The Pinkiemian Rhapsody

Chapters

Party Hardly
Pinkie Spy
See No Evil
Thorn in a Haystack
House of Cards
Fighting is Random
Mind Freak Out
Period

Party Hardly

My Little Ponies: Friendship is Magic

The Pinkiemian Rhapsody

Written by Key Strix
Editor and Assistant: hauntu4ever
Proofreader: RatherHomely
Grammar Nazis of the Highest Honor: Mooretis and Raryn

~This is a non-profit fan made story. All characters belong to their respective owners.~

“Is everypony ready? They should be here any minute.”

“I-I don’t know about this, Pinkie. Don’t you think it might be just a bit too much for the little guy?”

“Fluttershy, even if this isn’t what he wants, it’s what he deserves.”

“Yup. Ain’t no one better to give it to ‘im than us. If anything-ack!”

“Ow! Applejack, watch where you’re going!”

“Well fer’give me, Rarity! Jus’ way too dark in here! Can hardly see mah own hoof in front of mah face!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine! Just move that leg over a smidge before this gets awkward.”

“Ah did.”

“Then whose leg is...? Spike! Stop that!”

“Sorry, Rarity! It was an accident, honest!”

A splash of moonlight split the darkness as the door opened briefly, silhouetting a teal pegasus that quickly flew into the room. “Alright! They’re coming!”

“Good job, Dash! You are just the bestest of lookouts! Now grab a good hiding spot so they won’t know what hit them!” A menacing giggle filled the darkness.

“Already on it, Pink. Also, stop laughing like that. It’s super creepy.”

Everyone had stopped talking, but a soft, constant thumping noise kept complete silence at bay.

“Angel, dear,” Fluttershy whispered plaintively, “please stop kicking me. We’ve got to stay quiet now. I promise it won’t be for much longer.”

The soft noise of padded drumming faded moments before the same door slowly creaked open. Twilight Sparkle stepped in with Owlowiscious perched upon her back. Her horn glowed, giving off a light which washed away the darkness that shrouded her library.

“SURPRISE!!! Happy birthday, Owlowiscious!” All the ponies yelled as they leapt from cover behind tables that contained various foods and games. The ponys’ playful pets, Angel, Gummy, Tank, Opalescence, and Winona, also popped out to eagerly swarm around the birthday boy.

The owl blinked, appearing unphased. “Hoo.”

Twilight, who looked equally surprised, gazed around the colorfully decorated room, then from one pony to the next. “Happy to see that you all could make it.” She wore a weary smile and dark bags under her bloodshot eyes.

Pinkie, impatiently watching the other ponies offer their best wishes to the owl, was finally unable to stifle her giggles any longer. She ran over to Twilight’s side and beamed her wide smile straight at Owlowiscious. “You should have seen the look on your face! It was priceless!” The mare couldn’t help but slip into a high pitched rant. “Fluttershy was all worried that we might’ve scared you off, but I was like ‘no way gurl’ and then I was like ‘surprise!’ and you went all ‘gasp!’ and you totally flipped your stuffing! But, that’s okay! It’s your first birthday party in Ponyville! I was the exact same way during my first b-day here too, ‘cept with more feathers. A lot more. But, as your official party planner, I’ve got a lot of fun stuff lined up for you tonight!”

“Hoo.”

“That’s right! There’s gonna be so much to do, your head will spin! Kind of like it normally does, but maybe a little faster.”

Twilight’s mouth opened wide to let out a tiresome yawn before looking to the mare who excitedly bounced in place. “You really went all out, Pinkie. I’m surprised how you got so much set up so fast.”

“When you’ve been party planning as long as I have, big setups become a piece of cake! Oh, oh, oh! Speaking of cake, I made a nice big one for everypony!” Pinkie pointed a hoof to the table in the middle of the library. Upon it was a large, delicious smelling chocolate cake with strawberry and vanilla icing that spelled out Happy Birthday Owlowiscious.

“Good.” Twilight nodded. “But, what about the special order?”

“Oh, that? Not to worry! It’s good to go!” Pinkie grinned, facetiously adding a wink.

Spike had waddled over to the group and found himself groaning. “Aw, really?! You actually made that thing, Pinkie?”

Pinkie nodded. “Yuppers! Was quite an odd challenge. Not my best work, but I still think it turned out great.”

“Ugh.” The little dragon rolled his eyes, his repulsion now carrying him beyond the group. “Remind me to move out of town when you bring it out.”

Twilight watched as Spike wandered further away before turning her attention back to Pinkie. “Well, I can’t thank you enough for taking care of all of this while I’ve been busy.”

“Anything for a friend! I would’ve done this even if you weren't so busy!”

“Hoo.”

Pinkie snorted a chuckle and looked to the owl. “I know, right?! Though you might not want to say that out loud. Someone might get offended. Come on!” She held out a hoof. “Let’s give droopy eyes here a break. We’ve got some party games to play!”

Twilight kept her smile as she watched Owlowiscious hop from her back to perch on the other mare’s lifted foreleg. With the two leaving her to relax, Twilight stood off to the side and watched the others mingle.

Everyone else partook in the festivities laid out by the overseeing party planner, Pinkie Pie. But, it wasn’t long before curiosity overcame the guests, having noticed that the red-eyed Twilight was having a hard time keeping her head up and her eyes open.

“What’s wrong with Twilight?” Fluttershy nudged Spike before pointing to the pony who had managed to fall asleep whilst standing. “She’s been acting strange this whole party.”

“We’ve just been on a long study cram for something with Princess Celestia. I think she’s gotten one hour of sleep total during the past two days.”

Rarity couldn’t help but add in her thoughts. “Obviously. Just look at that tousled mane and those baggy eyes. She’s dreadfully-”

“-lacking her beauty sleep.” Rainbow Dash cut in. “Yeah, we know the line.”

Before Rarity could counter such a bold presumption, Applejack butted in between them. “Then Ah reckon we all get to singin’ and eatin’ in honor of our birthday boy. Maybe some good eats will help Twilight wake up so she can enjoy the party too. So, what do ya say, Party Planner? How ‘bout some grub?”

Pinkie looked up, her head soaked with water after a round of bobbing for apples. She spat out the fruit that was caught between her teeth, wildly shook her head dry, and then turned to Owlowiscious, who nudged his beak at the apple as it rolled in front of him.

“Well, you look pretty hungry! What do you think? Should we go ahead and eat now?”

“Hoo.”

“Woah! I know some pretty risqué jokes, but even I wouldn’t say that.”

The other four looked between each other, befuddled by the answer.

“Pinkie,” said Fluttershy, “could you teach me to understand owl speak?”

“Certainly! When I learn to do so, I’ll make sure you’re my first student!” Pinkie giggled as she brought Owlowiscious to his perch at the center table with the large chocolate cake. “Everypony, find yourselves a seat! Just hold tight on eating till I get everything ready!””

Twilight snorted and shook her head as she was disturbed from her sleep by Applejack’s nudging.

“Food time, girl,” She said, pointing a hoof to the table where everyone else was gathering. “Best take your seat right next to the birthday owl.”

Pinkie stood back and watched as everypony gathered around the table.

“So,” Rainbow Dash held a rather anxious smile as she looked around the crowded table. “You all read it, right?”

“It?” said Rarity. “Oh! It!”

“Yeah! So what’d you think?”

“I-uh… Fluttershy, care to take this answer?”

Pinkie decided to leave the group to their conversation as it was time for her to get to work. So, she turned and trotted to the kitchen.

Once inside, Pinkie Pie tried to be quick as she rummaged around for everything that she needed for the feast. However, she was forced to a stop as a line of twitchy reactions went off.

A tail shake.

A left forehoof stomp.

A neck spasm.

Two right eye twitches.

Afterward, she remained silent and still. An ominous feeling crept through her; she knew that such a long line of twitches usually meant something bad was going to happen. But yet, it was a pattern of jolts that she’d never felt before so she hadn’t a clue as what to brace herself for. Pinkie swallowed hard, then looked all around the kitchen and even out the window to try and spot what triggered her Pinkie Sense. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. “A false alarm?” she wondered aloud as she kept looking.

“Pinkie! What’s taking so long?! I’m starving here!” Dash shouted from the neighboring room.

“Nothing! Nothing at all!" Pinkie didn’t want to spoil the party, so she shortened her search for any sign of danger before giving up and continuing with her work. She prepared a tray, grabbed some silverware, and pulled out the surprise gift. After she placed it upon the tray, a smile crossed her lips that chased away her fears. “Oh... that must be what the warning was for! Getting all worried here for nothing.” She spoke only to herself before she playfully announced out loud for all others to hear. "So is everypony ready?! Because here it comes!” After equipping the biggest smile she could, the party planner made her way out of the kitchen. She had a small cake on a silver tray balanced upon her head and a bundle of silverware in her hooves.

A foul stench quickly filled the air. Everyone held a look of pure disgust as they watched Pinkie Pie pass by them while she hummed a delightful birthday tune. On the tray she carried was a small, mangled, dirt-brown cake with a sponge like texture that strongly smelt of fish. One after another, instead of singing along, they covered their noses and complained.

“What is that dauntingly wretched smell?!”

“Holy barrels of bad apples Pinkie! That’s a heck of a stinker!”

“Oh, oh my! So very awful!”

“Yuck! That thing’s totally rank!”

“By Celestia, I think I made a big mistake…”

“Don’t say I never told you so, Twilight!”

“Oh quit being such silly fillies! That’s not how you sing a birthday song!” Pinkie giggled and waved a hoof at them before she placed the plate in front of Owlowiscious and set the silverware off to the side.

“What is that made of?!” Fluttershy questioned with both hooves held over her nose.

Twilight responded with a nauseous look as she too shielded her own nose from the wretched smell. “Well, Owlowiscious doesn’t really share our same dietary choice. As usual with other owls, he eats insects, worms, spiders, small fish, and mice.”

“Oh. Oh no.” Rarity waved a hoof to try to shoo away the smell. “Do not tell me that thing is a compilation of them!”

Twilight tucked her head and whimpered, “I thought he would enjoy it.”

“Aw, gross!” Rainbow Dash made exaggerated gagging noises. “Pinkie Pie, how could you make that pile of gunk?!”

“That’s what I said!” chimed Spike.

“Come on, you guys,” Pinkie cheerfully spoke as she finished lighting the few candles on the nose-offending cake, “it’s not that bad, and making it wasn’t very hard work either. Well, catching a fish was. But, the spiders and bugs? Just had to scrape out-”

Applejack suddenly shouted over the mare, “Pinkie, Ah will pay you a filly’s weight in bits for you to not finish that sentence!”

Pinkie shrugged off concluding said sentence as she turned her attention to the birthday boy. “Okay, Owlowiscious! Blow out the candles and make a wish!”

“Hoo.”

The flames hardly shifted.

Pinkie kept her smile beaming at his adorably failed effort. “It’s okay! I’ll get that for-” a loud knock on the front door abruptly interrupted the party planner.

“Now who could that be?” Twilight asked while she pushed herself up from her seat, looking to have been fueled with energy, as if she had been shocked awake by the devastating stench. Everyone watched in silence with their noses held while she opened the door.

On the other side of the door was a tall stallion. He had a horn, a pitch-black coat, a white mane with a single blood-red stripe, and ruby eyes to match. His cutie mark: a white sword with a blue star on it that was engulfed in a black artistic fire. The scar over the Unicorn’s right eye claimed that he was dangerous, but the soft tone of his voice contradicted it.

“Hello, Twilight. It is I, your brother, Thornstar Ravenblack.”

Everyone around the table had a variety of confused expressions as they watched the two at the door.

Twilight looked as if she was staring at a ghost. “Brother?” she echoed, eyes slightly shifting as her weary mind was hard at work.

“Yeah. Don’t say you've forgotten all about me while I was away, Twi.” The stallion nodded with a sheepish smile. “May I step in? Or do you want me to stay out in the dark? It may be cold out here, but I’m used to it. I can understand if you don’t want me around.” Despite his large and well-toned figure, he strangely managed to pass off being rather timid.

A small glimmer passed through Twilight's eyes before she smiled and spoke up. “Oh, Thornstar! I hardly recognized you! It’s been so long and you've gotten so... big! Please, do come in. Make yourself at home.” She stepped aside for her brother and closed the door behind him.

Pinkie peaked a single brow, having a hard time understanding who just walked in, “I... really wasn’t expecting anypony else.” Her eyes shifted before deciding to hold up her smile. “I guess it couldn’t hurt to squeeze in another pony at this table! Plus, he’s family right?” She looked between Thornstar and Twilight. “Maybe we could turn this into a bit of a welcome party too.”

The stallion made his way over to the gathering, but didn’t bother taking a seat at the crowded table just yet. “So, these are the friends you’ve sent me so many letters about. It’s good to finally meet them.” Clockwise, he looked from one to the next.

“Funny,” Applejack quipped with a lifted eyebrow, “because Ah ain’t never heard of you befo-” She cut out as she looked the stallion up and down. “Oh! Ah remember now.” Her lips curled into a smile. “Twilight mentions you all the time.”

“Yeah! That’s right!" Rainbow Dash shot the stallion a challenging grin. "She said you were super-fast and all that stuff.”

“And that you were really good with animals,” Fluttershy added ever so quietly.

Pinkie’s look of excitement slowly turned into one of confusion as she looked between her chatty friends going off about the stranger. “Wait… what? I don’t remember any of this.”

“Oh, Pinkie.” Twilight stepped over to her side, “I must have told you hundreds of times about him. You really need to start paying attention more-” she yawned, “often.”

“Excuse me?” Pinkie spoke skeptically. “I’ve always been paying attention! Lots of attention! I have to if I want to be a super good friend and party thrower! The only family you’ve ever mentioned is Shining Armor and your parents!”

The stallion grimaced slightly as he looked to Pinkie. “If you don’t remember me, that’s fine. But I ask you to please not bring up our parents.”

“Huh?” Pinkie tilted her head with an inquisitive tone. “Why?”

“They died a long time ago, around when we were all just little fillies and colts.” Thornstar glanced to Twilight, who was clearly growing more depressed as he reminisced. “Shining Armor, Twi, and I grew up on the streets of Canterlot together till we went our separate ways.”

“That’s,” Fluttershy whimpered as she wiped a tear from the corner of an eye, “such a sad story! I never knew! How could you never tell us that, Twilight?”

Thornstar responded for her. “It was quite a rough life. I’m sure my sis didn’t want to bring your spirits down is all.” He nodded a smile to Twilight.

“Wait,” Pinkie Pie interrupted, drawing attention back to her, “that doesn’t make any sense! I saw your parents not that long ago!”

“Pinkie!” A clearly angered Twilight spoke up. “How could you make up such a thing?! That’s no way to joke around!”

“B-but I’m serious this time!” Pinkie stammered with a worried look as her eyes flashed from one pony to the next. “I met them! We all did! We were all with them at Shining Armor’s wedding!”

The stallion stepped around to face Pinkie, as if confronting her directly. “I’m sorry, but as much as I wish they were myself, a carriage crash long ago took them from us.” He had subtly switched from being timid to having a calm and almost emotionless tone. “There's no possible way they could have been there.”

Pinkie couldn’t help but show pure disbelief as many memories of the wedding flooded into her mind. “Nuh-uh! No way!” She raised her voice. “We took pictures and everything! And where were you the whole time?!”

“I’ve been away under special training. It’s… really secretive stuff.” He turned his gaze off to the side.

“Apparently you haven’t been training your memory!” She tapped at his chest with a hoof. “Mr. and Mrs. Sparkle are just fine!”

Twilight suddenly stepped around Thornstar so she wouldn't be blocked from view as she scolded the mare. “Alright Pinkie! Just stop it! I’m in NO mood for any more of this joking of yours!”

“Wh-what?” Pinkie blinked, having been caught off guard by the unicorn’s outburst and sharp eyes.

Twilight nearly snarled. “If you’re going to act so insensitive by continuously bringing up such a made up tale, then maybe you just should just leave!”

“T-Twilight?” Pinkie’s voice softened greatly upon hearing such a threat. “Why… why aren’t you listening to me? I’m... I’m not making this up at all. I’m just-“

“Don’t push this any further.” Her bloodshot eyes sharpened.

“But...”

Twilight stomped her front right hoof at the sound of Pinkie still opposing. “LEAVE!”

The word struck deep. Pinkie looked from one pony to the next. It was clear to her that the others simply felt too awkward about the unsettling situation and picking a side was too hard of a choice. With a disheartened expression, Pinkie turned to help Owlowiscious’ and blew out the candles on his cake before making her way over to Gummy. “Come on,” she held out a hoof. “Seems we’re not wanted here any longer.” The tiny gator jumped up and latched onto Pinkie’s foreleg with his toothless jaws, letting her carry him to the door. She paused for a moment to look back at the crowd, silently hoping that somepony would call her back.

Twilight had placed herself between Pinkie and the table, and continued to give a virulent stare.

The glare made it completely clear. Her friend was officially kicking her out of the party. Without another word to the angered Twilight, the new pony, or her other worried looking friends, Pinkie left.

The distance to her house was short, yet traversing it felt like forever.

“Why? Why did this turn out so badly?” Her voice was ripe with sorrow as she sluggishly dragged her hooves along the ground, looking only to them as she went. “Everything was going great,” she said aloud to no one but herself. “Everypony was happy. Was I really that rude? Rude enough to interrupt the fun? I didn’t mean to be.” Oddly enough for her energetic self, she felt tired and found herself leaning against the edge of the large town fountain. “Could it be that this really was all my fault? I should probably go back and apologize. Maybe Twilight will even forgive me then.”

Pinkie rested her chin upon the pearl fountain ledge and stared into the water below, spotting a pink, poofy-haired mare staring back her.

The mare’s returning gaze was accusingly sharp.

An uncomfortable feeling crept up Pinkie’s spine as she watched her reflection for only a moment. Rather than keep looking into those judging eyes, she quickly pulled herself away to continue onward.

It wasn’t long till she saw her house. “Maybe I should apologize later. She did just kick me out. She, being Twilight, and Twilight, being one of my best friends… kicked me out. Out of the only party I’ve ever been kicked out of in my whole life.” Her voice lowered; her throat swelled. Pinkie shook her head and sweetened her tone as she spoke up. “Maybe it’ll be rude of me, again, to return so early. Though, I hope this didn’t ruin any of the celebration for Owlowiscious. Maybe I should also say sorry to Thornstar. He seemed like a nice enough guy. I’m sure we could even be good friends.” She then looked up at the front door of Sugar Cube Corner. There, in the window of the door, was that same pony again.

That pink, poofy-haired mare gave Pinkie an even more intense stare than before. Her head tilted further downward and her eyes sharpened greatly. It was as if the pony in the glass had heard everything Pinkie said and loathed each and every one of her words.

Pinkie couldn’t put her hoof on why, but that judging stare suddenly got to her. Her forced smile faded. “What?” Pinkie snapped at the reflection. “You have a problem with that? Well, I’m trying my best here! I’m going to do just what I said. I will be going back to say I’m sorry. Twilight is going to forgive me. I’ll even be good friends with that new guy. So deal with it!” Pinkie immediately turned her attention to the full door of the shop and swung it open.

For a split moment, she actually felt the urge to slam the door behind her after she entered, but the thought that it might wake Mr. and Mrs. Cake, or their children, convinced her to shut it softly. She put Gummy down and watched him turn about to stare at her with his usual blank expression. After looking into those big purple eyes, Pinkie couldn’t help but realize her aggressive manner and the frustrated look upon her own face. “Oh! I’m sorry about that, Gummy.” She sighed deeply, trying to ease her tension away. “I didn’t mean to get mad like that. I won’t do it again, I promise. Also, I know you wanted to stay and play with your friends. I did too, but,” her swallow felt like rocks being pressed down her throat, “but, there’s nothing we can do about that now. We’ve been party banned and I don’t think we can go back till the party stops.”

