//-------------------------------------------------------// How I Became An Alicorn... -by ShadowBolt94- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 1 Chapter 1, Uncle Spike Well, I suppose I should start with the oldest of my friends, Spike. You see, when I was a young girl I never did anything but study. I always had my nose in a book and the only person I really ever talked with was Shining. Because of all the studying I did I drew a lot of attention from all the prestigious schools in Canterlot. But I turned down all of their admittance offers. There was only one school I was set on attending and when I got a letter in the mail saying I had earned their recommendation, my parents almost shot me out of a canon. Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns is the most respected school in Equestria. Without a doubt, if you managed to get in you were considered to be ranked among the highest level of magic users on earth. It was everything I had ever dreamed of and more. But there was… one issue I had. Despite my willingness to learn, and my exceptional grades on the written part of the exam, I had difficulty actually implementing my spells. I could levitate things easy enough, even conjure some minor illusions, but what they asked of me for the final test… was to hatch a dragon egg. But this wasn’t even just a dragon egg. This was an egg from a very special line of dragons the princess herself had bred. It was a hybrid between dragon and human. As if hatching a dragon wouldn’t have been hard enough! My parents watched from the side of the class room as the proctors wheeled in the egg on a cart. I felt the butterflies in my stomach turn to stone just from seeing it. It radiated magical energy that I had never even imagined. It was so intimidating, just to stare at a harmless little egg! But despite my fears and overall anxiety over the thing I tried anyways. I struggled against its force and tried everything I had read about dragons, which wasn’t much. It got to the point where I even tried to use Zebra tactics of chanting and dancing. But the proctors’ stares got the best of me. I gave up. It was just too much for me. I bowed my head in defeat and started to walk towards the door as my hopes of ever being a great unicorn crumbled away. The universe however had a great deal of protest in that however since only seconds after I had decided to give up the windows outside glowed with all the colors of the rainbow and then a large explosion shattered the glass sending it spraying everywhere, it however turned to dust when my own power was unleashed as a result of the explosion All I remember from that part was feeling a power unlike any I had felt before. It was so strange to me, like I knew it but it I didn’t. The power was overwhelming and had adverse effects on my surroundings as well, my parents and the proctors? Turned into potted plants from the very first shock wave , you’ve seen how grandpa stares at cactai...? That was because of me. The once formidable egg was hatched by the magic and after another wave of it overtook me it grew it into not just an adult but a full breed dragon! It had changed species entirely! I felt my body lift up from the ground as the magic radiated off me like solar flares ;but a gentle presence made me come back to my senses. A hand on my shoulder lowered me to the ground gently and I felt my connection with the source of the magic fade away. When I could see again and I turned to see the Princess herself standing next to me. I remember seeing her and thinking ‘Great, now I’ve died and gone to heaven… I hope Shining doesn’t cry too much.’ But I quickly realized I was very much alive when the soft cooing of a baby caught my attention. I looked back to where the egg had been and saw a tiny infant with messy green hair and a pudgy little purple dragon’s tail in his mouth. As he stared up at me with big round green eyes, I felt myself melt as he reached up for me and cooed again. I picked him up and the princess smiled at me. “Twilight Sparkle,” she said to me, “You have passed your exam with flying colors. Butnow I have a different proposal for you. That much power takes years of intense study and training to control. Why don’t you become my personal pupil and I teach you how to put it to good use?” I felt a strange power building up inside me and at first I thought it was the magic coming back for round two but the rapid beating of my heart assured me it was just pure childlike joy that filled me with energy this time. I danced around the room twirling the baby dragon in my hands as I did so. But he just giggled and clapped his hands like he was excited, too. My parents had already passed out from the shock of it all, I later learned that in my magical fit I had turned them into potted plants, yes much like you did once with Aunt Flutters, but I didn’t really notice since The princess herself was still talking to me. But instead she had just pointed to my upper arm and I grinned seeing the mark that appeared there. I got accepted into the school of my dreams, taken on as the princess’ personal student, and even got my cutiemark, all in one hour. You can understand when I say I was a bit overwhelmed with excitement. I even passed out. When I woke up I found myself in what would later(?) be my (?)room in the castle while I studied under Celestia, but I almost fainted again when I found the princess leaning right over me as she sat beside my bedside. I shot up like a rocket. “Princess!!! I’m so sorry I did that I was just really excited that I’d gotten my cutiemark and passed the exam and then you took me on as your student and—!”!” She placed a gentle finger on my lips, promptly cutting me off. “Twilight, my dear, please calm down. I understand your excitement but there is another issue at hand.” I then noticed that there was a bubble of golden energy surrounding a crying infant floating a few feet away. The bubble was blocking the sound but I could see very clearly he was upset. I gasped and she levitated him over to me and broke the bubble. He cried for a few more seconds before he seemed to notice her and then he stopped and his reddened eyes lit up and he cooed and smiled at me just like before. “Thedragon?” “Princess, I don’t understand. Isn’t he one of yours?” “He was indeed, but due to the overwhelming amount of magical power you used to hatch him he has formed a bond with you sealed by your very souls. Needless to say,” she said with a glance back at the infant,“once you passed out,he started crying and hasn’t stopped since.” I stared down at the infant and I felt panic rise within me. I was only a child myself! I couldn’t take care of a baby! He would interfere with my studies and I would never be able to accomplish my dreams if I had to cater to his every whim. That, and he was half dragon! What if he stayed a baby for decades? The princess noticed my distress and I saw her smile ever so slightly. “Twilight Sparkle, please relax. While you stay here he will have a nanny to take care of him. But he will have to have something of yours that would have a lot of your aura on it so he won’t burst out crying while you are at lessons. Do you have something like that?” she asked with a small smile. I thought for a moment before I pulled out a locket off from around my neck. It had been a present from Shining when I was born and I hadn’t gone a day since then without wearing it. I wrapped my hands around it and looked over at the cooing infant who looked at me with eyes of such warmth and admiration. I hooked the pendant around his neck and the effect was almost instant. He let go of his tail and held the foreign object around his neck up to his eyes and I saw him stare at it in awe. I smiled and I noticed his hair had spiked up in every which-way. I tried smoothing it down but his hair wasn’t soft like I had expected and was instead like tiny green needles against my skin. I retracted my wounded hand and bit my lip so as not to startle him with the yelp of pain I wanted to release. “Owwww! He spiked me, Princess!” I whined softly as he stared at me his eyes round. “Huh… you’re… a little spikey huh?” That triggered a few gears in my head to start turning and soon a lightbulb went off in my mind. “That’s what I’ll name you!” I cheered with a grin. “Spike…?” the princess questioned, “Twilight, dear, I don’t mean to offend but isn’t that name reserved… for pets?” I realized this with a start and rubbed my chin in thought. It came to me in a flash of brilliance. “Spikeson Graventus Draconis Kaelopson VI.” “Or just Spike for short. I read in the Libraries you used to name your Dragons that, but stopped after the fifth died, so I wanted to continue it,” I explained to the princess. She of course was shocked that anyone had remembered the name at all, yet alone and eight year old would name someone after him. She smiled and nodded before announcing she had ‘royal duties’ to attend to. I would later find out this meant she was hungry and was going to go raid the kitchen in search of cake. But Spike was still just sitting there staring at his new treasure with a happy expression. I then noticed that he remained unclothed and felt my cheeks heat up as I went to ask a maid if they had any clothes he could wear. My first time dressing Spike was… a learning experience to say the least. I learned that baby dragons do NOT like to wear anything more than a diaper. And Faust forbid that they get put in footie pajamas. The servants were repairing the scorched furniture for weeks after that… Spike grew, for the first few years at least, like a normal baby. But once he hit about five years old I noticed a significant decrease in his aging. The princess explained to me that this was normal for hybrids. But I was happy with this as it meant I could now have a wonderful assistant who was still as cute as a button… Right on cue just said messy-haired assistant came down the stairs. No longer deserving of the title ‘cute,’ however, as he now looked around seventeen years old, the same age as Nyx, despite being well over thirty. He hadn’t changed much regardless of the growth spurt. He was still relatively scrawny, but you could see the muscles he had forming, his spiky green hair was tasseled every which way and his bright reptilian like eyes shimmered in the dim lights of the library’s living room. The only big changes in him were the two purple-and-green wings that now protruded from his back. They stretched with him as he yawned . He turned and grinned at them. “I heard my name mentioned and woke up. What’re we talking about? My dashing good looks? My stunning display of muscle?” he asked flexing his