"Hang on, Applejack." I intervened and began to speak clearly so everypony could hear what I had to say. "You didn't lie." The crowd now reacted with a big "Huh?". "You might have not said the whole truth, but you didn't lie. You said that it 'seemed to work for Granny', which was the truth. You didn't say 'Hey, everybody! Flim and Flam's tonic absolutely works! Their tonic cured my Granny!'. Flim and Flam themselves pretty much did that for you." I switched my sight towards the crowd before me. "Everypony, Flim and Flam took Applejack's comment out of context and used it to seem like Applejack approved this tonic, which she really didn't. All the pressure Applejack had been feeling was because of how Flim and Flam worked. In fact, they used everypony's happiness to keep her hesitant from saying the whole truth. If there's anypony you should be mad at, it's them right there." I directed towards the brothers, whom were now looking around nervously and pulling on their bowties.

"Hold on a second…" Applebloom possibly saved them from being mauled right there as she turned back the attention of the crowd. "If the tonic is a fake, then how come Granny can swim again, and what about all that aquabatics stuff we just did?" She questioned.

Applejack shared a thanking kind of look to me after what I had said and then went on to answer Applebloom. "I reckon sometimes you can forget what you're capable of, and it just takes a little extra confidence to remember that it was inside of you all along." She also walked over to Granny Smith to exchange a hug with her.

"As cheesy as it sounds, you really just need to believe in yourself and mean it." I included in. "Like pain, it's really all in the mind. But that doesn't mean you can be completely invulnerable to harm."

"And tellin' ponies your tonic can do things it can't is just wrong!" Applejack stated angrily while glaring right at Flim and Flam.

"But you just said it boosts confidence!" Flim cunningly fought back.

"No, she didn't!" I furiously shot out, fed up with their tricks.

"And that's not all it does, folks—" Flam merely ignored my take to try to distract everypony's ears with their loud talk.

"Yes, it is!" Another pony brave enough to cut in exclaimed. "In fact, it's not a tonic at all!" It was Silver Shill, who began removing the uniform he had been wearing for the tonic. "I know, 'cause I helped make it!" Flim and Flam both began sweating nervously as their own employee was siding against them. "Watching everything that just happened right now, well, that made me realize I was making ponies believe in a thing that just wasn't so!"

"Believin' in somethin' can help you do amazin' things." Applejack hemmed in. "But if that belief is based on a lie, eventually it's gonna lead to real trouble."

"Thank you, Applejack." Silver Shill approached us and held out a shiny bit. "I got this through dishonest means. That was a mistake I won't be making again! I'd like you to have it…" He placed the bit on Applejack's hoof. "…as a reminder of how you helped me finally see the truth."

"I don't know..." Applejack felt uncomfortable accepting the bit.

"Oh, don't worry." Silver Shill assured. "I'll track down the pony I sold that worthless tonic to and give him another bit to replace this one! Honest."

Trusting him, she released a small smile but then turned to Granny Smith to speak with her. "I'm sorry, Granny. I hope this doesn't mean you'll stop swimmin'."

"Why in tarnation would I do that?" Granny Smith asked in such a tone as if Applejack's question was ridiculous to ask. "I just can't believe those two salesponies had me believin' I could near fly!" She looked towards the crowd until another question raised to her head. "Hey, where'd they go?"

Everypony looked around to try to find them, but they had disappeared from sight a lot quicker than last time.

Seeing that they had gotten away practically scot-free, I sighed loudly and stomped my hoof on the ground. "Darn it!"

"See. That wasn't so bad." Applejack told me as we walked away from the hoof-made pool.

"Yeah…I know." I responded. "I don't really know what came over me last time."

"Maybe it was because of the swing into water thing." She recalled. "Still sorry about that…" She expressed with an apologetic face.

"It's fine." I chuckled off. "Thanks for helping me to swim, I guess."

"Anytime, partner." She led me to this particular apple tree on a short cliff. "Alright! Twilight dropped it off."

"Huh?" I questioned with a bit of confusion.

"Our journal." Applejack clarified and turned around to sit down and open it. She grabbed ahold of the bit she was given from the inside of her hat that was hanging on a branch of the tree. She placed it near the blank page she brought up in the journal and smiled. "Now how's this?" She grabbed a pencil with her mouth and fumbled around with it as she lifted her eyes in thought. She wrote for a bit until she paused, nodded her head, and placed down her pencil. "Bein' honest sure gets hard when it seems like the truth might hurt somepony you care about." She read out loud."But I think believin' a lie can end up hurtin' even more. Maybe some ponies don't care about that – but I sure ain't one of them."

I smiled lightly after reading and hearing this from her. "Sounds good."

She reacted in the same manner to me and then turned to face the pool we had been in a while ago to see Applebloom and Granny Smith. "Now you take it easy there, Granny!"

"Oh, I plan to!" Granny Smith shouted back, standing on the much smaller diving board. "Hoo, ha, ha-whee!" She hopped off and landed safely in the water that now wasn't far at all from the water.

Applebloom laughed in glee as she exchanged water splashes with Granny Smith.

I heard Applejack chuckle as I turned my head to glance at the bit Applejack had received as a gift. At that moment, my eyes were locked on and I couldn't move away until I felt this feeling pass through inside me. My heart released this almost chilling emotion and I was able to shake my head out of it.

"Alex, you up for another swim?" Applejack cheerfully invited me.

However, I began feeling almost ill out of the blue. I began feeling light-headed, and at that moment, I felt what I needed was rest. "Actually…Applejack…" I stood up on my hooves to get ready to walk home. "I'm not really feeling good. I think I'm going to go home to get some rest…"

"What's wrong?" Applejack began feeling concerned for me after noticing the damaged look on my face. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No…no…"I was starting to feel a headache come on. "I'll um…see you later, okay?"

"Okay…" Applejack sounded hesitant to let me go. "Let me know if you need anything." She stated a little louder as I began walking off.

"Right." I returned, but wasn't sure if she heard it.

Twilight

"Spike!" I knocked on the bathroom door. "Hurry up! You've been in there for hours!" I stayed by the door, waiting to get an answer, but I didn't, as usual. "Ugh!" I groaned loudly and began walking away. I walked over to one of the desks I used for studying and reading to grab ahold of my notepad. "I swear, I need to make some rules about how long a baby dragon can stay in the bath." I flipped open a new page and began making a note. "Note to self… Find a way to get Spike to stop taking such long baths…" I softly told myself as I scribbled it with my quill.

"Twilight." I heard a female voice behind me, startling me greatly.

"Ahh!" I screamed out loud as I dropped my quill and jumped in surprise. I quickly turned around to see a familiar pony, but she didn't seem as bright and cheery as before. "Spirit…?" I recognized her face, especially because of her eyes. "What are you doing here?" I questioned her sudden visit.

She remained silent for a few seconds as she stared at the floor. Then, she managed to bring them back up to meet with mine. "I have a favor to ask of you."

"What is it?" The tone of my voice became more sympathetic, as I was somehow able to feel she was dealing with a great amount of pain.

"I need you to…" She paused, as if she was having trouble getting the words out of her mouth. "…I need you to watch over Alex."

"Huh…?" I was confused to why she was saying this all of sudden.

"Please, Twilight." She requested a little louder and bolder, almost sounding as if she was begging me.

I stopped my confusion and questions running in my head to accept her favor. "Of course, Spirit." It wasn't like I already didn't try to take care of him as much as I could. "But…why are you telling me this? What's going on?" As I heard myself say that, I began to feel fear linger, as if something bad was going to happen to Alex.

She sighed deeply and turned her head away. "You just have to trust me." She turned her head back to me. "You don't have to worry about, Alex. All I'm saying is…" She took another moment for a pause. "Just take care of him…"

"Spirit…" I called after her, but she walked away and eventually vanished.

I had no idea what was going on besides knowing that I had to take care of Alex. But what was she thinking? It both frightened and disturbed me. I didn't know what to make out of it…but all I really felt was that it couldn't be good…

Alex

Instead of hearing the soft gentle breeze and feeling my coat warm with indescribable sunlight, I heard distant roars of thunder and felt a drop of water every now and then. I opened my eyes to be immediately welcomed by not a great sight. The first thing I realized was that I was in the Everfree Forest. It was dark and pretty creepy, but I was able to see the Castle of the Two Sisters through the forest. It didn't look too far, but another thing scared me. Spirit. Was she okay? Did something happen to her? I shook my head and ran towards the direction of the castle, desperately wanting to know the condition of Spirit.

I made my way back to the front of the castle. By that time, I was already feeling out of breath, along with a few more drops of water hitting against me in the face. I looked up to see that rain was coming down from a slow pace to a faster one. Beyond the castle, thunder roared louder and closer. Lightning flashed and crashed brightly. This only increased my worries even more.

"Spirit… Please be alright…" I hoped. As I turned my head back to the front of me to keep moving and head inside the castle, I noticed something different. There was somepony in my way and it was no question to who it was. "You again?!" I spotted the pony in the hoodie, still wearing those full coverings from the morning before. He didn't answer. I gritted and clenched my teeth, beginning to feel anger for not receiving answers. Either way, I felt this pony was the cause for what happened. The reason why it was dark and stormy instead of bright and sunny. I growled before speaking again. "You better have not hurt her or I swear I'm gonna—"

Before I could finish my sentence, it only took a second before this pony was in front of me. I quickly, without thinking clearly, formed a magical shield in front of me. This pony used his light powers from before and it was stronger than I expected. I was having a hard time keeping him off me as both our powers clashed. After a couple of seconds, more light surrounded me. But it didn't harm me. Instead, it only blinded me temporarily.

When I was able to see again, I noticed that I was in yet another familiar place, but I wasn't able to exactly recall when I had been in it at the moment. I stood on top of a lit platform, and everything else was dark. I looked across me to see the same hooded pony staring at me. He stretched out his hooves and prepared to fight. Since he spared no words, I had no choice but to fight as well.

I couldn't tell if I was hearing right, but as soon as this pony appeared to be charging an attack, I thought I heard a female voice. But I didn't have time to think about it. In only a few seconds, this pony released a sort of burst of light around. I managed to block it from damaging me, but the impact was still very strong. I had never felt magic as strong as this. Not even from Twilight. Something about it was different…

The pony then charged at me and began releasing a flurry of beams of light. As they each were released, the pony continued to let out grunts and sounds of effort, all sounding very feminine! Either way, I had to jump/step out of the way or block it if I couldn't avoid it in time. After the last beam of light, this pony jumped back a bit and then seemed to fly straight towards me at a high velocity. I wasn't expecting anything like that, so I was somewhat both grazed and hit. I fell towards the floor, but managed to place out my hooves before hitting the floor. I shook my head to see my adversary, whom was now beginning to seem like a she for whatever reason due to the sound of the voice, at a certain distance away from me. However, that didn't stop her.

As another surprising move, she literally moved around at the speed of light! Light would form around her as she dashed spot to spot. It seemed she tried to use this to confuse me where she was going to head next. But I tried as hard as I could to keep my eyes on her. She continued moving to different places until she suddenly dashed straight at me. For a moment, it felt like I was able to keep up with her. As she was coming right at me, I managed to move to the right, with added speed coming from my wings. I was then able to deliver a few blows with my magic, ending with a burst from my horn that sent her in the air.

However, she quickly recovered and spiraled down at me. I jumped out of the way as quickly as I could, but there was no slowing down whoever this was. As I distanced myself, she then proved how persistent she was. She began summoning rays of light that acted on its own, depleting any breathing space for me. As she cut down on the spaces I could escape to, she once again charged right at me. This time, I concentrated the magic in my horn and prepared to perform a sort of "magical tackle", so that hopefully it could work against the pony coming at me. I attempted to time it right and then pushed my hooves to advance forward.

I heard a light grunt of pain as I passed by, and then I felt something empower me. I turned to see the pony still stunned by my tackle, so I took the opportunity to attack her more with my magic. But more power came unexpectedly. For some reason, the light now worked in my favor. As she suffered the attacks from my magic, the light also added in a few extra hits. As she endured those hits, she released even more small cries of pain before they stopped.

Nevertheless, as soon as she was able to recover, she quickly dashed away to distance herself. Possibly afraid of me coming straight towards her, she began summoning as much light as she could to protect her. Although, it seemed to be a distraction instead when she swerved around the light and came towards me. There, she was ready to cause a small explosion of light until I quickly flew out of there.

Now, I was becoming hesitant to attack. So many questions and concerns arose with this power of light. As far as I knew, I was the only pony capable of doing anything like that. I decided to put down my gloves but not my guard.

"Who or what are you?!" I asked.

The pony didn't respond as usual. She released a grunt and then headed for the middle. There, she caused a spiral of light to form around her. Then, she began lifting herself up as her body seemed to glow of light. After, she let out a louder and longer cry. These very familiar orbs of light shot out from, what appeared to be, within her body. Many of them were coming at me, having me to widen my eyes in surprise and hurry to have them miss.

I tried to avoid as many as I could, but they didn't end until I was already feeling exhausted. The challenger took a moment for a breather, seeming to have exhausted herself after that release of energy. I didn't want to take too long to catch my breath. This pony appeared to have tired herself out, and it was a great opportunity to finally get some answers.

After I took my last breath, I galloped straight towards her. Just as I was able to take her down, she lifted up her head noticed me. There, she blocked me from tackling her with her light. I fought with my magic to try to break through, but at the point, I was able to see somewhat under the hood. I was faintly able to see the eyes, along with the form of the hair. I needed more than this.

"W-who are you?!" I questioned furiously after a growl. She gave up the clash battle and forced herself back, leaving me to stand there and pant more to regain my energy after using that magic. As I panted, I continued glaring at this mysterious pony, desperately wanting to hear at least a word come out from her mouth. When all she did was stare back at me, I felt even angrier. "Answer me!" I barked.

This pony seemed hesitant. When she finally had the courage, she dashed towards me and tried to attack me more, but I managed to parry instead what I could with my magic. This then caused her to try to attack physically, but fortunately I seemed to be more skilled at that area than she was. When I had the chance, I blew her a short distance away with a burst of my magic. She was pushed back and practically fell backwards. She appeared to be shaking her head and slowly got up on her hooves. She just stood there as I began readily walking towards her. In what seemed to be a state of panic, she quickly turned and tried to run, but I wasn't going to let that easily happen.

"Hey!" I called out and lunged after her. Instead, I got a grip of the hoodie and was at the brink of forcing it off. However, she quickly turned and began to insanely attack me with everything she had in a desperate manner. I tried to defend myself at that moment with whatever I had, but it was too much to handle in the end. She was able to lose my grip on her hoodie and kicked me to the floor. I tried to get back up, but she only pushed me back down.

From there, I could only stare in loss as she looked to hold me captive. I grunted and growled a bit as I closed my eyes. I needed her… I needed her help…

"Spirit…" I called. "I need you…"

The pony in front of me seemed to be struck with something. She lowered her guard and began backing off slowly. As I noticed this, I didn't lose any chances. As soon as I could, I fired a large beam of magic at her. One that she didn't dodge. I saw her be thrown and struck against the floor from the large force of the impact. I was panting as the area seemed to go insanely and disturbingly quiet. I stared at her defeated body for several silent seconds.

Afterwards, I saw her hooves move. Actually, they more like…twitched. Nonetheless, she managed to achingly and stutteringly place them in front of her as if to get back on her hooves. She did try to get back up, but the first time was a failure. Her hooves gave up on her and she fell back on the floor. She tried again and was barely successful.

She remained kneeling against the floor. And at that moment, I was startled to hear…crying…real crying. At first, it started with a few sniffles and whimpers. But then, it burst out into almost uncontrollable sobs.

"I…" I heard. "…I can't…!" I heard her voice break.

After those words, my heart immediately drained and fell. The sound of those words absolutely terrified me. It couldn't be…

I began walking carefully towards her.

When I was close enough, she whimpered as she looked up to see me approaching her.

Then, she quickly got up as fast as she could and turned around to run away.

"Wait!" I called out and reached for her, grabbing her by the hoodie.

This time, she tripped almost horribly. She fell to the floor, and her hoodie came off from being securely over her face. I stood there, paralyzed in fear. Holding her own hooves against the floor, she slowly turned around and made eye contact with me. Both her hoodie and covering for her muzzle had come off, clearly revealing her face. I could barely find the words to speak. My eyes only remained completely widened in absolute shock.

"…Spirit…?" I managed to say.

I could see the tears brim in her eyes and fall against her cheeks as she looked at me for what felt like hours. But at the same time, it ended too fast. She managed to escape the hold of my sight and run off, disappearing…like usual…

I was left standing there…confused…horrified…scared…sad…a bunch of feelings I really couldn't explain at the moment.

"…what…just happened…?"

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3

Episode 86 – Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3

Her voice seemed to drain out as I found my thoughts wandering away from the real world. I tried thinking that maybe it was all a bad and random dream. That she really didn't do what she did and none of it actually happened. I probably would have found myself believing this easily, but the thing that contradicted it was that I remembered the dream completely. It wasn't like any other dream with small bits and pieces remaining in memory. The ability to recall this dream was as simple as the times I've spent with Spirit on the balcony.

Why did she do that? Out of every pony, why would she do that?

Alex.

It all confused me. Why was she wearing the hoodie she lost? She couldn't have been the thief… she couldn't have… In fact, to prove it, I had seen both the thief and her at the same time! And when I heard the thief's voice, it was different! No way could it have been hers!

Alex...

Something had to happen between her and the thief… She had the hoodie… and she couldn't have been the same pony I first encountered… I need to speak with her… I want to know why she did what she did and what the hay is going on with her. I don't care what it is. She needs to let me know what's going on.

"Alex." I felt a gentle hoof touch me, bringing her voice into full clarity.

"Huh?" I stopped from my walking and turned to her in surprise.

"Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked with a worried expression.

"Yeah… I'm fine…" I answered as I pushed away my thoughts under the bed of my mind.

"You haven't really been yourself since this morning." She recalled. "You seem a little…distant."

"Sorry." I apologized. "I've got a lot on my mind, and I don't want to put the load on you."

"Well, if there's something you need to take care of, I don't mind if you go do that now." She kindly allowed.

"No, no…" I shook my head. "It's not exactly…a task. Even if I wanted to handle it immediately, I couldn't… It's complicated."

"Are you sure you still want to go out?" She asked concerningly.

"Yeah. Come on." I continued our walk to Ponyville. I had asked her for a walk to Ponyville earlier, but I felt horrible for these thoughts and feelings getting in the way of our time together. She brought along a cute and gentle light sunny yellow sunhat with a flower attached. I remembered her speaking about something before my mind began to drift off. "Sorry…could you repeat what you were saying earlier? I've just been kind of off and on."

"I spent some time with Rarity at our spa appointment the other day." Fluttershy returned. "She mentioned you during our mud bath."

"Mentioned me?" I repeated with interest. "What'd she say?"

"There was something important she wanted to tell about coming across somepony…" Fluttershy tried to remember. "Other than that, she was just asking about you…and me."

"Hm?" I was a little confused at that last part. "What do you mean about us?"

"Oh nothing." She shook her head. "Nothing in a bad way. She just wanted to know if we were doing alright and other stuff…"

"Oh…" I took lightly, but it soon led to me remembering another thing. Before I could continue the conversation, we had arrived in Ponyville and came across a small snack stand. I approached the pony at the counter and spoke my order. "Two oat shakes please." With an all-day smile, the mare prepared two of the drinks as I dropped my bits on the platform. After she exchanged the bits with the shakes, I carried them with my magic and escorted Fluttershy to a small table outside where we sat across each other. "Um…" I began as Fluttershy and I grabbed our shakes to drink. "I don't think it's anything bad…but just to make sure… There's something I just wanted to let you know."

"What is it?" She asked.

"Well…"I tilted my head and looked slightly away, still a bit afraid of detailing the event. "For example, if a pony had to perform CPR on me and…you know…do mouth-to-mouth…would you…get mad?"

I knew I shouldn't have really thought the worst, but Fluttershy's reaction was extremely the opposite of what I was worrying it might have been. After taking a sip from her shake, she tilted her head with a confused look on her face. "Why would I be mad?"

"You know…" I felt a little comfortable in explaining a little further. "Because…another pony…um…" I struggled to just throw the words out frankly. "…putting…"

Fluttershy fortunately stopped me before I could feel any weirder. "It's a procedure done to save lives." She explained. "If something was to happen to you, I wouldn't care who would do it. All I'd care about is you still being here with me. With us…" She added.

I released a somewhat relieving breath, but I was still a tiny bit nervous inside. "Sorry for asking. I kind of know what to do when you're seeing somepony…but…I'm still a little dry on the specifics… I just don't want to hurt you like that last time…even if it was completely an accident."

Fluttershy managed to smile lightly and placed a hoof on mine. "If you really want to know, Alex…" She began speaking meaningfully. "I…" She looked a little away and felt the need to lower her voice, possibly due to a sudden rise of shyness and even embarrassment. "…um…I hope it doesn't sound too selfish…but… It really only matters as long as you love me…"

"Huh…?" I needed to know a little clearer about what she meant.

Using her other hoof, she removed it from her beverage and lifted up the strand of her mane that was beginning to fall towards her face. Then, she placed it on my hoof as well, leading the both of her front hooves to be on my single hoof. "I…I want you to love me. And I don't want to that love to die. Remember when I cried about the other time that was an accident? I know some of it was because of the embarrassment from being on the newspaper, but mostly…I was scared…" She caught my earnest attention. "There was this bugging fear that maybe…you really didn't like me…or you got bored of me because of the way I was… Either way…you didn't want anything to do with me. That's what I was afraid of. I couldn't even think of any logical explanations on what happened. My fears just came over me and I couldn't think of anything else besides losing you." She sighed. "What I'm saying is… I don't really care about those things when it comes to CPR and stuff… I just want to be yours…because…well…" She paused for a short moment. "I can't see myself living without you…you know?" As I thought about it, I realized that marriage was absolutely confirmed for a later date. Soon or late, it was going to happen. After all, I also just realized that a romantic relationship only really led to two outcomes. A breakup or marriage. Dating was just to see if you were compatible to spending your life with that pony… "Honestly…" Fluttershy continued. "I've thought about…maybe…breaking it off…" This was another sure hit to grab one hundred percent of my focus. "Not because there was any problem with you." She assured. "But because of me. Sometimes, I feel like I get in your way a lot because I'm either too shy or scared. And sometimes…I even think you'd be better off without me."

I shook my head. "No." I said, stopping her from possibly continuing on. "Don't think that. No matter what, I'll always want to be with you. You and I are both…meant for each other, and we both know it." I used my other hoof to place it on top of hers. "Don't let anything like that slow you down. In fact, if these thoughts come across your mind again, come to me. You'll remember how silly it is to think such things."

She blushed and looked away in acceptable embarrassment. "Just that reminds me about how much you care about me."

I reached over the table to surprise her with a gentle kiss that she accepted as soon as she felt it.

"Keep it that way." I recommended dearly.

Still keeping a flushed face, she nodded happily. "Okay."

I continued smiling at her in silence before I felt like giving her the reason behind asking her the uncomfortable question. "Anyways… I was just asking because… I was at this swimming hole with Applejack, and I guess I almost drowned or something. So, she ended up saving my life and I freaked out about it." I chuckled. I freaked out about her saving my life instead of almost losing it!"

Fluttershy had widened her eyes when she learned that I had almost drowned, but then she relieved them once hearing the news after. "I'm glad to hear what Applejack did for you." She shared. "I'd want our friends to take care of you while I'm not around. I'm glad to know that they're capable of doing just that…well at least, Applejack." She giggled a little.

"I'm sure they'd all do anything to keep me well." I assured, feeling the confidence within me.

Fluttershy and I continued walking closely together after departing from our table.

"Do you want to do anything today?" I asked.

"I don't know." She returned, unsure of what exactly there was to do for the both of us. "I don't really have anything in mind, but if it's okay with you, maybe we could—"

"And it's all your fault!" We heard a short distance from us, interrupting our conversation.

"My fault?! I'm the one helping you!" We heard another voice respond angrily to the previous one.

"That sounds like Twilight." Fluttershy mentioned, having us spot the library in front of us where Twilight and Rainbow Dash seemed to be heatedly arguing about something.

"Maybe your famous study methods aren't all they're cracked up to be, eh, teacher?!" Rainbow shot as she remained in midair.

"Excuse me, I've used them to study for many a test and passed!" Twilight defended on the ground.

"Yeah, right." Rainbow Dash responded skeptically.

"Do you know the name of the premiere Wonderbolts choreographer?" Twilight asked as she joined Rainbow in flight.

"Uh, well—"

"Commander Easyglider." Twilight answered as Rainbow flew away from the problem. "Do you know how many Pegasi flew in the original squad?"

"Um—"

"Seven!" Twilight swiftly replied to her own question yet again. "Do you know Princess Celestia's favorite flight pattern?! The Icaranian Sun Salutation!" Twilight didn't allow Rainbow Dash a second to give her input. "See? I could pass the test." She proved.

"Fine! Rub it in, why don't ya?" She returned to the ground as Twilight followed. "Besides, I don't see why I have to take this lousy test anyway. I've proven I'm one of the best flyers around."

"Knowing their origin and being able to properly represent them for all of Equestria is just as important." Twilight argued.

"Yeah, right." Rainbow Dash repeated her skepticism. "Some history buff like you must have made that up to bring us flyers down."

Fluttershy exchanged a worried look with me, having me feel the need to get between the two before anything grew worse.

"Knowing history actually is beneficial, Rainbow." Twilight attempted to seriously reason.

Rainbow Dash reacted with a blown raspberry. "Beneficial for eggheads!"

"Well, this egghead knows history and can fly." Twilight flew up from the ground to meet Rainbow Dash face-to-face. "Maybe I should become a Wonderbolt."

"Just 'cause you've got wings, doesn't mean you can fly!" Rainbow immediately fired when hearing Twilight's take on joining the Wonderbolts. "You're barely able to just get off the ground! Some Princess you are!"

When hearing this, Twilight gasped deeply as if Rainbow slammed right into her on a personal level. It was becoming much more than just argument.

"Hey!" I flew between them. "What the hay, Rainbow?! You don't talk to her like that!"

"Get somepony who can actually teach me!" Rainbow remained in her fuming state. "Then, I might just be able to take her seriously!"

"Stop it!" I ordered. However, Twilight silently lowered herself to the ground, turned to her front door, and entered inside while slamming the door shut. I turned my head back to Rainbow and sent her a piercing glare. At that moment, she began to slowly release the anger and frustration in her face and make it appear more guilty and regretful.

Twilight

I couldn't believe what Rainbow Dash had just told me. I was actually the pony to take the time out of my day to help her study for the Wonderbolts Reserves exam she needed to pass, and she couldn't take me seriously?! Wanting to be the best friend I could, I cared about her succeeding her dream! I wanted her to be happy to be accepted into the Wonderbolts Reserves and she just did that to me!? How could she?! How could she just downright insult me for trying to help her?!

At that point, I felt so emotionally vulnerable in the longest while. I couldn't even believe it myself when I began feeling like crying. Why was I letting her get to me?

I wanted to go to the bathroom to see if I could do something about it until I noticed something strange in the library. I stopped walking when I spotted something off on the second floor where my bedroom was. There appeared to be this…stallion in some kind of weird armor. I couldn't tell if it was just some dumb get-up or costume. Either way, I didn't believe he belonged in here, and I wasn't in the mood to be "friendly".

"What are you doing in here?" I asked, not caring at the moment for who it was. However, I remembered about the same thing with Spirit. The three times she's been in the library were all random, and I had never seen her come in in the first place. It had me thinking about this new uninvited pony. "You're not one of Alex's friends, are you?" I asked with slightly bothered curiosity.

He turned around, but his face was not visible. Instead, it was covered by some kind of helmet that matched with his armor or costume or whatever. "Oh yeah…" He spoke, providing a really dark and unnerving tone. "Alex…" He seemed to indeed know him. He then proceeded to return a response that I was not expecting at all. "Tell me something… Has he learned to put up a decent fight yet?"

"What are you talking about?" I quickly questioned with both annoyance and a bit of worry.

"I'll be asking the questions!" He suddenly shot back, as if I had just offended him. He turned his entire body towards me and easily jumped down to the floor I was on. "After all…" He continued. "…between the two of us…" He stretched out his legs and I began to sense darkness radiate from him. "I'm the only one who's going to walk away from here alive."

Feeling the anger and irritation I wanted to release from Rainbow Dash's argument, I showed no fear in fighting whoever this stallion was. I furrowed my eyebrows and gave him one last warning before he tried anything. "Whoever you are, I'll have you know that I'm in no mood to deal with this kind of gimmick right now!"

Alex

"That was completely uncalled for, Rainbow!" I scolded at her. "She was only trying to help you, and this is how you repay her?!"

"Okay, okay!" She placed her hooves strongly on her ears, wishing to hear no more. "I get it! I'm sorry!"

"Save that until I get Twilight out here." I sternly stated and returned to the ground to call Twilight. "Twilight?" I asked of her presence, knocking lightly on her front door. I placed my ear near the door to try to hear any sound coming from her. I didn't receive much. "Twilight?" I repeated as I slowly opened the door. When I was inside, I spotted her around the center of the room. She seemed to have not heard my calls as she was too busy searching greatly around for something. "Twilight, are you okay?" I questioned.

"Huh? What?!" She quickly turned towards me in surprise with a mood different than the one she walked away with.

"Hey, what's going on?" I worriedly placed my hooves on her shoulders to get her to focus on me.

"I…" She paused as her eyes shifted around mine. "…I don't know… He just vanished…"

"He?" I immediately felt the need to know. "Who?! What happened?!"

Twilight remained staring at me with a troubled mind before she finally returned an answer. "Nothing… Forget it. I think I was out of it."

"I still want to know." I persisted, feeling it was something a lot more important that she was taking it. "How did he look like?"

"I…can't remember." She mentioned and then quickly turned the tables. "Forget about it. There was something I wanted to ask you. Something about your friend Spirit."

Her experience was temporarily wiped from my mind as Spirit flooded its former place. "Spirit…?" I questioned, unfortunately remembering our last encounter.

"Yes." Twilight clarified. "Did something…happen between the two of you?"

I panicked internally at her question. There was no way I could have told her what really happened the last time I saw her. Twilight would probably blow a fuse and tell me something like how she knew she never should have trusted her or something. Either way, Twilight would most likely lose the trust she had for her and see her as a threat.

Spirit isn't like that… I know she isn't. I can't explain why she did what she did, but I just know she isn't bad… Not after all we've been through. Not after how far she went to watch over me…

"I…uh…" I fumbled with the words in my mind.

However, Rainbow Dash actually rushed in and saved me from speaking. "Twilight!" She called out, startling her. "I'm so sorry!" She surprisingly began to immediately apologize. "I can't believe I said the things I said. Calling you an egghead, not being able to get off the ground, and mainly a bad Princess! I didn't mean any of it! I was just so frustrated about the idea of failing the dream I've held on to for my whole life!"

Twilight looked away for a moment with a saddened look and then turned her eyes back to Rainbow. "It's okay…" She forgave. "I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to push you so hard. I just wanted you to learn so you could pass your test."

"I know!" Rainbow understood. "But I just can't keep any of it in my head!"

"Don't you have a lot methods to help Rainbow Dash with, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, having had walked in after Rainbow dashed through to apologize.

"I've tried everything, Fluttershy." Twilight responded. "But none of my study methods work for her."

"Hm…" Fluttershy rubbed her chin with her hoof as she analyzed Rainbow Dash for a bit. "Well, no offense to your teaching methods, Twilight, but I think I may have a way to help Rainbow."

"What's that?" I questioned.

"Maybe a reenactment will help her learn better." Fluttershy revealed. "Come on." She began leading us out the library.

I didn't know how she did it, but Fluttershy was able to get Spike's help in directing several animals in this "reenactment." I helped her by lifting pieces of wood in order to make this makeshift stage for the critters to perform. It was almost hard to believe she was willing to go above and beyond to offer a possible way to help Rainbow study for her test. I assumed, as the stage was being built, Spike wrote up a short script to explain this history she was supposed to learn. For the actors, Opalescence and Angel were on stage. Opal was apparently portraying Princess Luna while Angel was Princess Celestia. Fluttershy, Twilight, Rainbow, and I sat on a bench in front of the stage.

Rainbow Dash gave a good scan across the stage to notice the two in front. "Oh, who's that, who's that?" She asked, not noticing the mane wigs they wore that was a dead giveaway.

"Celestia and Luna, back when they were happy." Fluttershy happily answered.

Angel and Opal seemed to be dancing lightly to signify their happiness until Angel suddenly threw his paws towards Opal, cueing her to fall on her back. The rest of us honestly didn't seem to be too interested in this show as Fluttershy was. She held her hooves close to her face in excitement as if she was watching a jaw-dropping show. Perhaps it was the lack of dialogue since they were animals after all.

Owlowiscious dropped in and grabbed ahold of Opal, bringing her up to the moon in the background and dropped her off there, symbolizing Luna's banishment. Tank and Winona came walking in oddly while Spike had to awkwardly bring in Gummy into the stage and run off.

"Uh... now what?" Rainbow Dash asked, lost on what was going on.

"Gummy's an Earth pony, Winona's a unicorn, and Tank is a Pegasus." Fluttershy pointed out, which explained the reason why they were wearing some out of place accessories.

"They're the E.U.P., helping to protect the Princess." Twilight recalled the history.

However, the animals weren't really doing anything related to the reenactment. Winona was scratching herself, Gummy grabbed ahold of one of Tank's legs with his mouth, and Angel appeared to have fallen asleep. "Uh, how are you getting all this?" Rainbow questioned.

Nevertheless, Owlowiscious grabbed Angel and placed him on top of the platform in front of the sun where he was doing only Fluttershy-knew-what. Tank began swirling around in the air until he bumped into the sun barrier and knocked Angel off.

"Oh, no!" Fluttershy exclaimed in distress.

Owlowiscious caught Angel but bumped into the moon platform doing so. Spike raced in to catch Opal, but that didn't stop the play from being unable to recover itself.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Rainbow Dash cried out, seeing the results of the play get her nowhere. "That was aw—"

"Awesome!" Pinkie Pie suddenly chimed in. "I give it three woohoo's! Woohoo, woohoo, woohoo!" She goofily hopped with each "woohoo". "And an extra "woo" for good measure! Woo!"

"Well, I give it a 'whoa, whoa, what?'" Rainbow Dash countered, standing on her seat. "I'm totally confused and I just wanna go home..." Rainbow Dash tried to fly off in defeat before Pinkie Pie grabbed ahold of her tail and pulled her down forcefully. "Whoa– hey!"

"Whoa your woes there, woeful!" Pinkie cheerfully intervened. "Some ponies learn through theatrical presentation, but other ponies learn through musical intervention." She looked back and called somepony else. "Ready, Vinyl?!"

I was surprised to see Vinyl Scratch standing there behind her apparently portable DJ studio. "On your mark, Pinkie!"

She jumped into an old-school hip-hop outfit in just a second and began making odd noises. "Wicka-Wicka-Wicka!" When Vinyl began playing a beat with turntable scratching noises, Pinkie Pie went along with that beat as she beatboxed with her own voice.

"Well, back in ancient times, there were the Wonderbolts of old!

A general named Firefly, amazing and so... bold." She appeared to have help with vocal strength due to a pre-recorded voiceover coming from Vinyl's speakers.

"She brought them all together, spreading unity...in flight! Performing at their very best with wonder...and with might! There's Admiral Fairweather and the Colonel Purple...Dart! Gave Wonderbolts a bit of steel along with...lots of heart! An admiral named Fairy Flight and general called...Flash! Helped the 'bolts fly super high... With style and panache! Commander Easyglider was the real cream of...the crop! For with her wicked moves, the Wonderbolts...soared to the top! Wonderbolts, yeah! Wonderbolts...huh! Wonderbolts, yeah! Wonderbolts...Unh! That is my rappin' history of the Wonderbolts!" After she finished, she tossed off her outfit and turned to Rainbow Dash. "So, d'you get it?"

"Yes, Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow Dash surprisingly nodded her head and began to poorly imitate Pinkie with her sounds. "Wickie-wickie-wickie, General This and Colonel That, they're the Wonderbolts, something that rhymes with that!" She crossed her forelegs in completion, but Pinkie Pie didn't look so enthusiastic.

"That... was pretty terrible."

"What?! No... really?" Rainbow returned to her desperate state. "But I've gotta learn this stuff! Now!" She began galloping off until somepony else stopped her.

"And I am just the pony to help!" Rarity reached out, wearing some kind of outfit I didn't really think she'd wear out.

"Rarity, you look ridiculous." Rainbow commented.

"I am going to ignore that comment out of my desire to help you." Rarity generously sacrificed.

After glancing over to us in disbelief, she turned her head back to Rarity. "Good luck."

"Excellent." Rarity closed her eyes in confidence, believing she had the shot in being successful with Rainbow Dash. "If you just follow me, I'll lead you on the path to success for your test." Rainbow only shrugged before she stood up and began walking towards Rarity. "Oh!" She added. "And I'll be needing the rest of you girls as well."

Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Twilight, and even Vinyl looked around and at each other questionably.

In order to receive clarification, Vinyl pulled up her shades and placed a hoof to her chest. "Uh…me too?"

"No, no." Rarity answered. "Just the three over there…unless you'd also like to model with one of my historical designs."

Vinyl almost immediately reacted with a shaking head. "No, thanks. I'm good."

"Well, then. Come along, girls!" Rarity directed, walking out of the area.

Fluttershy stayed behind for a moment before she walked along with the others. "Are you coming too?"

"Yeah. Don't worry, I'll catch up." I responded.

She offered a quick small smile before she traveled on forward with the others.

I took the time to approach Vinyl as she was putting up the stuff she used to help Pinkie Pie with her rap song. As I glanced over her equipment, I wondered how she was going to get that home. "You sure you can bring all that back to your house?" I asked.

"No biggie." She replied with no worry. "It's got wheels." She tapped the lower end of the portable studio.

"Isn't it kind of tiring to bring it all the way over here?"

"Nah." She continued with her optimistic attitude. "It's good exercise anyway." She finished securing everything to her booth and began pushing it.

"Do you need some help…?" I inquired lightly.

"That's cool of you to ask, but no thanks." She assured. "I got this."

"Oh, okay." I merely ceased as I followed her by her side. However, I felt the need to raise up something in conversation, so I brought a casual question. "How's Tavi been?"

"Good. Still practicing, actually." Vinyl mentioned. "If you know her like I do, she's pretty punctual about everything. She wants to make sure she plays as best as she can at the Equestria Games."

"Right." I was reminded about the Equestria Games. "I almost forgot about that…"

"What about you?" She glanced over to me as she continued to push her equipment. "Are you feeling nervous? Or have you been preparing for your part in the Games?"

"Actually…I haven't really be readying myself at all." I admitted. "To be honest, I haven't thought much of the Games. They're…not really that important to me…"

"Aw, really?" Vinyl formed a sort of disappointing face. "Well, you at least care about your team, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course." I replied. "The Games aren't just really a big deal for me…"

"Well…" Vinyl took a moment to speak. "You do whatever you think is best, Alex. After all, it's worked out so far, right?"

"Yeah…I guess…" I felt unsure of that comment, especially after remembering the confusion with Spirit.

We reached her house where we began to part our ways. "It was nice seeing you. I guess I'll talk to you later?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah, sure thing."

"Catch ya later!" She said as she pushed in her equipment through the door. When she was on the other side, she tried closing her front door but had some trouble for a moment. I raised a hoof, wondering if I should try helping her, but she eventually fixed her problem on her own and managed to squeeze in the equipment all the way through.

Afterwards, I turned to head to Rarity's boutique to see what she had in mind for Rainbow Dash.

"Just look at us."

"Look at us."

"Look at me!" I heard as I walked in, finding the entire boutique mostly absent of light. However, there was a spot light in the middle of the room where I saw Rainbow Dash. She was surrounded by several ponies in odd get-ups.

"What's going on here…?" I questioned with silently major confusion, noticing Rainbow cowering in the middle of them. They almost looked like they wanted to eat her alive…with knowledge.

"Stop it!" Rainbow cried out and slipped away from them. "This isn't working! In fact, this was the worst idea ever!"

"Don't you fret, Rainbow." Applejack approached Rainbow Dash, also wearing her own costume. This fashion show nonsense wouldn't help me learn nothin', either." She placed a hoof under her hat and tossed it carelessly away, gaining an unamused frown from Rarity.

"Really?" Rainbow questioned. "Well, what special study trick do you have, AJ?"

"Who, me? Oh, I got nothing." Applejack took a little humorously, receiving a sigh of disappointment from Rainbow Dash. "Why, I could tell you every little thing there is to know about the history of apples, but I picked all that up over years in the field as a labor of love. How much time you got?"

"Twelve hours…"

"Oh, then you are up a creek." Applejack shared with not the best kind of tone.

"So, there's been me…" Twilight began counting, placing a hoof on her chest. "That didn't work." She turned her head to see Fluttershy. "Fluttershy… Nothing… Pinkie Pie…" Pinkie released a bright and large grin. "Not really…" She turned to Rarity, who was picking up after the girls after they had removed the outfits they were wearing. "Rarity…nope… Applejack… No…" She placed her hoof down on the ground and stared for a moment in though. Then, she raised her head with a small idea. "There still might be some hope, Rainbow!"

"What?" Rainbow quickly turned towards Twilight.

"We haven't asked Alex!" She pointed out. "I'm sure he has something that is more suitable for you!"

All six of them turned towards me, but Rainbow Dash was the one with interest piqued highly.

"…what?" I asked, despite having an idea of what they wanted.

"You did well on tests, didn't you?" Twilight inquired. "What did you do to study for them?"

"Twilight." I stated frankly. "The last 'test' I took was when I was a colt. Celestia practically helped with me the rest of basics."

"Didn't she ever give you tests…?"

"Not that I remember…" I mentioned. "Even if I did have to do some 'studying', which in my case remember things, I usually just wrote them down multiple times. It usually gets implanted in my head that way."

"Ugh!" Rainbow Dash groaned. "That doesn't help at all! That's like the same thing as Twilight does!"

"Then, we might as well try again, Rainbow." Twilight recommended, leaning towards her with flash cards. "Old-fashioned studying can do wonders, especially if you pay attention."

"There's always our play!" Fluttershy raised her hoof.

"Look at all the work I did!" Rarity presented her history wardrobe. "Just look at these costumes! Surely something resonates with your inner Wonderbolt!"

"And Granny Smith discovered the first granny smith in Fillydelphia, when she was just a filly!" Applejack added a bit unnecessarily.

"Commander Easyglider was the real cream of the crop—"

"Pinkie, stop rapping!" Twilight prevented Pinkie Pie from continuing any further with her song. "That isn't gonna help Rainbow!"

"Well, I suggest you put down your silly cards of flash, for I know that they cannot help our good friend Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie produced one last rhyme.

"Hang on, hang on, hang on!" Twilight suddenly ignored Pinkie's rapping all of a sudden and looked towards me. "There is still one more pony."

"Who?" Pinkie asked.

"Alex." Twilight continued to face me, beginning to put the center of attention on me. "Can you please ask your friend if she knows anything that could help Rainbow Dash?"

"What?" I almost shot back. On one hoof, I wanted to know what exactly she was talking about, but at the same time, I felt it deep inside me that I knew exactly who she was bringing up.

"You know. Your friend." She pursued. "The one that's mysteriously heavily shy to meet anypony else?"

"Shy?!" Pinkie Pie uninvitedly joined in on the conversation. "I can fix that!"

"What about her?" I tried to avoid answering.

"Can she help?" Twilight seemed to be getting into the question a lot more than she needed to.

"She's busy." I returned vaguely.

"Doing what?" Twilight sustained, which was actually beginning to anger me for some reason…

"I don't know, Twilight." I really wanted the topic to be switched or end.

"Well, when's the last time you saw her?"

I was getting fed up inside. "I don't know, alright? Can we please just drop it?"

"I just want to know, Alex." Twilight said. "After all, I've recently been getting worried by her in relation to you. There's something going on, and I need to know."

This was no longer about helping Rainbow Dash with her test. "Look, you don't need to know anything. It's my business only."

"Alex, we were crowned together. You said it yourself, didn't you? We're a team. And those in a team should share anything important that's going on." She believed.

Reminding me of the incident after Rainbow Dash's and Twilight's argument, I realized there was something else she wasn't telling me either. "Really? Then how come earlier at the library, you wouldn't tell me about whoever it was that showed up inside your home? If somepony broke in the place you sleep in, I'm sure it's pretty important to me!"

"That…" Twilight paused with a mind absent of words to respond to that point. "That was nothing! I was probably just imagining things!"

"You've never imagined anything like that before! What if somepony has something against you? Or is out to get you?!"

"What if somepony is out to get you!?" Twilight began raising her voice as well. "That's why I want to know what's going on between you and Spirit! Something's not right!"

As soon as I heard her name slip out from her tongue, I didn't want any more of it. "Stop talking."

"No, I want to know!" Twilight persisted.

"Drop it, Twilight!" I forcefully and bluntly said.

She returned a silent response before Rainbow spoke up in frustration.

"Stop it, guys! Seriously! I can't believe that wanting to pass my test is making everybody else fight because of me! You know what? Forget about helping me study! Forget about the test! I hate seeing you guys fight and I won't take it anymore! I am never gonna pass this test, ever! Just forget it!" Afterwards, she stormed out of the boutique.

There was an awful lot of uncomfortable silence resonating inside the boutique. Twilight silently turned to me with an impacting upset face. "…Fine." She answered to my last sentence and turned to possibly head after Rainbow. Once she slammed the door shut, she left me with the other girls who were probably questioning in thoughts about what just happened.

I began feeling guilt set all over me, so my legs gave out and I was left sitting on the floor.

"Alex…what's goin' on?" Applejack asked, looking a little hesitant since I was pretty clear about wanting to drop the previous subject.

I sighed lightly, feeling the last of my temper melt away. "I really don't want to drag you girls into it…" I looked at them to see their concerned faces. "I know you all are wondering what just happened, and what we were just talking about…but…" I paused to get my words right. "Don't take this the wrong way, but let's just keep this between Twilight and me.

"You don't look so good…" Fluttershy approached me.

"I feel bad." I wiped a hoof on my face. "I don't think I've ever talked to Twilight like that before, and I never planned on ever doing that. All I can think of doing right now is just…apologizing to her and settling things."

"You can after she comes back." Fluttershy tried to comfort.

"Maybe…" Nevertheless, I began feeling doubtful. "…unless she doesn't even want to talk to me for who knows how long…"

"Twilight's not like that." Rarity now spoke. "No matter how angry she might get, she wouldn't hold anything against you."

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie added on. "Even then, you can always bake a cake for her! There's no way she'd be angry at you after that!"

I managed to smile after remembering a similar experience. "You really think baking cakes for somepony always makes things better?"

"Of course!" Pinkie responded, seeming to not recall the reaction from Octavia. "Why wouldn't it?"

"Never mind…" I disengaged from that reminder and looked towards the door. "I guess we'll just have to see what happens…"

We were outside when we saw Twilight coming in for a landing. At that point, I felt immediately uncomfortable. Since things between the two of us weren't exactly right, I felt that she might act coldly to me. And since she was so close to me, it'd hurt badly.

However, she was pretty silent about what happened between us. Instead, she was more focused on Rainbow Dash's problem.

"Everypony, I've got an idea." Twilight announced.

"What is it, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked curiously.

"We have to help Rainbow Dash." She stated.

"Uh…I think we already know that." Applejack pointed out a little confusingly.

"We've tried every kind of studying." Rarity included. "My way, your way..."

"But we haven't tried Rainbow Dash's way." Twilight finished with a smile, giving me hope that perhaps what happened back in the boutique didn't faze, disturb, or haunt her.

"Hmm, I'm intrigued…" Pinkie Pie reacted just as she said, placing on the hat she wore with her outfit when rapping her history song.

"Okay. Listen up, ponies, here's the plan." She brought up and began assigning positions for everypony. "Fluttershy and Rarity, you two will reenact Luna's banishment to the moon. Applejack, get Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo to reference the E.U.P. Pinkie Pie, you'll be General Firefly and talk about how unattractive your outfit is and how you'll assemble the Wonderbolts. Rarity, bring up Flaire De Mare's role. Also, Pinkie, see if you can get some more ponies around Ponyville to help present the rest of the history of the Wonderbolts and the rest of you follow along."

"Uh…didn't we kind of just do this already? Why are we doin' it again?" Applejack questioned.

"On my first flight with Rainbow, I found out that she just easily reads information while she's flying! As we were talking, she was also observing everything in the ground and sky at the same time! If we can get this information to her on the ground while she's busy flying, she's sure to learn it!"

"Say no more, Twilight." Rarity held out a hoof and shook her head. "I believe we all have an idea on what to do." She mentioned as she looked at the rest of the ponies with assigned roles.

"How do we know where she's going to fly and see us?" Fluttershy inquired.

"You leave that to me." Twilight returned confidently. "Just stay along the center of town and I'll lead her by."

"Okie dokie, artechokie!" Pinkie Pie confirmed.

It appeared Twilight was finished, which brought me back down inside. She hadn't assigned me a role, which most likely meant she was still furious with me. I guess it was understandable. After all, it's completely normal to not talk to a pony that—

"Alex." She called me, surprising me greatly. "You're coming with me." She stated with a smile.

"Uhh…" I was completely caught off guard with her request. "Okay."

"Get going, everypony!" Twilight told rest of the girls. "Let's help Rainbow Dash learn her history!"

They cheered and galloped off to their tasks and roles while Twilight gestured me to follow her in flight. Still feeling a little odd about her sudden and unexpected friendship, I lifted off in flight nonetheless.

Twilight was a little ahead of me in the air. I remained cowering a little behind her because I couldn't bring up any words in mind to say to her. In fact, I actually was trying to use the silent time to try to think of what to say. I figured it wouldn't prove much use to fully plan out my apology to her and just try to say whatever words I was able to bring up. When I finally mustered up the courage to speak, I began to try to endure what might result from speaking.

"Twilight… Look… I…"

"Let's leave that for later, all right?" She responded in a surprisingly sympathetic voice, but she didn't lose her smile. "Right now, let's focus on helping Rainbow pass her test."

"Yeah…" I agreed, feeling it wasn't such a good time to settle things as well. "Right…"

We found Rainbow Dash resting gloomily on a darkened cloud. It appeared as if she'd given up on all hope.

"Hey, Rainbow." Twilight approached her. "Wanna go for a fly?"

Rainbow Dash sighed shortly. She didn't seem to be in the mood to even get up, but she decided to anyway. "Sure. Got nothing better to do." She hopped off of her cloud and began flying while Twilight and I followed along. "Didn't we just do this?" She asked, but then noticed me. "Except this time Alex is here."

"Well…yeah…but like you said, I'm such a newbie, I need all the practice I can get." Twilight replied, losing control of her flying for a short bit, but she managed to catch back on correctly.

"Why's Alex here? Didn't you two…?" She brought up.

"Don't worry. Everything's fine." Twilight assured. "He's just here to help me…with my flying."

"Huh." Rainbow continued speaking in a low spirit. "Well, I'm glad you two worked out your thing… At least you're both happy." Twilight sent a short glance to me, as we both knew we didn't exactly work out everything yet. "I'm also sure you'll become a great flyer in no time. After all, you're good at everything."

Twilight didn't answer that directly. Instead, she looked towards the ground and had me realize the others were ready down below. "So..." Twilight continued to distract Rainbow Dash with small talk. "What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing. Just getting my dreams crushed." Rainbow Dash returned frankly.

Twilight appeared to have some difficulty trying to keep with the kind of talk Rainbow Dash was producing. "Uh... read any good books lately?" She asked as I seemed to notice Fluttershy and Rarity acting out the banishment part in the history of the Wonderbolts. Fluttershy carefully executed her part while Rarity obviously put in more than needed drama.

"Just history books." She answered after another drawn out sigh. "I'd tell you what they were about, but my brain is as dry as a rock."

Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom now came into small sight, faintly shouting the topic of the E.U.P.

"Speaking of rocks, did you know Pinkie Pie grew up on a rock farm?" Twilight slowly worded out, releasing a short nervous laugh afterwards.

"Maybe I'll go work there as I have no other plans for the rest of my life." Rainbow pessimistically put out.

At that point, I began seeing Pinkie Pie play her part, which led to Rarity's, and all the rest of the other ponies.

"Oh, come on now, Rainbow. You can't give up on your dream!" Twilight tried to reason.

"Seems my dream has given up on me." Rainbow returned. "Maybe I'll learn to shine shoes, sell hats, dig ditches..."

"Or maybe you'll be a Wonderbolt." Twilight enthusiastically shared, managing to even flip gleefully in the air. However, it didn't seem to have any effect on Rainbow Dash. In fact, it seemed to even frustrate her even more.

"Twilight, give it up! I have." With a stressed and annoyed attitude, she spotted her home below in the clouds and dashed over there, landing and ceasing her wings. Twilight and I joined her, where she remained in her venting mood. "You two are so lucky… You're a Prince and Princess…right alongside the rulers of Equestria. And it was by doing things that I had no interest in doing." She turned to face us. "You two must feel pretty important. I'd feel important too if I became a Wonderbolt…but I guess I just have to learn that being who I am is what stopped me from ever achieving my dreams."

Feeling like it was just yesterday, I remember how opposite she really was from the current state she was now. "Rainbow Dash, you always brag about how amazing you are." I spoke up. "'I'm going to be a Wonderbolt.', 'I can't wait until I'm in the Wonderbolts', 'I am a Wonderbolt.'" I provided as examples. "Are you seriously just going to give up so easily because of this one obstacle? You're going to sacrifice everything you've done for the Wonderbolts and Wonderbolt related? Where's the real Rainbow Dash?"

"What do you expect me to do?!" She challenged. "I've never devoted my life to stuff eggheads do. I never thought I needed it. I thought flying was enough…" She sighed sadly. "I guess not…And now…I'm paying for it…"

"You're forgetting something, Rainbow." Twilight mentioned. "As your friends, we're willing to do whatever it takes to see you succeed at your dreams."

"Really?" Rainbow questioned a bit skeptically. "And what good has that been?"

"Well…" Twilight dragged out, along with her hoof. "What do you remember about the flight we just had?"

Rainbow scoffed in reaction. "Nothing important. Except after Luna was banished to the moon, Celestia needed protective forces, so Earth, unicorn, and Pegasi formed the E.U.P. Guard of the Protective Pony Platoons." She recalled. At first, she was completely unaware that she was referring to the history of the Wonderbolts until she finished her sentence. From there on, she widened her eyes immensely to what just easily came out of her mouth.

"Yes...?" Twilight encouraged.

"And…" Rainbow Dash resumed, turning her frown upside down to grow happier with each word that was thrown out of her mouth. "At the celebration of the first Celestial year of peace, an elite flying squadron performed, headed by General Firefly, who later named the group the Wonderbolts!"

"Uh-huh...?" Twilight nodded.

"Commander Easyglider established flight choreography that is still used by the Wonderbolts today!" Rainbow Dash somersaulted in accomplishment.

"Yes!" Twilight praised.

"I... I know the history!" Rainbow Dash was awfully surprised to be immediately welcomed with this knowledge as I was surprised with how Twilight's idea actually ended up working. "I know it all! But how in Equestria did that happen?"

Twilight held a hoof across her shoulder and formed a wide grin. "You learned it!"

"Yeah, I got that! But how?" Rainbow clearly wanted to know the exact method used to learn the material.

"Well, on our first flight, I discovered that you catalog everything that happens all around you when you're flying, without even thinking about it!" Twilight answered, explaining to her about the flight previous to this one. However, Rainbow Dash didn't exactly understand what Twilight was getting at. "Don't you see?" She then pointed downwards towards the ground. "I made use of your special skills by enlisting everypony to help you learn the history of the Wonderbolts! Since you were too busy talking, you didn't even notice that you were actually seeing the history of the Wonderbolts before you on the ground! From the banishment of Princess Luna, you watched everything to the point of the Wonderbolts today! You remembered everything, and you didn't even know it!"

Rainbow Dash dropped her jaw in shock and then raced over to the edge of her cloud. From there, she saw the rest of the girls that helped in her learning the history. She quickly jumped off and headed towards them, having us follow behind her.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" Rainbow Dash gleefully expressed in excitement. "Thank you! Thank you all so much!" She voiced all around.

"You're welcome, but it all came from you." Twilight pointed out, seeing as Rainbow Dash did technically do all the remembering and learning. "You learned without knowing you're learning. Your main focus is flying, but then your brain is also absorbing lots of other information! It's actually really brilliant!"

"Yeah." I added on, seeing as she technically and literally breezed through it. "That's something so you, Rainbow Dash." I presented. "You didn't even really need to study the material. All you really had to do was your favorite thing: fly, while the entire history was presented before you on the ground. It's almost exactly like beaming the information right into your head!" I emphasized by motioning/waving a hoof in front of my forehead.

"Hmph." She returned a smug face, which was just like her. "I always knew I was brilliant." She gained a hearty and relieved laughter from the girls. Once they finished expressing their joy, Rainbow Dash stood up in an organized position and furrowed her eyebrows confidently. "Now, if you all will excuse me, I've got a test to pass!" Afterwards, she quickly flew out of sight.

At that moment, at least for me, she seemed to leave a rainbow-colored trail behind. I wasn't sure if anyone else could have seen it, but perhaps it was just a mental implantation to show that friends will stick up for you with anything…no matter how hard it seems…

I stood at Twilight's doorway to her room, leaning against the side with patience. I knew we had to bring up the subject about before. I felt a lot more at ease since Twilight appeared to be ready to take the talk with peace, but I still felt butterflies in my stomach since I had to bring up the hard part of this day again. I didn't know if we might argue again. I didn't know if I'd end up spilling up the experience with Spirit. I didn't really know what would happen at all. All I could do was hope that everything went alright. Most importantly, I hoped that we'd still be as close as we always were.

"Rainbow Dash finally learned the history of the Wonderbolts…" Twilight recalled today's entry as she wrote it down in the journal. "…but she's not the only pony that needed a lesson; I needed to learn something just as important. One way of learning isn't better than another. After all, every pony is unique and individual."

When she was finished with her entry, she closed the book and placed it safely away, along with her quill.

I almost hesitantly walked up to her, holding a sort of subtle pouting face. I decided to just get into it right away. "Hey…about before…"

Once hearing this, she looked away for a moment with somewhat worried eyes.

"I'm sorry." We both said simultaneously, surprising the both of us after. We both seemed to hold an expression that revealed our confusion for each of our apologies. "Huh?" We questioned yet again at the same time until Twilight clarified after.

"You go first…" She allowed.

I took a moment to swallow in a deep breath and release it through my nostrils. "I'm sorry for talking to you the way that I did. I don't know where that came from… I never would have ever wanted to talk to you in such a way. I don't know what came over me…" I sighed. "I guess…I just…didn't want to talk about Spirit."

"That's why I'm apologizing." Twilight explained. "I should have never pushed you into talking about her." She sighed shortly as well. "I just realized I mentioned her name. I'm so sorry."

"It's fine… Don't worry about it…" I mentioned, lowered my head, and slightly looked away. "I'm not sure that even matters anymore…"

"Why?" Twilight questioned. "…if I may ask…"

I sighed heavily. "The reason I didn't want to talk about Spirit was…well... Something did happen… Something I can't explain. The only thing I can tell you is that she's acting weird all of a sudden. I don't want to tell you because…you might get the wrong idea. I want to wait…until I get the answers for myself." I switched my eyes over to hers so I could look at her intently. "Trust me, Twilight. I really think we are a team. I'd definitely tell you about anything…but this situation is kind of…complicated. I just need time to…understand it and figure things out."

"I understand." She responded carefully. "Back when I didn't want to talk about…well…what happened with me… I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want you to worry."

"What?" I inquired. "But you know how I feel about things with you."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." She acknowledged. "That's just it… There's this…well…promise, I guess…that I'm trying to keep. If I tell you what happened, knowing you, you might run off and start trying to demand things of something we don't exactly have a clue of yet. I'm just trying to say…let's discover more of what we're up against before we do something drastic."

I could see this definitely applying to the both of us. "Yeah, I agree." I quickly replied. "But when you're in trouble, you better get me."

Twilight chuckled in small glee. "Yeah. Same thing to you, mister. No joke. I'm serious."

"Of course." I nodded. "As for now…I guess we can only wait and see what the future has in store for us."

"I think that's the right action to take." She shared. "After all, we might wound up overreacting for something that is possibly uncalled for."

"Yeah." I held up my hoof towards her. "We're a team." I assured. "Not just because we were crowned together…but we're the best of best friends anypony could be."

Twilight produced a smile that was capable of spilling tears. "Friends for life." She grabbed ahold of my hoof and clenched it tightly. When she released it, she stared at me for a second and then immediately jumped towards me to embrace me tightly.

Sharing the mutual feeling, I tightened my grip with her as well. At that moment, in my mind, I decided to make a promise as well. No matter what, we take difficult challenges together. However, there is one exception. If such a struggle runs the risk of one of our lives being lost, I'm not going to hesitate to leave her behind and out of the struggle for the better. I'll save her life before mine.

There was another pony I needed to have a serious talk with. I arrived at the balcony with the strict intention to do so. I walked out to the sunlight the sunset produced, but something was missing. Spirit wasn't there waiting for me at the edge of the balcony as she usually was.

Nevertheless, I walked towards the edge and sat down. I waited patiently for a while as I silently observed the sunset. The easing breeze was comfortable, but I was beginning to realize that it wasn't the same without Spirit.

For as long as I waited, I didn't hear her hooves stepping on the floor or her cheerful laughter. She didn't come around. She was way past her record of being late. I was beginning to worry… Was she…not going to show up…? For the first time?

"Where is she…?" I looked around anxiously in my sitting position.

No matter how long the sunset, breeze, and I awaited her arrival, she never showed up.

Trade Ya!/ Inspiration Manifestation

Episode 87 – Trade Ya! / Inspiration Manifestation

I felt a pair of hooves lightly push against me. The darkness in my eyes seemed to perfectly fit in no matter how intrusive it was from the dream. As procedure, I felt my eyes slowly open and I turned my body around to see what had woke me up.

"Sorry for coming in without knocking…" Twilight appeared by my bedside with an apologetic smile.

"Don't worry about it." I welcomed her sight. "I'm used to it. I offered a friendly smile.

She giggled lightly and returned a question. "Guess what?"

"What?" I skipped the guessing.

She sat on the side of my bed and continued looking at me with her head turned. "We've got another official royal duty today."

"Really?" I inquired, not expecting a royal duty today. "What is it?"

"Ever heard of the Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange?" She asked.

I thought about it for a moment before I answered. "I can't say that I have… At least, I don't remember anything about it."

"Well, it's pretty much this big marketplace back in Rainbow Falls. Only, you don't buy or sell things. You trade! And guess who's going to accompany me to this trade center?" She asked yet again.

Despite knowing the answer, I claimed to not know with a playful smile. "I don't know. Who?"

"Oh. Well, since you don't know, I guess that one pony isn't coming after all." She counter-teased.

"Get real." I hopped off the bed. "I'm coming with you whether you like it or not."

"I knew you knew!" She pointed out at me.

"Of course I did." I easily admitted. "I'd have to be dumb to not know."

"You are dumb." She laughed as she stood up and walked down the steps to the front door.

"To you, maybe." I mentioned as I trotted on after her whole-heartedly. Outside, I noticed she was working with a box full of books, organizing them as neatly as she ever could. "Are those your books from the library?" I asked, some of them looking quite familiar.

"Yeah! These are the books I want to trade at the Exchange since I'm running out of library space for the books Princess Celestia is sending me. Oh!" She paused suddenly, seeming to forget something. "I forgot to mention. If you want to bring any stuff to trade for anything you might find at the exchange, you should go get it right now. I'll wait for you here."

"Hm. Nah…" I declined with a shaking hoof. "I really don't have anything in mind to trade. Maybe if I was actually a full-time simple artist I thought I would be, I would probably have a few paintings or prints to trade away, but I'm not, so…" I shrugged frankly.

Nonetheless, she offered back a smile. "Aw. Well, if you feel left out of the whole Trading Exchange, I'd gladly trade you a hug for a smile."

Feeling a little embarrassed for how she was treating me, as if I was some kind of foal, I laughed it off. "Thanks, Twilight…"

She finished packing up her books and closed the flaps of her cardboard box. "Let's get going. I told the others we'd be at the train station in a while."

"So, they've all got their own stuff to trade at the Exchange too?" I inquired as I walked by her side in the direction of the train station.

"Yep." She replied gladly. "I'm sure everyone one of them is looking forward to finding their own item they'd love to have."

We started riding the train to Rainbow Falls after meeting the girls, along with Spike, at the station. Applejack took an excellent and smart initiative to bring along a wooden cart from her farm to hold all of the items of those who were planning to trade. The train ride was actually pretty familiar as it reminded me of the same ride back at the qualifications for the Equestria Games.

As we were just arriving at Rainbow Falls, Pinkie couldn't help but squeal out loud from the window in excitement. "Ahhhh! Yes! Best day ever!" She pulled herself away from the window and looked at us. "We're all going to the Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange!" At that moment, the train came to a stop and began letting ponies out. Applejack was the first one to walk out so she could get her cart out of the way. Outside, she began making sure everything that belonged to the others was inside of the cart. As for the others, they were able to stretch their legs on the platform next to the train while Pinkie Pie continued to jubilantly talk. "And not just going – we're accompanying a prince and princess on an official royal duty!" She mentioned us as Twilight was retrieving her box of books.

"Please, it's not that big of a deal." Twilight brushed off lightly, as well as hinting back at her dislike of being treated more than any other pony. "There always has to be a princess at the Exchange." She explained as we began walking towards the main part of Rainbow Falls. "Last year was Princess Cadence. This year it's Alex and me. It's just a formality. I'm sure none of the other ponies will even notice we're here."

"Hold on a second." Applejack brought up. "You said there always has to be a princess at the Exchange. Why does it have to be the both of you this year?" She questioned. "I thought it would be something like you being this year and Alex being next year."

"Well, Alex and I both agreed that we are a team." Twilight almost proudly recalled. "Whatever we're tasked with, we both talk over and make a choice together. The both of us are just as important as each other." She clarified, glancing over to me.

"Ooh." Applejack understood.

Just as we were about to make our way into the tunnel of the Exchange, we heard a calling from not too far behind us. We turned to see Derpy, Vinyl, and Octavia. Vinyl was waving her hoof immensely at the sight of us. We waited as they caught up to us, each holding their own stuff to trade.

"Oh, hey…!" I greeted in surprise at them. "I didn't know you three would be here too. We didn't see you in the train or anything."

"We must have been in another cart." Vinyl responded. "We didn't know you all were in the train either until we heard Pinkie's freakishly loud scream."

Pinkie Pie showed no shame in that scream.

"So, you all are here to trade too?" I asked.

"Yep!" Vinyl replied and held up some vinyl disks. "I'm hoping to get something wicked cool for these babies."

"I've brought a few things from my own collection." Octavia presented, looking over to her saddlebag. "For one thing, I've got slightly old violin I don't really play anymore. I had gotten a newer one a little while back."

"That's cool." I commented and then looked over to Derpy. "What about you, Derpy?"

"I just brought some pictures and posters." She subtly presented in flight. "I'd think somepony would love this on their wall." She held up a poster of a small kitten hanging desperately but humorously on a branch of a tree. A text read "Hang in there, baby!".

"Let's get going then." I invited them along. "We wouldn't want to be late on starting early."

As we passed along the tunnel, Vinyl asked Twilight and me a question. "Hey, just curious but…do you two ever get some pretty big stares or unwanted attention since…you know…you two are royalty?"

"Sometimes…" Twilight attempted to recall fully. "But, you know, I think they're starting to get used to us. After all, we're really just simple Ponyville ponies as we've always been." She returned humbly.

We suddenly heard a large cheer of a crowd. On the other side of the tunnel, a banner unfurled before us as confetti immensely dropped from above. "Wow, look over there! It's the prince and princess!" One of the ponies from the crowd shouted out.

"Oh, this is amazing!" Another exclaimed.

The unexpected festivities left mostly Twilight paralyzed in surprise. While I was pretty startled as well, it didn't affect me as much.

"Could be wrong…but…" Applejack began to say. "I think it's still pretty new to them." She mentioned with a teasing and slightly smug grin.

Twilight laughed nervously as she forced herself to place on a welcoming and thankful grin for the crowd.

After managing to share the endurance of all that attention, Twilight and I were able to have a breather once we pulled out of that mess. It was more of a mental mess, not a physical mess, to clarify.

"Well, we're going to go ahead and head off to our places here in the Traders Exchange." Vinyl excused. "We'll see you back at the train at sundown?"

"Of course!" I mentioned as the girls and I waved when they began to walk away.

It actually wasn't too far of a walk to stop by the stand Twilight had for her books. After all, being a princess, she couldn't help but be taken as the first priority. As we made our way to the stand, the others took the liberty to do some looking at the stands nearby.

"Oh, my goodness!" Fluttershy exclaimed at the sight of what appeared to be a cupid bunny that was coincidentally pointing a heart arrow at both Fluttershy and me.

"You said it!" Rarity exchanged, observing herself wear an elegant hat in a mirror. "The Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange is simply divine. You can get anything you want here!"

"If'n you got the goods to trade for it." Applejack made an almost doubting point. Nevertheless, Rarity completed her trade for another hat and joined us back in the group.

After a few seconds, we heard something small trip and fall, causing us to look back.

"Nooo!" Spike cried out at the sight of something in front of him beginning to make its way to a small muddy puddle. However, Twilight quickly grabbed ahold of it with her magic and returned it back to Spike. "Thanks, Twilight. Whew. One ding, nick or dent, and this Power Ponies comic book wouldn't be in perfect mint condition anymore." He explained his reaction. "And if you want to trade for a mint comic, you gotta have a mint comic."

"I almost can't believe you're still into that comic after the fiasco that happened with it." I referred to our small little adventure inside the comic book world.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Spike asked. "If anything, it'd make me love it even more! Plus, I get to still read all the characters you all were! Especially you, Alex!" He pointed out and presented the comic he had to me, revealing the character I was supposed to be back in the comic book world in some kind of vehicle or contraption.

"That's nice…" I was only able to comment before ponies caught sight of us and began murmuring in excitement, giving us unneeded attention once again.

Twilight quickly trotted to my side, placed a hoof on me, and gestured me with her head that we should get going. Then, she walked in a fast pace while I followed calmly behind.

"I guess a pony who's here on official princess business has to expect a little fussin'." Applejack mentioned.

"I don't really see why." Twilight wondered as she reached her stand and began preparing her books. "I know we're royalty and all, but all we're supposed to do is settle disagreements over whether a trade is fair or not. And since the rule is that a trade is fair as long as both ponies get what they want, there's never been a disagreement. So there's really no reason for anypony to treat us as anything special." Twilight noticed a small little filly that appeared before us excitedly. "Hi!" She warmly greeted. "Can I help you?" The filly grinned brightly and turned to surprisingly pull out a couple of photos of Twilight and me, appearing to want our autographs. This led Twilight to sigh, pull out a quill, and sign the pictures.

"There's a pony here who's got a signed first edition of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue, and I'm gonna get it!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed out loud as Twilight did her signing. "I've been able to get first editions of all of the Daring Do books, except this one!" Once Twilight finished, she lent me her quill so I could autograph my signature as well. "Nopony's ever put together a whole set, and I'm gonna be the first! If it hasn't been traded yet... It's the only one in all of Equestria!" The filly couldn't help but hug us both before she hopped off in joy.

"Oh no! I'd really hate to see you disappointed." Fluttershy shared as I looked back to see the group. "I did want to trade this bear call I've got for a bird whistle…" She pulled out a small wooden whistle from beneath her wing. "…but getting that book seems so important to you, so if you need me to help you first..."

"Normally I'd say I don't need any help, but you're right." Rainbow greatly accepted. "This is really important. I've gotta get that book!"

"Hey…" I almost butted in. "That's Fluttershy's whistle. She should get what she wants from the Exchange."

"Oh, it's okay, Alex." Fluttershy clearly nodded. "I'd like a bird whistle, but it's much more important to me seeing Rainbow Dash get what she wants."

"See?" Rainbow Dash reinforced. "Fluttershy says it's okay."

I still didn't feel absolutely certain about the terms between them. "Well…if you're absolutely sure, Fluttershy…"

"Great! Let's go!" Rainbow Dash quickly grabbed ahold of Fluttershy dashed out of the area.

"Well, I'm off to take a gander at some of the vintage stalls." Applejack mentioned next after pulling her bag out of the cart holding the others' stuff.

"Did you say vintage?" Rarity asked in piqued interest and grabbed ahold of her saddlebag to join Applejack on her trot. "Why, old and rare items are so in style right now! I'm hoping to get a vintage item as well…" Her voice trailed off as she grew further away from us.

"I'm also off to find a nice piece of minty-ness to exchange for this bad boy." Spike held up his comic before walking off happily.

As Twilight removed the last of her books from the box to place on the stand, Pinkie stood behind in a confused state. "Um, shouldn't your prince and princessness be headed to the royal box seats?" She asked and pointed towards the other side of the Exchange.

"We may be the prince and princess on duty, but I don't think that means we have to sit up there all alone doing nothing." Twilight responded. "Ever since we became a prince and princess, Celestia's been sending me more books to read than ever. The library's overflowing, so I figured while we're here, I might as well trade away some books I don't need anymore!" She presented a reasonable point while placing away the cardboard neatly.

"Mm-hm!" Pinkie happily agreed. "I guess I should go take a look around too! Bye!" She waved swiftly and bounced off.

As Twilight continued carefully angling and perfecting the sight of her books, she turned to me as she still noticed me standing behind her. "If you want, you can go check out the area too. You don't have to stay by me the whole time."

"I don't really have anything to trade though…" I reminded.

"Well…" Twilight thought for a short moment. "If you find something you like and the owner is willing to trade for a certain book I have, I'd gladly help you out with that."

I was warmed by Twilight's big generosity. I smiled lightly in an understanding tone. "Thanks, Twilight. I guess I will just check the area out." I didn't really think about getting anything anyway, but it was true to not rule out the opportunity in seeing what other ponies had. "I'll see you in a bit." I said as I made my way out.

I took a breezing walk in the Exchange, casually glancing at objects out in the open and eligible for trading. However, most of the things I saw held no real value to me. It wasn't that they weren't cool. It's just…I wasn't too interested in them. For example, I passed by a book collector and noticed that first edition of Daring Do Rainbow Dash was so crazy about. Honestly, I couldn't see why she seemed to go out of her way for it. I still remembered when she absolutely hated reading. Either way, it was her thing, and I understood and held my respect for her.

Then, there was this huge two headed dog that some dealer was apparently allowed to trade. No, seriously. I didn't want to butt in but…how was it okay to trade something that was so vicious? I mean…it was on a chained leash…but based on its size and foaming mouth… I wasn't so sure it was guaranteed to stay put. I wasn't so sure about what to do with that one. Twilight said that we were here to pretty much just declare whether a trade was fair or not. After all… I guess if something did go wrong…the unicorns could at least use their magic to stop it. Despite how uncomfortable I felt about the dog, I allowed it to slide.

The part that proved to me how weirdly interesting the Traders Exchange was its completely unforeseen items held up for trade. I saw Discord lamps that were up for show. At that moment, I wondered if Discord was actually around here, fooling ponies with his tricks. However, I was sure if Discord was being up to no good, somepony would have made a fuss about it already. Either way, if there is any problem in the future, I'd be willing to help settle it. The owner of these lamps didn't seem bothered that they were Discord lamps, so that was a good sign. However, I noticed something different about this pony. He was wearing some kind of wheelchair, but not the kind to fully make him immobilized. It was more like to help him walk without much trouble like training wheels. I felt bad for him, especially how I was still able to move without any help like he needed. If he was happy with his Discord lamps, I definitely didn't want to put any more on his mind than he possibly already had.

Other than that, the rest of the items I saw were pretty common for a marketplace like this. Antique chickens? Well…it's still art. Some of the other art I saw on the way was pretty interesting and nice to the eye, but it still wasn't anything I really wanted.

On my walk, I got a few drawn-out or shocked stares, but it wasn't anything too bothering. In fact, I even stopped by and said hello to a few. I didn't want to sound like I was self-centered…but sometimes it actually felt good to be recognized as a good pony by everypony else. Meeting colts and fillies were especially favorable. Seeing their adorable faces when seeing somepony very important to them was almost worth going through the rest of the unnecessary attention from others.

Finally, I was stopped on my path when I smelled a delightful scent in the air. It was very sweet and…satisfying… I looked around and tried to use my nose to pinpoint where the smell was coming from. I found a sort of developed kiosk in the center of a four-way path coming from different vendors. With my curiosity at its peak, I decided to visit this area to see what the smell might have been. I approached the window and looked inside to get a full-blown scent of this delicious snack. It seemed to have been coming from this pot that was frying something.

"Oh, it's you, Prince!" I heard a voice speak from within the kiosk, actually startling me a bit since I was too preoccupied observing what was frying in the pan. "Did something catch your eye?" He questioned, speaking with a familiar foreign accent.

"Oh, I…" I recovered from the connection with the scent. "I smelled something really sweet back there." I pointed past me. "I just couldn't help but try to follow the scent and ended up coming here. I'd really like to know what you're making there, if you don't mind."

"Of course!" He gladly accepted, as if it wasn't uncommon for him to be asked such a question. "I think you're talking about…el churro." He mentioned that last part in a sort of tone that emphasized its significance.

"El…churro?" I repeated, but provided an accent that wasn't as great as his.

"Si…" He returned. He grabbed a utensil to poke at something in the fryer and brought it out, placing it on a paper plate. "El churro is really popular where I come from." He mentioned. "Even here, ponies are just dying to know what makes it so good…but that's a secret." He winked.

"Oh…" I merely reacted.

"Would you like to try one?" He asked.

"Oh…uh…no thanks." I waved my hoof side to side. "I don't have anything on me."

"Nonsense!" He grabbed a drizzler and covered the churro neatly with delicious-looking chocolate. "I'd be very much happy and honored if you tasted the churro for yourself." He presented it to me, even bowing a bit in a kind of silly way.

"Well…" I couldn't help but want to take his offer. "If you really don't mind letting me have one…" I carefully grabbed it with my magic and brought it to my lips. I took a careful bite, and as soon as this sugary piece entered my mouth, my taste buds were immediately overwhelmed with pleasure. It was absolutely stunningly delicious.

"What do you think?" He asked as he held an excited grin on his face.

"I love it!" I expressed joyfully.

"That is very good to hear coming from someone like yourself." He said. "I hear the Princess is here with you. Would you like to take one for her?"

A little shocked by his awe-inspiring generosity, I almost couldn't believe it. "If you really don't mind, sure!"

"Of course!" He prepared another enchanting churro. "Please give my highest regards to the Princess." He mentioned as he presented the churro in front of me with another light bow.

"Sure thing." He offered me a paper bag to keep the churros in. "I must really thank you for your generosity."

"Where I come from, that is, if not all of us, how most of us learn to abide by, as being generous is a guaranteed way to make ourselves happy."

"Sounds like an amazing place to be." I commented, almost wondering what he was doing here instead.

"Indeed it is."

I didn't check out the rest of the Traders Exchange. If I did inspect every place, it was just a short glance at all around things unless something interested me. In fact, unless my eyes had deceived me, it appeared that the sun was already heading downwards to make the way for the moon to take over. It was still sunny, of course, but sunset was rising soon.

Besides, I wanted to give this churro to Twilight as quick as possible so she could taste its delicate flavor for herself. When I arrived back in the area of her stand, I noticed a few slight differences. There was a podium with an illustration of Twilight on the front. Most noticeably, Pinkie Pie was standing there holding a sort of goofy seller's hat, along with her favorite mustache on her face. Twilight, on the other hoof, was grabbing ahold of all her books and placing them back in her box with a smile dabbed on her face. It was another thing that was odd, because it didn't seem like she traded any of her books.

"Uh…did I miss something here?" I asked, notifying them of my presence near them.

"Oh hey!" Twilight turned to me and greeted. "You wouldn't believe what happened while you were gone. Pinkie Pie tried to get everypony to trade with me just because I was a princess."

"Only because I didn't want you trading all your books for a broken pen!" Pinkie Pie quickly pointed out. "And see? I was still right to be here! Since you decided to keep all your books, you would have ended up giving them all away if I wasn't here!"

Twilight giggled at the truth in that. "I suppose you're right." She turned back to me. "Did you find anything you like?"

"Well…not exactly in the way you'd expect…" I pulled out the paper bag holding the churros. "Look! You've got to try this. It's amazing!" I moved the churro towards her face with my magic.

Of course, I should have expected Pinkie Pie's immediate interest. "Oooh! A churro? Can I have some?!"

Twilight defenselessly grinned softly and gave her half of what she had. Pinkie Pie tossed it up into the air and caught it perfectly in her mouth, later chewing noising and showing her intrigued taste of the churro. Twilight took a bite herself and released a small and light moan to present her like for the churro as well. "Mmm! It is good. Where did you get it?"

"From a foreign stallion back around the center of the Trade Exchange." I answered. "He also gives his best regards to you." I remembered to mention.

"Aww." Twilight chuckled. "How sweet. I'd sure love to get some more…" She turned her head towards the sun in the sky. "But I'm not sure if we still have the time."

I felt pretty confident about time. "Actually, I think there's still plenty of time left to go."

Before we could continue the conversation forward, I heard another stallion coming towards us.

"Prince." He greeted, having us turn to see him bowing respectfully. "Princess." He also acknowledged Twilight's presence. "I wasn't sure which pony to turn to, so I'm glad I found you two here."

"What's going on?" Twilight questioned in concern.

"I found this lying on the ground." He held up a very familiar object. "I don't know if there's a lost-and-found here or something, but I was sure you two would know what to do."

"That's Fluttershy's bear call!" Twilight identified softly to me.

"Don't worry about it." I returned to the stallion. "We'll take care of it."

"I'm glad to know it's in good hooves." He replied as he happily gave it to me. Afterwards, he took his calm and trusting leave.

Holding the bear call between Twilight and me, the both of us continued to look at it, wondering why it had been on the ground.

"That's strange…" Twilight thought out loud with me. "Why would her bear call be on the ground?"

"Maybe…she dropped it and didn't notice." I offered an explanation.

"Hm…" Twilight rubbed her chin. "I wouldn't think Fluttershy is one to easily lose her stuff…but I guess it can always happen."

"I'm going to look for her and give this back." I said as I safely tucked away the bear call. "She said she wanted to use it to trade for a bird whistle or even help Rainbow Dash get what she wanted. I'm sure she'd love to have this back."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Twilight asked.

"That's alright." I politely declined. "I don't think it should be that hard to find her. She's probably at that book stand that had Daring Do I saw earlier. I'll check there first."

"Okay, but let me know if you need help!" Twilight made sure to clarify.

"Will do." I saluted and spread my wings in flight to begin my search.

Of course, I headed towards the book stand as that was the place Rainbow Dash wanted her first edition Daring Do book from. Fluttershy was willing to trade her bear call for Rainbow Dash's item on her wish list, so she'd most likely still be with Rainbow Dash.

I was pretty relieved for the most part when I saw their coat colors over by the same book stand I'd seen earlier. I landed delightfully and felt ready to see the smile on Fluttershy's possibly worried face when she saw the bear call I had for her. However, something about the scene between them and the book owner concerned me. Rainbow Dash was with that huge dog, whom now appeared to be friendly and playful due to the obvious reason of Fluttershy. She actually seemed to be trading the dog for the book.

However, the book collector pointed out towards Fluttershy in joy, to which Fluttershy reacted in an extremely worried way. Usually, if she saw Rainbow Dash getting what she wanted, she'd be extremely happy for her, but she wasn't this time. Placing on a furrowed and serious face, I began walking over to the stand.

"…um…wait a minute…you…um…want me to stay in Manehattan until it's…trained?" I heard Fluttershy ask, most likely referring to the dog.

"Of course!" The book collector made clear. "I wouldn't want this guy chewing my head off once I get home with it. I want to make sure it's absolutely positively trained before it stays with me. You seem like an expert with how well it gets along with you, so you're just the right pony for the job!"

"Well…" Fluttershy looked away with an even more anxious face than before. "It's just that…I…I…"

"So we got a fair deal?" The book collector turned to Rainbow Dash, ignoring Fluttershy's comment that hadn't fully come out.

"Of course it's a deal!" Rainbow Dash blindly accepted the book and held it up excitedly. "Yeah-eah, whoo!"

After hearing what just took place, I quickly jumped into action. "No, it's not." I boldly announced, catching all three of their attention.

"Alex?! What are you talking about?!" Rainbow questioned, obviously still appearing to be blinded by her book to not notice she was trading another pony's life.

Normally, if it was just between our circle of friends, I probably would have reacted a lot angrier, but there was an average stranger that participated in the Exchange just as any other pony. I had to act professionally as the prince I was supposed to be. "I'm sorry for intruding…but this trade isn't fair." I stated.

"What? How?!" Rainbow wished to know in an almost upset manner, which continued to anger me in the inside.

"Rainbow, this is much more than trading a pet." I referred to the creature Fluttershy held with the leash. "You're trading away a pony being!"

"What…?" She inquired, becoming confused.

"You can't stand there and tell me it's not fair that you're trading Fluttershy's time away for who knows how long just to have your book. You haven't even asked Fluttershy what she thought of this trade!"

"I…" Rainbow tried to speak.

"Fluttershy." I turned to her. "You have the right to have a choice. What do you think about going to Manehattan and staying there until it's trained? Do you really want that or not?"

"Well…" She glanced over to Rainbow with saddened eyes, to me, and then back at the ground. "…um…I…" Finally, she released a breaking sigh. "…no… I don't want to go…" She looked up to apologize to Rainbow Dash. "I'm so sorry, Rainbow. I really wanted you to have your book, but…I just don't want to leave Ponyville for so long. Otherwise, I would never be able to spend time with any of you or the others during that time. I don't know if I could last so long being away from my friends, both critters and ponies. I'd be all alone…"

"Stop." Rainbow requested. "You're right. I'm sorry." She slowly lowered herself in a shameful and guilty state of mind. "I can't take this book. I'm sorry." She apologized to the book collector. "Not if it means trading away my friend. I hope you understand…"

The other trader did indeed appear to have an understanding face. She sighed, but not exactly in an upset kind of way. It was more like her heart was touched by what just happened. "Don't worry about it. I understand. I mean, how can friendship be any important than a possession?" She seemed to even laugh at her own little mistake. "The trade's off."

Rainbow Dash immediately dashed over to Fluttershy and embraced her greatly. "Sorry for everything, Fluttershy. I guess I was too obsessed over that book…"

"It's okay, Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy delightfully accepted her meaningful apology. "I'm just glad that I get to stay back in Ponyville with all you."

"Speaking of Ponyville…" I hoped to not intrude as much. "We should probably get going." I noticed the sunset coming in. "The Traders Exchange is about to end."

As the book collector peacefully packed up her things, we were allowed to head back to Twilight's stand to regroup and get ready to head back home.

Back with Twilight, we noticed the others appear to be there as well. The only ones who were really missing were Rarity and Applejack. I wondered how their search and adventure went, but by the looks on their silent but stern faces, it didn't seem that it had gone as great as how they hoped. If I was to ask about it, I decided it would probably be back on the train or more privately at home.

"Ready to go?" Twilight asked us, gaining a collective of nodding heads. All of us began heading towards the tunnel to exit, passing the stands that still seemed to be trading last minute stuff. Twilight looked in the direction Fluttershy was at to notice something catch her widened eyes. "Fluttershy…! What are you going to do with that?" She questioned Fluttershy's purpose of the dog she still held.

"You probably might keep him, won't you?" I guessed.

"Maybe…" Fluttershy mentioned before her own eyes caught something else, gasping and running towards it while bringing along the huge dog.

The rest of us followed her to see what had caught her attention. It had to do something with what this last pony was trading. Before I could look closely on what it was, I was distracted by something else. For the first time, my eyes were forcibly lured onto what another pony had to trade. I walked almost like a zombie to this item to notice it had appeared to be like a journal or notebook with rings that kept the pages together.

The mare running the stand noticed me staring at this object and came to my need. "Is there anything you see that you like?" She asked.

"Do you mind if I get a closer look at this?" I answered with another question and pointed at the book I obviously ogled.

"Why, of course!" She permitted.

I carefully grabbed ahold of this highly attractively designed book and opened it. After analyzing it for a moment, I realized I was partly wrong when I saw all the pages were blank in a specific way. It wasn't a journal or notebook. It was a sketchbook. And it looked a lot livelier than any one I ever had.

"This looks…amazing." I commented on the appeal. "What would you want for this?"

"Well…" She tapped a hoof on her chin. "I actually wouldn't mind trading it for a children's book. You know, one with all of the bright colorful pictures?"

"Oh…" I closed the sketchbook and prepared to give it back. I even laughed a little for thinking I really had anything to trade for it. It sucked that I actually didn't bring anything that could suit for this trade. "That's too bad. I don't really have anything to trade for it to begin with anyway." I chuckled at my mistake.

"I think I can help with that." Twilight's voice sounded behind me, and I could see a book hover past my head. "This used to be one of my favorite books back when I was a filly. I'm sure this will suit your needs!" She mentioned to the trader.

"Wow. It looks great just from the outside!" The mare observed the book from where Twilight held it.

"Twilight, are you sure?" I asked, not wanting her to give up a book if it meant so much to her.

"Don't worry." Twilight assured. "I don't mind doing the favor as long as it makes you happy." She meant as she placed on a bright smile.

I returned a heartfelt smile as Twilight pushed the book forward for the mare to observe the contents inside.

"I'm sure she'll love it." The mare responded, possibly referring to a filly she knew. "Here you go." She passed the sketchbook over to me.

It felt…good to be in my hooves. Of course, I didn't want to sound like this single item was about to take total control over my life, but it was just something that I was really glad to have for some reason. It kind of felt like…me… Like…home…

I looked over to Twilight and wrapped my hooves around her tightly as if she just purchased something for me like a mother. "Thanks, Twilight." I said with my voice being muffled, due to it being buried in her coat.

She giggled lightly and patted me. "Anytime…"

When we boarded on the train back to Ponyville, we all settled down to relax for the trip home. Vinyl, Derpy, and Octavia found us and joined us with their new items they had received from trading. Rarity and Applejack had separated themselves in the cart, which contributed to how odd it was when they appeared to have not been speaking to each other for a long time. However, Rarity looked back at Applejack for a moment and released a small sigh.

She started making her way over to Applejack and pulled out what looked like a rusty pie tin to send over to her. "I know it's not the pie tin you were after, but I hope you like it." She placed herself next to Applejack, but she faced her body away. "It's the rustiest piece of junk I could get."

"Huh…" Applejack removed her hat and looked inside. "Well, I took my half of our stash and got you this." She turned it over to Rarity, allowing her to see whatever was inside.

"Ohhh!" She exclaimed softly in glee, picking it up to view it closer. It appeared to be a…hairclip…

"And I know you're gonna love it, 'cause you already have a bunch of ones that look exactly the same sittin' in the drawer doin' nothin'!" She grinned widely. "So that should settle it once and for all which of us is the better friend."

"Oh, come on!" Rainbow Dash loudly interrupted. "You both gave up what you wanted to get something for each other! That's the coolest thing a friend can do. Trust me, I know." She glanced and winked over to Fluttershy.

"Hey, where's your double-doggie?" Pinkie asked, raising the question that no one had surprisingly asked before.

"I traded it for something way better." Rainbow answered, hovering a hoof over to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy raised something new on her hoof. It was another whistle. And based on the sound it produced, it must had been that bird whistle she wanted at the start of the Exchange. "It's too bad I left my bear call back there…" She reminded me. "The two would have looked so good with each other."

"Oh!" I expressed, catching their attention. "I almost forgot." I pulled out the whistle I had forgotten to return before. "Somepony turned this in. I was going to give it back at the Exchange…but then that whole…you know what… happened."

Fluttershy gasped lightly. "It's my bear call!" After seeing it was truly before her, she opened her forelegs and embraced me thankfully.

I then turned my head over to the team of Derpy, Vinyl, and Octavia to hear what they got. "What did you girls get?" I asked.

"Some brand new headphones!" Vinyl burst out in cheer. "Aw, yeah!"

"I was able to get a brand new bow with what I had besides the violin." Octavia mentioned happily with her slighty foreign and sophisticated accent.

"You didn't trade your old violin for something?" I inquired.

"No. And it's alright…" She pulled out the violin and observed it before her eyes. "I guess I always had a thing with this classical piece." She stated with a soft smile.

"I got some cute postcards!" Derpy practically screamed out as she held them up for us to see.

"Well, I'm glad you all got something you wanted from the Exchange." I said and then looked downwards to the sketchbook Twilight helped me with… "I know I did it…" I glanced over to Twilight, whom noticed and immediately returned an embarrassed blush.

She turned to her box of books as if to search for something to take the attention I just gave to her off. "Oh, hey!" She distractingly announced. "What do you know? My copy of Daring Do and the Sapphire Statue!" She pulled it out, held it up, and then began to hover it over to Rainbow Dash. "Here, Rainbow. It's just a beat up old paperback, not a one-of-a-kind first edition..."

Rainbow gasped loudly at Twilight's action and hugged the book close to her. "Even better!" She sat back down after expressing her cheer in flight. "Want to know why? Because I'll have you all here to tell you how much I love it!"

Twilight giggled at Rainbow's behavior, grateful for how Rainbow was completely fine with Twilight's old book.

I stayed at the edge of the balcony for Spirit again, actually shuffling my hooves like she did when she was with me. I had hoped I'd see her again with this sunset, but it didn't seem like I had any luck. It was too bad. I honestly wouldn't have even mentioned about what she did the last time we saw each other. All I cared about was wanting to tell her the day I had and the sketchbook Twilight got me.

Nevertheless, the truth was that the more I sat there by myself, the more I began to lose faith in her showing up. I looked downwards to the small ground near the entrance of the castle and sighed.

I was once again left to experience the sunset on my own again.

"Hear ye, hear ye! The Ponyville Foal and Filly Fair is almost ready to begin!" I heard as Fluttershy and I waited hoof in hoof by. We noticed Pinkie Pie eagerly bounce around all through-out the carnival while holding balloons that were wrapped around her waist.

"Are you excited?" Fluttershy turned her head towards me with a smile as her mane slightly covered her right eye.

"If it means spending some quality time with you, then yes. I am." I answered in a sort of witty manner, causing her to close her eyes and grin adorably in glee.

"Alex!" We heard Sweetie Belle's voice run in. We turned to see Sweetie, along with her parents, approach us. "See?" Sweetie Belle presented a hoof towards me to her parents. "You still remember Alex, right?"

"How could we not?" Her mother friendlily shared.

"I remember every bit of it!" Her father added heartily. "The nice young stallion we met when Sweetie Belle here made that yummy-looking breakfast!" He referenced back to the smoke-filled kitchen that day. "Now he's a prince! Who would've thought!?"

I couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Thanks."

"Is this your special somepony?" The mom asked, most likely noticing the way we sat together.

"Sure is! Her name's Fluttershy." I answered.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Fluttershy." She greeted, causing a little shyness to grow in Fluttershy.

"Hi." She returned with a bit of bashfulness as she held a hoof in front of her cheek, looking like she was covering a part of her beautiful face.

"Since you two are attending the Foal and Filly Fair, I don't suppose you have a foal or filly of your own, do ya?" She questioned, immediately causing looks of embarrassment from us.

Fluttershy and I uneasily looked away from each other at the moment, leaving only me to awkwardly answer that. "I…uh…um…" We heard a bell ring from within the fair, giving us a perfect opportunity to remove the current conversation topic and escape. "Oh hey!" I pointed out distractingly. "Looks like the fair is starting! We're going to check it out. It was nice meeting you all!" Afterwards, I brought Fluttershy with me out of there as soon as possible.

It was a little hard to talk to Fluttershy in the beginning, considering how the thought of a foal was still lingering within us for a bit. It made me wonder if Sweetie Belle yet knew the process that occurred in order for a foal to be made, as her smile wasn't fazed when her parents spoke about it. Either way, such awkwardness from that question quickly faded away as our minds were occupied by the games held in the fair.

There was one thing I loved about Ponyville when it came to fairs or carnivals. The games themselves were usually fair. There was no catch and trick hidden behind. After all, the games required no cost and were completely fair in their rules. As my mother would say, it was "double the fun".

Using her wing, Fluttershy tried to aim the dart that would attempt to seek the last unpopped balloon. She had managed to pop the others and only needed the last one to win a stuffed animal prize. She gave it her all and tossed the dart. It landed only slightly above the balloon, needing only centimeters downwards to achieve her goal.

"Oh…" She groaned a bit sadly, disappointed that she wasn't completely successful.

Feeling some of her sorrow when looking at the small frown on her face, I decided just this one time to use my magic and fix it just a little so the dart appeared to slip off the top and pierce the balloon. The loud pop was heard, and her face was immediately filled with glee.

She won a little stuffed bunny, and we continued walking with both content faces.

"Looks like you found Angel a little friend." I smirked lightly as I stared at the prize she held beneath her wing.

"Knowing him, he probably wouldn't care too much about it." She returned, giggling in merriment.

"This is awful!" We heard a rough sounding exclaim come from in front of us, intruding in on our satisfied mood.

"Awful?!" Rarity, who was in our sights, repeated in shock as the pony in front of her went over what appeared to be her product.

"And completely unusable." The customer continued ranting. "Hmmm..." He spun the wheel this cart-looking item had and analyzed carefully. "Ugh! It doesn't travel!" He included and then squeezed his head inside the cart. "Oh, there's no room for my puppets!" He clarified what the product was actually supposed to be. "It appears I won't have a traveling puppet theater to use after all." He expressed his disapproval and used his puppets to emphasize his point, even having them glare back at Rarity as he walked away upset.

Fluttershy and I exchanged a look to each other and then proceeded to approach Rarity.

"I don't know what that guy was talking about. This thing is perfect!" Spike, who appeared to have been accompanying her, mentioned.

Noticing tears brim in Rarity's eyes, I decided to approach her lightly. "Hey, Rarity… What's going—"

Before I could finish my sentence, she ran off with silent tears, bringing Fluttershy and me to a point of absolute concern.

Deciding to cut the fair short for us for Rarity's sake, we followed the way Spike led earlier before we left towards Rarity's boutique. As we opened the door to her shop, we could hear wailing and crying as Rarity revealed her emotions to Spike, whom carefully tried to cope and listen.

"This is terrible, simply terrible!" Rarity wept and whined as she tried to control herself.

"So that puppeteer didn't like your exquisitely crafted best puppet theater in the history of puppet theaters puppet theater." Spike recalled the incident. "You can just contribute something else to the Foal and Filly Fair!"

Rarity breathed rapidly for a short moment as she tried to speak with the eye shadow running down her face. "I suppose I could..." She paused and then whined in sign of quitting. "Oh, forget it, Spike. I'd never have something finished in time!" She resumed her crying and grabbed a bucket of ice cream all of a sudden, nomming intensely after landing a large spoonful in her mouth. "I wanted to leave my creative mark on the fair, and I failed—" She interrupted her sentence by adding another mouthful and chewing before she finished and continued on. "—miserably!" She added another quick one. "And that makes me miserable!" She planted her face on her couch while Spike seemed to think in place during the moment.

Suddenly, he began quickly walking out and stopped by us. "I'll be back! You guys try to talk to her!" He stated before he left.

Looking back to Rarity, she didn't seem to think too much of how we were standing there. I couldn't really tell if she even knew we were there. She just continued to chug down her bucket of ice cream by keeping it a spoonful each bite. I cautiously walked towards her and placed a hoof delicately on her, hoping not to startle her. "Rarity…?"

"Alex!" She gasped at the sight of me. "Don't look at me!" She requested in a wail. "I'm such a hideous mess right now!"

"No, you're not." I responded. "You just…didn't give a client exactly what he wanted." I pointed out the truth. "You can't always be perfect in your sales." She seemed too busy with her ice cream to answer, so for her own good, I decided to remove the ice cream from her sight with my magic, having her become alarmed.

"My comfort food!" She cried out, trying to reach it.

However, I placed her hoof back on the couch and tried to get her to ease up. "You don't need that." I mentioned. "Right now, it might be helping you cope with the situation, but you're going to regret it when you get a huge stomachache." I placed the ice cream away from us. "What you really need are your friends, and we're here to support you anyway we can." I included Fluttershy and me.

She continued sniffling while wiping as much as she could from her eyes. "Thank you…but how can you help me come up with something for the fair?"

"Well…we can't really help you…" I replied honestly. "But we can inspire you. Do you think you can still fix that puppet cart thing you made in time?"

This brought her down as she sighed pitifully. "No… I'd only have a few hours at most. That's starting from scratch! There's no way I'd be able to make a new one in time!"

"What if we help you?" Fluttershy asked.

"That's sweet of you to offer, but I'm afraid it's not enough. I'd still need at least a few days to design a new one and assemble it together…" She released a short sigh and stood up from her couch. "Maybe… I just need some time to get it together… After all… I have been able to make it through with such circumstances in the past, am I correct?" She received nods from Fluttershy and me. "Ooh…" she still worriedly preoccupied herself in her thoughts. "I just hope I can come up with something in time before the festival ends… Something simple but shall still hold my artistic elegance." She tapped a hoof on her chin before she turned to notice us attentive to her. "You two must have been enjoying the fair, haven't you?"

"We were spending time with each other at the fair, but we're more concerned about you." Fluttershy shared.

"Please." Rarity requested. "Go on and enjoy the fair. Do not concern yourselves about me."

"I don't think we want to leave you by yourself to handle this problem all on your own…" I mentioned for the both of us.

However, Rarity shook her head. "If you wish to help me, you should go on and enjoy the fair. In all honesty, it shall be another problem to worry about, knowing you two missed the rest of the fair to worry about me." She said. "After all, I believe when I'm truly under pressure, I can manage to bring something out miraculously in the nick of time."

"Are you sure…?" Fluttershy questioned with uneasy concern.

"Yes. I'll try thinking of something." Rarity replied. "For now, I believe I just need some time alone to think."

"Okay…" I decided to abide by Rarity's request. "Come on, Fluttershy." I told her and then looked back at Rarity by the door. "We'll be back to check on you, okay?"

"Mm-hm…" She faintly returned, bringing out a blank piece of paper and staring at it for a good while.

With some hesitation, we managed to leave Rarity to her piece, hoping the best for her.

I know Rarity told us to enjoy the fair, but we honestly couldn't enjoy it as much as we could have knowing about her issue. In fact, I believed Fluttershy and I were actually looking forward to the time we would be able to see her again to find out how she held up. However, since she wanted to put out work for the fair, we didn't want to bother her.

Despite Rarity's request, we mostly sat at the tables near the food stands distressing over her condition. We remained sitting there, thinking strongly about ways we could help Rarity easily, but nothing successful came into our minds. We were still there, even when everypony was beginning to pack up and end the fair.

"Oh no…" Fluttershy observed the conclusion to the festival. "I sure hope Rarity was able to come up with something."

"I'm afraid to even go back…" I mentioned, looking away to the floor in thought of her face. "I don't know if I'll able to sleep after seeing how much of an emotional wreck she's in if she didn't come up with anything." I sighed and then nodded. "I really hope she was able to fix her problem."

"Do you think we should go check on her now?" Fluttershy asked. "Since the fair is over?"

I sighed once more through my nose. "I'm scared of how blue she might be…but I won't be able to sleep not knowing what happened either." I stood up and decided to head to her boutique as soon as possible. "Let's go."

We made our way back to the shop and knocked.

"Rarity?" I called before I slowly opened the door, bracing for the worst. However, I was welcomed by something the complete opposite. Rarity didn't appear to be crying and swallowing her tubs of ice cream. Instead, she seemed to advance a productive mind as she observed all around her room while softly rubbing her chin. She seemed to hold a designing mood. "Rarity, how did things go?

"Simply splendid, Alex!" Rarity turned to us in an absolutely positive mood. "You won't believe how much I got done!"

"That's great…!" I returned, feeling surprised yet happy for her. "What'd you do?"

"I was able to fix the cart for that puppeteer." She answered. "Turns out all I needed was just a little…magic." She mentioned that last part a little weirdly. Nonetheless, I was just really glad she was able to pull it through.

"Well…we're glad for you, Rarity." I said as Fluttershy nodded her head in agreement. "It looks like you're busy, so we'll leave you to it."

"Ta-ta!" She waved as she continued looking all around her room in a busy kind of manner.

We allowed ourselves out and continued to converse with each other outside the boutique.

"Wow." Fluttershy expressed. "Now, I can't believe that Rarity actually fixed that pony's cart." She shared the same feeling. "I mean, I'm really happy for her. I just wasn't sure she'd finish in time, considering she only had a few hours."

"I know." I understood. "But she is Rarity. Whatever she uses, she usually is always able to find a way out in a rut."

Fluttershy giggled and looked at me in a couple's teasing manner. "So, are you going to be able to sleep tonight? Or are you…going to need to stay with me tonight?" She added a little blush from her cheeks.

I chuckled shortly, feeling a little embarrassment from her playful manner. "I think I'll be able to sleep fine. I…have to stay back home though… There's something I'm making…for Twilight and my mom." I revealed my project.

"Ooh." Fluttershy exposed her peak of interest. "What is it?"

"It's going to be like…a little charm that keeps us together." I laughed a bit for the next part I was going to include. "Ironically…and a bit sadly…the idea comes from that idiot Discord…" I reminded myself of that stunt he pulled last time, sending me a feeling of disgust.

"No matter how silly he might be…" Fluttershy really loved to talk about him lightly and positively. "He can always help in some way."

I almost kind of wanted to laugh at that idea. Nonetheless, I decided to dismiss it. "Hm. I guess I'll go home and work on it some more so I don't stay up too late."

"That sounds good." Fluttershy agreed and pulled in to give me a kiss. "You need your sleep."

Reminding me of Spirit's absence and my hope to see her again, I looked away in thought. "Yeah… I guess I do."

I actually couldn't help but oversleep a bit more than I needed to the next day. Unexpectedly, I was welcomed into the new day with Twilight calling for my attention on an important manner. There was a problem occurring in Ponyville, and she believed it was our job to find out what was causing it and fix it.

"Something strange is going on." Twilight mentioned, looking around Ponyville for any suspicious activity. "When I was walking by Applejack's apple cart, I noticed there was something obviously off about it. It was bejeweled with gold and gems, and when I asked her what in the hay happened to the cart, she just said it unbelievably magically transformed!" She described.

"Her cart just…magically changed?" I repeated, feeling clueless.

"Yes!" Twilight clarified. "She said one second it was her regular wooden cart, and then it just changed in a blink of an eye!"

"That's definitely weird…" I placed a hoof to my chin in thought. "Was anypony else affected by this…?"

"When I noticed a children's party transformed into a formal gathering, I had to come get your help. We need to find whatever's or whoever's doing this as quickly as we can."

"Did you ask anypony else around the changed area to see if they witnessed anything?" I questioned.

"No…" She recalled, looking back. "But that is a good idea!" She pointed out. "I think I know just the place to start that'll give us something to go on!"

Increasing the speed of our travel using flight, we landed in the children's party Twilight was talking about. It was actually a bit heartbreaking to see the upset faces on the foals' and fillies' faces as they were clueless on what happened. Everything was decorated and set up like a Canterlot formal get-together. We could see Pinkie Pie quickly attempt to cheer every one of the children up using balloons and cake, but it was going to take a while to fully recover from the damage.

"Pinkie Pie." Twilight called as Pinkie Pie attempted to almost frantically fix the mess of a birthday party. "Did you see anything strange go on with the party before or as it changed?"

"I have no idea!" She responded as she quickly tried to pass out cake and a balloon to each foal. "One minute, I went to go get the birthday cake and the next, there was small unsugary food and a savvy calm instrumental band!"

After hearing her last words, I looked around for the band to notice Octavia standing there dumbfounded with her signature cello. I walked towards her to see if she spotted anything off, besides appearing at the party unexpectedly. "Tavi." I approached, noticing she was too struck with confusion when she didn't remove her stare off the party. I waved a hoof in front of her, causing her to shake her head and notice me. "Alex?" She questioned. "What…just happened?"

"That's kind of what I wanted to ask you…" I mentioned in response. "Twilight and I felt something really strange going on, and we wanted to see if anypony had information that could help us. Do you remember what happened? Or if you saw anything suspicious?"

"I…" She looked down towards the ground, trying to remember clearly. "…I remember practicing my cello at home…but all of a sudden I was here outside at a…children's party." She stated in a highly surprised manner. "I don't even know when I was apparently teleported out here. My eyes were closed during the song to grasp a better feel of the music, but when I opened them after finishing the song, I was here!"

"You didn't notice anything off?" I asked. "Besides, the place you magically appeared."

She shook her head. "I don't think so…"

"You should go home and just…rest a bit…" I advised after the confusion she had just been through. "We'll try to figure this out."

"Oh…okay…" She placed her cello on her back and walked out of there, continuing to show signs of shock and bafflement.

"Get anything…?" Twilight inquired to me, beginning to reveal a worried face.

"Not really…" I shook my head. "This has to be magic or something." I spoke out my thoughts. "It seems that everything here was switched out with a use of a teleportation spell. Octavia said she was at home practicing her cello until she noticed that she was standing here all of sudden."

"Ooh…" She released a frightened groan. "I hope it's nothing terrible."

"If it's a unicorn doing this, he/she might just been playing pranks on others." I looked over to the table the children were sitting at. "Bad ones to speak honestly."

"Well, if it is some kind of prankster unicorn, we need to find him/her and give a piece of our mind!" Twilight shared in an upset manner, disapproving the use of such harmful pranks.

Twilight and I walked through Ponyville to find any sign of a suspicious pony or aid anypony that suffered this prank-looking effect. In our walk, we managed to find something…frozen on the ground.

"What is that…?" Twilight squinted her eyes at the object in the middle of the road. Once she noticed some familiar traits, she gasped and called out his name. "Spike!" She ran ahead, leading me to quickly follow behind her. When she approached the paralyzed dragon, she immediately felt anxious. "Oh no, not you too!" She used her hoof to pick him up from the ground.

"What do you mean, 'not me too'?" Spike returned an unbothered expression as if this was normal for him.

"Oh..." Twilight pulled back on her worried face, noticing that he seemed to be fine and okay. "Judging by that outfit, I thought for sure you'd—"

"What? This?" He questioned, seeming to have trouble with what looked like frozen ice on his body. "I just wanted to try out a new look." Nevertheless, he lost his balance due to the weight of the accessories and fell to the ground. "You like?" He asked.

"What in Equestria made you want to wear this?" I inquired, helping him up this time.

"Oh, you know…" He shrugged. "Sometimes, you just gotta wear something completely random to find a good look."

"Uh-huh…" He seemed to have exaggerated that attempt for a new wardrobe.

"Hmm..." Twilight hummed and looked around. "Well, in that case, have you seen anypony suspicious around?"

"Uh, nope." He reacted casually, seeming to not know what was happening in certain parts of Ponyville.

She continued to look around carefully, having me join her by her side.

"We have to hurry, Alex." Twilight told me with a tone of strong willingness to find out who was responsible. "Who knows how far this prankster might go…"

"Princess Twilight! Prince Alex!" The mayor of Ponyville suddenly galloped towards us in a state of pressure. "The gazebo has been turned into solid crystal, and two ponies are now trapped inside its walls!"

Twilight gasped sharply and looked at me. "Come on!" She hurriedly spread her wings and flew in the direction of the gazebo.

The sight of the new gazebo was certainly a frightening one. Whoever this "prankster" was, he or she was really going too far as Twilight was worrying. We saw those two ponies stuck behind the glass wall, and only I could feel a glimpse of the panic they must had been going through inside.

"Do you have any spells that can get them out?" I inquired to Twilight with high concern.

"I believe so." She closed her eyes and led the magical aura around her horn. As I turned to the trapped ponies, they quickly became relieved when they noticed they were being transported freely out of the gazebo. Once they were safely back on the ground, Twilight and I took the initiative to question them.

"Are you two alright?" Twilight asked the both of them.

"Now, we are." One of them gladly answered.

"Thanks!" The other expressed.

"I don't suppose you noticed the pony turning the gazebo into solid crystal, have you?" I questioned.

They exchanged a look with each other and only returned sad shakes of their heads.

Before Twilight and I could try to make sense of all these changes and even life-threatening actions, the ground below us suddenly blinded us for a moment.

"Augh! What's going on?!" Twilight cried out, placing a hoof in front of her face.

"The road has changed into solid gold now!" I noted, able to see the color after adapting a bit to the blinding light.

"Both of you, get to safety!" Twilight stated to the two formerly trapped ponies. They only spared a nod before they ran off to escape the blinding-paved road. "This is out of control!" Twilight expressed, feeling no better from the new transformation. "I don't know how a single unicorn can do so much of this! We have to get the other Princesses' help to track the source of this before anypony else gets hurt!"

"Let's hurry then!" I agreed, following Twilight.

Arriving at Canterlot, we dashed through the royal doors in a hurry, calling out the Princesses as soon as we saw them.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Mom!" I shouted in the same tone.

"Twilight?" Princess Celestia questioned the sight of her while sitting on her throne.

"Alex?" Princess Luna repeated but towards me.

"Something is going out of control of Ponyville!" Twilight explained. "Some kind of magic is making everything…well…" Twilight paused to try to think of the correct term. "…shiningly dangerous!"

"What are you talking about?" Tia requested.

"We don't exactly know." I answered for Twilight. "But from what we've seen so far, it started from changing a kid's birthday party to a formal Canterlot party. Then, two ponies were trapped inside a gazebo made out of crystal walls. As soon as all of Ponyville roads become solid gold, we came as quickly as we could to get your help!"

Princess Celestia was certainly surprised at this experience, but she took no hesitation to ensure this matter was addressed. "Princess Luna, go with them to address this issue. I'll send a letter to Princess Cadence and see if she can help. I'll also make sure there's no other place in Equestria suffering from this dispute."

"Yes, sister." Luna nodded and then hopped out of her throne chair to join us. "Let us make haste." She advised, leading us to hurry out of the castle and back to Ponyville while Celestia attempted to contact Cadence.

We absolutely needed no help in spotting Ponyville from the distance up in the clouds. Ponyville was in a much worse state than we had left it. Practically every single building in Ponyville was crystallized or bejeweled, and Princess Luna did not hesitate to widen her eyes at this sight. "What in the world…?"

We landed on the ground, or in this case, gold-plated roads, to begin to be blinded by the glare once again.

"We don't know what to do!" Twilight referred to our current situation on the problem.

Luna closed her eyes and concentrated on the magic in her horn. After a few seconds, she quickly widened them open and gasped. "This isn't just any kind of magic… It's… dark magic!" She emphasized a bit fearfully.

"Dark magic?" I questioned, beginning to feel some of the fear linger on to me. "How did dark magic get into Ponyville?"

"I cannot answer that, but we must get rid of it before anything disastrous comes out of it!" Luna suggested.

"What about the pony responsible?" Twilight asked, afraid of the idea of the source running loose.

"I understand your worry, Twilight Sparkle, but we cannot leave this magic here to search for the pony doing this." Luna brought a valid point. "We need to remove this magic. Afterwards, we shall see if there are any clues to who this pony is."

"Do you know how to remove this magic?" I inquired.

"Yes." She nodded. "But it is going to take a lot of energy to do so."

"Whatever it takes!" Twilight brought herself up, clearly showing her hurry to fix Ponyville.

Princess Luna worked her magic into removing the dark magic dealing with the golden road. However, it was only removed enough to the point where it didn't bother us as much anymore. There was still plenty of road to fix all-around.

"We can work together to restore portions of Ponyville." Luna explained. "But it is going to take some time and a lot of energy. If Princess Cadence can arrive as soon as she can, we can expand our radius to cover much more of Ponyville in a less amount of time.

"Let's get started then." I joined Twilight's emphasis in correcting the issue at hoof.

Throughout what felt like almost forever, my mother, Twilight, and I concentrated our magic together while Luna did most of the spell work. During the few first area cleanings, we were shown how difficult it really was, at least for us, to remove so much dark magic. It took us maybe minutes of our complete concentration and energy to focus our magic long enough for Luna to use it in its effect on Ponyville. After several group cleanings, Twilight and I were practically our knees, panting in exhaustion. Luna appeared to be tired as well but not to the point we were since she probably had experience in this before.

"We will be done very soon." Princess Luna tried to encourage us to hold on just a little longer.

Twilight shook her head. "We're trying our best to keep up, Luna."

"Twilight! Alex!" We heard a familiar call come towards us. We looked in the direction it came from and noticed Miss Cadence coming in for a landing. "I came as quickly as I could. From what I could see, it doesn't look like you need that much more." She shared and noticed the condition we were in. She closed her eyes and focused her magic on us. After a moment, we felt as if we were given a little more energy to keep going. Of course, we weren't completely rejuvenated, but it was thankfully enough to go on a little while longer. "Come on!" She encouraged. "We can finish this!"

With Miss Cadence's help, we were able to expand and strengthen the effect of our magical wash. By what I hoped to be the end of it, Twilight and I, at the very least, didn't have the strength to celebrate or be relieved. Being relatively new Alicorns, we were both still inexperienced dealing with such matters and it was sure to leave us sore in the morning. We panted greatly on the now normal road while Miss Cadence and Luna took their breaks lighter than we did.

"I think that's the end of it…" Miss Cadence shared softly but positively.

"It would appear so…" Luna joined, searching around. "But we still need to find the pony responsible for the mess. This pony must be very dangerous as she or he has been dabbling with dark magic." She explained the seriousness of the situation, reminding us that our job was not completely over.

However, we heard some astonished words coming out from a stylized mare.

"My, oh my…" We found Rarity walking by with a sort of lowered head as she observed the ordinary surroundings. "Were you all able to fix this by yourselves?" She asked once spotting us taking an exhausted break.

"Yes." Twilight managed to respond. "What about you, Rarity? Where've you been? Are you okay?" She immediately questioned the well-being of Rarity.

"I'm fine, darling." Rarity answered, helping us up with her hooves. "At least, now, I am."

"What do you mean 'now, I am'?" I asked.

"Well…" Rarity appeared to be clueless herself on her own words. "It's just that…Spike was trying to help me with my creative mojo for the Foal and Filly Fair…so he found me this book—"

"Book?" Twilight questioned before Rarity could continue.

"Yes." Rarity clarified. "It was this odd-looking and old dusty book. I believe the title was along the lines of… 'Inspiration Manifestation'."

Luna gasped, as if she knew what Rarity was talking about. "'Inspiration Manifestation'?!" She turned down in thought. "But of course! That would explain why everything in Ponyville was so crystallized and ornamented. There is no dangerous pony out and about. It was your friend all along under the spell of the book. She lost control of herself and the innocent ideas within her were transformed to horrid and harmful ones." She quickly tended to Rarity. "How are you feeling? You were succumbed to a horrible amount of dark magic."

Rarity placed a hoof to her forehead. "I'm feeling well, Princess Luna. Just a bit dizzy."

"Please." Luna wished concerningly. "Go home and rest. Let us or Twilight and Alex know immediately if you endure any strange or uncomfortable pains with your magic."

"Of course." Rarity thoroughly understood Luna. "Thank you, Princess." She bowed and took her cautious leave.

"Is Rarity going to be okay?" Twilight asked, becoming worried after hearing what Luna mentioned.

"I cannot be certain for sure." Princess Luna returned. "But if all is well, she should only need to rest away the disorientation and slight confusion she's feeling at the moment. But dealing with such dark magic, we need to make sure we keep in touch with her for a while until we are certain she is completely fine." Luna paused and placed a hoof to her chin in thought once again. "But there is something I don't understand quite yet. How was your friend, Spike, able to find this dangerous book? It was cleverly hidden and locked away at our old castle for a reason."

"Only one way to find out!" Twilight somehow actually grew the strength to move in a storming march towards her home at the library.

The rest of us followed her, mostly to move on with the story of the book being taken. However, the two of the princesses didn't seem to know Twilight enough to know of the possible quarrel that was about to open. Twilight kicked open the door as hard as she could, but since she was energy-deprived, it didn't slam open like she possibly wanted. "Spike!" She exclaimed, surprising the little dragon that seemed to have been writing in the journal. "…where and how did you get the book…?" Twilight demanded through gritted teeth.

"Um…" He began looking a little anxious due to Twilight's current temper. "…I found it at the…Castle of the Two Sisters…?"

"How were you ever able to find this book and unlock the lock of the door to the area it was in?" Princess Luna stepped in, wanting to know how he was able to get this book.

"Well…" Spike scratched his head as he tried to remember what happened. "I was looking for any kind of books that could help Rarity with her problem. I stumbled upon some kind of bookshelf that moved and revealed a secret room. The door was already unlocked, so I went in to—"

"Wait." Luna halted. "The door was…unlocked?"

"That's what I remember seeing." Spike answered.

"I could have sworn remembering that it was locked…" Princess Luna thought to herself, keeping her mind busy on the idea of the door being unlocked. "Where is the book now?

"I..." Spike hesitated to answer. "I kind of...ate it..." He nervously laughed afterwards with a bit of an embarrassing blush.

"You ate it?!" Twilight exclaimed in question.

"Sorry!" Spike defended himself. "When I realized how bad things were getting, I thought it was stop it all. Turns out I just had to follow the last part of the spell and tell the truth to Rarity."

Princess Luna released a sigh. "It's not exactly how I would have handled it, but at least it shouldn't cause any harm to you, Spike. As long as you didn't magically interact with it, you should be fine."

Despite what happened in the past, Twilight furiously glared at Spike. "Spike." She called, scaring him a little. "Never, ever, ever, ever take another book out of the library at the castle without asking!" She made clear as she confronted him face-to-face. "Princess Cadence and Princess Luna have much better things to do than help us clean up Ponyville!" Twilight walked up the stairs, heading towards her bed before she expended any more of her energy. At that point, she just jumped towards her bed and appeared to have no intention of getting off in a long time. "Do you have any idea how hard it was to reverse that much dark magic?!"

Spike clasped his claws together with a flinching kind of look in his face from Twilight's scolding. However, he seemed brave enough to chuckle after noticing how dirty we appeared to be from having to work so hard to clean up technically his sort of his mess. "You all don't look so good." Twilight opened her mouth in slight surprise, possibly due to expecting another answer. Afterwards, she only returned a soft but intense growl towards him. However, he didn't seem to take it seriously "What? I'm just being honest! It's what good friends do!" Afterwards, he began walking off past all of us, seeming to take everything that just happened today lightly. Twilight growled in a louder tone while angrily looking away, feeling no energy to continue nagging on Spike about his mistake.

"I better get going…" Miss Cadence announced. "I don't want to leave Shining Armor with too much over the Crystal Empire." She turned and spread her wings out. "I'll see you at the Equestria Games." She stated with a smile and left.

Right. The Equestria Games… I had already forgotten about them.

"You both could really use some sleep." My mother advised after noticing how tired we looked and possibly felt the aches from our weak bodies.

"You have no idea…" Twilight fell back on her bed and closed her eyes.

"Mind if you scooch a bit?" I asked Twi, placing my hooves at the side of her bed.

"Huh?" She noticed me wanting to join her in the comfort of her bed. "Oh, sure." She rolled over a bit in order to allow me on.

Once I was lying next to her, I released a great breath of relief, feeling I could just knock out there at any second. "What a day…"

"You said it…" Twilight agreed in exhaustion.

"May I be of assistance?" Luna asked.

"What are you going to do?" I inquired.

She only smiled, closed her eyes, and focused her magic. The next thing I knew, we were soundly falling asleep like foals.

By the time I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that the moon was up and it was night. I also noticed Twilight sleeping peacefully beside me. However, I remembered Luna was also with us before we fell asleep and she was nowhere in sight.

"Luna?" I softly called. Instead, my call ended up waking Twilight.

While keeping her eyes closed, she breathed in a living breath and moaned a bit as she stretched her forelegs out. "What time is it?" She asked, seeming rested enough to erase the tiredness we felt before.

"Apparently, nighttime." I responded with a little smirk and gestured over to the window. "I don't know where Luna went. Is she back in Canterlot?"

Twilight only shrugged. How was she supposed to know if she was asleep as I was? Nevertheless, we heard some sounds, possibly magical sounds, coming a bit above us. We looked at each other and decided to walk upstairs to check out what it was. It seemed to have been coming from the balcony, which was the highest part of the treehouse, so we made our way there.

As we reached the balcony, we noticed Princess Luna focusing her magic on the stars in the sky. After she would open her eyes, she would look into Twilight's telescope and smile. Twilight grinned, appearing to find this cute.

"This is quite an extraordinary telescope you have here, Twilight." Luna mentioned, knowing we were already behind her. Despite that we hadn't made a sound, we decided not to question about it. "How are you two feeling?"

"A lot better." Twilight gave an answer and turned to me to see if I felt the same.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"That's good." Luna released a smile and then returned to her gazing of the stars.

I glanced over to Twilight and gestured with my head in order for us to go join her. The two of us sat a little closer to the edge as we stared out into the sky.

"I don't mean it in the wrong way, Princess Luna, but what are you still doing here? I thought you'd already be in Canterlot." Twilight asked.

"I wanted to wait until the both of you woke up." She answered, continuing to gaze out into the stars. "But I believe I caught myself staring in awe at my own stars."

"Well…you're a part of them." I shared honestly. "You're a…star…"

Twilight snickered a bit. "That's kind of cheesy."

"Well, it's true." I brushed off. As I stared at the lit speckles in the sky a little longer, I immediately remembered something. "Hold on a second!" I lifted up with my wings and flew to my home as fast as I could. After retrieving something, I came back and stood before them.

"What was that all about?" Twilight asked.

"This." I presented three charms in the shape of stars, but they varied in different yet similar colors. "I made these for us."

Twilight stood up and brought her head in closer to get a better look. "These? For us?"

"Don't you see?" I questioned, causing her to look more into the charms. "These resemble the three of us…and how we're connected." I lifted up the charms with my magic and connected them one by one to show them. They fit almost like a puzzle, yet still looked ordinary when separate. "I couldn't really believe how obvious it was. The purple's you, Twilight." I listed the colors of her coat and charm. "The blue is mine, and the darker blue is you, mom." I finished. "Isn't it kind of weird but amazing at the same time how we're kind of shades of a cool blue? I mean, Twilight, you're not exactly blue, but you know, you're still in the color area, if you get what I mean. Either way, we all represent the night. Even our cutie marks prove that."

Twilight remained silent at my explanation of our connection. "Wow… I guess… I really never thought about that." She shared honestly. "Maybe…we were meant to be connected the way we are now…?"

"We had to be." I placed their charms on each of their hooves. "You can wear it around your neck, so when you're in the deepest of trouble, and say I'm not around, you can just look back on your charm and think of me." I laughed a little after saying that, finding it cheesy once again. "Sorry, I guess I can't really stop being cheesy tonight."

"No, no." Twilight shook her head. "That's really sweet of you."

"I kind of got the idea from you with your good luck charm." I chuckled. "And the connecting part of the charm…well…I honestly even got it from Discord and his friendship necklace thingy."

"Oh, boy…" Twilight was reminded of the incident with him.

"Thank you, Alex…" My mother shared almost out of the blue. "I…I just only have my thanks for you…"

"Of course, mom…" I smiled. "That charm can remind you that you're never alone, even in the darkest days."

"I have to admit…" Twilight began speaking, turning our eyes to her. "…it kind of bothers me. If darkness is what we really fight… Isn't our connection…related to the darkness? The night? Does that make us…bad?"

"Twilight…" Princess Luna responded. "Just because something is dark…doesn't make it bad. A lot of ponies are scared of the darkness because…it gives you a sense of fear. It keeps you from seeing clearly. But darkness is neither bad nor good. It just is. It is the same with light. Light is just usually associated with good, and darkness is associated with bad. Sometimes, I wonder why some ponies wished there was no evil. No darkness. The truth is…we can't live without it. The world is made up of light and darkness. You can't have one without the other. If there was no light, there could be no such thing as darkness. If there was no darkness, there could be no such thing as light. If there was no good, there would be no such thing as evil. If there was no evil, there would be no such thing as good. We need the other in order to differentiate ourselves. But even if you come from the dark, you can still be good. I am the example. You may have met me back when I still was…Nightmare Moon…but thanks to you all, I am my own being. I choose to follow the path of good…because I know how much hurt comes from bad. As you can see, the dark can sometimes be a beautiful thing…" She pointed a hoof out towards the sky. "Especially when combined with light." She included the moon and the stars. And then, she looked at me. "Just like you and your power inside you." She mentioned with a small but meaningful smile.

"Wow…" I now said for myself, feeling immensely positive after hearing her words. "You just made me one hundred percent proud that I am who I am, mom…"

"But of course." She stated a bit smugly. "It is my duty as your mother."

Twilight giggled at our little scene. "You guys…" She grabbed her charm and looked down. After observing it, the smile on her face stretched, and she held a firm grasp on the charm. "This is great…" She picked up her head and looked out to the stars. "I feel really at…peace. Just being here. Stargazing…"

"Hearing that makes me pleased." Luna expressed. "For the whole time I've been tasked with raising the moon, I've always wanted ponies to appreciate what I do. I'm glad to see that you two do…and the three of us could just sit here and watch the beauty behind the night."

"Agreed…" Twilight turned back to the sky.

I smirked very lightly and picked up my charm with my hoof. Then, I stretched it out towards the sky to make it feel fit in. "…together…" I shared meaningfully under my breath.

After such a wonderful night with my mother and Twilight, I was really hoping that Spirit would come by the balcony. I was such in a good mood. I mean…it was so perfect…so why wouldn't she come? What's taking her so long?

The more I sat there with the fresh breeze, the more I began to feel empty in one part of my body. I began to almost desperately long for the taste that was associated with each sunset.

I sighed and held up my empty hoof.

"I really do miss her ice cream…"

Equestria Games

Episode 88 – Equestria Games

I almost couldn't sleep last night. I wasn't tired though. I think I had too many things on my mind to be tired. And I believed…that there were even more things on my mind that I knew about. However, the thoughts I were familiar with were easily distracting. Spirit. She was a part of my mind…but I think the most distracting thought was Starlight.

This was the day I was going to…I guess "officially" see her. I definitely wouldn't be surprised if we met face-to-face again. That's what's making me so nervous. It wasn't the Games. It wasn't the Games at all.

"Hey. You doing alright there?" I felt a hoof being placed on my shoulder.

"Huh?" I looked back in question, away from the window I was staring out of.

"You've been pretty quiet ever since we got on this train." Rainbow Dash brought up. "What is it? The Games got you nervous?" She seemed to say a bit humorously.

"I guess you could say that…" I turned back to look out the window to see the Crystal Empire getting closer and closer by the second.

"I hope you perk up by the time we get there." Rainbow Dash stated, sitting by my side to join my look out the window. "This just got real!" She proved her confidence. "It's our time to shine and show others what Ponyville can do. You haven't forgotten that we need to give it all we got, right?"

"No." At least…I didn't think so.

"Come on." Rainbow encouraged. "Everypony running for Ponyville are all prepping themselves up for their plays. Why don't you work out a bit too? I'm pretty sure that'll fire up the adrenaline."

"Mm…" I merely expressed. "I'm not really in the mood…"

"Well, Fluttershy sure seems like she is." Rainbow Dash glanced back with a smirk.

I looked in her direction to see Fluttershy sitting somewhere else that wasn't the ground. She was on a weight lifting bar with immense weights, and below, I could see Bulk Biceps practically lifting the weights, including Fluttershy, with ease. Most importantly, Fluttershy held a soft smile as she observed herself being lifted by him.

"Hey!" I exclaimed before I could give direction. Bulk Biceps stopped his lifting in mid-air as he turned to face me, being joined by Fluttershy. Not only did I get the attention of those two, but everypony in the cart heard my outburst. It took me all those stares to realize what I had let happened. After some quick thinking, I was barely able to disguise my jealousy. I placed on a feigned grin and prepared to say something I really had no mind to say. "…Keep up the good work…"

That was able to bring things back to normal…except for me. I was still ticked off. With lowered eyelids in anger, I stretched out my hoof towards Rainbow Dash. "Give me a barbell…"

"That's the…spirit…?" Rainbow Dash mentioned as she gave me the barbell, not knowing the true intention of my sudden request. Even then, as she unintentionally mentioned the word "spirit", I believed my anger rose and I was lifting the barbell as quickly as I could, trying to get my mind focused on the burning sensation instead of everything that placed me into a bad mood. "Uh…you keep on training… I'm gonna have a talk with everyone." She walked a few steps away and announced loudly for everypony. "Listen up, gang! We're almost there, so I've got a few things to say. First off, who here besides me thinks this is the best Equestria Games delegation in Ponyville history?"

Everybody cheered in response, as well as earning a loud "Yeah!" from Bulk Biceps…again.

Here I thought Bulk Biceps was finally off my mind after all the junk I had to worry about and go through. I guess all that junk was just a distraction from him.

"And no matter what your sport is, we gotta give it our best, because we've all got a genuine shot at Ponyville gold!" Rainbow continued, earning another loud collective cheer. "...With the possible exception of Alex, Fluttershy, and me." She swayed off a bit, going into a possible honest observation. "I mean, we're good and all, but we're up against the Wonderbolts in the aerial relay, so gold's kind of a stretch. Let's not kid ourselves."

I sighed and dropped the barbell…for now.

"Don't feel bad, Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo shared, standing among Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. They all were psyched up to bring us into the Games. "We have absolutely no shot at getting gold either!"

"Uh, that's because you're carrying the flag for Ponyville in the opening ceremony." Rainbow Dash mentioned. "There are no winners."

"Winners or not, we still have the chance to be awesome!" Scootaloo presented optimistically.

"That's the spirit!" Rainbow Dash repeated for everypony. "You hear that, everypony? Winners or not, we all still have the chance to be awesome!" She flew up in leadership. Once she yet again received a positive burst of noise from the entire team, she decided to remind them of the possible hope. "But, uh, let's still try to win lots and lots of stuff too, 'kay?"

After she said that, everypony quickly went back to training and warming themselves up.

Even if I wanted to be, I just couldn't get myself pumped up like the others did. They were all excited about participating in these games, and here I was just…feeling a little nervous in the wrong way.

"I'm ready to make Rainbow Dash proud." Fluttershy walked by me, grabbing the barbell I had shortly afterwards. She tried to lift it, but had some trouble doing so. I only had to delicately place a hoof under hers and lightly push up. She was able to do the rest herself. "Thank you." She expressed, managing to bring an unfightable small smile on my face. "Are you ready?" She asked.

I could only shrug, feeling unsure of myself. "I guess…"

"Don't worry." Fluttershy carefully assured, possibly thinking that I was worried about losing. "We'll do great. As long as we don't give up and count on each other, we just have to!" She sure was beaming with a lot more confidence than I was.

Nevertheless, there was no disagreeing to that. "Yeah." I returned.

Everypony was obviously eager once the train was coming to a stop. They all stood by the exit door, clearly ready to stretch a hoof once it opened. When their wish came true, they all managed to walk outside in a temporary calm manner as I kind of lagged behind. The only one that was slower than me was Spike, whom felt the need to prove himself useful by carrying the luggage by himself.

"Feeling a little anxious?" I bumped onto Twilight, whom already seemed to be waiting for me at the station.

"Twilight?" I questioned her presence. "Were you…waiting for me to get here?"

"Why else would I be here?" She asked, presenting a teasing mood.

"I thought you were supposed to be with Cadence?" I had assumed.

"I was." She answered shortly. "But I'm sure you'd like to see her before the games, right?" Thinking of that was actually…nice. "Besides, I know she's been wanting to see you. I guess she wants to let you know how much she believes in you. In the case that you'll do great at the Equestria Games, that is." Twilight chuckled lightly.

I felt a little bashful after hearing that. "How could I not see her after hearing that from you?"

Reaching the Crystal Castle, Twilight continued conversing with me as we made our way. "How do you feel?" She asked me. "I noticed you were looking…a little less energetic than the others."

"I've just got a lot on my mind…" I answered.

"Like…Starlight?" Twilight guessed.

I was a little surprised that she guessed one correctly, but it faded away fast. "I'm kind of surprised you still remember her."

"How could I not?" Twilight questioned. "She's taking a pretty big part in the Equestria Games."

"Yeah…you're right…" I responded. "I don't know why I'm not feeling too good. I don't think it's the thought of competing in the Equestria Games at all. I guess it's just…I'm a little worried or pressured about the idea of somehow interacting with her. However…at the same time…I kind of do want to do that. I really want to settle things, even though she practically never wants to see me again. I'm just tired…of the question about her being on my mind, whether it bothers me or it is hidden by distraction." I sighed, beginning to feel the frustration again. "This is just the thing that's getting to me. I don't even have a plan on what to do."

"I'm sure you'll think of something." Twilight honestly believed. "And if you ever need help, remember that I'm always here to do just that."

"Thanks." I managed to break out a small smile. "I think I can manage to improvise something… After all, it always seems like I do that all the time…"

"Alex!" I heard another voice call out, looking ahead to notice it was Miss Cadence. She trotted a little towards me in order to bring me in for a hug. "I'm glad you could make it before the Games started!"

"Well…Twilight did escort me." I glanced over to Twilight with a light smirk.

"Thank you, Twilight." Miss Cadence nodded over to Twilight and began to speak to us both. "This truly is a big day for all of us." She faced over to Twilight's direction. "The Princesses and I will be watching from an exclusive part of the stands." Then, she turned to me. "I'm sure you'll have a fantastic time competing in the games. You'll do great, I just know it!"

"I'll try my best…" I replied, rubbing the back of my head a little.

"Hm…" Miss Cadence placed a hoof to her lips in wonder. "I wonder where Spike is… He should be here right about now."

"What?" Twilight inquired in shock. "Was I supposed to bring him too?!" She became a bit worried.

"No, no." Miss Cadence shook her hoof in ease. "I actually sent my royal guards for him. To make him feel a little more special. After all, he is Great and Honorable Spike the Brave and Glorious."

"Great and Honorable…?" Twilight questioned before she had an idea to the reason why he was called that. "Oh! Because he brought the Crystal Heart to you and saved the empire, right?"

Miss Cadence nodded. "You don't know how much everypony here completely adores him for what he did." She turned her head in the direction past us. "Oh! There he is now!"

Twilight and I turned around to see him hastily being brought on a carrying chair by two crystal guards. He appeared to be absolutely confused and even worried. Once they reached us, they both bowed, leading to Spike falling off the chair instead of stepping down.

"Spike! Are you all right?" Twilight asked after seeing him smack down on the ground.

"A thousand pardons, O Great and Honorable Spike the Brave and Glorious." One of the crystal guards meaningfully apologized.

"Huh?" Spike managed to stand up, rubbing his head in confusion. "Who the what now?"

"Thanks for bringing Spike to us." Miss Cadence expressed to the guards, dismissing them. As Spike noticed the guards leave, he looked like he wanted to go back from where he came, but Miss Cadence stopped him by placing a hoof on him. "It's okay, Spike." She assured him. "We'll have our hoofponies go back for your bags. Come on." She turned and began leading all of us into the Crystal Castle.

"Uh, can they hang back a second and tell me what's going on first?" Spike asked, remaining confused.

"I can answer that." Twilight delightfully answered as we entered the castle and began walking up the steps to possibly the highest room around where the balcony was. "Everypony here absolutely respects you, Spike!"

He took a silent moment to think about it. "Respect me…? What do you mean? What did I ever do?" At the top, somepony immediately greeted him by carrying him over to a couch and appeared to already have prepared a big chalice full of jewels for him to consume. He noticed this feast and widened his eyes in amazement. "Whoooa!" He licked his lips afterwards. The mare happily grabbed a hold of one of the gems and held it above his mouth. Spike happily opened for consumption and chewed a bit noisily.

"You're a huge hero here, Spike!" Twilight continued enthusiastically. "It's how everypony thinks of you after you saved the empire!"

Before Spike could respond, an emerald was dropped into his mouth. He munched favorably and swallowed. "Mm! So the ponies here think I'm some kind of hero, huh?" He grew quite a smug expression as he looked towards us. However, he turned his head upwards to the mare feeding him nicely. "More of the green ones, please? I like the green ones."

He caused the mare to frantically worry for a second as she had held a purple one instead. She fumbled around with the gem until she was able to place it back on the chalice and grab a green one in substitution.

"Last time you were here, you got the Crystal Heart to Princess Cadence in time to save this entire empire from destruction!" Twilight explained in detail.

"You are known throughout my empire as 'Great and Honorable Spike the Brave and Glorious'." Miss Cadence carefully added.

"Isn't that awesome? You're a big shot here, Spike!" Twilight exclaimed, walking over to the balcony to lead Spike outside. "See that?" She pointed outside, specifically at a large statue that was easy to distinguish as Spike. "That's you!"

"Hello, gawgeous!" Spike fondly greeted his portrait.

"This is why we all hope you do us the honor of lighting the torch at the opening ceremony." Miss Cadence presented a request for a favor. "You'd be the very first dragon in the history of the Equestria Games to do so." She explained the significance behind it as another pony came out, bringing a large leaf to condition the air around Spike.

"Of course I'll do it!" Spike jumped in excitement. "And – bonus – I can do it with my fire breath!" He gave an example as he proudly released a decent amount of fire from his breath. However, he later noticed how that fire burned the leaf cooling him to a crisp. He laughed nervously after the sight of what he did.

"Oh!" Miss Cadence dismissed Spike's mistake and looked over to the auditorium at the edge of the balcony. "We need to get you back!" She turned towards me. "The procession is going to start soon! I wouldn't want your team worrying about where you went." She turned to Spike afterwards. "Come on, we'll bring you along so you can light the torch."

"Sounds good to me!" He moved past the burnt leaf and jogged in Miss Cadence's lead.

Miss Cadence and the others dropped me off by the entrance of the room Ponyville was waiting in.

"Good luck!" Miss Cadence wished. "We'll be watching high up in the stands. We all know you'll do great!" She repeated, including the other Princesses. Afterwards, she lightly pushed me into the room with the others.

"Thanks…" I returned a little softly.

"Let's go, Twilight." Miss Cadence mentioned.

"Good luck!" Twilight waved before she followed my cousin.

As soon as I turned around, I noticed Rainbow Dash was right in front of me. "Hey. Where have you been this whole time?" She asked, noticing that I had been gone from their sight quite a while.

"Just saw Twilight and Miss Cadence really quick before the Games started." I excused.

"Well, come on!" Rainbow dragged me along closer to the whole team. "Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle are already outside ready to introduce us in!"

As I arrived, Fluttershy only looked at me and smiled, seeming to not feel the need to spare any words. Rainbow Dash hovered over by what appeared to be the passageway we were supposed to exit through. She leaned a bit outwards to see what was going on outside, and then, she looked out towards us. "Get ready, everypony!" She announced loudly. "They're just about to finish the Cloudsdale presentation!"

Everypony cheered, hyping themselves up. However, I still felt isolated with the hype, still being a bit preoccupied with the other thoughts in my head.

"Now, please welcome the delegation from Ponyville!" We heard loudly, coming from Shining Armor's voice.

"Come on! Let's show everypony what we got!" Rainbow Dash motivated and began flying straight through, bringing along Fluttershy and me.

Right after we heard the Cutie Mark Crusaders finish their introduction, Rainbow Dash sped out in flight with confidence. "Awesome!" She exclaimed.

"Yay." Fluttershy softly cheered, managing to look all around her with no fear.

I came out behind them, feeling nothing much to express what I felt. The rest of Ponyville followed behind as Scootaloo firmly planted our flag with the others in the competition on her scooter. She, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle joined us in our group as we stood next to the other teams and faced the huge torch Spike was supposed to light.

"Well…this is it…huh?" I mentioned towards Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy as I couldn't help but look over the crowd.

"We've got this." Rainbow Dash positively shared, staring out into the crowd as well with furrowed eyebrows. "Even if we don't exactly have the best reputation or skills for the aerial relay, we've got heart!" She faced me specifically. "And that's what matters!"

"Yeah." I agreed, actually not being too worried about our part in the first place. However, I still felt a little comfort in her words. "You're right."

Unexpectedly, I felt a hoof be planted on my shoulder, surprising me. "Excuse me?" I heard a gruff and softly bold voice say near me. I turned to see what the deal was. It was somepony that appeared to be like a security guard or supervisor of some sort, especially with his outfit and tinted shades. "You're not supposed to be here. You should be up in the stands with the other princesses."

"What?!" Rainbow Dash heard, quickly diving in. "But he's a part of our team! He's supposed to compete in the aerial relay with us!"

"It's a part of the rules, ma'am." His sentence immediately caused a jump of worry and fear inside me. I felt as if we completely missed something that we should have known beforehand. "Any part of royalty are supposed to be in their assigned box seats."

"What? Come on!" Rainbow fought back. "He should be allowed to compete! There wasn't any problem when he was qualifying!"

"Well, whoever was qualifying the three of you didn't know what they were doing." He stated frankly. "He needs to come up to the royal seats right now."

"Look…can't you make an exception?" I began to plead. "They need me, otherwise they'll be one competitor short of their team! They won't be able to compete in the first place if they don't have a full team!"

"I'm sorry, that's not possible." He said, the tone of his voice feeling unbreakable.

"Come on!" Rainbow Dash loudly complained.

"Is there a problem here?" Miss Cadence thankfully landed by us, seeming to have noticed the scene from above.

"This prince cannot participate in the Games as he is required to be seated in the royal box seats." The stallion explained the situation.

"What says he can't compete with his team?" Miss Cadence raised an eyebrow, having the potential to cross her forelegs had she been sitting down.

"The rules." He repeated briefly. "He is an Alicorn and must be seated safely with other royalty."

"The rules don't say anything about preventing him from competing!" Miss Cadence corrected. "In the case that such a competition or event has an absolute high percentage of risk or danger to such an individual, this may take place in order to guard the prince or princess. However, there's nothing here stopping them from participating in the Games!"

"You go, Princess Cadence!" Rainbow Dash cheered on, supporting her choice to keep me in.

The sound of the torch bursting into flames startled me, at the very least. Seeing as he didn't really have time to argue, the stallion allowed it to pass. "Very well…" Afterwards, he walked out of the area and back into the sidelines where there were more like him.

"Thanks a lot, Princess!" Rainbow Dash expressed greatly.

"Of course!" Miss Cadence turned from Rainbow to me. "Anything for my little cousin." She playfully messed with my mane. I only silently blushed lightly from embarrassment, feeling not that happy about staying in besides for Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. "Enjoy the Games!" She expressed and returned back to her seating.

"Let the games begin!" Shining Armor declared loudly in front of the entire crowd, earning a clear present cheer from everypony.

There wasn't much to the Equestria Games as it probably should have been to me. Our turn to "shine" didn't seem to be for a long while as we waited for the rest of our Ponyville team to participate. There was racing, events to do with weights, and other "games" that I really didn't pay too much attention towards. I sat between Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy at the sidelines. They were absolutely into the competitions, keeping a very close eye at ponies from our team. At the moment, I couldn't see clearly whether we aced an event or so. Even though my eyes were on the event, my mind drifted off to thoughts with Starlight.

I thought about how she had to be close by or somewhere inside the rooms of the stadium. I thought that it was most likely she was prepping herself up, along with her band, for whatever singing she was to take part of. In my mind, I could already see her facing a mirror and placing makeup on her face.

Of course, I would try to focus back on the Games, but no matter what, my mind would always wander back to these distracting thoughts. I didn't completely snap out of it for the moment until I found out that we were already like halfway through the games. We were given an "intervention" time to have a break for those who already competed.

I joined Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack outside the stadium. Twilight still seemed to be back inside, possibly with the other Princesses. However, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity seemed to be waiting for the Cutie Mark Crusaders to come out in order to congratulate them on their introduction.

"Is something up, Alex?" Rainbow Dash asked me. "You were pretty quiet the whole time the Games were going on."

"I guess I'm still kind of nervous…" I threw out, not too sure if that was the entire truth.

"Well, you should go get a bite or drink if it'll help you ease up a little." Rainbow suggested. "We'll need your full concentration for the aerial relay!"

"Yeah, okay…" I remembered about the time Octavia offered me tea when I was stressing out. It did manage to calm me a little, so I decided I could head to the nearest shop that would most likely have it. "I'll be right back." I told them. "I'm going to get some tea really quick."

"Take your time!" Rainbow allowed but then quickly withdrew it. "But not too long! We don't have a lot of time to get back!"

I made my way to a shop where ponies seemed to be enjoying nice sips from warm cups, outside or inside. I recalled Octavia telling me the drink was a warm green tea, so I ordered that. I wasn't sure if it was exactly how Octavia had it, but I was hoping it didn't matter much. I just really wanted to get my mind off of Starlight or Spirit until at least the Games were over.

As I began heading towards the exit door of the building, I noticed a particular pony in the corner of my eye. There was a very familiar mare by a table looking out the glass window of the building. What she had in the back of her mane was what absolutely made me stop to have a better look. She seemed to hold not such an easily recognizable place inside me, but I knew I knew this mare.

I stepped closer to her, and the more I did, the letters of her name came to mind.

"…Coco?" I called in question, standing nearby.

Having had rested her chin on her hoof, she quickly looked back and spotted me. Once she knew who I was, she immediately widened her eyes and even began to stutter a little. "A-A-Alex?!"

"Coco…" I took a seat in front of her, for some reason feeling very warmed inside to see her. "What are you doing here?" I asked, willing to know.

"I…I came here for the Equestria Games…" She answered a bit timidly. "…you know…to watch you…" She tapped her hooves a little nervously.

"That's…that's really nice of you." I felt content to hear that. "It's been a while since I saw you. How have you been?"

"I've been doing fine…" She humbly answered. "Your friend, Rarity, really helped me with what she did before she left. I think things are…looking up for me right now…"

"I'm glad to hear that." I released a smile as I responded. "Speaking of before we left… I read your note."

Her eyes dilated to a smaller state, and her face became flushed as she seemed to be embarrassed by what she wrote. "O-oh…u-um…w-well…"

"Relax." I calmly suggested. "I… It really touched me." I mentioned earnestly. "Having had a real friend back in Fillydelphia… It would have helped me a lot… I really…appreciate it." Coco only remained silent as she anxiously switched her glances towards me and to the floor. "In case you didn't know…" I brought up. "We were already friends the moment I hugged you at the train station. In fact…we should stay in touch."

"You want to…stay in touch?!" She questioned in big surprise, as if she never thought I, for some reason, would ever want to regularly speak with her like a friend.

"Yeah!" I clarified. "It doesn't feel right not to, especially seeing how we could've been friends in the past. I don't have much time to talk, so I want to give you my information so you can mail me back home. Do you have something I can write with?"

Coco was stunned for a second or two before she finally replied. "I…Um…" She looked around her. "I don't think so… Wait!" She looked at her small collar and tie she wore and removed it. She stared at it for a moment before she looked upwards and pulled out something from her hair clip. "It's not exactly a pen or pencil…" She explained. "But…I think it should be enough to make an indention or mark on my collar."

"You…want me to write on your collar?" I asked, feeling a bit uneasy as I would have to possibly ruin her accessory.

"It's okay!" She quickly assured. "I have a lot of these. Besides, it'll only be on the inside. I can still wear it!"

"If you're sure about it…" I carefully grabbed her collar and tried to use the object from her hair clip to mark my information. It wasn't exactly the greatest thing, but hey, I didn't care as long as she was able to have it. "Here, is it good enough?"

"It's perfect…" She returned softly.

"Great! Make sure to not lose that."

"I-I won't!" She nervously yet confidently guaranteed.

"I better get going." I said, beginning to stand up and leave. "I don't want Rainbow Dash on my tail for being late."

"W-wait!" She called out, as if she wasn't ready to see me leave yet.

"Hm?" I turned to her.

She was really hesitating on a certain something. I could tell she wanted to do something, but she just couldn't get it out. I would know. I used to be in her shoes before…but what was it exactly? Finally, she surprised me by nervously and rapidly wrapping her hooves around me. She removed them before I had the chance to say or express anything. "Good luck…" She mentioned, looking away with an embarrassed blush.

From my state of surprise, I formed a warm smile for her generosity. "Thanks, Coco." I turned and began to walk away, but then I felt there was something more I needed to say. "Don't forget to write to me!" I turned to seriously tell her in a friendly way.

"I…I won't…!" She squeezed out, managing to smile lightly.

I smiled back and left the shop. From there on, I felt Coco had removed the "nerves" within me without me having to rely on the green tea. Nevertheless, I had bought it, so it could probably double in the calming "effect".

"Come on! Come on! We gotta be there early!" Rainbow Dash began pushing me towards the arena when I returned, leaving me to believe that the little time I spent at the shop was a lot longer than I really had.

"Okay, okay!" I replied, walking on my own as she hastily flew by. "I'm going." Seeing the others that had been with us behind, I noticed Twilight was looking a little worried. "What's up with Twilight?" I asked.

"No time to explain!" Rainbow Dash pointed towards the destination of the Equestria Games. "Right now, we just gotta focus on the rest of the Games!"

"Okay…" I softly concluded.

Inside, we were just passing the guards of the event until the same one from earlier placed a hoof in front of me, stopping me from walking by.

"Please step over here." He directed sternly.

"What?" I questioned. "You're not trying to stop me from competing again, are you?"

"No, sir." He responded. "As for any other unicorn, we require that a disabling spell be placed on you."

"Disabling spell…?" I never really heard of such a spell.

"We recently sensed some magic activating within the Games. However, fortunately, it was only before the Games officially started. As a security and fair measure, we need all ponies capable of performing magic to step through this machine. Mostly to prevent cheating."

"I guess that makes sense…" I understood and walked through the machine. Some type of magic revolved around my horn and I felt some kind of invisible mental lock on my horn. "Hm…" I expressed in wonder before I continued onwards after seeing Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy wait for me.

Only a few events passed before our time to compete came. Just as the last event before ours finished, I heard this loud orchestral music play, just as it had always did with each event. Thinking of Octavia, I looked around to notice the whole band play after a few seconds of scanning the crowd. It turned out that they were very close by, taking place on one of the closest areas to the sight of the Games. It wasn't until a grayish hoof was waving subtly in the crowd of the orchestra. Octavia was in the middle of them with her signature cello. She was happily waving to me in soft excitement that was perfect enough to not bother anyone else beside her.

I smiled back and waved, feeling even better today.

"Line up! Line up!" We heard Shining Armor shout in our direction. From there, I could see Rainbow Dash hurriedly flying towards a banner where everypony from other towns were stacking up horizontally on. Fluttershy followed behind as I caught up. "And now for our next event…" Shining Armor began presenting to the crowd observing. "...the aerial relay!"

"Ready, Alex?" Rainbow Dash turned to me. "This is it. Our moment to shine and give it our all! It's do or die!"

"Die…?" I returned a little confusingly.

"Die of embarrassment that is!" She clarified.

"That doesn't sound so good…" Fluttershy mentioned a bit fearfully.

"Hey…" I grabbed her hoof and smiled warmly at her in hopes to ease her nerves. "Don't worry about anything. We're in this together. The best kind of team is one that knows one another closely."

"Yeah…" Rainbow Dash agreed, glancing over to the Cloudsdale team. "Which is why the Wonderbolts are going to be tough competition. Even for me!"

"Well…" I faced the sight of the obstacle course with certain determination. "We can only know if we try!"

"Are all teams present and ready?!" Shining Armor asked loudly. Nopony returned a satisfied and clear answer. Instead, they only focused their eyes straight at the obstacle course, ready to shoot out once they were allowed. "On your marks! Get set! GO!"

"Alex, that's you!" Rainbow Dash forcefully pushed me in as everypony began taking off. "Get going! Fluttershy will meet you at one point and that's when we'll get into the routine!" She reminded.

Feeling there was no time to release a deep breath, I narrowed my eyes in focus and clenched my teeth in willpower. Each of the first ponies taking part in each team grabbed a hold of the horseshoe we had to pass on. Fortunately, all seemed to be fair as there was no roughhousing in the skies. It was all a matter of skill and speed. I was a little faster than the others, and perhaps more on par with the griffons with my flying, but I definitely couldn't fly past Fleetfoot from the Cloudsdale team. She was definitely too fast for me. As soon as I caught sight of Fluttershy in the distance, I focused on carefully bringing up the baton to pass to her.

"Here, Fluttershy!" I said, not realizing that I was already beginning to feel out of breath. I passed the baton to her just after Fleetfoot. By the time Fluttershy grabbed a hold of it, Soarin already had maybe a two or three second head start. As I kept an eye on Fluttershy as she raced around the track, I also noticed Fleetfoot's condition. While she was going at it pretty fast, it didn't mean that she was skilled at balancing her breath intake perfectly.

Rainbow Dash received the baton, and I now waited for her to dash through the obstacle course as I took my last relieving breaths. From what I noticed, Spitfire and Rainbow Dash were never too far apart. Most of the time, they were equal in their distance.

I held up my hoof, ready to accept and sprint in flight with the baton as Rainbow Dash gave it to me. As soon as I heard the clank, I immediately flew off, seeing Fleetfoot right beside me for a second. Wanting to impress or make Rainbow Dash proud, I tried taking my wings to the next level and hoped I would make up for the energy during the small break. I advanced just a little further on, pushing my way through the air by increasing the energy output in my wings. I managed to make it to Fluttershy, allowing her to fly it a second before Fleetfoot finished it. I knew Fluttershy was doing her absolute best, but since she was still a soft flyer, Soarin managed to catch up and pass the baton to Spitfire a little under a second before Fluttershy did. Nevertheless, when Rainbow Dash received it, she was able to stay a bit ahead away from Spitfire at the end of her lap.

When I received it, I knew I had to give it my all again no matter what. It was the final lap and I had to do my best in hopes we received gold! Since I received it a little before Fleetfoot, I began repeating my take the previous time. I felt that Fleetfoot narrowed her eyes and tried to catch up to me from the corner of my eye, but I couldn't let myself be distracted. Paying too much attention on going through the hoops, I didn't notice a stray gryphon feather somehow aim right towards me. It landed right on my muzzle enough to cover the both of my eyes.

I quickly tried to remove it by swatting it away with my available hoof. I was successful, but the consequence of losing my attention for a second led me to touching the tip of the hoop and being severely slowed down by the next one. I had to increase my altitude for the next hoop, but instead, my back hoof clipped it, causing me to flip vertically uncontrollably in the air. I almost panicked and felt the baton slip off from my hoof. At that moment, as I stared at the baton fall, I could only imagine hearing the gasps from those who were specifically watching me. Nonetheless, I continuously tried to bring the baton towards me by flailing my forelegs a little. It bounced long enough closer to me to fortunately allow me to get a grip.

"Up! Up!" I heard Fluttershy shout out loud from a distance.

I looked up to notice I was dangerously close to missing the hoop that I needed to go through, otherwise any chance of winning something from the aerial relay would be lost. Seeing if my hooves would make any difference, I tried to push my legs in the direction of the ground to bring me up faster. Noticing the sight of the hoop, I gave one final push, somersaulting with controll and just barely making it past the last hoop.

As I passed it on to Fluttershy, I noticed that Fleetfoot had gained the advantage to make it before me, having me feel pretty horrible that I highly possibly screwed our chance of getting gold. Nevertheless, as I looked out towards Fluttershy and then to Rainbow Dash, it still counted on them. Maybe they could make the difference.

Seeing that she had to make up for my fault, Rainbow Dash left no hesitation as Fluttershy brought the baton to her. She dashed and appeared to be flying as fast as she could, partially risking the chance of running a mistake like I did. As Rainbow Dash and Spitfire headed towards the end, my eyes remained glued, desperately wanting to know who would make it first. The lead remained on an unset result, as both Rainbow Dash and Spitfire continued to pass one another while remaining by each other's side.

However, in the end, Spitfire made it through in her favor. It was just the perfect timing for the Wonderbolts as the race ended when Spitfire was in the lead that second. Even if we did get second place, I couldn't help but feel like I let my team down with my dumb mistake. I only sighed sadly as Rainbow Dash and Spitfire caught their breath.

Nevertheless, the crowd cheered immensely at the result. Rainbow Dash and Spitfire met with each other face-to-face with a friendly pound of hooves.

Cloudsdale received gold. We got silver, and the gryphons managed to get bronze. I didn't know exactly what we waited for as we stood on the platform that displayed the winners. Either way, I couldn't help but feel myself falling in my mood again.

"What's the long face?" Rainbow Dash turned to me, appearing to still be happy even though we didn't get gold.

"It's just…" I began to share honestly. "I feel like I messed up our chance to get gold…"

"Aw, don't worry about it!" Rainbow placed a hoof around me. "You were great! You pushed yourself beyond your limits and that's what counts! Both of you!" She included Fluttershy. "So what if you messed up at one point? Nobody's perfect! I wasn't expecting to get gold anyway with the Wonderbolts against us. I'm just glad we are at least right behind them!"

"Thanks…" I felt better after hearing that I didn't let her down.

We noticed Shining Armor walking onto the middle of the arena, presenting himself in front of us. "Congratulations to all our medalists." He announced and looked at a specific direction in the side of the arena for some reason. At that moment, that's when things got worst…at least for me… "We have a very special guest with us today!" He stated as this pony began making her way to where we were. "Prior to playing with her band at the end of this Equestria Games, she shall give us the pleasure of singing the anthem of—"

"Hold on!" We heard an unexpected voice run in towards us. It was Spike, and he appeared to quickly want to get the attention of everypony for some reason. "Actually, if you don't ever so mind…!" He stopped in front of Starlight, who was waiting to sing. "I would just love to have the honor of singing the anthem!"

"What?!" Starlight exclaimed, clearly not have been expecting this to happen.

The crowd cheered louder, most likely due to Spike's reputation in the Crystal Empire.

Shining Armor was not expecting this at all either. He subtly walked over to Spike and began to whisper to him. "Spike, what are you doing?!"

"You know how they always just play the music?" He answered his question with another, and then he amplified his voice for all to hear. "Well, I know all the words to our anthem, and will sing them for you now, loud and proud, to the enjoyment of all!"

Following the cheer of the crowd, a pony holding a spotlight appeared on top of Shining Armor, giving him no real choice but to follow along with Spike. Starlight only stood there dumbfounded, but retained her aggravated mood. "And now... um... the Cloudsdale anthem, as sung by... Spike!" He pointed, having the spotlight switch to him.

"Wait! The Cloudsdale anthem?" Spike questioned, including himself in the unexpected turn of events.

"They only play the anthem for the winner, Spike!" Shining Armor sent to him in a hushed voice. "The Wonderbolts are from Cloudsdale!"

"But... But I don't know the words to the Cloudsdale anthem! I've never even heard it!" Spike shared, possibly beginning to feel regret for his sudden actions.

Starlight could have probably helped him out there, but instead, she just crossed her forelegs on the ground and waited to see what Spike would do.

"Sing for us, O Great and Honorable Spike the Brave and Glorious!" A pony from the crowd shouted out in favor of Spike.

"What do we do?!" Fluttershy worriedly asked in a whisper.

"I hate to break it to you, but there's nothing we can do." Rainbow Dash returned in the same tone. "I don't know why, but Spike kind of dug his own grave…"

Spike only nervously cleared his throat as the orchestral band began playing the theme for Spike to sing to.

"Oh, we're the Wonderbolts and we're super fast

And we're from Cloudsdale which-is-a-part-of-Equestria" He laughed nervously, presenting to the crowd that he had no idea on what he was doing.

"That we like best and we're proud and we're fast and we like it because it really has nice trees

Yeah, we love the town because it's so cool and, and we like to fly really fast and everything like that" He continued while I noticed a bunch of the ponies in the crowd return signs of disgust and cringing. My eyes wandered over to Starlight. As soon as my eyes caught sight onto hers, I was immediately startled, noticing how she was just intently glaring at me, giving me a look as if this was all my fault. I only looked away a bit fearfully.

"I kinda wish this was over 'cause it is... n't... yet... over... now." Spike continued to improvise.

"Oh, we're the Wonderbolts and we're super fast and we're cloud– from Cloudsdale

We like it there 'cause it's really nice and the trees are cool and I hope it is over now

And... it keeps going on, la la la" Even the Wonderbolts seemed to feel sorry more about how Spike must have felt not knowing the words to the anthem. Only the gryphons looked completely unamused and uninterested at this sight. Fluttershy couldn't help but turn her head away, unable to imagine how embarrassing it must have felt to be in his place.

"And we really love the town

So I wish that this... song... was over now.

Over... now.

Over... now. "

As the song finally finished, he uncovered his claw to present the end. As soon as the instrumentals died down, we heard a little foal crying from the silence of the stands.

"Nailed it!" We heard Pinkie Pie shout out from the stands.

I guess somepony liked it…

"Uh…let's give it to Spike the Brave and Glorious!" Shining Armor tried to recover the situation from the incredible awkward moment, but it was to no avail.

I believed the majority of ponies were still in shock after that honest…disaster. There hardly was any applause.

Spike realized how badly he screwed up and gloomily walked out of the area with his head held down and his tail dragging on the grass.

Starlight decided to take her leave too, but she left me with another piercing glare before she left, leaving me almost paralyzed in my emotions inside.

I was allowed to join the other Princesses back in their exclusive box seats. When I arrived, I noticed that each Princess actually had her own throne kind of seat in a single row. Miss Cadence was the farthest away from me, following Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, and Twilight. There was an empty spot that was reserved for me, even though I was missing for the majority of the games.

I took my seat and stared silently at the center of the arena.

"Great job out there!" Miss Cadence leaned over to see me after noticing me sit down. "You were amazing!" She tried to encourage the positive spirits inside me, but I was still troubled by Starlight's glare. "What's wrong?" She asked with a frown.

"I…I don't really want to talk about it…" I returned briefly.

"Oh…okay…" Miss Cadence dismissed hesitantly, see that pushing forward would cause distraction for the other royalty in front of us.

"What is it, Alex?" My mother wanted to handle it, but I tried to logically dismiss it.

"For now, let's keep that talk away. I wouldn't want to have you miss the Games because of me." I mentioned.

Luna still appeared to be worried. However, she decided she could wait as she pressed back on her seat. She seemed to be content that I was next to her.

Since Twilight was the closest one to me, she decided to bring it up in whispers. "What happened down there?" She asked, leaning closer to me.

I sighed. "Starlight. She looked like she hated my guts."

"I'm not saying your guts deserve hating…but what can you do?" Twilight rhetorically asked. "You can't make everypony like you."

"Yeah… I know…" My eyes wandered off to the Games after I rested my chin on my hoof.

"And so the Games conclude as they always do, with the ice archery finals!" Shining Armor announced, pointing towards targets that archers would try to hit. "Ice archers, take your places!" They did so.

"You were pretty awesome down there though…" Twilight tried to shed some light on me.

"Yeah…" I responded a little distantly. "I guess…" I looked at those competing to not notice a familiar face from Ponyville. "Where's the Ponyville competitor?"

"There's no one to compete for Ponyville." Twilight answered. "It's too bad…but I don't think Ponyville had any experienced ponies for the job."

"Oh…" At the moment, I almost felt like asking to see if I could fill in, even though I wasn't an expert in archery, but it was just to have us have a chance in getting more medals. However, that hope died down, as I felt too bothered to do anything. "It's too bad Ponyville won't get any medals from this… I guess it doesn't really matter." I was beginning to feel pessimistic.

Twilight sighed and began looking around in concern. "You know, I haven't noticed Spike ever since the anthem singing… I wonder where he is…"

"Not to sound like a jerk…but I wouldn't be surprised if he's hiding away from everypony's sight. After all, the singing must have been really embarrassing…" I shared honestly.

Twilight thought to herself for a moment and then stood up. "I'm going to go look for him. I'll be back."

"Okay…" I responded as she walked past me and out the box seats.

The archers began readying their bows and arrows as soon as Twilight left. It appeared that she was going to miss this event looking for Spike. Once the event commenced, all of the archers began shooting their arrows as fast as they could. I almost didn't even notice how when the arrows landed, it froze the area of the target they were on. I also noticed how they were spreading the arrows all around and not trying to get the bull's eye the entire time. Were they trying to freeze the whole target or something…?

During the event, I didn't recognize that something went wrong immediately when one of the archers seemed to knock over his arrows in the pressure he was facing. He proceeded to shoot the arrow he held with his bow, but as he pulled, he slipped from stepping on the barrel of frozen arrows. The bow pointed up and he accidentally released the arrow straight into the sky.

Nothing seemed to happen as the arrow squeezed into the cloud. It seemed like all things were fine. However, the cloud must have held moisture inside or something because icicles began forming from the center and quickly spread out. The weight of the icicles brought the cloud closer to the ground, proving a very dangerous hazard to everyone watching the Games. As soon as everypony noticed the cloud slowly hurling straight towards them, they immediately began fleeing the stands. The Princesses beside me gasped in horror while I was alarmed.

Pegasi quickly flew from the stands to try to stop the cloud from moving or at least move it somewhere safer. I quickly jumped on my hooves and flew towards them, joining them in their goal of preventing a terrible tragedy.

"Steer it towards the field, away from the crowds!" I heard Rainbow Dash exclaim.

I tried focusing my magic on it to either move, shorten, or even shrink it, but I just had remembered that my magic remained disabled, causing great distress.

"Somepony cut the disabling spell!" Shining Armor exclaimed from the ground.

"There isn't time!" The security guard answered.

As we worked our best to stop this cloud of frozen ice, it really proved that our combined strength proved no use. It was way too heavy.

"Everypony! Get out of the way!" We heard Spike's voice.

Everypony followed, having me lower myself where I could still keep an eye on Spike below the cloud. He swiftly jumped and bounced from other pegasi. Once he was directly under the cloud, he inhaled a great breath and withdrew a massive amount of fire to attack the cloud with.

Through the steam coming from the combination of the two, I saw him falling towards the ground. I quickly aimed my body and caught him in mid-air to bring him back safely. Once on the ground, he looked upwards and quickly pulled out an umbrella. From there, he protected the two of us from the heavy rain that fell as a result.

Once it was over, he placed away the umbrella to be welcomed by massive cheers from the crowd. He didn't seem to take the cheering in a boastful manner as I thought he probably would. Instead, he looked down to me and patted my back. "Let's get back, Alex."

Without questioning, I did so, bringing him back to the sidelines to meet up with all of our friends.

"That was awesome!" Rainbow Dash screamed out through the various exclamations of praise the others offered.

The Princesses soon appeared, having Miss Cadence grab Spike's attention by patting him on the shoulder. "I just wanted to thank you personally for saving those ponies and the Games, O Great and Honorable Spike the Brave and Glorious." Miss Cadence expressed, literally kneeling all the way to the grass in high respect for Spike. "You must be very proud."

Spike glanced at every one of us and looked downwards to the floor with a careless shrug. "I guess."

I honestly thought saving practically all the ponies watching the Games would make him forget about the whole singing thing, but apparently it didn't.

"You guess?!" Everypony exclaimed in question. Even I wanted add on to that.

"I just saw what needed to be done and reacted." Spike calmly explained. "Just so happens I can breathe fire and... if any of you could do that, you'd have done the same."

"Forgive me for bein' blunt, Spike, but you're not makin' a lick of sense." Applejack truthfully shared.

"Well, it's just how I feel." Spike disappointingly looked away.

"Wait a second." Twilight approached him. "I think I get it. You keep saying you let everypony down, but we all keep saying you didn't. You know who's disappointed in you, Spike? You. And only you can make it right with you again. What would that take, Spike?"

"Meh, I don't know. Can you turn back time?" Spike asked. "'Cause I'd sure like a do-over on that opening ceremony."

Um…

"What happened at the opening ceremony?" I asked, remembering that I was too distracted when the security guard was trying to take me out of the Games.

"Just a little torch-lighting trouble…" Twilight mentioned briefly with a small blush.

"We can't turn back time…" Miss Cadence tended to Spike. "But, would you do me the great honor of lighting fireworks in my place at the closing ceremonies tonight?"

"Come on, Spike!" Twilight encouraged with a gleeful smile. "You saved the Crystal Empire twice! I think you can light some fireworks."

Spike noticed the other Princesses nodding their heads in agreement. "Mm, I guess I have to at least give it a shot."

Everypony revealed their appreciation for his choice as he still seemed to look around unsure.

At the closing ceremonies, I decided to stay with Spike and Miss Cadence to offer him some encouragement. I really wanted him to feel better and forget about the whole singing mess. Feeling the weight of the silver medal we ended up winning, I watched as the crystal guards marched past us.

"Okay, it's time!" Ms. Harshwhinny, whom was practically the pony who ran the Games, told Spike.

Before he began walking, I offered a pat. "You've got this." I tried to encourage.

Reaching the straight line of fireworks, he took a second glance at the crowd. Nevertheless, he focused his concentration on the fireworks and inhaled a great breath, exhaling a successful shot of fire that lit them all up. They quickly shot and soared in the sky, exploding greatly and revealing a stunning view that even Spike grinned at and enjoyed.

"Now, to end this year's Equestria Games at the Crystal Empire with a rocking blast, here's Four Hooves Strong!" Shining Armor announced, presenting the spot where Starlight and her band set up.

Starlight scanned the crowd for a moment, and then looked over to her band members in preparation for a song.

It began with a chilling introduction, in the way of already reaching inside your heart… Or was that only for me…?

"I am outside… And I've been waiting for the sun…

With my wide eyes, I've seen worlds that don't belong…"

As I continued to silently observe her performance, I could only feel uneasy in the darkness I was surrounded with. The only light present was the spotlight coming from her.

She wasn't to sing for too long. There were only a few songs, as her performance wasn't the main show. It was only to really have those that attended to leave with a satisfied mood, especially after that big scare with the frozen cloud. I was surprised we stayed throughout the entire end. Then again, it was a sign that I needed to truly confront her, and get the answers I needed.

Unexpectedly, Starlight did something to me all of a sudden at the end of her show.

"Before I leave here tonight…" She spoke into the microphone. "I'd like to call Prince Alex up here with me."

I was practically paralyzed for a minute. I had very mixed feelings about the request, and I really wasn't too into meeting up there with her. Nevertheless, the cheers of the crowd was something I couldn't deny. I couldn't just not accept that. Perhaps…she knew that herself…

I hesitantly traveled to the stage and tried to put on the best feign smile I could. My heart pulsated strongly as I felt nerves tangling up all over. I was facing her, and she could only send me a small smile. She then wrapped her foreleg around me and had me look in her direction where there were large and rapid amount of flashes coming from the audience.

"Smile for the camera, Alex…" She told me softly, which really sent chills down my spine.

I knew she wasn't really happy with this. I had no idea why she was doing it either. At that moment, I could only force myself to grin as much as I could.

"I can't believe you did that with her!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, referring as all of us rested inside the hotel room we were in. Outside the window, we could see the arena growing empty as the Games had finally ended.

"I don't either." I agreed. "But what was I supposed to do? Try to make an excuse? I'd rather avoid suspicion and just suck it up and do it.

"So, what?" Rainbow concerned herself. "You're just going to…leave at that?"

"No." I shook my head. "I came here expecting to get some answers at the end, and I'm not going to bail out." I thought for a moment, feeling some nerves come up from the thought of confronting her. "No matter what, I have to get this off my chest." I turned to Rainbow. "We're staying here for the night, and I believe she's in the same building. So, why the hay not right?"

"I guess…" Rainbow replied. "But if you're going, I'm going too!"

"No." I clearly and boldly stated. "This is my issue and I'm going to deal with it alone." I said, trying to make it seem that it wasn't that I didn't want their help, I just needed to do it alone… "I don't think I'm going to leave her room until I get the answers so…who knows. If I'm still out late…then you girls go ahead and not stay up for me."

"Are you sure you don't need…?" Twilight asked, wanting to step in.

"I'll be fine…" I expressed and then walked out and closed the door after me. "I hope…" I mentioned under my breath.

I wasn't sure what to do when I was in front of her door. I stood there in strong thought as I didn't want to mess anything up. What was I supposed to do? Just knock and bring myself in? Well…there wasn't really anything else that seemed right…

Seeing as I finally had the time, I inhaled a heavy breath and attempted to exhale it all out calmly. I lifted a hoof, and when I felt hesitation kick in, I closed my eyes, turned away and just did it.

"Who is it?" I heard almost emotionlessly inside.

"…" I regrettably continued to feel annoyingly silent. "…it's Alex."

There wasn't an answer. I began to think she was going to lock the door and not answer to me for the night, which was something I actually didn't think through about. However, she surprised me when she opened the door, turned around, and walked towards a vanity mirror to resume whatever she was doing. Maybe…she wanted to settle things too?

Nevertheless, I walked in and closed the door behind me. Things were probably sure to get loud.

"What?" She asked. "Were the pictures not enough for you?" She mentioned, referring to the last thing she did on stage.

I was kind of hit hard by that, but I still held my ground.

"You know…" I began. "I'm done with this stupid feud between us." As I continued to talk, she only remained fussing with something at her vanity mirror. "I know I've already gotten to this talk a bunch of times before, but now I'm drawing the line. I want the answers now…" I paused for a short moment. "No more hiding things."

She remained silent for a few seconds. "What more do you want from me?"

"I want to know what's been with you Starlight!" I felt myself become a little more emotional and louder. "Starting from when we were kids and up until now. I mean…apparently now, you still hate my guts, but before that whole incident, you used to show me that hate all the time! Now, all of a sudden, it's like you want to me to leave your life for good, contradicting to the life where you always wanted to humiliate me."

"Isn't that a good thing?" She asked, refraining from making eye contact with me. "We both get what we want. I don't ever see you again and you don't have to worry about me 'ruining your life'."

"But that's just it…" I brought up. "Things didn't start changing with you until after you actually saved my life!" I said. "How am I supposed to live with wondering why the hay you did that if you always hated me? You said it yourself. You don't ever want to see me again, so why not let me just perish?"

She allowed her hooves to slam softly on the table. She pushed herself up and turned towards me, beginning to send a furrowed eyebrow near her large bang. "Can't you just leave without knowing the 'answers' to these things? I did something nice for you. Why can't you just leave it at that? You don't need me. I know that because you've said something that proved that before. So, just leave it!"

I now didn't have to worry about chickening out as I was now emotionally invested in the conversation. I sort of scoffed silently and nodded my head. "Okay." I returned. "If you're not going to tell me, then I guess I just have to guess my way through, huh?" She reacted with a little surprise, but mostly gritted her teeth. I looked up at the ceiling with my eyes in thought until I was able to come across an assumption in my mind. "Were you possessive with your parents? You know, I came into the family and you didn't want me to take away the attention that was given to you?"

"You better stop while you can, Alex." She began to warn me, but I wasn't taking it.

"Was that it? Oh, wait. Maybe it's something else. Maybe you didn't want a brother in a first place." She clenched her teeth even tighter, and her face was beginning to redden up. "Yeah. That's it, isn't it?" I asked, noticing her expression. "You didn't want a little brother because you wanted to be the special child and get all the attention from your ever-loving parents."

"Shut up, Alex." Her voice sounded as if it was about to explode.

"No." I kept at it. "It all makes sense now. You went on ahead to have my 'foster parents' hate the sight of me because you didn't want me in the first place. You wanted to be the only child. Only you. You couldn't bare the idea of sharing them with somepony else. And what? Now that you see how I've grown, your conscience has finally caught up to you. Or is it jealously? Jealously sounds a more believable thing. After all, you did go into a fit when I told you Twilight was a better sister than you could ever be. And you know what? It's true. She's always been there for me through thick and thin. And you know where that led us? A team made of a prince and princess. You're just angry about what you did in the past that satisfied you and how it got you nowhere." I remembered her singing career. "Who knows? Maybe now you're just singing to try to fill that void you so try to ignore because of me. You're just angry because now you're realizing that everything you did turned against you!"

"Shut up!" She growled loudly. From the center of her mane, I could notice a small glow, but I was too angry and into the conversation to care about it.

"You know you messed up, Starlight!" I pointed out. "And now you're taking it out on me! You're blaming me for something that is all your fault! I wasn't the one that did anything to you, Starlight! You are! And now you're paying for everything you did!"

The tense strain on her teeth was clearly visible, and I could even see her eye begin to brim with tears. It was for the first time in my life that I ever saw such a thing come from her. As she allowed a drop of her tears fall from her face, I thought she was about to break down crying. Then, she would tell me the truth. But that wasn't the case.

"Get…out of my LIFE!" She shouted out loud.

All of sudden, the instruments in her room began playing, specifically to the instrumental part of a certain song. This light blue aura surrounded her as she began levitating off the ground. A bright flash came from her, blinding me for a second. When I was able to see, I noticed something completely different about her. The bang she wore over her right eye was lifted all the way up, including the strands of her mane that had been hiding something this entire time.

As I stared in completely shock and paralysis, the only thing I could feel in my mind was what she truly was.

She was…a unicorn! What?!

Before she allowed anything else to happen, she opened her eyes, revealing nothing but bright light within them. Afterwards, she furrowed them angrily and pointed towards me.

"No, sir! Well, I don't want to be the blame, not anymore!" She began singing.

"It's your turn! So take a seat!" With her apparent magic, she forcefully pushed me towards the ground. "We're settling the final score!" Her rage began revealing once everything in the room was becoming chaotic. "So why do we love to hurt so much?! I can't decide! You have made it harder just to go on! And why…?!"

She continued singing as I knew I had to stop her. "Starlight! Stop!" I tried talking some sense to her. "The level of magic is too much! It's not only dangerous for you but for everyone nearby!"

"That's what you get when you let your heart win! Whoa!" She strained.

Objects in the room began levitating and orbiting around us. This was getting absolutely out of hoof. I had to do something and fast. I looked over to Starlight, trying to quickly think of any solution. There was one thing that came to mind, and it wasn't really pretty. I had to stop the source of the magic, so in order to do that, I proposed I do the only thing I could think of. Using the objects she messed around with, I had to throw it at her, specifically at her horn, if I wanted a chance to kill her magic…temporarily.

As she continued repeating and adding new verses that I did not pay attention to, due to the possibility of dying, I attempted to grab a hold of different objects and sent them over to Starlight's horn with my magic. She wasn't herself. She was blinded by rage, so she pretty much left herself wide open.

The objects I threw proved successful as she cut short on her song to release sounds and grunts of pain. She placed a hoof to her head with a flinched face. However, she quickly shook her head and recovered, growling loudly. A huge force of her magic was thrown at me, knocking me into the ground. As I tried to get up, I felt an aura surround me, lightly picking me up instead.

"Hey…make your way...to me…to me…" I felt myself being brought helplessly closer to Starlight as she returned a malicious smile. "And I'll always be just…so inviting…if I…!" She slowly brought me closer to her face-to-face until she threw back on the ground. "…ever start to think straight… This heart will start a riot in me. Let's start… Start! Hey!"

From there, she continued with a completely loud part of her song, causing me to cover my ears from the pain of the volume. When it lightened up, I looked back to her to see her and know she wasn't going to stop until I ended it. Some crazy idea entered into my mind. I didn't have time to think it through, but I had to do something before she blew something up.

Grabbing a few objects again, I hurled them at Starlight once more. When she was stunned by the blow, I lifted myself up in flight, and without hesitation, threw myself at her. I wrapped my forelegs around her and brought her to the floor.

From there, it seemed to jolt her conscious self awake through physical impact. All of her mane fell back down to her face, and she opened her visible eye to shockingly notice me on top of her. Her iris shook fearfully before she violently pushed me off her.

She rolled around and stood up, ignoring the mess in her room and looked into the mirror that had cracked from her surge of energy. She was allowed to see several reflections of her face, being reinforced about the horn on her head. She permitted her eye to brim up with tears again, as if she hated the way she looked. Without a care, she left a stream to continuously fall from her eye.

Feeling absolutely sorry for whatever was bothering her because of her tears, I reached out. "Starlight…"

"You're not him…" She stated softly.

Needing a clearer response, I replied. "…what?"

"You're not him!" She turned and shouted angrily out. Finally, revealing the true emotions inside her, she ended up slipping with her legs and falling carelessly to the floor, beginning to sniffle and huff. I was absolutely stunned by this sight. I couldn't speak. "Are you happy now?" She asked through light sobs. "You have your dirt on me. So, what now? Are you going to tell everyone I'm a unicorn now? A useless unicorn that can't cast a single spell because she was never given the chance to even learn anything? That's sure to put an end to my singing career." She turned her head to notice her microphone on the floor. "Who knows? Maybe you're right. Maybe I was just using singing as an outlet or disguise." She narrowed her eyes angrily and sucked in her lips. She grabbed ahold of her microphone and aggressively threw it against the wall near me, shocking me. "But maybe…" She calmed down a little. "…maybe it all wouldn't matter if he was here… My… My…" She stuttered and hesitated. She inhaled a crying breath before she could spit it out. "…my baby brother." I gasped sharply when hearing this. What was she…? "I was supposed to have a real baby brother unlike you… But…before he was even born… He… He…" She began succumbing to the sobs in her voice. "He left me…just like that…" She allowed her head to drop down, her mane covering more parts of her face. She sniffed greatly and shook her head. "How did you expect me to react? When you came into the picture? Did you want me to be like 'Oh hey! Welcome to the family! I just lost the baby brother I was supposed to have, but hey why don't you take his place?'" She was unable to keep the sobs from escaping her. "Is that what you wanted?!" She screamed out loud, facing me and paralyzing me even more. "See what I mean…?" She calmed herself back down. "This is why I didn't want to see your stupid face again… Just looking at you reminds me of him… And now…you're making me hate your guts even more. You just had to make it all about you, didn't you? You couldn't just leave it alone? Now look what happened." She referred to the mess around us. "It's fun watching me cry, isn't it? That's what you wanted all along? You know, for all the mean things I did to you? I guess I deserve it anyway. And guess what? You can totally ruin me now. Tell everypony how I really am. Tell everypony that I've been hiding the fact that I'm a dead-magic unicorn. Maybe I can finally just…be free of pain… Plus, you'll feel so satisfied from it. You'll win over this whole thing between us, and you won't ever see or hear me sing again. You'll know that I've been defeated…and I'll just be counting the days I can see him for the first time…"

No matter how much time had passed, I was absolutely muted. So many things were going through my mind, and I couldn't come up with something to relieve it all. In fact, seeing her in her current state even wanted to make me cry. I turned towards where she had thrown her microphone and absolutely knew inside that I couldn't do any of the things she said I could, even if I still saw her as a horrible jerk. I have to say I'm sorry… I have to make things right… I have to…give her what she wants. I walked towards the microphone and picked it up. Then, I quietly and softly walked to her through her sniffling and soft sobs. I picked up the microphone in my hoof and stared at it for a moment. I held it out to her.

"I'm sorry…" I apologized, wanting it to be meaningful as much as I could make it. "I'm…really sorry. I didn't know… I just…wanted to know why you hated me so bad and…now…" I felt the tears coming up from inside me, having me blink almost non-stop. "I guess I do…" I shook my head. She lifted up hers to notice the microphone in my hoof. She didn't do anything else though. I decided to leave it on the ground near her. "I understand now…" Despite everything she had put me through, it didn't compare with what she had to live through every day. My dark past was done. She was still… "Starlight…" I called, not expecting her to bother looking at me. "Don't worry…" I assured, wanting to leave before I could burst out crying. "I won't tell anypony anything. I'm sorry it even got to this point. I'll stay out of your life for as long as you want…which I'm guessing is forever. You can just…forget about what happened here…including me…" I turned and walked a bit as I faced the door. However, I stopped and slightly looked back. "I just…want you to know that…I'm not such a bad pony as you might think…" I turned back to the door. "But if you still want to think so…I understand…" I made my way and turned the door knob, but did not open the door yet. "…" I hesitated to give my final farewell. "…I'm sorry." Afterwards, I opened the door and made my way out.

I closed the door behind me and sat against it, being unable to completely believe that all that had happened. These emotions inside me had to come out, so I made my way to the nearest bathroom and just let it all go in there.

By the time I returned to the room we were all staying at, the lights were out, and I could hear them sleeping. It was a good thing. They didn't need to see me in the state I was. Through the darkness, I tried to make my way to any bed that wasn't fully preoccupied. I just wanted to sleep and at least forget about what happened for a moment.

When I found a bed, I carefully laid down, despite throwing myself like I wanted. I didn't know if it was empty, or if there was somepony else. I just wanted to close my eyes and forget…

"Spike?" I heard Twilight's voice whisper. "Are you still awake?"

"Mm…" I heard him mumble. "What is it?"

"There's something I forgot to ask you… Why in the world did you want to sing the anthem? It wasn't because of the torch, was it?"

"Actually…" Spike took a moment to completely respond. "I remembered how Alex would say Starlight got on his nerves…so…I just thought that one little thing might make him happy." He laughed a little, finding the memory fond.

I imagined Twilight grinning at that answer, but in the dark, I couldn't tell. "Was it all worth it?" She asked.

"Yeah… Yeah, I guess it was…" He said, concluding the conversation.

There, I sighed heavily but as quietly as I could. I placed the covers over me and closed my eyes shut. Tears continued to escape through my eyes as I continued to think about Starlight. I found it very hard to fall asleep, but at one point…it came…

Twilight

I ran outside in the streets of the Crystal Empire after having noticed a familiar bad figure out the window of the hotel we were staying at. I ran endlessly as I tried to keep my breath in control. I couldn't lose him. This time, we had to settle things.

I came to a short stop, gaining my breath before I could move on.

"So…have a good time being with your 'brother'?" I heard his dark voice behind me.

I quickly turned around to notice him calmly walking towards me, holding something in his mouth that was an uncovered part of his face. However, I couldn't tell what it was yet as it was dark outside. I was finally able to see when he stepped into one of the street lights, and I was baffled by what it was.

I immediately looked towards my chest area to notice the charm Alex had given me was gone. I gasped and switched my view back to this stallion. "What are you doing with that?!" I demanded.

"Hmph." He grabbed ahold of the charm with his hoof and watched it spin lightly around in front of him. "Seriously, how many sisters does he really need?" I felt he had something absolutely horrid in his mind as he casually watched the charm move in front of him. "As far as I'm concerned… He only has one." He grabbed a piece of the charm with his mouth and tore it apart. I immediately gasped out loud as a reaction, only watching as he threw it to the side like it was trash. "So, what does it matter…when you're out of the picture?" He threatened, moving into a position that told me he was ready for battle.

I wasn't about to step down. Especially not after seeing him do that. I turned my head towards him and clenched my teeth in anger. I knew deep down I wanted to explode. "You freak!" I shouted towards him and felt the aura around my horn strongly glow. "That was important to me!"

"Good." He merely answered, showing no faze in his emotion. "Let's finish what we started…"

Alex

I laid down by the edge of the balcony…feeling…almost lifeless. I didn't want to move, and I could no longer feel the magic from seeing the sunset and feeling its wonderful breeze. As I laid there, I looked up to the slowly moving sky and thought about everything today...but it was only mostly about…Starlight.

"What made me think she could actually like me…?" I asked, realizing that I must had been hoping for a happy relationship with Starlight, kind of how like things ended up with Octavia and even Maud. If I wasn't looking for a settled relationship, then I probably wouldn't have cared about it in the first place. I sighed and threw myself to the side, covering my face with my hooves. "I'm such a joke."

I remained silent as I continued trying to distract my mind with the breeze. At first, I thought I heard several hoofbeats, but I didn't care about them. I wanted to just concentrate on the breeze. It wasn't until I heard a weight being sat down, causing me to bring the least of my energy to look. Once I realized it was a familiar face, I quickly forced myself up to sit with her.

"Spirit!" I cried out in surprise. So many emotions ran through my mind as I finally saw her after what felt like the longest time. This time, she was wearing her hoodie…just like last time. But she wasn't trying to hide her identity…at least, that's what I thought. "Where have you–?" I tried to ask her, but she silenced me when she presented something I've been longing for such a while. My eyes caught onto her signature Caramel Delight, waiting to be enjoy. I noticed the small silent smile she presented, causing me to warmly smile back. I accepted it. "Thank you…" I expressed gratefully and turned to face the sunset. I took that first bite, closing my eyes to realize how much better it made me feel. Spirit turned to the sunset as well and brought out her own ice cream. I didn't care what she did before for whatever reason. All that mattered was that she was here with me…again.

"You know…" I mentioned, reaching the end of my ice cream. "I've actually…been thinking of other names for you while you were gone." She lifted up her head and turned to me as if she was surprised. "Not that Spirit is a bad name or anything!" I made clear. "It's just… I remember you saying that you wouldn't be surprised if I had a name for you… And the name Spirit was kind of an accident…as I didn't really...you know…plan it out. But…" I stared at the last piece of ice cream that was waiting to be eaten. "I can't really think of anything better than Spirit… It really is a great name for you… Sorry, if that disappoints you." I apologized with a sort of embarrassed smile. I was expecting her to at least laugh or giggle somewhat, but she didn't. She remained silent. I looked at my ice cream with no other words to say until I realized something. "Oh!" I took that last bite and saw the bare ice cream stick in my hoof. "Here!" I hovered it towards her. She grabbed a hold of it with her right hoof and stared at it, along with the empty one in her left. "If you don't mind… I'd really like to see what kind of project you're doing with those…" I referred to the sticks. She still didn't answer. She looked more intently at the stick she had been holding in her left hoof and seemed to clench it tightly. Afterwards, she really surprised me when she threw her stick angrily off the balcony, causing me to gasp. "Spirit, what's going on with you?" I questioned after having seen that stick fall long enough to where it wasn't visible anymore. "You haven't been yourself lately. I mean, you missed all those days of having ice cream together and you've been acting str—"

"Alex…" She finally spoke, silencing me. "I…I'm out of time…"

"…what?" I asked, not grasping what she meant.

She stood up and continued to gaze out into the sunset in silence. "No matter how much I hate it… I have to do this." Before I could question her again, she continued talking oddly. "We've had so many good times together…and I've enjoyed every last one of them…" At this point, her voice slowly began breaking into tears. "…but I'm afraid all of that was a mistake." She caused me to gasp as she said something I never expected her to say at all. "Otherwise…this would have been easier to take care of…"

"Spirit…what are you talking—?"

"Look at me, Alex!" She quickly turned, revealing her face under her hoodie to me. "Who I am?!" She said in such an upset tone that sounded as if she had no clue on who she was supposed to be herself. Not only did I not have an answer for her, I was too stunned by the scratches and bruises she held on her face. Was that…from last time…? "I…" I still had to answer her question, as she was waiting for me in her stare. "…I don't understand…" I returned honestly.

Her eyes turned to the ground in disappointment. She turned her head back in the direction of the sunset and faced down to ground below. "Then this nobody has to play her part." She paused for a moment, continuing to look lifelessly out. "Alex…" She called me and then slowly turned her head around. "I'm sorry…" She looked at me with her face full of sorrow. "I'm so sorry...!"

Before I could say anything, she hopped over the edge of the balcony, alarming me. "Spirit!" However, she didn't fall. She was…levitating away from me. "Wait!" I called out, reaching a hoof towards her. She stopped and continued facing away from me. Then, she turned around and I could see that she was glaring angrily at me.

"It's been nice knowing you, Alex…" She frightened me with that sentence. "But only one of us is getting out of here alive."

"…what…?" I felt the emotion in my face drain and drown in sadness.

"Don't you see?!" She exclaimed out loud, wishing me to somehow understand. "This is why I should have never existed!"

Darkness began clouding the area around us, covering up the once peaceful sunset. Something strange began occurring in my mind… It was hurting… I placed a hoof to my temple and closed my eyes. At that point, short memories rewinded. I saw images of Ahuizotl in my mind. Then the Tatzlworm. Finally, it was the chimera I fought when Applebloom ran off with Applejack's cart.

Why was…?

After these rough memories, I was finally able to look out and see what happened to the area. Everything was completely black, and I saw Spirit standing out in the empty space.

"Spirit…" I tried to reach out, but the more she remained still, the more she scared me. "Spirit." I called again, a little more desperately and loudly and began to fly to her. "Spirit!" I called one last time, racing towards her. Just as I was about to grab ahold of her, she vanished. Everything that changed confused me for a moment. I noticed where the sunset was supposed to be was now nightfall. Stars filled the sky and the full moon was almost creepily visible. I looked at my body to now see the hoodie Spirit was wearing was now placed on me. I felt myself almost hyperventilating, panicking as if this was all really some nightmare. As if everything about today had been a nightmare! As I turned around, I noticed something that made me gasp loudly. It was Spirit, as she angrily spread out the wings that appeared from her body. Not only that, there was a horn on her head. H-How…?! "You're an Alicorn?!" I exclaimed at her sight.

She clenched her teeth, and with tears brimming in her eyes, she focused her horn and sent a beam of what appeared to be white magic at me. Having had unexpected such a thing, she hit me, and as much as it stung, I was more concerned on why she would do that.

"Spirit, what are you doing?!" I demanded, but she didn't answer. She only continued to send out more beams from her horn, causing me to pull up a shield to defend myself. "Spirit, what's wrong with you?!" I shouted out towards her. "We're supposed to be friends!"

"Starlight's not the only pony that's sick of looking at you… So am I!" Her words were enough to pierce through my shield. I remained there in absolute shock for what I was hearing. It couldn't be… Spirit…! Why are you doing this?! She growled and sent another at me, hitting me directly. At that point, I could hardly do anything but fly to keep me afloat. I felt almost completely weak and too fragile to do anything. As I looked at Spirit's way, I noticed that for some reason, she was in the same state as I was, even though I hadn't done anything to her. She tried to catch her exhausted breath. "…is…is that all you got?" She focused her horn and instead of attacking me, she healed me to where I physically felt better. However, in return, she also became the same.

"Spirit!" I honestly felt the need to cry instead of fighting. I didn't want to hurt her! "Stop! Please!" I pleaded.

"Stop talking!" She commanded and sent another beam, having me defend myself with my magical shield. When she noticed I wasn't doing anything back, she added more focus and strength to her magic. "Stop holding back!" She ordered greatly. Afterwards, beams of light didn't come in front of me, they descended from the air, having me have to focus on protecting myself on top. However, with the large amount of beams, some of them got a few hits on me. I was left feeling myself tire out once again. Huffing immensely, Spirit worked up another spell and healed me this time again. "Come on!" She instructed aggressively.

"No…"I shook my head weakly from psychological exhaustion and shock.

"Grr…!" She growled and then worked yet another spell, but this time it was hostile. "Get ready, Alex!" She warned. "Arrghhh!" She shouted out loud.

Immediately after she formed a radius of stinging white magic. I felt myself being pulled in towards it. I tried to keep away, but it was no use. I couldn't understand if it was my physically body I was weak in, or if it was my mental mind. This attack by Spirit almost brought the life out of me, leaving me on the brink of passing out. Still…no matter what…I couldn't hurt her…

"What's…wrong…with you…?" Spirit managed to barely speak. She appeared to be dizzy, as she couldn't keep herself balanced in the air. "Do…something…!"

"Spirit…" I shook my head, wishing to plead as much as I could in order to make her stop. "…please…don't do this…" I felt deprived just as much as she did.

She was able to fly a bit more to approach me, but she didn't look like she was ready to end the fight anytime soon. "Alex…if you don't…do something…I'm…I'm…I'm going to…finish you off…right now…!"

"No…"I felt the tears wanting to burst out as I fiercely bit my lower lip. She began scurrying up magic of her own. "Please…" I asked once again. She clenched her teeth and was possibly about to release a great burst of magic to end me until I was frustrated enough to where I couldn't control myself. "STOP!" I cried out and sent out an aggressive beam of white magic unintentionally.

This attack threw her against the castle on top of the balcony. Despite how weak I felt, I looked up in shock, realizing what I had done. She tried to recover, but instead, her hooves were placed against her head, as if she was experiencing some kind of massive headache. Finally, the wings and horn she had just disappeared…vanished… From there, she allowed herself to…just fall straight towards the balcony.

"Spirit!" I cried out and tried to reach her, but something painful suddenly poked through my mind.

Even so, with the pain, I managed to slowly make my way to her, wanting to aid her. She managed to weakly push herself back up, but she soon came tumbling to her knees. She only stared at the floor at that point. "Do it…" She requested as I stood there with my hoof on my temple. "…Finish me off." She lifted her head up to meet her eyes with mine.

I only stared in silence at her. I didn't speak. There was no way I could have done that. I only shook my head as I tried to softly catch my breath. Spirit's eyes turned back down to the floor, as if she had been defeated with disappointed. "You'd be…better off…Alex…" Afterwards, her body gave out, having me quickly tend to her by catching her with my back. Then, using my magic, I picked up her body and switched to holding her with my forelegs instead. At that time, I was able to examine what I did to her clearly, from this fight and the last.

"How…" I tried to speak, feeling the emotions inside me worsen much more. "…how could I do this to you…?" I asked. However, I didn't receive an answer. I looked towards Spirit, expecting her to talk. "Spirit?" I called. When she still didn't say anything, I lightly shook her. "Spirit…come on…wake up…" I felt myself absolutely submitting to terrible depression. There was nothing else I could do in hopes to wake her up. "…why…?" I asked, despite the possibility that she couldn't even hear me. "…why did you do this…? I didn't mean to hurt you… I didn't… Don't do this to me, Spirit…" I began to feel like I was crying softly. "I don't know why…but…but…I feel like…I need you." I sniffed. "Don't you dare leave me…" As I continued looking at her, I began feeling this uncertain hope cloud my mind. "No…" I switched. "You'll be okay…" Using the rest of my magical strength, I placed her carefully on my back and began taking her to her bed. "…you're always okay…" I continued speaking feelingly. Once at the side of her bed, I managed to use what felt like the rest of my physically strength to position her comfortably. "You want to know why…?" I repeated. "Because…" I felt the water in my eyes rise up. "Because…" I tried to speak, but it was so hard to do anything. As I continued to stare at her in her current state, I couldn't help but feel absolutely awful for what I did. I quickly grabbed ahold of her hoof and held it tightly. "Because…you're…!" I didn't want to break down now. I bit my lower lip and tried so hard to keep most of it inside. As my head fell downwards, I noticed something poking out from underneath her bed. I released her hoof and pulled it out. It looked like some kind of…container made out of…of…ice cream sticks… Inside, I noticed something else. They appeared to be drawings… As I pulled them out to observe them, there was something…a little weird about them. One drawing looked like it had…Coco…Spirit…and me…? The others…I couldn't quite recognize them at that moment. Even so, these drawings caused the tears to swell up. "…you're you…" I finished. I released the drawings and allowed them to land back in the ice cream stick container. Afterwards, I called Spirit's name one last time.

"Spirit…" I said with a sobbing breath.

Twilight

"You're pathetic." He laughed as he evaded another one of my attacks. "Look at you." He continued. "A silly little princess of Equestria, and you can't even touch a 'freak' like me?"

I growled, having about enough of his antics. "Enough!" I yelled out, firing a sort of gravity spell that caught him off-guard and lifted him up into the air. I then controlled his entire body, sending it anywhere that had a hard surface I could find. When I threw him to the ground, he began to slowly get up, but I couldn't tell if I really hurt him. He didn't seem to release any sounds of pain whatsoever. Nonetheless, I charged straight at him and summoned a great ball of bursting magic. He now fell backwards on his side and remained on the ground.

I was panting exhaustedly. I figured he had lost conscious once he didn't move anymore.

"That'll teach you…" I said softly. Afterwards, I began to cautiously walk towards him. "Now…I get to see who you really are…" I mentioned as I proceeded to remove the object covering his identity.

Right before I could touch it, he released a loud deviant laughter, startling me and causing me to quickly jump back. He then casually lifted himself up, standing before me once again as if none of my attacks had any effect on him whatsoever. "You know, you're really fun to play around with when someone's bored. Maybe you'll keep your little insignificant life a little longer." He turned around, appearing to leave. "Until it's time that is…" He finished and walked away.

"Wait!" I began to gallop after him, but he had already vanished within the darkness.

I unexpectedly sat up from bed startled. I felt myself sweating and I was panting a little. "Huh…?" I questioned quietly. I created a beam of light from my horn and looked around to notice I was still in the hotel room. "…was it all…just a dream…?" I asked myself. I then remembered something significant and looked towards my chest. I released a great breath of relief. "Thank goodness…" My charm was still there. "Still…that dream…" I spoke to myself. "It was so…"

I suddenly heard some noise nearby, lightly startling me. I looked by my side to notice Alex. There was something off about him… From what I could see, he seemed to be wearing some kind of hoodie… Also… he was…crying… There were small tears streaming from his closed eyes and it even left a tiny spot of the bed under his eyes drenched. I tried to wipe the tears off his face, but he lightly whimpered when I did.

"Did you have a bad dream too…?" I asked, even though he couldn't answer me. I sighed quietly and then looked out the window near the bed. "Alex…is there something we're not seeing…?"

I walked slowly towards the entrance of the Everfree Forest. Rain was beginning to pour, so I placed on the hood part of my hoodie. Under this one circumstance was when I'd ever go through this place…

"Don't worry… I'm coming…" I whispered under my breath and proceeded to run as fast as I could through this forest.

After dodging crooked branches, tripping roots, and possibly even avoiding dangerous creatures the forest held, the castle was now in my line of sight. It was where…she was supposed to be… However, I came to a slow walk, noticing somepony was in my way. Her lavender hooves remained planted on the ground.

"Who are you?!" I asked almost furiously, having no patience to handle another obstacle.

Author's Note

Disclaimer: There are lyrical references to "Paramore" in this chapter.

I don't own any lyrics unless they are obviously not found anywhere else.

The Kingdom

Episode 89 – The Kingdom

As I woke up that morning, I had forgotten about everything that had happened the day before. Actually, to be more accurate, it all came to me as a nightmare. I was willing to accept that as a fact, whether it was really the truth or not…until I took a quick glance at my body.

I don't know how…but her hoodie remained on me. And if it wasn't for that hoodie, I probably would have been able to dismiss everything as just a stupid nightmare. Nevertheless, I didn't want to take it off, no matter how many painful memories it produced. It was Spirit's hoodie, and I couldn't just…leave it behind.

Outside the window, I could see the sky at the brink of dawn. Everypony was soundly asleep except for me. As I thought more into what happened less than twenty four hours ago, I remembered how Starlight was just a floor or two away from me. It only led me to wonder how she was doing, or if she had gotten any sleep.

Of course, thinking these things caused me to regret my actions yesterday. I didn't want to keep such things in mind. At least for the moment, I wanted to forget everything before now. I got out of bed and tried to quietly walk over to the bathroom. I wasn't so sure if my emotions were going to go on a fit again.

I tried the very old method of spraying water against my face from the faucet. However…as I turned towards the mirror, it all seemed familiar again. I felt as if…I lost something… I felt as if I completely lost the ability the other girls gifted me with. No matter if I truly wanted to, I couldn't smile. I didn't even think I could force it. I believed…I was just broken.

"Morning…" I heard a soft voice from behind me.

I slowly turned around, being too lifeless to even feel startled. Twilight was standing there at the doorway, possibly focusing at the mood that was presented on my face.

"Morning…" I responded, looking away.

"…are you feeling okay?" She asked, jumping straight to the point.

"I'd be lying if I said I was." I answered.

Twilight walked in a little more before she shut the door to the room. "Was your nightmare really that bad?" She inquired worriedly but a bit seriously at the same time.

"What?" I questioned in surprise, wondering if she somehow knew what happened with Spirit last night. "How do you…?"

"I had one too…" She mentioned. "I woke up and found you crying in your sleep next to me. Do you mind if…you tell me what happened…?"

"To be honest…I don't think I can." I replied, feeling absolutely emotionally deprived. "I don't…even want to talk right now… I'm just so tired…of everything…" I stated as I drew a hoof against my face.

Twilight brought her face closer to mine so she could have a better look at me. I wasn't so comfortable with that. "Something's going on with you…" She spoke from her analysis. "You…you've never looked this…exhausted before. I mean…you're kind of worrying me, Alex…"

"I think I just need some sleep…" I excused. "After all…I didn't even feel like getting out of bed this morning." I walked past her and opened the door. I headed over to the bed and planted myself carelessly on it, later covering myself completely and practically curling myself into a ball.

In the silence, I heard a mail slot open and close. It wasn't until I was already used to the comfort of the bed that Twilight announced something unexpected.

"Bed might have to wait…" She said. However, I really felt no intention in getting out of bed. It was like…at that moment…I didn't care how important whatever was, I just wanted to stay in bed. "Princess Celestia wrote us a letter about the Duke and Duchess coming for a surprise 'confidential meeting'. She wants us to be there to acknowledge their visit before we take off back to Ponyville." I sighed, really feeling the need to not get up. "It shouldn't take too long." She added, as if she knew how much it bothered me. "We just have to…show up...for a second or two…"

Hearing that, I gained just barely enough energy to want to get it over with. I pulled the covers over and away from me and began to drag myself out of bed. "Fine…" I managed to work my way over to Twilight's side. "Let's go…" I worked my magic on the doorknob and opened it.

"Whatcha doing?!" We saw Pinkie on the other side, whom startled Twilight.

"Pinkie!" Twilight exclaimed and then remembered the others were still sleeping, so she quickly hushed her voice. "Pinkie…how did you…?"

"I heard you two were going somewhere!" She answered energetically, not exactly sending Twilight the information she wanted.

"Yeah…" Twilight returned, lifting up the letter with her magic. "We're going to welcome the Duke and Duchess of Maretonia…"

"Oh my gosh!" Pinkie held her hooves to her cheeks and then raced inside the room past us. "HEY EVERYONE! ALEX AND TWILIGHT ARE GOING TO HAVE FUN!" Pinkie screamed out loud, immediately waking up everypony inside.

"Ugh…" Rainbow Dash groaned, feeling too tired to get up herself. "Pinkie…why are you screaming so early…?"

"I don't know." She questioned her own antics herself. "Why am I screaming so early?" She turned to us and borrowed the letter to look over. "Hey, wait a minute!" Something caught Pinkie's eyes and she turned the letter towards us while pointing a hoof at a certain spot. "It says here that they're not coming until the evening."

I sent Twilight a questioning glance, which she clearly received. "…I wanted to be early?" She responded with a sheepish grin. I couldn't tell if she was actually telling the truth or if she was trying to make an excuse for misreading the time of the letter.

"If we don't have to go…" I began, already feeling as if there was some magnetic force pulling me towards the bed. "I'd really just like to sleep until it's time to go…"

Twilight sighed and looked in concern for me. "It's fine… We can wait until then…"

"Thank you…" I briefly expressed and automatically set a path to the bed. When I felt the extreme comfort of being in the bed and under the covers, I was certain I didn't want to come out until I had my sleep. I could hear the conversation between the others being dragged out, but I honestly didn't feel the energy to care.

No matter how much sleep I had between, it never felt like it was enough. Twilight and I were supposed to greet two apparent significant ponies, and I was just feeling nothing to satisfy the request we were given. I suppose I was granted the energy to get out of bed, but I still felt nothing to be talkative and loving to others as I usually was. Even I knew I acted "distant", but at the moment, it was barely doable to make it through the day.

"Seems like only yesterday I was saving this place from being totally destroyed." Spike reminded us unnecessarily, returning to his proud boastful self. "Hey, you guys remember that?" He asked, standing next to his crystal statue.

"You only mentioned it about fifteen times on the walk over here…" Rainbow Dash returned in annoyance.

"Yes, and we never hear a peep out of you about your exploits." Rarity added in sarcastically towards Rainbow Dash.

"Heh, point taken." Rainbow Dash realized she wasn't really the one to talk about Spike's boasts.

"I'm glad you all wanted to come, but I don't think it's gonna be that exciting." Twilight expressed for their earnest behavior in joining us for something that I didn't even want to do. "We pretty much just have to smile and wave as the dignitaries arrive."

Smile…? I don't think I'll be doing that…

"Yes, but you get to smile and wave like a prince and princess!" Rarity returned in glee as if there was something really special and exciting about it, just because of our royal status.

"How exactly is that different than smilin' and wavin' like not a prince and princess?" Applejack asked, causing Rarity to think about it for the moment.

"It isn't…" Twilight walked ahead on her own and stopped, lowering her head and flopping down her ears.

"What's wrong, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, noticing the unusual reaction.

"Why the looooooooong face?" Pinkie Pie popped up next to Twilight, contrasting her presence near her.

"I've just been feeling a little unsure about things lately…" She mentioned, providing a clear and specific glance towards me. "Recently, I've been pondering whether if there's really any point to being the princess I am now. Sure, I've been to a few 'assigned duties', but anypony else could had easily done that. It doesn't seem that my new role as a princess equates to all that much… I feel…insignificant…"

"Stop all that nasty talk." Applejack ordered for the better. "You've got a real important role in Equestria. I mean, who was the one who finished that bearded fellow's spell? Who's the one who brought the elements together in the first place? You've done heaps of good things here, Twilight."

"I guess so…" Twilight didn't take effectively. "Even then…I wasn't a princess at the time. Have I done anything really important since then?"

"You're probably overlooking things, Twilight…" Fluttershy spoke up. "After all, Princess Celestia wouldn't have asked you to come today if she didn't think you were important."

Twilight managed to form a small smile after that idea. "I guess you're right."

"Of course we are. Now hurry along! You don't want to risk having that important role diminished because you were tardy for your regal meet-and-greet." Rarity hurried us along, but mostly towards Twilight.

"Yeah." Twilight agreed. "At least I'll be seeing them one more time before we head off."

"Hey, Alex." Rainbow Dash unexpectedly called me. "Where'd you get that hoodie? Did Princess Cadence give it to you or something?" She asked after noticing the clothing I was wearing today.

Feeling my eyes glue to the floor, I felt no intention of even making a reasonable excuse for why I wore the hoodie. Instead, I just chose to be vague about it. "…it's a long story." That answer provided no suspicion and possibly released the hint that I didn't want to talk not only about the hoodie, but probably about everything.

At the crystal castle, Twilight and I waited up on top of the balcony until we heard the loud fanfare from the bottom that signaled the arrival of the expected visitors.

"The Duke and Duchess of Maretonia!" We heard from below.

We made our way to the railing to see four ponies coming to our direction below us, two of them being elderly. They were facing the three other princesses, whom consisted of Princess Celestia, Luna, and Cadence. Twilight used her magic to unfurl the banner below while I honestly just stood there and stared emotionlessly. Even as Twilight was waving with enthusiasm as the other princesses led them inside, I continued standing there like an idiot and didn't even do the simple job I was given. Nevertheless, it fortunately wasn't that much of a big deal as the Duke and Duchess didn't even seem to notice us.

"That was it?" We heard Spike's voice behind us, causing Twilight to stop waving and for the two of us to turn around. He was ranting in the middle of all of the other girls. "Princess Celestia had you two come all the way over here just to do that?" Twilight realized his statement must have been the truth in her eyes, so she closed her eyes and lowered her head sadly. "I mean, whoa, really regal and important!" Spike recognized the slip of his tongue and tried to remedy the situation. He nervously laughed, but he later on figured how it was too late to fix anything once receiving a smack behind the head from Applejack. Everypony looked at him in a scolding manner except for Fluttershy, who was too busy worrying over the current mood Twilight was in now.

I couldn't believe how silent I was being. I couldn't believe how I was not interfering or even comforting Twilight. This all felt familiar to me before…by why was I in this state again? Why did I feel like I almost did not have a care in the world? These are my friends…and I was supposed to care for them…

"I…uh…better start making sure all our stuff is packed…" Spike pointed towards the exit, carefully stepping away in order to remove himself out of the awkward situation.

"You all should probably head back to the hotel too." Twilight advised. "Alex and I still need to finish up here. Afterwards, we can go home."

"You sure you don't want us to stay with you, Sugarcube?" Applejack asked.

"I'll be fine." Twilight assured. "I've got my B.B.B.F.F." She glanced over to me with a small short smile.

This statement made me feel absolutely worse, as I knew I hadn't done anything to comfort Twilight about her problem. To refer to a meaningful term she hadn't used in a while, it made me feel almost…unworthy.

"Alrighty." Applejack understood. "We'll be waitin'." She said as she led the others out of the balcony.

Twilight waved back with her minor strained smile. As soon as they were out of sight, she released a breath and allowed her hoof to fall back on the floor. I wanted to try to get into conversation about her issue…but just like a very long time ago, I felt afraid to…

"Guess we better go wait inside…" She simply stated and began back into the castle, having me follow behind her.

Twilight and I waited outside the doors where they were apparently having their classified meeting. I was almost starting to feel possibly what Twilight felt. Instead of adding on to the important matters they were having, it seemed we were stuck with the jobs of royal guards. Twilight restlessly paced around while I only sat there, sharing time at staring at the floor or switching over to watching Twilight pace.

The doors suddenly opened loudly, surprising and alarming the both of us. We saw the Duke and Duchess sternly walking over to us as the other princesses remained behind them. I followed Twilight's movement after seeing her bow, leading for the Duke and Duchess to do the same.

"Your highnesses." The Duke of Maretonia acknowledged us. "Thank you for understanding our desire to keep the number of those privy to these confidential discussions to a minimum."

"Of course." Twilight answered. After, they continued their walk out the castle doors, leading us to stand back up. Twilight began to wave and practically forcefully smile once again. She stopped when they were out of sight, and the rest of the princesses joined us in the hallway. "Is there anything else I can do to assist with their visit?" Twilight asked, yearning for more significant work.

"I'm sorry, Twilight, but their visit is already over." Cadence responded.

"Oh…" Twilight disappointingly allowed her head to fall in dissatisfaction.

"Something wrong?" My mom felt the unease that radiated from Twilight.

"I guess I just don't really understand why I'm here." Twilight seemed to be keeping me out of it, as she felt the problem of importance only relied with her. "Couldn't one of the royal guard have unfurled the banner?"

"Having all five of us in the Empire to greet them lets the dignitaries know that their visit is considered an important one." Princess Celestia answered Twilight's question and reminded her of my involvement.

"Plus, it gives me an opportunity to see my favorite relatives." Cadence stepped between us, placing her forelegs around us.

"And I'm happy to see you." Twilight agreed. "All of you." She included.

"But...?" Cadence picked up Twilight's head by her chin as she cheerfully grinned, noticing Twilight had more in mind to say.

"But I..." Twilight tried to answer, but seemed to have a hard time doing so. "Well… It's just that Princess Luna raises the moon." She pointed out, having Luna nod seriously. "Princess Celestia raises the sun." Celestia reacted with soft gleeful confidence. "You protect the Crystal Empire." Cadence didn't seem to remove the worry she felt for Twilight. "Heck…even Alex has an important Element embedded in his heart." Twilight brought up unexpectedly for me. "And all I seem to do is..." She paused, receiving no thought in mind to assure her importance. She sighed before continuing. "…smile and wave." Afterwards, she turned and left towards the balcony in what looked like to be shame. The rest of us only silently and uncomfortably watched her leave before I decided to go on after her.

At the balcony, I saw her resting herself gloomily on the railing. Before I could at least try to find the strength to comfort her, she noticed me behind her and began singing.

"It isn't that I'm ungrateful

For all the things that I've earned," Twilight assured.

"For all the journeys I have taken,

All the lessons that I have learned" As she turned around to face what was now the night sky, I unintentionally imagined Spirit sitting at her spot in the balcony, facing the sunset, holding her ice cream with her hoof, and looking back at me with a sunny grin.

"But I wonder where I'm going now,

What my role is meant to be

I don't know how to travel

To a future that I can't see" Twilight stood up and began walking away, snapping me out of my needless vision, which made my mood even worse if it wasn't already at the very bottom.

"I have my wings, I wear this crown

I'm a princess, this is true" Twilight acknowledged to the other princesses, whom were all holding great concern for her.

"But it's still unclear to me

Just what I am meant to do

I wanna have a purpose" She wished towards Cadence.

"Wanna do all that I can" She begged at Luna.

"I wanna make a contribution" She shared with Celestia.

"I want to be a part of the plan…" Lastly, she expressed worriedly to me, face to face.

Princess Celestia walked towards us and placed a hoof on the each of us.

"Your destinies are uncertain" She included the two of us in song, giving me the feeling that she wanted to remind Twilight that we were a team, and that we were in this together, no matter how isolated Twilight felt.

"And that's sometimes hard to take

But it will become much clearer

With every choice you two make" Celestia presented the night sky before us, assuring with a grand yet gentle grin.

"Patience is never easy" My mother stepped in, gaining a proud reaction from Tia.

"I understand wanting more

I know how hard it is to wait

To spread out your wings and soar"

"But you two stand here for a reason!" Princess Cadence now joined.

"You're gifted and you are strong" She titled each of us, gaining a bashful blush from Twilight.

"Those crowns are upon your heads because

You belong~!" She accredited, allowing the others to join in great harmony.

"Know that your time is coming soon!" The three of them sang all together, continuing to face us.

"As the sun rises, so does the moon

As love finds a place in every heart

You are a prince and princess; you'll play your part" They left us standing in the middle of the three of them to observe them send out a wholeheartedly message out to us.

"We understand you wanting more

A chance to shine, a chance to soar" Princess Luna recognized, leading the others to join her in flight as they flew in a circular motion above us.

"Soon will come the day it turns around!" Cadence added strongly as we both gazed in slight worry, for our own reasons, at them.

"Know that your time is coming soon!" They landed and repeated, presenting the night sky.

"As the sun rises, so does the moon

As love finds a place in every heart

You are a prince and princess; you'll play your part!"

However, it looked like Twilight needed just a bit more of reassurance, leading Celestia to tend to that. She walked towards us and lifted our chins in hope.

"You are a prince and princess; you'll play your part…" She sang once again, ending with a warm embrace to us both.

Afterwards, she turned to Twilight. "Your time will come." She smiled with truth and began to leave as the others followed her.

Princess Luna stayed a bit longer for some reason to face us. "Remember." She said and pulled something out from her chest guard. It was the charm I had made for her… She had it with her… Twilight was a bit surprised to see this and looked down to her chest to notice hers in her own possession too. The hoodie I wore covered any sight of the charm, almost making me believe that I hadn't have even been wearing it, but after Luna's presentation, I felt it with me as well. Once she knew she reminded us of our connection, she deeply smiled and continued on her way back into the castle.

Once Twilight and I were left on our own, she silently walked over to the edge of the balcony and leaned on the railing. I followed her and joined her in the same matter.

"If you don't mind me asking…" She began to say. "…how did you ever get the idea to make us these charms? Besides our…connection…" She asked.

I took a moment to think on how to answer that. "…They're…really based off the good luck charm you gave me." I reminded, surprising her. "In fact…the good luck charm you gave me…" I stretched the collar of the hoodie out in order to pull out something I expected to be there. "It's really my piece in our connection…" I presented it to her.

I almost couldn't believe how surprised she was to hear and see that. I suppose she hadn't seen it for so long that she didn't realize it was her gift in the first place. She gasped and held a hoof to her mouth in slight shock. With her eyes appearing just a bit watery as they looked up towards me, she embraced me sincerely. "I knew I made the right choice trusting you…" She mentioned, astounding me as well. She kept her hug but pulled away just enough to lift her head up to me. "Ever since to the point where we hardly knew each other, I always felt something different but special towards you. Never did I predict that that was what would bring us here now. It couldn't have been a coincidence. It had to be a part of our destiny."

"Yeah…" I managed to agree, even though I was looking away and still feeling terrible tremors of sadness.

"Alex…" Twilight noticed this and pulled away completely to continue looking at me. "Can you please tell me what's going on? Don't act like I haven't noticed. I know something is wrong because I've never seen you act like this way before. Not since…before Discord…" I knew she referred to the dark place I resided in before their light of friendship shined down on me.

I honestly didn't even know if I still cared about keeping Spirit in innocent light. I'm not saying she isn't innocent. There were just…too many facts about what she did that…had me feel almost betrayed. Twilight's been my closest, deepest, and personal friend. Considering we were a team, I think she deserved the truth.

I turned and placed my hooves in the railing, afraid of feeling even more broken after spilling. "…I screwed up things with Starlight…badly…" I began. "…and…more importantly…I think… I think I may have lost a friend."

"Huh…?" Twilight widened her eyes.

"Spirit." I looked back at her with upset eyes. "She…she did something horrible to me. Something I can't read or explain. She hurt me." I placed a hoof on my chest for that hurt. "But…it didn't feel like she intently wanted to hurt me. That's what puzzles me." I closed my eyes, remembering the heart-wrenching scene. "Everything happened so fast… I didn't know what to do… Things ended badly… But for some reason…deep down in my heart…I just know it. I know she isn't a bad pony. I just know it…"

"Alex…you're confusing me." Twilight answered with worry. "You're saying she hurt you, so how can you still feel she's a good pony? If you're like this right now, it had to be something bad."

"…I don't know." It was all I could reply with.

"So, what if she hurts you again?" Twilight lightly furrowed her eyebrows, almost revealing a sign that she was beginning to disapprove of Spirit. "You can't possibly think I wouldn't want to get involved."

"To be honest, Twilight…" I mentioned with my eyes staring at the floor of the balcony. "…I don't think she'll be hurting me anytime soon…"

By the look in her eye, I wasn't sure if she got the wrong idea of that statement. Nevertheless, it was the truth. Whether she was incapacitated or really…gone… The last state I saw Spirit in was no state to do anything of the sort.

It was getting really late, and the others were still waiting for us. By the looks of it, it appeared that we would be staying another night here in the Crystal Empire. Either way, Twilight and I decided to get going back to the hotel until there was an unexpected intervention in the hallway.

Princess Cadence called us in for an emergency meeting that brought concern upon our heads. At the round table in the center of the room, the five of us stood by it.

"What's going on?" Twilight asked, releasing her growing worry.

The princesses exchanged looks with one another before we finally got an answer.

"We believe we've been informed with terrible news of the once Lord Tirek escaping from his imprisonment." Luna stated.

"Tirek?" I questioned, never hearing of such a name. "Who in the world is that?"

Princess Celestia pulled out a book she had been holding and placed it on the middle of the table, facing the book to where Twilight and I could view the contents inside. She flipped the pages and stopped to a picture where we saw two beings standing across uncharted and dangerous lands. "Tirek and his brother Scorpan came here from a distant land, intent on stealing Equestrian magic. But Scorpan soon came to appreciate the ways of Equestria, even befriending a young unicorn wizard." Celestia continued to depict her memory using the pictures within the pages.

"Scorpan urged his brother to abandon their plans." Luna included. "When Tirek refused, Scorpan alerted us to Tirek's intentions."

"Scorpan returned to his own land, and Tirek was sent to Tartarus for his crimes. But it appears he has found a way to escape." Tia finished her narration.

"We believe it happened when Cerberus left his post at the gates." Luna mentioned.

When Cerberus left his post…? That sounded very familiar, but I couldn't quite remember when that had happened.

"But that was a long time ago!" Twilight answered, appearing to have known the date of the event. "Why is he just now starting to steal magic?"

"His time in Tartarus left him very weak." Celestia reasoned. "He has just now gained enough strength to use his dark powers."

"But with each passing moment, he grows stronger still." Luna added with a sense of urgency.

"And I know just the prince and princess who can stop him." Cadence brought up, looking over to us with a confident grin.

However, Celestia didn't appear to agree with that statement. "I'm afraid I must intervene with this suggestion. We understand you've been wanting to prove yourself as a princess, but this task is too dangerous. Instead, we have someone specific in mind that can handle Tirek with ease."

"What?" Twilight questioned. "Who is it?"

"Discord." Tia answered, causing not only Twilight to gasp, but brought Luna and Cadence along for the collective amount of surprise.

"Discord?!" Twilight was shocked at how he could ever take down an apparently dangerous criminal. "Why?"

"I'm sure we all know that Discord truly lives up to his name." Celestia replied as she looked at each one of us, already knowing that there was no objection to that. "Handling such disorderly magic, Discord is able to sense a magical imbalance. With this, the next time Tirek steals magic, Discord will be able to find him and detain him."

"Oh…" Twilight lowered her head in disappointment again. "…I guess that makes sense… So…what are we supposed to do?" She asked.

"For the meantime…" Celestia took a short moment of pause before she resumed. "There is no means for immediate action. The other princesses and I will get ahold of Discord and assign him the task that rests on him.

"So, in other words…nothing." Twilight repeated what Tia seemed to try to avoid saying in the first place. "Got it…"

"I'm sure you'll have something to do to help us." Cadence tended to Twilight. "Right now…we just have to straighten things out…"

"I get it…" Twilight nodded, seeming to understand. But she still couldn't help but feel down about her current position. "Well then, if there's nothing else we're needed for, we'll be getting out of the way." Twilight looked around, seeing no opportunities to help, and then proceeded to walk out of the room.

I only looked at all of them and wished them a good night before I took off after Twilight.

When we returned to the hotel room, it didn't take long for the girls to find out why we stayed longer than we planned, the threat that was rising in Equestria, and the apparent "hero" that would fix it all in a blink of an eye.

"...As in Discord Discord?" Applejack made sure to hear clearly, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Yes!" Twilight returned, looking as if she was still shocked by the news.

"I don't think it's that big of a surprise." Fluttershy spoke up in soft glee for her response. "He can be very helpful." When she turned towards the others, they all sent her a similar disapproving look. Even Pinkie Pie didn't seem to like Discord, and that was because she usually liked anypony.

"He can sense when there's a magical imbalance." Twilight referred to Celestia's reason for his inclusion. "The next time Tirek steals magic, Discord will be able to track him down!"

"So what are you supposed to do in the meantime?" Rainbow Dash questioned in curiosity, reminding Twilight of our jobless affair.

"Nothing." Twilight responded after a short sigh. "Unless of course one of you needs me to smile and wave." She released a fake brief grin along with a wave before she let herself fall on her bed.

Rarity cleared her throat. "Do you have any plans while this is occurring?"

Twilight merely shrugged. "I think he's supposed to track him down tomorrow, so…I'll probably just go to the Castle of the Two Sisters. I'm not really needed anywhere else. Might as well catch up on some of my reading."

"Are you gonna want some company?" Rainbow asked, hoping that would cheer her up.

"It has been a while since we visited the castle." Applejack added with a positive tone. "Might be fun!"

"I guess I could use some company…especially during these times." Twilight sighed, appearing to be exhausted with some frustration as she tiredly looked out the window. "We'll see what happens for tomorrow. Right now, let's just get some sleep so we can leave back to Ponyville in the morning."

Everypony agreed and turned out the lights, climbing in their own beds. Hoping to not feel any more isolated from the ones most important to me, I decided to stay by Fluttershy for the night. I cuddled and brought myself as close to her as I could. Just feeling the warmth of her coat made me feel better inside, but it still didn't seem to be enough to bring back the happiness I seemed to have lost.

Tomorrow, after arriving in Ponyville, we stopped at the Castle of the Two Sisters as planned. However, before actually stepping in, the girls seemed fixated with the Tree of Harmony. It was still in the same exact state as we had left it, including the chest that remained unopened or even touched.

"I still can't believe we had to give back the Elements." Rainbow Dash shared after drawing out a sigh.

"It had to be done or the Tree of Harmony wouldn't have survived." Rarity reasoned.

"But Twilight was right." Fluttershy brought up in hope. "Even without the Elements, our friendship is as strong as ever."

"I just hope another 'friend' of ours never makes us sorry we had to give them up." Applejack specifically mentioned, motioning her hooves in quotations.

"Oh, you're talking about me, I presume?" His voice unexpectedly but not surprisingly revealed itself, allowing us to see him floating towards us with an umbrella, scarf, and suitcase.

"How'd you guess?" Applejack replied with a strict unamused face.

"My ears were burning." He literally responded, using his 'glass of water' to put it out.

"What are you even doing here, Discord?" Rainbow Dash questioned in annoyance.

"Oh, just a bit of light reading before I head off on my extremely important mission." He held up a familiar book with specific-colored bookmarks within the pages. "I suppose you all know that I've been tasked to capture a certain escapee." He reminded, wearing a uniform that ensured his eagerness to complete his task.

"Big deal." Spike brushed off.

"You're right, Spike. It is a big deal." He acknowledged. Using the bubble pipe in his mouth, his blew a bubble that actually trapped Spike inside. It lifted him up into the air until it popped and had Rainbow quickly rush to catch him before he fell. "Seems I possess a magic that gives me quite an important role in Equestria. Maybe they should make me an Alicorn princess." He disappeared and reappeared with a crown, horn, and wings. While posing eloquently, he blew out kisses in a mocking way. "Mmwah! Mmwah!"

Twilight didn't take it so lightly.

"In your dreams!" Rainbow commented and knocked off the crown on his head, interrupting his 'coronation'.

"Oh, I never dream of such things." He responded, putting away the accessories he had. "Ask Princess Luna."

"I'm surprised you dream at all…" I said under my breath, to which he of course somehow heard.

"Aww…" He grew uncomfortably closer to me and started messing with the hoodie I still wore. "Did your mommy-wommy give you this? Ooh! You must have been such a good wittle boy!"

I reacted with aggression, sparing no words and only pushed him forcefully away with both of my hooves.

"Don't you have a creepy magic-stealin' villain to track down?" Applejack asked, wanting him to quit with the shenanigans and focus on what was important.

"Yes, yes, yes, of course." He remembered and then grabbed ahold of us, teleporting us closer to the tree. "It's just that I couldn't help but notice that Twilight hasn't yet opened this little chest of hers." He pointed a claw out to the chest having the others send looks towards Twilight. "I-I-It got me thinking, what if what's locked inside is something that could help her prove her royal worth? I only bring it up because she said that she's been feeling like her role as a princess doesn't equate to much." He brought out Twilight's lip, making it look like she was pouting.

"Wait a minute! How do you know how she was feeling?!" Pinkie Pie angrily questioned.

"Oh, my." Discord began to mock sadness. "Is eavesdropping not the way you're supposed to find out what your best pals are up to? Woe is me. Will I ever learn the intricate nuances of being a good friend?" Of course, he only dug himself deeper in the different types of glares he got from everypony, excluding the one that actually liked him. He cleared his throat after the silence. "Well in any case, I suppose now is as good a time as any for me to make my exit." He walked to the side, placed on a helmet, and got on a scooter to ride off, but he actually teleported with magic instead.

"And good riddance!" Applejack shouted out right after he left.

However, he appeared once more as if to answer to Applejack's last comment. "Oopsie-doopsie, I almost left with the little journal you've all been keeping." He stated actually, bringing up the subject of our journal. "What a fascinating read. Haven't you girls just learned so much?" He presented it in front of Twilight. "I've bookmarked a few of the more interesting passages. You really should take a look!" He balanced the corner of the book on her horn. Then, he moved over near to Fluttershy and spoke in a hushed voice. "We're still on for tea later, aren't we, Fluttershy?"

"I wouldn't miss it." Fluttershy replied with what appeared to be a softly excited smile.

"Well, I'll bring the cucumber sandwiches...!" He responded in a singsong voice, later opening a door in the background and leaving through there.

After she made sure that Discord had totally left, Applejack went on to complain about him. "Sometimes I think the 'reformed' Discord is more obnoxious than the 'before-he-was-reformed' Discord."

"Indeed." Rarity agreed.

"But he could be right, couldn't he?" Fluttershy asked. "What if there is something important in that chest?"

"There has to be…" I mentioned, speaking at a lower volume than I usually did. I didn't know if anyone else felt it, but I had the great bugging feeling that we had to open it as soon as possible.

Twilight scratched her chin in interest. "There's only one way to find out." She turned and faced the way up to the Castle of the Two Sisters. "There has to be something that we haven't found yet in the Castle of the Two Sisters. Something that deals with the chest, preferably a book. Seems like a good time as any since Discord's doing all the work, huh?"

"Mm-hm." The girls agreed and nodded.

"Come on!" Twilight pointed out in leadership. "I'm sure with all of us, we're bound to find something!"

Despite wanting to not feel isolated, I still didn't feel anything. Usually, in such circumstances like the girls looking through tons of books to find something about the chest, I would have been willing to help. But I just didn't feel the energy to. I didn't want to obviously stand out by doing nothing, and I didn't want to cause concern by going someplace else. So, even if it actually made me feel ashamed of myself, I grabbed a few random books and sort of…pretended…to look through them.

"Anything?" Twilight had asked, making me feel worse that I hadn't even been trying. Nevertheless, all of the others answered with various "no"s. "There must be something in this library that can help me figure out how to open it. The answer's in one of these books." She stated as she quickly skimmed through several on the spot. "I just know it." Her eyes caught ahold of our journal. Even though if she didn't feel too strongly about it, she decided to give it a shot.

"Hey, Alex." Rainbow Dash had called me, startling me a bit. I looked over to her to see what she wanted. "You never did tell us what happened with you and Starlight. Did you give it to her straight?"

I only stared at her for a second before I turned away with no need to elaborate. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Did somethin' bad happen?" Applejack questioned, placing down the book she was reading to intervene. "I'm pretty sure we've all noticed you've been a little…quiet…today."

I was thankful Twilight was there to save the conversation, since I was really not in the mood to get into it any further. "He's feeling a little off today…" She shared. "I think he just needs some time to himself for a bit." Twilight was the only one who knew most of what she could get out of me, so she was able to at least partially understand why I was acting the way I was.

After hearing that from Twilight, those questioning decided to leave the topic off for now. However, they still remained available if I ever wanted to speak up about it.

On one hoof, I felt out in space, just flipping mindlessly through books and trailing off in my own thoughts. On the other, I felt bad because I was kind of excluding myself out from everypony. I knew they knew I was out of it today, but I still felt that I couldn't even at least be with Fluttershy to search through books together.

I hoped somehow this would all blow over soon… Is there any spell for just…erasing your memory?

"I think I found something!" Twilight suddenly exclaimed in her search. "I've been reading our journal, and there's something interesting about the sections that Discord bookmarked." Everypony gathered around while I joined somewhat but stayed leaning on a table. "Applejack, do you remember when you had to tell everypony that the tonic Granny bought from the Flim Flam brothers didn't really work?"

"How could I forget?" Applejack responded, able to remember the pain of having to tell the truth back that day. "It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. At that moment, I knew I had to be honest. I just knew it. But what's that got to do with openin' the chest?"

"I've found that each of you has had to face a situation where living up to the Element of Harmony you represent wasn't easy." Twilight glanced at each one of them except me, poking at the journal. Then, she flipped the page. "Fluttershy, it was when you realized that the way to show kindness to the Breezies was by forcing them to leave your home."

"Oh, the looks on their poor little faces!" Fluttershy recalled. "All I ever wanted to do was just to make them happy. But I knew that, as difficult as it was, pushing them away was the kindest thing I could do."

"Rarity," Twilight flipped yet another page. "Even after Suri took advantage of your generosity at Fashion Week in Manehattan, you didn't let it cause you to abandon your generous spirit."

"I simply couldn't have lived with myself if I didn't do something special for the friends who have always been so generous to me!" Rarity shared.

"Rainbow Dash, you had the chance to fly with the Wonderbolts at the Equestria Games, but instead you chose to compete with your friends." Twilight brought up.

"Sure!" Rainbow quickly agreed. "But being loyal to my friends was way—"

"Ooh, my turn, my turn!" Pinkie Pie interrupted.

"Pinkie Pie, you realized that seeing your friend laugh was more important than proving you were a better party planner than Cheese Sandwich." Twilight fulfilled her request.

"Best party I've ever had." Rainbow mentioned while proudly placing her foreleg around Pinkie.

"It's clear we've all had our moments to shine, Twilight." Rarity spoke. "But I'm with Applejack. What does any of this have to do with the opening of the chest?"

"All of you had tough choices to make." Twilight explained. "But when you made the right one and embraced your element, it helped somepony else make the right choice too. Each of you received something from the pony whose life you helped change." As soon as she said that, I thought about it. The only thing that sounded close to something like that for me was my issue with Octavia. I did have tough choices to make, but the only reason I pushed on to be her friend was because of…Spirit. But even then…I didn't exactly get a tangible gift from her…did I? "I know it sounds crazy, but maybe there's something special about those objects that could lead us to the location of the keys." She provided and began walking in thought. "The chest is connected to the Tree of Harmony, the Tree is connected to the Elements, and the Elements are connected to all of us. There must be a connection! I hate to admit it, but maybe Discord was trying to be a good friend after all."

As the girls reacted positively to Twilight's discovery, I thought about my take in this theory. Did I receive anything as the others had? Actually, I wouldn't have made it on my own without Spirit's influence. I would have given up if it wasn't for her! But she doesn't have anything to do with the Elements or the Tree of Harmony… So what does it matter? Maybe she won't lead me to a key…but maybe…maybe I can somehow find more about her with this.

At that moment, I gasped loudly in my mental mind.

Maybe something in that chest has to do something with her in return! After all, she said she stayed at the Castle of the Two Sisters! The Tree of Harmony was right next to the Castle. Maybe…maybe the answers I need about her are in the chest!

I paced and even anxiously tapped my hoof on the ground as Twilight, Spike, and I waited for the others to return with their items.

"Alex, are you okay?" Twilight asked, observing me and my odd behavior. "You look a little…nervous."

"I…I just want to know what's in the chest." I answered without elaborating much.

She wanted to know what was in the chest as well, possibly for different reasons, so she seemed to understand why I was acting the way I was.

"We're here!" Pinkie exclaimed a length from us. She hopped happily as she brought Boneless with her. The others followed behind, calmly bringing each one of the items they had received. They all began to place them down, leading Twilight to observe them and soon form a puzzled expression.

"I don't see anything on them that would give us a clue as to where the keys might be." Twilight analyzed just as Rainbow Dash dropped the pin Spitfire gave her on the ground. "They're just... ordinary, everyday objects." Twilight looked up at me, hoping I had something for her. "Alex…I don't suppose you remember getting anything…do you?"

I looked down at the ground and silently shook my head. No… I didn't get any these "gifts" you all are talking about…

"Come on, Boneless!" Pinkie Pie shook and screamed at her rubber chicken. "Give us that key!"

"I don't think that's going to work…" Twilight guessed as highly pitched squeaks came from Boneless. He gave one last squeak before he was thrown towards the box, causing Twilight to duck. As soon as Boneless was smacked against the chest, he didn't fall straight towards the dirt. Instead, this kind of magic grabbed ahold of him and levitated him, keeping him off the ground. Everypony gasped at the sight of this as he immediately transformed into a literal key. It then made its way straight to the hole it belonged. Instantly after that scene, the others brought their gifts straight towards the chest, having them transform into unique keys as well. There was all but one keyhole left to fill…

"There's still one key missing." Twilight acknowledged. "The key that represents the Element of Magic. My element."

"What about Alex?" Applejack brought up. "Maybe his is the sixth key?"

"Alex's element isn't tangible, remember?" Twilight answered as she looked over to me. "It's likely that it's my element that's missing. After all, we were the only ones who got those objects that we had to give back to the tree."

"I guess that makes sense…" Applejack returned, looking down and placing a hoof to her chin.

"Oh, but I'm sure that if we've gotten our keys, you have too, Twilight." Fluttershy mentioned.

"Think, Twilight." Rarity joined. "When have you completed a difficult magical task, and in doing so encouraged another pony to do the same?"

"I haven't." Twilight frankly replied. "If I had, I would have written about it in the journal."

"Don't worry, Twilight." Spike told her. "I'm sure you'll get your key eventually." However, immediately after that, he began gagging. Quickly running to the side, he burped out a letter. Twilight grabbed on to it and began reading. "What's it say?"

"That Alex and I are needed in Canterlot at once!" Twilight quickly turned to me. "Come on! It must be about Tirek!" She turned to the others. "We'll be back!"

Afterwards, she lifted up in flight, leading me out of the area and towards Canterlot.

The two of us galloped into the halls the princesses resided in during the day.

"We came as quickly as we could!" Twilight announced to them. "Is something wrong? Is it Tirek?"

"I'm afraid I put too much trust in Discord and the effect that friendship would have upon him." Princess Celestia stated, causing me to become alerted.

"What?" I quickly inquired. "What are you talking about?"

Tia took a heavy moment with closed eyes before she finally answered. "Discord has betrayed the ponies of Equestria and joined forces with Tirek."

I'm sure Twilight was just as shocked at this as I was. For a second there, I couldn't believe it. I knew he wasn't exactly a "good" guy, but I never thought he would go against everything we did for him and betray us!

"This has to be some kind of joke!" I felt immensely personally offended. "He couldn't betray us just like that!"

"I'm afraid it is no joke." Princess Luna responded in a solemn attitude. "Evil has caught upon him once again."

I didn't become instantly enraged. It took a moment to soak it all in and try to accept that it was true.

"How could he do this?!" Twilight seemed to feel offended as well. "I thought our friendship meant something to him! I thought he had changed!"

"Tirek has stolen enough magic that he now has the strength to steal flight as well." Celestia continued revealing the news of the epidemic of Tirek. "Without Pegasi to control the weather, there will be no rain in Equestria. There is word he has gone after Earth ponies as well. Without their strength, they will not be able to tend the land."

This news frightened me…but mostly for our friends who were practically defenseless against this monster. Especially if Discord was with him.

"Ponies will no longer be in control of their world. That power will belong solely to Tirek." My mother shared.

"There is no doubt that Tirek is after Alicorn magic." Celestia believed strongly. "With Discord by his side, we will not be able to stop him from taking it."

"Once it is in his possession, his power will know no bounds, and all hope will be lost." Luna strengthened the urgency to do something to stop this.

"But there is one solution." Tia brought up. "…or at least…it is the only possible solution we can achieve in this dire moment." Any sign of relief we felt during that sentence was almost taken completely away by her last regard. The three of them flew up and landed right in front of us. "It is only by making this sacrifice that Equestria and the lands beyond it might be saved." She explained as they faced us very seriously. As soon as she mentioned the word "sacrifice", I felt an intense fear come from within. "We must rid ourselves of our magic before Tirek has the chance to steal it from us."

Twilight was the one to gasp loudly as I almost stood there once again in both disbelief and shock.

"Tirek is set on possessing Alicorn magic." Luna quickly came forward to reason before anyone of us could question against that. "When he comes for us, we cannot have what he is looking for."

"I'm more than willing to do my part and give up my magic." Twilight responded, feeling as it was her absolute duty as princess.

"You misunderstand." Luna pointed out. "Our magic cannot just disappear into thin air. Somepony must keep it safe."

"Someponies." Cadence corrected. "And those someponies are you two." She mentioned towards us.

"Why us?" Twilight asked in surprised.

"We do not believe that Tirek is aware that a new Alicorn prince and princess exist in Equestria." Celestia explained. "If we transfer our magic to the two of you, Tirek will not know where it has gone."

"Do you understand what we're asking of you?" Cadence asked seriously, switching her glances between the two of us.

"Yes." Twilight understood almost negatively. "It's just... I'm only now learning how to control my own alicorn magic. To take on even more—"

"Twilight." Cadence interrupted. "You represent the Element of Magic. If there is anypony that can take our Alicorn magic, it's you." She turned her head towards me. "And you won't be alone…"

"But…Twilight's way more experienced with magic than I am." I gave my comment. "If she's feeling uneasy about Alicorn magic, then I'm just as—"

Cadence raised a hoof to stop me from continuing. "Please. We believe in you. We know that you two aren't experts in your Alicorn magic, but you've both have been able to get through such dilemmas before."

I wanted to continue with my "but"s, but I only felt myself not wanting to talk any further. I only held my head low and looked to the side with not the amount of confidence I probably needed at the moment.

"Taking on this task will be one of the most difficult things we'll ever do…" Twilight shared after taking a gander at me. "…but with the help of all our friends—"

"I'm sorry." Princess Celestia immediately cut in. "But you must keep your new abilities a secret. I fear that your friends being aware of your new power could put them at great risk." She mentioned, bringing a short look of disappointment upon Twilight. "Do you still think you can both take on this responsibility?"

Twilight soon recovered from her disappointment. "I wanted to feel more than just a meet and greet princess. Now's my chance to prove my worth. With Alex, I'm sure we can do this together! I just know it!"

"Then we must begin at once." Princess Celestia proceeded to do what she had to do.

The three of them somewhat surrounded us in a certain formation. Then, they all began firing a beam from their horns simultaneously as we stared in suspense. We became shocked as soon as we noticed their eyes become completely white when they opened them. All of their magic combined together in a great ball of power above us. It became so massive that it was no doubt greater than all of us combined. It connected a string of different colored magic to our horns and slowly pummeled towards us. Once we were in its aura and field of magic, everything went pretty crazy and uncontrollable during that moment…at least for me. I couldn't explain anything at all. In fact, I didn't even know what was going on. It wasn't until I was settled onto the ground, as if it was all over already. However, I still felt this annoying headache lingering by.

Noticing the sight of the other princesses, Twilight quickly galloped over to Celestia as her eyes brimmed with tears. As I observed the sight of Twilight embracing her former mentor, I looked over to Cadence and Luna, immediately feeling fear creep by. I rushed over to them and quickly questioned in hopes to ease my worries.

"You all are going to be okay, right?" I inquired greatly.

Luna grabbed ahold of my head and weakly turned it to hers. "We will be fine…as long as the two of you keep our magic safe…"

"I just don't want to lose you…any of you…" I expressed dearly, not wanting to break apart yet again. Just as Twilight did, I hugged her tightly and didn't want to let go. It wasn't until I noticed that something was missing from her flank. There was no moon. There was no cutie mark. I switched over to Cadence's and Celestia's. They all had been missing them…

"It is done…" Princess Celestia announced, clearly out of breath.

"So…" Twilight began. "What are we supposed to do now…?

"The two of you..." Celestia paused to gain a staggering breath. "…must learn to hone our combined magic within you as much as you can…with the allowed time you are given…" She glanced at the other princesses near her. "I am afraid that time is not long."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked for clarification.

"If Discord has truly sided with Tirek for power…" Luna began. "There is no doubt Discord will most likely notify him of your existence after he finds out that we are empty of our magic."

"But…why'd you give it to us then?" I questioned. "I thought you transferred your magic because he wouldn't know about us. What's the point if Discord is going to tell him anyway?"

"This is a very time-based crisis, Alex." Celestia answered. "I'm afraid we can't offer a better ensuring plan, due to Discord's unexpected betrayal." She looked down in disappointment. "I'm so very sorry to leave you with a formidable plan, but it is the best we can offer in this dire time. We lend you our power because you two still have the chance and hope to put an end to this horrendous complication. Discord knows our magic, so if we were to keep it and challenge both he and Tirek, Discord would…"

"…mop the floor with us…" Cadence managed to add. "…literally…"

"Yes." Celestia nodded solemnly. "You two believe that you are incompetent for our magic, but you forgot something that holds much more importance. Both of you hold a sacred element. While you may no longer hold the Elements of Harmony in your position, I believe they still hold hope and meaning to you no matter what." She stopped for a moment to take a breath and allow us to soak in her words. She held a hoof to her head in exhaustion. "…forgive me if I sound unassuring, but please…believe in yourselves." She turned to me. "Alex, remember, you still hold that powerful light in you. With our magic, it should present an extremely difficult obstacle towards Tirek." She turned to Twilight. "Twilight, never forget, you had been a student of mine for the longest time. I know you can do this. Don't discourage yourself. I have seen you pull through many challenges, ever since you were little." She then began to direct her words to both of us. "Look at each other. You may not know it, but by each other's side you can prevail!" Princess Celestia was beginning to sound…different. Like…if she was almost…proud to the point of even crying. "You hold a special connection! Believe me! No matter how terrible things look during the moment, I believe you two can stop this evil and restore harmony to the lands once again!"

Twilight and I remained silent after her heartfelt speech. We looked at each other for a short moment, and then I could feel we both trusted Princess Celestia words. Twilight turned to her and nodded. "If you truly believe we can end this, then we believe it too! We'll do everything in our power to stop Tirek's reign of terror!" She finished confidently.

Tia sighed in relief. "…thank you. Please…go… You two have no time to waste… You must practice your new magic and abilities… Eventually…Tirek will set out to find you once realizing that we don't have our magic."

Cadence sighed a bit. "It'd really be great if Discord forgot about Twilight and Alex…"

"We'll be ready." Twilight practically slammed her hoof on the floor.

I grabbed my mother's hoof as she rested exhaustedly on the floor. "You'll all be okay…promise…?" I requested worriedly.

Luna managed to lift her other hoof to place it on mine. "For you…I promise."

Twilight and I almost silently returned home to Ponyville. I'm sure the two of us had so many things in our mind that we couldn't really make conversation or plans with each other. In fact, for me, I was worrying greatly about what the princesses were going to face and how we left them there defenseless.

"Alex…" Twilight called, seeming to have noticed the expression that felt planted on my face. "…I know you must be worried, but remember Princess Celestia's words. She really believes in us! And sacrificing their magic to us for the time being proves how much she knows we can do. I know we can fix this! I don't exactly know how…but I know we won't fail everypony!"

I sighed and nodded, remembering that there was no time for moping around. "We have to get started on practicing with our new magic if we want to stand against Tirek. I'll follow your lead since you know magic the most."

"Okay." Twilight nodded and understood. "But remember you still have the light in you that can really help!" She turned forward and narrowed her eyes, creating a glow in her horn. "Now…let's see what I can do—Awaaaah!" Her sentence was cut short with her screaming. As she tried to explore her new magic, it somehow sent her skyrocketing uncontrollably in the middle of her flight.

"Twilight!" I called out. Before I knew it, I became kind of transparent and was following her just as fast as she was flying. She soon headed towards the ground, almost crash landing. However, she seemed to be okay as she remained seated, even though she caused a semi-deep skid along the ground. I stopped unintentionally by her, almost falling over from the momentum.

"Oh, my goodness, are you two all right?" We heard Fluttershy's voice and soon saw her and the others rushing towards us in aid.

"Jumpin' junebugs!" Applejack expressed in surprise. "When did y'all learn to do that?!"

"We must have caught a particularly strong breeze..." Twilight tried to excuse, remembering Celestia's request. However, she involuntarily disappeared and reappeared behind Rarity. "…or something."

"Must have been 'or something', because there wasn't any breeze up there." Rainbow pointed upwards.

"I don't know what happened, but we don't really have time to figure it out right now." Twilight mentioned, referring to how little time we really had to gain as much control over our powers as much as possible.

"Another visit to the Castle of the Two Sisters, I presume?" Rarity guessed. "We'd be more than happy to accompany you!" Rarity presented with the rest of them. All of their huge grins didn't realize how much danger they were possibly in, especially if they were to come with us to the Castle of the Two Sisters.

"You can't." I shook my head, wanting to look out for their safety as well. They didn't know the whole story yet, and I was going to try to get them to react properly while keeping it subtle. "For the sake of your and Ponyville's safety, we need you tell everyone to stay inside and barricade themselves. Tirek might make his way here."

"Huh?" Applejack questioned. "Discord hasn't found him yet?"

I furrowed my eyebrows and looked over to Twilight. She sent me a worried look. I knew if I told them the truth…they might lead themselves in a worse state than if I didn't. For one, Fluttershy would probably become heartbroken and even want to ask Discord herself to see if it was truth. Knowing Discord…he'd probably…

I didn't have time to deal with this stuff anymore.

"It's complicated." I answered. "But as of right now, Tirek has not been apprehended yet. Just please, do this for us. After you have every pony here in Ponyville remain inside and hide, you all need to do the same."

"What about you and Twilight?" Fluttershy asked worriedly.

"Don't worry about us…" I tried to assure softly. "Just please. Do what we say." I began to turn to head to the Castle of the Two Sisters until I remembered one more crucial thing. "And whatever you do, stay away from Discord!" I emphasized and exclaimed the last part.

Their faces were certainly struck with confusion, but neither Twilight nor I had the time to explain. In fact, I was not even certain, for the both of us, that we made the correct decisions so far. I was feeling the pressure of time being hammered in my head throughout the entire moment.

On the way to the Castle of the Two Sisters, I really didn't make any conversation with Twilight. I was too occupied with silently but busily thinking of any other solutions to the situation. There was possibly one we didn't work out yet. The chest. But it wasn't a guaranteed fix to the problem. Then again…we didn't have one in the first place…

Either way, there was one key missing. It has been assumed that it was the key of Twilight's element…but what it was actually mine? What if there was something we weren't seeing that could somehow open the chest and save everypony from total destruction? What if I just had to find something mysterious about me instead?

"This looks far enough…" Twilight analyzed as she looked around with some concern in her eyes. We had just arrived at the grounds close by the castle.

"Twilight. I need to go inside the castle for a bit." I stated, surprising her since I seemed to be separating from her.

"What?" She turned towards me. "Why? We don't have much time to practice."

"I know… I know…" I understood, nodding my head. "But…I thought about the locked chest and…if it's connected to the Elements of Harmony, then maybe there's something inside that can actually stop Tirek before things worsen?"

"That's possible…" Twilight acknowledged. "But we still don't have the final key."

I sighed, looking away in slight fear. "I know this is really risky…but I might find a clue if I just look further into this…at least for just a few minutes."

Twilight remained silent for a moment and then shifted her eyes in thought. "…if you really think you can find out where this last key is…then I guess it's worth a chance looking into it again for a bit more."

"I don't want to take too long, Twilight." I assured her, placing my hooves on her. "I know how dangerous it is to put the time into trying to unlock something that might not even guarantee our victory, but…" I closed my eyes and felt the need coming from my heart. "I just feel like I need to take a look."

Twilight grabbed my hooves and held on to them a while longer while looking intently into my eyes. "I understand. Hurry. I'll be out here trying to get this magic in control."

"I'll be right back." I strictly told her and then began to hurry over to the Castle of the Two Sisters.

As I entered, I actually felt its eerie echo for what seemed like the first time. I didn't believe I had been here all on my own before today. I quickly trotted over to the library where Twilight had been studying our journal. Once my eyes caught sight of the journal, I immediately grabbed ahold of it with my magic and flipped the pages open. It was weird how specifically my magic hadn't be reacting uncontrollably like Twilight's was. The only time it released overpoweringly was when I seemed to fly fast with such a surge of energy. It didn't seem to be specifically based on magic. Nevertheless, I had no time to think into such things. I had to try to find out what I came in here for.

I flipped the pages over to my specific entry in the journal, which Discord didn't bookmark…when he was still "reformed". Yet, my experience was very similar to the others. I met somepony new. Octavia. I had to face difficult choices, which were continuing on forward to be her friend or just forget about it. At one point, I would've given up and left things that were in the horrible state they were. Octavia hating me and missing her train to the Crystal Empire. But that was just it. I didn't do it on my own. I couldn't have! Spirit helped me see that I had to keep going, no matter how much it hurt or scared me. That had to be something! There were so many things about her that didn't exactly add up to be a confirmed connection but…I just knew there was something between Spirit and the key! I faced the problems like the others who received their keys. But I didn't get a key! So…did Spirit have the key? What if it was one of her ice cream sticks!? But they were so many of them… Ughh! I just know she has to have something crucial for the Tree of Harmony! But what?! If only she was…here…with me… She'd be able to help…just like the other times she's helped me so much before…

I placed my head on the wooden table and buried it within my forelegs.

Spirit…why'd you…have to do what you did… Why couldn't you just stop being mysterious and trust me with these things you never wanted to share with me? You could hold so much information that could really help us, especially in times like these…but…you…

I sighed.

What is it that you're so afraid of…?

"Princess Twilight!" I suddenly heard a loud terrifying shout from outside, lifting my head up in a flash. "You have something that belongs to me!"

It couldn't be! Was he already...?!

I gasped, remembering about the pony outside.

"Twilight!" I shouted out, leaving everything behind and running out the castle.

By the time I made it outside, the sky had darkened, and I looked rapidly from side to side in search of Twilight. I couldn't find her anywhere! It wasn't until I saw this huge magical ray of light shoot so deadly far.

I lit up my horn in desperation, wishing myself to be granted the magic the princesses gave me. "Come on!" I struggled. "Take me to Twilight, now!" I was wishing to either be somehow teleported to Twilight's exact location or to at least gain the speed I had before when we came to Ponyville. However, nothing obeyed my request. If only I had practiced instead of fumbling with my stupid idea! I growled, knowing I could only hope to reach Twilight in time by flying.

It wasn't hard to distinguish where the fight was, as some kind of monstrous pony, or in this case centaur, stood out in the skies. He was absolutely ginormous, most likely after having stolen power from so many ponies. When I was close enough, I noticed Twilight on the ground, firing an angry ray at him that was able to keep him away from her during the moment. He roared from the pain that the combined magic planted on him.

"Hold on, Twilight! I'm coming!" I shouted out in distress.

Before I could stay true to my word, Tirek grabbed ahold of Twilight's beam and sent it shooting straight away from him. Before Twilight could react, Tirek used his own magic and brought her unwillingly face-to-face with him. She tried to struggle and wiggle free, but she couldn't break it. Tirek looked at her with a horrid grin and then spun around with a mighty aggressive roar to send her off flying in the distance.

The moment I heard her scream, I instantly panicked. "Twilight!" I called out desperately and felt myself zoom off with an incredible push. Worrying about the possibility of losing her too, I cried out to Tirek before he went on to pursue her. "STOP!" I landed and skidded across the barren landscape. This produced a great cloud of dust to cover my vision. Nevertheless, I didn't hear any motion sound after my call, leaving me to believe Tirek was right outside this cloud of dust. As the dust cleared, I took the time to greatly catch my breath, which was lost from the sudden burst of power but mostly from the panic with Twilight. Once I was able to see through, I spotted the immense size he held as he stared intimidatingly down to me. I couldn't be fazed… I had to do this…for everypony special and important to me… "That's…enough…" I mentioned through the last of my large breaths.

We continued staring unnervingly at each other until Tirek suddenly chuckled.

"I take it you're the Alicorn prince?" He questioned.

"So what if I am?" I returned with teeth ready to be clenched.

"I hear you are a 'sensitive' pony when it comes to your 'friends'." He stated with disgust. "Perhaps we can make this easier between us. Maybe an…exchange?"

"All I want is you to return every pony's power, go back to your imprisonment, and stay there!" I barked back at him.

He laughed at the thought of that happening. "I'm afraid that's not possible…but how about this?" He opened a portal, alarming me and raising up my guard. From inside the portal, he dragged something out. It was a specific princess whose energy levels were lifeless. "I hear this weak princess is indeed your 'mother'. Is this true?"

Before even thinking, I growled in anger at him. "Let her go!"

"I'll take that as a yes." He ignored and continued speaking. "I'll gladly allow her freedom, should you give up your magic to me. In fact, I'm feeling very generous today. I'll let all of the princesses go in exchange for your magic."

Luna managed to slowly lift up her head as she continued hanging by Tirek's magic. She stared seriously at me and seemed to be trying to shake her head. She didn't want me to give up my magic, and neither did I, but I couldn't bear to see her or the others so helpless! "You're not going to get my magic." I responded as I felt myself fuming up. "One way or another, I'm going to make you regret ever escaping Tartarus!"

He laughed once again, having him be unable to speak for a few seconds. "You really are an amusing one, aren't you? I'm actually being nice here and allowing you to spend your final days with your so called 'loved ones'. I will be taking your magic either way. I'm just offering an easier and more promised approach. However…if you wish to do this the hard way with no pony to comfort you as I conquer this retched 'friendship' land…so be it." He furrowed his eyebrows as I stressed mine and clenched my teeth. He carelessly threw Luna back into the portal to her possible dungeon, sparking the flame inside of me.

I immediately went for his face, charging like a shooting star, which must have been one of the new powers from the princesses. It was only a few seconds before her grabbed me with his gritting hands and threw me towards the floor. My body skidded for a moment. When I finally recovered and was able to clearly see what was happening, Tirek was lifting his giant front hoof to crush me. Trying to teleport out of the way, I instead activated a higher upgraded type of teleportation. The only differences I seemed to notice was that, like light, I vanished at faster rate along with a short transparent form that appeared to be useful for not being spotted.

As Tirek tried looking around his humongous and sight-blocking body. I worked my magic at his legs, and soon enough, just as they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. When he fell on his knees, I warped up and galloped along his back. Not knowing if he had a different specific weak spot, I only targeted his head, slashing at it with my aggressive magic. When he was able to get on his hooves again, he roared and launched me off by suddenly jerking his back backward. However, I was able to balance myself out with my wings, waiting to see what Tirek would do next.

He proceeded to shoot an enlarged ray from between the sharp horns he held on his head. He was able to leave this ray continuous, having me need to dodge by getting away from it instead of going over or under. It seemed he used that move to distract me because as soon as it ended, there was a boulder being hurled towards me. The first thing I could think of what just to break through it with my magic. When I did, I was immediately greeted by Tirek's hoof. It forcefully kicked me into the air, having me be unable to recover for the time. Tirek took the opportunity he had and knocked me aggressively back into the ground with his fists.

I struggled to push myself off the ground, which became unleveled from his recent attack. He closed in on me as my hoof shook and trembled to push me up.

"Why must the two of you continue to try to protect your little home?" Tirek questioned, referring to me and Twilight. "It is of no use. I have almost the magic of every pony in Equestria, including Discord's."

I gasped in shock, widening my eyes. How did he get Discord's?! Did he give it to him?!

"I gave you a chance to be with your ever so loved ones, and look where that has brought you. Now, I'm going to take your magic, and you'll be with no friends whatsoever."

If only I practiced…. I probably would've have stood a better chance. If I had stayed outside and practiced, I would have been with Twilight and we could have done this together! Why didn't I just stay outside with her?! Why did I have to be so stupid and try to look for an answer inside the castle?!

"Now…come to me…my favorable Alicorn magic." He proceeded to activate his magic-sucking powers to me until his was unexpectedly and suddenly interrupted. He roared in a painful kind of way as his eyes were pummeled with muffins.

"Leave him alone!" I heard Vinyl's voice exclaim, quickly pushing in a cart holding a huge item into the scene. "Why don't you pick a fight with something your own size, like my BASS CANNON!" She shouted out loud, pressed a button, and unpacked some kind of huge speakers. Before I knew it, these speakers unloaded such a loud throbbing sound that caused Tirek to cover his ears. Even I had to block mine because of the painful sting it caused.

Next, I saw Derpy carrying Octavia, dropping her off on Tirek's head. She held a mighty grip on his mane and jumped towards his eyes. She continued holding on, basically causing more agony by pulling his hair and then proceeded to kick him in the eyes. "If you can't take the music, get out of the pit!" She shared.

Having had enough, Tirek violently shook his head. While Tavi held her grip, it didn't seem to help her situation any more than it needed to as she was unable to continue kicking accurately. Tirek opened his practically swollen eyes and angrily shot a flared magic beam at Octavia. Being hit, she was forced to lose her grip and fall towards the ground.

"Tavi!" Vinyl worriedly cried out as she and Derpy rushed towards her.

Tirek took this opportunity to smash Vinyl's weapon, ceasing the sound.

As Derpy and Vinyl tended to Octavia, whom appeared to be barely alright, Tirek made a great swipe with his arm and held them angrily to his face.

"Did you three really think you could make a difference?!" He yelled out with painfully bulging eyeballs, proving how he was in no mood to laugh.

"…uh…yeah…?" Vinyl answered with a sheepish grin.

"The three of you will pay for your insolence! Starting now!" He exclaimed and then opened his mouth to gather the trio of energy they had. Once he sucked it all in, he threw them back to the ground, welcoming the short bit of power he gained.

"Tavi!" I raised out my hoof and began to get up with the strength I was able to recover. "Vinyl!" I stood up and began galloping towards them. "Derpy!" When I reached them, I was presented with a clear view of how fragile and weak they were. "Why?!" I almost shouted out loud in anger at them for leaving their safety. "Why did you three come out here for me?!"

"You're our best friend, dude…" Vinyl feebly answered. "We couldn't stay inside knowing that you were out there trying to protect us…"

"You've been such a good friend ever since I said hi to you for the first time." Derpy continued, apparently feeling too awful where she didn't bother crossing her eyes. "…good friends help each other…no matter what…"

"I may have not known you for long…" I heard Octavia speak, causing me to turn my head to face her. She grabbed ahold of my hoof that severely harmed me emotionally. "…but you helped me so much to see things differently… I can't ever thank you enough for that."

"No…" I shook my head at the sight of all three of them. "Why does this keep happening…?" I felt my eyes begin to brim with tears. "Everypony keeps leaving me because of me!" I felt the frustration build up inside of me. "I'm sick of it!"

"Do you see now, prince? You are responsible for their pain." Tirek stated behind me, grinning to the enjoyment of his power. "Nothing would have happened to them if you just had given me your magic in the first place. Instead, you decide to put everypony in front of you as a shield. Princess Twilight. Your friends. Even your dear mother: Princess Luna!"

"No!" I cried out in anger, feeling an inflated surge in my horn. "You're wrong! I'm not supposed to hurt anypony! I'm supposed to put everybody's safety first before me!" My eyes were shut tight and my teeth were gritting with a lot of pressure. "Tirek!" I turned fumingly around and faced him furiously. "You may hurt me, but you do not hurt my friends!" I shouted out and suddenly felt a burst of energy within me. What looked like a shield of light formed around me and as I felt some kind of new energy break open, the shield shattered out aggressively.

Tirek seemed to be highly surprised by this turn of events, so to take no chances, he immediately fired a beam of his improved magic at me. However, I somewhat deflected it away from me and hurled at him. I literally had no conscious control of the fury of blows I was shooting at him. The only thing I was able to gather during the moment was that I had almost changed into something else completely. My pony body remained, but it was almost entirely transparent. Nevertheless, there was this aura throughout my body that continuously glowed in a pulsing matter. I had no wings physically attached to my body. Instead, they somehow spiritually connected to me instead, keeping me in flight. They were very long and feathery. Definitely nothing I'd ever seen before. During my endless attack, I also noticed two orb-like objects hovering around me.

Once Tirek seemed to have enough of this storm of strikes of light, he was pushed upwards into the air, and I continued from there until I finished by charging at him in some kind of swift teleportation. I was literally appearing to be moving at the speed of light!

He was dazed and stumbled back while I stood in front of him, catching my breath. He stared at me as he tried to restore his energy. "The princesses gave you this power?!" He questioned.

Ignoring his question, just like he did with my order to let Luna go, I built up the magic in my horn and then felt myself dash towards him in a great burst of energy. Holding my hooves forward, I forcefully pushed and buried him into the ground. I finally ended my rage by grabbing a gigantic boulder and threw it against him, covering him with large pieces of crushed rock.

I felt myself calm down and whatever I was died down. I sensed myself landing back on the ground with no breath in store. I panted loudly as I continued staring at the mess I made with Tirek. Instead of going to look to see if he was possibly defeated, I turned around and quickly raced to Octavia, Vinyl, and Derpy.

"Alex…how did you…?" Vinyl tried to question as they seemed to have gained the strength to sit up.

I shook my head, not wanting them to talk any more. "You three need to get out of here now. While you're still okay. I don't want to lose any of you." I stated, pounding my hoof on the ground in emphasis.

They only stared at me in what appeared to be concern, even though of the risky surroundings they remained in. Before they could come up with anything to say to me, the ground shook tremendously. Suddenly, a hand shot out from underneath and grabbed ahold of me. Tirek was able to break his way from underground to me. There, when I was in his sights and grip, he left no chance for me to break free. He immediately opened his mouth and I could feel all of my magic be forced out and sucked away.

Now, I truly felt empty…

He let me join Vinyl, Octavia, and Derpy when he threw me carelessly to the ground. With the remaining strength they had, they attempted to make sure I was still breathing. I may have still been alive…but inside…I really felt dead…

"Now, where is that weakling Princess Twilight?" He questioned as he looked around.

Little did he know, he was immediately attacked with a large ray of magic from above, sinking him to the ground. I saw Twilight diving straight at him from above, angrily gathering another magic burst to knock onto him. After, she quickly landed on the ground and noticed me with the others. "Alex!" She held out a hoof. However, before she could move, Tirek performed the same action like with me, only he used his magic instead to cut out a circular shape form beneath the ground. He then lifted the entire piece of ground and threw it away. Twilight swiftly was able to fly off from the piece of land and head back towards Tirek. The villain roared aggressively and pounded at the ground, releasing deadly small mountains to obstruct Twilight's path. Nevertheless, each large mound that was shot up was quickly obliterated by Twilight's magic.

As soon as Tirek knew Twilight wasn't going to give up so easily, he turned to me and snatched me. Just about when Twilight was going to pummel him with another shot, she immediately stopped and removed the aggressive look on her face. She formed a completely worried one when she noticed me as Tirek's shield. She calmly landed as she continued to keep her shaking eyes planted on me. Tirek grinned in both accomplishment and evil intent when he saw this.

"It appears we are at an impasse." He stated and then proceeded to offer the same opportunity to her as he did to me. "How about a trade, Princess Twilight?" He snapped his fingers, revealing those who I weren't expecting to see. In some kind of imprisonment bubbles were every one of the girls, including Spike. And…Discord… "Their release for the rest of the Alicorn magic in Equestria!" He offered.

Twilight gasped.

The girls immediately protested against the idea of giving up the last of the magic.

"What's it going to be, Princess?" He pressured Twilight, as she could only look over at every one of us in shock.

"Don't do it, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash shouted out, muffled by her bubble.

"We aren't worth it!" Fluttershy agreed greatly.

"Oh, but you are, Fluttershy." Discord began talking, causing my eyebrows to be furrowed even at the weak state I was. "You're the pony that taught me that friendship is magic. I had magic and friendship, and now I don't have either." He covered his face in shame.

Nevertheless, I didn't give a care for whatever he went through. He wasn't getting my sympathy. "…you…shut up…!" I managed to say through heavy breaths.

He didn't answer to that. He only just seemed to accept it.

"Enough!" Tirek cut short. "I want an answer, and I want it now!"

Twilight looked at every one of the girls, switching to me at last. Her eyes seemed to reflect some kind of…shimmer of hope. However, she solemnly lowered her sight to the ground and began to answer. "I will give you my magic, in exchange for my friends."

Everyone gasped at her sudden decision.

"As you wish." Tirek snapped his fingers, popping the bubbles and giving the girls back their freedom. He still held me in front of him, along with leaving Discord in his bubble.

"All of my friends." Twilight clarified.

"After the way he has betrayed you, you still call him a 'friend'?" Tirek pointed out.

"Release him!" Twilight demanded.

"If that's what you want." Tirek did so.

"Thank you, Twilight…" Discord expressed and then turned to Fluttershy. "I'm sorry…"

"I know…" Fluttershy turned her head away and released a few tears.

"You're forgetting somepony!" Twilight shouted out in anger, referring to me.

"Oh, don't worry." Tirek responded. "You'll get your fellow Prince. Right after I'm sure I get what's mine." Afterwards, he opened his mouth and began sucking out the magic from Twilight. All of the Alicorn magic left in this world. Twilight released painful screaming when she felt it stolen from her. Twilight shook and fell to her side just as Tirek finished draining her power. Finally, he threw me towards Twilight to begin enjoying his total control. He roared in accomplishment and I could feel inside of him the excitement of destroying every little thing in his way.

"Twilight, what were you thinking?!" Spike asked as the others rushed towards us. Fluttershy specifically tended to me.

While she seemed to be relieved that I was still…breathing, she still couldn't help but keep the worried look on her face as I was in pretty bad condition. I looked past her and noticed Vinyl, Octavia, and Derpy sadly make their way over here.

I sighed and lightly talked to them. "…I don't know what you three were thinking…"

"We just wanted to help…" Vinyl answered while sadly looking at the torn apart ground.

I managed to weakly lift myself up. "…thank you…" I only shared and then turned to Twilight, trying to help her up as much as I could. "…I think it's all my fault…I should have stayed with you…"

Twilight sat as she tried to regain her strength. "Stop… It isn't…"

"…are you okay…?" I asked in the matters of remaining alive.

"…I think so…" She answered and then looked in the direction Tirek began eliminating everything at. "…as for Equestria…I don't know…"

Discord felt the needs to join in on the conversation, even though he was completely unwelcomed in my eyes. "Tirek tricked me into believing that he could offer me something more valuable than friendship." He explained guiltily. "But there is nothing worth more. I see that now." He looked at this odd medallion he wore around his neck. "He lied when he said that this medallion was given as a sign of gratitude and loyalty. But when I say that it is a sign of our true friendship, I am telling the truth…" He removed it and placed it around Twilight.

Even though I didn't want anything to do with anything he offered, I couldn't help but feel something from that object.

"You think that might be the last one we need?" Applejack asked once she noticed Twilight look up in realization.

"We have to get to the chest!" Twilight stated.

"Come on. Up and at 'em!" Vinyl brought over what was left of her cart. She helped me on there and pushed me along with the girls that began running to the sign of new hope.

After returning back to the chest at the Tree of Harmony, we noticed how the keys were still in their place. Twilight held up the medallion she was given and it immediately transformed to a key. The last key… After it entered the final keyhole, we felt strong vibrations and heard the pounds of Tirek's hooves as he made his chaotic and destructive way towards us.

"Together!" Twilight exclaimed to the girls that had their keys in the chest. "I think we have to do this together!"

They surrounded the chest and placed their hooves on their keys at the same time. As soon as they turned, the top of the chest opened. My eyes widened when I noticed that there was a strong light coming from within. It immediately shot towards me and lifted me up, greeting me with this warmth and strength of light. They all gasped as this sight occurred. Soon after, a rainbow shot straight towards the tree, connecting each one of the elements. The bubble of light that surrounded me blasted six different rays towards the girls.

Amazingly, the six of them underwent transformations like I did. As they seemed to grow stronger in magic, I returned to my transparent state and rather appeared to be like a ghost of some sort. Our…ball of power was raised up from the pit that the Tree of Harmony was in and met with Tirek, who was completely not expecting this to happen from us.

In a fit of rage, Tirek attempted to dismantle our joint effort with the magic of everypony he stole from. Once he realized it did absolutely nothing, he furiously questioned us. "How is this possible?! You have no magic!"

"You're wrong, Tirek!" Twilight boldly answered. "I may have given you my Alicorn magic, but we carry within us the most powerful magic of all!"

Feeling as if my cue was revealed, I focused intently and dove towards Tirek in a flash of light, striking him six times. They brought the rainbow from the others in attack and caused him to scream in both failure and pain.

I was taken to Tartarus where I apparently seemed to have imprisoned him.

"Stay there!" I banged aggressively on his cage and then remembered how I had seen my mother thrown into the same place with the portal Tirek had opened up. I found them imprisoned in an area not too far. I surprised them in many ways when they saw me standing before them. Nevertheless, I focused on their chains and removed them, feeling the power to do this come from somewhere else than magic. I wasn't sure if it was my doing as well, but it seemed as if they were given their Alicorn magic back.

Before we could converse on what just happened, I was teleported back to the Tree of Harmony, along with the other girls. Everypony, along with me, seemed to return back to normal. Normal as in the way we were before Tirek ever even began stealing the magic from others. With my energy restored, I rushed over to Vinyl, Octavia, and Derpy.

"Are you okay?" I worriedly asked them.

"We're better than okay, man!" Vinyl shouted out in glee as she brought me in tightly close for a bear hug.

"So okay!" Derpy joined in.

With a light but delightful smirk, Octavia also contributed to the embrace. "You all really are something, aren't you?"

When I was allowed to pull away and breathe, I only shrugged it off lightly. "I guess…"

"So…is that it?" Rainbow Dash asked, feeling as if the immense burst of energy had ended.

"I guess so…" Twilight smiled a little as she stared at the Tree of Harmony in both wonder and question. "Tirek's back where he belongs, Equestria seems to be restored, and everything…well…seems to be back to normal now." For some reason, she held her head down sadly afterwards. "…well…almost normal."

"What do you mean?" Applejack asked in concern.

Twilight turned to her in answer. "The library was blown up by Tirek." She shared bluntly.

"Is Owlowiscious okay?!" Spike immediately questioned in fright.

"Yes…" Twilight nodded. "I managed to bring him out with me right before Tirek struck our home." Twilight sighed in sadness. "Looks like I'll need some other place to sleep tonight…and probably for who knows how long."

"You can stay with me." I offered, feeling that I probably wouldn't sleep anyway.

Twilight smiled softly at my offer, but Discord seemed to cut in once again.

"Twilight, I'd so ever be more than happy enough to assist you with—"

"NO!" I shouted and pointed angrily at him. "You shut your mouth!"

Discord seemed to react in surprise as he held his claw and paw up in frightened defense.

"Alex." Fluttershy approached me. "I know how you feel right now about Discord…but he apologized. And he truly meant it. I could feel it!"

"I don't care." I continued glaring at him. "I knew he was always a nuisance, but I never thought he'd actually turn against us! After everything everypony did, especially you, Fluttershy! He just forgot all about that in exchange for stupid power! What kind of a 'friend' is that?!"

"It's not entirely like that…" He tried to support.

"Shut it!" I responded bitterly. "It doesn't matter if you get all of Equestria to forgive you, I'm not one of them! In fact, I never want to see your face again!" Afterwards, I began storming out of the area. Vinyl, Derpy, and Octavia worriedly joined me as I headed in the direction towards Ponyville in the Everfree Forest.

"…dude…are you going to be okay?" Vinyl asked.

"…I just need…to blow off steam right now." I returned, feeling my head ache from the frustration I vented out. "Thank you…" I told the three of them. "Even though I never would have wanted you to risk your lives like that…I really appreciate it." I turned back to the front to focus on where I was going. "…it's good to know who your true friends are…"

At home, I stared out the window in complete silence. Even hearing hoofbeats nearby, I paid no attention to them as I was lost in thought. A hoof on my shoulder brought me back to my senses. I turned to see my mother staring in silence at me, seeming to hold back hidden concern. "I understand you haven't chosen to forgive Discord, have you?"

"Don't tell me you've gone and forgiven him too." I almost barked back.

She removed her hoof and took a seat with me. "We all…are going to need some time to set things straight with Discord." She mentioned subtly.

"I don't count on ever forgiving him…" I looked back outside with angry narrowed eyes.

Luna looked at me in worry. "I understand…why you feel like this, Alex. As much as I don't like it either, you must learn to forgive him eventually. Holding grudges…are very bad…"

Even though I had no mind to forgive Discord, I knew what she said was true. "I know…"

"Princess Cadence, Princess Celestia, and I must see if we can address to the physical damage Tirek had left behind…along with reversing some of the antics Discord caused…" She tried to take the last part lightly, seeing as my tension with Discord was already high. "We shall speak to Princess Twilight and you later. As for right now, the both of you and your friends should get rest. It's been… a very hard day for all of us."

"Okay…" I answered, holding no promises.

"I'm proud of you." She planted a kiss on my cheek before she took her leave.

I remained looking out into the space of my mind.

Twilight soon entered my home as I heard her voice from downstairs.

"You don't mind staying here, do you, Spike?" Twilight asked.

"Nah…" He answered. "But I have to admit…I think I am going to miss my bed."

"Sorry…"

"It's cool."

I heard them climb up the stairs and reach my level.

"Spike, why don't you go wash up and get ready for bed?" Twilight suggested.

"Okay." He walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

"You still mad…?" Twilight asked me.

I took a moment to answer. "…I'm not really mad… If you're talking about Discord, I'm furious with him, but right now…I'm just…I don't know…"

"You have to admit…he did help us with the last key…all of the keys as a matter of fact." She brought up. I only shrugged, not wanting to get into talk of him right now. Twilight decided to change the subject as she sat down on the side of my bed. "You gonna share the bed?"

"Nah…" I stood up and began walking, surprising her with my answer. "You can have the bed." I clarified. "I don't think I'll be getting any sleep tonight."

"What? Why?" Twilight questioned with concern.

Feeling…disappointed, I answered briefly. "…Too many things on my mind."

"So what was the whole point with Tirek anyway? Besides destroying a few things, all he did was just make their 'friendship power' stronger than before."

"Tirek is just a pawn in our little game. Just a brute force with a brain holding the size of a walnut. So why not use him to keep the little ponies' wandering eyes off for a bit? There is one more step to be done."

"Uh-huh… That is?"

"We, or in this case, you, shall make use with the fragile heart of a certain pony with 'self-esteem' issues."

"And what makes you think your 'plan' isn't going to fail just as Tirek's?"

"Leave your thoughts of concern out of my business. What about you? There must be something you're looking in gaining from this."

"Me? I'm going to take back what's rightfully mine."

The Night That Never Was: Part Two

Episode 91 – The Night That Never Was: Part Two

I didn't return back to the celebration like I was supposed to. Instead, I just chased after Luna in fear, anxiety, and even panic. It seemed like the only reasonable thing I could think of, even if it was what that stallion most likely wanted. I didn't know what else I was supposed to do, and I didn't have time to think it calmly through.

When I reached Luna, I told her everything. Well, the part where the stallion came up to me explaining how everything that happened was supposed to happen. But most importantly, I told her how everything hinted to Night Terror.

Honestly, she didn't seem as surprised as I thought she would be. I mean, she still reacted a bit terrified, but it wasn't as bad as I had reacted. But…it felt like…she knew she had to be ready for this. Like if she knew this was bound to happen, and now be the time to take action.

The next thing I knew was that I was dressing up inside my house. Fitting myself…in armor. The thought of protecting myself with armor…scared me. I had never actually really worn armor before, but for some reason, Luna stated that it would be highly necessary.

I suppose it wasn't anything too unfamiliar. After all, the Royal Guards wore it all the time on their duty. Speaking of the Royal Guard, Luna wanted Tia to rest after the night she just had. However, to not completely lower her guard about the escaping Nightmares, she let the guards know that if they saw any of the creatures they saw before, they should let Celestia know immediately.

All I could think about was the future as I observed my reflection in the mirror. I looked…so different. It was…eerily disturbing for some reason. I felt afraid about moving on forward to deal with the matter. Alone even. Even though I knew I'd be with my mother.

Luna made sure to let me know that to expect no one else to come with us. Not even our friends this time. The only reason she gave me was that where we were going, the less would be the better. I didn't know what she meant by that, but I was more than sure I would find out.

After I felt I was equipped enough, even still holding Spirit's hoodie and my charm inside, I began making my way through my bedroom and down the stairs. Before I could make my way out the door, somepony came in. At first, I thought it would be Luna, but after a good look, I noticed it was Twilight instead.

"Hey, there you are!" She noticed me and placed on a relieved smile. "I've been wondering where you went!" Twilight walked up to me, instantly noticing the armor I wore. "Hey, what's with what you're wearing?" She asked, looking a bit amused. "Is Pinkie Pie having some weird costume party?" She chuckled a little.

"No…" I didn't have much to answer with. "It's nothing like that…"

"Well, what is it?" She continued. "I don't see why else you'd wear that."

"…I've…got to take care of something." I returned briefly.

Twilight's smile began disappearing. "…'take care of something'…? What do you mean…?"

I knew I couldn't lie myself out of this one, even if I wanted to. There was absolutely nothing else I could think of that would excuse the armor that wasn't downright dangerous. "…Night Terror is back. My mom and I are going to handle it."

Twilight was quietly shocked to hear this news. "Y-Y-you sound like if you're running an errand…!" I shrugged, unsure of how to react since I was already a mess inside. "W-well…then…wait for me! I'm coming with you!"

She began walking past me, as if she was going to do something first upstairs before she joined me. "No." I returned, stopping her walk. "You're not."

"W-what…?" She turned back to me with a confused and searching face.

"You're not going with me." I forced the words out of my mouth with clenched eyes.

"What are you talking about?" She inquired, allowing me to hear the rising fear in her voice. "W-We're a team, right? So I have to go with you!"

"Not tonight." I answered, knowing the more I got into this, the more it would hurt me inside. "Luna and I have to handle this on our own."

Twilight walked over to me where she could see me face-to-face. "Why? Why only the two of you? I should be able to go!" It seemed she was starting to get upset too. Was this because of that talk we had when we apologized to each other after that argument?

"It's too dangerous…" I tried to reason.

"That doesn't matter!" She angrily returned. "So was Tirek, but we made it out fine!"

I shook my head. "This…is different…in ways I can't really explain…"

"I don't care what you have to say." Twilight answered in a stern matter, surprising me and causing me to gasp. "I'm going." She held a very serious face.

Remembering all the times I've already either lost or almost lost somepony, I lowered my head and clenched my teeth as I began feeling very emotional. "…do you realize what you're getting yourself into…?"

"Huh?" She allowed me to continue on.

"I've already…been through so much…" I tried my best to not break down in front of her. "…in ways you haven't seen for yourself. We almost lost Rarity…and I don't dare want to play with losing you. That someone that kidnapped her in the first place didn't just get her for only her. He wanted to toy with our emotions…with my emotions. And you want to know what? He wasn't even trying to take her away from us. In fact, that was his 'plan' all along. So, what if he does something to you if you come along? I can see how Luna was right in suggesting that we go on our own. The less ponies there are, the less opportunities they have to toy with us. We'll be the only ones they have to deal with. And that's how it going to stay."

Oddly, it seemed Twilight was beginning to get into emotional state after she heard me say that. "Do you realize what you're saying?! What if something happens to you?!" She fought back. "How do you think I'm going to feel if something happened to you and I wasn't there to do anything about it?! We're supposed to work things out together! You said it yourself! It's either the two of us or none of us! We aren't supposed to separate like this!" When she paused, I tried to search the words to answer her with, but then she spoke with obvious frustration and sadness in her tone. "This is going to sound selfish, but what if I lose you?! And I wasn't there to protect you!? You know what'll happen? I'll be all on my own with this princess thing! The one reason I was usually able to keep my head strong when worrying about the future was because I knew you were with me! I didn't have to worry so much with you by my side! That's why we just have to do things together no matter what!"

I didn't want to talk about this any further. The more my mental state was broken, the weaker I'd be in every way. And I couldn't have that if I was to face this mysterious stallion and Night Terror. But I also couldn't have Twilight join me, no matter how right she was. I just can't bear the thought of losing somepony else. "Twilight, stop…" I tried to ask.

"No, not until you say that I'm coming with you." She unleashed a level of stubbornness.

"Twilight!" I tried to stop her.

"Say it!" She ordered.

"Enough!" I unexpectedly raised my voice, shocking her and causing her to gasp. "You're staying here and that's that!" She remained silent this time as she stared at me with shaking eyes. "Luna and I are going to handle this. No one else!" Afterwards, I walked past her and headed for the door. From the corner of my eye, I could see Twilight remaining at the same spot in a paralyzed state.

As I walked out the door, I could only apologize inside. But she and I had to know it was for the best…

I reached the entrance to the Everfree Forest, where Luna wanted me to meet her. The whole time, I was staring at the floor regretting how I treated Twilight. But it was how Luna and I wanted… After whatever happens, I'll apologize…and hopefully she'll forgive me.

I picked up my head to notice Luna there, wearing armor as well. The first thing she did to interact with me was to hoof me over a helmet. It wasn't any ordinary helmet. It appeared to actually cover my entire head and face…just kind of like that stallion…

"…you want me to wear this…?" I asked, even knowing it was kind of a stupid question.

"…you are most vulnerable to the darkness when you leave your emotions astray. Night Terror still holds that immense darkness in him. If he knows how to handle it well, he will take advantage of your emotions to hurt you the most. When you are distracted by your emotions, such as sadness, you become weak and unfocused. If he sees this, he will take advantage of it. So, the primary use of this helmet is to not just protect you physically, but hide your emotions from him." She explained.

Definitely finding absolute reason in that, I held no hesitation to put it on. I knew I would be distracted by a lot of things, and it was best to have him be unaware of those distractions. However, I didn't find Luna carry an extra helmet for her, leading me to ask.

"What about you? Where's your helmet?" I inquired.

"Me?" She returned, and then turned her head towards the Everfree Forest. "I shan't be needing it…" She answered with furrowed eyebrows. I supposed she had enough experience with the darkness to know how to face it. "Let us go, Alexander. We must do this as soon as possible. I do not know what Night Terror or that other stallion has in store, but we cannot wait to find out. No matter what, you must stay by me."

"Okay…" I nodded, feeling jittery.

I still never thought I'd be taking on such an important obstacle with such a little group…

I continuously glanced behind me as we made our way to the Castle of the Two Sisters. I hoped Twilight wasn't lurking behind any way, trying to join us even after I told her that she couldn't. This behavior caught my mother's eye, but she probably thought I was scanning for some dangerous creatures like those Nightmares.

Once we reached the doors to the huge castle, we opened them and entered inside after hearing the echoing sound of them creaking aside.

"Be on your guard." Luna cautioned. "We've only just entered but I already feel dark power lingering by…"

I inhaled a deep breath and exhaled it out. "Let's just get this over with already…"

The steps I alone made were loud enough to possibly be heard from the deep parts of the castle. There was definitely no chance going in stealthily. After all, we didn't even know where they were in the first place.

We looked around as thoroughly as we could, making sure nothing would ambush us somehow at all. However, we were startled when we heard the doors suddenly close behind us. As we spun around, we saw that same stallion that warned me previously. Of course he was expecting me… He turned towards us just as we noticed him. He had just finished watching the doors close.

"Don't you know it's impolite to leave the doors open?" He mentioned, even though he wasn't being serious at all.

"We're here." I stated. "Where is he?"

"Whoa, slow down there, kid." He calmly answered. "You two will see him soon enough." He took a moment specifically to analyze us. "Speaking of you two…I figured you'd have a lot more than just this. I mean…at least the annoying princess."

I stomped my hoof on the floor. "How do you and Twilight know each other too?!"

"So, that's her name, huh?" He returned, ignoring the question. "I can't believe I actually felt bad for her…"

"What?!"

"Anyways." He ignored once more. "Yeah. I don't know if I'm going to enjoy taking two ponies on. It seems…too easy."

Figuring he wouldn't answer any of my questions, at least for now, I decided to just give him a taste of his own medicine. "Are you really just surprised because you expected more ponies to show up according to your 'plan'?"

"No." He frankly responded. "It works out either way. I'd be more worried about myself, if I were you."

"Enough blathering." Luna stepped in a bit angrily. "Where is Night Terror?" She seemed to be only really focused on him.

"Why are you so impatient to see him?" He asked Luna. "It's because he's the baby daddy, right?" Luna responded by furrowing her eyebrows and revealing her clenched teeth. "I don't know what the big deal is about 'family' and 'friends'. All they do is just hurt you in the end. Make you weak and squash you like a bug." He looked towards the floor and made the same motion to match his metaphor.

"Real family and friends don't do that." I spoke up, wanting to prove him wrong. "No wonder you're so vulgar if that's the way you think. If you were right, my mother wouldn't even be here with me right now. Plus, family and friends are the reason to pull out from the darkest of times. In fact, they're really the only reason to keep fighting and not give up." I formed a face of confidence to show how true this was to me. "That's why we're here. Not only for us, but to protect the ones dear to us. Even if it hurts…" I closed my eyes and clenched my hoof near my chest, remembering how badly I had hurt Twilight. Feeling frustration once again, I turned my head towards the stallion and remembered all the bad things he had done so far. "What about you?" I asked. "What's the real reason you fight for? Apparently by what you've just said, you have no one to fight for. Maybe that's the reason why you're such a lowlife."

I didn't know if I made any changes in his facial expression, but I did sense he wasn't in his "reckless deviant" mood. He only began sharing with two seriously-sounding words. "You're wrong." He stated, actually surprising me. He turned his head to the side, still giving me an unreadable expression. "I used to have someone…" He remained silent for a moment, giving Luna and me a second to an exchange a slightly confused look with each other. "Great…" He continued, turning his head back towards us. "Now you've ticked me off…"

He immediately charged towards us, causing us to each separate by dodging to the side. However, he disappeared into the darkness, having us lose him for the moment. As we almost frantically tried to search for him, he let out an aggravated yell before he slid in from our blind side. I was hit with what seemed to be the same weapon he had used the last time we met in Fillydelphia. However, fortunately, as I was wearing armor, it didn't seem to be as effective. But it was still staggering with its infused dark power.

Luna rushed to him to prevent him from striking anymore, lighting a powerful beam from her horn. She caught him before he could escape and seemed to actually cause some damage on him as he slipped out a groan of pain. Nonetheless, this seemed to make him angrier, so he spun around with his weapon with another annoyed shout and pushed Luna into the dark side of the castle.

He then turned to me and dashed over to me in a similar way I had previously done with light. Only it was a foggy and smoky sight to me. I reacted by forming a shield in front of me. Nevertheless, he yelled out again and struck me from the side where I was vulnerable at the moment, getting my horn as well. As I tried to regain my focus, he swung his weapon at me and kicked me back. Whoever he was, he was also remarkably fast. No wonder he was toying with me back at that apparent Fillydelphia dream.

He had knocked me against a pillar. I looked up to see him coming straight at me again. I managed to strike up another shield to render him stunned, as he bumped into it. I kicked and fought back as much as I could. When he recovered, he tried slashing at me with his weapon, but I was able to parry it with a slash of my own from my magic. Attacking him a few times more with magic, I turned in flight and kicked him with my back legs.

He growled and began to head straight towards me again. During this time, he must had already forgotten about Luna because I saw her coming up from behind him, and he didn't seem prepared for what she had planned. Preparing to help Luna, I began making a gallop towards him. I knew he was going to dodge my attack, and he did, but this allowed Luna to strike him unexpectedly. He fell and rolled over on the floor. Luna and I surrounded him, the both of us creating a growing glow on our horns.

"No…!" He exclaimed, still holding resentment in his tone. "Not yet…"

Before we could possibly end him, he casted the same "filling the room with darkness" spell. However, Luna countered this with her own spell, able to do what we couldn't previously. As soon as the room was cleared, he was already gone. But Luna knew we weren't giving up.

"He's left a hot trail! Let's follow him, quickly!" She exclaimed and pointed out.

Luna seemed to end our chase once she came to a stop and gasped at what appeared to be a door in our way.

"What? What's wrong?" I asked, quickly turning to her.

"This door…" She began responding slowly. "They…they must…be beyond this door."

"We should get going then." I encouraged.

"Wait." She held a hoof in front of me. "This door has been manipulated by dark power. It…will most likely transport us somewhere else than this castle…"

I stopped and looked at the floor in thought. Remembering about that stallion talking about Night Terror, I suddenly felt an idea form. Night Terror was last sent to the moon… If that stallion just escaped to reconvene with Night Terror…could this door possibly take us…to the moon? "You…you don't think this door leads to the moon…do you?"

Luna thought about it as well. "Now that I hear that…" She closed her eyes and took in a deep and serious breath. Then, her aura formed around her horn. She turned to me and delicately placed her horn on me. From there, she seemed to cast some kind of protection spell on me. She furrowed her eyebrows at the sight of the door. "Let us go…" She hesitantly announced. "We must…end this…"

The way she said that kind of frightened me. I didn't know what she had in mind…but it didn't seem like a happy success. I didn't ask about it, considering she didn't take the time to explain what she did to me. It was possibly because she was in a hurry.

She raised a hoof and placed it on the door. Then, she slowly opened it. Once it was fully open, we could only seem complete darkness on the other end, as if we were about to enter an unlit room. The only difference was that there were these dark wisps around the door. Luna expanded her right wing and placed it around me.

She guided me through the door with her.

As soon as I had passed through, everything…felt different. In fact…it all felt…really cold. As I was given the sight of the landscape we were on, my eyes proceeded to widen in surprise. There was no denying it. We were definitely on the moon.

I looked towards my mother, seeing that she would have the most impacting reaction. However, it didn't seem as bad as it looked, but I couldn't tell what was going on in her head. She only stared at in silence as she seemed to seriously take it all in. Since she didn't say anything, I turned to the direction she was looking at and observed everything.

The moon definitely wasn't as it looked back home. It wasn't flat at all. It held the shapes and figures like mountains as well. However, everything was dusty and bare. I could hardly stand it, and I had only been standing here for just a moment. I couldn't dare think how bad it was with my mother when she was kept imprisoned here. Is it really any better than Tartarus?

Luna lowered her head and closed her eyes, catching my attention. "It's…been so long…" She shared almost tearfully.

I wondered if the apparent duo knew how Luna would react to coming here. It would make sense after all why they would want to settle things here. Either way, I grabbed her hoof and held tightly. "You're free now. You don't have to worry about staying stuck here. After tonight, we shall all rest easy." Wow. At that moment, I almost sounded like her. I looked out at the distance. "We're all going to get the answers we need." I mentioned as I furrowed my eyebrows.

Any more talk between us was cut short. From the silence the moon held, I could hear hooves stepping on the dusty landscape. They weren't even close. That's how quiet and possibly even eerie it was. I focused my sight in front of me. There was a dark figure, having me wonder if it was the stallion coming back for more. Luna must have also heard the hoofsteps, as she looked ahead in alert.

I waited as the figure approached, but I became immediately surprised when I saw another figure appear from the darkness that radiated from the first one. There were now two, and the only thing that came upon my mind was who these two actually were…

I felt now more fearful that I was going to meet him again after everything that had happened from the last time.

"Take heed of your emotions, Alex!" Luna placed a hoof on me and held a grip. "You mustn't let them endanger you!"

As she stated that, I tried holding a breath and straightening myself out as much as I could. They continued walking as we stood in preparation until they suddenly stopped. The moment of silence allowed me to calm down a bit. But then something was thrown our way. It wasn't anything with the intention to hurt…at least not physically. I carefully looked at it to be shocked yet again.

It was…an ice cream stick… Who knew if it was just any ordinary ice cream stick, but for some reason, I gained the absolute certainty that it came from Spirit. The last sight of her replayed in my mind. Seeing as he did indeed have something to do with Spirit, I felt myself enrage. He promised me answers, and I was going to get them.

I pushed away Luna's hoof and ran for it, even though I knew I shouldn't have done it in the back of my mind.

"Alex!" She called out to me, but I was already on my way.

I galloped towards the stallion in anger, practically forgetting about Night Terror. Before I could get a hoof on him, the ground below suddenly broke apart and rose up. It brought me to a paralyzing height as I fell down from losing my balance. When I started to push myself up, the ground that had originally been in front of me rose up past me. I could see a glimpse of the two before they vanished higher up. When I finally stood back on my hooves, I looked up to see that stallion falling my way. He somehow was able to grab ahold of a chunk of moon rock and pummeled me with it. But it seemed more to just toy with me instead of actually hurt me. My armor mostly repelled the damage, but I still felt pain. Nevertheless, as he stood right in front of me unfazed, I glared at him, even though he couldn't see it. "You think that's going to stop me…?"

I could feel the smirk that proceeded after that and he soon disappeared. I looked up, thinking he would be with Night Terror. Following with the mountains that began to form themselves on the barren land, I decided to make my way to finally meet face-to-face with him.

Luna

I desperately tried to find Alex in my sight, but all of the towers of moon rock that were forced up obstructed my entire search. As I made my way around a barrier to hopefully find him, I spotted that mysterious stallion we had been fighting earlier. He came at me and appeared to want to test me with his dark magic. As I galloped, I fought against him with my own magic. However, I only fought enough to defend myself, but I focused the rest of my attention on finding Alex as soon as possible.

Nevertheless, somepony suddenly surprised me when another ray of magic, not of Alex or mine, shot at this stallion. He seemed to not expect this as he managed to dodge it
and look at where it came from. I turned my head as well to find somepony familiar but not completely recognizable at the rate everything was going.

I began to lose my focus as all of us had been running. As I began to recognize this being, I felt myself forget about the current situation for the moment. Just as I was about to call this pony's name, I felt myself being beaten with a plethora of moon rocks. I was thrown to the floor in a harsh manner, and I rolled for a while due to the momentum of my gallop.

From what I could see, she began fiercely fighting the stallion, grabbing a hold of his attention for the meanwhile. It would have been useful had not I been harmed, but I had to take the time to recover. She shot a large beam of magic, which didn't hit its target. Instead, it flew straight towards another mountain of the moon.

Alex

Just as I felt myself becoming closer to Night Terror's presence, I was suddenly thrown off course. Something broke the rock I had been using to break between flights. I lost my balance and began falling straight towards the ground again.

I tried opening my wings to catch myself, but the rocks that were thrown everywhere clipped my wings, rendering them useless for the moment. I felt myself scraping against the mountain of rock, causing me to panic and try to miraculously grab ahold of the rocks to keep myself up and stable.

Luna

When I finally pulled myself together, I picked my head up to see her preoccupied with something else other than the stallion she was fighting. She allowed herself to be distracted with that preoccupation, causing herself to be bashed with rocks too. I quickly galloped to her aid. She wasn't supposed to join us, but since she was already here, hopefully she would be able to help us instead of turning to an advantage for the enemy.

I stopped and almost slid to her side, noticing the small crater that was made below her. She was also wearing armor! It looked like…something Celestia would give her!

"Twilight!" I called out her name, wanting her to respond and let me know she was alright.

Instead of answering, she groaned and struggled to push herself up. As soon as she did the most she could, she forced out a beam of her magic towards something in the short distance. "Alex!" She shouted.

I gasped and looked at the direction she shot the beam. From there, I could see that she had sent a magical shield around Alex's body, protecting him from the many rocks that were chasing after him. As I observed more, these rocks began to look an awfully lot different from moon rocks. Nonetheless, I quickly headed my way to aid Alex so we could hopefully and eventually regroup.

Alex

Strangely, a magical barrier appeared around me, shocking me. It protected me from all these rocks that were out to get me. However, there were too many of them, and it seemed to have broken through barrier. The rest of the rocks charged at me. There was nothing I could think of doing in the heat of the moment, eventually being thrown across another land top.

As I began to try to push myself up, I could see his front hooves in front of me. I began to growl as I knew this was Night Terror. For some reason I definitely couldn't try to understand at the moment, I began to feel resentment against him, even if he was technically my father. I felt like this was somehow all his fault.

I pushed myself up and began running straight at him without thinking. I tried attacking him with magic, but he easily deflected it, later shooting an immense amount of dark magic at me. I was thrown right back where I started before galloping at him. Only this time, I felt plagued. I almost felt like something was eating away inside me and I had nothing to protect me. I couldn't charge at him again. I only glared straight at him as I placed a hoof over my chest.

Suddenly, Luna appeared from behind him, but she didn't try to attack him. He felt her presence and turned around to see her.

"What a pleasant surprise to have you all here with me again." He finally spoke.

As he seemed distracted, I took the initiative to pull myself back up and run straight at him.

"Alex, no!" Luna called out, as if she was warning me not to attack. Nevertheless, I was so close to making contact with him. But then he just grabbed ahold of me without even having to look at me. I felt his dark magic hold me hostage as I tried to struggle free. Luna's eyes immediately became burdened with worry as she stared at me in shock. I could feel the helmet I wore began to crack open… It must have been how strong his dark magic was. "Let him go!" Luna cried out and ran towards us, but then she was suddenly shot off the tower we were on by someone else.

I managed to notice the responsible one, who was actually that stallion that we had been after. He stood calmly and faced our way. As I continued to wriggle free as much as I could, I felt fear intrude deep inside me as I noticed a crowd of rocks make their way where Luna fell.

"Let…me…go…!" I shouted out in fear and anger, but I knew he wouldn't do what I said just because I said it.

"Ooh…" Night Terror smiled deviously. "Looks like you have a friend."

I gasped, desperately hoping he wasn't talking about who I thought he was talking about. He led me to the edge of the cliff and appeared to break open the front of my helmet, allowing me to clearly see who he wanted me to see.

At the bottom, I could see the one I hoped not to end up being here. She and I made eye contact and it was locked on for what felt like hours. My mind whispered her name as I stared in horror and remembered the last confrontation we had, filling my heart with everything negative. Twilight shared the same feelings in her eyes and seemed to only stare at me in helplessness.

I suddenly felt my body lock up, and I couldn't do anything. My mind began to wander off and I felt myself lose conscious as darkness covered my eyesight. Luna was right… I should have controlled my emotions…

Twilight

I cried out his name as I noticed Night Terror just release him from the edge of the cliff. He was falling aimlessly to the ground, and the only thing I could think of doing was going to the spot under him to catch him.

I felt the weight of his body bring me to my knees and soon on the ground. Nevertheless, I quickly grabbed ahold of him with my magic and brought him to my forelegs. I quickly turned his face towards me so I could worriedly analyze him.

He was definitely unconscious and all that came to my head at the time was how I believed I messed everything up for him.

But what about us…? It was what I had thought after he left like that.

Was this what he was trying to prevent? Alex… I'm so sorry… I wanted to help you, but I only did the exact opposite!

Magic suddenly shot straight towards the sky from where Alex had been. All of a sudden, every single one of the stars began being manipulated and pulled away from where they were supposed to be. As I observed this, my eyes widened and dilated greatly. I couldn't believe everything that was happening, and I all just wanted it to be a nightmare.

Luna

I broke through the rocks that had fallen on top of me. Once I was able to stand back up on my hooves, I aggressively turned upwards where he and Alex had been. From there, I felt myself breathing heavily and angrily. I felt my eyes want to dilate and narrow. I could feel her wanting to escape and take control of me once again… I couldn't allow that to happen, nor could I let him win.

I spread my wings and immediately made my way back to the top. As I reached the area, I didn't take the time for a soft landing, I only retracted my wings and dropped roughly to the ground. From there, I took the liberty to scowl at him like no tomorrow. Accompanying him was the stallion that had been with us back at the castle.

"So, how does it feel, Luna?" Night Terror began with a question. "How does it feel to see everything in your life beginning to be taken away from you?"

"My son, Alex." I acknowledged, noticing he was nowhere in sight. "What have you done with him?!" I demanded aggressively.

"He's beyond the edge of this cliff, if you'd like to really know." He easily shared. "My, my. He would have proven to be useful. Unfortunately, we had to come to these lengths to make any progress."

Hearing this, I felt the blood within me begin to boil hotter than I could remember. I growled and the aura in my horn pulsated brightly. "You shall vanish forever!" I shouted and galloped to assault him. As I tried to make contact, he formed a barrier to keep me away. Nevertheless, I fought back and attempted to cross through.

"I'll handle this." He stated as he looked towards his accomplice. "Go do what you came here to do. Keep Alexander alive. Do whatever you wish with the purple one."

"Hmph." The stallion shared, turning and making his way off the mountain as if he couldn't wait to do what he wanted to do. I gasped once realizing the safety of Alex and Twilight had tarnished. I forgot about attacking Night Terror and instead headed where the stallion was going.

He jumped off the cliff. Just as I was about to chase after him, Night Terror became my obstacle I couldn't so easily surpass. At that moment, I knew that I had to take care of him in any way I could, as he wasn't going to let me off without doing so.

"You see how weak you are, Luna?" He mentioned, referring to how easily he stepped in my way. "This is why you need the darkness! Become Nightmare Moon once more, and we shall be granted with everything we ever wished of!"

"No!" I shook my head and exclaimed firmly. "I do not need Nightmare Moon. I can save everypony with my true inner being. The being that only wishes to do well! You will not frighten me! I will fight for everypony dear to me!"

He merely chuckled at my empathetic statement. "If you wish…"

Twilight

I didn't ever think about leaving Alex's side. Not when he was like this. I only remained my place as I kept him in my forelegs. What was I going to do? How could I bring him back? What was I supposed to do? I had so many questions in mind, but the only thing I really cared about was seeing him full and well again.

"Well look at what we have here. Isn't that adorable?" I heard his voice slither in.

From the corner of my eye, I could see him just…looking at us. It bothered me, but I wasn't leaving Alex's side until I needed to. "Stay away from us." I demanded sternly, even though my voice didn't seem as strong as it needed to be.

"You have to admit that that's what you get." He had the nerve to say. "That's what happens when you think 'friendship' can overcome anything. Get real. Look at where the two of you are right now. Here I am, able to finish the both of you off like nothing." I only faced away from him and ignored him. "Hm…who should I pick first?"

"Don't you dare lay a hoof on him!" I shouted out bitterly in anger and frustration.

"Ooh." He mocked. "I'm so scared. You know what? Just because you told me not to, I just think I won't!" Afterwards, he brushed it off. "Hmph. You think that's going intimidate anyone? I don't even remember the last time I've been scared…"

"I don't know who you are…" I proceeded to say. "…or what you even want… To me, you're just some sadistic lunatic. You have no reason to be after us like this!"

"You have no idea…" He left me with a vague answer.

Clearly, he wasn't going to leave, and I was already getting exasperated. I couldn't just sit here and let him bother us like this. It's time I did something for a change. And it starts with him.

I took a gentle look at Alex, not so sure I'll be around to see him wake up again. "This time…I'll protect you…" I whispered softly to him. Afterwards, I planted a tender kiss on his cheek and settled him down lightly and away from us. I stood up and faced this stallion, not caring about what I was getting into. I was giving it my all before in that dream he was in. If it was true, then there was a good chance I probably wouldn't last long. I just hope it's long enough for Alex. But I had to do my best. I had to keep my promise.

"If you want to get to Alex…" I began, lighting the spark in my horn and tensing my legs. "You're going to have to go through me first!" I yelled out and then began galloping straight towards him.

"Gladly…" He mentioned last, appearing rather not at all intimidated.

I began using all I knew ever from studying with Princess Celestia and on my own. I'll be honest, I didn't focus too much on fighting with magic back then, as I never knew I would have to actually use it. Either way, things occurred just as I expected. I wasn't doing much to him besides stalling.

He continuously jumped and dodged around my attacks. I didn't even think he was trying to hurt me in the beginning. However, I knew he was going to get fed up with his current tactic sooner or later.

He chuckled as there was a recess in our battle. I was already running out of breath, and I was clinging on to the fact that I couldn't stop until Alex was safe. "Isn't this at all familiar to you?" He asked, revealing no signs of fatigue.

"…what…?" I questioned in between breaths.

"This right here." He seemed to refer the entire situation. "Only this time…I'm not going to be so lenient as before…"

"Huh?" I returned before he disappeared in sight. As I quickly turned around, I noticed a shadow come up from the ground and form back into him. I gasped as I quickly tried to defend myself with my magic as he began to strike. I grunted and groaned as I felt his power overwhelming mine. I had to perform another maneuver, or he would catch me right then and there.

"You aren't protecting anyone if you can't even protect yourself." He insulted.

Growing upset, I furrowed my eyebrows at him and felt myself huffing in anger instead. I was no longer trying to keep him away. Instead, I was forcing myself through and at him. Releasing a roar of passion as I pierced through his power, his force suddenly broke. He was pushed backwards, but he did not fall.

From there, he continued standing in silence before deciding to speak. "You're really lucky…aren't you…?"

Catching my breath from having let myself lose control of my emotions during that time, I decided to not continue after him and allowed him to speak. "…what are you…talking about…?"

"Hmph." He responded. "Looks like she's lending you a power you shouldn't have. Doesn't matter. That's not going to stop me from getting my way."

I sent him another furrowed look and then began running at him to make sure he knew I wasn't going to let that happen. Nevertheless, he released a devious sound and suddenly vanished from sight. I stopped in my tracks and quickly looked around to see if he was hiding anywhere. However, I didn't see anything suspicious nor did he try to attack me. I hopefully figured he was gone for now. After, I unexpectedly heard a groan come from Alex, causing me to widen my eyes and quickly look his way. "Alex!" I called out.

He began opening his eyes slowly, as if he had just returned from a deep sleep. They roamed around for a moment until they found me. Once they did, they widened immediately in shock and surprise. "Twilight!" He called in alarm, looking past me.

Reading into his warning, I turned around. But the last thing I remembered seeing was the sight of the stallion before everything became black.

Don't worry. Just follow my voice and you'll be fine.

Luna

Night Terror and I stared across each other after our light scuffle. It appeared we had been evenly matched for the majority. By the expression on his face, it all seemed to be entertainment for him.

Breaking the heavily silent moment, I heard a sharp cry from not too far away. It seemed to come from the direction that other stallion was seen heading. I dashed over to the edge of the cliff, but it was difficult to find where it came from.

"What do you expect to accomplish here, Luna?" He asked behind me. "Do you even have a plan? Surely, you didn't see any of this coming."

I coarsely turned to face him with an aggravated look, denying any doubt he tried to place on me. "It is true, I do not know what is of that other stallion that has accompanied you…but one thing is for certain. I have come here to stop you. To free that innocent heart you held captive inside the deepest darkness you hold! Even if I must take drastic measures!"

"And by how do you plan to do that?" He asked with a smug grin. "The Elements of Harmony that ultimately freed you are now casted into the Tree of Harmony. There is no way you can accomplish your goal."

I responded by only narrowing my eyes. Sadly for Alex, the Elements of Harmony were not what I had planned anymore. After having so much time to think not only for myself, but for everyone, I decided to do what was really best. Especially for the one held captive by Night Terror…

"No matter." He chuckled after observing my silent reply. "You don't think I idly sat by here awaiting for you to return to do what you must, do you? I still know the worries you have after having succumbed to Nightmare Moon. In fact, I can see her waiting to unleash in your eyes. All she needs is a little…push."

"Nightmare Moon is past me." I mentioned boldly. "I now have those I care for, and I will not surrender if it causes those whom I love harm!"

"You may believe so, but have you taken a look at your precious night?" He questioned, having me glance upwards and soon become fixated on the sky. The stars had all been held together unwillingly and were no longer liberated as they were supposed to be.

"What have you done?!" I angrily faced him, feeling as if he broke a personal memento.

"I'm helping you overcome your childish ways." He answered. "Remember how the moon and sky reacted in your transformation to Nightmare Moon, along with your escape back to Equestria? I'm giving you the pieces. Now's the time you act on them."

"And what makes you think I have any will to become that horrid nightmare once again?!" I argued.

"No matter how much you try to hide it, I can see how distressed you are about your 'loved ones'. In fact, right now, I know you wish to go aid them, but I am here in your way. Even if you don't feel it, you are clearly panicking inside. You are…perhaps even afraid of the darkness. You are vulnerable, Luna."

"I am not!" I shouted back.

"Then prove it." He smirked in confidence. "See if you can resist the power of Nightmare Moon."

Afterwards, he began focusing the dark magic in his horn. I noticed the alignment of the stars were being shifted once more. Soon enough, they were all forced to appear together, having them look as if there was one big light in the sky. However, Night Terror must had tainted the light they gave with his darkness, as they began releasing a large shadow. Immediately after, at the speed of what used to be light, it began shining down upon me.

Remembering this scene, I gasped and tried to quickly protect myself with my magic. But it resulted with no difference. I was still affected by this haunting shadow, and I could hear the statements I regretted sharing from such a long time ago.

There can only be one princess in Equestria! And that princess... will be me!

No! Stay away from me! I do not need your power! I revolt it!

I couldn't move or cast anything. At that point, I was truly physically vulnerable. Night Terror only watched as I tried to struggle in keeping this darkness away.

He smiled villainously. "I'll leave you to…accept your new being."

As he began walking past me to possibly join the others, I forced myself to repel Nightmare Moon as much as I could. No matter what I did, I could still feel her overcoming my body. I began feeling immense sadness as I was now scared that my willpower was not enough. Tears escaped from my eyes as I struggled to keep control of myself.

I…I can't…not again… This cannot happen. I cannot hurt all of those whom once feared me! I cannot let this happen again!

I raised a hoof and tried to push myself out of it.

Alex… Twilight… My friends…

Had it not been for the dark power that took a hold of me, I most likely would had begun sobbing uncontrollably. But even I was not granted the freedom to do that.

I have to protect you all… I mustn't…give up!

I slowly placed my hoof on my chest and remembered the charms Alex gave to the two of us. Then, I also remembered how warm I felt from receiving mine. I recalled how delighted I was to see that he actually spent the time to make something for me. How far he went to prove how much I meant to him. How would he feel to see his own mother overpowered by the one thing she fights against…?

He would…be so devastated… Everypony would…

Night Terror must have sensed that I had not completely transformed yet, so before he left, he turned to look at me. "Still trying to fight it? You're only wasting your strength. The sooner you allow it to have your heart. The sooner you will not feel the pain."

"…'have my heart'…?" I repeated. At that moment, I revealed my clenched teeth and felt determination to have the opposite. "No…" I managed to say. "I will not…surrender my heart…!" There, I began realizing the reason why I had possibly became Nightmare Moon in the first place. "Nightmare Moon shall not return! Not on my account!" I began pushing myself up, feeling less of the dark power hold me. This gained the attention of Night Terror. "You must have forgotten one thing, Night Terror…" I stated. "You've tried to use my emotions against me…but I have many things that prove I need not to worry!" I opened my eyes to be allowed to glare in confidence at him. "I once succumbed to Nightmare Moon because I felt I had nothing else to abide by! I felt so alone and isolated. Everypony loved my sister as her day, and I felt the opposite when it came to my night and me! However, I know now that I have friends and many ponies who love me for who I am! I cannot allow that to all just vanish! I must protect everypony I'm responsible for!"

"And if these 'friends' betray and rise against you? What then?! Nightmare Moon's power will be yours and yours alone forever!" He argued.

I shook my head. "Clearly you do not understand friendship…" I shared. "And if I was to give up all my magic and power to stay with my loved ones, I would do so in an instant!"

"This is absurd!" He expressed in anger. "If you think that shall save you, you are wrong. If I must stay here for a moment longer to show you that…" He began preparing the dark magic from his horn. "Then so be it!"

Alex

After having been slowly awoken, my eyes caught sight of Twilight. However, she was being welcomed by a highly hostile force.

"Twilight!" I tried to warn her, but as soon as she turned around, she was immediately dealt by the one that slyly approached her from behind. Chills shivered throughout my entire body as I heard her shriek and fall lifelessly to the floor. I released a loud gasp as that stallion stood in front of her. From there on, I attempted to get up as quickly as I could, but whatever Night Terror had shot me with still made it hard to move.

"Rule Number One…" I heard him began saying as I barely managed to turn myself around on the floor. "Don't lose your guard like an idiot." The more I felt that he was going to render Twilight absolutely lifeless, the more I panicked to get up. "Now…you finally get what you deserved for all this time…" Through a series of painful groans, I finally managed to push myself up while still feeling restricted. As soon as I saw him about to shoot a beam at Twilight, I readied up my own and threw his off-course. "Huh?!" He seemed surprised by my interruption. I was growling heavily in anger once he turned to see it. "Well, look at who decided to finally wake up." He said.

"Don't you dare lay a hoof on her!" I ordered fiercely.

He chuckled softly. "That's funny. She said the exact same thing to me before I dropped her to the ground." In a fit of rage, I charged at him. He merely hopped backwards, allowing me to trip and partially fall towards the floor. Nevertheless, it was still a good thing. I was by Twilight's body. "Look at you. You really expect to 'protect' her in the state you're in? You'd be lucky to even land a hoof on me."

"I don't care." I aggressively shared. "As long as I'm alive, I'm making sure you don't get anywhere near her!"

He didn't seem to laugh at this again. Instead, he agreed. "Fine. After all, he just said to keep you alive. Doesn't mean I can't knock you out." After a fierce growl/roar I ran at him again. Head-butting him, I had the both of us fall down along the side of a crater, bringing us to a lower level. As he easily got up, he calmly waited for me to push myself up. "You sure you still want to do this?" He asked mockingly.

Nonetheless, I answered with an aggravated roar as I headed straight towards him.

Luna

I must have placed a well-deserved fight against Night Terror as he was now brought to a panting state.

"I don't understand…" He stated. "You're so weak! Your body demands this power that will fulfill your every desire! Why must you continue to resist?!"

"I don't care what you must babble on about!" I responded. "I don't even care if my body does wish to have this power. All I know is that my heart refuses it! Don't you see? Power alone will not give you true freedom and happiness, rather the opposite! Don't you recall this?!" I began reaching towards the succumbed life beyond inside him. "Remember who you once were, Night Terror!"

My call seemed to be working, as he stumbled and planted a hoof on his head. "Foolish mare… How wrong your 'heart' is! It is no wonder you needed the dark power in the first place!"

I absolutely wished I remembered his true name. If I did, it might have been just enough to free him long enough to do what must be done. Since I didn't have his name to continue my entreat, I galloped towards him to possibly knock some sense into him. However, he ceased my movement with a spell from his magic. As I began working to free myself, I continued throwing words at him. "You will not win his body, Night Terror! He can still gain it back!"

"Your words are useless." He responded. "That's enough. I must return to my plans. Be gone, wench." He proceeded to make his way down below.

"Night Terror!" I called out loudly before I focused on removing his spell on me.

Alex

I think I was struggling with darkness as I fought him. Every now and then, my heart would sting…as if something was trying to reach it. Nevertheless, it was up to my physical being to prevent it while defending Twilight at the same time. It proved all to be the more difficult challenge so far. I only hoped I could keep the strength to endure and fight it.

Instead of it being a "fight-to-win", it was more like a "fight-to-defend". I didn't attack aggressively as I wanted, only having the focus and strength to block or parry his attacks.

At one point, he stopped, allowing me to catch my breath while he didn't need to recover at all. He only looked as I heavily panted. I wondered whether he was thinking he'd be able to defeat me, since I was so exhausted. But whatever state I was, I wouldn't give up as long as I was conscious.

Surprisingly, he didn't go for an attack. Instead, he just continued standing there. "Hmph." He expressed unexcitedly. "This is getting really boring. No way I'm going to end you like this…" After a second of silence, he sighed. He glanced up for another second and then turned back to me. "Okay, fine. You win." He said. "But don't celebrate just yet. There's still more to come…" He mentioned, turned, and formed an area of dark mist to escape through.

I didn't bother going after or even questioning him. Instead, I turned and galloped back up the crater. From there, I was able to see Twilight's body in the same place. I was relieved, but at the same time very worried. Who knows what he did to her…

"Twilight!" I called out her name and raced over to her. I held her up around my forelegs and continued to try to reach out to her. "Twilight… Twilight! Come on! Wake up!"

"Don't waste your effort." I heard nearby, causing me to turn my head. I noticed Night Terror standing not too close by but still at an uncomfortable distance. "Her heart is asleep. She will not wake up."

I furrowed my eyebrows at him. "What do you know about her heart?"

"Plenty." He began to take a step forward, having me tense up. "Much more than you have ever known."

"Yeah, right…" I responded with what I could only really say.

"Tell me…" He began. "Do you recall what happened the day the two of you became prince and princess?"

What was he talking about? Our coronation? Twilight becoming an Alicorn? "What are you getting at?"

He sighed and shook his head in disappointment. "Foolish boy. Allow me to show you." He closed his eyes and began focusing his magic. A dark aura formed around Twilight. Soon enough, my heart began beating immensely as I clenched at my chest. It was acting so uncomfortably, keeping me practically incapacitated.

"W-what are you…?" I inquired.

"Do you need me to spell it out for you?!" He seemed annoyed at my apparent ignorance. "The nightmare I'm sending to Twilight is gaining a reaction from your own heart! Don't you see?! The two of you are connected!"

"W…what…?" I couldn't understand what he meant by "connected". Even so, this reaction I was getting from heart was distracting me from focusing on what he tried to get me to see.

"Still…you understand nothing…" He shook his head again. I lifted up mine to take another look at him and surprisingly he was a different pony. For some reason, he didn't look like the Night Terror I remembered. Instead, it was a pony that somehow looked familiar, but I had no memory of who it was! "I know all that there is to know."

"W-Who are you!?" I demanded almost desperately.

He continued staring at me with a smug grin for a moment before he replied. "It is I, Astro Eclipse, and I will make sure this night will be a night nopony will forget."

As he began making his way towards Twilight and me, somepony else suddenly landed in front of me. "No!" It was Luna. "Stop!" She cried out differently. She began to run straight at him as she pleaded. "Don't get near hi—"

The pony who claimed himself to be "Astro Eclipse" merely threw her to the side with his magic as he continued walking. I couldn't do anything as he approached us. "I will deal with you in a moment. As for now, I will trap this mare's heart in an unending nightmare and use her magic for myself."

"Stop…!" I tried to exclaim, feeling fear invade my heart. I couldn't even tell if it was mine or Twilight's… "Don't…" I held out a hoof towards him.

"And what are you going to do to stop me?" He asked. I couldn't give a straight answer to that. "As I thought." He knocked my hoof away and me to the ground. "It is time things worked my way now. No longer will I be interrupted and opposed by such imprudent beings. And I will begin with this naïve princess! Prepare!" He warned Twilight, as if she was able to hear the things he was saying. "For now I shall render you useless once and for all!"

He began focusing his magic as my heart beat stronger and faster the closer he got Twilight. If it was true that Twilight and I were…connected…then it was either one of us, or perhaps the both us, that were scared for our lives right now. But I couldn't do anything… I…I felt immobilized.

Alex!

I heard someone calling my name, and before I knew it, I was crossing horns with this Astro guy. "Forget it…" I told him as I glared right at his eyes. "You're not hurting my little sister…!" I knocked his horn away, pushing him a few steps back.

"So you still wish to fight…?" He questioned as he scowled right back at me. "If you're looking to receive the same treatment…then so be it!"

He charged right at me again, slamming his horn against mine. This time, he shot a ray of magic into my horn. My horn sparked and sent me a shock of pain. Afterwards, he grabbed me and threw me behind him.

I began picking myself up and then tried to make use of some attacks with magic, but something was definitely off. I couldn't use any magic! It was as if the connection in my horn and my magic was cut off. The only thing I could get out of it were little sparks of magic. Nevertheless, he actually rendered my magic useless!

As he walked intimidatingly to me, he grabbed a giant boulder of moon rock and appeared as if he was going to crush me with it. As soon as he released it with his magic, I had no choice but to move out of the way as quickly as I could, seeing as I couldn't use any magic.

As I tried to gain my balance, he seized me with his magic again and brought me closer to him to meet face-to-face. "Do you still think you can change anything?" He threw me afterwards and began heading to Twilight. "You're useless just as she is!"

"No…!" I pushed myself up and ran towards him, stopping his magic by countering with my horn.

"I will end you!" He growled.

There he began to push towards me, readying his magic for Twilight when I was out of his way so I wouldn't be able to stop him quick enough. I felt myself weakening at his physical strength. He was gaining the lead on my block, and as soon as he would remove me from his sight, it would be all over.

I felt the force of my horn and head begin to dwindle. It was all beginning to shake from loss. He was dangerously close to pushing me away, but I tried with all my might to prevent him. No matter what, my strength was already at the brink of giving out.

I thought about Twilight and not wanting to let her down. I had to protect her because if I lost her, I would never forgive myself. Inside my mind, I was calling out for Twilight for a reason I did not even know. I just so wished for aid. I never wanted to fight without her again!

"Begone!" He exclaimed.

At the edge of falling defeated, I suddenly felt a wave of rejuvenation flow through me. From there, I opened my eyes and stared daggers from them. I began slowly pushing forward. I wasn't exactly winning, but I was keeping him further away from Twilight. However, I still didn't know if I'd be able to keep it up.

But fortunately, I was saved! From behind Astro Eclipse came my mother. With a fierce look on her face, she created a glow on her horn and thrusted it at him. From that, he ceased his force on me and the glow on his horn died out. Nevertheless, he remained staring at me, not even sparing a glance at Luna. "Perhaps I underestimated you…" He said as he began…fading away. "I'll be waiting…"

Afterwards, he disappeared.

"What just happened?" I questioned Luna, a little out of breath. "What did you do?"

"Do not relax yet…" Luna answered frankly. "…I only sent him to the dreamscape…"

"Then what do we do now?" I asked, feeling worry and perhaps even a little panic from the thought of him roaming around there.

Luna turned to Twilight's body that still laid unconscious. "Let us get her to a safer place first."

Without wasting anytime, we took Twilight back to the Castle of the Two Sisters using the same way we left. Luna made sure to remove both the dark magic and portal caused by it. I only restlessly observed Twilight, hoping she would wake up soon. But she didn't. What if he was right…?

"It is best if I get my sister for this matter." Luna approached me, referring to Twilight.

"What about Night Terror?" I reminded, still feeling uneasy for his apparent freedom in the dreamscape.

"We must tend to Twilight before him." Luna answered honestly.

"Then take me to him!" I surprised Luna with my response. "I'll make sure he doesn't escape somehow while you go get Celestia for Twilight!"

"Alex…!" Luna stated with widened and shocked eyes. "It's too dangerous for you to go alone!"

"It probably is…" I returned with a bit of doubt. "…but we can't risk having him escape! I don't want to have to go through this all over again! I just want to stop him already!"

"Alex…" Luna appeared to be frightened at the thought of me going alone. She released a heavy sigh and remained silent for a moment. Then, she began speaking again. "If I send you to him, I'm immediately coming after you when I get Celestia, understand?"

"Yes!" I softly exclaimed, just wanting to get everything over with.

She sent me uneasy eyes. "…are you absolutely sure about this…?"

At that point, I felt two options were given to me. Keeping my word or telling her that I probably needed a few minutes to figure things out. But looking at Twilight, I couldn't risk the latter.

"It's now or never." I stated.

Luna sighed once more but nodded almost hesitantly. "Okay."

She closed her eyes and began focusing her own magic. As I felt her aura around me, I shut my eyes and prepared for my transition to visit Night Terror and hopefully end things once and for all.

I underwent the same transition as I did when I traveled to Sweetie Belle's dream. However, one thing concerned me. Luna told me that she had sent him to the dreamscape…but she wasn't exactly clear on that… Could she have possibly sent him to my dream?

That question left me preoccupied as I attempted to remain focused on the transition. It was as if it began with a recall of tonight's events and it slowly transformed into a different scenario. Clouded skies formed, lightning flash, and thunder roared. I must had been getting closer.

But I really wanted to get this over with. In some way, I honestly didn't want to see his face again. I haven't received answers about Spirit at all, and I was expecting I would finally have them in a short time. I just wanted to clear everything out.

The dream world began looking familiar and clear. I narrowed my eyes and prepared for arrival. This was it. This had to be the end. No more running. No more escaping. Everything was going to finish now.

I had forgotten about my rough landing before and just barely remembered I had to slow down. While I barely passed on yielding, I still came in like a shooting star and approached the ground that had been visible. I didn't seem to hurt myself, but I was out of breath for that moment.

"You never get enough, do you?" I heard his distant and dark voice.

"You…" I pushed myself up, continuing to catch my breath as I noticed the same mysterious stallion before. "…what are…what are you doing here?" I asked, wondering how he was able to be in a dream as well.

"Still clueless as ever…" He shook his head while looking towards the ground. As he did so, it gave me the chance to observe my surroundings. If I remembered correctly…it appeared to be the area I faced off Night Terror for the first time. "Okay." He said. "Let me start off with this. Ever noticed something off about you? You know. Especially when you were trying to get your friend back from the Nightmare she was in?"

As I took in my last panting breaths, I thought about it. What is he talking about? When I was trying to…save Rarity? I closed my eyes and then remembered the one on one encounter with Nightmare Rarity. There was…something that didn't want to happen that would've rescued Rarity easily. "The light…" I began to recall. "…inside me… It was like…it just…disappeared."

"There you go." He encouraged. "And that 'light' is supposedly in your heart right? Well then look into your heart. How does it feel?"

I kept my closed eyes and concentrated. As I now had the time to truly focus on the emotions in my heart…it was all just a bunch of hurt and sadness. It was no wonder why I haven't smiled at all for all this time. "It's…" I began to express. "It's really…aching…so much… At the same time…it feels…empty…"

"Now we're getting somewhere." He continued to react sympathetic-less. "So, now connect the two. Your light…and your heart. Your heart feels empty, so your light is pretty much 'empty'. But there's still one thing missing from this equation. The reason why it feels empty."

"…you…you know…?!" I softly exclaimed in surprise, seeing how this stallion could possibly know so much.

"More than you believe." He responded with. "Now, think about it. When did you really start feeling empty?"