Pinkie was briefly interrupted as her stomach growled, but she didn’t take her eyes from the gator for very long. “It’ll probably be best to rest. You know, just sleep off this bad night and work on everything tomorrow. I’m just going to grab a snack before we go to bed, okay?” She smiled as best she could to show him that she was relaxed.

Gummy turned around and waddled away.

Immediately, Pinkie regretted skipping out on lunch so that she could pig out at the party, which was no longer an option. Figuring that maybe something sweet would help ease her frustrations, she slowly lumbered off towards the kitchen. Each step of the way, images kept flashing through her mind. That accusing stare from the other pink pony. That intense glare of Twilight’s. But, most of all, images of Thornstar. Every time she tried to think on what he said, Twilight’s yelling popped into her mind.

LEAVE!

That word alone coming from one of her best friends hurt, and hurt badly. Every time it darted through Pinkie’s thoughts, her growling stomach tightened. She opened up the fridge and snagged a bowl. It was the one she used to store the leftover chocolate icing from the large party cake she’d spent all the other day making. Pinkie popped off the bowl’s lid, grabbed a silver spoon, planted herself at a table, and dug right in.

One bite.

Two bites.

Three bites.

Nothing. She didn’t feel any better as her thoughts kept straying back to the party.

LEAVE!

Pinkie felt a tear fall free from the corner of her eye and looked down to watch as it dripped from her chin and landed in the bowl. She pushed it aside and sniffed as she dried her cheek. “Twilight is actually really mad at me, isn’t she?”

“You got that right.”

Pinkie rapidly blinked and looked around for where the voice came from. Her eyes halted on the spoon in her right hoof. In it was that other pink mare, holding that same cold stare as it spoke.

“What did you expect when you started questioning the death of her parents in the middle of a party? You should really know when to keep your mouth shut.”

Instead of acting normal and flinging the spoon across the room while screaming in horror, Pinkie looked down from the distorted reflection as she whimpered. “I-I didn’t mean to...”

“Doesn’t matter,” the image kept scolding her. “What you did not only plucked all the wrong strings, but likely helped ruin Owlowiscious’ first birthday party. I doubt a simple ‘sorry’ is going to get Twilight to forgive you so easily. Don’t you even remember that twitch you had in her kitchen?”

Pinkie’s eyes watered even more and pushed tears down the side of her face. Each word dug further and further into her. She sniffed hard, keeping snot from dripping down her snout. “It-it wasn’t trying to warn me about bad smelling c-cake?” Her voice cracked some. “You think it was trying to tell me that... that...” Pinkie’s eyes felt like they could burst at any moment as the pressure from her overbearing sadness of the very thought squeezed around her throat, “that one of my best friends might actually leave me so easily? Over a single argument?”

“Now you’re thinking,” came the simple, cold response.

Her heart sank. She just wanted to bury her head in her forelegs and cease any effort in stopping her tears from soaking into the wooden table.

“But it’s okay.”

“Huh?” Though her vision was blurred, Pinkie noticed when she looked back to the reflection, its hair had lost its puffiness. It had fallen flat. There was even a subtle touch of color loss in her coat. “What do you mean? This is terrible! How could any of this possibly be okay?”

“Because it’s not really your fault.”

Pinkie perplexedly peaked a single brow. “But, you just said it was.”

The image shrugged. “Well, only on the aspect that you should know when to keep your yap shut.”

Pinkie kept whipping at her cheeks. “I... I don’t understand.”

The spoon sighed. “Of course you don’t. You might be thinking all that now, but you’re not thinking very well. Can you at least try to recall when things started to spiral out of control?”

The tears had stopped flowing as Pinkie’s eyes shifted while she pondered aloud. “Well, it was shortly after her brother showed up, and mostly when I started asking him about a bunch of things.”

“You’re doin’ good so far. There might be hope for you yet.” The image nodded. “However, you’re still forgetting something! Your memory, mainly when it comes to things about friends, is fine. You may not be the brightest candle on the cake, but you can remember the name of each pony that has shown up for Applejack’s family reunion. There’s no way you’d ever forget, or even make up, such important details about Twilight’s family.”

“So,” Pinkie lifted her head slightly, “you’re saying that I’ve really met Twilight’s parents? That I didn’t imagine the whole thing?”

“Exactly. You remember that and many other important things about Twilight as clear as a sunny day. As clear as the clean air of Ponyville. As clear as a glass of water. As clear as a crystal pony. Maybe even as clear as-”

“Just get to the point already.”

“Okay, fine, miss fussy flank! That dark unicorn guy. Once he stepped in, all this stuff you knew went all crazy-like. He may have been the real reason your Pinkie Sense acted up, and the real reason for Twilight’s attitude!”

“So… you think he could have done something to her? Maybe, cast some sort of hex? He didn’t seem like he was out for anything bad.”

“Duh, you dummy! Didn’t you see all of that hesitating? That strange look in Twilight's eyes? That looked like a hex if I ever saw one. How else could he have muddled up such important memories of hers? He’s probably just some stranger that’s out to manipulate her. You know I’m most likely right. So, are you just gonna stand by and let your friend be manipulated by this so called brother of hers?!”

“Well, no-”

“Then it’s settled! It’s time for Inspector Pinkie to get to the bottom of this mystery! You must expose this fraud and show the others that you’re NOT a forgetful filly! That you’re NOT a bad friend! And that you’d NEVER make such cruel jokes at your friend’s expense!”

Such inspirational words further helped Pinkie’s remaining tears run dry. Maybe this drama really wasn’t her fault. Maybe this was some threat that was manipulating her friend. “You’re right!” Pinkie declared as she looked from the spoon to the night sky just outside the window. “You better watch out, Mr. Ravenblack, because I’m on to you!”

“That’s the spirit!” The image grinned. “But, before you go charging head on and get yourself into more trouble, you might want a little evidence if you’re to start questioning him again. Once more, think back to the previous questioning. What claim did you make that you actually have evidential proof of?”

For a moment, Pinkie’s eyes shifted as she rummaged through her memories before gasping. “The pictures!”

“Very good. Now, go get them.”

Pinkie quickly set the spoon aside, made her way upstairs to her room, and pulled a box out of her closet that was filled with various things she collected. “First thing: check the photo book! I know I have a copy of that picture somewhere in here.” Pinkie fished out the book and eagerly flipped through it as fast as she could. “Aha! Found it!” She grinned as she stared upon her bit of proof.

A photo of Twilight and Shining Armor at the wedding with their parents.

“I knew it,” she muttered to herself. “How could he have done something so mean?” She looked closely over the picture, mainly focusing on the proud smiles of the older ponies who stood at the sides of their two children. “Making Twilight think her parents are gone? The nerve! It’s unforgivable! But... what could he possibly gain from making her think such a terrible, awful thing? Maybe once I show this to everypony, he’ll come clean and-”

Pinkie's attention was cut short as her right ear flinched. There was a soft knock that came from the front door. She knew it was one of her friends, but which one?

Rainbow Dash.

Opening the door, Pinkie could see that Rainbow, unlike herself, was doing her best to summon up a smile. Tank was by her side, just letting his head shift from one pony to the other.

“Hey, Pink,” said Rainbow Dash as she rubbed the back of her own neck in an awkward manner. “Just came to check on ya. You know, to make sure you’re okay and all.” Her rose red eyes looked over her friend's straight mane. “You… are okay, right?”

Even though she really didn’t blame her for what happened, Pinkie wasn’t able to suppress an irritated tone of voice, knowing that Rainbow didn’t defend her whilst the likely brainwashed Twilight threw her out of the party. “Just fine.” Nor could she get rid of the soft glare in her eyes. “Did you guys enjoy the rest of the party?”

“No. No, not really.” Rainbow shifted that same hoof to rub over her opposing shoulder, unable to look back into Pinkie’s sharp eyes. “Everything got all awkward after you left. When I told em’ all that I was gonna go check on you, everypony else started making up excuses to leave, so I think the party’s pretty much dead by now.”

“Hmph.”

“Look, Pinkie,” Dash was finally able to stare right back into those sky blue eyes, “I think the lack of sleep just really got to Twilight. She didn’t really know what she was saying and didn’t know how to take you being all…” Rainbow Dash drowned out as she took notice that Pinkie’s grumpy expression wasn’t fading.

“Being all, what?” she questioned with suspicion of being belittled.

“Well,” clearly not used to dealing with the serious side of Pinkie, Rainbow’s eyes shifted nervously and decided to bite back what she first had in mind. “Being all… talking… about, you know, parent stuff.”

“I’m not a liar you know. I know what I saw and I would never make up something so terrible.”

“I never said you were! And, I know such bad jokes are beyond you.” Rainbow innocently waved a hoof. "Just seems like you might be... confused. Maybe you just met some strangers.”

“Oh?! And this supposed brother isn’t a stranger? Where did he come from?! Do you know?!”

There was yet another uncomfortable shrug along with a brief moment of silence from Rainbow. “I dunno.” She glanced away and back. “Twilight did mention him to me before, though. Said stuff about him being awesome and what not.”

“When exactly?” Pinkie asked sharply.

Dash tapped a hoof upon her own temple, obviously having a hard time recalling before repeating, “I dunno! I just remember it, okay? It doesn’t really matter when, does it?”

“Oh, it does,” Pinkie’s lips curled into a grin, “when one's a fraud!” She exclaimed right as she held out the hoof that had the evidence. The family photo.

Dash picked the photo up and examined it with a baffled expression. “Pinkie,” Dash arched a brow, “this is–uh… interesting.” She looked from it to the pony that was grinning victoriously. “But, I think Twilight isn’t the only one who’s in need of sleep.” The picture was passed back.

“What?” Pinkie blinked. Her grin slowly faded as she turned her eyes to the picture in hoof.

Twilight’s parents were gone. It was just a photo of her and Shining Armor standing side by side with soft smiles.

At a loss for words, Pinkie could only stare at the photo.

“Just get some shut eye, Pink. You need it. You probably just overworked yourself preparing for the party, and you know how worked up you get, especially when it’s a first timer’s birthday bash.”

Nothing but silence came between them as Dash watched the saddened mare.

“Look, Thornstar wants to get to know us all and I’m gonna be meeting him over at Fluttershy’s place. You’re more than welcome to join. You might like him if you give him a chance. After all, you’ve given more than one to just about everypony that’s walked through Ponyville. Just do me a favor and get some shut eye first, alright?”

Pinkie slowly looked up from the picture to Dash, slightly, very slightly, comforted by the calm smile held by her friend. She responded with only a nod.

“Good.” Dash turned around and granted Pinkie an over the shoulder flash of her smile. “Sleep tight Pinkie.” That said, she took off with Tank following via rotary belt.

Pinkie quietly closed the door. She, alone, was left to stare at the baffling picture. Despite how chaotic her mind was with questions and worries, she found her way to bed. Hopefully, sleep would put her mind at ease and tomorrow would be a better day.

Pinkie Spy

“Why am I doing this again?” Pinkamena whispered as she peeked over a bush. She spotted Fluttershy far off in the distance, lying in the flowerbed in front of her house.

Basking in the rays of the early morning sunlight, Fluttershy watched as Thornstar made his way up the main road and over the bridge.

“Because you’re not going to be defeated so easily!” the spoon said as it peeked over the bush alongside Pinkie. “You know what you saw in that picture, you know who you saw when you were at the wedding, and you know something fishy is going on with that new guy.”

Looking between her partner and the two she spied on, Pinkie pushed the long strands of her straightened mane from her eyes. “Honestly, I just don’t really know any more.” She sighed. “Maybe, I’ve been imagining all this crazy stuff. Maybe, we’re wrong and Thornstar isn’t casting any hexes. Maybe, I’m not as good of a friend as I thought I was.”

“You know that isn’t true! Now quit your sobbing and keep watching. Any moment now, he’ll start acting all fishy like. Just you wait and see.”

“But spying just feels... wrong. Why don’t I just go say hi to them?”

“Because shut up,” retorted the reflection. “I shouldn’t have to explain everything here. Look, they’re talking. Sneak a little closer so we can hear ‘em better.”

Pinkie huffed at the command. However, she followed through with lightning fast, but surprisingly quiet steps and soon found herself within earshot of the two as she peeked over another bush.

Thornstar had sat down next to the bed of flowers. “So, Twilight told me that you’re the main caretaker of animals around these parts.”

“Oh, yes.” Fluttershy returned a timid smile. “Luckily there aren’t any sickly ones to tend to today, though I will need to make my feeding rounds soon. But...” Her blue eyes shimmered in the morning sunlight as she looked away and stared down the empty road before her house. “Where’s Twilight? I thought she’d be coming with you.”

Thornstar traced her gaze down the road and back. “Her and Spike crashed pretty hard last night, so I thought I’d let them sleep in a little. I just didn’t want to keep you waiting. Maybe I could help you make your feeding rounds while I’m here.”

“I-I don’t know.” Fluttershy’s head tilted downward. “The chickens maybe, but the squirrels are very skittish and-”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll make sure to be very careful.”

She once again looked off to the side and her eyes nervously shifted as she thought over his softly spoken words before looking back. “If you promise, I guess it’ll be okay.” Fluttershy forced a smile to help bypass her shaken nerves. “This way please,” she said as she pushed herself up to all fours. She then led Thornstar past the front door of her house.

“Satisfied now?” Pinkie turned to her inanimate companion. “The only thing he seems to be guilty of is helping out Fluttershy. How could he be so bad?”

“Okay. He may not be pure evil, but he’s still manipulative. I can smell it.”

“How? You don’t have a nose.”

The image scoffed and was quick to snapped back. “Oh yeah? Well, you don’t have a friend name Twilight!”

“O-ow!” Pinkie went wide eyed as she shifted her head back a couple inches, taken aback by the sudden verbal attack. “That was uncalled for.”

“Alright, alright.” The reflection waved a hoof dismissively. “Sorry, you’re right; but until we figure out what’s going on here, I’m all you have right now. You know none of these ponies are going to believe your suspicions.”

“Suspicions that are mostly yours.”

“Whatever!” The image looked as serious as possible. “Look, we’re wasting time just standing here. Now, go hide out back before they get there.”

“Again? Why do I need to hide?”

“Ugh!” The image frowned. “If you really must know so badly, it’s because if he sees you, he might start manipulating you too. Now get going!”

Pinkie nodded and pulled the bush from the ground by the roots and took it with her as mobile cover. Once she found a good spot around the back near a few trees and other bushes, she planted her mobile cover, then sat and waited.

“I bet,” the spoon once again peaked out of the bush alongside her, “that once he comes out and all the animals start gathering, they’ll sense just how much of a meanie he really is. Then you can jump out to expose him and he’ll have no choice but to fess up to his scheming. Once he’s kicked out of Ponyville, all the others will have no choice but believe you and Twilight will want to be friends again!”

Pinkie kept her eyes forward and watched as the back door opened. “I... don’t think that’s quite how things would really—”

“Shhh! Here they come.”

“Now, just like I showed you,” Fluttershy continued from a lecture as she led Thornstar out the backdoor with both of them holding bags of feed, “use slow and steady movements, and don’t raise your voice.” As they walked out towards the center of her backyard, Fluttershy pulled out a small bell from her bag and rang it.

Within moments, woodland creatures came in from all directions. There were chickens, squirrels, bunnies, birds, hedgehogs, moles, hamsters, flamingoes, and many other kinds of critters. Most of them had poured out from the treeline around her backyard and paid little attention to Pinkie as they passed. The two feeders took chunks of grub, spread it around the yard, and watched in adoration as the animals happily swarmed about for the feast.

As Pinkie spied, she whispered to her partner, “Well there’s your answer. Not evil. Not manipulative. The animals are acting just fine.”

“Hold on a sec and take a closer look.”

“At what? I don’t see anything.”

“Look at how the animals are gathered mostly around Thornstar. Doesn’t that seem strange to you?”

Most of the critters had indeed migrated towards the stallion’s feed, leaving Fluttershy with nearly no one to attend to. The Caretaker looked bewildered and even faintly jealous as she witnessed her animal friends clambering over one another for the attention of a complete stranger.

Pinkie rubbed her chin at the sight as she kept her voice low. “You’re right, that is strange. Very, very strange.”

“A-alright now.” Fluttershy masked her look of jealousy with a smile as she stepped over to Thornstar’s side and placed a hoof over the opening of his bag. “You’re starting to overfeed. Not a good thing to do, especially for breakfast.” Without fuss, Thornstar let her take the bag as she proceeded with an explanation while she closed up both their bags. “Feed too much and their morning energy will be spent more on digestion than proper exercise...”

“Well there you have it,” Pinkie said, brushing off the spoon’s suspicions with Fluttershy’s reasoning. “He’s just feeding them too much.”

“You’re really gonna buy that? I mean come on, did you see her face? He could be—”

“No.” Pinkie scowled at the spoon while doing her best to keep her voice low, but her tone harsh. “I’m tired of hiding and spying on my friend. It’s not right and it’s... it’s… uh...” Pinkie’s words of defiance drowned out moments before she felt a series of twitches suddenly hit her, almost causing her to leap from cover. Once it was over, she immediately peeked out of the bush and turned her eyes to the sky.

CRACK!

Startled by the loud noise, Fluttershy and all the animals screeched and scattered for cover. Everyone else turned their eyes to the roof of the Caretaker's house just as a grey mare, with blond hair and an open mail bag, smashed through it on a crash course into the backyard. Behind her, a mass of sealed envelopes poured from her open bag.

“Derpy!” Pinkie shouted as she carelessly sprang from cover. Quick reflexes, fast movement speed, and a large leap had Pinkie intercepting the mare in attempt to soften the oncoming collision. She wrapped her arms around Derpy, held tight, and braced for a harsh impact. One that never came.

Both ponies, having clenched their eyes shut, opened them to discover that they were trapped within a white bubble of magic that slowly drifted down to the ground. Thornstar’s horn ceased its magical glow, letting the two safely touchdown and stand upon all fours.

Fluttershy previously took cover beneath her forelegs as she lay trembling next to a fencepost off to the side of the house. Having not heard any further sounds of devastation, she curiously peeked between her limbs and spotted the two mares as they had just been saved. “Pinkie? Derpy? W-what’s going on here?” Fluttershy shakingly asked as she pushed herself up and looked around at the damage. There was a large gaping hole through the top of her roof with chunks of it spread about the backyard and a massive amount of scattered letters to go with the mess.

Derpy, who appeared to have sustained no damage, shifted her divergent eyes around the destruction she’d left in her wake as she tried to adjust the loose straps of her mailbag. “I’m so sorry! I’m so, so sorry!” Derpy’s attention quickly shifted between Fluttershy and the envelopes as she then tried to sweep them up in her hooves and stuff them back into her bag. “I’ve been running really late on making my rounds so I was trying to save some time by sorting mail while flying and,” all watched as a chunk of wood snapped free from a pillar in the attic and landed with a loud thud, “it obviously wasn’t my best plan.”

Fluttershy turned to the clumsy mare with a plaintive expression. “Well, I’m glad no one was hurt, but m-my house,” she whimpered softly as her eyes found their way back to the disaster. Just seeing such an ugly hole in her longtime, beloved home made it feel like there was a similar hole punched into her heart.

“I know! Again, I’m really, really sorry!” Derpy took a moment to stop scooping up letters as she was ready to grovel before Fluttershy. “Please don’t tell anypony about this!” She was on her knees with her hooves clasped together as she bowed her head repeatedly. “If you do, my boss will surely hear of what I’ve done and I’ll get fired for certain this time!” She moved even closer to Fluttershy with her head hung low. “I’ll do whatever I can to help out. I don’t have much, but I’ll pay whatever you want. I’ll even do anything you want. Just please, please don’t tell anypony!”