very nonexistent biceps for them. Nyx giggled and Twilight rolled her eyes. He then noticed the big kettle and raised his eyebrows. “She asked the question again,didn’t she?” he groaned. They both nodded and he sighed before sitting cross legged with them on the floor and poured himself a cup of tea. “Well go on then, don’t let me interrupt.” He said with a wave of his hand. Twilight rolled her eyes and did just that. Anyways, as I was saying. Spike was of course like my baby brother right from the start. He grew before my eyes and with him at my side it felt so much more natural staying in the palace. But of course, being half dragon came with its own set of issues and he would often get picked on for his heritage. I can remember one time in particular when I was thirteen and I was attending one of the seminars in the actual school itself, after all, just because I was Celestia’s student didn’t mean I didn’t have to go to classes like everyone else. But… despite the school being reserved for unicorns of a high magical standard, it didn’t mean that the students were necessarily of a higher state of mind… there were still bullies. Not many, but enough to make our life a living hell. “Hey Spikeson…! Still chasing around your girlfriend?!” the leader of the pack of bullies sneered as we passed them in the hall. His name was RiftShot, a boy who was tall for his age but not intimidatingly so and who’s blonde hair was always neatly groomed and had burning eyes that could strike fear in a Manticore. His Special talent was centered around sports, unusual for a unicorn but not un heard of. His sidekicks were a scrawny little grey haired boy named Kolby who was a master at medical spells but had a rather unpleasant habit of causing more injuries than healing them, a girl who had short cut dark brown hair and black eyes that make yours look like they belong to a bunny she was also so large she looked like she could eat three of Kolby for breakfast, her name was PowerStar, when it came to weapon spells she was the master, she could summon an entire array of knives, daggers, and any other form of weapon and strike you down before you could even blink. But she was dumber than a rock and used her power to get into the school rather than her wits. The proctors apparently didn’t dare deny her for fear of being killed if they did. Rift walked up beside us his minions following in his footsteps. I could see Spike try his best not to respond to their taunts but they had been going on for a while and he had had just about enough of it. He turned on his heel and glared up into Rift’s eyes. “She ISN’T my girlfriend you blind bat, she’s my SISTER and I don’t CHASE her around, we just have all the same classes so I go with her!” he snarled. But Rift of course wasn’t buying it. “She isn’t your sister dweeb. You’re a freaky dragon boy, she’s a unicorn. You ARE’T her brother. And how can you attend classes if you can’t even do magic?! Look at you! No horn, not an ounce physical talent at all, you can’t even breathe fire when by your age all the other little dragons can, and you’re the size of a runt! Why do you even hang out with this kid Sparkle? Oh wait, it’s probably because you’re just much of a freak as he I-“ Rift’s taunting Rant was interrupted by a rather well placed punch in the gut that sent him flying back into the school wall and formed a small crater in it despite the magical barrier that coated it. Spike’s eyes were slitted so thin you could barely see the pupil as he retracted his fist from the punch. Star rushed forward at him to defend Rift but she was sent flying backwards by a well-placed kick to her head and Kolby was about to lunge at him when his eyes shifted and stunned the grey haired boy in place. “Tell your boss when he wakes up that I am FAR from physically weak, dragons have natural magic that controls the elements around them, like fire water air and the earth so I am quite capable of performing spells of that nature, and as for breathing fire…” He let a torrent of green flames set the grey hair on top of his head on fire. Kolby screamed and rolled on the ground trying to put it out. “I was BORN able to do that. Twilight just discourages it due to the fact that my fire destroy what it burns.” He reached out his hand and the fire came back to him like an obedient puppy. The grey haired boy now only had patches of hair left and his skull was singed only slightly. “Meaning that your hair won’t be growing back.” He smirked. I was conflicted at that point. Here were three kids who had caused Spike so much emotional damage over the years he had been there with me, and who had disgraced him in every way possible from weggies, to swirlies, and even sometimes a real fist fight which he never fought back on since he hardly took any damage thanks to his skin being stronger than steel but who would always come back a little more hollow each day. But they were also living breathing human beings. And he had probably just broken more than fifty school rules. I grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away before any more students could notice what had happened. We didn’t stop running until we were back in the castle safely in our room with the door locked tight. “What… was THAT?!” I exclaimed ready to go into full on lecture mode. But his response made my words halt and choke me. “I can handle being tormented by myself Twilight… but he insulted you. And that’s something I CAN’T let slide by.” He grunted at me. I stared at him in shock for a few seconds before I hugged him tight enough that even a hybrid like him almost died. Yes I know it hurt Spike but at the time I didn’t really care. I just knew you were the best baby brother ever, and my best friend. Spike… are you blushing…? No? Oh well, on with the story then. That wasn’t the first time your Uncle stood up for me, and as we would learn shortly after that, it wasn’t the last time those bullies would be back. You see, I didn’t know it at the time but as it turned out Rift’s father was the head dean at the school. And Spike here spent the next month in detention for what he did to them. He would have been suspended but being the little brother of the student of Celestia had its perks. But the torments kept coming. And they got worse as junior high came to an end. You’re right Nyx, we SHOULD have told Celestia what was going on, but Spike wouldn’t let me tell her. He said he could handle it so long as they didn’t resort to violence anymore. Which they were all too scared to do now that they knew his capabilities. And speaking of that, that little incident is also what got this little twerp started on his boasting regimen. Yes Aunt Dash did help out a lot with that but that wasn’t until a bit later. In junior high the only person he could brag to was me… and Shining but there was a more competitive air between them than anything. Shining always told himself that if he could beat a dragon in an arm wrestle then he could be captain of the guard. Yes Spike, I know he still hasn’t beaten you. But he DID become captain of the royal guard, and now he’s a prince. So I think he still has one up on you. Anyways, the last week of junior high was the worst. So much so that they even targeted me now. And I had been mad enough with them when they picked on Spike, but now they would corner me. So we devised a plan… a brilliant plan if I do say so myself. I don’t normally participate in pranks, yet alone ones made to publicly humiliate people, but this was my one exception. And I have still to this day yet to regret it. We put it into motion using my connections in the palace and since Shining had just recently become a lieutenant in the guard I told him what had been going on and he of course agreed to go along with it. No body messes with us and gets away with it. So we set the bait. Meaning Spike and I walked right into their territory which they just so HAPPENED to claim right next to our lockers. There they were, waiting for us. Kolby had his dark grey beanie that he always wore now that he was bald, Spike, wipe that smirk off your face, Star had thinned out a bit in the year or so they had been targeting us and now she was just a bulk of muscles, but her black eyes remained the same, still intimidating and it could still freeze a phoenix’s heart. No not you Pipsqueak calm down. But Rift was the one who had changed the most, physically at least. He had gotten taller that was for sure, he was taller than Star now and he had lost the little bit of baby fat he had had as a younger child. His years of athletic activities were definitely starting to show and the way all the other girls swooned over him made me sick. His deep red eyes still held all the malicious intent they had before but it only made me pause now. We had the advantage over him now there wasn’t anything he could do to us since it was the last day we’d be seeing him. He got an athletic scholarship for some big fancy school in cloudsdale and with a more advanced version of the cloud walking spell he could attend with ease. They came up to us as we walked seemingly peacefully to the lockers to clean them out for our last day and of course just as Spike opened his it was slammed back shut as Rift leaned up against it. “Hey Spikeson, gonna miss me when I’m partying with the Pegasi…?” He sneered. I could see it took every ounce of restraint in him not to send him through the wall. “With all my heart Rift… now move so I can get my stuff…” he grumbled back to the blonde. Rift didn’t move though. And now Star was moving up on my other side while Kolby blocked the last possible exit route. We were trapped. I let a faint smirk touch my lips as everything was falling into place. But I replaced with a scowl to show I was displeased with the situation. “Just let us have our last day in Peace Rift… you’re lucky I haven’t told the princess on you yet…” I almost snarled at him. I mentally patted myself on the back for how good of an actress I had become. But Rift’s scoff of superiority made my anger real. “And who said I was talking to you nerd…? Stay out of this or you’ll get a lot worse than just petty insults today.” He threatened. My eyes narrowed at him but I kept my mouth shut. I saw Spike’s fist clench and I gave him a glance to tell him it was alright. He turned to face the bully again and stared him down despite his smaller size. “You know what, I’m tired of playing coward… if you want a fight Shot, you’ve got one. Meet me in the court yard at lunch. Bring your cronies if you think they’ll give you a shot in hell at touching me.” He growled at the boy. Rift looked stunned for a moment before a smirk replaced it. “You’re on