I took a moment before I answered… "…the morning Tirek escaped…" I mostly told myself.

"And what happened right before that morning?" He questioned.

I thought about it and realized something. However, instead of answering, I grew angry at him. "You know what happened?!" I reacted.

"I would be stupid if I didn't." He returned. "But stop getting off-track here. You wanted answers didn't you? Well, I'm actually helping you trying to get them right now. Now recall that night. In the dream. Tell me again what happened."

"I…" It pained me very much inside to remember. "…I…I hurt Spirit…"

"Exactly." He surprised me. "You 'hurt' Spirit and you felt empty afterwards."

Ninety percent of me felt like I knew what he was talking about, but ten percent still demanded clarification. "Wait!" I ceased. "What are you getting at?! What does Spirit have to do with my heart?!"

"This mare you call 'Spirit' plays…quite an important and interesting role." I heard another voice come behind me, having me quickly turn. Night Terror approached the scene. "However, it was a role we couldn't come to admire. We had to instead…diminish it to the best of our abilities."

"Yeah." The stallion agreed. "We're both out for different things, but the one common goal was getting rid of this 'Spirit', so… I guess you can say we kind of…planned things out. I caused some kind of interest when I took her hoodie that you were complaining so much about and you are now ironically wearing." He pointed to me, having me look down to see it. "Returned it back to her and convinced her that if she didn't permanently disappear, you would instead."

"What?!" I heatedly questioned.

"Hmph." He chuckled shortly. "Knowing her, she'd do anything for you. Little did you know, she cares a whole lot more about you than you think." I gasped. "That's why she went as far as to hurt herself so much to save you."

"Why…?" I began to inquire, feeling myself began to boil up and become furious. "Why did you lie to her and tell her to do that?!" I shouted out.

"You're still unable to connect the pieces, huh?" He responded. He sighed, shook his head, and clicked his tongue. "No wonder you've been losing so much. But if I have to really answer it for you…" He paused for a short moment before he finally decided to explain. "Spirit was really inside you all along."

I widened my eyes in shock as I gasped once again. "…what…?"

"You know how she always disappeared from sight every time one of your friends would come around?" He then proceeded to laugh for his next statement. "It was because she didn't want your friends to think you were crazy! What do I mean? Only you were able to see her when you were conscious. I guess she was really crazy about taking risks with you finding out the truth. But anyway, I'm getting off-topic here." He looked past me to Night Terror. "Why don't you explain the whole reason about getting rid of her?"

"Certainly." Night Terror returned and began his part. "We needed to be rid of her because it led us to a wide variety of options. She was the mare that controlled your light. And with her gone, you would not be able to voluntary control it yourself, placing you at a high vulnerability. With your light 'gone' and no mare to use it, you'd no longer be protected against the darkness. We're here to give you two options, both of which you may obviously not prefer. You will choose only the two. One: you leave your friends and family behind, and accept the darkness into your heart. Two: You don't accept the darkness, but either way you'll be leaving your loved ones, as we'd be glad to be rid of you."

"Yep." The stallion began again. "You have no choice because that little filly is all gone. Completely and permanently gone."

"…what…?" I asked, feeling my heart drop immensely. "She's…?" I began feeling their words impact the way I thought, but I couldn't have that. I shook my head, desperately not wanting to believe it. "No… You're wrong…" I remembered the last talk I had with her before leaving her to rest. "She's going to be okay… I know it…"

"Oh, give it up!" The stallion raised his voice, as if he was tired of what he possibly thought was my stubbornness. "She's gone! Really, you could just think of her as a figment of your memory that never really existed now. And you want to know what the funny thing is? You did it. You ended her. And you never really knew how much she cared about you."

"No…!" I felt myself becoming frustrated.

Before I could argue back, Night Terror continued on the conversation. "However…it is a past thing. We will not dwell on it any longer. Right now, you must make your choice. Accept the darkness and lose your loved ones? Or deny it and still lose your loved ones. I personally prefer the first. Who needs others when you have power to obtain anything you want? You can scare a pony into thinking your almighty and be your 'friend' if you wish." He chuckled offensively. I felt every part of my body clench in anger to his thoughts on others. "Hearts are really a fun thing to play around with, especially knowing that all the heart does is really make you weaker with these 'feelings'. Once you learn to throw always those feelings, nothing can stop you." He turned to me. "You're the proof of how intriguing it is to manipulate such 'strong' hearts."

"Just stop it!" I finally shouted out, feeling that I've had enough of both their negative talk. "You think you can treat ponies' hearts like they're things you can just play around with, but they're not!" He raised his eyebrows in amusement, and I continued to speak freely and deeply despite the fact that he may have not been taking me seriously. "None of you may understand how special our hearts are to us, but they're the reason why we fight! These 'feelings' our hearts have give us the courage to face things like you. They're the reason why we don't cower and give up. In fact, mine's the reason why I'm here tonight instead of hiding under my bed… It's the reason…why I know I have the strength to defeat you…"

"Hmph." The stallion interrupted. "You were only 'strong' because of the mare you had inside of you. Other than that, you're really just like anypony else. You're just really lucky enough to be an Alicorn, but even that doesn't matter when you don't have any light to counter the darkness. Don't you see? We're the nice ones here. We're actually offering you darkness so you can feel useful. Isn't that what you always wanted? To have a purpose in life?"

I felt…saddened by that remark. I felt my head lower and my lungs exhaust a breath. This was true…but it definitely wasn't the way I wanted. In fact…I knew I already had a purpose… "I do have a purpose… I don't care about 'power'… The only thing that matters is them…" I closed my eyes and thought about everyone. I didn't think not only about my best and closest friends, but all of my friends. "All of them…" Princess Celestia. Princess Luna. Miss Cadence. Shining Armor. Twilight. Spike. Fluttershy. Applejack. Rarity. Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash. Maud. Coco Pommel. Daring Do. Cheese Sandwich. Seabreeze. Applebloom. Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo. Derpy. Vinyl. Octavia. Lyra. Heck, even Discord and Bulk Biceps. Everyone. As I thought about them, I felt them as if they right by me, supporting my choice and thoughts with the warmth of their presence. "They're the reason I keep fighting…even if my heart is empty… To protect all of them… That's my purpose… I don't need darkness… Not when I have all of them. Even if I can't protect myself…they're willing to protect me!" I shouted out in a glare at the stallion. "I don't need these little things you call 'power'. All I need is something to fight for. And I have it! I always will! You want to know what my real power is? Ultimately, my friends are all the power I need!"

After my lengthy response, the stallion only stared at me. I couldn't tell how he was feeling…but I felt…I finally got a good hit on him. Otherwise, he would have gave some kind of dumb and childish answer. After dwelling in a moment of silence, he scoffed. "I'm tired of hearing this." He turned to Night Terror. "You do what you want. I'm out of here." He turned and faded off, leaving me to only face Night Terror.

"So, I assume you won't be accepting the darkness then?" Night Terror asked, appearing to have completely ignored the meaning of my message. "Alright. That isn't stopping me from obtaining what I wish." He horn began being surrounded by a dark, misty, and dreamy aura. "If you do not wish to side with me, I shall have you eradicated. See how well your 'friends' are with saving you from me."

I bended and readied my hooves, planting them on the ground and refusing to run away. "Just try me."

He furrowed his eyebrows and clenched his teeth. As he began preparing the battlefield to attempt to dispose me, I only contained a fixated look directly on him. As I slowly and calmly huffed out deep breaths of anger and vengeance, a few words slipped under my breath with a tear slipping from my right eye.

"This is for you, Spirit..."

Twilight

I raced along the track, trusting the promise she said she'd keep. I had to find Alex to make sure we'd stay together until the end.

As I followed the familiar and recognizable rocky path, I heard loud vibrating sounds coming from the distance. I hurried as quickly as I could until I came to a visible sight. There, I believed to have spotted him, along with Night Terror! However, Night Terror was hurling boulders, possibly even asteroids or meteors at him! Alex didn't look like he was taking any caution. He was just charging straight towards Night Terror while dodging and breaking apart those rocks as much as he could!

I had to go help him! I'm sure the two of us will make a difference! It's time for the prince and princess to protect the good of everypony!

As I dashed my way through, I was just about to arrive to his aid until Night Terror suddenly got a lead. He managed to occupy Alex with one of his large projectiles. As soon as Alex was able to be rid of it, Night Terror immediately surprised him with another one. It crashed right in front of him, and he was knocked back and thrown to the floor as the broken pieces of the rock were hurled at him. Night Terror began sinisterly approaching him as Alex had a hard time getting up. But I wasn't having it!

With my teleportation, I sharply appeared in front of Alex, stopping Night Terror in his tracks.

"Hold it!" I halted. "You want him? You're going to have to go through me first!"

Alex

"Twilight…!" I was amazed at her return. She was alright! But what was she doing in my dream? Who cared? I was just glad to see her again!

"Ah, it is you, princess." Night Terror seemed to take gladly. "Allow me to thank you for coming to his side. I can destroy the both of you at once."

I finally pushed myself up and joined Twilight determined glare at Night Terror. "No, you're not!" I returned confidently. "With the two of us, we can do what you think is the impossible! Like you've mentioned about before, there's a reason why the two of us are connected! It's for situations exactly like this! I should have put away my doubts before…" I shared an apologetic glance with Twilight, who noticed and reacted with a concerned look. "I should have known that…no matter how things look…we always do things together. That's the reason…because the two of us will bring light to this darkness!" I pointed back at Night Terror.

"Foolish ponies!" Night Terror hissed. "Still, after all this time you understand nothing… Your words are useless if you have no real power to withstand the weight of them!"

The ground immediately began shaking. Before we knew it, the ground began breaking apart and falling to the endless abyss that appeared below. It started with Night Terror and us. He removed the ground below us.

Twilight released a shocked yelp, having me grab her hoof before she fell to the abyss. I spread out my wings to keep the both of us afloat. "Twilight…! Come on!" I struggled to say, holding the weight of her with my hoof. "We've got to get to solid ground!"

Twilight began to remove the weight by recovering her wings to fly. "Let's go!" She began flying, expecting me to be right by her side. However, since I had been too focused on her instead of Night Terror, Night Terror surprised me with a direct hit as Twilight began leaving. Twilight took notice just as I began falling. "Alex!" She cried out.

I worked so hard to work my wings again, hoping I wouldn't get sucked into the abyss that I knew nothing about below. However, just as I had begun flying in balance again, I looked up in front of me to see another boulder being hurled at me. I only widened my eyes in shock, unable to react quickly enough.

Based on how close I appeared to be by the abyss, there seemed a pretty good chance that this boulder would end me by rendering my wings totally useless! Honestly, I couldn't move as bravely as I wanted to. The real reaction I returned was a yell and flinching expression.

Just as I was waiting to be hit, something suddenly flashed past me. The boulder didn't hit me, and I felt like it had been suddenly ceased. As I opened my eyes and looked, I was outstandingly surprised when I saw who it was that stopped it!

"Spirit!" I greatly acknowledged her sudden and unexpected arrival.

"Come on, Alex!" She turned to me with furrowed eyebrows. "Let's stop him! He doesn't belong here! Give me your hoof!" She held hers out.

I furrowed my eyebrows and nodded determinedly, feeling all of my worries suddenly vanish. "Okay!" I grabbed her hoof and in practically an instant, I felt my heart reattach itself and become intertwined with another. It was no longer empty!

With a fierce battle yell, the two of us sent the boulder hurling back in the direction Night Terror must have been in. Spirit had held onto the boulder, as it she was going to steer it herself. I returned to the ground with Twilight, who also appeared to be mighty surprised of Spirit's introduction as well. On the other hoof, we got to witness the absolute dismay of Night Terror, whom appeared to be in total denial at Spirit's presence.

"You!" He pointed out. "You're not supposed exist!"

"Oh yeah?!" Spirit answered with eyes that were ready to prove him wrong. "Well, check this then!" She shouted and dove the boulder straight at Night Terror.

Night Terror didn't react in time, as he must have been so overwhelmed with his unchecked reality. He had been wrong about Spirit the entire time. Both of them had! He was struck and sent hurling to the ground by us while Spirit had jumped off the boulder and landed nearby.

He began painfully trying to bring himself back up, holding a hoof to his horn as if he had been severely disabled.

"Alex, Twilight!" Spirit called the two of us. "We have to work together!"

"Huh?" The two of us questioned her.

"The both of you are connected to me!" She explained. "We need to pull the light out and finish him once and for all!"

Already having experience of the light, I grabbed Twilight's hoof and began bringing her over to Night Terror's body while Spirit closely followed. "Twilight! Just focus on not only us, but everypony!" I began instructing her. "Think about how everypony would be happier without this kind of darkness in the world! And use that thought like you would with magic!"

After taking that in for a moment with a slightly confused expressed, she transformed that into a sure one and nodded. "Okay!"

The three of us gathered around Night Terror as he weakly glanced at us all.

"Come on!" Spirit guided. "Let's end this together!"

The three of us followed our instructions and thought of the future we'd have without this burdening darkness. Rays of light seemed to be pulled out from each of us, connecting to one ball of light in the middle and on top of Night Terror.

Finally, he appeared to be stricken with fear as he widened his eyes and stared at the dreaded light. It came straight down at him, defeating and eliminating every particle of his darkness. The strength of the light was so strong, our own eyes were blinded by it.

I felt myself waking up, like if I just had a pretty odd dream. But an exclaiming voice soon snapped me out of it. When I was able to see clearly, I noticed Twilight by my side also seeming to just wake up. I believed I saw Princess Luna and Celestia with a whole lot of others around her, that including the girls.

Nevertheless, Luna noticed something that caught her widened eyes and began running towards it. I turned in the direction she ran to and quickly joined her. She knelt by…somepony that had me awfully curious and concerned. I joined her and soon gasped by who it was.

This pony looked highly familiar… I mean… it was the pony I had seen differently that was apparently labeled as "Astro Eclipse". Only this time, he looked a lot less evil. He seemed to groan as he weakly tried to pull himself together.

"Are you alright?" Luna caringly asked him.

"Luna…" He answered, looking up to notice the sight of her face. With a feeble chuckle, he looked pretty happy to see her. "It's been…so long since I've gotten to truly see your face."

"The feeling is mutual." She returned with a soft smile.

He turned and noticed me. If it wasn't for his frailness, I'm pretty sure he would have given a huge reaction in his surprise for me. Nevertheless, I could still tell he was…astounded. "I'm guessing this is him?"

Luna, looking almost as if she could just cry right then and there nodded with a gleeful smile. "Yes. He's grown so much, hasn't he?"

"Indeed, he has." He stated while continuing to proudly smile at me.

I felt…paralyzed all of a sudden. I knew I should had known it that instant, but…it actually took me a while to realize that this was finally him… While he wasn't exactly my biological father…he was the true father I was supposed to have.

"Is it…really you…?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Well…I sure hope it is." He joked. While I stood there completely speechless and unable to think of any words, he focused on the others surrounding us. "You all must be his friends, huh?"

"Yes." Twilight responded, looking a bit stunned herself.

"Not to sound rude or anything…" Rainbow began answering. "But…who are you…?"

"I guess…you can say I'm Alex's dad…" He responded a bit sheepishly as if he was unsure himself.

"WHAT?!" Mostly all of them shouted out in surprise.

"It's complicated…" He added.

"It's…it's so nice to finally meet you!" Twilight approached and shook his hoof, even though he kind of had a flimsy grip. "I never thought I would actually get to meet you!" It was pretty funny how just a second ago, she was so aggressive when he was Night Terror, but now… "My name is Twilight Sparkle." She began formally introducing herself. "Your son is just a great friend to have!" I began feeling a bit embarrassed… "We're tighter than the pages of a completely drenched book!" Nice metaphor…

Her "adorkable" behavior seemed to make him laugh. "That's great to hear. What about the rest you?" He requested.

"Name's Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow flew up proudly. "I'm all about speed and bashing clouds!"

"And I'm Applejack. I proudly work at a farm that sells the best darn apples and apple products!" Applejack said next.

"Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie cheerfully and excitedly hopped in. "Gosh! You're new in Ponyville! I have to throw a big welcoming party for you."

"No thanks." He answered a little oddly. "I…won't be staying here too long." That statement seemed to…disturb me. But I didn't try to think too much into it, according to the conversation.

"I am Miss Rarity." Rarity presented herself as she fluffed a piece of her mane. "I must say your son is absolutely quite the smashing stallion." Rarity shared with flirtatious eyes at me. I wonder if she was able to feel free with her feelings ever since the talk before this happened...

"I'm…glad…?" He reacted a bit awkwardly. The way he acted…seemed to be as if he was still pretty young. I guess that's one thing Luna and he had in common…

"Spike here!" Spike walked in. "I'm mostly Twilight's number one assistant, but hanging with Alex is cool too!"

I turned to Fluttershy, whom was still pretty shy to introduce herself, especially to my dad. I waved a hoof at her to come over. She a bit reluctantly did so, but as soon as she was by my side, I wrapped a hoof around hers. "This is Fluttershy." I stated for her.

"Hi…" She timidly shared.

"We're…you know." I tried to hint towards him.

"Ah…!" He seemed to grab the hint. "That must be really nice." After having seen everyone except one more pony, he turned to her. "Princess Celestia…I…I hope you know that what I did…" He cleared his throat. "…all those years ago…" He paused and then sighed greatly. "I hope you can forgive me."

She shook her head and understood. "I understand. I suppose…in a way…it was good. It seemed to have brought us Alex here." She turned and smile warmly at me.

"Yeah…" He nodded. "Yeah…I'm really sorry…and I hate what I uncontrollably did so long ago…but I guess that's one thing to be proud of, huh?" He looked at me a little longer and then held a hoof to his chest, as if something was bothering him. He turned to Luna. "Luna…I think it's time to…"

Luna suddenly frowned and closed her eyes, nodding. This caused me to become alerted in concern.

"Sister…" Luna turned to Celestia.

"Right…" Celestia responded solemnly and then turned to everyone else. "All of you…please come with me."

"Huh?" Rainbow Dash questioned. "What's going on?"

"Just please. Come." Celestia requested in a way that I believe she hadn't before, having the others not question her and follow. Before they completely left, Celestia look over to Astro and nodded. "I must…thank you…and bid you farewell." Then, she left, along with the others that became concerned.

The ones left in the room was Luna, Astro, and me. "Hey…" I began questioning, feeling fear rise up. "…what's going on…?"

Luna and Astro shared a…troubling look with each other.

"I think you better let us talk in private…" Astro told Luna. "I'll…um…you know…"

"Yes…" She nodded. "I've…prepared myself for this." Luna seemed to want to reach out to Astro, but she stopped when she remembered I was here. She gave a lengthy sign, sent another look to Astro, and then finally left.

"Dad…?" I said. "…what's going on? Why are you acting weird?"

She sighed greatly. "I don't know how to say this…" He seemed to be struggling greatly, but at the same time, he didn't have a whole lot of time to think of the right words. "…the best way I can think of is… I can't stay here."

"Huh?" I was pretty confused. "You're talking about Ponyville, right?" I guessed from the answer he gave to Pinkie Pie.

"No…" He hesitantly returned. "I'm talking about…anywhere."

"What…?" I was still puzzled, but in a more disturbed way.

"Listen…" He began getting frank. "You're…big now. So, I'm hoping you'll understand. I'm…not completely free, okay?"

"Free of what?" I needed specific clarification.

"You've known me as Night Terror." He recalled. "Well…it's not like…it's gone."

"…huh?"

"That darkness that made me Night Terror. It's not gone." He took a moment. "And it never will be."

"What are you talking about?" I suddenly began feeling fearfully desperate. "What do you mean it'll never be gone? We can find something to make it go away."

"You can't, Alex. Trust me." He stated seriously.

"W-w-what about the Elements of Harmony?" I offered. "T-that's what Luna and I planned!"

"You returned them to the Tree of Harmony." He said. "Even if you could take them out, it would pose great risk to Equestria again. Plus, I wouldn't think it'd work anyway."

"Why?" I almost demanded.

He sighed. "Well…I've…I've been controlled by this… 'Night Terror' for so long… And there's no doubt he'll come again. That's why…" He seemed to struggle greatly for the next part. "…that's why…you… You need to end it."

My eyes widened as my pupil dilated significantly. "…what are you saying…?"

"You know exactly what I'm saying." He replied frankly. "While I'm weak. You need to do it. And you need to do it real soon. I can already feel myself…being eaten up."

"What?! Why?! I'm-I'm sure we can…find something! Zecora can probably mix something up for you! It'll probably keep you going until we find something to—"

"Alex!" He exclaimed, cutting me off. "Stop. This is the best thing for everybody."

"B-b-but I can't…" I felt myself tearing up. "Not after seeing you…like this…"

"I know…" He understood. "It kind of…makes me wish that you were able to end me right then and there with Night Terror. But you have to do it…no matter what."

"I…I…I just…" I tried to fight.

"Stop it, Alex. The more you wait, the harder it is for you." He mentioned truthfully. "This isn't just for everypony else… It's for me too… I think it's best for me if I leave as well."

"H…how…?" I wanted to know as I felt completely drained.

He sighed with a shaking head. "Even if…I did stay like this…and the darkness inside me posed no threat to anypony else…it'd still be like I…I have this painful illness. I wouldn't be able to live happily with it. But the most important thing is…I shouldn't even be here in the first place." I gasped lightly. "Do you know where all of my family and friends besides you and Luna are, Alex?" He asked, but it seemed more to be a rhetorical question. "Not here." He placed lightly. "They're all gone…and I should have been too a long time ago. But this…stupid curse had me stay and hurt others… You and I can't let that happen anymore."

"…what about, Luna?" I mentioned.

"She knows… I guess she's realized it for a while now." He said.

"I just…" I felt my breathing becoming irregular from the sadness that was building up. "…I don't know if I can…"

"You have to, Alex…" He returned. "You need a life without the danger of me…and I guess…I need my peace." I looked at him, trying to absorb what he was saying. I knew… I hadn't been around as long as he had…but it still bugged me to be ending things like this. "I'm sorry to have to do this, Alex." He included. "But you've been living your whole life without me. I know that sounds like a bad thing to say, but honestly…it's good for this circumstance. Like I said, it's better you do this now. Get things over with." Get things over with…? Huh… That's what I thought too… He suddenly jerked his hoof to his chest and strained his eyes in pain. "You have to hurry…! I don't…know how long I'll be like this." I struggled. I tried to get in position, but I really didn't want to do this. "Come on! Hurry!" He raised his voice, frightening me and pushing me to do it.

I stood in front of him and began working up my magic to fire…but that's really as far as I got. The magic stood in my horn, ready to fatally shoot out…but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. My emotions were getting in the way of my physical push. I felt tears slipping out. Finally, as if I had lost all physical strength, I gave up. "…I…I can't…" I expressed weakly.

"You have to try…" He tried to encourage.

I nodded, knowing deep inside me that…this was really what had to be done… "I know…"

After a few seconds of hesitance, he began groaning in pain. "Hurry…! You don't have much time!"

But like the idiot I was, I only stood there, unable to focus and do the job. Soon enough, some kind of dark power shot from him to me, throwing a piercing sting through my body. From there on, I growled in anger at the fact that there was no turning back now. I pointed my readied horn at him, but I still couldn't push myself to do it.

More dark shots came from him, shocking me and causing me to almost kneel down in pain. My dad saw this happen.

"FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE, DO IT, SON!" He bellowed out loudly, causing me to gasp and suddenly shoot a shot at him, knocking him back, but he still stood up, taking the pain.

What was sad is that I didn't even do it on my own account. It was his frightening scream that terrified me into doing it. Nonetheless, I kept pointing it at him. The insides of me began weeping out like a horrified child that wasn't ready for this at all. I took into account of the extreme pain he was in, suffering from both my attack and the darkness eating him up. Taking note of this, I bit my lower lip immensely and strained my teary eyes. I had to finish this!

I forced myself to shoot another strong beam of fatal magic. This finally knocked him back…but to his knees. This kept the darkness from his at bay until he was able to recover from the pain of that shot. He slowly placed his hooves in front of him in exhaustion and agony. Then…he slowly turned his head towards me. I knew he was telling me it was okay and to take the final shot. I…I even saw it in his eyes… He was waiting… Waiting to finally be free from all of it…

This caused me to start weeping. I closed my eyes forcefully and turned my head away. From there…I did it… I took the final shot. I could hear the sound of his body fall straight to the floor. Even though I probably shouldn't have, I looked back. There, I saw his body lying on the floor completely lifeless.

I was completely silent. I slowly walked to his body as I heard the echo of each step. Standing in front of it, I allowed myself to fall hardly on my knees. There, the tears I had been suppressing so much just fell out like a waterfall. I began sniffling greatly and lowered my head in absolute wretchedness. "I-I…" I tried to say. "I'm s-sorry…" I cried out.

I continued sitting there, knowing I would never be able to forget what just happened here. I heard somepony else walk in and sit by my side. From the calm and expecting reaction, I figured it was Luna. As she stared at the body…possibly and silently expressing her goodbye and respects, she wrapped a wing around me as I just threw out my sorrow.

I stayed on my bed, completely broken unable to remove the scene from my head. I think…everypony learned what I had to do and they were giving me my space. It was one of those moments…where I didn't want to be alone…but I knew I needed it to think things through. However, all I could think about was what I did…

I think it was already morning by the time we had left the Castle of the Two Sisters…which was…surprising. I didn't keep track of the time I wallowed inside my house…but it felt like hours…hours that just flew by.

I believed I also heard a sound of someone walking in and up the stairs…but I didn't pay attention to it. I only continued staring at the wall. In all honestly, it could have been a villainous intruder, and I wouldn't have done anything about it. But fortunately, it was just Twilight as she arrived in my bedroom with a restless and worried face.

"Hey…" She greeted lightly, earning nothing but silence from me. "How are you doing…?" She asked, but I couldn't answer with anything. Understanding, she took a seat next to me and rested her head on my shoulder. "I'm really sorry…" She apologized. "I know…this must be hard for you…but I'm sure he's proud of you for doing it."

I finally felt the need to talk. "…he was my dad, Twilight…" I said with a shaking voice. "…he might have not been a dad I thought he was…but still…he actually cared about me… Or…at least he would have…" I turned to that blanket Luna had given me. I almost hated it as it had given me strong hope for his safe return.

"I know…" She responded. "…but sometimes…we all have to do things we really don't want to do…for the better."

I sighed and buried my head.

"Alex…" I heard another voice, causing me to lift my head back up. Spirit was standing in front of me, catching Twilight's attention too. "…can I please show you something…?"

"…what?" I wondered.

"It's outside…" She said. "It might not…completely make you feel better. But I think it'll really help."

I turned to Twilight and sent her a look. I decided to accept. "I guess I need to get out of the house anyway…"

Spirit led Twilight and me outside of the house, where I surprisingly found the rest of the girls, along with Luna and Celestia. They all seemed to have been waiting by. I wondered if it was in case I did anything crazy or something…

As soon as Applejack noticed me, she completed hopped over to me. "Alex? How are you? Are you alright?"

"I…" I didn't know how to answer that, and it was probably best if I didn't. I turned away to see Spirit isolated away from us. She looked back at me, waiting for me to continue following her. "Come on." I stated, inviting along the rest of them to where Spirit was taking me. She didn't seem to mind.

She ended up taking us through the Everfree Forest, which the others began questioning.

Twilight ended their questions by asking them to wait and see until we stopped.

Finally, we arrived at the Tree of Harmony, which was filling my own head with questions. Spirit continued walking, stood near the box, and turned around to face us.

"Spirit, what's going on?" I asked. "Why'd you bring us here?"

"'Spirit'?" Rainbow Dash questioned.

"Yeah." Twilight nodded. "She's right there." Twilight pointed to Spirit.

Everyone else looked, but they seemed extremely confused.

"I don't know what you're pointin' at, Twi. But I don't see anypony." Applejack answered.

"They can't see me." Spirit explained. "Only you and Alex can."

"What? Why?" Twilight seemed to not know. After all, I was the only one who was apparently given the reason.

"Uh…Twilight?" Rainbow inquired, causing Twilight to shush her.

Spirit observed this and reacted accordingly. "I think I better show you this before your friends start thinking everything that happened has messed with your head…" She walked up to the box and held a hoof on it. She rubbed it slightly and then seemed to hug it a bit…as she was reuniting with it or something. "You guys haven't unlocked the chest yet, right?"

"We did." Twilight returned. "It gave us this kind of power to defeat Tirek, even when our magic was gone."

"But it's still here…just sitting…" Spirit noticed.

"Well…the keys are right there." Twilight pointed to the keys in each keyhole.

"Hm…" Spirit appeared to offer a small smile. "If you want my opinion, it looks like you're still missing something."

"What?" Twilight asked.

Spirit returned a light-hearted giggle and smiled. "Me…" She closed her eyes and suddenly a glow of light flowed from her to the chest. From the chest, it then shot out to the Tree of Harmony. Suddenly, the entire area began shaking, shocking everypony. From the middle of the tree, a rainbow shot straight through the ground above it, leading the chest out as well.

Before we knew it, we were taken somewhere else to see the ground in front of us breaking apart. Out of nowhere rose this gigantic crystal-coated castle! After everything settled, everypony looked absolutely speechless.

"Sweet Celestia!" Rarity shared in awe. "Are you all seeing what I'm seeing?"

From the sight of the castle, I looked down at the entrance and then to the road. There, I noticed somepony lying on the floor. I raced over to her, noticing it was Spirit. "Hey, are you okay?!" I asked, placing a hoof over her.

She groaned and she shakily pushed herself up. Once she was standing on all four hooves, she placed a hoof to her head and then opened her eyes. She then immediately widened them as she looked at the others. They all seemed to be staring at her. Twilight noticed the look on Spirit and then faced back at the others to see what the situation was about.

"Hey…uh…are you okay…?" Rainbow Dash asked first, instead of questioning the pony's identity.

She switched glances to each of them, sitting and covering her mouth with her frightened hooves. "…you…you can see me…?"

"Yes, Sugarcube…"Applejack added, as she spotted the scared innocent look on Spirit's face. "Do you mind tellin' us who you are…?"

Once Spirit made sure she wasn't dreaming, she sighed and decided to answer. "It's me…" She started. "I'm Spirit… The pony Twilight and Alex were talking about…and the pony you couldn't see before."

"Whoa!" Pinkie Pie felt the need to exclaim. "Really?!"

"How come we can see you now?" Rainbow Dash asked, trying to grasp the fact that this seemed true.

"I…" Spirit didn't appear to have an answer. "I honestly don't know…" She returned with shrugged hooves. She sounded absolutely truthful on that.

Twilight walked up to Spirit. "…do you at least know whose castle this is?" She asked, looking up to it.

Before Spirit had a chance to answer, we heard Princess Celestia voice landing nearby.

"I believe it is yours, Prince Alex and Princess Twilight." She announced, standing among Princess Luna, Spike, and Miss Cadence. As I noticed Miss Cadence…I wondered if she was told what happened too… However, someone else popped into the picture and waved with a friendly smile. It was Discord, but I honestly didn't feel the need to maddog him. No. I had been through way too much to care about that. Princess Celestia took notice of Spirit and began walking towards her. When Spirit remembered how everyone else could see her, she widened her eyes again and began looking fearful. "And who might you be, little one?" Celestia asked with a welcoming smile.

"S-Spirit…" She practically stuttered.

"That's a wonderful name." Tia repeated a familiar phrase.

"T-thank you…" She turned shyly away to me.

"I don't mean to interrupt anything…but I think we should check that out!" Rainbow Dash pointed to the mysterious castle.

Inside, we mainly led the way, even for the other princesses. Discord was the last one in line. I wasn't sure if it was to stay with Fluttershy or just to avoid me…kind of like how I expected him to do… Everypony was taking in the sight of the castle in awe.

I noticed Princess Celestia finish her entertained sightseeing and smiled down at us. However, she spoke mainly to Twilight. "Twilight, after everything you two have experienced lately, surely you don't feel like you don't have a purpose?" She recalled Twilight's problem since before Tirek heaved in.

"Oh!" Twilight remembered. "Actually…thinking back on it…" Twilight turned to me. "We…really did do a lot of important stuff." She took lightly. "But I mean…that was only then. I know we all kind of…saved Equestria…but…I honestly still don't really have a consistent duty. I mean…what am I supposed to do here now?"

Tia giggled gently, as if she knew the answer but did not want to spoil it. "Twilight, take a look at Alex." Twilight did so. "Don't you see the very special friendship you hold? It's that exact friendship that brought you victory in these past excruciating challenges. You both have said the two of you were a team after all. Even so, you have the rest of your wonderful friends to guide and help you. As a princess in Equestria, does that not give you a hint on what your purpose is?"

Twilight looked down in thought for a moment before she seemed to realize something. "Being a princess…I am expected to lead by example. If our friendship is the most important thing that got us through everything…then I believe we can spread our example of friendship across Equestria!" She stopped in our walk to turn and face us. "Imagine how better our world would be if everyone had this special magic? Alex and I even wouldn't have had been able to do everything on our own! It took all of us to open that chest! And it took all of us to defeat Tirek and save Rarity! All of you are important to Alex and me." She shared honestly.

"Then it is unlikely you are meant to take on this task alone." Princess Celestia mentioned as she grabbed ahold of the huge double doors in the hallway. She opened to us and revealed an absolutely stunning room. Inside held seven thrones with two of the seven having an extra smaller one beside it. Every one of the girls cried out in excitement and awe. "If I may, you are now Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship."

"And Alex?" Twilight asked with a joyous grin.

"To be honest…" I shared. "I don't really care about a title…with all due respect…"

Princess Celestia smile warmly nonetheless. "Even so…I believe it is fitting to be a Prince of Light."

I admitted it sounded a little generic…but hey, I'll take it. I don't really mind.

Remembering the deal with Spirit and how she had accompanied us, I searched around for her and found her observing the thrones in silence. "Spirit…" I called her, startling her a bit.

"Huh?" She turned to me.

"I'm sorry if this sounds cruel…but it's time to come out. What is it you've been hiding this whole time?" I asked, causing a little worry in her face. "It doesn't matter now. I already know the main idea. What I want to know is the full story and why you've been hiding it."

Seeing as she couldn't misdirect her way out of this one, she sighed heavily. "I guess you're right…" She looked away a bit distantly. "I'm not sure it even matters anymore." She paused to take in a heavy breath with closed eyes. "Especially to everyone here…listening right now…you may think this is crazy…but I assure you it's the truth…" She opened her eyes and looked at all of us. "I…I'm… You see…I'm really…well… What you called Alex's Element… I guess you can say…it's really me. I'm the pony, if you can even call me that, that's been inside him the whole time…controlling his light. I practically am it." This surprised everypony, including me, even though I technically already knew the basis. "Before I get any further, I think I want to explain to Alex first why I did what I did. To everyone else…I'm sorry if you don't understand me." She looked towards me. "I…I didn't mean to hurt you…I…"

"It's okay." I interrupted. "I…kind of know that part. Right now…I want to know more about you being the pony responsible for my light kind of thing."

"Well…" She looked to the side with her eyes. "It's…really kind of a long story…but I'll try to sum it up as much as I can. Remember when you found me when I was 'little'? Well... I was actually really lost and scared at that time. I didn't know anything… Even though it seemed like I was some real life filly, I was just really a figment of your heart, I guess. I was only visible to you, just like before this whole castle popped up. So really… I didn't truly exist. Anyway, you had led me to what you call the Castle of the Two Sisters…and…at that time…I felt like it was really home…you know…considering…" She paused herself as if she had trouble explaining. "I'm sorry…there are some things I can't even explain myself…but I'll let you know the stuff I know. Anyways, moving on, that castle was a big part of your heart for some reason…so it kind of…became my home in your dreams. And throughout your journeys after you met your friends…I…I started to grow. Remember Gilda? That flash of light? That was me. I guess…I was kind of trying to protect you from the fear of her attacking you. And the other times your light protected you, it was me learning it mostly because of the want/need to protect you. And…I think I grew from it. You see…I guess since I didn't age normally…I actually aged due to the new mindset you had established. Once again, it's hard to explain…but I guess I won't get too far into it. Anyways…also…I have to apologize one experience."

"Huh?" I questioned.

"Remember the first time you met Discord?" She reminded, glancing over to Discord who looked pretty surprised to be mentioned. "I…" She began rubbing her foreleg in a bit of embarrassment. "The reason you were having such a hard time breathing was because of me too. I was…um…scared of him at first…" She explained. "But not anymore!" She was quick to make clear. "After that whole experience with Discord…the complete change you went through…that's when things lit up for me. I think…that's when I became your age and secretly stood aside you the whole time. Of course, I was still a newbie with a lot of things. Like of course, I couldn't pop out by you like I did days ago. So, of course, I was still completely far from reaching you."

"Sorry to interrupt." I mentioned after having been listening so intently. Things that happened in the past were actually making sense now. "But…were you the one responsible for me becoming an Alicorn all of a sudden too?!"

"Yeah…about that…" She began recalling. "I mean…I guess you could say that…but really it was your love. Which reminds me. Before I get into that…that was one of the main reasons why you were so depressed and at a loss of energy before you met your friends here. You see…you know how your heart is so special? Well…it also kind of relies on love too. And back then, you were so depressed because you had no love. Doesn't it make sense? You and your power has matured over all this time to now because you've gained so much love, including more love from the new friends you made! It's also the very reason you were created!"

"H-hold on!" I halted. "I was created because of love? What?!"

"Um…" She looked like she regretted saying that last statement…as least for now. "I'll get to that…but I should wait at the end…for reasons."

"Okay…" I decided to wait, hoping to keep it from nagging at me while she continued.

"Anyways…let me backtrack a bit. So you started getting love from the others, right? When Discord came along, he took the Elements from the others because they were physical objects. While he technically couldn't take yours he was able to remove that love you subtly felt. Remember? He made all that doubt about the girls actually loving you for who you were, and that's the whole reason why I was afraid." I glanced over to Discord, who seemed to hold his head down in guilt. "It was really bad when Twilight's 'memory' spell backfired. You can remember why… Anyways, I was so glad when you were able to pull yourself together with the gifts the girls gave you." She smiled as she said this part. "You know, you stood up for your friends and things…well…pretty much went up after that whole fiasco. Now, we move on to…" She paused and looked away in grief for some reason. "…Chrysalis…" She proceeded to explain her part there. "When you wouldn't give up because of your love for the girls, that's reason why you didn't lose your life. Like you said. It was ironic that Chrysalis's whole interest was just pure love, because that's exactly what guaranteed your victory against her! All of the love you received was what really allowed you to unlock your true potential and…well…you know…Alicorn time." She giggled a little nervously. "Now that you've pretty much got the gist of stuff involving me…this next part is going to be interesting, especially for you and Twilight." That statement caused Twilight and I exchange a look of wonder between us. "Um…this will explain why no one else couldn't see me but you and Twilight… Remember when the two of you were crowned? Well…a little before that… When Twilight got her wings. Celestia—" She quickly stopped herself, cleared her throat, and appeared to correct herself. "…Princess Celestia…" She felt she had to pronounce her like that. "She…connected the two of you together. When she used both of those pieces she received from inside each of you, she intertwined you two together…which makes more the sense of being a prince and princess together."

"I'm…quite stunned, really." Princess Celestia shared, the look of her eyes proving the surprise she felt. "She's…absolutely right."

"Thank you." Spirit nodded her head and moved on with her story. "You know…then I came in later…but I was being all secretive and stuff… It…It had to deal with…me not wanting others to think you're crazy because they'll think you're talking to yourself. Oh, and well it's also because I didn't want you think I was crazy, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah…" I was starting to get it. "I…I'm getting it now…"

She inhaled and exhaled a great breath before moving on. It must have been because of how long she was talking to explain things for us. "Now…I guess I can move to what I meant about…you being created by love…but…I'm warning you…it might make you think different or upset you…"

I didn't think too much into. I had already gone through so much. What's a little truth going to do? I returned a mere shrug, telling her to just say it.

"Okay…" She received and proceeded. "Let's see…" She thought. "Well…you…you heard from…Princess Luna how you were…born differently…right?" I nodded. "Well…the reason for that…is…well…" She struggled to say it, as if it would hurt my feelings. "…I guess…" She sighed. "I don't want to say that you're not a pony…but…you weren't exactly meant to be a pony…"

"Huh…?!" Most of the crowd, including me, became immediately a little shocked but mostly confused.

"It all started when Princess Luna received that light from the Tree of Harmony when they first discovered the Elements. It was actually…the light that powered all of the main Elements. It wasn't exactly an Element itself. Now…she was banished to the moon…she met him…" I supposed she was talking about…yeah…I don't even want to think the name. "Oh right. They experienced love. That's when it happened. I think the main idea is…the light Princess Luna had couldn't live with the darkness she had. You know, Nightmare Moon? I'm honestly not entirely sure what would have happened had she not experienced love. Who knows? Maybe the light would have died out. I don't know. But it was a good thing she did…because…the love she felt for and from him…it gave the light she had to become a being. I'm not too good with how exactly foals are made…but that's what happened, as impossible as it might seem. I guess…this light was so special that it was able to become something without having…um…help… Of course, the majority of the work still came from Princess Luna's body, but you know… It fed off the strong love she felt… And that was a really good thing…because I'm pretty sure it's already obvious who that light ended up becoming, right?" She looked at me.

"Y-yeah…" I answered a little zoned out. I was still trying to take in about my apparent "true" creation. I mean… with what Luna had told Twilight and me, it did make sense…but I…I found it pretty hard to believe… Does that mean… I was technically living a whole lie my entire life? "W-wait. Hold on." I tried to catch up. "You're saying that…I was made by love? That's why it wasn't… H-huh?!"

"Yeah…" Spirit seemed to feel bad for how I was reacting to her explanation.

"So let me get this straight…" I tried to clear things up. "I'm…I'm not who I thought I was this entire time? I'm technically not even a real pony? I'm just this…'light' that manifested into this being? So what? Does that mean I'm practically a robot or something? Does that mean I don't have real feelings? Is everything about me a lie? My emotions? Everything?" I began feeling upset, but in the depressed kind of way.

"N-no…" She responded a bit gloomily, as if she was sad that what she said made me sad. "It's not like that…"

"Well, then…what is it?" I asked. "Because that's what it sure feels like to me."

"Look, Alex…" She said. "I honestly don't know… I honestly don't have all the answers…"

"How do you even know all this stuff now?" I questioned.

"Well…" She shifted her leg on the floor. "Most of it is from you. And the rest…well… I don't know how to explain it…but I guess it just comes with the job…" She referred to her purpose inside me.

I sighed heavily. "That's just great." I turned to the others. "Sorry, everyone. I guess the 'pony' you all know and love isn't really a pony. Just some 'unknown light being'."

"Alex, darling, stop it." Rarity asked of. "So what if you were…born a little differently." She tried to be gentle about it. "Why should that make you think differently? How does this change you? You're still the same pony to us, even if you technically…" She thought for a moment. "…aren't a pony…?" She shook her head. "See, that's the thing. You can't say that you were not a pony before hearing this. You are a pony, are you not?"

I took a short look at myself. "I guess…"

"So? Then you're a pony to us. And don't think things about you like your feelings are fake. I assure you that are just as genuine as ours." Rarity stated firmly.

"She's totally right." Twilight joined. "Think about it, Alex. Do you really see anything different between us? As in, say, being a pony."

I thought for a second. "I guess not…"

"No!" She firmly modified. "Besides us being females, we're all the same! All of our hugs are warm and loving. All of our emotions can touched and felt. Everything about us, including you, is genuine!"

"Trust me, Alex." Spirit joined in and tried to reassure me with a smile. "It might be…a little weird to think about it now, but nothing about you has changed. You've always and will be the same loving pony to those who accept you for who you are."

Despite what I had apparently just learned about myself, I supposed they were right. It didn't really change anything…did it? I mean…I was mainly doing fine without even knowing about this before… Besides…fretting over this thing alone was the last thing I needed to worry about…

"Forgive me, but I just need to get this off my chest…" Discord walked in and approached me. However, before he continued speaking, he seemed to still hold enough humor to tear off a leech that had been attached on him. "I know you're angry…very angry…" He mentioned. "But I just want to let you know how truly sorry I am. I suppose the thought of such power Tirek slipped into me…seemed like a good idea at the time. No matter what he said, I absolutely know now that friendship is the best of every magic. Besides, with friendship, I'm still able to keep my own magic. I cannot express how very sorry I am…and well…I hope you could at least consider forgiving me…"

I took a moment of silence and then sighed heavily. I looked away with a sort of an emotionless frown. "Forget about it… I guess everypony deserves a second chance…"

"What?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "But it's like his third chance!"

"Whatever." I shrugged, and then proceeded to make myself clear. "But if you ever do something like that again, don't count on getting a lucky break like this again!"

Discord had held his claw and paw up in defense as I made sure he understood clearly. "Assured." He shared and then smiled. Surprisingly, he even lifted me up to hug me, which was something I was absolutely not expecting.

Princess Celestia nodded and smiled cheerfully. "It is so enlightening to see every one of you at peace with your friendship."

Rainbow pointed out to the thrones that stood in a circle around an apparent star. "Hey, we still gotta check those out!"

Everypony agreed and ran over to the ones that belonged to them. Seeing everypony pick their seats, I chose the one that was empty and held another smaller empty seat by it. Spirit took notice of it and decided to sit on it, seeing that it made sense to do so.

"Wait a minute, where's my throne?!" Discord asked, searching as he stood in front of Spirit.

"Don't push it, buster!" Spirit exclaimed, pointing a bit angrily at him. Nevertheless, she still shared a smile with that fierce look.

Discord held his claw and paw up in defense again, chuckling nervously. "Yes, well, I suppose I shouldn't…" However, after having a good look at Spirit, he went on to shout out another realization. "Hey! I remember you! You were that little filly that hit me when I was sick!"

"I'm not denying that." Spirit released a proud grin with crossed forelegs. "That was for getting Alex hurt and for scaring me when I was a kid."

"Hold on." I halted, recognizing something on my own. "I thought nopony but Twilight and me were able to see you?"

"Oh right…" She recalled. "Actually…that's true. But, apparently whenever you were unconscious, I guess I was able to kind of…use your existence in a way to become…'real'?" She attempted to think of the best word to use. "I was able to hit Discord, and he was able to see me because you were asleep at the same time. Same for the other times I saved your butt." She grinned a little boastfully again.

"Oh…" I guess that explained it better…such as the chimera in that dangerous swamp…

"Hey, look!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, pointing out the window. Looks like everypony wants to welcome us to Ponyville!"

"Huh?" The rest of us joined Pinkie by the window, noticing a large group of ponies heading towards the castle. After all, it just randomly popped out of the ground like nothing. Why wouldn't they want to see what it was?

"Actually…" Twilight began, turning towards us. "Why don't we welcome them to their new castle?"

Twilight opened the doors to the castle, greeting those before her in unreserved happiness.

"Each one of us has something special" Twilight sang, glancing at me and then back to the crowd to invite them all in with her hoof. "That makes us different, that makes us rare"

"We have a light that shines within us" Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash joined us as Fluttershy sang but seemed to direct her words to me. I was starting to get the feeling that they were emphasizing their point to me… That if I really was just this light, that only makes it all the better."That we were always meant to share"

"And when we come together" Every one of them began singing as everypony, including the crowd, joined together in the throne room. "Combine the light that shines within

There is nothing we can't do

There is no battle we can't win" I began seeing those rainbow reflections coming from the each of the girls…the ones who used their gifts to open the box. I looked towards Spirit for answers, but she only continued silently smiling at me.

"When we come together

There'll be a star to guide the way

It's inside us every day

See it now! See it now!" They emphasized not only our group of friends…but every single pony in the room as they all made a difference in their own way.

"Let the rainbow remind you

That together we will always shine

Let the rainbow remind you

That forever this will be our time!"

"Each one of us will sometimes falter" Twilight looked at me and resumed, possibly referring to the long obstacle we had to face last night. "We may stumble, we may fall"

"But we still have a kind of magic" Rarity stepped beside me, facing me with great gratitude.

"One that will see us through it all" The way she expressed those words to me seemed to tell me that she was still extremely thankful for being saved from that horrible Nightmare…

"And when we come together" They all began singing once again as Applejack joined Rarity near me. The two of them stood by my side, placed a hoof on me and appeared to bring me to the center of the thrones.

"Combine the light that shines within" The rest of them joined around me and lightly danced.

"There is nothing we can't do

There is no battle we can't win" As they continued, Spirit seemed to feel the need to join me at the center.

"When we come together

There'll be a star to guide the way!" They pointed at us.

"It's inside us every day!" A glow appeared from within each of them. I turned to Spirit to see her just gazing at me in soft joy. The smile she gave was the smile I had longed to see when she stopped seeing me at the balcony…

"See it now! See it now!" Spirit grabbed my hoof tightly and what happened next further proved to me even more that everything she had tried to explain was true. The two of us became transparent and apparently embedded into a rainbow that formed at the center of the room. As we became interweaved with this rainbow, we were lifted up and shot out from the castle. Just like the speed of light, we began shooting straight all over Equestria!

"Let the rainbow remind you" At Manehattan, I saw Coco Pommel again! She was hard at work while enjoying the job. However, as soon as she noticed the rainbow flash by, she was startled but nevertheless returned an absolute astonished and jubilant expression as she observed it.

"That together we will always shine" We even passed by the Wonderbolts in the middle of their training session.

"Let the rainbow remind you" Then, there was Cheese Sandwich, who took notice and blew his party favor.

"That forever this will be our time" Next were the Breezies in their uncontrollably cute and adorable state. I even managed to see Seabreeze among them. The last one outside of the castle was Silver Shill. He seemed to be leading a better life than last time.

Finally back at the castle, we revolved around Discord and came to a stop where we first ignited. As we became our usual selves again, I noticed Discord hold out a bouquet of flowers towards Tia. I guess he was really milking the apology, huh? At least it helped proved how sorry he was…"

Twilight spotted me and approached me. There, she called out to the others to join her near me. As I noticed all of them, even Spirit, looking in one direction and posing, It took me quite a while to realize we were actually preparing to take another picture. "Let the rainbow remind you…" Twilight prepared to end in a solo."That together we will always shine~" She finalized as the camera snapped the picture.

They were really everything I ever wanted and needed… In fact, I had already started forgetting about that…deed…I had to do. I suppose their amazing friendship was an unbreakable bandage that healed all wounds faster. Heck, I had already forgiven Discord, which led me to weirdly settling things with Bulk Biceps. He didn't even know what the deal was in the first place, and I didn't bother wanting to burden him with it. In the end, I just firmly shook his hoof as soon as I saw him.

The rest of the girls, including the princesses, left with the citizens of Ponyville to possibly explore more of the castle and celebrate. Actually, Twilight and Spirit remained with me. I supposed Twilight was still stuck on the idea of our "team", even for this minor occasion.

Spirit sat on her now claimed throne chair next to mine. I decided to join her while Twilight agreed and sat in hers. As we sat there, finally able to relax for once, I, for one, couldn't stop feeling that warmth all of them gave me. "You know…" I began speaking, catching their attention. "…I think you were all just what I needed." Twilight smiled softly to hear this. "…I can't say that…I'll be able to let go of…you know…what happened…but I think with all of you…I'm sure to make it through."

"Of course." Twilight nodded and said. "We're all here for you, Alex. And we always will be. Besides…" She removed herself from her chair and began approaching me. "Now that we know that we're literally linked…" She began giving me these eyes as if she was about to send me this sort of "I told you" moment. "…that's a guaranteed message that we face any obstacle together! None of this 'you're not coming with me because I don't want you to get hurt' nonsense." She mocked.

"Yeah, yeah…" I chuckled and nodded. "…I promise."

Twilight smiled directly at me until we heard the door to the throne room open. We thought it was one of the girls, so we turned to it. However, who we saw was somepony we were absolutely not expecting.

"Wow…" She expressed as she observed around as well as the ceiling above her. "This is a pretty big place you've got…"

I was afraid that worry and even fear would set in, as the last time I saw her was…an unfortunate one… "H-hey…" I stood up and approached her a little nervously. "…what are you doing here…? I wasn't expecting to see you again after…you know…"

For the first time in my life, I believed she sent me a look she had never sent me before. Starlight. She didn't seem to hold any kind of hate at me. It appeared…to be flushed out of her face. "About that…" She answered. "I…" She sighed. "After you left…I had a lot of time to think. I thought…and thought…and well…I guess I realized…I shouldn't have blamed you at all." She really surprised me, and I had widened eyes to show for it. I truly never expected to hear this from her at all. "Maybe I was just so…angry…because I had held it in for all this time. I mean, sure, I was mad because…you know…the brother thing. But after you left home, I should've grown up and realized what a horrible pony I was. But the fact that I never really just opened up is what brewed up all that anger. I tried to get back at you in all the wrong ways… Even if it wasn't really the way I wanted to do it, I guess it was a good thing that I told you about everything. It was just something really overwhelming that needed to get off my chest. After I did… a lot of the weight just fell off…"

"So…" I softly brought in. "…what you're saying is…?"

"Yeah." She answered. "…I'm sorry." Shocked, yet again. "You shouldn't be the one saying sorry. It wasn't even your fault. You had nothing to do with it… And I was dumb thinking you did."

"That's okay." I immediately accepted. "It's over and done. I'm just glad…to finally have this issue over with. For the whole time, I could never figure out why I was so wound up in settling this, you know? In learning the truth."

"It's understandable." She shared with a small smile. "I think…I'm going to take a break."

"Huh?" I questioned.

"Not from music." She clarified. "It's just…going to be a little vacation. I could probably use it after finally pushing off the weight I had on me." She turned her head away, looking in the direction of the window that uncovered what was outside. "I think this is the first time I've been here. The band hasn't played here…and I wonder why. Is it because it's so…laidback and homey? I don't know…but that's kind of what I felt as I got here this morning. As soon as I stepped off the train…I felt something different. Everypony I saw was pretty much happy. Some of them even stopped and said hi. I guess they didn't really know who I was." She chuckled. "After all, I never stopped here. Then again, maybe I didn't play here because you were here? But whatever. What I'm trying to say is…I was thinking about just…letting myself become serenated here. Honestly, this town seems like a perfect change of scenery, just to relax and not worry about the future."

"It really is…" I added in, remembering how I left behind the lightly more modernized lifestyle back at Fillydelphia and succumbed to the new one here. "Granted, there are some…strange things that happen here time to time, but there are a lot of things you can do. Parties, festivals, spa." I mentioned a few options.

She chuckled a little. "Yeah. I don't suppose you know any hotel or place I can stay while I'm here, do you?"

I thought about it and then suddenly realized something. If this castle now belonged to us, mostly talking about Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Spirit, and me, then I think there's actually a pretty good place she could stay… "Actually…I think I do." I said. "You're just in luck. Twilight and I recently just got this castle…so I don't think I'll be needing to stay at my other home."

"Huh…?" She seemed to be lightly confused.

I led her to the window so I could spot out the home I was talking about and pointed it out to her. "I won't be needing to stay there anymore now that I have this castle. If you want, you can crash there for as long as you like."

"Really?" She asked with a stunned look on her face. "…you don't mind…?"

"Go right ahead. As long as there's no hard feelings between us anymore…you can stay as long as you want."

"I don't know what to say…" Starlight looked away, appearing to look like she felt she didn't deserve the treatment I gave her. "'Thanks' doesn't seem enough…"

"The fact that you…well…came here face-to-face with me and admitted your faults, took responsibility, and even asked for forgiveness is more than enough. I'm…glad." I stated.

"That's…um…" She was a bit unprepared for what to say afterwards. "…Thank you. I…I guess I better…make myself at home then if you don't mind." She seemed to return a slightly sheepish grin.

"Go right ahead." I freely allowed. "I'll…see you later?"

"Yeah…" She chuckled a bit nervously. "See you…" She turned and started to walk. But then, she stopped for some reason. She appeared to be trapped in thought for a moment before she turned back to me and approached me again. We both stared at each other for a silent second as I could only wonder what was on her mind. All of sudden, she opened up her forelegs and placed them around me, startling me. "Thanks…" She repeated. Due to the shock of her sudden and unexpected action, the hug felt like several very long minutes. However, when she pulled away, she stretched out her smile a little more at me. She turned her head to spot Twilight. "Oh, and I'm also sorry for how I treated you before… I didn't mean any of it."

"It's okay…" Twilight returned, seemed too distracted and surprised by Starlight's behavior as well.

After clearing up things, Starlight proceeded to walk off in a more confident and peaceful manner.

Twilight had been practically silent the entire time, especially at her embrace.

When Starlight disappeared from our sight, I slowly turned my eyes towards Twilight. "…did that just happen?" I asked, almost believing I was in a dream again.

Twilight answered shortly, appearing to be dazed just as I was. "Uh-huh…"

The rest of the day seemed pretty busy in a quiet kind of way. I supposed it was because of the fact that we were getting used to this new castle. We moved some stuff that we would need, since Twilight and I were to sleep at the castle. I believed we would be moving more things later on. Poor Twilight… I wasn't sure if she was able to recover any of her books…but I really hoped she would be okay after what happened to her old home.

Either way…we ended the day with a familiar sight. Now the three of us, Twilight, Spirit, and I, stood outside on the balcony of the castle to stargaze. That was another great thing about our own castle. We would be able to do this whenever we wanted. The only thing that would probably be missing is the ice cream…

"You think that guy will be back for us?" Twilight asked, referring to the still unknown stallion to this date.

"I'm not sure..." I managed to reply with. I remembered how Luna and I were actually able to apprehend him until he escaped. "If he does...I have a feeling we can take him like nothing." I sent a soft but confident smile to her.

Twilight lightly nodded, repeated the same expression, and then turned back to the stars. We were allowed to continue wandering our eyes among the sky in peace.

"Hey…" Spirit suddenly spoke during the middle of our silence.

"Hm?" I looked at her.

"We never really cleared things up."

"Cleared what up?"

"About what I did…" She formed a saddened look, reminding the both of us what happened then. But it didn't bother me anymore because I was glad she was back for the right reasons. "I really didn't mean any of it…I didn't want to do any of it in the first place! I just wanted to…protect you."

"Don't worry." I assured. "I don't care about what you did. I'm just glad that you're safe and well."

She nodded. "…he told me I would eventually...end your life...and I believed him…"

"Why…?" I wondered greatly. "How could you believe that from him?"

"Like I told you before…" She recalled. "I've made so many mistakes before…and they've pretty much scared me… I may look like just a klutz, but I feel a lot worse than that. I feel like I'm capable of ruining lives."

"Well, don't ever try to lose your life because of me again. That almost ruined my life." I replied honestly. "Besides…that's something that confuses me. You say you've made mistakes before that scared you…but haven't you been inside me this whole time? What kind of mistakes could you have made?"

"It's…really complicated to explain…" She said.

"Well, try not to let it get to you." I suggested. "That may be hard to follow, but maybe you just really need to be yourself and not worry about the future." I turned to Twilight. "Twilight here learned the hard way."

Twilight giggled for a bit. "Yeah." She turned towards Spirit. "You know what? I'm guessing you'll be hanging out with us a lot more, especially now that everypony can see you. Maybe all you need are friends? Considering how you've technically been alone all this time."

"Maybe…" Spirit responded with.

"I think I'm going to get some sleep." Twilight stood up and prepared to walk back inside the castle. "It's been a really long day, and I'm in the mood to sleep in late." She waved as she passed by us. "Night, guys!" A few seconds later, she continued speaking for some reason. "Oh! I almost forgot." She popped her head back out. "This came for you today, Alex." She glided a letter over to me.

"Oh, thanks." I reacted in a surprised kind of way.

"Good night!" She smiled brightly and headed off.

"Ooh." Spirit reclaimed some of her cheer. "A letter. Who's it from?"

"It's from…" I analyzed the writing on the letter and widened my eyes at the name of sender. "…Coco!"

"Coco?" Spirit repeated, as if she was stunned too.

"Let's see…" I opened up the letter and pulled out the contents. I unfolded what was neatly tucked inside and began reading the words on it out loud. "Dear Prince Alex,

Did you see it?! Did you see that amazing rainbow that suddenly came out of nowhere?! It looked like it was shown all over Equestria! It was so beautiful! In fact, it already gave me so many ideas for designs of my own! Maybe I could be just as good as your friend, Rarity? After all, I really want to make it up to her for turning my life around for the better. Maybe I can do just that by not giving up on my work. In a way, I want to make her proud. Sorry. Am I rambling? I hope you're not regretting letting me send you letters. Maybe I should stop talking…or in this case writing… I just want to let you know that I'm doing absolutely fine. I'm also glad that you're letting me write to you… I hope this doesn't sound weird…but I didn't think our friendship should have ended there in Manehattan. Anyways, please tell me how you're doing, and if there's anything I can do to help, please let me know too! Unless your friend Rarity can do it already… Anyways! I should really stop rambling. Hope to hear from you soon!

Lots of hugs, Coco"

"Wow…" Spirit commented. "She sounds like she's really confident now."

"You sound like you know her." I replied.

"Just from you, of course!" Spirit clarified quickly.

"Right…" I said as I continued observing the letter, wondering how I should reply to it.

"You probably should get some sleep." Spirit advised. "I need rest too, you know!"

"Oh, right." I returned. "I guess you can't sleep without me having to, right?"

"Well…" She thought about it. "I don't think I've tried doing that…but you going to sleep lets me know you're fine…"

I smiled lightly. "Isn't that sweet…"

She blushed a bit and giggled in embarrassment.

I took a longer look at her and realized that I hadn't truly expressed to her how horrible and worried I felt when I thought she…took a turn for the worst.

I surprised her by quickly stepping towards her and wrapping my hooves around her. I felt her question my sudden move, but she remained silent. "That's for making me worry…" I told her. "You don't know how scared I was. I actually almost thought you were really gone…"

"Sorry…" She sincerely softly apologized.

I carefully pulled away and held a hoof on her shoulder. "It's okay. Like I said, I'm just glad you're okay."

She smiled lightly at me. "Okay."

I nodded and then turned, bringing the letter with me. "Well…I better get some sleep then. Good night, Spirit."

"Good night…" She expressed, allowing me to walk off before she called for me again. "Wait, Alex?"

"Yeah?" I turned back to her.

She approached me until she was able to grab my hoof and hold on to it. There, she smiled meaningfully, seeming to send me a message that she was just as glad to be with me. I waited to hear for whatever she had to say.

"Don't ever forget. Wherever you go, I'm always with you…"

Cutie Map

"Let's go through this one more time."

"We've been over it like a million times, Twilight! We found all six keys, defeated Tirek, Night Terror, and some other crazy stallion, saved Rarity, and got this sweet castle! End of story!"

"Uh, Rainbow." Applejack looked ready to scold Rainbow, but she instead changed her focus to taking a glance at me because of that one name that was grown to be unmentionable around me.

"It's fine. I'm fine." I held my hooves up.

In all honesty, I'd prefer to never hear about it again, but I didn't think it'd hurt if it slipped out every now and then.

"Yes, I know." Twilight continued from her discussion. "But I want to know why. Why did this castle appear after all that? I mean…" Twilight turned her head to look over at Spirit. "The last thing that happened before this castle showed up, Spirit made contact with the box."

"So, you think she has something to do with it?" I asked.

"I don't know. Maybe…" Twilight looked around in thought and turned back to Spirit. "Spirit, would you seem to know anything about this castle? After all, you kind of filled us in on a lot of things back when this first came up."

"To be honest…I don't really know." Spirit held her hooves between her legs in her seat next to mine. "I'm actually just as clueless as you are."

Twilight sighed lightly and continued pacing around in the center between all of us, each of us have already been sitting in our own chairs. "I want to know the answer to this puzzle in my head: If I'm supposed to spread of the magic of friendship in Equestria, what are we all doing sitting in a castle in Ponyville? It doesn't make any sense. Are we supposed to wait until ponies come to us with a friendship problem or something?"

"Stop moving around and just sit down, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash rubbed a hoof to her temple. "The sound of your hooves is starting to make my head hurt."

Returning a slightly annoyed look back at Rainbow, she decided to comply and turn to her seat to sit down. However, as soon as she did, an unusual sound occurred in our seats, and this bright light began flashing before us. Immediately after, lights from every chair shot towards the middle and met at the star in the center. After loud vibrations and rumbles, crystals appeared to merge from us to the center as well, and before we knew it, a table presenting what looked like a map formed clearly in front of us.

Spike, whom had been sleeping the entire time Twilight was pondering over the castle, awakened and received an eyesight of the map himself. "Is that new? I like it!" He was the only one who appeared to have not been questioning its existence.

Everyone remained silent in awe until Spike decided to get up and walk over it in his examination.

"A map?!" Spirit almost looked like she was going to get on the table herself. Her hooves almost looked glued onto the surface past the transparent map as she took a close look with her odd eyes. They trailed on from what appeared to be Fillydelphia on the map towards Canterlot castle and finally to the town nearest, which is where we were.

Strangely, every one of the girls' cutie marks flashed on their flanks, and then they copied and detached themselves to join together in the center of the map. They appeared to be the same kind of visual imagery as the map was, and they dropped down to where Ponyville was located. But, they didn't stay there. Instead, they moved off to somewhere out of the center of the map. It was somewhere I believed I'd never been before.

It seemed Twilight wanted a clearer look, so she used her magic to drag Spike off the map.

"What are our cutie marks doing over there?" Rainbow Dash pointed out to the unknown area on the map. "Ponyville's supposed to be right here." She placed a hoof on the town close to Canterlot.

Twilight took a close look herself. "I don't know. Maybe the map is guiding us? Our cutie marks could be serving as a kind of marker or something." She took a moment to analyze it a bit more. "This is so strange. First the tree, the chest, the castle, and now this map?" She glanced over to Spirit. "Even Spirit. Things have sure taken a complicated turn ever since the coronation. No offense." She addressed to Spirit after her last remark.

"None taken." Spirit took lightly. "I've always been a little on the strange side." She shared a goofy grin.

Rainbow Dash had been eyeing the area where the cutie marks were. "If you're going to want to head over here, you better count me in. This route doesn't exactly look 'safe'." She looked proud to volunteer.

"I reckon Rainbow's right. I'm with ya too!" Applejack agreed.

"Well, I was planning on organizing my baking sheets in a little while…but okay!" Pinkie exclaimed in joy.

"What?" Rarity looked surprised to see everyone agreeing on this trip. "We're going now?"

"We should if we want to find more about this map." Twilight returned a valid reason.

Rarity didn't look too bothered to join along as she released a light sign. "Very well. I suppose I didn't have any important plans anyhow."

"I do, actually." Spike mentioned. "They are very important plans." Spike crossed his claws with a smug look on his face.

"In that case, maybe I'll just stay here with Spike…" Fluttershy timidly declined. "I don't like danger."

"That's awesome, Fluttershy!" Spike expressed his joy as he placed on of those soda-drinking helmets and a foam glove to fit his claw. "Me and Big Mac have a huge weekend ahead of us talkin' hoofball, and... and trading hoofball cards, and arguing about hoofball stats..."

Fluttershy reacted in almost a horrific-looking manner. I wasn't sure if it was exactly the hoofball Spike was talking about, but she decided she would retract her answer. "O-o-on second thought, m-m-maybe I'd better go with them." Fluttershy politely declined Spike's offer. "In case they need me."

"Well, suit yourself." Spike shrugged it off. "But he's got a Hock Fetlock rookie card I plan to sweet-talk right into these hot little claws."

"Hold on a second." Twilight closely examined the area we were to scout. "Has anypony realized what's missing?"

"What do you mean?" Rainbow Dash asked, stretching out her hoof in flight.

"All of our cutie marks are there, except Alex's." Twilight explained, presenting the sight once more.

"So what's that supposed to mean?" Applejack questioned.

"I don't know." Twilight shook her head and began to scratch her chin. "Hmm…"

"Don't worry about it, darling." Rarity walked over to Twilight and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Perhaps we'll find out when we do what this map is instructing us to do."

"I guess so." Twilight turned to Spirit and me before moving on. "Any thoughts?"

"Not really."

"Mm-mm." Spirit shook her head in response.

"Well, I guess it's time for a road trip." Twilight announced, signaling for everypony to ready up for the trip ahead.

We ended up boarding a train that would take us to the closest spot we could get to before we had to get off. During this train ride, I found myself sitting at the window. I was able to recognize how mute I was being, but it wasn't something I could naturally fix at the moment.

"How are you doing?" I heard Spirit by my side. She was sending a smile from my left, causing me to return the favor.

"I'm fine. Why?" I asked.

"I just wanted to know if you're, you know, remembering bad things." She answered truthfully.

"Oh, um." I paused for a moment to look out the window. "Not really. At least, I try not to. I'm feeling better, but I still can't help but feel strange at times, you know?"

Spirit placed her hooves on the sill and looked out with me, holding her motivating smile. The strands of her mane lightly twisted and turned to the wind. "You just need time. You'll be okay." She stated as if she's had the past experience to back it up.

"I hope so." I added. "I could probably use this trip anyway. I think being in that castle…reminds me of…you know. Especially since we got that castle after what happened happened."

"That's what I'm here for." She answered so easily. "When you're alone and start thinking bad things, I'll be sure to distract you. Even when you can't sleep on those late nights, I'll be up for you. We can go on an adventure, even if it's late. We can parade the town and even take a trip somewhere else." I felt Spirit was screening her imaginative and liberated mind to me.

I couldn't help but smile lightly at her optimism. "Maybe we can just stay in the castle and do something there. I wouldn't exactly want to wake the whole town."

Spirit removed her hooves from the sill and looked straight at me, giving me a clear and untimid view of her eyes. "As long as we're together."

I thought to myself for a moment there. Of course, it had always been so obvious that one of the most important things to her was just being together with me. Nevertheless, it didn't feel unusual. After all, I couldn't imagine how long she's had to be alone up until I met her. Honestly, I think it'd only be all the normal to want to stick close to the only pony you've known practically your whole life.

Spirit took my silent thoughts to look out the window again. Her head tilted forward as her eyes observed the passing ground below her. "Hey, do you want to see me jump out this window?"

"What?!" That comment was sure to break me out of the peace of my thoughts.

"I can usually feel pain, but I've never tried to see if I can do any permanent damage to myself."

"Why would you want to do that?!" I inquired, almost raising my voice to the point where it would catch the attention of the others in the train.

"I'm just curious." She proved with the look on her face.

"Well, that's a dumb idea anyway. Remember what you said about not being able to be too far away from me?" I reminded.

"You're right." She peacefully agreed as she removed her head from outside the window. "I guess that was pretty dumb."

Eventually, the train reached its stop, and we boarded off. Twilight began leading the group ahead as she checked the map she made every now and then. At times, Rainbow would look like she wanted to complain about the nonviolent traveling, but I was surprised when she was able to keep her mouth shut.

Nevertheless, we reached a very small village that was located at the bottom of the large cliff we were on.

"That's it! That's the place on the map!" Twilight pointed out as Rarity fumbled with the dust in her hair.

"Let us move along and find the spa." Rarity began stepping forward, continuing to eye her mane. "All this dirt is starting to do a number on my mane."

"Wait." Twilight rushed in front of Rarity to stop her. "We have no idea what's down there. If the map wanted us to be here for a problem, it could be a dangerous one."

"Awesome!" Rainbow Dash excitedly celebrated.

"Stay behind me, everypony!" Pinkie Pie held her hooves out in front of us. "I'm on it!"

"Careful, Pinkie!" Applejack exclaimed before Pinkie merely allowed herself to roll along the slope of the cliff and stop behind a boulder. She took a glance ahead of her and motioned us to follow with her hoof. From there on, she continued to dash under various rocks and boulders. As I walked with the others to follow Pinkie's motions, I wondered why Pinkie Pie was so confident in checking out the place before all of us did, but then I remembered that she used to live on a rock farm.

By the time we reached her, she was looking over the boulder she had been hiding behind. From there, we had a perfect sight of the village we spotted earlier. However, the most noticeable thing about it was that it was very very small. There was only one pathway that led to a single house. There were six more houses on each side of the road, and they looked exactly the same.

"This is where the map sent us? It looks like the most boring place in Equestria." Rainbow Dash commented on the sight.

"It's just an ordinary village full of ordinary pony folk." Applejack added.

It was difficult not to notice something off about their smiles. In fact, they all had the same exact large grin on their faces. Their mouths were stretching so much, it looked pretty obvious that they were forcing themselves to be happy for some reason.

"It could certainly use a few more architectural flourishes." Rarity mentioned. "…Or any architectural flourishes."

"I think it's lovely." Fluttershy somehow expectedly responded. At least she didn't look so scared like she did before anymore.

"I don't like it!" Pinkie immediately called out her analysis of the sight. "I don't like it one bit. I know smiles. And those smiles? They're just not right."

"Forget the smiles! Look at the cutie marks!" Twilight pointed out, leading me to notice something I had unbelievably missed before.

"Okay…that's weird." Rainbow Dash said before anyone else.

"Everypony looks like they have it." I added, continuing to scan the center. Weirdly, this village looked uninteresting as Rainbow Dash had mentioned, but now that we saw those unusual cutie marks, there was no way we could leave at that.

"Not a different one in sight." Spirit joined, almost sounding depressed by the view of this puzzle.

"An entire village with the same cutie mark?" Twilight stepped back to think to herself. "How can that be?"

"There's gotta be a monster behind this." Rainbow Dash suggested as she continued to observe the village with untrusting eyes.

"What would a monster have to do with this?" Twilight asked.

"'Cause fighting a horrific monster would be super-awesome!" Rainbow Dash excitedly dreamed of.

"I reckon we just ought to head into town and talk to some locals, find out what's goin' on." Applejack suggested.

"Great idea, AJ. Let's go!" Rainbow agreed in a dash.

"Those smiles are bad news." Pinkie Pie shared suspiciously before joining others whom were already walking down the slope to approach the village.

I was about to join them before Spirit grabbed a hold of me. I stopped and turned to see what she wanted. "What?"

"We should go on a little investigation." Spirit's eyelids lowered mischievously as her eyes sparkled with curiosity.

"…investigation?" I questioned. "Aren't we already doing that?"

"I mean we go do a little of our own exploring like at that old castle. Maybe we can find some things the others can't." She reasoned.

"I don't know…" I honestly didn't really see the temporary separation as a good thing to do. "I don't think it's such a good idea to move away from the group. We don't know if this place is dangerous or not. We should stick together."

"I hope you don't think that there's really a monster there." Spirit placed her hooves on the rock hiding us and looked back past to the village. "Worst thing there are creepy smiles from what I can see."

I turned around and joined her observation. I could see the main group were being surrounded by a lot of the residents. I felt my stomach turn from how uncomfortable the sight made me feel, but it was definitely not like they couldn't handle some strange ponies.

"What were you expecting to do?" I asked. "There are only a few buildings in this tiny village, and I highly doubt we'll be able to sneak in one to check things out."

"We don't have to sneak in." She responded. "We can just pretend we wandered into the village and happened to be taking a look around."

At that moment, I felt my eyes narrow. I turned to face Spirit with an unamused look. "You don't really have a plan, do you?"

"What do you mean?" She asked, her eyes wandering around strangely.

"It sounds like you just want to be with me." I sighed. "I get that you're not exactly comfortable with the others yet, but at a time like this, Spirit, we need to stay together. Even if this town doesn't look like it, we still don't know for sure if there's something we need to watch out for."

She didn't seem to bother trying to worm her way out of that. "Fine." Her ears flopped down and she walked ahead of me for a few steps. "I'm sorry. I guess I still need to learn to focus on the big picture." She turned her head and presented a gentle smile. "Haha, no wonder I stayed inside of you all this time."

Even though I wanted to go the safest way about this trip, I still hated seeing her so disappointed. After all, she was the one trying to talk with me during the train ride over here. "Look, we can do something after this, alright? We just need to focus on the important thing here right now."

"Okay."

With that, I patted her, offered her a smile, and began walking towards the village. However, during the way, I noticed the group was gone. Some of the ponies that had surrounded them remained in the area while the others had disappeared. I stopped in front of the village to question this. "Where'd they go?" I asked as I looked around.

"I don't know. I didn't see them." Spirit responded. I had actually been expecting her to make a silly comment instead, but it seemed I accidently bummed her bubbly spirit out.

I thought for a moment, and their creepy smiles flashed back in my head. "I'm really hoping they didn't kidnap them and are planning to gobble them up."

"And you said I'm weird." Spirit returned towards me for once.

"Sorry." I apologized as I turned back to her. "My mom's had the bright idea to prank me a couple of times with some really weird dreams."

Spirit managed to giggle lightly to herself, holding back a smirk. "Oh, did she?" She slipped out quietly as she held a hoof in front of her mouth.

I wanted to dive into what she meant by that exactly, but I realized I was getting badly off track. "What am I doing?!" I turned back to the village. "I'm supposed to be looking for the others. Even if they're not being 'gobbled up', I'm still worried about what kind of 'danger' there might be here."

"What do you think they're going to do?" Spirit asked. "Hold them against their will and forcefully switch out their cutie marks for the same one they all have?"

It was a little strange to hear that coming from her. "Um… It's…possible…?"

"Alright, let's go." Spirit began skipping, appearing to regain her bubbly personality. "The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can go and do something fun!"

It took a second to realize something unique about that sentence. "What's with the rhymes, Zecora?"

She soon laughed out loud. "Haha! I'm a poet! And I didn't even know it! Haha!"

"Okay, you're seriously starting to scare me." I returned a tilted head with a flinching expression.

Spirit turned her head towards me as if she was about to make a snarky remark until another pony's voice exclaimed out at the other side of the village. "Heads high, ponies! Marching proud!" A whistle pierced through the dusty and uncomfortable air. "All together now! Every one of you! No pony left behind!"

The pony that apparently called everyone else began marching down the middle of the road with everyone else on the side and began singing proudly.

"Life is so grand in Our Town

We're always filled with cheer

We never have to look around

To know that we're all here"

She allowed the others to join in chorus and they all marched around a particular group. Taking a closer look, I realized that it was the group of girls that had disappeared from sight, and out of all them, Fluttershy was the only one who ironically looked content.

Well, it's nice to see that they're okay…

The main pony of the song appeared to keep watch of the others as she bobbed her head up and down to the beat. They continued to sing about their song and village as the main one kept a bossy but calm eye on the villagers. Eventually, she made sure to express how equal they were, going so far to correct a filly's mane to where it was the same as all the other fillies.

At one point, this main pony grew closer to Pinkie Pie, and it was very clear to see Pinkie wearing an immensely suspicious face. In fact, I wondered if I had ever seen such a look on Pinkie's face like that before. Usually, she was so friendly to everyone.

Fluttershy began to bob and move her head to the beat as well, but Pinkie immediately intervened by sharing the glare she had been holding the entire time.

"Join in our utopia

Come out of the dark

Banded by equality

By our cutie mark!"

The ended their song and left a moment of silence until Rainbow Dash burst into laughter. "You're kidding, right? Give up our cutie marks? No way!"

"Rainbow Dash, don't be so rude!" Fluttershy softly scolded. "I don't think we should judge them. They all seem perfectly happy with their choice."

"Don't believe their smiles, Fluttershy." Pinkie warned sternly.

"I'm sorry, I guess we're just a little confused by all of this." Twilight honestly pointed out.

"We have no judgements here in our village." The main pony, which I was already getting a strong sense was the leader, explained. If she was indeed the boss of everyone, that itself already struck me as odd as it was sort of a clear contradiction to their song. "Each of us was confused once as well, blinded by the false promise of our cutie marks."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Is she for real?" Rainbow Dash pursued, continuing to be unable to believe such apparent nonsense.

As they proceeded with their conversation, I decided we should go on ahead and join them.

"Come on." I faced towards Spirit and began walking towards the group. "I'm kind of with you on one thing though. I mean, we've faced some pretty frightening stuff. I don't know what it is about this place, but all those smiles are just…ughhh." I shuddered.

"Then, hurry up!" Spirit placed her hooves behind me and pressed forward to make me walk faster.

Their voices soon became clearer as if we were a part of the conversation. However, it didn't seem they had noticed us yet until we were close by.

"Have you considered perhaps that you might have been sent here so we could help you?" The main pony continued, responding to the last statement given by Twilight.

Before Spirit and I could introduce ourselves and merge into the group conversation, Rainbow Dash pointed us out first in a way that made it look like we were trying to sneak up on them. "Yo, Alex! There you are! You mind explaining what this is all about?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked, having no clue to why Rainbow Dash was expecting me to have a complete explanation for the pony and village around us.

"Uhh, have you checked on your sister lately? Because I think she's gone kind of coocoo." She emphasized with a twirling hoof by her left ear.

I couldn't create a response right away as I had no idea how to comprehend what Rainbow Dash was trying to tell me. The silence allowed the other pony that had been talking to them to speak to me as it seemed that Spirit and I had caught her attention.

"Are you two with these fine fillies?" She asked, producing a welcoming smile. "Oh, joy! It's so wonderful to have new guests! And two Alicorns at that!" She paused after admiring our sight for a second and proceeded speaking. "Before I get ahead of myself, let me introduce myself. I'm Starlight Glimmer. It's nice to meet you!"

Starlight Glimmer? That must explain why Rainbow Dash was expecting me to know what was going on. But there's no way this is the Starlight back home. This Starlight is like the complete opposite of the one I know. It's just another pony that happens to be a unicorn too and have the same name…

"I'm Alex…" I felt a little hesitant to return the mutual feeling, especially since we were in a town filled with creepy-looking ponies. "And this is Spirit." I presented a hoof towards my companion.

Starlight Glimmer took a good look over her as Spirit uncomfortably looked around and backed up a step. Usually, the area ponies seemed to stare at when first meeting Spirit were her eyes, but Starlight Glimmer seemed to pay extra attention elsewhere.

"My, my!" Starlight Glimmer rubbed her chin with gusto. "I see that you don't have a cutie mark!"

"Yeah…? So…?" Spirit uneasily returned, looking a little hesitant to hear what was to be said next.

Starlight Glimmer pulled back her gaze. "Forgive me if I'm rather…direct…but I assume you've felt pretty self-conscious when the majority of other ponies back where you come from have their cutie marks?" Spirit's eyes dashed left to right. It looked like Starlight Glimmer was causing that self-consciousness right now. "You don't have to answer!" Starlight Glimmer placed a hoof forward. "What I'm trying to say is that our village would be perfect for you! You don't have a cutie mark, and as long as you don't have one, you'll fit right in and won't be judged at all!"

Even though it was completely impossible for Spirit to stay if we were to go, I decided to bring up a question about that subject. "And what would happen if she one day did get her cutie mark?"

"Well…" She looked away a little oddly in thought. "There would have to be some changes…but it can be fixed in a jiffy!"

"No thanks." Rainbow Dash immediately declined. "I have no plans in giving up my cutie mark, and I think it's safe to say the rest of us don't either."

Starlight Glimmer turned towards Rainbow. "How about you just spend a little time looking around and making yourself at home? You don't have to give up your cutie marks if you're just visiting. Please, take your time. After all, nopony has ever come to our village and wanted to leave. Why should you be any different? But that is entirely your choice. Please enjoy our little corner of Equestria. We're all quite fond of it. No doubt you will be as well. Double Diamond, please help our guests with whatever they might need."

A pony with a coat as white as snow walked up. "Of course." As Starlight Glimmer returned a satisfied nod, turned around, and walked away, the pony she left us with began pointing out the direction for all of us to walk in. "Right this way! You'll get a whole tour of the town."

I looked forward and realized the layout of the town. "There's like only one way to go…" I muttered softly under my breath.

I never thought it was a bad thing to feel welcomed until we came through here. Literally everypony that lived in the village continuously shouted out greetings to us, and it made me feel like we stepped into some kind of horror story. The one where a group of ponies seem friendly but actually eat others in the end.

"I'm not going to lie…" I started sharing my thoughts out loud to Spirit whom stayed at my side. "I almost feel like I should have stayed home. After all, everyone was on that map except me. Does that mean I wasn't supposed to come?" I turned to Spirit. "Or…we…"

"I don't know…" Spirit anxiously looked around her. "I'm actually not so much in a mood to investigate anymore… I can't tell if they're staring at me, or my…you know…"

I didn't know how to answer that, so I tried to regain our focus forward. "Let's just try to ignore it, I guess…"

A sharp gasp cried out. "What in the name of Equestria is that?!"

Rarity had pointed to a stand of rugged dirty cloaks. Definitely something she wouldn't approve of.

"Welcome! Care to sample some local fashion? We've got cloaks this month!" The shopkeeper advertised.

Rarity looked like she forced herself out of being sick to her stomach with a gag. "Ooh, er, perhaps another time, good sir, thank you."

The group appeared to take a break at an old and plain wooden table that stood outside of what looked like a bakery shop. It was definitely a change of scenery when comparing it to Sugarcube Corner. Spirit and I managed to scooch in with Rainbow Dash since she was the only one holding an entire seat. I sat by Fluttershy's side while Spirit sat by Rainbow's.

"No wonder nopony's wearing anything!" Rarity whispered loudly between us.

"Really, Rarity!" Fluttershy scolded once again, appearing to hold an appreciation for the village we were visiting. "They may do things a bit differently than we're used to, but that's no reason to be rude."

"No, the reason to be rude is that they all keep staring at us!" Rainbow refuted with a gesture towards everypony around us that continued to gawk endlessly as if they were staring right through our souls.

"I have to admit, Fluttershy…" I began throwing my two cents in. "I'm wondering why you aren't as freaked out as we are. Aren't you usually afraid of ponies…you know…staring and looking at you?"

"It's different here." She said and turned towards the creepy ponies around us. "You heard Starlight Glimmer, didn't you? Here, no pony is judged or made fun of because they're all equal!"

"Which reminds me." Rainbow planted her hoof on the table and turned to me. "What's your sister doing here? Didn't you say she's different now or something?"

"Rainbow…" I gave her half-lidded eyes. "That's not my sister. That's some other Starlight. I mean, really, does that look anything like the Starlight we know? Just because they have the same name doesn't mean they're the same pony. I'm pretty sure there's some other pony with Rainbow in their name too. Actually, aren't you supposed to be a waterfall? Or a rainboom?"

"Alright, Alright." Rainbow Dash backed off. "Point taken."

"Either way, I think Fluttershy's right." Twilight began speaking. "We still don't have an exact idea why the map wanted us here." She glanced over to me. "Well, the most of us. If we want to get any clues, I think a start would be getting to know the area and the ponies that live in it."

Around this time, a mare walked out of the shop and approached us, but the conversation between the girls seemed to keep them occupied and distracted.

"Speaking of which…" Applejack began. "I think we ran off to the end of Equestria before we even knew what that map was!"

"If we were at the end of Equestria, we'd be sitting on a big 'A'!" Pinkie Pie giggled joyously, taking a break from almost looking at everypony here with contempt. "Get it?"

"Oh, please, Miss Pie! This is hardly the time for jokes! We've come all this way and for what?" Rarity's disagreeing remark caused the waitress waiting to shift around the table.

"Maybe you're right. But we're here now, and you have to admit something just doesn't feel right." Twilight shared.

"That and two bits'll get you a cup of cider." Applejack added.

"Is this a bad time?" The waitress carefully but happily asked.

"We shouldn't be bickering like this in front of our new friends." Fluttershy continued to defend the villagers as if they were her animals. "Really, Applejack, you're almost as bad as Rainbow Dash!"

"Don't drag me into this!" Rainbow objected.

"Is your friendship ending?" The waitress oddly asked. She seemed like a normal pony at first until she raised that unexpected question.

"Are you crazy?!" Pinkie Pie energetically exclaimed. "We'd never let a disagreement get in the way of food!"

"O-kay, well, my name is Sugar Belle." The waitress introduced herself. "What can I bring you? We have: muffins..."

We were expecting her to list more items off the menu, but her silence apparently confirmed that that was completely it.

Twilight looked around the table, mentally counting us for the order. "Then I guess we'll take eight muffins!"

"Make that fourteen!" Pinkie Pie shot out her hoof. However, her addition was met with disapproving glances. "What? I'm hungry!" She excused.

Twilight proceeded to lower her voice to keep our game plan between us and away from unwanted listeners. "We've got to stick together. It doesn't matter what happened before, we're here now."

"I guess you're right." Applejack accepted. "And the sooner we figure out why, the sooner we can go home."

I felt movement on the left side on my body. I glanced towards Spirit to see her worriedly looking back and fixing her tail to where it was covering both her flanks.

Nevertheless, everyone's attention was brought to the center of the table when a plate of muffins clanked on the sound of the wood.

"Forgive me for overhearing," Sugar Belle mentioned. "…but just a moment ago you were disagreeing, and now it sounds like you're... agreeing."

"Uh-huh...?" Applejack returned with crossed hooves.

"Well, you had such differing opinions – and cutie marks." Sugar Belle continued to speak with such confusion and incomprehension.

"We have differing opinions all the time, darling." Rarity answered this one.

"But you look like you're friends." Sugar Belle pointed out.

"We are friends. A simple disagreement wouldn't change that." Twilight's response seemed to cause a look of nervousness to appear on Sugar Belle's face for a second.

"I'm sorry, I'm just having a hard time understanding." She proceeded to recite something in an unenthused tone. "Different talents lead to different opinions, which lead to bitterness and misery. So... why aren't you bitter and...?"

Her sentence was interrupted when Pinkie Pie choked and retched out after having taken a bite out of one of the muffins on the table. With everypony's eyes on her, she proceeded to quickly feign a positive attitude. "Mmmm... good..."

"It's all right. I know I'm not a very good baker." Sugar Belle admitted. "At least, I know I'm not any better than anypony else in the village." She took a glance behind her before quickly darting back with a sense of anxiety. "Well, I... hope you enjoy our little village!" She began walking back inside the shop as Pinkie loudly scraped the bits and pieces of muffin off her tongue. However, Sugar Belle suddenly stopped between Twilight and Pinkie with a voice of distress. "Come inside before you go! Meet me downstairs!" Before returning inside the building, she gave one last forced grin in the direction where our guide had apparently been sitting reading a newspaper.

"Okay, that was weird too." Rainbow Dash stretched her hoof out across the table and claimed.

"Let's all sit here and eat these muffins and act normal." Twilight lowered her voice once more. "I think we're being watched."

"You think?!" Rainbow sarcastically replied after taking a small look at the villagers around doing their daily business.

"No, not like that!" Twilight corrected. "I mean somepony here doesn't want us talking to Sugar Belle." She gestured her head towards the guide that seemed to have no problem biting into his muffin.

Applejack took a gander at this fellow and scratched her chin. "I got an idea. But you gotta eat all of them muffins, Pinkie."

"Me?! Why me?!" Pinkie Pie cried out in fearing protest.

"You got a stronger stomach than any of us, and that filly in there might be our best chance at findin' out what the hay is goin' on round here." Applejack reasoned with.

"Does she really have to eat all those?" I asked, feeling dreadful for Pinkie. "I've seen Pinkie eat a lot of things without a problem. You know something is bad if even she doesn't like it."

"Not unless you wanna help her." Applejack practically placed me on the spot.

I felt my face flinch when I looked over to the muffins Pinkie Pie had immediately gotten sick of at first bite. If she could barely stomach it down, it'd probably come right back out for me.

"You want Pinkie to eat all these muffins so we have an excuse to go look for Sugar Belle?" Spirit unexpectedly questioned towards Applejack.

"That's the plan…" She responded, unsure of where Spirit was looking to go with that.

"I think I've got a better idea…" Spirit released the hooves holding her tail to her flanks and stood up on the table. "These muffins look so delicious, I'm going to dive right in!" She shouted for everypony to hear and literally allowed herself to fall forward towards the muffins. From my point of view, she deliberately threw her hooves to the side and forcefully pushed the muffins off the side of the table. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that!" She apologized as she stared at the crushed and dirtied treats resting on the ground.

"Uhh…" Applejack's eyes were widened. She had been caught off guard by Spirit's move. "That's okay! Let's go ask Sugar Belle for more muffins!"

We stood up from the table and began moving inside the shop. Once we were heading down the stairs as directed, I heard Pinkie graciously thanking Spirit at her side. "I owe you one! I've accidentally had cardboard tastier than that!"

"Uh…" Spirit released a slightly bashful grin. "You're welcome."

"Hello? Sugar Belle?" Twilight called out at the bottom.

"Thank you for coming!" Sugar Belle walked out from the dark and provided a large grin that made me think back to those horror stories thought of earlier.

"Why did you want us to come down here?" Twilight asked.

"So nopony could see what's about to happen." She mentioned in a way that caused me to feel the need for my hooves to start shaking. More ponies emerged from the darkness.

Oh no… Please don't be true.

Despite having magic to protect ourselves, something about an event coming straight from a horror story scared the hay out of me.

Just as Twilight looked like she was preparing her defenses, one of the ponies that appeared suddenly proposed a question in excitement. "Are you really the Princess of Friendship?"

"Do you know Princess Celestia?" The other joined in.

"I love your cutie mark!" Sugar Belle directed to Pinkie Pie.

"How can you be friends with different cutie marks? Don't you end up hating each other?"

"Oh, look at this one! This one's great too!" Sugar Belle presented Fluttershy's. "I'd love to have my special talent back even just for a day! Make something besides those disgusting muffins..." She shared depressingly.

"So what's stopping you? Go get your cutie marks back." Rainbow Dash said.

"Daydreaming is one thing, but you mean actually having it put back on?" The stallion wearing the cloak responded. "That seems extreme."

"I'm not sure Starlight would like that. She wants us all to be happy in our sameness." Sugar Belle mentioned.

Doesn't feel that way to me…

"How do you take somepony's cutie mark anyway?" Twilight asked the question that hadn't raised to the conscious state of my mind.

"The cutie unmarking is a beautiful experience!" The other mare recalled. Her tone still didn't exactly land too far from those stories. "Starlight uses the Staff of Sameness to magically take them away and replace them with these." She pointed out their equal sign cutie marks.

"But nopony should keep you from your cutie mark. It represents such an essential part of who you are." Twilight spoke from emotional experience.

"Oh, we're not kept from them." The same mare answered. "They're in the vault up in the caves. We can visit them any time we like to remind us of the heartache of a life with special talents."

Hearing them express how much a cutie mark was bad never stopped bothering me. There was just something about it that was so wrong, but I'm sure I wasn't the only one that felt this way.

"Can we visit this cave?" Twilight asked.

They exchanged glances with each other.

"You'd have to ask Starlight about that…" Sugar Belle said uneasily. "But…whatever you do, you can't tell her that you heard any of this from us."

"Why?" Twilight inquired.

"Just don't." Sugar Belle took a short look up the stairs. "We've been in here too long. You all should get a move on before some pony finds out!"

Before any more questions could be asked, Sugar Belle pushed us out for the better, according to her. Once we were back out on the streets, it seemed the next pony of interest was Starlight Glimmer. I still felt uneasy about the entire situation, but I guess I had to treat it like any other kind of problem we've had in Equestria.

We made our way to where Starlight Glimmer apparently stayed in this tiny village. It was also the place where the girls had met her for the first time. That one pony that Starlight appointed to us followed us the entire time with a huge eerie grin. He was supposed to be there to see if we needed anything, but after Twilight shared her suspicions, I could only think about how we were being stalked instead.

Despite that, he brought Starlight Glimmer over to us when we were inside the building, and she looked pretty surprised to see us so early.

"Welcome!" She greeted. "Did you find everything to be absolutely wonderful as I had mentioned?"

"Actually…" Twilight responded. "There's one place we're interested in."

"And what is that?"

"We heard there's some Cutie Mark Cave here or something." Rainbow answered.

"Oh?" Starlight Glimmer responded with an odd intrigued look on her face.

"We also heard that it's the place where everypony's cutie mark goes so they're always reminded about how…'bad' it was having it." Twilight added, looking uncomfortable talking about cutie marks like that.

"I see!" Starlight released a beaming smile. "Well, there's no harm in showing you our vault! If it helps you consider joining our sweet little village, I'd be honored to show you all!" She switched her glance over to the pony that had been following us. "Double Diamond, could you come upstairs with me for a moment?"

"Of course!" With all his bare teeth for everyone to see, he nodded his head and followed her up the stairs.

"You know, I'm not feeling so good about this." Rainbow Dash shared once the two were gone. "The only thing I'm hoping for is to fight some gigantic monster in the caves. I don't think I can handle being stared at by weirdos anymore."

"It's the only lead we got." Twilight reasoned. "If going up to this 'vault' of hers brings us closer to knowing what we have to do, then I say it's worth it. After all…" She proceeded to examine everypony's faces. "…we've dealt with worse things before, am I right? We've dealt with monsters that could have completely changed Equestria from what we know of it now. What's a couple of 'creepy' ponies going to do? I'm sure our strength in numbers and magic is enough to keep us from being overpowered."

Mumurs from each one of them sounded as they all seemed to come to an agreeable understanding.

"Please excuse us!" We heard Starlight Glimmer's voice come closer, grabbing our attention towards the stairs. She stopped in front of us as Double Diamond walked past us and out the door. "Shall we get a move on?"

"Of course." Twilight returned with a friendly smile.

Starlight Glimmer lead us up some mountains that were behind her home. Most of the walk was pretty silent as everypony seemed to anxiously wait to see what laid for us in the caves.

"Well…I'm glad to be away from all those staring ponies…" Spirit whispered to me, brushing her tail with her hoof. "I hope I don't feel the same way once we get back home…"

"Don't you still have to introduce yourself to a bunch of other ponies back in Ponyville?" I asked.

"Do I have to…?" She whined softly. "I'm barely trying to get to know your friends better…"

"Alright, alright." I accepted and apologized. "Sorry, take your time."

"You owe me an oatshake for that." She teased.

"Whatever you want." I returned with another smile back.

"I'm delighted you're interested in our cutie mark vault." Starlight Glimmer announced in front of us as we grew closer to the entrance of the caves. "We hope someday every pony in Equestria will make a pilgrimage here to our little village to have theirs removed too, and our message of perfectly equal friendship can finally spread across the land."

Spirit and I heard Twilight whispering something to the others in front, but we were a little too far back to hear clearly. It didn't interest me as much, especially since I wasn't exactly directed to come here in the first place.

"Just through here!" Starlight pointed ahead and led us inside a dark cave. Once inside, she stopped and presented a wall with a bright bluish glow. "Behold! Our cutie mark vault!" On this wall, there were many different kinds of cutie marks kept inside and separated from others. It was like some kind of display in a museum. It made me wonder what would happen if you touched it.

"I've never seen anything like it!" Twilight commented at the sight.

"And here is the Staff of Sameness." Starlight Glimmer walked up to some kind of ancient-looking stick on display in front of the vault. She grabbed it with her magic and brought it closer for us to see. "It was one of the great mage Meadowbrook's nine enchanted items. We are incredibly fortunate to have it here. This is the tool that allows us to free ourselves from our marks!" She paused to admire the look of this staff before switching her glance over to us. "I'm curious – how did the subject of the vault come up?"

"Oh, some ponies were telling us how much they missed their cutie marks, and—" Pinkie Pie immediately spilled the beans.

"Pinkie!" Twilight exclaimed at.

"Oops..."

Starlight released a sharp gasp, but it didn't sound very genuine. "Were they? Well, it seems you inspire all sorts of free thinking, don't you?" She twirled her staff and stepped closer with glaring eyes.

By the tone her voice took a turn into, I really started not liking where the situation was going.

Rarity laughed nervously at this behavior. "Well, w-we certainly didn't intend to cause any disruptions to your charming little—"

"Good." Starlight interrupted boldly with an approaching face, causing Rarity to back away. However, she bumped into some other pony behind her. "Let's just make sure of that, shall we?"

I turned back to see this pony was Double Diamond, and some other ponies had emerged from the darkness of the cave.

"It's a trap!" Twilight warned out loud as multiple ponies began to surround us.

"Let's take em!" Rainbow Dash pounded her hoof.

"W-we should get out of here!" Spirit spoke up with shaking voice.

"Don't worry, I've got this!" Twilight braced herself to cast a spell.

"No, you don't!" Starlight Glimmer pointed the end of her staff towards Twilight as it began to emit a glow.

The only thing I could think of during the moment was to fire another spell towards her staff, but I didn't know if it would be quick enough to stop it. Nevertheless, a voice suddenly cried out.

"Twilight, watch out!"

I saw Spirit jump out and become trapped by this spell Starlight shot out. Afterwards, her eyes shut close as she began groaning in pain.

"Wha?" Starlight was surprised by this move and tried vigorously shaking her staff. "Get off!"

Through her groans, Spirit's right eye turned towards me. "Hurry! Go!"

For the first time, I actually felt no hesitation to leave. Had this been any of the others, I definitely would have argued to stay, but I actually felt the confidence to take her order and leave. I faced towards the others and passed the order on. "Come on! Let's get out of here!"

"But what about—"

"It'll be fine! Come on!" I stopped Twilight and managed to bring her and the rest of them with me as I used a couple of spells to push the others trapping us out of the way. As soon as we were out of the light, we quickly ran and kept a watch behind us.

Even though we were in the middle of running from danger, I couldn't help but wonder if the other girls had thought I had gone crazy for leaving one of our special friends behind so easily. But they had to remember that Spirit wasn't just any kind of pony.

Cutie Trap

Starlight Glimmer dragged me overhead once she was able to remove the jam out of her magic. Of course, that jam was me. Being unable to do anything, I simply allowed myself to be hung upside down by my tail as she moved the precious cargo elsewhere.

I think I ended up in her home, but I was secluded in a bedroom. She released me and stood at the door of the room as I landed with a bit of rough force, but it was definitely nothing painful.

"I can't believe you out of any pony else…" She began muttering as she shot a disapproving look at my upside down face. "You know how much staying here would benefit you? A lot. You'll go from having no cutie mark to having one like everypony else!"

"I'd rather have no cutie mark than some boring equal sign. I want to be my own pony, not the same thing as another." I assertively voiced.

"And did you see where that got you?" She asked, taking a look at our current situation. "Consider yourself lucky. We have a place specifically for ponies like you that do not yet understand our philosophy, but I can't risk leaving you in there with those friends of yours running around."

I shrugged like a rebellious teenager. "Whatever. It's not like it matters."

"What was that?" Starlight stepped closer to me as a vein seemed to appear on the side of her neck.

I finally turned my body around and stood up from the floor so I could face her properly. "You can't keep me here forever, you know. I can get out whenever I want."

She remained silent to look me over. Then, she released a hearty laugh. "Ahahah! Oh you. You're such a cute one. You're telling me that as an earth pony, you can just disappear from here?" She pointed at the windows in the room. "Those windows are too small, and you bet your flank this door will be locked. If that isn't enough, I'll have some pony here to keep an eye on you. Trust me, there is no way you're leaving."

"Yeah, okay." I shrugged carelessly once more, intentionally adverting my eyes away from her.

It seemed I was annoying her with my attitude, but she calmed herself down once she remembered that there was no way out for me. She didn't know about my little secret though.

She released a soothing breath. "Okay. Now, if your friends really are your friends, they'll be sure not to leave here without you. If they try to find help…well…" She thought for a moment. "It's unlikely, but if we come to that, I'm sure we could manage through."

I'd prefer if they didn't leave the area. Alex has to remember that he can't be too far away from me or it's game over for me. I knew I could always leave whenever I wanted, but then what was the point in coming here? They had something to do or fix here, and if I can somehow help by keeping close to the pony in charge, then I'll do whatever it takes.

"What are you so quiet about?" Starlight shot a glare at me.

"Oh." I felt pretty feisty at the moment. "I'm thinking how boring and horrible it'll be trapped here. Whenever will I ever get out?" I obviously feigned a shaky voice.

Starlight did not look amused. "Uh-huh…" She turned and prepared to leave. "I'm going over to the vault now. If there's one place I want to be, it's there to make sure your little friends don't try to break it open." She opened the door and began to step out. "But remember this: Don't try anything stupid. This door will be locked, and I'll have a pony outside keeping guard. If you're stupid enough to try to escape, I'll make sure to demote you to a worse set of accommodations."

She finally finished yapping and left, locking the door behind her. I almost wanted to leave just to spite her, but I had to relax and think things through like an adult. This wasn't going to be easy. Alex and I needed to come up with a plan for what we were going to do, but how could we do that if we're nowhere near each other? If I leave to meet with him, I can't come back. And if I can't come back, Starlight will eventually find out. And if she finds out, I'm sure she'll do everything in her power to keep us from ruining whatever she's trying to do.

"Yeah…" I said to myself as I climbed the bed in the room and laid down. "Just gotta play it cool… Alex will think of something." I smiled as I began feeling myself reminisce. "Hehe. After all, he's always gotten me out of sticky situations ever since…" I stopped myself, remembering the important reason why I never wanted to be reminded about back then. "Haaah…" I sighed.

Starlight had sent some of her goons to look for them. I just hope Alex and the others can come up with something before it's too late.

Alex

We stopped and managed to catch our breath in one of the dark alleys in town. It wasn't the ideal place for hiding, considering we were right by passing villagers, but it was the best we were going to get in such an open area.

"Alex, what are we going to do about Spirit? Starlight Glimmer has her now." Twilight whispered worriedly.

"Remind me to never put my life on the line because Alex here might just leave me too." Rainbow Dash intervened in an upset but hushed tone.

"Shut up, Rainbow." I quietly snapped back, knowing that there have been more than enough times where I had never done such a thing. "Don't you guys remember? Spirit's a part of me. She can send herself back to me in a second wherever she is. The only thing is…" I turned my eyes towards the center of the village where ponies continued to walk by. "We can't be too far apart, and I have no idea how exactly far I can be from her. I'll take a guess and hope that as long as we're in at least the same city or village, it's okay. Last time we got too far, I felt this sort of…tug inside of me. I don't think I feel it right now, so hopefully she's okay."

"Alright, so why doesn't she go inside ya and come back out?" Applejack asked.

"I'm not completely sure. Hopefully, she isn't unconscious or something, but I'm also hoping that it's because she knows it's not the best time yet."

"Best time? What do you mean?" Twilight questioned now.

"I think it's pretty clear what we're supposed to get involved with now, right?" I mentioned. "Starlight Glimmer just tried to trick us into forcefully taking our cutie marks. If it wasn't for Spirit, who knows what would have happened then." I tapped a hoof on my chin. "Didn't it seem a little weird to you guys? Starlight said everypony in this town is equal, but why is she the one that gives orders around here? Wouldn't that make her…better than everypony?"

"You're right." Twilight agreed. "I've been noticing strange things like that. There was something she mentioned back at the vault that didn't sound right. She mentioned about Meadowbrook having nine artifacts with that staff of hers being one of them. I haven't studied Eastern unicorns as much as I should have, but I'm pretty sure Meadowbrook only had eight magical items, not nine. And I don't remember any of them being a staff."

"Even if it was one of those magical artifacts, how would she have gotten it in the first place anyway? I know I hardly know anything about this kind of stuff, but I can't help but find it not adding up."

"I'm with you on that, Alex. There's definitely something about her that doesn't fit right with the other ponies."

"I'm getting the sense she's somehow getting the villagers to practically do her bidding and disguising it as this 'philosophy'. Maybe she's trying to be the queen of her own castle? Or village…"

"Well, we better find someplace else to make a plan." Applejack suggested. "I don't think we should be here much longer. Any pony could find us at any moment."

"I know… But where could we go?" I questioned.

"What about Sugar Belle?" Pinkie Pie offered with a smile on her face.

"Sugar Belle?" Twilight turned her head towards Pinkie Pie.

"Yeah! Wasn't she one of the ponies that wanted her cutie mark?" Pinkie explained. "If she's been keeping things from Starlight, I'm sure she'll help and hide us in her bakery!"

"That's the best we can do." I admitted, actually liking that idea. "Thing is… How are we going to get to Sugar Belle's without being spotted…?"

"I think we're gonna need somethin' to hide us all, but we gotta know where Sugar Belle's is at first." Applejack advised as I carefully stepped closer to the light outside.

"There aren't that many buildings here, so it shouldn't be too hard…" I softly shared as I looked around the place without sticking my head out too much.

"I know they didn't like my muffins…but they didn't have to throw them on the ground like this…" I heard a familiar voice nearby, catching my eye.

While attempting to stay low by lying close to the ground, I slowly crawled until I was able to have a better look to the right, which was the direction the voice came from. I saw a pony picking and sweeping up muffins off the dirty ground.

That was definitely Sugar Belle.

I took a quick glance around to make sure no pony was specifically looking at where the others and I were hiding.

"Sugar Belle!" I whispered loudly.

"Huh?" She looked back, still holding the broom in her hooves.

"Over here." I directed before dashing back in the darkness. I stood still and paid attention to my ears for the sound of hooves heading towards us. Her shadow prepared me to act as I waited for her body to come in sight.

"Hello…?" She called.

I grabbed her hoof and quickly brought her to us. I readied my other hoof as she was about to release a sharp yelp. I muffled the sound with said hoof, and I was sure to calm her down as soon as possible.

"Shh!" I shushed. "It's just us from earlier."

"Hmm?" She answered with a stifled voice and looked around to see the other darkened figures of the girls. Sugar Belle placed a hoof on mine and lowered it away from her mouth. "It's you all… What are you all doing hiding here?"

"We're in some trouble, but we can't explain right now. Could you hide us in your bakery?" I asked.

"U-uh…sure, I guess…" She seemed confused, but the sooner she could get us out of here, the sooner we could tell her everything.

"But we can't go out like this. We need something to hide us as we move to your bakery." Twilight added.

"Isn't her bakery right there?" Rainbow Dash noticed how short it took for Sugar Belle to get to us. "Can't we just run in there?"

"No way." Applejack disagreed. "We'll make a lot of noise, and it'll be too darn risky. So risky I'm sure everypony will see us as soon as we run out."

"Remembering the staring?" I reminded Rainbow.

"Fine, so how are we going to do this?" Rainbow asked.

"Do you have any like boxes or something in your bakery you can hide and move us in?" I questioned Sugar Belle.

"Um…well…" She placed a hoof to her chin as she thought about it. "I do have this crate I hold and carry flour in, but I don't know if it's big enough…"

"Could you bring it out here?" I hoped. "If we have to make several trips, I guess it's better than just running out there, right?" I turned towards the others.

They returned a collection of nods.

"But the less trips we make, the better." Twilight mentioned a highly agreeable point.

"Okay, I'll try to bring it out here as fast as I can." Sugar Belle was about to trot on until Twilight stopped her.

"Wait." She caught Sugar Belle's attention. "But act natural. There might be other ponies looking for us, and you wouldn't want to look suspicious."

"Okay, right." Sugar Belle nodded and proceeded to walk with caution.

"Let's hope this works." I anticipated.

"Me too." Twilight added. "As soon as we get to Sugar Belle's bakery, let's collect our thoughts and sort things out to make a plan. We can't waste any time here."

"As bad as this sounds, we don't have to worry about getting Spirit back." I mentioned. "The goal here is to fix the mess we're in and solve the issue with Starlight here. Spirit will be our lifeline, so we gotta do this right."

"I'm ready to kick some tail!" Rainbow Dash pounded her hoof.

"Let's think of something first." I advised and looked back out as I waited for Sugar Belle.

It didn't take too long for her to return. I heard the sound of wheels approaching us, and a big rectangular shadow reached our location. Something then blocked our view of the streets, but the object began becoming adjusted so it was close to us as possible. We saw Sugar Belle squeeze through to us and catch her breath a little.

"I hope I didn't take too long." She turned towards the object she brought. "I brought this crate. It's big, but I don't know if it's big enough to hold you all."

I studied the box for a moment. "It just might if we pack in together pretty tightly."

"Oooh!" Pinkie expressed in interest. "Is this like a game?"

"What kind of games do you play?" Rainbow asked Pinkie.

"We don't have time for this." Twilight reminded them in a hurry. "Let's get in and see if we can all fit."

"Right behind ya." Applejack followed Twilight.

"Whoever's the strongest and heaviest should be on the bottom, and the lightest should be on the top, so…" I began calculating.

"I can take the bottom." Applejack offered.

"There's no doubt about it. I'm definitely being on the top." Rarity confirmed. "I know we're in a sticky situation, but I surely wouldn't want to mess my mane or ruin—"

"We get it, Rarity!" Rainbow hushed out in anger. "I'm pretty light, but I'll be at the bottom since I'm kind of, you know, an athlete." She boasted a little.

"I guess I'll be the last one for the bottom." I suggested and looked over the others who weren't given a place yet. "Fluttershy will be at the top." I mentioned, knowing how she was pretty fragile. "And I guess Pinkie Pie and Twilight will be in the middle."

"Hehe! Sounds fun!" Pinkie cheered.

"Let's see if this works." I began walking towards the crate as Sugar Belle opened it up. She had it set on a pallet dolly, so the wooden side of the crate sort of served as a ramp for us to get inside. "Alright, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, come in here." I directed as I stood in the middle of the box. Applejack brought herself to my right as Rainbow Dash walked into the left. "Now we lie down…" I carefully dropped to the floor, and once the three of us were in the same position, I could feel the structure of my body being pushed against. It wasn't too tight, but if we were to be like this for a long time, it would probably become uncomfortable.

Twilight looked towards Pinkie Pie. "Let's go Pinkie."

"Hehe!" Thinking it was entirely a game, she began hopping her way over to us.

"No hopping!" I almost spat out loud. "You guys gotta carefully get on top of us and try not to break our faces."

Pinkie immediately stopped and didn't question it. She allowed Twilight to move in first.

"Here I go…" Twilight slowly lifted up her hooves and carefully placed them on us.

"You're fine…" I slightly groaned out as I felt her hooves press against me.

"Are you sure this is okay…?" Twilight asked with a lack of confidence.

"It'll only be a really short while." I reminded.

"My shop's only a few steps away." She peeked around the opening she left for her to get out. "It shouldn't take any longer than thirty seconds or so to push you back in. But let's try to hurry. I don't want any pony wondering what I'm doing with a huge box out here."

"Come on, Pinkie." I invited.

"Steady…steady…" Pinkie Pie tried to balance herself as she climbed on top.

Afterwards, all that was left was Rarity and Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy." I could feel that it was becoming harder to talk because of the weight on top of Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and me. "See if you can kind of fit on top by flying so you don't step on us."

"Okay…" She timidly answered.

When she was in, it was just Rarity.

Rarity was always careful when it came to her hooves and mane and what not, so I was hoping she'd be extra careful since she'd be climbing and lying on top of her friends.

"Okay… Are we all in?" Twilight asked.

"Mmm-hmm." Everypony gestured as their answer, seeing as we were packed together tighter than a box of cupcakes.

"Let's get going, Sugar Belle." Twilight said.

"Okay." Sugar Belle nodded. "Hold tight, everypony." She expressed as she closed the side of the crate.

"I think…we're already doing that…" Rainbow Dash slipped out through a few groans and grunts.

We heard the sounds of hooves on the ground walking around the crate. Sugar Belle began to grunt slightly as the wheels below us began to creak. I couldn't imagine how much weight we totaled together, but at least it was on a dolly. Sugar Belle might have had to move heavier things in the past since the crate apparently has been used to carry flour and other ingredients.

"Remember…stay quiet everypony until we're back out…" Twilight advised.

We kept our mouths shut as we listened to the wheels continue to creak in movement.

After a moment, Sugar Belle spoke from outside.

"Almost there, everypony." She mentioned quietly. "Just a little more…"

"Sugar Belle!" We heard another voice shout from outside. It sounded like a stallion's.

"Double Diamond!" Sugar Belle cried out in surprise and the wheels stopped making sound.

"What are you doing? Moving in flour again?" He asked.

"Y-yes! Our guests ate quite a lot of muffins, so I decided it would be best to bring some more in to make more muffins later."

"Do you need some help with that?"

"O-oh, there's no need really! I just need to bring this inside. It's no biggie!"

"Oh, nonsense! Remember, we're all equal friends here in our village. It's only right to help each other when we need it!"

The wheels began creaking once again.

"U-uh…well…thank you." Sugar Belle's voice nervously accepted.

"It's pretty heavy. Is the entire box filled with flour?"

"Well, sort of. There's a lot of flour, plus another things like baking powder, trays, you know, all that stuff. Heh heh."

"I see… Also, about those other guests, you haven't seen them around, have you?"

"N-no! I think the last time I saw them was after they finished their muffins and were continuing to walk through town.

"Well, if you see them by any chance, be sure to let me or Starlight Glimmer know, okay?"

"Sure thing! Why? Is something wrong?"

"Starlight just needs to settle out some things…" Sugar Belle didn't answer after this. "Alright, here you go! I'll be looking forward to some muffins later!"

"Of course! Thanks, Double Diamond!" Sugar Belle thanked and remained silent for a moment before a door closed and a loud exhaling sigh was heard. Soon enough, the side we entered from lowered away from us and brought us a new change in scenery. "You all okay?" Sugar Belle asked, poking her head inside.

Rarity immediately jumped out with Fluttershy gently following behind. Twilight and Pinkie carefully made their way out as Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and I were finally allowed to stand up and take a breath of fresh air.

"Oh, man." Rainbow Dash brought her hoof to her back and began to rub it.

"Glad that's over with." Applejack commented, stretching herself out.

"Yeah." I followed her example with my legs. "Let's go downstairs and get to work."

Spirit

I couldn't lie. Pretending to be the damsel in distress was kind of boring, especially since I really wasn't in trouble. I had taken the liberty to remove one of the books off the shelves to keep myself entertained. But I should have expected for the books themselves to be dull and uninteresting, so I put them back where they were.

I started feeling like I was a little filly left home alone with nothing to do. I decided to think back on what I would do in such a situation, but it was pretty difficult since I never really experienced a situation like that. If anything was close, it would be when I was inside Alex, but when I finally learned how, I started messing around with him again outside.

"I wonder if there's a pencil around here…" I tapped my chin with my hoof and rummaged around the room. I almost wanted to intentionally make a mess during the process of this search as I thought it would get on Starlight's nerves. However, for some reason, I felt a little bad knowing that I'd still be making a mess in somewhere that didn't belong to me, so I ended up against it.

After going through some cabinets, I found some spare paper and a few pencils. Sticking the pencil in my mouth, I began doodling. I had always sort of wished for having magic like unicorns so I wouldn't have to have the pencil in my mouth all the time, but it wasn't too much of a big deal. Drawing was always so nice and relaxing. In fact, it almost made me forget I had been kidnapped and was technically being held hostage in some other crazy pony's house. Eventually, I heard the door open behind me, but I was too busy with my doodling to pay any attention.

"I brought you food and water." Starlight's voice announced as I heard clanks and clatters behind me. I still didn't pay mind. There was a moment of silence before she spoke again. "What are you doing?" The sound of her hooves grew louder as she walked closer to me. I wondered if she was suspicious.

"Just drawing." I casually responded.

I felt her look over my shoulder and then lightly scoff. "How cute." She turned back around to attend back to whatever she was doing. "You're taking this awfully well. I was afraid I'd come back to a mess in the room." That almost did happen… "I have to say, I'm quite impressed with your behavior. Keep it up and I might just totally make your stay here a lot more pleasant."

"You don't have to do that." I responded.

I wasn't trying to be polite. I was trying to be witty and keeping my word about escaping easily.

"Your manners seemed to have improved…" Starlight noticed, but it didn't feel like she took it too seriously. "I don't know when you've last eaten, but you might want to get something in your stomach. I don't want you miserable in here."

I placed the pencil down on the paper.

Was she saying that in a kind and caring way? Or did she mean that she didn't want me to be any more trouble?

I turned and looked over the stuff she brought me. I wasn't expecting the food to look great, and it didn't. After Pinkie Pie had a hard time trying to swallow the muffins back in town, I really had no appetite for anything here. Staring at this food reminded me of something.

Did I really need to eat and drink like any other pony? I never thought about it until now since the Tree of Harmony brought the castle up. Ever since I was visible to every pony else and felt more like an independent pony, I wasn't sure if I needed to eat to stay healthy. At times, I remembered feeling the symptoms of an empty stomach, but it never really seemed like I needed to eat to live. After all, I was a part of Alex, and as long as he takes care of himself, I should be fine.

"Are you just going to stare at it all day?" Starlight asked.

"You're not going to watch me eat, are you?" I retorted.

"If I have to, I will." Starlight furrowed her eyebrows.

I sighed and lightly messed with the oats on the plate. "How'd things at the cave go?"

"Still haven't seen any of them around." Starlight answered. "I'm not sure what they're going to do, but if you're that important to them, I'm sure the first thing they'll try is getting you back."

"Uh-huh…" I responded as I dropped my eyes to the floor. I noticed the bucket of water Starlight had placed down that was at my side. My eyes turned towards Starlight's hooves, and I suddenly felt the need to be the cause of a mischievous prank.

"Right now, I'm going to keep an eye around here. I'll have a few ponies by the vault watching for them." As she continued talking, I brought my eyes back on the food and used the corner of my field of vision to slowly move the bucket closer towards Starlight's hooves. "If they end up going for the vault first, maybe I can try trapping them in there again. If they think I'm with you and not there guarding the vault, they might just use their magic to try to break through, but as soon as I get word that they're there, I'll be ready with another ambush. And I'll make sure to take their cutie marks this time…" She chuckled lightly. "You won't be there to take another hit."

"Sure…" I focused more on trying to move the bucket without making a sound.

Starlight noticed that I still hadn't touched the food. "Are you going to eat or not?"

"Actually…I don't really have an appetite right now… Maybe later." Once I felt the bucket was close enough to her forelegs, I quickly brought my leg back. "Thanks for bringing me something anyway." I decided to end with a little sweetness.

"Hm-hm." She almost presented a warm smile. "You're very welcome. I'm going to head out, but remember. Don't try anything stupid. When this is over, I'll feel more comfortable in giving you your own personal space here in the village."

"Okay then." I kept my answers short.

She sent an approving smile before she began to turn around. My eyes shot towards the bucket and watched as she began to lower the back leg that would make the plan a success.

"Aaah!" She cried out as the bucket flipped over and drenched her with water.

I was just about to burst out laughing until I had to force a hoof to my mouth. I didn't want her thinking that I intentionally moved it for that to happen. I didn't need any more threats from her. I decided to continue the good little filly act and ask about her.

"Starlight? Are you okay?" I faked shock and worry.

"Ugh! Starlight, you clumsy foal!" She angrily scolded. She searched the cabinets for a towel and began to dry herself clean. At first, I didn't notice it, but I soon realized something off when she removed the towel and hung it by the end of the bed.

"Wait a second!" I pointed out clearly. "You still have your cutie mark! What's the deal with that?!"

Starlight gasped and turned to me as it seemed she had forgotten that I had been in the room. "Oh shoot."

"Didn't you say everypony is supposed to be equal in this town?" I brought up. "Why do you still have your cutie mark?"

Starlight sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry. That was my fault. I should have been more careful." She neatly folded the towel and placed it on top of a flat surface. "It looks like I'll have to find some sort of spell in one of my books that'll wipe your memory of what just happened here. Maybe it'll wipe your whole memory. Who knows."

"Wha…what?" I questioned. I still felt safe enough to not worry since I'd still be able to get out easily. However, I might have just shortened Alex's time because I didn't know when she'd do this spell, and I couldn't stay for her to perform the spell. No way.

"Forgive me. But if you're to stay, I must do it for the sake of the village." She brought out some makeup and covered her cutie mark. Then, she brought out a stencil and used the makeup to brush back on her fake cutie mark. Afterwards, she prepared to continue leaving. "Don't worry. I'll wait until our little mess is over and done with." She opened the door and walked out. However, she peeked in before completely leaving. "Remember, don't try anything dumb, okay? I'd really hate to end up having to take some drastic measures." She shut the door and a lock was heard turning.

I narrowed my eyelids in anger and muttered under my breath. "What a meanie."

Alex

We gave a brief explanation of our situation with Starlight Glimmer to Sugar Belle. We told her how after we had gotten approval for a tour of the cave, she tried to trick and trap us in there. Once we mentioned how Spirit had saved our flanks, she widened her eyes in realization to just notice that she had been missing from our group.

"So, what are you going to do?!" Sugar Belle asked worriedly. "Your friend is stuck with Starlight, and there's no way she's going to just give her back. Every pony in this village will be on her side. You're, you're outnumbered here!" She looked like she wanted to start panicking. "Oh my! This is all my fault, isn't it? If I never told you to come inside, you never would have asked to go to the vault and your friend would still be here!"

"Shh, shh." Twilight attempted to calm Sugar Belle. "It's okay. We're here because apparently there's a pretty big problem that we need to solve together."

"About that…" I began. "Sugar Belle, haven't you and the other ponies in this village noticed something strange?"

"What do you mean…?" She questioned back.

"Everypony in this village is supposed to be equal, including Starlight, right? So, why does it seem that Starlight is better than everypony to the point where she gives out the orders and practically makes others scared of disobeying her? I mean, the three of you that were down here seemed pretty terrified of her finding out. If everypony was equal, then shouldn't anypony be calling the shots?"

Sugar Belle thought about this for a moment as her eyes scanned the dusty dark floor. "I…I don't know… I think we are equal… It's just we need somepony to make sure nopony is better than anyone else…"

"Forgive me, Sugar Belle." Twilight added in. "But if I were you, I certainly wouldn't want somepony claiming they're just as good as me bossing me around. To be honest, I could never give up my cutie mark in the first place."

"Well, if she really is 'not equal' to everypony, what are you going to do?" Sugar Belle asked.

"I think our best lead is trying to get everypony else to realize this." I stated. "Maybe then, everypony could get together and sort of cause a mutiny, you know?"

"But, won't that destroy the whole village and philosophy we live under?"

"If you ask me, darling, I feel every one of you would be so much happier somewhere nicer than here." Rarity decided to share. "Ugh… I couldn't imagine living one day with the absolute bland and terrible fashion you all have to deal with here."

"In other words…" Twilight tried to rearrange. "I think we feel that you all are missing your cutie marks and pursuing your dreams, but you're letting your fear of this Starlight Glimmer stop you from doing that. After observing what she just tried to do to us, I can honestly say it wouldn't be right staying here."

"Well…" Sugar Belle rubbed the tip of her hoof against the floor. "I guess I'd be lying if I said I never wanted to be something more than just an average no good baker…"

"I think it's safe to say we pretty much just have one shot at this." I announced to everyone in the room. "We need to convince the other ponies of how unequal it really is here, if we can't, then we might not be able to slip away this time."

Twilight nodded. "We need to think of the best idea of what to do. Something foolproof."

"Given the circumstances…that may take some time…if possible…" I scratched my chin with my hoof and sighed. "I wonder if Spirit has anything on Starlight…"

Spirit

I was back to the desk where I was drawing and tapping the pencil on my chin. Starlight keeping her real cutie mark hidden is something Alex could definitely use. But how can I tell him without leaving Starlight's sight?

I lowered my sight to the paper in front of me.

Could I write him a note and throw it out the window?

I turned towards the window and noticed all of those weird ponies outside.

No way, that would be the end of me if I did that. It's more likely one of those other ponies would find it and show it to Starlight.

I turned my legs back to the desk and sighed in slight frustration.

Back inside Alex, I was able to send him messages, but that was from being inside him. Come to think of it…I never did try sending him messages while being outside with him because I never needed to… I don't know how it would work, but is it possible that I can telepathically still send him messages while I'm outside? I can see it working since I'm linked to him, and if I have to suffer under the consequence that I can't be too far away, I should at least be able to do this.

I looked around the bare room.

"I don't have many options…" I said to myself. I lowered my head in thought and gave a light pound to the floor with my hoof. "But it's worth a try. Let's just hope it works…"

I closed my eyes and focused my mind, attempting to follow the same process as I would inside Alex.

Alex. Alex, can you hear me? Please, please hear me. You need to know something important!

Alex

"Why don't we just take the entire village…" Pinkie Pie suggested, facing one side of the room. "…and push it somewhere else?" She turned to the opposite direction, facing her hooves outward.

"How on Equestria is that going to solve anything?" Twilight asked with cautious curiosity.

"If we put it somewhere nicer, maybe ponies here will all want their cutie marks back so much that they'll side with us!" Pinkie reasoned.

"Uhh…" Applejack commented. "I'm not so sure we can even move a whole village."

"Besides…" Rainbow Dash added. "No offense, Pinkie Pie, but that plan's kind of lame."

"Ooh! Ooh!" Pinkie continued. "We could always bake a giant muffin, hide inside, sneak our way into the cutie vault, and BAM! Break it open and everypony will realize how much better it is once they have their cutie mark!"

"Those are certainly…interesting ideas, Pinkie Pie." Rarity managed to raise a compliment. "However, we need something that certainly takes us to our goal and has little chance of failing in the process."

"Maybe we need to get some help outside from the village?" Fluttershy offered.

"I don't know…" Twilight rubbed her chin with her hoof. "I mean, I'm not against that idea, but why would the map call only us to fix the problem here? Do you think it knows that we're the only ponies we need?"

"Alex and Spirit are here, and the map didn't call them." Rainbow brought up.

"True…" Twilight shared a short glance with me. "But he belongs with us in the castle. I don't understand why the map just called us, but we've surely faced problems together in the past before. Either way, let's just focus on trying to figure out what to do right now. I don't know how much time we have, and in that case, I don't even know if we'll be able to get out of the village to go get help without being seen."

"Plus, I can't be too far away from Spirit." I reminded.

"Right." Twilight agreed. "And I certainly don't want anypony left behind. If we were to separate, Starlight might just have a better chance in finding one of us and we'll lose another part of the group to her. However, with us, it's not so easy to escape like it is with Spirit, so I think we should stick together and stay in the village."

"I think our main goal is that we need to find a way to expose—"

Alex…hear…? Please…know…important…

"Huh?" I paused to focus on the voice inside my head. It was really distant and a bit unclear. I was only able to make out a few words, but it wasn't enough to put together easily. I needed to write this down.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked after noticing my behavior.

"Give me a second." I placed a hoof to my head and tried to keep a solid memory on what I heard. "Sugar Belle, you have anything to write on and with?"

"Sure. I'll be right back." She took a moment to leave upstairs.

As she went to look for something, I closed my eyes and focused on this message.

The first thing I thought of was Spirit. Nothing else didn't make as much sense. Was it possible that she was trying to tell me something? She wasn't inside me right? No…if she was…then she might as well would have been here with us…

Spirit, is that you?

I attempted to send if my theory was true.

Alex…! Hear you…! I…tell…something…!

"Here you go." I felt Sugar Belle approach me with some paper and a pencil.

"Thank you." I expressed and began writing the dialogue being exchanged within.

Spirit, what are you saying? I can't hear you very well.

Saying this inside my mind made me wonder if she couldn't understand well enough on the other side either.

…Starlight…! She…cutie…hidden…!

Huh…?

HER…MARK…FAKE…!

I heard certain words much louder as if she was practically screaming them in my head.

Hang on.

I wrote everything exchanged inside on the paper and turned around to see everypony staring at me a little weirdly.

"What?" I questioned.

"…you okay?" Applejack inquired.

"Yeah, yeah!" I trotted towards the table we worked on and placed the paper on there. "I think Spirit was somehow able to talk to me, but she sounds so fuzzy. I wrote down our messages to each other, but I wanted to go over them with you guys to see if we could figure out what exactly she's trying to say together."

"Seriously? Let's take a look." Twilight moved over to my side and leaned in to take a look. "Alex. Hear. Please. Know. Important. This is what you heard?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "It had to be Spirit… Who else could it be?"

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I should be getting back up." Sugar Belle notified. "Some ponies might have noticed that I was gone for a pretty long while. If they ask, I'll tell them that I was unloading flour and stuff."

"Sure. Thanks a lot for helping us, Sugar Belle." Twilight expressed.

Sugar Belle nodded her head. "I just hope this turns out for the best…" She shared worriedly and walked up the stairs.

Twilight turned her eyes back to the paper. "Hm… If you ask me, I'm sure she's trying to get your attention in this sentence. This must be what you say…" She skips over my sentence. "Alex! Hear you! I. Tell. Something!" She studied carefully. "If we try to connect this sentence with the one before, I think it's very likely and probably even obvious she's trying to tell you something. After all…" She turned to look at me. "In our situation, what else could she be saying? She just wants to say hi?" She lightly smirked.

"Right…" I agreed.

After skimming through my response, she analyzed Spirit's next fragmented sentence. "Starlight! Cutie. Hidden."

"She has to be talkin' about cutie marks." Applejack immediately guessed.

"Or maybe she found a cute little critter that Starlight's hiding." Fluttershy brought up.

"Really?" Rainbow Dash leaned over the table to face Fluttershy with disapproving eyes.

"I would say it could be a possibility…" Twilight admitted. "Maybe Starlight is hiding an animal for some secret reason…?"

"No…" I shook my head. "I'm pretty sure it has to be about cutie marks. Look at the next thing she said." I pointed at her last response.

"HER. MARK. FAKE." Twilight read out loud. "Huh…" She looked up to me. "She must have been trying to be clear about these words, huh?"

I shrugged. "I guess so."

COVERING!

I heard as my eyes widened in surprise.

"What?" Twilight noticed.

I quickly wrote it down.

"COVERING?" Twilight questioned. She then borrowed the pencil and begin rewriting Spirit's words. "Let's go ahead and say she's talking about cutie marks." She wrote Starlight first and then added "mark" after "cutie". In the end, she had: Starlight…Cutie mark…Hidden. She tapped the pencil on her cheek. "Let's add the second part since that's where the mark came from."

WITH!

I quickly grabbed the pencil and wrote the new word.

"Another one?" Twilight noticed and studied it. "WITH…" She shook her head and focused back on her previous strategy. As she rearranged more of the words, she ended with: Starlight. Her…cutie mark…fake…hidden. Then, it was: Starlight. Her…fake cutie mark…hidden.

"Is she actually tryin' to tell us about Starlight's cutie mark?" Applejack asked after carefully studying Twilight's notes.

"I would believe so." Twilight hardly took her eyes off the words. "If I'm putting these words right, is she saying that her cutie mark is fake? And it's hidden?"

MAKEUP!

I snatched the pencil and wrote the word.

Twilight quickly read the new word and analyzed the previous ones. "COVERING. WITH. MAKEUP. Aah!" She cried out lightly as if she realized something and quickly wrote down the word "hidden" once more. Then, she drew three separate lines from the word and added the latest ones. "Covering with makeup. Hidden. Hiding by covering with makeup." Twilight turned to the previous sentence she worked on. "Starlight. Her…fake cutie mark…hidden." It appeared she began to tie up everything together as she wrote out a new sentence. Starlight's cutie mark is fake. It is hidden (covered) with makeup.

"Oooh." Pinkie Pie shared her expression on the matter when there was a moment of silence from everypony.

"Her cutie mark is fake?!" Rainbow Dash questioned. "So that means she doesn't have a cutie mark?"

Twilight tapped her chin with her hoof. "By the way Spirit puts it, it sounds like she's covering up something with makeup. I think she's trying to say that Starlight is covering her cutie mark with makeup. We've seen her have that same cutie mark as everypony else, so could it be that that equal cutie mark is painted on? If she didn't have a cutie mark, she wouldn't be needing to cover anything up. She would just need to paint it on…"

USE WATER!

I wrote this down immediately.

"USE WATER." Twilight repeated.

"That must be it." Rarity planted her hoof on the table. "Of course, water tends to wash off makeup. If Spirit is truly trying to tell us that Starlight is using makeup for her cutie mark, then she's also telling us to use water on her to wash it off."

"This is good." I mentioned. "If this is right, nothing else doesn't really matter. If she's faking her cutie mark, then she's faking being equal. I think this goes more with the idea that she's bossing other ponies around. If we can reveal the fact that she's been lying to everypony here and explain how she hasn't really been treating the others equally, we might just gain the support of everypony here."

"It's definitely better than nothing." Twilight accepted. "I'm not exactly so sure it's 'foolproof', but it's certainly not bad."

"So what now?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Rarity says that Spirit wants us to use water to wash off her makeup. But in order to do that, we need to carefully come up with a way that'll surprise her. I'm sure we won't get anywhere if we just run up to her with a bucket of water."

"I love surprises!" Pinkie Pie felt the need to shout.

"Remember how I said Spirit was our lifeline?" I reminded. "I think I might have just found her use. Starlight doesn't know what Spirit can do, so Spirit can definitely catch her by surprise when she returns back to me." I thought for a moment and proceeded to share these thoughts. "We need to get this message out to Spirit, but I'm not so sure she can hear me clearly. I'll trying talking to her the way we've been doing so far, but we might have to come up with another way to send the message."

I closed my eyes and slightly lowered my head.

Spirit? Am I coming in loud and clear?

There was moment of silence.

NOT!

Uh-huh…

CLEAR!

Okay… It seems she has been using short bursts to get a better message across.

"I don't think she can hear me well either." I added.

"What do you need to tell her? What's the plan?" Twilight asked.

"I was thinking we get Sugar Belle to tell Starlight that we're hiding around the bakery. You know, just obeying orders. Starlight will definitely have to come to us knowing that she's the only one that can really do anything. She'll confront us, but I was thinking of having Sugar Belle keep a bucket of water by the bakery. When Spirit comes back and sneaks around towards the bucket of water, she'll splash it over Starlight from behind unexpectedly. Her makeup should wash off and whatever she's hiding should be exposed to everypony else. What we need to figure out now is how to get the message across to Spirit without having to spend a long time sending this to her and hoping that she'll decode it on her own."

"You said Sugar Belle was going to tell Starlight about us." Twilight pointed out. "What if she somehow got past Starlight before this and talked with Spirit?"

"Hm…" I thought about it. "It's a little risky. Even if Starlight allowed Sugar Belle to see Spirit, I have a feeling she'd accompany her."

"Don't forget we can hide in a giant muffin and sneak over to Spirit!" Pinkie Pie included with an energetic waving hoof.

"She's supposed to come to us, Pinkie Pie." Applejack argued. "There's no point to the plan if we end up where she is. That's IF that plan works."

Something popped in my head when I thought about hiding something in a muffin. "That's not a bad plan actually."

"Huh?" The rest of the girls turned quickly towards me, surprised to see me agreeing with Pinkie Pie.

"I'm not talking about hiding us, but we could hide something else." I tapped my hoof on the paper we had been working on. "Our plan. We make a quick and short note, have Sugar Belle bake some muffins, hide the note in one of the muffins, and have her take it over to Spirit."

"What if Starlight eats the muffin with the note?" Twilight brought up a good question.

"Hm… Maybe we can get Spirit to ask for muffins. I would think Starlight is kind enough to at least feed Spirit, so… We'll probably have to hide the muffin under a bunch of other muffins to hopefully make sure Starlight doesn't accidently pick the muffin with the note in the case she decides to eat one."

Twilight wasn't totally confident about this. However, she looked like if she had faith in the idea. "That sounds like it can work."

I nodded. "Let's give it a shot, I guess…"

I closed my eyes and lowered my head to focus. Alright, Spirit…let's hope this works…

Spirit

I felt my eyebrows furrow from potential frustration. I tapped my hoof on the desk with light uneasiness. I had been having to rub my temples in hope it would ease the soreness. I was practically screaming…but in my thoughts. It was starting to wear me out.

"He better had gotten my message…" I muttered to myself.

ASK FOR MUFFINS.

"Huh?!" I was surprised to hear such a bold statement. Hah. Looks like screaming works better, but it's a lot more tiring. That's for sure. When I thought the message over, I realized how odd Alex's request was. Why did he want me to ask for muffins?

I didn't know what that had to do with fixing the mess we were in, but I was more than willing to go along with it as I immediately placed my faith in him.

I was about to go bang on my door until I noticed the oats she had given me to eat. She's going to wonder why in Equestria I would want muffins if I hadn't even eaten the oats yet. I decided to take the plate and wander over to the window. I opened it slowly and lightly until there was a decent amount of space outside. I looked over to make sure no pony was there and flipped the plate over to dispose of the oats. I shook the plate lightly for good measure and brought it back inside.

There on, I took a deep breath and then faced the door.

"Starlight!" I exclaimed and banged the door lightly. "Could you come up here, please?!"

I placed my ear against the door and attempted to hear any sounds indicating that she heard me. It was silent for a moment until I began to hear faint steps coming my direction. I backed away from the door and waited for Starlight to turn the locks and open up.

"Yes?" She looked a little agitated, but I wasn't so sure if it was me who caused that.

"Um…" I began faking the cutest and most innocent act I could work out. "…I…I was wondering if I could have some…muffins…?"

"Did you finish your oats?" She asked, peeking in towards where she last placed the oats.

"Yes, I did. Thank you." I nodded my head. "It turns out I was actually pretty hungry. I just remembered that I hadn't even eaten breakfast. I just thought maybe I could get some muffins…please…"

After Starlight took a look over me, she smiled gently. "My, oh my. Look how calm and sweet you are! I suppose keeping you here yet expressing kindness was the way to go. You were so fussy at first, but now…" She sighed in both relief and content. "You know what? I will go get you those muffins. Take it as a reward for being so well-behaved. Keep it up!" She praised and proceeded to leave the area to grant my request.

I trotted over to the window to keep an eye on where she went. I rested my head on the windowsill as my eyes remained glued to her body.

"What's in your mind, Alex? What do you have planned?" I thought out loud in a calm voice.

I remembered the odd request and began wondering if he was hiding out at Sugar Belle's. This town had no good hiding areas as it was mainly open and dusty. If there was any pony they could trust to help them, it would be Sugar Belle since she was the pony who confided in us to begin with.

I felt my hoof lightly tap the windowsill.

Let's see what happens next… I have to admit. This has been weirdly fun so far… Working together all secret-like with him… Like old-times…

I didn't realized I had dozed off until I heard the familiar sounds the door made when it was being unlocked. My gasp was small, and I quickly turned around to face at who was coming through the door.

"Here you are!" Starlight cheerfully announced and placed a plate of familiar muffins on the same surface she had placed the oats. "Fresh right out of the oven too. Anything else?"

"I'm fine. Thanks!" I closed my eyes and beamed with joy as much as I could.

"Awww!" Starlight reacted towards my expression. "That's more like it! Let me know if there's anything else you'd like."

"Okay!"

She walked out and closed the door. Once, I made sure she was gone, I turned toward the plate of muffins and looked over them.

Alright. I asked for muffins and she brought them over. Now what?

FIND X

My body shivered. So sudden.

I shook my head.

"Okay. Find an 'X' apparently?"

There were two layers of muffins. I guess Starlight wanted me to be satisfied, so she brought a whole lot. If there's an 'X', it would be some place that wasn't so obvious. I spread the muffins out to where I could see all of them and took a careful look.

"Maybe it's on the back end or something?" I took a few and proceeded to look at the bottom, but after searching through all of them, I didn't find any. "What the hay, Alex?" I hope he didn't make some kind of complex puzzle out of this.

I sighed and looked over the top. I noticed that each muffin had a sort of indention, but this was normal, especially since these muffins weren't perfect. There were indentions that looked like they were curved lines, separate and connected parallel lines, and other kinds of weird marks. However, my eyes stopped when I noticed a certain mark on one of the muffins. It was dab smacked on the middle and could only appear obvious to me since I knew what I was supposed to be looking for. On this one muffin that had been in the center of the bottom layer of muffins, there was an indented 'X'. And it looked completely unsuspicious since it's not something a pony would even consider wary in the first place. If anything, it'd only be a mere coincidence.

"Hehee…" I giggled almost defiantly and picked it up. I could almost hear an orchestra of ponies singing in harmony to my success. "I found 'X'." I looked it over and remained silent for a moment. "…now what? I'm not supposed to eat it right? Alex knows how bad these actually are too…" I stared at it for a silent second. "Welp, only other thing I can think of is tearing this bad boy open." I crushed the muffin with my hoof on the surface and slowly brought my hoof back up. "Ooh…"

Pieces of bread crumbs lightly fell off the bottom of my hoof and there was something odd in the midst of the pile of muffin pieces in front of me. I felt my mouth open slightly as my eyes sparkled with interest. I slowly pulled this white piece that first felt like a napkin. After I shook off the breadcrumbs still stuck on it, I found that it was a folded piece of paper. I unfolded it and proceeded to consume the words present before me with my eyes.

Sugar Belle is going to tell Starlight that we snuck into her bakery.

Wait to see Sugar Belle and Starlight heading back to the bakery.

When you see them and us outside the building, this is when you get ready.

Make sure to notice the bucket of water that'll be nearby the bakery.

When everypony else in the village is out to see the scene all of us will cause, come back to me and sneak back out and around to where the water is. Grab the bucket and pour it over Starlight from behind to reveal what she's hiding.

Profit!

"Yes!" I cheered out loud and jumped in joy.

This is awesome! I'll surprise her and show her whose boss! Everypony will see her cutie mark and freak out! Then she'll be bombarded by the others who'll realize she'd been lying to them the entire time! No way is she getting out of this one!

I ran over to the window and proceeded to keep an endless watch over the dusty road.

Alex

It felt like a lengthy while for Sugar Belle to return, and I couldn't help but think it was because of my nerves. I suppose I had to admit that I wasn't so sure the plan was "foolproof", but I did think it was the best we were going to get in the time we had.

I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't okay with just calling Spirit back and completely leaving, but I knew I'd feel guilty otherwise by a majority of things. In the end, I just really didn't want Spirit to get hurt. She had tricks no other pony knew, but she was still pretty vulnerable, especially if somepony knew about these tricks.

"I'm back." Sugar Belle announced at the top of the stairs. "I don't think she suspected anything. She seemed in a good mood to me actually."

"That's good, I guess." I returned as she walked down the stairs. "Should we wait a while to make sure Spirit gets the message?"

WAITING.

"Never mind." I withdrew and looked around. "I guess we should get started."

"Let's go over this one more time." Twilight announced in our group, causing Rainbow to slap a hoof to her head. "We have no room for failure. One small mistake and our plan could easily break apart. The main goal here is to reveal what Starlight is keeping hidden from the other ponies. Hopefully, everypony here should get riled up once they find that they really aren't equal. Sugar Belle will tell Starlight Glimmer that she found us hiding out in her bakery, having snuck in while she was gone. She'll go tell Starlight and eventually bring her here. Starlight will probably try to call us out and offer us something for coming out peacefully. Whatever it is, we need to make sure Spirit can sneak around with the bucket of water Sugar Belle will leave outside and drench Starlight with it."

"Not that I'm doubtin' it or anythin', but you sure Starlight won't find us hiding in Sugar Belle's bakery suspicious?" Applejack questioned in concern.

"I can't say I'm one hundred percent confident, but Sugar Belle's is the only place we stopped. Sugar Belle is going to give out our location after Double Diamond told her to do if she saw us. She's technically not doing anything wrong." She turned to Sugar Belle. "You haven't done anything mistrustful that Starlight has seen, have you?"

Sugar Belle lifted up her hoof and rolled back her eyes. "I don't think so… There were a few times where I sort of slipped my thoughts out for others to hear…but I don't think she knows anything. Otherwise, she would have came knocking at my door a long time ago."

Twilight nodded. "I don't think she has any reason to suspect anypony… At least not yet…" Her eyes scanned over us. "The longer we stay here, the smaller our chances get. I say we get going as soon as possible."

"Gotcha." Applejack tipped her hat.

"Yes-indeedy!" Pinkie hopped.

"Of course!" Rarity flipped her hair.

Twilight turned back to Sugar Belle. "Sugar Belle, are you ready?"

Nevertheless, I noticed Sugar Belle looked a little worried. "…are you sure this is the right thing to do…?"

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"It's just…" Sugar Belle began. "I've been living this way of life for a pretty long while now. What if things aren't really better when everypony gets their cutie mark? Or what if everything turns for the worst and Starlight does something bad to us?"

Twilight walked up to Sugar Belle and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "I understand your concern. But I think to put it simply, we need to let everypony know the truth. Starlight is faking her cutie mark, and that's not fair, is it? Alex has brought up an important point. If everypony really is equal here, why does it feel like everypony is scared of her? Especially you?"

Sugar Belle lowered her head and adverted her eyes as if she was in deep thought. She sighed and soon nodded her head. "It's true. I feel like I've had to be on edge just to be 'equal' like everypony else. I don't like it. If Starlight is hiding something that makes her better than us, then…I think everypony should know that. I just hope things work out for the best."

Twilight offered an encouraging smile. "I'm sure they will. After all…" She turned towards us. "If you ask us, we've always had to go through the darkest of places to end up seeing the light at the end of the journey."

Sugar Belle managed to smile lightly. "Well…you are a princess… I guess there's a good reason for that." She released a relieving exhale. "Okay. I'm ready."

"We'll be waiting." Twilight removed her hoof.

"Okay." Sugar Belle nodded. "Be back later." She turned towards the door and began walking out.

Twilight turned to me. "We only get one chance at this. Are you sure Spirit is waiting for us now?"

"She said it herself." I tapped my head.

"Alright, everypony." She faced the others. "We need to keep a calm conversation going until Spirit can do what she needs to do. We don't want to make Starlight Glimmer furious and mess the whole plan up by using magic or something." She specifically turned to Rainbow Dash. "So, no agitating or taunting, Rainbow."

"Yeah, yeah…" Rainbow merely accepted.

"Let's head upstairs and wait for Starlight to get here." Twilight mentioned before silence enveloped the area around.

I suppose keeping quiet was something everypony knew to do in our situation. It was possible for somepony else to hear us from outside, so no one wanted to compromise the plan that could be our ticket to finishing up and getting out of here.

Everyone kept to their own until we heard a brash knocking at the door.

"Helloo?" We heard a familiar voice. "We know you're in there. It's time to stop playing hide and seek and come out. We won't hurt you. I promise!"

"Psh." Rainbow Dash scoffed.

"Shh." Twilight shushed and faced her voice towards the door. "Why don't you come inside instead?"

"Ohohoho." The mare outside laughed. "Don't be so silly! I'm not going in there. You all might have some sort of net or trap for me. I just want to have a nice peaceful conversation."

Twilight signaled us to remain quiet.

After a brief moment of us returning no response, Starlight spoke once again.

"Aww. Please don't be like that. Don't you want to see your friend again? I promise, if you come out now, you'll all be living together in real harmony."

Twilight gestured her hoof towards me, signaling me to say something. I was caught in surprise, so I ended up sort of improvising.

"You didn't hurt her, did you?" I asked.

"Oh, of course not! In fact, I've been treating her with the upmost care! I'd never do something so cruel!"

I noticed Rainbow Dash roll her eyes.

"Is she out there?" I questioned.

"No, but if you come out peacefully, I'd be delighted to take you to her so you can see how much she's been enjoying herself."

I could only wonder if she was really willing to do that, or if she was just lying through her teeth to trap us again.

All of us remained silent once more.

"You do know there's no other way out, right?" Starlight reminded. "We're out here, and you're in there. We're not moving until you come out. Come on now. The more you wait, the harder it is for you."

Twilight sighed loudly enough for her to hear on the other side of the door. "We're coming out, but not all at once. If you try to trick us again like last time, we won't hesitate to defend ourselves."

"Alright, alright." Starlight agreed. "Just come out. We just want to talk."

Twilight faced us and began to whisper. "Let's go out two at a time. Who's going with me?"

"I am." Rainbow immediately volunteered. "If she tries anything, I'll be ready with a little payback." She aggressively pounded her hoof.

"Okay, let's go." Twilight directed. "But remember, keep your cool. The rest of you, stay back and out of sight."

Each of the girls took cover behind something. Pinkie managed to excitedly hide under a cardboard box. I decided to go down to the basement since there was more room in there. Cloaking myself in the darkness, I kept an eye out up the stairs and began talking to myself.

"Alright… Just gotta stay calm…Who knows how worse the situation will be if we fail. Can't afford to take that risk. We're so close to fixing the mess we're in…"

"We can almost taste it…" From the silence in the ambience, I could hear a voice whisper into my ear as a breath brushed against my neck. I looked in my peripheral vision to see what appeared to be a tongue sliding against something solid like it was ice cream.

My heart surely jumped, but fortunately, whatever it was, it didn't pull a yelp or scream out of me.

"Pwot! Ugh! Bleh!" I heard light gags and spitting.

After getting a better view in the dark, I realized it was Spirit.

"You're here…!" I almost exclaimed out in surprise, not expecting her to be here this early.

After taking a moment to brush off the taste after she apparently had taken a lick of one of Sugar Belle's muffins, she composed herself to speak with me. "Yeah…" She giggled quietly. "Sorry, I was trying to be funny."

"You're alright, right?" I double checked.

"Yeah, I am. You don't know how much I wanted to break out of character from being a sweet little filly over at Starlight's."

I nodded. "I'm glad you're okay. You came earlier than expected. You know what we're doing, right?"

"Yeah. There's a bucket full of water by the building. I go sneak around and splash it all over Starlight."

"You got it." I praised. "We will probably be heading out in a bit, so get ready." I proceeded to look towards upstairs.

"You understood what I told you right? About Starlight?" Spirit mentioned, beginning to worry.

"She's faking her cutie mark, right?" I repeated. "So we're going to use water to remove the makeup she has?"

"Yeah." She returned. "But I wasn't so sure you completely understood what I said, so I just wanted to make sure you knew that while everypony else had given up their cutie marks, she still secretly kept hers."

It wasn't all that surprising based on what we already had put together. "Figures."

"We're heading out." I heard Applejack announce in a hushed voice from up the stairs. "Be ready."

After hearing the sound of the door open and close, I signaled Spirit to join me upstairs. It appeared everyone was already gone, and I was the last one to walk out.

"Alright, we can't risk you sneaking out like this, so head back inside me and wait until I walk out. I'll try to stand near the alleyway so you have a better time hiding there. There should be a bucket of water when you come out. Tap your hoof on the building wall to let me know you're ready, then find a way around Starlight so you can soak her. Everypony will see that she still has her cutie mark, and there's no way they'll be okay with that…unless they really are puppets." I felt stupid for making myself feel doubt, but I attempted to shake it off. "Anyway, you ready?"

Spirit nodded.

There was an intrusive knock at the door. "Come on out. Your friends are all out here. There's no point staying in."

"Let's do this." I told Spirit before she returned back inside me.

Finally, I walked out on my own, expecting a sea of ponies, including Starlight, outside.

"There you are." Starlight sounded like she was feigning a friendly voice and pointed her head in the direction of the others. "See? Everypony is fine. There's no need for such aggression here."

As subtly as I could, I slowly backed towards the corner of the building so Spirit could hopefully play her part.

"You tried to take our cutie marks and force us to live here…" I recalled bluntly.

"Oh, you simply misunderstood what happened. I really just wanted to give you a taste of what it was like. You know; a free trial." She attempted to excuse her actions.

Two light taps sounded behind me.

"Okay, well, we're not interested. Give us back Spirit and we'll be on our way."

"Ohhh…" She sucked in her teeth as if she was stuck in a complicating predicament. "You see… It turns out she's having quite a lovely time here. In fact, I don't believe she wants to leave. Wouldn't it be wrong to deprive somepony from what she wishes to do?"

So ironic. Better have fun with it.

"I don't think she'd like the idea that you're lying to our faces about how she feels."

"But it's the truth! I may just let you see how she's doing if you calmly follow me."

"You know you're not getting away with this, right?" I mentioned, feeling that Spirit should surprise her anytime soon.

"Just what are you talking about?" Something about Starlight's slightly scrunched expression told me she was beginning to feel impatient.

The color of her creamy-like coat appeared in the corner of my eyes, and I could see her slowly sneak in as if she was playfully trying to crawl behind the water bucket. She'd remain lying down as she slowly pushed the bucket towards Starlight's blind side while moving along with it.

"We don't need to follow you to see Spirit." I prepared.

She cocked her eyebrow in response.

Spirit stood up and lifted the bucket.

"Because she's already here with us."

In that moment of confusion, Starlight failed to respond properly. "What are you—?" She was immediately drenched from a swarm of water. "Aah!"

Spirit's smile stretched out to a grin of accomplishment.

Starlight turned her head to the direction of where the water came from.

"You! How did you—?!"

"Lo and behold!" Spirit interrupted, announcing to every other pony. "For her cutie mark is nothing but a lie!"

Once the crowd took sight of this difference in the community, they immediately gasped. Starlight noticed then and widened her eyes extremely in shock as she covered her flank with her tail.

"Wha... What are you looking at?! They're the problem, not me!" She attempted to pull out the old red herring as she pointed towards us and laughed nervously.

"You lied to us…?" One pony from the crowd questioned with an expression of devastated shock.

"How could you?" Another asked.

"You said cutie marks were evil!" The one that had been following us the majority of the time when we first got to this town joined in. "You said special talents led to pain and heartache!"

"They do! Don't you see?! Look at them!" She was clearly desperate now. "Look at what they're doing to us! We were perfectly fine and happy before they came to town!"

"Then why?" Sugar Belle grew the confidence to confront Starlight. "Why did you take ours and not give up your own?"

"I..." Starlight Glimmer was sweating now. "I-I-I…" Her eyes clenched shut and her eyebrows furrowed. Tension squeezed out from her face before she reopened her eyes. "I had to, you fools! How could I collect your cutie marks without my magic?!"

"But the staff has all the magic we need!" The pegasus that had spoken to us down in Sugar Belle's bakery retorted.

"The staff is a piece of wood I found in the desert!" Starlight Glimmer finally confessed. "It's my magic that makes all this possible! You'd all still be living your miserable lives thinking you're better than everypony else if it weren't for my magical abilities! I brought you friendship! I brought you equality! I created harmony!"

"You lied to us!" Her former loyal follower answered back.

"So what? E-Everything else I said is true! The only way to be happy is if we're all equal!" She stated that last part with confidence as if everything would go back the way it was.

"Except for you."

Starlight was prepared to shoot a fiery glare back at this pony before Twilight stepped forward and spoke up.

"Everypony has unique talents and gifts, and when we share them with each other, that's how rea—"

"QUIET!" Starlight Glimmer bellowed out, actually frightening the majority of us when we especially saw the bulging vein coming out from her neck.

"You can't have a cutie mark, Starlight! Either we're all equal, or none of us are!" Sugar Belle asserted. Technically, it still followed their "philosophy". They would be equal if they all had their cutie marks or if all of them didn't have them just like it should have been in the first place.

Everypony slowly began surrounding Starlight, leading her to anxiously turn her head around to see her becoming cornered.

"Just so you know, Starlight…" Spirit crossed her legs and shut her eyes in triumph. "I don't exactly appreciate you kidnapping me and keeping me locked in your house. That's not how you make friends."

Starlight Glimmer's eyes began shooting daggers in the direction of Spirit's smug face. Her eyes closed shut and a bubble began to form around her. Her horn glowed with magic, and we were soon pushed aside, giving her space to run through.

The next thing I saw was Starlight shooting another ray of magic towards Spirit. Before I could react, Spirit returned a light shriek and appeared to fall unconscious. Starlight carried her with her magic and ran in the direction of the building she had been keeping her.

"Spirit!" I cried with deep worry and began running after her.

"You ponies get your cutie marks! We'll handle this!" Twilight directed the others and followed behind.

As soon as I reached the door, I began banging the sturdy wood loudly with my hooves. "Open the door, Starlight!"

I could hear things being moved around and shuffled inside.

"You think you can come to my village and take everything I worked so hard for and destroy it just like that?!" Her voice angrily sounded through. "Let's see how you like it when I take something from you!"

"You've got nowhere to go!" I answered back angrily. "The only way out is through this door!"

"Open this door or we're busting it down!" Rainbow Dash shouted beside me.

There was no answer.

"Move back, Alex! I've got this!" Rainbow Dash flew backwards. Stepping aside, I allowed her to gain her speed and kick down the door. As soon as the area was accessible, we immediately galloped inside and turned our heads to search in every little area.

"Where are they?!" I felt myself begin to panic. The picture of Spirit growing immensely far away infested my mind.

"Look! Up here!" Twilight called from up the stairs. We followed her voice to come across a bedroom. However, the bed had been merely thrown to the side and revealed some kind of secret escape in the floor.

Sparing no second, I immediately ran in. I didn't plan to stop at all until I could see Spirit with my own two eyes.

Once we managed to find daylight on the other side of the tunnel, we were brought somewhere outside the village near a path towards snowy mountaintops.

"Look!" Rainbow Dash pointed out in midair.

"She's headed for the pass!" Twilight added.

I spread out my wings. "We need to stop her!" I began flying in hopes to catch up. She was only a unicorn, so she definitely had to be at a disadvantage against all of us.

Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity were going to have to run the entire path, but we couldn't spare time in keeping together. We had to catch up and cut off Starlight as soon as possible.

Thankfully, with the advantage of flight, it didn't take long to catch up to Starlight. With Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and me, there was no way we were going to let her run off. But we had to make sure to be careful as Spirit was Starlight's hostage, and the difference now is that Spirit couldn't return back since she was unconscious.

"I don't care what you do, Starlight!" I tried shouting out towards her as I carefully closed in. "Just leave Spirit out of this!"

Revealing her clenched teeth as she turned her face towards me, she spat out her response. "You better stop following me, or your little friend will be gone for good!"

"Not on my watch!" Twilight claimed and began preparing what appeared to be a beam of magic.

I gasped and immediately threw myself towards her. "No!" Twilight's magic halted instantly as she was rather shocked of my sudden motion. "We can't risk Spirit being hit instead! We need to stop her from both sides!"

"She's getting away!" Rainbow called out as we had been distracted with the use of magic.

"Rainbow, see if you can grab Spirit, I'll try to cut her off!" I worked my wings to the fullest extent once more.

When I found myself at a good distance, I decided to close in and land on a narrow pathway in front of Starlight Glimmer.

"You're only making things worse! Just leave Spirit. That's all we want!" I attempted to plead assertively again.

My interference allowed her to stop for just a moment as she eyed me seriously. "Oh, so you think that's going to stop me? After what every single one of you did to my village? Get out of my way!" Before Rainbow Dash could even try to get closer in, Starlight rested Spirit on the back of her body and worked the magic in her horn. Soon, a spikey aura formed around her and she charged straight at me head on.

I thought about using magic to defend myself, but I was afraid any kind of spell could cause some risk or potential harm to Spirit. The only thing that came across my mind at the time was maybe being able to hold her back myself, despite her using some kind of spell.

I gained a little speed and hoped I could stop her in her tracks or tackle her enough to where I could recover Spirit. As soon as I came into contact with the aura, I immediately felt interfering twitches and spasms all throughout my body. It was as if I was being shocked, but it came more from the inside. I couldn't move, and Starlight immediately knocked me over the narrow pathway.

I was unable to open my wings or even use magic to help with the fall. It was only a short moment before some pony else caught and saved me. Fortunately it was Twilight, and she proceeded to whip out a spell of her own to counter the one I was under in.

"Thanks." I quickly expressed and searched in the direction where Starlight appeared to run off. I was able to catch Rainbow keeping a solid eye on her, but it seemed she was also keeping her distance after seeing what happened with me.

"I think she's headed towards that cave!" Twilight pointed out the jagged hole on the side of the mountain.

From the look of the cave, I was afraid that if she made it in there, who knows if we'd be able to get back Spirit if we were having trouble right now. My eyes caught the white mass all around the mountain pass. "Twilight! C'mon, help me!" I led her towards the snow. She stayed by my side as I headed in a direction that seemed a little off-track from Starlight. "Try to get that snow to fall off onto the path!"

I demonstrated an example by shooting a few rays of magic towards the slope. I was hoping Twilight knew some more advanced kind of magic that had a better chance of making that snow fall. Nevertheless, once Twilight joined in with some heavy assistance, the snow began to rumble and fall like an avalanche. Fortunately for Spirit's case, the amount of snow wasn't as much as an actual avalanche, so it shouldn't hopefully hold much harm for her.

The majority of the slope fell perfectly, and I could see Starlight turn in horror as the snow intervened in her escape. I wasn't sure if Starlight would be strong enough to make her way out of the piled snow on her own, but I definitely wasn't giving it any chances. As soon as I reached the area where she was last seen, I immediately began digging for Spirit.

Once the others caught up, they helped dig with me and occasionally called out for her just in case she was conscious again. After we spent some time rummaging around, I came across a pony standing at the edge of the cliff the mountain pass was on.

"Starlight!" I growled once I identified her. "Where is sh—?"

"Not another step!" Most of her mane, body, and tail were still covered with snow, but a glow of light appeared from the area where her horn was. I wasn't frightened to move any further, but then Starlight stepped to the side to reveal Spirit lying motionless and dangerously by the edge of the cliff.

Most likely hearing the commotion, the others joined me in the confrontation as well, but they stood still once realizing the situation.

"All of you! Nopony move! One step and I'm sending this little filly down this cliff, and I can promise you she'll never be found again!" Starlight Glimmer aggressively threatened. "Don't try any magic either." She added, eyeing especially at the ones with horns. "I can promise you won't have enough time to help the filly before she disappears never to be seen again."

"Think about what you're doing, Starlight!" I exclaimed. "What are you getting out from doing this? You do anything to her, you'll surely find yourself being banished from Equestria! Is that what you want?"

She scoffed loudly. "You think I care about banishment? You want to know how hard I worked to raise that village you all so easily destroyed in a matter of minutes?! I had to go through so much! I had to lose so much to get to where I was, and you all took that away from me! If anypony should be banished, it's you all! I won't be satisfied until I see the look on your faces when you lose something so dearly like I did!"

In order to calm Starlight down, I had to struggle to calm myself down first. "Just…calm down, Starlight." I voiced tensely. "You don't need to do this. If you want somepony to take all this out on, then take it out on me. Just don't hurt her."

"Ah, but don't you see?" She refrained from surrendering her hostage. "Look at how much you care about this filly of yours. Apparently, she's so special that you'd take a severe kind of punishment for her. That only means that I'd receive true satisfaction from pushing her off this very cliff!" She raised her hind leg while keeping an eye on our direction.

"Don't!" Twilight protested.

"Nopony moves or you're going down with her!" Starlight readied her horn as she began to raise the potential energy in her back hoof.

"INCOMING!" A voice cried out from behind Starlight.

Before she could clearly see what originated the sound, she was forcefully pushed towards us. We threw ourselves to the side to avoid this force and looked back to see what had just happened. Somepony on a pair of skies had apparently crashed into Starlight, but once I realized she was of no harm anymore, I quickly turned towards the direction of Spirit. The force must have pushed Spirit just enough to begin slipping under the force of gravity.

"Spirit!" I cried out and quickly jumped off the cliff to my open my wings. Just before her acceleration could increase, I positioned myself under her and prepared my magic just in case I missed. Fortunately, it was over. She landed safely on my back, and I could hear her mumble softly under her breath. I was finally able to release a large sigh of relief and headed back towards where everypony was at.

"Is that how you treat somepony who gave you a loving and unjudging home?!" Starlight angrily asked at the four that were standing in front of our group. They weren't exactly recognizable, but they definitely felt familiar.

"You always said we had to be equal." The pony with skis answered back. "But what I realized is that we had to be equal on your terms. Not something that everypony agreed on!"

"Yeah!" The pegasus added in. "We were always scared of thinking of something and being punished by you for it! If you ask me, that's not equal at all!"

Aggressively tightening and scrunching her eyes, Starlight proceeded to fire a spell towards these four ponies. However, Twilight immediately moved before them and protected them all with a strong steady magical barrier.

"Wh– I studied that spell for years!" Starlight argued to this surprise. "How can you—?"

"I studied magic for years too!" Twilight countered. "But what I didn't know then was that studying could only take me so far. Each of my friends has taught me something different about myself! It was their unique gifts and passions and personalities that helped bring out the magic inside of me! I never would have learned that I represent the element of magic without these six! And I certainly wouldn't be here to stop you now!"

Starlight blocked out the lecture coming from Twilight's mouth and rolled her eyes. "Spare me your sentimental nonsense! I gave these ponies real friendships they never could've had otherwise!"

"How do you know that?!" The stallion with skis removed his helmet. "You never even gave us a chance!"

It seemed Starlight was at a loss of words, but that didn't cool down her attitude. Through an angry glare, she fired up a shield-looking aura around her, leading for the others to back away. The next thing we knew, she had disappeared, and sounds of hooves echoed from the caves we had originally kept her from going in.

"She's in the caves!" Rainbow Dash announced.

"We'll never find her in there!" The ski pony mentioned.

Twilight released a sigh, which revealed a breath of ice pushing out from her mouth. A part of that sigh sounded like disappointment rather than relief. "We just have to hope that when she's had a chance to think it over, she realizes that you all have taught her something."

"It's you who have taught us something." The stallion with poofy hair almost like Pinkie's approached Twilight. "We all came to this village because we were searching for something missing from our lives. We thought Starlight had given it to us, but now... now it seems it was in front of us all along. It's us!" He regrouped with the other three and they all shared a group hug.

"Does that mean you'll stay in the village?" Twilight asked.

"It's our home. I'm not going anywhere." The pegasus responded both firmly and proudly.

"This is a chance for all of us to get to know each other again for the very first time!" The snowy-colored pony shared between them.

"And I finally have a chance to bake something besides terrible muffins!" The pink unicorn exchanged gleefully.

No way! Was that Sugar Belle?!

Everypony laughed out loud, and I turned my head towards Spirit once I heard a soft voice.

"Chocolate please… With lots of sugar… Don't forget the sprinkles…"

"Spirit…you alright?" I gently asked.

"Mmmm." She rubbed her head against me, as if she was getting comfortable resting on my back.

Returning a light smile, I poked the tip of her nose with my hoof. Her eyes slowly opened, and she looked around. I was half-expecting her to freak out when she found out where she was, but she actually took it pretty calmly as if she had just woken up from a nice nap.

"Mmm. What happened?"

My smile stretched and I returned one last sigh of relief for her sake.

"Is she okay?" Twilight approached us.

"Did we get her?" Spirit asked, most likely referring to Starlight.

I chuckled and decided to answer Twilight. "She's just fine."

On the way back to the village, I explained everything that had happened to Spirit as briefly as I could. She seemed a little bummed out about it, and she wished she could have seen the look on Starlight's face when she was at a total lost. Nevertheless, I made sure to tell her what was really important. It was the fact that she was still here with us.

Her face grew a light but warm red, and she wrapped her forelegs around my neck as a sign of appreciation.

"Now those are real smiles." Pinkie Pie described as the villagers enjoyed the party they threw in celebration. It was like they all had overthrown a tyranny running the village. I suppose that was technically true.

Soon enough, a sound emerged from everypony but Spirit and me. They all looked towards their flanks to find their cutie marks glowing.

"I'll never get used to that…" Applejack admitted.

"I think it's divine." Rarity sweetly objected.

"Does that mean that the map is calling us somewhere else?" Fluttershy questioned Twilight.

"I have a feeling it means our work here is done." Twilight settled with.

"Looks like you were right, Twilight. The map did have a reason for sendin' us here." Applejack brought up, appearing to understand why they were sent here in the first place. "We brought real friendship to these here ponies. Guess that's why you're the Princess of Friendship." She ended with a wink.

"But the map didn't send me. It sent us." Twilight humbly included. "You're a part of me, all of you. And there's no doubt you're a part of my mission to spread friendship too."

The rest of them squealed and giggled as she shared a group hug.

"But we still don't know why we didn't see Alex's cutie mark on the map." Applejack pointed out after their embrace.

I shrugged carelessly. I was just too happy about Spirit's wellbeing and our success. "It all seemed to end up for the best of everyone, and I think that's what really matters."

"I guess you're right." Twilight agreed. "I just wonder what would have happened if only the six of us came here." Twilight tapped her chin in thought.

"I have a feelin' we would have been cutie mark-less." Applejack sent a pair of teasing eyes over to Spirit, which caused her to blush in embarrassment even more.

"We don't have to go home right away, do we?" Pinkie Pie asked. "That Sugar Belle can bake!"

"I don't see any harm in staying for a little while longer." Twilight mentioned, turning her head to me. "What do you say?"

"I could go for some nice sugary sweets right now…" Spirit shared almost dreamily.

Reacting with a short heartfelt laugh, I nodded my head. "Yeah, let's go."

"Whoo-hoo!" Pinkie Pie cheered as she charged into the nearest table with sweets.

"You don't mind if you get some and put them in my mouth, do you, Alex?" Spirit asked as she continued to rest on top of my back. "I'm feeling really comfy, right now."

"Haha, of course, Spirit." At this point, I'd do anything for her. "Anything you want."

Castle Sweet Castle

I found out I woke up earlier than Alex did when I saw him still sleeping in bed. How could he not be excited about the pancakes like I was?! Pancakes are super delish and with Pinkie Pie making them, they had to have all sort of sugary goodness to them!

As soon as those pancakes came to mind, I swear my mouth already started watering and my stomach grumbled. It was pretty earlier in the morning, but I was just so energetic and excited that I couldn't wait anymore.

"Alex~~! Alex~~!" I chirped, shaking him with my hooves. "Get up! I want some pancakes!"

He grumbled and groaned until he opened his eyes and saw me. "What…?" He mumbled half-asleep.

"We're having pancakes this morning remember!?" I reminded.

He took his time giving a response. "Yeah…when Pinkie Pie gets here. What time is it?" He sat up and looked around.

"I couldn't sleep." I briefly explained the reason for the early wake-up call. "C'mon! Let's go set the table so we get to eating as soon as she gets here!"

"There's nothing to set." He softly argued. "The table and chairs are there."

I puffed out my right cheek and shared a pretty dissatisfied frown. "You're no fun."

"I'm cranky. I want to go back to sleep." He said and turned away from me in his bed.

I stared at him for a bit to see if he would do anything else, but he seemed pretty glued to his word. I decided to sneak and sort of snuggle up by his side. "Well then, I'm gonna stay right here until you finally get out of bed!"

"Fine with me…" He mumbled so softly, I hardly heard it.

I was hoping he would somehow object to this and it would eventually lead him in getting out of bed, but he didn't look like he was moving. I sighed and felt defeated.

I guess you can't win them all.

I turned myself outwards facing the end of the bed. I pushed myself in a little further and began to feel my back graze against his. My body froze for a second, but ironically, I immediately felt a warmth envelop me.

I remember this feeling.

At first, I was pretty disappointed that he didn't want to get up as early as I did, but now that I was here with a warmth covering me like a blanket, I didn't want to move. In fact, I think I was willing to sacrifice the pancake breakfast if I could stay like this longer.

It seemed he really didn't mind it at all since he remained in the same position he had put himself in. It felt like he had already dozed off. I scooched in a little closer and stopped when I was satisfied enough. It wasn't that I didn't have enough room. I just wanted to feel him a little more because I can't remember the last time we'd been close like this.

I'm not talking about simply a hug or so. I mean a time where the two of us can just relax together and possibly sleep like babies. It's been so long, but on the contrary, I suppose technically I'd have to say that it never happened…

It's my turn to finally have a moment where I can just be close to him. I know he doesn't understand why this is so important to me…and he probably never will. But I guess I'll just have to deal with that for the rest of our lives.

It sucks, but I can't blame anyone but myself for that.

But just know I did it for you.

The next thing I knew was that I was slowly opening my eyes and feeling a little dazed. Something had been messing with my cheek, and it wasn't until I saw Alex's teasing smirk when I found out what it was.

"Look at you." He grinned. "Weren't you the one who wanted me to get up for pancakes?"

I was still sleepy from having been woken up, so I didn't respond back as wittily as I wanted to. I really only sat up and rubbed my eyes lazily. "I got comfortable…"

Alex turned his head away and brought up a tissue to my face with his magic. "You've still got a little…you know…"

"Huh?" I wondered about until he delicately wiped the tissue at the corner of the mouth. "I was drooling?!" I exclaimed in shock, immediately almost feeling entirely embarrassed.

"Just a little." Alex's smile stretched as if he was having a kick out of my reaction.

"No way." I continued to rub the same area with my hooves even though Alex had already finished. "I don't drool." I know it sounded like I was in denial, but it was true. I didn't!

"You must be really hungry, huh? Thinking about those pancakes in your sleep."

"Maybe…" I returned faintly. I really didn't want to keep talking about drooling…

Either way, Alex didn't say anything anymore, but the look on his face shifted oddly. From his smile, he began looking a little concerned. "Hey…did you see Twilight come home last night?"

"I don't think so. I was with you the whole time."

"That's weird." Alex placed a hoof to his chin as he thought. "I don't think I saw her at all last night. Maybe she went to bed early. Or…she locked herself in her room reading books…"

"Maybe." I shrugged. I guess I wasn't as concerned as he was.

"Anyways." Alex seemed to shrug it off. "So, how you feeling about eating with the others?"

I actually physically shrugged in response with a mumble. It felt wrong to feel like this, but it kind of bothered me when he brought up the subject of the other girls. I mean, I know they were his friends, but I guess I couldn't help but just be interested in only him.

"I don't mean to sound pushy or anything, but I'd figure you might get to talking a little more with the others at the table. "His eyes suddenly opened wide as he looked like he thought up of a great idea. "I got it! Why not start with Pinkie Pie? You can thank her for the delicious breakfast she's going to bring us and continue to chat from there. After all, she's like the friendliest and most outgoing pony there is. She might be a little weird at times, but you two have a lot in common really." He chuckled softly.

I just couldn't feel the same enthusiasm he felt when it came up to this subject. He wanted me to make friends with the others so bad, but all I really cared about was him. The only pony I wanted to spend time with was him. Making friends with any other pony else felt really unnecessary…

"Mmm…" I stared down at the floor where my hooves were and slightly fumbled with them.

Alex noticed my silence and sighed slightly. "I get how you feel. I think… But I really think this is good for you. To put shortly, they each have something to offer that you can't get from anypony else. That's the best way I can put it for now."

"But what if you know there's only one thing you really want?" I asked and then silently figured that it might have been too much to say.

"Like what?" He questioned.

"Never mind." I shook my head. "Okay, I'll try talking to Pinkie Pie."

I wasn't totally sure what Alex was thinking when it came to me making more friends. It wasn't that I was shy. It was more that I was…uncomfortable with the idea, if that made sense. I couldn't put it to words, and even if I could, it probably wouldn't be the right thing to say to Alex.

Either way, I had to admit that I felt much better when the sight of Pinkie Pie's pancakes filled my eyes. I had never seen anything that looked so freaking delicious and made me want to gobble it all up in one bite. My eyes felt like they sparkled and glittered in all of its glory as they slowly drew closer to the mountain of chocolate chips, sprinkles, whipped cream, strawberries, blueberries, you name it!

I felt myself unable to control the movement of my mouth and right before I was going to take a bite, Pinkie Pie exclaimed out.

"Where's Twilight?!" She looked around the dining room, seeing that one pony was not at their seat.

"I'd think she'd be up by now…" Alex took a look around the room for himself.

"Do you think she got enough sleep…?" Fluttershy worriedly asked.

"Good question. I didn't see her come in last night." Alex informed. "I thought she might have already gone to sleep but…she isn't up…" He pushed himself away from the table and stood up. "I'll go check on her." He proceeded to walk away and out of the room, having me slowly turn back to the group he'd left me with.

They began talking within themselves, and I couldn't help but feel like keeping quiet since I had no absolute idea on what to say. It was almost as if I was just born yesterday.

"Can't we start eating already, Pinkie?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Nuh-uh!" Pinkie shook her head. "Not until everypony is here!"

"C'monnnn."

"You wouldn't like it if we ate without you, would you?" Pinkie reasoned with a smile.

Rainbow Dash sighed and crossed her forelegs as she looked away with a frown.

I remembered what I told Alex about talking to Pinkie Pie, and if I didn't keep my word, I'm sure I'd never hear the end of it.

"Mm…" I began, looking at the plate of pancakes laid out in front of me. "Great pancakes, Pinkie Pie." I somewhat nervously complimented.

"Thanks!" She eagerly accepted. "I sure put in a lot of Pinkie love for each and every one of you!"

But you hardly know me…right? "Ah…" I merely answered.

Either way, I at least managed to talk to Pinkie Pie, so I guess I could technically say I kept my word.

It wasn't too long before the doors to the dining room opened and Alex walked in carrying something on his back. Rather…it was somepony.

"Does anyone know why Twilight looks like this?" He asked, gesturing his head over to the pony on his back. I had to admit that the sight of this made me feel a little…bothered… Either way, Alex was asking why Twilight looked so dirty. Her mane and tail was a tangled mess, and there was actually a nest full of leaves and twigs planted in them. Pieces of dirt stuck dryly on her face and body. And even with all of that, she remained dozing off on his back. "I found her in her room lying on the floor and passed out cold. She didn't even make it to the bed."

"Well, I for one am glad she didn't." Rarity responded, cringing lightly at the sight. "Her bedsheets are made of the finest silk. I couldn't imagine them being ruined."

"Really, Rarity?" Applejack turned to her and reacted.

"She's here!" Pinkie cheered. "We can eat all together now!"

"Just set her down and let's get chowing!" Rainbow encouraged.

Despite the uncomfortable and disagreeing look on his face, Alex gently placed Twilight down in front of the table and sat her down. Before he returned to the seat next to me, he continued to stay by her, lightly touching her face with her hooves.

"Hey. You awake?" He asked softly.

"Mmm…yuh…" She mumbled and looked like she was able to lift her eyelids by centimeters.

"She's fine! Come on!" I tapped Alex's seat in hopes to get him to come back and sit down.

"I guess…" He muttered without confidence and joined me.

"To answer your question, sweetie, she spent the day helping me bathe the animals yesterday." Fluttershy explained with a sweet smile directed at him.

"Do you really have to talk like that at the table?" Rainbow Dash questioned bluntly.

"Let her talk how she wants." Applejack argued. "She hardly gets to spend any alone time with Alex with the castle and duties and whatnot nowadays."

This statement from Applejack made my head fall towards the floor from guilt. I guess it didn't help that I always wanted to be by his side ever since I began staying outside. I couldn't help it. He's my best friend and really…my only friend. It's completely normal and understandable that I'd want to hang out with him all the time, right?

"How long did she stay over?" Alex asked, ignoring Rainbow Dash's comment. "I mean…she hasn't even bathed herself by the looks of it."

"She actually didn't stay all that long." Fluttershy continued. "She left around sunset."

"Huh…" Alex responded, taking a moment to think to himself. "Then how come I never heard or saw her come back to the castle?"

"I can answer that!" Pinkie Pie dove her face into her stash of pancakes and licked clean all of the whipped cream when she pulled her face back out. "Twilight spent all night helping me pick the flavor! I kept thinking we'd found the right one, but she insisted I make even more to try." Pinkie Pie continued to add stacks of pancakes to her never-ending dish. "And more. And more and more and more and more! It was like she never wanted to—"

"Leave?" Fluttershy strangely answered with a frown upon her face.

"Exactly!" Pinkie took a big chomp out of her tower of pancake. "Eventually we ran out of time so we just went with every-berry-any-chip-surprise!" She took a second to hush something over to Rarity and exclaimed out loud for all of us to hear. "Somepony's gonna get a very special pancake!"

Rarity immediately scanned under the third layer of pancakes which I'm sure was because of the "surprise".

"Up all night, huh? Is that why she's so, uh... out of it?" Rainbow Dash pointed at Twilight whom was clearing snoring loudly and soon rested her head back against the chair.

Everyone took a moment to look over at Twilight as she continued to snore. "Um, I don't mean to sound unappreciative, but has anypony else noticed that Twilight has been a little too helpful lately?" Fluttershy asked in a lower tone of voice.

"Now that you mention it, she was lendin' a hoof at Sweet Apple Acres the other day and stuck around 'til near midnight." Applejack added. "Dug up fifty tree-plantin' holes when all I needed was ten."

"She spent an entire afternoon rearranging a single gem drawer at the boutique. An entire afternoon!" Rarity piled on.

"You think that's weird?" Rainbow Dash started. "She raced me, like, a hundred times the other day. And lost every time! She just kept goin'! Best out of ten, best out of twenty, best out of a hundred! I mean, I know hanging out with me is awesome, but it was like she'd rather keep losing than—"

"Leave?" Fluttershy finished again.

"Yeah. Who does that?"

There was a break in the pause of silence when Twilight snored loudly and allowed her head to fall onto her pancakes. Instead of eating them, she instead used them as a pillow. They were fluffy…

"Guess that explains why I've hardly seen her at all the past few days." Alex mentioned, causing me to recall how we have been able to hang out with each other pretty easily.

"Is it just me, or does anypony else think she's avoidin' somethin'?" Applejack asked.

Alex's eyes opened widely after a second. "…y-you don't think she's avoiding me, do you? After all, it looks like I've been the only one who hasn't seen her as much."

"No way." I felt the words slip out of my mouth unintentionally as I messed with the remainder of my pancakes.

"I don't think there's any way in Equestria she'd avoid you." Applejack reassured Alex. "She's like your little sister right?"

"Yeah…" Alex sounded unsure of himself.

"Even if she was, I'd think she'd have a surprise for you! Maybe she's making you some kind of present or something?" Pinkie Pie flipped her plate of pancakes with a great force and launched the rest of her meal into her mouth.

"That sounds like somethin' she'd do, but it doesn't really fit together right now. Either way, we'll find what the problem is once she wakes up." Applejack assured.

Pinkie Pie's cheeks filled with air and she immediately coughed up something Fluttershy's way. It stuck to Fluttershy's pancakes, allowing us to clearly see what it was. A measuring spoon. "I win!" She cried out. So, that was the surprise… I'm glad I didn't get it.

"Huh?! I'm pancake!" Twilight jumped up from her seat and looked around only to see a pancake stuck to her face by her horn. "I mean, awake..." She pulled the pancake away from her face and released an embarrassed grin.

"Uh, Twilight? Is there somethin' you wanna tell us?" Applejack didn't hesitate to get straight to the question.

"You know how much we appreciate all you do for us," Rarity walked over to Twilight to remove the pancake hanging off her horn only to have Pinkie jump up and grab it from beneath the table. "…and we simply adore having you around... but... we worry you might be... ahem... avoiding something else?"

"Oh, has it been that obvious?" Twilight didn't try excusing herself out of answering. "I've been... the thing is... I know it's silly, but I... I've been avoiding... this place." Twilight presented our surroundings.

"The dining room?" Pinkie Pie asked with both disbelief and shock as a few pieces of pancake fell from her mouth.

"No. The castle, Pinkie." Twilight answered seriously.

Rarity released a sharp gasp. "Why in Equestria would you want to avoid such a gorgeous castle?"

"Yeah, this place has everything!" Pinkie Pie joined in. "Big tall ceilings that make you feel tiny! Shiny new floors that are cold to the touch! Brrr! And it even has loooong empty hallways!" She jumped out of the room and her voice could immediately be heard echoing in the hallway outside. "Okay, I get it." Pinkie admitted and returned to Twilight.

"The castle is amazing. But it just..." Twilight sighed. "It doesn't feel like home."

"Seriously?" Alex concerned himself with Twilight's troubles. "I didn't know you felt that way. How come you never told me?"

"I…I don't know." Twilight appeared to search for answers. "I guess maybe you looked like you really liked the place, and I didn't want to ruin anything. Plus, you've been having such a good time with Spirit. I didn't want to ruin that."

"Are you kidding? You know that's what I'm here for. After what you did to help me with…you know…that… The very least I could do is help you with what you're going through. You'd come first."

I felt myself groan deeply in the inside.

"Thanks…" Twilight appreciated. "But…I'm not sure if you'd know what to do to help in this case."

Rarity began chuckling loudly. "Is that all? I know the perfect thing to make you feel just at home! Simply decorating is the way to go to make this home yours."

"But it's just so daunting! Look how big it is! I-I don't even know where to start!" Twilight pushed away her pancakes and dropped her head onto the table.

"You can start by letting us do it for you." Rarity offered. "We will make this the castle of your dreams while you go to the Ponyville spa for some much needed rest and relaxation. I'm saying this with love, but... have you looked in a mirror lately?" She pulled out a hoof mirror and faced it towards Twilight. "I've never seen you look this... mmmm..." She obviously struggled with what she wanted to say next.

"Frazzled?" Fluttershy mentioned.

"Yes!" Rarity immediately pointed out. "That is absolutely the word I was going to use."

"Ooh, I guess I do need a little help." Twilight accepted wearily. "And so does the castle. And I just know you'll do a great job, because nopony knows me better than you."

"We'll make this place feel cozier than hot cider on a rainy day." Applejack joined in.

A short gasp shot from Rainbow Dash's mouth. "There's gonna be cider?!" The serious rather unamused look from Applejack caused Rainbow Dash to rework her sentence. "Uh, I mean, let's decorate!"

"Oh, no! Did I miss the pancakes?!" Another voice spoke from the doors. I noticed Spike throw a Rarity-looking doll to the ground as he jogged over to us holding his blankie. "I sleep like a baby under that cold, cavernous ceiling." He began stacking his mouth with pancakes.

"Spike, I'm so glad you're here!" Rarity expressed.

"Really?" Spike asked with jubilant surprise.

"Yes! You're taking Twilight to the spa!"

"Great! I've been meaning to get my claws done!" He began chewing on the leftover pancakes, but his jaws stopped when everypony began staring at him in anticipation. "Oh, you mean now." He said with a full mouth and began walking out with Twilight as he stuffed the rest of the pancakes in his tiny little body.

"So, what are we gonna do?" Applejack asked between us.

"This is Alex's castle too, so let's get his opinion." Rarity returned and leaned over to Alex. "What do you say, darling? What is it you'd like to see in this extraordinary gorgeous castle?" She fluttered her eyelashes.

"To be honest, I really don't care." He informed. "Whatever you all think is best for Twilight, I'm up for. Just don't girl up my room." He chuckled with a very light bashful grin.

"Yeah, I don't care either…" I mumbled out just in case they thought they should ask me too.

"Alright!" Applejack exclaimed. "How bout we each bring in some things of ours and work them together to make her feel more at home?"

Everypony nodded their heads and agreed.

"I'll help the rest of you do that." Alex suggested. "I don't really have many things to decorate here with. Besides, I don't mean to boast, but I think being here is plenty enough for her coming from me."

"Well, let's go y'all!" Applejack faced the rest of the girls gathered around. "We've got work to do!"

Everyone began exiting the room while I stood there without moving a hoof. Before I could look around to find Alex, a pair of hooves pressed against me from behind and pushed me towards the doors to catch up along with the others.

"Wh-what are you doing?!" I asked Alex, whom was actually the one pushing me.

"I want to make sure you don't miss out on this." He invited rather roughly. I was probably going to follow him anyway, but maybe he wanted me to experience this first-hoof.

"Let's all work together" Rainbow Dash began singing out of the six in the hallway. "To make this castle shi-i-ine"

"You like singing, don't you?" Alex asked in between their lyrics with a smirk on his face.

"Once we add some sparkle" Rarity polished the crystal pillar near the door with a premium-looking rag of hers. "It'll feel, it'll feel, it'll feel..."

"It'll feel divine!" Everypony joined in.

Outside the castle, each one of the ponies besides Alex began planning out their list for the things they would be adding inside of the castle. Eventually, they brought their things back all together with the help of Alex and even me.

"Crates of apples an' bales o' hay

Just makes ya feel at home" Applejack escorted her cart towards the gigantic doors of the castle.

"Furry friends and some popinjays

So she won't be alone" Fluttershy invited along from her cottage.

"And we'll make, and we'll make, and we'll make

This castle a home!"

"There's nothing like balloons and confetti

To greet you every time you walk through the door!" Pinkie Pie skipped by me and planted the string of a balloon towards my lips. My eyes widened in shock as I had not been expecting such a friendly yet shocking gesture in the middle of something else.

"She'll need this and those

Posters of all my heroes" Rainbow Dash tossed various keepsakes over to Alex, whom had appeared to be caught off-guard as he had to use his magic and even hooves to keep Rainbow Dash's items from landing on the ground.

"How could anypony awesome ever ask for more?"

"And we'll make, and we'll make, and we'll make

A home she'll adore!" The girls continued as they counted each other's attendance and pressed forward inside the castle.

Alex began by trying to fix up the curtains Rarity had brought, but Rarity quickly sprang into action and took over for Alex by demonstrating to him how it was meant to be done. "Bright curtains of flowing silk and lace"

"This picture of me winning a race" Rainbow Dash centered a frame and replicated her pose in said picture.

"Party cannons to give her a surprise!" Pinkie poked her head and eyes through every present and even treat she kept for Twilight.

"Hoes and rakes and some more garden supplies" Applejack tossed some tools over to some bales she placed in the room and unexpectedly showered dirt all over the flower.

All of a sudden, I felt a big strong and furry arm grab ahold of me and pull me towards a bed of hair. "Getting hugs from this nice, big, friendly bear" Fluttershy sang besides me, offering me a kind smile that honestly uplifted my spirits in fitting into this group.

"Decorate with some gemstones bright and rare" Rarity directed her artistic vision with gems as Pinkie Pie suddenly grabbed my hoof and borrowed me.

"More of this and that" Rainbow Dash zoomed all over the castle room as Pinkie Pie threw me piles of party hats to wear not only on my head but anywhere imaginable.

"Don't forget the party hats!" I cheerfully sang along with her as we both sprung up and down from the floor with a group of furry animals following behind us.

"How could anypony awesome ask for more than that?"

"Let's all work together" Applejack rolled a barrel by us and stopped to uncover the feed that was inside for Fluttershy's animals.

"To show that we have shown" Fluttershy set a few bird houses on the crystal pillars inside.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle" Rarity continued to carry mass amounts of ribbons and curtains.

"How we make, how we make, how we make

This castle a home" Everypony continued to furnish the castle with each of their tastes.

"How we make, how we make

This castle a home

How we make, how we make

This castle a home!"

I didn't know what was so enchanting and uplifting about their group chorus, but I couldn't help but want to join after I had started hopping after Pinkie Pie with the party hats. In the end, I felt like we had accomplished something great and that it was such a big deal. However, when I opened my eyes to the sound of birds screeching and balloons popping, I took a good look around the room. It was practically filled to the brim, but it was so…um…ugly. It didn't look like I was the only one who noticed this. In fact, Pinkie Pie was the only pony who didn't look like she had lost her optimism.

"Wow, y'all! We did a... great job... together..." Applejack sounded like she was trying to encourage or convince the others, but her tone sounded flat and deflated compared back to when she was singing.

"We sure did... something." Rainbow Dash pointed out blatantly as the others murmured below her voice. "Fluttershy, I love that you brought so many animals." She commented after several of Fluttershy's many critters stopped by and expressed some of their love.

"Are these your trophies?" Fluttershy asked by the window, spotting shimmering and glimmering awards.

"I prefer to think of them as everypony's trophies but with my name permanently etched onto them." Rainbow Dash responded rather distastefully.

"My my, Applejack, bringing the outdoors inside, it's... earthy..." Rarity nervously observed the rustic surroundings. "What a lovely touch!" She sniffed a quilt she picked up and heaved in disgust for a second. "Are these quilts vintage?"

"Nope, just old!" Applejack answered proudly and began to contradict Rarity's décor. "Unlike your sparkly window doohickeys which are... why, they're just swell!" She chuckled unconvincingly.

"No one said anything about my hidden confetti cannons!" Pinkie Pie brought up between them until she paused for a second to think about what she had just said. "Oh, right! They're hidden!" She giggled.

"I just realized something…" Alex finally spoke, dragging his eyes among everypony's things that stacked all over inside the room. "Why did everyone put their stuff in one room?"

No pony returned an answer until the sound of an opening door echoed.

"Hey guys, how do my claws look—Sweet Celestia!" Spike casually asked until he took a look at the room for himself.

"Oh, Spike! Are you and Twilight done already?" Rarity worriedly asked.

"Don't worry, I ordered her the super-deluxe mane blow-out! She'll be a while." His tiny feet began waddling inside the packed room as he continued to gaze all around him. "Man, this place looks terrible!"

The girls exchanged a look with each other and sighed out loud. It sounded like they had been holding that in for a good while.

"Thank goodness somepony said something!" Fluttershy said.

"It's pretty bad, right?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"This place looks like a mishmash of knickknacks." Applejack commented.

"Hmm, I suppose it is a little cluttered." Rarity added.

"What are you guys talking about? I think it looks super fun!" Pinkie Pie hopped and believed otherwise.

Then out of nowhere, a confetti cannon exploded and frightened all of the animals that Fluttershy had brought in.

"Whee!" Pinkie Pie cheered as all of the animals began wreaking havoc and destroying things inside of the room.

"Oh! Oh, no! Please don't do that!" Fluttershy attempted to calm her pets down. "If you all just take a deep breath and calm down—"

On the other hoof, Rarity focused her attention on a couple of squirrels that was scratching frantically on one of the drapes she had brought over. "No! That bunting is embroidered by hoof! Don't you move one more paw!"

I suppose the daring critters technically did as they were told, but the nails they had dug in tore through the fabric straight towards the direction of the floor. With heated pinkish cheeks, she raised her voice and screamed out loud. "Everypony, stop!"

I wasn't expecting her bold exclamation to work over Fluttershy's encouragement. Everypony stopped in their tracks with a few more things falling in the silence around us.

"Okay, now it's a mess." Pinkie Pie didn't lose her smile by one bit as another confetti cannon blasted behind her. I could probably learn a thing or two from her about smiling…

"What're we gonna do?!" Rainbow Dash panicked at the sight of the completely shambolic room.

"I dunno. But Twilight's blow-out won't take that long." Spike warned, raising the stress levels of those who really cared about pleasing Twilight. "If she was avoiding the castle before, she'll never set hoof in here now!"

"Come on, guys, we've gotta do something! Twilight's counting on us!" Rainbow Dash pushed.

"Spike, you've got to get back to that spa and stall her! Whatever you do, don't let her come home!" Rarity pleaded.

"Like, forever? But we live here." Spike returned.

"Uh, yes, well, uh, maybe you could manage it 'til... sunset-ish?" Rarity ended by batting her eyelashes towards Spike, flipping the confidence switch on little love-struck Spike.

"Anything for you, Rarity..." Spike floated off, dazed and maybe even a bit confused.

"Okay, we all agree the castle is too cluttered, right? So why doesn't everypony take one of their own decorations out and we'll see how it looks?" Applejack immediately came up with a resolution, gaining general agreement from the others.

"Spirit." Alex unexpectedly walked up to me.

"Uh. Yeah?" I accidently gasped lightly before I answered.

"Can you do something for me?" He asked.

"Yeah, sure!" I blurted out with a bright smile before I thoroughly thought about it.

"Can you go with Spike and help him keep Twilight at bay while we finish up here?"

"What…?" A wave of disappointment threatened to soak and drown me. "You mean you're not coming with me?"

"I think it's best if I stayed here." He reasoned. "I think having the most magic we have available will be a big help in clearing this mess and sorting things out as soon as possible. If you can help stall Twilight long enough to give us time to fix up the place, that would be a great help."

I felt my cheeks filling up with air of disapproval, but I didn't want to throw a tantrum about not being beside him. When I really thought about it, it would have been a really immature and selfish thing to do. No matter how much I was against it, I had to soak it up and fake a smile.

"Yeah, sure. I can do that."

"Thanks." He expressed with a smile and playfully messed with my mane like a kid. "See you back here later." He mentioned before he turned to help the others.

I felt my movements slow and drag as I turned to catch up to Spike, whom had been most likely headed back towards the spa where Twilight was at. Is that all I really was? A kid? Is that why he treats me so much like a kid?

I can't blame him. Just moments ago, I was ready to be the little filly I was at heart. But I can't help it… It's just the way I am.

For a moment, I couldn't remember where the spa was. I remembered passing by it a few times whenever I was out and about with Alex, but I couldn't recall the exact way. I had to aimlessly walk around town for a while until I came across a building that looked like the way I last remembered.

I was thankful once I was inside since it was pretty obvious I was in the right place judging from the interior décor. As I looked around in the waiting room, the pony at the desk noticed me and called out.

"Hello! Do you have an appointment today?" She asked.

"No, no!" I shook both my head and hoof. "I'm just looking for somepony… Twilight Sparkle?"

"Oh, yes." She skimmed through some of her papers. "She's having a traditional massage right now. Is there anything you'd like to try while you wait for her? A mineral bath, maybe?"

"No, thanks…" I answered as politely as I could. "Would it be alright if I go in and talk to her?"

"If she's fine with that, then go on right ahead."

"Thank you." I said before I finally speed-walked through the doors.

It didn't look like the business was too busy. The inside of the spa looked almost like a ghost-town to be honest. Then again, I would think that that kind of a scenario would be the best for some pony wanting to relax. Nevertheless, it was impossible to not notice two humongous holes in the wall. It looked like some kind of wrecking ball broke through them.

"Why are there two holes in the wall?" I asked myself.

"Some huge guy with small wings just tore through them like no tomorrow." I heard a voice by the huge tub in the middle of the room.

This startled me as I wasn't aware any pony was inside the room I was in since it looked so empty. Like any pony else would do, I turned in the direction where I heard the voice and was surprised to see some pony I had not expected to really see at all.

I didn't call her by her name and instead unintentionally stared at her. Her mane looked really…sort of…fluffy like as it had just been perfectly blown through every single strand. She lowered her head to snag a towel from a nearby counter and was about to continue on her way before she stopped when she noticed me staring at her.

"What?" She asked.

My brain finally realized what I was doing, so I slightly turned away with no intention to answer back. Nevertheless, I continued to stupidly face my body towards her, so I was still technically in the middle of a conversation with her.

"What? You don't like me?" She asked but continued to walk towards and up the stairs to reach the top of the giant bath. It didn't sound like it bothered her at all if she knew that I didn't like her, but that was to be expected from her.

I decided to take another look at her, but this time, I didn't hold my eye contact.

She now formed a look of confusion as if she couldn't understand me.

"You do remember me, right?"

Of course I do. How couldn't I?

"Yeah…" I felt myself accidentally slip.

She chuckled. "Alex's right. You are shy." She placed the towel somewhere safe and began dipping herself in the bath. She closed her eyes and released a sigh of pleasure and relief. There was an uneasy moment of silence before she decided to speak again. "You want to keep me company or what?"

I couldn't say I hated her as much as I did before…but all those things she had done in the nonexistent past weren't exactly easy to forgive. For the heck of it, I decided to climb the stairs up where she entered the tub, but I didn't get in since I was only supposed to talk to Twilight. I sat there, but I didn't say anything.

"You sure are quiet." She mentioned.

Since I was here for Twilight, I decided I might as well ask if she's seen her.

"Twilight. Have you seen her here?" I asked.

"Oh, her?" She didn't seem to have a hard time remembering who this pony was. "Yeah. We were talking for a bit before that little dragon, Spike, came and talked her into massages. I'm guessing they're in that room." She pointed towards the room with the two holes in the walls. "Oh man…" She drifted on. "It's pretty crazy. Every pony in this town doesn't recognize me at all. Is it the new look? I don't know. It feels different, but pretty nice. But I can hardly find anything to do here though… It kind of gets boring."

She was rambling. It was pretty strange since I've never seen this side of her.

"You can't stay here for long, can you?" I inquired. "You've got a band you pretty much run, don't you?"

"Takin' a break." She briefly answered. "Had been on tour for a long time. Might go back around winter or something." I heard the water in the tub move around as she unexpectedly turned towards me and rested her hooves on the wooden exterior where I was standing. "So, what's up with you? I don't think I've ever seen you before Alex introduced us. Did you two just recently meet?"

Not really…

"I guess… Sort of…" I knew I was being pretty vague with my answers.

"I know I'd remember any mare with eyes like yours." She mentioned blatantly. Surprisingly, I didn't really take any offense from that. "No offense. I think they're pretty cool."

"Thanks…" I responded.

Ironically, there were so many things I could have said to start an endless conversation, but I couldn't say most of those things if not any. They were things I technically wasn't supposed to know, and she would probably freak if she saw that I did.

"Ow. Ow. Ow." I heard another voice barely whimper out.

I turned towards the direction of the sound and found Twilight walking out as she looked pretty relieved and relaxed. Spike, on the contrary, looked completely the opposite. Nevertheless, Twilight spotted me almost immediately as soon as she exited the room she was in.

"Spirit! What are you doing here? Aren't you with Alex and the others helping redecorate?" She stopped a few steps in front of me.

"He um…" I paused to try to think of an excuse. In the same moment, I glanced back over to the mare in the bath tub, whom casually turned her head over to us. "I mean… I wanted to um…" The next words that came across my mind made me feel sort of sick. "I guess I wanted to sort of spend time with you… Alex has kind of been wanting me to get to know everyone better."

"Oh, really?" Twilight looked pretty surprised to hear that, but she didn't hesitate to believe it. "Well, that's nice, but we were just about to head home already."

"I hope it's sunset already…" Spike managed to murmur clear enough for at least me to understand.

"Huh?" Twilight turned to him with a puzzled look on her face.

"I mean nothing!" He corrected. "Let's go. I think I'm done with the massages."

"Later, Twilight." The mare in the bathtub flipped a hoof without really looking back.

"See you, Starlight."

Back outside, Twilight and Spike walked ahead while I stayed behind them and felt pretty lonely without Alex being around. Twilight released a relieved sigh and expressed her thoughts on her time at the spa. "I totally needed that."

Cracked joints continuously sounded while I felt like speaking to Twilight about back there with that other mare.

"So what? You two are all buddy-buddy now?" I asked even though I felt it come off as too bitterly.

"Who? You mean Starlight and me?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah." I felt my tone retain. "Even after all she did to you, like call you ugly and talk you down, you're just going to be okay with all of that?"

"You…know about that?" Twilight questioned as an uneasy frown formed across her face.

"Well, let's just say I sort of know everything Alex knows." I seemed to answer both briefly and vaguely.

"Oh, right…" Twilight quickly understood as she stopped in her tracks. "That whole 'you being his light' thing'."

Yeah… That thing.

"Well…" Twilight rubbed the back of her head and stared at the ground. "It's never really good to hold a grudge, right? After all, she did apologize. I'd think anyone deserves a second chance, and after all that's happened, I think she's really changed."

"I just don't get it." I continued. "How can you just forget all that bad things that she did and just pretend that none of it ever happened?"

"You can't really forget." Twilight answered. "You just forgive."

"But how can you forgive if you can't forget?"

Twilight looked like she noticed the anger in both my voice and face as it appeared she studied both things closely. "I don't mean to change the subject…but what's with you and Starlight? Do you feel angry about her because you experienced the same feelings Alex did from her too or something?"

"You could say that." I replied.

"Then again…" Twilight paused in thought. "Alex ended up forgiving her, so…shouldn't you…?"

Of course she wouldn't truly understand. She wouldn't know it's not as simple as being his "light". And because of this, it made me even angrier.

"You know what? Never mind…" I decided to cease the subject.

After that, I noticed that Spike had been messing with different parts of his body. It looked like he was trying to straighten them out or something as his joints continued to crack.

"Well… I guess we should continue on home then." Twilight hesitantly turned and began walking until Spike noticed the position of the sun in the sky and stopped her.

"Actually, I was hoping we could take the scenic way back." He suggested.

"Why?" Twilight asked.

"You know… It's a nice day out. We can't let it go to waste."

Twilight took a look at the sky for herself. "I guess it is pretty nice out."

"Great! Let's go!" Spike began unnecessarily shoving her in the direction that he wanted her to take.

As much as I wanted to go back to the castle, I knew Alex wanted me to help Twilight, so I decided to stick around longer with her.

Even though I wanted to help Alex by helping Spike, I just couldn't feel the motivation to do my job. I lagged around and dwelled within my own thoughts. Spike pretty much had to go solo on the job. They stopped by that old tree they used to live in and shared some sad conversation about losing it. Ultimately, Twilight was almost ready to fly back home until Spike stopped her in talk of getting a new bed, so I ended up being at a bed shop with them.

As Spike tested out as many beds as he could to stall for time, I instead stared out the window. Their talk about losing something they loved got me all emotional, and I couldn't stop thinking about my own faults and problems. But I was able to snap out of it for a moment when I noticed Alex trotting by with the rest of his friends. Rainbow Dash made some kind of signal towards the shop and continued on.

"…what the heck are they doing out here…?" I asked myself and noticed that it was sunset. I decided I was free to leave, so the first place I went was in and out of Alex. "What are you doing?" I asked, noticing that they were all in front of the destroyed tree that Twilight, Spike, and I were just at not too long ago.

"Oh, dear goodness!" Rarity cried out in fright as she noticed my sudden appearance. "I…ahem…forgot you could do that."

"You're not with Spike?" Alex asked.

"I saw you guys outside with shovels and wanted to know what's going on."

"We were all planning to dig up this tree." Applejack explained as she pointed towards the target. "But…" She sighed as she observed the large remains of what used to be a gigantic treehouse. "I'm starting to think this plan won't work after all…"

Plan with the tree?

Everypony stared at the tree in upsetting silence before Rarity suddenly spoke up. "Of course it will, darling. I can see it! Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, you come with me. The rest of you stay here. We're going shopping! We'll meet back at the castle." Rarity began trotting with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie out of the area.

"Well…" Applejack's frown managed to form into a small smile. "I say it's a chance worth takin'."

"If you say so." Alex returned.

I sighed sadly, feeling as if my assigned job was yet to be complete. "You want me to go help Spike…?"

"Actually…" His response surprised me and perked my ears and eyes up. "We could use your help digging up this tree. You up for it?"

"Y-yeah!" I grabbed a shovel and began to dig at the dirt once he did.

Applejack's smile seemed to stretch towards our interaction.

"It's not the things that ya gather 'round" She sang.

"It's not how much you own" Fluttershy gathered her critters that were experienced with digging.

"The things that hold the meaning in your life" Alex continued.

"Are the memories you've sown" I happily joined.

"So we make, so we make, so we make

This castle a home

So we make, so we make

This castle a home

So we make, so we make

This castle a home!"

I was able to finally realize what their plan ultimately was after all the labor that was put to it. They had attached the roots off the dug up tree and decorated ever so brightly with sewn gems. When Twilight came home, they had to explain the situation and reason behind why the halls of the castle still looked the same, especially when Spike shared an outburst because of how long he had to stall her in order for the others to do their job.

"What really makes home feel like home isn't what it looks like." Applejack stated. "It's the memories you make when you're there."

"So we've made something that celebrates the memories we've made with you since you moved to Ponyville." Rarity shared before she allowed the doors to the newly furnished castle room to be opened.

"The ornaments on the chandelier are reminders of all the fun we've had together." Fluttershy presented the sewn gems.

"That one shows your party at the Golden Oak Library welcoming you to Ponyville!" Pinkie Pie pointed at a specific one.

"The time we shared donuts after the Grand Galloping Gala!" Fluttershy pointed at another.

Ohhh… Alex was so sad at that point in time…but after taking a glance at his face, it didn't seem to bother him one bit in the present.

"We were hoping that being able to look at your beautiful old memories would inspire you to make new ones." Rarity expressed to the awe-struck Twilight.

"And the best part of it is, it's made from the roots of the Golden Oak Library, so you'll never forget where you came from." Applejack explained.

After hearing and seeing for myself how much the roots of the tree ingeniously symbolized their memories, I couldn't help but find myself taken back with the amount of thought placed into this.

"It's exactly what the castle needed." Twilight reacted with brimming tears in her eyes as she raced towards the others for an immense group hug. Of course, I was kind of left out, and I felt left out because I was technically never really there for those memories… "And I am ready to make new memories here."

"Then let's start right now with a new memory cake!" Pinkie Pie dashed out and back in with an enormous cake on her back. "Seven layer what's-that-flavor mystery surprise! These might be chocolate chips or they might be super-spicy black beans!" She pointed at the circular chunks planted carefully around the circumference of the cake. I'm all in if they're chocolate chips. Not so much if they're beans.

"Let's go to the dining room." Twilight suggested as she led the group. "It's a little sparse, but at least there's a table and chairs." She stopped inside. "Whoa! What happened in here? Last I checked, this place was empty!"

As I took a look for myself, it seemed the others didn't stop at that one room with the roots. How much did they do while I was gone?

"I couldn't help myself!" Rarity confessed. "It was just begging for the personal touch!"

"Truth be told... I couldn't either." Applejack admitted as well. "Your kitchen might have some rustic farm decor, Twilight."

"And there may or may not be some Daring Do posters up in your library." Rainbow Dash added.

"And some stuffed animals in your bedroom." Fluttershy giddily shared softly.

Then all of a sudden, I was startled by the loud boom from an exploding confetti cannon.

"What was that?!" Twilight asked.

"One of Pinkie Pie's confetti cannons." Applejack answered with a sigh.

"What? It's not my fault I hid them so well!" Pinkie Pie responded with remnants of the once delicious-looking cake still on her coat, mane, and tail.

As everypony joined in for laughter, I turned towards my hooves on the floor and noticed that some of the cake had gotten onto them.

Hm.

I took a taste of it and closed my eyes as I savored the flavor.

It's a mess…but still sweet.

Their laughter drained and faded out as I focused my thoughts towards Alex.

Alex. Let's make memories of our own too, okay?

Alex's eyes reacted in surprise as he glanced over to me.

Be Brave and Rave

My surroundings felt spacey and limitless as I hopped over to Twilight with my present in my mouth. She was sitting comfortably in front of the fireplace while wearing a comfortable scarf around her neck. I sat down in front of her as the light from the warming flames casted our shadows across the room. Twilight took a sip from her freshly made hot chocolate and chuckled at the sight of me as I sat down in front of her.

"It's such a cozy night, isn't it, Alex?" She asked.

"We've yet to exchange gifts, don't forget!" I reminded, patting my gift by my side.

"Don't worry!" Twilight closed her eyes and returned a gleeful smile while presenting a gift of her own. "I could never!"

"I think it's about time to open them, don't you think?"

"Fine by me!"

I grabbed my present and stretched it over to her. "I couldn't afford a present this Hearth's Warming Eve, so I got you this box." I stated confidently.

"That's what I got you!" She made the same motion towards me.

Afterwards, we began laughing giddily and cheerily towards one another. Both of us wrapped each other with our forelegs and rubbed cheeks. This seemed to last a long while until the door to the room opened up.

Another pony walked in and found our way of expressing our feelings for one another to be rather weird.

"Uh…what are you doing?" She asked with a cringing look on her face.

"Hey, Spirit!" I called out, Twilight and I continuing to hold each other closely. "You missed it! We just exchanged our gifts!"

"Gifts for what? Why the heck are you two so close like that? It's disturbing." She walked closer and stopped near us.

"Don't you know? It's Heath's Warming Eve!" Twilight announced merrily.

"What?" Spirit's original expression exaggerated. "No, it isn't. Not even close." She continued staring at our bond with disgust. "S-stop that. It's weird."

"Is somepony in a grumpy mood today?" I asked teasingly. "You know bad ponies don't get any presents."

"You're seriously starting to freak me out." Spirit began backing away slowly. "What's gotten into you two?!"

"What's gotten into you?" I contradicted. "It seems Twilight and I are the only ones in the right mood."

Twilight supported me with an enthusiastic nod.

"What the heck is going on?" Spirit began observing the interior design of the room. "How did you two put up these decorations so fast? Why do you have the fireplace going on in the freaking morning? It's not even winter yet!"

"Did you fall out of bed and hit your head or something?" I asked, unable to lose my merry mood. "It totally is."

Spirit's eyes caught a clock nearby and raced towards it. "No way! It's not midnight!"

"Yes, it is." Twilight corrected. "Why do you think we exchanged gifts?"

Twilight held her gift up for Spirit to see as an example. Spirit snatched the box and opened it up only to find it was empty. "What the? It's just an empty box!"

"Yep! It's the best gift ever!" Twilight exclaimed out in glee.

"Twilight gave me the best gift ever too!" I showed off my box to Spirit as well.

"Okay." Spirit pulled away from the box. "This can't be happening. Am I still dreaming?" She tightly shut her eyes and then forcefully opened them. However, she remained staring at the two of us in silence for a brief moment. "No…No. No. This is way too real. And I can't wake up…"

"Why would you think it's not real?" I asked.

"Because things were not like this yesterday!" Spirit exclaimed and raced around the room to try to find an explanation for whatever was bothering her. Then, she suddenly stopped at a mirror and gasped. "My eyes…"

"What?" I inquired.

"They're… They're normal!"

"Huh?"

"Look!" Spirit raced towards me and stopped close enough for me to get an eyeful of her own eyes. They were both light blue.

"So?" I didn't find anything odd about that.

"So?" Spirit repeated. "So?! Don't you remember?! My eyes aren't like this! One is a darker blue than the other!"

"Uhh…" I found myself unable to understand what she was getting at. Before I knew it, I realized that at some unknown point, her eyes changed back to the way she had been describing them. "Wait, you mean like that?" I pointed out.

She backed away from me with a look of confusion and then quickly turned back to the mirror. "Y-yeah…! What the hay?! How…?!"

"Come to think of it…" Twilight's mood suddenly shifted. She picked up her empty box and eyed it closely. "…why are we giving each other empty boxes…? What's the point in that?"

My own thinking weirdly changed as well. Before, exchanging empty boxes seemed all the normal to me, but now, for some reason, it felt completely weird. "You're right." I turned to the lit fireplace. "Wait…I can't remember putting these decorations up." I mentioned as I looked over the winter décor in the room.

"Me either." Twilight stood up and unwrapped her scarf. "And it's not even cold. Is it really Hearth's Warming Eve?"

"That's what I've been trying to tell you two!" Spirit faced us and spoke with feeling. "I thought you were just going insane at first, but after seeing what just happened with my eyes a few seconds ago, something strange is going on!"

"But…everything felt so normal…" I tried to reason with both her and myself.

"You think it's Hearth's Warming Eve?" She mentioned. "Let's go out and I'll show you it isn't!" She pointed us in the direction of the door. She raced towards it as we followed with eagerness.

We had no reason to hesitate going into the next room as we expected to be in the hallway of the castle, but what we experienced proved Spirit's point of something amiss even more. As soon as we had passed through the doorway, everything was black.

"Aah! What happened to the lights?!" Spirit cried out.

A faint glow protruded from Twilight's horn. "Well…we did just have the fireplace on…for some reason."

"And it's midnight." I added. "Pretty normal for it to be dark."

"But it shouldn't be midnight!" Spirit argued. "It should be morning!"

Twilight sent me a look of concern. It looked as if she wasn't taking Spirit's protests lightly. "We still were doing something weird back at the fireplace. I don't remember it being Hearth's Warming Eve, and I definitely wouldn't give you some empty box as a gift."

"So what? Did somepony erase a part of our memory and that's why we're freaking out?" I asked.

"If the other girls were here, I wonder what they'd say…" Twilight thought out loud with a soft voice.

Suddenly, muffled yet still loud booming music came through from what felt like the door closest to us.

"What the? Is somebody throwing a party in the castle this late?" I wondered.

"I don't remember inviting anypony!" Twilight mentioned.

"Maybe somepony broke in!" Spirit shared and then gasped sharply. "Yeah! Maybe somebody broke in during the night and casted some kind of spell on you so you wouldn't have a clue on what actually was going on! And I'm the only pony who actually knows what's going on because they didn't know I existed! And the reason it's not morning is because I woke up in the middle of the night while you two were acting all goofy?"

"That's some kind of imagination you've got there…" I reacted, feeling as if what she said was too far-fetched. I wouldn't think something like that would actually happen.

"Well, to be honest…it sort of…makes sense and explains things a lot better than whatever we thought at first." Twilight admitted. "I know it's crazy, but given our circumstances, I think I'm kind of willing to believe it."

"What about Spike?" I brought up. "Why isn't he here with us?"

"Honestly, he's probably still asleep. I don't know." Twilight returned. "I'm still really confused about all this."

I sighed in frustration. "What I want to know is how somepony could have casted a spell on us in the first place? Did they sneak into our rooms or something and do it? Couldn't we have heard? And what about Spirit's eyes changing? I don't get it."

"I think the best way to start is through that door." Spirit pointed directly at the apparent door the sound was coming from. "I think we'd be wasting our time trying to think how things happened when we can find out what's going on for ourselves."

I turned to Twilight, awaiting her input.

She shrugged in response. "We have no idea what's going on. It's probably the best thing to do right now."

"I guess…" I decided to agree. "Lead the way then." I allowed Spirit.

She grabbed ahold of the door and practically busted it open. The techno-sounding rhythm grew insanely loud and clear, but a bright flash blinded our eyes from seeing anything inside. However, the light promptly faded away, and we came to realize that the light appeared
to be an illuminating revolving spotlight. To put it in hopefully better words, it was a sort of light used mainly for parties and the like.

Besides that, the room appeared to have the interior room lights completely turned off, but there were enough sources of portable lights that revealed a clear sight while emitting a bluish tint or glow.

"…what is…going on?" Twilight asked in a slow pace as her shock had her focusing on the surroundings in the room instead.

"Looks like some kind of…party?" I guessed.

"Look at these!" Spirit exclaimed, catching our attention. She pointed to some objects she had been wearing on her neck and hooves. They appeared to be…neon-colored glow sticks?

Since when did she have glow sticks?

As I scanned over her body, I found something even more disturbing and unexplainable. Her mane and tail seemed to have suddenly grown strands of highlights that matched the glow sticks she wore. "What about your mane? Since when did you mess around with it?" I asked.

"What?!" Spirit became alarmed after my comment and quickly attempted to stretch a part of her hair to the front for her to see. "What the heck!? I didn't do this!"

"Yours too, Alex!" Twilight pointed out.

It didn't take long to realize that my mane had become just as oddly different, and I was wearing neon glow sticks too. I looked over to Twilight to see if she suffered the same change just as us. I was able to spot the glow sticks on her, but her mane and tail seemed unchanged.

Maybe because her hair already had sort of highlights in them?

"Okay, this is going too far. Party in our castle? Messing with our hair? We gotta find whoever's responsible for this."

"No one messes with my hair!" Spirit screeched out in disgust.

"Let's make it quick." Twilight directed. "I want to get this sorted out as soon as possible."

I nodded and looked around for any clues.

I noticed that the room we were in was oddly structured. To put simply, the interior design of the room was a mess, almost as if was like a maze. The center of the room itself was clear enough, but on every side, there was a door, including the one we just walked in through.

"I don't remember a room like this being in the castle…" I mentioned. "But then again, with all the rooms the castle has, I can't say that I would…"

"Let's try that one first." Twilight pointed towards the door directly in front of us.

"Might as well." I decided. "Have no idea where to start anyway."

I walked forward as the others joined along. I opened the door and pushed it forward. The sound of the music grew even louder to the point where we'd have to practically shout to hear each other. Nevertheless, there was an immense crowd of ponies inside. Each of them stepped and danced to the rhythm while some others merely stood at the sidelines and conversed with others. There were tables set up with punch, chips, snacks, other refreshments, etc.

Twilight bumped herself as close as she could to me so I could hear her through the thumping bass.

"You don't think Pinkie has something to do with this party do you?"

Pinkie Pie did love her parties, but I couldn't see this being a stunt of hers whatsoever. I shook my head in answer to Twilight. "This doesn't seem like the kind of party Pinkie would do. We should see if we can find out what's going on from somepony. They should probably know who's running things here."

"I guess so." Twilight began messing with her perked ears as if the music was beginning to get to her. I wouldn't blame her. I'd assume she'd be into something far more calming and soothing.

Everypony seemed too busy enjoying the music or talking with others to be bothered. It wasn't until we came across someone enjoying themselves over at the table full of snacks.

"Hey!" I shouted as I tapped this pony on the shoulder.

The pony looked to give a big swallow and turned to us with huge grin. "YES?!"

It took us only a second to associate the features like her smile and hair to the crazy and uplifting Pinkie Pie.

"Pinkie?! What are you doing here?!" Twilight exclaimed at the sight of her. "Don't tell me you're the one who's throwing this party in the castle at midnight! We should be sleeping!"

"Chill your frills, Twilly Bean!" Pinkie cheerfully and friendly responded. "I didn't throw this party! But you have to admit, it's a super fantastic one to be in! Just listen to that beat! Whoo!" She cheered. "And all these yummy snacks? Delish! Who wouldn't enjoy a party like this?!"

"Maybe those who have no idea what's going on in the first place?" I asked with a slight tone of annoyance. "Why didn't you tell us there was a party going on here?!"

Pinkie shrugged a little sheepishly. "I thought you'd be having a good time here already."

Twilight shook her head. "Do you know who's in charge of this party? I want to know who's been messing with us earlier when we were in the fireplace room."

"What do you mean 'messing' with you?" Pinkie asked in confusion.

"Alex and Twilight thought it was Hearth's Warming Eve." Spirit explained. "They were giving each other empty boxes and acting all giddy and normal about it! I'm thinking some pony put a spell on them or something so they wouldn't realize that a party was going on at the castle!"

"Oh gee, really?" Pinkie Pie returned a face that shared concern. "That's not nice! I don't know anything about that!"

"Well, do you know who's running this party in the first place?!" Twilight returned to the main question.

"Yeah!" She bounced back ecstatically.

"Everyone having a good time?!" A voice boomed from speakers that were set up all throughout the area.

"There she is now!" Pinkie pointed, leading our eyes to a stage where many other ponies were gathered at. Many ponies had been blocking the view of the stage in the first place, but once I got to get a look at the color scheme of this character near a seat of electronic objects, only one pony came to my mind.

"Is that…Vinyl?!" I asked, seeing her interact with the audience that apparently adored her.

"DJ-Pon3!" Pinkie responded. "You got it!"

"What is she doing here?" Twilight began questioning. "Don't tell me she snuck in or has been the cause of all the weird things going on around here!"

I shook my head, unable to believe she would do such a thing.

"No, no. There's no way she'd do something like that…" I turned my head back to the stage where she remained on. "We've got to go talk to her."

"But all those ponies are in the way!" Spirit reminded, looking bitterly at the sight of the crowd. "They don't look like they're moving."

"And we should probably stick with a non-violent approach…" Twilight advised. "We don't want things getting out of whack…"

I sighed, but with the sound of the music, I was sure it wasn't audible at all. "So, maybe there has to be another way onto that stage?" I wondered and then turned to Pinkie Pie who continued to gobble up on the free treats in front of her. "Pinkie. You have any idea how to get up there?"

She turned to me with cookies stuffed in her mouth. She only returned a shrug with a muffled "I don't know". Afterwards, she returned back to her binge eating.

"Guess we're on our own…" Spirit watched as Pinkie endlessly shoveled the food down her throat.

"Let's try checking out those doors in the beginning." I mentioned. "Maybe they lead towards the stage somehow."

"It's better than nothing." Twilight commented before we trotted back to the first room.

We had decided to try the right door in the direction we had first originally walked in. As we opened it and entered in, another bright flash enveloped our vision. It was a moment before the bright white blinding light faded away and we were welcomed with another completely different but rather soothing experience.

The thumping and pounding music had strangely become muted, as if the room we were in was capable blocking out any kind of outside sound. Instead, the musical atmosphere was replaced with a sort of orchestral muse instead. The room wasn't only faintly lid up with neon lights like previously. Instead, the entire room was brightly filled with mellow yellow lighting.

"…huh…?" Twilight appeared to be overwhelmed in her bafflement. Her eyes almost twitched as if her logic couldn't comprehend how everything so far was happening. Were we still being affected by some kind of magic or something?

Nevertheless, we began hearing the sound of light humming, followed by gently tugged strings of a classical instrument. We followed the sound to find a pony resting on a comfortable-looking stool as she played what looked like a cello.

Of course, the only reason I'd be able to label the specific instrument as a cello would be because of…

…Octavia?

She listened to the sound of music she produced herself and began fervently following along without losing her peace of mind. She appeared to be in a state of serenity as she flawlessly produced her quite amazing compositions. Her eyes closed as she placed most of her focus on her ears and hooves to provide uninterrupted or pausing music.

"Well, at least it's a lot better than having my ears blasted out back there…" Twilight commented.

Octavia gasped as she opened her eyes and turned in the direction of us. They scanned the three unexpected ponies before her until they stopped at me.

"A-Alex. I wasn't…ahem…expecting you to be here watching me play…" She expressed embarrassingly as her cheeks turned a light shade of red.

"Octavia…?" I began speaking, my stuttering mind almost causing me to hesitate with my words. "Wh…what are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?" She asked, appearing in a state of confusion herself as she couldn't completely comprehend the reason for my question. "Why, I'm practicing, of course. Am I not allowed to?"

"No, I mean, you are. But what are you doing in the castle right beside Vinyl's crazy rave party?"

"Rave…party…?" She repeated. "I…I'm afraid I don't understand."

"You don't think she was put under a spell too, do you?" Spirit whispered over to me.

With squinting eyes, I slowly shook my head. "I don't know… Why would she have to be? This isn't making any sense!"

"Alex… What's going on?"

Octavia seemed innocent and completely unaware of what was going on, just as we were.

"I don't know…" I responded with a lack of the knowledge she yearned for. "We're just as clueless as you are."

She placed away her instruments and began walking towards us. "You said Vinyl was having a crazy 'rave party'?"

"Yeah, right next door." I gestured my head over to the door we came through.

"That's very strange. Last I remember, I was at home…not in a castle… How is Vinyl doing?"

"Surprisingly…" I crossed my forelegs. "She seems to know more about what's going on than any of us. Even Pinkie Pie. We came across her earlier, but it seemed like she was just attending some cool party. We wanted to talk to Vinyl about the party. There's been some…suspicions going around." I lightly glanced over towards Spirit. "Anyway, we just want to get a clear understanding on what's going on. Why is there a party being thrown in the middle of the night? And why are all these weird things happening?"

"I'm afraid I can't help you there." Octavia shook her head solemnly. "But I'd like to accompany you to speak with Vinyl, if that's alright. I wish to know what's going on as well."

"Yeah, I guess." I didn't see any harm in that. "You might want to be careful though. There's crowds of excited enthusiastic ponies at that party. We were trying to look for another way around to get to the stage she was on."

"That sounds quite…chaotic." Octavia appeared uncomfortable with the idea. After all, she was practically the opposite of Vinyl, despite being best friends.

"Just stay close. I don't think we want you getting lost in there."

"I understand." She nodded and stuck by us.

Returning back to the main room with each wall having a door, there was only one door we actually hadn't gone through yet. Across us was that door.

"Ahh!" Octavia cried out in surprise. "What happened to my mane? And why am I wearing…these?" She shook her hooves almost frantically.

"Yeah, that happens…" Spirit mentioned.

"It's another reason why we think there's some magic going around…" Twilight added.

"Let's try that door." I pointed forward and suggested.

After walking in through that last door, we came across an area that was very faintly lit. It was much darker than the area where the crowds of ponies and Pinkie were. However, I noticed that there appeared to be some kind of stands and curtains to the right and the wall to the left. The curtains and stands provided a sort of makeshift wall and blockade that not only prevented ponies from the other side getting through, but it also blocked a lot of the light that could be lightly seen through the curtains.

"This has Vinyl written all over it." Octavia commented as she planted her hooves on her ears. "Only she would have her music this loud."

"Better find her quick." Twilight seemed to side with Octavia. "Before this music does any serious damage to my ears."

We followed the path as we moved rather slowly. It was dark, so we didn't want to trip or bust anything. It felt like we passed by various types of equipment before we finally came across a small set of steps. It sounded like we began stepping on a wooden floor, but the area was still almost completely dark. There was a dark red curtain to our right now. In fact, it looked like huge stage curtains, so I believed we were now at the stage part of the show. I poked my hoof through and slowly set the curtain aside enough to see through.

Beyond, I noticed the back of Vinyl's body as she messed with some of her equipment with her left hoof while she constantly pumped her right hoof into the air, nodding her head to the beat of the music. I felt another head look out by me.

"That's her!" Octavia exclaimed. "What does that pony think she's doing?!"

"Partying, apparently." Spirit remarked.

"Vinyl!" Octavia shouted out for her attention, but Vinyl paid no mind. It didn't seem like she heard anything. It sounded as if there was a low growl that came from within Octavia. "VINYL!" Octavia now screamed out, sounding as if it came from the top of her lungs. Had the room been silent, her voice surely would have echoed all over and froze anypony in the tracks. However, with her voice being contested with the music, Octavia's yell was only clearly audible for those nearby.

Vinyl stopped pumping her hoof in the air and stood motionless for a second before she slowly turned around. She proceeded to stare at the hole we created in the curtains out of curiosity before she began cautiously walking towards it. Before she could poke her hoof through the curtain towards us, Octavia caught it and forcefully pulled it towards us.

"Whoa!" She cried out as she stumbled behind the stage in front of us.

As Vinyl took her time to recover from her disorientation, Octavia didn't falter in cutting straight to the point. "Vinyl, what is going on here?!"

With a last shake of her head, Vinyl noticed Octavia and seemed to become distracted with something else. "Tavi! You came! I didn't think you liked my parties!" She threw her arms around Octavia and squeezed tightly.

"Gehh!" Octavia returned a short grunt that almost sounded as a gasp for air. She managed to pull away from Vinyl's grasp. "I'm here to find out what's going on with this 'party' of yours. Why is it that I'm just in the other room practicing my cello and you're having a party in this castle!?" Octavia took a second to remember about the change of her look. "And what happened to my hair?! It was perfectly normal until I came here! Do you have some magic roaming wildly around here?!"

"Huh?" Her lost smile persisted among her confused and tilted face. Vinyl looked like she had no idea what Octavia was talking about or at the very least didn't catch everything she had said.

I decided to help fill in with what Octavia was trying to say.

"Vinyl, you're having this party in one of the rooms of the castle." I explained, catching her attention. "What has us all confused is how you exactly got a party up in this castle without us knowing. Is there some magic going around that we don't know about?"

"I-I don't get ya." Vinyl obviously still seemed dazed about the situation. "Why would you guys think magic is being a problem here?"

"Twilight and Alex were in the other room in front of the fireplace exchanging empty boxes, thinking it was Hearth's Warming Eve!" Spirit exclaimed.

"Whhaaat?" Vinyl reacted dumbfounded. "What are ya talking about? It's nowhere near Hearth's Warming Eve."

"That's what I've been saying!" Spirit emphasized.

"Well, it's pretty obvious Vinyl doesn't really have a clue on what's happening to all of us either." Twilight concluded from her analysis. "There's something we're missing here." She turned to Vinyl. "Vinyl, tell us exactly how you were able to have a party here in the first place."

"Uhh…" She rubbed her head and thought for a moment. "Actually… I don't remember…" She strained her answer as if she was surprised that she didn't know this for herself.

"What?" Octavia questioned in shock.

"I've just been partying." Vinyl answered. "I don't remember setting up or waiting for the room to fill up with ponies or anything." She chuckled. "Weird, huh?"

Before I could ask how she could have not remembered at all on how she got this party here in the first place, I turned to Twilight. "Twilight, do you remember anything before we started exchanging gifts in front of the fireplace?"

Twilight lowered her eyes to the floor and pressed a hoof to her chin. "…no, nothing… We were just celebrating Hearth's Warming Eve…or at least we thought."

"I woke up and found you two like that." Spirit clarified. "It's like I'm the only one who hasn't suffered some kind of memory loss or something."

"And Octavia said she thought she had been in her home but…" I mentioned, but I didn't finish my sentence. Things were just way too confusing.

"And here I thought you all came here looking like the way you do because you liked my stuff and wanted to support me." Vinyl sounded and appeared a little depressed.

Octavia sighed heavily. "Vinyl, we're in a state of utter confusion as of right now." She placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "Normally, I'm sure things would be…" She paused for a moment. "…different."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Vinyl admitted. "I mean; I would think I'd be able to remember what I was doing before running this rave." She took a brief moment to think to herself. "As a matter of fact…I thought that I had already gotten into—"

Vinyl's music had suddenly ceased.

"What is going on here?!"

"Who is causing all this ruckus!?"

"Nurse! Where's my oatmeal?!"

These voices were definitely not right.

Vinyl immediately trotted over to the curtains and open them enough to see through. A few of us joined her to see what all the commotion was about. Before we could look for a good while, Vinyl immediately backed out and cried out in terror.

"Ahhhh! Where did all my fans go!? It's all old ponies!"

"What?" Twilight questioned.

"Tavi! Run!" Vinyl reached for Octavia's hoof and scrammed away with her.

"Vinyl!" Octavia's voice faded away as she disappeared from our sight.

"Aahh!" Spirit screamed in disbelief as her hooves pressed against her temples in frustration. "What the heck is going on?!"

"I have no idea!" I immediately began feeling the stress levels inside me skyrocket.

Spirit grabbed ahold of me and began shaking me fiercely. "Alex please stop all this! This is driving me nuts! I want everything to be normal again!"

"What am I supposed to do?! Wave my magic horn and make it disappear?!" I argued.

"Yessss!" She cried, tears beginning to brim in her eyes.

I immediately began feeling deeply concerned for her. "Whoa, Spirit. Calm down! This isn't like you!"

She sounded like she began hyperventilating. "Th-The whole place is filling up!" Her head swung side to side almost frenziedly. She shut her eyes tightly. "Get me out of here please! I don't want to drown!"

"H-huh?" I questioned.

Drown? In what? Water? There's no water anywhere in sight!

"Twilight, what do you th—" I turned to search for Twilight's face, but she was nowhere to be found.

"It's rising, Alex! Make it stop!" Spirit pleaded.

Having no other idea on what to do, I decided to remove Spirit from the area. "Come on!"

I pulled her back towards the main room we first began in. The room with four doors; one on each side. Spirit immediately closed the door behind us and barricaded it with anything she could find.

"It's still seeping through!" She panicked as she stared at the floor below her.

"What are you talking about?!" I exclaimed, feeling as her state of panic was passing on to me as her anxiety was terrifying to see. "What is—"

Suddenly, something tried to barge through the door we had just came through, but the blockade Spirit had set up prevented it from doing so. Nevertheless, it didn't look like it would hold much longer. From there on, like magic, I could see water scattering over the floor, submerging the end of our hooves.

"We have to get out of here!" Spirit begged.

"Okay, okay!" I felt my heart's pace increase gradually the longer we spent in this horrid situation. The first thing I thought of was taking the door that led out to the dark hallway. I guided Spirit through but still felt water slowly rising from our hooves.

I expected to be back at the darkened hallway, but I knew something was immediately wrong when I realized we weren't. I looked around and recognized that we were in the exact same room!

"Why's it the same room?!" I felt my panic meter rising.

"No way!" Spirit ran towards another door, which was the one we took and found Octavia in.

I followed her to find us still in the same room. It was almost as if we were in an endless loop.

However, that didn't stop pieces and parts of the wall cracking and breaking open. From all over, water began to fill in at a quicker pace.

"Aaah!" Spirit screamed strongly in distress and practically began to sob.

I wasn't sure what scared me more. The rising water or her out of control emotions. I felt myself unable to move as I stared at her in what felt like horror.

"Th-th-there's gotta be a way out of here!" I stuttered and moved to another one of the doors to open them. My movement slowed down as the water had rose about halfway at my legs. I tried opening one of the doors, but surprisingly, I found water gushing out endlessly from the other side into the same room. I grunted loudly as I attempted to push back the door with great force.

When I finally managed to close it completely, the water that had gushed in brought the level up to our torsos now. Spirit was now frozen in shock as her breathing grew heavier and deeper.

"Spirit!" I raced over to her and attempted to carry her on my back.

"C-Can't y-you fly h-higher?!" She stumbled with her words.

Seeing as I couldn't even jump with the weight of both her and the water, there was no use trying.

"No! The water's too high and my wings are completely drenched!" I explained.

Spirit wrapped her hooves tightly around my neck. "C-Can't you zap the ceiling and get us out of here?!"

Giving it a try, I tried blowing the ceiling to bits as best as I could, but nothing.

"I…I'm sorry, Spirit." I felt emotionally distressed.

Spirit now ceased speaking, sobbing greatly instead.

Desperately not wanting to just stand and wait for nothing, I looked around and decided to reach higher ground using the objects in the room. But all they did was just bring us a little higher. If I could break open the ceiling somehow, I could probably get us out or at the very least away from the water for a moment of time. But for some reason, the ceiling looked like it was hard as diamonds.

"Spirit… I'm sorry!" I apologized, feeling immensely guilty. "I don't know what to do!"

"No! This can't be it, Alex!" Spirit pulled through her tears. "I-I haven't even told you everything!"

"What do you mean?" I turned my head to her while the sounds of rushing water blasted constantly.

"Ab-about us!" She paused to struggle with gasps for air. "Even if I wanted to, you'd never believe me! You wouldn't!"

"Spirit! What are you saying?!" It began feeling hard to think now.

Water was up to my head now.

"I-I'm sorry, Alex!" Spirit shook her head. "This is all my fault!"

Come on! There has to be some kind of magic spell or something I can do to save us! But I can't think right now! My mind's drawing blanks!

At that point, there was only one thing I could think of. And it would most likely save one of us if the water were to stop at some point soon. With the water covering my mouth, I began focusing my magic on Spirit. The aura surrounded her and began lifting her up and much as it could. I brought her up to ceiling, and she was out of the water, but the water itself was definitely not far behind.

I felt the pocket of air held in my mouth running out. I managed to lift my head to gain some extra time to breathe, but it was only a matter of seconds before the water would win over.

"Alex! Y-you can't stay there!"

"I don't know what else to do!" I admitted. "I can't think of any spells that will help!"

"B-But if you go, I go too!" She stared at me from above. "I need you! I love you!"

Sigh. I forgot she was a part of me, and that must have meant that I needed to stay alive for her to remain.

"Well…if I can't save you…then hopefully you won't have to suffer as much."

"Noo!" She cried.

The water was already at my lips, so now there was no point in talking unless I wanted a mouth full of it. I decided to take my last deep breath of air and hold it as I drenched my face in the roaring rapids. Of course, everything sounded differently underwater, and as if I still had a shred of remaining hope, I looked towards every corner of the room for a way out.

Nothing…

I thought about just closing my eyes and letting whatever happen happen, but then I unexpectedly saw the door in front of me slowly open. From the darkness within, I managed to see a silhouette coming towards me. I could see the form of wings and a horn.

Twilight? Is that you?

Then there was just silence.

My sight grew dim and then eventually faded out.

I then felt my eyes slowly opening. There was still silence, and it was honestly kind of…calming. Nevertheless, I was able to hear and feel my heartbeat pump from within. I eventually found myself staring at the ceiling of what appeared to be my bedroom. I had been lying down and sat myself up to look around. Everything looked completely normal.

"What the…" I whispered under my breath. "Was it…all a dream…?"

I remained silent and thought about it for a while.

"No way… It all felt too real… It didn't feel like just any dream…"

I decided to get out of bed and walk to the door to see what else was going on. To my surprise, I found Fluttershy standing in front of me as soon as I opened the bedroom door.

"F-Fluttershy?" I spat out in surprise.

She began playing with her hair as she looked away in what appeared to be embarrassment.

"Can I come in, honey? There's something I want to talk to you about…"

I felt extremely disoriented, so I couldn't give a straight answer.

"Uh…sure, I guess…" I decided to go along. I closed the door after she walked in. It sounded like there was something private she needed to tell me. Nonetheless, I felt myself gulp nervously before I began speaking. "So, um, what is it?"

"I've been thinking…" She brushed her mane with her hooves and turned her eyes towards me with a slightly flushed face. "…maybe it's time."

"T-time?" I inquired. "Time for what?"

"Time for us to move on." Her answer shocked me. I almost thought that she wanted to end what we had, but by the look in her face, it appeared to be far from that. "I…want the two of us to settle down… I want to spend the rest of my life with you, if you haven't already noticed… I want to get married really soon…so, eventually I can have your baby."

My heartbeat immediately began revving out of control. I felt immense flashes of heat hitting against my face almost to the point where I could hardly breathe. After barely swallowing any saliva I could find within my mouth dryly, I stuttered and stumbled with my words.

"B-b-baby?"

"Don't you think it's a sweet idea?" Fluttershy asked as she slowly closed in towards me, locking eye contact.

I don't know if I ever saw her so direct and composed.

"W-well, this is sudden. I w-wasn't expecting y-you…"

She had already entered within my intimate space all without breaking her eye contact. Instead, she revealed her innocent yet curious charm as she calmly began to silence me with an incoming kiss.

"It'll be okay…" She mentioned between light and careful strokes of her lips. "It'll all be okay. I love you, and that's all that matters…"

I had already begun to lose my self-awareness with her advances. I suppose nothing seemed out of the ordinary for me, even when it sounded like her voice suddenly somewhat changed.

"You're safe with me."

At this point, I felt myself opening my eyes once again, but this time, it was much different. I could hear a normal ambience in the room that previously wasn't there in the first place. I felt…completely in control. From what I began to notice, there was a blurry purple haze in front of me. Once it cleared up, I realized it was a pair of pony eyes. However, they were obviously not Fluttershy's and they were extremely too close.

I began remembering that before I reopened my eyes, I was expressing my feelings for Fluttershy, but as I studied the scene more in the current situation, I realized that that was not the case. In fact, my eyes immediately opened widely as my pupils dilated greatly once I noticed I had been performing the same action with a different pony.

My lips broke contact to scream out loud as I felt my body fall from bed. "Aaah!"

This scream alarmed the one that had been in front of me, causing her to quickly sit up and look around in surprised and shock. "H-huh?!"

"You two!" I heard another familiar voice in the room. "Are you alright?!"

I turned my head to see my mother standing near the bookcase in the room.

"M-mom! What are you doing here?!"

"I came to…fix things." She confessed, as if she had done something wrong to begin with.

"What?" I asked, composing myself and getting back on my hooves.

"What just happened?" Twilight asked, worriedly roaming her eyes around the room.

Princess Luna sighed greatly. "Do you two remember what happened when you were asleep?"

"Uhh…" I tried looking back, but I had already began forgetting large chunks of it already. "Something about…Vinyl in the castle…"

"You too?!" Twilight's head shot straight towards me. "I swear I thought it was real!"

"Yeah, so did I!" I returned.

"Yes." Luna agreed. "However, I'm afraid that wasn't supposed to happen."

"What do you mean?"

"The two of you were having your own dream in which the both of you participated. I had only wanted to make sure things were going alright, but it seems I instead caused the opposite. I had been notified of another pony's state of worry in a dream, so I decided to handle that task before continuing my visit with yours. Nevertheless, it appears that I didn't quite…secure the door before I left."

"'Secure the door'?" Twilight questioned.

"You see, everypony's dreams are…connected." Luna began attempting to explain herself. "To put simply, the way I manage in entering different ponies' dreams is by entering a "doorway". In the case of you two, your case of being semi-lucid along with my foolishness caused what you experienced tonight to happen. Let's say there are three states of consciousness you can undergo while you're dreaming. You can be completely unaware how odd things are in a dream compared to reality. This is usually the case when everypony dreams. Then, there is being completely aware that you are dreaming, and in this state, you are usually able to manipulate what happens in your dream and practically do anything your heart desires. As for you two, you were in the middle of these states of consciousness. You were aware about the odd things occurring in your dream, but you were not fully aware that you were dreaming. So, when you opened the door to the room you two were in, you stumbled upon which looked like the hallway of castle. But in reality, it was my hallway of doors to different dreams. Had you been completely aware that you were dreaming, you would have seen this. But you never would have stumbled onto my "hallway" had I "locked the door" to it. From this hallway, you seemed to have stumbled onto your friend's dream, and not being aware of your dreaming caused you to believe that it was occurring inside of the castle."

I rubbed my chin as I thought back. "Octavia was there…so we must have stumbled into her dream too. She didn't know anything about what was going on other than what she was doing in her room." I remembered something else about a different pony. "But Pinkie Pie was there enjoying Vinyl's party."

"Sometimes, friends may dream in a same atmosphere, such as the reason you two were dreaming the same dream as well."

"That explains a lot…" I softly shook my head, almost unable to believe everything that had just happened. "So wait…" I paused, realizing I had apparently been sleeping alongside Twilight. "Why am I with Twilight?"

"Do you remember where you were before you fell asleep?" Luna asked.

I could have sworn I had fallen asleep in my own bed, but my mind wouldn't accept that so easily.

"Oh!" Twilight sounded as climbed off the bed. "We were going over the Hearth's Warming Eve story for some reason late last night!"

"Oh yeah!" I pointed out with my hoof, remembering practically everything now. "Spirit was bored and you thought it'd be a good idea to go over that story for her!"

"Yeah!" Twilight began chuckling lightly over reminiscing what happened last night. "It didn't seem like she was too interested, so she went to bed while we finished the rest of the story." Twilight tapped her chin. "I don't remember much after that. I know we were pretty tired…but I can't remember if we just slept walked over here or…"

"So, you two are feeling alright?" Princess Luna asked again.

"Yeah, I guess. I don't feel any different." I responded.

"It feels more like waking up from a nightmarish dream." Twilight expressed.

Luna nodded. "As long as things don't appear or seem any more different than how they usually are when you truly wake up, it seems you two are fine. I apologize for the inconvenience I caused."

"It's fine. It was…interesting." I shared.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm afraid I must leave and check with the others that may have been involved in this slight fiasco. Should you have any worries or questions, don't hesitate to notify me."

The princess of sleep and dreams took her leave once we returned our understanding of the situation. Twilight and I began taking a walk in the castle hallways, giving us time to grasp a grip back on reality.

"We were in your room with the story, weren't we?" I asked, turning my head in Twilight's direction.

"Hm?" She returned.

"I think you had the book in your room. That's why we were in there. I guess we must have just dozed off."

"Yeah. That makes sense." Twilight agreed and then suddenly stopped. "Wait, wasn't Spirit in our dream too?"

"Yeah?"

"Wasn't she the one telling us things were off back there? That's how we starting realizing what she was talking about?"

I had to think about it for a moment before I could come up with something.

"Do you think…she 'woke up' while she was still dreaming? Like she thought she was awake when she was actually still in my dream or something?"

"She is a part of you, isn't she?" Twilight added. "Maybe that has something to do with it."

"Maybe." I said before I finally released an exhausted sigh. "Let's forget about all this dream talk. I think it's too early to be thinking about complicated stuff like this."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Twilight agreed. "By the way, what happened earlier? You like screamed and hit the floor."

I had actually just forgotten what happened with Twilight, so I felt myself growing flushed when the image came back to mind. "Um… I don't think you want to know…"

Twilight took notice of my expression. She must have had no idea…

"What?" Twilight grinned teasingly. "Did you dream something embarrassing that woke you up?"

"You…could say that." I hesitated with my words.

"Tell me!" Twilight excitedly persisted. "I want a good laugh, especially after the dream we both had."

"Errr…" I didn't want to share that at all, but I figured she deserved to know since she technically took part in it. "Well… I remember thinking I woke up. Fluttershy came to my room and began talking about getting married and…having a baby…"

"Aww!" Twilight cooed. "That's so cute! Nothing to be embarrassed about!"

"Yeah, well…" Wait until you hear the rest. "Right before I woke up, I was kissing her."

"Okay?"

"And when I woke up…" I brushed my foreleg a bit timidly for what I was about to say next. "Let's just say…I was still kissing her…"

"Huh?" Twilight now tilted her head in confusion. "When you woke up… But only you and I were…" After a moment of silence, her eyes immediately widened and dilated from shock. "Oh my gosh! You mean…! You…!"

"…sorry!" I flinched, hoping I wouldn't receive some kind of outburst or negative reaction. Twilight's face continued to redden up by the second as she stood completely frozen. "…are you alright?" I slowly waved a hoof over her eyes.

Eventually, she threw her head from side to side before she could move once more. "Y-yeah! Um... Geez…I…"

"You don't need to say anything…" I advised, feeling a tad guilty. "Maybe we should just forget it ever happened."

"What about…Fluttershy?" Twilight asked a bit worriedly. "You think she'll be upset about it?"

"It was completely an accident." I attempted to not only reassure her by myself as well. "She'll understand… I hope… Either way, I'll probably try telling her later today. After all, I want to be completely honest about any little thing like this that happens. I'd hate to lie or not say anything and hurt her in the worst possible way in the end."

"I understand…" Twilight returned. "If you need any help trying to explain it to her…I don't mind coming over."

"I think I'll be fine." I decided. "Come on. Let's see if Spirit or Spike are awake."

We walked into the throne room and heard some entertained giggles along with a baby dragon's talk of hoofball.

"Now you can probably see what I do in my free time when you all are off having your own adventures and yada yada." Spike twirled his claw over an open binder that appeared to hold sleeves for cards.

"That's crazy how you have so many cards!" Spirit had been leaning over the table, carefully examining the cards presented in the binder. "The shiny ones look so cool!"

"I didn't know you were into hoofball…" I mentioned as Twilight and I joined them at the table.

"Alex!" Spirit recognized me and immediately clamped me tightly between her forelegs. "Oh my gosh! You won't believe the nightmare I had!"

"Crazy party Vinyl was having?" Twilight guessed.

"Y…yeah…" Spirit slowly released me. "How'd you know…?"

"We all had the same dream." I explained. "Don't ask why or how because I don't think any of us feel like thinking about it."

"So…" Spirit cautiously turned towards me. "You also dreamt about almost drowning…?"

My ear slightly twitched at hearing that. "Yeah. I think so." I remembered it having to do with Spirit.

"I don't remember anything about drowning." Twilight mentioned.

"Out of curiosity…" I turned to Twilight. "What were you dreaming about before we had woken up?" I tried to subtly ask without bringing up the embarrassing event.

Nevertheless, her cheeks began heating up and looked like they could almost catch fire. "Ohh…! It was something stupid. I don't really remember. Heheh…" She chuckled nervously.

I wasn't even going to get into that. Not after what happened between us.

Despite that, as I turned to Spirit, I noticed she looked clueless. She had apparently been here in Spike instead of with us after all.

"All you guys had a nightmare? I slept like a baby!" Spike boasted.

"Let's get some food!" Spirit suddenly jumped up from her chair and planted her forelegs on the table. She almost crushed Spike's binder, causing him to quickly pull it away in panic.

Twilight sighed in relief. "That sounds about good right now." She turned her eyes towards me. "Food could probably distract me from what happened earlier."

"What happened?" Spirit asked, her curiosity now sparkling in her eyes.

I opened my mouth but felt myself already beginning to choke.

"Uhh, nothing!" Twilight diverted and began trotting away. "Come on! Let's go to the café!"

"Alright! Hayfries, here I come!" Spike jumped up from his seat and ran after Twilight.

Before I could join them, Spirit startled me when she stood in front of me with her squinting eyes. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

"What?" I didn't have time to think of a proper and convincing answer. "What do you mean? I don't know what you're talking about. Come on, let's eat."

"Hey~!" Spirit called after me as I trotted quickly away from her.

I really hope this isn't going be more trouble than its worth…

Appleloosa's Most Wanted

I quietly watched as the fruitful surroundings quickly passed by to introduce us to its unfortunately barren sides of the land. We were going to a place I thought was almost more of a sort of dusty and boring town. However, as any pony would probably already expect, I'd go with Alex anywhere. I wondered what Applejack would think if she knew how unenthused I really was about going to Appleloosa. Would she not like me?

Who knows.

"Y'know, I really wasn't expectin' ya to come with me to the rodeo today in Appleoosa, Alex. In fact, I'd figured you'd rather want to spend time with a certain special somepony instead." Applejack mentioned across the seats Alex and I were at.

"Speaking of said special somepony…" Alex returned, growing rather embarrassed and a little nervous. "I was wondering if you'd have any ideas for a nice thing to do for her."

He's been acting a little weird lately, and he won't tell me why. He's so lucky I've been staying outside…

"Huh?" Applejack slightly questioned. "Why? Did you want to give her a surprise or somethin'?"

"Well…" Alex uneasily rubbed the back of his head. I began to sense a shade of green lie within him. "Let's just say…I want to show her how much I care about her. You're right about the things you've said before. I've realized that we haven't been spending much time with each other recently. And sometimes… I feel like I might not be giving my best to her…"

Why's he being so insecure now? Is it because of me?

"If you want to know the truth…it probably would've been better if you had stayed in Ponyville and spent the day with her instead."

Except I'd still been hanging around, so they wouldn't properly get some alone time…

The green glow within Alex grew further as he held head down in what looked like shame.

He's feeling guilty…and that makes me feel guilty since I feel like I'm the cause of his guilt.

"Now, now." Applejack planted a caring hoof on his shoulder. "You're no bad pony. Why don't you make plans with her when we come back to Ponyville? Spend some time, even if it ain't much."

"Yeah… I'll keep that in mind." Alex answered with a nod.

I had to turn away from the expression on his face since it was depressing me. To my surprise, I found a few familiar fillies staring at me with eager eyes. My eyes widened as I had not expected their direct attention at me.

"Excuse me." Applejack's sister, the one with the bow, spoke. "We were talkin', and we just noticed something particular about you that we find mighty interesting." She exchanged quick glances with her friends.

Oh no. Please don't tell me it's because of my eyes too.

"Ah-hem" She cleared her throat. "Correct us if we're wrong…but could it be that you don't have your cutie mark either?"

"Eh?" I returned a stupid smile.

Okay. I wasn't expecting that.

"Applebloom." Applejack pitched in. "I don't think it's polite to bring up something like that."

To be entirely honest, I think I could have cared less about my cutie mark as long as it didn't come to my eyes. Just as long as I don't have ponies staring at my butt the entire time.

"No, no, it's cool!" I returned a sweet grin with a flipping hoof over to Applejack, and then I turned back to Applebloom. "You're right. I don't have a cutie mark."

"Wow! I've never seen a grown pony without their cutie mark before!" Their friend that was a fan of scooters expressed frankly among them.

I could metaphorically hear a mirror break inside my head as I stood there pretty dumbfounded and humiliated. I know I said I could care less about my cutie mark…but you don't have to rub it in…

"Do you want to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders?!" Sweetie Belle asked with glee.

I chuckled weakly, still suffering from that kick in the flank by a mere filly. "Ah…To tell you the truth…I'm pretty sure I'm a lost cause."

I never knew whether it was possible or not, but with my situation with Alex, it seems like the only sensible thing is that getting a cutie mark wouldn't be possible in the first place. I mean, I'd think I'd have like a "spirit" cutie mark already if that was the case. Plus, I'm not a filly anymore! Like Scootaloo said, she's never seen a grown pony without their cutie mark.

Then again…

"Come on, please!" Applebloom began to beg. "I'm sure if we work together, we can all find our cutie marks a lot faster! It'll be fun! I promise!"

"Hey, aren't you always about fun things?" Alex asked from behind my back. "These fillies have so much energy. I think you'd fit right in with them."

Well…when I talk about fun, I talk about you…

"I think it's a pretty swell idea." Applejack insisted as well. "After all, since you're an older pony, you could watch over them too! Y'know. Make sure they don't do anythin' too dangerous."

Alex looked like he wanted to object to that, but he kept his mouth shut after taking a glance at me.

Nevertheless, I sighed heavily. If I do this, maybe I can ween off Alex a little more and in turn give him more space to be with Fluttershy and even his other friends.

"Yeah, okay." I lightly forced out a grin. "That sounds like fun."

"YAY!" The three of them bounced up and shouted with glee. "The Cutie Mark Crusaders gain a new member!"

"Heh heh. Yeah." I uneasily chuckled as I massaged my right ear after enduring the power of their voices.

"You just stick with us, Spirit." Applebloom reacted with an inviting smile. "After this train reaches Appleloosa, we'll go cutie mark huntin' right away!"

"Can't wait…" I said with a still grin, wondering if I'd regret the decision later as the future events unfold.

"Wow, girls! Check it out! There's so much goin' on here!" Applebloom excitedly announced, turning her head in opposite directions constantly among the crowds of ponies performing different kinds of acts.

"Totally!" Scootaloo agreed. "This place is a cutie mark gold mine! There's barrel racing...roping contests, rodeo clowning...steeplechase...!"

The events they were so fascinated with didn't really interest me as much. Instead, my eyes were taken aback by the caramel apples that a couple of ponies held as they walked by. I felt my lips being slowly licked as I felt the strong need to just eat sweets.

"If we can get into some of these events, the four of us could walk off the train back in Ponyville with brand spankin' new cutie marks!" Applebloom continued dreaming.

"Wouldn't a barrel look good here?" Scootaloo guessed at while imagining the picture on her flank.

"I want a lasso!" Applebloom exclaimed.

The ponies holding the caramel apples grew far out of sight, so I had nothing else to keep my attention. "I don't want anything here to be my cutie mark. It all looks…eh…" What was I worried about? Like there was a chance I'd actually get my cutie mark in the first place?

"Are you kiddin'?" Applebloom shot, getting pretty up close to my face. "All these things are one of the most excitin' things a pony can do!"

"I don't know..." Sweetie Belle worriedly rubbed her leg. "All these events look a little, well, dangerous." She observed one particular pony with a cast on his left foreleg.

"No risk, no reward." Applebloom rebutted.

"Tell that to a pony with a piece of candy on her flank." I mentioned a little distastefully, but then I began to feel the need to take it back once I began remembering how Alex got his cutie mark… I shook my head a little to wear it off. "Anyways, I know I'm a 'Cutie Mark Crusader' and all now…but I think I'm also supposed to watch over you guys and make sure you don't get into any danger…"

"It can't be that dangerous if a bunch of ponies are doing it and having other ponies watch them at the same time!" Applebloom tried to reason against.

"Alright, everypony, listen up!" A loud and slightly intimidating voice sounded off from one of the wooden buildings in town. "We need a big presence at this here rodeo, so make yourself plenty seen! I want that low-down varmint to know we mean business!"

"I hope nothing bad is going on…" Sweetie Belle expressed.

"A cutie mark-apalooza and a low-down varmint? This is shapin' up to be the most excitin' rodeo ever!" Applebloom rose up with a gleeful gallop of her hooves.

Well…I did like the idea of catching some kind of criminal and being a hero and all that. Everything else in this rodeo was pretty uninteresting to me anyway…

"Yeah, come on!" Scootaloo galloped ahead with Applebloom, leaving Sweetie Belle a bit astray and lagging behind them. Feeling as if my leash had transferred to the control of them instead, I followed along.

Even so, it wasn't all bad. Sure, I sort of felt like I was in a place I didn't want to be in, but I did get to get some of those treats that caught my eyes around the place. Also, hanging with the fillies wasn't so bad. It was like being a little filly myself again. Then again, I wasn't so sure if I ever really "grew up".

I had to admit, even though I wasn't with Alex, being with them passed the time. At least we got to eat sweets and play a few "rodeo games".

"Hey, Applebloom!" Scootaloo excitedly called for her fellow crusader. "Why don't we ask Applejack if we can compete in the rodeo for once?"

"Heck yeah!" Applebloom enthusiastically agreed. "We might just be the youngest fillies to win somethin'! If we do, we'd get our cutie marks for sure!"

With another forced grin hanging from my mouth as a bead of sweat dropped from the side of my face, I kept myself from speaking out loud.

Did you already forget I'm way older than you three?

Holding the remains of my caramel candy apple with my left hoof, I proceeded to throw my two bits in. "Are getting your cutie marks really that big of a deal?"

"Duh!" Applebloom chimed in. "That's the whole reason for the Cutie Mark Crusaders. We're on a crusade to find our cutie marks!"

"It's just…" I began to mess with my almost nonexistent candy apple by twirling it around my hoof. "Isn't it possible that you could live without it?"

"I'm sure you don't need it to live, but…" Scootaloo began.

"How could you?" Sweetie Belle continued. "Isn't it supposed to be a sign of who you are and your special talent? Isn't that why everypony has one when they're grown up?"

"I can't imagine being grown up without one." Applebloom voiced. "When I think about it…if I'm grown up and everypony around me has a cutie mark but me, I think I might feel like I don't even know who I really am."

My ears began to flop down when I realized the message in her words. I never thought I'd take something from a filly so seriously. I'm more than sure they didn't mean to hurt me, but I also started thinking about what they meant by those words. I never took having a cutie mark so seriously because I really never needed to in the first place. I mean, look at me. I don't even have a life. It's like… I'm almost living someone else's life.

A cutie mark…

I guess having one would be like…having something of my very own. An accomplishment.

The fillies must have realized my sunken mood, so they quickly gathered around to pat me with caring hooves.

"That's why you're a crusader! We'll help you find your cutie mark, we promise!"

I managed to make out a light smile. "Thanks." Of course, that smile didn't last long.

Truth be told, considering my situation, that's a promise they might not be able to keep.

When we regrouped with Alex and Applejack, Applejack had just finished stacking some hay with other rodeo ponies. As the three fillies went to talk with Applejack, I felt a little better when Alex came to me. However, he did notice that I wasn't in the brightest mood.

"What's wrong?" He asked. "Are you not having a good time with the girls?"

"I-It's not that…" I answered. "It's just…" I paused to release a heavy sigh. "Is it even possible to get my cutie mark?"

He didn't answer right away. "I don't know…" He stopped to think for a brief moment. "I don't think you've ever told me that you couldn't get your cutie mark…but since you technically aren't a…well…a sort of 'living pony', for lack of a better word, I really wouldn't know."

My hoof kicked the dust beneath us. "You know, I really didn't care too much about having one, but after realizing how much a cutie mark means to those little ponies, I kind of understand why. And realizing that it most likely won't even be possible to get one, I feel…not really special."

"Come on… I don't think you need a cutie mark to be special. After all, isn't it really just a sign of who you really are?"

"But a cutie mark lets you know who you really are and what you stand for, doesn't it…?"

"Mmm." He didn't seem to know what to say after that. I understood this as well, since he'd never had to deal with a pony who most likely couldn't ever get her cutie mark.

"Look out!" We heard a voice cry out desperately.

As soon as we turned our heads to see what the hay was going on, a mountain of haystacks came crumbling down as if they had all been tipped over. Alex and I were in the safe zone, but a group of young fillies were in the danger zone. Before we could do something in reaction to this sight, Applejack quickly pushed the three girls out of the way.

Alex and I quickly raced over to the ponies involved.

"You guys alright?!" Alex questioned in concern.

They nodded their heads.

"Sugar and salt licks! Well, I'll be..." A familiar voice mentioned nearby.

"What is it, Sheriff?" Applejack approached the pony that had been warning of a certain criminal to every other pony in town. They seemed to be staring at something at the ground near the bottommost haystack.

"Is it him?" The other stallion in the group asked.

"Ain't no doubt." The sheriff responded deeply serious. "It's Trouble Shoes."

All of a sudden, at the perfect moment, a harmonica literally played a western riff before us. However, everypony looked to the side to find a rodeo clown to be the cause of this sound. He embarrassingly stepped away when pummeled with everypony's stares.

Eventually, we found ourselves in an argument of concern over this event. The sheriff had called a meeting in town to discuss the news of the outlaw 'Trouble Shoes' on the run causing trouble. Practically everypony in town had dealt with some kind of mishap with him, and it all wasn't hard to figure out that no pony liked him. Nonetheless, thinking back on what we've had to face in the past, this 'Trouble Shoes' didn't sound too dangerous. But that didn't stop Applejack from wanting to send the fillies back home.

"Don't send us home! It's not fair!" Applebloom protested.

"Now, quit yer bellyachin'." Applejack sternly responded while preparing their packed saddlebags for them. "I can't have y'all around here with some outlaw on the loose. Aw, maybe I oughta call it quits and go home too."

"No, you can't!" The pony with the cast that had been hanging out with Applejack disagreed. "This rodeo is important to Appleloosa! And with you in there, we got a real shot at winnin'!"

"So what? Am I just supposed to practice and forget that there's some dangerous pony on the loose that could hurt three little fillies like earlier today?"

"Spirit can take care of us!" Applebloom raised.

"Yeah!" The two others simultaneously agreed.

"Well…" I wasn't sure how to feel about that.

Applejack turned and stepped towards me. "Do you think you can do that? Just make sure they're safe and out of danger?"

"Spirit is pretty brave and strong." Alex complimented while glancing over to me. "If any dangerous pony got near her and the others, I'm sure she could handle it."

"Hmm." Applejack thought. "Alright. The fillies can stay."

"YAY!" They all cheered and bumped hooves.

"But they gotta stay in the house." She referred to the building we were speaking in.

"Huh?!" They inquired in surprise.

"That Trouble Shoes is out there somewhere. Even though you three have Spirit around, she's still just one pony. Who knows how big this Trouble Shoes is or even if he has some more bad ponies with him! If I'm gonna be a part of this rodeo and not able to watch you all, then you gotta stay someplace safe."

"If you're going to be out…" Alex added. "I think I should stick with you. Something like earlier today might happen again, and we might need a pair of wings or magic to keep somepony from getting hurt, especially you."

"I'd appreciate that." Applejack expressed her gratitude. "Knowing there's somepony keeping watch over the girls here and somepony keeping watch over at practice, I feel a lot calmer about stayin'."

"What are we waiting for?" The other pony spoke. "You gotta get to practicin' right away!"

As he and Applejack left, Alex lagged a bit behind. He turned to me before he decided to leave.

"Sorry, I'm going to be leaving you… You'll be alright?"

"Yeah…as long as you stick around the area." I mentioned.

He nodded. "Don't worry, I will. Make sure to keep a good eye on them, okay?" He referred to the little crusaders.

"I will…"

He smiled lightly and messed with my mane. "Don't get into any trouble." Afterwards, he turned towards the door and left.

"Aww!" Scootaloo sat with crossed hooves. "I really wanted to go out and do some rodeo stuff!"

"Yeah!" Applebloom agreed. "I really wanted to compete! We could have gotten our cutie marks!"

"Then again…" Sweetie Belle mentioned. "Maybe it's a good thing we're here. Who knows how dangerous and scary that Trouble Shoes is. He sounds like a really bad pony."

"Aw shucks." Applebloom returned. "The four of us can take a pony like Trouble Shoes and turn him in to the Sheriff!"

I sighed heavily and laid down, wondering how long I'd have to do nothing.

"You don't wanna be here too, do ya, Spirit?" Applebloom asked.

"No, not really." I answered with a lack of energy.

"Don't blame her." Scootaloo walked towards the window to observe the outside. "We're supposed to wait here for how long? It could be hours!"

"And with nothing to do." Applebloom added.

"We could come up with a game." Sweetie Belle mentioned hopefully. "How about hide and seek? I haven't played that in forever!"

"We're supposed to be lookin' for our cutie marks, Sweetie Belle. I think we're too grown up for hide n' seek." Applebloom responded.

Actually, I wouldn't mind playing that…even though in a place small like this, it would be sure to get old after a while.

"I know…" Sweetie Belle timidly tapped her hooves together. "Maybe we should just listen to the others for once."

Time slowly went by. The game we all played to keep us busy was the good old waiting game. Each of us wandered around the house, amusing ourselves for seconds with whatever we could find. At other times, we just stood, sat, or laid around in complete silence.

Applebloom stepped away from the window once she noticed the sky growing darker outside. "Seriously? When are they comin' back?"

"Beats me." Scootaloo uninterestedly answered as she laid on her back and stared at the ceiling.

"Y'know what? I got an idea." Applebloom stated, causing our heads to lift up and look her way. "How bout we take a peek outside and wander around. I know Applejack said to stay in the house, but don't you think she'll be so proud of us if we end up catching Trouble Shoes? At the very least, we can just find out where he is."

Scootaloo's wings fluttered as she stood back on her hooves. "Beats staying here all night!"

"I don't know you guys… We're supposed to stay in here…" Sweetie Belle worriedly expressed.

"Come on." Applebloom attempted to persuade. "I think as long as we got Spirit with us, we should be fine!" She turned towards me. "You can kick some tail, right?"

"Uh, sure…" I responded.

"There it is!" Applebloom immediately continued. "Let's just look around outside! If we can't find nothin' we can head right back here!"

Should I really go along with this idea? If it were completely up to me, I think I'd go for it. Honestly, this Trouble Shoes guy sounds hardly anything evil compared to other villains from the past. It couldn't be all that bad… Besides, I couldn't help but feel a little angry for being left here alone. I know I wanted to learn to not always be with Alex all the time, but I didn't want to be cut off cold turkey like this!

"Alright." I stood up. "I'm down to go out."

"See!" Applebloom took advantage of my action. "We'll be fine."

Sweetie Belle sighed. "I get the feeling that you'll go whether I stay or not… I don't want to be alone so…okay…"

"Just stick really close to me." I advised to the others. "I don't want to think about what'll happen to me if I lose either one of you fillies."

"Mm-hm!" They agreed enthusiastically with the exception of Sweetie Belle, whom couldn't seem to shake off her worry.

"Do we really have to do this?" Sweetie Belle asked once we were outside and walking away from the house.

"Just think of it like this, Sweetie Belle." Applebloom responded. "If we find Trouble Shoes and send him to jail, we'll most likely be able to compete in the rodeo if he's not hanging around!"

"I like that!" Scootaloo pointed out.

Sweetie Belle groaned, slowly lagging a bit behind us. "Worst idea ever."

We walked in the same direction we had been constantly heading in for a while. I silently looked around me, taking into account of the trees and bushes that now surrounded us.

At least it wasn't as scary-looking as the Everfree Forest.

Despite that thought, I had just realized something I probably should have realized way before.

"Where are we even going?" I asked.

Despite being the older pony in the group, Applebloom seemed to take charge of direction.

"Gotta find one of those huge hoof prints he leaves." She answered before she stopped and suddenly pointed. "Ah-hah!" She ran ahead for a brief moment for she stopped and directed our attention at something indented firmly in the ground. "And there it is!"

"Why don't we just go back and tell the sheriff to look in this direction?" Sweetie Belle advised, looking mildly afraid.

Unexpectedly, a crack of lightning appeared above us and a clap of thunder crashed. This startled each of us, especially me. Rain began to lightly fall.

"Yeah, maybe we should head back and try again later…" Scootaloo suggested as well, slightly covering her eyes with her hooves.

Noticing the rain began to gather up in holes on the ground and form puddles, I felt myself began to lightly shiver and shake from fear. "I think we should go back home too. Applejack and Alex might already be going back if they're not already there."

"We must be getting close!" Applebloom sounded as if she didn't agree with our recommendations. Instead, she appeared to feel the need to run off on her own, and by the current circumstances, we kind of didn't have a choice but to follow after her.

Thunder boomed once more as its buddy lightning flashed.

Sweetie Belle released a high-pitched squeal as she ran as fast as her tiny legs allowed her to.

Okay… This was probably a bad idea…

It didn't take long for Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to propose their ideas once more when it seemed like we were actually getting nowhere with the trail.

"Come on, we've gone far enough! It's time to go back!" Sweetie Belle pleaded.

"The rain is only getting worse, Applebloom!" Scootaloo encouraged. "Let's come back tomorrow."

Taking a few more steps before stopping and wandering her eyes around in the seemingly empty forest, she sighed and appeared to surrender. "Maybe y'all are right. So, how do we get back?"

"You mean you don't know?!" Sweetie Belle asked in shock.

"I thought Spirit knew!" Applebloom defended.

"I don't know!" I answered with hooves raised up and worry invading my emotions. "I was just following you! I thought you knew your way around here!"

BOOM. Flash.

"Okay, okay!" Scootaloo attempted to settle the panic down, ironically looking as if she was being pressured by the thunder storm. "I-I think I still remembered the way we came from." She pointed in the direction we had been walking from. Let's just retrace our steps and we have to be back home."

"Okay." Sweetie Belle quickly accepted, seeing how there was no other option.

"Got it." Applebloom joined.

Had it been only me, I could have easily just returned to Alex, but that wasn't an option since these three fillies were with me. I thought about maybe sending a message through our link, but I realized that he'd probably be furious for going against what he and Applejack wanted. I decided to wait on calling for help ONLY if we REALLY needed it.

Eventually, it came to the point where it felt like we had been walking for hours without making any kind of progress whatsoever back home. If that wasn't bad enough, I felt a stinging sensation began to start inside my head. That wasn't good. Either I was getting further away from Alex, or vice versa. Although, I think it was more likely the former.

"Guys…I don't think this is the way…" I notified, feeling my worry affect my voice.

"Are you sure you know where you're going, Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle asked after having heard me.

"I thought I was, but now I'm not…" Scootaloo stopped in her tracks.

The rain had gradually increased over the time we spent wandering around clueless, and the more water I saw building up, the weaker I felt. I looked ahead and spotted what seemed to be the edge of a cliff. Hoping I could somehow see a path back home from higher ground, I jogged ahead. However, I should have known that everything would just be green.

Nevertheless, I tried to not lose hope.

"You know what?" I began. "We should go straight this way!" I pointed backwards, ironically using my headache as a source of direction. "I feel as long as we go directly straight and don't turn on any path for whatever reason, we should get closer to home."

"Do you really think so?" Sweetie Belle questioned.

I sighed. "I hope so."

"This is unbelievable." Applebloom expressed with frustration as she walked towards where all of us were standing. "I pretty much got us completely and totally lost. How could this get any worse?"

The ground suddenly shook and before I knew it, we were sent plummeting down towards what felt like a river with a strong current. At this point, I strongly and immediately regretted ever going out to look for some dumb criminal. I panicked as I forced myself to make sure my head didn't fall underwater. I didn't know what was going on, only that my hooves were fretting towards any direction possible. When it came to a stop, there was now an extremely sharp pain stabbing inside my head, leaving me to be unable to get up and press my hooves against my temples as if doing so would lessen the pain or stop it entirely.

"Spirit! Spirit, are you okay?!" I heard Applebloom cry out as she trotted and approached me.

"Argh!" I whimpered, feeling tears form and fall against my cheeks along with the rain from the sky. "It hurts! It hurts so much!"

"Come on!" Applebloom grabbed one of my hooves and tried to drag me out of the mud we were in. "We gotta get out of this rain!"

"No!" I wailed. "It hurts even more when I move!"

"What do we do?!" Sweetie Belle freaked at the sight and sound of me.

"This is terrible!" Scootaloo added.

Fortunately this pain didn't last as bad as it was for long. However, it was still capable of limiting my actions or motions. I looked ahead and noticed some kind of shelter. I didn't look long to notice the details, I just wanted out of the rain, especially since we had no idea of our the current situation.

Clenching my teeth while attempting to bear with the pain, I focused the group towards the shelter. "In there. Let's go."

Worriedly, they followed behind.

Once inside, I let myself fall to the floor and shiver from the freezing rain that drenched all our coats.

"Find some towels or somethin'!" I heard Applebloom direct her friends.

I wasn't sure if they found exact towels, but they managed to pull out some cloths and instead cover me with it.

"Please tell me you're doing okay." Sweetie Belle approached me by my face as I continued to lightly shiver here and there.

"I'm…fine…" I answered.

I wasn't fine, but I didn't feel as tortured as before. That unbearable agony made a number on my energy. I felt so exhausted. It was almost like I ran all over Equestria non-stop. All I wanted to do was lay motionless or better yet go to sleep.

Applebloom sighed from worry once more. "This is bad. The pony that is supposed to be watchin' us is sufferin'!"

"It doesn't look like she can move." Sweetie Belle mentioned after observing my state for a moment.

"It looks like our only option is to stay here." Scootaloo declared. "At least until the rain hopefully stops."

The stinging in my head would fade out every now and then, but at the same time, it would peak back up for a few seconds and then lower again. This caused me to whimper and groan like a filly having nightmares. The only thing I could think of for the cause of this pattern was Alex. I stayed at one spot, so Alex could have been the only one moving far. What could he be doing to cause these spikes? Could it be…that he was maybe…looking for me?

Oooh! If only I just stayed at that stupid house! I'm in so much trouble!

"Let's look around and see if there's anything we can use." Applebloom suggested, causing the three of them to scatter a bit and roam around the already small room.

However, I began hearing loud stomps coming from outside, and as soon as I did, my eyes grew wide in realization.

No way… The area we're taking shelter from… It couldn't be his, could it?! That criminal at loose!

"You fillies…!" I attempted to warn while getting up at the same time. "Get back!"

They must have heard the stomping as well, since they didn't hesitate to do as I said.

As soon as the door opened, a very large shadow appeared before us. If this was the dangerous criminal, I had no idea if I'd be able to do anything, especially in my condition! Please, Alex! Please just come out of nowhere, kick his flank, and save the day! I'm sorry I got out of the house when I wasn't supposed to!

The Cutie Mark Crusaders screamed in reaction. Surprisingly, this caused the shadow to return the same reaction, hitting his head against the top of the wall over the door and crashing into various objects inside the room. This caused a very loud ruckus. We could only watch at this dismay until he suddenly stopped and fell at the floor. Everything was immediately silent afterwards besides the sound of the rain outside.

Applebloom decided to approach this unusual character as the others followed her. I wasn't too sure about the idea, but I didn't see or feel any hostility from him.

"Hello? You alright?" Applebloom asked.

"Surely." He answered in a rather disgruntled tone.

"We didn't mean no harm. We just came in to get out of the rain." Applebloom excused.

"Had some hot cider a-cookin' in the kitchen. Doubt it survived…" He glanced over to the kitchen portion of the room, which looked absolutely a mess. "I ain't gonna rise to greet y'all. Awfully rude, I reckon, but as you can see, I'm the fresh casualty of an unusually unfortunate circumstance. My lot in life, I suppose."

"Are you... Trouble Shoes?" Applebloom guessed.

"That's me."

Applebloom approached further, causing Scootaloo to hold her back. "W-what are you doing?"

"I'm gonna unwrap him."

"You can't do that! That's Trouble Shoes!" Sweetie Belle proclaimed.

"Aw, he don't seem so bad."

He was free to rise once he was completely unwrapped. Gee, having a clear look at him now, he was massive. I never knew a pony could be so big.

"Of course guests would arrive while I ain't got no pie to offer. Scores more misfortune points for old Trouble Shoes." He was about to turn before Applebloom stopped him.

"W-wait! We need help!" She stated and directed his attention at me. "You see, our friend here is in pain, and she doesn't look so good, is there anything you can do?"

"Figures." He responded in his bummed out mood. "Not even am I safe at home from any kind of trouble."

"Actually…" I managed to hold my ground while wobbling a bit here and there. "I think I'm doing a little better now." As long as Alex doesn't keep pulling the leash on this puppy…

I didn't know what Trouble Shoes planned to do next, but he turned, walked a few steps, and ended up slipping on a random banana peel that so happened to be on the floor. He stumbled upon a bookcase that contained three bowling balls for another unknown reason. The impact of his humongous body caused these heavy balls to drop and hit his head. It was practically impossible to not flinch as he took these hits. Nevertheless, he seemed fine aside from the lump he got on his head.

"Typical. Bad luck never rests." He said.

"You sure that's bad luck?" Applebloom observed. "Seems like maybe you're just a little, um..."

"Klutzy?" Sweetie Belle helped.

"Tell that to the flank!" Trouble Shoes stood up and presented his cutie mark. "Upside-down horseshoe – bad luck. Follows me wherever I go like sour on old milk. Y'all best vamoose before my bad luck rubs off and sticks to y'all. Get along! Skedaddle!" He directed out the practically broken door. It was like he didn't even notice the heavy rain or lightning cracking outside. "Am-scray!"

"Do you think we can…well…stay for a while until the rain lightens up?" Applebloom generously asked. "Plus, I think we should let our friend rest a little before we get going." She glanced over to me.

"That and we have no idea how to get back to Appleloosa." Scootaloo added.

"But o' course I do." He depressingly recognized. "Wouldn't you know it? My lucky day." He heaved out a big restless sigh. "I suppose I can't kick out some young fillies out in the rain. Make yourselves comfortable. I'm afraid I don't have anythin' to offer you though."

"That's okay. We appreciate you lettin' us stay." Applebloom expressed before she and her friends returned to speak among the group while Trouble Shoes focused on tiding up his space.

"It's actually kind of sweet of him to help us out like this." Sweetie Belle softly mentioned.

"If he takes us back to Appleloosa, what if the Sheriff finds him and arrests him?" Scootaloo brought up. "If I get a cutie mark for that, I'll feel guilty every time I see it."

"Well…" Applebloom thought with a hoof to her chin. "We don't have to have him take us all the way. Just enough to where we can get back on our own."

I began thinking about Alex and remembered about the spiked pain. I couldn't help but have a strong feeling he knew something was wrong. Honestly, I would expect him to send me a message like he did when we were at that equal village, but then again, if we were having trouble sending such messages from across a small village, it's most likely I wouldn't even get anything considering how far we wandered outside of Appleloosa. I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to contact me, and I didn't get anything. It must be making him really worried. Not to mention Applejack. She trusted me with the girls. She must be so ticked!

"Are you alright, Spirit?" Applebloom asked.

"Yeah, you're not still hurting, are you?" Scootaloo added.

"I'm fine." I assured. "It's just…I feel like Alex and the others are looking for us right now…"

"Really?" Applebloom returned. "What makes you think that?"

"They could have returned from practice and found us missing." Sweetie Belle mentioned and sighed. "I feel bad."

"So what do we do?" Scootaloo looked amongst us.

"We have no idea where they are, so we should probably stay in here till the rain lets up." Applebloom suggested.

I lightly laughed. "Heh heh… if only I had wings, huh?"

One of the major topics eventually came up inside the shelter we stayed. The fillies revealed that Trouble Shoes is known as a wanted criminal back in Appleloosa, and this led him to depressingly tell us the story of how that came to be. Back when he wasn't an outsider, he loved going to the rodeo every time there was one in town. Even while practicing his skills in order to participate, he never had any luck in pulling it off. Apparently, during the tryout for "rodeo school", that's when his cutie mark appeared. He went on to messing up his audition and having judges laugh at him. It sounded pretty rough indeed and relatable.

"Poor Trouble Shoes. I can't believe those mean judges would laugh at him like that." Sweetie Belle expressed.

"Don't you see? They weren't laughin' at him. They were just enjoyin' the show." Applebloom apparently looked at it from a whole other perspective.

"What are you saying?" Scootaloo asked.

"Think about it. If we saw a rodeo clown doin' what he did back in that shack, we'd think he was the greatest!"

To be honest…that actually made sense…

"You're right! He could still be in rodeos, just not the way he thought!" Sweetie Belle excitedly realized.

"Looks like it's finished pouring outside." Trouble Shoes stuck his head outside. "Come on now. Let's get you fillies back home." He began stepping out.

"So he's been looking at his cutie mark wrong the whole time!" Scootaloo continued the conversation as we stood up and began following our guide out the door. "It's not bad luck, it's just his way of entertaining ponies!"

"When we get back to Appleloosa, we gotta let the other ponies know that he doesn't mean any harm, he just needs to try out for a rodeo clown and they'll all see how amazing he really is when he gets the whole crowd laughing off their seats!"

"And if we get a cutie mark from doing that, I can totally dig it!" Scootaloo built up her excitement as we walked out.

"There he is!"

"Get him!"

"Huh?!"

We walked out to see Trouble Shoes wrapped tightly by a bunch of lassos. A good amount of ponies surrounded him. The majority turned out to be the sheriffs back from Appleloosa. And the sad part of it was that Trouble Shoes didn't even put up a fight or resist it. He just sadly accepted it.

"Just my luck."

"Trouble Shoes, you're under arrest for vandalizin' the property and peace of mind of the good rodeo-lovin' ponies of Equestria! Not to mention fillynappin'!" The sheriff declared. "And... generalized mayhem!"

Following the next second, a couple of other ponies took notice and raced towards us.

I immediately felt a pair of hooves press against my face and then all over my body.

"Spirit! Are you alright?!" Alex asked as he worriedly scanned me over

"Y-yeah, I—"

"Oh my goodness! I'm glad you girls are safe!" Applejack mentioned as she hugged the little fillies.

"Applejack! Wait! You gotta listen! Trouble Shoes is—!" Applebloom attempted to say.

"I know!" Applejack angrily interrupted and returned over to Trouble Shoes with burning eyes and a glowing red body. "Come on yall. Let's take this varmint where he belongs!"

"Girls, hop on." Alex directed towards the others. "Spirit, return back inside me until we get back home."

"Alex, you gotta stop them from taking Trouble Shoes!" Applebloom begged. "He's not a bad pony!"

"Not a bad pony?" Alex questioned. "What were you doing here with him then?"

They exchanged glances at each other with guilt and regret. "We…"

"…I brought them here." I admitted.

"Huh?!" Alex quickly turned towards me in surprise.

This can't be good…

"…it was boring staying back at the house all day, so I thought it would be okay to…I don't know…explore. I thought I could take care of any 'criminal' that tried to mess with us, but it turned out that that 'criminal' actually helped us when we needed it."

Alex remained silent for a moment. He didn't seem to get furious as I was afraid he would, but I couldn't exactly get a good reading off him either.

"Let's get back home." He stated. "We'll talk there."

Alex heard our story through me, and as I spoke it, I felt the need to keep the little crusaders out from fault as much as possible. I wasn't one to lie about things to stay out of trouble, but then again, I never really remembered a situation that resembled the one I was currently in. In fact, the first thing that popped in my head was when we were living with them, and I definitely tried to protect him anyway I was allowed to.

I slowly relieved my tensed nerves over the course of my story. Alex studied and listened to me calmly, and he never looked like he was about to burst like a giant ticking time bomb.

"And that's when you found us…" I ended, fumbling with my hooves.

"Hm…" He replied mostly with silence as he briefly stared at the floor. "I guess I should have known you'd feel the need to do something like that after being in this house with nothing to do."

"…do you hate me?" I felt extremely hesitant to ask.

"What? Of course not. I don't know what to feel to be honest." It was true, he was pretty blank from what I could read. "I don't exactly agree with what you did, but at the same time, it's not like I could blame you for doing what you did. In the end, they were safe. I'd say that's what matters."

"Hey, Alex…" Sweetie Belle now softly spoke up. "We kind of wanted to go outside too. Spirit wasn't the one that convinced us or anything."

"Actually, I'd say Sweetie Belle is the most innocent one in all this." Applebloom fessed up. "She didn't want to go outside at all, but she didn't want to stay alone inside here. If you ask me, Spirit took us in the sense that she wanted to watch after us. I mean, come on, you know how far we'll go if we really want to do something."

To my surprise, Alex laughed lightly. "That's true."

"What about Trouble Shoes?" Scootaloo brought up. "The sheriff and the others are putting him away to jail for something he didn't do!"

"If what you've girls said is true…then they are, aren't they?" Alex rubbed his chin while slightly looking away.

"Can't we stop them?" I asked.

"It's late." He answered. "And I don't think it'd be exactly easy. I have a feeling even if we explained everything, he won't be immediately free afterwards."

"Then what do we do?" Applebloom yearned.

"I say we rest up for tonight, and come up with something tomorrow."

"Tomorrow's the rodeo." Sweetie Belle reminded.

Scootaloo gasped suddenly. "Why don't we find a way to show everypony that he's a good rodeo clown?"

"But we'd need to get him out of jail to do that." Sweetie Belle said.

"You all really believe he's a good pony?" Alex asked, seeming to stay on neutral grounds.

"After what he's done for us, we know he is!" Applebloom stated with passion.

"I think I can get him out during the rodeo tomorrow." Alex mentioned, filling the crusaders with an explosion of hope. "I'm not making any promises, but I think it's doable."

"That's perfect!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "We just need to dress him up as a rodeo clown and nopony will recognize him when he joins the other clowns during the rodeo. From what we've seen, they're sure to laugh their hooves off!"

"You might want to get some sleep." Alex suggested. "It's already late, and you don't want to be exhausted when you're trying to prove what Trouble Shoes is actually capable of."

"Okay." They scurried off to the rooms above.

For a moment, Alex and I were left together in silence.

"Aren't you going to get some sleep too?" He asked.

"I still feel guilty." I revealed softly.

He glanced aside. "I don't know what Applejack will think when she hears this…but I think the important part is that…you somewhat stuck to your job. Even though you wandered out, the fillies are still fine. I can't tell you that Applejack won't want some kind of punishment or disciplinary action for what happened tonight, but there's no way she can ignore that the fillies are alright."

"Alright…" I merely returned, unsure if I felt any better or worse. I then decided to giggle lightly. "I hope Applejack doesn't end up hating me or losing her trust for me." My slight laughter wasn't out of enjoyment, rather it was to brush away the worry.

"Everypony makes mistakes, of course." Alex reassured. "Applejack has definitely made her own share of mistakes too. I'm sure you know that. Either way, you're a good pony. That's why I've been wanting you to spend some time with them so they get to know you better themselves then rely on what I've been saying about you. If they did, I'm sure you could grow a strong relationship between them personally than just through me."

"I guess you're right…" I surrendered.

"Get some sleep." He said with a soft smile.

And so I walked up the stairs to do such as he requested.

The next morning, Alex took us to the dusty jail here in barren Appleloosa. He managed to convince the sheriff in allowing Trouble Shoes to have a closer look at the rodeo for good behavior as long as he was kept on close watch. However, I think the main reason the sheriff agreed to this was so he could have a good look at the rodeo himself without having to stay at the jail watching Trouble Shoes.

This didn't make Trouble Shoes any happier though. He still kept a tight grasp over his negative attitude even when he was walking practically a free pony. The little fillies enacted their plan and had him dressed up as just another rodeo clown. He was virtually another pony, aside from his huge and somewhat unique stature.

It was nice to see when Trouble Shoes's attitude changed for the better once he got into the action taking place in the rodeo. It took a little convincing, but he finally decided to join the rodeo clowns after Applejack's close call. I felt a little calm from how the way things were going, but thinking about how Applejack would react once she heard the truth scared me.

I didn't understand at first. Applejack really didn't mean all that much to me, to be honest. If anything, Alex was the one that meant the world to me, so why did I care about what Applejack thought of me based on what I did? As I put some thought into it as I silently watched the performance of Trouble Shoe's klutzy behavior onside with the other rodeo clowns, I realized that Applejack gave me something I had never really received from any other pony besides Alex, of course.

She trusted me with an important part of her life. And that's why I was scared. I was granted a very special privilege that should have made me feel special from the very beginning, but I didn't think much of it until now. Applejack really wasn't a bad pony either. Based on her experiences with Alex, she really is a caring pony. And that's one of the many reasons I probably owed her so much more for.

It seemed to what Trouble Shoes considered to be "bad luck" eventually exposed him to everypony watching. Ponies thought he escaped from jail, and the others had to do some explaining that the cause was pretty much a part of their plan. I don't think the sheriff was even upset with Alex because Alex did technically stick to his promise. He kept a close eye on Trouble Shoes the entire time he was with us. Especially when everypony came to realize what a great rodeo clown he was, it appeared he transformed from Appleloosa's most "dangerous outlaw" to most "funniest rodeo clown".

That was all nice and dandy, but then came to the part where Applejack learned the truth. I sort of felt like the spotlight was on me, but Alex and the little ones were definitely there to help me out when I couldn't come up with the right word or way of explaining certain things.

"I'm sorry, Applejack…" I apologized, unable to keep direct eye contact and instead looking over to her shiny new hard-earned trophy. "I didn't mean to get your sister and the others into any trouble really…"

"She just wanted to help us." Applebloom added. "You know how much we want to get our cutie marks, right?"

Applejack looked over us for a moment. "Well, I certainly don't approve how you all were out and about back when we thought there was a dangerous criminal on the loose…but technically your heart was sort of in the right place." Applejack referred to me.

"I'll do anything to make up for it!" I fervently offered.

"You want to make up for it, hm?" Applejack sort of grew a smile. I couldn't tell if it was necessarily good or bad. "You can start by cleaning up the mess Trouble Shoes made." She turned towards the fillies. "You three too."

"Whaaat?" Applebloom returned. "But we did help Trouble Shoes! He was a good pony after all."

"But you still disobeyed me, so go on. Get a-workin'."

They sighed as they dragged their hooves forward to pick up brooms and any other things to clean up after Trouble Shoes's old mess.

I couldn't say I had any objections. In fact, I can't say I remember ever being disciplined like a little filly for my wrong actions. Applebloom did have a point. If we hadn't snuck out, Trouble Shoes probably would have still been a criminal. But then again, there probably could have been a smarter way in doing that, and I'm not such a smart pony to begin with.

As Applejack stayed to supervise while we cleaned up, Applebloom continued to moan and groan over her earlier statement. She noticed how I had been practically silent the entire time as I calmly did what Applejack wanted.

"How come you're so quiet, Spirit? Aren't you kind of bummed out by doin' this? After all, neither of us got our cutie marks."

"Sure, I'd rather doing a bunch of other things than sweeping a dusty place to begin with, but if I can feel any closer to making things right, that's good enough for me."

"But…didn't we do that with Trouble Shoes?" Applebloom asked with clear confusion.

"You might not understand…but, I'd say if you can do anything to hopefully keep some pony's trust, you'll do it. At least, that's the way it is for me."

It seemed that she didn't completely understand, but she replied with an accepting tone anyway. "I guess."

I began working over at the area Alex was at, he also noticed my silence and spoke with me.

"You're taking this pretty well… You okay?" He asked.

"I guess I feel better." I honestly shared. "I really want to make it up to Applejack after the kind of trust she had in me. Don't get me wrong, there are so many ways I could probably avoid doing this kind of work, but that would just drive me insane with guilt."

"That's pretty mature of you." Alex admitted with a smile.

"Can you do me a favor?" I asked.

"What is it?"

"I'm not saying to be direct…but could you probably talk with Applejack to see if she still, I don't know, trusts me? In other words, that she doesn't see me any less than she did before." I requested.

"Yeah, sure." He was pretty quick to accept. "I don't think she's the kind of pony to hold a grudge or anything. In fact, I feel she doesn't think like that of you in the first place. But I'll talk with her."

"Thanks." I lightly smiled. "I can't wait to go back home."

"Gotta finish your work first."

I felt something picking at me to ask him if he could possibly help, but I kept my mouth shut. I'm trying to be mature here.

I may be a much older pony than those fillies around me, but I think I may still have a lot of growing up to do.

Make New Friends but Keep Discord

"I'm glad you could make the time to come see me. It feels like it's been a while since we've been able to be together like this."

Fluttershy and I sat side by side on her couch near the window. She had set the small table in front of us along with a couple cups of tea. She lightly rested and nestled her head on me, ignoring her cup of tea in the meantime as she closed her eyes.

"I know…" I lifted up my hoof and brushed her mane tenderly. "I feel bad because of it."

"You shouldn't feel bad at all." She calmly assured. "It must not be easy being a Prince of Equestria. You and Twilight have so many responsibilities that are much more important than us regular ponies."

"Speaking of Twilight…" I was reminded of the… "incident" between us. "We were going through this weird…semi-lucid dream together this one time. At one point…you were in it. We sort of started doing some…embarrassing stuff. Unfortunately, when I woke up, I realized I was kissing the wrong pony…um…Twilight."

I felt my heart practically pounding as I was silently fearful of what her reaction would be.

She opened her eyes but did not remove her head from my body. "Oh dear. Was she upset?" She asked, her eyes worriedly lifting up towards me.

I was shocked by her unexpected reaction that I couldn't speak for a second or two.

"O-oh no. Not at all. She was pretty embarrassed about it though."

"I see." She closed her eyes once again and continued speaking. "Sometimes I dream about you, thinking it's real, only to wake up and realize that you're not there with me."

"Sorry…" I apologized.

"Don't be. I'm not mad. In fact, I'm pleased we are spending time together right now." She suddenly lifted her head away from me and shot her eyes wide-open. "Oh! That reminds me!"

"What?" I asked, leaning forward in concern.

"Did you get your Grand Galloping Gala ticket?"

"Yeah, I did. I almost forgot the Grand Galloping Gala was around the corner."

"Since we both have our individual tickets, I was wondering if you'd mind if I used my plus one for a friend of mine. Tree Hugger." She mentioned the name with an eager smile.

"Tree Hugger?" I repeated, never having heard of this pony before. It only showed how much time I needed to catch up with Fluttershy on many things.

"We met on the trip to see the Breezies. She's a member of the Equestrian Society for the Preservation of Rare Creatures." She explained.

"Ah. Well, she sounds interesting." I didn't know what else to say. "I don't mind at all. In fact, I was considering bringing a few ponies I'd really like to see at the Gala."

"Really?" Fluttershy inquired about with interest.

"Yeah. Three actually." I began to list them out. "Starlight, My old sister. Coco Pommel, the shy but friendly pony we met back in Manehattan. And Spirit, my spirit of course. Technically, Spirit wouldn't need my 'plus one' since she can just literally pop out during the Gala, but I considered it would be nice to have her feel a little more…you know… alive."

"I see, but…" Fluttershy's head tilted slightly to the right as her ear flopped down along with her movement. "Wouldn't you need two more plus ones?"

"About that…" I proceeded to explain. "I was hoping to speak with Twilight and Spike to see if they wouldn't mind using their plus ones for them. After all, everypony else seems to already have their plus ones chosen. Pinkie is bringing her sister Maud. Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash are bringing the Cutie Mark Crusaders. You're bringing Tree Hugger. I think Octavia got invited too since she plays there and is bringing Vinyl. Twilight and Spike are the only ones I haven't heard having any plans for using their plus ones."

"Well, you're really thoughtful for wanting to bring some more ponies to the Gala." She praised with a sweet soft smile of hers. "If they've never been to the Gala before, I'm sure they'll love to go!"

"Yeah…" I bashfully rubbed the back of my head with my hoof. "It's kind of the reason why I want them to go."

"How is Spirit anyhow?" Fluttershy asked. "I figured she'd be here with you."

"She decided to see what Pinkie Pie was up to. Probably baking something. I was a little surprised she volunteered herself, but I'm a little proud anyway. I wanted her to get to know the others, including you, her own way, you know?"

"She does seem very sweet." She admitted. "I haven't spoken with her much, but I would definitely like to get to know her more."

"Yeah." I nodded my head in agreement. "She's really great once you get to know her. Oh." My eyes caught sight of the clock nearby. "We were going to take the train towards Canterlot so we can meet up with Twilight."

"Oh!" Fluttershy appeared to understand my reason for leaving. "Don't let me keep you waiting. I wouldn't want you to miss your train."

"Well…" I felt the need to keep myself from leaving in order to grow physically closer to Fluttershy. "I could always just fly there."

Fluttershy noticed my advances and began to blush prominently. She giggled lightly before reacting. "As long as it's okay with you…I…I don't mind…"

Before I could start anything serious, we were rudely interrupted with the sound of the door slamming open.

"I'm here, Fluttershy!"

"Oh, Discord…!" Fluttershy responded in complete surprise. We both immediately sat appropriately. "I almost forgot our Tuesday Tea!" She turned to me with an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry, Alex…"

"It's okay." I assured her with a smile. "I guess I should get going anyway."

"That's right. Go on. Shoo." Discord emphasized with a shake of his disfigured paw/claws. "It's precious time that I spend with my best friend."

I returned an irritated look back at Discord as I passed by him.

"Yeah, whatever."

The only reason I practically accepted the idea of Discord still remaining friends with Fluttershy was the company he gave her. Fluttershy was able to hold her own and not let Discord get away with any mischief. As long as I didn't have to be around him, it wasn't that much of a big deal to me.

"I'll see you real soon, Flutter Bu—" I tried to say once last thing to her beaming face as she waved back at me, but apparently Discord shut the door on me, leaving me to stand outside in a great pause. "…tter…"

Honestly, how can she even stand him?!

I stopped by Sugarcube Corner to pick up Spirit so we could head on our way to Canterlot. Realizing how we'd take a small adventure today by ourselves made me sure that she would enjoy the trips. I opened the door to the bakery and found the area pretty absent except for the faint sound of giggling and laughter from the kitchen.

"Hello?" I called and began walking towards the kitchen. I could hear the sound of utensils and other objects being picked up and messed around with. I poked my head through the door and found two mares seeming to be having the times of their lives. I think…

On Spirit's flank, there seemed to be what looked like a cupcake pancake drizzled with frosting. There also seemed to be patches of flour on both of them, as if they had some kind of flour fight. I had no idea what had happened during my absence, and I didn't really think I was interested in finding out. Nevertheless, I was pretty happy to find them getting along.

"Uh…having fun?" I asked a bit awkwardly.

Spirit turned quickly towards my way, appearing to be surprised of my sudden appearance. I could see another splotch of white on the tip of her nose.

"Are we ever!" Pinkie Pie giggled heartedly, sneaking in a few snorts here and there. "We were able to get so many cakes done! Oooh! We can have some after the Gala! I'm sooo excited!"

Spirit looked like she was embarrassed from having me see her in the current state she was in. She wiped off the flour from her nose and shook her mane. "Heheh…yeah…"

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to borrow Spirit, Pinkie. We're going to take a trip over to Canterlot." I mentioned.

"Why? The Gala isn't until tonight…right?" She seemed to be unsure of her own implanted schedule.

"Right." I pointed out. "But I wanted to ask Twilight and Spike about their tickets to the Gala. I'll be back in time so we can all go together."

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie finished by taking a bite from one of the cakes they must have made together.

Spirit attempted to wipe herself clean before we boarded the train and traveled over to Canterlot. Twilight was helping Celestia with the Gala, so it was most likely that they were at the Castle where the Gala always took place, of course.

At the time, Twilight appeared to have been alone as she arranged several items around the ballroom. I caught her in the middle of her work as she was turning her head around the room to direct her magic. When her eyes caught sight of Spirit and me, she almost dropped the item she was carrying.

"Hey…! What are you two doing here?" She asked.

"I wanted to talk about you and Spike's Gala ticket. By the way, where is he?" I briefly searched the room for him.

"I let him sleep in." Twilight responded, continuing on with her work. "We'll probably be staying up late after all with tonight and whatnot." She turned her head towards me and gave me a teasing smirk. "Don't tell me you're trying to butter me up for my plus one, are you?"

Oh man… How long ago was that?

"Technically, I guess you could say that." I admitted. "But it's not me that's trying to be your plus one. There are a couple of ponies I was hoping to bring. I wasn't sure if you or Spike had anyone in mind for your plus ones, but if you didn't, I was wondering if I could use them for a few other friends?"

"Oh?" Twilight turned her body around in my direction, her interest appearing to peak. "Might I know of these friends that are coming?"

"Starlight and Coco Pommel."

"Starlight." Twilight rubbed her chin for a moment. "You'd think a pony like her could get in without a ticket."

"She's not the type to attend 'fancy' get-togethers. But since we'd be there, I figured, you know."

"Well, sure. I don't mind using my plus one. I don't think Spike is using his, but you should probably ask him just to make sure."

"Right…" I remembered. "He's probably still sleeping in the castle."

"You owe me a dance." Twilight unexpectedly mentioned, causing me to slightly jump.

"Huh?" I questioned.

She chuckled in return. "Just kidding. I'll probably be too busy helping the princess than to focus on the festivities. We'll see."

"Sure…We will see."

"Catch you tonight!" She waved before she continued her complete focus on the work.

"Come on, Spirit." I called over, who seemed to have been distracting herself with unfinished decorations and furnishes during the time I spent speaking with Twilight.

I believed Spirit had been expecting for us to return back to Ponyville, but we obviously had to visit one more place before we could return back home.

"Where are we going?" She asked as she looked out the window of the train as it passed by not too familiar sightings.

"Manehattan." I answered.

"Manehattan?" She brought back her head inside to look at me. "Why?"

"For Coco Pommel, of course."

"Coco?!" Spirit immediately rushed close towards me. "We're going to see Coco?!"

"…you seem awfully happy about that." I was surprised about her reaction. She had never officially met Coco before, yet it seemed that she had knew her for ages.

"Coco's just the sweetest…" Spirit held her hooves together and closed her eyes as if she was envisioning something.

"But you two never even met before."

Spirit immediately shot her eyes open in alarm to answer this. "T-through you! Remember?"

I still couldn't understand this pony, but I didn't really try to anymore. It was too hard. "I guess…"

Once we arrived and exited the train station, Spirit was practically skipping all along the way. Strange how out of every pony, Coco was the only one she was really excited to see. It was a good thing in a way, I guess.

"I think this is the place." I pointed out the huge red apartment at the corner of the block. It seemed to match the details of the area after having taken the directions from the train station she had given me in one of the letters from her. She wasn't expecting my visit at all, but I figured I'd make it a surprise since she's been wanting to see me.

"It's huge!" Spirit observed the size of the building.

"Yeah…well…everything is huge here compared back to Ponyville. Then again, the most populated part of Fillydelphia isn't so much different." I compared.

"Yeah…" Spirit rubbed her foreleg lightly. "I guess I'm kind of glad we lived in the smaller part of Filly."

"We?"

"By we I mean you, of course! Heh heh." It appeared as if she applied more pressure to her calm rubbing.

Nevertheless, I didn't really think of it as a big deal, so I lead the two of us inside the apartment complex and searched for her room number. Once I spotted it, I remained standing in front of what was supposed to be her door. At the moment, my heart began to beat faster, and I began feeling a little nervous. However, I couldn't understand why. I hadn't seen her since the Equestria Games, and I wondered if that was the case. I managed to lift my hoof up and knock a couple of times.

After a brief moment, we heard some noises on the other side of the door and the door itself before it began to open. A delicate head poked out to silently greet us. It seemed to take her some time to process who I was in her head before she realized I was actually standing before her.

"A-A-Alex!" She stuttered. "I didn't know you were coming here today!"

"Hi." I raised a hoof with an embarrassed smile. "I hope it isn't a bad time. I thought it would be nice to drop in for a surprise."

"C-come in!" She almost threw open the door but managed to catch it before it could hit against the wall. "I'm so sorry about the mess." She mentioned as she closed the door behind us. "If I would have known, I would have cleaned up the place. Oh… I don't even have any tea or cookies to offer you. Ughhh. I'm so sorry."

"Hey…" I turned and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "It's really all okay. You don't need to apologize, I promise. I kind of feel bad for not telling you ahead of time, but I thought it'd be nice."

With a soft blush enveloping within her cheeks, she slightly looked away. "It is nice to see you after all this time." She softly embraced me for a moment before pulling away.

"Coco!" Spirit practically tackled Coco. I had never seen her give so much affection to a pony other than me. "It's so great to see you!"

"I-I'm sorry." Coco appeared to be partially in shock from the sudden action. "Do I know you?"

"Right…" I prepared introductions. "Coco, this is a Spirit. She's a…good friend of mine. You could say she knows you through me…" Literally?

"Oh, I see…" Coco returned a sort of awkward smile as she lightly patted Spirit back. "It's nice to meet you, Spirit…"

When Spirit eventually released Coco from her seemingly deathly tight grip, we all sat down to discuss the reason I had come here in the first place.

"If you don't mind me asking…" Coco began, hanging her forelegs between her hind legs as she sat with us. "What brings you two here?"

"Have you ever been to the Grand Galloping Gala, Coco?" I asked.

"No, I haven't… I've heard of it, of course, but I've never been there myself. I do wonder how it is. Every time I hear about it from some pony, it always sounds like a big deal."

"How would you like to come then?" I finally presented.

"Huh?!" Coco's eyes widened and she remained still as if dumbfounded for a brief moment. "You're…inviting me to the Gala? Seriously?"

"It's tonight." I mentioned. "I hope that isn't too short notice for you, but things weren't exactly cut and dry."

"Well…" Coco shuffled in her seat as her face looked slightly flushed. "I don't know if there's any other pony you want to take instead; I don't want to be a bother…"

"Don't worry about it!" I reassured. "It's sort of complicated, but I'm using my other friend's plus one to bring you. You see… I'm bringing Spirit here as my plus one, but I also wanted to invite you. That is, if you're willing to go."

"Oh. Is she you're…?"

"No!" Spirit exclaimed.

"She's…a close friend." I managed to explain, keeping my eyes on Spirit from her unnecessary outburst.

"I see." Coco adverted her eyes and placed a hoof to her chin. "I've been keeping on schedule with my work…and I don't have anything important planned right now…" She turned towards me. "I would be delighted. It sure sounds like it'll be a fun experience."

"Yes!" Spirit shouted.

"That's great." I expressed warmly. "Did you want to head back to Ponyville with us? Rarity could get a dress up for you, actually…"

"I'd love to, but I think I should stay here. I do make dresses myself after all…" Coco looked away bashfully, as if she felt she was being too boastful.

"But we'll see you in Canterlot, right?"

She nodded tenderly. "You will."

"Yay!" Spirit almost jumped from the couch we were on and threw her hoof upwards in cheer.

Coco giggled. It didn't seem she minded Spirit's unusual close liking to her.

"We'd love to stay, but we've got to head back to Ponyville. There are a few things we need to do and we also have to get ready for the Gala."

"Well, I'm glad I'll be seeing you at the Grand Galloping Gala. Truly…" She stood on her hooves along with me and approached me to hug me warmly. "I never thought you'd be inviting me along to such an occasion. I really appreciate it."

"For all the work you've done, I think you deserve a great night." I mentioned as she lingered on. Let's just hope it isn't as bad as last time…

There was one more place we had to go before actually seeing Starlight. It was a good thing she still resided in the same town, so we wouldn't have to jump on a train again…at least not until the Gala. Spirit and I dropped by the castle and looked for Spike. We found him unusually shivering in his bed as if he was paranoid about something.

"Spike?" I called.

"Gahh!" He screamed as he turned towards me.

"Aah!" Spirit yelped in reaction. "What's wrong?!"

"I-It's just you…" He released a sigh of relief. "Discord freaked me out not too long ago. He popped up underneath my blanket and wanted to know where Twilight was. Then he left and I couldn't sleep since!"

"Ew. Discord." Spirit seemed to share my disgust of Discord, and she wasn't afraid to speak it out loud.

"Any reason why?" I asked, finding that pretty odd.

"No. No idea at all!"

Hm… Wasn't he supposed to be having his "Tuesday Tea" with Fluttershy…?

"Anyway…" I disregarded the current subject and referred back to what we came here for. "Spike, were you planning on using your plus one for the Gala?"

"No, not really. Rarity already has her own ticket after all."

Spirit and I exchanged short "insider" glances at each other for a few seconds.

"You mind if you use it for some pony I've been interested in bringing?" I asked.

"Huh?" Spike stood up from underneath his blankets. "Who?"

"Starlight." I stated plain and simple.

"Starlight?" Spike questioned with both shock and a little cringe. "Really?"

"Yes, really. So, might I?"

"I guess…" He sounded hesitant and unwilling, which wasn't unexpected. "I don't have to be around with her, do I?"

"No, just to bring her in."

"Sure, whatever."

"Thanks." I expressed.

I supposed Spirit felt the need to show him some gratitude, so she patted him over the head and offered him a bright grin.

Alright… Just need to ask her if she's interested then…

"You're going to see Starlight, right?" Spirit inquired about on our walk there.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"I think I'll just…head over to Rarity's…" She brought up, pointing her head over to the boutique we passed.

"Oh, right!" I remember. "We got to get you fitted for a dress too!"

"Heh, dress, sure." She chuckled. "Catch you later!"

She split up and trotted her way over to Rarity's. That was alright. That's probably the next place I'm heading after I'm finished talking with Starlight.

I knocked a few times on the door and waited for a response. However, I didn't get any, leading me to wonder if she was out. I decided to slip in, especially since it was still technically my place after all.

"Starlight?" I called softly.

Still no answer.

Checking upstairs.

I gave a brief look around, readying my voice to call out her name again before I spotted a somewhat large mass on the bed and sighed lightly. She was still passed out on the bed.

I approached the bed and tapped her a little. She released her mumble and grumbles, soon lifting up the upper portion of her body holding her bed hair.

"You awake?" I clarified.

"…why you gotta be waking me up…?"

She mumbled some more and looked as if she didn't even recognize me yet. It was pretty obvious that she was still half-asleep.

"I've got something for you." I mentioned as she rubbed her eyes roughly.

"What?" She looked at me with half-lidded eyes. Now she looked like herself.

"Are you interested in the Grand Galloping Gala?" I asked.

"Not really." She didn't spend any time thinking about it.

"You should at least try it once, don't you think?"

"I stopped by one time. Didn't like it. Too high-class and prissy."

"I know what you mean, but I'm thinking things are gonna be a little different now."

"Okay? And?"

I felt my head droop down from exhaustion. "Oh, come on. Just go, why don't you?"

"Why are you trying to pressure me into going so much?" She asked, raising her eyebrow and lowering one of her eyelids.

"Because me and some other nice ponies will be there." I answered.

"You mean your friends?"

"Yeah…" It was starting to feel too difficult in trying to keeping a stable conversation with her. "Point is; the Gala shouldn't be as 'high-class' as it might usually be. You might like it, and I thought it'd be nice to bring you along."

She sighed and wiped a hoof across her face. "When is it?"

"Tonight." All of a sudden, she stared at me in an uncomfortable silence. "What?"

"You're inviting me to something that's tonight?"

"Y-yeah…?"

"I have to get my mane and dress done by tonight!" It was pretty obvious she was growing a bit furious.

"I figured you wouldn't worry too much over your regular mane and that you'd already have a dress…" I replied honestly.

She sighed heavily once more as she got out of bed. I could tell that it was a sigh of immense frustration and disappointment. "If I go the way I usually go out, ponies are going to look at me funny because I'm not 'hoity-toity' like them."

"I thought you were used to be the center of attention", is what I wanted to say, but that most likely just called for an argument. A very loud and bad one at that.

"Hey, it's no problem." I attempted to reassure. "My friend, Rarity, is getting everyone's dresses and manes styled for tonight. She lives for such work. She can work with you."

Starlight kept quiet for a moment, which I assumed she spent thinking. "If she snips and makes a mess of my mane, I swear I'll get you both."

"Fine, fine." I lifted my hooves up as a sign of surrender, even though I wasn't really surrendering to anything.

"I guess I should shower then." She stated as she faced the bathroom doorway. "Let her know I'll be coming over then."

"Sure."

Afterwards, she entered and shut the door after her.

I sighed myself and felt an exhausted drop of sweat slide on the side of my face.

That's the end of that. I guess I can't blame Spirit for not sticking around when it comes to her…

Honestly, I was starting to feel a little exhausted, and that was because we hadn't even gotten to the big part of the night. However, making all those trips and talks did bring the day closer to an end. I found everyone gathered inside the boutique, except for those whom I had just spoken with, of course. Realizing that, I thought about Twilight. Where was she going to get herself dressed up for the Gala? Maybe along with Princess Celestia? That would be a delightful treat for her.

Inside the boutique laid a pretty funny surprise. I never saw Rarity so jubilant on working on a pony like I did now. Spirit seemed to lay at her complete mercy as Rarity energetically jumped over from her mane to her dress, to her dress from her mane. Noticing me come in, Spirit sent me a pleading look through her face as she stood still.

"Yes! Yes! I can see it all coming together!" Rarity cried out in joy. "Oh my, you are so adorable! Oh, this color matches your eyes so vividly!"

Through her embarrassed and somewhat fragile state, I could see the massive changes made for her formal appearance for the Gala. Spirit mane was brushed, pulled to the left side, and ultimately held up to form a ponytail. The front area of her mane was still fairly the same. It already looked like Rarity was putting the final touches on her dress, but I, in no way, had the vocabulary she did in order to accurately describe the dress. Nevertheless, it was really cute. It seemed Rarity sort of had the "childish" and "innocent" look in mind.

"Ooooh!" Rarity expressed pressing her hooves tightly together by her awe-stricken face. "So fabulous!"

"Wow..." I silently observed the sight. "I knew you were quick, but I didn't think you were this quick, Rarity?"

"Are you joking, darling?" Rarity returned. "I had each and every design ready for you all. All that was really left to do was correctly fix them to your measurements. Which reminds me. I need to take yours!"

As she grabbed my hoof and led me to an area where she could do so, I thought it would be best to tell her about Starlight now. "You remember Starlight, right?"

"Which Starlight, darling?" Rarity asked, focusing her glasses and getting a good angle with her measuring tape.

"Starlight, my sister."

"Ah…yes…"

I couldn't tell if she became disgusted at the topic of her or if she was just too focused on her work.

"She's going to the Gala tonight, so she was going to stop by here to, y'know, get herself done."

"What?!" Rarity almost dropped her tools of trade. "She's going to gala?! And she's coming here?! For what reason?!"

"I invited her…" I nearly mumbled out.

"Pff. Kch. Ts!" Rarity grew upset. "You want to ruin a night of perfection?"

"Hey, come on. I know you don't exactly like her, but she's changed. You don't have to be friends with her, but just give her a chance, you know?" I lightly pleaded.

"So you say, but I am not so willing to believe that." She finished up her measuring and turned away to focus on something else.

I thought of what I could say to change her way of thinking. I didn't want Rarity to screw things up with Starlight and in turn rip things apart with me. I honestly wasn't looking for Rarity to befriend her, I just really wanted Rarity to do me a favor. Then again, I never really thought I'd be pushing through for Starlight. Sigh.

Maybe "talking" isn't what I really needed to do. What was that thing that Rarity was so good at? Working her "charm" towards other ponies when she wants a favor to be done? I know nothing of the skill, but maybe I don't need to when it comes to Rarity…

"Please, Rarity?" I asked, joining by her side and softly embracing her.

I could feel warmth arise at her cheeks, and her movements seemed to still.

"After all, I invited her to your boutique because you are a talented and beautiful mare who knows her stuff on fashion and style."

She began giggling a little nervously, but it was obvious she was completely flattered. "I am, aren't I?"

"So, would you please do me a favor and see what you could do for Starlight?"

"Alright, alright." She placed a hoof to my chest. "I'll do what I can."

"Thanks!" I expressed, giving her a tight squeeze before I roamed off.

Rarity seemed to behave well when Starlight came over. I wondered, though, if there were things she wanted to say but kept them shut beyond her mouth. Of course, Rarity didn't have anything special or unique for Starlight, especially since she was kind of a last minute thing, but it wasn't much of a problem since she had already other pre-made dresses for her to wear. I wasn't sure if Starlight was exactly picky, but since it was an event she didn't care for much in the first place, it didn't seem to be a problem. Nevertheless, it was a surprise to the majority of us when Starlight complimented Rarity on her work. Although, I could imagine Rarity taking it with a grain of salt.

The night everypony had been waiting for arrived. Since Spirit was my plus one, I decided to escort her in. However, she wasn't so bubbly at our arrival of this event. She'd been uneasily turning her head and roaming her eyes around the place.

"I feel like everypony's looking at me…" She mentioned.

"No, they're not." I tried to ease her through. "Even if they were, I'm sure it's because you look amazing tonight."

Instead of taking the compliment well, she turned her eyes to the dress Rarity made for her and groaned. "Ugh… I look so stupid in this dress. I am not the type of pony to be wearing something like this."

"You look fine." I assured. "Trust me. Rarity knows her stuff."

Spirit returned only a sigh.

"Alex!" I heard a soft voice nearby. I turned to see the lovely and kind Coco Pommel approaching us. She immediately greeted me with an embrace. "Thanks for bringing me here. Everything seems lovely so far!"

"You should really thank Twilight." I pointed out. "She did use her plus one for you after all."

"Oh yes." She lightly messed with her hair. "I did, but right now she's with the princess." She sighed. "It must be so wonderful to be of royalty and standing right next to the mighty princess herself."

"Well…" I shrugged. I suppose I didn't think too much of it.

"Hi, Coco!" Spirit exclaimed out unexpectedly.

"Hi, Spiri—Aagh!" Spirit threw her hooves around Coco before she could finish and looked like she was trying to suffocate her.

"Alright, alright…" I lightly patted and pushed away Spirit before she could do any harm. "You don't want to send her to the hospital and miss the Gala, do you?"

"N-no…" Spirit embarrassingly agreed. "I'm sorry, Coco. Do you…want to go find a table and talk or something…?"

"O-oh, sure." Coco was slightly still recovering from that tackle. "Are you coming, Alex?"

"Actually…" I remembered that there were several things I wanted to do, one of them is finding Fluttershy and spending time with her. She was supposed to be with her friend Tree Hugger, but she did want me to meet her after all. "There's something I have to do. Why don't you two go ahead? I'll come by later."

"Sure." Coco smiled warmly.

"Got it!" Spirit excitedly waved. "Come on, Coco!"

As I observed Coco being practically pulled away by the suddenly energetic Spirit, I couldn't help but wonder. Spirit is such a strange pony.

I spotted Fluttershy in the main ballroom sitting across another mare. By the looks of this mare, it was pretty obvious that this was Tree Hugger. I sort of prepped myself up for an introduction to a new friendly face. However, I had to admit that the face of this new friend was a little…unusual.

"Hey, Flutter." I greeted by her side.

"Hi, sweetie!" Fluttershy responded with eagerness as she hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. "I'm so glad you could stop by!" She turned across the table to introduce her new friend.

"Alex, this is Tree Hugger. Tree Hugger, this is Alex. My special somepony." Fluttershy blushed at the sound of her last comment.

"Righteous." She responded in a very slow and kind of soothing way. It was…different but welcoming. "Going steady, Fluttershy. The aura between you two blends and manifests into ecstasy. It's like being one with nature…"

Fluttershy looked like she had no problem interpreting that statement, but I for one was pretty confused.

"Uh…what?" I tried smiling so I wouldn't cause any awkwardness.

"She's saying that we're perfect together!" Fluttershy beamed in happiness.

Well, I'm glad you two can understand each other…

"Pleased to meet you." Tree Hugger sustained as she approached me. She unexpectedly then embraced me while continuing her unique way of speaking. "Spread the love."

"Same here…" I returned the same motions, but I wasn't exactly sure how to respond or react with her character. I don't think I had ever met a pony like her. Nevertheless, it all seemed completely normal for Fluttershy. In fact, she looked like she was pleased that we were getting along so well. Don't get me wrong, Tree Hugger seems like a really nice pony. I just wish I could understand her a little more like Fluttershy does.

I decided to spend some more time getting to know her and sticking around with Fluttershy. Flutters was technically my date after all, but she seemed content to be with Tree Hugger. I still had other ponies I needed to see for the night, so I felt a little more relieved that she'd have somepony relatable with her to keep her company.

Despite not fully understanding Tree Hugger, I could immediately say without hesitation that I'd rather much prefer Fluttershy hanging around with her instead of Discord by a landslide.

I didn't do much talking, but it was fine since I didn't want to really intrude in Fluttershy's and Tree Hugger's conversation. After all, the topic of the matter was really only something the two of them could understand.

"The aura coming off the waterfall was so alive! So, like, magic manifestation."

I could tell Tree Hugger spoke with passion and love, despite her very calm and unhurried voice.

"Wow." Fluttershy reacted with awe as she placed a hoof to her chest.

"Oh, Fluttershy. I didn't see you there." I heard a different and unexpected voice come from behind Fluttershy and me.

"How did you even know to look for an aura on a waterfall?" Fluttershy responded to Tree Hugger as I glanced back to see an unwelcome sight.

"What are you doing here? Go away." I tried to shoo Discord off.

Fluttershy must have heard me as she turned around to see what had been going on. She noticed Discord and proceeded to recognize him with surprise. "Discord! I thought you weren't coming!"

He didn't look as mischievous as he usually did. Instead, he looked pretty agitated.

"No. I actually never said that. But funny how you remembered it that way. Anyway, good to see you. Tree Friend, is it?" He focused his attention towards Tree Hugger. "Your name is slipping my mind right now. How strange."

Despite Discord's obviously rude behavior, I couldn't help but appreciate Tree Hugger's unbothered reaction to it. Her tranquil smile remained unfazed and there was no sign of change in her facial expression whatsoever.

"Nice to meet you." Tree Hugger greeted. "I'm Tree Hugger. Blessings."

"You have met me before actually!" Discord snorted bitterly.

"Cool!" She reacted jubilantly. "Like, in another life, maybe?"

"You've gotta be kidding. You don't remember me?" Discord removed his hat and pointed towards his mismatched horns.

Tree Hugger laughed. "I meet a lot of different creatures, each one of them perfect and unique." She spoke with heartfelt honesty.

"Yes, well, as I was saying, it's just great to be here with my oldest, bestest friend." Discord placed his paw around Fluttershy, resuming his unusual yet stirring behavior.

"Am I really your oldest, bestest friend?" Fluttershy asked, her hopes appearing to climb with delight.

"You?" He laughed blatantly. "Of course not! You think I don't have other friends? I'm centuries old! I was talking about the Smooze!" He pointed towards…a blob. A blob?! How did a blob get in here!? "Smooze Face, the Smoozinator – well, I mean that's what we called him back in college. Smooze!" He planted him smack dab on top of the table, knocking off the drinks that Tree Hugger and Fluttershy had been enjoying. "I would like you to meet Fluttershy and, um, hmm... Tree... how'd you say it... Tree Embrace?" He skipped me on purpose, of course.

"Oh, I like that! It's so in rhythm with my life force!" Tree Hugger responded and then gasped. "Maybe I'll change it!"

Well, I'm glad she was taking Discord pretty well…

Fluttershy giggled and patted this "Smooze" as it dripped down towards the floor like a gooey mess. "I can't believe I've never heard you speak of the Smooze before. Sounds like you two are so close."

Remnants of its goo remained stuck on Fluttershy's hoof, so I grabbed a nearby napkin and attempted to delicately wipe it off for her.

"Well, I'm glad you got that, because that's what is true. We are." He disappeared and reappeared near the Smooze, holding it closely. "Very close."

"That's wonderful! We should all go out to dinner sometime!" Fluttershy encouraged.

Ehhh… I might pass on that.

"We should all go out to dinner sometime?!" Discord reacted strangely emotional, as if he had been expecting a completely different answer. "Have you no heart?"

"What is wrong with you?" I finally blurted out from annoyance.

Before he could respond, a pony from some distance away screamed out. We noticed his buddy was advancing towards another group, so they must have been frightened by the sight of it.

"Oh, oh! It looks like somepony wants to mingle. We'll be back in a bit."

Please don't.

"Oh, okay. Treezie and I would love to talk to you more later!" Fluttershy invited.

"Treezie? Really?" Discord returned angrily. "Sort of a juvenile nickname, don't you think?"

Some more disturbing noises.

"Smoozie! Wait up!" He called out before he finally left.

I had a feeling he'd be back, so I decided I could take off now.

"Hey, Flutters, I'm going to look for a few other ponies. Let me know if you need anything, okay?" I said.

"Okay, sweetie." She requested a small kiss to which I immediately gave.

"It was nice meeting you, Tree Hugger." I waved.

"Peace." She slowly gestured her head with a nod.

I'm glad those two can tolerate Discord. I don't think I'll be able to if I stay…

I had noticed Octavia with her cello and stopped by to offer a smile and a wave of my hoof. With a light blush, she waved back. Vinyl and Derpy seemed to have been having fun despite the Gala not being their exact tastes. Still, it was great to see a friendship blooming through thick and thin.

I eventually came across Starlight, whom seemed to be taking her appearance quite well. In fact, I myself never thought I would see her looking so…well…formal and sophisticated.

"How's the Gala, Starlight?" I asked as she roamed her eyes across the food.

"It's alright, I guess." She responded. "I admit it beats being indoors all day." She chuckled and returned her eyes to the groups of ponies occupying the large room. "Can you believe it? I've played here in Canterlot before, and nopony seems to know who I really am. I don't think they recognize me at all."

"From what they've last seen of you…" I analyzed her from top to bottom. "I don't blame them."

"Knowing ponies appreciate you for your music is great…but…at times…it's sort of cool being a normal pony."

"I'd think it's all a matter of preference really…" I mentioned. "I know I wouldn't like to be the center of attention. It'd put too much pressure on me to be my best every time."

"Says the all-mighty Alicorn of Equestria?" She replied in a cheeky manner.

"Yeah, whatever." I brushed off. "Most of the time, I forget I'm considered one anyway. I'm not exactly sure that's a good thing either…"

"So why'd you decide to be all 'royal' then?"

I thought back for a moment. "It felt…like the right thing to do. With Twilight. She was becoming a princess…and I guess I didn't want her to go through that alone. After all, she's been the closest friend I've ever had. She's been there for me most of the time, and—"

"Alright, alright." Starlight interrupted as if she's had enough of my 'mushy' talk. "I get it." There were no words between us, and only the ambience of the blurred conversations from every other pony were audible. Finally, Starlight began speaking once again. "You know…you might have to…"

She paused, leading me to ask her to finish her sentence. "What?"

She didn't answer right away.

"Nah. Never mind…"

I stayed there pondering over what was on her mind before we heard a sudden muffled yet sharp scream.

"Let me in!" A voice cried out through loud thumps from the closed garden doors.

Twilight rushed over to doors to unlock them, and a mare immediately threw herself into the room, gasping for air as she crawled with a bunch of green sticky goo on her.

"Rarity?!" I realized once I had a good look and immediately galloped over to tend to her.

"That creature took my jewels!" She pointed outside.

It was none other than the blob Discord had brought along with him, and he was hungrily eating any other shiny objects he somehow found without having eyes.

"Discord! I thought I told you to keep your friend under control!" Twilight scolded, approaching Discord, whom was in the company of Tree Hugger and Fluttershy.

"Oh, please. I have better things to do than to watch that thing all night." Discord replied bitterly frank before he took a glance over at Fluttershy's way. After a brisk nervous laugh, he proceeded to follow up on his statement. "What I mean to say is, that thing is a dear, dear friend, and I'll make sure that the ooze, uh, that he can't help but secrete doesn't get on anypony else."

As I was trying to help get the sticky icky goo off of Rarity, which only seemed to cling onto my own hooves instead, Discord appeared near us with a vacuum cleaner. Switching it on, he hovered the vacuum directly above Rarity, completely sucking the dirty dress off of her. Once she realized the state of her appearance, her face immediately grew flustered out of embarrassment and she quickly hid behind me.

"Get me out of here! Now!"

"What? Why are you so—"

"Alex!" She pressured.

"Okay, okay!" I surrendered, ridiculously walking by her as she used me as cover from the eyes of anypony else.

"Thank you." I heard Twilight express nevertheless. "It's alright, everypony. Let's just get back to enjoying this magical evening!"

I had to stick by Rarity the entire time until she was out of sight and able to recover another one of her backup dresses she brought along for apparently good measure.

"Did you really need me to bring you all the way over here like that?" I asked as she focused on putting on and aligning the dress perfectly like it was before. "You do know that we don't normally wear clothes."

"But everypony wears clothes at the Gala! Do you know how much of an embarrassment it is to be stripped completely at such a high-class important event?!" She expressed her high-strung humiliation about it.

"Eh…" I merely shrugged my shoulders, but knowing Rarity, I was able to somewhat understand.

By the time I escorted Rarity back to the ballroom, we noticed the lights were off, and everypony else seemed to be struck with confusion.

"Check, check, check. Is this thing on? Good evening, fillies and germs! I just flew into Canterlot, and wow, are my interspecies parts tired!"

There was a rimshot, something only Pinkie Pie would do, only there wasn't any laughter. Even though I knew it was practically impossible for Pinkie Pie to not even make a single pony laugh, Rarity and I joined the crowd that gathered together at this stage that seemed to have had appeared out of nowhere.

"I've only got these tiny mismatched wings, and even I can fly better than Twilight Sparkle! Am I right? Pchoo!"

We found Discord apparently doing stand-up comedy in front of all the participants of the Gala for some odd reason. Was he just trying to ruin the Gala like everything else?

Nevertheless, he wasn't funny, and even Twilight Sparkle attested to this when she returned an unamused reaction. "Hey!"

Although, I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was shocked when Princess Celestia actually giggled at this "joke".

After laughing pretty nervously, he seemed to switch his deck of cards. "Uh, well, perhaps you're into more observational humor." With a magic poof, he proceeded to pop his head out of a brick wall. "Did you ever notice how you always materialize out of thin air? Why not thick air? What's the deal there?"

Another reactionless rimshot sounded.

"Get off the stage!" I heard a familiar mare's voice yell from the crowd.

"What is he doing?!" Twilight asked almost frantically, as if things were going terribly wrong.

"I think they're... jokes?" Rainbow guessed.

"Maud! Jokes!" Pinkie Pie shook her sister excitedly beside her.

"My favorite." Maud responded in her usual deadpan tone, which would sound entirely sarcastic to the average pony.