At a loss for words, Fluttershy’s eyes shifted from side to side. She obviously didn’t want to do anything to put the mailmare’s job at risk, but to fix the rather large hole that her house had obtained would likely be beyond their combined price range. How Derpy could even help beyond affording the repair, she just didn’t know.

Seeing that two friends were clearly in distress, Pinkie broke the silence as she couldn’t stand by any longer. “It’s okay, you two!” She stepped between them and forced a cheerful smile to help brighten the situation. “I’m sure we’ll figure this out. I’ll even help out too. We can get through this and all we really need to do is work together!”

The two slowly turned to Pinkie. Each of them gave her an open ear and an uneasy look.

“Don’t worry, it’ll all be fine!” Pinkie affirmed and even felt a little better herself as she tried to cheer them up. “We’ll keep this nice and quiet so Derpy’ll keep her job, and maybe Dash and Applejack wouldn’t mind lending a hand to fix this. After all, they certainly... do... have... experience in… uh...” Her inspirational speech died down to sheer mumbling; this time because she and the other mares were distracted by a flow of white magic that covered nearly the entire backyard and house.

In a flash the aura was gone, along with the debris and envelopes. Two more bright flashes immediately followed. The first filled Derpy’s mailbag with every envelope that had fallen from it. The second flash had Fluttershy’s house fully repaired and looking as if the hole had never been made. All three mares, with their mouths hanging open, turned to look upon the unicorn who seemed to have fixed the whole issue with seemingly little effort.

“Sorry,” Thornstar looked over his work as he spoke. “Took me a little while to gather the energy to cast such a spell.” In mere moments, he swept aside Pinkie’s uplifting speech along with the entire issue. Only the two other mares cheered.

“That was amazing, Mister Ravenblack!” Fluttershy waved her forelegs in excitement.

Derpy mimicked the same motion. “Yeah! That was excellent!”

Pinkie, on the other hoof, was wide eyed and silent. She took a few paces back and watched as the trio rejoice. With her previous upbeat feelings washed away, that familiar feeling of depression slipped right back in. Why she felt such a way was beyond her.

Derpy stopped flailing her front legs and went back to standing on all fours. “Oh no!” she gasped, looking between Fluttershy and Thornstar. “I’m still late! I’d love to stay and chat, but I gotta get moving, pronto!” With a beat of her wings, she flew right over stallion. “Thank you so much, Darkraven guy!” she shouted before disappearing from view as she passed over the house.

Fluttershy slowly made her way towards him. “Yes, thank you very much! I’ve never seen such a spell. What was it?”

“A small mixture of repair spells.” His chest puffed a little as he looked over his work on the house. “I made it myself, so it isn’t one that you would find in any textbook.”

“How amazing,” she continued praising, “I expected a lot from the brother of Twilight, one of the most powerful ponies I know, but not this much. I mean, making your own spells? How fascinating!” She flashed yet another smile to him as she walked on by. “Come on, let me make you some tea for all your help.”

Pinkie waved a hoof and called out as her friend and the stranger made their way towards the backdoor of the house. “Hey, what about-” the two disappeared into the tiny home and the door clicked shut behind them, “-me?” No response. Bombarded by bothersome thoughts, she watched the newly repaired home in silence as the animals slowly regrouped to stir around the food littered yard. What just happened? Why do I still feel so unhappy? Her quiet reflecting was disrupted by her muffled, and stashed away, spoon companion who was trying to yell something at her. Likely, some more superstitious ideas that she no longer wanted to listen to.

“No, Pinkie!” she told herself as she stood straight and took a deep breath. “Time to stop being down on yourself! Who cares if anypony hardly glanced at you! Everything turned out fine, and that’s what really matters!” She brushed her long strands of hair from her eyes and looked onward with determination. “You were just wordlessly invited along for tea too. I’m sure Fluttershy’s even working on a third cup this very moment.” Pinkie marched right over to the back door, ignoring the muffled yells of her clearly upset utensil. “A third cup that won’t be given to a pony who spies on her friends, that’s for sure.” Pinkie remarked before opening up the door.

Upon entering the house, Pinkie heard several knocks on the front door.

There were soft clattering sounds of cups and plates being set aside before Fluttershy exited the kitchen. “I didn’t think Rainbow Dash would be here for at least another hour,” Fluttershy thought out loud while moving through the living room to answer the door.

Thornstar stepped out far enough to watch from the kitchen entrance.

To everyone’s surprise, it wasn’t Rainbow Dash at all.

“Howdy there!” said Applejack as she tipped her hat to all three, not bothering to step through the open doorway.

Pinkie instantly felt that something was off. It was Apple Bucking Season, so what Applejack was doing at Fluttershy’s house during her morning shift was beyond her. Pinkie knew full well that that Applejack wouldn't easily pass up on working just to visit some new guy, or even Fluttershy, for something simple. It worried Pinkie to think that beyond the smile and upbeat tone in her voice, something else was wrong.

See No Evil

“Applejack?” Fluttershy’s head tilted to the side. “Why are you here so early? I thought we were all going to meet you at the farm this afternoon?”

The cowpony nodded. “So Ah could meet Thornstar durin’ mah lunchbreak, Ah remember.”

Fluttershy stepped aside with a smile. “Well why don’t you come on in? I was just about to make some tea and you’re more than welcome to join us.”

“That’s sweet of ya, but unfortunately Ah’m not here for relaxin’ from mah duties just yet." Applejack shook her head. "Ah was actually hoping y’all might be willin’ to help me out.” Her eyes focused on Fluttershy after flickering between the two others that stood further within the living room. “As you know, it’s harvestin’ season; but once again, mah brother ain’t feelin’ right. Seems he came down with a bit of a sickness last night while Ah was away at the party.”

“Oh my!” Shocked by the news, Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “Will he be okay?!”

“He’ll be fine.” Applejack’s confident smile didn’t waver. “Big Mac might be soft as a bunny on the inside, but he’s still tougher than an ox. Give ‘im a couple days and he’ll be up n’ kickin’ like nothin’ else.”

Thornstar stepped up next to Fluttershy as he asked, “Did you say Big Mac? As in the Big Mac?”

“Well, Ah can’t say Ah ever heard of a Big Mac other than mah brother. So sure... the Big Mac.” Applejack shrugged.

Thornstar nodded before walking right out the door like he knew the way. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get going.”

“W-wait for me!” Fluttershy called out to him and flapped her way out as well.

“You're comin’ too, right Pinkie?” said Applejack as she peered into the very back of the living room.

“Hm?” Pinkamena’s head slightly shifted back, caught off guard by somepony actually speaking directly to her for once. “Oh. Yeah. Sure thing.” She did her best to hold a smile before trotting out ahead of Applejack, who curiously rubbed her chin before closing the door.

Applejack strolled right up to Pinkie’s side with a quizzical expression. “You okay there, sugar cube?” She glanced up and down the mare. “You seem a bit on the pale side. Plus, yer hair is a lil’... flat.” Applejack tried to look Pinkie in the eye, but she wasn’t looking back. “You’re really down in the dumps about what happened last night, huh?”

Pinkie granted the curious cowpony a glance, but nothing more, as they walked in sync to catch up to the others. As much as Pinkie wanted to go into a rant about nearly everything that had happened as of late, she thought it best to bite her tongue and keep herself from saying something she might regret. Something that might get her more strange looks like she had gotten from Rainbow Dash. Or a worse reaction, like more friends actually abandoning her.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Applejack said into the awkward silence. She walked closer to the other mare’s side and nudged her shoulder in a comforting manner. “Now Ah know how presumptuous you get, and trust me, it ain’t as big of a deal as you’re probably thinkin’ it is. Ah’m sure Twilight’s cooled her hot headed temper long ago, so don’t you fret, Pinkie. Though I should say,” Applejack said as she made sure to smile wide enough for the both of them, “when Ah came a-knockin’ at Sugarcube Corner an’ the Cakes told me they didn’t know where you had gone, Ah was a bit worried mahself. But, Ah’m glad to see you here. Maybe you can work off some of those pent up frustrations with a bit of physical labor. Almost always works for me durin’ mah bad days. What do you say?”

The Cowpony’s attempts managed to draw out a small smirk and a quick nod from Pinkie.

“Good!” Applejack grinned in return before she looked to the two others they had caught up with. She picked up her pace to properly take the lead towards the farm. As she walked on ahead, she spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. “It’s the start of the week an’ things are already beginnin’ to look quite hectic...” She kept chatting away as Pinkie slowly fell behind.

“Are you going to stop ignoring me?” said the reflection in the spoon as it was pulled up to Pinkie’s side.

The mare pursed her lips, narrowed her brow, and tried to keep her eyes straight ahead as she spoke quietly. “I don’t see why I should. Everything looks fine now. Nothing evil has happened at all. We’re just gonna go help out Applejack.”

“You know, there’s a fine line between everything being fine and everything just looking fine. Don’t tell me I’m the only one who found that whole ordeal kind of fishy...”

“What ordeal?” Pinkie glanced back suspiciously.

“The magic fixup, the animals, the everything! Didn’t it just seem odd that-”

Applejack called out, “You say somethin’ Pinkie?”

The mare instantly stashed away her spoon and shook her head as she called back. “Nope! I didn’t say anything!”

Applejack looked back for a brief moment. “Huh. Coulda’ swore I heard you say somethin’. Oh well.” She shook her head and looked on down the road. “As Ah was sayin’, Ah’m glad y’all can join me. Was startin’ to worry Ah wouldn’t be able to get any help today. Ah first tried Twilight, but she started panicking about some research she shoulda’ been doin’. Ah then tried Rarity, but she was dramatizin’ over her own work and asked to be left to her, an’ Ah quote, ‘troublin’ thoughts an’ sister’. Couldn’t even find Rainbow Dash an’ Ah can never reach her dang cloud house. But, Ah think we got enough horsepower right here.” Her smile perked back up. “Ah’ll make extra sure y’all are more than compensated for your work. Maybe later we could-” She stopped as something caught her eye.

A dull yellow coated filly with bright red hair was running their way at full speed.

“Applebloom?” Applejack stopped in her tracks with the group remaining right behind her.

“Sister! Sister! Come quick!” The filly called as she ran before skidding to a stop in front of Applejack. “You...” she panted heavily, “y-you gotta come quick!”

“Woah! Hold on there!” The elder sibling tried to keep a calm tone as she looked into Applebloom’s worried eyes. “What’s the rush?!”

“V-venom piggies!”

Applejack scratched her head, which lopsided her hat. “Venom-what now?”

The little sister stamped a hoof as she thought hard before yelling, “Venom rotten piggy toast!”

“Applebloom, if this is a joke, it ain’t very funny. Plus, you’re supposed to be headin’ off to school right now.”

“No no!” The filly stomped several more times, shaking her head like she was trying to fling off a spider. “I ain’t tellin’ no jokes! I’m tryin’ to tell you that the doctor showed up to give Big Mac a checkup!”

“I doubt it was to tell us about toast pigs. So what’d he say?” Applejack slowly expressed concern as she straightened her stetson.

“That’s not what I meant!” Applebloom huffed and shook her head. “Look, it’s bad. It’s really bad! We need you to come back to the house quick! Big Mac really needs to go to the hospital!”

Even after hearing such shockingly bleak news, the mare kept a strong, sharp look in her eye. “Wait, it’s that bad?! But, why am Ah needed there to take ‘im? Isn’t that part of the doctor’s job?”

The filly didn’t even spare time to look to any of the others who watched the two sisters with intense stares as she quickly explained. “The doctor tried to get ‘im to go, but Big Mac ain’t listenin’ to anypony! He even went out to do some work when the doctor kept tellin’ ‘im not to!”

Applejack’s head shifted back as her ears perked up. “He’s doin’ WHAT?!” the mare exclaimed before she viciously stared daggers down the long road before them as she spat out, “Why that idiotic, foal minded...” Applejack grit her teeth and tilted down the front of her hat before she took off down the road with everypony else in pursuit. “Applebloom, get to class! You ain’t comin’!” the cowpony said without turning her eyes to the filly that fought to keep pace.

“But sis, I wanna-”

The protest was cut short as Applejack shouted, “Ah said you’re goin’ to school! Now git’ goin’ before you’re late!”

Applebloom slowed to a near stop and puffed out her cheeks as she watched the group take off ahead of her.

Pinkie glanced back a few times to watch the little mare’s pouting face fade into the distance before turning a worried look to the older sibling in the lead. There was one thing that was clear to Pinkie right then and there; Applejack didn’t want her little sister to witness how badly she was going to chew out Big Mac.

It wasn’t long till the quartet arrived at the farm. They made their way to the tail end of the hospital carriage that was parked by the front porch of the farmhouse. There, a unicorn and two earth ponies were busy conversing. Of the three, the unicorn had an amber coat, a dark brown mane and tail, blue eyes, a pulse monitor for a cutie mark, and a doctor's coat. He chatted with the two earth ponies, who both had grey buzz cut manes and patient handler uniforms. Upon Applejack’s solo approach to the smaller group, the unicorn in the doctor’s coat turned to her and dismissed the other two with a wave of a hoof. With a few steps off to the side, the patient handlers just watched in silence.

“Alright Doc,” Applejack demanded as she came to a halt, her eyes still sharp, “what the heck is goin’ on here?!”

“I’m glad you could make it, Miss Applejack.” He briefly bowed his head. “I was just talking with my associates here about getting Mister Macintosh to come along with us, but now that you’re here, I hope force won’t be necessary. I presume you’ve been told that he has been infected by Venoretinitis Pigmentosa, yes?”

The cowpony nodded as her sister’s strange ‘piggy’ ranting suddenly made some sense. “Sorta, although you might have to elaborate a little on what that is.”

Fluttershy flew up to the two with her blue eyes wide. “Venoretinitis Pigmentosa? As in what you can get from a none-eyed snake?!”

“Yup.” The doctor’s gaze shifted between the two. “At first, I thought he just ate some bad cooking again. However, it seems he was bitten by one sometime last night, right in his hind-left pastern. He said he thought he just got poked there by a stick while out working.”

Fluttershy shook her head. “Oh no, no, no! This is bad!”

“How bad is it?” Applejack raised a single brow.

“Very bad! Poison from a none-eyed snake can cause its victim to get really sick and slowly lose their eyesight.”

“That isn’t the only problem,” the doctor added. “We’re going to need a plant called the Tetria shrub to cure it.”

“So what’s the problem with gettin’ a dang plant?!”

“No one keeps a consistent stock of it for several reasons. First off, the disease is very rare. Haven't had to treat it in over fourteen years, myself. Secondly, the plant is very hard to grow and maintain; its chemicals for the cure, which is the plants only use, can go bad in less than a week.” He empathized with Applejack’s increasingly worried expression. “But don’t you worry too much. The hospital keeps a record of where it grows for times like this. We’ll just need to set up an expedition for the depths of the Hayseed Swamps and hope time is in our favor.”

Applejack breathed deep and held her head high. “Then sign me up! Ah’ll make sure that expedition gets there and back, lickity split!”

“As noble as that is of you, Miss Applejack, I must warn you that the Hayseed Swamps are very dangerous. Probably even one of the worst places a pony could go in Equestria, especially when venturing so deep.”

“Ah know, but it doesn’t matter.” The cowpony stood her ground. “Ah’m goin’. Gonna be there to make sure the job gets done, and done right.”

“Well I can’t stop you from going, but I must insist that we focus on finding your brother first. When I told him everything I told you, he went off about how he was feeling fine and pushed his way out of the house. I followed him not too far from here and tried to tell him that he needs to rest, but he went silent and ignored me as he went to work. I turned back to call for some help, but when I returned, he was gone.”

“Well, what about Granny?!” she said as she looked towards the farmhouse. “Ah’d imagine she would have been able to talk some sense into ‘im!” Her eyes trailed back to the doctor. “Or, did she already take off to run her own errands? Maybe Ah could just get Winona to sniff ’im out.”

He nodded. “Upon my arrival, I pardoned her to go do what she needed. She even took the dog with her. I honestly didn’t think I’d need help subduing a patient today, especially not Big Mac. I’ve never seen him act quite like this before.” Upon Applejack’s snort of frustration and attempt to rush past him to kick off the search, the doctor held his right foreleg out and blocked her path. “As much as you should hurry,” his gaze traversed from her to every other pony, “I urge all of you to help find him, and find him fast. The longer he’s out there exhausting himself, the faster the poison will spread. I recommend splitting up and spreading out, not to mention keeping an eye out for that snake.”

The doctor’s hoof was pulled from blocking Applejack’s path. She then turned an eye towards all of the others, “Ya’ll heard ‘im! Hop to it!” she commanded before bolting off to commence the search.

Pinkamena had been galloping her way through Sweet Apple Acres for several minutes with no sign of Big Mac. There was only trees, grass, and apples as far as she could see, making her think that she may have picked the wrong direction to explore when everyone had split up. As much as she wanted to keep an eye on that suspicious stallion, Thornstar, she thought it more important to follow through with the doctor’s orders and search for her sick friend. As she searched, Pinkie listened to the gentle winds that blew through the trees, and sniffed out what smelled like... rotten apples? The further she ran, the more intense the stench became, and the more she realized that she wasn’t smelling bad fruit.

The tranquil sound of wind rustling through the trees was pierced by a chilling howl.

Her eyes darted to the direction the sound had come from and caught sight of distant figures dashing through the trees.

Pinkie watched from a great distance as Big Mac panted heavily, already looking tired and weary as he ran with all his might from pursuing Timberwolves. She knew that normally he might have been able to fend off more than a few wolves, but the poison that was coursing through his veins taxed his physical strength and there were far more than a few predators that stayed right on his trail. Having turned to follow, she quickly gained on the distant stallion.

Big Mac glanced back, likely not having seen her in pursuit far off to his right side. He seemed to have sighed comfortably, having seen that the predators were a good distance behind. Maybe, he just might make it home to the security of the farm house.

Big Mac looked straight out in front of him to watch where he was going before he started shaking his head and blinked rapidly. Pinkie’s first thought was that he had something in his eye. Her second thought was that the poison was already taking its toll on his vision. Disoriented by the irritation of his eyes, Pinkie gasped as he failed to avoid clipping his left forehoof on a sharp dip in the ground that brought him, and hopes of escaping painfully crashing down into the dirt.

A timberwolf bolted to the front of the pack and made a vast leap for the stunned pony. However, it was abruptly stopped as Pinkie crashed into the wood-crafted creature with enough force that it exploded into pieces. As the wooden chunks scatter, she thought about how taking down the predator felt kind of good. Maybe Applejack was right; some physical labor would help calm her restless conscience. However, even though she was fast enough to intercept the first timberwolf, she failed to react in time to intercept the pair that dodged around her and went straight for the weaker of the two ponies.

By the time the two had gotten to Big Mac, however, he had already found his footing and managed to fend them off with several powerful bucks. Each strike scattered the predators into chunks of wood.

“Are you okay?!”

The stallion was surprised to have discovered that, of all the ponies that could be out on the far reaches of the family farm, his savior was Pinkie. “Eeeyup,” he nodded in return. Through rapid blinking, his vision had cleared up as the two ponies looked around, noticing that they were surrounded. They both subconsciously stepped back to the nearest tree and watched as the timberwolves slowly circled around them.