Spikeson. Come on guys, let’s go get ready in the gym.” He said as he shoved Spike in the shoulder and walked towards the athletics department. His two henchmen followed with their own glares back at us. Spike sealed the deal with a wink and a wave good bye at them. It just seemed to make them angrier. When they were out of sight Spike and I high fived and then ran for the lunch room where everyone was waiting. You see, we weren’t the only people who had been picked on by those three. We rallied the forces of the school and found that we had a very reliable connection. They all lined up like military officers as I went by with Spike behind me carrying the checklist. “Sunny, you got the word out to the school right?” I asked a girl who’s skin was sun kissed just perfectly and her hair was bleach blonde from how much sun she saw living on the beach. She pulled out her phone and saluted. Spike checked her off the list and we moved on to a boy who was even scrawnier than Spike but who’s blue hair and eyes shone like beacons to the world. “FlashPost, you’ve got the last school paper printing right now right…?” “The last copy will be printed in about ten minutes, and my team is ready to spread it as fast as wildfire.” He reported. I nodded and we checked him off moving onto a group of rather… homley group of boys who if Rarity ever saw she would have a heart attack on the spot just from the use of pocket protectors. “And our connection with the school security systems…?” I asked their leader. He pushed up his glasses and pulled out his laptop to reveal live monitors from all the cameras in the school. “Connection enabled and we have the equipment to record it all during lunch.” Teck reported as his curly blonde hair fell into his face a bit. A gave an awkward smile and nodded coming to the last of the group. “And the faculty and staff…?” I asked the girl who’s two tone neon blue hair made me question whether it was dyed or not and whose eyes remained hidden behind a pair of dark sunglasses so that we couldn’t see them. Her mark of a music note was easily seen due to the sleeveless white jacket she wore. “They’ll all be too busy having their ears blown out to notice a riot in the court yard.” She smirked. “Thank you Vinyl… although you still haven’t told us why you agreed to do this. As far as we know Rift hasn’t done anything to you.” I commented to the girl. She waved her hand at me. “What makes you think I just don’t like the idea of raising hell…? But to answer your question, it’s personal.” She replied. “I’ve got to go check on my studio before I leave. The guys said something about throwing me a goodbye party… Jeez it’s just high school…” she chuckled as she turned to leave. I looked to Spike but he just shrugged and checked her off before rolling up the list and setting it on fire to get rid of the evidence. “We’re good to go then. Let’s all meet up in the courtyard in half an hour.” I ordered. They all gave us a salute before they walked off to their classes. I turned to Spike with a grin on my face. “Oh sweet Celestia I feel so excited Spike…! Are we really going to do this? Is it right to do this? What if it doesn’t go right and…” But my panicked rant was interrupted by him smiling and shaking his head. “Relax Twi, we’ve got the upper hand this time remember? Besides, I think even Celestia herself would approve of this.” He assured me. I felt my spirits soar at that and nodded back at him with a smile. “Thanks Spike. I couldn’t go through with this if it wasn’t for you.” I commented. “You wouldn’t have THOUGHT about it if it weren’t for me.” He corrected. I rolled my eyes as he went on a rant about how he had personally come up with almost all the details but to be honest I don’t remember half of it. Oh don’t give me that look Spike, you know I tend to tune you out when you start to brag like Rainbow Dash. But the time came. Everyone was released for lunch but instead of heading to the cafeteria like normal everyone went straight for the courtyard as word had spread via the biggest socialite SunnyDaze that there was going to be a showdown of the century in the courtyard today. I knew full well that Vinyl would be distracting the teachers so we wouldn’t get interrupted by something like the deans all breaking up the crowd. But I did however wonder what she was doing at the time. I got the story from her later so I’ll give you a bit of insight. Vinyl looked up at the clock and then back over at her equipment, it was almost time. She walked over and strapped the machine onto her back and grabbed her trusty headphones off her desk. She took one last look at her mixing station before she walked out the door and shut it behind her for good. If she was graduating from junior high, then was going to take down the last thing that stood in her way from living a normal life. And nothing was going to stop her. Not even her father. She flipped the switch on the control panel of the portable bass on her back and pounding sound waves filled the halls as she ran through them like a maniac all the teachers running after her in hope of catching the widely known prankster. They didn’t have a chance in hell. “Run Run Run, as fast as you can, you can’t catch me I’m Vinyl Scratch Baby!!!!” she announced through the mic that arched around her head. This only made the teachers of course, angrier and they pursued her even quicker. I looked down at the watch on my wrist just as the old clock tower in the courtyard chimed noon. Just like clockwork students were gathered all around before the twelve chimes could end, and a certain trio were just making their grand entrance from the set of double doors that linked the gym and the courtyard. Rift was in a muscle shirt and already sweaty from the ‘warm up’ he and his cronies had gone through. I heard Spike growl like a feral beast beside me. He took off his signature purple hoodie and handed it to me. “Hold onto this. I don’t want to get their filthy blood on it.” He snarled. I looked at him shocked but I knew it was part of the act. The crowd around us started chanting but I zoomed in on the few faces that mattered. Sunny and Flash who were standing next to one another gave me a thumbs up meaning that their parts were finished. The leader of the tech squad shifted his blue green eyes towards me and removed his glasses setting them in his shirt before he too gave me a thumbs up and I allowed myself to smirk ever so slightly as I knew that the cameras were all rolling for this final scene. “Well well well… here we are Spikeson… ready to get your tail handed to you…?” I heard Rift sneer. But Spike wouldn’t be stooping to his level. Years of these guys making his life a living hell had taught him one very important lesson. How to dodge a punch. I wish we had kept the video tape of this so you could see him in action yourself. But my mother of course threw it out when I brought it home so we’ll just go into detail here. Spike was weaving in between all of their blows. If Rift was going for a face shot he ducked and Rift would tumble over him while his partners would go for a double blow from the sides and he would just back straight up and let them exchange blows to one another instead. Kicks he nimbly evaded with a short jump and he even got on top of Star’s shoulders and rode her like a bucking bronco as she tried to drag him off. It definitely earned us a laugh from the gathered crowd. And Rift was starting to get more and more frustrated. But during all this I wasn’t idly sitting on the sidelines. Oh no, you know me far too well for THAT to be a possibility. While they fought I myself was preparing a spell. Channeling my magic into what was, at the time, a very difficult spell that required a large amount of magic to complete. But it would be worth it and I knew that as the giant hands on the clock were ticking by the time was fast approaching when our plan would move onto the final stage. “Why… Won’t… you… stand… still?!?!?!” I heard Rift yell as he unleashed another set of frustrated blows towards Spike who easily maneuvered away from them. “What’s the matter Rift Shot…? Can’t keep up with a little kid like me?” Spike laughed as he ducked under a spinning kick Rift sent his way. “This isn’t a fight Spikeson…! You’re playing cat and mouse with me! Stop dodging and fight back!” He screamed in his frustration. It seemed his two henchmen had long since knocked each other over after exchanging more than a few stray blows. They caught their breath and stood to their feet slowly watching Rift grow madder and madder with rage. But Spike was keeping his cool and dodging his every blow like a regular ninja. The crowd was enjoying the scene and was even laughing for the first time not at Spike, but at Rift. And it was getting to him. He stopped trying to attack Spike and looked around him. “Stop laughing at me!!! You’re all supposed to be on my side!!!” he growled. The laughter stopped and now everyone just watched in mild discomfort. This wasn’t the cool calm and suave Rift they had known. This was Rift the bully, a lowly creature that had been the true face behind the handsome mask. And they were about to see the full blunt of his cruelty. While Spike had let his guard down and turned his attention to me to see how the spell was going Rift took it to his advantage and knocked him onto the floor with one foul swoop of a punch. It hit so hard it even managed to make Spike bleed a little. Rift stood over him while he lay on the ground cradling his bloody nose. Red eyes bore into him and a terrible grin crossed his features as he planted his foot on Spikes chest and began to crush his ribs in under the pressure. “What are you gonna do now freak…? Roast me with your fire…? Oh wait, isn’t that depended on your lungs? Huh… guess you can’t burn me if you can’t breathe huh?” he sneered as he forced the air from Spike’s lungs. I was beginning to panic. This wasn’t part of the plan. Spike was never supposed to get hurt. But he was, right then in there I could see the pain written across his face. But I had a duty to fulfill and with the motivation of Spike being crushed under Rift’s brute strength I completed the spell in record time. I held out my hand to the tech leader and he threw me a microphone. I held it in my magic and it came to life with my voice. “It’s over Rift.” I announced. His gaze shift towards me and I was almost paralyzed by the red gaze. Almost. “Look around you Rift. Look at the faces that used to cheer you on. And all of you look at him. Does this look like the Rift you know…? Or can you finally see his true colors like we always have? That’s right. I said we. You see. I isn’t just me and Spike he’s hurt