"You might be a Ponyville pony when an ordinary night on the town ends in a lesson about friendship!" Discord continued, his performance really beginning to feel like a waste of time. He summoned a watermelon on a stool and knocked his paw onto the object. "Knock, knock." No one bothered playing along. After several seconds of silence, Discord actually grew frustrated. "You're supposed to say "Who's there?"! This is the most basic of jokes!" He took a mallet and smashed the watermelon into pieces, sending the remnants over everypony in the crowd.

Maud, with no change to her facial expression whatsoever, stared Discord right into the eye and responded. "You're the most basic of jokes."

Despite how little effort it may have been to say that out loud, it made much more sense than any of Discord's jokes. In fact, I found myself laughing along with the crowd because it was actually funny.

"Good one, Maud!" Pinkie Pie congratulated, leaning on her from giggling.

I had a feeling Maud would do pretty well if she ever took up comedy.

"What is that?!" Twilight suddenly exclaimed, pointing backwards behind us.

Before I knew, a tsunami of green goo burst through from a door behind us and began swallowing everything in sight. Being reminded of the nightmare with Spirit, I immediately jumped into flight while the others unfortunately seemed too shocked to do anything. Most ponies panicked and run amuck, others' hooves were covered and seemed glued to the floor.

"AaaaaAAh!" I heard a cry and spotted Spirit frantically attempting to pull her hooves free from the sticky goo. Coco Pommel stood next to her attempting to do whatever she could herself. Nevertheless, out of the two of them, Spirit was the one that seemed to have lost her nerve.

I raced over to them and began to immediately question out of concern. "Are you two alright?!"

Spirit sounded like she was hyperventilating. "G-get me out of t-this!"

"Calm down! It's okay!" I attempted to soothe, pressing my hooves against her.

With my touch, her breathing slowed slightly, but she was still unnerved.

"What's going on?" Coco Pommel asked worriedly.

"I don't know." I looked all over the ballroom. "This just happened all of a sudden." I remembered one thing at that point though. Discord had brought in some kind of green goo thing, and the whole area was covered with goo. Even though I couldn't figure out what had exactly happened, I knew Discord was at fault and he was the only one who had to explain himself.

"I'll be back!"

Before I could leave, Spirit called out. "D-don't go!"

"You want to get out of this mess, don't you?" I asked. "I'm going to try to do something about this!" I turned to Coco. "Coco, can you please take care of her for me?"

Coco lifted a hoof, revealing the goo gluing her hoof to the floor. "I'll try."

"I'll try to be back as soon as I can." I attempted to reassure before I left to go find Discord.

It definitely didn't take me long until I came across two ponies glued to the ballroom windows. Fluttershy and Tree Hugger.

"Oh no." I expressed at the sight. However, they didn't look too agitated at the situation. "How'd you two end up here?"

"Indeed. How did they end up here?" Discord had appeared by my side, laying on a scaffold like a deviant.

"Hey!" I immediately pointed out. "You made this mess! Clean it up!"

"Me?" He asked with feign innocence. "I did no such thing."

"This is kind of a bummer." Tree Hugger said with a small frown.

"Isn't it, though?" Discord continued, ignoring my direct order. "And to think, it would never have happened had I come to the Gala as somepony else's plus-one." He emphasized beside Fluttershy.

"What are you talking about?!" I responded tensely, ready to snap.

"Seems like something might have harshed his flow, you know? Like, his senses are agitated." Tree Hugger conjectured.

"You don't know anything about rare creatures." Discord argued. "I've known Smooze Face for ages. He's not agitated. He's partying down! Whoo!" He danced.

"All he needs is some, like, calming auditory therapy." Tree Hugger suggested as if she was experienced with such kind of actions. "I know I always feel really at peace when I'm being bathed in positive vibes. Maybe he'll calm down with some sonic bliss."

"Do you even know what you just said?" Discord asked, which honestly wasn't that much of a ridiculous question.

"Ommmm. Ee-ee-ee-ee-ee!" She began repeating consistently, causing the goo below to unexpectedly move in wavy motions. "Ommmm. Ee-ee-ee-ee-ee!" Like magic, every part of the goo, despite being like glue, smoothly grew apart anything it was stuck onto. "Let go, Smooze! Bliss out! Ommmm. Ee-ee-ee-ee-ee!"

She continued this until this giant "ooze" was all put back together like one big jigsaw puzzle. Aside from the big blob, everything seemed to be returned just to the way it exactly was.

There was then an immediately plethora of cheer all just for Tree Hugger and her magical act. And that's because she wasn't even a unicorn. Just a simple earth pony with a knack for "unique creatures" apparently.

"That was the most magical thing I've ever seen done with animals!" Fluttershy hugged and congratulated Tree Hugger. Coming from the one professional animal expert, that had to be a major honor.

"Oh, thanks, everypony." Tree Hugger welcomed humbly. "It makes perfect karmic sense why magic doesn't work on him. He only responds to vibrations that peace out his energy fields." She explained knowledgeably, even though we may still have not understood it afterwards.

"Stop it! Stop it!" A voice suddenly threw an outburst. "That's it! I'm done with you, Tree Hugger!" Discord confronted Tree Hugger angrily.

What was wrong with him? I've never seen him so angry before, much less at a simple earth pony!

"What's your deal?!" I intervened between the both of them, protecting Tree Hugger from his apparently uncontrollable anger. "All she did was just fix the mess you made. Are you just mad that you couldn't have the kind of chaotic fun you love so much?"

Usually, he'd just try to come up with some witty remark or something towards me, but all he did this time was grab ahold of me with his magic and toss me over to his enormous squishy friend, and before I knew it, I was engulfed in this green goo myself. I wasn't sure if I even wanted to move by how messy it felt.

"What'd you do that for?!" I heard Twilight scold from where I once used to be.

On the other hoof, a couple of ponies, Spirit and Coco came running towards me.

Spirit reached out her hoof towards me and tried to grab my hoof. When she did, even with the help of Coco, the goo was too sticky and tight for any chance of freedom. This really sucked.

"Are you alright, Alex?" Coco asked anxiously.

"I guess so…" I returned, observing the uncomfortable state I was in, but when I caught my eyes back on the scene between Discord and Tree Hugger, I realized the true danger bubbling in the ballroom. It looked like Discord had created some portal and he was ready to throw Tree Hugger into the depths of it.

"Whoa, dude! What is that?!" Tree Hugger's voice was now seemingly frightened, no longer soothing and calming as it had been the entire time.

"Relax. I'm not going to hurt you." Discord assured. "I'm simply going to send you to another dimension. I can't have you interfering in my relationship with Fluttershy anymore!"

Interfering? Who do you think you are?!

"Discord, stop!" Fluttershy ordered, confronting him in flight.

"I will, just as soon as she's gone!" Discord reacted as if Tree Hugger was simply some trash meant to be easily thrown away. "Then we can have a good laugh about this whole affair over our regular Tuesday tea."

"Don't worry, Fluttershy! We'll stop him!" Twilight assured before Discord merely resorted to trapping them inside his friend with me by throwing a giant disco ball their way, which the goo chased after.

"I'm doing her a favor, Fluttershy!" Discord continued to persist that what he was doing was a good thing. "It's a lovely dimension! White sand beaches, attentive wait staff... I mean, okay, the humidity isn't great, but where isn't that the case these days?"

"I don't understand why you're doing this! We were all getting along so well!"

"As well as we could, considering you've already stomped all over our friendship by inviting her to the biggest night of the year as if I didn't matter at all!"

"Did you really think I'd abandon you just because I have a new friend?!"

"Yes, because that's what you did!"

"No, Discord! I invited a friend to a party! I didn't abandon you! What if you had a friend that you could discuss chaos-based magic with? Would that mean we weren't friends anymore?!"

"Uh... "He stuttered. "No, I suppose not. It would just mean that I'd have different friends for different things... Oh, oh, dear, it looks like I've perhaps overreacted just a skosh."

You think?

"More like a lot of skoshes!" She leaned over towards Tree Hugger. "Tree Hugger, could you give us a minute?"

Tree Hugger simply nodded her head.

"I'm just so new at this whole friendship thing. It's so much more complicated than it looks." Discord excused.

"Do you think maybe you owe somepony an apology?" Fluttershy hinted, causing Discord to grow a single flower for Fluttershy before she slapped it away and corrected him. "Not me!"

"Oh! Oh." He cleared his throat. "Yes, right."

He finally snapped his fingers, removing the portal to another dimension and allowing Tree Hugger to land safely on a big cushion. He grabbed and rid of everything his friend of goo apparently ate, shrinking him from his abnormal size and freeing us.

"Er, Tree Hugger, I'm sorry that you got caught in the middle of my... er, you know... wrath." He approached Tree Hugger and attempted to work an apology out of himself.

"Oh, it's all groovy." Tree Hugger quite simply forgave. Nevertheless, she seemed to deny the hug Discord had given afterwards. "Um, I need like a few minutes to clear out my chakras before I can hug you from a place of authenticity."

"Oh, your chakras." Discord laughed nervously, accepting this even though he probably still didn't understand what she was talking about. "Fair enough."

After Fluttershy dashed over to me to make sure the others and I were okay, Discord began apologizing to his plus one.

"I owe you an apology, Smooze. I spent the whole evening thinking about my own feelings and never thinking about yours." He rather surprisingly sincerely stated.

"Smooze" only kissed him on the cheek as a sigh of forgiveness.

"Well, friends! I think I may actually grow to like this multiple-friend thing."

"I like it too." Maud added.

"Hey, it's not a party until somepony spreads magic-resistant ooze uncontrollably over the ballroom!" Pinkie Pie excitedly encouraged the one and only. "Come on, Smoozinator! Let's dance!" She dragged him onto the dance floor.

On the other hoof, Twilight apologized for the scene that occurred tonight.

"I'm sorry, Princess Celestia. I thought I could give you a break tonight, but it turns out I was in over my head."

"You have nothing to apologize for." Celestia countered. "This has been the most fun Gala in years!"

Wait a minute…didn't something like this happen at the last Gala too?

"I know, it was a—What?!" Twilight was completely caught off guard by her upbeat reaction. "But there was ooze all over the place! And one of the guests threatened to send somepony to another dimension!"

"I know! Can you imagine how dull it would have been if I hadn't invited Discord? Come on! Whoo! The night is still young!" She pushed Twilight towards the dancing floor.

Are you sure you haven't had too much cider, Tia…?

Nevertheless, I was approached by Spirit and Coco.

"Hey, Coco…" I rubbed my head a little embarrassingly, realizing that what occurred tonight wasn't how I really wanted her to experience the Gala. "Sorry, about what happened tonight. That was…pretty unexpected."

"It's okay." She returned with an uplifting small smile. "It was…interesting." She had roamed her eyes backwards to search for the right word to use. "Maybe we could do something again sometime…but probably with just us…"

"Yes!" Spirit enthusiastically agreed.

"Yeah, of course." I decided. The Gala wasn't exactly the best place to be with friends, in my opinion.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see a pretty unenthused face on the contrary.

"Can you explain what just happened?" Starlight silently demanded.

"Hey, don't blame me." I quickly defended. "Go blame the spirit of chaos for all I care please."

She roughly bumped my chest with her hoof. "You're lucky none of that green stuff stayed in my mane. Otherwise, I don't think I'd ever take you up on any kind of invitation again." She paused to share a yawn. "I'm going home."

"Okay…" I softly responded as I watched her leave.

"Sorry for Discord's behavior." Fluttershy now apologized to me. "I didn't know he would get so cranky because of me."

"Geez, he's like a child. I don't know how you put up with him." I mentioned honestly.

Fluttershy giggled. "Is it alright if we have a dance?" She lowered her head as she looked up at me with her beautiful teal eyes.

"How could I refuse?" I responded before escorting her to the dance floor to make use of whatever rest of the night we still had left.

The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone

"Can I really have some after they're finished?" I excitedly asked Pinkie Pie as we both stirred the mixes in our bowls fervently.

"Of course! We're besties now, right? Besides, with you helping me bake today, we'll make a bunch of cakes!" She suddenly gasped and paused. "Maybe we can even make pancake cakes!"

"Yes!" I almost accidently threw forward my mixing bowl, causing me to quickly react and attempt to balance the bowl back.

After sharing a cheerful discussion with her pet Gummy, whom was also apparently helping out even though he wasn't exactly doing anything, she trotted over to the pan on the stove. "I've been waiting for just the right time to finally try Granny Pie's super-special triple-chocolate, fifteen-layer marjolaine recipe! It's gonna be amazing!" Then, she dashed over the list of ingredients physically present before her on the counter. "Let's see. Nutty meringue, chocolate ganache, praline and nuts, cocoa-flavored buttercream... An hour per layer – that's fifteen hours of pure baking bliss!"

"Fifteen hours?!" My eyes shot open in shock. "It takes that long?!"

"Of course it does, silly." Pinkie Pie responded jubilantly. "But with you by my side, we can make all sorts of cakes in between!"

I wonder if I have to stay the whole time… I don't think I can last so long…

She pulled the first steaming layer out of the oven and carefully placed it on a clear empty portion of the counter. "Okay, I think we're ready to start prepping the second layer!"

Before she continued, her eyes quickly turned towards her cutie mark which had seemed to been flashing for some time now. She swept off the dough on her flank and realized that it had been doing that thing to do with the map.

"Oh, my gosh! My cutie mark!" She gasped loudly and turned to Gummy and me. "You know what this means?!" Then, she slowly inched between us and answered herself in a hushed voice as if it was a secret nopony ever was supposed to know. "The map!"

Gummy only licked off the mix still stuck to Pinkie's face.

"What about the cake?" I asked Pinkie Pie, who was already inching to leave.

"Gummy can handle it!" She darted over to her pet.

"H-huh?!" I stuttered out. Gummy? The alligator that had just been standing on the counter the entire time? I don't know…

"Uh, Gummy? Could you take over for a bit? Hopefully this'll be quick. I'll just measure the baking powder for you..." She grinned brightly as she instructed her silent and still pet. "...and when the first layer cools, you can drizzle some of the ganache over it. And don't forget to beat the egg whites for the meringue!" Her cutie mark flashed once more, pushing her to hurry. She inserted the whisk into his mouth and began to say goodbye. "I know you can do this, Gummy! You're the best alligator baker I've ever met!" She kissed her friend straight on the lips and the cheerfully hopped out as I followed hesitantly behind her.

I wanted to ask Pinkie Pie if she was sure he could handle such a task, but then again, I thought about how long she apparently had him for a pet and there were probably situations where she had to leave him to hold things over while she was gone. I still wasn't sure about the entire idea, but I decided it was best that I don't think about it.

"So…" I began, grabbing a thought from my mind out of curiosity. "Did he feel all scaly and dry when you kissed him?"

"Who? Alex?" Pinkie Pie asked, turning her head back at me as she continuously hopped.

Huh?! What?! Where did you get his name from that?!

"Not at all!" She continued cheerfully. "But the one time I did it…Fluttershy said it wasn't exactly appropriate. I don't know why. It's just another sign of appreciation and happiness, right?"

"…right." I decided to end that topic there and shut my mouth for the rest of the way. Who knew what else she would say that was completely different from what I was talking about.

At the castle, we met up with Alex and Twilight. They seemed to already have noticed the changes on the map, indicating Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were to go on a trip this time. This was the reason why Rainbow Dash was sitting at the table holding the map. Eventually Twilight mentioned that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were summoned to go to "Griffonstone" which is where all the griffons lived and stuff.

Interestingly enough, Rainbow Dash had brought up a creature I had never thought about for so long.

Gilda.

She was kind of the first creature I protected Alex from when she tried to attack him.

I wanted to go. I wanted to see her and mess with her for being such a bully, which was the same way Rainbow Dash had described her. Either way, I was eager to go on an adventure to discover a new place.

Twilight really wanted to go to, but she decided she should stay to do "princessy" things. Alex wasn't too keen on going, especially since he thought Twilight would probably need some help. However, after some pleading from me, Twilight encouraged him to come along, and that he could tell her all about it when we came back.

Alex seemed to finally give up and we were right on our way to the…land of the griffons?

Also as Rainbow Dash put it, Twilight had literally written us a book on how to get there and what to do once we arrived. However, after some boring walking, climbing, and some occasional carrying by Alex, I never knew that, with all the hard work it took to getting up there, it would be…

"...a total dump!" Pinkie Pie shouted out loud.

It was so true. It was literally a huge bird's nest. If a giant troll or something came around, I'm pretty sure that's what he would think. A bird's nest.

As we walked through, observing the scenery around us only proved how much the place was in shambles. The best way I could think of to sum the experience up was that the griffons used whatever they had here until it broke and continued using such things without bothering to repair it. Had there been an attempted repair, it most likely would have been done half-heartedly.

"Ugh. Maybe the map should've called Rarity instead of us." Rainbow Dash commented.

"Excuse me, sir?" Pinkie Pie stopped a stranger walking among the dirty road. "This is Griffonstone, right?" She was greeted with rude silence as she was only pushed away while the griffon continued on his way. "Well, that wasn't very nice."

"I'm starting to get the feeling that griffons are naturally like this." Alex said. "Explains why Gilda was the way she was."

"See?" Rainbow Dash agreed with Alex's remark. "These griffons are exactly like I'd thought they'd be."

"Maybe we should just find the palace so we can ask the king what's going on." Pinkie suggested optimistically.

"We don't have a king, losers."

"Hello, Gilda." Rainbow Dash immediately announced distastefully.

"Dash." The griffon returned with the same attitude.

"Pinkie!" Pinkie Pie unnecessarily cut in.

"What are you doing here?" Rainbow asked.

"Uh, I'm a griffon?" She paused to attend to the extra couple of ponies hanging around the altercation. "I see you're still dragging along the flying popsicle." It seemed she directed it at Alex, since she was obviously looking his way. "Just because you're all special now doesn't mean I'll treat you like the rest of your dweeb friends do. Don't like it? 'There's the door, I think you should leave.'" She pointed back in the direction from whence we came.

"Geez…" Alex looked more disappointed or saddened with pity than offended. "'Flying popsicle'? Well, at least I'm not a super salty one…"

"Whatever, dork." She ignored and then finally laid her eyes on me. "Who's buttercream over here? You little dweebs make a new pony friend?"

"Is 'dweeb' the only word you know in that tiny little brain of yours?" I didn't hesitate to react without thinking through.

"You wanna start some beef with me, squirt?" She aggressively raised and clenched her claw.

"Bring it on!" I valiantly held my ground.

"Look!" Rainbow Dash intervened. "We're not here to start anything. We're just here to take care of some kind of stupid problem and then we'll be off on our way and never come back ever again."

"So…" Pinkie Pie chimed in. "If you don't have a king, could you at least tell us where the Idol of Boreas is?"

"Ha-ha!" Gilda surprising shared a brief chuckle. "Don't tell me you really believe in that thing."

"You'd better believe in it!" An old and wrinkly griffon coughed and wheezed as he fell towards our level from his home. Nevertheless, that didn't stop the vigorous spirit that seemed to radiate from within him. "It was the best thing to ever happen to us griffons!"

"Oh, great. Now you got Grampa Gruff started!" Gilda dreaded.

"I'll tell you the whole tragic tale..." He confronted us before laughing greedily. "...for a couple of bits."

Rainbow Dash sighed in defeat since there was no really other way around this, and it didn't help that Pinkie Pie spent all her money buying out the cart of sweets back in the train.

After apparently literally taking a taste of the bits and probably making sure they were the real thing, he began filling us with more information on the history of griffons. "The first griffon king, King Grover, united our kind like we've never been united before or since! And he did it all with that incredible Idol of Boreas." Behind him, Gilda mocked him as if she's heard the story a thousand times and knew how exactly he would tell it. However, she ceased once the old griffon turned back with a cold scowl. "That idol brought pride to the heart of every griffon that saw it! From one king to the next, Griffonstone had our golden idol. We were the envy of all other species. It held us together – it gave us an identity – right up until the reign of King Guto. That's when Arimaspi came to steal our griffon treasure! King Guto tried to fight him off, but Arimaspi managed to get away with the idol! They say when our treasure fell into the Abysmal Abyss, our pride went with it. King Guto was the last king of Griffonstone, and we all lived miserably ever after. The end!"

"That was the saddest story ever!" Pinkie expressed emotionally as she teared up.

"Aw, well..." The griffon looked as he if was about to comfort her until he raised his voice to full blast, his vocal chords surprisingly coming close to screeches from a speaker. "Tough tailfeathers! No refunds!"

"No wonder Twilight's book ended with the coronation of King Guto." Pinkie continued after our paid speaker flew off and left with his money. "Who would want to record a history that sad?"

"It's not sad!" Gilda angrily denied. "Do we look sad to you?"

"More like something crawled up your…" I muttered and mumbled the last few words.

"I think I know why the map sent us here." Rainbow Dash spoke up after having had her attention focused on something else. "We need to find the Idol of Boreas and bring glory and pride back to Griffonstone!"

"Ha-ha. Here we go – typical pony hero complex." Gilda fired once again. "None of us care about that dumb old idol. Don't you get it? We don't care about anything, and that's the way we like it!"

"I think Rainbow Dash is right! The map sent us here to fix some sort of problem!" Pinkie Pie advised, somehow making her way up to Gilda's flying back.

"The only problem Griffonstone has is you!" Gilda aggressively bumped Pinkie Pie off herself and tore away from sight.

"Well, I don't care what she says. We're gonna find that treasure, make Griffonstone cool again, and get back to Ponyville! Come on!" She began to direct our attention before Pinkie stopped her.

"Wait, Rainbow Dash. What about Twilight's advice?"

"What, taking a bunch of pictures?"

"She mentioned finding answers at the library."

Rainbow Dash threw Twilight's instruction booklet, smacking Pinkie Pie dab on the face. "Knock yourself out. But when you get bored with Twilight's tour book, I'll be at the Abysmal Abyss finding the Idol of Boreas."

"I…better go with her." Alex suggested as began prepping his wings for takeoff. "Don't know what a pony like her might get herself into…"

As I hesitantly watched him leave, Pinkie Pie suddenly grabbed ahold of my foreleg and dragged me out. "Come on! I know just the thing to bring this place together and you're going to help me do it!"

Long story short, we met up with Gilda again, but of course she wasn't delighted to see us. I didn't blame her, since I didn't like her to begin with either. After getting heaps of rudeness from mean old Gilda, we found the library to be in the same shape the town was. Let's just say the books weren't the only thing torn apart. In fact, like Pinkie Pie mentioned, Twilight's heart would be added to the list of torn and thrown objects had she set her eyes on this place like we did.

Taking a break from swimming through a sea of broken dreams, I did manage to see Pinkie at her weirdest, and it was a whole lot weirder than I've ever been…I think. She talked with a statue who was apparently King Grover and I think she even flirted with it a bit after making the inanimate object compliment her hair.

Despite that slightly awkward scene to watch, Pinkie decided the answer to saving Griffonstone was to sing, but of course, Gilda brought that hope of hers down when she pointed out that there was a no singing rule in Griffonstone.

There was no party store either.

Or a bakery too.

Maybe I shouldn't have come after all… I thought there would at least be some interesting things to do alongside bugging Gilda.

After cringing at the sight of Pinkie Pie trying to chew and swallow a 'griffon scone' Gilda happened to be selling at the time, I decided there was another opportunity to act dirty.

"Are you sure you're just not selling rocks? Because I'm pretty sure we can get that anytime anywhere for nothing at all."

"What's your problem?!" Gilda pointed a sharp talon at me. "You come to where I live and start beef with me?!"

"Well, doesn't that sound familiar?" I ricocheted back. "I swear there was a griffon who came to Ponyville that did just the exact same thing!"

"How do you even know what happened?! I've never even seen you before in my life!"

"I know plenty! Especially right when you tried to attack my b—!"

"Ow! I think I broke a tooth!" Pinkie Pie suddenly cried out.

Giving one final heavy snort back at me, she turned to face Pinkie Pie.

"Well, whatever. No refunds. I don't even care anyway. I just want to sell enough of these so that I can leave this lousy town."

Pinkie Pie spat out and grinned bright, as if the quarrel between us never even happened in front of her. "I can help you with that!"

I didn't know if it was just me, but anytime I got into a fight that began to push the buttons of my emotions, I couldn't easily forget or distract myself from it. In this case, as Pinkie Pie began instructing Gilda how to actually bake, I kept and paid attention to only myself. I keep thinking over the things we threw at each other, which bothered me even more, ironically. I didn't care about Gilda, yet it seemed like I might have regretted saying what I said.

I tried to focus and prevent my mind from getting lost in the sea of thoughts that were always tearing up inside me. I only ever really remembered or noticed them when I couldn't find things to distract myself and push them further away from me. I guess that was one reason why I always wanted to be around Alex because he kind of made me feel like everything was going to be alright. Like I've told myself before. He's the only pony I can confidently one-hundred percent trust with my life, and I wouldn't trust any pony else with bonding and merging that life for eternity.

"We gotta go now!" I felt a fierce tug pull me away from both my current physical and mental place.

"Wh-What's going on?!" I asked Pinkie Pie for practically startling me.

"We need Rainbow Dash! She doesn't need to get that lousy old idol!" Pinkie Pie darted straight through town before she came across a giant gorge. "Rainbow Dash!"

"Rainbow! Just hang on!" My eyes shot open at the sound of this worried voice.

Alex had been worriedly staring past the gorge as if he had dropped something of deep important value.

"What's going on?!" I raced towards Alex's side.

"Rainbow Dash's stuck down there! And the stupid guide left because all she wanted were bits!" I could hear and sense both the anger and distraught in his voice. However, there was nothing I could really do to help… Well…technically, I guess there was one thing, but I swore I would never ever even try to use it again.

"Throw down the rest of the rope!" Rainbow Dash could be faintly heard through the heavy air current only by shouting out loud.

"It's not enough!" He argued. "And the freaking guide took the extra rope she had with her!"

"Ohmigosh!" Pinkie tiptoed over the cliff, catching Rainbow Dash at the bottom. "Dashie, are you okay?!"

"Does it look like I'm okay?! I'm hundreds of feet below the ground and there's thousands of more feet below me and I'm literally stuck between a bunch of rocks and hard places!"

"Don't worry! Stay right there! I'll go get help!" Pinkie Pie directed before scurrying off.

If Alex wasn't keeping an endless watch over Rainbow Dash, he paced back and forth like a worried parent. I had to uncomfortably sit by as we waited for Pinkie Pie to bring help. Where was she going to go? All the griffons here only wanted bits for any little service they offered, even if a pony's life was on the life. Was she going to go all the way back to Ponyville and bring Twilight or something?

"Move aside, dweebs." An unexpected voice shoved through us.

"Gilda?!" Alex stood briefly dumbfounded at the sight of the unfriendly griffon tying an extra length rope to the nearby sturdy rock. "What are you doing here?!"

"What does it look like?!" She bitterly snapped back as she tightened the other end of the rope attached to her harness. "Your stupid friend kept bothering me about helping Rainbow Dash and I've got scones to make and sell, so get out of my way!" She then balanced herself at the edge of the cliff and called out to the pony in peril below. "Hang on, loser! I'm coming!"

"What took you so long, doofus?!" We heard Rainbow Dash respond in somewhat relieved banter.

Just before Gilda could safely make her way towards Rainbow, the remains of the rock beneath her broke apart and sent her tumbling down the abyss. Pinkie Pie immediately panicked and without thinking, ripped off the tied end of the rope from the rock and hopped off the cliff.

"Pinkie, wait!" Alex tried to call and reach out to her. His hoof caught the rope, but this only sharply pulled him alongside Pinkie Pie whom dove after Rainbow Dash.

"Alex!" I then cried and raced after him, reaching for and immediately wrapping my forelegs around his hind legs.

There was that extremely uncomfortable feeling of falling to your death before something caught hold of a steady bearing, practically bouncing us almost like a bungee cord and ultimately leaving us dangling to a scary infinite depth below.

"Hold on!" I heard Gilda call from above.

I couldn't imagine the weight all of us had added along with the force of gravity.

Through grunts and groans, Gilda informed us with bad news. "Y-you're all too heavy!"

"I'm slipping!" Rainbow cried out.

Alex's eyes squinted as he seemed to focus on us below him. A hint of glow protruded from his horn and it seemed he attempted to take most of the weight off with his magic. However, especially due to the strong currents, we were nowhere light enough to be taken higher than a few inches.

Finally, we were slowly being lifted up to higher ground. Once Gilda was safe, Alex helped the others, including me, get to Gilda's place before bringing himself up and joining us. Everyone panted and caught their breath after staring into the eyes of our doom.

"That was too close." Rainbow released after exhaling a huge sigh of relief.

"The Idol of Boreas…" Gilda brought up, pointing past us to a small section of rock where a piece of gold hung dangerously at. "I wanted to get it…" She admitted, looking mostly towards Rainbow Dash. "Even though we might not be friends anymore, there was no way I could forget everything we went through together just for some dumb chunk of gold."

I felt myself perk up when I realized the idol wasn't too far of reach.

"Hold on! I think I can get it!" I energetically perched up.

"Hey! Wait!" Alex called out, trying to stop me.

"It's okay!" I assured as I wiggled my behind. "All you need is a hop, skip, and a jump!"

I broke on through to the other side with a light hop. When my hooves landed, there was a small shaking vibration, causing me to lose my balance for a moment before I quickly steadied myself by practically hugging whatever ground I had. I then slowly reached for the Idol, but the smallest poke at it caused to immediately fall over. I instantly lurched forward to grab it, not realizing that I didn't have any safe ground left to keep me in sight.

"Aah!" I yelped before I suddenly stopped in midair, watching the Idol continuously fall below until it was no longer in sight. I was then pulled back and found myself among the others once again.

"Are you stupid?!" I heard Alex scold towards me. "You heard what Gilda said, didn't you?"

"I just thought I could help…" I replied with wounded emotions and a shattered dream.

Alex shook his head and sighed. "Let's get out of here while we still can."

After Gilda brought us back up and out of the abyss. It seemed we headed back towards town, but I was too busy depressingly staring at the ground and felt the strong urge to blame myself for not being able to get the Idol.

"I'm really sorry about how I treated you all and everyone else." Gilda apologized.

"Thanks, Gilda." Rainbow expressed.

"Apology accepted." Pinkie nodded.

"Well, I guess it wasn't really that bad." Alex admitted. "No offense, but seeing the kind of place you live, I don't really blame you. You'd probably be kicked around here if you didn't learn to be mean like everyone else."

"Why do you think I want to move out of this lousy place?" Gilda reinforced her goal.

"I'm just sorry we couldn't get your idol back." Rainbow Dash mentioned, unintentionally stinging and poking my already jumbled emotions. "Now we'll never be able to solve Griffonstone's problem."

"That's what I was trying to tell you!" Pinkie Pie excitedly announced as if she had outstanding news to share, perking my ears up in attentiveness. "The map didn't send us here to find the lost Idol of Boreas. It sent us here to replace it with something better!"

"Nothing's better than gold to a griffon." Gilda stated.

"That's because you don't have friendship!" Pinkie hugged Gilda. "If you can learn to care about each other again, Griffonstone could be a mightier kingdom than it ever was before! And you don't need some golden idol to do that. You just need each other."

"Whoa, Pinkie." Rainbow Dash reacted with surprise before toning it back down. "That was... really sappy."

"Eh, what can I say? That's how I roll." Pinkie noticed another griffon walking by before encouraging Gilda to move towards her. "Go on, Gilda! Go make a friend!"

Gilda, of course, hesitated before being given the fresh new scones she made and pushed towards the other griffon.

"I don't know, Pinkie. You really think these griffons are up for this?" Rainbow doubted. "We aren't exactly in Ponyville, you know."

The sight of the other griffon sort of proved Rainbow Dash's point as she looked like she had no interest in conversation until Gilda offered one of her freshly made scones. Then, she raced back to us with good news.

"Okay, so she was really weirded out until I gave her the scone. Then she tried it and said it tasted good! That's the first nice thing any griffon's ever said to me!"

All of a sudden, Pinkie Pie's and Rainbow Dash's cutie marks flashed and rung, just like the other time back at that village when the job was done!

"Whoa, Pinkie. I guess that really was the problem we needed to solve." Rainbow said.

"Wow. Who would've known." Alex seemed to say rather sarcastically.

Pinkie Pie smugly pulled out a can of baking powder from her mane and announced proudly. "Baking powder makes baked goods and friendships fluffy and delicious!"

"Well, we'd better be heading home." Rainbow decided.

"What?" Gilda cried out in distress and agony. "Y-Y-You want me to spread friendship here by myself?! How am I supposed to do that?! I haven't even made one single friend yet!"

"No, you haven't. You've made four." Rainbow sounded brutally honest before revealing her true intention.

"Hugging! Hugging now!" Pinkie teared up as she signaled us to gather together.

"But you'll come back and visit, right?" Gilda asked as Pinkie still clung tightly to her.

"Just try and stop us!"

When Gilda finally managed to pry Pinkie off, she sent a small wave over to us before she returned to the griffon she offered the scones to.

As we made our way back to the entrance of the town, Pinkie Pie looked back at something in particular with half-lidded eyes. "See ya later, you old charmer."

"Uh, Pinkie? Who are you talking to?" Rainbow caught sight of the weirdness I witnessed earlier ago.

"Nopony! Come on, let's go home and see how Gummy did with Granny Pie's marjolaine recipe!"

I remained quiet and still pretty disappointed for majority of the way back until Alex slowed his walking and stayed by side.

"You alright?" He asked.

"I guess I'm just thinking back when I tried to get the idol..."

"It's not your fault." He assured. "No way should you even have tried to get it in the first place."

"Sorry, I worried you." I apologized with a lowered head. "I guess I still can never really do anything right."

"You think more about your failures than accomplishments, don't you?" He mentioned, confusing me at the moment.

"What?"

"I understand. You think all you do is bad because you only ever think about the times when you've failed. But you've got to stop and think back on all the good you did."

"Pfft." I reacted in an unaccepting tone. "If it's so easy, why don't you name something I accomplished?"

"Seriously?" He chuckled and laughed. "Look right in front of you."

"What are you talking about?" I began feeling a little upset, unsure if he was just trying to tease or mess with me.

"I'm where I am now because of you, Spirit." He enthused. "You've kept me safe all this time, remember? In a pretty literal way, you're the light of my life. If that isn't an amazing accomplishment, I don't know what is."

My low self-esteem didn't allow for my mood to skyrocket as it probably should have, but I realized that maybe things weren't so bad after all.

Gaining a small smile from me, I answered.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

However, as I thought more into it on the way home, I couldn't quite settle with it.

But is it really a good thing?

Princess Spike

"You get some rest now, Twilight." I patted her fragile-looking mane after securely tucking her in and fluffing her pillow.

"I would ask you to carry on Princess Twilight's duties, Alex…" Cadence said with a heavy sigh. "But I'm sure that's not exactly your level of expertise, is it?"

"Unfortunately, it's not." I turned around to meet her eye-to-eye. "There's no way I can handle such a tight and packed schedule like Twilight could. I'd only feel safe doing that if Twilight was by my side."

"That's what I thought…" Cadence looked worriedly out the doors, appearing as if she would bite her hooves at any given moment. "But if Twilight needs help after she wakes up, you can help her, right?"

"Yeah, of course." I enthusiastically accepted. "She's done so much for being the one to go through so many sleepless nights. It's the least I could do."

"I'm glad to hear that." Cadence expressed with some sort of relief escaping through her lips. "Let's just hope things stay on schedule and turn out for the best." She turned to Spike who was awaiting to begin his shift for keeping Twilight from being disturbed. "You've got this, right, Spike?"

"You can count on me!" He confirmed with a steady salute.

"Thank you. Let's go, Alex."

Heading back to Canterlot Castle, where the Grand Equestria Pony Summit event took place, Cadence continued to express her concern over Twilight.

"She shouldn't push herself so hard. She might hurt herself like that one day."

"I know, I know. But as long as she doesn't go like that for a week, I think she should be fine. From the entire time I've known her, she's sort of grown used to going without sleep for nights." I assured.

"Well, I'm glad that her Prince keeps a watchful eye on her whenever he can. She's really lucky to have you by her side."

"She's played an important part in my life. Like I said, it's the least I can do."

Returning the grand room holding the statue made of gemstones from every one of the delegates' hometowns, we found Spirit quietly sitting at one of the seats at a wide table set for tonight. She decided to draw to keep herself occupied as she also kept a watch over the statue.

"A lot of work has been done to try to make everything perfect for tonight." Cadence reminded, glancing upward at the mighty gemstone statue. "I'm afraid I feel a little at fault for letting Twilight do so much."

"You should ease up a little." I recommended. "She's already fast asleep. There's still a long time until tonight. I'm sure she'll be recharged by then."

"I'm sure you're right…which reminds me…" She approached me and placed a hoof on my shoulder. "Could I count on you on staying around here and making sure things aren't messed around with? I know we already have security outside, but having a pony I can trust to keep a watch in here makes me feel much more relaxed."

"No problem." I assured with a friendly smile.

She embraced me with a sweet smile before beginning to head off.

"I'm thinking I'll stop by Comet Bucks on the way back. Is there anything you two want?" She offered.

Spirit looked back from her seat. "I've never had Comet Bucks."

"Just bring us two s'more fraps." I ordered for her. I'm sure she would love it.

"Got it." Cadence nodded with a grin before she left the area.

"Well…what to do…?" I asked under my breath as I turned around and observed the enormous room devoid of nothing but objects and decorations for tonight.

I had to admit, there was nothing really interesting to keep memory of. I did what Cadence asked of me, and Spirit continued drawing. The thing that surprised me was that she seemed to keep to herself than sticking to me like glue and…well…being her usual self. Was something up with her?

I slowly roamed around as she kept her eyes on her paper.

Before I decided to approach her, I studied her for a moment and realized something…different. It wasn't something about her that was different, it was me. I remembered how being an artist was sort of a special part of who I was. However, why was it that it hasn't really been a big part lately? I don't remember the last time I did anything arty and whatnot. I still appreciated it very much, and I kind of had a talent for it, but for Celestia's sake, I don't think I've even opened the sketchbook Twilight got for me back at Rainbow Falls.

Did something change about me? Am I different pony?

I eventually shook myself out of that deep daze.

It wasn't really the time to be thinking about such things.

I approached Spirit's side to casually talk to her about what she was doing.

"What are you drawing?"

"Just stuff…" She answered pretty vaguely in a sort of unenergetic tone. She paused with her task, as if she stopped to think about something intensely before she turned to look up at me. "Hey. Do you remember a lot about Fillydelphia?"

"Some things, I guess." I responded. "Nothing too important."

She looked back at her papers and seemed to hesitate. "Do you…remember this?"

She slid a paper over to me and allowed me to take a look. The sketch didn't consist of a pony but more of a background of scenery. It looked like some kind of…rooftop that had a great view of the sky. The first thing that came to my mind was when Spirit and I would eat ice cream back in our sleep. It looked just like that, except the rooftop seemed more like an ordinary building, sort of.

I studied this picture silently for a while longer before I answered. "…it looks familiar. But nothing I'd associate with Fillydelphia."

"Oh, really?" She didn't sound surprised.

"Am I supposed to remember something like that?" I asked. "I'm sure I've never been on any rooftops in Fillydelphia."

"It's…it's nothing." She acted strangely once again.

I decided to take a seat next to her but began to think deeply once more. That's odd… If she's a part of me…and she's pretty much experienced everything I have…why would she ask if I remember something that I'm sure I've never associated myself with in the first place? What rooftop in Fillydelphia would apparently be so important to me to remember?

I closed my eyes and began searching through my memories. I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt and possibly see if it was a memory that lost its way through my mind. Through the silent exploration, I suddenly felt some kind of familiar presence. Spirit. It was as if there was some kind of trace of her within my memories of Fillydelphia. But there was no way I would have known her since then…was there?

When did I first meet Spirit? Wasn't it that one night creeping through the Everfree Forest during the Summer Sun Celebration?

Summer Sun Celebration…

Summer…

"Spirit…" I called, breaking the silence between us. "Have we…ever met in Fillydelphia?"

The pencil she had been using suddenly created a cracking sound on the paper.

"What?"

"You mentioned before that we met in the Everfree Forest that one night. You were that filly I helped get back home. Yet you were part of me all along. Is it possible…that I could have seen you before that?"

She didn't answer. At least, it wasn't right away. Her face looked depressingly solemn. "That's…not an easy question to answer."

"So, you're saying that the time we first met wasn't the first time we met?" I tried to clarify.

"I'm saying that I can't tell you whether we did meet before that night or not! That's all I'm saying!"

I began feeling an uncomfortable dilemma somewhere in her tensing face. It was a really direct vibe. For some reason, even though I had no solid proof, I felt as if she was facing an extremely difficult circumstance. Almost like if she wanted to do something, but something else was stopping her from doing it.

"Spirit, why do I get the feeling there's a lot more that I don't know about you? As if the fact that you are a part of me was just the breadcrumbs?"

"There's nothing to tell alright?" She suddenly grew upset and defensive. "I'm telling you the truth. None of it matters. You might as well consider it nothing." There was a harsh pause afterwards before she spoke again. "…I'll be right back…"

She pushed herself away from the table, removed herself from the chair, and began silently walking the other direction until she disappeared through the doors. At that point, it was truly and utterly silent.

Besides the drawing she showed me, I saw several others on top of each other while the corners of each drawing peeked out. The next one on top looked like me and her. I think we were eating ice cream, but we looked different. Was it just her style maybe?

Spirit held her head downwards when she came back. The first thing that came out of her mouth was an apology.

"Sorry… I didn't mean to get so worked up…"

"It's okay." I assured. "Maybe I was getting too nosy anyway. Whatever happened happened anyway, right? There's really no point talking about something that's already done and out of the way."

"Mm." She merely mumbled.

I decided to change the topic towards her drawing. "Hey, you're a really great drawer though."

"O-oh. T-thanks!" She seemed to be hit a little with surprise there. "It's all I've ever really gotten to do, I guess."

"Well, you know what?" I began as I directed her eyes over to the results of her creativity. "I think they're really cute. You could probably make comic books or something."

"Nah…" She subtly dismissed.

I shrugged. "Just saying."

I guess it's not like she would need to anyway unless she was doing it for the fun of it.

There were a couple of knocks before a princess walked in with a tray holding a couple of sweet drinks.

"Hey, you two!" Cadence greeted us, levitating our drinks towards us. "How have things been?"

"Calm, for the most part." I accepted the refreshment and quickly got to work on it. "I don't really think there's anything to worry about here."

"Maybe…" Cadence's voice suddenly dropped in confidence. "But I'm not so sure about outside the castle."

"What do you mean?" I asked in concern.

"I ran into Spike a little while ago." She recalled. "Apparently, he's been taking care of Twilight's duties for her."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Spirit questioned.

"If it were any simple task, it would very much be welcomed, but we're talking about princess duties. Things to do with the summit. I don't like saying this, but I'm not so sure I feel okay with Spike handling such things. I don't want him to be taking advantage of Princess Twilight's title."

"Really?" I pulled away the straw from my lips, growing uncomfortable with the idea she presented. "I'd think he's doing whatever he can just to help Twilight. You did ask him to keep her from being undisturbed with her sleep."

"I did…but something just doesn't sit right with me…"

Ironically, a small purple dragon wobbled in with a bowl full of gems. "By order of the princess." He stated with a satisfied grin on his face, pulling a chair out and plopping down on it with a heavy sigh of relief. "Princess life is good!" He then threw a gem into his mouth and chewed loudly.

The three of us each exchanged somewhat uncomfortable yet concerned looks before Cadence proceeded to approach him. "It sure is, but it's also hard work, isn't it?"

"Eh, it's not so bad." He mentioned carelessly, reaching out for another gem to consume.

That sounded awfully unwelcomed. If it wasn't so bad, then Twilight wouldn't be overworked like she is now, would she?

"Spike, I'm concerned you might be abusing your relationship with Twilight." Cadence shared solemnly.

"What are you talking about? I'm a great princess—" He immediately paused once he realized his slip-up. "I mean, Twilight's a great princess! And I've been working hard to help her! When two delegates had a falling out, I'm the one who fixed their friendship! I listened to that pony drone on about gems for forty-five minutes so Twilight wouldn't have to! I moved a polo match away from the tower so she could sleep! And I didn't even eat that delicious looking statue!" He pointed to the one and only statue we had been staying in the hall for hours for. "I'm a decision-making master!" Nevertheless, Cadence only returned a diluted expression of disbelief and rebuke to cut through his fluff. "Okay." He surrendered with a sigh. "So maybe I did get a little carried away making decisions. But it's not like anything bad happened."

Immediately the moment after, water suddenly found its way gushing through a window after having broken it to pieces.

"Aah!" Spirit cried out and flinched at the sight of it.

I grabbed a hold of her and took her as far above away from the water as much as I could.

Spike and Cadence were washed away by the heavy current until they were able to find dry surface.

"This is unexpected!" Spike announced from atop of the upside-down floating table, hugging himself on one of the legs.

"I'll go shut off the main!" She instructed. "You all get rid of the water!"

I placed Spirit on the platform that was high enough away from the water which Cadence had left from. I looked around and analyzed the scene. Spike was frantically attempting to scoop out the water keeping him afloat with the bowl that had carried his gems. However, it literally did nothing as all the water he scooped out only landed in a different area of the same pool. How was I supposed to get rid of this water?! I didn't think I could just teleport it all away. If Twilight was here, she'd probably know what to do!

The only thing I could come up with at the time was possibly breaking a lower window to allow the water to drain outside. However, it appeared that something else beat me to it. All the water had unexpectedly lowered before only small puddles were left behind.

"No!" I heard Spirit groan in distress, causing me to quickly come to her side.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" I asked.

"My drawings…" Her words trembled through her lips. "They're trash now!"

Her drawings were indeed in a horrible state. In fact, they looked like soggy napkins and any tiny attempt to move them whatsoever resulted in an easy tear.

I stood there in silence, trying to think of the best thing to say. The only thing that came up was just a simple apology, but I felt it needed more earnest emotion behind it. However, before I could think of my response thoroughly enough, there was a loud and sharp sound of shattering glass, but it wasn't a window this time. As Spirit and I threw our heads back towards the source of this sound, we saw piles of various types of a gems scattered among the floor. It didn't hit me until I realized that the statue was nowhere in sight.

"Oh, my! What is the meaning of this?!" A familiar voice demanded in a sophisticated tone while a shouting mob followed behind.

"Well, uh, you see, there was this polo game, and—" Spike began oddly responding.

"How could you let a water main burst on Canterlot's most important day?!" It was Fancy Pants with the quite furious face.

"Hey, don't look at me! Princess Twilight said to stop working on it!" The pony in charge of public works quickly defended himself.

Princess Twilight? She wasn't the one making the decisions…

"Well, what about these trees?! I ordered them trimmed to avoid just such a situation!" Fancy Pants confronted another.

"But the princess told me to stop, bub!" He replied with the same excuse.

His fuming eyes shot towards me now. Oh no… "Prince Alexander. I demand answers towards Princess Twilight's recklessness! Why would the princess make such horrible decisions?! This all could have been prevented!"

"I…I…" I didn't have a proper response to give. With a short sigh, I tried to settle down the situation as much as I possibly could. "Look, Princess Twilight hasn't been making these decisions."

I was given hardly a second to continue before he demanded the pony responsible.

"Who has then?!"

"W-well…" What was I going to do? I can't let Twilight take the heat for something she didn't do, and I definitely didn't want to throw Spike under the bus even though he had been making such decisions for her. It definitely felt wrong. With all these delegates and officials practically literally breathing down my neck, I felt as if I had no choice but to just sacrifice myself. "You see…I…"

"Please, everypony, listen! I'm so sorry all this happened!" Spike suddenly cried out, catching their attention. "It was nopony's fault! It was all me!"

"Your fault?" Fancy Pants responded. "You said these decisions came from Princess Twilight!"

"Decisions?" A new voice broke through the crowd.

The angry mob had looked back and soon created a split piece of space between them so the source of the voice could be seen. It was Twilight, and she looked a lot more focused and rejuvenated than before. Nevertheless, she was confused, and once the crowd allowed her to take a look and realize the state the room was in, she gasped loudly. "What happened here?!"

"Twilight!" Spike immediately jogged towards her and hugged her legs tightly once he reached her. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean for all this to happen! I wanted you sleep and remain undisturbed. And there was this bird, and, well... long story short, I made a few decisions on your behalf…"

"A few decisions?!" Twilight still appeared to be in complete shock and disbelief as the result of a chaotic chain of recklessness around her locked her eyes completely.

"Well, maybe more than a few, but I had good intentions! Honest!" It took Twilight to send him a scolding look of doubt and disbelief to motivate him to tell the apparent whole truth. "Until I... didn't anymore. I'm sorry, Twilight. I guess I got a little carried away. It-it just felt so good to have ponies caring about my opinions on such important matters. I guess I was just enjoying feeling like a princess."

"Well, Spike, one of the most important things a princess can do is realize when she's made a mistake and fix it." Twilight approached him with a solution.

"How do I do that?"

"You could start with them." Yet another new voice emerged from the crowd, revealing another princess. It was Princess Cadence presenting the angry but silent mob before her whom were surprisingly patient enough to not cause a ruckus through all the apologetic confessing.

Spike drew a heavy sigh in preparation to fess up and take responsibility for his actions. "Uh, hi there, everypony. So I guess I owe you all a pretty big apology. It's funny. Here we are at a summit that brings together ponies from all across Equestria, and all I could think about was myself. You all came here to celebrate the things that make each of our cities so unique and special. But instead of getting into the spirit of things like all of you, I used my friend's position to make myself feel good." After picking up a sapphire off of the floor next to him, he proceeded to walk towards a pile of gems that had fell apart and tried to piece them all back together.

The princesses and I exchanged looks with one another before we heard Fancy Pants speak with the anger no longer present in his voice. "The Canterlot ruby goes here, old sport." He directed once seeing Spike fail at rebuilding statue all by himself.

"And ours goes here, don't'cha know?" Another of the delegates had offered to help.

"Looks like you could definitely use a pair of flying hooves." I approached, willing to help him in any way I could.

After all the assistance and directions from the delegates, we had the statue built in virtually no time. If you count each delegate placing his or her gem on the statue, it was easy to see how fast it was to place every piece back together. But of course, it was only because everyone chimed in together that made this possible. Keeping the entire blame onto Spike only would just make everything more miserable.

"Does this mean you forgive me?" Spike asked the crowd after taking sight of the completed statue.

"Sure! You know, the whole idea of the statue is that when each of us plays our own small part, it adds up to somethin' great." A delegate answered.

"Quite. Just like how all our cities make up the beautiful land of Equestria!" Fancy Pants agreed.

"I hereby dedicate the Citizens of Equestria statue to everypony who plays their part, no matter how big or how small!" Princess Cadence proudly announced.

"If I may speak for a quick moment…" I interjected myself as a speaker for the crowd. "I know what happened here today was obviously unfortunate. But maybe…despite everything…it was something needed? It seems to me that sometimes tragedies are important for us because they allow us to see things that we take advantage of when they're really necessary to our lives the majority of the time. Had it not been for this tragedy, we may have never realized how important it is to come together at a time of need. That's what makes this summit so important in the first place, and all you reacted just perfectly in showing your forgiveness and compassion. You didn't keep grudges and expect the one responsible to fix everything. And because of that, when you all worked together, the statue was fixed in no time."

Twilight stepped by my side to add in. "Our prince is absolutely right. You all have shown a great gesture of friendship, and that's what this summit is all about. If none of you don't mind, we'd really appreciate if you could stay and help clean up the area for tonight. We don't have much time left, but with everypony's help, I'm sure we'd get the place fixed up in no time!"

After applause and cheers were heard from the crowd, they immediately went to work. Spike was lastly given a particularly interesting bouquet of flowers that suddenly caused him to have swollen eyes and intense sniffles. "Aw, come on!"

Everypony watching was apparently struck with horror and suspense as they could only watch him inhale greatly that would evidently lead to a large sneeze. Seeing how these flowers were present back when the gem statue had been broken apart, I realized that they must have been the cause for the repairs in the first place.

However, before I could do anything about it, Spirit suddenly showed up in front of him, holding her hoof to Spike's nose just before he was about to sneeze. This fortunately stopped the sneeze, but Spirit still seemed to retain the look she had when she saw her destroyed drawings.

"T-thanks." He wiped his nose as I quickly removed the bouquet of troublesome flowers so he wouldn't sneeze again. He inhaled once more and then noticed Spirit's expression. "Hey, what's wrong?"

It appeared she held back tears as her eyes adverted to the side. "You all fixed your statue…but…" Her head felt downwards as she picked up a piece of torn and soaked paper. "But…my drawings are still broken…" She sniffled and sounded as if she was going to break down crying. "And… I don't think they're ever going to be fixed again…"

"Oh my gosh!" Spike placed a claw in front of his mouth at the sight of constantly splitting paper. "I'm so sorry! That was because of the…water…wasn't it…"

Spirit sadly nodded.

"I can fix it! I promise!" Spike seemed to promise something that he didn't exactly think through. I wasn't sure how he was going to pull it off, but I decided we could focus on something that could keep both Spirit and her thoughts occupied in the meantime.

"Hey, Spike…" I called for his attention, stopping him from picking up the pieces of paper. "Why don't you treat Spirit to something special? Maybe an ice cream or milkshake? I'm sure that'll make her feel better."

Spirit turned to me in slight surprise, but she didn't exactly look any better.

"Yeah, no problem!" He turned to Spirit. "Would do you say, Spirit?! Will you please let me try to make it up to you?"

She didn't answer for a moment so she could wipe off any stray tears from her eyes and face. "Okay…"

"Great! Come on!" He eagerly led her out the doors, but she sadly followed behind, keeping her head low.

"I feel so bad…" Cadence shared. "Can her drawings really not be fixed?"

"They're torn to pieces and extremely soaked." I picked up one of the pieces with my hoof. I studied them for a minute before the expression on my face grew yearning. "But…that doesn't exactly mean we can't try…can we?"

"What do you suggest we do?" Twilight asked.

"Can you bring back a hairdryer or something, Twilight?" I asked. "Anything to dry these up quickly."

"Sure, I'm on it." Twilight accepted before she flew out the broken window at the top.

"What's the big idea?" Cadence asked in concern and approached me as I carefully attempted to grab each piece off the floor with my magic.

"If we could piece back the gems for the statue, then I'm sure we could do the same for these drawings even though it looks impossible." I couldn't lie. Arranging the pieces was like a jigsaw puzzle. Some pieces were big and clear enough to identify and piece together. However, some were small and almost impossible to find out where they went.

Twilight arrived with a hairdryer by the time I had already pieced several together. I requested they continue for me while I went out and looked for something to serve as the base for all these pieces. I returned with foam board and glue and began attaching all the pieces that had already been dried and arranged. Though it may have seemed hard at first, with the help of Twilight and Cadence, we were able to fix these drawings for the most part.

We placed the foam board face down so it wouldn't be easily identified once Spirit and Spike returned. Spike jogged over to us as Spirit lagged behind with a sulking frown.

"I don't think she's feeling any better." Spike whispered and slapped his face with his claw. "I'm so stupid!"

"Don't worry, Spike." I assured. "We managed to do something together that'll hopefully turn that frown upside down."

"Huh?" Spike stood confused as I turned to Spirit to call her over.

"Spirit. We all got a little surprise for you."

"What…?" She lifted her head and asked softly.

"Come over here." I encouraged her and waited until she finally arrived at the table we had finished the work on. "When you saw how your drawings were after they had been soaked and torn, you thought they were trash, but that's not true."

"They are." She bitterly disagreed. "What do you expect to do with paper like that? Keeping them would only be hoarding trash. They belong in the dump."

"You should have more pride in your work, Spirit…" I told her softly, keeping her unable to speak with her quivering lips. I smiled and prepared to flip over the foam board. "How do you explain this then?"

At that point, I picked up the foam board and presented it in front of me with my magic. Twilight and Cadence joined in with bright grins to record Spirit's reaction.

Spirit at first furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, as if she didn't understand what she was looking at. However, in a matter of seconds, it became clear. The pieces of her drawings were all together, and every little piece now combined to reveal the bigger picture.

"I know it's not perfect…but it's better than just being 'trash', right?" I stated. "It'd be a waste to throw away such a talented artist's work, but like I said, maybe the work become so much more meaningful by what happened. Because it took Twilight, Cadence, Spike, and me to get to the result of this. And if you ask me…I think it's kind of better this way."

Spirit continued staring at this masterpiece in silence. She carefully took hold of it with her hooves and stared intensely at it with tears welling up in her eyes. She sucked in her lips and almost tossed the piece over to the table to the side. She immediately squeezed me with all her might as I began to feel the coat on my chest began to dampen. "Thank you so much…everyone." She continuously sniffled and cried as I patted her on the back.

We prepared to take the train back to Ponyville after tonight's summit.

"You forgive me too, right…?" Spike worriedly asked Spirit.

Spirit shared a bright grin. "Of course."

Afterwards, she gave him a meaningful hug.

"Despite today…It was nice seeing all of you." Cadence shared.

"You too, Princess Cadence." Twilight responded. "It was fun. Even though I had to go through all those sleepless nights." She giggled.

"You should take care of yourself more, you know?" Cadence delicately and caringly ran her hoof through Twilight's mane.

"I'll be fine, I swear." Twilight assured. "I gotta do the most I can while I'm still young. Besides, I've got the prince of shining light over here." She glanced towards me with a small smile.

"I'll keep an eye on her." I promised Cadence with a small chuckle.

She hugged the both of us before she allowed us to board the train. "Take care. I'll see you real soon."

Spirit made sure to hug Cadence goodbye before she joined us on board.

We gathered together in a grouped section by the window where Spirit continued to gaze at her work every now and then.

"Thank you so much…really…" She expressed very softly once again. "Just when I thought there was no point…or use trying to fix things…you all did it for me…"

"You're our friend, Spirit." Twilight truthfully said. "It's what we do. We look out for each other and pick up each other when we take a big fall."

Spirit looked up and lightly stared at Twilight for a moment before she returned to her work. "Can we…really be friends…?"

Twilight chuckled at that question. "Of course. Why wouldn't we be able to?"

Spirit remained silent for a moment before she lightly shook her head. "Thanks, Twilight."

Twilight and I turned to see each other. She lifted a smile at me, and I returned the favor.

However, going over today, there was so much I didn't know about Spirit, even after all that she said when we got the castle in Ponyville. The question is… Is it important info worth going through the hassle to learn? She obviously doesn't feel comfortable sharing such info with me, despite trusting me completely.

When you can't share information with somepony, despite being able to tell them practically anything, doesn't that mean that that particular information could possibly harm said pony? For instance, she didn't want to tell me that she was a part of me because she thought I would never believe her and probably stop talking to her. But the thing is… I believe her. I believe she's a part of me and she's pretty much even proved that. So, what is it that she's keeping from me? Again, that's the question.

Is it worth finding out?

Only Time Will Tell.

Just Another Star

Yawn.

Lift.

Drag.

Fix.

Stare.

Out the window.

What was I going to do today?

Seriously?

This town is fine and all, but things get boring pretty quick.

I searched for my tastes and cravings, and a Frappuccino sounded good at the moment. Do they serve those here?

Either way, I didn't want to stay at home any longer than I had to, so I began dressing myself up to go outside. Just as I had finished putting on a subtle amount of makeup, I heard a knock at the front door.

What does he want now?

I rolled my eyes, slid my bang over to the side of my head, and almost carelessly walked down the steps towards door.

"Yeah?" I answered as I stared at the condition of my hooves, paying no attention to who I had been expecting at the door.

"Starlight…?"

My right eyebrow lifted after hearing a different voice. To my invisible surprise, I caught sight of one of my co-workers, Shredder. His name matched his profession. He was the guitarist.

"Wow. I had to see it to believe it. You really are a unicorn."

"Hmph." I shrugged off. "Is that what you came here for? To see if I really did have a horn?"

"Well, after you confirmed the artwork cover for the next album, it was kind of hard not to. Besides, I didn't come here just for that. I wanted to see how you were doing. You weren't planning to stay from practice too long, were you? We gotta start playing sometime or we're out of a job."

"Cool your hooves. I'll be back soon. I'm going to go get my coffee now."

Just before I could move on, he stopped me by stepping in front of me.

"Wait. I've got something for you too…" He pulled out what looked like a letter. The first thing I noticed was that it was from Fillydelphia. "It's from your old man. Wanted me to pass it to you since I was heading over here."

"Huh." I observed the letter for a bit before throwing it inside. "I'll read it later. I could use a meal right now."

"That makes two of us. Mind if I tag along?" He asked.

My eyelids lowered from suspicion. Seriously? It was plain obvious he didn't want to join me because he happened to be hungry all of a sudden too. Whatever. I can't say that I've really talked to anypony else.

"Whatever." I returned, walking on forward without bothering to glance back to see if he followed behind.

We sat at a table at the café they had here in town. The food was pretty alright. However, when I asked about a Frappuccino, it seemed the closest they had was a French vanilla coffee with whipped cream on top. Might as well.

"So…everything been good?" He asked, glancing at me from his menu every now and then.

"Yeah, I guess." I merely scanned through the menu.

"Learned any…magic tricks?" He chuckled.

I only glanced up towards him to return an unamused expression.

He quickly wiped the smile off his face and focused back on his menu.

Ever since we were schoolponies, Shredder has had a thing for me. He still did, and I wasn't sure if he'd ever let it go. It's not like he doesn't know that I don't have any kind of interest for him. He asked me out when we were school, and I refused. But that still didn't stop him from trying to pretend his crush for me didn't exist. However, I didn't know if I could blame him. I can't say that I've really felt any kind of feelings for anypony else. I don't know why. Still, if he knows, or at least he should know, that I don't have any kind of plans or feelings for him, why does he keep trying with me? It just annoys me.

The waiter dropped off our drinks and took our orders.

"So…I'm surprised you don't have a crowd around you. Is it the new look?" He asked.

"Maybe." I took a sip from my cup. "Or maybe it's because the ponies here are as laidback as they look. I guess it doesn't surprise me. They have a prince and princess that live in this very town and you don't see them kissing their hooves twenty-four seven. The most kind of excitement you'll see from anypony here will be the schoolponies, but they'll get excited over anything."

"Uh-huh…"

The rest of the wait remained quiet as I just stared off into the distance, taking small sips from my cup of coffee every several seconds.

Since he brought back memories of our days as schoolponies, I thought back to when he confessed his so called feelings for me. If I remembered correctly, it happened during one of our last few years of being in school. Why did I deny him so quickly and maybe even harshly? It's not like I hated him or anything. It was just that I really had zero interest. I had zero interest in everypony, really. I remember not feeling well at the time. That was around the time when…Alex had already left.

Did I…feel guilty about him leaving? How? I had hated his guts. I honestly even told myself constantly that I wouldn't give a flying hoof if anything had happened to him. But I couldn't deny the fact that something changed about me after he left.

Honestly, maybe even when I met him again at Canterlot, I denied that idea of him causing any kind of change in me that I continued to still purposely haunt him even then. I know we sort of…put the past behind us…but thinking about this now, I can't help but feel angry and disgusted at myself. I acted like such a tool.

"Tch." I unintentionally let slip out through my lips.

"What?" Shredder responded. "You don't like the food?"

I didn't know what he was talking about at first before I looked downwards and noticed that our orders had arrived.

"The food is fine." I ended the conversation before it could be explored any further than I wanted it to be.

Calmly but frustratingly chewing my food, I now felt myself plagued with thoughts of my own hauntings. Shredder has had to deal with this side of me for the longest time, so keeping to myself throughout the entire meal wasn't anything different for him. In fact, had I acted the opposite, he'd think I wasn't the real Starlight. But…wasn't the whole point of my new look supposed to mean that I was different? I guess things don't happen overnight after all.

"I guess I'll start heading back then…" Shredder mentioned, getting up from his seat and dusting himself off. "I'll see you soon?"

"Yeah…" I decided to remain at the table for a little longer.

I heard his hooves crunch the grass as he walked off, but then he stopped for some odd reason. "I like your new look. I really do."

I guess I was caught a little off my guard when I heard him say that, but it wasn't anything too surprising that made my reaction noticeable. "Thanks."

Afterwards, I assumed he finally left when the only noise I could hear was the light chatter of the other ponies at the café. I sighed and buried my head onto my forelegs for an unknown period of time. I felt tired, even though I had just eaten.

A conversation by a group of ponies that apparently sat near me, based on how close their voices were, seemed to separate itself from the other blended chatter among everyone at the café.

"I do wonder how he is doing… Have any of you seen him lately by any chance? I'd like to hear what he thinks of this new arrangement I'm working on. Oh…would he like it? I wouldn't want to let him hear it if it isn't any good yet." A sophisticated yet familiar voice sounded quite distraught.

"Chill out, Tavi!" A voice that contrasted the previous by a landslide, in my opinion, replied. "Why are you so worked up over him? You don't really seem you when you talk about him, you know? Usually, you're so…I don't know…cool? After all, you didn't give much a hoot when you first met him, remember?"

"I-is that so…?" Her voice lightly stuttered. "Well, maybe it's because he's a prince and princes are such a very significant authority figure that govern our land. I don't find it the slightest bit odd that I handle things in a different manner when it comes to him."

Prince? There's only one prince I know. It's gotta be him, isn't it?

I looked up and took notice of the ponies consisting of the conversation.

"Uh-huh…" The pony with the bright neon-colored mane responded with a hoof supporting the bottom of her chin. She looked like she was observing suspicious behavior.

"What?!" The pony she had been talking to abruptly turned her head to the side, away from her apparent friend. "Why are you looking at me like that?!"

"Oh…it's nothing…" She turned her head and faced a blonde mare that sat with them. "What do you think, D.D.?"

"Maybe she's just hungry." The mare responded with a ditsy voice that also hosted a bright grin.

"Oh, she's hungry alright." Neon pony said a bit strangely.

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Formal pony raised her voice as her face had clearly reddened now.

The other two began laughing giddily and fully at the reaction of this mare.

As I studied the mare who was the cause and target of this laughter, I was suddenly hit with a flashback. I had met her before. It was Canterlot, wasn't it?

With nothing better to do, I stood up and decided to approach the group.

"Excuse me." I stated casually, stopping the laughter from the two as well as the look of embarrassment from the other. "We were in Canterlot that one time at the wedding, weren't we?"

"I'm sorry…" The redness had drained from her face and she now returned a look of confusion. "Have we met before?"

I kicked my hoof at the ground once the exact scenario jogged my memory. "Yeah. I remember now. When the freaks were terrorizing the town. You and I were at that one café out there. We kicked some serious flank."

It took her some time to think and eventually widen her eyes in realization. "That was you?! You're Starlight?! Why, you look so…"

"Different?"

"I suppose…" She scratched the back of her head. "I, um, had no idea you had a…"

"Horn?"

"If you don't mind me asking…how come you didn't just use magic with the changelings? Actually, why haven't you used magic at all?"

I sighed. "Same reason why I didn't want my horn to be visible at all."

There was an awkward pause before she turned to the friend she had been chatting to. "Um, right! This is Vinyl. The friend that I had told you I had been looking for during the invasion. She was the reason we went our separate ways midway the war that been taking place at the time."

The neon pony. So, she was such in a hurry for her then?

"Hey, yeah!" Vinyl pointed out at me as if she had known who I was already. "Yeah, that Starlight. Big singer. But I especially know you're Alex's sister. Well, foster sister or something."

"Sure…" I hesitantly replied, hoping that the conversation wouldn't lead to that dark route.

"What brings you here to Ponyville? I've never heard you come down here for your tour before." Octavia asked.

"I'm not on tour right now. I'm taking a break, I guess." I answered glancing at each one of them. "I'll be back to work soon though. Even though there's not a lot to do in Ponyville like there is in big cities, it's surprisingly not that bad. It's almost like I'm back to being a nobody here since I don't have fans knocking up my doors every minute or security tailing me everywhere I go."

"That's the life of a big star, huh?" Octavia said rather strangely. I couldn't tell whether it was in an unfriendly-like or sarcastic matter. Either way, it wasn't anything I'd bother worrying about.

"You always play in big cities, don't you?" Vinyl asked. "I guess it's no surprise. If Countess Coloratura was here though, she'd probably be getting swarmed right about now. She's been practically everywhere as far as I know. I guess that's why she's known all across Equestria."

Hmph. Countess Coloratura. Something didn't sit right with me anytime I thought about or saw her. Her look. Her attitude. It was all prissy like. And her manager. Such an annoying lowlife. I swear, the two of them probably thought that they were so above and beyond everypony, even the big stars like Sapphire Shores and well…me.

"Anyways, I suppose I should thank you for your help back in Canterlot." Octavia added in. "I can't deny that there were many of them, and I'm not sure I would have been able to cut through so easily if you weren't there. However," She took a sip of what looked like tea. "Be sure to behave better with your brother. He really doesn't need any more stress in his life."

I was certainly unamused at that last comment. Was she scolding me? I wasn't even sure what to say to that.

"C'mon, Tavi." Vinyl bumped her hoof on Octavia's shoulder, lightly disrupting her current tea intake. "You weren't all that innocent, remember?"

"That was different, alright?" She threw her head to the side, avoiding making eye contact with her friend. "It was a mistake I never should have made. I apologized a thousand times for that already. It's just…boys can be such…" She paused, realizing the group of ponies around her, including me. Afterwards, she disengaged from that topic with a heavy sigh.

"Yeah, well…" I began facing my body towards the opposite direction. "Catch you some other time."

As I walked away from the café, I could still hear their erratic voices faintly.

"So, you don't suppose he'd mind if we dropped in for a visit, do you?"

"I don't know. He might be busy right now."

"I think I heard he was helping Princess Twilight with some summit or something…"

After that, they were too far to hear any further.

I found myself sitting in the park the next few minutes. Once again, there was no sign of crowds bunched up together or screaming fans. There were just ponies tossing a ball around, feeding the nearby geese and ducks, talking amongst themselves, or just relaxing and enjoying the day.

"Is this seat taken?" Another asked nearby, almost startling me.

It was a mare that had been pushing around a baby carriage. Anyone with a brain could figure out that she was a mother.

"No, it isn't." I casually responded and moved over a bit to give her some space.

"Thank you very much." She expressed before sitting down and grabbing her foal carefully with both of her hooves, despite having a horn. While gently carrying and caressing her child with one hoof, she grabbed a bottle of milk with the other.

I guess the sight and presence of a mother and child sort of made me feel a little uncomfortable. I wasn't used to being around these types of ponies before, so I sort of felt the strange tug to make small talk.

"That's a cute foal you've got there…" I complimented even though I wasn't really sure if I meant what I said.

"Thank you." The mare returned with a soft smile. "My husband and I had this little one a few months ago. He's been the light of our life ever since." Light of your life, huh? "A walk in the park always seems to soothe and calm him and eventually even put him to sleep. It's no big surprise. It really is beautiful here in this town."

"Uh-huh…" I simply answered. Small talk wasn't really my thing after all.

Either way, I guess it was okay. Kind of already see why Alex wouldn't mind living in a place like this. Especially when he has so many friends to keep him busy… It seems like having a bunch of friends can make a plain old boring place fun and entertaining…

"Watch out!" I heard a warning up ahead and a big red bouncy ball headed straight towards us.

Immediately the next second, I found the ball floating right in front of the flinching mother. I stared at this ball, questioning how it'd been levitating on its own. When I realized that I had been unexpectedly using magic to keep it in midair, the aura around the ball dissipated and began to drop. Nevertheless, I immediately grabbed a hold of it with my hooves and tossed it over to the ponies that had been playing with it.

"Sorry!" They apologized before they continued on.

"Oh…" The mare appeared to still be in shock as she still lightly gripped the blanket wrapped around her baby tightly. "Thank you for doing that."

"Y-you're welcome…" I expressed before I relaxed my body back on the bench.

How did I do that? I knew no magic after all… Well…then again…I did kind of lose control of it when Alex got so far deep under my skin.

I sighed and felt myself unable to remove the thoughts of what just happened.

I lived the majority of my life with a horn, but not once did I ever attempt or learn one spell. The best and shortest way to put it was that I was sort of raised in an Earth Pony kind of a way. The thing was…I wasn't the only pony in my family born a unicorn. My mother was an Earth Pony, but the truth of the matter was that my dad had actually been hiding a horn of his very own too.

Of course, we all knew this, but my father made us swore we'd never speak about it outside of the house. He wouldn't even allow us to acknowledge it inside the house. In short, he just wanted everyone, including himself, to pretend that it never existed. That's why it was always hidden under that fedora he wore every single day.

If the reason wasn't already obvious to why he wanted his horn to be considered nonexistent, the truth was that it didn't work. At all. Apparently, I guess he had broken it even before I was born. I never knew how as he's had an extremely thick coat for as long as I've ever remembered. He definitely wasn't the type of pony you could talk sensitive things about. As I grew up in that household, I came to the conclusion that the reason why he was so angry was because of this horn. Having to life with a busted horn that you'd have to go out of your way to hide. And when my mother took in Alex, it definitely didn't help at all. I guess he took out his anger on Alex, just like I did for my own personal reasons.

My mother couldn't cope with it, so I guess she just joined in whether she wanted it to or not. As much as we probably needed to, we never saw a psychologist or anything for these issues. We sort of just swept it under the rug after Alex left.

Either way, it's plainly obvious to why I'd consider my own horn unusable. The only other unicorn in my family was my father, and he pretty much banned anything to do with magic or horns in the household. Even if I could learn magic outside of home, there was no way I could keep up with practice. Maybe I could have tried it in secrecy, but after seeing what that psycho did to Alex, there was no way I'd even dare try it.

Despite that, I know that Alex must had been scarred by mostly my father. Even to this day, I'm not entirely sure if he could confidently face him. While I sort of steered away from punishment from my father, especially since I was the "only child" and I had to sort of make something of myself for the family, I never found myself fearing him. Even now, I sort of didn't take his threats seriously. And they were mostly just words after all. Some ponies might fear for their lives should they hear the kind of words he carelessly shouts, but honestly…they're just empty threats due to his anger.

It was a different case for Alex though…

Sigh.

I suddenly felt a craving for something sweet. Ice cream maybe.

I turned to the mare enjoying the weather with her child and decided to say goodbye so I wouldn't look like a jerk just leaving without a word.

"It was nice meeting you."

"You too. Thank you for earlier."

"Mm-hm." I nodded before I left in search of something to satisfy my cravings.

I decided to visit the only sweet shop I really knew about in town. I'm sure there were other smaller businesses, but I was a tourist, so whatever. There was already a line as I entered through the doorway. I believe one of the owners, the cupcake mom with the strange kids, was the one standing at the counter instead of that hyper and maybe even loony pink pony.

I waiting calmly behind a few ponies, taking advantage of the wait by scanning my eyes through the menu. However, I felt a tap on me, causing me to look back. Immediately after, I was bumped a few steps backward by some pony I knew I hadn't seen before me in the first place.

"Hey. Back of the line, toots." I sternly suggested.

"You snooze, you lose." She merely said, not having the sufficient amount of decency to look back at me when she was talking.

I felt my glare at her grow fiercely. Before I knew it, I heard some noise come from the kitchen and saw a cake flying out from nowhere. It somehow found its perfect target and splattered all over the delinquent's face. Some of the frosting and pieces of bread scattered over to me. Taking the opportunity to give it a taste and clean myself as well, I placed the extra pieces to my lips and licked. "Mm. Looks like you were just served a big piece of karma."

"IT'S IN MY EYES!" She cried as she removed herself from my spot in line and galloped out of the building.

"Oh, dear!" The mare holding the counter worried almost frantically. "Where in Equestria did that cake come from all of a sudden?"

Nevertheless, it was sort of a minor and quick incident, so no pony really worried about it too much. I suppose they've had stranger or worse events happen to them in the past.

Once it was my time to order, I got the sweetest large-scooped ice cream I could find on their menu. As I walked out the shop with said ice cream by my hoof, I licked enthusiastically, feeling it fitting as justice had just been served.

I returned back home once I ran out of things to do in Ponyville. I had already gone to the spa a few days back, so there was really no point in going again unless I really wanted to overdo it. The lack of things to keep me entertained honestly made me feel the need to go back to work. Everyone would prefer relaxing than working of course, but I don't know. I guess I just didn't really fit in too much here.

Before I walked up the stairs, I remembered Shredder had given me a letter from my old man. I took it with me as I ascended the second floor where the sweet sweet bed was. I placed the letter on a nearby desk and took a look outside the window for a moment.

I tried thinking about what made Ponyville so unique. There was not much to do here as there was in bigger cities, so what makes the ponies that live here like it so much? I already brought up the idea of friendship earlier…but it can't just be that, right? I mean, you can have friends in a bunch of other places too. Maybe I'm just different, and ponies here prefer a quieter peaceful life. If friendship really is a big deal, then I guess I can assume that it is enough to keep everyone content here.

Hm…

I wondered how I would be if I had my very own group of friends like Alex did?

Maybe I wouldn't be such a star like I am now…

I sighed and walked over to the bathroom.

I filled the tub with water, sat in, and soaked myself while resting my eyes.

I remember meeting Twilight back at the Ponyville Spa.

She had been getting her hair done and she just so happened to take the spot next to me. We talked for a while despite our past conflicts. Honestly, it was a little weird at first that she forgave me so easily. But even then, being the "Princess of Friendship", one of the very few Alicorns we have living among us, her personality didn't seem to change at all back from the times I've interacted with her when she didn't have her wings. She acted just like any other friendly pony would, even going the extra mile to offer me some help on magic when learning about my useless horn.

Even though I denied but appreciated her offer, it was a bit hard to believe she'd be willing to go through that work for me. I guess I could see why Alex was so fond of her as a real "little sister".

I sighed and crossed my hooves behind my head as I looked up towards the ceiling.

I don't like losing, but there's no way I can deny losing my status as "big sister" to him. After everything I did, who would dare want to be related to me? Heh heh. Oh well.

Stuff happens. And no matter how much we consider going back in time to change it, it's already done.

After I exited the tub with a towel wrapped around my head, I stared at the mirror, looking over myself before I went to bed.

You're just a pony, Star. Even though you're popular, and have so many "adoring fans", that doesn't change the fact that you're still just another pony to begin with.

You might be special, but you're really no more special than any other pony to consider yourself above them.

You make mistakes, just like everypony else does.

But taking responsibility for them is what counts.

No matter how bright you shine or stand out from the others…

…you're really just another star in the sky.

...

I made sure to grab the letter addressed to me before I went ahead and jumped in bed. I tore it open and began reading the contents within. My eyebrows perked up once I saw mention of him from my old man. I never thought I'd hear that name again from him.

Once I finished the letter, I tossed it aside and squeezed the area between my eyes.

"Alex isn't going to be happy about this…"

Planting Fences

This past week has been so exhausting for both Twilight and me. With Spirit tagging along the way the majority of the time, I couldn't blame her if she felt the same way. After all, by the way I've been figuring things, since I've been feeling pretty drained, she'd be too. I'd say one of the most exhausting events was the yakkity yaks Twilight invited over to establish a friendship with.

It was no surprise when Pinkie Pie made us realize that we had to be showing them our way, the pony way, of home instead of trying to perfect their home here. Honestly, I didn't think they had much of a brain when they immediately resorted to violence and even a call to war when they didn't like the way we handled things first. In fact, when they first tore up the banquet in the castle Twilight prepared for them, I sort of wanted to straighten them out both physically and angrily. However, I suppose it was a good thing Twilight stopped me from doing that, considering their violent nature.

Either way, I'm just glad all of that was over. Plus, we learned a little more information we probably wouldn't have expected at all from Pinkie Pie. I don't know when or how she found the time to have a file of every single pony in Ponyville that contained their birthdays and their likes and dislikes. But whatever. Pinkie is…her own little character. Interestingly enough, Spirit found my file ironic, since Pinkie added a side note that decided her birthday fell on the same day as mine. Considering the situation, I guess it only made sense.

I think I was ready to take a whole week off until Spike began doing the dishes. There was a pretty heavy amount leftover to wash, so Spirit and I decided to help out before we knocked out for the night.

"Thanks for helping out, you guys." He thanked. "These pile of dishes is like ten times bigger than me."

"Well, sometimes I think you do a lot more that you should for a baby dragon." I mentioned, using my magic to speed up the process and hovered the majority of washed dishes over to Spirit to dry.

"Yeah, but I'm kind of used to it." Spike attested. "Those checklists of checklists to check the checklists don't write themselves, you know?"

"Sure…" I refrained from questioning the need of such a complex chain of checklists and focused on finishing the remainder of the dishes.

After stacking them away neatly, Spike turned off the water faucet and began to return to the room Twilight had been relaxing and reading the past week away.

"Hey, um…" Spirit suddenly spoke, stopping me from following Spike. "You know…it's been such a long time where I sort of…just let you do your own thing, y'know? Back when I was all secretive and didn't want you to know what I was and yadayada. We've been running around together ever since we got the castle, and I'm considering letting you have a break from me."

"You don't think I'm feeling bothered of you, do you?" I asked, growing concerned over her unexpected statement.

"No, no." She lightly swung and dragged her hoof across the floor. "I'm just thinking that maybe it's best we sometimes keep to our own. Especially after a week like this one, I'm considering starting that break with a big and long nap. After all, if I stay inside and don't come out, I wouldn't have to do all the boring chores and stuff." She commented with a small giggle afterwards.

"Hey, if that's what you want to do, by all means, do it." I encouraged her as long as she was doing it for the right reasons. "I just don't want you to think that you're annoying me or anything because you're not. But if you want to have a break and stay inside like before, go right ahead."

With a small but tired grin, she embraced me and proceeded to dissipate into the air with a soft glow. "Call me if you need me."

I only slightly nodded before she completely vanished.

Then, I decided to join the others inside the room.

"It's kinda funny, isn't it? All these ponies comin' to you for advice about friendship?" I heard Spike as I entered the room.

"What's funny about that?" Twilight genuinely asked.

"You know, 'cause you used to be famous for being such a bad friend."

"What are you talking about?" Twilight no longer hosted a smile on her face after setting the book she had been reading back into the bookshelf. "I had good friends in Canterlot."

"Come on, Twilight. Look at the wall." Spike pointed out. "D'ya see any photos from before we moved to Ponyville? And look at you now – the Princess of Friendship."

After literally looking at the big picture on the wall, which was our coronation, Twilight gasped sharply. "This is a disaster! All my old friends! I can't remember any of their names right now!" She paced worriedly around the room. "But do you really think that they think I'm a bad friend?!"

"Well, I only meant that you've come so far. You're a great friend now and—"

"Oh, I feel terrible! I've gotta make it up to them! Pack a bag, Spike! We're going to Canterlot!" Twilight ran towards the door, but she didn't leave just yet until she made one last notice. "And make a list of my friends' names."

"Aw. Me and my big mouth."

"Actually, Spike, that was a good thing to point out." I mentioned. "Wouldn't you want somepony you cared about to see you again if they had left without saying goodbye?"

Spike sighed and placed down the book he had been planning to read to his side so he could begin taking care of what Twilight asked him to do. "Good point, I guess."

Out in the hallway, Twilight confronted me. "You're coming too, right?"

"Sure. I'll see you in the morning." I stated, beginning to walk past before she stopped me with an unexpected response.

"Um…I was thinking about going right now…"

"Now?" I returned a little alarmed. "It's night."

"Yeah, well…it's one of those things that I'd rather get started pronto. I wouldn't be able to go to sleep after learning something I had been blinded to this entire time!"

With a light sigh, somewhat heavy eyes, but a small smile, I answered. "Just for you."

Twilight immediately squeezed me before she ran off to finish the rest of her preparations.

Afterwards, there was another unexpected event to add on to this extended night. Knocks came from the front door.

"I'll get it." I mentioned before heading my way down there.

Who could be over so late at night? Could there be an emergency or something?

Opening the front doors enough to see the pony on the other side, I found Starlight standing casually in front of me.

"Starlight? What are you doing here so late?" I asked.

"I've uh…" She shuffled her feet a little oddly. "I've…kind of got some bad news for you."

This had my concern as hearing something like this coming from Starlight was new.

"Bad news? Of what?" I inquired.

"You're not really going to like it."

"Just spit it out." I felt myself growing uneasy and impatient as every second passed.

She drew out a heavy sigh. "It's dad." She pulled out an opened envelope containing a letter within.

"Dad?"

I couldn't quite grasp what she meant at first. For some weird reason, I wondered how she could have known about that dad until I realized I had almost forgotten about the one who practically caused a big scar in my life. My past life, at least.

"So? What does he want?" I quickly returned, wanting to dash through the subject as quickly as possible.

"Well…he wants to meet with you."

I could feel my heart drop at that.

"Meet with me? For what?! Aren't I supposed to not exist to him?"

"Apparently…" Starlight tucked the letter and envelope away as she spoke. "You had a story written about you some time ago? Dad caught wind of it and learned that…you mentioned the kind of… environment…you were raised in."

"So?" I refused to find any kind of requests from him reasonable. "He's lucky I didn't mention any names or anything."

"Either way, he's pretty ticked. And it sounds more like he's demanding that you meet with him rather than just asking politely."

"So you're telling me I should go then?" I questioned quite bitterly.

Starlight raised her hoof to show that she had no hold of me. "Hey. I'm just telling you what he said to me. I'm not telling you to do anything. It's your choice." She now looked at me a little more seriously. "But I do know that the last pony you haven't tied up things with is him. In fact, I think the last time you saw him was at the Canterlot wedding." She then turned her head to the side to avoid eye contact with me. "If you ask me, maybe you should go, to finally get some closure. But if you really don't care anymore, then you can ignore him for all I care."

I couldn't answer to that straight away. I was now stuck dwelling within my own thoughts that began to multiply at an alarming accelerating rate concerning the situation at hoof.

Starlight must have noticed or sensed my anxiety, so she didn't wait long to hear something from me. "Look, I didn't go through the same things you did, so I don't know exactly how you feel or how bad this seems. All I can tell you is…try not to worry about it. You've grown so much since then. You're an Alicorn and a Prince of Equestria for crying out loud. He has no control over you. And there's no way he should even think about hurting you again. I know you're stronger than him."

Hearing those words come from her did manage to lightly ease my worries here and there, but it was definitely not an entirely effective cure. "Thanks, Starlight…"

"If you decide to go, you know where to find him." She mentioned. "Otherwise…if you need something, let me know." She stood in front of my silent expression for a moment before she lightly wrapped herself around me. For the brief amount of time, I could definitely feel there was sincerity and meaning behind it. When she pulled away, she began turning her body around to leave. "I'll see you around."

Sometime after she took her leave, Twilight approach me from behind, tapping me when she must have seen me there standing like an idiot in front of an open door. "Who was it?"

"Starlight." I answered.

"Starlight?" Twilight repeated, revealing the same kind of surprise I had when I had just seen her past the front doors. "What did she need?"

"She stopped by to tell me something." I responded, hesitating on revealing the whole conversation. "That…" I paused, but we heard Spike's voice announce in, giving me somewhat relief.

"I'm ready, Twilight."

Twilight turned back towards me as if she insisted on hearing the rest of what I had to say before we left, but I didn't want to hold her up.

"I'll tell you later."

We arrived at Canterlot by flight, landing near a darkened and seemingly unlived building.

"I don't think you've ever seen the place I lived in before I moved to Ponyville, have you?" Twilight asked near the entrance.

I shook my head. "I don't think so."

She turned her attention towards the front door and escorted me in along with Spike.

However, it looked as if her attention was captured by something far more interesting and captivating.

"It's exactly how we left it!" She wandered in, taking careful look of the dusty settings living amongst webs. Had it been left alone any longer, it probably would have even looked like the Castle of the Two Sisters when we first found it. Suddenly, she gasped out loud. "Alex! Look!" She invited me alongside her, heavily blowing dust off an open book. "It's Predictions and Prophecies! And it's still open to the Elements of Harmony!" She turned to me. "This was the book that started my entire adventure to finding you all and living in Ponyville! This was the book that began an entire chapter with a turn of events for every one of our lives!"

"And here's that present I was gonna give Moon Dancer!" Spike spotted and picked up a teddy bear with its stuffing pouring out as if it had been punctured through with something sharp. "Huh. Guess she won't be needing that." He threw behind him after observing the state it was in. "Hey, look! The rest of it's still here!"

Twilight continued to roam around, taking careful notice of the current state of things. "How could I have let this happen?" She asked, riddled with guilt, as she approached a large window with a vast view of Canterlot.

"Come on, Twilight. Princess Celestia gave you an assignment. Nopony could blame you for that." Spike tended to Twilight, releasing more of their backstory behind leaving the city and moving to Ponyville.

"But look at the way I left this place. It's a total mess! Just like how I left my friendships."

"So…" I stepped forward. "Who were these friends?"

I believed I had always assumed Twilight never really had friends to begin with based on how she had described her prior life. I thought she had always spent her time reading and study rather than make any kind of friendly interaction. For me, I think the real question was how she found friends to begin with, but I didn't ask that.

Twilight stared at me for a moment, remaining silent. Afterwards, she wandered her eyes around as if she was thinking of what to say.

"Minuette, Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, Lyra Heartstrings, and Moon Dancer." Spike answered for her.

"Yeah, them." Twilight accepted. "I've gotta make it up to them."

"I've spoken with Lyra a few times before." I mentioned. "Doesn't she live in Ponyville? I don't think I've ever heard her mention you before."

"Maybe she forgot about me." Twilight walked away from the window. "I wouldn't blame her. Like I've said, I was a terrible friend. I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't even like me."

I wondered about the reality of the situation. What would I think if I tried being friends with a pony only for them to ignore me and eventually become the Princess of Friendship? To be honest, I would probably be pretty ticked. Despite that totally not being the case with Twilight, I'd feel as if a pony like that was snobby and rewarded for her despicable behavior. However, Twilight was far far from that. Hopefully with her friends, they would feel the same.

"I'm…going to check out the rest of the place." Spike dismissed himself, walking up the stairs to the higher floors of the building.

Twilight turned to me as if she had something she needed to get off her chest or share. "Alex, can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Let's do a little role-playing…" She began. "Imagine we had been friends since we were kids. You always made an attempt to speak to me, but I didn't really bother to make the effort to return the favor or spend any time with you. To make a long list short, I acted like I could care less about you…what would you think? You see one day I left without even saying goodbye, virtually hitting the last nail on the coffin. How would you feel? Would you ever want to see me again?"

Seeing as I had ironically already thought about this just a while ago, I already had a good idea of how to respond to that.

"You want me to be utterly honest?" I asked.

Twilight looked as if she hesitated on her response to that. Nevertheless, she managed to softly nod.

I walked past her and faced the window, not wanting to directly make eye contact while I gave her my answer. "I…probably wouldn't want to see you again."

There was a heavy silence that made us both feel uneasy.

"I'd probably think you were just some snobby pony who didn't consider me good enough to talk to, going by what I would have realistically known about you. And for sure, I would definitely scoff at the idea of you becoming a Princess of Friendship when you were nothing like that in the past. And if you were doing what you are trying to do now, I'd probably think you were just doing it for yourself to look better. After all, you are the Princess of Friendship."

Twilight still didn't answer, and I had become afraid that I possibly hurt her feelings.

I turned to confront her. "But I know you, and that's not true. And the whole situation depends on the kind of ponies you've interacted with in the past. Me? Well, you know I'm pretty much pessimistic, or at the very least I was like that. Had I known you in the past and not now, I would have never known how dedicated you really were to your goals. I would have never known the real reason why you pushed yourself away from others. If the ponies you roamed with at least knew or had a good idea of the reason you were so on your own about everything, I think things will be okay. So don't take the way I'd react to it as what you should expect. Because I know, even if that was the case, I'd eventually have to see how sorry you really are if you really push yourself to show it."

"Could you keep me company?" She asked after having a moment to let all that sink in. "I think it would be better to have you by my side while I try to revive lost friendships. I know you would really give me great advice on what to do…"

I approached her and placed a caring hoof on her shoulder. "Of course. You deserve it."

The moon light lit her face and allowed me to see the smile that softly formed on her face. We looked towards one another for a comfortable moment before we heard Spike snoring from above.

"Looks like he's already asleep…" Twilight reacted with a soft chuckle before she faced back at me. "So…what happened with Starlight?"

The talk with Twilight had practically made me forget about that entire incident, and it might have been a lot better had she not reminded me.

I sighed and wiped my face downwards with my hoof due to the upcoming stress. "It's my dad."

Her smile flipped once she heard that. Her eyes scanned through mine before she answered. "Wait…are you talking about that one you used to live with…?"

"Yes." I confirmed. "He wants to see me."

"W-why?"

"He heard about or read the story that was written about me and the life I lived growing up. Even though I didn't reveal any identities, I'm guessing he isn't liking the idea about other ponies finding out who he really is."

Twilight released a half-chuckle through her response. "Well, you don't have to see him, you know? He can't tell you what to do."

"You're right…" I lowered my head towards the floor. "But…" I sighed in between. "As much as I hate the idea, I think it's something I have to do. Starlight got me thinking. If the idea of meeting with him really didn't bother me now like it actually does, then I should care less about agreeing to the idea. But I feel like I'm trying to find any excuse in the book to avoid this because I'm actually really terrified. And if it stays like that, I don't think I'll ever close and cut ties with him. He'll always haunt me in some way or another, and I'd honestly want to remove him from my life completely…sort of…" I was reminded of my other father. The one pony who most likely would have treated me like someone unlike the one I was actually stuck with.

"…so when were you going to go?" Twilight asked, assuming what my answer was set on.

"I want to get this over and done with as soon as possible…so probably tomorrow…"

"T-tomorrow?" This surprised Twilight.

"I mean…I could probably leave it until after you've made up with your friends. I'd rather stick around you by a landslide."

Twilight shook her head. "I know you've mentioned yourself how you want the two of us to handle important conflicts together, but maybe we should skip this one. After all, my problem is about me and my friends, and you're problem is about you and your dad. No offense, but such personal problems…are probably dealt best on your own." Twilight shook her head again as if she said something wrong. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to make it sound like I'm abandoning you or anything, it's just…remember our therapy session? This is a part of your therapy as well. I can't take your place and make you magically all better again." She chuckled with a soft smile. "I wish I could, but even magic can't do that. This is something you have to confront and deal with on your own. Don't get the wrong idea, I'll totally be here to support you and talk to you if you need it. But…" She shared a sigh of her own herself. "I hope you understand what I'm getting at."

I thought about it for some time and chuckled myself. "Based on how I've tried to handle things on my own so you wouldn't be in danger? Yeah, I do." I nodded. "Alright. I'll try to get this over and done with as soon as I can so I make it back to you."

"Take your time." She encouraged. "If you just say one word and leave, thinking that it is all over, nothing will really get done. Make sure you plant your fences."

"I got it." I answered, appreciating her word and help. "And you go ahead and mend yours."

Her smile stretched as she closed her eyes.

Finally, under the moonlight, we shared a warm and tight embrace before preparing for the inevitable obstacles that were to come the next day.

Twilight had offered me her bed, especially since she was going to stay up going over things for tomorrow. Nevertheless, I didn't get such a good sleep. I remember tossing and turning and finally waking up in the morning practically drenched in sweat. It didn't come at first, but there were figments of just the thing I dreaded about today. I believe I had dreamt that I was still living back at home with my old family, as if everything that had happened never really happened in the first place. That's what had made it so scary.

I remember ironically wishing that my dream was actually a dream because it felt that real. Waking up, I found it weird how you find yourself believing that your dreams are real, despite how off they can really be. Sometimes, I even question to myself if my current "waking" life is all a lie. If it was all a dream and when I wake up, I'll be back to living my miserable and lonely pathetic life. However, such thoughts sometimes got too overwhelming, and I usually had to force myself to ignore and not believe them.

I overheard Twilight and Spike talking downstairs, so I followed their voices in order to accompany them.

"Hey, you're awake." She said as she spotted me down the stairs.

"I hope you weren't up all night." I frankly mentioned, knowing her already.

With a small blush of embarrassment, she shrugged. "I managed to find out where one of my old friends live. I guess that's a good thing." Afterwards, her small smile slowly dissipated. "Were you…going to head out already?"

I constantly had to battle with myself on what I wanted do. A part of me wanted to head over to Fillydelphia as soon as possible, and the other part of me wanted to procrastinate the inevitable as long as possible.

"Well…I can probably wait and say hi to one of your friends before I go. I think I might remember them. Their names sound familiar." I decided procrastination won for now.

Twilight looked unsure of whether to enable that opportunity. However, she allowed it.

"Okay, sure."

Apparently, we had stopped by Minuette's house, which, if I remember correctly, was one of Cadence's bridesmaids back at her and Shining Armor's wedding. There was a large hourglass indentation on her door and another on the top portion of her building.

Twilight appeared as if she was gaining the strength to knock on the door. I especially knew how she felt, considering I had to do this kind of thing numerous times and was bound to do it again very soon. When she finally forced a few knocks, she then began nervously tapping her hoof before the door creaked open.

"Minuette?"

"Twilight Sparkle!" A pony shot out from the inside with an utterly joyous greeting along with a merry laugh. "You old so-and-so! What are you doing here?!" She caused Twilight to back down from the steps as she pushed forwards towards her. She also took notice of the baby dragon by her side. "Hey, Spike!" She greeted, receiving a light wave. "Look at these wings, huh?!" She approached Twilight, waving her hoof at her wings. "Oh, and it's Prince Alex too!" It didn't take long before she realized I was there. She practically gave me a Pinkie Pie squeeze with a free joke to boot. "I don't suppose you're single now, are you?"

I kind of had to force up a chuckle. "Sorry.."

Nevertheless, she returned a genuine giggle before she passed a camera along to Spike.

"Hey, grab a picture of me and the prince and princess, will ya?! I tried to tell my co-workers Twilight and I used to be friends back when." She giggled yet again, having me want to believe she's struck with them like hiccups. "But they've never believed me!"

Twilight sent me a sort of small shrug, but she looked calm nonetheless. I was invited to partake in the picture with them, scooching between both Twilight and Minuette. As Spike focused the camera on us, Minuette suddenly spoke up. "Wait-wait-wait! Really fluff 'em up, huh?" She meant towards our wings with another giggle. When Spike was finally going to take the picture, Minuette quickly created a silly pose, extending her hooves out towards the two of us. After the flash, she quickly began bombarding Twilight with questions. "So what are you doing here? I mean, I know you're here all the time, but you never come to see me. Hey! I just had the greatest idea! You wanna go see Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine?"

"Of course! My old friends!" Twilight immediately and enthusiastically agreed.

"It'll be great!" Giggle. "Come on! Let's fly!" She hopped energetically in the air. "Get it?" Laugh.

"This is perfect! I can apologize to all three of them at once!" Twilight mentioned as she followed after Minuette.

"Let's hope they're not as traumatized as Minuette." Spike mentioned sarcastically with bored half-lidded eyes.

"Looks like things are going alright so far." I said, stopping Twilight in her tracks.

"Oh, right…" It looked like she almost forgot about my situation. "You're…going to go now?"

"Yeah…I guess…" I responded. "I don't want to delay what I need to do any more than I should. I'll try to be back in time to meet the rest of your friends."

"Alright…" She hesitantly allowed. "But listen, just make sure to keep in mind you have us. Whatever happens, just remember us. I don't know if that's much help, but…"

I decided to initiate our final farewell for the moment. I wrapped a leg around her and pressed my chest against hers. "I'll manage…"

Twilight only wrapped her leg, seeming to be unable to come up with the right words to say at the moment.

"Come on, you slow pokes!" We heard Minuette call out from a certain distance away.

Twilight and I pulled away from each other and nodded. Then, we finally went our separate ways.

I decided to take the train station, wanting to save up as much energy as I could for the confrontation with my father. As I waited for my train arrived, it seemed Spirit had just woken up and yawned outside of me.

"Morning." She greeted.

"Morning." I returned, slipping my serious mood out for her to sense.

"What's going on?" She immediately asked and took a look at her surroundings. "And what are we doing in Canterlot?"

"Twilight's working on her relationship with her old friends."

"And…where are we going?" She asked, taking notice that Twilight wasn't anywhere in sight.

"Fillydelphia." I answered briefly.

"W-why?" Spirit almost stuttered out.

With a heavy and even almost annoyed sigh, the annoyance having nothing to do with Spirit, I bitterly explained the reason for the visit. "Seems like dad wants to see me again."

"Y-you mean?"

"Yep."

"Ugh." Spirit turned her head away and covered her mouth, causing me to look at her funny and wonder if she was possibly being a little too overdramatic about it. "That makes me sick."

"Like…really sick?" I questioned.

"I just don't like that idea. Why do you have to go and see him? Don't you hate him?"

"Let's just say I feel like it's something I have to do…"

Spirit remained silent for a moment. "I know you're still scared of him…" I turned, surprised to hear her say that. "And as you probably know already…that makes me scared of him too. Just as much as I'm scared of water. Maybe even more."

I concerned myself with her state of mind. "I get it… You don't have to be with me like this if you don't want to. If it makes you feel better, I'll handle it on my own."

"I don't want to leave you…" She returned truthfully. "But I definitely don't want to see his face…at all. You sure it's okay if I hide back inside you?"

"Yeah." I nodded. You probably shouldn't have to deal what I know I'm going to deal with when I meet with him.

She hesitated for a moment before she appeared to agree with me. "I'll stay away…but if he ever tries to hurt you, I promise I'll come out and protect you."

I found that to be quite shocking coming from her. I knew she was sort of my guardian already, but talking about protecting me from my own dad didn't fit so normally. Starlight was no doubt right that I could easily overpower him should he try to physically hurt me…but hearing Spirit saying she'd protect me from him…it sounded really personal.

"Thanks…" I expressed before she returned with an almost unnoticeable light.

I soon heard the train arriving, allowing me to stand up and prepare to board the train. Just before it arrived, I felt hooves land on the floor by me and a couple of wings retract towards a body. Expecting it to be some other passenger, I turned to my side casually. Nevertheless, I almost jumped from fright, realizing that it was my mother. The princess of the night, that is.

"W-what are you doing here?!" I asked astonishingly.

"Accompanying you." She calmly answered as if it was no big deal.

"Why…?"

She only glanced her eyes towards me before she turned them back at the arriving train.

"All aboard!"

I found myself sitting alongside her, away from several groups of ponies who were either dumbfounded or star struck by the sight of two of us taking the train with them.

"So…do you know why and where I'm going?" I asked, piercing the solemn silence she seemed to radiate from her.

"Yes."

I waited to hear more, but after moment of no added input, I asked.

"How?"

"I am the keeper of dreams, Alex." She said. "I learned of your nightmare this past night. I overheard your conversation with your newfound friend from the castle and decided as your mother that it is my willing duty to accompany you with your confrontation of your foster father." She groaned with disgust. "He has no right to be called such."

"No offense…mom…but I think that this is maybe something that I take care of on my own."

"Absolutely not." She sternly protested. "Whether you think so or not, this involves me as I regrettably left you with such an abusive family. I am more than willing to give a very strict piece of my mind to that despicable stallion."

"Don't you have important duties to take care of?"

"My most important duties dwell within the night." She then wrapped a leg around me from her seat. "I am happy to make the time to assist my son in any way I can."

I know I didn't exactly call for her help, and I wasn't so sure of her company being a good idea. How will he react when he sees not only me, but the co-ruler of Equestria, my mother herself, by my side? In a way, that honestly actually kind of made me feel better, but at the same time, I was a little nervous how things would turn out, or if I would actually get some closure like that. Nevertheless, I decided to let it run its course and not worry too much about the future.

I spent the majority of the train time thinking about what to say. I'd decide on a prepared speech and then soon feel it was too stupid or reckless. This constantly repeated itself over and over, and I could never figure out what I needed to say. This, in turn, made me feel even more nervous, almost as if I was going to speak to an entire crowd and have no speech planned behind it.

Eventually, the wheels of the train screeched to a halt, and as I took a glance over to the window, it was undeniable that the city sights were Fillydelphia. Just then, the city bell rung, the same bell that would get me up in the mornings here…

I felt glued to my seat until my mother extended out her hoof towards me.

"Let us not waste any more time."

I almost regretted letting her come with me, but at the same time I knew it was for the best. Had it just been me, I probably would have just remained inside the train and cower back to Canterlot. I closed my eyes and released a deep breath, despite my nerves remaining undefeated. I accepted her hoof and company in walking off the train.

The area in which we left the train station wasn't too familiar to me, since it wasn't the part of the area I lived in. It was a lot more heavily populated, and had buildings almost as large as Manehattan. I felt calmly frozen as I stared off into the sight of the city until I heard a voice behind me.

"Do you know where we are heading?"

I didn't answer right away for obvious reasons. "…yeah."

For some reason, neither of us flew. We silently walked the city streets to our apparent destination. I suppose it wasn't exactly that I didn't feel like flying, but I somewhat felt deprived of energy. That, or I was trying to stall for time…

We followed signs, waited corners, and roamed around like normal ponies. Although we received stares and murmurs from others, that all seemed nonexistent towards me. I could only imagine Luna ignored it as well since she was in a serious mood.

As we entered the less populated area, our surroundings grew more familiar. I was now entering the place of my nightmares and repressed memories.

I stood and looked across the distance. I could see the familiar top of the school house. "There's the school house…" I mentioned and began following the roads around it. "If they really still live at the same place…then…" I got an unfortunately good idea of where we would see him.

Once again, I wasn't sure if I was really feeling thirsty, hungry, or just yet again stalling for time, but I felt like stopping and refueling before the big event. However, I really just wanted this to be over with. I wanted to end this and plant my fences like Twilight said. Afterwards, I can go back…see how well she's doing with her friends and spend the rest of the night with her, preferably forgetting everything that will take place here.

As we took sort of the route I was take back then, we passed by that one place where certain events would take place. It was where the smaller area of the city, which it in itself could be a separate town, would gather for events like Hearth's Warming Eve, contests, and the like. To be honest, it could have been a really great place to live…had it not been for such horrible circumstances I had to go through.

It appeared I had been standing and staring at this currently empty area. Luna called to me, most likely concerned about my thoughts.

"What is it?" She asked.

At that moment, I had realized that this was also the same area I had been in my dreams. That one encounter with that…mysterious stallion. Thinking about him made me feel as…if he could still be silently watching us even now.

"Nothing…" I turned and began leading her to the old house.

My hesitation grew extremely when we arrived at the house. Luna somewhat roughly encouraged me by lightly pushing me forward. Tough Love, huh?

I sighed and approached the door. I knocked, shivering at the suspense of who would answer the door. It felt like a long while where the door remained unopened, having me feel as if I should believe no one was home and that we should leave. Nevertheless, the door opened, petrifying my body.

However, in an almost immediate wave of relief, it was not him.

"Alex…? Is that you…?!"

"Hi, Rosy."

She quickly looked behind her and immediately walked out, shutting the door.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, sounding as if I was unwanted or in danger of standing in the very place I was.

"I think you may know why." I responded, expecting her to know about the message as well.

"You really want to do this?" She asked.

I turned back and noticed Luna patiently but solemnly standing several steps away from me. "I think it's best that I do."

Rosy almost noticed the sight of the Princess of the Night standing in front of her home. "So…that's really her…?"

I only nodded.

Rosy sighed heavily. "…I'll go and call him out."

As she turned to leave, my heart jumped as if telling me to yell at her and say, No! Forget about it! I'm leaving!

As I waited, I tried to grow a solemn face. I tried to shake out the fear so I wouldn't look like I was intimidated. If your opponent knew that, you were done. Even though I hated thinking back on bad memories, I attempted to focus on the times that actually sort of fueled my hatred for him. In a short time, I then realized how much of a different pony I had become over the span of several minutes. I had been a friendly loving pony around those I care for as long as I remember. Coming here and trying to cope with bad memoirs only really turned me around to what felt like my dark side.

I had been staring at the ground collecting my thoughts when I had heard a pair of hooves gather at the front door. Without thinking twice, I looked up and noticed a disapproving and stern stare. I was then frozen at the sight, unable to dodge the paralyzing daggers thrown at me.

However, my mother returned to my side, appearing to take control of the situation for me. "As you may know, I am Princess Luna, ruler of the night. I come to escort and accompany Prince Alexander. Let us make haste so we may run about to more important manners."

Knowing my father, I'm sure he would have reacted more aggressively to that had it not been a princess. With such a high and important figure, he seemed to show restraint. Instead of speaking, he gestured his head behind him, seeming to direct us to the backyard.

It looked like as if I had been in deep trouble and I was going to get a serious punishment for it. But I have to remember that I don't have to take it anymore. I refuse to.

My mother and I followed him around to the back. It was weird. Here were my mother and father by technicality, but I didn't believe the two had met or known each other prior. I had to admit it was pretty awkward. Even though I appreciated it since I was still pretty petrified, it was a little silly seeing my mother practically handling my problems for me.

Once at the backyard, he directed his sight towards a picnic table. It was your old fashioned wooden table for four. However, it looked like it had hardly been used or hadn't been used in a while. He then took it upon himself to sit and expect us to join him across while not sparing a word.

My mother extended her wing and placed it around me, encouraging me to walk forward and sit with her at the table. After doing so, I tried keeping eye contact with the one across, but it was near impossible to do so.

"So?" I forced myself to say, growing extremely annoyed at the silence as if he was expecting me to already know what had been on his mind.

"I want you to call up that little storywriter of yours and republish your 'story' again. But this time, leave out the lies."

I was puzzled for a moment, flinching at the question of what he was talking about. "Lies? What are you talking about?"

"Don't be an idiot." He voiced strongly yet a little slowly, as if to restrain his temper as much as he could. "That story you got published. About how you were 'abused' during your time here. Treated unfairly. I thought you'd be old enough to grow out from your childish thoughts."

"W…what?" I couldn't understand him for a moment. At that point, I surprisingly felt my blood begin to boil. "You're saying that didn't happen?!"

"I'm saying that you're letting your imagination run off and write itself as reality."

I then couldn't believe what he was saying. "Hold on. You think that I just imagined everything that happened to me back when I lived here? You think I just imagined you coming into my room over the silliest accusation and hitting me senselessly without even questioning what happened? That's not abuse?!"

"You were disciplined. Not abused." He informed. "Those little antics you caused for me, my wife, and my daughter, were not to go unpunished. Even now you are causing us trouble with your little story of tales. We took you in, fed you, shelter you, and you had the audacity to cause trouble for all of us. Because you never wanted to take responsibility for your selfishness, you believed we were out to get you."

"Hey!" I threw my hooves at the table, causing it to shake a little violently. "Everything in that story is what I saw and experienced! Don't try to turn this around and make yourself look like the victim!"

"Get your hooves off my table." He ordered as he glared at me.

Receiving the notion that this conversation or more like confrontation wouldn't progress any further if I didn't listen. I silently and slowly retracted my hooves, sitting back down on my seat.

"We are struggling to live out our lives. What you mentioned in your 'story' may just ruin reputations for some. You may have not mentioned or pointed out any specific identities, but any pony could surely investigate and track down on your ridiculous claims."

"I don't care." I mentioned carelessly. "You can call them lies, fables, whatever. It's the truth. And you can't blame me for what you did. If ponies want to know me or my background, I'm not going to lie and say 'Oh yeah, the ponies that took care of me growing up were really supportive and friendly'."

Before I could continue on with any more I possibly had to say, his hoof came crashing down towards what he labeled as 'his table'.

"If you've done any growing up whatsoever over these past years, you'll do as I say. Quit being a child and listen to your elders for once. I raised you."

My teeth clenched.

Who did he think he was?! Ordering me around like if I was supposed to have respect for him? Respect for all the things he did to make my early life a pain? To miss out on a childhood that I'll never have the opportunity to have again?!

"NO!" I shouted fiercely. "You didn't.. Don't you lie to me! I know you didn't want me to begin with! You hated the idea of being around somepony you didn't want to bother with in the first place! I didn't ask to stay in your stupid house! You hated me so bad?! Then you should have given me to someone else! But you didn't, and you can't blame me for that! Maybe it's because you wanted some pony to do your stupid chores for you? But you didn't want to bother with having to take responsibility for that pony. You know what? You're the kid! You're the selfish one here! You're lucky that I didn't outright point you out for every pony in Equestria to despise! But you know what? Even after everything you did, you managed to teach and prove something to me. I know for sure, when I have a family, I'll be nothing like you!" Even through my aggressive rant, I realized something. "You know what?" I pushed myself off the picnic table, ready to leave in a storm. "I shouldn't even be here. I've got way too many important ponies in my life I'd rather dedicate my time too. You want my final answer to your demand? It's NO! Count yourself lucky that I don't hoof you out to everyone else!"

I could tell the fire burning in his eyes at that very moment. The same kind of expression I absolutely dreaded seeing when I was a colt. "You get back here right now! I'm not finished with you."

"You might not be, but I am." I passionately defended, placing a hoof on my chest. "You think you can order and push me around to do what you want? You're not my dad. You never were. I wished I would had the guts to tell you this back then but… I hate you!"

As I began walking off, I heard the picnic table almost flip over. For a second, I saw him appear to storm after me, but my mother immediately intervened. "Do not lay a hoof on him."

Surprisingly having the time and effort to apparently think about his actions and not act on them on impulse, he refrained from passing her. Nevertheless, his expression did not dissipate to the calmness he once originally had approaching us.

"Don't even bother with me. I want nothing to do with you ever again." I stated and finally focused on leaving the scene.

After Luna seemed to make sure he wouldn't do anything in an attempt to harm me, she removed her cautious glance from him and returned to accompany me.

"I am proud of you, Alex." She praised.

I didn't feel particularly proud, but really only upset that this had to happen. "I said what I've been needing to say and that's it. I'm done."

"Are you worried he might try to hurt you in some kind of way?" She asked with concern.

"If he tries, he'll regret it." I returned with solemn confidence. "Besides, I don't think he wants spend the rest of his life banished from Equestria or stuck in a dungeon."

Despite my current mood, Luna, with a somewhat sly smirk, wrapped her wing around me.

Nevertheless, I thought about Rosy since I had first seen her before the talk with the other. I hoped that she didn't and wouldn't suffer because of my decisions and actions. I felt bad…but there was nothing I could think of really doing…

I believe I remained heavily silent the majority of the way. I felt I was in somewhat a state of shock. I couldn't believe what I had just did or said, but at the same time I was relieved. Luna had told me she was proud of me, and I'm sure she would want me to be proud of myself. However, I felt uneasy. I couldn't stop worrying or thinking about the events that just took place. It almost felt like a dream.

Speaking of dreams, by the time we arrived back to Canterlot, it had already been the time of the day, or night, that Princess Luna was to focus on her most important duties.

"I hope I didn't make you late…" I apologized.

"Nonsense." She no longer held the serious agitated look from before but now hosted a small sweet smile. She caressed my face lightly. "If anyone should be sorry, it is I."

"For what?" I asked. "You willingly spent your time to help me with my problems."

"As your mother, I should have spent my entire time with you since you were born. At the very least, I should have been a part of your life. Instead…"

"Don't worry about it." I assured her. "I'm glad to know that I would have been wanted with you."

Luna smiled for a short second, but it appeared it didn't completely wipe away her frown.

"You should get going, mom. I wouldn't something horrible to happen to Equestria because you were too busy with me." I chuckled lightly.

She nodded quietly. "Goodnight, Alex."

Afterwards, she flew off in the direction of Canterlot Castle, and I was left to wander around with no one but my thoughts.

To be honest, I had expected Spirit to come out and accompany me now, but she was probably keeping to herself for the moment. Like she mentioned earlier, she had been staying inside of me practically the entire time before the castle showed up, so it shouldn't really be a surprise.

As I stared at the streets I walked on, I felt somepony bump into me roughly. However, there was no apology or stop of concern. The pony only continued walking on, appearing extremely upset or moody. I didn't care though. I suppose I knew or related to such a mood, so in my mind, the rudeness was understandable.

As I turned back onto my own direction, I couldn't help but feel an unwarranted presence or vibe. I quickly looked back, searching for something out of the ordinary, but it wasn't there. I thought I might have seen something…wrong…but maybe it was just me. Today was just a drag…

It took me sometime before I was able to find Twilight's old place. I had to try to recall the places we had past near it, and it didn't help that it was nighttime. Nevertheless, I was hoping to just throw myself to bed and literally forget all about today once I arrived past the front doors.

"You're back…!" Twilight must have heard me when I entered inside.

"Yeah…" I released a sigh of exhaustion.

"How did it go…?" She appeared to be hesitant to ask.

"I don't know, to be honest." She followed me as I made my way back to the comfort of her bed. "I went over there. Kind of lost my cool. Let him have it. And left it at that."

"I guess the important question is…" Twilight watched as I sat on the edge of her bed. "…are you satisfied with how things ended?"

"I can't say." I shared honestly. "It's not like I was happy-go-lucky afterwards about it. I didn't jump around and feel like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I don't know what I was expecting. I guess I finally got out what I wish I could have said to him back when it kind of still mattered. But you know, Twilight…?" I began covering myself with the sheets. "Sometimes, things don't have happy endings. And I think this is going to be one of those times."

"Do you really think so…?" She appeared bothered by that.

I shrugged. "Seems like it. It's not like he'll apologize for what he did and things will all be hunky dory. It's just like you can't expect everyone to like you. You just deal with it." She turned away, unable to respond. It looked as if I somehow hurt her feelings. "What? What's wrong?"

"It's funny that you say that…" She softly mentioned. "I managed to make things up with my friends… All but one…"

"Huh?" I sat up, almost having had forgotten about her friend-mending quest. "What happened with you?"

"Right before I left to Ponyville…" Twilight began to explain, sitting on the edge of her bed by me. "I was invited to this party for my friend Moondancer. But since I thought friendship was a waste of time, I didn't bother to go or even say hi. She was really hurt by that, and even though she won't exactly admit it, I know this is what's keeping me from being friends with her. No. She doesn't want anything to do with friends because of me."

"Did her friends go…?" I asked.

"Yes. Everyone but me."

"That seems a little…extreme, doesn't it?" It felt kind of…bad to say this…but… "It's not like no one showed up at all."

"What if you invited the most important pony to you to a party and they didn't bother to show up at all? Like they considered you a waste of their time?" Twilight created a point.

"I guess…" I didn't think too much into it, finding that I was exhausted enough as it was.

"Do you think there's any chance I can make it up to her…?" Twilight asked with deep concern.

Only one thing popped in my mind. Without carefully thinking over it, I spat it out. "I think…if you show her that you're really trying, then she just has to break…" When I said that myself, I almost choked over an exact instance. "Didn't you help me with a situation like this one time? With Octavia? Even though I kept trying, she refused to befriend me. And just when I thought there was no more hope…a certain pony told me to fix things when they really meant it. And well now…look at us."

Twilight stared at the floor for a moment and then turned towards the moon out her window. "I'm going to give it another shot… Just maybe…I can make up her party with another party. And who else does parties better than Pinkie Pie?"

"No one." I blatantly responded. "And this time, I'll be there to support you. I'm done with my issues after all."

Twilight looked as if she wasn't so sure that she agreed with me on that, but she didn't continue acknowledge it anyway.

"Thanks, Alex…"

"Get some sleep, Twi. I think it'll really be good for you." I encouraged.

"Alright…"

I made sure to leave her enough room before I closed my eyes and tried to let the remainder of today pass.

Twilight woke me up the next morning with an unexpected request.

"I'm going to run by Ponyville, pick up Pinkie Pie, and bring her back here as soon as possible. Can you do me a favor?"

"What?"

Twilight adverted her eyes sideways. "I'm not sure if Moondancer knows you're my best friend…but either way…could you maybe…try to talk to her?"

"Talk to her?" I repeated, slightly taken aback with surprise.

"You've always been so good with talking to ponies." She shared her passionate opinion. "If she hears from you…maybe…I don't know."

"I've got it." I placed a firm hoof on her chest. "I'll try to talk with her. How can I find her?"

"She's always at the Canterlot library every day all day. She shouldn't be too hard to find. Just…think of me when you're looking for her. However, she's wearing glasses that could definitely use a replacement. Her mane's…a little different too."

"Uhh…" I hesitated, unsure if I would find her based on that description.

"Just trust me." Twilight assured. "Think of me and you can't miss her."

"Alright…" I wasn't too sure what she meant by that, but I decided to accept without a doubt.

"When you're finished, meet us in the park. See if you can bring her along with you. If you can't…well we'll see what we can do." She ended.

After Twilight had left with Spike, I roamed around Canterlot in search for the library. Being a public place, it definitely wasn't hard to find like Twilight's old living quarters was.

I entered inside, looking around in search of Moon Dancer. Everypony definitely looked too busy gawking at their books and keeping utterly silent. In fact, it was so silent that any kind of small peep could be heard from anywhere inside the library. And the library was a big place.

I decided to carefully pan my head over the first floor, beginning from the left side over to the right. I immediately stopped to the first pony wearing huge glasses with tape wrapped tightly among the middle portion, keeping them from obviously falling apart.

Okay. She has glasses and seeing as she's using tape to keep them usable, she could use a replacement. But how do I know this is the pony Twilight was talking about?

Then it struck me.

Taking a second glance at the color of her mane, the sharp edges of said mane, and the obvious appearance of a completely intensely serious pony when it came to books, I realized that this had to be Moon Dancer. By what I could see from the area I stood, she was practically the only pony wearing glasses. Second, her mane was virtually the same as Twilight's, except for the top portion. Frankly, it appeared as if she didn't bother brushing it but only focused on moving it away from her eyes no matter how silly it might have looked.

In a way, I could see this pony being the spitting image of Twilight, which was a bit disturbing to think about. Either way, how was I going to go about this? I guess I could just go introduce myself… I don't really have any other better idea.

I calmly made my way towards her, and as expected, she was too focused on her work to notice anything. I noticed she also wore a turtleneck sweater, giving me the impression she was a student for some reason.

"Are you Moon Dancer?" I quietly asked.

"I'm busy right now." She stated bluntly, keep her eyes on her books as she pressed her hooves against her head.

"I just wanted to talk to you for a bit."

She glanced at me for a second before she returned to her book. "Do I know you?"

"No, you don't. At least, I don't think so."

"Well, I'm trying to study. I don't want to be bothered right now."

"But…"

"Shh!" She shushed, gaining the attentions of others in the library.

She was definitely a tough nut to crack. I could see why Twilight was having trouble to her compared to the energetic Minuette.

Deciding it was going to be near to impossible to get her to listen to me seriously for even a second, I thought I would play fair game for a moment. I didn't have much time to think of some kind of elaborate scheme, so I planted myself inside an empty custodian's closet with the door slightly ajar where I could get a view of Moon Dancer. She, of course, kept her eyes glued to her book. Perfect.

I squinted my eyes and began focusing my magic on her book. Once I could see a faint aura, I slowly began dragging it off the table until it fell to the floor.

Her head shot back, surprised of the sight. She looked as if she was going to shrug it off and pick it back up until I continued dragging it away from her and up the stairs towards the closet I was in. I supposed it was a book she was too invested in or one she needed to study as she decided to follow after it.

When she was close by, I threw the book inside the dark room. She entered, muttering words of annoyance under her breath. Finally, I closed the door shut and turned on the lights.

"Huh?!" She looked back with an exclamation of surprise. She noticed me stand in front of the door to prevent her from leaving. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Sorry, but you weren't going to bother listening to what I had to say down there, so I figured I'd bring you up here so we won't bother anyone."

"Well, guess what?" She said as she picked up her book. "You're bothering me, so I'd appreciate it if you let me back down."

"Come on. Just listen to me." I lightly pleaded.

"Why should I listen to you? I don't even know who you are."

"You're Twilight Sparkle's friend, aren't you?" I brought up, silencing her for a short moment.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"It's dumb to pretend you don't know what I'm talking about." I said. "You had a party, and she didn't show up. That's why you don't want to bother with her or friendship at all."

Moon Dancer groaned strongly. "Ughhh. I don't do parties! Now just leave me alone!"

"Just listen for a minute, please. Then I'll let you get back to work." I asked. She stood there with furrowed eyes, waiting for me to finish what I had to say so she could leave. "You should really give her a second chance…" I began, unsure what exactly to say since this was all improvised. "Trust me, I know it must have hurt and probably still does when your expectations stab you in the back. But at some times, you have to just…forget what happened in the past and give it another chance. If it hasn't changed, then you have every right to do what you want. What I'm trying to say is, Twilight is the best friend a pony could ever have. I may have not known her as long as you have, but the point is the pony she is now is amazing. I'm sure you could see that, but your grudge from the past is blinding you."

Moon Dancer returned a heavy sigh after I finished. "Look, I don't care what kind of pony she is now. My point is that I don't care nor want anything to do with friendship. I just want to study, alright? Why is that so much to ask?" I had more to say, but honestly felt it would just be beating a dead horse. "Can I go now?"

With a silent sigh, I stepped to the side and allowed her to pass.

Just as she walked past, I made one last comment in hopes to convince her.

"So, I guess learning all of Twilight's studying methods won't matter either, huh?"

She stopped as her ears perked up. "…she promised to teach me Hayscartes' method."

"Well, she's going to be at the park in Canterlot, so…"

She lowered her head and appeared to think for a moment. Finally, she turned back to me. "I'll go, but only for her to keep her promise. That doesn't mean I have to be 'friends' with her."

I didn't exactly expect to change her ways miraculously with a single conversation. Twilight did have a plan and that was the whole point of bringing her to the park. I did the best I could, and all I could hope for Twilight was that she earned what she deserved.

"Sure." I shrugged. "Whatever you say…"

At least I was able to lead her to the park.

"What is she doing in the park anyway?" She asked as we arrived. "I'd figured she would have gone and left already."

"She has a surprise for you." I answered.

"The only 'surprise' I'm interested in is Hayscartes' method." She was almost starting to sound like a broken record. "I'm not staying for anything else."

It was no time after that when we saw the area practically filled to the brim with streamers, balloons, and all other kind of erratic party supplies. It had Pinkie written all over it. Despite Moon Dancer's attitude, it was absolutely clear she was taken aback by this surprise as she had released a large gasp.

"What is this?!" She asked, sounding both shocked yet agitated.

"It's a party. For you." Twilight came out of nowhere, wearing a party hat of her own. As Spike brought the cake and Twilight's friends joined along, she whispered to me softly. "Thanks for bringing her here."

"Surprise!" Pinkie Pie suddenly jumped out from the cake, planting a party hat on top of Moon Dancer's head and a party horn onto her mouth.

"Come on in!" Twilight invited.

Moon Dancer spat out her party horn. "Thanks but no thanks. I don't do parties." She repeated what she told me back at the library, following with a crushing of her party hat.

She started walking away from the direction of the party until Twilight teleported onto her way. "I know. And I think it's my fault. Back when we were in school together, you invited me to a party. I was so focused on my studies that I didn't show up."

"Big deal!" She exclaimed bitterly.

"It was a big deal. Twilight continued. "And now that I realize how important friendship is, I'd like to make up for my mistake with a new party. A party in honor of my friend Moon Dancer! Please, you've got to let me make this up to you." She passed over a stick to club the piñata she directed towards.

Moon Dancer rolled her eyes and annoyingly accepted, possibly to get the request over with and sneak in a release of aggression as well.

"And you think this is gonna do it, huh?" She inordinately stated as she walked towards the target.

"Uh, yes?" Twilight responded unsurely.

"Well, sure, why wouldn't it?" Moon Dancer took her first swing at the dangling puppet. "That was only the first time I put myself out there, and then you didn't even bother to show up!" She angrily pointed the stick towards Twilight. "Then you left town without saying goodbye even though we were supposed to be friends!" She turned her body around now, seeming to completely forget about the piñata. "I was humiliated! I felt like I wasn't important! I never wanted to let myself be hurt like that again! Those three finally convinced me that I had value!" She referred to the rest of Twilight's friends. "That other ponies might like me and want to be my friend! And you! Didn't! Show! Up!" At her breaking point, she screamed and threw the stick over Twilight's head, causing for others to duck behind. She threw herself to the ground and began sobbing, and none of us could feel anything other than pity or maybe even misery at the sight of her reaction.

Twilight walked forward and approached her, planting a hoof on hers. "You're right. This party can't make up for the way I hurt you. But please, don't let my mistake be the reason you can't be friends with anypony else."

Moon Dancer lifted her head up with tears streaming from her eyes.

"We were your friends then and we'd be honored to be your friends now." Minuette joined with the others.

Moon Dancer seemed to turn her quivering frown around when hearing this. However, Twilight grabbed her attention and directed her sight towards the entrance of the park. Spike presented three ponies, to which Moon Dancer recognized.

"What? That's the librarian! The bookseller! My sister!"

"You've got a lot of friends, Moon Dancer." Minuette reminded.

"I'm sorry, Moon Dancer." Twilight continued to apologize from the bottom of her heart. "I've faced magical creatures, the end of Equestria, all sorts of things. But seeing how my actions affected you, that was one of the worst feelings I've ever had."

With a final quiver and sniffle, she responded. "Thank you, Twilight. I never realized how much I needed to hear that." Glad to find their fences mended, Twilight invited Moon Dancer for an expressive embrace. Moon Dancer hesitated at first, but she soon delightfully accepted the feeling. By the time they pulled away, even Twilight was wiping tears from her eyes. "Now come on, everypony!" Moon Dancer surprisingly announced. "Let's party! Right?" She referred with Pinkie.

"Right!" As always, Pinkie Pie pulled out her party cannon and blasted a cannon ball of confetti.

As so, the party began, and it grew to last for a pretty long while. The whole day actually.

Spirit timidly joined in with a look on her face that seemed to express that she wasn't sure if she was invited or not. However, with the majority of Pinkie Pie's parties, any friend was invited. I was sure Spirit couldn't walk away from the smell of frosting and sight of candies and fun either way.

I was glad to be able be distracted from my earlier problems, almost completely forgetting them myself. Nevertheless, even with the moon raised, the party remained lively. But of course, everything soon had to come to an end.

"I think it's time for us to go, Moon Dancer." Twilight announced, approaching her as the rest of us from Ponyville tagged along.

"Thank you for helping me make some new friends. Even if they are my old friends." She expressed, showing her gratitude with a gentle hug.

"We'll come back and visit soon." Twilight assured.

"That would be great! You've still gotta teach me that Hayscartes technique!"

"Deal."

"Um, Moon Dancer?" Spike walked forward, holding something behind his back. "It got kinda banged up, but here's a little something I wanted to give you back at your first party."

Moon Dancer accepted the banged up gift-wrapped box, which actually was the present Spike had found when we first arrived at Twilight's old home. She unwrapped and soon came to tears when she saw what was inside. It was a picture frame with a picture obviously inside.

"Thank you so much, Spike! This is amazing!"

Twilight leaned over, taking a glance at it. It caused her to chuckle. "Heh. Wow. Look at me, huh?"

I also managed to have a glance and soon immediately stretched my eyes wide open at the sight of Moon Dancer in the picture. "You weren't kidding, Twilight! You two look really alike!"

The two looked at each other and soon began laughing out loud at my reaction, the others joining lightly.

After exchanging our goodbyes, as well as receiving a few more jokes of admiration from Minuette and the rest of her friends who also happened to the be the bridesmaids back at Princess Cadence's wedding, we began heading towards Ponyville on train this time.

"I'm glad to see things are all patched up now." I told Twilight.

"Yeah." She answered with a soft smile before it slowly moved to a small frown. "I'm sorry…about your dad though."

"It's fine." I responded, staring out at the moon past the window. "It's sort of weird. I can't say I exactly…forgive him. It's more like I've put it all past me, but obviously that doesn't mean I'll like him." I chuckled lightly. "To be honest, I don't think things will ever get any better between me and him. I guess it's the way it's meant to be. But hey…that's life. The important thing is…well…he's not the important thing. What matters are those who are actually important." I made sure to look at her. "An important lesson to keep in mind: Look towards those who help you, not back at those who hurt you."

"You're totally right about that." Twilight agreed. "Maybe that was what was holding Moon Dancer back… Maybe in her heart, she still thought of me as a pony who hurts her…but eventually, she fortunately saw that it was actually the other way around. I don't blame her. With the way I left, it's hard to forgive someone who treated you like the way I did to not only her but the rest of my old friends…"

"Well, you should probably move on and look forward to more new memories you'll make with them." I turned towards the window and at the moon. "I know I need to do the same."

I may not exactly have any friends I need to 'mend' with…but I think I might have just planted my last fences.

Is Any of This for Real?

I remember it was pouring. There were harsh almost flailing winds. Besides the howling winds, silence surrounded me. I felt myself drowning in punishing sorrow.

I was all alone.

I remember seeing him. The last pony I wanted to see.

I thought I had gotten rid of him for good.

"No. You can't be real…" I cried at the sight of him walking towards me step by step. "You don't exist anymore!"

"Surely you jest." He answered. "I am real. Everything here is real. Although I am Night Terror, this is in fact reality."

I couldn't accept it. I furiously shook my head.

As much as I fought both mentally and physically, I couldn't remove the sight of him. It felt like hours, maybe even days.

I tried to force myself to wake out of this nightmare. I would, but I, in fact, would be dragged onto another nightmare. And another. And another.

Just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore, I was finally…given freedom.

My senses changed. It was another exhausted night with my coat drenched in sweat. I fell off the side of my bed and remained lying there. I didn't want to do anything. I couldn't accept that I was really awake yet.

However, when I saw my mother's face appear in front me, it gave me hope that the nightmares had ended.

"Alex, answer me, are you alright?!" She asked frantically, but she managed to keep her voice low.

Holding my hoof to my head, I pushed myself up. "Are you here because of my dream? Well…more like nightmare."

"Yes. But this is no ordinary common circumstance, Alex. Tell me. What did you see in your dream?"

"I saw him…" I attempted to answer, recalling what I'd rather forget. "Night Terror. Appearing out of thin black smoke."

"Oh no…" Luna muttered frighteningly as she turned her head to the side.

"Why? What's going on?"

"Is Princess Twilight asleep?" She turned her head towards me, ignoring my question.

"I think so…"

"We must go check on her!" She exclaimed as she galloped out of the room.

"W-what?!" I lagged behind, forced to follow after her.

Inside Twilight's room, we found her definitely shifting around on her bed uncomfortably. Beads of sweat appeared on her head as she mumbled and groaned unnervingly.

I raced over to Twilight and placed my hooves on her, shaking her lightly. "Twilight! Twilight! Wake up!"

Her eyes slowly open, and her fumbling hooves ceased. However, she was still panting lightly when she saw me.

"…Alex?" She almost questioned weakly.

Brushing my hoof against the forehead underneath the front of her mane, I could tell she was certainly hot, and she needed to cool off.

"Princess Twilight." Luna approached her by her bedside. "Did you dream about a black smoke?"

Moaning shortly as she tried to search into her memory. "I…I think so… Something like that."

"This is not good… This is no good at all." Luna worriedly repeated, just like in my room.

"Mom, what is going on?"

"I can't explain right now." She shook her head. "You must gather the rest of your friends. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack. Now." She directed seriously.

I exchanged a look with Twilight, who appeared to be just as lost about the situation as I was. Nevertheless, we didn't hesitate to do what we were asked of. By the look on Princess Luna's face, this was no time to treat matters like they weren't of the upmost importance. In other words, there was no time to leave this until the morning, so we went out and gathered the rest of our friends as soon as we could.

I found Fluttershy in practically the same state, which concerned me even more. Luna hadn't explained yet what was going on. By what I've seen, did it have to do with some kind of…infectious dream disease or something? I could only imagine how the rest of the girls were doing.

Fluttershy had been in tears, and once I managed to wake her up, she gripped me tightly and almost didn't let go after some time. When we began flying over to Rainbow's place next, she told me what happened in her dream. It was disheartening to hear. She mentioned about seeing a black smoke, and then finding me, only I was not the same pony she knew. By what she described…it sounded like I had turned into some kind of abusive pony, which heavily reminded me of my foster dad. Even though it wasn't my nightmare to begin with, it still frightened me as I had to constantly remind myself after hearing that that I would not be like him.

Rainbow Dash had shown signs of enduring a nightmare, but for some reason, she didn't bother us with the details. In fact, she seemed too embarrassed to, as if it would puncture her hard-earned ego. Either way, all that mattered was that she was alright to us.

I believed Twilight and Spike, if he was up, took care of bringing the ponies back on the ground, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, so we reconvened at the castle.

"We've prepared everything exactly as you requested." Twilight told Luna among several spread of beds in Twilight's bedroom.

"Good. As you all slumber here, I will pursue the creature into whichever of your dreams it infests."

"Wait. You never even told us what's going on." I spoke up, lifting my curious hoof. "What's with this black smoke in our dreams? Why does this seem like such an urgent emergency?"

"That black smoke…" She sounded reluctant to fully explain the situation with us. "It's the Tantabus. It is a creature of my nightmares only. It escaped from my slumbers and must have found its way to yours."

"But how did it get into ours?" Fluttershy asked frightfully.

"It is like a parasite." She answered. "My dreams must no longer be enough for it. Now it seeks others to infect and corrupt. It must have learned of you all from seeing you in my dream."

"Whoa-whoa-whoa." Spike suddenly interrupted, having already been awoke in the room. "So what you're saying is... you dreamt about all of them, and not me?" He practically whimpered out.

"Spike!" Twilight turned towards him in a scolding manner. "This is serious!"

"So what's the big deal?" Rainbow Dash, taking the manner of the situation rather lightly. "It's not like we never have nightmares."

"This isn't just any kind of nightmare, Rainbow Dash." Princess Luna returned gravely serious. "I saw that the Tantabus had grown more powerful, but I did not realize that power was enough to enable it to escape my dreams. If its power grows, it could very well find a way to escape into the real world. It could turn all of Equestria into a living nightmare!"

"Okay… I take it back… That does sound really bad." Rainbow Dash revoked.

All of a sudden, I found her explanation strangely familiar. "Wait a minute… Turn Equestria into a living nightmare… Isn't that just like what…he tried to do?"

Luna solemnly nodded her head. "Yes…he…had the same kind of power. But he was stopped before it was too late. And we must stop this monster before it is too late as well."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Twilight asked, having grown in worry.

"As I was mentioning earlier, the rest of you shall go to sleep. I will pursue this creature and stop it myself."

"Are you sure you can do it all by yourself?"

"I am afraid nopony can help me tonight." Luna responded. "Only I have such power in the realm of sleep."

"You can just…take me along with you or something?" I asked for myself.

"Absolutely not." She shook her head sternly. Exploring dreams is one thing. This situation is absolutely dangerous for the inexperienced. This foe will be quick, and I will have no time to ensure your safety in crossing from dream to dream. I cannot allow the chance that you are harmed by this or perhaps even become lost in sleep, unable to wake up. Besides… You have all suffered so much because of me. You need only slumber while I hunt the Tantabus in your dreams."

Spike suddenly tugged on her mane. "I know you said nopony can help, but I'm no pony! I'm gonna stay up and watch over you guys just in case!" He proceeded to prove he was up to the task by climbing up and sitting down in bed, literally keeping his eyes wide open with the use of his claws.

Twilight appeared touched by this gesture. "Aw, thank you, Spike!"

"I just don't know if we'll be able to get back to sleep after having those nightmares…" Applejack mentioned, sharing with the others.

"Actually! I'm wide awake! In fact, I think I could just throw a 'Catch that scary Tantabus end our scary evil—'"

Pinkie disproved her solid alertness by immediately falling asleep without even finishing her sentence.

On the other hoof, Fluttershy looked as if she was going to have trouble falling asleep, especially after recalling the last nightmare she had. I took it upon myself to lay down next to her and keep her company as she attempted to return to sleep. Seeing as I wouldn't really be helping my mother this time around, I closed my eyes and waited for slumber as well.

My eyes opened to the unusual sight of a normal ceiling. The chirping of birds flowed through my ears. Was all of that just a dream? This looks like no nightmare. Not like the one with him anyway.

I stood up and found a window to my right. The land outside was definitely Ponyville, but as I turned to notice the home I had been resting inside, I found that it was somewhere I don't believe I had ever been in.

If this isn't a dream, then where are the others? Where are the castle walls? What kind of a place am I in?

Despite the sounds from the birds outside, everything else seemed quiet, as if I was the only pony that inhabited the entire town. It had taken me a while to realize that the room I had woken in was fairly small. Even though I had been the only one inside, it already felt a little cramped.

I walked out the room to notice a few other rooms on the same side. Across these rooms was a guarded ledge, revealing that I had been on the second level of this building which closely resembled a home. In fact, it almost even resembled mine. I walked down the flight of stairs that was directly in front of me and found some more areas underneath that were open. I took a gander at these empty but furnished spaces and began feeling as if this place was familiar. However, I couldn't recall a single moment when I had ever been in an area like this. But this was in Ponyville, so maybe there was a chance I actually had been here before?

Speaking of said town, I pushed the main door out to the front of the home that led me to the streets of Ponyville. There was no one in sight.

"…what's going on…?" I asked myself softly before I began walking towards the center of town, hoping I'd run into somebody that would perhaps have an explanation for everything.

I eventually reached the front of Sugarcube Corner. Still no sight of anyone, but surely Pinkie Pie had to be in there right?

Once I was inside, I looked around and especially noted the empty quarters. I had no words to speak or think on how I felt about the situation. However, for some reason, I didn't feel scared that I was alone. It was almost like I was observing the entire thing like a movie, rather than experiencing it for myself.

"Hi! There you are!" I suddenly heard from the counter when I had been turned away from it. "Your order is ready to go!"

"Pinkie Pie?" I noticed the mare at the counter. It was definitely her, but why did she look so much younger…? At least by a few years.

"Is there anything else you want? We got loads of more sugary goodness to satisfy any sweet tooth!"

She didn't look necessarily surprised to me. Did she even notice the lack of ponies inside?

"Speaking of 'we'… Do you have any idea where anyone is at?"

"Got it! Coming up!" She simply ignored and hopped towards the kitchen.

"Hey, wait!" I reached out before I followed her to the kitchen.

But by the time I caught up, she was no longer there.

After having been shown that there was no one else inside the building, not even Pinkie, whom I had seen behind the counter but a few minutes ago, it seemed there was nothing else to do but leave. As I stepped outside, I turned to take one last look. To my surprise, the entire building looked entirely inaccessible. It was fairly visible, but it appeared as if it faded away for the most part.

This is definitely a dream…but why haven't I seen Luna? For that matter, wasn't there something I was supposed to be keeping an eye out for? Something Luna was trying to catch?

As I observed my options for which way I could go, I now saw only one. The other paths faded just like the building. The way they looked was as if I was inside a map of Ponyville, and someone tore pieces of the map that gave me the opportunity to explore them.

Deciding to just sit back on this linear ride, I continued walking towards what I still could. When I was finally out of Sugarcube Corner, it faded away as a result like everything else.

I couldn't shake off the strange feeling of being involuntary led by strange patches of faded darkness, which blocked any other path I would have normally been able to take. Eventually, I caught on to Sweet Apple Acres. As expected, there was no sign of any pony living there. In fact, there weren't any animals either. There were just patches of trees, crops, and tools, if they weren't being blocked by the same faded patches.

With no sign of interest in sight, I really had no choice other than to investigate nearby sources for a clue. Just as I was about to look inside the well, another pony caught me off-guard with a rough yet equally feminine voice.

"I reckon you're wonderin' about your pay." I turned around to meet Applejack. However, just like with Pinkie Pie, she was smaller and younger. An Applejack I don't remember seeing before. This Applejack had twin pigtails and much skinner legs.

"A…Applejack?" I questioned.

"Not to fret." She ignored, showing me a capable stature. "I promise you'll get what you worked for by the end of the week."

"Pay…?" I repeated with a light squint of confusion.

Nevertheless, I was able to witness the disappearance of Applejack. She simply faded away, just like anything else I wasn't supposed to interact with.

"Gah…" I sighed with a dash of frustration. "How much longer is this going to go on?" I turned to see the rest of the farm and barn now become inaccessible, signaling me to move on.

Unexpectedly, I was led along a riverbed until I eventually reached a big open field. This place looked unfamiliar until I looked around realized that the surroundings seemed to ring a bell. But there was something big missing…

Recognizing the river pass through a bridge that hovered over, I felt a click in my mind. I imagined her cottage sitting on the same empty land, and it changed my perspective almost completely. This had to be the spot, but why wasn't the cottage here? The others looked much younger… Could it be that Fluttershy, at the same time, didn't have a cottage?

Despite that thought, I saw what must have been her seeming to admire the scenery. I began to approach her, ready to hear what felt like a scripted dialogue from the other two.

She jumped from the sight of me, especially since I had approached her from the back. "W-w-who are you?"

I decided to remain silent, wondering if anything that came from me mattered in getting a response. Nevertheless, I had to admit what she said next really…intrigued me…

"I…I remind you of someone…?"

Who is the pony she's supposed to be talking to? Because it sure can't be me. I've never met Fluttershy until she was at least a bit older, back when we were all united together by the Elements of Harmony. Just who can she be talking to…?

I shook my head. What am I thinking? This is a dream…and in a dream, anything happens…usually.

"Looks like you're clear, Fluttershy! Not only would you be by yourself, but you wouldn't be too far from where I'm gonna be staying at!"

Another familiar voice confirmed confidently as the pony the voice belonged to landed right by Fluttershy. She then looked at me…well in my direction at least.

"H-Hey! What are you doing here? This is supposed to be a private spot!" The Rainbow Dash in this dream asserted.

I responded with more silence.

"Well, Fluttershy here is not good around other ponies, so move on along buddy!"

Geez.

She directed her attention towards Fluttershy, and after seeing that there would be nothing more to gain from this area, I turned in the opposite direction and allowed myself to be led once more.

Seeing as I had been meeting all of the girls for some reason, the only two I could expect left were Rarity and Twilight, but I had been taken towards the boutique before I knew it. I walked inside, but practically like the fields missing Fluttershy's cottage, there was a whole lot of stuff missing inside boutique. It looked as if somepony just moved in here.

"Finally! I can see it now! My very own boutique! Oh, the swarm of customers I'm going to have when I produce all of the designs living inside my sketches! It's going to be fabulous."

Rarity from this realm had been eyeing the empty portions of her shop, presumably deciding what was going to go where. It didn't take long for her to sense my presence. She gasped at the sight of me and quickly galloped to service me. "My very first customer! Yes, darling? What can I get you?" Even if I had a chance to speak, there wasn't much time to get much a word out before she continued on. "I may not have anything here per se, but I'd be happy to place in an order! Here, here!" She ran over to the counter and opened a sketchbook. "I may not have the finished designs with me here, but I do have quite the variety to choose from right here." She tapped the pages and constantly flipped through them. "If you like something you see, by all means, tell me! I'd be happy to make any changes should you want something more on the original design." She appeared to study me for a quick moment. "Oh, you know what?! I believe I might just have something you'd absolutely adore! Stay right here!" In a flash, she raced up the stairs of her boutique. Despite her excited request, I was unable to stay, even if I wanted to. Things were fading away, and it was time for me to go.

Outside, there was hardly anything else left of Ponyville for me to go to. There was only one direction that seemed clear for me to head on. And from what I could see from where I was currently standing, it was the entrance of the Everfree Forest.

I suppose it was calming and somewhat reassuring that I could walk through the forest with ease, seeing as I didn't have to worry about any monsters or creatures residing in these woods apart from the occasional hanging branch or two. As I walked, I noticed that it seemed to begin drizzling overhead. The sky had grown darker until it was nighttime.

"What are you doing here?" I heard a seemingly distress voice call out.

I quickly turned my eyes back in front of me and finally noticed her.

"Twilight!" I called without hesitation.

She didn't exactly seem happy to see me. Instead, she appeared to be sort of worried while keeping her guard up for any threats at the same time. This had to be the dream Twilight too…

"You shouldn't be here. It's too dangerous!"

Now what is she talking about…?

"I'm trying to convince you to leave! Please! Something bad is lurking around here!"

All I could do was practically stare at her, observing any little change within her face. Despite looking worried, her face was filled with persistence until it suddenly switched onto surprise.

"Huh…?"

At this point, I desperately wished I could know what she was talking about, or what the pony on the other side of the conversation was saying. It was all a missing puzzle for me. But the question remained. Was this something I needed to know about?

"What are you talking about? Look, if you're looking for somepony, I'll help you! But we have to get out of here first. I can help you, I promise!"

Looking for somepony…

"Calm down. Please! I don't want to fight you! I want to help you, but like I said, we can't be here!"

Fight?!

Before she could say anything further, there was a sudden blinding light. A moment passed before I was able to see again. What I then saw lying on the moist ground shocked me. Twilight laid motionless as raindrops pummeled her body from the sky.

In a state of panic, I quickly raced to her. I was able to pick her up, but it made no change. She didn't wake up, but a piece of worry escaped from me when I noticed that she was still breathing. However, she eventually faded away, and the part of the forest that I came from enveloped in darkness.

I turned towards the only way I could move on, and what remained before my eyes was the Castle of the Two Sisters.

This is definitely no ordinary dream. It couldn't be. Was this all happening on purpose?

I shook my head almost fiercely. The only thing I could do at the moment was keep moving forward.

Once I was inside the castle, I suddenly felt a subtle realization that this was the last place I was going to be visiting. How? When I looked behind me, the front doors were now blocked by the fading darkness, which meant I was no longer going to be allowed to escape through there. It didn't help that every passageway of the castle, from what I could see, was also being blocked off. If there wasn't going to be a way out of the castle, then what else was I going to do but reach the inevitable dead end?

As I stepped forward to explore further, a green spark suddenly combusted on the ground. Seconds after, green flames enveloped into a circle in front of me, appearing to look similar to the base of a spotlight.

Green flames… Why is that so familiar…?

I decided to take the chance of stepping in between the flames. After a bright transition, I found myself in what appeared to be the giant room with the humongous organ that Pinkie had been playing at the end of our huge misunderstanding that one time we visited the castle. However, green sparks at each side of me grew into rather large flames that practically touched the ceiling of the room. They led straight ahead towards the end of the room where the organ was at.

I swear I heard a disturbing yet somewhat familiar sinister laughter, but the room remained empty. Finally, the same set of green flames circled around another particular spot in front of the organ. There was once again obviously no other way to go, so I followed and stepped into the guiding ring.

I was now in a small compacted room. Utterly no way out. This had to be the last area. It had to be, and then I could finally wake up. Taking a quick look around, I realized that this was the secret room Twilight and I had found in the library. The room where Twilight read the Journal of the Two Sisters.

"I didn't think you'd find me." I heard, causing me to immediately look in the direction it came from. "After all… I'm not supposed to exist anymore."

There, in front of me, despite what little room we had, another pony stood. The majority of his figure was covered with what looked like a hoodie… A hoodie that looked just like… Spirit's?

I stepped closer so that we were only a few steps away for a proper conversation. I didn't say anything, as I expected him to continue on as if I didn't even matter like with the others. He turned and revealed his face towards me.

"So…you've got nothing to say?"

"H-huh?" I responded with surprise.

He only smiled softly as he proceeded to remove the hood from his head, giving me a clear view of his face.

I immediately softly gasped at the sight of him. He had two different colors for his eyes…just like Spirit! In fact, if I was seeing things right, I swear the color of his eyes were exactly the same colors Spirit had. His coat. His mane. They looked almost just like mine! No way… Was this…me? No. By the account of his eyes, there was no way it could be. So, who was this…?

"…C…can you hear me?" I asked, deciding to see if maybe this wasn't just another scripted dialogue.

"Yeah, I can." He replied.

I felt myself gulp. I wasn't exactly afraid, but it was more like I was speechless.

"What's going on? Who are you?"

He chuckled lightly. "I'm no one. Like I said before, I shouldn't even exist."

"But you're here now." I stated the obvious.

"Yeah, I am." He turned away. "And it seems like there's nothing I can really do about it. How about it, huh? I can't just…disappear and forget about everything. No, I have to deal with the fact of being all alone with nowhere to go…and still deal with the memories that I have…but at the same time lost." He paused for a moment. "I could have protected her. I swear I could have…but…" He drew out a long depressing sigh.

"What are you talking about…?" I simply asked.

He solemnly shook his head. "Nothing I can change now." He turned his head towards me. "There may be nothing left for me to do…but there is for you, so I have a favor to ask of you." He drew closer to me, and I felt the slight need to back away. But I didn't. "I need you to take this seriously."

"You're not making much sense…" I tried to explain my confusion.

"Forget about what sense I'm making. Just listen to this." He requested. "You need to take care of her."

"I don't even know who you're talking about." I stated frankly. "This 'her', if she's so important to you, then shouldn't you be the one to care of her?"

"I can't!" He practically shouted, his head sulking towards to the ground as if he was about to cry. "You still exist." He managed to express. "You still matter. To her…" I had nothing to respond with yet again. I could only watch as he continued to dig up words that seemed to be important. "She may have left me…but she still has you. So please. Promise that you'll look after her. Promise that you'll protect her. You're the only one that can." He lifted his head to take a closer look at me. "Don't you see? That's exactly why it has to be you."

He told me to take this request seriously, but I wasn't sure if I could. This was supposed to be a dream, after all, so how did I know that any of this was real?

"At least…" I said. "…tell me her name."

A sense of relief seemed to wash over his face as he managed to pull out a small smile.

"Her name… You should know that her name is—"

Alex!

I heard a muffled and distanced call.

"H-huh?" I questioned, but this call repeated and continued frantically.

The pony in front of me began warping and fading away from my sight, as if the entire dream I had been in began to tear apart. Was I finally waking up?

Alex!

That's… Twilight's voice…

Soon enough, everything from my dream disappeared into a bright light rather than a deep darkness.

I awoke under another ceiling, but this time, I had a pony's face there to greet me. This had to be reality now, right?

"Alex! You're awake! Hurry, you have to help us!" She spoke frantically, already pulling my hoof heavily before I could even try to ask her about what had been the issue in the first place.

"Hey, Twilight! W-what's going on?!"

"There's no time to explain now! The Tantabus is getting bigger by the second, and everybody is giving it all they've got to stop it! But soon enough, it'll be too powerful to stop!"

"Wait!" I stopped her briefly, remembering that this Tantabus was the monster Luna was searching for through dreams in the first place. "You mean it found its way to reality?!"

"What?" Twilight grew puzzled for a second. "No! We're still in a dream!"

Seeing how I had just woken up, I couldn't grasp the logic behind it. Was I dreaming in a dream? What?

"Hurry! There's no time!" She continued to pull me out of the home I had been in.

"It's about time!" I heard above me in the sky. I saw Rainbow Dash dressed in what looked like her Power Pony costume as she shot lightning at the huge target in the sky. I took notice of what appeared to be the entirety of Ponyville, for some ponysaken reason, fighting against the Tantabus. If we're still dreaming, does that mean Luna brought everyone in one single dream?! Where is she?

"The reason it's been getting bigger and more powerful is because it's feeding off Luna's guilt." Twilight explained by my side. "She created it because she felt she needed to punish herself for what she did as Nightmare Moon."

"What?!" I immediately turned towards Twilight in shock. "But that was so long ago. Why would she feel the need to punish herself even now?"

"We've been trying to convince her that she's a different pony now, but it didn't help that you were still stuck in a sleep she couldn't bring you out of. That's why I had to go in there and try to wake you up myself in any way I could! I needed to show her that you were okay, and if anyone could completely convince her that she isn't who she used to be, it's her own son!"

I felt myself needing to take a pause to fully grasp what Twilight was explaining to me. Nevertheless, even if I didn't understand clearly at the time because of the growing monster that was literally covering the entire sky at this point, I looked seriously towards Twilight. "Where is she?"

She took me to this luminescent and transparent bubble that stood in the center of Ponyville. I could see thin bright white strings all stem from the tip of her horn. Most importantly, Luna laid in that bubble as tears fell painfully from her eyes. Whether it was from the weight of the guilt Twilight mentioned she was lying under, or all the strength being sapped from her body due to the magic she was performing, it had to be stopped.

"Mom!" I galloped towards her.

"Alex!" She exclaimed after having opened one eye to notice me. "You're awake!"

"Listen to me." I spoke. "You can't keep feeling guilty for what you've done in the past. It's not healthy and it'll only keep you from getting past it!"

"The others tell me this…but if I forgive myself now, how can I possibly make it up to everyone for all the evil I unleashed? It is because of me that Night Terror escaped. It is because of me that you've been hurt multiple times. It is because of me that you had to witness your own father fall before your eyes! How can you forgive me for all the pain I've caused since the very moment you were born?!"

"Because you're my mother and I don't want to lose you to anything!" I stated as loudly as I could. "You can't blame yourself for any little thing that happened to me. You couldn't control any of it. If you blame yourself for any little thing like that, then you'll never forgive yourself."

Her eyes jumped around to every corner of her eyes, revealing the difficulty of juggling her thoughts and keeping her magic as stable as she could.

"With all due respect, you're not thinking straight!" I told her honestly. "If I was to punish myself the same way like you are, then I would never forgive myself for the amount of pain you're going through right now. Why? Because all this guilt you're under is not just from everyone in Equestria. Most of it is me, isn't it? Because I'm your only child! You wouldn't want to see me fighting that kind of guilt, would you?!"

"N-no…!" She strained. "Otherwise, I'd hate myself even more!"

"And it all just becomes an endless cycle of guilt!" I stated. "That's why we need to forgive ourselves and find peace with what we've done! You won't fix anything by what you're putting yourself through!"

"Alex…" She stared softly at me.

"Please…" I stepped closer to her. "For my sake, don't hate yourself. After all, as bad as it seems, if you hadn't become Nightmare Moon, I wouldn't even exist right now. And because I am living right now with all the loving friends I've been blessed with, it's the best thing I could have ever asked for. So, that's why…sometimes…even good things can come from the bad. That's why…everything happens for a reason." I lifted my hoof and carefully began extending it out towards her. "I love you, mom."

Her eyes widened as she witnessed my hoof coming towards her. She slowly began extending her hoof out as well.

"I love you too." She said before our hooves touched, and then starting from between us, everything enveloped in another bright light before eventually fading out.

I heard muffled voices, each that were fairly distinguishable.

"Shh!" I heard next to me, leading me to finally open my eyes.

For the third time now, I found the first thing I saw to be yet another ceiling. Hopefully, I wasn't just dreaming yet again.

"See. He's completely fine." I heard from my bedside. Twilight's face soon popped onto my sight. She had been giving me some sort of smug smile.

"Is it over…?" I asked from a lack of awareness.

"It's over." She responded.

"Where…is my mom?"

Twilight pointed towards the center where all of our beds had been arranged. On a couple of pillows, she laid there asleep. But this time, it was clear she was no longer under any kind of distress or guilt. Instead, she was sound asleep.

"Huh. Wonder what she's dreaming about now." Spike asked, taking notice of the small smile on her lips.

"I'm guessing she's finally found her peace of mind." I assumed.

Removing ourselves from the room which Luna slept, we gathered in the throne room. Twilight led the flurry of questions that had been thrown at me about my part in the massive dream that had just taken place a few minutes ago.

She explained that before Luna began that massive dream with everyone from Ponyville in it, due to a mishap from Pinkie Pie, everyone had woken up from their dreams except me. She mentioned that Luna couldn't find the reason why I wouldn't wake up, even when she tried to wake me up herself. Of course, it made things even worse for her when she became too overwhelmed at one time, all having to do with the guilt she already had, the Tantabus, and me. To put it simply, it was like being in charge of a city, and every pony unexpectedly began coming to you with a different urgent problem. You wouldn't even have time enough to think.

"I was in this weird dream." I explained myself. "A dream that…didn't exactly feel like mine. I watched things happen in the dream, but it felt like if I had no part in it as you usually would. In other words, I guess it was like if I was watching some other pony's dream…except for...one last part." They waited to hear me continue on by what I meant by that 'one last part', but it was something I believed wasn't exactly necessary to say. I didn't get that last part myself, so I didn't think there was a chance they'd understand it either. "Anyways, I think I was…dreaming inside a dream."

"Geez…" Twilight expressed. "It must have been some deep sleep. It took forever to wake you up. And that's because I was trying to wake you up in a dream!"

"Gaahh!" Rainbow Dash suddenly yelled out. "All this talk of dreams is hurting my brain! Come on! Let's go get some breakfast!"

I suppose I couldn't really argue with Rainbow Dash there. In fact, trying to come to an understanding of what I went through began to overwhelm me, stacking on everything else I already had unanswered questions about throughout my lifetime. Based on what we all experienced last night, I definitely don't need to be keeping all this on my mind.

"Yeah, sure."

However, I decided I would stop by to check on Luna before I went ahead and caught up with them.

I entered the room and found her in the same manner we left her. I observed her for a while, feeling the liberty to smile softly at the sight of her. I don't remember if I've ever seen her sleep. Either way, it was nice to see her sleeping so peacefully. It was almost like watching one of Fluttershy's critters cuddle up and nap adorably.

I suppose I wanted to speak with my mother some more. I wanted to tell her how much she mattered to me. I wanted to tell her that, despite the many things that we could mutually consider "bad" happening to us, they all had a part to play to better ourselves. Just like with my late father, sometimes things are horrendously difficult to do, but you gotta pull through and do it for the good of what it brings.

I had been staring at the floor next to Luna as I was struck deep in thought. However, something caught me in the corner of my eye. It appeared Twilight came for a visit as well.

"I didn't expect to see you here, Twilight." I mentioned.

With a small grin, she answered. "Yeah, well… I figured if you're going to be my brother and all, I should look after Luna like a mother too." It didn't take long for her to make a weird face at the sound of that. "I'm sorry. I don't know if I can go as far as to call her my mom…" She chuckled lightly. "Not that I don't like her or anything but…"

"I get it." I answered. "You've…kind of already have a mom to think about."

There was a moment of silence between us before she walked closer towards me. "Hey… Remember when you woke me up? When Luna needed us together so she could try to catch Tantabus?"

"Yeah? Why?"

"The dream I had… I couldn't remember at the time because of everything that had been going on, but I remember pieces of it now. Enough to try to make something out of it."

"Would you really want to remember a nightmare…?" I questioned, revealing a bit of my concern.

"It wasn't just any nightmare." She stated clearly, and then adverted her eyes to the side. "I really don't know if it's worth telling you this, but seeing as you played a big part in that dream, I feel like I should tell you."

She caught my interest when she mentioned that I "played a big part" in her dream.

"All I can remember is…you and I weren't friends. In fact, I think everything about us now was just wiped away from existence. Like everything we've been through never happened. And the scariest part of that was…we were fighting."

She looked deeply distressed about this. I couldn't lie, it did sound frightening.

"You know nothing can ever tear us apart though, right?" I reminded. "In the end, that's all it was: a dream." With a little laugh, I lightly messed with her mane as if she was a little child. "I think the closest we'd ever get to a fight would be one out of love."

"It does make me feel a lot better to hear you say that." She admitted. "But still, sometimes dreams can get to you a bit."

"I know. But you know what you probably need? Some breakfast. I'm sure Pinkie wouldn't mind making some pancakes for us to gobble down."

"Yeah, you're right." She answered with a bright smile. "I'll meet you there." She assured, turning around and leaving me to watch her tail swing back and forth as she left the room.

I took another look at Luna.

She was still pretty out cold, but it was in a good way.

I didn't want to risk bothering her any longer, as I believed she deserved a very long rest.

Nevertheless, I couldn't help but kneel by her and give her a quick peck on the cheek.

Canterlot Boutique

I took a minute or two in picking out a bouquet from a flower shop in Canterlot. I was sure that the pony receiving this bouquet wouldn't care much about the look of it but rather care about receiving the arrangement in the first place.

This arrangement of flowers wasn't for Fluttershy this time though…

Rarity had recently just opened her new shop here at Canterlot. It had been her dream ever since she was a filly, but I remember how much she talked about it ever since I met her. Now that she's finally done it, I had to do so much more than just show up and support her.

As I walked out of the shop and headed in the direction of the grand opening of Canterlot's greatest and newest boutique, I began to think about the star of the moment.

I would be lying if I said I never felt bad about Rarity, especially in key moments. I'm talking about her feelings for me…and how they'll have to stay in a standstill, considering my relationship with Fluttershy. To be entirely honest, I wish there was some way to satisfy her feelings. Just thinking about how hard she works while having to deal with an unrequited love bothered me. It made me feel guilty, because I was the one she chose to pursue.

And you can't just get over someone so quickly or easily, especially if you're going to be with them for a long time. I can't imagine how she's been able to deal with this and at the same time follow her dreams closely. Despite having high standards when it comes to food, fashion, and the like, she really is a strong pony.

I stopped and observed the arrangement of flowers for a moment. Is it a good idea to be giving these to here? Could it possibly remind of her feelings, considering she's not thinking about them at the moment?

I shook my head. I really want to give these to her. I really do.

I sighed heavily.

I know she would appreciate these… I want her to know that I appreciate every little thing about her. About how she always helps not only me but all her friends. And I want her to know how proud I am of her for having worked so hard to achieve today's result.

Remembering the time, I had to shake off the clouded thoughts and worries in my mind if I wanted to get these flowers to Rarity on time.

By the time I got to the boutique, there had already been a huge crowd at the front, causing me to sigh in slight frustration. I'm not going to be able to get through everyone here unless I'm willing to become a public menace. I decided that I would wait until the doors opened. That still won't stop it from being a nice surprise.

As soon as I saw those doors open, I expected to see Rarity, and I did for a second. However, another pony I did not recognize took the stage, and she exclaimed her welcome out to everypony gathered here.

"Welcome to the grand opening of Canterlot Carousel!" She ensued cheers from the gatherers.

After everypony rushed in, but immediately slowed down to a walk inside, I followed behind, keeping my space from the others so they wouldn't mess with the flowers. The same pony that announced the welcome to everypony greeted me inside, but as soon as she noticed the wings and horn, she reacted differently.

"Oh! You must be the Prince! Your friends have been expecting your arrival. I'm Sassy Saddles. Pleased to meet you!" She held out her hoof so we could formally greet each other.

"Call me Alex." I accepted her hoof and shook with a friendly smile. "Do you mind telling me where Rarity and the others are?"

"Right over there!" She pointed out the group of mares who had seemed to be already looking our way. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I'm afraid I must continue welcoming our guests."

Sassy Saddles… She must be working for Rarity.

As I approached the others, I noticed most of them appeared to look bothered for some strange reason. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting when I'd arrive…but it didn't stop me from approaching Rarity with her congratulatory gift either.

"Congratulations, Rarity." I commended with warm grin and presented the flowers towards her.

"Oh! A-are these for me?" She stood still, stunned by the sight of the flowers.

"Of course. I just thought I'd get you something nice to show you how pr—"

"Why, they're marvelous darling! Thank you!" Holding the bouquet for her boutique aside with her magic, she threw her hooves around me in ecstatic joy. Whatever that seemed to have been bothering her before now disappeared. As I endured Rarity's constricted yet ladylike embrace, I notice Twilight giving me some kind of a smug yet joyous smirk.

"Rarity, are you ready to reveal the collection?" We heard behind us, which caused Rarity to let go and enthusiastically respond.

"Yes! Yes, I am!" She turned towards Fluttershy behind her. "Fluttershy, dear, could you help Twilight get ready?"

"Oh, certainly." She accepted, taking Twilight to another room.

"What's Twilight doing?" I asked, seeing as I must have missed something while I had been out getting the bouquet.

"Presenting my very own 'Reign in Stain', of course! It is a dress inspired by the window in Canterlot Castle commemorating her very coronation!" Rarity looked like she could go on for the entire day, but she instantly remembered her potential customers waiting for her to reveal her showcase. "If you please excuse, I must dazzle my audience. Hold these, please?" She tilted her head as she fluttered her eyelashes at me, holding the flowers in front of me.

Working her charm, even for me.

"Of course, m'lady." I lightheartedly joked and took a hold of the flowers.

"Fillies and gentlecolts! I am designer and couturier Rarity, I'd like to welcome you to the grand opening of Canterlot Carousel, and I'm thrilled that you are here to see my newest collection inspired by this regal city!" She unveiled a curtain, revealing a fresh innovative line of signature dresses.

As every one of them either took pictures or simply voiced their awe at the sight of her dresses, I simply clapped. I decided I would go find a vase and water so I'd have somewhere to place the flowers in while Rarity had her moment.

Still having been unfamiliar with the layout of the building, I opened the first door I came across to find a rather unexpected sight. It appeared Fluttershy was just finishing up getting the dress Rarity had prepared on Twilight.

"Need a hoof…?" I offered anyway.

"Actually…" Fluttershy began. "Could you come here and hold this part while I pull the rest of the dress down?"

She directed my attention over to the portion of the dress being held by Twilight's chest. It seemed she wanted to stretch out the rest of the dress so the ends would meet with the floor, but I would play the part of holding the front of the dress towards Twilight's chest so it wouldn't be dragged down as well.

I placed my hooves around her upper body, and it almost made us look as if we were getting ready to dance. I found it funny, but it was a little…unusual as well, seeing as we pretty much just stared at each other the entire time while Fluttershy was finishing up.

"So…" Twilight emphasized, almost as if she was playfully trying to make things awkward between us. "Those flowers you got for Rarity were really a nice thought." She noticed the flowers I held aside with magic.

"I was trying to look for some water and something to hold them, but I end up coming across you two." I mentioned.

I wasn't sure if Twilight didn't know what to say afterwards, but she chose to not respond with words. She only offered a somewhat understanding look with a soft smile before Fluttershy announced that she had finished.

"Okay! That about does it. Let's get you outside!"

I let go of Twilight and watched her walk out, joining her shortly afterwards. As much as I wanted to get the flowers a base of water, I decided I couldn't miss Twilight's debut as she gracefully walked down the stairs in Rarity's premiere dress.

"Fillies and gentlecolts, I, Sassy Saddles, am pleased to introduce the grand finale of the grand opening of Rarity's Royal Regalia – the 'Princess Dress'!" We heard the announcement protruded from the first floor.

It didn't sit right as soon as I heard it, but I couldn't think too much about it as it had been Twilight's cue to show off said dress. As soon as the spotlight was on her, there was a look of bashfulness yet modesty as she waved off to the crowd looking up to her. It was clearly audible that she received nothing but praise and cheer. She then stepped towards the end of the steps to meet with the others. At that time, Sassy Saddles continued speaking.

"Everypony, please follow me and you can all place your orders for the Princess Dress!" Holding a couple of clipboards, she entered the main counter, immediately taking orders by the many ponies surrounding her in excitement.

The other girls, including Fluttershy and Twilight, joined Rarity to congratulate her.

"Rarity's Royal Regalia is amazing! And everypony seemed to love the Princess Dress!" Twilight expressed.

"You bet your saddle they did." Sassy Saddles didn't take long to join in with a huge stack of papers. "Rarity now has one hundred orders for her signature gown!"

Rarity stammered a bit when her eyes laid at the proof right before her. "One hundred orders?! All at one time?!"

"According to my pattern, the next piece is The Success of the Signature Dress, so I do not see the problem!" I had to admit she responded a bit obliviously. I didn't think she was going to be making the dresses, was she?

This seemed to cause some awkwardness with the other girls that were present watching, so they apparently decided to distract themselves by taking part with the refreshment table.

Rarity cleared her throat…a bit aggressively. "First of all, Sassy Saddles, I would have appreciated getting to name the final gown from my collection myself."

I now began to witness this sort of interior tension that I apparently didn't notice before.

Beginning with a short laugh, Sassy Saddles raised her defensive stance on the matter. "My research shows that your 'Reign in Stain' name was a play on words that was both very confusing and quite unappealing."

Rarity obviously forced her own temper to not get out of hoof, reacting with a rather disgruntled laugh. "While I see your point, we should have discussed it prior to the grand opening, Sassy."

"My only goal is for Canterlot Carousel to succeed. That's why I changed the name, and that is why I took all those orders for the Princess Dress." She explained her actions, seeming to look as if she felt guilty for what she did. However, the authenticity of her guilt was questionable.

"But... But receiving orders for one hundred dresses in one day, it's just too much too soon!"

Of course, I had my opinions on the matter that I felt like expressing. Opinions that mainly sided with Rarity. But I didn't feel it would be right to voice them, not during the current moment at least.

"Are you actually saying we should... cancel these orders?!"

"Wha... But... Uh, n-no, Sassy. Promises were made, and I shall sew my very best to provide each and every pony a Princess Dress full of TLC."

"Oh, thank you, Rarity, thank you!" Sassy Saddles expressed with delight as she hugged Rarity before walking away to continue on with her work.

Rarity expectedly reacted with a hefty sigh.

"Ah…" I finally spoke. "…so, this is a problem."

"Oh, no, no, no." Rarity responded, turning towards me. "I'm sure it's just a lack of communication between the two of us. I'm sure everything she's doing is solely for Canterlot Boutique's success." As expected, it sounded like she was trying to make it seem better than it actually was.

"A hundred orders, Rarity?" I reminded, drawing out the topic that needed to be discussed about right away. "Don't you remember what happened with Hoity Toity? That's way too much for you to handle at a single time."

"It's fine. I'm fine." A nervous laugh slipped through her lips. "It's all a part of the job, and no matter what happens, I must keep my promises."

"Will you at least let us help you…?" I asked, seeing how much this decision was important to her. It'd be a waste of time trying to convince her out of it somehow, especially if she stuck through.

"I appreciate the offer, Alex." She placed a hoof on my chest. "I do, but I'd rather not have the rest of you do work you're not obligated to do. If I am to be a successful business pony, I need to be able to handle my responsibilities on my own."

I couldn't say anything at that moment. Instead, I was thinking about how she should be celebrating the grand opening of her boutique, not jumping straight to work. Rarity noticed the flowers I had been keeping at bay for her and gently grabbed a hold of them.

"I am truly thankful for these, Alex. They'll inspire me to do my best." She attempted to encourage me out of my worries. I found it funny, seeing that I wasn't the pony who should be hearing motivating words.

I shook my head for a short moment. "I don't want to keep you away from doing your work then." I snatched a look at the stack of papers she'd have to work on for possibly a long time. "Let me know whenever you're finished. I'd love to take you out for drinks or dinner or something. It's the least I can do."

She managed to let out a small genuine chuckle. "You might want to watch what you say in case any pony misunderstands your intentions."

"My intentions?" I stood puzzled for a brief moment before I recalled what I said. "You know what I mean!" I assured a little embarrassingly.

Nevertheless, I was kind of relieved to see her having a laugh out of pushing my buttons.

"Thank you." She expressed with one last calm smile before she began her long trek down a mountain of orders.

Before we left, everyone didn't forget to ask if they could help with the dresses, but just like with me, she refused politely. Eventually, we were outside of her newly established boutique waving goodbye. Walking back towards the train station, I heard the girls express their worries about Rarity, making me lag behind every time. It came to the point where I came to a complete stop, and the rest of them repeated that action and looked behind with concern.

"You coming?" Twilight asked.

"Actually…" I paused midway, trying to gather my thoughts on how to convince myself with what I was about to say was really what I wanted. "I think I'm gonna stay here a bit. I know Rarity said she could handle it, but… I just want to make sure she doesn't…I don't know…fall into another one of her dramatic 'wallowing' episodes." I tried to end with a lighthearted joke in hopes to keep them from worrying for me now.

They looked at each other for a moment before Twilight turned back to me to answer. "Sure. But if anything happens, let us know. If she…you know…breaks down from all the work she has to do, we all want to be there to support her."

"Yeah, of course." I promised.

Fluttershy stopped by in front of me before they continued on.

"I know you'll be able to take care of her if she needs it. You've always been good at that." She offered with a sweet smile. After a brief kiss, she went on to join the others and we separated our ways for the day.

Since I finally had more time to go over what I had just decided, I then thought about how Rarity would react.

Would she be mad? No, I don't think so. As long as I didn't bother her while she worked, it should be fine, right? Should I find a place to stay for the night? Well, considering her boutique is a livable space, like the one she has back home, maybe she could let me stay with her. In the end, all I want to do is support her.

The bell above the door rang as I entered back in, alerting the pony working at the desk in the front. She looked up, most likely expecting it to be a customer until she saw me. Despite that, she removed herself from behind the counter and approached me.

"Prince Alex? I thought you and your friends had left back to Ponyville." Sassy Saddles questioned.

"They did, but I thought I'd stay for Rarity. I just…want to make sure she doesn't put work over sleep or anything." I explained.

"With all due respect, I'd appreciate if you leave her be to work." She stated quite frankly. "With how many orders she has, she won't have much time to spend leisurely."

"Yeah, I get that. It's just… I want to be here in case the work gets too much for her. It's hard for me to go back home when I'm worrying that Rarity might just pass out over all the work she needs to do."

"She'll be fine." Saddles assured. "If I know Rarity, she's tackled enough difficulties in her career to be able to handle this boutique just fine."

"Sassy, who is that?" I heard another voice. It seemed Rarity had tried to peek out into the lobby but her hired assistant nudged her back to working on the dresses.

I wanted to cross my hooves and let out an agitated look from behind my face, but I didn't want to get kicked out anyway, should that be deemed too offensive or something. It was Canterlot after all, and this Sassy Saddles seemed to think she was running the show instead.

"Look, I won't bother Rarity. I just want to be around just in case something happens." I confirmed my intentions.

The bell rung once again behind me, causing Sassy Saddles to look over my shoulder. "Alright, I suppose that'll be fine. However, as much as I adore you, Prince, I'm afraid I must please ask that you should not disturb Rarity while she's finishing her orders. If you have any questions or needs to be addressed, please, come talk to me. If you'd please excuse me, I must attend to these lovely mares."

She went on ahead past me to speak with said mares, allowing me to move on upstairs where I could find somewhere to think. To be honest, I really did want to speak with Rarity, at least let her know I was here, but I decided I would wait a while both for Rarity's and Sassy Saddle's sake. As I thought about the way she spoke to me, I found it hard to believe whether she really wanted what was the best for Rarity, or if she intended to use her instead.

I couldn't believe she was that bad of a pony, but at the same time, the way she handles things around here is a little…off. Maybe it's just the way she's used to.

After all, like I said, this is Canterlot.

Waiting for a chance to talk with Rarity was practically like waiting for an appointment with a doctor under a booked clinic. I didn't understand why I found myself now following under Sassy Saddle's rules when she wasn't even the one in charge. As I thought about it, I could only come to the conclusion that I was sticking to the rules for Rarity. Still, that didn't change the fact that this seemed more like Sassy Saddle's shop with Rarity being the hired work behind the scenes.

"Rarity! I'm going out for some lunch!" I heard from the bottom floor. "I'll go ahead and bring back something exquisite for you!" I saw her open the front door and walk out, leading me to sigh in relief. I didn't bother walking down the steps. Instead, I jumped off from the top of the stairs and slowed my landing slightly with the use of my wings.

I could immediately spot Rarity inside a small room that looked rather cramped from all the dress-making tools inside. She stood right near a mannequin and was focused completely on her work, so there was no way she'd notice me unless I made some kind of sound.

I knocked lightly on her open door.

"Yes?" Rarity returned but kept her eyes glued to her work.

"Hey, Rarity." I answered, causing her to quickly pause for a moment before she looked over her mannequin to see me.

"Alex?! I-I thought you had gone back to Ponyville!"

"I thought I should stick around here for a bit…" I stepped in and looked around the room casually. Eventually, my sights came across a vase with a specific arrangement of flowers living inside. "Oh, hey. I see you managed to get them in water."

"Yes, of course." She replied. "They're just so beautiful. I'd like them to last as long as they can. After all, they've been one of the most influential things on my mind that have kept me going on with these one hundred orders…of the same dress."

I wanted to dive into the topic with her, but I wasn't sure how to start it. At one point, I just decided to go with the first question that popped in my mind.

"This isn't as you thought it would be, is it?"

"H-huh?" I assumed that question caught her off-guard after seeing her slightly staggered reaction. "What do you mean?"

"Well, don't take this wrong way, Rarity, but look at you. I'd think you'd be in here humming or singing your heart out as you worked on the dresses you designed while standing inside of the boutique you've always wanted in Canterlot. But…you don't look like you have that same sparkle in your eyes like you do at Ponyville."

"Oh, that? I'm sure it's just been…a very long day. A very busy long day." She continued silently working with the dress laid out on her mannequin as if she didn't have much else to defend herself with.

"There's something that's been on my mind since our last talk here, Rarity. Who's in charge? Sassy Saddles or you?"

"Why me, of course." She chuckled lightly as if she found my question too silly to have been asked in the first place.

"I don't know…because to me, it seems she's telling you how to run this place, if not running it herself."

Rarity stopped her work and sighed heavily.

"I understand where you're getting at, darling, but trust me, she's doing what she can to make sure this business is successful here in Canterlot. I'm sure you know that the way things are done here are not the same as Ponyville. Ponies have a higher…expectation on what they find here, and Sassy Saddles knows exactly how to draw in a crowd and keep them drawn in. She's the reason why there was such a large crowd out those front doors this morning. And she's the reason why she was able to obtain such a large order of dresses on the first day. What I'm trying to say is…there's a reason I hired her. She has so much experience in working at other boutiques. It's just I'm not affiliated completely with how work is done here in Canterlot, and this day is just another part of the process of learning it." She paused to look out at the currently empty main lobby of the store. "I'm fine with her working out there. I want to stay here and work on the dresses because they're my designs. I suppose the problem here is that I wasn't expecting one hundred orders of the same exact dress. No modifications whatsoever."

"It's because ponies saw Twilight wearing that exact dress, right?" I added in. "It's just like the ponies in Canterlot… They follow whatever's the latest trend. They don't want something that is similar, or looks almost like it. They want the exact thing. And since ponies that live here are usually already wealthy, I would think that they're already sort of entitled to nothing less."

"Well…when you put it that way, it sounds a little…disheartening."

"Sorry, I didn't mean it to…" I apologized.

Rarity sighed once more before she continued to finish up yet another dress.

"I don't know, Alex. As of right now, I'm trying my best just to finish my work, and hopefully I might become more accustomed to Canterlot's business nature. Hopefully, I can soon feel the magic, per se, flow through me once again."

The bell above the door swung side to side all of a sudden. The sound of its ringing kept us from making conversation any longer, as we focused on who had just entered the store.

"I'm back, Rarity!" Sassy Saddles had announced, returning from her lunch run. She made her way into the room Rarity and I were in, taking subtle notice of my presence near her. "Hello, Prince." She slightly bowed in respect and then turned to Rarity. "How's the work coming along?"

"It's coming along well." She answered in a way that made me feel as if she was forcing herself to sound positive. "I've just finished this one. It's only a matter of time when all of the orders will be finished. After all, since every single dress is the same, I only need to really focus on putting every piece together…"

"Fantastic, Rarity." Sassy Saddles congratulated, seeming to ignore the hints which Rarity had dropped that revealed her dissatisfaction. "Why don't you take a break and eat?" She presented the meal she picked up for her. "I'll handle any more customers that may come in." She turned and left the room, returning towards the counter.

"I guess I'll leave you to it." I decided that I would leave, especially since Sassy Saddles returned, and I wouldn't want her getting frustrated that I was bothering Rarity or something.

"No, please. Stay." She sounded almost as if was on the border of pleading. "I could use some company while I eat…"

Figuring that staying around while she was on her break couldn't hurt, I agreed. "Oh, okay."

She cleared the counter holding paperwork momentarily, so she could have space to put her plate. As she set it down, she revealed what was inside. What she was served was so…tiny. Canterlot food. Of course.

"Come sit by me." She offered the spot right by her side. Asking no questions, I obliged. "Have you eaten anything at all today? Would you like some?" She then offered me her plate.

Seeing how small the portion of food was, I was afraid it'd hardly be enough for Rarity in the first place. "No, I'm fine. Thanks."

She picked up her utensils with her magic and didn't start eating right away. She made a small cut into the already small portion of food as if to take a bite, but then she just sort of stared at it. Seeing her do this began to really worry me.

"Rarity?" I asked.

"Oh, what do I do…?" She responded. Even though I wanted to know what she meant, I didn't answer her right away. Instead, I held my tongue to see if she would say anything more. "Should I just…give up? This isn't how I wanted it."

"You can't give up…" I told her. "You finally achieved your dream of having your line of fashion here in Canterlot. I can't tell you how to fix this, but I know you can't just give up."

"But why am I not enjoying this like I used to, Alex?" She turned her eyes away from her food to meet mine with them. "Ohh. I was so full of life in Ponyville. But here, the thought of how many more orders of dresses I need to do makes me want to cry in bed as I eat an entire gallon of ice cream. I don't understand. Am I losing my magic touch?"

"It's because you're making the same thing over and over, isn't it?" I asked yet answered at the same time. "The first time is great. The next few times are okay. And then after that, every other time just feels boring and…bland."

"But that's what they all want…" She turned back to her food with sorrowful eyes, referring to her customers.

Even I began to feel stressed at this point. I wanted to give her the answers she desperately wanted, but saying to follow her heart just wouldn't cut it. I had no experience or knowledge of the business world, so there were no detailed guides or steps I had to offer. I could only listen at this point.

Without even taking a bite, she placed her utensil down on her plate, stood up, and turned around to move the completed dress onto a hanger and start anew. "I should get back to work."

"But you didn't eat anything." I mentioned worriedly.

"I'll eat it later." She replied.

She really needed to know someone was there for her. Seeing how unenthusiastically she worked showed me how lonely she must have felt.

"Rarity." I called her softly. She turned her head around. It was then when I slowly approached her and then began to warmly embrace her. "…hang in there, okay?"

She didn't answer. She felt still for a moment before she seemed to relax her head on my shoulder. It was a silent but reassuring moment when she slightly brushed herself against me as if I was snuggly winterwear that gave her pleasuring warmth from the cold.

"Thank you, dear." She expressed before I decided to leave her back to work.

I spent the rest of the day trying to come up with something that would cheer Rarity up, or at the very least bring some inspiration and motivation to her work. In the end, I decided on setting up Rarity with a spa appointment in Canterlot at a time that seemed the most convenient, which was after hours during the evening. Even though it was possible that she may work after store hours, it was something I felt I needed to take the chance on.

I came back to the store pretty late during the night. As expected, it was dark inside. At that point, I realized that the doors may have been locked, and I wouldn't have a key to get inside. I gave it a little pull before I began thinking of ways I could possibly get Rarity's attention, and to my surprise, it was open. It was a bit of relief but worry at the same time.

Did Rarity forget to lock up? Or is she actually still awake?

I walked in and locked it behind me. It was inside that I noticed a light coming from the room Rarity had been last working in. I stopped by that room to find an unfinished dress on the mannequin with a pony exhaustedly holding on to it for support.

Rarity had obviously fell asleep in the middle of her work, and it was a safe assumption that she had been working endlessly to get through her orders. Leaning my sight to her side, I noticed the same plate of lunch she had received earlier left untouched.

I sighed and shook my head. She hadn't even spared a moment to eat something.

I decided away to put away the untouched food and tend to the worn out and overdriven pony. I brought her up the stairs and searched quickly until I found what must have been her room. Even the bed appeared to be untouched, as it was recently furnished in. I delicately placed Rarity on her bed, removed her dress-making glasses, and softly spread out the covers over her.

I then began to worry about her, her business, and her passion for fashion. I wondered if things would get better after she finished her hundred orders, but at the same time, Sassy Saddles seems to be the one running things around here. And the reason for that was that she had experienced here in Canterlot… But isn't the whole point why Rarity wanted a boutique in Canterlot was so that she could express herself? If she's going to be making the same dress that seems to be the only thing that everyone here wants, then…

I sighed and massaged my temples, seeing that I might need some spa time myself after stressing over the predicament revolving around Rarity.

I want to help her. I really do. But I'm no super pony. I don't have the answers to everything if anything…

In the morning, I found that I seemed to have been magically teleported to the bed with the covers on me instead. I looked around me, as I fully came to my senses, and I couldn't spot Rarity anywhere in the room. It was as if I had traded places with her, but the actual reality must have been that she woke up and returned the favor before leaving to work.

I could only imagine that Rarity woke up far too soon before she could have a complete night's rest and returned straight to work. I left the room and proceeded to look for Rarity in her working room to see if my concerns were justified, but I heard an unexpected shaky commotion instead.

"This is not your boutique!" I heard Rarity exclaim out of pure frustration. "And if this is what success in Canterlot looks like, I want no part of it! Now, make up flyers for a going-out-of-business sale! I'm closing Canterlot Carousel!"

Near the doorway, Rarity stormed out, and in an anxious panic, Sassy Saddles followed after. "What?! No! Oh, you can't, Rarity! I-I've worked too hard to make this a success! I can't be a part of another failed boutique!"

Despite her plea, Rarity ignored her coldly, removing all the dresses she had grown so tired of and surprisingly kept her word with a set of completely new gowns. Each of them were different from the other.

"Oh, don't you look lovely? Nice to see you out here again." She warmly greeted one of the last dresses she hung up on display.

"Rarity? What's going on? You're closing the shop?" I asked, almost as panicked as Sassy Saddles was.

"Don't fret, darling." Rarity tried to reassure me. "I know this looks bad, but I believe it is for the best. Having a boutique of my very own in Canterlot may have been one of my biggest dreams, but I realize now that doing what I love, and with my very best friends nonetheless, is what's most important. And I won't let some big-named city take that away from me." Before she went for the door, she returned a soft glare up the stairs where Sassy Saddles had been while we were talking. As soon as they made eye contact, Sassy Saddles quickly looked away in both gloom and shame. "Seems Sassy Saddles isn't rushing to open the door this time. Hm." She turned her attention to the door and faced the crowd of ponies that had already been waiting for some time now. "Welcome to the going-out-of-business sale of Canterlot Carousel." She welcomed with a sort of disheartened yet calm voice.

However, the mass of ponies rushed in excitedly, seeming to pay no attention to the words in Rarity's announcement other than the fact that there was a sale on the currently displayed dresses.

I simply watched as other ponies seemed to have grown fascinated with the dresses Rarity had already placed up for show. It made me wonder if they had not heard or seen the previous famous dress of Canterlot to not ask Rarity about its whereabouts. In other words, it looked as if they were possibly newcomers or simply ponies that were not that taken to the "Princess Dress".

It made much more sense to see ponies of different personalities find the dress that especially went with said personalities. For instance, a mare, with a sort of deadpan tone like Maud's, went with the dress inspired by Princess Luna. Another mare, not as hyper as Pinkie Pie but possibly more on the level of Spirit, chose the dress inspired by Princess Celestia.

Rarity catered to their needs, and by observing her, I could see the spark of her passion ignite within her once again. The signs of her restlessness seemed to have disappeared, and she was no longer reluctant.

Rarity was right. This may have previously been her dream, but whatever keeps her passion afloat and alive is what's most important. Do what keeps you happy and your passion strong, even if it might not cater to everyone's needs.

"How can I have forgotten? This is what I've been dreaming about!" Rarity soon realized, accommodating what she had been striving for all along.

"My favorite moment's when a pony sees it

That special gown that she just adores

That pony's now in style

My hard work's all worthwhile

Oh, yes, it makes my heart

My heart just soar!"

It pleased me to hear her sing after having seen her in one of the deepest states of depression I had ever seen. After all, even if she were to close the shop for good, all I would really care about is her happiness. I have no intention whatsoever of skewing her wants to fit mine.

"Attention, everypony! Canterlot Carousel will not be closing!" She announced.

Hearing this, I wasn't necessarily surprised. I would support her in whatever manner she chose.

"But this stuff's still on sale, right?" The customer wearing the dress of night asked flatly, even after the cheer of everyone else had filled the room.

With a brief but jubilant giggle, Rarity responded. "Yes, yes, of course."

Sassy Saddles then joined her at the bottom of the stairs. "Oh, Rarity, I'm so sorry. I focused on that one dress, and the rest of Rarity's Royal Regalia paid the price."

"Well, so did the Princess Dress." Rarity empathetically approached her misguided friend. "The more I sold, the more each dress lost its time, love, and couture, becoming terrible, lackluster, and common."

"I think I finally understand the Rules of Rarity... and will apply them at my next job." She made way for the door, bringing along her packed things.

"I beg your pardon?" Rarity immediately intervened. "The Rules of Rarity are only to be applied at Canterlot Carousel! Which is why you must continue to manage the boutique while I'm in Ponyville."

"Ponyville?" Sassy Saddles questioned after she had stopped in her tracks.

"Well, yes, I'll come to Canterlot with new designs and to see the customers of course, but Ponyville was always going to be my home base." Rarity confirmed, honestly stretching a smile on my face.

"Bobbins and bodkins, Rarity! Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" She ecstatically shook Rarity back in forth, raising a swearing hoof after. "And I promise to run everything following your rules."

"I would expect nothing less." Rarity responded, their quarrels coming to an end with an embrace.

"Oh, my gosh, a sale! Do you have the Princess Dress?!" The largest pony I had ever seen in my life, significantly surpassing both the size and stature of even the rulers of Equestria, walked in excitedly.

"No!" Both Sassy Saddles and Rarity replied in unison and followed with a heartily laugh, leaving the pony with the question to simply shrug and browse at her leisure.

"And…this is the solution." I concluded.

I waited until the end of the business day to speak with Rarity for obvious reasons. I found her in her workroom, but she wasn't slaving over the same dress this time. Instead, she was rather looking through the trash, pulling out something peculiar.

"A dress?" I asked, seeing parts of fabrics and clothes appear by Rarity.

"Yes." Rarity returned, brushing it off a bit and then resting it nearby. "One of the old dresses I tried to modify for the sake of it being unique. However, the one of hundred ponies that made the order denied this change, so I simply threw it away."

"It's really nice." I complimented. "…I think you should give it to Twilight, after you clean it up a bit of course."

Surprised to hear my unexpected suggestion, she turned to me. "Why's that?"

"You tried to make something different out of the other hundred dresses you had to make. And Twilight was the pony who made this dress popular in the first place. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, this dress would sort of be a good symbol for her. This is the only dress you made the change to, right? Then, it would be unique for her, and she'd be the only pony wearing an 'evolved' Princess Dress. She'd also be the pony wearing the dress that was inspired by the exact same pony that's wearing said dress." I shook my head before I could continue any further. "Gah, my words are like riddles and mazes now. I hope you get what I mean."

Rarity giggled. "Yes, yes. I get the message. I'll consider it, but as of right now, I believe I'll allow myself some time before I lay hoof on this dress again."

"Gotcha." I understood, seeing as Rarity must have been ironically sick and tired of the dress which stemmed from her very own designs.

She gave a little stretch and a sigh. "I could really use some rest and relaxation."

"Oh!" I suddenly remembered about what I had wanted to speak with her in the first place. "I wasn't expecting for things to get better so soon, but I'm glad they did. I was hoping you'd be free around this time since I had set up an appointment for you here in Canterlot."

"Y-you did?" She inquired in shock.

At the spa's lobby, she turned her question into a statement as she stared at the package listed for her enjoyment. "You did!"

"I didn't know what you usually got back in Ponyville, so…I kind of got you everything." I rubbed the back of my head a little embarrassingly.

"I don't know what to say." She expressed as she looked away from the clipboard detailing her deluxe package.

"You don't need to say anything." I assured. "The whole reason I did this was because you deserved it. I wanted you to go to bed as relaxed as you could be, but since that fiasco with the dresses is now over, I'm happy that you'll be calm as beauty."

She smiled tenderly at me for a moment before pulling me in for a strong embrace. It was just like after I had given her the flowers for her grand opening, but this one felt much more warm and touching. "You are the best friend I could ever have." She pulled back slightly so should could meet my eyes with hers. "Not only can I look forward to an evening of relaxation, but I get to spend it with said pony as well."

As soon as I got what she meant by that last statement, I grew somewhat confused.

"Huh? Oh no. I'm fine. This was entirely meant for you." I explained.

Rarity pulled away, feigning disappointment. "It's not proper for a gentlecolt to leave a lady all by her lonesome."

I sighed in surrender.

It wasn't a bad thing, really.

I don't remember the last time Rarity and I bathed together in the spa at Ponyville, but I had to genuinely admit it was pleasant.

Rarity gave me a recap on the events I had missed at the Canterlot Boutique. She explained in further detail about the modified dress she tried to give to one of her customers, along with other hardships she'd rather not keep in mind after her time in the spa.

"I know I already said this…but I don't know how to thank you for everything you've done." Rarity said.

"You've done enough." I answered. "All I want for you is to be happy, and seeing that you are, it makes me feel just the same." I paused for a moment when I thought about Rarity feeling in debt to me. "If anything, I'm the one who feels like I haven't done enough for you…"

Rarity caught hold of my worries quickly. "Why, whatever do you mean?"

I didn't want to bring it up, but with Rarity being my friend, I wanted to spill my feelings, just as she would to me. "I know how you feel about me, Rarity. How you 'admire' me. But I also know that I can't return the same feelings, and it bothers me that I can't feel the possible pain you do. The closest I could is imagining Fluttershy falling for someone else other than me, and that hurts a lot just thinking about it. I wish I could somehow give you the satisfaction you need, but…I just can't."

There was a moment of silence before Rarity answered. "But you can, darling…and you are." I turned to her to see what she could possibly mean by that, seeing as I didn't since I wasn't romantically involved with her. "I must admit, being beloved in the way Fluttershy is with you would be an absolute dream, but I'm happy, Alex. I am more than satisfied with just being your friend. You may not return a love of amorousness, but you still love me nonetheless. It is through little things just like this." She gave the spa appointment as an example. "Or the flowers you had given me. I couldn't ask for any more of that, otherwise I'd believe I'd be selfish." She momentarily held my cheek with her hoof. "You've got your sights on another pony, and I completely understand. I'm just extremely grateful that you can still love your friends in a platonic manner as well. In a way, that fills that hole you must speak of which worries you, so please, do not be worried for my sake."

I smiled and chuckled under my breath. "I guess I needed to hear that. Thanks, Rarity. You're right, and I'm willing to practically go through anything to see every one of you smile."

"Good!" She retracted her hoof and closed her eyes in a triumphal manner. "You may begin by brushing my mane for a thousand strokes." She held up a luxurious brush.

"Hah. Good one." I stated with a small chuckle.

"What do you mean?" She looked at me as if she was seriously waiting for me to start brushing her hair. I couldn't tell if she was actually serious or not.

With a sigh of defeat, I agreed. "Okay." I began, mentally counting each sweep down in my head.

Despite her giving me a playful kind of look that seemed to tell me I didn't actually have to do it a thousand times, I continued.

After all, with the kind of intent care Rarity has for her hair, I felt pretty honored that she trusted me to tend to it for the time being. I never thought I'd partake in Rarity's beauty care, but I guess it's just her way of showing how much faith and trust she has in me.

The Winded Turnabout

"If she thinks she's going to break my record, she's got another thing coming."

Slipping a letter under the door to a room in the northwest wing of Canterlot Castle, the culprit begins to depart the scene of the soon to come crime.

"Say goodbye to your days of being a Wonderbolt, kiddo."

After Midnight – Canterlot Ballroom

"I think that I can safely that the dinner was a success." Twilight told me with beaming look of accomplishment on her face. "Except…when Ditsy accidentally broke the chocolate fountain…" The memory of that scene seemed to strike a point out of from her imaginary perfect score, having her grow weary about it.

Earlier on, Derpy, also known as Ditsy Doo, got a little too excited about the chocolate fountain they had for everyone on the dessert table. None of us knew how, but she managed to somehow keep it from running, and it ended up being taken out of the diners' choices for repairs. Nevertheless, there was still a plentiful variety of other desserts, so not all was lost for those who hadn't had any sweets to follow with their meal.

Derpy had also been a part of the mess that the chocolate fountain had caused, causing me to take her to the washroom and help her clean up. She had felt guilty about what happened, of course, but fortunately, I had been able to convince her to rejoin the dinner. The other Wonderbolts didn't seem to take it as a big deal. They couldn't let a missing chocolate fountain ruin their attitudes anyway.

What was Derpy doing at a Wonderbolts dinner in the first place? Well, seeing as certain guests were allowed, I decided Derpy would be the perfect pony to bring to such a dinner. After all, she was my partner back when Rainbow practically forced me to go along with her at the academy for willing Wonderbolts.

"You shouldn't worry about it so much." I assured her. "You know Princess Celestia actually prefers to have some 'excitement' in her events from time to time, remember?"

"I didn't know breaking a chocolate fountain is considered 'excitement', but whatever floats your boat I guess…" She responded, retaining her face. Nevertheless, she noticed the one other pony left in the ballroom besides us. "She's really enjoying the food, huh?"

Spirit had been keeping herself distracted with the leftover cake. She probably didn't even need to worry about eating too much of anything…

"Yeah, I think you know how she is when it comes to sweets. She's just like another Pinkie Pie." I commented at the sight.

"Hehe." Twilight returned. "Speaking of her, I don't think I've seen her much lately. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I think so." I answered. "She had told me she was thinking of taking of break from being 'outside'. I guess I can't blame her. After all, she's spent all this time inside me, I suppose it wouldn't be all surprising if she doesn't stay outside permanently."

"I guess you're right." Twilight said. "You're the only one out of all of us that knows most about her."

"I'm not totally sure of that." I responded a bit embarrassingly, knowing that Spirit could still be a major mystery at times.

"Well, we should probably head to bed." Twilight suggested, getting ready to head to her quarters. "It's super late. Thanks for your help tonight!"

"Yeah, no prob." I answered. "Night."

"Night." She waved before she left the area.

I approached Spirit next.

"You ready to get to bed?" I asked.

"Man, this dinner was so good, I wish I could eat it every night…" She replied, finishing the last of the cake she had.

"There'll be more." I patted her back. "Come on."

"Kay."

After Midnight – Canterlot Hallway – East Wing

On our way to our room for the night, we bumped into Rarity in the middle of the hallway. She had actually been Rainbow Dash's guest to the dinner, and I hadn't even noticed until I found her chatting with a Pegasus named Wind Rider, whom was apparently a "living legend" according to Rainbow Dash, after the chocolate fountain had broken.

"Oh, heading to bed, darling?" She asked.

"Yeah. I'm surprised you're still up, Rarity. Watcha been doing?" I asked.

"Taking a moment to admire the décor." She pointed towards the walls, pillars, and drapes. "I can't pass on an opportunity of coming up with a fabulous new design in my sleep."

"Well, don't stay up too late. You don't want to miss out on your beauty sleep." I slightly teased.

"Nonsense." She returned seriously. "In fact, I was just about to return to my room when you came along."

"Alright then. Goodnight, Rarity."

"Goodnight!"

With those words said, we went on to finally call it a night.

Mid-Noon – Canterlot Bedroom – East Wing

I yawned when I was able to finally to prop myself up from bed and snap myself out of sleeping any more than I needed. I suppose the late night had me sleeping in later than I wanted to, but I guess there was no real harm in doing so anyway. I didn't believe I was scheduled for anything today.

Mid-Noon – Canterlot Ballroom

I noticed Twilight speaking with a few Wonderbolts. However, with the looks on their faces, I believed it was a good guess to say whatever they were talking about wasn't exactly pleasant. As I approached them, Twilight must had noticed me in her peripheral vision and turned to face me.

"Alex! Hey, there you are. You haven't seen Spitfire lately, have you?"

"Spitfire? No. I actually just woke up. Why?" I returned.

The Wonderbolt she had been talking to spoke up to explain the situation. "All we know is that Spitfire told Soarin late last night that she needed to go take care of her mom because she was sick. Problem is, her mom was watching our practice this morning and said she never told Spitfire she was sick. We thought Spitfire would find out and come back, but apparently, she hasn't been back since she left last night."

"That's so strange." Twilight commented on the subject. "What do you think happened?"

"Obviously, Spitfire's mom isn't sick. And there's talk that the note Spitfire got was a set up for somepony else to take her spot on the show."

"What?! Who would do that?!"

"Let me ask you two somethin'. Were any of you watching Rainbow Dash last night?" She brought up suddenly, causing for the mood to darken.

"Rainbow Dash?" Twilight questioned with concern. "Why would we be watching her?"

"Cause she's the prime suspect right now."

"What?!" Twilight exclaimed.

I don't know about Twilight, but all of this was brought up to me way too fast. The only way I was ever going to possibly get a clear picture of what the hay was going on was by starting to ask my own questions.

"Let me get something straight." I began. "So, Spitfire got a note last night and that's how she found out her mother was supposedly sick? But from this morning, it turns out she wasn't sick at all and now Spitfire is nowhere to be seen?"

"That's what we got so far, yeah. And Rainbow Dash isn't lookin' so innocent if you ask me."

"Why do you guys suspect Rainbow Dash? What did she ever do to catch your attention so quickly when there's a bunch of other Wonderbolts on your team?"

"It's simple really. When Spitfire hadn't come back in time for practice this morning, Soarin had to ask Rainbow Dash if she could take her spot, at least until Spitfire came back. It wasn't until we found out that Spitfire's mom was alright when we started suspecting her. After all, I'm sure you two know how much it would've meant to her to fly in the show, right?"

Twilight and me exchanged a brief glance of uncertainty for a moment.

"And she's always wanted to be a Wonderbolt for the longest time." I refuted. "She's never done anything like that in the past to get to where she is now."

"I get where you're comin' from, but see, the fact is that Spitfire is missing. Her mom's here, so if she went to go see her mom, she would have realized she wasn't sick. So, somepony must have intentionally set her up. And from what we've got, it's to keep her from flying in the show. Either way, no one knows where she is, so we have no idea how or where to find her."

I suppose I had to admit that these Wonderbolts knew more and had a better idea on what might have happened than I did, but the next thing I had to ask about was the evidence they had.

"So, what about the note?" I questioned. "It might have mentioned where she went."

"We tried looking for the note, but all we found was the envelope. That and…"

"…and?" Twilight requested her to finish her sentence.

"A tuft of Rainbow's hair."

I had nothing to say that. Everything was all too sudden, and I didn't know where and how to approach this. I released a sigh, due to the stress that had already been overwhelming me from this development.

"We need to see Rainbow. Where is she?"

"She's at the Wonderbolts' dressing room. It's right where the show is supposed to be."

"Got it. Let's go, Twilight." I gestured towards her.

Late-Noon – Wonderbolt Dressing Room

"Me?! I would never do that to Spitfire! Why would you think it was me?" We heard her voice question as we made our way in.

"I did see you and Spitfire leave the dinner together." One of the Wonderbolts pointed out with full suspicion.

"We were room neighbors in the castle!" Rainbow answered.

"And you did say you'd do anything to fly with Wind Rider." Another stated.

"Yeah, but I didn't mean anything."

"Spitfire came by my room and told me she had to go see her mom at around midnight." Soarin spoke up. "Where were you then?"

"I was asleep at midnight... having this totally amazing dream. There I was at the arena flying with Wind Rider and the Wonderbolts, like I've always wanted to—" Rainbow suddenly stopped when she realized her story didn't make her look any less suspicious. "—ah, eh, never mind. Not helping."

As the others began to crowd around, away from Rainbow Dash, to speak in private, it appeared it was the best time to address the situation.

"Everypony!" Twilight announced. "We heard about what happened and we're here to investigate."

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" Rainbow Dash shook Twilight excitedly when seeing that she was on her side. "You've gotta help me! They all think it was me who sent Spitfire that note."

"You don't have any proof or witnesses that can say you didn't, do you?" I asked.

"Well, no…" She responded. "I mean Spitfire can! She can tell you that I went straight to bed after leaving together!"

"Spitfire's not here." Soarin spoke. "That's the whole point."

"…right." Rainbow Dash reluctantly agreed.

"Listen, Rainbow Dash, if you can prove that somepony else is behind Spitfire's disappearance before the start of the show, then you can still fly with us. In the meantime, Misty Fly, Blaze, head over to Stormy Flare's house and try to find Spitfire and bring her back." He directed two others before he turned seriously back to Rainbow Dash. "I have to warn you, if you sent that letter, the bylaws are clear. I'd have no choice but to ban you from the Wonderbolts forever. Understand?"

With a defeated sigh, Rainbow Dash agreed. "I understand. But how am I gonna prove I didn't send a letter that I didn't send?"

"With me!" A voice suddenly announced itself out loud from within the shadows. At this point, a pony walked out and revealed herself in a fashionable getup that still managed to be suitable for investigating. At least…it was something you'd see in mystery novels… "Detective Rarity is on the case, and we are going to get to the bottom of this faster than my costume change!"

"Yeah, what's with the getup?" Rainbow Dash inevitably asked.

The volunteering detective had been none other than Rarity, and she proceeded to explain herself. "Obviously, I am channeling Shadow Spade through these gorgeous garments, and she would say that the best way to prove that you didn't send the letter is to find out whoever did. First stop – the scene of the crime!"

"Hold up." I suddenly stopped as I found myself in another situation where things were spiraling too fast out of control than I could understand clearly. "You're going to help Rainbow Dash, Rarity?"

"Why not?" She asked, adjusting her hat as perfectly as she could while sending me a ladylike glance of confidence.

"We should help Rarity, Alex!" Twilight immediately suggested. "After all, it wouldn't be our first time solving a mystery…" She returned a soft giggle along with a grin, causing me to remember back on the train and the MMM cake.

"Yeah…but this is a little bigger than a simple cake."

"Either way, the concept's all the same. We need to find the pony or even ponies who did this! If you ask me, someone's obviously trying to frame Rainbow Dash."

"Don't worry." I assured. "I agree with you that we need to get to the bottom of this. And we will."

"HOLD IT!"

Another voice suddenly shouted out of nowhere. When we looked to see the pony responsible, we found Spirit taking part of the group with an intense look of determination.

"I wanna be a part of this!" She demanded.

"Forgive me…" Rarity answered as politely as she could. "As much as I appreciate everypony's enthusiasm, I don't think it's quite necessary to have everyone involved in this case. Twilight and Alex are enough, darling."

"But…!" Spirit tried to refuse with puffed cheeks.

"That's okay." Twilight unexpectedly said. "She can take my spot. I could check out other places in the castle, ask around, all that jazz."

Meanwhile, I felt as if this mood had been drastically changed to an unsuitable one over the time we've been trying to get on the same page. "This isn't a game, you know…" I mentioned wearily.

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash agreed with me for once. "My dream of being a Wonderbolt is on the line here!"

Twilight faced Rarity and me. "Take Spirit along. I'll see if I can find anything out from anyone. But if you guys get stuck somewhere, you make sure you come and find me!"

"Yeah, okay. But I have to ask, why are you giving up your spot so easily?" I inquired.

With a slightly embarrassed look, she answered. "I was with you the first time. I think it's only fair to, you know."

"I guess." I accepted even though I still didn't clearly understand. Either way, we had more important matters to attend to before we were out of time. "As Detective Rarity puts it, let's head to the scene of the crime."

Afternoon – Canterlot Castle – Spitfire's Room

"So this is the place…" I announced with the four of us here. Despite Rarity already scanning areas with her magnifying glass, I began our investigation. "Let's get looking. Now to start off…where's that letter that Spitfire got?"

"I believe you're stepping on it, darling." Rarity suddenly answered, pointing at what my hoof was on with her magnifying glass.

"Oh. Okay." I simply said and lifted my hoof.

Rarity decided to pick it up with her magic and take a look at it first.

"It's empty." She informed.

"That's what the Wonderbolt who was talking to Twilight and me said. But they said they found—"

Rarity had sniffed the envelope for a moment before shaking it out onto her hoof. "Hmm. These look like hairs from a rainbow mane!"

Rainbow immediately gulped. "That's not good."

"Can I take a look at that?" I asked.

"By all means." She sent them my way.

I held them up with my magic, immediately finding something about them off. There was something about them that didn't look natural…

"You haven't been secretly trying to get a piece of Rainbow's hair, have you, Alex?" Spirit asked.

"What?!" I spat out almost in a stutter. "Why would you ask something like that?!"

"You look pretty interested in them." She tilted back and forth with her hooves.

I remained silent and only returned a sigh in response.

"It was just a joke." She felt the need to clarify.

"Yeah…" I simply answered.

I turned towards Rarity and presented them to her. "Hey, you notice something off about these?"

"Of course I do." She quickly responded. "They were cut off."

"Huh? What makes you so sure?" I asked out of intrigued curiosity.

"When you align them, darling. See how the ends here are straight? Even a foal knows that hair doesn't fall out like this."

"I'm not sure that's entirely true…" I referred to her latter comment. "But now that I see it, I entirely believe you. Nice work, Rarity."

"Hm, hm, hm." She chuckled before turning to a mirror and seemed to take a liking to her reflection.

I placed the hair back into the envelope to keep it in a safe place until we possibly needed them in proving Rainbow Dash's innocence. However, Spirit had suddenly snatched the envelope.

"Tuft of Rainbow's Hair and Envelope addressed to Spitfire added to evidence." She weirdly stated.

"Huh?"

"I'll make myself useful and hold onto this for you." She mentioned. "Let's see… Tuft of Rainbow's Hair: Found in the envelope that was addressed to Spitfire. It was obviously cut off. Envelope addressed to Spitfire: Found at the scene of the crime. The note that was inside is missing."

"Good to see you're taking mental notes…" I commented before glancing around.

"What are you doing?" Rainbow Dash asked Rarity who had been gazing at her reflection with the mirror in the room. She must had been searching elsewhere.

Rarity stammered as if she had been caught off guard. "Just thinking thoughts." Rainbow simply rolled her eyes and left. After tinkering with her appearance a bit, Rarity turned around to face me. "It doesn't look like the note is anywhere here, darling. It seems that's all there is now. Let's take a look outside in the hallway.

"Okay, sure." Honestly, Rarity kind of seemed to sort of know what she was doing. Even though she looked…distracted…she was able to spot the envelope we were looking for, and she deduced instantly that the hair we found was cut off. The cut hair proved Twilight's theory. Somepony must be trying to intentionally frame Rainbow Dash.

Afternoon – Canterlot Castle – West Wing Hallway

The first we heard was an enthusiastic comment from Rarity referring to the drapes.

"Ooh! The damask pattern on these curtains is exquisite! Oh, and this velvet rope-holder – oh, it's just—"

"We don't have time to look at the décor!" Rainbow scolded. "They're gonna kick me out of the Wonderbolts unless we solve this thing!"

"Well, you never know if there might be clues on the décor in the first place, Rainbow." I came to Rarity's defense. "Any evidence that'll prove your innocence won't just be right there waiting in front of you."

"I can assure you that I know what I am doing Rainbow, and I'm on this case like a charm on a bracelet!" Rarity stated with confidence.

As I was given time to analyze the curtains that Rarity had pointed out, I realized that something else was off about it too. "Hey… Have they always been like this?"

"Out of the rope holder? That indeed begs the question." Rarity looked like she figured this out before I did yet again. "However, before we divert our attention to these curtains, we must first seek answers to something else. Here's what I'm thinking. Somepony had to bring Spitfire that letter, which means somepony must have seen them!" She had walked a few steps towards the exit of the West Wing Hallway before coming to a stop and pointing at the fellows at the door.

"The guards? You don't think whoever the pony that sent the letter would easily let themselves be seen by the guards, do you? They stand and keep watch like twenty-four seven." I mentioned.

"You might think that they stand watch with no interruptions whatsoever, but are we sure that's what happened?" Rarity replied.

"You have a point, I guess. I just don't know what would 'interrupt' them. I've never seen them move away from where they're supposed to be on the job."

"Oh guards!" Rarity called for the guards' attention, beginning to walk towards them, making me believe she was going to work her charm now to try to get some information.

Nevertheless, Rainbow Dash still didn't look too trusting of what appeared to be Rarity's tactics on the case. Despite this, she followed after Rarity to see what the guards would say.

Before I joined them, Spirit called me over to the curtains.

"Hey, Alex. Do you think whoever the pony was hid behind these?"

I took a good look over the size and how far the drapes could possibly stretch. "Yeah, that's a possibility. I think Rarity knows that though, and that's why she wanted to ask the guards if they might have seen the pony that could have hid behind these first. But I want to know at what point that pony would have hid behind these. If the guards did see the pony, what reason would he/she have to hide? And if they did hide, then that probably means that the guards didn't see him/her."

"Well, better add that to our list of evidence then! Loose Drapes: Only set of curtains that aren't tied with the rope holder. Looks like somepony could have possibly hid behind them."

I turned around and noticed Rarity already escorting the guards out of the hallway. What? Is she taking them somewhere else for questioning?

Afternoon – Canterlot Castle – Empty Room

I don't know how Rarity found this room, but it was oddly fitting as an interrogation room, considering that all three guards sat at a table in the middle with the one light above them.

"I just have a few questions for you, and I'm sure once we get some things cleared up, we'll—"

"Come on, Rarity, we don't have all day!" Rainbow Dash prevented Rarity from speaking, due to her dwindling patience. "Where were you on the night of last night at midnight?!" She confronted the guard to her right.

"We were here, guarding the hallway entrance like we were supposed to." He answered.

"A likely story." Rainbow doubted.

"I'm telling you, we were there all night, and no one went in or out of that hallway." The same guard assured.

Unexpectedly, I heard Spirit gasp to my side. However, I continued listening for what the guards had to say before talking with her.

"Except for you." The guard in the middle stated after thinking back on it for a while.

"What are you tryin' to say?!" Rainbow quickly grew defensive.

"Just that there are only two rooms in the northwest wing: yours and Spitfire's. So the only other pony who had access to that wing was you."

Rainbow Dash had nothing to say. Instead, she looked as if she only dug her own grave deeper after that pressing on the guards.

"Spirit, did you notice something?" I asked, referring to her gasp.

"Yeah…" Spirit responded. "That one guard." She pointed to the one on the right. "I don't think he's telling the whole truth."

"What makes you think that?"

"It's hard to explain but…he looked…like he didn't even know if what he was saying was true."

"Uh…huh…?" I questioned, unable to understand how Spirit was able to get that when I didn't. I don't remember seeing the guard look doubtful as it seemed Spirit was trying to say.

"Here, I'll show you." She returned with determined eyes. "Ask him about guarding the hallway, and don't freak out because you'll see what I see." After that, without letting me question her any further and forcing me to only rely on trust, she disappeared. Back into me, that is.

"Um…you." I pointed the guard I was supposed to ask the question to. "Could you repeat what you three were doing last night?"

All of a sudden, my vision changed. Everything else besides the guard faded away, forcing me to look only at him. Not only that, but for some reason, simple colors were introduced to what I saw. In this case, a shade of yellow seemed to resonate around him. But that wasn't all. As soon as he began speaking is when I realized what Spirit meant.

"W-e w-e-r-e t-h-e-r-e a-l-l n-i-g-h-t." His speaking had slowed down. What the heck?! Was anyone else seeing this?!

Shut up! Look at his eyes!

I heard Spirit's voice echo in my head, causing me to shake my head and pay deep attention to his eyes.

"B-e-s-i-d-e-s R-a-i-n-b-o-w a-n-d S-p-i-t-f-i-r-e, n-o o-n-e w-e-n-t i-n o-r o-u-t o-f t-h-a-t h-a-l-l-w-a-y." It was at the end of that statement where I saw where Spirit getting at. His eyes had been twitching to the left instead of being directly on me. That's why Spirit thought he wasn't sure of himself!

"Gotcha!" I screamed out before my vision returned back to normal.

The guards were extremely surprised at my outburst, causing them to look among themselves. "Huh…?"

"Are you really sure that no one else went in or out of the hallway while you were there?" I asked. "You avoided direct eye contact when you say that. If you're so sure, then why do you look so…unsure?"

The guard now furiously looked to his left and right while sweating bricks. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Let me guess…" I tapped my chin. "You three weren't guarding the hallway the entire night like you were supposed to, were you?"

"Gah!" The three of them flinched so much to the point where their helmets hit against each other, disorienting them.

"What'd I tell you?!" Spirit told me with a face of accomplishment.

"If that's the case…" I continued pondering about. "You three couldn't be sure that no one else went in that hallway besides Rainbow or Spitfire. However…the question remains… What made you stop from guarding the entire night?"

"N-nothing!" They responded nervously. "We were there guarding the entire night, I swear!"

"Come on guys." I decided to mess with them a bit in order to see if they gave in. "I don't think Princess Celestia is going to appreciate her own guards not doing the one job they have and then lying about it."

"Please! Don't tell the princess any of this! We beg you!"

"How about this?" I offered. "You tell us everything that happened that night, and we'll call it even and not mention a word about this to the princess."

"Alright! Alright!" The first guard surrendered and then sighed in defeat before he began his explanation. "The truth is, we were guarding the entire night, but you see, somepony left us a cake, so we felt it wouldn't be such a big deal to take a break to eat it. After we finished the cake, I swear we went back to guarding the hallway nonstop!"

"Cake?" I questioned. "Who would leave a cake out of nowhere?"

"I don't know, but it must have been somepony nice who appreciated how much time we put into doing this job."

Or somepony who just wanted to slip by you to commit a crime…

"Hold it!" Rarity suddenly intervened. "What kind of cake was it?"

"Cherry with a custard filling."

"Was the frosting vanilla or chocolate?"

"Chocolate."

"Was the base of the cake decorated with buttercream rosettes?"

"It was."

"Ugh, who cares how it was decorated?!" Rainbow Dash revealed her impatience through yet another outburst.

"Rainbow Dash was questioning my methods. But I knew what I was doing." Rarity oddly must have thought out loud.

"Do you?" Rainbow questioned.

"Oh, oh, oh. Did I say that one out loud?" Rarity realized embarrassingly.

"I mean, even I think I'm guilty at this point! I really did want to fly in that show! What if I wrote that note when I was asleep?! Do you know what I do when I sleep?! Because I sure don't!"

"Oh, calm down, Rainbow Dash. We'll get to the bottom of this. There's only one bakery in Canterlot that makes a chocolate cherry cake with custard filling and buttercream frosting rosettes and that's... Cinnamon Chai's Tea and Cake Shop!"

"Nice one, Rarity!" I congratulated. "If the store pony knows who the pony is that bought that cake, we can probably find the real culprit!"

"It all comes down to attention to detail, my friends." Rarity bowed before she excused the other guards. "You may leave."

"Yeah, and try not to let yourselves be distracted on one of the important jobs here in the castle." I added, considering that something possibly worse could happen the next time should this occur again.

"We won't!" They returned an honorable salute.

"Chocolate Cherry Cake with Custard Filling and Buttercream Frosting Rosettes added to the evidence list. Cake that was given to the guards in order to distract them so the culprit could slip past them. Cinnamon Chai's Tea and Cake Shop is the only store in Canterlot that makes such a cake." Spirit took down before we left for said shop.

Afternoon – Canterlot – Cinnamon Chai's Tea and Cake Shop

"Hello, how can I help you?" The storeowner greeted us as we approached the front.

"I've heard you have the best chocolate cherry custard cake with buttercream frosting rosettes in town!" Rarity brought up.

"Ah, you travel in the right circles! We have the only chocolate cherry custard cake with buttercream frosting rosettes in town!" She responded as she cleaned a dirty cup.

Rarity took a gander at the store window to find a cake missing. "Oh, no. But somepony's already bought it! Who was the lucky pony?"

She took a moment to think and came back with a shocked expression. "I can't even say!"

"Why? Because it was somepony famous?" Rarity stepped forward and guessed.

"No... because it was hard to tell!" She explained. "She was wearing a trench coat, sunglasses, and a scarf around her head that covered most of her face. But I do remember she had a really deep, raspy voice."

"What do you mean, raspy?" Rainbow Dash asked quite unnecessarily.

"Well, kinda like yours."

As Rainbow grew nervous, Rarity moved forward with her investigation. "If there's anything else you can remember, dish." She encouraged as the two sat at a table.

"Well, have I got a story for you! The pony who bought the cake threw a big fit when she accidentally got chocolate ganache on her scarf!"

"That's terrible! What color was the scarf?"

"White! No, maybe more an ivory..."

"You don't say!"

"I can't believe you're talking fashion at a time like this!" Rainbow cut into her talking yet again.

"Could you let her finish for once, Rainbow?" I asked. At the same time, I didn't really blame her. I knew on the outside, it looked like Rarity was getting sidetracked by unrelated subjects, but in reality, these details could be absolutely crucial to the case. Honestly, I couldn't see how at the moment, but it definitely was worth noting certain pieces of the disguise the pony wearing. After all, since Rarity was an expert in fashion, maybe she could find out who this disguised pony was in the first place.

"Rainbow, don't panic. I need you to trust me." Rarity requested.

"Trust you?! You've spent more time changing clothes than trying to help me! I'm doomed!"

"No, you're not! Come on!"

"H-huh?!" I was quite surprised as it sounded Rarity had all she needed. "Is that all you needed, Rarity?"

She came closer so she could whisper in my ear. "Rainbow's not going to like it, but I know who the culprit is."

"Y-you do!?" I almost blurted out.

"Shh!"

"W-who…?" I returned softly.

With a smug smile, she only returned a vague answer. "You'll see."

"The culprit: Accidentally got a chocolate stain on her scarf." I heard behind me as we moved away from the area.

Late Afternoon – Wonderbolt Dressing Room

It had begun raining by the time we arrived at our destination. We stopped at the Wonderbolt Dressing Room, and remembering what Rarity told me, it seemed she was ready to confront the culprit. Does this mean the real suspect was a Wonderbolt too?

In unison with the crack of thunder above, Rarity threw open the door and pointed out at those inside. "I have found the culprit!" Everyone inside only looked at each other with unreadable expressions due to their suits. Soarin merely took a large gulp of his big apple pie. Nevertheless, Rarity had the floor. "Allow me to explain. Somepony sent Spitfire away and framed Rainbow Dash for it. And that pony was none other than... Wind Rider!" She singled out a pony in the room to which every one of the Wonderbolts exclaimed out in surprise for.

I took a look at who was supposed to real culprit. I didn't believe I had really met him before, but apparently, Rarity had. By the way he was dressed, he seemed like he played a big part in the Wonderbolts. It was a good thing Rarity was in charge, seeing as I didn't have most of the scoop on this case as she did.

"Rarity, I can't believe you would accuse Wind Rider of framing me! He's a living legend, for pony's sake!" Rainbow detested.

"All the evidence points to him!" Rarity stated with serious tone.

I turned to Spirit who looked like she was going over all the evidence in her head and trying to piece it together.

To be honest, the only piece of evidence I was able to connect him with was the scarf, but I didn't see any chocolate stain…unless he was hiding it. Either way, is there something you're not letting me in on, Rarity?

"Peh! What evidence could you possibly have? All you did was ask about cake, admire décor, and change outfits a gazillion times!"

"Let me explain." Rarity silenced her by placing a hoof to her lips and proceeded to clarify for her actions and reasoning. "I never believed you would send Spitfire away. When we found the rainbow hairs in Spitfire's room, I could tell they didn't fall out. They... were cut! Nopony loses hair in a chunk. And look at the ends. It's a straight line! They were clearly cut with shears, which means somepony planted it! Then when we were examining Spitfire's room, I smelled something on the envelope. Juniper Phoenix, Wind Rider's cologne of choice! Then, in the castle hallway, I noticed some of the damask curtains fell out of their velvet rope-holder, indicating that somepony had been hiding behind them! Perhaps after they dropped off the fake letter?" She ended by eyeing the so-called Wind Rider suspiciously.

"Juniper Phoenix is a very popular fragrance, and anypony could have moved those curtains." He refuted.

"Precisely why we questioned the castle guards! They were at their post at the entrance to the hallway all night, except for a small window of time when somepony brought them cake. A cake that was ordered by a girl pony with a raspy voice! Whoever ordered the cake got a chocolate stain on her ivory scarf, and I couldn't help but notice that Wind Rider's scarf is tied in a tight Windsor knot instead of its usual loose slipknot! And why is that? Is it to hide the chocolate stain?!" She unraveled his scarf, providing a dirty chocolate stain for all of us to see. Everypony proceeded to gasp.

You did it, Rarity! You are one ace detective!

"Ah, this is preposterous. Wonderbolts, you don't believe a word of this, right?" He refused to come clean.

"Just admit it – you're as guilty of framing Rainbow Dash as you are of ruining that ivory scarf!" Rarity pressed her accusation.

"No way…!" Rainbow Dash looked to be in a state of disbelief. "Why? Why would you do such a thing?"

As every Wonderbolt leaned forward to hear his answer, he merely sighed in what sounded more of frustration rather than disbelief.

"This is surely disappointing. I never believed any kind of aspiring Wonderbolt would come to this."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, willing to hear him just confess already.

"Let me remind you all of something that happened last night at the dinner. I strictly remember hearing that Rainbow Dash said she could never beat my record when the question was brought up. So, here's what I just figured out. Not only did Rainbow Dash want to take Spitfire's spot at the show, but she also wants to indoctrinate me with such an unfathomable crime and bogus speculation. She wants to ruin my reputation and therefore tarnish me as the record holder. And she got her friends to help her do it. Doesn't it make sense, Wonderbolts?"

All of them looked amongst each other and soon began whispering. The fact that they were even thinking about this was out of line.

"What?! No way! I can't believe you'd say that!" Rainbow Dash expressed both her disappointment and frustration.

"Then, why don't you explain the reason behind the chocolate stain on your scarf!" Rarity demanded.

With a smug smile, he closed his eyes as everypony stood in still silence for his answer.

"It's simple. Back at the dinner, there was a chocolate fountain. Am I right, Wonderbolts? I don't think it's unreasonable to say that I accidentally stained my scarf with it, because that's exactly what happened. Simple as that. As for those other things you ponies found, it's just like I said: It could have been anypony else. And I think that pony is Rainbow Dash, considering the motivation. It's a shame really."

"No…waaaaaay!" Rainbow could only nervously draw out.

"What? He's totally lying!" Spirit told me, drawing her shoulders up in anger. "He just made that up!"

"Rarity, please tell me you've got something else! You've got to!" Rainbow begged.

She couldn't answer for a moment. "Well played, Wind Rider."

I couldn't stand there any longer and possibly wait for things to grow only worse. I knew for certain that it couldn't have been Rainbow, and based on the kind of villainous vibe I got from this guy, I just knew in my gut that he was the pony who did it. Spirit was right. He had to be lying, and I had to expose that lie!

"Hold it!" I objected, having everypony's attention directed to me. "Mr. Wind Rider. If you really are innocent, then tell us. Tell us what you did that night."

He released another sigh. "If it'll convince everyone, that's fine by me." He turned towards the other Wonderbolts to begin addressing his side of the story. "I attended the dinner, just like all of you. I met with Rarity and Rainbow Dash at one point, which was when Rarity noticed I had been wearing one of my favorite fragments: Juniper Phoenix. Sometimes afterwards, I had the misfortune of getting a stain on my scarf. It was then that I had to excuse myself early to try to clean it out. As you can all see as of right now, I had no luck. Since it was running pretty late, I decided I'd go to bed and see what I can do about it the day after. The end."

I'm not going to lie…if I was a Wonderbolt, I'd probably find that convincing…. How were we going to prove that he was lying from that? Did we even have enough time to? Could we even do it even if we did have the time?!

"Well, there was a chocolate fountain at the dinner. That I know of for sure!" One of the Wonderbolts pointed out, leading the others to agree and nod their heads.

"This isn't good…" I mentioned under my breath.

"I guarantee you he's lying!" Spirit acknowledged.

"I believe you, Spirit, but the real problem is proving to everyone else that he is. We almost had him…but because of that stupid chocolate fountain, he was able to convince everyone else out of the one piece of evidence that directly linked him to the crime. The one piece of evidence that mattered the most."

"…" Spirit remained silent as she glared angrily at Wind Rider.

"If you ask me…" He continued. "All of the evidence that was found today points to Rainbow Dash of her crime of taking Spitfire's place in the show and attempt of tarnishing my reputation. Wouldn't it make more sense if she cut her own mane and planted it in the letter instead so it seems she was framed? All it needs is a spray of the same cologne I wear. Do any of you think I'm really that incompetent?"

"He loves rubbing salt in the wound…huh?" I muttered beneath my breath.

"Did he really…?" Spirit mumbled.

"Huh?"

She turned to me with undying determination. "Is it even possible that the stain he has is from the chocolate fountain?"

"Possible…?"

"If you can prove that it was somehow impossible for him to get the stain from the chocolate fountain, then the proof we have still stands!"

But how…?! It's not like there wasn't a chocolate fountain.

Wait a minute…

At one point there wasn't…

Could that mean…?

I might just have an answer!

I need to get my thoughts straight. First things first, there was a chocolate fountain present at the time, I won't deny that. And like Spirit said, if we can rule out the possibility that his stain was from said fountain, then getting the stain from the cake still stands! But could I possibly rule out the fountain?

When.

I remember. At one point, Derpy accidentally broke the fountain, making it unusable for the rest of the night and put away to receive repairs. But the question is… Did Derpy break the fountain before Wind Rider even got close to it?

It had to be! I just need to think! What happened after Derpy broke the fountain?

I took her out from the dinner to help her clean up. And after that…?

Hold on… I remember finding Rarity and Rainbow Dash after we came back! They were talking to somepony at that time… Who was it…?

At that point, I realized…

It was Wind Rider!

But the final question remains… Could he have possibly already been hiding the stain with how his scarf was tied?

And I couldn't help but notice that Wind Rider's scarf is tied in a tight Windsor knot instead of its usual loose slipknot.

That's it! Rarity didn't notice Wind Rider's scarf tied in a different knot until today, which means he must have had it in its usual knot while they were talking during the dinner! In that case, with the spot where the chocolate stain should have shown openly for everyone to see at that time, there's no way Wind Rider could have stained it with the chocolate fountain because it had already been put away at the time!

"Nice try, Wind Rider." I half-said out loud. "But you're not getting away from this one."

Everypony looked at me, and I was more than willing to call him out on his bluffs.

"Pfft. You're telling me you've got evidence to prove me wrong?" He responded with certain disbelief.

"I do, actually." I crossed my hooves in confidence. "Actually, everyone in this room does. And that proof is their memories."

"Huh?!" They immediately began whispering and talking amongst each other.

"Shh! Shh!" Rarity shushed loudly, eager to hear what I had to say. "Let him speak!"

"There was a chocolate fountain at the dinner, Wind Rider. I'll give you that. But there was no way you could have stained your scarf with it." As he raised an eyebrow, I retracted my hoof to the side of my body and shot it outwards as hard as I could like an arrow. "Because the chocolate fountain had already been broken at the time!"

I heard everypony gasp at the fact that had been forgotten just come to everyone's realization.

Nevertheless, Wind Rider played it off by laughing. "You're really trying to pull a fast one on me, aren't you, kiddo? Obviously, I got the stain before it broke."

I couldn't help but smug confidently at this liar's pathetic attempt of an escape. "No, I think you're the one pulling a fast one on me. If there's one thing I can remember clearly, it's when the fountain broke and when I saw you speaking with Rainbow and Rarity. However, in order to refresh everypony's memory, I'll explain the events in the order they happened. That night, a pony had the misfortune of dunking her head into the fountain out of excitement. Whatever she did while doing that cut the flow of the chocolate from the fountain and eventually caused quite a mess at the table. It was then that the fountain had to be taken out so it could be repaired later, and by later, I mean another day, not in the same night. I took this pony out of the dinner to clean her up, and when I came back was when I saw something interesting." I turned to Rarity and Rainbow Dash. "Rarity, Rainbow, I'm sure you remember seeing me bringing said pony back during your talk with Wind Rider, correct?"

"Yes, yes I do!" Rarity enthusiastically nodded.

"B-but of course they would say they remembered things like that!" Wind Rider was now at the point of stammering.

"They're not the only ones, Wind Rider. I remember a pair of Wonderbolts standing right by you. One was Spitfire, and the other was…"

"Me!" One of the Wonderbolts listening raised her hoof. "I remember telling Rainbow Dash that Wind Rider was coming out of retirement to take the spot of honor in the center of our aerial flower formation!"

"Precisely." I continued. "And I'm pretty sure other Wonderbolts that was were walking around us remember the exact same thing. Actually, I'm pretty sure you just didn't see Wonderbolts that dinner either." I paused for a brief moment to notice him sweating bullets now. "I distinctly remember you greeting Princess Celestia after the fact. If you even think your Wonderbolts are remembering wrong, I'm pretty sure we can all take a trip to see the princess. Seeing as she was there the entire dinner, I'm more than sure she'll say that she remembers seeing you after the chocolate fountain had been broken, not to mention that she'll especially remember you wearing your scarf in your usual loose slipknot. At that moment, unless everypony's memory is wrong, your scarf was definitely clean at that time. What do you say to that, Wind Rider? You have any more fake excuses for us?"

He was definitely speechless at that time. I suppose he couldn't come up with anything at the time, leading me to believe he had planned to use the chocolate fountain as an excuse should the stain on his scarf ever come up. And without his precious fountain, he's defenseless!

"Grrr." He had been biting down onto his scarf ferociously like a dog. When he must have realized that there was no way out, he then lost it and broke down. "Graaagh!" He tore apart his scarf in half, leaving everyone in silence. "Okay! I did it! You caught me!"

"How could you Wind Rider?!" Rainbow Dash looked absolutely disappointed, which was understandable when she had been defending the pony accusing her all because he was a 'living legend'. "Was it because I took the last broccoli at the dinner and you really, really wanted it?"

"No." Rarity took it on from here as she was supposed to. "It was because he was afraid that you would break his long-distance Wonderbolt record! I heard him when Spitfire said you were close to breaking his record. He said, and I quote, 'Heh-heh'. That's the polite but disingenuous laugh you make when you want to seem happy but really you're not."

"I thought if I could get Rainbow Dash kicked out of the Wonderbolts forever, my record could be preserved." He explained his actions.

"Really? That is so not cool." Rainbow realized for herself now. "And I thought you were the coolest Wonderbolt ever. Until now."

"I did what I had to do to protect my record! Sometimes you gotta play dirty to be the best!"

"That's not what being a Wonderbolt is all about!"

"She's right!" Soarin defended. "Wonderbolts look out for each other! Which reminds me, where is Spitfire?"

"I sent her the letter pretending to be Stormy Flare. I told her I had Pegasitis, and the only cure is the ice iris in the Crystal Mountains." He said while looking disgustingly smug about it.

"No wonder she's been gone so long. Ice irises are almost impossible to find in spring!" Rainbow mentioned.

"The Crystal Mountains are too far for anypony to make it there and back before the royal garden opening! Rainbow Dash, we need you to fly in Spitfire's place!" Soarin requested.

"But Spitfire shouldn't have to miss this!" She objected. "I'm gonna get her!"

"But you'll never make it in time!"

"Then there's no time to lose!" Rainbow dashed out of the room without question, leaving us to have no other choice but to wait in unresting silence.

Late Afternoon – Wonderbolt Dressing Room

As we waited for Rainbow Dash, Twilight managed to find us back in the dressing room. She couldn't find much information to help, but to her relief, we had told her everything that had happened and who the real culprit was.

Twilight had sent a nasty glare over to Wind Rider, but he had been pretty much avoiding anyone's dirty looks by looking away.

Finally, we heard the door swing open, and somepony new walked in gasping for any breath she could get.

"Spitfire, you're back! I can't believe you made it!" Soarin approached her.

"I wouldn't have, if Rainbow hadn't found me so fast! Gave me enough time to fly back!"

In the meantime, Rainbow Dash approached us with an apologetic look on her face. "I couldn't have done it without you guys. And I'm sorry I doubted you, Rare. But why didn't you tell me what you were doing?"

"Well, I didn't want to get your hopes up until I was sure, and I couldn't be sure until I saw that chocolate stain." Rarity explained. "I'm just so grateful Alex was here to remind us all about the chocolate fountain breaking. I have to admit, I'm not so sure if I would have been able to catch that in time…"

"I'm just glad it's all over…" I felt a sudden wave of exhaustion hit me.

"Thank you all for believing in me, even when I was doing a lot of doubting. I'm some friend, huh?"

"Actually, you're quite a good friend." Rarity acknowledged. "You went to get Spitfire, even though it meant you couldn't fly today."

"Of course!" Rainbow emphasized. "I couldn't just leave her there." She paused for a brief sigh. "I'll get my chance one day."

"Or today!" Spitfire flew by Wind Rider. "How'd you like Wind Rider's spot in the show?"

"Uh, w-w-what?" He stammered in response. "Y-You can't do this to me! I'm one of the greatest Wonderbolts there ever was!"

"Not anymore. For attempting to frame Rainbow Dash, I hereby strip you of your Wonderbolts status!" She forcibly removed the symbol off his jacket and pointed him out the door.

"And we'll make sure it doesn't stop there, right Twi?" I turned to Twilight.

"For all the trouble he's caused, he's going to have to answer to Princess Celestia!" She assured.

"So, would you like to fly with us?" Soarin made the offer official towards Rainbow Dash.

"Would I?! Woo-hoo!" She cheered and proceeded to celebrate with all she had in the air. "Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah, uh-huh, uh-huh, yeah, aww yeah—"

"Uh, Rainbow Dash?" Soarin cut her cheering short.

With a short show of embarrassment, Rainbow flew after Soarin and Spitfire who were exiting the room. "Coming!"

"You guys did great!" Twilight congratulated Rarity, Spirit, and me. "Looks like you didn't need me at all!"

"To be honest…" I spoke. "I think Rarity had it all in the bag. After all, she was practically on everything from the evidence to the talking. I just helped a bit here and there."

"Oh, nonsense, darling." Rarity disagreed. "You were just as helpful. I was actually planning to work some of my charm on getting those guards to admit that they hadn't been watching the hallway the entire night, but you beat me to it!"

"What…?!" Twilight looked like she wanted to burst out laughing. "You're telling me Alex used his charm into getting information out of the guards?!"

"What?!" My brain short-circuited for a second there. "No! Not that! I just talked to them! Right, Spirit?" I turned to her for help.

"Huh? No, I think you were sure sweet talking the information right out of them!" She stated with a teasing grin.

"Oh, come on! No, I didn't!" I practically yelled to get my point across. Spirit, why you betray me?!

Twilight was now laughing out loud. "Alex, the sweet talker! No wonder all his friends are mares!"

They continued laughing and poking fun at me. I felt the equivalent to an inflated balloon, and when they hit me with the sharpest poke, I could no longer keep it in.

"OBJECTION!"

The End.

Crusader of the Lost Mark

"Alex, could you help me with my homework?" I asked as I dragged my hooves towards him.

"Homework?" He responded with confusion. "What homework? You're not even in school."

"No, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders want me to try at least ten different things that might get me my cutie mark, and I really don't feel like thinking about what to do." I didn't hesitate to express how I really felt about the situation.

Alex had been with Twilight in the castle library ever since I left with Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, due to the fact I had officially declared myself a Cutie Mark Crusader back when we had gone to Appleloosa. To tell the truth, if I had known that they would have taken my answer seriously, I probably would have never said yes. I've tried to tell them it was pointless searching for my "cutie mark", but they never listen.

"That's weird." Alex replied. "I would think they'd take you along to try those different things, not just leave them for you to do alone."

"Well…it's because they had to go help one of their friends at school run for Pony President or something." I sighed and fell to the floor, unwilling to take part in any of this. I just wanted to crawl back into my little safe space inside Alex and not have to worry about the outside world. In fact, that was probably one of the only good things about being alone in there, but even so, I couldn't leave the Cutie Mark Crusaders hanging. They'd be so disappointed, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to stand looking at their saddened faces. "I don't understand, Alex. Why do they think that I'll find my cutie mark? It's so obvious I won't. I technically don't even exist. I'm not supposed to be alive. I mean, you'd think I would have already had my cutie mark by now, considering how old I am, but no. It's pointless!"

"Are you really sure about that?" He questioned. "You've haven't exactly been out and about until not too long ago. Maybe you just need some time."

"Trust me, Alex. Even if I had been 'out and about' for the same amount of time you have, I wouldn't have a cutie mark. I've already given up on believing I'll ever get one because I know I won't. It's just not logically possible, all things considered."

For some odd reason, Alex laughed at that. "Where have you been? If you've seen everything that's happened to us up until now, you'd know that logic doesn't stop anything from happening. Look at Discord. He's a prime example."

I didn't really have a well-thought response to that, so I only closed my eyes and stuck out my tongue at him.

"You have to admit he has a point, Spirit." Twilight now felt inclined to join in on the conversation. "I mean, I know you aren't exactly the same as the rest of us, but you still are a pony right now, aren't you? I understand how you feel, because never have I ever witnessed or heard of a pony living with the kind of circumstances that you have. Still, you can't really throw the idea of having a cutie mark out the door."

What I did have to admit was that I supposed there was sort of a loophole on the possibility that I'd have a cutie mark waiting for me to unveil, but either way, I really just didn't care about a cutie mark anymore. Why couldn't I just live in peace without one? Does it really mean anything?

"Is having a cutie mark really that much of a big deal?" I thought out loud, feeling unnecessarily frustrated. "So, you have your 'special talent' on your butt. So, what? It's not like it gives you any special power you use for the rest of your life. All it's good for is showing other ponies something they don't need to know and will probably be used as a reminder when you're old and forget things the minute after you think about them."

Alex and Twilight exchanged looks of concern with each other after my rant.

"Spirit, I'm not saying that a cutie mark is everything." She continued earnestly. "However, it's a very important piece of who you are, not for other ponies to see, but for you. It's a mark of your destiny and who you're meant to be."

I didn't feel so easily swayed in by her opinion. "Oh. Then, there's that because if that was the case, I should have already had my cutie mark by now. My destiny? Obviously, it's what I've been doing with Alex for all these years. But nope. No cutie mark."

"Spirit, listen…" Twilight tried to linger on her persuasive efforts as if there had been something important in it for her. "That doesn't mean you've found out who you're meant to be, it just—"

"Forget it!" I exclaimed as I already grew tired with how long the talk about cutie marks lasted. "I'm just going to do this stupid homework on my own. It's not like I have anything better to do anyway!"

With that, I stormed out of the library and soon the castle entirely.

Outside, I began feeling guilty for how I reacted, especially when I said I had nothing better to do. It was a lie. There was something important that I gave myself to task of doing ever since I began existing as Spirit. It was to protect Alex and make sure he could never be hurt as long as I was still standing. I'm not going to lie and say I did a great job of it in the earlier days, but it was still better than what could have been. As long as he was still healthy and standing, it was fine by me.

Either way, I couldn't go back, not after how I left things. I still had to do this 'homework' for the Crusaders anyway. Maybe afterwards, I can try explaining why I feel it's pointless in trying to look for my cutie mark. If they still don't understand, I might just have to resign without their approval.

I faced the road towards Ponyville and immediately came up with one of the ten ideas I could use for getting a cutie mark. "'Walking' cutie mark: Check."

By the time I had made it into town, I had already come up with most of the ideas I needed for the time I would report back. I had to admit, there were just variations of a few of the different lame ideas I had come up with, but they still technically counted. I think.

"'Looking up at the sky' cutie mark: Check." My eyes continued eyeing the clouds above. "'Cloud Analyzing' cutie mark: Check." I turned my attention back to what was in front of me and took notice of ponies roaming around the town. "'Pony Watching' cutie mark: Check." Maybe I can do a 'Smell analyzing' or 'Stone turning' cutie mark check later…

I was sure that the Crusaders hadn't returned from school yet, but I still made my way over to their clubhouse. I apparently had special VIP member access, so I might as well use it. Inside, I decided to take a look around and find out what exactly their thought process was on getting a cutie mark. In other words, I guess I wanted to find out why they've never stopped working so hard on getting a cutie mark besides the sake of just getting the cutie mark.

Nevertheless, I didn't find answers as I mostly came across mountains of different ideas to what they could get their cutie mark in. If I was serious about the homework they assigned me, I'd probably be ticking things off their already made list. Although, I wouldn't be sure if it was technically cheating… Either way, I had to give it to them that they were determined, and it definitely showed in their work.

I stretched out the long lists, reading how they've covered such ground like taffy-making, scuba diving, and even giving a pretty terrible performance at their school talent show. It was at this point when I began feeling depressed as I went through each and one of their past journeys and stories.

How did things turn out like this? Why did they turn out like this in the first place? He and I had been happy, even if all we did have was each other. Looking back, I couldn't believe I felt the way I did before. If I could, I would do anything to have it all back. But that wasn't an option anymore. He's happy now around all the friends he's made. I can't take that away from him…even if I feel like he's moved on…

I carelessly allowed the tears from my eyes to fall as I reminisced about the past. The long-erased past.

Still… I can't help but dream about the days that really meant something to me. Sometimes, I'm afraid I might just make the mistake of letting my emotions get in the way of what I think is right yet again.

Things grew almost completely silent as I began wiping the remaining tears off my face. Purposely forgetting the reason I had come in here in the first place, I put away the papers I had been reading through and began leaving the clubhouse.

Outside, I stared at my hooves with each step I made. I continued walking as my mind felt buried under empty thoughts. All of a sudden, I bumped into something small yet solid. As I flinched backwards, I then heard it land and roll a bit on the ground. As I turned my attention to what it was, I found that it was an apple. I grabbed a hold of it and turned it over.

That's strange… Why would I bump into an apple? It's like if it was falling and then froze in place for me to bump into…

Certain worries began to cloud my mind, but I quickly brushed them away by shaking my head.

Why am I overthinking this? It's just a dumb apple.

I merely tossed it aside, continuing my walk back into town.

I still didn't have the energy to keep my head held up high to see where I was going. If I turned out to be in the way of anypony, I expected that they would move themselves. However, I soon found out that that wouldn't be the case.

"Excuse me." I half-heartedly apologized as I had bumped into someone, but I didn't earn a response back. In fact, the pony hadn't even move. "Hey, what's—" I was about to release some of my frustration onto this poor soul, but I was shocked to see that this pony had been completely frozen in place. "H-huh?!"

I quickly turned to see the rest of what I could of Ponyville, and this was when I began to panic. Everything had been frozen in place!

"N…no!" I shook my head in denial, feeling myself automatically back away at the site of this. "This isn't supposed to happen anymore!" I fell back and lifted my hooves to press them against the temples of my head. I tried to make this all stop, but nothing changed! "No!"

I had suddenly began feeling all alone and helpless. The first pony that came into my mind was Alex. All I wanted to do was see him, even if he was going to be frozen just like every pony else.

I found him, along with Twilight, still sitting in the castle library. My heart dropped at the sight of this as they had been affected too, and all I can do was hug him as hard as I could, desperately seeking warmth and love. I knew there was a way out of this, and I just had to find it. But I couldn't help but feel scared and hopeless. I didn't want any chance of things screwing up like they did before…

"I'm sorry, Alex…" I apologized as I stared into his utterly still face. "I wanted to ditch it, I swear, but I couldn't bring myself to do it…just in case of an emergency… Just in case something really bad happened to you, and I had to change it before it was too late…"

"Well, that's ironic…" I unexpectedly heard behind me, causing me to gasp and immediately turn around. What I noticed first at this shadowy pony was his eye color. They were a dark shade of red that you could only associate with something sinister. After that, I realized that one of his eyes had been visible. The other had been completely covered by the greyish mane that hung carelessly over it. The rest of his body had been covered with a hooded garment, but from what I could see was that the color of his coat had collaborated with the same sinister red. "…if you ask me, it seems every bad thing that happens is because of it."

"W-who are you?! How are you able to move?!" I immediately asked, though his voice sounded familiar. I began to feel as if I'd met him before.

"You of all ponies should know the answers to both of those questions." He returned. "But I guess it's not a surprise that you've already forgotten about me. Let me see… It would be like the second time now, right?"

"Are…Are you that stallion that…that took my hoodie?" I asked, seeing as only he would pretty much fit the bill.

"Well, I wouldn't say it's your hoodie." He answered light-heartedly, almost as if this had been a friendly conversation he could easily joke around in. "But I gave it back, so you're not going to keeping ragging me about it, are you?"

I shook my head slowly and proceeded to ask one of the biggest questions that needed answering. "Why do you keep bothering us? You say that I should know the answer…but I don't have any clue who you are at all!"

"Suck it up, buttercup." He responded coldly. "Because I'm not going away. Not until I take what's mine."

"What? Are you really that obsessed with my hoodie?!"

"Boy, you're stupid. But you've always been, haven't you? Believe it or not, you'd be the only pony to understand why I'm doing what I'm doing, but I think it'd be better to leave it a question until the very end. I can't risk having you ruining things for me."

I stared at him for a moment as I remained silent.

"Are you even real…?" I asked, raising his eyebrow as I turned my eyesight towards the floor. "You're just another illusion, aren't you? I've been having so many doubts in my mind, and with things how they are now, all I've been doing is blaming myself… It's not really you that's making me think you're still some kind of threat. You're just the doubts I have that physically manifested into something I can see." I shook my head. "It's over for you."

"Oh, it's far from over. I'm just getting started."

"You couldn't even do anything back when you were with Night Terror! What makes you think you'll do anything more than cause small trouble now that you're on your own?!"

"I might be on my own, for now anyway, but I have a way of manipulating things. You'll see soon enough." With one last devilish smirk, he appeared to be ready to leave. "Just keep this in mind. You might want to keep your 'power' in check. You might just regret keeping it in the end, and by that time, it'll be too late."

"Yeah, whatever." I simply responded with as I watched him fade away. Even though I didn't believe it, his threats didn't feel completely empty. Even if he was just an illusion…why was it specifically him?

I looked around and remembered the predicament I was still in. I took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled it out. It was my job to fix this, but I was extremely sensitive to the idea of making another mistake. I need to stop worrying. I'll be fine as long as I don't let my stupid emotions get in the way this time. I can do this. I just need to keep calm and just take a few seconds to fix this.

I turned and faced Alex. I returned back to my place inside of him to thankfully find everything looking normal as it should be in my safe haven. However, there, I began to meditate and try to unfreeze everything else in the outside. As long as I didn't think about the past, I should definitely be fine.

For what felt like a long moment, I recalled what I had been doing before things turned out like this. I recalled what Alex and Twilight had been doing and imagined a scene where they continued doing what they had been doing, which I believed was reading. When I felt it was safe enough, I slowly closed my eyes. I couldn't see if anything had changed inside here. I needed to go back outside.

"…be okay?"

"I hope."

I heard these voices immediately as I existed once again in this world.

Everything had returned back to normal. Due to the sight of this, I couldn't keep in both my relief and excitement.

"Alex!" I called to the first pony I had seen. I raced over to hug him and ended up slightly pushing him backwards from the force.

"S-Spirit…! What's going on…?"

I shook my head. "N-nothing. I'm just glad to see you…" Besides, I wanted to apologize for the way I acted. Even though I had always been the main cause, I always tried to unwind bad tension. I couldn't bear the thought of going through another goodbye like that. "I'm sorry for how I left earlier. I didn't mean to…be like that. I just don't want to work so hard for something I might not even have. I'm…I'm fine without one anyway."

Alex glanced over to Twilight before he replied to me. "We didn't mean to push it on you or anything. Sorry. If you don't want to, you don't have to. You might just need to explain that to the Crusaders…"

"I know…" I nodded and then pulled away. "I just hope they understand… I'd hate to see them so disappointed." I then began turning towards the door so I could make my way outside of the castle. "I'm going to see if they're still at the school. I'll be back later."

I was then in town on the path towards the schoolhouse. I had expected a quiet keeping-to-myself walk, but I found my ears being present to a shaking "STOP!" in unison from a group of fillies. As everypony nearby did, I turned to see the source of the voices galloping straight past me.

"Diamond Tiara, this is not the way!"

These voices sounding extremely familiar caused me to squint my eyes and tried to get a good look at the ponies ahead. There was no doubt. The three ponies that had been running were Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. But why were they running after the other filly? Seeing as I needed to speak with them in the first place, I ran after them as I overhead their apparent dilemma.

"You know you're better than this hostility"

The filly they had been running after stopped a stallion pulling a cart of apples and turned it over towards the road, causing the Crusaders to stumble and fall over. From this, I was able to catch up to them and help them up. They gasped in surprise at the sight of me, but they obviously didn't have time for explanations or questions.

"Come on, Crusaders!" Applebloom led.

"You don't even know me at all

Don't understand the meaning of my fall" Diamond Tiara, having a good lead ahead of us, despondently returned back as she bobbed and weaved through ponies in the way.

"What my family would think if I ever

Fail at anything"

Applebloom found us a route to cut her off and pointed us in the direction to take.

"I'm a diamond – that means you'll never break

No matter what be the cost of the path I take

Whatever I have to do to win in the end"

"Stop!" The Crusaders confronted her at the end of an alley between two houses, but she refused to stop. "This is not the answer!"

"Wait!" They attempted again. "And it's plainly seen"

"Listen!" They pleaded. "You can redeem yourself

But by helping others, not by being mean"

They found themselves able to cut forward so they could face Diamond Tiara. I stayed behind, honestly having no motivating reason to give me the adrenaline that these girls had. Nevertheless, as they continue their hopes to persuade their classmate, I couldn't help but listen in at the words they sang. For some reason, it felt as if I needed to hear them too.

"We know you want friends who admire you

You want to be the star with all the power too

But there's a better way, there's a better wa-a-ay"

They slowed for a moment to run side by side altogether.

"There's so much more still left to

Learn about yourself

See the light that shines in you

We know you can be somepony else"

As it appeared the filly they had been chasing began having second thoughts, the Crusaders came to a stop between two branching paths and gestured towards the right.

"You can stop right now

And try another start

You'll finally free yourself from the dark

And see the light

And see the light of your cutie mark"

Despite their best attempts to convince her, Diamond Tiara ignored their guidance and made her way towards the left where the schoolhouse stood. The Crusaders immediately followed after, and at the end of the road, Diamond Tiara caught the attention of the school ponies that stood at the front.

"Everypony, I have an announcement!" She stated seriously.

"Diamond Tiara! Think hard about the choice you're makin' right now!" Applebloom advised.

"You can be a better pony!" Scootaloo added.

"Diamond Tiara!" A voice bellowed out from the front door of the schoolhouse. A mare with a formidable stink-eye and an obviously expensive wardrobe seemed to take everypony by surprise as she looked dead in Diamond Tiara's direction. "I just happened to be here for the school board meeting, and this is what I see when we adjourn? My daughter associating with confused, insignificant lowlifes? Socializing with their kind is not how you move up in Equestria!" She walked past us and seemed to especially eye me, see as I was grown up and still without a cutie mark. However, she didn't bother acknowledging me, which was not surprising based on what she had just mentioned. "Come, Diamond Tiara!" She ordered as she proceeded to leave the school grounds.

"No, mother!" Her daughter disobeyed.

"Excuse me?!" Diamond Tiara's mother demanded, pulling her head back and lifting her chin upwards in an intimidating and powerful manner.

"You've spent your life acting like a high horse and raised me to follow in your hoofprints!" Her child approached her to look her dead in the eyes. "At first I thought this was fine, but then I finally realized I wanted something you don't have – friends!"

Everypony in the area gasped, causing her to return a look of minor fear for just a quick second. "That's enough, Diamond Tiara! Step away from those blank flanks!"

"These are the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and they are my friends!" She introduced in a stunning one-hundred and eighty degree turn. "You need to stop calling them such mean and hurtful names! They are working harder to get their cutie marks than anypony I've ever seen! And they will get them exactly when they discover their true talent, which I guarantee will be amazing! Now, will you please deliver this to father?" She presented a loose-leaf piece of a paper towards her mother.

Appearing to be completely overstricken with embarrassment, as if she had such a high standard for her reputation to the public, she cautiously accepted the paper to prevent any other outburst to come from her daughter. "Yes, of course, dear..."

"I have to thank you, Crusaders." Diamond Tiara turned towards the three little ones as her mother walked away almost like a dog with its tail between its legs. "Obviously, I've known since I got my cutie mark that my talent is getting other ponies to do what I want. I just asked my father if he could donate the money for the new playground equipment!" She then approached a colt that was the smallest out of the bunch. He flinched as she spoke, seeming to fear the worst, only to be caught off guard by a newfound kindness. "I knew you were worried for a second there, weren't you? Ha! Well, I think it's all gonna work out just fine, Mister President!" She winked with a friendly intention.

"We'll build a playground

For all of us to enjoy" Diamond Tiara now rounded up each of her classmates as she sent looks of gratefulness towards the Crusaders.

"So full of games

There's enough for each girl and boy

I want to help and do

Everything that I can

I'm here to show you I changed

Listen up, here's the plan"

At the school yard, she began to direct where and how the new playground equipment was going to go.

"Bring it in! That's right, keep it coming!" She told the delivery pony before she headed towards a timid-looking filly. "Hey there, you with the amazing strength. Can you help them move that merry-go-round across the lawn? Thank you so much!" The filly waved as she surprised me in showing me that such a small filly could have such tremendous strength to lift an entire merry-go-round like Diamond Tiara had mentioned. Speaking of the pony currently in charge, she proceeded to ask another colt for some more help. "And you with the super teeth, we need you to help with that teeter-totter. You got it! That's the spirit!" She praised.

"There's so much I can do

To help everypony else" She continued as the others worked together to set up the new equipment. It was at this point where I noticed somepony I hadn't been expecting to see here helping as well with her magic. It was Twilight, and in turn, I began searching for Alex.

"I see the light that shines in me

I know I can be my better self

I can free the past

'Cause now the future's bright for me

My cutie mark has set me free

To do what's right and be the pony I want to be~"

I didn't have to look hard as he had been retrieving a part that connected with the one that Twilight had. He looked really happy…

"And be the pony I want to be!"

The new playground had been completed in practically no time, and I had to admit, it looked absolutely amazing. It was like the playground of my dreams, and it was the kind of playground only a rich pony could afford. It only goes to show how wealthy her family was…

Before I could approach Alex to learn the reason for the two of them being here in the first place, I felt a small hoof tap me on my flank. I turned to see Applebloom as she joyfully smiled at me. She invited me to join in discussion among the rest of her cutie mark seeking friends.

"I've been thinkin', Crusaders. We spend an awful lot of time fussin' and frettin' tryin' to discover our true talent. But when we take a little time off, we end up helpin' other ponies figure out their true talent!"

"Yeah, and I think that's way more important than worrying about our cutie marks, don't you?" Sweetie Belle agreed.

"Absolutely!" Scootaloo jumped in joy as her small wings fluttered. "I don't care if I ever get my cutie mark as long as I get to hang out with my best friends."

"So what do you say, Crusaders? Want to just focus on helpin' others find their cutie marks?" Applebloom asked.

"Yeah!" The rest of them slapped hooves to indicate their start of a new mission.

"Actually girls…there's something I've been meaning to sa—"

I was cut short when not only I, but the three of them as well, noticed a spark emerge from their unison and some kind of aura appear around them. They each began being lifted up, and before I knew it, I turned my head away with my hoof in front of my face due to a blinding light, something I ironically should be really immune to.

By the time things were visible again, they each sat up and began recovering from what had just happened until everypony that had been taking in the sight of the playground gasped in awe from what they saw.

"What happened?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"What's goin' on?" Applebloom repeated.

"It's your cutie marks! They're amazing!" Diamond Tiara happily pointed out.

I couldn't believe it for myself when I saw it. The mark they had been fighting so much to find finally appeared on their flanks, and I think they were different from any kind of mark I had seen before. The three of their marks had some kind of shield, but within the shield laid a trait that each of them uniquely possessed.

No way…! Does this mean…? That the entire time they've been together…It was their destiny?!

"We all got the same cutie mark! Cutie Mark Crusaders forever!" They jumped in hysteric bliss before they began to sing about their accomplishment.

"We were searching for our cutie marks

For a while there" They hugged each other immensely.

"Trying to find out how we fit in

So many ways we've tried before

But we kept on trying more

'Cause the Cutie Mark Crusaders don't give in"

They proceeded to gallop back into town, looking as if they were going to let everybody they could see know about their great accomplishment. Even their classmates began to follow behind. Seeing as how I was still technically a Crusader, it wouldn't feel right to leave them on their own.

"Now we know what it took all along" Scootaloo mentioned.

"And our journey here is never really done" Sweetie Belle added.

"For it is more than just a mark

It's a place for us to start" Applebloom continued before the three of them united.

"An adventure that has only just begun"

Everypony that had been working in town stopped to take a look just as if a parade had been marching through. Even though these ponies might have not known the three little fillies, they looked extremely happy and proud for them. Admittedly, thinking about how it would feel for myself felt especially heartwarming.

"We'll make our mark

Show the world what we can do

We'll make our mark

Helping fillies to break through

To the ultimate reward of a cutie mark!"

At one of my favorite places in Ponyville, the fillies reunited with their bigger sisters.

"All right, everypony! Get ready for the biggest cute-ceañera celebration ever!" Pinkie Pie broadcasted for everypony to hear with an expected response of applause.

"Oh, sugarcube, if Mom and Dad were here, they'd be so proud of ya." I heard Applejack tell Applebloom as the rest of her family enjoyed the scene in tears.

"Oh... Thanks, Applejack." Applebloom expressed as she wiped off tears of her own.

"Now go on and party with your pals." She encouraged.

"I'm so proud of you, little buddy

You've taught me a thing or two" Rainbow Dash tended to Scootaloo.

"You've inspired everypony around you

And you've inspired me too" Rarity sung in Sweetie Belle's way.

"You've made your mark" The three of their sisters sung together as everyone else witnessed the event unfold and progress before them.

"Done Equestria so proud

You've made your mark

And we're here to sing it loud

For the ultimate reward of your cutie mark!"

"Well, what do you think, Crusaders?" Applebloom turned to the rest of her friends. "Were these cutie marks totally worth waiting for or what?"

"Yeah! I can't wait to see who we're gonna help next!" Sweetie Belle enthusiastically approved.

"We started out just three

Crusaders driven to see

What we find in our hearts

Discover our destiny

And here we are, best friends

About to start it again

An adventure that never will end

We'll make our mark

Helping fillies most in need

We'll make our mark

So each one of them succeeds

'Cause the ultimate reward is a cutie mark~!"

Before the cute-ceañera, they made sure to take a photo of not only them, but everypony that had an important part in their journey, including even me. It was up to Spike to end up sending it to the princesses of Canterlot.

At Sugarcube Corner, I found myself sitting at the table that was practically reserved just for them.

"…so…you guys are still going to be Cutie Mark Crusaders…?" I couldn't help but ask with a sort of dejected tone.

"Of course!" Scootaloo exclaimed almost immediately.

"It won't be about finding our own cutie marks, obviously, so we'll helping other ponies with theirs." Sweetie Belle added.

"And there's no way we're just gonna leave a fellow Crusader in the dust, so you're our next priority!" Appleboom pointed at me, gaining instant approval from the rest.

"Listen…" I rubbed the back of my head for what was to come out next. "I don't know if I should be a Crusader anymore."

"Why not?" Applebloom asked, quickly growing a look of concern.

"I've tried to tell you all as subtly as I could before, but I think I should just spit it out." I took in a deep breath and the released it out almost harshly. "I don't think I have a cutie mark to find."

"Huh?!" Each of them screamed out in unison.

"Look, I'm not the same as you fillies." I wanted to reason with them, but being kids, I felt as if they wouldn't completely understand. "After all, if I had a cutie mark to begin with, I'm sure I would have found it by now. I know what I'm meant to do, but I just don't have a cutie mark to show it like the rest of you. Honestly, have you ever seen a pony that was grown up and still not have her cutie mark?"

They looked among each other for a short while in silence before Applebloom spoke up.

"Well, I don't believe that." She said bluntly. "You're right, I've never seen any kind of pony live their life without a cutie mark, but if it was possible for a pony to not have a cutie mark for any kind of reason, surely you think there'd be a legend about a pony or two never havin' found their cutie marks, don't you think? But as far as I know, there isn't! I don't know why exactly you feel as if you have no cutie mark, but I for one won't stop believin'. When I look at you right now, I feel somethin' special in my heart. I just know there's a cutie mark waitin' to be explored inside you."

Her eagerness and enthusiasm was killing me. At least, it was beginning to kill the doubts I had for not having a cutie mark in the first place. I still didn't believe that I had one, but her words were causing me to have second thoughts on there being zero chance of a cutie mark for me.

"You really think so…?" I asked.

"We know so!" They eagerly shouted together.

Argggghhh. I couldn't help it. They were too cute!

"Alright! Alright!" I surrendered. "I'll keep looking for my cutie mark." After all, if there was a chance that I somehow magically had one, and I found it, I'd love to kind of have a big ceremony and celebration just like these three…

"Yes! Cutie Mark Crusader Cutie Mark Finders!" They bellowed out a hooffull as they bucked hooves. "Let's start crossing off the list—!"

"Actually…" I cut them short, still wanting to keep to certain conditions, should I stay in the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "Not that I don't appreciate the help, but I think I'd rather skip doing every little new thing I can find in hopes of finding my cutie mark. I think it'd be better if I…just take my time with it and find it on my own. After all, I kind of have to stick with Alex most of the time and help him save Equestria, hehe."

"Understandable." Scootaloo admitted towards the others. "After all, we didn't find our cutie marks until we focused on helping others instead of ourselves."

"Alright, you got a deal!" Applebloom allowed. "But you let us know whenever you're in any kind of trouble."

"That's what being a Cutie Mark Crusader is all about in the first place!" Sweetie Belle stated.

"Cutie Mark Crusaders forever!" They chanted together and lifted their hooves once more, having me join in at their last buck.

"Congratulations, you three!" We heard a new voice join in at our table. We turned to see Twilight with Alex following closely behind. "I can't even begin to explain how proud I am!"

"Same here." Alex added. "It practically feels like it was just yesterday when the three of you formed your club."

"Now that you mention it…" Twilight appeared to recall something. "Wasn't this the same exact spot you three had talked to each other about the club?"

They took a glance at both their table and surroundings.

"Huh, you're right." Applebloom realized. "How cool is that?!"

"All this was meant to happen!" Scootaloo burst out loud, slamming her hooves on the table and causing the drinks on top to shake.

Twilight found herself giggling at their reactions. "Your cutie marks are a sign of your destiny, after all."

That caused me to wonder. If I really did have a cutie mark stored for me in the future, does that mean that the whole time, everything I've gone through was meant to happen? As much as I thought about it, I still couldn't make sense from it. It couldn't have been like that, not after everything I did.

The reality was…we probably weren't even supposed to be here in the first place…

Back at the castle in Alex's room, I filled him in with what had happened after I left to find the fillies at the schoolyard. In return, I asked him for the reason why he and Twilight were at the schoolyard helping the little ones with their new playground.

"Twilight and I were still a little worried about you, so we decided sometime after you left to catch up and see how things were going. We didn't think we'd arrive to see new playground equipment being set up by every one of you. Makes me wonder how much we missed from today."

I shook my head in response. "I still think it's crazy how Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo got their cutie marks today, all at the same time!"

Alex chuckled. "Twilight and I never thought they'd get them in unison like that. A long way back, it seemed pretty obvious to what their special talents were, but it's amazing how things turned out today. In a way, I'd say the cutie marks they got mean much more than what we previously thought. It just goes to show how much their friendship means to each other, and it also shows that the bond between them will never falter."

"Yeah…" I replied softly as I stared at the floor. "They um…managed to convince me in having hope for my cutie mark. I still don't really think I have one but…I guess I can't exactly throw out the possibility."

Alex remained silent for a moment before he spoke. "Hey, Spirit. I know you have doubts because you weren't exactly born like any other pony…but you're a pony. I don't even understand it myself, why you're a pony to begin with if you had been the light inside me, to be honest. Either way, I think you deserve to have one, and I guess in this case, time will only tell."

I returned a slightly laughing scoff at that. "Yeah. It definitely will."

"I think I'm heading to bed." He mentioned as he walked past me. "What about you?"

"Think I'll stay up for just a bit longer. Not too long though." I assured him.

"Sure thing." He jumped on his bed and began making himself comfortable. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight…" I returned, sitting in silence briefly before I walked out of the room.

I didn't know why, but I sort of felt like I needed to talk to somepony. Somepony who was probably still at the library during this time of night. I took a peak past the ajar doors to the library and noticed her paying close attention to the books she had in front of her face. I backed out, inhaled, and exhaled a deep breath before I decided to walk on in. She heard the sound of the doors opening just enough for me to squeeze on through.

"Hey, Spirit." She friendly called out to me. "You're not with Alex?"

"Oh, um." I tried to just make up a simple excuse. "I was about to be, but I had been walking by and noticed the library door open."

"I see." She returned. "I'm kind of glad you came by. I'd been looking over some books revolving around ponies and history. I didn't seem to find anything relating to a pony never having found their cutie mark."

"O-oh… That's interesting…" I almost mumbled, seeing as I didn't really have much to say to her.

"On a different note, I can't seem to find anything about any pony having their own living spirit inside of them." She lightly giggled, poking fun at the idea. "Then again, I guess the both of you are…unique to begin with."

I remained quiet after that.

Twilight seemed to obviously take my silence into consideration for what she had to say next. "You know… You and I haven't really spoken much. I think the most you've ever spoken to me was when you guided me to Alex in his dream, back when Night Terror was still a threat. After that, it seems you've just been kind of keeping to yourself. I didn't do anything to make you upset, did I?"

Yeah…you kind of did.

But I couldn't say that.

"I'm just weird…" I simply stated. "I don't really know any pony else besides Alex. Well, I guess I'm starting to know Pinkie."

That wasn't the entire truth. I did know others. Another pony I like to see as my best friend was Coco Pommel. Then there was also Starlight, Alex's former foster sister.

"Well, I'd really like to get to know you too." She suggested earnestly. "Who knows? If I find out more about you, maybe I can help you with all sorts of things like about whether or not it's possible for you to get a cutie mark!"

I didn't want to just flat out say no, but I wasn't exactly leaning towards her suggestion either. I tried to come up with some kind of believable excuse as I rubbed my foreleg uncomfortably.

"Or…if you don't want to. That's okay." Twilight surprisingly made it easier for me. "But you know, I'm here if you need anything."

As I heard that, an idea suddenly came across my thoughts. Although, I wasn't sure if I could particularly say it was a good one. "Actually…there is something you could probably do for me…"

"Sure! What is it?" She responded enthusiastically.

I actually approached her on my free will, which seemed to unsurprisingly slightly shock her.

"There's something…I want to ask you." I closed my eyes and made an attempt to stay as calm as I could be before asking. "Do you really think of Alex as your brother?"

It was no surprise that Twilight would be sort of taken aback from this question. I could already believe she was thinking about why on Equestria I would ask something like that, and I hoped she excused it as me just being Alex's protector.

"Oh…!" It took her a minute to possibly get her words together. "Well…" She lifted her hoof towards her face and slightly looked away. "To be honest, I think it's goes much more than just being a brother to me."

"What do you mean?" I asked, bringing myself closer as I searched her expression with quivering eyes.

"It's hard to explain." She answered. "But…I guess that's why we have the term 'B.B.B.F.F.'." She laughed a little with a small beaming grin.

"'Big Brother Best Friend Forever', right?"

"Yeah, that's right." She nodded. "He's a lot more to me than just a 'brother'. He's my very best friend. Someone I can rely on. In fact, through all this time we've known each other, I think he's practically been the only one there for me through my darkest times. Like during the Canterlot wedding for instance. Everypony had thought I was just jealous of Princess Cadence and possessive of my brother, Shining Armor. I even started thinking about that myself, forgetting about everything I had witnessed the fake Cadence do. Thankfully, Alex wasn't so swayed by the others. If we weren't already super close by the end of that wedding night, then we definitely were the days after. Sure, we might have disagreements every now and then, but I know it's just because we care about each other."

"Don't you think you could've just kept yourself to your own brother instead?" I've felt those words cut and burn my tongue as they shot out.

"What do you mean?" Twilight responded in a puzzled manner.

"Your actual brother. Shining Armor. Couldn't you have…just stuck with him?"

"I'm…I'm not sure what you're asking, Spirit." She expressed. Although, she spoke as if she wasn't completely clueless of what I was getting at.

"Did you really need to get so close to Alex? Couldn't you have just been plain old friends?"

She no longer looked as comfortable as she did when she first invited me to chat with her. "I don't know how to answer that… It just happened, Spirit. After all, ever since I left Canterlot, I've been on my own without Shining Armor. Alex was there to fill in the gap. And since he's been so busy with the Crystal Empire, Cadence, his entire life…" She stopped as if she didn't want to touch anymore on the subject. "Why are you asking me this? That was…rude."

"Sorry." I simply apologized without placing too much meaning behind it. "Forget I asked then. I'm just…curious." That was putting it very lightly.

"I guess that makes sense." Twilight seemed to lower her guard a little after having it spiked up from my pretty personal question. "You've never really been fully accustomed to life outside, have you?"

That's far from the truth, but let's go with that.

"You could say that." I began to pull a naïve dimwitted smile. "There's just so much more I don't understand."

"Well, like I said, I'm here to help." Even after what had just happened a few seconds ago, she still kept her offer standing. "But maybe…let's just not get into touchy subjects next time."

"Right! That was dumb of me." I bumped myself on my tilted head with a completely feigned stupidity. "Anyway, I'm beat. I'm going to go ahead and get to bed. Later, Twilight!"

"Night…" Twilight almost muttered behind me as I left the library.

I definitely wasn't smart like Twilight was. If I had to, I'd definitely place myself at the opposite end of the spectrum, but even I wasn't dumb enough to know that she didn't completely buy my poor excuse. In the end, I might have caused an even bigger rift between us than before.

Scare Master

"I've got it!" Spirit exclaimed in front of the variety of dresses that Rarity had presented before her. "How didn't I think of this before?" She dashed and drifted her way inside the boutique over to me. "Hey, you were a wolf last Nightmare Night, right?"

"Yeah, why?" I responded.

"Well, what else is more perfect than to be Red Riding Hood? Get it?! Miss Red and the Big Bad Wolf?"

I liked the thought behind it, but there was one small problem with it.

"That sounds great, Spirit." I praised first. "But…I was thinking of being something else this time." I didn't know what I wanted to be at that exact time, but I figured I'd come up with something as I looked at my options.

"Come on!" She practically begged. "It's so perfect!"

"Does Rarity even have that kind of outfit?" I brought up.

"I don't believe I do…" Rarity took the liberty of joining in on our dispute and answered that question herself. "However, I can whip something up quite quickly! Besides, I'd just love to work with your mane! I have just the most adorable look in mind right now! It's so perfect!" Rarity's excitement had suddenly escalated at the thought of giving Spirit a makeover.

"Ohhh." Spirit groaned and slightly flinched at the favor Rarity offered. "Rarity, why do you get so excited when it comes to dressing me up…"

"Because you're simply adorable, darling! Everything about your eyes just brings so much inspiration to my mind. Hurry! Hurry! Come over here before it wears off!"

Rarity nearly dragged Spirit over to her "work station" and immediately got started on her mane. I couldn't help but laugh at Spirit's moaning misery.

"Don't look at me." I said as she gave me the same pouty eyes for when she wanted me to play along with her costume idea. "You're the one who wanted this."

As I waited for the two to finish, I thought back over unexpected recent events. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had finally gotten their cutie marks. It was almost completely out of the blue for every one of us. And just days after? Princess Cadence and Shining Armor announced to us that they were going to have a baby! I mean, it's not that it wasn't entirely unexpected, but still.

My eyes found themselves hovering over Twilight's direction. She had been looking over the new costume she was going to be wearing this Nightmare Night. Instead of donning the attire of Starswirl the Bearded, it looked to be some kind of set of ancient royal pony armor worn literally ages ago. It may have been worn by some pony great from the past, but only Twilight would know such information from her studies.

"Hey, you still in shock about being an aunt?" I asked, popping up over by her side.

"Huh?" It had appeared that I interrupted her from thinking to herself. "Oh, yeah! Kind of. What about you? You're going to be an Uncle, aren't you?" She playfully bumped me with her foreleg.

"Ehhhh." I stretched out a little too much. "I'm going to be some kind of relative all right, but I wouldn't know if I'd go as far as to call myself an uncle."

"Why not?" Twilight's teasing smirk was switched out for a curious and possibly even concerned frown.

"I know we like to think of each other as brother and sister, but I feel like it's something just between us. After all, I don't think I'd want to cut in and start calling your mom and dad my parents, you know?" I chuckled lightly.

"I totally get that." She responded. "But if I'm not mistaken, family titles like that can be used informally too."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." I casually agreed with her, but at the same time, I didn't really want to confuse myself with what dictates family and blah blah blah when we were supposed to get ready for Nightmare Night.

Twilight seemed awfully quieter than usual. Usually, I'd think she'd continue messing with me a bit more, but ever since I brought up about the deal with me being an Uncle, the worried look on her face seemed to stay afterwards.

"You, alright?" I asked.

"Ah—" Her head slightly jerked backwards and she turned her head around as if keeping an eye out for anyone. "Yeah, um… I just hope I'm not keeping you from talking to anyone else."

Huh? Talking to anyone else? Why would she say that all of a sudden?

"What do you mean? Why would you think that?"

"Well…" She expressed what looked like a guilt-ridden face that slowly aimed towards the floor.

Before she could say any more, the door to the boutique burst open, and a wailing scream cried out loudly, giving me and most likely everyone else a frightening leap.

"Ow!" I heard Spirit exclaim in pain.

"Sorry, dear." Rarity apologized, making some adjustments to Spirit's mane.

"Fluttershy?!" I recognized the pony who had been shivering behind the front door with her hooves covering her eyes. "What are you doing here? I told you I'd pick you up."

When she spotted me, she immediately galloped towards me and almost threw me to the ground with her aggressive embrace. "I-I-I forgot to stock up on food for Angel, s-s-o I tried going out to get some for him, b-b-but then I came across Granny Smith and she s-s-s-said all these scary things about b-b-b-bones and-and-and eyeballs!"

"Oh, Sugarcube!" Applejack walked over to us to comfort Fluttershy. "She was just kiddin', you know? It's just for the maze they're makin' for Nightmare Night."

"O-oh…"

"You said you were trying to get some food for Angel?" I repeated. "You want me to do it?"

Fluttershy quickly shook her head. "N-no. Angel only likes certain things… It'd be better if I went to go get them…but…I'd really love to have you around. I don't know if I can be outside by myself any longer."

"Of course, I will, Fluttershy." I wanted to practically exclaim. "I'm sorry I couldn't be out there with you in the first place."

"Don't be. It's not like you could have known anyway."

"I don't mean to interrupt…but you both should probably get going." Rarity advised as she continued to tame Spirit's mane. "It's going to get darker and scarier later on tonight."

Fluttershy took in a rather large gulp. "…right."

"Come on." I gestured her towards the door. "Just stick close by me. You'll be fine."

Outside, Fluttershy literally stuck close to me as if we were glued together. At some points, she'd close her eyes and let me guide, which didn't work out as great as she hoped, considering she was the one who knew what to get for Angel and where.

"Hey, Fluttershy…" I began speaking out of concern. "Do you want to even be out here tonight?"

"O-Of course I do!" She continued to slightly shiver from fright. "Everyone's together for Nightmare Night. I'd feel horrible if I ruined the fun for anyone just because of all the scary things out here."

"You sound like you're forcing yourself to come out to make us happy…"

"N-No! I like being with you all. I really do." She adverted her eyes to the side with, what appeared to look like, shame. "I just…really don't like Nightmare Night."

I had to admit that I really wished I could somehow show her how there was nothing to be scared of, but in reality, there was nothing I could really do about that. Then again, I suppose it all came down to what a pony likes and dislikes. Nightmare Night just so happens to be one of those things Fluttershy really dislikes.

"You know…you don't have to spend Nightmare Night with us…really."

"I couldn't do that! After all, you said it wouldn't be the same without me being with you…"

When she said that, I did remember saying something like that last Nightmare Night. It was the truth. but I didn't want Fluttershy to feel like she had to stay for my sake.

"I'd feel even worse if you're making yourself miserable for my sake." I responded truthfully. "Yeah, I'd rather have you along with us to enjoy the night, but if you'd rather not be here tonight, by all means, I'd want you to stay home."

Fluttershy appeared to be conflicted for a moment by what I had just said. "Why don't I stay with you all for the night and see what happens? If I get too scared and can't take anymore, I'll let you know, okay?"

Still unsure about her suggestion, I reluctantly agreed. "Alright…"

Once we got the food, we traveled over to the cottage, so Fluttershy could do what she needed to do.

"There you go. Fresh carrots just for you, Angel." Fluttershy served up a plate towards him. He immediately licked his lips, rubbed his paws together, and began gobbling down his meal. "That should hold you until I'm back." She turned my way and approached me. "Okay, I'm ready to go."

Before I began leading her out of the cottage, I looked her over and brushed her mane a little with my hoof. "You have any idea what you want to dress up as tonight?"

She blushed slightly at my sort of 'babying' actions. "I don't really know, to be honest. Nothing scary, of course. But something that's easy to move around in. Last Nightmare Night, when I was a butterfly, I found the wings were too…wide. I'd hate to be vulnerable because of a silly costume."

"Don't forget." I ended my attention-giving by caressing her cheek with my hoof. "I'll be with you every single step of the way. You can count on me to protect you from anything scary tonight." I doubted that there was going to be anything dangerous tonight unless there was an actual monster or something on the loose. However, whatever the case was, I definitely was going to keep my promise. After all, Fluttershy was doing more than enough by pushing herself to spend tonight with us. It's a surprise, especially since the trouble last time with Princess Luna. I couldn't imagine how scared Fluttershy was if everypony else was too afraid to stand within Luna's presence.

"Of course." Fluttershy stated as she gazed into my eyes and placed her hoof onto mine. "I know things will be okay with you around."

"Tell you what." I thought of a reward afterwards. "I'll spend the rest of the night with you when we're done. We can do whatever you want."

Fluttershy turned her head to the side as she thought about what she'd want to do. "Well…there's something I'd usually do when I wanted to hide inside every Nightmare Night. We can…cuddle together under my bed…" She began to blush heavily as it must have been very embarrassing to bring it up in the first place.

I couldn't help but react quite bashfully myself, considering the scenario. "If it's what you want to do, yeah, I'm up for it."

With a beaming yet tender smile, she grew extremely close and rubbed her head against me, all while embracing me at the same time.

As we arrived back at the boutique, Rarity welcomed us with gusto. She was practically dancing in excitement, and I had no idea why until she revealed the sight of somepony to me. "I present to you, the classy yet adventurous, elegant yet free-spirited, Red Riding Hood!"

She literally unveiled the curtain on her newest production. It took a few seconds to realize that the pony that had been behind the curtains was Spirit. What now differentiated her from how she usually looked was her mane and what she wore.

Obviously, she wore the well-known velvet cape, but what extremely caught my attention was what I could see under the hood she currently had covering most of her mane. For the first time ever, she had braids, one for each side of her head, that extended downwards to the top of her legs. At the end of the braids, a small red bow resided. The front of her mane was brushed over to her right side of the face, the ends drooping over towards the top of the mentioned braids. At the left side of her face, below her ear, parts of her mane still clung to her coat behind the braid, but that was mainly due to the small outfit she wore.

The way she was currently dressed, in some way, allowed me to see much more of her as a pony. In example, her ears were usually covered with her pretty wild mane, but I could now fully see her left and even a bit of her right ear. Observing the details into her tail, I think Rarity may have even added a little flair by curling certain points in a frisky manner. I was more than willing to honestly say that nothing you could find in a store could beat this in a landslide.

"Sooo? What do you think?" Rarity asked while Spirit now appeared to be getting a little uncomfortable with all the attention on her.

"Wow!" I exclaimed. "I don't know how you did it, but this is like…a masterpiece of your dressmaking expertise!"

"I know, right?!" Rarity excitedly agreed. "It came out possibly even better than I had originally imagined! Ohhh, I have so much more that I want to do!"

"Easy, Rarity…" Spirit stepped down from the stage and joined us. "I'm not going to lie. I really like how I look, but I'm still not too sure about being your guinea pig."

"Oh, darling!" Rarity slightly pouted. "When you put it like that, it doesn't sound good at all!"

"I'll think about it." She quickly responded before she turned towards me. "Hurry up! Get into your costume! I wanna complete this fairy tale set already!"

"Come with me, Fluttershy!" Rarity already began grabbing at Fluttershy's hoof to lead her on. "I'll show you the immense variety of costumes I have for you to wear!"

As I watched Fluttershy being almost dragged towards an array of hanging costumes, Spirit nudged me, nearly impatiently. "Alright! Alright!" I said before I searched for my previous costume to put it on.

It appeared everypony had now been dressed up for tonight's festivities. Fluttershy unveiled her costume last, seeing as she was also the last one to pick one out. However, it admittedly didn't seem much like a Nightmare Night costume at all. Rather, she wore something more like a simple, yet exquisitely beautiful, black dress.

In summary, Pinkie Pie was some kind of roller-skater, Twilight was the old ancient pony warrior I mentioned earlier, Rainbow Dash was apparently an astronaut for some reason, Applejack was a lion, Rarity was a mermaid pony, Spirit and I were Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, and Fluttershy was…well…just a pony with a black dress.

"Hey, Fluttershy, where's your costume?" Rainbow Dash brought up.

"I'm wearing it." She innocently answered.

"I get it!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed with a loud gasp. "You're a robber escaping into the night!" She skated past Fluttershy, earning a little shake of the head. "You're a ninja escaping into the night!" Fluttershy repeated her gesture. "You're black licorice escaping into the night!"

"Close. I'm going to a masquerade ball. Without the mask." She answered with a soft glee.

Despite the surprise and even awkwardness the others felt, I stepped up to give my thoughts on how she looked. "I think she looks absolutely stunning, exquisite, x-cellent, and youthful."

Seeing as she was the only one who knew the kind of message I was secretly sending out, Fluttershy immediately widened her eyes for a brief second before she covered her red-hot cheeks with her hoof.

"Ahem." Rarity cleared her throat. "Shall we get started with tonight?"

"Yeah!" Twilight agreed. "We've been saving up the spooky stories!"

"Spooky stories…?" Fluttershy began to uncomfortably shift her eyes around.

"Oh, they're not that spooky, darling." Rarity assured.

Twilight snuck in between Fluttershy and me to whisper something. "Besides…spooky stories are never real."

"They're not?" Fluttershy returned a small smile of hope.

"Well, most of the time, as far as I know." She mentioned honestly, leaving Fluttershy partially unsure.

I placed a hoof around her slightly quivering body and brought her closer to me. "Don't worry. Remember, I'll be right next to you."

After a small gulp, she nodded hesitantly.

Seeing that we'd have adequate space at the castle, we took a walk back over there. It allowed us to see how other ponies were spending Nightmare Night. There were already stands and activities set up just like last time. However, although Fluttershy managed to keep herself composed pretty well, it was obvious she was still being easily spooked by our surroundings.

Once we stepped hoof into the castle, she seemed to allow herself to breathe again, but seeing as the castle had been pretty dark, she remained tense. We sat around in a circle in the castle library. I suppose the library was chosen due to its closed yet roomy size.

Fluttershy and I didn't leave each other's side. In fact, she took the first opportunity she had to press herself as much as she could against me. I assumed Spirit stuck close by, seeing as she wanted to keep up the illusion of our costumes.

"Alright, who's going first?" Twilight asked as she looked among the seated ponies.

"Ooh, me!" Rainbow Dash threw her hoof up. "I've got the perfect story! It's about one of the first Wonderbolts that mysteriously went missing. One night—"

"Eeeee!" I suddenly heard a pain inducing and high pitched shriek pierce through my right ear. This caused me to press my hoof against my affected ear and turn to the source of the sound. Fluttershy had been sitting there wide-eyed with her hooves curled towards her chest.

There had been an almost unending moment of silence between the rest of us until Rainbow Dash broke the unexpected ice. "Y'know…I think I'll pass."

"Well, there was one time when I was baking a giant cake, and, all of a sudden, the lights flickered—"

"Nooo!" Fluttershy then turned towards me as she covered herself defensively with her wings.

Another awkward silence ensued.

"Uhh…" Applejack spoke. "This one time at the farm, a bunny—"

"Not the bunny!" Fluttershy cried out, practically in tears.

"Aughh! Come on, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash sprouted up from lying on the floor. "We haven't even gotten to the scary part yet!"

"How about this?" Twilight began suggesting an idea. "Fluttershy, do you have anything spooky to share with us? If you're the one doing the scaring, you won't have to be afraid of anything. I hope…"

"Spooky…?" Fluttershy looked back in thought. "Oh, I know! There's something I know that's really scary. Something straight out of nightmares!"

While the others looked genuinely intrigued, Rainbow Dash didn't erase the unenthusiastic half-lidded eyes from her face.

"Um, okay." Fluttershy began as she attempted to compose herself enough to tell the story. "This one is about a mare and a really scary tea party she had."

"Tea party? That's not scary!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"Would you let her just tell the story, Rainbow?" Applejack responded in frustration.

Once Rainbow Dash ceased her complaints, Fluttershy was allowed to continue.

"Once upon a time, a sweet young mare invited her best friends over for a tea party. However, she would have no idea what she'd end up getting herself into until her friends arrived. When everypony was settled down in their chairs, she asked one of her friends to pass the sugar. To everypony's surprise, there wasn't any sugar on the table to pass."

"Ooh!" Pinkie interrupted from excitement. "Did a scary ghost take the sugar?"

Fluttershy calmly shook her head. "No. The mare hosting the tea party forgot to have sugar on the table."

"Huh…?" Pinkie Pie questioned, not expecting Fluttershy's answer.

"That wasn't the worst part." Fluttershy continued. "If the embarrassment from having no sugar for her guests wasn't enough, she had to quickly cover up with a coat!"

"Why?" Applejack now asked. "Did the room suddenly grow cold? Y'know, because of somethin' spooky?"

Fluttershy shook her head again. "No. Something even worse. Nopony had complimented the dress she had been wearing." Applejack didn't respond with anything after, and she only shared the same look of confusion with Pinkie Pie. The still silence allowed Fluttershy to resume. "This nightmare of a tea party had only just begun. The mare looked to her left to ask her friend for some cucumber sandwiches…"

"Let me guess." Rainbow intervened. "There weren't any cucumber sandwiches either?"

"No, there were. This time, the mare was completely shocked to see one of her best friends missing!" Everypony that gave Fluttershy a chance immediately reeled their heads in, waiting to hear the reason behind this missing pony. "When the sweet little mare realized the reason why, it was so terrifying! Absolutely terrifying!"

"Yeah?!" Every pony interested exclaimed in unison.

"Her best friend…" Fluttershy momentarily paused for dramatic effect and suspense. "…didn't bother to show up!" She exclaimed as loud as she could while keeping the volume at her usual soft and quiet levels. The others had slightly flinched, due to Fluttershy's unexpected shift in tone, but they didn't scream as Fluttershy possibly expected them to. "That's not the end of it! Everything grew horribly worse after that! Unplanned guests arrived! There was no food for them at all! Then, a poor little kitty showed up at the doorway, absolutely in dire need of a home! But you can't help! You are over-scheduled enough as it is! Oh, oh, all this was just too much! So much that you could—"

"Die from boredom?" Rainbow Dash stated bluntly.

The tone Fluttershy had used to tell the story definitely grew more intense near the end. In fact, I believed she began reacting to her own story at the mere thought of experiencing the said scary things for herself. However, it was safe to say that no pony else was shivering from fright. Well, they weren't shivering at all.

"Huh?" Fluttershy fragilely returned her look at everypony else. "What do you mean? Aren't you guys scared? A tea party that didn't go as planned at all! Everypony disappointed! Can you imagine anything more frightening!?"

"Yeah. Listening to that story again would scare me away for sure."

Twilight immediately scolded Rainbow Dash by bumping her with her foreleg.

Rarity, on the other hoof, attempted to attend to Fluttershy gently.

"It was a really good try, darling, but the scares at Nightmare Night are of an entirely different nature."

"It was really creative, though." Twilight stepped in. "Really. I can honestly tell you that I would have never been able to tell a story…like that."

Despite their efforts at damage control, it already seemed to be too late. Fluttershy looked heavily disappointed, perhaps just as disappointed as the ponies in her story were. "Oh, I'm just not cut out for this. I should just stay home."

"Oh, heavens no!" Rarity sprang up with emotion. "We don't have to tell stories, darling. We can do something else!"

Fluttershy solemnly shook her head. "If I can't even tell a spooky story, how else am I supposed to do other Nightmare Night stuff? I may have been out for the first time last time, but all I did was pretty much cower and cry. I thought I would be stronger by now, but I guess there's just some things you can never get over." She stood and turned around to begin walking out. "You guys go on without me. I'll be perfectly fine at home. It's what I've always done in the past anyway."

"Fluttershy, hang on!" I trotted after her.

She didn't stop until we were both out of the room.

"Alex, I really wanted to be with you all for Nightmare Night." She began telling me. "But…it's just something I think it'd be best to skip. I'm just not good at it. You know that. All I'll ever do is get in everypony's way. If it wasn't for everypony being scared of Princess Luna last Nightmare Night, I would have been the problem instead."

"Come on… Don't say things like that. You know we all care about you." I replied.

"I care about all of you too. And for that reason, I'm going back home. I'm sorry."

I adverted my eyes to the floor. I knew I couldn't convince her out of her decision. In fact, even if I tried, it would be utterly selfish. Sure, I wanted to spend Nightmare Night with her, but I couldn't force her to do that because that would only be me thinking for myself.

"Let me come with you then." I suggested, surprising her.

"What? Oh, no…!" She shook her head devotedly. "You should stay with the others."

"At least let me walk you home, please?" I said, even though I hadn't made my decision, whether to stay with Fluttershy or the others the rest of the night, yet.

She took a moment to think back on that and ultimately accepted. "Okay."

Fluttershy returned the dress she borrowed for Nightmare Night before we made our way back to the cottage. At her door, she turned around to face me instead of going inside first. "Thank you for walking me back…" She appreciated with a hint of despair in her voice. "I'll see you tomorrow…maybe…"

Usually, she'd offer me a kiss goodbye, but it seemed she didn't have any energy or will to do so. Instead, she turned back around and proceeded to retreat into her home.

"You're not going to invite me in?" I asked with a joking yet soft smile, stopping her from shutting herself in completely.

"Huh?" She questioned without a clue.

"You don't want to be a bad host and leave out your guest, do you?"

"B-but, you…"

"I want to be with you. I know you want to me to celebrate the night with the others, but…I can't just let you be all by yourself. It doesn't feel right."

Fluttershy sighed heavily.

"I'll feel even worse if you spend tonight with me instead. Everypony's expecting you to come back. I think it'd be worse to keep them waiting."

Knowing Fluttershy, I couldn't deny that. Even if I did stay with her, she'd be too busy worrying about how the others are. "Fine. How about this?" I suggested. "I'll spend tonight with them, but as soon as it's over, I'll come straight to you and spend the rest of the night with you."

Fluttershy managed to pull up a tender smile, but it was difficult to tell whether it was forced or genuine at the time. "That works." She responded with a nod. "Have a good time." Afterwards, she shut the door.

I stood there for a while, almost expecting for something else to happen, but I really didn't know what else to do. I know I said I'd go on and get back to Nightmare Night with the others, but I still felt really bothered. I couldn't figure out what the right thing to do was.

"You coming back?" I heard, giving me an unexpected fright. "Or are you going to stay?"

I found Spirit standing behind me. Her eyes gave off a different kind of reflection under tonight's moon.

"What do you think?" I asked, earnestly requiring an answer. "I'm kind of in trouble here."

"Why are you asking me?" She responded. "She's your special somepony, isn't she?"

"I just thought you might have something to set me back on the right path." I mentioned, remembering the previous times she's talked me through different things.

"It's really none of my business…" She silently turned her head to the side with half-lidded eyes. "I can't stop you from doing what you really want to do."

"That's the problem." I cleared up. "I don't know what I really want to do. If I stay with Fluttershy, I might just upset her more because she'll know I'm not spending Nightmare Night with the others. If I go back, I'll worry about Fluttershy…and I'll feel bad because I'm not there for her."

Spirit approached me, grabbed my hoof, and looked directly at me with her differentiating eyes. "You can't always be there for somepony you love. Maybe you should just…give her some space tonight. I think…caring too much about somepony can be the very thing that drives you apart."

"What makes you say that?" I answered in almost the same level as a whisper.

"It's just what happens." She gently let go of my hoof. "If you really want my opinion…you should probably get back. Things will probably sort themselves out. There's always tomorrow. After all, you don't always want to be the one having to solve other ponies' problems, right? If Fluttershy's as strong as you believe she is, this should be nothing serious to her."

As much as it hurt to hear and even believe, she was probably right. I most likely wouldn't be able to be there for Fluttershy all the time, so there's going to be times she'd have to stay strong without me.

"Alright." I somewhat agreed. "Let's head back then."

Spirit led me back into Ponyville, notifying me what the others had planned to do.

"They said they were going to wait at the front of the corn maze." She mentioned as we passed various stalls with others playing at them. "They weren't expecting for Fluttershy or you to come back… I guess they were thinking Fluttershy wouldn't budge, so you'd end up staying with her."

"I can't blame them." I returned. "I almost did."

The others had been saddened but not surprised when they only saw Spirit and me approach them.

"You weren't able to convince her to rejoin us?" Rarity asked.

I shook my head. "I didn't want to talk her into doing something she didn't want to do in the first place. If you ask me, I think Fluttershy was pushing herself to do this to make us happy. As much as I'd love for all of us to spend tonight together, it's just something that's not going to happen, I guess."

"Even so…" Applejack began speaking. "I'm sure as hay she wouldn't want us to be moping about."

"Applejack's right." Twilight approved. "She definitely wouldn't feel any better if she knew that we were too busy worrying about her rather than enjoying the night. If she hadn't felt so pressured to join us, I'm sure she'd be just as happy staying home while the rest of us tackled Nightmare Night."

"Yeah…" I agreed, as well, but still found it hard to move forward. "But it's hard to get over something like that so quickly. It's like…I can't get over it until she genuinely tells me that everything's alright. But knowing her, she'd even feel worse for having everypony worry about her. In the end, it's just a cycle that repeats itself over and over. It's so frustrating."

Rarity placed a hoof on my shoulder. "As much as we care about Fluttershy, I believe we should just move on forward with the maze, so we can occupy our thoughts with something else. As the majority of us already agree, it won't do anypony good to be upsetting ourselves like this."

"Yeah! Fluttershy will get over it. Come on!" Rainbow Dash spoke before dashing over to the entrance of the maze.

I never understood how Fluttershy and her were best friends back when they were young. Rainbow Dash was always so blunt, especially with Fluttershy. At times, it may even look like Rainbow doesn't care at all.

Spirit had caught a hold of my hoof and gazed at me with a gentle smile. "Come on, Alex. We should put these costumes to use."

The girls had a brief scare at the front of the maze. A pony had greeted them by removing the hood from their head and revealing some kind of exaggerated whimsical horse mask. They managed to have a laugh after realizing the absurdity of the mask, and they were allowed to move on once the pony silently welcomed them in. After having a momentary glance at the bony and rickety legs of this same pony, I realized it had been Granny Smith in disguise.

Nevertheless, once inside, I found myself lagging behind the others, but Spirit stayed by my side. I wasn't sure if she wanted to be with me or if it was because she didn't want to be separated, due to our costumes, but she seemed to have been enjoying herself either way.

As I looked forward, I had noticed Twilight take a glance my way. From the short amount of time we had looked at each other, I sensed that she wanted to do something. Interact with me, I guess. But she didn't. She turned her head back forward, which caused me to grow some kind of concern after witnessing that.

"You know if something's up with Twilight?" I asked softly enough for only Spirit to hear me.

"Not that I know of." She casually answered back.

"Hm…" I decided to grow a little closer to the group.

Is there something she wants to tell me? Or is it something about me that's bothering her…?

It didn't take long for somepony to come out from the shadows and provide a scripted scare between us.

"Boooo... Eeyup." Big Macintosh spookily crept out, but it didn't seem like he could resist an old-fashioned 'Eeyup' along at the end of his attempted scare. The girls had held their breath for a moment, but just like with Granny Smith, they soon burst out into laughter and continued on. Big Macintosh had been dressed up as a mummy, but he didn't look too pleased with his progress as he retreated back into his hiding place.

If I wanted to know whether there was really something bothering Twilight or not, I'd most likely not find out here. With all the so called "spooky" distractions, it'd be a pain to even bring the subject up.

"What. Is. That. Sound?" Rarity almost reluctantly asked.

There had been dry cracking coming from underneath our hooves, but it sounded a lot like breaking sticks.

"It looks like... bones!" Pinkie screamed at the sight below her, causing the others to return the same reaction.

"Looks like a bunch of dried sticks painted white to me." Rainbow muttered her complaint under her breath.

"Hey, try to keep up the illusion, would ya?" Applejack overheard and responded to her in a hushed voice.

As they continued on, I took a moment to stand among these sticks and picked one up. I noticed the faults Rainbow Dash had pointed out. There had been spots and patches that hadn't been painted over, so the natural colors of these twigs were still open to see.

More and more, I began feeling that going through this maze was sort of a waste of time. I hadn't been really having fun since I started going through this maze. Whether it was because of the cheap scares or from what happened with Fluttershy, I just really felt off.

"We're going to lose the others if we stay behind." Spirit mentioned, stepping in front and appearing willing to take the lead. "Then it'll get really scary."

"Yeah, yeah." I practically carelessly answered and followed her.

On our next turn, we came across some kind of darkened grove of corn that had leaned over each other above, so that they formed a ceiling to block the moonlight. Spirit had been handling the corn maze pretty well so far. It was just now that she stopped and her level of fear genuinely appeared to rise up.

"Uh…yeah…I'm not so sure what's in there." Spirit said.

"It's probably nothing." I answered. "It's just really dark so you get scared."

"But you never know what could lurk in the darkness." Spirit sounded as if she was trying to warn me instead. "That's what makes it so scary."

"Let's just get through it so we can catch up with the others." I began walking forward. I only hoped that there was nothing in there that was going to be all grabby. Now, that'd really disturb me.

Speaking of grabby, Spirit called out to me to slow down, so she could catch up to me before I entered the darkened corridor of corn and latched onto me like a leash.

"Oooh…" Her voice lightly shook. "I don't like this…!"

"It's okay." I attempted to put her worries at ease. "This Big Bad Wolf will make sure nothing hurts you."

There was a brief silence between us until Spirit suddenly screamed.

"Ahhhh! There's something on me! Get it off! Get it off!" I could feel her hooves violently swinging around. Before I could actually try to do something about it, I could feel a gush of wind rush past as a pair of hooves galloped on. It honestly wasn't even that long before we reached the end of the tunnel. I found Spirit heavily breathing on the other side as she held her hoof to her chest. "You could have lit it up for us or something, y'know?!"

"I didn't want to ruin the illusion." I repeated Applejack. "After all, imagine how a pony with no magic feels going through there?"

"They'd be scared to death just like me?"

"Exactly."

She attempted to shake off the rest of the lasting scares away, seeing as it had already been over. "I wonder what the heck it was that touched me anyway."

"Probably just some of the corn that was hanging above us." I offered a reasonable answer.

"Yeah, I don't know." Spirit returned rather doubtfully and turned around to look ahead.

I took a look for myself at what laid in front of us, and it soon caused me sigh. "There's three ways to take, and none of the girls are in sight. You think they'd realize we're not with them and wait for us."

"Maybe they got spooked by something?"

I could only shrug at that suggestion and decided we would be on our own until we could find them again. We looked at our options and pondered over which one to take, involving what we'd believe the others would take. However, if they were really spooked to the point of running on without us, they'd most likely run wherever they could.

There was a path immediately to the left of us, there was a path straight ahead, and there was a path to the right ahead on the beginning of the straight path. There was no way to think rationally about where they would head off.

"I could just fly up and try to get a look at where they're at…" I proposed.

"No way!" Spirit immediately turned to me and objected. "That would ruin the whole point of the maze! C'mon, weren't you all bored before? This makes it tons more fun!" She turned back to having an overall look at our options. "Let's try the right path!" She pointed.

Spirit had a point, I guess. Besides, if any pony else saw me fly up, they'd probably go and complain about ponies cheating or something. With no other lead to go on, we proceeded to take the right path, as proposed by Spirit. On this path, the only thing we could do is keep a look out. We hadn't come across any scary traps, at least, not yet anyway. This led me to believe that the real fear of the maze was practically having no sense of direction of where to go or even where you were. This definitely had some merit of fear if somepony was completely alone.

Eventually, we came across somepony sticking her head into the thick walls of corn. It was immediately recognized that this pony wasn't any of the ones we were looking for by the color of her coat. In fact, we noticed that she had a pair of wings that did not match her coat color at all. However, it turned out that those wings were fake and rather seemed to be a part of the costume she wore. Soon enough, she pulled back her head and revealed not only her worried eccentric eyes but who she was.

"Derpy?" I asked.

Hearing my voice and catching a glimpse of me, she immediately grinned in relief and raced over to me. "Alex! I'm so glad to see you!" She tightly squeezed me for a moment before she pulled away and allowed me to get a better look at her.

She had been wearing what looked like a paper towel roll on her head that was colored purple to resemble a horn. Adding the wings with that, she was dressed up as an Alicorn this Nightmare Night. Almost overlooking the purple formal royal shoes on her hooves, she was an Alicorn Princess for that matter. Hold on… Is her costume what I think it is…?

"Are…are you Princess Twilight…?" I assumed, surprised that I didn't even truly notice the mane and tail before.

"Yup!" She cheerfully answered as she got a good look at Spirit and me. "Oooh! I really like your costumes!"

"I know. Perfect, right?" Spirit responded with a subtle smug grin.

"Did you come with someone?" I asked Derpy. "Or are you by yourself?"

This caused her to return to the worried state she had been in earlier before we arrived. "Vinyl, Octavia, and I were all together when we started this corn maze. But at some point, we all lost each other. At least, that's what I think happened."

"Yeah…we're looking for our friends too." I explained. "Have no idea where they went. I'm guessing the Apple family have more tricks up their sleeves than just cheap scares if they're causing us to separate like this."

"Either way, I'm glad you showed up when you did." She admitted. "It was getting scary being by myself. I just wish I could find the others, so we can finish this maze."

"Alright. Let's stick together then. We'll probably find them." I suggested. "You have any idea where they went?"

"I'm thinking this way, but I can't be too sure since, you know, it's a maze after all."

"Right… We'll let's just keep on this path and see where it takes us."

"Okay." She nodded and stuck close by as we moved on.

We continued on until we came across another darkened corridor. Remembering the last time we went through one, Spirit shivered at the thought of going through another.

"Maybe we should try another way…" Spirit recommended.

"Well, you should know what to expect if we go through here again." I responded. "After all, it'll literally only take seconds to get through. That's how small it was last time."

"I don't know." Derpy mentioned as she sort of took a look around the area in front of us. "It might just be me, but this one looks a lot bigger.

"Exactly! So, we should find a different way!" Spirit voted.

"Derpy said she thinks the others went this way, so if it gives us any chance to find them, I say we take it."

"Hmm…" She turned her head to the side and lightly puffed out her cheeks. She looked like she was super unwilling to go.

"I don't get you sometimes, you know?" I said. "Weren't you the one who was all excited to explore the Castle of the Two Sisters? You weren't afraid of anything."

"Well, duh! That's because I knew the whole place! Besides, at least in the castle, you could see what you were looking at."

"But this is just a corn maze, and it's not really even scary to begin with." I admitted. "Honestly, I think the scariest thing about this maze is your imagination. If you're thinking scary thoughts about what you may run into or what may happen, of course it's going to seem really scary."

"Fine!" She stated after sighing heavily and ended up skipping towards the darkness without us. "Off to grandmother's I go!"

"I don't think it's a good idea to go headfirst into the 'scary darkness' by yourself."

"Well, hurry up! I just want to get this over with as soon as possible!"

Derpy and I caught up with her, allowing me to ask her a question before we went in. "You want me to make some light?"

She had to think about her answer for a moment, but it didn't take her long to return one. "You know, as much as I hate going into the dark, I guess you do have a point of it ruining the whole point of going into the darkness in the first place. Besides, I'd probably rather not want to see whatever lurks in there. Ignorance is bliss after all."

"Gotcha." I responded and faced Derpy. "Ready to go?"

"Yup."

As we began making our way inside, I could feel Spirit's body press closely against me. Her shivers and shakes were easy to sense. It made me wonder how scared Derpy was. Either way, she seemed to be handling it better than Spirit was.

"Aahh!" Spirit suddenly shrieked, and I could feel her body separate from me.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked. I looked around in the darkness, even though it was utterly useless. "Where are you? You know we can't see in here!"

"There's something in here!" She stated through a trembling voice. "And it isn't any corn! It touched me!"

"It was probably just Derpy. Derpy?" I called out to her, but I heard nothing. "Derpy, don't tell me you went off too?"

"No, I'm right here!" I heard a short distance behind me.

"Good. Now, let's get back close together, so we can make it out without losing anyone."

"Uh-huh…" I felt Spirit reluctantly press her body against mine again.

After, I felt something tap my body, starting at my flank and making its way near my neck. "Derpy, you back?"

"No! I got stuck on some corn over here, I think!"

Her voice was definitely not as close as whatever touching me was.

"Then…who's…?"

"Alex—"

"Whoa!" As soon as I had heard the whisper and felt its breath brush against my ear, I immediately fumbled from where I was and found myself falling against something…alive.

"Ah!" Another shriek sounded, but it didn't sound the same as Spirit's a while ago.

I decided to light up what was in front of me with my horn and I had to say what I saw was unexpectedly shocking. A familiar pony had been lying on the floor in front of me. I rather stood over this pony to where our faces were right in front of each other. There was a brief moment of absolute silence as I spent the time figuring out who this pony had been.

"…Octavia? Is that…you?"

With a seemingly heavy blush and a furrow of her eyebrows, she responded rather angrily at me. "Why, yes! Of course, it's me! I've been stuck in this blasted area, Vinyl ran off, and I haven't been able to get out since!"

"Sorry… I had no idea…"

She remained quiet for a moment, adverting her eyes away from me for some reason. "C…could you let me get up?"

I had just realized that I still had been hovering over her, so I immediately moved aside and stuck out my hoof. "Sorry…"

She accepted it and allowed me to pull her up. "It's quite alright…" She began to dust herself off, allowing me to see the kind of costume she had been wearing. It looked like something that belonged back in the Victorian-era. In other words, it was fancy, 'exquisite', and something Rarity would most likely wear and has probably already worn in the past. "I didn't expect to see you here…but I have to say I am really glad to have found you."

"That's what I said!" It seemed Derpy had managed to catch up with us as I found her besides us in the small light I held.

"Where have you been?!" Octavia practically barked out. "We thought you had been with us until we realized you weren't in here!"

"Sorry…" Derpy merely apologized.

"Well, I'm glad we managed to find someone that we were looking for in here." I stated. "Now, we're all together, right? No strays hanging around?" I asked, especially directing it towards Spirit.

"Uh-huh..." Spirit popped in within the visibility of the light.

"This place is a maze of its own." Octavia mentioned. "I must say, the design of this was quite clever yet extremely annoying at the same time!"

"It can't be that big." I thought. "It's probably just one circular path or something. It doesn't help when you can't see what you're looking at."

"Thank heavens you can light up the way for us." She appreciated.

"Guess so. Unless, you still want the light out, Spirit?"

"Well…you didn't come across anything scary, did you?" Spirit asked Octavia.

"Not at all." She answered. "The only thing about this part of the maze is that it's absolutely difficult to find the exit in here, much less the entrance as well."

"In that case…keep the light on." Spirit suggested. "I'm not too keen on staying in the dark forever."

"You got it." I acknowledged and proceeded to lead the way as the others closely followed. "You must be one tough mare to have lasted as long as you did without any kind of sense of direction in here, Tavi."

"Yes, well…let's just say the frustration that had built over time had clouded any sense of fear I may have previously had."

I chuckled lightly. "I guess it's not that surprising, coming from you."

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" She almost shot back, her angry embarrassment returning once more.

"Oh, nothing."

"You're lucky you're guiding us out of this mess." She borderline muttered before she seemed to keep quiet.

"Don't worry, Tavi." I assured. "We'll get out. Just keep close, so no one loses each other again." I felt her throw herself against me lightly enough to where it could technically be counted as a shove. I supposed she was still lightly upset. "Well, I didn't mean that close, but okay."

With the light, it didn't take any longer than a few minutes to find the right path to get us out of the darkness. However, to our surprise, it seemed as if the dark area was actually the final area right before the exit to the maze. There had been a straight path which led to a completely unbordered field. Outside, ponies stood around and talked amongst each other. Nevertheless, there had been one pony in particular that stood by the corner of the end of the maze.

With the fangs that stood sharply at the corners of her mouth, she chomped onto a fresh apple. She noticed us as we approached her at the exit. "Oh, hey! You made it!" The last pony missing from the bunch, Vinyl, greeted us while wearing a vampire costume.

"'Hey'?! That's what you say?!" Octavia immediately began storming her way to her. "Do you know how long I had been in that dark place for?"

"Uh… I donnu. A few minutes?"

"Long enough!" Octavia finished. "Just where did you go?!"

"Right where I am right now. Thought the Derps might have found the exit before we did."

"Ugh." Octavia sighed and planted a hoof on her exhausted face. "I'm never doing another one of these mazes with you again."

"Aw, come on, don't be like that."

As they argued with each other, I took a quick look around for any other of the others we had been searching for. It didn't seem like they were here.

"Hey, Vinyl, you haven't seen Twilight, Pinkie, or any of the others pass by here, have you?" I asked.

"Nope, don't think so."

"I'm sure they haven't finished yet. They definitely would have waited for us." I thought out loud.

"You think they're still in there?" Spirit asked.

"Yeah, probably. We know the way out. Maybe we can go look for them…"

"We're going to head out." Vinyl announced, as the three of them prepared to leave. "You wanna come with?"

"No, thanks." I answered. "We gotta find the rest of our friends."

"Kay, then. Catch you later!"

The other two waved goodbye as they left the area.

I began thinking to myself after they were gone. I couldn't help but still find the entire situation weird in a way. There's was just something about it that didn't seem right, and it felt as if it stemmed back to their disappearance after we had made it through the first dark corridor of corn.

"You thinking about the others?" Spirit asked, her guess being on point, possibly due to the look on my face.

"Yeah." I admitted. "I may just be overthinking things, but I just can't help but feel a little…worried about them."

"I guess we should start looking for them, huh?"

"I just hope we can come across them soon."

Before we could start making our way back in, Spirit suddenly gasped as her ear twitched from some kind of stimulation.

"You alright?" I asked.

"I heard something…! Something like…a high-pitched scream."

"…how? Where?" I felt my heart begin racing as I shot my inquires towards her.

She immediately turned her head towards a specific direction and suddenly pointed out. "There! At that cliff!"

I turned towards the direction she had been pointing at and found a summit as a result. Looking closely, I noticed that a group of ponies had appeared to have been cornered at the very edge of the cliff. If they were to move so much of an inch, they could easily fall off!

That wasn't the worst part of it. The costumes these ponies wore were heavily familiar. There was no doubt about it. I didn't know how or when, but the group of ponies being cornered at the edge of the summit were definitely the friends we had been searching for!

"Spirit, we've got to go!" I began taking off without sparing a word afterwards.

As I began closing the distance between the target destination and me, I could see that the others had been horrendously frightened by something. It was then when I noticed a silhouette of something staring towards them in flight.

Was it somepony that was taking Nightmare Night way too far?

Or was it an actual threat?

Either way, I had to stop it!

Before I could allow the flying pony to make another move, I immediately dove in and restrained the one responsible. Without really thinking, I chose to tackle this pony to the ground. Once I was able to bring myself up, I began to take a good look at who I was up against.

To my shock, I only really needed a quick glance to realize who this pony had been. It had been Fluttershy in her vampire fruit bat form. However, seeing as I had a super close look, it was just a costume. Her altered wings, ears, and even fangs had all been fake.

"Fluttershy?!" I immediately removed myself from hovering over her and helped her up from the ground. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you! I-I-I thought you were…!"

She immediately wrapped her hooves around me, almost apologizing frantically as if she was the one to blame. "No! I'm the one who should be sorry! I only wanted to try my hoof at Nightmare Night again, but it seems I made things much more worse than ever before!" She pulled away from our tight embrace and faced the others that had remained motionless from utter shock at the cliffside. "I'm so, so sorry! Can you ever forgive me?"

"It was you the whole time?!" Rainbow Dash unexpectedly asked both in shock and astonishment.

"I can't believe it!" Twilight added into the commotion, causing me to ponder about what exactly I had missed after we had been separated.

"That... was..."

"THE BEST THING EVER!" Pinkie Pie screamed, finishing Rarity's comment.

"It was way more terrifying than the most terrifying thing I could have thought of!" Rainbow Dash praised as she swirled around Fluttershy from excitement.

"You out-nightmared the scariest part of the corn maze!" Applejack stated.

"How did you do all this?!" Twilight asked.

"Well…after I left the castle, I thought there was no way I could ever fit in with celebrating Nightmare Night with the rest of you, but I realized that leaving so unexpectedly made things worse for everypony. I knew I couldn't just give up and hide in my cottage. I had to keep trying, so I ended up asking Granny Smith if I could try to make the maze even scarier for my friends. Although, it doesn't seem like all of you were together at the time…"

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to feel guilty about not being with them or relieved…

"You came up with all of this?" Rainbow fired yet another question.

"I had some help." Fluttershy proceeded to offer an explanation to whatever happened between them. At the same time, three flying bedsheets appeared at Fluttershy's side. Flipping the sheets over, a trio of Fluttershy's bird were revealed to have been the cause. "Angel was the scary figure that kept scurrying after you in the maze. Fuzzy Legs made the sticky wall that made it difficult for you to see and move. And, of course, Harry was the especially scary monster."

All of her animals that had taken part in this apparently overwhelming yet entertaining scare presented themselves, especially her giant but friendly bear.

Just how much did I miss?!

"Wow! That was inspired!" Twilight complimented.

"You have to do this every year!" Pinkie requested, earning comments of approval from the rest of the ecstatic ponies.

"We could celebrate Nightmare Night together every year." Fluttershy paused, foreshadowing a statement that said otherwise. "But the truth is I really don't want to."

"You don't?!" Pinkie reacted with shock as she lightly bounced on her fluffy pink tail.

"But you've done it." Rarity pointed out. "You found a way that we can all have a fabulous time together."

"Yes, but I've also realized something." She mentioned as she began stripping herself of her costume. "You all may love Nightmare Night and I may be good at being a part of it, but it's no fun for me to see my friends feel like they're in danger, even if I know they're not. I really don't like it. It's just not my cup of tea."

"Spoooooooooky tea?" Pinkie felt the need to close the distance between Fluttershy and her as she dramatically held a flashlight amongst the two.

"No. Just regular tea." Fluttershy gently pushed Pinkie Pie back towards the others. "We do lots of fun things together, but I'm afraid this just isn't gonna be one of them. Actually, I'm not afraid. I'm perfectly fine with it."

"Then we are, too." Twilight understood as the rest of them gathered together to share a group hug.

Next, Fluttershy approached me with slightly concerned eyes. "I hope you're not disappointed. I know you've told me how much you love having me around for gatherings like this…"

I softly shook my head. "If you don't want to do something, then I never want to force you do it. I should've known this ever since our first Nightmare Night." I chuckled lightly from embarrassment. "Guess I was too dumb to really put your feelings into consideration. I remember how scared you were that night, but even so, I convinced you to come out because, you know, it would have felt a little lonely without you."

Fluttershy sincerely smiled as she caressed my cheek with her hoof. "I was scared…but you can't expect me to run away from my fears than face them. It's true. I'm still quite scared of Nightmare Night, and overall, I find it unpleasant, especially if I have to see fear in my friends' faces. But because of you, I was able to face this fear head on. I didn't let Nightmare Night get the better of me. Now, I realize that Nightmare Night really isn't something for me. It isn't because I'm too scared about Nightmare Night. It's just…well…not for me." Fluttershy giggled lightly. "I don't really know how else to put it."

"I get it." I welcomed her hoof with my own. "If I was given the opportunity to have a tea party with Discord, I'd totally pass."

The two of us laughed lightly at the idea of that, and afterwards, things were able to go back to how they were.

As promised, I had spent the rest of Nightmare Night with the others, knowing that Fluttershy had no longer been feeling guilty about not being along with us. It wasn't until we decided to call it a night when I began heading towards Fluttershy's cottage with a bag of candy that Pinkie had made herself just for Fluttershy.

Spirit accompanied me along the way, expressing her afterthoughts of having spent, I would say her first Nightmare Night, with us.

"I know you weren't exactly looking forward to being the same thing this Nightmare Night…" Spirit mentioned. "But…thanks. I know you did it because deep down inside you really love me."

I decided I would mess with her a bit. "Nah. I just did it, so you would shut up." She lightly punched me with her hoof, causing me to almost spill the contents of Fluttershy's candy bag onto the ground. "Kidding! Kidding! You might want to take your costume back to Rarity's or leave it at the castle. I promised Fluttershy I'd stay with her after I was finished with tonight."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." She seemingly understood. "I'll go ask Rarity if I can keep it because I actually really like it. You know, Rarity is really good with fashion."

"You've just realized that now?" I almost couldn't tell if she was being serious or not.

"Ah, come on." She tried to explain her reasons. "I guess I just needed to…experience it for myself. And seeing how cute I looked…" She couldn't help but giggle briefly. "It was just so amazing."

"Well, now you know who to go to if you ever want a makeover or something."

We arrived at Fluttershy's door, which led to Spirit taking her leave.

"Alright, I better go ahead and leave the two of you alone. And don't worry, I won't spy on you or anything later on."

"That…kind of makes me feel uncomfortable now…" I mentioned, realizing that technically Spirit could pop in or out without given notice if she really wanted to.

"As if I'd want to see a couple of ponies being all mushy and stuff! Yuck!" She protested the sight by sticking her tongue. "Goodnight!" She said before running off back towards Ponyville.

Inside the cottage, I found Fluttershy under her bed as she had told me where she'd be. Even then, the light, which came from underneath her bedsheets, was a dead giveaway. Surrounded by her stuffed animals, books, and some light snacks, I found her reading calmly as if she had been unaware of the world outside her bed.

"I hope there's enough room for me." I mentioned as I squeezed my way through.

She had lightly jumped at the sight and sound of me. Nevertheless, she was extremely relieved to see me. "Of course, there is!"

She patted the pillowed area besides her, inviting me to sit down. Despite it just being a tiny bit cramped, I had to admit it was still pretty cozy. "This is actually kind of nice."

"Isn't it?" Fluttershy asked as she rested herself on top of me. "It's like my own secret hideout, and having you here with me, I can sleep through any kind of spooky night."

When she believed it was time to get some shut-eye, she turned out the light and nestled her head on me while adorably releasing sounds of comfort from her lips. I decided to close my eyes and lightly brush her mane with my hoof.

It had seeming been a long time since we had spent a night like this, and despite earlier, I felt that being here with Fluttershy was more than worth it.

The Mane Attraction

I had to admit that I wasn't expecting any kind of musical showcase in Ponyville, so I was surprised when Pinkie Pie had brought it up one day. Looking to Applejack for her great, maybe even out of the ordinary, strength, she managed to convince her in helping setting up the foundation for where the showcase was going to take place. Applejack was a bit reluctant at first, giving the excuse that she'd never did anything of the sort, but looking at the results, things turned out just great.

I should have expected it, but I suppose I had been too busy to realize or notice. For the upcoming lineup set for this charity event, there was one pony on the roster that had been staying here in Ponyville for quite some time. It was this same pony I had been talking to near the stage that was all ready to go.

"I should've known you'd be signing up for the Helping Hooves Music Festival. After all, you're a pretty big…rock star?" I exchanged what would probably be counted as small talk with Starlight.

"Pop punk, to be specific." She corrected.

"You know you're not going to get paid for this though, right?" I clarified, unsure if she was one for charity work.

Looking at me as if I had just stolen the mic from her, she reacted almost angrily. "I know that! What do you think I am? Some greedy snob?"

"Well…" I started before she aimed daggers at me with her eyes. "Kidding. Kidding." I cleared, possibly preventing her from blowing a fuse. "I just thought you were taking a break from your band or whatever."

"Yeah. I was. But if I stay on vacation any longer, I might just be out of a job." She stated pretty bluntly. "Besides, I figured this was the perfect opportunity to get back on track. For one, I'd be performing in Ponyville for like the first time. And two, I've been spending most of my time here sleeping or being bored at home. Even if it is just charity work, I'm willing to do almost anything for free as long as I'm doing something."

"I guess." I responded, not fully understanding her intentions but respecting them enough to not question deeply about them. "So, does this mean that you're going to go back on tour after this?"

She merely shrugged. "Sure. Why not? I've been kind of having a lost puppy following me around begging for more food anyway."

"…huh?" I couldn't understand exactly what she meant by that, but before I could get an answer, everypony started making a big ruckus all of a sudden.

Starlight and I turned to see this huge diamond-shaped object being carried over by several other ponies towards the stage. Once they set the massive diamond down onto the ground, it opened up dramatically and hissed almost like a can of soda. Fog proceeded to crawl out and escape from the interior, and once it was clear enough, a pony rose up from their relaxed position as if they had been waiting the whole time for their theatrical introduction.

She slowly stepped down from her seemingly cramped quarters and revealed herself to the public. However, even standing in the sunlight was not enough to get a clear and calm view of this mare. Figuratively, everything about her appearance was super busy. The colors of her mane, the accessories she wore, and especially that veil which, for some strange reason, hung over her head made it difficult to take in her arrival easily.

"Oh Celestia, not her…" I heard Starlight mutter almost beneath her breath.

Before I decided to question her about this certain pony, I chose to listen in on the commotion bound to happen after that kind of entrance.

With a flip of her extremely long mane, a high-pitched squeal screamed out from the audience that took in the sight of her with awe. "Countess Coloratura!" It had been Pinkie Pie, whom had pretty much been in charge of the entire event. She later proceeded to faint from either positive shock or glee.

"Clear the way! Stand back! Keep your hooves and tail to yourselves!" Some well-dressed stallion began leading this Countess Coloratura, along with the others that had carried her, through the crowd. Just by his snotty first impression, my first guess was that he was from Canterlot.

"So, you know her?" I finally turned towards Starlight.

"Who doesn't know her?" Starlight groaned in disgust. "Ugh. She's so spoiled and rotten, it drives me insane anytime she's around."

"Oh, kind of reminds me of someone I know." I stated half-jokingly while mischievously looking her way.

"Hey…!" She growled, but she didn't react as aggressively as she could have. "Look, I know I've done some pretty rotten stuff in my lifetime, and I apologize a million times over for that, but trust me, this chick is way worse!"

"What? How so?" I had to be honest when I couldn't really imagine any pony being any worse than Starlight used to be.

"How can I put it?" Starlight searched through her collected thoughts. "She's just…well…so demanding! Oh, and don't even think she's doing this 'charity work' because she's a 'good pony'. It's all about publicity and her image. I mean, look at her!" Starlight pointed out, having me witness a scene where she had been placing some kind of stamp on the cheeks of ponies lined up before her.

"Hoofsies! Hoofsies! Hoofsies!" She repeated. The way she sounded while saying those words was…odd. It almost sounded like she wasn't very bright…and that she had been speaking with children instead of fully grown ponies.

"I guess I get what you're saying…" I turned my attention back to Starlight. "But isn't that kind of every celebrity, or, in this case, pop star? Sapphire Shores kind of makes showy first impressions too."

"Sapphire Shores is different." Starlight defended. "She's really a nice pony when you get to know her. She just…handles things like business and performances seriously. If she's got to do something for the good of her career, she does it."

"When you say it like that, it doesn't exactly make her sound any better…"

Starlight now groaned from frustration. "Just trust me, alright? This 'Countess Coloratura' is only here because something's in it for her."

"Countess Coloratura?! She's here?!" We heard an unexpected voice chime in excitedly. Spirit had materialized out of nowhere as she desperately looked for the star of the current conversation. "She is! She really is!"

"What?" I questioned at her fanatic behavior. "How in the hay do you even know who she is?"

"I gotta go get in line for hoofsies! Later!" She immediately ran off in the direction of the already quite long line.

Starlight shook her head. "I feel bad for your friend there."

"Why? Because she likes someone you don't?"

"That, and to prove my point, she's going to come back without her beloved 'hoofsies'."

"What makes you say that?"

Starlight merely presented the sight before me as an answer. Despite the long line that still stood for Countess Coloratura, it had suddenly been intervened by one of the members of her team. What I assumed was her manager began leading her away from the lined ponies, leaving them heavily disappointed. Just as Starlight had predicted, Spirit had returned with a disgruntled expression on her face.

"Sorry, kid. That's what always happens." Starlight explained the reason behind her negative assumption.

"Not always…" Spirit muttered out rather coldly.

"Throughout my career, when I've got to hang around her, that's exactly what always happens. She only does a select few and leaves without saying anything. I still can't get why other ponies are so in love with her. It doesn't make any sense."

Before Spirit could possibly rebuke Starlight's claim, I resurfaced my original question. "So…how exactly are you such a big fan of hers, Spirit? I don't remember there ever being a time where you brought up her name once for as long as we've known each other. I didn't even know about her until now. I have no idea how you possibly could have."

"I…recently got into her." She mumbled her answer a bit through her slightly pursed lips.

"Yeah…I'm just gonna stop asking…" I decided, seeing as I'd never understand her.

Starlight wasn't one to go easy on others, so she continued to be pretty frank over her thoughts on the Countess in town. "Listen, you can like her music or whatever, but if you want to keep yourself from being disappointed in the future, don't expect her to be some kind of 'perfect countess' like she thinks she is. She doesn't care about you or anyone else but herself. Any little act of kindness that she does is solely for publicity." She aimed this mostly towards Spirit.

Starlight definitely sounded as if she's had enough experience with this specific pop star to know what she was talking about, and Starlight didn't seem like the one to be jealous over petty feuds in the music industry. I didn't think she'd want to spread bad rumors around, so Coloratura's reputation would be ruined. Still, I couldn't quite believe or absolutely confirm that she was a bad pony. I still hadn't even talked to her myself. As much as I felt myself lightly falling into Starlight's views over this Coloratura pony, I decided I would hold off on my opinion.

For the second time, we had been caught off guard by another a surprise from Countess Coloratura. This time, with a loud thumping bass, she had begun a rehearsal of her performance. In a funny and maybe even ironic way, we had been missing everything Coloratura had been doing in the background because we were too busy talking about her in the first place.

The visual and lighting effects in her performance were extremely impressive, but at the same time, they seemed a little…over-the-top. Then again, I wasn't really used to seeing performances like that. The closest would be the effects Rarity used when displaying her newest creations, but even then, I didn't believe they were as bright and bold as presented in Countess Coloratura's rehearsal. Of course, the ponies that had accompanied her and carried her over here were apparently her backup dancers. In addition, her vocals had been somewhat modified with magic as well.

Overall, I wasn't sure if it was just a glimpse of what to expect from her, or if that was actually the entire song, but her performance was fairly short. It consisted of mainly two words. "Razzle Dazzle". I wouldn't be surprised if that was the name of song. Nevertheless, the song wasn't necessarily bad, but as Fluttershy would say, it wasn't exactly my "cup of tea".

Every other pony most likely thought otherwise as they applauded loudly. Despite what she was told by Starlight, Spirit was among those who cheered with gusto. Spirit could be naïve sometimes, but it seemed she genuinely adored Countess Coloratura. If I knew Spirit, she wouldn't easily be a fan of someone who was a complete jerk. It's as if she knew Coloratura wasn't all bad deep down. At least, she thought she wasn't all bad when it came to things behind the scenes.

On the other hoof, Starlight continued to shake her head at the applauding crowd with a lightly sucked in frown. "Her entire performance can be a couple of seconds and they'll still just eat it up."