The sharp-eyed Pinkie observed that the eight deadly creatures slowly traversed counterclockwise around them in unison. The two earth ponies were being closely examined with hungry stares that searched for an opening to exploit with their gaping maws. She didn’t know if she could fight them all off, but she knew for certain that she could outrun them with ease. However, that wasn’t an option as the obviously tired Big Mac wouldn’t be able to keep up. She may not have been the Element of Loyalty like Rainbow Dash, but there was no way she could abandon a friend to face such a threat alone. Hoofs digging into the dirt, she readied herself for a fight as she watched the circle slowly close in around them.

Enough time had been bought for the three broken Timberwolves to pull themselves together and join the rest of the pack. With their numbers fully restored, the large group had nothing blocking them from a full on assault. That was until another large pony landed in front of the two others.

“You?!” Pinkie exclaimed as her and Big Mac looked to the stallion that seemed to have dropped out of the sky.

Thornstar didn’t look back as he kept his eyes on the enemies. The timberwolves had all stopped in their tracks, clearly baffled by the sudden intrusion. Once they decided to proceed a little closer, Thornstar lowered his head and readied himself.

Pinkie could only wonder just what he was up to. Was Thornstar going to charge the wolves? Use some sort of massive magic attack to fend them off? Or maybe he’d teleport the trio to safety. Whatever it was, she was glad at least someone showed up to help.

After a long pause, Thornstar lifted his head and howled at the top of his lungs.

The Timberwolves stopped dead in their tracks, looked at the howling pony, looked at one another, then ran away. All of them hastefully disappeared through the thickness of the cluttered trees.

Pinkie’s jaw dropped. What she had witnessed looked utterly silly and outright dumb, but yet, she couldn’t laugh from how unbelievable it was. Before she could raise any of the many questions that suddenly cluttered her mind, Applejack interrupted.

“Timberwolves?!” She trotted her way towards the three. “Started runnin’ here as soon as Ah heard ‘em! Looks like you guys managed to scare ‘em off.” Applejack managed to catch her breath with little trouble between sentence breaks. “Thank goodness you’re all okay, but first none-eyed snakes and now these things? What the heck are all these critters doin’ all the way out in these parts?!”

“Seems the timberwolves were desperate for some prey they chased this far,” answered Thornstar, who was looking between her and where the wolves ran off to.

Her question answered, it was time to ask another as Applejack pointed a sharp look to Big Mac. Her nostrils flared as she stood in front of her much bigger brother and tapped a hoof on his chest. “And just what do you think you’re doin’ all the way out here?! You tryin’ to make us all worry to death you buckin’ idiot?!”

Such a hostile exclamation had both Pinkie and Thornstar stepping back in unison, thinking it wise to keep out of Applejack’s way as she continued.

“You better get your flank right back home this instant! It’s time for you to take a ride with the doctor for a stay at the hospital!”

Big Mac looked her right in the eye before bravely walking right past her. “Nnnope.”

“Nope?!” She was quick to barge back into his path and get in his face, placing herself nearly nose to nose with Big Mac. “Nu-uh! Don’t you dare blow me off like that! You’re sick an’ need medical attention! Ah may be your lil’ sister, but that ain't gonna stop me from draggin’ you all the way to the hospital if Ah have to!”

Pinkie glanced over during the confrontation and noticed that the others were arriving at the scene one by one, keeping to the sidelines to stay out of the family affair. They all must have followed the sound of the howling as well.

“Ah ain’t sick!” Big Mac suddenly erupted and drew all eyes to him. “Ah’m feelin’ just fine and Ah dun need to visit no hospital!”

“The heck you don’t! Look at you. You’re tremblin’ like a hairless cat caught in a rainstorm.” She tapped him in the chest once again, but with a little more force than last time. Everyone watched as he wobbled before he regained his footing.

“Oh my!” At the sight of such violence, Fluttershy flapped her way in to try to intervene. “Please, don’t fight you two,” she pleaded, but was hushed by their annoyed glares. Taking the hint, the mare whimpered, tucked her head low, and landed behind Thornstar to hide from the argument.

Big Mac’s attention turned back to Applejack, again facing her nearly nose to nose as he looked her right in the eye. “Ah’m just a lil’ tired from all that runnin’! That’s all it is! Now let me get back to work!”

“When did you become such a fibber?!” she said as she stayed in the sickly stallion’s path. “That ain’t like you at all! Plus, you’re no good at it. Or are you just tryin’ to play yourself up like a tough guy? I thought you were better than that, Big Mac!”

The longer she stayed in his path, the more he raised his voice. “Ah ain’t playin’ around in any way!”

Applejack was quick to cut in before he could add anything else. “Then what are you fussin’ about?! You plan on makin’ the whole family worried sick about you? Do you plan to stay out here, overworking your sick self ‘till you’re as blind as a bat?! Ah’ll let you know, Harvestin’ Season ain’t that important! So, you’re gonna get yourself to a hospital bed so Ah can get busy on finding you that dang plant!”

“Ah knew it, Ah knew it!” There was a loud thud as Big Mac stomped a hind hoof. “Ah knew you were goin’ to start stickin’ your neck out where it doesn’t belong! You always do!”

“The heck are you talkin’ about?!”

“You ain’t goin’ down into the depths of those swamps! I ain’t gonna let ya!”

The cowpony’s ears tilted back. “What? Is that what this is all about? That you think I won’t be able to handle myself when I make the trip?!”

Big Mac’s voice boomed even louder. “Well, you ain’t goin’ at all! You’ve vanished from this family once before, an’ Ah refuse to be the reason you vanish from it again!” He snorted and stomped a hoof once more.

Applejack starred in silence and bewilderment.

A long moment of silence passed between the two siblings. During this awkward pause, Big Mac’s eyes flickered from his sister to the other ponies. He noted that he had shocked the others, and had even made Fluttershy tremble. The stallion quickly realized that he stepped too far out of line. Big Mac’s head lowered very slightly. Having lost the strength to look Applejack in the eye, he instead looked off to the side in order to partially hide his shameful expression.

“MacIntosh,” Applejack’s voice lowered as her anger quickly diminished, “that was a long time ago. Ah’m sorry Ah ran away like that, but Ah did what Ah had to do for our family and Ah thought you knew that. Heck, Ah thought you’d forgotten all about that; after all, we were just lil’ fillies back then.” She kept her eyes upon her brother even as he refused to look back. “But just the same as back then, Ah’m makin’ this trip for family too, and you can’t stop me. But, unlike back then, Ah’ll be coming back right away. Probably won’t even take a few days. Ah don’t even care how dangerous the trip will be, ain’t no way I’m gonna vanish from this farm anytime soon.”

The stallion exhaled deeply but remained still.

“Come on now.” She smiled encouragingly. “Ah’m touched that you’re worried about me. However, Ah ain’t the weak lil’ filly you once knew. Ah can handle myself now. Ah just ask that you please have some faith in that. So, let’s stop this drama and get you to a nice warm bed. What do ya say?”

Pinkie was almost able to see the terrible images running through Big Mac’s head. Everyone knew the dark depths of the Hayseed Swamps was filled with unstable wetlands, likely to make equine easy prey for the many meat-hungry monsters that live there. Even if Applejack safely returned, such a trip would be an adventure to remember.

Big Mac’s saddened green eyes looked to the honest mare’s smile as he seemed to do his best to find hope in her words. With doubt surely ringing in his head that there was little he could do to stop her, another sigh passed through his lips before he raised his head up high. Big Mac thought carefully about his response before opening his mouth to speak... only to be cut off.

“Excuse me,” said Thornstar as he stepped up and cut right in between the two.

“Woah! What the hay are you doin’?!” Blurted Applejack, seeing that herself and her brother had been rudely interrupted.

“Uh...” Pinkie looked to the top of Thornstar’s head and noted quietly with wide eyes, “this is starting to look very familiar,” referring to the stallion’s horn that was glowing with a soft, white magical aura.

With the tip of the horn placed upon Big Mac’s forehead, a bright flash immediately sparked. Moments after the light faded, Thornstar stepped back and remarked, “Sure was a strong poison. Really took me a while to save up enough power to cure it.”

Pinkie Pie went dead silent.

“Cure it?” echoed Applejack, her eyes shifting between her brother and Thornstar. “As in... as in you got rid of it? No more sickness? No potential blindness?”

The equally confused Big Mac looked around with several rapid blinks. Despite his earlier protesting, he couldn’t help but speak up with disbelief. “Ah... feel fine! Great even!”

Upon hearing such a claim, the doctor quickly broke away from the two assistants that were at his side and made his way over to the seemingly healed stallion. He checked the eyes, “no more dilation or redness.” Then the bite mark, “I can’t even see the wound anymore.” He even touched upon Big Mac’s forehead, “his temperature plummeted down to a normal level as well. This here is amazing!” He stepped back from Big Mac with a wondrous expression. “I would have to do a few minor tests to confirm it, but so far, I see no signs of the poison.” The doctor looked to Thornstar. “I was unaware such magic existed that could precisely dilute poison from one's bloodstream so effectively. I mean, I’ve studied the healing potential of both science and magic my entire life, but have never come across anything quite as effective as what you just did. Please, you must tell me how you did it!” The doctor stepped in closer to Thornstar, eager to hear his response.

“Sorry.” Thornstar said as his head slowly shifted from side to side. “Even if I wanted to, this healing power only seems to work for me. So, I’m really not that useful.” He added with a rather self-disappointed frown.

The doctor tisked. “Such a shame. Unless... you’d be willing to work at the care center here in Ponyville?”

“I might have to think over that.” Thornstar said, turning his frown into a humble smile.

Fluttershy, who had then been standing next to Pinkie, flapped her way over to the group. “How wonderful!” Her big smile perked up her cheeks as she spoke “I was so very worried, but I’m glad everything is fine now.”

Applejacks eyes scanned from side to side, watching as everyone but Pinkie slowly pulled into the crowd. “I... I guess so.” She spoke softly, as if trying to soak in the sudden, unexpected emotional change of the moment. She then did her best to shake away that shock. “Well,” she said, quickly cheering up as she spoke, “thanks to Thornstar here, with savin’ mah brother and all, Ah guess a celebration is called for!”

“Did you say Thornstar?” Big Mac’s ears perked up as he looked straight to the stranger who saved him for a couple seconds before his eyes went wide with a glimmer. “Holy toledo, it is you! Thornstar, Ah haven't seen you in ages!”

“Wait, you two really know each other?” asked Applejack. “I mean, I know Thorn here has mentioned you, but I didn’t think too much of it.”

Big Mac looked to his sister and nodded, “Eeeyup! Way back when you had left, he was a good friend of mine before, uh...”

“Before Twilight was selected to be taken in by Celestia.” added Thornstar.

“That’s right.” Big Mac nodded to the other stallion while adjusting his yoke. “It’s just been so long, Ah hardly recognized ya! Where have you been all these years?”

“Well,” Thornstar’s head dipped a little, “It’s mostly a secret. I might answer your questions later on, though, at a more comfortable time.”

Applejack chimed in, “well Ah’d like ta’ hear all about it later. Right now, we should hoof it on back to the house. So come on everypony! Gonna be servin’ up a round or two of cider!”

“Wait a minute!” Pinkamena suddenly called out, halting everyone mid turn towards the house. All eyes were upon her as she could no longer sit back and say nothing. “Question.” She gave Thornstar a rather challenging look. “How did you scare off those timberwolves?” She brushed her long bangs from the front of her eyes, making sure to watch him closely with no obstruction as he’d respond.

“Well, if you really want to know,” His head tucked slightly, almost looking guilty of a crime as he admitted, “I’ve learned to speak timberwolf.”

The others looked amazed at the response while Pinkie, on the other hoof, stepped closer to him with a single brow raised. “Learned... to speak timberwolf?” Again, something she’s never heard of was done with ease by the new pony in town that, coincidentally, she had also never heard of. Her eyes narrowed as she continued with her questions. “And how exactly did you possibly become friends with Big Mac when you were little? Didn’t you, Twilight, and Shining Armor live all the way out in Canterlot?”

Thornstar shifted back a few steps, his head sheepishly kept low, and his eyes shifted uncomfortably. He locked up and said nothing. To Pinkie, it was quite an unbecoming look for a guy who could do so many amazing things.

“Come on, tell us!” She tried to press him for an answer with a sharp, unwavering gaze.

“Pinkie!” Applejack scowled as she surprisingly stepped up to the accused stallion’s defense. “Didn’t he just say he’d answer questions later?! You’re makin’ him uncomfortable!”

“Huh?” Pinkie blinked rapidly at such a snap reaction. “I was just-”

“That was rather rude, Pinkie.” Even Fluttershy added to the stallion’s defense, but her look of disappointment couldn’t compare in harshness to the cowpony’s. “Mister Thornstar has been extra nice and helpful all day today. He doesn’t deserve the harsh look and tone you just gave him.”

A deeply worried feeling sunk in as every other pony gazed upon Pinkie with disapproval. “B-but what he said just didn’t make any sense to me! His way of helping was really weird too.”

Applejack scoffed. “Who cares if it was weird! He just saved you n’ mah brother! Least’ you could do is respect his desire for some privacy!”

“But, I just really want to know!” Pinkie said. “Besides, everything has been really strange since he showed up!”

“Oh! So now yer accusing ‘im too? For your information, you’re the only one here who’s acting strange. Tell you what, if you learn some patience and manners, maybe you’ll get what ya wanna know! Until you do,” Applejack turned her back and glanced at Thornstar, who smiled gratefully at her intervention, “come on everypony else. Let’s git’ on out of here for some cider while Pinkie thinks about her attitude.”

The lone mare watched as, one by one, each of the ponies left. Most granted her a judging glance before disappearing behind the thicket of trees. She was speechless, unable to believe how her friends were so quick to get mad at her. It was almost like what she had seen once before... with Twilight.

“What’d I tell you?”

Pinkie looked down to the spoon in her hoof.

“Should have kept your yap shut and watched from afar.”

Her heart sank as she looked back to the same set of trees the group faded past and muttered softly to her inanimate friend. “Did they just... ditch me?”

“It seems so,” the reflection spoke sympathetically. “But, I’m sure once we get this all figured out, it’ll all be fine.”

Pinkie, feeling more drained of energy than ever before, slowly nodded. “Okay. You were probably right all along.” She then pressed down a hard swallow. “Though... if everything’s going to be fine, then why do I feel like crying?”

Thorn in a Haystack

With her energy well sapped, Pinkamena sat against a tree trunk. Through the treetops of Sweet Apple Acres she watched with eyes that watered beyond her control as the sun inched its way across the sky. Occasionally, Pinkie turned to the silver spoon that she kept in her right hoof, as it continuously tried to appease her.

“You know we can’t sit around here all day, right?” said the reflection of Pinkie in the shiny utensil as it looked over at the sobbing mare.

Pinkie wiped a tear from under a reddened eye as she stared at her companion. “Didn’t you see the way they looked at me? Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy... they really must hate me! My friends... my best friends... they’ve never been like this to me before! Sure, there were times where things were a bit uneasy, but they’ve never flat out yelled at me, scolded me, or threw me out of parties.”

“You haven’t been listening to me at all, have you?” The image scoffed. “Of course. Like usual. You’d think I’d have gotten used to this treatment by now.” The reflection shook its head. “Look, you still have Dash, Rarity, the Cakes, Gummy, and many others as friends.”

“But for how long?! How long will it be before I say or do something stupid that makes them hate me too?”

“That’s the point I’m trying to build to here. You don’t have much time, and you’re wasting it sobbing like an overgrown filly. At this rate, everypony in Ponyville could hate you within a week.”

“A week?!”

“Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s possible. However, if you let me finish, I’m trying to tell you that it’s not your fault. Again. We really need to find out what this Thornstar stallion is actually up to!”

“But what if he isn’t really behind it? What if my friends are just abandoning me?” Pinkie sniffled before forming a mild glare. “Just talking down to me and then leaving me behind after all the super nice things I’ve done for them.” She squinted a little more as her voice filled with spite.

“Come on, you know that isn’t true. Think back to the last time you thought that way of them. You could not have been more wrong.”

With a single deep exhale, Pinkie’s spiteful tone and sharp look disappeared. “You’re right. But how do we find out what that guy is up to? I mean, I’ve been shut out of the group. I don’t think they’d take me showing up so soon too kindly. I wouldn’t want to chance sneaking again. Who knows how they’ll react if they catch me.”

“Sure, but what do you mean by ‘soon’? I think you’ve been sitting under this tree for an hour now. What we really should be doing is digging around Ponyville to see what info we can come up with.”

“Wait a second.” Pinkie’s eyes shifted before focusing on the image in the spoon. “Who are you?”

The image returned a deadpan expression. “Really? You haven’t figured that out? You don’t even know who I am and it took you this long to ask?”

Pinkie shrugged. “I... guess I’ve been a little distracted.”

“I’m the smart side of you, idiot. A side you almost always ignore, on a daily basis.”

“Really?” She blinked in a curious manner as her sadness slowly subsided. “I have a smart side?”

“Yes! Yes you do!”

“What other sides do I have?”

“Errr... I’d rather stay off that topic.”

“Well, since you’re my smart side, would you actually happen to know how to solve this Thornstar issue so I can get my friends back?”

“Don’t you think I would have given you that answer by now if I already knew? Besides, I said I was smart, I didn’t say I was a genius. Also, if I may say, what you said back there with the others wasn’t dumb at all.”

“R-really?”

“Really. It’s like what Twilight once taught us: question what just doesn’t seem right. So now that we know something is wrong, what we need, again, is evidence.”

“But what about the evidence that we had? That picture of Twilight’s family?”

“Forget about that. I’m sure Thornstar did some evil magic stuff to manipulate it to help turn Dash against you.”

The very thought of Dash thinking lowly of her made Pinkie’s head dip downward and eyes water up again as-

“No! Stop that!” The reflection scolded her. “We have no more time for you to be getting all sad-eyed again, so get a hold of yourself because we need to get going! If you want your friends back, quit crying and get busy!”

Her chest rose and fell deeply as she tried to relieve herself from the stress of her sadness. She closed her eyes and wiped away what she hoped to be the last of her tears. “You’re right,” she admitted with plenty of strength in her tone before pushing herself up to start making her way back to town. “I can’t be sitting around here all day doing nothing.” She glanced to the spoon she carried by her side with a soft smile. “Thank you, Smarty Spoon.”

“Oh great.” The reflection rolled its eyes. “Now I have a dumb nickname. Fine. Whatever. Let’s just go.”

They had only traveled a short distance towards town through Sweet Apple Acres and its barren trees until Smarty went on alert.

“Whoa, Pinkie! Hold up there!”

The mare instantly halted. “Huh? Why?”

“Look around. What do you see?”

Pinkie’s eyes darted around as she took in her surroundings. “Just a bunch of trees.”

“And?”

“The grass, the mountains, the clouds, a nopony, the sun, and the sky.”

Smarty sighed heavily. “Okay, so what’s missing?”

Having turned to her inanimate friend, Pinkie simply shrugged.

“The apples. Not nearly this many trees had been cleared out when we started the search for Big Mac.”

“Oh.” Pinkie blinked ponderously before she went back to looking around. “You’re right! I’ve never seen this place cleared of apples so fast.”

“Good! Now you’re thinking again.”

Pinkie ignored Smarty’s snide tone as she turned her attention to the sound of a distant rumbling. Kicking dust to the wind, the mare headed straight towards the source. From the same direction that Pinkie was running, the shouting of a familiar pony could be heard.

“Yeehaw!” Applejack’s voice echoed distantly.

As soon as Pinkie could see the very tiny image of the cowpony, she stopped, deciding it best to keep her distance.

Applejack continued to cheer gleefully. “I’ve never seen such good buckin’ in all ma’h life!” Her voice rang loud and clear. “Maybe you should work at the farm as well as the hospital!” Towards where Applejack was looking, a silhouette of what looked to be Thornstar appeared with his head hung low.