here at school. And I intend to show you just what your precious pretty boy is REALLY like when you turn your backs” I flicked off the mic and tossed it into the crowd and stepped towards where Spike now lay trying to catch his breath since Rift had moved his foot off him. Red eyes glared at him as I did so and when I came nose to neck with him I glared up at him as well. “Nobody picks on my little brother and gets away with it…” I snarled as my magic took hold and a pentagram of light energy filled the courtyard completely. Like ghostly beings memories of the bullied came to be seen in the air above the glowing lights. It showed Rift and company beating the tech squad senseless and then hanging them from the flagpoles in front of the school by their underwear. All of them having to be rushed to the hospital for blunt force trauma after that. It showed Flash being tortured and humiliated by Rift’s words over his ‘Silly’ dream of being editor and chief of the Equestria Daily. How the words hurt him to the point of shattering the camera his now passed father had given him for his tenth birthday and then burning all his manuscripts for stories he had written. It showed how Rift had dated Sunny and then spread wicked rumors about her behind her back when she left him, causing all of her friends to leave her in the shadows and for her to grow into such an emotional wreck she even resorted to self violence, it showed the nights she would sit lying in the bath tub with slit wrists waiting for the end to come and for the pain of being alone to stop. Only for her to wake up in the morning and realize she had been saved by her parents and was put on antidepressants that only made things tolerable. The crowd watched in shock at each revelation and Rift felt himself stabbed from every angle with glares of pure unfiltrated hatred. Star and Kolby however were just as shocked as the rest of the crowd and looks of guilt and overwhelming sorrow filled their eyes as they saw just what their ‘games’ had done to others. But Rift was just looking around as the glares grew worse and worse as the memories started to repeat themselves and they turned to the true villain. Then another set of memories started to be shown and these ones were ones he himself was very well aware of. They showed a little girl of about three or four being taunted relentlessly for her ‘weird’ colored hair, since no one in her family had it. They showed how when she started to play music to try and escape his taunts he would break her CD’s and instruments and then walk off when her parents came to ask why she had destroyed her gifts. It showed her a bit more grown and he started to physically torture her now. Pulling on her hair and even cutting a lot of it off at one point just to make his point. For her to stare herself in the mirror every night and see HIS eyes looking back at her taunting her for being such a freak. She would smash the mirror and let the glass shards rip up her skin and bleed out into the sink. If her parents bothered to ask she would just say it was an accident, like always. They were too busy fawning over HIM to even notice her. The boy who was their favorite, who did everything they liked and she was just the blue sheep. The boy whose eyes she shared and hid behind her glasses so that no one would ever make the connection that they were brother and sister. Vinyl walked out from the crowd that parted for her, her glasses now on top of her head and red eyes glared at her twin brother from across the circle of people. “Hello Brother, welcome to hell. Or as you have made it the last fourteen years, my life.” She snarled. Rift glared back at her. “Well I can see why the others would project their miserable little lives up there for everyone to see, but what do you gain from it Victoria…? Who’s here to see your little sob story? Because it isn’t mom. She’s too busy getting ready for that party at the castle tonight to notice your pathetic attempt at getting some closer. And dad wouldn’t give you the time of day yet alone come out here to watch your little light show!” he laughed in his sister’s face. But all she did was smirk at him. “But you see, brother of mine… if there’s one thing dad WILL do for me, it’s chase me down when I’m misbehaving… like say, blaring wubs all through the school enough to make plaster fall from the ceiling.” She sneered back. His red eyes faltered for a second as he started to back up and look behind her at the crowd of teachers that had been standing and staring in shock at the memories on display in the aura lights above their heads. His father was standing directly behind her a look of shock, anger, and disgust filling his emerald eyes. “Richard Verman Scratch, GET YOUR DIMPLED SORRY ASS OVER HERE THIS INSTANT SO I CAN BEAT THE SENSE INTO YOUR TAINTED HIDE!!!!!!!!” His father roared over the crowd who all seemed to be pushed back by the sheer force of his anger. Rift looked petrified but Vinyl gave a smirk and grabbed him just as he turned to run. She picked him up and flung him towards their father like a rag doll. The coach’s magic levitated his son in front of him as he glared him down further before turning to his daughter and his gaze softening for a couple of seconds. “Vicks I…” he started but Vinyl payed him no attention as she slipped her glasses back over eyes and walked off collecting the portable speaker she had used before as she went. I saw him Sigh as he just levitated his son away leaving his daughter to do as she pleased. I had watched all this with my jaw gaped open not believing anything I saw. Spike had regained his stature and stood beside me his nose finally back to normal. “So THAT’S why she never takes off the glasses… huh… I thought she was blind or something.” He said with a shrug of his shoulders. That made me snap out of it and I giggled a bit. “Spike, if she was blind how could she read all those books she checked out from the library about sound waves…?” I laughed. He thought about it for a minute but just before he could respond we were surrounded from all angles by our fellow tormented students in a giant group hug. This was, mind you, before your aunt Pinkie got me used to such things so of course my first reaction was one of panic. But when Sunny wouldn’t stop cheering and the techies were all sobbing together while Flash just gave us a watery eyed smile it made me relax a bit. In the distance I saw Vinyl turned back and smiling at us. She had her glasses off again and I noticed that instead of red they were now a soft magenta. I smiled back at her just as she slipped her glasses back on and turned to get into the car her father was throwing Rift into. I didn’t see Vinyl again until I was well into highschool, but I heard from her that Rift was sent to reform school and then shipped off to a military academy when he was deemed ‘safe’. As for Star and Kolby, well, it took a lot of time but eventually people saw that they were truly sorry for how they had acted. They moved away but they popped up at a reunion a year or two before I found you and they seemed happy enough together. Although Kolby became what you would call a docile house husband and the only thing that really changed about Star was that she no longer flaunted her strength. But I digress. “So what are we gonna do now…?” Spike asked. That was something I hadn’t thought of. But an idea quickly formed in my head. “How about we go out for lunch at Donut Joe’s…?” I chuckled. Yes. Your ever studious mother actually suggested that we skip the rest of the day of school to gorge on sugary pastries for lunch. An offer which your uncle here gladly accepted. “And that Nyx, is not only how I met your Uncle Spike, but how he showed me that true family isn’t decided by blood, but by the bonds love you tie yourselves together with.” Twilight concluded. Spike snored beside them and Twilight made a face at him before sighing and shaking her head. “Nyx, be a dear and go get me a bucket of cold water… and a permanent marker. We’re going to teach your Uncle a lesson in manners.” She mused. Nyx beamed and ran off to find her supplies. When she had gone Twilight looked over at the spikey green haired teenager and a soft smile crossed her lips as she leaned over and kissed his forehead gently. “Thank you… for standing up for me all those years ago… I wouldn’t be who I am now if you hadn’t.” she whispered. His sleeping form responded by letting a giant glob of drool drip down onto her. She made a face and her resolve for teaching him a lesson returned. “You asked for it…~” she hummed. (***re-edited version by ElDante (https://www.fimfiction.net/user/El+Dante) seriously, you guys need to see this.***) Author's Note **A/N: Well, looks like Spike’s about to get dumped with sisterly love meaning it’s time to move onto the next chapter. Next We’ll be taking a look at how Twilight met the remainder of the mane 6. But of course, this will be nothing like the show. All that remains the same are the characters. WHICH I OWN NOTHING OF. HASBRO AND LAUREN FAUST CREATED THEM AND I AM GAINING NOTHING FROM THIS STORY. Other than of course relief from all these crazy ideas that have been swimming around in my head since I became a Pegasister. Annnnnnnnyways, moving on, I should note that Nyx is an OC from a very popular story called Past Sins. Therefore she is not mine either. Also in here Nyx has a similar background as in Past Sins but as you will see in future chapters Luna is very much free of her curse long before Twilight finds her in the woods. This a twist. Get used to it. There will be hundreds more where that came from. On an ending note, I like reviews. They tell me what you think of this little tale. Do I move to fast, too slow? Confused about something in it? Ask. I like questions too. Not stupid ones mind you, those will be ignored. But if you have a genuine question about something that confuses you, ask. Or, if you think this story needs something, tell me. Not clop. This will remain a teen rated fic, of that I am absolutely sure. Now, I have talked your ears off well enough, Shadow out.