As I heard her say this, I couldn't help but feel the need to ask the question.

"You sure you're just not jealous, Star?" I asked, returning a somewhat playful mood, so it wouldn't all be too serious.

However, she only returned an unamused glare. "You're funny. And for the record, no, I'm not jealous. I'm just irritated to see ponies liking this kind of trash."

"Well…ponies like different things." I offered a different kind of perspective. "To say that it's trash is a little…harsh."

"Hmph." She merely turned her head away, possibly too upset to continue the conversation if Coloratura was going to be the subject of it.

"Alex!" Spirit ran over to me with gleaming eyes. "Countess Coloratura's going to meet with the school ponies! Can we go?! Please?!"

"But you're not a school pony." I mentioned.

"I'm one at heart! Come on! I really want to see her!"

Starlight scoffed in disgust and appeared as if she was going to leave. "You two go ahead and do that. I'm going to check up with my bandmates to see if they're on schedule."

Spirit remained practically begging at my hooves. I didn't see why she needed me to go with her as if I was her parent or something, but, either way, I decided I would take her. I wanted to see and hear this Countess Coloratura for myself. If she really is all bad like Starlight makes it, I would think I'd be able to see it.

"Alex!" Another pony approached me before we began making our way towards where the Countess was supposed to be at. It was Rarity, and she was looking pretty jubilant. "What did you think of the performance? It was pretty exquisite; don't you think so?"

"Yeah, it was awesome!" Spirit hurriedly answered in my place. "But we wanna go see her while we still have a chance!"

We? You mean you.

"You too?" Rarity questioned. "Applejack just left a little while ago to catch up with her."

"Applejack?" I wondered. "Why? Is she a fan too?"

"Not exactly…" Rarity rolled her eyes back in thought. "She mentioned this not too long ago before Countess Coloratura arrived, didn't you hear?"

I had been with Starlight for a good while before she showed up, so I must have missed whatever it was that Applejack mentioned. "I don't think so… What did she say?"

"Applejack and the Countess were old filly friends! Isn't that so strange?"

"What?!" Spirit belted out loud. "How?!"

"They both attended a camp called Camp Friendship. Apparently, by what Applejack had said, she was much different before than she is now. When Applejack first laid eyes on Coloratura today, she herself said she couldn't believe how much she had changed."

"Aww!" Spirit moaned. "What a lucky mare!"

"Applejack seems to find it nothing to obsess about." Rarity stated. "Of course, many other ponies would disagree, heh heh!" She laughed.

Applejack and Countless Coloratura were friends back then? That really is interesting. And Applejack doesn't lie, nor would she have a reason to in this case even if she did. Being raised a farmgirl, I doubt she'd really associate herself with a pony like the one we saw on stage just a moment ago. That would mean that Coloratura really did change…but why?

Spirit had already been tugging at my coat, her impatience getting the best of her good character.

"Well, a certain someone really wants to go see Countess Coloratura." I said. "I'll see you around, Rarity."

"Certainly!" Rarity waved goodbye. "Maybe you two might just get hoofsies too!"

Uh-huh…

A large group of the schoolponies had already gathered around Countess Coloratura by the time we got there. In fact, it may have just been all of them. Besides the kids, we saw Applejack observing the scene from the bottom of the small stage they had all stood on. I suppose it was for the photo shoot that was apparently going on at the same time.

"Oh…" Spirit lightly moaned. "It's so full…"

"Don't you want to meet her?" I asked.

"I do…but I think I'll just wait over here like Applejack is…"

She slightly tiptoed herself near where Applejack stood without taking her eyes off Coloratura once.

"So, I heard you and Countess Coloratura actually know each other?" I approached Applejack, considering I'd get to more about the deal between the farm girl and the pop star.

"I hope you've also heard that she's not the same pony I remember." She mentioned a bit depressively.

"Yeah…something like that."

She turned her head back at the sight of the excited schoolponies hanging around Coloratura. "Well, to be honest, seeing her speak with these little ones, it does take me back when the two of us were little."

"Ponyville schoolponies!" She announced. "As part of the Helping Hooves Music Festival, I'm holding a contest where some of you will get a chance to sing with me onstage at the concert tomorrow! Sound fun?" The wave of foals responded in cheer. "Alright! Now who wants more hoofsies?" A second wave of their excitement drained out any other kind of noise from on top of the stage.

"See?" Applejack pointed out. "Now that's more like the Rara I remember."

"Considering I've never known her until right now, I can't say that I can relate with you…" I almost wanted to bring up about how I had heard bad things about "Rara", but I was afraid Applejack would throw some kind of fit. Last thing I would need is her fighting with Starlight about who's really right about Coloratura.

"Singing on stage with her?" Spirit repeated the news she had announced earlier. "Oh…that would be so awesome."

"I think that's definitely just for the schoolponies…" I mentioned.

Spirit shook her head. "Eh, I'd be too shy to be up on stage in front of everyone anyway, so it's no big deal."

"But... I got everything you requested!" We suddenly heard Pinkie's voice from a distance.

The three of us turned around to see Pinkie with the well-dressed stallion that accompanied Countess Coloratura.

"That was for Countess Coloratura! This is for me! And what I want is premium oats!" He demanded bitterly.

"Oh! Well, we have lots of tasty oats right here in Ponyville!" Pinkie attempted to compromise with a plate of Ponyville's home grown oats.

"I would not feed those to a chicken!" He rudely slapped the plate away, causing it to fall over and make a mess in Pinkie's hair. "I want top-of-the-line Appleloosan oats! Next, it appears that we are surrounded by apple trees. Bring me five hundred pre-peeled, pre-cored apples, and I want those things in twenty-four hours!"

With a loud gasp, Pinkie responded in a wide-eyed manner. "But that's impossible!"

"Do you want me to pull Countess Coloratura from your little podunk charity show?! Because I will!" He threatened before carelessly walking off.

"Why that no good—!" Applejack almost belted out before we approached Pinkie Pie, whom was trying to remove the remaining bits of oats from her mane and tail.

"Applejack!" Pinkie Pie had spotted Applejack walking towards her and began to repeat the entirety of what we had just witnessed. "Svengallop just made all of these new demands and he said—"

"I heard, Pinkie. But don't you fret. I'll talk to Rara and fix things right up."

As Applejack turned back to return to the pony pop star, Spirit and I helped Pinkie Pie get rid of all the oats that she had missed.

"Ooh… Why does he have to be so demanding?!" Pinkie appeared to almost be at the point of crying. "I really want Countess Coloratura to play at our charity event!"

"Because he's a jerk!" Spirit almost instantaneously fired out. "If you ask me, he shouldn't be anywhere near Coloratura!"

"He's her manager, isn't she?" I brought up. "You don't think she's stuck with him because she needs him for what she does, do you?"

"That's just it!" Spirit turned to face me. "She doesn't need him. Look at Starlight. You don't see any manager pony bossing her around!"

"Well…I don't really have an inside look of her band to begin with…" I mentioned. "Besides, didn't Starlight say that Countess Coloratura wasn't exactly the nicest pony around?"

"I did have to gather a whole bunch of stuff because she had asked for it…" Pinkie added.

Spirit furiously shook her head. "That isn't her! It's all that dumb manager's fault! He's the one who's making all the demands! Not her!"

"And how exactly do you know that for sure?" I asked.

"Mmm…!" Spirit appeared hesitant and shook her head once more. "I just do, alright?! Besides, I can see what ponies feel. It's hard to understand, but just trust me!" She turned her head to look back at where the schoolponies and Countess Coloratura had been. "Applejack's right, you know? Think about it. If Countess Coloratura really wanted to, she could have canceled meeting with the schoolponies, but she didn't. I know it may not look like it at first, but she really is a good pony! I promise!"

Spirit was definitely passionate on defending Coloratura, and she definitely wasn't the type of pony to defend others whom she didn't know enough about anyway. I know Starlight had said that any little nice thing Coloratura does is for her own image, but I couldn't ignore Spirit's passion on proving Coloratura's innocence.

"Alright then…" I submitted. "What do you want to do then?"

"Let's talk with Starlight." Spirit suggested. "I know she doesn't like Coloratura, but maybe we can get some advice after we tell her about her manager."

"You guys do whatever you need to do, but I really have to get working on those oats and apples!" Using her fidgeting legs, she ran off before we could possibly convince her not to fall onto the manager's demands.

"Whatever the case is, I'm with you, Spirit." I clarified. "I'm not going to stand to see Pinkie going out of her way to follow some snotty pony's orders."

"Then, let's get moving!" She pointed ahead, leading me back towards the main stage.

We found Starlight roaming around the back of the stage. She took notice of a vanity mirror and began looking at her reflection. She lightly messed with her mane and stretched pieces of her coat for some reason.

"Hey, Starlight." I called out, seeming to cause her to lightly jump before she noticed.

"Huh! Don't do that!" She scolded.

"What else am I supposed to do?" I shot back, feeling a little annoyed with her apparently short temper.

She shook her head. "Whatever. What do you want?"

"You don't have a manager, do you?" Spirit asked.

"Uhhh…not exactly..." She seemed to look like she was wondering why we'd ask such a thing. "Why?"

"Look, I know you don't exactly like Coloratura." Spirit began speaking. It appeared she was going to take the lead on this as well. "But you know all those bad things you said about her? It's her manager. She's not the one who's making such hard demands. It's her manager, Jerkgallop."

Jerkgallop?

"Ehh… I don't know." Starlight turned back towards the mirror to continue looking into details of her reflection. "Don't get me wrong. Her manager's a pain too. But with the way she acts when she's not around everypony, she doesn't exactly look innocent herself too, you know?"

"That's because her manager makes her do all that stuff!" Spirit answered. "If you had a manager like him, he'd be practically making you do anything he thought was the best thing to do."

"If I had a manager like that…" Starlight sounded as if she was going to correct Spirit. "He wouldn't be my manager in the first place. I wouldn't let any kind of pony boss me around like that."

"But what if he threatened you? Said that your band wouldn't last without him. I know that's hard to think about since you've managed to make it far enough without one to begin with, but think of it this way. Imagine it's one of your bandmates. Someone that really makes the band what it is. Would it be so easy to let him go?"

It was hard to tell what went on in Starlight's mind after hearing that. She looked as if she thought about it for a moment, but her face eventually scrunched up from frustration. "Haaah." She sighed loudly and finally turned back towards us. "What do you two want me to do?"

"Right now, I guess we're just looking for advice on how to handle the situation…" I said.

"Or, maybe you could somehow help us and get Coloratura to ditch that annoying old manager!" Spirit suggested otherwise. "I'm sure that's what Applejack wants too!"

"You want me to get her to ditch her manager?" Starlight repeated almost flatly. "We may be singers, but we're not exactly close enough, or even friends for that matter, to take each other's advice." Starlight began walking towards the stage, having us follow her from behind.

"Applejack's known her from when they were fillies, remember?" I reminded Spirit. "If anypony could convince Coloratura to do that, it'd be her."

"Yeah, well, maybe if she hears from another singer, it'll help convince her in case Applejack's not enough."

Standing at the back portion of the stage, she faced us with a heavy sigh. "Do you really think that you can get one of the most popular and successful pop stars to fire her own manager?"

"We have to try!" Spirit practically pleaded. "I know this is really sudden to bring on you, and I'm sorry, but I think this is the best opportunity we've got."

Starlight squeezed the area above her nose and between her eyes in frustration.

"Svengallop?" We heard a mare call out.

Starlight, Spirit, and I turned to notice Countess Coloratura had returned to the stage, looking for her manager. I couldn't tell what Starlight was thinking, but she eventually gave in to Spirit's begging.

"Fine." She said and proceeded to approach Coloratura.

From there we silently watched the exchange between the two while Spirit was anxiously rocking back and forth as she most likely hoped for the best.

"Hey, uh… Countess Coloratura." Starlight greeted Coloratura as she had been in the middle of turning her head back and forth in search for her manager.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Coloratura noticed Starlight for a brief moment. "I don't have any hoofsies to give out at the moment."

I could tell Starlight was now starting to grow irritated, especially due to Coloratura's thoughtless response. "Uh, no. I'm not looking for any…hoofsies. In fact, I'm not exactly a fan." Coloratura stopped her fidgeting search and faced her attentiveness at Starlight for some reason. "My name's Starlight. We've seen each other on the road every now and then."

"Starlight?" Coloratura appeared to grow slightly intriguied. "From that one band? That Starlight? What happened to you? What's with the new look?" She eventually paid direct attention to the top of Starlight's face. "Since when did you have a horn?"

Starlight had to be losing her patience by the second…

"A long time." Starlight quickly answered. "That's not the point though. I've been hearing a lot of complaints about your manager, Svengallop? Apparently, he's been threatening to pull you out of the show if he doesn't get what he wants."

"Ugggh!" Coloratura unexpectedly groaned out loud. "This again?!"

"…excuse me?" Starlight questioned with a puzzled face.

"Look!" Coloratura suddenly glared in return. "Svengallop isn't threatening anyone about pulling me out of the show! Now, quit spreading these lies and leave me be!"

Coloratura was about to walk off until Starlight heatedly stopped her. "Hey! No one's lying, princess. Your manager's ticking everyone off with his stupid threats and demands! You gonna let somepony like that bully your fans and have the final say in everything you do?"

"Of course, you'd say something like that!" Coloratura shot back. "I'm your rival, aren't I? And any other pony can easily see that you're jealous and envious like the others!"

"Jealous?! Honey, a garbage bag has more talent than what you'd call that—!"

Starlight's words had immediately been muffled when we realized that she was going too far off. We had rushed in and restrained her, attempting to have her back off as we covered her mouth with our hooves.

"There you are, Countess Coloratura!" Her manager, Svengallop, had ironically shown up to divert Countess Coloratura's attention away from Starlight. "Come on now. It's time you return to your trailer, so you can prepare for tomorrow's show. You don't have time to be meddling with other ponies."

"Gladly." Coloratura sent one last glare at Starlight before she simply submitted to Svengallop's recommendation.

Starlight attempted to wiggle out of our grip as if she was willing to go another round. It wasn't until we voluntarily let go where she turned and heaved towards us. "You see what I'm talking about?! If she wants to be a moron and let her manager walk all over her, then I could care less!" She went on to aggressively bump through us in order walk past us. "I'm done trying to help!"

"What was that all about?!" Spirit worriedly asked me. "Why did Coloratura get so upset?!"

"Didn't Applejack say she was going to talk to her after we found out about Svengallop?" I reminded.

"Wait…" Spirit paused for a moment in thought. "Then that means…Applejack couldn't…" Spirit's incomplete sentence soon drifted off into silence.

Despite being Coloratura's childhood friend, it didn't seem Applejack could do much to get her to see the truth about her manager. I had to admit that it wasn't surprising. After all, from what it seems, when you've depended on someone for so long, it's hard to believe that they were only in it for themselves.

I also had to be honest when it came down to being concerned about Countess Coloratura. I didn't have the same passion as Spirit or Applejack did, seeing as I didn't know her until now. Realizing how Spirit appeared completely distraught about the situation made me feel a little guilty because I wasn't.

"Don't worry, Spirit." I tried as hard as I could to cheer her up. "Applejack's not the type to quit. She's definitely not going to go out without a fight."

Spirit slowly nodded her head. "I can't either. Maybe we should find Applejack. Maybe we can come up with something we can do to help Coloratura…"

After some time spent searching, we managed to find Applejack with Pinkie Pie at Sweet Apple Acres. Apparently, they had been tending to Svengallop's demands and literally peeling and removing the core of every single apple they had stocked up on.

"Applejack…" Spirit approached Applejack as she pedaled her hooves on a pretty nifty apple peeler.

"Howdy, Spirit." Applejack returned rather dejectedly.

"Things didn't go so well with Countess Coloratura, did they?"

"Hmph." Applejack removed the peeled apple and threw it over to the pile that were soon to be coreless. "I'd be lying if I said they did."

"We tried seeing if Starlight could help convince her about her manager, but things didn't end up so great either…" Spirit's head fell forward slightly.

"I hope you're not thinkin' it's your fault, Sugarcube."

Spirit shook her head. "I want to help you too, Applejack. I may have not been friends with her like you were, but I care just as much! That's why I want us to work together to come up with some kind of plan that'll do the trick!"

Applejack continued to repeat the labor of peeling apples, throwing them into a different pile, and continuing the cycle. "I mean no disrespect when I say this, but that pony's veil is so thick, she can't see when somepony is clearly using her! If we want any chance, she's gonna have to see how horrible Svengallop is with her own eyes."

"Then, that's what we need to do!" Spirit pounded her hoof onto the ground in determination. "We can show her how mean Jerkgallop is when he starts bossing around Pinkie!"

"That's gonna be pretty difficult to do." Applejack admitted. "I think Svengallop keeps tabs on Rara. He is her manager after all. If he's been able to keep his grubby kind of behavior hidden from Rara the whole time he's worked with her, I don't think it'll be as easy as it seems."

"We need evidence then!" Spirit suggested.

"I hope you ain't talkin' about photos. I know for sure that Rara will just make up some kind of an excuse for how a photo looks." Applejack sighed heavily as she looked as if she was mindlessly peeling apples. "It ain't like we can just magically record the whole conversation when he goes and threatens Pinkie Pie about taking Rara out of the Helping Hooves Festival and projecting it on a giant screen for Rara to see for herself."

As Applejack mentioned this as if she was complaining out from her thoughts, something about her somewhat descriptive rant seemed familiar to me. "Actually, Applejack… I don't believe that's exactly true…"

"What are you getting' at?" She turned to me, sharing a look of confusion with Spirit.

"Have you forgotten that we have an awesome Alicorn princess that practically knows all about the kind of magic to have ever existed? If I remember correctly, I think Twilight once showed me a lecture she had recorded with her magic. Don't ask me how. She just did."

"You gotta be kiddin' me!" Applejack finally ceased her production of peeled apples and confronted me from undeniable interest. "She can really do that?!"

"Yeah." I nodded and began to remember another similar instance where she presented that kind of magic to all of us. "Now that I think about it… Remember when you had that vampire fruit bat problem with your farm? Twilight had projected a screen for us when she was giving us a rundown of her spell. If I had to make a wild guess, I'm willing to bet it has to deal with the light that magic produces in the first place. You know, just like the ink a photograph uses, except the ink is the different colors the light of magic can produce."

"I don't care about the details!" Applejack responded bluntly. "If we can get Twilight to record Svengallop being a jerk to Pinkie Pie, then Rara will have to believe us!"

"Then that's what we gotta do!" Spirit emphasized enthusiastically.

"How should we do this?" Applejack asked for any kind of ideas or ways to proceed with our newly founded plan.

I thought for a moment. "We might need to wait until tomorrow to actually put the plan into work. Last time we saw Countess Coloratura, she looked like she was going to blow a fuse. I think she's resting in her trailer for the performance tomorrow."

Applejack faced the ground to briefly collect her thoughts. "Svengallop wanted these apples done in less than twenty-four hours. That's tomorrow. Maybe it's not so bad after all? Maybe that's just what we need to get our proof! When Svengallop talks to Pinkie Pie about the apples, we can get him then!"

"And then we can show it to Coloratura!" Spirit chimed in.

"We gotta talk to Twilight!" Applejack began preparing herself to gallop back towards the stage where we had last seen her.

"But Applejack!" Pinkie, whom had been working on removing the cores from the apples the entire time, cried out worriedly. "The apples!"

"Sorry, Pinkie, but there is no way I'm lettin' that lousy Svengallop use my friend like that!"

Pinkie could only groan in response as they fell backward onto the pre-cored and pre-peeled apples in a loss of hope.

"Don't worry, Pinkie!" Spirit encouraged her with a cheerful smile. "We're going to show Countess Coloratura what a jerk her manager is, and then you won't have to dedicate your time to giving him what he wants anymore!"

"Does that mean I'll be able to go back to baking…?" Pinkie almost weakly asked Spirit.

"You know it!"

"Can't wait…" Pinkie remained inside the pile of apples, possibly taking a nap.

"Let's get going!" Spirit approached me, clearly ready for action.

The rest of the day was just preparation for what was to come the next day. Applejack, Spirit, and I had met with Twilight to explain everything. As expected, Twilight had no issue in helping us with this ordeal. In fact, she gave us some input on how to exactly pull the plan off. It wasn't until the day after where we would meet with the climatic and exposure of truth.

Despite how Countess Coloratura looked the day before, Applejack was able to convince her in gaining a chance to prove her claim. This was when the plan took motion. It was inevitable that Svengallop would take Pinkie away from the public to reveal his true colors, but this time, there was no way he was going to be able to deny raw proof of his misdoings.

It wasn't until he returned to the stage, where Countess Coloratura was at, when he was confronted with hard evidence of his mistreatment of others. This was projected out for not only Coloratura and Svengallop to witness, but every other pony in the area was able to see what kind of pony Svengallop was for themselves.

"So that's how you've been managing things?" Coloratura faced her soon-to-be ex manager in both shock and anger.

"Yeah, so? What's the problem?" He attempted to brush it off as if it was nothing new.

"The problem is, is you've been using my name to intimidate ponies to get what you want!"

"But I work incredibly hard for you! I deserve everything I get!"

"But not because you scare ponies into thinking I won't perform for their charities otherwise! I would never do that to my fans! Which is why you should have known that I would never cancel the schoolponies' contest!"

"Hmph. All this charity and schoolpony contest nonsense is just remnants of that boring little Rara I met back in Manehattan!"

"You clearly don't understand the real me!" In the middle of their heated discussion, Coloratura grabbed her veil and threw it backwards.

"Ha, that's a joke! I made you somepony! What can you even do without me? Good luck, Countess Coloratura! Good luck." As if emphasizing with disgust, he gave one last snarky statement before leaving the stage. It was too bad. Technically, he didn't really do anything wrong besides being a jerk with his title. If he caused some kind of harm, we could've done something more about it.

"Oh, Rara, I'm so sorry. Are you gonna be okay for the concert tonight?" Applejack approached her wounded friend.

"Of course. After all, the show must go on!" Coloratura seemed to force on a brave face as she stated this. However, she couldn't hold on to it for more than a few seconds.

I noticed Spirit climb up on the stage to speak with her.

"Coloratura?" Spirit greeted timidly as she approached her. "Listen… I know we just met at all…but I just wanna say that I'm a really inspired fan of yours. You see…the truth is…" She paused for a moment and then, for some strange reason, sent a brief glance at me. Afterwards, she gestured Coloratura to lean in, so she could whisper something in her ear.

It was a while before Coloratura reacted with widened eyes. "You have…?" She pulled back from calm shock. Spirit merely nodded with a smile. This caused Coloratura to relax just enough to return a smile as well. "That's so sweet… Thank you…"

"That's why I know you'll be just as fantastic, if not more, without your manager!"

"Ooh…" Coloratura returned to a state of worry. "I don't even know who I can find to do my hair or my makeup…"

"Don't you fret, Rara." Applejack crossed her forelegs as she returned a fairly smug grin. "I know one pony who would just love to help ya with that."

Coloratura's performance was tonight, but it seemed like the entire time she was supposed to be getting ready, she was too busy fidgeting around about how her performance would turn out. In short, I believed she may have been having a nervous breakdown.

"Oh, my gosh, Rarity, Svengallop's right! This is gonna be a disaster! I'm gonna be terrible!" Coloratura had paced back and forth repeatedly as Rarity tried to focus on finishing her outfit. Rarity's reflection in the vanity mirror was clear enough to portray her frustration on having to chase Coloratura with the accessory she still had to place on to complete her performing attire.

"Can you give us a minute, Rarity?" Applejack must have noticed the commotion, so she decided to bring the issue at hoof upon her to take care of herself.

"Certainly." Rarity agreed as she brought along the accessory she had spent the last several minutes trying to play pin the clothing on the pacing Coloratura with.

I decided to give the two some space as well which was when I surprisingly came across Starlight.

"Starlight? What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Did you forget that I'm also going to be performing in the festival?" She answered quite coldly.

"That's not what I meant." I responded, beginning to alter my tone so I could rival hers. "I didn't expect to see you back here behind the stage."

"I'm here to see Coloratura."

I had stood silent for a moment as my mind was struck by a sudden state of confusion. "H-huh?! You're not going to start another fight, are you?!"

"Of course not, idiot!" She barked in a lightly aggressive manner.

"Then, what are you—?"

"Just move." She lightly shoved me and proceeded to make her way where Applejack and Coloratura were. Thankfully, it seemed they had just stopped talking by the time they noticed Starlight standing nearby. "Hey, Coloratura."

"Oh, uh, hey, Starlight…" Coloratura reacted a bit embarrassingly, most likely due to what happened with their last heated conversation. "Um…about yesterday…"

"Don't worry about it." Starlight settled outright. "If I was still upset about it, I wouldn't be here looking to help you."

"H-help me?"

Starlight simply nodded and took a moment to give Coloratura a look over. "You gonna get on stage dressed like that?"

"Well, I don't know…"

"Starlight, I hope you ain't got any bad intentions being here, do ya?" Applejack raised her eyebrow, looking rather suspicious of what Starlight had been doing.

"Chill out." Starlight merely answered with. "It's like I said. I'm trying to help. After all, Coloratura isn't the only one who's had to go through a massive wardrobe change." She turned to Coloratura to take a closer look at her face. "I'm not saying the outfit's bad or anything…but you sure this is how you want to go dressed out there?

"What do you mean…?" Coloratura asked for clarification as she lifted up her hoof in hesitation.

"Well, if you ask me, this kind of outfit looks like something Countess Coloratura would wear, but is it what the real Coloratura would wear? I saw when you laid it on good to your old manager. You want to show the real you to everypony out there, don't you?"

"Y'know…" Applejack tapped her hoof on her chin. "I think Starlight's actually onto something here, Rara. You're not Countess Coloratura anymore. You're Rara. And the Rara I know wouldn't obsess over the little things on her dress."

Coloratura took a moment of silence before she closed her eyes and smiled warmly. "You're right… And I think I know just the kind of 'look' to go for…" She faced towards both Applejack and Starlight. "Would you two mind helping me change?"

Deeply surprised yet satisfied, I decided to let them do their own thing while I checked on other matters. I was going to go check out the stage and crowd in the audience until I was struck by yet another surprise.

"Octavia?!" I spotted her rehearsing a bit backstage behind the curtain.

"Hm?" She ceased her playing and turned to notice me. "Oh, Alex. Hello."

"Uh… Are you…with the Helping Hooves Festival too?"

"Yes, I am." She looked slightly annoyed saying that, turning her head back to her cello while almost glaring at me in the corner of her eyes. "If you'd come and visit me every now and then, you'd know that…"

"S…sorry?" I suddenly felt that I should be extra careful with what I say to her. "Um…so are you doing a performance too?"

"Well, it's more of a group performance." She explained. "We're going to provide an instrumental score to Coloratura's routine."

"Oh, really?" I reacted with surprise. I guess it wasn't all that surprising since Coloratura had practically lost everything but herself with her manager gone. "Well, I've got something to definitely look forward to then." I complimented, especially to possibly quell any kind of anger in Octavia about me not visiting her as much.

"Hmph." She responded with a somewhat soft smirk. "Flattery will get you nowhere."

"No, seriously!" I objected. "I am totally willing to look forward to the performance, especially with you playing a part in it."

Unexpectedly, she proceeded to point her cello bow straight at me for a silent moment before she flipped the front of my mane with it. "We'll see." She stated vaguely as she pulled back her bow and continued practicing.

Before I decided to join the audience for the show, I went on ahead to check how Coloratura and the others were doing. I knew Coloratura was changing into a different look for her performance, but as soon as I saw this new look, I was surprised to see how…different she was. To sum it up, her appearance was no longer cluttered by expensive brands and designer clothing, but her wardrobe was rather simple yet still attractive.

"What do you think?!" Spirit, having apparently been here for some time, quickly approached me by my side and directed my full attention towards the new Coloratura. "Doesn't she look so amazing! It's perfect!"

"Y-yeah, it is." I replied as I confronted Coloratura about her look. "I don't mean any offense by this…but is this your natural look?"

Coloratura chuckled gently at my question. "Yes, it is. This is the real me. I've been hiding that part of my side behind so much makeup and clothes, it's actually really refreshing to just…be me again."

I nodded in total agreement. "When you first arrived in Ponyville, it was hard to get a reading off you. But now that you look like this, I can see what Applejack meant every time she talked about you."

"Hm. Let's just see what every other pony thinks about the new me." She mentioned a tad worriedly as her eyes wandered in the direction of the stage.

"They'll love it." Starlight, whom had been looking over her own appearance in the vanity mirror, stated quite confidently. "If they're your real fans, they won't care how you look."

"Like me!" Spirit felt the need to address.

Coloratura chuckled lightly once more until a sudden wave of realization seemed to hit her. "Oh! That reminds me. Starlight?"

"Yeah?" She turned away from the mirror to face Coloratura.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you for a favor…"

"What is it?"

"First off, do you know how to play piano?"

Starlight squinted her eyes for a moment as if she was pondering about what Coloratura had in mind. "Yeah…?"

"Well, I wanted to know if you might be willing to join me up on stage for my performance." Coloratura suggested. "There's this song I want to sing, and it'd be a big help if you could play it for me while I'm on the stage."

"You have the sheet music?"

"Of course."

Coloratura pulled out sheets of paper with scribbles and notes on them. To me, it was like some kind of foreign language that only ponies like Starlight or Octavia could translate or understand.

After Starlight studied the notes for a good moment, she grinned lightly. "Looks easy enough."

"So, is that a yes?" Coloratura lurched her head forward for Starlight's answer.

"Yeah, why not?" Starlight answered with a rather modest shrug.

"That's great!" Coloratura cheerfully clapped her hooves together. "We can show everyone out there our new 'us' together. This will surely be a night to remember for not only our careers, but our whole lives."

"Guess someone's got a new bestie." I sent over Starlight's way teasingly.

"Don't you got a show to watch?" Starlight shot back, subtly attempting me to shoo away and scurry off.

"Come on, Alex!" Spirit went ahead and nudged me out. "I want to see if we can still get some good spots!"

The other girls had spots already saved up to the very front. Of course, this tallied up with Spirit's already jumping nerves. She couldn't even stay still as we waited for the show to begin. She only continued to hop up and down anxiously.

"Hey, calm down, would you?" I finally said as I felt her continuously bump me.

"I can't! This is going to be so amazing!" At this moment, a spotlight lit up the center of the stage, and Twilight appeared from within the closed curtains. "Aaah!" Spirit screamed, grabbed ahold of me, and almost shook me violently. "It's starting!"

"Good evening, everypony!" Twilight greeted through the immense applause of the crowd. "Welcome to opening night of the Helping Hooves Music Festival! Now it is my great honor to introduce you to our headlining act – Countess Coloratura!"

From there, she stepped to the side, and the curtains opened up. Beyond, there was a grand piano, and Coloratura stood by it as she faced the audience. "Good evening, everypony. Tonight is a very special night for all of us here. By attending this event, you are helping others that are in need. And tonight, you will get to witness two ponies turning over a new leaf. I now welcome you one of those ponies. Starlight." Coloratura stepped to the side to reveal Starlight, whom had been sitting in front of the piano. She simply returned a small wave and a smile. "She's a new friend out of countless others I made here in Ponyville, and she will be helping me a great bunch with this piece I wrote. This song may be familiar, but yet, it's totally different. Kind of like me, Rara."

After their introduction, ponies in the crowd were puzzled as they murmured amongst themselves about the change they witnessed on the stage. It wasn't until Starlight was signaled to start where ponies quieted down, due to the notes of the piano.

"I'm here to show you who I am" Rara began, facing over her crowd as Starlight took care of the piano work.

"Throw off the veil, it's finally time

There's more to me than glitz and glam, oh-whoa

And now I feel my stars align"

At this point, unicorns began to create a dimmed light on the top of the horns. However, once the masses contributed to the effort, it created a much brighter yet subtle light than it was on its own.

"For I had believed what I was sold

I did all the things that I was told

But all that has changed, and now I'm bold

'Cause I know"

Something rose in the background behind the blue screen where Starlight and Rara stood in front of. As Rara strongly began her next verse, the area behind the blue screen lit up, revealing a group of ponies that were creating the instrumental score behind Rara's song. These ponies were all silhouettes, but I was easily able to distinguish one that belonged to none other than Octavia.

"That I am just a pony

I make mistakes from time to time

But now I know the real me

And put my heart out on the line

And let the magic in my heart stay true

Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa

And let the magic in my heart stay true

Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa

Just like the magic inside of you"

As I listened in to these lyrics, I had just realized that they not only matched with Rara's character but Starlight's as well. From what I could see of Starlight, even she looked as if she was enjoying it. She produced a smile of warmth that was completely rare from her usual sarcastic or snappy expressions. During this point of the song, I entirely believed that all of this was meant to happen. It was all too perfect to just be a coincidence.

"And now I see those colors

Right before my eyes

I hear my voice so clearly

And I know that it is right

They thought I was weak, but I am strong

They sold me the world, but they were wrong

And now that I'm back, I still belong

'Cause I know"

At both an utter amazement and surprise, Rara's cutie mark began to sparkle and shine as if it contained its own kind of magic. Everypony stomped their hooves and cheered in support of Rara, and tears soon welled up in her eyes as she continued to passionately sing her heart out with overwhelming emotions.

"That I am just a pony

I make mistakes from time to time

But now I know the real me

And put my heart out on the line

And let the magic in my heart stay true

Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa

And let the magic in my heart stay true

Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa

Just like the magic inside of you

Just like the magic inside of you..."

As soon as she opened her eyes, she was immediately welcomed with a huge wave of ovation. Taking a glance over at Spirit, she had been bawling, but she still managed to wave her forelegs in excitement for the performance her apparent role model had just given.

"Thank you, everypony!" Rara's voice amplified over everyone else's. "When I arrived at the Helping Hooves Music Festival, I had forgotten who I really was!" She turned her head towards our direction, but it was obviously Applejack who she had been looking straight at. With all the attention that had been drawn on her, she seemed to have no choice but to look downwards in embarrassment. "But then an old friend reminded me what real friendship is about, and she told me that if I was true to myself, I couldn't go wrong! So, I have a very special surprise for her. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, come on up!"

The three fillies immediately raced up to join the stage with her. It was there where they had begun singing an entirely new yet heartwarming song.

"Equestria, the land I love

A land of harmony

Our flag does wave from high above

For ponykind to see"

They had dropped down the flag that represented all of Equestria.

"Equestria, a land of friends

Where ponykind do roam"

Coloratura reached out and brought Applejack onto the stage with her. As they continued, I took one last glance at where Starlight had been. I swore, from the swift few seconds I had her on sight, she had been wiping something from her eyes. However, she quickly stepped to the side and disappeared from the stage.

"They say true friendship never ends

Equestria, my home"

Everypony not only in the audience but on stage shared a special moment together. I couldn't tell if it was just the overwhelming feelings of love and warmth that were passed all around, but I especially felt good about the upcoming future.

As I felt pleased about Applejack having the opportunity to reunite with an apparently long lost filly friend, only one thought was present in my mind.

Starting from now, there's going to be an extremely significant change to come that's most likely going to alter our lives for the better.

A revelation.

Thanks for the Memories

Every day, since I'd gotten it, I've been looking at my signed photograph with the one and only Coloratura. I've been so obsessed with it that I've looked at it practically every time I wake up. Ever since I got to meet her again, things have really been great ever since. If Coloratura's visit wasn't enough, winter was starting!

Ponies from Cloudsdale had been arriving with clouds chock full of snow, and ponies in Ponyville had been spending the day taking down the leaves from Fall. In some areas of Ponyville, I'm sure there were already piles of snow. I honestly wanted to already dress myself in fluffy and cute winterwear, but since it wasn't completely winter, I'd most likely be overheating outside instead.

"You ready to go, Spirit?" I was asked behind me. "Twilight and Applejack are already raking up the leaves on the ground. Fluttershy and Rarity are giving the animals some clothes to help them stay warm."

"Right." I nodded with a determined smile. "If we can help too…we can make winter come even faster!"

"Well…I think it's the ponies from Cloudsdale that bring winter… We just make the place ready for winter. But who knows."

"I don't wanna hear the boring details." I approached and leaned in towards Alex. "If I'm working on helping bringing winter in, then at least I'll have something on my mind to concentrate on."

"Wow." Alex commented. "You seem really excited for winter."

"Of course! It's like my favorite time of the year!" Before he could bother saying anything anymore, I quickly snagged his ear with my teeth and attempted to drag him onwards as if he was dog on a leash.

"OW!"

Just looking at the bare trees with snow-driven clouds above made my heart all giddy. I was so energized and motivated that I was even willing to help pick up Fall literally all day and night if I had to.

"What do you want to do?" Alex asked as he rubbed the ear I had attacked earlier. "Help put clothes on the animals or rake up leaves?"

"I want to rake the leaves so the area can be cleared quicker!" I exclaimed quickly but then took a little time to think about the other option. "Then again…being with the animals sounds really adorable and cute…" Finally, I furiously shook my head. Animals can come later. Winter is first priority! "I'm going with the leaves!" I immediately raced over towards Applejack when I found her currently in the motion of raking. "Hey, Applejack! You've got an extra rake for me to use?"

"Sure, do!" She had picked up one that had been on the floor covered by fallen leaves and tossed it to me. "Boy, you sure are lively today. Any reason why?"

"Winter!" I summed it up all on one word. "It's like… What can go wrong in winter?!"

"Well…a lot of things." Applejack began thinking up of different ways, but she refused to say them out loud. "But for your sake, I'll keep them to myself."

I spent the majority of my time raking while humming to myself every now and then. I'd see Alex around with Fluttershy, being his special somepony, but every once in a while, I'd also see him with Twilight. Nevertheless, I couldn't let any negativity affect my mood. I had to stay positive for winter, otherwise, I wouldn't enjoy it. After some time, I managed to come up with several piles of leaves waiting to be picked up.

"Hey… Looks like you've been getting along with everypony pretty well recently." I heard nearby.

Twilight stopped by, picking up the piles of leaves with her magic, so she could take care of them. I had been talking to the others more, compared to when I first met them. Ironically, a pony I wasn't so sure I could count on to that list was Twilight herself. I wasn't sure if she knew that, or if she was just pretending not to.

"Yeah…I guess…" It was awkward speaking with her, so I couldn't help but do other minor things like pulling some loose strands of my mane back behind my ear.

"You doing alright?" She asked after silence had stood too long between us.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I continued with my short and sweet responses. Although, it didn't fix the real issue. The awkward silence between us was getting far too annoying, and Twilight was sure taking her sweet time with the leaves. I was starting to think she was intentionally waiting to earn a response back if she wasn't trying to think of something to say in the first place. Remembering her mention of everypony, I looked around and realized something was a bit off. Everypony had been here with helping us clear out the area except for one pony. "Where's Rainbow? Is she moving clouds too?"

"I'm not sure. Last I heard, she's been stressing over her pet tortoise, Tank." She replied, catching my interest.

It wasn't that I wanted to continue to converse with Twilight, but it was more that I wanted to know what was going on with Rainbow Dash and her pet. "Why…? Is he sick or something…?"

Twilight shook her head. "Fluttershy said he's perfectly healthy, and I think that's actually where the problem lies. You know about hibernation, right?"

"Yeah… Animals like bears save energy by sleeping during the winter and stuff. Is that what Tank's going to do?"

"Yes. Only, Rainbow Dash doesn't want him to. She's really attached to him, and…she's finding it really hard to let him go so easily for the winter." Memories flooded my head as my eyes fell to stare at the ground. Attachment… Letting something you really care about go… "What's wrong?" Twilight had inquired about the stupid expression I made without keeping it hidden first.

"Nothing." I quickly said and busied myself with raking nonexistent leaves. "Rainbow Dash shouldn't be complaining so much. At least she'll get to see him when spring comes by. It'll just be like nothing ever happened."

"…huh?" Twilight leaned her head forward.

I silently sighed, seeing as I would have to come up with some other random thing to excuse the sudden thoughts I slipped out loud. Fortunately, some kind of commotion had driven both of our attention away from each other. Of course, when I saw the pony responsible, I couldn't say I was particularly happy about it.

"Don't say that word!" Rainbow Dash had been screaming out from, what seemed like, frustration. She had been holding Tank close to her chest as she furiously faced Pinkie Pie. On the other hoof, Pinkie seemed to have recovered quite quickly from her sudden outburst.

"Which one? 'Snuggly'? 'Wuggly'? 'Tankie'? 'Hibernate'?"

"That one!"

"I was just saying how cute he—"

"If you think hiber... – you know, that napping thing – is so cute, why don't you go do it?! Somewhere far away from here?!" She pushed Pinkie away from her before looking our way to see every other pony staring back at the commotion she caused. "What are you looking at?! Pinkie Pie and I are just having a conversation!"

Twilight took this opportunity to walk forward and approach her. "Look, Rainbow Dash, we all know how upset you are about Tank hiber—"

"Shhhh!" Pinkie immediately shushed, hiding behind Twilight and away from Rainbow Dash. "Don't say that word! That's what started this all!"

"We know how upset you are about Tank." Twilight continued without the word. "But you shouldn't take your anger out on your friends."

"Who said anything about anger?!" Rainbow Dash fired back loudly. "I didn't say anything about anger! I'm not upset! And I am not angry! Do I look angry?!" She paused for a moment and ironically looked as if she was holding back fumes from exploding out of her head. When no pony would answer that question, she turned her attention back to the source of the issue. "Come on, Tank! Let's get out of here!" She dragged him away from the ground and brought him up with her so they could make a dashy escape.

"You don't think she's gonna do anything…I don't know…crazy?" Applejack asked after having witnessed the meltdown herself.

"She probably just needs a little time to think over things…" Twilight mentioned. "I'm sure she simply just needs to come to terms with reality, right? Tank has to hibernate. And I don't think anything she does is going to stop that."

"Even if she, say, stopped winter?" Pinkie brought up.

Fluttershy grew heavily emotional all of a sudden. "That would be worse!" She stood up to tell us almost frantically. "Animals hibernate because of the winter, but their bodies have grown used to doing this every winter. If winter doesn't come, who knows how their bodies would react to that kind of a change. It wouldn't be bad for just Tank. It'd be horrible for every animal that hibernates!"

"This is assumin' that Rainbow Dash does try and stop winter. I don't think she'd be crazy enough to do that." Applejack stated lightly, continuing to rake up leaves in an unbothered manner.

Despite her comment, every other pony exchanged glances of uncertainty with each other. I finally placed my rake down on the ground and decided to speak up. "If that idea ever crosses her head, I'll make sure she doesn't lay a hoof on keeping winter from coming! She won't keep the best season ever away from me on my watch!"

"Assumptions, everypony." Applejack reminded. "Come on. Let's get back to cleaning up the rest of Fall."

That's exactly what we did afterwards. However, during the time I'd be too focused on clearing the area, I'd suddenly have a strange feeling that something had unexpectedly been different about the place. For instance, at one point, I looked up at the sky and noticed it was clear. What bothered me was that I could remember a cloud or two being up there. Unless they were supposed to be moved to another area, it didn't make any sense for the ponies bringing them to take them away.

Despite those strange occurrences bothering me, we managed to prepare an entire section for winter. I had heard that other parts of Ponyville had already been receiving snow, and this made me want to race over to wherever this was as soon as possible. But it didn't really feel right just leaving the others behind so I could go play in the snow. I decided I would just wait for a cloud to be brought over to us, so I wouldn't have to leave.

As soon as I felt that touch of winter coolness, I couldn't hold in my excitement any longer. Unfortunately, I had to wait a while for the snow to actually fall and settle in, but I took this time to gaze upwards to watch it delicately drop into the ground. I suppose I could take a break for all my hard work, right?

"Looks like this area is taken care of." Applejack mentioned as soon as she noticed the place being piled with snow. "Come on, everypony. Let's cover some more ground, and then we should be good for enjoying the snow later on."

Despite Applejack's direction, I continued gazing upwards until I heard Alex's voice calling out to me. "Spirit, you coming?"

"Uh…" It was partially hard to come up with a response at that time. "Just…give me a second. I just wanna take in the snow for a bit."

He seemed to shrug it off, whether or not he believed that I'd be coming back to help them. When there was enough snow, I immediately fell backwards and allowed the area beneath me to take my form. The next idea that immediately came to mind was making snowballs. I didn't exactly have anypony to chuck them at, but I could throw them at trees or something instead.

I began getting to work on making a good amount, so I had enough to throw to satisfy me until later when there would actually be a lot more snow to mess around with. However, to my surprise, I was only able to make a few until I realized that I was running out of snow. I understood there wasn't much to begin with, but I noticed that the area had stopped receiving snow for some time now. I looked up to find my beloved cloud missing.

At that moment, I heard a voice that I hadn't heard in a while. I turned in the direction in which the voice came from to find an extremely offensive sight. It had been Rainbow Dash, and she had taken the exact cloud that was once above me and literally stuffing inside one of the many surrounding bare trees.

What did she think she was doing?!

"Hey!" I shouted and called her out. Realizing that I now had a target to practice my aim on, I began throwing my supply of snowballs. The first one that broke on impact had landed on her flank, and she didn't seem to notice as she was too busy getting rid of the supply of snow I had been using. It wasn't until the next one that managed to strike her right on the face when she finally turned to me in anger.

"Hey!" She repeated my initial shout, rubbing her face with her hoof. "What's your problem?!"

"What's my problem?!" I responded, flabbergasted. "What's your problem?! What do you think you're doing?!"

"Stopping winter! That's what!"

Holy cheesecakes. She was really doing it.

"Are you crazy?! You can't stop winter! It's a season that every single pony goes through!"

"If Tank has to hibernate because of winter, then I'm not having it! Not on my watch!" She gave an extra firm kick to the cloud that was being held against its will. This caused more anger to build up within me, and I went on to aggressively pummel her with the rest of my snowballs. "STOP IT!" She shouted as she began growing excessively red to me.

"Are you that selfish?!" I accused. "You'd ruin every other pony's fun so you could keep playing with your turtle?!"

"Tortoise!" Rainbow corrected. "And I'm not selfish! I'm doing this so Tank and I can stay together! Unless, you were close to losing something you care about, I don't want to hear it!"

If I wasn't already at my boiling point, I definitely was now. "You…idiot!" I practically screamed. "You're such an idiot! How can you stand there and say you're not selfish when even your pet is sitting there fed up with you?! He doesn't want to stay up any longer! He wants to hibernate!"

"DON'T SAY THAT WORD!" I was immediately tackled to the snowless part of the ground, unfortunately giving me no cushion for my impact. Rainbow held her hooves tightly against my coat, preventing the chance of getting up. "You don't get to decide what I do with Tank! Only I do!"

Tears most definitely filled to the brim of my eyes. It wasn't from fear or pity. It was from how much Rainbow reminded me of myself. "Do you even have a brain?!" I almost choked from my tears. "Didn't you think for a second that your actions could be making things worse than they already are?!"

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!" She looked as if she actually wanted to cause me physical harm. "You're just some dumb little pony who doesn't know the first thing about losing something important!"

My eyes widened, and at this point, I could no longer hold back my tears or emotions. "How dare you…" I said in a borderline whisper. "You have no idea! I've had to lose everything, and all you're worried about is not being able to see your pet for a few months?! Try losing him for the longest time, only to see him again and find out that he doesn't know a single thing about you! Try holding onto the strength to go on when you find out he loves someone else that's supposed to be you! Try living the rest of your life knowing that things will never be the same way as they used to be ever again!"

At that moment, I wanted to strike Rainbow Dash with my quivering hoof as hard as I could, but something suddenly intervened and forcefully separated us apart.

"Spirit! Rainbow Dash! What do you think you're doing?!"

To the strongest standing irony, Alex had been there between us with the other girls eventually catching up.

"LET ME GO! LET ME GO!" Rainbow Dash struggled through her binds.

"I've got her, Alex!" Applejack caught hold of her and held her back, allowing Alex to release her. "Rainbow, what do you think you're doin'?!"

"I need to save Tank!" Rainbow Dash continued struggling through her grasp.

"For pony's sake, you're still upset over that?!"

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight confronted her. "If you really care about Tank, then you need to let him hibernate!"

"You all don't know anything! You don't!" Rainbow caught sight of Fluttershy, whom had been tending to Tank ever since she had been here. "NO! LET HIM GO!" Rainbow Dash managed to kick Applejack away and gallop towards Fluttershy and Tank. Fluttershy flinched and cried out at the sight, but Rainbow Dash only had her mind on Tank. She immediately snatched him and flew off in a particular direction.

"What in tarnation was that all about?!" Applejack stated almost aggressively as she dusted herself off.

A pair of hooves immediately grabbed a hold of me by my shoulders. "What happened, Spirit? Why were you two fighting like that?"

I remained silent for the most part. I had nothing to say about the incident besides one thing. "She wanted to stop winter…"

"Seriously?!" Twilight exclaimed out in surprise.

"That featherbrain!" Applejack exerted out in frustration. "We gotta go after her then!"

"It looked like she was heading home." Fluttershy mentioned, clearly still shaken up about the whole scene.

With a heavy sigh, Alex spoke. "Normally, I think it'd be best to give her time to cool off, but in this case, we don't want her having a chance to do something crazy."

"I'm right behind you." Twilight offered, causing me to clench my teeth.

However, before Alex left, he made sure to check up on me.

"She didn't hurt you, did she?"

"…yes, she did…" I softly answer.

"W-where?!" Alex reacted in a light panic, already beginning to check me out.

I immediately shook my head. "Sorry… I mean…no…I'm okay."

When I was able to finally convince Alex that I was fine, I decided to just check back in inside him. I probably needed to rest, but at the same time, I didn't exactly want to miss out their confrontation with Rainbow Dash.

They had approached Rainbow Dash as she laid on her bed moping with Tank. She looked like she was wearing a bathrobe and slippers that literally resembled Tank. Tank himself had also been pretty bundled up as Rainbow Dash was.

"Leave. Me. Alone." Rainbow Dash ordered.

"Rainbow Dash, have you lost your mind?!" Rarity questioned in an absolutely scolding manner. "You don't intentionally hurt your friend like that, no matter what!"

"She started it!" She answered defensively, keeping her body closed off from them. "She kept throwing her stupid snowballs at me!"

"And why was she doin' that?" Applejack asked.

Rainbow Dash didn't speak for a moment. "…because I was trying to hide a cloud full of snow…"

Applejack sighed heavily. "Rainbow Dash, you can't stop winter from comin'! And the fact that you went as far as you did, that's crossin' the line!"

"Whatever. Just get out." It seemed Rainbow Dash wasn't going to bother giving an apology a chance.

"Rainbow, we need to address this now." Twilight mentioned seriously. "Somepony could have seriously been hurt."

"Didn't you hear me?!" Rainbow angrily pushed herself up from her bed. "I don't care! Now, leave me alone already!" She returned to closing herself up with Tank.

Even though the others had been rooting for me, I still felt as if I was the source of the issue here, besides Tank. The whole reason Rainbow Dash and I had gotten into that little scrap was partially due to me too. She was obviously not in the mood for opening up, but I felt if anypony could have an effect on her, it would be me.

I slowly appeared inside the room behind the rest of them. I wasn't looking to pick a fight. I was done fighting. All I wanted was to get the message clearly across. In order to prepare my nerves, I took in a large inhale and cautiously exhaled it out.

"Everypony…could you give Rainbow Dash and me a moment…?" They were surely startled by my appearance, and they seemed extremely hesitant to leave me alone with Rainbow Dash after what had just happened. It was understandable, but I needed them all out because there was something I needed to tell Rainbow, and only Rainbow. "I'm not going to start a fight or anything. I promise. I just need to talk to her in private."

Each of them exchanged a look with one another, but they eventually began walking out with obvious reluctance. I took a good look at Rainbow once they were all out of the room. She still paid no mind to me, but the color within her was no longer red. If there was any lingering amount left, it was extremely mild or small. No. She was mostly filled with a blue.

I approached her bed and placed a hoof at her side. "I'm sorry for what happened, Rainbow Dash, and I forgive you. You don't need to say anything…I just want you to know that I understand how you feel. Believe me or not, I really do know exactly how you feel." She didn't budge, but that was okay. I only continued staring at her bedsheets. "Tank's really important to you. I get that, but you have to understand that he needs to go through this. It's a big part of the cycle he goes through in his life." I decided to slowly climb up on her bed and sit next to her as I continued speaking with our bodies opposite of each other. "You have to remember this though… Tank will be back before you know it. I guarantee you that." I stared at my hind legs as I shuffled them together. "You see…in case you didn't hear from all the shouting… I lost something important. In fact, that something was somepony. We were extremely close. If I remember correctly, I think we even especially spent every day together. That's how close we were. Like two peas in a pod. But one day, I had to make the hardest decision of my life. We were in danger, and I could only think of two options at the time. Take our chances but possibly be vigorously torn away from each other in due time. Or, I could…sacrifice my wants in order to protect the one I love. I ended up doing the latter, but I didn't realize that I'd lose the one most important to me. I guess I can't say I lost this pony…but he's not the same pony I remember. And that's what hurts the most. I'm glad that this pony is okay, but the fact that things will never be the same again just…causes me this pain that never goes away…" I clenched my chest where my heart would be. I wasn't even sure if I really had one. "The point is, Rainbow Dash, if you really love him, then you need to let him go. Just for a few months. And then you'll see him again, and you'll have many more months to spend with him afterwards."

I finally turned back to notice Rainbow staring at me with tears just escaping her eyes. We said nothing for a long moment. She turned her head away to face Tank, and Tank faced back at her with a sad look in his eyes. With her mouth quivering, it was about time she finally let it all go. For what seemed like the longest time, she sat upwards in her bed, sobbing endlessly as she cradled Tank close to her body. "I-I just…don't want him to go!"

I placed a caring hoof on her shoulder. "I know it hurts, but you can't keep ignoring this. It's something you two have to get through. But I promise you. Everything will turn out just fine. Unlike me, you'll get to see each other again, and things will be just like the last time you saw each other."

"I-I'm sorry, Spirit…" She managed to say through her softer sobs. "I didn't mean… I just…"

"It's okay. I know." I assured her. "I know how hard it is to say goodbye, but I just want you to know that you don't have to do this on your own. You have good friends that are there for you."

She slowly nodded as she sniffled. "C-could you guys…give me some time alone with Tank?"

"Of course." I got off the bed and trusted Rainbow Dash to do what she needed to do. I met the others back outside of the room. I wasn't surprised that they looked extremely anxious, but I was a little afraid that they may have been eavesdropping on us.

"How'd it go?" Twilight asked.

"It's fine." I responded. "We're all good now…and I think Rainbow Dash finally understands what she needs to do. Right now, she just wants some time alone with Tank."

They were genuinely surprised by the results I had apparently gotten.

"Just what did you say to her?" Rarity asked as she leaned her head in forward.

"I apologized and forgave her for what happened, and then I shared a little…personal story with her. As for what that is, I'm afraid I can't tell any of you."

"Bummer." Pinkie Pie expressed.

"I'm glad you managed to calm her down." Twilight mentioned with her worries seeming to melt away like snow in the sun. "Is she going to be okay then?"

"I think so." I assumed. "But I guess we won't really know for sure until she's ready to come out."

Everypony decided to wait for Rainbow Dash's return outside in the snow. I supposed we had spent so long dealing with this feud that a bunch of progress had been made in Ponyville. It wasn't long until we'd get the full winter scene.

However, there was just enough snow to entertain ourselves with. The others had worn their winterwear as they distracted themselves from the situation by playing in the snow. Ironically, I had been sitting in silence with heavy thoughts on my mind. It wasn't that I was exactly worried over Rainbow Dash. After the entire talk, there had been so many things I couldn't stop thinking about.

"Here." Somepony had held a light pink scarf and earmuffs in front of my face. "Thought you might like them."

I carefully accepted them and wrapped the scarf around my neck. Before I placed on the ear muffs, I looked towards the pony with the caring offer. It, of course, was Alex that was standing before me.

"You alright?" He asked. "I thought you were going to be jumping for joy in this kind of weather."

"I'm fine." I stated. "I just have a lot in my mind."

"Yeah, I get it." He understood and took a seat next to me. "A lot happened today, after all. Either way… I'm proud of you."

I was surprised to hear this, but I didn't really show it. "For what?"

"Well, you handled the situation pretty well back there. Talking with Rainbow Dash, I mean. Not the fight." He laughed lightly. I remained silent, placed on my ear muffs, and then only lifted my head up towards the skies to observe the snow fall down back at us. "I'm curious. About what you said to Rainbow Dash. But if you don't want to tell me, that's fine too."

"Who knows…" I responded somewhat carelessly and without emotion. "Maybe the only reason I told her was because I'd be able to prove to her how I understand what she's going through. If I just tell others for no reason…well…that'd just be dumb."

"Are you sure you're fine?" Alex asked, leaning in towards me.

I sighed solemnly. "Like I said. I'm fine. Today was just a drag. That's all…"

Before either of us could say any more, another voice approached everyone in the vicinity.

"Hey, you guys…" Rainbow Dash greeted, showing up in a winter beanie, scarf, and booties. Most notably, she carried Tank by her side with the use of a saddlebag.

"Rainbow…!" Twilight was pleasantly surprised to see her, just like everyone else. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling better. Really." She took a second to glance over to me. "Thanks. I thought you guys might like to say goodbye to Tank. He's ready to hibernate."

"Ooh, you're using the word!" Pinkie Pie cheerfully pointed out. "Oh, she's using the word!" She scurried over to Rainbow's side to have a good look at Tank. "And when Tank finishes hibernating, I'm gonna throw him the biggest welcome home party ever! Or wait. Should it be a 'welcome above ground' party? Or a 'happy wake-up' party? Maybe an 'it's about time!' party!"

"And I'll design him a very special suit just for the occasion, whichever one it ends up being." Rarity added in, seeming to relieve Rainbow Dash of any nerves she may have had.

"I'm glad you're feelin' a little better, Rainbow Dash." Applejack sincerely expressed.

"Yeah, me too." Rainbow returned before she walked over to the base of a tree and began digging at the snow there. Once she struck dirt, she allowed Tank to walk over to the spot himself. Everypony, including Alex and me, joined together to see him off. "So, you really wanna do this hibernating thing, huh?" She asked once more, just to be completely sure that it was what he truly wanted.

He answered with a slow and simple nod.

Once we expressed our goodbyes, Tank began curling himself up into the dirt and proceeded to bring in any snow or dirt to cover the rest of him up. At that point, I imagined that he burrowed himself inside his own shell and began his months' worth of slumber. At the very least, to him, it'd only feel like an extremely short time before he sees his loving owner yet again.

Twilight had comforted Rainbow during the entire process by placing a hoof on her. When it was all said and done, everypony began to return back to their activities. Twilight remained by Rainbow to invite her to said activities.

"Well? Ready for some winter fun?"

"Uh, I'm gonna hang here and read to him a bit." Rainbow Dash trotted towards a spot near where he dug and sat down as she opened up a book. "That little guy can never get to sleep without a bedtime story. I'll be right there."

Twilight allowed her some time off, which caused Alex to give me the same question.

"You coming? Or do you want to stay here with her for a bit?"

I nodded. "I'll stay a bit."

He patted my back for a moment before joining Twilight on her walk towards the others.

When Rainbow noticed me take a seat next to her, she decided to strike up a conversation with a joke. "You looking to hear a bedtime story too, huh?" I smiled softly, but I didn't say anything otherwise. "I know we don't really know each other very well…but I gotta say that I appreciate what you did for me. After all, it must have taken a lot of guts to do what you did today, and I'm honestly kinda surprised. I didn't know you had it in ya."

I simply shrugged. "I'm full of surprises, I guess."

"Either way…" She continued. "Thanks…for everything. And I'm sorry for how I acted before."

"It's okay. Totally understandable."

"I have to admit… I wonder what exactly happened to you in order for you to go through what you did. Aren't you Alex's spirit or something after all?"

"I am…but it's…complicated. Trust me. You wouldn't understand it at all."

"I guess." Rainbow Dash didn't seem like she wanted to press on any further. "I guess it's not really my place to ask. Still, I hope everything turns out well for you."

"Thanks." I returned but then suddenly remembered something else. "Oh…and can you promise me something?"

"What?" Rainbow appeared to be openly interested.

"I need you to promise me that you'll never mention a word about what I told you back in your room, okay?"

"Not even Alex?"

"Especially Alex."

"Okay, okay." Rainbow understood. "I pinkie promise." She swore, even going through the motions of placing her hoof on her closed eye.

"Thanks." I expressed in relief and stood up. "I'll see you later, Rainbow."

"See ya."

I finally gave her the space she needed to read to Tank alone. I felt that I had no place between the two of them anyway. I turned in the direction of where the others had been during the time I spent with Rainbow Dash.

Once I spotted them, I deeply inhaled one last time and then slowly exhaled it out. Unfortunately, there were many things that were still on my mind, and they were probably still going to linger on inside there for a long while. For this reason, I had to feign a bright smile as I began joining the rest of the others.

But hey. I had to start somewhere, right?

Heartbreaker

It was almost hard to believe that it was already Hearth's Warming Eve, and I'd be spending it with the girls for the second time. Actually, that wasn't entirely true. For our first Hearth's Warming Eve, we had spent it together as a group in Canterlot. However, for this year, every pony seemed to have been separating to spend it with their own families. In a way, it was a bit depressing, but I had to remember that everyone else had their own families to think about.

Twilight and I had just found out Pinkie Pie and Applejack were going to be spending their time with each other and their families. In other words, both of their families were actually going to meet together and practically spend it as one big happy family. I found this extremely intriguing. I wasn't sure how it was going to work out, knowing how Pinkie's family is very much the opposite of her, but I wished them well.

I would have loved to see Maud again, but seeing as I had other plans, that would have to wait until another time. Fluttershy, too, holding a bashful expression on her face, invited me to spend the holidays with her family as well. I had only realized then that I never actually met Fluttershy's family. As much as I wanted to, I had to decline, seeing as there was a promise I had to keep.

In the end, Twilight, Spike, Spirit, and I were the only ones left in the group. Twilight and Spike were going to celebrate Hearth's Warming in the castle. I was wondering why they didn't travel to Canterlot to spend it with their family as well, but maybe they were busy. I know Shining Armor probably had his hooves full at the Crystal Empire.

I wasn't sure who I was going to end up spending the day with, but keeping my mind in the present, Spirit and I had to get ready to head back to Manehattan. It was the day of the opening play Coco Pommel had written herself, and she had given us each a script with enough time to practice before the main event.

Twilight and Spike had already opened their presents a little after Applejack and Pinkie Pie had left to board the train. I thought it was a little odd, but it was their tradition to open them the night before Hearth's Warming. Either way, the time for us to leave, for the moment, eventually came.

"We better get going." I announced towards Twilight and Spike. "We definitely do not want to miss this train." Not when you're a main part of an extremely important event."

"You're right." Twilight agreed, looking to her side to pick up her scarf and wrap it around her neck. "Come on, Spike! Let's get moving!"

"Huh?!" Spike, Spirit, and I returned in unexpected unison.

"What do you mean?" Spike followed up on each of our reactions. "Where are we going?"

"To their play, of course!" Twilight explained as she began placing on the rest of her winterwear. "We already finished opening presents, and there's no way we're going to miss this!"

"You didn't tell me you'd be coming…" I responded a little nervously, seeing as there'd be a couple of extra visitors we knew watching the play. They were friends, but it still unfortunately added more pressure onto how the play would turn out with us.

"Surprise!" Twilight beamed, pulling a Pinkie on us.

And just like we had not planned, Twilight and Spike boarded the train to Manehattan with us. It's not like I didn't want them to come or anything. It's just…Spirit and I had once again made plans with only us and Coco being at the play. To suddenly find out that Twilight and Spike were coming, it just shook us up a little. If any of the other girls were to show up without us even knowing, we'd at least not know they were in audience watching us in the first place.

I found myself continuing to shake my head on the train ride to Manehattan. Twilight and Spike's sudden visit continued to distract me from focusing on the play. Unfortunately, Spirit noticed this, and she had a case of the butterflies as well no doubt. I tried to play myself out as a role model, since I've had some kind of experience with the play back on last year's Hearth's Warming Eve, but I believed I only continued to psyche myself out even more. I guess I forgot that doing last year's play wasn't as bad because I had all of my other friends up on stage with me. Coco Pommel's play was going to feature mainly only Spirit and me, so one could imagine how much pressure was building up the more we continued to stupidly think about it.

"You think we'll be good?" Spirit worriedly asked as she joined me at the window for some air.

I would be lying if I said I sometimes felt like I was going to have trouble breathing. "It's just a play. It's just a Hearth's Warming Eve play that families including fillies and foals will be going to see. Really. No pressure."

"I'd be fine if it was just going to be a few ponies watching…but something tells me there's going to be a lot more." Spirit mentioned unhelpfully.

I shook my head. "Coco's Midsummer Revival had quite a lot of ponies, but there weren't that much. It'll be cool. Let's just focus on each other like we did in our rehearsals."

"Mm…" Spirit groaned lightly as she bit her lower lip.

As if she had transformed into the element of surprises for this one day, Twilight popped up between us and hung her hooves around our shoulders. "You guys are going to be amazing. Don't worry about being good. Just act natural. Your characters aren't like some foreign creatures or something."

Twilight was right. If I remembered correctly, I think Coco had mentioned something about basing the two main characters of her play on us. That's why she believed we were best suited for the job. "Yeah, yeah… You're right." I took in a deep breath and slowly released it out. "I think I had a harder time with that one Alicorn role from last year."

"Well..." Twilight rolled her eyes as she visited last year's memories. "I don't think your character was too far off from the real you, you know?"

Oh yeah… It turned out that I actually became an Alicorn…but I didn't know that then!

"You know what?" Spirit spoke. "Let's just stop talking about this. The more I think about it, the more nervous I get."

It was a sight to see when we arrived at the location the play was going to be held. Of course, it was the same area where the Midsummer Revival had been. However, this time, today's play was going to be held on the stage that desperately needed to be rebuilt the last time we came. The times Spirit and I had come for rehearsal, the foundation and the basics for the stage had been completed, but it wasn't until now when we had seen the stage after a finished, painted, furnished, and polished job.

"Wow! This place looks amazing!" Twilight commented after taking a gander for herself.

Several ponies, who I assumed were volunteers, were paving the way inside to what would be auditorium. Unfortunately, the stage was outdoors, so ponies obviously wouldn't be indoors like in Canterlot to keep warm. Nevertheless, the snow was being shoveled out, and it wasn't too cold outside, considering we already had our own natural coats.

"Coco's probably at the stage." I pointed out, leading us towards there.

To my surprise, she was by herself and looking pretty busy with a clipboard in front of her face.

"Hey, Coco. We're here." I called out.

She looked up and put down her clipboard the moment she saw us. "Hey, you guys!" She hastily trotted over to us to give us a warm hug before noticing the extra company. "Oh! You're… Twilight Sparkle and Spike, right?"

"That's right!" Twilight answered and eyed the clipboard she had been focusing on. "I see you got a neat little clipboard there. You wouldn't need any organizing here, would you?"

Coco chuckled heartily. "I'm actually just going over a few things for the play. I want to make sure we have everything we need before we actually start. Are you two going to be watching the play too?"

"Yep. Wouldn't miss it for the world." Twilight replied with a teasing tone, making sure to glance at me in the process.

I get the feeling that Twilight's just having fun with this now…

"What a nice surprise!" Coco reacted with soft glee.

"Tell me about it." I responded in a light groggy kind of manner.

"How are you two feelilng?" Coco asked Spirit and me.

"Eehh…" Spirit answered while slightly waving her hoof side to side.

"Hanging in there." I decided on.

"Don't worry." Coco assured. "The play's not long. I'm sure it'll be over before you know it."

We ended up spending whatever time we had remaining before the actual showing practicing. I was thankful for how lenient the play really was. In other words, we weren't exactly expected to act differently than we usually did in everyday life. All we had to do was remember our lines, and Coco was even nice enough to allow us to recall our lines liberally. We had lines to remember, but with her, we didn't have to follow the exact line stated on the script.

The lines don't matter. The point was getting the message across. That's how she put it.

Minutes before the opening act, Spirit and I took a peak past the heavy curtains covering the setting of the stage. It seemed to be a full house, most likely the majority of ponies being the same ones from the Midsummer Revival, but it wasn't overflowing with visitors or anything. Twilight and Spike had already taken their seats at the front of the stage.

"Alright, remember." I advised Spirit. "Just act the way you usually do. You remember what to say, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I do." Spirit returned with a quick burst of nods.

"You two, ready?" Coco came by to inform us. "The show's about to start. You're going to want to get to your places. And don't forget. Just act natural, and try not to turn your back to the audience."

"We got it…" I clarified as I began leading Spirit into our positions. "…I hope…"

The first scene was set inside a home. In the story, it was supposed to be early morning. Spirit's character had been jubilantly energetic, and I had been obviously tired and groggy from having been interrupted from a good sleep. We could only look at each other and give a slow and silent nod as we waited to begin.

"Fillies and gentlecolts!" We heard Coco Pommel announce beyond the curtains. "I'd like to welcome each and every one of you to this short yet warming performance I wrote after receiving feedback from my last play revolving around one of my biggest inspirations, Charity Kindheart. Many of you loved it. And…some of you…well…didn't like it so much." It seemed Coco didn't want to directly point out the complaints or the source of them. "However, I've come to realize and constantly remind myself that the most important thing I can get out of something like this is bringing the community together. And it's because of all of you that we were able to clean up this place and rebuild the stage! I can't even explain how thankful I am for that. I suppose I can start by sharing a little story with you all that wouldn't have been possible in the first place without any of you. Today, I bring you a story of love and acceptance, which compliments the very idea of Hearth's Warming Eve, which we're celebrating right now. Please enjoy!"

Thus, the curtains opened, and it was show time.

Our story began with two characters that were siblings. I played a character named Star Chaser. Spirit played a character named Faith Meadows. It had been the first day of art school for Faith, and she was clearly excited. I, on the other hoof, didn't share the same feeling.

"Come on! Come on!" Faith pulled my hoof towards the front door, which was located at the other end of the stage. "You promised you'd walk me to school!"

"I did…" I answered as I lazily wiped my eye. "But I didn't expect you to be up so early. School doesn't start until another four hours!"

"Yeah, but I wanna check out the whole place before my classes start!" Faith had released my hoof and began performing her signature pouty face. "There's supposed to be a lot of other cool art that ponies had done and hung up there. I want to see all of it, so I can have a huge burst of inspiration and motivation for my first day!"

"Can't you just go by yourself then?" I asked, but it wasn't until the moment Faith heard those words for herself that I knew I fudged up.

"How cruel can you be, Chase?" Faith's eyes had been swelling up with tears, and I had to admit that Spirit was doing a pretty darn good job of it. "You're going to let your little sister walk outside all alone in the scary darkness? Oh, I'm pretty sure you're just begging for me to be ponynapped!"

"Alright! Alright. I get it!" I exclaimed out in frustration. "I'll go with you. Hopefully there's still some place serving breakfast this early…" I muttered as I began walking towards the right side of the stage. Before she moved on to join me, she revealed a gleeful look of accomplishment. In return, a small collected laughter broke out from the audience, allowing Spirit to skip over to my side of the stage.

In between scenes, Coco would fill in the details by narration, similar with what Spike did during my first Hearth's Warming Eve play.

"And so, young Faith began her first year at art school with a bright and positive outlook on life. To her, nothing would stop her from creating beautiful work and sharing it with the world. 'If I could inspire the world, then maybe I can make a real change for the better', she thought." Spirit and I continued to silently act out a few scenes throughout Coco's narrative, giving a visual aspect for the audience to engage upon. "From the beginning of the year, Faith returned home afterschool with a hop, skip, and a jump each time. Each and every one of those days, she would bring something new out of her creative and aspiring mind to share with her loving brother. It seemed like things were going to be just fine. But like life usually loves to surprise us every now and then with bad news, it was only a matter of time before Faith hit a major roadblock on her free-spirited way of thinking."

For this scene, I was out of the picture, and Spirit was on her own with one other extra. She had been inside a classroom, and she was about to be the last one to leave before the instructor called her over.

"Faith Meadows?" Spirit's head perked up at the sound of her character's name being called. "I need to have a word with you."

"Sure, Miss Heartbreak!" Spirit bounced over to her desk and answered quite bubbly. "What can I do for you?"

"We need to speak about…your work…" The instructor slowly slid some papers over to Spirit with a borderline tone of disgust.

"What about them?" Not one hint of falter crossed the look on Faith. Despite the instructor's heavy hints of tragic wind, Faith did not once appear to be terrified for what was to come.

"Your… 'creative style'." The instructor dryly spat out. "It is, how do I say, unprofessional."

"…unprofessional?" Faith's eyes turned side to side from confusion. She still held a bold smile, but her eyebrows grew worryingly furrowed.

"Let me try to put this in a manner you will understand. No real and successful artist will take any of the work you've made seriously. If I may compare this work to something, I would consider it something a simple filly could draft out. A filly who has no real understanding of the complexity of art."

"W-what do you mean…?" Faith responded in utter confusion. "Wasn't it you who said art itself was purely subjective?"

"It is." Miss Heartbreak retained her strict and blunt prose. "But you wouldn't exactly put an old simplistic crayon drawing in a museum, would you? If that was the case, museums would be filled to the brim with children's fridge art hung horridly all over the place. It would be utter madness and completely destroy the meaning of art."

"…you're saying…my work is the equivalent of…"

"Yes." Faith's instructor answered hastily. "You might as well turn in any kind of hoofpainting you did when you were just a little foal."

"B-but…" Faith began to appear shaken up. "It can't be… I have fun doing what I'm doing. It's my passion. Isn't that what art's supposed to be about? Expressing yourself?"

Miss Heartbreak merely scoffed. "I'm afraid you made the wrong choice coming to this school, Miss Meadows. You can't simply 'have fun' when it comes to creating art. Your art must have meaning, and it must fit a qualified criterion."

"It does have meaning!" Faith almost cried out.

"But you can't do whatever you wish to do with it. Art is a tool, and you must respect it. Presenting work as disastrous as this is absolutely disgraceful."

"B…but…" Faith looked absolutely torn apart. "…the others thought it looked interesting—"

Miss Heartbreak practically slammed her hoof onto the wooden desk, shaking Faith's papers with a small burst of wind for a moment. "I decide what is interesting or not. I am the instructor, and the rest of you are students. It is my job to shape you into professional artists that will put out acceptable work for the rest of the world to see. This will simply not do. Take it back." With trembling hooves, Faith slowly pulled her papers towards her and into her school bag. "If you continue to find this kind of environment unacceptable, I strongly urge you to leave and pursue another kind of career. Good day."

With that, the instructor took her leave out of the classroom and stage. Faith continued standing there on her own, looking absolutely distraught and shocked with the utmost disbelief. Eventually, the curtains closed, allowing Coco to continue her narration.

"Faith was absolutely speechless about what had just gone on in her own classroom. She never knew that her instructor, somepony she looked up to and believed to be a role model for the students in her class, would be capable of crushing her dreams into broken pieces. Faith didn't want to believe it, but instead of the supportive and encouraging teacher she envisioned on her first day of art school, Miss Heartbreaker really turned out to be bitter and coldhearted that day. With their meeting remaining on her mind, Faith returned home a different pony."

In the next scene, we were back inside the interior of our home. I was shuffling through blank papers as if I had been engrossed in work of my own. Faith entered in through the right side of the stage, and she absolutely held a completely opposite personality from the sparkly one she had from our last scene.

I took notice of this and addressed her as she walked in.

"How was school today, Faith?" I asked. She didn't answer this time. In fact, the most noise that came out of her was almost inaudible mumbling. "Hey, you okay?"

"I'm going to my room…" She shared exhaustedly.

"That's weird." I pointed out. "Usually, you shove every drawing you make in my face as soon as you get home."

"Yeah…that's not going to happen anymore…" She informed as she began walking past me.

"What? Why not?"

"Because…" She paused and stood still for a moment. "…my art's a joke."

"What are you talking about?" I answered in a state of confusion, my character unaware of what had occurred at the school.

"I'm no real artist!" Faith exclaimed. "Just some dumb filly who thought she could make a living off silly pictures."

"Your drawings aren't silly." I approached her. "They're really amazing! I've shown a few of them to my co-workers, and they're all super impressed by what you can do."

"But they aren't artists, are they?" Faith immediately responded as if she had already come across this answer in the middle of my encouragement.

"Uh…not exactly…?"

She threw head side to side. "You can tell a little filly that her crayon drawing is impressive, but it is something you hang in a museum? No!"

"Faith, where is this coming from?" I asked, genuinely concerned for her. "Why are you acting like this all of a sudden? You never once brought up anything like this before. What happened at school?"

"My dreams were crushed. That's what happened." Faith answered bluntly, allowing her head to fall towards the floor. "My instructor told me my art isn't good enough. It isn't 'professional'. Maybe she's right. After all, I've never taken any other real classes on art before. I always just did…my own thing. But I thought that was okay. I thought one of the best things you could do is just be yourself. I just wanted to show ponies another way to look at things. I guess I was wrong…"

"Your teacher didn't like your work? So, what? At the end of the day, she's just another pony. Just because she's a teacher doesn't make her any better of a judge than you are."

"You don't get it!" She grabbed ahold of my shoulders and lightly shook me. "Of course she's a better judge! She knows all about art! That's why she's teaching it to begin with! She knows what is considered art, and it's clear that my work has nothing do with it."

"Faith…" I tried to reach out to her, but she shook her head and pulled away, unwilling to hear any more.

"I'm going to my room to study. Maybe there's still some time to get a sense of real art than some 'make-believe' trash…"

Spirit now exited out of the left side of the stage while I stuck around there to reveal how apprehensive I had grown from Faith's unexpected confession.

Once more, the curtains closed and allowed Coco to continue her narration.

"Over the course of the following days, Faith continued to believe that she wasn't good enough to take her rightful place as an artist in the world. She attempted to adhere by her instructor's example, but she just couldn't bring herself to follow through. She knew that it wasn't like her to do things by how others expected them to be done, but she felt as if she had no other choice. This was truly a dilemma for Faith Meadows. She so desperately wanted to be an artist, but if it meant having to cater to others wishes, she wanted no part of it. Her brother, Star Chaser, had stood from the sidelines and witnessed how much she had been affected by this. However, no matter what he did to try to convince her otherwise, it was all to no avail. Faith had fallen in too deep, and eventually, she settled on ultimately giving up on her dream. It wasn't until one day where a few of her classmates came to visit her out of concern."

We were still inside the home of the story, but this time, before the curtains had been drawn back, knocks could be heard. Next, two other extras had walked into the scene, and they began their dialogue once they were visible to the audience.

"Hi, is Faith Meadows here right now?" They asked.

"Uh…yes…" I answered hesitantly. "Are you friends of hers?"

They turned to look at each other for a moment before they decided to answer. "We're her classmates. We haven't seen her come to class, and we were starting to get worried about her."

I rubbed my head and turned in the direction of the other side of the stage. "She…hasn't been feeling well lately."

"Oh, no!" One of them reacted with great concern. "Is she sick?"

"Not exactly." I tried explaining to them without going into details. "She's just been feeling down lately."

They took another moment to let my answer sink in. They thought about how to approach it and then returned another question.

"Can we see her?"

"Oh…" I was supposed to be returning a bit of both shock and surprise. "Um. I don't know if she'll be up to that…but I'll go ahead and call her." I turned my body towards the other side of the stage and called out. "Faith? There are some ponies here to see you!"

Spirit was supposed to take her time in coming down in order to give the subtle hint of Faith's hesitation and doubts, so I went ahead on offering the other two seats. "Here. Why don't you two sit down?"

Once they did, there was a brief moment of silence among both the stage and audience. Fortunately, the silence didn't last too long to cause a hushed stir with our watchers, but it was enough to give Spirit a dramatic entrance. It had been so quiet, that the sound of her hooves was all what we could hear. When she finally made it onto the set, we could see her mane was a bit messy and disheveled.

After having shared a timid gasp, Faith acknowledged the two mares that had been waiting to see her. "Hi, you two… What are you doing here?"

"Faith!" They immediately jumped from their seats, due to the sight of her, and raced on over to approach her. "What's wrong?! You haven't been coming to class! Everypony's been so worried."

"Not everypony…" Faith responded depressively as she turned her head away from them.

"What are you talking about?" They yearned for her answer. "You're all everypony's been talking about."

"You don't need worry about me anymore." Faith began to lightly push them away. "I don't think I'll be coming back to class. In fact, I think I'm set on dropping out."

"Dropping out?!" They cried out in unison.

Faith slowly and solemnly nodded her head. "I'm no artist. I don't even think I know the first thing about art…"

"How can you say that? You're an amazing artist! You know that we've seen your work, and we all really love what you have to share!"

"I appreciate that, girls. I really do. But it all comes down to what our teacher thinks…and she certainly doesn't like what I do at all. She thinks my work is…unprofessional. Nothing more than a simple hoofpainting that any filly could do."

"Faith, no…!" One of them enthusiastically shook her head. "That's not true at all!"

"But…she said…"

"She may be the one teaching us about art, Faith. But just because she doesn't think your art is good enough doesn't mean it's true." The one speaking placed a hoof on her chest as she closed her eyes to speak earnestly. "I know how hard it must feel hearing somepony, who seems to know what she's doing, say something bad about what you do. In fact, I've heard similar stories from other ponies who have taken her class as well. But you've got to remember something important. Even though she's a teacher, she's still just a normal pony like you and me. If she told you that you needed to jump off a bridge in order to be a real artist, would you do it?"

"What?!" Faith reacted in complete shock. "Of course not!"

"So, what difference does it make when she tells you that you aren't good enough to be an artist? Miss Heartbreak has very strong opinions that she likes to sort of…implant in others. She's not necessarily a bad pony, but that's just the way she is. I guess you could say she's a little close-minded." Her classmate lightly giggled. "She's told us some stuff too. Like today, she told us we were putting out disappointing work, but we don't let it get to us! At least, we try not to."

"You wanna know the reason why she got after us today, Faith?" The other classmate asked Faith.

"Why?"

"She noticed that we were starting to take inspiration from you."

"Huh?!" Faith arched back from startling surprise. "From me!?"

"You don't know how much you inspire us, Faith." They continued to share with the upmost compassion. "You were always so bubbly and friendly in class. On the first day, we weren't sure what exactly we were going to get into, but we'd be lying if we said that you didn't make the class absolutely fun to be in. And seeing your work was no different! We would always wonder what crazy new thing you'd come up with. It was absolutely a thrill to see how passionate you were with your work, so we began striving to be more like you!"

"You guys…" Faith was practically left speechless. "I had no idea…"

"Well you do now!"

"We'd love for you to come back to class. It's been so boring without you around!"

Faith wiped her eyes as a genuine smile began to form on her lips. "Well…I guess…why the hay not, you know? I didn't know you ponies liked me so much."

"Of course we do! In fact, we'd really like it if maybe we can hang out every now and then! You could totally teach us some of your inspirations and techniques!"

"Hehe, okay!"

As they grew closer together to share a heartfelt hug, the curtains began to close.

"After that day, Faith Meadows returned to class to receive a heartfelt welcome from her other classmates. On the other hoof, Miss Heartbreak didn't change, nor did she feel inclined to. She continued to scold and express her disapproval to her students, especially Faith, when the moment arose. However, knowing that she wasn't alone, Faith didn't let it faze her. In fact, she somewhat embraced it, taking the opportunity to learn that there'll always be at least somepony who won't approve of what she'll do. But as long as her passion for her dream stayed true, she knew to never give up so easily as she had almost did."

Afterwards, the stage opened up to visually support the story once more as Coco neared the end, providing different settings and scenes that matched the depictions Coco provided in her narration.

"In just the matter of a few years, Faith's popularity grew larger before she knew it. She was not only practically friends with everyone in her local area, but she became widely known all over Equestria. With the massive amount of recognition she had gained, it was no surprise that she'd find herself meeting face-to-face with the Princesses themselves. However, there were a few things Faith made sure to never forget. One of those things were that she would have never got to where she was now if she had given up. For that, she always remembered to keep going, even through the worst and toughest times. Lastly, she never lost sight of her friends and family back home, especially Star Chaser."

Things were wrapped up at the end as Spirit and I expressed various actions of affection. Originally, I had believed that Spirit and I were going to sort of have the main focus of the story, but Coco surprised the both of us. It seemed she kept the story short and sweet, and she didn't drag it on any longer than it needed to be. Coco was certainly right about one thing. The play was over before we knew it.

A roar of applause succeeded as every one of us that participated bowed respectfully. I especially took notice of Twilight and Spike that had been at the very front. She gave off a look that seemed to express congratulatory heartwarming praise. I supposed the best way to describe it was a teary-eyed look without the tears.

When I was off the stage, I didn't even realize that the play was just a small part of the festivities. Either during our rehearsal or the actual showing, several stands of activities for all kinds of ponies had been set up. Gingerbread houses were being bought, carols were being sung, and even gifts were being given. It was a truly amazing spectacle to see, seeing as I didn't see much of this to begin with.

"Oh, that was just amazing." Twilight commended the three of us as we regrouped with her and Spike.

Coco chuckled modestly. "Well…it wasn't all that great. After all, it was just a short story I had thought of. Besides, I didn't have much time to write it, considering all the preparations I had to get through with, so I could have it ready in time."

"Don't you worry yourself about that, Coco." Twilight mentioned as she shook her head. "I could tell you put in a whole lot of heart."

"Yeah!" Spike agreed. "I really liked it. It's not like the whole bunch of other books Twilight has that puts me to sleep."

Twilight returned a soft yet stern glare for a second, but she immediately exchanged it with an accepting smile. "Hey. To each their own."

"How broken must thy playeth writing skills beest yet again. This wilt maketh a fine addition to chuckle and bite mine hoof at."

Oh Celestia. Not this guy again.

"I see you didn't like it." Coco surprisingly answered first, and she was very calm for that manner. "And that's okay." She returned a bright beam that was strictly shocking for Spirit and I to witness. I couldn't tell if she was messing with him or if she was genuinely accepting of his personal thoughts.

"Uh…who is this?" Twilight asked, since she hadn't met him in the first place from before.

"Just some jerkwad." Spirit pointed out in disgust. "Don't listen to him. He just wants attention."

He had been wearing the same attire, if not more, we had seen him wearing the last time. At least, it wasn't exactly over the top for this moment since it had already been winter.

He returned a sort of boastful laugh. "I chuckle at thy utter incompetence. Leaveth now, as the adults art talking."

I noticed Twilight scrunch her face up as if she had been sucking on something sour in her mouth. I assumed that she noticed how forceful and broken his dialect had been.

"Oh yeah? Well I'd rather be a kid forever than be some pony with no friends!" She stated before giving him the tongue.

Coco lightly giggled, but she seemed to try to deescalate the situation on good terms. "He deserves to have an opinion just like everypony else. If he thinks it's bad, then that's okay."

"Tis not just me that thinkest this. Through me, everypony wilt appreciate real literature. Tis I who wilt reveal the true nature of completely disgusting filth like this—"

"Oh, just give it a rest already, you dud!" We heard a sharp exclaim intervene in. It had been another new voice, and he soon revealed himself after having made quite a verbally explosive introduction. "No one cares what you think! You're not some kind of 'literature savior' you always claim to be. Just shut up already and let other ponies enjoy what they want to enjoy!"

It took me a good while to realize who this was. If I wasn't mistaken, I believed it had been that one other pony that had accompanied this boasting fellow the last time.

"Et tu, mine cousin? Wherefore must thee speaketh to me like this? Has't thee gone mad?"

"No! No! No!" He flailed his hooves around and shook his head in a nerve-wracking manner. "Stop it! Quit talking like that! It's so freaking annoying for pony's sake!"

"But cousin, I am merely destroying the nature of unpleasant literature. As mine pupil, thee must realize this for yourself as well."

"Dude!" This stallion had apparently been so fed up that veins were popping out from his neck. "There are children here! You think they care about any of that?!"

"Doth mine ears deceive me? Art thee saying that thee actually findeth this atrocious pig slop acceptable?"

"I'm saying that you don't have to critique every little thing you see!" He lurched forward as he bellowed his words out. "If you don't like something, then move the hay on! No one gives a flying hoot what you think!"

The opposition stood heavily silent for a moment. I couldn't tell if he was somewhat surprised or trying to cover up for his buddy's mutiny against him. "Thee poor tortured soul. I fear thee aren't cunning enough to share a common ground on real literature. In that case, I banish thee from the group. We wilt not miss thee. Farewell, thee with no more brain than stone." Afterwards, he immediately left, hardly allowing much time for his former acquaintance to come up with a proper response. In fact, he only released a heavy sigh.

"…that was…interesting…?" Twilight merely commented on the exchange we had just witnessed.

"Aren't you supposed to be friends with him…?" Coco Pommel asked. "Why did you lash out on him like that?"

"I was never really friends with him." He answered despondently. "I only hung around him because I was scared."

"Scared?!" Spirit reacted with an outburst. "Dude! You're like bigger than him! What do you mean scared?"

"It's not like that!" He shook his head bitterly. "You see… The truth is…" He turned over to Coco. "I wasn't lying when I thought your first play was good. In fact, it really motivated me. No offense, but I didn't really see you as a pony with a good amount of recognition. Yet, you had gotten so much attention from your Midsummer Revival. But for some reason, I guess the guy that claimed to be my 'mentor' didn't like that. I could never see why he didn't just let it go if he hated it so much. No. He always feels the need to tell the whole world how much a piece of fiction bothers him. If that isn't enough, he'll even find the creators of these works and make a 'formal compliant'."

"I don't get it." Spirit brought up. "If that bothered you so much, why the heck did you keep hanging around him?"

He released another drawn out sigh. "It's embarrassing to say, but, you see, I want to create things that ponies will enjoy, just like Miss Pommel here has done. But, when I've personally seen how emotionally heartbroken ponies get by his harsh and unnecessary opinions, which he practically forces down every pony's throat, I can't imagine something like that happening to me. Storytelling is one of the only things that has really interested me. I knew I wanted to pursue this kind of career when I was kid, but I was so scared of having ponies like him cream any piece of motivation I had. I couldn't imagine…completely losing the spark because of some idiot who thinks the world runs around him. I thought if I…you know…play along with his little ruse, he'd avoid running his mouth on anything I make."

"Not to rub salt on the wound…" I threw in my own two bits. "…but it seems you might have bought a little more attention on yourself with your betrayal."

"Yeah…" He appeared to have wanted to sigh heavily yet again, but he didn't, possibly having grown tired of sighing depressively. "I mean, it's not like it was any better knowing I was a part of the problem. In fact, it was stupidly selfish of me. I should be helping others instead of just watching from a safe distance."

"Are you going to be okay?" Coco Pommel asked in genuine concern.

"I'll manage, I guess." He decided. "After all, there was no way I could have kept going on like that. He was bugging the hay out of me. It had already gotten to the point where I almost slipped my little outburst from my tongue in the past. I guess it wasn't until now that I wasn't able to hold it in."

"If it makes you feel any better…" Coco offered. "I'm pretty sure I'll be having my fair share in his column."

For some odd reason, the stallion laughed at this. "His 'column'. It's run by him and a few other members of his little 'group'. That was another thing that annoyed the heck out of me. He didn't work to get his little precious column. I'm sure he's got some wealthy parents or something that easily takes care of the financial costs. I've never seen him do some actual work in his life." Pausing to dwell in his thoughts for a moment, a small smile outstretched on his face. "You know. Now that I think about it, why should I have to worry about some pony that's never held a real job in his life? At least you make dresses for well-known clients!"

"I guess I do…" Coco bashfully scratched her cheek with her hoof.

He lightly shook his head and softly chuckled. "I guess I better be going. When can I expect another play from you?"

"To be honest…you probably won't see another until the next Midsummer Revival. I'm a dressmaker after all, not a writer." Coco shared with an embarrassed grin.

"Right…" He nodded his head, preparing to take off. "I better let you get back to your Hearth's Warming Eve. I know I can finally spend mine in peace."

Once they waved each other off, we were finally able to get back on track with what we were previously doing before the whole commotion.

"Hehe. Sorry about that." Coco felt the need to apologize as she chuckled in a lightly nervous manner. "Were you guys planning on leaving back to Ponyville after the play?"

"What do you think, Alex?" Twilight turned to me. I guess she was here for me in the first place anyway.

"It's really up to you all." I allowed the decision to them. "I don't mind staying if there's something you want to do here."

"I really want to check out that place over there!" Spike pointed out a specific stall. "I could really go for a cup of hot cocoa right now!"

"Hot cocoa, it is!" Twilight agreed as she shared a beaming smile.

We spent a good amount of time in Manehattan until we noticed it growing dark out. Seeing as it would probably be freezing cold later in the night, we decided it'd be best to pack up and head back home. Before we left, Spirit and I had one more short talk with Coco before we were to board the train.

"I'm really glad you two could make it." Coco expressed gratefully. "It was a lot of fun."

"No problem, Coco!" Spirit exclaimed energetically. "I ended up really liking it!"

I glanced over to Spirit as I rubbed the base of my chin with my hoof. "That reminds me. You looked like you were really getting into your character."

"Ah-hah…well…you know…" Spirit mumbled as a tint of red formed in her cheeks.

The train whistle blew, urging us to get on before the doors were to close completely.

"You two better get going!" Coco gestured by flicking her hoof forwards. "I wouldn't want you to miss your train."

"Alright. We'll keep in touch, alright Coco?" Spirit and I hugged her firmly for a brief moment before we turned to board the train.

"Of course! And Alex?" She suddenly called me, causing me to look back.

She stepped towards me appearing to be quite flushed. "Thank you for everything, really…" She mentioned while staring downwards. "I hope this isn't too weird…but seeing as it's Hearth's Warming Eve and all…" She closed her eyes intensely for quick second before leaning forward and planting a peck on my cheek. "Bye!" She waved, providing her own kind of warmth through the heavy blush that spread below her eyes.

I wasn't sure if I needed to come up with another kind of proper response, but with the train's bell on our flanks, all I could do was smile and wave before joining the others inside.

Once we were back home in the castle, we were quick to bundle up around the extremely cozy fireplace that Spike felt extremely satisfied to light himself.

"What a day…" I couldn't help but slip out. For some reason, it was a little hard to believe that we had just come back from being in a play. Either way, I was honestly glad to just be home. "I wonder how the others are doing with their Hearth's Warming Eve."

Twilight giggled. "I can imagine Applejack and Pinkie Pie having a crazy time with both of their families."

Spike came jogging in with a tray holding several cups. "Hot cocoa! A perfect end to today."

"Thanks, Spike!" Twilight expressed cheerfully as she accepted a cup.

Once we all had a steaming cup of hot chocolate, we all sat there in front of the fireplace in comfortable silence. I glanced over to Spirit and saw her staring at the interior of her cup for a long while. Unexpectedly, she lifted up her head and spoke. "Hey, Spike. You forgot something important."

"Oh, shoot!" He suddenly hovered a claw over his mouth. "I totally forgot the marshmallows!"

Spirit chuckled heartily at this. "Well, that wasn't what I was talking about, but yeah that too!"

"Well, what were you talking about?"

Spirit carefully placed down her cup and stood up. "What's even better than hot cocoa near a warm fireplace? Hot cocoa with cookies near a warm fireplace!"

"Hey, yeah!" Spike immediately agreed. "That's an awesome idea!"

"Come on, Spike!" She invited. "I'll get started on the cookies. You can get the marshmallows!"

"Yes, ma'am!" He followed behind as they raced out of the room.

Twilight and I were left there to bask in the silent ambiance. She was the one who was now staring at her cup. I couldn't tell if she was too busy thinking, or if she just didn't have anything to say. I decided to open up with some small talk.

"What do you think?" I asked.

"Huh?" She reacted by lifting her head away from the cocoa.

"About this Hearth's Warming Eve." I clarified. "Did you like it?"

"Oh, that…" She chuckled a bit unsteadily. "Yeah. It was cool." She paused for a moment. "It's a little different though. Last year, all of us spent it together. But I guess it isn't all that surprising. After all, before last year, I only spent Hearth's Warming Eve with Spike."

"Oh, right." I remembered. "Before we all were forced to become friends."

"What do you mean forced?" Twilight sent a lightly scolding scowl.

"Hahah." I chuckled. "I'm just kidding, you know."

She formed a relaxing smooth smile in her response. "I know. But…" It sounded as if she wanted to say something, but her words kind of trailed off.

"What?" I inquired.

"Hmm…" She thought to herself for a moment. "Alex…have you ever really wondered about Spirit?"

I had been caught off guard by that question. In fact, I found it a little odd that she'd bring up her like that to begin with. "A lot of times, I guess. But, like with almost anything that happens to us, I don't know if there's a definite explanation for everything about her. I just learned to live with it."

"I see…" She answered with a hint of despondency in her voice.

"Twilight, what's wrong?" I leaned in towards her. It was now my chance to dig in to what possibly could have been getting at her from the days before when she acted a bit strange. "For the past few days, you've been spacing out a bit. What's up?"

She slowly twirled the cup on hoof around as she seemed to properly come up with a response. "I don't want to assume anything…but I think…Spirit might be jealous. Of me."

"Huh?!" I almost threw myself back from surprise at her answer. "Why would you think that?!"

"This other day…" Twilight calmly explained. "She came to me when I was by myself in the library. She started…asking me this really pressuring question. I could just tell that this question was something that really bugged her."

"What was the question?"

"She was asking…why I hadn't just stuck with Shining Armor as my brother instead of you. She didn't seem to like that fact that we were so close. If you ask me, she came off as a little hostile…"

"Really?" I almost couldn't quite grasp that idea. "But I'm super close with Fluttershy too, and I don't think she's ever got that way with her…I think…"

"Spirit's always around you, Alex." Twilight mentioned directly. "I think it's pretty reasonable to say that she might be jealous." Spirit was pretty clingy…but was she that possessive to act so bitterly to Twilight? "I can't help but think…" She continued. "Maybe Spirit would be a better sister for you."

"Huh?!" I responded with shock once more. "Why would you say that?"

"Well, for one, she literally protects you. She's your light, and from what it seems, she's practically been there for you your entire life. When I think about it, I can kind of see why she'd get jealous. After all, you're the only pony she's really known."

I had to think about that for a good minute. Sure. Spirit may have technically been with me my entire life in some way or another, but that doesn't change the fact that everything you did is the reason why I'm surrounded by amazing friends. "But…the reality is that I've known you for way longer. It wasn't until I had actually begun talking to Spirit when I really felt anything for her, you know? To be honest, she was somewhat of a stranger to me, even when we had first started to secretly hang out with each other. Spirit's my friend, of course, and I love her. But to think that she'd make a better sister than you…" I shook my head to that. "If it wasn't for you, I don't think I'd be where I am today. I think you've looked out for me in more ways than one, and of course you're always there for me during the worst of my times. I think I can honestly say that, out of every pony I know, I would pick you in a heartbeat to be my real sister…"

Twilight had silently sat there with her mouth slightly agape. However, the still yet comfortable moment between us had suddenly been thrown into a disorderly state once we heard the crash of what sounded like a baking pan. Along with the sound of this crash, we heard an extremely sharp gasp, causing us to quickly turn to the source of these sounds.

At the door, we noticed Spirit sitting extremely tense there. She had been covering her mouth with both of her forehooves, and she only stared at us with enormously wide eyes like if we had committed a tremendously horrible crime.

"…do you really mean that…Alex…?" Her words had barely slipped past her lips. I almost couldn't even hear them.

"What?" I had only been able to muster out a word. Spirit's sudden behavior caused me to be unable to think during that moment.

Despite my vague response, her hooves slid upwards to her eyes and covered them as she turned away with a breaking voice. "I can't believe it… It's not fair…!"

"Spirit?" I tried to reach out to her, but she immediately pulled away. As I tried to step closer, she completely turned around and ran out the door. "Spirit!"

For the longest moment, Twilight and I remained there in utter silence. It wasn't until we were able to catch up to speed with our minds when we finally decided to take action on what had just happened.

Twilight decided to stay behind when I went to go look for her. I assumed it was due to what she had mentioned earlier about the situation between Spirit and her. My first guess was my room, and I realized I had guessed correctly when I found that I couldn't open it by normal means.

I slowly shook my head and sighed. "…Spirit…" I closed my eyes and simply teleported a few feet into my room. Inside, I was able to hear soft whimpers pretty clearly. Turning to my bed, I noticed my blankets hovering over something quite spacious. "Locking the door doesn't exactly work for me, you know?" I mentioned as I unlocked it.

"Go away!" She immediately cried out. "Leave me alone!"

Obviously, screaming at me to go away wasn't going to cut it. It was best to get to the bottom of this before things got any worse. "Just tell me what's going on, Spirit. I can't help you if I have no idea why you're acting like this all of a sudden. Is this about the thing between you and Twilight? If it is, then you can't let something let that get to you. I'm not saying I like her more than you or anything…"

"…that's not the point…!" I could hear her mutter underneath blankets. It sounded as if she had to push those words through clenched teeth. "…you…you just don't get it…!"

"Then how do you expect me to get it?!" I frustratingly leaned forwards. "How do you expect me to get anything when you're always keeping everything a secret?!"

In that instant, the blankets formerly covering her were thrown upwards and out of the way. Spirit had removed herself from the bed and stood directly in front of me with tears still gushing from her eyes. "I…I…!" She momentarily paused between each breath she took to speak, revealing that there was clearly something she couldn't simply just spit out. "…I…!" She closed her eyes and furrowed her eyebrows as hard and tense as she could before her mouth finally opened. "I'm supposed to be the one you love so much! But you…you just don't get how much it hurts to love you with everything I have! I've loved you ever since we were kids, and to see you giving the same kind of love I'm supposed to be getting to some pony you haven't even known for as long as I've known you sucks!"

"Spirit, listen…" I tried to approach her in the way I could understand with her rant. "I know you said that you've known me for my entire life, but…you didn't come into the picture until just some time ago… Twilight's been there since—"

"Shut up." She bitterly slipped out.

"Huh?" I immediately reacted in surprise, never having expected this kind of reaction from her.

"I said shut up!" The volume of her voice escalated tremendously. "You can't just stand there and tell me that I'm just some stranger to you! We've been together for as long as we've been alive! We know every little thing about each other from our favorite colors to our worst fears! You couldn't have forgotten all about us and everything we've been through! Could you…?"

The volume of her voice unexpectedly had shrunken down at the end, and it seemed she was giving me a chance to respond. However, there was nothing I could respond with, not at that moment at least. Everything she had been telling me did not click whatsoever. It was as if she was speaking to the completely wrong pony.

"…you did, didn't you?" She resumed speaking after observing my silence. At that point, her voice raised yet again as she aggressively squeezed the usually jubilant parts of her face. "You forgot all about everything between us, didn't you?!" She only paused for a second or two before continuing on. "You did…" She mentioned, sounding as if she had lost all hope. Soon enough, her aggressiveness spiked once more. "Well, if that's how it is, then why do you even care about me now?!" She decided to take a short breather, seeming to realize that she was being overwhelmed and exhausted by her emotions. However, there was no sign of her calming down and thinking things through for a minute. "…I was…just so happy when I got to see you again. I was happy because I thought we'd be able to be together again…just like when we were little. It felt like I was finally given a chance to make up for what I did to do you, and everything would soon be back to normal. That's what I thought." She stared at the floor as tears continued to roll down her cheeks. "But I guess…true love only conquers in fake bedtime stories…doesn't it…?"

There was one more pause. An opportunity to possibly fix and deescalate things before they got any worse, if I had knew the words that should be said. But I didn't. My mind was utterly blank. Finally, Spirit looked up to me in one of the most depressive states I had ever seen her in.

"If this is how it's going to be…then I wish I would have never existed in the first place…" She lifted her hooves and tried to wipe her face from any irritating tears, but it was practically useless. "If that was the case, then I wouldn't have ever had to wake up every day with this stupid burning sensation I feel and have to cover up every time I see you." Her voice was now breaking up and sounding as if it'd soon reach a point to where she could no longer form complete sentences. "I wouldn't have felt sad and jealous when I found out about her." Lastly, she took in one large and sharp gasp for what she had to say next. "And I wouldn't have realized that I lost my own twin brother to TWILIGHT INSTEAD!" She screamed out those last words.

Afterwards, for a few seconds, we only stared at each other in complete silence. It wasn't until after those few seconds where she suddenly covered her mouth as if she had unintentionally said too much. Nevertheless, I was just completely lost as I had been since her rant had started. There was nothing else to do but to express how much I felt that everything she said didn't relate to me whatsoever.

"What are you talking about?" I unnecessarily emphasized.

This time, she didn't return a heated answer. Instead, she continued staring at me for another brief moment before relaxing her hooves. The next look she gave me was…an oxymoron at best. It appeared as if some wave of relief washed over her, but at the same time, she looked absolutely miserable.

After continuing to sniffle and lightly whimper, she finally spoke. "Forget it… Just…don't talk to me…"

She bumped herself against me, whether intentionally or not, as she walked past me. I found her heading to the bathroom, but she was quick to slam the door behind her. This time, I remained outside and only carefully listened at what occurred inside. The shower had been turned on to full blast, but I could still distinctly hear the sounds of whimpers and weeping.

I stood there leaning towards the door, feeling almost utterly guilty for something I had no clue about in the first place. Feeling another presence nearby, I turned my head around to find Twilight not too far back behind me. She was just as speechless as I was, which gave me the indication that she had listened into every piece of the commotion that I thought had been just between Spirit and me.

The Cutie Re-mark

I couldn't believe I was going to be spending Hearth's Warming like this.

I couldn't believe that yesterday even happened.

All I wanted to do was go back and change everything, but would there have been any point? Since then, all I've been doing is just locking myself up to a point where no pony could talk to me. It was like if I thought that everything would change if I just did nothing. But in reality, I wasn't sure if I just didn't want to mess anything up anymore, or if I just had completely given up already.

After yesterday, I had been left all alone. The castle seemed…just absolutely silent. I couldn't tell if I was the only one inside, but all I could do was just sleep. I really didn't want to spend Hearth's Warming like this, but what could I do?! I couldn't just go up to him and be like, "Hey, sorry! I was being super dumb yesterday! Please forget everything I said!"

Maybe this would blow over after some time, but it definitely wasn't going to happen today. All I could do was wait for something to happen without my involvement. Honestly…why did I even exist?

"Hello?" I heard a familiar voice outside. It was a feminine voice, and it definitely wasn't Twilight's or any of the other girls that hung around here. "Anypony home?"

I chose to ignore it, but for some weird reason this pony went straight for the door of the room I was locking myself in. The door shook a little violently, and then a knock was heard from the other side.

"Go away!" I exclaimed, not willing to deal with any kind of company right now.

"Aww." The mare outside said in a mischievous kind of way. "Is that Spirit? You're not going to treat poor old Starlight like that, are you?"

Starlight? What the hay was she doing here? I thought she left to go back to work with her band already…

I sighed heavily as I squirmed my way out from inside of the blankets and dragged myself over to the door. The sooner I can get her to
leave, the better. I already began revealing my foul mood as I opened the door. "What do you want, Starli—?"

A sharp gasp had taken over my words mid-sentence. The Starlight I saw at the door was definitely not the Starlight I had been expecting. In fact, at that moment, as I realized I fudged up, I wished it had been the other Starlight instead.

"Oh, it's so nice to see you again."

Twilight had just finished the presentation she had been tasked to give to upcoming magic students attending the School for Gifted Unicorns. She had been practicing this lecture during the previous days, but I could tell she wasn't entirely focused this time around. My only assumption was that the distraction in her head was about what happened last night. After all, I knew I couldn't stop thinking about it myself.

At the end of the lecture, Twilight and Spike shared a short conversation with their old friend Moondancer, whom had actually attended the lecture as well, before we headed off back to Ponyville.

"Haah…" Twilight sighed heavily. "That lecture could have gone a lot better than it did."

"What do you mean?" Spike replied. "Everypony really enjoyed it."

"I just wish I wasn't so…!"

"Distracted?" I finished for her.

"…yeah. I guess…" She worriedly turned to me. "What are we going to do about her?"

"About who? Spirit?" Spike questioned.

We had to explain to him why she had disappeared all of a sudden from making cookies last night, but we didn't go into details.

"Yes…" Twilight answered somewhat vaguely.

"I hope she's feeling better today." Spike earnestly expressed. "After all, it's Hearth's Warming! It's like the worst day to feel sick on."

Twilight only sent a glance towards me, seeing as how we couldn't really get too into our situation with Spirit without involving Spike in the mess. However, all of a sudden, Twilight stopped in her tracks. We turned towards her to find her staring at the chilly road. "That wasn't the only thing that distracted me today…" She remained silent for a moment before looking towards us. "I saw something up in the seats of the lecture hall I was speaking in. Or rather… I saw someone."

"What do you mean, Twilight?" I asked.

She placed a hoof to her head and adverted her eyes to the side. "It may have just been my imagination…but…did any of you two see Starlight Glimmer sitting up there with the other unicorns?"

As soon as I had recognized that name, I felt my heart skip a beat. "Starlight Glimmer? What would she be doing there?"

"I…I don't know." Twilight shook her head out of confusion. "I'm sure I saw her, but the second I had looked away and back again, she was gone! If I wasn't just seeing things…then I really hope she isn't up to anything."

"Isn't that the pony with the village full of other ponies with the same cutie mark?" Spike remembered. "Last I heard, she wasn't very happy the last time you saw her."

"Forcing everypony in her village to have the same cutie mark wasn't right." Twilight felt the need to justify her actions. "We had to do something!"

"So, do you think she's back for her revenge?" Spike asked.

"I…I don't know, Spike." Twilight admitted. "Like I said, I don't even know if I really did see her. I just…" Twilight sighed heavily and groaned out loud.

I couldn't quite believe that, out of everything else, Starlight Glimmer would be the one to imaginatively appear in front of Twilight during a time of stress. "Look Twilight." I comforted her as I held a hoof around her shoulder. "If it really was her, then we'll deal with whatever beef she's got with us. I mean, what's the worst she could do? If she was prepared to have her 'revenge', I would think she'd have it right then and there."

"Let's just get back home…" Twilight requested. "I'd like to distract myself with some reading or something to get my mind off things."

We walked for a little longer until we arrived at the castle. It was just as we had left it. Extremely quiet.

"Maybe I was just more stressed about that speech than I thought." Twilight said as they placed their things aside. I supposed she managed to have some time to think things over on the rest of the way here.

"Yeah. That sounds better than Starlight Glimmer coming back with an evil plot for revenge." Spike lightly joked.

"Well, when you say it like that, it does sound kinda silly…" Twilight returned as she opened the doors to the round table throne room. "Now, we just need to figure out what to do about her…" She muttered softly as we entered the room.

"I don't suppose you could be talking about her, could you?" We heard an unexpected voice and felt an unpleasant presence to boot. Our eyes instantly focused on something sitting almost lifelessly on top of the map table. It had been Spirit, and behind her sat a smug-faced Starlight Glimmer. It was just like Twilight said. She did see her! "Welcome home, you two!"

"Spirit!" I called out as I raced towards her, but before I could even get close enough, I felt a scorching spiking burn at my blindside. Whatever hit me had enough force to push me over and completely interrupt my rescue effort. The pain it inflicted continued to sear through me for some time.

"Don't even think about it."

Having had my eyes closed to deal with the aching result of the attack, I reopened them at the sound of the heartless tone. I spotted a figure that I had been unable to recognize for quite some time. It wasn't until I pinpointed the familiar and cold voice to a certain pony in my memories. "…you!"

"What are you doing?!" Twilight cried out anxiously. "Why are you here?!"

With a hefty laugh, Starlight Glimmer answered. "After what you and your little friends did back at my village, you think I was just going to let it slide?! You think I was just going to 'learn my lesson' and everything would be hunky-dory? Not in my book!" Starlight held up an ancient-looking scroll and casted a beam of magic onto it. Next, coming from within the scroll, the same magic struck towards Spirit and bled over the castle map. "Here, you can take her back." Starlight grabbed ahold of Spirit with her magic and flung her towards Twilight. Fortunately, she was able ensure a safe catch with magic of her own. "I've got everything I need from her anyway." She crumpled up the paper she had used to cast the unknown spell and threw it over the table. "Won't be needing that anymore."

Before we knew it, some kind of strange circular and wide-eyed vortex opened up straight above the map. Various ticking of clocks could be heard, and Starlight Glimmer only looked straight ahead as if she was planning to dive right in. However, it seemed she didn't have to do anything as it appeared the winds that had formed around the vortex only sucked her inside. After that, the vortex simply disappeared and there was no trace of Starlight Glimmer left.

"You!" Twilight threw her glare over to the one we'd always refer to as the 'Mysterious Stallion'. "What are you doing here?! What did you and Starlight Glimmer do?!"

"Well, excuse me, princess." He returned mockingly. "We must have simply lost track of time. Better yet, I'm sure checking out that piece of paper is a good place to start." He pointed towards the crumpled-up wad Starlight had originally used.

Twilight turned her head to see Spike already reaching for the object of interest. "Wait! Spike, no! Don't touch that!"

Before Spike could completely take in Twilight's warning, he had already done so. The same vortex opened up at the ceiling, and the next thing we knew, Twilight and Spike were forcefully being sucked in. I tried to reach out to them in order to hopefully somehow save them, but I had been kept back by dark magic.

"Oh, no." He held onto me as if I was some squirming child. "I've got something special for you."

It Never Changes

I found myself staring at the picture with the two of us again. Back before any of this had happened. Back before I was one of the ones to be drafted into this horrendous war. I never thought some place called the Crystal Empire would apparently pop up and wage war against us. Then again, the entire blame was supposed to be on one pony alone. King Sombra. A tyrant who forced all of the old inhabitants of the Crystal Empire to fight under his oppression.

Every time I'd hear the story about how the war started in the first place, I would always catch myself thinking the same thing over and over. Wasn't there anything that could have been done to prevent this war to begin with? Couldn't he have been stopped way before he managed to get his hooves on those crystal ponies? I never really did get any answers for those questions of mine, and it bothered me to no end that I had to fight without these answers.

"Again with the picture, huh?" I heard. I pulled the photo away from my face to notice Rainbow Dash at the doorway of my tent. She had a towel around her neck as if she had just finished showering. Despite that, I could never stop feeling a guilt-ridden tug inside my heart every time I saw her.

"It's the only one I have of us…" I softly excused. It had been Rarity and me on one of our last dates. That was…until we had to be separated away from each other because of the draft. "I just want all of this to end… I want things to be the way like they were before."

"So, does everyone else, but wishing ain't gonna do anything."

I placed the photo away for a moment, so I could give Rainbow Dash my full attention. "So…are you doing alright?" I asked, paying attention especially to her right ear…well…whatever was left of it.

"You don't gotta worry about me." Rainbow found herself staring at a mirror.

"How can't I…?" I stared sulkily at the floor. "If it wasn't for you…we'd be…"

I unexpectedly felt a pat on my shoulder. "Quit it. It's what we do for each other. No pony left behind, remember?"

I silently sighed and lightly nodded. No matter what she said, I didn't believe I was ever going to forgive myself for what she had to sacrifice in order to save my partner and me. It wasn't just her ear, but her left wing was completely mechanic to make up for the loss of her old one. If that wasn't enough, there was also a deep inscribed scar on her left eye.

"…right." I merely accepted.

"The Princess wanted to see you. T's already there waiting for you. Best not to keep them waiting."

I stood myself up and nodded my head respectfully. "On it, Ma'am."

I turned over the flap as I exited from my tent and searched around. It was certainly as silent yet busy as it had always been. For as long as I've been here, I've never once remember seeing a different kind of mood among the camp besides it's rooted solemn and depressive one. I knew that being in a situation like this didn't call for others to be doing things like horsing around and enjoying their stay, but did it had to be so morose like if there was no hope for a bright future? I guess it didn't help to see those you loved constantly being taken away from you, or, if they're lucky, find themselves in the med bay.

Speaking of the med bay, I heard a particular pony call me out from that site. "A! Over here, please."

"Yes, Nurse Redheart?" I approached her.

"Please, come in." She requested, heading inside of the medical ward. I followed her until we came across the area that held the majority of the equipment she used to treat others. "Forgive me for any inconvenience. I just wanted to check up on you, following your recovery for your recent injury."

I had been in pretty bad shape a while back, but thanks to Nurse Redheart…and Rainbow Dash… I was able to live another day with some rather minor setbacks. "Thank you, Nurse. If you don't mind me asking, how long do you think this is going to take? I was told Princess Celestia wanted to see me."

"Not long." She stated as she observed me for a moment and proceeded to perform the rest of the checkup routine. "Princess Celestia informed me that you'd be out in the field sooner than I expected. I just wanted to make sure you weren't in any kind of pain or restrictive state that would make it absolutely foolish to allow you to go." She placed on her stethoscope and planted the end on my chest. "Please take a deep breath." I did so. "…and exhale."

After repeating this for a few times, she placed away her tool and turned to me. "It sounds normal now. You're not experiencing any kind of negative symptoms like last time, are you?"

I shook my head. "No. I don't think so…"

She nodded and scribbled a bit on her notepad. "I'll let you be on your way now."

"Thank you, Nurse."

Before I could turn and leave, she called me one last time.

"A?" I found her staring at me with worried and wavering eyes. "Please… Take great care out there. I've seen too many ponies not make it back. I'd hate for you to be one of them."

I remained silent for a moment. Especially considering the last time I was out, there was no way I could guarantee anything. In fact, the only thing I could promise was that I would do everything in my power in hopes of making it back alive. "Thank you for your concern. I'll do everything I can."

She shared one last smile as she briefly placed a caring hoof on my cheek. "See you soon."

I headed towards the tent with two soldiers standing guard extremely attentively as always. I stopped and saluted as they took a second to identify me. Afterwards, they signaled me to go forward. Inside, I spotted Princess Celestia studying papers at her desk. One of the papers I could see was a large map of the area we resided in. To the side, there were figures to represent certain portions of our army for strategic purposes.

"Princess. A is here." I heard.

It was my blonde-haired and odd-eyed partner, T. It was still hard seeing her in this kind of environment with me. We had been inseparable since we were kids, but I never expected that to follow through when it came to something as dangerous like this. Even though I had heavily disapproved her decision, she voluntarily joined me and enlisted in Princess Celestia's army as well.

Princess Celestia stopped what she was doing and directed her attention to each of us. "I'm glad you two are doing fine. As you know, King Sombra and his army are closing in by the second. It won't be long before we'll have to give it everything we have. We might just be able to push them back. However, I've called you two in to discuss a matter of great importance regarding this war. You two might just be the key to ending this war once and for all."

"E-ending the war?" I almost choked out. "How is that, ma'am?"

"We've managed to make a certain…breakthrough when it comes to our tools of offense. I'm sure you're all familiar with Zecora?"

Zecora was a zebra who ended up becoming a great use when it came to medical remedies. She was able to brew potions that could either instantly cure somepony of something or at least immensely speed up the recovery. Honestly, if it wasn't for her, I'm not sure any of us would still be standing.

"Yes, ma'am." I nodded. "What about her?"

Princess Celestia looked to the side and lifted up a stable crate onto her desk. Inside the crate looked to be jars that held some kind of liquid. Shiny liquid with a bright interior glow that'd represent a different kind of color, even the full rainbow. "Together, we've managed to create something that just might change the outcome of the war yet."

"What are they, ma'am?" T leaned in forward, her curiosity still at its strongest.

"Magic." Princess Celestia explained. "Powerful magic, that is. They can be used against the enemy."

"What kind of magic?" I asked.

She lifted one of the jars that represented a strong red glow and twisted it around. "Alicorn magic. My magic."

"Huh?!" T and I both lurched forward in surprise.

"So, what you're saying is that we can supply each of our troops with this kind of magic to use on the enemy?!" T inquired about almost excitedly.

Princess Celestia solemnly shook her head. "I'm afraid not." She carefully aligned the separated jar back with the others. "You see… It takes a great deal of energy to supply this magic. I can only incorporate it into Zecora's brew-making so much. Just producing this amount proved to be tiring, and this was due to the course of several days."

"So…what are you planning to do with it?" I asked next.

"That matter has been settled." She confirmed with confidence. "You shall be utilizing them with our next and hopefully last battle."

T and I gasped together, and we exchanged looks of both anxiety and worry with each other.

"W-why us…?"

"Being our reconnaissance team, you have been assigned positions of most importance. As you two must have figured out by now, we're going to have to send out every soldier we have to fight against King Sombra's attack." She took an especially still pause to close her eyes and lean her head towards the desk. It was as if she was still working things out in her thoughts. "I worry…with the state our soldiers are in…that we may not even make it through this attack…"

T and I couldn't help but feel something gnaw at our hearts.

"However." She continued. "This is where you two come in, along with our newfound discovery. As you also know, King Sombra will be leading the charge, but his army will be ahead of him as a protective measure. Your duty will be to sneak past his army and attack King Sombra at his flank."

"Uh…!" T couldn't help but almost blurt out in surprise. "You want us to attack King Sombra?! The crazed tyrant and very one behind this entire war!? Excuse my outburst, ma'am, but how in Equestria are we to do that?!"

"The answer you search for is right in front of you." Princess Celestia replied with and directed our attention to the jars of magic gathered together. "This magic… I trust them in your hooves."

T and I sent each other an almost quivering glance before Princess Celestia spent a moment to go through our newly assigned arsenal. These jars varied through size and volume, due to the magical effects they produced. In other words, the larger the amount, the stronger the impact and effect of a certain spell. As Princess Celestia gave us an outline of each spell we had to use, she made sure to have us recognize the color of the spell, so we'd know which one to use when the situation called for it. The spells on hoof were not only used for offense. There was even a healing tonic that was supposed to instantly heal minor injuries or relieve substantial pain.

"Using these…" She presented a couple of small vials with a blackish-gray color. "…you will become shrouded from visibility, if not completely invisible. You should have enough time to reach King Sombra before any part of his army notices. After all, I'm hoping they'll be too focused on us, as we'll be providing a defensive position on the frontlines."

Even though this was Princess Celestia, I couldn't help but still feel worries and doubts lingering about with her plan. "Are you sure this will work, Princess? Do you think that King Sombra might have some kind of defense against this?"

She closed her eyes once more and pondered about it in her mind. "There is never a guarantee in any kind of plan, otherwise this war would have already either been won or lost. It is up to us to take any little chance we can get. After all, I believe you two would agree that any plan is better than no plan?" She opened her eyes to gather our reactions. The two of us only silently nodded. "From my understanding… King Sombra has always been a brute. He relies on pure strength and force rather than strategy. With these tonics imbued with my magic, I don't believe he'd ever expect a couple of earth ponies challenging him. Before, I was the only one who stood a possible chance against him, but to face him directly proved to be a challenge with his army, of course. However, if you can move in close, and subdue or perhaps even extinguish his very existence, we might just be able to end this war with one last battle."

"So, how do we use these?" T asked while analyzing the jars.

"If you're going to be attacking, you would preferably throw them from a distance where you wouldn't be harmed. If you're going to be using one the healing tonics, you simply drink them. Any of the other supportive spells should be thrown close to you so you may receive its benefits." Princess Celestia explained.

"Do we have enough to train with so we can practice for when we need to use them?" I asked.

There was a light shake of the head for a response. "I'm afraid I cannot provide you with a full-scale simulation, but I could possibly ask Zecora to make you some vials that will provide similar effects. They will, of course, be ineffective."

"It's better than nothing." I shared honestly. "I just…want us to be prepared, ma'am. Neither of us want to fail you."

During this moment, she surprised us when she managed to share a soft yet simple smile. "You two are very hardworking. I expect you two to do your very best, but I also want you to know that I am extremely proud and appreciative of your efforts for this cause. I am telling the truth when I say that you, along with every pony else make all the difference."

That evening, the two of us were given small vials to practice with by Zecora, as promised. Granted, they were solely for practice and visual effects, but anything to give us an idea on how to use our weapons for the real thing helps.

As Princess Celestia gravely foreseen, it would only be an extremely small amount of time before King Sombra's forces were upon us. It was time for us to give it our all. I wanted to go back to Ponyville with T and Rarity. I just wanted this one huge nightmare to end already. On top of the vantage point near our camp, Princess Celestia stationed whatever was left of her army and provided one last speech before sending her soldiers to the field.

"King Sombra's army is just up ahead." She informed, pointing her head in the direction of the marching ponies from the opposition. I wasn't sure if it was fortunate or not, but they weren't charging in our direction at all. Nevertheless, they were slowly but surely headed our way. "Ever since the start of the war, all of you have fought so bravely. Many of you have sacrificed so much for this cause. However, I ask that all you of fight with all your might. We cannot let King Sombra take our land. At the very least, we mustn't go down without a fight! Remember your loved ones. You are fighting to protect them and our very home!" Princess Celestia had been interrupted by a deep and echoing roar from the visible distance. "We shall not give up!" She signaled the pegasi to move on forward. "Onwards!"

Before leading the charge on the ground, Princess Celestia turned towards T and me. "Drink your vials. You must find and reach King Sombra before it's too late! Do not worry about his pawns unless you absolutely must fight them. If you manage to subdue King Sombra, use the signal that's in your inventory. Please, for the sake of Equestria and everypony else, capture King Sombra and do whatever it takes to finally end this war once and for all!"

Despite how nervous or scared we may have been, Princess Celestia's words touched us. She had been counting on us, and there was no way that we were going to give any less than our best. T and I stood straight and saluted her with gusto. She nodded and prepared to lead the ground ponies.

I turned towards T and grabbed the couple of vials that would keep us hidden from sight. She took one, and we crossed our right foreleg with each other and held the vial to our lips. "We've got this!" I stated with as much as confidence I could find in myself at the moment.

T nodded and we proceeded to drink the vials. Obviously, it would be a bad idea to go straight into the field, but there wasn't much cover to begin with. We were able to hide behind huge cliffs and rocks in case we wanted to increase the changes of not being spotted, but the area was mostly a dry wasteland. T and I decided to stick close where the battle had been raging out, but not too close where we'd bump into unwanted combat.

The only clue we had about King Sombra's whereabouts was that he'd be at the back of his army and leading others into the charge. Nevertheless, for some strange reason, we managed to see him reveal himself in the midst of battle. A few from Princess Celestia's royal guard immediately tried to run at him and capture him, but he simply opened up a giant wall of stone in front of him and knocked his attackers on their backs. In addition, he boasted with a roar of laughter as he had only been toying with the soldiers.

We suddenly heard hooves stomp the ground in front of us, causing us to quickly turn back ahead. We noticed two ponies from King Sombra's army, and they were staring straight at us for what felt like a long minute. It was bad enough that we couldn't see where their eyes were directly looking at, due to their robotic helmets. We held our breath until they seemed to unknowingly pass us.

Releasing a relieved sigh, T turned towards me. "King Sombra's behind that wall." She pointed towards the barrier from earlier. "We have to get around it before it gets bigger!"

She was right. The way King Sombra worked was that when he was able to get any kind of land for himself, he'd start putting up barriers and the like to keep it his. If we didn't hurry, we'd probably miss our chance to take him down. As soon as we galloped past the planned line for his wall, we had already positioned ourselves for combat. However, King Sombra was nowhere in sight.

"Where did he go?!" T demanded in a slight panic. "He's supposed to be behind this wall!"

"Looking for me?" We heard a hollow voice reverberate towards us. It wasn't hard to spot him fading in from wisps of darkness on the barren land. In fact, what caught our attention the most was that he had been able to see us way before we were able to see him. He must have noticed that we realized it since he roared in laughter once more. "My soldiers may have not seen you coming, but I surely did. You are just in time to see your wretched kingdom fall and be replaced with mine. As if two simple and little earth ponies could make any change in my plans."

"We're not going to let you take our home!" T shouted out for him to clearly hear. "Even if it takes our lives, we're going to do whatever it takes to stop you!"

King Sombra produced a chuckle that incited terror. "I beg to differ…" As magic surged through his horn, shards of stone began to protrude out from the ground around him. As soon as the first layer of shards were broken apart from the ground, his dark magic created a mist entirely around him. These shards began spinning and revolving around him at an insanely fast speed. If that wasn't enough, layers continued to accommodate behind him like a snake. "The rest of Equestria will witness this great power, and I'll begin with you two for refusing to surrender to it!"

No way. None of us had ever seen him do this before! Had he been saving this trump card until we were at our last stand?!

Before I knew it, his storm of shards began flailing towards us, causing us to immediately throw ourselves to the side to dodge it. I managed to find T at the other end of me. "It's now or never, T!"

"Got it!"

The two of us unsnapped our saddlebags and prepped our arsenal ready for use.

The most challenging obstacle was getting a clear shot of him. His dark magic had created a mist so thick that we couldn't exactly pinpoint his location inside the storm he created. The only option we could find at the moment was using Celestia's magic to break open an opening.

Finding him setting up for another charge specifically at me, I pulled out a jar with a fiery glow. As soon as he was only a short distance away, I focused my aim and proceeded to provide a firm throw. It was a direct impact, and fire detonated from the shattered jar, producing flakes that spilled out and created separate flames as if they used his dark magic as fuel. As the fire seared within, small openings of the central power were viewable from all angles. Due to the flames, the spinning of his stone shards massively slowed down, if not to a complete stop.

I noticed T move into motion as if she had a plan to enact on. Despite suffering through flames, King Sombra was still majorly aggressive. Although his defenses were shortened, he was probably making up the difference with his offense. Despite this, I had to hang onto his attention for T's sake. I pulled out slightly smaller containers that I planned to use just to distract him.

I had to sprint away from him as he chased me down, but at the same time, I had to keep one eye open to figure out when would be the right time to attack. When I felt I was ready, I attempted to throw the vials over my shoulder. I couldn't tell if they hit or not, but he still kept storming straight towards me.

After the previous flames seemed to have died out, he spun up the ammunition on hoof and immediately began shooting his stone shards towards me. I could hear every one of his shards penetrate the ground behind him, and I had no other option rather than to run. King Sombra must have taken notice of this because the next thing I found were shards landing in front of me. Having me turn around, I took notice of his massive storm. It was literally impossible to keep every one of his shards from hitting me, and I could only dodge so much. After taking a decent number of hits, I noticed T come to my rescue. She seemed to have been successful in using his stones to her advantage by climbing up to his level. As soon as she reached him, she wrapped her hooves around his neck and caused him to immediately cease his fire.

Honestly, it took me a while to realize the scorching pain around my body, so it was finally time to see if Zecora's tonics combined with Celestia's magic lived up to its hype. There was no time to waste, so I hurriedly searched through my pack and pulled out a healthy green vial and chugged it in seconds. Obviously, I didn't have any time to admire its restorative effects. T was holding King Sombra back, and I had to signal her that I was ready for her to take him down.

I focused my sight at T and shouted. "T!"

She pulled out a hefty container from her pack and smashed it onto King Sombra's face, being too close for comfort on whatever magical effects that had been released. Nevertheless, she immediately jumped off and countered my signal. "A, now!"

King Sombra had been unintentionally diving straight towards me, and the storm he had produced had minimized for the time being. Choosing from my cache wisely, I pulled out a spell just for the occasion. As soon as he crashed onto the ground, I threw it out towards him. Immediately afterwards, glowing strings of magic grew like roots of a tree and surrounded King Sombra. They then interweaved and tied him up, preventing him from performing any kind of major motion.

We didn't know how long this would keep him still, but we definitely had to take the chance in wearing him out as much as we could. Gathering as many as we could, T and I threw a variety of light jars at his captive body. Despite being pummeled with Celestia's magic, he still managed to find the strength to shoot out several shards of stone towards us from his prison. However, they were absolutely not as threatening as before, and we were easily able to dodge them as long as our focus didn't falter.

When his shackles appeared to be on the verge of breaking, T and I looked at each other. The two of us regrouped with each other and stood back to back.

"T! Let's do it!" I suggested.

"Got it!" She nodded.

We dug out perhaps the heaviest jar in our pack, and together, we lifted it and chucked it towards King Sombra. As a result, there was a massive explosion of lights and radial energy that surged through the targeted area. It was almost like a firework show, and we could see what even looked like lightning strike at his body.

His shackles broke, and he was able to immediately rise from up from the ground with his storm intact. Nevertheless, he appeared to have no sense of direction or control of his storm. It wavered around the field as if he was trying to put himself out of being in fire or if he had been completely blinded. Regardless of his best efforts, his storm eventually dissipated and we could see his body fall towards the ground.

We ran towards him but kept our distance in case he tried to surprise us. He appeared to remain motionless though. As much as I did not believe that the battle had been over, I turned towards T and advised our next move. "Let's tie him up again and signal the princess." She nodded, and we began to search our bags for the correct spell.

Just as my doubts suspected, the ground shook violently for a short moment before his body began to disappear in a mist of darkness.

"What's going on?!" T noticed and kept her eyes locked onto where the darkness had been emerging.

His ammunition of stone shards began being lifted up from the ground and surrounding where his body had been. It was only a moment of time where he now took the form of a kind of twister rather than a snake.

"I will never be defeated!" His voice bellowed out. "You insolent little ponies will be buried underneath my might!" Cracks had begun to form and scatter all over the battlefield. Before we knew it, King Sombra began to return the favor of our pummeling by launching boulders from the heart of his shadowy tornado as if it had been a catapult.

T and I had to scatter about, seeing as we couldn't risk being buried in the ground together. However, that definitely didn't put a break on our enemy's continuous assault. He continued to suck out boulders from the ground and catapult them towards us.

Having my attention focused on staying away from being crushed underneath the flying boulders, I hadn't even realized that King Sombra was horridly close to me. Before I could possibly think of doing anything against it, his sinister whirlwind had caught ahold me and violently swung me in a circular motion before throwing me further away from the field.

I desperately attempted to figure out or remember some kind of spell in my pack that would save me and take me back to T's side, but I had already been dangerously close to the ground.

"No!" I cried out as if it would magically turn everything around in my favor.

"Gotcha!" I felt my momentum towards the ground halt, causing me to look over to see a pony with wings carrying me to safety.

"Rainbow Dash! We gotta get back to T! She needs help!" I exclaimed out of desperation, even though I just had my own coat saved a few seconds ago.

"Don't worry! Cadets Diane and Maud Pie got her back!" She returned me to the field where we took notice of the two busting boulders by T. "And so do I!"

Having a little room of safety to think, I observed King Sombra's whirling hurricane and immediately felt a vague and possibly even crazy idea settle in my mind. "Rainbow! Take me over the middle of that!"

"Are you crazy!?" She followed where I had been pointing. "You'll—"

"Just trust me!"

Having no place to argue or refute, Rainbow followed my request. Once over the eye of the storm, I readied my weapon as I heard Rainbow Dash above me.

"You sure about this?!"

"Thanks!" I only released her grip on me and allowed myself to fall towards the heart where King Sombra had been controlling this massive storm. Despite how dangerous it actually was, I fell in headfirst and focused my attention to where I had planned to catch a grip on King Sombra. I suppose he hadn't been expecting me to come from above and rather paid attention to attacking the ponies on the ground.

As soon as I was close enough, I clung my hooves around his neck like Spirit had and held the jar of magic with my teeth. Before I had any more of my time to lose, I immediately crushed open the jar onto his face, causing him to lose control just like before. I fell out from his storm and back onto the solid ground. As I watched him flail out of control, I knew it was time for T and I to land the hopefully finishing blow.

"T!" I called out once more, grabbing her attention from a distance. I pulled one more jar out for this united attack. She took great notice of the rainbow-colored glow from mine and searched for the same in her pack. Once we both had them out and ready for use, I focused onto King Sombra's currently chaotic and mindless storm.

I took careful aim, but this time, I wasn't going to throw anything. Things were literally going to be shaken up now. Once the angle was right, I rapidly shook the container of Princess Celestia's magic and released it with as much force as I could by opening up the top.

Like bottle fireworks, streams of magic and light shot towards our intended target. I had to take great care and hold steady focus as each bullet of magic fired out. We weren't planning on wasting it on anything other than this dastardly tyrant.

With the combination of our efforts, the storm King Sombra once held lowered in size and eventually dissipated. His body had fell to the ground almost lifelessly like before. This time, T and I were quick to release our magic shackles for him to be captured in. Even while being tied up by this spell, Diane and Maud immediately stood guard by him and took it upon themselves that he wouldn't move from where he was.

Finally, Rainbow Dash landed on the ground by him and returned a severe glare. "You're finished, Sombra."

T and I nodded towards each other and finally released the signal that would notify Princess Celestia and bring her towards our position. A flare shot up towards the sky and emitted a bright glow. As we waited, we felt as if we finally had, at the very least, a short moment to catch our breath. The both of us fell backwards and earned our breaths as we stared at the showy flare in the sky.

"…is it finally over?" T asked between her gasps for air. "Did we do it?"

"I hope so."

I didn't know if his soldiers were still up and running, but I assumed the rest of Princess Celestia's army were handling them at the moment.

We noticed a distant figure in the sky, and it eventually grew bigger as it drew near us. As she revealed her presence to us, it almost felt like the beautiful radiance around her was enough to turn this world around for a different kind of future for us. She took a short moment to look over us, and I guessed it wasn't until she was sure that we were still breathing when she turned towards the fallen king. "Your reign of terror has come to an end."

"You cannot hold me captive forever, Celestia." Despite his current situation, King Sombra appeared to be widely sure of himself.

"I'll do whatever I can in my power to ensure you do not cause any kind of harm anymore." From there, Princess Celestia shut her eyes and summoned another spell to reinforce his chains. "It's only a matter of time before we search and find the Crystal Heart."

King Sombra lightly chuckled. "Good luck."

As Rainbow Dash and the others kept an eye on him, Princess Celestia made her way towards us.

"Absolutely well done." Princess Celestia congratulated with an earnest tone in her voice.

"Is it…finally over, Princess Celestia?" T asked. "Can all this fighting finally stop?"

She adverted her gaze and returned a slightly solemn look. "I'm afraid it isn't as simple as that. We cannot take King Sombra lightly, and we cannot be sure of this war until we find the Crystal Heart and use it against him. Until we do, I'm afraid it's not exactly over."

"What about his army?" I remembered. "What happens to them?"

"It seems the helmets they wear are forcing them to fight against us. Unless we can find a way to remove or disable them, then they will continue to attack us. However, the Crystal Heart may be the only way to save the Crystal Ponies from those helmets." Before I could release a stressful sigh, she placed a caring hoof on me. "Do not fret, you two. You have done a great service, and I absolutely commend you for it. Because of you and everyone's actions, we might just win and end this war yet very soon."

I allowed myself to lie back on the dusty ground and close my eyes. I had suddenly grown sleepy all of a sudden. However, I felt my hoof being clamped on by another. I opened my eyes and turned towards the one responsible for this. It was T, and she had been smiling softly at me. I was deeply surprised when I saw this. It had been so long since I saw her smile like this. I thought that she had perhaps been permanently scarred by this stupid war.

"Don't worry, Alex." She used the name back from before the war dragged us in. "I can feel it. Everything will turn out okay soon."

I didn't respond but only acknowledged it. Afterwards, I closed my eyes and just relaxed in my thoughts.

Soon enough, it felt as if everything just…faded away.

An Empty Husk

Morning. It was time to wake up. However, I had to admit that I missed feeling the sun's rays on my coat from the mornings in the past. Ever since we had to move into this dark and damp part of the forest, it's pretty rare to get a good sense of the sun. Although, the entire point of being here was to stay away from the one being that took the most important thing away from me…

I guess it was stretching the truth a bit since that thing wasn't completely taken away from me. That thing was somepony, and ever since that fateful day, she had never been the same again. In a way, I've managed to grow somewhat used to it, but I know I'll never forgive myself every day I see her like this…

I moved towards the other side of the bed and gently placed a hoof on her sleeping shoulder. "Wake up. It's time for breakfast." I said as gently as I could. Her eyelids opened slowly, but the eyes underneath were as hollow and lifeless as they've always been. Despite this sight, I had to force myself to smile. "I can make you some pancakes. I know they're your favorite."

She returned no kind of positive emotion whatsoever. Her eyes softly moved from side to side, but she made no major movement. I placed a hoof on her backside and brought her upright. She continued to stare blankly at the wall of the hut.

I grabbed her hoof and gently led her out of bed. I took her outside and in front of a pit we used for campfires. From there, I positioned a skillet overhead and lit the wood at the bottom on fire. Next, I proceeded to begin cooking a custom kind of mix that somepony else helped make me.

In the middle of making these pancakes, the same pony that had helped me approached me. "You need some help making those?"

It was Fluttershy, and ever since she had learned about the predicament between the two of us, she had appeared to be more than willing to stop on by to see if there was anything she could do.

"Oh. We're fine." I assured. "We don't want to trouble you or anything."

"Nonsense." She softly sat down and begin checking on the batter for herself. "After all, you always want the best for her, don't you?"

I turned back to my odd-eyed companion, and I stared at what used to be her beautiful glimmering eyes. To remember how much life and excitement used to be packed into those tiny little things, wounds that I had forcefully stitched up would break open again. For now, she only silently stared at the skillet in front of us.

"I do." I could only muster up before the waterworks would break out again.

I ended up being grateful for Fluttershy's involvement of today's breakfast. I wasn't sure if I would have been able to focus enough not to burn the pancakes I had been especially making for her in the first place. It wasn't only making the breakfast. I had to follow the usual routine of feeding the same breakfast to her. Even though she was technically capable of doing anything, she really had no will to.

That's what happens when you have every piece of your love sucked out of you.

"Thank you, Fluttershy." I expressed deeply. "Really, for everything."

"It's my pleasure." She stood up, appearing as if she was getting ready to take off somewhere. "I'm afraid I have to leave. I'm going on another morning patrol to keep a lookout for any changelings nearby."

I could feel my hoof tighten and clench to the point where I wanted to stomp the ground as hard as I could, but once again, I had to force myself to remain calm. "Right. Stay safe."

"Mm-hm." She nodded, but just before she left, I called out to her.

"Hey, Fluttershy…" I stood up and approached her. I looked into her eyes for a moment, feeling the pace of my heart beat faster.

"…yes?" She seemed to appear almost speechless, due to how physically close I had grown towards her.

There was so much I wanted to say, but more importantly, there was something I really wanted to do. I wanted to…move further with Fluttershy. Despite being in the sad state I was in, I believed I had fallen in love with her, and if I was any good at guessing, I believed she might have felt the same way about me.

So why was it so hard to just tell her?

I suppose it was because of her. To always have my mind on her instead of Fluttershy…how would she feel about that? Besides…my first love ended horribly to begin with. Fluttershy had been helping so much with caring for her, I wouldn't want to ruin that with some kind of other stupid mistake.

"Mmm…" I imprisoned my words, but my body did manage to surprisingly embrace her for several seconds.

When we pulled away there was a light blush hiding in her cheeks. "I'll be fine. Don't worry."

I could only nod and watch as she returned a soft smile before leaving off for her patrol. I turned back to see my emotionless longtime filly friend staring at her plate. I didn't know what it was that attracted me towards Fluttershy. Sometimes, I honestly felt it was because she reminded me of my first love.

After eating, I took her back inside the hut. There was really nothing else to do but to leave her someplace to be. I thought about putting her back in bed, but I decided to just leave her by the window. There were also times I wondered what exactly the situation was with her.

Ever since the incident, she always acted like if she was asleep with her eyes open, doing utterly nothing until I did something for her. But I honestly couldn't help but wonder if she was still in there. The real her. Deep down inside, did she still know who I was? Did she still know my name? Was the only thing keeping her back the loss of every feeling known to her?

Whatever it was, I could only hope and wish every day that she'd be back to her normal self, even if it was just bit by bit. However, watching these years go by, and not a trace of change come from her, makes me believe that it was most likely wishful thinking.

I usually stayed inside the hut with her for the most part, just so I could keep an eye on her. I didn't believe she ever moved unless I moved her myself. That being the case, I could easily go out without having to worry about her going anywhere. Still, even if I knew she wouldn't move without me, something inside of me wouldn't let me leave her completely alone.

After some time, I heard commotion outside. I poked my head out to notice the morning patrol coming back into the camp. However, something had been different from the other times. There was a pony among the group, along with what looked like a small dragon accompanying her. If that wasn't enough to provide disbelief, the new pony appeared to be an Alicorn if I was seeing things right. They both wore Zecora's salve, so they definitely weren't changelings. Still… An Alicorn and a baby dragon? What the hay was going on here? This peaked my interest enough to wander outside and approach Zecora.

"Zecora? What's going on here?" I asked. "Who are they?"

"Alex!" I heard unexpectedly from one of them. It was the Alicorn, and she almost tackled me without question. "There you are! What happened to you?!"

"W-what?!" In an alarm, I pushed away the winged unicorn from her tightened grip on me. "How do you know my name? Who are you?"

"Uh…I'm guessing he's the one from this timeline…" The small dragon accompanying her spoke, each of them completely sounding nonsensical.

"Oh…right…" Her ears flopped downwards from disappointment and sadness.

So many questions had been poking in my mind, but I immediately shook them all off when I realized how great this possibility was. "You're an Alicorn, right?" I questioned. "Then…maybe you can help me with something!" I turned over to Zecora to get the greenlight. "Maybe she can help her." I referred to the pony standing utterly still back home.

Zecora didn't answer right away. Instead, after a short while, she only seemed to give a light nod. Although, what mattered most was the possibility of a long-awaited reunion, so I rushed this Alicorn back into my hut.

"I was wondering…if you could help her." I stated as I directed her attention to the young mare at the window.

The purple Alicorn returned a light gasp. "…is that…?" She went on ahead to approach her at the window, leaning in to get a good look before she partially stumbled back from shock. "What happened to her?!"

"Queen Chrysalis." I almost hissed out through my teeth. "She…she sucked all the love out of her. Out of my…" The feelings of guilt immediately began resurfacing.

"Her love?" She repeated as if she couldn't quite believe it the first time she heard. "I'm so sorry…"

"Hey…" I lifted my head, realizing that I hadn't even learned this pony's name. "I should have asked before. What's your name?"

"Twilight." She answered and glanced over to the dragon accompanying her. He had been observing the silent mare with a look of disbelief as well. "And this is Spike."

"Well, Twilight." I stepped forward with a pleading look. "Can you do anything? Can you…fix what Chrysalis did?"

Twilight turned to take another brief glance at the patient and then turned back at me with a solemn shake of the head. "No. Not that I know of." Just before my hopes could completely break in the inside, she continued speaking. "But, I can definitely fix this."

"Huh? What do you mean?" I inquired about earnestly.

"Look." She took a moment to most likely gather her thoughts. "You're probably not going to believe me, but all of this wasn't supposed to happen. Equestria isn't supposed to be in danger of Queen Chrysalis. In fact, she was stopped by my friends and me. You're…supposed to be one of my friends. I may not be able to do something in this exact timeline, but I can…" She paused for a moment. "No, I will make things right. You won't have to deal with the kind of pain you have here."

"Time? What?" I couldn't quite grasp what she had been saying. She had been speaking at a reasonable speed, but all of this out of the ordinary information caused me to mentally stumble across her words.

"A pony back in my time changed the past to where it eventually led to this." She explained as she presented the scenery outside. "You and me… We were both Alicorns. A prince and princess to be exact."

"Me? A prince?" I almost staggered back from confusion. "No way. I'm nowhere near the level of a prince."

Twilight adverted her eyes to the side in still thought. "Yeah… You wouldn't know because what you did in Canterlot when the Changelings invaded never happened…" She turned her attention back to me and looked at me seriously. "You never unlocked your potential. And now that Spirit's like that, I don't think you can." She ended on a depressive note.

I had so many questions lined up, but the one that cut to the front of the line was to what she mentioned at the end while glancing towards the filly at the window. "Spirit? Are you talking about her?"

"Yes." She nodded. "Spirit's supposed to be your light. The light responsible for you being much stronger than you think you are now."

I shook my head. "You must be mistaken. That's not her name. And she definitely isn't a kind of 'light'. At least…not literally."

"What?" Twilight appeared to be puzzled. "She's not?"

I sighed heavily, seeing as the more I thought about the past, the more unwilling I was to talk. "…she's my sister, Twilight."

Twilight's eyes widened for some odd reason. It almost looked as if she had been petrified by my apparently shocking answer. After a brief moment of silence, she responded with another question. "You said Spirit wasn't her name… What is it then?"

There was a reason I usually tried to keep myself from saying her name. I never did get used to being able to call her without my voice being vulnerable to breaking apart. In summary, I didn't completely understand what Twilight had been talking about. Apparently, we were in a timeline that wasn't supposed to exist, and it seemed that whatever timeline she had been in, my sister wasn't broken like she was now.

If this pony wasn't a legit Alicorn, I probably would have brushed it all off as somepony with a few screws loose in her head. Nevertheless, despite how uncanny this talk of 'time' sounded, I could somehow feel like she was telling the truth. I guess it was the way she spoke. Or maybe it was because of this undying hope of a better life out there that grew once she notified me of the possibility.

I didn't know who this 'Spirit' was. I wasn't even sure if she was talking about the same pony, especially given her description of said pony. However, if she really can bring things back to normal, then maybe…she can make some use of my sister's name. I know all of this was confusing. Even I didn't understand much of what I was saying. To put it simply, if I somehow return back to the pony I'm apparently supposed to be, it can help with whatever confusion there is about this 'Spirit' and my sister.

Thus, I finally told her, and for good measure, I even tacked on the fun little nickname I loved calling her by. "…but I like to call her Nene."

"Wow…" Twilight merely reacted softly, her eyes drawn to the floor as if she had learned of a subtly shocking piece of information.

"Twilight." I faced her seriously. "Look. I'm putting a lot of trust in you. It's been a long time since I've last mentioned her name because every time I do, it brings back memories that only fill me with guilt that I already have enough of. You said that you can change things back to the way they were, and since you stopped Chrysalis, then I'm guessing my sister isn't in a position where she has to live her life the way she is right now. I don't understand anything about 'time' like you apparently do, but if it means that my sister can be her old cheery self, then I'm all for it."

Twilight unexpectedly brought me in for another tightened embrace. "I will! Don't worry! I promise I will! I've got a whole lot of ponies I care about, and you're especially one of them, believe it or not. It may not exactly be you, but we'll meet each other very soon, I promise."

There was nothing in my memories that gave the faintest clue that Twilight and I had ever been together in the past, but with the way she gave meaning to her words, I just had to believe we were as close as we apparently actually were.

"Thank you, Twilight." I expressed as we pulled away. "So…what exactly is it you need to do to for this 'time' stuff?"

"There's a map back where Zecora and the others found Spike and me. We need to get back there and use a certain spell so we can set things right again."

"I guess you should get back there as soon as you can." I suggested. "I don't know if Chrysalis and her army can make any use of it for themselves, but I don't want to take any chances of her keeping you doing what you need to do."

"Got it." Twilight nodded and faced her companion Spike. "Come on, Spike."

She was able to head out the door until I stopped her. "Hang on…" I know I said I wanted her to return as soon as possible, but I couldn't help but ask one question about something I was curious about. "Back in your time…uhm…was I with…Fluttershy?"

She stared at me for a few seconds before her lips broke out into a smile and soon a genuine chuckle. "Yes. You're dating her. In fact, I think you're just about ready to ask her to marry you."

I immediately scampered back from embarrassment. "What?! Really?!"

"Guess we'll find out!" She sung teasingly before skipping out the door.

I glanced back at my sister and mentally promised I would be back. If I could be any use to Twilight on her mission, then I'd want to accompany her to this map she spoke about.

Outside, there was this sudden shriek I didn't expect to hear. Three ponies had run through the thick bushes that helped keep our camp off the radar for Chrysalis and her army. However, the first thing to take notice was the lack of Zecora's slave on their coats, so we didn't know for sure if they were real ponies or not.

"Please! You have to help us!"

"The changelings attacked Ponyville! We barely escaped with our lives!"

Twilight had begun trotting over to these ponies as if she had recognized them. Were these the friends she had mentioned having earlier?

However, Zecora placed her hoof in front of her to stop her for good reason. "The only changeling attack I see is the one that come here looking for me!"

"It's taken quite a while to find you, Zecora." The last one from the group to speak stepped forward. It wasn't until I heard that sinister laugh that I figured out who this imposter had really been.

My heart began racing as I watched her transform into the disgusting vile creature she really was. At the same time, unpleasant memories began sprinting into and through my mind. The last time I had seen her was back when she took my sister away from me.

"What a lovely village you've chosen to stage your little resistance. It looks absolutely delicious!" She stated as she roamed her eyes around and finished with a wicked licking of her lips. It was only a matter of time when she'd realize I had been a part of the village. "Oh, what do we have here?" She began to slowly approach me. "Why, if it isn't precious little 'Alex'?" She mocked as she lifted up my chin. "I thank you for that absolutely splendid meal I had last time. It really hit the spot. However, it was a real shame I couldn't take the leftovers for home, but it looks like I might just be in for a really good dessert."

If I had any magic, I would have surely blasted something right in her face, but all I could do was aggressively slap her confronting hoof away from me. It was at that time that somepony bravely joined me at my side, holding the tip of a spear towards her neck.

"Back away from him, Chrysalis!" Fluttershy sternly ordered.

"Oh!" Chrysalis was rather joyfully surprised than intimidated. "Oh! I see this pony cares very deeply for you! Looks like I'm in for a very special treat! Originally, I had planned to only take Zecora hostage to the dungeons of Canterlot, but this spread is too good to pass up on!"

Every one of us took notice on how the skies soon filled up with many more changelings. There were too many, and that's because the queen herself had been with us! I quickly glanced behind me to find Twilight. If she wanted any chance of going back, she needed to leave now!

Zecora had been hushing something towards Twilight before she turned back to Chrysalis in an aggressive stance. Twilight returned a hefty nod before sending a quick glance over to me and rushing out from the hostile area.

"Try as you might, but we will not give up without a fight!" Zecora exclaimed out before signaling everypony to charge on ahead against our enemy.

Zecora was the first one to try to take on Chrysalis, but she had immediately been pushed towards the ground by the queen's magic. It was after this when Chrysalis turned towards me as she sinisterly licked her lips. All I could do was cautiously back away, seeing as I did not even have a weapon to defend myself with.

"Don't worry, my dear little pony. You will join your precious sister very soon! That way, you'll become the very twins you were meant to be!"

As she prepared herself to pounce on me, Fluttershy stepped in and shoved the stick of her spear through her teeth, preventing her from moving for a brief moment. "Alex! Hurry! You've got to take her and try to find someplace safe!"

"But I can't just leave you here! I…"

"Go!" Fluttershy shouted through her naturally tender tone. "You have to go!"

It was only a matter of time before Chrysalis was able to snap the spear in half by chomping through with her extremely sharp fangs.

"Face it! You'd have nowhere to hide, so you might as well give up now and face your doom!"

Fluttershy attempted to fend off Chrysalis on her own, but Chrysalis had been able to easily overpower her. "Why don't I start with you, hm? You've been quite a nuisance. You may as well be my appetizer!" Greatly inhaling any kind of scent Fluttershy must have had, she appeared to take a great liking to it. "Hahaha!" Chrysalis cackled. "I hope you've realized how much you meant to this pony, Alex, because I can smell a great deal of love from her! A love for you that is!"

"Go! Please!" Fluttershy stared at me with pleading eyes. It was almost as if she had already accepted her demise for my sake.

No… Not her. Not anyone. You've already taken so much from me Chrysalis! You can't do this all over again! You just can't!

"Stop, Chrysalis!" I begged, desperately grasping for any chance she might actually be willing to comply. "You can't do this! Not again!"

"Oh, when will you understand…" Chrysalis solemnly shook her head out of disappointment. "You should know by now that the more you cry, the more delicious your love grows!" At that point, she focused her eyes directly at Fluttershy. A green glow emitted from her horn, and soon Fluttershy was staring back at Chrysalis as if underneath hypnosis.

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be scared at that moment, but I could only feel my blood boil and bubble throughout my entire body. "I said STOP!"

A surge of energy suddenly emitted through me and landed externally in the direction of Queen Chrysalis. From what I could notice through my unrelenting rage, Chrysalis had been staggered back and immensely taken back by surprise. "What?!"

Fluttershy was no longer within her grasp, leaving me a clear-cut target to release my pent-up rage against. "I don't care what I have to do, you're not taking someone else I love away from me!" I screamed.

Afterwards, everything became a blur. A rage-induced blur. I remember striking things almost randomly, and it felt as if my energy was limitless. It wasn't until I heard my name being called by a familiar voice when I began calming down.

Alex! It's okay! I'm here!

Nene…? Is that you?

It was definitely her! But how?!

Alex, calm down! I'm right here with you!

I could now hear my breathing slowing down, but it took a moment before things in my vision were beginning to clear up. Eventually, I was able to see who had been in front of me and holding me tightly. To my disappointment, it wasn't my sister. However, to my relief, it was actually Fluttershy, and by the way she acted, it was safe to say that she had been alright.

"Fluttershy…?" I stated weakly, suddenly feel my energy leak out at an alarming rate. "…what…?"

I took a look around me to notice ponies from our village attempting to recover from battle. There were a few changelings that had been knocked out on the ground. However, their army had been nowhere in sight.

With a slight limp, I could see Zecora make her way over to me. "Of all the things I've seen, I never thought I'd see such power against the queen."

"Power…? What…?"

I had no idea what happened, but I had been carried over inside to be tended to by Fluttershy. Those that suffered worrying injuries would be taken care of those who had sustained minor damage. It took a while until I finally heard from Fluttershy that we had somehow miraculously won the battle. I didn't believe it at first when Fluttershy told me I had grew a horn and wings and went on to relentlessly attack Queen Chrysalis.

It apparently wasn't enough to flat out destroy her, but she was shocked and shaken enough that she called for a retreat. My horn and wings had disappeared after the battle, and I really had no idea how to get them back if that was indeed what happened.

"They're gone for now…" Fluttershy mentioned as she tenderly brushed her hoof against aching parts of my body. "But Zecora believes it won't be long before they're back."

I sighed heavily. "I hope Twilight was right… I don't want to ever have to deal with something like that again."

Fluttershy didn't answer. Instead, she nestled her head against mine for a moment before she spoke again. "I told you to leave, but you didn't."

"I wasn't going to leave you out there." I responded honestly. "I already can't live with myself after what happened with her. Honestly, there probably wouldn't be any point in living if you ended up the same way…"

Fluttershy gazed at my eyes before she hovered her face over me and quietly planted her soft lips on mine. It was a good heartfelt moment before she lightly pulled away. "If we're not so lucky next time, then I want to at least have gotten that out of the way."

The two of us continued to stare at each other in silence before we unexpectedly heard a whisper by the bed I had been in.

"A…"

It was my sister! She…she was actually talking?!

"A…lex…I…"

Shadow of the Night

"I love you, you know? So, can't you hug me for once?"

I simply sighed due to overwhelming frustration. If I hadn't been disciplined by Mother, I probably would have thrown an unnecessary outburst. "This is why Mother is always throwing you into the cell." I responded as I continued to wipe down my armor until I could clearly see my reflection. "You need to stop being so needy and learn to depend on yourself for a change."

"But, you're my brother, Alex!" My unfortunately disagreeing sister argued. We were literally different as day and night. "I've been feeling so lonely lately…especially when I'm thrown into the cell just for being the way I am. You didn't always be like this, you know? It wasn't until she came in and ruined everything!"

"Our Mother provided us a safe place to stay. She's the one who's protecting us from creatures like Chrysalis. You can't expect her to let us just do whatever we want. We're supposed to learn to fend for ourselves and make sure we make no mistakes in what she wants from us." I finally placed on my headpiece and prepared to stand guard by my Mother in the throne room.

"But did she really have to take out the day of our everyday lives? I'm telling you she's evil, Alex! She doesn't care about you! She's only using you for herself!"

I returned a stern look to her uncontrollable outburst. "You're lucky that I'm your brother. You speak like that around Mother and you'll find yourself inside the dungeon cell for another night. And I'm sure you know how even darker it is down there."

With an almost silent sigh, my sister looked away. I knew I was a changed pony, but it was for the better. I couldn't waste my time worrying about others' feelings. What was most important was getting things done.

I stationed myself by the left side of her throne and remained absolutely quiet. I was supposed to speak only when spoken to. The only thing on my mind was to keep watch.

"Was your sister giving you trouble again?" She asked.

"Do not mind her." I responded without taking my eyes off what was in front of me. "She simply does not understand the importance of your rule around here."

My Mother sighed in disappointment. "That one is so much trouble. In fact, she reminds me far too much of my sister. Perhaps I should just send her to the moon as well."

"I will straighten her out." I promised. "Whatever it takes, I will do it."

"I would absolutely love that. You were a little difficult to break in, but you managed to adjust yourself nicely. If only she was as keen as you are to do the same. After all, I had intentionally meant to have the both of you up here with me, rather than just you."

"In due time, that will be." I ended before finding a strange pony enter the room. For some strange reason, she immediately approached Rarity, who had been ordered to tend to the décor throughout the castle. "We have an unexpected visitor inside the castle, Mother."

"Who is it?" She asked, appearing to look unwilling to look for herself.

"I don't know, but I'm afraid this is no ordinary visitor." I mentioned, taking the details of this specific pony into account.

"And why is that?"

"Unless I'm mistaken, she is an Alicorn."

My Mother immediately threw her head forward and looked in the direction I had been facing at. "Now just what is this we have here?"

"I have to get back to the map so I can stop Starlight from changing the past, because every present I come to is worse than the last!" Her voice echoed.

"Time travel, you say?" My Mother raised her voice so that her presence would be known. "Now that's something I would like to see." After a robust laughter, she found the matter interesting enough to engage it from outside her seat. I continued to give a silent but an extremely focused watch. "Tell me how you came by this magic to travel through time."

"The princess asked you a question!" Rainbow Dash, another member of Mother's royal guard exerted rather loudly. "And unless you wanna end up in the dungeon, you'll tell her what she wants to know!"

"Nopony in my kingdom but me should possess a magic powerful enough to change time." Mother asserted.

"Your kingdom?" A small dragon that seemed to accompany this Alicorn for some reason felt brave enough to ask. I wonder if it was just some runt she picked up in the Everfree Forest. After all, even dragons weren't exactly safe from my Mother's power.

"Who else?" Mother demanded as if she took great offense to that.

"Um... Celestia, of course!" He pointed out with a hint of hesitation under his voice.

Even her very own royal guard appeared frightened of the possibility of Mother releasing her might right then and there, but she only cackled loudly in a boastful manner. "My sister has been imprisoned in the moon for years! But it is no less a fate than she'd sentence me to! Now, reveal to me the source of this time magic!"

"...Alright." This pony submitted quite easily under my Mother's orders. However, being an Alicorn, I wouldn't be so swayed by her words.

"Twilight, no!" Her accomplice objected.

"We have no choice, Spike." She returned her reasoning. "I can take you to it, but you'll have to get past the timberwolves."

This pony was surely a jokester. She might just fit in as Mother's jester.

"I am the ruler of all of Equestria. Do you think I can't deal with timberwolves?"

"No. I know you can."

"And if you were thinking of trying to escape..." Mother grabbed ahold of the dragon and chained him up tight with her magic. "...it would be very unfortunate for your friend." It was then when she turned her head in my direction and introduced another order. "Alexander, come! You will be accompanying me on this trip. That is, unless you are afraid of some weak measly timberwolves?"

"Hm." I could essentially laugh at that little piece of her humor. Having been officially relieved of my current duty, I walked on ahead and joined my Mother by her side. The Alicorn had noticed me, and she stared at me long enough for me to find it annoyingly questionable. "Move." I ordered.

In the forest, I was given the task of handling these wretched wooden beasts. A simple touch of magic was enough to scare them away. However, there was no mercy for any caught within my sight. Since I would be busy in keeping watch out for any other intruders, my Mother kept her hold onto the dragon.

I didn't know what her reasoning was, but she didn't have another pony keep a direct watch over the dragon. I was more than willing to do it, but I suppose her pride didn't agree with that idea. We were taken to a table that appeared to have a map. This immediately caused my Mother to probe this Alicorn for questions.

"How does it work?"

"A pony from my time used this spell to travel back and change the past."

"And now you will give this spell to me! With it, I will ensure that the Elements of Harmony are never found and my reign lasts forever!"

"But it won't." This Alicorn was surely brave enough to risk harm towards her apparent friend. I was almost encouraged enough to warn her about her disrespectful attitude.

"What?!" My Mother faced this pony in anger. It seemed she had had enough.

"In my world, my friends and I found the Elements and used them to defeat you! And I will do everything in my power to bring that world back!"

As soon as I noticed the Alicorn disappear from sight, I immediately began charging up a magical surge that swelled up to my horn. I had to admit, not only was this pony brave, but she was quite skilled as she was able to free her dragon in mere seconds before reappearing on the table. She wasn't to be taken lightly, and I didn't plan to let her go.

Right before she was allowed to fire another spell, I struck her down with my own. She had been knocked off the table, allowing my Mother to begin working up another spell to hold her captive. However, she quickly avoided it by the use of teleportation and disappeared into the forest.

"I've got this." I volunteered. There was no way I was saying this out loud, but because of Mother's pride, she had almost gotten away.

"I will stand watch here. Do not fail me, Alexander." She ordered with an almost intimidating tone. I supposed her mood had been quickly spoiled by the slip up. "I need this magic."

"I understand. As long as she's in the dark, she has nowhere to hide."

Usually, that would have been a strange and absurd thing to hear back when there was still day. However, being a shadow of the night certainly had its perks.

Having followed her scent, I was able to appear out of the shadows just like magic. She had been searching frantically around with her dragon. She was possibly trying to catch her breath and figure out a way to escape, but I was sure she didn't expect to see me so suddenly.

"Running off like that won't help." I heard her gasp as she quickly turned in my direction.

"Alex, please!" She pleaded, knowing my old shortened name for some reason. "Let me go!"

"Why should I?" I paid no mind to it. I supposed she knew me from the timeline she had apparently been in.

"I'm trying to fix things! You or anypony else in that castle isn't supposed to be there."

"Listen…" I decided to wrap things up. I couldn't keep Mother waiting for too long. "I'd love to keep listening to how things aren't supposed to be and stuff, but if I keep my Mother waiting too long, she's going to get really impatient. Besides, even if I let you go do what you need to do, it's like you said, you and your 'friends' stopped Nightmare Moon. My Mother. And if that's the case, then I must be pretty vulnerable back where you're from."

"Yes, we stopped Nightmare Moon back where I'm from, but you're not vulnerable at all! In fact, instead of Nightmare Moon, you have a caring mother who loves you to death. Believe me!"

I sincerely wanted to laugh in disbelief. "Sorry, but I don't think I can believe a pony who's desperately trying to weasel her way out of some trouble. You'd say anything to get by."

"It's the truth!" She persisted.

"Whatever. You're coming with me whether you like it or not."

As I moved a step forward, she immediately hovered a hoof in front of Spike. "Get back, Spike!"

"You really think I'm after your dragon?" I asked. "Right now, my only interest is you."

"I don't want to fight you, Alex." She returned a serious look.

"It's either that or come quietly." I offered. "No surprises this time. Your choice." I gave her some time to make that choice, but all she could do was stare back at me in silence. It was pretty clear that she wasn't intending to give up so easily. "Fighting it is."

"No!" I heard and immediately felt somepony grab ahold of me. I was about to forcefully throw this pony off until I realized who it was. It had been my sister.

"What are you doing?! Get off of me!" I ordered.

"No!" She exclaimed. "If it means we can have a better life than this, then I won't!"

Had she been eavesdropping on us the entire time!?

"Get off or I'll have no choice but to—!" I suddenly felt the both of us become enclosed inside a tight space. As I looked back, I apprehended that we had been trapped inside a magic barrier. "What?!"

Outside, Twilight approached the bubble. "I'm sorry, but I have to do this! I promise to turn everything back to the way it was!"

"No!" I exclaimed in frustration and attempted to use my dark magic to get out, but it wasn't any use. The barrier made it impossible. "Do you realize what you just did?!" I angrily glared over towards my sister. "Why do you always have to mess things up!?" I raised my hoof, feeling the absolute need to strike something.

"Fine. Hit me." She unexpectedly allowed.

As much as I did want to hit something, the more I observed her face, the more I felt my anger slip. I looked away and grunted out loud. "You better hope our Mother stops her…"

"She won't." She quite confidently believed, as if she knew something I didn't.

I sighed heavily and felt utterly powerless for the first time in a long time. Why was it that she was always able to somehow bring out my soft spot when I've spent the past years trying to get rid of it? I wasn't supposed to care about things like feelings. That's what was supposed to make me strong. Yet…

"I did this because I love you, Alex." She admitted.

I merely scoffed and shook my head, ignoring it completely. "We're going to be thrown into that cell for years…"

It All Turns into Dust

With everything destroyed, it felt as I had finally achieved utter silence. I was finally able to do absolutely nothing, as there was nothing to do to begin with. I could finally feel at peace. No more hurt. No more loss. All I had to do was just wait until my time came to an end.

"Come on, Starlight, look around!"

A disturbance.

I couldn't have it. I needed the silence.

"Like I said, everything in the past affects the future, even the tiniest act. And what you're doing leads here. I know I can't stop you, but I thought showing you this might change your mind."

"Change my mind? You don't know anything about me! I was perfectly happy before you and your friends ruined what I built!"

Arriving at the scene which ruined the existence of my personal paradise, I focused my obscure attention to those who were responsible. Two ponies and a dragon. Catching my presence, they turned and noticed me silently eyeing them.

"And who are you supposed to be?!" The one that had been shouting the entire time demanded an answer from me. However, I felt no need to give it. Instead, all I wanted was to be rid of these intruders. And who better than to start with the loudest and most annoying one?

She only stared back as I slowly raised my hoof from underneath my dark and sand-ridden cloak. Finally, I focused my power and grabbed her by the neck to slowly lift her up. She immediately began struggling to free herself, even going as far as to make an attempt in using her magic, but it was no use.

"Let me go!"

She needed to be struck with fear. She needed to know who was in charge here.

I proceeded to remove my hood and glare directly into her eyes. "Be gone!" I commanded.

"Wait! Stop!" The other ordered. "Don't do this!" I had no intention of doing so until I had been unexpectedly called out. "…is that you? Alex?"

I slowly turned towards this purple pony, mostly out of interest. I released my grip of the loud one and began stepping towards the purple one. "And who might you be?"

"I'm Twilight! Your friend!" She returned.

"I don't know how, but this must be this timeline's version of him, Twilight! We need to go! Come on!" The dragon behind her stated.

"In your dreams!" The loud one exclaimed and seemed to forcefully take a piece of paper off the dragon. "I'm going back, and the two of you are staying here with him!"

"No!" The dragon objected.

The more I heard this loud one speak, the more I wanted to obliterate her myself. Just as she had jumped onto the odd table that had been in the area, I grabbed ahold of her and threw her a distance away.

"The three of you are disturbing the silence I have created here for myself." I spoke. "I will take care of this issue by my own hooves."

As I began preparing my dark magic, my spellcasting had suddenly been interrupted by the purple one. She had fired a beam at me, causing me to draw up a barrier to deflect it.

"Spike! Hurry! Get the spell! I'll distract him!" She ordered.

And so, the little dragon began scampering towards the loud one.

"I was going to start with the loud one first…" I informed. "But seeing as you're an Alicorn, you do have the highest potential of causing the most trouble…" I then began to direct my attention towards this new target. "Very well then. I'll begin with you."

As much as I wanted to bask in silence once again, I handled this matter with great patience. However, as I focused on ridding this Alicorn, I could hear the commotion between the dragon and the loud one.

"What do you think you're doing, Starlight?! You've got to give it back so we can get out of here!"

"No! I've had enough of you two ruining everything! You took everything I had, so it's time that I finally repay the favor!"

She attempted to flee towards the table, but the dragon managed to reach her and climb on top of her. He desperately tried to reach for the scroll she had held with her magic. "Are you selfish, Starlight? If it wasn't for Twilight, who knows what would have happened to you?! She was the only one who stuck up for you when you were in trouble just a while ago, and now she's still sticking up for you to keep you safe! What's your problem?!"

"Grrr!" She growled. "You two just don't get it, do you?! Fine then! I'll show you!"

Firing her magic onto the scroll she had been holding, a glow began to be emitted by the table. To my pleasure, they had immediately disappeared in sight. All that was left was this single Alicorn. She looked back to find that they were gone. I suspected that she would jump in to avoid the pain I'd inflict on her. However, she shared one last saddened glance at me before fleeing towards the table and disappearing.

At last, besides the howling wind, all I could hear was absolutely nothing.

I placed back on the hood of my cloak and closed my eyes. I proceeded to sit back down and remain there for as long as I had left in this land.

It was only a matter of time before I would be reunited with her.

Twins

I had no longer been in familiar territory, at least not too familiar. I found myself right in the same exact atmosphere Twilight had been in when she had transitioned into an Alicorn. However, instead of being with Celestia, I was accompanied by one the last ponies I wanted to see.

"What did you do?" I asked him, having no clue how he was even able to bring me here.

"You should thank me, you know." He ignored the question. No surprise there. "You're always asking for answers from that one mysterious enigma of a pony, but here I am about to show you."

"What?" I continued eyeing him as he rather carelessly walked on by.

"You don't need to be so tense. I'm not here to pick a fight."

"Yeah, then what are you here for?"

"For this." He stared off into the ethereal space that was filled was stars. Soon after, various images appeared on the walls of this invisible corridor. It was just like déjà vu, but this time, instead of seeing memories from Twilight's past, I found still images of different landscapes, possibly from different parts of Equestria. Finally, one of these images remained purely white on the wall, reminding me of a picture that was still in the middle of being developed.

Despite this, I still didn't understand. What exactly was he trying to do? "So, what does this have to do with me?"

"We're going to take a trip down memory lane." I could see a deviant smile form on the muzzle that poked out of his hooded head. He proceeded to point towards the undeveloped picture I had been wondering about. "Go on then."

"As if." I felt my hooves implant themselves on whatever flooring or ground we were on. "You expect me to just go on ahead? How do I know it's not just another trap of yours?"

"Oh, come on." He sounded like he was trying too hard to be friendly and a jokester at the same time. "I promise I'm not going to hurt you or anything."

"After everything we've been through, you want me to just trust you like that? I don't even know your name or who are you to begin with."

"And yet you still hang around that one called 'Spirit'. Huh. What a name, am I right?"

"In case you haven't noticed, she doesn't try to maliciously hurt me."

"Are you sure about that?" He spoke in a way as if he knew much more than I did. "Here's the thing. You're always complaining about never knowing enough about her, right? Well, maybe, just maybe, I'm trying to do you a favor and give you a little something to help you with that." After reading my untrusting frown, he ultimately sighed. "Alright, how about this, you go into that little memory there." He pointed towards the apparent blank doorway. "And I'll give you a name to call me."

After having thought about it for a while, I realized that I didn't really have a choice. It's not like I could have waltzed out of here whenever I wanted. He was definitely up to no good, but I still had no idea what it was. The only thing I could think of doing was just following his lead but keeping my guard extremely up to the max.

"Fine. Deal." I eventually agreed. I just hope I didn't make the wrong choice.

With a small but devious smirk, he gestured me to get a move on. "After you."

I approached the doorway but stopped right before stepping in. "Name?" I turned to him and asked bluntly.

With a small chuckle, he removed the hood off from his once obscured and darkened face. The front part of his large unlively gray mane covered the entirety of his right red eye. I couldn't help but notice the color of his coat. Simply put, it consisted of dark red color, but there was something about it that bothered me. It almost appeared as if his coat had been of one extremely different color before, but it had now been washed over by a dark red dye. "You can call me Red."

"You're hilarious." I sarcastically responded, seeing as the entire appearance of his face gave off the impression of red.

"It's true." Despite his mischievous grin, he sounded pretty serious about it. "You'll probably understand one day."

With a light sigh, I turned towards the doorway. "Whatever. I guess I'm going in." I was about to make a step until one last thing caught my attention. "Wait, what are you going to do?"

"Me? I'm just going to stand here and watch."

"Watch? Watch me do what?"

"Come on, you're ruining the surprise." He seemed pretty impatient for once. "Here's a tip for you. You're going to go on…well…you could say it's a new adventure. You're going to experience things that are completely strange and unfamiliar. Think of it as a dream, except you're completely conscious of it. I'm telling you right now, you're not going to understand anything that happens, so just go along with it." He proceeded to lean against the invisible wall and stretch out his cocky smirk. "You do what you think is best, and I promise I'll let you go after you're done."

"Oh, boy. A promise from someone's who's tried to have me obliterated in the past."

"I solemnly swear." He crossed his chest with his hoof. "Pinkie Pie Swear." My interest suddenly piqued when he knew about Pinkie Pie's unique promises, but before I could ask anything more, he urged me to move forward. "Come on. Time's wasting."

Of course, I can't trust anything this guy says, but as previously deducted, I really had no other choice. Having one last subtle glance as he casually leaned back, I took in a calm breath and proceeded to walk through.

My vision had been blinded by the light of the door, but soon I was greeted with immense darkness. It took a moment until I realized that I needed to open my eyes to see again. When I took a good look around, I noticed that I wasn't in that starry space anymore. I was actually back in Equestria, but it wasn't exactly a place I was expecting to be in. I had returned to the lesser populated area of Fillydelphia, my hometown.

Okay. What gives?

"Earth to Alex, you spacing out again?" I heard a quite familiar and warming voice.

I quickly turned in the direction of the voice and found a pony that I was extremely delighted to see. "Spirit! You're here!" There were little differences about her, such as the style of her mane and that small hairclip with a heart on it.

"Spirit?" She returned with a brief look of confusion. Nevertheless, she giggled out loud afterwards. "You've come up with another name for me? It's cool, I guess."

There was no way I was wrong. It was definitely her. Everything about her was practically the same, especially her distinctive eyes. As I closed myself in thought for a while, I remembered that 'Red' mentioned how I would be going through some kind of dream. He suggested I just "go along with it", so I guess that's what I have to do. But why am I here?

As I removed my attention from my inner thoughts, I realized that the mare in front of me had grown immeasurably close to me. Her eyes were staring right at mine, and it was only a matter of centimeters before our muzzles would bump against each other.

"Ahh!" I jerked back from surprise. "Don't scare me like that!"

She laughed once again. "Don't blame me. You're the one who keeps zoning out." Before I could say anymore, she pulled out some kind of small package with a stick poking out. "Come on! We gotta hurry to the rooftop before it melts!"

"Ice cream…?" I realized and remembered something else.

Spirit loved having ice cream at the castle balcony. There was no doubt that this was her. Even though her name isn't supposed to be Spirit here, that's the only name I've ever known. I decided to keep calling her by that name, seeing as she didn't seem to mind at all.

"Uh, sure. Let's go." I played along.

If it wasn't for the ice cream, she probably would have dragged me along. Instead, she held the ice cream stick in her mouth and galloped gracefully through the town. Every now and then, she would glance at me as I walked behind her. She would signal me to hurry up, and as usual with Spirit, I felt compelled to.

We began passing the outdoor event center when she stopped for a moment to hold her ice cream with her hoof and speak to me. "School's not far off. Let's hurry it up!"

"School?" I repeated in question. You mean the school I used to go to here? Why would we ever go there? That would be the last place I'd be at!

All of a sudden, the ice cream she held had been forcefully removed from her hoof. It began floating away actually, and it took me a moment to realize it had been magic. "Hey!" She exclaimed after a light gasp, turning towards the pony responsible.

"Well, we do we have here?" Another pony spoke. "Running off with my prize, huh?"

This pony had obviously been a unicorn, but there was something about him. I didn't know him, for sure, but even then, he still looked somewhat familiar like if I've seen him at least once or twice in my life. However, what shocked me the most was the mare standing next to him. It was a little hard at first, but with the color of her coat and the mane styled over her right eye, it didn't take long to piece together her identity. If I was correct, this appeared to be a younger Starlight.

"Alex won it fair and square! Give it back!" Spirit demanded.

"More like he cheated, if you ask me."

You do what you think is best.

I wasn't sure if anything I did in this "dream" would matter, but even in my dreams, I'd definitely stick up for the ones I loved.

"I don't know what the hay you're talking about, but that ice cream's hers." I believed.

"And what are you going to do about it?" This bully tried his hoof at intimidation. "You know what? I got an idea. How 'bout you get on your knees and beg? Maybe, I'll give it back."

"As if!" I exclaimed back, finding that idea utterly ridiculous. I was just about to use my own magic to tear the ice cream back away from him, but it was just at that moment where I realized something that was way too important to miss.

I had no magic. I tried to feel the top of my head for my horn, but it wasn't there. And as I looked at the sides of my body, there were no wings either. I had been turned back into an Earth Pony! This better be because of the dream!

He laughed at my reaction. "What are you freaking out about over there? Come on and beg, squirt!"

No way was I begging. Just because I didn't have magic didn't mean I couldn't fight. Before resulting to that, I attempting in recovering the ice cream with my own hooves. However, I should have known that trying would have made him hover the ice cream just above my reach.

"Give it back now." I ordered.

"Or what?" He returned with a cocky smirk, shoving me with his hoof.

"Alex! It's okay! I don't need the ice cream!" I heard behind me.

Oh no. This guy deserves a good whack.

I took a notice at his horn and came up with an idea. Having had a share of experience with bullies myself, I know they usually feel so powerful that they don't bother keeping up with a good defense. If I could hit it just right, I might just be able to momentarily stun him and get this ice cream back for Spirit.

I narrowed my eyes at him for a silent moment, and then, as fast as I could, I swung forcefully. It wasn't at his head, but at his horn obviously.

"Ah!" He grunted as he jerked back, holding his horn with his hooves.

The magic on the captive ice cream faded away, and it soon dropped onto my hooves. Before he could have a chance in grabbing at it again, I quickly took it towards Spirit. "Come on, let's get out of here." I suggested.

There were a multitude of reasons why I wanted to leave without finishing this guy off. One of them was that the ice cream had already gone long enough without being eaten and would probably melt at any second. Plus, if I can avoid an unnecessary dream fight, then I will. I'll be more satisfied seeing Spirit eat this ice cream than kicking this random unicorn's flank.

"…you…get back here!" He continued holding his horn in a painful stance.

"No thanks!" I casually answered back before encouraging Spirit to move forward.

Spirit and I managed to make it to the school rooftop without any trouble. It was there where she finally opened the plastic wrapper around the ice cream. She took a little look around and slightly frowned.

"Aww. It's already a little watery…"

"Sorry…" I apologized sincerely after taking a look at that face.

She quickly regained her smile and shook her head. "Don't be! I wasn't sure if you'd be able to get this back. Shredder's a unicorn, after all."

Shredder? That was his name? Why does that sound so familiar?

"Besides…" She began licking off the beads of ice cream that had already been falling off. "I can't ever thank you enough for this…" Despite how much she was enjoying the ice cream, she looked somewhat serious, but she still retained her soft smile. "You're the only pony in my life to love me so much. To go so far to entering that competition and winning me this prize. I just can't believe you were planning to give it to me the whole time…"

Seeing as I didn't remember or see what she had been talking about, I only returned a general answer. "Of course. You're important to me, you know?" Especially after what happened the night before, I felt the need to tell her that. "…even if you might not think so…you mean a lot to me."

The smile on her lips stretched as she lightly wiped her hooves against her eyes. "If it wasn't for this ice cream, I'd hug you so bad right now. It's a brand spanking new flavor, and a limited one at that." She focused her eyes on the ice cream. "I'm the first one in Fillydelphia, maybe even in Equestria, to have it, but it should be the two of us instead of just me."

She held what had been left towards me, which was about half. Recognizing her sweet gesture, I accepted it and took a bite. As I absorbed the flavor onto my tongue, I suddenly realized something about it.

"This flavor…!" It was the exact flavor Spirit and I would have every time at the castle balcony.

"Sweet Caramel Delight." She reminded me. "It's amazing, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is…" I responded as I turned towards the familiar sunset in front of us. The nostalgia of meeting Spirit for the first time was pretty real. "You know, I never thought of ever coming up here."

"Good thing I came up with the idea, huh?" She stated with a smug yet adorable grin. "I'm glad Miss Cadence let us come up here. It's nice to get away from everypony else."

"Miss Cadence?!" I almost chocked on a piece of ice cream.

"Yeah. Our teacher? Duh?"

Right… I had forgotten that Cadence had been a teacher in Fillydelphia, but I never got to really know before I left.

"Oh, yeah."

She placed a hoof over her mouth and giggled. "You can be so weird sometimes, you know? But that's another thing I love about you." She turned towards the sunset and slightly lowered her eyelids. "'As long as we're together, I feel like nothing can stop us.'."

"Huh?" I turned back towards her.

"That's what you said." She explained. "I feel the same way."

With one last chuckle, we both stared off into the sunset.

However, before I knew it, everything faded to white and ended the rather satisfying dream. It wasn't long until I returned back to my rather unpleasant situation.

"So, what'd you think?" I heard him ask.

"What was that?" I countered with another question.

"That's for you to find out." He answered vaguely. "I'm just here to give you the pieces. You still have to put them together."

"I think it's more like you're giving me a brand-new puzzle to work with."

He merely laughed in response. "Whatever you say. Ready for the next one?" He pointed to the same wall I had emerged from. However, there was a noticeable difference. The door I had just gone through had finally developed and formed an image of the school rooftop. Another door formed and repeated its blank slate.

"Another one?" I questioned a bit suspiciously.

"You've been through the first door, haven't you? Was it really that bad?" I guess he had a point, but I still didn't trust him at all. "Better hurry before she drowns."

"She?! You mean…?!" When he mentioned that, I suddenly felt alarmed. I remembered Spirit saying she didn't like water for some reason.

"Why don't you go on ahead and find out?" He treated the situation in an unserious way.

It ticked me off, but it worked in getting me to move on. Without sparing another word, I stepped through the passageway to see what awaited me next.

What once was a sunny and slightly breezy afternoon was now occupied by howling winds and drenching rain. Like your usual thunderstorm, claps of thunder and flashes of lightning accompanied this sight. Although my coat and mane had been becoming soaked, there was one thought I had to go over in my mind.

Better hurry before she drowns.

I gasped sharply and noted my surroundings. I had been outside around the shops, but I couldn't quite piece together what exactly was dangerous. Sure, it was raining, but we were nowhere near a river or some kind of pool of water that would ever bring up the idea of drowning in the first place…

I took shelter near one of the shops with a large enough cover to keep rain out of the front. It was dark out already with only streetlamps to light up certain parts of the area, but it must have been extremely late for the shops to already be closed up. I continued thinking to myself about what Red had told me over and over. I knew I couldn't trust him, but I couldn't shake off the feeling that he wasn't lying about somepony drowning. Maybe it was just because the idea of it was scary enough to not brush off so easily.

I had been staring at the moist pavement for quite some time until my eyes wandered over to what looked like a schoolbag. Out of curiosity, I immediately but carefully picked it up with my hooves, seeing as I still didn't have any magic to use. I knew it wasn't exactly right to look into someone else's things, but I wanted to see if I could find who this belonged to. Was it supposed to be Spirit's?

There had been a few things that weren't all that interesting. Mostly just school stuff obviously. However, one thing caught my attention the second I laid my eyes on it. I brought it out and found that it was a spool of thread. Rainbow thread to be exact.

"Wait…" I thought out loud. "I've seen this before… It's…!"

"Heeeeeelp!"

I immediately turned to the source of this unexpected and sudden cry. I turned all over to find the one responsible but the area had been completely deserted. Just where had it come from?

As soon as I eyed the grate that led towards the thin passageway system which prevented the buildup of water in one area, I felt the connection instantly click in my head. I galloped towards the gate and found that it had been broken. I wasn't sure if it was due to some rusted metal, but there had been a hole just large enough for a pony to fall through. To my surprise, the pony trapped inside this claustrophobic enclosed area was not who I had been expecting at first.

"Coco?!"

She had been desperately trying to keep her distance from the slowly but surely rising water. In fact, the water level already appeared to have reached halfway at her legs. "Alex! I'm stuck! Get me out of here, please!" She pleaded.

"Hang on!" I pressed my body against the floor and attempted to reach out towards her. "Give me your hoof!"

She tried to stretch out her hoof as far as she could, but the solid floor at the end of this grate had been just deep enough to have us unable to reach each other. Her hoof was not too far from mine. If my leg was any longer, I might have been able to easily grab ahold of her.

At that point, I decided to risk it for the biscuit. I continued to slide inwards towards the grate in order to bring my hoof closer. It was extremely dangerous, seeing as I could slip and fall inside at any time, but the more I saw my hoof being brought closer to hers, the more I didn't care. Even if I did end up falling inside, I could probably give her a boost out of this deathtrap. The only issue after that would be how I would get out myself.

"Alex, you're going to fall!" Coco exclaimed through what sounded like a breaking voice.

"Don't worry about me! I almost got you!" The tips of our hooves were now touching. All I needed to do was lean in a little more. However, I believed I got too much ahead of myself and lurched forward. Just as quickly as I felt myself slipping right in, I then felt something pressing against my hindlegs behind me.

"It's okay, Alex! I got you!"

"Grab on!" I instructed Coco, holding firm trust into the one watching over me in the back.

She placed her hoof on mine and tugged at it tightly. With all the strength I could muster, I began bringing her up. I felt somepony pull my body from behind, providing a big help in the process. When Coco was free enough, she wrapped her forelegs around my neck until she was finally out of the forsaken hole in the ground.

Taking a short moment to regain our breath, I was immediately tackled by Coco as she almost sobbed onto my shoulder. "Alex! Thank you! You saved my life! I was so scared! I thought I wasn't going to make it!"

"Hey…hey…" I gently patted her back, finding her to be extremely shaken up and terrified.

I could feel her shaking head brush against my completely drenched coat. "I thought I was a goner…" She repeated softly.

"Coco…what were you doing out here in the first place?" I couldn't help but ask.

She pulled her head away and looked at me. "I was coming over to see you…like always. But then it started raining all of a sudden."

"See me…?" I repeated in confusion. As I turned my head around, I noticed another pony right by us, staring silently at the scene we made. It had been Spirit, and I had been so unaware that I didn't even see her or realize that she had been the one that helped me pull Coco up. She was quiet, but she didn't appear to be upset or agitated. In fact, she was softly smiling at the two of us. Nevertheless, I had to give credit where it was due.

"If it wasn't for Spirit, I probably would have fallen in with you." I mentioned.

"Spirit…?" Coco questioned after having calmed down a bit.

Spirit lightly giggled. "I see that name has stuck with you, huh? It's okay, I don't mind. You always give me the coolest nicknames anyway."

Coco immediately turned towards her when she heard her voice. As soon as she realized that Spirit had been observing the two of us, she quickly pulled away in embarrassment. However, I attempted to keep a careful hold of her, seeing as if she was to move the wrong way, she might fall back into the water pit.

Nevertheless, Spirit formed a serious look on her face. "Coco, we should get you back home. Your parents are going to freak if they find out that you snuck out."

"With how wet as I am right now…" She looked over herself sadly. "I think they're bound to find out if they haven't already… If they do, then I might not be able to see Alex anymore. I probably won't even be able to be friends with him."

"Hm…" Spirit thought for a moment before coming to a conclusion. "Alright then. I'll come with you and come up with an excuse. Worst case scenario, I'll take the full blame for it." She stepped towards the shelter that Coco's bag had been in and made sure it was shut before she brought it over here. "I'll tell them I accidentally kept your bag and you had to come over to get it because there was something important you needed."

"You'd really go so far for me?"

"Of course." Spirit cheerfully answered. "You're one of my best friends. I'm willing to pretty much do anything to see you smile. After all, anything your parents do can't possibly be any worse than what our parents do to us." With that last statement, Spirit glanced over to me.

After a brief moment of silence, Coco nodded softly. "Okay…"

"Come on." Spirit gently held a hoof over Coco's back.

I was about to follow them until Spirit objected for some reason.

"Uh-uh. Nope."

"What? Why?" I was shocked to find her preventing me from going along, almost as if I had been the one that hurt Coco.

"Are you crazy? If her parents see you with her, they'll flip! They'll think you're the one to blame, no matter what I say."

Despite having no grounds to understand any context of the matter, I decided to leave it to her. "Alright. Whatever you say then…"

She shared a cheery bright grin before continuing to accompany Coco on the way back home. "I'll see you back at home, okay?"

For a moment, Coco glanced over to me. "See you tomorrow, Alex…"

I simply nodded as I continued seeing them off on my own. It was only a matter of time before this sequence ended, and I'd soon be back at the "lane of memories".

"I don't get it." I mentioned after I found my way back. The door behind me transformed into an image of the rainy scene. "Why are you showing me this? What's this got to do with me?"

"Oh, it has a lot to do with you." Red returned as if he had some kind of omniscient grasp of the reality around us. "You and me both."

"You?" I inquired. "I don't see how any of this has to do with you."

"Tell me about it." He said as he seemed to stare off into space. "Story of my life." After a small break between us, he continued. "Listen, I don't know how much time we have left, but you better get moving. There's a lot more I would've liked showing you, but I'm afraid that last one will have to do." He pointed towards the third glowing and luminescent door. "Once you're done with that, I promise you'll be free to go."

"I still don't trust you." I made sure to voice. "I know you wouldn't just 'let me go' without putting up some kind of fight."

"Trust me or don't." He responded. "It's what I'm doing. Now, hurry it up. I don't want to be here all day."

Remembering that I didn't really have a choice, I drew out a heavy sigh before proceeding on forwards. "Let's see if I'll get any actual answers this time."

"Oh, you will." He stated somewhat sinisterly, almost as if he had been planning to rat out someone.

Despite his last words, I finally walked on and through the apparently last doorway.

Like the previous door, there had been clear differences and subtle differences. It was currently nighttime, but instead of Fillydelphia, I had been on a path surrounded by trees. This immediately came across to me as strange, seeing as there weren't exactly any forests in Fillydelphia, maybe outside where I've never been.

Taking a good look in front of me, what I saw allowed me to immediately distinguish the forest I had been in. This was the Everfree Forest, and the Castle of the Two Sisters laid right in front me. Feelings of déjà vu overwhelmed me. It was like I'd been here thousands of times already.

"Who are you? And what are you doing here?" I heard behind me.

The voice was way too familiar that I couldn't keep myself from ecstatically turning around. "Twilight!"

She was actually right there in front of me. It had been a while since I had seen her, but she didn't appear to be the same way with me. In fact, she looked rather confused and unsettled. "How do you know my name?"

Shoot. This must be the "dream" Twilight.

"You're Princess Celestia's pupil, aren't you?" I saved myself from having to provide a hefty explanation I'd rather not provide to an apparent figment of my imagination. "I've heard about you."

"Yes, I am." Twilight's eyes perked open. "Can I ask what you're doing here?"

I wanted to know that myself, so I had to wing out an answer that popped into my head at the time. "I'm looking for someone." I turned towards the castle and came up with something else to add to that. "I think she's in that castle."

"If that's the case…" Twilight lifted a hoof as she pondered over the situation. "I'm afraid she might be in danger…"

"Huh? What do you mean?" I instinctively leaned in.

"My mentor, Princess Celestia, received reports of suspicious activity in these woods." She explained. "She sent me to find this castle while she gave a quick look around the forest. What is the pony you're looking for doing here in the first place?"

"…I don't know…" I mentioned honestly.

"Hm…" Twilight eyed me for a moment. "What's your name?"

"Alex." I responded.

I doubt I could tell her I was Princess Luna's son here. Who knows what she'd do.

"Princess Celestia told me to wait out here for her, but for everypony's sake, we should get her and bring you and her out of the forest as soon as possible. What's her name?"

"Spirit."

"Okay, Alex." Twilight said with a nod. "Let's find Spirit. If we're lucky, maybe she just got spooked and ran into this castle to hide."

She accompanied me inside, allowing me to lead while keeping a watchful eye out from behind. I genuinely wondered about the whole business of "suspicious activity" taking place in the forest, but I didn't seem to find anything wrong inside the castle. The only thing that bothered me was the eerie silence and army of cobwebs lying all over the place.

As I walked, I went over what I had just told Twilight.

Was Spirit actually in here? I had just said that off the top of my mind, but then again, Red sent me for a reason. A reason I still needed to figure out. Whatever it was, it was a pretty good guess that I'd be finding that reason in this castle. We searched various places in the castle, but we seemed to find no sigh of Spirit or anypony.

"It doesn't look like anypony's here…" I mentioned, faintly giving up the search.

Twilight roamed her head around once more until we suddenly heard a spine-shivering noise. What sounded like the keys of an organ protruded faintly throughout the castle. If keys were being played, then obviously there had to be somepony there playing them. Was it supposed to be Spirit? I, for one, know she always likes to mess with things that might not necessarily belong to her.

"What's that?" Twilight asked in a calm alarm.

"That's the organ." I remembered from our first real exploration of the Castle of the Two Sisters. "I know where that is."

I began trotting towards the lower levels where I last remember the organ being. The lower levels were a maze of their own, but thankfully the erratic and spacious sounds of the keys gave us something to follow. It was only a matter of time before we finally arrived at the doorway to the grand room. I slowly took a cautious peek around the corner from the hallway. It was there where I received a familiar sight of a shrouded pony with their back turned against us at the organ. However, the figure of this pony looked a lot larger than I had anticipated. I sent a glance over to Twilight before I decided to step in and begin to approach this pony.

"Spirit, is that you?" I asked.

"It's about time you got here." A voice that definitely did not belong to the pony I had been looking for responded. This pony turned towards me and removed the cloak that she had been wearing to reveal herself. "I was starting to think you weren't coming."

"Queen Chrysalis?!" I exclaimed from shocking surprise. It had been practically forever since I last saw her. "What are you doing here?!"

"Did a timberwolf strike your head on the way over here?" She questioned without care. "You and I both know why we're here. However," She slightly leaned to look past me. "I believe I made it clear that you come alone, so why is it that we have this little unicorn with us, hm?"

"What's going on?" Twilight asked, having had to be confused out of her wits.

Chrysalis chuckled at her reaction. "I do not know why you brought this one along with you, but I'm afraid it's not too much of a problem to warrant a punishment. In fact, I believe you may have just brought me a satisfying side dish for the dinner I will be having tonight. After all…" She took in a great waft of air in front of her and closed her eyes to most likely to absorb whatever "flavor" she must have tasted. "I sense a great deal of love for her. Could this be another friend of yours? My, oh my, we wouldn't want your precious sister to be jealous now, would we? She waiting all by herself in a cold isolated room for you to rescue her, after all."

"What?! What do you mean?" I demanded. Obviously, she had somepony important to me held captive, but was it really Spirit? Having no prior knowledge of what led up to this scenario bugged the heck out of me!

"Enough talk." Chrysalis ordered. "I've been starving myself for just the occasion. The three of you will be all for me tonight." A glow began emitting from her horn, and soon enough, any exits leading to the outside were sealed off by a sea of green flames. "Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Personally, I'd rather you just give up now, but then again, a game of cat and mouse doesn't sound too bad right now. After all, sometimes I love to play with my food." She concluded her attempt at intimidating us with a lick of her lips.

Personally, I wasn't so afraid, seeing as I've dealt with her before. However, I wasn't sure about what the Twilight here felt. She had looked prepared for battle, but I got the feeling that she didn't know exactly what to do. I actually felt bad, seeing as I brought her into this situation. However, it was completely unintentional as I had no clue what I was getting myself into to begin with.

"What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?" Chrysalis mocked, noticing our silence easily.

Remembering that I had no wings or magic to use, it was like the Canterlot wedding all over again. If I wanted to defeat Chrysalis, I'd need to get those back. I needed to become an Alicorn. However, it had been so long since I was an Earth Pony that I never even thought about how I would just do that. Spirit said that she had been my light and the reason I had become an Alicorn in the first place.

But that just raises more questions.

If Spirit was my light, how was she trapped in here? Couldn't she just escape by returning to me? If she's not with me, then how was I supposed to get my power back to fight against Chrysalis?!

"Alex, watch out!" I heard a warning and came back to my senses when I noticed a green beam deflected right in front of me by another purple one.

"I was only trying to wake him up." Chrysalis mentioned in a faux tone of innocence. "But, I suppose you did it for me anyway."

"Alex, see if you can find a way to get out of here, I'll try to keep her busy!" Twilight suggested.

Chrysalis merely cackled at that idea. "There's no way out. You're trapped here with me, and the only way you're getting out of here is in an empty husk!"

"I can't leave her all to you." I stated honestly. "We're a team after all."

"Team…?" Twilight returned unknowingly.

"Aww." Chrysalis ridiculed. "Now, you're just teasing me, aren't you? Enough talking! I get snappy when I'm hungry!" Just as she was about open fire once more, a ball of light suddenly appeared before us. Witnessing this familiar sight, the three of us could only stand and observe in shock and awe. "What?!"

An extremely tall and long-winged pony emerged from this light, and a glow proceeded to radiate from the tip of her horn. "I'm afraid your reign of terror ends here, changeling."

"Impossible! How'd you—?" Chrysalis's once boasting grin had been broken into a fearful frown. She cautiously stepped back as the flames keeping us inside seemed to die down. "I have one of your earthly subjects imprisoned, and if you so much make another mo—" Several walls of magical barriers trapped her inside the very area she stood on, and no matter how much she struggled with her own hooves and her magic, she wasn't able to break her way out. "No! How can this be!? You weren't supposed to be here!"

Princess Celestia, having trapped Chrysalis in a transparent cage, stood closely on the other side. "I assume you pursued your selfish desires over careful planning. Had you not been so focusing on sucking every ounce of your target's love for yourself, you would have at least had your army here to protect you."

At this assumption, Chrysalis angrily growled. "You…!"

In a graceful manner, Celestia turned and faced towards us.

"Princess Celestia…!" Twilight returned in awe.

"That was quite a bold move entering the castle on your own with someone you didn't know." Celestia mentioned. "He could have been a changeling, for all you know."

Twilight lowered her head in shame. "I know, but… I couldn't just leave him."

Despite her student having made a dangerous choice, she smiled and chuckled warmly. "I'm proud."

"Huh?!" Twilight lurched her head forward from surprise. "Why?! I ignored your orders to stay put outside the castle!"

"That may be…" Celestia placed her hoof over Twilight's head, lightly pressing it against her mane. "But it appears to me that you've finally taken the first step towards friendship."

"Huh?!" Twilight was deeply confused. "Friendship?! Really?! What does that have to do with this?!"

"In time, you'll know." Celestia removed the warm smile off her face and replaced it with a serious one. "I'll keep a watch over her." She glanced over her shoulder towards Chrysalis. "Help your new friend with what he's looking for."

"You'll never find her!" Chrysalis exclaimed within her prison. "I made sure to keep her somewhere none of you could ever find!"

After a few seconds of silence, Celestia merely looked at us and offered us a certain direction. "Go to the library. There will be a chair you need to move, and you'll find yourself a secret room."

"What?! How did you…?!" Chrysalis appeared to be on the verge of having her jaw drop open.

Once more, Celestia chuckled and turned towards us. "Go on then. Hurry."

Twilight nodded and turned towards me. "Come on, Alex."

I followed Twilight closely behind, never really having had much to say. This was all new to me, and there was information I was obviously missing out on what had been going on during and before this situation. However, I, at the very least, knew the room Celestia had directed us to find. It was the secret room that Twilight and I had found during our first thorough visit of the castle. The room that was home to the Journal of the Two Sisters.

"Move a chair and we'll find a secret room…?" Twilight repeated her instructions once we were at the library. "There's a bunch of chairs here. How are we supposed to know which one to move?"

"I know." I responded and took the lead. I brought us towards the long table in front of the slightly out of place bookshelves. If I hadn't known about this before, I wouldn't have noticed that the bookshelves didn't exactly align with the rest. Grabbing hold of the chair on the right side of the table, I yanked it back. It only tilted backwards like a lever, and the two bookshelves began spreading away from each other, providing a new doorway for us to enter.

"Whoa. How did you know?" Twilight asked, turning to me in genuine interest.

"I guess you can say this isn't my first time in here…" I tried to admit without having to go into the whole story.

Twilight and I walked in, and inside, we found a mare that had been sitting still in anticipation. An open book laid by her, but all her attention had been on who had arrived.

"Spirit? Are you okay?" I asked somewhat casually.

"Alex?!" She immediately pushed herself up and threw herself against me. "H-how?!" She began tearing up as she pummeled me with questions. "I-It was all a trap…! How did you make it past her and find me?!"

"I had a lot of help." I smiled gently and turned towards Twilight. "Twilight and I confronted Chrysalis together, and eventually Princess Celestia came to our rescue and stopped the Changeling queen. I don't think you have to worry about her anymore."

"Princess…Celestia…?" Spirit mentioned with wide eyes. "She…?"

Twilight nodded. "Yes. Are you hurt? Princess Celestia and I can make sure you get back home safely. Your parents must be absolutely worried."

Spirit remained deathly silent for a moment. "I don't want to go back home… I hate it there…"

"Your home? Why?" Twilight asked.

"Our parents aren't exactly fond of Alex and me…" Spirit admitted. "In fact, I'm pretty sure we're…"

"Adopted?" I finished.

"Was it that obvious to you too?" Spirit questioned with a hint of shock and surprise.

I merely shrugged as my answer.

Twilight turned to us both and pondered for a moment. "If being at home is really that bad, then maybe I can talk to Princess Celestia. After all, I don't know exactly what happened, but Chrysalis seemed to be really interested with the both of you. There might be a reason for that that we don't know about, so maybe Princess Celestia will take you in for your safety. At least until we get some answers."

"Would we really be safe with her?" Spirit asked.

Twilight nodded. "With Princess Celestia and her Royal Guard, I'd say that's the safest place you could be."

Spirit finally released a huge sigh, but I wasn't sure if it was relief. "I was so worried, Alex… Even if you did manage to find me, I was worried that she'd still hunt us down, so I was ready to…" She paused and seemed to stop herself from talking.

"Ready to what?" I gently probed.

She shook her head and brushed it off. "Nothing. I'm just glad you're here."

With a warm grin, Twilight turned towards the direction back to the library. "Come on. We should get back to Princess Celestia."

Spirit and I followed her, but once we were outside the room, I began feeling the strangest feeling. Something definitely didn't sit right with this, no matter how heartwarming the reunion was supposed to be. Both my head and heart began to throb, and the intensity of these throbs slowly began to grow.

"Alex, are you okay?" Spirit worriedly asked.

"I…I don't know." I honestly believed.

Unexpectedly, I began hearing an immensely distant voice calling out for me. The voice was extremely muffled, and it sounded as if someone was trying to wake me up out of sleep.

"We should get you to bed." Spirit approached me with her hoof stretched out. "You must be tired after everything from tonight…"

Just before she could touch me, there was a loud cry.

NOOO!

Everything froze in my sight, including Spirit.

"Spirit?!" I exclaimed out in fear.

"That's not me…" I heard behind me.

I immediately turned around and noticed the same pony trying to hold back sobs. It was Spirit, but this time, she looked just like the way I remembered. What was going on?!

"Spirit? Is that you? What's going on here?!" I almost demanded, seeing as I had been utterly confused from the start.

"I didn't want it to come to this…but I had to…" She stated through tears dangling at the base of her chin. "He… He wanted to change the past. He forced me to do this."

"What?" I repeated. I was at the point of almost blowing a fuse in order to just get some answers.

"The truth is…" Spirit bit her lower lip and stared directly at my eyes with water brimming in hers. "Alex…I…" She then closed her eyes and proceeded to exclaim out the rest of her response. "Everything you remember now was never supposed to happen!" I remained silent and practically emotionless. I stood there and waited for her to finish. "You see…I…I…I changed everything because I wanted to protect you. This life you're living now wasn't ever supposed to be to begin with. Princess Celestia didn't take you in when you were a kid. You stayed here in Fillydelphia with me because you weren't alone like you think you were. When I told you that you were my twin brother, Alex, I wasn't lying. You are legitimately my twin brother and I'm your twin sister. We may look nothing alike, but we were born together on the same day. I never wanted to tell you any of this because I knew you wouldn't ever believe me. I'm sure even now you still don't, but I had to do this because if I didn't, he would have taken you away from me!"

"But isn't that what you've always wanted?" I heard on the other side where the other Spirit once stood. It was Red, and it seemed he had been directing that towards the real Spirit. "Weren't you always the one who complained about how you wished things were still the way they were before? This was your chance. You could have finally had your old 'twin brother' again."

"No!" Spirit shouted, shaking her head violently and spraying any tears she had off her face. "I may miss the old days…back when he still treated me like a real sister, but there's no way I could take that all away for my sake. I wanted to support him, even if he still forgot all about me, but I couldn't take it anymore. I let it get to my head, and I let my emotions get the better of me yet again." She paused for a moment because of her sniffles. "I'm such a mess, and everything I touch turns into a mess. All I ever want to do is protect you, Alex, but I always even mess that up." She wiped the tears away from her face and formed a serious expression. "But don't worry. The least I can do is fix this mess."

"You sure you want to do that?" Red asked. "You might not see your brother ever again."

Spirit shook her head. "I'll see him. He may never be the same pony he once was to me, but I'm the only one to blame for that. So, it's only right that I reap what I sow." A glow radiated from within her chest as she closed her eyes to focus. Soon enough, my vision soon became distorted and eventually every color faded.

"Oh, Nene. You should know that I already won."

The next moment after, I remember waking up with an eyeful of the castle ceiling. There didn't appear to be anything strange or tampered with as far as I was concerned. It was as if everything I had experienced was just a dream. To be honest, I could feel my memory slipping away as if it was dream. No way. Did I really just dream all that up?

"You're awake…" I felt a hoof caringly brush against my forehead. The motion caused me to expect it to be Fluttershy, but it was actually a completely different pony. It was Spirit, and she had been wearing sort of a half-frown half-smile look to her face.

It appeared I had been in my room alone with her. I sat up and lightly shook my head. "Spirit? What happened?" As I remembered Twilight, Starlight Glimmer, and even Red, I felt myself brimming with more questions. "Twilight! Is she okay? What about Starlight Glimmer?"

Spirit shook her head. "They're fine. Everything's fine. I guess Twilight was able to talk Starlight Glimmer out of messing with the past and utterly ruining our future. Not that it would have mattered if he got his way anyway."

Already knowing the exact pony she meant by that last statement, I inquired about his whereabouts. "And what happened to him?"

"I don't know. He's gone. Disappeared. Haven't seen a trace of him since." Spirit responded, looking rather worried and concerned.

Lastly, I asked how she had been holding up. "What about you? Are you okay?"

She observed herself and shrugged. "Physically, I'm fine. But…am I really okay? I don't know." I didn't know what else to say that pertained to her, so the both of us remained quiet for a moment before she lifted her head up from staring at the floor. "I already hurt you so much, and that's because I tried keeping so much from you. I don't want to do that anymore. I want to tell you everything. No more secrets. Even if you decide to hate me for it."

"Hate you?" I repeated, unable to understand how she could think I'd hate her for anything.

Spirit slowly slid her hoof into mine and began leading me out of the room. "Let's go to the balcony."

During the way, Spirit recapped over what I had missed. After a heart-to-heart kind of talk with Starlight Glimmer, Twilight had managed to turn her way of thinking around. And just like countless others, she became reformed. She wanted to learn more about friendship, so it seemed Twilight had begun taking her under her wing. One of the first things Twilight suggested was going back to her old village and apologizing for what she had done to the others. However, before all that, when she had come back from her apparent wacky time travel, she immediately tried to look for me, only to find me in Spirit's care. I couldn't really straight-up believe that Starlight had been turned over to the good side. Not until I saw her for myself anyway.

"This has been the strangest Hearth's Warming ever." I commented as I rested my hooves onto the balcony railing and observed snow fall lightly towards the ground.

"Yeah…" Spirit returned despondently. "It's hard to believe one pony could screw so much up."

I turned to her as soon as she said that. "You think that, but why? What's the worst thing you've ever done?"

"Giving you a life you should have never had." She answered. "You would think having a power like this would be the most awesome thing ever, but it really isn't. Being able to manipulate time sucks."

"Hold on…!" I almost staggered back. "You can mess with time?! What?!"

"Yes, and it's because I can that everything is not the way it should be. Remember when I was said that we knew each other when we were kids? I wasn't exaggerating or anything. We did. Those moments you went through in Fillydelphia not too long ago. That happened too. Except…he wanted to change them for some reason. And if I hadn't intervened the way I did, you would have faded away from existence. Technically, you would have still existed, but it wouldn't be you. Everything would be different. In fact, it'd be the closest as to how life used to be for us."

I was getting bits and pieces of what Spirit was trying to say, but I still couldn't fully grasp everything as I seemed to have been missing the base information in the first place. "Spirit. What's going on? I want to know. I want to know the things you've been keeping from me."

"Right." Spirit began hanging her head low. "For the sake of time, gosh I hate that word, I'm going to give it to you as short and sweet as I possibly can. To try to make things clear, I'm going to say that that the timeline we live in right now is Timeline Two. The two of us? We perfectly knew each other in the old timeline. Timeline One. You weren't taken in by Princess Celestia in Timeline One because you didn't run away. And you didn't run away because you had me, that is, until that fateful night.

The two of us grew up together in Fillydelphia. We still lived with our foster family, and yes, they were still jerks. But because we had each other, our hearts stayed strong. Besides Coco Pommel, we were still pretty friendless at school, but hey, it was no big deal. To be honest, Coco and you were the only friends I ever needed, along with Miss Cadence, our teacher. When we'd have breaks during class, like recess, the two of us would make our way onto the rooftop and just enjoy the time we had together alone. On especially good days, we'd manage to save up some bits to get ice cream.

We had planned to enjoy our summer vacation, and I especially had plans of my own about you and Coco, but unfortunately, certain things happened. The two of you drifted apart and we ended up moving to Ponyville. It was here where things grew even worse. At this point, I had no idea that I could manipulate time until one day when our foster father tried to hurt me. As if my very emotions were in control of these powers I hadn't known about for so long, time literally stopped when I begged for it to stop. I freaked out, and it wasn't until I got to see you again when everything unfroze.

But that wasn't it. Chrysalis… Apparently, the 'scent' of our love for each other had invited her into our lives, and she kidnapped me. She could have easily sucked the love out of me the very moment she laid her hooves on me, but she wanted to test your love. In fact, she selfishly wanted that love to expand even more than it had already been by forcing you to come find me at the Castle of the Two Sisters. Seeing everything you did for me on her stupid crystal ball, it began to satisfy and make her even more hungry at the same time.

At that point, I couldn't bear to see you sacrifice yourself just to try to save me. I didn't know how, but even when you found me in that secret room inside the Castle of the Two Sisters, I couldn't see any sign of hope anymore. Even though we were able to be together again, so much about us had changed for the worse. You got yourself kicked out of our home, and even if you were to evade Chrysalis once, there was no doubt that she would be coming after us again. She had been attracted to us because of the strong bond we had, and I'm sure you would agree that she wouldn't let something like that go.

And so, I knew, or at least I thought I knew, that I had to change everything so that you'd be safe. During Timeline One, you had done so much for me, and you had to suffer so much because of me. I knew it was going to hurt for the both of us, but I had to do it to keep you safe. So…I went back in time and stopped myself from being born. Remember when I told you that you came from light? I was also a part of that light, obviously, and I managed to find a way to merge with you instead of become separate from you. Thus, I became your light and protector.

Ironically, I wanted to erase my own memories of what happened, so I could be ignorant of my own past mistakes. However, I couldn't do it. The bare thought of forgetting everything about you and ultimately becoming just a total stranger scared me to death. I guess maybe I should have just done it, seeing how things turned out now. Even then, looking back on the things you've had to go through, I can't really say I've done a good job protecting you. No… Your friends here in Timeline Two do a better job protecting you than I ever did. I guess you can't expect a girl, who's sole purpose in life is screwing things up, to try to fix things in her own way."

She finally sighed out through her nose as she rested her head over the balcony railing. I believe I was given the option to respond.

"So, what you're pretty much saying is that I…had a different life? A life where I had been with you since the moment we were born? But…because you changed time and made it to where you technically didn't exist except inside of me, that's why things are the way they are now?"

"You got it. I guess." Spirit mentioned unlively.

"Wow…" I didn't know what to say, so I only observed the scenery before us in silence.

Spirit seemed to sigh heavily by my reaction. "There were two main reasons why I didn't want to tell you this. You would either completely despise me because I stripped you of the life you could have had, or you'd realize the life you're living now is a lie. That, or, you wouldn't believe me and think I'm some kind of delusional filly that's madly in love with you or something. Either way, I didn't really see anything good coming out of it, and some things are just left better not knowing, you know? But after what happened today, I had to spill it. That and because of what I said last night, but it sucks. Because I really do love you, you know? Believe it or not, when we were reunited in this timeline, my only intention had been to be your moral support. To be there when you had no one else. But I got attached to you all over again, and then I began remembering and missing how things used to be when it was just the two of us." She scoffed and groaned as she held a hoof to her seemingly aching head. "I just… I just don't know what to do! I just want my brother back! But at the same time…" She revealed her clenched teeth as tears began escaping from her eyes. "I don't want to tear you away from the friends here you've already made… I just…I just don't know what to do… That's why…I sometimes feel…like I don't want to exist anymore…"

I couldn't lie. I couldn't understand what Spirit had been going through because, as she put it, I was completely oblivious to it at all. This past life she mentioned the two of us having experienced, it was like a dream I don't remember having. Even though I couldn't magically begin seeing herself as I did in that past life, I still wanted to be there for her. In fact, if it helped, I wanted to learn to start seeing her the way I did before. Even if it wasn't possible, I wanted to make the effort.

I carefully brought Spirit in for a firm and tight embrace. I couldn't express the kind of love I had for her back in our past life, but even so, I felt this tiny part of my heart wanting so. It was as if my mind was unaware, but my heart possibly still had a lingering touch of this past life Spirit talked about.

"Spirit, I'm so sorry."

Over my shoulder, I could feel her shaking her head. "There's nothing you need to be sorry about. I couldn't expect you to remember anything about us, but I couldn't help but just lose myself. I wanted something that I knew I couldn't get, like a fairytale. I'm…just a kid who doesn't want to grow up."

"That's just it…" I mentioned. "I can't imagine how much pain you must feel. The fact that I can't attribute to what you speak of because I'm so unaware of it. Yet, in my heart, I feel a kind of sorrow. It's like if my heart knows something I don't, and because I don't, I can't help but feel guilty." Pausing for a moment, I slightly pulled away so I could look Spirit dead in the eyes. "Spirit, I want you to tell me everything about the life we had. If there's any chance that I can give you the same kind of love that I did back then, then I want to take it. After all…" For a moment there, I began feeling tears well up in my own eyes. "If you're really my twin sister, then I want to be a real twin brother to you."

She stared back at me in a moment of silence as droplets noticeably passed downwards through her cheeks. "You really think…there's a chance?"

"I'd say it's worth trying."

Running through her sniffles a bit, she rested her head on my shoulder. "Okay."

Back inside the castle, we were extremely surprised to see everyone gathered in the throne room. By everyone, I mean everyone that had missed all that happened this very Hearth's Warming while they were off with their families.

"What's going on here...?" I asked out of curiosity.

Everypony sitting around the table turned to look at me, but one particular pony's ears perked up. At the sight of me, she immediately jumped off her seat and rushed towards me. I was pushed back as if a bag of flour had been thrown at me and struggled to regain my balance. "Whoa, Twilight…!"

"I'm just so glad you're okay! You won't believe what Spike and I went through!" She returned.

"You won't either…" I nearly mumbled as I glanced over to Spirit with a subtle smirk.

Despite the fact Twilight and I were hugging, Spirit didn't look bothered by it, which was a great sign. She only sent back a warm and genuine grin.

"We'll have to teach each other all about it later, but for right now, I think we just came to a conclusion about Starlight Glimmer." Twilight brought up.

"Starlight Glimmer?"

Twilight then nodded over to Spike, and he scurried on over to the grand doors of the room. Once he returned back in, another pony followed. It was Starlight Glimmer, and she obviously no longer carried a grudge or any kind of resentment in her eyes. In actuality, she appeared to be burdened with guilt.

"I know there's no excuse for what I did, but I want you all to know that I'm ready for whatever punishment you think is fair."

I've been thinking a lot about how badly Equestria fared without just one group of friends." Twilight replied, sitting back on her throne. "Because even when one friendship dies, the results can be disastrous."

"I know first-hoof how true that can be." She mentioned oddly, sending me the hint that I definitely missed out on information Twilight must had gained in my absence.

"And that's why I've asked you here." Twilight lifted Starlight's drooping head. "If you're willing to learn, I'm willing to teach you what I know. You'll have the power to make Equestria an even better place."

"How do I start?" Starlight asked in a hushed tone.

"Starting is easy!" Twilight placed a hoof over her shoulder and looked over us. "All you have to do is make a friend! And you've got nine of them right here."

Almost like I had completely forgotten everything that she had maliciously did, I approached Starlight and extended out an inviting hoof. "So, Starlight Glimmer, it's nice to meet you."

"Huh?" She returned in confusion, and it wasn't until she noticed Twilight's guiding gestures that she followed my lead. "I mean, yes, it's nice to meet you too. I hope we can, um, be good friends!"

"Any friend of Alex is a friend of mine!" Spirit jumped in, willing to partake in this restart of a friendship.

After shaking Spirit's hoof, the rest of the others surrounded her, and she was immediately greeted with love and acceptance. "Thank you! Thank you all!"

"I never thought that I would find a place" Starlight began to sing.

"To step right in and start again

I never thought that I could just begin

Right where I left off and make a friend" Though they were her words, I couldn't help but feel as if they could relatedly describe the situation between Spirit and me.

"Don't ever think that it might be too late" Twilight continued, leading her and the rest of us out the castle doors.

You don't have to wait, there's no mistakes with the friends you make

A friendship's only made of what you bring

And if you do it right, you can do anything"

Making an example of Twilight, I turned my attention over to Spirit and proceeded to stick close by her, willing to restart what had been originally been lost between us.

"Just use your eyes" We all chanted in unison, following the road into town.

"This time, no lies

Just don't disguise

Who you are inside" I grabbed a hold of Spirit's hooves with my own and twirled her onto the air, creating a link between our eyes and deeply meaning every word I expressed. For that short moment, I could see a sparkle form in those eyes, and without a doubt, I knew there was no covered guilt behind them.

"Because your friends are always there for you" Starlight began partaking in activities between each of the other girls, but I made sure to dedicate this time for Spirit meanwhile. I even went as far as getting Spirit accustomed to the water, having known about her phobia. She had to wear floaties on each one of her legs while holding on to me in a small pool of water in the bathtub, but it was a great start nonetheless.

"You don't have to be the same for friendship to be true

Because your friends are always there for you

Around the world, it's still the same

Together you have more to gain

There's nothing that a friend won't do"

In town, almost just like the Cutie Mark Crusaders, we had acknowledged our circle of friends and their impact.

"Everywhere you go

Friendship there will grow

When you find it, it's the key

Friends can change the world, you see

Everywhere you go

Friendship there will grow

When you find it, it's the key"

Again, like magic, as many of the other ponies, whom had a part in our lives, big or small, from town gathered around, I found Octavia popping beside me as she watched me with half-lidded eyes. Derpy drooped downwards from the air above, and Vinyl playfully semi-climbed onto me.

"Friends can change the world

Friends can change the world

Friends can change the world, you see~!" Noticing everyone gathered around, I realized that nothing in Fillydelphia could have been worth any amount of what had been expressed here today. I essentially looked towards Spirit and caught her attention. At that moment, I wanted to express how thankful I was, and if I was able to put it in words, I wanted to show her just how much love she had created because of her actions.

Starlight Glimmer ended up moving into the castle, seeing as she surprisingly had now become a pupil under Twilight. The castle was extremely spacious, so it definitely wouldn't pose a problem. As she settled in, we learned of each other's Hearth Warming Eve. Applejack and Pinkie Pie apparently had an issue with their own families and were close to leaving early, but they managed find a solution together. Even so, I'd say that Twilight and I had the strangest and most dangerous Hearth Warming ever, but I suppose the end result was worth it.

In fact, before we were going to get ready for bed, Twilight, Spirit, and I spent some time in my room going over the details of our bizarre journey through time. It wasn't until Twilight gave us a grand yawn when she decided she would be taking her leave.

"Well, I guess I'm off. Night, everypony!"

"Oh, wait! Twilight!" Spirit called out, lifting up her hoof.

"Hm?" Twilight's eyes met with Spirit's as they faced each other.

"Um…" Spirit timidly glanced downwards for a moment. "I just want to say…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you so uncomfortable. And I don't want you to feel bad about your close relationship with Alex. I just hope you can…I don't know…maybe make some room for me…?" She grinned adorably as she expressed a light blush of embarrassment.

A smile stretched out on Twilight's lips and she approached Spirit before wrapping her hooves around her neck. "You know it! After all, we're sisters, right?" She exaggerated a wink to her newly implemented sibling.

With a somewhat shy nod from Spirit, Twilight retracted her hoof and waved us goodbyes before she left us to ourselves.

"I still can't believe it though." I mentioned in the middle of the brief silence between us. "How is it that you can turn time?"

"I don't know." Spirit returned as she glanced back at me with a playful expression on her face. "How is it that you're able to work with light into becoming an Alicorn all of a sudden?"

"Touché." I merely slowly applauded her answer.

She giggled. "To answer your question seriously, I really don't know. I didn't ask for this, and as you already know, I'd kind of prefer not to have it. I've been able to sort of ignore it ever since the start of your new life, but I accidentally let it out of control once or twice. That was only because I had been bottling up my feelings and emotions though!"

"I understand." I stated with a nod. "I'd figure time's not something to be taken lightly with, you know?"

"Believe me, I know." Spirit shared with enthusiasm as she plopped down beside me. "We're a couple of oddballs, aren't we?"

"Yep." I dragged out neutrally, unsure if I should see that as a good thing or not.

A heavy sigh bellowed out from Spirit, causing me to look at her in concern. "I just…still kind of wish you could at least see the things we've done in our old life. Just hearing me talk about it, it's like all you have to go on is your faith on my words."

I placed a hoof on my chin and thought about it for a moment. "Hm… You want to show me things we've done back then?"

"Yes!" Spirit exaggerated. "So much!"

Something almost immediately clicked in my head, and I quickly searched through my things to find a specific item. As soon as I found it, I brought it over to Spirit and asked her a question. "You like to draw, right?"

"Oh, yeah…!" Spirit remembered one of her pleasures. "In fact, back then, I was more of the artist instead of you."

Guess that explains my interest in art…I think.

I shook off that thought and presented her a familiar sketchbook. "I know you're an amazing drawer, so here. You want to show me things that we've done in the past? Why don't you draw them on here? That way, as you're telling me stories from the past, you've got something to show me. It's almost like an illustrated book."

She gasped as she observed my gift. "Really? Isn't this the sketchbook Twilight got you from Rainbow Falls? Would it really be okay to…?"

I nodded. "I haven't really touched it to tell you the truth, but I think you'd use it more than me. Either way, I'm sure Twilight would love to tune in to hear what you have to say to. She is your sister, after all." I smirked.

Spirit carefully accepted it and took a gentle look through it. "Okay… I'll do it then. After all," She looked back up at me and smiled in a teasing kind of manner. "It'll give me something to do while I'm giving you space to be with your friends."

"You don't think you're still a burden, do you?" I asked in concern.

She shook her head. "No. But I can't cling to you all the time, you know? It's time for me to start growing up…but that doesn't mean you're off from my hook so easily!"

Spirit lurched forward as if wanting to make her message clear.

"Alright, alright, I got it." I assured her.

She rummaged through my stuff for a while in order to find a pencil. When she did, she immediately began sketching out something on the first blank page of the sketchbook. "I'll call my story 'Summer Days'." She stated when she placed down her creative tool.

"Can't wait to see it." I genuinely returned before looking downwards and pondering a bit about my 'new life'. "Call it a lie all you want, Spirit, but I'd say this new life is a blessing for me. In fact, it was one of the most amazing things you could have ever done for me. That's why, hopefully speaking from my old self, would you join me in this new life?" I asked as I stretched out my hoof towards her.

Closing her sketchbook with one hoof, she began to reach out with the other. "Athena." She mentioned, surprising me. "My name is Athena."

Immediately recognizing similarities between both of our names, it was getting harder by the second to disprove the real twin aspect of our bond. As she grabbed ahold of my hoof, I nodded and revealed a bright and partially excited grin.

"Got it. Love you, Athena."

The Crystalling

How long had it been since we last reconvened with our former teacher? I knew Cadence and Shining Armor were having a baby, but after hearing the news of a baby now available for all soon to see, it was somewhat exhilarating, to say the least. Personally, I didn't really have much experience with seeing longtime friends grow up, but this was the closest. Although there was a large gap between, I've known Cadence since I was a kid. She was obviously a lot older than me, but it still felt kind of weird yet exciting to see her "growing up", so to speak.

Everyone already seemed to have ideas on what kind of gifts they were going to give for the "Crystalling" Shining Armor and Cadence were going to have, but I was kind of drawing blanks. Everyone else was practically making their own gift, so I would feel bad if I was the only one who bought something from the store. The only thing I could think of doing to help relieve the guilt was helping the others with their gifts, but I knew they could have done it easily on their own.

I decided to share some of my worries and stress with Fluttershy as she ironically sewed her gift in front of me. Nevertheless, she intently listened to every word I said and proceeded to offer her thoughts on the manner.

"I understand that you might feel like you need to bring something too, but the truth is, I'm sure Shining Armor and Princess Cadence will be absolutely happy just to see you there." She continued poking the needle through a stuffed replica of Angel and repeated her weaving movements as she tightened each piece of fabric together.

"Yeah, I know that." I answered as I rubbed the back of my mane a little harshly. "It just seems like something you have to do, if that makes sense? I know they won't get mad or anything if I don't bring something of my own, but still, it feels kind of wrong to be the only one not contributing."

"If it bothers you that much, why don't we do this?" She cut the thread she had been using with her sewing needle and turned over the stuffed animal to give me a full-frontal look. "This can be from the two of us."

"But you did all the work…" I averted my eyes in shame.

"Who's the one that went to town to buy me the fabric, hm?" She returned an adorable and confident smile.

"I did…" I felt my cheeks glow in heat as another arrow struck my heart, joining the crowd that was well over the occupancy limit. "But, that really isn't anything special."

"Any little thing you do counts, sweetie." I felt a heart skip a beat as she calmly spoke. "You of all ponies should know that. You think you might not do much, but I can tell you right now that, because you're here, I feel like I was able to put in a lot more love into this gift." She held up the stuffed bunny and extended its arms out in front of me as she curved her smile over its shoulder. "Come on. I know you can't say no to being a poppa to this little bundle of joy."

Right in the feels… There's no way I can resist.

Despite how sad or worried I might have been, my lips ended up forking over a genuine grin. "Okay, okay, Fluttershy. If you really don't mind, then I'll take you up on your offer."

She placed her gift down on the table and surprised me when she scooched up closer to me. She rested her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes while holding on to her soft smile. "I can't help but wonder how it would feel like."

"How what would feel like?" I asked.

"To have a foal." She answered, causing another bump within my heart.

"I would think it's sort of the same thing with your animals." I assumed a little nervously. "You feed them, nurture, you know, all that stuff."

"That's true." She opened her eyes but seemed to keep her sight on the floor. "But, I know it's a little different with a foal. To know that they come from you. You spend your whole life with them, and you watch them grow up. Unlike with animals, you know that eventually, they leave their nest."

"Yeah… Guess I'm curious too." I mentioned before a peaceful silence began to envelop us.

It wasn't too long until there was a knock on her door.

"I'll get it." I offered and planted my hooves on the floor. I approached the door and opened it to find a couple of different shaded eyes making contact with mine.

"I thought you might be busy." She said. "Twilight wanted to know if you and Fluttershy were ready to get going.

"I think so." I looked over my shoulder to see Fluttershy observing our interaction out of curiosity. "Fluttershy, are you ready to start heading on over to the Crystal Empire?"

"Mm-hm." She nodded and carefully tugged on her stuffed animal, so she could nestle it around her wing. When she came over at my side, she seemed to have noticed something different about me. She stopped to take a look and ended up patting a hoof behind my head. From what I could tell, she appeared to take a moment to fix my hair, and I heard my sister giggle at the sight of this, causing me to look slightly away in embarrassment. "There you go." She smiled and turned over to notice our visitor. "Hello, Athena. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing great, thanks." Athena seemed to almost timidly respond back. "What about you, Fluttershy?"

"Absolutely wonderful. Thank you." Fluttershy answered back with an extremely bright yet soft grin.

It was especially delightful to see the two of them getting along with each other, not that Athena doesn't get along with the others as well. Ever since she had spilled the beans about everything between us, Athena walked around as if a giant load had been taken off her back. However, besides Pinkie Pie, she was still kind of getting used to being friendly with the others. Nevertheless, it was nice to see her enjoying herself.

At the train station, we met back with Twilight and the others. Of course, they all had been carrying their gifts with them. The biggest one was Applejack's cradle that she had been covering with a blanket and bow. It was a nice way to keep it a surprise. If I hadn't already known what she had been building, I didn't think I'd be able to guess what it was. Either way, I was just about to offer her some help in getting it on the train until somepony else offered first.

"Do you need any help with that, Applejack?" Athena asked with a sweet smile.

"That's mighty kind of you to ask, Sugarcube." Applejack responded. "But, I can carry this fine on my own."

"It's going to be kind of a tight fit for the train." Athena pointed out. "At least let me help you bring it in?"

Applejack scratched her chin with her hoof until she finally nodded. "In that case, I suppose I wouldn't mind a little help. I really appreciate it!"

"Not a problem at all!" Athena's engines revved up as she energetically accompanied Applejack with her cradle.

Noticing everyone beginning to enter the train one by one, I glanced over to Fluttershy and nudged my head forwards with a stretching smile. I had already started to walk on ahead, but just as I turned my head back towards the door, I unexpectedly bumped onto somepony else. I had to pause momentarily to rub my horn and give my head a little shake before I opened my eyes and found the pony in front of my doing the same.

"Oh, sorry!" It had been Starlight Glimmer, and she appeared to be rather anxious as she frantically apologized. "Why don't you go on ahead?"

"It's okay." I assured and waved my hoof inwards towards the open door. "Ladies first."

"Pssh." She lightheartedly flicked her hoof while throwing her head carelessly to the side. "You don't need to do something like that. You were already heading inside before me. You go first."

"It's really no big deal…" I answered. I knew I could have easily gone in and put an end to this silly impasse, but I suppose the 'gentlestallion' inside me wanted to see Starlight go in first. "After you."

"I really think you should. After all—"

"Uh, you guys want to get your butts in here?" We heard from one of the windows on our side of the train. I turned to notice Rainbow Dash looking at us with an impatient expression on her face. "The train's gonna get going any minute now."

"S-sorry!" Starlight Glimmer apologized once again before she bowed in front of me. "If you insist, then I'll go in first. Unless…you want to—"

"No, no." I immediately answered before we'd risk getting left behind. "Please, go in."

She flashed me an awkward grin before finally trotting inside. "…right."

After escorting Fluttershy inside, we reconvened with the others as they sat right by their gifts. Starlight Glimmer had taken a seat next to Twilight, whom already had been flipping through the pages of her guide to foals by the second. Fluttershy and I found a seat to relax on and patiently waited for the time the train would begin moving.

Fluttershy recovered the stuffed animal that had been nestled carefully under her wing and brought it out into the light. Nevertheless, she held a hoof around it as if to keep it from suddenly falling. She studied her gift for a moment before she turned towards me with a gentle beam of her lips.

"What?" I curiously asked, finding her exact expression a little unusual.

"Oh, nothing." She returned as if she had been burying a certain thought in her mind. At the same time, she softly brushed her hoof against her homemade bunny as if it had been the real thing. "For some reason, this is reminding of our train time together way back when. Even the time when we weren't, you know, together…"

"Really?" I asked and took some time to think about it. It wasn't like it had been years since we were last on a train together like this. Was it because I hadn't really been spending as much time with her as I used to? I'd always try to make time with her whenever I could, but I'm sure the both of us noticed that there was something different about those times when you compared it back to when we first started seeing each other. I didn't want to believe that our love was 'dying out' or anything. If that was the case, I wouldn't still feel butterflies every now and then anytime I saw her. However, maybe this 'change' happened when I got my horn and wings. It was something all new to me, and to be honest, it was something I wasn't sure I wanted. Or, maybe it could have been when Twilight and I were instated to royalty. There were a lot of things and events that came to mind which could have caused this 'difference' I had been going over, but I didn't realize that I had been utterly enveloped in silence until Fluttershy snapped me out of my thoughts.

"You okay, sweetie?"

I swung my thoughts out of my mind and unintentionally shook my head in the process. Ironically, I nodded my head afterward in order to answer her question. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about what you said and how maybe you might have had a better time back then…"

"What do you mean?" She asked, her lips now folding downwards as her eyebrows drew together in concern.

"I don't know." I began diving back into my thoughts. "It's just, I can't help but feel like there's something that changed between us, and I don't mean that in a bad way. When I think about how it used to be when we first starting seeing each other, it felt like I could be with you without a single care about anything else in the world. Nowadays, I always feel like there's something in the back of my mind whenever I'm with you. Well, not just when I'm with you, but…ugh." I rubbed my hooves against my face and felt my words begin to mess up and splatter all over my mental space. "I don't know how to describe it. I guess the best way I can put it is that I sort of feel like there are so many responsibilities and duties I need to worry about, and even though I can still spend time with you, those same things in my head keep me from really spending time with you, you know?"

"You don't need to worry about me so much, Alex." She quickly nestled her head lovingly into my chest and smiled warmly. "I understand that you'll be busy a lot of times, and I don't want you to feel pressured into seeing me whenever you can. If I have to be honest, there are some things I wish we could do together that you aren't necessarily able to do right now, but I'll gladly wait until you feel like you're ready or have the time."

"Thanks, Fluttershy." I expressed with not as much enthusiasm as I would have liked to and returned her affectionate gesture by rubbing my coat against hers. The question is…when will I feel like I'm ready? When will I feel like there's nothing itching at the back of my mind for once?

I heard a pair of hooves grow closer until they stopped near our seat. I turned to find Athena slightly looking away with a small blush as she rubbed her front leg with the opposite hoof. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"No, not really." I answered, seeing as we had just finished conversing about what had been in my thoughts. "What's going on?"

She took a seat by me and faced a little more towards the other direction. "Hey. What do you think about Starlight Glimmer?" She asked with a soft voice as she looked towards the seat the subject of the question had been sitting at.

"What do I think of her?" I repeated with unclarity. "What do you mean?"

"Well, do you still think she's a bad pony or something?" She somewhat clarified.

I thought about my answer for a moment. If I could be honest, I didn't think of her as a bad pony whatsoever. Not anymore, at least. At first, I was a little hesitant about Twilight letting her stay over at the castle, but having experienced her behavior for myself after the whole "time" dilemma, I figured that she was sincerely trying to make up for her past misdeeds. In fact, I could confidently say that I'd rather trust my life with Starlight Glimmer than Discord. It didn't look like Starlight Glimmer was going to end up needing a third chance, but I suppose time would be ultimately the judge of that. "No, I don't." I answered. "Why? Do you still find something wrong with her?"

Athena shook her head. "I just wanted to know what you thought of her. I can tell she's dealing with a lot of pain or some kind of guilt. And if you ask me, I'm pretty sure it's because of everything that happened before. You know how I stuck with Twilight while you were at Fluttershy's? Well, I noticed that she was going out of her way to make sure I didn't feel uncomfortable or anything. Like, she would ask if I was hungry, and if I was, she'd offer to get me something to eat. I'd tell her that I was fine, but she really insisted on doing something for me."

"Oh, really…?" I responded. "I think I can see what you mean."

Athena wasn't the only one Starlight Glimmer was being overly nice with after all.

"That's not all." Athena continued. "Since she's studying under Twilight now, Twilight came up with a friendship lesson for her, and she is absolutely terrified. Remember when Twilight told us the reason why Starlight had been so angry at us? Besides us 'ruining her village' and yadda? Well, Twilight thought it would be best for her to meet up with her old friend back when she was a filly. Starlight isn't so fond of that idea, and I can see why."

"Isn't that kind of a good thing?" I questioned, understanding Twilight's point. "If the real reason behind the whole cutie mark incident was about losing her friend, then wouldn't reuniting with that same friend help patch things up?"

"Except you're forgetting one thing." Athena turned to me with serious and furrowed eyebrows. "Her friend, Sunburst, went on ahead to study magic at the same school Twilight went to. Meanwhile, Starlight lost herself to the pent-up aggression inside and tried to enslave a whole village. How do you think she's going to keep something like that from her friend?"

I wanted to tell Athena that she didn't have to keep it from her friend, but before I could blurt it out, I immediately thought about it a little longer. I had no clue on what kind of friend this Sunburst was to her. He could have easily been one of those friends who left you during the bad times. In other words, he could not have been a true friend at all. In turn, this realization caused to me go over my answer and think of another way to respond to Athena, but she called me out before I could get too far into the process.

"You don't have to answer that." Athena assured. "What I'm trying to say is that…maybe…you should try to talking to her."

"What do you mean?" I asked, having had no expectation of that kind of suggestion.

"You know exactly what I mean." She returned with unquivering eyes. "I'm not saying that you should go out of your way or anything. It's just…" She turned back to Starlight Glimmer, and as I followed her eyes with my own, I suddenly got an uneasy vibe coming from her object of focus. Starlight had been staring outside her window, and based off of my own experiences, it was pretty clear to me that most of her attention had been in her own head. "…she looks like she could use someone to talk to and give her advice."

"Don't take this the wrong way…" I clarified before I continued. "But, why don't you do that? I get the feeling that the two of you would get along with each other pretty well."

"I'm just barely trying to get to know your friends on my own, Alex." She reminded with a harsh whisper. "It's hard enough to do that. I don't want to mess anything up, is all I'm trying to say."

I didn't want to make any excuses, as I didn't want to sound like I was too lazy to talk to her or something. Honestly, I wouldn't mind getting to know her a little more personally anyway, but I just wasn't sure I was going to do it.

"Alright." I accepted Athena's suggestion. "I'll see what I can do."

After a hefty show and tell from Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash that revolved around their gifts, I got to witness an attempt of stalling from Starlight Glimmer when it came to her friendship lesson. Had Athena not caught me up to speed, I was sure that I wouldn't have noticed it. Twilight didn't notice it either, and I found it questionable since she was Starlight's teacher after all.

At that time, I tried to understand what had been going through Starlight's head. If it was me, I would have been straight up with Twilight, but there laid the key point. If it was me. Maybe Starlight was still afraid of what Twilight would think, and I supposed it couldn't hurt to help nudge her into being more honest. I was kind of the same way with Athena, but then again, she had been holding back a bunch of mind-blowing secrets. I don't think that was the same case with Starlight.

I listened in on Twilight's guidance when the train came to a stop and everyone else was lining up towards the exit. Athena made her way to Applejack to offer her help with the cradle again, so it was only Fluttershy and me that was at the back of the group. Nevertheless, Twilight had been holding a huge and unfolded checklist, and I was surprised no pony else had tripped over it as it had been dragged across the floor of the train. At the same time, she had been loyally reading off the list as Starlight followed behind and looked nowhere near as excited as Twilight did. Nevertheless, Twilight had only made it to the second step before her voice was cut short.

She had been unaware of the properly built stallion in front of her and found herself dropping her list as she bumped into him. While Twilight had a second to study who had been standing in front of her, a bright grin immediately splattered on her face.

"Shining Armor!"

"Twilight...!" Her brother answered rather exhaustively as he pulled her in for a warm embrace.

From all the other times we had seen him, he was always so attentive. In fact, he always gave off this protective and strong aura that complimented his role as the captain of the Royal Guard. In this one case, it was the complete opposite. His mane was an absolute mess, and his eyelids were screaming for help, almost as if they had been tortured by a long staring contest. His posture was unbalanced, to say the least, and I think it was safe to say that he "wasn't all there".

"I didn't know you were meeting us!" Twilight raised the question, seeing as none of us had been informed that we would be escorted into the castle from the train station.

"Of course I am!" He answered as his eyes literally spaced out into their respective corners. "It's me, right here. Here I am. Why wouldn't I come meet my sister? Though we have met before, heh-heh..."

As I silently observed his behavior, I placed a hoof to my chin and thought to myself momentarily. They just had the baby, right? I think it was a no-brainer that he hadn't gotten any sleep since then. I can't imagine what he and Cadence had to go through just for one baby. Geez, am I going to turn out just like him if Fluttershy and I…?

I caught myself slowly turning towards Fluttershy who stood beside me. She caught me glancing at her, and as soon as I had realized what I had been telling myself, I immediately shook my head. This caused Fluttershy to raise her eyebrow and look at me with a puzzled look.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Nothing…" I quickly turned back to pay attention to Twilight and Shining Armor's conversation.

"Are you all right?" Twilight noticed Shining Armor's behavior.

"Never better! Being a father is amazing!" Shining Armor referenced as he swung his head around a bit exaggeratedly, reminding of an old scary tale from a book about a pony who danced in the streets at night and pointed his head straight at the sky with a big freaky grin on its face. "And wonderful, and amazing, and confusing, and amazing, but surprising too, you know? I mean, not that you'd know. You wouldn't know, I know... You know?" I could hear him almost gasping for air between pauses. Just what had he been through? Everyone in our group looked little freaked out, so he apologized shortly afterward. "Sorry. I haven't really slept since Cadence had the baby. Come to think of it, she hasn't either. It sure would be great to get a break."

"Oh, of course!" His sister recognized. "I don't know what I was thinking! You two probably need all kinds of help!" She turned and faced her newly appointed student. "I'm sorry, Starlight, but I guess combining your first lesson with this visit wasn't such a good idea."

"Oh, uh, don't be ridiculous!" Starlight's face noticeably lit up. "You're an aunt now! That's way more important than some friendship lesson."

"I just wish there was a way to do both." Twilight appeared to search for another possible solution, but Spike unexpectedly spoke up.

"Maybe there is! You've already done the work for Starlight's lesson with this list. All we have to do is follow it!"

An audible sound of a slap followed as Starlight's face had been pressed against her own hoof.

"Spike, you're a genius!" Twilight praised.

"Yeah..." Starlight nervously laughed before her teeth nearly grinded against each other. "…genius…"

"Then it's settled! Shining Armor and I will head straight to the castle, and you two can head straight to Sunburst's!" Twilight pointed out, earning a salute from Spike.

"Aye-aye, Princess!" He replied before marching off ahead.

"Uh-huh." With a shaky voice, Starlight nodded her head before following Spike.

"Alright, big brother, let's go see this amazing baby pony!" Twilight turned back to her brother, only to find him having dozed off completely while she had been straightening things out with Starlight.

As Twilight attempted to subtly wake him back up, Athena approached me by my side. "Do you think you might want to go along with Starlight instead?" She asked.

"I know you wanted me to talk to her and all that, but I don't exactly want to get in the way of her lesson." I responded with. "If we have any free time before the actual Crystalling, and Starlight's still having trouble with her lesson, then I'll see what I can do from there on." I began to tap my hoof against my chin as I recalled the events that were scheduled for us today. "Besides, I think Tia and Luna are supposed to be with Cadence and the baby right now, right? It's been a while since I've actually seen them. Now that I think about it, especially with all this baby business, Luna's probably itching to see me." As I almost began to spiral into a ramble of reasons for focusing more on this Crystalling, my eyes suddenly widened in realization. "Wait a minute! That's right!"

"W-what?!" Athena returned an almost frightened expression on her face as her body jolted backward with one of her hooves curling up in front of her chest.

"You've never actually officially met, have you?!" I referred to both her and Luna. "We definitely have to go see the baby. I can't wait to see the look on her face when she finds out that she has a daughter too!"

"Are you kidding?" Athena appeared to be rather bothered by the idea. "She'll never believe you. You don't have to tell her that I'm her daughter. Just leave it the way it is. There's no point."

"No way! That's what you get for being my sly twin sister!" I pointed a hoof towards her face in a playful kind of manner. "What kind of daughter would you be if you didn't even acknowledge your own mother?" I was really pushing her buttons now.

"Urghh!" Athena groaned as she shook her red-hot face. "You're so dumb!" She walked off ahead, even though Twilight had just managed to shake Shining Armor out of his slumber so that he would escort us to the castle.

"Where is she going…?" Fluttershy asked me, everypony taking notice of her sudden leave.

"I don't really know." I responded with a small shrug, having no clue on where she thought she would go.

Of course, as Shining Armor had been leading us towards the castle, I managed to find her standing patiently on the side of the path we took. She had been obviously waiting for me, but it was clear that she didn't want to admit it. She averted her eyes to the side, unwilling to look at me as a troubled frown remained glued to her face. Despite her clear expression, she immediately joined me at my side as I passed by, but she didn't say anything at all.

"You know I was just messing around with you, right?" I mentioned.

"Hmph." She turned her head away and puffed out her cheeks. "You owe me something sweet for that."

"I'll give you whatever you want if you let me introduce you to Luna." I offered. "Deal?"

She decided to open one eye towards me. "Why are you making such a big deal about this? I told you that you don't have to do that."

"Athena," I began to address her a little more seriously, "You've never really gotten to experience the closest to what it feels like in having a real mother, right? We've already kind of missed out on it when we were foals, but don't you want to at least have some sort of idea now? I kind of get what you're saying about there being no point, but you never know. I can't really be with Luna every day, but I'm still glad to be with her on occasions like this. She might not even feel like a mother to you, but the longer you spend time with her, the more that'll change."

Athena sighed heavily and slowed down her walking pace, having me match with hers, so I could keep up with her. "For the entire time I've been breathing, I've pretty much dealt with having no parents, even back when we were little. That's why I've always counted on you. You were my family. You were all I needed. I can understand why she'd be crazy about you, considering that she got to see your face before you were sent off to our other family. She doesn't even know I exist. What makes you think she'll be so accepting of me?"

"I guess I can't say that she'll hug you to death and cry endlessly, but I think she needs to know." I suggested. "It sort of feels wrong if we keep something like this from her. All I'm saying is that it doesn't hurt to just, you know, introduce yourself. We'll deal with whatever happens afterward."

Athena sighed once more. "Fine. I'll do it. But, if anything bad happens, I'm going inside you, and I'm not going to come out for days."

"Alright, alright." I accepted. "You got it, drama queen."

When we arrived at a specific room in the castle, Shining Armor made sure to give us an odd warning about the baby for some reason.

"Before we go in, I should probably tell you. Seeing the baby might be a bit of a shock."

This opened up a gateway of imaginative thoughts in my mind. Was something wrong with the baby? Did the baby have some kind of condition that was uncommon? Did the baby not even look like either the mother or father? That would certainly be shocking.

Nevertheless, Twilight didn't take her brother's remark too seriously, and she decided to open up the door to the room without thinking twice about preparing herself for the unexpected.

"Come on, big brother. I've met babies before. I expect meeting this one won't be any different."

We followed Twilight inside, and I immediately noticed every one of the princesses standing by the bed where the baby was. I gave a little wave to them, but curiosity had me turning up to the baby's bedside before making any conversation with them. Their baby was all bundled up in a light blue blanket, and the horn on its head was easily noticed.

So, their baby was a unicorn. I assumed that that was the most likely scenario, considering that Shining Armor was a unicorn and Cadence was an Alicorn. I didn't know any of the in-depth science when it came to biology and all that, but I figured it would take the most common trait between the two parents. That was having the ability to perform magic, of course. Despite the horn, one look at the baby and it was easy to establish that their child had Cadence's looks. I assumed the baby was a girl, but I wasn't totally sure until I was able to receive some kind of confirmation first.

When Shining Armor said that seeing the baby would be a shock, I had actually been somewhat expecting for the baby to look nothing like either of them. It was a bigger shock with the Cakes' babies, seeing as one was a unicorn and another was a Pegasus when neither of their parents was either. The baby obviously looked like Cadence, so that was out of the window. What exactly was the "shock" Shining Armor was warning us about?

The blanket the baby had been wrapped in suddenly came loose, and when we noticed the cause of it, we found a pair of wings stretching out from the baby's body. I had to take an unintentional closer look as the baby cooed to make sure that these wings were actually attached to the baby's body.

"Of course, I could be wrong." Twilight turned towards her brother and sister-in-law with an expression of shock that the two of them most likely had been expecting. "The baby is an Alicorn?!"

"It looks that way." Cadence responded, revealing a great tone of exhaustion from her vocal chords.

"But... But... But I thought Alicorn wings had to be earned by accomplishing some great, princess-worthy deed!" Rarity brought up, referencing Twilight's ascension to the state of royalty.

"Or, they could just appear out of nowhere and try to take the spotlight out of somepony else's awesomeness…" Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs as she judged me in the corner of her eyes.

"I didn't ask for this." I argued against her comment. "They're here now. Deal with it."

"Don't forget I'm still cool though."

"Before we get off track…" Applejack eyed Rainbow Dash for her unnecessary brash remark before she turned back to the baby. "How is it that a baby can just be born with them? Is it because Princess Cadence is an Alicorn?"

"I cannot say for certain." Tia responded with. "The birth of an Alicorn is something Equestria has never seen."

"When Alexander was born, he didn't have any kind of wings or magic." Luna mentioned, offering some input from experience. "At the same time, he wasn't exactly created in the same kind of means as this little one. It is beyond even our understanding."

"So," Pinkie loudly chimed in, "What you're saying is that she could be a super-strong flyer and have crazy baby magic!?"

"Well, I know all about super-strong flying!" Rainbow Dash mentioned as she gave a short somersault midair.

"And I can help keep tabs on her magic!" Twilight offered.

I would say that they were the best for the job.

"Coochie coochie coo!" Pinkie Pie tickled their baby until her face unexpectedly began scrunching together. It was clear that she was about to sneeze, but none of us had been expecting what came afterward.

As soon she sneezed out loud, a gigantic ray of magic shot out from the tip of her horn and literally broke through floors of the castle, having another resident poke out and stare back down in astonishment from the upper levels. If I wasn't mistaken, I believed that this kind of magic was possibly even more powerful, if not as powerful, than the magic Twilight and I had been given when the news of Tirek's escape surfaced. Having been just born, the baby took this behavior lightly and drifted off back to sleep.

"It appears her magic is more powerful than that of a newborn unicorn!" Tia analyzed after having gently petted the foal.

"The crowds have already started to gather." Luna mentioned after taking a look out the window.

"This Crystalling is gonna be some party!" Pinkie declared excitedly, blowing up a balloon in the process.

"Do you think we should call it off?" Cadence seemed to suggest hesitantly.

As the others offered their inputs on Cadence's suggestion, I took a little time to think silently to myself and turned over to Athena. I wanted to introduce her to her royal family as planned, but I hadn't expected any of this at all. Just by the vibe I got from inside the room, it seemed like everypony was going to be busy, especially with the Crystalling business going on. It was probably best that I'd leave introductions for afterward.

Athena caught me practically starring at her. She cocked her head to the side and shrugged. She probably thought I was trying to get answers from her about the baby's situation, but my stare was more of an unintentional one.

"In light of the little one's abilities, this Crystalling might be more important than ever." I heard Tia say. "Perhaps you should address your subjects and remind them of that."

I took particular notice of Cadence's exhausted face as she nodded in agreement. I hated to say this, even if it's to myself, but the state of her complexion was absolutely at a low point. I was worried that she was in no condition to be doing any kind of addressing. I began to wonder if there was anything any of us could do to help, but seeing as we hardly had any experience or knowledge with the customs here, I figured we couldn't do much.

Once Cadence kissed her baby goodbye, she walked out of the room with Tia and Luna following behind, leaving her husband snoring heavily on top of the baby's bed. I noticed Luna take a short glance over to me, but it seemed she didn't have any spare time for greetings, proving my point that this wasn't an appropriate time to bring up Athena.

"Shining Armor! Do you have everything you need for the ceremony?" Twilight asked as she tapped him awake.

His eyelids fought to lift up until his eyes were suddenly shot wide open. "Huh? Oh, no!" He backed away from the baby and anxiously jogged in place. "I still have to interview the honor guards, choose the purity crystal, and pick a crystaller!" He appeared to lose all strength in his legs and sat down with pursed and quivering lips. This stallion was on the verge of having a nervous breakdown. I suppose I was grateful I wasn't in his position.

"Alright, take it easy." Twilight calmed him. "Pinkie can stay here with me and keep an eye on the baby."

Pinkie turned towards us to reveal that she had already been keeping the baby busy with her silly antics. The baby had been clutching Pinkie's eyes in enjoyment, but Pinkie being Pinkie, it didn't seem she felt any pain or discomfort from that.

"And we'll all help you with everythin' else." Applejack offered.

Despite his former worries, Shining Armor was quick to fall flat on the floor and snore loudly once more.

"That is, if you can stay awake long enough to tell us how." Rarity mentioned at the sight of him.

Twilight tapped his hooves until he mumbled some and slowly opened his eyes to look around the room. "Come on, Shining Armor. I know you're tired, and we're here to help. Just tell us what you need to do and we'll make sure this Crystalling gets done. After that, you can sleep all you want."

"Ugh." Shining Armor pushed himself up from the ground and planted a moderately trembling hoof to his temple. "Okay. First, I need to line up the honor guards. I don't know if there's enough time to interview each one of them, so I might just have to make a decision on the spot."

"I can totally help with that." Rainbow Dash less-than-modestly proclaimed. "I have eye for picking out what's awesome and what's not."

"And then there's picking the purity crystal…" Shining Armor counted with his hoof.

"If any pony can help with that, it's certainly me." Rarity stepped forward as she luxuriously gave a wave of her mane.

"I still need to pick a crystaller." Shining Armor brought up and tapped his hoof against his chin for a moment. "But, now that I think about it, I think I know somepony fit for the job."

"Then, it's settled!" Twilight acknowledged out loud. "Pinkie and I will stay with the baby. After all, Pinkie's has experience with babysitting, and I can keep her magic under control."

"You need any help?" I asked, approaching Twilight by her side. "Fluttershy can help keep the baby a little more occupied, and I can probably help you with her magic."

Twilight thought about it for a moment before she gave a light shake of her head. "As we all noticed before, her magic is pretty powerful. I don't want to risk have either of you getting hurt by it. I think Pinkie and I can handle her just fine, right Pinkie?"

"Yeparooni!" Pinkie sent back, continuing to enthusiastically keep the baby busy.

"Why don't you guys go and help Shining Armor with what he needs to do?" Twilight advised and moved her lips close to my ear. "He looks like he's about to lose it, after all..." She whispered.

I nodded. "Alright."

Earning a closed-eye beam from her, the rest of us decided to follow Shining Armor outside of the castle, so we could start working on making thisCrystalling happen.

There had been a grand curtain that separated our party from the princesses making their announcements to the crystal ponies outside. Here, Shining Armor had managed to line up the honor guards he had been talking about. I wasn't sure if there were more guards capable of the task, or if he just randomly picked out a few and brought them here to "interview".

As we heard Cadence speak on the other side of the curtains, Shining Armor was noticeably growing more panicky and anxious.

"I'm not ready!" He cried out with labored breathing.

"Take it easy! Just pick whoever looks the most like honor guard material." Rainbow Dash shoved a couple of helmets his way, turning him in the direction of his row of assorted guards.

"Right... right." Shining Armor responded and carried the helmets with his magic. Without a moment to think, he seemed to pick the first two guards he laid his eyes on. As the two guards were blinded by the helmets covering their face, the others stepped backward in shame. "I'm sorry." He apologized for his behavior. "Fatherhood is way more stressful than I ever thought."

"I can only imagine." Fluttershy and I found ourselves saying in unison with somewhat contradicting tones in our voice. The two of looked at each other for a moment before we slowly turned away in slight embarrassment.

"Now, I know choosing the crystal of purity is a very important decision." Rarity stepped forward as she held a lavish jewelry casket in front of Shining Armor. "So, I have gone through the trouble of arranging them in order from incredibly pure to outrageously pure."

Fluttershy leaned in to take a look at the crystals for herself until she brought something up to mind. "Um, Rarity, don't they all sort of look the same?"

"Oh, well, to the untrained eye, perhaps. What do you think, Shining Armor?" Rarity asked.

Shining Armor's pupils dilated as he bit his lower lip. There was a heavy amount of incoherent stammering before he shouted out loud. "I don't know!" Afterwards, he fell to the ground and covered his eyes with his hooves.

If I was ever to have a kid, I didn't think I'd have to go through this kind of formal process. Then again, I wasn't exactly sure. Since I am technically royalty, is there something that needs to be done for me on such an occasion? I could only hope that I wouldn't have to go through the same struggles that Shining Armor was going through.

"I hope Twilight and Pinkie are having better luck with the baby!" I could hear Rarity say in a hushed tone.

I sighed heavily and stepped towards Shining Armor. I didn't want to say anything since it absolutely wasn't my place to. It wasn't my Crystalling. It was Shining Armor and Cadence's. However, I couldn't stand seeing Shining Armor losing it every few seconds.

"I know this is important to you, Shining Armor, but I think you might be taking this a little over the top." I turned towards the small casket Rarity held open and brought it over closer to him. "Rarity already did most of the work. If you ask me, just pick something from here. I don't think it's going to make a difference."

"Okay, okay…" Shining Armor removed the hooves from his eyes and took a peek at the crystals in front of him. "Okay, let's see… Eenie, meenie, miniy, mo…" It was a little weird to see someone like our prince here using such a matter to pick out a crystal, but whatever worked as long as it got him to progress through this circumstance.

It honestly took him longer than expected to finally pick out a crystal, but when he did, it seemed that we were able to check off everything that needed to be done. Noticing the messy presentation Shining Armor had given, Rarity went on ahead to grab a brush, along with a few other things, to help freshen him up a bit. Despite the progress we had made, he still was still breathing a little heavily as Rarity brushed down his mane.

Eventually, Cadence, along with Tia and Luna, approached us nearby from within the castle. Shining Armor quickly met up with Cadence to give a report on the preparations for the Crystalling. "Okay. I chose the honor guard, picked the purity crystal, and I know exactly who I want to be our crystaller. So, all we need is..." He paused to look back and rub his hoof against his chin.

"The baby?" Cadence answered for him.

Shining Armor was shocked for a moment to realize that he had forgotten such an essential part, but to his relief, we heard Twilight calling out in response.

"We're here!"

Twilight had been holding a magic bubble with both Pinkie and the baby inside. The baby continued to drag Pinkie around in flight as Pinkie had held on to the baby's legs firmly. That baby must have been really strong too.

"She's a really strong flyer!" Pinkie mentioned, confirming my thoughts.

As Cadence moved forward to retrieve her daughter, I felt a hoof being placed on my shoulder. I turned to find Luna gazing happily at me before she pulled me in for a hug.

"I'm glad you could make it."

"Of course. This isn't something Twilight and I would want to miss, after all." I responded. "Besides, there's someone I want to introduce to you. You've seen her before, but you won't believe the words that are about to come out of my mouth."

"Someone you wish to introduce to me?" Luna repeated in confusion. "Who could this pony be?"

I quickly searched around for the subject of our conversation. It wasn't a surprise when I found her attempting to slowly slip out of sight. "Athena, come over here." I called.

With a light sigh, she walked over to us as she dragged her hooves across the ground and held her head down low. Once she entered our conversing bubble, I began to finally formally introduce the two of them.

"Mom. I'd like you to meet Athena. She's your—"

"WAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

We heard the sharp and extremely loud sound of a baby crying. We turned to find the source sending out sound waves that could nearly shatter every piece of glass in this empire, even something like…

A distinct crackling came from the center of the area. Each one of us noticed the Crystal Heart now looked completely different. From being a firm symbol of great love, it was now riddled with cracks like a shattered mirror. It was only a few seconds before a million pieces from the heart fell towards the floor. For the longest time, only silence enveloped any kind of sound around us.

Applejack was the one pony who mustered up the courage to break the silence and say something. "I'm guessin' that's gonna make it harder to do the Crystalling."

"It's worse than that!" Twilight dashed over to the curtains to take a peek outside. "Without the Heart, the Crystal Empire's about to be buried under a mountain of ice and snow!" She pulled open the curtains, revealing the clouds that were slowly but surely building up over the Crystal Empire.

Well, shoot…

"So... not only can we not take part in a fabulous ancient ceremony, but we're also about to be frozen solid!" Rarity repeated the unnecessary detail of the devastating winter storm that was soon to come.

"But what about when King Sombra ruled the Crystal Empire and the Crystal Heart was missin'?" Applejack reminded us, but she had either forgotten one crucial thing or was never told about it in the first place. "The city wasn't covered in snow then!"

"The Heart wasn't missing." Twilight explained. "It was still in the castle. King Sombra had just hidden it."

"I'm afraid Twilight is correct, and the storm clouds are already forming." Princess Celestia brought up, gesturing her head towards the blackest storm clouds I had ever seen outside.

"I can totally fly up there and bust those puppies! No problem!" Rainbow Dash jabbed her hooves midair. She was just about to take off before Celestia stopped her by closing the curtains on her.

"I wouldn't advise it, Rainbow Dash. Those storm clouds are not like the ones you know." Tia's face had slightly scrunched up in worry. It wasn't the first time that we had seen this kind of worried look, but we knew that our problem wasn't going to be easy to fix as long as that expression remained on her face.

"This far north, the weather has a will of its own, and now it will only grow stronger, enveloping everything in its path." Luna added, the panic within our group beginning to ironically snowball down a slope of distress.

"Including the Crystal Empire!" Cadence cried out, her foal completely oblivious to the kind of peril her home was threatened with.

"And us along with it!" Twilight stepped in, earning a shivering embrace from Pinkie Pie.

"So, what can we do?" Athena asked, holding a hoof to her lips and her eyebrows drawing together in worry. "Are you saying that this storm is literally going to wipe this empire off the face of the earth?"

"The only thing we know that keeps that storm away is the Crystal Heart." Cadence mentioned. "If we want any chance of driving it away in time, we need to fix the Heart as soon as possible. If we can't find a way to do that in time, we're going to have to start evacuating everyone!"

A heavy wind found its way through the curtain that had been shielding us for the most part and inflicted a cold shiver among everypony. Taking note of Fluttershy's somewhat vulnerable reaction, I quickly stepped towards her and wrapped a wing around her. None of us knew that the weather would turn out to be this bad, otherwise, I'm sure we would have had our winter gear to help us endure the cold.

"So, Cadence," I spoke after making sure I was warming Fluttershy with my coat as much as I could, "You don't already know how the Crystal Heart can be fixed?"

"W-well…" Cadence seemed to stutter a bit, causing me to worry that I may have embarrassed her since this was her Empire after all. "This hasn't ever happened before. It was one thing when the Crystal Heart was missing, but all we had to do was find it! I can't say I ever thought that the Heart could actually be broken."

"There has to be a spell or something that can patch up the Heart!" Twilight advised, rubbing her trembling legs for warmth. It was a shame I couldn't help keep everyone warm as much as possible. "There's no way I can believe that there isn't a way to fix it if it can just break like that."

"There may very well be." Celestia responded after thinking silently for a moment.

"But it isn't something that either of us know." Luna informed.

"The library here at the castle is nearly as extensive as the one in Canterlot." Cadence brought up. "If there is a spell that can fix the Crystal Heart, there's a good chance we can find something there!"

"What about the storm?" Twilight reminded. "Can any of you hold it off?"

"Yes. Only for a short time." Luna stated. "But even our magic will eventually succumb to the power of the Frozen North."

Celestia expanded her wings and readied herself to fly in the direction of the storm clouds as her sister joined her. "We will do what we can, but you must hurry."

"Hold on!" I almost stepped away from keeping Fluttershy covered. "Is there anything I can do to help? Like, try to hold off the storm with you guys?"

"Absolutely not!" Luna responded rather sternly. "I will not allow any room for you to be harmed. Leave this to us."

"Right…" I returned a little gloomily after witnessing Luna's almost scorning reaction. I only stood in silence as I watched the two sisters leave the area to focus on their intention of delaying the storms. I knew she didn't mean to make me feel bad or anything. I knew she just wanted to keep me safe, but it still hurt to see how serious she was about this.

Noting my expression, Twilight approached me and placed a hoof on my shoulder. "I don't know how long it will take to find the right spell, but you should probably tell the crowd outside to get somewhere warm." She directed to those that were willing to take the job.

"And try not to mention the Crystal Heart." Cadence advised. "We don't want to start a panic."

"We can handle it." Applejack returned proudly and directed her attention over to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. "C'mon, girls!"

Fluttershy was just about to join them as they galloped past the curtain, but I felt the need to stop her all of a sudden.

"Are sure you'll be alright out there?" I asked.

Fluttershy nodded her head as she attempted to assure me with a sweet smile. "Of course." I sent her a hesitant tilt of my head, causing her to caress my cheek gently with her hoof. "You don't need to worry. I promise I will be absolutely fine. Applejack and Rainbow Dash will be out there with me after all."

I didn't want to keep her from doing her job, so I decided to let her go, despite how uneasy I felt about it. "Alright…"

"I understand that you're worried, Alex, but I'm going to need all your help with the library." Twilight told me. "The place is enormous, and we need to find something as quickly as we can!"

"You can count on us, Twily!" Shining Armor assured, grabbing ahold of their foal from Cadence until she suddenly disappeared out of thin air.

She reappeared on Pinkie's face like a giant spider, but Pinkie Pie clearly hadn't been expecting it. In an immediate reaction, Pinkie shrieked and unintentionally threw the baby away from her face. Shining Armor immediately dove towards the ground to catch her, but just as she was about to land in his hooves, she disappeared yet again. However, the difference this time was that she didn't reappear in our sights.

"Where'd she go?!" Shining Armor cried out in fright.

A distant giggling of a baby girl caused Cadence's ears to perk up, allowing her to head in the direction of the sound and lead the rest of us. "This way!" She pointed back towards the interior of the castle.

What happened next was what I could only describe as utter chaos mixed into a frying pan of pressure. Seeing as Athena and I weren't too familiar with what kind of spell we were supposed to look for, we decided to help Shining Armor and the others in trying to catch the baby, and that proved to be a major challenge itself.

While Twilight and Cadence were speedreading through books, flipping through pages like there was no tomorrow, Shining Armor, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Athena, and I tried to catch our target by using whatever we had at our disposal. But, this baby was fast! Even when we managed to catch her with our own hooves, she would easily just teleport out and pop at some other random place. The baby was taking this entire "scurrying around the library" as a game. Wasn't there any way that Shining Armor and Cadence could keep the baby's magic under control? Because that would help out a lot.

As Twilight read out various book titles, her voice noticeably grew more distressed, and this, in turn, caused morale to shift more towards the negative side. For me, the longer it took to find some kind of spell to repair the Crystal Heart, the more I panicked inside my body at the thought of Tia and Luna being overpowered by the Frozen North. In a way, I began worrying that maybe there wasn't any hope, but if there was any good thing about chasing their baby, it was that it kept my mind off those kinds of thoughts in the first place.

In the midst of all the chasing/semi-warzone, Starlight Glimmer had arrived at the castle library with Spike. I believed I was relieved to see her, trusting that she may be able to help find some kind of spell that Twilight and Cadence were looking for.

"What is going on?!" She asked after just barely ducking down under a beam of magic from the troublesome baby.

"You want the long or the short version?" Pinkie replied as she was being dragged across the floor with one leg by the baby herself.

"Short?"

Seeing as the baby had been distracted with Pinkie during the moment, I turned over to Athena, who had already been at the point of catching her breath, and silently signaled her for the two of us to coordinate something together. Despite continuing to pant a little, she nodded and turned her attention over to Pinkie's dragging body.

"The baby's an Alicorn and she accidentally destroyed the Crystal Heart, so Twilight and Cadance are looking for a spell to put it back together and save the Crystal Empire from turning into a giant wasteland of ice and snow." Pinkie explained with a fast tongue.

I threw the tip of my hoof forwards, signaling for Athena to simultaneously jump in and try to catch the baby together with me. However, I wasn't surprised when this baby apparently pulled up a sixth sense and avoided our capture like nothing. In turn, this left Pinkie, Athena, and I apparently in the middle of a game of twisted limbs and legs. When I was finally able to slip through and free myself, I quickly helped the two of them up.

"Are you okay?" I asked, feeling my voice on the verge of shaking with how messy things were.

"Yuppie!" Pinkie shook the stars off her head and prepared to charge after the baby that flew away from our vicinity. "Come back here, baby! Auntie Pinkie Pie just wants to hug you!"

"Alex, my stomach feels like it's in knots right now…" Athena worriedly expressed.

"Sorry." I apologized, lowering my head in guilt. "That's probably because of me. So much is going on, and all this happened out of nowhere. I just wish we had a moment of silence to take in and think for a minute."

"Is there any way we can help?" Starlight approached as Spike tagged along.

I immediately remembered about the newfound hope with her arrival and placed my hooves on her shoulders without thinking. "Starlight! Your magic is like top tier, right?! Can you help Twilight and Cadence look for a spell to fix the Crystal Heart?! Or maybe you already know one?!"

I found Starlight's eyes widening at my nearly desperate request. "I-I don't know any spell that can fix something like that, but I'd love to help Twilight look for one if it can make a difference."

Before I could exaggerate how much of a difference she could make, I unexpectedly heard Cadence call out a name for everyone to hear. "What about this? Trotter's Tome of Reliquary?" She brought over the book to Twilight, who quickly skimmed through it.

"I think this is it!" Twilight exclaimed, turning over the book to allow Cadence to take a look.

"'Spell of Relic Reconstitution'!" Cadence read the words on the page out loud. "I can't believe we found it!"

"It's a good thing, too!" Twilight closed the book shut and formed a reassuring smile. "Without this, I don't know what we'd do!"

Just as my heart was about to leap out of my chest in joy, I approached them with the intention of fixing this crisis as soon as possible. "Let's get to it then." I advised. "The quicker we can fix the Crystal Heart, the quicker we can start the—"

Before I could finish, a baby suddenly appeared directly in front of me and began toppling the books that Twilight and Cadence had stacked on the nearby table. Pinkie Pie took another shot at catching the baby. She unexpectedly had success with her attempt, but it came with an immediate price. Even though the foal didn't escape from Pinkie's legs, she actually sneezed, causing a bright and powerful beam to shoot out from the tip of her horn.

It went on to ricochet off Rarity's mirror, Shining Armor's magical shield, and the bubble that Starlight formed around Spike and her. Before we knew it, the beam was headed straight in our direction, and our first thought was to duck out of its path. As soon we got back up, a loud and sharp gasp came from Twilight. In a matter of seconds, everyone in the room, including me, noticed the insanely large searing hole through the entire book that Twilight had been holding.

"Oops." Pinkie slipped after having witnessed the book for herself as the baby finally calmly remained within her hooves.

Twilight spent a minute closely observing the book, almost as if she was in complete denial in regards to a huge gaping and burning hole smack dab in the middle of the book. She laughed somewhat nervously and exchanged a grin with each one of us. "This is fine. Heh heh heh. This is totally okay. No problem here."

"I'm so sorry, Twilight!" Starlight Glimmer immediately came up and took the blame for herself.

Twilight sighed lightly and stared at the now worthless book. She shook it a little, but with any little motion, more and more piles of ashes fell towards the floor. "Don't blame yourself, Starlight. It's not like any of us knew that this was going to happen."

"Do you think you can remember the spell?" Cadence asked.

Twilight's body lurched backward at Cadence's inquiry. "I only read it through once!" She responded as if she couldn't believe the words that had come out of Cadence's mouth.

"Is that like the only copy in here?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Even if there is, I don't know if there's enough time to look for one." Cadence returned, glancing towards the hole in the wall that her baby had caused. The storms were quickly approaching together for an eventual joint attack.

"Well, if anypony can exactly remember something she read for the first time two minutes ago, it's you, Twilight." Rarity believed.

"I'll try. But I'm not sure how long it'll take." Twilight opened the book and flipped through it. I wasn't sure if there was even any point in looking through it now. "At the very least, maybe there's some remnant of the spell left. Anything to help me remember it."

"You know, uh, not to rush you or anything, but, um, can you do it super-duper fast?" Pinkie asked right after a heavy wind had infiltrated our momentarily safe quarters.

"I'll do what I can, but we should evacuate the city just in case we run out of time." Cadence suggested. "Everypony's safety here is the top priority!" She turned towards Shining Armor and retrieved the baby that had been sitting on his back. "Shining Armor, you and everyone else need to get everypony to the train station before the tracks freeze over!"

"We've got that covered." Shining Armor returned a confident nod. "But, I'm sure you and Twilight will remember the spell."

I wasn't sure what part I wanted to play in this. Once again, so many things were happening all of a sudden, and they were piling onto a list I still needed to sort out. Considering that I was an Alicorn, I decided that it was probably best to stick around Twilight and Cadence for the spell that they'd been trying to figure out.

"I don't know if I'll be any help, but I'll stick here. Just let me know what I can do to help." I almost felt myself begging.

Shining Armor nodded once more and turned towards Rarity and Pinkie Pie. "Let's round up everypony in the city and get them to the train station!"

Starlight Glimmer was the only pony left, along with Spike, that stuck around as the other group left.

"I just hope this spell is the only one we need…" Twilight told herself as she pulled out an empty scroll and quill. As soon as she had looked back to gather her thoughts, Starlight stepped up to approach her at the table.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked.

"I don't think so. I'm just sorry about your lesson." Twilight responded, pausing whenever she seemed to remember a piece of the spell and wrote it down.

"Oh, that doesn't matter now." Starlight shook her head. "Sunburst and I don't have anything in common anyway. He's a big important wizard! And I'm re-learning everything I ever thought I knew."

A big important wizard? Like Starswirl level? How haven't I heard of him before Starlight joined us?

"Sunburst?" Cadence repeated, revealing an obvious interest in Starlight's description. "I don't recognize the name, but if he's an important wizard, you should bring him here. Maybe he'll know what to do if the spell fails."

With our current given situation, Cadence's suggestion was a really good one. Nevertheless, it didn't exactly provide me with a firm amount of relief, unlike Starlight.

"Of course!" She exclaimed with a sharp gasp and immediately ran out of the room with a swishing tail.

"You better go with her, Spike." Twilight recommended, earning a nod from Spike before he left after her.

As soon as they had both left, thunder clapped loudly outside. Each of us turned towards the hole in the library and noticed Celestia and Luna working tirelessly to push back the storm clouds that endlessly advanced. However, eventually, they were overrun and were no longer in sight. I felt my hooves begin to lift off the ground, but then Luna's words began to flood my mind.

She didn't want me out there for any reason, and I believed that now wasn't the time to act so carelessly. Nevertheless, I found my hooves were now tapping anxiously, and I couldn't help but pace around while I thought over their current wellbeing.

Cadence seemed to notice my constant uneasiness because she began speaking rather negatively afterward. "I'm sorry, everyone. I'm starting to think…maybe this is all because of me."

"What?!" Twilight stopped in the middle of her writing to turn directly towards Cadence. "Why on earth would you think that?!"

Cadence sighed and turned towards her child, who had been riding innocently on top of her back. "Obviously, this is the first time I've ever had a baby. Maybe there were some things I was supposed to know beforehoof. I tried to read up and prepare myself, but I never thought the baby would be an Alicorn. If I had just done a little more research, maybe I would have found a way to have a handle on her power. If I had, the Crystal Heart never would have been shattered, and we'd all be having an amazing Crystalling right about now."

"Don't go blaming yourself for any of this." Twilight somewhat both barked and pleaded. "No one is at fault for this."

"You can't expect anyone to predict the future and do something to prevent a problem like this." I mentioned, despite continuously tapping my hoof in worry. "Look, I'm on the verge of blaming myself for not helping Celestia and Luna right now. I'm scared to death that something might happen because I'm not there with them. I don't know what's going to happen, but I can only stick to my faith and stop myself from blaming myself whenever the idea comes up."

Slightly behind me, I noticed Athena kicking her hoof against the ground as if she had been stuck in hesitant thought.

"He's right." Twilight agreed and turned back to her work to write some more. "Things happen that we don't like, and we can't expect them not to happen. It's all a part of life, and it's what makes us stronger in the end. We've overcome so many obstacles in the past, and we just have to remember to keep believing that'll we'll pull through anything that's thrown against us, even if we have to force ourselves."

Cadence sighed and nodded. "You two are right. Please, if there's anything I can do to help right now, I'd like to know."

"Same here." I stepped up to Cadence's side. "I've gotta do something to know that I'm at least doing something. Anything that'll help, please."

Twilight stopped writing for a second and tapped the quill against her forehead. "I don't think any of you have read the spell before, otherwise I'd ask you to help me piece it together. The only thing I can think of is asking you to see if you can find another copy of this book." She held up whatever was left of the book and hovered it towards us. "I don't think I'll be needing this anymore."

"We'll do our best." Cadence's eyebrows furrowed as she firmly nodded. "Let us know if you think you've finished the spell." She turned her head towards me and gestured it up the staircase. "Let's go, Alex."

Cadence directed me to look in one section they hadn't previously looked in before while she looked in another. As I quickly skimmed through the enormous number of books on the many bookshelves, I used the destroyed book Twilight had given us as a reference on what to look for what.

"You know…" Athena mentioned, causing me to catch her staring despondently at the floor. "If things get absolutely worse, like bad of the bad, I could…maybe…" Her eyes averted away. She hadn't specified on what she suggested on doing, but for some reason, I was immediately able to catch on.

"No." I practically ordered. "I know what you can do, but I also know that you hate using that power in the first place. Even if it's something small, I don't ever want you to go through that same kind of pain like you did before. We've been able to get through problems without it, and I'm sure we won't ever need to use it in the future."

"How can you be so sure of that?" Athena asked. "Think about it. If I hadn't used it before, things would probably be so much different than they are now. Who's to say that that timeline wasn't supposed to be our timeline…?"

"Look, I don't have the answers to everything." I admitted, feeling the thumping in my brain grow due to Athena's line of questioning. "I wish I did, but I don't. I can't tell you why things ended up the way they did, or how they would be if they didn't, but all I know is that we have to focus on the present now. No matter how bad things are, I personally think you should never try to go back and change things. Time is a really tricky thing, and who knows what kind of harm you can do, even you intend to do more good than bad."

"Believe me, Alex. I get that." Athena assured. "I know firsthoof how changing time could mess anything up, but I'm just saying…what if we're in a predicament where…I'm…about to…lose you?"

She struggled with releasing her last few words, and I could immediately understand why once she had finished speaking. I still didn't know what kind of answer to give her, especially under the pressuring situation we had currently been in.

"I don't know what to tell you…" I ceased my search and gave it to her straight. "All I can do is hope that it never comes to something like that. But, I don't know, maybe things that are meant to happen will always happen no matter what. Just like that time when Twilight had gone back in time to stop herself from worrying about the future. All it did was actually start that weird paradox in the first place. I have no idea how, but that just proves my point on how time is so tricky."

"I guess so…" Athena looked away sadly as she massaged her left foreleg with her right.

I should have been doing what Twilight had tasked me to do, but I couldn't help but stray away from it and approach Athena. It looked like she needed it, so I decided to wrap my forelegs around her and give her a warm embrace to battle this surrounding cold. She gasped softly by my sudden behavior, but she returned the motion nevertheless.

"I know you're worried about it, but let's just focus on this right now. We can talk about that another time." I advised.

"Okay." She answered as she lowered and then lifted her head on my shoulder.

Athena helped me look through the bookshelves, but we had no such luck finding another copy of the book we were looking for. I started thinking that no such copy existed in the Crystal Empire, but in order to keep morale up, I had to keep imagining a copy being hidden somewhere around.

"Find anything?" Cadence landed her hooves near us, but all we could do was return shaking heads.

Just before all hope might have seemed to be lost, we heard Twilight shouting from downstairs. We immediately followed her voice and approached her at the desk she had been writing on.

"Did you guys find anything?" Twilight repeated the question, causing us to repeat our disappointing answer. Either way, Twilight didn't look too defeated once she focused back on her spell recovery. "I think I might be just about done with this. I can't say for sure if it's the right spell, but we might as well head back to the Crystal Heart to try it out."

"Let's go." I felt the need to impatiently emphasize, remembering all of our loved ones being out in the freezing cold in order to help save the Empire.

Outside, Cadence began pacing around as Twilight took an extra few minutes to put the finishing touches on her work. Watching Cadence pace around like that caused me to follow along as well. In turn, I unintentionally shared my anxiety with Athena. Despite all the troubled ponies in the vicinity, Cadence's foal continued to suck her hoof on top of her mother's back while her eyes roamed around and coos came out of her mouth.

Twilight finally pulled the quill away from her face and stretched out the opened scroll before her. "Uh, I think that's everything?"

Cadence took a look for herself and offered a brief response. "It looks right to me, but... there's only one way to find out."

In the next second, both of them stood at opposite sides of the Crystal Heart. Twilight fired a shot of her magic towards the broken artifact. The pieces lifted upwards together, but they remained unconnected. This is when Cadence fired a beam of her own, and, in turn, seemed to glue the pieces together. Despite having obvious unfixable cracks, the Crystal Heart seemed to stand strong in its place.

Everypony's smiles seemed to stretch out when it looked like our job had finally been finished. However, before I could burst into a hop, skip, and a jump, the Heart wavered back and forth until every glued piece fell back towards the floor. At the sight of this major failure, everypony else's smiles had been turned upside down.

Despite the sight, I tried to believe that maybe it would still work somehow.

"Hey, hold on. Maybe if I help with my magic, it'll work this time?" I offered almost desperately.

Cadence solemnly shook her head. "It's the spell. It isn't meant to fix something like this."

"So, that's it?" I questioned, my voice nearly quivering with fear. "There's nothing we can do?"

"The spell failed." Twilight repeated and reminded as she lowered her head in shame. "I don't know what else to do."

We were at an absolute loss. Our only hope was that this spell would fix the Crystal Heart and ultimately everything else. Even though Twilight was able to pull off remembering the spell, it still didn't work. What in Equestria were we supposed to do now with nothing else to go on? Was Athena right? Were there going to be times where she'd have to do something she swore she never wanted to do again?

"An old student of mine believes he does." We suddenly heard, causing our heads to jerk towards the curtains that were keeping most of the cold outside.

We first noticed all of the ponies that had separated from us reconvene back with us, especially Tia and Luna. Just the sight of seeing them all appear to be just fine made my heart skip from relief. Tia and Luna looked a little banged up from the winter snow, but they definitely didn't look to be hurt whatsoever. Nevertheless, the two of them pulled away from each other to reveal a new face I hadn't seen before.

Once taking notice of the shattered pieces among our hooves, his eyes widened and looked rather shocked. "The baby did this?!"

Twilight pulled up the failed spell and allowed him to take a look at it. "I tried putting it back together with—"

"The spell of Relic Reconstitution." He finished for her and simply crumbled it up and tossed it away. "No, that won't do it." He turned towards the saddlebag he had been wearing and pulled out a book. The Crystal Heart's been around for millennia. Restoring a relic like this is way beyond one spell." Just hearing him talk like he already knew what he was doing made me feel a bit skeptical yet relieved. It seemed too good to be true that someone with the answer we had been looking for the entire time would appear out of nowhere like this. Nevertheless, I was completely open to anything if it meant this blizzard of a nightmare would be over soon. He flipped through the pages and even offered a look towards Twilight as he continued to explain his reasoning rather quickly. "You need to combine it with something else. Something unique to the relic itself. Something that strengthens it and provides it with power...?"

It seemed that this fellow had been giving Twilight hints to what had been the answer to everything all along instead of pointing out an untested theory. Twilight took a second look at his book and thought intensively for a moment before she reached a proper response. "The Crystalling!"

"Wait, you mean that ceremony we've been holding off because we were trying to fix the Crystal Heart in the first place?" I inquired for clarification.

"Precisely!" The stallion pointed out eagerly. "Combining that spell with the light and love of everypony gathered for the ceremony, together with..." He approached Starlight Glimmer and pushed a certain book her way. "Somnambula's Weather Abjuration to clear away the snow..." He then turned towards Shining Armor and Cadence to exchange a certain spell with them. "And a little Fledgling's Forbearance for the parents..." With a short chuckle, he leaned in towards their foal and petted her lightly. This caused a small giggle to come from her jubilant smile. "That should curb the little one's power fluctuations."

No way. Was this all for real? If this guy really was the answer to everything all along…then he's really…awesome…! Just who is he?!

"You must be Sunburst." Cadence mentioned, almost if she had read my mind like an open book. "Starlight said you were a powerful wizard."

Wait. This was Sunburst? The pony that Starlight had lost for a time being?

"Oh, I'm no wizard." Sunburst simply answered as he fixed his glasses.

Everypony was completely taken aback and shocked at his answer. There were sharp gasps all around me, and Starlight Glimmer quickly spoke up as if she felt the need to come to his defense. "But he studied magic his whole life! You should see his house! And since nobody has any better ideas, what do we have to lose?!"

She was right. We had nothing better in mind. Despite still feeling as if there was some sort of hidden catch, I decided to voice out my opinion on the matter. "Starlight's right. This is the only thing we have left, and I say he seems to know exactly what he's talking about."

If anypony had concerns, I suppose I understood them. It was almost like trusting your life to someone who wasn't an official doctor, despite how much said pony knew. Seeing as the entirety of today revolved around Shining Armor and Cadence's foal, I wouldn't be surprised if they were hesitant about following Sunburst's instructions. However, they seemed to find him trustworthy enough to follow through.

"I had planned on asking Twilight to be our crystaller." Shining Armor delicately retrieved the baby from Cadence. "But since it seems like she'll be busy..." He hovered their babbling foal over Sunburst's hooves to hold.

"I-I'd be honored!" He accepted with the utmost grace.

"Well, what are we waiting for?!" Twilight excitedly asked before getting everyone involved with the main ceremony outside the curtains.

Twilight, Luna, Celestia, and Starlight stayed inside, so they could work on getting the Crystal Heart pieced back together. Even though I was pretty much the novice in the room, I decided that I wanted to help them as well.

Realizing I was going to stick with them, Starlight shared the spell we'd be using with me as Twilight prepared to use her magic. "Follow my lead!" She advised before firing a ray of magic towards the shards. Just like previously, they lifted up and reunited in a loose manner. However, Luna and Tia soon joined in, helping keep the Heart in place.

Starlight and I exchanged a somewhat hesitant and even worried look with each other, but added in our own magic either way. Hoping that reading over the spell once would be enough, I tried keeping my magic locked onto the target. However, I still felt like the runt of the litter, so to speak.

As much as I tried to remind myself that this was for the greater good, each of us shared a pretty heavy burden. In fact, if I could compare it something, it was like all of us had been working together to lift something that weighed a ton off the ground. I personally didn't know how long I could keep going, but thankfully, it wasn't too long before Sunburst had come running in with some kind of glowing crystal. In the next second, he inserted this crystal into the Heart, and we were soon able to release our magic from it. From what we could see, the Crystal Heart appeared to become transparent, and it spun rapidly unlike our first attempt.

Before we knew it, a glow radiated and shot out from within the Heart, immediately changing our appearances as soon as it touched us. This was all familiar, but to some, like Starlight, it was something jaw-dropping.

There was an extremely noticeable rise in temperature, and I quickly galloped towards the curtains to take a look outside. A rainbow had shot up from the top of the castle, and I couldn't describe the kind of relief that had bathed throughout my entire body when I saw the sunny sky once again. Aside from the weather, I took particular notice at Shining Armor and Cadence. They held their baby close to their faces, and I could only imagine that they were experiencing a feeling that was only unique to newfound parents.

"How's that for motivation?" I suddenly heard to my right, causing my coat to slightly jump.

It was Twilight, and she had been sending me a somewhat mischievous grin. It appeared she had noticed me staring at Shining Armor and Cadence for quite a while. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"Just thought you might have been picturing yourself with a certain other pony up there." Twilight's smile transformed into a slightly smug grin.

Realizing what she was getting on, I quickly looked away from her gaze whilst feeling a small heated glow radiate within my cheeks. "Yeah, whatever."

Taking a glance at the other side of me, I found Athena staring directly up to where Cadence and Shining Armor stood, almost like I had been doing just a moment ago.

"It's so beautiful…" She allowed to slip past her lips. "I think I finally get it, Alex. I don't know how I didn't see it before."

"Huh?" I questioned her confusing remark.

She turned towards me and allowed me to get a better look at her sparkling eyes and formally styled mane. It had actually been the first time I saw her in her "crystal form", considering that she hadn't been physically outside of me the other times. "If I had ended up manipulating time to where all of this never happened, things wouldn't have turned out as great as they did right now. Sure, there probably would have been a Crystalling, but not like this. Everyone worked together to make this Crystalling happen, and that's the beauty of it. It's like what you always tell yourself and others, isn't it? Things always happen for a reason!"

For some reason, I was slightly taken back by her epiphany, but I managed to form a soft grin in response. "Yeah. You're getting it."

The sound of a pair of hooves clacked on the floor behind us before a new voice spoke between us. "Now, what was it that you wanted to tell me?"

Athena and I turned back to find Luna patiently waiting for my response. I had almost completely forgotten about my attempt to introduce Athena and Luna to each other. Since I had been so unprepared at the moment, I couldn't help but stumble over my words. "Oh, right. That." For some reason, I felt like I was having second thoughts. After everything we had just been through today, I started wondering if it would have been best to slip the news a little later in time. However, before I could make a decision, Athena returned an answer for me.

"Hi…" She appeared to nervously brush her hair as she averted her eyes towards the floor. "Um. I know we haven't really spoken before, but…my name's Athena. And, well…" She lightly sucked in her lips and lowered her eyelids in hesitation. "This is going to sound really crazy, but heh heh… I'm, um, kind of your daughter…"

"My daughter…?" Luna's eyebrows drew together as she didn't appear to take Athena's claim lightly. "But, how?"

"It's a really long story." I tried to explain, "But, you were supposed to have a pair of twins. Due to certain circumstances, I was the only one who apparently made it through, physically, of course."

"You could say that I'm the light that protects him." Athena added with a soft yet anxious smile.

It was clear that Luna was having a bit of trouble comprehending the situation. She appeared to unintentionally stare silently for a long period of time before any pieces of words came out of her mouth. "Forgive me. I don't understand this at all." She turned to me for answers. "How do you know this, Alexander?"

"A while back, Twilight and I went through some time traveling weirdness. Long story short, I found out that Athena here is actually my sister. This is going to sound crazy, but in this other timeline, we were actually twins. Although, as you can see now, we're pretty much different as night and day."

"'Night and day'?" Luna repeated before taking another close look at Athena. In response, Athena embarrassingly turned her head away with a small blush. "Just like my sister and me…" She continued studying Athena for a moment before she shook her head and turned back to me. "Are you certain you are telling the truth, Alex? This isn't what you'd call a 'prank'?"

"I promise you." I swore as I placed a hoof on my chest. "Don't worry. It was a little too much to take in all at once for me too, but I think you'll grow into it."

"I-I see…" Luna hovered a hoof over her lips as if she had been growing somewhat uneasy and worried. She turned to Athena and cleared her throat. "Um, in that case, I'm pleased to make your acquaintance." Luna quickly shook her head as if she had said something wrong. "Err, please forgive me. I do not know how to react properly to this new information. If you are indeed truly my daughter, I wholeheartedly wish to treat you as such, but, I…Mm…"

Athena shook her head. "Don't worry. I understand. I've had to pretty much live my whole life without any parents to look up to." She then glanced towards me and smiled. "I've only ever had Alex, so in a way, I wouldn't know how to treat you either as a mom. Believe me, I know it's hard to accept, and if I had just found out like you did right now, I'd have trouble believing it myself." She paused to lower her head and lightly kicked her hoof against the floor. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, you don't need to act all motherly to me. I don't need you to shower me with hugs and kisses and all that. Alex said that it would be best for you to know that I, at the very least, existed, and after thinking about that for a while, I figured he was right. After all, for a long time, I wanted Alex to know who I was instead of just some 'Spirit', but I was too afraid of the consequences that would bring. So far, things seem to be okay, and I'm trying not to hide from the world anymore." Athena paused for a moment and seemed to realize how much had come out of her mouth. She chuckled from embarrassment and rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry, I don't usually talk so much."

She gasped shortly when she was unexpectedly pulled in for a warm hug by Luna. Despite possibly being in a state of utter confusion, Luna smiled in a similar manner like she always did with me. "Even so, if Alex looks to you as a sister, then I have no issue looking to you as a daughter. I'd like to welcome you to the family."

Athena didn't respond right away to this invitation. Instead, she remained looking ahead in some kind of state of disbelief. Nevertheless, she allowed herself to melt into the earnest embrace and closed her eyes delicately. "Yeah. That's fine with me."

Shining Armor, Cadence, and their baby, along with Sunburst, joined us at the train station once we were finally ready to head back to Ponyville. As we waited for our train to arrive, I found Athena slightly waving her hips in a light dance as she hummed happily with closed eyes.

"You're in a good mood." I acknowledged publicly.

"So, what?" Athena returned as a light shade of red formed within her cheeks. "A lot of amazing things happened today."

"You sure it's not just because you got to meet our mom for real this time?" I teased.

"Oh, come on." She slightly turned away while rubbing her right cheek with her hoof. "Let a girl enjoy her day for once." She paused for a second and then turned back to me. "You still owe me, remember?!"

I believed she had been referring to the offer I made in exchange for her willingness to be introduced to Luna. I didn't remember her ever officially and specifically agreeing to that certain offer, but I had no issue with following through either way. She did great today, and I was proud of her for it. "Yeah, I know. Whatever you want when we get back home."

She stretched out a beaming grin until a screeching sound interrupted any kind of small talk or conversation around us. We turned towards the doors and watched as ponies stepped off the train. Eventually, a couple of ponies had caught my attention. They looked around for some time before they noticed the huge group we had formed together.

"You would not believe the crazy weather that delayed our train. Came out of nowhere."

It had been Twilight's father who had been speaking towards us. Accompanying him was his wife, Twilight's mother. I was sure he had been referring to the weather that Cadence's and Shining Armor's baby had ironically unintentionally caused.

"But it was all worth it to see this peaceful little angel!" Twilight's mom leaned in to take a closer look at the baby. "Awww, so sweet! Come to your grandmare!" She encouraged, earning a giggle and playful extending arms from the child.

"Yeah, peaceful now, anyway." Applejack commented with a relieved grin.

"I suppose that spell really did the trick!" Twilight mentioned.

As soon as Twilight had said that, their baby began inhaling oddly as if she was about to sneeze, and due to earlier experiences, the majority of the girls shrieked and braced for a magical explosion. However, there was only a small sneeze and nothing else. Thank goodness. We didn't seem to have to worry about crazy magic blowing up all over the place.

"We have Sunburst to thank for that." Shining Armor explained after the short scare.

"I hope he takes his role as crystaller seriously." Cadence acknowledged. "Something tells me the baby will need a pony like him to look to for magical advice."

Twilight's mother carefully took the baby into her hooves with her magic and asked a question I hadn't thought of to ask myself. "Cadence, darling, aren't we gonna name the poor little dear, or are we gonna spend our entire visit just calling her 'the baby'?"

The two parents looked at each other for a short moment before Cadence responded. "We were thinking... 'Flurry Heart'."

"You know, to remember the occasion."

Rarity chuckled sharply at that. "Oh, goodness, how could anypony forget?"

True that.

"I think it's lovely." Twilight voiced her thoughts before kissing her niece on the cheek.

After sharing a brief greeting with Twilight's parents, and a brief goodbye towards Shining Armor, Cadence, and even Sunburst, I joined the others as we boarded the train. I sat with Fluttershy and Athena once again. I noticed Twilight had been alone as she sat across Spike, but I was pretty sure she waiting for Starlight Glimmer to hop on with us.

I took a look outside and noticed Starlight exchanging a few more words with Sunburst. I could only assume that her 'friendship lesson' went well, and I was pretty glad that she didn't need any of my help in the process. Still…

"Just because she didn't need you this time doesn't mean you can't still give her advice every now and then." Athena mentioned towards me with a small smirk.

"Yeah, I know." I turned towards the door to find Starlight coincidentally walking between our seats. "Hey, Starlight. Come over here a sec."

She had come to a sudden halt in her walk and looked towards me with a questioning expression. Despite the abrupt request, she abided and joined us across our seat. "Yes? Did you need something?"

I shook my head. "Not exactly." I decided to momentarily stand up from my seat and join her by her side. I was hoping she'd feel like she was talking with a friend, rather than a boss of some sort. "Listen, I know that you've been having a bit of trouble adjusting to life in the castle with us. I just wanted you to know that, if you ever find yourself stressing out, feel free to come talk to me. I get certain things might be hard to express to Twilight, seeing as she's your 'teacher' and all, so if you have anything that you're afraid to talk to Twilight about, don't be afraid to come to me, okay?"

"O-oh, really?" Starlight appeared to be rather surprised by my sudden extension of a helping hoof. "I wasn't sure if, you know, I was in any right to talk to you after doing what I did…" She brought up as she lightly scratched her cheek with her hoof. "Asking for help after nearly ruining all of your lives? What kind of pony would that make me?"

"It seems pretty clear how much you've changed." I acknowledged, taking a particular glance at her hair. "A lot of us have made mistakes, but I want you to know that you shouldn't be afraid to talk to your friends. We are friends, right?"

"Y-yeah…" Starlight looked away with a slightly reddened face. "Yeah, we are."

"Then, I'm willing to listen whenever you need somepony to talk to, alright?"

"Uh-huh." She nodded her head. "Thank you. I'll make sure to keep that in mind."

Afterwards, I returned back to my original seat as she stood back up and joined Twilight nearby. As I took a moment to think about it, I found that it was still somewhat hard to believe that we had been enemies not too long ago. It was amazing to see how the hidden magic of friendship could change anything for the better.

Athena returned a jubilant grin in response towards my performance, and I was left wondering what I'd be treating to her back home. Once the train sounded off and began to move, I took a short glance out the window. I noticed Starlight's friend, and savior of the day, remain at the station. He continued looking our way until he raised a hoof and waved. I turned towards Starlight and found her happily waving back. Finding the sight heartwarming, I relaxed my back against the seat and stretched out a relieved smile across my lips.

A Second Hearth's Warming Tail

"Hold on! I have a story to tell!" Athena's hoof suddenly shot up, causing Twilight to stop in her tracks before she would return downstairs for the party.

Due to the unforeseen events from Hearth's Warming Eve and the day after, Twilight and I decided to officially host a celebratory party not only for our close circle of friends but practically for the whole town. Even though Hearth's Warming Eve had already passed, none of us found anything against for doing a belated-party sort of thing. After all, since none of us had exactly spent Hearth's Warming Eve together, it offered us another opportunity to celebrate together. Winter was still upon us, so I honestly saw nothing wrong with it.

However, Starlight Glimmer felt a little differently. She didn't see much of a point with Hearth's Warming Eve, and she was just about to skip the event entirely before Twilight came to the rescue. She figured telling an old tale would do the trick, and it was only a matter of time before we'd see the results of it. It was at this point when Twilight was placing the book back on the shelf, where Athena spoke up all of a sudden.

"Oh, really?" Twilight turned around to face my sister. "Which one is it?"

Athena immediately and fervently shook her head. "It's nothing anypony has heard of!"

"Huh?" Starlight returned with a puzzled expression. "Just what kind of story can that be?"

Athena swung her legs as she shared glances with everyone in the room. "It's no old Hearth's Warming Eve story like the one Twilight told us. But, when Twilight was telling her story, it instantly reminded me of a similar and personal one!"

"Personal?" I exchanged a cocked eyebrow with her, finding her use of 'personal' rather interesting. "So, you're saying you've got something you've experienced in your own life? How so?"

"Think about it, dummy!" Athena leaned over to poke my cheek before returning to her own side of the couch we had been on. "The reason that no pony else knows about this story, and the answer to your question, is that it comes from our past life!"

"Huh?!" Everyone nearly shouted out in unison from surprise.

Still, Twilight immediately chugged herself from the bookshelf and plopped down on her seat next to us. "A story from your other life?! I have to hear this! I can't wait!"

"Gather round, kiddies!" Athena closed her eyes and nearly puffed out her chest in pride. "You're about to hear an oldie but a goodie about yours truly!" She reopened her eyes and glanced over at me. "Well, by yours truly, I mean…" She stretched out her foreleg and brought me in close to where our cheeks were squishing against each other. "Yours truly."

Guessing by her emphasis, I assumed she meant that the story revolved around us, rather than just her. Athena had told me the story that explained the lead-up to the certain time we were at now, but this sounded like a good old memory she was proud to look back on. I was definitely interested in what she had to share.

Athena cleared her throat before officially narrating the beginning of the story. "It all started this one Hearth's Warming Eve. In case you hadn't noticed yet, I am crazy about winter. It's my most favorite season ever. But, when Hearth's Warming Eve comes around? Forget about it. All the decorations and merry cheer? That's like a field day for me! Even so, despite how positive I'd be around Hearth's Warming Eve, there was always one pony who thought otherwise."

Athena paused in the middle of her narration and oddly looked at me. This, in turn, caused everyone else in the room to do the exact same, and I immediately began growing severely uncomfortable.

No way. She was talking about me, wasn't she?

You would think that something like Hearth's Warming Eve would bring out the fun out of everyone, am I right? But just like in Twilight's story, one pony was an absolute grouch about it. Sorry, Alex. But that big ole grump was you.

Ever since we had begun the transition into growing into 'young adults', you began to slowly hate the idea of Hearth's Warming Eve. Originally, I think you were pretty fascinated with the idea of it when we were little foals running around in the snow, but once we grew up and observed how other ponies would spend their holidays, that's when things started to go wrong in your head.

During our last day at school, before we would be let out for Hearth's Warming Eve, of course, you had this extremely sour face all day. Even in the classroom, ponies were giving each other presents, exchanging warm hugs, and expressing merriness all around. It was obvious to tell that this was what pushed your buttons. I didn't exactly understand why, at first, but it all started becoming clear later on.

During our lessons, I noticed you would purposely look away from any kind of cheery expressions from the other students. Your eyebrows would furrow and your face would practically wrinkle and scrunch up from anger. If any student wanted to miraculously express some cheer your way, the look on your face would definitely scare them away.

"Have an amazing and fun Hearth's Warming Eve, everypony!" Our favorite teacher, the one we know and love, exclaimed out in glee. She had just dismissed the class, and while everypony cheered out loud and raced to be the first one out the door, you straggled behind a bit.

"Come on, Alex!" I urged you to pick up the pace. "You're such a slowpoke!"

You didn't say anything at first. Instead, you focused most of your attention on adjusting the strap of your schoolbag before dragging your hooves against the floor. I couldn't help but start to think that you were being slow on purpose.

"See you around, you two." Miss Cadence told us as she watched us walk past her desk and head for the door. "Be sure to tell me everything you did for Hearth's Warming when you come back!"

"You're funny." You answered with dry sarcasm. "See you in a few weeks." You said before heading out the door with no regrets.

I immediately felt sorry on your behalf, so I turned to Miss Cadence and apologized before following you out towards the school grounds. This year had been the worse, compared to all the other years. This grudge you seemed to have for Hearth's Warming Eve only continued to grow from when you first started feeling that bitterness in your heart. I was at the point where I felt like I was forced to ask the question I had been meaning to ask for quite a while now. In a way, I had been too scared to ask, and I guess I had even originally thought that if I had ignored it, it would magically go away, but it didn't.

"Alex…why are you such a grouch during Hearth's Warming Eve?" I reluctantly asked, afraid that you might get super angry and scream at my face.

"Let me ask you something, Athena." You stopped in your tracks and faced me with an irritated scowl. "Why are you such a happy-go-lucky gal when all the other little ponies get to have a great time with their parents and family while we sit at home and do nothing? As a matter of fact, the only pony in our house that gets love, affection, and not to mention presents most of all, is perfect little Starlight. How can you stand there and be all cheery when every other pony around us has something to celebrate for Hearth's Warming Eve while we don't?"

Inside, I wholeheartedly disagreed with you on that note. Yes, we didn't get presents for Hearth's Warming Eve, nor did we do anything special with our "family". But even after knowing all that, that didn't stop me from loving every bit of Hearth's Warming Eve. You had put me on the spot, so I didn't know how to explain my love in a way that you'd hopefully understand.

"Well, I don't understand how you can't love Hearth's Warming Eve for what it is, Alex." I responded in an attempt to convince you. "Don't you just love how beautiful it is right about this time? All the decorations that everypony puts up in the city? Ponies playing in the snow together and just having a great time? I know it sucks that we don't get to do things together with our own family like other ponies, but that shouldn't mean that we should sit around moping the entire time."

"All I see are constant reminders about how we're just two oddballs stuck in a place we don't even fit in." You turned back around, tightened the scarf around your neck, and packed a nasty punch towards the snow with every step you took ahead. I was surprised that the rage-induced heat coming from your body wasn't enough to simply melt the snow around you. I had to start trotting in order to catch up to you as you continued ranting. "No one wants to invite us over for a, what do they call it, snowball fight? Or to build a snowpony. We don't even have any money to go to some of the rides and events that they have for families to enjoy back in town. All we're stuck doing is waiting for weeks to pass so we could jump straight back to school. It ticks me off so much that I'm so closing to wishing there was no such thing as Hearth's Warming Eve in the first place."

I gasped, deeply shocked that you could think such a thing. "How can you say such a horrible thing?" I asked with earnest concern. "If there was no Hearth's Warming Eve, the windigos would take over and cover all of Equestria in snow!"

"Yes, because a small thing like love is able to keep powerful horses from unleashing an everlasting blizzard." Your sarcasm and skepticism was clear, and I didn't think I could do anything to make you think differently otherwise.

"Well, if all you look is at the bad parts of Hearth's Warming Eve, Alex, then you'll never see anything good out of it." I spared truthfully and sadly stared at the snowy ground beside me as I walked. "If all you do is pay attention to what you don't like about something, then you'll always miss out the good that can come from it."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, Athena, but this isn't some kind of Hearth's Warming fairytale." You mentioned rather bluntly. "To try to make good of what's already bad is just wishful thinking. All you can do is just take what you can get."

I had been sincerely hurt by your words. I hated how you talked like this. I knew you weren't trying to intentionally hurt me, but the fact that the only pony that was ever close to me was shooting down any kind of positivity and optimism I had been putting out, I couldn't help but feel the light inside become shrouded with darkness.

I had never been one to believe that there were some ponies, like us, that were always dealt a bad hoof in life. Of course, everypony has bad days in their lives, but to constantly feel that every day was a bad day like you seemed to believe with Hearth's Warming Eve? I couldn't accept it. I just knew that there was some way to make our own kind of special tradition, but you never wanted to give me a chance and work with me.

I decided to remain silent and followed you the rest of the way home. I had never really cared much for Hearth's Warming gifts. Sure, there were some things that all the other fillies got that I had no chance of getting, but there was only one thing I really wanted. And that was to truly spend Hearth's Warming with the only pony I loved with all my heart. I'm talking about you, of course.

After just hearing the first part of Athena's story, I couldn't help but cringe at my apparent past behavior. "Geez, was I really that broody?" I asked.

"Yup." Athena stated pretty easily.

The edge. It hurts.

"Aww!" Twilight seemed to feel rather sympathetic towards Athena. "All you really wanted was to spend time with your brother, but he wanted nothing to do with Hearth's Warming Eve. I can't imagine how horrible that must have felt."

A rain of guilt began to pour all over me at this point. "Do you guys really have to make me sound like the bad guy?" I mentioned.

"I don't blame Alex." Starlight surprisingly came to my defense. "I'm not saying what he did was right, but it's not like you could expect him to feel the same way like Athena did. He just…saw things differently. That's all. Sometimes when there's too much negativity in your life, it ends up getting under your coat and affecting you as a pony." Starlight shared with a drooping frown and slightly turned her head away as if she began remembering unwarranted thoughts.

I felt the need to remove myself from my seat and join Starlight by hers, seeing as she had taken the time to defend my behavior and actions when she really didn't need to. I placed a hoof around her and shared a warm grin. I did that as a sort of thanks, but it was mostly to return the favor as she had been beginning to become occupied with dark memories.

"I totally get it too." Twilight said. "Before we even met each other, there was a point where I thought making friends was a waste of time. My reasons were different from Alex, of course, but it's sort of the same concept. You know, not giving something a chance because you think there's no point?" Following with her own input, she attached a hoof to Athena's shoulder and formed a slightly sheepish grin. "Not that I don't feel what you must have been going through, of course."

Athena appeared to find our discussion break amusing as she began to laugh out loud. "Hehe! You guys are too much. No need to get worked up over a story from the past. Things are obviously better now, after all." She paused and tapped a hoof on her chin. "Now, where was I? Although Alex clearly had no intention of making this Hearth's Warming Eve a good one, I decided I needed to take matters into my own hooves. I couldn't fathom the idea of giving up so easily. Like I mentioned before, I wanted to believe that there was some way we could have a great Hearth's Warming together, despite all odds appearing against me."

I wasn't sure if it was your words, my pocketed determination to open your eyes to my world, or maybe even both, that woke me up earlier that Hearth's Warming Eve morning. I didn't know what I was going to do with you. I obviously didn't even have a plan. But, I knew I had to do something. I paced around our room as quietly as I could, seeing as you were still asleep. Only drawing blanks, the winter's chill that seeped into our room through our window began to brush itself against my coat.

I had been all warm and toasty under our blankets, and since we had to share a twin-sized bed, our body heat was enough to fend off the cold. Our bed had almost won me over, seeing as I wanted to escape from the cold, but that actually ended up giving me a pretty neat idea. It wasn't a plan, but I decided it was definitely a start.

It was early morning, and since everyone in the house was asleep, I decided to slip into the kitchen and start making you a nice cup of hot cocoa. Seeing as we now know that our parents saw us as some strange children living in their home, they didn't exactly…appreciate it when we used too much of their groceries and stuff. Happy that I wouldn't have to hear some rude remark about 'getting a job', I raced back to our room with a couple cups of hot cocoa on hoof.

Setting aside the complimentary cups momentarily, I continued poking at my brain to see if I could come up with any more genius ideas. There had to be some things to do in Fillydelphia that you didn't necessarily have to pay for. Looking at all the pretty decorations and lights and stuff was free, right? That was definitely one of my personal favorites about Hearth's Warming Eve, but was it exciting enough for Alex? Maybe he just needed the right "perspective".

Taking a walk through where all the festive decorations were hanging at was definitely something I wanted to cover, but I still needed more if I wanted any chance of bringing Alex over from the dark side. Seriously, what did happen to you? When we were little kids, we'd always find something to do for these exciting days, even if it meant just building a simple snowpony. But then you became all bitter and moody. Was this all a part of growing up, and I was just refusing adulthood?

I must have been making some kind of noise while I was deep in my thoughts because I heard you wake up unexpectedly. As you began sitting up from the bed, I felt a fire of panic ignite within me. I hadn't come up with a solid plan, yet you were already rubbing your face before eyeing the cup of cocoa on top of the nightstand.

"What's that?" You asked. "Smells good."

"A-A-Alex!" I turned over to you and decided that I would just try winging everything for today. "H-Hey! Happy Hearth's Warming Eve! I made you some hot cocoa! Let's drink some together!"

"How long have you been up?" You inquired with narrowed eyes. "You're really jumpy, and it's still super early in the morning. You sure you didn't get coffee instead of cocoa or something?"

"Oh, I'm just excited!" I responded with. It was sort of half the truth? "I want us to go out for today!"

Of course, you didn't nearly share the same amount of excitement as you casually grabbed your cup of cocoa and stared at it for a bit. "Why? I told you that there's nothing to do." You paused for a second to blow into your cup, and I could see the big fluffy marshmallow inside lightly float towards the edge. "I can understand why you'd want to go outside if we had the money, but even then, there would be just a bunch of ponies with their families and stuff. All the stuff you pay for is meant for them, not us." Afterwards, you calmly took a sip from your cup.

At that moment, I pulled up as much courage as I could in order to prevent my dreams from being crushed that very instant. It hadn't even been an hour into the new day; there was no way I could give up so easily!

"You don't know that, Alex!" I tried to cheerfully refute. "Come on, please? Think about it. Would you literally rather stay home and do nothing or at least try to find something to do? Maybe they got some cool new stuff at town that they didn't have last year?"

"Since we don't have school, I'd actually rather stay home and sleep for the entire day. Scratch that. I'd sleep for today, and then again for tomorrow since it'd actually be the real Hearth's Warming."

"So, you don't even want to go out this year?" I asked, feeling heavily despondent.

"Nope." You answered nonchalantly, taking another sip of your cup of cocoa.

If you didn't even want to go out, then the light at the end of the tunnel was quickly closing up on me. For the past couple of years, you weren't such a thick wall I needed to break through in order to at least go out for Hearth's Warming Eve. You'd go out with me, but you were still unenthusiastic with everything we tried to do. Now, it was like you literally didn't even want to try at all anymore. Even for my sake. And that really made me sad...

"Please, Alex…?" I nearly begged once more with tears brimming in my eyes. "I don't like sticking around here for Hearth's Warming Eve… I know you don't want to go outside for the holiday, but can you at least do it for me? Please?"

I both unintentionally and intentionally gave you the saddest eyes I could muster up. I mean, honestly, it wasn't like I was trying to abuse my level of cuteness to get you to do what I wanted, but I really did feel like you were carelessly stomping on my hopes and dreams.

When you saw the look on my face, you stopped acting all casual and seemed to slightly warm up your nearly frozen heart. In fact, you couldn't keep your eyes on me for a few seconds before you turned your head away and sighed.

"Okay. Okay. I'll go with you. Just please…don't cry or anything." You yielded.

"Really…?" I had to ask again, just to be sure.

"Yes. But, don't be surprised if I'm cranky the whole time. You know I hate this holiday."

Despite that comment, I couldn't keep myself from hugging you as tightly as you could. "I'm going to try to show you how great Hearth's Warming Eve can be, Alex, even if you think it's all just a big waste of time!"

"Yeah, yeah…" You slipped out of your mouth. "Will you do me a favor and let me get a few more hours of sleep? I think it'd be best for the two of us."

I guess if you were going to be cranky, I wouldn't want you to be extra cranky because you were also sleepy at the same time.

I nodded my head as I managed to pull out a bright smile. "Yeah, okay!"

It wasn't a bad idea in the end. I'd have more time to come up with a plan, and we'd most likely get to experience the best time for Hearth's Warming Eve. Personally, for me, that time was at night when the beautiful decorative lights shined the brightest.

"Alex, why couldn't you just let your sister have the Hearth's Warming Eve she deserved!?" Twilight shook me fervently as she looked like she was on the verge of tears. Twilight was a passionate bookworm, so I could only assume that this wasn't her first time.

"I-I don't know!" I answered as I honestly as I could. Just like Athena had mentioned before, I didn't even know this event between us existed until she just started retelling it right this minute.

"Aww." Athena placed a hoof on her chest as she lightheartedly enjoyed the sight between Twilight and me. "I'm touched that you care so much about the 'me' in the story."

"Of course!" Twilight released me from the grip of her hooves and faced Athena. "If it was me, I totally would have been down to celebrate Hearth's Warming Eve with you!"

"Don't worry." I heard Starlight Glimmer exchange softly with me as she sat beside me. "I would have totally understood if you wanted to sleep all day at home." She said with half-lidded eyes and a smile.

"Let's just keep this story moving." I suggested after drawing out a heavy sigh. "Looks like Twilight is waiting for the part where I finally realize Hearth's Warming Eve for what it really is." I took a look at Twilight's bright beaming face as she lightly shook her hooves in excitement.

"Oh, you think you're bad right now?" Athena noticed how uncomfortable I had been growing at the sound of my past behavior. "Let me tell you, it gets worse!"

"It does?!" Twilight smile had dropped into a hanging frown. "Wait! No!" She immediately shook her head. "Stop spoiling it! We want to hear what happens for ourselves!"

"Yeah, yeah, you're right." Athena agreed and giggled shortly. "Now, even though I had bought myself more time to think, it still wasn't easy to come up with something I'd consider a 'solid plan'. After you fell back asleep, I stood by our window and drank the rest of my hot cocoa in silence. All I needed to do was get you to see the true meaning of Hearth's Warming Eve. That was the main goal. How I got to it didn't necessarily matter. Even if I couldn't come up with a long list of fun things for us to do, I still had to show you how warped your view had really been some way or another."

I wanted to get you out of bed as soon as possible when you woke up, but every time I tried, you reacted in a kind of groggy way. I wanted you in the best mood as you could possibly be, so I decided to give you some space at the same time. After all, I had to continuously remind myself that there was no rush. Once we donned our winter wear and stepped outside, I couldn't stop myself from hopping and skipping in place while you unenthusiastically lagged behind.

"Come on, Alex!" I glanced behind to meet your eyes as I tried to ignore the fact that they were very bored-looking. "You gotta keep up!"

"Question." You responded with. "What are we even going to do? Just rummage through the snow like a couple of losers? We'd get bored of that in a minute."

I puffed out my cheeks from what I believed was slight frustration, but then I remembered that you had actually warned me of your behavior ahead of time. Realizing that that was the best I was probably going to get, I attempted to cool my head and keep a positive spirit. Hehe, get it? Because you called me Spirit? Anyway…

"Hey, look! There're ponies skating over there!" I pointed out to a completely frozen lake. Ponies from all ages danced all around on top of the ice, and I continued staring in astonishment at their tricks and spins until you killed the mood.

"So?" You merely returned.

"So, you want to go join them?" I asked.

"And do what?" You muttered back, shutting me down. "We don't have any skates, and even if we did, we don't know how to skate in the first place."

As I exhaled a heavy sigh and watched it turn into particles of ice, I felt my initial excitement draining away from my body. "…you're killing me, Alex…!"

"What?" You asked, seeing as I had nearly mumbled that remark out.

"Nothing." I turned away from the frozen lake and looked in the direction of town. "Fine. Let's, um, see what's going on in town."

We had just started our winter adventure, and I could already feel like I was losing you. Your hoofprints in the snow didn't even look like hooves anymore. It was almost like a drawn-out line. If I didn't come up with something soon, I'd be losing you for good, not just for this Hearth's Warming Eve, but possibly for all the future ones to come.

It was definitely a pretty sight to see once we made to the busy streets of Fillydelphia. They actually blocked some of the main roads, especially for this holiday's events. Instead of different kinds of carts and taxis, the roads were filled with many different ponies. There were a bunch of stands selling different kind of Hearth's Warming products, not to mention the extremely festive decorations hanging about. It was absolutely beautiful, to say the least.

"There's so many ponies…" You commented, which I'm sure was more of a complaint.

"Well, duh." I returned. "It's like this every year."

Your eyes wandered about until they seemed to stop at a couple nearby. I wasn't sure if it was intentional or not, but they were coincidently under a mistletoe. What happened next caused you to immediately scoff and furrow your eyebrows. "Do we have to be here?"

"It's where all the super fun stuff is." I tried to come up with a convincing reason.

"Yeah. The super fun stuff that you have to pay for, and in case you forgot, we're broke." You said.

"I'm sure there are some things that are free!" I hoped, having a really good feeling about the truth of that statement. I began looking around with a hoof over my eyes. There were a bunch of ponies standing around, so it was actually pretty hard to find things.

If anything, there were a bunch of stands for food and games, but those were definitely out of the question as we'd have to shell out bits for them. However, my eyes were soon drawn to a line of ponies standing outside to what I believed was the theatre. Something was obviously going on there, and from our experience with hardly having any money to spend, longer than average lines usually meant something was free, in this case. You had already taken a seat as you roamed your eyes around in boredom. Nevertheless, I took your hoof and began leading you towards that sight of interest. "Come on!"

Once we were closer, I noticed that there had been a sign detailing the event that would be partaking in this theater. They were going to be having a showing in regards to the story about how Hearth's Warming came to be, and the admission was…free! Of course! They always have this play every year! We could totally start with that! Maybe it'll even give me some more amazing ideas for stuff we can do afterward!

"Let's get in line, Alex!" I told you as I already began dragging you to the end of the line.

"But, it's solong!" You protested.

"Don't be such a baby." I replied. "It's a free event. Of course, it's going to be long. It's not like we're going to have to wait hours, though. They'll start letting ponies in when they're ready to start the show!"

The only thing left you had to say was rather just a big wave of icy breath escaping from your lips.

So, we remained standing in line for quite a while. While we were waiting, I occasionally hummed tunes relating to our holiday cheer and rocked my body while you never once seemed to lift the expression on your face. I swear, you probably even looked like a grumpy old stallion.

It didn't take too long before the line actually started to move. I know watching a play wasn't particularly exciting, but I still couldn't wait for us to actually get in. It would be the first thing we'd get to do for today, anyway. Besides not giving us any presents or sharing the holiday cheer, our parents never actually took us to anything like this, so it was actually kind of the first time for us.

I was skipping by the time we made it to the front. I was just about to dash right in the front doors until a heavy hoof appeared directly in front of me all of a sudden.

"Ticket?" A pony by the door asked for.

"T-tickets?" My heart began to race as I felt myself panicking. "What do you mean? This event's free, right?"

"Yes, it is." He answered. "But, you were supposed to receive a ticket from the stand nearby in order to earn you a spot for this performance." He pointed a hoof in the direction of a certain stand where a couple of ponies were.

"Oh, okay!" I felt a wave of relief, seeing as all we had to do we just get a free ticket to go in. It's kind of dumb since the event's free in the first place, but whatever. "So, all we need to do is just go get a ticket right now and come back, right? We can totes do that."

"I'm afraid to inform you that we are currently completely booked. Tickets were on the basis of first come, first served, after all."

My eyes immediately shot open at the sound of this. All that waiting?! It was all for nothing?! Just because I didn't know that we were supposed to get tickets?!

"S-seriously?!" I instantly began panicking again. "I-I didn't know that! Do you think you could maybe let us in?! We'll sit somewhere in the very back if we have to!"

"I can't do that." He stated without a sigh of care or concern. "It wouldn't be fair to those who waited in line for the tickets. Now, if you don't mind, I need you to step aside so I can tend to those behind you."

I glanced behind me and noticed a decent number of ponies waiting for us to be dealt with. No way…

Without a word, you were the first one to get out of line. It was clear that the play was never a big deal for you in the first place. Unwilling to be left alone, I quickly chased after you. However, as I looked back to find the line moving along without us, I felt a great gaping hole in my heart, and it definitely didn't help when you looked angrier than before. I was pretty sure it was because I was unintentionally only proving your point on how Hearth's Warming Eve was a gigantic waste of time.

"T-t-that's okay!" I tried to say before I could lose you completely. "It's just a dumb old play. Who cares?" I honestly didn't mean what I said, but it was the only thing I could think of to alleviate the situation. "Think of it like this! Since practically every pony is going to be at the play, maybe we'll have an easier time finding things to do!" I did a quick search and look around our area and managed to find a Ferris wheel not too far off. "Um, let's check that out!"

I didn't even think about it being another ride we'd have to pay for, but I was grasping at straws, and I'm pretty sure you knew it.

Turns out it was something you had to pay for. It wasn't much, and I was pretty sure whatever change there was back at home would cover it, but I hadn't taken any kind of money with me. There was a kiddie version of the wheel, but it was ridiculously so small that only newborn babies had a fun time riding it.

At this point, I was no longer able to think clearly about how I could still remedy this situation. I was afraid you'd quit at any second, so the only thing I thought I could do was literally drag you to anything I first laid eyes on. Now that I think about it, I believe I had lost sight of what I truly wanted, in a sense. I wanted to show you how beautiful Hearth's Warming Eve really was, but I had ultimately begun focusing on just finding something to keep you busy so you wouldn't leave me.

It was only a matter of time before I'd hear those words of devastation.

"Forget it, Athena. There's nothing here for us to do. I'm hungry and I'm tired. I want to go home already." You acknowledged as you began turning in the direction of home. "This was all just a huge waste of time."

"Wait, no!" I pleaded as I grabbed a desperate hold of your hoof. "I'm sure there's still something we can do here!"

"No!" You snapped back. "We've been walking around for forever! I told you this from the very beginning. There's no place for us in anything having to do with Hearth's Warming Eve, and being here proved it!" You pointed a hoof towards the setting sun as you continued to nearly shout in frustration. "I don't know what the heck you thought was going to happen, but life isn't some kind of magical fairytale. Were you expecting some kind of miracle to happen, just like from the old Hearth's Warming stories you tell foals? Well, take a look around, and let me know if you see it!"

At that point, all I could do was honestly whimper as I watched you turn your back on me. I don't think I was sad because I failed horribly in my attempt to show you a brighter side of the holiday you so hated. Instead, I think it was more because it felt like I lost you completely as a brother. You were just so angry, and it looked like you were absolutely willing to leave me alone there…unprotected.

"I'm going home. You can stay here if you want, but I'm not wasting another second here."

As you seemed to slowly grow smaller in my sight, I stared towards the snowy ground and allowed my tears to melt into the smallest potholes they could manage. I began wondering if maybe you were really right about this. I've always looked up to you in a certain way. You always seemed to know what you were doing while I was goofing off the majority of the time. Was this one of those times?

As I closed my eyes, I tried remembering what it really was that made me love Hearth's Warming Eve so much. Sure, I was completely attracted to the festive lights and decorations, especially the big tree and candy canes in the center of this festival we had been formerly engaged in. But, was it really what drove me to want to spend time with you during Hearth's Warming?

Not at all. It was you. That's what Hearth's Warming was all about, wasn't it? About spending time with family and friends. And, that's what made me really sad. You were so blinded by the fact that we didn't necessarily have family and friends to spend it with. You were so ignorant to the fact that there was someone from your family and your closest friend who wanted to spend this amazing holiday with you.

Did I really not matter that much to you? That's what I thought.

"You're such a dummy…!" I managed to say in a loud yet soft quivering voice. I was able to catch your attention as I watched you turn back around to face me. "How could you be so stupid?" I sat down like a little lost child and began trying to wipe away the tears from my eyes as much as I could. "You're so stupid…!" I repeated, trying to gather my thoughts so I could hopefully voice them out to you clearly. "All I ever wanted to do every Hearth's Warming Eve was spend it with you. I just wanted to try to show you how fun it could really be. Maybe, I was just trying to get you to notice me because I was what you seemed to be ignoring the whole time. You said that we don't have any family or friends to spend today with? Well, look in front of you!" I cried out loud, my vision beginning to grow blurry due to all the tears that wouldn't stop building up. "I'm the biggest family and friend you have, and you don't seem to care at all! But, I guess you were kind of right anyway. While I've been so willing to spend time with you during this holiday, you apparently want nothing to do with it, including me. So, I guess I don't have anyone to spend it with after all."

After that, I didn't think I had any more strength to express my innermost feelings. I continued to sob almost uncontrollably while my breath grew unstable. Nevertheless, I had no intention of staying at the festival by myself, so I decided I would go home with you either way. With my tears having no intention of stopping anytime soon, I had a hard time seeing where I had been exactly heading into. Within a few seconds, I bumped into something furry yet solid.

Next, I felt a hoof somewhat caress my cheek as some kind of cloth began to rub against my eyes. I had shut my eyes due to this motion, but I opened them once it had stopped. The first thing I was able to see was you removing the end of your scarf away from my face. You no longer carried a look full of fury and maybe even hatred. Instead, it appeared as if you had been pummeled with a guilty storm of hail. In fact, you couldn't even look me in the eyes afterward. You turned your head towards the ground as my shallow breathing began to regain itself.

"…I'm sorry." You apologized with a lightly but recognizably shaky voice. "You're so right. I'm such a jerk. This whole time, I had just been paying attention to only what I felt, including to what I considered family." You shook your head and finally mustered up the courage to make direct eye contact with me. "Look, don't ever think that I don't consider you family, alright, Athena? You're the best pony in my life, and I love you for it. But, you're right. I got so blinded by what other ponies had that I didn't think twice about what I had. In a way, I thought for the both of us, and I obviously didn't consider being open to what you had to say." You lifted your hooves and wrapped them around me as you brought me in for a warm brush of your coat. "I want to make it up to you. Please. I'll do anything. Just let me wipe away that frown off your face. Because, no matter what you think, it kills me to see you like the way you are now."

"…you really mean that?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Of course, I do." Your grip on me tightened. "I'm sorry I ever made you think otherwise. There are just…times where I can get so angry that I lose sight of what's really in front of me. It's something that I need to work on, but for right now, I just want to focus on you."

"I care about you too, Alex." I finally returned the embrace and allowed my head to rest on your chest. "I don't want to make you do things you don't want to, but if you really don't feel like you're being forced to, I won't ask for much."

You quickly shook your head. "Anything."

At this point, I felt the corners of my lips pull upwards as I lightly giggled at my next thought. "Seeing as we're broke, do you think we could maybe just walk around and look at the pretty lights?"

"Of course, Nene." You surprised me when you called me by the nickname you personally came up with. The origin of the name was actually embarrassing, but at the time, I didn't care at all. As you lightly brushed your hoof against my mane in comfort, I could feel any cold part of my body easily thaw out.

Even though I kind of wasted your time with all the scrambling around for something "fun" to do, I honestly believe it was all worth it for our heartfelt talk. Yes, it was an absolute mess of emotions, but just like you told me not too long ago, sometimes, the bad has to happen so the good can make everything better. That's why you try to believe that everything has a reason for happening.

It was already nighttime when we were able to get back in the motion of the festival, but that was perfectly okay. We were both a little hungry, but it didn't seem like that would be making us leave anytime soon.

There are ponies who say that the best things in life are free, and I suppose that that is true in a certain kind of way. Money can buy you lots of things, but it most definitely can't buy someone who genuinely cares about you. And, in case it isn't already obvious enough, family, friends, someone like you, is the best thing I could ever receive for Hearth's Warming.

Despite everything, I understand why you'd be so upset, Alex. Since we technically couldn't enjoy the holiday to the fullest like many other ponies, it bugged you to no end. If I'm not mistaken, maybe you secretly wanted the same thing for me, and you were angry that it just couldn't happen? Even so, I'm glad I was able to snap you out of the wrong way of thinking. Who knows if you would have ended up just like Snowball from Twilight's story? No offense. You may have never had the capability to bring Hearth's Warming to an end like Snowball, but if you would have turned out to be a shut-in today, well, that'd be really sad to see…

"So, what happened after you and Alex made up?!" Twilight enthusiastically asked as she hovered over Athena a little too much for an answer.

"We took a nice walk through the festival and enjoyed the scenery, of course." Athena reacted quite easily towards Twilight's earnest expression. "I'm not going to get too much into the details, seeing as it's not that exciting, hehe. But, then again, I guess that's the whole point. Alex and I spent the entire time together observing the amazing Hearth's Warming lights while having a playful mini snowball fight once or twice. We also built a snowpony, you know, those things older ponies might consider trivial. At the time, Alex still probably thought those things were kind of childish, but I know he did them all for me." Athena took the time to turn to Twilight for some reason. "Hey, Twilight, you have an older brother, right? Shining Armor? Did he ever play around with dolls with you?"

"Him?" Twilight paused to look up in thought. "Haha! Yeah, of course! Back when I was really little!"