She couldn’t hear what he was saying, but Pinkie imagined that it was something overly timid after Applejack’s high praise. Just imagining the tone and the likely bashful look on his face irked Pinkie. Something about him mixing such a timid manner into his giant feats seemed... wrong to her.

“It’s not the manner. It’s the deceit behind the manner,” said Smarty Spoon. “Being humble is fine. But, using that humble manner to manipulate is a whole other story.”

Pinkie nodded in agreement, then turned her back in disgust.

“Yeah. Let’s just keep walking.”

From shop to shop and house to house, Pinkamena questioned pony after pony. Not a single one knew of the name Thornstar Ravenblack. Nearly another full hour had been quickly lost to what turned out to be a hopeless investigation.

“Nothing.” Pinkie slumped forward to rest her chin and forelegs upon the table before her as she watched the streets bustle with crowds of ponies. None of them seemed to notice as Pinkie looked to her spoon and said, “Not a single pony knows. Even super-knowledgeable ones like the mayor, granny, or even the second most party-est pony, Vinyl.”

“Well, you tried. I guess that leaves us with only one option of who to ask next.”

Pinkie remained silent for a moment before sighing heavily. “It isn’t a very good option.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve turned into Scaredy Pie. Whatever happened to laughing away your fears?”

“Laughing away most spooky stuff is great and all, but... laughing away friends who are mad at you usually doesn’t go over so well.”

“I see what you mean. Though, I don’t think you have a choice. Twilight’s the pony who would know the most about her supposed other brother.”

Pinkie groaned in response.

“Oh come on. Don’t make me give you yet another pep talk! Seems Twilight is all we’ve got to go off now, and if you have to, you’re going to grit your teeth and tell her you're sorry. We need to get all the information we can in order to really figure out what’s going on here!”

“Fiiiine.” Pinkie huffed before dragging herself out from behind the table as if her limbs were being weighed down by bags of sand. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Eyes to her hooves as they dragged listlessly, the mare hardly watched where she was heading as she tried to think over everything that could possibly happen the moment she’d knock on Twilight’s door.

That moment came all too soon, as Pinkie only had to walk a couple blocks to reach the library. She stared at the door and exhaled deeply to relax her nerves. “Time for the moment of truth.” She said to herself before giving the door a loud knock.

Nothing.

Pinkie knocked again, but a little louder.

“It’s open!” Shouted the muffled voice of Twilight.

Cautiously, Pinkie pushed her way in, closing the door behind her. She took a moment to look around the main level of the library. It was cluttered with all the party tables and decorations from last night’s event, showing that nopony had bothered to clean up afterwards. Even the cake was carelessly left out, and had been only partially eaten. The only thing that was different from last night was the freshly pulled books from the shelves that littered the floor, which was already covered in confetti and loose streamers. It became obvious to Pinkie that Twilight was studying once more and was likely too invested in her work to bother with taking care of the mess. Twilight herself was nowhere in sight.

“Twilight?” Pinkie’s voice echoed.

“Upstairs!”

Pinkie followed the given direction of the muffled voice. Along her way, she spotted the little birdhouse that Owlowiscious slept within. Poor guy, Pinkie thought as she stopped to peek into the open circular door of his tiny house, unable to see the sleeping owl within. Your party died way too soon and didn’t go very well at all. She shook her head before looking around at the mess that she knew would have been cleaned up by now if she had stayed. I promise I’ll make it up to you.

Sure enough, Twilight was in her study with her nose in a book and her back to the door. Pinkie stepped in and looked around the room which was cluttered with books, quills, scrolls, and papers; but Twilight didn’t even bother facing her guest. Having stood around for a while and watched as Twilight flipped between pages in her book, Pinkie pondered carefully on her first set of words before breaking the silence. “Morning, Twilight,” she said awkwardly, despite the fact that it was almost noon. “Uh... nice weather we’re having today, huh?”

“Of course it’s nice.” Twilight, clearly annoyed by the disturbance, responded without breaking her gaze text she was studying. “We aren’t scheduled for any bad weather for a couple more weeks.”

Pinkie looked rather uneasy as she tried to think of something else to say during yet another period of silence that came between them, as Twilight refused to tear the majority of her attention from her book. “So... where’s Spike?”

“I sent him off so that nopony would distract me during my studies.” Twilight flipped over another page. “I don’t have time to be obstructed from them as I need to be in top form and at my mental peak for when I next meet with Princess Celestia. We’re supposed to be covering my understanding of certain battles that happened after the Era of Discord, but right now I’m having a hard time finding the right books. So, whatever this is about, I ask that you make it quick.”

“Your brother.”

Those two words finally managed to break the librarian’s focus from her book. “Thornstar?” Her ears perked straight up before she looked over her shoulder to the mare in front of the doorway who was trying her best to force a smile. “Pinkie?” Twilight’s voice nicely lifted just as her ears did, but after a short pause for thought, both dropped pretty low. “Oh, Pinkie.” With a bothered sigh, Twilight decided to turn her eyes to a nearby shelf, obviously seeking a different book without even putting the her current back. “So what is it now? Have you come to make a joke out of him too?”

The part of Pinkie that wanted to rant to Twilight about her recent suspicions of the strange stallion suddenly died, killed by Twilight’s harsh tone that set a conversational line that Pinkie didn’t want to cross. “N-no.” She bit back her words while poorly hiding the fading smile on her face. “I... just wanted to say that... I’m... I am... really... really...” Pinkie spoke ever so slowly while her eyes scanned about the room. She really wanted to go off and vent all the suspicions she had about Thornstar. Yet, she couldn’t help but fear that such actions would trigger a response from Twilight that wouldn’t differ much from the way Applejack and Fluttershy reacted to Pinkie’s questioning back at Sweet Apple Acres. Pinkie had no other choice but to say the best thing she could think of to help get someone on her side to help figure out just who this Thornstar pony really was. Thankfully, Twilight was no longer looking her way, as Pinkie couldn’t help but speak through her clenched teeth. “S-sorry.”

“Really?” Twilight glanced over her shoulder.

A good question. As much as Pinkie knew that she wasn’t sorry for what suspicions she had against Twilight’s brother, there were things that she could say that wouldn’t make her a total liar. “Uh-huh.” Pinkie nodded. “I am. I’m really sorry I upset you after Thornstar showed up. I never meant to. I also didn’t mean to ruin Owlowiscious’s party.” With a couple steps forward and a lowered head, Pinkie asked, “Can you please forgive me?”

House of Cards

Her mouth sticky and her eyes dry, Pinkamena waited silently, but impatiently, for Twilight’s words, expecting them to come down on her like the hammer of a vengeful judge. She could already see in Twilight’s annoyed stare that she was about to be flattened out by pure rejection. So many unexpressed emotions were heightened within the seconds, which nearly mimicked a lifetime, before Twilight walked past Pinkie, finally breaking away her accusing stare.

“Of course I can.” Twilight’s tone was oddly passive as she made her way to a bookshelf that had, thus far, been lucky enough to avoid the librarian’s messy touch.

“Really?” Pinkie’s question practically begged for reassurance beyond Twilight’s dull tone.

“Really.” There was a small pause as Twilight pulled a desired book from the shelf with her magical grip before prying its covers open for a peek at it pages. “I mean,” she continued, “it’s not like I have a choice in the matter. Without you, the Elements of Harmony would be useless.”

The follow up left Pinkie confused. She didn’t know whether to be grateful to be back in her friend’s good graces, or to be disheartened by such a calculated perception of their friendship. She just widened her smile and decided to swallow such a bitter pill. “Well, as long as, uh, we’re best friends again, g-great!”

“Uh-huh.” Twilight nodded without returning her gaze. Her book was tossed aside, hitting the flood with a loud thud before she fished out another from the same shelf. Just as Twilight ruined the cleanliness of her library, she also shattered the awkward silence that came between her and her supposed friend. “Now, are you here for anything else? I’m afraid I’m rather busy at the moment.”

Pinkie’s eyes shifted from one side of the room to the next before focusing back on the librarian. “Too busy to keep your place clean?”

“What are you talking about?” Twilight wrinkled her brow before tearing her eyes away from the book in her magical grip. “I always keep my place cle-” The muscles in her face relaxed as she took note of the truth in Pinkie’s words. “Huh. Well,” Her eyes scanned around, “I guess I could take a little bit of a break to tidy up. Care to help?”

Twilight’s tone had lightened up considerably, giving Pinkie a spark of warmth that was missing from her previous apology acceptance. “Sure.” She smirked. Her forehooves reached for the nearest books scattered about the floor. “Though...” The sound of regret rang from her vocals as she worked, “I did want to ask you a few things. Just some teeny-tiny things about your brother,” Pinkie said, remembering quite clearly the primary reason that brought her back to the library in the first place.

Twilight briefly paused before she continued her efforts in cleaning up the library. “I hope this isn’t about anything bad.” She said, somehow managing to keep a calm tone.

“No, no! Nothing bad.” Pinkie innocently waved a hoof at the idea despite that she was having conflicting thoughts on whether she was lying or not. “I just wanna know who he is, where he came from, and why you’ve never mentioned him before.”

“Didn’t we already cover this the other day, Pinkie? I’ve told you about him before. He’s my brother, what else would you possibly need to know?”

“Is it possible to speak timberwolf?”

“Timber... wolf?” Caught off guard, Twilight lifted her brow to Pinkie. “You’re kidding, right? Because that is actually joke worthy.” However, she caught sight of Pinkie’s serious expression and quickly changed her tone. “Well, to my knowledge, nopony can, or has ever been able to successfully do such a thing. As you know, there are many animal types that ponykind can communicate with quite proficiently, but timberwolves are not one of them. Not that we, as a species, haven’t tried it before. Timberwolves are simply too barbarous by nature.”

Pinkie kept placing books upon the shelf closest to her, not bothering to organize them by any particular order. “Thornstar did it.” She glanced over her shoulder to Twilight.

“Oh.” Twilight paused, shrugged, and then spoke up thoughtfully. “Well, I never said it was impossible. I’m pretty sure that if someone could do it, it’s my brother, even if it does sound a little silly.”

Pinkie had turned her gaze away for only a moment. When she looked back at Twilight, she noticed that the mare was face deep in yet another book, neglecting the chore at hand. “Okay, so how’s your brother friends with Big Mac?” Pinkie continued her work as she spoke. “I know Big Mac grew up here, but didn’t you and your brothers grow up in Canterlot?”

“Wait, he’s friends with Big Mac? As in, the Big Mac?”

Pinkie blinked before shaking her head, ignoring thoughts of deja vu. “Yup.”

“Strange.” Twilight flipped through several pages, while Pinkie kept clearing the floor of books. “He never told me about that. Maybe...” Twilight turned a ponderous gaze to the window that let in slivers of sunbeams to brighten up her study den.

“Weren’t you and your brothers orphans? I don’t think you or he could have afforded to come all the way to Ponyville more than a couple of times when you were kids. So how else would he have managed to have made friends here?” As Twilight stared out the window, Pinkie could practically see the gears in her brain trying to come up with a reasonable answer.

Twilight then blinked and shook her head, ridding herself of her troubled look. “Why does it matter?” She looked back to Pinkie. “He’s my brother, and he’s as smart as they come! I’m sure he found a reasonable way to do it. He probably made lots of friends while I was busy learning under Celestia. Maybe him and Big Mac were pen pals? Did you ever think of that?”

“The brother thing. Right.” Pinkie couldn’t help but give her a dull stare at that answer. “But I... didn’t think of the pen pal thing.” Her eyes shifted downwards to study the floor, before she shook her head. “What about his magic?”

“What about it?”

“Well, he’s just really good. And, by really good, I mean really, really good. He’s probably even better than...” her voice lowered as Pinkie cautiously looked to her friend, “you.”

To Pinkie’s surprise, Twilight didn’t seem worried at all. “Of course he is,” she laughed. “He practically taught me everything I knew back before Princess Celestia took me under her wing.”

“But super healing, multi-magic stuff...”

“What about it?” Another page in her book was turned. “I told you, he’s talented. What more do you need to know?”

Pinkie couldn’t help but look away and groan as her friend, annoyingly, stooped to small answers. The very friend that Pinkie once asked ‘why is the grass green?’ sat back down for an hour long study session.

“Pinkie.”

“Hm?” She looked back to find Twilight glaring at her skeptically.

“You’re not having issues with my brother, are you?”

The delivery Twilight used was distinctly harsh, but was difficult to differentiate between a threat, or a simple suspicious question. The scene with Applejack and Fluttershy back at Sweet Apple Acres flashed through her mind, which warned Pinkie to ease off her questioning. “Issues? With Thornstar?” Pinkie stepped back as her gaze locked in with Twilight’s. “Not at all! I-I think he’s great! I was just curious about why he’s so great, that’s all!” Now I’m flat out lying, she thought despondently.

Twilight slowly returned to her book, and was even slower about prying her friend from the corner of her eye. “Allllright then.” It was obvious that Twilight had a hard time believing her, but she didn’t probe the subject further as she kept her nose to her book, letting a familiar uneasy stillness settle between them.

Thankfully, the silence was disrupted by the sound of the front door being opened, followed by the soft pitter-patter of clawed feet that quickly traversed up the stairs. Spike stumbled to a stop just inside the doorway with one hand on his knee and another on his heaving stomach. “Twilight... Rarity’s... emergency!” He panted heavily between broken sentences.

The book that had distracted Twilight from cleaning the room finally fell from her grasp as she turned to the doorway. “Spike? What’s wrong?” Both mares stepped up to him.

Spike’s mouth, which had been hanging open, closed briefly to press down a sticky swallow. “I’ll... give you a single guess.”

“Dresses?”

“Dresses.”

Twilight gave one last look around her still-messy room before sighing, likely being more disappointed in the amount of studying she’ll be missing than the unusual mess she made. “Alright, better go figure out what she wants. You’re coming too, right Pinkie?” Already knowing the answer, Twilight took the lead.

“Yeah.” Pinkie nodded as she stepped close to Spike, speaking only to Twilight. “I’ll catch up with you in just a bit.” She watched as Twilight made her way past the doorway and down the steps.

Spike tried to follow, but was held back from doing so as the tip of his tail was pinned to the floor by Pinkie’s hoof. “Hey! What’s the big id-”

Pinkie hushed him with her free hoof placed to his lips. “Shhh...” She paused and listened for Twilight’s hooves to click right on out the front door before letting Spike go. “Spike,” she spoke in whispers as if the walls had ears as she eyed the confused little dragon, “I need know, what do you think of this stallion, Thornstar?”

Spike pulled up his tail and gave its sore tip a rub. “I don’t remember much about him, but he seems like a really cool guy.” Spike nodded without breaking his gaze away from his tail.

“S’what I figured.” Pinkie rolled her eyes, unsurprised to find yet another who seemed to have nothing but praise for Twilight’s brother. “So is it just me, or has Twilight been acting... strange?”

“Strange?” Spikes eyes wandered around the unusually messy room. “Well, now that you mention it, a little.” He then waved a hand. “I’m sure it’s just the stress of all this studying that’s getting to her. Plus, you ponies always seem to worry even more when you have family stopping by unannounced. Speaking of that, are we heading out now, or what?”

“Just one last thing. Something to keep just between you and me.”

“Yeah? What is it, Pinkie?”

“I need to send a letter to Princess Celestia.”

“Oh, you are simply the worst assistant one could ever ask for!” Rarity’s called out angrily in a voice that could be heard well beyond the walls of the Carousel Boutique as she rummaged through a pile of shredded clothing. “Why I let you try your hoof at this again is beyond me!”

Sweetie Belle was quick to snap back as she stood up from sitting upon the floor in a corner of the main lobby, “I never wanted an assisting cutie mark anyways!”

“Who said you could get up?” Rarity pointed a hoof right at her little sister. “You sit right back down this instant! You are not to move until this crisis is averted! Celestia knows, we don’t need your destructive little hooves touching anything else at this point!”

Sweetie puffed her cheeks, narrowed her brow, and planted her butt right back on the floor.

Spike sighed heavily. “This has been going on ever since I got here.” Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike had been sitting there, watching the show for quite some time.

Twilight didn’t look away from the conflict as she spoke. “I thought they got past this kind of bickering long ago.”

“Sisters will be sisters,” Pinkie chimed in.

Rarity did her best to relax her scowl as she tossed aside some scraps of clothing into a small bin before turning around to face the small group. “I am deeply sorry about all of this and I thank you for coming on such short notice.” Her eyes then focused on the tiny dragon before her. “And you especially, Spike. At least someone here knows how to be a proper and dependable assistant.”

The filly groaned loudly from her corner.

Twilight’s eyes shifted between her friend, the troublesome little sister, and the pile of cloths that looked to have been shoved into a lawn mower. “So what exactly is the problem?”

“You see...” Rarity started, only to be distracted as her attention turned to the other mare. “Pinkie Pie, did you miss a perm? Or, did you suddenly decide to switch hairstyles again?” She examined a tuft of Pinkie’s straightened hair in her own hoof. “You must have must have skipped a bath as well today because your coat is quite filthy. Dull even.” But, before Pinkie could think of an answer, Rarity shook her head and moved away. “Later. We’ll fix that later.” She then looked to the pile of rags. “As for now, I have a deadline to reach. Thanks to my ex-assistant’s inability to follow directions-”

“You said the right side!” shouted Sweetie Belle.

Rarity’s eyes tightened shut as if she were experiencing a terrible migraine. “The right side from the front door! Not from the staircase!”

“Nopony gives directions like that!”

“Anyways!” Rarity turned her focus back to the small group. “Like I said, I have a deadline to meet with delivering a shipment of clothing today. I thought I gave my ex-assistant a simple task of doing what she does best: destroy nice things. I instructed her towards the old fabrics I had set up on the right side of the room, and she couldn’t even get that... right.” She looked to Pinkie, expecting some sort of pun to follow. Nothing. Rarity shrugged and continued. “Now, I’m left with a bunch of useless old rags and a pile of shredded freshly-knit cloths.”

“Wait...” Twilight interjected. “You disassemble dresses, too? Since when?”

“Since forever, darling. It’s rare, but sometimes even I end up making outfits that don’t sell well, or at all. I can only let such sub-standard pieces take up closet space for so long. So, rather than just throw them away, I like to procure what good fabrics I can from them when I’m in need of material. Just because I’m stylish does not mean I should be wasteful.”

Pinkie listened intently as she wondered, Just how many crisises are going to turn up today? Fluttershy’s home was badly damaged, Derpy’s job was in danger, Big Mac could have lost his eyesight, and Applejack could have lost her brother. Rarity’s situation was no exception from the list. Her job was her life, and getting her work done was both of financial and personal importance. Knowing that she didn’t understand even the basics of making clothing, Pinkie still felt the desire to help Rarity out in whatever way she could. However, she also felt that something was amiss with the problem at hand. But what?

Suddenly, all heads turned to the entrance as the door chime rang. “Howdy y'all!” said Applejack as she pushed through. “So what’s all this commotion we’ve been hearin’ about?” She was followed by Fluttershy and the answer to Pinkie’s question, which came in a timely manner that certainly wasn’t welcome… him. The untrustworthy pony which had solved nearly every problem of the day so far.

Thornstar.

Pinkie glared at him and him alone. However, she remained tight lipped as he walked in with the rest of the group, hardly even batting an eye at her in return. The new group mixed right in with Pinkie, Twilight, and Spike; all placed before Rarity as if waiting to take orders.

Fluttershy added in as she sat next to Spike. “We heard quite a bit of yelling coming from here. Is everything okay?”