** //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3 //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter 3 Chapter 3: The Spark Twilight Sparkle swallowed hard as the train pulled up to the station. She could see the massive structure from a few miles back but she had believed it to be the town itself, not just the campus. But no, the town of Ponyville was shadowed by the school it housed. It made Canterlot Castle look like an inflatable bounce house. Spike whistled as they got off the train and look up at the towering structure before them. Luna lowered the glasses she was wearing as part of her disguise until they reached the school itself. “When my sister said she had made investments in a school here a few decades back, I didn’t think she meant like THIS.” She whisper shouted. Twilight just nodded in agreement and slowly carted her bag behind her with Spike close behind his duffle bag almost as big as him slung over his shoulder. Luna was the only one who didn’t seem to really understand the concept of ‘less is more’ and toted two rolling chests at her side, two huge duffle bags slung across her shoulders and was levitating the other six huge bags above her so they wouldn’t get in the way of people walking. You’d think after a couple thousand years SOMEONE would have invented a spell to carry massive loads in a little bit of space. But being a princess had its perks and Luna wasn’t really burdened by her load. They arrived at the gates within ten minutes of leaving the train station and if the school had seemed large before now it looked down right intimidating. From the windows on each level Twilight had to guess it was around five stories tall and it had towers much like the ones found on a castle but judging by the lights from within them she could tell they were probably class rooms, one of them even had a rather large telescope sticking out from it and she guessed that was the observatory and Astronomy room, some place she and Luna would be spending a lot of time in as it was a shared hobby of theirs. Twilight watched all the students rushing past them and through the magnificent courtyard that lead up to the massive structure of a school. In a pink blur each of them had a map shoved in their hands except for Luna who since her hands were occupied had it shoved into her mouth. The offender in question stopped in front of them and grinned from ear to ear. She looked young, Twilight’s age for sure, and was covered from head to toe in pink, a pink shirt with three balloons that matched the mark on her hand, a pink poofy skirt that bounced every time she took a step and pink buckle shoes with knee high socks that had stripes of, you guessed it, pink. Not to mention she radiated energy that threw her for a loop. Even her bright pink hair, which reminded Twilight of cotton candy for some reason, seemed to be bouncy and full of life and her eyes looked like bright blue orbs of pure unfiltered raw energy. “Hi! My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie~ But that's a mouthful so you can just call me Pinkie Pie for short! Or Pinkie! I’m really not all that picky~! I’m part of the welcoming committee here even though I just got here myself so I’m going around handing out maps to everyone who looks new! Oh, hey! You’re the Princess and the transfer students from Canterlot right?!” The overly excited pink cotton ball exclaimed happily. Luna’s eyes widened in shock as a few people’s eyes turned to them. But they seemed to shrug it off at the sight of the pink haired energy demon in front of them and continued their business. Luna spat out the map in her mouth and sighed in relief and lowered her glasses slightly. “Yes… we are… now could you please direct us to whoever’s in charge of room assignments…?” she asked deciding it wouldn’t be worth the effort to ask how she knew who they were after they’d just met. “Sure! In fact I’ll take you to her myself, but let me finish passing out these real quick! I’ll meet you two at the front doors!” she announced before she disappeared in a pink blur again. They saw the blur moving from student to student leaving behind maps shoved in hands, mouths, bags, and sometimes shirts. By the time the confused trio made it to the enormous front doors Pinkie was sitting on top of the ledge that wrapped around the entrance. “Jeez, took you guys long enough, come on let’s go!” she squealed as she grabbed them all and yanked them into the building. They were escorted, and by escorted I mean dragged very brashly, through the crowd of students and taken to the table with a long line that looked like it was moving pretty fast. Now Pinkie was a lot of things, but patient was definitely NOT one of them. She just dragged the three to the front of the line but surprisingly enough no body complained about them cutting. Except of course the teacher in charge of dishing out the information cards. Her pink hair swirled upwards in what reminded Spike, to his great enjoyment, of the icing on a cupcake. Beside her a wirey looking man with messy orange hair sighed as he cast a tired gaze at the pink ball of energy. “Pinkie, how many times do we have to tell you, you can’t just let people cut in line when you feel like it…” the woman stated. Pinkie was grinning again as she stepped aside and revealed the victims she had captured this time around. “But Mrs. Cake these ones are different, I give you Princess Luna and… I’m really sorry, I didn’t catch you two’s names…” she whispered to the other two. “Twilight Sparkle, and this here is Spike.” Twilight answered in return. “… Her companions Twilight Sparkle and Spike!” Pinkie finished beaming with pride at the teacher who had gone star struck in an instant. She quickly stood from her chair and Luna internally groaned knowing what was coming next. She removed her glasses and set them in her pocket and then removed the beanie she had been wearing on her head letting her teal hair cascade across her shoulders. “P-princess Luna…! We weren’t aware…! I’m Cup Cake, and this is my Husband Carrot Cake. We’re the head of the culinary department here and we run a bakery in town… it really is an honor to meet you!” the teacher’s bright pink eyes lighting up with what Luna swore were stars. The man beside her finally spoke giving her a small bow as he did so. “A-allow us to make up for our mistake…!” he said pulling out three cards from the little filing system they had in front of them. “Here are your room assignments for the year! Please, if you have ANY issues please talk with me or my wife here and we will make it right as pie just for you…!” he assured the princess with a nervous smile. She gave the man a small smile and took the cards from him. “Thank you very much Mr. Cake, but please don’t treat me any differently than the rest of your students… my sister sent me here to be normal, not to be a princess in a new castle.” She replied her face still slightly pink from the gaze of the crowd behind them. “B-but Princess I…!” Mr. Cake started, but Luna interrupted him. “Luna… just, call me Luna.” She corrected. The man looked conflicted but corrected himself anyways. “Luna… we always were taught to treat royalty as such, so you can see why it is a bit difficult for us to… adjust.” He explained slowly. She laughed at that. “That I understand, trying to adjust to something the complete opposite of how you were raised to behave… But it’ll come to you in time. But for now… EVERYONE…! Call me Luna!” she announced to the crowd. Everyone seemed to nod in approval murmuring the name as they did so. Luna smiled again and bowed a bit to the two teachers before she looked down at the cards that were handed to her and passed the two that didn’t belong to her to Twilight and Spike. Pinkie was simply standing there beaming from ear to ear. Twilight gave her an un easy stare when she realized that the girl look frozen in place. “Uhh… Pinkie, was it…? Are you okay…?” she asked slowly approaching the girl. When she dared to reach out and poke her she jumped back startled as the cardboard cutout fell over. “What the…” “Why are you talking to a poster Twilight…?” asked a happy sounding voice right next to her. Twilight jumped back as Pinkie had materialized next to her. “Wah… how did you…? Spike was she standing there the entire time?!” she asked the drake. He looked up from the card he was staring at and shrugged. Twilight groaned and Pinkie skipped off singing a merry tune to herself. But she paused midair and zipped back over to Twilight despite all logic saying all of that was impossible. “Omaigosh! I Totally forgot to tell you! After you settle into your dorms there’s gonna be a BIIIIIIIIG welcoming party at dinner so don’t miss out!!!” she exclaimed her face only inches away from Twilight’s. “O-kaaaaay… but how did you…-“ but before Twilight could finish her question the girl had disappeared in a burst of confetti. Twilight blinked slowly a few times to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating and then slowly turned around her face in a creepy grin and her hair starting to fray as her eye began to twitch. “Okay then~! Let’s get on with this freak show shall we?!” she exclaimed as her legs began to move like a robots and Spike groaned as he face palmed and began to plan out how he was going to snap her out of ‘Insane’ mode this time. Together the three of them followed the map to the dormitories and then proceeded to climb up five flights of stairs to the very top level by which all three of them were ready to pass out at the top of the steps. They heard a ding beside them and they looked to see two doors sliding open and several people stepping out, one of them, a girl who wore a mint green over shirt with a cream white tank top on underneath it and a lyre mark on the upper part of her arm bent down beside them. “You guys know there’s an elevator right…?” she asked. Luna’s eye twitched slightly as the ground began to shake again. Twilight quickly covered Spike’s ears as did everyone else on campus. “FUUUUUUUUUUUU-“ Twilight quickly slapped a hand over her mouth before she could get the full word out. “Princess, language…!” she exclaimed. “Terribly sorry Twilight, allow me to try that again… De toutes les fichues pires choses possibles sur la terre qui peut probablement baiser fait une erreur!!! Pourquoi l'enfer nous n'avons pas remarqué il y avait un ascenseur en premier lieu?!?!” she screamed to the heavens. “D-did you just speak French…?” Twilight questioned as she tried to regain use of her ears. “Well, you said language, so I changed languages.” Luna responded with a shrug as she stood up and levitated the remainder of her bags up the stairs with her. Twilight groaned and dragged Spike along with her before making a startling realization. “Princess, what room did you get assigned…?” Twilight asked. “Um… let me see… 5100, why do you ask Twilight Sparkle…?” Luna asked turning back to the girl who was now sitting with her mouth draped open. “Twilight, shut your mouth, you’ll attract flies.” Luna lectured as she tapped her jaw shut. “B-but… that’s… mine and Spike’s room…!” Twilight exclaimed as she flailed her arms a bit. Luna stared at her in shock taking her room card and staring at it. She stared at her own room