"Hehe!" Athena giggled expressively. "It's kind of like that then. I'm pretty sure your brother had no interest in dolls, but he played with them for you." She then turned her eyes to meet mine. "I'm sure Alex would have done that too if I had any dolls of my own."

"Did you two go home after all that then?" Starlight asked.

"Oh!" Athena chirped out all of a sudden. "There was also this firework show I totally wasn't expecting! It happened around midnight, and it definitely took us by surprise! Not to mention, it was totally free! I mean, it's not like you're going to go around charging ponies to stay behind and see some fireworks, hehe." She removed herself from her seat and began to unexpectedly approach me. "It was at this show where the bond between Alex and me…" She sat by me as she continued to lock her eyes on mine. "…grew even stronger. Because after that Hearth's Warming Eve, I could tell he was so much more, what's the word, attentive with me? Yes, I know, I can be really needy at times, but when all you've ever had was the love of one pony for the longest time, you just can't help it…" She reached out her forelegs and wrapped them around me as her eyes squeezed shut. "Sorry, Alex. I love you too much."

"Aww!" Twilight expressed heavily, wiping a tear or two from her eyes and smiling warmly. "You're starting to make me miss Shining Armor even more now. I'm glad that you're at least still able to be with your own brother, even though if things might be a little…different now."

"It's life, I guess." Athena retracted her forelegs and shrugged as she swung her hind legs. "Things happen…for a reason, I hope."

Twilight eyes seemed to catch the clock nearby, causing great alarm to sprout within her. "Oh my gosh! We've been in here for a long time. We better get back to the party!"

Hearing how bad I had acted towards Athena in the story still bugged me a bit after it was over. I was glad that it ended on a good note, just as I had hoped, but still…

Either way, I suppose I wasn't all that different back when I first met the six girls that initially changed my life around. At the time, I had pushed them away from me as much as I could, mostly because I just didn't want to suffer from hurt anymore. They showed me differently, and I had to be grateful for that. All in all, everything, ranging from bad to good, that fell in place within our lives all led up to this moment. Yet, there was still much more that was to be written in our lives, and it was up to us to decide what would happen next.

Once we returned to the party, the majority of the excitement had already kind of winded down. It was getting late, so a lot of ponies from other parts of Ponyville began leaving if they hadn't left already. As I roamed my eyes along the almost completely wiped out refreshment and snack table, I actually found Octavia sipping what appeared to be fruit punch on her own.

"She looks like she needs someone to talk to." Athena, who had remained by my side, suggested. "Octavia, right?"

"Yeah. Though, what do you mean by 'needing someone to talk to'?" I inquired about.

"Why don't you go up to her and find out?" Athena poked me with her head, gesturing me to do as such.

I was puzzled by what Athena was getting at, but I decided to approach Octavia. It had been a while since I really talked to her, so I figured it was long overdue either way.

"Hey, Tavi," I said as I joined her at the table. "Vinyl and Derpy aren't with you?"

I noticed her coat lightly jump at the sound of my voice, but it didn't seem I startled her too much when I popped in all of a sudden.

"Oh, no." She turned away from her cup to face me and shortly brushed through her mane as she responded. "They're over by the tree. I only just stepped away for a moment of silence."

Considering what Athena had mentioned a few seconds ago, I couldn't help but feel something off about her. Everyone else had been enjoying the festivities, as indicated with the smiles and laughter coming from them, but Octavia was the only one who seemed to be holding a troublesome frown. In fact, she actually started reminding me of myself from a long time ago.

"You…doing okay?" I asked.

"Why would you ask?" She responded in an odd yet cool manner.

"It just looks like you're kinda, I don't know, down?" I mentioned honestly.

"I'm fine." She seemed to dismiss rather quickly and even angrily. "I was actually waiting for you for some time."

"For me? Sorry, I didn't know." I apologized before following up on the topic. "What's up?"

She pushed a long and narrow black box that had been on the table my way. "I have something I want to give you. However, I must admit it's not much." I cautiously picked it up with my magic and observed it closely for a short moment. "Go ahead. Open it."

I did and found the box to actually be a casing for something rather fragile inside. If I wasn't mistaken, it was a violin bow, and from what I could see, it appeared to be clean as a whistle. Was this new?

"It's one of my favorite bows." Octavia explained. "I know you previously mentioned that you wouldn't be able to take up the violin for regular practice, but I still wanted you to have it. After all, I don't use this bow as much anymore, and I figured I'd let you have it."

"Are you sure, Tavi?" I asked, unsure if I was willing to actually take something like this from her. "I know you just said that you don't use it much anymore, but wouldn't it be better if it stayed with you? If it's one of your favorite bows, wouldn't it be better to have for like a personal keepsake?"

"I understand your point," She responded, "But, I've already made up my mind. As long as you treat it with the utmost care, I don't mind if you have it. In fact," She turned her eyes away, and her voice softened. "I want you to have it. So, please, accept it."

There was no way I could refuse her offer with something like that. If she really wanted to give me this expensive-looking bow, then I felt like I had no choice. It's not like I didn't appreciate the offer. It was just that I wasn't sure if I was the right pony to care over something like this.

"If you say it like that, then I guess I can't refuse, huh?" I closed the box and put it aside nearby for the moment. "Thank you, Tavi. Even though I'm a little worried about how it'll be with me, I still appreciate the thought of you giving me something as special as this. I just feel bad that I don't have anything for you…"

"It's the season for giving, not receiving." She stated somewhat strictly as she turned away from me. "I don't need you to give me anything, nor do I expect you to." She finished whatever left she had in her refreshment cup and appeared to gather herself to leave. "I'm going home. Happy Hearth's Warming, Alex."

Something about the way she talked really bugged me. It's like there was a bitter underlying tone in her voice. In fact, I couldn't help but feel like she forced herself to be here with us. I hardly even saw her much for the majority of the party, seeing as I had been upstairs listening to Twilight's and Athena's stories.

There was a thought that came to mind as I watched Octavia begin to walk away. It was a thought I hoped wasn't true, but based on the current circumstances, was entirely possible. Could she have dragged herself over to this party just to give me what she wanted to give me?

I wanted to say something, but she had already left the castle. I could have gone after her, but I had already tried asking if she was okay earlier. If I continued to ask, despite her telling me she was "fine", she'd probably only repeat it and, if I knew her, get furious with me. If I had an idea of what could have been bugging her, then maybe I'd be able to do something.

I swung by the tree and found Vinyl and Derpy chatting while sharing a few laughs every here and there. There were a few other ponies hanging around nearby, but I was focused on them for the meantime. Despite their current conversation, they were able to find me approaching them before I could speak up.

"Yo, Alex! How's it hangin'? We, like, missed you the entire party." Vinyl greeted.

"Yeah, sorry." I apologized once more, almost feeling guilty that I had been upstairs listening to stories instead of speaking with close friends downstairs.

"I'm sorry too!" Derpy apologized unexpectedly out of the blue. "I accidentally broke something while we were setting up the tree and Rarity got mad at me." She pointed her noise directly towards the floor to reveal how remorseful she felt, but that in itself was too adorable for anyone to be mad at.

"It's no big deal." I responded, feeling a smile grow on my face after seeing her expression. "Don't worry about Rarity either. She just likes for everything to be as 'precise' as possible."

As Derpy lifted back her head and sent a warm grin, Vinyl caught my attention with her next statement. "Hey, did you catch Tavi? She wanted to give you something or something."

"Yeah, I did." I answered. Seeing as Vinyl was her best friend for an apparently long time, I decided to bring up our subject's seemingly odd behavior into the conversation. "Hey, did anything happen with her recently? She seemed kind of…distant earlier."

"You noticed it too, didn't you?" Vinyl returned, which I actually wasn't expecting from her. "She's been acting like that ever since I met up with her today. She doesn't want to talk about it with any of us though. What about you?"

"When I asked her if something was bothering her, all she said was that she was 'fine'." I replied.

"Yeah, dude. Same with us."

"And none of you have any idea why?"

"Not really, no."

Well, Vinyl sort of made my previous thoughts of Octavia only coming here to give me her gift more likely. But, at the same time, at least she confirmed that I wasn't the reason why she seemed so angry or depressed. After all, I did apparently keep her waiting for a while.

"Speaking of Tavi, where is she?" Vinyl asked. "She's been gone for a while."

"Oh." I remembered how she disappeared right after she did what she wanted to do. "She actually left right after she gave me her gift."

"Tch. Seriously?" She answered with concern rather than irritation. "I really want to know what's up with that chick. Like, really."

"And, I'm afraid to keep asking." I mentioned truthfully. "I wouldn't want her to snap at me."

"I feel you, bro." She acknowledged. "Maybe we should just give her some space. At least for the rest of the night. Maybe she'll feel better tomorrow."

"Yeah, maybe." I reluctantly decided.

Seeing as there was still a good amount of partying going on, Vinyl and Derpy seemed to decide to stay for at least a while longer instead of going home like Octavia did. Nevertheless, it was nearly impossible for me to ignore Octavia's behavior. I didn't think it was an emergency or anything, but knowing that she was possibly dealing with some kind of hurt stopped me from enjoying the party like everyone else, especially after the kind of gift she had given me. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't at least check up on her?

"Doesn't this seem a little familiar?" I heard by my side, pulling me out of my thoughts.

It was Athena, and I supposed that that enigmatic side of her personality hadn't entirely died down. "Huh?"

"The way Octavia is acting." She clarified. "Does it, you know, remind you of a certain someone from a certain story?"

Besides the heartwarming gift, Octavia was acting a little cold and distant. It was just like I said; Unless I was seeing things differently, it almost seemed like she didn't want to be here in the first place. Regarding Athena's hint, I could only believe that she had been talking about the story she told us not too long ago, and in that story, there was only one pony that acted similarly to Octavia now.

"So, you think I should go check up on her after all, huh?" I asked, mostly certain that she didn't just want me doing absolutely nothing.

"That's up to you." Athena returned. "But, if you were in her shoes, would you want somepony to talk to?"

"Say no more." I stated with a light sigh.

Just telling her that I was there to listen couldn't hurt. Besides, she said it herself that she didn't expect me to give her anything in return following her gift. The least I could do was give her company and an ear as a good friend if it turned out she needed it.

Having wrapped a nice and extremely warm scarf that Fluttershy had personally made me, I showed up in front of Octavia's door with a steaming cup of green tea. I took a glance at her windows and found no visible lights from within. I was a little nervous at the thought of waking her up, but I was willing to push on despite that.

While I waited for several slightly unnerving minutes, I constantly looked around in order to rest my eyes somewhere else besides her door. Next, I found my eyes were locked onto the Hearth's Warming decorations that were set up outside of town. For some reason, as I thought back to Athena's story, it was hard to pull my eyes away from these simple decorations. It wasn't until I heard the door in front of me open when I was able to break away.

"I was wondering who could be knocking on my door this time of night."

Octavia had been wiping her eyes, and her mane had been slightly disheveled.

"I wasn't sure if you went straight to bed." I replied. "Sorry, if I woke you."

"Don't worry about it. Is something the matter?"

"Funny that you should ask that." I returned with a small smile forming on my face. "Is it alright if I come in for a bit?"

"Sure…" She stepped to the side and allowed me to walk in. Once inside, she closed her door and walked towards the nearest couch. "Please, take a seat."

I found a seat across her with a coffee table separating the two of us. I didn't want to keep her long, so I tried to keep it brief yet unhurried. "Here." I placed the cup of green tea onto the table in front of her. "I know it isn't much, and it definitely doesn't compare to what you gave me, but I got you a cup of nice and hot green tea. It's one of your favorites, right?"

"Yes." Octavia seemed to somewhat hesitantly speak as she stared at the cup for a period of time. "However, I told you there was no need to give me something in return."

"I didn't do it because I felt I needed to. I did it because I wanted to." I cleared up before rubbing the back of my head in slight confusion. "Then again, you could probably say that my 'want' was great enough to become a 'need'."

"I see." She slowly slid her hoof towards the cup and cautiously touched it. "In that case, I appreciate the gesture. Is this the reason why you came over?"

I shook my head. "Not exactly. There's something else I want to give you, in a sense."

"And what is that?" She raised an eyebrow in curiosity as she brought the cup to her lips.

"How do I put it…?" I asked myself as I leaned back and rubbed my neck with my hoof. "I just…want you to know that I'm available anytime you want to talk." I shook my head once more when I heard that statement come out of my mouth. "Actually, there might be times where it'll be physically impossible to talk to you. I might be on some kind of adventure in another part of Equestria and stuff. Anyways, whenever I'm here in Ponyville, and I'm not stuck in the middle of some kind of friendship problem or something, then I'm willing to hear whatever you feel like you need to get out."

"I understand." Octavia calmly responded and placed the cup back down on the table before she continued speaking. "And, I thank you for it, but what makes you bring this up all of a sudden?"

"I noticed something about you tonight." I explained quite frankly. "And not only me, but Vinyl and Derpy too." At this point, Octavia's pupils moved to the corner of her eyes and pointed away from me. "I know what you said, but each of us thinks that something is under your skin right now." I thought for a moment and remembered what Athena had hinted towards me. Taking into account of the information Vinyl supplied me with, I decided to take a kind of wild guess. "Does something about Hearth's Warming bother you, Tavi?"

A silent yet strong gust of air blew from her muzzle. She shut her eyes and remained sitting still for a moment before she addressed my question. "I appreciate your concern, but it isn't something you should trouble yourself with." She turned her head away in a solemn manner. "Things just have a habit of not working out for me."

I felt the strong urge to lean in forward after she said that. "What do you mean? What's going on?"

I was expecting her to turn away my concern immediately, but she actually remained quiet for some time. During this silence, my attention was drawn towards a hoof of hers that moved over to her chest. As I watched how her chest expanded in and out, I found that her breathing appeared to quicken its pace. Eventually, she shut her eyes and didn't open them again until she released one last long breath through her nose. Afterwards, she turned back towards me and noticed that I had been observing her during this entire time with a great deal of worry. Remaining convincingly composed, she reached for her tea and took a few sips before setting it back down on the table.

"Can I ask you something, Alex?"

"Sure. What is it?" I earnestly responded.

"Have you ever had your heart broken?"

I was definitely not expecting that, especially from her.

"Um… I think so." I tried to remember as accurately as I could. The first thing that popped into my head was when Discord was able to manipulate me into making me think that my friends actually didn't care about me. "A long time ago. Back before I met Vinyl and even Derpy, someone managed to convince me that the friends I had didn't care about me at all. At that time, I had just started warming up to the idea of having friends, so, when he was able to manipulate me, it felt like my whole world shattered, or at least the hope of a better world did, anyway. But, like I said, that was a long time ago, and everything's better now." It was at this point, while I was thinking of another scenario in the back of my mind, that I remembered of another heart-wrenching moment. It involved the last I saw of my 'real' dad, but I didn't want to expose that kind of drama again with her. "Sorry," I apologized, feeling as if I shared more than I needed to. "I didn't mean to get off topic or anything."

She shook her head. "It's alright. I'm sure you've gone through so much more than somepony like me."

I wasn't sure if she was intentionally trying to turn the focus onto me instead of her, but I decided to put us back on track. "So, Tavi. You asked me if I ever had my heart broken. Are you saying that you have?"

"Mm." Her body appeared to stiffen for a quick moment, but she responded to this by picking up her cup and taking another sip of her green tea. "You could say that, yes."

"You want to talk about it?" I immediately asked.

"That's the thing." She returned. "As much as it may bother me, I believe it's only trivial to talk about such a pitiful event."

This was weird. With the way she talked, it was like she was trying to keep her cool, but, at the same time, she was revealing how much, whatever it was, really bothered her.

"But that's what I'm talking about, Tavi." I encouraged. "I don't care about how 'trivial' it may seem. If it's something that is still bothering you to this day, then I'm all ears. I owe you so much after what you did for me during my time of need, after all."

Octavia averted her gaze away from me as she lightly sighed. "You're really sweet, you know that?" Waiting to see if she had any more to say, I kept my mouth shut. "Perhaps…I do need to speak about this with somepony. I've tried ignoring it for so long, yet I always find that my mind is plagued by it at certain times, this being one of those times."

"I'm here, Tavi," I repeated. "Even if I have to stay all night."

The corners of her lips surprisingly lifted up as she glanced at me after hearing this statement. "Haha." She chuckled. "No, there's no need for that." She cleared her throat and grazed her hoof along her cup as she appeared to think to herself. "Let me rest for tonight, Alex. If another time comes, then I may just seek your company then. However, I'm feeling much better just by your visit this night."

I wasn't going to understand the real reason for her sudden shift in mood tonight, but I was still glad that I made some progress towards that goal. Either way, she did appear to tell the truth when she said that she was feeling better, so that was good enough for me.

"Sure thing, Tavi. Just don't be afraid to come talk to me." I stood up and fixed my scarf for the weather I would meet outside. "Don't forget about Vinyl and Derpy either. They might behave a little differently than you, but they're still great friends to be around."

"I know." She acknowledged as she nodded.

Believing she could definitely use one, I lifted my forelegs and spread them out for her, inviting her in for a warm embrace. She observed my movement for a silent moment before she finally brought herself closer and accepted the gesture.

"Happy Hearth's Warming, Tavi." I returned back to her from the castle. As I said this, I tightened my squeeze a little more in hopes to express my sincerity to her.

"Yes." She responded, her voice slightly muffled by my coat, "To you, as well."

As I began walking back to the castle during the cold yet beautiful winter night, I wondered a little deeper about the reason behind hearing Athena's story. Could it relate to the troubles that Octavia went through? I'm not sure, but I guess I'll be waiting to find that one out.

The Gift of the Maud Pie

I wasn't exactly sure what to feel when I first found out that Rarity would be opening another boutique in Manehattan. Of course, I was extremely exhilarated for her, but at the same time, I was still trying to get over her recent success in Canterlot. I couldn't understand why I still felt a little off after I had heard the news.

"Are you coming along, darling?" Rarity asked as she stood in the middle of the walkway inside the train cart.

I realized I had been staring at the seat in front of me and shook my head to make sure I could piece myself back together with reality. "Oh, yeah. Sorry about that." I apologized and joined her on the walkway.

It appeared Pinkie Pie had already hopped off and was anxiously waiting for us outside of the train. Despite that, Rarity seemed to slow down her walking pace in order to stick with me.

"Something on your mind?"

"I-I just can't believe you're already setting up another shop in Manehattan." I replied. "It feels like it was just yesterday when you were getting your things together over at Canterlot. You're moving at a ridiculously fast pace."

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Rarity returned a high-pitched giggle as we left the train. "It's only a matter of time before all of Equestria experiences the magic of yours truly." She ended with a light whip of her hair.

"I'm really happy for you Rarity, but that also makes me feel kind of sad too." I admitted with a slowly sulking frown.

"Whatever do you mean?" Rarity stopped in her tracks to turn and face directly towards me.

"I don't know." I merely answered while shrugging my shoulders. "I guess it feels like all of you are achieving your dreams and moving on ahead. I don't think I've really had a dream to look forward to, especially when all I did was sulk around back then. In a way, I guess what I'm trying to say is that it feels like you all are moving forward in life while I still feel like I'm in the same place."

"How could you think of such a thing, darling?" Rarity questioned, raising up a smile in an attempt to cheer me up. "Have you looked in the mirror lately? You started off as a 'simple' Earth Pony, but now look at you! You're a grand Alicorn Prince in Equestria! If you ask me, I think you've accomplished a lot in the time we've spent together!"

Despite her words of encouragement, they didn't seem enough to get me out of my somewhat sulky mood. "I know. I know. Being a Prince, much less an Alicorn, is a prestigious title to hold in Equestria. Anyone would probably think that I'm proud of 'accomplishing' so much, but the thing is, I never really wanted to be a prince or an Alicorn. It was never my dream or passion to become either one of those things. Even so, to this day, I don't exactly have a dream like the rest of you do. Maybe I've become so busy with this royal business and the like that I've never really had time to think about what I would've wanted had I stayed your average ordinary Earth Pony. I guess what I'm trying to say is that, while you're off taking charge and making your dream happen, I'm just in the passenger seat of my life and just going along with whatever happens, you know?"

"I suppose I see your point." Rarity's smile flipped around as she turned away and hovered a hoof over her lips.

I felt like I was taking more of her time than I originally wanted or needed to, so I shook my head in an attempt to persuade her to focus more on her big day instead. "It's okay, Rarity. I just needed to get that off my chest. I don't want this to be on your mind while you're out working on a dream of your own." I chuckled at the sly irony that centered on my lack of a dream intercepting hers.

"What are you guys doing?!" We heard Pinkie's voice scream out from the front doors of the station. "Come on! Come on! Maud's here already!"

"We'll talk about this later if you feel you still need the subject to be discussed, okay?" Rarity promised.

I only nodded and watched as she grinned delightfully before turning around and heading towards the direction of the jumpy Pie. I was tempted to stay there and dwell on my thoughts once more, but knowing Rarity would be troubled by that, I forced my thoughts into the mental closet and walked on after her.

Besides Rarity finding a place for her boutique here, there was another reason why I came along with the excited duo. Pinkie Pie was going to have some sort of sister gift exchange with the one and only Maud. It had been a while since I last saw her, and considering Maud had this kind of "charm" that I've seen from no pony else, I didn't want to miss the opportunity to see her again. Just the fact that she could be so sarcastic, whether intentionally or not, while keeping a straight face the entire time made me want to crack up. There was also the idea of visiting Coco while being in Manehattan, but I wasn't sure if she was busy or not. I didn't want to drop in while she was working, after all.

"Come say hi to Maud, you guys!" Pinkie waved frantically as we appeared at the top of the steps outside of the station.

"Hello, Maud." Rarity seemed to cautiously greet. Based on Maud's history of taking several of Rarity's phrases quite literally, I assumed that Rarity wanted to avoid another situation like that.

I, on the other hoof, felt differently.

"Hey, Maud. What's up?" I intentionally asked, waiting for Maud's response.

She lifted up her head and stared directly at the sky with almost lifeless eyes before bringing her head back down to respond in a deadpan voice. "Clouds."

I laughed out loud. It wasn't exactly her response that was hilarious, it was just her entire act in general. Rarity only appeared to uncomfortably grin widely while Pinkie shared a genuine warm smile towards our interaction.

"You should do stand up, Maud. You'd wipe the floor with all the other comedians." I stated.

"Why would I wipe floors with other ponies when I can just use a mop?" She expressed yet again when no emotion to her face.

I laughed heartily once more and found myself wiping a tear from the corner of my eye. "You're killing me, Maud."

"I'm not even touching you. You should probably see a doctor."

I was on the verge of taking a page from her book and literally roll on the floor laughing. We were already receiving glances and stares from nearby ponies, and Rarity looked like she grew more uncomfortable the more ponies gathered around. For everypony's sake, I decided to stop intentionally setting up Maud's comedy routine.

"Come on, everypony!" Pinkie encouraged, pushing us on ahead. "Let's get going! Time's a-wasting!"

Just as I was about to join them on their walk, I felt a sudden tap on my shoulder from behind. As I turned around, I noticed Athena working her element of surprise as she excitedly grinned towards me. "Seeing as you stopped by Manehattan and all, I was thinking I could go and totally spend some time with Coco?"

"I don't know if she's free right now, Athena." I brought up.

"I'll stop by her apartment and see if she's busy. If she is, I'll come back." She closed her eyes with a small amount of pride and easily brushed off any worries with her hoof. "Not that hard."

"Do you even remember the way to her apartment?" I asked, cocking my eyebrow.

"Of course, I do!" She tried to confidently claim, but there was a small hint of tension in her voice as she said that. "I just have to walk around a bit and get my photographic memory working, that's all."

"Okay then." I decided to trust the integrity of her independence. "Just don't push yourself if you get lost, and remember you can't stray too far alright? Manehattan is a big city, after all."

"I got it, bro." She acknowledged with a jubilant giggle. "I'll be fine! Love, you!" She placed a peck on my cheek, kind of like a little girl, and began skipping off in the other direction.

I continued watching her leave, unable to fully come to terms with the idea of letting her go off like that.

"Alex, are you coming with us?" I heard Rarity's voice in the distance.

Turning towards her and finding the three of them looking back my way, I quickly trotted back in order to catch up to them. "My bad. Thanks for waiting up."

"Naturally." Rarity lifted a grin before Maud spoke up once again.

"We can't wait up. We don't have wings." She said.

Taking a moment to realize what she was getting at, I ultimately laughed yet again as Rarity uneasily chuckled.

"Oh, Maud! The day's only just started, but I can't wait until I give you my absolutely-tootly-luutly amazing gift!" Pinkie Pie looked like she could literally jump out of her skin as we walked along the sidewalk.

"Aww." Rarity observed the same excitement that Pinkie had trouble keeping in. "You Pie sisters have just about the sweetest family traditions! Every year, you set aside a special day to spend with each of your sisters?"

"Yep!" Pinkie responded proudly. "I do separate trips with each one, and we make it super fun by picking a different location every year! We see the sights all day and then swap gifts at sunset! And since Maud's getting her rocktorate nearby, we figured this would be the perfect spot for PSSSD!"

I noticed Maud seemed to stop in her tracks as the other two girls continued walking on. It appeared that they had been too distracted with their lively conversation, so they didn't notice Maud slightly fall out of the group. Deciding to balance the number of separated ponies, I joined up with Maud and found her shifting her gaze through a large number of postcards nearby.

However, it turned out I was wrong. It wasn't her that was looking through these postcards. She had actually been holding out her pet rock as if he was looking through them instead. Nevertheless, once I was by her side, I decided to spark up a casual conversation that didn't wind up being a comedy routine this time.

"So, what's this I hear about a 'rocktorate'?" I asked.

"I'm going to be graduating as a doctor in rock science." She returned, continuing to guide Boulder through the circular stand of postcards.

I had never heard of any higher education program like that. I would've figured that rock science would just fall under regular geology or something, but I could only assume that rock science was a much thorough and investigative branch.

"That's great!" I congratulated, but at the same time, I felt a little worse than when I first got here, seeing as Maud was achieving success with her long-planned dreams. "You've got any plans afterward? Like what you want to do and stuff?"

"I want to keep researching rocks." She turned her head to me as she kept her hoof with Boulder extended out. "Maybe I'll be able to find many new rocks that haven't been found yet."

"Maud!" We heard Rarity call out, finding us lagging behind.

"Boulder promised his cousin a postcard." Maud explained her reason for the uninformed stop.

"Well, I'm really sure you'll be great." I continued. "I can't imagine how excited you must be in making that giant step towards what you've been dreaming of accomplishing in your life."

After a moment or two, she finally retracted her hoof and turned towards me. "If you're not busy, you should really come to the graduation ceremony."

"Oh, sure!" I replied. "Just let me know when and where it is, and I'll see if I can make it."

"I'll be sending out invitations before the actual date. I'll make sure to send Pinkie Pie an extra one for you."

"Sounds good." I settled and soon found ourselves in an unexpected silence. "So, did Boulder find any postcards he liked?"

Maud turned her eyes towards the hoof that was holding up Boulder. She stared emotionless at him for a moment before she turned her eyes back towards me. "He said nothing moved him."

"That's fine." I acknowledged, taking a look at our surroundings. "They were just some postcards on the side of the street. You might find better ones at a shop."

"Do you know anything that might be perfect for Boulder to send to his cousin?"

"That depends…" I stated, even though I honestly felt that I would be the worst pony to help find something for a rock. "Who exactly is Boulder's cousin?"

"His name is Pebble." Maud responded, "He and boulder are really close, so Boulder is looking for a postcard that really stands out."

Pebble, huh? Considering the irony behind Boulder's name, I wouldn't be surprised if Pebble was actually the size of a boulder this time around. Either way, I didn't have any personal plans of my own like the others did, so I figured I could offer Maud some help.

"If you want, I can help you help Boulder find some postcards that might catch his attention."

"You don't have to. I'm sure you have important things of your own to do here in Manehattan."

"Not really. I'm kind of just tagging along. Besides, I've been meaning to spend a little time with you. When was the last time we saw each other? The Grand Galloping Gala, right? And even then, we didn't really talk much."

"What about your friend Rarity?" Maud eyes darted past me and faced a couple of ponies beyond us. "Isn't she opening a new shop in Manehattan?"

Considering her experience with her shop back in Ponyville and Canterlot, I didn't think she'd have much trouble with setting it up in the first place. Of course, that didn't mean that I didn't want to check up on her sometime in the day.

"She'll be fine." I assured. "She's used to stuff like this. I didn't come to Manehattan just for her, after all. Like I said, we haven't really talked in a while, and I thought it'd be great to meet with you, especially since I didn't get to see you this past Hearth's Warming Eve when Applejack and her family visited."

"Well…" Maud took a moment to look aside at the ground for a short while. "If it's really okay with you, then I guess I don't mind." Afterwards, she lifted up Boulder to her eyes and spoke with him. "Don't worry, Boulder. We'll find you a postcard real soon." She turned back to me and began walking ahead. "Let's keep going."

"Right behind you." I acknowledged before I felt another unexpected tap on my shoulder. As I turned my head around, I was fairly surprised to see that Athena was back for some odd reason. However, after taking a look at the sheepish grin on her face, I soon had a good guess why she was back.

"Can you, um, remind me where to go again? I kind of got lost…"

Even if I were to give her specific directions on what turns to take and the like, I still had a feeling she'd have a hard time following them without me there to guide her. As far as I was concerned, I don't believe she ever really spent time wandering on her own that much. If there was any place that'd she be able to navigate without me, it'd probably be Ponyville and maybe even Fillydelphia. However, this was Manehattan, and it was obviously a huge city.

"How about I just take you there?" I offered her with a light sigh.

"Sorry!" Athena immediately apologized for the unintended intrusion.

"Don't worry about it." I brushed it off with my hoof. "It won't take that long anyway. It'd be nice to stop by and chat with her for a bit anyway." I turned in the other direction and found the others just looking my way to see that I was still lagging behind. "Let me just let them know what's going on."

As I walked back towards them, Rarity was the first to say something regarding the sight with Athena and me. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah. Everything's fine." I assured. "Athena wanted to go see Coco Pommel, but she got a little lost. I decided I was going to go take over to her place really quick and see if she's not busy."

"Oh, going to see Coco, are you? Well, please do say hi for me!"

I nodded. "It won't take me long. Where are you guys going to be at? You go on ahead and I'll catch up."

Rarity lifted her eyes up in thought for a moment before she responded. "I believe we were going to stop by the Statue and have a good look up over the city. However, I don't think we'll be staying there for long."

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Pinkie chirped, waving her hoof frantically in the air. "I think they have a sweet ice rink here! I wanna go ice skating!"

"Ice skating sounds fun." Maud shared with her tone greatly contrasting Pinkie Pie's.

"I see." Rarity noted both of their expressions and turned back to me. "We'll go ice skating after visiting the Statue then. How about you meet us there? We'll wait for you while we enjoy ourselves on the ice."

If something turned out differently, such as Coco being busy or not being in her apartment at all, then I'd probably end up being the one waiting for the three to come to the ice rink. Nevertheless, it wasn't a bad plan. Meeting back at the ice rink would give me enough time to chat with Coco a bit and not keep the others from doing anything and waiting too long.

"Yeah, that sounds fine. I'll see you all back at the ice rink, okay?"

We shared our temporary goodbyes before I began escorting Athena in the other direction. It was at that time when I noticed an extremely apologetic look on her face.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to keep you from being with the others. Maybe I shouldn't have asked."

"Hey, don't worry about it." I assured. "I'd rather stop and spend a little time making sure you get to the place alright than stay back and wonder if you're doing alright on your own. I know you're not exactly a little foal anymore, but that doesn't stop me from worrying, you know?"

"I know." She looked back with a small appreciative smile. "I could have tried a little harder to find Coco's place on my own, but this huge city was a little intimidating to walk around in, especially when it felt like everypony was giving me weird stares."

"I've got your back." I promised as I simultaneously patted her. "Let's go and see if Coco is at her apartment, to begin with."

After walking through a few blocks and stopping to get something sweet for Athena to munch on, we stopped in front of Coco's apartment building. I had been hoping that Coco had currently been in her room, but there was a possibility that she could have also been somewhere else in regards to her work. The more I thought about it, the more I began to regret not sending Coco a letter beforehoof. At the time, I wasn't sure if there was enough time for Coco to receive that letter and send a response afterward. I can only wonder if somepony in the future will invent some kind of means of instant messaging that anypony can conveniently use…

"Wow. So, all I had to do was take that way and I'd end up right here?" Athena mentioned as she chomped on the rest of her cotton candy. "Haha, I'm so dumb!"

"Well, try to remember the way the next time you want to come here on your own, okay?" I encouraged as I opened the front door and escorted her in.

Having set hoof inside here a few times already, reaching Coco's room was a breeze. However, I took a short moment to compose myself and hope that she wouldn't find our surprise visit unwanted. And that's if she was there. Just as I was about to raise my hoof, Athena knocked in my place instead. She glanced towards me before returning her attention to the door with a jubilant cat-like expression.

In a matter of seconds, the door was pulled inwards, and a friendly face appeared within the space that opened up.

"H-Hi!" She opened up the door a little more once she realized it was just us. "I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting you two be at my door. I almost thought it was the landlord…"

"Sorry for coming over again without notice." I apologized firsthoof. "I wasn't sure if you were going to be here or super busy, and I wasn't really sure if I should have written to you earlier. It's just, I'm here in Manehattan with a few friends and thought I could at least say hi, or something—" I felt a soft nudge against my body, causing me to turn my head to my left. Athena was looking directly at me, and it seemed she wanted "in" on the conversation. "Oh, right. Athena also really wanted to see you."

"H-huh?" Coco's face almost immediately twisted in confusion. "Athena? Who's that?"

"O-oh, right!" I had completely forgotten that Coco was one of the few ponies that didn't know Athena, A.K.A Spirit, by her real name. "Athena. She's, uh, Spirit."

"Wait. Spirit is Athena? Huh? What?" Coco still appeared to be extremely confused.

"Long story short, you can just call me Athena! Hehe…" Athena spoke up in an attempt to divert the confusion.

Once Coco had a few seconds to herself, she shook her head and apologized. "I'm sorry. Please come in."

When Coco closed the door after us, I remembered the interesting topic she brought up just a while ago. "You said you almost thought the landlord was at your door instead of us. Everything alright?" Athena and I took a seat on Coco's couch.

"Oh, no!" Coco shook her head and waved her hoof. "It's nothing you need to worry yourselves with. It's just sometimes my place might get a little…well…messy, and the landlord doesn't particularly like that. It's only really during times where I'm overbooked with work and I end up leaving all my supplies hanging around. I mean, I like to be organized, but why spend the extra time in cleaning your area only to have to bring out everything again the next day?" Coco joined us at the seat across us.

"I know, right?" Athena unexpectedly found Coco's views relative to hers. "There have been a few times where I've left out my pencils and stuff, and Alex gets mad because he trips over them."

"I think anyone would agree that the floor isn't the best place to leave your work out on." I defended. "If you're going to leave stuff out, at least leave it someplace that no pony walks on. Someplace like a table?" Despite my suggestion, Athena only returned a rather playful slip of her tongue out at me. Despite going slightly off-topic, I suddenly remembered something else I needed to address. "Oh, yeah! I almost completely forgot to ask you something, Coco. You aren't busy right now, are you? Like you're not in the middle of working on some major project?"

"I was working on a few designs." Coco mentioned, "But, it isn't anything particularly urgent. I guess you could say I was getting ahead of my work. Why? Did you two want to spend some time together?"

"I'm actually in the middle of something with a couple of other ponies right now." I informed. "Although, Athena here has been dying to hang out with you, right?" I turned towards the subject for confirmation.

"Totally!" Athena brightly exclaimed. "In fact, there's so much I want to talk to you about!"

"Is that so? Maybe you can start with the, um, name change?" Coco returned a sheepish grin.

"Oh, right." Athena placed a hoof to her lips as she looked back in embarrassment. A momentarily blush appeared on her cheeks before it disappeared a few seconds later. "Yeah, I can kind of explain that."

"Are you going to want to tell Coco the whole story?" I asked Athena a little softly.

"I'll see how much of it I tell her as I go on." Athena nearly whispered back.

I nodded and proceeded to get up. "I better get going. I don't want to keep the others waiting. Oh, and Rarity says hi."

"Rarity's here?" Coco's eyes lit up.

"Yep. She's scouting out a place for her boutique here in Manehattan. Amazing, right?"

"How does she do it?!" Coco nearly raised her voice significantly. "To think that somepony like her has actually spent the time to help me so much? It's incredible…"

I chuckled lightly at how much Coco respected Rarity. "Is there anything you want me to tell her?"

"Tell her I said hi back, and that if she's free, she can come over if she wants to!"

"Got it." I acknowledged and approached Coco to express my farewell. "Have fun hanging with Athena. Sorry if it seems like I'm dropping her off here like this is some kind of daycare."

"It's completely fine! We'll have a blast together."

"You know it!" Athena shouted in the background.

Coco and I embraced shortly before I started heading for the door. "I'll swing by later. Thanks again, Coco!"

"No problem! Have a wonderful day!"

As I exited both her room and her apartment, I couldn't help but keep a smile stretched out in my face.

To think I had a crush on her in my "past life". It was a little uncanny, but I suppose I could understand why.

It took me some time to find that ice rink Pinkie had brought up with the use of signs and directions from ponies every now and then. At the place where we were supposed to rendezvous with each other, I looked among the crowd skating in the rink to see if they were already here. There were several common everyday ponies inside, along with a hockey team that was apparently practicing. However, it wasn't a moment longer until I saw an extremely flashy and glittery outfit out of the entire bunch.

As if the choice of apparel wasn't enough, I confirmed my assumption by having a glimpse of the pony wearing that outfit. I raced on over to the side of the rink where she had been at and hung my hooves over the railing. Seeing as I didn't know anything about skating in the first place, I had no intention of joining them inside.

"I see you've packed for such an occasion?" I asked, catching her attention.

"You're here!" She exclaimed with glee and proceeded to flip the back of her mane. "You know I never come unprepared when it comes to fashion."

I don't know how you do it, but you always make it seem to conveniently work somehow.

"Coco says hi back." I recalled. "And she wanted to let you know that if you wanted to visit her, you can."

"In that case, we must make time after I finish my business with the boutique." She tapped her chin in thought. "Perhaps we can fit in a visit before our scheduled train."

Just as Rarity finished her last sentence, Maud swooped in and gave a graceful twirl in midair, landing perfectly on all four hooves after. Yet, she continued to keep a straight face. I sincerely did not have a clue on how she did it, and I was actually kind of eager to know. Maud would make a killing at poker for sure.

Rarity decided it was best to leave the rink a little earlier in hopes to make time for Coco later on in the day. Pinkie wanted to stay a little longer, but once Rarity brought up the subject of food, Pinkie was quick to change her mind.

We stopped by some restaurant called the Cantering Cook. It was somewhat fancy, but it definitely didn't seem to be as stuck-up as one you'd find in Canterlot.

"Pinkie, put down that crayon! The Cantering Cook isn't that kind of restaurant!" Rarity scolded Pinkie, who had been drawing on an apparent map of Manehattan with crayon. Once Pinkie removed the crayon from her sight through unconventional means, Rarity released a sigh of relief and adored the scenery around her. "Oh... A pony could get used to eating at places like this!"

"I know." Maud responded. "It's the only restaurant in the city with nepheline syenite in their bathroom tiles."

Stuttering nervously for a bit, Rarity seemed to practically spit out whatever general response she could come up with. "...Well, isn't that something!" She turned over to the pink pony at her side and began speaking loudly for some odd reason. "You know what, Pinkie Pie? Uh, maybe you could help me figure out what to order!" As she picked up one of the large menus nearby, she turned towards me and whispered briefly before vertically positioning the menu on the table and hiding behind it. "Keep her busy!"

I wasn't sure what Rarity's intentions were, and I had actually been meaning to bring something up to Maud in the first place, so it wasn't hard to agree to her request.

"Hey, Maud. While I was gone, did Boulder see any postcards that he liked?" I asked.

Maud brought Boulder to her face and seemed to "listen" for a bit before she answered back. "We saw a few postcards, but none of them had the 'deposition' he's looking for."

"So, is he looking for something more… 'rocky'?" I guessed.

"I guess you could say that."

"Something 'rocky', huh…?" I repeated to myself as I rubbed my hoof against my chin.

"Oh, why, thank you for the kind assistance, Pinkie Pie. And now I know exactly what to order." Rarity threw down her menu all of a sudden and voiced loudly.

"You are very welcome, Rarity!" Pinkie replied in the same manner. "Now, we better go wash our hooves, so you can enjoy the order I helped you pick!"

After nodding her head a little stiffly, Rarity released a wider than usual grin and tacked on something extra to Pinkie's suggestion. "You are absolutely right! Please pardon us!"

I noticed Rarity eyed me especially before she left, but she didn't say anything after that. Was there something that was going on that I didn't know about? Nevertheless, I turned to Maud and noticed her usual expression. It was hard to tell what she thought of the situation based on her lack of a reaction.

"Any idea what's going on with those two?" I picked her brain.

"They really needed to wash their hooves." Maud merely returned.

Despite the odd behavior of the two, I shook it off and returned to the topic on hoof. "Anyways, if you want, we can go look for some postcards after lunch. I'm pretty sure there's a shop dedicated to postcards around here."

"Sure. I'd really like that."

Even though I seemed to understand Maud more than the other girls did, I still wished that I was able to realize how Maud truly felt at times. I had no idea how Pinkie did it, but I suppose being sisters was a major factor.

"Are you ready to order?" The waiter dropped by and asked.

Seeing as the other two had left without even telling us what they wanted to eat, we had no choice but to ask for more time until they'd come back.

"We're waiting for a couple of ponies to come back." I informed.

He only nodded and continued on his way.

"So, Alex, there's something I want to know about you." I heard from Maud unexpectedly, causing me to quickly look her way. "When I first met all of your friends, I noticed that each and every one of them had a pet except you. Do you not like pets?"

"Huh?" I wasn't expecting such a question from her at the time, but seeing as we had been talking about Boulder, I supposed it was relevant. "I don't not like them. I just feel like I don't have the means to take care of one." Feeling myself sink into more depressive thoughts, I rested my cheek on my hoof and played with the utensils on the table with the other. "Don't get me wrong, the idea of having a pet sounds nice and all, but it's something you have to dedicate yourself to. It's not something you can exactly just 'try out'. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I feel like there's too many things going on for me that wouldn't make having a pet the smartest decision right now." I began having flashbacks of Fluttershy and my reasons for not spending as much time as I'd like to with her. Sure, if I really wanted to, I could drop spending time with all my other friends to solely spend time with her, but how horrible would that really be? I'm pretty sure Fluttershy would be against that kind of idea as well. As much as I hated to say this, I suppose I am sort of grateful for Discord giving her company every now and then.

"It's okay." Maud mentioned afterward. "If it makes you feel any better, I don't really have any friends like you all do."

"'Friends'?" I repeated in a manner of confusion. "What about Rarity and the others?"

"They're nice…" She turned her head away. "…but none of them really get me." She then shifted her eyes towards me and said, "Except you."

"Me? You really think so?" I was thrown back by that last remark. Sure, I liked her for who she was, and I didn't really get uncomfortable like other ponies tended to feel around Maud. But, I didn't think I was exactly like best friend material. After all, I knew little to nothing about rocks besides what was taught to me at a younger age.

"I know it's hard for you to tell what I'm feeling." She cited, "You told me that when we were painting with my sister. Even so, I feel like you know where I'm coming from. Even though we're from two different worlds, you don't seem to mind me being in yours. If that makes sense."

"No, I think I know what you're getting at." I replied. "It's just, I would think you'd get along with someone who's passionate about rocks. Obviously, I'm not that kind of pony." I chuckled a little.

"It's not about liking the same thing. It's about understanding each other."

Despite those words sounding extremely bland, I felt that I was able to get some kind emotion out of them. At that point, I think I started really getting what Maud was trying to say. To some other ponies, they'd only see Maud as "bland" as her words, but with Pinkie or me, we see the way she conveys her thoughts and feelings. They aren't as lifeless as her words seem to sound, they're just her own emotions that come out in a rather "different" way.

"Yeah, you're right." I agreed. "I'm glad you see me as someone who gets you then. I try my best to get along with everypony who's not bent on destroying Equestria, heh heh."

She only stared emotionlessly at me as a response, but taking her words into account, I pictured her smiling instead.

Eventually, Rarity and Pinkie Pie returned back. They had taken so long that I actually almost forgot that we had been waiting for them. Rarity was the first one back in her seat, but Pinkie apparently seemed to lag a little behind. When she finally sat down, she released a hefty sigh for all to hear.

"I'm afraid they had run out of soap, so Pinkie couldn't get her hooves extra squeaky clean." Rarity explained the apparent distress Pinkie had slipped out.

"Huh? Oh, right." She answered without a sign of excitement, unlike previously.

I didn't think she'd be that bummed out by soap. Then again, maybe she would be. After all, she's crazy about the smallest things like bubbles.

"Hey, I was thinking…" I decided to bring up something in particular, seeing as they were finally here to hear it. "I wanted to go help Maud look for a store that hopefully sells a bunch of postcards for Boulder. If you want, we can split up so you can keep looking for a spot for your bouti—"

"That's perfect!" Rarity nearly shouted out loud, catching the attention of the majority of ponies eating nearby. Rarity immediately covered her lips with her hooves before lowering the volume of her voice. "I mean, by all means, darling! I still need to scout a place for my new boutique. The earlier I can find the perfect area, the more likely we'd be able to visit Coco, correct?" She faced Pinkie and nudged her lightly. "Pinkie was just telling me that she'd love to help me."

"I was?" Pinkie poked her head up in confusion.

"Yes. Remember? Help find the perfect…?" She muttered the last bit through her teeth.

"Oh, right! Yeah, yeah! I totally want to do that!" Pinkie pointed out and turned towards Maud. "Maud, you don't mind meeting up again at sunset to swap gifts, do you?"

"No." She briefly responded.

"Great!" Pinkie reached over the table to stretch out and hug her sister. "I knew you'd understand!"

"Garçon! One super-deluxe two-mile-high hot fudge sundae, stat!" Rarity excitedly called out, almost as if we were celebrating a milestone achievement.

"But, we didn't even—"

Just as I was about to finish pointing out our skipped lunch, a gigantic bowl filled with different scoops of ice cream, along with whipped cream, sprinkles, and cherries, was placed onto the table between us. I believed the height of ice cream surpassed even us, and this caused Maud and me to be separated from Pinkie and Rarity both visually and audibly. At most, we only heard muffled voices and very soft whispers.

"So…" I turned to Maud, seeing as she was pretty much the only pony I could talk to at this point. "Guess we'll start looking for a place that sells postcards right after lunch then, considering that they weren't actually kidding about skipping straight to dessert…" I glanced in the direction of the two behaving oddly, but all I was able to see was a mountain of ice cream.

After waiting for a few minutes, we eventually saw Pinkie opening her mouth widely and chomping down the ice cream on her own. I reminded Rarity of our actual lunch once Pinkie cleaned out the huge plate of dessert. Despite acting strangely earlier, she acknowledged my point, and we were able to get back on track soon enough.

Their eagerness grew tenfold once we had finished with lunch, seeing as they nearly disappeared on us when the bill was paid. Ignoring the strange activity for now, I proceeded to walk Maud outside the restaurant so we could get started on finding a postcard for Boulder.

Outside on the sidewalk, Maud and I began our brief search in regards to an appropriate store. At first, we somewhat aimlessly walked around for a bit, but once we were able to grab ahold of a map with locations around us from a kiosk, we spent a few minutes looking it over. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough room on the map itself to list out the details of each store, but judging from the names, we both decided to stop by a store that apparently sold stationary items.

As soon as we arrived in the store, I immediately began looking around in hopes to see a section dedicated to postcards, rather than just a simple stand near the cashier.

"Look, Maud." I grabbed her attention once I spotted a wall of postcards. "Let's see what they have there." She silently followed as I already began having brief glances at several different postcards. A lot of them had to deal with landmarks and main attractions in regards to Manehattan, but just as she had told me, Maud was looking for something that was a little more…"rocky". I found the "comedic" section of the postcards, and, to my surprise, I noticed a few postcards with a focus of rocks on them. "Check this out. 'Yo, Adrian!'" I read out the caption of one that depicted a rock wearing what appeared to be boxing gloves. I pulled up another one with two rocks talking to each other. " 'Why are you so gee-neiss?'" I tried to pronounce the word Gneiss from the first rock and moved on. " 'Because I'm not full of Schist!'" The other said. I didn't quite get it, but Maud appeared to be having a fun time behind me.

"Haha. Ha. Ha." She laughed, but it sounded more like sarcasm. "That's funny."

"I don't get it." I admitted, showing her the postcard.

"Gneiss is pronounced like the word 'nice', and Schist is supposed to sound like—"

"Okay, I get it now." I stopped her before she could finish that sentence. "Anyway, see anything Boulder might like?"

Maud pulled out Boulder and brought him up so he could have a view of the vast majority of postcards. "What do you think, Boulder? I particularly like this one." She pointed towards the postcard we had just gone over. "It reminds me of you and Pebble." After, she brought Boulder to her ear and listened quietly for a moment before she pulled her rock away and nodded. "Good choice."

"What did he pick?" I asked out of curiosity.

"The funny one." Maud responded, once again pointing to the one we just went over.

"Oh, really?" I was quite surprised at the fast decision. "Did Boulder like any of the other ones that might be here?"

"Boulder feels that this one brings out the intergrowth between him and his cousin." Maud explained.

Having no grasp of Maud's "rock" talk, I decided to only nod and leave it at that. "Oh. Uh, okay."

I honestly didn't expect to be in and out of that shop so quick. I thought we'd maybe take at least half an hour to an hour looking for the perfect postcard, but that wasn't the case at all. Either way, Maud seemed satisfied, so I guess that meant Boulder was too.

"Thanks, Alex." Maud expressed outside as we were back walking on the sidewalk. "Boulder loves his postcard. It also reminds him of his friend in the park nearby."

"Friend?" I asked about.

"Mm-hm. You should see him. He's really impressive."

Seeing as we had already finished our main task and really had nothing to do until sunset, I had no objection. "Sure. If you say he's impressive, then he's gotta be impressive, right?"

In that park, there was an insanely huge rock that was quite a frightening sight. Making an estimated guess, it looked like it was more than a hundred times our size, and standing near it made me afraid of the idea of it tipping over and ultimately squishing me flat as a pancake. Maud appeared to be unfazed, and, knowing that she could literally smash a gigantic boulder to bits, I wasn't surprised.

"Play nice." She said as she placed Boulder before his mighty "friend".

"So…those two get along?" I asked, standing a few steps behind Maud.

"Like an aggregate." Maud stated as she turned over to me. "What do you want to do now?"

I turned towards the sky and found the bright color to be diminishing. It wasn't sunset yet, but it'd definitely be that time soon. "What can we do?" I tapped a hoof on my chin and thought mainly to myself. "We're supposed to meet Pinkie at sunset, so what's something that…" My thoughts began to trail off as I soon came to a sudden realization. Pinkie had told us that we'd meet at sunset, but she didn't tell us where. "Wait a minute. Where are we supposed to meet Pinkie and Rarity when sunset comes?" I asked with a slightly panicked tone.

Giving me a straight look, Maud's eyes blinked emotionlessly before she responded in an indifferent manner. "She's coming here."

"Huh? Did you she already tell you before?" I wondered, figuring that I possibly might have missed something around the time I left to stop by Coco's.

"Maud Sense." She briefly explained.

However, just like with Pinkie, Maud's "sense" didn't make any actual logical sense. Having experience with Pinkie, I just decided to accept that with no questions asked. "Ah. If you say so." Since Pinkie Pie would apparently be coming to us, I took a quick look around us for something that would keep us busy. I noticed several swan boats roaming around with ponies of all ages riding in them. Maud and I didn't really have anything else, such as a kite to fly, so I figured riding the boats was a suggestion worth making. "You wanna ride the swan boats?"

Maud took a quick glance at the boats I had been talking about and turned back to me. "Sure."

Once we were on the boats, I began remembering the times that Maud would make me laugh even when she wasn't trying to be funny. She sat beside me as we slowly drifted along the calm current, and I couldn't stop snickering at the same expression on her face.

Taking Fluttershy as an example, I knew she would have been completely amazed by the scenery around us, along with the calm and soothing motion of our moving boat. Her face would definitely be filled with a tender yet excited expression. Yet, here Maud sat with a kind of look that would make you think that she was screaming internally. In other words, taking her natural lack of excitement out of context would possibly make one think that she was on the verge of falling into the water around us from boredom.

"Hey, Maud," I asked, igniting some conversation during our slow ride. "I was wondering. If you don't mind telling me, what exactly did you get Pinkie Pie for your exchange today?"

"Confetti." She answered as shifted her eyes towards me. "You won't believe how much she goes through that in a day. I know she likes cupcakes, so I made sure to get her cupcake-scented confetti."

"Oh, really? Well, I'm sure she'll love it. I know that pony practically loves any kind of gift she gets, even if she doesn't know what it is." I told Maud, laughing lightly afterward.

"Can I ask you something?" She surprised me with another question.

"Yeah, go ahead." I returned.

"If you were in my place, what would you get for Pinkie Pie?"

Maud had definitely caught me off guard with that. Personally, I always found the idea of giving gifts fascinating as it was a good way of expressing different kinds of feelings towards another pony. However, I could never master the art of getting/making the perfect gift when it came to thoughtful exchanges. In a way, I'd rather leave out the exchanging of gifts in all and instead spend time with the pony in particular.

"Ah. You got me there." I faced the water as I tried to think of a good answer to her question. "Um. I'm horrible at these things, but I would probably get her, I don't know…" I spent another minute thinking. "I'd try to find something to give her that could probably only come from me. Maybe try to make her a cupcake of my own even though I hardly bake. Giving gifts is always a hard thing for me since I find myself worrying too much about what the other pony will think."

"Well, the only thing that matters is that you give your gift with love. That's what I learned with Pinkie Pie." Maud expressed, appearing to neutrally take in the scenery around her. "There's a reason why she'll love any kind of gift she gets, and that's because she sees the love behind it."

"You're absolutely right about that, Maud." I strongly agreed. "And, I'm guessing that she's never failed to amaze you with her gifts, right?"

"Mm-hm." She replied with a slow nod. "Remember the rock candy we make for each other? I don't like candy, but I cherish every necklace she gives me. It's a reminder of the occasion."

"I know exactly what you mean." I responded as several items came to mind. In a way, every kind of special occasion was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. Sure, you could have similar occasions, but you could never truly replicate the original. That's why memories were such a big deal, and sometimes you need tangible objects to make sure those memories don't fade out to the dark depths of the mind. And if they do, things like gifts help bring those memories back.

We decided to step off the boats when the sun was officially starting to set in. As we did, we heard ourselves being called out to a particular area of the park.

"Hey, you guys! Over here!"

We found Pinkie waving her hooves frantically as Rarity unfolded a blanket and carefully spread it out on the grass she stood on. I was about to head straight over to them, but then I noticed Maud taking a slight detour. I couldn't figure out why, but once I realized that she was heading for that humungous rock in the park, I remembered about Boulder. This led me to seriously wondering about something between Maud and her pet rock.

I wonder if she's ever, at one time, actually forgotten about leaving Boulder?

Nevertheless, I accompanied Maud until we reconvened back with the other two. From there on, I sat by Rarity as Maud and Pinkie prepared the gifts that they were to swap.

"After the day we've had, I'm probably looking forward to the swap part of the Pie Sisters' Surprise Swap Day even more than the two of you!" Rarity shared with a jubilant giggle. "And I'm not even a Pie sister!"

"About that." I cut in. "How'd the search go?"

"Search?! What search, darling?!" Rarity uneasily and quickly answered.

"For the boutique…?" I clarified with a cocked eyebrow. "You know? The whole reason you came to Manehattan?"

"O-o-oh yes! That! Of course! That's what you meant!" She returned an anxious grin before she noticed every one of us continuously staring at her for her response. "That can wait until later! Right now, I'm so excited for this swap to take place!" She changed the subject back to Pinkie and Maud. "I can't wait one more second to see the wonderful gifts you've gotten each other!"

"Well, you're going to have to." Pinkie replied. "We don't just swap, silly. We always sing the Pie Sisters' Surprise Swap Day Song first! Ready, Maud?"

"As I'll ever be." Maud responded.

Pinkie jumped up on her hooves and began to sidestep, sing, and dance behind her sister.

"It's the Pie Sisters' Swap Day Sooooooong!" She sang out loud before giving the rest over to Maud.

"Hey." Maud simply voiced.

"Okay, time to swap presents!" Pinkie immediately turned over a wrapped box. It took a minute to realize that the wrapping paper that Pinkie had used actually had Maud's face on it. Nevertheless, Maud stretched out her plainly wrapped gift and placed it in the center of the blanket before accepting Pinkie's box. Once Pinkie nearly snatched Maud's gift, she immediately began inspecting its tubular shape. "Hmmmm."

I turned to Maud to find her looking over her unopened gift in an unhurried manner. That was expected of Maud. However, when I turned my head towards Pinkie, I was surprised to see her taking her time as well. I would have expected that she had already torn through that thing, but she actually spent her time licking the box like ice cream.

It was a while before Rarity nearly shrieked out to get things moving along. "Just open them already!"

Maud tore off the wrapping paper, searched through the box with her hoof, and ultimately pulled out what looked like some kind of pouch. "Thanks." She shared as she held it up for everyone to see.

"I knew you'd love it!" Pinkie cheered with tears welling in her eyes. "It was all worth it! Look how happy she is!" She pointed out as Maud placed Boulder inside the pouch. A rock pouch? "And I couldn't have done it without you. Thank you, Rarity." Pinkie exchanged a heartwarming hug with Rarity before pushing her away a few seconds later. "Okay! Time to open your present to me!" She pulled on the string holding the paper together and popped off the lid from the cylindrical container. Closing one eye, she took a look inside and nearly burst into tears. "Oh! You did it again! You got me the best present in the history of PSSSD! This is perfect! This is amazing! This is incredible! I love it, I love it, I love it!" Pinkie jumped for joy before she stopped and tilted her head in confusion. "What is it?"

Just like we talked about back in the swan boats.

"It's little pieces of cupcake-scented paper." Maud explained. "You know, confetti. For your cannon."

"Maud!" Pinkie sniffled as she wiped a tear from her eye. "You know me so well. You really are the most thoughtful gift-giver in the world!" She threw herself at Maud and wrapped her hooves around her. "I'm gonna love it five-ever! That's even longer than for-ever." She ended with an extremely pleased and happy sigh.

I found Rarity looking extremely touched by the sight Pinkie and Maud had produced. I decided I would get back to asking about her boutique, seeing as I was sincerely curious about the news. "So, now that the swap is done, what's the news on your new boutique?"

"Oh… About that…" Rarity's tone unexpectedly dropped. She cleared her throat before she continued speaking. "Could I, uhm, have a word with you…over there?" She asked, pointing to a location near the rock that Maud had picked up Boulder from.

"…uh, sure?" Her behavior continued to grow odd, but that made me even more wanting to know what had been going on. I followed her to her proposed location and awaited her answer. "What's going on?"

"You see…uh." She twirled her hooves around as if she was trying to find a way to explain something to me. "After we left the restaurant, Pinkie and I didn't go out and scout for possible boutique locations…"

"Huh?" I inquired in confusion before she continued her explanation.

"Pinkie didn't have her gift beforehoof, as she had been planning to purchase a rock pouch in a store here at Manehattan. We visited the store when we had left to 'wash our hooves' and found out that it had been closed. This led us to hoping we'd be able to find something else for Maud, but we wound up finding a pony with the exact rock pouch Pinkie had been wanting to buy. Had she let me take the matter into my own hooves, I'm almost certain I would have been able to convince the pony to sell the pouch at a reasonable price. But, Pinkie, she was too excited! She went and told the pony how much she really needed that pouch! If I had been quick enough and stopped her from confronting the pony so recklessly, I'm more than sure she would still have her party cannon!"

"What?" An unexpected voice jumped in.

We both turned to see that Maud had been staring at the two of us, but mostly at Rarity.

"Oh, Maud!" Rarity chuckled in an extremely nervous manner. "How long have you been there? I was only telling Alex how, um…" She took a swift glance at the fields around us. "…the, uh, barley was fanning in, heh heh. Isn't that right?" She nudged me with her leg.

That made no sense…

"Uh, sure…" I replied regardless.

To make things worse on our case, Pinkie skipped along nearby, literally throwing the confetti she had in the air instead of blasting it out from the cannon I now knew she was missing.

"Hee-hee, yay! I love my sister and my new confetti!"

Maud observed her sister for a moment before she turned back in our direction.

"Why isn't she using her party cannon?" She asked, and I couldn't help but sense that she had seen right through Rarity's gimmick.

"Gahhhh..." Rarity slipped anxiously before purposely digging her hooves against the dirt. This move on her part nearly shocked me. In any other situation, Rarity would never ever dirty her hoof like that on purpose, but it only proved to both of us how insanely panicky she had been. "Ooh! Wow, look how filthy my hooves are! I really should go wash them!" Rarity began to excuse herself just like back at the restaurant.

What I saw next was nearly mind-blowing. Maud had been near my side and simply watched as Rarity galloped on. However, right after I had blinked my eyes, she had suddenly appeared in front of Rarity, who had already been a short distance away. I had a feeling that Maud was absolutely serious in hearing what Rarity had been hiding behind her lips if she was now moving as fast as Pinkie!

"Where's her cannon?" Maud asked again as she stared into Rarity's eyes with her usual look.

"No, no, stop, stop giving me that look! I can't take it!" Rarity pleaded as she tried to look away from Maud's gaze. Maud's expression hadn't been any different, but something about it led me to feel uncomfortable with it. It may have been just the tense situation, but I definitely couldn't fault Rarity for wanting Maud to stop with the look. It wasn't long before Rarity looked like she couldn't hold out any longer. "Nnnnn... Pinkie Pie feels bad that the gifts that she always gives you are never as good as the ones that you give her!" She flapped out quickly.

"What?" Maud returned.

"That's why she was willing to give up the party cannon for the pouch!" Rarity pointed a hoof towards the pouch Maud had just received.

"She gave up her party cannon?" She asked before turning in the other direction. The three of us saw Pinkie gloomily sitting on the field we had previously been at and watched her blow out what appeared to be the last of the confetti she had received.

"Pinkie Pie! You might want to come over here for a second!" Rarity called over, hesitantly waving a hoof.

Pinkie regained a smile as she walked over to us and shifted glances side-to-side in a mischievous kind of way. "I think I know what this is about. You guys wanna ride the swans. Well, there are swan boats, but there are real swans here we can ri—"

Maud immediately interrupted Pinkie's questionable recommendation by pressing her nose against hers. "You gave away your party cannon?"

Understandably, she tilted her head past Maud and worriedly turned to Rarity in search of an answer.

"She broke me…" Rarity admitted with a sheepish grin.

"Nnngh, it's just... It's just... It's just..." Pinkie stammered reluctantly, "You always give better gifts than me! That's why I had to get you the perfect gift!"

After breaking Pinkie Pie too and hearing her confession, Maud spent a second to close her eyes and lower her head. Soon after, she turned her body in the opposite direction and began walking without a word. I was afraid that this day may have turned out for the worse, and I was sure that all of us could tell she was upset, despite her lack of emotion.

"Are your hooves dirty? Where're you going?!" Pinkie asked.

"To get your cannon back." Maud looked back and answered before she continued on.

The three of them exchanged glances with one another before we silently followed after her.

We had exited the park and sort of walked aimlessly in the city for a while. There was an uncomfortable still silence between all of us. Rarity and Pinkie Pie looked as if they wanted to say something, even between us and not Maud, but I felt as if they didn't want to make the situation worse. All we could do was follow Maud before she stopped and pointed at the corner of the next block.

"There." She singled out a particular pony that looked rather sketchy, and it didn't help that his cutie mark was a pile of bits. I wouldn't do any business with a pony like that in my book.

"Yep! That sure is the pony I got the pouch from!" Pinkie confirmed.

"That's amazing! How did you know where he'd be?" Rarity asked.

"Maud Sense." Maud briefly answered before walking on.

"Runs in the family!" Pinkie added before joining her sister.

If I remembered correctly, Pinkie's sense had to do with predicting certain things happening, right? So, in this case, did Maud's sense tell her where certain ponies would be?

Pushing that question aside for now, I quickly caught up with the others to accompany them in their confrontation with this shady character. I was more than sure that they'd be able to handle the situation just fine, but I still decided to keep close.

The pony had been proudly polishing Pinkie's obvious party cannon, but Maud stepped up and interrupted him by tapping him a few times. "I'd like to return this pouch for my sister's party cannon, please." She requested as she held the pouch out in front of him.

"Sorry, missy, all sales are final." He simply stated with a noticeable local accent before moving on with the cannon.

However, just like with Rarity, Maud literally disappeared and reappeared in a blink of an eye, cutting off the pony with the cannon as she continued to hold out her pouch. "I'd like to return this pouch for my sister's party cannon, please." I noticed she took on a slightly forceful tone.

No way. Was Maud actually getting mad? Am I seeing her actually get mad right now?!

Rarity had been tapping her hoof against her chin as she observed the interaction. Then, she gasped and dashed into the conversation. "Ooh, I've never seen her like this!" Rarity told him, pointing her hoof directly at Maud's eyes. "Look at the fire in her eyes! You'd better do what she says!"

"Fire in her eyes?" The pony questioned, appearing to grow uncertain.

"Oh! Did she just clench her jaw?! I think she clenched her jaw!" Rarity slapped on.

"I didn't see."

As I listened to Rarity enact her witty plan, I turned over to Maud and began feeling a laugh rise up inside of me. As much as I wanted to laugh out loud, I had to keep it in so the guy couldn't sense any "funny business". Still, seeing no change in Maud's expression, it was just too funny when paired up with Rarity's exaggerated warnings.

"Oh, no! When she clenches her jaw... you know what that means?!"

"What? What's it mean?"

"Trust me, you do not want to know!"

"I'd like to return this pouch." Maud swooped in for the killing blow.

"Here! Take it, take it, please!" He finally caved in with a loud whimper, pushing the cannon towards Maud and grabbed the pouch in return. "Just relax that jaw of yours and turn down that fire in your eyes!"

Honestly, I almost felt a little bad when all we did was just leave him whimpering to himself when we left with the cannon. But, maybe he'll think twice next time before he decides to take advantage of a pony's need for a particular item.

Rarity had excused herself yet again, and I could only wonder why since the gift-giving shenanigan had already blown over. I tried to accompany her to wherever she was going, but she insisted I stay with Pinkie and Maud. I ended up walking with Maud and Pinkie for a while in the streets.

"Maud! I'm so happy you got me my party cannon back! Yay!" Pinkie cheered, riding her cannon past Maud and blasting it off in a satisfactory manner. "Uh-oh." She slipped out, dropping the tone of her voice. "I just realized something. 'Cause you gave back the pouch for my cannon, this is now the second gift you've gotten me today! And it's something I really, really wanted! You did it again! Your gifts are always better than mine! Next year, I'm gonna have to really step it up and—"

Maud pressed a hoof against Pinkie's lips, stopping her from saying any more. "Pinkie, gift-giving isn't a competition. It's an expression of love, and you always make sure to give your gifts with lots of love. That's why I'll always love them, and you, five-ever. That's even longer than for-ever."

Unveiling yet another surprise, Maud flashed one of her extremely small and rare smiles. If I had never met Maud, I wouldn't have realized how amazing it was to see a pony like her actually smile for once. I believe I even started seeing why Pinkie worked so hard to see other ponies smile.

"Awwww!" Pinkie wrapped her hooves lovingly around Maud again before she pulled away seconds after. "But, you still don't have a gift, Maud. I already used my first gift, and right now I have my second, but you don't have anything now."

"Pinkie. You're the only gift I'll ever want and need."

Wiping a tear away from her eye, Pinkie embraced her caring sister yet again.

Is there really not another way to get Maud a rock pouch…?

Pinkie's voice poked me out of my short thoughts when I heard Rarity's name.

"There you are! You've sure been washing your hooves for a long time! We've got a train to catch here!"

"I know, but there is one more sight you all simply must see before we leave." Rarity mentioned, reminding me of one particular thing we had never actually cleared up.

"Voila!" Rarity revealed a boarded and locked up place a few blocks away. Unlike Ponyville and Canterlot, Rarity's boutique wouldn't be a standalone building. Due to the Manehattan atmosphere, she'd have to be within close quarters of other businesses. In this case, she'd be sandwiched between two other businesses. Nevertheless, the building she pointed out was fairly large, but I wasn't sure how much of that building she'd actually be allowed to use. "Welcome to the future home of 'Rarity For You'! What do you think of the place? Is this the right location? Did I pick a good spot?"

"No." Maud returned bluntly for a moment. "You picked the perfect spot."

"I haven't seen the inside of the building, but if you think it's where your boutique should be, then I think you made the right choice, Rarity." I shared honestly.

She grinned brightly at our accepting feedback before Pinkie Pie unloaded a bundle of excitement.

"You know, I think this might be my favorite PSSSD ever! But I can't wait 'til next year's PSSS-D-W-RAA!"

"Wait." Rarity paused with a puzzled look on her face. "PSSS-D-W-RAA? What's that?"

"P-S-S-S-D-W-R-A-A!" Pinkie began to explain. It's a new tradition that Maud and I came up with! Pie Sisters' Surprise Swap Day..."

"With Rarity And Alex." Maud finished.

"Oh! Ohhh! Why, that's the sweetest..." Rarity appeared to be astonished and touched as tears began to well up in her eyes, but all that disappeared in an instant when some kind of reality hit her hard. "Oh, no. Oh, no-no-no-no-no-no. I know how good you two are at giving gifts! I'm going to have to get you both something amazing, and I only have a year to do it!"

"Oh, Rarity! It doesn't matter what you get us! As long as you give your gift with love, it'll be perfect!" Pinkie embraced Rarity, exchanging a wink with Maud, who slowly winked back.

Rarity returned a sigh of relief. "Why, thank you, Pinkie."

"Buuuut now that you mention it..." Pinkie dashed out of our sight for a second to bring in her party cannon. "I could use more confetti for my party cannon. You wouldn't believe how much of that stuff I go through in a day!" She suggested, all while firing another huge ball of confetti.

"That settles it." Rarity stomped her hoof with determination. "I'll be making you my own kind of—"

"Don't ruin the surprise!" Pinkie almost desperately placed a hoof on Rarity's mouth. "I mean, I kind of already know what it's going to be, but I'm just going to pretend that you weren't just telling me what you were going to give me at our next swap!"

"You three can have a swap, but I think I'll stay out of the gift-giving business." I mentioned.

"Why?!" Pinkie Pie approached me in less than a second, squishing my cheeks with her hooves and her eyes nearly touching mine. "Don't you love gifts?!"

"Sure, I do." I responded as I calmly pulled her hooves away from my cheeks. "I know you guys said that all that matters is that you give your gifts with love, and I agree, but I think I'm good without gifts. This is going to be cheesy, but having you all around is enough for me."

"But cheese is the best!" Pinkie exclaimed, fastening her hooves around my neck and tightening her grip to the point where she was about to cut off my circulation.

"And there's nothing wrong with that." Rarity respected my choice as she managed to pull Pinkie away from me with her magic.

"Hey, how much time before our train is supposed to leave?" I asked.

"Around an hour." Rarity replied. "Perhaps we could stop by Miss Pommel's?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "I sort of have to pick up Athena anyway."

"Wonderful!" Rarity began the trek towards Coco's apartment. "I've been meaning to know how well she's been working with the fabric I had suggested for her to use. She needed a few tips on how to properly sew pockets to certain designs and I—"

"Wait a minute!" I suddenly shouted out, stopping in my tracks.

"W-what?!" Rarity cried out, most likely due to my sudden outburst.

"I think I just got an idea!" I turned towards Pinkie, making sure to keep a mental bookmark of what I had just thought up all of a sudden. "Pinkie, I think you might still be able to give Maud your best gift ever!"

"What?! What?!" Pinkie excitedly hopped up and down. "Tell me! Tell me!"

Wanting to keep this a secret between the two of us, I leaned over to her ear and whispered about the details.

"You really think so?!" She eagerly asked, earning a curious glance from Rarity.

I nodded and turned back towards the others of our group. "Come on. Let's get going to Coco's."

"Welcome back!" She greeted me at her door and seemed to notice another pony past me. "Oh, and Rarity! It's so good to see you!" Then, she seemed to finally notice the two other ponies behind us. "Oh, and, um…" She appeared to be confused for a moment. "Sorry, I didn't know you had company."

"We won't be long, darling!" Rarity assured. "We just thought we'd stop by before we'd head back to the train station."

"Plus, I was wondering if you could do me a favor." I brought up.

"Sure, anything!"

It was a little cramped inside, considering there were now six ponies inside her rather small apartment room. Athena noticed the company and came to my side to ask about it.

"Is there a party going on or something?"

"Nope." I briefly responded with and turned over to Pinkie. "Pinkie. Come with Coco and me for a bit."

"Ooh! I'm so excited!" She expressed with shaking hooves.

As Athena and Rarity hopefully kept Maud distracted, I began to let Coco in on the idea I had suggested to Pinkie Pie. Pinkie had wanted to buy a rock pouch for Maud, but there was something else I had come up with that I found was better than buying a rock pouch. The short answer was, well, making a rock pouch.

We didn't have much time, so I already knew it wasn't going to be as perfectly stitched as the one Pinkie wanted to buy. Nevertheless, Coco was on our side, and she was thankfully able to provide tips on how Pinkie could make a good pouch in little time. Coco wanted to let Pinkie do most of the work, but considering our limit on time, she had to step in every once in a while.

Despite everything, Pinkie nearly screeched out in joy when she believed she had finished making the pouch. "Maud! Maud! Maud!" Each one of Pinkie's hooves remained on the floor for only a second at different times. "I've got it! I've got the perfect gift for you! I didn't get to wrap it, but I'm just so excited that I want to give it to you right now! So, here!" She held out the hoof-made pouch using the tip of her mane.

The pouch was definitely not as flashy as the one Pinkie had intended to give. Instead, she had used a somewhat plain brownish fabric. Coco had cut a certain sized portion of this fabric, and all Pinkie really did was bring up the corners of the piece and draw them together with a piece of string. However, the most eye-drawing part of the pouch was a literal drawing on the center of it.

It was more of a painting, but Pinkie had drawn both her and her sister's face onto the center of the pouch. Around their faces were a bunch of pink hearts. Despite their faces being simplistic figures, Pinkie's attention to detail was still praiseworthy. Pinkie's face was, of course, her usual cheerful self. Maud, on the other hoof, wore her usual neutral look. In general, the pouch wasn't something you'd sell in a store, but that was the entire point. And I knew that Pinkie would be able to express her love a whole more if she made the pouch instead.

"You made this for me, Pinkie?" Maud asked, the pitch of her voice actually making a slight raise.

"Mm-hm!" Pinkie fervently shook her head.

"Thank you." Maud gently accepted it and pulled out Boulder from her pocket. She placed Boulder into the nifty pouch and attached it to her body. She continued staring at the pouch for some time before returning her gaze at Pinkie. "I love it." This time, Maud took the initiative and hugged Pinkie first, causing Pinkie's eyes to well up with tears for around the third time today. "I knew you'd love it! I didn't want you to go empty-hooved, after all! Thanks so much, you guys!" Pinkie directed mainly towards Coco and me.

Coco and I could only react with modest and slightly embarrassed expressions, but I personally thought Coco did more than me. She provided the tools necessary to make the pouch after all.

I was the last one to hug Coco goodbye before the rest of us began making our way out of the apartment and towards the direction of the train station. Right before Coco left our sight, Athena made sure to wave her hoof as uncontrollably as she could while promising that we, or at the very least she, would be back soon.

At the station, Maud backed away since she would have to take another train back home. Pinkie continued to nearly hug her sister to death, but because our train was leaving really soon, she eventually decided she was satisfied with the number of hugs she had given and boarded the train. As the others joined Pinkie, I was the only one left standing in front of Maud.

Before I could begin sending her my farewells, Maud spoke first.

"Thanks for today, Alex. It was the schist." She stated with a straight face.

Remembering the "rock joke" earlier, I couldn't help but laugh out loud. "No problem, Maud. I had a great time too."

"I'll see you at my graduation ceremony, maybe?"

"Send me an invitation as soon as you can. I'll try to leave that day and time open. If something else comes up, I'll let you know. Hopefully, it won't come to that."

"Okay. See you around." She said before drawing close for a warm embrace. After a brief moment of silence, she pulled away and began walking in the other direction.

I watched her walk away and began thinking about her for a while.

I already knew that there was so much more to her than what met the eye, but what I didn't know was what exactly lived inside her head. In example, what kind of thoughts did she have when Pinkie gave her the pouch? What kind of thoughts did she have now talking about her graduation? Sometimes, I kind of wanted to pick her brain out of sheer curiosity.

I noticed her stop for a second and give me a profile view of her face. She had turned and looked back at me. The moment was unexpected, but it didn't last long. Athena had been calling me from the train doors as steam puffed and sizzled behind me. "Come on, Alex! You don't want to get left behind, do you?!"

"Coming!" I called out before joining her on the train.

I took my seat beside Athena as the doors closed, and the train began to slowly move. I sighed in relief, just realizing that I almost missed the train back home to Ponyville. "Thanks for reminding me, Athena." I expressed with a slightly embarrassed smile.

"Somepony's gotta watch over you, you know?" She joked, sharing a soft giggle.

"Right back at you." I replied and then caught something past the window. Outside, if I wasn't mistaken, I noticed Maud's rock-solid expression. She appeared to have been looking at our window, but that's all she did.

To anyone else, her expression had undergone no change whatsoever, but there was just something about that look that was different. Honestly, whatever it was, it had some kind of weird effect on me. But, I couldn't pinpoint what exactly…

Gauntlet of Fire

"Princess Luna and Princess Celestia will be here any minute. I just want to make sure that everything's all set!" Twilight excused her need to make double and triple checks all over the dining room.

"Is she always like this around the princesses?" Starlight Glimmer asked me as Twilight continued to carefully tip her hoof precisely against the position of certain items on the table.

"Well, I think it stemmed from Princess Celestia." I explained. "She was her mentor after all."

"What do you guys think?" Twilight asked us. "Spike's off helping Rarity collect more gems, so I need your input on this!"

"It looks great, Twi." I calmly answered.

"Yeah, you don't need to be so worked up over it." Starlight joined. "You've been rearranging the stuff on the table for hours."

"You know me. The job's never done until I'm completely satisfied." Twilight stated somewhat proudly before a knock at the front door shook her coat. "Oh, that must be them! Come on! We have to go greet them!"

Starlight and I exchanged a short glance with each other before walking after the trotting purple pony in front of us.

"I'm guessing I'm not the only one who can have little freak outs…" Starlight muttered softly to me.

"I think we've all been there." I responded, gaining an approving smile from Starlight before we caught up with Twilight at the front doors.

"Princess Luna! Princess Celestia!" Twilight voiced out loud. "Welcome!"

"Greetings, Twilight Sparkle." I noticed Luna's head poke around as she carried a dainty smile. "Where is Alex?"

"Over here." I waved behind Twilight, easily catching Luna's attention. "Hi." I managed to say before she pulled me in for her expected hug.

After properly exchanging her own kind of warm greeting with Twilight, Celestia walked past us and seemed to eye me oddly. It looked like she had something to say, but due to Luna currently expressing her motherly love with me, she held it in for the moment.

"Let's go to the dining room." Twilight suggested, "We have it all set up for your visit."

Once Luna felt comfortable releasing me from her grip, we were able to walk to the dining room together. There, as Twilight and Luna settled down in their seats, Tia remained standing and unexpectedly placed a hoof on my shoulder.

"Is there you something you may have forgotten to tell me?" She asked.

I was clueless. Was there?

"I don't know," I pulled from my thoughts, "Is there?"

"A little bird told me that I apparently have a niece I don't know about?"

Oooh. That's why she was looking at me all weird.

"Oh, yeah. Her. Um. Yeah. Her name is Athena." My words became slightly jumbled up. It was true that I hadn't told Celestia about Athena at all, and I didn't know why I hadn't really expected for her to find out and eventually ask about it. "She's a little shy when it comes to meeting new people."

"I guess I should come out and say hi…" I heard a new voice jump in. Athena had appeared by my side and hesitantly stepped towards Celestia. "So, I guess you're supposed to be my…um…aunt?"

Tia pulled out her hoof and lightly surprised Athena when she slightly picked up her head to have a better look at her face. "I can tell that you have a beautiful smile. There is just some kind of warmth that radiates from you." Tia softly stretched out her nurturing smile before removing her hoof from underneath Athena's chin. "I remember seeing you some time ago, but I've never had a chance to truly meet with you. It's a pleasure." She now held out her hoof for Athena to shake.

"Y-yeah…" Athena almost clumsily accepted Celestia's hoof and shook it. Observing her softly flushed face, it appeared the 'close observance' caused her to feel embarrassed. "Same here."

Seeing the two of them speak face-to-face was nice to see. Being my sister, her looks and personality had to somehow come from Celestia's side of the family.

Nevertheless, once all greetings were finally done, we all settled down at the table. It was mostly Twilight's idea for this get-together in the first place, so I wasn't sure what she had planned for discussion. I was just kind of along for the ride.

"It's nice to have everyone together like this." Twilight acknowledged. "I wasn't sure if you two would be able to come, knowing how busy you are with everything in Equestria, but I'm really glad that you did in the end!"

"Of course!" Luna agreed. "We so rarely get a chance to relax and just visit. Sometimes, I can't help but wonder how things would be if we weren't princesses."

"There's usually some crisis we have to deal with." Celestia exchanged, adding on to Luna's statement. "Somepony always needs our help. But today—"

Before Tia could finish, we heard a loud wailing come from outside. At first, I thought it might have been Starlight since she had remained outside the room, but it was way too high-pitched. It wasn't long before the pony responsible threw herself against the doors and came in holding a friend in particular with her magic.

"Twilight! There's something wrong with Spike!" Rarity, who had been wearing her custom-decorated hard helmet, along with a dirty coat all over, cried out in worry. She cleared out the snacks on the table and laid the little dragon like a patient at a hospital. He had been scratching all over, and every part of his body had radiated with light like the magic in our horns. It was a sight that I had never seen before, and the anxious vibes Rarity had brought in began to get my heart racing too.

"What's wrong?" Twilight immediately asked.

"I don't know! Nngh!" Spike paused for a moment to focus more on scratching. "All of a sudden, my scales just started glowing and... burning!"

That sounded extremely painful. I couldn't imagine what he had been going through.

"Little is known about dragon culture, but this is a phenomenon we've seen before." Luna managed to inform us both seriously and calmly. "It is the call of the Dragon Lord."

"Dragons glow whenever the Dragon Lord has need of them in the Dragon Lands." Celestia elaborated Luna's answer.

Based on Spike's reaction, this is the first time that this has ever happened to him. I wonder if every dragon imaginable gets this same call or only ones past a certain age. This 'call' must be extremely rare, seeing as Spike just started experiencing these itchy and burning symptoms for the first time. Then again, I can't imagine newborn dragons being called, and Spike was still technically a baby, I think.

"Great... H-How do I make it stop?!" Spike continued to scratch endlessly. Watching him scratch made me feel the need to turn away; I almost started feeling an extremely uncomfortable itch coming on.

"The only way to end the summons is to answer it." Luna replied, "You must journey to the Dragon Lands and see what is expected of you."

"B-B-But the Dragon Lands are full of... dragons! And they're ghastly creatures!" Rarity reminded, but she immediately stopped once Spike ceased scratching and glanced over at her due to her remark. "Oh, oh, not you, of course, Spikey-wikey." She stepped in to feed him with affection. "But remember that rotten Garble?"

Spike gulped nervously. "How could I forget? He would have burnt us to a crisp if none of you weren't there." I couldn't remember the exact dragon they had been referring to, but I did remember going off carelessly in a fiery fit of rage against one the last time. I still couldn't believe I was stupid enough to charge in like that, but maybe it was Athena's feisty spirit that motivated me? "If I have to go to the Dragon Lands, would you guys come with me?"

"Ooh!" Twilight unexpectedly cheered and circled her hooves excitedly. "Oh my goodness, I'd love to! We are sadly lacking any information on dragon culture and customs. I could research them – maybe even write an article! This could be my chance to make a great contribution to the knowledge of Equestria!" The room had been entirely still, besides Spike's continuous scratching, when Twilight stopped talking. She quickly noticed this and made a change to her last statement. "And be there for Spike, heh, of course."

"Be very careful." Celestia critically advised. "The Dragon Lands are particularly dangerous for ponies. It would be wise to be discreet."

"Ooh! I'm sure I still have the dragon costume we used the last time we snuck into the Dragon Lands!" Rarity giggled, following Twilight by taking things rather lightheartedly.

"I think we might want something a little more practical this time." Twilight suggested.

"I don't think you know a spell that can actually turn us into dragons, do you?" I asked. "That would probably be the best disguise to boot."

"Actually," Twilight rubbed her chin as her eyes darted back in thought. "While I don't think I have a spell that can fully transform any pony into a full-fledged dragon, I think I might have something similar. But it's way too dangerous to try to pull off." Twilight shook her head disapprovingly. "For one, I've hardly ever been able to test the spell out. I can't promise it'd work out alright."

"Let's give it a try." I proposed, catching surprise from everypony in the room. "I don't want to just watch like last time. If I can be there for Spike and actually do something, then I want to try."

Twilight and Rarity exchanged a slightly worried look at each other. "But, what if the spell fails? Even if it does work at first, I can't guarantee it'll work until we get back."

"If it fails, then I'll deal with it whenever it happens. I'm not a simple Earth Pony anymore. I've got magic and wings, and I might as well use what I have to help my friends."

Twilight appeared to think about my request for a moment before turning over to Spike. "Spike, do you think you can hold on for just a little while longer?"

"I-I'll try…!" I felt sorry to hear that his scratching seemed to be intense. "But, does anypony have some lotion? I could really use some right now!"

"I've got plenty!" Rarity chipped. "I'll run back and bring you some. While Twilight's testing out her spell, I'll go get cleaned up for when we leave."

"Sounds like a plan." I nodded and turned over to Twilight. "Let's get going, Twilight."

Before I could leave the room, a hoof grabbed me by the shoulder. I turned back around to find that it had been Luna. She had been sending me a troubling look on her face. "I understand that this is not your first dangerous task, but please do be careful. Dragons, except Spike, are known to be extremely ruthless and daunting. Don't place yourself in any more danger than you need to."

I placed my own hoof on Luna's and nodded. "Don't worry. We're just going to go see what the Dragon Lord wants. Hopefully, it's just some kind of announcement or something and that'll be that. Even so, I just want to make sure I can actually do something to protect Spike without putting the other two at risk."

Luna nodded as well and lightly fixed my hair. Eventually, a small smile of approval lit up on her face, allowing me to reconvene with Twilight in confidence.

"Just a reminder: This spell won't completely transform you into a full-fledged dragon." Twilight said as she searched through several books in her massive library. "This spell is more of a 'disguise' instead of an actual transformation."

"'Disguise'?" I asked about. "Something like wearing the dragon costume from last time?"

Twilight paused for a second as she tilted back a certain book before she ultimately pulled it out and brought it over to me. "You could say that, but this does away with the actual costume." She opened the book and skimmed through it. "It's a little hard to get into the details, but I'm going to try to explain it as easily as I can. With magic, I'll be able to technically layer a disguise over your body without you having to actually wear anything. In theory, the other dragons should see you as just another one of your kind, but we ponies can see the real you behind a luminescent illusion. At least, I believe anypony that can control magic can."

"So, if I'm understanding what you're saying, you can make me look like a real dragon even though I'm still technically me?" I ran through my mind to clarify her information. All seemed well until certain functions that only a real dragon could perform came to mind. "Hold on. What if I need to do things that only dragons can do? Like breath fire?"

"That's doable to replicate with magic." Twilight confirmed, reading thoroughly through one page. "You can't send letters like Spike can, but you can at least get the 'showy' part right. Think of this disguise as being a huge puppet. I know you're no 'illusions and tricks' magician, but that's what you'll have to consider being in order to convince the other dragons."

Twilight reminded me of Trixie. I'm pretty sure if Trixie was in my place, she'd be able to pull it off with no problems. However, it had been quite a long time since I had last seen Trixie. I could only hope that she was doing alright.

Twilight patted me with her hoof, catching me away from my thoughts. "As long as you don't purposely bring attention towards yourself, I think you'll do just fine. I'm more worried about how long my magic will last. Like I mentioned before, I haven't had much practice with this spell. It's hard to gather research on the performance if it's just me, after all."

"Well, I'll be glad to be your guinea pig." I returned. "However, I don't want you or Rarity trying this spell out for yourselves. If you can blend in without actually being a dragon, that'd probably be best. If any pony's cover had the chance to be blown, I'd rather it be me."

Twilight nodded. "Normally, I wouldn't let you do something like that on your own, but I honestly figured that it'd be best if Rarity and I stood on the sidelines. I can keep watch over the condition of the spell and make any changes if needed. For example, it's going to be extremely suspicious if you show up with Spike and you're the only one not glowing. But, don't worry, I'll be there and take care of the 'glowy bits'."

"You're right, Twilight." I nearly praised. "I hadn't thought about the 'glowy' and 'itchy' part. It's nice to have a genius around to watch your back."

Twilight only lightly blushed in response as another voice came booming in.

"Don't forget about me!"

Athena ran into the conversation.

"Obviously, you can't be outside to watch my back," I reminded as I turned towards her, "So, can I count on you to keep guard from the inside?"

Athena placed a hoof to her forehead and saluted. "I'll do whatever it takes to help you if you find yourself in a bad situation. If you got dragons on your tail, you know I can be a great distraction. In fact, a big ole flash can probably keep them at bay long enough for you to escape!"

"Great to hear." I, myself, flashed a bright smile and patted her mane. "Okay then, Twilight. Let's get started."

"Okay! Just need another book for reference…" She quickly pulled out a separate book from a certain section. She flipped through a bunch of pages until she seemed to come across certain drawings of different types of dragons. "Got it! Hooves crossed." She stared at the image for a while before she closed her eyes and concentrated on the stream of magic that appeared at her horn. During the process, her magic extended out to me, but I couldn't notice any real change to begin with. Swirls of her magical aura rotated around me like a tornado. It took some time before these swirls slowed down and came to a stop. I still definitely didn't feel any different, but I waited to see what Twilight would say after lifting up her face and taking a look at me again.

"I think it worked!" She exclaimed out in delight.

Athena's head poked in my line of sight. "Whoa! You're like a completely different pony! Erm, dragon!"

In order to confirm the results they apparently saw, I lifted up my hooves and took a look at them. However, I didn't see much of a major difference that Athena seemed to hint at. Instead, I believed I noticed what Twilight had mentioned about not too long ago. I was able to see my normal hooves, but there was a luminescent aura around them. It was hard to tell, but I think the outline the aura cast was supposed to be a dragon. In the case with my hooves, I saw ghostly claws extend out from the front of my hoof.

"Tell me, Athena." Twilight turned towards my staring sister. "Does he look exactly like a dragon? You don't see any part of his real pony self?"

"Yep!" Athena answered loudly. "Looks like a blue dragon I've never seen before in my life! Although, I can still imagine his little pony self instead, hehe." Athena finally stopped staring at me and turned back to Twilight. "Great job on picking out his 'costume'. It looks pretty legit!"

"So, I guess only ponies that can use magic can see the real me, huh?" I glanced around, looking for a non-existent mirror. "What about the spell, Twilight? Think it'll hold?"

"I'm still not sure." Twilight revealed a frown of slight doubt. "The spell didn't seem too hard to do, but I can't tell if it'll hold right. According to the book, the spell should at least last a few days, but I should be able to remove it whenever I want. Still, I've never actually been able to reliably test it out. In our case, this should give me some good data, but it's still a risky and dangerous move. Let's just hope that the spell is able to hold out like it's supposed to."

"Whatever happens, I'm not alone." I said in hopes to alleviate Twilight's worries and doubts. "Worst case scenario, the spell fails and we high-tail it out of there. All Spike has to do is answer the call to get rid of the itchy glowing, right?"

"Right." Twilight nodded. "I guess it could be worse, huh?" She approached me and managed to smile gently. "Thanks again for doing this, Alex. I know you didn't have to."

"Don't sweat it." I shook my head. "This is a win-win for the both of us. I'll be able to take a more active role in helping Spike, and you'll get your data over the performance of this spell."

Twilight glanced at my apparent dragon form and chuckled. "Now that I look at you, you seem like you could be Spike's older brother."

"Is that so…" I rubbed the back of my head with a feeling of embarrassment rising up. "Well, being his 'older brother', I probably shouldn't keep him waiting any longer, should I? I can't imagine how many of scales are irritated at this point."

We returned back to the dining room to surprisingly find Spike taking a breather instead of scratching his scales to death. Rarity, who was now apparently sparkling clean, had just put away a tube of lotion. "How do you feel?" She asked.

"Soo much better." He responded with a sigh of relief. "Thank Celestia for anti-itch creams."

"Thank me…?" Celestia didn't seem to quite understand the term ponies would use occasionally for their benefits. Nevertheless, all attention was drawn to me when they noticed Twilight, Athena, and I enter the room.

"Whoa!" Spike nearly freaked out at the sight of me. "W-Who's that?!"

"So, you used that spell." Celestia noted, forming an approving grin. "That'll do nicely."

"Hold on a second. Is that supposed to be…?" Spike expressed, pointing towards me.

"Yep, it's Alex!" Twilight answered.

"Don't you see him, Spike?" Rarity asked.

"Those who do not have magic cannot see through the disguise." Luna confirmed. "As long as the spell stays strong, dragons should not be able to tell that this dragon is really a pony."

"Cool." Spike gazed at me just like Athena had been a while ago. "You should have made him insanely huge and scary! That way no dragon would want to mess with us! Hang on. Can you make me a bigger dragon too?!"

"One thing at a time." Twilight politely requested, laughing a bit afterward. "None of us know much about dragon culture, as Princess Luna brought up. I want to make sure that the disguise is believable, so I picked one of the common types of dragons from a book I have. Besides, I couldn't exactly make him any bigger because, for optimal performance, the 'disguise' should be close to his own size." Twilight turned her head towards me. "That reminds me. You might want to fly most of the time. I don't think dragons usually are on all fours like us, and I don't want any of them getting suspicious."

"Got it." I acknowledged.

"So, you wouldn't be able to make me any bigger then?" Spike repeated his question.

Twilight shook her head. "The spell is geared towards ponies. Even if I could, I think we'd be more at a disadvantage if I tried to make you any bigger. The whole point of doing this is to make Alex look like a dragon in the first place. You're already a dragon, Spike."

"Yeah, I know…" Spike returned despondently. "It's just that I'm sure other dragons are going to pick on me for being a shrimp."

"If any dragon tries messing with you, I'll show them who the real shrimp is." I stated defensively.

"As much as I appreciate your enthusiasm…" Twilight turned to me. "…try not to be rash with your behavior. We don't know how well this spell is, and I wouldn't want any sudden actions you take to cause some kind of instability with the spell."

"Don't worry about me, Alex!" Spike assured. "Thanks for looking out for me, but I just want to end this silly glowing and get out of there. I don't think you'll have to pick any fights with the other dragons."

"Please be careful." Luna reiterated Celestia's earlier warning.

"We will!" Rarity assured delightfully. "As uneasy as going to the Dragon Lands sounds, we're much more prepared than the last time we've stepped into dragon territory!"

After promising that we'd take care of ourselves, Twilight, Rarity, Spike, and I, with Athena inside me, began making our way towards the Dragon Lands.

If I remember correctly, I think we were able to find the Dragon Lands through the Dragon Migration last time. I don't think any of us knew the exact route, but we could, at the very least, remember the direction the dragons had taken. It was a shame that there was no train to the Dragon Lands, but then again, it probably wouldn't exactly be smart on behalf of ponies if you led them straight to frightening fire-breathing dragons.

When we finally arrived, we noticed dragons of different kinds and sorts gathering together at one particular place. Rarity raised a good question while we hid behind a few mountains of rocks.

"So, Twilight, this disguise you mentioned being 'practical'? What is it exactly?"

Twilight turned her head to what appeared to be a giant shard of stone and worked some kind of magic before she brought it over to cover the both of themselves like a blanket. I don't know how she did it, but just like with Pinkie, I didn't question it. Poking a couple of holes for the two of them, they were now literally inside a rock.

"Hmmm... Well, it may be practical, but this disguise isn't flattering in the slightest!"

"It's not supposed to be flattering." Twilight emphasized with a hushed voice and most likely hinted for Rarity to lower her voice as well. "It's supposed to blend in!"

"Shh." Spike shushed. "Come on. Let's get on top of these pillars and join the other dragons."

Twilight appeared to use her magic as slyly as she could in order to climb the pillars without getting out of her disguise. Once they were settled down, Spike hopped on top of the rock and sat down. I wasn't sure if he did that just to get a better view, or if it was to sort of make the rock stand out less.

Either way, I stayed on the side of the rock and faced Spike. "How do I look, Spike? Still okay?" I asked.

"Yep. You look fine to me."

"Alright." I now turned to Twilight, noticing the aura that continuously remained around her horn. "Don't forget. Whenever every dragon here loses their glow, make sure to turn it off for me too. Then, we'll take off."

"You can count on me." She whispered back.

"Hey-hey, look! It's our old friend Sparkle-warkle." An extremely familiar voice joined in on the other side of the rock.

"It's Spike." Spike answered with an unamused tone towards the red acquainted dragon.

Oh yeah… That was the dragon I lost it on.

I could only wonder how he'd react if I knew I was here. Despite the reunion, it was nice to see that Spike was a lot more mature, in a sense, than the last time he was here. Before, he was somewhat submitting, but now, he looked like he wasn't going to take anything from any of these dragons.

I'm proud of you, Spike.

"Are you sure your pony friends didn't give you a pony name?" He seemed to continuously draw any kind of straws unnecessarily in order to incite some reaction from Spike.

"It's nice to see you too, Garble." Spike returned in an unfazed manner, crossing his claws seriously.

"I didn't say it was nice to see you. It's not. I don't like you." Garble reached a claw over to Spike and pushed him forcefully off the rock, leading him to fall right in front of me. "Was I not clear about that?"

Despite the natural unfriendly nature of dragons, there was no way I could let Spike just hit the ground as if I didn't care. I reached out and caught him with my own hooves/claws, and this, of course, caught the attention of Garble.

"Gross. Are you friends with this shrimp? Let me guess, you're another dragon who's fwends withdumb little ponies too!"

Placing Spike back on his hind claws, I turned to Garble as I placed my front claws on the edge of the rock. "So, what if I am?"

I believed my dragon form was possibly slightly bigger than my pony form, but I was still smaller than Garble entirely. I wanted to push Garble off the rock, but I wasn't exactly sure if I technically had the strength to.

"Ha ha!" Garble laughed cockily. "You've gotta be. The is the first time I've ever seen you around here. I'm willing to bet you live in stupid little Ponyville too!"

"Maybe you and that rock are made for each other." I decided to take another approach aside from violence.

"Exactly!" He responded, crossing his own claws in pride. "That's why I'm sitting on it and you're not."

"After all," I continued, "You two both have one thing in common. You don't have a brain."

"Oh, you're asking for a beatdown, big shrimp." He reacted with anger, jumping off the rock and hopefully giving Twilight and Rarity some breathing room.

Come on, Alex! Let's give this dragon a run for his jewels!

Are you crazy? He's not worth blowing our cover for.

Haaah…

Garble continued to eye me intensely while I only returned a rather stoic and unamused expression. From my experience with this reckless tool, I believed treating him like a child was probably the most effective means of offense. The only time to resort to physical means would be in defense of others and me. That was the plan I was sticking to so far.

The both of us continued to glare at each other in our own way until a booming voice echoed throughout the entire land. "Dragons of Equestria, hear me!" Every one of us naturally turned to find the source of the sound, and the feud between Garble and me dissipated for now. "I have been Dragon Lord for longer than many of you can remember, and my reign has been extraordinary!" Standing on top of the largest mountain on the rocky surface was this insanely large dragon that certainly lived up to his title. I don't think either of us had ever seen this guy before, and he looked especially much larger than any of the dragons we had come across combined. Noticing the silence from his brief pause, he filled his lungs and roared. "Agree with me!"

Immediately after, every dragon in the vicinity began cheering and chanting a name. "Torch! Torch! Torch! Torch!" I wasn't sure if they did this out of fear, or if they actually respected their leader. Even Garble and his friends were cheering out loud.

"Who is that?" Spike asked, pointing in the direction of the Dragon Lord.

"It's Dragon Lord Torch, dummy." Garble answered rudely.

"No, next to him." Spike corrected.

"That's his daughter, Princess Ember." Garble answered again, leaving the 'dummy' part out this time. "I wouldn't even look at her if I were you, unless you want Torch to eat you!"

Spike began shaking, but I patted his back and spoke to him with confidence. "If he's going to eat anyone, it's definitely not going to be us."

Garble sent me another aggravated look, but before he could say anything, the Dragon Lord continued speaking.

"Unfortunately, according to dragon law, it is time for me to step down. Sad, I know." He momentarily paused again and quickly became infuriated when he didn't receive the reaction he expected. "Be sad!" Every dragon immediately began crying, and I had to say that seeing this was actually hilarious. There was something about dragons forcing themselves to cry because their leader said so that was extremely amusing. "This is why I have summoned you – to compete for the throne in the Gauntlet of Fire!" Every dragon now cheered, and I believed it was safe to say that it was genuine this time. "Whoever has the strength and fortitude to retrieve this bloodstone scepter from the heart of the flame-cano will be crowned Lord of the Dragons!" He held a scepter, which was a splinter compared to his claw, and flicked it behind him. I couldn't make out where exactly it went, but after seeing an immense fiery blaze fire from a particular area in the back, I could only assume that that was the designated place.

However, the most interesting part was this red wave that flashed over all the dragons in the area. Right after this flash passed over, every dragon immediately lost their glow. I supposed Twilight hadn't been expecting to this happen, seeing as it took her a few seconds to remove my glow after it had disappeared from Spike. Thankfully, no dragon seemed to notice as they had been paying their undivided attention towards the front.

Suddenly, a sneeze was heard right by us, causing for Garble and his friends to become alarmed and perhaps even suspicious.

"Uh, excuse me!" Spike exclaimed.

"Ugh, you even sneeze like a pony!" Garble responded in disgust.

"The Gauntlet is dangerous, for I designed it myself!" The Dragon Lord continued speaking. "Only dragons with my ferocity, strength, and determination will be able to finish. We will gather at the cliff when the sun is at its peak!"

"I don't want to be Dragon Lord or dragon toast, and I stopped glowing, so let's sneak out of here!" Spike whispered between us.

Just as he was about to place his claws on the rock Rarity and Twilight had been hiding, I placed my own claw on his shoulder.

"Hang on, Spike. If we leave right now, we'll stand out like a sore hoof." I advised. "Let's wait and see if the dragons will start leaving soon. Maybe we can slip out then."

"Where do you think you're going?" We heard the Dragon Lord say, causing us to immediately look back in fear that we might have been caught. However, we were relieved when he happened to be directing his eyes at something else. If we weren't mistaken, it was his daughter that Garble had mentioned about. Ember.

"To prepare for the Gauntlet." She firmly responded.

"No, you're not." The Dragon Lord firmly stated. "There's no way my daughter is going to compete in something that's meant for the best of the best dragons."

"But I'm smarter than most of these boulderheads and you know it!" Ember argued.

"Being smart won't help you win this Gauntlet!" The Dragon Lord countered with a bellowing voice. "It was designed for a big, strong dragon to win, because it takes a big, strong dragon to lead! Besides, I said no!"

Ember had literally been thrown back just by the air coming out of his mouth, yet this seemed to be the least of her problems. "I hate when he does that!" She growled and flew away in submission of her father's decision.

"Ha. When I become Dragon Lord, I will make burps an official greeting!" We began to hear individual dragons excitedly chatter.

"Ha, you? Please! When I win, I will pillage Equestria for all their pillows. Why should these ponies be comfortable while we sleep on rocks?" Another stated that was quite much more alarming.

"That's nothing!" Garble pushed through the two. "When I'm in charge, the first thing I'll do is get revenge on those puny ponies! They'll regret they ever crossed Garble! We'll take whatever we want from Equestria and burn the rest!"

"Oh, my gosh!" I heard Twilight release with a worried hush.

"Ooh, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I hope that burping dragon wins!" Rarity shared.

"None of them can win!" Spike refuted. "Equestria's in big trouble if any of them are in charge!"

"But what can we do?" Twilight asked.

"There's only one thing to do, and only I can do it!" He proclaimed, "I have to win the Gauntlet of Fire!"

"Oh..." Twilight and Rarity exchanged nervously, later removing the camouflage to confront Spike directly.

"What do you mean you have to win the Gauntlet?" Rarity questioned.

"It's the only way to protect Equestria from the dragons." Spike explained. "You heard them! They have horrible plans for ponies if they win! So, somehow, I have to do it!"

"There has to be another way." Twilight nearly pleaded. "It's too dangerous. Besides, if you win, you'd have to stay here!"

"I know, but there's no other way to keep my friends safe." Spike acknowledged with a downhearted look. He then turned to me. "You all should go back home. You think it's dangerous for me? If any of the other dragons find out that ponies are on their turf, they'll flip out!"

It was already too much that Spike was willing to sacrifice staying at home with us to protect us. There was no way I'd be willing to go home after that, knowing that he was out here competing on his own! I was on board with Rarity and Twilight. I didn't want Spike to leave where he belongs, but if he's not going to change his mind, then I want to help him see it through to the end. Besides, maybe we can work something out, even if he wins? There's has to be some dragon that won't wage war with Equestria. Kind of like that burp girl?

"Twilight." I faced her. "Has the spell been working out so far?"

"As far as I know. Why?"

"If Spike has made up his mind, then I want to help him. Every one of us knows that we can't just leave Spike on his own, am I right?"

"But, the dragons!" Spike pointed out. "If they—"

"Hey." I interrupted. "If you're going to participate in this competition even though it's practically the most dangerous thing you've ever done, then I say it's just as fair to stick by you. Personally, I'd prefer if Rarity and Twilight went back…but I know they'll even be more worried with me here. Besides, Twilight is on a research mission, and it's almost impossible to get her out of something like that."

"Alex is right." Twilight acknowledged, "If you're staying to compete, then the least we can do is stay here to cheer you on!"

Spike looked to the side and seemed to think to himself for a moment. "Well, I guess you guys made up your minds too, huh?" He mentioned as he scratched his cheek, "I guess it wouldn't be right to just send you off like that. Fine. Let's work together and protect Equestria!"

Spike held out his claw, causing for the rest of us to draw our hooves together. We broke the pact apart a moment later as an ironic sign of an unbreakable bond.

"You two go on ahead." Twilight informed, taking notice of the dragons gathering at the edge of the cliff behind us. "We'll stay back, but we'll be sure to keep up with you."

"You sure you got everything?" I asked. I trusted them, but I still felt as if there would be situations where it would be nearly impossible to stick with us.

"You worry about Spikey, darling." Rarity responded. "Twilight and I will be able to handle ourselves."

Whatever the case, I was sure that they'd know what path to take, should anything happen. All I could do now was leave them to their own. "Let's get going, Spike. We don't want to stay here any longer and draw attention to us."

"Got it." He acknowledged with a clenched claw.

The two of us reconvened with the other dragons on the cliff. I didn't realize it until we had already caught up with them, but I had been running on all fours. However, it didn't seem that any of the other dragons made a big deal about it. Instead, they'd probably think I was some kind of defect or something at worst.

"Flying to Flame-cano Island is the first of many challenges you will face in your quest to find the bloodstone scepter!" He announced towards every one of his competitors. "The fight for the Gauntlet starts now!" With that said, he concluded his short speech with a mighty flaming roar.

As if that singular roar was the starting horn, every dragon immediately hopped off the cliff and began their trek in flight as loudly as they could.

"Good luck!" I heard Garble say towards Spike. "Just kidding. I hope you lose."

Before taking off, he swiped his tail towards Spike and knocked him off the cliff. I dove after Spike, catching him just a little way down towards the sea below. As I safely held him in my claws, I was glad to see that I was already capable of helping bring him to his goal.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah! Just fine!"

I was big enough to place him comfortably on my back. "Keep an eye out for me, will you?"

"No problem!" Spike shot a little salute before I began heading towards the designated area.

We were flying almost silently for a while until Spike seemed to focus closely on the water below of us. "That's weird. Am I just seeing things, or does it look like something's in the water?"

I glanced in the direction he had been facing and found what he appeared to have been raising a question at. It looked as if there was some kind of cubic shadow on top of the water, and it was obvious that it wasn't from any of the dragons above us. Either way, we got our answer fairly quickly when some kind of sea monster shot vertically at us above the water. I had been so startled that I nearly kicked Spike off my back.

However, for some reason, Spike was less concerned about his own safety once I was able to make some space between these hazards.

"He's gonna drown!" He shouted.

I had been hit with confusion at that moment. I had no other choice but to swirl my head around the field for whatever he had been watching from behind. Eventually, I spotted something shiny glitter and stand out from the ocean below. If I wasn't mistaken, it was another dragon, and just like the two of us, this dragon was the "small fry" of the pack.

Personally, I didn't know what I wanted to do, seeing as dragons weren't the same as ponies, but this was technically Spike's race. So, the first thing I did was enact on his behalf and dive after this submerging dragon. He had already been under the water, so Spike and I had to immediately hold our breaths and catch this dragon before he went too far below.

Pockets of bubbles later, we managed to only bring this fallen dragon back up to the surface. However, he seemed to be knocked out cold, and he wasn't going to be able to reach the island on his own.

"Stay on my back." I instructed. "I'll carry this one over there." I took a quick glance at the skies and found that they were nearly empty. "We got pretty far behind, but the good news is that there doesn't seem to be any more of those sea monsters."

"Come on! Let's catch up." Spike suggested.

As I tried carrying this unconscious dragon to safety, I couldn't help but be burdened by his weight. The dragon himself appeared to be pretty light, but he was wearing gold-plated armor or something. I didn't necessarily understand why, especially since every other dragon was going bare. I could only suppose safety was the utmost priority for this particular one.

Nevertheless, I was finally allowed to take a breather once we came across the designated land. As I regained my breath, Spike approached the dragon and called out to him. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I don't know if we have enough time to make sure he's alright, Spike. The other dragons have already—"

I heard rustling right behind me, causing me to immediately jump and turn around.

"Don't freak out! It's just us!"

This large bundle of seaweed talked in front of me, and within the seaweed, I could see two pairs of eyes.

"Twilight? Rarity?"

Before we could have a chance to talk, ragged coughing sounded nearby, and all of us found the lying dragon to be the cause of it. Spike took off his helmet and gasped afterward. "Princess Ember!?"

Getting up on her claws, she reacted rather aggressively. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Only saving your ungrateful scales!" I heard Rarity fire back.

"Did that seaweed just talk?" Princess Ember immediately noticed. Before any of us could come up with something to misdirect her attention, she had already been pulling away at the seaweed. I was hoping that Twilight and Rarity would have been able to disappear from sight, but they were actually standing dumbfounded in front of the suspicious dragon. "Ponies?! What are they doing here?!"

"They're our friends!" Spike answered.

"Friends?" Princess Ember appeared to hold a non-hostile stance. "I was wondering why you two seemed so buddy-buddy back there. In case you didn't know, dragons don't do friends."

"Well, these dragons do." Spike mentioned a little proudly.

I had to admit that Spike was being a little too careless. He didn't look worried at the slightest regarding what this dragon might just do, due to the presence of ponies. Instead, he acted rather friendly, almost as if he and Princess Ember were already friends.

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes and retrieved the helmet she previously had on from Spike. "I don't care as long as none of you get in my way. I have a Gauntlet to win."

"But I thought your dad said that—"

"I don't care what my dad said!" Princess Ember shouted back. "I'll show him and every dragon who thinks I'm just a little princess there are better things than being big and strong!"

Spike's attitude almost made me want to propose a truce with this princess, but we still didn't know what her true motives were. She honestly didn't look like she cared much that Twilight and Rarity were here uninvited. Could she be a dragon that we can entrust the scepter to instead of Spike?

"So, you're not going to tell any dragon the fact that ponies are on their land?" I asked.

"I told you." She responded impatiently. "I don't care what any of you do. Just don't get in my way!"

Before any more could be said, a wave of sand was shot towards us followed by a loud crunch. A boulder had appeared unexpectedly nearby, and the sound of another dragon's suffering erupted from underneath. Twilight quickly threw the seaweed on the ground back over Rarity and herself while Princess Ember equipped her helmet.

Each of us continued to stare endlessly at this scene until the dragon underneath was able to lift himself up slightly, but it wasn't enough to remove himself out of the boulder's trap. "Don't leave me here, Spike!" It was Gargle, and he spotted Spike out from our group. Just several minutes ago, he nearly knocked Spike out of the race. Now, he was here begging for his help.

If he had asked me, I honestly would have contemplated leaving him behind, but Spike, being the friendly dragon he was, quickly came to his rescue and helped him move the boulder over. Even so, Garble didn't look entirely grateful.

"Ha-ha! Knew you'd do it. Your pony friends made you soft." Garble poked his head, as if that would prove his point. He later kicked a body of sand over Spike, causing me to furrow my eyebrows. Whether it was illogical or not, I used my magic to gather a large mound of the same sand and allowed it to rain upon Garble like a heavy storm.

He poked his head out from the sand and shook it off, looking angry but mostly surprised. "Where the heck did that come from?!"

I looked upwards and found some other kind of monster slinging massive objects from the ground. "Must have come from them. Karma, huh?"

"You seem pretty cocky for a puny dragon that's more pony than dragon." He stepped toward me and noticed my stature while shaking off the rest of the sand on him. He took few whiffs and threw his head away in disgust. "You dragons shouldn't even be here. I can't handle your pony scent!"

"Speak for yourself, you filthy cretin!" Another small outburst came from Rarity.

"What was that?!" Garble turned his head over in the direction where Twilight and Rarity had been hiding inside the bundle of seaweed. Garble began making small steps towards the seaweed as if he suspected the one responsible had been hiding in there. However, Princess Ember stepped in his way and cut him off.

"I said 'speak for yourself', you, uh, 'filthy cretin'?" She tried to repeat Rarity's remark in a low voice, but she had a terrible time pronouncing the last word. Thankfully, Garble wasn't exactly smart, so he didn't bother finding the two different pitches suspicious.

"Geez, how many 'dragons' are pony-loving losers?" He faced each of us with a scrunching face. "You all make me sick." He turned back to Princess Ember and eyed her carefully. "What's with the cover-up? You afraid you're going to hurt your wittle pony tail?

"You might want to watch who you're talking to." Princess Ember's eyes narrowed within her helmet, and her disguised voice slightly grew closer to her original tone.

"Who do you think you are?" Garble continued on an aggressive approach. "You act like you're Princess Ember or something." He began leaning in towards her while scratching his chin. "Actually, you kind of look like—"

"That's my, uh, old neighbor!" Spike ran in, coming between the two of them. "He turned his head around and analyzed his surroundings as if he was trying to come up with a name on the spot. "Uh, Sandy... Rockbeach!"

"Well, tell your stupid neighbor to watch his mouth!" Garble warned and then turned his head over to the monsters I noticed above earlier. "I'm only here because stupid slingtails knocked me down! I've wasted enough time making small talk. Get it?" He pointed at each of us and began walking off. "Ha-ha! Because you're all too small to win this! I'm funny."

Once he finally left, Princess Ember felt that it was safe enough to remove her helmet.

"Why did you cover for me? You could've had one less competitor." She asked Spike.

"I could ask you the same thing." Spike returned. "You could've easily told Garble about my friends."

"I'm just as surprised." I pointed out. "I didn't expect you to come in like that and take the blame. Besides Spike, I thought all dragons hated ponies."

"Like I told you guys. I could care less about any of that. I've got more important things on my mind than what numbskulls like Garble do all day." She crossed her claws over her chest before she suddenly looked at me as if she realized something. "Wait a minute. What about you? This is the first time I've ever seen you around here. You live with ponies like Spike does?"

If I answered her truthfully, it would put a big dent in my cover. Nevertheless, it would also be a great opportunity to get a better look at her motives. Seeing as she did what she did, I decided to take the risk.

"Yeah, I do…" I responded a little hesitantly.

"How?" Princess Ember questioned with apparent interest. "I mean, I get little Spike here. No offense, but he looks like he wouldn't hurt a fly. But, you? Wouldn't ponies freak out about a dragon living among them? You're not big like other dragons here, but you still look like you can intimidate others, especially ponies."

I decided to keep my answer vague for now. "It's…a long story?"

We suddenly heard a screeching scream come from atop. Taking a short glance, we found various dragons being hurled by boulders, just like Garble had been.

"Yikes... That looks rough." Princess Ember revealed a hint of fear in her eyes. "But that's what makes it a challenge."

"Are you kidding? Those boulders are huge!" Spike emphasized and thought to himself for a quick second. "Hey, you should join us! Everyone is working on their own, but if we all work together, we're sure to have a big advantage!"

"Pssst!" We heard. Figuring it had come from the two in the seaweed, Spike ran over and poked it. However, the two of us had been surprised when it all fell down and nopony had been behind it. Nevertheless, the whispering continued. "Spike!" A tree nearby waved a dead branch, catching Spike's attention. As he ran towards it, I decided to stay by Princess Ember.

"I still can't wrap my head around the idea that you two are actually working together." She mentioned. "It's unreal. Are you two brothers or something? Even family doesn't change the fact that it's every dragon for themselves here."

"You could say that." I took the vague approach once again. "Even so, it wouldn't hurt, would it? At the very least, we can be a team until we get past all the dangerous and hard stuff."

"You have a point…" She thought to herself. "If I have a better chance of getting in there first, I want to take it." She turned towards Spike, who had been talking to the other two inside the tree log. "Hey, you, little fella! I've thought about it, and your plan makes sense. Let's do it."

"Really?" Spike dashed back on over. "Great! It's a deal!"

Spike held out his claw for a solid shake of the agreement, but Princess Ember reacted strangely to this gesture. Instead of using her whole claw, she only grabbed a hold of Spike's finger with two and lightly shook. "Just so you know, this doesn't mean we're gonna pick flowers or exchange necklaces or whatever pony friends do." She clarified.

Not entirely accurate, but whatever.

"Good luck. We'll meet you at the top!" Twilight waved from the top of the trunk they were in.

"And how exactly are you going to do that?" I brought up.

"Um. We don't exactly know yet." Twilight returned with a sheepish grin.

I thought for a moment and turned towards Ember and Spike. "Hey, Spike. You two go ahead and head for the top. I'm going try to sneak the others in."

"Gotcha!" Spike sent out a salute before he approached our new partner. "Let's get going!"

"So, how do you expect the three of us to make it there without arousing suspicion?" Rarity asked with genuine concern. "Even the other dragons are having a hard time on their own!"

"I noticed that every one of them is flying the way, but I don't think any of them have actually tried climbing the mountain." I pointed out. "Sure, it's longer, but it doesn't really give any room for those creatures to hurl boulders at you. They're too busy with the other dragons, so I'm sure they'll have a hard time noticing us. The other dragons are too busy trying to get to the place they need to go, so I'm sure same goes for them.

"Sounds reasonable enough." Twilight responded. "How are you going to get us up, though?"

"Maybe I can still use magic but not make it obvious?" I suggested. "As dumb as it'll look, I'll try carrying you with my wings, but at the same time, I'll use magic to do all the heavy lifting. Make sense?"

"Whatever works, darling!" Rarity's voice echoed inside the dead log.

"Alright. Make sure to hold on tight and be prepared for anything." I warned before setting my plan to motion.

For a moment, I tried climbing my way to the top, and, while I avoided any trouble regarding the hurling boulders for the most part, climbing was beginning to become a hassle when I found myself in the steeper part of the slopes. I had no choice but to switch gears if I wanted to make it in time.

"Change of plans!" I informed the others.

As quickly as I could, I used my magic to bring the log over to my claws. I could only hope that it looked natural towards the other dragons, seeing as it'd be nearly impossible if I was actually trying to carry the huge log with just my hooves. Nevertheless, my wings were free to move, so I slowly ascended as carefully as I could. I stuck by the cliffside while avoiding the direction of the boulder-slinging monsters.

When I came to what appeared to be a huge entrance, I finally released the log onto the rocky ground and quickly tried to catch my breath. I heard Rarity yelp within, possibly from having released the log so suddenly.

"Sorry…!" I apologized, still practically out of breath.

"You guys made it!" Spike approached us, looking both relieved and excited to see us.

"Yeah…" I continued breathing in and out harshly. "I need a moment though."

"We can't wait too long." Princess Ember mentioned. "Some of the other dragons are already inside there."

I turned my head up and noticed something odd about her face. "You're not wearing your helmet? What are you going to do if the other dragons find out who you are?"

"That thing was just getting in the way." She answered. "Besides, I'm at the point of no return. It won't matter if any dragon even manages to realize that their very 'princess' is among them."

"Well then. You two go on ahead. I won't be long." I suggested.

"Listen, Spike." She turned towards him. "I wouldn't have made it this far without you. So I guess, if you want to, we could keep working together. I mean, just until we get through that tunnel."

"Okay!" Spike returned a thumb up before following her inside.

"We'll be right behind you." Twilight hushed out.

I felt well enough to go in after them, but I decided to have a short talk with the two before we actually went in. "I'm not the only one who thinks that Princess Ember is the answer to our problems, right?"

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"Spike wanted to win the Gauntlet so he could keep the other dragons from invading Equestria, but what if Princess Ember won instead? I know we hardly know her, but she doesn't seem to have a burning hatred for ponies like Gargle does."

"That's what I was thinking!" Twilight responded, nearly breaking out of her soft voice. "But, I have to be frank. As long as it's not some dragon like Gargle, I'm willing to take the risk if it means Spike can come home."

"Then, should we help Princess Ember win the Gauntlet instead? To be honest, I don't think Spike would mind, especially since he seems to see her as a friend already."

"I concur!" Rarity nearly shouted out. "But, first, we must catch up with them if we're to help Princess Ember win!"

"Yeah. The scepter should be somewhere inside, so let's get this over with already." I reached out my claws and grabbed ahold of the top branch without actually putting any tension on it. Using my magic, I slightly lifted up the log so it wasn't actually on the ground. If we came across any dragon, and they began to question it, I could easily let go without any risk of hurting the girls inside.

We came across the first deadly obstacle in a short moment, which was, what appeared to be, massive walls of rocky spikes that poked in and out of sight in a flash. A few dragons had been caught behind, and they looked like they were hanging on for their dear lives. I did not know how we were going to pull this off.

"If I can get a good view of the land at the other side, I can teleport us across!" Twilight exclaimed out in a low voice.

"What is one of the dragons see us?" Rarity concerned herself with.

"Honestly, they look too troubled by this spike trap to be worrying about who's in front of them." I mentioned.

"If I teleport us, we're going to have to leave our cover behind and find a new one…" Twilight informed.

"You'll be exposed…" I realized and thought shortly. I tried to observe what had been across whenever there was an extremely short opening. As expected there were piles of rocks around the area. Seeing as Twilight had made their first cover out of a huge rock, I supposed it wouldn't be a challenge for her to work with that. "There are a few rocks over on the other side. Teleport us and immediately take cover behind those rocks. They can be your new cover, right?"

"Yeah, I guess we can try that." Twilight said.

"It's the only choice we have, isn't it?" Rarity inquired uneasily.

"It's the only one I can come up and work with for now…" I returned.

"Alright! On the count of three!" Twilight initiated. "One! Two! Three!"

No matter whether the walls were closed or open, Twilight was able to get us across with her teleportation spell. Just as she had mentioned, they left the log behind and quickly dove to cover behind the rocks. Taking a short moment, she worked her magic and made those rocks their new disguise.

I now had to remain on the ground as a pushed a couple of those same rocks in front of me. Thankfully, I was able to use the same trick of keeping the rocks slightly above ground while I pretended to push them for the most part. However, it wasn't long before we reached our next obstacle. It was similar to the rock walls, but this time, there were frighteningly large and extremely sharp spikes poking in and out from the cavern walls. It was definitely something I'd hate to go through, but I was sure that Twilight would be able to teleport us through again.

"Same plan?" I suggested to Twilight.

"Looks like it."

Following the same maneuvers as last time, the other two were able to find themselves new rocky disguises and allow me to push them on forward. When we eventually came across Spike and Princess Ember analyzing their surroundings, I brought myself to a stop and proceeded to take a moment to catch my breath as the other two ponies seemed to watch me.

"You okay?" Twilight asked.

"Peachy." I responded.

"I'm glad the two of you are fine." Rarity stated, directing her attention to Princess Ember and Spike.

"Hmph, us?" Spike replied. "That tunnel was cake!"

"Wait. How exactly did you two get through?" Princess Ember asked out of curiosity.

Before she could receive a straight answer, the caverns we had been inside began to rumble violently all of a sudden. In the midst of the chaos, Rarity found herself stumbling towards a large pool of lava.

"Rarity!" Spike called out, running after her with me following right behind.

Both of us nearly dove after her, grabbing a part of her disguise and pulling her in right before a huge spurt of lava almost burnt her to a crisp. When we were as far away as possible from that edge, Rarity cried out in relief. "Oh, thanks, you two!"

Spike exchanged a light sigh of relief. "It was nothing."

"Nothing?" Princess Ember exclaimed unexpectedly. "You just risked everything to save her! And they're putting themselves in danger just to support you! Why would they go through all the trouble just to do that?"

"Well, that's just what friends do." Spike easily answered. "Don't you have anyone who looks out for you?"

"Not really. Unless I count you." She shared a little fragilely before immediately returning to a stubborn attitude. "Which I don't! Because we were only helping each other get through the tunnel, and now we're through the tunnel, so that's it."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Spike questioned, not fully understanding her leave of absence.

"Well, there's only one winner, one scepter, and one Dragon Lord." She explained. "So, I guess it's every dragon for themselves."

"Oh." Spike reacted with disappointment. "So we aren't really friends?"

"Maybe if we were in Ponyland, but like I said, dragons don't do friendship." With that blunt remark, she walked towards the edge and flew off until she was out of our sight.

"Wow." I mentioned, taking notice of the kind of behavior she left us with. "She reminds me a lot of a particular pony I know…"

"What do you mean?" Spike asked, still holding a despondent look after observing her leave with such a sour mood.

"Don't quote me on this, but I don't think she exactly meant what she said. She was just trying to cover up for something. Her feelings or something like that. Kind of like Starlight. Not Starlight Glimmer, but, you know, the Starlight from my life."

"You really think so?" Twilight questioned my certainty.

"That's what I want to go with."

"You gotta be right!" Spike agreed with me. "If she didn't care, then why would she go to the trouble of protecting us like she did back there? Even if she doesn't think so, we're friends and that's that. She just needs to know what friends really are."

I nodded my head and glanced at the hall we had just come from. "We better get going. Right now, the important thing is making sure the scepter doesn't fall into the wrong claws."

Without Princess Ember, we traveled through a maze of crevasses, but it appeared we only traveled in a bunch of circles. It was that, or we were finding different areas that were completely identical to the first one. Either way, I don't think any of us were sure on how we could find the scepter at this point. It seemed more like a game of luck, and, in this case, any dragon could find the scepter if they manage to pick the right way.

"Is it just me, or have we seen this crevasse three times already?" Twilight mentioned several minutes in.

"It's kinda hard to tell. They all look the same." Spike roamed his eyes around the vast area before they stopped in a certain direction. "Except for this one! Look!" The path he pointed at looked the same to me, but we followed in after him enthusiastically nonetheless. Inside, any doubts I may have had were immediately erased when a stellar sight appeared before us. Among a mound of red crystals appeared to be the very scepter we had been searching for. "We made it! I can't believe we're the only dragons to make it this far!"

"You're not!" We unexpectedly heard a shallow voice behind us. Turning towards the direction of the sound, we spotted Gargle slipping in from underneath the shadows, and he looked absolutely agitated. He quickly approached us with a threatening posture. "And I'm not losing to a couple puny pony-loving dragons like you!"

Now was the time for action. I needed Spike to start heading for the scepter now while I tried stalling this reeking opponent.

"How pathetic do you have to be to pick on a couple of 'puny pony-loving' dragons?" I asked, keeping him at bay and away from Spike. "Seems like you're trying to cover up whatever it is you don't like about yourself. Maybe you secretly like ponies but don't want to admit it?" I added snarkily at the end.

Appearing much more impatient than last time, flames immediately bellowed out from his mouth after releasing an aggressive roar. I had no other choice but to jump backward and fall to the ground in order to avoid the fire as much as I could. Nevertheless, I felt an intense amount of heat scrape the surface of my coat, and my entire reaction caused some sort of amusement for Gargle. "What kind of dragon is afraid of a little fire? You really are more pony than you are dragon!"

Noticing Spike was still standing behind me, possibly questioning what he should do in the confrontation, I ordered him to move on. "Spike, start running towards the scepter!"

"Oh, no you don't!" Gargle began moving forward, but I lifted myself up from the ground as quickly could and threw myself at him. Nevertheless, seeing as he was a bigger dragon than me, he clenched his claws around my neck and used me instead as a weapon against Spike. I was thrown towards him and unable to stop myself in time. I ended up not only landing on top of Spike but also brought us closer to the edge of the narrow bridge we had been on. I was able to have a good look at what laid underneath us, and I could see a bunch of sharp rocky spikes below us as a result. If I wasn't careful, Spike and I could easily get hurt!

I wasn't sure if he was going to go straight for the scepter, but his eyes narrowed towards us. It appeared that he intended to finish us off before he would claim the scepter for himself. All I could do was try to push myself up and provide cover for Spike, but we heard a sharp whistle coming from behind him.

"Hey, bozo! Over here!"

As Garble turned around, Spike and I leaned past him to find a friend offering her aid to us.

"Athena!" I cried out.

"A pony?! How did you get here?!" Garble leaning in, looking ready to pounce my extremely brave sister.

"With the kind of puny brain you have, you'd never understand even if I told you." Athena wittily replied.

Taking on the stance of an aggravated bull, he was just about to rush at her before something else flung towards him. Whatever it was, it sent him flying over Athena and back towards the entrance.

"Are you guys okay?" We heard and found Princess Ember landing near us.

"Ember!" Spike pointed out with extreme surprise. "I thought it was every dragon for themselves! Why did you stop and help us?! You could have easily gone for the scepter and become the next Dragon Lord!"

"Well, isn't that what friends do?" She returned hesitantly. "And I am a friend. I mean, we are. I never should have left you guys back there. Agh, please don't make me talk about my feelings!" She nearly begged.

"More ponies?!" We heard Gargle growl from where he had been. I turned and noticed that Twilight and Rarity had been somehow knocked out from their cover, and they were completely visible in front of Garble. "You two. I've been waiting to give you much-needed payback from last time." He slowly began stepping towards them, cracking and preparing his claws as they fearfully stepped away from him. He had been leading them towards the edge of the death trap, but another pony quickly galloped and jumped onto his back, pulling tightly on his small scaly ears.

"Hyah!" She broadcasted her warrior's cry.

"Agh! Get off!" Garble ordered as he stumbled backward in an attempt to fight back.

"Go get the scepter!" Princess Ember seemingly advised to either one of us.

Just as Garble reached far enough to grab ahold of Athena, Ember swooped in fast enough to tackle him against the wall, releasing his grip on his captive pony. I quickly encouraged Spike to move on as I kept an eye on the struggle between Ember and Garble. Since she had already been playing on the offensive, I decided to stay in the middle field as a defender.

Garble eventually managed to throw Ember to the side, seeing as she was practically the same size as me, and quickly pinpointed Spike's location in order to overtake his position. However, being in the middle of the field, I launched upwards in the air and blocked him to the best of my abilities. Before he could simply throw me to the side as well, Princess Ember came from behind and snatched his tail.

Before I could blink, Garble grabbed a hold of her shoulders and brought her back down to the floor. She tried to get back up, but Garble clearly had the higher ground to easily keep her down. Bringing my hind claws upwards, I dove towards him and wrapped my foreleg around his neck. I couldn't completely pull him away from Ember, but she was able to successfully get back up.

Grunting in frustration, he was able to reach behind him and throw me off like he almost did with Athena. I stumbled across the dirt and found myself hanging on the edge of the bridge, but this time, I was glad that I had wings to back me up.

"I'm sick and tired of you dragons helping each other!" Garble snarled as he and Ember had a sort of tug-of-war match across the bridge with their claws holding onto each other. "Dragons don't do helping!"

"These dragons do!" Princess Ember asserted back.

Seeing as I had the lower ground, I grabbed a hold of Garble's hind leg and caused him to lose his balance. With him at a major disadvantage, Ember found the strength to release a mighty yell and throw him onto his back, disorientating him.

Even though I had been using my wings to keep me afloat, Ember offered her claw to me. I didn't need it, but as a sign of newfound friendship, I accepted it. She helped me back on the bridge, and we found several more voices coming from the path we had taken to get here. Twilight and Rarity covered themselves with their disguises, but I couldn't find Athena around. I quickly searched and began to call out her name in a panic.

"Athena?!"

Don't worry. I'm right here with you.

I let out a major sigh of relief before Princess Ember questioned me on something in particular.

"Just how many friends do you have?"

Before I could give a suitable answer, a wave of scarlet red blossomed over every one of us. After that, there was a gigantic flash that could only signify something, well, significant. Despite this transferal of power, Ember and I found Garble approaching us with malicious intent. "Listen, you guys, we got ponies with us, and we gotta find them and smash them!" He informed the dragons behind him.

However, we suddenly heard Spike's voice boom out behind us in response.

"Leave my friends alone!"

Garble noticed this and was heavily surprised to see the 'puny pony-loving' dragon carrying the scepter in a commanding stance. "What? You?! You have the scepter?! But that means that you're..."

"The Dragon Lord. Dragon Lord Spike." Ember bowed, causing me and the other dragons to follow shortly after.

Garble groaned, but even he felt forced to repeat this manner of respect. "Dragon... Lord... Spike..." He grumbled in defeat.

"That's right!" Spike remained at his heightened position of power. "Uh... Now, go start your long journey home. And give every dragon you see on the way a hug. Don't tell them why."

"Awww! But that'll be super embarrassing!" Gargle protested.

"I command you to do it!" Spike ordered. "And none of you are allowed to hurt any ponies either!"

Annoyed, Garble groaned heavily. "I can't believe this..." He stopped to hug this huge dragon nearby, and it was quite a big surprise when this dragon reacted rather positively to this friendly gesture. Maybe there were some dragons that really only wanted friends in the end?

"Good job, Spike." I congratulated as he returned to us with the scepter.

"Dragon Lord Spike. Hm, has a nice ring to it." Princess Ember noticed.

"Dragon Lord Ember sounds a lot better." Spike surprised her and gave her the scepter.

"What? No." Ember shook her head. "You're the Dragon Lord now." She attempted to give the scepter back.

"The Dragon Lord is whoever brings the scepter back to your father!" Spike claimed, pushing the scepter away. "Besides, you'll make a great leader. I was just doing this to protect the ponies. But I know you'll protect them just as well as I would have."

"You sure about this?" Ember asked with uncertainty.

"Absolutely. Our home is in Equestria with our friends." Spike answered, placing a friendly claw on me.

"Well, you'll all have at least one friend here too." Ember pointed out before Spike dove in for a hug. "What are you doing?" She nearly freaked out from the sudden gesture.

"It's called a hug!" Spike happily explained.

"Oh. I don't know if I like it. But... okay." With a frazzled blush, she lightly patted Spike's scales.

In response to this sight, I could only chuckle lightly.

All of the other dragons, including our group, made their way back towards the former Dragon Lord with Ember having the scepter in her claws. I lagged a little behind, seeing as I wanted to make sure the other two ponies made it back safely. However, I was thankfully able to make it in time for the big reveal.

"Ember? You?!" A booming voice exclaimed out in surprise.

"I know you didn't think I could do it, but I did." Ember confronted her father with confidence.

"I expressly told you not to do it, because you're not—!"

"I'm not big and strong!" She left his sentence unfinished. "I know. But you know what? I won anyway. So maybe it takes more than just being big and strong to be a good Dragon Lord!"

Taking a moment of consideration, her father eventually responded back. "I was wrong, Ember. You might not be big, but you are strong and smart, and perhaps that counts for more than I thought. And you will make an excellent leader."

"Thanks, dad." Ember landed on top of his nose and expressed with a hint of surprise. She turned towards the others and shouted out loud, "Agree with him!" The other dragons looked at each other in uncertainty before she quickly declared her last order invalid. "Just kidding! That's not gonna be my thing."

With a hearty laugh, her father made the official announcement to all the other dragons in the vicinity. "Dragons, hear me! I present to you our new Dragon Lord, Ember!" Receiving a lengthy amount of applause, he soon found Garble roaming about and stopping to hug his extraordinarily huge mouth. "Hm? What is the meaning of this?!"

"I can't tell you!" He cried out in shame, earning a cheerful laugh from Ember.

Once it appeared that every dragon was officially dismissed, Spike and I waved down Ember to a secluded spot. From there, we decided to extend our farewells before heading back to Ponyville and calling it a day.

"After today, I don't expect any of you to come back ever again, but I just want to let you know that you're welcome back anytime. After all, there's going to be some major changes now that I'm in charge." She assured valiantly.

"Of course!" Spike excitedly agreed. "We'll keep in touch! Maybe we can even work something out between ponies and dragons soon?"

"We'll talk about that later." Ember promised.

"I've been meaning to ask you something!" Twilight waved her hoof eagerly like a schoolpony and caught Ember's attention. "I've been totally meaning to gather up as much information as I can about dragons. Would you mind if I write to you every now and then for a little research?"

"I don't see why not." Ember encouraged, accepting her request.

"Yay!" Twilight cheered with a gleeful grin.

"Either way, I'm just glad that there's at least some dragon out there that's cool with ponies." I mentioned. "With you in charge, I know things will definitely change."

"I'll make things change, if I have to." Ember assured. "These dragons could definitely use some smartening up. It's annoying just to have a conversation with dragons that have rocks for brains. I can't imagine how much nicer Equestria must be."

"You should visit sometime!" Spike brought up.

"As long as your ponies don't freak out about it, that's not a bad idea."

"I'm sure we can manage that." Rarity stated with a royal smile.

After exchanging our goodbyes, Spike, Rarity, Twilight, and I began making our somewhat long trek back home. Nevertheless, I'm sure Twilight and Rarity were glad to not have to be undercover anymore.

"You did well, Spike." Twilight congratulated. "With Ember as Dragon Lord, the ponies will be safe and you've gained us a powerful ally."

"And a new friend!" He pointed out.

"Plus, Ember said I could write to her anytime I had questions about dragon culture! With this much information, I'll be able to write a whole book on dragons!" Twilight repeated her excitement. She then turned to me and looked me over. "Today has been one of the best days I've ever had! Not only will I have access to more information about dragons, but it seems the spell was a complete success!"

"Oh! And I gained tons of ideas for a new line of camouflage clothing! I think I'll call it "Camo-Maud"!" Rarity shared her exhilaration.

Every one of them laughed out loud as we walked, yet I was stuck there wondering if Rarity had been making a reference to Pinkie's sister. They spent the entire time hiding in rocks, and Maud's passion was all about rocks.

"Too bad I didn't really get to see much action as I thought I'd see…" Athena popped in beside me, looking a little disappointed. "I mean, I saw a lot of action. I just didn't take part in most of it."

"Maybe you should consider that as a good thing instead of a bad." I suggested. "It may seem like fun, but if anything happened to you, I'm sure you'd regret it."

"Yeaah… I guess you're right." Athena remained silent for a moment before she spoke up once again. "Knock-knock!"

"Who's there…?" I responded reluctantly.

"Dragon!" She mentioned with a gleeful smile.

Oh, this can't be good…

"Dragon who?" I asked, preparing myself for the worst.

"Dragon your hooves again?!"

Uggghhhh. Just why did you have to?

No Second Prances

Due to our slight mishap with Spike's glowing scales, I didn't blame Celestia and Luna when they weren't there to continue their visit. In fact, it would have been smart of them to leave and see if they could possibly get any work done in order to ensure another visit. Either way, Twilight did have some luck getting another visit from Princess Celestia.

However, it was for the sake of reporting her progress in regards to teaching Starlight Glimmer about friendship. Twilight didn't seem like she'd be needing any help from me with preparing the scheduled dinner, so I ended up asking Fluttershy out for a walk in town.

"I can't believe you went out to the Dragon Lands! That's really dangerous!" Fluttershy responded worriedly after I had told her about my trip the other day.

"It's okay." I assured her. "In the end, it was totally worth it. Spike got to stay here in Ponyville and the Dragon Lord is someone we can trust not to attack us. We might even make friends with all of the other dragons soon."

"Make 'friends'?" Fluttershy repeated, keeping her uncomfortable frown upon her face. "I'm not entirely sure how that would work. Maybe it would have been better if I had gone with you all…"

I stopped my hooves from making any more steps and immediately shook my head. "Absolutely not. I know you've got a way with animals, and I especially remember how you got that dragon to leave Ponyville that one time, but the dragons from the Dragon Lands are ruthless. I don't know what I'd do if they so much touched a strand of your mane."

"Believe me, I know." Fluttershy assured. "I'd just hate to find out that something happened to you, and I wasn't there to at least try to help you."

"To tell you the truth, Fluttershy," I began dragging my hoof towards hers. "As bad as this might seem or sound, sometimes the best kind of help you can give me is staying someplace safe. If you had gone with us to the Dragon Lands, I think I would have spent the majority of time worrying about your safety. You understand, right?"

"I guess I do…" Fluttershy picked up her hoof and placed it on mine. "But, please, if there's anything I can do to help, don't hesitate to ask, okay?"

"Of course." I nodded in agreement and followed on with our casual walk once more.

"I almost forgot," Fluttershy mentioned all of a sudden, causing me to turn my head sideways and catch her eyes. "There was something I was going to tell you, but then we got caught up in the talk about dragons."

"Yeah, what is it?" I asked with my interest peaked.

"So, um…" She slightly looked away as her cheeks began turning pink. "I was wondering…if you…wanted to meet my parents."

"Your parents?" I nearly exclaimed out loud, but the shock of this unexpected subject settled with my heart only skipping a beat.

She nodded. "You weren't able to come over for Hearth's Warming Eve and see them then, so I was wondering if you wanted to come to my old home in Cloudsdale. They invited me to have lunch with them in a few days, and they made sure to extend the invitation to you. After all, I've only ever told them what kind of pony you were like, but they've been really excited to see you for themselves. Of course, if you're busy, or if you're too nervous, you don't have to go."

"No, no!" I immediately attempted to brush off any doubts she may have had. "I'll go! I mean, I have to go! Ever since we started seeing each other, I've always honestly kind of wondered how your parents were. They're not super protective of you or anything, are they? Like, your dad isn't some kind of super beefed up dude that'll stare daggers at me the entire time we're having lunch, right?"

"Of course not!" Fluttershy seemed to find my concerns quite entertaining to listen to, so she couldn't help but giggle jubilantly in response. "They're really nice. Just with what I've told them, I think they've already taken a liking to you. As long as you're not a completely different pony by then, you should be completely fine." She assured, winking confidently at me.

"Great. Great." I expressed, my hooves already shaking from both excitement and anxiety even though the lunch was a few days away. It was like how Pinkie would say: I was nervousited. It wasn't a real word, but it was still oh so relatable. "Are you hungry? We could go get some breakfast."

"I'm not really hungry, but I don't mind if—" Fluttershy's response was cut short when she gasped loudly and sharply at a sight past me. "Watch out!"

I was extremely confused, and all I could do was turn in the direction she had been pointing at. However, it hadn't been me she had warned. She galloped towards a squirrel that had been in a field of grass with an acorn in his mouth. The squirrel was just as confused as I was, so he only stood there with a dumbfounded look on his face.

Fluttershy snatched the squirrel with her wing before a huge wagon ran by the exact area the squirrel had been. It turned out that Fluttershy saved the squirrel from being in the path of a moving wagon. However, she may have reacted just a bit too much, seeing as the wagon was moving pretty slow, to begin with.

"Tch. Dumb wagon." We heard nearby as Fluttershy tenderly nestled the squirrel in her hooves.

Having had a good look at the design of the wagon, along with hearing the familiar voice, I approached the vehicle and had a look around. The wagon came to a complete stop, and I began hearing someone move some things around inside. I found the backdoor had been open, and once I confirmed the pony working inside, I called out to her.

"Trixie…?"

She immediately pulled back her head and accidentally bumped it against something on the ceiling. Nevertheless, she turned in my direction while rubbing the afflicted area. "Hey!" Her eyes lit up and steered away from the anger that built up from bumping her head. "Why, if it isn't the Prince of Ponyville!" She walked down the two steps from the entrance of her wagon and approached me to pull me in for a friendly hug. "How long has it been since you've last seen Trixie? Surely, you must have missed her since then."

"Oh, yeah, I guess." I found her behavior a little odd, and I was hoping that she hadn't somehow returned to her old ways. "You're still talking in third person, huh?"

"What can I say?" Trixie shrugged lightly as she switched perspectives. "Old habits die hard, I suppose. Don't worry. I know what you're thinking. 'Trixie's probably back to being a bad pony.' But, I can assure you that that's not the case. I have turned over a new leaf! That's why I'm here promoting my newest stage show: 'The Humble and Penitent Trixie's Equestrian Apology Tour'!"

"The what?" I inquired, obtaining about only a few words out of that lengthy title.

"It's a working title." She clarified before changing the subject. "How about you? How has life been without The Great and Powerful Trixie?" She flashed her eyebrows in a jesting manner.

"Oh, you know…" I answered vaguely. "Going on adventures, helping save Equestria, the usual."

"Must feel nice." Trixie turned her head away. "You're off exploring new and uncharted lands while Trixie is here stuck doing magic tricks."

"Don't you like doing magic?" I questioned. "It's a step up from working at a rock farm, right?"

"Absolutely." Trixie answered. "But, as much as I worked hard into becoming a better pony, I still feel like everypony can't let go of what I did in the past. To tell you the truth, it really puts a dent in my motivation."

"Is that the reason for your 'apology' tour?"

"A chance to make up for what the old Trixie did." She explained. "No pony can resist a free magic show."

"Well, I'm completely on board to support you." I offered, "When's your show? I can probably bring the others to come watch."

"It's tonight, actually." She pulled out a rolled-up piece of paper and unveiled the contents inside. It was a poster to her showing, and I had to say it was pretty well-made. I wondered if she designed it herself. "Would you be able to come? I could use all the support I can get."

"Tonight?" My pupils drew to the corners of my eyes in thought. "Yeah. Totally. Although, Twilight's going to be busy with an important dinner."

"Twilight?" Trixie's mood suddenly became foul as she scoffed. "She probably thinks she's too good to go to a cheap little magic show anyway."

"Why would you say something like that?" I asked, feeling a little shocked at her shift in emotions. "I thought you and Twilight patched things up last time you saw each other?"

"We did, but…" She stopped herself and turned her head away. "It's nothing."

Before I could possibly question her contained thoughts, Fluttershy walked into the conversation. "It's all okay. The squirrel's just fine." She told me before catching a look at Trixie in front of me. "Trixie? What are you doing in Ponyville?" She asked, appearing to be a little alarmed.

"There's nothing to worry about." Trixie immediately defended herself, closing her eyes and drawing her eyebrows together as if she was annoyed. "Trixie's not here to cause harm. She only wants to perform a simple magic show."

"Oh, a magic show?" Fluttershy questioned.

"Yes, but for right now, Trixie needs to destress for a little while. She's been dragging her wagon across Equestria all night."

"All night?" I repeated. "You should definitely get some rest in that case."

"Alex! Fluttershy!" We now heard another voice grow closer towards us. We turned around and found Starlight Glimmer happily trotting to us. "I thought I heard your voices. Just the ponies I wanted to see! I could really use your help!"

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"You know how Twilight wanted to have that important dinner with the Princess? Well, she wanted me to bring a friend, and I was like 'I don't know, Twilight, I like all your friends'. And BAM, she told me that I have to go out and make a new friend! I've been trying all morning to make a new friend with the help of the others, but so far it hasn't gone so well. Pinkie Pie introduced me to Mrs. Cake, but that didn't work out. Applejack introduced me to Big Mac, but that really didn't work out. Rainbow and Rarity tried to help, but…"

"I have an amazing idea!" Fluttershy excitedly spoke up. "How about I introduce you to a bunch of my own furry friends? You'll get along so nicely with them!"

"…that's sweet of you, Fluttershy." Starlight returned with a light amount of hesitation. "But, I think Twilight wants me to make a friend that can actually talk."

"I'll be your friend." We unexpectedly heard behind us. Trixie approached Starlight Glimmer and began looking her over. "In fact, I'm having quite a bit of trouble meeting new friends."

"R-really?" Starlight Glimmer nearly stuttered. It looked as if she was amazed at how easy it actually turned out for her. "Me too! I totally feel the same way."

"I was just about to head to the spa for a little R & R. Would you like to join me?" Trixie offered.

"Sure!" Starlight Glimmer almost immediately accepted. "I was actually thinking about going there myself! All the stress over 'making a new friend' was starting to kill me."

"I know what you mean." Trixie acknowledged before turning over to where Fluttershy and I had been standing. "See you soon, Alex!" She waved and returned, what looked like, a cocky wink.

"You two know each other?" Starlight asked with a sparked interest as they began growing further away from us.

"Oh, we go way back." Trixie exaggerated as their voices trailed off.

To be honest, I guess she was technically telling the truth.

After breakfast, Fluttershy and I separated momentarily, so I could see how Twilight was doing back at the castle. However, we made plans to meet with each other for the show Trixie was going to have up later on tonight. I wanted to tell Twilight about Trixie being back in town, but it was also a shame that she'd be too busy with the dinner to come and watch the show with us.

"Just how long have you been in here?" I asked, poking my head inside the castle dining room and finding Twilight looking over the silverware on the table.

"For a while now." Somepony else answered. It was Athena, and she had been sitting on one of the dining room chairs as if she had been spectating the performance Twilight had been giving. "I came in here some time ago because I wanted to know what she was doing, and I ended up just watching her rearrange silverware over and over. That's not the end of it. While she was doing all the arranging, she starting talking something about how plates are heads and spoons are hearts. I was really confused."

"Everything has to be perfect for tonight." Twilight continued to roam her eyes across the table. "I just can't wait to see what new friend Starlight brings over to the castle!"

"That reminds me." I pointed out, having been distracted by the talk of silverware for a bit. "Guess who's back in town?"

"'Back in town'?" Twilight turned to me with a puzzled face. "Um… Princess Luna?"

"Nope."

"Princess Celestia?"

"Try again."

"…Princess Cadence and Shining Armor?"

I found her apparent limited set of choices quite amusing. "Haha. No, Twilight. Think about it. Who's someone we haven't seen for some time now?"

She thought in silence for a moment. "…the Breezies?"

She wasn't going to get it at this rate. I decided to give her a big hint that would hopefully stir up the right answer. "Okay. Somepony that we haven't seen since you became an Alicorn."

She tapped her chin with her hoof but finally gave off a defeated sigh. "I don't know, Alex. Just tell me."

"Okay, fine." I momentarily frowned due to her disappointing inability to guess the right character. "She's great…"

"Great?"

"and powerful…"

Twilight's eyes widened at this point. "You don't mean…"

"Mm-hm." I confirmed with a hefty nod.

"Please don't tell me she's up to more trouble this time." She reacted unexpectedly pessimistically.

"No!" I shook my head with enthusiasm in Trixie's honor. "She's actually here for a magic show she's putting up later on tonight. I don't know what she has planned, but she's going to try to make up for what she did in the past through a magic performance."

"Uh-huh…" She answered somewhat skeptically and turned back to the table to continue moving certain objects around.

"What's wrong?" I asked, stepping forward. "You don't sound very convinced."

"Should I?" She questioned. "I don't know. I'm still a little…icky from the last time she came to town. After all, as far as I'm aware of, every time she's come by Ponyville, there's always some kind of mess we have to sort with her."

"But, didn't you two sort it out the last time?" I asked, remembering about Trixie's apology, even though it was a little brash at the same time.

"I guess we did." Twilight mentioned with uncertainty before she shook her head and focused on the task on hoof. "Anyways, I can't be worrying about her right now. I've got a dinner to set, so I'm going to trust your word that she's not up to anything mischievous this time around."

You trust me to trust Trixie but you don't actually trust Trixie? Hm. I wasn't expecting Twilight to still be so uncertain of her. If she had accepted my little get-together invitation the last time we saw each other, maybe this wouldn't be the case.

"Aw, come on, Twi." Athena surprisingly threw her bits into the conversation. "I haven't actually met Trixie for myself, but didn't you deal with much worse with Starlight Glimmer? You two are practically besties now."

"I did, but I'm pretty sure she didn't feel like all she needed to do was apologize and everything would be hunky-dory. After all, she is my pupil." Twilight sighed with a great wave of frustration and stopped her use of magic. "Look, I don't know what to say. I don't hate Trixie. Let's just say that she left a bad taste in my mouth and leave it at that. Until I see for myself that she's a completely new and better pony, then I'm still going to be a little cautious of her. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to sorting out this silverware properly." The aura around her horn returned as she began picking out certain objects. "Soup spoon, salad fork, pasta spoon, strawberry pick. Everything's in order!" Her former frown was replaced with a grin of accomplishment. "I'm beginning to think that after friendship, the greatest magic of all is proper silverware placement!" She cheered, sharing a heartfelt giggle afterwards.

"Twilight, guess what?" A voice exclaimed, swinging past the doors to the dining hall. "I made a new friend!"

I watched Starlight excitedly approach Twilight with a bright beaming smile on her face.

So, Trixie ended up being a match for her after all?

"That's fantastic news!" Twilight shared in the same manner as if any trace of our conversation about Trixie disappeared from her mind.

"She's great!" Starlight announced, repeating a little something I had done just a moment ago.

"Great!" Twilight acknowledged, not noticing the similarity.

"She's powerful!" Starlight added.

"Powerful…?" The light in Twilight's eyes now dimmed, and the enthusiasm in her voice quickly died down.

"She's—"

Before Starlight could finish, the star of the current topic in hoof walked in through the dining hall doors and greeted the princess in front of her. "Hello... princess!" She gave off a sort of cocky kind of expression, and to be honest, it didn't look or feel like anything of the 'new pony' she claimed to be earlier.

"Trixie?!" Twilight exclaimed and practically became paralyzed with shock. However, it didn't take long for her to relax the wide-eyed expression on her face and lower both her head and eyelids in suspicion.

On the other side of Starlight, Trixie continued to stand proudly, and I supposed it didn't help to keep away bad memories when she was wearing that same magician cape and hat that we had seen her wearing in her past visits to Ponyville.

"You know each other?" Starlight asked with a puzzled look and observed their two reactions towards one another.

"You could say that." Twilight rolled her eyes backwards in a subtle manner of disgust.

"We've had our differences." Trixie approached Twilight, replicating her look at first. A vibe of rivalry seemed to resonate with them as they stood close to each other. "What matters is Twilight gave me a second chance, and I appreciate it." She faced Twilight with an apparent look of earnestness. However, by the unamused look on Twilight's face, I believed that she didn't buy it all. To move the conversation onward, she shared a highly feigned grin of approval, but I think any pony who knew Twilight could tell it was phony. Nevertheless, Trixie accepted this grin and moved towards the table to begin messing with the utensils there with her magic.

"So, um, what brings you to Ponyville?" Twilight asked, removing the hostility in her tone.

"The Grrrreat and Powerful Trrrrixie has come to perform a new stage show of grand illusion!" She announced with a confident and booming voice. "I am calling it 'The Humble and Penitent Trixie's Equestrian Apology Tour'!"

Starlight grew closer to Trixie to whisper something in her ear. With a small grin, Trixie whispered something back and winked. I could only assume that their short-lived private conversation had something to do with the name. Trixie's response was probably the same she had given to me.

"Starlight? A moment? Over here?" Twilight ignored and pulled Starlight over with her magic.

Since Twilight was having a little private time with Starlight, I decided to spark up some conversation with Trixie in order to not have her feel left out.

"I wasn't exactly expecting you to show up at the castle." I shared softly with her.

She turned away from the silverware she had been playing with and faced me with the same expression she had been giving Twilight. "What were you expecting, if I may ask? It's only natural for a friend to introduce a new friend to another friend."

Her response was a little hard to swallow, much like the title of her show, but I found that it had made sense either way. "Just to be clear, you don't…have anything bad in mind, right? All this isn't just some grand scheme to get back at Twilight or something? You are still the same pony I last saw leaving for the rock farm to better herself?"

"Trust me, Alex." Trixie wished. "I mean no harm to anypony. When we had last met, I was in a fragile state. I needed some time to get things together, so if I sound a little different now, it's because I'm back in my 'showpony' attitude. However, I have no intention of hurting other ponies like I did in the past. That isn't me anymore."

I glanced over at Twilight and Starlight, taking note of how obvious it was to figure out the subject of their conversation. Trixie turned to take a look at them as well and revealed an irritated scowl. It looked like she had figured it out too, but she quickly turned that scowl around when Starlight and Twilight noticed her across the space they had distanced themselves with. Trixie returned a small wave with a smug grin before the two returned to their private conversation. This led to Trixie turning back to me with a drawn out and frustrated sigh.

"You might want to let Twilight know that." I suggested softly. "Maybe tone down your…'showy' behavior a little?"

Trixie scoffed heavily in response. "Do you know how much it took out of me to apologize after what I had done with the amulet? What does she want from me? Does she expected me to bow down and kiss her hooves now that she is a princess?" She threw her head back and narrowed her eyes from annoyance. "I could care less about what she thinks of me."

"She just wants to know you're the real deal." I tried to say without placing any kind of blame on Trixie. "When we had last met, I saw the genuine Trixie in you, so unless you're being brainwashed or something, I know you have a good heart. Twilight didn't get to see that thought. You were in a 'fragile state' then, but do you think you could be a little more…humble-like now?"

Trixie didn't respond immediately in regards to my suggestion. Instead, she averted her eyes away as if she was struck with a concerning trail of thought. However, Starlight's voice had broken the moment of silence between us.

"Thanks, Twilight! You won't regret it!" She pulled away from their close-kept exchange of words and turned towards Trixie. "Let's go, Trixie!"

A smiled stretched out at Trixie's lips. "I'm afraid I have to be going. I trust that I'll be seeing you at the grand opening tonight?"

"Yeah, sure." I answered.

She suddenly placed a hoof on my shoulder and unnecessarily pulled me in a little too close. As our cheeks pressed against each other, she intentionally faced Twilight, who had been nearly glaring back. I felt extremely uncomfortable in this standoffish situation. I couldn't help but also feel as if I was some kind of toy Trixie was holding onto in order to make Twilight jealous. Nevertheless, after what I hoped was a few seconds, Trixie let go and proceeded to make her way towards the door where Starlight waited for her.

"Wow. I didn't realize you two were so close." Starlight commented, finding the sight positively enforcing.

"When somepony sees you for the brilliant kind of pony you really are, it's hard not to be close." Trixie mentioned rather loudly, turning back towards Twilight and sending a salute before she left the room entirely.

Once Trixie had left, my eyes were drawn over to Twilight. She continued glaring needlessly towards the empty doorway, and I was left standing in the middle of absolute silence with nothing to break the ice. My cheek began feeling sore, so I used my right hoof to rub it lightly.

"Hmph." Twilight, retaining her sour mood, turned back towards the dining table and stared at the silverware on top. She remained almost absolutely still and silent, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to stir up another conversation about her and Trixie when she looked like she didn't want to hear it at all.

Nevertheless, I found Athena poking her head out from underneath the table Twilight worked on in a silly way. "You okay, Twi?" She asked, her sparkling eyes adding to her innocent approach.

"You see the difference?" Twilight muttered out as if she had much more pent-up anger being held back by her tongue. "I'm scared for Starlight. I really am."

I took a moment to try to think of what I should say. "I know it looks bad, but I don't think you should worry, Twilight…" I honestly wished Trixie, just now, had been a lot nicer and…respectful, but for some reason, that wasn't the case. Maybe there was something going on that we didn't know about.

"I'm surprised you feel the way you do, Alex." Twilight mentioned unexpectedly. "Considering the relationship between you and Discord, I thought you'd feel the same way I do with Trixie."

"Discord's a whole different story." I brought up. "Just when I had started to get used to him being around Fluttershy, he goes and messes it all up by siding with Tirek. The only reason why I'm on good terms with him even now is because of Fluttershy. Sure, he's not my best friend, but I guess he's not all bad at the same time. I know she's a little rough around the edges right now, but I honestly think Trixie's doing what she can. You've got to remember, Twilight. I don't ever think she's had a real friend up until now. Knowing that, I guess that's why I'm not as concerned about her as you are. If things between her and Starlight work out, you might see something different then."

"That's another thing." Twilight pointed out, leaving me unsure if she took what I said into consideration. "Why is Trixie a whole lot friendlier to you? Are you two actually close to each other? Since when did that happen?"

I noticed Twilight was getting more visibly upset than she had already been. I couldn't explain exactly why Trixie had been 'friendlier' with me in confidence, but I wanted to dispel any kind of negative thoughts Twilight may have been making up in the middle of her distress.

"After the coronation, I came across her in Ponyville. We had a short talk and she told me how she wanted to be a better pony. I could tell she was sincere, and since she's not doing anything wrong by being here, I don't see any need to be worried about her. That's all."

"Hm." Twilight merely responded with and turned away. "Guess you two are best friends now." She muttered.

"Huh?" I inquired before she seemed to unintentionally change the subject.

"Hey… Speaking of your friends… Those three? Vinyl, Ditsy, and Octavia. You know if they're free right now?" She asked.

"Free?" Bringing up those three all of a sudden was completely unexpected. "Uh, I don't know. You could check in with them?"

"I think I might just do that." Twilight finally turned away from the dining table and began heading towards the doors. "Be right back!"

"What was that all about…?" I said out loud with my curiosity reaching its peak.

"She's really reminding me of myself, you know?" Athena nearly made me jump when she dragged herself over to where I was standing at. She still had been on her back from approaching Twilight from underneath the table.

"What? Why?" I questioned.

"Well, she's concerned about Starlight and now you. Reminds me when I was worried about the two of us, considering how close you were to Twilight." She explained.

"Huh? You really think Twilight's worried about Trixie becoming my new best friend and royal partner?" I asked with a skeptical look on my face.

"I wouldn't put it like that." Athena rolled over and stood herself up. "Her feelings are just sort of swirly and confused right now. Our emotions can make us spiral out of control at times when our feelings don't have breathing room, you know?"

"But, I really think she has nothing to worry about." I replied. "I could try to convince her, but I think the only way she'll really believe it is if Trixie shows her the new side of her like she did with me. Problem is, Trixie is still pretty prideful, especially when it comes to Twilight. At the very least, back then, she and Twilight were some hardcore rivals. I can honestly understand if Trixie doesn't want to show her soft side to her old rival. I guess all we can really do is just wait and see what Trixie does on her part with Starlight."

Afterwards, I thought about seeing Fluttershy earlier than we had planned, but I didn't want to leave Athena alone in the castle. I knew how Athena strived to give me a level of privacy to the best of her abilities, especially when it came to being with Fluttershy. I could only assume that the talk with Trixie, Starlight, Twilight, and me made me feel more inclined to spend a little time with my twin sister. At least until Twilight would come back.

However, it turns out it took quite a long while for her to return to the castle.

"Go ahead and make yourself comfortable in the dining room. Princess Celestia should be arriving very soon!" We heard her voice in the hall outside.

"Did she bring back Starlight with her?" Athena asked me even though I had not a single clue.

A short moment later, we got our answer when three mares walked into the room and looked around. I recognized those three as Derpy, Vinyl, and Octavia, and I found myself becoming immediately puzzled as to why they were here all of a sudden.

"Whoa! What are you doing here?" I nearly jumped out at them and asked.

"Well, hello to you too." Octavia responded, crossing her forelegs and looking slightly offended at my apparent rude greeting.

"I didn't mean it in a bad way." I tried to clear my last question up. "I just wasn't expecting you three to pop out of nowhere."

"Princess Twilight invited us to meet Princess Celestia." Vinyl happily answered, messing with her usual shades that rested on top of her head. "Hey, what do you think the Princess will like more? Shades off or shades on?"

"For heaven's sake, shades off, of course." Octavia returned in a somewhat scolding manner.

At that moment, I remembered the question Twilight had asked me before she left regarding these same three mares. "She invited you all of a sudden? That's random."

"I know. It's kind of weird, but free dinner, am I right?" Vinyl cheered while Octavia simply rolled her eyes at her side. "At first, she tried introducing me to somepony named Starlight Glimmer, but she was busy doing other stuff with another pony. Next thing I know, she's asking for Tavi and Derpy. Now, we're here ready to have dinner with Princess Celestia. Today's been pretty wack."

That doesn't really sound good…

"This dinner is going to be amazing." Twilight trotted in, carrying a large ice sculpture with her magic. She delicately placed it on top the center of the table. "I've already got all the fruits. Still need some baked goods, but they should be ready soon. As long as Starlight doesn't forget about this dinner, everything should be a-okay!"

"Hey, Twilight." I stopped her just as she was about to leave the room to possibly retrieve more things. "Why exactly did you invite them here all of a sudden?" I asked, glancing towards the trio.

"I just thought that they might be a few ponies Starlight would like to meet." Twilight answered cheerfully. "You're really good friends with them, right? Besides, the more the merrier!"

Something about her invitation felt off, but it wasn't like she was stopping Starlight from hanging out with Trixie, right? Having a few more friends wasn't necessarily a bad idea for Starlight, and Derpy, Vinyl, and Octavia were really good friends to have. Twilight was the Princess of Friendship, so I'm guessing she knew what she was doing.

"Alright then." I said and watched her pass me as she headed out the door. "You need any help bringing stuff in here?"

"Don't worry! I've got it all under control!" She mentioned before turning in the hallway.

The three mares began taking their seats at one side of the table, and I felt Athena poke me on my shoulder.

"Hey. I've been meaning to ask you something. Can I go and see the magic show with you? It sounds totally awesome!"

"Huh?" I responded, nearly forgetting about the magic show for a second there. "Oh, yeah. Of course, you can. You didn't need to ask."

"It's just that you're going with Fluttershy, aren't you?" She mentioned, chuckling a little nervously. "I didn't want to be like a third wheel or anything."

I laughed at the semi-adorable expression on her face. "We're just going to be watching a magic show. Besides, we were going to invite the others to come along with us anyway, not to mention that Fluttershy likes having you around."

"Really?" Athena's eyes widened. "She actually likes having me around?"

"Do you think she hates you or something?" I joked. "Seeing as you're my twin sister, she also finds you as her own sister-in-law in a way." I brought a bent hoof towards my chin and thought for a moment. "I think I remember her saying something about only having a brother. One that she doesn't seem particularly proud of either. If you ask me, I think she's always wondered how it'd be to have a sister."

"Wow, how many sisters are you going bring onto me?" She asked with a small blush. "First Twilight and now Fluttershy? Who will it be next?" She paused to share a soft yet jubilant giggle before she continued speaking. "Anyways, in that case, I guess I better start spending a little more girl time with Fluttershy, huh? I could find out a whole lot about what she secretly wants from you. Like, when she wants you to propose to her and—"

"Alright, that's enough." I ceased any more lip-flapping from her. Just as I was about to lead her out of the room, I came across Twilight carrying a various amount of fruits in their designated bowls towards the table. "We're heading out to see Trixie's show." I informed. "We'll be back later."

"Have fun." She returned briefly with a semi-flat tone. "Don't forget to keep an eye out for anything suspicious."

"Huh?" I responded with confusion.

"Nothing. Enjoy her show!" She said before continuing towards the dining table.

The sun was starting to set by the time we left the castle, and with that, I could only assume that Princess Celestia was beginning to make her way here for her appointment. Our first stop was at Fluttershy's, and when she joined our group, we then decided on the order we'd take to invite the other girls.

It was kind of a surprise when they were all open to coming along since I hadn't been expecting everyone to be free at the time. Nevertheless, it was just like Twilight said: "The more the merrier".

"So this is the Humble and Penitent Trixie's Equestrian Apology Tour?" Pinkie asked, taking a look around as we arrived. Nighttime had fallen, and the image of Twilight, Starlight, Princess Celestia, and the other unexpected three chatting away at the dinner table came to mind.

"Ain't that a mouthful of molasses." Applejack commented.

"It's a working title!" Trixie's head suddenly poked out from beyond the curtains as if she had some sort of super hearing. Nevertheless, after saying what she had to say, she quickly retreated backstage.

"So, this isn't going to be like the other two times she's been here, right?" Rainbow Dash inquired about, flapping her wings and keeping her hooves off the ground. "Because I can't help but get a strange case of deja vu."

"I don't think the old Trixie would have the word 'apology' in the title of a show." I answered. "Either way, I'm pretty sure she's not looking for trouble anymore."

"As long as she doesn't turn my mane into the most unpleasant shade of green, I'm willing to give her magic show a chance." Rarity stated.

"Or make my mouth disappear!" Pinkie Pie loudly reminded. "Could you imagine what kind of world we'd live in if I couldn't talk at all?! It'd be a disaster! A total disaster!"

"I just want to see what kind of tricks she has for everypony to see." Athena said, "I mean, it's really weird. Have you guys ever thought about this? Is there really a point to magic tricks when we have real magic? Like, is there a point in pulling a rabbit out of a hat when you can teleport one in easily with real magic?"

"Shhh!" Pinkie immediately pressed her nose against Athena's nose and shushed her quiet. "They don't want you to know that!"

"I get your point, but I think what they're trying to do is give the illusion of doing those kinds of tricks without having to actually use magic." I addressed to Athena, "It's kind of like seeing an Earth Pony being able to fly, and we're only left to wonder how in Equestria a pony without magic or wings would be able to do that."

"That and it's mostly just a bunch of showy stuff." Applejack added.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Athena accepted with a bright smile. "It's just like the movies. You know they're not real, but you just watch them anyway."

"Ohh!" Pinkie cooed, "Now, I want some popcorn!" Using the tip of her mane to snatch a bag of popcorn from literally out of nowhere, she began offering some to everypony else. "Anypony want some?"

"No, thank you…" Rarity pulled back her head and turned it to the side, her face squishing together in disgust. "I have no idea where that may have been."

"Suit yourself!" Pinkie Pie retracted her offer and began to happily chomp away at her snack.

We spent several more minutes waiting for the show to begin. I didn't remember if there was a set time, so all we could do was continue waiting with the crowd that gathered around us. I began thinking once more at what may have been occurring back at the castle. I remembered that Octavia, Vinyl, and Derpy were there having dinner right now, and if they hadn't been there, they might have enjoyed watching the show with us right now. In the end, it was just a shame that Twilight's dinner and Trixie's show were taking place at the same time.

"Hey, I think it's starting!" Athena poked me and pointed out the huge curtains that separated from each other.

Trixie revealed herself in her usual stage costume under a gigantic spotlight, but there was something noticeably off about her right away. During all the other times I've seen her hold some kind of show, she was always so bold and confident. However, for some reason, she was really unenthused in her current performance.

"Come one, come all." She announced in a bland and Maud-like voice. "Come and see the Pathetic and Friendless Trixie's 'Way-To-Go-Dum-Dum-You-Really-Messed-It-Up-This-Time Repentance Tour'."

I had already heard her "working title" multiple times now, so it was clear that it was a completely different title from her previous one. Considering the way she worded it, I couldn't help but find myself joining the crowd as they muttered amongst themselves in confusion.

"IT'S A WORKING TITLE!" She screeched out with frustration before returning to her clearly unmotivated voice. "Behold, your fears come true. A pony-eating manticore."

The curtains behind her lifted up and unveiled the said manticore, who was held with a hopefully strong metal collar and chain. This manticore roared out frightfully and loudly, shaking our bodies like Vinyl's loud and booming speakers usually would.

"What a cutie." I turned to my left to find Fluttershy responsible for this unexpected comment. Looking back at the story she gave me about taming a wild manticore with the upmost ease, there was no way I should be surprised at her for saying something like that in the first place.

"For tonight, the Great and Powerful Trixie will be performing the Moonshot Manticore Mouth Dive." Trixie continued, earning a unified and loud gasp from her audience. "Now, now, save your gasps for when I defy the beast's jaws of doom and appear inside that black box." She walked a few steps to her left and pointed at the rectangular prop. This is where the tone of her voice suddenly shifted into what sounded like disappointment and regret. "I was supposed to perform this trick with my great and powerful assistant, who was also my great and powerful friend!" She sighed loudly and jumped off the stage towards the crowd. "Please make room for the Pathetic and Friendless Trixie to begin her performance by carelessly loading herself inside the cannon."

Everypony in the crowd separated into two sides and allowed Trixie a straight line to walk through. I only watched her pass and slowly make her way into the cannon she had set up at the back of us. I should have been in bewilderment at how she was going to be able to pull this trick off, but I was repeating what she had said in my mind.

She had to have been talking about Starlight, but wasn't Starlight too busy at that dinner with Twilight and Celestia? Is that why she's so upset and emotional? Because Starlight couldn't be here to help her with her trick? There's no way Trixie would admit something like that in front of everyone…

Trixie removed her magician's hat and replaced it with another that coupled with her cannon. After adjusting it on her head for a short moment, the cannon began to be lifted upwards in alignment with the predetermined shot. She took a serious gander at her target before turning her head towards the fuse and lighting it up with her magic.

Everypony stared in complete silence as everything progressed. The manticore roared out loudly once more, breaking this silence before every one of us noticed the length of the fuse grow shorter and shorter.

"Starlight?" Trixie suddenly called out, lifting her eyes towards the skies. "If you're out there and you still want to be friends, let's be great and powerful together!" She inserted herself further into the cannon, echoing out one last emotional word. "Please?"

"Trixie…?" I mumbled to myself, realizing that there was something I had been missing. It wasn't just disappointment due to Starlight not being present in the show. It was remorse and guilt. But just what could have Trixie done before this very show to make Starlight so upset?

A loud boom ensued, and Trixie was fired out from the cannon. She was clearly heading towards the manticore's open mouth, but she unexpectedly shrieked loudly and covered her eyes. Almost as if she had no confidence in the successful outcome of the trick.

My jaw dropped open as I began to fear that this magic show may very well lead to an ultimate tragedy. I almost couldn't watch when I saw Trixie enter its mouth, and my heart pounded as I remained uncertain if Trixie really did know what she was doing or not. After witnessing the manticore swallow and burp out noisily, I could feel my body growing stiff in anticipation.

I wanted to see Trixie appear in that black box already, but it only felt like long minutes passed with no sign of reappearing life whatsoever. The crowd had gasped sharply when they noticed this, and everyone else looked and muttered amongst each other when nothing else was happening, including me.

All of a sudden, there was a loud zap from the box onstage. Each side of the box fell apart and revealed a wobbling and staggering Trixie inside. "Behold, the Peat and Growerful Triskie...!" She announced woozily before falling onto her stage floor.

I honestly didn't know if that extremely long "pause for dramatic effect" was intentional or not, but, by Celestia, it worked. I wasn't expecting to be utterly amazed coming to this show, but dear Celestia that was something crazy.

Everypony cheered deafeningly at this sight and stomped their hooves in applause. I also noticed Starlight walk up behind Trixie and help her up. The two of them looked at each other for some time before Starlight sent a wink her way. At that moment, I couldn't help but start feeling that maybe everything was actually apart of some grand scheme to hype up the crowd…?

"And now, I'm proud to introduce my great and powerful assistant!" She waved a hoof towards Starlight before closing in and muttering something only the two of them could hear. "Starlight Glimmer!" She amplified her voice out loud.

The two of them bowed as the audience continued to endlessly scream out in liveliness. Even the manticore joined in this bowing, encouraging me to believe that everything that happened was all a part of the plan to wow us. I honestly didn't even know what to think anymore…

The main curtain fell, covering the appearance of the manticore, and all was quiet for a moment.

"Wait." Athena froze in her mid-applause pose with puzzled and dilated pupils. "That was it?"

"I don't know." Rarity responded. "Was it?" She turned towards us for an answer.

I merely shrugged. "I don't even know."

"Well, even if it was just one trick, I gotta say, it's one of the most awesome things I've ever seen!" Rainbow Dash yelled out at the top of her lungs. "But, I'm still more awesome though." She made sure to include in her regular voice.

"Encore! Encore! Encore!" Pinkie Pie repeatedly chanted, bouncing up and down on her spot.

Athena witnessed Pinkie's behavior and decided to follow closely in her hoofsteps.

Ultimately, this led to the entire crowd wishing for more, despite no one having an idea if that was really the end of the show or not. Nevertheless, after some time, Trixie and Starlight were seen escaping through the main curtains with what appeared to be smug grins.

"It looks like everypony here is calling for more spectacular performances by the Great and Powerful Duo, aren't they?" Trixie announced loudly with her eyes fixated on Starlight.

"Then, I say let's give them what they want." Starlight's smirk stretched before the two shot up a couple of fireworks with their magic and proceeded to provide the "encore" that everypony cheered for.

After the end of the show, everypony parted besides Athena and me, so we decided to meet up with Trixie and Starlight to congratulate them backstage. However, we weren't expecting Twilight to be there as well.

"Amazing job, you two!" We heard Twilight applaud them for their performance. "That was better than anything I could have ever pulled off."

"If it wasn't for your remarkable guidance, I never would have met my very best friend and partner in magic, Princess Twilight." Trixie responded humbly, which deeply surprised me. In conjunction with tonight's performance, today was just full of surprises. It was almost uncanny.

"Whoa. What's going on here?" I asked, catching them by another surprise.

"Princess Twilight and I worked out our differences." Trixie lifted her head up in pride. "And I now have an amazing friend to boot."

"Just how much did I miss?!" I nearly exclaimed out in confusion.

"Nothing worth repeating." Twilight turned her hoof side-to-side with a small smile. "I was wrong about Trixie being a bad influence on Starlight, and I almost lost the trust of my pupil because of it. But, you know what? I'm glad I was totally and completely wrong. In fact, I think the two are perfect friends for each other!"

As the three exchanged beaming grins towards one another, I tapped my hoof against my chin and remembered the question I had been meaning to ask for a while now. "So, what happened with the dinner? Did it get canceled or something?"

Twilight's expression seemed to freeze for several seconds until her eyes shot wide open. "Oh no! The dinner!"

We tried to keep up with Twilight as she and the other two raced back to the castle, but Twilight remained strongly firm in the lead, most likely due to whatever burst of adrenaline she had received back at the stage. In the castle, every one of us had to stop and catch our breaths as Twilight kicked open the doors to the dining room.

"How do you get your hair to do that all the time?" We heard from inside.

Twilight inhaled a large gasp of air and shouted out a storm of apologies. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to keep you waiting for so long! It's just that I went out to look for Starlight and I ended up finding myself in this huge mess of—"

On the opposite side of Derpy, Vinyl, and Octavia, sat Celestia giggling enjoyably to herself.

"H-huh?" Twilight reacted with confusion.

"It's about time you showed up." Tia seemed to jest. "Your ice sculpture has nearly melted completely."

"I know, I'm sorry…" Twilight apologized once more, approaching her former mentor at the table.

Celestia lifted up a hoof and smiled. "I've had an enjoyable time speaking with these three. However, I must say that I'm quite famished. Could we possibly get to starting dinner soon?" She asked with a rather sheepish grin.

"Y-yes, of course!" Twilight nodded immediately in agreement before she turned her head around to spot Starlight and Trixie with us. "After all, the other two ponies I've been meaning to bring forth are here now!" She waved them forward and began to introduce Starlight's new friend. "This is—"

"It's okay, Twilight." Starlight politely interrupted Twilight. "I've got this." She confirmed with a wink and stepped towards Celestia, bringing along Trixie. "Princess Celestia, I'd like you to meet my new and best friend, Trixie."

Trixie appeared to be struck by awe from the sight of Celestia, and she nearly stumbled in an attempt to remove the magician's hat on her head and bow graciously. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Princess Celestia."

Princess Celestia's eyelids lowered as a grin formed gently on her lips. She closed her eyes and nodded before she returned the gesture towards Trixie. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well."

"I have to really thank Twilight, Princess." Starlight added appreciatively. "If it wasn't for her, I don't think I would have been able to ever make an amazing friend like Trixie. Twilight is like the best teacher in the world." She giggled happily.

To the side, Twilight grew embarrassed and attempted to hide her face from everypony.

"I see all this waiting was worth it after all." Princess Celestia chuckled, most likely poking fun at Twilight once again.

"Yo, um…" Vinyl acknowledged tiredly on the other side of the table. Her body hung almost exhaustedly over the table with her forelegs stretched out in some kind of plea. "I don't wanna interrupt anything, but are we gonna start eating soon? I'm really hungry…"

"Of course!" Twilight repeated and immediately began trotting out the room. "Starlight? Trixie? Mind helping me with a few things in the kitchen?"

"Right behind you!" Starlight followed Twilight closely.

Trixie was just about to join them until I stopped her out in the hallway.

"So, since Starlight's your best friend and all, does that mean you're going to be staying here in Ponyville from now on?" I asked.

"I'll have to leave temporarily time to time if I find any opportunities to showcase the Great and Powerful Trixie, including Starlight if she's able to, outside of town, but, to answer your question, yes. That is correct."

"In that case, I'm glad to see things seem to be working out for you now." I honestly shared, especially after considering how hard things were for her before her redemption.

Before I could say anymore, she surprised me with a hug.

"Thanks for not believing I was still some power-crazed monster. And thanks for being my first friend even after everything I did."

"Hey, no problem." I patted her back gently. "It took a lot of courage for you to admit your mistakes and work hard to turn over a new leaf. I'm proud of you for that."

Trixie pulled back with a short chuckle and pulled out her self-assured on-stage grin. "Now, if you excuse me, The Great and Friendly Trixie's presence is required in the kitchen!" She pulled out a hoof-full of familiar dust and threw it towards the ground. In a burst of smoke, she disappeared, but once the dust settled, I could see her running, just about making it towards the kitchen.

"This feels really good." I heard Athena say by my side. "So many old enemies are becoming good friends. It's really amazing to see that ponies, who were once utterly and totally evil, actually had good hearts in them all along."

"I don't think ponies or any kind of other creatures in Equestria can just be born evil." I shared my thoughts. "In the end, their morals are just unfortunately misguided by the experiences they go through and who they surround themselves with. It's just too bad that there're other ponies who aren't as lucky as those two and too far gone to see the light of love and friendship."

"Well, who knows." Athena appeared in front of me and grinned widely. "If someone like Discord can be moved to the side of good, I think any pony else can if you really work hard enough." I tried thinking deeply about her statement, but it wasn't too long before she began pulling me in towards the dining room. "Come on! I'm sure we could really use something to eat."

"Yeah, sure." I responded and shifted my eyes to a bright red apple on top of a bunch of other fruits inside a bowl once we were in the room.

Saddle Row

"I didn't think we'd be coming to Manehattan so soon." I thought out loud, garnering a response from Rarity.

"Well, it'd be rather silly not to, considering that I haven't even opened up shop here yet." She shifted forward in her seat by the train window. "Despite the business with the boutique, I can hardly get enough of the sights in this gorgeous city. Not to mention, I get to experience them once more with all of you!" She directed towards the other girls gathered around.

Rarity was making a return to the big city to finally open up her line of work in Manehattan, and I had to admit that she never failed to impress me. She reminded me of the big jump in progress she made regarding her boutique in Canterlot; It took her a considerable amount of time to open that shop, but it felt like only a day afterwards to open one in Manehattan. It was only a matter of time before her brand would have a place in every town and city. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if the princesses back in Canterlot had their own personal shop inside the castle.

Over the past few days, especially with Rainbow Dash's progression to becoming a full-fledged Wonderbolt, my worries and concerns began to come to mind, just like in the middle of my previous visit to Manehattan. At that time, I had to swallow up those uncertainties like a cold hard pill and push it deep behind me. It worked for a moment, but it definitely wasn't a solution; it was only a quick fix, if you will. I felt these same feelings rise back up as if they had been a floatation device in deep water, and all I could do was ignore them and try to busy myself with the other ponies.

I remained silent for the most part when we arrived at the station and walked outside the building into the busy streets of the city. Thankfully, since it had been such a large group, nopony really noticed that there had been some trouble brewing in me. It was yet another big day for Rarity, and I definitely did not want to ruin it by gathering an unnecessary amount of attention.

Nevertheless, I imagined that Athena would notice immediately, but it seemed that she didn't when she walked and talked with Fluttershy along the way. I still had no idea on how her connection specifically worked with me, and every time she's tried to explain it somewhat to me, my jaw nearly hung out and drooled in confusion. Like with anything illogical in our land with Equestria, I just rolled with it.

A faint sound of techno blurbs and rhythmic static jabbed at my ears from behind. I stopped in my tracks and turned around to notice a friendly face stand out from the crowd. Well, I didn't see everything that was essentially important to recognize a face, but it was good enough.

She had been descending down the steps from the station as she endlessly bobbed her head to the sound of the music within her headphones. I made a few steps forward and prepared to greet her from down below. I knew she most likely wouldn't hear me, so I needed to get in her field of vision.

When her hooves finally touched the sidewalk, she coincidentally turned in my direction and walked a few more steps before she stopped and appeared to notice me. However, I wasn't entirely sure about this, seeing as her shades hid the location of her pupils. The music in her headphones came to a halt, and she grabbed each can with a hoof and hung them around her neck. She brought the shades in front of her eyes and hung them over her head.

With her clear and bright open eyes, she prepared to greet me with a warm smile.

"Yo, what's up? Didn't know you were here."

"I'm curious about the same thing." I acknowledged, returning a friendly grin. "I don't think I've ever seen you step hoof into Manehattan, much less talk about ever being here. But, I guess it's not a surprise when I really think about it. Sometimes I forget you're a pretty big DJ."

"Haha." Vinyl chuckled. "That's right. I'm actually here for work."

I began walking with her, seeing as we seemed to have been heading in the same direction.

"Oh, really? Where is it that you're heading?" I asked.

"You know that one block? Um, Saddle Row or something? There's like a bunch of dress shops there. It's really weird, like, I don't even know why there's a dance club there, but it's where I'm going."

"Oh really?" I responded, my eyebrows lifting up in surprise. "That's where I'm heading too. I'm here with the other girls. Although, I don't remember there being a dance club around there…" I had only been there one time when Rarity confirmed the location for her boutique, and it was only for a short moment, so I wasn't staking any bets on my word.

"Yeeah." Vinyl seemed to understand. "In a way, it's kind of an exclusive club, mostly because the place isn't right on your face. You kind of gotta know about it beforehoof. It's not even its own building actually. It's on the top floor of this vacant place on Saddle Row."

"Huh. So, how exactly do ponies get into this club?" I inquired about out of curiosity.

She suddenly stopped and held up a straight hoof in front of me. "First rule of Club Pony Party Palace: You do not talk about Club Pony Party Palace. Second rule of Club Pony Party Palace: You do not talk about Club Pony Party Palace."

I immediately tilted my head in confusion. "…but you just talked about Club Pony Party Palace."

Vinyl laughed and resumed walking towards our destination. "I was just messing with you. I just thought that sounded really cool. Anyways, to answer your question, it's mostly by word of mouth or referrals. It's not exactly open, to begin with. There's this huge security guy that keeps random ponies out. But, hey, if you ever want to come check the place out, I can totally get you in. Hang on." She pulled out what appeared to be a small hoofband and hovered it towards me. "This can get you past the buff dude, but if you start coming regularly, he should recognize you and let you in."

"Oh, thanks." I accepted her offer. "I can't say that I'm a big clubber, but I might stop by to see you."

"Sounds cool, brah."

Once we arrived at Saddle Row, Vinyl pointed out the door used to access the club she had been talking about. It was a door right next to Rarity's new boutique, which actually surprised me a bit. Before, I hadn't been sure if Rarity had the entire building for her use, but her shop ended up only being the first floor of this building. The "exclusive" club took place at the top of this building, and considering how fashion overtook this block, I could see how this club was hard to find, just like Vinyl said.

"Oh! So, Rarity rented out this place, huh? That's cool." Vinyl returned after learning the news. "Last I saw, the place needed a good cleaning."

"That's why we're all here." I replied. "Anything to help Rarity jumpstart a major step towards her dreams."

"Well, I wish you all the best of luck." Vinyl winked before stepping towards the door to the upper level of the building. "I'd totally love to stay and chat, but I gotta go and get my mixes ready. Let me know if you need anything."

"Sure thing." I waved at her and watched her enter the building before I turned and made my way to the dusty interior of Rarity's new shop.

Just as I was about to open the door front door, I was surprised to find it being open from the other side. Expecting the pony responsible to be one of the girls already inside, I virtually jumped out of my skin when I found a gigantic dust bunny walk out slowly.

"Oh. Oh, my." This unidentifiable creature slipped out softly after noticing me outside.

"F-Fluttershy?" I responded, finding my head inflate with a thousand questions. "What happened to you?! You've got dust and dirt all over you!"

"Um, well…" She averted her eyes as if she had felt a great deal of shame for looking so dirty in a literal sense. "Pinkie ended up sneezing at this huge pile of dust, and she covered it all over me." She sighed sadly afterwards, poking at her hair. The dust didn't look like it'd come off easily.

"Oh, shoot." My eyebrows furrowed and a frown formed on my face as a result of witnessing her gloomy state. "Let's get you cleaned up. Is there a bathroom in there?"

She sadly shook her head.

I unhurriedly looked around and thought for a moment. Remembering that I watched Vinyl leave just a moment ago, I figured that there'd be a bathroom near, if not inside, the club. "Come on." I grabbed ahold of her semi-sticky hoof and began leading her towards the door to the upper floor.

"Oh no." Fluttershy slightly pulled, stopping me momentarily. "You shouldn't touch me. I don't want you to get dirty too."

"What kind of a pony would I be if I worried about myself while you're in a time of need?" I answered her. "A little dirt isn't going to hurt me." I chuckled warmly.

"Mm. I suppose you're right." She lowered her head as if she was slightly embarrassed by the response. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't witness her cute blushing under the large amount of dust on her face. It was just another reason for me to clean her up as soon as possible.

We managed to find one of those family bathrooms inside the building. I felt a little bad for whoever the custodian was because I practically pulled out at least half of the paper towels that were stocked up inside the towel dispenser. It took us quite a deal of time as I had to brush off as much dirt as I could with dry paper towels and then thoroughly clean her with moist ones.

The last thing I carefully cleaned was her face, and I caught myself staring a little too long at her adoring eyes. However, she didn't seem to mind my gazing at all. Instead, I believed she welcomed it. If I remembered correctly, it had been quite a long while since we had a moment like this together. A moment I could only describe as recognizing how fortunate we were to be with each other. It didn't help that I noticed her cheeks redden up, as butterflies fluttered all over inside my stomach at the sight of this. As a matter of fact, I was just about to close in for a delicate kiss until I realized the kind of area we were in.

I paused the connecting moment momentarily to clean up and wash my hooves. Afterwards, I escorted her out of the bathroom and back towards the front of Rarity's boutique. Nevertheless, before I made our way past the door to the outside, I stopped and turned to kiss her fervently, not wanting to have disappointed her with the short little moment we had earlier.

"Ah…" She voiced shortly before cutting off when I pulled away.

"Hm?" I questioned.

"Mm." She shook her head. "I just want you to know that I love you."

Figuring she greatly appreciated the time I willingly took to help clean her up, I enthusiastically nodded back. "Yeah, I love you too."

I just hope somehow, someday, we can spend a lot more time like this together soon.

Fluttershy and I reunited with the other ponies to find them dusting and sweeping the interior of the building. I spotted thick cobwebs in nearly every part of the structure, and literal mounds of dust were piled on various spots all around. I could see how Fluttershy was able to get so dirty in the first place, and I almost wanted to keep her outside so there wouldn't be a chance for her to fall victim to the dust again. Vinyl wasn't kidding about this place needing a good cleaning.

"Hey, there you are." Twilight spotted Fluttershy and me by the door.

"Hey." I continued looking all around and found one pony missing. "Where's Rarity?"

"Aah!" We suddenly heard a scream from somewhere not clearly discerning at first. "Fluttershy! Where's Fluttershy?! I need her in the stockroom, posthaste!"

"Oh, my." Fluttershy worriedly turned towards a particular purple curtain on the back of the left wall of the shop. She quickly galloped towards this area, having me follow closely behind to see what the buzz was all about. She placed a hoof on those same curtains and pulled them to the side, revealing another room that had been practically hidden by the curtains themselves. "Aw, hello." She said with the sweetest voice.

Poking my head inside, I found that her attention had been drawn to a trio of racoons jumping around inside. On the corner on top of a barrel, Rarity hugged the brick and murky wall as if the floor had been lava. "But what are they doing here?" She nearly whispered to Fluttershy.

One of the racoons chittered and chattered intelligible noises that only Fluttershy could make out. She listened closely until she had enough information to explain things to Rarity. "Smoky made too much noise eating garbage, so Softpad's mother made them move out of the trashcan."

Ouch, really? I wouldn't have expected a mother to kick out her own children for making "too much noise". It's actually quite sad to know.

"No, no, no!" Rarity jumped over and as far away as she could keep from the racoons. Afterwards, she immediately made her way out back into the shop interior. "I can't have a family of rubbish-scented raccoons living in my boutique!"

"But, I don't know if they have any other place else to stay." Fluttershy worriedly spoke on their behalf.

"I'm sure Smoky can amend things with their mother and promise not to make too much noise eating garbage in exchange for moving back into their old trashcan." Rarity swiftly suggested before the chandelier inside the shop creak and wobbled. Dust from the ceiling fell as booming dance music slightly shook the walls of the building. The music was muffled for the most part, but it was still easily heard. "Uh, did you hear that?"

"That must be Vinyl." I addressed. "She's DJing for the place upstairs called, um, 'Club Pony Party Palace'."

"There's a Club Pony Party Palace upstairs!?" Pinkie Pie excitedly skidded her hooves in front of me from a sudden speedy dash.

"Whatever the case is, I can't be having music this loud interrupting business with the boutique." She began trotting over the front door and held it open. "I'm going to ask her to lower the volume. I'm certain she doesn't need her music to be that loud." Afterwards, she walked out and let the door shut behind her.

Despite the intensity of the music, the others continued to work together in cleaning the place bit by bit. At one point, Applejack worked with Twilight and held down the dustpan for her to sweep the dirt into. However, just as Rarity had mentioned, the sudden BOOM of the music slightly shook the place and caused Applejack to fumble with the dustpan before she accidently allowed the collected dirt to fall over and land back on the floor.

"I wish we were having as much fun as they are." Rainbow commented, despite having no knowledge of what had been actually going on upstairs.

"Well, sweeping can be fun, too." Twilight held her broom with her magic and began to literally sweep with the music upstairs. "Sweep, sweep, sweep, sweep." She matched the beat as if she had been recording some kind of original mix. Twirling the broom for a short second, she began sweeping in a different direction. "Sweep, sweep, sweep, sweep, sweep..."

Applejack and Rainbow glanced towards each other, and soon, they found their heads bobbing to the unending beat. It wasn't long before they followed in Twilight's hoofsteps and began sweeping from one side to the other. Everypony else in the vicinity joined began joining along, but it wasn't long before it ceased all together when Rarity returned.

"No luck?" I asked, noticing her dismayed frown.

"Security wouldn't even let me see her." She explained.

Ohhh. That must be what Vinyl meant about the 'buff dude'.

Before I could respond, there was a loud ear-splitting honk nearby. To be honest, it proved to be so much louder than the muffled music could ever be, and I could feel my heart leap at the sound of it.

"Aah! What in the name of Celestia was that?!" Rarity acknowledged.

The sound ensued, and we were forced to direct our attention towards the door. There, a young filly stood constantly pushing the door towards the end of an airhorn. She spotted Rarity looking at her and returned some kind of weird gesture.

"Who is that?" I immediately asked Rarity.

"She's the landlord's daughter." Rarity answered with a tone of distress. "Let's just say I was 'pushed' to giving her 'ideas' a try."

"That airhorn for a doorbell?" I observed. "You can't have that. It doesn't even let the door close all the way."

"I know, but I can't say anything that'll upset her!" Rarity looked like she could scream out in agony. She took in a deep breath and relaxed to the best of her ability before she resumed speaking. "We'll deal with it later. Right now, I'd really like to do something about the music."

Remembering the band Vinyl gave me, I decided I could see about doing something about the music. "Let me try and talk to her." I offered.

"But security won't let you in." Rarity reminded.

"Don't worry." I placed a hoof on her shoulder and shared a confident smile. "I think I'll be able to get in."

"If you say so. In that case, I'd truly appreciate it. Thank you ever so much."

I nodded and began to walk out of the boutique shop under construction. "I'll be back!" I called out, passing a pony who seemed to be delivering large boxes into the shop.

Inside the club, I was almost immediately able to have a good view of the dance floor. I was a bit surprised when I only noticed three ponies having the time of their lives. Having heard the constant booming from downstairs, one would imagine the dance floor being filled to the brim. Was this club that exclusive?

Either way, Vinyl did just get here, and these three ponies were probably crazy party goers and big fans of her. At the same time, it was pretty early in the day, and I didn't think the peak time for clubs wasn't until the night. I pulled out the band Vinyl had given me in preparation and approached the security guard, ready to be stopped.

He didn't seem to do anything besides just standing there. In fact, I was almost tempted to go on ahead, seeing as he looked more like a statue rather than a living being. Nevertheless, I pulled out the band and showed it to him. He didn't move his head an inch, but I had to imagine his eyes shifted behind his dark sunglasses to take a look at my band.

For a second, based on his expressionless reaction, I almost figured he wouldn't permit me entry either way. However, stiffly leaning towards the rope behind him, he pulled it open and waited for me to walk in. Without a word. I couldn't help but cautiously walk in, leading him to replace the rope to its original position afterward.

The dance floor was now literally in front of me, and as I got a closer look at the ponies "raising the roof", I noticed one of them looked oddly identical to Pinkie Pie. In fact, I nearly believed that she might have snuck out from downstairs and came up here for a little fun herself. However, it was easy to confirm that it wasn't actually her after taking a quick look at her cutie mark.

After being reminded enough of being interjected into Vinyl's dream sequence that one weird night, I stayed off the neon flashy dance floor and walked around until I eventually came across Vinyl at her wub station. As always, she was too busy pumping her hoof to the beat and working a little creative input into the mix to notice me.

I figured she wouldn't hear me if I tried to call her, so I approached her at her side and tapped her shoulder. She turned her head and spotted me, quickly moving her shades over her horn. "Hey! Wasn't expecting you to show up so soon!" She raised her voice due to the blasting thumping music.

"Me either." I acknowledged, matching the volume of her voice. "But, I was wondering if you could do me a favor."

"What's up?"

"Remember how Rarity is downstairs getting things ready for her new shop? Well, she wanted to know if you could, um, lower down the music a bit?" I returned a sheepish grin, understanding that lowering the volume of her music is kind of like asking Rarity to not put up so many dresses on display at one time.

"Sure! I could do that…" She turned towards the dials on her turntable and looked a little uneasy all of a sudden. She placed her hoof on what I guessed was the dial for the volume. After a few seconds, she turned back to me. "Is that okay?"

I listened for a moment longer, just to make sure that there was a difference in the sound of the music, but I legitimately couldn't tell. It sounded just as loud as it did before. I didn't want to be "that" pony, but I needed to bring it up to her. "Think you could make it…not as thumpy?"

It seemed as if Vinyl gulped greatly in response. Then, she sighed and focused on the hoof that remained on the dial. "I can do this." A short moment later, I started noticing a slight difference in music, and eventually, the volume lowered to a noticeable level. The music no longer poked at my chest, but it was still clearly audible.

The three ponies that had been dancing this entire time turned their heads, immediately noticing this change. Afterwards, they approached the turntable and the one I almost thought was Pinkie Pie began to speak to Vinyl.

"Yo, DJ. What's haps? I can actually hear my voice."

"Sorry." Vinyl apologized with an embarrassed grin. "Gotta keep it down a bit for a friend of mine. Music's still good though, right?"

"It'd be better if it was a whole lot louder." Another one from their group wearing a cap replied. "I really want to feel the dance floor move! It'll be back to the way it was later on tonight, right? That's when we really get to raising the roof up this place."

Vinyl glanced over at me for a second before she answered. "Y-yeah! Course!"

"Love your sick beats, DJ-PON3!" The last one winked before they returned to the middle of the dance floor.

"You won't need the music down later on tonight, will you?" She turned to me worriedly.

I actually had to pause for a moment to think about that. I wasn't entirely sure if Rarity only wanted the music lowered so she could concentrate on bringing the shop up to par. If she was expecting the music to stay like this throughout the entire time she's running the shop, it would certainly pose a problem for Vinyl and her job. I strongly hoped that it was only for this one occasion because I was afraid I would have to side with Vinyl, should Rarity expect anymore.

"Yeah, you're good." I responded, but then I began feeling guilty for having Vinyl make these changes. "Hey, I'm sorry about asking you to do that Vinyl. I know having loud music is pretty important in cases like this."

She shook her head. "It's not a big deal. Like the girls said, tonight is when the party really gets started. I'm sure they won't mind music that's not as loud as they're usually used to. After all, you're my pal, Alex. Anything for you."

With a soft smile, I nodded. "Thanks, Vinyl. I owe you. I'll let Rarity know that the music will be back up for tonight."

"Cool. See you around then?"

"Mm-hm."

Sending her a small wave of appreciate, I began making my way back out of the party scene. I knew she told me not to worry about it, but I still ironically felt a little hollowed out inside as if I caused a decent amount of pain to somepony else.

As I pushed my hoof inwards at the shop front door, I was ready to give Rarity the update on the music situation until I noticed another unexpected friendly face sneezing violently.

"Coco, you shouldn't be here! You should be in bed resting!" Athena approached her without any hesitation.

"I'm sorry." Coco apologized, sniffing greatly. "I just wanted Rarity to know about my unexpected illness."

"Do not fret, my dear. I understand." Rarity acknowledged.

"Athena's right." I quickly trotted towards her and took a look at her myself. Her mane was frazzled and her nose was severely agitated. I was worried that she might have even had a fever, yet she still came in to give Rarity a sick notice. "You should get home as soon as possible, Coco."

"Alex, let's help her get home and feel better!" Athena immediately suggested.

I turned to Rarity, who didn't appear to have an objection to the idea. "You three go on ahead. We'll manage somehow. I just feel awful for Coco having to come down here and tell me this face-to-face."

"You sure you won't need us for anything?" I questioned with concern.

Rarity shook her head. "I have enough help as it is. Thank you for bringing the music down. It'll be one less thing to stress over about."

Seeing as Athena and I had to help take Coco home, giving Rarity the news about the music was going to have to wait. I wanted to, at the very least, get Coco to bed and give her anything she might need, such as medication. Even if I wasn't her caring friend, I still owed her immensely after what she did for Pinkie and Maud.

Athena and I began guiding Coco down the street, hoping that she wouldn't collapse from exhaustion or something.

"You two don't really have to do this. I'll be fine." Coco said, her voice sounding congested.

"No way, Coco." Athena rejected with gusto. "The least we can do is get you nice and tucked into bed. You should sleep and stay in bed for the rest of the day."

"You're not behind in any work, are you?" I asked, worried that resting might get her deeply behind schedule.

"I can afford to spend a few days taking it easy." She sniffed strongly as if she fighting to open up a clear path within her nostrils. "Of course, I'm not happy about not being there for Rarity when she needs me, but since that's the case, I should be fine workwise."

"Well then, let's get you to bed so you can start getting better as soon as possible!" Athena encouraged positively.

Once Coco was firmly hunkered down, Athena and I gathered some things to help alleviate her symptoms. We brought over some NeighQuil, extra tissues, and any other kind of medication she may have found useful.

"You want me to get you a glass of water?" Athena asked, almost as if she was able to tell that Coco was thirsty just by looking at her.

Coco lightly smacked her lips. "I would like that. Thank you."

"One glass of water coming right up!" Athena scurried on over to the kitchen.

I panned my eyes across the room as Coco rested her head delicately on her pillow. "I wish your room was a bit bigger. For some reason, I feel like the lack of space you have here might make you feel even worse.

"I'm fine, really." Coco responded with a soft smile. "If anything, I'm just embarrassed that you had to come and see me like this. And…" She turned her eyes over to the small bin of trash she had. Instead of crumpled up papers from sketchbooks, there were only crumpled balls of used tissues. "My room's quite a mess."

I only chuckled and turned my attention to the bottle of NeighQuill we had brought for her. "Here, you better take some of this. It should get you drowsy enough to sleep."

Coco returned a small look of fear, almost as if she had been afraid of a mere bottle. "Ugh. I really don't like the taste."

"Sorry." I apologized as I poured some into the plastic cup it came with. "Medicine does tend to taste pretty bad."

"I don't think you have a spell that can make me feel immediately better, do you?" She asked.

She sounded like she was half-joking and half-serious, but it could have been either or as well.

"Unfortunately, no." I admitted, running along with her question. "I don't even know if there is a spell like that. If there was, it'd probably put a lot of doctors out of business."

Coco began giggling to this, but it was soon cut short by a few intervening coughs. In return, I brought over the plastic cup to her lips with my magic and waited for her to open her mouth. She looked like a little filly for a moment when she noticed the cup in front of her. I could tell that she didn't want to take the medicine, but she and I knew it would make her day a lot easier. After releasing a light sigh, she closed her eyes and slightly opened her mouth.

I began tilting the cup past her lips, hoping she wouldn't spit it out back at me. Fortunately, that didn't end up being the case. As soon as the medicine was inside her mouth, she seemed to have trouble swallowing. In fact, it looked more like she didn't want to swallow. I was on the brink of advising her to do so before she finally gulped it down. Afterwards, she lightly stuck out her tongue as if she had just finished tasting something utterly sour.

"Doing alright there?" I jokily asked.

"I'll feel a lot better with some water." Coco replied, reminding me of the task Athena had been tending to.

"Where's Athena with that glass of water?" I wondered, peering towards the doorway. "It's not like she can get lost in here, can she?" I began heading past the door in order to check up on Athena until she unexpectedly showed up all of a sudden.

"Sorry!" She apologized loudly. "I was trying to figure out what cup was better for you."

"Any is fine." Coco responded as cheerfully as she could, appearing to hold back another giggle from being let out.

Athena placed the glass on her nightstand, which Coco took shortly after. Holding the glass with both of her delicate forehooves, she drank a few gulps before she set it back down. "Thank you, both. I really appreciate this."

"You're our friend." Athena happily responded. "We're not just going to not do anything while you're home alone completely sick!"

"You deserve a lot of rest." I reinforced her need for sleep. "Just remember that if you ever need anything, send us a letter."

She nodded and placed her head gently on top of her pillow. "Thank you again. You two are amazing friends. It makes me wonder how things would have been if we grew up together."

Huh? Makes her wonder how things would have been if we grew up together? Did Athena tell her that story too?

"I know, right?" Athena appeared to fully agree. "We better get back to Rarity. Try not to worry about anything, alright, Coco? Sleep tight!"

After she returned a little wave back, we started making our way outside of her apartment room and building.

"Hey, Athena." I brought up on our walk outside. "Did you tell Coco about, you know, the life before?"

She appeared to let my question sink in for a bit before she answered. "I did. I wasn't sure if I wanted to tell her, but I felt like she should probably know. In fact, to be honest, I actually…um…sort of told her a few things way before I told you."

"Wait, what?" My curiosity almost stopped me in my tracks. "What things? When?"

"Back at the Grand Galloping Gala." She reminded, "When you invited Coco and Starlight. I hung out with Coco, and I told her, well, she and I used to be best friends. She didn't understand at first because she hadn't obviously known about me before, but I managed to convince her when I gave her answers than no other pony would know about her. Now that I think about it, I feel like it was a really stupid thing to do at the time, but I just felt so lonely, Alex. I felt lonely in the sense that no one really knew who I was, and I sort of just felt like a stranger to everyone, including you. For a while, I was able to feel like somepony talking to her at the Gala. Even though she still didn't truly remember me, she was still so sweet. She promised she wouldn't tell anypony else, including you, about what I told her. After all, I wanted to be the pony to do that, and even though it didn't come out the way I had wanted it to, I'm just glad everything's still okay."

"I see…" I paused in thought for a moment, receiving a worried glance from Athena. In response to this, I smiled warmly. "I get it. You think a friend is more important than your own brother. I see how it is."

"What? No! It's not like that at all!" She reacted seriously to my joke.

I chuckled at her reaction. "I know. I know. I'm sorry you felt like that, Athena, but I guess what's most important now is the present, right? You and Coco seem to be really good friends now. Even though you don't visit much, it seems like you two are pretty close."

"We are!" She reiterated with a jubilant smile. "In fact, she's entrusted a few things to me herself. Secrets that she wouldn't dare tell anypony else."

"Oh, really?" I raised my eyebrows, deeply intrigued.

"Yep!" She stated proudly. "But, don't think you're going to get anything out of me. I've been explicatively instructed not to say a word to anyone, especially you."

"I…don't know what to think about that." I responded with uncertainty.

"Don't worry about it." Athena shared a reassuring smile. "Nothing bad about you or anything. Just consider me a diary." She concluded with a wink.

Back on Saddle Row, we found Rarity working inside of the display window to her soon-to-be boutique. A pile of clothes sat on the floor beside her as she tried out many different types of hats on the mannequin she was working with. As Athena and I walked towards the front door, she spotted us and waved with an ecstatic grin.

We waved back, noticing how she was in a jolly mood unlike before when we left to take Coco home. Judging from the look on her face, I could only assume that all of the problems that had been bothering her were now taken care of. If that was the case, I believed that the interior of the shop probably looked much nicer than we had left it.

Wanting to take a look for myself, I placed my hoof on the door handle and began pushing it open. However, before I was even able set my eyes past the door, I began hearing a loud ruckus from the ajar door. I pressed my weight forward, fully opening the door to find a large number of ponies scattered about inside the shop.

I began to distinguish a distinct rhythm coming from the floor above us. Vinyl's music had been playing loudly again, and it surprised me since I hadn't expected to hear the chandelier-shaking music until later on tonight. Nevertheless, my attention had been hooked on the sight of Fluttershy being chased by the same racoons from the room hidden behind the curtain.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Fluttershy apologized frantically before she jumped onto a counter.

In addition, Rainbow stood in front of three ponies that were covered in fabric for some reason. Applejack was being aggressively confronted by the landlord Rarity had told me about, including his daughter. Twilight was in a bath of various clothes. And, Pinkie was in the middle of this entire ruckus silently dancing to the music from upstairs.

"Uhh…what's going on?" I nearly had to exclaim.

"We're just helping Rarity get a few things done while she works in the display window outside." Pinkie responded casually while moving her hooves to the beat.

"No offense, but it looks like a mess in here." I brought up since Pinkie, at the very least, didn't seem to notice it. "Does Rarity know what's going on?"

"I did organize all these clothes." Twilight responded, seeming to believe that I had been talking about the pile of clothes she was underneath. "But, I didn't know what Rarity wanted, so I decided to do it all over again!"

"Just what exactly are you girls trying to do?" I tried to get some sort of clarification and possibly some insight on what exactly happened in the shop while I was gone.

Before I could get a response, Twilight suddenly shot a look past me, gasping sharply. She immediately jumped over me, ran towards the front of the shop, and slammed herself against a part of the wall that appeared to have a knob on it.

"Ooh!" We heard a muffled cry on the other side of the wall.

"Quick! A chair!" Twilight exclaimed out in a hush, placing the weight of her body against the wall.

Without hesitation, Pinkie obliged and pulled up a chair that had been turned over on the floor. Dragging this chair over to the wall, Twilight angled it and placed it just right under the doorknob, preventing the door from being opened at all.

"Hello? The door appears to be stuck!" Rarity informed from the inside of the display window.

"Yep. We're workin' on it!" Twilight lied.

"Can somepony please explain what's going on?!" Athena nearly shouted out in frustration.

"We were only trying to help Rarity out!" Rainbow Dash responded in an almost frenzied state. "I tried hiring the best pony for her shop, but I just can't decide! Doing it Rarity's way isn't working at all!"

"I thought Rarity wanted the racoons gone, so I told them they needed to leave! Now, they're really upset with me!" Fluttershy added.

"Rarity couldn't just say no to Plaid Stripes, so I told her no for her!" Applejack continued.

"That's just it!" Twilight pointed out. "We've all been doing things Rarity's way, but we haven't bothered doing it our way first!" Throughout the annoying ruckus around us, Twilight managed to voice her words out clearly enough for everyone to understand. "I thought Rarity wanted me to do things the way she'd do them, but I didn't realize until right now that there was a reason she specifically chose us to do the things she asked us to. Rarity asked us to help her with everything because she knows all of us so well." Twilight approached Fluttershy. "She knows how much you care for animals. She'd trust you to solve the problem your way. Maybe we should all do the same. Doing this our way is what Rarity wants. It's not too late. Let's all dig in and we can fix this." Turning back around, she noticed the chaos unraveling at the back of the shop. "Before Rarity finds out how bad we messed up." She faced me next. "Alex, do you think you can handle the music?"

That was one thing I wasn't entirely sure of. I had already asked Vinyl to turn it down, and I could tell it hurt her to do so. I wouldn't feel comfortable asking her again, especially if it would put her job in jeopardy. I don't see how we can turn off the music without soundproofing the boutique walls or something.

"I don't know, Twilight." I stated worriedly. "The thing is: Vinyl has her own job to deal with, and that job so happens to need loud music for club members. I know this might sound silly, but if she doesn't have her music as loud as it is now, there are probably going to be a lot of unsatisfied customers."

"Heeey!" We heard beside us. "Maybe you don't have to turn down the music." Pinkie continued to happily dance as she spoke. "Maybe there's something we can do that can work for everypony?"

"Like what?" I turned to her, genuinely curious about what she had in mind.

"Let's head straight over there and I'll show you exactly what I'm talking about!" Pinkie grabbed my hoof, already dashing straight out the front door.

At the club scene, we saw many more ponies on the dance floor than I first had earlier. The sun hadn't even set yet, and there was a decent number of ponies swinging their hooves and flanks. At this rate, I could only predict that the club would be jam packed during the night.

Pinkie still needed me to get her in, so I went up the security guard and showed him my band in case he didn't recognize me. Pinkie seemed to find his silence something to be amazed about as he opened the rope and allowed us in. Once we were inside, it was a little hard to see Vinyl through the crowd. Just like last time, I led Pinkie around the dance floor and approached Vinyl from the side.

I tapped her shoulder and caught her attention. However, she didn't look so happy to see me this time. She lifted the shades from her face and revealed anxious and trembling eyes. "Look, I know I said I would keep the music down until the night, but more and more ponies kept coming early, and they really wanted the music to be loud. I tried to stall for as long as I could, but I was worried that if I didn't raise it up soon, ponies would get bored or tired and leave the club! Ponies here have looked up to me for their source of music for so long. I didn't want to disappoint them…" Her eyes flapped down as her head lowered in shame.

It seemed she was expecting me to be upset or angry with her, but that wasn't the case at all. I placed a gentle hoof on her shoulder and proceeded to respond to her.

"I'm sorry that I made you feel that way Vinyl. You have a job here to do yourself, and I actually appreciate the fact that you stuck out as long as you could. You didn't have to lower the volume at all, but you did. You practically went against the principles of your work for your friends, so you shouldn't feel ashamed at all."

"Really?" Vinyl lifted her head slightly to my answer. "But…what about Rarity and her shop?"

"That's why I'm here." Pinkie proudly announced. "I think I just may have the best idea ever. Something that could really work out for all of us." She raised her eyebrows a couple of times in a playful manner.

"What do you got, Pinkie?" Vinyl leaned in, willing to hear her idea.

"Four words! Club Pony Party Boutique!"

The idea Pinkie had proposed was to actually bring the dance floor inside Rarity's boutique. This, in turn, could allow Vinyl and Rarity to do both their jobs. At first, this seemed a bit counterproductive, seeing as Rarity didn't want the music to begin with, but after exchanging brief ideas with Vinyl, Vinyl believed that she could mix up a few beats dedicated exclusively to Rarity's shop. In other words, she could play music that wasn't the "obtrusive" kind.

Vinyl grabbed the short microphone near her turntable and tapped it a few times before feedback from the microphone was heard.

"Yo, listen up!" She stopped the music and announced loudly, catching everypony's attention. "We're gonna change things up a bit tonight! We've just been invited to the grand opening of the new boutique downstairs called 'Rarity For You', and I say we make it one heck of an opening! Y'all with me?!"

Whether it was the hype she generated or her audience genuinely didn't care where they partied, they all seemed to be on board when they loudly cheered and flailed their hooves about.

We helped Vinyl gather as much equipment as she could bring and moved it over to the shop downstairs. Even having the equipment, we still needed to set up the furniture inside the boutique once it was as clean as we could make it. Once the proper furniture was set up, Vinyl was allowed to get her equipment in the right place.

Twilight did the most work in regards to the shop's vanity. After she had aligned everything she was tasked with, it was easy to set up the mannequins and stands of clothes all around the shop with her magic. At some point in time, Fluttershy had come in with the same racoons smelling distinctly of soap and shampoo. They were also wearing small formal outfits, looking completely like trained and civilized critters. The landlord and his daughter had settled down, compared to before, so I believed Applejack had done her job. Rainbow Dash appeared to be giving directions to the same three fashion ponies, so I also figured she worked her issue out as well.

Evidently, everything was at its place and laid out in the shop by the time night fell. Vinyl stood behind her equipment, testing the sound out in her headphones as she bobbed her head repeatedly. I turned towards Pinkie Pie, still feeling a little unsure about Rarity's reaction to live music pounding inside her boutique.

"You sure Rarity won't mind the music?" I asked.

"It's something I would do." Pinkie mentioned, referring back to Twilight's speech. "I'm sure Rarity will love it! Not only will the shop attract ponies that are crazy about fashion but also ponies that are crazy about sick beats! Trust me, Alex, this opening is going to be a hit! Every newspaper and magazine in Manehattan, maybe even all of Equestria, will be talking about it!"

I found firm belief in Pinkie's enthusiasm. "You're the best when it comes to attracting ponies." I confirmed with a nod.

There was a sudden shake of a nob coming from the window display outside. Rarity was trying to come in after hours of work, but the chair was still in the way. Twilight looked at us and made a quick check around the shop to make sure everything was in order.

"Good? Good? Okay!" She established before dashing towards the chair and placing it aside. As soon as she began opening the door with her magic, Rarity ran out and fell to the floor.

"Wow, looks like we fixed that door just in time!" Twilight mentioned awkwardly before helping Rarity up.

I was afraid Rarity would ask what the issue with the door was exactly, but she instead paid more attention to her surroundings. I couldn't blame her, as the shop looked completely different from the last time she had been outside of the display window.

"Oh!" She gasped lightly. "What's all this?"

"What do you think?" Twilight asked as the other girls joined her side. "You like it?"

"Oh! I knew I could count on you!" Rarity expressed her glee, wrapping her hooves around Twilight before walking towards the front door. "All right... It's about time for the grand opening. I suppose this is the moment of truth..." She opened the door, but before she could look outside, she noticed a bell jingling on top. She glanced back at us with joy, most likely exhilarated that the horridly loud airhorn wasn't there anymore. "Rarity For You is now open!" She announced outside. A few moments later she stepped backwards, allowing whoever was outside to come in. A long line of ponies neatly poured in, many of them scattering about in the shop. "Oh, dear. I wasn't quite prepared for such a crowd. How will I handle them all?"

"My name's Blue Bobbin." One of the ponies Rainbow Dash had worked with introduced herself with an outgoing smile to a seemingly lost customer. "I'll be your personal shopping assistant this evening."

"Right this way, everypony, and one of our talented salesponies can help you out!" Rainbow called out, pointing towards the corner where the other two waited to be of assistance.

Pinkie dashed over to Vinyl on her stage and bounced repeatedly in excitement. "Okay, Vinyl! You're up!"

Returning a firm nod, Vinyl lifted her headphones and lowered her shades. Dramatically lifting her hooves in the air, she brought them down to her turntable and pulled a few switches before the music began playing loudly in the boutique. However, this time, there wasn't any intrusive or distracting intense pounding. It sounded more like the kind of music you'd hear at a fashion show, but it still retained to Vinyl's style of mixing.

Pillars of light fell from the ceiling, and the area in front of Vinyl filled with smoke. Once it had dissipated, several of the dancers from Vinyl's club began putting on a dance show. Pinkie swung over to Rarity and began dancing lightly, encouraging her to find this music appealing. Next up, Fluttershy's racoons walked around in a calm manner and offered ponies drinks that looked like they came straight from Canterlot.

"Ah, a blue corn reduction with shallot confit!" One of the ponies in the crowd pointed out in detail. "But how can I possibly enjoy it without a—"

"Spoon?" The landlord's daughter popped in between and danced around with spoons on her hooves. These spoons were arranged in a way as if they were claws, and I was surprised to see the customer try them out to taste the drink.

"Mmm! Exquisite!" He announced after a small sip. "This is the most whimsical and wonderfully fashionable boutique I've ever seen!"

It no doubt had to be one of the most unique and interesting openings in Saddle Row. And it was only possible with the addition of different perspectives from Rarity's best friends. To prove her customer's point, everypony else responded with positive feedback, and Rarity could only turn to her friends with tears nearly escaping her eyes.

"Thank you all so much…!" She began to express to us. "I don't know how I could have managed to produce such an amazing opening without you!"

Twilight shook her head from the crowd. "You're welcome, Rarity. But, you go on and enjoy your big day. After all, so many of your customers look like they really want to talk to you!" Twilight pointed past her at a group of ponies gathering together. Wiping a few lingering tears, she quietly nodded before turning her attention to the ponies anxious to see her.

"Everypony did amazing! Great job!" Twilight praised among us, gathering cheers from everyone.

A few moments later, Rarity surprised us when she brought a distinctively-looking stallion over to us. He looked like a middle-aged business pony, but the most eye-catching detail about him was the notepad and pencil as his cutie mark.

"Excuse me, everyone, this is Buried Lede, and he says he wants to write about us in an upcoming article!" Rarity introduced. "Isn't that exciting?!"

"With such a successful grand opening, I'd be dumb as a bag of rocks not to follow this scoop!" He mentioned in a kind of accent you'd expect an ecstatic reporter to have. "How's about this? I'll buy all of you lunch and each of you can tell me the story of how this grand opening all came together?"

"Oooh!" Pinkie cooed excitedly. "I like the sound of free lunch!"

"This grand opening did turn out pretty great." Twilight threw in her five bits. "I don't see why not."

"Then, it's settled?" Rarity held her hooves to her bitten lips excitedly.

"I'm in!" Rainbow Dash settled on. "Everypony can totally know how awesome I am!"

"And ponies can appreciate the hard work it takes to do something great." Applejack added.

"Maybe somepony will read about the adorable little racoons and offer to take them in?" Fluttershy hoped.

"Looks like everypony agrees then." I decided.

"Excellent!" Rarity clapped her hooves happily. "When would you like to schedule the interview?" Rarity turned and asked the reporter.

"How about noonish tomorrow? That sound good to you folks?" He proposed, later earning general nods and agreement from the others. "Great!" He pulled out a notepad, wrote a few things onto the piece of paper, and ripped it out to give it to Rarity. "I've written the details of the meeting on there, along with my business information if you need to contact me. Any questions?"

"Well, I suppose I actually—"

"Fantastic! See you tomorrow!" He trotted back towards the door, leaving us silent for a short moment.

Despite having been cut off before she could actually ask the question in mind, Rarity seemed to shrug it off and accept it as the culture of Manehattan. "Once again, I couldn't have done any of this without all of you. You truly are ponies I can completely count on. With that said, would you like to help make the rest of this grand opening the best of all?"

"Heck yeah!" Rainbow exclaimed in agreement.

"There's no way I'd turn away from a fun party!"

With different signs of general agreement being sent all around, it was decided that we'd stay to make sure that Rarity's grand opening in Manehattan was the best one yet.

Afterwards, all we'd need to look forward to was our interview regarding how things came together in the first place.

28 Pranks Later

Animals wanted to go on a picnic in the forest. I'll be back before it gets dark!

Fluttershy left me a note, most likely because I had mentioned about stopping by around the evening. It seemed pretty clear that she wasn't back. The cottage was quiet, other than the occasional sound coming from the critters around her house. Even so, it was possible that she could have forgotten about the note and was in the bath or something, so I decided to call her out, just to make sure.

"Fluttershy?"

No answer.

I turned towards the window and noticed it was getting pretty late. She should definitely be heading back by now. I began to worry a little about her being in the forest this late. However, seeing as she's been through the forest many times, I convinced myself to think nothing much of it. I believed she knew how to take care of herself, and she had her animals with her to help protect her if anything happened. Even if anything did happen, I'm sure one of her birds or critter friends would come get my attention. Surely, I wouldn't be able to clearly understand them, but if they wanted me to go somewhere, I definitely wouldn't hesitate to go.

I sighed as I rested on her couch. I was overthinking things.

I'm sure it's only a matter of minutes before she walks through that front door.

A creak sounded as soon as I had just imagined her arrival. I quickly lifted my head and turned in the direction of her front door. When I spotted a pony walking in, I quickly hopped off the couch and began approaching her.

"Hey, you're back." I greeted her with a hug, laughing a little in embarrassment afterwards. "I was kind of starting to get worried about you."

"I'm so sorry!" She apologized, but there was something obviously off about her voice. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting."

Naturally, the first question I brought up was the change in her voice. It sounded sort of nasally and scratchy. "Are you okay? Your voice sounds different."

"O-oh!" She responded with slight alarm. "I kind of lost my voice today. I hope I'm not getting sick or anything…"

"You sounded completely fine earlier today." I brought up. "Were you doing a lot of screaming?"

"I guess you could say that." She answered ambiguously, coughing lightly afterwards.

"Hey, don't worry about tonight." I told her, seeing as she could use some rest. "You should go to bed."

"Okay." She nodded her head. "Can I have one kiss before I go?"

I couldn't help but feel something particularly off about Fluttershy. I couldn't place my hoof on it, but there was just something unnatural about her behavior. The only explanation I could come up with was that she was exhausted from whatever she was doing today. Either way, I decided I should let her get to bed and not keep her up any longer.

"Mm-hm." I moved in and placed a delicate yet firm kiss on her lips. In a way, I was trying to convey a "Get better soon" message through our lip contact. After all, I always disliked seeing Fluttershy under some kind of distress.

As I pulled back, I was just about to offer to stay the night to watch over her, but I immediately became puzzled when I found her snickering in an extremely…not Fluttershy way. Just before I could ask if she was okay, she pointed a hoof at me and soon began laughing out loud.

"GOTCHA!" She hooted with a voice that especially did not fit Fluttershy but belonged to specifically somepony else.

"H-huh?" I was nearly frozen with shock, as I had no idea what had been going on.

To add to the current dismay of things, the front door to her cottage opened up, and Fluttershy's voice cried out with utter confusion. "W-what in Equestria is going on in here?!"

"Oh, nothin'!" The brash-sounding Fluttershy turned and faced the one at the door. To both our complete surprise another pony emerged from what appeared to have been a costume. The unexpected voice was now adjacent to the uninvited pony before us. It was Rainbow Dash. "Just smacking some lips!" She teased irritably by literally smacking her lips.

"W-what?!" Fluttershy glanced over at me and back at Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash!" She angrily scolded. "That is highly inappropriate!"

"Gotcha!" Rainbow threw her hoof and repeated. "Two in one, baby! Yeah! I'm awesome!" She began to laugh endlessly, holding her sides as she fell to the floor. "You should see the look on your faces! Alex is all 'Huh?!' and you're all 'Bad Rainbow Dash!' Hahaha!"

"This isn't funny!" Fluttershy assured seriously. "How could you trick somepony like that?!"

"Chill out, Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash pushed herself up off the ground. "It's just a prank."

"Oh, gee. A prank." Fluttershy returned in an angry and sarcastic manner. "Congratulations. I hope you're happy."

"Heck, yeah, I'm happy!" Rainbow Dash continued to only add fuel to the fire. "Never in a million years did I think I'd pull off something like that, but I did!" She now turned to me to properly take advantage of her bragging rights. "I told you I'd get you back! You had it coming, you know!"

The first question on my mind was how she was able to even pull off looking almost exactly like Fluttershy, to begin with. "Where'd you even get the costume?!" I asked, pointing towards the folded fabric on the floor.

"Pinkie Pie. Duh. At least she appreciates a good prank." She replied.

"Rainbow Dash. I think it's time for you to leave now." Fluttershy suggested sternly, holding her front door open.

"Ah, you'll look back one day and laugh at this." Rainbow believed as she began to take Fluttershy's advice and slowly fly towards the outside of the cottage. "You can thank me then." Just as she was about to pass the door way, her eyes shot open in realization. She quickly flew back in and picked up the costume she used to "prank" us. "Gotta give this back." She shared an uncaring grin and finally left the cottage.

Fluttershy nearly slammed the door close and flared her nostrils. However, she closed her eyes and appeared to meditate for a while before she breathed in and out slowly.

"You okay?" I carefully approached her and asked.

"I'm a little upset right now." She shared honestly.

I rubbed the back of my head in shame. "Sorry about…"

Fluttershy shook her head. "I'm upset about the fact that Rainbow thought she could just come in here and do something like that. It wasn't nice and it certainly wasn't funny."

"Yeah, I know…" I nodded in agreement. "I guess she did warn me, but I never expected her to do something like this."

Fluttershy sighed heavily and remained silent for a moment before responding. "Let's just forget about this for tonight, and I'll bring it up to Twilight tomorrow. We're going to have a serious talk about what just happened."

"Is it that serious?" I couldn't help but genuinely ask. What Rainbow did was pretty stupid, but I wasn't sure if it was something to make an intervention about.

"You know Rainbow." Fluttershy said, "What if it doesn't stop there? What if she starts pretending to be other ponies like Rarity or Applejack and make so much more trouble? She could get into a fight with somepony, and then that somepony could confront the real pony she'd pretending to be and start a whole problem that never should've been in the first place!"

I wasn't sure if I could fully be on board with Fluttershy's prediction, but I supposed it was better to be safe than sorry. If we could avoid an entire possible episode because of something stupid Rainbow Dash did, I guess it'd be best to spare a moment or two to do that.

"Alright. Either way, I'm at least glad you're okay." I brought up, confusing her for a second.

"Huh?" She inquired.

"Well, I was telling Rainbow Dash that I was worried about you since you were coming back from the forest pretty late. Plus, I almost thought you were feeling a little sick. At any point, like I said, I'm just glad you're okay."

"Oh…" She was surprised to hear this from me, considering what we had just gone through. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you worry. We lost track of time at the picnic."

Her response sounded similar to Rainbow Dash's, but I attempted to ignore any thought with Rainbow in it.

"Well, either way…" I approached and hugged her caringly. "Seeing you safe here in your cottage makes me able to easily forget what just happened." She seemed to melt in my hooves, and that was a good sign that she had calmed down immensely. However, I was pretty sure she would still stay true to her promise of creating an intervention because of this recent and unnecessary event.

On the next day, after bringing up the issue with Twilight first, every pony else was called upon. A few trickled in one by one, and the rest came in a group. It was no surprise to see Rainbow Dash with Pinkie Pie, as I imagined her retelling the entire story from last night. Pinkie giggled loudly as she hopped onto her throne by the table.

"Now that we're all here…" Applejack began, looking around to make sure everybody was at their places. Mind tellin' us what we all came for?"

Twilight turned to Fluttershy, who had her hooves crossed against her chest and her head lifted in such a way as if she was giving somepony the cold shoulder. "Fluttershy has a little something to bring up."

"Ahem." She cleared her throat and roamed her eyes among the ponies watching her. "Last night, somepony decided to inappropriately dress up as me, pretend to be me, and then went on to tricking Alex that they were me when they really weren't."

"Seriously?!" We heard an outburst from Rainbow Dash. "You called us over here because of that?! I mean, I know it was hilarious, but you didn't have to set up a whole meeting because of it!"

"I called this meeting because I don't want you to pull the same stunt you did last night and possibly hurt somepony else!" Fluttershy argued. "Who knows what kind of trouble you can get somepony in if you pretend to be them? Remember when you told us about Wind Rider? What if he got another pegasus to dress up as you and cause 'you' to do things you didn't actually do to get you kicked out of the Wonderbolts?"

"Are you that hung up over it, Fluttershy? I would never pretend to be somepony else only to ruin their lives." Rainbow Dash fell backwards against her throne, crossing her forelegs and appearing to be ignoring the big picture.

"I think what she's trying to say is that you could ruin somepony's life by accident if you end up doing something while you're pretending to be them." Twilight made a little clearer.

"Alright! Fine!" Rainbow threw her hooves up in surrender. "I won't 'pretend' to be anypony else for pranks anymore, okay? But, come on. You can't tell me that that prank wasn't hilarious! I mean, how could you not appreciate that? Did you, did any of you, ever think you'd see the day where Fluttershy would be smacking lips with Alex, only it wasn't Fluttershy but me! Haha! You should have seen the looks on their faces! It was priceless! I wish I had brought a camera!"

There was a long moment of silence from everybody in the room before Applejack broke it.

"What in the hay is wrong with you?"

"Aw, come on." Pinkie hopped on over to Rainbow Dash, coming to her defense. "It does sound pretty funny. I kind of wish I was there to see it too."

"See?" Rainbow presented Pinkie as solid evidence. "Everypony likes a good prank! They're just jokes!"

"Now, Rainbow Dash," Rarity spoke up, "I don't think Fluttershy would have called us all here to talk about this if she thought it was funny. Everypony has things they like and things they don't. Besides, that 'prank' sounds rather distasteful."

"And pretendin' to be Fluttershy so you can kiss Alex is just weird." Applejack crossed her forelegs, turning her head to the side in disapproval.

"Weird?!" Rainbow scoffed, deeply offended. "The whole point of that was the irony! It was a genius prank! Think about it! Heck, if Fluttershy hadn't come back to the cottage so early, I probably could have gotten him to clean my entire house! He'd do anything for Fluttershy!"

"Do you even know what you're saying?" I asked her with extremely narrowed eyes.

Before things could escalate any further, Twilight stomped a hoof on the round table and gathered everyone's attention. "Alright, forget the prank. The point is that a prank isn't very good if you're the only pony laughing."

"But what if it's really, really, really, really, really funny?" Pinkie asked.

"And I can do funny." Rainbow crossed her forelegs behind her head with confidence.

"I know you can." Twilight admitted as she returned to her seat. "I guess the trick is making sure that your idea of funny matches the pony you're pranking." Rainbow began stifling her laughter as she watched Twilight grow closer to her throne for some reason. "That way—"

As Twilight sat, an obscene and highly inappropriate prolonged noise sounded from her area, cutting her suggestion short. After several seconds of hearing nothing but the one uncomfortable sound, Twilight turned and shifted below, eventually pulling out a cheap whoopee cushion from her seat. Everyone else looked extremely unamused by this, but, on the other hoof, Rainbow's mouth looked like a dam that was breaking apart by a tsunami of laughter. As expected, Pinkie soon joined in. She moved in closer to have a better look at the "pranking" instrument before the two finally burst out laughing.

"Good one, Rainbow! Ha-ha!" Pinkie bumped hooves with Rainbow Dash. "You have to admit! That was funny!"

"Not really." Twilight tossed the whoopee cushion aside with a calm scowl on her face. Her positive mood had quickly deteriorated into a bad one.

"Wow. How long did it take for you to come up with that?" I asked sarcastically, resting my cheek against my hoof.

"Yeah. A whoopee cushion is like a joke shortcut." Applejack added.

"What?!" Rainbow and Pinkie screamed in shock.

"Honestly, Rainbow Dash, if you are not willing to put forth the effort required to pull a prank that everypony can enjoy, you may as well not pull one at all." Rarity advised, turning her head away in disapproval and perhaps even a little disgust.

"Oh!" Rainbow Dash suddenly bellowed out angrily, planting her hooves upon the table and bringing herself up from her seat. "Oh! Okay! I see how it is! You think my pranks are lame, huh?! Well, now you're gonna get it! That's right! Everypony and me! Right now! I'm bringing the big guns!"

With that, she flew out the window, leaving a sense of uneasiness with everyone else.

"I'm not sure she understood what we meant." Twilight mentioned, breaking the ice that lasted shortly between us.

"Oh, boy. You ponies really did it now." Pinkie shared a serious look.

"We didn't do anythin'." Applejack replied.

"So, what?" Rarity questioned. "Are we to expect that she has it out for us now and that she'll be pranking us very soon?"

"Yeah, probably." Pinkie shrugged, looking like she was anticipating eagerly for what was to come. "She already pranked Alex, Fluttershy, and Twilight, so I'm thinking it's going to be one of you next." She directed towards Rarity and Applejack. "Maybe even me! Oh boy, I can't wait!"

"Ugh." Rarity rolled her eyes and removed herself from her throne. "I don't have time to play silly games with Rainbow Dash. I'm in the middle of bringing Sweetie Belle's outfit for the upcoming Filly Guide Cookie Drive, and I will not be intimidated by some simple prank."

"I don't know…" Pinkie hinted at with the tone of her voice, "She can come up with some pretty clever pranks."

"Isn't that what you think of every prank she does?" I asked her.

"Yeah because they're all so funny!" She expressed lively with a short chuckle.

Twilight sighed heavily. "Whatever you ponies do, just keep an eye out, I guess. Rainbow Dash isn't exactly the type to bark but not bite."

"Oh, she's hunkerin' for a bite if she even tries to get near me." Applejack assured.

"Psst." I heard beside me and found Athena leaning her head towards my ear. "You think she'll want to prank me?"

I merely shrugged.

"Well, if at any point I start getting the heebie-jeebies, I know where to go. So, if you're with Fluttershy, and I interrupt something, you know why."

"It's okay." Fluttershy overheard. "If you feel scared, you can stay with us."

"Aw. That's nice, Fluttershy." Athena appreciated, "But, that's another thing. If she really is that serious about pranking, it sounds like she isn't going to rest until she pranks every one of her intended targets. And I don't like being hunted down."

Fluttershy sighed sadly and averted her eyes. "Maybe if I hadn't made such a big deal about what she did last night, this wouldn't have happened."

"Don't blame yourself." I placed a hoof on her shoulder. "I think it was something that needed to be addressed anyway. Worst case scenario: Let Rainbow prove how much of an 'awesome' pranker she is, suffer a little, and be done with it."

"I suppose it can't be as bad as a terrifying villain in Equestria." Fluttershy compared, managing to pull a soft smile from her lips.

I think everypony, including those of us that had already been pranked, were uncomfortably on our guards for the rest of the day. Since I hadn't been with Applejack, Rarity, or Pinkie, I couldn't know when or if they had been pranked. It was a little unnerving, and it kept me from efficiently doing any work I needed to do because I was afraid of stepping into any kind of booby trap. At times, I was just expecting for something to explode.

I stuck with Fluttershy for the night. Both of us figured that we'd stand a better chance together should we notice anything suspicious or dangerous. I had offered her to stay over at the castle, but she was worried about her animals over at the cottage. Knowing what Rainbow Dash could easily do, I was with Fluttershy on that one.

Despite not getting much sleep, as usual, we didn't seem to find ourselves the victim of any kind of prank the next morning. We had checked to make sure the animals were alright outside, and we didn't find any trace of Rainbow Dash having maliciously done something. Even so, that only begged the question. If nothing happened to us, then surely something must have had happened to Rarity, Applejack, or even Pinkie?

Figuring the best way to find out would be to see if they were gathered at the castle, Fluttershy and I decided to make our way over there after making sure the coast was clear. We had been expecting Rarity and Applejack to be there with a barrel full of complaints, but to our surprise, there had been many more ponies at the castle doors. Big Mac, Mr. Cake, and Cranky Doodle Donkey, not to mention Rarity and Applejack to be exact.

Before I could find out what happened, the castle doors opened, and Twilight came out with a sort of deadpan expression on her face.

"Let me guess." She announced, "Rainbow Dash pranked all of you guys too?"

There was a collective chatter of complaints until Twilight invited them in. Fluttershy and I followed in after them, where we began hearing them detail out their complaints as they gathered in the main room.

"Rainbow Dash replaced my sewing machine with a sewing machine cake!" Rarity voiced out angrily. "Now, I don't know where she placed my real sewing machine, and I can't find it! How am I supposed to work without my sewing machine?! That's like drawing without a pencil!"

"I worked nearly all evening yesterday to booby trap my room and keep Rainbow from prankin' me, but she did it anyway!" Applejack stated next. "I fell asleep in my room that night and woke up in the pig pen the next morning! Not to mention that she put a boulder into Big Mac's cart while he was workin'. Not only does that make more work for us, but it's just outright dangerous!"

"Mr. Cake. Cranky. What happened to you two?" Twilight turned and asked.

"She replaced my hair with a skunk! Matilda tried getting rid of the smell, but I can still smell it!" Cranky shouted out even more cranky than usual.

"She put a brick in my sandwich…" Mr. Cake mentioned rather softly.

Mr. Cake's prank seemed the least problematic of the group, but it was still completely insane. "She put a brick in your sandwich?!" I repeated. "You could have lost teeth because of a lame prank like that!"

"You're okay, right…?" Fluttershy asked a little worriedly.

"Oh, I'm fine." Mr. Cake flipped his hoof. "My jaw just hurts a little. That's all."

I could only hope he wasn't stretching the truth to keep us from worrying.

"Alex. Fluttershy. Did Rainbow get you as well?" Twilight asked us.

Fluttershy and I glanced towards each other before answering her.

"We haven't noticed anything different or wrong, so I don't think so." Fluttershy shared.

"Unless you count what happened the other night…" I brought up.

"Seems Pinkie was right." Twilight remembered from the other day. "It seems she's pranking those that she hasn't already pranked, including those that weren't even in the room with us yesterday. I just got a letter from Princess Celestia a while ago asking me why Spike was sending her so many blank letters, but Spike thought that the one letter he was trying to send wouldn't send. Turns out it was just another prank by Rainbow."

"If Rainbow's prankin' everypony that hasn't been pranked, then where in the hay is Pinkie?" Applejack asked.

"You don't think she's working with Rainbow Dash, do you?" Rarity turned towards Applejack.

"Pinkie apparently finds Rainbow Dash's pranks funny, so I don't think she'd be here complaining about it like everypony else." Twilight replied.

"That doesn't mean she isn't helping Rainbow Dash with these absurd pranks!" Cranky bellowed out. "I say we march on over to Sugarcube Corner and get things straight from the horse's mouth!"

"Well, I suppose I don't necessarily disagree." Twilight answered. "Whether she's helping Rainbow Dash or not, she's probably the only pony here that can put a stop to her charade of annoying pranks."

Like a quiet and calm yet angry mob, everypony in the castle made their way to Sugarcube Corner in order to confront Pinkie. If Pinkie really was innocent, then I felt bad for the incoming trouble that Rainbow Dash had indirectly brought her.

As everypony nearly tried to fit themselves through the front door at the same time, Pinkie appeared to be sprinkling the inside of a large box. Once she was finished, she placed the sprinkler on the table and closed the box. Grabbing a hold of the box with her mouth, she turned and was just about to cheerfully head past the front door until she noticed everypony in her way glaring at her.

"Pinkie!" Twilight surprised her, causing her to drop the box of sweets she had.

Finding that box invaluable, I couldn't help but keep whatever was inside from splattering all over the floor. Having a glimpse of the cupcakes that were inside, I used my magic to keep them from spilling out and placed the box back on the table that Pinkie had them on.

"Yes?" She answered giddily.

"Where's Rainbow?"

"I don't know." Pinkie happily shrugged her shoulders. "I've been in here making sweets all day."

"Are you honestly going to stand there and tell us you know nothing about all the pranking Rainbow Dash has been doing?" Rarity asked, almost as if she believed that Pinkie was feigning an innocent front.

"Oh, that? Oh, no! She's been pranking up a storm!" She seemed to find the case entertaining.

"Did she get you, too?" Fluttershy questioned.

Pinkie laughed out loud. "Oh, yeah! She and Gummy both!" She relaxed her face as she seemed to reminisce back to the prank 'they' played on her. "They got me good."

"Well, she needs to stop." Applejack ordered.

"Stop? But pranks are so much fun!" Pinkie objected.

"Not for everypony." Twilight assured. "And it doesn't seem like Dash is taking the time to find out who enjoys them and who doesn't."

"Yeah." I agreed. "Plus, we don't like being in the dark on whether Dash is going to get us or not. Some of us need stability in our lives, you know?"

Everypony else agreed in the matter of soft grumbling.

"Uh, since you and Dash share such an, uh, affinity for pranking," Rarity approached Pinkie and said, "we thought you might be able to get her to, um, uh... quit it!"

Pinkie took a glance at our faces and began to scratch the back of her head nervously. For once, she seemed to feel what all of us have been feeling about the plague of pranks that was uncertain to end. "Are you sure they're not funny?" She asked.

"No!" Everypony shouted in unison.

Pinkie sighed heavily and prepared to walk past us. "Alright, I'll go talk to her."

"Thank you." Rarity returned.

Once Pinkie seemed to reluctantly leave the premises, the rest of us looked at each other with the question of what we should do next.

"Should we wait for her to come back?" Fluttershy asked. "I really want to know what Rainbow Dash says. To be honest, I don't think Pinkie asking Rainbow to stop will actually get her to stop. You all know how Rainbow is."

"You're right." Twilight rubbed her chin in thought. "If Pinkie can just get to her stop then and there, that would be great. But if she refuses, then we'll just have to improvise. If she won't stop, then we'll need to make her stop. Give her a taste of her own medicine."

"What? You mean like prank her?" I inquired. "But she's been pranking for ages now. I would think she knows all the tricks in the book."

"Just because you're an expert prankster doesn't mean you're exempted from basic psychology." Twilight responded wittily, causing us to look at her with confusion. "It's like this. If everypony you know was to start behaving in a certain way, your mind is sort of trained to follow that unnatural pattern. Let me make things a little clearer and use an example." She walked on over to the box of cupcakes Pinkie was in the middle of delivering and opened them up. "You're concerned that Rainbow Dash would become suspicious for any possible prank that is planned against her, right? Well, if you ordered a box of strawberry cupcakes, and all the cupcakes were strawberry except for one that was actually blueberry, you'd immediately think something was wrong, right?"

"Yeah…?" I returned, not quite understanding what she was getting at yet.

"Now, look at it this way: If all the cupcakes were blueberry, and one was strawberry, it's likely that you'd begin questioning yourself about what kind of cupcakes you actually ordered. You'd probably start to think that you ordered blueberry cupcakes instead of strawberry, and that chance is even further increased if all the cupcakes were blueberry."

"Uh…but isn't that why you have the receipt?" I brought up.

"Forget the receipt!" Twilight shook her head. "I'm just using these cupcakes as an example. What I'm trying to say is that if one pony was trying to convince you that something was a certain way you didn't remember it being, you'd be unlikely to believe , if everypony was trying to convince you, you're more likely to believe their story. Get what I'm saying?"

"Okay, the way you're explaining all this is kind of confusing, but I think what you're trying to say that we should get everypony in on the prank? That way, it'd be harder for Rainbow Dash to figure out it's really just a prank?"

"Well, leaving out the psychology explanation and aspect of it, yeah, I guess you could say that." Twilight concluded.

"But, what's a convincing prank we can pull with everypony in Ponyville?" Rarity asked.

As every pony placed some thought into answering that question, Pinkie Pie returned a short moment later with a rainbow-colored mouth and a box of cookies she continued to consume. Rarity immediately noticed this and pointed it out.

"Aren't those the cookies from the Filly Guide? How in Equestria did you get a hold of them? They aren't supposed to be sold until tomorrow."

"Oh, these?" Pinkie continued chewing as she looked at the box on her hoof. "They're joke cookies Rainbow Dash is going to switch the Filly Guide cookies with. She thinks pranking everypony at once is the most hilarious thing ever, soo…it turns out I couldn't get her to stop." She frowned sadly, which was followed by another cookie being plopped into her mouth.

"You're telling me she's getting into my barn?!" Applejack yelled out. "That's where I'm keepin' the cookies until tomorrow!" Applejack now hopped out of her seat and began to storm out the front door. "Oh, I'm going to tell that dumb filly to think twice about switching those cookies or she'll be getting a mouthful of—"

"Wait!" Twilight suddenly stopped, causing Applejack to freeze at the door. "This isn't so bad actually!"

"What are you gettin' on about, Twilight?" Applejack turned, the aggravated frustration in her tensed face still burning strong.

"I'm saying that we can use this against her!" Twilight suggested. "She doesn't know that we know about her prank. We can totally make it backfire on her!"

"And how would we do that?" Rarity questioned.

"Oh, I might have a few ideas…" Twilight rubbed her chin and looked back in thought mischievously.

"Okay, everyone." Fluttershy gathered up all of her critters and began detailing the plan Twilight had come up with to spread amongst other family and friends. "We're going to play a little game tonight. Tonight, we're going to pretend to be cookie-eating zombies." She giggled jubilantly, almost as if she was excited about this counter-prank. "Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to buy a few boxes of cookies from our friends, and we're going to eat them. But, there's a catch. Your mouths will be colored rainbow, but don't freak out! It's all a part of the plan, and I need you all to help me scare Rainbow Dash, sound fun?"

Normally, Fluttershy never found the idea of scaring any pony fun, but I suppose the little "prank" Rainbow had pulled the other night was the last straw the broke the pony's back. At any point, I agreed with a lot of us here. Who knew how long this would keep going? None of us could stay awake all night in fear of being pranked with for the rest of our lives.

Her animal friends chirped, roared, hopped, anything to show that they accepted and agreed with her plan. In fact, I think they were willing to do anything in exchange for the care they had been given from Fluttershy for all the years she's been with them. Fluttershy now turned to me with a bright smile and playfully bumped my nose with her hoof.

"And you remember what you're supposed to do, right?"

I nodded. "Be one of the few ponies who isn't a cookie-crazed zombie. When Rainbow swings by here to check up on you, you and the animals will freak her out and I'll help her escape. Yeah, I think I got it."

Fluttershy returned a grin. "Oh, normally I'd be absolutely mortified over the idea of zombies, but pretending to be zombies sounds like a really fun game. Almost like a game of hide and seek."

"You sure you're just not upset that Rainbow laid her hooves on your very special somepony?" I asked, playfully sending a smirk over to her.

To this, a shade of red hovered over her cheeks. "N-no! Well, I mean, it just wasn't a funny prank, and she needs to know that. I didn't like the way she acted with you, almost like if she owned you. Let's just leave it at that."

Nevertheless, I felt touched that Fluttershy cared so much. Although I shared her feeling over the prank not being funny, I didn't take it too seriously. It was more like Rainbow being Rainbow, but I could still understand Fluttershy's feelings over what she did, even if she wasn't being serious about it.

I caressed Fluttershy's cheek and smiled warmly. "You give her a big scare, okay?"

The redness in her cheeks spread as she embarrassingly looked away. "I actually have a few funny ideas of my own. Of course, they're only funny because I know this isn't real." She glanced back at her critters and stretched her smile. "And it looks like they're going to have fun with this too."

Afterwards, Fluttershy began preparing a few things as we waited for Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders to make their way over here with the new batch of joke cookies to sell to us.

"Alright, I just need this bowl here…" She pulled out a mixing bowl from her cupboards and placed it on a counter next to the stove. "…and a little of this over here…" She pulled out a bag of flour and sugar and set it near the bowl. If I wasn't mistaken, it looked like she was going to make cookies of her own.

"So, what exactly are you going to do?" I asked.

Fluttershy giggled in response. "Oh, that's a surprise."

Several knocks sounded on her door.

"That must be them!" She raced over to the door with a couple of bits and took in a huge deep breath before placing a hoof on her door. "Okay, Fluttershy, don't look too excited. You don't want to give anything away."

She opened the door as I joined her by her side. Outside were Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle holding a couple boxes of cookies for us. "Thanks for the support, Fluttershy!" Sweetie Belle expressed in a loud and cheerful voice."

"Oh, it's a pleasure!" She grinned delightfully as she brought her bits onto Sweetie Belle's hoof.

Behind the three fillies, I caught Rainbow Dash observing the entire exchange with an odd smirk on her face. Since we had learned of her plan beforehoof, it was easy to understand what it was for. Even though she wasn't supposed to know that we knew everything, I lightly glared at her until her eyes caught wind of mine. I pointed my hoof towards my eyes to turn it back around to her.

"Oh, you need to chillax." Rainbow took lightly. "I could honestly prank you without even being anywhere near you if I wanted to."

Which was exactly what you were going to do, but you couldn't know that we knew that, of course.

"I'm warning you, Rainbow. Live by the pranks, perish by the pranks."

Rainbow laughed lightly. "Yeah, yeah." She returned with rolling eyes.

Fluttershy poked my side, signaling me that the exchange had already been made.

"Thank you all for the cookies!" Fluttershy expressed warmly.

"You enjoy them now!" Rainbow Dash snickered.

"Oh, I will." I could sense a sort of challenging vibe come from Fluttershy. She was really serious about getting back at Rainbow Dash, and I couldn't help but find it hard to believe that it was technically all because of me.

When we were back inside the cottage, Fluttershy almost quickly got to work in prepping herself up for tonight. Funnily enough, it was almost like she was getting ready for a special date.

"I should get started with my mane." Fluttershy said, placing the box of cookies onto the counter and racing up the stairs into her room. I followed her to find her observing herself in the mirror and running her hoof through her hair messily. "I want to look as convincing as I can for tonight." She then turned to me. "What do you think?"

I placed a hoof to my chin and observed her for a moment. "Good start, but maybe a little makeup to make you look like you haven't had any sleep in a long time?"

"Right." She turned back to the mirror and curved her head to have a good look all around. "I really need to look like there's no life in me. Alex, can you bring me a few things from the bathroom?"

"Sure thing." I leaned in, ready to follow her exact directions.

For the rest of the day, I helped Fluttershy with her "zombie" look, along with intentionally misplacing and making a mess of a few things in her home.

"Here you go, everyone." Fluttershy handed each of her participating critters a cookie. "Don't eat too fast. You don't really want your tummies to hurt, do you?" She watched them partake in their cookies for a moment before she brought one to her lips. "Well, here we go." She took a bite and munched for a while as a coat of rainbow settled on her lips. "Mmm." She expressed after swallowing, "It's actually pretty good."

"I think that's supposed to be the point." I told her, finding the rainbow in her mouth actually quite adorable. "I think the 'prank' is not realizing that they aren't normal cookies. If you had a date and didn't have a chance at glancing at a mirror, I can only imagine it'd be one of the most embarrassing moments ever."

"Oh, my." Fluttershy stared blankly at the ground. "That does sound pretty horrifying."

A squeak came from one of her squirrels, catching her attention.

"Oh dear." Fluttershy noticed the line of critters smiling back at her with a mouth full of rainbow. "I so want to wipe that rainbow coloring off you all, but I'm afraid we'll need to keep it until we're finished pranking Rainbow Dash." She lifted her head upwards to get a look at the setting sun in the sky. "Might I have a few of you come back with me to the cottage?" She asked, having one of her squirrels, Angel, and her big bear follow her inside the cottage.

My curiosity peaked at the sight of this, and I began to wonder if it had to do with the "surprise" Fluttershy had for Rainbow Dash. Her animals stood by her as she returned to the kitchen and began working with the ingredients she had brought out earlier.

She poured a small amount of flour into the bowl and made it really pasty using some water. She mixed in some sugar before pulling another joke cookie out of the box. Crushing the cookie into small pieces, she threw them into the bowl and mixed it all together, eventually producing a rainbow sugary paste.

"No one eat any of this." She made sure to tell her critters. "It's just for show and not meant to be eaten."

"So, what exactly are you planning to do?" I finally asked.

Before she answered, she turned towards Angel. "Angel, could you do Mommy a favor? Can I have you hop on in here? I promise I'll give you a bath afterwards." Angel seemed to think about it for a moment before he held out his paw as if expecting something in return. "You want a carrot?" He swung his paw towards his face, indicating that it wasn't enough. "Two carrots?"

He tilted his head silently for a brief while before nodding his head and evidently jumping into the bowl of paste. Fluttershy brought out a couple of carrots for him, and he grabbed a hold of one and began biting at it as he rested inside the bowl.

"Um…" It was all I could say as I still couldn't figure out what she had been getting at.

"You know how zombies work, right?" Fluttershy asked. "If I was a cookie-craving zombie, surely I'd do anything to get more cookies?"

"Yeah…but what does that have to do with Angel being in the bowl?"

"I'd do anything to get my cookies by any means necessary."

Remembering that Angel had eaten one of the cookies himself, it all started to make sense. Fluttershy wanted her joke cookies, and in theory, zombies would practically do anything to get any taste of those cookies in their mouth.

I took a glance at Fluttershy's face, and with this thought in my mind, I couldn't help but actually feel a little scared, especially with the fall of night from outside her window. If she actually found Nightmare Night as enjoyable as the rest of us did, I believed that she could actually pull off some amazing stunts. She did scare every one of the girls as Flutterbat last time. But, she also already told us how scaring other ponies wasn't her cup of tea, so Rainbow must've really gotten to her if she was so willing about this.

"Wow… That's actually pretty dark…" I couldn't help but mention.

"But it's all in good fun, right, you guys?" She turned towards her helpful friends. They each nodded and responded in their respective sounds while Angel waved his carrot from within the bowl. "Do me a favor, please?" She now asked me.

"I'm not getting into a bowl too, am I?" I almost immediately questioned.

She giggled lightly in response. "No. I just need you to keep a lookout for me. Rainbow Dash could be coming at any moment."

"Right. Got it." I walked out of the kitchen and proceeded to keep an eye out while not being out in the open in case she was already around.

I continued watching out her window nonstop for some time before I caught sight of our intended target.

"Hey, Fluttershy! I can see Rainbow Dash outside!" I notified as quietly as I could.

"Everyone, get into your positions!" Fluttershy directed, having Harry, her bear, lay flat on the floor with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. In addition, her squirrel took the same look on top of him. Fluttershy turned towards Angel next. He shrugged and left the carrot in the bowl with him as he hung the upper half of his body over the bowl and drew his tongue out in a silly manner. "You should stay upstairs until it's time to come out." Fluttershy suggested to me.

I nodded and trotted up the stairs before Rainbow could possibly come in and see me. Afterwards, I somewhat anxiously waited until I heard the eventual freak out from Rainbow Dash.

"Fluttershy!" I heard and poked my head out in order to get a safe enough view of what had been going on downstairs. "If you can hear me, don't touch those cookies!" She desperately searched around for the pony she had been looking for, but it took her a while until she seemed to have spotted her in the kitchen. "F-Fluttershy…?"

"…more…cookies…" She softly moaned.

There was a silent pause before she screamed out in horror. "W-what did you do, Fluttershy?! Your critters! T-they're…!"

I heard the backdoor open, and I believed next came the stomping and flurry of all the other critters participating with the prank. Rainbow Dash screamed once more, and a clash of pots and pans ensued.

"Cookies…!" Fluttershy repeated alongside the sounds of her animals' groans and moans.

"N-No! Let me go! No! Get away!"

If I wasn't mistaken, I believed that it was now my time to step in. Expecting Rainbow Dash to have been caught by Fluttershy, I scurried down the stairs and witnessed the disturbing sight for myself. If I hadn't known that this was fake all along, I surely would have been as horrified as Rainbow Dash most likely was.

Taking one last deep breath, I rushed and tackled Fluttershy as lightly as I could. As much as I wanted to ask her if she was okay afterwards, I couldn't exactly blow our cover.

"Rainbow Dash, run!" I ordered as I pretended to hold Fluttershy against her will.

The animals behind Fluttershy continued to slowly draw closer, causing her voice to become panicked and confused.

"A-Alex?! You're not like them! H-how did you—?"

"Quit asking questions and get out of here!" I shouted, acting as if I had been struggling with Fluttershy's hooves.

"But, what about you?!"

"I'll catch up! Just go! Hurry!"

I had begun to worry that she wouldn't leave like she was supposed to. The numbers against her were supposed to scare her off, but if she managed to get brave all of a sudden, it could really mess up the prank entirely. Nevertheless, I was able to ironically release a breath of relief once she nodded and scampered out the front door.

When she was gone, everything in the cottage kind of died down. Fluttershy ceased her constant moaning and seemed to unintentionally giggle.

"Having fun there?" I asked.

"Maybe a little." She slightly turned her head away from me and her face became lightly flushed. "You better get going. You don't want to keep Rainbow Dash waiting for too long."

"Yeah, you're right." I almost had forgotten that I had been on top of her as I pulled my hooves away from her. Just as I was about to feign a gallop out the front door, Fluttershy called me.

"Oh, hold on for a quick second." Just as I turned to face her, she brought her mouth towards my neck and lightly bit down, startling me. "You remember what happens near the end, right?" She mentioned as she pulled away.

I observed the area where she had bitten me and found a smudge of rainbow, along with an extremely faint mark of her teeth. "Right. Almost forgot."

"Go on then." She encouraged. "The rest of us will catch up when you're in the barn."

I nodded and shook my hooves for a second before I burst through her front door in a frenzied state. Rainbow Dash had been anxiously tapping her hooves at the bridge before she spotted me coming through. "Oh my gosh, are you okay?!" She spoke quickly. "I d-didn't know what to do! I was just going to come back for you, but then I didn't know if she had already gotten you, and I was just so scared I—"

I shook my head. "We can't be here any longer. They'll be out here any second!"

I began escorting Rainbow Dash outside the cottage grounds, and Rainbow followed closely behind as she questioned me. "What were you doing in there?! How were you the only pony who wasn't a complete zombie?!"

"Remember when you came by with the fillies selling their cookies? After Fluttershy ate and shared those cookies with her animals, she started feeling sick later on. So, I helped her to bed and kept an eye on her for the rest of the day. It wasn't until she started making weird sounds when I drew myself closer to check on her. That's when she lunged out at me. I had no choice but to hide in her closet. I didn't want to hurt her, but I didn't know what else to do. So, I waited in her closet until she finally left. It wasn't until I heard your voice when I came out and saw you. I'm just glad you're okay, Rainbow. What about the other ponies?"

"I think practically everypony in Ponyville has gone crazy!" She frantically exclaimed. "Everyone except..." She gasped sharply before she grabbed my hoof and began dragging me forward in flight. "Come on! We gotta make it before they eat any of the cookies!" In a matter of a short moment, we found ourselves at the center of Ponyville. Rainbow Dash panted and desperately looked around. "There!" She pointed in the direction of a large cart holding a pile of cookies still nestled inside their boxes.

Rarity had grabbed one of the boxes from the carts and opened them up for anyone to pick and enjoy. "…unless anypony wants a cookie...?" She offered before Rainbow stretched out her hind leg and knocked them out of her hoof.

"Don't touch those!" She cried out.

"Oh! There is certainly no call for that!" Rarity scolded. "There's plenty for everypony."

"Come on! We gotta get outta here!" Rainbow gravely advised.

"What in tarnation are you goin' on about?" Applejack questioned.

"There's no time! You have to follow me!"

I trotted in and decided to move the scene along forward. "Rainbow Dash is right." I tried to share my enthusiasm as much as she did. "Something not right with the other ponies."

"Not right? But what do these cookies have to do with…?" A crowd of moans sounded from a short distance away. We looked to see that a bunch of ponies, as well as Cranky and Matilda, were slowly reaching us in a frightening scattered yet united wave of motion. "Wh-wh-what... What's happening?" Rarity shifted the tone of her voice.

"I'll explain later!" Rainbow Dash grabbed ahold of Sweetie Belle and placed her on top of the cart. "Everyone inside the cart! Come on!"

Applejack helped Applebloom up while Scootaloo hopped on by herself, allowing Rainbow Dash to quickly hoist the cart and drive it further away from the group of zombies that were slowly but surely approaching us.

"We need to find somewhere to hide!" Sweetie Belle cried out after witnessing the sight of her former friends hungrily fixated on her.

"I know where we can go! Follow me!" Applejack took the lead and eventually led us on the path of the barn, just as planned.

The sound of hammers clanging onto nails replaced the eerie silence that once filled the partially deserted barn. Windows and doors were boarded up, and even if all of this was technically going over board, I suppose it was necessary to make it as real as possible. Applejack kicked the front door with her hind legs to make sure it was sturdy enough as Rainbow spat out her hammer from the other side of the building.

"Did we lose them?" She asked worriedly.

"Why are we running from the ponies of Ponyville?" Scootaloo asked with fear escaping her voice.

"What happened to all of our friends?" Sweetie Belle added.

Rainbow Dash sighed as she flew over to the cart they had brought inside the barn. "I think it's something in the cookies." She said as she opened a box.

"Ugh! That's ridiculous!" Applejack objected confidently. "Filly Guide cookies haven't changed for years! It's not like there's a new ingredient that's turnin' the whole town into cookie-cravin' zombies."

"Uh, unless there... is..." Rainbow returned hesitantly.

"What are you saying?" Rarity asked, immediately noticing Rainbow's small hint of a confession.

"What did you do?" Applejack followed sternly with.

"Are you saying that the entire reason Fluttershy and everypony else is like this because you did something with the cookies?!" I incriminated, trying not to reveal how much I knew as much as possible. "After all, I couldn't understand why the cookies had rainbow filling in them, but now it's starting to make sense considering you were the pony behind everything."

Rainbow tossed the open box she had to the side, allowing them to spill out near Rarity's hooves.

"I didn't know they'd turn everypony into zombies!" She defended herself. "I don't know! Maybe there's some kind of chemical in that rainbow food coloring, but I swear I had no clue before I messed with the cookies! It was all just supposed to be a joke! I never wanted anypony to get hurt!"

"Have you taken a look outside, Rainbow?!" Applejack stretched her hoof out the window. "Everypony is no longer in control of themselves! What are we supposed to do now?!"

"Alright! Look! We should just stay inside and see if the effects wear off." Rainbow suggested. "As long as nobody in here eats the cookies we should be fine."

"And what if they don't?" I brought up.

"Then we might have to find Zecora and see if she has a cure." Applebloom informed.

"Then, shouldn't we get lookin' now?" Applejack asked. "What if some of those ponies made it to her hut by now? If she's in trouble, then we gotta go help her!"

"Ugh!" Rarity released a scream of frustration. "I just cannot believe you, Rainbow Dash! All because you wouldn't stop with your silly little pranks! Now see where your 'jokes' have gotten us? Stuck in a musty rickety old barn with nothing but bundles of hay and a cart of toxic cookies!"

"A-All I wanted was—"

"Unless you know exactly how to get us out of this situation and turn our friends back to normal, I don't want to hear it!" Rarity intervened. "It's only a matter of time before the others find us, and it's all because you simply wouldn't learn to just—Waah!" Several hooves had broken through the boards nailed onto the window and grabbed Rarity's coat, literally dragging her out.

"Rarity!" Applejack and I tried to catch her by her hind legs, but we subtly allowed her to be pulled out as if the strength of the ponies outside had been too much for us.

Apart from the one that Rarity had been pulled out of, the other windows in the barn had been broken through. As if that wasn't enough, the front door had been bending forward by the weight of the other ponies outside.

"W-what do we do?! They're coming in!" Sweetie Belle choked.

"Cover the windows!" Rainbow exclaimed, taking a stack of hay and pressing towards an array of hooves poking inside.

"I'm going out for Rarity!" Applejack mentioned, looking for a spot that hadn't been taken by the others outside yet.

"Are you kidding!? There's too many of them!" Rainbow protested.

"Not if I can help it!" Applejack poked her head out of one before disappearing among the crowd of surrounding ponies.

"Applejack, no!" Rainbow cried out before a collection of wailing screams came from the fillies huddled up in the corner.

I turned towards the door and found that it had been the most susceptible piece out of every other part of the barn. The ponies outside looked as if they would break through at any moment. I ran up to the front door, my motivation for acting being the safety of the three crying fillies inside. I pushed myself against the door, feeling the believable weight press from the other side.

"Let me help you!" Rainbow Dash insisted before joining me at the door. She pressed herself against the barricade as much as she could until she suddenly gasped out loud and froze. "A-Alex?! W-Were you!?"

I turned my eyes in the direction she was looking at and found that she had been staring at the 'bite' Fluttershy left me. If it wasn't for the smudge of rainbow, I'm not so sure she would have noticed. It was at this point where I needed to pretend I had been suffering symptoms of weakness and the like.

"Fluttershy…" I recalled as I subtly allowed my hooves to slowly drag against the front door. "She must've bitten me back at the cottage."

"But, then…! That means you'll…!"

Normally, I'd argue against the idea of turning into one of the zombie ponies outside with a bite like that, but then again, practically everything going on at the moment didn't make sense, so I just went with it.

"It hurts… I can't feel my hooves anymore." I stated as I pulled away from the door.

The side I had been holding seemed to have been kicked open, leaving it ajar for hooves to stick through. On the other side, we could see a zombified Applejack, and this caused Rainbow Dash to cry out in fear. Next, she grabbed a hold of me and dragged me over to the other side of the barn. With no other means of escape, we helplessly remained there.

"I can't believe this!" She cried out with tears poking out of her eyes. "This is all my fault! If I hadn't switched those cookies none of this would have happened!" She turned towards the fillies shivering and crying in the corner. "I'm so sorry, girls!"

"Rainbow, you need to let me go." I encouraged her, seeing how I was bitten. "If I stay in here and turn, then all of you will be in danger."

"I'm not leaving you out there!" She unexpectedly wrapped her hooves around my neck. She turned towards the front door that was slowly being broken through. "They're coming in at any second! I…I don't know…what else to…"

It was only a matter of seconds before everypony at the front broke through. I had to believe that it was an extremely frightening sight for Rainbow. They slowly closed in, and she could only squeeze me tighter as they drew closer.

"Alex, I'm sorry for everything I ever did to you that was mean and hurtful!" She suddenly began to confess and apologize. "I know sometimes I might nag on you for trying to take my spotlight with your wings and horn, but I've always looked up to you as an amazing friend! The truth is…I…I…I've always thought you were pretty awesome!"

Well… That was sort of anticlimactic.

"It's okay, Rainbow…" I told her softly, watching everypony approach us. "It'll all be over soon…"

"N-no! Don't say that!" She pleaded with a breaking voice." Her eyes drifted upwards where everypony had now been staring down at her with an intimidating gaze. "Please! Stop! I never meant for this to happen! It was just a harmless prank! It was supposed to be funny! But this isn't funny at all!"

"Exactly!" A recognizable voice chirped out, ceasing all the moaning that had been filling the ambience inside the barn. A grin slipped out from everypony in front of us as they wiped off the rainbow from their mouths, bringing the prank to an official close.

"What? Wait... What's happening?" Rainbow Dash's voice began to revert to its original state as her grip on my neck loosened.

"Just delighting in pranking the prankster." Rarity combed through her mane, fixing whatever was unaligned from her earlier performance.

"Yeah." Applejack chuckled. "How does it feel to get some of your own medicine?"

"So... you're... not sick?" Rainbow nearly stammered and then turned to me. "None of you are?"

"Of course not, silly!" Pinkie cheerfully answered before gathering everypony for a boastful shout.

"Gotcha!"

"This... was all... a prank?!" Her cheeks became flushed as she quickly pushed me to the side.

"Yep! And you can thank Pinkie Pie." Applejack credited, "After you told her about your plan to prank the whole town, she got everypony together and we all came up with a way to turn the tables on you."

"Aw, shucks, it was nothing!" Pinkie responded bashfully. "Besides, Twilight was the real mastermind."

"Uh..." Rainbow Dash was absolutely speechless.

"Wow! You should see your face!" Scootaloo pointed out.

"Talk about funny!" Applebloom laughed, rubbing salt into the already severely caved in wound.

Rainbow scoffed. "Well, I don't think it's very funny! And I'm the one that got pranked! I was really scared! I thought I made everypony sick! You can't just go around—"

"—pranking whoever you feel like?" Twilight finished.

"Without thinking about how it might make them feel?" Fluttershy added.

"Or if they'd even enjoy it?" Rarity continued.

"Or think it's funny?" Applejack settled.

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash shouted out in agreement before realizing what had just happened. "Ohhh. I see what you did there."

"Pranks can be a lot of fun when everypony has a good time." Pinkie spoke, "Everypony here thought you just needed to see what it's like when they don't."

"I guess I did." Rainbow Dash shamefully turned away. "I'm sorry, everypony. I guess I really haven't really been thinking about how other ponies feel." She spared one glance at me.

With an accomplished face, Fluttershy responded. "Well, I hope you learned your lesson."

"Are you kidding?!" Rainbow suddenly barked out angrily. "I'm not going to let any one of you get away with this! It's only fair that I get you back! And ohh, I'm going to make sure each of you goes through exactly, if not more, what I just went through tonight!"

Everypony in the barn was immediately struck silent. They looked as if they had accidentally uncaged a monster in their attempt at conveying a meaningful lesson. However, the anger in Rainbow's face disappeared before she smiled brightly and pointed out an enthusiastic hoof.

"Gotcha!"

The entire barn roared with laughter, but I had to believe that it was mostly out of relief than of enjoyment. Either way, with all this pranking mess settled, I was just glad that I'd be able to sleep peacefully tonight.

In the end, it didn't seem that anypony had plans to waste the "joke" cookies. From what I've heard, they were actually still pretty good, aside from the rainbow filling inside. Either way, since Rainbow apparently ordered those joke cookies herself, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom had an extra amount of Filly Guide cookies to sell. So, I suppose it was sort of a good thing as a result?

I found Rainbow Dash approaching me after I dropped Fluttershy off for the night. After all, she still needed to bathe Angel after he had stepped into the paste Fluttershy had made specifically for the prank.

"I didn't see you eat any of the joke cookies." Rainbow pointed out with a raised eyebrow. "You know they don't actually turn you into a zombie, right?"

I was tempted to respond with sarcasm, but I didn't. "Obviously. I was part of the prank. I just don't really want any rainbow in my mouth."

"You're such a baby." Despite having predetermined my objection, she shoved a cookie into my mouth. I didn't even need to bite as the rainbow filling had splatted over my lips from her forceful entry. I only sighed and proceeded to chew and swallow. "Good, right?"

It was kind of good, but I still didn't appreciate the fact that she rammed one in my mouth. "Yeah, I guess."

She began snickering as she observed the mess on my face. "Looks like you…got a kiss of Rainbow!" She began laughing out loud as I stood there not nearly as amused. I believed it was a reference to her prank on Fluttershy and me the other night.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up." I encouraged. "Just remember that I haven't forgotten a single word you said back at the barn. You know? About me being awesome and stuff?"

Her laughter quickly died down. "S-so what?! You think I care?"

"I have to admit. There are times when it's nice to see the real you, Rainbow." I honestly shared. "When you're not trying too hard at being brave and awesome, you can actually be pretty cool."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She turned away and closed her eyes, feigning ignorance.

"My memory does." I teased. "And what happened tonight is something I'll never forget."

"Okay, okay! I get it!" She appeared to have finally surrendered. "Could you just please stop talking about what happened and what I said?"

"Yeah, sure." I obliged with a small roll of my eyes.

"You know…" She added, catching my attention. She rubbed her head silently before she continued. "I've gotta be honest about something. When's the last time we've actually hung out? Like just the two of us? Maybe I've been looking at you more as a rival than a friend because, well, we haven't really done much 'friend' stuff recently."

"Well…if you're not doing Wonderbolt stuff, you're always trying to improve a speed record or something. Maybe we just don't have much in common?"

"Then we make something in common!" She nearly ordered, poking my chest with her hoof. "How about this? Let's play a game of ball or something soon. Nothing hardcore. Just a friendly game of ball."

"You sure you won't be crazy competitive?" I returned a playful smirk.

"Not unless you are." She furrowed her eyebrows as she held up a hoof with a confident smile.

"Fair enough." I decided as I joined my hoof with hers.

Rainbow Dash began to lift off the ground to most likely head for her home in the sky, but she unexpectedly stopped and turned towards me. "Hey… Listen good because I'm not going to say this again." I became slightly confused at her sudden statement. After a short pause, she finished what she meant to say. "You are pretty awesome…" She brought her hooves back on the ground, wrapped one around my neck for a few seconds, and then pushed me away before taking off once more. "See ya!"

I chuckled lightly to myself as I watched her leave. Realizing something was still on my mouth, I looked and found rainbow smeared all over my lips. Nevertheless, I shrugged and began walking off in the direction of the castle. I decided that the rainbow could remain there until I got home.

Time's A Changling

"How's it been with Fluttershy?" Athena asked, swinging her hind legs as she sat on her seat aboard the train. "It's a little different not at least chatting up with you as much. I was starting to miss you."

I laughed a little in response. "It's not like we don't see each other every day. We still live together after all. Besides, it's been great spending a little more time with Fluttershy. I finally got to meet her parents. It's just too bad that I don't exactly have a 'normal' family to introduce her to, but I guess that's the burden of being an 'irregular'."

"You and me both." She revised with a cheerful grin. "But, hey, if it makes you feel any better, you've got me. I am her sister-in-law, aren't I?" She nudged with her eyebrows.

"Yeah, yeah…" I rolled with her teasing. "You two been getting along?"

"Of course!" Athena enthusiastically answered. "She's just so nice! If she wasn't your girlfriend, I might've even considered her as some 'grandma' type of character. She's always offering things like tea and cookies for me. I feel like she can really spoil me, hehe. Plus, while you're out doing your own thing with Fluttershy or somepony else, I've been getting to know more of everypony, especially Twilight. I think I can start seeing what made you consider her as a suitable sister in the first place. She's just so quirky and dorky. Just like me! But smart."

"Well, it's nice to hear that you're branching out your relationships." I told her with a genuine smile. "There is so much more you can learn when it comes to hanging around with different friends. And in a way, the more friends you have, the less lonely you feel. Right?"

She nodded lightly. "Twilight can give me a boring lecture while I'm waiting for you to come back."

"I heard that!" Twilight had stated loud enough for us to hear. It didn't help that there was hardly any distance between where each of us had sat and that the train was practically empty and devoid of anypony else but our group.

"Just kidding!" Athena sheepishly returned. "You know I love learning about…um…the…kinesiology between the neurons in your brain…and…um…stuff…" I had a good feeling that she literally just made that up on the fly. She leaned in her head closer to me and began to whisper. "I actually zone out a lot of what she tells me…"

That sounds about right.

"Hey, it looks like we're just about to stop." Starlight Glimmer glanced out the window and noticed. "Strange. It doesn't look like anypony's at the station. Is there some kind of event going on or something?"

"Shouldn't be." Twilight, intrigued by Starlight's analysis, poked her head out the window as well. "Otherwise, I'm sure we would have been told beforehoof."

Finally, Athena and I reconvened with the other two and took a look outside for ourselves. There was no pony in sight whatsoever. The train soon squealed to a stop, and we were allowed to safely walk onto the boarding platform within the train station grounds. For once, we didn't have to push through anypony at all. We literally just moved a few steps and were comfortably out in the open.

"So…if there's no event going on, there where is everypony?" Athena asked.

"Guess there's only one way to find out." Starlight answered and turned over to Spike, who fumbled about with his odd attire. "This is just a suggestion, Spike, but I don't think you'll be needing a disguise after all. There's nopony here to 'mob' you."

"Huh. Weird." He pulled away the shades he had been wearing to take a good look around. "It's like a ghost town."

"You don't think anything bad happened here, do you?" Twilight questioned as we began our walk towards the Empire.

"Honestly, it looks a little too bright outside for anything 'bad' to have happened." Starlight responded. "It's like I said: It looks like something's going on here that we don't know about. Maybe there's a meeting at the castle?"

"If there is, it would have to be some kind of emergency or last-minute meeting." Twilight thought severely. "At either point, we should probably check it out as soon as possible."

Inside the empire, everything almost appeared to be a barren wasteland, except every building had been intact. In fact, the current state the town was in reminded me heavily of something from so long ago. There was at one point where Ponyville was utterly empty like this, and I believed it was when everypony was afraid of Zecora when she first came by. In that case, was everypony hiding from something?

"Yeah, this is really weird." Starlight mentioned inside.

Spike looked around as he slowly pulled the shades away from his eyes. "I guess you were right, Starlight. Looks like I don't need the disguise after all."

As soon as he pulled off his enormous wig, a mountain of crystal ponies surrounded him in an instant.

"It's Spike the Brave and Glorious!" One cheered.

"He's come to save us yet again!" Another stated happily.

Every one of them lifted Spike off the ground and began to repeatedly toss him upwards and catch him with their hooves as if he had just accomplished some great feat this very moment. "Spike! Spike! Spike! Spike!" They celebrated.

"Save you from what?" Spike asked in the midst of their festivity.

"Yeah, what's going on?" Starlight questioned.

"Why was everypony hiding?" Twilight clarified.

Two ponies from the frontmost area of the group turned back and eyed us especially.

"Oh, it sure looks like the ponies from Ponyville…" One whispered to the other.

"But how can we be sure?" The second pony questioned frightfully.

"We can't!" A stallion popped in. "Either one of them could be the... you know!"

"The 'what'?" Athena inquired behind us.

With a loud and sharp gasp, the first crystal mare grabbed her friend's face by the cheeks and spoke in panic. "What if this... isn't... the real Spike?!" A gasp escaped from her lips each time she paused.

"Everypony, run!" The second mare took heed of her friend's insinuation and screamed out towards the others that were too busy tossing Spike repeatedly in the air. All of them looked back at once and followed her warning without a second to spare, disappearing from sight. This left Spike with no pony to safely catch him, having me use my magic to get him back on his claws before his body could suffer the hard crystal surface below him.

"Okay. I think it's pretty clear that something strange is definitely going on." Twilight concluded after having witnessed the odd event.

"Ya think?" Spike commented a bit bitterly, which was understandable since he was nearly carelessly thrown to the ground.

"Guess we should hurry to the castle and make sure everything's alright." I advised.

We walked a little longer to surprisingly find two guards stationed at each side of the castle. I guess not every pony in the empire was hiding out of fear. However, before we could even get a better clue on what had been currently going on within the area, he stuck out a firm hoof towards us and stopped us from walking any further.

"Who goes there?"

"Um, you don't recognize the Prince and Princess from Ponyville?" Starlight pointed out with a small amount of snark. "They've been to the Crystal Empire only a million times."

"Of course we recognize them." The first royal guard responded.

"But that doesn't mean it's really them." The second tacked on.

I was beginning to feel a little of that potential sarcasm Starlight was holding onto for myself. Starlight did have a point, and the fact that no one was giving us any information as to why everypony was acting strangely was extremely annoying.

"What do you mean we're not really us?" I repeated the ludicrous-sounding statement. "Who else can we be?"

The two guards exchanged silent looks with each other before Spike stepped in to take matters into his own claws. "It's okay, guys. They're with me. And any friend of Spike the Brave and Glorious is a friend of the Crystal Empire, am I right?"

"Huh." The second guard studied Spike for a moment, actually taking the time to contemplate on whether to believe the Crystal Empire's idol or not. "It does look like him."

"Well, it would, wouldn't it?" The first guard mentioned skeptically to his partner before turning his attention to Spike. I'm sorry, but we'll need to see some proof of identification."

I was on the verge of blowing a fuse since we were not only disallowed entry, but we were also completely kept in the dark on the reason why. Just before these wild emotions could escape from me, a familiar voice caused a wave of relief to wash over me and cool me down.

"We'll take care of things from here." Behind the two guards, we found Cadence, Shining Armor, and Sunburst with Flurry Heart in his possession.

"Oh, Cadance, thank goodness!" Twilight expressed her genuine respite. "What's going on?"

"We can explain, Twily... if it really is you." Shining Armor, her own brother, returned with his own set of doubts.

"But it is her!" Athena nearly shouted behind us, appearing to have felt the same frustration that I had been feeling. "You of all ponies should know that! I mean, with how the way you all are speaking, how do we know you guys are really you?"

"Like I said: We can explain everything." Shining Armor calmly assured. "We just need to make sure of something first." He turned his head towards Cadence and gestured her over to Twilight.

Cadence quickly walked over to Twilight with worry in her eyes and proceeded to dance a familiar dance in front of her. "Sunshine, sunshine..."

"...ladybugs awake!" Twilight immediately joined her in her song, substantially turning the worried frown on Cadence's face upside down. "Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" The two hugged immediately after, but Cadence glanced towards the rest of us that were in her group with a small sense of uncertainty.

"You all came together, right?" She directly asked Twilight. "None of you 'found' each other around here?"

"Course not." Twilight answered. "We all came on the train from Ponyville together. Can you tell us what's going on now?"

"It's okay, everypony. It's her." Shining Armor reassured the guards.

"A changeling's been spotted nearby." Sunburst answered, bringing Flurry Heart closer to us.

"A changeling?!" Twilight and Athena exclaimed out in unison.

"That's not good." Spike added.

"No, it's not." Cadence gravely addressed. "After Queen Chrysalis took my place at our wedding and invaded Canterlot with her army of minions, we're not taking any chances."

"Man, that was a while back." I commented, crossing my forelegs together. "I guess we couldn't expect the changelings to just disappear after what happened at the wedding, huh?"

"Changelings feed off of love." Sunburst explained. "And ever since Flurry Heart's Crystalling, the Empire is filled with more love than anywhere in Equestria. It's possible they've come for the baby."

"That's why we posted the extra guards, and why we're—"

"Checking everypony's identity." Twilight finished for her brother.

"I'm sorry for all of this." Cadence apologized before directing our attention to her babbling and cooing child. "Flurry Heart's really been looking forward to seeing you all."

"Oh, she's gotten so big!" Twilight realized, allowing Flurry to grab a hold of her hoof innocently.

"Kind of looks the same to me." I truthfully shared as Athena poked her belly with the tip of her hoof.

"We'll do whatever we can to help protect her." Twilight promised.

"To be honest, having you all here is already a big relief." Cadence expressed with delight.

"So, have you guys already checked to make sure no changeling has made it past the castle? You know, posing as a guard or something?" I brought up.

"We did." Shining Armor answered. "We've made sure that every guard stationed in the castle was able to answer a few questions that only castle guards would know. Since then, we've kept guards stationed out here to keep an eye on whoever tries to approach the castle." One of the royal guards had leaned over to Shining Armor and whispered into his ear. "Speaking of which, the royal guards were wondering if Spike the Brave and Glorious would like to join in the search for the changeling."

"Really?!" Spike's eyes sparkled at the idea.

"Uh, I don't know if that's such a good idea, Spike." Twilight cautioned him. "It sounds dangerous."

"Come on, Twilight, this is Spike the Brave and Glorious you're talking to." Spike encouraged, "Have you ever known me to run from danger?"

"Um..." Twilight thought to herself before Shining Armor approached her with confidence.

"He'll be safe with our guards."

"Or will your guards be safe with me?" Spike pointed out, reiterating a shift in perception.

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes in response to Spike's poise. "Alright, but make you guys stick close. I wouldn't want the changeling to take any of your places."

"Yes!" Spike cheered and then turned to Shining Armor. "When do we start moving?"

"We were just about to start patroling outside the city for the changeling." The guard who first brought the topic of including Spike in the search replied.

"Lead the way, my fellow guards!" Spike followed them out as they began to march forward in unison.

"Let's head back to the castle." Shining Armor invited as we watched the guards leave.

The rest of us turned in the direction of the front doors to the castle, following after Shining Armor. "So, does Celestia and Luna know about the changeling business going on right now?" I asked.

"We've informed them about the situation, but we told them that we'd handle it here." Cadence responded. "After all, we don't know what the changelings are planning. We told the other princesses to just keep an eye out in Canterlot for now. We don't know if there might be changelings in any other places besides in the Crystal Empire."

"I just hope we can eventually put this changeling business to rest." Shining Armor shared almost exhaustively. "There's just so many of them. It's almost nerve-wrecking."

"Well, they go to places that have the most love." Twilight informed, "If they're planning to attack any place, it'd be here. I don't mean to say that as if it's a good thing, but it narrows down what their plans are. We haven't seen them since the wedding, so I'm not even sure how much information they have on anypony."

"Like Shining Armor said, they can be anywhere and everywhere." Athena added, "I don't think it'd be hard to find out about stuff that happened after the wedding. Plus, that queen of theirs…she can be pretty brutal."

"Whatever the case is, we'll get to the bottom of it." Shining Armor assured confidently. "Right now, we just need to figure out what to do in the meantime while the guards are out looking for the changeling."

By the way things were going, it didn't seem like it was going to be a short-lived burden. Even if they found the changeling, it doesn't mean that there aren't any others nearby, and this definitely wasn't good for the Crystal Empire.

Shining Armor escorted us to the throne room, where several more of the castle guards stood watch. They eyed us a little oddly until Shining Armor gave them a certain signal. In response, they nodded their heads and returned to facing straight forward.

"So, what is it we can do to help?" Twilight asked.

"Hm." Shining Armor thought to himself for a moment. "As much as I wanted to protect the Crystal Empire, I also want to make sure that changeling, or any other ones, don't get anywhere near her." He turned his head over to Sunburst, who continued to hold his daughter close. "Sunburst is keeping a good watch over her, but who knows what kind of tricks those Changelings might have? Might any of you have some kind of spell you can cast on her? Maybe some kind of protection spell?"

"Mmm." Twilight thought for a moment before she answered. "I don't know if there's any kind of 'Changeling repellent' spell, but we could always try to make a new one, right?" She asked Starlight.

"Yeah, of course." Starlight confirmed. "It might take some time though."

"Anything helps." Shining Armor appreciated. "I've got guards patrolling all over the city, so I'm afraid I'll have to leave for a bit to get their reports."

"You go on ahead, Shining Armor. I'll take care of things here." Cadence assured.

Shining Armor nodded and proceeded to head out of the throne room, leaving us in a rather silent gathering.

"All in all…" Cadence continued speaking, "I think the most we can do is just wait and see if the guards are able to catch this Changeling. If they're able to find him and bring him in here, then…well…we'll have to see what we do next. Probably get some information out of him on what he was doing here in the first place and if there are any others waiting to attack."

"Having some creature being able to change into any kind of other creature must be really annoying." Athena shared. "It's not like you have only one thing you need to watch out for. You've also got to make sure that the pony you're talking to is really the pony they say they are. It's kind of scary actually."

"It is scary." Cadence rested herself upon her throne and drew out a heavy sigh. "I suppose if I knew that it was only one of them that we were dealing with, I'd feel a lot better. But all of you've seen them during the Royal Wedding. They move in packs, if not a whole army. To believe that only one changeling is scoping out the Crystal Empire, well, it's really hard to believe.

"Don't worry, Cadence." Twilight reassured. "I'm sure, with all of us here, we can figure something out. Maybe we can even come up with some kind of spell for a barrier that automatically detects Changelings? You know, kind of like that force field you had during the wedding."

"Oh, Twilight." Cadence appeared to have removed some of that worry residing in her face. "If you can manage to do that, that'd certainly help a lot. Although, I can't imagine adding some kind of Changeling detector to Shining Armor's spell will be easy."

"I've, uh, had some experience with making a few modifications to some pretty advanced spells." Starlight spoke up a little sheepishly, possibly referring back to the time traveling incident. "I think it's possible to work some kind of Changeling detector to Shining Armor's force field spell. It won't be easy, but I'd say it's doable as long as we manage to figure out how to write a spell for a Changeling detector in the first place."

"In that case, that makes me feel so much better." The corners of Cadence's lips stretched upwards. "If you need anything, please let me know. You're welcome to whatever you need here at the Crystal Empire."

"I suppose you could point us in the direction of the castle library?" Twilight asked for a little shyly. "It'd definitely be a good place to start."

"Guards?" Cadence leaned towards the ones stationed by her throne. "Could one of you escort them to the castle library?"

"Right away, princess." One immediately stepped forward and marched in our direction. "Right this way." He walked past us and began leading us out of the throne room.

I wasn't sure what kind of part I'd be playing in this, but I suppose it didn't help to see what my options were in the library. I didn't know anything about writing magic, but if Twilight or Starlight needed some kind of extra magic firepower, I could definitely help with that.

The two studious spell writers immediately began hitting the books as soon as they witnessed the massive library at their disposal. It left Athena and me silently watching and questioning our purpose in the library, to begin with.

"Anything we can do?" I asked.

"Hm?" Twilight, having been too focused on her book searching, barely turned her face towards us. "Oh, I think we're fine right now. Maybe go see if Cadence needs anything?"

And so, we took a quick trip back to ask her the same question.

"I don't have anything in particular for you two to do, but if you can help Twilight and Starlight make the spell, I think that'd really help a lot." She said.

This brought us back to the library, but we were left standing and staring at the other two work and write notes.

"Maybe it would have been better if we went with Spike…" Athena softly told me.

"Hm. Maybe…" I merely responded with, continuing to quietly await any possible responsibilities to be brought over to us.

"This is a little complicated…" Starlight commented, her eyes scanning over various amounts of books and loose-leaf papers. "Is there even some kind of spell that works specifically with changelings? Unless there is, I don't know if it's possible to even come up with a changeling-detection spell for Shining Armor's bubble spell."

"I see what you're saying." Twilight tapped a pencil against her chin. "Maybe we should start with something smaller? I don't exactly want to give up on the detection spell, but perhaps we should make some kind of protection spell for Flurry Heart first?"

"I guess that isn't such a bad idea." Starlight agreed. "I don't think a protection spell should take very long."

"Great! Then, it's settled." Twilight began to happily trot out of the room. "I'll be right back. I just want to know if Cadence is looking for anything specific in a protection spell for Flurry Heart."

After Twilight closed the door behind her, Starlight turned her head in our direction and seemed to have noticed us lazily watching from on top of a stack of books. As a reaction, she sheepishly waved our way. "How's it going over there?"

"Nothing new." Athena responded sluggishly.

"Cadence didn't need any of your help with something else?"

"Nope." I answered next. "Said she'd like it if we could help you two instead, but it seems you've got everything under control."

She chuckled a bit nervously before turning her attention to the work both of them had accumulated on the table. "Hey, maybe I've got something since Twilight's gone. Do you, um…" She picked up various pieces of papers and squinted her eyes at them. "…want to organize some of the notes and research we have here?"

Athena and I exchanged looks with each other before she eventually shrugged and joined me on the walk towards the worktable.

"I guess we can do that. I just hope Twilight doesn't get upset because organizing is one of favorite parts of any given day."

"Pshh." Starlight brushed off as she flicked a hoof carelessly. She then turned her attention to another book and began to silently read.

Athena began skimming through various papers, eyeing each one for a bit before aligning them with some other collection of notes. "How are things going with Trixie?" Athena asked.

"With Trixie?" Starlight pulled her head away from the book to turn to Athena. "Uh, pretty good actually. As a matter of fact, she's doing a little tour outside of Ponyville, so she won't be back for some time."

"I hope her magic shows are doing well." I added. "I'd hate to see her go back to the rock farm." I lightly laughed.

"After Ponyville? I'm sure they're doing great." Starlight confidently stated. "I can't thank you all enough for introducing to the magic of friendship. It feels so much better than having control over every other ponies' lives."

"Well, I think you know us well enough by now. Reforming is kind of our thing." I somewhat joked.

"What would Equestria do without you?" Starlight Glimmer responded in the same humorous manner as a smirk stretched across her lips.

The door to the library eventually opened rather quickly, and Twilight came trotting in with excitement brightening her face. "Hey, guys! Guess who I ran across in the hall?"

"Who?" Starlight Glimmer inquired.

"Spike! Apparently, he has a friend that lives here called Crystal Hoof. What's weird is that he never told me about him until now. I mean, I know they've only known each other since the Equestria Games, but still! If you're going to be writing to some pony and not tell me about it, how am I supposed to know to let you use my pen pal quill set?"

"Not that I don't appreciate your enthusiasm…" Starlight responded. "But I don't think it's really anything to get excited about. It's good that he made another friend, but I'm sure he's made a lot more others here. He is Spike the Brave and Glorious around these parts, after all."

"Yeah, yeah. You're right." Twilight settled down and returned to the table. "I'm just happy for him. That's all." She looked towards the surface of the table and leaned her head around and about. "Aww. Who organized all the work we had here? I was waiting to see how many notes we could pile up before we had to arrange everything."

I immediately glanced over to Starlight Glimmer, who began to quietly snicker at her place.

"Sorry, Twilight. Athena and I were just looking for something to do to help." I admitted.

"Well, I suppose it does help get this spell written sooner. No biggie. I can get some organizing done later."

"Anything else we can do…?" Athena seemed to hesitate in asking. I believed she was aware of what answer we would most likely receive.

"Um…" Twilight exchanged an apprehensive look with Starlight. "Can you cross-reference certain spells between all these books we have here?"

"I don't even know what 'cross-referencing' is…" Athena's shoulders slumped as she frowned shamefully.

"Do you two want to get us some lunch?" Starlight suggested with a friendly smile. "It's about that time anyway."

"Sounds pretty easy enough." I encouraged Athena. "What do you say?"

"I just want to do something. So yeah, let's get going." Athena appeared to perk up quite a bit.

"Heh heh. Sorry." Twilight apologized as she rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.

"Well, what could we honestly do when it comes to spellwriting and stuff? Don't worry about it." I reassured. "What do you want for lunch?"

"Oh!" Twilight immediately pulled out a piece of paper and began scribbling on it. "I'll make a list of every detail!"

I heard Starlight laugh, catching her lightly shaking her head at me. Seeing her bright and adorable smile made it hard to believe that she once used to be a dangerous dictator.

Athena and I waved at the shopkeeper as we exited out with a couple bags of food. The streets were still mainly bare for the most part, so it seemed everypony was staying indoors as much as they could until word passed in regards to the changeling problem being handled. Although I didn't spend many days here, I hoped the issue would come to end soon.

"Hey, Athena." I turned towards her, Cadence coming to mind. "You know how you said you had told Coco about the life before?"

"Yeah?" She answered with a neutral expression.

"You've ever thought about telling Cadence?" I asked. "Apparently, she was a big part of your, well, our lives, after all."

"I've thought about it, of course." She returned, lowering her eyes towards the floor. "…but I feel differently when it comes to telling her compared to telling Coco. Take today for example. She's dealing with so much stress and worry because of a changeling that was spotted in the Crystal Empire. I don't think she needs the utter confusion about how things were almost majorly different in the past. I know for a fact that she's not going to be like 'Oh, that happened? Well, now I know!'. I'm more than sure it'll be on her mind for quite some time, and considering the work she has to do, I think it's just best to leave her out of it."

I had to agree that Athena had a point. Athena and I were always together for the most part, and after experiencing what I went through with the whole 'time travel' business, it's understandable that she'd feel the need to tell me. I did want answers to begin with. I guess I just wasn't expecting those answers having to do with the complicity of time travel. Athena could probably make friends with Cadence, but since they most likely won't be seeing each other very often, there won't really be any time for their relationship to blossom.

Then again… They are technically cousins.

"Who knows?" I meant in an encouraging way. "Maybe an opportunity to tell her might just come straight at you."

"Don't let the changeling escape!"

We stopped in the middle of our walk to face forward in the direction we were heading towards. From what I could see, a flying black blob appeared to have been coming straight from the castle and pursuing the route Athena and I had been on. In other words, it had been heading straight towards us.

"Hold this!" I tossed the lunch I had over to Athena and freed my magic in order to aid in the changeling's capture. I directly stepped into its line of path and charged in, ready to tackle. Once it noticed this, it tried to swerve around, but with the help of my magic, I hooked it like a fishing line and pulled it towards me. Lifting myself up with my wings, I caught ahold of it and prepared to dive back down to the ground. We rolled over a few times before I finally had it trapped beneath my hooves.

"No! Please! Let me go!" An unintimidating voice pleaded.

Changelings were pretty weak when they were by themselves, but this one hardly put up a fight. It was obvious that he wanted to escape my capture, but he surprisingly didn't bother trying to hurt me in any way to do so.

"Hold him right there!" Shining Armor began to approach us from his squad of guards. He marched with a face of violent disgust, almost as if he had some kind of grudge against this changeling in particular.

"No! Stop!" A different voice begged.

Spike emerged from the different crowd of ponies that gathered from the castle, including Twilight, Starlight, Cadence, and Sunburst. He ran as fast as he could towards me and planted himself like a wall between Shining Armor and the changeling.

"Spike! What are you doing?! Get away from that thing!" Shining Armor ordered.

At this time, many crystal ponies gathered around from many different parts of the city. Once they got an eyeful on what had been going on, they immediately began whispering amongst each other. At this point, one of them shouted out and cheered on Spike.

"It's Spike the Brave and Glorious! He's caught the changeling and now he's finally going to defeat it!"

"Do it, Spike! Show us your almighty power and free us from our fears!"

Spike looked around him and noticed the crowd of ponies cheering him on. Then, he turned towards Shining Armor, who was hitting him with a silent but deadly glare. Finally, he glanced back at the changeling held captive under my hooves. He closed his eyes and balled up his fist. A few tears escaped from his eyes before he straightened his back against Shining Armor.

"No. He's not a 'thing'! His name is Thorax, and he's my friend!"

Every pony in the vicinity immediately gasped in pure shock and horror as they both witnessed and listened to this. Alongside me, I particularly heard Athena gasp softly as she repeated the name under her breath. "…Thorax?"

Spike turned and faced Thorax with a somber frown. "Thorax, I can help you, but you have to promise not to run away. I want to show everyone here what kind of changeling you really are."

Thorax's ears flopped down, but he eventually nodded sadly.

Spike now lifted his head towards me and looked at me with pleading eyes. He obviously wanted me to remove my hooves off him, but I couldn't help but hesitate extremely. Every pony here wanted this changeling to be dealt with, so I would be going against nearly everypony's wishes if I just 'let him go'. Nevertheless, Spike slowly walked towards me and appeared as if he was on the verge of getting on his knees. "You trust me, right? I'm your friend, and I wouldn't want you to do anything that'd hurt anypony."

I sighed as I thought intensely about this for whatever short amount of time I had. Finally, I removed my hooves off Thorax, believing I could possibly catch him again if he tried to run off. Nevertheless, he remained in the same place I had him in. Spike extended his claw out to him, which he accepted and was helped up by.

"Spike, you better have a good explanation for this." Shining Armor sternly warned. "You do realize you're helping a changeling, right? They're evil!"

Spike exchanged a look with Thorax, who worriedly looked back at him. Despite the kind of pressure he had been in, Spike returned a confident nod and began approaching Shining Armor closely. He displayed himself in the center of the unsettling sight and began to sing.

"Would you say I'm a hero

Glorious and brave

If I told you something you wouldn't believe?"

Despite Spike's heartfelt words, Shining Armor, and practically everyone else, didn't look convinced at all. It almost seemed as if they saw all of this as one entire gimmick. However, Spike continued to press on.

"That sometimes I'm scared

And I can make mistakes

And I'm not so heroic, it seems"

Spike turned to us and appeared to face directly at me.

"But if day can turn to night

And the darkness turn to light

Then why can't we imagine a changeling can change?"

He proceeded to address the crowd watching.

"No two ponies are exactly the same

No two snowflakes ever match their design

And I thought I was strong

But I was nothing but wrong

When I forgot to be friendly and kind

But if day can turn to night

And the darkness turn to light

Then why can't we imagine a changeling can change?"

His eyes lifted upwards at a certain statue, and it seemed he had been particularly staring at the statue built in his honor for saving the Crystal Empire.

"Would you say I'm a hero

Glorious and brave

If I told you something you wouldn't believe?"

He extended a claw out to Thorax and formed a furrowed expression on his face.

"This changeling, it seems

Knows the real me

And would stay by my side 'til the end"

His voice gaining a recognizable confidence, he prepared to call for both a change of mind and heart from everypony else.

"So if day can turn to night

And the darkness turn to light

Then why can't we imagine

Just why can't we imagine

Then why can't we imagine a changeling can change?"

Once Spike concluded, he searched the eyes of every other pony. When it appeared that everypony was hardly convinced, his shoulders slumped down, and he faced the ground with a heart-wrenching frown.

I didn't know what to do at this point. I wanted to believe Spike, but at the same time, I was so out of the know when it came to this changeling. What if it was possible that this changeling might have tricked Spike into thinking he was a friend when he really wasn't? Everypony else didn't seem to take Spike's words too confidently, and I could only hope it was because of the very reason I was unsure and not because of the credibility surrounding Spike.

"Spike's right." I heard a voice announce clearly behind me, breaking the cold silence among us. Athena passed me and joined Spike at the center of attention. "Everyone's scared. I know that. And I also know that it's hard thinking that someone who's a part of a group that's been known to be completely evil is actually good. If anypony should be scared of a Changeling, it's me, but I'm not." She turned towards Thorax and proceeded to smile. "I can tell he's a good changeling because right now, he's feeling a whole sort of emotions. He's really scared, sad, and even a little happy. If it were any other changeling, I think all I'd see is anger." She turned back to the crowd. "You all are scared too. I can see it. So, I can understand that you wouldn't take my word for it. That's why…I'll show you he's good." She decided to approach Thorax and stand by him. "Personally, I think I have a lot of love to give. Maybe not as much as this recent Crystalling, but definitely a good amount no evil Changeling would just ignore feeding off of. If I can show everypony, will that be enough?"

"Don't do anything and get away from him! It's too dangerous!" Shining Armor warned, holding a hoof out in caring protest.

Nevertheless, Athena didn't take him seriously, and she proved this by teasingly sticking out her tongue at him and turning over to Thorax. "If its friends you want, Thorax, then look no further. I'll be your friend." She smiled brightly before wrapping her hooves around him.

Everypony gasped and immediately leaned forward in anticipation. Thorax's eyes shot open in surprise, and his mouth quivered. I could feel my own heart pound tremendously in anxiety, and I was sure everyone was just as uncertain and worried about what would happen.

Yet, Thorax didn't feed. Instead, he returned the hug with his own insect-like hooves as tears escaped from his eyes. "I can feel it." He said. "There's so much love in you, yet, I can feel you sharing it without me needing to take it at all!"

"That's the point of having friends." Athena shared. "There's only so much you can do on your own, and genuine love plays a big part in each of our lives."

"Thank you so much…" He expressed honestly.

From the other side where Shining Armor and his guards stood, another pony poked out and approached us. It was Twilight, and it seemed she had something to say next.

"You guys… I'm so proud of you. Especially you, Spike."

"You are?" Spike questioned.

"Of course!" Twilight exclaimed. "You're a celebrity here in the Crystal Empire, and you just risked all of it for a friend!" She turned over to Athena with Thorax. "Athena just risked losing her love to a changeling we hardly knew anything about, and the bond between you and Alex must be really strong if he trusts you to let go of a changeling we were all after. I can't imagine anything more brave than that. I've should've seen this sooner." She turned towards the crowd watching and began to make an official announcement. "As the Princess of Friendship, I try to set an example for all of Equestria. But today, the lesson comes from my good friends who taught me that a new friend can come from anywhere. I guess everypony still has things to learn about friendship. Even me! And if they say Thorax is their friend, then he's my friend too. After all, it wasn't too long ago that I made a friend of someone who was once my enemy."

Twilight lifted her hoof and held it out towards Thorax.

"…Thank you!" Thorax expressed gratefully, approaching her and accepting her hoof.

"On behalf of the Crystal Empire, I would like to extend my hoof in friendship, and I'm sure all of my subjects are eager to do the same." Cadence announced, now joining in the small circle we had around Thorax.

Just as Cadence had mentioned, every one of the residents of the Crystal Empire watching applauded and cheered from their princess's decision. As a sign of her sincere trust, she brought over Flurry Heart and revealed her to Thorax. Thorax appreciated both the sight and love that came from the baby that cooed right back at him.

"Welcome to the Crystal Empire, Thorax." Shining Armor stated a little gloomily as any trace of anger in his face was wiped off. "I'm sorry we didn't take the time to get to know you. Maybe we can change that now."

"That'd be so amazing!" Thorax excitedly accepted. "I want to know all about friendship, and maybe one day I can take that knowledge back to the Changeling Kingdom! If my kind learned how to create love for one another, maybe they wouldn't have to take it from others!"

"To Spike the Brave and Glorious!" One of the royal guards praised, initiating everypony to carry both Spike and Thorax up in cheer.

To my side, I spotted Athena smirking brightly. "I can see a mixture of yellow and blue in him. He's really happy."

Despite her ambiguous response, I smiled back at her. "I'm proud of you Athena. To risk your love for someone you didn't necessarily know? That was really brave of you."

"Oh, I think I knew him enough." Athena concluded as we continued to witness the sight before us.

In the midst of the celebration, I noticed Twilight approach Cadence.

"So, just out of curiosity, are you still looking to have those protective spells done?"

Cadence smiled softly, and all of the worry she once wore earlier today completely vanished and was out of sight. "If we can trust Thorax, then I don't think it's necessary at the moment."

Athena retrieved the bags of lunch I asked her to hold and helped me bring them towards the two princesses.

"Besides, I think it's time for a lunch break." I advised, holding up a bag.

Things were significantly a lot calmer after we concluded the issue regarding the search for the changeling. We busted out the lunch among all of us involved, which included Twilight, Starlight, Cadence, Sunburst, Athena, Spike, and even Thorax. I believed our collection of lunch was supposed to include Shining Armor, but he was too busy working out stuff with the rest of the guards. We didn't want Thorax to be imprisoned by guards who were unaware of what had just happened, after all. Because Shining Armor's absence, his food was given to Thorax. Of course, being a changeling, he seemed to stare at the food rather oddly.

"I don't think changelings have ever eaten this kind of stuff before." He shared, poking at its crystalized surface.

"You should try it." Athena encouraged. "It looks like it'd break your teeth, but it's actually pretty good!"

Thorax lowered his head and carefully took a bite. There was loud crunching occurring between his jaws before he finally swallowed and lightly licked his lips. "It's…different?" He grinned sheepishly. "Although, I think I still prefer love. Not that I want to take it from anyone though!" He made sure to clearly point out before any accusations could be made.

This, in turn, caused a small collection of laughter to come from everypony, garnering an embarrassed flush of cheeks to arise from Thorax.

"Hey, Twilight." Starlight called her mentor. "Looks like you were right after all."

"Right about what?" Twilight questioned with confusion.

"Friendship lessons can happen anywhere." She stated with a satisfactory smile. "What happened today was something absolutely worthwhile to see. I wouldn't be surprised if somepony or dragon got a cutie mark out of it." She turned specifically towards Athena and Spike.

Following Spike's chuckle, I faced Athena. "Hey, is that a cutie mark I see on your flank?"

I swear she almost turned her head, but she quickly stopped herself. "Oh, shut up." She giggled lightly.

"My bad. It was just some ketchup." I teased.

She looked this time out of embarrassment, but once she found that there was no such thing, she quickly breathed out a breath of relief. "Don't even joke about that."

"Considering all of you've done for us…" Cadence referred unexpectedly as she fed Flurry Heart a bottle of milk. "I have no doubt in my mind that you'll find your cutie mark soon. I get the feeling that you already have a strong idea of what your purpose is. You just need to make that final push."

I wasn't sure if Athena took Cadence's words seriously since she was pretty firm on her belief that it wasn't exactly possible to get a cutie mark in the first place due to her 'situation'. Nonetheless, she looked genuinely pleased with Cadence's advice and nodded happily, sparing a bright closed-eye grin.

"You've always been a pretty great teacher, Miss Cadence."

Buckball Season

The sounds of our battle cries and grunts nearly resonated in an open field surrounded by acres of apple trees. It was almost a toned-down game of chicken; the ball that was nearly swung violently between each of us was the determining point of who was the best. Normally, I never really considered myself one for competition, but for some reason, I wanted to give it my all at this point.

"Take that!" She cried out as she slammed the ball with a mighty hind leg.

"Right back at ya!" I followed the ball upwards with the use of my wings and slammed it back down with a spirited forehoof.

"Hah!" She swung her body all-around and returned a horizontal kick.

"Huh!" I returned the manner with a reverse somersault.

"How's this?!" She smacked the ball loudly with both her forehooves.

"Checkmate!" I swiped at it with my left hind leg.

This continued on like an intense game of ping pong. It was only a matter of time before Rainbow Dash decided to step it up.

"You haven't seen anything yet! Ultra-Rainbow Blast!" In a literal flash, Rainbow flew some distance behind her and zapped back over to the playing field, striking the ball strongly. It appeared the momentum of the ball matched Rainbow's speed, practically teleporting to an area past me. Even if I was able to make contact with it, I was afraid that I'd end up in the hospital. She ultimately settled the score with that ultimate move, and I suppose it didn't help that I had also been distracted with the streak of rainbow she left behind as she moved in to deal the finishing blow. That's how fast she was.

At either point, I had run out of stamina. I had no expectations of beating Rainbow Dash when it came to a game like this, and I would have been left laughing on the ground had I not been so breathless from how much energy I had exerted.

"Ah, yeah! I win!" Rainbow Dash cheered.

"Like it would have been anyway else." I managed to scrape out once I had enough circulation of air going inside me.

Rainbow landed her hooves by me and placed a hoof on my back. "Think of it this way: You lasted way longer than I thought. That's something to be proud of."

Taking one last deep breath, I finally felt my respiratory system was stable enough to talk smoothly. "Well, I don't know about you, but I didn't really care about winning. Just playing with you was fun enough."

"I'm with you there." She returned, her voice losing its competitive and boasting edge to a more friendly and heartfelt one. "I'm glad we could play ball together. I thought it was a lot of fun too. It feels totally amazing to just get all that energy out." Her hoof on my back suddenly enveloped into a tight squeeze around my neck. I wasn't sure if that was done to emphasize her point on "getting energy out", but it was welcomed nonetheless. I personally found it nice to see Rainbow in a kinder state than she usually was in.

However, we had been surprised with the sound of light applause coming from a short distance away from us. Rainbow hastily removed her hooves, and we both looked in the direction of this sound. Sitting on the grass nearby, we found Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy happily bringing their hooves together.

"Whoa! How long have you guys been there?!" Rainbow Dash asked in a slightly startled state.

"We came sometime you two started really getting at it. It looked like a whole lot of fun!" Pinkie cheerfully answered.

"How come you didn't tell me you were gonna use the farm for a little ball game?" Applejack inquired, raising a friendly eyebrow.

"Normally, I wouldn't mind an audience to cheer me on, and that wasn't exactly what I was going for this time around." Rainbow admitted. "Alex and I thought we'd play a little ball with each other to, you know, grow our friendship and all that stuff."

"You two do hardly spend time with each other." Fluttershy noticed. "It's nice to see you getting along."

Rainbow hovered a hoof around me and straightened herself proudly. "Yeah. We're pretty much best buds now. Did any of you want to tag in?"

"No, thanks." Fluttershy answered politely, moving a strand of her hair towards the back of her ear. "That last match looked a little…intense."

"We were just tossing the ball around at first." I mentioned, remembering what happened when we first arrived here. "At some point, things just got heated." I laughed a little at the thought of it.

"Yeah, if you wanna play, we could totally take it down a notch." Rainbow offered.

"Sounds like super-duper fun!" Pinkie bounced energetically.

"Hey, I've got an idea." Applejack pointed out. "How about we play some Buckball?"

"…Buckball?" Fluttershy questioned, appearing to clearly have no clue in regards to the name of the game, much less the actual mechanics behind it.

"Oh, I dominate in that game!" Rainbow stated boldly.

"Great! You can help me teach the other ponies how to play." Applejack said.

"Yeah, totally." Rainbow responded before raising up something else. "Just one thing. Uh, what exactly is Buckball?"

"Wh-What? You just said you knew how to play." Applejack stammered a bit from confusion.

"I said I dominate in that game. I didn't say I even knew what the game was." Rainbow corrected.

"But how can you be so good at a game that you don't even know anythin' about?" Applejack argued.

"Cause I'm the best at every game, that's why!"

Applejack lowered her eyelids halfway before she released an exasperated sigh.

"Here's how it works." Applejack moved on towards the field and set up a post with a bucket on top at one end. "First, we have two Earth Ponies up front on offense. That'd be me and Pinkie. Over here, Pinkie." She directed her over to the center of the field.

"One second!" Pinkie grabbed a couple of hair bands and tied them around the left and right side of her mane, making it look like she had a couple of puffy pompoms for hair. Lastly, she tagged on a similar headband and slipped into a matching shirt. "Ready!" She hopped on forward before she joined Applejack and faced her with a bright smile.

Deciding to completely ignore Pinkie's spontaneous wardrobe, she continued her explanation over the game. "Next, we have the Pegasus ponies. They stand by the goals on defensive. Their job is to keep any ball from going into the bucket. So, Rainbow, you're over here." She gestured her towards her side. "Fluttershy, you're on the other side with Pinkie."

"Cool. Doesn't seem hard." Rainbow casually flew over as Fluttershy moved towards the opposite way, stationing herself in front of the designated area. Rainbow's eyes roamed around for a bit before she turned over to Applejack in question. "Um, Applejack, where is the goal?"

"That's where Alex comes in." Applejack mentioned. "Normally, we have two Unicorns for this part of the team, but all we've got is an Alicorn, so that will have to do." Applejack lifted up a bucket and kicked it over to me. I had no choice but to catch it with my magic. "Usually, what the unicorns do is float this here basket around the outside of the field and catch as many balls as possible for their team. There's supposed to be two baskets like this, but since we only have one pony that uses magic here, we've got to make do with a stationary basket that Fluttershy is guarding. It's a handicap for us, but considering the way I arranged our teams, I figured it's as balanced as I could make it."

"Just wondering. Are Alicorns even allowed to play Buckball?" Rainbow asked. "You know, seeing as they're like the jack of all trades?"

"That's the thing." Applejack wondered herself. "I don't think there's ever really been an Alicorn that's played Buckball, much less competed in a competition. So, there aren't exactly any 'official' rules for an Alicorn playing. I'd think as long as they stick to one position and play it as a pony would normally play it, they'd be fine. Either way, this is just a friendly game, so there's no worrying about the rules for now."

"So…where do I go?" I asked.

"With us." Applejack pointed out. "You'll be trying to catch any balls Pinkie kicks on over to us. All you simply do is move the bucket wherever the ball goes. You're essentially playing catch with a bucket instead of your hooves."

"Oh, I see." I swung the bucket around a little bit as I aligned myself on the opposite side of the field. "In that case, you're right. It is a handicap for you because you have no one to help you shoot into the goal on the other side."

"But, it's Applejack and us, so it's like she said: It balances out." Rainbow Dash smirked lightly.

"So, all I have to do is just make sure the ball doesn't go into the bucket, right?" Fluttershy asked with a slightly raised voice, having been on the other side of the field.

"You got it, Fluttershy!" Applejack confirmed. "Everypony ready to give it a test run?"

"Ready!" Pinkie sang jubilantly.

Applejack retrieved the ball and positioned herself backward, holding the ball on top of her back hoof. "Okay, just try your best, Pinkie. I have been doin' this a lot longer than you." She encouraged before tossing the ball upwards.

As soon as it bounced once off the ground, Pinkie immediately flung her hind legs backward, kicking the ball straight towards Rainbow Dash. Rainbow appeared to be just as surprised as Applejack was, so it took her a second before she tried to toss the ball backward. However, it just missed her hoof, and I needed to jerk the bucket upwards in order to catch it in time.

"Whoa. I was not expectin' that." Applejack commented. "Nice kick, Pinkie."

"Hehe, thanks!" She elatedly appreciated.

Rainbow Dash swung her head around before cracking a few bones. "Alright. I wasn't ready that time, but now I am!"

I tossed the ball in the bucket over to Applejack, who played around with it for a short time before preparing another check with Pinkie. "Here we go." She tossed it up into the air, and the two of them waited until it bounced once before they had at it. Pinkie managed to get the first hit again, and it was sent flying over to Rainbow Dash.

However, this time, Rainbow Dash licked her lips and proceeded to pound the ball back, passing it over to Applejack. "Coming your way, Applejack!"

"Nice save, Rainbow!" Applejack locked eyes onto the ball and slammed it over to Fluttershy's direction. At the sight of this, Fluttershy's eyes widened, and it seemed she panicked at the moment. All she could do was drift out of the way, allowing the ball to land perfectly inside the goal.

"I think you're supposed to hit it back." Pinkie Pie mentioned.

"I'm sorry." Fluttershy apologized. "I just got scared. It was moving really fast…"

"You'll get it next time," Rainbow Dash encouraged, "You don't need to slam it with your hooves or anything. As long as you block it, you're pretty much doing your job."

"Toss it over here, Fluttershy." Applejack requested. "We'll give it another go."

Fluttershy pulled it out from within the bucket and lightly chucked it over to Applejack. Catching it with her hind legs once more, she went on to hurl it upwards. Pinkie had been a little too busy staring at something on the ground, so she was caught off guard when the ball bounced on top of the area in front of her.

"Huh?"

Applejack gained the first kick this time, and it headed straight towards Fluttershy. Fluttershy immediately closed her eyes and rolled over mid-air. However, surprisingly, the ball didn't go straight in the goal this time. In actuality, it almost looked like it had completely disappeared into thin air. It wasn't until Fluttershy stopped vertically twirling when a ball flung out from her tail. "Whee!" She giggled heartily, seeming to enjoy the moment of throwing the ball back with success.

"Aww!" I couldn't help but find her reaction absolutely adorable.

"Somersault kick!" Pinkie flipped forward and kicked it over to my basket.

It looked like Rainbow had been surprised by Fluttershy's move this time, so she had a hard time sending the ball back. I, myself, hadn't been paying too much attention in moving the bucket, but, luckily, the ball had been heading straight towards where I had been hovering the goal. We had earned another point on our behalf.

"Hey, this game is pretty easy!" Pinkie stated after witnessing our accomplishment.

"Ooh!" Fluttershy giggled as she joined in with Pinkie's excitement. "It actually is kinda fun!"

"Where in Equestria did you learn to buck like that, Pinkie?" Applejack asked.

"I donnu!" She happily shrugged. "I did have to use my legs a lot back when I still worked at the rock farm."

"Fluttershy, that spinning tail catch was pretty awesome…!" Rainbow Dash recognized.

"Hehe, you really think so?" Fluttershy returned with a touch a bashfulness.

"I never thought I'd say this…but you two might actually give Ponyville a winning chance against Appleloosa!" Applejack announced.

"Huh?" Rainbow closed in, inquiring about what Applejack had just said. "What's this about Ponyville and Appleloosa?"

"Oh, right…" Applejack replied, seeming to find Rainbow's confusion understandable. "You see, normally, I play Buckball competitively with only Earth ponies. In this case, I'd play for Ponyville, and my cousin, Braeburn, would play for the Appleloosa team. All's fair, right? Well, up until this one day, Braeburn somehow convinced a Pegasus and a unicorn to come play with him on the Appleloosa team, and he can't stop braggin' about how his team is gonna beat ours! So, I've been looking to match him on even grounds, and I was actually going to ask you if you wanted to join, Rainbow, but looking at Fluttershy and Pinkie play, I'm actually thinkin' they might prove a better challenge against Braeburn and his buddies. You and Fluttershy are both new, but for some reason, she's…kinda better than you. Pinkie, on the other hoof, has a solid kick, and Braeburn already knows how I play when it comes to Buckball. Pinkie loves giving out surprises, and I'm more than sure she'll definitely surprise him with a game of Buckball."

"And what about the unicorn?" Rainbow Dash brought up. "Are you gonna give it to Alex?"

Applejack rubbed her chin as she seemed to look me over. "Well…he could definitely use some practice, but seeing as we don't have any other unicorns willing to play, I suppose he'll have to do. No offense." She made sure to clear up before finishing her assessment."

"None taken." I casually responded as I finally placed the bucket I had been carrying down onto the grass.

"What are we waiting for?!" Pinkie excitedly juggled several balls that seemed to have come from nowhere with her legs. "This game is fun! I want to keep playing!"

"It is a whole lot more fun than I thought it would be." Fluttershy lightly brushed her tail.

"It's exactly as much fun as I thought it would be! A whole bunch!" Pinkie screamed, ultimately kicking every ball she juggled towards a certain field within a short distance.

"Carryin' my water

My water, my water

Carryin' my water

On my shoulder pole"

We heard a faint lazy-sounding voice chant on a dirt path nearby.

"SNAILS! LOOK OUT!" Pinkie Pie flailed her hooves about as she shrieked and looked in the direction she kicked the ball towards.

"Hmm?" He lazily looked back, finding a hail of balls raining down upon him. He didn't even try to move out of the way. I, for one, was afraid he was just going to stand there and let himself be hit, but each of us was surprised when the buckets of water that he had been carrying levitated off his shoulders and caught every single loose ball in a whirl-like motion. Honestly, he looked like he didn't even try.

"Amazing…!" Applejack noticed with widened eyes as he began making his way over to us.

"You should be more careful with these. You could lose them." He offered a friendly warning as he returned the balls he had caught with his buckets.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked at each other for a second before Rainbow Dash glanced at me. "Alex, give him your bucket really quick."

"Okay?" I lightly tossed over the bucket, and Snails stared at it with a hard-to-read expression on his face. I couldn't even tell if there was an expression to read in the first place.

"You mind holdin' that, Snails?" Applejack asked.

"Hmm? Sure." He obliged as he picked up the basket with his magic. "What do you want me to do with it?"

"Catch!" Applejack lifted up the balls that had been returned and kicked them straight back to Snails.

In a singular second, every ball smacked against the back end of the bucket, and Snails had remained standing there with no falter or hint of weakness coming from him. It was uncanny. With the kind of name of Snails, one would think he'd be slow all around.

"Anything else?" He asked.

"Wow, Snails. You're a natural at buckball." Fluttershy complimented.

"It's a good thing, too." Pinkie agreed. "I would've freaked out if you had been hurt by those balls I kicked."

"Well then, AJ." Rainbow faced Applejack, nudging her lightly. "Looks like you got your unicorn for the Ponyville team."

"Are you talking about Snails?" Fluttershy questioned. "I thought we had settled on Alex being our unicorn."

"I don't mind giving up my spot." I forfeited easily. "The game's pretty fun, but I hardly know anything about it, and it seems you and Pinkie are naturals at it. If Snails ran as the unicorn, you guys would be like the perfect team."

"Oh…" Fluttershy seemed rather disappointed as she lightly brushed her mane with her hoof. "I was just hoping we could be together like in the Equestria Games…"

Aww!

"Things are kind of different when it comes to buckball, Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash pointed out. "Even if Alex stayed in your team, he's gonna be spending the entire game on the other side of the field with the other team, remember?"

"Besides, I'll still be there to cheer you on, you know?" I mentioned in an effort to cheer her up.

"I suppose that's fine…" She raised a small smile as a result.

"What do you say, Snails?" Applejack turned to him. "Wanna join the Ponyville team and help us beat Appleloosa?"

"Sure." He responded with a short shrug. "After I deliver this water, I don't really have anything else to do."

"Well, Snails, with you on the team, Ponyville is one step closer to crushing Appleloosa!" Rainbow Dash believed.

"Plus, our Pegasus and Earth Pony are sure to knock the competition out faster than Granny Smith can core an apple." Applejack stated, facing Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.

"Are you really serious about having us play for you, Applejack?" Fluttershy asked with uncertainty lingering in her voice. "It's just, you and Rainbow Dash are the most athletic out of all of us. I would think you two would be easily better than us when it comes to this."

"I can't put my hoof on it, but, like I said, you two are absolutely incredible at this game! Almost like you were meant to play."

"Normally, I'd be so pumped to know that all of Ponyville was counting on me to win." Rainbow Dash added. "I give it my all when it comes to sports, but you still flew rings around me. That tail, Fluttershy. You really got something there. I've never seen a pony use their tail to throw a ball in a game before."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Fluttershy apologized. "I was just having fun."

"Well, you can have all the fun you want as long as it's while you're beatin' the hide off of Braeburn's team." Applejack suggested.

"I do like fun!" Pinkie emphasized.

"Honestly, the game was a little scary at first, but once I got the hang of it, I had a pretty good time. I guess playing wouldn't hurt." Fluttershy decided.

"Let's get this party started!" Pinkie danced and swung her hooves around in excitement.

"All right. But if we really wanna beat Appleloosa, we're gonna have to get serious."

The mood seemed to shift once Applejack said that. To be honest, I couldn't help but reflect over the course of actions that led us to where we were now. It all started with a friendly game of ball between Rainbow Dash and me, and now Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Snails were somehow roped into a competition between Ponyville and Appleloosa. It didn't seem exactly like a bad thing at first, but the look on Applejack's face gave me doubts.

"Serious?" Fluttershy inquired about.

"Serious how?" Pinkie clarified.

Applejack began walking off and motioned her hoof over. "Follow me."

"Um, can I finish delivering this water I have?" Snails brought something up that a lot of us seemed to have forgotten about.

"Of course! But come straight back here when you're finished, kay?" Rainbow Dash responded.

"Yes, ma'am!" Snails returned a salute before heading on off with his delivery.

Applejack began leading us through rows of seemingly endless apple trees. However, it somewhat felt like my time here was over. In other words, it appeared that Applejack had something in store for Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and even Snails, yet I was just tagging along mostly because of Fluttershy.

"Is it just me, or did anypony else get a weird feeling when Applejack said that we'd have to get 'serious'?" Pinkie Pie whispered between Fluttershy and me.

"I'm sure she just wants us to be focused when we're playing against Appleloosa." Fluttershy responded positively. "It kind of reminds me how Rainbow Dash led us when it came to the Equestria Games. Although…" She glanced over at me with saddened eyes. "You won't be on the team with us this time."

"You can bet I'll be there to cheer you on." I promised. "Besides, it sounds like Applejack just wants to get back at her cousin, and for this time, she wants the best players she can get. If you ask me, I think you two should feel pretty proud of yourselves."

"I can totally do a 'Hooray! We beat Appleloosa!' party after the game! What better way to end a fun game with an amazingly fun party?" Pinkie added.

"What if we don't win?" Fluttershy questioned.

"We can still have the party. Just need to mess with the name a bit, that's all."

"We're here, y'all!" Applejack announced a short distance from us and stretched out her hoof towards a clearing just past a couple of apple trees. "You wanted to know how serious I was, well here it is!"

The three of us caught up with her and took a look at what exactly she had been pointing at. In another field clearing, there had been, what looked like, a huge obstacle course set up. Judging from the baskets on top of the grounded poles, it was a course meant specifically for buckball.

"With serious power comes with serious practice!" Applejack included.

"How long have you had this?!" I couldn't help but ask, never once coming across an intricate playfield like this on her farm.

"How else do you think I get ready for some fierce buckball matches?" Applejack answered my question with one of her own. "Anypony who wants to be in tiptop shape needs to run through this course a few times."

"Wow." Fluttershy responded with a nervous gulp. "This looks pretty intense."

"You're telling me!" Rainbow Dash squeezed in between Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. "I'm so jealous! You two get to run this course! It looks so fun!"

"Nothin's stopping you from running through it too, Rainbow Dash." Applejack mentioned.

"Yeah, I know. But, who else is gonna help you shape up these two to be the best buckball players ever? You want them to win against Appleloosa? I can definitely help with that! After all, they're not only going to be representing all of Ponyville, they're also going to be representing us, considering I was your first choice anyhow."

"I like your attitude, Rainbow Dash." Applejack nodded her head in approval as she tipped her hat. "You're definitely amazin' at risin' up some spirits. Glad to have you on board." Next, she turned towards their players. "Giddy up, ponies. Before we leave for Appleloosa tomorrow, you two are gonna be practicing as hard as we would."

"Wait. We're leaving tomorrow?!" Pinkie nearly screamed out from surprise.

"Yep." Applejack easily responded as if she didn't have an issue with the lack of time in between. "The pressure really gets you fired up, know what I'm saying?"

"No!" Pinkie and Fluttershy answered simultaneously, but it didn't seem like it was taken seriously.

"I know it seems like a bad thing, but, trust me, when you're racing against the clock, you get heaps better!" Rainbow advised. "Now, hop to it! Fluttershy, you're with me!"

"And, Pinkie, you're training with me." Applejack directed.

"Hold on a second." I spoke in the middle of trying to wrap my head around our current fast-paced situation. "Don't you think this is a little too much? They just started playing the game."

"Nah. This is easy." Rainbow answered boldly. "Fluttershy and I used to do this sort of stuff back at Flight Camp. Besides, I didn't know about this game until a little while ago, and I can do this easy-peasy."

"But, you're used to this kind of stuff, Rainbow." I argued.

"Here." Rainbow turned to Fluttershy and carried a ball within her hooves. "Let me show you how it's done, and since you're crazy good, it's only a matter of time before you reach my level." She formed a tightened grip on her ball and proceeded to dash through a certain section of the course.

First, she juggled the ball around effortlessly across a path of rings. Next, she swerved left and right, easily passing through a row of blue and red colored sticks without clipping a hoof or a wing. Then, she dribbled the ball up a flight of platforms all while somersaulting at the same time. Finally, she carried the ball through several airborne rings and came down a swirling tube to the finish. Throughout this eye-drawing show, Fluttershy gasped and whimpered at each and every sight.

"If you wanna guaranteed win, you should totally get this drill down. It's all about ball control." Rainbow Dash skidded to a stop, tossing Fluttershy the ball and causing her to fumble with it due to surprise.

"I don't think she needs to go to that extreme…" I shared.

"If Applejack thinks they need practice, then I say they could definitely use the practice." Rainbow replied. "Applejack's the only one who's seen Appleloosa's team in action, so it's good to be ready for anything."

"And you think they're going to nail what you just did down in a single day?"

"It's okay." I suddenly felt Fluttershy press a comforting hoof against me. I turned to find a warm smile lighting her face. "I don't want to take the easy way out. If Rainbow Dash and Applejack think I can use this training, then I don't think it can hurt to try."

"That's the spirit, Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash cheered.

I had no place to tell Fluttershy what she could or couldn't do, so I felt that I needed to let her give this extreme obstacle course a whirl, despite how dangerous it may have seemed.

"Ready?" Rainbow Dash asked, earning a confident nod from Fluttershy. "Go!" Fluttershy proceeded to take the first step, mimicking Rainbow Dash when it came to balancing the ball on her hind legs. However, while Fluttershy was making good progress, she was taking her time, and this incited some shouting to bellow out of her coach. "Come on! Faster! You don't want Ponyville to lose because you can't get into high gear, do you?!" Fluttershy lost her balance at the sound of Rainbow Dash screaming into her ear, and she fell over, losing the ball that she had been keeping balanced upon her head. I tried to step in, but Rainbow immediately held a hoof in front of me. "No helping! She's gotta rely on herself first if she wants to be the best!"

"Since when did she want to be the best?" I almost angrily barked out.