However, a different question tickled Pinkie’s thoughts as her eyes darted from one pony to the next. Where’s Rainbow Dash? Wasn’t she supposed to meet up with the others a while ago? I remember that she was supposed to meet us at Fluttershy’s, though... we did get a bit side tracked. Either way, she would’ve found her way to us, I mean them, by now.

Rarity was already talking, re-explaining the situation to the newcomers, but Pinkie’s mind turned elsewhere as her eyes focused on Thornstar again.

Pinkie knew just what he was going to do. He was going to sit back, and when he was ready to wow everyone, he’d step forth and raise his horn to instantly fix any issues. Afterwards, he’d play off his accomplishment like it was nothing at all with that deceiving timid manner. The more she thought about that manner, his amazing power, and his attempts to make her friends’ lives better, the more her hatred for him grew. Sure, it was deceiving, but he was still doing what he could to help her friends. But yet, she had never wished so hard for somepony to be forcibly removed from Ponyville, maybe even all of Equestria.

Rarity and the others were still chatting while Thornstar sat around with a big dumb smile on his face.

“Just do it already.”

The sound of Pinkie’s voice caused Thornstar to look over and see that Pinkie was nearly a foot away, staring at him past the few strands of flat hair that draped over her eyes. He blinked in confusion.

“Are you going to help, or are you going to let Rarity run further behind schedule?” Only when Pinkie spoke up, did Rarity stop in the middle of her ranting. Immediately, all attention turned to Pinkie as she stared down Thornstar. “You can do it right now. I know you can, so what are you waiting for? Just wave your horn about and fix this, like you always do.”

“Pinkie Pie dear,” said Rarity, “what are you talking about?”

“‘Wave your horn about’?” Twilight asked as well. “You mean for him to cast magic? I don’t think there’s a spell to fix something like this.”

Applejack, instead, turned a glare towards Pinkie. “Hey, didn’t we have a talk about bein’ rude?”

Even Fluttershy puffed her chest out a little bit. “If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have finished clearing out Sweet Apple Acres for the season.”

Pinkie just huffed in a heavily annoyed manner before forcibly shoving the confused Thornstar towards the pile of ruined cloths. His eyes shifted around before he took Pinkie’s hint and followed through. He lifted his head, his horn glowed, and in a familiar white flash, the issue was solved. Rarity’s pile of shredded rags became a stack of neatly folded clothes. Within that instant, it seemed as if all others had forgotten that Pinkie existed as they swarmed around the pile to stare at it in amazement. Pinkie and Thornstar just sat back and watched the group.

Rarity squealed with delight as she held up a dress to clothes. “How divine! This is exactly what I made, stitch by stitch!”

“Woah!” Sweetie Bell stood and turned about. “That was so coo-”

“SIT.” Rarity commanded without even looking, instantly killing her sister’s urge to cheer.

Twilight closely examined a dress as well, but she wasn’t looking at its style; she was looking for imperfections in its restoration. “This must be a collaboration of multitudes of spells to perform all this work. Not a single flaw either.” She looked to Rarity, then to Thornstar with a big smile. “Only my brother would be able to do quality magic like this.”

Pinkie could no longer contain her urge roll her eyes.

Spike ran a claw over one of the folded fabrics in the pile. “Well Twilight, seems it’s safe to assume that there’s finally someone in Ponyville who could be better than you with magic! I’ve never seen you do anything like-URP!”

Rarity’s eyes went wide with horror as small green flames shot from Spike’s mouth, threatening to send her clothes ablaze. She quickly shoved herself between the baby dragon and her newly restored work, discovering that it was too late to save a few fabrics from being a little singed. She couldn’t help but wail in agony.

Twilight found it hard to be concerned about a few scorched clothes as she spotted something of greater interest. “A letter from Celestia?”

Pinkie’s nerves suddenly heightened. She looked straight to Spike, wishing he tried a little harder to control his vulgar delivery system. But before she could say anything to stop it, Twilight already had the scroll peeled open and was reading out loud. Everyone else gathered behind her for a peek.

“To my curious subject... Pinkie Pie?” Twilight peeked over the scroll at the mare with a perked brow. Pinkie just took a seat and just hoped for the best as Twilight went back to reading. “I’m afraid I do not understand your concerns. Thornstar Ravenblack is certainly unworthy of your suspicions, and especially your hateful feelings.”

Princess Celestia too?! Thought Pinkie as she listened in. I think I’ve made a terrible mistake.

“I’m going to have to deny your request for help and simply assure you that he is an upstanding stallion who is up to no evil. After all, he is my number one soldier.”

Soldier? He works for her?! This can’t be!

“I ask that you take a little more time to get to know him, Pinkie. Once you do, please report back to me. Signed, Princess Celestia.”

The scroll was rolled closed. Pinkie was then able to get an unobstructed look at the expression of utter disgust that was pointed her direction.

“Pinkie Pie,” Twilight spoke lowly, “how dare you?!” She put aside the scroll before making her way towards the mare, watching Pinkie’s worried expression and the gulp she had a hard time pressing down. “You’ve been sending letters behind my back and throwing around wild suspicions of my brother to the Princess? Not only that, but you lied to me too! You said you were past these sorts of ridiculous notions!”

“Well she ain’t,” said Applejack with Fluttershy nodding along. “She was being all sorts of mean to him when he was helping us back at the farm.”

Mean?! Well, I wasn’t that mean, was I?

Spike worriedly spoke up. “I’m sorry, Twilight! She made me Pinkie Promise to not tell you about the letter.”

Just when Pinkie though Twilight’s eyes couldn’t get any more narrow, they did. “Really now?”

Rarity was too busy separating the burnt clothes from the pile to look up. “That does sound awfully rude, chastising one who can do wonderful works such as this.”

This is bad. This is really, really bad!

She had looked away to Rarity only for a moment, but Twilight’s attention narrowed back to the obvious nuisance of a mare. “Pinkie Pie, what is wrong with you?! This is my brother we’re talking about! I’d ask for you to explain yourself, but I have a feeling that too would be another lie!”

“I was just trying to-”

“I don’t want to hear it, Pinkie! Your bad jokes, you lies, and your false accusations are not welcome here, so just LEAVE!”

Memories of Owlowiscious’s birthday party suddenly rushed back to her as she looked into those very same angry eyes that told her to leave then. But this time, Pinkie shook her head. “NO!” She defiantly slammed a hoof onto the ground. “I’m not leaving till somepony listens to me!”

“Pinkie,” Twilight snarled as her soft glowing horn was aimed towards the opposing mare. “Leave, or I will do this the hard way.”

Pinkie looked to Thornstar, who just finished casting another spell to win over Rarity’s attention by having fixed her burnt garments. “He’s manipulating all of you! I know it!” Her eyes darted back to Twilight. “Just look at yourself! This isn’t like you at all. The Twilight I knew would never try to fight her friends!”

“After all you’ve done,” Twilight snorted in return, “who said we were still friends?”

Applejack, with a haughty expression, crossed her forelegs. “I do reckon that she needs a bit of manners beat’n into her.”

Applejack, why?

Fluttershy just looked away from the group and held up no objection.

You too, Fluttershy?!

“Stop this at once!”

Pinkie turned a hopeful look to Rarity.

“I will not have my store ruined by such ruffian antics. If you two are going to fight, then take it outside.”

Pinkie’s hopes sank right back down.

Spike muttered uncomfortably, “Twilight?” But he was ignored as the mare continued to give Pinkie a death glare.

This can’t be happening!

And there was Thornstar, who of course sat back and said nothing. He held a timid look of worry that said he was conflicted about joining either side, but Pinkie didn’t believe it. He must be grinning beneath that false expression.

“I will warn you one last time,” Twilight was as still as ever with her horn threateningly lowered. “Leave, or I will-”

The front door swung open.

Pinkie snapped her head around and was the first to speak as she felt a pang of excitement. “Rainbow Dash?!”

“Th-there you guys are!” Rainbow panted heavily as she was hunched forward with her forehooves planted upon her hind legs. “I’ve... been looking all over for you!” She blinked curiously as she looked around. “Did I miss something?”

Pinkie rushed right over to her. “Dash, where have you been?! I was starting to get worried!”

Dash shook her head and looked back to Pinkie. “A-after last night, I got to thinking about... phew!” Rainbow wiped her brow before exhaling deeply to catch her breath. “I was thinking about what you were saying after the party.” She didn’t take her eyes from Pinkie as she continued. “It kinda bothered me. I tried to sleep it off but... Pinks, I know you wouldn’t have said the stuff you did without a good reason. Well, at least when it comes to serious stuff. I couldn’t get a single wink of sleep, so I decided to go for a fly.”

Pinkie and everyone else listened closely as Rainbow Dash continued. Twilight even relaxed her offensive stance.

“I meant for it to be a short flight, but I just kept going and going.” She beat her wings a couple of times. “The more I kept going, the stranger all of my memories of Thornstar seemed. I ended up nearly all the way on the outskirts of Equestria by the crack of dawn. Once I’d gone so far that I had no idea where I was, everything became clear to me, and I flew back here as fast as I could.” Her eyes went from Pinkie to Thornstar. “You.”

Pinkie felt a sense of joy travel up her spine as the pegasus spoke.

“You’re a fraud!”

Finally! Pinkie resisted the urge to cheer out loud as she watched all eyes turn to a rather nervous looking Thornstar. In fact, he looked more than nervous, as if he was going to have a panic attack with his eyes wide and darting about rapidly.

“Is this... true?” Twilight obviously struggled to pull out those words as her scowl almost completely faded.

“No!” Thornstar started rapidly shaking his head as sweat poured down his brow, but his answer didn’t seem to be for Twilight. “No no no! Not now!” He moaned in pain, curling up into a ball as everyone else stared in confusion.

Wait, what? Pinkie arched a brow. This... really isn’t the reaction I expected.

The stallion just kept clenching his eyes shut while tilting about in agony, as if he ate a bad lunch. Before anypony could even attempt to come to his aid, he let out a sudden yell and exploded with a massive white magical aura. Not only did the aura have enough strength to throw everyone away from him, it also tore away the entire upper half of the house. Nearly all of Ponyville could’ve seen the blast as most of Rarity’s house went up in a cloud of dust. The Carousel Boutique was reduced to a pile of rubble.

Coughing and wheezing, Pinkie shook her head and was quick to recover. The first thing she did was help pull up the pony next to her, Rainbow Dash, who quickly came around as well. Pinkie took notice of how everyone else, including Thornstar, recovered from the unexpected blast before Rainbow’s hoof touched her chin and forced her to look up. Both mares’ mouths hung open as they gazed upon an enormous sphere of white energy that was suspended above the demolished house.

Everyone squinted at the floating orb through the raining remains of the building. Rarity had awoken as well, remaining conscious only long enough to see what had happened to her house before passing out once again. Spike was the first to rush to her side as all others kept their eyes locked upon the sphere in amazement. That sphere then cracked. It cracked and it cracked some more. Like an egg, it fell apart, only to reveal something within its beautiful shell. A dark creature sculpted by black, red, and purple auras of magic. Its curled form spread apart to unveil its draconic wings, tail, and claws before letting out a bloodcurdling roar to announce its arrival.

With all kinds of twitches going off, the wide-eyed Pinkie Pie was thankfully able to avoid the creature’s attempt to swoop down upon her. It giant claws smashed into the ground just off to her side, taking away only chunks of floor tile and... Rainbow Dash.

“Ack!” The captured pony smashed her hoof against the claw that grasped her smaller body. “Lemme go!” But despite her struggles, Rainbow Dash was unable to pull herself free as the monster took flight and quickly retreated towards the mountains. “Heeeeeelp!” She shouted as loud as she could muster, but the creature’s claws were clearly making it hard for her to breath.

“Hold on Dash!” Pinkie cried out as her friend’s yells quickly echoed off into the distance. “We’re coming for you!” Her head twisted around and the first thing she did was drive herself straight into Thornstar, plowing him over before pinning his back to the ground with her forehooves holding him by the shoulders. “What was that thing, why does it have my friend, and how do I stop it?! Tell me right now!” Pinkie’s nostrils flared, her chest heaved, and her eyes stared daggers into stallion.

There it was. That same sheepish manner of his that she had come to hate as he looked right back at her. “The creature’s name is Madronis. He’s... my inner demon.”

“What?” Pinkie blinked rapidly. She swore she had just seen a dramatic spotlight from somewhere cast light upon him for a brief moment. She was then lifted by a purple aura of magic and was crudely tossed aside, forcing her to tumble through a pile of debris. Once she stopped, Pinkie was able to look upon the now-familiar glaring eyes of Twilight’s from afar.

Thornstar continued while pushing himself up and brushing himself off. “As Celestia’s royal soldier, I was once tasked to control this magic eating monster. With her help, I ended up doing so by absorbing it into myself. It had become part of me. My inner demon.”

Pinkie wrinkled her brow. “That sounds kinda...”

“He’s probably going to somewhere private so he can focus on converting her into magical energy that he can consume. Though, that could take him a while to do.”

Twilight stepped forth and looked between him and her friends that were gathering behind her. “Good, that should buy us some time to catch up and get Dash back. Alright brother, let’s get going!”

Brother? Pinkie tilted her head. She just forgot what Dash said, didn’t she?

“I... I can’t,” Thornstar said with a look of regret. Pinkie glanced around for that dramatic spotlight she swore she saw once again. “I’m afraid that creature took nearly all of my power and strength with it. I’ll be of no use.”

“It’s okay,” said Applejack, who was dragging Fluttershy behind her by a single hoof. “We’ll worry about getting Rainbow Dash back. You just go rest up.”

“Then it’s settled,” said a rather determined-looking Rarity as she brushed all of the dirt she could off her scowling face. “Let’s go get Rainbow Dash back and teach that thing a lesson in manners!”

Author's Note

-The letter Pinkie sent to Celestia is the story's description.

Fighting is Random

The group of five ponies galloped their way into the familiar rocky terrain of the neighboring mountains of Ponyville. The path they took was steep and dangerous, but direct. There was no time to waste as they galloped at an easy pace that kept them moving fast, but also kept the rocks below them from giving way beneath them.

Spike and Sweetie Bell had been left behind so that they would be kept out of danger, and in order to tend to Thornstar’s needs. Though Pinkamena knew she could catch up to the dragon faster on her own, she made sure to keep pace with the other ponies, knowing there was no way she could face a dragon like that without her... friends? Her eyes darted between the four ponies in question before her. Not a word had passed between them during their trip to save Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie dropped further back, making sure to stay out of earshot as she turned to the spoon that appeared in her left hoof. “So what do we think, Smarty Spoon?”

“First,” the distorted reflection looked right back at her, “I think we need to worry foremost about getting Dash back. Maybe once we sort this ‘inner demon’ out, Twilight and the others will stop acting so... out of place. But it might take some time to get rid of the brainwashing that has clearly been done to them by this beast.”

“Are you sure about that?” Pinkie questioned

“Pretty sure. If you feel up to it, you can always say something.” Both looked ahead before looking back at one another.

“Right.” Pinkie nodded before placing the spoon away. She picked up her pace and galloping right up to Twilight’s side. Before she could open her mouth, Twilight was already throwing words in her direction without looking at her.

“The only reason you’re coming with us, Pinkie, is that we might need all the help we can get in rescuing Dash. We’ll finish discussing your poor attitude later.”

Pinkie sighed, seeing that the spoon was right. “But, what about what Dash said?”

“What about it? For all I know, you and Dash are together on this sick joke of yours.” Twilight briefly glared over her shoulder. “If it wasn’t for such wild antics, my brother wouldn’t have lost his nerves and this wouldn’t have happened! Though, I wouldn’t have expected you to know about this.” Twilight turned her eyes back to the path before her. “Or, about anything.”

Ouch, Pinkie thought, falling back slightly. Her eyes gazed around the path they took. “Well, I do know that this looks rather familiar. Isn’t this the same path we took a long time ago when we went to confront that mean dragon who was creating a bunch of smog that drifted over Ponyville?”

“None other,” nodded Applejack. She then reflexively reached back and snagged Fluttershy by the collar to keep the shaken mare from retreating.

Twilight added in, “I’m pretty sure he took refuge in the exact same cave too.”

The exact same cave? Of all the places that dragon thingy could have gone, why there?

“So what exactly is our plan here, Twilight?” Rarity said as she followed closely behind.

“It’s a magic-eating being, right? I’ll see if I can distract it if you all try to get Rainbow Dash. Whatever happens from there... uh... well, I dunno! We’ll just have to see what happens.”

Long before the cave came into sight, the group began to hear sounds of the monster and its prisoner. Standing before the massive cave, Twilight looked back past Pinkie at the other three, noticing their nervous expressions. “Don’t worry, girls! I don’t know if we can beat this thing, but what matters right now is getting Dash to safety. We’ll worry about the rest later.”

After running around fifty feet into the cave, the girls came upon sight of the dragon like creature. Its almost gel-like body was comprised of dark, magical blue and purple auras that gave off a soft glow which filled the cave with light. Around the beast, Rainbow Dash zipped through the air as she tried to evade the dragon’s swiping claws. She kept trying to make a break for the entrance, but the creature's movements and reactions were astoundingly quick; enough so to keep her from making it out, but not enough to catch her. Just as Dash noticed that her friends had entered, she turned about and opened her mouth to say something to them. But, that short moment of distraction was enough for the dragon to snatch her out of the air. Instead of saying whatever it was she intended, she ended up yelling in surprise before being flung into his toothless mouth, which dripped with a magical gel-like substance.

All of the five other ponies gasped in horror.

Through the beast’s clear form, they could see their friend slide down his long neck, to be trapped within his stomach. She was still conscious. Dash tried her best to shout, punch, buck, and flap her way out of her prison, but she was unable to escape.

“We have to get her out of there!” shouted Pinkie, who was ready to charge in.

Twilight looked over her shoulder. “Fluttershy, try talking to it!”

The mare was completely frozen in place, her expression horrified as her wide eyes stared at the pony trapped in the beast’s stomach. Twilight was completely tuned out by the piles of nightmares she’d have for the rest of her life.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight yelled even louder.

A gasp caught in Fluttershy’s throat as she looked back and forth between Twilight and Dash. She swallowed down as much of her shaken nerves as she could before stepping in response and slowly proceeded, passing the rest of the group. “E-excuse me, Mister Madronis, Sir, you... seem to have swallowed a really good friend of ours.” She lowered her head as she managed to show the beast a very weak smile. “We would appreciate if-”

The beast was having none of it. He spun about and brought his tail down from overhead, seeking to crush Fluttershy, who yelped loudly and darted out of the way just in time.

“Everypony scatter!” Twilight commanded. “Circle around him!”

Dash did her best within the dragon’s belly to watch as her friends scattered around the cave, managing to stay out of the wild beast’s flailing limbs. Pinkie was the first into action, trying to slam her head straight into Madronis’ shin. Nothing.

Applejack summed up every ounce of strength she could to buck it right in the lower half of its belly. Nothing.

“Twilight,” said Rarity as she managed to dodge back from a sweep of the giant’s tail, “Can you teleport in and grab Rainbow Dash?”

“Good idea!” She then vanished. Within a flash of light, she was on the other side of the beast, empty hoofed. “I can’t!” She looked worriedly between Rarity and the dragon. “There must be some sort of interference from its form that’s preventing me from entering!”

Fluttershy looked between the two unicorns, then up at Dash who was pounding upon the inside of the belly with all her might as she was obviously trying to yell louder and louder. A soft red glow appeared around her teal body, making Dash look more worried than ever.