card and then something in the back of her mind itched at her and she turned hers over. And I shit you not the following image was on the back of the card. https://camo.derpicdn.net/3420033e829b50f76b636f1fe84fbb6a002f8870?url=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.wikia.com%2Ftheregularshow%2Fimages%2F8%2F80%2FTroll-face-problem.jpg Twilight and Luna stared at it for a good few seconds before Twilight sighed and put up a small sound proof force field around her and Spike. “DAMN YOU TROLLESTIAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” This time as she sat in her throne room holding day court Celestia heard her sister loud and clear and smirked a bit at it before motioning for the speaker to continue. He did so with a cautious look around first, but for the remainder of the afternoon Celestia held that devious gleam in her eyes. Back at the school Twilight lowered the shield and Spike sat up and dusted himself off. “So I get the pleasure of sharing a room with the girl who hassled me for two months just so she could get my gamer code and hasn’t let me play in peace since…?” Spike asked with a groan. Luna gave him a look like she had no idea what he was talking about and Twilight just patted his shoulder gently. “Ugh… whatever, I’ll get her back for it later, but for now let’s just get inside so we can get unpacked and then take a nice LONG nap…” Luna growled. Twilight followed behind her as they walked down the long hallway looking for their room but the sound of a very loud argument made them both freeze. “Ah done told ya fer the last time Miss Dash, this here AIN’T the Pegasus quarters…!” came a heavily accented southern voice. A different voice, one that seemed like it was still trying to change because it would break every now and again, responded to her. “And I already told YOU hay seed that there’s been a mistake because I’m SUPPOSED to be assigned to the Pegasus wing but instead they put me here with YOU…!!!” It roared in return. Luna, Twilight, and Spike peeked around the corner ever so carefully. The saw a girl with a workers tan and long blonde hair that was tied back by a red band at the end of it, wearing what looked to be worn denim work jeans that had several rips around the knees, with an orange plaid jacket shirt covering a slightly stained white tank top under it, her jeans tucked into the cowboy boots she wore and on top of her head a heavily worn stenson was angled just right to shadow her piercing green eyes, three bright red apples were visible on the top part of her arm where the sleeves of the rolled up shirt stopped. Twilight assumed this was the one with the southern drawl. The one across from her was quite the sight, after all, there weren’t many people whose hair was made up of every color in the rainbow. All the way to her roots down to where it stopped just above her shoulders Red, blue, yellow, orange, green, and purple were streaked in sections. However it was also noticeable by the way it looked like she had just rolled out of bed with spikey bed head that she didn’t much care for her hair. She dressed in a cyan short sleeved open hoodie with a form fitting white muscle shirt underneath it. Two powerful looking wings the same color as her hoodie came out of her back arching in fight stance to show her anger. Her jeans looked faded like the farmer’s did but hers also looked like they were a size too big for her since they hung off her and almost covered the white track shoes she had on her feet, the jeans were held up by a studded belt. Luna looked for her mark but couldn’t find it meaning it was probably covered by her clothing. Magenta eyes were glaring back into the piercing green ones across from her as the farmer started to butt heads with her. “Ya wanna go ya featherbrained mule?!” she challenged. “Maybe I do…!” the rainbow haired one retorted. Twilight decided to intervene before this got physical. She walked over and pulled the two apart. “Alright I’ve seen enough, both of you just breathe.” She ordered. They both glared at her but years of dealing with Spike had steeled her of almost all glares. “Now what seems to be the issue here…?” she asked calmly. Both of them started yelling at once and Twilight couldn’t hear either of them because of it. She facepalmed as the two glared at each other. “Okay, let’s try that again, this time one at a time, you first Miss uh…” she trailed off not knowing the farm girl’s name. “Applejack, Applejack Apple, and thank ya ma’am. Well ya see ah was just settlin into ma room here and ah got a knock on the door, ah thought it was my roommate so ah opened it up and this gal here busts in like a badger with a beehive on its head and starts ranting about getting the rooms mixed up…! Now ah’m a might reasonable person, really ah am, but when folks bust in yellin like ya’ve just punched ‘em across the face ah get a bit defensive. So ah started yelling right back. And it kinda went on like that fer a few minutes before you came along and now ah’m tellin you ‘bout it. Sound about right to ya Miss Dash…?” she questioned turning to the rather ticked looking Pegasus. “For the last time hay seed My name isn’t ‘Miss Dash’ It’s Rainbow Dash! Miss Dash is my mother. And yeah, she pretty much got that down except for the part where I just searched this entire school twice for this damn room and now I find out it’s not even in the right wing! I’m SUPPOSED to be sharing a room with my best friend in the Pegasus wing because she didn’t want to be booked with some total stranger for the year…!” Rainbow explained practically blowing steam through her nostrils. Twilight blinked and thought for a moment about it and then turned behind her. “Princess, do you think we could send these two down to the Cakes with your word to see if they can sort out their rooming issues…?” she asked the teal haired girl. She however hadn’t been listening and was instead planning her revenge on her sister. Hearing Twilight address her she snapped out of it and blinked before Twilight re asked the question. “Oh, uh yeah I guess but… Oh. Hello there.” She said noticing a small girl in a very plush looking yellow sweater and a long flowing light green skirt who has hiding behind her very long light pink hair. Luna couldn’t see her mark anywhere but there wasn’t very much skin showing on the timid girl so it didn’t surprise her at all. Rainbow turned around and instantly they saw her anger melt away like snow under a heat lamp. “Fluttershy…! How long have you been standing there…?” Rainbow asked. They all saw her lips move ever so slightly but it seemed only Dash was close enough to really hear her. “A while huh…? Sorry you had to see that then I…” the girl muttered something again and it seemed to be surprised by it. “Really…? Are you sure? Because I could still… well alright then. You’re still in this hallway right? Good, so you can come over if you need anything alright?” she offered a soft look on her face. The shy’s girls eyes finally met the others and they saw a deep swirl of aquamarine hit them like the churning warm seas. But before they could process much else about her she quickly escaped into a room just a few doors down and Rainbow brought her attention back to the others present. She turned to Applejack and scratched the back of her head. “Look I’m really sorry I got so worked up over all that… I’m just not real patient and well… I was really worried for my friend too so…” “Shoot sugarcube, ya shoulda just told me it was about yer friend! Ah’d have marched down there with ya myself ta have you re-booked if ah’d have known!” Applejack laughed clapping the girl across the back. Rainbow flinched but didn’t buckle over like most people would when Applejack does the very same. She whistled at it and grinned. “Ya must be pretty sturdy there for a Pegasus if ya didn’t fall over from an Apple back slap!” she chuckled. Rainbow again scratched the back of her head again and also started laughing. “Yeah, look is it cool if we just start over? Pretend I didn’t just nearly round house kick you into next week…?” she asked. Applejack smiled back and offered out her hand. “Sure, but fer the record, ah’ve pounded you six ways to Sunday.” She added with a gleam in her eye. Dash’s eyes lit up too. “Is that a challenge Jackie…?” she sneered. “Is a ground hog the most annoying damn critter on earth…?” she replied. Rainbow just gave her a dumbfounded look. Applejack rolled her eyes. “That’s farm talk fer yes sugarcube.” Dash beamed. “Great! Just let me change really fast and then we can head over to the gym!” she declared as she went into their room, closed the door and ten seconds later came out with her jacket gone and instead of her jeans she now wore cyan gym shorts that cut off mid-thigh and also sported fingerless fighting gloves. Luna finally saw her mark right on her ankle, it was a cloud with a tri-colored lightning bolt. “Okay, let’s go!” she declared. “That was fast, what’d ya do, just rip off your pants and throw on those gloves…?” the farm girl questioned. “Well duh, I’m Rainbow DASH, not Rainbow Slow, and you will never know! Now come on cowgirl, I’ll show you how to fight Cloudsdale style!” she proclaimed as she dragged her new roommate down the hall towards the elevator. Twilight stared at the scene her eye still twitching and her hair growing more and more disheveled as time went on. “But they just… and then… how is fighting a sign of a forming friendship?!” she questioned to no one in particular. Luna walked past her and shrugged. They reached the end of the hall and found their room to be the very last one. The number plate was engraved in gold and Twilight had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that Celestia had done something she had been completely against. Her fears were confirmed when Luna unlocked the door using her cardkey and the door swung open to reveal a rather lavish room with windows lining the entire back wall from the living room where there was a long soft looking white couch, a matching love seat at its side and two matching arm chairs on its other side, all facing a very large flat screen TV that had three different gaming systems and an entire bookshelf next to it filled with movies and games. The windows the stretched into the large kitchen that had all of the top of the line stainless steel appliances and a fully stocked fridge and pantry; off to the side of it there was a dining table with room for eight and a very elegant crystal chandelier hung above it reflecting its prismatic light ever so softly. Down the hall there were four rooms, three were bedrooms and one was a gaming room. At the very end of the hallway there was a