Nevertheless, despite my clear and nearly open objections, this 'training' continued to go on. At first, Pinkie appeared to have better luck with Applejack, but it was only a matter of time before she started struggling as much as Fluttershy was. Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash were barking orders towards their respective trainees, and it started giving me glimpses of what it had been like in Wonderbolt Academy.

I remember Rainbow Dash being somewhat strict and bold with us when it came to our Equestria Games training, but something was definitely different at this point. Our Equestria Games training felt more like a team project, with each of us helping each other to the top. The training now felt more like an obsessed parent trying to force victory and success upon their child. I believed it was safe to say that Pinkie and Fluttershy no longer appeared to be having the same kind of fun that they were having earlier today. On the other hoof, Snails had, at some point, returned and had been meditating with a circle of buckets spinning around him. He caught any stray ball without opening his eyes, and he proved to be having a much easier time than the others were. Just what kind of situation has every one of us gotten into?

As much as I wanted to speak for the both of them, I instead felt pretty conflicted. Especially when it came to Fluttershy, I almost felt as if I'd be going against her wishes, should I try to intervene. For a while now, she's been looking to march past her weak self and be a bolder pony. It was clear that she didn't want to always rely on me the majority of the time like she used to, and as much as I supported her decision to improve herself, I couldn't help but feel this was unnecessary or too much.

Besides, even if I tried to step in to help either of them, I'd always get interrupted by their coach. If it had been Applejack coaching Rainbow Dash or vice versa, things would be different. I'd know that they'd be able to handle these harsh training tactics because that's what they were clearly used to. In the end, all I could really do is briefly look away and flinch at the sight of any one of them failing.

Applejack and Rainbow gathered together to speak with one another as each of us watched the two trainees struggle with grabbing a simple ball. I think it was clear enough that they didn't have anything more left in them.

"All right! That's it for today, y'all!" Applejack finally called out, allowing each of us to release a breath of relief.

For Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, it was due to physical exertion. For me, it was mental exhaustion.

"I thought practice was supposed to make us better." Pinkie pointed out.

"Maybe we just need a little rest." Fluttershy suggested.

"Or a whole lot of it." Rainbow Dash corrected after witnessing the performance that they had given.

"Just be sure to get your heads in the game before tomorrow. All of Ponyville is countin' on a win." Applejack stated before leaving the field with Rainbow Dash. Behind them, Snails walked with an absentminded grin. It was almost like this session was just another ordinary day in his life.

"How are you guys doing?" I approached the two as Pinkie slowly slid the bands affixed to her hair and head off with a confused frown.

"I'm not so sure I want to play anymore…" Pinkie responded as she stuffed the bands into her mane.

"We already said we'd play. We don't want to disappoint them." Fluttershy brought up.

"I guess you're right, Fluttershy." Pinkie agreed. "I know we didn't Pinkie promise, but I still wouldn't want to break any kind of promise in the first place."

Fluttershy sighed heavily and began to scratch the surface of the dirt beneath her with her hoof. "I really don't want to let Applejack and Rainbow Dash down, or anypony else, but after that practice, I'm not feeling very confident."

"Well, maybe we weren't that bad!" Pinkie attempted to pull up a hopeful grin as she glanced over to Fluttershy, but Fluttershy returned no sign of agreement. "I guess I was hoping you saw something I didn't."

"I know our friends want us to win, but how can the whole town be counting on us if most ponies have never even heard of buckball?"

"I know! How can we disappoint a pony who doesn't even know we have a team?"

"Or that we're gonna play Appleloosa?"

"Pfft. Yeah. I don't think we need to worry. I'd be surprised if anypony in this town cares about this game at all."

After witnessing their short and oddly uplifting conversation, I joined the two as they began making their way out of the farm.

"I guess that's one way to put it…" I took an uncomplacent stance on their thoughts. "I kind of wish the game with Appleloosa wasn't brought up, to begin with. No offense, but you two are better off just having a casual game instead of participating in a competition."

"No, I agree one hundred percent." Pinkie replied. "I don't want to have ponies judging my every move when all I'm doing is just trying to have fun."

"Ponies judge you in a game of buckball?" Fluttershy worriedly began to ask.

"Ponies always—"

"No." I returned Pinkie a stern and miniature scold, lowering my eyelids half-way towards her.

"Let's just do our best, kay?" Pinkie revised her last remark and shared a bright and shiny grin.

Later on, during the evening, it seemed Fluttershy was beginning to succumb to the effects of soreness from her earlier workout with Rainbow Dash. I helped her to bed and proceeded to stretch her blanket over her and tuck her as comfortably and neatly as I could into her bed.

"I feel so much better now that I'm lying in bed." Fluttershy mentioned as she sweetly gazed at me. "You know, I have a good feeling I'll be so much better tomorrow. Today was just a little rough because neither of us had expected we'd end up playing a game we hardly know about against an experienced team. Tomorrow's a new day, and I'm feeling good about it already."

"You sure worked up a sweat today." I said as I brushed my hoof against her mane. "When you wake up tomorrow, try taking a bath. That might help calm any nerves you might have."

She silently nodded and stretched her loving smile at me. "I'm glad to have you here with me, sweetie."

"I've gotta look after my girl, you know?" I tried to mimic her brother's voice, but I seemed to fail horribly. "Ugh. Yeah, that doesn't exactly work well with me." I admitted, finding relief since failing at his voice was more of a good thing for me.

Nevertheless, Fluttershy giggled at my attempt. "Hey, Alex…?"

"Mm-hm?" I leaned in closer to her.

"If we win, will you take me out on a date?"

"Are you kidding?" I instantly returned. "I'll take you out whether you win or lose. That's a promise."

Her eyes closed as her lips spread outwards to reveal a cheery yet soft grin. "That makes me really happy. I'll make sure to do my very best for you out there."

I chuckled. "Heh heh, this is kind of weird."

"Hm? Why?" She inquired.

"It's just, it feels like it should be the other way around. I should probably be the one who needs to prove himself in some kind of aggressive sport and you're the one who motivates me by promising me a date no matter what happens afterwards."

"Oh, you think?" Fluttershy thought for a bit and giggled once more. "I guess that makes sense."

"You better get some sleep now." I turned out her lights. "After today, you could definitely use as much rest as you can get."

"I just hope Pinkie is doing better. I feel bad that I'm the one you're taking care of." Fluttershy expressed with her expression shifting to worry for a moment.

"Come on. She's Pinkie." I reassured. "Considering she's always bouncing around everywhere she is, I'm sure some hardcore exercise is hardly anything for her. She's probably having her milk and cookies right about now."

Fluttershy nodded and began to slip underneath the sheets. "Goodnight, Alex."

"Goodnight, Fluttershy." I returned with an open heart before preparing to step out.

"Could I have one more second with you?" She suddenly requested, causing me to turn around and approach her bed once again.

"Yeah, of course. What is it?" I asked at her bedside.

"Come closer." She mentioned innocently, poking her head from underneath her sheets as she gave a childlike smile.

I did so, and she immediately surprised me with a sweet kiss on the lips. Afterwards, she turned on her side and closed her eyes, saying no more. I continued watching her for a little while longer as the smile on my face stretched. I had to sort out what had happened within my mind a little, but, ultimately, I left her to sleep in peace.

At the castle, I made my way over to my room with a fairly loud yawn, but just as I passed by the library, I caught a glimpse of somepony inside. I turned and walked past the doorway, almost immediately spotting Athena's resting body on top of the sofa chair.

Her foreleg hung over the hoofrest as her right cheek pressed against the area near it. Her eyes had been closed, and she silently breathed in and out. However, I noticed something below her on the floor that appeared to have fallen not too long ago. It was her sketchbook, and it seemed like she didn't get to finish whatever she was drawing before she dozed off and passed out. I carefully picked it up, along with the pencil that was hiding underneath it, and placed on the table nearby. Just as I was going to pick her up and put her to bed, I spotted another pony quietly reading across from her.

"Watcha reading?" I asked, approaching her in her seat.

"Huh?" She seemed fairly surprised at my presence. "Oh, I'm not reading. I'm looking through some old pictures." She smiled as she turned over the front of the book towards me. It was actually a scrapbook instead of the lengthy books she usually read.

"Feeling a little nostalgic or something?" I wondered, taking a seat next to her.

"I don't know. Maybe." She began shifting through the scrapbook, her eyes scanning every page carefully. "I saw this on the bookshelf and decided I would take a short peak. Before I knew it, I was going through the entire thing. It's so weird looking back now." She giggled at a particular page and angled it to where I had a better look. "Hehe, remember this?" She pointed out a photo of us right after we had solved the mystery of the MMM cake. "Back when you were just an Earth Pony and I was still a plain and simple unicorn. Now the two of us are Alicorns. Who would've guessed?"

"For you, Celestia, maybe." I intentionally took her question a little too literally. However, I began wondering something a little more deep and serious. "Hey. I don't know if this is a dumb question, but have you ever thought about going back to being a 'simple unicorn'? I mean, back then, all you had to worry about were your studies and learning about friendship. Now, well, you know, you got princess stuff to do."

"I don't think I can 'go back' to being a unicorn, but if you're asking if I miss not being a princess and having wings, well…hm…" She thought to herself for a moment. "That's actually a hard question to answer. I guess the best way I could describe it is…I've got a lot of good memories from back then, and while it'd be nice to sort of experience them again, I wouldn't exactly give up what I have right now to go back to those 'simple times'. That make sense?"

"Yeah, I think I get it."

"What about you?" She now turned my question around to me. "Do you miss being an Earth Pony? After all, you became an Alicorn way before I did."

"That's funny actually." I mentioned. "Apparently, if I remember correctly, I had the ability to change forms whenever I wanted, but I stupidly never practiced with it. I just stayed one for the entire time unless I spontaneously lost it. Even then…" I took some time to gather what I wanted to say. "I think I sort of feel the same way as you, Twilight. There are memories back then that I'd like to experience again, but I don't want to give up what I have now to go back to those times. After all, being an Alicorn, I feel like I can help everypony else so much more, you know?" Thinking about how I had just met Fluttershy's parents for the first time not too long ago, I immediately turned over to Twilight in emphasis. "It's like this. If I hadn't had any wings, I'm not sure I would've been able to properly meet Fluttershy's parents! If I didn't have wings, she'd had to stay on the ground for my sake. If I wanted to so much go to her old home in Cloudsdale, I'd need to rely on your magic every time. I didn't realize having something like wings was such an important privilege back then, mostly because I never had them to begin with. If they were to just disappear into thin air, I don't know what I'd do. There'd be no more 'fly dates' with Fluttershy. Heck, I'd even miss your lessons on making better use of my magic."

"Are my lessons that bad?" Twilight asked, fortunately finding my comment a little humorously.

"Well, they aren't bad." I replied honestly. "They're just a little…boring. But, even so, the most important thing I find with those lessons aren't exactly what I learn from you. It's the time we spend together practicing those lessons. It's because of my horn that we're able to have a closer bond between each other, and it's the same way with everyone else. To lose both my horn and wings, it'd feel like those extra special moments between us, made possible by my Alicorn status, would just snap off."

Twilight closed the scrapbook and faced directly at me. "I understand why you think being an Alicorn lets you be closer to us, but you know we wouldn't think any less of you if you didn't have your wings or horn, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I know. It's more like…you'd have to cater to my disadvantage if I couldn't fly or use magic. In other words, we couldn't do anymore of the fun things that would need at least either one of those things."

"Hey. If that ever happened, we'd find a way to keep things fun." She concluded with a soft embrace. "No matter what, we're always a royal duo, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah…" I smiled lightly in response. Once, she pulled away, I turned over to where I had first spotted Athena and began standing up. "I better get her to bed. Are you going to be up late?"

"Nah. I think I might just head to bed myself." She answered as she lifted the scrapbook off the floor and slid it in its proper place on the bookshelf.

"Got it." I returned, lightly picking up Athena with my magic. "See you tomorrow, then?"

"Like always."

"Goodnight, Twilight." I wished as I made my way out of the library.

"Night!" She shared happily as she waved me off.

The day after, I couldn't help but think a little about what Twilight and I had talked about the night before. In fact, it was a little eerie in wondering how things would be if I were to lose my wings and horn, but I was eventually able to brush them off, figuring that such a loss would most likely never happen to me. At either point, I needed to stay focused on Fluttershy's game today. I was sure she was counting on me to be there to support her all the way.

"I feel so good about today!" Fluttershy shared as we, along with Pinkie Pie, made our way to the train station to rendezvous with Rainbow, Applejack, and Snails. "Actually, I feel like a new pony! I don't know what I was worrying about yesterday."

"Me too!" Pinkie agreed as she happily bounced alongside us. "I had a bunch of cupcakes after I woke up today. I'm ready for action!"

Gleefully sending an appreciative grin at Pinkie Pie's excitement, Fluttershy lifted her head to get a good view of the sky. "It's such a nice day outside. A perfect day for a nice and friendly game. Oh, I can't wait. It's going to be so much fun."

"I know, right? Imagine if there was going to be a crowd screaming at every second for us to win?" She mentioned as we approached the train station. "That would be so distracting."

"Go, Ponyville! Go, Ponyville! Win, win, win!"

A crowd of ponies wearing particular colors chanted in front of our designated stationed train. Confetti magically fell from the ceiling above and swayed past the frozen faces Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie held. I think it was safe to say that they were in a state beyond surprise.

"Whoa." Snails appeared out of nowhere, witnessing the overwhelming sight for himself. "The whole town really seems to care about this game a lot." He proceeded to walk on forward, appearing completely unfazed, unlike his other two teammates.

"What are you waiting for?!" Rainbow Dash squeezed in between and began nudging them towards the open door of the train. "Train's going to leave any minute! You wouldn't want to disappoint your fans now, would you?"

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie had to nearly be pushed and stuffed into the train due to their stiff and unmoving legs. Inside, they remained glued behind a window, continuously observing the crowd in still silence as they roared loudly in support of their town's team. Eventually, the train began moving, and it was clear that the two players didn't look as confident as they did just a little while ago.

Catching Rainbow Dash nearby, I poked her side and yearned for an answer to the unexpected send-off. "I thought nopony in Ponyville knew about this game. What was with the crowd?"

"Heh. We kinda went around town and talked up the team a little." She spoke as if she had been doing them a favor.

"Yup!" Applejack strongly agreed by her side. "We wanted to make sure our amazing players knew that all of Ponyville was behind them!"

"Greaaaaat..." Pinkie nervously shared.

"I hear the whole town's already plannin' a parade for when you get back after whuppin' Appleloosa! That should feel pretty good!" Applejack mentioned.

"It should...?" Fluttershy worriedly asked, the idea of everypony counting on her clearly troubling her.

"Totally!" Rainbow Dash excitedly exclaimed. "Just spend the whole ride to Appleloosa thinking about everypony cheering for the victorious Ponyville buckball team!" Gasping shortly, her motivational speech did not falter in the slightest. "I bet Princess Celestia even comes to congratulate you! If that doesn't get you in 'the zone', I don't know what will!"

"Princess Celestia?" I cut in. "I don't even think she knows about the game."

"I'm just trying to raise everyone's' spirits, that's all." She excused.

I heard Fluttershy sighing loudly before she managed to speak in a calm tone. "Listen, Rainbow Dash, I appreciate that you're trying to get us 'in the zone', but I'm afraid neither of us has any means to play anymore."

"What?!" Rainbow Dash and Applejack reacted in unison.

"Why?! You two wanted to play for Ponyville against Appleloosa!" Rainbow pursued the reason for Fluttershy announcing their dismissal. "You two loved the game! Why are you quitting on us now?! Don't tell me you two are getting stage fright! I mean, I expect it from you, Fluttershy, but Pinkie?! You're always the center of attention when it comes to everypony around you!"

"Uh…well…" Pinkie Pie tapped her hooves together and began rubbing the back of her head uncomfortably. "How exactly do I say this? You see, when it comes to making parades and celebratory parties, I'm totally the pony for that, but I'm not so sure I'm the right pony for the job when everypony is counting on me to win a game that I've hardly even played."

"What Pinkie is trying to say is that we're not comfortable being in charge of winning a game we still don't really know much about." Fluttershy explained. "Maybe you and Applejack should step in for us. After all, you still have Snails, and with him on your team, I'm sure you two will win!" She even offered a cheery beam, but it didn't seem that her motivators were too fond of her decision.

"That's just the thing." Applejack responded seriously. "You two are better at this game than us whether you believe it or not. It's just plain outrageous to miss out on an opportunity like this."

"Yeah!" Rainbow agreed. "Like, seriously?! How could you ignore talent like that? No offense, but you'd have to be dumb as a bag of rocks to let that kind of talent go to waste."

Fluttershy sighed heavily once more, the bright grin she once wore now quickly dissipating into thin air. "I see what you're trying to say, but our decision is final. As I've mentioned before, we just don't feel comfortable playing anymore, considering the expectations all of Ponyville has of us now."

"No, no!" Rainbow Dash now planted her hooves firmly on the floor. "I know you, Fluttershy! You're not slipping your way out of this one! Here, let me help you. I've got an exercise that is sure to whip those butterflies in your stomach into shape. Repeat after me!"

"Rainbow Dash…" Fluttershy tried to intervene, but Rainbow Dash continued with her 'motivational efforts' as if cotton balls had been squeezed into her ears.

"'I, Fluttershy, am in it to win it! I will destroy anypony who gets in my way! To be the very best like no one ever was—!"

"Stop! Okay?! Stop!" To my surprise, I heard Fluttershy cry out from a severe state of agitation. "I already told you how Pinkie and I feel about playing! If you think what you're doing is going to change our minds, spoiler alert, it isn't! Now, if you don't mind, take a short moment to get it through your thick skull that maybe, justmaybe, WE DON'T WANT TO PLAY ANYMORE!" Fluttershy nearly shrieked out the end of her irritated rant before storming out of the train cart.

"Fluttershy's angry!" Pinkie began to emotionally express sadly. "Playing buckball was the worst mistake I ever made!" She began to sob uncontrollably before running in the same linear direction Fluttershy took.

I had been in the same boat as Rainbow Dash and Applejack had been in after witnessing the sudden explosion of emotions. The only difference was that I didn't exactly feel any kind of guilt that the other two very likely did. They stood there just as frozen as Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had been when they found a plethora of Ponyville ponies egging on them to win the game against Appleloosa. With awkwardness only being the icing on the cake, I decided to leave the two to themselves as I began trotting on after the emotionally distraught former buckball players.

I moved my head around the cabins as I walked through each of them. Fortunately, like any train car, they were fairly small and narrow, so I didn't need to do any kind of extensive searching. Ultimately, I came into the last car where all the luggage was stored. It looked too full, causing me to ponder whether they would really be in here. I almost started worrying that they might have jumped out of the moving train to head back home, but Pinkie was no flyer, so that was unlikely.

"Fluttershy? Pinkie?" I called after closing the door behind me.

There was silence for several seconds until a delicate pink mane poked out from behind a pile of luggage. Fluttershy soon revealed the dejected expression on her face briefly before crawling back behind the luggage. Using my wings to make easier in skipping all over the luggage, I carefully looked around until I came across of duo of ponies comforting each other.

Pinkie Pie was no longer sobbing like she was when she ran out after Fluttershy, and Fluttershy was no longer enraged like a bull when Rainbow Dash wouldn't stop for one second to listen to her. However, they both seemed to be in an equal state of disappointment and sorrow.

"You two alright?" I asked cautiously.

"Nothing's worse than having the fun sucked out of something you loved doing." Pinkie responded despondently as she eyes stared gloomily at the floor.

"Tell me about it." I repeated and joined them in their comforting bubble. "Sorry. Maybe I should have been a little more outspoken about your feelings. I kind of just stood there and watched everything happen."

Fluttershy shook her head nearby. "I'm sorry you had to see that side of me. I feel so…disgusted with myself. Getting so angry like that." She paused to sigh heavily. "I'm sure that's not the pony you fell in love with."

"You're still the pony I fell in love with." I corrected. "But, everyone has a side to them that they don't like, and sometimes that's just a part of life. I mean, I've got my own raging emotions, and I've also got times where I just cry. You've seen that before, right? Sometimes you can't just keep those emotions in check, and they just come out on a whim."

In response, Fluttershy merely rested her head against me. Seeing this, Pinkie Pie proceeded to squeeze me, most likely looking for a hug of her own. I was a little conflicted on how I was supposed to act, seeing as my partner in love was on one side and a thoughtful friend was on the other. In the end, I allowed myself to become a temporary pillow or stuffed animal for them to settle their emotions out on.

Nevertheless, a storm of knocks banged against the car door, sounding as if the conductor knew ponies were somewhere they weren't supposed to be. But, the door open and a couple of familiar voices called out.

"You guys in here?"

"We've looked in every other car on the train! Just let us see y'all, so we know you didn't jump off a moving train."

Pinkie and Fluttershy turned towards each other, but they did not whisper a word. If I had to guess, they were uncertain of whether they should show themselves or not.

"We're sorry, you know?" Applejack apologized, her voice sounding a little closer.

"Yeah." Rainbow agreed. "We're also sorry that it took us forever to realize how playing against Appleloosa must have felt for you two. All this time, we were giving you the kind of treatment we were used to, but now we know that that was the wrong move."

"So, if y'all can just come out, that'd be great. After all, you won't have to worry about playing Appleloosa. We'll take your spots. No sweat. We just don't like the idea of you hidin' from us."

The two exchanged looks with each other once more before the finally stood up and began to reveal where they had been hiding at.

"You really mean it?" Pinkie asked, confronting Rainbow and Applejack outside.

"We don't wanna make you do something you don't wanna do, so yeah." Applejack assured.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you." Fluttershy apologized, bowing her head sadly in front of Rainbow Dash.

"Are you kidding?" Rainbow returned. "You told me what I needed to hear. Why else do you think Spitfire yells at me all the time? Compared to her, you're like, papitas."

" 'papitas'…?" Applejack gave a questioning look over to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow simply shrugged. "I don't know. I heard it from Alex."

"Where is he anyway?" Applejack inquired.

I flew into their line of sight. "Right here."

"Great." Rainbow Dash smiled at the sight of me. "With all three of you here, we wanted to ask you for one small favor."

"Seeing as we're going to take your spots in the game against Appleloosa, mind playing a short game of buckball with us?" Applejack asked. "We could really use the warmup."

"I don't know if we can play buckball anymore after today." Fluttershy sadly stated. "It's just…it really stressed us out."

"That's true." Pinkie agreed. "But, we're not playing against Appleloosa anymore. Remember when we were playing on Applejack's farm and how much fun it was?"

"I do." Fluttershy appeared to think to herself for a moment and then turned to notice me by her side. "Well… as long as we're all together, I suppose it doesn't hurt. After all, seeing as we decided to stop playing right before your game with Appleloosa, it's only fair."

Arriving at Appleloosa, every one of us gathered together at a dusty barren field outside. It was different seeing a land practically deprived of any life compared to Applejack's farm, which was full of it.

"Now, just like back at the farm, we'll be playing against the three of you. Alex, you come over here with the bucket while Snails gets settled over there." Applejack instructed.

"I know you wanted to practice before playing Appleloosa, but I'm not so sure we'll be able to give you a challenge like they will at the game." Fluttershy brought up.

"Don't worry about it, alright?" Rainbow Dash assured. "We don't need an exact mockup of the game. Applejack and I just need a little workout. You know, just a short warmup. That's all."

"Yup." Applejack settled with a hearty nod. "You all just do your best. Don't fret about a single thing. Just do whatever you want to do."

"I can do that!" Pinkie decided as Fluttershy flew into position.

"Here we go." Applejack warned before bouncing the ball onto the ground. However, just as she was about to get an eye on the ball, it had already been sent flying towards her side of the field straight towards me. As I attempted to aim the bucket onto the ball's path, Rainbow stretched her hoof out to block it. Despite her attempt, the ball fell into the bucket, just like when we had first started playing this. In response to this, Applejack exchanged a smirk over to Rainbow Dash before beginning her next serve.

Being the one responsible for catching the balls, I spent the majority of the time observing the game unfold. To sum up the constant exchanges between each team, it was like déjà vu. Pinkie and Fluttershy appeared to treat this just like a friendly game back home, and without any worries lingering in them, they were seriously creaming Applejack and Rainbow Dash. In fact, they were playing so well, Snails hardly had any time to play his part, so he ended up falling asleep.

At the end of the practice match, Applejack and Rainbow approached their two opponents in a battered state. On the contrary, Pinkie and Fluttershy were happily tossing the ball around between them. It looked like as if they still had a lot left in them.

"If you need more practice, we can keep going." Fluttershy offered, following a hearty giggle.

"Yeah! I could do this all day!" Pinkie proved their seemingly endless endurance by precisely bouncing the ball with the tip of her mane.

"No, thanks." Rainbow declined through a series of heavy pants. "Playing against you two is just as humiliating now as it was when we weren't trying to show you how awesome you are."

"Wait... what?" Pinkie dropped the ball and let it roll away as she looked back with confusion.

"You must've noticed how you much fun you were clearly havin'. Not only that, but you were clearly wiping the field with us." Applejack shared.

"I don't know how but having fun is what makes you really, really, really good!" Rainbow Dash pointed out. "So, we were just wondering…" She began rubbing the back of her head uneasily. "We don't want to force you or anything…"

"Would you consider taking our spots in our game with Appleloosa again?" Applejack asked.

Fluttershy and Pinkie exchanged uncomfortable looks with each other.

"Oh…" Fluttershy sadly averted her eyes and moaned. "I know you two think we're really amazing, but I just don't think we can focus on the game with a whole bunch of ponies counting on us to win."

"I'm sure folks want you to win, but not if worryin' about it makes you miserable." Applejack answered. "Winnin's never worth that. Personally, we don't want you to worry about winnin' either. All we want you to do is have fun."

"Oh, Applejack. You know we'd really love to help you, but I just don't know how we can ignore everypony watching us and play the game like we did just now."

"You could do what I do and not think about it." Snails voice suddenly sounded, causing everypony to look towards him. He sat on his side of the field with a blank expression on his face. "Seriously. I don't think about anything. Ever."

"In other words," I decided to finally speak up. "Forget about this game being a part of a competition and more about just being a friendly game of buckball. Kind of like the game Rainbow and me were having back on Applejack's farm."

After looking at me for some time, Fluttershy turned away and thought to herself for a moment. "…you'll stay take me out whether we lose or win the game, right…?" She timidly asked.

"Of course, I will!" I enthusiastically answered.

"Well, Pinkie?" Fluttershy turned to her teammate. "Do you want to give buckball once last try?"

"I can't pass on something amazingly fun! If that's the way it stays, then I'm all in!"

With the former stand-ins back on their team, it was only a matter of giving them an applauding encouragement before we'd see the results of their game against Appleloosa.

"And with another bouncing goal from Pinkie Pie, the score is tied!" The announcer informed everyone in the audience.

"Whoa. What the heck is going on here?" I heard a new voice ask.

I turned and found Athena sitting by me, observing the state of the game with intrigued eyes.

"Just where have you been?" I returned, seeing as I hadn't seen her since the morning.

"Well, after you woke me up earlier than usual because you were going to Appleloosa, I ended up sleeping in!"

"Well, you just got up in time to help me support our favorite team." I turned back to the field and found Fluttershy glancing towards me during their brief break. Taking a quick look around me, I decided to kiss my hoof and send it off towards her as quickly as I could. Noticing this, Fluttershy blushed in embarrassment before returning her attention back into the game.

It appeared Rainbow and Applejack gave them a different kind of pep talk just before the referee blew his whistle. For some reason, as the referee held the ball up to serve, Pinkie Pie turned her body completely upright with her hind legs facing upwards and her mane serving as a cushion for her head. As soon as the ball was thrown into the ring, Pinkie kicked the ball first with those same hind legs.

"And Pinkie wins the buckoff!" The announcer began to detail the events of the match. "But her shot's rejected! Back to Braeburn, whose kick's stopped by another Fluttershy save!" I happily clapped my hooves at Fluttershy's quick reaction to their attempt at a shot. The ponies within the field continued to fire the ball back and forth in any manner possible with all their might. "Next point wins. Lots of tense back and forth here. Fluttershy unleashes her patented spin move, but Braeburn's there to— No! It's Pinkie with a somersault kick! What a move!" With some last synergy from our team's duo, the ball hammered straight into their basket, ultimately ending the game. "And that's the game! Ponyville wins!"

"Ponyville! Ponyville! Ponyville!" The spectators from our team continuously chanted.

As Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie shared a celebratory hug, the rest of us joined them on the field to congratulate them.

"Huh. Looks like you three made quite an impression!" Applejack informed.

"Well, cousin, I have to admit…" Braeburn and his team approached us. "Your Ponyville team played a pretty good game."

"Hah! Good game? We bucked the hooves right off of you!" Rainbow couldn't seem to keep herself from boasting a little.

"Yup, you sure as shootin' did." Braeburn surprisingly calmly agreed. "I'm gonna have to get real serious about a strategy for our rematch."

"Well, I wouldn't get too serious." Fluttershy offered.

"Yeah! Everypony knows the secret to good buckball is just having fun!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed with glee.

This sparked laughter amongst them, causing for the rivalry team to react with confusion.

Getting ready to head back home, I approached Fluttershy.

"So, Fluttershy…" I spoke, ready to begin planning out the details of our congratulatory date. "Now that the game is over, what do you want to do for our time out? Name it. Anything at all."

Fluttershy giggled lightly. "What I want to do? You know, when it comes to buckball, I feel the same way when it comes to our date. I don't care what we do as long as we have fun." She smiled brightly. "It doesn't have to be anything 'fancy' or 'special' because anytime with you is always special to me."

"Even so…" I replied, feeling a little winded from being emotionally touched by her response. "You deserve something a little more special."

"Surprise me then." She countered. "I want you to escort me somewhere like a fair maiden."

I couldn't tell if she was joking or actually serious, but at either point, I was willing to do whatever she wished, just like a "fair knight" would do.

The Fault in Our Cutie Marks

Before Alex even knew I existed, I had been holding this giant weight on my shoulders for the longest time. To think that I could last until the end of time just watching over him was absolutely crazy now that I thought about it. Learning from our past experience with Chrysalis, I figured that if I just stay out of his life while continuing to protect him as much as I could, that would be my place in this so-called life. Obviously, that determination had all but stood strong.

Even when I revealed myself to him, he didn't know a single thing about me, and I had to admit that, even though he had no fault with any of it, I still couldn't help but be furious about it. Maybe I was even furious at him, but I knew I was mostly angry at myself. I started to "befriend" him, but it still burned me up inside to see him treat me as some pony who was just "another friend".

Of course, after the case with Night Terror, our supposed "father" so to speak, every other pony unraveled the first mysterious layer revolving me. To sum things up, I was the "light" that protected Alex to the best of my abilities. I can't say I was destined to be his light, but I was tired of always getting in his way and feeling that I was never really of use to him.

But, that wasn't the end.

You could say it was only half the battle.

While I felt like I could express myself a lot more freely afterwards, there was something that still held me back significantly. I was his sister. The pony he grew up with since we had been both born as twin siblings. We weren't identical, but we were just born at the same time. Personally, I actually like that we look nothing alike. There's just something engrossing about the two of us being compared to day and night.

Going back to the issue on hoof, knowing I was his sister, yet trying to keep him from finding out, was an absolute pain. Some ponies out there might think that I should have just told him straight up, but to those ponies, let me answer your question with another question.

Would you be comfortable telling someone you're their sibling from an alternate timeline? It's just as crazy as telling some pony you're from the future. Then again, with the kind of magic that exists, maybe it wouldn't. Nothing about this has ever made sense to me, but it's just the kind of world we live in. If you know me, I like to live in the world as carefree as I can.

Despite these issues I've had to overcome, I can say that I feel a lot better about myself. There's no more trying to hide certain things from certain ponies because of the fear of how they'll react. I've practically told Alex everything already, so now I don't have to be anxious about slipping something out.

If I had name one thing that still concerned me, it would probably be my cutie mark.

Actually, it was the lack of a cutie mark.

Everypony in Ponyville had their cutie mark, aside from the foals and fillies, of course. I used to get stares in town every now and then, but I think every pony knows me as that "one mare without her mark" by now. Whenever I think about what they could possibly be thinking about me, I get kind of nervous, but I usually just ignore it, especially when it comes to being around some pony else.

Will I ever actually get my cutie mark?

The Cutie Mark Crusaders believe I will.

But, judging from what I've put myself into, I can't confidently agree with their philosophy.

Something about screwing with time and my very existence also had to screw with my very cutie mark. After all, how's a pony who technically doesn't exist supposed to find something that revolves around their purpose? The worst part of this was… I couldn't get a definite answer.

If I was to be told that I definitely wouldn't be getting a cutie mark because of what I did, sure, I would be hurt. But, after fixing practically all of my other problems, I'm sure it's not crazy to think I would get over it soon enough. However, with the idea of my cutie mark still existing up in the clouds, it was hard to completely get over the fact that it may still be possible to earn it, and it didn't help that the Cutie Mark Crusaders constantly tried to motivate me into doing various irrelevant things to earn said cutie mark.

Lately, I've noticed that I've been spending more and more time on the outside like a normal pony. This included going to bed on an actual bed instead of Alex's dreams. When I woke up, I noticed Alex was nowhere to be found. I could have easily found him with one use of my "magic", but I wasn't sure what he was doing exactly. After all, I didn't want to witness things getting "steamy" if he was with Fluttershy.

After leaving the room, the first place I made my way towards was the library, expecting to find Twilight in there. As expected, I not only found Twilight but her "pupil" Starlight as well.

"Good morning, Athena!" Starlight greeted me when she spotted me at the door.

"Morning." I lazily answered, brushing my hoof through my disheveled mane. "Any of you know where Alex went?"

"Oh," Twilight responded, pulling her head away from her books. "He said he was going to go take Fluttershy out for a date. He'll probably be back later in the evening."

"Ah…" I replied with and began to look around the room in search of something to do.

"Do you want to join us?" Twilight asked as if she could read my absent mind. "We're going over a couple of ideas for some new spells."

"No, thanks." I declined, waving my hoof side-to-side as I returned an appreciative grin. "I've been spending a lot of time in the castle. I think I'll go outside for a change."

"Not a problem." Twilight understood. "Just holler if you need anything."

"Will do." I answered with one last smile before I turned and began making my way towards the front of the castle.

I yawned a little as I nearly dragged my hooves towards the main doors. As I placed my hoof and pressed against the crystal entrance, I immediately spotted a group of fillies on the other side. I nearly jumped at the sight of them, but I was quick to question their presence.

"Applebloom? Scootaloo? Sweetie Belle? What are you doing here?"

"We wanted to help you find your cutie mark!" Scootaloo exclaimed with glee, earning enthusiastic nods from the other two.

"I thought I told you three that I wanted to wait and see if I could find it on my own?" I reminded. "I wasn't too comfortable with the idea of literally doing anything and everything in Ponyville just to see if it would pop up."

"We didn't forget, Athena." Applebloom responded. "But, here's the thing. We've learned so much since we got our cutie marks, and I don't know if you've noticed, but we've helped a whole bunch of other ponies find their cutie marks!"

"Not only did we help blank flanks, but we also helped ponies who didn't understand the meaning of their cutie marks!" Sweetie Belle added.

"Right!" Applebloom praised Sweetie Belle's point. "Which is why we come to your aid once again. I know you didn't necessarily want us directly involved with your cutie mark search, Athena, but we honestly and truly believe we can help you!"

"We've helped so many other ponies, and we've never failed with any of them, so I think we have a really good shot at it!" Scootaloo said.

"Besides, you're still a Cutie Mark Crusader, right?" Sweetie Belle mentioned. "It wouldn't feel right if you were the only one without a mark."

"So, will you please let us help you? Please?" Applebloom's pupils filled up the majority of her eyes, and the shine that reflected off them wavered back and forth fragilely. Her gesture was soon joined by the other two, and it was clearly becoming a problem on my end. It was hard to believe that their cuteness rivaled mine, but they were three fillies after all.

With a heavy sign, I decided to surrender myself for the day. I had nothing else to do, and since they were so passionate about their accomplishments with every other pony in town, I supposed it couldn't hurt giving it another go. "Alright, alright. Let's give it a shot."

"Yes!" They clapped hooves together in triumph. "Quick! Let's make our way back to the clubhouse!"

Inside their dedicated spot within a strong apple farm tree, Applebloom began scribbling onto a white piece of paper on the wall directly across the door.

"Alright, Athena. Here's what we know from last time: You said you were different from other ponies, and you gave us reasons why you thought getting a cutie mark was impossible for you. But, here's what I want to get to askin' you. You said that you already knew what your purpose was. In that case, what is your purpose?"

The other two crusaders turned to me as I was forced to dwell within my thoughts to pull out a suitable answer. "Well, I don't think I can give you a professional-sounding answer, but I'm pretty sure my purpose is protecting my brother and his friends. I mean, that's all I've ever wanted to do. In fact, I pretty much sacrificed my normal life to do just that."

"Hm…" Applebloom tapped her marker against her chin with her teeth. Then, she turned back to the blank piece of paper and began scribbling some more. "So, you feel that your purpose in life is protecting others, kind of like Alex, right? Is there anything else?" She turned back to me.

I thought for a moment before remembering the hues of color I'd see from ponies who were experiencing an extreme state of emotion. "Actually, I can also…well…" I paused for a second to think about how I could tell them in a way they'd understand. "I'm really good at being able to tell how a pony is feeling. If they're feeling sad, they can say they're happy all they want. I'll still be able to know they're sad.

"Interesting!" Applebloom commented before drawing it out on her hanging paper. "That sounds like cutie mark material! What do you do with it?"

"Well…" I tapped my chin. "I don't like getting involved with just anypony, but if it was a big issue, I'd try to, I don't know, cheer them up or help fix the problem. Although, I can't say I'm very confident in fixing other ponies problems. I think my job is mostly just sort of finding a problem in the first place, and Alex and his friends can fix it with, you know, the magic of friendship."

"I think we have our lead then!" Applebloom pointed. "You should try helping fix somepony's problem yourself!"

"Erhm…" I thought back to a few days ago. "I think I did do that. Sort of. There was a changeling in the Crystal Empire I helped convince was good using my ability to tell what others are feeling. I mean, the way things unfolded was so dramatic. Even Princess Cadence said it was worthy of getting a cutie mark, but nope, no mark." I pointed to my flank for proof.

"Oh, yeah! I heard about that." Sweetie Belle mentioned.

"Wow, if Princess Cadence said it was worth getting a cutie mark, I'm not sure how much it would do helping some pony here in Ponyville." Scootaloo added in from her thoughts.

"That is a bit of a pickle alright…" Applebloom messed with the marker in her mouth like a toothpick. "But, it's nothing we can't handle. After all, if you're so sure of your purpose, I say that's a lot of the work done. We just need to figure out the reason why you haven't gotten your mark yet. Like, the trigger or something."

Other than I completely screwed not only time but myself?

"Like I said, Applebloom," I began to disclose, "I'm not really so sure if it's possible to get a cutie mark when it comes to me."

"Nonsense!" Applebloom jumped off from the crate she had been standing on and approached me. "From each of our experiences, cutie marks always come when you least expect it. So, maybe you just gotta stop worryin' about whether it's possible to get one in the first place and start putting your faith to what you feel your purpose in. After all…

You've been searchin' for your cutie mark

For a while now

Tryin' to find out how you fit in" She nudged me lightly as she sung.

"So many ways you've tried before

But you just need to keep on tryin' more"

"'Cause the Cutie Mark Crusaders don't give in" They three of them sung in unison.

"You'll make your mark

One way or another

You'll make your mark

On the day that you discover

The ultimate reward of your cutie mark!" They ended cheerfully.

"I really appreciate how much you believe in me." I stated. "But, what are we supposed to do exactly? I know the answer isn't just going to come knocking on the door."

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Huh?" Applebloom turned towards the door, clearly not expecting a visitor. "I wonder who that could be." She stepped forward as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo followed behind out of curiosity and placed her hoof on the handle to open it.

As soon as it had been open, a rather large creature dove in and began squeezing them to death.

"The Cutie Mark Crusaders! I can't believe it's really, really you!" The griffon laughed giddily, very unlike a griffon to begin with. As I watched from the back, I could only imagine how much of a tight grip she had the three fillies in.

"Urk…! Can't…breathe…!" Scootaloo shared through a strange voice.

"How in the blooming apples do you know who we are?" Applebloom questioned.

The griffon released them from her deathly hug and began shaking them around like a group of stuffed animals. "Know who you are? Know who you are?! Why, I've heard about you from everypony in Ponyville! I'm so excited to meet you, I could just explode!" She stretched out her claws as wide as she could before she finally took in a deep and calming breath. "I'm Gabriella, but you can call me Gabby since we're friends now! Pleased to meet ya!" She shook their hooves wildly, juggling their heads in the process.

"Well, howdy... um... Gabby." Applebloom greeted somewhat hesitantly.

Gabby squealed in response, jittering perhaps even more than Pinkie normally would. "I'm just about the most excited any griffon has ever been about anything!"

"Excited? But whatever for?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"What for? What for?! Everypony in town tells me of your amazing assistance! How you help ponies find their place in the world!" Gabby explained.

"It's a calling, but—"

"And that's why I'm here!" Gabby intervened with Scootaloo finishing her sentence. "I need help, too. I want you to give me a cutie mark!"

"Um, can a griffon even get a cutie mark?" Applebloom spoke softly amongst her friends.

"I dunno, but I think we should probably find out." Scootaloo advised.

Chucking nervously at Gabby's anticipating face, Applebloom waved her on in.

"Come take a seat, Gabby. We'll see what we can do."

"Woo-hoo!" She jumped in, finding the table I had been watching the entire scene from. Just as she was about to take her seat, she found me idly watching nearby. "Who are you? Oh my gosh! Are you another Cutie Mark Crusader!?" She immediately extended her claw out for me to shake. "It's so nice meeting you! My name's Gabby!"

As she violently shook my hoof, the three other fillies returned to the table. Scootaloo placed down a couple glasses of orange juice between us.

"This is Athena." Applebloom introduced me. "She is, indeed, a Cutie Mark Crusader. But, we were actually in the middle of helping her find her cutie mark when you showed up."

"She doesn't have her cutie mark?" Gabby instantly leaned her head towards my flank, finding that it was indeed blank. "Oooh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt anything."

"Don't be. In fact, you may have just given us a few ideas, but first, we've got a few questions for you." Applebloom mentioned.

"Hit me!" Gabby encouraged, taking a wholesome drink of her juice.

"Gabriella—"

"Gabby, 'kay?" Gabby friendily corrected Scootaloo.

"Gabby, why do you even want a cutie mark?" Scootaloo asked. "It doesn't seem like a very... griffon-y thing to want."

"Right? Right?! Right?!" Gabby leaned her body towards Scootaloo extremely close with every "right" that came out from her lips, eventually causing Scootaloo to fall flat on the floor. "You're tellin' me! I don't know if you've heard, but griffons can be a little bit... unfriendly. Most griffons don't pay much attention to each other. And if they do, it's not, y'know, the good kind of attention. As for me, I'm just a little mail delivery griffon who likes to spread a little bit of griffon-y sunshine on my rounds, which always makes me feel different from the other griffons. I'd do anything for any old griffon in need. But it just always seemed like the harder I tried, the less I fit in. It wasn't until your friends came to Griffonstone that I realized some creatures actually like helping each other, and I saw something so awesomely awesome – how helping spreads from pony to pony and griffon to griffon!" She paused for a second to point me out. "Actually, I think I remember seeing you there too! Anyways, I knew then that I had to find out why I was so different from the other griffons, and I knew the answer just had to have something to do with those wonderful, amazing marks on the ponies' flanks. And I admit, hehe, I became, um, maybe a little obsessed. So, first chance I had to deliver a letter from Gilda, I took it, so I could find the perfect pony to help me understand what those marks are. Everypony here told me one thing – I just had to see the Cutie Mark Crusaders! They've helped everypony here get their cutie marks, and I knew, I just knew, that someday I'd have one, too! A cutie mark of my very own! That's why I flew all the way here! I want to find my own place in the world, and I know you can help me by giving me a cutie mark! So, let's make with the cutie!" After her lengthy story, she rose up in the air and shook her rump, covering her eyes with her claws with a short giggle. "Whenever you're ready." After waiting for only a second, she uncovered her eyes and looked at her flank. "Did it happen yet?"

"Uh, not exactly." Sweetie answered, looking a little dazed.

"Howboutnowhowboutnowhowboutnowhowboutnow?" Gabby circled around, continuously keeping an eye on where she believed her cutie mark would magically appear.

"Um, Gabby, I hate to break it to ya, but it sounds like you might've heard some tall tales about what Crusaders can do." Applebloom stated.

"I mean, we are kinda awesome and all, but nopony can just give you a cutie mark. It just sort of... happens." Scootaloo clarified.

"Though I'm pretty sure it doesn't happen to griffons." Sweetie Belle added. "Or if it does, we've never ever heard of it."

"Oh. I hadn't thought of that." Gabby placed her paws back on the floor, adopting small blue hue before it quickly spiked up to a bright yellow one. "Sounds like a challenge! And who could be up to it but the world-famous Cutie Mark Crusaders? Cutie marks! It's in your name and everything, right? Right?! Right?!" She swung her head across the three main fillies before turning back to her bag. "Now I have to deliver Gilda's letter to Rainbow Dash. I bet by the time I get back, you'll have it one hundred percent figured out! Toodles for now!" She dashed out the door, her voice echoing outside. "Whee-hee-hee! Gonna get my cutie mark!"

"What she wants... It's not possible, right?" Sweetie Belle turned towards her friends.

"You really think a griffon can get a cutie mark?" I honestly felt it was silly into thinking it was even possible. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure only ponies are able to get them."

"I don't know." Scootaloo shrugged, acknowledging my point. "But whatever the case is, I think we all know someone who just might have the answer."

"Sorry, Athena." Applebloom apologized. "Could we put your cutie mark on hold for a while? We just need to take care of this really quick."

"I guess so." I merely replied, unsure of what I felt about this unforeseen circumstance.

I followed the Crusaders back over to the castle, mostly just to see if Alex had gotten back. It wasn't evening yet, but I was thinking it was possible that maybe he and Fluttershy stopped by the castle for some reason. However, all I ever got in exchange was an explanation from Twilight that I had already expected about Gabby.

"I've read every book on the subject, and I've never read a thing about any creature other than a pony getting a cutie mark."

"But, Twilight, Gabby flew all the way here so we could help her." Scootaloo nearly begged. "There's gotta be something we can do."

"I don't get what's so hard to understand about it." I said, feeling a little frustrated over the big deal about this. "Griffons can't get a cutie mark like a pony can, just like a pony can't survive a pool of boiling hot lava like dragons can. There are just things we can't do that other creatures can. It's that simple."

"What are we supposed to do?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Gabby believes in us getting her a cutie mark. She's going to be devastated if we tell her that there's no way she can get one."

"Crusaders, I'm sorry. While I can't say for certain that it's utterly impossible, the chances of Gabby getting an actual mark are... pretty slim." Twilight responded truthfully. "Everything I've ever learned tells me. I have to agree with Athena here, it's just not gonna happen."

"Oh, no!" Applebloom cried in despair, as if she was already sharing the same devastation that Gabby would sooner or later feel. "Poor Gabby! What the apples are we ever gonna tell her?"

"What else can you tell her?" I mentioned. "Unless you want to lie to her, all you can really tell her is the truth."

"There just has to be some way we can tell her the truth but still help her at the same time." Sweetie Belle searched for her thoughts. "I don't want to see the only not-grumpy griffon walk out the door in shame. It's just not right."

"If there is a way, we gotta think of it fast. Gabby's probably already finished delivering her letter and waiting at the clubhouse right this minute. We don't want her to think we bailed on her." Scootaloo suggested.

"Scootaloo's right. We better get a move on. As for what we're going to do, I haven't the faintest clue."

Outside, I accompanied a group of blue hues. Although I didn't have a particular direct influence on the manner, I still couldn't help but feel a little stressed out about the situation. I didn't want to hurt anypony, or any griffon, but it had to be said. Gabby needed to know that she wasn't going to be getting any kind of cutie mark, just like I needed to convince myself that I probably wasn't going to get one myself.

"Crusaders, this is terrible!" Sweetie Belle expressed in anguish after neither of them thought of any way to relieve the issue at hoof. "Gabby really believed in us. And now, we're gonna let her down."

"But what else can we do?" Applebloom questioned.

"Hmm." I heard Scootaloo hum, turning towards her to find her thinking to herself. "You know what, Crusaders? Maybe we've just been looking at this the wrong way." She placed herself in front of us as if she was ready to give us an important lecture. "Maybe Gabby isn't looking for a cutie mark just to have a cutie mark. Maybe she wants to know what her purpose is in life, and she thinks that having a cutie mark will tell her just that."

"Wait." Applebloom paused for one short moment. "Are you saying that we should still give her the cutie mark treatment without the cutie mark?"

"I'm saying that we can still help her find her purpose in life, so yeah, in a way." Scootaloo clarified. "Everypony gets a cutie mark when they realize their purpose in life. For Gabby, it'll just have to be without the cutie mark. But, maybe that's all she really wants? After all, she's been surrounded by other griffons her whole life, so she might not understand the real deal behind a cutie mark."

"That isn't such a bad idea." Sweetie Belle pointed out. "We just need to explain things to her clearly. Tell her that she can't exactly get a cutie mark, but we can help her figure out her purpose and essentially get a mental cutie mark, so to speak."

"It's definitely better than doing nothin'." Applebloom agreed with a grin.

"What do you say, Crusaders? Everyone in it to win it?" Scootaloo asked.

"Yeah!" They all brought their hooves together, igniting the start to facing perhaps one of their most difficult challenges yet.

Personally, I didn't really care what they did as long as I wasn't involved. In fact, I was itching to take my leave, but I wasn't sure how exactly they were going to handle the issue with the griffon. Were they going to ask Gabby for some time so they could work with me? I didn't want to go home if they were just going to come drag me back later.

"Incoming!" We heard a screeching warning quickly grow louder as we returned to the farm before we were all captured within an extremely tight griffon hug, including me. It didn't help that I had been bigger than the other three fillies, so I was worried that I might have been suffocating them. However, the squeeze was a lot shorter than the first one, so it was only a few seconds before we were allowed to regularly breathe again. "Hiya, you wonderful, wonderful Crusaders! I just know you've figured out how to help me because you're all so incredible!"

"Well, Gabby, we've talked it over, and we think we may just be able to help you out." Scootaloo answered with a satisfied grin. "But not exactly in the way you think. See, here's the thing about you getting a cutie mark—"

"I'm getting a cutie mark!" Gabby yelled out excitedly as she pressed her claws against her cheeks. Before Scootaloo could even finish, she launched upwards in the air like a rocket and began to cheer endlessly, causing any words coming from down below to be ignored entirely. "Woo-hoo-hoo!"

"Wait! You didn't let me finish!"

"I guess that wasn't clear enough." Sweetie Belle mentioned.

All of us continued to stare at Gabby circle around before Applebloom spoke up.

"Maybe we should head inside the clubhouse and wait for her to finish there."

Inside the clubhouse, it seemed they turned their attention towards me as we faintly heard Gabby cheering outside. It was something you could easily ignore as background noise, but it was the fact that all the endless cheering was coming from one griffon that was most distracting part of it.

"Alright, for now, how about we get back to you, Athena?" Applebloom suggested and turned towards the paper she had been working on earlier, which was still hanging on the wall. "Let's see… Where were we? We had a lead…" She studied the paper as she recalled the events out loud. "You feel as if your purpose is protectin' other ponies, and you can tell what ponies are really feeling even if they say so differently."

"I'm curious." Scootaloo mentioned suddenly. "In that case, is Gabby really that happy?" She asked, pointing out the window towards the faint figure in the sky.

"Yep." I answered, finding her intense yellow aura as bright as the sun. "She genuinely thinks she's getting a cutie mark."

"Back to the matter on hoof…" Applebloom attempted to politely get back on track. "You can tell what ponies, or griffons, are really feeling, and we believed that that is a good lead to gettin' you to your cutie mark. We just needed to figure out the trigger behind it. What's stoppin' you from connectin' that ability of yours to your cutie mark?"

"Cutie mark! Cutie mark! Gonna get my cutie mark!" We heard right outside the window, interrupting the current brainstorming occurring inside the clubhouse.

"She's still going." Sweetie Belle noted. "Anypony know if griffons ever get tired?"

"Hey, maybe her cutie mark is lasting the longest when it comes to yelling." I sarcastically threw onto the table.

"What do you think my mark will be?" Gabby's head suddenly poked in through the window. "A lightning bolt? An erupting volcano? I don't care if it's a jar of marmalade! I know I'll love it, whatever it is!"

"Hold on just a hoofstep, Gabby." Applebloom approached her, having me believe that my support ticket for my cutie mark problem just became delayed even further. "There's somethin' we need to clear up. We can definitely help you find your purpose, but that mark's probably not gonna happen."

"What?!" Gabby screamed in horror as she slid in through the front door.

"It's true." Scootaloo nodded hesitantly. "Twilight's never heard of a creature other than a pony getting a cutie mark."

Just like last time, Gabby's bright yellow aura had been taken over by an overwhelming blue, but it had soon been replaced by a radiant yellow once more. For a griffon, her emotions were really off the charts.

"Oh!" She laughed in relief. "Is that all? You had me worried for a second. I-I mean, there's a first time for everything, right? And she didn't say it was impossible, right?"

"Well, not exactly." Applebloom couldn't help but agree with her to some degree.

"Well, then if anypony can make it happen, it's you three. I mean, you haven't failed yet!" She believed enthusiastically.

I wasn't a mean pony, and I didn't want to be a mean pony. But, I couldn't just sit there and let this griffon keep living a lie. I hated to believe this, but she wasn't going to get a cutie mark. Somepony needed to tell her this, and I was afraid it was going to be me. In fact, I felt my lips just about to open in order to spell it out for her, but Scootaloo won the race with something different in mind.

"You know what, Gabby? I promise we're gonna do everything we can to help you get your mark." Scootaloo confronted with a confident furrow of her eyebrows.

"Oh!" Gabby possibly suffocated Scootaloo as she wrapped her claws around her, and at the same time, her yellow glow burned so strongly, it was ironically practically blinding me. "It's gonna happen! I can feel it! Woo-hoo! Woo-hoo!" She flew out of the clubhouse, repeating her distant cheer outside.

"Aaaaand... she's off again." Sweetie Belle observed.

"Why in tarnation would you promise somethin' that just can't be done?" Applebloom asked Scootaloo with an irritated look. It was something I wanted to desperately know myself. Did they want to dig their own graves?

"I know what it's like to want something that's out of reach." Scootaloo responded, lifting up her small flightless wings. "And just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it can't. Maybe trying for the impossible isn't so bad."

"But there's a difference." I almost cried out. "You have wings. You can fly. Gabby's not a pony, and only ponies get cutie marks."

"Well, maybe we share the same kind of similarities with griffons?" Scootaloo tried to raise a good point. "It's hard to say with certainty that a griffon can't get a cutie mark. After all, griffons have been known for being cranky and mean, and with that in mind, I doubt they ever really did anything to earn a cutie mark of their own. Gabby could honestly be the first case in griffon history to earn a cutie mark!"

Sweetie Belle sighed behind her. "As much as I get what Athena's saying, I guess we'll never know for sure unless we give it a try. You already made the promise to Gabby, so we might as well stick through with it."

Everything about trying to catch a star that wasn't even there to begin with began to annoy me. I was feeling really fed up, and I had only been expecting to do some silly things with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. It was one thing to reach for the impossible when it came to me, but it was another if it was for a griffon who couldn't seem to stop and listen for a second.

"I'll be getting out of your hair then." I began heading out the door, feeling I could use a soak in a hot bath to wash the stress in my head away. "Looks like you'll be busy trying to get a griffon a cutie mark."

"Oh no, you don't!" I was suddenly pulled back in by Scootaloo. "Don't you see? This is an amazing opportunity for you to find your cutie mark too!"

"What? How?" I immediately questioned, beginning to feel overwhelmed by so many things I couldn't pinpoint at the very moment.

"Don't you see? Here, we have a griffon who wants a cutie mark that seems impossible. Here, we also have a pony who can get a cutie mark, but she thinks it's impossible. In a way, you and Gabby sort of fit each other like a jigsaw piece, don't you think? What you need is Gabby's confidence, and in return, if she can get a cutie mark, your ability to be able to tell what others are really feeling could probably help out a lot!"

I couldn't wrap my head around her thought process with Gabby's and my cutie mark situation, but it didn't seem like I was going to be able to weasel my way out of their hoof.

"I think I see what you're getting at, Scootaloo, but how do we even start in helpin' the both of them?" Applebloom asked.

"The same way for any filly in need – with a good old-fashioned Crusaders chart!"

Scootaloo began pulling out a blank sheet of paper and worked on taping it onto the wall. However, no matter how enthusiastic they seemed to be about not only helping me get my cutie mark, but Gabby's "mark" as well, I just couldn't share the same enthusiasm. In a way, I wished I could, but for the longest time, I've only told myself that it just wasn't possible. And with Gabby, it really was impossible.

"Look, like I've said before, I appreciate that you all want to help me get a cutie mark, but in this case, I think you should just stick with Gabby for now. I'll come back later when you're finished with her." I started to turn my body over to the door, but I was once again kept from leaving.

"Come on, Athena!" Scootaloo rushed over to me. "You should really take this chance! What are the odds that a griffon wanting a cutie mark shows up suddenly at the same time we're working with your cutie mark? I can't explain how, but it just fits! Almost like fate brought you here together."

Actually, it was you three who brought me here…

"I think we should give Scootaloo's idea a chance, Athena." Applebloom spoke up this time. "You can't ignore the similarities between you and Gabby. I think somethin' good can really come out of this."

"I agree!" Sweetie Belle nodded her head fervently. "There's just so many ways you can help each other. I can't explain it either, but after hearing Scootaloo talk, I honestly feel something amazing will happen!"

I couldn't come up with anything to counter their argument. If anypony loved making miracles happen, it was me, but it was just this particular situation that bothered the heck out of me. I had to admit that when it came to cutie mark stuff, I just wanted to sweep it under the rug and never look back.

"It's time to make a change

This is our chance" The three crusaders gathered together and began singing.

"Don't be afraid to do what's right

She's it! Go for it!" They surrounded me and cheered with their hooves that shot upwards in victory.

"We got an opportunity

We can see the light

Just one step forward, and you can bring the fight" They pointed towards their Crusaders chart and proceeded to march me towards it.

"It's time to take a chance

It's time to make a change

We're here to fight for what we believe

(Go for it!)

Come on, you need to take a stance

It's not so strange

'Cause when we work together

There's nothing that we can't achieve!"

They faced me with bright and eager grins, but all I could do was circle my eyes around the room in hesitation. Because of this, they continued to perform their signature Cutie Mark Encouragement.

"You've gotta go for change

It's calling you to be the leader

Come on and step up

You can see it with her" They pointed out the windows in the direction Gabby flew off in.

"It's now another day

And we believe in what's right

Go for it! Go for it!

Our victory is in sight!"

They stood in front of me once again, eager to hear my decision. Finally, I sighed, but I still wasn't ready to make my choice. Instead, I was filled with buzzing questionable doubts filling the void in my mind.

"How can you be so sure either of us will get anything out of this?" I asked for not only myself but Gabby as well. "How can you be sure that neither of us will walk away disappointed?"

"We're afraid of failing in the first place, Athena." Scootaloo shared expressively. "We'd hate to disappoint either of you, but the thing is, you can't make a change without risking a little effort. If you don't even try in the first place, then you won't ever do anything at all. Sometimes you just got to take the risk of failing and see things through."

"And trust us, we've all been there before many times." Applebloom added.

"Yeah! But, we've always stuck through till the end!" Sweetie Belle cheered. "And you can too!"

"Go!" They reiterated through song.

"Stand strong and don't be afraid

Let's free ourselves from the past

She's it! Go for it!

We'll let heart win against the negativity

And make a change that will last

Go for it!"

They began scribbling and formulating their plan onto the piece of blank paper, filling nearly every white space as much as they could.

"It's time to take a chance

It's time to make a change

We're here to fight for what we believe

Go for it!" They pulled away and allowed me to have a full view of their now completed chart, giving me a notion of how dedicated they were to helping me find my cutie mark.

"Come on, you need to take a stance

It's not so strange

'Cause when we work together

There's nothing that we can't achieve!

Go for it!"

"So, what do you say, Athena?" Applebloom held out her hoof towards me. "Will you give it a shot and try to make that change happen?"

They continued to look at me with the most bright and beaming eyes. At this point, any negativity that flowed within me had died out. How could I just walk out on them after that!? Although they could be really pushy, they were just too darn cute!

"Alright, alright." I submitted, feeling a short giggle escape my lips. "You win. I'll give it a shot."

"Yeah!" They cheered amongst each other for a short while before they turned the subject of the conversation over to Gabby.

"I'm feelin' good about this, Crusaders!" Applebloom shared. "All we need to do is bring Gabby in, and we can go over our plan with her!"

Sweetie Belle walked over to the window and poked her head out to search for her. "Gabby!"

"Right here!" She popped out of nowhere outside the window, startling Sweetie Belle and causing her to fall on her back. "What is it!? Are we ready to make with the cutie?!"

"Come on in, and we'll go over things with you!" Scootaloo invited.

Gabby immediately swung by the front of the clubhouse and dashed in, excitedly looking around the interior. "So, what are we going to do?!"

"First, we gotta tell you somethin'." Applebloom approached her and then looked over at me. "Hope you don't mind a partner in your search for your cutie mark. You've already met Athena, and you also know she doesn't have her cutie mark." I was lightly pushed from behind towards Gabby by the others, and since I was right next to this friendly griffon, all I could do was send a small and somewhat awkward wave. "We figured you'd have better chances of getting both your cutie marks if you work together!"

"Totally!" Gabby picked me up and squeezed me again. "Oh, this is going to be so great! I know you Cutie Mark Crusaders will pull through!"

"The first thing we gotta do is find your purpose." Applebloom walked towards their chart and poked it with a pointing stick, causing Gabby to release me in order to pay attention to Applebloom's instructions.

"Nopony gets a mark without one." Scootaloo clarified.

"All right. Let's do this!" Gabby shook her claws excitedly.

"What are you good at? Do you play any sports?" Scootaloo asked.

"Or like to dance?" Applebloom pointed towards one of the suggested activities.

"Or how about singing? I just love to sing! La-la-la-la!" Sweetie Belle included, ironically reminding me of what they had done just a few moments ago.

"Wow!" Gabby looked at her options on the chart. "I kinda wanna just try everything! I mean, I don't even know what to pick!"

"Don't worry. That's what we're here for." Scootaloo assured.

"What about me?" I raised my hoof up. "Since you all figured that my cutie mark would probably have to do with how I read emotions from others, what exactly am I going to be doing?"

"You'll be doing the same activities together with Gabby." Applebloom directed, tapping on the same chart that they had been offering the griffon in the room. "We said we needed to find your trigger, and you might just do that during these activities."

I didn't know exactly how I was going to do that, but I suppose I was willing to give it a try.

"What do you say, Gabby?" Scootaloo asked. "Ready to find your purpose?"

"You bet I am!" She exclaimed out loud with a raised claw.

With this, the three Crusaders began marching in place. Gabby noticed this and began moving her shoulders to the beat, following shortly after with her claws. Personally, I was always down to join in for a catchy upbeat song, so I followed along with them, erasing me from being the odd mare out.

"Like a racer at the starting line

You're chomping at the bit" Sweetie Belle swung her flank side-to-side as if she was ready to pounce into action.

"You are here to find your purpose

And a place you really fit" Scootaloo added.

"And until you find your place in life

You're never gonna quit" Applebloom directed towards us with an emphasis on Gabby.

"We can help you find the purpose in your life!" They pulled off the chart they had made and swung it over to Gabby.

"A griffon mixes lion's strength

With winged eagle's might" Gabby took a quick glance at the chart, standing proudly afterwards.

"When I finally find my purpose

Then my cutie mark's in sight

Crusaders, I won't let you down

I've just begun to fight

You're gonna help us find the purpose in our lives!" She swung open the door and flew outside, causing each of us to follow on after her to the beginning of our date with destiny.

"Got a job that's just no fun?

Call on me, I'll get it done!

Cauldron's stuck and needs a mix?

I'm the one who's got the fix!" We started with working with Zecora's cauldron, but I failed horribly when a violent poof came out from the stir, causing Gabby to come and somehow fix it for me.

"Help you teach pre-calculus" What are words?

"Scrub the floors, won't make a fuss" This spot isn't coming out!

"Clearing kelp? Just give a yelp" It's not coming off my hooves!

"Raring to go, ready to help!" How do you do it, Gabby?

"That's the spirit

You ought to see what you do best

Try it all, pick your fave

And leave behind the rest" The Crusaders seemed to sing us lyrics of encouragement as they checked off various items on the list, and for a short moment, the light inside me rekindled. After all, I can't win them all, right…?

"I'll try anything

To get my cutie mark

Keep up with me, Crusaders

We're just getting our start!" Gabby nudged me along, motivating me to keep going.

"Rock your little ones to sleep

While hanging up the sheets" Seeing as I was good with emotions, I tried to put the baby to sleep first, but all I ended up doing was making the baby cry, having Gabby miraculously put him to sleep while fixing up the wrinkled sheets I had hung up.

"I can help you with your heavy load" It's too heavy!

"Walk Granny 'cross the street" I'm not slow enough!

"I'll run you 'round the bases fast

It's really no big feat!" Gabby smacked the ball nearly out of the field, allowing me to run on ahead, but I ended up tripping over and stuffing my face into the dirt. A pony came up to me and touched me with the ball. You're out! Haaah.

"Can we help her find the purpose in her life?" I heard the Crusaders ask nearby and worried that they were talking about me.

Gabby tried cheering me up, but it was all for naught when she only continued to show not only the Crusaders but me as well how perfect she was at everything.

"Cheer you if you're feeling low

Plant your garden, make it grow

Write a piece for your quartet

Filling in on clarinet

Bake that cake as fast as lightning!"

All the while she successfully did all the things on the list, the Crusaders were having anxieties of their own.

"She's so good at things, it's frightening

Cutie Mark Crusaders,

I think we've got a problem!" Athena, I think you are the problem…

"Build a boat

And sail it out across the sea

Need some help?

You know that you can count on me!" If seeing her do everything so perfectly was enough of a killjoy for me, it was the fact that practically everypony in Ponyville already adored her. She had only been in Ponyville for a short while, yet everypony loved her! H-How was she so perfect?!

"CMCs, you're gonna help me find my purpose" She gathered us together before merrily rising up in the air and eventually being carried away by everypony who found her amazingly amazing.

"The purpose in our lives!

In my life!"

"Now how we gonna do this?" Applebloom asked frantically, carrying the chart that Gabby succeeded without a hitch, yet I failed each one miserably.

"Gabby's special purpose can't be everything, right? Sweetie Belle wondered anxiously.

"It may as well be. I don't know how we find what she's supposed to do when she can do it all." Applebloom sadly admitted.

"Maybe her cutie mark is being perfect at anything…" I muttered underneath my breath.

Scootaloo sighed. "And if finding her purpose seems impossible, we can just forget about the whole griffon-getting-a-cutie-mark thing, which is actually impossible. I never should've gotten her hopes up!"

"I did... it... all!" Gabby returned in an ecstatic manner. "So, lay it on me, Crusaders. What's my purpose? And how do we get a mark on these here haunches?"

Three Crusaders looked sadly amongst each other before Scootaloo decided to step up to deliver the bad news. "Gabby, we... we don't."

"Wait. What are you saying?" Gabby's grin disappeared, the vibrant yellow aura within her manifesting into a cold blue.

"We're sayin' that since you can do everything so amazingly well..." Applebloom began.

"We just can't figure out what one thing you're supposed to do." Sweetie Belle clarified.

"Gabby, we can't help you." Scootaloo reluctantly concluded, her voice lightly shaking as if she was about to cry.

"But, but... you're the world-famous Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Gabby stammered, tears welling up in her eyes. "I can't believe it! I... I... I won't believe it!" She bitterly snapped before rising up and disappearing beyond the sky.

"Gabby, wait!" Applebloom called.

"We're sorry! We're so, so sorry!" Scootaloo tried to apologize as loudly as she could, but I was more than sure Gabby couldn't hear it. "This is just awful. For the first time ever, the Cutie Mark Crusaders are cutie mark failures."

All this time, I had been feeling frustration reconcile with my mixed emotions. In a way, I was confused. In another, I was angry. At the same time, I was sad. In fact, I was so frustrated, I honestly felt like I could scream out loud. Instead, I focused my internal raging emotions on a heavy rant.

"Just what's her problem?!" I belted out. "Why does she care so much about a stupid cutie mark? She's perfect. Everypony just loves her. Everypony wants to be her friend. And that's because she's a griffon! You'd think everypony was scared of her! She has all of this, and she's still obsessed about a cutie mark?! At least she can do so many amazing things! I failed at every one of them, and I'm still standing here without a mark!"

"Athena, take a breather!" Applebloom quickly approached me, sending me the vibe that she was worried about losing both of her pupils. "When we were searching for our marks, we failed at everything too. It's what happens when you're trying to find your mark."

I was able to calm down a little after blowing off some steam with my rant, but I was still a little bitter. "I did all those things with her and nothing happened. I thought she was supposed to be the key to 'getting my cutie mark', but all it really did was just bum me out."

"Let's get back to the clubhouse and look into your cutie mark a little more." Sweetie Belle offered, taking a glance at the direction Gabby had fled. "I don't think Gabby will be coming back…"

Although I was on the brink of quitting, I decided to follow them back. I didn't expect to be paired up with a griffin in "finding my mark" in the first place, so I thought I should still give it a solo shot like I thought it was supposed to be in the first place.

They were supposed to be working together to figure out some kind of "Plan B" in regards to my cutie mark back at the clubhouse, but it seemed all they mostly did was think back on how things were handled with Gabby. Out of the three of them, Scootaloo was the most affected out of all. Considering that she was the one who raised Gabby's hopes in the first place, I guess it wasn't a surprise.

This didn't help when it came to my confusing mix of emotions. I started feeling angrier because the Crusaders made a big deal when it came to helping me with my cutie mark problem, but when Gabby came by, it was almost like they had forgotten about it. Now, they weren't exactly taking it seriously because they were too busy moping about the griffon that got away.

I want to feel bad for them. I really do. But, dragging me away to work on a problem I always found extremely sensitive, for some reason, only to let that same problem drag on because of an impossible case with a griffon, it's a really big pill that's hard to swallow.

"I can't concentrate." Scootaloo shook her head. "I can't stop thinking about Gabby. I really thought we could help her."

"I thought we could help anypony." Sweetie Belle responded.

"Maybe that's just it – maybe we can only help ponies." Applebloom speculated.

"Or maybe we just plain failed." Scootaloo threw the chart they had used for both Gabby and me across the floor in a fit of anger.

I began to be heavily reminded of what they had told me earlier in the day. About how they were afraid of failing yet were still willing to take the risk. This was the worst-case scenario. Proof that not everything always has a happy ending. Seeing as they weren't in any kind of state to help me whatsoever, I sighed lightly and decided I would come back another time.

Just before I could tell them, the door to the clubhouse slammed open, and in came a creature we least expected to see at this very moment.

"Failed? Then what do you call this?!"

It was Gabby, and she had been pointing excitedly and heavily at her flank. However, as soon as I got a good look at her, I could immediately tell something was contradictory about her emotions.

"A cutie mark?!" The Crusaders screamed out at once and immediately raced towards her.

"What?" Sweetie Belle questioned profoundly in a fit of confusion. "You got your mark after all! Even though we couldn't find your purpose? But– What? Huh?! How?!"

"And what does it mean?" Applebloom leaned in closer to Gabby's apparent mark. "A cauldron?"

"Uh... I don't know." Gabby retracted her wings, using them to cover up her mark. At the same time, I began lowering my eyelids somewhat aggressively as I took particular notice of the black splotches in her jumpy emotions. "Maybe it means my purpose is, uh, helping Zecora with potions. That was the first thing I tried. I guess it just took some time to appear. But here it is!"

"This is awesome!" Scootaloo cheered, hopping jubilantly. "We're not failures! Whatever we did worked! I had a feeling we could help you, and we did!"

To see them believing the lie right in front of them began to burn me up. And, it wasn't just that. It was the fact that the creature responsible for perpetuating this lie was everypony's favorite perfect griffon.

"Oh! We've gotta go see Twilight right away!" Applebloom pushed. "She'll wanna know about this!"

"Correction – she needs to know about this!" Sweetie Belle revised while uneasiness from Gabby began to grow immensely. "I bet she'll want to write a whole book about the very first griffon to get a cutie mark of her own!"

"No!" I finally shouted, growing sick of the sight in front of me. "Twilight can't write a book about the very first griffon to get a cutie mark because griffons can't get cutie marks!" I stated bitterly as I walked up to the sweating griffon with a lowered head and furrowed brows.

"What are you talking about?" Scootaloo questioned. "She has a cutie mark. It's right there." She pointed it out.

With the angriest glare I could work up, I continued eyeing this griffon, leaving no room for mercy. "Oh yeah? If she really did get a cutie mark, then why is she so nervous right now? Why does she look so secretive all of a sudden?"

"W-What do you mean?" She stuttered. "If you're talking about the shakes I have, it's because I was so excited when—"

Fed up with the fantasy she was trying to present, I grabbed the nearest cloth I could find and aimed straight for where her mark was at. She immediately jumped at my motion but not before I could get a swipe at her flank.

I turned towards the rag and found semi-wet and slightly chipped paint. The mark on her flank had hardly come off, and it would have proved a better point had I had water. Nevertheless, her mark had been clearly smeared, and that was enough evidence to point out the phoniness about it.

"Gabby? You faked your mark…?" Applebloom asked, every one of the Crusaders taken aback by the reveal.

Before Gabby could find the words to speak, I decided to speak for her.

"Of course, she faked her mark!" I angrily threw the rag towards the floor, feeling my own emotions turn blue than red. "Was it not enough that everypony loved how perfect you were when it came to doing everything on the chart? You had to go and paint on a stupid mark to feel better about yourself? How could you do such an insulting thing?! I wish I could do a lot of things as amazing as you could, but I can't! I can hardly do anything right!" I turned and faced away from everyone, shutting my eyes to try to keep tears from running out. "You made so many friends in less than a day, and I'm barely still trying to get to know ponies outside of my brother. How is it so easy for you?! You know what?" I turned back, opening my eyes slightly and my vision being lightly obscured by the water in them. "This is why I hate cutie marks so much. All they do is remind me of what kind of broken pony I really am. It's not fun being the only full-grown mare without a cutie mark! And to see you go and do something like that?!" I felt my teeth grit against each other as I gave a violent shake of my head. "I'm done with this stupid club!"

I immediately ran past everyone in the clubhouse and pushed my way outside.

Behind me, I could hear the Crusaders call out my name and run after me.

I found them following me with every step of the way, and all I could really do was tell them to back off.

"Cutie Mark Crusaders, stay away from me

I've told you all the truth

It's so plain to see"

"Stop!" They fired back. "Come on, Athena, this is not the way!

You know you can overcome this negativity"

Squeezing my eyebrows together, I kicked my legs up a notch and had no plans of stopping.

"You don't even know me at all

Don't understand the meaning of my call

What's the point of even trying if I always

Fail at everything?" Bobbing and weaving through various things on my path, I checked every now and then to find the same fillies still on my tail.

"Look at me – there's no denying it

A pony like me needs to know when it's time to quit

There's nothing left for me to do in the end"

The castle was in my sights. I just needed to go a little further.

"Stop!" They suddenly appeared before me, causing me to quickly pass them and take a short detour. "This is not the answer"

"Wait!" They somehow caught up to me enough to pop up right in front of me, having me nearly trip as I avoided them. "And it's plainly seen"

"Listen!" They managed to get me to skid to a stop. I accidentally fell forward onto the ground, but with tears escaping from my eyes, it only motivated me to separate myself from them. "You can stand strong and pull through

But you can't just quit and stop in between"

As I grew closer to the castle entrance, they galloped backwards in front of me to connect their eyes with mine, providing me with a familiar sight.

"You know you have friends who admire you

Think about how proud they'd be to see what you can do

Trust us, there is still a way, there is still a wa-a-ay"

As they gathered around me and galloped side-by-side instead of trying to directly stop me, I immediately began remembering this same situation. I had witnessed this same sight with my very own eyes not too long ago, just a little while before they had earned their own cutie marks. However, in my place, it had been Diamond Tiara. I never thought I'd see myself going through the same thing as she did…

"There's so much more still left to

Learn about yourself

See the light that shines in you

We know you can be somepony else" They encouraged me with warm and inviting grins before they ran up ahead and reached the castle doors. They positioned their hooves in front of me, blocking my way in and having me stop momentarily.

"You can stop right now

And try another start" They pointed past me, having me turn to find Gabby on the other side. She had this apologetic face, and all I could do was stare back silently before turning back to the Crusaders.

"You'll finally free yourself from the dark

And see the light

And see the light of your cutie mark!"

I actually stood there in front of them, contemplating about their assurance with a lowered head. However, it took only a matter of seconds for me to realize that I wasn't going to be given false hope anymore. Just like Gabby was never going to get her mark, I needed to reinstate the fact that I wasn't going to either.

"No." I finally told them, wiping any tears lingering in my eyes. "I'm done."

Their jaws fell as I simply circled around them and approached the castle doors.

"Athena, you can't just give up now!" Applebloom said.

"You're so close, Athena!" Scootaloo added. "I can feel it!"

I scoffed a little and glanced back at them.

"Oh, kind of like you felt with Gabby, huh?"

They didn't have an answer for that last remark, and I went on ahead and walked inside before they had any chance to say anything else.

It was still early in the day, but I, for one, was absolutely done. I began heading towards the room, passing the library as I stared gloomily at the floor.

"Athena!" I heard a sing-song voice come from Twilight. "Guess who's back?!"

"Geez, you make it sound like if I was gone for a year or something." I heard a comforting voice ring in my ears. Despite my legs stopping and ears actually perking up, I was in no mood to talk to anyone, even with Alex.

"Hey. How's it going?" Alex approached me as I spotted Fluttershy in the background. "Twilight said you were asking about me in the morning."

"Oh, that…?" I responded slowly and without any feeling. "Yeah, it was nothing. I was just curious is all."

"You okay?" He leaned in towards me with concern. "You don't look so good."

I slightly turned my face away from him. "Sorry. I just feel really tired. I think I'm going to go to bed."

With that, I continued walking to the room, definitely feeling his eyes on me as I left.

Once, I reached the solitude of the sweet comforting bed, I closed my eyes and just let every part of me loose in hopes that I could just fast-forward and skip time the natural way.

Alex

Seeing her leave like that bothered me. In fact, I almost started worrying that my absence made her upset somehow, but at the same time, I thought against it. It wasn't like she had a problem with me spending time with Fluttershy before.

"Hey. Something happen to Athena today?" I asked Twilight.

"Huh?" She answered. "I don't know. She didn't stay in the castle for long today. Why?"

As I thought a little seriously into it, I heard the sound of a pair of hooves approaching us from behind.

"Is Athena here?"

I turned and found that it was Applebloom who spoke. She was with the rest of her friends, including a... griffon…? "You just missed her, uh, hi?" I greeted the griffon that accompanied them.

"Hello." She responded, shaking my hoof lightly with her claw. "My name's Gabriella, but you can call me Gabby. Can you take us to where Athena is?"

"She said she was going to bed." I told them. "She didn't look so good."

"What are we going to do now?" Sweetie Belle worriedly asked the others. "We can't just leave things like this."

"What's going on?" Twilight asked with concern as Fluttershy followed behind her.

Gabby sighed heavily. "This is all my fault. I only wanted help with getting a cutie mark, but when that didn't work, I tried painting one on my flank. And, it really made Athena upset."

"You wanted a cutie mark?" I couldn't help but request a bit of clarification. I never heard of a griffon wanting a cutie mark before.

"Wait a minute. You're the griffon that wanted a cutie mark?" Twilight questioned.

"Yes, but none of that matters now! All I want is to fix the mess I ended up making." Gabby pleaded.

"Gabby, why did you do it in the first place?" Scootaloo inquired. "Why did you paint a cutie mark on yourself? Did you really just want to make yourself feel better for not having one?"

Gabby shook her head with great enthusiasm. "No! I mean, sure, I was disappointed. But I didn't do it to make myself feel better. I wanted to make you feel better." Her response earned a gasp from each of the Crusaders. "I couldn't bear you three thinking you failed after you tried so hard to help, and I thought Athena would be much more motivated to find her cutie mark if she saw that a griffon got a cutie mark. I guess my plan ended up backfiring." She sighed distressfully once more with a heavy pout. "I'm sorry I wasn't honest with any of you, and I don't want to leave until I apologize to Athena too. Better yet, if I could do something that'd make up for all the trouble I caused, that'd be even better."

"Gabby, you don't need to apologize for carin' about how other ponies are feelin'." Applebloom stated.

"I'm just sorry we couldn't come through for you. Either of you." Scootaloo admitted.

Gabby shook her head. "Getting a cutie mark is the least bit of my worries now. All I want to do is make Athena happy again. In fact, if I can do anything to get her her cutie mark, I won't hesitate for a second."

"So, other than helping Gabby, you were also trying to help Athena with her cutie mark problem?" I asked.

"Yes." Applebloom responded.

"We honestly feel like we're so close to getting her one." Scootaloo added. "We can't exactly explain how, but it's like…right on the tip of our tongues. We told her that, but she just…gave up."

"She wants to help other ponies, and we found out she can do that by being able to tell what others' real emotions are." Sweetie Belle explained. "We get a strong feeling that that's her purpose, but we just haven't found out the trigger yet. We don't know what exactly is keeping her from really realizing that purpose and getting her cutie mark."

"Strange, isn't it?" Applebloom brought up. "Wasn't that kind of the same thing with us? When we were still blank flanks, we spent all of our time as the Cutie Mark Crusaders helpin' other ponies in order to find our own purpose and cutie marks. But, it wasn't until we realized that we wanted to focus on helpin' other ponies find their purpose instead of worryin' about our cutie marks."

"I've always felt that Athena's lacked confidence in herself." I admitted as I looked back on our past experiences with her. "I think it's one of the reasons why she was so hesitant in getting to know other ponies besides me, kind of how I used to be a long time ago. After all, I think she probably still blames herself for a lot of things that aren't really her fault. Maybe she secretly believes that she doesn't deserve a cutie mark…"

"But she's really nice." Fluttershy shared. "She doesn't deserve to be left out."

"She thinks she can't do anything, right…" Gabby held her head low with a claw wrapped around her chin as if she was thinking to herself. "But, I know that's not true!" She paused for a moment before gasping in realization. "Crusaders! I think I might know just the trick to fix everything!"

"Huh?" Applebloom immediately turned towards Gabby. "What do you mean?"

"Being a griffon, maybe it's true that I can't get a cutie mark, but that doesn't matter anymore. What I really want to do is help other ponies, especially if that means helping get them their marks. I don't know the answer to Athena's mark, but I do think I can bring the light back into her day. What do you say? Are you ponies with me?" Gabby faced towards them with a beaming and hopeful smile.

"Yeah!" The three Crusaders cheered loudly.

"Just say the word, Gabby! We're right behind you!" Applebloom enthusiastically offered.

"Athena's pretty down in the dumps right now, but I think everything's going to work out just fine!" Gabby bellowed out words of inspiration before jumping into an upbeat song.

"Cheer her up

That's what we need to do

Free her purpose

And I've just got the clue" She dashed into the library and turned to face everyone.

"I want to help and do

Everything that I can

I'm here to show you big change

Listen up, here's the plan

"Quick! I need something to write with and something to write on! Stat!"

"You got it!" The Crusaders exclaimed in unison, each spreading out to find the right tool for Gabby.

They reconvened at the table, and the rest of us were left eyeballing the situation in confusion. We didn't really have any other choice but to witness their apparent plan unfold.

"Thanks a lot!" Gabby cheerfully expressed when she received the necessary tools. She scribbled on the paper for a moment before turning back to the Crusaders. "Now, tell me, if you could imagine what Athena's cutie mark would be like, what would it be?"

"Ooh!" Sweetie Belle raised her hoof excitedly. "She'd definitely have a heart! That's for sure!"

"A heart! That sounds like it fits her!" Scootaloo pointed out.

"She needs something else." Applebloom tapped her chin. "Something to represent her special ability."

"I think I have something in mind!" Gabby mentioned before continuing to make swift motions with the quill in her claw.

Twilight, Fluttershy, and I only looked at each other in curiosity.

"There's so much we can do

To help somepony else" Gabby continued to sing with profound meaning.

"I see the light that shines in her

I know she can be her better self" She wiped the paper she had been working on a bit and then glanced over to the Crusaders surrounding her.

"She can free the past

'Cause now the future's bright for her" Each of them nodded individually as if they approved whatever she had made.

"Her cutie mark will set her free

To do what's right and be the pony she wants to be~" She voiced loudly and proudly.

"And be the pony she wants to be!"

"It's finished!" Applebloom noticed.

"What now, Gabby?" Sweetie Belle excitedly asked.

"Yeah? How do we bring back the spirit into Athena?" Scootaloo added.

"One last thing." Gabby mentioned. "This is the really important part. Who here is the closest to Athena? The pony she completely and absolutely trusts."

There was a short second of silence before every pony in the room turned straight towards me. At first, I could only awkwardly return their looks with confusion before I ultimately saw what they were getting at. Gabby approached me with the paper she had been working on in her claw.

"How well can you paint?" She asked.

Having previous experience with paint, I couldn't say I was horrible. "Uh, pretty well, I guess?" I responded.

"I need you to paint this on Athena's flank!" She quickly pushed the paper towards my face with a bright smile.

I studied the design on the paper for a short moment before facing back to her. "Okay…but I'm pretty sure she's going to know that it's fake."

"Of course, she is, silly, but that's not the point." Gabby informed. "Go on! We need it done as soon as possible while she's still asleep."

"You can trust, Gabby, Alex!" Applebloom supported. "She really knows how to help any pony!"

Having been blind to practically everything that happened today involving them, I decided I couldn't ignore their enthusiasm. They had a really good feeling that whatever they just did would work, so I decided to follow on through with them.

Athena

I felt myself being sucked out of slumber when something repeatedly pressed my cheek. I moaned and grumbled a bit, but it didn't stop. Finally, I decided to open my eyes, so I could angrily find out what had been the unnecessary wakeup call. However, the glare that had begun to form on my face calmed when I found Alex at the bedside looking at me with a gentle smile.

"What is it?" I asked, rubbing my eyes a little.

"So, I heard you were out trying to get your cutie mark, huh?" He mentioned unexpectedly.

I sighed and threw my head back onto the pillow, figuring that he found out everything about today. "Don't even remind me. I don't want to talk about it." My voice came out muffled through the pillow.

"Oh. So, you don't want to talk about the thing that's on your butt?" He said, causing me to quickly furrow my eyebrows.

"Stop making fun of me." I told him lazily, believing he was just trying to prank me or something.

"No. I'm serious! Look!" He pointed out with greater emotion.

With a heavy sigh, I rolled my eyes and pulled myself up so I could get a look at my flank.

There, I saw a cutie mark.

"Pretty neat, huh?" He closed his eyes and straightened his back proudly.

I continued staring silently at this mark. There was no way Alex was this dumb. If it wasn't for the stupid wrongly-placed smug look on his face, it was the obvious paint that had been drawn on my flank. But, I couldn't get mad at him for this. Instead…I felt a little…better?

No way… Did Alex do this in order to try to cheer me up? I couldn't lie, I really liked the design. If I had a cutie mark, this one would look really cool. Whatever the case was, it was clear that Alex did this for me. Was he…trying to say something?

The more I thought about Alex's involvement with this obviously unreal cutie mark, the more I began feeling a little sad in a good way. In fact, this entire situation began reminding me of the life we had before. The times I was so sad, I wanted to stay in bed, yet, he was there, pulling some stupid stunt to cheer me up. It was a back and forth kind of thing.

Exchanging a small sniffle, I wiped the tear that began to leak out of my left eye. "You're so dumb." I nearly broke my voice at the end.

"What do you mean?" He continued to pretend like he had no idea what I had been getting onto.

"Come on. I know you're not that stupid." I returned. "You painted this cutie mark on me."

"What?" He feigned a sense of confusion. "No. That totally was there before I came in."

I shook my head as I felt his intentional stupidity heartwarming. Afterwards, I immediately threw my hooves around him and hugged him with all my might.

"Thank you, Alex." I told him.

"What did I do?" He asked, keeping up his act.

"You can stop pretending now. I know you did this to make me feel better." I pulled away and faced him with tear-ridden eyes. "You know…? I think I finally realize something. For all this time, I've been running away from the idea of a cutie mark, pretending that I didn't care about it in the first place. But, I was only really lying to myself. I really did want a cutie mark, but I believed that I would never get one so I kind of hated always hearing about them. I still can't say that I can get one, and I honestly think that I won't. But…" I turned away and began searching the room for something to wipe the mark with. "A cutie mark shouldn't be a big deal in the first place. It's something I learned from Gabby." Finding a rag lying around, I sat and stared at it for a moment. "She doesn't have a cutie mark, yet she can do so many amazing things. Maybe I've been too obsessed with the idea of getting one that I haven't been focusing on what really matters. For one, I still have a purpose, cutie mark or not. And that purpose involves helping my friends, especially you. When I have ponies who like me and support me for who I am, then why should a cutie mark matter?" I pressed the rag against my flank and began rubbing the paint off, watching it smear all over the place. It was still fresh, so it was a lot easier to come out. "I feel stupid for not realizing it sooner, but I know now. I don't need a cutie mark to know who I'm really meant to be."

As I continued trying to scrub whatever was left off, this bright glow appeared all of a sudden. I nearly had to cover my eyes, and when it had faded away, I lifted up the rag I had been using to wipe off the mark.

There was still a heavy smear across my flank, but the mark showed no sign of leaving. I began to worry that Alex may have used some kind of permanent paint or even went as far as using magic to make the mark permanent, hence the bright glow.

"Geez, Alex. What kind of paint did you use?" I asked. "It's not coming off!" I placed as much pressure as I could and scrubbed heavily, wiping off even the smears remaining from my flank.

"I…I didn't paint that!" He pointed out, staring at my flank in awe.

"Oh, ha ha." I replied sarcastically. "No, but seriously. You didn't use permanent paint, did you? Please, don't tell me you used magic or something!"

"I'm serious!" He genuinely sounded serious, and taking a look at his emotional state, it was clear that he was both shocked and surprised by the unexpected development. "That wasn't me! It's you! That's your cutie mark, Athena!"

"H-Huh?!" I stared back at the mark. There was no sign of paint left. Yet, there was a huge heart still standing clearly in the middle. However, like magic, there were minor things about the mark that changed. I could see, what looked like, a bandage on the upper right of the heart, and everything about it just made even me want to smile. But, I didn't smile. Instead, I only stared at the mark with my jaw hanging wide open at a complete loss for words.

"SHE FINALLY GOT HER CUTIE MARK!" I heard a triplet of fillies run in through the door and shout all together as they jumped in joy. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS FOREVER!" They surrounded me and wrapped their little hooves all around as tightly as they could.

"You were searching for your cutie mark

For a while there" They sang once they pulled away.

"Trying to find out how you fit in

It was hard to try before

But you just needed to keep trying more"

'Cause the Cutie Mark Crusaders don't give in!" They pointed my eyes in the direction of the door, having me find a small audience witnessing the entire thing. Twilight, Starlight, Fluttershy, and even Gabby!

"Now we know what it took all along" Scootaloo pushed me towards the door as my legs practically felt glued in place.

"And your journey here is far from being done" Sweetie Belle waved us to a clearer area.

"For it is more than just a mark

It comes from your very heart" Applebloom shared from between.

"Now, your adventure has only just begun" They stated in unison before they led me towards the throne room.

"You've made your mark

Showed the world what you can do

You've made your mark

All you needed was to break through

To the ultimate reward of a cutie mark!"

Inside the throne room, I found the rest of Alex's friends, my friends, gathered together.

As they gasped at the sight of my newfound mark, Pinkie pressed her hooves against the table and lifted herself upwards. "No way! You got your cutie mark! This calls for an even bigger cute-ceañera!" She screamed.

"No no no no no." I finally spoke, shaking my head in disbelief. "This has got to be a dream." I turned to Alex. "I'm going to wake up any second now, and I'm going to find myself in bed cutie mark-less!"

"This isn't a dream, Athena." Alex approached me with one of the proudest smiles I've ever seen him have. "That cutie mark you thought didn't exist? You have it now. And all you needed to do was stop blaming yourself for everything and realize that a cutie mark ultimately doesn't define who you are. You're the boss.

"I'm so proud of you, little sister" Alex began to sing to me, and the sound of both his voice and choice of words began to make me heavily blush as he held my chin upwards with his hoof. "You've taught me a thing or two"

If that wasn't enough, he wasn't the only one. By his side, Twilight approached me.

"You've inspired everypony around you

And you've inspired me too" She added, leaving me wondering if she was referring back to what I did at the Crystal Empire. Nevertheless, they sang together as a duo, making me feel like the most embarrassed filly in the world. It was like the kind of birthday party I could only dream of having.

"You've made your mark

Done Equestria so proud

You've made your mark

And we're here to sing it loud

For the ultimate reward of your cutie mark"

"Well, what do you think, Athena?!" Applebloom excitedly asked me. "How does it feel like now that you have your very own cutie mark?! Was it worth the wait?!"

"I-I don't know what to say!" I felt overwhelmed by the sudden escalation of shock value. "All of this is so much! I'm still having a hard time believing that this is really real!"

"You better believe it!" Scootaloo hopped in.

"You earned it, Athena!" Sweetie Belle clarified.

"We started out just three

Crusaders driven to see

What we find in our hearts

Discover our destiny

Now here you are, our best friend

This is your ultimate win

Your adventure that never will end!"

They pushed me forward once more, and I began to see everybody in the room gather together.

"You've made your mark

You've shown dreams can be a thing

You've made your mark

Think of all the happiness you'll bring

'Cause the ultimate reward is a cutie mark!"

Everyone looked to one side of the room. As I did the same, I noticed a camera being levitated with the use of magic. I was pushed over to the front, joining the Crusaders, Spike, and Gabby. However, just before the picture was snapped, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo made sure to bring my cutie mark into full view. In the end, I was sure they had to take more than a few snaps as it took a while for my lips to relax into an actual smile.

Pinkie promised an amazing cute-ceañera, and she certainly pulled through. Personally, I would have preferred if it was a smaller party with just close friends, but the party wasn't only for me. I found out that this party was meant for Gabby as well. She hadn't received the cutie mark that she dreamed of, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders had a plan for that.

Sitting together during the cute-ceañera, Gabby explained everything to me. She gave me the real reason behind painting herself a cutie mark, and I honestly couldn't help but feel bad about it afterwards.

"You did it to make all of us feel better?" I summed up. "I-I'm so sorry! I didn't know!"

"It's okay." Gabby replied with a cheerful grin. "I'm actually really glad you got your cutie mark, Athena. All I've really wanted to do was help ponies in need, but I guess I sort of just got swept up with having something like a cutie mark to show for it. So, in a way, you've taught me something important too. I don't need a cutie mark to know that." She turned towards the sight of the festivities inside the bakery. "Cute-ceañeras sure look fun though."

Finding Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle return from their ultra-super top-secret mission, I decided to spill the beans to Gabby. "Well, this isn't just my cute-ceañera, you know?"

"Huh?" Gabby questioned before the Crusaders spoke behind her.

"She's right!" Applebloom mentioned as Sweetie Belle hovered a box over Gabby and placed it on the table.

"We racked our brains a little and came up with something for you." Scootaloo introduced.

"Seeing as all you ever did today was help everybody else, we figured that there's no way we'd let you go unrewarded." Sweetie Belle stated.

"But helping just feels good." Gabby responded. "I don't need a reward for that."

"And that's exactly why helping other ponies fits in as your special purpose, and it's definitely something worth a cutie mark!" Scootaloo exclaimed in glee. "As you may have already seen with Athena, finding your special purpose doesn't have to be about being good at something. It's about feeling good about something inside. Athena practically knew what she was meant to do, but it wasn't until she truly believed in herself that triggered the appearance of her mark!"

"Besides," Applebloom continued, "It looks like your destiny is a whole lot like ours – helping others. And you don't need a symbol on your flank to know that."

"But since we are the Cutie Mark Crusaders, we made you one anyway. Behold!" Sweetie Belle focused her magic on the enclosed box and opened it up.

"Your very own cutie mark! Ta-da!" They simultaneously said as they revealed their hoof-crafted gift to Gabby.

"If helping other ponies while looking for your own mark wasn't enough proof, it was the fact that you went above and beyond to help Athena. You weren't thinking about getting a cutie mark as a reward. You just wanted to help her because it was what your heart was telling you to do, so it's only natural that we'd carve this for you!"

"But they look just like yours." Gabby noticed as Sweetie Belle locked them into place onto her saddlebag. "You can't mean...!"

"You bet we do!" Scootaloo confirmed, "You're one of us now! Gabby, today we dub thee..."

"The very first griffon member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders! Woo-hoo!" The three fillies shouted in unison and cheered.

"You may not be able to get a cutie mark..." Sweetie Belle mentioned.

"But you're selflessly dedicatin' your life to helpin' others anyhow." Applebloom finished. "I can't think of anything more Crusader-y than that."

"And now that you have your cutie mark." I added, giving her a smug little smirk. "This is your cute-ceañera too!"

She gasped sharply before launching upwards into the air with a somersault. "Awesome! My very own cute-ceañera!" She cheered loudly as ever. Next, she chuckled a bit wildly before returning back to the ground and hugging the four of us greatly. "I am so grateful! I'm gonna go home and do my very, very best to bring Cutie Mark Crusader values to Griffonstone! I promise."

"Promise us one other thing, too?" Scootaloo brought up, turning towards the rest of us.

"Come back soon!" All of us shouted with glee. Yes, even me.

"After all, you're a Crusader now." Scootaloo added. "Crusaders forever?"

"Crusaders forever!" Gabby confirmed.

The three of them rose up their hooves, allowing Gabby to bring her claw into the group.

For the first time, without any feeling of doubt within me, I brought up my own hoof and joined them.

I could say I was finally proud to call myself a Cutie Mark Crusader.

Every Little Thing She Does

"Hey, Alex! I'm headed off to Canterlot!" I heard my door slam open, jolting me awake and nearly causing me to fall off my bed.

Everything I had witnessed was still a blur, and piece by piece, I was able to remember certain things in relation to her morning announcement.

"Oh, that…!" I realized. "H-Hold on, I need to get my stuff ready."

"It's okay. You don't need come along. I've got everything under control." She assured.

"Yeah, but we're a team." I answered, wiping my eyes a bit.

"I think I can handle a little presentation on the history of enchanted objects in Equestria." She responded with a little snark, rolling her eyes backwards. "Spike's going to be with me. Everything will be fine. Besides, I was actually wondering if you could stay here and do me a favor."

"Um, okay. What?" I asked as I ruffled my mane with my hoof.

"I assigned Starlight to tackle on a friendship lesson while I'm gone. Do you think you can give her a little supervision? I'm not asking you to babysit her or anything, just make sure she's doing well and all."

"Uh, yeah, okay." I accepted without really putting the time to think it through first.

"Hey, maybe Alex can be the friendship lesson!" I heard Spike say behind Twilight.

"Hm…" Twilight thought about before coming to a conclusion. "That isn't exactly a bad idea. She already succeeded in making a new friend. In fact, I was just expecting her to learn more about friendship in general. Even so…" She turned her eyes away from the ceiling and shifted them to me. "You don't have to be the lesson. I'm more than sure you're capable of giving a lesson."

"I'm not the 'teaching' type like you are, Twilight." I pointed out. "I wouldn't know jack from making schedules, drawing examples out with chalk, using pointers, and all that teacher stuff."

"That's why you teach your way." Twilight suggested. "I'm not the only one who's taught friendship to others, am I right?"

Confusion struck me momentarily. "…I've taught friendship before…?"

Twilight sighed. "Ditsy? Vinyl? Octavia?"

"But, I didn't really—"

"Just stick around Starlight for me, please?" Twilight abruptly requested. "I have to get going. I'll be back later on today, okay?"

"Yeah, sure." I scratched my head, still being a little dazed about what Twilight had been asking of me.

"Thanks a bunch!" She momentarily hugged me before she trotted off.

"Good luck!" Spike expressed before following after her with several supplies in his claws.

I sighed to myself and looked around the room. I realized that Athena wasn't around, and I had a good feeling she had actually gotten up before I did. Nevertheless, I walked out of my room and began making my way over to Starlight's. I still wasn't sure what Twilight wanted me to do specifically, but I suppose taking a look at what Starlight was doing wasn't a bad idea to start with.

I approached her door and knocked several times. There was no answer, leaving me unsure if she was in another room, or if she was sleeping. Opening the door cautiously, I softly called out her name.

"Starlight?"

Once the door was fully open, I immediately found a pony sitting on top of a stool in front of a desk holding up a book. Her face was buried in the book, and judging from her mane and coat, it was obviously none other than the pony I was looking for. However, her body didn't move other than to accommodate her rhythmic breathing. It appeared she had fallen asleep in the middle of studying something in particular. Maybe that 'friendship lesson' Twilight was talking about?

I didn't exactly want to wake her up, but at the same time, I didn't want to just leave her there when she was supposed to be working on a friendship lesson. Iwas supposed to be giving her a little 'supervision'. I took a few steps forward and decided to tap her a little. When all I got back was soft incoherent mumbling coming out of her mouth, I decided to move on to shaking her lightly.

"W-What…?" Her eyes began to twitch open.

"You awake now?" I asked.

"Huh…?" She answered lazily, squinting her eyes heavily. "Who are you…?" She rubbed her eyes as I waited in silence for her to find out herself. "Alex? What are you doing in here?"

"You had a friendship lesson or something to do?" I asked.

"The friendship lesson!" She repeated in shock, immediately turning back to her desk. She proceeded to flail her hooves around the open book before turning her head into various locations by the table. "My note cards! Where are they?!"

My eyes caught something stuck within the confines of her mane and noticed a sharp corner poking out from different strands of her hair. I pulled them out to safety with my magic and hovered them over in front of her. Once she noticed what they were, she giggled nervously before grabbing a hold of them.

"Thanks." She expressed.

"If you don't mind me asking, what were you working on?" I questioned.

"My friendship lesson." She returned, looking over her notes. "I was brainstorming for so long before I ultimately came up with a few ways to learn something before Twilight got back." She flipped through the notes and proceeded to list out what was written on each one. "'Bake cake with Pinkie Pie', 'Scrapbook with Applejack', 'Sew with Rarity', 'Help an animal with Fluttershy', 'Chillax with Rainbow Dash'." Ultimately, she sighed and lightly tossed the cards across the table before laying her head flat like it had been when I first came in. "Ugh… I just really don't feel like doing any of those things."

"I'd say." I answered with, finding what was written on the cards a little off. "All those things kind of sound forced. Plus, you don't really want to do something, especially when it comes to friendship, just because you have to."

"I don't know what to do." Starlight muffled out before she lifted up her head in worry. "I don't want to disappoint Twilight, but there's a reason why I've been avoiding 'friendship lessons' for so long. I'm just scared. I don't want to mess anything up."

"What do you mean 'mess anything up'?" I asked. "Like get into a fight or something?"

"Anything that doesn't make the lesson turn out well." She clarified to me. "It's just: I can't exactly find anything that I share in common with the other ponies. For example, I can't bake to save my life. Animals are cute, but I certainly don't know the first thing to do to take care of them. And as you can see right now, I am most certainly not 'chillaxing' like Rainbow does nearly every day."

"I get what you worried about, but I don't think Twilight was expecting you know those things in order to learn about friendship." I told her.

"How am I supposed to learn about friendship if I don't know those kinds of things? Just talk the friendship out of them? With Trixie, we could at least do something together when it comes to magic, but as for the others…" She paused and restlessly looked away.

Her situation reminded me a lot of another pony who had a similar issue. However, the pony I was referring to didn't necessarily have to worry about learning about friendship like Starlight did. Despite that, she did have a tough time getting to know all of our friends, and she could honestly probably help now that her friendships with everyone else were pretty stable and strong.

"I think I know a pony who might be able to help you or at least give you some good advice." I mentioned.

"Who?" Starlight immediately turned to me.

"You know where Athena is?" I asked.

"Athena…? I think I saw her drawing in the library." She recounted.

"Cool. Let's go." I motioned her over with my hoof.

"Huh?" She returned with a little confusion.

"We're going to go talk to her. Come on." To quicken things up, I grabbed her hoof and lightly pulled her until she was out of her chair. Afterwards, I led her out of her room and into the castle library. Once we were in there, I found Athena working the pencil within her mouth onto the sketchbook in front of her. "Yo."

"Look who's up, brothaaa~." She mentioned strangely yet extremely cheerfully. Ever since she officially got her unexpected yet pleasant cutie mark, her spirits have been at an all time high. She was almost an entirely different pony.

"I was wondering if you could offer some advice to Starlight." I nudged her along.

"Sure! What with?" She completely turned herself away from her sketch and faced us fully.

I waited for Starlight to respond, but all she did for the first few seconds was look at me oddly. "Um, I needed some help in learning a friendship lesson?"

"In other words," I cleared up for her, "She wants to know how she can get to know the others without knowing how to do the same stuff that they do."

"Ooohhh." Athena replied. "Yeah. That was totally hard for me to do at first. In fact, when I first tried talking to them, because Alex forced me to bleh, I felt totally awkward around them. Heck, I may be a lot more comfortable with now, but it wasn't because I pushed myself to be that way. I just naturally interacted with them every so often, even if it was just for a minute or a couple of seconds. Then again, I guess it helped when I spilled all my beans."

"'Spilled your beans'?" Starlight repeated in utter confusion.

"'Spilled the beans'? You don't get it? You know, my cats were out of the bag? My secrets? Duh…?" Athena clarified.

"Oh, okay…" Starlight appeared to understand the minimality of the context Athena was putting out.

"Either way. What I'm trying to say is, I guess just, I don't know, talk to them? Get to know them better? I'm sure you've already done this a few times by now." Athena shared.

"But, if I just 'talk' to them, what exactly is that going to do?" Starlight asked. "You expect me to just sit there and just say some random things? I need something to work with!"

"Oh, boy." Athena appeared to silently sigh before continuing to tackle the troublesome unicorn. "I totally get what you're worrying about, Starlight, but all I can tell you is that you're overthinking things. Remember how you used to want to do anything little thing to help me because you felt bad about what you did? Well, the truth of the matter was that you didn't need to do anything. Being yourself was enough. I guess that's what I'm trying to say you should do…?" She questioned, almost as if she was unsure herself.

Starlight strongly sighed and allowed her head to hang heavily.

In response to this, Athena turned my way and made a nudging gesture with her hoof.

"Alex, why don't you make it clear to her?" She suggested. "You've been friends with them for how long now? You're better at this stuff than I am."

"Yeah, yeah." It was what Twilight wanted me to do anyway. "I've got an idea, Starlight." I mentioned as I faced her. "Why don't we go outside and do something together?"

"What?" She raised her head and looked at me with an uneasy cock of her head. "But what about my friendship lesson? Twilight didn't give me a week to do this. She wanted me to learn something by the time she came back."

"And I'm going to try to teach you some stuff as best as I can." I answered. "Besides, if Twilight comes back and you don't have anything that she wanted you to learn today, then you can just blame me, alright?"

Starlight continued to look at me for a moment before she sighed once more. "I guess it's better than anything else I have in mind. Sure. Why not."

"Cool." I turned to Athena. "You coming with us?"

"Sorry." She surprisingly refused as she continued sketching. "I'm working on a few things for the Crusaders. Plus, I have to go stop by their clubhouse in order to discuss some plans that are relative to, you know, my cutie mark." She winked as she loudly clicked her tongue towards us.

"Uh, okay. I guess we'll leave you to it then." I returned and turned around to begin walking Starlight out. "Let's get going."

"So, what exactly are we going to do?" Starlight asked once we were out of the library.

"I don't know. What do you want to do?" I responded with.

"What do I want to do?" She repeated, placing a hoof on her chest. "What do you want to do?" She turned back around to me. "You're supposed to be the one who's teaching me!"

"I am, and that's why I asked." I answered. "We're going to start off with doing an activity together, and that activity will be something that you're interested in. Now, tell me, what kind of things do you like to do? Well, besides magic."

"Well, besides magic…I, um…" She thought to herself shortly before she came up with an answer. "I guess I really like…um…kites."

"Kites?" I tilted my head to the side, having not expected that kind of answer from her. It was actually sort of random. "You like kites?"

"Yes, I like kites." She returned a little more boldly. "That isn't such a bad thing, is it?"

"No, of course not." I replied as soon as I could, waving my hooves around. "I guess I just wasn't expecting that from you."

"Well, you did ask." She turned away for a moment before turning back to me. "So, if I said I wanted to fly kites, does that mean you'd want to do it with me?"

"Uh, yeah." I said. "I'm totally down to fly kites with you, but there's just probably something I need to tell you first."

"What is it?" She raised her eyebrow, appearing to be concerned with the way I worded my last statement.

"I've actually never flown a kite before." I admitted.

"What?! Really?!" She stopped in her tracks and immediately faced in front of me. "You've never flown a kite before?!"

"Yes, really." I repeated to her nearly devastated face. "Actually, I almost had forgotten they even existed."

"Okay, that's it." Starlight stomped her hoof onto the floor. "You're definitely coming to fly kites with me. I've got an extra one you can use in my room. Come on!" She began to gallop on ahead.

All of a sudden, I could see the sudden yet immense change in her attitude once the subject of her interests came up. She was no longer mopey or unenthused, but she looked like she was ready to take on the day in front of her. And this was perfect. She probably had no clue, but she could actually take a page out of my book if she notices and eventually realizes how I was hopefully using myself as an example in our 'lesson'.

Starlight happily hummed to herself as she held up two different kites in our walk to the park. I walked around with her until she seemed to find a good spot and set up shop. She began unraveling string out of the spool that was attached to the kite and slowly lifted up kite itself into the air.

"Where'd you get that kite?" I asked, finding its three-dimensional cube-like shape interesting. "It looks really cool."

"Made it myself." She responded with an ounce of pride, sticking her tongue out as she continued to carefully lift the kite upwards.

"Whoa, really? That's really good!" I tried to get a look at the details of her craft. "It looks like something you could sell at a kite shop."

"Thanks!" She smiled jubilantly at me before turning her attention back to the kite. "Now, what you want, of course, is a nice breeze going on." She paused and appeared to 'feel' the wind for a second. During this moment, I watched her mane lightly flow and be picked up gently by the breeze around us. "You don't need anything specific, just a light yet firm breeze will do." Afterwards, she turned towards her kite and released it from the grip of her magic. At this point, the kite appeared to be picked up by the breeze itself.

"Uh, okay." I said and turned towards the other kite she had brought me. Unlike hers, it wasn't three-dimensional and instead the average rhombus shape.

"Fun fact. I actually bought that one. It was my starter kite!" She informed me before returning her attention back to her kite.

I picked up the kite that was still on the floor and attempted to lift it up. I slipped up already when I forgot that I needed to unravel the string from the spool, so I worked ahead on doing that. "So, I just…let it go when I bring it up next to yours?" I asked as I slowly lifted the kite up.

"Yup!" She answered. "Although, don't bring it too close to mine. We don't want our lines to get tangled, do we?"

"No, we don't…" I responded softly, giving us some room between each other. Once I believed I was around the same height as hers, I hesitantly broke off the magic holding it. Once I did, I noticed it was moving around a little erratically.

"Have a good grip on the spool and don't let go!" Starlight instructed.

I focused less on getting control over the kite and more on just making sure the spool didn't fly out of range of my magic. Allowing the kite its newfound freedom for a while, it began to settle itself out. Afterwards, we both stood there together watching our kites fly.

It was kind of weird. We were hardly doing anything at all, but there was something memorizing about watching the kite take a life of its own. I suppose it was somewhat comparable to observing art. Starlight's kite was especially beautifully crafted, and I had to admit that it was a lot nicer to look at than the one I had been holding.

"The trick with an S.L.K. is not to make the spars too heavy." She began saying after she noticed me taking a gander at her kite. "But if they're too light, you've got no ballast and then good luck tacking against the A.O.I.!"

"What…?" I questioned, finding her terminology unknown.

"Oh, right." She giggled a little embarrassingly. "You've never flown a kite. I forgot. An S.L.K is a single line kite. A.O.I means Angle of Incidence, otherwise known as the Angle of Attack. It's pretty much the angle the kite takes compared to the wind direction."

Holy cupcakes. She was pretty much the Twilight in kites.

"I see…" I responded even though I wasn't completely in tune with the knowledge she spouted out.

She noticed my lost expression and slightly looked away in embarrassment. "I really like kites…"

"I can tell." I reacted with a smirk before turning my eyes back to my kite.

Starlight and I spent some time maneuvering our kites in the park, but if I could be honest, I spent the majority of the time observing her work with her own kite. She continued to give me advice and other 'fun facts' entirely about kites, but I couldn't really say I was as interested as she was. Despite that, it was really nice to see her enjoying herself. I didn't remember ever having a chance of just hanging out with Starlight, so it was a nice experience for me. When she decided she had enough of kite-flying for one day, I watched her carefully bring in the kite using her magic and spool, later following her movements to pull in mine.

"So, what'd you think?" She asked me with a cheery grin.

"Well, I liked it." I simply said with a slightly sheepish shrug. "It feels like it can be pretty therapeutic and relaxing."

"I know, right?" She replied happily as I returned the kite I borrowed from her. "I always try to make time to come here and fly a kite every now and then, especially since you don't necessarily need anyone else. But, I mean, having someone with you is honestly a lot better. So, thanks for the company."

"Course." I answered, spending a brief moment to consider a break. "You hungry?"

"Oh! Now that I think about it, I'm starving." Starlight responded enthusiastically. "I was up early in the morning practicing magic with Twilight. I haven't had anything to eat since."

"We can stop by somewhere in town. What do you feel like having?"

"Anything really. What about you?"

"Me?" I felt the corners of my lips stretch. "I could actually really go for some hay fries right now."

"So, you want to go to that burger place?" Starlight guessed.

"You know it." I told her before I started walking her towards the way.

Taking a page out of Spike's book, I ordered my hay fries extra crispy once we settled ourselves at a table, and it seemed Starlight caught on to my enthusiasm with hay fries.

"So, I'm guessing you really like hay fries?"

"I love em." I answered. "I swear, I could order a whole plate of them and leave no trace of them behind."

"No way." Starlight placed her hooves on the table and slightly leaned forward. "There's no way anypony could eat a whole plate of just hay fries."

"I can." I confidently said. "I don't even need any ketchup. They're great on their own."

"So, you've actually eaten a full plate of only hay fries before?" She pursued, seeming to find it extremely hard to believe that a pony like me could eat a plate of hay fries without any trouble.

"Well…not exactly." I honestly returned. "I said I could eat a whole plate, but at the same time, I wouldn't want to eat so much that I end up getting tired and sick of them. That'd probably end up a being a tragic thing for me. Besides, I wouldn't want my entire meal to consist of only hay fries."

Starlight chuckled in response as skepticism remained plastered all over her face. "Hehe. Whatever you say, fry boy."

I observed her relaxed and jubilant face as she laughed, and I honestly couldn't help but think out loud in regards to my current thoughts.

"You know what? It's really weird." I began, "If I hadn't been there to see it myself, I never would have believed anypony if they told me that you nearly wiped out our current existence of Equestria. It's so crazy to see how much you changed since then. If I had to be honest, I wasn't so sure what to think when Twilight invited you to stay in the castle."

"Oh? I guess it's not surprising to have doubts about a pony who almost ruined every other pony's life just because she had friend issues when she was younger." She frowned at the thought. "I still feel pretty bad about what I did. I know it was really stupid, and now when I think about it, I can't believe I actually thought it was a good idea at the time."

"Hey, if it makes you feel better," I brought up, "I probably would have done the same thing as you if I had that kind of power. Before I met the other girls, it was probably only a matter of time before I grew to actually resenting other ponies. You know, feeling angry that I didn't have what they had. In fact, I had a couple of those thoughts here and there at the time. I didn't get why everypony had amazing friends and family, and why I had to be the one left out. Granted, I probably wouldn't have been able to do much since I was just an Earth Pony, but if I had the power, I wouldn't be surprised if I caused the same kind of trouble."

"You think so? Hm…" She turned away and thought to herself for a moment before turning back to me. "Hey. I'm curious… When Twilight and I had been looping through time fighting each other, I don't remember ever seeing you around. Did you just not go back in time with her?"

"No, actually." I responded. "I was held up by that one pony that was with you. In fact, can I ask you a quick question first? I never really got to talk to you about this before, but I need to ask. How exactly did you meet him? Above all, why did you decide to work with some pony like him?"

"Oh, you mean that hooded pony?" Starlight seemed to think back. "Believe it not, he kind of found me. He knew who you guys were, and he offered me a way to enact the revenge I so desired at that point. Honestly, at the time, I couldn't care less about who I trusted to help me. I was blind to everything but the satisfaction of getting every one of you back. Other than that, he was honestly a real mystery to me."

Her response was somewhat expected. That "stallion" was practically a mystery to everyone. I don't believe anyone else had a clue about who he really was and, most importantly, what he wanted. He was like the rat that always hid during the times he was vulnerable in the light, no offense to Fluttershy's animals. "Uh-huh…" I simply responded with as I looked to the side and thought silently to myself.

"What's the deal between him and your friends?" She asked.

I sighed lightly. "It's a long story. To sum it up, he's been creeping around us for a while now, and none of us have an idea of what he really wants. In fact, he seems especially infatuated with Twilight and me, maybe even Athena. If you want the detailed story, you can ask about it another time. I don't exactly want our main course conversation to be about some enigma on the loose somewhere."

"Oh, sorry." Starlight apologized with a frown. "I didn't mean to make it a big deal or anything."

I shook my head. "To get back on your original question, he took me on this weird 'memory lane' trip. I later found out from Athena that they were apparently my memories from a different timeline. How did that hooded pony know so much about them? No idea. Apparently, he was looking to change certain events that happened in those memories and ultimately stop Athena from changing the entire past, but Athena managed to stump him first." I paused to look at Starlight's face. She didn't seem completely lost, but she looked as if she was on the verge of tipping over. "Uh…I should probably stop before I confuse you even more. Time travel in of itself is a whole complicated thing. I don't think anypony could explain it clearly. It's just something that can be dangerously manipulated, and I'm stuck wondering if time should have never been able to be messed with in the first place."

"You're telling me." Starlight replied, scratching her head. "I didn't realize what the heck I was doing. And what do you know, I could have caused an epidemic irreversible disaster. No more time traveling for me. Thanks."

Our orders were brought to us shortly after, encouraging me to cease any conversation regarding such a serious topic like our baggage and past regrets.

"Why don't we get back to the present." I suggested, pointing towards the delicious-looking plates in front of us. "That grub is waiting to be picked."

Starlight laughed. "You sound like Applejack."

I merely shrugged. "Well, I guess everypony I meet rubs off on me one way or another."

When we finished our food, Starlight pushed her plate forward and released a sigh of satisfaction. "That really hit the spot. So, what next?" She asked.

"Whatever you want to do." I told her, basically repeating my initial response that got us out here in the first place."

"I already decided on flying kites. You should pick." She recommended.

Although I didn't plan to decide myself, I thought about another thing we could do that secretly correlated with her "lesson". If I remembered correctly, one of the friendship lessons she was struggling with was "chillaxing" with Rainbow Dash, or like how the majority of ponies say it, "relaxing". Relaxing should have been one of the easiest things on the list, but even Starlight couldn't keep herself from worrying about the correct way of doing that. In a way, one of the main reasons I took her out was to not only try to teach her about friendship, but I also wanted her to relax from her studies for once. It was something Twilight could have definitely used back when she was still Celestia's pupil.

"One of the reasons I brought you out here was to take a load off and relax." I said. "We've started doing that by flying kites, so tell me, what's another relaxing thing you like doing?"

"'Relaxing', huh?" She wondered to herself before coming up with an answer shortly after. "Well, nothing's more relaxing than spending some time at the spa. Although, I'm not exactly sure if that's your kind of thing."

"I'm fine with the spa as long as I'm not getting a pedi or anything." I answered. "A nice steam or soak in the herbal bath sounds pretty good."

"Hey, I'm on board with that." Starlight pointed out eagerly. "I don't know how long it's been since I last just had a day off to myself. Of course, it won't just be by myself. You'll be there, but I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I mean…"

"I get what you mean, Starlight." I ceased her worried babbling and offered her an assuring smile.

"Okay, then." She returned with a slightly flushed face. "Let's get going then."

Starlight and I hit up the steam room first, and the two of us sat and spent the majority of the time in silence.

"Oh, this feels so good. I needed this." She expressed with delight.

"It was a good idea coming here, huh?" I asked.

"You said it…" She hung back and covered her face momentarily with a hot towel.

Feeling nearly every part of my body become loose and untensed, I was tempted to just lie down and go to sleep. Nevertheless, I thought I could chat to Starlight a little more and get to know her better. It would help keep me awake either way.

"You want to know something interesting, Starlight?" I brought up.

"Hm?" She pulled off the towel on her face and looked at me.

"There was this family I used to live with when I was a colt, and in that family, I had a 'sister'. You want to know what her name was?"

"What?"

"Starlight."

"What?" She scrunched her eyes, believing I had called her twice as if I was trying to get her attention or something.

"No, Starlight was her name." I corrected.

"Wait, what?" She furrowed her eyebrows. "I'm confused."

I chuckled lightly, somewhat expecting a situation like this to arise as a result. "That girl I was talking about? Her name was Starlight too."

"Oh! Really?" She leaned towards me in interest.

"Yeah. Not sure if Twilight or someone else might have talked to you about her."

She shook her head. "I don't think so. I think I would have remembered a pony that has the same exact name as me. What's she like?"

"I'm not going to lie. She was pretty terrible." I answered. "But, she recently came around. She's pretty good now."

"Oh, wow. Just like me, huh?"

"Not exactly." I said. "She can still be a little…moody at times. You, on the other hoof, are pretty fun to be around with. If you ever see her, don't tell her I said that. She'd probably flip."

"My lips are sealed." She swung her hoof over her lips like a literal zipper. "But, you really think I'm fun to be around with?"

"Of course. I didn't set aside time today for you because I felt that I needed to or anything." Well, Twilight did ask me to give you some "supervision", but that didn't count! "I also wanted to hang out with you and get to know you a little better. After all, you've been spending most of your time with Twilight, and personally, I know how hardcore she can get when it comes to studying."

"She can get pretty 'hardcore'…" Starlight repeated, chuckling to herself as she leaned back. Afterwards, she shifted her eyes to me. "I wanted to get to know you a bit better myself. Of course, after what I did, I wasn't sure how to exactly do it. At first, I was still pretty doubtful you really forgave me after what happened. But, now that we're here together, I feel a lot better. Thanks."

"Anytime, Starlight." I followed her lead and leaned back myself. "It's kind of funny. If I'm not doing any royalty business, I'm getting along with friends. Makes me wonder if that's what I'm meant to do. Not that I'm complaining."

"Well, you are the Prince of Friendship, aren't you?" Starlight asked.

"Uh, I think Celestia labeled me as the 'Prince of Light' or something." I recalled. "But, I can see why'd you think that. I'm starting to wonder if that fits better. Either way, Twilight and I are in the royalty business together, and I'm grateful for that. After all, I feel a lot better when she handles the 'research' and 'stationary' part of the job. It's her thing, and she loves doing it anyway."

"Oh. That's why she went to Canterlot alone today?" She mentioned.

"Yeah." I answered. "I offered to go help, but she insisted she could handle it."

I almost slipped out that Twilight had asked me to watch over Starlight. I didn't want Starlight to think I was only hanging out with her just because Twilight had somewhat asked me to.

"Hey…" Starlight's tone slightly changed. "I've been practically talking about me this entire day. I spent a whole chunk of it telling you about how I love kites. Why don't you tell me more about yourself?" She turned her head away shortly and eyed me with a teasing smirk. "I've heard that you're actually dating Fluttershy?"

It's only a matter of time before anypony associated with us figures that out…

I sighed lightly, but I had no reason to object. "Sure. But let's get out of the steam room. I think it's time to switch over to the herbal bath."

After we felt the immediate change in temperature as we dipped into the pool, each of us released a sigh of satisfaction before I began giving her my side of things, especially on the subject of Fluttershy and me. Since everyone else that regularly hung inside the castle knew, I told Starlight on how we had met and the progress the two of us had made until we finally decided to tie the "relationship knot". Afterwards, I gave her a brief synopsis of the obstacles I helped her overcome, causing her to become a stronger and more assertive pony in the end.

Throughout my entire telling, Starlight eyed me with interest, nodding every once in a while to indicate that she had been fully listening. Once I was finished, she lightly cooed with excitement. "Oh, that's so romantic! I never knew things were so…deep between you and Fluttershy! No wonder her eyes just light up whenever she sees you! When are you two getting married?" She asked, lightly nudging me.

Virtually any pony that has ever seen us together always asks the same thing, and it's pretty obvious they do it to mess with me.

"I don't know. When are you and Sunburst getting married?" I fired back.

She immediately backed away and became utterly dismayed. "W-What?! Sunburst and I are just friends! Why would you ask something like that?!"

"Just messing with you." I folded my forehooves behind my head. "You know. Kind of like how you were with me."

She continued to converse once the redness within her cheeks began to disappear. "Yeah, but you're the one who's actually with somepony. You did say that Fluttershy ended up catching the flowers during Shining Armor's and Princess Cadence's wedding. That is a sign right there."

"When the time comes, it'll come." I merely stated, not exactly wanting to discuss "wedding plans" any more. "Right now, I just feel like there's so much going on. Too much to worry about."

"Like what exactly?" Starlight asked, her expression growing concerned.

I lowered my eyelids halfway and thought to myself for a silent moment. "I don't know. I don't know how to put this into words, but I just don't feel… 'safe'."

"'Safe'…?" Starlight repeated in confusion.

"The time doesn't feel right." I tried to clarify. "Let's just leave it at that."

"Well, I guess you can't rush things." Starlight relaxed in her spot. "Marriage is a big thing after all." She faced the water she submerged most of her body in and stared silently for a while. "Listen, I know you've got a whole bunch of friends to talk to, but I'm here too. Besides, learning about friendship and magic from Twilight, I usually just spend the entire time at the castle by myself if I'm not hanging out with Trixie. If there's anything I can do to help, maybe with a particularly advanced spell or something, you can come to me."

Appreciating her words, I smiled lightly at her and nodded. "Yeah. Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."

After our bath, we shook off any excess water and dried ourselves with some of the spa-supplied towels before we decided to head back to home.

"Haaah!" Starlight sighed in relief. "I feel so refreshed! I really needed that!"

"Glad to hear that." I responded, opening the front door of the spa and letting her walk through first.

"Thank you." She nearly sang and then turned towards the setting sun outside. "Oh, wow! Look at that! We practically spent the entire day together! It's almost evening. Twilight could be back home any minute." She stared at the sun-kissed sky for a moment with a warm smile on her face before she suddenly gasped. "She could be back home any minute!" She repeated with shock tearing at her face.

"Yeah? So?" I replied.

She turned around and faced me with a look of distress, making me worried that our entire time at the spa would end up all for naught. "She's expecting me to have learned something about friendship, but all we did was fly kites and relax at the spa! She's going to think I'm a lazy and bad student!"

"Uh, no." I decided it was time to reveal the lesson of our day together. "Do you seriously think you didn't learn anything today?"

"What do you mean?" She inquired. "Originally, I was supposed to follow what was written on my cards, but I didn't do any of that. I took the whole day off!"

"Wasn't it you who said that friendship lessons could come from anywhere? Think about it. What did you learn today?"

With collective anxiety still running amok in her face, she placed a hoof to her chin and thought. "…I don't know? I learned a lot about you, but I don't think Twilight wanted me to do that. I'm pretty sure she wanted me to learn about friendship from any other ponies besides you, no offense."

"I think she wanted you to learn about friendship in general, but that's the not the point here. Let's go over a few things again. This morning, you were stressing over about how exactly to go about learning friendship lessons, and when I told you I was going to teach you some stuff, I meant it. I can't teach you things in the way Twilight does, but I can at least try to show you. Throughout this entire day, I gave you the option of deciding what we'd do, remember?"

"Yeah…?" She replied with, seeming to not quite catch on just yet.

"Now, imagine you were me, and somepony else, like Fluttershy, was you today. If you were spending time with Fluttershy, like you had planned out in one of your cards, you'd probably be worried about how you'd do in the things she decided to do, like helping animals, right? But, that wasn't the case today, was it? I mean, we flew kites. Something that you knew about, but I didn't. We still had a great time, didn't we? You didn't get after me for not knowing how to fly a kite. You helped me fly one, to begin with. You really think somepony like Fluttershy is going to scold you for not being able to properly take care of an animal like she does? Nope, she'd just walk you through it, and I'm sure you'd both have fun doing it. The whole point of these 'friendship lessons' Twilight assigns you isn't to do something right. It's to bond with that particular pony, and that's just what we did today. Even if you don't want to count our bond today as a completed lesson, I say you still learnt plenty about what it really means to learn friendship when it comes to the others. Bottom line is, you just have fun with it. You should never have to worry about doing things right."

"I can't believe it…" Starlight eyes wandered mine as she seemed to be at a loss for words for a brief moment. "Did you really have this all thought out for today?"

"Uh… I'm not some kind of genius or anything." I discredited. "It's just an idea I had in mind. When I say it out loud, it sounds smarter than it actually is. Like I said, the whole point of these friendship lessons is to relax and have fun. The lesson itself comes naturally."

"Wow." Starlight turned away from me for a short moment. "…I guess I really was overthinking it. All this time, I was looking at it as some kind of test that I needed to study for in order to pass. Turns out, 'friendship lessons' are 'days off' for the most part. I mean baking with Pinkie Pie? I can't bake, but it's not like I need to make a cake as great as Pinkie Pie, right? The whole point is just getting to know her better and strengthen the bond between us."

"You got it." I confirmed.

"Ooh!" She placed a heavy hoof on her chest and sighed out loud. "Thank goodness! Who knows what I could have done if I didn't realize this by the time I started my lessons with the other girls. I probably would have casted some spell to make sure things got done the right way."

"Yeah, you don't really resort to magic when it comes to friendship…" I reminded.

"I can't thank you enough!" She threw her forelegs around me and squeezed me while extending her jubilant grin towards each corner of her mouth. "It's like…you fill in the blanks when it comes to Twilight's lessons! It's no wonder you both are Prince and Princess!"

I knew we were a team, but was it really like that? Twilight being the teacher while I sort of just fill in the holes or something?

Starlight noticed my silence and immediately pulled away. "Uh… Sorry… Maybe we're not at that level of our friendship to be getting all mushy with hugs…"

"Huh?" I noticed and shook my head. "No. That's not it. Sorry, I was thinking about something. I'm really happy for you."

"Let's head back home then!" Starlight suggested, turning towards the direction of the castle. "I want to tell Twilight all about what I learned from you!"

By the time we returned, it appeared that Twilight had just gotten back. She had been setting down her bags when Starlight came running in like a little filly who just aced her exam.

"Twilight! Twilight!" She called, racing towards her.

"What? What is it?" Twilight immediately questioned.

"I've got so much to tell you!" Starlight voiced out loud excitedly. "I learned so much today!"

"Really?! That's great!" Twilight began indulging in that same excitement. "Tell me! Tell me!"

Starlight spent several minutes recalling our activities for the day and my "lesson" behind them. As she heard this, Twilight's eyes grew, and she looked at me every now and then. It wasn't until Starlight finally finished her report before Twilight returned her thoughts on the matter.

"That's amazing, Starlight! I had no idea you were having those kinds of thoughts about pursuing friendship lessons! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, you're my teacher…" Starlight rubbed the back of her head as she looked away embarrassingly. "I thought you'd be disappointed in me and think that I wasn't learning anything from you at all."

"Of course not!" Twilight answered. "Being your teacher, it's my duty to make sure everything I teach you is crystal clear. You shouldn't be afraid to come up to me if you have concerns or questions about our lessons."

Starlight nodded. "I know that now, but I think I'm going to be okay." She glanced over at me and stretched her smile. "You're lucky to have such a cool prince by your side."

All I could do was slightly look away as I felt my cheeks begin to heat up. By my side, Spike joined me and crossed his claws against his chest, poking me lightly with his elbow.

Come on. I honestly didn't do that much.

"So, do you feel ready to extend your pursuit of friendship even more now?" Twilight asked.

"I think I'm going to be just fine." Starlight answered with a strong sense of confidence.

It wasn't long until everypony began to head to bed. Before I called it a night, I stopped by Starlight's room to check up on her and see how she was doing. I knocked on her door lightly and patiently waited for a call.

"Come in!"

I opened the door and found her lying on her bed. She was facing in the direction of the ceiling, but it was a kite above her that she was staring at. She lightly swerved it round and about with her magic, but she ultimately stopped to sit up and look at me.

"Hey!" She greeted.

"You look much better off than you were before." I mentioned, crossing my forelegs with each other.

"You already know the reason why." She decided to lie back down and focus on her kite. "You've inspired me to take a step forward with my learning. Twilight's especially happy about that." Her speech paused for a moment. She carefully kept her eyes on her swerving kite before separating her lips once more. "Now that I think about it, I can't believe I was worrying so much about how my friendship lessons with the other ponies would go. They're my friends, after all, right? As long as I focus on having fun and bonding with them, there's nothing to worry about. Even if we have troubles along the way, there's always that light at the end of the tunnel to guide us through somehow."

"You've definitely learned a lot in one day." I believed. "You should be proud of yourself."

"Can't wait to learn more." She returned a cheery smile.

"Same here." I began to turn in preparation for my leave. "I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight, Starlight."

"Goodnight."

I closed her door shut and began to swerve my body around in the opposite direction until I came across another identical pony in the midst. "Twilight." I unintentionally said out loud, feeling the pitch of my voice begin down low and soar up high in an odd second from being startled. She approached me with a satisfied grin on her face.

"Hey, thanks for doing me that favor." She said. "I'm really glad something extremely amazing came out of it. I thought I was the only pony who was supposed to show friendship to everyone else, but it turns out you have a knack for doing that yourself!"

"Think of me as your teaching aide." I suggested. "I'm there to help you with your lessons when you need it."

"Me too." Twilight returned. "When you need somepony by your side to help bring light to Equestria, I'll be right there." She concluded with a wink. "You heading to bed already?"

"Yeah." I answered. "Although, I might do something relaxing before. Maybe read a book or something? What about you?"

"I haven't decided yet." Twilight chuckled a little in response. "I'm going to speak with Starlight for a bit, and then I'll decide what to do after."

"Well, like I always say, try not to stay up too late, okay?"

"You know me!" Twilight replied with a familiar phrase in addition with a playful smirk.

That phrase was always vague when it came along the lines of actually heading to bed early for once or pulling an easy all-nighter. Nevertheless, I didn't worry too much about it and wished her a good night before heading to my room.

As I made myself comfy on my bed, another pony barged into the room and excitedly leaned her body forwards in front of me. "So, guess what?" She asked.

"What?" I decided not to bother with a guessing game sparked by the one and only Athena.

"The girls and I were talking, and they decided to assign me an all-important job!"

By 'girls', I assumed she was talking about the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"Oh, and what's that?" I questioned.

"After talking with Miss Cheerilee, somepony was given the very special offer of delivering a heart-to-heart speech encouraging all the schoolponies not give up on their dreams, especially their cutie marks!"

"And just who could it be?" I played dumb as I smirked and leaned backwards.

"ME!" She nearly belted out. "And this cute mare is honored to give you a front-row ticket! You wouldn't want to let such an adorable girl down, would you?"

She was so full of herself, but I didn't believe she ever had such confidence in herself until recently. So, I didn't have a hard time accepting it. "Just give me the word, and I'll be there, as long as Equestria isn't in any kind of dire danger from the forces of evil."

"You've got time to prepare." Athena turned away to the nearby desk and began pulling out a few pieces of paper and writing utensils. "I don't feel like I need to write a speech, but Twilight always says it's better to be prepared than to wing it like a madpony."

She began scribbling a few things down, and I was left observing her a bit. Not only did I get to witness Starlight's completely new behavior today for myself front and center, but I was also getting to see Athena shaking off her old skin after finally getting her well-deserved cutie mark.

Normally, any other pony would probably think we were in the clear, or, at the very least, in a period of absolute rest. However, despite how everything seemed to have been going so far, I, for one, still couldn't shake off the small lingering feeling of dread inside my heart. I didn't know what it was, but something told me that evil was a lot closer than we thought.

To Where and Back Again?

"There are times when we feel like any little thing we do is worthless, and there are also times when we feel like we can't escape being born a certain way. Maybe you think you won't get anywhere in your life because your family isn't wealthy. Maybe you think you'll never find your cutie mark because everything you've been doing to try and find it hasn't been working. Maybe you don't even want to try anymore because you think there's no point. Well, I'm here to tell you that that's the wrong way of seeing things."

I could see Athena's grin stretch out genuinely as her eyes scanned the students in front of her. They seemed to stop towards Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle before she resumed speaking.

"Believe it or not, I was convinced that I was never going to find my cutie mark. My reasons for so are a little…complicated, but to sum things up, I was literally the only full-grown mare in Ponyville, maybe even in all of Equestria, who didn't have her cutie mark. I'm sure many of you have seen me walking around every so often. You've probably wondered about my cutie mark situation yourselves. You think just being a tad later than your friends is bad? Geez, let me tell you, I don't know how many times I've been so self-conscious about others realizing I didn't have my mark. For so long, I learned to ignore it, to some degree, but I was only lying to myself when it came to wanting one just like any other pony. What I want to accomplish here is to tell each and every one of you who haven't gotten a cutie mark yet to not lose hope or give up. Some of your friends might get their cutie marks earlier than you, but that's okay. Trust me, it really is. There's always going to be somepony who gets their mark last, and there's nothing you can do to change that. It's just the nature of your cutie marks."

Athena raised her hoof and stretched it out to her small companions. "You all know the Cutie Mark Crusaders, right? If you need somepony to reignite the hope that might slowly be dimming out in your hearts, then put your trust in them. If they can help me find my cutie mark, then there's no doubt they can do the same for you. I can't endorse them enough." She paused for a short second to allow the other students to applaud the CMC's achievements. Once the calm cheering subsided, Athena continued her talk. "Now, having been a schoolfilly myself, I know how you kids are eager to head on home for the weekend, so I'll go ahead and bring things to a close. Don't let a cutie mark define who you are. A cutie mark is not something you need to feel or be special. That's all you. Instead, consider a cutie mark as just a special reminder of who you are in the event you possibly feel lost about yourself. I know I will."

Once more, a final loud and unified applause ignited inside the classroom, especially when it came to her fellow Crusader companions. Having observed how much of a changed pony she had become, I happily raised my hooves and added on to the applause. Athena grinned cheerfully as Miss Cheerilee stepped up to formally thank their guest speaker.

"I can't say how wonderful it is to see such courage and willingness to inspire and by inspired by others, especially when it comes to little minds like you all." She addressed towards her students. "I can't thank Athena enough for coming down here and teaching us an important thing or two when it comes to us and our cutie marks. If I may, before we leave for the day, I'd like to ask for one more round of applause for our fellow guest speaker."

Many hooves returned a nearly thunderous roar simultaneously, and this caused Athena to begin slightly blushing at where she stood. However, it was only a matter of time before Cheerilee dismissed the class. Foals calmly flooded through the door, but there were a few lingering ponies around. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were a few of those fillies.

"You were great, Athena!" Scootaloo exclaimed, jumping and swinging her wings in ecstatic joy.

"Yeah!" Applebloom agreed. "Everyone else who doesn't have a cutie mark has to totally be amazingly motivated now!"

"Your speech almost made me want to get my cutie mark all over again! I'm actually kind of jealous for those who still have blanks flanks." Sweetie Belle admitted.

"It wasn't that great." Athena humbly responded.

"I beg to differ." Cheerilee refuted. "Many of my students here can sometimes be…'uncertain' when it comes to their cutie marks, and it doesn't help their case when they see their fellow classmates earning their marks before them. It must have taken a lot of strength to come here and speak about not having a cutie mark until just recently. In fact, I don't believe we've formally met before, have we? Are you new to Ponyville?"

"Uh…sort of?" Athena scratched her head. "You could say that I haven't been here as long as Alex has, but I was also sort of really shy for the longest time anyway."

"And to come here and speak so openly about yourself? I find that highly respectable."

"Gee, thanks, Miss Cheerilee." The redness in Athena's cheeks became a little more saturated.

Cheerilee returned a delighted nod and turned her attention towards the three fillies remaining with us. "You all enjoy your weekend. If you'd like to organize any other kinds of events like this, I'm all ears!"

"Goodbye, Miss Cheerilee!" Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo addressed in unison.

Before completely leaving the classroom, Cheerilee briefly stopped by me and bowed lightly. "It's always nice to see you, Prince."

It was a little weird getting this from her. Cheerilee and I would only see each other every once in a while, but I guess those times weren't enough to warrant a casual greeting with one another. Nevertheless, I didn't bug her about it. "It's good to see you too, Miss Cheerilee."

"Have a wonderful day!" She shared before leaving the classroom.

"What do y'all wanna do now?" Applebloom asked amongst our group.

"We should go out and celebrate with Athena!" Scootaloo suggested happily. "I know her cute-ceañera wasn't too long ago, but after today's speech, I can't help but feel so proud that she's almost an entirely different pony!"

"I could totally go for some ice cream." Athena answered smugly, tapping me with her elbow. "What do you say, brotha? Care to treat us to some?"

I hardly ever found myself treating myself for some kind of accomplishment. First and foremost, the "treating" usually went to Fluttershy, and then after that, it went towards any of my friends. I did have a shared giant castle to live in, so there was usually always some kind of "treating" to go around. As long as I didn't feel like I was being taking advantage of, I honestly didn't mind.

"Sure thing." I happily abided and turned towards the fillies. "I owe you three a lot for helping Athena find her mark, and I can't express how proud I am of Athena overcoming the obstacles to get to it. I'll get you a buffet of ice cream, if you want."

"Thanks, Alex!" Sweetie Belle cheerfully replied. "Hey! I know the perfect place! Come on! I'll lead the way!"

We were led into what appeared to be an old-fashioned diner. If I recalled correctly, Athena and I may have been in here a few times, but not enough for this place to become a signature location for our ice-cream dining experience. Each of us sat on top of the stools by the bar counter as Sweetie Belle signaled the waitress.

"What can I get for y'all?" She asked.

"I'll have a vanilla float! Three scoops, please!" Sweetie Belle ordered.

"Same, but with chocolate!" Scootaloo called out next.

"Strawberry here!" Applebloom stated before we turned our attention towards Athena.

She appeared to still be studying the menu before she read something off of it. "Um, I guess I'll try that Triple Caramel Sunrise special you have?"

"Got it." She made a note of with a smile and finally turned towards me. "What about you, sir?"

"Nothing for me, thanks." I politely denied.

"You're not gettin' anythin' for yourself?" Applebloom questioned with a little genuine concern.

"Ah, I'm not really craving sweets." I told her.

Athena propped her head forward and winked over to Applebloom. "I'll be sharing my ice cream with him."

I felt that that was unnecessary, but I decided to let it slide since I might take a few spoonfuls at most, just to try her order out. Nevertheless, I turned over to Sweetie Belle to ignite some conversation. "You've been here often, Sweetie Belle?"

"Not recently, no." She answered. "I used to come here all the time with my sister when I was just a little foal, but it's been a while. After listening to Athena's speech, I remembered this place when she suggested ice cream. I thought it'd be perfect to come back here with all of you."

"You should probably come here again one day with Rarity." Athena advised. "I'm sure she'd love that!"

"She's usually always too busy with work." Sweetie Belle mentioned back before she turned over to me. "Hey! Remember when I used to always want to spend time with her? I'd always want to try to be like her, and I'd get sad when I couldn't do things just like her."

"Oh, yeah." I responded, particularly remembering her effort when it came to the school talent show way back when. "You've grown a lot since then, haven't you? I remember when your voice used to be extra squeaky." I shared, chuckling a little after.

"Haha!" Scootaloo laughed. "I totally remember that!"

"My voice wasn't that squeaky!" In a fit of embarrassment, Sweetie Belle quickly retorted back, ironically squeaking in the process.

"I think you might have just proved his point!" Applebloom pointed out, mixing in a little laughter of her own.

Enjoying the sight they returned back for a moment, I decided to remove Sweetie Belle from the spotlight. "Of course, to be fair, all of your voices were pretty squeaky. Now that I think about it, it's crazy to see how much you've all grown in the time we've been together. Kind of like what Sweetie Belle said back at the school, I almost sort of wish I could go back and experience a day or two during that time. I have to admit, those were some pretty good times. It's a shame I was too mopey to really enjoy the majority of it."

"Well…" Athena began saying, most likely considering some kind of use of her time manipulation. However, one glance at her immediately caused her to surrender any possibility of such thoughts. "Kidding! Just kidding!" She laughed off.

"I can't imagine how things will be once we're a lot older." Scootaloo spoke as looked over at her two best friends. "We started as three fillies looking to earn their cutie marks, and now we're helping others to get theirs. Think we'll be doing the same, or at least close to it, in the future?"

"I guess only time will tell." Applebloom suggested.

"And right now, I think time's telling us to enjoy some long-deserved ice cream." Sweetie Belle concluded as she noticed the waitress bring over a tray topped with a collected variety of ice cream treats.

At around sunset, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo decided to head on back home. After thanking me for the ice cream, Athena and I remained sitting inside beside our empty and nearly licked-clean bowl of former dessert.

For a moment, I began thinking about Starlight Glimmer, recalling how she had been worried about visiting her old village due to receiving an invitation to a Sunset Festival they were having. Right about now, she was supposed to be partying up with her old friends, but I couldn't help but wonder if she was doing alright.

"Thanks for spending time with me like this, Alex." I heard. I turned and found that Athena had just started speaking to me. "As long as we can have hangouts like this every now and then, I think can get on by." She seemed to state in a half-serious and half-joking tone. "With all the amazing friends you have, plus one ultra-sweet girlfriend, I can't imagine how you do it when it comes to spending time with all of them."

"No problem." I returned. "I don't think it's that hard. I might spend one day with someone and then spend another day with somepony else. Actually, I don't think it's all that balanced. I might spend a lot more time with Fluttershy than I do with Maud, for instance. Sometimes, I feel bad about it when I consider their feelings."

"Naah." Athena brushed off with her hoof. "I'm sure they've got their own lives. Just because I was all naggy and needy doesn't mean they are. If anypony feels bad, it's me for not taking the time you spend with your other friends into consideration."

I shrugged lightly. "You could say it's a part of the job besides some paperwork and royal gatherings here and there. Besides, Twilight loves the paperwork part of the job. Even though I feel a little bad leaving it to her, she apparently doesn't mind doing it all by herself. I don't know any other pony like that. She's really sweet."

"She is." Athena agreed. "Especially when I was so low-key mean to her and all she did was try to be nice to me. Bleh. I'm glad I'm a better pony now."

"Hmm." I smiled softly as I thought to myself for a short moment. "Talking with the other fillies made me think more about the past and the future. You know, what we're leaving behind and what's in store as we move on. I can't help but feel a little scared and anxious."

"You shouldn't think about stuff like that." Athena advised. "Believe me, I know. You just sort of gotta go with the flow. Whatever happens in the future is going to happen, and as long as we aren't headed into an apocalyptic state, I think it's fine to just clear your mind of everything when it comes to time."

"Always putting that cutie mark to use, huh?" I glanced over at her flank as I listened to her advice.

She only giggled in response as she returned a cheerful closed-eye smile.

Athena and I started heading back as night began to fall.

"You think Starlight's doing okay?" Athena asked by my side. "She was pretty nervous when she left."

"I hope so." I responded. "But, being with Trixie, a friend she can truly rely on, I think she'll be fine. After all, she's faced worse, right?"

"After that time fiasco?" Athena said. "Yeah, you bet."

As the castle was entirely within our view, I was suddenly alarmed to the sight of extremely bright and green flashes blasting out of the windows. It would have only sparked up my curiosity had they been normal flashes of magic, but there was something about the deep saturated jaded color that caused fear to sprout within me. Just the color itself brought something poisonous to mind.

"Is Twilight doing some kind of experiment or something?" Athena asked as we came to a stop.

"I don't know." I felt my eyebrows furrow. "But, let's make sure everything's all right."

"Right behind you." Athena promised as I began galloping towards the doors.

I focused my attention towards the door, prepared to stop for nothing until I made sure all was right inside the castle. The sound of my hooves stomping on top of the ground deafened my ears, and anxious images of possible catastrophes came to mind as my heart began to pound. In the meantime, I continued to desperately hope that I was really worrying about nothing.

"Alex, look out!" I heard, followed by a sharp yell.

I skidded to a stop and quickly turned around.

Something was headed straight for me, and all I could muster up was an unprepared and weak shield to provide me cover. However, it had been easily broken through, and I found myself underneath a tall and hole-ridden creature. It was hard to notice at first as its appearance had nearly blended in perfectly with the night sky. But, once she spoke her first words, her name came running back into my mind.

"Hello there, handsome."

"Chrysalis!" I stated.

For some reason, she began to chuckle at my response, most likely taking note of my shocked and startled reaction, but she was quickly drawn away when Athena came swinging a kick over me.

"My, my." Chrysalis observed Athena quickly push me up, taking a position in front of me in a protective stance as I remained standing there dumbfounded. "And who does this seem to be? Her scent has a…familiar smell."

"Athena, get back!" I ordered once fulling coming to my senses.

"No way!" She refuted as she stood her ground. "We're in this together! I'll protect you with my life if I have to!"

Chrysalis found this particularly funny, having a moment to herself to laugh out loud. "Such amazing love between you two. I'm quite tempted to take it here right now."

"Didn't you learn your lesson last time?" I recalled. "You're playing with fire right now. Not to mention, I'm an Alicorn, remember?"

"Oh, I remember." She acknowledged, but she didn't faze whatsoever when it came to her hungry and predatorial reaction. "You don't think I lack the intelligence to come back for a great deal of revenge without a solid plan, do you? I wouldn't be so confident if I were you, Prince." She stated with heavy disgust. At this point, her horn glowed, and in the next second, she fired a beam my way.

Athena had no choice but to hop out of the way, and she was smart for doing so considering that I could easily block or deflect the beam away. However, as soon as I fired up my horn, I felt a sudden surge of shock in my head. It was as if the supply of magic to my horn was unexpectedly cut off, and I was left to fend off Chrysalis's magic myself. Having counted on my magic to save me, I had been pushed backwards as her beam of corrupted magic landed.

"I'm sorry. I thought Alicorns were able to use their magic in battle." Chrysalis mocked humorously.

Having witnessed that sight of me tumbling down, Athena quickly raced over to my side. "Alex!" She cried worriedly before she turned and positioned herself directly in front of me as I worked on getting back up. This time, it didn't look like she had any intention of getting out of the way.

"Listen here, Prince." Chrysalis announced. "As much as I'd love to take each and every ounce of love from both of you, I have different intentions in mind. So, I'd prefer if you surrender yourself peacefully and make this entire process much quicker. I've got work to do."

"Who do you think I am?" I straightened out my hooves as I dealt with a certain amount of pain in my head. "I don't know what you've got planned, but you think you're going to get your way so easily? It's only a matter of time before the others—"

"Oh, they've already been taken care of. Believe me, you're completely on your own here, aside from your little friend there, of course." A smug smirk raised within her lips.

She didn't look worried at the least, causing me to turn towards Athena since she was the only one who could confirm her emotions.

"I don't know what she did, Alex, but she doesn't seem scared at all!" She exclaimed softly to me.

"You do not want to try my patience." Chrysalis warned. "If you don't heed my advice, I'm afraid I'll have to take you in by force."

Athena's eyes glanced over to mine as she remained in her battle-ready stance. She was willing to be by my side until the end, and that only encouraged me to confirm my expected answer.

"I did it once, and I'll do it again." I stated as I readied myself. "I'm not going down without a fight, even without my magic."

Chrysalis chuckled. "Have it your way then, but don't say I didn't warn you." She drew her head away and whistled. A collective number of hooves landed around us. In nearly an instant, we both had been surrounded by an army of Changelings. "For the purpose of time, I'll be using a little help from my minions."

"You think you're going to get away with whatever you have planned?" I asked. "You're just going to end up humiliated like last time."

"Oh, I beg to differ." She assured. "I started small last time. In fact, I had no idea there'd be a group of simple ponies who had the means to put a stop to my initial plans. This time, I've thought everything through. I've made sure to bring those with great power to halt before they have any chance to stop me, and you're the remaining one. You should be honored that I came to do this personally." She turned her head towards her minions and held up an ordering hoof. "Capture them!"

As they began to band together to get a solid jump on us, Athena and I proceeded to fend them off as much as we could. However, it was only a matter of time that fatigue would set upon us without the use of any of my magic.

"They just keep coming!" Athena pressed her back against mine, allowing me to hear her panting softly from exhaustion.

When one line of changelings was knocked out, it was quickly replaced by another. Chrysalis definitely had the advantage of numbers in this case. At this rate, we'd only eventually fail from fatigue if we didn't change things up.

"We can't keep doing this, Athena." I told her truthfully as the changelings around us drew closer. There was nothing I could think of at the moment besides one thing. And I knew it was something that Athena wasn't going to approve of whatsoever. "It's me that she wants." I mentioned. "You're going to have to go on without me."

"What?!" She cried out, looking back at me before turning her attention back to the enemy. "You can't expect me to do that!"

"You have to!" I argued. "We're both at a loss if you don't leave now. I'm going to try to make an opening, and you need to push through the first chance you see one!"

"B-But, I can't…!"

"I know what you want to say!" I acknowledged. "But if what she was saying is the truth, I don't want to risk the end of Equestria if we both get captured. You need to go find help!" Before she could make any more counter arguments, several of the changelings began to attack my side. I kicked one of them and prepared to use another to push through a hoard of them. I was about to make it to the outer edge of their circle before many of them began to jump on top of me like a pack of fleas. Without magic, I was unable to lift and push off the weight they gathered together. "Hurry! Go now!" I ordered.

I could tell Athena struggled a great deal. In fact, I was afraid my efforts would be put in vain as I watched her stare back in shock. However, as Chrysalis began to approach me, Athena shut her eyes and bit her lip forcefully before turning and taking off.

Several of the changelings began to chase after her, but Chrysalis belted out a firm order.

"Leave her! With her being separated from her loved one, it'll only pile on to the amount of love we'll be feeding off soon." Chrysalis approached me, placing a hoof under my chin and lifting my head so my eyes could meet with hers. She returned a smug smile. "It was sad of you to give her false hope. There'll be no pony powerful enough to aide her. You've only made things better for me. Oh, too bad." She mimicked a troubled voice before removing her hoof from my chin. "Bring him to the hive. We've got work to do."

Athena

Alex told me to find help, but I needed to take what Chrysalis said into account. If she really did take care of the "others", how was I supposed to know who to trust to help me?! There were only a few ponies I could count on, and it was more than likely that they had already been captured. Alex was counting on me to find help, but I didn't have the slightest clue on who to possibly approach.

I managed to cover myself behind a pack of trees and shrubs. I wasn't sure if there were any changelings chasing after me, but I couldn't take the risk. By the way things looked, the fate of Equestria possibly rested on my shoulders.

I began thinking foremost of a safe place to go. I didn't want to be caught out in the open, and there was no way I could think easily with the thought of a changeling surprising me from behind. I shut my eyes and attempted to calm myself. As I breathed in and out as calmly as I could for several seconds, my train of thought began running its course.

The first place I thought to hide out was Alex's old home. I wasn't sure if any of the changelings would bother to search the place if they were looking for me. It wasn't a bad place to stay at, but I still felt uncomfortably vulnerable. Changelings were already roaming around in Ponyville. That's a fact. Was there possibly someplace that wasn't so out in the open? Maybe someplace with a pony I could still trust inside?

Various thoughts raced through my mind until I came across one that hooked my brain before I even knew what it was. In the woods, there was someplace. The Everfree Forest. Zecora. Zecora! Do the Changelings even know about her? Highly unlikely, considering she's secluded out in the woods.

I nodded in confirmation and prepared to bolt straight over there behind as much cover as possible. The sooner I could get over there, the sooner I could be sure that the changelings didn't touch her whatsoever.

I was a little nervous and scared making my way through the Everfree Forest in the dark and on my own, but anything lingering in the darkness was the least of my problems. I covered over what I could remember from the last trip with the Cutie Mark Crusaders and hesitantly stepped over to the front of her hut.

I could see light coming from her window, which was a good sign. But, I couldn't know for sure until I went inside for myself. Taking a deep breath, I propped myself up on her front door and raised a slightly tensed and shaky hoof. I nearly had to force myself to knock a few times before I anxiously waited for her door open.

In a matter of seconds, which felt more like minutes, the door opened to reveal a black and white striped face poking out in curiosity. She spotted me and prepared to greet me with a soft smile forming on her face.

"Ah, Athena. What a lovely surprise. However, I must say, coming here at this hour is unwise."

"I know, I know!" I impatiently responded. "Zecora, something bad is happening. Can I come in, please?"

"Please, be my guest." Zecora invited in, allowing me to quickly rush inside so she could close the door behind me. "Tell me. What is troubling you, young filly? You look terribly stressed."

"There's just one thing I need to do really quick, Zecora." I decided to be sure of things before I placed my complete faith in her. "When was the last time I came here, and what was I doing?"

Zecora clearly found my question odd, and her squinting face proved so. Nevertheless, she obliged and gave me a straight answer. "It was only a few days ago. You came over to work a gentle brew. Accompanied by the three Cutie Mark Crusaders, unfortunately, a young griffon surpassed you."

She could have been clearer, but it was good enough. Besides, I wouldn't think a changeling would be able to throw out rhymes on the spot like Zecora. I pressed my hoof against my chest and released a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. Zecora, the changelings are back, and this time they've taken my brother, Alex. Not only that, I'm pretty sure they've taken the rest of our friends, and if I'm to believe their queen, I think they might have already captured all the other princesses too!"

"The changelings, you say?" Zecora responded with wide-opened eyes. "Oh, my. I never expected for them to come this day." She pressed her hoof against her chin and took a quick glance out her windows. Afterwards, she turned towards me. "I can see the reason behind your odd question. But, I'm afraid I must do the same. Answer me this, young one. What was the name of the griffon who had last came?"

"Gabby!" I immediately blurted out. "It was Gabby! We were both looking for our cutie marks! As you already mentioned, I failed badly when I was trying to mix up a brew and then Gabby came in and—"

Zecora placed a hoof onto my lips, shutting me up.

"I did not expect you to be one of them. However, I'm sure you understand my need to clear you from being their stem." Zecora covered her windows with several pieces of her foreign fabric and dimmed the lights within her home. "That should help us remain unseen. Now, tell me, child. How close is their queen?"

I shook my head. "She was in Ponyville with a platoon of her changelings right in front of the castle, but I don't think she's here anymore. I think she was taking Alex to her hive." As I recalled the last thing I heard from her, I immediately gasped. "They're taking him to their hive?! Where in Equestria is that?! I began pacing in place as I felt myself having a major freak-out. "Is it far?! It has to be! If we get too far from each other, my head's going to start hurting like crazy! It's only a matter of time before it does, and unless I want to writhe in pain forever, I'm going to have to pull myself back to him. And if I do that, the changelings will find me! And then Equestria will be doo—"

Zecora had to shut me up again with her hoof.

"Calm yourself. Take deep breaths. For any pain, I might have something on my shelf. But, for right now, we must think things through. As what to do, might you have a clue?"

I sighed heavily and looked away sadly. "Alex told me to go find help, and I think I'm lucky that I was able to find you. I don't know what the changelings are planning, but they don't seem like they're pulling an all-out attack like last time. If you ask me, I think they might be doing things quietly this time. I don't know what I'm going to do, Zecora. I'm so scared. I'm just a simple Earth Pony who happens to have a few tricks up her sleeves." I paused for a moment and thought to myself. I could technically manipulate time and warn everyone about their attack, but like I've been told countless times before, manipulating time for whatever reason was never the answer. And, I agreed with them. If we could just mess with time to fix all of our problems, all it would really do is bring even worse problems for us. "I don't know who to turn to…"

"Surely there must be somepony or someone to call." Zecora mentioned. "An ally you did not have before their first fall."

An ally we didn't have before? Starlight Glimmer! She's really good with her magic! She's not a princess, but if anypony could provide help, she surely could! Not to mention she went off with Trixie to her old village. I'm sure the changelings didn't touch that part of Equestria at all! But how was I going to find her? Maybe I could wait until she came back? No! She's not supposed to be back for a week! In that case, I'd have to go out and find her! But, that'll possibly only increase the distance between Alex and me…

"There's one pony I can look for." I mentioned. "Starlight Glimmer. I just need to find out how I'm going to get to her."

"There's another particular being in mind." Zecora continued. "One who could put you in a troublesome bind."

"Huh?" I questioned as I looked at her strangely.

"A former foe that thrives in trouble and tricks. One who certainly cannot do without his round of—"

"Wait a minute!" I interrupted her, finding a rather good guess to what her answer was. "Are you talking about…Discord?!"

"A round of kicks is what he searches for. Now, all you need is to find his door."

To be honest, as much as he was my least favorite, he could make all the changelings disappear in a snap! I was more than sure that the changelings didn't know squat about him, and we could have this entire ordeal finished in an instant! But Zecora was right. None of us know where Discord even lived. I could only imagine he lived in some kind of messed up and warped dimension, but only Discord had that kind of power to teleport there. If I wanted Discord's help, we were going to have to get him to come to us! Fluttershy was the sure way to call him over, but judging from what we saw at the castle, it was likely she had been captured along with the other girls as well. Oh, what to do…

…maybe I could lure him in with some kind of chaos…?

"You'll be safe as long as you stay here." Zecora said. "Rest easy for tonight, and tomorrow, your mind shall be clear."

"I don't know if I can rest, Zecora." I expressed in distress. "Alex is counting on me to get all the help I can find. To just stay and sleep here like nothing even happened is like torture!"

"I understand your worries, my little pony." Zecora placed her hoof on my shoulder. "In your current situation, it must feel terribly lonely. However, you mustn't place yourself so willingly in danger. It is foolish to search throughout the night while walking amongst strangers. I can calm your nerves or ease any pain with a brew or two. Although, I'm afraid that is all I can do."

Sighing heavily, I nodded. I didn't think I was going to get any sleep tonight, but it was probably the best that I stayed here for the night. If I got caught by one of the changelings or ended up some monster's dinner, then there'd be no way I'd able to help him and everyone else.

I'm sorry, Alex. Can you please hold on for me just a little longer?

I continued to only toss and turn throughout the night. I don't remember ever actually falling asleep. At the slightest crack of light peaking through the windows, I got up from bed and felt my eyes were slightly weighed down. Nevertheless, for the most part, I was wide awake. I knew I wasn't going to be able to really rest until Alex and the others were safe and sound.

If there was one good thing I could find with my current situation, it was that I hardly felt any pain in my head. I could feel a slight headache, but I wasn't sure if it was just because of the stress that I had to fight practically every second in order to try to not be overwhelmed by it. The changeling hive had to no doubt be somewhere far away, so unless Alex hadn't been taken over there after all, where was the migraine I usually got from being so far away from him?

Granted, when I first started interacting with him outside, I could hardly be in another room in the Castle of the Two Sisters. When I was exposed to everypony else, after the box under the Tree of Harmony had been unlocked, I was able to be anywhere I wanted as long as I was in the same town. Now, was it possible to be anywhere else in Equestria?

I wonder…could this be related to the progress of our relationship?

"Ah, Athena. Good morning." I heard Zecora approach me. "It's nice to see you heed my warning."

"Thanks for letting me stay here, Zecora…" I turned towards her with a worried frown. "I felt safe, but I couldn't get any sleep. I couldn't stop worrying about the others…"

"I understand your feelings on the matter, but now's the time to focus on a plan. One that will not shatter; Find the others if you can."

"I know." I nodded and turned back out to the window, even though there was nothing much to see besides murky trees and swamps. "There's nothing much to think about besides not getting caught by a changeling. If I can find the others, that'd be the time to start thinking up a plan."

"How is your head?" She asked. "Last night, it was pain that you had come to dread."

"My head's bothering me a little, but I'm fine. I'm just more concerned about what I'm going to do."

"If you have any clue, perhaps I could stir up a brew?"

I honestly had no idea what she could do that would help.

"I don't suppose you have a changeling repellent?" I asked.

Zecora chuckled lightly at this. "I wish that were true, but I'm afraid I have nothing of the sort for you."

A brief smile flashed on my face as I giggled softly, finding such an idea too easy and good to be true. "Thought so. In that case, I can't think of anything, Zecora." I pulled myself away from the window and stretched in preparation to leave. "I think I should start heading out now. Maybe I'll see if I can get on a train and find Starlight at her village."

"I'm sorry there was nothing more I could do. With this circumstance, I'm afraid I'm limited in my ability in helping you." She apologized.

I shook my head. "You helped me plenty, Zecora. In fact, I feel a lot better knowing that it's not only me against the changelings. You gave me some pretty good advice last night."

"If it is shelter you seek, please know that my home is meek."

I nodded my head this time. "Thanks, Zecora. I'll be seeing you. I hope." I stated that last bit with a touch of uncertainty, but I tried to play it off as a joke.

Since it was daytime, it was a lot less scary to navigate through the Everfree Forest. I found myself back in Ponyville in a manner of minutes, but I remained much more cautious by staying on the outer edge. However, as I observed the interior of town, I found that it was really eerie. Everypony was acting as if everything was normal. If the changelings attacked, they wouldn't need other changelings to pretend to be ponies living here, would they? Either way, I couldn't be too careful knowing that my friends had been abducted by ugly creatures.

No offense, Thorax.

Wait a minute.

Could Thorax be involved with this somehow? I'm not saying that he was behind the abductions, but I thought he wanted to share the magic of friendship with every other changeling? I guess it didn't work…?

I thought Thorax could be helpful as well, but I had no idea where I'd even begin to find him, much like Discord. Maybe there's a chance he'd be at the Crystal Empire? Haah. Everything was too difficult to think through. All I could do was take baby steps and take a crack at my ideas one at a time.

I wanted to take a train to Starlight's village, but then I remembered about my predicament with the changelings. Could they be lingering around those parts too? I found it unlikely. If they were, they wouldn't do anything to blow their cover. After all, I highly doubted they knew how to work a train. Seeing as there'd be no time to walk all the way over to Starlight's old village on my own, I made the decision in taking a small risk by going through the train.

Unexpectedly, I spotted Starlight in town on my way over to the train station, but in that instant, I knew it was too good to be true. Having been within our main circle of powerful friends, the only conclusion that arose in my mind was that she had been replaced. The Starlight I saw had to be a changeling in disguise in an attempt to fit in. Why exactly? I don't know. Maybe they were scoping out for other ponies to take. Maybe…they were looking for me. Whatever the case was, I was afraid that they had found Starlight, especially if they already had a changeling in her place here at Ponyville.

Fudge cupcakes…

I continued to try to stay out of every other ponies' sight through ducking behind bushes and trees and slithering through alleyways and between buildings. As soon as I made it to the train station, I hopped aboard the first train I could find to the Crystal Empire and ended up hiding inside the cart with all the luggage. Just to be sure.

For some reason, I was expecting to see the Crystal Empire being patrolled by changelings, but it was just like how it was back in Ponyville. Everything seemed normal, and it was practically the complete opposite of a ghost town, kind of like how it was when everypony was afraid of Thorax.

That made it all the more reason to be super cautious with everything and everypony around. Any of them could have been a changeling, and I could only assume that the changelings had already stepped hoof onto this place, considering what Chrysalis had said.

When I drew closer to the castle, I squeezed myself between a couple of buildings and watched the entrance. There were a few guards stationed there. From what I could see, their emotions didn't seem all that different, but then again, they weren't really doing much to warrant a change. It was silly to be hiding the way I was as if I was some kind of intruder, but all I had to go on was Chrysalis's word.

"Athena!" I heard a voice behind me, causing me to both immediately shriek and turn around.

There was a changeling right behind my tail the entire time and I didn't even know it!

"Aah!" I screamed before revving up a kick to deliver on its nasty face.

"Wait!" He cried out, but I had already caused his face to be thrown to the side.

I was just about to run until his voice finally clicked in my mind. I remained standing in front of his lying body as he moaned and groaned in an effort to get up. Analyzing his emotional aura, I found that he had no intention to harm me. No way. Was this Thorax?!

"Thorax! Is that you?!" I called out.

"Yeah…it's me…" He answered, rubbing his cheek. "Ow…"

"I'm so sorry!" I quickly raced over to him and tried to help him up. "I was so scared! The changelings kidnapped my friends, and I didn't know who I could trust!"

"That's what I was about to tell you!" He replied with great enthusiasm. "I didn't expect to see you here, but when I did, I had to warn you before you went inside the castle. A hoard of changelings came by and took Cadence, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart last night! In fact, I was just about to head to Ponyville to get help from Princess Twilight and the others, but based on what you told me, they were already taken too!"

"Oh, no…" I turned away, swerving my eyes around anxiously. "What about Canterlot? Did they take the princesses there too?"

Thorax sighed. "I'm sure they did. This sounds like an attack on the entirety of Equestria, but I don't understand what they're trying to do. They're only taking the most powerful figures and replacing them. From what I know, they're not trying to feed off any of their love. Not yet, anyway."

"What do we do, Thorax?" I nearly broke down from worry, desperately hoping he had some kind of idea of what to do.

"They took all of them to the hive. The only way to get them back is to go over there ourselves."

"How are we supposed to challenge thousands of changelings with just us?!"

"I don't know." Thorax admitted. "That's why I was going to Ponyville to get help. I don't know how we're going to get them back."

I sighed heavily. "We need to find Discord. Somehow. There's no way he could have been taken by the changelings. I hate to say this, but he would have easily mopped the floor with them."

"Who's Discord?" Thorax asked.

"He's a…friend." I hesitated, considering my actual dry relationship with the draconequus. "He's practically our only hope now.

"And you don't know how to reach him?"

I thought about it briefly, placing a hoof on my chin. "No, I don't. If anypony knows how, it would be Fluttershy. Even if she was already taken by the changelings, maybe there's something we can find to help us at her cottage. I think they actually send mail to each other."

"What are we waiting for?" Thorax lurched forward, ready for action. "We better get moving before any of the changelings has a chance to see us. Who knows what they'd do if they found us."

I nodded in agreement, and we both headed back for Ponyville.

I closed the door to Fluttershy's cottage as soon as we were inside. There was hardly any noise within, and, of course, there was no sign of the owner around. It was a sad thing to experience, but I had to shove the feeling away and get back on track. I took a look around and began hearing small and soft whimpers. Under pieces of furniture and hugging the corners of the house, I found some of the small critters Fluttershy kept inside practically holding each other in fear.

"Poor things!" I witnessed. "Without Fluttershy around, they must be scared to death!"

Thorax stepped up beside me with a frown. "Actually, I think they're just scared of me…"

"We need to get them back as soon as possible." I stated and began searching every nook and cranny for some kind of clue to Discord's whereabouts. Even a letter with his home address would be a start.

"What should we look for?" Thorax asked.

"Anything that could tell us something on how to find or contact Discord." I instructed, turning over books and cups to search through them. "Fluttershy is Discord's favorite pony. They must have some way of communicating with each other." I placed down an item I had been looking through and sighed after putting more thought into what I said. "Then again…Discord just shows up whenever he pleases."

The sun had been already making its way below the horizon as I finished looking around Fluttershy's room. I hated the idea of going through her stuff, but we needed to find Discord. Nevertheless, I ended up leaving her room with a guilty expression on my face and empty-hooved.

"Find anything?" I asked Thorax.

"Not really." Thorax had just finished looking through a stack of papers. "I found something with Discord's name on it. I think it's supposed to be where he lives, but it's all gibberish to me."

I quickly trotted over to his side to take a look for myself, but I ultimately sighed when he was right about it being gibberish. His supposed address wasn't any kind of normal address. It practically mentioned a certain dimension or something, but we didn't have the kind of power to move through dimensions. It was only expected of him.

"Urgh! That isn't going to help! Isn't there a way Fluttershy's able to call him or something?"

"I don't know…" Thorax responded softly. "She's your friend."

I turned away and stared at the floor for a silent while. I didn't want to take Discord out of the equation for our plan. We just needed to find some way of getting him to come around, but we obviously had no way to do that. We could wait for him to eventually swing by to visit Fluttershy, but who knew how long that would take. We don't have time to wait!

"What now…?" Thorax slowly approached me.

"I don't know…" I mentioned worryingly. "The only thing I can come up with is to make some desperate attempt at finding an answer at the castle library, but we can't even do that because I'm sure the castle is riddled with changelings pretending to be our friends."

"Even so, I don't think any of the changelings would be in the library." Thorax said. "None of us have hardly read anything in our lives."

"You think it's worth a shot?" I turned to him.

"I guess it's all we have." Thorax replied a bit sadly and turned his head towards the window. "It's almost going to be dark out soon. We should probably wait until then. If any of them are looking for you, it'd be harder to find you in the dark."

There was no guarantee we'd be able to get inside. Even if we did, we'd still have to make it to the library without being spotted. And, even then, we don't know if we'd find anything useful in the library. Gaah! I can only hope there's something in one of Twilight's thousands of books. Maybe some kind of spell a changeling could learn that could help us with all the other changelings? Thorax was on our side. That had to be worth something.

At any point, it was all we had, so it was all we could settle on for now.

"I guess we might as well take a break…" I hesitantly decided. "I haven't eaten anything since yesterday, and I think I'm starting to feel my stomach beg for food."

"You should eat." Thorax advised. "You'll need all the energy you can get."

I turned towards Fluttershy's kitchen and began looking through her cupboards. "I hope Fluttershy doesn't mind me eating some of her food…" The guilt within me began to rise up, but I was able to quell it somewhat when I remembered her telling me that her home was my home. I suppose it helped that I was her future sister-in-law. As I gathered bits and pieces of food I could find, I suddenly remembered something about Thorax and turned to him. "Hey, Thorax. What about you? You're not hungry for…you know…love?"

He shook his head. "Ever since I met you all at the Crystal Empire, I haven't been hungry since! It's like I don't even need to feed anymore."

"Well, that's a good thing." I acknowledged genuinely, grateful that I wouldn't at least have a changeling turn on me due to the great desire of food. "At least I know you won't have to feed off me." I half-joked.

"I'd never do that." Thorax emphasized. "After all, you were one of the few ponies who trusted me when everyone else was against me…"

Remembering the circumstance, I smiled lightly. "Yeah…" I took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled it out, pulling a determined expression up on my face afterwards. "There's got to be a way. We just need to find it."

I observed the sky throughout the entire time we waited inside Fluttershy's cottage. I partook in some snacks to try to satisfy the feeling of hunger inside me. I still wasn't sure if it was necessary to eat, as I imagined that I relied on Alex like a baby relied on its mother. Nevertheless, I was sure that, wherever Alex was being held captive, he hasn't had a thing to eat either, so it was probably a good idea that I got something. Maybe we actually shared food in a way…

I noticed that Thorax would glance my way with a noticeably concerned expression on his face throughout our mostly silent time together, but my eyes remained glued towards the window. I had been completely absorbed in my thoughts, worrying to no end about how to remove the nest of changelings that infested our home.

After my meal, I decided to help Fluttershy by feeding her animals since she wasn't here to do it. Based on the time I've spent with her, I learned a few things watching her. However, I could never imagine being able to take care of all the animals that she has.

Eventually, Thorax spoke up and suggested we get a move on at the sight of the clear moon outside. It was time to get back to work.

I carefully shut the door to Fluttershy's cottage as we exited out and scanned the area around me carefully. It was unlikely that changelings would be hanging around here for no reason, but ever since their invasion, I could never get rid of the feeling of being watched.

"There's hardly any pony out at this time of night." Thorax noted. "I think it'll be pretty easy to tell if there's a changeling in disguise out here."

"How can you tell?" I asked.

"There's no sure way for me, but changelings act a certain way, and even when they try to act like the pony they're pretending to be, they never really get the important bits down. If they're only replacing your friends, it should be easy to notice something off about them, right?"

"Yeah, that's right." I acknowledged. "Although, I'd like to notice something before confronting them."

"We'll stick around the dark places. If we run into them, I'll change into some random pony and try to cover for you, okay?"

"Thanks, Thorax…" I expressed sincerely. "I know you don't have to do any of this."

He shook his head. "As much as I'm doing this to help you and everyone else, I'm also doing it for myself. I don't want changelings to steal any more love. You all have already proven to me that we can easily share it, and all I gotta do is show them that. Come on, let's see if we can make it to the castle."

I smiled lightly and he lightly flickered his glittering wings. I certainly felt much safer with him around, and although I remained constantly worrying about the others' safety, the weight that had been pressed against my shoulder slipped off for the most part.

"If we stay behind cover and in the dark, I think we can slip into the castle quite easily." He mentioned as he led me along a field of bushes. "I don't think the changelings are patrolling outside of the castle. That'd be too suspicious, considering they've just replaced your friends."

"So, maneuvering in the castle would be the real challenge?" I asked.

"If every pony that lives in that castle was replaced, then yeah."

The changelings knew I escaped, so it was a no-brainer they'd consider me a threat if they spotted me inside the castle. This was certainly going to be a toughie.

"But…" He added. If there aren't many of you in the first place, that means there probably won't be that many changelings either. The castle is a huge place, so it shouldn't be that hard to make it into the library."

"It's worth a shot, I guess…" I uncertainly stated, the nerves inside me slightly trembling.

"If we keep quiet, we'll be fine."

Just as Thorax suggested that, there had been a loud and bright zap nearby as if somepony had just casted a spell. We quickly dove to cover underneath the bushes and turned all around to find the source of the event. It had been dead quiet until we heard discernable voices from a short distance. Thorax and I crawled and poked out just enough to get a clear view of the area these voices came from.

I saw a station wagon and two ponies right next to it. It was Starlight Glimmer and Trixie! I figured Starlight was taken, but Trixie too? Trixie was hardly a threat, but maybe she just had been taken along with Starlight Glimmer?

Nevertheless, the conversation they had with each other began to cast doubts in my mind. They were unnecessarily overwhelmed and panicky, nothing I'd expect from a changeling in disguise.

"Isn't that Starlight…?" Thorax whispered to me.

"It is, but how do we know they're not changelings?" I asked.

"Like I said before." He reminded. "Changelings act so much differently that the ponies they are pretending to be. If these ponies were changelings, I'd expect them to be at each other's throats than being all panicky. Besides, listen!" He pointed towards them and allowed me to listen to what they had been saying.

"Queen Chrysalis only said they took Luna and Celestia and obviously Twilight and the others... but maybe Cadence is still safe." Starlight told Trixie, causing for Thorax and me to exchange glances with each other. They had obviously found out about the changeling invasion, and their auras seemed to correlate with their dialogue. I don't know why Starlight and Trixie were back so early, but it seemed that they were the real deal. "Our best bet is to get to the Crystal Empire before the changelings do." At this point, Thorax stood up and began to remove himself from cover, alarming me. "That way we can—"

"There's no help coming from the Crystal Empire." He announced, immediately grabbing their attention as he approached them.

To prove they had actually been their real self, Trixie quickly backed away and shrieked out loudly at the sight of Thorax. Trixie had never actually met Thorax, so it wasn't surprising whatsoever that she'd flip out especially considering our current dilemma. Witnessing her proportional sharp cries for a brief few seconds, Starlight silenced them with a magical bubble. Afterwards, she turned towards Thorax.

"Thorax?"

"Yes." He answered.

"Your wings look... different." Starlight Glimmer noticed.

"I guess they do." He glanced over at them and waved them around.

Starlight was clearly ecstatic to see a familiar changeling she could trust, but every ounce of that expression was wiped off when a look of suspicion ran across her face. Her horn glowed intensely bright as she slowly approached Thorax in a menacing fashion. "How do I know you aren't some other changeling pretending to be Thorax?"

I figured it was my time to remove myself from cover in order to dispel the suspicion around Thorax.

"He's the real deal." I announced, stepping out of the bushes and towards Starlight.

"Athena!" Starlight lightly cried out in surprise. "I thought you had been taken along with everypony else."

"I managed to escape." I answered, which I realized sounded a little fishy seconds after.

"If you really are Athena, then I suppose you won't mind answering a question?" She furrowed her eyebrows seriously.

I followed her facial expression and replied with determination. "Shoot."

"When you were a little filly, what were you doing when you got your cutie mark?"

Hah. Nice try.

"Trick question." I immediately returned. "I only got my cutie mark several days ago, and I only got it because the Cutie Mark Crusaders helped me, including a friendly griffon named Gabby."

"Huh." Starlight slightly backed off, lowering the intensity of her horn. It was as if she was ready for that question to be answered wrong. "I guess you really are Athena. No one would expect a pony to get their cutie mark so late."

"Of course, I am." I proudly reinstated. "I'll answer any other question you want to throw at me, but for right now, the changeling here is really Thorax. We found each other at the Crystal Empire."

"That's right." Thorax agreed. "The ponies you're looking for to help were already taken. Cadence, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart. Sunburst had told me to get help here, but Athena already told me that the changelings took the help we needed too."

Starlight reacted with worry, but each of our attention had been turned to the bubble she had created around Trixie. Inside, we noticed Trixie had still been flinging her hooves aimlessly and visibly screaming in a soundless void.

"Trixie. It's alright." Starlight explained. "Thorax is a reformed changeling. He doesn't want to feed off any of our love." Although Trixie seemed to have stopped screaming, she still anxiously kept her back to her cart in fear. "He's our friend, understand?" Trixie hesitantly nodded, allowing Starlight to pop the bubble she had been in.

"Hi. It's a pleasure to..." Thorax had attempted to introduce himself to Trixie, but she only cowered away.

"If Starlight says you're on our side, I believe her. But maybe just stay over there for now, okay?" She gestured with her hoof.

Thorax backed away with a hanging head, tempting me to give him a comforting hug. However, we needed to talk business about how we were going to come up with a plan.

"I thought you had been captured by the changelings too, Starlight!" I recalled my initial scare. "I was going to try to head over to your village, but then I saw you here in Ponyville. You weren't supposed to be back for another week, so I thought it was a changeling."

"No, it was me." Starlight explained. "I had come back early because…" She glanced over to Trixie for a brief moment. "…well…let's just say things didn't go so well in the village. When did all this happen?"

"Last night." I recalled. "Alex and I had been coming back to the castle when we were attacked by the queen herself. She and an army of changelings took him back to their hive, and it was because of him that they didn't touch me."

"I can't believe that happened while I was gone." Starlight worriedly looked towards the ground before lifting her head up back to me. "So, there's no pony else we can go to for help?"

Thorax and I exchanged glances with each other. "There's someone." I answered.

"Who?!" Starlight leaned her head in.

"Discord." I replied. "There's no way the changelings could have found him, and even if they did, they'd be sent to another dimension with his kind of magic. The problem is…we have no idea how to find him."

"Did I hear somepony call my name?"

A strange figure appeared on top of the station wagon Trixie had been backed up against, causing her to yelp and quickly jump aside.

"Discord!" I honestly felt ecstatic at the sight of him. "Where've you been?!"

"I was waiting for my scheduled tea time with Fluttershy today, but she wasn't there. So, I figured she was running late from possibly being with you-know-who . I left her a letter at her cottage telling her I'd come back later. And when I did, she was still missing. So, I took myself to the castle to look for her. I ended up finding her, but boy, let me tell you, she was in an awful mood. I swiftly returned home and now I'm here because I was bored. Plus, I wanted to see if Fluttershy was feeling any better before I happened to hear you ponies talking about me."

"That's nice and all, but how do we know that you're really you?" Starlight questioned, despite his lengthy and detailed explanation.

"Starlight, I don't think anyone besides Discord would know—"

Discord snapped his fingers with a rather offended scowl on his face. Flowers nearby unrooted themselves and began to dance all around. Most of all, the ground below us turned into soapy water, causing all of us to slip and fall except Thorax, who was able to use his wings to stay off the ground.

"Shall I continue?" Discord asked.

I shook my head. "You've got to help us, Discord!"

"And, pray tell, why would I want to do that?" He rested his cheek against his paw as he lazily looked back at us.

"Because Chrysalis and the changelings are back!" Starlight answered. "They've ponynapped all of the most powerful ponies in Equestria!"

"Meh." Discord turned his body around and laid his back on top of the wagon. "They can fix the problem on their own. After all, friendship is apparently the best kind of magic, right?" He merely glanced at us as he returned no sign of interest in regards to helping us correct the problem on hoof. "I don't feel like doing any work right now. Ask me again tomorrow and maybe I'll consider it if I'm bored."

"You want to know why Fluttershy was in such a bad mood today?" I asked, stepping up.

"Hm?" He turned his head towards me.

"Well, you see, um, SHE WAS TAKEN!" I expressed nearly irritably.

Everything around us went back to normal as he suddenly had a change of heart and approached us closely. "They took Fluttershy?" He returned in a hushed and angered tone.

"That's what I said, dummy!" I replied back.

"Where?" He answered in a menacing tone, the aura within his body quickly heating up. He was ready to cause some havoc.

"The Changeling Kingdom." Starlight stated. "With you on our side, we can—"

Discord snapped his fingers, immediately teleporting us to somewhere that was unknown, at least to me.

"Odd." Discord turned his head around and briefly searched under a rock. "I was trying to take us right to Fluttershy, but there is no Fluttershy."

We heard a soft whimper besides us, causing us to turn and notice Trixie pointing to something with a shaking hoof in the distance. "I think I have a pretty good idea where she might be..."

Across pillars of sharp and edgy rocks, what appeared to be a beehive stood tall at the center of a barren wasteland.

"I'd hoped never to see that place again." Thorax mentioned, shaking at the sight of it. "Now what?" He asked as he turned over among us.

We had gathered as much help as we could. Now, the biggest challenge to saving Equestria we each have faced so far stood right in front of us.

To There and Back Again

I studied the hive, and in the distance, there were changelings swarming around it, flying from here to there and there to where. At a far distance, they looked just like bees, and I had never been one to be a fan of bees, especially since I wasn't sure if I was possibly allergic to them.

"Oh, this is so strange." Discord said. "We're here and that's there, and I clearly meant for us to be there and not here." He gestured over the hive.

"Oh, I-I can probably explain—"

"Oh, well. If at first you don't succeed..." Discord cut off Thorax and prepared to snap once more before Starlight held his paw back with her magic.

"Maybe we should come up with a plan first?" She suggested.

"A what?" Discord responded, literally blowing away the magic Starlight had on him.

"You know, figuring out the best way to do something before you actually do it?" Trixie stepped up and told him with a foul mood.

Discord laughed and patted her on the head like a child. "Oh, that's adorable. But you see, unlike you, I can do anything."

"Uh, actually—"

Discord placed his paw in front of Thorax's mouth. "That's all very nice, but really a waste of time. We have me. And what else could we possibly need?"

"A draconequus with magic and half a brain might help." Trixie fired her shots.

"Why are you here again?" Discord turned to his attacker. "I mean, it's not like you're going to stop the changelings by pulling a rabbit out of a hat." He momentarily worked his illogical magic and pulled out another Trixie from the bottom of the hat. "At least my magic can do something."

"The thing about magic here is—"

"Like this!" Discord snapped, disregarding any words coming out of Thorax's mouth and summoning an armored pig to ride on top on. "For Fluttershy!" He charged forward, only for the pig to disappear out of thin air once he passed the cliffside. "Yaaah!" He reached for the edge of the cliff and pulled himself up. Afterwards, he summoned another pig by snapping and sending it over the cliffside again without him being on it. Like before, it simply vanished, but this time, I could see a trail of magic leave and follow directly to the hive.

"I've been trying to tell you!" Thorax angrily stomped his hoof. "Nothing other than changeling magic works here. Chrysalis' throne is carved from an ancient dark stone that soaks up outside magic the same way changelings soak up love. It's how she keeps the hive safe."

Starlight proceeded to test this by stepping forward with a bit of magic on the tip of her horn, but like Discord's magic, any trace of it had been sucked up and rendered useless.

"If you ponies are done fighting with each other, need I remind you that we should be listening to Thorax?" I brought up. "He's the only changeling known to ponykind who's willing to help us bring down the place he very came from, and here you are bickering like foals."

"I assume you have a plan?" Trixie asked me bitterly, seeming to take my comment as an indirect insult.

"Well, it's definitely not fighting about who's the better magician." I responded. "Can we please work together and come up with a real plan this time? The longer we stay here, the longer the changelings get their work done. Who knows what else they're planning to do?"

"Without magic, it's hard to do anything." Starlight returned to the group. "I was hoping Discord could have just rushed in and finished the job in ten seconds flat, but I guess that idea seemed a little too good to be true."

"So, what are we going to do now?" Thorax asked, looking towards each of us.

"Nopony else is coming." Starlight reminded. "So somepony better come up with something." There was a brief moment of silence between all of us, and everypony pretty much spent it glancing at everypony else. As much as I personally wanted to come up with an idea of my own, it was hard to think with the kind of vibes I was getting from everyone else. Not to mention that Starlight was already asking for a plan only a few seconds into our allotted thinking time. "Anypony? Anything?"

"Unless we can get in and everyone trapped inside out without alerting the changelings at all, I can't see a rescue mission happening without magic at the least." I sighed from frustration. "According to Thorax, we practically won't be able to do anything with that throne in there."

"About that throne…" Starlight momentarily thought to herself. "If we get into the hive and destroy it, can we get our magic back?"

"Uh-huh!" Thorax answered.

"And how are we supposed to destroy it?" I asked. "If we wanted any change, we'd probably need magic. But, we can't use magic if the throne still stands. If Chrysalis was smart enough to protect the hive with the throne in the first place, I highly doubt the throne is brittle as a bundle of sticks."

"If I remember correctly, the throne is pretty solid." Thorax recalled.

"Well, unless somepony else has something else, I say it's all we got." Starlight settled.

"This is a terrible plan." Discord mentioned. "How are we even supposed to get to the hive?"

"We walk?" Trixie returned with snark as every other pony began to jump off the cliffside and head across the barren wasteland that the hive stood on.

"I haven't walked that far in a millennia!" Discord protested, releasing simultaneous groans from both Trixie and Starlight.

I spent what time I had during our walk trying to think of something better than the poorly taped up plan we had, but anything I could come up relied on the use of magic, which we didn't have. Chrysalis really did think things through this time. It was actually really scary. As glad as I was to not being the only pony challenging a hive of changelings, I was still very afraid of where we'd end up by the end of the day.

"Athena." I heard my name being called, causing me to quickly pick my head up off the ground.

"Huh?" I turned in the direction the voice had been heard, leading me to find Starlight observing me a bit seriously.

"You're able to teleport back to Alex, right? In a way that doesn't necessarily use 'magic', so to speak?"

"I know what you're thinking." I acknowledged. "That was one of the first things I thought of, but there's a few problems with that. For one, even though I'm able to do that without unicorn magic, I'm not entirely sure if it still counts as magic Chrysalis's throne still forbids. Second, I could try it out, but there lies another problem. I'm pretty sure that wherever Alex is, there's a whole bunch of changelings nearby. I don't think it's very smart to risk being caught the instant I get back to him."

"But, don't you have some kind of power inside of him?" Starlight asked.

"To some degree." I answered. "But nothing I can think of that would bring the changelings to their doom. The only kind of 'power' I've been able to help unleash needed every one of his friends. There's only so much he can do on his own. Heck, for as long as I've been in there, there's only so much I understand about his light. Unless he's releasing some kind of joint attack with all of his other friends, I think I'm more useful out here than in there…" I partially said under my breath, beginning to feel a strong sense of guilt for some reason.

Starlight sighed. "We're really in a pickle now. I honestly wish Discord was able to use his magic, so we can have this wrapped up in a matter of minutes. I didn't get any good sleep last night."

"You and me both." I stated before we heard Discord ranting behind us.

"Oh, I don't know how any of you manage not being able to disappear and reappear whenever you want!"

"Well, I, for one, definitely miss you being able to disappear!" Trixie responded in a fit of aggression.

"Give Discord a break. None of us knew we weren't going to be able to use magic." Starlight defended.

"I did." Thorax mentioned.

At the sound of Thorax's voice, I stopped in my tracks and turned towards him. "Hang on, Thorax. This is something I should have asked you first, but if the changelings find you inside, what's going to happen to you?"

"What do you mean?" He asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"You left the hive." I reminded. "There's no doubt they know you now as a traitor. So, if they find you roaming about in their hive, are you going to get some kind of really bad punishment? Maybe far worse than us?"

"Well…" Thorax worriedly turned away. "The first thing I can think of is that they'll suck up any ounce of love I have. And when a changeling has every bit of love removed from inside them, well, I'm sure you have a pretty good idea of what happens after."

"In that case, are you sure you want to come with us?" I asked sincerely. "You're already doing so much for us, and I'd hate to lose you because you were risking your life for us."

"You know what they say about being a hero or villain." Thorax mentioned with a strike of confidence. "There's no way I can stand by and let this happen. It's either all or nothing. Besides, I could always use my power to try to come up with something. I'll change into a rock if I have to."

"That reminds me." Trixie pointed out. "Any of you could change into literally anything. In that case, how do we know the pony, or changeling, we're talking to is really us?"

"Trixie's right." Starlight stated. "If we get separated, it might make sense to have a way to make sure we are who we say we are."

Discord apparently seemed to finally reach up to us after having dragged his mismatched legs over. "Oh! Like a secret code! How about if I say 'we are' and you say 'doomed'? Or you say 'rescue' and I say..." In the midst of his rambling and pacing, Discord found himself tripping over a portion of the land that had been split and poking above the ground.

"How about if we say 'klutzy' and you say 'draconequus'?" Trixie came up with after witnessing his fall.

"'Klutzy draconequus'." Starlight repeated to herself. "Works for me."

"I'll definitely remember it." Thorax said.

"Well, at least we have that covered." I joined the others as they continued walking forward, leaving Discord to bitterly lag behind. "Great job, Trixie. I almost hadn't even thought of that."

"Well, somepony needs to remember that you can't always expect to rip the very fabric of space and time to get what you want." Trixie had clearly directed this towards Discord, but she suddenly widened her eyes and leaned over to Starlight to whisper in her ear. "No offense."

Starlight rolled her eyes and continued facing towards the front.

After a few more minutes of walking, Thorax galloped up towards the front and stopped everypony. "Hold on a second!" He hushed loudly. "There should be guards up ahead." He turned his head and appeared to look for some kind of opening. "This way." He gestured before leading the pack.

"We should let Thorax take point from now on." I suggested to Starlight as we followed him. "He's the only one who knows the area."

"I agree." Trixie added and turned towards the back of the group to find Discord a little behind. "And let's leave the draconequus behind us. If any other changelings start chasing after us, he'll be the first."

"As much as you clearly don't like him, Trixie, we need to all stay together." Starlight advised. "We need any help we can get, especially Discord's."

Trixie rolled her eyes. "If you say so."

Thorax circled us around the guards, leaving me to watch out for Discord and give him a kick every now and then to hurry and catch up. To be honest, I couldn't tell if he was purposely acting all mopey and disgruntled for not being able to use magic, or if his physical body was actually out of shape. After making sure the guards hadn't noticed any of us whatsoever, Thorax signaled us to enter a certain part of the hive. As we did and looked around, I saw a whole bunch of disgusting holes everywhere. For some reason, this gave me pretty bad chills, and I started feeling itchy all over.

"Okay. I am definitely glad you came." Trixie expressed towards Thorax out of gratitude, turning the tide in their strained relationship. "I don't think we'd be able to find our way without you."

"You definitely wouldn't." Thorax mentioned, pointing to a particular spot behind us.

Just as we looked back we found the entrance/exit closing itself eerily.

"Um, where's the way out?" Trixie asked.

"It's a changeling hive." Thorax explained. "It shifts and changes like we do, and we're the only ones who can navigate it. It's total chaos to non-changelings." He turned around and began walking in the direction of another pathway that had just opened up, almost as if he easily predicted its motion.

"Well, it's decent chaos." Discord critiqued after we cautiously walked through. "I don't know if I'd call it 'total'."

"Let me guess." I followed up on Thorax's explanation. "It's just another form of protection for the hive, right?"

"You got it." Thorax replied. "But as you may have already noticed, one of the major flaws with our security is that any changeling could easily get past it if they really wanted to. Of course, that wasn't really a problem for our queen. Every changeling has always been extremely loyal to her. Never in their minds have they ever thought of betraying her and going against the hive."

"…except you?" Starlight mentioned.

"Except me…" Thorax returned a bit sadly. "Still. I don't want to sound like I'm bragging or anything, but I don't think you all would have a chance if I wasn't here. We may not have a whole army of changelings to help us, but I'm glad I can be a big help when it comes to getting past the security here."

"Thank you, Thorax." I gratefully expressed. "I don't know what we'd do without you."

"If you can take us straight to the throne without alerting any of the changelings, we have a better chance of coming up with something to destroy the throne for good. Then, Discord can wipe them out in an instant." Starlight clarified.

"That's the plan." Thorax acknowledged.

"Are we sure that I'll get my magic back when we destroy this throne thingy?" Discord brought up with a condescending kind of attitude.

"If Thorax is right, then yes." Starlight answered.

"Well, that's reassuring." Discord responded with sarcasm.

"Thorax is right." I believed. "We just need to figure out how exactly we're going to destroy this throne."

"What if we don't figure out how we're going to destroy it?" Trixie questioned worriedly. "What then?"

"I... don't know." Starlight reacted hesitantly.

"That's reassuring." Trixie surprisingly responded in the same manner as Discord had.

I sighed, willing to brainstorm and throw out anything I could come up with. "Maybe we could destroy it with love…?"

"Love?" Each one of them turned to me, staring at me with a look of confusion.

"Chrysalis was literally blown away by love when she first attacked." I brought up. "If we could somehow replicate that here, maybe it could create something powerful enough to blow the throne to smithereens?"

"Oh, sure." Discord was the first to react to this idea fresh out of the oven. "We could just get all the changelings to love each other like you ponies do. That's a splendid idea." He leaned over to one of the bags Trixie had packed and began rummaging through it. "I don't suppose you brought any throne-destroying tools along with these useless sideshow props."

"Asks the Lord of Chaos who can't go for a walk without whining nonstop!" Trixie fired back.

"Yes, but when the throne is destroyed, I'll be able to rip the very fabric of reality to save our friends, while you'll still be a self-absorbed, below-average illusionist!" He argued.

"Self-absorbed?!" Trixie screamed out, revealing how offensive she found that remark to be. "Why, you...!"

"Cut. It. Out!" Starlight intervened between the both them by nearly screaming out in an effort to shut them up. "I'm just barely keeping it together, and it would be wonderful if you two could actually try to help instead of bickering like foals!"

"Okay." Discord answered in a dejected tone as Starlight moved on forward.

"How can we help?" Trixie asked in a similar manner.

"Don't ask me!" Starlight responded as I noticed a spike in her anxiety levels. "I couldn't even handle giving advice at the Sunset Festival, and I had magic then! And the four of us are as good as useless! At least Thorax knows where we're going."

"Um, guys?" Thorax called out up ahead. "I think we're lost."

"What?!" I raced over to him and took a look around where he had been standing at. There were more holes that were constantly changing than I could count as far as the eye could see. I faced him with what felt like a pleading expression. "I thought you knew the way!"

"It's been a while." He admitted. "I was feeling pretty confident up until now."

"Oh, great." Trixie said behind us. She placed the bags she had been carrying onto the floor and simply sat down. "We might as well just sit here and wait for the changelings to soak up all of our love or whatever gross thing it is that they do." She faced Thorax and seemed to pull up a worried look as she asked him a question. "How often do you all get hungry?"

"Actually, I haven't been since my time at the Crystal Empire." He answered. "And changelings are always hungry. We can never get enough love."

"Well, that's just super—"

"But you aren't hungry at all now?" Starlight interfered to ask a more important question.

"Athena asked me the same thing before we met up with you all." Thorax recalled as he looked at me. "Ever since I made a few friends who were willing to share their love with me, I haven't had to feed or take love at all." He flickered his wings.

"Is that about the same time your wings changed?" Starlight noticed.

"I guess so." Thorax responded with a shrug.

A loud yawn slipped in between a rather important conversation, and it obviously came from none other than Discord.

"While I would love to sit around chitchatting about feeding and not feeding, I have a Fluttershy to save!" He voiced extremely loudly, nearly causing me to stuff my hooves into my ears as if it would actually silence his voice instead.

"Are you crazy?!" I dashed towards him and stopped him before he could say anymore. "Any changeling within a mile could have heard that!"

"Oh, you keep saying that, but I haven't seen an actual changeling since we got into this hive." Discord attempted to reason with.

"Just because you haven't seen any changelings doesn't mean they're not in here!" I countered with. "It's a huge hive!"

"Uh…" We heard Trixie say out loud in a shaky voice, ceasing the words coming out of our mouths. At this point, we began to hear distant humming as if it had been coming from a swarm of bees. "W-What's that?"

"A changeling patrol!" Thorax warned.

I pointed in the direction the sound had been coming from and angrily faced Discord. "Is that good enough for you?!"

"To be fair, they could have very easily heard your voice instead of mine." He crossed his disfigured limbs against his chest and closed his eyes in denial.

"Aargh!" I groaned out in frustration, but I had to overlook it for now. Nearby, I could hear Thorax hyperventilating as Starlight attempted to calm him down.

"We need to come up with something quick!" Starlight suggested.

"And what do you expect us to do?" Trixie replied. "We have no magic, and it's not like my illusions are gonna save us!"

Starlight suddenly gasped before approaching her. "Do you have any of your smoke bombs?"

"Are you kidding?" Trixie stated rhetorically, which, in other words, meant that it would be foolish to think that she didn't have smoke bombs.

"Quick! Throw some of your smokes to Thorax!" Starlight instructed.

Trixie looked like she had questions she wanted to ask, but at the sound of other changelings quickly swarming in, she dug into her pack and threw a hoof-full over. "Don't let them drop to the ground!" Trixie warned Thorax.

Thorax quickly held out his hooves and juggled them a bit as he caught them. "What am I supposed to do with these?!"

"Thorax, change into Trixie! We're going to give the patrol a little 'magic' show." Starlight explained.

"Oh!" Trixie seemed to catch onto something. "I see what you're getting at! Thorax, when you've got the patrol's attention, use those smoke bombs and I'll get their attention over there!" She pointed towards another particular part of the gaping area we had been in. "Then, just follow my lead from there!"

"G-Got it!" He changed forms, allowing Starlight and Trixie to gallop on ahead.

"Come on!" They directed towards Discord and me, having us quickly get our legs in motion.

It happened within a matter of minutes, but the plan that Trixie had supervised involved both Thorax and her switching places to provide the patrol the illusion of teleportation. Trixie and Thorax used the smoke bombs they had on them to constantly "switch" back and forth, which ended up leaving Thorax to guide the patrol away from us. However, as we watched the group chase after him, two of the changelings from the group used a different kind a path for some reason. Were they taking a different route?

"Not exactly great and powerful, but effective." Discord somewhat praised.

"Hm. I'll take it." Trixie proudly popped in between us.

Another Trixie soon approached us, causing Starlight to raise up the code word for the first time.

"'Klutzy'…"

"'draconequus'!" The two of them immediately answered before Thorax returned to his normal form.

"Ugh. I really think we need a new code word!" Discord complained.

"Hey. To be fair, if the changelings knew we were using a code word, the last thing they'd figure it'd be is something like 'klutzy draconequus'." I raised a fairly good point.

"The plan worked." Starlight added. "That's what really matters."

"That was a pretty good plan." Thorax mentioned.

"But we still don't know where we're going." Trixie brought up.

"Actually, we might." Starlight responded. "Two of the changelings didn't go with the rest."

"Oh!" Thorax slapped his foreleg onto his face from realization. "With an intruder in the hive, they went to protect the queen! Good thinking, Starlight!" He praised, causing an embarrassed chuckle to spill out from her mouth.

"Let's just hope we can come up with something on the spot like we did just a few minutes ago. I'm pretty sure that since the changelings know that we're here…" I obviously glanced over to Discord as I said this. "There's going to be a lot more changelings roaming about."

"Well, if we hadn't been spotted, we wouldn't have figured out where the throne room is, so I'd say I'm a genius." Discord replied with.

"Let's just get moving." Starlight suggested. "We don't want to stay at one place for too long, and we don't want to lose the trail the other two changelings are leaving behind."

"Excellent idea." Trixie began following Starlight as she led the way for the rest of us.

Like a three-dimensional hedge maze, we crept through various holes in the walls at different levels of height. Thorax had to point the path out to us every now and then since he was the only one who could fly naturally. However, eventually, we found the pair of changelings moving into a room that was heavily guarded by six other changelings, leaving us at a standstill.

"Now what?" Trixie asked in a whisper.

"We... go in." Starlight answered anxiously.

"Even if I wanted to, there's no way past the guards. We'll be spotted for sure." Thorax warned us.

"We need some kind of... distraction." Starlight suggested.

"Ugh." I groaned. "If I knew where Alex was, I could easily lead them away without being caught."

"I'm fresh out of smoke bombs." Trixie informed.

"Normally, I'm the most distracting thing I can think of, but without magic..." Discord said.

"You shouldn't underestimate yourself." Starlight mentioned with an odd smirk on her face.

"What are you talking about?" Discord inquired.

"You've got a knack for annoying the heck out of anyone." Starlight explained.

"Yes, but how am I supposed to do that?"

"Oh!" I remembered a particular event where all eyes were on him. "Remember that thing you did at the Gala? You were distracting everypony with your bad jokes."

"They weren't bad!" He refuted. "Everypony else just lacked a sense of humor. Besides, I still needed magic for my props, and, as you can see, I don't have any magic at the moment otherwise we'd already be done with this."

"I've got a microphone." Trixie pulled one out of her bag.

Discord sighed heavily as he swiped it out of her hooves. "Of course, the illusionist would bring something like this along with her show props." He began to casually make his way over to the changelings. "Fine, I'll do what I must." When he was literally right smack-dab in front of them, I was almost scared for him. Nevertheless, the changelings must have been confused at first because they didn't do anything the instant they saw him. "Hello, changelings and changelettes!" He announced after tapping the microphone a few times. "Believe me, I was just as surprised as you are that I'm here! When I heard that I'd be playing for a bunch of changelings, I was beside myself! Then I realized, it was just one of you."

"Ugh…" I groaned.

It seemed the feeling was mutual for the guards as they inched closer to him with an aggravated look on their face.

"Come on!" Starlight hushed over to us. "We need to go while he's keeping them distracted."

The rest of us began to dodge and weave through sharp pillars that were large enough to provide us cover as Discord continued to try to amuse the guards at the door. "But, seriously, this isn't the toughest crowd I've ever been in front of. But it's definitely the easiest to bug!" The guards were more confused than annoyed this time. "'To bug'? Is this thing on?" When they had advanced on Discord enough to leave some comfortable room on the back, we quickly trotted towards the door, opening it just enough to slip on through. "Well, if you think that you can do any better, be my guest!" Discord tossed the microphone away before having to run away from a pack of rampaging changelings. I actually felt a little bad for him.

"It is absolutely ridiculous that that worked." Trixie stated.

"You think he'll be okay?" I asked.

"Without his magic, it's hard to say." Starlight admitted. "But, we've just gotta count on him losing them. For now, we just have to wait until he comes back…eventually."

Each of us hid behind a piece of the wall for the time being, but every minute that passed noticeably made everyone else feel antsier. I didn't blame them. We were on the path to the throne room, and it was only a matter of time before more changelings would come through and most likely spot us.

"We can't wait for Discord. Between seeing him and Trixie, the castle will be crawling with guards soon." Thorax advised.

"But if we do manage to destroy Chrysalis' throne, we'll need him." Starlight argued. "He could take on the entire changeling army by sneezing if he wanted to."

"Maybe he's stuck hiding in a place filled with an army of them." I brought up. "If we can destroy the throne, then he can easily get out of trouble and pop back in with us."

"Or, he's probably already been captured!" Trixie quietly panicked.

"Hello? Fellow rescuers?" We heard his voice at the door. However, the way he worded his arrival sounded odd.

"We can't stay here. We gotta find the throne." Thorax and the others approached him without question.

"Ooh!" Discord expressed weirdly. "I heard some of the changelings who were chasing me say that they know where it is!"

It seemed I wasn't the only one who caught on to how weirder than usual he was being.

"'Klutzy'...?" Trixie began.

"Hmm?" He questioned at first before answering with something else. "Oh. Yeah. I-I can be klutzy. Now, follow me."

A changeling was among us, and it was obvious he was going to lead us anywhere but the throne room.

"You know that's not Discord, right?" Starlight whispered to Trixie.

"Obviously." She returned back.

"This way! We're almost there!" He waved over to a tunnel on the left of the fork in front of us.

I knew it wasn't actually Discord, but his behavior was admittedly creepy. It was like somepony who was trying to be all friendly to you but really just wanted to capture you for some sick and twisted game.

"I know this trick." Thorax noticed. "If he says to go left, we should definitely go right. He's leading us to a swarm waiting to attack!"

Several seconds were spent between us as if we were allotted to think about how we were going to proceed with this, but Trixie soon sighed in defeat. "Okay, I'll handle it. You two just get ready to run into the other tunnel."

"Wait, what?!" Starlight reacted with shock. "Trixie, you can't! I won't know what to do! We've already lost Discord; I can't lose you too! Without magic, I—"

"Starlight. You got us this far with just my illusions and Discord's annoying personality. You don't need magic to figure out what to do next. I know you're afraid to be in charge, but you are really good at it! Listen to your best friend."

"Do you need help?" I offered, not liking the sight of self-sacrifice I was currently witnessing.

"Absolutely not." Trixie immediately declined. "If there's a swarm in there, there's no doubt I'll be captured. As much as I'm afraid, I'm not letting them take more than they need. Now, go!" She exclaimed and turned over to the fake Discord. "Hey, Discord! Want to see the new trick I've been working on?" She approached him, placed a piece of cloth that covered both her hoof and his claw, and pulled it off to reveal that she had cuffed him with a string of tied fabric. "I call it the 'Changeling Catcher'!" After observing the aggressive look on the fake's face, she immediately turned back to us. "Run!"

Thorax and Starlight began galloping off behind me, but I couldn't move my hooves for some reason. Trixie and I weren't close, but I found it extremely hard to just leave a pony like this behind without even trying to help.

"What are you doing?!" She noticed me as she pulled back the changeling that was trying to follow the others. "Get out of here!"

"L-Let's knock this one out and leave together, Trixie!" I advised an alternative.

Each of us heard a buzzing, causing Trixie to look up from where she was at. "It's a little too late for that! Hurry before they see you!"

Before I could even try to step in to do something, she screamed as she immediately had been pummeled by a countless number of changelings. Trixie was right. Even if I would have stayed to help, there was no doubt I would have been in the same boat as her. A few of the changelings from the pack turned their head at me and hissed. I yelped before quickly running in the direction of the other tunnel. I turned and swerved through whatever paths I could find to escape as I heard the swarm behind me.

I came across one particular part of the hive that would have served as a dead end had it not been for the holes that were constantly changing. There were a few other pathways that were either permanent or stood unchanged for a longer period of time. However, I didn't have time to pick and choose, especially since I had lost the others by staying behind with Trixie. All I could do was wing it, and I decidedly chose one of the far ones, thinking for a second that the changelings would probably search the nearest ones.

I panted heavily as I tried to calm my nerves and catch my breath once I felt I was safe. However, I heard a faint voice coming from another part of the area I had been in. I followed the voice until I found another path showcasing a large area from up above.

"Have you captured him yet?!" An angry familiar voice echoed out.

"Not yet. However, we managed to catch another one of the intruders."

"Forget the intruders! The Prince is more important!"

I gasped based on what I had been listening to. The Prince? Is she talking about Alex? Did he get out?!

"We have patrols all over the hive, but it's going to take a while to find him, especially with these intruders getting in the way." As they continued talking, I suddenly noticed a shocking sight above. There were these…pods that housed many of the ponies we knew that had been captured. My eyes had caught sight of everypony that I shared a close bond with, but to prove my theory, I didn't see Alex in any of them. In that case…where is he?!

"Hurry and find him!" I heard below, turning my attention back to the conversation. "If we are really to benefit from this, we need every important figure gathered here. I will not stand by while there's some rat in the hive."

Chrysalis revealed herself by this large and extremely-sharp looking bedding of stone, and I could only believe that this was indeed the throne since she had been on it. Just as I began to think about what my next move was going to be, I noticed Starlight walking in from the bottom entrance, but she was alone. Was it really her? Or another changeling? That wouldn't make sense…

At either point, I tried finding another position at an unprotected flank. I squeezed through various holes in the direction I intended to go without straying too far off from the throne room. At the same time, I heard Chrysalis voice, and it seemed that she caught wind of the solo pony that had made her way into the throne room.

"One little pony all by herself. Oh, how will I ever prevent this daring rescue?"

Just hang on, Starlight!

As I seemingly made my way to the back area of the throne, I suddenly came to a stop following a large gasp escaping from my lips. A changeling hissed right in front of me, but it hadn't been facing me. However, I noticed it had been kicked to the side, and a pony tackled him over to another gaping hole. From what I could see, the hole was another vantage point of the throne room. Since Starlight had been inside the throne room, I was expecting it to be Thorax, but it wasn't. Although, that didn't stop me from once again gasping sharply at the sight of him.

"Alex!" I cried out. I knew I should have been wary of it being another changeling, but there was absolutely no way. For one, unless it was Thorax, there was no reason for another changeling to fight each other like that. Thorax said that they were extremely loyal anyway. Besides, knowing Alex for my entire life, and having this eternal connection with him, there was just no doubt in my mind that it was really him. "I missed you so much!" I raced over to him to hug him.

As he noticed me grow closer, he immediately placed a hoof to his head and backed off, causing me to stop in my tracks.

"W-What's wrong?!"

"Get away from me." He ordered, covering one eye with his foreleg.

I was shocked to hear this. Being separated for so long, I'd expect he'd be happy to see me, but he wasn't.

"Alex, are you okay?" I tried to step closer and held out a caring hoof for him, but he only groaned out in pain and continued to back off. "A-Are you hurt?! Let me help!"

"N-No!" He exclaimed out. "You're ruining everything!"

"W-What?" I was extremely confused. "What's with you, Alex?!"

"Just leave me alone. I don't have time for you to annoy me." He glared at me with what looked like the utmost hatred. At this point, I noticed an alarming saturation of color within his aura. His body was practically filled with red all over, more than I've ever seen in a changeling around here.

Did Chrysalis cast some kind of spell on him?

"Whatever it is, I'm going to take care of you!" I promised and proceeded to return back inside of him, but as I tried, I immediately received a sharp pain in my head. No way! Did Chrysalis's throne also block out my power? But, it didn't feel like it had been sapped away from me. It felt more like a poisonous kind of force was blocking my path!

"I'm giving you a chance to run, and you better take it." He warned.

Something about his attitude was familiar, but I wasn't willing to just do his bidding and leave him by himself. He looked like he was hurting when I got closer to him. If Chrysalis casted some kind of spell on him, maybe it could be broken somehow if I just got close enough? Without the use of my power, I didn't know what else to do, and it was all I had.

"I'm not going anywhere until I fix you up!" I approached him, causing him to painfully snarl. Just as I was about to lay my hoof on him, I was immediately struck down. He kicked me away. As I recovered from this, I felt hurt, both physically and emotionally, but I just had to convince myself that this wasn't the real Alex at the moment. "Stop and let me take a look at you!" I demanded.

"That's exactly what I don't want!" He returned.

"Are you hiding something from me? Is there something you don't want me to see?" I asked.

"…you could say that." His answer was vague.

It was clear that I wasn't going to get anything helpful this way, so I needed to force whatever I needed out of him. First and foremost, I needed to figure out why he had been covering his left eye like that. I furrowed my eyebrows and prepared to charge over to him. He tried to escape, but I could assume that the pain that was inflicted by my presence slowed him down greatly.

"Let…me….see…!" I struggled to pry away his hoof and he growled in return. It wasn't long before his strength seemed to give out. I pushed away his hoof, and the first glance I got at him was absolutely frightening. I stood there in absolute shock, finding myself unmoving to the sight of his left eye. It was bloodshot red, like if the color from his emotional aura had leaked over to his eye. I couldn't move whatsoever at the sight.

"You shouldn't have done that." He stated before mustering whatever strength he had left and threw me towards the same hole he had kicked the changeling out of.

By mere inches, I narrowly avoided the sharp jagged rocks below. Instead, I had landed on something concrete but flat. In turn, I was dazed for a moment, hearing a hollow voice ring in my head.

"By replacing the most beloved figures in Equestria, my drones will be able to store all the love meant for them and return it here to me. Everypony will do as I command, and my subjects and I will feed on their love for generations!" A blurry figure soon came into my view. "Oh, hello? What do we have here?" By the time I was well enough to move around, it was too late to do anything about the queen of the changelings staring directly at me. "Attempting to overthrow my throne as well, I see? Remove yourself at once. The queen sits there."

I felt my body being carelessly flung across once more. I landed nearby a group of changelings, but my eyes caught one in particular with a different set of wings. "T-Thorax…?" I softly called.

Chrysalis's wicked laugh echoed throughout the large and hollow room as she laid on top of her throne in a satisfying manner. "What a pitiful rescue attempt. As if you really thought you could stop me in the current state of your abilities."

"You're doing this all because you want to feed on love, right?" I heard Starlight's voice say from a location I couldn't pinpoint. Chrysalis stretched her head out and seemed to listen for the origin of the sound. "But, Thorax told each of us something important! You don't have to take love from others in order to feed!"

"Ridiculous!" She hissed as she stomped onto the ground besides a certain rock. From there, she grabbed a hold of a tail with her mouth and flung her towards where I had been. As for her, she had a couple of changelings hold her down as Chrysalis approached her. "The hunger of changelings can never be satisfied!"

"Exactly!" Starlight attempted to reason with. "Thorax left the hive and made a friend. He shared love, and now he doesn't need to feed. You don't have to live your lives starving all the time!"

Surprisingly, she was turning heads inside the room, but it wasn't enough to create a full-out mutiny.

"You know nothing of the changelings or what it takes to be their queen!" Deeply offended, Chrysalis pulled Starlight towards her with her magic and threw her against a rock. "I decide what is best for my subjects, not some mewling grub!"

"I know what it's like to lead by fear and intimidation!" Starlight managed to respond with. Meanwhile, I noticed the throne that wasn't too far from where I had been at. No changeling bothered to hold me back because of how weak I looked in the first place, and they seemed too distracted with Starlight's speech to do anything in the current moment. Despite how disoriented I had been, I began making my way to the throne. "And I know what it's like to want everypony to do what you say! But I was wrong. A real leader doesn't force her subjects to deny who they are! She celebrates what makes them unique and listens when one of them finds a better way!"

Some kind of a force suddenly stopped me, and I was soon dragged away to be pulled in with the others.

"Look at all of you!" Chrysalis shared in an outrage. "Preoccupying yourselves with a blabbering pony so much that you nearly let one of them slip onto my throne unguarded! See what happens when you listen to someone other than me?! I'll show each and every one of you what happens when you turn your back to the hive like Thorax here has!"

Chrysalis fired a beam at Thorax, lifting him off the ground from his entrapment.

"No! Stop!" Starlight cried out.

"Just as soon as I drain every last ounce of love from him and show my subjects what a real leader is!" Chrysalis promised and hung her jaw wide open to suck in a beam that came straight from Thorax's chest.

"I can feel the love inside me slipping away...!" Thorax strained with a painful look. "I can't hold onto it much longer...!"

"Then don't!" Starlight suggested behind a couple of guards that held her back. "Sharing love is what made you different, to begin with! You should share yours with Chrysalis! Give her all of it!"

The tide of events turned once Thorax seemed to listen to Starlight's advice. Instead of a beam being pulled away from him, it seemed the love he had was strong enough to overcome the queen's degenerating thievery. She had suddenly been pushed back towards her own throne, cracking her seat. In the next moment, something enveloped around Thorax. It was some sort of cocoon, similar to the stage between a larva transitioning into a butterfly.

"T-Thorax…?" I managed to lift myself off the ground and poke at the cocoon.

There a was blinding light, and before I knew it, there was a completely new pony in front of me. Well, there was something.

"Are you okay, Athena?" He asked worriedly.

It was definitely his voice, but…what was he? "I-I think so…" I could only respond with before Starlight approached us.

"This is what happens when you give love freely instead of taking it! If you share love and care about others than just yourself, you can live a much better life!" Starlight pointed out to every single changeling in the area.

At different spots inside the throne, bright lights emerged. Rumbling occurred as if the hive had been overrun by a massive earthquake. I felt something shield me, but everything had grown too bright to see anything. It was only a matter of time before I'd be able to figure out the fate of my own current standing.

I was scared when everything seemed dreamy-like for a second, but then I found that Thorax had been hovering over me in a defensive kind of stance. Not only that, but we had ultimately been shielded by a magical barrier. Turning to my left, I found that it had been Starlight. I churned out a breath of relief.

"Thanks, you guys…"

"Are you okay?" Starlight asked as they both worriedly faced me.

I felt a little exhausted, but I believed I was okay for the most part.

"Yeah…" I answered.

I looked around and found a colorful group of changelings all around us. In fact, they were much more attractive than they were a few seconds ago. Looking back at Thorax, he looked stronger and taller for some reason than all the others, but I think that was because he was stronger. Out of every other changeling, he was the lone wolf who was brave enough to change their ways. Not to mention that he probably had a lot more love stored inside him.

Nevertheless, I kept scanning my eyes among the crowd around us, but the one particular pony I was looking for wasn't in sight. I decided to look around myself, searching in the direction I had last seen him. I began worrying that he had possibly been buried underneath all the rubble, and with each second that passed, the antsier I felt.

Just as I felt like bursting into tears, I saw a faint glimpse of his coat, and I quickly rushed to it without question. I found him lying on top of a pile of rubble, and I was absolutely ecstatic to see him. However, I needed to make sure he was doing alright.

"Alex?" I lightly shoved him with my hooves. "Wake up. Please, wake up."

Thankfully, he didn't scare me too much when he started moaning and groaning himself awake. He placed a hoof to his head, reminding me of our short encounter from before. I analyzed his emotions, but they weren't red whatsoever like last time. He had to be back to normal now.

"Athena…?" He slowly opened his eyes, and I could only imagine he was able to make me out.

"Yes...!" I immediately hugged him. "I missed you so much! I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Mm…! What happened?" He asked as I found myself holding him a little too tight.

Before I could answer, a large amount of rubble slammed on the floor from not too far away where Alex and I were. The sound of extremely ticked off hissing ensued before it had been cut short. There, on her own, Queen Chrysalis stood against many of us grouped together, including her own transformed changelings.

"When Twilight and her friends defeated me, I chose to run away and seek revenge!" Starlight approached her boldly. "You don't have to! You can be the leader your subjects deserve." She held out her hoof, and for a surprising minute, it appeared as if Chrysalis pondered about her suggestion.

Considering my history with her, it was the first time I had ever seen Chrysalis appear troubled and weak. She had cautiously raised her hoof and was inching it closer towards Starlight's. Suddenly, she slapped Starlight's hoof away, looking at her with the utmost grudge.

"There is no revenge you could ever conceive of that will come close to what I will exact upon you one day, Starlight Glimmer!" She backed away and immediately fled, taking off to someplace unknown.

I helped Alex up and walked him over to the group when he seemed a little more aware of his surroundings. It wasn't long before a few of the others approached him in concern.

"You okay?" Twilight asked.

"I've got a headache, but I'll be fine." He replied.

As Fluttershy began to take a better look at him, I turned towards Thorax and observed his evolved state for real this time.

"Wow, Thorax. You look so…majestic."

"Do I?" He picked up his hooves and looked himself over all around. "Well, without Chrysalis in the picture, I guess I'm their new leader now…"

"Thorax, as the new leader of the changelings," Princess Celestia approached him, "I look forward to discussing how we can improve our relationship in the future." He bowed in response to her proposition. She turned around and faced the rest of us. "However, for the moment, perhaps it is best that we leave the Changeling Kingdom to the changelings."

"Splendid idea!" I heard Discord cut in, clapping wildly. "Now who's ready for some celebratory tea at Fluttershy's?!"

"Oh!" Fluttershy took a look around at the massive group that was upon us. "Uh, everypony?"

"Actually, now that you can snap your claws and send us absolutely anywhere again, I think I have a better option." Starlight offered.

"Anywhere that isn't here." Discord agreed, holding his claws up at Starlight's recommendation.

Everything seemed to be wrapped up nicely with a little bow on top as we celebrated our close call success at Starlight's old village. It seemed that she made peace with her past when it came to her old subjects, and she was now enjoying the festivities as the rest of us gathered together at a table outside.

"So, I'm able to rip the very fabric of reality again." Discord felt the need to mention.

"Yeah, yeah. And I'm still a self-absorbed, below-average illusionist, right?" Trixie recalled.

"Actually, I was going to say a couple of those illusions were slightly above average." Discord admitted. "If you ever need a little chaos in your act, let me know."

"Ha!" Trixie laughed out loud. "When pigs fly!"

"Your wish is my command!" Discord predictably reacted, summoning flying pigs with a single snap, leaving the two to ride off at a whim.

"Okay." Rainbow Dash said after witnessing the odd scene between Discord and Trixie. "Somepony is really gonna have to catch us up on what we missed."

"I've got that covered." I volunteered happily, willing to do almost anything now that I was reunited with every one of my friends. "It's kind of a super long story, but I think I can sum it up enough."

"Looks like you pulled through." I heard beside me. Alex was looking at me with what appeared to be a soft yet proud grin, but he was holding his hoof against his head as if his head was still aching. "I don't know what exactly you guys did, but you did it. I'm even surprised Discord helped, seeing as he's never anywhere to be found when we actually need it."

"Truth be told…" I answered. "He was only in it to save Fluttershy."

"I suppose that's what friends do." Fluttershy giggled at the idea while the other ponies merely rolled their eyes. I guess I didn't blame them.

"Hey. What about you?" I asked Alex. "Are you doing okay? Do you remember anything that happened in the hive?"

"We were trapped in those pods." Twilight reminded. "I don't think any of us besides you five remember anything."

I shook my head. "At some point, Alex was out and about. Chrysalis had sent her changelings to look for him, but they couldn't find him." I turned back to Alex to tell him the story directly. "I found you around the throne room, but it's like you didn't recognize me or something. We…uh, well…" I hesitated in describing our confrontation.

"What?" He asked as he leaned forward, clearly willing to know.

"You were…aggressive towards me." I decided on.

"Huh?" He placed his hooves on the table. "Was I? I-I don't remember any of that at all! Are you sure it wasn't just a changeling?"

"I can't say one hundred percent, but I'm positive it was you. It's just…" I paused, feeling myself become drained at just the thought of it. I chose to leave it in the past since it was a time to celebrate instead of worrying about things like that. "I don't know what it was, but it's over now. Let's just enjoy the festival here."

Of course, Alex couldn't rid himself of what I told him so easily, but I believed he just needed time to let everything sink in.

I began worrying myself regarding that confrontation. There was something that still scared me about it. However, just like with a lot of other things in life, I learned to ignore it and focus on the festival for now.

Celestial Advice

"What do you think I should do?" A touch of hyperactivity brushed off the surface of her tongue as she turned her head in front of the mirror. Her eyes locked on to different parts of her face ranging from her ears, eyes, and hair. "I totally feel like asking Rarity to give me a new manestyle just for the occasion. Oh, and I'm really in the mood to dress up in something cute! You think I should try some makeup?"

"Easy there." I recommended. "I'm not trying to rain on your big day, but it's just a simple ceremony. You don't need to dress up or anything. I don't think you'd want all the attention on you for being the only one spruced up, do you?"

"Mm, you're probably right…" She managed to turn away from the mirror and face me. "Sorry, I'm just so excited! Do you know how many good things have happened to me lately? It's like my luck suddenly turned around! I've got such an adorbs cutie mark, I was able to give a lecture to school ponies with so much confidence, and most importantly, I was able to help save everyone from the gruesome Queen Chrysalis! Now, I'm getting a medal of honor! I never thought I'd ever be in a position like this!"

Athena's eyes sparkled in excitement, and it was honestly quite a joy to see her so happy. Comparing to the times she'd be so doubtful of herself, it was inspiring to see how far she progressed through her hardest moments.

With a stretching smile, I raised my hoof and lightly ruffled her mane with it. "It's really amazing, alright. I'm happy for you. Really. Proud, to be exact."

"Hehe…" She giggled lightly. "I'm really happy to hear that. I may be a brat from time to time, but I always love making you proud. So, thanks for tolerating me for as long as you have."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I answered. "You make it sound like I was forced to put up with you."

"Oh? In that case…"

A knock sounded at the door, pulling us away from the conversation we had been having with each other. A few seconds after, the head of a unicorn poked in and faced us. "Hey hey! Just wanted to know if you were ready, Athena. Everyone's practically already assembled."

"Oh, sure!" Athena chirped. "I'll be right there!"

Twilight closed her eyes and smiled cheerfully before she pulled back and closed the door.

"We better get going." I advised. "Don't want to be late for the big event, after all."

"You got that, right!" Athena agreed, initiating our walk to the ceremony hall.

Athena and I ended up being on that stage on differing receiving ends. She stood on the end of those that were being awarded, and I stood on the end with the other princesses giving the awards. I wasn't sure if she had been expecting me to be up on stage with her since I noticed her glancing at me every now and then with an embarrassed grin before she'd either turn to the crowd or to the one who had been speaking during the ceremony.

"Starlight, Trixie, Thorax, Athena, and Discord were brave in the face of danger, resourceful when things got challenging, and proved that the bonds of friendship, no matter how unlikely, are stronger than any adversity. By stopping Queen Chrysalis, not only did they save Equestria; they set the changelings free from her reign."

"Go, Discord! Yahoo!" Discord suddenly appeared in the audience dressed up in sporty garb and belted out loudly. It wasn't a surprise when his unnecessary hurrah was hardly welcomed; Starlight Glimmer was the only one heard giggling to herself.

"And that's why we're proud and honored to give them the Equestrian Pink Hearts of Courage!" Celestia continued, allowing Luna to pick them up with her magic and hover them over to the bowing recipients. Actually, she picked up only four out of the five, based on a personal request I had made prior to the event.

I picked up the last one on the pedestal and drew closer to my sister, but having been bowed with her eyes closed, she didn't notice anything at first. I carefully drew the necklace around her head and positioned it gently until it stayed put when I released the hold I had on it. She picked up her head once officially receiving the award and opened her eyes to find me standing in front of her.

Once again, my actions seemed to have come across as a shock for her since she appeared to subtly jump in place at the sight of me. Eventually, her shock was short-lived when an amber glow ignited within the surface of her cheeks.

This moment had unexpectedly been cut short when we heard sounds of a small struggle nearby. My mother had been having obvious trouble when it came to Thorax, as the strap wouldn't quite fit due to the width of his horns. Not to mention, Pinkie was heard from the viewing party loudly broadcasting the state of her progress. Thankfully so, Luna managed to finish the job with small beads of sweat dripping from her face.

"We are so proud of you all!" Twilight concluded, garnering applause to sprout from the onlookers.

"This medal is so cute!" Athena observed the memento resting on her chest. "It actually looks a lot like my cutie mark, doesn't it?!"

"It does, actually." I began to notice after she brought it up. "It's almost like you were 'destined' to get this award, isn't it?"

She giggled lightly. "You might be on to something there."

A soft yet firm beat began emanating from a particular corner of the room. Turning our heads, we found a set of recognizable speakers blasting out loud yet tolerable music that may have seemed a little too relaxed for the aftermath of an award ceremony.

"Oh, it's Vinyl!" I recognized the pony mixing up her usual beats and turned over to Athena. "You two haven't officially met, right? Come on, I'll introduce you."

"Kay." She stated nonchalantly before following me over to the mixing table.

"Yo!" Vinyl called out at the sight of us. "This is so crazy! I never even knew the changelings had invaded Ponyville! If we had, you bet your flank Tavi, the Derps, and I would've come running!"

"Vinyl's right." Octavia joined in on the conversation from a few steps away. "I can't believe you were all abducted right underneath our noses. I must say that I feel a little guilty for not knowing." Right on cue, Derpy slowly pulled up with a muffin in her mouth and began pushing the one in her hoof towards Octavia in a silly manner. "O-Oh. No, thank you." Octavia politely declined.

"I've gotta admit. It's a little weird not seeing the usual crew up there." Vinyl mentioned. "You know, the one group of ponies that've saved Equestria how many times now?"

"That's actually kind of why I'm here." I returned. "I wanted you to meet the pony who has a knack for having my back." I turned my head towards Athena.

"Hi." She lifted a hoof and sent a friendly smile.

"Oh, hey!" Vinyl observed Athena for a good while before she stepped forward. "I've seen you around before. Like at the Hearth's Warming party, am I right?"

"You're totes right." Athena jubilantly answered.

"Haha, 'totes'." Vinyl repeated, finding enjoyment out of the peculiar part of Athena's vocabulary.

"Vinyl, Octavia, and Derpy, ergo Ditsy Doo, yes?" Athena called as she shared a glance with each one of them. "I hope you don't think it's weird I'm familiar with your names. I've known about you all for a while now. I just never really got the chance to meet you for real." Afterwards, she shared a grateful bow. "Thanks for helping look after my brother."

"Brother?!" Octavia and Vinyl exclaimed in surprise while Derpy silently shot open her eyes.

"Dude! You didn't say this mare was your sister!" Vinyl felt the need to push the topic towards my face.

I already knew to answer that was going to be a toughie. There wasn't really any point going into all the dirty details about the little predicament between us, but at the same time, it wasn't easy to explain without being vague.

"Yeah, it's kind of complicated." I merely responded with.

I could hear Octavia lightly sighing as she softly shook her head. That kind of behavior was a bit questionable to me, but she seemed to get back on track when it came to the previous topic of introductions.

"It's pleasure to meet you, Athena. Your name is rather unique, but I find it quite alluring and comforting, especially since you're one of the ponies who rose up against the Queen's pitiful attempt at a disgusting reign."

"Hehe, thanks." Athena looked a little disoriented by Octavia's words, but she seemed appreciative of them nonetheless.

Vinyl's head suddenly swung back towards the mixing table. "Oh, shoot! I better get back to working the beats! They aren't going to mix themselves, you know!"

Derpy returned an enthusiastic wave before dashing back over to the refreshment table.

"Mm." I heard what sounded like a groan come from Octavia. She looked away for a moment as she held her left leg with her right hoof. It wasn't completely noticeable, but there seemed to be this sort of sad look in her eyes. "Well, I'm sure you have business with the rest of your friends. It was nice seeing you."

Afterward, she began to walk off into another unknown section of the party.

"Hm…" I heard Athena slip out as her eyes appeared to remain locked in the direction Octavia had left. For some reason, a look of slight worry had formed on her face, leaving me curious about what had been on her mind.

"What do you look worried about?" I asked.

"I don't like the way she looks…" She muttered to herself yet answered me at the same time as she closed her eyes to seemingly think seriously for a moment.

"Huh?" I felt a bit shocked hearing that from her. For a second, I almost thought she had been commenting on her physique and complexion.

"Has she always been like this?" She opened her eyes and turned to me.

"You mean Octavia? What do you mean?"

"Yes, her. I don't know how to put it into words, but she seems really…reserved. It was one thing to see it at the Hearth's Warming party, but unless it's a really rare coincidence, I don't like this pattern. You know, I haven't seen her that many times before, but if I remember right, I don't think I've ever seen her really happy."

"You're kind of confusing me here." I mentioned.

"I'm saying that it seems like more than just a bad day, dummy." Athena somewhat clarified. "This is just a hunch, but I feel like something's bothering her. And I'm not talking about a small temporary something. I mean a sort of trauma something."

"What? Are you serious?" I asked as I began turning in the direction Octavia left to see if I could spot her.

"Obviously, I don't know what it is, so I'm not saying she's suffered some kind of abuse or anything. All I know is that it seems to be something she's been dealing with for a while now."

I began thinking to myself at that moment. I wondered if it had anything to do with what she was going through back at the Hearth's Warming party. I remembered her mentioning that she would come to me if she needed it. Could the party be stopping her from talking to me? Ugh, so confusing.

"I don't know if you'll get a chance to talk with her today." Athena told me as if she had read my mind. "It seems there's going to be a lot going on because of the ceremony and stuff, but you should probably try to schedule some time with her. I mean, I don't want to force you to do anything or get involved. I would totally try to help her out, but we're not exactly as close to each other as you are…"

"No, no…" I shook my head at the idea of doing nothing to help a friend in need. "She's done so much for me. I'd have to be a jerk to just ignore her if she's going through something that she could really use a hoof in. Yeah, okay. I'll try to get through the festivities today, then I'll see what I can do after for her."

Athena smiled brightly at my words before she suddenly gasped once locking eyes at a particular something in the distance. "Is that Zecora?! Oh my gosh!"

Before I could even open my mouth, she had already galloped off. Based on what I had learned from her side of the fight against Chrysalis and her army, it seemed that she had still felt extremely thankful towards Zecora. I supposed I didn't blame her. I would probably have strong feelings for the first pony I came across if I thought I was all alone.

"I'm still waiting to hear my thank you, you know?" I heard a voice intrude by my side. "It's the least I could get considering how I helped saved Equestria from imminent danger."

I turned around and wasn't all surprised to find Discord slithering by. The only kind of facial expression I could naturally muster up at the sight of him was an unamused one. The proud uplifting spirit I had been once feeling seemed to fade away, at least for the moment.

"You know, I heard that you had no plans to 'help save Equestria' until Fluttershy's name came up on the list of captured ponies. I don't exactly know if that warrants a 'Thanks' from me." I mentioned frankly, finding the initial idea quite offensive.

"That's exactly why you should be thanking me." He placed a claw around me and booped me on the nose with his paw. "Obviously, Fluttershy is so important to you, you would think it'd only be natural to be eternally grateful to the one who saved the pony you care deeply about. Doesn't it give you a peace of mind knowing that I can guarantee her safety at a whim?"

You know, I would feel a lot better if you could guarantee the safety of everyone, but I guess that's too much to ask for from you, right?

Despite my thoughts and his slightly flawed premise, I couldn't exactly argue with him that I managed to appreciate the fact that he had the power to keep Fluttershy safe from harm. If there's anything I could scavenge out of the chaotic nature of his character, it was just that. "I hate to say this, but I guess you do have a point…"

"Oh, goodie!" He clapped before bringing out some kind of equipment that I would expect to see Vinyl handling and held a microphone to my lips. "Anytime you're ready."

I sighed heavily, growing tired of his unnecessary shenanigans. However, if I gave him what he wanted, it'd all be over that much quicker. "…thank you, Discord." I felt myself reluctantly force out of my mouth.

He messed with his equipment for a bit until he finally decided to put it away. "I'll be sure to listen to that again every now and then. Although, I may need to make a few adjustments to make it sound just a little more…ahem…lively."

"…yeah, whatever." I decided to pass on questioning the uses of whatever he just recorded from me. "But, you know, you didn't do it all on your own. There's the others like—"

"Yes, yes." He cut me off, brushing away the topic with his paw as if he was tired of hearing it. "Thorax, Trixie, and Starlight."

"And Athena…?" I included.

"See, I keep hearing this 'Athena', but I don't believe I've ever met her, nor has she actually done anything that you could consider beneficial for Equestria." As he said this, he pulled out a large book and flipped through various pages filled with different kinds of pictures from different ponies, along with their names under each one of them. It actually kind of looked like a year book.

"Are you kidding me?" I questioned. "You were literally just standing next to her a few minutes ago?"

"Was I?" Discord licked his paw and adjusted the glasses he wore for the occasion as he continued to skim through pages of his book. "I'm looking through every pony I've at least seen, and I can't find an 'Athena' at all."

I narrowed my eyes and found that it was ridiculous that I was even playing along with his game.

"Try looking under 'Spirit'." I suggested.

"'Spirit'? 'Spirit'… 'Spirit'…" He flipped through many pages until he finally stopped at one and pointed directly at a specific picture. "Ah! The one with mismatched eyes. Yes. I actually find her interesting. You see, I don't think I've ever come across a pony whose—"

"That's Athena." I answered before he could ramble on.

"What?" He returned, looking a bit cluelessly.

"That mare that's named 'Spirit' in your book? Her name's Athena." I clarified.

Discord laughed and shook his head. "No, no. Her name is clearly 'Spirit'." He argued, taking another look at the page. "To think that you two are supposed to be 'close'. I must say that I feel sorry for you for having mistaken her name for so long…"

"You know what? Go ask her yourself. Then, come back and tell me what she says." I told him, growing tired of our stupid and unnecessary argument.

He stared back at me, appearing to find the serious expression on my face undeserved, so he raised his claw and snapped. Out of thin air, Athena appeared before us, and she looked around dazed and confused before she found the cause of her teleportation to be Discord.

"…Hey!" She faced Discord with an angry and unappreciative look.

"'Spirit'." Discord began to label. "Please, tell Alex that that indeed is your name."

"…what?" She returned in confusion.

"He thinks your name is 'Spirit' and not Athena." I gave her the shortest explanation I could think of.

"Huh? No." She turned back to Discord. "My real name is Athena. I thought you knew that?"

"What?!" He turned back to his book. "That's what every pony was calling you last I remember!"

"You have short-term memory loss or something? I know you haven't been around me or a lot of us often lately, but that's literally what every pony has been calling me since we fought the changelings together. 'Spirit' was just a, well, nickname, I guess."

"Well…this is embarrassing." His closed his book shut and put it away. "I suppose I need to make a few changes. Please, excuse me." Without another word, he disappeared from sight.

Afterwards, Athena faced me with an insulted look on her face.

"We practically fought side-by-side and he doesn't even know my name when it's constantly being said in front of him? How rude."

"If you've been around him long enough like I have, you kind of get used to it." I said.

"I don't think I want to be around him if I don't need to be." She shivered a bit before she shook it off. "I still can't believe Fluttershy is friends with him."

"Me either, but I guess we technically all are."

"Uh, Alex?" I heard a hushed whisper catch my attention. "Can I have a word with you?"

I turned and found that it had come from Twilight. Similar to what happened just a few minutes ago, it appeared that she had lost the proud grin that she had been wearing as well. Instead, it had been replaced with a concealed look of panic. She anxiously and repeatedly waved me over, urging me to follow her the very second my eyes caught a glimpse of hers.

"Uh…I'll be right back." I told Athena before I began walking off.

"Okay." I heard from her back before she seemed to become attentive towards something else. "Ooh…Thorax. I still can't get over how shiny and pretty you look…"

Twilight ended up leading me to the throne room before I felt the need to ask her why she had called me out, to begin with.

"What's going on, Twilight?" I questioned, noticing a few unexpected and extra characters in the room. At Twilight's seat sat Princess Celestia, and by her side was Spike. "Tia? Spike?"

"There's something I really need your help on." Twilight mentioned, pacing across the table with some kind of huge list that looked like it could easily span across the entire room. "It was recently brought to my attention that there just may need to be an abundance of changes necessary to be made."

"…huh?" I questioned in confusion as I tilted my head ever so slightly.

"You all saw what happened out there." Twilight pointed out. "I've always considered her more importantly as a friend, but in the end, Starlight is my pupil. It wasn't until just now where I realized that all the friendship lessons I had planned for her might not be enough anymore. If I were to keep giving her lessons, then I'd feel as if I was just holding her back. Even worse, I'd be bringing her down myself!"

"Hold on. Starlight?" I inquired, still too confused to ask for specific details.

"This is why I need everyone's input. Especially you, Princess Celestia." Twilight continued. "I had years' worth of friendship lessons ready to go, but when we were captured by Chrysalis, Starlight took charge and really stepped up. I'm not the only one who thinks that she needs something more, am I?"

"So, you have an overachieving student. Sounds familiar." Celestia lightly smirked at the topic, raising a chuckle from Spike when it was clear that she had been referring to the former pupil who stood in front of her.

"That's why I had to talk to you. You, of all ponies, would know what to do. I mean, you were me and I was Starlight. But, for now, I need you to pretend you're you and I'm me." Twilight clarified.

"Huh?" Spike questioned, looking as confused as I was.

"Heh. Go on." Princess Celestia chuckled in response and gestured her with her hoof.

"When I was your student, and you were in this place, you—" Twilight stopped all of a sudden. She seemed to stare blankly at whatever had been in front of her sight before she gasped sharply. "Oh, no! You sent me to Ponyville! Which means it's time for me to send Starlight Glimmer away!"

"H-Hold on!" I called out, finding everything I had been currently witnessing moving at too much of a fast pace for me to follow comfortably. "Send her away? She hasn't even been here for that long! You don't think you're overthinking things, do you? Yeah, she won a medal, but that doesn't mean she still doesn't have much to learn from you, don't you think? After all, didn't you study under Princess Celestia for years before you came to Ponyville? Starlight's hardly been here for that long."

"Things are different, Alex." Twilight returned. "For the majority of those years, I had been studying magic. I came to Ponyville to learn about friendship. Starlight was already a genius with magic by the time we met her, and it was only until I took her under my wing where I started teaching her about the magic of friendship. There's only so much I can teach her while she's cooped up in this castle!" She grabbed a firm hold of her head and shook it worryingly. Even though she had called me out here to help, I was afraid that there was nothing much I could do. Although I may have taught Starlight a few things indirectly, she was Twilight's pupil. I didn't have much of a grasp over their academic situation, so there wasn't anything I could say that sounded too convincing. "I can't believe it! It's really time for Starlight to go, isn't it?"

"Only you can make that decision." Celestia prompted as she gently stepped towards her former student. "It's a difficult one, but your heart knows what's right, even as it hurts."

"Where're you gonna send her?" Spike immediately asked out of excitement, but judging from the looks from the two princesses, it seemed he let his excitement get the better of him. "Uh, too soon?"

"No. This is something I have to do." Twilight declared before glancing over the glowing map. "Oh, boy."

"Twilight, maybe this is something you should talk with Starlight about." I suggested, continuing to find this big push from Twilight too forced. "You don't need to come up with a decision right now."

"It's a little too late for that…" Twilight glanced at me from the map. "A certain someone thought it'd be a good idea to start blabbing about how I have this big 'announcement' for Starlight to everypony. At any rate, I have to start coming up with a plan now! I'm her teacher. I'm supposed to be the responsible one!" She turned back to the map and began observing every nook and cranny she could find, leaving me to simply observe her from behind. "Come on, Sparkle! Think!" She began muttering to herself as she repeatedly looked over the entire map. "Gosh, I don't know... I just don't want to send her to the wrong place..." She mumbled on a bit before she suddenly gasped. "I got it! Since defeating Chrysalis, Starlight's given the changelings an opportunity to revolutionize their society. Maybe I can send her there."

"I guess that makes sense…?" I commented before the entire room shifted in perception.

It was the first time I had ever seen this kind of spell in action, and I actually had no idea that such a spell existed in the first place. Spike seemed to be in the same boat with me as he noticed every part of the illusion Twilight had been putting up look certainly life-like. It was just as if the creatures we witnessed were actually there with us.

"If Starlight goes to the changeling hive, she can help them adjust to their new way of life." Twilight hypothesized before giving us a debatable demonstration in regards to how she and Thorax would civilize the newly reformed changelings.

Long story short, Thorax and Starlight were conversating with each other and making a clear point about "compromising", using the subject of what to eat for lunch as an example. Spike didn't really seem to agree with it, finding Starlight and Thorax's behavior questionable. Nevertheless, Celestia came to Twilight's aide by reinforcing the idea of there being "no wrong way of fantasizing".

In the end, it seemed the idea was well-received by Celestia once she began giving her thoughts on the matter.

"This seems like a lovely path for Starlight. The changelings have so much to learn about how to enjoy love through friendships. Starlight would be busy for a very long time, but her work there would be very rewarding."

I still don't even know if we should still be hooked on this idea of sending her away. It all seems way too sudden.

Twilight held a soft smile on her lips, but it soon drew away to the opposite corners of her mouth. "Or dangerous." She brought up. "It would only take one changeling to deviate from the pack."

In the next arc of her fantasy, a rogue changeling went on to pretend to be Starlight, anger other unsuspecting changelings, and cause a heap of trouble for the real Starlight in the end. I suppose I couldn't argue against the possibility of there still being a changeling who wasn't open to change ironically, but at the same time, I didn't think it was anything that couldn't be resolved efficiently.

"Uh, that probably won't happen." Spike believed after the end of the showcased likelihood.

"But it could!" Twilight argued. "I can't just send her off to Celestia-knows-where without thinking it through!"

"Hmm. I was not aware that I was an expression." Celestia mentioned with an intrigued smirk on her face, genuinely surprising me.

"Really?" I felt the need to ask. "I think everypony says it all the time."

"Be that as it may, it is an appropriate one, of course, for even I don't know the answer." She continued seriously. "This is a momentous decision. You must consider all the possibilities."

"Maybe you don't have to send her anywhere?" I tried to throw in my own two bits, which, admittedly, weren't exactly thoroughly thought out in the first place.

Nevertheless, this idea completely flew over Twilight's head as she dashed over to the map once more. "Rethink, rethink, rethink!" She swung her head side-to-side across the map before she stopped to look at a particular place. "What about the dragons? I can send Starlight to the Dragon Lands! She and Ember would totally hit it off!"

"The Dragon Lands?" I began saying. "If you think the changelings are going to be trouble, then the Dragon Lands is definitely—"

Before I could finish my sentence, Twilight had already begun getting to work on firing up another fantasy spell. From there, we were left to witness a completely out-of-character Starlight adopting a tough and fearless personality when it came to interacting with Ember. This personality didn't even really fit Ember too well. In fact, she seemed to act more like the type of dragon she hated the most.

"Okay, that doesn't sound anything like Ember or Starlight." Spike clearly voiced after observing the scene in front of him.

"Who knows what their dynamic would be, Spike?" Twilight reasoned with before we were left to witness the continuation of Starlight interacting with all the other rough-and-tumble dragons, including Garble.

While Twilight seemed to be open to the idea of sending Starlight with the dragons for some weird reason, it was undoubtedly only a matter of time before she'd find a reason to change her mind on a whim. This reason was similar to the one with the changelings, and that was the possibility of not every dragon getting along with a pony in their land.

Summing up the bad end to Twilight's vision, Starlight gets dragged into diving into a pool of lava with Garble.

"Twilight, this is crazy!" Spike rose up against. "Starlight's really good with magic. She could just stop herself from falling into a pit of lava."

"What if she didn't realize it was happening?! You just never know, Spike! I just need to think of someplace safe to send her! Someplace safe, someplace safe, someplace safe..."

As Twilight took another look at the map, I softly mumbled to myself, knowing it wouldn't be heard or listened to in the first place.

"Or maybe just don't send her anywhere at all…?"

"I could send her to the Crystal Empire to continue her magical studies with Sunburst!" Twilight formulated before firing up another scenario with her magic. "It'll be perfect! Sunburst's knowledge of magic is only matched by Starlight's abilities." We were now given a scene with Starlight and Sunburst as they both worked together on some pretty advanced-looking assignments for their magic. "They could challenge each other into becoming the most talented unicorns Equestria's ever seen!" As expected, it was only a short moment into the fantasy where her positive outlook had been tainted by a negative one. "Of course, the study of magic is a lifelong pursuit, and Starlight could be there for a while, especially once they start attempting the really complicated stuff!"

"Three, two, one..." Spike timed her reaction just right.

"What if they become too ambitious?!" Twilight feared heavily.

Another long story short, Starlight and Sunburst get sucked into some huge gaping black hole that sucks up the entire existence of Equestria.

"Starlight, noooooo!" Twilight cried out, getting a little too invested into something that was only a figment of her imagination.

"Twilight, snap out of it!" Spike waved his claws in front her wildly, quickly moving to calm her down once she threw her projection of the spell aside. "Easy, Twilight. It didn't happen."

"But it could!" She stuck with. "I just don't think I can send her anywhere. What am I gonna do?"

It was at this moment that an extremely hearty laughter escaped into the unfitting environment where each one of us turned in the direction from whence it came. I believed all three of us had been caught extremely off-guard to find that that it had been Celestia laughing out loud. In fact, she had been laughing so hard, I didn't think any of us had ever witnessed her laugh like that before.

"…are you laughing at me?" Twilight asked with a shocked expression planted on her face. Celestia hysterical laughter continued, causing even Spike to slowly step away from her. On the other hoof, Twilight looked like she was at a complete loss instead of worrying about the dial on Celestia's funny bone being cranked up way over max. "I can't believe you're laughing at me."

"…wait a minute." I began to realize as her laughter started dying down. "You went through the same exact thing Twilight's going through now, didn't you?" I asked, having pieced two and two together.

"Precisely." She managed to confirm, wiping a lone tear out of her right eye. "I'm laughing because you remind me so much of myself. It's like staring into a mirror."

"Huh?!" Twilight exclaimed in confusion.

"Let me tell you a story." Celestia sat, causing for the rest of us to do the same and face her. "Once upon a time, there was a very bright young filly. She was truly one of my best students."

"Are you talking about Twilight?" Spike asked, pointing towards his head. "I can't see what you're thinking about."

Celestia softly sighed. "Yes, Spike. I was constantly surprised and impressed with her discoveries. But I noticed that her pursuit of academia was preventing her from reaching her full potential."

"You mean it was keeping her isolated and alone?" Spike intervened once more.

"Uh, yes, Spike." Celestia answered in a slightly dejected tone, losing the charm in her voice for a short moment after having had a taste of Spike's guilelessness. "I had a decision to make. Oh, but it wasn't easy. I knew there was a special group of fillies in Ponyville, but I kept inventing all kinds of reasons why I shouldn't send you. 'What if she runs into a manticore? Or what if she gets pulled into Tartarus? Or, worst of all, what if she doesn't get along with anypony?!' There were nights I almost couldn't even sleep through because of all of the worrying I had been doing. In the end, I kept you in Canterlot longer than I should have. Eventually, I realized all the anxiety I felt was because I didn't want you to go."

"Really?!" Twilight leaned forward, clearly touched by Celestia's story.

"I loved having you as a student." Celestia confessed. "You challenged me and taught me just as much as I taught you. I am embarrassed to admit it, but I was afraid if you made friends, you wouldn't need me anymore."

With tears escaping from her eyes, Twilight shook her head. "Princess Celestia, that is so not true. I will always need you."

"I think Starlight Glimmer might feel the same way about you. If that is what you're afraid of." Celestia shared.

"Maybe it is. Just a little." Twilight confided.

"Oh, it definitely is. Like, a lot." Spike frankly blurted out with a chuckle, obtaining a sharp glare from Twilight before Celestia resumed speaking.

"Here we are after all these years, Twilight. We are living proof that letting someone spread their wings doesn't mean you no longer have a place in their lives."

"Thank you." Twilight expressed gratefully.

"And if you're still worried, you can always make her write you letters." Celestia referenced with a wink.

Spike chuckled once more, which wasn't a surprise considering he was the one dragon who was always sending the letters back and forth. To tell the truth, I began remembering back then and all the good times I secretly had, even if I didn't know it at first. However, after learning a little more about Celestia's feelings when it came to Twilight, I couldn't help but come across a question of my own within my mind.

"That reminds me…" I began saying as I faced Tia. "What made you take me in when I was just a colt? I know I didn't make it any easier on you by refusing to go back to my own family, but couldn't you have just, I don't know, find another family for me to stay with or something? I don't think I ever asked you about this before."

"You…were a bit of a complex process." Celestia honestly returned with a small and warm smile. "Originally, I figured the best path to take was to wait and keep an ear out for any reports of a missing foal back at Fillydelphia. However, I had heard none, at least, none that fit your description. So many things ran through my mind, and I grew more worried by the day when I figured there was a genuine reason why you didn't want to go back. You were scarred by things I had no clue of, and I couldn't find it in my heart to simply abandon you and 'find you a new family'. I couldn't confidently come up with a decision on what to do, but I believed I had settled on having you stay in the castle in the event that your family would perhaps end up reaching out. As much as I had looked into it, that day never seemed to come."

"Back when Cadence would babysit me, I remember there was a certain point where she was…sad." Twilight brought up. "She used to be the one who taught you back in Fillydelphia, right? She didn't get into details, but I remember her looking so sad and talking about how she couldn't believe a family, I'm assuming yours, could exist. After being absent from school for a few days, I think she tried to reach out to your parents, and she was shocked when they didn't seem to know anything about you. I believed she almost thought she had gotten the wrong house, but there was no one else she could speak to. It was just like you had disappeared from history, or as if you had never existed, to begin with. I didn't understand it at first being so little, and by the time I grew up, I practically had already forgotten about that story she had told me."

Celestia solemnly shook her head and looked away. "I had no idea at the time that you were the offspring of my sister when I took you in. For obvious reasons, you couldn't stay with her, and I thought I knew the perfect family to raise you in. A family I was saddened to hear that they had lost a child they had been expecting. I didn't think it would backfire."

"Hm… It's all really weird…" I responded as I slightly leaned back. "No matter how nasty the path was, it was like all bound to happen."

"You asked why I took you in." Celestia repeated. "I believe another reason why is that you reminded me a lot of my sister. As you all already know, every moment she came into my mind out of every day, I couldn't stop missing her. Perhaps it was a way of making up for what I did to her."

"You did your best when you didn't even have to." I stated. "I couldn't ask for more than that."

A smile stretched out on her lips, and she softly nodded. "You two were just like each other in extremely different ways." She said as she glanced between Twilight and me. "You two needed to experience friendship in your own ways, and I was afraid of what would happen to each of you." She turned towards me. "I decided you needed to learn at your own pace, no matter how slow it was. You certainly weren't learning anything being all by your lonesome at the castle."

"It was definitely a scary experience." I remembered being ripped out of my most comforting zone. Despite the thought, I smiled at the sight of Twilight. "But, you definitely made the right choice sending over Twilight. If it wasn't for her dragging me all over the place, I'm not so sure I would have welcomed the idea of friendship."

Twilight seemed to blush after looking back and giggling at the memories engraved into our minds. "I think I feel a whole lot better now. I'm not sure if my plan for Starlight is as 'grand' as Celestia's was, but, I think what I have to do is just follow my heart."

"Think about the place she really belongs." I advised to Twilight as seriously and deeply as I could. "Just as Celestia had done with us."

Twilight stared back in the same sincere manner before turning away and thinking to herself until she finally nodded. "I think I'm ready."

I watched Twilight take matters into her own hooves as she opened the path to the reception hall. She walked towards the stage with a neatly wrapped box, the ribbon precisely perpendicular across and along every edge until it came and met together in the center to form a uniformed bow. For some reason, it reminded me of Twilight and Starlight Glimmer. Maybe it was their journey together that I kind of felt a little bad in not being more apart of, but either way, it was a little sad believing that this might be the last time I would see her for a while. After all, we had just started getting a little closer only recently.

Despite being a royal duo, I decided to hang back this time and silently cheer her on from the crowd. Due to this choice, I could only shake my head at the sight of Discord approaching Twilight with more of his shenanigans. This time, he had some kind of technical and lighting setup going on as if Twilight was going to make her announcement to all of Equestria.

In response, Twilight grew visibly nervous and worried. I began putting a hoof forward in an attempt to step up and help her out somehow, but she turned to me and softly shook her head. Fortunately, it wasn't long before Discord put an end to his disruptions. He soon disappeared and reappeared somewhere in the audience, bringing his unnecessary equipment with him.

Twilight focused her attention towards a particular table and obtained a glass to tap a spoon with.

"If I could have everypony's attention!" She called, gathering the eyes of everyone in the room, especially Starlight. "As you all know, Starlight Glimmer's been my pupil for a while now, and I'd hoped she'd be my pupil for a long time yet to come. But it turns out that's just not meant to be."

As expected, a collective group of gasps from her audience followed shortly after.

"Starlight, you have proved yourself to be a kind, loyal, strong, honest, and truly magical friend." Twilight continued. "Just looking around this room at all the new friendships you've made, I know there's nothing more I need to teach you. So we have a second reason to celebrate today. Three cheers for Starlight Glimmer on her graduation day!"

"What a great surprise!" Pinkie squealed shortly after the applause and cheer in the room nearly deafened everything else.

"The future's in your own hooves now." Twilight told her former student.

Hold on a second. Does this mean…Twilight's giving Starlight the option to move?

"Wow. I was not expecting this!" Starlight Glimmer shared truthfully.

Thorax and Trixie reunited with her to spread their congratulatory remarks, and it took me a moment to realize that one pony was missing from this particular group.

"So, is this my graduation day too?" Her voice sparked.

I turned my head and found her eyeing me with a beaming smile on her tilted head.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, chuckling a little. "You weren't my student or anything."

"True. I wasn't exactly your student, but you were teaching me a whole lot I was scared to learn." Athena admitted. "When we first met, you know, after the mess I made, I felt the only pony I could ever trust was you. I thought there was no place in life for me anymore because I thought all I was was just trouble. But you've shown me that even though you might make a bad choice, it's not the end of the world. In fact, what you may think is a 'bad' choice can actually end up being a good one in the long run. Not that I'm saying that it's okay to make bad choices, to begin with." She giggled heartily. "Anyway, you've taught and shown me a lot. I feel like I can finally be myself again. I promise I won't be so needy and clingy anymore. I'm ready to do my own thing, but it is okay if I keep being by your side, right?"

"Of course, it is, sis." With a heavy smirk, I used my hoof to mess with her mane quite a bit as if she was the younger sibling. "I just don't want me to keep you from living your life to its fullest. So, sure. You could say this is your graduation day too."

"Hehe, yay." She cheered softly. "Wanna treat me to some cake later on?" She dipped her head in front of me and looked at me with what looked like puppy eyes.

"Didn't you just have cake at this party?" I asked.

"Not ice cream cake. I could really go for some of that." She licked her lips happily.

"Yeah, sure." Despite her natural silliness, I couldn't be deterred away from how proud I was of her for her brave actions and choices lately. "I think you deserve the biggest cake you can get."

"Yay!" She jumped and cheered loudly. "No takesies-backsies now!"

"I'm not ready to leave!" We suddenly heard a cry over from the stage Twilight had been on. It came from Starlight, and that intense level of happiness that clearly came from Twilight's huge wide grin could have only meant one thing.

"Oh, good! 'Cause I'm not ready for that either!" Twilight hugged Starlight and brought over the gift she had been saving. "Here! I got you this present. It was going to be a 'congrats on getting a medal of honor' present, but then I was afraid it would have to be a going-away present, but now it's an 'I couldn't be happier you're staying' present! It fits perfectly over your dresser! I know. I measured."

Starlight sniffled as tears leaked out of her quivering eyes. "Thank you."

I turned towards Athena and gave her a little gesture with my head, suggesting that we join them.

"I may not know what comes next for you, but whatever it is, I promise I'll always be there for you." Twilight ensured, igniting another warm embrace between the two of them.

"So, looks like you're staying, huh?" I brought up after stepping up to them.

"Uh-huh!" Starlight answered wholeheartedly until the expression on her face drew back to one of uncertainty and a tad bit of embarrassment. "That isn't going to be a problem, is it?"

"I was actually hoping you'd stay." I responded, sharing a quick glance at Twilight. "You leaving would have felt way too sudden. I think I probably share Twilight's feelings on this, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that I haven't really gotten to know you enough."

"Same here!" Athena joined. "After embarking on a super ultra-dangerous journey to the changeling hive? We totes need to have some kind of girls' night out or something! Maybe stay in the castle and binge on all kinds of snacks while we play truth or dare!"

"That sounds like a slumber party to me." Starlight answered.

"Oh, I remember having one those way back." Twilight mentioned. "They can actually be pretty fun!"

"Anyways…" I attempted to get the conversation back on track before it could derail into an entirely different topic. "We're happy to have you here, Starlight. I just hope staying with us doesn't keep you from learning new things."

Starlight shook her head. "I might have graduated from friendship lessons with Twilight, but I don't think that means that there isn't anything more to learn. If you're not busy, maybe you should try teaching me a few more things one of these days."

"…but I wouldn't even know where to start." I doubted.

Twilight stepped over to my side and placed a hoof around me. "He may not teach things the way I do, but he certainly has a way of showing a few important things here and there to others."

"Well, if there's ever something you need, let me know and I'll definitely try and work some 'magic' to help."

"Will do, teach!" Starlight winked back playfully.

I found Octavia lingering around even with the reception practically at its end. Whether there was something she needed to speak to me about, or if she was just waiting for somepony else, I approached her as she sat at an empty table.

"Hey. You doing alright?" I asked casually, expecting a not completely truthful answer.

"Vinyl sure likes to take her time packing up her equipment." She answered.

"She wanted you to wait for her?" I took a seat next to her.

She seemed to hesitate for a bit with her response. "I just didn't want to leave when she may need help bringing her stuff home."

"She's a unicorn." I told her with a short chuckle. "I think she'll be fine. I'm sure she wouldn't want you to stay so long doing nothing."

She remained silent afterwards, and I was only able to assume the reason was that she didn't have anything else to say. However, I began growing more concerned when I started getting the feeling that she was intentionally trying to avoid eye contact me. It almost felt like she didn't even want to talk to me. I had only sat with her for a short time, but throughout that entire time, she didn't look at me once. It was almost like she had been too ashamed to look at me at all. Of course, I couldn't let something like this go so easily.

"Something's really bugging you, isn't it?" I inquired softly. "Does it have to do with what happened back at the Hearth's Warming party? I'm here if you want to talk, you know."

She continued to face away from me. Her eyes closed and remained shut for a change. Her head dipped low, and she inhaled and exhaled a deep breath.

"You're right." She answered.

"Huh?" I positioned my head a little closer to hers.

To my surprise, she placed her hooves on top of the table and pushed herself up, opening her eyes during the process. "I'm sure Vinyl wouldn't mind if I take my leave. She has her magic after all. Goodbye."

Octavia turned and began walking out of the nearly empty reception hall. I was left watching her tail swing side to side until she finally exited out through the doors. To be honest, I wasn't sure what I could have done at the point. It was obvious that something had been troubling her at that very moment, and it was only purely a guess that that particular something had to do with what she told me that other night.

Octavia had always been a pretty hard nut to crack, and the only way I could think of to approach the situation was the follow Athena's advice. According to her cutie mark, she was a specialist when it came to other ponies and their feelings.

I may have not been a 'Princess of Friendship' like Twilight was, but that didn't stop me from feeling the need to working out kinks in friendships like this. Octavia was in trouble, and at this point, I didn't exactly want to rest until I straightened the tangles in her heart out.

Flurry of Emotions

I constantly murmured to myself as I began brainstorming a list of possible things we could do or places we could go, but I was unable to settle one that would prove the most effective. I thought about grabbing a bite to eat with her, but I believed it wouldn't be enough to get her to talk about what she'd been going through lately.

"I need to do something that'll get her to open up." I told myself as I paced around my room. "Maybe go someplace or do something that doesn't necessarily involve other ponies. It's not like she'll feel comfortable spilling out her feelings in front of others anyway…"

I paused in my walk cycle to look up and stare at the ceiling in thought before I resumed both my pacing and mumbling.

"I don't want to just outright point out that I want to know what her troubles are. She'll just react defensively and probably throw a fit with me. There has to be a mix of casualness and privacy… Something to both loosen things up and fire up a personal environment between us…"

"…do I want to know what you're talking about?" I heard at my door.

I felt my coat jump before I quickly turned towards the unexpected voice. "Don't scare me like that." I reacted a bit sensitively. "You need something?"

"I just wanted to see what you were up to." Athena leaned towards the wall with an innocent and pouty look on her face. "Twilight and Spike are too busy talking to Nurse Redheart right now about some plans they have later on today. What about you?"

"I'm trying to think about what to do with Octavia." I answered. "I want her to confide in me with whatever she's dealing with, but I don't want to just straight up ask her because I know that she's just going to brush it off. I've been trying to think of a way I can get that to happen by deciding on a particular thing for us to do together. Maybe some kind of bonding exercise or something? I don't know. This is too confusing."

"Well, what does she normally do?" She asked. "She has any hobbies you could maybe learn more about?"

I shook my head lightly. "I don't really get to spend time with her, to begin with. If any pony knows about her schedule, it'd definitely be Vinyl. But, I don't even know if she's working right now. Gah. I think I should just start with hitting up Octavia and asking her if she's busy. That's a start, but then I'd have such a short amount of time to think of something to do with her. I don't just want to go out to eat or anything." I finally sighed, feeling the pressure of possibly overthinking the things restlessly floating around in my head.

"Hmm." Athena wondered as she placed a hoof to her chin. "I don't think you need to get answers right now. Maybe it'd be a great start just to spend some time with her without worrying about whatever's on her mind. If she's ready to tell you, then I think she will."

I thought back on our conversation during Hearth's Warming. She had already been extremely close to opening up. It was probably a better idea to stop worrying about how I could help her out during a troubling time and instead just be there for her to begin with.

"Yeah… You're probably, right." I told Athena as I felt myself slowly coming to my senses. "I think I've been thinking way too hard about this. I don't want to force her to talk if she doesn't want to. I just don't want her to hide her feelings in case she feels like she needs to for whatever reasons. It isn't good to keep things to yourself like that."

"I know. Believe me." Athena understood. "For now, just focus on showing her that you're there for her. You know how to do that, right?"

"I'd hope so." I returned, looking back on how much experience I had gained when it came to Fluttershy. Octavia and Fluttershy were two different ponies, but I had hoped that being able to relate to them without any issues would be achieved in a similar fashion. "Just gotta be myself, I guess."

I began walking through the halls out of my room as Athena accompanied me by my side.

"So, I'm just wondering, but was it today that you were planning on hanging out with Octavia?" She asked.

"I was planning to. Why?" I questioned.

"I just thought that you would be going to visit the sick foals at the hospital today with Twilight."

"If I wasn't dealing with this, I probably would have." I answered. "But, Twilight and I had a little talk about this the other night. I told her how I felt worried about Octavia's behavior, and she ended up sort of treating this as a 'friendship emergency'. In other words, she told me she could easily handle this hospital visit without me. She'll be partnering up with Spike as usual when it comes to finishing up tasks, schedules, and all that. I guess she sees it as a similar situation just like when it was Starlight Glimmer and me."

"Oh, you mean when Starlight was worrying about how she'd get along with the other girls that one day?" Athena recalled. "Yeah. She went to go do that presentation thing. I remember. Anyway, she is the Princess of Friendship. Personally, I'd want to get in touch with Octavia as soon as possible if I were you too. Like I said before, I have no idea what she's going through, but it definitely doesn't seem like something you can just ignore."

"Which is why I want to make some good progress today." I pointed out as we passed the front doors of the castle. "I don't want to her to be so closed up that it ends up being awkward silence all around. That's why it all starts with where we hang out in the first place."

Several knocks landed firmly on the castle doors, taking Athena and me by surprise. We exchanged a glance with each other before we approached the door and pushed it open in order to get a look outside.

Another pair of eyes wandered about between Athena and me before a calm voice spoke up.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Coincidently, it had been Octavia. For a split second, I had almost begun to convince myself that she had been listening to our conversation the entire time somehow, but I managed to react calmly to the strange circumstance.

"Uhh. I think Twilight needs my help. See you later!" Athena immediately took her leave of absence for obvious reasons, leaving me alone with Octavia.

On the other hoof, Octavia didn't react much in regards to Athena's sudden leave. She continued to stand there on the other side of the door with a neutral expression on her face. My first thought was to invite her in since it seemed a little rude just to watch her remain outside like that.

"Oh, hey. You want to come in?" I asked.

"Sure." She walked past the doors, leading me to ask my next question.

"What's going on?" I followed up. "What brings you here?"

"There's something I wanted to talk to you about." She surprised me with.

"Oh, yeah?" I wasn't sure what exactly had been on her mind, but I figured now would be a good opportunity to learn a few clues in regards to the way she had been feeling unless she was ready to tell me right there on the spot. "Why don't you come to the dining hall? I can make you some tea."

"Thank you…but that's really not necessary." She responded with.

Warm her up, Alex. Remember that you want her to know that she can trust you.

"Don't worry about it." I flashed her a small grin. "I know how much you like your green tea."

"If you insist…" She seemingly accepted with a small shred of enthusiasm, following me to the dining hall.

She patiently waited for me to pour her a cup of tea on the table, but the look on her face was bothering me greatly. I didn't want to say that she looked ungrateful, but there had been no "warmth" to any part of her quiet expression. She didn't glare or have any kind of pout. I don't know. To put it simply, it just looked like she didn't have a reason to smile. In fact, her expression reminded heavily of our first meeting. It was almost like we were back on those terms again, but if that was the case, she wouldn't even be coming to me in the first place, right?

As much as I wanted to bring it up, I didn't want to upset her or make her angry enough to storm off. She didn't look too far off to annoy easily. For the moment, I had to be extra careful with my words and actions.

"So, what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" I asked after filling her cup and setting the teapot on the middle of the table.

She silently stared at the interior of her cup for a moment before she responded. "There's an art show at the Ponyville Café. I'm not sure if you've heard of it."

I thought for a bit and tried to recollect any mention of an art show in Ponyville. "I might have heard or seen something, but I don't know what it's about or what it has exactly."

"Well, I've been meaning to attend the show." She continued. "I had asked Vinyl and Ditsy if they wanted to go as well. However, it seems they had other plans of their own…" Her pupils shifted to the corner of her eyes as she narrowed them. Despite her calm exterior, it seemed she had been clearly annoyed. "…I'm not in the mood to attend this showing on my own, so I stopped by to see if you were free to accompany me. I figured it may be something that interests you since I believe you're an aspiring artist as well?"

Not that I wouldn't have wanted to go in the first place, but this was an offer I definitely couldn't decline for a multitude of reasons. I had originally been planning to come up with the right setting for the two of us to hang out, but Octavia making the decision instead actually wouldn't be bad at all. While the art show itself sounded interesting, it was the last thing on my mind when it came to accepting her offer.

If I said yes, then that only added to the trust she had for me, right?

"Uh, yeah, sure!" I nearly accepted whole-heartedly. "Sounds like something fun!"

"I know you're a prince, and that you surely have more important things to take care of. You don't need to come with me if there are other matters you need to see to." She mentioned.

I remembered about the hospital trip Twilight was taking. I figured it would be best to keep Octavia from knowing about it, or she might start feeling guilty about keeping me from visiting sick kids…

"No, it's totally cool." I responded. For a second, I almost wanted to say that going with her to this art show would actually technically be a kind of royal duty to tackle as a prince on the job, but she could have easily taken that as something entirely else. I wanted her to know that I was going with her as a friend, not as a chore to cross off the list. "You know, I was actually meaning to talk to you about hanging out sometime." I managed to bring up. "It's great that you came to me with this."

"You were?" She repeated as her eyes stretched out a bit in surprise, but she quickly shut them as she lifted up her teacup and took a sip. "I see. That's good to hear."

"When'd you want to go?" I asked.

"The show has been open all day." She stated. "If you don't mind, we can start heading over there right now."

"Sounds good to me."

Octavia finished whatever was left of her tea and placed it back on the plate it normally sat on.

"Thank you for the tea." She expressed and stood up.

Again, she still wasn't smiling, but she didn't quite seem like she was annoyed with me. However, I made sure to keep myself in check so nothing I did would ruin any part of the day that was ahead of us.

I began by opening the door and held it in order to allow Octavia to pass through. However, there were a few unexpected visitors right on the other side. Within the door frame stood Twilight, Spike, and Athena. If I wasn't mistaken, there was a particular something that sat on her neck.

"O-Oh, sorry." I apologized for the scare. "I wasn't expecting you to be behind this door."

"Forget about that! Guess who came to visit?!" Without a second to spare, she reached behind her head and suddenly pulled out a foal with her magic. "It's Flurry Heart!"

In front of me was a cooing baby who adorably stuck out her tongue like a dog. At the sight of me, she reached out her forelegs in curiosity, but Twilight was quick to gain her attention once she started walking in.

"H-Huh?" I questioned, staggered by confusion. "Not that I'm not happy she's here, but…what is she doing here? She didn't accidentally teleport all the way over here or something did she?"

"Cadence and Shining Armor actually stopped and asked if I could watch her for a bit while they went and had a day off! I never thought I'd have an entire day to be with my favorite niece!" She chimed out excitedly, rubbing cheeks with the baby in the room.

"Not to mention that you decided to watch your only niece while you also have a jam-packed day." Spike pointed out as he held a long checklist that remained unchecked for the most part.

"Your trip to the—" I almost slipped out until I managed to catch a glance of Octavia, who was silently waiting nearby. I shook my head and tried my best to remain vague about it in the heat of the moment. "Twilight, are you sure you'll be to handle today?"

"Don't worry." Athena waltzed in and answered for her. "I'll be helping her with the baby and any other kind of stuff she needs to do." Afterwards, she pulled in close and mentioned a few more things softly in order to keep it just between the two of us. "Besides, you need to get to work on 'you-know-who'."

"We'll get right to work on today's schedule as soon as I get some food in this cute little foal's belly." Twilight rubbed Flurry Heart's belly playfully, igniting a few bursts of laughter from her.

"Word of advice: You might want to get out of here before you find mashed peas on your face." Spike told me with an unamused look in his eyes.

"Uh, yeah. Well, let me know if you need anything…" I hesitantly said but felt it was necessary to mention. I finally turned back to Octavia and gestured her forward with my head. "Sorry about that, Tavi. Let's go."

"Right…" She responded with before following me out of the dining room.

"You've ever seen Princess Cadence's and Shining Armor's baby before?" I asked as I escorted her out of the castle. "She's pretty cute, right?"

"I haven't with my own eyes." She shared briefly. "Yes, she's quite cute."

I was hoping she'd be a little more enthused after witnessing the sight of her, but she still seemed a little annoyed by something in particular. I turned my head back to the path in front of me, feeling my neck tighten up a bit. I had no clue what kind of conversation to spark up with her. I didn't want to talk too much about pointless things and end up annoying the heck out of her. At the same time, I didn't want her to think I was ignoring her or finding her boring.

Ugh. Why do girls have to be such an enigma sometimes?

We didn't really make any more conversation on the way over to the Ponyville Café. Thankfully, it wasn't very far, to begin with, so taking a silent walk with her wasn't all that awkward. Seeing a small gathering hanging around outside with ponies walking in and out from time to time gave me the confidence to walk in and a take a look around.

"This is the place?" I asked.

"Undoubtedly so." She responded with.

With her neutral and serious tone, it almost sounded like she was being sarcastic, but I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

As a matter of fact, I heard a couple of voices nearby that sounded too familiar to ignore. A simple turn of my head granted me the opportunity to witness a warming sight. If my own eyes didn't deceive me, Shining Armor and Cadence had been speaking with someone else by one of the pieces that had been set on the floor.

"Oh, hey! It's them!" I said out loud and felt my legs move on their own towards them. "Wasn't expecting to run into you two here!" I greeted them with.

"Alex!" Cadence turned in my direction and shared jubilantly. We exchanged a brief embrace before she continued speaking. "We stopped by the castle earlier, but we didn't see you there."

"Yeah, I must have just missed you. I heard you let Twilight have Flurry to herself for the day?"

"Oh, you know." Shining Armor returned. "Being parents can be so exhausting. It's nice to just be able to relax for once."

"No kidding. I remember the look on your face when Twilight and I were just about to see the baby for the first time." I remembered.

"It's certainly been tiring, but we've managed to get a schedule worked out. Although, it certainly is a jam-packed schedule, to say the least."

"Aww, no way!" The pony they had been speaking to exclaimed excitedly. "This is really inspiring for me, you know? I didn't think my art would be bringing friends and family together like this! Not to mention royal visitors!"

"This is an old friend of mine from the royal guard, Spearhead." Shining Armor smirked at the fairly large stallion's behavior. "In case you didn't know, he's quite an enthusiast for art."

"So, what brings you here today?" Cadence asked.

"Oh! I'm actually here with a friend." I turned to my right to get an eye on Octavia, but I nearly jumped from my spot when I found that she had been standing right beside me. The expression she wore remained unchanged, and for some really strange reason, I almost felt that she was upset with me at the moment. "T-This is Octavia. Octavia, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence."

"It's a pleasure." Octavia respectfully and calmly stated, bowing a bit in place.

"Oh, no need to be so formal." Cadence lightly chuckled and waved her hoof a bit.

As I watched their exchange, I felt a small pool of guilt rise within me. It wasn't that I did anything necessarily wrong, but it was the possibility that I may have reacted poorly around Octavia. I meant to dedicate this day to her, but I almost went off without her to say hi to Cadence and Shining Armor. Once again, I was probably leaning towards the side of overthinking things today, but Octavia really seemed to be in a…complex state of emotion at the moment.

"We should probably get started on the other side of the room. If you're not too busy with Flurry, maybe we can set some kind of plans later on?" I suggested.

"Of course! We can talk more about that when we go and pick up Flurry Heart at the castle." Cadence agreed.

"Sounds good!" I shared and began turning my body away. "See you then! Enjoy your day off!" I found Octavia silently accompanying me as I waved back and stepped towards the other end of the room. "Sorry about that. I didn't expect to see them here."

"It's fine." She stated. Once again, there was hardly any emotion to her voice. And it wasn't like Maud's voice. It almost sounded like an "I don't even want to look or talk to you right now" voice. Then again, it could have just been me.

To be utterly honest, she wasn't much different when it came to taking a look around the exhibit. I was more interested in her than the art, so I didn't really have any elaborative input on the pieces themselves. This definitely didn't help with the kind of coldish behavior she seemed to have been adopting, which was becoming more noticeable the more time passed by.

Anytime I'd try to engage her in some kind of conversation, she'd give me simple and short answers, similar to her previous response when it came to the subject of meeting Flurry Heart for the first time. Sometimes, she wouldn't even respond with words, only soft grunts or hums. I didn't want to be thinking negatively for any part of our day together, but it almost seemed like she didn't even want to be with me at that point.

Knowing her, I figured if that was the case, she would have left a long time ago, but she didn't. This is what really confused me. Could she have been having a bad day? Then, why would she invite me out when she's clearly not in the mood to be doing something like this?

I ended up following her silently around, the air around us slowly but surely growing awkward. It wasn't until she stopped and paid particular attention to one specific portrait in the art gallery. I stopped and took a look for myself. Out of every painting or sculpture in the gallery, I found that this one was actually pretty worthwhile to look at. It was one of a snowy landscape, possibly inspired by the Crystal Empire.

It was just a background shot though. There were no subjects inside, and the painting definitely seemed like one that could invoke many different interpretations from many kinds of ponies. As an example, one might think this painting symbolizes loneliness, and another might take this painting as an appreciation of the beauty of nature. In other words, being "one with nature" or something like that.

Nevertheless, I thought it was a pretty intriguing painting apart from all the art here, no disrespect to the artist intended of course.

"Hey, I see this one caught your eye." I mentioned with a smile on my face. "What do you think? Looks pretty amazing, right?" I asked as I turned to grab a definite look of her face.

Despite my hope, she didn't appear to feel the same way I did based on the kind of expression I saw her leak out. Her mouth was slightly agape, but her eyebrows seemed to furrow a bit sadly. It surprised me. Maybe even shocked me. Out of the stoic look she wore the entire I had been with her, for some reason, this painting changed that. I was only able to assume that whatever it was that bothered her, it had to have been something incredibly significant enough to break through her apathetic attitude.

"You okay?" I finally asked.

Her lips immediately drew together like two magnets, and she turned away, giving her back to me.

"I'm feeling quite ill. I'm afraid I'll have to cut our time short today. Goodbye."

"Hey, wait a min—"

I tried to call out to her, but she had already begun leaving.

I wasn't sure whether to follow her or not for the same reason I was being wary around her the entire time. Maybe today wasn't really the best day to talk to her after all. Maybe she was having an off day, and tomorrow might be better? Whatever I thought, I couldn't help but worry that all of this may have had to do with how she had been acting lately.

If I had been in her shoes, I'd definitely want someone to talk to, but I wasn't her. I didn't want to break or crack any part of what we already had between us. I was sure that there were just certain times a pony had to be left alone.

"I knew something was up with her…" I heard a familiar voice say beside me.

I looked to my right and became startled enough by the sight of a strange pony that I nearly tipped over and touched the painting Octavia and I had been looking at just a moment ago.

There had actually been two strange ponies standing together by my side, and what was strange about them was the way they were dressed. Both of them had been wearing goofy bushy-browed glasses with a big nose and mustache, the kind you'd find at a joke shop. They also wore some kind of old-fashioned hat that covered the majority of their mane. Still, taking a closer look, I believed I was able to distinguish a pair of familiar faces.

"Hold on… Are you…?"

Her eyes maneuvered all around the corners of their sockets before she began pushing and shoving me out of the building. The two led me outside until we arrived at a particular spot where they felt comfortable enough to remove whatever ridiculous getup they had been wearing inside. As expected, the two ponies had been Vinyl and Derpy.

"What are you two doing?" I asked. "Why are you walking around looking like that?"

"We were watching you and Tavi." Vinyl oddly confessed straight up. "We couldn't let you know what we were doing, obviously."

"And why were you watching us?" I inquired, finding their admitted behavior something to scold them about. "Octavia said you two supposedly had plans today."

"Exactly. We were busy doing what we were doing just a few minutes ago." She easily answered.

"So…why were you doing that?" I repeated, growing a little impatient.

"You've noticed, haven't you?" Vinyl began speaking with concern in her voice. "Tavi's been acting totally weird, and she doesn't give us a straight answer when we ask her about it. It's always: 'It's nothing', or 'I don't know what you're talking about'. And then she gets mad when we don't drop the subject. So, we had no other choice but to watch her without knowing. She had asked us out to the art gallery in there, and I didn't want to reject her like that, but she made me! If she's not going to tell us straight up what's bothering her, then we gotta go the extra mile and take matters into our own hooves! Besides, if we had ended up going with her, she just would've done the same thing she did to you right before she left."

I took a glance over at Derpy, who only looked at us speak without having nothing much to say regarding the topic. "So, did you talk Derpy into doing this with you, or did she want to do this by her own will?"

"Psh. I didn't make her do anything." Vinyl returned.

"Vinyl said doing this would make our friendship stronger." Derpy shared.

I turned to Vinyl with a raised eyebrow.

"It will once we get to the bottom of things." She excused. "Anyways, now that you're here, you've gotta help us. You want to find out what going on with her too, right?"

"I do, but not by spying on her." I said. "I'll wait until she tells me herself."

"Bro, no offense, but I've been her friend since we were fillies. If she doesn't bother telling me, I'm not so sure, she'll ever tell you. It's just the way she is. She's always tried to keep things to herself like this."

"Maybe that's why you wait for the right moment?" I suggested. "I know that sounds cliché, but it's the truth. If you're upset, you don't exactly want to be pestered about the very thing that's bothering you in the first place."

"Look, just help us out, will you?" Vinyl continued to pursue my assistance.

"What exactly do you want me to do?" I asked with uncertainty.

"Well, to tell you the truth, I've got no better idea than to dig for info. That pony keeps everything to herself, so I'm going to go ahead and assume she has some kind of diary hidden somewhere at her place. If we move quick enough and find the info we need, we can think of a way to approach her about it. Sounds good, eh?"

"No!" I whole-heartedly objected. "Sounds bad! That's an invasion of privacy! How do you even expect to find this 'diary' without her knowing or seeing you?"

"Easy. Cook up a distraction and sneak into her house right-quick. I mean, I've hung out at her place before, and there have been tons of opportunities to distract her. Heck, she's even left me alone in her room before, but, of course, there was no reason to take a look around then."

"That's a bad idea." I repeated. "There has to be a better way to get what you're looking for."

"Well, talking hasn't helped at all! If you want to try to pry it straight from the horse's mouth, be my guest, but I'm telling you, that doesn't work. She'll just chew you out for asking."

"Mmm…" I groaned to myself. As much as I did want to find out the source of Octavia's sour mood, I wasn't comfortable with Vinyl's plan. I did get close to getting answers from her that one time on Hearth's Warming, but even then, she was a little clammed up. I couldn't discredit Vinyl at the same time. She's known Octavia way longer than I have, and if Octavia hasn't told her own best friend about her problems, then I wasn't sure what chance I had to succeed.

I mean…if all we need to do is just take a quick peak at only what we need to look at in order to learn just enough how we can confront Octavia about her problem, then maybe…

"Fine, I'll go with you guys." I succumbed just as Vinyl began to turn to leave.

She turned around rather quickly as her ears shot up in interest.

"Really?" She asked.

"Only to make sure that you don't go overboard and just focus on finding a clue to what's been going on with Tavi lately. I still don't think this is a good idea, and I'm pretty sure you're going to go through with it anyway. For your and Octavia's sake, I'll tag along and make sure you don't look any more than you need to."

"I'm not trying to find her unmentionables, dude." Vinyl stated unnecessarily. "Unless, that's actually the reason why you changed your mind, and you're just pretending that you're making sure we don't go over the top." She tacked on with the largest snarky grin I've ever seen her with.

Finding myself short of something worthwhile to respond with, I kept it short.

"You're funny."

At our side, Derpy only kept quiet as she observed the scene between us with a small and innocent smile on her face like an obedient child.

I followed the two as they walked on over to Octavia's home. It wasn't until they came to a firm stop a few steps away from her door when Vinyl turned over to me and seemed to shoo me away with her hoof. "Yo, go somewhere else. It'll be weird if she sees you with us."

I slightly shook my head in confusion, but I found myself abiding by her request as she had already begun stepping forward to knock on the front door. I stayed nearby her home just enough so I could get a safe look at the kind of excuse Vinyl had cooked up.

"Hey, Tavi!" I heard her say a bit exaggeratedly. However, I didn't have a view of Octavia from where I had been keeping myself out of sight at. "You know, Derps and I are really sorry we couldn't come to that art show with you, so how about we go and hang out at Sugarcube Corner? Sounds fun, right?"

There was a somewhat heavy sigh.

"I don't know, Vinyl. I'm not really in the mood to go out."

"Come on!" Vinyl encouraged. "You're always so moody, you know? I get it. You're mad because we didn't go with you. And hanging out with us is exactly what'll fix you right up! You spend too much time by yourself, Tavi. You've gotta hang with us constantly."

By her side, Derpy nodded enthusiastically.

A period of silence.

"Perhaps, it's not such a bad idea…" Octavia seemed to be convinced. "I was just about to practice for the remainder of the day. Only you are capable of coming out of nowhere at such a time."

"Thatta girl!" Vinyl grinned brightly.

With another light sigh, Octavia replied. "Give me a minute to put my cello away."

"Oh! No need!" Vinyl suddenly jumped at. "Let me take care of that for you! Why don't you go ahead and get us a seat at Sugarcube Corner?"

I imagined Octavia's brow lifting up in confusion at this point. "It'll only be a minute, Vinyl…"

"I know, I know. But, it's just a small way of apologizing to you, you know? Besides, I think I, uh, left one of my records somewhere in your room last time I was here, heh heh. I also wanted to take a quick look around to see if I can find it."

I began hoping that Vinyl hadn't already been caught snooping around before, otherwise this would definitely be a suspicious red flag for her best friend.

"Oh, did you?" Octavia responded surprisingly calm. "Well, it'll save me the trouble of finding it and taking the time of day to return it back to you. I'll leave it to you then. You know how to put away my cello, right? Without breaking it?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Vinyl flapped her hoof around excitedly as she seemed to try to get Octavia out as soon as she could. "I've seen you do it a ton of times! I'll be careful. I promise!"

"You better." Octavia stepped out as she shared a firm warning.

I watched her finally come into view without noticing me, and she seemed to finally be off in the direction of Sugarcube Corner.

She was so casual and cool about it. For some reason, it seemed a little weird. Then again, I guess I had never really let anyone just be in my personal space on their own before. Not that I really had anything to hide, of course. It was only a moment before I was gestured back by Vinyl when it seemed Octavia was far enough and out of range.

"Come on, let's be quick and make like a banana and split before she starts getting suspicious." Vinyl advised and then turned to Derpy. "Hey, Derps, keep an eye out for me, will you? If you see her come back for whatever reason, try to keep her from coming in here or stall her. If all else fails, come straight back and bang on the window to her room."

"You can count on me!" Derpy responded with a salute before flying off and taking refugee on a tree nearby.

"You'll be helping me look, aight?" Vinyl told me.

"Sure…" I responded hesitantly.

I just wanted to get this over with.

I started feeling a little nervous as I walked inside. It wasn't like it was the first time being in her home, but I almost felt like a criminal, especially since she didn't know I was actually in here. Nevertheless, Vinyl seemed to head straight for her home in an extremely nonchalant manner, even when knowing she was about to commit one of the worst crimes you could do to a best friend.

"Alright, we should be done with this a lot quicker if we split up the room." Vinyl directed as she simply walked right into her room, leaving me slowly poking my head in. "I'll start with the closet. You take the bed."

"What about her cello?" I reminded, finding it resting on top of the bed near an open case.

"Oh, yeah. Put it away, will you, please?" Vinyl turned over the burden to me, opening the closet door and taking a gander inside.

I rolled my eyes for a second before carefully picking up cello with my magic and slowly fitting it back into its case. Once I locked it shut, I allowed myself to take a breath of relief before kneeling down and lifting up her bedsheets. Personally, I wasn't so sure she'd keep something like her diary under her bed, but I suppose every pony had their own measures to protect their secrets.

Dear Celestia, I feel so dirty right now even just thinking about these things…

How could you, Alex? I can hear her telling me. I thought I raised you better than this.

I know. I'm sorry.

"Find anything?" Vinyl snapped me out of my thoughts as I had been staring into an endless abyss of darkness underneath her bed.

"Not yet…" I answered back a little annoyed as I forced myself to spark up a light on my horn.

It didn't take much time to see that the underneath of her bed was practically spotless. It made sense, considering she didn't seem to be the type to just lazily stuff things under the bed like Vinyl most likely would.

Nevertheless, I made a thorough scan with my eyes from the right back corner of the bed to the left. At the very end of the left, I actually spotted something a bit odd. It definitely didn't look anything like a diary, but even with the light from my horn, it was too small and far to see. I wasn't sure if whatever it was had anything to do with what we needed, but I decided to take the chance and bring it toward me with my magic.

As I brought it to me, I noticed that it appeared to be the back end of a photo. Judging from its place under the bed, I assumed that it must have flown there by a gust of wind or something and found its home in a corner that would be hard to see. I also wondered if it was a photo Octavia cared much for, considering its location. She never mentioned losing a photo, and even if she had tried to look for it, it would only be harder for her to find it and pull it out due to the fact that she's an Earth Pony.

Hoping it wasn't something like an embarrassing photo of Octavia at a Hearth's Warming party, I slowly turned it around, ready to turn away and shut my eyes if need be. To both my surprise and relief, it wasn't anything that I was dreading it to be. In fact, it appeared to a familiar normal picture.

Actually, normal was probably more of an understatement. There were two ponies in the photo, one clearly being Octavia. She was wearing a light layer of winter clothing, such as a black professional-looking scarf and a set of matching earmuffs. Noticing the snowy background behind her, it was safe to say that it was obviously and definitely winter time.

However, there was something that caught my attention the most. It was the look on Octavia's face. She had this…beaming smile, something I don't remember ever seeing her wear before. She looked extremely and genuinely happy like she was in the prime of her life. I studied her expression silently for a moment before my eyes rolled over to the left side of the picture.

There had been somepony else beside her. It was an unknown stallion based on my current knowledge. His hair was fairly long, kind of like mine, but that was all I could really tell due to the beanie he wore on his head.

To put it simply, he looked a little ordinary. There was nothing that really stood out to me in the chance I actually might have met or talked with him somewhere. At any point, the more important thing I wondered about the photograph was the context behind it.

Octavia and this other stallion stood together as if they were close acquaintances. I wanted to say friends, but as mentioned previously before, I didn't remember seeing him before, much less seeing him with Octavia. Could he maybe have been…?

"Oooh…! Tavi, I didn't know you were into this kind of stuff!" I heard Vinyl say suggestively behind me.

My mind becoming blank, the photo slipped away from my hoof onto the floor as I turned to see just what Vinyl had been up to.

"Hey!" I raised my voice to scold her. "I told you to look through only what you needed to look through!"

"Chill out, brah." She returned casually, seemingly scavenging through things in the closet. "I am. But, it's not like the diary is just going to be out there in the open, right? What about you? Find anything?"

"No, not really…" I sighed and rubbed the back of my head. "The longer I stay here, the more I hate myself. Can we just leave already? Tavi has to be wondering what you're doing."

"Just a little longer man. We haven't looked through all the places yet." She searched through the closet a little more before she pulled herself out and sighed tiredly. "Dang, girl. Where do you keep your diary? I'm not sure she even has one anymore."

"That's why I'm saying we should be going. Give her some space and we can try talking to her again later." I suggested.

"Just a few more minutes." She requested. "Tavi isn't messy, so it shouldn't take too long to look through the other places."

Just as she finished saying that, we heard a loud banging on the window by her bed.

We immediately turned to find a frantic Derpy holding one hoof on the window as she banged loudly on the other. She looked at us as if she was trying to escape from some deranged madpony, but based on her very clear signal, it was us that in imminent danger.

"Oh, snap. We gotta get out of here." Vinyl stated as she stared back at the window with a shocked and wide-eyed expression.

In the next moment, we heard noise and movement outside of the room.

"Vinyl? Are you still in here?"

It was definitely Octavia.

Vinyl slowly leaned and peered through the small opening she left with her bedroom door.

Bump. Bump. Bump.

We could hear the sound of her hooves stepping on the floor outside, and they slowly but surely grew louder.

"She's coming in!" Vinyl whispered in a state of panic. She quickly looked all over her until she spotted the closet she had been searching through.

Before I knew it, she tackled me straight into the closet. As I tried to fully understand what exactly had been happening in our fast-paced moment, Vinyl turned and closed the closet door as quickly yet softly as could. She then pressed her back against me as if I was some cushion to fit herself in the fairly small closet, especially since Octavia had already been keeping stuff in here.

"What are you doing?!" I whispered loudly. "Go out there and talk to her! It won't look as suspicious if she only sees you hanging around here!"

"Oh, yeah…" Vinyl returned in a dumbfounded state. Just as she was about to press her hoof against the closet door, we heard the door to the bedroom being opened. "…too late…" She muttered softly.

I wasn't sure if overall it was a good thing or not, but Octavia's closet door was one of those doors with slats. We were able to see somewhat outside being close to the door itself. As far as us being visible from the outside, we could only hope she didn't poke around her closet enough for some reason to see us stupidly hiding inside. It would be a disaster if anypony had found Vinyl and I hunched up together like this inside of a closet.

"I hope she didn't fiddle around with that new bow I bought…" We heard her speaking to herself as she stepped in and looked around. She faced our direction for only a second or two, but it was enough to get our hearts riled up and pumping extremely fast. She soon seemed to turn to the bed and walk towards it. "Well, she put away the cello as I asked." We heard clicking as if she was opening the case. "Thank goodness it's not damaged. I nearly forgot I left the bow in there."

There was a bow in there?! I didn't even notice! It must have been in a black case or something. Thank Celestia I put the cello in as slowly as I could…

We heard Octavia release what sounded like a sigh of relief. It was quiet for a few seconds until she spoke once more.

"I suppose you should go back inside the closet."

Vinyl's eyes immediately widened, and I wouldn't doubt mine did the same.

There was another moment of silence.

"No… I'll probably practice when I come back. I'll leave you out for now."

She seemed to make some more kind of movements that we didn't have an exact clear view of. It sounded as if she began stepping across us towards the door, but then she stopped and made what sounded like a light gasp.

From what I could see, she appeared to lean her body towards the floor as she picked something up. It was extremely quiet for what felt like a long moment. I was afraid that she might've picked up our stifled breathing. When she finally made a movement, it was her head, and it was facing towards the bottom of the closet door.

What's she doing?! Did she hear us!?

Without saying anything, she proceeded to continue walking, but it wasn't towards her bedroom door. She was heading straight for the closet door.

I felt my mind go blank much severely this time. In fact, I almost thought I had lost consciousness because I couldn't understand the cold harsh reality I had suddenly been pulled in until I was staring back at a pair of extremely unfriendly and sharp glaring eyes. They were hardly expressive at all, which made it all the scarier. It was the kind of look you give someone in public to let them know how you were feeling without attracting much attention from others.

"U-Uh, H-Hey!" Vinyl stammered at the large shadow in front of her. "S-Surprise! Haha…!"

Vinyl tried to flail her forelegs around excitedly, but I was sure she knew it was over for us.

Octavia finally stepped back and ordered us to get out of her closet without a word. Vinyl somewhat slowly got on her hooves and cautiously stepped out as she hung her head low, and I shortly joined her afterwards.

"L-Listen, I can explain." Vinyl nervously spoke. "You see, you were acting all weird, and I just wanted to—"

"Get out." Octavia shared with a deathly stare.

"H-Huh?" Vinyl seemed to try to get a clear response, but Octavia kept quiet. It was enough for her to get the message and start turning to leave the room.

Not wanting to witness the look on her face a second longer, I quickly began following Vinyl as subtly as I could until Octavia suddenly spoke sharply once more.

"No."

I couldn't help but turn my head back.

"You're staying." She ordered.

"A-Ah?" I heard Vinyl gasp before she came racing back into the room. "Tavi! It wasn't his fault! I forced him to come with me and—"

"Go!" Octavia raised her voice as her eyebrows furrowed.

Vinyl immediately sewed her lips shut. She was only able to send me a worried glance before she continued walking off. I nervously stayed to hear her steps move further away until the front door opened and closed.

My heart was beating extremely fast, and I genuinely felt in fear for my life. This situation was like…worse than any encounter I've had with any other villain ever. I was honestly considering bolting straight out of there, but I knew I needed to face punishment if I wanted any chance of recovering my possibly now broken friendship with her.

I nearly shivered when Octavia walked past me, afraid of any moment she'd strike. However, she had her sights on the open bedroom door behind me. She placed a hoof on it and closed it shut. I fearfully gulped in response.

It was so silent. I felt like I could die at any moment.

"I…" I tried to say, but I felt anything I could have possibly said would just warrant more anger from her. I didn't want to sound like I was just making excuses, and I didn't want to sound like I was begging for my life either. "I'm sorry." It was all I could muster up. I wanted to explain the situation to her, but I was afraid she wasn't in the mood to hear it, even if I did it out of goodwill.

I stared at the ground, ready to clench my eyes shut for whenever she'd get close. I was expecting her to hit me soon. She was probably just keeping me in suspense to torture me. I heard her walk some more, but I didn't dare look up.

After a short moment, I heard some kind of flapping sound.

"Hm. I've been meaning to find this."

I finally brought my head up cautiously and found her eyeing the photo that I had been looking at earlier. There was still a lack of emotion to her face, and in the next moment, she tore the photo in half.

With a cold sweat hanging down the side of my head, I carefully looked at her. "…Tavi…?"

She continued to stare at the two torn pieces of the photo for a while longer. "This isn't enough." She now turned to me. "Can you zap it with your magic? I want you to disintegrate it into ashes."

It was an odd request. In fact, it was a scary one coming from her.

"…W-Why?" I took the risk by asking.

"I want to forget." She simply answered. "Do this for me. Please."

She pushed the pieces towards me. I didn't know what to do. I looked at them for a moment longer, taking extra consideration of the look Octavia wore in the photo. Just what happened to her…?

Nevertheless, she continued staring at me, waiting for me to fulfill her request. I felt immensely pressured, so with a touch of hesitation and regret, I focused the magic on my horn and zapped. There was a small pile of ash left on my hoof.

Octavia stared at my hoof for a long while before she finally sighed. She turned away and looked out her window. I stood there in silence, waiting for her to make her next move.

"I'm stuck, aren't I?" She mentioned. "No matter what I do, nothing will fill the hole that remains inside of me."

"Who was that, Tavi?" I asked, referring to the stallion that had been in the photo.

"Someone who used to be special to me, or so I thought." She returned, turning her head to the side.

Have you ever had your heart broken?

That's what she had asked me during Hearth's Warming.

"He's the one who broke your heart, isn't he?" I assumed.

She remained still and silent, and for the first time, I witnessed the bangs of her mane fall just enough to practically cover the majority of her eyes.

"I met him at my work. He was another musician just like me. He played the piano. Beautifully, I must admit. I didn't think I'd grow so fondly of him, but I did. He said he had been interested in my music, and I turned out to be interested in his piano playing as well. We began talking and before I knew it, we're playing duets together." She chuckled faintly as she seemed to recall something sweet. "I told Vinyl about him, and all she ever did was encourage me to pursue him. Supposedly, she somehow got word about what he thought about me. Believed I was 'cute', 'an inspiration', things like that. I never felt so elated in my life. At that point, I decided to follow on through with Vinyl's encouragement. We'd go out for things like coffee in our free time. He'd walk me to the train I'd take back to Ponyville and made me feel like such a special mare." She scoffed. "It was only a matter of time before I'd end up making a fool of myself. I had convinced myself to believe that what we had was real. That we were perfectly compatible considering our passions for music. I allowed myself to be so defenseless and naïve…just like some silly schoolfilly."

She paused with her story, and from what I could see, her brow furrowed as her mouth frowned solemnly.

"I had convinced myself that he was 'the one'." She continued. "We had been somewhat 'seeing each other' for a good while, but we were nothing 'official'. I can imagine if you were to ask him, he'd respond with something along the lines of 'Oh, she was just some pony I worked with'. You don't flirtatiously treat a naïve little mare like a princess if she's just some acquaintance to you." She shook her head firmly in disapproval. "I allowed him to 'crawl under my coat', and I paid the price for it in the end. I was ready to let him know how I truly felt about him and hear his answer within the days before Hearth's Warming Eve. I tried to find him where the two of us would practice with a few other acquaintances of ours. He wasn't there, so I asked the others about him. They had mentioned that some mare they hadn't seen before had stopped by, and he was quick to leave right after. I was scared a little at first, but I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. He'd continue to show up for practice, but all that we had between us just…disappeared. No walking together to the train station. No after-practice coffee. That 'bond' we had just vanished into thin air all of a sudden, and it was right after I had heard about that mare that caused him to leave so suddenly that day. I began hearing things at practice regarding how that mare was actually an old love interest of his, but they had never been able to see each other due to issues with family. I immediately disregarded them as rumors. I wanted to speak with him directly, but I only ever saw him during practice. Immediately afterwards, he'd just leave like if I wasn't even there. I purposely convinced myself to live in a fairytale lie, but the bitter truth was soon spoon-fed to me during Hearth Warming Eve. Shortly after I boarded the train to Ponyville…I saw them…together at the station. As I saw them draw closer towards each other, my eyes finally opened. What he did was evidence enough for me to realize I had been taken for a fool. Even if I had wanted to confront him the next time I saw him at practice after the holidays, I couldn't, because he had taken off. With that mare, I assume. I never saw him again. I don't know where he moved, and I hope that I never do because I never want to see his face again."

Her hoof tensed and lightly shook as she picked it up.

"As you may already know by now, that's when I came to growing a hatred over any stallion I fear would wrong me as he did. I never drew close to any of them any more than I needed to. I mean…I suppose I still feel somewhat the same way. Oddly enough, you proved me wrong. Only about yourself, however. I'm still wary of others."

"Tavi…" I finally intervened, remembering what Vinyl had told me about being out of the loop. "How could you keep this all to yourself? Why didn't you tell someone like Vinyl? She's your best friend."

"I told you already." She answered. "It's trivial. Pointless. Vinyl shouldn't know. She…wouldn't see me the same way."

"…what?" I inquired.

"I'm supposed to be a 'strong', 'responsible', and 'independent' mare." She listed. "I'm not one to be easily scarred by some kind of foolish and pitiful heartbreak. I'm supposed to be unfazed by it. That's how she sees me. Somepony who takes their work seriously and doesn't let silly things like that affect them. I can't have her know how weak I really am. I can't let her find that I've been in contempt over this issue for so long. As a 'strong' mare, I should have been over this a long time ago, but I'm not. I still feel wronged, and I'm not so sure if that feeling will ever go away. What if…she leaves me too?"

Her hooves moved as she finally turned and faced me. At this moment, I noticed tears begin to gush out from the corner of her eyes. "I-I'm scared. I don't want this hole to grow bigger." She admitted as she sniffled several times after. "But, I can't just 'fill' the hole that stallion left me. I can't just 'get over it'. I try so hard to ignore it, but at times I feel absolutely mortified and miserable. When I look at you, it's so much harder. For a second, I believed that…maybe…you might help me…fill that hole. But…" She shook her head somberly. "I know it's impossible. I need the kind of love you'd see from a stallion and mare, not just 'friendship love'. A strong kind of love that would allow me to move on for good. I find you compatible, but…you already have someone else."

She proceeded to turn her head away after confiding in me. "…I know you mean well, but sometimes I can't help but remember that same sunken feeling I felt then when I speak with you at times. I feel like I can really trust you, and that's exactly what scares me. I'm not so sure I can keep up this façade any longer."

"Then, don't." I told her. "You're so worked up over hiding a part of yourself you don't like from others that really care about you. You've been holding these feelings for so long, and they're at the point where you can't hold them in any longer without hurting yourself. You need to let them run their course with the ponies you trust. Ponies like Vinyl…"

"If…If she knows…"

"If she knows, she'll understand." I assured. "Everyone has their weaknesses, so you shouldn't feel like you need to act like you don't. Just because you've gone through your share of emotional rollercoasters, stuff like heartbreaks, it doesn't make you weak. You are strong, Octavia. And you can become an even stronger pony if you stop hiding the fact that this is hurting you. I understand how you feel, but to be honest, I don't really think you need to replace the role that stallion used to have in your heart. You just need to fill that love with any kind of genuine love, but you've been having a piece of plywood over that hole in spite of him. Open your heart and let your friends help you recover. That's what you did for me…"

"You…" She latched her gaze back onto me. With a great sniffle, she proceeded with an attempt at speaking to me clearly. "You won't abandon me too, now, will you? Now, that you know?"

It was absolutely ridiculous of her to ask such a question to me, but at the same time, I knew how she must have felt. During our most vulnerable times, we can hardly think. During times like these, it isn't so far-fetched to believe you're at the end of your life. That's why the kind of pony you confided in mattered the most because it's ultimately them that is the driving factor when it comes to decision-making at a time like this.

"Of course not." I answered. "I don't expect you to be some kind of pony who keeps her cool all the time. I mean, look at me. I think a lot of ponies look to me as somepony who knows what to do or say all the time, but I panic a lot of the time when things get personal. I've let emotions get in the way of my decisions before instead of thinking things through. You have nothing to be ashamed of. It's all part of who you are. And, quite frankly, the only thing you can do about it is either keep worrying about it or just accept it. There are some things we can't just change about ourselves whether you like it or not. And that's how you know who your true friends are. True friends accept you for who you really are, and the sooner you talk things over with Vinyl, the sooner I'm sure you'll feel better about yourself."

She continued standing there in front of me, looking slightly away as if she was still enduring a great deal of hesitation and doubt.

"Just let it all out." I encouraged her. "Stop holding back."

Her lips quivered at that last remark. Her eyes closed shut, and she gritted her teeth as sobs began to march out. It wasn't long before she began stepping towards me and allowed herself to fall against me. From there, I placed a hoof around her and lightly patted her as I patiently waited for her tears to run dry. After a calm period of time, her crying seemed to slowly subside. I continued waiting silently for her to make her next move.

"I'm okay now." She answered with a balanced voice and then lightly pulled her head away from my chest. "Thank you." Her lips shortly curved upwards. "I apologize to be pressing onto you like this. I don't think your special somepony would appreciate it."

"She's not the 'jealous' type, so you don't have to worry." I told her. "I'm kind of glad too, otherwise I'd be getting chewed out every single day." I laughed lightly.

Octavia seemed to appreciate my comment, but her brow furrowed angrily unexpectedly shortly after. "You better not be doing anything hurtful behind her back. She's a lucky mare, and if I ever find you maliciously taking advantage of that trust, I will personally admit you to the Ponyville hospital."

Knowing her experience with martial arts, I found myself nearly swallowing heavily out of fear. I tried to convince myself that she wasn't being entirely serious, but at the same time, I couldn't put it past her. Nevertheless, I personally would never be able to bring myself to intentionally hurt Fluttershy, so in reality, I didn't have anything to worry about.

"H-Hey, you've got my word, okay?" I told her.

Her brow relaxed and her lips came to a calm smile. She lowered her head and appeared to think to herself for a moment before she raised it back up to me. "…I think you're right. All this time, I've been dealing with this feeling of being wronged on my own, and in return, it only caused me to feel even more bitter about it. I suppose you can even say I blamed others for my own actions. I scared Vinyl out of my home. I think she deserves to know why."

"You want to know something?" I brought up. "The only reason why she came in here in the first place was to help you. She couldn't get answers from you directly, so she felt like she needed to get them through extreme measures. I wouldn't entirely condone or find her methods ethical, but, hey, shows how dedicated she is when it comes to caring about you, huh?"

"So, that's why she was hiding in the closet?" Octavia remembered and then giggled lightly. "Perhaps she'll remember to keep her tail from poking out underneath the closet door. However, for her best interest, she better hope that there isn't a next time. That goes for you too. I figured you would have stopped her, not join her."

"Oh, believe me, I tried." I explained in a small fit of embarrassment. "But, I'm telling you, she was so persistent. Thought if she was going to go through with it no matter what, I might as well make sure she didn't go over the top."

"I don't know why she went and hid. I wouldn't have found it odd for her to be in my room. I'm sure she could have avoided this little episode had she remained visible."

"I wonder the same thing. I guess her emotions got the better of her." I stated. "See? You two aren't very different."

Octavia giggled and nodded. "Yes, you're right. You're absolutely right. Why don't we go pay her a visit? I'm willing to make a bet that she's standing right outside this house as we speak."

"Let's go." I agreed. "She's probably wondering if she should call an ambulance at this point."

Octavia returned a jubilant grin at my assumption before she led me out of her room to finally settle things for good.

"What did you do to him?!" I heard Vinyl's voice outside after Octavia walked out the front door first. "He doesn't belong in Tartarus! I'm the—" She ceased her rambling once she saw me walk out unscathed. "Y-You're okay! I think?"

"We just had a long talk." Octavia explained vaguely. "And your schedule better be free later on today because you and I are due for one ourselves as well."

Vinyl gulped and slightly flinched. "It'll just be a talk, right…?"

"Guess you'll have to wait and find out." Octavia responded with a kind of poker face. Then, she turned to me and gestured her head in the direction of a road ahead. "Come on. We're going to Sugarcube Corner."

"Oh, so you're going there after all?" Vinyl asked. "Hold up. I'll come with."

"No." Octavia stated firmly. "As a part of your punishment, you're forbidden to join us. Use that time to think about what you have done."

"…you're grounding me…?" Vinyl questioned sadly and in confusion. "…what…?"

"That's right." Octavia held her head up high like a scolding mother. "I expect you to be at home by the time the sun sets. If you're not, you can add a few extra days to your grounding."

"…yes, ma'am…" She returned with flopping ears.

Octavia began striding down the road. Just before I decided to join her, I stopped by Vinyl and offered her a reassuring smile.

"Things will be alright."

"Alex." I heard a firm voice call me out, causing me to quickly catch up with her.

"…I kind of thought you'd get things settled on the spot right there." I admitted as I walked by her side.

Octavia relaxed her pose of confidence and spoke with me much more naturally. "Well, you said it yourself. I'm…a 'strong mare', correct? Just because I've been using that as a mask doesn't mean that side of me has disappeared. I'll make sure that pony learns her lesson, not because I'm upset with her, but because I care about her." With a beautiful smile stretched out on her face, she faced me directly. "I love the both of you. I may not have many friends, due to my unfortunate nature of keeping myself distant the majority of the time, but I truly cherish and care for those close to me. And, I believe I've become a better pony because of it. Thank you."

"I'm just glad I was able to help." I shared appreciatively to her as my heart felt like it was being bathed in a warming light.

She unexpectedly stopped in her tracks, causing me to do the same and face her.

"I want you to know that you can count on me to be there for you in your darkest moments." She mentioned genuinely as she locked her gaze onto me. "You've played such a crucial part in my life, and I greatly hope that we can remain together like this for as long as we keep standing. Saying that, I'm willing to put myself on the line if you're ever in trouble, even if that means risking my life. Nothing makes me happier than doing something useful to the ponies I care about."

"I agree with you completely." I returned. "Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. You and I can see each other anytime we want. You've got VIP tickets to see the Prince of Ponyville anyway." I told her with a playful smirk.

"Hm." Octavia shut her eyes as she took that with a warm smile. "Thank you. From the very bottom of my heart."

Making up for our previous troubled time at the art show, Octavia and I proceeded to head over to Sugarcube Corner and spent a good while talking with each other.

Octavia and I separated for the day outside of the sweet shop at the first sign of sunset. Before I could get walking back to the castle, I suddenly heard a loud banging followed by a muffled and hollow voice.

"…Hello?"

I turned to find it coming from the large mailbox used for public drop-offs nearby.

"…is someone there?" I asked, bringing my head close to the mailbox.

"Please! Get me out!"

Standing there dumbfounded, I decided to push open the flap at the top and look inside. There, I found a cross-eyed face looking back at me.

"Derpy…? Is that you? How the heck did you get in here?" I questioned.

Realizing who I was, she called out my name. "Alex! Please help me! I'm stuck!"

Using magic, it only took a second or two to easily allow her to escape. Once free, she inhaled a large breath and stretched out her hooves before pummeling me with a thankful hug.

"Mind explaining what you were doing in there in the first place?" I focused my interest on.

"Well, after I warned you guys, I didn't know what else to do. I was scared that you two might have been caught and that she would be coming for me next! The first thing I could think of was hiding out inside the mailbox. It wasn't until a while later that I realized I got myself stuck in there…"

Finding her first "hiding place" an unnecessary option, I decided to relieve her of her worries.

"There's no need to hide. Everything's fine."

"She didn't find you?" She asked, surprised.

"She did." I answered. "But you don't need to hide from her." I assured her with a small grin. "I think you might want to head over to Vinyl's right now. You can probably get the story straight there."

"Oh, okay." She seemed to hesitate for a bit. "You look okay, so I guess she's not mad."

She might be a little upset, but I didn't want to scare her away so I didn't tell her that.

Finally arriving back home, I found Twilight and Athena with slightly damp towels hanging around their necks. However, it didn't seem Spike or Flurry Heart was with them. Did Cadence and Shining Armor already pick her up?

"Hey, you two." I greeted. "Did you just finish taking a bath or something?"

"Yep!" Twilight answered. "I love Flurry Heart, but she really loves to make a mess."

"I can't look at mashed peas without feeling sick now." Athena informed as she held both a relieved and grateful smile.

"So?" Twilight questioned as she leaned closely towards my face. "How'd it go? Did you straighten things out with Octavia?"

"Yeah, Alex. How'd it go?" Athena repeated with a peaking curiosity.

"It was a little rough at first, but things worked out great in the end. She's on the road to recovery." I reported a little too professionally.

"I'm really curious about what exactly happened." Twilight admitted. "I want to hear about what this 'rough' part of your mission was and how friendship overcame it in the end. However, I understand that based on what you told me before, what you experienced today might be a little too personal to tell on her end. As much as I want to know, I'll simply be satisfied with the result instead."

Yeah, I didn't think Octavia would appreciate me spilling her story, even if it was for "friendship business". Being someone she completely trusted, I didn't want to do that to her without her consent in the first place.

"So, Cadence and Shining Armor already came and picked up Flurry Heart?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah. You just missed them a while ago." Twilight recalled. "They were asking about you. Are you free next Tuesday? They want to have dinner."

"As long as I'm not dealing with another 'friendship crisis', I think I should be good."

"Great! I'll be sure to write that down on the schedule then."

"What about Spike? Where's he?" I questioned next.

"Still finishing up at the hospital for us." Athena answered. "Flurry Heart was…quite the troublemaker. I have to say…I've never watched over a baby before, and I think taking care of an Alicorn baby was too high of a level for me."

"I can't wait to see what she's like when she grows up." Twilight mentioned. "Imagine when she starts going to school!"

"Oh my gosh!" Athena reacted expressively. "You think she's going to give the teachers a hard time? Oh, I already feel so bad!"

"Hm…" Twilight tapped her chin with her hoof as she looked back in thought while wearing a small yet mischievous grin. "Maybe a particular amazing aunt can actually be said teacher in due time?"

"You think that's possible?"

"Well… I'm sure a little research can tell us exactly what we need to know about what qualification we'd have to…"

Twilight began to trail on, and, despite the commonly boring subject, Athena looked invested enough to participate in a chatty subject between the two of them. It looked like whatever they did today strengthened the bond between the both of them as well. I decided to leave them be for the time being and returned to my room for some well-deserved rest.

As I laid on my bed and silently stared at my ceiling, I began to recall my title as a "Prince of Light". I knew I was obviously a prince and was involved with all that "light" business, but I never really truly understood the title. It sounded so generic, but after today, I believed I began to understand it more.

Maybe that's been my purpose all along? Even during the times I didn't even know it, all I've really wanted to do was make ponies happy. Well, more accurately, I wanted my friends, the ponies I care about, to be happy. As cliché as it sounded, the happiness in others ultimately made me happy, and if I can really bring the light to others' lives by whatever means necessary, then I was willing to abide by that for the rest of my life.

Rock Solid Friendship

"Huh? There's like no one here." Athena mentioned as we came across what appeared to be the school that was holding the graduation. "Are you sure we're at the right place?"

I took a look at the invitation I had been holding and double-checked the location details on it. "I'm pretty sure it is." I spent a while searching for some kind of indication on the building and eventually found some engraved letters that matched way too closely to the exterior color of the surface. "Equestrian Institute of Rockology. Yeah, this is it." I read.

"Are you sure it's today?" She asked next.

"Yeah. It has to be." I answered, despite feeling a little doubt linger by.

"Why didn't Pinkie just come with us?" Athena questioned a little frustratedly. "I mean, we're going to the same place, right?"

"She took an earlier train back home to her rock farm." I explained. "She has family there, remember? She should be coming here with them."

"…I guess…" Athena responded with slightly puffed out cheeks before she turned her attention to the empty chairs in front of the barren stage. "Let's go sit down and wait then."

Athena and I sat at the front on the leftmost side and waited quietly. Honestly, it was a little hard imagining a student coming to school here, considering how barren everything around us was. It was like a desert…but a rock desert. Judging from the number of seats that were laid out in front of the stage, it didn't look like many students were lined up to graduate. How many students were there anyway?

"I can't see myself coming to school here." Athena opened up the floor for discussion. "It seems so…boring."

"That reminds me. You've never officially met Maud, have you?" I recalled. "You've seen her, but I don't think I've introduced you two."

"Er…" Athena shifted in her seat a bit uncomfortably. "…you…um…don't really have to introduce me or anything. I'm not sure how I'd be able to…'connect'…with her. I've seen some of your conversations with her and man… It's just so awkward! Like how do you not feel weird when she just looks at you without saying anything? It can be really intimidating sometimes."

"It looks that way, but once you get to know her, you get used to it, I guess."

"Maybe when I'm a lot more advanced in my friendship lessons, I'll think about it, kay?" She settled on.

Well, I didn't want to force her to do something she didn't want to do anyway.

"Hey!" We heard behind us. "We're here! We're here!" Turning our heads, we came across a family of, quite frankly, mundane colors. However, Pinkie was the only exception, of course. "Everypony, meet my two good friends! Mr. Blue here is a super wealthy and royal prince that lives with us in Ponyville! His name is Alex!"

"…wealthy?" I questioned, but I was completely ignored as she moved on to my sister.

"And this is Athena!" Pinkie stretched out her foreleg and hung it around Athena, pulling her in for a tight embrace. "She's super sweet and a great friend to bake with!"

Athena appeared to be a little too surprised by Pinkie's enthusiasm that she couldn't really give out a proper hello, but it wasn't necessarily a problem since Pinkie was quick to excitedly move on to introducing the rest of her family.

I know I had heard about them before, and I already had an image in my head before Athena and I even came here. However, meeting them for real like this, I still couldn't help but be a little surprised. All of them were just so different from Pinkie. Her father looked so serious, it almost gave me flashbacks of the father I grew up with. Her mother nearly looked as if she was genuinely annoyed to be standing in front of us, and I would've believed that she was against the idea of attending this graduation if it wasn't for the rare brief moments she would show some bit of emotion. Her sisters, on the other hoof, were extremely different from both their parents and Pinkie in their own way.

One of them made sure to make a convincing approach as if she was trying to assert her dominance in the group. Never once did a smile draw out on her lips and never once did her brow unfurrow. Her name was Limestone Pie. To be honest, after taking a glance at Athena to catch her reaction, I believed she may have been slightly afraid of Limestone.

Then there was the last of Pinkie's sisters. She was extremely quiet and reserved. In fact, she looked as if she wanted to escape out of introducing herself to us, but Pinkie happily dragged any part of her that managed to somewhat slip away back into the conversation. She didn't say a word as she stared at the two of us with a quivering head. Pinkie actually began speaking on her behalf as if it was the norm. Her name was Marble Pie.

I was actually afraid that Marble Pie may have possibly been a mute, but then she surprised the two of us when she agreed to Pinkie's commentary on her behalf with a soft yet slightly firm "Mm-hm." Having an extraordinarily vast amount of experience when it came to a shy personality of a pony, I was sure that Marble and I could actually get along, especially when comparing her to her brash and slightly vulgar sister Limestone. However, seeing as this may be the only time we might actually see each other, I didn't look too much into establishing a friendship with her just yet.

Overall, just like with Maud, Pinkie's family seemed like some genuinely nice and caring ponies, even if they didn't necessarily show it. After all, if Pinkie thought they were amazing, I was willing to take her word on it.

With all of us, we took up the entirety of the front row of seats, but things grew even stranger shortly afterwards. No other pony had shown up, and only two ponies appeared on stage. One was Maud, and the other was the announcer going through the process of giving Maud her degree.

I didn't know whether to believe it was completely circumstantial that Maud was the only one at the time who was graduating, or if she was literally the only student who attended this school. At this time, I couldn't lie and say I was worried about how serious her degree and studies would be taken.

Nevertheless, her graduation was rather a short one for obvious reasons. In fact, the only thing that kept it lively was Pinkie's constant screaming. Other than that, it was your standard "Congratulations on making it this far. Here's your diploma." kind of deal.

It wasn't long before we were gathered at the train station where Maud began to ditch her graduation gear. The two sisters waved goodbye to their families before they accompanied us on the train back to Ponyville. To be honest, I found it a bit strange, especially since the last time I remembered her being in Ponyville was when she met us for the first time.

"So, Maud. If you don't mind me asking… What are you planning to do now that you're finished with school?" I asked, sitting on the seat in front of her inside the train.

"Actually, I was considering moving to Ponyville." She answered in her usual deadpan tone.

Pinkie gasped immediately afterward. "You are?! Really really?!" She tugged at Maud's clothes tightly with her two front hooves as she stared at her with an over-the-top grin.

Maud nodded a bit slowly. "It was actually a really tough decision. I was also considering Ghastly Gorge."

"Ghastly Gorge?" Pinkie's lips curled downwards in both surprise and disgust. "That terrible, awful, no-fun, all-alone canyon in the middle of nowhere? Why in Equestria would you ever think about moving there?! You'd be all by yourself!"

"And that's exactly why I decided on Ponyville." Maud responded before casting her head down a bit. "As much as I would have loved studying the unfamiliar rocks there, I wasn't really looking forward to being alone…" Unexpectedly, Maud turned her expressionless gaze over at me. "I had a good time at Manehattan, and I thought if I actually moved to Ponyville…there'd be a lot more opportunities to enjoy myself as I did then…"

Her stare remained fixated on me, and I wasn't sure if I was supposed to personally address it or not. Somewhat fortunately, Pinkie Pie grabbed the spotlight above me by the neck and focused it on her as she excitedly lurched over to her sister.

"Are you kidding?! You'll make ALL kinds of good memories in Ponyville! I'm so glad you're moving home with us! We'll live together and get bunk beds and I'll make us fuzzy slippers that say 'Best Sister Friends Forever', although I probably can't fit all those words on a slipper, so maybe just 'BSFF', but we don't have to decide right now because we'll be together all the time since when it comes to Ponyville, the doctor is in!"

Contrary to her continuously babbling sister, Maud's facial features remained unmoved. "I don't mind living together at first, Pinkie, but I would like to find a place of my own sometime."

"No problem! That's A-Okay! I'm just glad that we'll be living so close together! It's been so long since we've been in the same town for more than a few days!"

As Maud and Pinkie continued their conversation, I noticed Athena giving me a sort of an attentive look in the middle of it. It was the kind of look you gave someone when you wanted their attention but didn't exactly want to say anything to merit it. As soon as we had been looking directly at each other, her brow lightly furrowed, and I began hearing a distinct voice in my head.

I don't want to have to talk like this, but I didn't want there to be a chance in anyone else hearing this. I kind of want to talk to Maud, but just looking at her is hard enough. Like, I can pretty much tell how she feels, but having that blank and expressionless face right on the forefront makes things so awkward. Have you ever been in a situation where you know someone loves you but at times you feel they might hate your guts? It's kind of like that. How do you do it? How do you not get even a bit scared when Maud just stares at you as if she finds you extremely boring or something?

Uh. That's a hard question to answer. I just feel comfortable around her, I guess? I think what helped was that she sort of made a good first impression on me personally. When she had made that joke about her dress not talking because it's a dress, I knew this pony was something entirely else in a good way. In other words, she definitely seemed like somepony I could get along with, despite the unfamiliar personality.

Hm. I guess I'm a little late to the party, huh? I wonder if things would have been different if we both had met her face-to-face at the same time.

Well, not that I'm forcing you to do anything, but since she's moving to Ponyville, you could always try starting something to get to know her. That's if you're interested though.

Heh heh. Maybe.

With that last remark, Athena returned a short and simple smile.

"Ooh! Why didn't you guys tell me you were having a staring contest?!" Pinkie exclaimed, snapping our attention back to them almost immediately. "Maud and I love that game! She always beats me every time though…"

As Pinkie thought to herself for a short moment, I ironically noticed Maud holding a fixated stare over at her, and it seemed she hadn't blinked at all for the last few minutes.

"What do you want to do first, Maud?!" Pinkie asked as she eagerly hopped past the train station after we had arrived back in Ponyville. "Since this is officially your first day here in Ponyville, I was thinking we could throw you a 'Congrats on graduating and moving to Ponyville with your Best Sister Friend Forever' party! Of course, it's a shame it won't really be a surprise because I love surprises. But, you can definitely help me bake the cake and set up the decorations! It'll give us so much sister bonding time! Oh…but it isn't exactly party etiquette if the pony the party is for is helping set up the party itself…" Pinkie gave her head a good shake after making her lengthy suggestion before stopping in her tracks and facing Maud directly. "You're the smarty pants doctor here, Maud. It's your choice to make!"

"I wouldn't mind a party." Maud simply answered. "But, I'd like it if we just kept it between us."

"Aaah." Pinkie returned a bit of a cheeky yet playful kind of smirk as she pulled a clipboard out of her mane and began making notes on it. "No problemo. After all, if the whole town was invited, we wouldn't really get to focus our time together on each other, huh? Totally cool. Small party. Got it. And for your cake? Type of frosting? Color? Size? Do you want number candles or stick candles that make out the numbers? Wait. That's for birthdays. Well, it doesn't matter! It's your big day, so whatever you want is fine with me!"

"Surprise me." Maud calmly replied.

"In that case, I'll make the most amazing cake you'll ever lay your taste buds on!" Pinkie promised as she scribbled hastily on her clipboard. "We can start heading over to Sugarcube Corner right now! If you see anything that catches your eye, you can let me know and I'll be sure to work some of my Pinkie magic!"

Pinkie began to continue to hop forward at a lively pace, but Maud's response froze her in place for a short moment.

"Actually, I was interested in checking out that gem cave you told me Ponyville has, Pinkie."

"Oh, sure! But, what about your party?" Pinkie asked.

"Hey, you said it yourself, didn't you?" Athena spoke up, walking over to Pinkie Pie. "It's not really 'party etiquette' if the pony you're throwing the party for is helping you set up for said party. Why don't you let her explore the cave while we get the party together?"

"Excellent idea, Athena!" Pinkie praised with a satisfied smile. "Can I count on you to help make this one of the best parties ever for our newly graduated doctor?"

"I always love a good party." Athena enthusiastically accepted with a bright closed-eye grin. "Especially when I get to eat some of the sweets beforehoof."

Pinkie Pie and Athena bumped hooves with each other before Pinkie giggled giddily to herself in excitement. "Then, it's settled! Ooh, I can't wait!" She then turned over to Maud. "Okay, Maud. You go on ahead, and I'll let you know when we're done if you haven't stopped by Sugarcube Corner by then. The cave is pretty dark and is a little spooky at times, so you should definitely take Alex with you! You wouldn't want to be by yourself, right?"

Maud faced her attention over to me for a short while before she turned back to Pinkie Pie. "Mm-hm." She nodded and said softly.

"Great! Come on, Athena! It's time to embark on an everlasting quest to make Maud the bestest cake she'll ever have the pleasure of eating!" Pinkie encouraged as she began to make a dash for her bakery.

"Right behind you, Pinkie!" Athena accepted as she raced after Pinkie, leaving Maud and me on our own.

Maud and I turned towards each other, and she only revealed an expected unreadable expression on her face to me. I honestly wasn't expecting for things to turn out the way they did, but I did have the day open for Maud for her graduation. So, there wasn't any problem with the plans that were just made on the spot a moment ago.

"Guess we should get going, huh?" I asked.

"Sure." She answered with a slightly raised pitch in her voice.

Maud and I strapped on hardhats and began wandering the gem cave with our attached lights practically leading the way. I couldn't remember the last time I had been in this cave, and if it wasn't for the gems, I most likely would have felt uncomfortable being in such a dark, quiet, and fairly narrow place.

Maud's eyes noticeably wandered around as the light from her helmet followed the direction of her head. As hard as it still was to tell what exactly had been running through her mind, I wasn't afraid to ask her about it.

"See any rocks that catch your eye?" I asked.

"Not really." She replied, shifting her focus onto me. "All of these gems on the walls are actually really common."