“That. Is. IT!” Fluttershy stamped her hoof as she called out loud enough for her voice to echo beyond the cave, drawing all attention directly to her. With her eyes wide and menacing, she flew up to the dragon’s eye level to lock her intense gaze with it. “You will stop this, this instant!” she boldly demanded with a harsh tone. “You will release my friend and-” the dragon’s mouth open and unleashed a vicious roar which was followed by a pulse of energy that shot Fluttershy straight into a wall. The shockwave from the attack loosened fragments from the cave.

“Fluttershy!” called a worried Applejack as she rushed over to the unconscious mare’s side, gripped her neck fur by the teeth, and flung her out of range of the falling rocks. Applejack was nearly able to get into the clear herself, but not before a boulder could collapse onto her tail. Yelping as she almost pulled her tail off, Applejack stumbled back into the boulder.

The monster was almost right on top of her; that is, until Rarity bravely rammed the beast with her horn. She may not have succeeded in causing damage, but she managed to turn Madronis’ attention away from the two downed ponies. His attacks were enough to keep her from worrying about the gunk that tangled her hair.

Fluttershy soon regained consciousness and turned her attention to Applejack, who was trying to buck and push the boulder behind her with no progress.

“Mah dang tail is stuck!” She cursed and continued her efforts that were in vain even as Fluttershy tried to help push it off.

Pinkie even sunk her teeth into the dragon’s tail, which tasted oddly like cherries. But again, nothing phased him. She was flung off and rolled over to Twilight Sparkle’s side, only able to helplessly watch as Dash was slowly engulfed by the red aura around her. “Th-this is useless. Nothing is working! What are we going to do, Twilight?!” But she was quick to be scolded.

“Pinkie, be quiet! I’m trying to think!” Twilight was almost slamming her right hoof into the side of her head, as she watched the dragon flail violently. “Think, think, think!” She told herself. “Ah-ha!” If she had fingers, Pinkie knew Twilight would have snapped them. “I’ve got it!”

Before Pinkie could raise any sort of question, she found her attention turned towards the cave entrance as a familiar voice boomed.

“Hope I didn’t miss much of the party!”

With sparkling eyes, Twilight, derailed from her train of thought, turned her gaze the same direction and shouted, “Thornstar!”

Nearly everyone else did just the same, save for Pinkie and Madronis. Though Pinkie knew the dragon was the main source of her troubles, she still couldn’t help but give the stallion a look of disgust as she remained silent.

The monster launched its attack at the newcomer, which was a headfirst dive to try and swallow Thornstar whole.

With amazing speed, Thornstar darted out of the way, letting the brainless beast plow its jaws painfully into the solid rock below. A small amount of time was bought as the monster stumbled about, shaking its head.

“Thornstar, what are you doing here?!” Twilight asked as her brother stopped before her and Pinkie.

“While you guys were gone, I got to thinking.” He looked to his sister alone. “I thought about my time spent here and how almost all of you made me feel at home and treated me like a true friend.”

Pinkie spoke from the sidelines. “You hardly spent, like, a single day here!” But he didn’t bat an eye her way as he continued to mainly speak with Twilight.

“I thought that dragon took all my abilities from me, but once I realised that my friends were in danger, I knew I had the power in me all along!”

Pinkie suddenly felt the need to go bite the dragon again, to help wash out the bad taste that filled her mouth.

The dragon had turned to face the small crowd just as Thornstar turned to face it. The beast let out a mighty roar that shook the ground beneath them as it unleashed a powerful pulse of energy that was quickly nullified by a shield spell created by Thornstar.

Pinkie, Twilight, and whatever plan Twilight once had, were forced to stand off to the side and watched as Thornstar engaged the beast by himself.

Within a flash of pure white magic, the stallion summoned an overly decorative silver sword. The glimmering blade had a multitude of patterns etched into its surface and its black hilt was covered in gems of many colors. Thornstar gripped the lavish weapon in his teeth as he kept his eyes upon the creature.

Twilight cheered as she watched the dragon’s attack before her brother would dive right into battle with the beast. With all other ponies distracted by the sight of the clashing claws and the swinging sword, Pinkie quietly backed away from her friends as she watched the action.

“He’s saving us,” she muttered as she pulled out her spoon so her reflection could also watch the show, “he’s taking on that mean ol’ dragon on his own.”

“I know.”

Pinkie forced her smile. “He’s throwing his life on the line for us now.”

“I know.”

“But... I-”

The monster let out yet another deafening roar as Thornstar gave its arm a good slice, spilling magical goop upon the cave floor. In retaliation, it managed to strike the stallion once, sending him sprawling to Applejack’s side. Everyone gasped, but he quickly recovered. Before the dragon could make its way over, Thornstar bucked the boulder that trapped Applejack’s tail with a single leg. He made it look effortless as the boulder rolled nearly twenty feet away. The two were able to escape before the dragon could grab either one of them with its goo-like mouth. As the two rolled off to safety, the others continued to gleefully shout.

Having seen Applejack nearly get the chomp, Pinkie Pie kept looking more and more worried.

“But what?” asked the reflection as it watched the dragon keep its attention and constant barrage of flashy attacks directed at Thornstar.

“I-I’m not excited about this! Any of this, Smarty Spoon!” Pinkie shook her head wildly. “He’s doing well, but I have this feeling... this really, really bad feeling!” Like a grim reminder, the same lines of twitches return.

A tail shake.

A left forehoof stomp.

A neck spasm.

Two right eye flinches.

With panic in her expression, she looked to the spoon. “This isn’t going to end well! Someone is going to get seriously hurt!”

Almost right on queue the dragon managed to grab Thornstar and throw him out of the cave with a mighty swing.

“Oh no!” Fluttershy was the first to alert. “The cliff!”

Everyone gasped once again as they all made a dash for the exit. But none were fast enough to catch him as Thornstar zipped out of the cave and far over the edge. He vanished from sight.

“Thornstar!” yelled Twilight as she made it outside. Her lonely voice echoed. Not a single response filled the following silence.

What Twilight failed to notice was Madronis, who was hot on her tail. She twisted about and gave a panicked shout before a blur swept in and knocked the dragon back.

Once again the six ponies found themselves in shock, as the dragon was suddenly sent sprawling back by another grand entrance.

Thornstar floated before them with wings made of fire. But not just any kind of fire, no... black fire, obviously crafted from magic.

Before Pinkie or anyone else could say anything about anything, Thornstar was back in action. Using his new fire wings, he rocketed right into the dragon once again. This time, with his sword still in his mouth, he made a devastating cut into the beast’s belly. It tumbled back into the cave with its magical ooze spilling all over. Soon enough, Rainbow Dash fell from the wound moments before the beast toppled back, spralling about the floor in pain. Dash was quick to pull herself up to all fours as she coughed more of the glowing goop. When she looked up, she saw that nearly everyone circled around her.

“Goodness, Dash!” said Rarity. “Are you okay? I hope this stuff doesn’t stain.”

“I... I’m fine,” Dash panted before turning about to look upon the beast before them. It was still alive and thrashing about. “But I don’t think he is!” She grinned before shaking her whole body, flinging off what goop she could. This caused Rarity to almost faint once again as she realized some of it was on her coat.

“He will be soon!” Thornstar interjected. “If we don’t act fast, he’ll pull himself together. We need to hit him while we can!”

Applejack nodded. “Yer right as rain, but what the heck do we hit it with if that isn’t gonna take care of it?”

“These.” Thornstar said with a smile before a flash of light soon had the Elements of Harmony floating before each of them.

Twilight couldn’t help but smile as victory was clearly within their grasp. “Great work!” She said without question as she worked her own magic to fixate each element to each pony.

Looks like everything will be okay after all. Pinkamena smiled to herself as she watched the golden necklace gently wrap around her neck.

The six banded together and faced the beast, all with smiles as Twilight stood before them. “Alright Madronis, it’s time for this to end!”

In the same fashion as usual, a brilliant aura consumed the six and filled the cave with a wonderful bright light. From that very light source shot out a multicolored beam of pure magical energy. It struck the beast just as it managed to stand upon all fours. That magical energy swarmed around the monster’s form, attempting to consume and subdue it. But, the attack failed. Not only was the monster not being fully consumed by the continuous magical blast, it was pushing forward, as if trying to lead another attack against the seven ponies.

“How is this not working?!” Shouted Applejack as Twilight was too busy trying to focus on the attack.

Rainbow Dash responded, shaking her head. “I dunno! This had always worked!”

Eyes darting around, several of the ponies took notice that one aura between them all glowed the least brightest. Pinkie’s. She had her eyes closed and was focusing as much as she could, but her power output was lower than ever before.

“It’s not enough!” Thornstar shouted from behind them, while shielding his eyes from their light. “But I think I have just the answer!”

“You might want to answer pretty quick, darling.” said Rarity, holding back every urge to start panicing. “I think we might be in a tiny bit of a bind right now!”

In an instant, a gold necklace appeared before him. One with a white gem upon it in the shape of a sword. “The Element of Spirit!” He announced as he wrapped it around his neck.

Pinkie blinked and looked back to him from over her shoulder. “Wait, what?”

Thornstar was already floating in the air with them, sending a surge of white magical power their way. It merged into the glorious aura and provided more than enough juice to make the dragon topple over from the newly energized blast. It wailed, screamed, and thrashed violently as it tried to shake away the light that consumed it. There was no escape. Once it was fully consumed, a powerful rush of wind escaped the cave before the light faded. Madronis was no more. In its place was a dragon egg.

A victorious cheer rang from six of the ponies as the battle was finally over. Even Pinkie smiled, seeing that the danger had passed.

“Yee haw!” Applejack flailed her forelegs.

“Simply exquisite!” smiled Rarity.

“If it wasn’t for your help, brother, I don’t know what we would have done.” Twilight sighed happily.

Rainbow Dash nearly announced to the world, “That. Was. Awesome!”

“We should see about getting this taken care of.” Thornstar said as he passed by the group to take up the egg in his magical grip before working his way back. “I should report this to Princess Celestia too. Maybe then, we can all celebrate.” The others cheered once again in agreement and proceeded to follow him out of the cave.

Pinkie took a moment to sit back with a smile on her lips as she pondered. It’s finally over. The big bad beast is gone and... Her eyes trailed to Dash, the last in line of the group. Pinkie was unable to hold back the urge to tackle the pony from behind.

Even as Dash was presented with a surprise Pinkie hug, the group continued onward.

“Oooooh!” Pinkie nuzzled the mare tightly, and most importantly, happily. “I missed you so much when you were gone and you had me so worried when you were trapped! I thought I would never see you again and-”

“Pinkie!” Dash shouted before shoving her right off.

Pinkie went rather wide eyed as she found herself planted firmly upon her flank as Dash... scolded her.

“I’m trying to hang out with Thornstar right now! So stop being so annoying!” That said, Dash spun about and galloped out to try and catch up with the group.

“R... Rainbow Dash?” Pinkie whimpered as she watched her last friend take off.

The spoon appeared at her side in her left hoof.

Pinkie spoke softly as she didn’t move from her spot. “Dash hasn’t spoken to me like that since we first met, back when I first tried to make friends with her.” She looked on ahead. “Back... when we weren’t friends.”

“Well, seems you were right about one thing for sure. Someone did get hurt here.” The reflection looked back to Pinkie.

“I thought with this evil dragon gone, things would... you know? But now...”

“Now we need to go find out if this is going to end well, or otherwise.”

Pinkie gave a small nod to the spoon before slowly picking herself up to follow after the group.

It seemed like it took forever for Pinkamena and the others to arrive at Celestia’s throneroom. Apparently, after sending a message to the Princess, Thornstar had been summoned to Canterlot. The rest followed without question. Pinkie sat off to the side against a wall, watching as the other six happily conversed with one another while cluttered upon the royal red carpet before the stairs. None of them seemed to mind Pinkie’s absence in the slightest. To find some semblance of comfort, Pinkie pulled out her inanimate friend.

“Well, Smarty Spoon,” she sighed, “We’re here.”

“About time,” The image spoke with a huff. “Felt like the longest ride ever, just listening to them all yammer on and on about that guy. I really wish you had made cupcakes.”

“Huh?”

“To have something to shove in your ears. Might as well be something sweet n’ tasty.”

“Oh, I guess that makes sense. But, any thoughts yet of how to stop my oncoming friendlessness?”

“Nope. I’m tapped out. Not a single clue. We tried getting evidence, calling him out, talking to the others, and even talking to the Princess herself. Looks like taking out that dragon thingy didn’t give a lick of help, save for getting Dash uneaten. I think we’re pretty much out of options now.”

“Maybe I should start thinking about moving back in with my family.”

The doors above and beyond the staircase parted. From them came Princess Celestia who made her way to the top of the stairs to look down upon the gathering of ponies. All of them immediately stopped chattering and turn their eyes to Her Majesty.

“On this joyous day, I welcome you all, my little ponies.” Celestia held a majestic smile as her eyes flickered from one pony to the next, having watched as they bowed their heads. “I especially welcome you, Thornstar Ravenblack. Please, stand before me.” Celestia stepped back a couple feet from the edge of the steps, giving Thornstar the space he needed.

“Yes, your Highness.”

“You have been my warrior for many years and have served me well on countless missions. You even went as far as to tame Madronis by having him imprisoned within yourself. Remind me, where did you come up with such an idea?”

There was a pause as Thornstar thought over his words and kept his eyes to the Princess’s hooves. “Ninjas.”

“Ninjas?”

“Yes,” he nodded ever so slightly. “A clan of ninjas used to do similar such things. I’ve learned to do such from their teachings.”

An annoyed groan from Pinkie could be heard from the distance, but it went ignored.

“They stored beings of great power within themselves?” The Princess blinked several times. “Odd. I am... unfamiliar with that piece of history. You’ll have to indulge me with such information at a different time. For now, despite the lack of proper preparation,” Celestia looked around the near-empty room before locking eyes to the stallion before her. “I feel obligated to press onward with this ceremony. Perhaps, we can hold a more formal one later. Though, it is of utmost importance that you be rewarded for your feet of finally and fully taming Madronis, with the help of my faithful subjects of course.”

The five behind Thornstar briefly beamed smiles at one another while politely keeping an ear open for the Princess.

“With all in the room as witnesses,” she glimpsed as each other face one more time before looking back as she announced “I hereby offer you the opportunity to be my next student! Do you accept?”

Thornstar kneeled before her. “I do.”

Pinkie looked to her inanimate companion. “Why does none of this surprise me anymore, Smarty Spoon?” A simple shrug was its only response.

The Princess continued. “Then as of this moment forward, you, Thornstar Ravenblack, and your sister, Twilight Sparkle, shall uphold the title of being my royal students!”

With that said, Thornstar happily looked back as the other five cheered from behind. No trumpets and confetti. Just a joyful cheer from the five as Pinkie watched from afar.

“Wait!” A single voice called out from the small crowd. It was Fluttershy. She stepped out before the crowd. “I have an announcement to make too.” She looked up the stairs to Celestia. “May I?”

The Princess nodded, granting her passage. Fluttershy soon found her red cheeked face turned towards Thornstar and the crowd. She then spoke without pause, eagerly wanting to get her message out. “I want to offer Thornstar my hoof in marriage.”

Pinkie went wide-eyed. “Okay, I’m surprised again.”

Smarty Spoon kept peering ahead. “This is well beyond Flutter-logic.”

Both listened to the cheering as Thornstar happily accepted the proposal. “Brainwashing. This has to be brainwashing.” She glared. “Fluttershy would never even ask a pony out on a date, let alone offer her hoof to somepony she just met. This is going too far.”

“Oh, so now you say that. I thought this whole situation went completely into the loony bin the moment Thornstar said he was the Element of Spirit. Seriously, that sounds completely made up.”

“Shhh! They’re talking again.” Pinkie and her companion went quiet for a listen.

“Darn,” Rarity cursed. “Looks like you beat me to it, Fluttershy.” she joked. At least that’s what Pinkie hoped. “Well, you know who to come to for your wedding dress.”

“Well shucks.” Applejack fanned herself with her hat. “Looks like we got some big events on our hands, don’t we, Twi?”

“My. Brother. Is. Getting. Married!” Twilight cheered. Then, suddenly, she gasped. “Maybe as my new partner, he can be my study buddy too!” She looked even more excited for that.

“Pfft!” Rainbow Dash waved a hoof. “Screw studying! I think we need to hit this celebration off with a Sonic Rainboom!”

Celestia nodded. “That sounds like a wonderful idea.”

“Then it’s settled!” Dash grinned. “Come on everypony, let’s hit the balcony. You can all get a great view from there, I’m sure!”

“Hold on a second.” Thornstar’s words drew Dash to a halt. “Let me handle this.”

“Handle what now?” Dash raised a brow. “The door? I think we can all handle those.”

Thornstar shook his head. “No. The Sonic Rainboom. Lemme show you the one I can do.”

“Really?!” Dash was taken by surprise as her and the others started to follow him towards the door. “You can do one too?”

The stallion nodded as he moved along.

Dash couldn’t help but gasp. “Oh my gosh! That sounds amazingly cool!”

Smarty Spoon couldn’t help but groan. “Oh my gosh. That sounds amazingly stupid. Why can this guy do everything?!”

After watching her friends and the princess make their way out to the balcony, Pinkie looked to her hoof held friend. “You think he can really do it?”

The reflection just silently stared back her with a dull expression.

Pinkie sighed. “Of course.” She glanced off to the side while mumbling. “He can do everything.” There was but a small pause before Pinkie’s eyes snapped back. “That’s it!” She nearly cheered out loud.

“Wait, what’s it?”

“He can do everything!”

The image wrinkled its brow. “Yyyyeah? I mean, that’s what we’re complaining about, right? You know, because it doesn’t make any sense.”

“Exactly!” Pinkie held a wide grin as she nodded.

“Huh?” Smarty Spoon looked over that big smile. “It sounds like you have an idea.” Pinkie nodded in response. “Wait... I’m the smart side of you! How’s are you getting ideas without me even knowing?!”

“I dunno! But we gotta do this before it’s too late!”

“Do wha-” the spoon was shoved away as Pinkie made her way over and out the balcony door.

Once outside, she spotted everyone gathered around Thornstar to admire the magical black fire wings he summoned. Instantly, Pinkie snatched Twilight by the backfur of her neck and dragged her back in the door, closing it behind the both of them.

“Pinkie, what are you doing?!” shouted the startled pony who tried to push her way past the mare who blocked the door with her whole upper body pressed against it. “Lemme out there!”

“Uh-uh.” Pinkie shook her head. “There’s no way I’ll let you out until we talk!”

“There’s nothing for us to talk about.” Twilight protested as she moved off to the side, stood upon her hind legs, and peered out a window to spy upon her brother as the others continued to admire his wings.

“Yes. Yes there is.” Pinkie kept herself from glaring at Twilight who didn’t even bat an eye back at her. “Twilight?”

No response.

“Oh come oooon. Don’t ignore me!”

Still nothing.

Pinkie found herself with a dull stare, wondering if Twilight was even listening. “Someone spilled ink on your tail.”

Twilight didn’t even flinch.

“Spike set the library on fire while you were gone.”

Not a single reaction.

Getting Twilight’s clearly overly absorbed attention was proving to be quite a challenge. A challenge that Pinkie knew she couldn’t fail once she was struck by another idea. “So,” she spoke with a rather innocent tone, “I was talking to Roseluck the other day. She said you were wrong.”

Twilight looked to Pinkie from the corner of her eye. “What?”

Pinkie nodded, brushing her bangs out from her eyes. “Yup. She said that your theory is all wrong. Grass is actually green simply because some big, powerful, magical pony from long ago made it that way.”