bathroom but the master bedroom, which Luna quickly called dibs on, had its own bathroom. In short: Celestia had spoiled them. After they had explored a bit Spike had chosen the smallest of the bedrooms but it was also the closest to the bathroom and the gaming room so he didn’t really care, which left Twilight with the default room which she hadn’t even been in yet. She sighed as she opened the door but all her weariness drained from her when she saw what it held within it. Books. On every wall except for the one her bed was against, there was bookshelves that went up to the ceiling and were packed full of books. There was even a rolling ladder that would allow her to access the top shelves, and there was a work desk beside her bed which was made with sheets of her favorite color, purple. She saw a folded note on it and recognized her name in Celestia’s handwriting. She picked it up and began reading it with renewed enthusiasm. ‘My most faithful student Twilight Sparkle, I know by now you must be pretty worn out with all of today’s excitement so I prepared this room knowing you’d need a sanctuary. I know the task I’ve given you won’t be easy for you, but there is not a doubt in my mind that you CAN do it. There is magic in friendship Twilight, and it is a magic you need to study with the greatest of intensities. But of course don’t let that stop you from pursuing your academics either, this room is filled with books of all kinds from all over, I think you’ll find many of them useful in your studies. I even took the liberty of making you a roster for all your books. You can find it in the top drawer of your desk. I look forward to receiving your first letter on your findings on the magic of friendship. Your mentor and friend, Princess of the Eternal Sun Celestia Twilight let a small tear drop onto the note and a smile broke out across her face as she used the sleeve of her purple sweater vest to dry her eyes. Her mentor was counting on her and she wouldn’t let her down, no matter how much everyone in this school scared her shitless with their antics! . . . But in the meantime she needed a nap. Making friends could wait a few more hours. She flopped down on rather extravagant looking queen sized bed and found it to be what she imagined as sleeping on a cloud. She didn’t even bother taking off her shoes, she just fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. In what seemed like minutes to her Spike was poking her side. “Twilight…! Come on, wake up already…! We’re going to be late!” he complained as he tried to shake the purple haired mage awake. At the mention of the word ‘late’ however she shot out of bed like a rocket and was coming through her bed head as fast as a freight train. “I’m not going to be late to my first day of high school…! Spike, go find my uniform! I need to get my bag together and locate my textbooks and… Why is it still dark out…?” she asked noticing the moon light that came through the window above her bed. Spike rolled his eyes. “I MEANT that we’re going to be late to the welcoming party! Remember…? Pinkie told us about it earlier?” he reminded her. Her cheeks grew rosy and she smiled nervously as she set her brush down. “Oh… right… uh… how much longer do we have until it starts…?” she asked. Spike moved the sleeve of his purple hoodie up and looked down at his watch. “About five minutes… and it takes ten to get down to the auditorium where it’s being held.” He responded awaiting the panic attack he knew was coming. But just as her eye began to twitch Luna kicked in the door and grabbed both of them by the collars. “No time for panic attacks Sparkle, a princess is NEVER late and I refuse to start today. She said as her midnight blue magic started to glow around them. In a flash they were outside the auditorium. Twilight blinked processing the spell and then her eyes widened. “You can teleport?! Why didn’t you just teleport us up to our rooms instead of climbing up to it?!” she shouted, something she had never done with either of the princesses. Luna cocked an eyebrow at her. “Because, I have to have been where I’m teleporting, and while you slept in I decided to take a tour of the campus. Hence why I can teleport here.” She responded calmly. “I thought you were a master at things like spells Twilight Sparkle…?” she hummed a teasing tone taking over her voice. Twilight flushed and was about to counter the statement before a Pink blur and an explosion of confetti effectively shut her up and almost made her wet herself. “SURPRISE…!!!!! OhmaigoshTwilightit’ssoawesomeyoucouldmakeit!Ididn’tthinkyou’dcomebecauseyoulookedlikeoneofthosebookwormyshutinssoIthoughtyou’djuststayathomereadingorsomethingbuthereyouareinthefleshatmyfirstbonifiedhighschoolPAAAAAAARTY!!!!!!!!!” Pinkie exclaimed so fast it all just sounded like a jumble of words to Twilight. She then turned to Luna and Spike. “And of course who could forget the super awesome amazing Luna and the adorable little Spikey~!” she sang with her grin looking almost too big for her face. “Hey…! I am not adorable!” Spike protested his ears growing hot with embarrassment. Luna just chuckled and moved past the pink energizer bunny. “Now then… what is the big deal with one of these… parties…?” she asked. There was an elongated gasp and then pinky was on Luna like white on rice, or pink on a Pinkie. “YOU’VE NEVER BEEN TO A PARTY PRINCESS?!?!?!” She questioned shaking said teal haired girl by her shoulders. Luna tried not to lose her lunch as Pinkie continued to shake her like a rag doll. “N-no, just formal ball’s and the Gala’s we host every year but from what I’ve heard real parties are… how do you say… informal…?” she questioned. Pinkie looked like she was about to faint when Luna continued. “But Twilight here hasn’t been to ANY parties at all, even Spike has attended birthday parties before.” She added so as to deflect the attention away from her. Twilight mouthed the word ‘traitor’ at her and she just mouthed the age old phrase of ‘everyone for themselves’. Pinkie had grabbed Twilight by the wrist and had forcefully dragged the girl into the massive swarm of bodies that occupied the auditorium. When Pinkie stopped it was in front of a table where four girls sat chatting comfortably, three of them she recognized but the fourth was a mystery to her. Rainbow Dash saw her first and beamed which caused Applejack to turn around and notice her as well. “Hey there sugarcube, Ah see Pinkie got ahold of ya too, well I never really got ta thank ya fer-“ but the farmer was interrupted by Pinkie. “Not now Applejack! We’ve got a serious problem! This is Twilight’s very first party like EVER…!!!!” She exclaimed waving her hands around to emphasize her point. The girl she didn’t know let out a rather dramatized gasp. “Oh my! Pinkie this is terrible…!” She exclaimed as she stood up and walked over to the girl. The first thing Twilight noticed about her was that she bore a crest in the center of her forehead meaning she was a magic user like her, the second was that this girl, who was the same age as her mind you, could probably teach Canterlot models a thing or two about elegance. Even the way she carried herself in the short distance she had walked from her seat to where Twilight stood made her seem like she belonged on a run way. Not to mention the fact she was wearing the most beautiful white dress twilight had ever seen, it was form fitting but didn’t hug her entire body, went down to her ankles but had a nice long slit up it that went just past her knee’s, and most eye catching of all, it was embedded with shining diamonds of all sizes. Her boots were the same flawless white and had the same perfect gemstones embedded along the very top of it. Her hair, which was a deep rich purple color, was curled into large ringlets that bounced with her every movement. She wore makeup but not a lot, just some eye shadow and eyeliner to bring out her already prominent blue eyes, the very same blue of the three gemstones that made up the mark that was visible on her breast bone. Twilight was stunned speechless at her appearance but behind her a certain little dragon hybrid was frozen in place and looked like he had just been shot with an entire quiver of cupids arrows. The elegant girl spoke again once she was in front of Twilight and she showed her disapproval with a slight pout of her lips. “We can’t have a young lady such as yourself walking around with such drab clothes on! Yet alone to a party! Come, my talents are obviously desperately needed!” she sighed as she took the girl by the wrist and started to drag her off. “Rarityyyyyyyy!!!! We don’t have to give Twiley a make over! She needs some party in her system stat!” Pinkie whined chasing after them as Rarity pulled a gemstone that glowed softly out of her purse. “And she WILL Pinkie! AFTER I make this charming young lady presentable!” Rarity replied to the pink haired party animal. “Uhh, do I get any say in this…?” Twilight asked putting her hand up like she was asking a question in class. They both turned to her with flat faces. “No.” and with a simple pulse of magic from Rarity into the gem she was holding they were gone in a flash of blue light, but not before Spike had clamped onto Twilight’s arms so he was take with them. They reappeared in a room that had beautiful fabric’s laid neatly across tables, stacked on shelves, and a few littered the floors which Rarity quickly corrected by levitating them to their correct spots on the shelves. She walked over to a section of the room that had sewing machines lining it and opened the door that was against it. “Now I’m terribly sorry to have rushed all that darling but I simply couldn’t let you walk around wearing… that. No offense.” She called as she walked into the room and seemed to be sorting through outfits as Twilight heard the sliding of coat hangers. Twilight looked down at Spike who was still under cupid’s influence. “What’s wrong with the way I dress…?” she asked him. “You look like a purple hobo most of the time.” He responded without looking at her, obviously unaware of the dangers involving insulting a girl’s fashion sense. Twilight was about to protest when she felt herself become surrounded by magic aura and dragged into the room with Rarity. Her panic was obvious but Spike was too love struck to even hear her cries for help. Five minutes of intensive work later Twilight emerged from the room in a very stylish purple blouse that had a light pink star on the bottom of it that looked a lot like Twilight’s mark, a simple yet still cute black skirt that had a long purple streak down the side of it, and heelless black boots that sagged a bit downwards and had a few straps and buckles on the for decoration. Her hair had been properly brushed and now a slight curl to it. In other words, Twilight Sparkle looked cute. That was enough to snap Spike out of his trance. “Whoa…! Twilight, what happened to you?” he asked out of shock of seeing his sister looking presentable for the first time in his life. Rarity seemed to notice the boy for the first time and startled a bit at his appearance but answered him anyways. “I fixed her into a proper lady, no one should be confined to… a sweater vest.” She shuddered at the mention of the dreaded thing. “Oh where are my manners, here I am ranting about being a lady and I’ve been so rude as to not introduce myself! I am Rarity Belle, I bring out the beauty in everyone and everything to the best of my ability.” She announced with a curtsey. Twilight blinked and smiled a bit returning the curtsey in turn. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, this is my younger brother…” “Spikeson Graventus Draconis Kaelopson VI, or just Spike if you would milady, at your humble service.” He said giving Rarity a deep bow in return. Rarity beamed at the gesture. “Oh my, what a simply adorable little gentleman we have here Twilight, but why on earth is he here in high school? No offense darling but you don’t look much older than my little sister and she’s only in elementary school!” she exclaimed. Spike looked up grinning and scratching the back of his head. “Well, I uh… you could say I skipped a few grades milady… being taught by who I was I was always advanced in my studies.” He responded. Twilight sat awestruck by Spike’s sudden behavior change. He NEVER spoke like that in Canterlot, even surrounded by royalty he was always laid back and mellow. Now… he was speaking like one of the royals himself…! Given, he technically was of royal dragon blood but he didn’t really know that. “Oh my, well that’s just fine then dear. Come on now then, I’m sure Pinkie is more than eagerly awaiting your return.” She hummed as she pulled out the gemstone again. But this time Twilight stopped and asked her a question. “Is that an enchanted gemstone…? How did you get ahold of such a thing…! We’re only in eighth grade, such things are reserved for college students!” she exclaimed examining the crystal in Rarity’s hand. “Oh, well that’s quite simple dear, my special talent is centered around the use of gems! So I find myself quite gifted in the art of enchanting them as well, as I’m not very good at regular spells, other than levitation and fabric weaving that is, I find these to be quite a bit more useful to me. This one is embedded with a teleportation spell, and because it’s a sea sapphire it ensures that the spell has a very many uses left in it.” she explained as if it were kindergarten material. Spike was drooling at the mention of gems but he wouldn’t dare eat anything that belonged to Rarity unless she gave him permission. Twilight however was flabbergasted by the girl’s knowledge on such an advanced subject. Rarity activated the gem before she could ask more and in a flash they were all back at the party where Pinkie was tapping her foot impatiently. “Finally! Do you have any idea what it’s like waiting for you two- Oh wow Twiley that looks REALLY pretty on you!” Pinkie exclaimed as she saw what Twilight was now wearing. Two whistles sounded behind Pinkie and Rainbow Dash hovered over her inspection her from every angle and Applejack just leaned against Pinkie with a smile on her face. “Woo wee Twilight, Ah’m not one to enjoy dressin up and girly stuff like that but that looks mighty fine on you.” She complimented. Twilight blushed and scratched her cheek a bit not used to praise for her appearance. “Yeah! If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were some kind of imposter!” Rainbow laughed before her face got hard and serious and magenta eyes were inches away from her own lavender ones in a heartbeat. “You aren’t a spy are you Sparkle…?” she asked a threatening tone taking over her voice. But a slight tug on her cyan hoodie that she had changed back into snapped her out of it and she turned to see Fluttershy standing behind her. Rainbow landed on the ground as Fluttershy said something in her whisper voice that Twilight might have been able to hear if they weren’t surrounded by blaring music from the party. “Fluttershy wanted me to tell you she likes the new look too!” Rainbow announced proudly. Fluttershy squeaked and hid behind her hair again and for the first time Twilight could see the tips of buttercream yellow wings peeking out from her back. She had almost forgotten that the Rainbow had mentioned the girl was a Pegasus as well. Twilight smiled kindly at the girl. “Thank you, Fluttershy was it? You look very nice as well tonight.” Twilight responded softly so as not to frighten the girl further. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, and this is my younger brother Spike, he-“ But a sudden audible gasp from the girl who quickly rushed forward and almost knocked Twilight over in the process of confronting Spike. “A real live Dracomaxian…! Oh my, I’ve read all about you in mythology books but I never thought I’d meet one in person…! C-can you really breath fire like all the books say…?” the girl asked her voice now quite audible for everyone to hear. It was still very soft and timid but it was apparent she had found her muse and was now very open. Spike blinked in surprise at first but a cocky grin crossed his face almost as fast. “Of course I can! What kind of dragon can’t?” he asked showing off a bit by blowing a stream of green fire into his hands as an example. The girls of the group all were surprised by his feet and showed their excitement in their own ways. “Omaigosh guys! Did anyone else know Spikey was half dragon?!” Pinkie exclaimed. “No way! But that’s totally awesome little dude, hey, do you have scales and a tail too…?!” Rainbow asked the kid her eyes brimming with excitement as she hovered a few inches off the ground. He grinned again and nodded. “Yup, but the tail usually rips open my pants when I bring it out so instead… how about claws?” he asked letting the skin on his arms turn into shining purple scales and his nails to elongate into razor sharp claws. Applejack whistled again. “Whoa there partner, you’re makin mah head spin with all that fancy draco whatsit stuff!” she chuckled. Rarity’s eyes lit up like fireworks as she saw how each of his scales shone like the finest of gems. She produced a fan from her purse and used it to fan herself. “Oh my, those scales are simply to die for darling…! You simply must let me make you outfit based around them!” she exclaimed taking the boys hands in her own. He was once again reduced to a pile of slurring mush at the touch of his crush and Twilight rolled her eyes but was thankful for the distraction. She quickly made her escape towards the food table and poured herself a glass of punch. A giggle behind her made her flinch but she didn’t bother turning around because she knew what was coming. “Are you here to torture me with praise too, Princess…?” she sighed as Luna made her way beside her to pour her own glass. “Of course not…” she snickered a bit. “Twiley, I’m merely here to check up on how you are doing.” She responded. Twilight frowned at the nickname Pinkie had chosen for her. “I thought it was MY job to keep you in check, not the other way around.” She mumbled as she sipped from the punch. But she spat it out quickly and then slapped the cup out of Luna’s hand before she could drink it. “DON’T!” she quickly explained. “That stuff is spiked! It burned my mouth!” she explained. Luna arched an eyebrow at her. A voice behind them made them both jump. “Well of course it makes your mouth burn silly! It’s my special brew of jalapeno punch…!” Pinkie announced chugging back a cup herself. Twilight blinked in confusion and Luna laughed a bit at her antics. “Well then do you have any un spiced drinks Pinkie…?” Luna asked and in a flash both of them were handed cans of soda. “There ya go princess! Though I don’t know why you wouldn’t want the punch, I think it isn’t even mild…! Nope, what I like to do is add a little bit of this stuff to it!” she cheered pulling out a small bottle and handing it to her to examine. “Ghost pepper juice…? Pinkie you realize that stuff is-“ Twilight started only to see the girl pouring another bigger bottle of the same stuff into her glass and just drinking it by itself before turning back to Twilight without so much as a single red pigment in her face from the spice. “What~?” she asked when Twilight and Luna stared at her their eyes twitching slightly as they did so. Pinkie just shrugged and then noticed that the song had changed. “Oooo~!!! This is my Jam!” she announced before she grabbed Luna and Twilight and bolted out to the dance floor with them in tow. Twilight internally panicked, she had NO idea how to dance, other than what she had read in books, but she had never had an opportunity to practically apply them. Luckily Twilight’s mother had had the decency to have her daughter do yoga with her from a young age and as such Twilight was no doubt flexible enough to apply almost all the techniques the book had explained… that and both her older brother and her old baby sitter had loved all those dancing video games and had played with her and Spike a lot when she was younger. She even recognized the song from one of the songs that had been on the radio a lot lately. So in almost perfect synchronization she and Pinkie struck the first pose. “Oppa Gangnam Style!” chanted the entire room as they too struck the same pose. After the song was over Twilight bent over panting hard from the energetic dance but she was grinning anyways. Pinkie clapped her on the back beaming as well. “You didn’t tell me you knew how to dance like that Twiley!” she giggled. Twilight sighed as she stood back up straight only to be met with a devil like grin from just said girl. “You know what this means…~?” she asked in a tone that Twilight couldn’t really place. But she DID notice that for about the thousandth time that day her personal bubble had been popped without a care in the world. “Uhhh… that I could really use that soda now…?” she offered. Pinkie’s smirk grew and she shook her head before she looked behind her and gave a signal to the DJ. Twilight got a look of distress as Pinkie jumped up into the air as the new mix started. “DANCE OFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!” She declared. She disappeared in a pink blur and reappeared dragging the remaining four girls in the group just as the song started. Luna came up beside her, her eyes cold and calculating.