"Oh, yeah?" I took a look at the gems for myself. Whether they had actually been common or not, they were still pretty to look at. "I hope this isn't making you regret choosing Ponyville over Ghastly Gorge." I half-joked.

"Rocks aren't the reason why I chose Ponyville." She claimed, analyzing a jagged part of the wall with her hoof.

"I don't think I ever asked you before, did I?" I brought up, realizing something I couldn't believe I still hadn't learned about her. "If you don't mind me asking, what got you into rocks so much? Was it from working at your family's rock farm when you were little?"

"You could say that." Maud pulled her attention away from what she had been studying and turned to face me. "But, that was only the start. After all, having spent nearly my childhood on a rock farm, I found that each one of them has a different story to tell." Digging into her pocket, she pulled out a familiar pebble. "Like Boulder here." She lifted her hoof and pointed at a particular line on the surface of her pet rock. "This tells me he's over two thousand years old, but he hardly looks a day over six hundred to me."

"…wow. You're really smart." I could only compliment her, seeing as I had nothing else worthy enough to share in regards to her keen eye. I turned over to glance back at the multitude of gems surrounding us as she stuffed Boulder back into her pocket. "I know some ponies can think rocks are just dull and boring, but, I mean, I think they play a much bigger role than we let on. To be honest, I don't see myself going as far as to study them as intricately as you do, but I do definitely find myself appreciating them, especially when you come into the equation. I guess you just have a way of giving 'life' to rocks, so to speak."

"You really think so?" She asked.

"Yeah. Thinking about it, you can't help but wonder about the stories these rocks have when you find them all together like this. You have sapphires, emeralds, rubies, the works. Were they all brought together like this by some kind of force or something? Or did they just…you know…happen to be together by coincidence?" After rambling for a bit, I found myself lightly chuckling. "Sorry, this might be a dumb question coming from somepony who hardly knows anything about rocks."

Maud shook her head and averted her eyes to the ground for a moment. "That's another reason why I like rocks. They don't exclude you if you're…different from other ponies."

Sensing she had been speaking from experience, I felt the need to address it.

"Well, different can be good. Life wouldn't be interesting if we were all the same, right? I definitely wouldn't want to exclude you from my life at all."

"I know." She slowly nodded and drew a little closer to me. "That's why I like being with you. You don't ignore me, and you don't act nice to me just because you feel like you have to be."

"You know I'm not the only one, right?" I wondered, feeling a little concerned when it came to Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie loves you with all of her heart, just in case you haven't been able to tell." I smirked lightly.

"I know. And I feel the same way about her." Maud clarified. "It's just…she's my sister. It's really nice to have somepony who's like that and isn't family."

"Yeah, I think I get what you mean."

It was hard to relate to her completely, considering I sort of experienced love from friends first before family. However, I supposed Pinkie Pie fell into the category of loving her sister naturally because she was family. It was different when it came to ponies that you weren't related to. In other words, I guess it was more of an accomplishment when it was some pony you didn't grow up with and thus achieved a friend through your own social merit, in a sense.

"Anyways, if somepony like me can appreciate you just the way you are, I'm sure there's other ponies that'd feel the same." I continued.

"Thanks. But, I'm really happy just having you around." She admitted, despite her neutral and untouched facial expression that would say otherwise. Although, even if her true emotions weren't plastered on her face like they usually would be with Pinkie, I genuinely felt as if I could feel them touch me faintly at the very least.

Unexpectedly, she raised her head and began sniffing at the air a little bit.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I smell the breaking of minerals." She faced me and answered. "Somepony else is here. Or, maybe even…something else."

I was usually able to laugh at her obvious jokes, even when she looked serious about them. However, during this moment, it was honestly a little difficult. Her statement could have been easily taken as something gravely serious. With me knowing that different kinds of creatures could be definitely lurking underground, I wasn't so confident to simply brush it off as a joke.

"What do you want to do? Do you want to leave for now?" I questioned her.

"No, it's fine." She responded and began walking forward.

"…if you say so." I returned, finding her vague answer acceptable enough to continue our exploration.

A short moment after, we found what appeared to be another faint light ahead of us. Accompanying this light were barely audible sounds. I wasn't sure in Maud's case, but I decided to cautiously step towards it until I was able to get a good look at whoever else was also in here with us.

Once I was in a position where I was able to shine my light at the slightly darkened figure, I noticed the color of another hard hat with a bright blue bow on the back of it. After having a quick glance over her mane and coat, it didn't take more than a second to figure out who it had been this entire time.

"Oh. Rarity?" I called out.

She brought her head over her shoulder to have a look behind her before facing her body towards me completely. "Oh! Why, hello, Alex!" She then noticed the pony besides me and acknowledged her as well with a small gasp. "Maud, darling! It's lovely to see you again! Oh! I heard about your grand accomplishment. Congratulations on your rocktorate. What are you doing now?"

Realizing what Rarity had just gotten herself into, I somewhat anxiously tensed my hooves and turned directly over to Maud in expectation for a piece of her often-misunderstood humor.

Here it comes! Here it comes!

"Talking to you." She delivered after a few seconds of complete and utter silence.

I couldn't help but snicker.

"Oh, y— Right." Rarity laughed along after taking notice of my reaction, but I wasn't sure if it sounded a little forced or not. She then cleared her throat before changing the topic. "Well, if your trained eye happens to see a chartreuse gem, I'm desperate to find one."

Maud looked to her right for a second before bending down to pick something up.

"I found one."

"Oh, you're an absolute darling!" Rarity spotted the gem on her hoof and graciously accepted it with her magic. "Spike?" She looked over her shoulder and called over. It wasn't long before a small dragon appeared by her side and held out a basket of acquired gems.

"Oh, Spike's with you?" I questioned, feeling a small sense of relief. "I was hoping you didn't come here by yourself."

"Nonsense." Rarity dismissed. "Spike is such a dear. He's been helping me for a while now. I only have to get after him a few times when it looks like he's ready to snack on a really important gem, which reminds me… Be sure not to partake in this one, okay, Spike?" She pointed out her newly attained gem. "This will surely make my gown stand out at Countess Coloratura's album release party. Do you know how rare this is?"

"That's actually a really common gem." Maud pointed out.

"Huh?" Rarity and Spike returned with a look of confusion on their faces.

Without turning back, Maud kicked out a piece of the wall with her hindleg. Behind her, dozens of the same gems poured out. Turning her head upwards, she lifted her hoof in order to present all the other gems that surrounded us. "These are all really common gems."

"…they are…?" Rarity lips began to tremble as water leaked out from her eyes.

…uh, she probably didn't need to know that.

"So, what, right?" I immediately began talking. "Just become they're common doesn't mean that they won't look great, right?" I approached Rarity and made an attempt to comfort her. "They don't need to know about that. I'm sure a lot of the great-looking things sold in Canterlot aren't all made from rare things."

"…I…I suppose you're right." She seemed to agree, but I was left unsure if her opinion was based on the need to cease the tears that were just about ready to come out from her eyes or if it was what she really thought. "After all, I've many of my dresses from what once began as really common fabric. I really was looking forward to using what I thought were rare gems, however…" She sighed sadly as she spent a moment staring over her basket of collected gems.

"Don't worry about it." I tried to tell her with confidence. "Just…forget the fact that they're…um…common."

"Alex is right. You still make pretty dresses." Maud added.

"Thank you, you two. Um…I'll keep looking around."

I turned to Maud a bit worriedly before responding to Rarity. "Be safe."

"Mm-hm." She nodded and then faced Spike. "Let's go then, Spike."

The two left in the other direction, leaving me feeling both guilty and awkward with Maud.

"Um." I began as I rubbed the back of my neck a little bit. "You…want to go see how Pinkie's doing with your party?"

"Sure." Maud answered familiarly before we began heading back to the entrance of the cave.

Arriving at Sugarcube Corner, I had to admit that the party wasn't really a party in my eyes. I didn't know if Pinkie had particular names for differentiating types of parties, but since no more than four ponies participated in this event, it was more of a 'get-together' than a party in my opinion. Nevertheless, it was comfortable enough for Maud, and each of us spent a good while partaking in the celebration.

As for a few interesting details, the cake that Pinkie had surprised her sister with took the appearance of a fairly large rock or boulder. In other words, the cake had jagged layers, and its color was dull which went against Pinkie's usual tastes. Despite the exterior color, cutting inside revealed a chocolatey interior. I was almost afraid that it would end up being as hard as an actual rock, but thankfully it wasn't.

"That was delish!" Pinkie commented as she licked away any remaining crumbs on her lips. "What do you say we call it a day, Maud? It's been such a big day for you after all. You're probably tired from the crazy graduation ceremony and the train ride over here! How about we get you settled in upstairs?"

"Okay." Maud answered briefly.

"I guess Athena and I should get going to." I acknowledged as I stood up from the table we had gathered on. "Thanks for the cake, Pinkie. It was really good."

"Just wait till Maud's birthday! I'll make an even better cake! Say goodbye, Maud!"

"See you." Maud stared directly at me as she softly expressed her farewell before she was practically dragged upstairs by Pinkie.

Athena shuddered lightly beside me. "It's so uncanny. It's like her emotions and her actual being are two completely different ponies. I know I can read emotions pretty well, but, man, I think Pinkie does a way better job at it when it comes to Maud."

"Yeah." I returned, continuing to look at the stairway they had used to leave for a moment before I faced towards Athena. "It's still a little hard for me to read her mind. All I can really do is just not take her mannerisms too literally, if you know what I mean."

"Well, since she's going to be staying in Ponyville, hopefully, I can get used to it as well you are in the near future." She then lightly nudged me out the door. "Come on! Let's head back to the castle."

I spent the rest of the day/night doing the usual, such as hearing about Twilight and Starlight's day. Other than that, there didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinarily new. However, things were a bit…different the next morning.

I had been unexpectedly woken with a monotonous knock on my door. I had still been somewhat half-asleep as I dragged myself out of bed to answer it. When I opened the door, it took me some time to register who the pony in front of me had been.

"Hello." She calmly greeted.

"…Maud?" I rubbed my eyes to make sure I was seeing correctly. "Oh. Uh, hey. What are you doing here? Is something up?"

Maud lifted her head directly upwards and froze it in place for a good while before bringing it back down. "The ceiling."

"Oh. Yeah. Heh." Usually, I would have laughed much more expressively at one of her jokes, but since I was still recovering from being suddenly woken up, all that came out was more of a heavy exhale. "I wasn't expecting to see you here all of a sudden."

"I thought we could do something together today." She replied. "Are you hungry? We could get breakfast."

I wasn't sure exactly what it was…but something seemed off about Maud here. It wasn't that anything was wrong with her. It was more like…maybe I was witnessing something of her that I hadn't seen before?

Athena, Twilight, Starlight, and Spike were surely surprised to find an unexpected guest at the dining table when everypony gathered for breakfast.

"Uh…hi, Maud!" Twilight greeted, clearly put off by her sudden presence. "Pinkie's not with you?"

"She's working right now." Maud answered as she remained still in her seat next to me. Afterward, she reached into her pocket and pulled out Boulder, placing him on the dining table by her empty plate. She spotted Spike across from her and proceeded to ask him a question. "How's Rarity doing with her gems?"

"Oh, uh." Spike scratched the scales on his head with his claw and shifted a bit uncomfortably. "She didn't really find any new gems to use for her dress, so she's a little worried about it."

"Oh." Maud responded with.

An unfamiliar and disturbing silence enveloped between all of us after she had said that. I felt like I needed to say something to break it, but there was honestly nothing that came to mind.

"I told her that she'd be great! So…" Spike tried his best to dispel the void, but he only seemed to prolong it.

"So…Twilight!" Athena brought up, turning her head from where she sat in order to get a view of a pony balancing a large serving plate with her magic. "How are those pancakes coming?"

"Coming right up." Twilight hovered a large stack between us onto the center of the table. She then proceeded to take the seat between Spike and Starlight across me. "Alright, everypony, dig in!"

"Ooh!" Athena nudged me with her hoof. "Get me five!"

After Twilight, Starlight, and Spike had their share on their plates, I went and fulfilled Athena's request by using my magic and also grabbed a few for me as well. I turned to Maud, who was the only one left with an empty plate. "How many do you want, Maud?"

She faced Boulder for a few seconds before she lifted up her head to answer me. "Three's fine."

As I brought her pancakes over to her, I noticed Starlight looked to be studying Maud intently for a good while. "Now that I look at you, you seem familiar. Have we met before?" She asked.

"Yes." Maud responded shortly, tearing her eyes away from the pancakes lying on her plate.

"I knew it!" Starlight exclaimed out loud.

"Huh?!" The rest of us turned our heads towards the two, heavily surprised.

"Y-You two know each other?" Twilight questioned.

None of us ever believed that Starlight had actually met Maud for herself ever since she had joined up with us, so this was definitely something we weren't expecting to hear about like this.

"Yeah!" Starlight answered and continued to study Maud for a bit. "When was it? Hm. No, no, don't tell me. Um..." She placed her hoof onto the bottom of her chin as the same silence from before began to unfold quickly upon us once again. Thankfully, it didn't take long for Starlight to speak back up. "Yeah. See, I was really hoping you'd tell me while I pretended to remember."

"So, when did you two meet?" I asked Maud myself, curious to know.

"I traveled Equestria for my rocktorate dissertation." Maud proceeded to explain as she recalled. "I had been studying a rock that caught my eye outside of a village in the middle of nowhere when she showed up and asked me where she could find a super-powerful stone that can store the cutie mark magic of an entire village. So, I pointed her towards a big cave I had looked through before we met. We never saw each other again after that. Not until now, at least."

"Hold on. So, Starlight was able to enslave a whole village because you told her where to find a rock that could do just that?" Spike questioned.

"Maud and Starlight met when she still lived at the village. Let's just leave it at that, okay? Heh heh." Twilight motioned for the topic to close as she laughed a bit uncomfortably.

Starlight followed soon after with a slightly nervous and bothered chuckle of her own. "Hehe, yeah. Actually, I think I'm going to take this to go." Starlight pushed herself away from the table and brought the plate along with her. "There are a few things I have to take care of, so I'll see you all later!" She went on to laugh a bit more as she left before the last thing we heard was a drawn-out sigh.

"Um…" With a worried look on her face, Twilight turned over to Maud. "Maud, let's not, uh, tell anypony else about that, okay?"

"It's not like she's enslaved anypony lately." She reasoned with.

There was another still silence between all of us before Athena went ahead and blurted something out quite forcefully with a mouthful of pancakes.

"Mmm! These sure are some good pancakes!"

I had to admit that an uncomfortable vibe lingered around for the rest of our breakfast together.

Nevertheless, things began feeling a little…different even after we had finished breakfast. None of us wanted to address the elephant in the room, but each of us except for the elephant herself knew it was kind of troubling.

If it wasn't obvious enough already, that 'elephant' was Maud.

It's not like any of us didn't want her around. It was just that, for some reason, she was sticking by us pretty closely and following us around whether it was simple tasks or for work. Whenever we had tried to ask her about, she would only respond with literal and serious statements.

Maud, is there something you need from us?

No.

Maud, are you okay with just standing around like that?

Yes.

Twilight and I felt tempted to get to the root of things and ask her why she kept hanging around us straight up, but both of us felt that saying that would be a little too rude.

It wasn't until I stopped by my room sometime during the day when I had a better understanding of why she had been staying inside the castle the entire time. Maud had been following me quietly all the way towards my room, and I didn't bother questioning her about it until she was inside my room with me.

"Hey, Maud, can I ask you something?" I said.

"What is it?" She responded with, keeping direct eye contact with me.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I…kind of want to know why you've been here since this morning. Considering you just graduated and are settling here in Ponyville, I thought you'd be looking into what you're going to do, where you're going to stay, and all that stuff."

"I'm hanging out with you." She stated, surprising me a bit.

"…'hanging out?'" I felt the need to question.

"I'm here in Ponyville now, so that means I can hang out with you a lot more than just one day, right?"

I wasn't sure if she had a good grasp on what hanging out with a friend really was.

"Um, yeah, but I've been just mostly doing other stuff here at the castle while you followed around. I don't want to keep you here if you're just going to watch, you know what I mean?"

"It's okay. I've spent practically my whole life looking at rocks and studying them. I don't find it bothersome at all when you're busy with work. I just like being with you."

I found myself unexpectedly being brought onto some weird predicament. I didn't believe I ever had been in a situation where a pony just followed me around, almost like a pet, and didn't mind at all when there's plenty of other better things that pony could be doing than sticking with me.

"Oh…" I merely responded with, not knowing what else I could say at the time.

"Also, whenever the time comes that you're finally free, I'll be right here if there's something you want to do with me."

I couldn't help but also find myself feeling an overwhelming layer of responsibility being pulled over me. No offense, Maud, but you're not the only pony I spend time with…

"You sure there aren't other things you'd have more fun doing? I'm sure Pinkie Pie has games she'd love to play with you after she's done with work." I suggested.

"Whenever she wants to play, she usually just comes and finds me, so I think I'm okay for now."

Uh-huh.

Well…Pinkie Pie has been crazy about Maud coming to stay in Ponyville for the longest time, so surely it won't be long before she comes and picks Maud up to drag her back to Sugarcube Corner, right?

I actually received my answer to that the time that Pinkie Pie ended up finding Maud with me at the castle.

"Oh, so that's where you've been this whole time! I've been wondering where you were, silly!" Pinkie hopped right into the room we had been in.

"Hi, Pinkie." Maud answered in her usual tone.

"Whoa!" Pinkie pulled herself closer to Maud until her face was in full view of her vision. "What happened to you!? You're like…beaming with excitement! Did I miss something super fun and amazing?"

"Not really." Maud responded with no change in her facial expression.

"Ahhh." Pinkie lightly poked her sister as she drew up a kind of mischievous grin on her face. "I see what's going on! You're having loads of fun with Alex, aren't you? I get it now!" She then drew away from Maud and continuously glanced at us both. "Don't let me stop you! If it keeps you in Ponyville, by all means, keep the party going! Oh, but save some fun for me too, will you?"

"…but we aren't even part—"

"I'm going to check out other parts of Ponyville! See you later!" Pinkie exclaimed loudly before leaving the room.

I couldn't help but glance over at Maud to see her returning the look.

I didn't want to believe it, but my feelings towards Maud were faintly yet undeniably changing. And I couldn't say it was the good kind. All I could assume was that it was related to her sticking by me practically all day every day, and there were no signs of this kind of behavior wearing out.

Maud was there when I'd spend time with the others, such as Rarity, Applejack, and especially Fluttershy. It was only natural of them to try and get along with Maud, but it was painfully obvious that our time with each other was being heavily affected by her presence.

It wasn't all bad, as her behavior wasn't exactly intruding whatsoever. She was mostly passive, but it was just the fact that she was there simply watching that was causing some problems. It was definitely one of the reasons why I couldn't share intimacy with Fluttershy as if it had been only the two of us.

Of course, if I asked Maud to leave the room for a bit, she'd be obedient, but if I was to do that constantly, that'd only layer over from her being a friend to something more like a pet. I honestly didn't know how I felt about this situation in it's entirety. It was the first time I had ever experienced this, and I had no clue on what to do about it. Sure, I could have informed her of the issue as gently as I could, but I also didn't want to hurt her feelings. She had just moved to Ponyville, and I didn't exactly want to give her some kind of push to move away.

Whether it was a mistake on my part or not, the only path I could bring myself to take was to accept it as wholesomely as I could and hope that things smoothed themselves out in the near future.

I didn't feel like my complete self as I almost absentmindedly helped set the table for dinner in the castle dining room. Maud and Twilight had been there with me while Athena and Spike were back at the kitchen. Maud had also been helping us set the table, and we had already been expecting that she'd be joining us. Whether Pinkie would be joining us as well was a mystery.

I noticed Twilight make a few subtle glances at me before we heard Maud making an announcement at the end of the table.

"I'm going to go wash my hooves."

She quietly stepped out through the doors before Twilight raised a question to me.

"You've been acting a bit different lately. Is everything alright?"

"I can't say it is." I placed down the plate I had been holding and then simply stared at the glass I had set earlier. "Look… You know I like Maud, right? I think she's pretty awesome to be around. But, obviously, you've had to notice it lately. I don't know how to feel with her being by my side all the time. I can't even get time with Fluttershy in properly."

"Haven't you tried talking to her about it?" Twilight asked.

"…I don't really want to hurt her. Considering that it's hard for me to tell what she's really feeling, I don't know how I'd do when it comes to a serious talk like that. Besides… She told me that I'm the only pony who isn't family that gets her, and I'm thinking that that is something that heavily influenced her to move here. I don't want to be the reason she moves away because I 'need my space'."

The more I thought about it, the more upset I began feeling.

"Argh!" I, unfortunately, exerted out a piece of that frustration. "I hate this! I don't know if it's a good thing for Maud to be living here. She wants to keep spending time with me, and I don't know if I can do it anymore. I like Maud, but there's only so much I can do with her every day. I'm starting to wonder if she would have been better off in Ghastly Gorge."

I sighed heavily afterwards. It was mostly silent in the room we were in until the sound of Twilight's hooves clacked on closer to me.

"Believe me. The last thing I want is for her to be alone, but I've got certain duties to do with you too, you know?" I continued a little more calmly now. "Not to mention that I like spending time with our other friends too. I don't want to tell her that I've got other important things to do just because of the way it sounds. I don't want her to think that she's not good enough or something because she doesn't really have any other friends to spend time with. If she was at Ghastly Gorge, she could be doing what she loved. There aren't many rocks here that catch her eye. If she's going to be spending her time looking at rocks on her own, it'd be better to do it at Ghastly Gorge, right? The place she was interested in the first place because of all the kind of different rocks there that we don't have here. Ugh..."

I buried my head within my forelegs after resting them on top of the table.

"Maybe that's why I was able to get so along with Maud before she came and moved here…" I mentioned, my voice being slightly muffled by my legs. "I didn't think she was going to want to stick by me every day. Before, we only saw each other every once in a while, so it was only natural for us to be together the day we'd see each other. I just wish I could tell her this and know for sure that she wouldn't take it hard."

"Well, I'm with you." Twilight supported. "I think it's obvious that she likes being around you. I'm sure you can find a way to tell her that won't sound as bad as you think. Tell you what. After she goes home for the day, why don't we get together in the library and I'll help you figure out a way to tell her how you've been feeling?"

I slightly lifted up my head and noticed the kind look Twilight had been sending me.

"That…sounds pretty good. Okay, I guess we can give it a shot."

We heard the doors to the dining room open, surprising us when we realized that Maud was supposed to be back in a manner of minutes.

However, it had only been Athena, and she seemed to have an odd look on her face.

"…uh, hey." She greeted as she took a few glances back at the hall behind her. "Did something happen with Maud?"

"No? I don't think so. She said she was going to go wash her hooves. Why?" I asked.

"Oh. Hm." Athena seemed to juggle something on her mind before she turned her attention back to us. "It's nothing, I guess."

Everyone gathered in the dining hall once the food had been ready. All but one pony actually…

"Huh? Maud's not eating with us?" Starlight noticed the empty plate and seat in front of her.

"She never came back from washing her hooves." Twilight mentioned with a confused look on her face. "You think Pinkie might've come and dragged her off for something?"

"Let me go check." I excused myself from the table and proceeded to start my search around the castle.

First, I looked around the nearest washroom, but there was no sign of her. I began checking a few rooms around the area, but I had no luck. I even went as far to check my room, but there was nothing worth noting. Trying to find a particular pony was pretty difficult in a huge castle like ours, but after nearly searching every room, I came up empty-hooved.

At this point, I felt myself began to lightly panic.

Is it possible that…she…might've heard me…? Does her 'Maud Sense' actually include some kind of super hearing? No… there's been a bunch of times that would make that a stupid assumption. Then, what? Did Pinkie really come and pick her up for something?

That was all we could assume when she wasn't back at the table. Either way, I began feeling an abnormal amount of guilt as the seat beside me remained empty. For the rest of the day/night, she hadn't shown up, and this thought bothered me so much that I couldn't even concentrate when Twilight tried helping me come up with something to tell Maud about my troubles. In fact, I hardly was able to even sleep that night.

"HEY! WAKE UP!"

A screeching voice startled me so much that I nearly fell out of bed listening to it. It was far more effective than a loud and constantly clanging alarm bell.

"Huh? What's—?"

Before I could even clearly ask, a pair of pink blurry hooves shook me hastily.

"What happened?!"

"What are you talking about?!" I responded angrily, finally removing the pony on top of me with the use of my magic and allowed myself to stand back up on my own four hooves.

The pony that had caused the interrupting intrusion was none other than Pinkie Pie.

"Maud's gone!" She exclaimed, causing my heart to drop once I heard it clearly. "I found a note on my bed this morning that she left, and she said she changed her mind about staying in Ponyville! She's moving to Ghastly Gorge!"

No way!? Did she really hear me talking about her?! Gah! I'm so stupid!

"Come on!" Pinkie Pie began dragging me. "We have to go catch up to her!"

It took me a moment to get my legs working, but I was able to run with her outside of the castle. However, at the train station, she surprised me by literally throwing me into the closest train we could see.

Ghastly Gorge had been an entirely new location for me, and that was a straight disadvantage when it came to trying to find Maud. It was extremely windy and even a bit foggy, its attributes contributing to the name.

"Hold on!" Pinkie stretched her foreleg out in front of me and began sniffing at what appeared to be imprinted on the slightly muddy ground. Unnecessarily, she stuck out her tongue and chewed a part of the dirt. "Maud tracks!"

"You didn't need to taste it." I told her. "Who else would be here?"

I looked out at where the tracks led, and I found that they were dangerously close to the cliffside. I unintentionally gulped, instinctively fearing the thought of Maud falling victim to the depths below. We continued our search, almost as if the howling winds within the gorge literally pushed us on ahead.

Up ahead, Pinkie gasped sharply. "There she is! Maud!"

She was right. We saw her quite a way in front of us wearing her usual dress along with a hardhat. I was relieved to see her, but at the same time, that relief died out as soon as I saw what she stood in front of her. She directly stood at the edge of the cliffside, and she had been clearly gazing out into the abyss. I didn't like the look of it at all.

"Maud!" I called out.

"You were the one that got away." She mentioned suddenly. "I can't let you go."

What…? What was she talking about?

All I could do was slowly step towards her as her back faced me. I didn't want to make any sudden movements.

"I really need you in my life. If I can't have you, then I don't know what else I can do."

She continued speaking oddly. Despite this, I focused more on approaching her without startling her.

"I'm sorry, but I can't hold back my feelings anymore. I'm doing this because of you."

Just as I was about to gently reach out to her, she suddenly jumped.

"Maud!" I cried out as Pinkie finally released the breath she had been holding through a loud scream.

I poked my head over the cliffside, afraid that I'd see a terrifying sight. However, I had been completely taken aback by what laid below. I saw Maud's body, but it took me a short moment to realize that she had been standing upright.

From what I was able to see, she looked okay. In fact, she had been holding something in particular in her hoof. It wasn't until I jumped down for myself when I realized that the drop wasn't all as dramatic as it looked. Pinkie joined me by hopping down the wall shortly afterwards.

"…Maud?" I cautiously called.

"Hm?" She pulled her attention away from the object she had been holding and noticed Pinkie and me gazing back at her in concern. "Oh, hi, Alex. Pinkie."

"What are you doing here, Maud?!" Pinkie nearly cried out.

"Emerald Jasper." Maud raised her hoof and revealed some kind of rock with greenish stripes on it.

"Wait a minute. Up there on that cliff. You were talking about the rock?" I raised my question.

"Of course. What did you think I was talking about?" She responded with.

I was sort of at a loss for words. All I could do was just let a sigh of relief escape from my lips.

"Why, Maud?!" Pinkie was left unsatisfied. "Why did you go and leave like that?! What do you think you're doing leaving us for Ghastly Gorge?!"

Maud remained silent for a moment as she blinked exactly two times before answering. "What?"

"You left a note on my bed! You said you were moving to Ghastly Gorge instead of Ponyville!" Pinkie clarified.

"…I said I was just going to go to Ghastly Gorge for a while." Maud corrected. "I needed some time to myself."

I felt my heart drop once again when I heard that.

"O-Oh… Heh heh." Pinkie reacted a little nervously as a wave of heat rose up on her face. "I read the note so quick, I guess I read it wrong, hehe."

"H-Hey… Are you okay?" I couldn't help but ask Maud.

"I'm okay." She answered directly.

However, for some reason, I felt as if the type of tone she used was significantly different than the one she used when she was with me before. It could have just been my guilt misreading things, but I didn't want to write it off so easily.

"How do you feel about going home now?" Pinkie asked. "It's actually kind of scary here, especially if you're all alone."

Maud raised her hoof to take a look at the rock she had obtained. It must have been pretty rare if she was still holding on to it. "Sure." She answered. Once again, the tone was much different, and I couldn't keep from worrying over her true feelings.

"I have to say, Maud. I know this place has rocks and everything, but I don't think it's a good place at all for you to be at. You look pretty gloomy after all." Pinkie's comment stuck a dagger in me. She continued speaking as she led us out of here. "Sheesh. Even I'm starting to get bummed out by the place. Not to worry though! I've got just the thing for you when we're back in Ponyville!"

"Okay." Maud returned briefly.

Inside, there was just something tugging at me to come clean with her, even if I actually had nothing to do with how she was feeling.

Pinkie hopped on over to the train stop and looked out for the next train. It was probably going to be a while before the next one came and imagining the awkward wait between us pushed me even further.

"Maud, mind if we talk for a bit?" I softly called for her before she could catch up to Pinkie.

She turned back and faced me. "What is it?"

"Um…" I tried thinking of a way to start it off. "Are you…mad at me?"

She stared at me for a second. "No."

"Last night." I brought up. "Why'd you leave without saying anything?"

Her eyes averted, and she remained silent for another moment before she answered. "I was scared." That was the only confirmation I needed at that point, and the guilt that had been growing inside me finally fell on my heart like a huge weight. "You put up with me so much that you got tired of it. I almost can't believe I didn't see it earlier. I'm… I'm really sad." She said all this while keeping her usual deadpan look. "I just really like spending time with you. You were the only friend I ever had that felt real to me. But, I understand. You don't want to be friends anymore. It's okay. After all, I guess it's why I don't really have any other friends besides rocks in the first place…"

"Huh?!" I almost yelled out. "Maud, no…! Why would you think I didn't want to be friends with you anymore?"

"You said that I'd be better off in Ghastly Gorge." She repeated. "It was pretty clear you were tired of me." She turned her head away and seemed to stare towards the area we had come back from. "To be honest, I didn't come here to just to have some time to myself. I came here to take a look around for somewhere to stay. Of course, I couldn't tell Pinkie that."

I could only assume that Maud heard little of what I had said and took it out of context if she thought that I was dumping her as a friend. I fervently shook my head and proceeded to correct her. "Maud, you'll always be my friend. What you heard… I was…trying to figure out a way to tell you that…you know…you were hanging out with me a...bit too much. Believe me, hanging out with you is great, but when I've got other stuff on my plate, it gets a little stressful, you know? I didn't want to send you away like a jerk, but I guess I ended up doing that anyway, huh? I never wanted you to leave, nor did I want us to stop being friends. I just…I don't know…"

"Do you really mean that?" She asked, returning her gaze back at me.

"Of course, I do." I told her. "You're important to me. I wouldn't want to lose you just like I wouldn't want to lose Pinkie."

She focused on the ground below her for a moment. "I'm sorry." She suddenly apologized. "I guess I should have talked to you about it before going off on my own. I was just really…scared of hearing the truth straight from you. I wasn't sure if I would've been able to handle it."

Coming from someone who's normal expression is a poker face? That's a lot…

"I'm the sorry one." I stated. "I should have been the one to talk to you first. I guess I was just a little scared of losing you too, heh." I chuckled a bit embarrassingly.

Without saying anything, she proceeded to step closer towards me. After locking eyes with mine for a somewhat long silent while, she pressed her chest against me.

"I don't really know how friendships work." She admitted. "But I want us to be honest with each other. If I'm spending too much time with you, I want you to tell me. If I'm worried about something you said or did, then I want to talk to you. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, of course, it is." I returned earnestly. "And, I promise you. I'd never want the two of us to stop being friends. So, if I say anything that might sound a little bad or mean, just know that I don't mean it like if I don't like you anymore."

"Mm." I felt her head slightly nod before she pulled away. "You know… It's actually pretty rare for me to talk about my feelings like this."

"That's a good thing…? I think…?" I couldn't quite figure out how I was supposed to take her comment.

Nevertheless, Maud continued to stand there in front of me without saying anymore. Then, she surprisingly lifted a smile from her lips.

"Train's here! Come on! Let's go!" We heard Pinkie scream over from the stop.

"Let's head home then." I told Maud. "That is, I'm hoping you'll still be staying in Ponyville."

"Rocks could never be worth more than friendship." She stated before sending me another sweet smile.

Some time after returning to Ponyville, I felt the need to offer a very short and not as dramatic explanation to everyone at the castle for Maud's behavior the night she had left during our dinner. And, this ended up leading me to have a more in-depth conversation about it with Athena in our room.

"Ah! So, that explains it!" She stomped her hoof as if she had just finished solving some puzzle that had been on her mind for a while now.

"What?" I asked.

"That night." She referred to. "Before I went into the dining room, I noticed Maud acting strange when she was walking past me back in the hall. I told her 'Hi', and she told me 'Hi' back. But, I noticed she was extremely and unusually blue for some reason. I couldn't think of a reason why she'd be so sad, especially after hanging with you all the time. But, her misunderstanding of the situation explains it all. Hm. Guess I should have brought it up to you sooner. Sorry!" She apologized while sticking her tongue out a bit playfully.

"It's not like you kept it for weeks before we could straighten things out." I said. "I'm just glad we got things settled before they could've gotten any worse."

A few brief knocks sounded at the door, surprising the two of us.

I walked up to the door and opened it, finding Maud standing outside in the hall.

"Hello. I was just wondering if you wanted to take a look at my new place."

"Whoa. You got a place already?" I questioned, generally intrigued. Taking a short look back at Athena, I accepted her offer. "Sure. I'm actually interested to see what kind of place grabbed your attention."

"Well, it's not exactly in Ponyville." Maud mentioned as she began leading us out of the castle. "More like Ponyville-adjacent."

Stepping into Maud's new personal space, I was at an utter loss for words. To be quite honest, I believed she had us all beat when it came to our own homes, especially considering that our castle was something that magically popped out straight from the ground.

Her place of living was something more of an outdoor-living space that I supposed was still technically an indoor-living space since it was in a part of the gem cave we had explored together not too long ago. I had no idea that such a place like this with waterfalls existed within the same gem cave.

"Wow, Maud." I spoke soon after I was able to have a good look at the place and realize it wasn't just my imagination. "I can't imagine a place any more perfect for you to stay in."

"Mm-hm." She nodded. "You could say I picked a real 'gem'."

I was surprised to hear laughter other than my own. It hadn't been Athena, but it was actually someone else that we were used to seeing back at the castle.

"Starlight?" I questioned the sight of her.

"Hiya." She returned a friendly wave.

"She actually helped me find and decorate the place." Maud explained. "She's pretty cool."

"Thanks!" Starlight expressed gleefully. "You're cool too."

"If you want to come over or stay the night, you're more than welcome to." Maud offered to those that were interested.

"Sounds good, Maud." I answered. "Any idea what you're going to do now that you've got somewhere to stay?"

"I kind of feel like taking a nap."

I wasn't so sure if she was being serious or just pulling our leg as per her literal humor.

Either way, I was glad to see that she was already making new and unexpected friends. Plus, I was looking forward to seeing her around more now that she was in Ponyville. Without her acting as if I'd be gone the next day, of course.

Triple Threat

"Everything looks good over here." I reported after giving a quick scan around the train station.

There was hardly as many decorations as there were over at town hall, but Spike wanted Athena and me to make sure that none of the "friendly flyers" he put up about the Dragon Lord coming for an official visit didn't somehow fly away or disappear. Spike had been pretty hung up about this visit ever since it was planned, and I believed it was only natural that he'd want any ponies coming in for a visit to not freak out at the sight of an actual dragon in Ponyville while the meeting was actually occurring simultaneously.

"I really wish Spike would calm down." Athena mentioned as she poked one of the flyers to make sure it was firmly in place. "It's just Ember coming over, right? I'd be worried if it was any other dragon, but Ember seems pretty cool." She pulled away from eyeing the flyer to focusing her attention on me. "Hey, isn't this the first time she'll technically be meeting the both of us?"

"What do you mean?" I wondered. "She, for sure, saw me back at that Gauntlet competition, and I think she saw you when we were trying to keep Garble away from Spike."

"Psh. She was too busy fighting Garble to notice me. You, on the other hoof… She hasn't met the real you, remember?" She reminded. "Boy, she's going to be in for a real shocker."

"Oh, yeah…" It had just occurred to me that I had been wearing a "disguise", per se, at the time. "You're right about that.

We heard the train coming to a screeching halt behind, causing us to take a curious glance back at it until the doors opened up. We stayed and watched a few ponies to see if they would notice the flyers that had been posted for their sake.

Some merely passed by it whether they noticed it or not. Others stopped and looked over its contents for a moment. Those who read the friendly warning exchanged looks with each other and proceeded to take part in short-lived conversations.

"A dragon is coming here to Ponyville?"

"Looks like it's part of a 'mutual friendship exchange' between ponies and dragons."

"Hey, if I don't have to worry about dragons invading Ponyville anytime soon, it's fine by me."

"Guess Spike's flyers worked." I told Athena after witnessing the small crowd that gathered nearby. "I can't say they were a bad idea. It's good to keep others informed if they don't normally get word of events around town."

"Yeah, I could totes understand that." Athena agreed. "I don't think Ponyville has ever had a dragon come to town before, right? Well, except Spike, of course."

Before I could give her a simple answer to her question, she unexpectedly looked past my shoulder and released what sounded like a soft gasp. I turned to try to get a look of whatever it was she saw, but all I noticed was a young-looking yet mature mare seeming to struggle with a few bags of her own.

Her mane consisted of a kind of rich autumn brown color, and it was stylized in a ponytail with her bangs leaving strands of hair on both sides of her face. Her coat looked like it had been made with a milky and creamy vanilla color, and from what I could see at my angle, her eyes were an attractive set of sky blue. She was an Earth Pony, so she didn't have any kind of magic with the few bags she had been trying to gather with her mouth.

She looked like she was alone, so it wasn't a surprise when Athena suggested that we give her a hoof.

"Why don't we help her out?" She asked.

"Yeah, sure. I don't see why not." I nodded and proceeded to approach this mare.

She appeared to have been just barely able to carry what she had as she turned away from the train, but our sudden approach proved how unstable the method of her mouth had been. She unintentionally released her bags as our presence in front of her startled her.

"I'm sorry." I quickly apologized. "Can we help you with that, miss?"

She switched glances between both of us several times before she responded with a bit of a wide-eyed expression. "Oh, there's no need. Really. I can handle it."

"Please, let us help you!" Athena threw out a bit too enthusiastically. "You looked like you were having a hard time, and I don't think anyone else is with you, are they?"

"No, I'm by myself." She answered with a smile that seemed to lack a bit of confidence. "But, I wouldn't want you to trouble yourself with me."

"It's no trouble." I stated. "Can we at least help bring your bags to wherever it is you're going?"

As if she was hoping to convince her into allowing us to help, Athena released a beaming closed-eye grin.

The mare noticed this sunshine-etched expression on her face and studied it for a short moment. Afterwards, she gave us her answer. "If it's really no trouble, I suppose I could use the help."

"Please, excuse me, then!" Athena, for the sake of helping, picked up one of her bags and smiled adorably in response.

I stretched out a warm and friendly smile at this mare and picked up the rest of her bags with my magic. "Where are we going?"

"Are you two familiar with Ponyville?" She asked.

"Totes!" Athena immediately answered.

"We've lived here forever." I explained. "It's a small town, so getting around and used to the place is easy."

"I see." She pulled out a small note and presented it towards us. "Could you take me to where this is?"

On the small sheet of paper were an address and some brief directions. I wasn't completely familiar with the address, but it was definitely in a place we've all pretty much been at before.

"Sure. Leave it to us." I told her and began walking ahead. "Let's go, Athena."

"Gotcha!" She responded as she nearly hopped alongside me.

"Oh, so your name is Athena?" The mare asked behind her.

"Mm-hm!"

"Oh, shoot." I had just remembered something pretty crucial and important. "We didn't even introduce ourselves yet. Athena here's my sister. My name's Alex. It's nice to meet you."

"Athena and Alex, huh?" She repeated to herself. "Those are quite some interesting names. You wouldn't happen to be one of the princes of Equestria I believe I've heard about before, would you?"

Feeling a bit embarrassed, I answered her with slight reluctance. "Yes, ma'am. Although, you don't need to worry about addressing me formally or anything."

"I see." She calmly nodded with a small yet sweet smile. "It's nice to meet you both as well. My name is Hazel. Hazel Meadows. But, Hazel is absolutely fine."

"So, if you don't mind me asking, what brings you to Ponyville?" I ignited some friendly small talk between us.

"I don't mind. I'm actually moving here. I suppose it's a good thing I don't have much on me in the first place." She shared with a short chuckle following after.

"Oh, yeah? Where from?" Athena questioned next.

"Baltimare." She answered.

"Oh, so you're a city mare?"

"Hmhm." Hazel chuckled warmly once more. "Hardly. I didn't do much other than work and stay at home. I figured there wasn't really a point in being in the city on my own when I could stay in a small town without any trouble. A friend of mine referred me to Ponyville."

"I guess I could understand that." I said. "As you mentioned earlier, I'm a prince, yet Ponyville is pretty much my permanent home. I mean, it's also where the friends I couldn't do without live, not to mention my…um…special somepony."

"Aww. How cute." Hazel seemed to find my visible embarrassment adorable to look at, and it only made me feel even hotter.

"Hey! Maybe you might just find your special somepony here!" Athena whipped out excitedly in response towards Hazel.

"Me?" Hazel laughed gently. "Oh, Celestia. No. I'm well out of the dating scene."

Athena and I unintentionally found us stopping in our tracks, and we both simultaneously turned our heads to look directly at the last pony that spoke. We took a good look at her to make sure we weren't being deceived.

"What?!" Athena exclaimed out loud. "But, you're so young! Don't tell me you've given up on love!"

Hazel remained silent for a moment. She looked clearly surprised at our reaction, but then she began laughing out loud joyously. "It's quite the opposite, honey. Although, I appreciate you still consider me a young mare."

"Huh…?" Athena looked a bit puzzled by her vague response, but I decided to keep moving, considering we were still in the middle of helping Hazel move in.

"It should be somewhere around here." I looked around as we entered the part of the area where her address belonged to. "Maybe this one?" I led the two to a particular vacant-looking house. Standing in front of it, I doubled checked the note she had given me with the address and made sure I was at the right place. "Yeah, should be it."

"Oh, the key." She pulled out a small key and walked towards the door, shortly unlocking it afterwards.

We brought her things inside and were allowed a brief look around. It was a little bothering to see how barren it was, but that's just how moving into to someplace new always was. At the very least, it had a few pieces of basic furniture to start with, such as a couch, table, and the like.

"Thank you, both." She expressed as we placed her things down. "You've been a really big help."

"Sure, no problem. If you want a real treat, you can stop over at a place called Sugarcube Corner. One of our friends, Pinkie Pie, works there. If you let her know you're new, she'll give the best welcome no pony in Equestria can ever match up against."

"I'll keep that in mind." She returned with a smile as she began opening her bags and unpacking particular items of hers.

"Um, so, I'm a little curious." Athena stepped forward, losing a bit of the sunshine that had been plastered on her face earlier. "…is anyone else coming by?"

"Hm? Oh no." She replied as she placed down a framed photo on top one of the small tables by the wall. "If you're wondering if any pony else will be needing help bringing their things here, you don't have to worry about that. I'm the only one staying here."

Athena exchanged a kind of worried glance with me. It was pretty clear that something had been bothering her, but I didn't have a clue of what it might have been. She turned back to Hazel, who seemed to have also noticed the look on her face.

"What's wrong, sweetie? You look like you have something on your mind."

"Oh…! Um…" Athena was pretty shocked to have received the kind of response that she did. "Well… I don't want to get into any personal business. We just met after all. But, to be honest, I was wondering about what you meant earlier. It's probably stupid of me to ask, but you said you were out of the dating scene. And, when I asked if you had given up on love, you said it was the opposite? Does…that mean you already have a special somepony…?"

"Mm." She didn't respond immediately and spent a few seconds turning towards the photo she had placed down a moment ago. "Yes, you could say that."

"But, you also said you were on your own in Baltimare, not to mention that you're staying by yourself right now. Is it…a long-distance kind of relationship?"

"Hmm…" Hazel closed her eyes and appeared to hang her head in thought as a small smile slightly stretched from her lips. "Yes. You could say that there is definitely a vast amount of distance between us."

"Forgive me for sticking my nose where it most likely doesn't belong, but wouldn't you want to be where he is then?" Athena pursued.

"…Athena…" I felt the need to finally say something, afraid that she might scare this pony away.

Nevertheless, Hazel didn't look like she minded at all. At least, I had hoped so.

"He's…somewhere I can't exactly reach him yet." She responded with yet another vague response.

"…oh. He's not in Equestria? I guess I can understand that…" Athena returned with a kind of gloomy voice.

"It's a little more complicated than that." Hazel added, catching any wavering attention of ours. "How can I put it? Hm…" She tapped her chin with her hoof. "He's… 'no longer with us'. I believe that's the right way of saying it."

It was safe to say that both of our pairs of eyes had shot open at the remark. It wasn't just the new information she had given us that shocked us, but it was also the fact that she seemed completely calm about it.

"I-I-I'm so sorry! I had no idea! Me and my big mouth! Please forgive me!" Athena immediately knelt down and begged for forgiveness in front of Hazel.

Nevertheless, Hazel slipped out a small chuckle from her lips. "You don't need to apologize."

"…but…" As Athena propped herself up from the floor, a small trickle of water began escaping from her right eye.

Hazel studied Athena's somber face for a bit with a warm smile. "Hm. I can't help but wonder if she would have been just like you."

"Huh?" Athena, appearing to notice the tear streaming down her face, picked up her hoof and rubbed her cheek. "Who?"

"Many years ago, I was due to have a daughter. Unfortunately, it seems she went to go stay with her dad instead." She seemed to make an attempt in giving us the truth gently through a touch of lighthearted humor. It was like she was trying to convey an appropriate answer to a colt or filly, but both of us had been old enough to understand what kind of answer she was trying to put out.

Athena placed both of her forehooves in front of her mouth in shock. "…I'm…really sorry."

Despite the ill-fated topic of conversation that so happened to be shared between us, Hazel stretched her warm smile and placed a caring hoof on Athena's shoulder. "If it's me you're worried about, I'm absolutely fine. I've moved on, just like I'm sure they would've wanted me to."

"Y-Yeah…" Athena began wiping any other tears that had been leaking out after being blown away by that last answer, looking around the house shortly after. "Um, is there anything you need help with? Unpacking, maybe?"

It was a kind of a relief to hear Hazel chuckling again. "I appreciate the help, but I'm sure I have everything under control now. It's just a few things. However, if you'd like, I wouldn't mind you two showing me around sometime later. Perhaps, you could take me to this Pinkie Pie you mentioned a few minutes ago?"

"Y-Yeah, sure!" Athena immediately nodded and then turned to me. "We can totally do that, right, Alex?!"

"Of course, but first, we kind of have some dragon business to take care of soon." I reminded.

"'Dragon business'?" Hazel's eyes widened out of peaked interest and curiosity.

"Ah. I guess you didn't get to see the flyers when we approached you at the station." I recalled. "There'll be a dragon visiting Ponyville. In fact, she might just be here right now. You don't need to worry though. She's friendly, and that's kind of why she's coming over in the first place. She wants to learn more about friendship for her dragons and herself."

"A dragon, huh?" Hazel wondered as she seemed to ponder the idea of it. "I might just take a look for myself after I'm done unpacking. It seems like something not a lot of ponies get to see very often."

"Well, we did sort of just make friends with them not too long ago…" Athena rubbed her head with a bit of an embarrassed giggle.

Hazel seemed to enjoy the sight of Athena's expression, and after exchanging a few more words with her, we parted ways so we could return to the business of welcoming Ember to Ponyville.

Arriving back at Town Hall, we managed to catch Ember in the middle of a conversation with Spike and Starlight. It seemed Spike had already gone through his official speech, but oddly enough, I didn't see any of the trumpeters he had gathered together. That wasn't the only weird thing. There was a strong odor of smoke and ash. I knew Spike had some kind of "Dragon Fire Flame of Friendship" going on, but there wasn't any odor like the one I was smelling last time I was here.

"Nice to see you were able to find the place." I greeted her as I approached the small group. "It's good to see you again."

"Hi." Athena waved gently at the sight of the friendly Dragon Lord.

"Oh…! I remember you, I think. Weren't you that random pony that popped out of nowhere when we were wrestling with Garble?" Ember recalled.

"That's me." Athena beamed proudly.

"I didn't realize it first, but that was actually pretty cool! How'd you do that? Seriously! Does it also have to do with pony magic? I could totally use some kind of camouflage when it comes to combat!"

Ember seemed to have been getting a little too excited.

"Well, she doesn't exactly have a horn." Spike mentioned. "Usually, only ponies with horns can handle magic."

"Besides, it's kind of complicated." Athena continued. "Let's just say it's something only I can do."

"Well, I'm totally willing to do whatever it takes if it means I can learn that trick you used." Ember looked like she was going to ramble on about the glory of war, but her eyes finally caught sight of me. "Oh yeah. I forgot you were standing there. Um, have we met before? I mean, I don't remember ever meeting you, but the way you look is ringing a bell for me for some reason." She mentioned as she rubbed her chin curiously with her claws.

"We have, actually." I responded, the memory of being under a spell at the time coming to mind. "But, uh…I guess technically this is the first time we're meeting each other like this."

Ember continued to stare at me silently with her claws crossed before she finally spoke up once again. "You've lost me. Have we actually met or not?"

Ember was definitely pretty upfront and brash when it came to social matters, but knowing she was from a different culture, I didn't really mind it all that much. "Remember that blue dragon that was with Spike at the Gauntlet? The one that was kind of around your size? That was me."

She seemed to spend a moment to herself thinking as she unknowingly quietly sent me a blank stare. "Wait. Wait. Wait. Hold on. You were him? What? That doesn't make any sense! Ponies can become dragons?!"

"He was actually just under a spell that Twilight used." Starlight informed the clueless dragon in front of her. "Magic can do lots of things. Trust me."

"Oh. I…guess that makes sense…?" Ember still looked to be majorly confused about the entire situation, but I suppose that's why she was here to learn. "Um. Can pony magic make gems appear out of thin air by any chance?"

"Not that I know of…?" Starlight answered.

"Well, nice to meet you again then." She turned back to me, awkwardly shaking my hoof with her claw. "Wait, am I supposed to do the hug thing too?" She wondered as she tapped her chin.

"Hoof, uh, Claw shake is fine…" I stated before she could possibly hurt herself with how many questions she might have had already grown in her mind, despite just arriving here.

"Seriously, though." Ember seemed to return to the topic on hoof. "Challenging a dragon like that? Were you nuts?"

"It's not like I was alone." I reasoned with.

"Oh, right. The friendship thing. I keep forgetting about that. Well, your courage is admirable. That's always a good thing to have." She now began turning her head in another direction. "Alright, Spike. Let's get going to—" Ember paused to begin searching around her. Spike, who had been here only a moment ago, was suddenly nowhere in sight. "Uh…Spike?"

"He, um, probably went to go take something for his stomachache!" Starlight answered.

"Spike has a tummy ache?" Athena questioned.

"Y-Yeah…" Starlight nervously laughed in response. "It just like came out of nowhere."

"He's probably already at this castle then. Let's go." Ember stated as she began walking ahead of us.

"You sure you don't want to look around somewhere else? I could give you a tour of Ponyville." Starlight seemed to push the idea a little too much for some reason.

"Later. I want to hi to Twilight too, y'know? Dragon learning friendship, remember?" She stopped to say before continuing on ahead.

Starlight sighed lightly. "Oh, boy…"

"What's going on?" I asked, feeling out of the loop of something.

"Long story short: Spike accidently invited Ember and Thorax to Ponyville on the same day." She explained.

Athena's eyes immediately lit up. "Thorax is here?!"

"He's at the castle! That's why I was trying to stop Ember from going there."

"Ember and Thorax are here. So, what? Do Dragons and Changelings have something going between them?" I asked.

"Uh. Well. I don't think so." Starlight stated unconfidently. "But, the issue here is that he's supposed to be with both them!"

"I don't get the problem." I answered with a puzzled state of mind. "Can't he do just that?"

"You're talking about a changeling who was a softie out of his entire pack and a dragon who's literally the leader of a ruthless group of dragons. I'm not so sure it'll work out if they're both together."

"I mean, maybe before the Gauntlet happened, but things are different now. She wants to know more about friendship, after all."

Starlight sighed once more. "For now, let's just catch up with Ember and make sure things don't get out of hoof at the castle. She could already be there."

I honestly still didn't see what was so problematic about it. Yeah, I can see how it could be a problem with Spike inviting the two of them to Ponyville with the notion of spending the day with them separately, but all he really has to do is fess us to his mistake, right? With the kind of changeling Thorax is, I'm sure he'll understand. As for Ember? Well, I can't be too certain about how she'd react, but then again, I don't think she's exactly the type to let her emotions get the better of her, right?

"Come on, Alex! I want to go see Thorax!" Athena exclaimed, pulling me out of my thoughts and nearly dragging me along with her.

Ember was already taking a look around inside the castle interior by the time we caught up with her. Her head turned side-to-side as she rested her claws on her hips. It seemed she was looking for something in particular.

"Spike, you in here?" She asked before facing in the direction of a particular hallway. "Oh, there you are! How's the stomachache?"

Spike had been lightly jogging towards us, but it didn't seem as if he had been expecting us to show up the moment he arrived in the main hall. "Huh? What stomachache?" He asked a little nervously.

"Um…the one you said you were feeling coming on?" Ember reminded.

"Oh! Right! That! Uh. You know how it is. Gotta tough it out. Heh heh."

"Um, okay." Ember seemed to find Spike's nervous behavior strange, but she didn't think too much of it as she soon switched over to a casual tone to speak with him. "So, where's Twilight?"

"She's, uh…busy right now!" Spike answered. "Hey, I have an idea! Why don't I start us off with an official Friendship Banquet? You'll love the food here."

"Sounds good. I could use a bite to eat." Ember began walking on ahead with gusto after Spike pointed in the direction of the dining hall. Starlight decided to follow after her since Spike was lagging a bit behind.

"Spike, you don't need to do all this." I caught his attention for a moment. "Just tell Thorax and Ember that you accidentally invited them to Ponyville on the same day."

"Huh?!" He nearly shouted out loud enough for the others up ahead to hear. "How'd you know that?!"

"Starlight filled us in." Athena answered. "You should tell the truth, Spike."

"You know I can't do that!" He exclaimed in a hushed whisper, looking back to make sure Ember wasn't hearing any of it. "Ember and Thorax might get mad and fight!"

"…I can't see that happening…" Athena shared. "I think Thorax is pretty understanding."

"Besides, if you keep this up, it might escalate to a point you don't want it to go. Just saying. Remembering being princess for a day?" I brought up.

Spike sighed heavily and seemed to calm himself down just a tad bit. "Look, I appreciate the advice, but I just need some time to think things through for a bit. I don't want to rush an apology. Just…give me some time to think about how I'm going to handle this."

"Spike?" We could hear Ember calling from a distance.

"C-Coming!" He fearfully answered back before turning back to us.

"Do me a favor, please? Twilight is keeping Thorax busy, but Ember is no doubt going to want to meet Twilight soon. Please please please stick with Thorax until I can get some breathing room?"

"I've been wanting to see Thorax anyway." Athena happily obliged. "Where is he?"

"In the library." Spike responded as he began jogging away from us towards the dining room. "I owe you one!"

Once he was out of sight, I couldn't help but sigh lightly and shake my head a bit. I understood the pressure he was in, but I was still insistent on telling the truth before things got out of hoof being the best course of action to take for this circumstance. If Spike ends up being caught doing what he's doing by one party, much less both, it could lead to a serious misunderstanding.

But, it looks like he might have to learn the hard way, just like he did with covering Twilight for a day back at Canterlot that one time.

Athena was pretty visibly excited as she hopped on over to the library. When she reached the door, she pushed it open and poked her head inside.

"Thorax, you in here?" She asked with a jubilant smile.

"Athena! Hey!" I heard, walking in to see Athena racing over to Thorax to give him a bubbly hug.

On the other hoof, I heard a drawn-out sigh accompanying me to my left. It was Twilight, and she looked pretty exhausted. "I didn't think talking about chairs would be so…stressful."

"I told him to just tell them the truth." I mentioned.

"Did he ask for your help too?" Twilight asked, realizing I had known about the situation already.

"Yeah, kind of." I replied. "He wanted us to keep Thorax busy, but I don't see anything good coming out what he's been doing so far."

"Well, right now, we're just trying to, um, figure out the best way to approach this. I think telling them the truth is a good idea too, but Spike's afraid it might end up leading to a war between dragons and changelings. I know. It sounds a little far-fetched, but we are focused on establishing friendships. If we can have some time to ourselves to think things through on letting them know without hurting anyone's feelings, that would be great."

"Well, let's just hope your plan doesn't backfire." I anticipated, taking a glance at Athena and Thorax as they appeared to have a lively conversation between the two of them. "By the way, Ember wants to meet you. I'm pretty sure Athena has a lot to talk to Thorax about, so right now would probably be the best time to go see her."

"Right. I'll go do that." She said before leaving the room to us.

"Um, hey, is Spike going to come back anytime soon? I really need to talk to him." Thorax asked as his face filled with worry.

"Why? Is something wrong?" Athena inquired, tilting her head caringly in response to the expression on his face.

"Uh. It's just…I'm kind of having a problem with leading my pack. You know how we all just literally evolved from love-sucking changelings? Well, a lot of us are happy with our new life. Happy that we don't have to feed anymore like the way we used to. Unfortunately, not every changeling agrees with that. Some of them still want to feed off of love, and me being a leader, I'm like, "Hey let's not do that anymore", but they won't listen. I've tried everything to show them that it's not our thing anymore, but none of it works." Thorax sighed heavily. "I don't know what to do anymore, so that's why I wanted to talk to Spike and see if he had any ideas."

"Maybe you need to kick some changeling butt?" Athena returned with a mischievous smirk.

"Oh, no." Thorax shook both his hooves and head in disagreement. "I couldn't do that. It'd make me seem like some kind of tyrannical leader. Kind of like…well…how Chrysalis used to be. I want my pack to understand me through words, not by violence."

"Well, you've gotta show them who's boss somehow." I advised a bit myself.

Thorax sighed once more. "I know. I just wish Spike was here. I'd feel a lot better, but him disappearing and reappearing out of nowhere constantly kind of makes me a lot more nervous."

"Spike's…actually pretty busy right now." Athena tried to say without spilling the beans. "N-Not that he doesn't want to talk or hang out with you, of course! It's just…sometimes things will pop out of nowhere for him, but I'm sure you'll see him soon!"

"Oh, really?" Thorax answered a little sadly. "Oh… Well, maybe I should just go home then…"

"No, no!" Athena placed her hooves on him to stop him from leaving. "Like I said: It probably won't be too long before he's done. Why don't we hang out to pass the time?"

"Are you sure?" Thorax asked, lightly lifting up a smile. "I guess that would definitely be a better option than going back home with no idea how to handle my pack."

"I'm going to go check and see if Spike can use my help." I decided to excuse myself, believing Athena would be able to stick with Thorax.

I began making my way back to the dining room, but I unexpectedly heard pretty loud voices coming from the map room during the walk. Out of curiosity, I poked my head through the ajar door and found two ponies and a dragon having a frantic kind of conversation bubbling between them. Most importantly, for the first time ever, I noticed Spike's spikes glowing oddly. It definitely wasn't because he was being summoned to the Dragon Lands. It's kind of glow reminded me of something else, but I couldn't quite put my tongue on it at the moment.

"Uh, did I miss something?" I asked as I walked into the room.

"H-Hey, what are you doing here?!" Spike dashed over to me, his continuously flashing spikes distracting me easily. "Don't tell me you brought Thorax with you!" He said in a hushed voice as he worriedly looked past me.

"Relax. He's with Athena right now. What's going on? Why are your scales flashing like that?" I asked.

"He's being called by the map. Look." Twilight answered, directing my gaze over to the transparent three-dimensional map hovering over the table.

"Ponyville?" I pondered. "I didn't even know you could be called by the map. I thought it was just us ponies because of our cutie marks or something."

"Well, now we know it's a thing. Talk about timing." Starlight lightly ranted. "What are you going to do about Ember and Thorax now, Spike?"

Spike nervously groaned. "I just can't ignore the map, can I? Why is this happening to me?!" He nearly sounded as if he was about to pass out from the stress he was encumbered with.

"It's only calling you. Whatever the problem is, it wants you to fix it." Twilight reminded. "Luckily, you don't have to go too far. It's right here in Ponyville. Why don't you go out and see who's having the problem? We'll keep Ember and Thorax busy."

"Maybe you two can go out and help him." I offered, finding that even though they weren't called by the map, they could actually still somehow help locate the problem so things could be resolved quicker. "I think Athena's already got Thorax covered. I can spend some time with Ember. I don't want to put any more pressure on you Spike, but Thorax really wants to talk to you."

"Do you have a clue on what you're going to do to keep Ember busy?" Starlight asked. "Thorax is another thing, but Ember seems like she's pretty impatient, and I don't think it'll be too long before she's had her fill with Twilight's walls."

"She's here in Ponyville to learn about friendship, right? I think I can come up with something. I did with you, didn't I?" I recalled the day I had with Starlight Glimmer.

"I guess it doesn't hurt to help look for the problem…" Twilight concluded as she rested a hoof on her chin. "We all live in Ponyville anyway. It's not like we can just stay inside."

"Then, it's settled!" Spike pointed out, looking ready to dash out the door. "You two come with me and help me look for any kind of fighting between friends. The faster I can get rid of this problem, the better!"

"We'll be back soon." Twilight told me before she followed the jogging dragon out of the room.

"Good luck." Starlight wished before she headed after them. "For some reason, I feel like you might need it."

"…tell that to Spike…" I murmured underneath my breath after they all had left. I sighed a bit heavily and decided to resume the walk toward the dining hall. I could only hope that Ember wasn't blowing fumes in the bad sense.

I heard loud and sharp crunching by the time I arrived at the dining room. In fact, it kind of sounded painful.

"Ember? Are you in here?" I called.

As I took a look inside, I was shocked to find the décor practically shredded apart. Ironically, the only thing that wasn't touched was the actual food lined up on the table. So, that's what Starlight meant when she was talking about Twilight's walls. Ember had just finished taking a huge chunk out of a particular piece of the wall before belching loudly after.

"I've gotta say. This kind of food is fit for a Dragon Lord!" Ember commented before noticing me at the door. "Oh, hey. It's you. Um…" She tapped her chin with her claw in thought. "Wait. Did I ever get your name? Because I'm drawing a blank right now."

"It's Alex." I answered.

"…Owl Licks?" She repeated cluelessly.

"No. Alex. A-L-E-X." I corrected.

She returned another blank stare before she shook her head and held a claw to her head. "I'll never understand these pony names. First, you have something like Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer, and now there's a name like that? What gives?"

"If it bothers you that much, then you can just stick with Owl Licks." I compromised with.

"No, no." Ember shook her head. "I'm here to learn about friendship. No point if I can't even get a pony's name right. Which reminds me. How is Spike doing? The last thing I knew, his spikes were flashing weirdly. I don't get it. Is that how ponies get stomachaches or does it also have to do with the magic you guys have?"

"Uh… You could say it's magic." I took a moment to think to myself and realized it might not be so bad to give her a bit of the truth. After all, it had the potential to allow her to be a bit more understanding in regards to Spike's frequent disappearances. "You see… We have this map in the castle that sometimes calls us to solve 'friendship problems' from all over Equestria." During my explanation, I realized something a bit strange and thought out loud for a second. "Actually, now that I think about it…I wonder why we never had any calls to the Dragon Lands. I mean, obviously, there's not much friendship going on between you, after all." I finally found that I had been getting a bit off topic, so I shook my head to get me back on track. "Anyways, it's really bad timing, but Spike got called all of a sudden. And it's not something we can easily ignore. He's actually working on solving whatever it is he needs to do so he can get back to his meeting with you."

"Oh, really?" Ember raised an eyebrow, but she didn't seem to get angry by it. "Wow. I never knew ponies had such important responsibilities with friendship. Man, there really is a lot I don't know. Well, that's too bad. I wasn't expecting to hardly see Spike at all today. It kind of annoys me, but it's not like it's his fault by the way you put it. There're just some things you have to do whether you like it or not. I can understand that as a dragon. Do you have any idea when he'll be back?"

"Actually, I don't…" I replied honestly. "These friendship problems can take days to do, but I think this is the first time Ponyville has shown up on the map. So, who knows? Might only be half an hour or a few hours at most."

"…so, should I just go home then?" Ember wondered.

"Well, I wouldn't want your trip to be a waste. If it's cool with you, I can probably show you around town. In my opinion, Ponyville is one of the friendliest places to be. I'm sure you can learn a lot here."

"That's not a bad idea actually." She returned a smile of approval. "What better way to learn about friendship than to make new friends?"

"That's the spirit." I felt a bit glad that she was enthusiastic about this. "Come on. I'll show you around."

I knew that Spike was most likely flailing his claws around town, but I was sure it wouldn't pose much of a problem since I told Ember the technical truth for his absence. She was pretty understanding about it, so I was sure it'd work out as long as Spike didn't spill the beans out of nervousness.

I gave Ember a brief tour around Ponyville, giving her the names of different businesses, places, and events in Ponyville. She looked pretty interested yet confused from culture shock. I could only imagine how different it must have been for her as it was for us when we had visited the Dragon Lands.

"So, this 'ice cream'." Ember brought up to me. "You're saying it's like the opposite of lava?"

"Pretty much, yeah." I said.

"I'm curious. Do you ponies have a pool full of ice cream you like to swim in?"

"Um… You might have to ask another one of our friends about that…" I responded a bit awkwardly with Pinkie in mind.

"Whoa! There really is a dragon here!" A familiar voice exclaimed out.

Ember and I looked back to see who had approached us.

To my surprise, it had been Vinyl who nearly shrieked that remark out. However, she had two others accompanying her. Beside her, I found Octavia holding cup of, what I could only assume was, hot tea, and Derpy, who held up a brand new and untouched muffin.

"Interesting. Very interesting." Octavia reacted calmly, eyeing the two of us instead of only Ember.

Ember exchanged a quick glance with me before facing the ponies before her and puffed out her chest. "Hello." She greeted after clearing her throat. "I am Ember, daughter of Torch, winner of the Gauntlet of Fire, and lord of all dragons!" She proclaimed valiantly before she gave out a firm battle cry with a cloud of flames and smoke to go with it.

"No way! It's attacking Ponyville!" Vinyl fell to the ground as if she was trying to avoid the flames. "Don't burn my setup! Please! Anything but that!"

"Hm." Octavia returned rather casually as she simply watched the show Ember put on as if they were fireworks.

Derpy was too busy licking her lips at her now lightly toasted muffin.

"Uh…how about we don't do that unless you want to burn a house down…" I suggested to Ember.

"Was that wrong?" Ember looked over to me with a puzzled expression on her face. "Usually when I do that, the dragons are eager to meet me."

"Well, ponies aren't dragons." I simply answered.

"Ah." Ember grew a grin on her face as if she had just hatched a perfect idea in her head. "I get it."

Just as Derpy was about to take a bite out of her muffin, Ember borrowed it and immediately began scraping it against a nearby wall as if it was some kind of marker. "This is a weird friendship thing you ponies do, right?"

An uncomfortable and odd silence ensued after. Even I couldn't comprehend what brought her to do something like that.

"…my muffin…" Derpy mumbled sadly as her ears flopped down.

"…uh…why don't we get you another one, huh?" Vinyl suggested, returning a nervous grin as she began pulling her away from us. Judging from the look on her face, it seemed she was more concerned about not getting burned than getting Derpy a replacement muffin.

Octavia continued staring at the two of us for a moment longer as she sipped her drink. "Have fun." She mentioned before turning around to join the others.

Ember continued silently watching them leave as I turned my head over to her to raise the first question on my mind.

"What exactly made you think ponies decorate random walls with their friends' food?" I seriously questioned.

"What?" Ember asked with a bit of an upset tone. "That's what Spike and Starlight did! Why else would I be eating off the walls in your castle."

I had no response lined up for what she told me. I mean, I understood why she'd think that, but I didn't know what I could say back since I never thought I'd have to tell someone other than a foal to not paint the walls with food.

Before I knew it, two other ponies had been walking into the scene, but it didn't seem like they were interested in checking out the dragon in town. In fact, it sounded like they had been bickering to each other.

"Well, I think vanilla strawberry cream is overused!" It was Lyra Heartstrings, and she had been speaking with some pony that I wasn't exactly acquainted with. It was somepony I remembered seeing every now and then in Ponyville but never actually made any conversation with.

"Hmph!" The pony Lyra had been facing turned her head away with gusto as she frowned disapprovingly.

It was inevitable that they'd see us in their path, and they were both fairly shocked when they did based on the noticeable gasps they gave.

"Hey! It's the dragon the town's talking about!" Lyra noticed Ember first before her gaze slid over to me. "And…the prince! Hi, Alex!"

"Hey, Lyra." I greeted. "Long time no see." I glanced over to Ember and decided I should introduce her before she herself could botch it up. "This is Ember. She's from the Dragon Lands."

"Um, hi." Ember awkwardly waved her claw. It seemed she had taken the reception of her previous greeting into account.

"Hang on." Lyra's friend suddenly cut in as she looked straight at me. "I think I've seen this guy before."

"Duh!" Lyra answered a bit bitterly. "He's a prince."

"No, before that!" She clarified in a similar tone and thought to her self out loud. "When was it…? I remember being with Cherry Berry…oh yeah! I remember now! He was with that pony that dumped garbage all over us!"

I frantically tried to remember such a time when literal garbage was involved, but I couldn't come up with anything on the spot.

"What are you talking about, Bon Bon?" Lyra questioned with slightly infuriated and unamused eyes.

"I'm talking about that day I was helping Cherry Berry move carts full of garbage. This pony couldn't wait one minute for her to tell me a quick joke before she bathed us in complete filth! I couldn't get the smell out for weeks!"

Ohhh. Now, I know what she was talking about.

"Alex, is this true?" Lyra asked me with some kind of pleading stare, almost as if she was hurt to hear that such a thing happened.

"…yeah, I remember." I reluctantly admitted. "Well, in her defense, you were blocking the whole bridge."

"But she had wings! She could've easily just flown around us!" Bon Bon argued.

"Uh…I'm just going to let you do your thing…" Ember cut in for a short moment, clearly looking like she felt out of place with the current conversation. "Let me know when you're done. I'm just going to walk around for a bit…"

Ember left quickly, and I didn't really have time to come up with something to tell her in response. So, I was now dragged into the middle of a possible dispute.

"Look, let's just both agree that both parties were at fault, okay?" I suggested, wanting to deescalate the situation as soon as possible. "You don't block an entire path if there's a pony behind you, even if it's for a minute, but at the same time, nothing warrants having trash dumped all over you, okay?"

"Yeah, Bon Bon." Lyra quickly agreed with me. "You should've known better. He's a prince, after all."

"Ugh!" Bon Bon scoffed in disgust. "You're only agreeing with him because you don't want to have vanilla strawberry cream cupcakes with me!"

"What's this about what now?" I intervened, remembering that they had apparently been fighting before they bumped into us.

"Oh, hold on. Time out for a second." Lyra paused and looked straight towards me. "Hey, Alex, since you're a prince and all, do you think you could help us out with something?"

"…sure?"

"You see, Bon Bon and I like to hang out a lot, but for some strange reason, there have been ponies from out of town coming by and acting strange to us. Apparently, they all heard a rumor about us from other places in Equestria and they, like, ask us these really weird questions. Like, it makes us super uncomfortable. I don't know why, but they have this really awkward idea of us. Can you do anything about that?"

"Um…" I replied as I tried to understand her request clearly. "I don't know what 'awkward idea' they have of you two, but I don't think I can make some kind of announcement to all of Equestria to fix it. All I could suggest is…maybe letting them know their idea of you two is actually wrong?"

"We've told them! But, it's like they don't listen, and they won't stop bugging us about it! We end up just ignoring them, but it's still annoying. It actually happened not too long ago today. Bon Bon and I were deciding what to eat for lunch when some ponies from out of town saw us and bugged us. I was so mad that when Bon Bon was recommending me vanilla strawberry cream cupcakes, I kind of just blew up."

"Well, now that you've calmed down a bit, are you still in the mood to fight over cupcake flavors?" I asked, finding the argument a bit silly, to begin with.

"Oh, my goodness." Lyra returned with a wide-eyed expression before she faced her friend. "I can't believe I didn't realize it until now, but I didn't mean to yell at you like that, Bon Bon! I was just—"

"Yeah, I know. You were angry at those other ponies. I get it." Bon Bon seemed to understand. "I get frustrated too, you know? I don't like it when you take it out on me like that."

"I'm really sorry, and as a token of my apology, I will havevanilla strawberry cream cupcakes with you. Even if I'm not a big fan of them." Lyra gestured.

"Gee, thanks." Bon Bon rolled her eyes. However, she looked content with Lyra's apology.

"So, I take it you worked out the argument between you two?" I asked.

"Sure thing!" Lyra responded gleefully. "But, I wouldn't mind putting an end to ponies randomly coming up to ask us personal questions."

"I can try to figure something out, but, to be perfectly honest, I don't think there's much I can really do… After all, sometimes, you just can't change someone's mind at all."

Lyra sighed lightly. "I guess you're right. Well, here's to hoping it all blows over soon!" She now faced her friend with a beaming grin on her face. "Come on, Bon Bon! I'm ready to head straight on over to Sugarcube Corner!" She turned back to me to ask me a quick question. "You wanna come with?"

"Thanks, but I've gotta go look for my dragon friend." I answered as I began looking around the area I had been in.

"Oh, yeah!" Lyra said as if she had forgotten all about the one dragon that was in town. "Well, I guess I'll see you soon. Later! Tell Twilight I said hi!"

I returned a light wave as I saw them off for a bit before I continued roaming around the streets in search of Ember.

I ended up following the direction that Lyra and her friend Bon Bon took in an attempt to find Ember. Thankfully, due to the fact that she was a dragon, it wasn't hard to find her as anticipated.

However, just as I was about to call out to her, I noticed her speaking to somepony at one of the tables outside of the bakery. Actually, it wasn't particularly somepony. It was more like…someone. Someone who didn't exactly fit in with the other ponies here as well.

I found myself racing over in a slight panic just in time to hear bits and pieces of their conversation.

"You know you don't have to be sappy or huggy-feely about it! But you should let your friends know how you feel."

"That sounds like it's going to be a real challenge…but I guess that's what being a dragon is all about. Thanks."

Ember had been talking to Thorax. The one changeling that Spike didn't want her around with at all. I wasn't sure what to think of the situation, but I was pretty satisfied to see that they hadn't been exactly fighting as Spike had been worrying about in the first place.

Despite the two, I had found Athena watching the conversation between the two of them. It appeared that she had initially taken out Thorax for some food…

"Oh, hey!" Ember finally spotted me slowly creeping over to Athena. "Guess what? I made a new friend today!

"Alex!" Thorax noticed me as well. "I didn't know you two knew each other!"

"Yeah… We met each other a while back when we went to the Dragon Lands." I responded as casually as I could.

"She gives out amazing advice! I might just know what to do about my pack now!" Thorax complimented excitedly.

"…and I have a lead on how to start when it comes to friendship." Ember reiterated a bit hesitantly as if the idea made her uncomfortable.

"That's great. Glad to see you two getting along." I didn't exactly want the truth about Spike purposely keeping the two of them apart to slip out. At this rate, he might just get out of his trouble quite easily after all. Nevertheless, I continued to lean over to Athena to whisper by her ear. "I didn't know you were bringing Thorax out here."

Athena shrugged with a sheepish grin. "I thought he might be hungry, and I didn't want him to see the mess the dining room was in. So, I decided it might be good for him to get some fresh air and eat outside. Next thing I knew, Ember came strolling along, noticed me, and started talking to Thorax."

"Well, looks like we might not have anything to worry about after all." I stated as I carefully watched the two apparently get along with each other. "All that's left to do is Spike letting them know the truth gently before they find out on their own."

"Friendship problem? Anypony got a friendship problem?" We heard Spike's voice yell out.

Before we knew it, he was jogging past us at a light pace. He nearly had missed the sight of us, but it seemed he had caught on at the last second.

"Gah!" He almost screamed out loud when he turned in our direction.

"Spike, there you are! I've got something incredible to tell you!" Thorax exclaimed happily.

"Spike!" Ember now called out. "I just actually made a friend today."

Thorax and Ember both raised their eyebrows after hearing each other call out to Spike and turned to each other in confusion.

"Hold on. You know Spike too?" Thorax asked.

"Yeah, he invited me to Ponyville today to learn more about friendship."

"Oh, really? He also invited me over today because I needed to talk with him about my problem."

To be honest, it didn't look like they were going to be at each other's throats, but Spike must have seen otherwise. He ended up throwing himself over to the table the two had been and began babbling out what could have come across as incoherent nonsense.

"Equestria as we know it is over!" He acted out rather dramatically, almost as if he had been Rarity in disguise. "The war that pits changeling against dragon is about to begin! And it's all my fault! My title of Equestria's friendship ambassador is a lie—! Oh. Hey. You guys aren't fighting?" He finally seemed to slow down a bit and noticed.

"What the heck has gotten into you?" Ember questioned, clearly surprised by Spike's unexpected reaction. "Why would we be fighting?"

"Oh. Um…because…I…accidentally invited you both over to Ponyville on the same day?" Spike flinched heavily as if he was expecting some substantial artillery feedback from the two guests.

"So what?" Ember and Thorax simultaneously responded with.

"Well, I… I was afraid that if you two found out that I had invited you both, you'd get angry and fight each other, so I was trying to keep you apart for the entire day."

"Wait. Hold on a second!" Ember physically pointed out with her claw. "I thought you were too busy handling a 'friendship problem'!"

"I-I was!" Spike stuttered, noticing the fire that was beginning to ignite within Ember's eyes.

"Obviously not!" She rebuked. "You couldn't be solving a friendship problem if you're too busy trying to keep us apart! You're only making one!" Ember suddenly paused as if she came to a sudden realization. "Wait a minute. I get it! I am the friendship problem, aren't I? You think that just because I'm a dragon and bad at friendship, I would be making a whole bunch of problems elsewhere?!"

"No, no, of course not! But— Wait. Isn't that kind of why you're here?" Spike felt the need to include, earning a facehoof from me.

"I can say I'm bad at friendship. You can't say it about me! And you know what? I'm still learning. In fact, I'm learning a heck of a lot more on my own instead of with you like you had promised! Forget it. I'm out of here."

Just before Ember could take off, Thorax suddenly grabbed a hold of her and called out. "Wait!"

Ember angrily looked back and responded with an attitude. "What?"

"Remember what we talked about?" Thorax reminded. "I gave you some good advice on how to get better at friendship, and I'd say right now is the perfect time to put it into practice."

Ember returned a swift glance at Spike before she turned back to Thorax. "Do I really have to talk about my feelings?"

Thorax simply nodded.

"Rragh!" Ember groaned loudly before she inhaled a heavy breath and slowly exhaled it out. She then slowly approached Spike who began to soon cower at the sight of her.

"P-P-Please…! I-I-I'm really sorry!" Spike pleaded.

"Let me talk about this!" Ember violently yelled, shutting him up immediately. "I…feel…mad."

I had a front row seat when it came to how difficult it actually was for her to talk about her feelings. Honestly, it seemed like this was one of the things you wouldn't believe at face value until you actually saw it for yourself. For a strong and extremely assertive dragon, she seemed to have trouble finding the words to express herself clearly…

Ember had groaned exhaustively, which led Thorax to roll in with some encouragement.

"Okaaaay... That's a good first attempt. Now maybe try to be more specific?"

Ember then stretched herself out as much as she could before she began fanning herself as she breathed deeply. "I'm…" She managed to say before releasing a drawn-out sigh. "…upset!" She finally finished with a great burst of enthusiasm and energy.

"You have every right to be…" Spike responded with a guilt-ridden and shame-filled expression.

"I know I do!" Ember yelled out right at his face. She certainly wasn't pulling any punches. "And I know I need to tell you how I feel because my friend Thorax said it would make me feel better. And it does!"

"What about you, Thorax?" Spike turned to him. "Are you mad at me too?"

"No, not really." Thorax lightly shook his head. "…but I do think what you did was wrong! And, I have no problem telling you that because my friend Ember is helping me be more assertive!"

Spike was quite literally taken aback as Thorax firmly stood his ground. "Whoa."

Ember straightened out her back after having to catch her breath as if she had been physically exhausted. "Nice."

The two of them slapped hooves/claws and exchanged friendly laughter with each other.

"You guys should be mad at me." Spike admitted. "I was so worried about how it could go wrong, I didn't even think about how it could go right." With a heavy sigh, he practically bowed and pleaded in front of them. "Can you forgive me?"

"I really do feel better. So, yeah. I'm good." Ember answered casually.

"Hah. Me, too. After all, as bad as this situation may have been, each of us ended up learning something worthwhile, haven't we?" Thorax shared.

He turned to both Spike and Ember, and once he received nods of approval, he immediately grabbed a hold of them and hugged them both tightly. Ember, of course, still didn't look too used to the idea.

"Again?" She groaned out.

Spike laughed in response until the spikes on top of his head began shimmering. "No way! It's finally happening! I solved the friendship problem!"

"Actually, you created the friendship problem by not trusting your friends." Starlight's voice drew into the conversation.

Either they had noticed from afar or just happened to catch the scene that unfolded in front of us, Starlight and Twilight had been joining into the conversation unexpectedly.

"Yeah, but then I solved it by learning my lesson. I should have told my two friends about each other immediately instead of assuming they wouldn't get along."

"I know right…?" I bumped my elbow against Athena who simply giggled back softly.

"Good job, Spike." Twilight congratulated.

"Is this another part of pony friendship?" Ember asked. "Telling each other what you learned all the time?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Starlight answered nonchalantly.

"There's actually something I had planned for your visit here in Ponyville, Ember, but now that you two are both here, mind helping me out a bit?" Spike questioned a bit shyly.

"Sure." Ember replied, puffing her chest out in poise. "If it has to do with friendship, I'm always willing to learn some more new things."

"Count me in." Thorax reacted eagerly.

For Spike's next planned event, Athena and I decided to include a special guest we had given a simple promise to earlier in the day.

Nearly all of Ponyville had been gathered in front of town hall as both Ember and Thorax were given the center of attention. I supposed having not only a dragon but a changeling show up as well was enough to garner the eyes of so many unsuspecting ponies.

"So, as a show of unity, I present the Dragon Fire Flame of Friendship to both Dragon Lord Ember and Thorax, leader of the changeling pack!" Spike announced loudly towards everyone in the vicinity. "May the flame of friendship burn for eternity."

Confetti fell from the sky as ponies around us cheered loudly. Unfortunately, it seemed as if Ember's nose didn't take too kindly to the thin pieces of colored paper as she soon released a bellowing sneeze, shooting out a fairly huge ball of flame straight towards an ice sculpture that had been made in honor of the ceremony.

The crowd was shocked in response, but Ember managed to save herself, whether she wanted to or not, by treating the accidental sneeze lightheartedly.

"You should have more things made of rocks." She suggested to Spike, opening a collective laughter between the three of them.

"My, my…" The guest Athena and I had invited over now revealed her reaction to the ceremony. "It's not every day where you see a dragon and changeling like this. Never in my life in Baltimare could I imagine something like this happening."

"To be honest, if you're going to be living here with us in Ponyville, you might have to get used to it." Athena shared truthfully. "Other than that, I promise it's a really fun place to stay, Hazel!"

I nodded in agreement. "It may be a small town, and you might find that a bunch of weird things happen here. But, this kind of place might just work out for you. That is…if you don't mind things like this happening."

"No, no." Hazel shook her head and smiled warmly at us. "As big as Baltimare is, life on my own there was a bit…bland. If what I'm seeing is right, Ponyville might just have the kind of excitement I need." She then shared a hearty chuckle before expressing her thanks to us. "Thank you, you two. I think I'll be enjoying my stay here."

"No problem." I returned with a smile of my own. "And remember, if you ever need anything…"

"You can count on us!" Athena exclaimed joyfully.

From there on, Athena and I decided to spend a little more time with Hazel before she'd head on home to finish getting settled. We didn't know exactly what it was, but there was just something about her that was welcoming to the community. Nevertheless, we both agreed that she was a pretty strong pony for what she had been through.

And with that, we were both looking forward to seeing her around town in her new home.

Once Upon a Zeppelin

Placing the last sheet of paper I had scribbled in onto its designated area, I took a glance at the large pile Twilight and I had constantly been taking unending stacks of paper from and sighed heavily. Granted, the "complete" pile was much larger than the "incomplete" pile, but I was nearly at the point of calling it quits.

"I told you that you didn't have to help me with this paperwork." Twilight noticed the exhausted look on my face and smirked lightly. "You know I have a knack for doing these kinds of things."

"There's only so much you can do of something before it starts eating away at your enthusiasm." I told her, reluctantly sliding another piece of paper in front of me before I began scribbling at it once again. "Besides, what kind of a prince and partner would I be if I just let you do all this work on your own?"

"You don't have to keep up with my pace, you know." She mentioned. "I've kind of been doing this way longer than you have. Why don't you take a break?"

After finishing the last piece in front of my hooves, I placed it on its appropriate pile and decided to rest my head on top of my forelegs laying on the table. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea. I think I'm starting to feel a little braindead."

"You can go to sleep if you want." Twilight suggested. "I think I'll be alright on my own finishing the rest of these papers."

"I'll go to sleep when you're done." I told her and began to watch her work for a while.

"Suit yourself." She sent me a sly and playful glance before turning back to focus on the remaining paperwork.

I continued silently observing the way she swiftly handled every paper that came across her line of sight. It was almost unreal. In fact, she nearly looked like she had been her own assembly line. A paper would fly in, she'd make several scribbles on it, and then she'd put it away to repeat the process over and over. As for me, I'd spend too much time worrying and making sure that I wasn't making any mistakes. After all, a simple mistake with this kind of paperwork could easily lead to drastic consequences.

"Either way, I'm glad you're here with me." Twilight unexpectedly shared as she continued to focus her gaze on the paperwork in front of her. "If it was just me, I'm pretty sure, just like you said, I would've gotten bored doing the same thing over and over. It's one thing to go out and actively do research while writing a report on your findings, but it's another to just sit here and sign things all day long."

"Well, at least it gives us time to catch our breath, right? Especially considering what we went through this past week." My eyes turned away as I caught myself recalling the stressful events from the past few days. As a result, I inadvertently shook my head at the images that came to mind. "Seeing Fluttershy so sick like that…I was honestly scared. Really scared. Having you there with us helped me keep my cool for the most part. I've got to thank you for that."

"No thanks needed." She responded with a warm smile. "I'm just glad Fluttershy was able to find a cure for Zecora and herself. I was just as afraid as you were, but you have to admit, she's gotten so strong compared to our first days being friends, don't you think?"

"Definitely." I absentmindedly stared at the tip of my hoof as I lightly scratched the surface of the table. "Almost makes me worry that she'll become too independent that she won't want to be with me anymore." I couldn't help but chuckle after saying that.

"Sure." Twilight's grin stretched as she lightly scoffed. "That'll happen the day Applejack decides she wants to be a runway model in Manehattan."

"Don't jinx it now." I joked and laughed a little more. "Still…I should really come up with something to do for her. After everything she's done and been through, she deserves something nice."

"Maybe start with picking out a ring to put on her hoof?" Twilight raised an eyebrow as her lips curled to one side.

"Heh. Maybe…" I returned tiredly. My eyelids began to grow heavy, and it wasn't long before they soon began closing in front of me. At that time, I decided that it wouldn't hurt to rest my eyes for just a little while.

However, within the span of what felt like a few minutes, I heard slightly faint voices that grew clearer as the lids of my eyes opened up.

"Spike, you know I can't do that. I've still got a whole bunch of other duties besides finishing the rest of this paperwork."

"Come on, Twilight. Even Princess Celestia takes a break sometimes, and she raises the sun."

I lightly groaned before I stretched out my neck and gently rubbed my eyes. "What's going on?" I asked a bit drowsily.

"Twilight's parents won a zeppelin cruise, and the whole family is invited to go!" Spike's voice chimed in. "Help me out, will you? I'm trying to convince her to go. She could really use a vacation." He paused for a short moment and gave me a quick look over. "Both of you actually."

"I've got an entire list that I still need to do. Who's going to do that if I'm not here?" She asked worriedly.

"I've got it covered." Spike offered. "Keeping track of the friendship log, boosting community morale, and answering fan mail for a few days isn't too hard."

"But, Spike, you're as much a part of my family as anypony. I can't just leave you here to do all that work."

"Psh." Spike scoffed as he brushed the issue off with his claws. "It's no biggie. I've been meaning to get a guy's night going lately. Only when the duties for the day are done, of course."

"Well…if you're really sure…I guess I could use a little time off from being a princess. You're the best, Spike!"

"I know." Spike answered with a bit of a smug smile as he began to take over the small amount of paperwork left on the table.

"You could have just left it to me." I told her. "It'd probably be a little hard, but…if it means you get to go on a trip with your family…"

"What are you talking about? You're coming too!" She extended the invitation cheerfully.

"Huh?" I tilted my head slightly in confusion.

"The whole family, remember?" Twilight reminded. "Plus, you better not challenge me when it comes to the technical aspects of what you consider 'family'. If you're going to bring up that I'm 'technically' not your sister, I've still got you on the fact that my brother, Shining Armor, is married to your cousin, Cadence, so that already makes us cousins-in-law by default."

It was hard to make a response at that moment after having witnessed her unwavering determination. "Wow, you're really prepared for anything, aren't you?"

"Yep, and speaking of being prepared, I'm gonna go pack everything neatly into one suitcase! You better get packing too! Oh! And you should totally bring Fluttershy along. She is going to be a part of the family too soon enough, am I right?"

She playfully nudged me before trotting on ahead to her room.

"You're really sure you want to take over the duties for these next few days, Spike?" I asked.

"Of course! Besides…"

"Cruises have activities, right?!" We suddenly heard Twilight Sparkle shout from presumably her room. "I should probably make a schedule?!"

"How could you say no to that?" He smiled warmly as he turned to the table to get started on writing.

"Well, thanks a lot, Spike." I genuinely expressed. "We'll get packing then."

Just before I could start on packing my own things, I took note of what the time was outside. It wasn't too late, so I figured I could make a stop at Fluttershy's and let her know about the sudden but welcoming invitation for this family cruise.

We felt a pleasant warmth latch onto our coats from the morning sun hanging over our heads. Besides us, there had been an entire line calmly making their way towards the huge zeppelin that had been parked right outside of Canterlot. It was almost a strange thing to witness, especially since the closest thing I've ever seen to one, much less ridden, was a gigantic hot air balloon back in Ponyville.

"Oh, my. There's even a pool at the back right there." Fluttershy pointed it out with her hoof. "I'm really curious. Is there an entire difference compared to swimming on the ground?"

"I guess we'll find out soon enough." I replied, noticing the line ahead of us continue to shorten by the second as ponies boarded the giant airship.

"That reminds me. Is Athena joining us later?" She asked, being firmly aware that Athena could technically pop in at any time.

"I don't think so." I answered, recalling the last time we had spoken with each other. "She made plans to help the Crusaders with some kind of a camp for those that didn't have cutie marks."

"That's really nice of her. I'm sure she would have enjoyed coming with us."

"She probably would have wanted to give us our space anyway." I mentioned, finding the thought of it a bit funny.

"We should definitely bring back a souvenir for her."

"That's not a bad idea at all, Flutters." I praised, later enjoying a sweet and adorable smile that protruded from her lips.

We managed to make it onto the ship within a short amount of time, standing just behind Cadence, Shining Armor, and their baby Flurry Heart.

"At any case, I'm really looking forward to spending time together with you." Fluttershy shared softly after taking a look around the semi-packed ship.

Before either of us could say anymore, a high-pitched sound screeched from the intercom speakers above us. "I hope you ponies feel welcomed aboard, because you are!"

"Huh?" Fluttershy's ears perked up as she raised her head towards the direction of the speakers.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"Is it just me…or does that voice sound familiar?"

Replaying what I could remember hearing from just a moment ago in my head, I started getting the itching feeling that she was right. For some reason, I felt it was definitely a voice I've heard before, but even after going over recent events, I couldn't put a name to it at all.

"No, I think you're right." I answered. "But I can't think of who it's from."

We stood there thinking for a while until we heard a few loud noises coming from the docks. We quickly turned to find the ropes keeping the ship stationed being removed. It was only a matter of time before we started drifting away from Canterlot.

"Oh!" Fluttershy raced over to the edge of the ship and watched everything in awe. I joined her and felt the ship pick up speed before we soon were passing through the clouds and climbing altitude from the already distant ground. For some reason, Fluttershy giggled in response to this. "I know we can already fly, but for some reason, there's just something magical about this."

"Maybe it's because we don't have to do anything?" I assumed. "It's like taking a ship out to sea instead of swimming there."

"Or, like taking a train?" Fluttershy blushed lightly and closed her eyes as if she was reminiscing something sweet. "This could just be like that one time we stayed together overnight on a train to Canterlot. Oh, I'm so excited!"

"You and me both." I agreed wholeheartedly. "After all, you really deserve it."

Before our conversation could drag on, I felt a light tap on my shoulder.

"We're about to get shown to our rooms. You don't want to stay behind and miss it, do you?"

It was Twilight, and I couldn't help but sense her sending teasing signals since Fluttershy and I had been alone together for the short moment.

"Heh. Yeah. Let's go, Fluttershy." I told her.

I knew Twilight and I lived in a castle, but I had to admit that our room looked really incredible. It was almost like staying at an inn, but it was perhaps even more luxurious than that. The room itself consisted of a whole bunch of interlocking rooms, considering that it was fit for an entire family.

The first part of the room we entered was the common area, and there was a whole bunch of furniture like sofas, refreshments, even knick-knacks to make it feel warm and cozy. Looking around, we found several other doorways that led into separate bedrooms. However, Twilight's family seemed fascinated enough with the common area.

"Guess this is what it's like to be big-time prize winners." Her father tested the pillow on the sofa with his hoof and chuckled happily. "I just wish I could remember what contest we won."

I was hoping that I wasn't the only one who was surprised to hear that last comment he made.

"Wait." Twilight seemed to have caught on. "You don't know where this prize came from?"

"When somepony offers you a free vacation, you just sign the paperwork and don't ask questions!" Her mom explained nonchalantly.

"I'm not so sure that's the best thing to do when something like that happens…" I couldn't help but say. I almost wanted to be much blunter about the situation, but it was Twilight's side of the family. I didn't want to be rude.

"I'm sure it was one of those 'automatic submission' contests that we just so happened to win." Twilight's dad hypothesized. "There are so many other ponies on board with us after all. With that being said, what should we do first?"

It didn't seem Twilight felt the need to question their judgement any further. It wasn't like there wasn't a cruise, to begin with. After all, we did depart from Canterlot, so it did seem legit. However, I still couldn't get over how fishy the entire situation was. I never really cared about these kinds of contests and sweepstakes, so it may have just been due to my lack of experience. But, still…

"Well, I did categorize the ship's activities and make a schedule organized by each of our interests." Twilight pulled out a lengthy piece of paper from her saddlebag and unfolded it in front of us. "Dad, you're easy. Bingo competition right here."

"Oh, I just love how the numbers and letters are organized in their little boxes." Her dad took a closer look at the printed color-coded bars she had been pointing at with a small rod. "It's so satisfying."

"Shining Armor, they've got a tiny boat race in a tiny pool here." She continued as she moved down the list.

"Aw, sis. Only you would remember I love tiny things." Shining Armor mentioned as he gently rubbed his hoof against Flurry.

"And Cadence, there's a Peewee Princess Playtime here that Flurry's gonna love!" Twilight presented the schedule to her next.

"Oh, wonderful!" Cadence reacted gleefully.

Twilight turned to Fluttershy and me, but she returned a different kind of look to us. Her eyes were half-lidded, and it didn't seem she had much to say.

"Don't worry. I thought it would be best to let you two explore and decide what to do on your own."

On the other hoof, Twilight's mom seemed to eye something on the map Twilight had been holding in particular with great interest. "Ooh! This barrel jumping at Neighagra Falls sounds interesting."

It didn't look like something that was on her agenda, but she didn't seem to have anything against making a small change to it. "Eh." She took out a quill and wrote in the new request. Afterwards, she tacked the paper onto the wall for all of us to see whenever we wanted. "I just want to see you all have a good time. And this works out perfectly because we have room for the one thing I wanna do!" She proceeded to pull out a book that she had packed with her and opened its contents to reveal a particular geographic page towards us. "Our ship passes the Frozen North at sunset, which is the only time you can see the astrological phenomenon known as the Northern Stars. It's like the stars are shooting out of the setting sun!"

"That definitely seems like something you'd be into." I smirked lightly at her quite fitting ample reaction.

"And we definitely don't want to miss that." Cadence included.

"Then it's settled!" Twilight happily concluded before she spun around to face her schedule closely. "Hmm. But we don't have anything to do right now. Any suggestions?"

We were only given a second to think before another screeching sound came from the speakers inside the room.

"Attention, cruise ponies! Don't let this zeppelin be a bore! Leave your room and see the tour!"

"A tour could be fun." Cadence decided based on the convenient suggestion that was so happened coincidentally offered to us.

Everyone already began leaving the room, but I noticed Fluttershy stay behind to stare at the loudspeaker the voice had come from.

"I was only curious before, but now I really want to know who that is." Fluttershy spoke her mind.

"Yeah. I think I feel the same way. Twilight's parents just happened to win a free vacation without even entering anything?" I scrolled through my thoughts. "This actually reeks of Flim and Flam, but, obviously, that voice isn't them. So, who is it?"

"Mm…" Fluttershy finally pulled her gaze away from the loudspeaker and instead seemed to hang her head in guilt. "Maybe we're just overthinking things. I know the free vacation is a little fishy, but maybe someone wanted to give Twilight and her family a chance to relax, considering how much she's helped saved Equestria?"

"I guess you have a point…" I somewhat wanted to accept. "Maybe the voice is actually from somepony we've helped before? Still, it's hard to imagine a voice like that belonging to anypony that we've met in the past…"

Fluttershy approached me and placed a caring hoof on my shoulder. "I'm sure we'll meet the pony in charge soon enough. Then, we can clear up our doubts about this free vacation. For now, we should probably enjoy ourselves, don't you think?"

"Sure." I nodded my head. "Wouldn't want to bring Twilight and her family's good time down anyway."

With that being said, we left the room to regroup with the others.

Just as we arrived on the deck, we noticed Shining Armor looking a little sick as he hurried back inside the ship with Flurry Heart. He didn't give us anytime to ask what was wrong, so we could only wonder what could have happened for him to be in such a hurry with a nauseated look on his face.

"Oh, my. You think he's airsick?" Fluttershy asked.

"That, or Flurry Heart may have had an 'accident'." I mentioned.

Once again, our conversation was short-lived due to the shrieking feedback coming from the intercom above us. "Far to our right, you can just make out the white tufts of Cloudsdale, where Princess Twilight Sparkle once toured the weather factory."

Turning to our right, we had a full view of Cloudsdale. It was a perfectly normal thing to point out on something like a cruise, but why specifically include Twilight all of sudden? It's not like she accomplished some great and noteworthy feat there. In fact, it would have made more sense for Rainbow Dash to be brought up for the time she did a sonic rainboom in front of everypony.

"Is he talking about when we were in Cloudsdale for Rainbow Dash's competition?" Fluttershy questioned.

"I think…? But why bring up something like that?" I wondered.

Fluttershy gasped lightly. "Maybe the pony in charge is from Cloudsdale and met Twilight there?"

"Mm." I merely shrugged. Nothing was really making any sense to me.

"We are now high enough to see all of Canterlot, even the royal tree where Princess Twilight and her brother Shining Armor were born!" The voice from the loudspeaker announced next.

"…what?" I was absolutely boggled. I wasn't aware of any of this.

"Huh? Twilight was born on a tree?" Fluttershy was just as confused as I was.

I lightly shook my head. "Let's go find her and see what the heck is going on."

It wasn't hard to find Twilight and her family on top of the deck, but things were noticeably different for some reason now. The majority of ponies on board, if not all, were staring at Twilight and Cadence pretty frequently that Fluttershy and I felt uncomfortable joining them.

"Twilight, were you actually born on a tree?" Fluttershy asked.

"H-Huh? Of course not!" Twilight refuted immediately. "I don't know why the cruise announcer is bringing up these things about me that obviously aren't even true! I mean, why is he even talking about me in the first place?"

"On our route north, we will pass the spires of the Crystal Empire, where Princess Cadence rescued her Alicorn baby Spike from a monster made of fire!" The announcer was heard sharing another false fact yet again.

"Well, that doesn't even make sense." Cadence shared my thoughts exactly.

"Spike's not even a pony. He's a dragon." I mentioned. "I would think that anypony that knows about us would know at least that."

"Um, Twilight…" Fluttershy spoke softly as she took a look around us. "Everypony seems to be acting a bit strange…"

We took a look for ourselves and noticed the strange behavior Fluttershy had been talking about. For one, an entire group of ponies had been snapping photographs of Twilight's parents. If that wasn't odd enough, many of the others seemed to have been gawking specifically at Cadence and Twilight. If I was seeing correctly, practically every one of them had been wearing some kind of attire with Twilight or Cadence themselves on it. In fact, what appeared to be a filly came up and asked Cadence for an autograph while wearing a really creepy cut-out mask of her. The sight of it even freaked out Cadence herself.

"Alright, something is definitely up with this cruise." I finally declared.

"Okay, that's it! Does anypony know where the cruise announcer is?" Twilight asked everyone around her, to which they all responded by pointing their hooves straight towards what looked like to be the captain's cabin.

I was surprised to find Fluttershy spreading her wings and taking the lead for the investigation. It was almost as if she had a personal tie to this case, despite Twilight being the subject of falsely stated facts. Twilight and I followed behind her, each of us having our reasons for wanting to know who had been behind the wheel for this cruise.

"Excuse me." Fluttershy spoke once making her way inside. "I'd like to have a word with you, sir."

Whoever had been deciding the course for the cruise was way too big to be any kind of pony. However, it wasn't until he turned around to speak with us directly where our questions to his identity had finally been answered.

"You can call Iron Will "Iron Will"!"

Each one of us gasped sharply.

I remembered now! This had been the minotaur that nearly ruined the kind of pony Fluttershy had been and had the nerve to demand money for it!

"It's you!" Fluttershy remembered immediately.

"Well, well! What do we have here? If it isn't Fluttershy! And I see my assertiveness seminar paid off! A doormat wouldn't have barged into Iron Will's space like that!"

"I'm afraid you're wrong." Fluttershy sent back a serious and somewhat unamused look. "Your assertiveness seminar has nothing to do with the kind of pony I am now. But, I'm not here to talk about that. I'm here for my friend Twilight."

"Ah, yes! The Princess! What about her?"

"Why do you keep announcing random things about me and my family?" Twilight asked. "In fact, what are you even doing here? What happened to those 'seminars' you did?"

"The assertiveness seminar market dried up, so Iron Will started a new career organizing themed vacation packages!" He explained.

"…and what exactly is the theme of this vacation?"

In response to Twilight's question, Iron Will hovered over a microphone and pressed a large button next to it. "Everypony, stomp your hooves if you are here for the premiere Cruise of the Princesses Experience!"

Outside, banners of both Twilight and Cadence unraveled, earning applause and cheers from everypony down on the deck.

"W-What?!" Twilight cried out after witnessing the scene below us and proceeded to face Iron Will angrily. "Iron Will, my family and I need an explanation for all of this!"

"Iron Will will be pleased to explain all the details clearly if it means you'll fulfill your side of the contract!"

"H-Hold on! Contract?!" Twilight exchanged a puzzled and worried look with us, but Iron Will had already been leaving the room.

We had no other choice but to follow him out.

Iron Will ended up having us all gather together at our room, including the entirety of Twilight's family. It was bad enough that we had an entire group of ponies at our tails trying to get back here. At that moment, I believed it was apparent to each of us that we'd be finding the catch behind this "free vacation" soon enough.

"So, let me get this straight. The only reason we're on this 'cruise' is that we're the main attraction?" Twilight questioned angrily.

"Correct!" Iron Will answered proudly.

"But, you offered this cruise vacation to my family without even telling us that the other ponies are only here to see us! That's completely dishonest and unethical!" She argued.

"That is where you are mistaken, princess. Iron Will outlined all the details of the cruise in the Prize Acceptance and Consent Form that you signed." He pulled out a few sheets of worn out paper and held them over Twilight's mom.

"Well, when somepony offers you a free vacation, who reads the fine print…?" Her mother merely responded with a sheepish smile.

You should especially read the fine print if you're given anything for free!

"This isn't right, Iron Will!" Fluttershy stepped up next. "You haven't given Twilight and her family a vacation at all! You're only using them for your own profit!"

"It's called compromise." Iron Will answered without any kind of guilt or doubt in his mind. "Iron Will did give you a free vacation, and it's only at the cost of the princesses pleasing their fans. Iron Will is not stopping Twilight and her family from enjoying the vacation."

"And how exactly are we supposed to 'enjoy' the vacation if we're too busy with the other ponies on board?" Twilight asked.

"Iron Will prides himself on providing a quality vacation experience. But if Twilight Sparkle and her family don't want it, Iron Will can cancel the cruise and break the hearts of every princess-adoring pony on board."

As usual, Iron Will couldn't seem to keep himself from showing off his masculine form by flexing every now and then. Twilight, on the other hoof, could only sigh helplessly as a random pony pressed herself against our window.

"I love you, Princess Twilight!" She screamed from outside, causing Twilight to quickly turn around and close the open curtains.

"As much as I want a family vacation, I don't think I could entertain all these cruise ponies." Cadence voiced her thoughts. "My hooves are pretty full taking care of Flurry Heart."

"Well, you've still got me." I offered. "I know this is exactly what we were taking a break from back home, but if I can help keep these ponies busy, we don't have to—"

"No can do!" Iron Will suddenly interrupted.

"What?" I immediately turned to him.

"Iron Will is saying that the agreement does not include you and for a very good reason."

"What are you talking about?" I questioned, finding his response extremely puzzling. "Weren't you just saying that the other ponies on this cruise bought tickets just to see us?"

"Wrong!" He firmly pointed out. "Iron Will said that the other ponies are here to see the princesses. No prince included."

"Wait, what?" Twilight found the idea particularly confusing. "Only us? Why?"

"It's actually very simple." Iron Will pulled out a long sheet of paper this time, it's length similar to Twilight's initial schedule for this cruise. "According to recent polls and surveys, your friend there is not very popular with everypony." Fluttershy, Twilight, Cadence, and I couldn't help but take a closer look out of curiosity. On the paper was your usual color-coded graph. There was Twilight, who was represented by a purple bar. Cadence was a pink bar. And, I was shown to be a blue bar. Well…a very tiny sliver of blue compared to the other two.

"There's no way this is real." Twilight proved to be extremely skeptical.

"Indeed, it is. Allow Iron Will to explain." He proceeded to point towards various points on the graph and give us brief explanations for them. "Princess Twilight and Princess Cadence are extremely popular. That is a fact. However, compared to you two princesses, your friend there, the prince, is only about five percent of that. What Iron Will found during these studies was that the majority of that five percentage was made up of mares, a lot of those mares being personal acquaintances of his. Any stallion only makes up an extremely small minority of that already tiny percentage. Iron Will checked previous studies and found that the numbers used to be much higher, but those numbers started hitting rock bottom when many of the mares that made those high numbers learned that you already had a special somepony." He then proceeded to point directly at me. "Iron Will's point is that you are not remotely as popular as these two other princesses and therefore aren't worth spending the time and money advertising on a free cruise."

"W-Well, that's just plain rude!" Fluttershy angrily stomped her hoof and seemed to look offended on my behalf.

"So, you were willing to go through those lengths to do some hefty amount of research for how popular we are to everypony, but you couldn't even spend a little time getting some facts about us right?" Twilight mentioned.

"Iron Will cares only about what will get him more bits, not some measly trivia." He stated as he rolled up his data.

"I'm sorry, honey." Twilight's mom apologized from the sofa. "I guess we were just so excited by the idea of a family cruise."

Her father sighed heavily and approached Iron Will. "All right. I guess we better turn this ship around."

In a sea of frowns and disappointed faces, Iron Will was just about to make his way to the door, but Twilight called out and stopped him all of a sudden. "Wait! Iron Will, what if I offered you a deal? If I agree to do whatever princess activities you want, will you promise that my family gets to do the activities they want?"

"Sis, you don't have to do that." Shining Armor mentioned worriedly. "We want you to enjoy yourself, too."

"Every one of you was so excited for this cruise. Honestly, to see each and every one of you so happy made me happy. I don't want the vacation to end now or let down all these ponies who were looking forward to seeing us. If all I have to do is the same thing I've done back home, then I think it's worth everyone else having a good time." Twilight then flew up towards Iron Will to look him square in the eye with an extended hoof. "So, what do you say, Iron Will? Do we have a deal?"

"Princess Twilight has a deal!" Iron Will shook her hoof tightly, causing her to pull it back as soon as she could to rub the sore area.

"Great!" She returned to the floor and approached her father. "So, it looks like we have some time before Dad plays Bingo."

"Actually, we have just enough to pick the winner of our grand-prize raffle." Iron Will intervened as he began pushing her towards the door.

"Oh. Well…who doesn't like prizes?" She said as she revealed an unconfident grin.

Fluttershy and I lingered in the room for a little while longer despite everyone else following Twilight and Iron Will to the deck outside.

"Do you really think that her doing whatever Iron Will wants is a good idea?" Fluttershy asked as she shared the worried look on her face.

"Not really." I answered bluntly. "You and I already know what kind of a monst – minotaur Iron Will is, right? He doesn't really look out for anyone else but himself, and the fact that he knowingly roped us into something like this proves that he hasn't really changed all that much."

"What should we do?"

"I don't really know." I reluctantly answered. "Twilight already made a deal with Iron Will that she was going to do whatever activities that he wants her to do as long as all of us stay here. At this point, I think we can only hope that these 'activities' don't take up too much time of hers."

"And, I'm sure she wouldn't want us worrying over her like this…" Fluttershy admitted with a frown and sighed. "So much for a relaxing cruise."

I couldn't help but feel extremely guilty when I heard her say that. "…sorry." I apologized softly.

Fluttershy widened her eyes once she had caught on to how I had reacted. "N-No, no!" She shook her head fervently. "It's not your fault! It's just…" She paused as if she needed a moment to get her words together, but she ultimately sighed lightly in defeat. "Maybe we should just make sure Twilight doesn't overdo anything for right now."

All I could really do was nod before leaving the room to join Twilight in whatever it was that Iron Will had planned for her.

We all thought that Twilight needed to only announce the winner of this "grand-prize raffle" that Iron Will had set up, but just like with the cruise itself, none of us knew the catch behind the raffle. That catch was Twilight literally being the prize of the raffle, and a pony called Star Tracker had won that prize. So, not only did it seem like Twilight would be hosting these ridiculous events for Iron Will, but she also had to drag around a big fan who nervously didn't leave her much space to herself under the guise of being an "honorary family member".

"Really, don't worry about me." Twilight tried to tell Fluttershy and me. "I'm still going to be able to do stuff like play bingo with my dad. It'll just be from a…different perspective."

If it wasn't enough that Star Track had nearly been breathing down her neck, Iron Will was also proving to be quite on her case.

"It's time to move, Princess Twilight! You don't want to keep your fans over at the bingo table waiting, do you?" He pressured.

"Well, looks like it time to go. You two go on and have fun. We'll do something later, okay? After all, I'm definitely not missing the Northern Stars tonight!"

"I don't want to miss them either." Her follower mumbled from behind.

Twilight seemed to force out a chuckle before she proceeded to walk past us. "Well, see you tonight then!"

Twilight left us to do whatever we wanted, and I was sure that one of the reasons why she took on the responsibility of entertaining the other ponies on board was so that she could give us well-deserved time with each other. Despite the variety of activities on this cruise ship that would have been exciting to do under normal circumstances, neither of us could truly enjoy them. Not while knowing that Twilight was the only one not enjoying the vacation that she was initially supposed to have. It just wasn't right.

Fluttershy and I remained outside on the deck of the ship where we laid on lounge chairs. There was a gentle breeze, and the warmth the sun above us gave our coats felt great. But, I was too focused on worrying over Twilight and her duties. In fact, it didn't help that every now and then, we'd hear her voice being broadcasted over the loudspeakers and remind us of the events that she was practically forced to host.

"Ooh…" Fluttershy sighed sadly as she turned from her back onto her stomach. "There's no point being on the cruise if Twilight can't enjoy it with us."

"Yeah, you're right." I agreed, scratching my hoof against the wooden surface of the ship. "I get where she's coming from when she wants us to have a good time, but it's obvious we can't when we know she's out there working when she shouldn't be. To be honest, I would've taken her spot or at least helped her because I think she deserves this cruise way more than I do. Too bad I'm not popular enough."

"That chart isn't bothering you, is it?" She felt the need the ask.

"No. I'm just frustrated over everything in general. Couldn't care less about some stupid chart." I finally flipped over from my stomach and onto my back so that I was facing the sky. "I just wish…this was a normal cruise." Looking at the quite attractive clouds in the sky reminded me of a particular subject. "You remember what she was saying when we first got here, right? The thing she wants to do most is to watch the Northern Stars, and that's just what she's expecting to do tonight. But, what if she doesn't? I mean, she was expecting to be on a normal family cruise with all of us, but Iron Will already tossed out that dream. What if she can't even do the one thing she really wants to do because Iron Will cares more about selling her image?"

"We have to do something then." Fluttershy sat up from the chair and faced me with her brow furrowing in determination. "There's no way in Equestria I'm going to stand by and watch Iron Will treat Twilight like that."

"What do you expect we do though?" I asked, feeling not as fired up as she was since I had been looking at things in a little more realistic manner. "Twilight already made a deal with Iron Will. She does princess activities he wants her to do, and her family, including us, does the things we want to do. If there's no princess, then there's no cruise."

Fluttershy laid herself back down, but she didn't look like she necessarily lost hope. "There has to be something… A loophole of some kind. Iron Will prides himself in what he does so much that he doesn't really expect a different outcome other than what he's already looking for. After all, he thought that his 'assertiveness seminars' would satisfy ponies so much that he promised their money back if they weren't completely satisfied. So, all I had to do was say no and that was that. Maybe there's something he's overlooking this time too?"

"Possibly…but can we figure out what that might be before tonight?" I thought for a moment, but ultimately sighed when I came up short. I lowered my gaze from the sky onto the deck of the ship where I saw different ponies taking part in different smaller activities. For some reason, my attention had been caught by the sight of a foal getting her face painted. As expected, she had been trying to color her coat the same color as Twilight. Around her was the filly we had seen wearing a cutout mask of Cadence. One could only assume she was going to take Cadence's colors instead.

"Huh… You think…?" I nearly mumbled incoherently to myself as something, in particular, came faintly to mind.

"What?" Fluttershy sat up and stared back at me in soft anticipation.

"I wonder…" I continued silently thinking to myself before we heard a sudden and loud announcement.

"It's your last chance. Come get in line if you want the princess to sign!" Iron Will's voice boomed out of what sounded like a megaphone.

All the ponies that had been partaking in various activities in front of us gasped and exchanged looks of excitement with each other before disappearing in a split second.

Realizing this next event was nearby, Fluttershy and I removed ourselves from the lounge chairs we had been resting on and decided to take a look out of curiosity. Before we could even find where Twilight had been, we had bumped into somepony at the end of an extremely long line. From what we could see, this line had been heading in the direction of the other side of the ship.

In order to get a better view, the two of us took to the skies for a short minute to realize that the line had been much longer than we had anticipated. The line was so long that ponies had to make some kind of snake-like pattern in order to even fit in the same area. Practically everypony must've been in line, and Twilight had been at the very end of the ship at a long table.

That wasn't the only bothering thing we had noticed. At a section above the deck, close to the cabin where Iron Will had been steering the ship, I noticed the minotaur himself walking and whistling back towards the opposite side of the ship.

Fluttershy and I followed him to find him stretching out a lounge chair of his own with one of his goat buddies beside him. To put it simply, he, the captain of the ship, was pretty much lying on the job while Twilight took all of the heat by signing an autograph for everypony. Fluttershy and I exchanged a look with each other before we nodded and headed down to speak with him.

"What do you think you're doing?" I asked.

"Iron Will is getting ready for the Northern Stars." He answered nonchalantly as he pulled up a pineapple cup with a swirly straw towards his face. "Iron Will's not going to miss something like this."

"So, you're leaving Twilight to do all that work?" Fluttershy stretched out her foreleg towards the other side of the ship angrily.

"You heard the princess. She agreed to Iron Will's terms. Iron Will has lived to his side of the bargain, so Princess Twilight must abide by the agreement."

"How is she supposed to get a chance to see the Northern Stars if you just keep lining her schedule up with princess work?" I argued.

"Iron Will suggests you calm down, little ponies. Princess Twilight has only one thing left to do for the day, and she is doing just that. Princess Twilight can watch her precious Northern Stars when she is finished."

With the kind of line Twilight had waiting for her, we weren't sure if she'd end up having the chance to see what she was looking forward to the most. And, we knew that Iron Will wasn't going to budge whatsoever, especially looking back to our past experience with him.

"Fine. Have it your way." I settled before heading back down to the deck.

Fluttershy hesitantly followed me before asking me a question with a face full of worry. "You're not really just going to let him do what he wants, are you?"

I took a look around the empty area and finally found the paint they had been using for the fillies earlier.

"Not really." I answered, borrowing a couple of cans and preparing to take them back to our room with me. I then turned towards Fluttershy with what I could only assume was an extremely serious look. "I'll need your help, Fluttershy. Mind giving me a hoof?"

"Of course." She firmly nodded. "But, what are you going to do?"

Taking a quick look at the palette I now had before me, I answered her with a sense of confidence.

"If it's Princess Twilight he wants, then it's Princess Twilight he'll get."

Seeing the promised Princess Twilight right in front of me, it was extremely uncanny. Everything I did, she did as well. Every particular motion, whether it was my hoof or my own eyes, was replicated perfectly. It was as if we were one in the same. Well, I supposed that that was true in more ways than one, but as of right now, it was literally the case.

"I guess it was a good thing that Rarity pushed me into borrowing some of her makeup for this trip." Fluttershy said as she looked her all over. "Are you really sure this is the best thing to do?"

"You saw how dark it's getting." I reminded her. "And that line doesn't look like it's going to get any shorter."

Past the mirror, Princess Twilight spoke with the utmost uncertainty, and it was all spelled out through a frown on her face. Unfortunately, her voice was a little too deep to fit the job well.

"Twilight's been spending the entire day for our sake when she should be enjoying it with us." I finally turned away from the mirror and faced Fluttershy directly. "The Northern Stars are the one thing she's been dying to see, and I don't want to imagine the look on her face when she misses out because she's been too busy keeping her side of the deal with Iron Will."

"But what if he finds out that Twilight isn't actually the one signing autographs outside?"

"Nothing wrong with that." I believed confidently. "The deal was that Princess Twilight was to do whatever princess stuff Iron Will wanted her to do. He didn't say that somepony else couldn't pretend to be Princess Twilight in her place."

"I don't think he was expecting anypony to go that far though…" Fluttershy tapped her hooves together a bit uncertainly.

"I don't care." I answered, still annoyed about the last conversation we had with him. "You were looking for some kind of loophole earlier, right? He wants to pull a fast one on her parents? What's the harm in taking her place for just a little while? After all, I'm sure all he cares about is the profit behind it anyway. As long as no one pays too much attention, we should be able to pull it off. That is…if you're willing to keep helping me."

"Of course, I'll help you." She stepped up and acknowledged as she looked me in the eyes.

"If you do, you'll most likely miss the Northern Stars too. Are you okay with that?" I asked.

She nodded her head. "I would've liked to see them, but I'd rather miss them and help you when you need me. There's no way I would've been able to watch them without you, after all."

I felt a little guilty for bringing her with me, and I also felt like I needed to share that with her. "It's just, you've been through so much lately. Building that animal sanctuary. And everything you did to help Zecora? You could've been seriously hurt. In fact, I was so worried about losing you. You've really grown so much, you know? That's why I wanted you on this cruise because I thought you really deserved it."

Fluttershy kept her gaze locked onto me, and a small yet appreciative smile stretched from her soft lips. "Thank you, but both of us have been through a lot together, remember? You and Twilight were with me when Zecora needed help, and that is why I'm willing to do whatever it takes to help you and Twilight right now. The Northern Stars may be a sight to remember, but our relationships are what really matter. Right now, Twilight could definitely use our help, and I know you'll need mine to do it."

I lightly nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Fluttershy."

As much as I still wished she didn't have to miss out on time she really deserved, I understood how much she was willing to commit when it came to me. After all, if I had been in her place, I would've done the same thing.

I was just about to stretch my neck forward in order to make an attempt at expressing that love and appreciation I had for her, but she unexpectedly placed a hoof on my own lips before I could get any closer.

"Um, maybe we should leave that for afterwards…" She suggested, lightly turning away in a small state of embarrassment. "You know…when you've washed off."

"Oh, right…" I finally pulled away, feeling a bit embarrassed as well. "I almost forgot." I then tried shaking the moment away by getting back into the business of things. "Alright. Do you think you can convince Twilight to take a break? Just come up with something that'll get her over to the other side of the ship but won't make the ponies think that she's actually done for the night. I'll come in whenever she's out of the picture."

Fluttershy nodded confidently in response. "You've got it! I've got just the thing!"

Afterward, she began making her way outside, and I stayed in the common area of our room to try to look out the window and keep an eye out on what was going on outside.

From what I was able to see, it looked like Fluttershy had been able to get Twilight out without any problems, but I didn't know for sure until she had come back to get me.

"I told the other ponies that Twilight would be taking a short break, but let's try to wrap this up as soon as possible." Fluttershy told me as she escorted me out of our room. It was almost surprising to hear her have such a confident and energetic voice when it came to carrying out this plan we barely scrapped together. To be honest, she almost sounded like she could've been my manager or something. "I'm hoping nothing goes wrong, but if the same ponies getting an autograph later find Twilight watching Northern Stars, they might start to wonder how she got over there so fast. Although, I'm really hoping that if they do, they don't make a big deal about it or maybe they'll think that's how great she is or something."

"I'm kind of thinking they'll too busy watching the Northern Stars too." I shared my own input. "By the time it ends, I don't think they'll think anything of Twilight being there."

"Oh, one more thing." Fluttershy suddenly pointed out.

"What?" I replied.

"You might not want to talk at all. I can't imagine how awkward it'll be if a fan hears their favorite princess with a…out of place voice." She advised.

"Oh, right." I slightly widened my eyes in surprise. "I almost forgot about that. Good catch, Fluttershy."

She merely returned a cheery closed-eye look before we reached the deck and were within view of the other ponies that were still standing in line to get an autograph.

By the time we made it back to the signing table, Fluttershy was quick to make the announcement.

"Sorry for that, everypony! Your favorite princess is back and is ready to sign some more signatures!"

The surprisingly patient crowd returned a fairly loud cheer before the first pony in line came up to the table with an excited grin plastered on her face.

Fluttershy proceeded to slip a piece of blank paper over to me, which was what I was supposed to sign apparently. I went on to pick up the nearby quill and dip it into the ink when I suddenly realized that I had to copy Twilight's signature.

Fluttershy must have noticed my momentarily panicked expression because she unexpectedly slipped me another paper and swiftly winked. It was a piece of paper just like the others I was supposed to be signing, but it wasn't blank. Instead, it was actually already signed. I supposed Fluttershy had managed to somehow save a signed paper from Twilight before she left. However, whatever the case was, I was grateful for it.

I tried to keep the signed copy beside me as slyly as I could as I began working on signing the new fresh copy.

I knew to forge someone's signature was a bad thing, but there's no real harm in doing it during a circumstance like this, right? After all, I'm technically just helping Twilight out with something she had already been doing in the first place.

"Oh, I love you so much, Princess Twilight!" The pony in front of me blurted out happily.

I was just about to say something in response to show my "appreciation" for her comment, but Fluttershy immediately intervened.

"Unfortunately, her voice is a little hoarse right now, but she wants you to know that she appreciates your support!"

As for me, it was fortunately enough to keep the unsuspecting pony unaware and off on her merry way.

Thanks to Fluttershy's dedicated assistance, getting through these signatures should most likely be a breeze.

To be honest, "signing" signatures didn't feel like it took all that long to do. In fact, there had been no pony left in line before we knew it, and we were allowed to take a huge breather. However, we managed to notice some kind of glow coming from a part of the sky, but it quickly faded away. Because of the side of the ship we were in, our view had been obscured. I wasn't sure how long this had been going on, or if it had been near completion.

"Hey! Maybe we can still make it!" Fluttershy seemed to find the thought exciting.

I couldn't help but chuckle lightly. "Looking like this? It's going to take some time washing all this off."

"Oh, right…" Fluttershy's excitement simmered down as she noticed the sight of me.

"You can go on ahead though." I offered. "If you can still make it, then you should try and have a look for yourself."

"Mm-mm." She shook her head and then seemed to look slightly away from me with her cheeks scrawled in red. "After all, who's going to help you take all that paint off?"

It was clear that she wasn't going to take the chance of seeing the Northern Stars for herself if I wasn't there, so I didn't argue against it. After all, she seemed more than content with just sticking by me until the very end.

"I'll be right back." Fluttershy told me as she left for the bedroom she had left her saddlebag in. "I've got some wipes that should take the makeup off quite easily."

"Got it." I returned with a nod and began quietly looking over myself for sometime until she left. I turned over to the mirror we had used before and couldn't help but laugh at myself. "I never thought I'd do something as ridiculous as this…"

Looking like Twilight ended up ironically taking a lot of work, but I didn't really regret doing any of it, especially if Fluttershy felt the same way. It was crazy how things played out quite perfectly from Fluttershy having the makeup necessary to pull off the more feminine features of Twilight to the wigs of her mane that they had been selling on this cruise. Whatever the case was, I was glad that I was finally done with it. The only thing that bothered me was that me doing this didn't necessary "fix" the main issue. Twilight got to see the Northern Lights. I'm glad for that. But, is she still going to have to do so much more princess stuff for the rest of the cruise?

There was a sudden knock at the door, causing me to quickly turn back with a wide-eyed expression.

"Alex? Fluttershy? Are you in he—"

Before I knew it, I had suddenly been faced with a spitting image of myself. Well, technically, it was the other way around.

"…aa…ah…" Twilight marveled at the sight of me. She had been stricken with so much confusion and shock that she couldn't even talk right. In fact, both of us were speechless at the sight of each other for different reasons.

I hadn't planned for her seeing me like this, and I wasn't sure what to do at the moment. The two of us only continued staring at each other dumbfoundedly. I wasn't willing to try to pull off some kind of charade with her like pretending to be her reflection or telling her it was only a dream. I wanted to come clean, but how exactly was I supposed to do it now?

"Uh… I can explain."

It was the first thing I could come up with.

To make matters worse, everyone else that had been with her came strolling in. That is until the sight of me froze them in their tracks.

"After we get you cleaned up, we can finally—Oh!" Fluttershy walked back in next, being heavily surprised as soon as she noticed the unexpected group at the door.

Everyone stood in silence for what seemed like a long while, but somewhere between the still and uncomfortable silence, Flurry was heard babbling as she pointed a tiny hoof towards me.

It was a really rough start, but Fluttershy and I were able to get into the swing of things when it came to that explanation I had awkwardly promised. Fluttershy was able to clean up the majority of my face after tossing away the wig on my head, but I was still left with a lavender-coated body and a painted and straightened tail.

"Wait. Let me get this straight…" Twilight responded as she seemed to try to make heads and tails out of the words that came out of my mouth. "You're telling me that you were doing all of this the entire time we had been watching the Northern Stars?!"

She honestly looked a little upset, and I was afraid she'd reprimand me for pretty much impersonating her without her permission.

"Sorry…" Fluttershy and I apologized simultaneously.

"We just wanted you to have a break for once. We didn't mean any harm out of it." I added.

Twilight lightly sighed and shook her head. "I can't believe it."

At that point, I felt an overwhelming weight of guilt hang over my head.

"This whole time…" She continued. "I thought you had been watching the Northern Stars somewhere on your own. It was the perfect chance for you to spend such a romantic moment together. And you decided to worry about me instead? This is exactly what I didn't want."

We were stunned to find tears forming at the corner of her eyes, and they soon began to roll down her cheeks.

"Twilight…!" Fluttershy stepped up once seeing the tearjerking look on her face. "Don't be sad! I know you wanted us to see the Northern Stars too, but we were more concerned about you. Working all day to make every pony happy. You didn't deserve to miss the one thing you were looking forward to. We're okay missing it. Honest."

"The whole reason I made that deal with Iron Will was so that the rest of you could still have the vacation you deserved…but if all you did was just worry about me…then…" She sniffed as another tear of hers escaped her eyes.

"Twilight." Cadence spoke up now. "You've been focusing on pleasing every pony on this ship, but what is it that you want?"

"I just want everypony to be happy…" She answered despondently. "I'm a princess after all. And, everyone here looks up to me. I can't let them all down by not doing what they came here for."

"Well, sometimes ponies want more from a princess than you can give, and it can be hard to know where to draw the line. Being a princess means you have to balance what you want with what others want. You'll never be happy if you just focus on everypony but yourself all the time."

"Hm. You seem to know pretty well."

"Once I had Flurry Heart, the line was easier for me to see." Cadence stated as she shared a warm smile to her precious and bubbly daughter. "You will always have obligations as a princess, but you also have an obligation to yourself."

"She's right, dearie." Twilight's mother chipped in. "This is supposed to be your vacation too, remember?"

"Your mother's right. Personally, I don't need a cruise if it means we can't spend it like a family." Her father said next.

"Wow. I had no idea what was going on, Princess Twilight." The contest winner that had been following her around mentioned as he looked away with a guilty face. "This whole time, I was only focused on having the best time ever, but I never even thought about how you felt." He turned slightly to find Twilight looking at him, which ended up causing him to react extremely nervously. "Y-You know, forget about the contest. You should have a good time with your real family!"

Just as he was about to rush out, Twilight stopped him.

"Star Tracker. Wait." She called out to him, causing him to cease his motions and turn back to her. "I haven't exactly been the best kind of pony either. To be completely honest, all throughout today you were hanging around way too close to me, and I found it…well…a little annoying. I should've said something. I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry!" He apologized. "I just…never thought I'd get so close to a princess…and w-well…"

Twilight shook her head and turned towards us all.

"You know what? You're right, everypony. I think I need to set some boundaries. But, first, we have to do one more thing together as a family before the day ends." She glanced over at Star Tracker and smiled. "Honorary family members included."

Fortunately, Twilight seemed to have gone through some sort of resolve, but I was still a little worried about what she'd do with the whole Iron Will situation. Nevertheless, that didn't seem to be much of a bother to her when she took us out on the deck. There was an ice cream stand, and she treated every one of us to a cone. Except for Shining Armor. He didn't look so good, but Flurry Heart seemed to enjoy the sweet treat happily.

"…so how are you feeling?" I couldn't help but worriedly asked as she passed a cone to Fluttershy and me.

She giggled softly as she seemed to observe my coat. "You know, I had no idea you liked to dress up and be me every now and then." She joked.

I groaned, unwilling to remember what I had done. "I actually kind of want to forget about all that."

"Good luck trying to make this pony forget." She teased some more, earning a chuckle from Fluttershy as well.

Star Tracker, the contest winner from before, approached Twilight. "You and your family have been really kind to include me, but you deserve your own vacation together. I think I've had way more than I could have ever dreamed of."

Twilight withdrew a small yet appreciative smile. "If that's really how you feel, then I appreciate the thought, Star Tracker. Thanks for understanding."

She moved a little closer to him, immediately causing him to laugh nervously. "And I'm really glad we met, too!"

Twilight exchanged a momentary hug with him, enabling him to leave with a bright smile on his face like a happy little camper. However, he hadn't exactly been looking at where he was going, so he ended up bumping into a certain minotaur we didn't really want to see.

"Attention, cruise ponies! If it's your dream, come to the deck for ice cream!" We heard his voice broadcast loudly, gathering the attention of everypony on board.

"Hey! I thought you said she was done after signing autographs!" I pointed out angrily.

Technically, Fluttershy and I had finished that task, but he didn't need to know that.

Iron Will pushed the microphone away from his mouth and addressed the matter towards us. "Iron Will made no guarantees to the number of princess activities Princess Twilight would have to participate in."

"Oh, no! Leave the princess alone!" Star Tracker retaliated bravely.

Iron Will bent over to face this pony directly. "What did you say to Iron Will?"

Star Tracker immediately flinched back at the sight of him.

By my side, Fluttershy grew a quite aggressive and dissatisfied look on her face. As everypony else on the ship drew near, she looked like she was ready to step up and give him a piece of her mind. However, Twilight suddenly grabbed a hold of the microphone Iron Will wore and used it for herself.

"It's okay, everypony." Clearing her throat for a quick second, she began to address the crowd that appeared before her. "First, I want to thank all of you for coming. It means a lot that you'd spend your hard-earned bits just to be with us. But I honestly came on this cruise to take some time off from being a princess. I'm just a pony, too, after all. And even though I want everypony here to be happy, I'd really like to spend the rest of the cruise relaxing with my family."

"Of course, Princess Twilight." One of her fanatics took surprisingly well.

"But why was this trip advertised as a Cruise of the Princesses if you just wanted to get away?" Another questioned.

"That's a good question." Twilight raised an eyebrow and turned towards Iron Will. "Why was this trip advertised as a 'Cruise of the Princesses'?"

On the other hoof, Iron Will only whistled innocently by the edge of the ship. It wasn't until everypony's eyes were on him that he finally explained himself by pulling out a bunch papers with a magnifying glass directed at a particular part of the page.

"Iron Will's Cruise of the Princesses makes no guarantees as to the participation of actual princesses."

"What?!"

Every one of the cruise ponies immediately rose and struck up a mutiny against the ship's captain, causing him to back away a bit slowly. "But Iron Will learned his lesson before. Satisfaction not guaranteed." He unexpectedly jumped over the side and disappeared out of sight. "No refuuuuuuunds!" We could hear his voice echoing as it grew further away from us.

Everypony that witnessed this gasped and immediately rushed over to the side to take a look for themselves at the fleeing minotaur. He was the size of an ant after a measly few seconds, but it wasn't long before a huge parachute obscured our view of him. Instead, we were given an eyeful of him swimming in his riches. It was only a moment of time before this parachute shrunk until it was no longer in sight.

"Wow." Shining Armor simply reacted in what sounded like a bit of disbelief. "He may be pushy and manipulative, but nopony can say that minotaur isn't prepared."

"Wait." I mentioned, realizing something after considering what we had all just seen with our own eyes. "If the ship's captain just bailed on us, what are we supposed to do with the cruise now?"

"I guess we'll have to turn this ship around and head back to Canterlot." Twilight suggested. "We…might have to explain what happened there. But for now, that doesn't mean we can't keep enjoying ourselves till we get back, right?"

Even though it seemed like our vacation would be getting cut short, I, for one, was at least glad we could truly relax for once without having to worry about Iron Will and his unethical gimmicks.

Fluttershy and I had spent some time together in our room until she ended up dozing off. I wasn't exactly sleepy, so after I put her to bed, I decided to enjoy the weather outside aboard the ship. It was probably around midnight, if not past, so there were hardly any other ponies out.

I hung my hooves over the side of the ship and observed the night sky hosting the bright full moon. I couldn't help but think about Luna and wonder if she would have enjoyed a cruise like this too. But, I also didn't know her or Celestia's schedule, and I could only imagine that they had it harder than us.

For some reason, thinking about them made me begin thinking about what laid ahead in the future. For a moment, I somewhat began feeling scared. I wasn't shaking or shivering by the thought of it. I just felt…uneasy. It was the same kind of uneasiness I remembered feeling before not too long ago. I don't know what it was, but there was just something lingering in the dark parts of my mind. And, despite the fact we were supposed to be on a vacation, I felt like I couldn't truly be at ease no matter how much I tried to distract myself from it.

"Couldn't sleep?" I heard behind me.

"Something like that." I briefly answered, finding Twilight joining me by my side. As soon as I saw her, I immediately felt a welcoming kind of relief. Like if I was hoping that she would show up.

"I didn't really get to see it before, but without Iron Will's voice hammering my ears, I can finally appreciate the view of the night sky." She said as her gaze fixated on the stars above us. "I guess it just goes to show you that you can always find some kind of hope in the worst situations, huh?"

"Since when did you get all philosophical?" I lightly joked.

"Maybe it's just the you part of me talking." She giggled.

"Yeah, maybe." I simply responded with, feeling an unexpected bit of dread shadow my heart for a short moment.

"Um. I don't think I really got to tell you this before…but thank you." She expressed, seizing my gaze. "It's true. All I really wanted was for everypony to be happy, but knowing what you and Fluttershy did to make me happy? Well, I don't know what else to say other than it makes me feel extremely glad. I still wish that you two would've been able to see the Northern Stars, but I like to think that we'll get to see them again together sometime soon."

"Hm." I couldn't bring myself to feel the same kind of hope she apparently seemed to have been feeling. "You ever wonder if, maybe, things don't always work out well in the end for everypony? Like, maybe some ponies just aren't meant to be happy?"

Based on the expression that formed on her face, it was heavily apparent that she wasn't expecting that kind of question to come from me. "What kind of question is that? Are you feeling okay?"

I shook my head. "Sorry. I guess I'm just tired or something. Forget about it."

"Maybe you should try getting some sleep again." She suggested. "After all, we've only got tomorrow to make the most out of this cruise."

I simply nodded. "Guess so."

As I turned to leave, I heard her call my name.

"Alex?"

I silently faced her and patiently waited to hear what she wanted to say.

"Just so you know… If there ever comes a time when you think you're stuck in the dark, I'll come looking for you. So, to answer your question, I'd come and give you a reason to be happy." She drew closer to me and looked at me gently in the eyes. "We've got a special thing going on between us, you know? In more ways than one. What you did today reminded me of that. This is probably going to sound a bit dramatic, but I'm willing to put my life on the line for you. So, just like you've told me before, don't ever be afraid of doing anything alone. Whatever it is, even if it's the most dangerous thing ever, I'll be there. And telling me to back down because it's too dangerous won't stop me. Got it?"

Just as her name went, the warm smile that stretched out from her lips at the time was something that could be seen through any kind of darkness. Because of that, I suddenly felt a small warmth inside of me. It didn't completely overturn the weird mood I had been feeling, but it gave me a reason to feel as if everything was going to be alright.

"I got it. I'm counting on you then." I answered with a small smile of my own.

She pressed her chest against mine and wrapped her hooves around my neck.

We stood there for a moment together. As much as I appreciated her words and actions, they also unexpectedly made me feel a little scared. I shouldn't have thought like this, but for some reason, it was almost like I had been saying goodbye.

And, I guess I just needed a little more than words to convince me otherwise.

Uncommon Bond

I wasn't sure if it was due to tossing and turning throughout the night or if I was coming down with something, but all I could remember was having some kind of distressing dream that led me to wake up in a semi-cold sweat.

I felt hot under the covers, so the first thing I did was shove them away from me. I felt no need to get out of bed, but at the same time, I couldn't exactly fall back asleep. Taking a glance towards the window, I noticed the sun seemed to be up already. My body felt heavy, so I merely laid my head back down on my pillow and closed my eyes.

"You just gonna lie there? This might just be your last chance to see them."

I suddenly heard a sort of deep voice as if there had been some pony at my bedside. I immediately opened my eyes and turned in the direction where the sound had come from, but there wasn't any pony in sight. I continued to stare out cautiously at the empty space of my room until I ultimately fell back down on my bed and sighed heavily.

"What is wrong with me?" I thought out loud as I covered my eyes with my hooves.

"You up yet, bro?" I heard another voice, causing me to swiftly rise up from bed in alarm. However, after having a few seconds to think, I realized it was a voice that my ears welcomed. "If you stay asleep too long, you'll miss breakfast!"

Athena had been walking towards my bedside with a jubilant grin on her face.

"Yeah, I guess…" I answered a bit tiredly.

Athena spent the next moment studying me with a curious expression on her face.

"Hey. You don't look so good? Did you go to bed late last night?"

"Well, I don't think I really got a good sleep last night in the first place."

She continued staring at me until she suddenly raised her hoof and placed it on my forehead.

"You're a little warm." She stated as her eyes lightly widened. "Are you feeling sick? Maybe you should stay in bed."

My head shook. Under normal circumstances, I probably would've done just that, but for some reason, I felt like I couldn't this time around. In other words, I felt like I would…be wasting time just staying in bed all day.

"I'm fine. Maybe I just need some fresh air or something." I told her as I began getting out of bed.

"…you sure?" Athena asked worriedly. "If you really are getting sick, I don't want you making it any worse than it is."

"Yeah." I nodded and then began an attempt to distract her from the current subject. "So, about breakfast?"

Athena followed me into the dining hall where we sat to have our usual run of the mill first meal of the day. However, there had been something that was slightly different about this morning.

"Where's Starlight?" I asked Twilight at the table.

"She's at the train station waiting for Sunburst." Twilight answered, stuffing a bit of fruit in her mouth in the process. "She's been so excited for his visit, she decided to skip breakfast, hehe."

"Well, they were childhood friends, I guess." I said, finding myself moving the food on my plate around more instead of actually eating.

"Hey, I was thinking about stopping by the antique store later on." Twilight mentioned to me. "Wanna come with? It'd be nice not to go alone for once."

"Actually, I don't think Alex is feeling too—"

"I'll go." I accepted Twilight's invitation, despite the words that were coming out Athena's mouth. The last thing I wanted was to be by myself as well.

"Great!" Twilight responded cheerfully. "I heard they just got some new stuff in and I've been dying to see what it is! We'll head right over there after we're done eating!"

"Hey…are you sure you're feeling okay?" Athena leaned in and spoke softly towards my ear.

"I'm fine." I nearly spat out. "I told you. I don't want to spend all day being in bed. I'll even take some medicine later on if it'll make you happy."

The somewhat agitated look on her face gave me the impression that she had more to say, but for the sake of not ruining the nonchalant atmosphere between the table, she didn't say anymore. As I silently began eating what I could, I began wondering if she was able to see right through me, literally. After all, I couldn't quite deny the fact that it'd be much easier for her to see and pick up my worries and stress far better than any other pony could.

After we had finished cleaning up, Twilight began playfully pressuring me to join her out the front doors of the castle.

"You ready to go? They might have something you like."

"Yeah, I'm coming." I answered and was just about to leave until I felt some other pony's eyes on me. Of course, it had been none other than Athena with a small and still frown on her face. "Sorry about earlier." I felt the need to apologize. "I'm just…not really feeling myself today. I guess it's just one of those days."

"Mm-hm…" She nodded her head a bit stiffly. "Listen, um, I'm going to go run a few errands around town, but promise me that you'll come back home if you're not feeling any better, okay? I'm no nurse, but if you really are getting sick, I don't want you out making yourself vulnerable. I know you don't want to stay in bed all day, but if it makes you feel any better, I'll even call Fluttershy here to take care of you."

Honestly, her concern for me actually lightened up the damp mood I had been feeling a bit, but it didn't seem it would last long. I actually didn't want to hear anything to do with any kind of negativity, so I was hoping that spending time with Twilight would bring me back up to par.

"I got it. Don't worry too much about me, okay? I'll be back later.

With that, I began walking out of the room to catch up with Twilight, who had most likely already been waiting outside for me.

On the walk towards the antique shop Twilight had invited me to, I could hear her talking excitedly to me, but it was all background noise. Instead of listening to her intently during the moment, I found myself spacing out on multitude levels. I would either be too busy worrying about why I had been feeling so off that day, or I would even feel like not thinking at all but just staring at the ground absentmindedly like an idiot.

Twilight's voice had become a faint sound in the back of my mind to the point where it was incoherent, but all of a sudden, her noise gradually grew louder and a bit clearer with each passing second. Eventually, I was able to hear her loud and clear.

"Alex." She firmly called.

"Huh?" I picked up my head and looked around to get a grasp of my surroundings. I hadn't even been paying attention to where we had been walking that I didn't even realize that we had already arrived at the front of the shop.

"You were really out of it. Is something bothering you?" She asked.

"S-Sorry…" I apologized, finding the troublesome look on her face becoming identical to the one Athena had been giving me earlier. "To tell you the truth, I haven't really been feeling myself today. I guess it's just one of those off days."

"Hm. That's what Athena was trying to tell me before we left the castle, isn't it? Maybe you should go back and get some rest. I don't want you to be out and about if you're coming down with something."

I almost fervently shook my head. "No, no. That's actually the last thing I want. I don't really feel sick. I don't know…" I wanted to tell her that I felt…sort of scared for some reason, but at the same time, I didn't want to exactly drop that bomb on her. "Anyways, I wanted to go out with you because I was hoping I could get past whatever this is. I guess you could think of it like being worried about a test so you hang out with friends to sort of get through the stress, you know?"

"Oh, right. I think I understand what you're trying to say." She continued looking at me for a few seconds before she turned over to the shop doors to open them. "Well, if it's just company you want, feel free to stick by me."

It seemed my explanation was enough to keep her from worrying. However, despite it coming from me, it didn't seem to exactly convince myself. If all I wanted was just 'a little company', I was sure that whatever I had been feeling would have been long gone. Yet, it still lingered, and the most I was able to do was just distract myself from thinking about it for a moment or two.

I suddenly found myself zoning out again and quickly passed through the front doors of the shop before Twilight could see that.

Inside the shop, it seemed Twilight originally only wanted my company as well as she didn't really try to draw me in when it came to observing the items the antique shop had. In other words, it wasn't like she was trying to lecture me on the history of certain objects or asking me if I knew where the object originated or who it belonged to. Instead, she reacted to those things as Rarity would if I had been window shopping with her.

She'd gaze at books or figures every now and then, mumble a bit in excitement, and analyze them from time to time. Occasionally, she'd have me take a look at whatever she was excited about, but already knowing me, she didn't expect me to share the same kind of excitement that she felt. Being with her helped, but as mentioned before, it wasn't enough to fully overcome the sense of dread I had been feeling somewhere deep inside of me.

I followed her around the shop, which seemed a lot bigger than I initially thought it was, until she suddenly stopped in her tracks and exclaimed out loud once more. I had been in and out of reality several times through our walking, so I thought she had been calling my name again. However, it wasn't me she was looking at this time.

"Sunburst!" She had been facing away from my direction. "I'm so glad you're here!"

In front of her were two familiar faces, and they belonged to none other than Sunburst and Starlight Glimmer.

"In the antique store?" Sunburst asked, surprised to see Twilight as well.

"In Ponyville!" Twilight clarified. "Starlight's really been looking forward to your visit. Though I'm glad you're in the antique store, too. I'm usually the only one…but I've got Alex here with me this time!"

I approached the three in conversation since Twilight practically summoned me by mentioning my name. "Hey." I answered with what sounded like the minimum amount of effort needed to sound remotely pleased.

"Oh, hey." Starlight noticed me and laughed lightly. "Would you look at that? Both of us hanging out with our best friends?"

"Hey! Why don't we do some antiquing together? That could be fun!" Twilight enthusiastically suggested.

"Sure! The more the merrier!" Starburst happily agreed.

I didn't really notice it until now, but Starlight seemed to have been putting up a forceful grin. And, it slowly drooped a little once she heard Starburst's last comment. "Yeah. Coooool."

I couldn't say that I felt happy nor upset when Starlight and Sunburst joined us, but for some reason, that made me feel…disjointed for some reason. I was never interacting with Twilight much, to begin with, but now, Twilight and Sunburst seemed like they were having an especially good time. I was sure that in any other normal day, I would have found their obvious appreciation for these kinds of antique arts fun to watch, but today was not the case.

It wasn't that I was jealous or anything. In fact, I wasn't sure exactly what it was. All I knew is that the little despair I had managed to shoo off started slowly creeping behind my back. I then started having feelings of helplessness and even loneliness, despite being in a group of four ponies. Something was definitely wrong with me, and before I could show any of that to the others, I quickly excused myself towards an empty section of the antique shop.

I was grateful that not many ponies were here in the first place because the last thing I needed was ponies looking over me in worry. I wasn't in any kind of danger, at least, I hoped I wasn't. I suppose the best way to describe it was that, for some reason, I felt like I was having a really soft panic attack.

My heartbeat accelerated, and I was forced to close my eyes and focus on my breathing. I was really getting scared now. Ironically, I was scared of not knowing why I was scared in the first place. Having some time to myself, I realized this all felt too familiar, but I didn't have any clue to what the cause was.

At that moment, I began secretly wishing that someone would appear by my side. Not a random bystander, but somepony who could comfort me. And, the first pony that came to mind was Athena because she could possibly find the cause of my panicking body.

"Is it that bad? I thought your 'friendship' would be able to get you through it without a problem."

At the sound of an unwelcoming voice, I immediately opened my eyes and turned around.

And, that's when I saw him.

He had been the unknown voice I heard in the morning. The one who seemed to find a liking to lurking in the shadows behind our back. The one who called himself Red.

"It's you, again… What are you doing here? Last I saw you…we were going through those memories. What are you even supposed to be? I'm not just seeing things, am I?"

A bunch of thoughts had been going through my mind. I didn't understand how he appeared before me all of a sudden. In fact, I was more than willing to bet that it was just a hallucination. Maybe even a pony playing a stupid prank on me.

"You're right. You know now, right?" He answered, lightly passing his hoof through the books on the shelves near him. "About the memories you knew nothing about. They were your memories. Well, technically, they actually aren't. At least, that's the way I see it."

"So, what? Why are you here now? Are you the one who's making me feel this way?"

"You could say that. But, let me tell you something right now. Don't bother trying to find a way to stop it. I've let you have enough of your fun. Now, it's my turn to take back what you stole."

My heart dropped at the sound of that.

"…what? What are you talking about? Just what did I 'steal' from you?" I asked with a heavy heart.

"You'll know soon enough." He answered vaguely. "But, if you ask me, I don't think there's a point in thinking about it. Take my advice. 'Cherish' what time you have left with your friends. Maybe give them a really good goodbye at the end of the night. You never know when the last time you'll see them will be."

Any words or questions I may have had to say were suddenly stolen. In fact, I couldn't talk at all. I felt frozen in place, and my gaze couldn't escape his malicious grin. I felt like I had been trapped. Like if he had me at checkmate. Even though I still couldn't figure out why I felt so powerless, it all felt real nonetheless. With your typical enemy of Equestria, there was always room for some kind of hope to fight with, but I felt none of that at this moment. He wasn't like any other villain we've faced together. He was…more of a personal demon.

"Alex?" I heard a voice behind me, breaking my focus on Red and causing me to gasp shortly as I quickly turned around.

It was Starlight Glimmer, and she had been staring at me with a somewhat puzzled look on her face.

"What are you doing here all by yourself?" She asked.

"I, um, saw something interesting here and just wanted a better look." I tried to tell her with a lopsided grin, but even I thought I was hardly convincing. Her slight suspicion revealed itself on her face, leaving me to quickly shift the focus on her. "What about you? Thought you'd be with Sunburst since he's visiting and all."

She returned a heavy sigh and drew closer to me.

"That's actually one of the reasons I came to find you. You told me before that if I need advice or just somepony to talk to, I could come to you, right? Well…the thing is…I'm feeling really, I don't know, disappointed, I guess."

The sharing of her feelings allowed me to distance myself from what had just happened before she came around, but, at the same time, I felt its lingering effects keep me from fully focusing on Starlight's confession.

"Disappointed? Are you talking about Sunburst's visit?"

"Yes. We two were childhood friends, and the last time I ever really spent time with him was right before he was taken away to magic school. It's been such a long time since then. We're both grown up now, and whatever interests we had since then aren't the same anymore. That's the issue. After all, the only reason we're in this shop is that he wanted to come. I try to feel just as interested as he is, but I just can't. But, that's just not it. When you and Twilight came around, it looks like he's having such a better time with her. I was hoping that I'd get to rekindle the kind of bond we used to have a long time ago, but now…I feel like that isn't going to happen no matter how hard I try."

"O-Oh…" I tried to come up with some kind of uplifting advice for her, but I was still having trouble thinking straight. "Um, you two still have to have some kind of common ground, right? What other things would you two do as foals? Maybe there's something you two used to do a long time ago and haven't done since? It could remind him of the fun you used to have."

She remained silent for a moment as she seemed to dwell within her thoughts. "We did used to play this board game called Dragon Pit a lot. I was actually thinking about trying to play it again with him when he came to Ponyville, but looking at him now, I'm not so sure he still likes the game."

"Won't know unless you try." I stated a bit frankly. "You two might just come up with something else to do in the middle of that game."

"I guess it's worth a shot…" Starlight said and then smiled softly. "Thanks…"

To be honest, I wholeheartedly believed my advice was lackluster. In other words, I felt as if I could have come up with something so much sincerer and more dedicated. However, my mind was like in a foggy haze. No matter how hard I had tried to snap out of it and focus one hundred percent on something, I just couldn't.

"…you seem a little out of it today." Starlight noticed and brought it up. "Are you…feeling okay?"

I couldn't do it. I know I didn't want to spend the day by myself, but being out here with the friends I wanted to spend my time with was turning out to be a disaster. Not so much for them, but for me. I needed time to get things together.

"Actually… I think I should head back to the castle." I told her as I held a hoof to my forehead. "Something's bugging me today, and I don't know what it is. Sorry I couldn't be any more help to you, Starlight."

"No, it's okay. I'm just a little worried about what's going on with you."

I shook my head lightly.

"I'm just going to try to get some sleep and hope that fixes everything. Mind if you let Twilight know for me?"

"S-Sure…" She returned with a slightly uncomfortable look on her face.

"Thanks." I said as I almost stumbled over in the process of turning around to find the exit door.

I hated this, and the more I thought about it, the more I began to believe that this really was all Red's doing. I just wanted to believe that he actually never existed in the first place, but the fact that all this was happening all of a sudden made it hard to do so.

After heading straight for the castle, sparing no glances around me in the event that somepony I might've known was around, I went straight to bed and threw the sheets over my entire body. That panicking feeling began to immediately return, and I was at an absolute loss. In a way, what little I went through all of today felt like an entire nightmare. There wasn't exactly anything extremely dramatic to warrant it so, but I just wanted everything to be a dream. I just wanted to wake up in a few minutes as if none of it had ever happened. But, the more I worried and lost my nerve about it, the more I came to the realization that it was all real.

"Alex. Hey, Alex!" I felt my body shaking.

At first, my body trembled at the thought of it being another unwelcomed guest. However, as I threw the covers away from me to confront the unknown being, I released a sigh of somewhat relief at the sight of a comforting face.

"Athena…" I returned, feeling unusually out of breath.

"I knew something was going on with you…" She stated as she looked over my unkempt body. "I was getting this really bad vibe, so I came back as soon as I could. Whatever it is, it isn't just some kind of sickness. I couldn't see much at first, but there's something going on with your psychological health, Alex. The emotions inside you…they're a mess. It's nothing I've ever seen before."

"Athena, I don't know what's happening to me…" I felt the extreme need to cry out of fear, but I held it back as much as I could. "There's nothing that I should be afraid of, but for some reason, I feel… I feel like he's…in my head. I can't stop thinking about everything coming to an end. I don't know why. It's like I'm being forced to think like this when there should be no reason to."

"'He'?" Athena repeated, obviously out of the loop. "Who are you talking about?"

"The one we last saw messing with our memories." I tried to explain to her as much as I could, despite suddenly lacking the motivation to do so in the first place. "…you know who I'm talking about. The one who worked with Starlight Glimmer before she became our friend."

"Wait. Hold on." Her body suddenly jerked forward. "You're not talking about him, are you? That jerk?! H-How?! Why do you think he's in your head?! We left him in the dust, remember?! He tried to mess with the memories you didn't know about and we stopped him! How could he possibly get in your head?! He doesn't have any sort of power like that!"

"I don't know…!" I nearly shouted out in frustration. "I saw him today. At the antique shop when I went with Twilight. We were alone, and he told me things that I just couldn't ignore. I don't know why. It almost feels like…he has control of my own emotions, and he's purposely making me feel like this for the fun of it."

Athena's eyes lowered in thought for a short moment before she furrowed her brow.

"Hang on. I'm going to take a look inside you. Bear with me, okay?" She backed away a bit before she vanished through particles of light.

At that moment, I turned over to my back and tried to control my wavering breathing pattern. There was no way I wanted any pony else that I cared about to see me in that state. It wasn't just that I was in such a vulnerable position. It was more that if everyone that I cared about began worrying about me due to my unexpected predicament, I knew that it would even cause me to freak out even more.

All I could do was just squeeze my eyes shut and focus on my breathing as hard as I could in hopes that Athena would return soon with some kind of solution to fix everything wrong.

I didn't want to believe it so, but it almost felt like hours until she came back. Nevertheless, she returned with what looked to be a puzzled expression on her face. She placed a careful hoof on me as she proceeded to say whatever it was that she had to say.

"I-I don't know what's wrong. I took a look around, and I don't really see any sign of a disturbance. Alex…are you sure what you saw was really him? You didn't drink anything funny, did you?"

I honestly didn't know what to say. After hearing her say that, I was beginning to even doubt myself. At any rate, the one thing I couldn't just excuse was the fact that I was feeling this way.

"N-No…" I responded. "That's what I'm trying to say when I tell you that I don't know what's wrong with me. I just started feeling like this all of a sudden, and it won't go away."

"You said you saw him at the antique shop." She recalled. "Did anypony else see him? What about Twilight?"

"I saw Starlight there. She was the one who was the closest at the time. I didn't ask, but I don't think she noticed him. No… It was like he was there one second and gone the next."

"Oh, Alex…" Athena nervously tapped her chin as she paced around restlessly for a bit. It was painfully obvious that, despite how much I had hoped that she had the answer to this sudden predicament, she had no clue on how to approach the situation. "It's not like we can just go to a doctor. You're sure you didn't eat something funny or get bit by some kind of creature?"

"N…no… Nothing like that." I answered as I felt myself sweat into an uncomfortable state. In fact, it felt more like I had been hoping more than responding with objective knowledge of recent events.

She slightly turned her head away from me and pondered intensively. "…am I missing something?" She asked herself softly. Afterwards, she turned back to me and sighed lightly. "Okay. Can you do something for me, Alex?"

"…what?" I asked a bit fearfully.

"I need you to try and hang on for me for a bit." She said. "Stay in bed and try to get some sleep. I'm going to spend the night taking watch inside of you. If what's pushing you over the edge is not from the outside, then it's gotta be inside you somewhere. I don't know. Maybe some kind of bad magic snuck its way inside you? Whatever it is, I have to find it so we can come up with something to get rid of it, if I can't get rid of it myself, okay?"

"Okay." I hesitantly nodded.

Bad magic? Right. Okay. That sounds reasonable.

I knew it was stupid to feel better for thinking some kind interfering magic was the root cause of it. I believed it was because we had dealt with this kind of magic before and effectively gotten rid of it without any permanent long-term damage. It may have not been the same as Rarity's "Inspiration Manifestation" or even as absurd as the love potion Big Mac took that one Hearts and Hooves Day, but if all we needed was just to spend a little time finding the cause so we could find a cure soon after, that was good enough for me…

Athena took a good long look at my face. Unfortunately, I had no idea what kind of expression had been plastered on me, but whatever it was, it was enough for her lips to stretch into a frown.

"Don't worry, bro. You'll be okay. I'm here for you." She comforted me as she placed a hoof on my forehead. Her eyes widened lightly as a result. "You should definitely stay in bed. You're feeling so much warmer than you were this morning. Although, I can't stay by your side like this since I have to be inside of you. Want me to go get Twilight? Or maybe, Fluttershy?"

I thought about her offer, but I couldn't fathom going through with either of the two. Twilight was actually the one pony I could see knowing about my condition without worrying too much about it. However, I didn't want to interrupt her since I was sure she probably had already made some kind of plans with Sunburst and Starlight for the day by this point. As for Fluttershy, I would have loved to have her over if this was a simple illness, but it wasn't. I couldn't imagine the look on her face if she knew I was dealing with something that she couldn't effectively help with. I couldn't do that to her. If only I was better at hiding the distress I had been going through…

I shook my head in response to Athena's question. "I don't want to put Fluttershy through this, and I don't want to risk any of the others besides Twilight knowing and ruining Sunburst's visit. If this keeps going on past tonight, we can tell Twilight tomorrow…"

"I just don't want you to be all by yourself…" Athena mentioned sadly.

"I just need to get some sleep, right?" I inhaled a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"That's right. I know it's hard to right now, but just try to relax. I'll be out here with you until you fall asleep."

It was comforting to hear her say that, but whether that comfort would actually last was the real question. At any rate, just having her beside me gave me a noticeable amount of relief, but I still couldn't help but feel fear crawl through my skin.

I closed my eyes and tried to calm my nerves to the best of my abilities, but it was practically impossible to keep my thoughts from keeping my mind awake. I constantly continued to think about how only the two of us knew about what I had been going through, and how scary this sudden situation was for me. There had been no warning signs, at least, not any that I noticed, and it wasn't like I was dabbling in any kind of dark magic.

All I could really hope was that whatever it was bugging me was actually so insignificant, I was only making myself out for a fool as a result for worrying over it. With these thoughts continuing to bombard my mind, I felt myself restlessly toss and turn every now and then, but thankfully, I could feel Athena's lingering spirit stick close by.

I didn't know when I had fallen asleep. It could have been minutes or hours. However, the same could be said for how long I had actually been asleep. All I knew for a fact was when I opened my eyes again, I found Athena by my bedside as well.

My first thought was the possibility that I hadn't even gotten to sleep long enough for her to do her work, but she started ruling out that possibility once she began speaking.

"Hey. You're awake…" She noticed. "…how do you feel?"

I wasn't sure what to say. It was still a bit too soon to tell.

"Well…I feel really sweaty." I answered.

She placed a hoof over my head and held it there for a second.

"I think your fever's gone down. So strange…"

"What about you?" I immediately asked, anxious to know her answer. "Did you find anything?"

She shook her head. However, she didn't particularly look pleased about it.

"No. Nothing out of the ordinary, but to tell you the truth, that's kind of what's bothering me. You were going through something serious, yet I couldn't find anything wrong with you. I wish I could say it was something completely benign, but I don't know… Your emotions were out of control. It'd be a different story if you were stressing over something big, but you said it yourself. You didn't know why you were feeling like that, and it happened all of a sudden. From what I can see, you've settled down a bit. I can only hope it stays like that."

"Did you feel any part of it?" I asked. "You're a part of me, after all."

"I did feel something alright. That was earlier today, but I think that's because you were in trouble. I don't think it was necessarily what you were feeling."

I sighed heavily through my nose and planted the back of my head onto my pillow to stare straight up at the ceiling in silence.

"There's something else I wanted to talk to you about…" Athena brought up a bit oddly. "When I was poking around in there…I started thinking about things. Things that could've been the cause of your panic attack. I remembered you telling me about how you saw that one creep. If you don't mind me asking…what exactly did he tell you?"

"What did he tell me…?" I repeated, looking back on my memory. "He told me something along the lines of how those memories of mine that we had been looking at 'technically' weren't mine. Actually, I think he even admitted to me that he was making me feel this way when I asked him. Lastly, he said that I 'stole' something from him, and he wanted it back. But, now that I'm looking back on it, it's gotta just be a hallucination, right? I can't see him actually being there and talking to me. Yeah…it's just a result of that panic attack I was having or whatever, right?"

I turned towards Athena, but the expression she wore was not what I had been expecting. She practically remained frozen, and she stared at the floor for some time as if she had been in the middle of handling an intense thought.

"…Athena?" I lightly called.

"That pony you're talking about…" She spoke worryingly soft without bringing up her head. "Did he…ever give you a name of some kind? Anything to call him by?"

"A name?" I was slightly confused. I didn't know why she'd want a name, considering it was obvious the two didn't exactly know each other all that much. "It was some kind of weird nickname, I think. Last I remember, he told me…to call him Red."

Athena suddenly gasped.

At the sound of it, I quickly tried to lift my body up to try to get a better look at her expression, but she ended up turning herself away and mumbling something underneath her breath. If that wasn't enough to bring the familiar sense of dread back into my heart, she soon began pacing around as if she was suffering some kind of shock or disbelief.

"Athena…" I called softly. "…do you know something?"

I had been anxiously waiting for her answer, but at the same time, I didn't want to hear it.

"…Alex…" Athena opened her lips but began pausing heavily in between various words. "…I…"

She was having a really hard time getting whatever it was out of her mouth. Normally, in any other case, I would have encouraged her to spit it out. However, at this time, I remained silent. I knew I was afraid to hear those words for myself.

"…I think…" She managed to continue. "…I have no idea how or why…but…I think…in some shape or form…he's…"

What?

I wanted to tell her that. But, all I could do was gulp nervously.

"…he's supposed to be you."

Shadow Play

I honestly couldn't say that things had really been the same ever since Athena had told me that. About how the one we knew as Red was apparently supposed to be some kind of version of me all along. She did stress the fact that it was only a theory, but it was easy to tell that she was nearly one percent sure of the reality of it.

In fact, based on what Athena had told me about her past, I probably should have been able to come to that conclusion as well, had I actually put the time to think about it. But, I didn't really care at the time. I thought he'd just be another villain we'd eventually face and defeat when the time came. Considering all the times we came out victorious through trials and tribulations, I felt like I had nothing to worry about when it came to someone like him.

But, how we were supposed to put a stop to him for good when he's supposed to be me? By using the Elements of Harmony? How exactly are the Elements supposed to work when I'm technically a part of those Elements? All these questions buzzed in my mind for the past few days nonstop. I hardly got any sleep because of them, and I kept to myself the majority of the time.

"I should have seen it sooner…" I remembered Athena telling me in my room. "But, I didn't think something like this could have ever happened! It sounds ridiculous, but…it's just…it's the only way I can explain it! He knew what he was doing when he told you to call him Red. He's was mocking you. Mocking me! Because that's the side of you I was afraid of the most! Your red side. The side of you that brings out your anger. And to know about your past memories? I can't bring myself to doubt it. I don't know how, but he's you, and you're him."

I couldn't offer any kind of input or feedback towards her outrageous discovery. I supposed I was in shock, if not completely ignorant of the situation. And at that time, we devised a very fragile way of approaching the situation.

As pathetic as it sounded, all we could really do was wait. We had no idea how to find this doppelganger, and even if we did, we had no idea how to face or end him. Athena made me swear to keep her updated on any changes to my mood, thoughts, actions, whatever. We even discussed letting Twilight know, but we decided to butt our heads together for a bit just a little while longer until we could figure out how to explain the predicament to her in a cohesive manner. At any rate, we both agreed that she'd be the first to know if things took a drastic and sudden turn.

It definitely wasn't long before we both decided to organize a private conversation with Twilight to finally let her in on the situation, but there was a sudden case of bad timing. Something came up between not only the three of us but our entire circle of friends.

Starburst had managed to get a hold of some dusty old book from the antique shop during his last visit here, but he explained to us that it wasn't just any kind of dusty old book. It was actually Starswirl the Bearded's journal, and he described a particular section of said journal to not only us but the princesses of Canterlot as well.

Heaps of research later, including a visit to some really outdated magical runes, we found that Starswirl, along with his team of other "pillars" who were actually spoken about in legends passed down from generations, worked together to send the Pony of Shadows to limbo. However, in doing so, they trapped themselves there as well, and that's where they've been spending the last thousand years of their nonexistent lives at.

Using the map in our castle, each of the girls set out to find relics that were connected to those pillars because these relics were supposed to be the key to bringing them back.

I think Athena and I both knew that it wasn't exactly the best time bringing up our own discovery when we were too busy saving Twilight's most adored idol along with some other five ponies I had hardly ever heard about before in my life. I was only familiar with one, and that was only after helping Fluttershy find a cure for Swamp Fever.

All Athena and I could really do was take care of this inconveniently sudden issue on hoof and hope that we'd get some time to do something about our own problem soon after. In fact, I could feel her gaze watch me like a hawk every now and then as we waited for the five other girls to come back with the relics Twilight needed to save the old pillars.

"I can't believe I'm gonna meet Star Swirl the Bearded! You know, outside of my dreams."

Just like the other day, Twilight was getting along pretty well with Sunburst as they both pulled in together at the journal they had been reading through multiple times.

"I can't believe you're actually going through with it." Starlight Glimmer seemed to contest as she pulled off large vines from the old stones around us.

From what I caught, it seemed Starlight had something against Twilight bringing back her fabled idol, but for some reason lately, I haven't really been able to pay much attention to these things.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm all for pushing the envelope, obviously, but this is pretty out there for you, Twilight."

"What's 'out there' about saving the most legendary ponies of all time from a thousands-year-old prison?" Sunburst stepped in, obviously standing on Twilight's side of the argument.

"Well... nothing when you say it like that. Unless 'the most legendary ponies of all time' knew what they were doing, and we shouldn't mess with it." Starlight refuted.

"I'm sure Star Swirl and the Pillars did the best they could back then, but magic has come a long way. Mostly because of the work they did."

"That's true. And you did get your wings from finishing one of Star Swirl's spells." Starlight directed towards Twilight.

"Exactly." Twilight extended out her wing as proof before digging her head into the journal again.

"But then I messed with one and nearly destroyed the universe, so..."

"Starlight, Star Swirl the Bearded is the greatest wizard who ever lived. The chance to have him back in Equestria is worth the risk."

"That's good news." We suddenly heard Spike's voice.

He had gone off with Rainbow Dash to find some kind of shield in the Dragon Lands, and it seemed they had just gotten back.

"Otherwise, we'd have brought this shield for nothing." Rainbow Dash came in flying with the relic and planted it firmly on the platform it belonged to."

"I hope you don't think you're the only one to find her artifact, because this here shovel says otherwise." Applejack soon joined in, doing the same with the shovel she had managed to bring back with her.

A light laughter escaped from the trees that she had emerged from. "Honestly, you two. Not everything is a competition. But, Mistmane's flower is by far the most attractive of the artifacts." Rarity walked in with a potted plant and placed it down.

"You're just saying that because you didn't have to scuba dive in a pit of green slime to get yours!" Pinkie dropped by with a slime-ridden piece of cloth.

"Or move a flash beehive." Fluttershy finally reconvened with us with a mask on her head, removing it and setting it down on the appropriate stone.

"Good work, everyone." Twilight pulled her head out of the book and closed it to set down the last remaining relic. "Let's do this!"

Sunburst, Twilight, and Starlight each worked a little magic of theirs to start the summoning, and after a beam of light extended out from each and every relic, they all rose up and filled our surroundings with a bright flash of light. Once the light disappeared, six ponies suddenly appeared out of nowhere as a result. Nearly every pony had to pull them away from danger since old pieces of the broken runes came tumbling down with them.

"What... What has happened?" A familiar face pushed himself up from the ground, looking extremely dazed and confused as if he had just been woken up from a deep sleep.

Of course, by a familiar face, I mean I had only ever seen it several times in different imagery and depictions from my time spent with Twilight. While I somewhat recognized the face, it was obviously so much more…real seeing it now.

"It worked!" Twilight exclaimed and immediately rushed over to the one she had been looking forward to meeting for the longest time I could remember. "We brought you back!"

"To where?" Star Swirl the Bearded rubbed his eyes heavily as he tried to get a grasp of his surroundings.

"You and the others have been trapped in limbo for over a thousand years, but I figured out how to get you ho—"

"What?!" He suddenly shouted out in horror cutting Twilight off in midsentence. "No, no, no, no! You must undo what you've done!"

"What? Why?" Twilight asked, heavily surprised by his outburst. "I mean, I don't think I can."

"You cannot bring us back!" He stepped forward towards Twilight, causing her to back away in fear.

"But I did. I brought all the Pillars back."

"You cannot bring only the Pillars back!"

As he said that, the sounds of thunder roared and flashes of light briefly blinded us as lightning struck nearby. Before we knew it, dark clouds had covered what once used to be a sunny sky above us. Then, all of a sudden, something began to emerge at the center pedestal where we stood around. The sight of this caused the others to quickly back away, giving, whatever it was, room to step out.

The sight of it was eerie, to say the least. It started off as some kind roundish ball, but it soon expanded and fell towards the floor like black tar. It was only a few seconds before this…thing grew what appeared to be wings and rose up from the ground as a gigantic pony of darkness. It nearly reminded me of Nightmare Moon, but there was no sign of color to this pony. It was as if he was purely made entirely of darkness.

Once he had been fully standing, a villainous laughter echoed in front of us.

"Your pitiful attempt to imprison me has failed, Star Swirl!" That was the first thing that came out from its mouth.

Star Swirl tried to counter with a spell, but just as the tip of his horn began to glow, his head immediately fell in exhaustion. I could only assume that being in limbo for so long somehow drained his energy.

"You must return us to limbo." Star Swirl turned to Twilight. "It's the only way to stop him."

"I only figured out how to bring you back." Twilight answered in a small state of confusion.

"Working on it!" On the other hoof, Sunburst was flipping through the pages of the journal like a madpony. "No table of contents!"

"Allow me to assist." The shadowed pony offered with a malicious grin. With a small grunt, sharp spikes suddenly protruded from his body, catching the book and ripping a hole right through it. As a result, it rendered the journal unreadable and useless. But, it didn't end there. More of these spikes not only attacked the book but the runes as well, causing for some of the others to duck or be pushed aside to avoid any injury to themselves. Finally, some kind of ball of energy traveled through those spikes and practically exploded the runes into pieces when they touched them. We were left with what now appeared to be a rocky wasteland.

"There! Without the power of Ponhenge, your banishing spell is useless!" He stated the purpose for doing what he did.

"You have studied my writings. Surely you have some other plan!" Star Swirl now seemed to scold Twilight as he carried a look of frustration on his face.

"No. I just wanted to save you. I didn't think—"

"Don't fret. When I extinguish the light and hope of this miserable world, you won't remember any of this." The villainous figure before us raised his head and threw it towards us as a beam of its dark magic was shot straight in the direction of Star Swirl.

"No!" Twilight cried out as she moved in to protect him, rivaling his magic with her very own.

In the next instant, his beam had been turned back to him, causing him to release a small cry of pain.

"Argh! This one is almost as... strong as you, Star Swirl. But even in my weakened state, she cannot stop the might of shadows!"

A ray of magic shot out from the tip of his horn once again. Twilight was more than prepared to fight back, but it seemed his magic this time was stronger than the last as Twilight strained to keep it away from her.

I stepped up, wanting to stand by her side and defend her, but just as I reached for the magic inside me, I suddenly felt an ache or pain. Whatever it was I felt, I had trouble using my magic to help her. Thankfully, Starlight raced to her side instead and poured in magic of her own.

"Lucky for her, she's not alone!"

The Pony of Shadows cried out once more as the second attack failed.

"Know this, fiend!" Star Swirl spoke out loud. "We will not rest until we find a way to return you to limbo!"

"Never!" He growled in response. "Your days of glory are through, Star Swirl. Now my dark power will reign, and you six will bow to me!"

In a matter of seconds, all of the darkness he had been made of melted into a huge lump before it escaped through the skies. And just like that, he vanished.

"Um... where'd he go?" Rainbow Dash asked, scanning the skies from her position.

"That is a riddle we must unravel." One of the old pillars by Pinkie said. "And quickly."

"How long have we been gone?" Mage Meadowbrook, the legend Fluttershy, Twilight, and I previously had to do some pressured research on, asked.

"Over a thousand years." Fluttershy answered.

"Then my spell worked…before it was meddled with…" Star Swirl exchanged a scolding eye towards Twilight, causing her to turn away and lower her head in shame. "…and the realm has been at peace for a millennia!"

"Well...we did have to save everypony from Nightmare Moon and Discord and Chrysalis and King Sombra and Lord Tirek, and there was that one time when Starlight traveled through time and almost destroyed life as we know it!" Pinkie Pie recollected all together at once, going as far as to bring an embarrassed Starlight Glimmer into the conversation before she went and pushed her back away. "But that's all in the past."

"If you are truly this accomplished, we will stop the Pony of Shadows twice as fast together." The pillar by Rainbow Dash seemed to take a tone of hope.

"We shall see." Star Swirl seemed to be skeptical of us on the other hoof. "It is an easy thing to say you have saved the world. It is quite another to do it."

"Why else would we say we saved the world if we didn't do it?" I brought up, suddenly feeling aggressively snarky.

"What he said, Beardo." Rainbow Dash approached him and flipped his beard rather disrespectfully, not that I had a problem with it. "And, we can do it again."

"Be that as it may…" He rolled his eyes and pushed her away from his sight. "…the problem of locating the Pony of Shadows remains, and this land is vast."

"It appears you need a map of some sorts, and I believe we have just the thing." Rarity mentioned.

"You have a map that is capable of finding the Pony of Shadows?" The pillar by her spoke.

"It isn't just any kind of map. It is a map we've used to spread friendship all over Equestria." Rarity clarified.

"We aren't trying to make friends with the Pony of Shadows." Star Swirled rebuked bitterly. "We are trying to stop him from destroying this realm."

"The map is magic is what she's trying to say." Twilight seemed to have recovered a bit from the guilt she had been burdened with, but she still took on a slightly depressive tone. "If you come with us, you can see for yourselves. After all, it's the only thing we can think of at the moment that'll help us find the Pony of Shadows."

"Very well." Star Swirl still didn't look too ecstatic about the situation. "Lead the way then."

As they all began to leave the area, I felt somewhat restrained for a brief moment. I wasn't physically restrained. Instead, thoughts began to cloud my mind, and before I could hear what they were, I picked up my hoof to walk on after the others.

However, another hoof pressed itself against me and stopped me from doing so.

"What happened back there?" Athena asked me. "I saw you try to use your magic, but you couldn't."

"I don't know." Those words felt like they had been slightly seared by the anger that was slowly bubbling inside me for some reason. "And, I don't care. I just want to be done with this."

I tried to move on forward, but she continued to hold on to me. "Stop. This isn't like you. I wasn't sure if the anger you're feeling was natural or not, but now I'm starting to get a bad feeling that it isn't. What happened with your magic can't be a coincidence."

"And what do you expect us to do about it?" I asked with a sealed fury. "Just as we thought we had enough to worry about me, all of a sudden we get roped into this with some old 'pillars' from over a thousand years ago? There's no way we can tackle two problems like this at the same time. All we can hope is that we get rid of this one before we move on to the next one."

"I'm just saying…maybe it's time to tell Twilight."

I shook my head. "We can't. It's painfully obvious she has enough on her plate with what just happened. That's why we need to take care of this first. I'm fine, Athena. I think I can hang on a little longer."

To tell the truth, I wasn't sure about my own words, but all I could do was force myself to endure it as much as I didn't like it. If we had known anything about what Red might have been planning or when he was planning to strike, it probably would have been a different story. But, just like what this land had been threatened with, the two of us felt entirely in the dark.

The two of us reconvened with the others back in the castle. As they gathered around the table with the map we used for friendship problems, I glanced over all the pillars and tried to recall the names we had learned through the others' recollection of their respective legends. I already knew about Star Swirl the Beadered first and foremost, and then there was Mage Meadowbrook. As for the others, their names were…Flash Magnus, Somnambula, Mistmane, and Rockhoof.

"This is the map you spoke of?" Star Swirl asked as he studied the map carefully.

"That's the one." Applejack replied rather confidently.

Star Swirl brushed through his beard a bit before his invisible lips opened. "Something about this magic seems familiar..."

Seeming to have regained a bit of strength, a beam of magic poured from his horn and collided with the transparent map on the table. There, an image of the Tree of Harmony with its Elements suddenly sprung up.

"This map, and indeed this very castle, are grown from the seed we planted over a thousand years ago." He mentioned to everyone with a triumphant smile.

Hold on. Seed?

"Then it did work!" Rockhoof suddenly spurred me away from my questioning thoughts when he pounded the table with his mighty hoof in glee.

"What worked?" Sunburst asked.

"Each of us infused a crystal seed with our magic in hopes that it would grow into a force for good." Somnambula answered.

"We wanted to leave something to protect the realm in our absence, but we never dreamed our gift would become so powerful." Mistmane added.

It was hard to believe that Mistmane once used to be a beautiful unicorn in her story, but in a split second, she turned out to appear like she had aged over many years like Granny Smith. I knew looks weren't everything, but I still couldn't imagine looking old when you were still supposed to be so young…

"Wait. The Elements came from all of you?!" Athena suddenly exclaimed out in shock.

To our varying degrees of surprise, each of them looked as if they didn't know what we had been talking about. They exchanged looks of confusion with each other as Star Swirl appeared to have not taken Athena's comment too seriously.

"You know, the sparkly crystal things that grow from the Tree of Harmony and represent each of us?" Pinkie Pie decided to help. "Laughter, honesty, generosity, loyalty, kindness, magic!" She demonstrated as she popped in and out between each of the girls before lastly coming to me. "And you can't forget about Purity!"

"They are reflections of our own elements." Somnambula returned as she went down the line of her own team. "Hope, strength, beauty, bravery, healing, and sorcery."

She apparently represented hope, strength was Rockhoof, beauty was none other than Mistmane, bravery was Flash Magnus, Mage Meadowbrook was healing, and finally, Star Swirl was sorcery.

However, soon after hearing that list, something Somnambula had said earlier returned to my mind and struck me odd.

"Hold on a second. You said that each of you 'infused a crystal seed' with your magic. If you're talking about the Tree of Harmony and each element representing each and every one of you, aren't you missing one?"

"He's right." Twilight spoke up, catching on as well. "Each of us makes up an Element. If each of the Elements is supposed to relate to each of you, then shouldn't there be a seventh pillar?"

"Perhaps you've been mistaken about there being a seventh Element all along." Star Swirl raised as he didn't look quite enthused about the matter.

"We can't be." Twilight refuted. "He's been with us all this time since we first used the Elements to defeat Nightmare Moon, and every other time we've used them, we needed him for the Elements to work."

"Maybe one of the pillars represent two of the Elements instead?" Rarity threw out a rather fragile assumption.

"Hm…" Athena thought to herself. "If you all remember, Alex never had a tangible Element. And that's not the only thing. When Somnambula mentioned how they all planted a seed and thus grew the Tree of Harmony we all know today, it reminded me of something else. In our past, I remember the Tree of Harmony speaking to me. It called Alex and me 'stripped seeds'. Of course, I didn't get it at first, but now that I think about it, could it mean we…somehow came directly from the tree? I know we originated from the light that Luna had in her, but did that light come from the Tree of Harmony?"

"'Seeds'? 'Light'? 'Luna'?" Star Swirl immediately questioned. "This is the first I've ever heard of such a theory! Preposterous!"

"But, it's true!" Athena stomped her hoof on the ground. "If you don't believe us, we've got a bunch of ways to prove it!"

"As the Element of Honesty, I can assure you she ain't lyin'." Applejack supported. "It's true that they're a mite different from us, and we've seen the kind of stuff they can do with our own two eyes."

"We've been gone for over a thousand years, Star Swirl." Somnambula reminded. "We've missed so much that has happened out here. I don't think it is right to refuse what she has to say."

Star Swirl closed his eyes and sighed heavily through his nose. "If that is indeed the case…then perhaps you two are merely fragments of light born from the Tree of Harmony. This 'Element of Purity' doesn't exist. Rather, it is only the light of the Tree required to use the Elements."

My Element doesn't exist?

I knew it was only a theory he came up with on the spot, but for some reason, I wasn't sure how to feel about that.

"That would explain the missing pillar…" Rockhoof mentioned as he exchanged looks with his comrades.

Star Swirl cleared his throat quite loudly. "Returning to the important topic on hoof, we no longer need Ponhenge to send our foe back to limbo in this case. We can use the stored magic in this Tree of Harmony."

"But doesn't a banishing spell take a lot of power?" Twilight questioned. "We'd have to sacrifice the Elements for that."

"'Sacrifice'?" Athena repeated and faced Star Swirl a bit furiously. "If you're going to have to 'sacrifice' the Elements, then does that include Alex as well?! If that's the case, then it's an absolute No!"

Star Swirl seemed to lack the patience to answer Athena's concern with a calm and assuring response. "Calm yourself, child. I told you that that pony has no Element, nor is he one."

"But, are you sure about that?"

"Even if he was, what is the problem? You two are nothing more than 'stripped seeds' from the Tree of Harmony. The whole purpose of your existence is to protect the land of Equestria, and that would include sacrificing you just as we would the Elements."

There was a considerable number of gasps that escaped around us.

"What are you saying?" Twilight questioned her idol, looking hurt by his remark. "There's no way we'd sacrifice either of them just like that! They're our friends! Not just some inanimate objects!"

"It is that way of thinking that only leads us down a road of despair." He responded bluntly just as I had expected. "Protecting this land is their purpose. I don't understand the means of how they came to act just like any other pony, but even if they were real, to begin with, that doesn't mean sacrifices shouldn't be made. After all, we sacrificed our lives for a thousand years to keep the Pony of Shadows from hurting any pony else. But, I suppose it isn't a surprise that the pony who worries more about friendship would actually be the one to break him out."

Once again, Twilight seemed to be hurt quite easily by his scolding tone, and this only infuriated me more.

"What's your deal?!" I nearly shouted out. "For someone who's supposed to be an almighty sorcerer, you don't seem to take other things into consideration besides yourself!"

Athena stepped in front of me as if to stop me from possibly getting myself into an unnecessary argument with the Star Swirl the Bearded.

"What he's trying to say, is that if you sacrifice the Elements, whether that includes us or not, we won't be able to return them to the Tree. Don't you think the Tree will die because of that? If it does, it won't be able to protect Equestria as you hoped for it to."

"If the Pony of Shadows has his way, your land will not exist. So, unless any of you have a better idea..."

He looked around the room, but no pony seemed to have anything to say, especially Twilight. Based on the looks of every pony in the room, it seemed like they were either just worried, confused, or not sure what to do. After all, ever since Star Swirl returned, he seemed to take charge of the entire situation. Considering he was supposed to be one of the wisest and experienced legends ever, I supposed it only seemed natural for him to do so.

After acknowledging everyone's silence, he faced the direction of the map and casted more of his magic on it. Several dark clouds reigned on top of certain locations on the map to which Star Swirl noticed and continued speaking. "Our foe will seek dark places from which to draw power. I will prepare my spell so that we may strike as soon as you find him."

Rainbow Dash turned and seemed to notice the mixture of sullen and agitated frowns on everyone's faces after what we had just heard. "Come on, you guys. Everything will be alright. We've gotten this far after kicking so much bad guy butt! We'll be just fine!"

"I like your spirit!" Flash Magnus approved Rainbow's small attempt at inspiring everyone in the room.

It seemed it uplifted the spirits of most of us by just a bit, but some of us still weren't exactly convinced. As I noticed Twilight dragging her hooves away as she left the room, I felt myself brooding over Star Swirl. I knew he supposedly didn't know much or even care about friendship, but I never expected him to be as bad as this. And, I was sure Twilight felt the same way, but instead of being angry, she was most likely feeling disappointed.

Aside from a few missing ponies, the majority of them continued to speak with one another. Star Swirl had already settled on staying behind to work on his spell to banish the Pony of Shadows, but the others decided to visit those dark places on the map to see if that was where the enemy lurking around.

Personally, I didn't care if Star Swirl was a great legend or not as Twilight did, but his words still bothered me. I was already in a far than great mood before all this had happened, but the fact that Star Swirl himself practically called me disposable trash took the cake. Since Star Swirl had already been treating me like a tool to use when needed, I decided to separate myself from the group and binge in silence in my room. As usual, Athena followed me back.

Neither of us said much until somepony else walked in the room.

"Alex?"

Lying lazily on my bed, I turned my head towards the doorway to find Fluttershy somewhat cautiously stepping in.

"Yeah?" I simply answered.

"Are you feeling okay?" She asked as she approached me.

"I'm fine. Just waiting for this to be over already."

"Five of us, along with the pillars except for Star Swirl, are going out to find where the Pony of Shadows might be. So, we'll be back later."

"Alright. Be careful." I told her, but I felt the way I had said it was distant.

I was sure she noticed it because she continued gazing at me by my side for a short moment with a frown on her face.

"I don't know what's going to happen, but I want to believe Rainbow Dash that things will be alright." She started saying. "We've all gone through so much in the past, and things have always worked out in one way or another. I want to believe that whatever we'll have to do to defeat the Pony of Shadows won't hurt you or Athena at all in the end because if it did, I wouldn't know what I'd do. But, I think it'll be okay. After all, this reminds me of when we had to give up our Elements to the Tree of Harmony. Thankfully, we didn't lose you, so I'm sure that'll you'll be just fine when the Pony of Shadows is gone. However, I'm just a little concerned about what might happen to the Tree if we lose the Elements. If the Tree dies…then…does that mean…?"

"It'll be fine." Athena suddenly answered for her. "We may have been a part of the Tree of Harmony in some way or another, but we aren't actually the tree. We're 'stripped seeds', remember? When seeds fall out of a normal tree, those seeds keep on living even if the first tree dies. I still don't even know what exactly we're supposed to be myself, but I'm sure we'll be fine even if the Tree is gone. But, like we brought up earlier, I'm not sure what'll happen to Equestria if there's no Tree of Harmony to protect it."

Fluttershy seemed to release a sigh of relief. "Hearing the possibility that Equestria might be in danger if there is no Tree of Harmony is scary, but I'm more glad that it gives me all the more reason to believe that the two of you will be okay. Oh!" Her eyes widened a bit as if she had just realized something. "I almost completely forgot. The others must be waiting for me. We'll be back as soon we can." Before she left, she placed a caring kiss on my cheek and trotted out of the room.

"You know…" I began speaking after she had left the room. "I would feel hopeful if the Pony of Shadows was all we had to worry about, but I'll never stop feeling uneasy until the thought of Red doing something is gone completely."

"I know… I know…" Athena understood. "I wasn't expecting any of this to happen out of the blue, but we just have to hang on a little longer, okay?"

"That's just it." I sat up from the bed and faced my sister seriously. "What if he knows what's going on and is already planning to do something while we're distracted with the Pony of Shadows?"

Athena didn't answer for a solid moment. "Without knowing what he's up to, there's nothing we can really do. I hate to say this, but all we can do is just keep waiting until this is settled. Like I've told you, I'm keeping an eye on your body. I'm not sure how or why he's just started to have an effect on you, but the moment I catch him, I'll do whatever it takes to stall if I have to."

Despite her promise of keeping me safe, I returned to staying silent on my bed as many thoughts began to race in my head. For some reason, I began to feel as if I had no clue to what had been going on anymore. I was still willing to believe that everything that had happened since the return of the pillars had all been a dream, but just like with everything else, I simply decided to go along with the ride.

After constantly thinking about the situation we had been, I began feeling absolutely useless. Meanwhile, Athena had checked herself back into me to keep a watch on things for an unknown amount of time. As for me, I had stayed behind with the others that had been working together on the spell that would banish the Pony of Shadows, but it wasn't like I had anything worth contributing to that spell since I really only knew the basics of magic. In the end, I got tired of doing nothing in my room. Even if I couldn't help, I decided to look for Twilight to check up on her.

My first thought was the library, and that was exactly where I found her. However, she looked like she was extremely busy making notes from a certain book. I wasn't sure whether or not I should approach her, but I decided to anyway.

"Hey, Twilight…" I greeted her somewhat cautiously.

"Oh…! Alex. Hey…" She replied, glancing at me for a quick second before she returned her eyes to her paper. "I'm…really sorry about what Star Swirl said earlier. I can kind of see why he never really understood friendship heh heh."

Her attempt at a joke seemed a bit forced.

"Tell me about it…" I responded back. "How are things going in here?"

"Not so great at first, but I think I might have just found a way to keep the pillars here. Which is a good thing! Even if we lose the Elements, we won't be losing the ones who made them."

"Right… The Elements…"

It seemed Twilight caught on to my concern as she stopped writing momentarily to face me.

"Don't worry about leaving us if that's what's on your mind. Star Swirl said some…pretty surprising stuff, but he believed you wouldn't be sacrificed in the first place. I don't know what the deal is with what we thought was your Element, but to be honest, I'm sure all of us only really care that you stay here with us."

"That's true…"

I almost wanted to tell her about the other issue Athena and I had been dealing with, but seeing how busy she was with my own eyes, I couldn't even bring myself to start. I needed to remind myself that I needed to be patient long enough for this ordeal to be over. After all, Athena was keeping an eye out inside me. That had to be good enough.

"I've almost got this spell worked out!" She scribbled furiously at her paper as her eyes narrowed intensively. "Just…need…a little…"

Space was what she really needed. She wouldn't be able to focus on her work if I was there standing beside her. Like a child, I stepped away and positioned myself near the bookcase and waited as calmly as I could for her to finish.

Nevertheless, she immediately rushed out of the room to find Star Swirl by the time it seemed she finished. I followed her back out to the map room to find not only Star Swirl but everyone else that had left to find the Pony of Shadows.

"Isn't there some way to banish him without losing all of you?" Fluttershy had asked Mage Meadowbrook.

"Oh, I wish there were. But to save our home, we are willin' to leave it."

Twilight instantly vaulted in between the conversation with a great grin on her face.

"I don't think you'll have to! My spell isn't completely finished yet, but I think we can send the Pony of Shadows to limbo without all of you having to go as well!"

She dragged the long scroll over to Star Swirl for him to take a look at, but he didn't seem too interested in what she had to offer. "While I appreciate your enthusiasm, Twilight, this is hardly the time to take risks on half-baked spells." With that, Star Swirl simply moved the spell Twilight had worked so hard for on for some time now as if it had been a crayon drawing a foal made.

"Seriously?" I stepped forward, feeling my body inflate with anger. "Who do you think she is? She's studied magic her whole life. She's looked up to you for inspiration. If anypony here has 'half-baked' spells, it's you. After all, while you were spending your thousand years in limbo, Twilight managed to actually finish one of your spells! Her wings aren't just for show!"

Mage Meadowbrook had been studying the spell by his side while I had been unloading on him. I didn't know if he had any kind of response for me in return, but if he did, Mage Meadowbrook caught his attention before it could come out of his mouth.

"While it is an unconventional approach, I believe it could work."

It seemed he couldn't exactly dismiss any suggestion so lightly as he did with Twilight when it came to one of his long-time acquaintances. He finally picked the spell up for himself and studied it for a moment, looking a bit reluctant.

"Hmm. I suppose there is a chance."

His behavior continued to appall me. I knew Twilight technically had some fault in releasing the Pony of Shadows, but all it seemed was that he was much more interested in holding a grudge against her rather than coming up with the best solution that could be made. And, if Twilight knew this as well, it must have been hard for her to take it.

"But we still have no idea where to find the villain." Sunburst raised an important question.

And just as he said that, we all witnessed a familiar glow surface on the six girls' flanks. Just as if they had been summoned to solve a friendship problem, their cutie marks hovered over the map in unity and traveled towards a specific part of the map. It was definitely another area I hadn't been in.

"Maybe we should try there?" Spike pointed out.

"The Hollow Shades." Applejack stepped towards the map, seeming to be familiar with the location. "I think a branch of the Apple family lives there."

"They'd have to be pretty distant. The Hollow Shades was abandoned eons ago." Sunburst informed.

"Hmm, that's odd. The only time the map's called all of us to one place was Starlight's village." Rarity recalled.

Her recollection of the actual first time they had been summoned by the map caused me to remember something else as well. Just like when we were guided over to Starlight's village, my cutie mark was still missing from the map. When I thought about it, I couldn't remember a time I was ever really called by the map.

"And just like with Starlight's village, my cutie mark isn't anywhere in there with everyone else's." I thought out loud. "I don't think it ever has been…"

"I don't find it much of a surprise." Star Swirl joined in, seeming to direct his words at me. "A question I find perplexing is how a seed of the Tree of Harmony can even obtain a cutie mark in the first place."

"Whatever the case is, I think it has something to do with the Tree of Harmony trying to protect us, don't you think? If the map is really a part of the Tree of Harmony, then it could be using it to tell us where the Pony of Shadows is."

"Hmm... The Tree of Harmony acting to protect the light of the realm... Yes. A good thought, Twilight." Star Swirl actually praised Twilight for once ever since his return. He proceeded to hold up the spell Twilight had written as he raised his voice to everyone else. "I will make my notes on this spell. Ready yourselves for battle."

"Uh, I know I'm not as experienced as all of you, but is banishment really the only option?" Starlight brought up all of a sudden. "I mean, it's been a long time. Maybe the Pony of Shadows is ready to talk?"

"I doubt we can save our homeland with a conversation." He argued against.

Just like Athena earlier, Starlight seemed ready to fight back with her own words. "But we could try."

"If I may…" Twilight suddenly cut in as if she was trying to keep an unnecessary argument from breaking out. "I'm sure Star Swirl and the others did try." Twilight told her former pupil. "But, the Pony of Shadows isn't just any kind of pony. You know about Nightmare Moon, right? We had to use the Elements of Harmony to defeat her, and I'm pretty sure if it actually hadn't been Princess Luna underneath that magic, we probably would've had no choice to banish her some way in the end. I don't think an evil spirit like the Pony of Shadows is something you could just talk to. You tried that with Chrysalis after all, and all she was retreat and promise she'd get us back one day. If someone or something doesn't want to change, then there's nothing we can do about it except doing whatever it takes to protect Equestria. You understand, don't you?"

Starlight didn't answer. Instead, she looked away a bit disappointedly.

"I wish to know more about this…Nightmare Moon, but that's for a later talk." Star Swirl added in. "Twilight is exactly right. The Pony of Shadows was not interested in reconciliation. Once a villain, always a villain. Twilight, Sunburst, would you accompany me? I wish to refine this spell for our use."

He led Twilight and Sunburst out of the room and into the hallway, and all of the others soon followed after them.

"Come. We must prepare for the struggle ahead." Rookhoof guided with a confident voice.

In a matter of seconds, the only ones left in the room were Starlight, Spike, and me.

"I know Star Swirl is a great wizard, but this whole plan seems... wrong." Starlight shared with a hefty sigh. "The map's only ever sent us to solve friendship problems."

Starlight had a point about the map only sending the others on friendship problems, but, at the same time, it's not like we had a chance to see it being used for a major villain. We were all already in cocoons by the time Chrysalis attacked.

"Maybe so, but the Pony of Shadows doesn't really seem like the 'friendship' type." Spike answered.

"Honestly? We don't know anything about him."

"Well, nopony does."

Starlight rubbed her chin in thought. "That's not entirely true."

The two left the room, but I wasn't exactly so keen on joining them. I had a strong sense that all I had going for me with this mission was just doing what I was told. It didn't seem my input was going to matter much. Instead of leaving the room with them, I turned around and faced the map to stare at it absentmindedly.

"Things are really starting to get interesting, don't you think?"

I gasped lightly at the sound of his voice and immediately looked up to find him sitting on one of our seats. He had been eyeing me with a malicious smirk, but I didn't answer him. In fact, I was still on the line between him being a hallucination or actually being real.

"There you are." I heard at my side.

It was Athena, and there was no doubt she saw him too as she struck a punishing glare at him.

"Well, look who decided to show up." He leaned against the seat nonchalantly with his forelegs raised against the back of his head. "I was expecting to see you the last time, but guess you were just doing your thing and goofing off like always, huh?"

"It's true, isn't it?" Athena narrowed her eyes at him. "You're a part of Alex, aren't you? Calling yourself Red…what a bad joke."

He laughed out loud in response and pointed his hoof straight towards Athena. "Haha! Finally, someone gets it!"

"So, I'm not wrong then?"

"Mm." He turned his attention towards his hoof and observed it for a bit as if it made any difference. "I'd say you're still wrong."

"Then tell us what you're supposed to be!" Athena demanded in frustration. "You've been making Alex feel some kind of despair lately. You said it yourself. I couldn't find any trace of you until you showed up here all of a sudden, so how?!"

"Hm. You really care about him, don't you?"

"Of course, I do. He's my brother. I'd do anything to keep him safe."

Across the table, Red remained silent after that. Instead, we heard the sound of his hoof repeatedly hitting against the surface of something hard. This continued on for an uneasy moment before he slammed it against the hoofrest of the throne he had been sitting on.

"I never thought you'd be the type of mare to just stand there and lie like that…" He mentioned through gritted teeth.

"W-What are you talking about?" Athena seemed to be taken aback by his unexpected comment.

"You said something like that to me once, and look what happened."

"H-Huh?!" Athena was now completely confused. "Who do you think you're talking to?! Why would I ever promise you something like that?!"

He closed his eyes and sighed silently through his nose. Next, he stood up from the seat behind him and faced her directly. Then, he raised his hoof and pushed away the disheveled mane that had been carelessly covering his right eye.

"These ring a bell?"

When he opened his eyes, I was able to notice something different about the two of them. They had both been red for the most part, but just like with Athena, when compared together, one of them had been lighter than the other. I couldn't come to any kind of conclusion just by looking at these. However, I heard Athena gasp sharply by my side.

"N-No way. You can't be…"

"Finally figured it out?" He brought his hoof back to the ground, allowing for his mane to fall back over his eye.

"You aren't just a part of him…y-you're from…"

"The fact that you even have the nerve to say that to me drives me crazy! That's how you see me? The one who protected you for so long until you just decided to leave me without a care in the world? You're no better than she was."

Athena shook her head fervently.

"I don't care what you say. You're nothing like him. At best, you're just a messed-up version of him!"

"You're going to eat those words." He growled back. "You and 'him' both. We'll see who's who by the time we settle this."

In an attempt to have the last word, he immediately vanished into wisps of darkness.

"This isn't good." Athena admitted worriedly. "We've got to make sure to do whatever it takes to keep him in check."

"Hold on. What was that all about?" I questioned the conversation the two had prior.

Athena appeared to be strongly hesitant about answering the question. "I don't want to believe it…but he says he's you from our past life. And because of that, he thinks he's the 'real' you."

"But, I'm 'me', right?" I asked.

"You're the real deal. That's what I believe." She told me with a serious expression. "But, it's hard to ignore the fact that…somehow he knows about everything that happened to us back then. He's been around for a long while now, so, it's not something we can take lightly. At any rate, we've got to keep our guard up no matter what, Alex, okay? We can't rest until we deal with both him and the Pony of Shadows."

All I could do was agree with her. I hated that I was in this predicament, but there was nothing I, alone, could do to fix it right away. It felt like my heart continued to sink in pools of despair, but the most I could do was make sure it didn't sink deep enough to lose sight of it.

Once everypony was as prepared as they could be, including me, we all gathered at the Tree of Harmony. As we stood in front of it, I remained silent and waited to see if I'd hear any kind of words as Athena claimed to hear herself, but there was nothing of the sort.

"I am glad we have the chance to see what has grown from our efforts so long ago." Somnambula commented as her eyes seemed to gaze over its glory.

"It seems a shame to harm it." Mistmane mentioned next, urging a response from Star Swirl.

"A necessary sacrifice. With the Elements' power, we will bind the Pony of Shadows in limbo. And thanks to Twilight, we will remain to watch over the realm ourselves."

He approached the Tree and casted a quick spell. With one flick of his horn, all of the Elements that had been stored within the Tree of Harmony easily came and returned to their respective owners. Honestly, it was a little weird seeing these Elements again. In fact, they somewhat reminded me of simpler times.

"Um..." Rockhoof stared intently at the Elements that transformed into accessories for the girls to wear. "How do we use them?"

"Well, you..." Rarity was the first to respond to him as if she had the answer off the top of her head. "Oh. I'm not sure. They simply work for us."

"The Elements are attuned to you. We must use their magic in pairs." Star Swirl explained.

"No problem. We're used to banishing evil before breakfast." Rainbow Dash confidently proclaimed with a bold voice, sharing a hoof bump with Flash Magnus mid-flight shortly after.

Athena spared a glance at the Tree of Harmony before turning to Star Swirl as he was getting ready to leave the area with the others. "And you're sure nothing will happen to Alex?"

"As previously stated, there is no seventh pillar, so there is more than likely no 'seventh Element'. However, if it is true that he is indeed the one who bears the light required for the Elements to function properly, then it's possible that light may be completely drained in order to banish the Pony of Shadows. That is the worst-case scenario and completely varies on how long this banishing spell will take to cast."

Athena lowered her head in thought as Star Swirl passed her to reconvene with the others.

"So…even if I don't have an Element, there's still a chance to…?"

"I don't really know myself…" Athena mentioned a little sadly. "Despite being your light for all this time, even I don't know everything about this. Star Swirl did say it was a worst-case scenario, but I'm hoping that if the light does drain out, I'm the only one who takes the fall."

"Don't say things like that." I immediately drew closer to her and practically pleaded. "Things can't end like this for us. We have to get through this."

Athena nodded. "I know. And, that's why I don't plan to give up easily. I don't know what's going to happen to us in these next few vital moments, but I want you to know that I'll fight for you as hard as I can to the end."

"Right." I strongly agreed with her. "We'll defeat this 'Pony of Shadows' and find some way to make it the last time we deal with 'Red'."

Athena stuck close by my side as we made a fairly long trek to an area known as Hollow Shades. We trailed at the back of the group, mostly to keep to ourselves when it came to brainstorming certain scenarios and counters for Red. However, on the other hoof, I couldn't help but feel it was all to no avail. If Red really was a part of me, then it could have easily been possible for him to find out any strategy we could come up with, rendering it useless.

"I don't remember reading anything that said the Hollow Shades was like this." Sunburst said as we seemed to arrive at the core of the desolate village.

"Ohhh. The Pony of Shadows must have twisted it to his purposes." Mistmane stated as she took a cautious and fearful look around.

We gathered around what looked like an empty well. From there, we heard a faint but boisterous chuckle. In fact, it seemed to have been coming from the depths of the dark space below.

"Prepare yourselves. He is here." Star Swirl warned, but he didn't seem to notice the direction it had been coming from. "Stygian! Show yourself and face us!"

"Stygian?" I repeated, the name being unfamiliar to me.

Laughter broke out, and it sounded much louder than before. Before we knew it, several cracks surfaced on the ground around us. It was only a second after when these cracks grew to a tremendous size, and the ground below us gave away. It was a quick fall, so quick that I didn't even have time to try and use my wings. Everyone gathered together at the bottom, and I was hoping that I didn't land on somepony else.

"…everypony okay?" I heard Twilight's voice ask.

"Uh-huh…" Rainbow's voice sounded out the most in the collected group of okays said by the others.

I pushed myself off the ground, quickly searching around me for Athena. As soon as I spotted her, I helped her up and made sure she was okay.

"I definitely would've remembered reading about this." Sunburst mentioned at the front, adjusting his glasses at the sight of something in particular towards him.

A maniac laugh roared around us, and there was no doubt it was much closer than before when we were above ground. The Pony of Shadows must have been lingering somewhere here in the darkness that once filled this place.

Just at the moment, a dark fog began to envelop the area at a fast pace, causing Star Swirl to evoke a bubble of his magic over all of us. Seeing this made me wonder if that dark fog was somehow poisonous. Before that dark fog, the Pony of Shadows revealed himself to us, and I couldn't help but get brief flashbacks over the similarities between Nightmare Moon.

"Welcome to the Well of Shade!" He greeted. "When you turned your backs on me, I discovered this place. The darkness spoke to me of a power beyond any I could imagine, and I listened. The shadow and I became one. Soon, all of the realm will be the same. Then all ponies will feel the despair I did when you cast me out!"

"We did what we had to do." Star Swirl boldly rebuked. "You tried to steal our powers for yourself."

"No! It was you who were selfish! And now you will pay!" He winded his head backwards before lurching forward to shoot a black beam out of his horn. The force of his magic colliding with Star Swirl's shield was powerful enough to cause an unignorable crack as well as shake the interior as if a light earthquake surfaced.

"Ready yourselves!" Star Swirl yelled out. "Open the portal…"

The Pony of Shadows fired another beam, breaking the shield entirely.

"Now!" Star Swirl ordered.

Each one of the girls paired with the respective pillar, combining the magic of their Element and the other's artifact. Besides me, Athena closed her eyes and seemed to hold great focus. An aura of light permeated the space around her body, and a trail of light soon connected the two of us at my chest. All seemed fine as the Elements did their thing, but something inside me caused a sudden sharp pain that I couldn't easily ignore.

In front of me, the great beam of magic that came from both the Elements and the pillars launched towards the Pony of Shadows, but he managed to quickly duck underneath that beam to avoid it. Nevertheless, the magic from the Elements opened a rift behind him, causing him to be sucked in like a black hole.

He tried to move towards another, but another beam of magic from the Elements pushed him towards the hole, making it harder for him to escape.

"No! You will not trap me again!" Our enemy refused, working tremendously hard to keep himself in our realm.

"Twilight! Push him in!" Star Swirl called.

A headache had been settling inside me. I raised my hoof to my head and turned to Twilight.

Do it, Twilight. Do it so we can move on.

Just as she was about to focus the aim of her own Element, she stopped all of a sudden for some unknown reason. She stared back at the Pony of Shadows, and in the next moment, she suddenly dove straight towards the chest, vanishing inside as if it had been some kind of liquid.

"What?! What is she doing?!" Star Swirl questioned.

"Stop!" Starlight turned to her friends. "Twilight's inside! Don't push her in!"

The others ceased the firing of the Elements, but the pain I had been feeling didn't stop. It wasn't unbearable, but for some reason, I felt it growing slowly but surely. Was this the light being drained? If we didn't finish this soon, we could lose it and Athena will…!

"Are you... Stygian?" We heard Twilight's voice echo within the Pony of Shadows.

"I was, once. Until my friends betrayed me." Another rebounded from inside.

"But Star Swirl says you betrayed them. You wanted their magic..."

"No! I wanted their respect. I brought them together. I planned strategy, and I read all I could about the beasts we faced. But I didn't have magic or strength, so nopony ever noticed me. I went to Ponhenge to make my own copies of the artifacts. With them, I thought I could be a Pillar, too, and stand by their side in battle. I never wanted to steal their power. But instead of sharing and letting me help, my friends threw me out." From what I had noticed, everypony had been quietly listening to the conversation that had been going on. However, I turned to Athena to find her still focusing on the light, but since the Elements had stopped firing, it seemed it didn't take much out of her. On the other hoof, the voice that spoke to Twilight suddenly grew darker and deeper. "So, I became stronger than any of them! The darkness welcomed me when no pony would, and I will do what I must to protect it!"

"This is all a misunderstanding! If the Pillars knew how you felt, I'm sure they wouldn't have turned their backs on you. The shadow isn't who you really are. Let me help you be Stygian again."

At that moment, Starlight furrowed her brow and dove in after Twilight with the use of her own magic.

"Even if my friends did still care, what makes you think you have the power to help me?"

"Because it's what she does." Starlight's voice was now heard from inside. "I wasn't so different from you, and Twilight helped me change. If there's one pony in Equestria that can save a friendship, it's her."

"I... I want to believe you... But the darkness will not be stopped!"

What sounded like a scuffle ensued from within the depths of the Pony of Shadows. All of a sudden, Twilight was thrown out, but she had a strong hold of something on the inside with her magic.

"Fight the darkness, Stygian!" Twilight encouraged as Starlight appeared after. "You don't need it anymore! Revenge isn't what you want! Friendship is!"

As I heard those words, her voice unexpectedly became muffled. The ache in my head began to become intolerable, and my heart began to pound strongly against my chest. I was still able to tell that some kind of fight was occurring right in front of me, but everyone's voices became faint and inaudible.

I began panicking, but the strange thing was…I couldn't even do that. It was as if I was losing control of my body. Dark blotches began to fill my vision, and the last thing I was able to do was search for Athena. I didn't blame her for keeping her eyes on the Pony of Shadows, considering we had been on the verge of completing the current mission.

I tried to hold a hoof out to her and call out her name, but it seemed I was even unable to do that. All I could do at that moment was watch a petrifying darkness cloud both my vision and mind. And then, it felt as if I had fallen unconscious.

Athena

Don't worry, Alex! I'm still holding strong! We'll get through this!

I repeated those words in my head as I focused on helping the others drag the pony that had been inside the Pony of Shadows out.

Thankfully, with everyone's combined strengths, we finally got him out, and all that was left was a shell of that darkness that used to hold him hostage.

"Now! Push it in!" Star Swirl commanded.

Just as we were about to deal the final blow, something pushed me aside toward the ground, and the flow of magic between us suddenly cut off. The portal behind it closed, and what was left of the Pony of Shadows was able to remain. Although it didn't do anything right away, everyone was completely alarmed including me.

"What happened?! Why did the portal close?!" Star Swirl asked as he turned back to us.

From there, we heard an insanely hysterical laughter. However, it wasn't the same one we had heard from the Pony of Shadows earlier. Instead, this laughter was a lot closer and familiar. Each of us turned to the source of this laughter, including me.

What I saw drove me into a state of complete shock.

The pony responsible continued to laugh out wildly, and it felt like forever until it died down. But, when it did, it certainly wasn't enough to stop him from opening his now strikingly red eyes.

"You've gotta be kidding me! A shrimp like him was the terrifying 'Pony of Shadows' all along?! Give me a break!"

"You fool! What are you doing?!" Star Swirl scolded him.

"Alex! What's gotten into you?!" Twilight began to worriedly approach him, but I quickly stopped her.

"T-That's not, Alex! I-I-It's—!" I stammered, unable to finish my sentence.

"Oh, it's on now." He continued as a malicious smirk stretched over his face. "It's time to show you what a real Pony of Shadows is."

As soon as he said that, he immediately dove straight into the absent shell of what used to be the Pony of Shadows. This time, instead of appearing as a towering menace, it shrunk to a smaller size. However, that didn't make it any less dangerous, and we could hear what used to be Alex's voice echo loudly in the basement we had been in.

Star Swirl raised his magic and fired towards the new Pony of Shadows, forcing him to hold his place.

"Bring up the portal!" He commanded.

"No! You can't!" Twilight immediately intervened.

Nevertheless, the afflicted one in front of us found the odds against him to be absolutely hilarious, cackling out loudly.

"You think I'm scared, you old coot? I can do this all day, and guess what, you can do whatever you want. Let me go or send me to limbo, I win either way." His scary grin didn't falter against Star Swirl's magic, but I, for one, was absolutely petrified when he shifted it over to me. "What do you say, Athena? Wanna say bye-bye to your 'big bro' one more time before you never see him again? Oh, wait. That's right. He leaves and you go with him. Not much you can do about that, huh? Guess you'll finally know what's it's like to be thrown away like trash!"

The two of us locked gazes that didn't break. He was waiting for my move, but I couldn't make one. I couldn't move any part of my body. It wasn't that I was physically unable to, but it was because, in an entire instant, one of my worst nightmares was happening right in front of me.

How could I let this happen?

If I would've taken my promise of protecting Alex a lot more seriously, I could've prevented this! But, this entire time up until now, I had been so selfish, and now I was paying the price!

Because of me…

Alex…

You…

I'm so sorry.

Friends to the End

Once I seemed to come to, my eyelids slowly began to lift themselves up. However, there wasn't much of a change when it came to what I saw. In fact, I was perplexed. Either all that was in front of me was just darkness, or I couldn't see at all anymore.

That wasn't the only thing that was strange. Any sound or ambience I was used to was completely gone. There was only utter and eerie silence. I managed to shift my body around, and to my surprise, what appeared to be a small ball of faint light came into my view.

I naturally drew closer to this light, each step of mine echoing inside this seemingly endless chamber I was in. Just as I was about to reach a comforting distance of the light, a shadow suddenly blocked my path.

"So, here we finally are. The end of the road."

"…what did you do?" I asked, having a slightly foggy memory of the events that transpired last I remembered.

"Hm." A stifled laugh escaped the outline of his lips. "I sure hope you took the advice I gave you before you woke up today. After all, it'll only be a matter of time when you won't even exist anymore."

"What are you talking about?!" I stiffened up, having recovered some of the energy I had seemingly been missing earlier.

"You see that light over there?" He moved aside and pointed his head in the direction of the same light I saw. "Athena said so herself. That light is the whole reason for your existence. What do you think might happen if that light goes poof?"

I didn't know if he was asking me a question he wanted an answer to, but I couldn't speak either way. All I could do was stare back at him with a glare made up of both fear and anger.

"You want to know something funny? I had thought up of a bunch of different ways to pull off this grand finale. I thought about somehow gathering all the power or magic I could in Equestria and just absolutely wreaking havoc everywhere, starting with your loved ones first. I also thought about just keeping you hostage against your friends. But, I think what I really wanted was to just go out on my own terms. I didn't really care what happened as long as if it was done by me. In other words, I wanted to make sure that that body you're living in was returned properly to its owner. Whatever happens after that is up to fate."

I shook my head. "You're delusional. It's just like Athena said. You're not even real, to begin with."

He stomped his hoof aggressively on the obscure platform we both stood on. "Oh, I'm very real. And, I'll make sure that it's the last thing on your mind as you're wiped out of existence. It's only a matter of time."

"If you're really real, then tell me. Where did you even come from? Athena thinks you're supposed to be me from our past life, but if that's the case, you shouldn't even exist."

"And, it's exactly that. First things first, don't you think that the me from that life is the real one between us? All in all, you're just a fabrication. You're the part of me that shouldn't have existed. And you know what's the worst? Athena is completely fine with it."

"And you know why that is? Because whatever you are, you're just a memory!" I shouted back aggressively as if I had been trying to talk some sense into him. "I don't know how you're even standing here now, but that's all you are."

"You might've been right about that a long time ago, but thanks to that idiot you called your 'dad', I'm just as real as you think you are."

My anger had subsided as I pondered the reason he brought him up all of a sudden. "What are you talking about?"

"You remember him, don't you? The one you put out of his misery? Night Terror? Did you ever think why I'd even follow orders from a loser like him? I have to say, the only one thing he did right was give me the opportunity to take back what's mine."

"…you're saying that he's the reason you're even here right now?"

"And all it took was the false promise of being under his command. How about we take another trip down memory lane. Remember, quite a way back, when there was the certain darkness you were struggling with? The darkness that your 'dear mother' Luna had to help you get through? After your first encounter with Night Terror, he was able to extract that darkness for your next encounter, and guess what? Here I am. And I'm willing to bet that you thought that darkness just 'vanished' out of nowhere, right?" He laughed mockingly at me. "And that was it. That was all I needed until you did me the favor of dealing with the rest of him. It was only a matter of time that I'd encourage your curiosity, and with the help of Athena, get just close enough to you to become you. Thought my plan was to change the past or something like that other idiot Starlight when I was showing you those memories? As if. What I was really doing was merging myself with you. And, once we were one in the same, that was all there was to it. I could lurk inside you without ever setting off any red flags. All I needed to do was wait for my moment, and who wouldn't jump at the opportunity to just fill themselves with darkness? I know I wouldn't. At this point, it's up to those 'friends' of yours to decide when it's the end of the line for you. Are you going to die a 'hero', or are you going to live long enough to become a villain? And by you, I mean me because that's all this has really been about. So, how about it? Let's see if your 'friends' decide to throw you under the bus and send you to limbo after all. Whatever the case is, the clock is ticking. If they decide to keep you around, you won't be around by the time they can cook up something to do."

It took me a moment of silence to process the entirety of his words. Nevertheless, I couldn't stand there and expect myself to surrender. I didn't know how I was going to get out of this, but I knew I just had to. For the sake of everyone who's helped me get to where I was now.

"I don't care what you say. You have no reason to even exist. You're not me, and I'm not you either. And, the thing I really want to do right now…is get you out!"

I tried to run for the light behind him, but just before I could get within range to even try to touch it, I had been pushed back with what felt like a force of magic. I had landed on my back as he slowly approached me.

"Yeah… No. I told you it's over. In case you didn't know…" His shadowy figure transformed into a visible and clearer state, revealing an essential piece of him that had been different from before. "I'm pretty sure you're missing your horn and wings."

I saw the magic he used on me surge on the tip of what was now his horn, and he purposely spread the wings on his body to mock me. I couldn't believe it at first, so I quickly patted my body and reached for my horn. I didn't feel either of them.

"Like I said." He mentioned as he leaned his head towards me in an intimidating manner. "It's the end of the line for you."

"No. It's not."

A comforting and firm voice passed through the endless darkened barriers around us. I felt a great wave of relief wash over me when I saw her land right by my side. However, I still wasn't sure if there was a way out of this mess she had now directly involved herself in.

"Well, look who it is." He observed with a disdainful grin on his mouth. "Your knight in shining armor, Twilight Sparkle. I almost forgot you two were linked together. Who's next? The third wheel called Athena? Actually, I'm not so sure she can do much with the kind of state the light's in now."

"And that's why I'm here to stop you." Twilight stepped forward courageously.

Red laughed out loud in response. "And how exactly do you expect to do that, princess? You can't just 'pull' him out and banish me to limbo like you planned to do with that shrimp before. In case you didn't notice, things are a little more…'internal' now."

Twilight slightly looked away as if she had been uncertain. "I don't know how…but there's one thing that villains like you always never win against. If you've been paying attention all this time, you'd know that, in the end, we always overcome anything with the magic of friendship."

Red returned a boisterous laughter. "You know how cliché and stupid that sounds? Neither of you seems to know when to shut about your 'precious' friends."

"Whether it's cliché or not, it's the truth, and you'll see it for yourself. After all, with the kind of attitude you have, I'm not surprised you don't have any friends at all."

"I don't need friends." He growled and shot a beam of dark magic towards her.

However, she easily shielded herself from it.

"You really do have a temper." She noticed. "That's a bad weak spot to have. Normally, I'd give you another chance to become a better pony, but after what Athena managed to tell me in the short moment I had before coming here, I don't think there's room to do that. You're a piece of darkness that isn't supposed to exist. You come from somewhere that doesn't exist, after all. I can imagine how confused you must've been when you came to, and with that darkness, all you could feel was the anger you feel now. But, you're just a memory that isn't supposed to be. You're not the real Alex."

"What do you know?!" He asked aggressively as he slowly stepped towards us. "I existed way before he ever did! I thought you were supposed to be one of the smartest ponies to be alive. Why don't you use that brain of yours to realize that?!"

"I am." Twilight held her ground confidently. "And, I mean what I say. You only think that you existed because all you are is simply a memory."

"Oh, I should've ended you when I had the chance." He threatened as he stood ominously before us. "It's okay, though. I'll get what I want. Even if your friends do decide to banish me, I'll make sure to take the two of you with me. With that, I'll finally be satisfied."

"Alex, stay behind me!" Twilight advised, positioning herself in a battle-ready stance.

It was only a matter of seconds with the two engaged in a battle of mid to long-range attacks with their magic. The scene between the two of them was as if they had been endlessly clashing swords with each other. However, as Red had been preoccupied with Twilight, I began making my way over to the light that he had been intentionally keeping me away from.

I wanted to see if it was possible to somehow imbue myself with it and keep the slowly creeping darkness from overcoming it, but I had been literally shocked as soon as I tried to touch it. It wasn't from Red's magic. It was actually from the light itself, almost as if it didn't want me near it. Despite this, Red still felt the need to pull me away from it as if he had ironically been protecting the light himself.

"That isn't yours, remember?" He told me. "If anyone, it should belong to me, and it will as soon as it drowns in the sea of darkness in here."

"No! Not as long as I'm in here." Twilight announced from across him and tried to fire another beam of her magic.

Red countered it immediately after by pushing it away with his own. "I thought you would've noticed by now, princess, but you're not really doing much to me."

"I can go for as long as I want!" She responded as she furrowed her brow. "You're not the one who's studied magic their whole life, are you? You're bound to get tired eventually."

"Maybe so. Maybe so." He snickered. "But, did you already forget? The darkness in here is eating up the light as we speak. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to last long enough for that to happen. And as long as I'm here, I'm not letting either of you get close enough to try and save it. And, I think I know just how to do it."

He suddenly dashed over to me, and as powerless as I was to try to stop him, he grabbed a hold of me, inflicted bodily damage on different parts of my body and tossed me away from him.

I heard Twilight call out my name as she quickly rushed over to come to my side. However, right in front of me, I noticed Red clouding my vision with a malicious grin on his lips. A dark ball of energy began to surge at the tip of his horn. I could see sparks of that magic jump from it, and as soon as it began to break out towards me, another figure intervened between us.

It had been Twilight, and from what I was able to notice, she had been struggling to fight back his power. However, she had jumped in at the last second, so his magic had already been practically at her horn. I assumed that he already had a major advantage in regards to the weight he held over her. Thus, in just a short moment, she couldn't push it back any further since she had no help.

I heard her cry out as she was thrown to the floor.

"You know…you act so high and mighty." Red shifted over to a verbal assault. "I don't know if it's because you're a supposed to be a princess or if it's because you think you're better than everyone else from reading so many books. But, you're one to talk about my 'weak spot'. Look at you. Freaking pathetic. You're willing to let your guard down just to protect someone that'll slow you down."

"What about you?!" I immediately confronted. "You're so adamant about you being the real me, and if that's the case, then didn't you do the exact same when it came to Athena? What about that?!"

"I learned from my mistakes." He sharply pointed his hoof at me. "In the end, all every pony does is slow you down. I've learned that it doesn't matter if you think someone is your best friend or your family. They are just as capable of betraying you. That's why the only way to get things done is to do it yourself and cut ties with others before they do it to you."

"That's a straight up lie."

"Excuse me? Did you remember how Athena talked to me? Like I was some trash that was just getting in the way of things? She wants me gone. The pony that I used to look after and care about the most wants me gone. The pony I thought I ever really needed wants me gone!"

"Because you're not supposed to exist!" I yelled out loudly. "You're just a part of me that's gone rogue in a place they don't belong!"

"Shut up!" He fired a beam straight at me, and all I could do was take it head on.

"No!" I saw Twilight tackling him just as I collided with the empty floor we stood on as a result of his aggressive attack.

My vision was just a little blurry, but from what I could see, the two of them continued to go at it. Various magical assaults sparked and matched with one another. It was almost like a firework show, and it pained me to see that there was hardly anything I could do after having my wings and horn taken from me.

I couldn't just lie there doing nothing, so even though it might've ended up as another failure, I began making my way towards the light again. It was clear that Red didn't want either of us getting close to it, so there had to be some way in doing that that would bring an end to him.

I drew closer to the light, feeling a comfortable warmth hit my face. However, just like before, as soon as I tried to dip my hoof inside, I felt an unnerving pain jolt through my body.

Why? Why won't you let me protect you? Is it because another part of me wants to destroy you? If you just…lend me your power for a second, I can help you!

Are you willing to risk a sacrifice in order to protect those around you?

I heard something, but before I could make any sense of it, I had once again been cast away from the light.

"You're really getting on my nerves." He said as he approached me. "You hold on to this hope as if you'd be getting out of this in one piece, but you need to get it to your through thick skull that that's not going to happen!" His head cocked back before it flung forward to flood me with dark magic.

Twilight immediately appeared in front of me with the use of her own magic, but it seemed she had little time to counter his attack with something else. Instead, she was thrown backward by that magic, later having a hard time getting back up.

"And, the fact that you two keep doing this charade of 'protecting each other' ticks me off even more. Either you two are incredibly stupid, or the both of you've been waiting until sometime in your lives to throw each other under the bus. You two are supposed to be a prince and princess, right? I can definitely see either of you waiting until the right time to usurp each other's royal place. Whatever the case is, you can definitely kiss it goodbye."

"It's just like Twilight says…" I began speaking as I made the attempt to push myself back up. "We don't protect or care about each other because we have something to gain from it. We do it because we lo—"

My response had been abruptly interrupted with a swift swipe to the face.

"I didn't ask you." Energy continued to sear through the tip of his horn as he faced me with a dark intent. "But, you know what? I'm really done with hearing this talk of 'friendship' from both of you. I think it's time to try and see if I can deal with you once and for all with my own hooves."

He appeared to charge up a stronger then average magic strike, and just as he gestured his head in the appropriate direction to hit me, something came in and took the hit again. It took only a second to find that it had been Twilight once more. She had been knocked back, causing Red to laugh almost maniacally.

"Come on, princess. As much as I hate your guts, you'll make this way too easy if you keep doing stunts like that."

He prepared another shot, but Twilight came in with a prepared shield to block. However, she unexpectedly pushed me aside as if she was trying to keep me out of harm's way. In doing so, she removed her focus on Red and succumbed herself to an easy target for another time. He struck her from behind this time, and as I watched her fall forward in pain, I knew I couldn't stand idle any longer.

I knew she wanted me to keep out of it, but I lost all sense of reasoning at that point. Instead, it felt as if some kind of foreign instinct overtook control of my body. Just before he could prepare another assault, I lurched forward past Twilight and tackled him, interrupting any kind of potential spellcasting.

He reacted with a glare full of contempt before he measly vaulted me off of him with a flick of his horn. I found myself reconvening with Twilight, who had been in the process of trying to pull herself together. In front of us, Red had been getting back on his hooves, never turning away once from us.

"Twilight…" I spoke to her softly, nearly out of breath. "We're partners, right?" I asked, watching Red the entire time as he menacingly drew closer to us. "Ever since you got your wings, we've been entwined together with a magical bond. So, I need you to do something for me. Can you lend me your magic? Just this once?"

She turned her head and responded with a concerned face. "…huh?"

"Do you trust me?" I asked.

She grunted lightly, most likely due to her wounds, and answered. "Yes. But, can I do that?"

"You have to try." I told her, keeping tabs on Red. "You can do it, Twi. I know you can."

With a light nod, she closed her eyes and seemed to focus. Something appeared to glow within her chest, and it soon slowly appeared outside of her body. With this, her wings and horn vanished into thin particles of light as that same small orb of light approached me.

Red watched every second of it and grew extraordinarily angry because of it. He returned a scornful growl before charging straight at me. At that moment, I felt some familiar power come back to me. As soon as his magic was going to ram straight into me, I managed to summon a barrier to protect my front. Instead of using it solely for defensive purposes, I began marching through in an attempt to push him away from Twilight.

"Just because she's able to give you her magic, that doesn't mean you have any chance of winning!" He snarled through clenched teeth. "One of you are still defenseless, and you still got your 'precious' light to worry about!"

"Twilight's not the only one who has some pony to protect!" I fired back.

"Argh! You and your stupid friendship talk!" He barked as if the bond between us was literally making him sick to his stomach.

And just like earlier with Twilight, the two of us engaged in a continuous battle of magic between us. For the majority of the time, our magic simply contested with each other as if they were equally strong. Anytime each of us tried to get a hit on each other, we'd only either deflect, block, or dodge the attack. I didn't see either of us making any kind of progress anytime soon, and just like he previously stated, he still had the advantage when it came to the light being overtaken by the darkness. I couldn't imagine how much time there was left before he'd accomplished what he came here to do.

He began reminding me of this dilemma once we were locked in another battle for control with our magic. We had fired beams towards each other, but they simply collided together and it was once again up to us to prove our might and win or end in another draw.

"You can't win this!" He claimed from the other side. "You can drag this battle out for as long as you want, but it's only a matter of time before that light of yours dies out!"

I struggled to keep his dark magic away from my horn as I glanced back at the light he was talking about. Once I saw it in its current state, I couldn't call him a liar. That light already appeared as if it was dimming greatly, and I felt it was susceptible to burning out just like a small candle in a dark room. At that moment, the only thing I could think of was forcing my way through, but I wouldn't be able to as long as Red continued to keep me from doing just that.

"Twilight…!" I tried to call her while holding off Red's assault at the same time. "…I need you to switch with me…!"

It seemed she had still been in the middle of recovering from his last attack, but she had more than enough strength to approach me from behind.

"I can do that, but I don't know for how long. He's right about one thing. If we don't find some way to turn the tables on him soon, the darkness left by the Pony of Shadows will eat up the light we're trying to protect!"

"I've got something in mind. I don't know if it'll work, but it's the only thing I got. I just need you to push him back as far as you can."

She nodded vigorously, despite her recent injuries.

"I've got your back."

I returned my full focus on taking control of our magical impasse and spat out a few words before I'd give it all I had.

"I'm going to try and misdirect his shot. Once I do that, I'm going to charge in and I'll give you back your magic as soon as he counters me. That's where you hold him off. Can you do that?"

She nodded once more in a quicker manner. "I'm ready whenever you are!"

With that being said, I used my head slightly to guide the pressure point between both of the beams we had fired. As soon as I had the opportunity, I made a quick snapping gesture, firing his magic to the side. Immediately after, I ran in, creating a barrier in front of me that was intended to knock him back. As expected, he countered by pulling up the same spell in order to clash with mine.

"Now!" I yelled out, practically jumping to side as I released the magic Twilight had lent me.

As soon as Twilight had regained her power, she followed through with the momentum I originally had, intending to clash his barrier with one of her own. Afterwards, I tried to physically land a hit on him from the side while he was too preoccupied with Twilight, but that was only for show.

I allowed him to get a strong kick in, hoping that he'd respond to my failed attempt with a cocky and arrogant mindset. On the other hoof, Twilight gave a light cry and tried to break through his barrier with all she had.

"That's it. Keep going!" Red provoked heavily. "Try and show me how useless your 'friendship' really is!"

I turned and looked around in search for the light that was slowly disappearing by the second. I could feel fatigue starting to set in, but even so, I practically knew this was my last chance. I possibly only had a short amount of time before he'd realize I was after the light. I needed to move in and pray that I was able to perform some kind of miracle with this light. After all, the Tree of Harmony gave me this light, so if friendship really was the most powerful kind of magic, then it had to be worth something!

Using what strength I had left, I galloped straight towards the light with the intention of diving straight in. At this point, I was ready for whatever 'sacrifice' I needed to give. All I wanted was to stop Red and keep the others safe.

One would think that entering this light would immediately rejuvenate your body, mind, and soul, giving you some kind of godlike powers. However, it was a rather painful experience instead. It was as if a thousand needles pierced and pinched my body. I didn't believe I had ever actually been electrified before, but attempting to endure the various shocks this light gave me made me believe that this was the closest I was going to get.

"I don't care what I have to sacrifice!" I managed to barely say out loud. "Just give me the strength to protect my friends!"

From there, I couldn't tell for myself what had been exactly happening. However, from what I was able to see, it appeared as if the light had been somehow infusing with my body. Oddly enough, the shocks and zaps continued to surge through my body and escape out every now and then. The pain I felt lessened, but bearing whatever power the light had to give still remained highly uncomfortable.

Then, at that point, I realized that this wasn't exactly the first time I remember bearing this kind of power. In a way, it was similar to that untapped strength that momentarily escaped during our conflict with Tirek. Now, the question that remained was how to use it.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Red finally noticed and asked angrily. "That light isn't yours to take!"

Something in my mind suddenly ticked, and my next move was about to be done without sparing a single thought about any possible repercussions from it.

"You want to be me so badly? Then, take it!"

Like electricity, I found myself nearly zapping all over the place around him, and before I knew it, I had practically pierced right through him. The burst of energy I had immediately died down, and I turned to find him standing still with a petrified look on his face.

All had soon grown silent, and the only light that guided our sight was the one coming from the tip of Twilight's horn and the one eating away at whatever darkness Red had with him. For some reason, the corner of his lips raised slightly before he lightly scoffed.

"…wow."

Neither of us was sure if he still had anything left inside him to fight back, but he suddenly collapsed right in front of us. From there, he laid on the blackened floor almost completely still. Twilight and I exchanged an unsure look with each other before we slowly approached him. However, he only looked at us in return and merely laughed.

"What a cheap move." He said and began to stare out at the endless abyss above us. "I was…so close too… It isn't fair. I should be the one standing. Not you. I went through so much…only to end up like this?"

"You were only looking out for yourself. What did you expect?" I asked.

"I wanted the satisfaction of beating you. Showing you who the real boss is and punishing everyone who took what I used to have. But now, I'm disappearing from existence yet again with nothing to show for it. Such a meaningless life…"

"You were never meant to be." Twilight spoke up, looking rather sad than angry even after the battle we just had. "Did you ever think about what you were doing? Or did you just blindly do it because all you cared about was meeting that goal of 'satisfaction' of yours? All you ever did was hurt every pony, especially the pony that was supposed to be your own sister. Would the real Alex really just treat her the way you did?"

"Oh, shut up, princess." He snapped back. However, he seemed to lack the energy to reveal his anger. "Think whatever you want. To tell you the truth, no matter how much contempt I had for her, for some reason, I guess I couldn't get rid of the soft spot that was also there. Least she isn't here to see me like this. You guys can go and act like you've won all you want, but personally, as much as I hate the fact I didn't get what I wanted, I'm…kind of glad it's over. I feel some kind of relief of just…getting it all out there. It's only a matter of time when I don't have to look at your stupid faces anymore. Haha."

"You were never meant to be…" Twilight repeated softly. "That relief you feel knowing you're going to finally disappear, it has to be because existing was really a burden on you. All you were was just the negativity from an erased memory. As much as you wanted to hurt every pony, you also just wanted to be free from it. That's it, isn't it?"

"Who knows." He surprisingly answered back differently. "And, at this point, I don't care. It's over now."

"I'm sorry it had to be this way…" Twilight apologized as she observed the shadowy fragments that made up his body simply fade away.

"Yeah, whatever." He carelessly brushed off. However, it was growing apparent that the more he disappeared, the more his fiery attitude died out. "You know…it's you two idiots' fault that I'm thinking this now…but if you do have any sympathy, let Nene know that as much as I hated her for what she did, I guess I still kind of loved her."

"You know, you could say you're practically the reason why's she's so adamant about protecting me." I felt myself say without thinking. "The you from before. That's who she was looking for the entire time a while back. She thought she could get that somehow, but it was clear that it wasn't going to happen. She's grown a lot now since then. Even though your side of the story will pretty much vanish, it won't be necessarily forgotten."

Red managed to laugh heartily at my last remark. "Man, you're so cheesy."

"Speak for yourself, Edgelex." I felt the corner of my lips rising as well, oddly enough.

"Yeah, whatever…" He repeated before closing his eyes. "It's not my problem anymore."

After those last words, it seemed the last of him completely vanished. The light that had brought him to his demise remained and thankfully no longer softly flickered as it did before.

"Come on." Twilight placed a hoof on my shoulder. "Let's get back. Everyone's waiting."

I nodded.

In a matter of seconds, everything grew dark, and I soon began hearing external noises. But, they weren't clear or audible at first. Before I could worry, my eyelids began lifting up as if I had just woken up from a long nap. As I began slowly making things out in my view, the words that were being spoken at the time were echoing quite loudly in my head.

I had been hoping for a happy return, but what I heard suggested otherwise.

"Push it back! Don't let it get any closer!"

"Hey, can you hear me?! Wake up! Wake up!"

It took a moment before my eyes were fully opened, and once the blurriness was completely gone, I immediately noticed Athena in front of me.

"Can you hear me?! You've got to move!"

"…huh?" I heard myself mumble and realized a short moment after that the continuous background noise I had been hearing was an endless stream of magic being constantly shot out on top of me.

"Distance yourself or it may take you as well!" I heard what sounded like Star Swirl call out.

"No! I can't leave them!" Athena responded worriedly.

I didn't know how I hadn't realized it now, but as soon as I glanced over at my leg, I found something black had been covering a part of it. When I followed the string it left, I found that the source had been the absent Pony of Shadows.

My first reaction was to immediately try to shake it off, but it was like glue. In the next second, a lavender beam of magic struck whatever was keeping me hostage, but it was to no avail. It was simply eaten up or absorbed by the black goo. I looked to my left to see Twilight nearby. However, she seemed to have been caught by the monster as well.

"You need to open the portal!" Twilight shouted out.

"You're too close!" We heard Starlight anxiously yell back. "You'll both get sucked in!"

"It'll be too dangerous if it gets us! Open it now while you still have the chance!"

"Everyone!" Athena turned and face them. "Try and pull them back with your magic!"

Star Swirl continued to keep our enemy at bay with his own magic, but the others who had horns attempted to pull us apart with theirs. Unfortunately, it didn't seem it was strong enough to separate the both of us from the shadows that wanted to draw us in.

"You've got to open the portal!" Twilight repeated. "If you can keep us here long enough, the Pony of Shadows can be forced into limbo without taking us with it! You've got to try while I can still use my Element!"

"Do it!" Star Swirl commanded.

With everyone holding reluctance in each and every one of their faces, they began preparing the portal once more. As soon as it had opened, my hind legs suddenly thrust forward. The only thing that prevented me from going straight through the newly formed rift was the fact that several ponies were attempting to bring me back.

Despite that, the empty Pony of Shadows wasn't so willing to let us go, and it continued to latch on to both of us. Even the power of all the Elements including Twilight's wasn't enough to separate us from the giant shadow. At this rate, it was looking like the only way to escape was…

"You won't win if you share your magic between us!" I said. "Let me go and use it for Twilight instead!"

"What?!" I heard several ponies exclaim simultaneously.

"What are you thinking?!" Twilight faced me directly as she asked.

"Only one of us can get out, and I want it to be you!"

"No! After everything we've both been through?! We're getting out of this together!"

We heard cries coming out from those that tried so desperately to save us.

"I can't…hold on…!"

The Pony of Shadows fell deeper inside of the portal, but so did we.

"No! You can't!" Athena suddenly lunged at me from her safe spot and tried to pull me with both of her hooves as much as she could.

"Get away! If there's any chance you'll be okay here without me, I want you to take it!" I attempted to plead with her.

"No!" She repeated as tears began streaming from her face. "You're my brother! I don't want to be without you!"

"Gah!"

The strings that had been attempting to pull us back to the others practically shattered into pieces.

"Alex!" I heard a strained voice before the hooves that had been holding onto mine were torn away from me.

In a swift second, before any of the others could even try to reignite the sparks on their horns, all I was able to see was a boundless sea of black as if I had been pulled back into an endless deep nonexistent sleep.

It was surreal. I couldn't quite understand it.

I was in an area that was quite similar to the one we had faced Red in, but there was no lurking or pressuring darkness. I didn't know how to describe it exactly, but it, for some reason, felt as if I was asleep within a blank slate of a dream. And, I knew that I was dreaming. However, I couldn't set any pleasant scenario to relax me. Everything was just…blank.

The worst part of it was…it didn't stop the full force of loneliness that almost immediately crept up my back. Everything was coming back to me. The worries I had for the others before I ended up here. Every one of them began racing through my head as troubling thoughts. At that point, I began wishing in a frenzied state of mind that I had disappeared from existence along with Red. After all, being trapped here with no visible way out seemed like the worst kind of torture I could ever go through.

Maybe Red really did get his wish.

"Alex!" I suddenly heard.

Hoping that my mind wasn't playing tricks on me, I instantly turned to the sound of the voice.

I noticed Twilight, and I saw her racing over to me.

I naturally gasped at the sight of her and galloped in response as well.

We didn't even slow down when we were within hooves' lengths. We just allowed our bodies to collide as our forelegs wrapped tightly around each other. We remained in this position for a fairly long time as it was the only thing that managed to calm our nerves for the time being. In other words, it was a suppressant but not necessarily a cure.

When we finally pulled away, the two of us stared at each other for a moment longer before I found Twilight chuckling solemnly to herself.

"Well…I guess we got caught in limbo."

"What about the Pony of Shadows?" I looked around, recalling that it had been thrown in here with us.

"It has no pony to control, so I'm guessing it won't be bothering anyone anymore." Twilight said.

The two of us remained heavily silent, reinforcing the fact that we were in one of the worst places to be, if not the worst. It was obvious we both had the same kind of questions bubbling in our minds, but we had no way to validate the truth to any answers we might've come up with for them. All it did was leave us quietly afraid.

We huddled together, almost if we had been trying to warm each other up.

"They'll be fine. I know it…" Twilight finally spoke, but I couldn't sense any firm confidence behind it. "The other Pillars are with them. In fact, they could be coming up with some kind of spell to get us out right now!"

"You said it yourself, Twilight…" I answered with a nearly quivering voice. "Time stands still in limbo. A thousand years could've passed by now. Everyone we know could be…"

"Don't say it." Her voice shook, and she dug her head into her forelegs. "I…don't want to think about that…"

I zipped my mouth shut as I heard her begin to cry. She had been trying so hard to not just break down completely at that moment, and there was nothing I could do. Normally, the first thing any pony would do is comfort her, but there was no basis to do that.

What was I going to tell her? That'll we'll be okay? That we'll be saved by the others? There was no way of knowing anything at this point. It's hard enough to try and comfort someone when you're in such a state that needs comforting first.

All I could do was just sit there and somewhat hold her, but in the end, it was each of us that were leaning against each other's shoulder. It was like an endless cycle of despair having absolutely no one to tell you that things were going to be okay. At that point, we could only hope that we'd come to term with things and accept it before the despair ate us up entirely.

Silence continued to reverberate between us. Sometimes, I'd listen to Twilight sniffle as she forced herself to hold back any tears. I continued to feel hopelessly helpless. In fact, I was on the edge of struggling desperately to fight tears of my own.

Eventually, it seemed like Twilight's quiet sobbing died down. She lightly pulled her head away from her forelegs, but she continued to keep her gaze lowered towards what could be considered the floor we remained on. After a second or two, she gently shuffled a bit closer to me until she was pressing against me.

"You know…" She began speaking softly. "I'm really scared. I'm really scared of what happens next. I don't know if we'll ever get out of here, and even if we do, I'm scared of what we'll find waiting for us on the other side. I already miss everyone back home. I want to see them again so badly, and the only thing I can keep repeating in my mind to keep my sanity is the hope that they're doing just fine. But even through all of this, I'm thankful for one thing. Even if I have to spend the rest of my life in limbo…I'm thankful I get to at least spend it with you. Not that I'd want you in here in the first place…hehe." She managed to chuckle lightly with her last remark.

As disheartened as our situation seemed, she did have a point. I wasn't sure if I would've been able to last more than what felt like a minute being in here without her. Her company made a world of difference, even though it didn't particularly bring a solution to our dilemma.

"I think I feel the same way. About everything." I answered and found myself reminiscing for a quick moment. "I remember following you around like a lost puppy at first. I didn't know my place in life, and I didn't think I had one. Despite playing an important part when it came to the Elements, I still didn't feel any worth from it. Actually, I guess I maybe even believed that the only reason you guys wanted me around was that you needed something from me. But through all our hardships, you showed me that I had a place to belong. I don't know where I'd be without you."

"Maybe not in limbo." She laughed lightly. "Kidding. The same could be said for me. You've stuck with me during times I thought I was alone. Like Cadence's wedding, or like the time I needed to finish Star Swirl's spell. When we first met, there was just something about you that interested me. Maybe it was because you were just as clueless about friendship as I was. Or maybe…it was something else. Even so, there was always something inside me that wanted to be closer to you. And, the more time we spent together, the more that feeling grew. That's why, despite this kind of situation we're in, I feel some kind of lingering hope. Because I have you."

"…thanks, Twilight." I gazed back with a small smile, almost as if I had forgotten that we had been trapped in limbo.

"And, I'm sorry about what Star Swirl said." She apologized unexpectedly. "He's been my idol for so long that I didn't know what to think or feel when he said those things to you, practically telling you that you're expendable. But being together with you now, I know for certain that that's not the case. Whatever may come, there's no way I'm ever going to consider sacrificing you for the greater good."

As good as it felt to hear her strong loyalty and love for me, I couldn't help but be reminded of what I had heard during our confrontation with Red. "Maybe…being here was really the sacrifice all along? The price to pay in order to keep Equestria safe. To tell you the truth, there are things I can't stop thinking about. Things I regret not being able to do sooner." I felt myself swallow dryly before I continued speaking. "I…I never got to tell her."

"Who are you talking about?" Twilight asked carefully.

I had been avoiding bringing it up because I knew it would cause me to break in tears, but at the same time, I needed to get it off my chest.

"I wanted to tell her that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, but I never did because there was always something in the back of my mind that made me afraid. I wanted to tell her those words with confidence, but I never could because, for some reason, there was always some kind of ounce of doubt. I didn't want to tell her something like that only for something like this to happen. I feel really bad that I never got to let her know that, but at the same time, I feel it would've been a lot worse if I did. Still, the thought of now never having the chance…it…tears me apart."

I stopped my rambling once that despair landed a solid hit on my heart. After trying to fight for control over my emotions for a good moment, I heard Twilight begin to speak.

"I think she already knew how you felt. She had to. She's grown so much over the time we've spent together. She's a stronger pony now, and if too much time hasn't passed in their world for as long as we've been in here, I'd say all she cares about now is getting you back than hearing those words you've been meaning to tell her straight from your mouth."

"I want us to go back!" I nearly snapped as if I had some kind of newfound hope. "I want to go back and make plans to tell her just that!"

"Then, we need to believe in them!" Twilight returned with the same level enthusiasm as if it had been infectious. "They're not ones to give up so easily! They'd spend their whole life looking for a way to get us out of limbo, and they're not alone! We might be the missing key to open the portal to limbo, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to find another way. They have all the Pillars including the princesses! I believe that they'll find a way! I truly don't think it's just wishful thinking. I don't want it to be! From the time we all met each other, our bonds have always been the key to finding a solution to every kind of problem we've faced, big or small. That's the magic of friendship, and I believe it'll get us out somehow. And when we get out, you can tell her how much you love her all you want. Heck, you could propose a thousand times over!"

I studied her serious expression for a moment before I furrowed my brow and lowered my head in thought.

"I want to believe too." I responded. "We've all gotten so far together. We've done things that other ponies probably wouldn't ever believe or dream of doing. And, we were able to do all that because we had each other. To think that we'd never get out or see them again, it'd be like throwing away all that time we spent with each other. You're right. They won't give up, even if it means they'll have to spend days on end figuring out how to do it."

Twilight suddenly grabbed a hold of my hooves and held them in hers.

"And, I want to go out and keep experiencing the world with you too. You and I both know that we have so many precious memories, and I want to keep making new ones with you and everyone else. That's why I want to believe that our time together is not meant to end here."

A warmth radiated in my heart.

"Whatever happens, I want the same thing. It's the main reason I chose to take the role of being your royal partner, after all."

Twilight eyes began to glisten from moisture. In fact, the corners of her eyes began lightly dripping drops of her brimming tears. Meanwhile, a light shade of scarlet rose on top of her delicate cheeks.

"Fluttershy's a really lucky girl, you know…?"

I didn't say anything for a moment. I simply nodded and smiled.

"Hope you don't mind being a bridesmaid."

With that, she giggled with joy.

At that moment, I suddenly felt something beating within my chest that wasn't just my heart. It was almost like a…sonar kind of pulse. Nearby, something immediately caught our attention. In the middle of our place in limbo, we saw some kind og energy stretch out and open. What looked like a pathway grew out of nowhere, and in that pathway was a space full of light.

"Could…could it be…?" Twilight witnessed in a state of complete astonishment.

"Light." I felt my words being slipped out of my mouth without question. "It's a door of light."

The two of us continued to stare out in awe before I finally turned towards her and extended my hoof. "Let's go together!"

Her eyes literally sparkled as she faced me. "Yeah!"

She accepted my hoof, and from there, we approached the opened pathway that seemingly waited for us with each other as promised.

I heard what sounded like my name being lightly called, but it was hard to tell if I had been awake or not. The voice was faint and somewhat dreamlike, and it didn't help that I couldn't see anything but the bright light that we had passed through.

Through a smooth transition, things began to subtly fall in place. The surface of the ground I was on felt different, there was no longer a completely still and silent environment, and the light that blinded me began slowly dissipating in thin air. Before I knew it, color struck my eyes once again.

I found my body outstretched in a prone position, so I began using my hooves to push me back up. There, I saw a familiar face that wasn't Twilight. It was Athena, and she had been gazing at me with a tear-ridden smile.

"They're back!" I heard.

I quickly looked to my side to find my trusted partner right by me. We both exchanged a look of surprise before it swiftly transfigured into excitement. However, before we could even move our hooves, we suddenly had been pummeled down with the weight of several other ponies.

From what I could tell, Pinkie Pie and Applejack initiated the half mass hug and half dogpile on us, and sooner than later, ponies were just piling on. It was then when I began feeling the warmth of their love that I had heavily missed. I couldn't tell if we had been in limbo for long, but I was extremely glad to be back. I was so glad that I still actually had some doubts about it.

"Is this real? This isn't a dream, is it?"

"No." The mare in front of me who hadn't exactly taken part with the others answered. As her tears raced over her cheeks, her smile faintly stretched. "You're home."

Glancing past her, I found Star Swirl and the other Pillars with him. It seemed that they had all been observing the sight of us reuniting together in harmony. Nevertheless, everyone seemed okay.

"Hold on." I heard Pinkie say. "Something's off here…"

"Your horn!" Rarity pointed out shortly afterwards.

"Your wings!" Rainbow Dash shouted next.

Twilight noticed and observed me all over. "They're…they're gone."

Every pony pulled away and allowed me to feel the areas that I should have found the two at, but I didn't feel anything. My first thought was that this was just temporary, but after what Twilight and I had just gone through, I had a sick feeling that things weren't as hunky-dory as we believed.

With everything seeming to finally come to an end, we returned to the princesses with the news, and the two of them had the chance to have quite an exciting reunion with their old teacher.

"I simply cannot believe how tall you've gotten!" Star Swirl told the two.

"Well, it has been over a thousand years." Celestia answered. "Will you stay here and teach magic once again? My sister and I have such fond memories of your lessons."

"As long as you don't ask for those essays we owed you before you disappeared." Luna joked.

"I'm actually quite more interested in hearing about what happened while I was gone, especially the kinship of a certain princess in the room?" He appeared to send a beckoning glance over to Luna, who only chuckled and slightly turned away in embarrassment. Star Swirl laughed for a second as he brushed through his giant beard. "In all seriousness, I'm not certain Canterlot is where I belong. The realm has grown, and I believe I'll have a look around before I settle in any one place."

"And I long to see what has become of my home." Mage Meadowbrook stated.

"I believe we all do." Mistmane agreed.

"Then I hope you will return to Canterlot on occasion and share the wisdom of your great experience with the next generation of ponies." Celestia offered.

"We would be honored. But if it is wisdom you seek, look no further than your own pupil." He turned the spotlight over to Twilight, who appeared pretty astonished by the honor. "She showed me that the power of friendship is a magical force indeed. And that in turning away from others, you hurt yourself as well."

Twilight smiled warmly in deep appreciation for his words, but she soon shook her head lightly as if there was something he said that she needed to refute.

"No. It wasn't just me. It was everyone. We all had a part to play ever since we all became friends. After all, I would've never become the Princess of Friendship if none of them showed me what friendship really was in the first place. And most of all, I have a wonderful brother to share those lessons and experiences with." She spotted me and wrapped a foreleg around my neck to bring me closer. "It's not about what he's done or what he has, but who he really is. As his lifelong committed partner in royalty, my vow is to stick with him through thick and thin, and that means that I'll never run or even recklessly consider sacrificing him should he, or any of us, be in danger."

Star Swirl nodded in agreement and approached me. "I still owe you an apology for what was discussed when the Pony of Shadows still roamed free. As you may have already known, the one thing I was lacking experience in was true friendship, and your dear princess here showed that to me. While I believe your purpose here in Equestria is to still keep your home and friends safe, I no longer believe that you should simply be sacrificed without question. After all, you've all shown me that different solutions can be found or made, some better than others. It is just like they've said, you are as much of a pony as they are, and I wish you the best of luck."

"Thank you…" I finally expressed in appreciation, but it was too sad and depressing to admit that I wasn't as ecstatic as I should have been.

"You've all done yet another wonderful job keeping this land safe, and we all truly thank you for your efforts." Celestia announced brightly.

Next, I noticed my mother approach me and place a hoof underneath my chin. She lifted it up and allowed me to see her proud and heartwarming smile.

"I understand you're worried about your horn and wings. I cannot tell you for certain whether they're truly gone or not. However, now's not the time you should be sulking. You are with friends and family. They will make any worries of yours disappear."

I smiled lightly in return and nodded back. "Yeah, you're right."

She was right. That was what I thought.

I should have been thankful for being back with everyone else. I should have. But, I couldn't bring myself to be completely and utterly happy. Something big a part of me had been taken away, and I had no idea if I'd ever get it back. If I was now back here with my friends, did that mean that my horn and wings were the sacrifices it spoke of instead?

Luna told me that being with my friends would ease all my troubles, and I believed her. In fact, I went and visited all the friends I could see in the next past few days. Octavia, Vinyl, Derpy, Maud, etc. Ignoring Maud's expressionless face, they were all happy to see me once they had heard what happened. So many hugs were received that day, I was surprised my body hadn't ended up being sore afterwards. As much as I enjoyed seeing them, there was one thing each visit had in common, and it wasn't necessarily a good thing.

There were so many times I came into situations that I was so used to handling with magic or my wings, but the more I came across those situations, the more I realized that my missing horn and wings were something I couldn't just easily ignore.

I tried to ignore that fact and fake a smile for their sake, but it seemed any of them were able to easily see through it. Most importantly, I couldn't even fly with Fluttershy anymore. I couldn't go to her old home in Cloudsdale and visit her family. I wouldn't be able to do any of that from now on, and that had really put a dent in my plans to officially tell Fluttershy how I felt about her.

I told Twilight about it, considering how she was the only one I practically made the promise to. I could probably get by without a horn, but flying with Fluttershy was the thing that really bothered me. And, everyday I spent without being able to do so much as that kicked my spirit closer to the ground.

So, after visiting everyone at least once, I stopped and secluded myself in my room because I didn't believe I was in any condition to nurture these friendships in a positive manner. At some point, Athena appeared by my bedside as I quietly sulked to myself.

"You okay, Alex…?" She asked.

"I don't know…" I returned, the sound of my voice being slightly muffled by my pillow. "I want to be happy and carefree with everyone. I really do. But, it feels like what I used to do in order to do just that was taken away from me. I hate to feel sad about this, especially considering that I used to be just a simple Earth Pony before. But, I just can't stop feeling like something about me never really mattered or existed…"

"It's okay…" She patted me lightly. "You're going through something hard right now. It's totally understandable. Don't beat yourself so much over it. Unlike some time ago, the emotions you're feeling are completely natural. You just need some time."

"Will time really heal this wound?" I asked. "Maybe I'll feel a little better after a while, but then something will just end up happening that reminds me I no longer have the means to get through it anymore. Maybe Twilight will get a stack of paperwork she needs help getting through? Well, there's not really anything I can do to help if I have to use only my mouth. Fluttershy wants to go for a family visit? Well, I'll have to stay behind because I definitely don't have any wings to be there with her. And those are the least problems I can think of." I sighed and shook my head. "I don't want to think about those kinds of things anymore, but I know I'm going to have to face them eventually."

Athena remained silent in the event that I had any more to say. After a moment, she continued speaking.

"You'll find a way to get through it. I know you will. You and Twilight escaped limbo for Celestia's sake. After that, I'm sure you can do anything. Just take it easy for now. Every one of your friends understands, and no one is judging you for feeling what you feel at a time like this."

I thought about her words as I merely stared at the pillow in front of me. At that moment, I remembered something else. A favor I felt that I needed to share.

"Hey, Athena?" I slightly rose up from my bed and faced her. "About Red… Right after we were able to beat him, and right before he disappeared, he…wanted you to know something."

"Huh…?" She looked a bit surprised to hear that.

"As much as he hated what you did, at the same time, he's always had a soft spot for you. In other words, I guess he kind of loved you too."

"Oh…" Athena looked a little sad in return. "…I guess that explains certain things he could've done to me but didn't the times before this happened…"

"But it's over now." I concluded. "That darkness inside of me. The memory from an erased past. You don't need to worry about it anymore. I'd say everyone has an opportunity to create a brand-new future ahead of them. As for me, I'm still trying to figure that out…"

"You will. I know you will." Athena confidently believed.

Unexpectedly, a knock sounded at my door, which slowly opened afterwards.

"Alex? Could you come with me really quick?"

Twilight poked her head in the room and soon began leading us out in the hallway. No one said anything during the walk until we ended up in the throne room.

"What is it, Twilight?" I finally asked. "Is something going on?"

She faced me directly and began speaking.

"I know you haven't come out of your room much recently because of what happened to your wings and horn. It's painfully obvious you're going through some kind of loss, considering they haven't come back to you. It's not the first time you've gone through this, and seeing you like this makes me really sad. Not just me but everyone else too. At first, I thought about maybe trying to give you some of my own magic, but I already figured you'd be against it." She laughed lightly, possibly due to already knowing what kind of reaction I'd have had she gone through with it. "So, then I started brainstorming a few things that I could technically be able to give you some of my magic without having it actually leave my body completely. Eventually, I came up with the idea for this."

She pulled a box out from underneath the table at the center of all the thrones and placed it on top where the map was usually shown.

"…what is it?" I asked.

She gestured her head towards the wrapped box with a silly little bow. "Why don't you go ahead and open it?" She suggested with a soft smile.

Genuinely curious about what she had been offering me, I approached the box and began to carefully untie the bow and tear off the wrapping paper. I popped off the lid with my two front hooves and slowly looked inside. My head was blocking most of the light, so the contents within weren't perfectly clear. However, I was able to make out some kind of fabric and skeletal wiring that almost looked like it was a part of a machine instead.

"Let me get that for you." Twilight walked to my side and focused her magic on the contents within. She carefully brought it out and placed it near the box on the table. After getting a clearer picture of it, my first thought was that she had gotten me a couple of kites.

"Are these…kites?" I asked, feeling a puzzled look contort my face.

Twilight giggled in response. "You could say that they are, but they're not meant to be flown as any regular kite."

"…I don't get it."

Twilight seemed to find my face amusing and giggled a second time. "You didn't lose any brain cells in limbo, did you? They're your new wings."

"H-Huh?!" I was more confused than ever and immediately turned to Twilight for answers. "N-New wings?! What are you even talking about?!"

Before she could speak up, another screeching voice yelled out between us.

"SURPRISE!"

A burst of confetti suddenly rained down upon us. Pinkie Pie had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and she was soon joined by everyone else. Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Starlight, and Spike gathered together around me.

"I wanted to also find a way to get you something to substitute as a horn, but that was a lot more complicated than this. So, I hope you aren't disappointed or anything. I remembered what you told me the other day…and I just knew I had to do this for you at the very least."

"I still don't really get it…" I told her. "How exactly are these supposed to be new wings?"

"You didn't forget, did you?" Starlight Glimmer drew closer and pointed out a few things about the stationary wings in front of me. "Remember the time we went out and flew kites? When Twilight said that she wanted to create something that would make you be able to fly again, I immediately looked back to that day. What if we were able to use the way kites are created in order to make artificial wings that a pony could actually use? Through trial and error, I finally ended up designing a skeletal structure that resembles a pegasus's wings as best as it can."

"I made sure to give each prototype a test run." Rainbow Dash proudly stated. "Starlight wasn't going to stop until she was able to come up with a design that would handle even my speeds."

"I provided the fabric." Rarity stepped forward. "I must admit, this project certainly required the use of the highest quality materials, but it was all worth it for you considering how much you've done for each and every one of us."

"I wanted to help too, so instead of letting Rarity use her sewing machine to stitch the fabric together, I hoof-stitched it myself." Fluttershy informed next. "I wanted to make sure that no parts of the fabric were too loose, so I stitched every part of the separated pieces as carefully as I could."

"I didn't do much…" Applejack modestly mentioned. "All I did was pick out the stuff that Starlight would use to stretch the fabric out like a kite. After all, we wouldn't want twigs that could easily break apart while you're flying."

Spike chuckled lightly. "Well, all I did was just help with a few tests when it came to the fabric. As silly as it sounds, one of the things we did to test the fabric was having me blow out fire and see how it'd hold up like if it was a hot air balloon."

"I wrapped the box and made it look super pretty!" Pinkie bellowed out cheerfully.

I had genuinely appreciated all of their efforts to try to make me happy, but there was still one thing I didn't understand about their project.

"T-That's really nice of you all to do, but…you didn't forget about the most important thing, did you? How am I supposed to fly with this? Are you all going to be holding strings underneath me or something?"

"Mm-mm." Twilight shook her head. "That's where I come in. Do you remember Rainbow Dash's pet Tank? Do you remember how he's actually able to fly on his own? Well, I decided to replicate that when it came to this. However, since this is a pony we're talking about, it was going to need a little adjusting. I designed a system at the very base of the wings that touch your body. It's a little difficult getting into the nitty-gritty details, but to sum it all up, I'm able to 'charge' the wings up with magic of my own. In fact, charging the wings from empty to full kind of takes a toll on me, but the good thing is that they should last quite a long while before they need to be charged up again. Of course, that depends on how much you use them. But you don't need to worry about it. Anytime you need a recharge, just come straight to me! Other than that, all we have to do is attach the wings to your body with a belt of some sort and there it is! New wings! Just like Rainbow Dash tested out for you already, all you should need to do to fly is pretty much act like you have wings, to begin with. If you try flying but at the same time remembering that you don't have actual wings on you, they might not exactly work, so I would suggest you give it some practice safely somewhere. Remembering what it feels like to have those 'wing muscles' is extremely important. You already know how it feels like to actually stretch out your wings and flap them. Just pretend that you never lost your wings, and my magic will do the rest of the work! Is that okay?"

She had been explaining how to use them efficiently, but I had to admit I was too focused on something else. Here, I thought it would be impossible to be able to do something like fly without my old wings, yet they all showed me that it's actually not impossible at all. I knew it was most likely going to take some kind of adjusting, but the fact that they were all able to come up with something like this? I couldn't just ignore it and easily accept the gift like it was some random store-bought item.

"I don't know what to say…" I was practically speechless. "You did all of this for me…?"

"Of course, we did." Twilight answered. "We all care about you, and if there was something we were able to do to see you smile again, we wanted to do it, even if it was going to be difficult."

"What are you waiting for?! Try it on!" Rainbow heavily recommended.

"Allow me." Rarity pulled out a thin yet firm-looking belt and attached the wings to it with the use of her magic. From there, she carefully tied the belt around my body. "Do be careful, darling. The fabric is water-resistant, but if they're submerged in water for too long, you may need to let them dry out before you use them again."

It was a little funny. Instead of actually feeling my wings, I only felt the belt that was tied around my body. Even so, Twilight warned against me thinking like that in the first place for a reason. Everyone in the room locked their gazes on me as if they were waiting for me to do something with my new wings.

I shut my eyes and took in a deep breath. I tried to imagine myself still having my wings, and then I went on to imagine myself moving my non-existent muscles. I didn't exactly feel any kind of change, but I heard everyone lightly cry out in astonishment as if I did.

I opened my eyes and spared a glance around to find that my wings had extended out. Granted, nothing about them looked natural, but the fact that I now held the possibility of soaring up in the skies again was what was most important to me.

I turned to Twilight to find her exchanging a heart-warming smile with me. Then, she shot a glance over in the direction of Fluttershy and quickly winked. It didn't take me long to figure out what she had meant by that. Actually, I found myself turning towards Fluttershy and piecing out the path I'd take to keep the promise I made.

On the next day, I stopped by the jewelry store in search of something that spoke out to me. My eyes scanned over the glittering gems by the necklace side of the store. It wasn't until now I began to realize that picking out jewelry for a mare was a lot harder than it sounded. I began having seconds thoughts about going to go get Rarity to help me out with my purchase even though I didn't necessarily want anyone else to know what I had planned to do later on in the evening.

"This one looks nice, don't you think?" I heard a less than pleasant voice share to my right.

"Oh, hey look who it is." I answered with an unenthused voice. "Just like always, you come out at the least convenient times."

"Whatever do you mean? I haven't the slightest clue."

It was Discord, and he was obviously feigning ignorance to the fact that he completely missed out on helping us when it came to the Pony of Shadows. One would think he'd begin helping us out a bit more after what happened with Chrysalis, but after realizing who this creature was, it was wishful thinking when it came to something like that. Now, here he was bothering me about something that just happened to involve Fluttershy.

"Oh, it's nothing. You just missed the Pony of Shadows and Twilight and I getting trapped in limbo. It's nothing really." I mentioned sarcastically.

"Oh, did I? Must've been when I was cleaning out my kitchen."

I took his answer with a chunk load of salt and tried to keep my focus on the gems I had been browsing.

"So, I hear you have plans for Fluttershy, do you?" He brought up.

"Oh, so you can hear that, can you?"

"Well, she is my best friend. I'm sure she'd even want me to be the best creature at her wedding."

"…I'm not so sure that's going to happen…"

"Oh, bother. Why not?"

"Well, I'd kind of rather want the ponies who actually mean something to me and don't give everyone else a hard time to hold that place instead, you know."

"You're no fun. I take it you still haven't warmed up to me?"

I sighed lightly and began to recall a recent instance I feel I could dig up some kind of respect for him for.

"Well…I guess you can't be all bad… You can be a major pain, but you did technically help save Equestria from Chrysalis. And…the fact that you were willing to throw away your entire existence just to make Fluttershy comfortable? I guess that's something I can't just ignore."

"Then, how about you and I have some quality 'bro' time?" He shared with a somewhat innocent yet mischievous grin.

Of course, the answer was obvious.

"Yeah…no, thanks."

In the end, Discord stuck around for a little bit longer before he surprisingly found himself intrigued with something else and left me alone. I managed to make my purchase and head back outside.

"Ah, there he is." I came across a familiar group dining outside of a restaurant. It was Octavia who noticed me first. "It's about time you arrived."

"Why, did you two have plans or something?" Vinyl asked the same question that had been boggling in my head.

"You could say that. After all, he's my bodyguard. Isn't that right, bodyguard?" She turned to me with an unreadable smile on her face.

"Uh…huh?"

I wanted to believe it was a joke, but at the same time, I was hoping she didn't misunderstand something I might've said sometime earlier.

"A bodyguard, huh? That sounds pretty cool." Vinyl thought about, seeming to take Octavia seriously.

"Mm-hm. He accompanies me every time I go out to a performance. And, he doesn't leave until I'm safely back home. Sometimes he may even stay for some nice hot tea."

Okay, she's definitely joking.

"Hm." Vinyl rubbed her chin. "Kinda sounds like he's more than a bodyguard."

"Who's knows?" Octavia returned a devilish smile. "There might be more that happens behind the scenes."

"Okay, did I miss something here?" I finally said, feeling as if things had been taking a wrong turn.

"Not to worry. Just a little joke." Octavia reassured with an innocent grin this time.

"Wait…so he's not your bodyguard?" Vinyl asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"Oh! You had some mail!" Derpy exclaimed to me from between them. "Did you get it? I left it with Spike this morning."

"I don't think I did. Thanks, Derpy. I actually have to get going. I have some big plans tonight."

"See you later tonight then." Octavia winked.

Despite her comment, I was more than sure she was just joking. Nevertheless, I waved them off and proceeded to return back home.

Once at the castle, I retrieved the mail Derpy had mentioned to me about and found that I had received a couple of letters. One had apparently come from some pony I hadn't talked to in a while. My old foster mother had sent me a brief letter asking me how life had been going for me as well as how things had been going for her. Based on what I had read, it seemed like the old stallion was still the same. Despite that, she actually attached a few photos with the letter.

Sparing a glance at them, I found that they were apparently album covers of my former sister Starlight and her band. It seemed she was still working hard at producing her music, and most noticeably was still rocking that new manestyle that revealed so much of who she really was instead of hiding it like before. Overall, I was glad that they were doing well. I thought about maybe coming up with a chance to see them again sometime soon, but I decided to leave it for now as I brought the second letter up to read.

This one came from Coco Pommel from Manehattan. I quickly tore it open and pulled out the neatly folded paper inside.

Hi Alex!

I hope you're doing great. I really want to see you and Athena again! I've got a lot I'd like to share, and I hope you do as well! Plus, I came up with a design that Athena might love, but it'd probably be best if you kept that a secret from her until you actually come and visit. If you're busy right now, I'm sure she wouldn't stop bugging you to make some time to come over if she knew. Whenever you have time just let me know, okay?

Lots of hugs and kisses,

Coco Pommel.

P.S. The "kisses" part isn't weird, right? If it is, you can just ignore it. Sorry!

I couldn't help but smile at her well-meant message. Setting aside her letter for now as well, I began pulling a few sheets of paper of my own and began brainstorming a few ideas in my head as I tapped the pencil against my chin.

I absolutely missed my magic, but I couldn't let that stop me from getting these plans of mine out the window.

After a few preparations, I finally enacted the first step of my plan and invited Fluttershy out for a walk near her animal sanctuary. It provided a nice ambience to listen to in the background as long as the animals weren't being too rowdy.

"I know this isn't the first time I've been here, but it's still a little hard to believe how far you've come." I told her as we observed the sanctuary in full from a short distance away. "This is living proof that achieving your dreams is completely possible, even if they're a little difficult, right?"

"Hehe, right." She wholeheartedly agreed. "Although, this is only one of the first of my dreams I want to make a reality. But, enough about me. How about you? Have you tried your new wings? Do they work well?"

"I actually haven't gotten around to using them much yet." I admitted a little embarrassingly. "I've been trying to get something done first."

"Oh?" She lifted her head in interest. "What could that be? Do you need help with it?"

"N-Not exactly…" I suddenly began feeling nervous unexpectedly as she leaned her head closer to me. "Hey, um…"

"Mm?" She tilted her head adorably as her cute eyes latched onto mine.

"Let's see…" It was hard to believe that I felt most vulnerable when it came to choking on my words now of all times. "How long have we've been together?"

"Oh, my." She placed a hoof to her mouth. "Quite a long while. Why do you ask?"

"Heh heh. It's just…I guess there's been something on my mind for a while now. I've tried bringing it up before, but I always felt scared to for some reason. I'm not really sure why. Maybe I was scared of what you might say, or maybe I was scared of something bad happening to me. Either way, after what we just went through, I feel like I should just pony up and say it. So…um…Fluttershy?"

"Huh?" She looked back at me with a genuinely curious expression.

There was no way I could back out now, even if I wanted to.

"…how do you feel about…you know…um…spending the rest of our lives with each other?"

"'Spending the rest'…" She repeated to herself at first as if she didn't quite understand the question. Then, all of a sudden, her cheeks began giving off an aura of heat as if they had been searing from fire. "W-W-Wait…! A-A-Alex?! I-Is this w-w-what I think it is?!"

"Uhh, maybe?" I slipped out a stupid grin as I rubbed the back of my head. "Well…to tell you the truth…I don't think it's the 'official' way of doing it, but…I needed to tell you somehow." I paused myself for a moment and tried to take in a deep breath before I continued. "You and I both know of all the things we've been through together. I'm not sure either of us thought we'd be here today from the first day we met each other, but it happened. What I'm trying to say…is…well…I want to make a promise to you, if it's okay with you, Fluttershy. I'd say we're still really young, so I don't want to rush into things if you think we still have time, but I do want to tell you that I'm open to the idea of moving our relationship to the next level when the two of us are absolutely ready. I don't want to jump straight into that level because we both have dreams that we'd like to still have accomplished, and I'm not sure if jumping to that level would have any negative effect on them. At the same time, I wouldn't want you to think that what we have doesn't look like it's going anywhere. So…"

I finally pulled out the bag I had been hiding underneath my faux wing and pulled out the piece of jewelry I had bought earlier in the day. Fluttershy's gaze was strictly glued to it as I pulled it out. The chain unraveled until a pink stone resembling a butterfly hung at the very bottom. It was a necklace I picked out just for her, and I was hoping she wouldn't find it too cheesy or anything.

"I got this for you." I continued. "See, I know nothing when it comes to what we do now. I didn't know if there was a specific kind of ring I was supposed to get you or something, but I decided to go with my heart instead. What I'm trying to say is…I want this to be a symbol of my promise to you here and now. This is me telling you that I'm ready for whenever you want to move to the next step. And, when you are, then we can decide what that next step is together. How about it? Is that okay with you?"

Her lips shook as tears began rushing out through the corner of her eyes. I decided to take the initiative and place it around her neck, spending some time to observe it underneath the light of the moon.

"It looks good on you." I mentioned with a warm smile.

Almost immediately after, she thrust her chest towards me and wrapped her hooves tightly around my neck. "Of course, it's okay with me." She finally said. "I…I want to spend the rest of my life with you too. In fact, one of my dreams in life is to…well…you know…have a happy family with you. I've even dreamt about the day I'd get to be your bride."

"…then…do you want to start taking the next step?" I asked.

Instead of giving me some kind of sign like nodding or saying yes, she surprised me when she giggled afterwards.

"You are right about one thing." She reminded as she gazed up at me with a tear-ridden smile. "I think we might still have some time to spare before that happens. We've been together for a long while, but maybe we can still give it a few years? Of course, that doesn't mean I refuse your promise."

"Oh, yeah! Of course. I understand. As I said, I don't really know about anything when it comes to something like this. All I want is whatever you want and only when you're completely comfortable and confident with the decision."

Her smile stretched as she closed her eyes and nodded as a few more tears fell along her cheeks.

"So, um…does this mean…we're like…engaged?" I couldn't help but stupidly ask.

She giggled once more and looked at me with a somewhat mischievous smile. "I don't know. Are we engaged?"

The look on her face shook my nerves and made me feel just a tad uneasy. Before I could give her some kind of answer, I suddenly heard a yell out of nowhere not too far from us.

"SAY YES!"

Fluttershy and I quickly looked around, heavily surprised by the sudden outburst. It was a little hard to see, but not too far off, we noticed quite an odd group of darkened shapes huddled around various bushes and trees. After staring out towards the particular sight for a few seconds, one of those separated and came towards us and revealed itself.

"Sorry… Didn't meant to interrupt…" It was Twilight, and she had been giggling to herself sheepishly. "Pinkie just had to scream out like that."

The rest of the group reconvened with Twilight in front of us.

"Sorry! Got a little excited there." Pinkie apologized as she stuck out her tongue in a silly manner.

"We heard certain rumors and we just had to come and investigate!" Rarity admitted.

"I swear I didn't tell anypony!" Twilight leaned over to my ear and whispered.

Discord…

"Don't get the wrong idea, now." Applejack informed. "We actually were wantin' to throw a party and celebrate."

"Yeah. We just saved Equestria for the millionth time. There's also the old Pillars, and you got your new wings!" Rainbow listed out.

"Looks like something else just happened tonight too…" Starlight teased.

"Oh, come on. You don't need to start making a big deal about it…" I muttered in embarrassment. After all, this was supposed to be solely a private matter between the two of us.

"I'm going to have a new sister!" Athena popped out of nowhere and flung her hooves around me. "Oh em gee, I'm so happy."

"This is going to be one of the most bestest and funnest parties ever!" Pinkie nearly screamed. "Can't forget about the music, right?!"

"Aw, yeah!" Another voice chimed in.

From there, three more ponies joined the group.

"I've got just the right beats for the occasion." Vinyl excitedly shared.

Near her, Octavia noticed me and approached me with a sly smirk. "I did tell you that I'd be seeing you tonight, didn't I?"

"Can't forget about muffins!" Derpy held one up as if it had been some kind of holy relic.

Spirals of various colored lights suddenly spun and sprayed over the night sky above us, leaving behind a shimmering and dazzling glow.

"Or the Great and Powerful Trixie!"

"So cool." A deadpan voiced joined.

"W-What's going on here?!" I could feel myself begin to freak out from the sudden influx of different mares.

"I hope we're not late." Another new batch of ponies arrived unexpectedly, but this time, it was the princesses.

"We got a little worried when we saw the fireworks." Standing beside Luna and Celestia, Cadence chuckled heartily.

"How many ponies did you invite?!" I felt claustrophobic all of a sudden.

"The more the merrier, am I right?" Pinkie chortled brightly.

"That's fine and all, but could we maybe move this someplace else?" Fluttershy delicately asked. "Some of the animals here may be already sleeping."

"Totes! But, there's just something I want to make clear to Alex first." Athena shared before turning to me. "I'm glad that you're looking pretty dandy now. As cheesy as it sounds, when you're happy, I'm happy. Before we get to partying, I just want to say that I'm so glad to be here with you now. You've done so much for not only me but for all of us. And, that's why I want to tell you this: I honestly believe that your wings and horn will come back to you, even if you have to earn them again. After all, what made them possible in the first place was that light we share, am I right? And as you can see, that light still exists. I'm literally living proof of it, hehe! So, keep your head held up high, you hear me?! I think you have so much more great things ahead of you!"

"Wow…" Twilight commented as if she was speechless after observing Athena's personal statement. "I didn't know we could start with speeches already."

"I think you should save yours for the wedding…" Starlight patted Twilight on the back, looking as if she was expecting an extremely lengthy one from her.

As overwhelmed as I felt by the many friends around me, I also felt extremely warm and welcomed at the same time. I believed I had already starting realizing this before when the others had given me the gift of new wings, but it was even more apparent now.

I was surrounded by so much love, it was practically unreal.

Even if I didn't ever get my wings or horn back, these girls that stood in front of me were definitely worth the sacrifice.

"Everyone, thank you…" I expressed, feeling myself start to get a little too emotional. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for each and every one of you, so really…thank you."

From the bottom of my heart.

Author's Note

For those of you that have stuck around until this point, I can't thank you enough. Unfortunately, I think this is where I call it quits. As you may have heard from me before, it's hard to say that this last chapter is the end. I sometimes bring up the possibility of doing one last run once the show ends for good, but at this moment, I can't see that happening anytime soon. As of right now, I think I'll go ahead and mark this story as complete. In the event that I, for some reason, do come back, I can always mark it back until it actually comes to an end. But, like I said, the honest truth is that I might have no reason to return anyway.

It's been an...interesting run, and I like to say that I've learned a lot from the seven years working with this story. Regardless whether this story really is "bad" or "good", I can say it was definitely a learning experience for me.

I'm glad I was able to get this story to a suitable stopping point instead of just dropping it like many other authors have done with their works. Once again, thank you to those that have stuck around and supported this story.

The Night That Never Was: Part One

Episode 90 – The Night That Never Was: Part One

I stared out to the full view of my mother's moon. I had no balcony, so in order to simulate being on one, I chose to just quietly sit on top of my roof. I was dead silent as a matter of a fact. It would have been uncomfortably soundless had it not been for the slow breeze rummaging across the area.

I heard a small flap of wings near me.

Owlowiscious decided to join me on the rooftop, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't for the lifeless mediation I was doing.

"Who." He shared, curiously looking at me.

"Oh, right…" I returned to him. "I forgot you guys were nocturnal."

"Who." He repeated, but probably in a different manner.

"It's been hectic for all of us lately…" I said. "I feel so…off now…" I sighed and thought about the events recently. "I wonder…what's with Fluttershy and me now… I mean…how did she react to my reaction after Discord betrayed us? Is she mad at me for not forgiving him?"

"Who?" He questioned.

"Discord." I answered, and then realized that he may have not been necessarily asking who, but I resumed talking. "But I mean, it's understandable, right? Like…how could I not get mad at him for doing that? Why should I have to forgive him for being a little…" I sighed and paused before I could let myself rant off like that. "…they understand…right…?" I looked out to the sky. "…they all know how personal I take 'betrayal' kind of stuff…especially in a using kind of manner… Argh…" I placed my hooves in frustration on my head. "Even after what happened…I still feel…isolated…broken…nothing feels right… I almost feel like…not wanting to exist anymore…"

"Who." He reiterated.

After hearing that last "who", I stared at him and questioned myself whether there was a point in telling him all this. "Do you even understand what I'm saying…?"

He only returned a blank stare.

I sighed and looked back, ending the conversation.

He turned his head easily away and gave another "Who". Then, he flew off.

"Huh?" I turned. "Where are you going?" However, the reason for his departure most likely revealed itself when I saw her carefully landing near me. Seeing her specifically, I already kind of knew the reason why she showed up. "Let me guess…you came here to check up on me because I haven't slept at all, right?"

"Of course." Princess Luna returned, taking a seat next to me. "Have all the events that recently occurred been taking a toll on you?"

"Probably…" I stared out to the sky. "I don't feel the same anymore…"

"Why is this so?" She questioned. "You and your friends have conquered villainous attempts before, and after those victories, I believe you've only grown from those experiences. Why is it now that you feel…the opposite?"

I didn't know how to answer that right away. "I really don't know…" I slipped out. "I guess I just…feel like something's missing. I think…I still have a lot of loose ends to tie up."

"What do you mean?" Luna inquired.

"Like…everything right now feels just…unanswered. And it's bugging me so much. I feel like I can't rest until I get the answers I need."

"Pray tell…" Luna reacted in a slightly surprised manner. "What unanswered questions are burning you up inside so much?" She obviously didn't know those specific things I went through…and I didn't really want to tell her for her sake.

"I don't know…" I dropped my head in somewhat defeat.

Luna observed me for a moment in silence before she felt the need to bring something up unexpectedly. "Alex…do you remember…him?"

"Who?" I questioned, raising my head.

"Night Terror." The mentioned of his name sent a chill inside me.

"I do…" I mentioned, looking away in discomfort. "To be honest…I haven't even thought about him ever since the last time he was mentioned. I guess…I was just so held up with other stuff. Why do you bring him up?" She looked away with a troubled face, as if there was something she was too afraid of saying. "What? Do you feel he's finally coming back or something?" I asked.

"N-no…" She returned. "It is…something else…"

I couldn't read her mind, so I had no clue with what she was trying to spit out. I didn't try to force it out of her. As I thought about it in the silence, I realized something else that was left unanswered. "That raises another question…" I brought up, gaining her attention. "Remember when…he had control of that 'darkness' inside of me? Well, I haven't felt anything like it at all. It almost feels like it just disappeared. Or is it because he still hasn't 'returned' yet?"

"When he does…" Luna began a little terrifyingly. "I believe…we…we must…"

There was a sudden knocking on my front door. Since we were just outside on the rooftop, we were able to hear it clearly. There was a weak and practically fragile voice that sounded afterwards. "Alex…? Twilight…?" The voice sounded almost disorientated. "…are you in there…?"

I stood up and flew down to see what the matter was. I spotted Rarity standing at my front door without balance. Luna soon joined me afterward. "Rarity?" I questioned. "What's going on? What are you doing up so late?"

She began to turn, hearing my voice. As she did, she greatly stumbled as if she could barely stay standing straight. "Darling…I…" She continued to be a little wobbly. "…I don't feel so good…"

"What?" I questioned in alarm and then began to help her inside the house. By what I could feel from her body, it really raised fear inside me. It was almost like her body wanted to give out. I helped her to my couch and laid her there. She really didn't look so good, and I could tell it was serious because it definitely wasn't one of her dramatic moments. "Rarity, what's wrong?" I asked worriedly.

"I've…" She seemed to be able to hardly speak. "I've been having the most terrible dreams…" She mentioned. "Nightmares if you will." She groaned a little, feeling feverish. "As I woke from one, I couldn't sleep. I felt absolutely dreadful. I've never fell so ill before in my life."

I placed a hoof on her as she breathed uncomfortably and l looked towards Luna, hoping she would have something to help with this. Luna stepped in and placed a hoof on her. She closed her eyes and bowed her head, letting her magic take in what she had to. Not too long after, she quickly opened and widened her eyes in both shock and surprise.

"What is it?" I immediately inquired.

"Rarity… I…I can feel terrifying dark magic in her…" Luna mentioned terribly. "It…it must be related with what happened with 'Inspiration Manifestation'. She shook her head in disbelief. "How can it be so powerful? I could understand some discomfort…but I never imagined it exceeding beyond this point!"

"Can you help her?" I responded, sparing no unnecessary words.

She turned to me and nodded. "I should be able to do something…but this is much more difficult than removing dark magic from lifeless objects. It is also risky when dealing with a life of another." Luna looked out and boldly spread her wings. "I must get my sister. Under this chancy circumstance, I cannot risk harming your friend here without Celestia's help. We must hurry before this dark magic grows too powerful to handle."

"Please, go!" I requested of her without sounding too desperate that I could have been. She turned and hurried out my door. I looked at Rarity and noticed her just open her eyes slightly to look back at me. I could tell in her sight and in my heart that she was afraid. It was the kind of fear of just losing everything you had at any second. "Don't worry, Rarity." I grabbed her hoof and held on, trying to assure her when I was too afraid myself. "Princess Luna and Celestia will know what to do. Just give them a little time."

"Don't leave." Rarity requested. "Stay by." A quick unfamiliar but strangely dear image flashed in my mind, leaving only the colors of a certain somepony memorable. "My heart is beating so fast. It's…terrifying…"

The way she looked was also starting to hurtfully remind me of Spirit. Like how I had held her unconscious body in my hooves. I placed a hoof over hers and mine. "Please. Don't be scared. You're going to be fine. You've just gotta hang on a little while."

"Yeah… You wouldn't want to miss out for your dreams to finally come true, huh?" I heard a familiar but unwelcoming voice nearby.

I looked towards where my doorway was to see an unidentifiable stallion standing.

"Huh?" I questioned before I could actually realize who this was. "You! You're…!" Despite the light from outside, the entire room was covered in darkness.

The first thing that came to mind was protecting Rarity. Since I was right by her on the couch, I quickly turned to try to form a magical shield. However, just before I could gather the magic from my horn, a presence swept by me. Then, there was an extremely sharp scream from Rarity.

"Rarity!" I called, but felt extremely helpless since I couldn't see anything at all.

"Too slow!" The stallion returned in a provoking manner.

Just as the area cleared up of its darkness, it grew immensely silent. Rarity was nowhere in sight, leading me to run towards the door and slam it open. I checked everywhere in sight, but I couldn't find a trace of Rarity anywhere! "Rarity!" I cried out.

"What's going on?!" I heard in a galloping voice towards me. "What happened?" An alarmed Twilight appeared by my side, along with Spike.

"Rarity's gone!" I exclaimed in distressed shock. "Someone took her!"

"Rarity…?" Twilight repeated in a confused tone, seeing as she had been asleep the entire time.

"What?!" Another voice landed by us. "What are you talking about?!" Luna appeared, along with Princess Celestia, who looked like she had just woken up and was now alarmed by the sudden news.

"After you left!" I began explaining. "Somepony just…just came in and took her! This pony had dark magic too or something!"

"Did you see where they went?!" Luna questioned with a raised hoof.

I shook my head, feeling deep anxiety after what I had just witnessed. "The whole room filled with darkness and I couldn't see anything until they had already left. I don't know where they went!"

"Guys!" We heard a new voice and a group of hooves gallop towards us. Rainbow was seen dropping near us as the others joined. "Something strange is going on!"

"We've all been havin' weird dreams!" Applejack added. "And it ain't no coincidence if it's happened to all of us at the same time!"

"None of us can go back to sleep!" Fluttershy concluded.

"You don't think…" Luna slipped, glancing towards Celestia and me.

"First, we've got to get Rarity back!" I announced orderly. "Whether or not it has anything to do with the dreams and sleep problems, we can't leave Rarity all on her own!"

"What happened to Rarity?" Rainbow Dash questioned in high concern.

"Apparently, she was kidnapped by someone." Twilight answered, raising alarm in the others.

"What?!" They all screamed out together.

"Yeah!" I added a bit angrily. "Which is why we have to do something now."

"Is there something you can do to find her, sister?" Celestia asked Luna.

Luna looked down in thought. "I might be able to. If I am able to find the source of this dark power, the stallion that took Rarity, with what I know to control and watch over the night, I might just be able to find his trail before it disappears." She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. There, she began using the magic of her horn and continued concentrating while we waited to see on what she would come up with. "I see it." She mentioned while keeping her eyes closed in focus. "There's some kind of…shadowy mist."

"Where does it lead to?" I quickly asked.

Luna strained her face as she tried to keep ahold of this trail as she began walking. We all anxiously stayed by her side until she received more news about Rarity's whereabouts.

Eventually, we reached the outskirts of Ponyville, where the edge of the Everfree Forest was visible. Luna finally released the hold she had on the trail and opened her eyes, holding a hoof to her head as it must have caused her some trouble. "This is where the trail is stronger."

"Are you saying he went into the Everfree Forest?" I turned and asked.

"Most likely." She answered.

"Well, let's go!" Rainbow exclaimed. "We need to go find Rarity and bring her back!"

"Just one minute." My mother halted. "There…is in need of planning." She included. This interested us, especially even her sister. It seemed that Princess Celestia knew the most back when Tirek was trying to reign. Now, it appeared that Luna was now in command for this new issue.

"What is the matter?" Celestia asked as Luna returned a worried look.

"You all speak of…odd dreams." Luna turned to the Everfree Forest. "Before Rarity was taken, she mentioned about having nightmares that didn't allow her to sleep. Dark magic had been making her ill. The issue at hoof seems much larger than your missing friend. It is…frightening me."

"What are you trying to say?" Twilight asked in concern.

Luna remained silent for a moment. "I…am not completely sure what to make of this…but I must investigate these occurrences you all have been speaking about. This includes me taking a visit to the dreamscape, and I must check on all the other ponies to see what the situation is with them. It's…not going to take a short moment."

"What about Rarity?" Applejack brought up. "You're the only one who seems to be able to know where she might be. How are we going to find her now?"

"I will try to draw a visible path for all of you to follow." Luna answered. "As much as I would want to accompany you all to this matter, I'm afraid you need to find Rarity without Celestia or me. We must take safety measures starting here in Ponyville for everypony. If you come across your friend, please bring her back here as soon as possible. We will see what to do from there."

"I find my sister right." Celestia added. "If all of you were able to handle Tirek, I'm just as sure you can handle this issue together."

Luna focused her magic once again and eventually formed, not an obvious but visible, trail to follow. "You must hurry. Not only will the dark magic fade, but so shall mine. You do not have much time before the trail I leave slowly vanishes." She stepped forward a little and squinted her eyes in a certain direction towards the Everfree Forest. "If I had to make an assumption, I would say that Rarity might have been taken to our old castle…" She widened her eyes and turned to us. "It's the only logical thing I can think of, considering it relates to where the Inspiration Manifestation book was originally held."

"Okay." Twilight nodded and understood. "We don't have much time. Let's go!" She directed.

"Wait, Twilight!" Spike called out, jogging towards her. "I'll come help!"

"Spike…!" Twilight reacted, seeming to be surprised by Spike's offer. "Listen…" She turned and placed her hooves on him. "I know you want to help…but I think you should stay out of this one."

"What?" Spike responded in slight shock. "Why? I want to help find Rarity too!"

"I know, I know." Twilight dearly understood. "But…" Twilight sighed. "I feel…like you should stay here… Remember the last time you were exposed to dark magic?"

Spike looked back in defeat, remembering the bad vision he went through at the Crystal Empire. "…yeah…"

"I'm sure the Princesses could use your help." Twilight offered Spike a caring smile. "You should stay with them. We'll go get Rarity and come back. Then you can help her!"

Spike sighed. "Okay, Twilight…"

"We shouldn't waste any time." Luna shared mostly towards her sister.

"Come on, Spike." Celestia held out a welcoming hoof.

Spike glanced over to us for a moment and then reluctantly decided to follow Princess Celestia.

"We should get going." Twilight suggested, standing by my side.

As I looked over to the entrance of the Everfree Forest, I spotted a familiar figure. The color of her coat and mane was what instantly got my attention. It looked like…Spirit! Without sparing a word, I immediately ran towards this sight, hearing Twilight question my action behind me.

By the time I reached where Spirit was supposed to be, she was gone. At that time, I figured it must have been just another stray figure from my mind. Realizing this disappointment, I sighed and looked out towards the Everfree Forest.

"What?" Twilight inquired. "Did you see something?"

"No." I admitted. "I guess I didn't." I began placing a hoof to my head, feeling a strange familiarity with my current posture and position.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked next.

"I don't know…" I returned. "This all…feels really familiar to me."

"We have been through the Everfree Forest a bunch of times before." Applejack recalled.

"It's not just that…" I answered with a shaking head. "What we're specifically doing right now. It feels like… deja vu."

"Not to throw the subject off-topic to what you're experiencing…but we better focus on finding Rarity for right now." Twilight recommended honestly.

"Yeah… Sorry…" I apologized and analyzed the trail Luna left for us. "Luna said Rarity was in the Castle of Two Sisters." I recapped.

"We have no time to lose! Come on!" Rainbow Dash lifted up in flight and began dashing through.

"Rainbow, wait!" Twilight called, but it seemed she didn't hear her or pay attention. She sighed a little in frustration before she began our gallop to catch up with Rainbow Dash.

On our way to the Castle of the Two Sisters, we still weren't able to find Rainbow Dash in our sight.

"Seriously?" Twilight questioned a little in annoyance. "Did she think she could find Rarity all by herself?"

"That was kind of dumb, flyin' off like that." Applejack commented.

"She better be close or that's another pony we have to worry over." I mentioned with furrowed eyebrows.

"Ahhhhhh!" We heard a frightful exclaim.

"What was that?!" Fluttershy asked in fear.

"That sounded like Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie Pie pointed out.

Soon enough, Rainbow came flying straight back towards us, allowing us to not have to go look for her. "Guys, guys!" Rainbow stated quickly, as if she had just seen a ghost. She rubbed her hooves together in panic. "I-I-I saw something! A-And it wasn't any kind of pony or animal from the Everfree Forest!"

"What are you talkin' about?" Applejack questioned with a confused face and raised eyebrow.

"I-I-I don't know!" Rainbow tried to explain. "It was this…creepy thing! I've never seen anything like it! There were lots of them! It looked all weird!"

"You're right, Rainbow!" Pinkie Pie reacted cheerfully, happily pointing out to something nearby. "They do look funny!"

I turned my head to see what Pinkie was talking about, and I witnessed something I knew I had seen before but didn't recognize. She laughing at some kind of dark but misty creature. It actually looked to have originated from the trail of darkness we were unable to see earlier.

"What in blue blazes is that?!" Applejack cried out in surprise, noticing the sight of it.

"Whatever it is…!" Twilight looked around, noticing more than just the one of these beings beginning to surround us. "I'm pretty sure they're not friendly!" Twilight lit up her horn, ready to fire her magic.

Unsure it would be efficient, I followed in her manner. Fluttershy tried to back away as much as she could from the terrifying figures. I took her side to keep them away from her, allowing Twilight to get another. When they started attacking, Applejack joined in by bucking a few, along with Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie only seemed to try bouncing and hopping onto them.

However, no matter what we did, it really seemed to do no harm to them at all. By either firing a beam of our magic, or fighting with physical force, they really were just darkness. It was more like we poked a hole in a cloud, and it just patched up the hole with its other self in an instant. It was as if we couldn't even touch them. And we didn't want to see if we were vulnerable.

"Nothing's working!" Rainbow Dash shared in an absolute tensed manner as she continuously looked around for any hostile attacks.

"We've gotta run!" I announced. "Get going!"

None of them thought twice about staying behind and fighting. We all quickly just ignored every one of those creatures we saw and headed straight towards the Castle of the Two Sisters.

Rarity

"Let me go you cretin!" I demanded, attempting to wiggle free from the binds that left me helpless on what appeared to be one of the princesses' old thrones. The next thing my eyes were laid on was some kind of physical object that was hurling towards me. I shrieked shortly and managed to move my head to avoid it. It lightly slammed against the back of the throne and fell towards the floor. "R-Really?" I tried to act brave. "Is that the best you've got?! I've endured worse things than some silly child's toy!"

The pony that so horribly kidnapped me revealed himself from the dark. He began to walk slowly towards me, having my body tense up in fear. However, I tried to the best of my abilities to not show it. Nonetheless, I could feel myself actually sweating in anxiety.

"You really are annoying, aren't you?" He questioned once he stopped not too far in front of me.

"I demand you release me at once!" I ordered.

"Sorry, can't do that." He responded, reaching for his toy and leaving my nerves winded up along with it. "But don't worry." He seemed to focus his sight on his object, but I couldn't tell as his face was hidden with his apparent helmet. "You'll be free soon enough."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, still remaining furious with a dash of fear.

"You'll know soon enough." He played with the item now, answering in a careless manner.

"If you're not going to release me, the very least you could do is answer me clearly!"

"You've wanted to be a princess your whole life, haven't you?" He replied.

"…um…" I was shocked to hear this. How did he…know what I dreamed of…?

"What?" He asked, ceasing to fumble with his object. "Opal got your tongue?"

My eyes widened. It seemed this stallion knew me much more than he should have. "Who are you…?!" I anxiously demanded.

"Someone that can actually make you useful for once." He answered vaguely, but I was too distracted by his personal verbal assault.

"I-I-I am plenty useful!" I returned.

"Don't make me laugh." He responded casually.

"What right do you have to say that I am not?!" I shouted.

"Remember your little 'crush' on a certain somepony?" He mentioned, stunning me again. "It's like you're so helpless when it comes to that, and he doesn't even like you back."

"T-that's not t-true!" I returned, feeling awfully ill once again. "That's wrong in so many ways! I am not 'helpless' and he loves me as a friend!"

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that." He answered briefly. "Think about it. Why didn't he end up being with you instead of that other timid one?"

"…what?" I felt immensely weak.

"Well, you both are artistic. You say you're beautiful. I don't know, I'm just giving some examples. Surely, you know more the reasons why you two should have been together instead?"

"W-well…I-It's…just…" I honestly couldn't answer that. It's not that I believed we should have been a couple instead. It was that I couldn't think why it wasn't us. Why we were honestly not given a chance before he fell in love with Fluttershy.

"It's just that he plain doesn't like you?" He brought up. "That he only stands being near you because he feels bad for you?"

"N-no." I felt tears begin to form. I was telling myself not to believe it, but his words somehow were getting under my coat. "It's not like that…"

"Give it up." He sternly stated. "Now's the time to stop acting like anything will change and learn to live with being rejected. Soon enough, you'll lose the rest of your friends, along with every little thing you hold dear."

Alex

As soon as we galloped past the castle doors, we immediately worked together to close them shut. I'm sure I wasn't the only one hoping that they wouldn't go through or past the doors somehow. After we took a moment to pant and catch our breath, it seemed we were fortunate to not be chased anymore.

"Okay! Something weird is definitely goin' on!" Applejack stomped her hoof in confirmation.

"Ya think?!" Rainbow Dash returned.

I gasped lightly, having a possible realization. "What if...that stallion took Rarity to lure us here? It has to be related with the reason why those things are out there."

"As dull as ever." We heard from the top of the castle stairs. "That's not why I went through the trouble of taking her."

"You…!" I growled and clenched my teeth at the sight of him, feeling deep resentment.

"You were the one who took Rarity?!" Twilight surprisingly exclaimed, as if she knew this guy previously.

"Look what the cat dragged in." He made his way closer to us while still remaining a length away. "Of course, I shouldn't be surprised to see you here too."

"You know him?!" I earnestly inquired.

"I…" Twilight seemed hesitant to answer.

The stallion laughed for a few seconds. "Oh, the joy to be friends, huh?"

"Where's Rarity?!" Twilight took ahold of the reins.

"Rarity's here." He answered. "But I'm not so sure you want to see her now. After all, you probably wouldn't like the 'new' Rarity anyway."

"Release her!" Twilight demanded angrily.

"Whatever you say…princess." He complied shadily and turned towards a hallway. "You wanted to get back with your friends right? Well, go on. Get out."

Twilight and I, along with the rest of us, anxiously looked in the direction he was facing. There, out of the darkness, we saw a hoof slowly step out. Not only did this stallion's immediately compliance bother me, but at the first sight of Rarity's hoof, something was completely off. It didn't contrast with the immense amount of shade we were given in the castle. Instead…it almost remained hidden in the darkness.

We were unable to clearly see her for a moment as she gradually began to reveal herself. I, for one, couldn't tell if my mind was playing tricks on me again. Rarity appeared to be a lot taller, along with her mane being immensely longer. A part of her mane covered her right eye. And her left eye just opened to meet with us. This guy was right… It definitely wasn't the Rarity we remembered seeing last.

As she began to step out onto the light, this unidentifiable stallion only leaned by and watched. If it wasn't for his covered face, I'd be certain he was enjoying the scene. As she was now fully into the moonlight, we all absolutely stunned to see what was supposed to be Rarity.

"R-Rarity?!" Twilight covered her mouth with her hoof, as if she had just seen Rarity after a terrible accident. "Wha…What happened to you?!" She cried out in emotional agony, observing her nightmarish appearance.

"What happened to me?" She repeated, the tone of her voice losing its eloquence and instead replaced with dark mature intention. "I'm finally free." She continued. "I'm free to earn what I deserved for so long. To be a princess – no – a queen in Equestria. No longer will I go through these feelings of pain and suffering." She mentioned with absolute disgust. "Everything I ever wanted shall be mine."

"What are you talkin' about?!" Applejack questioned in horror. "We're your friends! Why are you talkin' like if that's never what you wanted?!"

"Friends?" She reiterated with a raised and skeptical eyebrow. "Such kind of ponies only slow you down. They only want you to do what they believe is 'good'.

"Rarity!" Twilight exclaimed her name. "I don't know what he did to you, but I know you're still in there! Please! Fight whatever's controlling you!"

"Rarity is gone!" She picked up her hooves and slammed them on the ground, causing an absolute terrifying echo.

"Yeah." The other stallion joined in for the brief moment. "You can think of her as…" He paused to tap a hoof on his chin. "What's-her-face? Nightmare something… Whatever."

"No…!" Twilight refused to believe. "She's not the same!"

"Call me whatever you wish, it does not matter as long as you acknowledge my higher authority. I am the one who will be the queen of all Equestria." Rarity stated selfishly.

"Rarity, stop it!" I finally exclaimed, only having the urge to have her back.

"These ponies are starting to annoy me." Rarity turned to her aid. "Would you kindly please dispose of them from my sight?"

"Sure." He ceased his leaning and faced us. We immediately prepared ourselves for any kind of assault. "After all…you have a pretty important job to do…"

Just like during her capture, the entire area grew completely dark, and aggressive panic ensued.

Luna

I returned to Celestia, feeling unsure of the results.

"What did you find, Luna?" She asked me.

"I didn't seem to find anything abnormal with the others dreams here in Ponyville." I reported. "It appears…only the girls mentioned having odd dreams."

"What about Alex?" She inquired.

"He hasn't slept. And I don't believe it was because he had nightmares. He has…much on his mind." I stated.

"And it appears he has much more with his friend missing…" My sister mentioned.

"Perhaps, I should return to them, sister." I suggested. "I still don't like the idea of leaving them alone like that…especially with what dark power that has been mentioned recently."

"That might be a good idea." She returned.

"Princess!" One of the Royal Guards landed by us, but mostly faced Celestia in order to report to her. He came from the team assigned to stand guard by the Everfree Forest in order to watch and look out for any more suspicious activity, especially for this stallion that took Rarity. "We've recently witness some strange sightings of unidentifiable objects."

"What are you talking about?" Celestia inquired, looking a bit surprised by this news. "'Unidentifiable Objects'? Were they not ponies or creatures from the Everfree Forest?"

"I don't believe we've ever seen anything like them. It definitely wasn't any wild animal, nor was it a pony. It moved…strangely." He stated.

"Can you clearly describe what it looked like?" I requested.

"I didn't get a good enough look." He shook his head with his answer. "We remained by our post and made sure nothing made its way past us."

I furrowed my eyebrows and prepared to take charge in this investigation. "I'll go and see to this—"

"There's too many of them! Move back!" We heard various voices calling for a retreat.

As we witnessed various guards running back, trying to keep whatever was chasing them away, I was able to observe these "unidentifiable objects" for myself. However, realizing what they actually were, I widened my eyes in horror. "These aren't inhabitants of the Everfree Forest!" I pointed out. "They're…nightmares from the dreamscape!"

"We must keep them away from Ponyville, Luna!" Celestia urgently requested, readying her horn. "Spike, keep away from—" Celestia turned to face Spike, only to find that he wasn't where she remembered him being. "Spike?! Where has he—?"

"Let's hope he's somewhere safe!" I wished, having to drive my attention to these nightmares. "For now, we must fend these travesties off!"

Alex

"Hey!"

"Ahhhh!"

"Let go of me! I'll knock you out with one kick!"

I felt myself being thrown into this dark and small room. We had been completely helpless as we previously had no idea what happened. We had all been blinded by darkness and still were at the moment. Twilight and I tried creating some light to allow us to see during that sudden moment, but the darkness seemed too powerful. Instead, the light from our horns had actually only dimmed.

Once multiple thuds from bodies were heard, there was a loud sound of an entire wall scraping in movement. Finally, there was silence…until I heard something from Twilight.

"'With one kick', Rainbow Dash…?"

"What? I was trying to be like Daring Do! You know, intimidate him?" Rainbow reasoned.

"I don't think he was the type to be intimidated, Rainbow." Applejack returned.

"Did he invite us for a sleepover?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"Can we please get some light in h-here…?" I heard Fluttershy ask with terrible shakes. A purple aura slowly sparked up some light until there was enough to allow the room to be seen fully, but it was not completely lit. "…thank you…" Fluttershy continued with relief but still seemed to shake a bit.

I made my way towards her and wrapped a hoof around her, not wanting her to be alone.

"Where are we?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking around at what little space we had.

"This room looks familiar…" Fluttershy mentioned as she began to slowly calm down in my hooves.

I took a look for myself and realized that this was especially true to me. "It is!" I almost shouted in realization. Remembering my…experience with Spirit…I quickly turned to the hole that was across me and prepared to trot towards it. "Maybe we can get out!" I made my way swiftly and stuck my hoof through it. I began attempting to look for the lever that was supposed to get us out, but I seemed to take longer than I should have in turning the wall.

"What? You know the way out?" Twilight questioned.

"The lever to move this wall is supposed to be…somewhere around here!" I began to feel myself furiously and even desperately try to look for it. "Arghh!" I sighed in frustration.

"What?!" Twilight inquired worriedly.

"I can't find it!" I shouted out in anger. "I don't know if he broke it off or something!"

I finally gave up and forcefully pulled back my hoof.

"That's okay." Twilight placed a hoof on me in an attempt to calm me. "Maybe I can teleport us out. We can't be too far from the castle entrance!" She closed her eyes and began focusing her magic. After waiting to see where it would literally take us, she instead flinched her head and placed a hoof on it. "Ow!" She cried out. "Something's like…blocking me…!" She rubbed her head.

I sighed, feeling on the brink of absolute lost. "…probably the dark magic…" I took a leave to the side of the wall and only sat there in silence.

"So…?" Rainbow Dash asked, hoping for an answer as she was starting to look worried herself. "…what now?"

Nopony answered.

Spike

After a couple of songs to get me through the creepiness of the Everfree Forest, I think I turned out okay. I know Twilight didn't want me to, but I just had to go after them, especially with Rarity on the line.

I wasn't hoping to find all of them with Rarity already as soon as I entered the castle, but I didn't. It was only the spookiness of the barely lit place inside that was there to see me. At least it wasn't as creepy as going through the Everfree Forest by myself. But it was still pretty high up in the charts.

Either way, I had to find them and see if I could help in any way. As I began exploring at the stairs of the castle, I began hearing some faint voices. That was my only clue on where the others were, so I began following that.

It seemed to lead me higher up in the castle, but as the voices got louder and clearer, I realized it wasn't the ponies I was looking for. Instead, they sounded like ponies I had never even met.

"I must thank you once again for the strength you have given me. Perhaps I could make do with you to rule by my side…you know…to replace the other one I couldn't have." What sounded like a mare mentioned.

There was a stallion's laugh. "You really haven't changed."

I arrived at what looked like to be the balcony of the castle and made sure to hide myself where none of them could hopefully see me.

"Mmm." This extremely tall mare, who really looked awfully familiar, stared out into the distance outside. "I suppose we can come to that matter later. For right now, what do you say we make our first strike? Equestria's 'heros' won't have any chance to stop us. Not with them being locked away."

Equestria's heros? Was she talking about them?!

"You do whatever you want." The guy she was with answered. "I'm not stopping you."

"Aww…" The mare said sadly as he seemed to turn to leave. "You're not leaving me, are you?"

"Sorry." The stallion responded. "I have business to take care of."

"But surely you're coming back to answer me on my offer?"

He paused for a moment and seemed to answer a bit deviously. "Sure."

As I noticed he was heading my direction, I quickly tried to run back down the way I came from. If it was true that my friends were 'locked up', then I had to go find them as soon as possible! Who knows what'll happen without the magic they hold together!

Alex

"Ahhh!" Rainbow Dash screamed out. "Let us out you…you dingus!" She cried out, hoping for the stallion to be near and obey. "DINGUS! DINGUS! DINGUS!" Rainbow Dash began pummeling at the wall, even though it was utterly a waste of energy.

"Please, Rainbow Dash!" Applejack requested. "Enough of the dingues…es! Dingusi? Whatever it is in the plural."

"Dinki!" Pinkie Pie added in cheerfully, despite the situation we were in.

"Then what are we gonna do, huh?" Rainbow turned to Applejack, expecting that she had a better idea.

"Apparently, overreact in a completely unhelpful way!" Applejack began to start an argument. "…like you always do."

"What?!" Rainbow Dash yelled out in surprise. "That's insane, Applejack! Completely insane! You're the one who is all 'Howdy, pardner' about everything!"

"What does that even mean?!" Applejack reacted in a slightly offended manner.

"Seriously, stop!" Twilight tried to cut in, fed up with situation tensing up even more. "Fighting is going to get us nowhere!"

"Well, I don't see what else we can do!" Rainbow continued bickering. "I've tried at least doing something, but Applejack here thinks she has a better idea!"

"I don't!" Applejack admitted in annoyance. "But I do know you're wastin' your breath. What do you expect him to do? Just open the door and let us walk free like nothin'?"

"When he realizes the pony he's dealing with, he's sure to let us out!" Rainbow tried to reason.

"Seriously?!" Applejack couldn't comprehend that statement. "Get something to your head, Rainbow Dash! You're not some kind of invincible pony who can do anything! You're just as helpless as we are!"

This then sparked Rainbow Dash's anger, leading to a heated and vicious debate between the two. I was definitely getting fed up with it just as much as Twilight was. I had to place two struggling hooves to my ears in order to try to get some time to myself, but their words were loud enough to break any sound barrier.

"Enough!" I finally yelled out after I couldn't take it anymore, catching them unexpected and causing them to turn to me. I let my hooves fall to the floor and felt absolutely disappointed in myself for being unable to think of anything. I honestly didn't see any way out. I sighed. "Seriously…? You two can only think about fighting when we've possibly lost a friend…?" I felt myself start to become an emotional wreck, having the tendency to probably even rock back and forth like a mad one.

"We haven't lost Rarity!" Rainbow Dash opposed strongly. "And we never will!"

However, I didn't feel mutual.

"I feel like…such a jerk…" I began confiding. "She's wanted my attention for so long…and this happens? I feel like all I really did was just ignore her. Just tell her that we would always be close friends even though she really wanted more inside…" I wanted to bury my head so bad. "I feel…like all I really did was just take advantage of her...like I didn't really care about how she felt inside… But what was I supposed to do? How was I supposed to handle it? I…I couldn't give her what she wanted… Now…I'm starting to feel like I'm disappointing everyone…"

"Alex, what in the world are you talking about?" Twilight asked with a clear expression of both shock and surprise. She knew absolutely nothing of what I was talking about.

"She…" I felt my whole body shake and my eyes become blank in horror, not for what I was about to say, but how I was about to prove myself. "…she…she's had feelings for me for the longest time…" My answer caused everypony to drop what they were thinking and become dead silent if they already weren't. I stared at the floor and began feeling claustrophobic by all the emotions crowding inside the room. "…and I didn't take them as serious as she probably wanted. I kept thinking…maybe it was just puppy love? That's what she said anyway… She said it was only really admiration…nothing more…but was it truly? Right before she was taken away, the look she gave me…she…she was counting on me to keep her safe…and I screwed that up…because…look where she's at now… But what am I supposed to do? I don't know how to do everything… I don't know how to handle it when someone has feelings for you when you're already taken by somepony else… Even if we do bring her back…is she not going to be the same pony? Is she going to be disappointed in me and possibly never talk to me again because I never took her seriously…? I already lost so many… I feel like… I'm falling apart… I'm letting everyone down…" I continued shakily as every past joyful memory faded away and I was only stuck with disappointment and self-consciousness.

"Get a grip!" Rainbow Dash shouted out loud. "You haven't let anypony down! We're just…in a rough patch right now."

"Alex." Twilight began, placing a hoof on me. "You can't let your thoughts distract you from what we need to do right now. Don't worry, I totally get you, but you're wrong. You haven't let anyone down. Don't feel like everything is your fault. I don't…exactly know what's going on between you and Rarity, but if that's bothering you, you just need to hold on a bit longer when we rescue her. If you need to get anything off your chest, you can tell her then. No matter what, Rarity would never stop talking to you. I know that for sure."

The noise inside me began lowering as I still felt the need to not give up. I knew sitting here moping wouldn't get us anywhere and that I would be doing Rarity a worse favor if I really didn't put my all into saving her. However, there was still a hoof-full of noise bothering me.

"But…I still don't know what to do…" I replied honestly relating to the situation we were in. "We're stuck in here…and I can't figure a way out…at all…"

"I can't either!" Twilight exclaimed truthfully. "But that's why we need to all stop fighting…" She glanced over at Rainbow Dash and Applejack, who held their heads down in guilt. "And not let our thoughts of doubt get in our way. It's not over yet. You do know how strong our friendship is, right? And it's not going to die that easily."

The noise lowered more, but it still wasn't completely gone. And I didn't think it would entirely go away unless I had absolute strong reassurance…which I didn't think talk was enough to do. However, I managed to somewhat 'get a grip' like Rainbow Dash said.

"…okay…" I stopped shaking for the most part, and my eyes weren't so lifeless anymore. "Please…" I requested. "I need all your help in getting out of here and saving Rarity."

Twilight turned away from me and faced the hole in the wall. "You said the way out was here, right? Well, maybe we shouldn't lose hope. We can probably still use it!"

"How?" Applejack questioned. "Alex said the other guy probably broke it or somethin'."

"Well…" Twilight rubbed a hoof on her chin. "We can't exactly break out of here any way else. Rainbow made sure of that. So, if we keep our hopes up, we have to believe we can possibly still get out of here using this way!" She pointed towards the hole. "If he really did break the mechanism to get us out, there has to be some way to manipulate it to still get us out. But what'll really help is if we figure out what exactly he did to have it so we couldn't so easily get out. Maybe he didn't break it at all? Maybe he just…moved something…?" Twilight sounded a little unsure at that last part…but I had to admit she was still pretty on to something.

"I guess it doesn't hurt to take another try at it…" I mentioned, standing up and walking towards the hole. I carefully placed my hoof through and felt it come out the other side. I took in a deep breath and exhaled it, closing my eyes so I could focus on the mechanism and try to imagine what it looked like at the current moment. "Come on… Just need to think this through…" I told myself. I reached out to where the lever was supposed to be. Of course, it still wasn't there. Instead of panicking and raging like I did, I kept calm and continued feeling around the area. As I explored every inch I could, I found something odd. Everywhere I touched seemed to only be the part of the wall…except for the top. That's where the frame was supposed to be…but why was it that I felt a part of the frame and not the lever to get us out?

I gasped loudly in realization.

"What?! What is it?!" Twilight asked, almost in impatience.

"I just realized something." I opened my eyes and looked back to them. "I…I think the lever is still intact!"

"Really?" Rainbow Dash returned. "Then, why isn't it there to get us out?"

I placed a hoof to my chin and thought about it. "First of all…here's the reason why I think the lever is still there…" I began to recall. "Now, it isn't exactly solid evidence, but it's all we got. Did anyone else hear anything breaking as we were or after we were thrown in?"

Everypony looked at each other and mainly shook their head.

"I don't think so." Twilight responded for them.

"Well…" I tapped my hoof. "If he had broken the lever… I'm sure we would have heard it, as it's right outside this hole. Second…this is less reliant on evidence but…I honestly don't think he's done with us. This vibe I get from this guy…it feels like he wants us to take as much hurt as we possibly could. In conclusion, despite lacking proof, I just have a feeling he wouldn't want to break the only thing that can get us out. After all, jailing us here feels more like stopping us from doing something than getting rid of us forever, right?" I asked all them.

"That's sounds reasonable…" Twilight returned for the group once again.

"Now…onto why I can feel the base of the plaque where the lever is…but not the lever itself… Let's assume that the lever was never really broken…but only somehow moved to where we couldn't use it. If I can feel the base of the plaque, then the lever has to be near. And I'm pretty sure he couldn't have switched the plaque with another because one: it would've been difficult and take too long to do, and two: we would have heard that kind of sound too. I believe all we did hear was the wall move."

"Alex." Twilight called me, as if she suddenly had an idea. "How does this 'lever' look again?"

"If I'm correct, we're in…" I paused to remember the name of the hallway. "…Hall of Hooves. The lever is actually on this plaque. It's a disembodied hoof with an unlit torch. So in summary, I can feel the plaque, but not the disembodied hoof."

"Then…" Twilight tapped her chin as well. "Is it possible that the lever itself was somehow moved?"

"Huh?" I tilted my head in question.

"Not broken off, but somehow moved meaning…it's still on the plaque. However, it's not on the same exact position it was."

"Well… The lever moves up and down for the wall…so the only way it could have really been most likely moved…" I thought about it for a moment and slowly widened my eyes in realization. "…if it was rotated." I pressed on with this new theory. "If it was rotated, then it has to be on its side, because it's definitely not in its normal position, and it's not upside down, or I would have felt the top of the hoof."

"Is there any way to see if this is true?" Twilight asked.

"Not entirely…" I shook my head. "I can't even extend my hoof out long enough to touch the lever if it's pointing sideways. Who knows how much farther it is to touch…"

"Hold on a sec!" We heard a familiar voice outside. After a few grunts, the wall suddenly spun around, finally granting us the freedom we so wished to have for the longest time.

When Twilight finally pushed herself up from that daze of a fall, she looked up and her eyes sparkled in jubilance. "Spike!" She called happily and hugged him gratefully.

"Spike…!" I repeated in surprise. "How did you…?"

"Sorry…" Spike apologized. "I couldn't handle being away from you guys. I was so worried about everypony…and I felt like I needed to follow you, even though you wanted me to stay back. I came looking for you guys and when I heard a lot of yelling, that's when I had a good sense of where you could be. As I closed in where all of you where, I began hearing stuff about the lever being moved. And that's when you said that it had to be rotated, so I looked and it was! And well…you know…I moved it and here you guys are."

Noticing the candles he had and must have lit, I felt so entirely grateful. "You're awesome, Spike!" The other girls joined by cheering him on, causing him to blush. However, there wasn't any time for celebration yet. We still had to get back Rarity. "Leave the celebration off for now." I advised. "We still have somepony to save!" I mentioned, feeling a lot more confident than I did in the room.

"He's right!" Twilight agreed. "Spike, do you know where they went?"

"I'm not sure." He answered. "I kind of overheard some ponies talking. There was one saying that she was ready to make her first strike or something."

"Her first strike?" Rainbow inquired.

"We saw those weird creatures hanging around the Everfree Forest!" Applejack recalled.

"And the Everfree Forest is right next to Ponyville!" Fluttershy added.

"Maybe she's making her first move to Ponyville!" Pinkie Pie concluded.

"It's our best bet!" Twilight acknowledged. "Come on everypony! To Ponyville!"

With a collective group of nods, we all rushed through the castle to make our exit and gallop to Ponyville.

Luna

My face was struck with grief as I laid my eyes on the clouds of darkness that arrived below the sight of my precious moon. It was bad enough that everypony had to come out and defend their homes themselves…instead of staying inside where it was safe. These…nightmares were too much to handle on our own…

"Sister, what is happening?" Celestia calmly inquired as she took notice of these dark clouds gaining size by the second.

"…" I couldn't answer as quickly as I hoped. "These nightmares…they're growing stronger… Is there some leak from the dreamscape I did not foresee?" I held a hoof to my head in horror, beginning to feel that these creatures were of my burden.

"Never mind that, Luna." She encouraged. "We must focus. These ponies protecting their very home need to be led to victory."

I wanted to be sure they'd stay safe…but something was tugging at my confidence. Soon enough, I saw a figure emerge from the darkness. It was another pony…about the height of Celestia.

"Take heed, little ponies!" She announced her first words. "Fighting is futile. I claim this piece of Equestria, and soon all of Equestria, to be mine! It will be all mine!" She released a piercing villainous laughter, highly reminding me of the one I shared when I was…still Nightmare Moon.

"What are you?!" I cried out, feeling my fears began to invade me.

"Me?" She placed a hoof on her chest as if she was shocked to hear me say that. "I am every pony's new Queen, including the mighty princesses of Equestria! Those who defy me will get a taste of this intimidating darkness!"

"Stop!" I almost pleaded. "Nightmares aren't meant to be released from the dreamscape! They're too dangerous!"

She laughed horridly once again. "Exactly! Under my power, they will give me what I want! Everypony, bow to me!"

Before I could converse any longer, she released many more nightmares from the clouds of darkness. "Nooo!" I wailed desperately. As they began their invasion, frightening memories suddenly flashed before my eyes. I had all experienced this before… I remember this very scene! All of it was horrible! So horrible!

Alex

Each one of us gasped when we arrived in Ponyville. It was definitely not the way we had left it before. From our position, we could see Rarity leading packs and packs of those creatures that had been in the Everfree Forest. Everypony in Ponyville seemed to be trying to defend themselves, defend their family, and defend their home… It was a sight that I couldn't witness for too long without doing anything in attempts to stop it all!

However, there was one thing in particular that completely shocked me the most. On the grass, my mother laid in defeat in front of Rarity. Tia attempted to keep Rarity away by standing between the two.

"Mom!" I cried out, automatically running towards the sight without bothering to make some kind of plan.

"Well, well, well…" Rarity caught sight of us joining in. "Look at who decided to crash the party. It's fine and dandy. You're all early to be succumbing to my rule."

"Rarity, stop!" I cried out, placing myself close to Luna.

"This is Rarity?!" Celestia questioned in big shock and surprise.

"Wrong." Rarity disagreed. "I am no longer Rarity. In fact, I am a better and new Rarity. I am… Nightmare Rarity!" She labeled and then turned to Luna. "This pathetic and weak pony attempted to stop me all on her own. HA! No wonder she couldn't handle being a nightmare of her own!"

"I'm sorry…" Luna released weakly. "It's all my fault…"

"What are you talking about?!" I responded. "None of this is your fault!"

"I'm supposed to be the protector of dreams…" She returned. "If I had not failed, this never would have happened…"

"I don't know how this happened." I referred to the whole situation that we resided in now. "But it doesn't fall on you! Nothing should fall on you! We're all one big family and we're supposed handle things like this together!"

"He's right, Luna." Twilight joined in. "It doesn't matter how this mess started. What matters is that we get it cleaned up!"

"Darn tootin'!" Applejack stomped her hoof assertively.

"Nopony's taking our home!" Rainbow joined.

"Or the critters!" Fluttershy stepped up, even showing Spike as an example.

"Rarity, we're coming for you!" Pinkie Pie pointed at her with furrowed eyebrows.

"Nightmare Rarity" was only taking all of this with a sign of utter disgust and rolling eyes.

Twilight revealed her charm to Luna. "Remember." She shared with a smile.

As Luna widened her eyes in realization at what Twilight was doing, I pulled mine out of the hoodie I still surprisingly never took off since I got it.

As she observed mine next, she rested her worried eyes and seemed to be seeing the spark of us all. Finding it absolutely unprogressive to lie on the grass in defeat, she took a turn to see a successful future for us all. "You all right." She mentioned as she managed to push herself up and join the rest of us. "This is our home. As long as all of us work together to keep it clean from such mess, we can be victorious!" Everypony that seemed to be following Princess Luna's hoof beats behind her cheered loudly, their spirits rejuvenated. "Together we will defeat this Nightmare energy and it will never hurt anypony ever again!" She exclaimed proudly.

The Nightmare possessing Rarity growled at the sight of all us standing together in unison. "You are all fools! Love! Trust! Friendship! Bleh! Try Power! Fear! Darkness!"

"You can't be Rarity!" Sweetie Belle surprisingly stepped up from the crowd. "She would never say such an awful thing! She loves all her friends and would never want to hurt anyone!"

Nightmare Rarity seemed to be struck with shock for a moment, as if Sweetie Belle had gotten to the true Rarity inside.

No matter, she shook it off. "Can't you see?! None of you have nothing left! While you may feel happy and spirited, it doesn't matter! I have all my darkness! And darkness is never-ending! You will all fall short anyway!"

"No!" I jumped in, tired of all of this. I just wanted Rarity back. "There's us and our friendship! We were able to use it against Tirek. We can use it against you too!"

"That's right!" Twilight added in confidently. "Because we have the most powerful magic of all! Magic that your darkness can't stand against!"

"Now, we're gonna ask nicely." Applejack shared. "Give. Her. Back." She stated in an absolute stern voice.

"Never!" Nightmare Rarity growled, scrunching up like an angry hissing cat.

"Then we'll just get her out of you!" Twilight exclaimed.

"And I shall lead!" Luna offered and charged towards Nightmare Rarity. In a second, she held the tip of her horn on Nightmare Rarity. Luna began creating this strong light on her that pierced through Nightmare Rarity's darkness. "Your darkness cannot survive in the light! Loosen your grip on generous Rarity's heart and let her speak!"

Nightmare Rarity began struggling under Luna's power, attempting to scramble away from it. However, Luna made sure to hold on tight. A voice came from under the darkness that protruded from Nightmare Rarity. "My friends! It's you all!"

"Rarity's still in there!" Twilight pointed out. "Come on! We gotta talk to her and free her!"

"Right!" The girls nodded and proceeded to do so.

"Rarity! Don't worry! We're coming for you!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Afterwards, we're going to throw a big 'Rarity is back' party!" Pinkie cheered.

"You really mean it?!" We heard her voice speak out.

"Of course, Sugarcube!" Applejack assured.

"We couldn't without you!" Fluttershy mentioned with soft glee.

"Fluttershy…" Rarity's voice suddenly saddened in its tone. "I'm sorry…"

"What?" Fluttershy questioned, surprised of this apology.

"There's something that's been bothering me…I…" Rarity tried to say.

"Rarity!" I exclaimed. "You can tell her later! Right now, you have to focus on getting out!"

Nightmare Rarity began laughing. "Keep thinking those negative thoughts! You're only driving yourself deeper in the darkness!"

"No!" Rarity cried out, her voice beginning to become distant.

"Rarity!" Twilight called in distress, afraid that we would lose connection to her.

"Please, no! Help!" Rarity wept inside. "I don't want to go back! It was so cold and lonely! I wasn't helping anypony! I was hurting them! Help!"

"Rarity!" I called as well.

From the darkness, I could see a hoof of the color of her coat come out, desperately wanting somepony to grab it and pull her out. With no hesitation, I ran towards it and grabbed ahold of it. However, I didn't seem strong enough to pull her out. Instead, I was immediately pulled in, feeling myself surrounded and dwelling in the deepest darkness imaginable.

Everything was silent. There was this kind of…eerie sound as if it was letting me know I was completely lost. I was almost panicking until a sudden light appeared in front of me. In some kind of ball, I could see Rarity trapped unconsciously inside.

"Rarity!" I called out in relief and heard the echo of my voice as I began to gallop straight towards her.

However, this terrible laughter sounded clearly. Out from the darkness in front of Rarity, Nightmare Rarity appeared. "You and your friend are now trapped inside. And there is absolutely no way you're going to get her out."

"You're wrong!" I exclaimed, making sure in my heart that I would get her out by any means necessary. "Your darkness won't last! In fact, I have light inside me that'll prove that!"

She released a loud confident laughter once again. "Oh really…? That's not what I heard." She mentioned, looking away with a smirk. "You have nothing against me. Your magic is useless, and your words are futile. Try if you must. I'm not going anywhere!"

Believing she was wrong, I kicked the darkness I seemed to be standing on and began galloping straight towards her. All the while, she only stared at me with the deadliest smirk. As soon as I began to close in, I closed my eyes and focused on the light within me.

I thought the second after, I would be right next to Rarity ready to help her. Instead, I was unexpectedly thrown back. Back to where I first started in this putrid darkness. This caused her to laugh yet again. "You're amusing!"

I growled and stood up, charging at her to try again. However, I was kicked back for a second time. Why wasn't my light working?!

"Give it up, pony!" She recommended. "You have no light! It is gone! All gone!" She cackled.

"No!" I reasoned. "It's not! It's always been inside of me! It can't just…vanish!"

"Oh…" She placed a hoof in front of her mouth and chuckled mockingly. "I'm sure somepony made sure of that."

"What?!" I angrily got up and made my way towards her. As I did, I tried using my magic, hoping in one of the shots, I would spark up the light inside. I even tried it right in front of her, but she seemed to find it annoying.

"Enough!" She struck me with her dark power. I could feel it linger and spread around me, holding me in place. "Your persistence is irritating. For it, you can have a front row seat and watch as I dive straight into your friend's heart and allow the darkness to devour it!"

"No!" I exclaimed, trying to struggle free.

Nightmare Rarity roamed around the trapped and unconscious Rarity. "Say your final words, for you shall not see her again…ever!"

I felt myself tear up in frustration again. I didn't want to lose her. I wasn't going to lose her! I couldn't! "Get…away from her!" I bellowed out.

Nightmare Rarity seemed to become surprised all of a sudden, but it wasn't because of my shout. These rays of light began protruding from my chest and striking everywhere that was dark. Her eyes widened. "What?! But…but you don't…!" The light cleared up most of the darkness, but there was still one piece that remained. "No…! No!" She began backing away, even though it wouldn't matter in the end. "I'm supposed to be the supreme ruler! ME! Darkness conquers all!" The light struck her, causing her to scream in defeat as she was disintegrated.

I didn't know what happened afterwards. The next thing I knew was that I was hearing my name being called. I opened my eyes and spotted Twilight worriedly looking my way. I quickly turned my head, scanning for Rarity. There was this patch of darkness nearby, and it was fading from existence. As it did, I noticed the sight of Rarity begin to appear.

"Rarity!" I pushed myself up and ran towards her. As the last of the darkness fled, I dropped by her. She seemed to still be unconscious, but seeing her now like this was really scary. I kept calling her name, trying to wake her up. But it was like she didn't listen. Or more like she couldn't even hear me. I tried tapping her body or lightly shaking her, but it didn't work. I felt the lingering fear fall upon me once again. The worsened state of the fear I endured when I was trapped in the Castle of The Two Sisters with the others. "Come on, Rarity. You're free now." I began pushing at her chest, trying anything to wake her up since I had no logical idea at the moment. "Wake up. Wake up!" When she still didn't listen, I clenched my teeth and felt anger rising. There's one other thing I can do…but will it really work…? In my peripheral vision, I could see Fluttershy among those watching. I hope this doesn't hurt you, Fluttershy… I turned to her with tears brimming in my eyes. "Please forgive me!" I begged, which immediately surprised her because she didn't know what I was about to do immediately after.

Opening Rarity's lips, I connected our mouths together. Searching for the biggest breath I could find, I prepared to give the most living blow to Rarity's body. However, it wasn't any kind of regular breath. The magic in my horn reacted…and it seemed to add some kind of magic to that breath as well. As soon as I finished, I felt a jolt come from Rarity's body. I pulled away and observed her, desperately hoping to see her lively self once again.

Suddenly, she made a big inhale, as if she just barely escaped leaving us forever. She struggled with composing the rhythm of her breathing, but it soon came onto a steady motion. Her eyelids twitched for a bit, but she managed to finally open them. She seemed absolutely shocked to see everypony around her in her eyes. "I…" She tried to speak, but felt like she had nothing fitting to say.

"You're okay now, Rarity!" I wanted to shout out loud, feeling so grateful at that time to see her well.

The rest of the girls gathered around Rarity and expressed their joy to her free state while she still seemed to be confused.

Princess Luna released a great sigh of relief. "It is over…" She turned towards the sky and took notice that the clouds of darkness were no longer there.

"Friends…" Rarity began to look as if she was regaining herself. "…I…I've missed you all so much!"

"We missed you too, Rarity!" Twilight returned.

As they began to express all their relieved emotions, I only stood by and watched. Yes, I was relieved as well, but I still felt…uncertainty inside of me.

Princess Luna turned around to announce to the other ponies that helped defend their home. "We are successful!" She held a firm hoof up in the air. "The darkness has fled our home because of all us! Thank you, everypony!"

Everypony then burst into a loud cheer that was probably heard from so far. As everypony celebrated in a verbal manner, I felt alone once again. I was the only one who didn't seem into it as everyone else. Despite saving Rarity, I was still in the same position as I was before she was taken.

All of us convened at Sugarcube Corner since Pinkie Pie pretty much meant her word. I believed the princesses were finishing up in Ponyville and probably making sure this "darkness" was brought to an end.

Pinkie Pie whipped up some late night snacks. I didn't really take any since I wasn't hungry or feeling the mutual as the others were.

Rarity glanced over to me and then to Fluttershy. She released a heavy sigh, as if she was about to get something off her chest. "Fluttershy…" She caught her attention. "…there's something…I think I need to tell you…"

"Is this about the whole thing with you liking Alex and stuff? Because it's not really surprising." Rainbow Dash mentioned, biting casually into a cupcake.

"What?!" Rarity began blushing immensely, completely surprised that they knew this. "How did you—?"

"Sorry…" I apologized and spoke up. "…I kind of…lost it and…told them…"

"I…" She appeared speechless and buried her head on the table. "I'm so embarrassed!"

"Don't be." Fluttershy stated, looking completely calm. Happy even. "We're all just glad you're back."

"But, Fluttershy…" Rarity began attempting to face her without feeling guilty or odd. "I…I feel horrible because of my feelings with somepony you're already with."

"Why should you feel horrible?" Fluttershy looked at Rarity, furrowing her eyebrows in concern. "You've done nothing wrong."

"But…but…"

"Rarity, you can't help the way you feel. Nopony can." Fluttershy mentioned. "You can't make yourself feel happy whenever you want to. Otherwise, ponies could easily feel brave when they're scared. You don't really control your feelings… I shouldn't be mad if you like Alex more than a friend, and I'm not." Fluttershy shared a small smile. But then it kind of disappeared for the next thing she was going to say. "But…actions are another thing…" She hinted. "You can't really control your feelings…but you should be able to control what you do with them."

"I…I understand…" Rarity returned, getting the message. "I'm sorry, everypony…"

"Forget about it." Applejack advised. "Chow down! It's time we be happy for being together!"

As Rarity began to unwind, I rubbed my head against Fluttershy's.

"Thanks for understanding…" I said softly. She accepted my move with a delicate rubbing of her own. "I love you…"

"I love you too." She mentioned at the same volume.

I decided to take a breather for a minute outside. Just to see the place we call home at peace again. Outside, Luna met with me. I assumed it was to discuss the after-events.

"How is Rarity?" She inquired.

"She seems to be doing alright." I responded and thought back. "She seems like herself again."

"That's good." Luna expressed. "I believe any darkness she held, Nightmare Rarity, is gone. She was apparently eliminated after all."

"Yeah…I guess…" I merely stated.

"Please keep an eye on her, just in case." She requested.

"Don't worry." I replied, nodding my head. "I will."

"Get some rest now, Alex." Luna suggested. "You need it."

I decided I could try sleeping later on… "Okay."

She smiled softly and kissed me on my forehead. "Good night." She flew away, possibly heading towards Canterlot. I supposed Celestia had already left, especially since she had to expend so much energy during the time she was supposed to be sleeping.

"Don't be so tired yet, 'hero'." I heard nearby, causing me to quickly turn in alarm. "This 'night' isn't over yet."

It was him again… The stallion who never uncovered his identity. "What are you talking about?" I asked, feeling there was nothing else I could really do.

"I hope you didn't really think this 'Nightmare Rarity' was the whole plan." He chuckled menacingly. "In fact, you all did exactly what we expected you to do."

"What?!" I felt my teeth clench.

He turned his head towards the moon. "Someone's waiting for you. He's been waiting a long time to see you again." He faced me again. "Wouldn't be polite to keep him waiting, would it?"

I had a troubling feeling that I knew exactly who he was talking about. "You…you can't mean…"

"Stop stuttering and face it." He responded bluntly. "You know exactly who I'm talking about."

"And what if you're just trying to trick me? What if you're just leading me into a trap?" I brought up.

"Please." He scoffed. "I think I'd try harder if I wanted to get rid of you. Besides…even if you don't believe me, I've got something that'll make you want to."

"Huh…?" I wondered greatly on what that could be.

"You wanted to know the truth behind the so many secrets from a certain mare right?" He caught me completely off-guard as soon as he mentioned that. "Well, you better prepare yourself. It's not going to be fun fighting a wimp like you if you don't have any surprises for me." He turned away as if he was prepared to leave. "Make your way to the Castle of the Two Sisters. Especially if you want to know why that mare had been keeping secrets from you all this time. Don't keep me waiting. It's going to be a fun…'family reunion'."

Afterwards, he disappeared into the shadows.

I stood there utterly dumbfounded in horror.

He knew her…

He knew Spirit…

Not only that…

He was talking about my dad…

Was this the confrontation that was bound to happen between the two of us? Is it finally going to happen? I never wanted to think about it, but I wasn't expecting it to happen like this… What do I do? Everypony already went through enough with Nightmare Rarity…is that what he meant?

Is this real? Or am I just dreaming…?

He's right…

This night isn't over yet…

I'm Right. You're Wrong.

"After that Sisterhooves Social, I'm not so sure I want to see another one…" I mentioned honestly as I gazed out the window, taking little notice of the scenery moving past us.

"It was…something alright." Spirit grinned uneasily. "I don't think I've ever seen a huge stallion dress up as a mare. It was definitely new."

"I know Big Mac was just trying to help out Applebloom and all, but I can't help but worry that I might have nightmares after that. It was just so…creepy." I stopped to think about another pony that had joined us for the watch. "I can't imagine what Twilight thought. I feel bad since I suggested that she come with us since she was bored in the first place."

"Come on." Spirit leaned in towards me. "It wasn't that bad."

"I finally get how ponies can be scared of clowns." I mentioned. "You can't sit there and tell me you wouldn't freak out to see a mare with a huge beard…and other things…"

"Alright. Alright." Spirit shook her head as if I was successful in implanting such images in her mind. "I get it. Let's talk about something else. For one thing, I'm so excited to see Coco Pommel again!"

"Speaking of Coco Pommel, I feel so guilty! She had sent me that letter a few days earlier about the Midsummer Revival." I sighed heavily. "I can't believe I forgot about it. I'm so stupid!"

"Not what I was expecting…" Spirit responded hesitantly. "…but either way, don't say that. I'm sure she understands how busy you can be. Now that I think about it…" She tapped her hoof on her chin. "Maybe that's what Rarity and Applejack went to go do? They got summoned to Manehattan remember?"

"Yeah. Either way, I just hope Coco Pommel got the play running. That and that we aren't late…" The more I saw the sun disappear, the more I worried we'd miss the play.

"Don't worry about it!" Spirit assured. "We're here already!"

I wasn't going to lie about it. As soon as we had arrived and ponies were already starting get off the train, I hopped off my seat and pushed ahead as far as I could. I figured that I may have even surpassed the levels of Spirit in the sense that I couldn't keep my hooves still. But I didn't care about that at the moment. The day had been strange starting with the Sisterhooves Social, and things only grew worse on my mood when I had realized that Coco's event was today. I wanted to be there for her as soon as possible, as well as to apologize for not being here any sooner and forgetting about the Midsummer Revival.

"Hey…!" I'd hear Spirit say next to me and grow immediately faint as I'd run past her. "Chill… Out…!"

She used her power to keep up with me instead of running after me. I suppose it made it easier on herself.

"Can't, we need to make it! It probably already started!" My eyes widened at the sight of a small group of ponies around what appeared to be a stage, and I could see that there was definitely a live play going on at the stage. "Come on! I see it!"

When I could finally hear the words coming from the actors on the stage, I slowed down into a walk and then into a complete stop, catching my breath. "We made it…barely." I sighed. "I wonder how much we missed."

"Hey, I can see Coco!" Spirit pointed out.

A small pony sat in the center of the crowd, whose mane carried her signature hairclip. She was definitely not hard to miss.

"…I'm sorry I couldn't get enough tickets for everypony in the neighborhood. I hope Mr. Pearblossom wasn't too disappointed…" We heard as we attempted to get through the crowd as unnoticeable or intruding as possible.

The ponies on stage continued speaking, but I couldn't pay much attention at the moment as I maneuvered towards Coco. She hadn't noticed me at all since her eyes and ears were completely glued to the set, so I had a nice opportunity to give her a surprise greeting.

I tapped her shoulder, having her turn out of curiosity before she noticed me waving enthusiastically at her.

"Y-You made it!" She stuffed her exclaim into a hushed whisper.

"Sorry, I couldn't make it any earlier." I apologized.

"I'm just glad you're here!"

"Hi!" Spirit added with restrained excitement.

"And Spirit's here too!" Coco noticed.

"Yeah, well, she's kind of glued to me." I joked.

"Alex! I didn't know you'd be coming, darling!" I heard Rarity, having me notice that she and Applejack had been sitting by Coco's right. "What brings you here?"

"Coco had sent me a letter about the Midsummer Revival. I feel bad for not coming any sooner." I mentioned honestly.

"It's okay, really!" She assured. "It may not have went as well as planned, but Rarity and Applejack really were able to bring it together just by themselves!"

Realizing how we had already been missing a lot of the play right in front of us, I decided to leave the conservation at a standstill until after it was over.

"As much as I want to talk, we should probably leave that until after the play." I suggested.

"Understood." Rarity nodded in agreement.

I had to admit that I couldn't understand much of what was going on, considering that I had probably missed the entire introduction to the story taking place in the play. Nevertheless, it was just as enjoyable being there and watching it with Coco. After all, I believed Coco Pommel was the one who had organized everything in the project. When it appeared that the play came to end with all of the actors bowing, every pony watching cheered.

"Thank you, fillies and gentlecolts." One of the actors acknowledged towards the audience. "Please give a warm welcome to the one who made this entire event possible – our neighbor Coco Pommel!"

In that instant, Coco was lifted on top of the crowd, carried over to the stage as an overwhelming amount of applause ensued. When she had the center stage, she glanced amongst the group of viewers now in front of her and cleared her throat.

"Thank you all so much for coming. The Midsummer Theater Revival was always something that meant so much to me, and it seems it means quite a lot to all of you as well. I really can't take all the credit, though. My dear friends Rarity and Applejack helped me ever so much."

I hadn't even noticed that Rarity and Applejack disappeared from their seated spots until I saw them join Coco onstage. Not only that, but I also felt extremely unaware and even foolish when I had just realized that Applejack's hat took a hardcore beating. It was like literally shredded, and I couldn't believe how she was still able to wear it.

"Oh, darling, please, it was just a few costumes." Rarity responded humbly.

"Aw, shucks, I just happen to be good with a hammer is all." Applejack followed in the same manner. "To be honest, we had much bigger plans to start. When those fell through, we decided to simplify. This here was the result."

"Oh, don't be so modest. Coco and I were lost." Rarity disagreed.

"You bet your boots we were!" Coco sent a wink towards Applejack, whom sent another right back.

There was now one more final united applause, which seemed to be loudest of the prior ones. Spirit and I joined right in on bringing the event to a conclusion. Afterwards, we met up with Coco as all of the others had post-affair discussions.

"That was amazing, Coco." I said as I walked towards her. "I'm really glad you've been able to do stuff for the community. I'm not sure if I'm even in any position to say this, but I'm…proud to see what you do."

"Thanks…!" Coco responded with a faint blush. "That really means a lot coming from you…"

"It was like the best thing ever!" Spirit immediately rushed in, appearing to squeeze Coco at the same level of tightness as Pinkie.

Coco had to sort of tap a hoof on Spirit, signaling her to allow her to breath. "Thank you, but what I wanted most out of everything else from this was getting the community together, and it looks like I have." She took a long glance over the many ponies that had attended her showing. If I had to guess, the number of ponies present almost looked like it could be the equivalent of all of Ponyville.

Rarity and Applejack returned to the picture after having been speaking with other ponies.

"We'll be taking our leave now." Rarity mentioned. "We have matters to discuss with family back in Ponyville. Alex, Spirit, will you be joining us?"

"Actually… I think we'll be staying overnight." I returned, taking notice of Spirit's surprised reaction. "We just got here, after all. Wouldn't seem right if we just left already. Is that okay with you, Coco?"

Looking fairly surprised as well, Coco didn't hesitate to respond. "O-Of course!"

"Well then, we bid you farewell, Coco." Rarity stated as both her and Applejack expressed their goodbyes. "We'll see you later in Ponyville." Rarity expressed to me before the two left in the direction of the train station.

"So, what do the two of you want to do?" Coco approached us with inviting yet calm eyes. "We can go have dinner, or maybe you just want to…" She looked towards the ground, tapping her hoof as she appeared to be in the process of thinking of things to do.

"I think we're actually just fine in coming over to your apartment, if that's fine with you." I answered.

"S-sure! No problem!"

Coco Pommel had laid out snacks for us to eat back at her place. I had to admit that I hadn't really had anything to eat earlier except for some occasional concession food back at the Sisterhooves Social, so it was really a nice treat. Coco had been standing out on the balcony, appearing to enjoy the fresh breeze that circulated in the room from the outside.

"Heh heh. You don't know how stressed out I was about the Midsummer Revival the last time I was here." She breathed in slowly and exhaled calmly in her brief moment of silence. "I'm just so glad it's over and everything turned out alright. I guess you could say I feel like I can finally breathe again."

"I'm glad to hear that." I genuinely felt happy for her, but I still couldn't help but shake off the lingering guilt. "I know you've said to not worry about it, but I'm still really sorry about not coming sooner. You definitely could have used the help."

She turned around and walked back inside the room to join us at the table. "It really is okay. After all, what Applejack and Rarity did all by themselves brought the entire community together just like the old days. And after today, it seems it'd be safe to expect volunteers when next time comes around."

"Well, I hope I can make it the next time."

"That'd be great!" Coco emphasized with a beaming grin.

Hearing her talk about the 'old days', I was curious to what they were like. After all, before I left Fillydelphia, Coco had only been a filly.

"So…how were the old days?" I asked a little hesitantly. "You know, after I left Filly?"

"Oh…!" It appeared that Coco had been caught off-guard by that question. She took a seat next to me on the couch before she continued speaking. "Well, I didn't stay in Filly long after you left." She stated as she pulled out what looked like an album book. "In fact, Suri left before I did. I think my parents noticed that I wasn't really engaging myself in anything, especially since I didn't have any friends. If I remember correctly, I think my parents heard about moving to Manehatten from relatives. They told them about all sorts of events I would most likely enjoy, one of them being the Midsummer Revival. When my family had the opportunity to move, they took it, and I'd be lying if I said the Midsummer Revival wasn't one of the best things that I could have been involved in. It was actually where I started to enjoy dressmaking." She showed us a few pictures back when she was still a filly. It was warming to see that she at least seemed to get along with the kids dressed on stage.

As we flipped through more pages of the book, I took notice of the picture that revealed when she received the hairclip she's worn every day since I've seen her. Recognizing the pony who must have been Charity Kindheart from the play, she must have played such an important and essential part to Coco's life. After all, these pictures seemed to tell us a story without having Coco explain them in the first place.

I thought about what it possibly would have been like had Coco and I became friends back in the Filly days, but I almost immediately tried to shake those thoughts away since I didn't really want to dwell in the past, where the majority of mistakes lived.

"Of course, I eventually came across Suri around the time I wanted to get started on dressmaking as a career. It began as a sort of reunion about our days in Fillydelphia. Then, she told me how apparently, she was in dressmaking too, and her family had been fortunate enough to give her a huge boost in the business. I'm sure you can imagine how things eventually led to what they were the last time you saw her…"

"But you're on your own now." I could say with pride. "And I think you're really making a big name for yourself."

"Everything I have now, I couldn't have done it without you, or Rarity, or Applejack…" She handled humbly.

"Tomorrow, we should go out to dinner or something to celebrate. After all, I think this is a really huge deal." I suggested.

"You think so?" Coco asked.

Despite Spirit being practically silent the entire time, she propped up from eating on the couch to agree with me. "Totally!"

"Well then, it sounds fun!" She responded with an inspiring smile. "I can't wait!" When she glanced back over to the balcony, she gasped lightly from a sudden realization. "What time is it? I need to get you two a place ready to sleep tonight."

"The couch is fine, right Spirit?" I turned to her.

"Wouldn't be the first time." She lightheartedly joked.

"Are you sure…?" Coco questioned with concern. "It's not that roomy…"

"Don't worry about it." I assured. "We'll be fine."

"Well, just let me know if you need anything, alright? Other than that, please, make yourselves at home."

With a comfortable place to sleep in, we eventually turned in for the night.

The scent of fresh breakfast woke me up the next morning. The smell was so inviting, I had imagined Spirit awoke in the same manner but inside me. It wasn't hard to find the kitchen in which Coco had been preparing said breakfast. I caught her just setting the table inside. Realizing how the living space wasn't so roomy in this apartment to begin with, I was pleasantly surprised to see what she could do with the amount of space she had.

"Good morning, Coco." I greeted, having a yawn slip in afterwards.

"Oh, morning…!" She had been surprised to see me at the doorway. "I didn't wake you, did I?"

"Not at all."

"Sorry if it seems a little crowded in here. I never thought I'd have anypony stay the night."

"If anyone should be sorry, I would think it'd be us. After all, I think we may have imposed too much on you."

"Oh, don't even worry yourself about that!" She enforced expressively. "I'm actually kind of glad you two are here. I'm kind of used to living alone anyway, so it's nice to have somepony around for a change. I just wish things were a little more spacious for you."

"Hey, well, I'm sure you'd be able to afford a bigger place in no time. With all the kind of popularity and recognition you're getting, especially after last night, you'll be better off than you were very soon."

"Hehe, thanks." She reacted with a light shade of red in her cheeks. "That reminds me! Look!" She presented the newspaper of the day towards me. "The Midsummer Revival play made its way onto the paper! I would have thought it'd make a small section at most, but it's on the front page!"

"Wow! That's great!" There, where Coco pointed, was a huge photo that captured the crowd that surrounded the stage. The actors had been performing at the time the photo had been taken, so it appeared the liveliness at the time was presented wonderfully on the newspaper page. Too bad it was in black and white though. "Looks like you're only going to get bigger from here."

"I'm just glad everyone enjoyed it." She flipped the newspaper around, so she could read it. "It looks like everypony loved seeing old Charity Kindheart again…even though it was just her character."

"Mmmm! What smells so good?" Spirit had joined in the room, taking a good whiff before she laid her eyes over at the suspects sitting on top of the center of the table. "Oatmeal muffins with buttered biscuits!"

"Good morning, Spirit!" Coco chirped out joyfully, taking a liking of her positive reaction. "Take a seat. We can all eat together!"

Spirit didn't hesitate at all to follow Coco's wishes as if they were her very own. Coco repeated what she told me to Spirit about her play being made on the newspaper. It was at this time where I noticed something different in Spirit, and I think it was from looking at her eyes.

She had eaten with me and the other girls before, like when Pinkie Pie brought the pancakes she loved so much, but never before have I seen her so engaged in a discussion besides with me. In fact, I think she looked even happier than she ever has before. Even though we had been eating breakfast in a cramped Manehattan apartment. It didn't stop us from having a heartfelt good time. Spirit talked actively in things she wouldn't mention much about before, using her hooves and body language freely.

It was good change from usually seeing her quite reserved and fairly quiet. Maybe it had to do with the fact that it was only the three of us here. Then again, for some reason, Coco Pommel was one of the only ponies I'd see Spirit's eyes light up at any time she was mentioned.

At the end, Spirit did most of the talking, and she did not look guilty about it one bit. I mainly sat in somewhat awe at the difference in behavior she provided, and Coco could only react both timidly and humble at the subjects and points Spirit brought up in conversation.

"Now that've we've eaten…" Coco spoke. "What do the two of you want to do?"

Spirit turned to me. I suppose she wanted to see what I'd come up with.

"I dunno." I answered merely casually. "I'm not familiar with Manehattan, so we could just walk around or something. Maybe we'll find something worth doing."

"Oh, hang on!" Spirit suddenly exclaimed. "Coco, you sure you don't have any work you need to do instead?"

"Oh, no no!" Coco shook her head. "I had actually finished my work before preparing the Midsummer Revival. I'm free as a bird."

"Great! Then let's get going!" Spirit encouraged.

I had to admit, once outside, that I was used to not having to stop at every corner because of all the carriages ponies were galloping with. We'd have to wait one corner until we were allowed to go, and back home in Ponyville, we'd pretty much just walk wherever we wanted without having to worry about getting hit by some other pony. In a way, it really amazed me the differences between big cities and small towns. I didn't like other ponies rushing all over the place, in some cases breaking the rules in the area, to get where they wanted. I honestly did not know how Coco was able to handle everyday life here. We eventually came across a newsstand to see if there were any other possible publications revolving around Coco's contribution to the community.

"Great job with that play last night! Really brought the community together!" The pony running the stand expressed at the sight of Coco.

"Thank you." She responded with a slightly bashful smile.

"Coco must be so happy!" Spirit shared with me as Coco continued to look over magazines and the like. "I just can't help but be so happy for her!"

"I can tell." I returned. "It's like you're a different pony today."

"Oh, come on." She flipped her hoof. "I'm not acting that different."

"Either way, it's nice to see you're having fun."

"To be honest, you know how I've said something along the lines of how seeing you happy makes me happy? Well, don't get jealous, but I feel the same way about Coco. So, if you two are both happy, it's like double the happy!"

I couldn't help but chuckle. Yes, Spirit was just like a tamable Pinkie Pie. Hyper, but calm enough to not dash all over the place.

Thinking of a possible destination to make our way towards at that moment, I turned to Coco to place a hoof on her shoulder. "Hey, Coco. You know if there's a park or something nearby?" I was caught off-guard when I didn't get a response back. In fact, she didn't even look at me the moment I spoke to her. She had her eyes glued to something on the stand, and when I leaned over to get a better look at her face, I noticed that she appeared to be in a state of shock. "Coco? What's wrong?"

"…oh!" She shook her head as if she had just woken out of a trance. "Um, nothing. I, uh, what were you saying?"

"He was asking about a park!" Spirit chimed in, catching Coco's attention away from me. "Hopefully a super big one?"

I felt lured over to what Coco had been reading at the news stand as they talked with each other. It seemed she had been reading some kind a literature magazine, if you could call it that. The title Euphoria Equestria was planted on the top of the magazine, and the subject the issue was trying to point out fell at the center of the page with big bold letters. The Bad, The Ugly, The Horrid. The subtext below read: Talentless Hacks and a Midsummer Failure.

No way. Is this what I think it is?

I turned towards the page marked at the cover to read more about what it was about. The page had been filled with words like if it was some kind of an interview with a question and answer layout. But of course, it was no interview. Instead, it appeared to be all talk about reviews on recent literature and performances. It made mention of instances like poets at an open mic, discussions with apparently well-known ponies, and even speeches by the princesses themselves. However, these kinds of events were not being merely shared with other ponies that read this publication. They were being mocked and ridiculed.

My eyes were immediately drawn to a small photo of the performance last night on a section of one of the pages. It had been altered and edited, appearing as if it had been crudely drawn on with some rather unpleasant imagery.

The Midsummer Revival: Worse than it looks.

I began reading what it had to say about the event.

This absurd performance proved to beest incapable at presenting a compelling story. Whoever wroteth this garbage managed to maketh bland characters horridly blander. Choosing the Method Mares as actors? Absolutely a horrendous choice and a choice only an amateur at best would maketh. Now, lest I sure thee wonder who could beest so sloppy to organize such an atrocity, and that is none other than a lowly filly by the name of Coco Pommel. This pony is known to contribute dressmaking to performances such as the upcoming atrocity "My Fair Filly". Although, if 't be true her dresses art as lacking valor as her storytelling, I'd beest sure to keepeth hence ere I vomit in digust and beckon mine hoof in snuffs.

What was I reading?

"W-wait! Don't read that!" I heard Coco say behind me, attempting to gently pull me away from the stand.

"Don't read what?" Spirit asked, now joining by my side to take a look.

Coco now seemed to give up and only look away with shame-ridden eyes.

It was only a moment before Spirit reacted to what she had been reading.

"WHO'S THE JERK THAT WROTE THIS GARBAGE?!"

"Tis I." Another voice introduced. We turned to see a peculiar-looking pony observing us while sipping what looked like an overpriced coffee. I wasn't going to lie; this pony was covered to the brim in some kind of out of place clothing. Despite the weather, he wore a long trench coat, a fedora, and a long runny scarf. And his whole outfit consisted of one color: black. "I speaketh the truth."

"What do you know?!" Spirit reacted rather aggressively. "You some kind of prince?"

"Calleth me 'Prince of the Art of Literature'" He mentioned quite a mouthful before he went on to take a sip of his coffee.

"What are you doing talking like that?" I had to ask. It was killing me. "I've literally never heard anyone talk like that…well…except—"

"Ah, Princess Luna. Yes, she is a leif." Leif? "The only princess that knoweth what she doest."

I was starting to think this pony had a few screws loose in his head, and I kind of just wanted to get out of the area before he creeped me out some more.

"Yeah, I don't think even you know what's coming out of your mouth." Spirit said. "You must be the only pony in Equestria who thinks the Midsummer Revival was as bad as you think."

"Tis not true. Mine cousin believeth as I doth." He looked over to someone else that had been standing nearby. That someone had also been holding the same brand of coffee.

"Aye."

"H-huh…?" Coco Pommel took notice of this extra. "It's you…! We spoke last night. I…I thought you said you loved the play."

"You must have misunderstood me." The other pony spoke normally without the forced and annoying accent. "Any little enjoyment I had was from the desperate sad attempt to appealing to the larger masses. It was obvious that the character 'Charity Kindheart' was a poor excuse at inserting yourself into a fabricated story of fantasy."

"…w-what…?" Even Coco couldn't understand what these guys were driving at.

"In smaller words, thy story is nothing more than pig slop for those without a brain." The strange one spoke again, insulting Coco arrogantly. "I bid thee farewell."

He began leaving in a type of manner you'd expect from Canterlot, and the pony that had been accompanying him followed closely behind as if he was on a leash.

"Hey! You get back here! We're not finished!" Spirit yelled out, looking aggressive and ready to pounce on them like a manticore.

"As much as I'd like to see you rip them to shreds, we don't want to cause a worse scene here for Coco, Spirit." I placed a hoof on her to keep her in place. Next, I turned to Coco who obviously wasn't taking the out of the ordinary talk lightly. "Is that a normal thing here, Coco?"

"N-no… I don't think so…" She shook her head sadly. "I mean, I've never seen this kind of thing before, but then again, the Midsummer Revival was the first time I ever organized my own play for everyone to see. I don't understand at all!" Coco was beginning to grow terribly upset. "I only wanted to put something together for the community. I only wanted to make a tribute to one of the most important ponies in my life, Charity Kindheart. That's all I wanted. It wasn't like I was trying to impress anyone. I…I…"

"Coco, calm down." I placed a hoof on her shoulder to direct her attention towards me. "Listen, I don't know what those guys' deals were, but they were just being plain rude. We should ignore them."

"I wish I could, Alex. But they've got my play published in their own magazine! Any pony who picks it up or much less reads it like I did will see it! What if they realize how terrible my play actually was? What if the community dissolves and becomes the same way like when Charity left?! Oh, I can't believe I even tried taking over the Midsummer Revival in the first place! I should have known I couldn't have lived up to Charity's standards!"

"Coco, get a hold of yourself!" I now firmly planted both my hooves onto her shoulders. "You made a play for the community to enjoy. You weren't writing a novel for Celestia's sake. Even then, who cares what they think? They obviously have the edgy tastes of a snobby pony from Canterlot. I'm willing to bet that's where they come from anyway."

However, my hopes of convincing Coco seemed to fall flat. She merely adverted her eyes and stared at the sidewalk in guilt. "That pony… I remember seeing him right after the play had finished. Even if it was just for a short while, I remember that he loved the play. I saw it in his eyes. They had sparkled like everyone else's." Her eyelids lowered, potentially looking as if she was going to tear up and cry. "He must have realized how bad the play really was…and that's why he didn't think it was as good as he thought last night. If that's the case…"

No way… No pony changes their mind like that overnight. I thought back on the way he acted around the pony with the forced accent. It seemed to me he followed him around like a lost hungry puppy. I was willing to bet he let himself be influenced by that same pony than genuinely changing his opinion on the play…

Coco hadn't been the same ever since. When we managed to find a park after what had happened, she didn't say anything and mostly kept to herself. Spirit had tried to cheer her up in any way she could think of, but Coco didn't really budge. Witnessing these partially failed attempts caused me to recall back when I was like that. It led me to realize how the girls must have felt. I honestly really cared for Coco, and to see her in such a state of depression really got to me.

Nevertheless, when Coco noticed that we had been worrying over her, she snapped out of her lonely thoughts to try to persuade us to not fret over her, but when she realized that it wasn't going to be that easy to do just by her word, she grew even more saddened and apologized for her behavior affecting us.

I didn't know entirely how close Coco had been with Charity Kindheart, nor how much the play and Midsummer Revival all together meant to her, so I couldn't absolutely understand what she was going through. Because of this, Spirit and I didn't know any possible options to take in getting Coco to feel better. Eventually, we delayed the dinner we had been looking forward to that day and just went home to her apartment. I had hoped that maybe at the very least it would cloud her mind only for that day, but it wasn't until I caught her up late at night when I realized that it was just the beginning.

"Alex, I'm worried about Coco." Spirit expressed with a disheartening frown.

"I know. I am too." I returned as I looked in the direction of Coco's bedroom. "I don't know what else we could do to help."

"Maybe we can make something for her?" Spirit suggested. "Or get her a cake or something?"

I rubbed my chin in thought. "As much as I'd love for that to help, I don't think it'll do much. You remember how lost and depressed she was at the park."

Spirit sighed heavily. "Yeah… I know…"

"I hate to say this, Spirit, but…the only thing I can think of is just to let time heal her wound. I can only hope that it's just a temporary thing, y'know?"

"Hmph." Spirit seemed to look as if she disagreed with that idea. "If you ask me, I don't think 'time' heals everything like ponies say…"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Haah. Nothing. I'm just being emotional right now."

"We should probably get some sleep." I advised. "Let's hope that she feels better in the morning."

"Okay…"

After Spirit had returned inside me, I proceeded to make myself as comfortable as I could on the couch and close my eyes. However, there was something off I had seen right before my eyelids close. I looked for what had caught my attention until I realized that the light under Coco's door was still on.

I stood up from the couch and walked towards the door. Knocking gently, I leaned inwards for an answer. There was a brief silence, and I had almost believed that she had fell asleep with the light on until I heard her voice.

"Come in."

With a little hesitation, I slowly opened the door. Once I had a view, I could see Coco sitting at a tight corner in front of a desk. Just only a few steps behind her was her bed. I proceeded to approach her, readying my question in mind.

"You still up…?" I asked.

"Mm-hm." She nodded her head. "I figured I try to make something that's not so laughable like that stupid old play…" She had been staring intently at pages filled with words. Many of those words had been crossed or scribbled out.

"Coco, your play wasn't stupid." I felt like shouting my response out to show her how much it meant to me, but I didn't for the main fact that it was late. "It was an amazing piece of work you put up for everyone to see, and I could tell that you put your entire heart into it."

"I appreciate that, Alex, and I don't mean to sound rude or disrespectful, but you're my friend. Of course you'd think it was amazing."

"But the community…" I reminded. "You saw how they all came together and enjoyed it. You got to meet with a bunch of different ponies that told you how much they loved it, didn't you?"

"You saw that one pony that I thought loved the play too, didn't you?" She stated sadly. "He must have realized how horrible it was when that other pony told him everything that was wrong with it. It's only a matter of time when everyone else realizes that and thinks the same way. That's why I should start trying to do something about it and make something that everyone, even those ponies we met today, would like."

"Coco…" I could only say her name at that moment.

"You know what? They're right. Having the Method Mares act out the play? They weren't skilled enough to act out the way the characters should have been." She paused for a moment. "I've been saving money ever since Rarity jumpstarted my career. It'll be pricey, but I think I can afford a more professional set of actors to act out my new play."

"H-hold on. 'New play'?" I inquired about.

"Yes. I'm making a new play to fix everything that those ponies didn't like about it. Apparently every single character was bland, even Charity Kindheart, so I have to find a way to fix that. Maybe I need to write some kind of secret backstory behind every one of the them. It probably won't be completely honest with what really happened to Charity…but if it'll make the story more interesting, I'll do it. Oh, and the costumes. I've got to make much better costumes with the finest ingredients. Presentation was another thing. Oh…and I've got to pay extra for actual professional quality props. I'm not so sure if I can afford all the changes…but if I want to be a better pony, I have to do this…"

As soon as I heard Coco involve herself personally, I felt something inside me switch on.

"If you want to be a 'better pony'?" I intervened. "Coco, what are you talking about?"

"I told you, Alex. My play was proof of how much an amateur I am. If I show that kind of quality in my dresses, how could I ever hope in being the best I can be? How can I ever hope of one day meeting Charity again and showing her how much I've grown as a mare? How can I ever hope to see her and hear how proud she is of me…?"

This was about her, wasn't it?

"Coco, do you think she'd want you to change every little thing about yourself because of what some idiots said?"

"W-what…?"

"I've seen the pictures in the album you showed us, Coco." I reminded. "She was the one who gave you that hairclip you've always worn for as long as I've been able to see you, right?"

She brushed her hoof along her mane until she came across it. She removed it, allowing me to see her without it for the first time. "…yes." She answered as she gazed closely at it.

"There had to be a good reason behind that, and I may have not known her, but if you ask me, I believe she gave it to you because of what kind of pony you are. If you're still the same kind of pony you were years ago, I think I can see what she saw in you. You're modest yet passionate. A clear-cut opposite of Suri Polomare. You followed what was in your heart when it came to this play, and despite what any other pony would have said, she would have been proud of you for taking over the Midsummer Revival and showing others what you wanted to show them. I know she would have. You can't expect some random strangers to understand that."

She appeared to be thinking over what I said as she lightly fidgeted with her hairclip.

"Besides…" I continued. "Everypony has their own perspective on what happens here in every part of our lives. To put it shortly, you can't make everypony happy. There's always going to be somepony that'll think you're doing the wrong thing, but I think the most important ponies you should listen to are your friends. Your true friends. Ponies that take shelter in your heart. Ponies that you care most about. Even if there really was something wrong with your play, I'm sure Charity wouldn't just tell you to give up and go home. She'd point it out encouragingly and be willing to help in every step of the way, don't you think so?"

Coco suddenly gasped and remained silent for a moment.

"Back when we'd help set up the play…" Coco recalled. "Every time I made some kind of mistake, like tripping over during rehearsal or mixing up the paint, she'd understand. She wouldn't scold me and order me to fix it all on my own… She'd help me get it right and improve myself along the way. At the end of the day, she just wanted to see us having a good time with the Midsummer Revival." A few tears began to fall from her eyes during the reminiscence.

"Right." I returned. "You just wanted to put up a play for the community to come together and enjoy. And that's what you did. But I also know it's a hard thing when it comes to taking what other ponies have to say in consideration. That's why you always refer to the ponies you care most about first. Those kinds of ponies will tell you what kind of improvements you can make in the future without making you feel bad for any little mistake you might make."

She gulped lightly before she turned to make eye contact with me. "Okay…then… Tell me…what did you think of the play?"

"In my honest opinion…" I inhaled a breath and then exhaled as I prepared my response. "It's perfect just the way it is."

"Y…you really think so?" She questioned.

"Yes." I said. "I'm not saying it was like a play you'd see in Bridleway or something, but that wasn't what you were striving for, right? You just wanted a simple play to show your love for both the community and Charity Kindheart. After all, the entire play was solely her story, if I'm not mistaken?"

At that point, I finally got to see Coco smile again.

"Yes, it was." She nodded. "I just…wanted to remind everypony how great Charity was…especially to me."

"And I'm sure everypony saw that last night." I believed. "At least those who didn't feel the need to take the play too literally…"

Coco chuckled softly. "I guess you're right…"

Before possibly ending the discussion, I decided to share one last thing. "You do what's in your heart, Coco. Because if you began catering to the heart's desires of some pony else, then you might just forget who you really are, and I'd really hate to see that as your friend. We may have not known each other for too long, but I want you to know that I really care about you."

For a silent while, Coco sat there staring at me with a small hint of redness in her cheeks. "I…should probably get some sleep now." With a small smile, she rubbed her hoof softly.

"Yeah." I nodded in agreement. "We'll talk more in the morning, okay?"

"Mm-hm."

"But let me know if you want to talk some more, just in case you're feeling, you know, sad. I'd rather be somepony to keep you company than sleep anyway."

She only nodded with a timid yet genuine smile on her lips.

"Goodnight, Coco." I expressed with my magic on the door.

"Goodnight, Alex." She responded.

The morning after, I found things had started differently compared to the day before. Breakfast had been left for Spirit and me, but there didn't seem to be any Coco in sight. However, I had noticed something folded up near the plate of pancakes left behind. As I brought it closer to read, I realized it was a note Coco had also left.

When you're done, go to the place where we watched the play. I'll see you there.

Coco's still not upset about yesterday, is she…?

Besides updating her on what happened last night, Spirit and I were quiet for the most part during breakfast. I could only believe that we shared each other's thoughts about our concern with Coco, but it only fueled our goal in finishing as soon as possible and meeting with Coco as she stated in her note.

We eventually arrived at the area Coco mentioned, and as expected, the stage that her play had been performed on had already been taken down.

"Hey!" We unexpectedly heard. Coco saw us and had ran up to greet us.

"Coco…!" I responded in surprise. "How are you feeling?"

She shook her head with a somehow assuring smile. "You don't need to worry about me. I'm fine now." She turned her head to the side and glanced back, directing our attention to several other ponies cleaning out the area behind her. "This was the place that I had originally planned to have the play at. See? That's the stage. Well, what used to be the stage anyway…" She pointed towards a specific area that hosted a bunch of broken wood and rubble.

"You found volunteers?" I questioned for clarification.

She nodded. "They were more than willing to help…and that had me thinking. I want to write another play. A new one."

"Huh?" Spirit and I had yet again been caught off-guard.

"It won't be because I want to impress anypony." She promised. "No, I want to write something that relates to what you told me last night. By the time I'm finished, I think everything should be up and ready for use here."

"Well, if you need anything from us, we'll be more than willing to help…" I offered.

"Thanks." She expressed. "But, we're fine for now. After all, I think the longer the community works together, the more they bond with each other. That's something that would be really good to see. Although…I wouldn't mind if you two helped me with something else."

"What is it?" Spirit eagerly lurched forward.

"This play I want to write. I sort of have an idea in mind for it already, and if you're willing…I'd like to cast you two as the lead and possibly only two roles."

"U-us…?!" Spirit reacted a bit timidly with reddened cheeks to go along with. "I-I'm not that great of an actor."

"Neither am I." I added. "But this seems like something fun we could do together, Spirit. It's what you're always asking for, right?"

"Y-yeah…but I'm a little nervous now just thinking about that."

"You don't have to do this." Coco assured. "I only wanted to cast you two because I feel the both of you would be perfect for the roles I have in mind, but I can always just fill them in with some other ponies if you don't feel comfortable doing it."

"No, no." Spirit immediately shook her head. "If it's for you, I really want to do it. Let me just…take this in for a sec. Hehe…" She giggled lightly.

"If it helps, I was thinking I could have this play ready by around winter. I think it'd be perfect to show during Hearth's Warming Eve."

"Sounds like a plan." I said. "Well, if Spirit is up to it, then I say I am."

"Just let me know if you change your mind before the showing. I'll go ahead and find a couple of other ponies if that should happen."

"I'll try not to get cold hooves…" Spirit grinned through her embarrassment.

"Are you going to give us a script or something when you're finished writing it?" I asked.

"Of course!" Coco explained as she thought over the details. "I'll even organize some rehearsals for the two of you before the actual date of the show. Anything you feel you might need before the big day, just let me know."

"Gotcha."

After we appeared to have gotten things in order, Coco returned to working for a short while before she decided to join us. As we waited for her, Spirit and I seemed to have noticed a pony looking our way, specifically towards the area Coco had been working on. When he seemed to have noticed us staring at him, he subtly yet quickly turned away and walked off.

If I wasn't mistaken, he looked like the pony that Coco claimed had enjoyed her play, despite what he said yesterday. Just what had been going through his mind during the time he had been looking over here?

"I'm ready!" Coco joined us at the gate. "Let's get going. I'll make it up to you guys for yesterday."

"What? There's nothing you need to make up for." I responded.

"Don't be silly." Coco reacted rather joyfully than ridden with guilt. "I've gotta treat you guys to some places today since we didn't do anything at all yesterday."

"Don't worry about 'treating us'."

"We'd just love to hang out!" Spirit jumped in to emphasize.

With a short giggle, Coco proceeded to answer emotionally.

"You guys are the best friends I could ever ask for."

Flutter Brutter

The more I thought about it, the more nervous I grew. On one hoof, I'd find it so utterly ridiculous to be worrying about something that really wasn't a big deal, to begin with. However, at the same time, I was afraid of making some kind of mistake that would ultimately be the end of my world as I knew it.

"So, you think I should wear a tie or something?" I asked Fluttershy with a slightly shivering voice as I stared at myself in front of the mirror. "I feel like I should at least wear a tie. What if they think I'm some kind of rebellious punk by not wearing some kind of respectable attire? I'm a prince for Celestia's sake. I'm sure they'd expect me to dress up."

"Oh, my." Fluttershy worriedly observed my nervous breakdown from a few steps away. "Is that how I used to react to everything?" Nevertheless, she approached me and then delicately wrapped her hooves around my neck, pressing her cheek against mine with a bright smile. "You don't need to worry about how you look. You look absolutely fine, and you don't need to dress up at all."

"But, first impressions, right?" I reminded.

Fluttershy shook her head. "I Pinkie Pie Swear to you that you don't have to go out of your way to impress them. I'm telling you: they're the sweetest parents you could ever have! They wouldn't even hurt a fly."

I ultimately sighed and surrendered myself to her. "Yeah. I guess you're right."

Fluttershy pulled away from me but continued to gaze at me with loving eyes. "I hope you don't mind, but Rainbow Dash is going to come along. As you already know, she and I have been friends since Flight School, so she's actually been over and eaten with us a few times in the past."

"Oh?" I felt myself beginning to relax a bit. "That doesn't seem like a bad idea. Having another familiar pony there will probably lighten the attention on me."

A gust of wind unexpectedly brushed against us as the windows of Fluttershy's bedroom swung open.

"I am ready for some grub!" Rainbow Dash firmly planted her hooves onto the wooden floor. She glanced over to me and noticed the different kind of state I had been in. "What's with you? You look like you're going to keel over any second."

"He's a little nervous about meeting my parents." Fluttershy shared.

"Seriously?!" Rainbow Dash prepared to guffaw. "HAH! Are you kidding me?! They're like the most unintimidating ponies in Equestria! I'm shocked that you haven't met them sooner, considering you've been with Fluttershy for how long now?"

"Well, I wouldn't put it that way…" Fluttershy returned lowly, finding Rainbow's description a little unnecessary. "But, yes, they are really sweet. No need to be nervous whatsoever."

"Guess it would have been easier had I already met them before we started seeing each other." I felt, "But, then again, I wasn't exactly in the best shape before we started going out, so maybe I'm wrong with that too."

"Well, you can't stand here like a chicken all day." Rainbow Dash walked around me and began pushing me towards the window from behind. "Their meals are pretty rockin' and I don't want to miss out because you're too scared to meet your parents-in-law."

"But, we aren't even—" I tried to correct her.

"Yeah, yeah." She intervened and brushed off. "Everypony already knows that it's gonna happen someday, so you might as we get used to it, buttercup. Come on! Out you go." She continued to shove me until I was practically leaning over the windowsill.

To counter Rainbow Dash's rough treatment, Fluttershy appeared outside the window and held out a gentle hoof in front of me. "Come on. Let's get going. I'm sure all your nerves will disappear the second you see them."

"Yeah, okay." I nodded and grabbed a hold of her hoof.

After all, from every obstacle I've faced up until now, meeting Fluttershy's parents should be child's play.

Fluttershy continued to firmly yet softly hold onto my hoof as she guided me up into her old hometown of Cloudsdale. "It's not too far from here." She directed and then giggled with glee, "Hehe. I never thought I'd be bringing a special somepony to see my parents. I'm so excited!"

"What you should be excited about is the food." Rainbow repeated the reason for her visit. "Your parents are so awesome. They always know the kind of food that energizes me the most."

"Oh! Maybe after lunch, I can give you a little tour of our home!"

"Yeah, sounds great…" I, unfortunately, didn't share the same enthusiasm at the moment. It was hard to since I was still worrying about how this meeting would go. I believed Fluttershy with her description of her parents, but I think I needed to see them for myself to ultimately decide whether I would be able to relax or not.

Once we landed in front of a particular house, Fluttershy leaned forward and knocked. Not wanting to be staring at the door the entire time, I turned my head and looked around. The fences that separated each property was literally rainbow. I distracted myself at the time by wondering if those kinds of fences really worked or if they were just for aesthetic purposes.

"Fluttershy, hello, dear!" I heard another extremely soft voice at the door, ironically startling and rustling up my coat.

By my side, I heard Rainbow Dash snickering, but I couldn't get after her at a time like this.

"Hi, mom!" I watched Fluttershy move forward to embrace the mare inside. When she pulled away, I was able to get a better look at her mother as she spoke.

"Please, come in! Come in!" I noticed the old-fashioned and raspberry-colored curls on her mane lightly bounce as she excitedly invited us in. Her coat was similar to Fluttershy's but it held a slightly darker tone. Besides the golden pearls on her neck and the sunflower piercings on her ears, it was hard to not notice the thick-rimmed green glasses she wore. Her appearance style reminded me of the way mothers tended to dress a few decades back. There wasn't anything wrong with that, of course. I nearly froze when she spotted me. She sent a little wave before whispering over to her daughter. Yet again, she ironically whispered loud enough for me to hear. "Is he the one you've told us about?!"

Fluttershy nodded fervently with a small blush.

I heard Rainbow Dash laugh behind me before she shoved me inside. I suppose I had to thank her for that since I began to suddenly feel my legs buried underneath tufts of cloud beneath us.

"Honey, they're here!" Mom called out happily in a sing-song voice inside. "Including you know who!"

We heard a short and soft ruckus from a room nearby.

It was time to meet Fluttershy's dad, and as I waited anxiously for him to come into full view, I could only wonder what kind of pony he would be. I know Fluttershy said they were the sweetest parents ever, but I'm pretty sure she's never actually brought a guy over to her home. With that said, I don't believe she would have seen the "overprotective" side of him.

I held my breath until a lime-green body came into view. One of the things I almost immediately noticed about him was his mane. It practically looked like the top of an ice cream cone or whipped cream, especially since the color of his hair was a sort of creamy and extremely tinted pink color. Now that I thought about it, it appeared mixing his mane with her mother's led to the color of Fluttershy's mane now. Returning to his hair, he also had a small and friendly-looking mustache, and the soft-looking sweater he wore definitely made him look a lot less intimidating than I was afraid of.

"Welcome!" He greeted warmly in a soft-spoken tone. I was beginning to think soft voices ran in the family. "We're so happy to have you here! Please come into the kitchen!"

As her mother and father moved to the room they had appeared to originally come from, Fluttershy turned her head towards me and actually seemed to send me a mischievous smirk. Was she teasing me?

Nevertheless, after having a short experience within their presence, I began to feel my heartbeat calm itself down. I was still a little nervous, maybe even excited, so I wasn't exactly quite back to my normal self.

"Please, take a seat." Her mother suggested.

Rainbow Dash casually flew in, having most likely already done this several times. Fluttershy began walking in as well until she noticed me slightly hesitating behind. She stopped and grabbed my hoof before escorting me to the table. There were already five seats placed around the dining table. Two were at her parents' side while three were on our side. Rainbow Dash had already taken a seat on the left, Fluttershy went on to sit on the right, and then she proceeded to pat the seat in the middle. I didn't really like this set up, seeing as it looked like I would be the center of attention. Despite that, I obeyed her wishes, feeling as if I would have a soft voice too the next time I talked.

"So, your name is Alex, sweetie?" Her mother asked all of a sudden, nearly causing me to jump out of my chair.

"Yes, ma'am." I replied while trying to keep my cool and balance on the chair. "It's, um, a pleasure to finally meet you two."

"Oh, the pleasure's ours!" Her mother expressed as gleefully as she could with her natural soft tone. "Ever since Fluttershy told us the news between you two, we've been excited to meet you ever since!"

"So, you're really a prince?" Her father asked out of apparent sheer curiosity and excitement.

"Of course, he is, dear!" Mom answered. "He has a horn and wings!"

"We never thought our daughter would be seeing a prince." Dad held a hoof to his chest and looked upwards as if his dreams had come true.

"Well, he wasn't always a prince." Fluttershy explained. "In fact, he didn't used to be an Alicorn at all, but once he got his wings and horn, I was just so happy! To be honest, I think I was happier at the fact that we'd be able to fly together. We could go to many different places we weren't able to go to before."

"Oh, that's right, dear. I remember the look on your face when you told us what happened." She mentioned, giggling to herself. Afterwards, she sent out a strong and radiant beaming smile towards each one of us. "We're so happy you could bring over your special somepony and come have lunch with your father and me, Fluttershy."

"Well, I'm really glad you asked!" Fluttershy returned, grinning brightly.

"And it was super awesome of you to invite me too!" Rainbow Dash tied in. "Things have been so busy with the Wonderbolts lately, it's great to get a chance to relax someplace quiet."

I almost wanted to tease Rainbow with her nickname "Crash" to get back at her for earlier, but seeing as I was right in front Fluttershy's parents, I didn't want them to get the wrong impression of me.

"That's exactly what I intend to do now that I've retired." Dad brought up as he set down a salad plate near us. "In fact, I converted the back house to showcase my cloud collection." He paused to point out the window, showing us a small building with shelves of bottled clouds. Outside was a small garden of well-kept and beautiful flowers. "I have my clouds, your mom has her flowers, you've got your animals, and your brother..." He suddenly paused and lifted up his head in thought.

His pause seemed to bring up a sudden but small atmosphere of awkwardness, so Mom spoke up to remove the tension before it became a problem.

"Zephyr Breeze has his... interests." She mentioned oddly, chuckling nervously afterwards.

"I'll say!" Rainbow Dash added loudly. "Remember when he was convinced square clouds were gonna be the next big thing?" She laughed and snorted lightly.

"He's matured a lot since then." Mom acknowledged.

"Actually, it's funny you bring Zephyr up..." Dad regrouped with Mom and held their hooves together on the table with nervous-looking grins.

It took a second or two before Fluttershy reacted towards this statement. "Oh, no! Not again!"

Everypony looked engaged in some way or another with the current subject on hoof besides me. I had no clue on what exactly they had been referring to, so I all I could do was sit there and somewhat awkwardly watch.

"It's just for a little while, dear. 'Til he gets back on his hooves." Mom responded.

"Wait, you don't mean—!"

"Guess who's home!" The front door suddenly slammed open, cutting Rainbow mid-sentence and completely tearing apart the nice and quiet atmosphere that had originally settled inside the home. "That's right, big sis, it's your one and only favorite little brother, moi."

Besides his odd-looking mane, he seemed to take his coat color and complexion from his dad's side. Nevertheless, right off the bat, he didn't exactly look like a "clean" individual. Aside from the spaghetti-looking mane, he appeared to have a beard shadow. I had to say, this was not how I was expecting Fluttershy's brother to look at all. Being a little brother, I actually kind of expected him to be possibly much timider than Fluttershy ever was. I would have expected him to walk in and immediately walk back out, avoiding any kind of conversation with us because of how shy he'd be. But, in actuality, here he was, broadcasting his voice loudly for everypony to hear.

Beside me, I heard Fluttershy groan deeply and bury her head in the back of her chair. She was warm, inviting, and cheerful earlier, but since talk of her brother came up, this all disappeared. What exactly did he do to bring things down around here like this?

Everypony's ears perked up at the sound of something squishy being splattered across the table. Zephyr Breeze had thrown his bag carelessly on the table, and it now ruined what once looked like a scrumptious dessert. It was at this point when I began realizing why Fluttershy never liked to talk about her brother, to begin with.

"Hi, Flutterbutter!" He squeezed in between us, cutting off any kind of view of Fluttershy from me. In fact, he was so close that I had to almost completely turn away. I was now met with an annoyed glance from Rainbow Dash. "How's the bestest big sister ever?" He asked as he squeezed her tightly, but Fluttershy didn't return an ounce of appreciation or bliss at his affection. "Hey, where's the love? How about a little excitement to see your baby brother?"

Zephyr was certainly a lot bigger than Fluttershy was, but considering his current behavior, it definitely wasn't hard to see him as the younger brother. He threw different parts of Fluttershy's mane around her head before turning to approach his parents.

"I'm just surprised." Fluttershy answered, pulling the loose strands of her mane away from her face. "When you left, you said mane therapy was your calling."

"Oh, it is, sis, it is." He enthusiastically repeated, spreading a little of that "love" with his parents. "You would not believe how much stress ponies hold in their manes. Everything gets limp and unmanageable." He explained, appearing to use Fluttershy's mane as an example. "No offense, but brushing alone won't solve the problem." He quickly worked with her hair until it was styled the same way as his, but I was relieved when it fell apart back to the way it was before moments later.

"What went wrong?" Fluttershy asked as she moved the hair out of the front of her eyes with a serious expression on her face as if this wasn't the first time he came home like this.

"Nothing went wrong, per se." He pushed away the plate that had been set in front of Fluttershy and replaced it with a hefty book. "It's just the powers that be were so locked into their required styles, and you know me. I've got my own style! And I think they were a little threatened." He pulled out the head of a mannequin used normally for hair stylists, but there wasn't anything normal about it. Quite frankly, the mane looked like it had been run over with a lawn mower.

"O-Oh, this is... lovely, dear." Fluttershy's mom commented generously at the sight of a piece of mane falling from its head.

"Ugh." Rainbow Dash stuck out her tongue and groaned in disgust.

"Well, if it ain't Rainbows 'The Best Flyer There Ever Was' Dash!'" He noticed her with a self-assured chuckle.

"Oh, this ought to be good." She returned before he pulled up a chair right next to her.

"Sorry, I shouldn't tease you. I know the whole super awesome flyer bit's just to impress me." Her jaw immediately fell and hung open. I couldn't imagine how much in that one statement offended her, seeing as being an "awesome flyer" was her life. I'm sure if I said anything like that towards her, I'd probably get a kick to the face. I'm actually surprised Zephyr seemed to get away with it. "Still, thanks for showing up for my homecoming. It's, it's sweet." He patted her lightly and turned away from her, leaving her shuddering and slumping in her seat with her frozen face.

For the longest time, I had been feeling as if I had been watching this from the other room, but now I was immediately sucked in when he finally seemed to notice me. However, unlike the other ponies, he didn't share any kind of over-the-top greeting or welcome. Instead, he looked at me blankly before turning towards his parents for an answer. "Who's the new pony?"

"This is Alex." Her mother introduced me. "He's your sister's very special somepony."

"Mom…" I heard Fluttershy seem to object for the first time we've been together.

"Special somepony?!" Zephyr sent interposing eyes to his sister, beginning to get back in her face like from before. "Why haven't I heard about this?! You sly little mare! Watching Rainbow and me must have moved your little heart for some sweet romance, hm?" During this time, Fluttershy could only react by placing her hoof on her forehead and staring at him with unamused eyes. On the other side, Rainbow Dash glared at him bitterly for making those false assumptions. However, it was only a matter of time before I'd fall victim to his probing. "Alex, huh? Weird name, but I dig it. Don't worry, bro. If you ever need lessons in capturing a lady's heart, you know where to find me."

I held my breath uncomfortably and was in no mood to make any sort of conversation with this character, so I immediately felt a wave of relief when he turned away and focused back on his parents. "I kinda thought there'd be more ponies here. I mean, what about your party planner friend, um... Sprinkle Pie! She could've turned this into a real house partay, am I right? I mean, this place could use it. Drab!" He ended on a singsong note, offending the aesthetic choice of his parents.

There was a lot I was tempted to say, but being that I was warmly invited in Fluttershy's old home, I felt I had no place to say anything. In fact, I'd probably be as probing as Fluttershy's brother was if I started laying out my thoughts on him right in front of her parents.

"Heh. I-I, eh..." Her mother tried to respond, but her husband quickly came to help.

"We have been meaning to redecorate..."

"Dad, please." Zephyr had already taken the initiative to begin hanging up literal posters of him. It even almost reminded me of Rainbow Dash, but not even Rainbow was as bad as this guy. "When I get all my stuff back in here, you won't even remember what this boring old place looked like!" He walked into the living room, looked around a bit, and went on to push a chair from one place to another.

As soon as Fluttershy witnessed this, she turned to her parents with an irritated look on her face. "Um, Mom, Dad, can I talk to you for a second?" She nearly whispered, pointing in the direction of another room.

Without another word, the two of them followed their daughter out, leaving Rainbow Dash and me in utter and slightly tensed silence.

"Wow…" I finally expressed softly, not wanting for Fluttershy and her parents to hear. "I've never seen her look so peeved. At least not with another pony."

"Can you blame her?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Her brother is like…well, you know what he's like. You just saw him in action. That's not the worst though. He has this crazy idea that I actually have a thing for him. Not going to lie, if Fluttershy's parents didn't out you like that, I probably would have pretended you were with me instead. Just to see if he finally would have backed off."

"If he's so into the idea that you're crazy about him, wouldn't he just find a way to disprove it? Like, say you're just using me as a distraction or something?"

"I guess I can't put it past him." Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves and looked away with an annoyed frown. "Ugh… I wasn't expecting to see him come here all of a sudden. Now, I'm afraid to come back."

"Rainbow…" We suddenly heard his voice from the kitchen doorway. "I've got a little time to spare. Let's go and chat up, and I can tell you all about my creative days out of home."

Rainbow Dash glared back at him with unenthused eyes before pushing her seat away from the dining table, standing up, and silently walking out of the kitchen into the living room. Even with this obvious rejective behavior, he still pursued her and followed her out of the kitchen. Seeing as I was the only one left, I stood up and followed after Rainbow as well.

I noticed her pull out a Daring Do book from one of the bookshelves in the living room, fly over to the seat Zephyr had just moved, and plop down to open and read the book without another word. It almost looked like this was a routine kind of thing for every time they were together.

"So, it all started on my first day of Mane Therapy training!" He began, planting himself on the hoofrest of the comfy chair she sat in. "As soon as I walked through the doors, everypony stopped what they were doing to observe the rainbow of creativity that just flowed from me." At this point, Rainbow stopped casually flipping through the pages of her book and noticed me a little behind them by the doorway. Without question, she reached over to me and threw me onto the chair without my consent. She positioned me between her and Zephyr like a large pillow. In fact, she proceeded to literally use me like a pillow and directly turned in the opposite direction Zephyr was in, resting her head against me as she continued reading her book. I was now uncomfortably stuck close to Zephyr as he continued being too involved with bragging about his recollections from wherever he had just come from. "In just a few weeks, they were inspired and astonished at all of my creative input, and they were all like, 'We love your free spirit, Zeph! And it would be wrong to cage that! Go follow your dreams!'" He finally stopped and found that I had been in the way of making direct contact with Rainbow Dash. "Ah. Playing hard to get, ey?" He assumed when he noticed her facing directly away from him. "I like that." He mentioned, pulling his head closer to not only her but my personal space as well.

Thankfully, without ripping her attention away from her book, she pulled up a hoof and pushed him away as much as she could. With the force, he lost his balance on the chair and fell over. Despite this, he raised his head and continued eyeing her with confidence. I honestly couldn't blame Rainbow Dash for never wanting to come back here again. Even I started to feel the same way, and that was because it wasn't me that he was so interested in.

Finally, we heard several clacks of hooves walk in, and I turned to find that it was Fluttershy with her parents. A good start to getting this guy out of our space, I suppose.

"Zeph was just telling us all about the ins and outs of mane therapy school." Rainbow finally spoke at the sight of their return.

"It's all so political." He recalled as if he was trying to convince somepony. "I just could not take it!"

"Well, maybe if you stuck with it for more than a few weeks...?" She responded with snark and no amount of play in the mix, widening my eyes at her level of irritation and frustration.

"Sorry, sis, but when something's not the right fit, this pony's gotta fly!" He took lightly and spared a few seconds to move the busts of critters on top of the fireplace out of the way to replace with yet another portrait of him. "Anyway, good talk, Rainbows. I am so touched you came to see me, really. I hate to deprive you of my presence, but this breeze needs his Z's."

"You know it's the middle of the day, right?" Rainbow brought up.

"I know. Siesta!" He referred before continuing his climb up the stairs. "I'm just gonna assume you made up my room the way I like it, right, Mom? Oh, I almost forgot! All my stuff is out front. Wanna grab that for me, Pops? Thanks."

Once he was out of the picture, Rainbow Dash sighed out loudly. "Same old Zeph."

"I'm so sorry." Her mother began to apologize seriously. "We're supposed to be having lunch right now, but I'm going to have to make another plate of gelatin." She sighed heavily. "Before I can do that, I'm going to have to make sure Zephyr finds his room comforting."

"And it looks like I'll have to bring in his stuff." Her father added.

"No!" Fluttershy turned and objected. "He should be doing all that stuff on his own! You two are doing more than enough giving him a place. The least he can do is take care of his own things!"

"We're his parents, dear." Her mother reasoned. "We just want him to know he's always welcome here."

"But he needs to learn to do things on his own sometime!"

"We have it under control, Fluttershy." Her dad assured nicely. "Like I said, we know when to draw the line." He went on to make his way outside.

"If you three don't mind waiting a little bit, I'll be more than happy to make another cake of gelatin, and then we can get back to our little lunch." Mom mentioned.

Fluttershy turned and glanced at me for a second before responding. "I'm going to show Alex around a bit, mom. We can wait."

Her mom grinned as brightly and sweetly as she could before she started climbing up the stairs to Zephyr's room.

"I'll just be here reading." Rainbow informed, continuing to shift her eyes side-to-side and flip through pages quite quickly. "I've been meaning to read this one again anyway."

Fluttershy turned to me a little worriedly before gesturing her head in the direction of the stairs. Realizing Rainbow was still using me for support, I poked at her. "I'm getting off, Rainbow."

"Yeah, yeah." She answered in a slightly annoyed tone before moving her body back against the seat.

Once I was free, I jumped off and began following Fluttershy up the stairs. We didn't say anything on the way up, and because of this, I could hear some muffled conversation coming from another room, most likely Zephyr's. Fluttershy didn't do anything about this, and I assumed it was because there was nothing she could really do, given her parents' reactions from downstairs.

Eventually, she led me to a room with a closed door and opened it. As the door swung open, I instantly began to notice a "girlish" design among the walls and objects within. Fluttershy silently invited me in, closing the door after I stepped forward and allowed my eyes to roam around the room. I paid particular notice at the number of stuffed animals she seemed to have. There were a lot of them on her shelves, along with a few on her neatly made bed.

"It's been a while since I was last in here." Fluttershy mentioned, walking towards her bed. "At least I didn't make Mom make my bed for me."

"I've never seen you so frustrated…" I informed her with concern.

"I'm sorry." She apologized as she gently climbed onto her bed, pulled one of her stuffed animals close to her chest, and squeezed it firmly. "I'm just so…so…peeved right now!" She nearly exclaimed with dilated pupils. I actually jumped back a little from her intimidating sight. She noticed my reaction before her pupils returned to her normal size. She quickly gasped, cupped her mouth with her hooves, and apologized. "Excuse my language!"

"I think I've said worse…" I excused in a joking manner and sat by her in her bed. "But now that I think about it, I wonder if I was any different from Zephyr back then."

"What could you possibly mean?" Fluttershy furrowed her eyebrows in worry.

"Well, like you brought up downstairs, Zephyr can't really do anything on his own." I reminded. "Back before I met you all, I couldn't really either. I didn't even have a job. How lame is that?"

"But you were living on your own." Fluttershy brought up.

"On Celestia's dime." I objected with disgust. "I'm glad that I'm able to do so much to help her now, but I can't erase having had completely relied on her while I stayed home and moped about all day for the longest time. In a way, I feel ashamed and almost want to go back in time and change the way I acted."

"You needed to get back on your hooves." Fluttershy placed a hoof on my shoulder in comfort. "But unlike my brother, you weren't constantly expecting Celestia to fix all your problems. I wasn't so different from you, remember? After I moved to Ponyville, I didn't want to leave my home. I didn't like being around ponies I didn't know, and all I wanted to do was spend time with my animals. And, in a way, I sort of relied on my parents too for certain things even then. But, at least I had my parents. You, well, you didn't really have any kind of family…" Fluttershy mentioned apprehensively as if she was afraid to hurt me.

"I guess…" I returned, still a little unsure. "I can see your point. Zephyr has all the support he needs to take the first step forward, but he simply chooses not to. With me, it was more like I was lost and unguided. Celestia tried to straighten my path out, but the way forward was still obscure. Yeah."

"She was right to put her faith in you." Fluttershy said with a soft smile. "Although it took some time, you proved to be able to hold your own in the end. If wasn't for our other friends, I don't think I would have been able to ever grow out of my fear of other ponies. In fact, it was especially you. If you hadn't been with me, I don't know if I would have had the courage to be as strong and assertive as I am now. I can't thank you enough for all the support you've given me." She now brushed her head against my chest, providing me a view of one of the most adorable expressions she's ever placed on.

"I guess it's pretty much proof that we were destined to be together?" I assumed, despite how cheesy it sounded. "We both had the same problem, in a way, but I'm glad that I was able to help you get through it once I was able to get through mine."

Fluttershy giggled softly. "I'm so glad. I just can't wait until…well…we…um—"

"Yeah?" I leaned closer to her, wishing to know what it was that she wanted to tell me.

"Mm…" A shade of red glowed within her cheeks before she grew closer to me.

Just as it seemed she was about to whisper something secretive towards me, there was a loud banging on her door, startling the two of us.

"Fluttershy! Mom said she put my favorite blanky in your room!"

In just that second, Fluttershy's expression had twisted and turned into one of unrelenting anger. Poking her head underneath her bed, she pulled out a neatly folded cloth which began to messily unfold itself as she dragged it across the room. There was a flash of her brother's obnoxious grin once she opened the door, but she quickly covered it when she threw the blanket at him with all her might. Afterwards, she immediately slammed the door shut and began heaving steam through her nostrils.

"Fiesty." He acknowledged with a sing-song tone outside the door.

"…you okay?" I asked and hesitantly held out a hoof towards her while being slightly afraid she'd snap back.

Fortunately, the anger in her face died down, and she quickly sighed heavily. "I'm so sorry you had to see that."

"It's okay." I assured and then began to feel a little embarrassed for what I was going to say next. "Actually… Sometimes you look a little, ehm, 'hot' when you're assertive like that."

Her mouth grew agape as redness filled up the color in her face. It took her a moment before the frown she had turned upside down, and she laughed sweetly in an embarrassed kind of way.

I spent a good amount of time with Fluttershy in her old room. I found it particularly sweet how her parents kept her room just the way she left it, most likely for anytime she might have needed to stay over. I couldn't imagine how much her parents worried over her, especially when Fluttershy first moved out. If it wasn't for her brother's apparent permanent return, the thought of her parent's hospitality would seem a lot more welcoming.

Fluttershy revealed to me several albums that contained pictures of her when she was younger, starting from when she was a foal up until she was reaching the point of moving out. I found her blushing a few times when it came to the "embarrassing" pictures, such as the ones when she was in the bath and the like. Nevertheless, considering that I've pretty much seen everything about her, there technically wasn't anything to be ashamed about.

A gentle knock suddenly sounded at her door.

"Fluttershy, dear?" Her mom's voice called. "I just finished making the dessert. Lunch is ready now."

"Coming, mom!" Fluttershy cheerfully returned, flapping her wings and placing the album back on the bookshelf. It was almost as if she already forgot that her brother had come back home. Next, she turned to me. "I hope you haven't been starving or anything."

"No worries." I assured. "Spending time with you like this has made me forget about everything else either way."

She closed her eyes as she grinned gleefully before looking at me with a slightly bashful smile. Before she moved towards the door, she planted a quick peck on my lips. Then, she turned the knob, opened the door, and fluttered on out, eagerly gesturing me to follow after her.

Either way, I was able to feel a lot more relaxed when it came to Fluttershy's parents. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was glad that her brother was too busy sleeping to be around and possibly prying into our business. Her mom and dad asked me general questions like what I liked to do and stuff, and I guess I answered with rather general responses. It was actually a pretty normal lunch.

"That was some good grub!" Rainbow Dash complimented as she patted her ironically flat stomach. "I kind of miss the good ol home cooking. Know what I mean?"

"Well, we always love to have you over, Rainbow Dash." Mom answered. "How have your parents been?"

"Oh, them?" Rainbow responded a little oddly as if she had been caught off-guard by that question. "They're doing okay. You know, nothing new."

"Well, you're welcome to stay as long as you want." She offered and then faced Fluttershy. "Your father and I have few things we'd like to take care of out back."

"Of course." Fluttershy nodded. "We might actually be heading back to Ponyville now. Just promise you won't be so easy on Zephyr, please?" She pointed out.

"We've got this. Don't worry." Her father assured.

Fluttershy didn't look too convinced, but she decided to let it go for now.

Rainbow, Fluttershy, and I gathered by the front of the house where we spoke with each other for a moment.

"So, what did you think?" Fluttershy asked me, eyeing me with the cutest curiosity. "Aside from, um, my brother, did you like the lunch with my parents?

"Yeah." I responded with an embarrassed grin. "They're actually really nice. I don't know what I was worried about."

"See?!" Rainbow interjected. "What did I tell you?!" Next, she faced Fluttershy. "I'm surprised you didn't tell him how bad Zephyr was beforehoof."

"I didn't know he was going to show up all of a sudden." Fluttershy released through a frustrated sigh. "Talk about bad timing. I was actually hoping he'd…grow up a little before Alex actually met him for the first time." She mentioned this while uneasily rubbing her hoof against her foreleg.

"Don't feel bad about it, Flutters." I assured her. "I think every family pretty much has some kind of kinks."

"Tell me about it." Rainbow stated, rolling her eyes.

"What?" I turned and faced Rainbow in the middle of her flight. "Your family has something you don't like talking about too?"

"I mean, my folks are great and all, but they kind of…ugh. Forget it. Let's just not talk about it and go home." Rainbow Dash evaded and began to fly on without us.

"Would you like to come here again soon?" Fluttershy asked with a hopeful smile on her face before we joined Rainbow in our journey back home.

"Yeah." I returned her delighted expression. "But, maybe when Zephyr isn't around?"

"Oh…that'll probably be hard to manage. After all, Zephyr tends to…"

As Fluttershy tried to think of a way to finish her explanation, we suddenly heard a sharp sound of a large amount of glass breaking. Without hesitation, the two of us quickly scrambled around the house and poked our heads out to see where the sound had come from. Behind the house, where Fluttershy's dad had pointed out the small building from earlier, we found her parents scrambling about in a frantic panic.

Her mother was desperately removing various amounts of obtrusive items, including broken glass, from the flowerbed outside of the small building. At the same time, Fluttershy's father was attempting to catch a small piece of cloud into an open glass container like if he was collecting bugs in a net. Meanwhile, there was another pony inside the room past an open window, and he continuously lugged out more glass containers that not only broke outside but caused some kind of disastrous weather effect in the process.

Fluttershy gasped sharply before taking note of the pony chucking glass out the window. In that moment, she furrowed her eyebrows in anger before storming her way ahead. On the contrary, my hooves felt implanted where they stood. This appeared to be a family problem, and I felt like it wouldn't be my place to get involved.

"Zephyr Breeze!" She called out, nearly breaking out of her soft-spoken voice.

"Oh, hey, sis!" He poked his head out of the window and seemed to take the fact that Fluttershy was glaring at him lightly. "Come to see me work my magic and turn this place from drab to fab, huh? Well, watch and learn!"

"Can't you see what you're doing?!" Fluttershy asked as Zephyr flung out another jar out the window.

"Yeah! I'm getting rid of this old stuff so I can turn the backhouse into my art studio!" He explained while pushing a pile of jars out the front door this time. "I've decided I'm gonna be a sculptor!"

"I'm talking about Mom's flowers!" Fluttershy momentarily exchanged her agitated look with one of worry as she glanced over at the limping and barely-hanging-onto-dear-life flowers her mother cared for to the best of her ability.

"She's gonna move them so I can have my meditation patio here. She loves replanting stuff. Don't you, Mom?" He asked, causing his mother to witness the entire pistil fall over from one of her now dead flowers. She stretched out a grin, but I think it was pretty obvious that she was rather pressured and forced to make that kind of expression.

Honestly, hearing him say these kinds of things made me sick to my stomach. Besides villains bent on world domination, I couldn't understand how a pony could so blindly ignore the fact that he was hurting others. Was he always like this?

"And Dad's been collecting his favorite bits of cloud from the factory since before you were born." Fluttershy added, carefully grabbing a jar from the ground that miraculously hadn't been cracked whatsoever.

"The very best from every production run since my first day on the job." He responded proudly, managing to capture the cloud he had been after into his glass jar. However, he ended up losing his grip on the jar, and it fell over, leaving him to only watch as the jar broke and allowed the cloud to escape beyond the skies above. With a heavy sigh, he solemnly accepted it. "But why hold onto the past really?"

"You can't just fly in and change everything Mom and Dad have built here!" Fluttershy scolded.

"But this is the only place big enough for my studio/meditation garden. Ooh! Unless I do it in the living room!" He continued, making me wonder if there was any piece of empathy inside that thick skull of his.

Fluttershy turned to her parents, seeming to believe that Zephyr wouldn't learn anything if it came from her. "I know speaking up for yourself can be hard, believe me, but Zephyr will never stand on his own if he can lean on you."

"Don't be so dramatic, sis!" Zephyr brushed off and accompanied his parents. "Mom and Dad just wanna let me be me! Right? I can do plenty on my own."

"I agree. Which is why you should move out." Fluttershy suggested thickly.

At this point, it appeared that Fluttershy had caught her brother on check in this game of argumentative chess. He had trouble responding as confidently as he had been and began sweating profoundly in his search for adequate words. "Oh. Well... I mean, I-I totally would, but... I don't think that's what Mom and Dad want!" He strained his tone desperately before giving "puppy eyes" towards his parents. "It's not, is it?"

"Ehhh..." His mother tried to speak before his father made their intentions a little clearer.

"You know we love you, son, but your sister has a point."

It wasn't long before Zephyr began tearing up, and I almost personally couldn't tell if it was just another devious act in gaining their sympathy. "Sure. I mean, I really just came back here to keep you guys company, but... whatever's best for the family. I just... I just gotta grab a few essentials." He said, picking up a lawn gnome on the way to the house.

"And... y-you definitely have somewhere else to go?" His mother asked with a sense of hesitation, causing Fluttershy to quickly shake her head to cease any chance of enabling him to stay.

"Of course! There's plenty of ponies who'd love for a little breeze to blow their way..." He responded with a shaking voice and made his way back into his now former home.

I pulled back from the sight a little. I had grown tired and even upset from watching this scene. Plus, I didn't exactly want Fluttershy's parents to see me standing not too far away from where they stood. I figured that weening their son was enough trouble for them, and I didn't want them to worry over the fact that their daughter's special somepony had witnessed the entire drama.

I waited there for some time before I heard Fluttershy come on back. I imagined she spared some encouraging words with her parents before returning to me. However, as she approached me, she held her head down low with her ears flopped downwards.

"Sorry, you had to see that…again." She repeated.

I shook my head. "No, it's okay. You did the right thing. I kind of wanted to say something myself, but I don't think I have any place to."

"I wouldn't want you getting involved with drama from my own family. After all, Zephyr is our responsibility, not yours."

All this talk about him honestly made him sound like he was still a little colt. Even so, enough had been thrown around, and I didn't want to make anything worse by mentioning that. "You wanna go back home?" I asked.

She only nodded her head silently.

Just before we could take off, we heard an irritated voice yell out our way.

"What the heck!? I was flying for the longest time thinking you guys were behind me!" Rainbow approached us with a scowl before she noticed the solemn expressions we held onto. "Whoa, what's up with you two?"

Fluttershy glanced towards me before facing Rainbow Dash. "…I'll explain on the way."

"So... where's Zeph gonna go now?" Rainbow Dash asked as Fluttershy invited us into her cottage.

"I'm not sure." Fluttershy was greeted by Angel, who was hopping intensively in an attempt to gain her full attention. "Hi there, Angel." She addressed, causing Angel to rub his stomach. "You must be hungry. I'll get you a nice juicy carrot right away." She began walking towards the kitchen as Angel hopped onto the dining table in preparation for his meal.

Rainbow Dash hopped into a chair by the table and turned towards me. "So, I never actually asked you this yet, but what did you think of Fluttershy's brother?"

"I figure we'd be best friends." I answered with obvious sarcasm.

"Pssh! Really?!" She answered, leaving me unsure if she was actually being serious or not.

"Of course not." I clarified. "It was hard to stomach any little thing he did to his parents. I can't help but wonder how he was like when he was younger."

"Yeah, I don't think you want to know…" Rainbow Dash left me with a vague and ambiguous response before Fluttershy returned with a carrot on a plate, bringing an immediate smile to Angel's lips.

"Oh, I hope I did the right thing..." She expressed softly. The thought of her brother leaving home seemed to bother her much more than I thought it would.

"Are you kidding? One hundred percent!" Rainbow believed confidently.

"I'm curious…" I began bringing up. "What makes you think he won't just go back home and convince your parents to let him stay?"

Fluttershy sighed heavily. "That's just it, Alex. He's my brother. I love him, so I'm really worried about his life for his sake. It's not like I don't want him to be welcome to stay with my parents, but he never learns to take his privileges seriously. I can only hope that spending some time outside of my parent's home will let him learn to not take things and opportunities like this for granted."

"Hey, sis!" We unexpectedly heard a sing-song tone outside. Next, Fluttershy's door energetically flung open before an unwelcoming sight appeared in front of us. "Your new roomie's here!"

It was Zephyr Breeze, and considering how it had only been an immensely short time since we left her house, I could only imagine that he premeditatively flew his way over here after packing up his things.

"Okay, I take back what I said." Rainbow referred to her last statement. "It's about seventy percent now."

When I noticed how Fluttershy's expression quickly reverted to a fuming one, I began to realize that this was probably the most I've seen her mood easily sway and swing. It was almost hard to believe that one of the sole causes that pulled her out of her usual calm and sweet nature was her own brother.

"Um, Zephyr. When Mom and Dad told you to find someplace else to live, I don't think they meant here." Fluttershy assertively stated.

"Well, it's not their house, so by definition, it's someplace else." Zephyr argued, unpacking some of the gnomes he had taken from his parents' house and placed it upon the table. "Am I right, Rainbows? Stop oogling me and help settle this." He leaned over to her and caused her to grow annoyed like last time.

Drawing out a short sigh, she began to push herself away from the table. "You know what? I totally forgot that I promised to help Pinkie Pie... sprinkle... something."

Leaving her lame excuse, she escaped the cottage in a dash. However, I certainly didn't blame her.

"You said you had plenty of places to go!" Fluttershy pointed out as her brother began to indulge himself to her cooking.

"Ehhhh..." He merely responded with, twirling his hoof.

"Fine." Fluttershy sighed and covered her face with her hoof. "You can stay here—"

"You're the best!" Zephyr raced over to her in celebration before she could finish. "We're gonna have so much fun."

"On one condition." She raised a hoof.

"Totally. Anything."

"You have to get a job." She declared with no quiver in her voice. Such amazing assertion. Beautiful.

"Cracking the whip, huh?" He responded nervously, messing with her mane in the process. "You always were kind of bossy."

Was she really?

"Zephyr Breeze..." Fluttershy revealed her frustration through gritted teeth.

"Kidding! Get a job. Absolutely."

He went on to the living room, allowing Fluttershy some time to breathe before he disturbed the momentary silence by pushing over one of his sister's couches across the room like back at his parents' place.

"Are you sure about this…?" I felt the need to ask softly. "He looks like he's going to be a lot of work."

"I don't know what's going on inside his head right now, but if he thinks he's going to get away with a lot of things like back at my parents' house, he's got another thing coming." She avowed with furrowed brows. "I am not going to go easy on him."

"Wow." I acknowledged her level of unfazed determination, stepping towards her. "I don't think I've ever seen you so…you know."

Fluttershy began to blush and turn her head slightly away at the sight of my gazing. "I'm sorry. This isn't usually me. It's just, um…"

With a small smile stretching out on my lips, I was prepared to silence her with a kiss. However, the sound of something loudly scraping in the living room completely interrupted the moment. Fluttershy immediately returned to her narrowed and unamused expression. It actually reminded me of myself from a long time ago.

"I hate to say this, Alex, but I hope you didn't have any plans to stay over anytime soon. I don't think it'll be a good idea with Zephyr staying here."

"I didn't have any plans…" I mentioned, "But, what if I just want to come over and see you? Is he going to be here for long?

"I'm not sure how long he'll be living here, but I promise you that I'll do everything I can to set him off responsibly on his own. In fact, I'm going to go find him a job first thing in the morning."

"You think he's going to get up?"

"I'll make him." She guaranteed seriously.

"Well, if you need anything, let me know."

"Thank you, but, like I mentioned before, I don't want you to be involved in something that isn't your problem. After all, we don't get to spend as much time as before in the first place. I'm sure you have much more important things to do."

I sighed softly. "I guess you're right. You're also so much stronger than you were before. I'm sure you can pull this off, but still, I'm here if you ever find yourself needing something."

She nodded, managing to pull out a soft smile. "I know. Thanks for believing in me." She placed another peck on my lips before more scraping could be heard from the living room. The smile on her face disappeared. "You better get going. I've got some work to do."

"Alright. See you soon, okay?"

"Mm-hm."

I kissed her one last time for good luck and proceeded to leave out the back door.

Curious about her progress the next day, I started heading over to Fluttershy's at around noon. However, I was fairly surprised to see her cleaning up a scattered mess around her cottage like if a wild party had been held here. In addition, her brother was nowhere in sight, and I wasn't sure if that was exactly a good or bad thing.

"Did Zephyr make this mess?" I asked, despite practically knowing the answer.

"Mm-hm." She confirmed lightly, appearing clearly upset.

"And where is he now?" I tacked on another question as I approached Fluttershy.

"Rainbow Dash helped set up a job for him at Wonderbolts Headquarters. I can only hope that his third time's the charm."

Ouch. Third time?

"Here, let me help you." I looked around, gathering things like paper, wrappers, and even food from different places of the room with my magic and dropping them in the trash can she had.

"Thank you so much." There was a positive lift to her tone as she genuinely appreciated my help. "I'm sorry to have you here doing this for me."

"Don't be." I reassured. "I'm not just going to let you do this on your own. What kind of boyfriend would I be?" I made an attempt to cheer her up by sending a smirk her way.

As a result, she giggled lightly, granting me the success I so desired.

Her smile was cut short when the front door slammed open all of a sudden. It was Zephyr Breeze, but he looked like he'd just had a nasty run in with a storm cloud. As I noticed him coming in to complain, I slowly withdrew, preparing to let Fluttershy and her brother have their discussion.

"Rainbow Dash is crazy, okay?! She expects me to do stuff right when she asks me to do it! It's insane!" He stomped his hoof, looking sincerely angry than "calm" like the only other times I've seen him around.

On the other hoof, Fluttershy looked like she wasn't going to stand for this. "So, you just quit? Again?"

"Escaped is more like it." He rested himself upon the couch Fluttershy had been cleaning and pulled the neatly placed covers over himself. "Besides, what was I supposed to do?"

"Keep trying? Finish something for once?" Fluttershy angrily scolded, almost like a stern mother. "Maybe that way, you'd actually find something you like to do!"

"That all sounds fine for your friends, but it's just not me." He declared, turning his head to the side to head straight to sleep.

"Then I'm sorry, Zephyr, but I don't think you can live here." She grabbed a hold of the sheets with her teeth and threw them swiftly to the side, having them land at the tip of my hooves.

Her brother had been forced to get up, due to the apparent significant change in his temperature. Surprisingly, he didn't seem to put up a resistance as I almost thought he would. "Fine! I'll just go live in the woods like my foreponies before me!" Whether or not he was searching for some kind of regret within Fluttershy's eyes, his sister merely turned her head away carelessly. He then began packing up any little thing he had before he stormed out of her front door. "Guess the only breeze this zephyr can count on is his own!"

Fluttershy silently watched him leave at her door, and I was left standing with nothing plausible to say. I simply approached her from behind and waited for her to turn back around, but she remained in her place for a while. I noticed her lower her head as if she felt ashamed, leading me to reach a hoof out to her.

"Hey, Fluttershy?" I nearly whispered.

She finally turned herself and faced me with a depressive look. "Can I have a hug?" She unexpectedly asked, especially when compared to her assertiveness just a few moments ago.

"Y-yeah, sure." I responded, unsure of what else I could react with to comfort her.

She allowed her head to fall against my chest, almost as if she removed any will from her actions. I positioned my hooves on her back around her neck and brought her in. I felt a little ashamed for not being able to feel or completely understand what she had been going through. All I could do was simply be there for her when she needed somepony close to her.

"You want to go rest while I clean the rest of the mess up for you?" I offered.

She shook her head, wiping her eyes lightly in the process. "No." She answered sadly, "I should be the one cleaning it up."

"Well, if you're settled on cleaning instead of resting, then I'm definitely not letting you do it alone."

"Thank you." She pressed her body against me before she carefully pulled away. "Could you get started in the kitchen? I'll make up the couch again…"

"Sure thing." I began walking to my designated room before yet another pony crashed in through the front door. I was afraid it'd be Zephyr again, and I knew Fluttershy was definitely not in the mood to put up with him. I worried that I may have had to unintentionally involve myself with this family drama, but once I found that the pony who arrived was Rainbow Dash, I was tempted to embrace her out of relief.

"Alright! Where is he? If that sleaze ball thinks he can weasel his way out of my job, he's got another thing coming!"

"He's gone, Rainbow." Fluttershy turned her head away from the couch and responded as if there was no strength in her voice anymore.

"W-wait, what?" Rainbow returned, utterly confused. "Gone? What do you mean he's gone? You're saying he's not staying here anymore?"

"That's what I'm saying." Fluttershy confirmed tiredly. "Wouldn't bother trying to try anymore, so I told him he couldn't stay here. Said he'd rather go live in the woods instead."

"Whoa." Rainbow seemed at a loss for words as she rubbed the back of her head. "Um, okay. I don't see how he can't handle a simple task, but he's willing to go live in the woods like an uncivilized pony. Just what is his deal?"

"I don't know, Rainbow Dash. I wish I did, but I don't."

Having finished with the couch, Fluttershy joined me and brought the trash can with her. Rainbow quietly flew into the kitchen, her eyes opening up in surprise when noticed the mess inside. "Zeph did this in one day?"

"He sure did."

Noticing Fluttershy's lack of enthusiasm, Rainbow approached her in a comforting manner. "Aw, cheer up, Fluttershy. I know it must've been hard, but you did the right thing. You couldn't let Zephyr pull the same stuff on you that he's always pulled on your folks!"

"I guess so…" Fluttershy lightly agreed. "But, it's just…why does he have to be like that? There has to be a reason other than just being lazy. I don't want him to be out on his own in the woods, but I also don't want him mooching off other ponies and getting them to do work he should be doing himself. Unless I can figure out what it is that keeps him from even trying, I don't think I can help him."

Rainbow Dash and I exchanged concerned looks with each other at the sight of Fluttershy staring sadly at her floor. However, a distinct chirping came from her window. Fluttershy turned her head to the sound of this twittering and approached the bird on her windowsill.

"Oh, hello, Constance." She greeted. She drew her ear closer to the bird and listened intently to what it was chirping out. "Oh? Oh, dear." Her face contorted at whatever news she had received.

"What?" Rainbow inquired about.

"Constance found Zephyr in the forest." Fluttershy repeated in a language that we could understand.

"And? Isn't that where he said he was going to go?"

"Constance isn't sure he's going to last long."

Rainbow Dash lowered her eyelids halfway. "You want to go check up on him, don't you?"

"I can't just ignore him, Rainbow." Fluttershy stated with a firm voice. "He's my brother."

"Alright, alright. Let's get going then." Rainbow surrendered, flapping her wings and heading out the back door of the cottage.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to go with them, but Fluttershy had turned and sent me beady and almost frightened eyes. I was sure that there would be nothing I could directly do to help alleviate the problem, but if all she needed was a kind of moral support from me, I couldn't deny that as my personal responsibility.

It wasn't a surprise when the forest that Zephyr had apparently been residing in was the one that was literally right outside near Fluttershy's cottage. Thankfully, we didn't have to walk too far in before we seemed to find a messy camp sprawled over a small and circular open spot. There, we found a disordered and exhausted-looking pony talking to a mannequin head on a stick.

"See, Wigford? The Breeze needs nopony! We've got food, shelter. Just need to put the old kettle on..."

As he placed a kettle onto his makeshift campfire site, Rainbow turned to Fluttershy to whisper out some commentary. "Didn't he just leave your house a few minutes ago? He looks like he's been out here for ages."

"Zephyr's never really had to live out on his own." Fluttershy explained, taking a short glance at his attempt on creating a fire with rocks and sticks. "Much less survive in a forest with nothing but his surroundings."

"Ugh! What's a pony got to do to find a decent stick around here?!" We heard him cry out before he kicked a piece from the ground. However, the twig had ricocheted off the rocks he had set up and smacked him right on the face. This one little mess-up was enough to fuel a fire, but not the kind of fire he intended to light. He began to yell out as he kicked and threw everything in his path, essentially tearing down whatever he managed to build so far.

"I know he needs to learn to do things for himself, but..." Rainbow mentioned.

"Oh... I can't let him live like this." Fluttershy returned, finding his behavior heart-wrenching.

Finally, he kicked the stick holding up his so-called shelter, causing it to tumble down upon him.

"To tell you the truth, I don't think he'd make it through the night." Rainbow stated, causing Fluttershy to sigh lightly before she began approaching the broken shelter.

Rainbow turned to me to share the bored and unamused expression on her face before she followed after Fluttershy. Sighing a little with uncertainty, I decided to join them as well. Fluttershy patted the leaves that covered Zephyr's body, and his head poked out immediately in alarm following a loud gasp.

"Fluttershy! Hey! I was just, um, cozying up in my sleeping bag! Ready to call it an early night! Such an exhausting day, y'know?" He closed his eyes and turned his head to the side in order to make himself seem convincing, but the fact that he glanced at us with one eye broke that credibility.

"It's noon." Rainbow Dash pointed out the sun that was smack dab in the center of the sky.

"You know me! Siesta..." He tried to express a positive vibe, but that quickly went away when one of the sticks from his shelter fell against his head. "Ugh... I can't do this. I can't do anything." He said as he placed his hooves in front of his face in shame.

"Zephyr, you're smart and talented." Fluttershy removed the stick from his head and sat by him to place a comforting hoof around him. "You could do anything if you just tried!"

"And what if I give everything I have and still fail?" He shared, reminding me of a similar pony who had to push past her boundaries to face her fears. "Honestly, I think it's better not to try at all."

"But then you won't ever do anything." Rainbow mentioned a little too frankly, but it was the truth.

"I don't expect any of you to understand." He ironically gave up on his explanation for doing nothing. "I mean, when have you ever failed? You've literally helped save Equestria, like, a dozen times."

"And I was worried that I'd fail every time!" Fluttershy admitted. "Sometimes you have to do things, even though you might fail."

"But failing is the worst!" He complained.

"And quitting doesn't feel much better, does it?"

"No."

Seeing as I didn't really have anything negative to spare at the moment, I decided I could speak up for once. "I have to give it to you…" I stated as I looked over the camp he set up. "For a pony who doesn't like to try, you actually made a pretty decent camp. After all, even though you didn't exactly succeed completely, you still made a good effort on trying to live on your own, didn't you? You think trying in front of other ponies is what's stopping you from doing anything else?"

"Sure." He answered dejectedly. "That's it. I hate failing in front of other ponies. Makes me look like a fool."

"No offense…" Rainbow began, "But, I think not trying to do things on your own, like finishing 'Mane Therapy', makes you look worse than actually giving it a shot and failing the first few times. At least other ponies will know you're putting in the effort. Believe me, I've had my shares of mega fails. But, I wouldn't be a Wonderbolt if I never tried."

"They're right, Zephyr." Fluttershy agreed, "I wouldn't be where I am today if I didn't try. Nopony's perfect, so you shouldn't think that other ponies will blame you for messing up a few times."

"If they do, then I'm pretty sure they're just self-conscious about their own problems." I added.

As Zephyr pondered over our words, Fluttershy glanced at both Rainbow Dash and me before she came up with a solution. "So, here's the deal: You can come back with me, but you have to do exactly what I say. No exceptions."

In a defeated tone, he ultimately agreed upon Fluttershy's terms. "I will literally do anything you ask me if it means I don't have to stay here."

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy exchanged a nod with each other, and then turned back to Zephyr.

"Good. I know just exactly what you can get started on." Fluttershy stated.

"Please, nothing with storm clouds." He responded quickly, holding his head under his forelegs and glancing fearfully towards Rainbow Dash.

"No storm clouds." Fluttershy assured. "Just follow us back to the cottage, and bring your stuff with you."

In the next course of their improvised curriculum, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had set up shop in one of the rooms inside the cottage. The first task that Fluttershy had mentioned was actually getting him back to focusing on his Mane Therapy work. Bringing out the head mannequin he had created his own style on onto the top of a vanity table, they walked out and led Zephyr back to this room in the form of a surprise test.

"Okay, you know what you have to do, right?" Fluttershy asked her brother once he had an idea of what he was up against.

"Beg for help, then quit when I get frustrated." He said, sounding half-serious and half-joking. However, he quickly clarified his response after taking a look at his motivators' expressions. "Just kidding! Total opposite of that. Got it."

Fluttershy then presented a hoof towards the room, inviting him inside. The once joking kind of look he had was now replaced with visible anxiety as he approached the table with the mannequin.

"You think he can do it?" Rainbow asked, igniting Fluttershy to respond in song.

"Everypony has times in their lives
When their hearts are filled with doubt"

"Frustration builds up inside
And it makes you want to shout" Her brother joined from the table.

"But if you just take that first step
The next one will appear" Rainbow encouraged.

"And you find you can walk, then run…" They pulled out his training book and opened up the pages of hairstyles.
"Then fly...!
Into the stratosphere!" They circled above him as if a ray of light was shining down upon him.

"You've got to give it your best
So you can pass the test
Give it everything that you've got"

They directed him to start his work.

"And we know you can win
You just have to begin
Have to give it your very best shot"

Zephyr grabbed a hold his scissors and comb, but as he tried to reach closer to his work, he began shivering and slowly pulling back like a foal not wanting to eat his peas.

"There are times when you want to give up
When you think that you can't go on"

He turned around and prepared to leave the room, but Fluttershy and Rainbow were there to stop him and point him in the right direction.

"But if you fight through with all of your might
You will find that you can't go wrong
That you could do it all along"

"Everypony has times in their lives
When their hearts are filled with doubt" Fluttershy solely shared.

"But if you just give it your all
You'll start to work it out!" Rainbow contrasted Fluttershy's soft-spoken voice with her out-spoken one.

"And I know I can't give up too soon
Get myself in the zone" Zephyr managed to start snipping his scissors, peeking at his book every now and then.
"And I find I can walk, then run"

"Then fly...!" His two supporters joined him in an everlasting note.

"I can do it on my own" He sung out loud and proud as he enthusiastically snipped away.

"You can do it on your own" The two girls repeated.

"I can do it on my own" Zephyr held out his finished product, revealing a greatly impressive haircut when considering what he had to start with.

"I can do it on my own…" He held his work close to him as if he had formed a close bond with it.

"I did it! I actually finished something!" He took a good look at his work and presented it proudly. "By myself!"

"And it looks exactly like it's supposed to." Rainbow Dash confirmed.

"I knew you could do it, Zephyr." Fluttershy shared warmly.

"I didn't!" Zephyr replied excitedly until he lowered his voice for a heart-to-heart with his sister. "But I do now. Thanks for believing in me, sis."

"That's what big sisters are for." Fluttershy assured as she exchanged a concluding hug.

"So, Zeph, now that you've accomplished this, what's next?" Rainbow asked.

"Anything I want! I mean, the sky's the limit, right?" He voiced loudly, receiving a few disapproving looks from the other two. "But, y'know... I've got some baby steps in mind." He rephrased.

"Don't worry about getting everything done at once, Zephyr." Fluttershy advised. "It's important to take things one step at a time."

"I'll make sure to keep that in mind, sis." Zephyr assured. "For now, I gotta get back to Mane Therapy Training! Won't be long until I graduate with flying colors!"

"You go get it, Zeph!" Rainbow cheered.

"And afterwards, how about we grab a little lunch, hm?" He closed the distance between Rainbow and him, working a little of that "charm of his".

Lowering her eyelids and clearly revealing her unsmiling expression, she pushed him away. "Don't push it, Zeph."

"Okay, okay." He nodded his head, acknowledging her decision. "Fair enough. I'll wait until I'm working my way up."

To this, Rainbow only rolled her eyes.

Zephyr was pretty quick to leave the cottage and resume his mission on completing his Mane Therapy training, and I'd say it was understandable considering he was full of energy and an apparent strive to do something himself for once.

Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and I stayed by the front door of the cottage and watched him fly off until he was no longer in sight. Noticing the bothered expression on Rainbow's face, I couldn't help but garner an idea that would poke fun at her.

"So, when's the wedding, Rainbow?" I asked, tossing a snarky smile at her.

"Huh?" She returned an expressive state of confusion.

"You two are clearly meant for each other, you know?" I playfully incited. "You should take him up for lunch."

"Oh, ha ha." She nearly glared at me with an ice-cold expression. She booped her nose against mine, so all I could see were her irritated eyes. "You wanna say that one more time?"

"Now, now." Fluttershy came to my rescue. "No fighting, you two. We should be celebrating a moment like this."

Rainbow Dash finally pulled away, but she didn't exactly erase the grumpy look on her face. "Oh, I'm going to get you back. Don't you worry. I'll teach ya to think twice before you mess with me."

I couldn't really think of anything she could honestly intimidate me with, so I took her words lightly. "Sure, sure. Love ya, Rainbow." I nonchalantly addressed in an innocent manner.

In a matter of a few days, we found ourselves eating dinner with Fluttershy's parents again. It was sort of a good thing too because it kind of gave us closure, considering what happened with Zephyr. He was out hopefully finishing his training, so he wasn't here to possibly intervene like last time.

"Thanks for dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Shy! Ha! It was great as usual." Rainbow gave her compliments as she pushed her empty plate away.

"Thank you, dear, for not giving up on Zephyr." Fluttershy's mom addressed. "After all these years of pining for him, it must be so satisfying to see him on the right track."

"Huh...?!" Rainbow Dash was caught off-guard once again, especially hearing this come from Fluttershy's own mother. She looked more shocked than angry this time, and I couldn't help but snicker at her reaction. There was just something satisfying about Rainbow being poked like this. She appeared to be ready to correct the issue and make things clear before Fluttershy cut in.

"Have you heard from Zephyr? Is he doing well?" She seemed to excitedly ask.

"I tell you, he's a brand-new pony! So full of drive and determination." Her father mentioned.

"Heh. That's great." Rainbow allowed the frustration from earlier to fade away and disappear to genuinely appreciate Zephyr's progress.

Like déjà vu, the talk of the dinner table barged in with a loud and brash voice. "Guess who graduated from mane therapy training?!" He broadcasted in a singsong voice, throwing off the graduated cap that rested on his head.

"Hah, awesome!" Rainbow congratulated with the cap falling upon her head.

"Congratulations, son!" His father confronted him to hug him with high praise.

Rainbow flew over and placed the cap back onto his head, which his mother soon admired.

"You look so handsome!" She stated with tears in the corner of her eyes.

"I'm so proud of you, Zephyr." Fluttershy approached him with a heartwarming smile.

"It was only a matter of time before they recognized my true genius!" He believed out loud, but Fluttershy quickly raised an eyebrow and formed a disapproving frown. "But, actually doing the work probably helped, and I wouldn't have if it weren't for you." He quickly corrected, exchanging a bonding hug with his sister.

"Oh, I just gave you some encouragement." Fluttershy inspired, "You did this on your own."

"And honestly, right now I feel like I can do anything... except find a place." Stretching out a grin, he placed his forelegs around his parents and looked at them a bit nervously. "I can still crash here for a few days, right?"

Fluttershy and Rainbow looked towards each other for a moment before Fluttershy responded. "Seeing as you stuck through your training and actually finished it, I don't see why not. But, try to respect Mom and Dad's things around here? Please?"

"Got it. Totally. Much respect." He acknowledged and promised.

Later, Zephyr left in order to bring in his stuff and possibly take a "siesta" nap while the five of us talked briefly in the kitchen. It was certainly pleasant to notice that Fluttershy's parents didn't look necessarily bothered by the topic of their son anymore. Personally, I was glad to see him taking steps to improving himself. To be honest, I wouldn't know how I'd feel in having him as a brother-in-law, should the time come. Like, what if he was still the same way in the years to come? Family dinners would be so uncomfortable and awkward.

"It was absolutely nice to have you, dear." Her mother approached me and shared. "I'm glad to know my daughter is with a stunning gentlecolt."

In the corner of my eye, I noticed Fluttershy slightly turn away bashfully.

"To tell you the truth, ma'am, I wouldn't know where I'd be today if it wasn't for your daughter. She's played a major part when it comes to being the kind of pony I am now. I guess I should thank you guys too for raising her so well."

"We just want to support our children as much as we can." Her father informed. "We still miss Fluttershy time to time, but we're absolutely glad that she's able to make the time to come up here every now and then. It's a shame that not all parents get to see their children after they move out."

This caused me to think about my old foster parents. It was a complicated situation, but I suppose I sort of fit this case. Nevertheless, I decided to swallow those thoughts and ignore them.

"Yeah, I can understand that."

"Well, I better get going." Rainbow mentioned. "I've got some plans to work on." As she said this, she eyed me oddly as if she had something sinister in mind. I could only assume that this had to do with my teasing about Zephyr and her. "See you later, Mr. and Mrs. Shy! See you, Fluttershy!" Lastly, she turned to me. However, instead of sharing a friendly smile like she did with the others, she narrowed her eyes and slowly stepped out the cottage. "See you…Alex."

Now, I was curious. What was she going to do to me? Ambush me while I was in the shower and scrape soap onto my body like last time?

I suddenly shook. Chills…

"I'm going to take Alex up to my room if that's okay with you all." Fluttershy notified.

"Of course, dear." Her mother approved. "What's the saying? 'Our casa su casa.'"

I wasn't sure if that was the right way of saying it, but I appreciated the meaning nonetheless.

In Fluttershy's room, she began to snuggle up with her stuffed animals with enthused delight. I couldn't help but express how cute I thought she was. "Aww."

"I'm so happy." Fluttershy shared. "Zephyr is finally learning to try and do things by himself. In a way, I feel like I've accomplished something of my own."

"Well, you did." I told her, sitting by her on her bed. "You talked some sense in your brother and asserted yourself. If you had let him walk all over you, he wouldn't have learned anything. You should be proud of yourself."

"You really think so?" She sat up, moving a loose strand of hair in front of her face to the back of her ear.

"Of course." I confidently believed. After a few certain thoughts appeared in my thinking space, I began rubbing my hooves a little embarrassingly. "Plus, I think you'd make a great mother… You've grown so much from the time we've spent with each other. It's really attractive, but, at the same time, I wouldn't want you to lose sight of who you really are, you know? You can be assertive, but don't force yourself to change because you feel like you need to."

"I know." She began cuddling with me as she exchanged a smile. "Thank you for telling me. It means a lot coming from you."

"Y-yeah…" A question raised in my head. It wasn't the question, but it was certainly something that would cause us to think about our future. I wanted to tell her, but I was a little nervous. I was sure it wouldn't exactly make things awkward between us, but there was just something about it that kept me from spitting it out. Nevertheless, I decided to give it a shot. "Hey, listen. I was just wondering… You know... What you think about… Um…"

You don't want to make plans or promises you can't keep.

I suddenly heard a voice in my head that was not my own. I mean, in a way, it was me, but it definitely wasn't from me. I knew it wasn't from Athena, and that's what scared me. For some reason, I felt like a stranger had made their way into my most personal space. This caused me to freeze up in the middle of my conversation with Fluttershy.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?" She was now looking at me with worry.

I had to quickly shake both my thoughts and my head in response. Forcing a reassuring smile, I nodded. "Yeah, sorry. I kind of blanked out for a second."

"What was it you were going to ask me?"

I scratched my head a bit before I responded. "Sorry, I kind of forgot it all of a sudden." I returned a sheepish grin, trying to make light of the subject matter.

"Tell me as soon you as remember." She said with a teasing smile. "I want to know now."

I nodded once more.

As soon as she rested her head against me and closed her eyes, I began thinking back on what happened.

I hadn't actually forgotten what I wanted to ask her. Instead, I was afraid to ask it. It wasn't because I was scared of how she'd react or respond to it. It was because of this uninvited voice that appeared out of nowhere without my consent.

I hoped that this voice was just my "nerves", but considering everything we've faced in Equestria, you could never be too careful.

Mare Of The Moon

Episode 1 – Mare in the Moon

All the laughter… all the cold shoulders… what's the point? I don't ever want to be with any pony ever again… not if the same conclusion will occur every time…

I awoke from a deep slumber… gosh… I slept like… almost all day… not to mention about that strange dream I had… something about… elements of harmony… Anyway, I guess I better get ready for that "special event"… what was it again…? Ah… I forgot… oh well… it's not worth remembering… then again… what is?

I brushed the blankets off my body and rose out of bed. I shook my mane and then made my bed. I walked to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. I stared at my blue eyes alone with my dark blue body. However… the dark blue was light as well… I then continued at my ruffled mane. The hair above my head halted a few inches over my forehead as my tail stopped a little below my knees.

I decided to take a rinse if I shall show respect to Princess Celestia. I entered the shower and scrubbed my hair and body, passing through my mark that presented a wolf.

I walked out of the shower and shook my mane again, spraying drops of water everywhere. I walked to the front of my door and thought for a minute.

Well here you go Alex… just walk outside… everything will be alright… you're tough… you're pure-hearted… you'll make it through this… just don't pay attention to anyone… you've got this. I took several deep breaths, opened the door, and walked outside, shutting the door behind me.

Despite the atmosphere in my home, it was really sunny outside. Every pony was walking, sprinting, even rushing for the special event Princess Celestia would be hosting. I had just woken up… so I guess I could get myself something to eat…

I walked over to the apple acres, but along the way, something pink flew as fast as lighting right by me. I looked back to see what it was, but it was gone. I shrugged and continued walking to my destination.

When I arrived, I saw a pony with the color of an orange… despite the fact that she had a cutie mark with a triplet of apples on her left leg. She also had three freckles on each side of her cheeks and a long blonde mane which was tied at the end, including her tail. Lastly, she wore an old western, farm girl, cowboy hat. I walked up to her as she continued kicking the trees for the apples to fall into a bucket near her.

"Excuse me?" I asked as I approached her.

She heard my voice and turned around, revealing her lime green eyes as well as a smile.

"Well howdy there, partner. What can I do for ya?" She replied in a cheerful and warming voice.

"I would like an apple, please."

"Of course!" She kicked the bucket which led to a flying apple shooting out of the bucket and on to her head. She bounced the apple off her head and it landed on the back of my mane.

I was impressed by her amazing skill.

"Thanks. How much is that, miss?" I questioned.

She seemed surprised by my choice of words, which showed my respect and express of gentleman-like words.

"No worries about that, partner! It's on the house!" She revealed another smile, but this time with her teeth and closed eyes.

"Really? That's nice… thank you." I replied.

"No problem! Have a good one, ya hear?"

"Thanks. You too." I walked out and headed back in town.

As I walked, I chewed the apple in mouth, noticing a light blue pony with the mane and tail of a rainbow color lying lazily on a cloud. Strange… why does that color seem so familiar?

I arrived back at town, noticing a violet pony rush out of a beauty shop along with a baby dragon of the same color as her. I noticed every pony was rushing today for some reason. Most likely the special event…

After a few seconds when the purple pony disappeared, another pony of a white, with a little tint of blue, color opened the door slightly and looked out. She had a horn on her head and the top of her eyes were touched by light blue makeup. Her eyes were blue while her mane was purple and properly taken care of. She contained three diamonds on her right leg. She continued looking out with a worried expression on her face.

"Oh… where ever did she go? I was really going to be generous enough to help her look FABULOUS for the princess…" She sighed and walked back in the shop.

I continued walking throughout the town. There was still a long time until the event started… maybe I could just go back home and sleep some more… I walked gloomy back to my house, even hearing sounds of loud music from another house in town, and walked through the front door. When I shut the door behind me, darkness engulfed the area. Only the sound of silence greeted me home as I walked up the stairs to my bed. I lay myself down and closed my eyes. I couldn't really sleep… but I just lay there with my eyes open… struggling with the hatchet that never wants to stay in the ground…

It was nighttime… but at the point where the sun was going to rise in a while… I lazily sat up and yawned. I jumped off the bed and made it just like earlier today. I walked outside my home and over to where the special event was to take place. I had arrived in time to see a large amount of ponies gathered below the balcony. There was another pony… she was directing the birds' song…

She had a warm yellow color… the color of a beautiful sunrise… She also had a pink mane and tail, as well as three butterflies as her cutie mark on her left leg. Her face contained sweet, innocent eyes with the color of light blue and she contained wings on her body. As I saw her motion the birds with her legs, something different stirred in me as I stared at her in awe.

"Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor in ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the summer sun celebration!" The mayor announced.

Every pony cheered at this point.

"In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise and celebrate this, the longest day of the year, and now… it is my great pleasure to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony that gives us the sun and the moon, each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria, Princess Celestia!"

The curtains opened… only to reveal darkness on an empty spotlight. Every pony gasped and began whispering.

"Remain calm, every pony. There must be a reasonable explanation…" The mayor explained.

However, I knew that something was wrong…

Suddenly, a pink pony, most likely the one I saw earlier, began jumping and saying excitedly, "Ooh! Ooh! I love guessing games! Is she hiding?" She looked around, clueless.

A pony came out of the area where the curtains stood and announced horridly, "She's gone!" I noticed it was the same pony from the beauty shop.

Every pony then immediately gasped.

As expected, the pink pony cried out, "Ooooh… she's GOOOD!" Despite the cheerfulness in her voice, she screamed immediately when a mist of darkness appeared on the balcony.

A large and dark pony appeared in the dark mist, having the same color of nightfall. She looked over us and spoke.

"Oh. My beloved subjects, it's been so long since I've seen your oh so precious sun loving faces…"

"What did you do with our princess?" A pony cried out. It was the pony with the rainbow hair that I had seen earlier as well on the cloud. She tried to charge at the night pony but was held back by the same pony that gave me the apple.

The dark pony laughed and said, "Why? Am I not royal enough for you?" Her tone immediately shifted. "Don't you know who I am?"

The pink pony again said, "Ooh. Ooh! More guessing games! Ummmm… HOKEY SMOKES! How bout QUEEN MINNIE? No. BLACK SNOOTY! BLACK SNOO- "The pony who gave me the apple stuffed her mouth with apples.

"Does my crown no longer count as I have been imprisoned for a thousand years?" She stated as she frightened the sweet innocent pony who directed the birds.

Her eyes shifted to the pony from the beauty shop and continued her speech. "Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?"

However, her speech was interrupted by the same purple pony I saw escaping from the beauty shop, "I did! And I know who you are! You're the mare of the moon! Nightmare Moon!"

Every pony gasped again.

"Well well well!" Nightmare Moon said. "Some pony who remembers me! Then you also know why I am here!"

The purple pony spoke, "You're here to…" She hesitated. "to…" She gulped.

Nightmare Moon laughed once again and announced, "Remember this day little ponies, for it is your last… from this moment forth… the night will last FOREVER!" She laughed manically after, as shots of thunder boomed and lightning flashed above her.

I stood in disbelief. What was going to happen? Night forever? Wait… I've seen this in my dream today… does it mean… does it mean… it was… real…?

To be continued…

Feeling Pinkie Keen

Episode 15- Feeling Pinkie Keen

I opened my eyes and slowly noticed the sunshine peeking through the window. I was tucked under the comfort of my blankets. I remained there for a moment, not falling asleep, but relaxing… After a few minutes, I rose from the bed and walked on the floor, making my sheets. I walked downstairs and stared at the inside of my home for a while. I noticed how there were not many decorations inside, except for the ones it came with. Geez… what have I've been doing with all the days I've been alone? Oh that's right… nothing… If I remember correctly… I was probably asleep all day every day before I met the girls…

I looked back at my front door and exited out. I walked towards Fluttershy's in a positive mood, though I didn't really show it. Ever since I met her, I've always wanted to spend time with her. She's just… amazing.

I arrived to see Fluttershy have a basket of frogs… a saddle with bags full of frogs… and a cart with wheels attached to her which was also filled with… frogs…

After she finished securing the toads, she spotted me and called.

"Hi, Alex!"

I began walking over to her. "Hey, Fluttershy. What are you doing with all those frogs?" I asked, stopping near her and observing the frogs.

"The pond was getting overpopulated! I couldn't stand to see the poor things so crowded together… so I decided to take these ones to Froggy Bottom Bog." She responded.

"That's great. Do you need some help?"

She smiled. "That's really nice of you, but sadly, you can't really help me."

"Why not?"

"Well… I was planning on flying over there… but since you don't have any wings… you can't really keep up with me…"

"Oh… okay… I see…" To be honest, I was a little disappointed that I wouldn't be able to help her.

Fluttershy noticed and instantly replied. "But that doesn't mean we can't be together when I'm done, though!" She thought for a moment. "Want to go for a walk in town before I take these toads to their new home?"

"Sure, okay." I felt a little better, but Fluttershy didn't have to offer to go for a walk…

Ironically, I was the only one walking. Fluttershy was flying a little above me as she still had her frogs with her.

"Look! There's Twilight and Pinkie Pie!" Fluttershy exclaimed softly as she spotted the two ponies.

We began moving over to them, but all of a sudden, a frog jumped out of the cart and began falling towards Twilight.

"Oh no!" Fluttershy cried out.

I quickly rushed and jumped to catch the frog with my hooves before it landed on Twilight's face. I landed with a thud while I heard the frog croak in my hooves.

"He just said, 'nice catch' in Frog." Pinkie Pie announced in her usual voice.

The frog croaked again and I sighed.

"Oh, I'm so, so sorry. Are you okay, Alex?" She asked as she lowered herself towards me.

"I think so…" I responded, standing up to place the frog back where it belonged.

"Fluttershy, what are you doing with all those frogs?" Twilight asked.

"I just couldn't stand to see the pond getting so over-populated, what with the frogs all hopping into each other and all, so I decided to fly as many as I can on over to Froggy Bottom Bog." Fluttershy answered.

"Of course you did…" Twilight replied, sounding a little... not appealed… after realizing that she could have been hit in the face with a frog.

"I should hurry and take them right now before more of them might do the same thing." She grabbed the basket with her hooves and smiled. "I'll be back as soon as I can!" She then grabbed the basket with her mouth and muffled, "Bye-bye!"

She flew off. I turned around to notice Pinkie Pie was wearing some kind of umbrella hat and that Spike was with Twilight.

"Thanks for the save, Alex." She responded and then shuddered. "I don't know what I'd do if I had a… frog… on my face!"

"Good thing too!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. "If not, you would have been 'EEWW' and 'AAAH' and 'BLEEEEH' Ha! Ha!" Pinkie Pie laughed after she animated the scene that might have occurred if Twilight was hit by the frog.

"Oh, really? Did your Pinkie Sense tell you that, too?" Twilight replied, sounding a little irritated.

"Nah! I could just imagine it!" She then skipped away, humming.

After recovering from her randomness, I spoke.

"What was that all about…?" I asked.

"Ugh… It's just Pinkie Pie talking about this 'Pinkie Sense' she has or something…"

"'Pinkie Sense'?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, I don't know much about it either." She looked over at Spike. "C'mon, Spike, let's continue our practice session where there's a little less commotion." She looked back at me. "Want to join us, Alex?"

I decided I could go while Fluttershy was taking the frogs.

"Sure." I responded.

As I began walking with Twilight to wherever she was going to go, Spike immediately climbed on her back and began exclaiming excitedly, "Wow! That was amazing! Pinkie Pie predicted something would fall, and it did!"

"Oh, come on. She said that something would fall, and a frog just happened to fall right around the same time. A coincidence, nothing else to it."

However, Pinkie Pie randomly appeared before us, once again.

"My tail! My tail! Twitch-a-twitch! Twitch-a-twitch! Somethin' else is gonna fall!"

"Oh, Pinkie, please." As Twilight responded to Pinkie Pie's comment, I noticed something up ahead that Twilight was too busy to notice herself. I quickly took action and ran in front of Twilight. "Nothing else is gonna –

I placed my hooves in front of me to prevent her from falling in the trench. Her body tapped me, but when she felt my hooves, she stopped. However, even her tap caused me to tip over and fall into the trench, feeling an even harder thud as a groan released from inside me.

"Oh no, Alex fell! Is it... safe to go help him?" Spike asked Pinkie Pie, scared.

"It's okay, my tail stopped twitching." Pinkie Pie replied. She began skipping away, singing again, as Twilight immediately came over to help me.

"Alex, are you alright?" Twilight asked urgently, helping me up from the ground.

"I think so…" I answered, repeated my response from the first time.

"Ha ha! That was amazing!" Spike rushed over to us, exclaiming.

"Spike! There was nothing funny about that! Alex could have been hurt!"

"Uh, Alex? Twilight? Why are you two hanging out in a ditch?" Applejack had somehow came upon us and questioned.

"Because, Pinkie Pie predicted it!" Spike answered loudly.

"Honestly, Spike, she did not. Two coincidences in a row like this may be unlikely, but it's still easier to believe than twitchy tails that predict the future. She probably just saw the ditch ahead of us and predicted that someone was going to fall, which would have been me if Alex didn't take the fall for me."

Applejack gasped at Twilight's response. "Twitchy tail? Pinkie Sense?" Applejack quickly hid under a cart full of corn and carrots. "Woah! Nyu-uh!"

"Don't worry, it's safe. Prediction already came true." Spike calmed Applejack.

I pulled myself out of the ditch and pulled Twilight out of it as well.

"Oh, wait. Don't tell me you believe in this stuff, too?" Twilight asked, realizing Applejack's actions.

"I know it doesn't make much sense," Applejack crawled out from the bottom of the cart. "but those of us who have been in Ponyville a while, have learned over time that, if Pinkie's-a-twichin', you better listen."

All of a sudden, Pinkie Pie appeared again. "My ears are flopping! My ears are flopping!" She exclaimed as her ears flopped.

"Nyuh!" Spike immediately retaliated by flinching. "What does that mean?"

"I'll start a bath for you." She answered… not making much sense.

"Huh?" Twilight chuckled. "A bath? This thing keeps on getting more ridiculous by the minute!"

I had noticed the big puddle of mud right near Twilight. An elderly pony had come running with a cart full of hay behind him. I immediately pushed Twilight away from the area, but I didn't have time to save myself. A whole lot of mud splashed on me, soaking my whole body.

"Uh…Alex…?" Twilight said, confused about what had just happened.

I kept the angry, but calm expression on my face as I sat there soaked in mud.

"C'mon, Alex!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, grabbing my hoof. "Let's get you all nice and clean!" She began taking me to the cake shop to get a bath while I could only sigh.

Pinkie Pie had me in a tub filled with water and bubbles. Twilight was near the tub.

"I'm really sorry that I got you covered in mud Alex…" Twilight apologized.

"It's okay…" I responded. I felt a little better since I was cleaner in the tub, so I didn't really have a bad mood anymore.

Twilight seemed like she wanted to say more, but Pinkie Pie came in with some more vials of bubble soap on her head.

"Sooo, basically, it works like this:" Pinkie Pie explained as she placed the vial on the floor. "I get different, little, niggling feelings and they mean different things. Like when my back is itchy, it means it's my lucky day. And, when my knee gets pinchy, that means something scary's about to happen."

"Is your knee pinchy now?" Twilight asked.

"No, but my shoulder's achy. That means there's an alligator in the tub." She dunked her head inside the water and pulled out a baby alligator with her teeth. The sight of the alligator frightened Twilight, as for me, it seemed to only raise an eyebrow.

"How come your knee didn't get pinchy?" Twilight screamed in fear. "That isn't just scary, it's downright dangerous!"

Pinkie Pie placed the alligator on the floor and explained his presence. "No it's not, silly! This is my pet alligator, Gummy. He's got no teeth. See?" Her pet furiously attacked Pinkie Pie's whole body, but it was ineffective as he had only gums to show for it… clever… "Haha!"

"Okay, okay... I get it." Twilight calmed herself down and left the bathroom.

Pinkie Pie looked at me and smiled brightly for a moment. It was actually for several seconds that she smiled at me in an awkward silence as I looked around the room, a little uncomfortable. However, it felt more like hours…

After the time passed, she exclaimed, "Well, looks like it's time for you to get out now!"

I had jumped out of the tub and shook my whole body, including my mane. I walked out of the bathroom once I was dry enough and thanked Pinkie Pie for letting me use her bathroom.

"No Problemo!"

Once Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and I walked outside, Twilight began the argument that she didn't believe Pinkie Pie's signs, again.

"Well, I still don't believe all this... 'special power' stuff. It's just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo." Twilight argued.

Pinkie Pie glared at her, confused, but a bit angry. "What's not to believe? You do magic, what's the difference?"

"Huge! For one thing," She noticed a box near us that contained some items on top, which the nearby cart was selling. She moved them lightly and stood on top of the box. She cleared her throat. "magic is something you study and practice. It only happens when you decide to do it, and it's meant to make something specific that you choose to happen, happen. With you, uh, it makes no sense at all!"

"That's so not true Twilight! Sometimes it's a bunch of random things happening to my body at random times that supposedly predict the future. I call 'em 'combos'."

"Combos?" Twilight asked as she began nearing her home.

"Sure!" Pinkie Pie hopped after her. "You know, like, ear flop, then knee twitch, then eye flutter. That means the sky is about to be graced with a beautiful rainbow!"

"Yeah, sure…" Twilight continued walking towards the door to her house.

"Uh oh, I feel a combo coming on. Ear flop, eye flutter, knee twitch!" Pinkie Pie did the exact things she had announced.

Twilight continued walking towards the front door while looking back at Pinkie Pie, confused. Her door opened suddenly, slamming straight onto Twilight. I guess I wasn't able to prevent THAT from happening to her… Spike was exiting the home, carrying books. He seemed to not notice what had just happened.

"Twilight, are you alright?" I exclaimed, rushing over to her as she lay on the floor in front of her door.

She groaned and looked over to Pinkie Pie. "Ughhh... You said that combo meant 'beautiful rainbow'."

"Oh no-no-no-no-no." Pinkie Pie corrected. "You're thinking of an ear flop, then knee twitch, then eye flutter. This was an ear flop, then eye flutter, then knee twitch. That usually means 'look out for opening doors'. You okay?"

I helped Twilight get up. "I don't believe this." She muttered, very annoyed.

"You don't believe because you don't understand. Just ask Alex! I bet he believes me!" Pinkie Pie placed her hooves on me. "Huh? Huh? Do ya?"

Both the ponies looked at me awaiting my answer. My eyes shifted to each of them.

"Um…well…" I spoke as they continued to look. I sighed. "Twilight… you're going to think I'm crazy for saying this but… I think Pinkie Pie is right…"

"What?" Twilight exclaimed.

"Yippee!" Pinkie Pie cheered.

"Well… it may look too… well… ridiculous to be true… but I mean all those predictions Pinkie Pie had gotten correct couldn't possibly be just all coincidences… maybe that's just a random talent of hers…"

"Hmm…" Twilight wondered. "Well I have some way to figure out what this really is…"

Twilight had taken us to her home, where she set up an entire lab to… test for the reason why Pinkie Pie has the twitches.

"Just stand over here, Pinkie." Twilight directed her to the middle of the room where there was a machine.

"Okie Dokie!" Pinkie Pie cheerfully hopped to her position.

Twilight placed a helmet containing many buttons and lights on her. Then, she plugged in a wire to Pinkie Pie's helmet and closed the steel arm braces on the machine in front of her.

"Okay. Now when you get another twitch, we'll have all kinds of scientific information." Twilight walked over to the machine that looked to be recording the brain activity.

"Okey-dokey-lokey!" Pinkie Pie repeated with an extra rhyming word.

Pinkie Pie began concentrating as Twilight anxiously paced around the machines, eagerly waiting for a twitch.

I sat there observing, wondering what Twilight was going to do with Pinkie Pie's twitches.

"Um, Twilight…? Maybe this is too much…" I said, after analyzing all of the machines.

"Oh, don't worry, Alex. Pinkie Pie is perfectly safe! I just want to run some tests…" Twilight replied, and then looked over at Pinkie Pie. "Any twitches yet?" She asked.

"Nopey-dopey!" Pinkie Pie answered, returning her smile.

Twilight analyzed one of the machines she was standing right next to for a few seconds and asked again. "Now? Anything?"

"Wait! Hold on!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed. She concentrated for a few seconds, and then replied. "Uhh, no."

"Are you kidding me? After a whole day of non-stop twitching, now that I've got you all hooked up, you're not getting a single one?"

"I don't control it, they just come and go."

"That makes no sense!"

"Sometimes you just have to believe in things, even when you can't figure 'em out."

"I will not believe in anything I cannot explain."

"Wait! hold on," Pinkie Pie paused. "I'm feeling something..."

"Oh my gosh, what? What is it?" Twilight asked, excitedly.

A loud rumble sounded in the room… but it came from Pinkie Pie's stomach.

"It's my tummy! That usually means I'm hungry! Let's eat!"

"Urgh... !" Twilight growled. "You know what?" She bit and snapped the cables from the machine. "Just forget it! I don't need to know if this is real or not. I don't need to understand it! I don't even care!"

Pinkie Pie stood silent for a moment. After, she removed herself from position."Okey-dokey-lokey." She responded. We started heading upstairs as Pinkie Pie hopped along cheerfully. Right before we reached the door, she suddenly gasped. "Uh-oh." Things occurred with her body as she continued gasping, catching my attention.

"Pinkie Pie, are you okay?" I worriedly asked.

" Hu-bu-bu-bu-bu" She answered and fell back.

Suddenly, the door opened forcefully, smacking Twilight as it did last time. Spike came out and questioned Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie? Have you seen Twilight?"

Pinkie Pie stood back up and hopped over to Spike. "Uh-huh." She continued to hop outside of the room. Spike stepped inside of the room, looking for Twilight. I walked over to the door and closed it, seeing Twilight flat on the door. I grabbed her hoof and pulled her off.

"Twilight? What are ya doing back there?" Spike asked.

She groaned. "Rrrrgh... Did you and Pinkie Pie plan this?"

"Plan what?"

"Urgh! This is ridiculous. This can't be happening. This makes no sense. I have to figure this out."

"Twilight… maybe you should just believe Pinkie Pie. I know it may seem ridiculous… but now… even I feel that it's all true. It doesn't make sense that it doesn't make sense… she's predicting everything that happens and every pony believes her… I think you should do the same…"

"Alex… not you too…" Twilight responded softly, a little depressed.

"I'm sorry Twilight… but I mean… I just don't want you to keep getting hurt. Since, you don't believe Pinkie Pie, you suffer from her predictions…" Twilight remained silent with her head held down. I thought for a moment and continued talking. "Twilight, haven't you every heard, learned, or read about the ponies that lived a very long time ago?" I asked.

"Huh…?"

"Those ancient earth ponies… they were able to predict mostly anything and everything… maybe Pinkie Pie is somehow a descendent from them and managed to receive that trait? I don't know…"

"Hmm…" Twilight held a hoof to her chin. "That's it! I'll study her!"

"Huh?" I questioned.

"If she really CAN predict things, they I'll go undercover and study what she does!"

"Um…"

In a flash, she left the house.

When I was outside, I decided to leave Twilight to whatever she wanted to do… I know she's my friend… but the same routine was getting tiresome. I took a walk through town, observing the day.

I wonder how Fluttershy's doing…I hope she's okay…

I thought for a minute and suddenly realized something.

Wait! Isn't Froggy Bottom Bog in the Everfree forest? I better go check up on her to make sure she's alright!

I immediately began running towards the Everfree forest.

I should have never left her side… I hope she's okay…

As soon as I passed the border, I quickly searched the forest for Fluttershy. I spotted a long cart as I ran, which caused me to halt and run towards it. When I arrived, I saw the cart attached to some pony…it was Fluttershy!

"Fluttershy!" I called, which caused her to look back. "You're alright!"

"Oh, Alex!" She responded as I ran towards her. "Of course I am, why wouldn't I be? And why are you here?"

"You're in the Everfree forest; I was worried about you…"

"Oh…" She blushed. "Well you didn't have to come… I was just about to let these frogs into the pond."

I gave a sigh of relief. "Okay." I wanted to get back to Ponyville as quick as possible with Fluttershy, so I quickly helped her detach the cart and release the frogs.

They continuously croaked as they hopped into the dirty-looking pond. Fluttershy looked at me and smiled. "Thank you, Alex."

"I'm just glad you're safe…" I responded.

Her cheeks released another glow of red.

However, I suddenly heard something behind us in the water… It sounded as if it rose and sunk back in the water… that's not good…

"Alex, what is it?" Fluttershy asked, noticing my expression.

"I…" I hesitated. "I don't feel comfortable here… we should go… now…" I responded, feeling a little afraid.

Fluttershy saw the serious expression on my face and agreed. "Okay." She began walking out of the area, but something croaked in the cart… it was another frog. "Oh no! Poor thing!" She picked up the frog. "I think he's too scared to go in alone!" She looked over to me. "Alex, I need to put him in the water, is that okay?"

I thought for a moment. "Fluttershy, why don't you let me put him in the water. You should go back to Ponyville."

"What?" She questioned. "I can't leave you here alone…"

"It's alright. I'm just going to put the frog in the water really quick. I'll catch up with you."

She hesitated for a moment but then agreed. "Okay… hurry back…" She gave me the frog as it croaked again in my hooves.

As she began flying back to Ponyville, I walked over to the bubbling water and looked at the frog.

"Okay… well here you go…" I slowly placed the frog inside the water, and it went on its way, happily, despite its surrounding. I sighed heavily and closed my eyes. I heard a sudden noise in the water again, causing me to instantly open my eyes and look around. It was the same sound a few minutes ago. I gave one last look around with my eyes and slowly began backing out of the area. However, a sudden green fog emerged which started to make me cough. What is this? I continued coughing trying to find my way out, but I couldn't see anymore!

A horrible stench followed and I heard something emerge in the water! I quickly turned around I noticed a huge orange neck appear before my widened and shocked eyes. I looked around and noticed the same thing, twice! I looked up to see four heads staring fiercely at me. They gave a terrible and loud roar.

The only thing I could do was run. I didn't know where I was going. I just ran.

I looked behind me to see the monster actually come out from the water and follow me! It was a hydra! I continued running, endlessly, hoping it would not catch me. Each step shook the ground, causing it to move closer to me! It tried to attack me by lunging one of its head towards me but I dodged it by jumping out of the way and continue running.

It did this tactic a few more times, but failed each time as I maneuvered out of the way. I had gained some distance between it, but it still wasn't far off. Regardless, I had ended up at a dead end. I quickly looked for a way out and noticed some ground above me. I immediately began running up the hill, though it was a bit steep.

I continued running, not even taking a glance back. When I reached the top… I had reached another basically dead end. There was another mountain on the other side… but to get to that side… I had to jump across several small pieces of land. I looked back to see the hydra growing closer to me. I took a deep breath and leapt for my life.

I managed to make the first jump… but I had to time each jump carefully, slowly, but quickly at the same time. I continued to make a few more jumps, but the hydra eventually caught up with me and tried to attack me with one of its heads again. Instead, it missed and tipped over, but its fall caused the small pieces of land to bend and fall towards another like a line of large pillars. I lost my balance as the ground below me moved at an angle. It was heading straight towards the spiky waters below me and if I didn't move, I'd be gone for good!

Nonetheless, as it fell, I noticed I was near the other side! I realized I could make the jump if I got close enough! I readied myself as the pillar I stood on continued falling. Once I saw the opportunity, I leapt and headed for the other side, but I was too short of a distance. I caught the edge of the ground and held for my life and I stared at the waters below me.

The hydra knew that it couldn't reach me anymore as the only path was destroyed. The hydra was gone… but I had worse problems…

I had lost a lot of energy running and dodging the hydra's attacks. I didn't know if I could make it… I struggled to keep a hold of the edge but I was starting to slip!

"Alex!" I heard a faint yell from somewhere. The sound of hooves pounding of the ground was heard. I continued to grunt and groan.

"Alex!" The voices were closer as they continued to call my name.

I couldn't hold on anymore! My hooves slipped and I began falling towards the ocean of death.

However, something suddenly grabbed my hooves. I looked up to see that it was Fluttershy! She held on tight to my hooves and began pulling me up with all her strength. She finally made it upwards and landed me softly and safely back on the ground.

"Fluttershy!" I announced her name as I panted.

She immediately hugged me. As she did, I noticed Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Spike behind her.

"Are you alright?" They immediately asked me, worried sickly.

I nodded and looked at Fluttershy. "Thank you…" I told her.

She shook her head and responded back to me. "No, thank you."

"For what? You're the one who saved my life."

"But if it wasn't for you, I probably would have been the one with the hydra…" She pulled away.

"Well what happened? How are all you girls here?" I asked.

"I met them when I was heading back to Ponyville…" Fluttershy answered.

"When we saw that Fluttershy was okay, we were relieved…" Twilight added. "But Pinkie Pie was shuddering, so she said that there was going to be a doozy here. Fluttershy told us you had came over to her and that you were still releasing a frog. When we heard the roar, we immediately headed to where the sound came from. We saw a big hydra chasing after something and we realized it was you! We rushed over to where you were and saw you hanging on for your life! Fluttershy sped towards you and flew to catch you and… well here we are…" She looked over to Pinkie Pie. "I don't know how it happened; coincidence, dumb luck, or what, but you said there'd be a doozy here at Froggy Bottom Bog, and I'd say we just had ourselves one heck of a doozy. I mean that hydra—

Pinkie Pie began shuddering again.

"Pinkie?" Twilight asked.

"That wasn't it." Pinkie Pie answered.

"Huh?"

"What wasn't what?" Spike added.

"What are you talking about Pink?" Applejack questioned.

"The hydra wasn't the doozy." Pinkie Pie responded. "I'm still getting the shudders. Oo-o-oh, oo-o-oh. You see? There it is again. Whatever the doozy was at Froggy Bottom Bog, my Pinkie Sense says it still hasn't happened."

"Huh? But Alex—

Twilight stuttered in rage. "WHAT! The hydra wasn't the doozy? How could it not be the doozy? What could be doozier than that?"

"Dunno, but it just wasn't it." Pinkie Pie replied.

Twilight immediately grew enraged and literally combusted into flames. Every pony became surprised and afraid when Twilight was filled with anger. But, then she finally cooled down and fell to the floor. "Ooh... I give up..."

"Give what up, Twi?" Spike asked as Pinkie Pie continued shuddering.

"The fight. I can't fight it anymore. I don't understand how, why, or what, but Pinkie sense somehow... makes sense. I don't see how it does, but it just does." She sighed. "Alex was right… I should have listened to him and maybe this all wouldn't have happened… Just because I don't understand doesn't mean it's not true."

"Y-y-y-you m-m-mean you b-b-b-believe?" Pinkie Pie's shuddering grew fierce now.

"Eyup, I guess I do." Twilight admitted.

"Oo-woo-oo-oo-oo, woo-oo-oo-oo-oh, woo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-ooh!" Pinkie Pie's shuddering became insane, and then it suddenly stopped. "Ooh!" She gasped. "That was it. That's the doozy!"

"What? What is?" Twilight asked, walking up to Pinkie Pie.

"You believing." She poked Twilight. "I never expected that to happen. That was the doozy, oh and, oh what a doozy of a doozy it was!"

And returning to her randomness, she skipped off singing as the rest of us stared at her in confusion.

"Well, let's get out of here!" Twilight suggested.

As we left the Everfree forest and back to Ponyville, Fluttershy walked right by my side, asking if I needed help or if I was okay.

"I'm okay… thank you." I replied.

When we arrived back at town, Fluttershy invited me over to her home. She led me inside of her house and patched me up, clearing any scratches and healing some bruises.

"Thank you…" I thanked as she finished. "I really appreciate it…"

Fluttershy released a soft smile. "You're welcome…"

We looked into each others eyes in silence for a moment, but she turned her head away and blushed.

Afterwards, Fluttershy and I walked back to town. We passed Twilight's house to hear her speaking. She was writing another letter… I stopped by to listen.

"I am happy to report that I now realize there are wonderful things in this world you just can't explain, but that doesn't necessarily make them any less true. It just means you have to choose to believe in them, and sometimes it takes a friend to show you the way. Always, your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

After, Twilight and Pinkie Pie walked outside of the tree and noticed us. They were both wearing umbrella hats.

"Hi, Alex." Twilight greeted as she walked over to us. "Are you doing okay?"

I nodded. "Fluttershy helped me."

Fluttershy blushed for a second.

"Well, I hope whatever falls doesn't hurt you." Twilight advised. "Pinkie Pie's tail is twitching!"

Pinkie Pie's tail did, indeed, twitch. "There it goes again."

"I wonder what's gonna drop outta the sky this time?" Twilight wondered.

"You never know…" Pinkie Pie answered as they continued walking.

However, Fluttershy and I heard something whistling down toward us. We turned around to see Princess Celestia crash, in an orderly manner, on Twilight's balcony and take the letter, personally, from Spike and fly back to where she came from.

"Well… that was… unexpected." I said, a little shocked from the surprise.

Fluttershy looked at me and giggled.

By the time night fell, I was at Fluttershy's home. She had offered me some warm sweet tea, which I drank slowly with sips. I don't know how Fluttershy makes it… but the tea is great…

"How's the tea?" Fluttershy asked.

"It's fantastic…" I answered.

"Thank you…" Fluttershy responded with a sweet smile.

Suddenly, we heard light drops of water splash on the window. As we traveled over to the window to see what was going on, the water grew heavier and faster. We realized that it had begun to rain.

"Rain?" I questioned. "I didn't know the Pegasus ponies scheduled rain at this time…"

It was also starting to get windy outside as well.

"Well, I better get home." I spoke as I readied myself to leave.

"You can't go home while it's raining!" Fluttershy stopped me.

"It's okay. I'll be fine… it's just a little rain…" Thunder boomed and lightning flashed outside, causing Fluttershy and I to look at the window. I looked back at Fluttershy. "I'll be fine."

"Mm-mm." Fluttershy shook her head. "It's too dangerous to go out now…" Fluttershy thought for a moment, and then spoke shyly. "You can stay here… if you want…"

"I don't want to be a bother…" I responded to her offer.

"I insist… I don't want you going out while the weather is like that…"

"But Fluttershy…"

She shook her head. "No 'buts'. I promise you that you won't be a bother at all."

I analyzed Fluttershy's determined yet soft face and hesitated. After looking away for a moment and thinking, I replied with my decision for her offer. "Okay… if it's okay with you."

She smiled and responded. "Of course!"

Fluttershy told me I could sleep on the couch if it was comfortable enough, if not, she would find or make me another place to sleep for the night.

"The couch is fine, Fluttershy… thank you very much for letting me stay here…" I responded.

"It's my pleasure." Fluttershy welcomed softly. "Now I guess I'll be going to bed now…" She looked towards me. "Call me if you need anything, okay?"

I nodded. "Good night, Fluttershy."

"Good night, Alex." She smiled as she walked upstairs to her room. After a few seconds of looking around, I heard her open a door and close it. It was silent now except for the sound of rain outside, along with some thunder and few flashes of lightning.

Fluttershy had left the light on in the living room, probably in case I needed to do anything else before I went to sleep. I walked over to the light switch and turned it off. The room was not totally engulfed in darkness as the moonlight seeped through the windows. I quietly sat on the couch and lay down. As I lay down, I continued looking out the window, observing the pouring rain.

Soon enough, my eyes closed by themselves.

However, I found myself opening them again, I don't know how much later. It was still dark and pouring outside. Suddenly, I noticed something outside that I had not seen there before… I slowly sat up and walked towards the window. I continued analyzing whatever it was that caught my eye. From what I could see, it was dark figure of another pony… looking more like a shadow… It stared at me for a moment and then slowly turned around and walked away. I continued staring out the window, feeling a little frightened… what was that all about?

The light behind me suddenly turned on, startling me and causing me to turn around.

"Alex? What are you doing up? It's really late." It was Fluttershy. She was wearing a white night robe with purple furry trim. "Is something wrong…?" She walked over to me.

I looked back at the window and stood silent as I wondered about what I just saw. "No…I'm alright…I just couldn't sleep…"

"Do you need me to get you something?" She asked, worriedly.

"No, I'm fine…" I looked back at her. "I'm sorry for waking you up."

"Don't worry about it… I just want to make sure you're alright…"

"Thanks…" I responded. "You should get some sleep… I'll probably try to get some myself too."

"Okay…well… if there's anything you need to tell me or talk about… I'll be up in my room…"

I nodded and she began walking back upstairs, turning off the light and entering her room.

I looked back outside of the window and continued observing the background, squinting my eyes a bit. After several seconds, I quietly and slowly began walking to the couch while keeping my eyes on the window. Then, I finally moved my head towards the couch and nestled myself on it.

I closed my eyes and tried to force myself to sleep, but it was bit difficult as I felt a little uneasy about what I just saw.

The Mysterious Mare Do Well

Episode 34 – The Mysterious Mare Do Well

It felt like any other day when I woke up. I opened my eyes to see the sunshine peeking in through the window. I stretched and loosened myself. Afterwards, I rubbed my eyes and crawled off of bed. I walked down the stairs, yawning and hearing silence. Wanting to escape this silence, I opened the door and prepared myself for the sounding environment from the other ponies.

When I was outside, I could hear the chattering of many ponies as they stood, talking to each other, or walked by. I began walking through town myself, feeling the need for a stroll while it felt peaceful.

"Help! Help!" I heard a young filly's voice nearby. The voice sounded as if it was echoed. I quickly looked around to notice where the voice came from. "Help! Help!" I heard again, causing my head to point towards an old well with broken planks of wood nailed onto the top. I quickly raced over to the well and looked down. Through many feet down, I could see a small faint filly crawled at the bottom.

"Hold on! I'll get some help!" I shouted.

Suddenly there was a flash of blue that crashed through the well, causing me to jump back and land on the ground. Other ponies had walked towards where I was at. Twilight and Pinkie Pie had walked towards the well, asking me what happened. "Alex, what's going on?"

"I don't know…"

Fluttershy walked towards me as well from behind. "Alex? Are you okay?" She asked, helping me up.

"Yeah…" I dusted myself off. "There is a filly stuck in the well, but—

The same flash of blue flew out with the filly holding on to her back. It was Rainbow Dash! She had flown towards us and landed, allowing the dirty filly to hop off her with leaves, mud, and scratches on her. The ponies that surrounded the scene immediately began cheering. "Wow. What's with this crowd?" She muttered. "Uh, thanks everypony. It was really no big deal."

The saved filly walked up to her. "To me it was! You're my hero, Rainbow Dash!" Her comment caused the ponies to resume cheering as Rainbow Dash could only look at them embarrassingly in the good way. Rarely, she blushed and flew away.

"That Rainbow Dash sure is something." Scootaloo had also seen the scene and commented. I noticed she was wearing some sort of wig of Rainbow Dash's mane on her mane. Snips and Snails were also by her, wearing Rainbow Dash shirts.

"Something special." They finished while Scootaloo nodded.

The crowd eventually dispensed as Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy remained with me.

"Wow…Rainbow Dash is pretty amazing for saving that little filly." Twilight announced.

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie hopped. "She was all like WOOSH! WAM! WOOSH!" She made fast gestures, basically depicting the scene again.

"That was mighty crazy, swooping in to save that little filly. Yee-haw!" Applejack added as well.

"It was." I finished with a smile, but then started thinking for a moment. "…you don't think she will let it get the best of her, do you? She is Rainbow Dash."

The three of them looked at each other, questionably.

"I hope not…" Twilight replied.

"Well, we don't we all get some breakfast over at the café? I'm sure you're hungrier than a pig on feeding day!" Applejack suggested, directing at me.

"Sure." I answered, regaining my smile.

We walked to the café where we ordered breakfast. As we waited, we continued our conversation with each other. "Hm…there's one thing that's puzzling me though…"

"What is it?" They asked.

"…how is it that a filly can fall through a well that high and not be severely injured?"

The ponies once again looked at each other questionably. They thought for a moment.

"I—

Suddenly, we heard a mare scream out loud, piercing through the whole town and interrupting Twilight. We quickly looked to see a baby carriage on the loose…with the baby still in it. It was heading towards the end of a jagged cliff. What's a…? I immediately shook my head and began running after the carriage. My chances were slim of catching the carriage, but it was worth a try.

The baby was still a little further up the hill and I was close to the end. I could see it continuously cry. I began sprinting as fast as I could to catch it, but the same blue pony flew by and grabbed the handle with her teeth. Afterwards, she planted her hooves on the ground and pulled back in an effort to stop the fleeing carriage. She had halted not only the carriage, but the baby's crying as well before it fled off the edge of the cliff. The ponies who had been watching the terrifying and suspenseful scene at the bottom of the cliff immediately began cheering.

Rainbow Dash noticed and began blushing and rubbing her head again. She bowed while in the air and waved. After, she looked towards the baby and gasped. Raising my eyebrow, I quickly rushed over to the carriage and looked inside. "Oh no! There's something wrong with the baby!" I observed inside to see a baby with a blank expression as it just stared in confusion at us. There's nothing wrong with the baby… However, her comment immediately caused the other ponies to gasp and quit cheering. Rainbow Dash picked up the baby and revealed it to the other ponies with a grin. "She's not cheering for everypony's favorite hero, Rainbow Dash!" Everypony cheered once again. Rainbow Dash flew over to the mother and was about to give the baby back, but cameras began flashing near her. She looked back to see paparazzi and instead, flung the baby and turned back, causing the mother to catch the baby and look at Rainbow with an irritated expression. The girls had caught up to me and looked at Rainbow Dash's rising fame with a blank expression, except Pinkie Pie who retained her smile.

"There just aren't enough words in the dictionary to describe Rainbow Dash's awesomeness." Scootaloo, with her Rainbow Dash mane, repeated her expression as Rainbow Dash continued to pose for the camera.

"I can think of a few new words…" Twilight announced softly.

"And I bet 'modest' is not one of them." Applejack responded, annoyed, as Rainbow Dash flew up into the air and blew kisses to everypony. After, she created a cloud logo of her cutie mark and sped off.

"No, but she is kinda awesome." Twilight added.

I noticed Pinkie Pie happily waving back as Rainbow Dash left the scene.

After breakfast, we began having a stroll through town.

"You know what I wonder?" I asked. The girls looked at me, wanting to know the answer. "Why does Ponyville have such a steep cliff like that? Has it never occurred to them to fix that? I mean…who doesn't see any danger to safety like that? Somepony could easily fall off of there…"

The girls, again, looked at each other questionably and could only shrug at the thought. As we continued walking, I noticed Fluttershy flying slightly above to the left of me. I looked at her and smiled lightly. "Hm…I really wonder how it feels like to fly."

Fluttershy gasped in happiness and returned a smile. "It would be so amazing if you could! It really has its perks." She blushed slightly, possibly for another thought.

"Well, I still have that spell that gives you temporary wings." Twilight replied. "If you want, I could cast it on you."

"Hm…" I thought as I tapped a hoof to my chin. "Wait… but the last time you did that, it didn't work for some reason. Remember?"

"Oh…right."

Suddenly, we began hearing cracking and splintering of wood in front of us. Panic followed as other ponies walked towards the scene to see what was going on. We looked to see a group of four elders hanging on to the rail of the balcony as it began to fall from the roof.

"Never fear, your friendly neighborhood Rainbow Dash is here!" Rainbow Dash announced from above us.

"Just go!" I exclaimed, causing her to flinch and fly towards the scene.

As the balcony was heading towards the ground, Rainbow Dash quickly grabbed it from below and lightly placed it on the ground. Predictable, the ponies began cheering and Rainbow Dash began sucking in more pride. As she observed all the ponies around her, I noticed Derpy in the crowd as well. She was cheering with her forelegs raised as she yelled and crossed her eyes. After, Rainbow Dash flew up in the air above them as they continued to chant her name. "I can't hear you!" She placed a hoof near her ear, purposely wanting to hear a lot more.

"Rainbow Dash!" The crowd continued to chant as she threw her hooves up in the air. "Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!" She was now starting to dance ridiculously. "Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!"

"Call me silly, but this whole hero thing might be going to Rainbow Dash's head." Twilight commented at the scene.

"Might?" I questioned.

"You may be right, silly." Pinkie Pie added, causing Twilight to narrow her eyes as she took it literally. "Come on. Let's go eat at Sugarcube Corner! I bet that will cheer us up!" She began bouncing away as the others followed.

"Are you coming, Alex?" Fluttershy asked me.

"Mm-hm." I nodded. "I'll catch up with you girls in a bit."

Fluttershy released a soft smile, kissed me, and flew away.

The crowd dissolved as Rainbow Dash had left, but Derpy remained there as she continued cheering out loud. "Yeah! Woo-hoo!"

I smiled at the sight of her. "Hey, Derpy."

"Hi, Alex!" She turned to face me. "Did you see her? She was so amazing!"

"Yeah…I did. She's a friend of mine."

"Really? Wow! She must be a great friend!"

I looked away and muttered. "Sometimes…" I turned back to face Derpy. "Anyway, I better get going. I just wanted to stop by and say hi."

"Thanks! Bye, Alex!"

I smiled. "Bye." Afterwards, I began my way towards the sweet shop.

"And then, I zoomed into the well." I heard as I walked inside. There were many ponies near a platform, all wearing Rainbow Dash merchandise. I noticed the girls watching from the back. I even spotted Pinkie Pie's lost smile that was replaced with an irritated look instead. This is bad… "I knew it would be dark and dangerous, but I didn't let that stop me. Danger's my middle name. Rainbow 'Danger' Dash." She pulled the shades that she was wearing down to her eyes. "Thinking back on it, I acted pretty awesomely heroic this morning."

"Awesomely heroic this morning and awesomely arrogant ever since." Applejack finished with an annoyed look on her face.

"Mm-hm." Twilight and Pinkie Pie agreed.

Pinkie Pie noticed me and offered a cupcake she was eating. "Wanna bite?"

"No thanks." I politely declined. "What's going on?

"Well—

Before, Applejack could begin, Rainbow Dash placed a hoof on her shoulder and brought her closer to her. "Hey, Applejack. How'd you like to be immortalized as my friend?"

"Immorta-what?"

Applejack was bombarded with the flashes of the pictures as she tried to release Rainbow Dash's grip on her. On the other hand, Twilight walked over to Spike, who was wearing a reporter's suit and hat and writing in a notepad, and looked at his work. "Are you taking notes?"

"Yup! I've been hoof-picked by Rainbow Dash herself, to write her autobiography!"

Once Applejack had freed herself, Rainbow Dash continued to strike poses as Scootaloo watched joyfully from the side. Applejack walked away, sticking her tongue out and shaking her head in disgust.

"Umm, autobiographies are supposed to be written by the pony they are about..." Twilight replied.

Rainbow Dash noticed this and responded as the cameras continued flashing. "Maybe for your normal, run-of-the-mill ponies. But I'm far too busy saving lives to stop and write. That's why I hired Spike as my ghost writer."

Pinkie Pie, who was eating a whole cake nearby, yelped out loud. "Spike's a ghost!" She fled out the door, causing the shop to remain in silence for a moment.

"...Anyway. Spike here writes down everything I say. Don't you, Spike?"

Spike began writing down those words. "Don't... you... Spike. Got it!"

"This way, I can stay focused on performing those acts of bravery that nopony else has the guts to perform." I rolled my eyes and shook my head. Really? "Yep, it takes guts. But it also takes brains." As she continued talking, fillies rushed over to hug her for a picture. "And sometimes a big lunch and a nap. Being a hero is surely not for everypony, but I'm up to the challenge." I sighed. "Now if you excuse me, I have some more rescuing to do." She began walking out of the shop as the many ponies followed her.

"Okay… this has gone far enough." Applejack commented.

"Well, what should we do?" I asked. "It's going to take something much more than her to stop this."

"That's it!" Twilight exclaimed. We both looked at her, wondering what she was excited about. "Everypony, meet me back at my place!" Afterwards, she ran out the door.

We looked at each other and shrugged.

When we arrived, she quickly motioned for us to come in. Once inside, she closed the door and looked at me. "Alex, you said that in order to stop her bragging, we would need something much more than her, right?"

"Yeah…?" I answered with a puzzled tone.

"Well that's it! We'll all make a new hero! One that is only in it to protect the citizens of Ponyville!"

All of the other girls became interested in the idea and began chattering about it.

"That's a great idea, Twilight. But what do you mean 'make a new hero'?"

"Well…" She began walking around, keeping her eyes locked on me. "If we get some pony to be the hero. One that is perfectly capable of doing the job and not boasting about it…"

I began catching on to her hints. "…you can't possibly be talking about me…are you…?" I questioned.

"I don't know…"

"But, Twilight… how would I be capable of performing rescues?"

"Alex, we've all seen how high your athletic abilities are. You're strong, flexible, and very agile! That's not even everything!"

All of the girls began agreeing joyfully. I looked at each one of them and could only be bombarded with pleading eyes. I sighed. "Fine… I'll do it…"

"Great!" Twilight exclaimed and ran over to Rarity. "Rarity, do you think you could make a costume for our new hero?"

"I would be honored! I'll get started on it right away!" Rarity rushed out of the library to begin working on the costume."

"Knowing Rarity, she'll probably be done with it in an hour, tops." Twilight responded and giggled a bit.

"So…I'm going to have to save anypony in trouble before Rainbow Dash gets there? How am I supposed to do that?"

"Don't worry; we'll help behind the scenes."

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie hopped. "If there's any trouble brewing, I'll tell you with my Pinkie Sense!"

"Alright. Well, that takes care of knowing when it starts…but what if it happens in the sky?"

"Hm…" Twilight wondered. "I don't think there should be any trouble that you shouldn't be able to reach. After all, Ponyville adores Rainbow Dash, and Ponyville is on the ground…so… It shouldn't be that much trouble…but just in case…" She looked up to me. "Do you think I can try that wing spell on you again?"

"Uh…sure. I'm not sure if it will work, but I guess it's worth a try."

"Okay." Twilight planted her hooves in front of me and presented her horn. "Here we go…" She then began casting the spell, exerting a lot of energy into her horn. I began levitating and basically went through the same procedures as last time. After, I regained myself and looked at my body, but there were still no wings. Twilight and the others saw this and sighed. "It still didn't work… I just wonder what could be the problem…"

"It's alright, Twilight. I should be fine anyway."

"Yeah…okay… let's continue on with the plan."

After some time had passed with the further debriefing of the plan, we walked to Rarity's boutique to see how far she was with the costume.

"Hi, Rarity." Twilight announced as we walked in. "We just wanted to see how far you were with the costume."

"It's finished!" Rarity responded and presented the costume. My eyes widened at the sight. The whole costume was basically colored in dark violet and navy blue. There was a hat and below was a mask that covered the entire face. There were eyes colored light blue to hide the real eyes behind the costume. There were more things about the costume, especially a long cape that touched the floor. There was a big M on the middle of the costume. "What do you think?"

"Um…" I didn't really know what to say. "It's nice and all…but don't you think it's more for a mare?"

"Oh…" Rarity expressed and looked at the big M she placed. "Well…that explains why I put an M there…sorry… I had forgotten I was making a costume for a male…"

The other girls began snickering.

"Sorry, Rarity…but I can't go out like this… they'll think I'm a mare."

Pinkie Pie suddenly halted her laughter and began shaking. "Oh! My Pinkie Sense! There's trouble!"

"No time!" Twilight exclaimed and all of the girls immediately began placing me into the costume.

I could only try to reason with them, but I was cut off so many times that I gave up and just allowed myself to be dressed. Once I was totally in the costume, I looked in the mirror and sighed.

Pinkie Pie began shaking more fiercely now. "It's getting close!"

"Let's go!" Twilight announced and began pushing me out of the boutique.

Well… At least they won't know who I am.

We arrived in town, while keeping hidden from others, and noticed a line of ponies, wearing Rainbow Dash merchandise, waiting to get autographs from the one and only. An angel white pony with a blonde mane and tail had just walked up to Rainbow Dash with a paper held by her mouth. Rainbow Dash had a pencil with what she was proudly going to sign the paper with.

"There you go." Rainbow Dash stated.

"Someday, I wanna be just like you!" The little filly replied.

"Aim high, kid, but don't aim for the impossible." She fluttered her mane.

Out of nowhere, we heard a sudden scream. We looked up to see a parachute that had been torn and was now heading towards the ground. "Help! Help!" The pony screamed. We noticed Rainbow Dash continue signing autographs, aware of the situation, but too proud to handle it right away.

"There's your cue! Go!" Twilight exclaimed in a whisper and slightly pushed me.

I nodded and began climbing a nearby house to the rooftop. After, I jumped over to another house, passing Spike below me. Then, I jumped towards a house with a cherry on the top, and then another one with a jester's hat. Finally, I reached one that was covered in hay and jumped towards the hot air balloon when it was near the ground. When I caught up to the pony in distress, I held out my hooves and picked her up, taking her with me. We both landed safely on the ground. I could see that Rainbow Dash had took the top part of the hot air balloon instead and crashed in a nearby tree. I turned my attention to the hot pink mare with the blonde mane and tail and helped her up from the ground. The crowd that had gathered around us began cheering, making me feel a little good inside, but I definitely didn't have any plans to boast whatsoever. After seeing the former distressed pony smile, I turned around and began heading out of the area.

After I had reached a mountain which the sun shone brightly on, I looked back to see the crowd, even the mayor, look back at me mysteriously. I had also noticed Twilight there as well, with a "Good Job" look on her face. I turned away removed myself from sight.

When I assumed it was clear, I hurried back around town to Rarity's shop. I entered and was immediately greeted by the others.

"Alex, that was great!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Yes! Splendid!" Rarity added as well.

"Thanks…" I responded, slowly catching my breath. "What happened after I left?"

"The mayor declared you 'The Mysterious Mare Do Well'." Twilight answered.

"What?" I slapped a hoof on my face. "Mare? Really?" I sighed.

"Don't worry about it, Alex." Applejack assured. "It's only temporary, y'know?"

"Yeah…you're right."

Fluttershy also greeted me. "Alex! You were so amazing."

I smiled lightly beneath the mask. "Thanks…" I tried to remove the top part of the costume to kiss her, but I was having trouble with it, not knowing what to do.

"Twitcha Twitch! Twitcha Twitch!" Pinkie Pie sounded and shook.

I sighed and looked at Fluttershy. "Sorry…I guess that'll have to wait until after this mess is cleared up…"

Fluttershy returned a smile. "That's okay. I can wait. Good luck!"

I smiled and nodded. "Thanks."

Twilight and Pinkie Pie led me towards the next area with trouble… what's with today and all these life-threatening cases?

"There!" Pinkie Pie pointed while continuing to shake. I looked and notice a carriage, carrying apparently tourists, was also on the loose and heading through town uncontrollably.

"Alex!" Twilight exclaimed.

"I'm on it." I replied and began heading towards the end where I would meet them. On the way, I saw Rainbow Dash leisurely fly up to them, most likely announcing her catch phrase, but the tourist at the end cut her off in order for her to realize what's really happening. Afterwards, she flew to the front where it looked as it had broken off and planted her hooves on the ground. She tried to stop it, but instead, she lost control and failed. She could only remain lying down as she stared at the runaway carriage.

Finally, I had made it and jumped in the middle, facing them. I sighed and hoped for the best. I ran towards the carriage and planted myself on the front, using both four hooves to stop the carriage. However, I was taken along with the carriage towards the edge of the cliff, but I could feel it slowing down. I had stopped just at the end and released a heavy breath. The ponies in the former loose carriage began cheering. Before they could possibly start questioning me, I quickly ran off and hid away, just like last time.

"Nice work, Alex!" The girls praised as I walked in panting.

"You know…" I began. "This costume doesn't make it any cooler."

Twilight giggled a bit. "Sorry, Alex, but you have to wear it if you want to keep your identity a secret."

"Yeah… I know." I sighed and sat on the ground. "Being a hero is hard work…which reminds me… what is going on with the steep cliffs and accidents today? I mean…really…"

"Twitch! At the new building they're making!" Pinkie Pie alarmed.

I groaned and stood up. "Let's do this…"

Twilight and Pinkie Pie again led me to the area. Nothing wrong seemed to be happening, but I knew not to doubt Pinkie Pie…

I watched, hidden, as the construction went on. The pony working the machine grabbed a large piece of lumber from the ground with the hook and began moving it. After a while, smoke erupted from the machine and suddenly began going insane. Rainbow Dash was flying and saw this from below. I looked at Twilight and she nodded, causing me to begin to move to the scene.

"Never fear, your friendly neighbor- whoa!" Rainbow tried to exclaim but the rope holding the large piece of wood had tore and almost smacked her. Instead, it slammed into the building, forcing the other workers to jump off. The supplies and support in the building began shaking and soon fell everywhere. One of the female workers was running away. Rainbow Dash flew to her and tried to present her catchphrase again, but failed as objects continued to fall out of the sky. For the love of Celestia, Rainbow Dash! I sprinted towards the machine and jumped on top of it, causing one of the workers to exclaim and point at me.

I jumped off and began galloping towards the construction site. I kept a sharp eye out for all of the falling items and swiftly dodged each of them as I jumped and maneuvered. I hopped onto a roll of barrels and began using them to move through the area. Afterwards, I continued to run, dodging each object that fell. I headed towards one of the workers that was too scared to run as he cowered in the middle of the destruction. I picked him up and took him outside of the danger zone. There were several other workers left. I quickly dodged each object, sliding under other obstacles and picked up those ponies as well. Just as I had placed them in the safe zone near their co-workers, the entire building had collapsed and crumbled to the ground. They all smiled at me as I looked at them to make sure they were okay. However, I was interrupted by Rainbow Dash.

"Well, Mare Do Well," She spoke, causing me to turn my head and look back at her. "…or should I call you Mare-Do-Slow?" I rolled my eyes and continued looking at her with narrowed eyes, but she couldn't see my expression anyway. "You're gonna have to pick up the pace if you wanna compete with me, 'cause I move like lightning."

"Actually, she saved all of us! We owe her our lives!" One of the workers reacted. I appreciated the compliment, but the whole "she" and "mare" thing was practically annoying me.

Rainbow Dash grew an immediate frown and fell to the ground. I began running off, but the ponies had been chasing after me as they cheered. Thanks...but I really need to go now…

I had lost them after I had "mysteriously" disappeared like always and headed to the boutique.

"Another job well done." Twilight encouraged.

"Thanks…How long do I have to keep doing? I like helping ponies out and saving them…but it just seems to keep me too busy and exhausted." I responded.

"Just until we teach Rainbow a lesson, but don't worry, it shouldn't be too long." Twilight slightly giggled.

I sighed. "Alright…" I looked at Pinkie Pie, expecting another twitch already, but she didn't receive one. "Feel anything?" I asked.

"Nope!" She smiled and closed her eyes.

"Okay…"

Fluttershy rushed up to me. "You're okay right?"

I smiled, even though she couldn't see it, and nodded. "Yeah. Don't worry." I moved my head in to kiss her again, but I forgot I had the costume and sighed.

Fluttershy giggled and slightly blushed.

"Hm…I'm starting to feel something…" Pinkie Pie announced.

"What?" I asked, immediately looking at her.

"I'm sensing some sort of 'your friend is being really dumb and is trying to make things better for her when she's actually making it worse' thing here…"

"…could you simplify that…?" I questioned, confused.

"…you might want to check on the dam…"

Pinkie Pie, Twilight, and I rushed over to the dam and noticed nothing major. I did spot a small crack, but nothing that Pinkie Pie seemed to be talking about. I looked at her and she returned a shrug. I continued observing until I saw Rainbow Dash stroll by. She heard the water drops and rushed over to it, gasping. "If the dam breaks, the whole town will be flooded! Looks like Ponyville needs a hero!" She flew over to the crack and placed a hoof on it, causing me to slap my forehead with my hoof and shake it. At least go get professionals to fix it… "Easy peasy." My eyes widened when I began seeing the crack in the dam grow. "My game is officially back on. If only somepony were here to pat me on the back." She released her hoof and began patting herself on the back. "Eh, guess I'll have do it myself."

All of a sudden, the entire dam broke and released a storm of water on Rainbow Dash, dragging her towards the waterfall. "Help!" She screamed. I quickly jumped out and began heading my way towards her. "Help!" When I arrived by the river, I quickly grabbed a nearby log and placed it on top of the flowing water. I held it down with my hoof. By the time Rainbow Dash can flowed by, she caught hold onto the log and exhaled a breath. However, when she looked up, she wasn't thankful that I had saved her. "You?" I narrowed my eyes in annoyance from this and began ignoring her. I sighed and looked at the dam. Now how am I going to fix this…? "I suppose you want me to thank—

Suddenly, rocks and chunks began to press towards the broken dam…as if magic was being used to move them… "You gotta be kidding me..." Finally, the last two pieces glued into the cracks and remade the dam, good as new. Hm… Twilight must have secretly used her magic to fix this…

Ponies nearby cheered as if I had fixed the dam. I shrugged mentally and went with the flow. I placed a hoof near my head and saluted to them, running off once again. As I ran, I felt something strange occur with my body. I had unexpectedly lifted off the ground and weirdly started to fly. What the? I looked at the sides of my body and noticed wings were there. I was instantly alarmed. Maybe Twilight's spell worked after all? Maybe it just needed some time? I noticed Rainbow Dash began flying confidently around the area. I grew a smirk on my face and decided I should toy with her a bit. I started at a fast pace in my flying. Somehow…it felt as if I already knew how to fly… but maybe it was all a part of Twilight's spell? I mean…when Rarity got her wings, she didn't have trouble with flying. I stopped thinking and began my teasing of Rainbow Dash. I flew past her very fast, causing her to twirl in a daze. I flew around for a moment, just to continue aggravating her. I looked back and noticed that she crossed her forelegs together and returned an annoyed expression. I smiled defiantly and continued flying.

After landing in front of the boutique, my wings vanished. That's too bad… that was the first time I ever flew and it felt amazing…oh well… I entered the shop.

"I can't congratulate you enough, Alex." Twilight announced as I entered.

"Can I start celebrating by taking this thing off?" I asked.

Twilight giggled and nodded. "I suppose Rainbow Dash has had enough."

I exhaled a breath. "Thanks." I had some trouble trying to find a way to take it off, but Fluttershy flew over to me and helped me. Once I had finally taken it off, I took in a deep breath. After, I kissed Fluttershy passionately. "There you go…" I smiled.

She returned a blush and a smile as well.

"Hey everypony! Let's celebrate at Sugarcube Corner! YAY!" Pinkie Pie excitedly exclaimed and left the building in a flash without waiting for a response. We all shrugged to each other and followed her.

Once we arrived, Twilight, Fluttershy, and I sat at the table while Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack began getting their desserts. Pinkie Pie placed a plate with a cupcake before us before rushing to stack a plethora of sweets on her place.

"You really did a lot of work today, Alex." Twilight began. "And for that, we're all proud of you."

All of the girls nodded and agreed.

I slightly blushed and smiled. "Thanks… I guess the whole 'mare' thing doesn't bother me much anymore." I paused for a moment and remembered something. "Oh! Twilight."

"Hm?" She questioned.

"I think your spell worked. After I had saved Rainbow Dash, wings had suddenly appeared on me and… I was able to fly!"

"Really? That's amazing!"

"Yeah… I wonder though…"

Suddenly, the bell rang and in came an excessively annoyed Rainbow Dash. Without a word, she pounded the ground with her hooves and laid down on a nearby staircase. The girls and I looked at each other with a smirk on our faces.

"Gotta hand it to the girl," Applejack began as she was grabbing some sweets and placed them on a plate on her back. "…that Mare Do Well sure can pull off some pretty heroic feats."

"I must say, I was impressed by that spell she used to fix the dam. Seems like something like that would take quite a bit of study." Twilight announced, but directing it mostly to Rainbow Dash. I guess Twilight did fix the dam… I looked at Rainbow Dash who was beginning to look highly annoyed as she looked towards us from the stair rail. She groaned and turned her head away, placing her hooves behind.

Fluttershy smiled brightly and joined in on the fun. "She really cares about everypony's safety."

"Have you seen her costume?" Rarity exaggeratedly asked as she walked towards us with a teacup. "It is to die for! If you ask me she's a hero of fashion."

"And she's modest and humble." Applejack added, directing it to me as well. "She lets her actions speak for themselves. Gotta admire that."

"I don't have to admire that!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "I don't think she's all that great!"

"She's... great." Spike wrote down.

"I didn't say that." Rainbow Dash rushed over to Spike and assured.

"Sounds like somepony's jealous." Twilight explained.

"Who, me?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking back.

"Rainbow Dash is jealous." Spike wrote.

"Don't write that, Spike!" Rainbow Dash yelled at him, causing the girls to laugh.

"Correction: Rainbow Dash is very jealous." Spike repeated.

"Fine! Laugh all you want, but I'll be the one laughing when I prove to you all that I'm just as good- no, that I'm a better hero than Mare Do Well!" Rainbow Dash flew out of the shop. The girls shrugged it off and resumed their chatter.

"Um…I better go check up on her and make sure she doesn't…I don't know…purposely make trouble?" I stated.

The girls looked at me and nodded, understanding.

I left the building and began looking around for Rainbow Dash. I spent a while looking for her until I began hearing shouting. "You're putting on a brave face, I get it. But you don't have to anymore. I'll help you cross the street!" I looked around a corner of a building to see Rainbow Dash pushing Granny Smith from behind.

Granny Smith planted her hooves on the ground, wanting to stop Rainbow Dash. "Actually I can cross the street just fine!"

"Don't worry! You're in extremely... capable... hooves!" Rainbow Dash struggled, but Granny Smith sat down, wishing to stay put.

When Rainbow continued pushed her, she returned panicking grunts. "Back off!"

Nonetheless, Rainbow Dash dragged her across the street, leaving Granny Smith with an irritated look. "Here we are! Safe and sound. A good and heroic citizen deserves a little recognition, don't you think?"

Instead, Granny Smith smacked her with her purse. "I didn't wanna cross the street in the first place!" She continued complaining as she walked away slowly.

I sighed and began walking towards her, but we started hearing grunts and groans nearby.

Rainbow Dash gasped. "Somepony's in trouble!" She flew over to the park where a pony was trying to open a jar of peanut butter. I rolled my eyes and headed that way. "You'd better let me open this, ma'am! For your own safety, I must ask you to stand back!"

"Oh, brother…"

Rainbow Dash cracked her neck and stared intently towards the jar. She charged towards it and immediately began trying to open it with her teeth. Soon, she noticed the mare sending a bored and uninterested expression as the filly behind her only remained surprised with widened eyes.

I had arrived at the picnic scene and grabbed the jar from Rainbow Dash's mouth with an annoyed look on my face. I walked over to the fountain nearby and tapped the lid a few times. After, I opened the lid and gave it back to the mare.

"Thanks." She responded, smiling at me.

On the contrary, Rainbow Dash grinned. "Ta-da!"

As the mare commenced placing peanut butter on the toast, she didn't bother looking at Rainbow Dash. "Uh... thanks."

"How would you describe what I just did?" Rainbow Dash persisted. "Would you say I was amazing?" Really?

"Aren't you milking this a bit?" The mare replied.

"Please, just answer the question! Was I, or was I not—

I grabbed Rainbow Dash's tail and pulled her towards the ground, cutting off her sentence. I looked at the mare and apologized. "Sorry for the interruption." I dragged Rainbow Dash out of the area and looked at her.

"Hey! What was THAT for?" She asked.

"Don't you think you're taking this a bit too far?"

"Well…I…Oh look!" She pointed towards a push mower nearby and instantly began cutting the grass everywhere. Once she was finished, she raised her hoof in victory. "Another great feat of heroism! I have just saved that grass!"

"From what?" Another pony nearby questioned.

"From weeds! Weeds that were attempting to eat this lawn!" Rainbow directed.

This was too painful to watch… Many ponies had gathered around and looked at Rainbow Dash oddly.

"Lame..." The filly that was with the mare announced and they all began retreating to their business.

"Aww, who am I kidding…?" Rainbow Dash then began to float upwards in the air and onto a cloud which soon turned gray and stormy.

I sighed and began walking back to the sweet shop.

Before entering the shop, I saw Twilight and the others rush out.

"Alex, follow us!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Huh?" I questioned, but I didn't wait around for an answer. I immediately began following them.

They led me back to the boutique and threw the costume at me. "Put it on!"

"What? Why?" I asked. "What's going on?"

"The mayor is having a thank you parade for Mare Do Well, YOU!"

"Right now?"

"In a few minutes!"

"…" I began putting on the costume, but as always, I had trouble with it. Fluttershy flew over to me to help me rush it on.

After I was dressed, the girls led me to the area the event was to take place. Hidden behind the location with balloons and banners, Twilight whispered to me. "Okay… we'll be in the crowd. Rainbow Dash will most likely be there. If she confronts you, do not do anything but just RUN."

"Run?" I questioned.

"Run! To the town. We'll meet you there and that's where we'll reveal everything."

"Alright." I nodded. "That sounds good. Let's do this."

They nodded and walked to join the crowd. I prepared myself to jump through the banner.

"Welcome to Ponyville's first, but surely not last, thank you parade, in honor of our city's greatest hero, the mysterious Mare Do Well!" The mayor announced, causing me to rip through the banner and present myself.

The crowd cheered. I scanned the crowd for Rainbow Dash, but like Twilight predicted, she easily confronted me. "The mysterious Mare Do Well, huh?" She asked face-to-face, causing the ponies in the crowd to gasp. "So what are you hiding? Let's see how mysterious you are without that mask!" Rainbow Dash tried to bite the fabric and rip it off, but I swiftly dodged it by pulling back my face and followed Twilight's orders: Run.

I jumped off the platform and headed towards town. I turned right at a corner and continued. I didn't stop. I didn't really look back to see if Rainbow Dash was behind me, so I continued galloped, randomly turning straight at the curves and corners. When I stopped by a building, I noticed Rainbow Dash looking around for me. I grew a sly smirk and whistled to gain her attention. She quickly turned around and saw me, beginning to fly after me. I reached a dead end; instead, I climbed the wall by swiftly jumping on the bricks that stuck out a bit in a rhythm. Rainbow Dash arrived at the wall when I was already at the top. I ran down a flight of stairs and immediately fell to the ground when I heard Rainbow Dash speeding my way. She soared above me, not noticing me and continuing to chase after me in the wrong direction. I stood up and whistled again, irritating her but at the same time having fun with her. I fled as she grew angry. After a moment of running, I looked back and didn't see her at all. I slowed to a walk and lightly panted as I looked around. Had she lost me, or did I lose her?

"I got you now!" I heard from behind and quickly turned to see Rainbow Dash charging at me. I could have easily jumped or dodge rolled out of the way, but somehow, I felt as if I shouldn't move because I just wanted to get this over with already. She tackled me to the ground, causing us to roll for a while until she finally stood on top of me. She placed her hooves on mine so I wouldn't be able escape her grasp, but it wasn't like I was trying anyway. I just laid there with a narrowed expression and a not tensed body. "Alright, Miss Mysterious! Mystery..." She grabbed my mask with her teeth and pulled it off. "…solved!" She immediately yelped when she saw my narrowed eyes staring at her. "A-a-a-a-Alex? Whudda- hud-d-duh- hud-d-duh- huh?" She was obviously surprised and highly shocked to see me. Twilight and the other girls had revealed themselves, surprising Rainbow Dash even more. "Twilight? Pinkie! Applejack? What are you all doing here?"

"The same reason Alex is here." Twilight answered, smiling afterwards.

"B-but…how…?"

"I used my Pinkie Sense to tell Alex where and when the accidents would happen!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed and her tail began twitching. "Alex! Watch out!"

"Huh?" I questioned and looked up, noticing a pot fall straight towards me. I quickly threw out my hooves and caught the plant.

"Sorry!" A mare from the window apologized.

I smiled and waved it off. "It's alright." I placed the pot on the ground near me.

"I made the costumes." Rarity presented herself. "Fabulous if I do say so myself!"

"Alex was the one who saved all those ponies." Twilight added.

Rainbow Dash walked off with a saddened expression on her face. "I don't understand. Why? Don't you want me to be a hero?"

"Of course we want you to be a hero." Twilight responded.

"But a real hero doesn't brag." Applejack winked and gestured her hooves towards me.

Rainbow Dash looked at me and turned slightly embarrassed. "Uh, I guess I did start to brag a little…"

"A LITTLE?" The rest of the girls exclaimed with angry looks.

"Okay, a lot…"

"Celebrating your accomplishments is natural." Twilight walked up to her. "But..."

"...Rubbin' them in everypony's face is not." Applejack finished.

"Yeah, the only thing that should be rubbed in anypony's face is chocolate cake." Pinkie Pie immediately began slurping loudly and licking her lips and face. The rest of us looked at her with awkward expressions.

"I think we're getting off topic here." Applejack announced.

"What we're trying to say is, it's great to be really good at something, but it's important to act with grace and humility." Twilight presented.

Rainbow Dash thought for a moment and widened her eyes. "Ohhhh. That makes loads more sense. Yeah. You're right. And I guess I should've also acted with grace and humility when others outshine me. Like Mare Do Well." She pointed both of her hooves at me.

"…Just so you know… I'm not really comfortable with MARE Do Well…" I commented.

The girls returned laughter and smiles. "Sounds like you've got a letter to write to Princess Celestia." Twilight stated.

"Already got it covered." Spike came from out of the blue. "As your ghost writer, I've already penned a letter to the Princess."

"That's nice of you, Spike, but I really wanna write this letter myself."

"Aww, come on, I wrote the whole thing already!" Spike whined and presented the scroll to her.

"Okay…, let's hear it."

Spike cleared his throat. "Dear Princess Cel—

"Look out!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, interrupting Spike. "It's a real ghost!" She pointed behind him.

Spike began yelping, but Pinkie Pie joined him after, screaming as well. I didn't really understand much since they saw nothing, but nonetheless, they screamed out loud and fled, causing the girls to laugh out loud as I smiled. Rainbow Dash noticed that Twilight brought a quill and scroll to her with her magic. Rainbow Dash grabbed the feathery part of the quill with her teeth and looked at the scroll. Before she began writing, she winked at both Twilight and me.

Twilight and I could only return smiles.

After Rainbow Dash finished the letter, she gave it to Twilight to send it later.

"Thanks guys, I'll try to be more modest from now on."

"Try?" We questioned.

"Hey. You know me!" She chuckled and sped off, causing us to shake our heads but smile as well.

When night began to fall, the girls continued to congratulate me on the job well done.

"Thanks… but I couldn't have done it without you, Twilight." I answered.

"Me?" She questioned. "What did I do?"

"Well… you casted the wing spell on me and majorly helped when used your magic to fix the dam."

"I didn't use my magic to fix the dam…"

Her answer surprised me. "What…?"

"I thought somepony else fixed it…"

"…" I remained silent for a moment. "But… it was only Rainbow Dash and me…" I continued to remain puzzled about it.

"It's a mystery alright… but you should get some rest."

"Alright…" I still remained wondering on the subject.

"See you tomorrow!" Twilight waved and began leaving with the rest of the girls. Fluttershy remained with me.

"See you…"

"Are you okay, Alex?" Fluttershy asked me.

"Oh, yeah." I answered. "I'm just still confused about the whole 'dam' thing."

"Hm… You can probably think about it later. You must be exhausted."

"Right…" I responded, beginning to feel sleepy and tired. "I'll go walk you to your cottage first."

Fluttershy smiled lightly. "Okay."

From town, I walked her under the moonlight.

"Oh, there's something you should know, Alex." Fluttershy mentioned.

"What is it?" I asked, concerned.

"Twilight's birthday is coming up!" She continued with slight excitement.

"Really?" I responded with widened eyes. "That's great. Pinkie's going to make the party?"

"As always." Fluttershy released a smile.

"Well then… I can't wait."

Once at her door, we looked at each other with slightly tired smiles. I kissed her softly for a moment and then looked at her eyes. "Have a great night, Fluttershy."

"You too, Alex…"

I smiled and continued to stare into her tired but living eyes. "I love you."

She returned a tired smile and kissed me gently, pulling back after. "I love you too."

I returned home once I had made sure she was safely taken to bed. I climbed up the stairs and walked to my bed. I lightly placed myself on there and closed my eyes.

I still wonder what the whole magic thing was about… maybe it isn't such a big deal? Still… somehow… it bothers me… what is it that makes it so intriguing but puzzling at the same time?

Ponyville Confidential

Episode 49 – Ponyville Confidential

I woke up and stretched a little bit, just as I did mostly every morning. I placed my hoof on my face and rubbed it, going through my mane a bit as well. I pulled away the covers and stood up from bed, making them again afterwards. I yawned and looked out the window. Hm… pretty sunny day… I walked towards the stairs and climbed down. I opened my front door and looked out. There were several ponies outside, hanging around. I walked through the door and closed it behind me.

I began strolling around town, hopefully to wake up a little bit before I headed off to Fluttershy's. I suddenly felt something soft drop on my head. I stopped and looked up, grabbing it with my hooves. It was a muffin… I looked up to see Derpy waving a little embarrassingly at me. "Sorry, Alex."

I smiled and chuckled a little. "It's absolutely fine. There's no need to be sorry for this."

She giggled a little and landed in front of me. "You can have it if you want though." She faced towards her saddlebag, which depicted a muffin on the strap. "I have plenty of more in here."

"Alright." I placed the muffin closer to my lips and took a bite. "Oh, sorry about not getting to talk to you much back when you pegasi had to make that tornado…"

"Oh, it's alright! I understood that Fluttershy was having problems. Her problems are way more important than talking to me!"

"Well, we solved them, so it's okay. Why don't we hang out together sometime? Maybe to make up for it?"

"If you're not busy, then that would be great! Actually…" She thought for a moment, placing a hoof on her chin. "Why don't you come down to Sugarcube Corner later today? We can talk and eat muffins!"

"Sure, that sounds great."

"Okay!" She turned towards her saddlebag and pulled out a piece of paper. She pulled out a pencil as well and wrote on the paper, holding the pencil in her mouth. After a moment, she placed the pencil back in her saddlebag and held out the paper towards me. "Here. Just to make sure you won't forget." She giggled a little.

I grabbed the piece of paper and read it. Sugarcube Corner Sweet Shop. 3:00 PM. Muffins! I chuckled a little and rolled it up to make the mobility easier. "Alright. I'll plan to be there. But if any complications show up, I'll let you know".

She smiled brightly and nodded. "Okay! I guess I should let you go then. I'll start making those muffins!"

"Alright." I continued to smile softly. "See you then, Derpy."

"Bye!" She waved and began flying off as I finished the last part of the muffin. I looked around and thought I could probably visit Rarity for a bit in her boutique before heading to Fluttershy's cottage. First…let me just drop this off…

I had placed the note in my saddlebag back at home and began making my way towards Rarity's boutique. I knocked on her door and opened it, greeting her. "Hey, Rarity. How's my favorite fashion pony doing?"

"Oh, Alex." She giggled as I walked in. "I'm just tidying up a bit here. What about you?"

"I'm fine. I thought I could just stop by for a visit. Is Sweetie Belle staying with you right now?"

"Yes, she's upstairs. She just came back from school a little while ago." She grabbed a pile of cloth from somewhere and began walking towards another place. However, she tripped over something on the floor.

I quickly rushed over to her and held out my hoof to pull her up. "Are you alright?" I asked.

"Yes…" She grabbed my hoof and used it to pick herself up. She lifted her left back leg to see what she had tripped over. It was Sweetie Belle's saddlebag… "Ohh, Sweetie Belle..." She used her magic to pick it up. "…was she raised in a barn or something?" However, it opened and revealed a rolled up newspaper inside. Rarity looked at it for a moment. "Oh, you really shouldn't be snooping, Rarity..."

"Well… I wouldn't exactly call "reading a newspaper" snooping…a diary is another story… But…" I lifted my hooves in the air. "Whatever you want…"

"Oh, just a peak!" She grabbed the newspaper and began looking through it with her magic. On the front I could see the name Foal Free Press. "Hello... what's this?" Then, she released a giggle. "Alex! Come look at this!" She gestured me to stand by her in order to read the newspaper as well. I returned a confused look but did so. "Gum on their bum!" She laughed heartily, pointing towards the picture of those two colts with gum on them. "Too rich!" She continued to laugh.

"Can you please keep it down with all the laughter?" I heard Sweetie Belle say as she came down the stairs. "I'm trying to- hey!" She noticed Rarity and I reading the article.

"Bleh!" Rarity stuttered, quickly placing the newspaper back in the saddlebag and closing it. "I, I was just—

"Are you snooping through my saddlebag?" Sweetie Belle asked, causing Rarity to grin brightly as she held the saddlebag behind her back. Sweetie Belle tried to see what she was hiding, but Rarity continued to keep it hidden from her view. Afterwards, she lightly slapped Rarity's horn, causing her to drop the saddlebag. She retrieved it with her mouth and pointed towards Rarity. "How dare you!"

"Sweetie Belle…" I placed a hoof on her. "Calm down… Rarity wasn't exactly "snooping". She just tripped over your bag, saw the newspaper and became interested in it. It's not like it was your diary or anything."

Rarity nodded as Sweetie Belle sighed. "Fine…"

"Alex is right, sweetie!" Rarity included. "Besides," She retrieved the newspaper from her saddlebag. "…this Gabby Gums column is so funny!"

"You actually like the school paper?" Sweetie Belle asked as Rarity continued to walk while holding the newspaper in front of her face.

"It's so much juicier than anything in the boring old Ponyville Express. Could I borrow this to show my friends?" Rarity asked.

"Your friends would wanna read the Foal Free Press? "

"Oh, they'd just love Gabby Gums! Who is she, anyway? I've never heard of her before. Is she a new- Sweetie Belle suddenly ran off and out the door in an excited manner. "Um…"

"Huh…" I commented after seeing her run off like that. "Well then… I looked at the same page Rarity was reading. "I just hope that these two didn't become embarrassed about this…" I directed towards the two colts in the picture.

"Oh, it's just harmless little gossip. Nothing to worry about." Rarity assured. "It's not like their super deep secrets or anything…"

"Hm…I guess you're right…"

"Oh! You know what we should do, Alex?" Rarity brought up.

"What's that?" I asked as she placed the paper away.

"Let's all go to the spa and relax! I can show the others about this Gabby Gums."

"Oh…sure, alright." I accepted.

"I'll get the others. Why don't you go get Fluttershy?"

"Alright, I'll meet you back at the spa right after I come back with Fluttershy?"

"Yes, sir."

"Okay. I'll see you in a bit then, Rarity."

"Bye!" She waved.

I chuckled a little and waved back, walking out the door, and heading towards Fluttershy's.

When I arrived at her cottage, I lightly knocked and waited for her to come out. Seconds later, she opened the front door and faced me. "Oh, hello, Alex."

"Hey, Fluttershy." I grabbed her hoof and pressed my lips on hers, kissing her. After I pulled away, I smiled at her. "Rarity wanted us and the other girls to spend some time at the spa. Do you think you have the time?"

"Sure! That sounds wonderful."

"Fantastic." I turned around and waited for her to stand by my side. Afterwards, we began walking back to town.

All of a sudden, as we were walking through town towards the spa, we heard insanely loud crying at the nearby jewelry shop, catching our intention.

"Oh, my…" Fluttershy commented. "What's that?"

"It sounds like Pumpkin Cake and Pound Cake; the Cakes' babies. They're probably having some trouble with them." I sighed. "I hope they are handling the situation or will be able to handle it well…

"So do I…"

We wished them the best of luck and then continued heading towards the spa.

"Welcome!" Rarity greeted us, wearing a bathrobe, when we arrived at the spa. "Come in! Come in! The others are here, even Spike." Rarity led us towards the bath room where we saw Twilight lying on one of the chairs and reading a newspaper. Her tail had some sort of accessory on the strands of her hair. Spike was lying on his back on another chair with pieces of cucumber on both of his eyes. Applejack was lying on her belly with her eyes closed and a towel over her. Pinkie Pie was inside the giant tub, looking very happy as she wore a towel on her head and mane. "Look! I even managed to grab some of the Gabby Gums that just came out." She pointed towards the stack of newspapers near the tub. "Take one! You'll have a good laugh!" She grabbed one with her teeth and took it to the other empty chair, where she laid down, held the paper with her hooves, and read it.

Fluttershy grabbed a pink towel, wrapping it around her mane and beginning to walk up the stairs nearby to enter the tub. "Hm…" I thought and grabbed one of the newspapers as well, just to see what was really exciting about it. I didn't take a towel, but I walked up the stairs and placed the newspaper near the tub. After I entered the tub between Pinkie and Fluttershy, I grabbed the newspaper with my hooves and began reading it. "Pound and Pumpkin Cake trip to the store ends in tears." I read out loud. I shifted my eyes for a moment and then looked at Rarity. "We just heard this crying a while ago. How did this come out so fast?" I asked.

Rarity shrugged. "I don't know, but it sure is interesting! Or might I say entertaining?"

I furrowed my eyebrows a bit, continuing to study the picture and text. "Two colts having gum on them was one thing…but this is really personal! I mean, does every pony really need to know about the Cakes' trouble with the babies? Every pony usually goes through it, if they have children."

"Settle down, Alex. Everypony heard the screaming. Why does it matter if it's printed?"

"Then what's the point of printing it if everypony knows already?" I sighed and flipped the page. "What's this? The Great and Powerful Trixie's secrets revealed! Isn't it that light blue pony that came to town, boasting about her magic a long time ago?"

"Looks like it." Rarity responded, continuing to read the paper. "Oh! You should definitely read the paper and hear what secrets she has that nopony has known until now!" She giggled and shuffled her hooves playfully."

"No thanks…" I placed the paper near the tub on the outside. "Even I feel bad for her…"

"Suit yourself." One of the spa ponies finally came and attended to Rarity, filing her hooves. "Oh, this is the life, isn't it, girls? The best hooficure I've ever had!" She announced to all of the other girls.

Another spa pony came and began tapping her hooves on Applejack's back, creating vibration in her voice. "You said it, ooh."

Spike sighed as he continued to lie on his back and cross his arms behind his head. "I don't know if I've ever been so relaxed.

"You guys!" We suddenly heard Rainbow Dash exclaim, causing Spike to yelp. His pieces of cucumber were thrown from his eyes and placed on Rainbow Dash's instead. She stopped and placed a newspaper in front of all of us. "The new Gabby Gums just came out! "The Great and Powerful Trixie's secrets revealed!"

"We already read that one, Rainbow Dash." Rarity answered as Rainbow grabbed one of the cucumbers with her tongue and placed it in her mouth to eat it. "Come on, relax, have a hooficure, it feels amazing." Rarity fell back on her chair from pleasure.

"Did you forget who you're talking to? The day I get a hooficure is the day I turn in my daredevil license. Besides, I haven't read this Gabby Gums yet." Rainbow Dash grabbed the newspaper again with her teeth.

Spike grabbed the piece of cucumber from her eye to place it back on his. "Well, do it quietly, will ya?" He opened her mouth and retrieved the other piece of cucumber, placing it back on his eye as well, sighing afterwards. "Some of us are trying to unwind!"

"I like Gabby Gums too, but don't you think she can be a little mean?" Twilight commented as one of the spa ponies was trying to place another accessory on her tail, but seemed to be having trouble doing so for some reason.

"She's not mean, Twilight, she's a hoot!" Applejack responded, flipping a page from the newspaper she had in front of her as she continued to lie down.

"Celestia, just like us?" Twilight announced, reading from the paper and catching my attention when I was trying to lie back and close my eyes in relaxation. "Gabby Gums doesn't value anypony's privacy."

"What?" I exclaimed, quickly grabbing the newspaper from nearby the tub. "They did one on Princess Celestia too?" I opened the newspaper to the page and discovered a picture of Princess Celestia, eating a piece of cake while some bits of it were on her mouth. However, it seemed she had seen who ever photographed the picture, revealing surprised and widened eyes because of it. "Are you serious? What? Is Princess Celestia so expected to act in royalty that she can't even have some private time to herself to be herself?" I began feeling irritated.

"Oh, lighten up, you two," Rarity continued to defend politely as the spa pony filing her hoof finished and walked away. "There's nothing but harmless gossip!"

"Yeah!" Pinkie Pie announced, suddenly diving up from the water to face them. "I mean listen to this one." She pulled out the newspaper from the water, which was surprisingly not wet… That's Pinkie… 'Mayor, not naturally gray!' The Mayor in a mane dyeing scandal?" She presented, showing a picture of the Mayor dying her mane gray, which was originally pink… She too revealed widened eyes in the same manner as Princess Celestia. "Who wouldn't wanna read that?"

"I just can't help feeling sorry for the ponies featured in her columns." Twilight replied with her hooves now placed in some other thing that was used to separate her hooves and allow them to be painted. "It's gotta be a little embarrassing." One of the spa ponies began painting them in a lighter color.

"I agree." I added, placing the newspaper near the tub again. "Sure, it may be interesting to read now, but wait until you're unexpectedly placed in the column, with your most private and personal information about you! It's ridiculous!" I finished with my forelegs crossed and looking back in an irritated and annoyed manner.

"Are you kidding?" Rainbow faced towards me. " Do you know how awesome it is to get your name in the paper?"

However, Rarity shifted the conversation from Rainbow and me to Rainbow and her. "Rainbow, why don't you join me in one of these delicious hooficures?" Rarity questioned.

Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight, who returned another look and sent a gesture with her eyes, indicating for her to go ahead and accept her offer. "It's that good, huh? Well, maybe just one little hoof…" She began walking towards her as Twilight nodded. Rainbow laid down on the chair, but looked a little stiff. The spa pony began inching her head closer to Rainbow Dash's hoof, in order to file them, but Rainbow began flinching. Every time the pony tried to file her hoof, Rainbow would shake and flinch for some reason. Just when the pony was about to touch her hoof with the filer, Rainbow Dash quickly jumped onto the air and flew, surprising Rarity and the pony. "Forget it, I don't like ponies touching my hooves." She flew back towards the paper and landed. "Man... I'd love it if Gabby Gums did a story on me."

"She did one on me." Spike commented, instantly grabbing all the girls' attention, even Fluttershy's.

"What?" They exclaimed, surrounding him.

"Yeah… I talked about Canterlot, naps, and my favorite jams!"

"Whoa!" The girls responded with general excitement.

I slapped a hoof on my face and sighed. Then, I purposely sank myself in the water, holding my breath and closing my eyes. I decided to only stay for a very short while, just so I can mute all the noise and actually relax a bit. I was able to hold my breath for a few minutes, so I lay there, in the water, trying to unwind my nerves.

After having only several seconds of time to myself to critically think about this whole situation, I was suddenly pulled out of the water and onto the solid ground, hearing Pinkie exclaim, "Oh no! Alex is drowning!"

"What?" I released until I was interrupted by Pinkie when she forcefully planted her hooves on my chest in a harsh way, causing me to puff out some air.

"BREATHE!" She yelled out and continued to pump her hooves onto my chest. I tried to tell her that I was absolutely fine, but she continued to strike my chest with her hooves. Finally, I felt too out of breath to say anything. "No! He's not breathing! Time to perform mouth-to-mouth!" Pinkie was just about to place her mouth on mine to blow in air, but I quickly placed my hooves on her and stopped her. "Pinkie! I'm fine!"

"Oh…" She responded. "Okay!" She smiled brightly and jumped back onto the tub and creating a splash of water.

I sighed and continued to lay there on the area near the tub. "So much for relaxation…" I muttered under my breath.

"Alex…are you okay?" Fluttershy asked me, revealing her face above me.

I turned around and stood up. "Yeah… I'm fine…"

After spending some time at the spa, I began walking with Fluttershy back in town. I remembered that I still had that time where I was supposed to be with Derpy. I seemed to have spent a few hours back at the spa, so I decided it would be best to meet up with her now. Just as I was going to ask Fluttershy if she wanted to come with me to see Derpy, she looked at me and spoke instead.

"Alex, do you mind if you take me home? There's something I wanted to try back at the cottage…I'm going to be pretty busy…you know…with girl stuff…"

"Oh." I responded. I guess I can just see her by myself… "Alright, that's okay. I understand. I'll walk you to your cottage."

When I did, I faced her and gazed her for a moment. She released the sweetest smile and softest eyes I could ever possibly receive. "Can I have a little kiss and hug from my little sweetie?" She asked.

I smiled warmly and gazed at her beauty. "Of course…" I answered, feeling a little love-struck. We both closed our eyes and began leaning in for our kiss. I then felt my lips plant on hers, kissing her more passionately than just "a little". I placed my hooves on her cheeks to strengthen the kiss, but suddenly I heard something snap and a bright light attacked my closed eyes. "What the?" I looked around to see any source of the strange occurrence.

"What's wrong?" Fluttershy asked, showing a little concern in her eyes.

I continued to look around, but finally, I stopped and looked back at Fluttershy. "Nothing…" I planted one more sweet kiss on her lips and embraced her. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" I pulled away.

"Okay, Alex. I love you."

I smiled and nodded. "I love you too." Afterwards, I waved and began heading towards town.

I decided I would stop by my house to retrieve my saddlebag, in case I wanted to buy anything at the sweet shop. I stopped at my front door and was about to open it, but I realized something very strange and odd… There was a small space between the door and the wall, looking as if I didn't close it right when I left my house. Hm…did I not fully close the door when I walked out…? Nonetheless, I walked in and closed it, making sure it was shut fully, which created an almost loud sound. I walked over to the saddlebag on my counter near the stairs and spotted that it was open.

"What the…?" I spoke under my breath, feeling puzzled. Did I leave my saddlebag open too…? I walked towards it and looked inside. The first thing I noticed was that Derpy's note wasn't in there. Everything else seemed to be there. I became even more puzzled. Did I place her note somewhere else? Or did it fall out? I groaned. Well…it's alright. I know where it's going to be at and what time it is.

Just when I was going to close the saddlebag and place it on, I heard some noises upstairs, almost like shuffling. I furrowed my eyebrows in curiosity and a little in confusion. I began walking up the stairs. I reached my room and looked around. I didn't see anything unusual. However, I spotted something off near my bed. I walked towards the nightstand and noticed something missing. Derpy's Hearts and Hooves Day card wasn't there… Did I misplace it? I rubbed my head with my hoof, completely puzzled now. I began looking around, seeing if I did. I looked on my shelf. It wasn't there. I checked to see if it was inside the drawers in the nightstand. It still wasn't there. However, I did notice some things shuffled in there… I began feeling a little suspicious. Why does everything seem off just right now? I shook my head and placed my hoof on the bottom of the floor. I began leaning towards the floor to check under the bed, in order to see if the card slipped under there, but then I remembered about something. I checked the clock on my nightstand. 2:57 PM. Forget it. I'll just look for it when I come back. I walked, almost quickly, down the stairs and back to the counter where my saddlebag remained. I closed it and placed it on, almost galloping out the front door, but remembering to shut it fully.

I finally made it to Sugarcube Corner. I entered the sweet shop, ringing the bell, and alarming Derpy who was inside with her saddlebag as well.

"Hey, Derpy." I was panting a little as I galloped a bit on the way. "I'm hope I'm not too late."

She giggled a little. "No worries."

I smiled and looked at my saddlebag. "I brought my saddlebag, just in case you wanted any sweets from here."

"You didn't have to do that!" She responded and looked through her saddlebag. "I made enough muffins for us to get stuffed!"

I chuckled a little. "Alright." I walked towards the table she was sitting at as she placed a few muffins on there and sat across from her. "So, how have you been? I also forgot to ask you on how your Hearts and Hooves Day went. Did you find a special somepony?"

"Oh! No… But I did get to make little glittery hearts with my little sister and stuff, so it was still a great day." She smiled.

"Oh, I see. Well, I'm glad you still managed to have a good day." I returned a soft smile as well and grabbed one of the nice and soft muffins on the table.

Derpy grabbed one as well and took a big bite, moaning in pleasure after. When she swallowed, she looked at me. "What about you? How have you and Fluttershy been doing?"

I took a bite of the muffin and swallowed. "Great. I think our bond has been growing stronger." I chuckled a little. "There have been a few problems…not with us… but caused by our surroundings. We've managed to overcome them together though." I smiled warmly and took another bite of the muffin. Then, I looked at Derpy and analyzed her crossed eyes, bringing up a question that I couldn't believe I hadn't asked before. "Hey, Derpy…"

"Hm?"

"I hope and don't mean to sound offensive…but…why are your eyes crossed like that anyway?"

"Oh!" She giggled, still eating her muffin. "I learned to cross them like that! Don't worry, it's not permanent. It's just really fun seeing in different directions at the same time! Look, I can make them normal anytime." She shifted her eyes to where they appeared normal, surprising me greatly as I had never seen them like that before.

"Wow!" I almost exclaimed in excitement. "I never knew that." I chuckled a little. "That's really cool, Derpy."

"Thanks!" She shifted her eyes back to where they were crossed. "I hope I didn't scare you, hehe. I taught my little sister to do that, so she does it most of the time as well. She really enjoys it. I can teach you if you want."

"Heh, no thanks. I think I'm fine like this. Although…" I narrowed my eyes a bit towards her eyes. "I'm still pretty intrigued on how your eyes cross so much like that… Are you sure it doesn't hurt?"

"Nope!"

"Hm…" I rubbed my chin. "Do you mind if I take a closer look?"

"Nope." She repeated.

I leaned closer to her over the table and observed her eyes. I tried to study them very carefully. Hm…that's very interesting…how she is able to cross them so much, especially on opposite sides, without them hurting or anyth—

I was suddenly pushed forwards, shocking me and throwing me towards Derpy. It was all too quick. Before I knew it, my lips were on Derpy's. I was highly shocked. I quickly pulled away and looked back to see what caused me to be pushed so suddenly.

"Oh, sorry, dear!" Mrs. Cake turned her head to see me. She was holding a huge cake that seemed to be unfinished. "I was trying to move this cake, but it's really heavy."

"It's alright…" I responded, still stunned about the incident. Mrs. Cake walked away carefully with the cake back into the kitchen. I turned around to Derpy. "Derpy, I'm really sorry about that! I didn't mean to do that!"

"It's okay. Accidents happen, right?" She still managed to smile after that awkward scene and held out a muffin.

"Right…" I answered, feeling bad for some reason.

I spent some more time with Derpy, possibly a few hours, but I still felt a little…odd…about the situation that happened. Derpy assured me that it was okay, but I could only nod my head and wave goodbye to her before I left the shop. I started heading home, reaching it shortly afterwards. I opened my door and walked inside. I placed my saddlebag on the counter and walked up the stairs. I headed towards my bed and climbed on it. Then, I lay on my back and stared at the ceiling.

I kissed another pony besides Fluttershy… I sighed. It was an accident though… I didn't mean it… I just feel…really bad though. I wonder if Fluttershy will get mad or cry though? I really hope not… I mean… I can treat it as just an accident and as if it was nothing important, but I'll still feel bad… Maybe I'll tell her tomorrow, just to make sure that I wasn't cheating on her or anything. Well… I better get some sleep, and then tomorrow, I can say whatever I want to say to her when I meet up with her…

I heard a knocking on my door, causing me to wake up. I opened my eyes and shook my head. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I heard the knocking again. I sighed and stood up from bed, planting my hooves on the ground. I walked downstairs and answered the front door. It was Twilight. She was holding up a newspaper with her magic.

"Twilight…?"

"No time to explain, just come with me." She grabbed my hoof and began leading me out of the house.

"What's going on Twilight?" I asked, concerned.

"Emergency meeting at the sweet shop."

"Huh…?"

Nonetheless, she led me inside and I saw the others there. Pinkie Pie was sitting at the table with a newspaper in her hooves. Rarity was across Pinkie Pie with a newspaper in front of her on the table. Fluttershy was nearby them, near the staircase. I noticed Applejack, pacing around, looking a little irritated. Twilight took a seat near the table.

I faced Applejack, feeling highly concerned on why she was pacing around like that. "Applejack, what's going on?"

"This!" She pointed towards a newspaper. It was the Foal Free Press again.

"What about it?" I questioned.

"Gabby Gums posted a story about me! And it's not good!"

"What…?"

She picked up the newspaper with her hoof and presented it towards me. " 'Applejack, asleep on the job!'" There was a picture on there, depicting Applejack resting her eyes and crossing her hooves as she laid on a tree and near a bucket of apples. "Can y'all believe this?" She continued pacing. "And this one:" She stopped and pointed towards the newspaper again, flipping the page. " 'Big Macintosh – what's he hiding?'" There was another picture. It was Big Macintosh with widened eyes as well. He had that same rag doll that Twilight used in order to create a friendship problem… Smartypants if I recall correctly? "Who the hay does this Gabby Gums think she is?"

"Listen to this one." Twilight held the newspaper as well, depicting a picture, which showed her reading a book as if she was one of those snooty ponies. "'Twilight Sparkle: I was a Canterlot snob. A well-placed scaly source close to the prissy pony says Twilight Sparkle thinks Ponyville is nothing but muddy roads and low-class rubes.'" She turned her head towards Spike, who was also reading the paper against the wall. "Spike!" Her call caused him to yelp and belch, burning the newspaper he had. "How could you say such a thing?"

"Well, I didn't!" He responded. "Gabby Gums made that up!" He analyzed the piece of burnt newspaper in his claw. "I never said anything like that!"

"Everypony, please!" Rarity announced. "She's just a harmless schoolpony engaged in a little idle gossip. You're really making too big a deal out of this." She pulled the newspaper to her face in order to continue reading.

"But it's all lies!" Twilight explained to Rarity, placing the newspaper back on the table. "Gabby Gums prints whatever she wants, she doesn't care whose reputation she destroys!" She grabbed the newspaper with her magic and began flipping through it. " 'Fluttershy has tail extensions!'" She announced, directing towards a picture which showed Fluttershy's tail. There were arrows pointed at her tail. This caused us to look at Fluttershy, who only returned a shocked look. She slowly lowered herself behind a wooden cover, hiding her from sight. But that wasn't the problem. Twilight flipped the page. "'Pinkie Pie is an out-of-control party animal!'"Twilight announced again, displaying a picture with Pinkie dancing in a punch bowl.

"What?" Pinkie cried out and grabbed the newspaper, beginning to analyze it with her eyes planted directly on it. "It's true!" She cried. "I do have a problem!" She continued to cry afterwards.

"Oh look! According to this one, the Cakes are breaking up!" Twilight announced again.

"We are?" Mrs. Cake rushed out of the kitchen, holding a tray of cupcakes on her hoof.

Then, we heard a crash behind us. "Well, my life is officially over." We saw a huge pile of newspapers being hovered inside. Rainbow Dash poked her head out of the pile. "Gabby Gums has made it to Cloudsdale." She presented the newspaper as well, showing a picture of her at the spa, looking as if she was going to get a hooficure.

"'Rainbow Dash: Speed demon or super softie?'?" Twilight read it.

"I grabbed as many copies as I could, but it was too late!" Rainbow responded. "I'm a laughing stock!" She cried and fell to the floor.

"See, Rarity? Your so-called 'harmless gossip' can be very hurtful!"

"Honestly, you ponies have no sense of humor." Rarity returned an uninterested expression and continued reading the newspaper. "So she tweaks a few ponies every now and then, maybe they dese— She suddenly gasped. "I'll destroy her! 'The Drama-Queen Diaries'... she's reprinted my diary! How could Gabby Gums possibly get access to my private diary?"

Twilight continued reading through the newspaper and brought something up as well. "And look at this! 'Alex caught cheating on Fluttershy' I—

She suddenly stopped talking and they all looked at me with widened eyes.

"What?" I exclaimed and grabbed the newspaper from Twilight. I began reading through it and I was completely shocked… There…laid a picture of Fluttershy and I kissing back at the cottage yesterday. Not only that, there was a picture of the Hearts and Hooves Day card Derpy gave me…along with…with… the picture of when I accidentally kissed Derpy… Oh my… This picture was exactly taken when I was pushed towards her. This picture was taken so quickly and with a pinch of luck, it captured me with my eyes closed, along with Derpy's eyes closed, looking as if we enjoyed the kiss… It's not like that at all! Our eyes were closed because of the impact! Not because of the kiss! I could only slowly lower the newspaper as my eyes remained widened and I was in complete shock. The other girls looked at me in shock as well. They all stared at me in silence…especially Fluttershy…

"Alex…this isn't true…is it?" Twilight asked me, looking highly worried now.

"No!" I exclaimed, throwing the newspaper at the ground.

"But…" Twilight grabbed the newspaper with her magic and analyzed it again. "But, why does it show these pictures? Especially the one with you kissing that other pony…"

"It was an accident! She was just a friend and I was just talking with her! It was nothing like that! It's just that Mrs. Cake accidentally bumped into me and made me push forward and accidentally kiss her! It was just an accident!"

"It's true…" Mrs. Cake added. "I did bump into him yesterday..."

"Yes…" I sighed. "It was just…an accident…"

They all sighed. "Well…that's a relief. We could never believe that you would actually do something like that… Don't worry, Fluttershy, everything's al— Twilight turned to see Fluttershy, but she wasn't there… "Fluttershy? Where'd she go?"

"Oh no…" I released, figuring what might have happened to her.

"What?" Twilight turned to me, wondering what I was starting to panic about.

"Fluttershy! She probably still thinks that I'm cheating on her!" I quickly began galloping my way to the door. "I have to go tell her that I'm not!" Afterwards, I sped through the door and headed towards the only place I could think of… Fluttershy's cottage…

By the time I reached her door, I saw puddles of water escaping from the small opening under the door. I frowned and pushed the door open with my hoof. I saw her there, crying on the couch. I instantly felt bad. I walked in, letting the tears below me stain my hooves. I closed the door and faced Fluttershy. "Fluttershy…" I softly called.

She stopped sobbing but looked at me teary eyed as I walked towards her. "A-Alex…? Is it really true…? Are you really cheating on me…?"

"No, Fluttershy…" I strained. I took a seat next to her. "It was just an accident… I'll explain everything to you, Fluttershy… I don't like to see you cry." She sniffled a bit and continued to look at me. "Listen… after you went home, I went to the sweet shop to see Derpy. I was going to invite you, but you said you were going to be busy…so I decided to go by myself. When I was there…I was talking to her about her crossed eyes. I then became intrigued that I wanted to take a closer look at her eyes. However, Mrs. Cake had bumped into me, causing me to push forward towards Derpy and…you know…accidentally kiss her…" I turned my eyes from the floor and looked at her. "It was just an accident, Fluttershy… I Pinkie Promise." I crossed my heart and made a gesture with a cupcake in my eye. "I love you with all my heart and I would never do anything like that to hurt you."

She sniffled a bit again and then embraced me tightly, wetting my coat a bit with her tears. "…I believe you…"

"You do…?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yes…I knew you couldn't have done something like that…not after all we've been through and what you've done for me… I love you so much, Alex."

"I love you too…" I shared a passionate kiss with her, holding her tightly for a moment.

After, she lightly pulled away and still cried a bit. "But…I'm still humiliated…and the…the…" She began crying a bit more. "The whole town knows it!"

"About the tail extensions…?" I questioned.

"Yes!" She cried. "I was only trying them for a day!" She shook her head. "I only just wanted to try them…but now the whole town is going to laugh at me! I can never go to town again! Not with my fear of public humiliation!"

"Fluttershy…"

However, she began crying out loud again. I could only frown. I was about to try to comfort her, but I heard a knock on the door. I walked over the teary puddles to answer it. It was Twilight.

"Hey, Alex…" Twilight managed to hear and see what was going inside. "Oh no, does she still think that you…?"

"No, no…" I shook my head. "She's upset about the tail extension thing now… I'll comfort her right now…"

"Oh…well… I have some news…"

"About what?"

"About who published all those lies about us…"

"Who was it?" I leaned my head in, wanting to know.

Twilight remained silent for a moment. "Rarity found out that it was Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo."

I was shocked. "Are you serious…?" She nodded her head solemnly. "I can't believe it… I can't believe those girls would do such a thing like that…" I began feeling angry.

"I know how you feel Alex… that's why I'm creating a force field around my house so they don't get anywhere near me." She placed her horn on me and closed her eyes, casting a spell on me. "If you ever need to talk to me or something, you can just walk through that force field."

"Oh… thanks Twilight."

"You're welcome… Take it easy, okay?"

I nodded. "Alright…"

She nodded as well. "I'll see you later then."

I waved and she began walking off. I turned back around to face Fluttershy and her sadness. I closed the door and walked towards her, taking a seat next to her. I stroked her mane and kissed her on the cheek. After a few moments of trying to comfort her, I heard another knock. I sat up from the couch and walked towards the door again. I opened it to see those three…

"Oh…hi, Alex…" Sweetie Belle greeted as they had lowered heads. "Is Fluttershy home…?"

"I don't know." I responded sarcastically. "I mean, I'm pretty sure you can hear that heart-breaking crying can't you?" They didn't answer. "Or that big puddle of tears coming from inside, which is also soaking my hooves." I pointed towards the stream of tears.

They remained silent for a moment. "…so you found out too…huh…?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Yeah." I responded, angrily. "I can't believe you girls would do that to us. We're your friends! Even family! Did you even think about how your 'stories' would affect us? You made me look like I cheated on Fluttershy! Which I didn't! It was a complete accident, but now you made it look like I'm some kind of…" I sighed. "Now, Fluttershy's crying because you embarrassed her on the paper. She's afraid of public humiliation! And you exactly used that for who knows what!" I paused for a moment as they continued to remain silent, full of guilt. "I thought you girls knew better than to do something like this…" I shook my head and turned it away. "Just get out of here…" I shut the door in front of them.

Afterwards, I walked back to the couch. I sat down and stroked her mane. She nuzzled her head closer to my chest. I held her closer and thought she would probably feel more comfortable in her bed. "Come on…let's get you to bed…"

She nodded, but instead of letting her walk, I placed her on my back and began carrying her up the stairs. I arrived at her room and walked towards her bed. Then, I gently and carefully placed her on the bed. Her crying was slowly becoming softer. I wrapped her in the covers and continued to stroke her gently. She opened her eyes and looked at me with some tears still streaming down her face. Learning from last time, I lifted the covers and joined her in her bed. I could feel she felt much better when I was right by her. She wrapped her hooves around me and continued to cry softly on me. I placed my hooves around her as well and continued to stroke, pat, and rub her. This continued on for a while until we both fell asleep.

There was a soft knocking on my door, waking me up. I opened my eyes and noticed Fluttershy still asleep in my hooves. I slowly slid from her embrace and climbed out of bed. I began walking down the stairs and towards the front door. I opened it to see those three little fillies again, but I didn't say anything. I only returned an irritated look.

"Listen, Alex…" Sweetie Belle began. "I know you and Fluttershy don't want to talk to us…but we just want you to read this…and we'll leave you alone…forever." She presented me a newspaper. I grabbed it and began reading it. On the front, it displayed the three little girls. The headline read: An open letter to Ponyville by Gabby Gums. My eyes then moved towards the text at the bottom, which I began reading. To the citizens of Ponyville, for some time now, you've been reading this column to get the latest dirt and the hottest buzz. But this will be my final piece. We want to apologize for the pain and embarrassment we've caused. Y'see, I'm actually three little fillies, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo. As the popularity of our column grew, we got swept up in the hype. We knew that what we were doing didn't feel quite right, but we ignored the guilt because everypony seemed to want to read what we were writing. From now on, we promise to respect everypony else's privacy, and we won't engage in hurtful gossip any more. All we can do is ask for your forgiveness, Ponyville. Signing off for the very last time, XOXO, Gabby Gums. As I finished reading…I could even feel some tears form in my eyes. I smiled lightly and looked at them. They returned soft smiles as well. I reached out my hoof and grabbed them all, hugging them forgivingly.

"Alex, what's going on?" I heard Fluttershy from the stairs. I pulled back my hoof and walked towards her, presenting the newspaper the three little girls had written. She grabbed it and read it as well, shifting her eyes between the words. Once she finished, she smiled and walked towards the front door to meet up with them. She placed a hoof around them as well and hugged them forgivingly.

"So you forgive us?" Applebloom asked.

"Yes." I answered, returning a soft smile as Fluttershy nodded. "It must have taken a lot of guts for you girls to publish that story…"

"We only wanted to apologize for all the friendships we ruined with everypony. We felt really bad…" Sweetie Belle replied.

"But, that doesn't change the fact that we're going to be completely embarrassed tomorrow…" Scootaloo added.

"What do you mean?" I inquired, growing concerned.

"It's Diamond Tiara. She has these embarrassing photos of us and she's going to publish them tomorrow!" Sweetie Belle answered.

"Yeah." Scootaloo nodded. "She said if we ever quit our jobs, she'll publish those to make up for it."

I managed to smile lightly. "You see girls…you're about to witness one good thing about being an adult…"

"What is that?" They asked, their eyebrows rising in confusion.

I chuckled lightly. "Take me to the Diamond Tiara, and I'll make sure those photos don't get published." They exchanged looks with each other, but then quickly agreed, nodding their heads. I looked back at Fluttershy. "I'll be back. Why don't you go meet up with the others about this?" I suggested.

"Mmk." She nodded, continued to smile.

I looked back at the girls, causing them to smile and quickly lead me towards the schoolhouse.

When we arrived, they led me around the side of the schoolhouse, pointing towards an entrance to the cellar. "She's in there."

"Alright." I opened the cellar doors and walked in. My vision was immediately greeted by stacks of paper, and this one little colt that was covered in ink as he was working on the pressing machine. Not only did I notice him, I noticed a large chair that was turned backwards to me. I walked towards the desk in front of that chair and called for her. "Diamond Tiara?"

The chair turned around, revealing her to me. "What is it?" She asked, rudely, and then observed me. "Who are you?"

"I'm just a friend." I answered. "I recently heard that you had some embarrassing photos of three little filles?"

She smirked. "Oh, what? These?" She held up a folder.

"Yes." I swiped them from her.

"Hey!" She responded, trying to reach them again, but was too small to barely even touch them.

"Thank you." I responded as I looked through the folder, making sure that it was the photos the girls were talking about. "These were all I needed." I began turning around, walking away.

"Hah!" Diamond Tiara laughed. "You think taking away those embarrassing photos will stop me from publishing more? I'll just get my staff photographer to snap some more!"

I stopped, glancing at her. "Oh, really?"

She smirked evilly. "Really. And there's nothing you can do to stop me."

I faced back towards the entrance of the cellar and chuckled lightly. "Wait right here, girls." I told them as I walked past them. "I'll be right back." They returned confused faces, but I absolutely knew what I was doing. I walked out of the cellar and into the schoolhouse. In the classroom, I saw Ms. Cheerilee reading a book at her desk. "Ms. Cheerilee?" I called, catching her attention.

"Oh." She looked up to me. "Why, hello, Alex. What brings you here today?"

"I'm just concerned about something." I answered.

"Really? What about?"

"Are you in charge of the Foal Free Press?"

"Well, I'm not exactly 'in charge'. I'm only an adviser. But, if you're asking me in the way as if I'm higher authority, then yes."

"Okay." I walked up to her desk with the folder ready. "Recently, there have been some problems with your editor-in-chief, Diamond Tiara."

"What kind?" She asked, growing concerned as she leaned her head towards me more.

"Well, she has been making Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo publish many gossip and embarrassing stories, which were mostly lies, which even included me. In their last release, the girls created an open letter to Ponyville, apologizing for what they've done. Now, I found out that Diamond Tiara was going to publish these…" I placed the folder of the photos on her desk, allowing her to open it and view them. "…in order to 'make up' for the gossip."

"I see…" she answered, no longer in the cheery mood she was in. She closed the folder and slid it back to me, standing up. I grabbed the folder as she began walking away from the desk. "Come with me, Alex, please." She led me back into the cellar, which all the children seemed to return surprised eyes. "Can I have every ponies' attention, please?" She asked as she began walking towards the chair. All the fillies and colts gathered together to listen to what she had to say, while Diamond Tiara remained by the desk, a little confused in an irritating way.

Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo looked at me in happy shock. "You didn't…" Scootaloo commented.

I smiled and nodded. "I did."

Cheerilee sat on the chair as Diamond Tiara must have figured out what I did. She lowered her head and narrowed her eyes angrily as Ms. Cheerilee spoke. " It has come to my attention that there have been several problems with our new editor-in-chief. Well, staff, I guess I gave a little too much authority to a first-time editor." She faced, in a scolding manner, towards Diamond Tiara, who continued to lower her head and flop down her ears. "I'm sorry, Diamond Tiara, I have to strip you of your title." She kicked the wall, causing that huge photo of Diamond Tiara to be rolled back up. Diamond Tiara growled and walked over to the others. "And for the next editor of the Foal Free Press..." Diamond Tiara blew a raspberry at them. "...here's your new editor-in-chief," Cheerilee pointed towards a door that contained a small colt behind it. "Featherweight!"

The students cheered in response to this as he slapped hooves with the presser.

"Oh, him? But what about me?" Diamond Tiara whined.

"Here ya go!" The pony covered in ink placed the cap and apron on her. "I've been promoted to staff photographer!" He answered as he carried a camera around his neck. He snapped a picture of her, causing her to flinch back and slip on the ink on the floor, impacting against the pressing machine which then covered her in ink. Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo began laughing, causing Diamond Tiara to return a grumpy face.

I smiled and looked at the girls. "Come on, girls, let's go back to town." I began leading them out of the cellar as they followed me, continuing to giggle.

"Wow, Alex! That was awesome!" Scootaloo expressed.

"Yeah! You really saved us back there!" Applebloom added.

I chuckled lightly. "What are friends for?" I remembered about the folder I had. "What about the folder of the photos?"

"You can give them to us. We'll get rid of them later." Sweetie Belle answered.

"Alright." I carefully gave them the folder, and they released sighs of relief.

When we arrived at town, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom ran to their sisters to hug them while Scootaloo was with Rainbow Dash. I heard a flapping of wings, and Derpy landed next to me. "Hey…I heard and read about what happened back at the sweet shop being published…"

"Yeah…but you've read the recent newspaper, right?"

"Yep. I'm not mad anymore…but what about you and Fluttershy? Are you two alright?" She asked, forming concerned eyes.

I smiled lightly and nodded. "Yes, we're fine. She understands."

Derpy returned a sigh of relief. "Good… Otherwise, I'd feel really bad if something might have happened." She paused for a moment. "Anyways, I better get back home. I wanted to check up on you and make sure nothing bad happened."

"It's fine, Derpy." I continued to smile. "Thanks."

She nodded and waved, flying away.

"Looks like everything is back to normal?" I heard Twilight's voice ask, causing me to turn around and face her.

"Yeah." I nodded. "Fortunately… I wouldn't want this becoming into an entire mess." I released a sigh of relief myself. Fluttershy came by, flying near me. She landed by my side and grabbed my hoof, smiling lovingly at me. I looked at her the same way. "Fluttershy's the only pony I love romantically…" She blushed a bit and then kissed me on the cheek.

That night, I walked her home. When I reached her door, I began making my preparations for tonight's farewell.

"So just to be sure…everything's back to normal, right?" I asked.

She responded with a confident nod. "Yes, don't worry."

I returned another smile. "Good…I'm glad this mess is out of the way."

"Me too." She smiled brightly and pressed her lips against mine, wrapping her hooves around my neck. After a moment, she pulled away and I could see her eyes sparkle under the night light. "Goodnight, Alex. I love you."

"Goodnight, Fluttershy. I love you too."

Afterwards, she walked into her home and gave me a shy wave until she quietly and softly closed the door.

I continued smiling and turned around to head home.

Arriving in my house, I yawned and began walking upstairs. When I reached the bed, I instantly noticed something. I saw a note on my nightstand, along with Derpy's card. I walked towards it and began to read it. Sorry, again! The Cutie Mark Crusaders. I smiled lightly. They returned the card and were still apologizing.

I climbed in my bed and began covering myself with the blankets. I stretched and loosened up to become comfortable. I closed my eyes and thought a little of what happened recently. I sighed mentally. These past days were such a mess… I'm glad to know everything is better and back to normal. I had a little scare there, knowing what might have happened to Fluttershy and me… I shook my head mentally. But that's enough. It's all in the past. We can forget about it…or maybe even bring it back up as a joke in the future, heh.

Magical Mystery Cure

Episode 64 – Magical Mystery Cure

I opened my eyes to see myself upside down on the side of my bed. It seemed that I had brought down the blankets along with me as well. I noticed how my hooves were still somewhat on the bed, but the upper part of my body was on the floor.

I sighed.

I took a few seconds to fix myself and then place the blankets back on the bed.

As I was fixing the bed, I heard the letter box on my door creakily open.

"Huh?" I muttered.

I turned around and walked down the stairs. Immediately, I noticed something on the floor. It was a letter. Confusingly, I slowly walked towards it and picked it up with my magic. I opened it and pulled it out, beginning to read it.

Dear, Alex

I'm so thankful I finally found you. I had almost given up, but my heart pushed me on forward. I've always wanted to speak with you again, to fix all the wrongs I've done, but my head did not allow me. I've figured now is the time to do as much as I can, and maybe we can restore certain things… I know you have no clue who this is, and it's better not to tell you. If you knew, you wouldn't bother showing up… Of course, I would understand that…but I need to talk to you, Alex. So very badly. You need to know so much. And I'm here to tell you. You don't need to know what I look like. As soon as you see me, you'll know it's me. I just need you to meet me at the café, and then hopefully…maybe…we can get along…

I stared at the letter for a long while. I even read it a couple more times to see if what I was reading was actually there. This better not be one of Rainbow Dash's pranks… Nonetheless, I placed the letter away and decided I could go see what was going on.

I brushed my mane a bit and made sure I looked alright.

Afterwards, I walked out the door, having the ever so curiosity of this possibly mysterious pony calling me.

I walked to the café and looked around. There weren't that many ponies around. A few were walking around. I narrowed my eyes towards the tables outside. There were several sitting on some of the tables each.

As I scanned them all carefully, I noticed one table that was just occupied by one mare. Having a good guess that this might be the pony who wrote to me, I slowly walked closer to her and tried to observe her carefully. As soon as I was close enough, I immediately recognized who it was… The small glasses… the light pale of blue…everything…

My…mom…

My gaze soon enough turned into anger when I began recalling all of my experiences with her.

She stopped tapping her hooves on the tabletop and remained still for a moment. Then, she looked at my way and widened her eyes when she saw me. "Alex…" She reacted.

I didn't think I'd ever hear her call my name.

But it didn't make me happy, only angrier.

I formed an irritated expression on my face and immediately turned the other way, walking away from her.

"Alex, wait!" She called. I heard her rush towards me. "Alex…" She stated right behind me.

I growled and clenched my teeth. I immediately turned back and faced her. "Oh, so now you remember me, huh?! I suppose since I'm a big famous Alicorn, I'm suddenly a pony you know?! Is that it?!"

Her voice seemed to breaking. "N-no…no… Please… I know how you feel…but…" She sniffled a little. "…I just need you to listen to me…please…"

I continued to lightly glare at her. Then, I released a heavy but angry breath through my nose. "…fine…"

I sat down across from my mother in the table at the café. I didn't make eye contact. I stared downwards, wondering what the hay she wanted.

There was a moment of silence until she finally decided to speak.

"So…how are you doing?" She asked me.

"Stop trying to butter me up." I answered coldly. "Just tell me what you want to tell me and go. You don't need to make yourself look more indulgent than you already are."

I continued staring downwards until I heard her begin sniffling again. This time it was much stronger. I lifted my eyes towards her. She was the one looking down now. I noticed a few tears escape from her eyes and fall towards the table. No matter how angry I was at her, I just couldn't bear the sight of her crying.

I sighed lightly, feeling horrible that I made her feel so…distressed. "Please don't cry, mom… I'm sorry… I'm sorry I said that…"

She sniffled a few more times and wiped her eyes. "No…don't be. I'm a horrible mother. I know I am. I completely understand that I am. I've neglected you for your whole life. It's my entire fault."

I couldn't really say that she hasn't… I mean it was the truth…but I didn't really want her to feel any worse. "…how did you even find me?" I asked.

"It all started after the wedding. Your sister had…told me that she met you and your friends; especially on how there was a little yellow mare with wings that you're with. When I thought about it, I remembered seeing a pegasus of the same description. And then that's when I realized it. I had high hopes and chances of the same mare you're with being the one that I met when your father and I came to this very town for zap apple jam. I…I just had to find you because… I wanted to tell you everything. The whole truth. I didn't have much luck finding you at first… I looked everywhere, especially at the farm we bought the zap apple jam from. It wasn't until the other day that I stumbled upon a young grey pegasus. The first thing I noticed about her were her eyes. They were crossed and I had never seen a pony do so. I asked her about her eyes and she explained to me why they were like that. But then, she looked at me for a while and mentioned something to me. A key. She told me that I looked and reminded her of somepony. I immediately asked who and she told me. She told me that it was her friend Alex…you… So…after learning that she worked as a mailpony, I asked her to deliver a letter from me to you. And well…here we are."

I shook my head."I don't get it… If you remember who I am, then why doesn't Dad? In fact, why were you pretending that you didn't? Mom… Tell me… Why has Dad been talking about me like I don't even exist?"

She sighed as well. "I don't know if you already know your father, but… He's been purposely pretending to never have known you. He does remember you. He just wants to act like you've never existed. He…wanted me to be the same way…To be frank, he wants to rid any part of you from his life."

I scoffed. "Figures… So what? He's pretending that he's never had a son before?"

"…Yes… And technically…he's right…"

Her answer surprised me. I widened my eyes and my heart may have skipped a beat. "What do you mean…?"

"It's…something I wanted to talk to you about as well. It's not going to be easy to believe…but it's the truth." I could only continue staring at her, wanting to know so desperately what she was talking about. "…It was a rainy night… We were all asleep until some loud thunder woke me up. I couldn't go back to sleep, but your father and sister remained in bed. I decided I could get something that could maybe help me fall back to sleep. After I searched the refrigerator for some milk to heat up, I continued being lightly scared by the lightning and thunder outside. I just wanted to drink my milk and try to go to bed, but that wasn't the end of the night. I began becoming deeply frightened when I heard strong hoofsteps outside the house. I wasn't sure if I should have checked it out or not, but I let my fears get the best of me. I was just about to go to bed until I heard a sudden knock on the door. My heart was starting to beat fast, and many thoughts raced in my head. I was just so scared to even see who would be knocking on the door, but I couldn't let it go. Otherwise, I would have never been able to have a chance to sleep that night. So…I slowly walked to the door and placed my hoof on the knob. I hesitated for a while, continuing to feel as if I should check or not. I took in some deep breaths before I slowly turned the knob and lightly opened the door. The sound of the rain immediately became louder and clearer as I left the door ajar with my eye peeking out. I tried to look around as much as I could without opening the door too much. I was confused. I didn't see anypony outside. I was beginning to wonder if it was just the wind throwing some things at the door or something. I was about to close the door until something suddenly caught my eye. There was something on the floor of the porch. I lightly opened the door some more to see it better. It was a basket. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I opened the door enough to where I could stick my head out and look around. There was nothing but that one basket there. I didn't know what was inside, but all I could see was that there was a light blue blanket covering it. I picked up the basket and brought it inside. Once I closed the door shut, I immediately began trying to figure out the mystery. I was scared to look inside, as it might have even been some prank or some sort. Once I finally got the courage to open it, I saw something I completely wasn't expecting. Wrapped around in a tight blue blanket was a foal… That foal…was you…" I gasped and remained speechless. "You were only sleeping at then. When I pulled you out and held you in my forelegs, you seemed so…cute and adorable… I looked in the basket to see more inside. There seemed to be a note. At the front, it said 'I'm sorry.' When I grabbed the note and turned it around, there was more written. I can still remember what it was. It said 'Please, whoever you are, take care of him. His name is Alexander, but he seems to like it when he's just called Alex. Please…love him with all your heart…he deserves it…' I didn't know what to do. It added so much responsibility to my life, but I couldn't leave you out in the rain. I just couldn't. It wasn't until your father came down when seeing the light on. After I told him what happened, he grew furious. He didn't want some random foal to come into his house to be another mouth to feed. Despite you being just a baby, he already thought of you as a freeloader, even though you had no choice or decision in it. It took me a while to reason with him and show him how I just couldn't leave you by yourself because you wouldn't make it out on your own. After several moments, he finally just put it to rest. He didn't disagree…but he didn't agree either. He just…let whatever happened happen. Throughout your first years, your father showed hostility towards you. He clearly didn't like you. I tried to take care of you, but throughout all the years…I…" Tears began forming in her eyes. "…For some reason…I…I just became angry as well. I don't know why. The hostility in your father just seemed to have…leaked into me. I don't know why…" She shook her head as tears fell out. "I wanted to care for you but…I just started…disliking you and feeling that you were actually a burden as well. I'm so sorry, Alex. When your father realized how my protection of you was depleting, he just…took things in his own hooves…and…that's why…he did all those horrible things to you… I'm sorry…"

She continued crying as I remained sitting there in disbelief. My mouth hung open and my eyes slowly lowered themselves. Was she really telling me the truth? Did all that really happen? I…I just can't…

The more time I spent sitting without a word to say, the more I seemed to grow angrier. The thought of dishonesty and irresponsible behavior plagued my mind. I felt my teeth clench and soon enough, I wasn't speechless anymore. I had enough.

"You liar…" I pushed through my strained irritated facial expression. This caught her attention. She slowly lifted her head towards me to reveal the tears that were streaming down her face. "I know what you're doing…" I continued, feeling immense darkness corrupt my heart. "It took you that long to make up a story like that? I see what you're doing! You're only trying to blame the 'horrible mother' on somepony else! You're trying to make yourself look like the responsible mother by 'supposedly' taking me in when my 'real' mother left me out in the rain! There is no second mother! You're my mother but you're just trying to escape the fact that you didn't care at all!"

"Alex, honey, no I—"

"I've had enough of this!" I exclaimed and stood up angrily at the table. I immediately felt something painfully pinch at my heart, so I placed a hoof on my chest and strained my eyes as I groaned. She tried to reach out a hoof towards me but I quickly turned away. "Keep your hooves off me!" I tried to begin walking away, but I was in too much pain. I could barely even move one step forward. "If you wanted to make up stories like that, you've should've stayed in Fillydelphia!"

"Alex, wait! Let me help you!" She tried to stop me.

"I…don't…need your help…!" I growled.

Suddenly, I felt myself lose control and conscious.

I opened my eyes in a quiet atmosphere. I rubbed my hoof on my face for a while. However, I was alarmed to see my mother looking at the gifts among the shelf in front of me. I figured out that I was on my bed. She heard me and turned around.

"I see you have some nice friends now…" She mentioned softly.

"…yeah…" I responded, feeling confused about what happened. "…what happened? Why am I here?"

"You passed out…" She answered. "I had to get a doctor to come check you out. He did…but he didn't find anything wrong with you. He said you were perfectly healthy and that you must have just been too stressed over the…information…I gave you… He decided it was best that you get rest, so…here you are…" She looked out the window, which also surprised me because I just realized it was nighttime. "It was a long rest too…"

I was shocked. "…you stayed with me the whole time…?"

"Yes…" She walked over to me and placed a hoof on my forehead. "It's the least I could do."

I looked away and sat up. "…you must really be asking for forgiveness…aren't you?"

She couldn't answer for a moment. She turned away and remained silent for a while. "I can understand if you don't… I wasn't exactly Mom of the Year." She chuckled a little softly.

"…you tried… At least I know you tried…" She didn't say anything back to my last response. "Does Dad know you're here?"

"He's away in a business trip…" She explained. "Your sister is off on her own musical career. If I was going to be alone, I might as well try to find you…right?"

"Why? I thought you were happy without me."

"Alex… I told you why…"

"Well, I don't believe it." I immediately answered. She remained silent again. I shook my head. "I can't. I've been through so many lies, including you all… I still have major trust issues because of it. The only ones I trust are the ones I hold dear. But…you can't expect me to suddenly believe this whole story one day you randomly show up. It's too much." I sighed. "I'm sorry for how this will sound Mom, but… I don't trust you."

I could sense that she was hurt. I was even able to hear her silent gasp. She nodded her head lightly and placed her hoof on her face for a moment, turning around so I couldn't see it. She took in a breath and slowly exhaled. "I understand… I'm sorry, Alex. I guess… I should leave you alone now… Maybe…" She paused. "Just maybe…we can…at least…try to…start over…" She hesitated between words.

"Are you staying in Ponyville?" I asked.

"Just for a while…" She answered. "If you really want me to…I'll leave right now."

My head was overloaded with so many things. "…I can't think right now."

"Okay, then… Just…let me know when you want me to leave…" Afterwards, I heard her walk down the steps quietly.

I sat on the side of my bed as I heard her open the door. After a few seconds, it closed, leaving an echo.

I sighed heavily and stared at the floor for a long while. I shook my head and stood up. I walked down the stairs, thinking to myself.

I can't believe she would come all the way to find me… Does she really feel sorry?

I opened my front door and looked around. She wasn't anywhere in sight. I suddenly felt an overwhelming feeling of sadness drop over me.

Maybe a walk in the night will help clear my mind…

As I passed by Vinyl's house, I heard a pony walk to my side.

"Hey, dude."

I turned around and noticed Vinyl with her glasses held up on her head, revealing her eyes fully. "Oh… Hey, Vinyl."

"Why do you look so down?" She asked with worried eyes.

"I'm just…dealing with a lot of stuff right now…" I answered.

"Want to come inside and listen to some tunes with me? That might help ease things down a little."

"Maybe some other time… Right now, I feel it might be better if I'm not in such a noisy nature…no offense, of course…"

"Don't worry. I get you." She placed a hoof on me and slightly hugged me. "Stay strong. I'll be here if you want to chill or talk. Whatever makes you feel better."

I managed to form a very light smile. "Thanks, Vinyl."

"No problem." She repeated the smile as well. "See you around."

"See you."

She walked back towards her home. I decided to continue my walk.

The next place I stopped was at the library; Twilight's home. The lights were on, so it seemed that she was still awake. I looked down at the floor and thought for a moment. I began to feel the hint of tears forming in my eyes. It's just like me… Every time I recall something sad…I always feel like crying… I looked at Twilight's door. Maybe talking to a very close friend will heal my wounds somewhat…

I walked towards the door and knocked.

The door creaked open as I stared away at the ground.

"Alex?" She paused to notice the expression I wore. "Whoa, what's wrong? You look so down…"

"Can I come in?" I asked.

"Yeah, of course." She held the door open as she stepped to the side. I walked in, holding my head down. She closed the door and attended to me. "What happened, Alex?"

I sat down and rubbed my foreleg with my hoof. I wasn't sure if I should tell her… "I…don't know where to start…" I sighed as Twilight walked over to me and sat by my side. "I just came by because I thought I could talk to you to help me a bit."

"Of course you can. I'm not busy. I mean, I was going to take a bath, but Spike got to it first and you know how long he takes!" Twilight noticed my unchanged expression and shook her head. "Anyway, tell me. What's going on?"

"Well…" I rubbed my hooves together. "My mother came into town…"

"Your mother from Fillydelphia? Really?" Twilight asked with widened eyes.

"Yeah… Apparently, she was looking for me and once she found me, she decided to drop this whole story on how I was actually never her real son and apologize and…" I placed my hooves to my head and groaned. "Ugh! What am I supposed to do with that?! A mother who has neglected you your whole life coming to apologize and say how you were brought in!? How the hay am I supposed to believe that?!"

"Okay, take it easy…" Twilight placed a hoof on me and rubbed slightly, attempting to calm me down. "She might be right. She might be wrong. I don't know. I can't say because I don't have any better clue than you do. But if you want…I can help you somehow see if you have another family history or something…" She looked around her library across the books. "I can do some research."

"Why bother…" I answered, leaving my head down low. "You'd only be wasting your time…" I picked up my head. "You could spend hours on unnecessary research when it could probably just be another one of my family's lies in order to get me to forgive my mom."

"Are you sure…?" Twilight questioned. "I don't mind at all, Alex. If it helps you feel better, I'll do it."

"Yes, I'm sure." I returned. "Just leave it how it is. I guess I just need time to get over and forget about it."

She continued to keep her attention towards me until there was another knock at her door. She sat up and walked over to the door to open it.

"Yes?" She answered with a smile.

"Package for Twilight Sparkle." The pony at the door announced.

"Oh! Thanks!" Twilight received the package with her magic and closed the door. As she walked back towards me, she read the front and presented slightly confused eyes. "A package from the Princess?" She inquired, catching my attention. She opened the package and pulled out a letter and what appeared to be a notebook. She sat down by me once again and began to read the letter she received. "Dear Twilight Sparkle, The spell contained on the last page of this book is Star Swirl the Bearded's secret unfinished masterpiece." She gasped and grew excited when she looked at the book. "Ooh!" She expressed. Her reaction actually made me smile and chuckle a bit. "He was never able to get it right, and thus abandoned it. I believe you are the only pony who can understand and rewrite it. Princess Celestia." After, she faced her attention towards the book and began flipping through it. She stopped at a page and began reading from it. "From one to another, another to one. A mark of one's destiny singled out alone, fulfilled." She stopped and thought for a moment. I raised an eyebrow in confusion, feeling as if the spell was cut short. "That doesn't make any sense. It doesn't even rhyme!" Nonetheless, she yawned and placed the book on the nearby table.

"Are you tired?" I asked.

"A little." She replied. "That was weird. I guess I can just try to figure it out in the morning."

"Well, I guess I'll leave you to bed then." I stood up.

"I'm still here if you want to talk." She offered.

"That's okay. I'm fine for now. Thanks, Twilight." I expressed.

"Anything, B.B.B.F.F."

I looked back at her and smiled. "Goodnight, Twi."

"Goodnight, Alex."

Afterwards, I walked out the door and headed back home.

As soon as I reached my bed, I placed myself on there. I then thought to myself. That's weird… I pretty much slept all day after I…passed out…but why do I still feel sleepy? Nonetheless, slumber pulled me away from my thoughts and surrounded me.

An echo of galloping hooves entered through my mind. All of a sudden, a voice called out for me.

"Alex!"

The covers on top of me were thrown to the side. I slowly opened my eyes to see Twilight staring at me frantically. "Twilight…?" I mumbled sleepily.

"Alex, there's something weird going on!" She exclaimed.

"Huh..?" I muttered until she suddenly turned me around on my stomach and placed her hooves on my flank, surprising me. I widened my eyes.

However, she sighed in relief. "Your cutie mark… It's still the same…"

"What? What are you talking about?" I asked a lot more alert now.

"I woke up this morning and Rarity was doing Rainbow Dash's job! She even had her cutie mark!"

"…what…?" I questioned, trying to grasp this new information.

"Come on!" She pulled me out of bed. "You'll see what I mean! We have to get to Rainbow Dash! Rarity told me that she's in Fluttershy's cottage!"

"I…what?"

"Let's go!" Twilight grabbed my hoof and pulled me down the stairs and outside where I met Spike. He was rubbing his claw on his eye as if he had just woken up as well. "Come on, Spike!"

She took us to Fluttershy's cottage, which she was calling Rainbow Dash's cottage instead. I still had no reason why, but if Twilight was right, then I was about to find out.

Spike released a sleepy yawn as we reached the cottage. "I still don't know what you had to wake me up for. I love sleeping in the rain."

"It was raining?" I asked, now confused since there was a sunny sky above us.

"That's just it." Twilight answered. "It's not about the weather, Spike. Rarity had Rainbow Dash's cutie mark and said this was Rainbow Dash's cottage. Something strange is going on..."

We reached the door, allowing Twilight to knock.

The door slowly opened revealing a nervous face not from Fluttershy, but from…Rainbow Dash?

"Hey, guys." She greeted.

"Rainbow Dash?" I asked. "What are you doing in Fluttershy's cottage? And where is Fluttershy?"

"What do you mean?" Rainbow questioned. "This is my cottage ever since I got my cutie mark. Fluttershy is at Sugarcube Corner."

"What?" Twilight included. "Rainbow Dash, you're supposed to be clearing the clouds, but you're not! Rarity is the one doing your job!" We suddenly heard a crash inside, causing Rainbow Dash to rush back in. "And what in Equestria is going on in... here?"

Twilight opened the door to reveal so many animals acting hectic inside. There were literally hundreds of animals roaming freely as Rainbow Dash tried to take control, but clearly it wasn't working. Even a seal was bouncing a rabbit while a huge bear was covering a whole door!

"These animals don't listen, no, not one little bit" Rainbow Dash sang, picking up Gummy who was strangely in the wrong place. She placed him inside a bird cage…

"They run around out of control and throw their hissy fits" She could only observe as a cat hissed and tore the curtains completely.

"It's up to me to stop them, 'cause plainly you can see" She noticed a bird roaming around, so she flew to try to catch it.

"It's got to be my destiny, and it's what my cutie mark is telling me" She pointed to her flank after failing to retrieve the bird when it flew inside a mouse hole. I was shocked to see that Fluttershy's cutie mark was on Rainbow Dash's flank instead!

"What in Equestria…?" I became speechless.

"See what I mean?!" Twilight pointed.

I shook my head to get me out of my trance and looked at Twilight. "We have to go find Fluttershy! Come on!" I then led them out the cottage and hurried to Sugarcube Corner, where Fluttershy was supposed to be at.

We arrived to just see Fluttershy surprisingly blowing a balloon to try to please an audience of ponies. However, the tip of the balloon escaped her mouth and flew away. She released a completely nervous grin.

"I try to keep them laughing, put a smile upon their face" Fluttershy sang as well pulling out a silly mask to improvise. However, the crowds of ponies watching were bored and displeased. Vinyl was even in the crowd!

"But no matter what I try, it seems a bit of a disgrace" She tried to blow a party kazoo, but it merely flattened.

"I have to entertain them, it's there for all to see" The crowd suddenly began laughing. I looked back to see Spike dancing with the silly glasses instead.

"It's got to be my destiny, and it's what my cutie mark is telling me" Twilight gestured Spike to stop as Fluttershy seemed to have felt herself failed. She looked at her flank and I noticed that she had balloons instead of butterflies.

I just couldn't believe any of this!

"Alex!" Vinyl called, walking towards me. "What's up? Are you feeling better? Where's Pinkie? I don't mean to sound rude but this mare isn't all that funny…"

"That's my girlfriend!" I exclaimed, not in anger, but in frustration of all these new issues that were suddenly arising.

"Oh, man… I'm sorry, I didn't kno—"

"Forget about it!" I began racing towards Fluttershy, but Twilight stopped me.

"Wait, I know you want to talk to her but she's doing her job right now. We can't keep her from doing so."

"But that's not what she does!" I argued.

"I know, I know." Twilight responded. "But we can't do anything about it right now. Let's go find the others."

I sighed and followed her out the door.

The next area we visited was Sweet Apple Acres.

It was once again to our surprise to see Pinkie attempting to shake the apples of the trees with her hooves. But this time, her hair was completely drained of excitement and styled back when she freaked out with the party!

"I don't care much for pickin' fruit and plowin' fields ain't such a hoot" She used her former energetic energy to search all around to fix a water chute on the barn.

"No matter what I try, I cannot fix this busted water chute!

I've got so many chores to do, it's no fun being me

But it has to be my destiny, 'cause it's what my cutie mark is telling me"

Of course, Pinkie had Applejack's cutie mark instead, which could only leave us wondering who's cutie mark Applejack had.

With our hearts beating, we left Pinkie Pie to hopefully finish her chores, which she wasn't supposed to do in the first place, so we could check on Applejack.

"Lookie here at what I made, I think that it's a dress" Applejack was just finished making a dress on a dress form, but her work clearly presented that it was not what she was supposed to do.

"I know it doesn't look like much, I'm under some distress

Could y'all give me a hand here and help me fix this mess?" She asked, continuing to rush with her work that was just clearly not working out.

"My destiny is not pretty, but it's what my cutie mark is tellin' me"

I shook my head in disbelief. Why in Equestria is all this piling on me now?!

In order to emphasize and finish her point, Twilight revealed the situation with Rarity towards me. Rarity was absolutely having trouble with the clouds. She kept every single cloud, whether snow, rain, thunder, and lightning, in a fashionable pattern instead of actually regulating each one in order to promote a normal weather pattern.

"I'm in love with weather patterns but the others have concerns

For I just gave them frostbite over-top of their sunburns

I have to keep on trying for everyone can see

It's got to be"

"It's got to be" Fluttershy added.

"My destiny" Pinkie intervened.

"My destiny" Applejack echoed.

"And it's what my cutie mark" They continued. "It's what my cutie mark, Yes, it's what my cutie mark is telling me!"

For some reason, I began lightly panicking myself when Twilight led Spike and me to her home. I just couldn't take it. Why the hay was this all happening now?!

"This is bad. This is very, very bad!" Twilight exclaimed with nervous hooves.

"What's going on? Why is this happening?!" Spike asked in nervous confusion.

"Last night when you were taking one of your seven-hour bubble baths, I got a special delivery from the princess!" Twilight explained, recalling the time I was with her last night.

I gasped. "That spell… That spell from Star Swirled the Bearded! Is that what's causing this?"

"I'm sorry!" Twilight apologized. "I cast the spell so I could find out what it was, but nothing seemed to happen. But now I know something did happen!" She turned around to face the case behind her. It contained the Elements of Harmony. "The spell has changed the Elements of Harmony!" I looked to notice that the colors of the elements were all jumbled up! All except Twilight's. "That must be why their cutie marks are all wrong!" Twilight looked at me. "It was only Alex and me that didn't change!"

"My element…" I returned. "It's not tangible. That must be why nothing happened to me!"

"And I'm the one who casted the spell…" Twilight added.

"So just cast a counter-spell to switch them back." Spike offered.

"Mmh." Twilight quickly skimmed through the book that contained the original spell she casted, but she found nothing. "There is no counter-spell!"

Spike brightened up when he received an idea. "Why don't you just use that memory spell you used to fix everypony when Discord was here?"

"It's not their memories, Spike." Twilight shook her head worriedly. "It's their true selves that have been altered!" She closed her eyes and held her head down low.

"Zecora's cure for the Cutie Pox?" Spike included.

Nonetheless, Twilight responded by closing the book sadly and placing it on Spike's claws. "That won't work either..." She turned around and started heading for the stairs.

"Well…" Spike sighed. "Maybe it won't be so bad. Maybe our friends will grow to like their new lives."

"Are you kidding, Spike?" I asked. "They can't even do their jobs right because right now they're doing what they're not meant to do at all!" I sighed. "They won't be happy with their change and neither will we… Neither of us will get used to their change… It affects us all…"

"He's right Spike…" Twilight agreed gloomily at the top of the stairs. "They're not who they are meant to be anymore. Their destinies are now changed, and it's all my fault."

She continued walking up the stairs in silence. As her expression affected mine, my ears flopped down and I frowned lightly, calling her name softly. "Twilight…" I followed her up the stairs. By the time I reached her, she was lying on her bed, looking miserably at her bed sheets as it was raining outside the window. "Twilight…" I called again at the front of her bed.

"I have to find a way" She sang desolately as she looked out the window and shifted towards it.

"To make this all okay…" She placed a hoof on the window, looking out to Sweet Apple Acres which was now completely…lifeless…

"I can't believe this small mistake

Could've caused so much heartache

Oh why?" She sent gloomily chills throughout my body when she expressed that, especially as I looked out the window with her and noticed Rarity with her mane completely drenched and everypony furious with her. "Oh why?

Losing promise

I don't know what to do" On the other hoof, Applejack was already condemning the beauty shop… I could only imagine what was going on in the cottage…

"Seeking answers

I fear I won't get through to you" Then it struck me… In the middle of town…as ponies angrily walked by… there lay Fluttershy on the top of the fountain. I gasped lightly and placed my hoof on the window, feeling a few tears form in my eyes. She lowered her head sadly as she realized she failed in cheering up anypony else.

"Oh why, oh why?"

Twilight laid down on her bed and buried her head into her hooves, beginning to cry softly. I slowly took several steps towards her and lightly placed a hoof on there, feeling just so…distressed… I'm supposed to take care of the girls…and right now…I'm just so helpless…

"Twilight…" I called her name again.

"Oh, Alex, what have I done?" She asked me, raising her head as tears escaped from her eyes.

I remained silent for a moment, trying to think of what to say. "…what's done is done… We can't stay here and just…feel helpless about what's now. We've been through rough patches before, Twilight… And we've always made it through it… We can do this… We always can… We're a family… A family of close friends…"

She slightly opened her mouth and wiped her eyes. "You're right, Alex…" She jumped off her bed and walked back downstairs, leading me to follow her. She stopped at a very familiar picture…a picture that entered so many memories back into my mind, leaving me in slight shock. It was the exact picture with my first smile in it. The same time I really accepted the girls into my life and heart… "And they mean more to me than anything. My friends..." She ended with soft happiness, suddenly glowing brightly. This surprised both Spike and me.

"Twilight? Are you alright?" Spike asked as he shielded his eyes as the glow grew immensely brighter.

Twilight's eyes suddenly opened up in cheer. "I've got it! I know what to do!"

"You do?" I asked, feeling her excitement as well.

Twilight quickly retrieved the chest used to hold the Elements and placed the Elements of Harmony from the glass case into them. "I may not be able to remind them of who they are, but I can show them what they mean to each other. They'll find the part of themselves that's been lost so they can help the friend they care about so much!" Twilight placed on her element and gave the box for Spike to carry. "Come on! Let's go get our friends back!"

Afterwards, she raced out the door, having Spike and I run after her full of hope.

Almost immediately after, we came across Fluttershy who was pulling a bag towards a hot air balloon, desperately shocking me.

I gasped. "What is she doing…?" I immediately ran towards her and called her. "Fluttershy, wait!"

"Oh… Hey, Alex…" She looked away sadly towards the ground, unable to face me for some reason.

"Where are you going?" I worriedly inquired.

"I'm moving back to Cloudsdale." She continued to look away. "I don't know what's wrong, but I can't seem to make anypony laugh…"

"B-but… What about us…?"

She remained silent for a moment. Then, tears immediately formed in her eyes, having her close them shut. She tried so hard to stop them from falling, but she didn't succeed. "I-Im…sorry… Alex… But…but… I don't think we should be together anymore…"

I immediately gasped and widened my eyes in shock.

Fluttershy heard my expression, but she still refused to turn back. "Please…don't be sad… You deserve better than me… I can't do anything right anyway… I'm doing what I'm meant to do and I still can't do it… I'm sorry…" Without sparing a look towards me, she grabbed her bag and continued walking towards the hot air balloon. She held her head so low that her left eye was covered by her mane. "Goodbye, Alex… I've had fun during the time I've spent with you…but now you have a better mare to find…"

She tossed her bag inside and was about to climb in, but I immediately ran to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. She slightly looked back in surprise, but I didn't give her time to react. I forcefully, in a soft motion, turned her around and with no regrets, strongly placed a fanatical kiss on her lips. She released a muted yelp with widened eyes, but soon, she succumbed herself and softly closed her eyes, all while tears continued to stream from her eyes.

I felt as if I have placed every single one of my emotions in this. It wasn't until a few seconds until I slowly pulled away, not wanting to let go.

"Why…?" Fluttershy asked with tearful eyes. "Why don't you want to let me go…?"

"After all we've been through…" I began. "You want to just end it like that?" She continued to gaze at me. "You say you're not good enough for me… I can't express how much of a lie that is… We're perfect for each other, don't you see, Fluttershy?" I lightly pulled her closer to me. "I don't care if you can't make any other pony laugh… Want to know why…? Because that's not what you're meant to do…"

"But…my cutie mark…"

"Forget your cutie mark… You do what you're best at…and it's certainly not making other ponies laugh…"

"Then…then…what am I best at…?" She asked.

I looked back to Twilight to see her smiling warmly at us. "Would you mind leading the way, Twi?"

"With pleasure." She answered, beginning to walk as Spike followed her with the chest.

I turned to Fluttershy and grabbed her things out from the balloon with my magic. "Don't ever think you're not good enough for me…"

She remained speechless.

I placed a kiss on her cheek and grabbed her hoof to take her and follow the path with Twilight.

As soon as we reached the door at the cottage, we heard Rainbow Dash yelp from inside.

"Agh!"

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight exclaimed and opened the door, revealing the sight of all the animals going crazy with their forks and spoons.

"I'm in here! Help! I'm trapped!" Rainbow pleaded from inside a cauldron where she was tied up.

"Now, Fluttershy!" I told her. "You're the only one that can fix it! It's what you're meant to do!"

"B-but…how…? I don't know anything about animals…!" She responded.

"Yes, you do!" I returned. "Remember when we first met? Remember the moment I first secretly fell in love with you? You were singing with the birds, Fluttershy! You do know what to do! You just have to remember!"

She gasped lightly, seeming to be puzzled. It seemed that she did remember when we first talked with each other, but she couldn't explain how she could be so well with birds when it wasn't her cutie mark. Nonetheless, not having time to think, she hesitantly walked into the middle of the chaos and began softly talking to the animals. "Um... Hello? Little... woodland creatures?" She was completely taken by surprise when the large bear walked by her, scratching his back with a table. "I know that you're all very upset, and feel like giving Rainbow Dash a hard time, but we'd all really appreciate it if you'd calm down and, um, maybe... rest for a bit?" The animals began stopping their madness, lowering their forks and spoons, and paid attention to Fluttershy. When all the animals were staring at her, Fluttershy seemed a little nervous. She quickly looked around and found a bowl of salad. "Oh! Uh... look! Here's some nice, juicy leaves for you to munch on." She placed the bowl in front of the bunnies. They quickly began consuming it. Of course… "And some crunchy, munchy acorns too." She placed acorns in front of the squirrels and mice. "Uh, wouldn't you like to take a break and have a little snack?" She asked the other angry critters at the cauldron and pointed them towards the pile of food. They shrugged and placed their utensils down to join the rest of them. All the animals were immediately having a feast. "Aww, look at that. I guess you were all just cranky because you were hungry." Angel looked back to see Fluttershy and immediately hopped in her hoof to hug her. "Oh, you are very welcome, little friends." She expressed as birds chirped towards her to give thanks. However, the large bear picked her up and kissed her on the head like a baby, causing me to grin and chuckle. "Goodness, it's like I can understand them!" A pink glow surrounded Fluttershy.

"Alex…" Twilight whispered to me, catching me attention. She opened the chest holding the elements and gave me Fluttershy's. "Put it on her."

I quickly nodded and retrieved it with my magic.

"I... I feel strange, like... like this is what I'm meant to do, like this is who I am!" Fluttershy spread her wings and began flying in happiness. "My destiny!" She exclaimed.

I smiled and spread my wings. I instantly flew to her, offering her a sweet and warm smile. "See…I told you…" Afterwards, I immediately placed her element on her and combined it with a kiss to her lips. We both closed our eyes, but as soon as the magic in her element began working, she opened them massively and widely. It appeared as if she was remembering every single little thing about her now.

Finally, her head fell on my chest with her body wanting to completely fall in weakness. I quickly wrapped my hooves around her and kept her balanced on me. "Wha... what happened?" She asked as I slowly placed her back on the ground.

"Fluttershy, look! Your cutie mark!" Twilight exclaimed, causing the both of us to look at her flank. I opened my mouth in excitement, feeling so much jubilance when I saw her cutie mark returned back to normal. "It worked! It worked! Oh, I'm so happy you're back to normal!" Twilight bounced around Fluttershy. "Now we need your help!"

"A true, true friend helps a friend in need" Twilight began singing as I noticed a mouse form a gloomy face towards a squirrel holding an acorn. The squirrel noticed that the mouse didn't have the chance to receive his snack, so the squirrel offered the acorn to the mouse. The mouse accepted it and immediately removed the frown on his face.

"A friend will be there to help them see"

"A true, true friend helps a friend in need" Fluttershy and I sang with Twilight.

"To see the light that shines from a true, true friend…"

"Um, hello!" Rainbow Dash called, reminding us that she was still tied up. "Friend trapped inside, remember?"

I slightly chuckled and apologized. "Sorry about that, Rainbow…"

I took her out of the cauldron with my magic and Fluttershy and I untied the rope from her.

"Rarity needs your help

She's trying hard doing what she can" I sang to her, pointing her out the cottage door.

We took Rainbow Dash to Rarity to show her what I meant.

"You're the only one that can do this…" I added as I pointed out towards the dark clouds.

"Would you try, just give it a chance" Fluttershy helped me as well, having Rainbow Dash fly towards one of the clouds.

"You might find that you'll start to understand" Rainbow Dash kicked one of the clouds, making it disappear and becoming highly surprised.

As Rarity was crying under the rainy weather, her face straining in emotional pain, I walked towards her and attempted to shield her with my wings and body, remembering my words to her whenever she was in such distress. She opened her eyes and noticed me behind. Afterwards, Rainbow Dash cleared the cloud above us, allowing her to clearly see my face.

"A true, true friend helps a friend in need" Twilight, Fluttershy, and I sang as Rarity beamed in happiness towards us.

"A friend will be there to help you see

A true, true friend helps a friend in need

To see the light that shines from a true, true friend" As Rainbow Dash wiped her forehead from clearing the clouds, she looked a lot prouder of herself than when she was with the animals. Twilight took this opportunity and placed the element on her, instantly reminding her of everything as well.

"Uh…" Rainbow Dash expressed as she lifted herself up, revealing her original cutie mark. "…what just happened?" She asked as if she just woke up from a bad dream.

"There's no time to explain, but we need your help." Twilight answered. "Applejack's trying to make dresses!" She added, sending a look of slight disgust as if the mere thought of Applejack doing Rarity's job was completely ridiculous to see.

"Say no more!" Rainbow Dash returned confidentially.

We all threw bright smiles from our faces to Rarity. She looked back with startled eyes, staring at all of us with no clue.

"Applejack needs your help" Rainbow Dash directed Rarity towards Applejack when we were in the shop. Applejack tiredly held herself near the sewing machine with sweat dripping from her face.

"She's trying hard doing what she can" Applejack looked back with tears as she failed with the sewing machine. Rarity looked around, seeming hesitant to do anything as she walked.

"Would you try, just give it a chance

You might find that you'll start to understand" Rarity immediately took control of the job and without a doubt expressed her talent with the fabric.

"A true, true friend helps a friend in need" Rainbow Dash joined Twilight, Fluttershy, and me in our song, all while Rarity quickly regained her skill with ease, already in the final touches of making a new dress.

"A friend will be there to help them see

A true, true friend helps a friend in need" Applejack was astonished by all this work. Twilight began walking towards Rarity as she held up the completed dress in delight.

"To see the light that shines from a true, true friend" Twilight had placed the element on Rarity, causing her to instantaneously recall everything.

Afterwards, she gasped when she spotted something different on her flank. "Oh my, what a terrible dream I had." She turned her attention to Applejack who grinned nervously as she stood near an…unsuitable dress… "Or, maybe I'm still having it."

"Rarity, Pinkie Pie is about to lose the apple farm." Twilight brought to her attention, pointing to Applejack. "We need Applejack's help!"

"What do you say, Rarity?" I included, grinning at her a bit. "Think you can do it?"

"Lose the apple farm?" Rarity asked and then looked back with playful yet determined eyes. "Well we can't let that happen, now can we?"

"Pinkie Pie is in trouble" Rarity placed her hoof on Applejack and brought her among us on our way to the apple farm.

"We need to get there by her side

We can try to do what we can now" Rarity revealed the deserted and dead fields to Applejack.

"For together we can be her guide!" We surrounded Pinkie, who was struggling so much to fix the water chute. However, Applejack jumped on the crate she was on and placed it back for her, smiling at her. Pinkie returned a relieved smile.

"A true, true friend helps a friend in need" We sang as we all helped bring the farm back to life.

"A friend will be there to help them see

A true, true friend helps a friend in need" As Applejack stood by her family, Twilight placed her element on her, repeating the process as for the other girls.

"To see the light that shines from a true, true friend"

Applejack began skipping happily after regaining her cutie mark. "Yee-haw! Now that's more like it. What's next?"

"The townspeople are furious. We need the old Pinkie Pie back." Twilight answered.

"I'm on it. I know just the thing." Applejack returned, looking towards Pinkie and her deflated mane.

"The townspeople need you, they've been sad for a while" Applejack sang to Pinkie as I carried her back to the middle of town where everypony was in an extremely angry mood.

"They march around, faces frown and never seem to smile

And if you feel like helping, we'd appreciate a loooooot" Twilight placed her element on her while Applejack filled her face with those original silly glasses.

"If you get up there and spread some cheer from here to Canterlooooooot!" She pushed her towards the middle of the fountain.

Pinkie Pie immediately regained her cutie mark and threw her glasses out in cheer. "Come on ponies, I wanna see you smile!" She exclaimed.

"Pinkie!" The entire crowd of ponies strongly and loudly welcomed her back.

"A true, true friend helps a friend in need!" All of us including the entire town sang heartily with our job successfully accomplished.

"A friend will be there to help them see

A true, true friend helps a friend in need

To see the light (to see the light)

That shines (that shines)

From a true, true friend!" All of the girls and I shared an immense group hug with each other. With me, I was so extremely joyful to have all the girls back the way they were. It seemed as if all the problems in my life escaped away from me.

Twilight suddenly gasped, ending our group hug. "Wait a second, that's it! I understand now, I know how to fix the spell!" She immediately rushed back towards her home, leading us behind her. She retrieved the spell book with her magic from the table and opened it. She grabbed a quill and commenced her writing on it as the other girls looked a little confused. "From all of us together, together we are friends, with the marks of our destinies made one, there is magic without end!"

Twilight pressed the dot strongly at the end of her sentence to signify her own accomplishment. She proudly placed the book back.

Just as I was about to congratulate her, her element suddenly released a burst of magic towards all of us. The other girls were pushed away from us and their elements suddenly activated. They gave cries of shock. Immediately after, my own element came from my heart and towards Twilight. An extremely bright light protruded from my heart and suddenly everything was gone.

"Hello…?" I heard Twilight's voice echo. I groaned slightly and opened my eyes. She turned and noticed me. "Alex!" She hopped over to me. "Where are we? What is this place?" She asked.

I looked around, but I had absolutely no words to say. The strange atmosphere we were in was empty…yet…beautiful…

"Congratulations, Twilight. I knew you could do it." Princess Celestia's voice suddenly echoed throughout the area.

We saw her and trotted towards her.

"Princess... I don't understand." Twilight expressed as she greeted her with a hug. "What did I do?"

"You did something today that's never been done before…" Princess Celestia brought out the book Twilight had received. "…something even a great unicorn like Star Swirl the Bearded was not able to do, because he did not understand friendship like you do." She revealed the new spell Twilight had written. "The lessons you've learned here in Ponyville have taught the both of you well." She smiled proudly with a warm tone to her smile at us. "You two have gone through so many obstacles together and have really learned to appreciate one another, initiating a tight and unbreakable bond. You have proven that you're ready, Twilight."

I was lightly surprised by this statement… What did she mean…?

"Ready? Ready for what?" Twilight questioned as we followed Princess Celestia.

Princess Celestia then began walking us through an invisible hallway…a hallway full of both of our memories together… "You both have come such a long, long way" Princess Celestia began singing which truly surprised me and completely warmed me in the heart. It was the first time I had ever heard her sing and even then, her voice brought such…happiness into my heart. It was just…just so warm. First her truly warm smile…now her voice… It was just…amazing… Words couldn't describe…

"And I've watched you from that very first day" She directed at Twilight. We stopped at a memory that revealed Twilight's arrival in Ponyville. This was completely new to me as I hadn't truly met Twilight until we defeated Nightmare Moon…

"To see how you might grow

To see what you might do

To see what you've both been through" Even memories of mine throughout my growth in trusting the girls appeared. From the ones where I felt miserable and never smiled to those that I truly accepted the warmth and joy the girls brought me.

And all the ways you've made me proud of you…"

After revisiting our memories starting from the very first day I met the girls until now, Princess turned her attention towards Twilight in her song, leaving Twilight's eyes to sparkle immensely.

"It's time now for a new change to come

You've grown up and your new life has begun" Princess Celestia placed a hoof around me while facing Twilight.

"To go where you will go

To see what you will see

To find what you will be

For it's time for you to fulfill your destiny!" Her wings spread strongly. I was amazed and slightly shocked in a good way.

Princess Celestia turned her head towards me and smiled warmly. "Alex…would you please help me do the honors?"

"Honors…? What do you…?"

She stopped me when she looked at Twilight and pulled a glow out from her heart. I gasped as I received the message she was trying to send. I didn't know what was going to happen or what was going on, but as soon as I saw that glow, I immediately knew what I had to do!

I closed my eyes and looked into my heart. From there, I pulled out another glow and sent it to Twilight's with my magic. When I opened my eyes, Princess Celestia then combined both of ours, sending it spinning around Twilight. She was lifted up and she had no idea what was going on. A large bright light was centered in the middle of her body, specifically her chest. The bright light grew immensely, blinding Twilight from me as I stood near Princess Celestia, shielding my eyes. The ball of light released its energy, closing my eyes.

Before I knew it, I felt a change around me.

Then… I heard Applejack's voice…

"Twilight...? Alex? Is that you?"

I opened my eyes and noticed all of the girls staring at us. I looked for Twilight and spotted her lying on the ground. I was just about to grab her hoof to help her up, but I suddenly noticed wings on the move. I immediately gasped and widened my eyes greatly. My mouth was extremely agape as I was screaming out in silence.

To even strengthen this effect, Twilight stood up by herself and brightly spread out her wings. I truly remained speechless at this sight.

Twilight noticed the wings on her and placed a hoof on them to observe them, surprised of them herself.

"Wha... I, I've never seen anything like it!" Applejack expressed in disbelief. "You… You're just like Alex!"

"Ha! Twilight's got wings too!" Rainbow Dash cheered, touching her new wings. "Awesome! A new flying buddy!" She hugged her.

"Why, you've become an Alicorn!" Rarity exclaimed, noticing Twilight's new appearance. "I didn't even know that was possible when Alex became one but now…now…I'm speechless!"

"Alicorn party!" Pinkie Pie screamed out loud, wearing a party hat and swung around a rope in order to imitate an Alicorn. She blew a party kazoo.

I shook my head, recovering my utterly astonished gaze. "Twilight! H…Ha!" I cried out loud in happiness and embraced her greatly. "I can't believe it! You're an Alicorn too! It really is like we're brother and sister!"

Twilight giggled softly. "Hehe... I guess you're right."

"Wow... you look just like a princess!" Fluttershy included.

"That's because she is a princess." We heard Princess Celestia say.

We returned confused expressions as she landed before us.

"Hold on a second!" Pinkie Pie paused and brought out a random glass of water. She poured some in her mouth and then immediately spat it out.

"A... a princess?" Twilight questioned, greatly surprised about this new change.

"Since you've come to Ponyville, you've displayed the charity, compassion, devotion, integrity, optimism, heart, and of course, the leadership of a true princess." Princess Celestia explained, indirectly involving all of us as well.

"But... does this mean I won't be your student anymore?" Twilight asked worriedly.

"Not in the same way as before. I'll still be here to help and guide you, but we're all your students now, too. You are an inspiration to us all, Twilight." Even the Princess herself bowed in front of Twilight. I was greatly surprised at this motion, but as soon as I noticed the other girls bowing as well, I shook my head and drew a smile upon my face. I joined in their bows.

"But... what do I do now?" Twilight asked, looking around, still retaining that look of worry. "Is there a book about being a princess I should read?"

Princess Celestia giggled. "There will be time for all of that later."

Twilight released a grin as she looked at all of us.

I couldn't help but shake my head. I walked towards her and hugged her tightly once again, feeling tears begin to brim in my eyes. "I'm… I'm just so proud of you, Twilight!" Suddenly, something dropped down in my heart, but I ignored it. "I can't believe-ugh." I groaned when I felt something sting from my heart to my horn. As I continued to ignore it, Twilight shifted her expression from happiness to worry and concern after noticing. "…that you've learned so much…" I grunted once again when I felt a worse sting on my horn, causing me to place a hoof on it. Nonetheless, I continued to speaking with Twilight. "…to become…an Alicorn…" I began feeling weak. My hooves slowly retracted from her body without my control.

"Alex…are you alright?" She asked.

However, at the end of her sentence, her voice immediately drained out. I placed a hoof on my forehead and strained my eyes. Everything seemed to start fading out. Every little sound. When I opened my eyes to see Twilight worriedly staring at me, my vision was fading away. Darkness slowly covered my eyes, starting from the outside.

Now, I felt too weak to stand up. I fell to the floor and stared towards the sky, the moon being in the corner of my eye.

"Alex!" I heard Twilight's voice exclaim very faintly.

I couldn't move. My vision was locked straight towards the sky.

I was able to see Princess Celestia rush towards me in my field of sight. Her face was what was only visible.

"Quick!" I heard Princess Celestia's voice faintly as well. "Get Princess Luna!"

As Twilight ran out of my vision, which was slowly being overrun by darkness, I began breathing heavily. That was all I could hear. It was as if everything outside my mind was muted.

I continued breathing heavy very rapidly until I released just one last breath.

Rarity Takes Manehattan

Episode 73 – Rarity Takes Manehattan

"Watcha doing? Are you going somewhere?" Spirit asked while observing me pack a few things in a luggage bag.

I scoffed lightly in a friendly matter, feeling as if she was really joking for asking me. "As if you didn't already know."

She reacted by giggling. "I guess you do know me…"

I laughed a bit to that. "Actually, I don't." I hinted towards her secrets, but I didn't want to make her feel guilty about them.

"Oh." She lowered her head slightly. "Heh… Right…"

I closed my bag easily, seeing as I really didn't have much to bring. Using my magic to carry it, I walked by her. "I'm assuming you'll be coming along?"

"Yeah." She answered. "I'll be sure to stay out of the way…unless you need something."

Feeling a little concerned, I turned towards her. "What do you mean by that?"

"N-nothing… I just…don't want to be in the way is all. I feel like I bother you sometimes. You know. Being there when I don't really need to be."

I approached her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Hey. If you're going to be a friend of mine, you better start acting like it." She slightly widened her eyes in surprise at this. "I always enjoy having my friends around. Don't feel like you're not wanted just because you don't feel like you fit in."

"But, besides the times we've spent together, you hardly know me…"

"I know you enough to be your friend." I immediately returned. "My friends accepted me as their own friend when they only knew the type of pony I was before their friendship affected me. They didn't know about what I went through and what I thought about them. They saw me by my present actions at the time. I know…there are a lot of things I still would like to know about you…but hey, I can't force you to tell me. It wouldn't be right."

"Okay." Spirit lightly nodded and then formed a smile. "Yeah. Thanks."

"Well, I better get going." I informed, preparing to turn around to take my leave. "Certainly don't want to worry the others and show up late. You do what you need to do." I offered one last small grin.

"Hehe." Spirit giggled. "See you later."

I returned a short salute and then walked towards the first floor down the stairs, exiting out of my house and heading to the train station where all of us were to meet.

Arriving at the train station, I saw some other ponies waiting to board on the still train. I looked around for the girls, but a voice beat me to it. "Hey, Alex!" I turned my head to see a lavender hoof waving in the air. My smile stretched and I walked towards her direction. I placed my bag on the ground when I approached Twilight, noticing Rarity and Applejack with her. "Hey." She greeted warmly. "I was just about to go check on you. Thought you may have overslept."

I chuckled briefly. "On trips like these? To new places? I actually have trouble sleeping the night before and I wake up early feeling energized." I turned to Rarity. "I'm really excited we're all going to Manehattan. It'll be like a vacation."

Before Rarity could respond to that, Spike was heard nearby.

"There you are, Rarity!" He announced, bringing in a cart completely full of her bags. "That's the last of your bags."

I sent Rarity a friendly raised eyebrow, to which she noticed and blushed in embarrassment for a quick moment. "Actually, Spike, I've got one last pile of bags, over there." She continued, leaving me to notice Twilight roll her eyes at Rarity's usual request. Spike turned to her direction and jumped in shock at the huge pile of bags towards him. "Won't you be a dear?" She worked her charm.

"Sure... I'll be a dear..." Spike returned, clearly affected by her attraction. He began releasing strains of his effort as he worked on moving her bags.

Rarity turned back to me. "To answer your question, Alex, I'm feeling very exhilarated as well! An entire week in the fabulous city of Manehattan with every one of my best friends!" She exclaimed out loud, giggling jubilantly.

"Of course we'd all come along to support you during Fashion Week, Rarity!" Twilight managed to return to her joyful self.

"Not that you'll need it. We're sure you'll win." Fluttershy delightfully presented herself, along with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.

Rarity immediately squealed after viewing every one of us. "I can't begin to tell you how excited I am that you'll all be there with me! However..." She used her magic to bring her primary luggage closer and open it. "Perhaps I can show you..." She turned and faced all of us bringing out a visible ticket and later revealed seven other ones that were actually in a stack.

"What's that?" Twilight asked as I held the same question in mind.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh, I know!" Pinkie Pie waved her hoof rapidly in the air. "A paper fan!"

"No, it's—"

"A magic trick!" Pinkie prevented Rarity from finishing her sentence. "You know, where I pick a card and remember what it is and then you put it back in the deck so you can't look at it and—"

"These are tickets to the hottest musical on Bridleway!" Rarity returned the favor by walking closer towards us to allow us to see the tickets clearly.

"You couldn't mean Hinny of the Hills..." Twilight mentioned after forming a hopeful grin. "…because that show's been sold out for months! Or could you?!" She exclaimed with a wild smirk.

"I could. I do." Rarity reacted keenly in the same manner.

Twilight gasped out loudly. "Oh, Rarity, you didn't have to do that, but... since you did..."

The rest of the girls instantly joined Twilight in her cheerful and loud hopping, expressing each one of their appreciation and excitement on the manner.

"This trip is fun already! I love jumping up and down! Whee-hee!" Pinkie Pie expressed enthusiastically while the girls continued to go through their highly adorable expressions.

I actually didn't really hear about this play, but I was really happy I would be spending the time watching it with them anyway. I didn't reveal my excitement as much as they did, but nonetheless, I left them to their girl-to-girl display of emotions. I turned to Spike who continued to carry Rarity's items.

"You need any help?" I asked with a grin.

"No thanks…" He strained out, holding a heavy bag. "I've…got this…"

"You sure…?" I asked, concerned by the way he looked under the weight.

"Yeah… Gotta show Rarity I'm…capable of…carrying her bags."

I smirked lightly. "Whatever you say…"

"All aboard!" We heard the conductor shout out, leading for us to grab our things and head inside the train.

Seeing how Spike was behind in Rarity's bags, I used my magic to help bring all of them on board. Once we were inside, we all sat close by each other. I felt like looking out the window most of the trip, so I had picked the spot close by the window. I decided to space out so the mares could be mares without me possibly feeling weird about it.

Soon throughout the train ride, I began noticing the immediate differences from leaving Ponyville to arriving at Manehattan. Everything began becoming more…urban, if that's the right word to use. In fact, the train even moved on a bridge that led to the city of Manehattan, which was more somewhat of small island. I stared out the window to see a few small boats sailing on the ocean below us. Then, ahead I could see huge buildings that were way completely different from Ponyville! The best way to describe them would be like those buildings we saw in that comic book world.

Once we actually stopped at the station to board off, I was allowed to see how enormously high the buildings actually were than how they looked. I knew that if I was on the rooftop on one of those buildings, and I looked down, I would become dizzy from the high height, even if I have wings. Seeming as if she was already used to these new surroundings, Rarity led us out of the train station where everything we saw was completely urban. It was similar to Canterlot, but Canterlot had more of a sophisticated and fancy look while this city held back a lot on the fancy.

"Come along, ponies!" Rarity directed while I remained in awe. "I found us a place to stay only a block from the train station in the very heart of this glorious metropolis!" She held out her hoof enthusiastically out to the busy streets in front of us.

We resumed walking with Rarity in the lead. We continuously looked out to observe everything that was happening around us until Applejack stopped to point a hoof at a certain area. "Hey, look! That's the theater where Hinny of the Hills is playin'!"

The rest of the girls presented their astonishment for the theater that was really packed with ponies waiting in line.

"Wow, Rarity!" Twilight expressed, noticing the long line we passed by on the sidewalk. "How'd you manage to get us seats for tomorrow night?"

"Oh, I gave some designs to the costume designer, so he pulled a few strings." Rarity calmly explained.

"Cool!" Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie expressed otherwise.

"That is what makes Manehattan so splendid and amazing." Rarity continued on in our walk. "You do something nice for somepony, and then you never know when they'll do something nice for you!"

"So then you can do something nice for us!" Applejack added, referring to the play we were rewarded to see.

"Like get us in to see Hinny of the Hills!" Fluttershy excitedly acknowledged.

"Which is only the best musical in all of Equestria!" Rainbow Dash surprisingly commented.

"It must be good if Rainbow Dash is impressed." Applejack honestly brought up. "Normally she doesn't even like musicals."

"I know." Rainbow admitted. "Ponies just bursting into song in random places at the drop of a hat? Who does that?"

Already knowing we've done that plenty of times, Rarity decided to emphasize that by beginning a song of her very own.

"Oh, Manehattan, what you do to me

Such a huge bustling community" She went on ahead in a happy trot as we followed her.

"And there's always opportunity

To do the friendly thing" Rarity managed to find that Spike was having quite a bit of a struggle carrying her bags.

"If some are grouchy, pay no mind

Surprise instead with something kind" Rarity decided to reward Spike on his help by buying him a tasty treat from a nearby vender.

"Lo and behold, you may just find" Spike was about to take a bite of his treat until a bird suddenly took it out of his claws, angering him deeply.

"A smile is what you bring" I approached him and focused my attention towards the bird. Making sure Fluttershy wouldn't see, I sent out a beam towards the bird. Next thing we knew, the edible item dropped back down and was returned to Spike. It was his, after all.

Arriving at the hotel, a bellhop had just passed through the doors with a luggage carrier.

"Welcome to the Mane Fair Hotel!" He greeted with a greatly positive attitude. "Please allow me to take those bags to your room for you!"

"Only if you'll accept this gratuity first." Rarity responded, holding up a gem with her magic.

"Oh-ho-ho!" He expressed after his eyes were caught onto the gem. "I'll get your change!"

"Do keep it all." Rarity generously encouraged. "I insist!"

After Spike was finally allowed to rest himself, our luggage was taken to our room while Rarity decided we should start off our stay with a cruise on a yacht. Rarity continued to express her love of being generous as she looked out among the water. I had to say, the stay here already seemed to be off at a great start.

"Generosity, I'm here to show all that I can give

Generosity, I'm here to set the bar

Just sit back and watch how I live!"

We stopped by the large green statue of the pony the city was known for. There was actually an observation deck on top where a few other ponies were. Rarity was heading towards one of the planted binoculars until she stumbled upon another pony that was planning to use them.

"After you." She delightfully insisted.

"Why, thank you." The stallion happily returned.

Rarity noticed another stallion who was shaking from the cold breeze that blew through the area.

"Please, take mine." Rarity offered the scarf she had been wearing, wrapping it around his neck.

"Wow, okay." The tourist accepted in a surprise.

I had to admit, Rarity was really being generous. I wonder if it was all the excitement and happiness of being here with us. She was having a really good day.

"Some may say, 'Rarity,'" She continued as we were back on the streets.

"'Don't be so big-hearted and bold

Treating strangers like they're friends

This town's too big and cold'" She slightly shivered.

"But this is how I play my cards

I'm not about to fold

Where I see a frown, I go to town" Possibly for a certain reason, she turned to me and stretched out a smile on my face with her hooves, even though I wasn't frowning at all.

"Call me the smile patrol"

"Oh, Manehattan, what you do to us" Rainbow ironically decided to join as we continued on.

"What if you find a Gloomy Gus?" Fluttershy pointed out, directing our attention to a highly frustrated and complaining pony towards a broken wheel on the taxi cart.

"It's no intimidatin' thing" Applejack slipped under the cart and pushed it up with her strength.

"Just be kind without a fuss!" Pinkie Pie assured everything would be alright with her gleeful facial expressions.

"Generosity, I'm here to show all that I can do!" Rarity trotted towards the taxi cart.

"Generosity, you are the key" She was able the mend the broken piece of the wheel back together, allowing the driver to continue on thankfully.

"Manehattan, I'm here just for you!" Rarity twirled around a street lamp.

"Just for you!" She ended with her forelegs outstretched to take in the stunning sights around us.

We paused by a dress shop as Rarity gazed inside, possibly imagining her own dresses on the dress forms inside. She sighed happily. "To think my dresses could soon be displayed on the most glamorous shopping thoroughfare of the most glamorous city in Equestria! Oh, it would be my dream come true!"

"Is there anything left to do we can help you with?" Twilight gratefully asked beside a beaming Pinkie.

"Hm, nothing I can think of." Rarity thought for a moment before responding. "The dresses are all completely finished, all made from a fabulous new fabric I've been developing for months. Stretchy, but not clingy. Shimmery, but not showy."

"Sounds amazing." Fluttershy expressed for the both of us.

"There's nothing left for me to do but check in at the runway with my dresses by two this afternoon." Rarity confirmed stress-free.

"Oh, that's funny." Pinkie spoke and pointed out towards a huge clock on one of the tallest buildings. "Because that clock over there makes it seem like that's only ten minutes from now!"

Coincidentally at this alarming news, heavy rain clouds formed above us and thunder boomed, leading for rain itself to immediately follow.

"Oh, my ribbons and threads. And the runway ballroom is all the way across town! If I don't get there, I'm disqualified!" She quickly ran out in distress. "Taaaaxiii!"

"Oh, no!" Fluttershy worriedly expressed. "We've gotta help her find a cab, now!"

"I'm on it!" Rainbow Dash flew straight towards the first taxi she could find. "Hey, buddy! Is this cab taken?"

"The line ends back there, 'buddy'!" A stallion appeared from inside the cab and rudely answered to Rainbow Dash. He had pointed towards the sidewalk, leading for us to turn to.

"Huh?" Rainbow turned her head as well, noticing a line just as long as the one at the theater. "What? Does everypony in this town want a cab?"

"Everypony that doesn't want to be drenched in the rain." I explained as Rainbow Dash joined us back on the ground.

Rarity walked by, covering her mane with a newspaper. "I'm afraid getting a taxi at this time could prove almost impossible!" She emphasized my point.

"Please won't you let her have this taxi?" Twilight worriedly walked over to the stallion that was preparing for the incoming cab and asked. "She has somewhere very important to be right away!"

"Not likely! She can get in line like the rest of us!" He answered bitterly with no hesitation as he climbed onto the cab, leading the other ponies in line to complain angrily.

"Oh, it's no use!" Twilight sat herself at the corner of the sidewalk. "The cab drivers just drive right past to get to the next pony in line!"

Unexpectedly, a familiar driver stopped right in front of us. "New wheel works like a charm!" It was the pony that Rarity fixed the wheel for. "So now which of you nice folks are hoppin' in?"

"Fashion runway plaza in seven minutes." Rarity quickly jumped in. "Can you make it?"

"Hang on!" He prepared his hooves in the air for fast transportation.

"Ta-ta!" Rarity expressed before she was rushed out of our location.

"Whew, that was close." Spike had come walking our way, holding another carrot dog in his claw. It seemed the time he was missing was spent on getting another food item. The girls returned general agreement when I continued staring out at the direction Rarity had left. Just as Spike was about to take a bite out of his food, he suddenly paused. "Anypony else got a sneaking suspicion we're forgetting something?"

After a very short moment, the girls' eyes widened greatly as they prepared to exclaim out loud. "The dresses!"

"Dresses?" I quickly questioned.

"Rarity was supposed to take the dresses she had made to her check in! We had left them at the hotel!" Twilight explained dreadfully.

I gasped at this alarming new information. "Come on! We have to hurry and get those dresses to her then!" We all galloped back to the hotel, feeling the matter of minutes slipping off our backs.

Paying no attention to time, we arrived at the hotel, bursting in through the front door. We quickly looked around for the bellhop that was handling our things.

"There!" Twilight pointed out to a specific pony carrying around luggage.

We instantly approached him for me to ask about the dresses we required urgently.

"Excuse me!" I caught his attention. "The dresses. Where exactly did you put them?"

"Right to your right as soon as you go in your room." He clearly answered.

"Thanks!" I returned and galloped towards the stairs, seeing that we had no time to wait for an elevator.

With the girls right behind me, I pushed through and entered into our room. I immediately noticed the dresses hanging on the portable line.

"You think we'll make it in time?" Rainbow Dash questioned. "We've gotta have like less than five minutes now!"

After looking away from the dresses, the first thing my eyes caught onto were the windows.

"We've got no other choice. Hurry, open those windows there!" I pointed directly at them.

Twilight did so with her magic, but was wondering on how that related to getting the dresses to Rarity on time.

"How exactly is this going to help?" She asked.

I placed myself on the dress carrier, leaving one hoof on the ground like a scooter.

"We're about to find out!" I pushed my hoof against the ground and began flapping my wings, preparing for my unplanned stunt.

"Whoa, Alex, wait!" Twilight called out, but it was too late.

I managed to fit through the window and was immediately outside. I flapped my wings with all my strength in order to keep myself in the air. When I saw the closest thing to ground were the rooftops, I landed on there and continued to support the momentum in the wheels of the carrier. I quickly worked my way towards the streets to where I was able to maneuver at an appropriate height, but I had to swerve past other ponies that were walking along.

I remembered to head in the direction Rarity was going at. Using whatever clues and signs there were available about the runway Rarity had been talking about, I continuously flapped my wings so I wouldn't have to use my back hoof to keep me moving. It was honestly a little something I had learned from Scootaloo.

Fortunately, as I made my way inside the building, the doors were open, so I wouldn't have to come to an abrupt stop. However, I was still coming in pretty fast as I entered the main lobby.

"Whoa!" I expressed and attempted to use my magic to slow down the carrier, later seeing Rarity was on the floor after most likely just realizing she didn't have her dresses. "Don't worry! They're here!" I announced.

Rarity gasped and quickly confronted me with no hesitation.

"You're a lifesaver!" She quickly squeezed and even kissed me on the cheek before taking the carrier on ahead to wherever she was supposed to be.

Afterwards, it was heavily quiet except for the tapping noises the pony at the counter was making with the typewriter. It was sort of a weird change to endure, seeing how everything was fast-paced and heart-pounding the first second, and then immediately quiet and calm the next.

"Hm…" I expressed to myself. "Can't see why I can't wait for her to see how it went…" Allowing to rest in order to make up for those crazy stunts I endured, I walked over to the comfortable seats ahead and sat down. There, I placed both of my forelegs together between my back legs and began looking around. It was even a little awkward how the mare at the counter just continued tapping her typewriter while I just…recovered, I guess. My heart was slowing down and my adrenaline was wearing out.

My legs swung lightly as I looked around the clean room. I stared at the paintings to the side and behind me. I usually wouldn't have minded the silence, but ever since Spirit would pop out randomly to talk to me, I sort of felt she would do that now. But she didn't appear. I supposed it was the receptionist who was too busy minding her own business.

I decided to head into the stallion's restroom to clean up a bit after rushing in the rain. I shook whatever water that was still on me off me and then used the small towels inside to wipe any excess water left off. Lastly, I moved on to my face. The towel covered my field of sight until I removed it when I was done. However, when I was able to see myself in the mirror again, I saw another pony staring right at me. Fortunately, it wasn't a creepy smile.

Jumping back a little, I quickly turned to see that Spirit was right by me.

"Thought I should come visit you." She spoke with a warm smile.

"Geez…" I calmed myself. "You always love doing that, don't you?"

She closed her eyes in glee. "It's funny."

I sighed and placed the towel away. "I hope you know that we're in the stallion's restroom though…"

"So?" She questioned calmly.

"So…any stallion can come in and see a filly in here." I explained.

"Oh, Alex." She lightly messed with my semi-wet mane. "You should already know that I'm superior to vanishing at the last second."

Smiling lightly, I knew it as well. "If you say so."

Of course, it did feel a little awkward talking in a bathroom, so we didn't prolong our conversation in there. We possibly would have talked out into the lobby, but we couldn't as the receptionist was there. I still couldn't see why she was so afraid of being out in public with me. Was she afraid of other ponies? That seemed to make sense, but then again, she was completely open to everypony when we were inside that comic book. Either way, whatever it was, I had to respect what she wanted, no matter how intriguing it was.

I continued roaming around in silence until I noticed several ponies walk past me as they headed towards the exit. Taking whatever that was going on in there was done, I waited with a smile on my face to see Rarity walk out.

Soon enough, she did. She held her head up proudly, as if everything went well.

"Hey." I greeted her, approaching her by the side. "How'd everything go?" I asked.

She returned a sigh of relief. "Just well, thank you." She presented her relief as well through facial expressions and body movements. "I don't know if I would've been able to avoid being disqualified hadn't it been for you."

"Pffft." I merely brushed away. "It's really nothing…" I began walking by her side out the building. "So what now? What more do you have to do?"

"I have an appointment very soon for today. I'm going to be showing my dresses to Prim Headline." She reacted eagerly at the thought of it. "I honestly cannot wait to do so, I'm just so very sure she'll love my dresses."

"Who wouldn't?" I answered with a rhetorical question.

Rarity giggled lightly while slightly looking away. "So, yes… I apologize, but for now, I'm not able to spend some time with you or the others. I need to be at least half an hour early for my appointment, just the way Prim likes."

"That's fine." I assured. "You didn't come here and invite us along with you just to spend time with us. Work comes first."

"I'm glad you're able to understand very easily." She expressed and then thought for a moment. "However…I do have some time for a quick lunch…" She hinted lightly.

Grinning a bit, I decided to take it. "Shall I take the lady out for some lunch before her big appointment?"

"Oh, please." She politely declined. "Allow me to take the gentlecolt instead."

"Wow." I chuckled, following along her. "You're really generous today."

"I believe it's the least I can do for saving my opportunity back there…" She recalled.

"Come on…" I modestly shrugged. "It really was nothing…"

"Then, I shall get you nothing to eat." Rarity smirked playfully, allowing me to play along as well.

"Okay, it was something!" I said before we trotted onwards with a small laughter.

After was exited out of the small but thriving restaurant we stopped in, our appetite was satisfied.

"Guess, I better let you get to your appointment then." I mentioned before I could take up any more of her time. "I should get back to the hotel anyway. The others are probably worried sick about me." I chuckled lightly, looking in the direction I originally came from.

"Oh, I'm sure they know you did a job well done." Rarity assured softly, waving her hoof slightly. "You never fail us when it comes to our issues."

I smiled lightly at her. "Thanks. And thanks for the generous lunch too." I placed my hoof around her for a warm embrace. "I really appreciate it."

Rarity laughed kindly with a lightly heated blush. "It was my pleasure."

"I'll see you later, okay?" I guaranteed as I pulled away.

"Mm-hm." Rarity nodded her head gladly. "You'll be the first to hear the amazing news I'll be bringing!"

"True that." I smirked and then waved. "Have fun at your appointment!"

"I will!" She joyfully waved back as we both began going in our own direction.

I began wondering if the food was what started making me a bit drowsy and sleepy as I approached the hotel door. I knocked and waited for the girls to answer. Twilight was at the door when it opened.

"Alex! Did everything go alright?! Did Rarity get her dresses? Are you okay?" She hastily fired at me as I walked inside the room.

"Yeah, yeah…" I yawned a bit. "Sorry I was gone for so long. I waited for Rarity to see that everything went well on her end. Then, we had some lunch before she had to go to another appointment."

"Well, that's a relief to hear…" Twilight managed to smile warmly.

"We were waiting for you to come back so we can go out for some fun in Manehattan!" Rainbow Dash excitedly flew by me, eager to head out.

"But," Twilight strained. "We were more concerned about your well-being." She made clear. "However, now that you're here, what do you say we go out and have some fun, huh?" She lightly nudged me.

"That sounds great." I answered, but began feeling like I couldn't really keep my eyes open. "…but I'm kind of tired…I think I'll stay here and take a nap."

Pinkie instantly bounced in front of me. "Aw! You aren't coming?!"

"Sorry for keeping you all waiting… I just wouldn't want to slow you down if I lag behind." I apologized sincerely.

However, Twilight coped and formed a small grin while chuckling lightly. "Okay, we'll go out for a while, but when we come back, you're coming with us whether you like it or not."

I pretended playfully as if I was intimidated. "Oh no. I better get sleeping then."

"You better!" Twilight pointed. "Come on, girls." Twilight looked towards the others and gestured them out the door.

The rest followed while Fluttershy flashed me a gentle wave before she carried on. Before Twilight closed the door, she sent me another jokingly look of seriousness and shut the door. I sighed contently and then allowed myself to fall on the bed.

A moment after I closed my eyes, I heard another voice nearby.

"I'm sure they're fun to be with."

Without needing to open my eyes, I answered. "Hey, Spirit." I greeted, already knowing the routine, especially when hearing her voice.

"Hi hi." She returned jubilantly. "Going to sleep so early, are we?"

I opened my eyes to notice her sitting on the side of the bed. "I was kind of excited for this trip… I couldn't really sleep, so I woke up earlier than I probably needed to. Besides, I also expended a lot of energy getting the dresses to Rarity and had a pretty full lunch. I'm excused." I smirked lightly.

"Of course." She responded and then looked away towards the window. "Why don't you go on ahead, sleepy head, and I'll look around this room a bit, if you don't mind."

"Knock yourself out." I replied and closed my eyes. "I'm about to right now." I made myself comfortable and slowly felt myself spacing out.

"Oh my gosh, what a great afternoon! That was almost too much fun!" I heard Twilight's voice exclaim as several hoofsteps entered inside the room. I mumbled a bit, feeling no need to wake myself just yet. I turned over to the other side of the room, covering my head with the blankets. "Hey!" Twilight shouted and then pounced on the bed, which was pretty surprising because usually I'd expect Pinkie to do that. "Get up! We aren't finished yet!"

"You better have gotten enough sleep, 'cause the rest of the day is jam-packed!" Rainbow Dash happily stated while she approached the bed.

"First there's the salon appointment to get our manes done." Applejack listed, despite that activity being more suited for a mare, and walked towards the bed as well.

"Then our fancy dinner at the Far-Afield Tavern!" Pinkie Pie joined cheerfully.

"And after that..." Fluttershy added.

"Hinny of the Hills!" They all blurted and jumped in the air, landing directly on top of me on the bed.

I could feel myself practically being crushed under them, so I quickly pulled myself out with attentive widened eyes and shouted. "Ow! Okay, okay! I'm up!" I scratched my head and rubbed my mane, able to feel certain spots where it was slightly messy. The girls continued laughing together in possible victory, leading me to smile at them until I turned my head towards the doorway.

I was shocked to see a completely unexpected sight. Rarity was standing right there, holding her head gloomily low while her mane was slightly frizzled as if she had been stressing out greatly about something. The worst part of it was when I saw tears slipping out from her eyes.

"Rarity…!" I trotted towards her. "What's wrong? What happened?" I quickly asked.

Rarity appeared as if she wanted to speak, but hardly couldn't. Her muzzle scrunched and her lips shook terribly. Tears immediately quickened their production in her eyes, and then she had to hold up a hoof to her face to try to prevent anything startling from happening. I tried to hold up a hoof to reach out slowly, but she immediately began bawling, holding me for support.

"Whoa, Rarity!" Twilight exclaimed, noticing the sight of her. "What's going on?"

Continuing to cry and clench my coat, Rarity began attempting to respond while breathing rapidly between pauses. "I let one of the other contestants use some of my one-of-a-kind fabric…and then she turned it into a wardrobe just like mine…only now it looks like I'm the one copying her! My generosity has ruined me, I tell you! Ruined!" She bawled loudly once again.

"Now, Rarity, whatever went wrong, we're all here to help you get through it, no matter what it takes." Twilight assured comfortingly, receiving general agreement from the others.

"Come on, Rarity, buck up!" Applejack expressed lively. "All we need is some fabric and you'll be back in business!"

"Now, hold on…" I stated as Rarity's despair seemed to lighten up. "Is there any way you can prove that this contestant stole your line?"

Rarity continued to sniffle a bit while wiping her eyes. "No. She already showed her line to Prim Headline. Prim already thinks that she is the one who came up with it first, as she showed her outfits before I could!" She sighed greatly. "No one would believe me, most importantly Prim Headline."

"Shoot…" I looked away sadly. "I'd hate to let this contestant get away with this, but what's more important right now is getting you back on track. We can deal with this contestant later, but it looks like right now we have to get you a new line."

"Where is Rarity going to find the fabric and new ideas for an entire new line in such a short time?" Twilight worriedly asked.

However, Rarity had quietly pulled away from me and looked around the room. She noticed the curtains on the windows, the rug on the floor, and rubbed the bed sheets on the bed. Soon enough, her face immediately beamed up with hope. She gasped loudly. "This new line is going to be marvelous! Perhaps even better than the last! It's daring, it's bold! Perhaps I still have a chance after all!"

"Just tell us what you need us to do and we'll do it!" Twilight announced proudly and confidently.

Rarity cleared her throat and looked among us, but more at the girls. "Girls, if I am to redeem myself from this monstrosity of a situation, I'll need all your help. We're going to have to be here for a long while in order to get these dresses out on time."

"Well…" Applejack rubbed her chin as she looked back in thought. "I suppose we can skip our appointment at the salon…"

"What about fancy dinner at the Far-afield Tavern?!" Pinkie Pie immediately questioned a little fearfully.

Rarity sighed and thought about it for a moment. "If you girls can stay during that time…I'll order you a meal while you work on the dresses."

Twilight looked at the others and shrugged. "I guess that's okay… After all, what we were really excited about was for Hinny of the Hills."

"Perfect!" Rarity expressed happily and then began to point out everpony's jobs.

When Rarity estimated the fabric and the amount she would need, she appointed Fluttershy and Twilight to the sewing machines. Rainbow Dash was on the spinning wheel while Pinkie Pie pulled out fabric and Applejack folded it. I had asked her what I was able to do, but she only told me that she had nothing at that moment but would come up with something soon.

However, it was pretty uncomfortable seeing the girls do all the work while I stood around doing nothing. At first, it wasn't so bothering until they began to look tired in performing repetitive work. Since all I could do at the moment was watch, I noticed how Rarity had changed. She focused her mind practically a hundred percent on getting these dresses done rather than the comfort of the others like earlier today. I know this was really important to her…but…because of one contemptible contestant, she allowed her generosity to escape, leaving her to change to virtually a grueling pony.

She walked around the hotel room that was transformed into a work area. She held her designing red glasses while she picked out a roll of fabric. She eyed over to Fluttershy's area, where Fluttershy herself seemed to be having trouble with the machine or something. Fluttershy noticed this and immediately sent back a nervous grin. Almost coldly, Rarity continued to pass Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. However, she stopped by Pinkie after she noticed her playing with a ball of thread, rather than doing what she was supposed to. Rarity sent her a glaring look, leading Pinkie to quickly return to her assigned job.

When she reached Applejack, I could tell Applejack was finally relieved to have finished folding the last of her fabric until Rarity placed down the rolls she had been holding. Applejack only withheld a sigh and expressed her thoughts through silent facial expressions.

I couldn't handle seeing the girls work like this, so I sat up and approached Rarity as she was heading towards Twilight.

"Rarity, there has to be something I can do to help. Maybe I can let one of the girls have a break while I take over." I offered.

"Alex, please." Rarity responded without much emotion. "A handsome stallion such as yourself shouldn't have to—" Rarity immediately shut her mouth when she noticed every mare in the room staring at her weirdly. She quickly cleared her throat and returned her attention to Twilight. "Twilight! Sew these pieces together according to that pattern there!" She pointed her head towards the design blueprints on the table by Twilight.

"You said if we skipped dinner at the Far-Afield Tavern, you'd order a meal for us while we keep working." Twilight brought up, seeing as the time they would have been at the restaurant had already past.

"Don't fret. It'll be here in an hour. That's not going to be a problem, is it?" Rarity irritatingly looked at the rest of the ponies working.

"Well, we're supposed to be watching Hinny of the Hills by then..." Rainbow Dash answered reluctantly with hesitation.

"Oh! I see!" Rarity lowered her head and walked forward, picking up a cloth in her way. "I go out of my way to get you tickets for a show, and this is how you repay me?" She wrapped it around a dress form as a bow. "By abandoning me in my hour of need?" She paused to receive lowered heads from them, seeing it as they didn't want to work anymore. "Oh, oh, oh!" She was deeply offended with a loss of words for a quick moment. "Fine!" She pounded her hooves on the floor. "Go and see Hinny of the Hills tonight! And then tomorrow morning when you come to see my fashion show without any fashion to show, you can have more entertainment!" She dashed between Pinkie and Rainbow to express her feelings on the matter. "'Oh, why look, there's our friend Rarity going down in flames! Isn't friendship magic?!'"

"Rarity, calm down." Twilight carefully approached Rarity. "What's gotten into you?"

"What's gotten into you?!" Rarity shot back. "Oh, go ahead! See your little show! Congratu-pony-lations, fillies! Sounds like you've all figured out already it's everypony for herself in this town!" Rarity slammed her hooves on the floor once again and then once more with the door when she raced out the room. The girls looked at each other sadly and then returned back to work, seeing as her appeal to emotion worked successfully.

I sighed heavily, seeing as I still didn't receive a task from Rarity. I had to at least do something useful.

"I'll go get dinner, everypony." I announced, feeling affected by Rarity's behavior as well. "I might as well do something useful." Before I walked out the door, I took a look at the girls. I could tell they were on the edge of falling asleep. "I better get some coffee too… Looks like we're going to be up all night."

I managed to order take-out from the tavern the girls wanted to go to, but of course, that feeling of eating together, laughing, and having fun would be missing. I didn't want to sound negative, but this was all because of that loathing contestant Rarity was talking about. Either way, I was too tired and lightly depressed to express it in my behavior, which was a good thing if I didn't want to tick whoever I approached off. Nonetheless, I roamed the streets carrying the bag of food with my teeth while my eyes would close every now and then. I stopped by a coffee place on the way and figured we could now really use it.

I entered the café and headed towards the counter with the intention of only getting what I wanted and leaving.

"Seven lattes…" I frankly ordered to the mare at the counter.

"Any specific flavor?" She asked.

Feeling no strength to think about that, I merely just wanted to get it out of the way. "Whatever. Just your usual way of doing it." I flipped my hoof while I felt the need to rest my head on the counter.

"Looks like you could really use a strong one, buddy." She commented while finishing up my order.

"Tell me about it…" I mentioned under my breath, allowing her to go on ahead to make the coffee.

I wasn't exactly tired as if I was deprived of sleep. Rather, it was the loss of eagerness and fun that was once instated at the beginning of the day.

"Alex?" I heard my name being called surprisingly, but I didn't feel like turning around to see who it was. "Alex, is that you?" When I heard hoofsteps sound near me, I decided to lightly turn my head to notice an unfamiliar mare walk towards me with a smile on her face. "It is you!" She unexpectedly held out her forelegs and pulled me in for an unknowing embrace. "It's so good to see you!"

"Uh…do I know you?" I asked, trying to think of how I could know this mare, but either way, my brain didn't want to function fully.

"It's me! Suri Polomare? We used to go to school together!" She expressed friend-like.

"…school?" I tried to recall.

"Y'know? In Fillydelphia?" She seemed to feel that a small chuckle would be appropriate.

"Oh…um…sorry…" I responded honestly, not remembering her specifically as no pony would really talk to me anyway. "I don't really remember you…"

"That's okay!" She took cheerfully nonetheless. "It was like a long time ago anyway."

There was another mare by her, but she looked unhappy rather than energetic as Suri was. "I—"

"Uh, excuse me?" Suri interrupted a little rudely. "I'm having a conversation right now? Don't you know it's rude to cut ponies off like that?" This mare immediately lowered her head and refrained from talking at all. I was quite shocked when seeing this, but I couldn't exactly say anything about it right then and there. "Sorry." Suri apologized to me. "That's just Coco Pommel." She introduced her very…well…without importance. "I'm just mentoring her and showing her how life is in the city." Uh-huh… "So, how've you been?!" It was quite uncomfortable to see how quickly she changed from the tone of disgust when talking about the mare with her to a tone of cheer when talking to me.

"…okay…I guess…?" I replied, feeling no need to actually strike up an enjoying conversation.

"That's nice to hear!" She stated expressively. "Me? I decided to move here in the big city to follow my dreams of—"

"Your coffee is ready." The mare that took my order placed the coffee in holders, which I gratefully used my magic to carry them.

"Sorry." I apologized to Suri. "But I really need to get going. It's been uh…nice seeing you…Suri…um…" I began to slowly slip away and also glanced over to Coco, who was looking away but managed to sneak a peek at me as well.

"Of course!" Suri waved her hoof happily at me. "We should catch up really soon!"

"Sure…" I said softly so she couldn't hear me, but I had no intention of speaking with her again. I was relieved when I was able to escape the shop and finally head back to the hotel.

After I walked in the hotel room and closed the door behind me, I notified the others that I was back.

"You all must be hungry…" I walked in with the bag of food in my teeth and coffee in mid-air.

The girls working sighed heavily and took a break from their work, shaking their hooves as they must have been sore.

"We better hurry." Twilight advised and glanced over at their work. "I highly doubt we'll make it to the show. We'll probably barely finish when morning comes."

"Ugh." Rainbow expressed, rubbing her hoof. "This blows. We should have been getting ready for Hinny of the Hill by now."

"It's Rarity who even got us the chance to see Hinny of the Hill, Rainbow. We can't leave her all by herself in a case like this. No matter how rude she may be acting, it still isn't fair." Twilight acknowledged.

Rainbow Dash sighed. "Fine."

I passed a plate and a latte to each one of the girls. Afterwards, I sat myself down on the floor with my own meal. "I'm guessing Rarity didn't show up while I was gone?"

They shook their head.

"She's probably calming down somewhere here…" Twilight assumed. "Doesn't mean she'll be calm when she gets back up here though…"

"Well, guess we better finish our food as soon as possible." I suggested. "Don't want her to blow a fuse when she comes back and sees us not working."

Throughout the night, the girls continued working. I decided I could take Rarity's place in placing the fabric and accessories in the right places on the dress form. I was content that I was at least doing something instead of staring and doing nothing at all.

Rarity returned sooner or later, but she didn't seem to want to spare a word to any of us. Everything from on then was just…confusion. We had no time to try to resolve the issue some other way. We just had to do what we had to do, I guess…

I was impressed the girls were still able to last through their work, however. Even almost being total zombies, they seemed to stick with what Rarity wanted. Morning struck and attacked our weary eyes. Nonetheless, we all seemed to be very relieved when we saw Twilight and Applejack attaching the final piece to the final dress…finally.

"There. That's the last of them." Twilight stated, leading the girls to finally smile in relief, despite the bags from under their eyes. I didn't even notice that Spike was sleeping in the bed at the end of the room.

A second later, Rarity came rushing through us with the rest of her dresses, bringing the one we just finished along with her. "Finally!" She exclaimed and ran out the door.

"You're welcome!" Twilight angrily expressed with a raised hoof, but it didn't seem that Rarity heard or cared about these words. Twilight shut the door and sighed loudly. "Did anypony else feel bad when we knew we were missing Hinny of the Hills at the time it would have been showing?"

"I would've…" Applejack replied, tiredly rubbing her right foreleg in exhaustion. "…but I was too busy…doin'…the…thingamaji…" Her ears flopped down and her eyes closed.

"You girls better get your rest." I advised. "It's been one heck of a working night."

"What about you?" Twilight asked in concern.

"I'll go out and get some breakfast for us…probably some coffee again so we can last through the day. For now, just try and catch up on your sleep."

"Are you sure you're up for that?" Twilight asked, seeing as I had spent the entire night with them.

"Yeah." I nodded. "After all, I do technically have that extra sleep from the nap I took yesterday. Hopefully the coffee is good enough to last until I can really sleep when we get back to Ponyville."

"Well, be careful out there…" Twilight tiredly expressed, holding a heavy hoof to my shoulder. "Wouldn't…want you to…you know…get run over or…something…"

I managed to smile lightly at that. "I'll be fine."

Once the girls made themselves comfortable, I left the hotel, feeling unfortunately not fully aware of my surroundings. My eyelids wanted to close, but I strained them enough to keep them open as much as they could stand.

Fortunately, the coffee shop wasn't too far from the hotel. I decided I could get the breakfast there along with the coffee. When I walked inside, I headed towards the counter until I not shockingly bumped into somepony.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" It was a soft voice that quickly and frantically apologized.

"No…no…" I tiredly expressed. "I'm the one who's…" After I got a look at this pony, I realized it was the one I met the night before. "…sorry…" I finished and then observed her face. "…Coco, right?"

"Y-yes…" She returned while looking away as if she feared something greatly. She actually kind of reminded me a lot of Fluttershy.

However, before I could say anything, the mare at the counter called to me. "Seven lattes again?" She half-joked after taking a look at me.

"How do you know?" I asked curiously.

"You look like you need it even more than yesterday." She smiled a little wittily.

I managed to smile back. "I sure do… and add some of those breakfast specials too while you're at it, please…" I strained my eyes at the menu. "The one with the…muffins…and stuff…"

The mare only stretched her smile and worked on my order.

I looked back at Coco to continue speaking with her. "So… Suri is not with you?"

"She sent me out to go get coffee for her…"

"…she doesn't really…seem to treat you so well…"

Coco nodded hesitantly as she continued looking away. "She's only trying to teach me how it goes down in Manehattan so I can get used to it."

"I'm not so sure that's how it really goes down here…" I doubted. "Honestly…she doesn't seem like a nice pony…" Coco didn't really respond to that. "Anyways…last night…you were going to say something. Was it something you wanted to add in to our conversation or her specifically?"

"I um…I just wanted to say that…" Coco rubbed her hooves a bit. "Well…I knew you from Fillydelphia too."

My eyes slightly widened. "Really?"

She nodded. "I don't know…if it's okay to say so…but I'm really sorry for what happened…at school… To be honest… I would have liked to be your friend…but I was too shy and scared by how the ponies treated you. I hope that doesn't make me a bad pony…"

"No…no…" I assured. "It doesn't. It's understandable." I faced over to the counter and placed my forelegs on there. "If I was in your shoes, I don't think I'd do it either." The mare that took orders placed a cup of coffee on the counter with the name labeled Coco. "But, it's fine." I turned around to face her. "I mean, now, that is. I still went over some rough patches afterwards, but after such a long tiring obstacle, I finally passed through. I try to just look at today and leave the past away."

"You're pretty brave…" Coco admitted. "I mean…look at where you're at now." She directed towards my wings, horn, and possibly my Prince status. "Me? I'm just a little filly that works for a bossy 'mentor'…"

"Have you ever thought of quitting?" I asked.

"Yes." She answered. "But…then I'm afraid of so many things after… What if Suri really is keeping me up in this city? Without her, what if I can't make it?"

"I think anypony can achieve their goals as long as they put their mind, heart, and spirit to it…" I felt a small warmth in my heart. "If you hang out with the bad crowd, they'll only slow you down and turn you away from what you really want. Sometimes, even though it's scary, you have to stand up and be assertive. Take back control of the road to your goal."

"Wow…" Coco returned a little speechless. "That…kind of makes me feel better…" She paused for a moment. "Maybe…just maybe…" She began thinking until a doorbell rang.

"Coco! There you are!" Suri came in, quite frustrated at Coco for some reason. "Geez! How long were you planning on keeping me waiting before my turn at the runway?!" Coco began lowering herself in fear. Suri noticed me by her and immediately changed the tone of her voice. "Oh hi, Alex! Didn't see you there! How's it going?"

My ears didn't really pay attention but instead focused on the "runway" part of her sentence. "Runway?" I questioned.

"You know? For Fashion Week?" She chuckled a little obnoxiously. "I managed to finish my line when some mare, who obviously doesn't know anything about this city, gave me some of her fabric. Pshh." She scoffed. "Keeps complaining about me 'stealing' her fabric when she clearly gave it to me."

"Wait…" I paused and then realized who this mare really was. "You're the one who copied Rarity's designs?!"

"You know Rarity?" Suri asked, surprised herself.

"Yeah!" I felt my anger rising. "Do you know how stressed she was getting over for what you did?! How could you do such a thing to one of the most generous ponies in Equestria?!"

"That's just how it works in this city." She merely returned. "It's not my fault she doesn't know that it's everypony for herself in the big city."

I was at a loss of words. I wasn't sure if I would have went straight at her, had she been a stallion, but I just couldn't believe how this pony really was inside.

"You're unbelievable!" I exclaimed.

"…um…your…order…" I heard the mare behind me at the counter say, not willing to disturb us.

"That's so low of you!" I continued and then grabbed the bags holding my order with my magic so I could continue talking. "I just hope you know ponies that do things like what you did get what they deserve in the end!" Afterwards, I stormed out the café, not looking back once.

I returned to the hotel room feeling sick after finding out that that was actually the mare that cheated Rarity from her fabric. I placed the stuff on the table and didn't really have the appetite for breakfast anymore. Instead, I just drank my coffee to keep me awake.

Eventually, the girls began waking up, possibly due to the smell of what I brought, especially the coffee.

"You're back…" Twilight sleepily announced as she rubbed her eye.

"Yeah…" I answered and then kept silent, continuing to focus on my thoughts and drink.

Pinkie rose from her bed with her nose held up high. "Smells good!" She bounced out of bed and raced towards the table.

"Go ahead and help yourselves." I offered as they began getting out of bed.

"You're not going to eat?" Twilight asked.

"I'm not really hungry anymore." I responded and took another sip.

"Everything alright?" Twilight questioned once more after receiving the hinting answers from me.

"I actually met the pony who stole Rarity's designs at the coffee shop. Her attitude disgusted me." I shared.

"Really? Who was it?" She inquired.

"Suri Polomare or something…" I shrugged, seeing as there was nothing I could really do.

"Wow…" Twilight expressed at the news, even though she didn't actually know this pony.

At that moment, I began hearing rain drops on the window, catching my attention. I sat up and then walked towards the window. Outside, I began seeing ponies hurry to get under shelter or to catch a cab again. "It's raining…" I stated. "And Rarity's out there…" I looked downwards in thought. "I think it'd be a nice thing to do to bring her an umbrella…" I looked out and observed outside once more. "Even though she kind of acted like a jerk…I know that's not who she really is… Her real intentions showed when she got us tickets to the show in the first place…" I closed my eyes and placed a hoof to my heart. "And that's good enough…" I then felt something…beam…in my heart. Everything else seemed to fade away, such as my angry attitude, my possible hunger, and my tiredness. I then turned away and briefly skimmed through Rarity's stuff to find an umbrella. "I'm going to bring her home, okay? Then, we can settle whatever issues we have."

"Uh…" Twilight raised her hoof, as if she wanted to say something.

"I'll be back." I looked towards them and then walked out to look for her.

As I stepped outside, I opened up the umbrella and held it on top of me to cover me from the heavy rain. I walked calmly, actually enjoying the sound of the rain hitting the pavement. As I walked, I stared at the floor in thought. Actually… I didn't really know what to think. Unclear thoughts just raced in my head, and I allowed them to pass by.

I heard the racing cabs gallop past me on the main streets. I looked up to see myself reaching a familiar corner. I turned left to stay on the sidewalk but was completely caught off-guard by who I saw standing in front of the shop with the dresses out in display. At first, I couldn't completely make sure it was who I saw because of her drenched mane, but then I walked closer to get a better look.

By what I had to see, I could eventually realize it was her, especially by her familiar presence in my heart. I looked up and quickly used my magic to move the umbrella and hold it above her. She had been allowing the rain to pummel her, giving no sign of worry for her hair. Something else was severely bothering her. However, she was surprised when she felt no rain landing on any part of her body. She looked up and then turned to me to see the pony responsible for it.

"Alex…?" She questioned in deep surprise.

"Rarity…" I began. "I thought you were at the runway showing your dresses… Why are you out here all by yourself?"

She suddenly ran towards me and embraced me tightly with her drenched mane and coat. "I was such a fool! You ponies did so much for me while I merely took advantage of it for my own needs. But that's not what friendship is about…" She sniffled a bit as I held the umbrella above the both of us. "I should have placed the happiness of you all before mine. After all…that's what generosity is about…" She sighed and buried her head in my shoulder. "I thought you all left to Ponyville because of my behavior…"

"…what…?" I questioned. "No… The others are all at the hotel. I came out here looking for you because it was raining, and I didn't want you to come home drenched because I know how you hate getting your mane wet." After observing her once more, I smiled lightly. "But I guess I'm too late now, aren't I?"

She chuckled lightly with a small smile as well. "Even though I acted so horribly…you still were generous enough to come out for me?"

"That's not what friendship is about." I returned softly. "What better would it be if I just treated you like that? That's how friendships end up dissolving and breaking apart… No pony ends up wanting to resolve the situation as everything utterly fails. Besides… I know that in your heart, you really aren't like the monster you thought you were."

Rarity remained silent for a moment. "Thank you, Alex… You don't know how much you mean to me…" Then, she pulled away and looked at me firmly. "Can you please come with me? I need to speak with Prim Headline."

"Of course." I nodded, feeling better that we straightened things out.

When we reached the building, Rarity stopped by the bathroom to dry herself as much as she could with the towels inside. Then, she approached the receptionist who was busy on her typewriter, just like last time.

"I need a moment with Prim Hemline." Rarity announced after ringing bell on the desk. "I just wanted to thank her for—"

"Uh-uh-uh, you'd best steer clear of Prim for a while." Suri Polomare came in through the door, leading me to furrow my eyebrows. "She's pretty furious. Isn't that right?" She faced Coco.

"Um..." She hesitated for some reason as Suri Polomare stared in an unamused manner at her. "Yes." She seemed to forced out.

However, despite the circumstances, another group of mares, along with a purple dragon, arrived inside the lobby, looking happier than ever.

"There you all are!" Rarity exclaimed, shocked but happy to see them as well. She stepped towards them as I followed by her side.

"We didn't want Alex to go off on his own looking for you, so we began heading our way here too after we finished our breakfast. Although…we heard you lost. We're really sorry." Twilight apologized as the rest of them held saddened faces for the news Rarity had just received.

I was surprised myself.

"I lost?" Rarity questioned and then looked towards the ground sadly. However, she immediately pushed it aside. "You know what? I don't even care. I'm just happy you're all still here after how I treated you. Taking advantage of your friendship the way I did. How could you ever see past it?"

"Yeah, you were pretty rotten." Applejack stated frankly.

"Wow, Applejack. I know your thing is honesty, but come on!" Rainbow Dash couldn't help but share.

"Last night we may not have seen you at your best, but we know you." Twilight expressed towards Rarity and glanced over to me when she said that. "And we would never let one thing like that change how we feel about you." The rest of them gathered around for a group hug.

"Oh, thank you!" Rarity returned emotionally and dearly. "You really are the most wonderful friends a pony could have!" She wiped her the tears that formed in her eyes. "Come on." She gestured her head towards the outside. "There's something I need to do before we head on back."

As we exited outside, Twilight was curious enough to ask what. "What is it?"

Rarity remained silent on that, only sharing a subtle excited smile.

Rarity led us towards this specific building where we waited a while outside for some reason. When she finally come out, she was beaming more than ever.

"What?! What is it?!" Pinkie Pie eagerly asked after observing Rarity's wide smile.

"Hope you're all available for an exclusive performance of Hinny of the Hills!" She announced proudly.

This surprise caused an uproar of loud cheering from the girls.

"Wh-what?!" Twilight asked, too stunned by the positive emotions that were swelling within her.

"Come on!" Rarity directed. "The actors agreed to do another show just for us right after they had just finished the one a few minutes ago! We best hurry. Wouldn't want to miss this one as well." She winked jubilantly.

Everypony was absolutely at a loss of words. I was pretty glad that at least the plans for Hinny of the Hills was back on, but I had to admit that I wasn't as excited as the others were.

"And I'm a dancing pony~!" The main character of the show sung as she concluded the final song and ending of the show. After, they bowed, leading the curtains to close. The girls clapped their hooves loudly on the seats, cheering greatly as well.

"Wow! That was even better than I imagined!" Applejack commented heartily.

"I loved it!" Rainbow Dash flew upwards into the air and shouted out loud for all to hear, if there was anypony else. However, Rainbow received stunned stares due to her surprise of a review. She slowly returned to her seat and crossed her forelegs. "Uh, I mean, it was a'ight." She coolly corrected, leading for Applejack and Pinkie to giggle.

"How did you ever get them to agree to do an extra performance just for us?" Twilight asked Rarity the question she had been holding since the beginning of the show. I was curious to know how as well.

"Remember my costume designer friend who got me the tickets? Well, I offered to make all the costumes for his next show!" She explained, leading the girls to replace their smiles with frowns.

"Um, here in Manehattan…?" Fluttershy asked.

"Well, um... yes..." Rarity answered hesitantly. "It will keep me away from Ponyville for a while." She confessed, leading the girls to sigh in unison. "But I so wanted you to see this show!" She quickly wished to state the reason why. "And working for this designer is such a great opportunity!"

"We know." Applejack assured. "We're happy for you, Rarity. We're just sad for us."

"It's alright." I spoke. "Rarity will be gone for only a while." I stated to the others and then looked over to Rarity, smiling lightly. "We appreciate your generosity in order to make it up for us. That's the Rarity we know and love."

The others nodded and agreed in unison, leaving Rarity touched and smiling brightly but in a delicate manner.

"Mind if I join you?" We suddenly heard a familiar voice from the back of the room. We looked back to see Coco Pummel standing there as the door behind her closed shut.

"Sure?" Rarity returned, surprised of her unexpected appearance. "Come on down." She invited her as she sat up to walk to her. I also decided to get up to meet with her. For the first time, I saw Coco Pummel smile as we faced each other. She reached into her bag, pulled something out, and revealed it to Rarity. "This is the first place trophy for Fashion Week." Rarity read and then suddenly gasped sharply. "With my name on it! But I thought I lost!"

"You didn't. You won." Coco corrected, giving the trophy to Rarity as she looked confusingly between us. "Suri was hoping that if you didn't claim your prize, the judges would consider it a forfeit and first place would go to her." She explained. "So she lied to make you and your friends go away, and, well, I lied too. I've worked for Suri for so long, I started to believe that it really is everypony for herself in this town." She paused and looked away in silence for a moment. Then, she turned back to Rarity. "Until I saw how generous you were with your friends and how generous they were with you." Coco then faced me. "You told me that I need to take control; that I needed to be brave… Well… I had trouble doing that…until I realized where doing that got you. You have such amazing friends…and that's something I've always wanted… It all made me start believing there was something better for me out there. So, I– I quit." She formed an uncertain face. Nonetheless, she walked towards Rarity, revealing she had more to give. "I brought you something to say thank you." She reached into her saddlebag and retrieved a beautifully wrapped box, giving it to Rarity.

Rarity stared at it for a moment and then smiled. "Hm. I suppose you'll need a job now that you're no longer with Suri." Coco formed careful eyes and quickly nodded. "How would you like to work for my friend making all the costumes for his next show?" Rarity offered, referring to what she was talking to us about just a while ago.

Coco grinned brightly, but in a very soft manner, just like Fluttershy would do. Either way, looking into her eyes, I could tell she was deeply excitedly.

Coco accompanied us as we prepared to leave Manehattan. The rest of the girls waved as they all headed inside the building towards the train. Spike, of course, was carrying all of Rarity's stuff. Before I could leave, Coco called for me to wait behind. Curiously, I did and walked towards her to see what she had called me for.

"I…um…I wasn't sure…if I should have given you a certain something too… I mean…" She seemed to stumble upon her words. She sighed heavily and decided to start fresh. "Ever since I made you this…" She pulled out another gift from within her saddlebag. "I wasn't sure whether I should give it to you. My mind always prevented me…but now…I'm following my heart." She confessed and stretched out her hoof towards me, holding the box. I stared at it for a moment in surprise, but I knew I was even in a bigger surprise when I opened the box. Nevertheless, I accepted her gift warmly and continued staring at it. "If you can wait…please open it when you get home. And only you open it. I'm a little embarrassed about it…" She rubbed her head a little nervously and even held a little blush in her cheeks. "When you open it and see what's inside, you'll know why…"

Now I was really curious to what was inside, but I was able to wait. "Don't worry." I assured with a soft smile. "I'll wait. Promise."

Coco released a breath of relief. "Thank you."

I looked back towards the train station, knowing that the girls already had to notice I was missing. "I better get going." I turned back to Coco. "I'll see you around, okay?" With a small smile, she nodded. Before I turned to walk away, I stayed and hugged her for a few seconds. When I pulled away, I grinned and vaguely explained my purpose. "Just in case you're still wondering."

Revealing her embarrassment in her face, she nonetheless nodded again in silence. I wasn't sure if she knew what I meant, but hopefully she would soon if she didn't. Afterwards, I waved once again at her and proceeded towards the train station.

When we finally returned to our home in Ponyville, I decided to visit Rarity after expressing my farewell to the rest of the girls, who probably returned to their own homes to catch up on sleep. Honestly…I also kind of wanted to see what Coco got for her as a gift.

"Visiting so soon?" Rarity joked lightly after I had knocked gently on her door.

"Sure." I played along. "It's been so long since I've seen you."

Rarity chuckled, rolled her eyes, and invited me in.

From there, we walked towards her bedroom where she began writing in her journal with a quill and ink.

"Manehattan was simply grand." She processed her thoughts out loud."It was in this magnificent metropolis that I learned that, while there are ponies who will take advantage of your generosity, you should never, ever let that cause you to abandon your generous spirit. Nothing feels worse than taking advantage of the giving nature of your friends." She finished, placing the quill back in her bottle of ink and pulled out the gift Coco had given her. She unwrapped it to reveal an object that was just as beautiful as the wrapped package. It was a spool of thread, but it was completely unique to Rarity's collection. It was rainbow colored…and I had never seen anything like it…

Rarity was pretty surprised at this sight as well. However, she smiled softly and placed it inside her shelf along with her personal collection of spools of thread. For some reason, my eyes wanted to remain locked onto it, and I could feel yet another warmth in my heart.

"It certainly is beautiful…" Rarity commented.

After a second, I managed to snap out of it. "Yeah." I turned to Rarity and then continued staring at her for a moment.

"What?" She asked when she noticed me facing her like I was.

I smiled warmly and then pressed my lips against her cheek. She was immediately dazed by my move.

"Now, don't read too much into it." I friendly warned with my same smile. "I guess it's just a thank you for being such a great and generous pony." I shrugged. I remembered about my own gift to open and decided to hurry home. "I should get home. I have something else to do."

"H-heh…" Rarity returned, still a bit dazed. "Sure…"

I chuckled a little at her expression and waved. "See you tomorrow, Rarity."

Afterwards, I took my leave and headed home.

I felt like such an excited little kid who couldn't wait to open his presents when I raced upstairs to my bedroom. Instantly facing the desk near my bed, I retrieved my gift and placed it on the desk. My heart was pounding rapidly in anticipation of what dwelled inside. I took in a deep long breath and slowly exhaled. I then shut my eyes and used my magic to pull the ribbon on top to open the package. Once I felt it was loosened enough, I slowly opened one eye to see what looked like a folded note inside. I allowed both of my eyes to remain open as I reached for the note inside. When I pulled it out, I began unfolding, gasping when I realized it was actually a letter. However…the message was scribbled on with a light-blue crayon.

Hi, Alex. My name is Coco Pommel. I always see you by yourself and feel like you need a friend. I want a friend too. I want to know if you want to be my friend because I think we could be really good friends! But I am always too scared to ask you face to face. Would you like to be my friend?

At the bottom was a smiley face she drew and her signature. This was a note she must have wrote back when we were in school at Fillydelphia. Wow… Besides Miss Cadence, I never knew that there was actually another pony that liked me…and actually wanted to be my friend. I guess…she was still even too shy to give me the note…

I felt the need to release a tear of joy at that moment, despite it being a long time ago. Either way…it's was so warming to know this… It really was.

I made sure to safely store this note in my journal for safekeeping. It meant a lot to me, and I never wanted to lose it.

Of course, Coco. I hope you know that we were officially friends when I hugged you back at the train station…

As Spirit and I ate our ice cream while the light from the sunset soothed our coats, I never let go of the bright smile that was planted on my face.

And I was sure Spirit knew why.