“Theory?!” Twilight hopped down from her ledge to look right back at Pinkie. “What proof does she have that turns my facts into theoretical nonsense?!” Twilight couldn’t help but pace about as she fumed. “There is nothing simple about the truth! Then again, there’s actually nothing simple about magic either, but not every single thing is done with magic! Okay, maybe some big pony could have made the grass long ago. Maybe! But that doesn’t take away from what I’ve witnessed firsthoof! It’s really not that hard to understand either! Plants, through the process of photosynthesis, absorb nearly all color types of light. By a chemical called chlorophyll, most of that light is converted into usable energy which helps the grass grow and maintain its health. The only wave color of light that grass doesn’t convert is green. That green light escapes, thus, it is what our eyes perceive when we look at grass and most other plants.”

Twilight stopped and peered over at Pinkie. “Didn’t we cover all this in great detail a long while ago?”

“Uh-huh. Didn’t you also once say to always question and search for answers?”

“Well, yeah-”

“Well, that’s what I’m doing now.” Pinkie looked to the window Twilight once peered out of. “Your brother can pretty much do anything, right?”

“I wouldn’t say anything but he can do a lot of amazing things. He is my brother after all.”

Pinkie restrained the urge to roll her eyes while Twilight looked right at her. “Well what if he wasn’t? What if, hippothetically-”

“Hypothetically.”

“Hypothetically, what if he was just some random pony? A stranger who had no relation to you at all? How is it possible for him to have mastered so much?”

“Hmph. That’s all you want to ask? That’s easy.” Twilight traversed her way back over to the window, watching as Thornstar finally took off into the sky. She started and she talked rather fast. “I think he gained a lot of his skill from his young days of practicing with magic before practicing with a sword. Maybe because he started around the same age I did, he was able to learn how to focus on casting different magics at once. Then again, I devoted my life to studying and magic, so... he’s probably just more skilled at it than me. Or, it might have to do with my brother bein-”

“Stranger.”

“It might have to do with my stranger being slightly older, only by a couple of years. So he can multicast magic. Oh, and he can sword fight. I’m sure he started practicing with that as soon as he became one of Princess Celestia’s knights. That makes sense. I think. Plus, I’m pretty sure that constant sword fighting made him very strong.”

“Stronger than Applejack?”

“Stronger than Applejack. Though, she does spend her entire work life dedicated to tree bucking, which requires strength that sword fighting, by my understanding, doesn’t quite call for. Unless he was sword fighting boulders at one point! No... that’s silly. Maybe he’s using magic enhancers? No. The amount required to brush off a boulder like he did would take an illegal amount of enhancers. I’m sure he wouldn’t do such a thing.”

“Maybe he picked up a technique from Big Mac.” Pinkie Pie added as she watched Twilight start to pace.

“From Big Mac? A stallion that lived all the way out in Ponyville while we were orphans in Canterlot? I really don’t think he could have afforded such trips, nor did we attend schools that did any pen pal things, now that I think about it. Maybe they made friends while he was doing work for the Princess. But why? Big Mac had hardly ever been away from the farm and I doubt it ever needed militant attention!”

“Does the military train you to be better with animals than someone like Fluttershy?”

“He’s more liked by critters than Fluttershy? Really? Well, I... I dunno! I don’t think so. Maybe they used soldiers to befriend critters to spy on enemies! Yeah!” She nodded. “He’s great at magic casting, sword fighting, boulder bucking, making distant friends, and connecting with animals.”

“Even animals like timberwolves, right?” Pinkie had pulled herself from the door, comforted by the fact that Twilight was far too busy rambling to try and make a break.

“R-right! Even... blood thirsty, barbaric, and simple minded creatures like timberwolves, who, mostly seem to lack an understandable communication process. He can talk to them because he also spent another part of his entire life dwelling over such a dangerous thing.”

“Maybe he learned that from ninjas too.” Pinkie peeked outside through the window, catching sight of Thornstar flying side by side with Dash.

“Exactly! Ninjas. Ninjas that know stuff that Princess Celestia, one of the world’s oldest and wisest beings, that tends to know most of anything that happens in all of Equestria, has no idea about. Much like the seventh Element of Harmony, Spirit. An Element I had no idea existed!”

“Also, it looks like he can fly faster than Dash.” She remarked, calling Twilight’s attention to the sight just outside the window as the two were headed for the atmosphere.

“Faster than Dash?” She spoke with a clear amount of disbelief. “Maybe... he’s using some sort of magical propulsion beyond just his wings that are made of fire. Wings, made... of... fire.” She let the words roll around her mouth for a moment. “Dash was a natural born flyer! On top of that, she’s a pegasus. Pegasi are actually very light boned, unlike unicorns and earth ponies. Plus, Dash is the fastest pegasus I know. She spends nearly every day of her life training to keep up and improve her speed. Her life pleasure. Much like AJ and I have trained ours. We trained all our lives to master our talents, but yet, he trained his single life to master our many talents and he’s not even an alicorn! With a life that is barely any longer than ours, Thornstar managed to master magic casting, obtain amazing strength, perfect sword fighting, talking to wild creatures, ninja magic, became the Element of Spirit, and even flying. Now,” her eyes were glued to the window, “he is showing us that he... he mastered....”

Thornstar could hardly be seen from the great distance. He was nothing but a black spot in the sky. He suddenly came charging down. What soon followed shook the windows of the castle. It was Thornstar’s red, white, and black version of a Sonic Rainboom.

“That.” Twilight’s voice lowered to a mere whisper. “He mastered... that. He, the unicorn, mastered Dash’s unique, signature move. With... black fire wings.” Twilight then mumbled something else, which Pinkie couldn’t quite hear.

“Hm?” Pinkie leaned in as she looked over Twilight’s worried expression.

“Does... not... compute.”

“Uh, what?”

“Does not compute,” Twilight suddenly shouted as she slammed her hooves upon the window frame. “Does not compute!” she shouted, louder and louder as she furiously shook her head. “Does not compute! Does not compute! Does not, does not, does NOT compute! NOT COMPUTE! IT... DOES NOT!” She then shouted at the top of her lungs. “IT. DOES. NOT. COM. PUUUUTE!” Her eyes rolled back just as she fell back from her hind legs and collapsed on the floor.

“Twilight?” Pinkie looked upon the passed out pony in shock. “Twilight?!”

Mind Freak Out

“Oh no! Oh no, oh no, oh no!” Pinkamena pranced in place as her eyes quickly swept over the scene. She was in the middle of the Canterlot throne room with her friend, Twilight, who had passed out in the middle of the floor. Were any guards coming her way to help? No; they were distracted by the show that was going on outside. “Did I just...” Pinkie pondered out loud to the spoon in her left hoof.

“No!” Smarty Spoon interrupted. “No, you didn’t. I’m pretty sure she’s still breathing.”

“Then what did I do?!”

“I dunno! So quit yelling at me! Besides, what did you expect to happen?”

“I thought she would-”

“Uhhhhg...”

Twilight’s groan broke Pinkie away from the argument. “Twilight!” she shouted with glee, putting her snout inches away from her collapsed friend.

“Pinkie?” Her eyes fluttered open. Before she could blink some more to clear her vision, she was swept up into a tight hug.

“Oh, happy day!” She squealed. “You’re okay!” Her grip around the pony tightened as she clenched her own eyes shut. “I thought I ruined your brain! I thought I’d have to push you around in a wheelchair for the rest of your life! I probably would have had to change your diapers and feed you like an overgrown baby because you’d be so helpless due to something that would have been my fault! But, I’d do it all anyways! That is, once I’d escaped from jail and stolen you away to a hiding place where we could live the rest of our lives with me atoning for my GREAT sin!”

“Pinkie!” Twilight choked out.

“Hm?”

“You’re crushing my ribs!”

“Oh!” Pinkie said as she let go, causing Twilight toland roughly on her rear.

Twilight took a moment to compose herself as she breathed deeply, then took some time to absorb her surroundings. Her head twisted left and right and her eyes went wide. “Canterlot Castle?” She spoke like a lost child even as her eyes turned to her nearby friend. “Pinkie, what am I doing here?! And, why do I feel like my head was hit by a train? Don’t tell me you brought some of AJ’s ‘special cider’ to Owlowicious’ party.”

“I did! But, that’s not the issue.” Pinkie said before she remembered the last time she had brought the ‘special cider’ to a party “This time, that is.”

“Then what is?” She sprang to her hooves and her eyes zipped from side to side. “What am I even doing here?! Why is everyone outside?! Celestia is here too?!” Her gasp was caught in her throat right before her focus zeroed in on Pinkie. “I didn’t do anything stupid around her, did I?! So help me Pinkie, I will choke a mare!”

“Wait, you don’t remember anything?” Pinkie’s head tilted to the side. A single ear flopped down and the other contrasted.

“I...” Twilight found herself with her flank planted back down on the ground. She then ponderously placed a hoof to her chin. “I remember starting the party, dozing for a while, drooling on myself a little, looking at cake, a desire to vomit, and then...” her eyes trailed off. “And theeeen...” She squinted, as if trying to peer beyond a veil of fuzzy memories.

Pinkie energetically pounced, tackling the opportunity to take the lead of those stray thoughts as she landed in front of Twilight. “And then HE came in!” said Pinkie as she pointed at the window, directing Twilight’s attention to the stallion that zipped by with fire wings. “He came in and ruined everything!” Once started, Pinkie’s lips just couldn’t stop flapping. “He came in, started telling a bunch of strange stories about your life, making you think your parents were dead, and then I got kicked out of a party! ME! Kicked out of a PARTY! And then I started chatting with my smart side, and then morning came, and then he started-”

“Pinkie.”

“-messing with Fluttershy’s animal friends! Then he started zapping stuff and Derpy and making everything all better! Then he’s like ‘it was nothing’. But then Applejack comes over because she couldn’t handle Big Mac’s apples on her own-”

“Pinkie!”

“-so I was like ‘I’ll help’ and Thornstar was like ‘I’ll help too because I’m deceitfully evil’! So we were rolling along and Applebloom was like ‘Ah’m makin’ a one-time appearance ta tell ya’ll Big Mac is sick’. So then we all get to the farm where I was like ‘this seems to be getting really lengthy and off subject’, but nope! Thornstar comes back in and-”

“PINKIE PIE!” Twilight shouted, putting the brakes on the rant.

“What?”

“I remember now,” she said with a flat stare.

“Wait.” Both ears pressed back against the base of Pinkie’s skull as she peered suspiciously at Twilight. Did her friend really come to her senses, or did Pinkie just dig herself into even more trouble? “What exactly do you remember about your brother?”

“That?” Twilight glanced out the window to the flying unicorn and back. “That isn’t a brother of mine.”

Feeling like she narrowly escaped some sort of death trap, Pinkie sighed heavily.

Twilight’s right forehoof pressed to her own temple as she tried to rub away her apparent headache with circular motions. “I have no idea who that guy really is, or where he came from, so I want you to tell me everything about him that I wasn’t there for.” Pinkie opened her mouth and Twilight was quick to close it with a hoof. “Slowly, and in great detail.” The mare nodded and Twilight retracted her hoof to let Pinkie begin.

Pinkie talked. She talked and talked, all the while waving her arms about as if trying to direct a landing pegasus. She made sure not to skip a single piece of information, save for the talks she had with her kitchen utensil. Any strange details that she mistakenly let slip went unquestioned by Twilight, who patiently waited till the story was finished.

When she was finally done, Twilight responded by looking to the pearl white floor. “This is not good.”

“You’re telling me! I nearly lost all my friends today!”

Twilight slowly looked up as a worried thought struck her. “True, but I think it can get even worse than that.” Her eyes turned to the windows and doors.

“Worse?!” Pinkie could feel her hair stand on end.

Twilight slowly nodded. “They’re all coming in. We should get out of here and talk about this elsewhere.”

“Where elsewhere?”

“Come on,” Twilight spoke as she stood up and turned towards the double door above the staircase. “I think I know where.”

A short silence passed between the two mares as they both left the throne room to traverse one of the many hallways of Canterlot Castle. Pinkamena kept right on Twilight trail, still wondering as to where they were heading, although the halls they walked through did seem quite familiar. She opened her mouth, ready to ask, but Twilight quickly stole that chance away.

“Pinkie, do you know what a Gary Stu is?” Twilight said as she carried onwards, not bothering to look back as she talked.

“A... what now?”

“A Gary Stu, or even a Marty Stu. Do you know what any of those are?”

Even though Twilight wasn’t looking, Pinkie shook her head. “Twilight, I’m a baker. I hardly ever make stews.”

Twilight let out an audible sigh. “I’m not talking about food, Pinkie. I’m talking about male versions of Mary Sue type characters in stories.”

Pinkie simply shrugged.

Twilight sighed a second time before she continued. “Mary Sue is a label for certain kinds of bad characters in stories. It’s a bit difficult to accurately describe because there are many types of Mary Sue characters, but most of them can ruin even the best stories through being martyrs while also knowing solutions to just about every problem. Truth is, a lot of them are unknowingly selfish characters in design, who passively bend the focus of every other character in the story to their will through their piles of ‘non-selfish’ actions. On the surface, being the adored solve-all hero sounds like a nice thing, especially to the writer of the Mary Sue. However, due to the writer wanting to give that character more and more attention, almost the entire story and solution to everything will revolve around this Mary Sue, leaving almost no spotlight left for any other characters.”

“So what you’re saying is that Thornstar is a Mary Sue?”

“It’s impossible and it even sounds silly. But, he really does seem like one. You know how he started doing just about everything with ease, right?

“Uh-huh.”

“That’s the Mary Sue trait of being able to resolve everything. You remember how everypony started paying the most attention to him, especially after a resolved issue?”

“Yup.”

“That’s him stealing the spotlight. None of his resolving and spotlight-stealing was a one-time thing. All of it persisted without fail, without anypony else being a part of the solution, other than letting them cheer him on from the background. But things with Thornstar are even worse than all that.”

Pinkie nodded and listened, but the last line really piqued her interest. “How?”

“Those traits can be seen in Mary Sues in published books that normally don’t do well. But, what Thornstar is displaying are traits worse than I’ve seen in Rainbow Dash's fan fiction stories.” Twilight lifted her head up some and flicked her tail.

“Ohhh.” She vaguely recalled skimming the story over. She was never really much for reading books that didn’t have recipes or big colorful pictures. “Well, it had a lot of action and everypony got along.” She shrugged, thinking that she probably should have paid the story more scrupulous attention.

“Thornstar’s hitting massive levels of Mary Sue traits that are mainly created by very inexperienced writers. Ones who tend to be eager to slip themselves, or ‘the coolest character’, in as Mary Sues into an already existing story. They likely do such to impress the cast - much like when Dash inserted a version of herself into her Daring Do writings to impress the main character. Most of such writers don’t even know they’re creating a bad character at all. I don’t know how, but just like those sorts of bad insert characters, Thornstar’s presence has altered existing information and maybe even changed moments in history. It’s like he’s just using whatever power he discovered to make himself the center of attention. However, he didn’t stop there. Going along with making himself a bad character, he gave himself a ridiculous amount of strengths and powers, likely in order to further manipulate the attention of everyone towards him, thus making us forget about...” Twilight’s voice trailed off as she slowly drew to a stop.

“Twilight?” Pinkie came to a stop behind the mare. She tried to peek around to see the Twilight’s face, but was unable to see past that glimmering purple mane.

“Pinkie...” It sounded like her throat softly tightened as she quietly spoke. “I’m so sorry. If I wasn’t as tired as I was...” She paused very briefly, her voice clearly weighed down by a heavy amount of guilt as she continued. “If I wasn’t being such an idiot, maybe I could have seen past all this deceit ahead of time. Maybe I could have prevented all this madness. Maybe I could have stopped myself.”

As soon as Twilight finished, Pinkie placed a reassuring hoof upon her back. “Twilight, it’s o-” her friend suddenly spun out from beneath Pinkie’s hoof to sweep her up into a hug.

Twilight spoke very quietly. “There’s no excuse for the things I’ve said and done to you.” With those forelimbs having pulled her in so tightly and the mare’s head resting against Pinkie’s neck, she was unable to see Twilight’s face. However, Pinkie felt a touch of wetness from the cheek of Twilight's that pressed against her coat.

Pinkie said nothing more. She just sighed into the comfort of Twilight’s tight embrace and let their shared warmth fuel her own inner glow. That true fuzzy glow of happiness that Pinkie thought she’d never feel again.

“When this is all done,” Twilight said as she hugged Pinkie a little tighter, “I’ll make sure to throw you the biggest apology party possible.”

“Thank you, Twi.” She pulled back far enough to look into her friend’s glistening eyes. “But, I don’t need a party.” Her smile was bright as could be. “I just need all my friends back.”

Twilight managed to return a weak smile of her own whilst she rubbed her tears away.

The joyful vibrations of a chuckle softly shook the two. “Come on!” Pinkie said as her voice spiked with energy, her ears perked right up, and her blue eyes glowed with hope. “Let’s get going!” With a delightful hum in her throat and her bright curly locks flowing behind, Pinkie Pie fully parted from Twilight’s welcomed hug. She then cheerfully bounced her way down the hall.

“Pinkie…” The pony halted immediately. “Do you even know where we were heading?” said Twilight as she finished drying her cheeks.

“Oh!” Pinkie looked ahead and then back. “Nope!”

“The Canterlot Archives.” Twilight’s smile widened as she passed by to take the lead.

“You mean that packed library we went to when you were all worried about the time paradox stuff?”

“Don’t remind me. My head hurts just thinking about that.”

“But I just reminded you. Maybe you can go back in time and stop me from reminding you! Oh! Maybe you can go back in time and tell yourself about Thornstar!”

“That is a plan, sure, but I’d rather not mess with time again. I think I have a better idea anyway. Besides, the time spell is in the Starswirl the Bearded Wing. This time, we’re going to a different wing.”

Twilight had turned about and retaken her position as path leader. But Pinkie didn’t immediately follow. Instead, she looked to her spoon companion.

“Well, looks like we’ve got him now.” The reflection gave her a bright smile.

“Yeah,” Pinkie nodded. “Now that Twilight is back, I have a feeling that everything will be okay!”

Twilight's voice then cut between the two. “Who are you talking to?”

Pinkie looked up from her spoon, seeing that she was caught in the act. “Oh! I... was just cleaning off my spoon!” She smiled awkwardly.

“Pinkie…” Twilight’s eyes sharpened slightly. “There is no spoon.”

“W-what?” Pinkie looked down from her friend to her empty hoof. “Huh.”

“Are you okay?”

Pinkie firmly planted her hoof upon the tile as her lips curved upward. “Yup! Juuust fine!”

Twilight turned away with a flat tone. “I’ll believe those words once they come from your therapist.”

Pinkie Pie continued to follow Twilight Sparkle. They passed several wings until they finally found their destination.

“Here we are,” Twilight announced with a panning foreleg just as a guard opened the way for the two. “The Military Wing!”

Pinkie gasped. “The Military Wing?! Twilight, I know you wanna get back at the guy, but doesn’t attacking Thornstar seem a little extreme?”

Twilight shook her head as she traversed the halls with her eyes scanning the nearest shelf, which was almost overflowing with books and scrolls. “That would be illogical, Pinkie. Besides, judging by all the stuff Thornstar has been able to pull off, we need to approach this differently. I’m certain he’s powerful enough to easily deflect most spells I can think of off hoof.”

Pinkie was not far behind as she followed Twilight. “So why don’t we just tell everyone he’s a Mary Sue? I’m sure they’ll all believe you.”

Twilight paused before spinning around to face her friend. “Weren’t you paying attention? I thought I was pretty clear about this. I never said he actually is a Mary Sue. That would be absurd! He just has a staggering amount of Mary Sue traits. He is probably, like you first suspected, some sort of powerful wizard, using some sort of powerful magic to keep us under his control. Or, maybe, we’ve been trapped in some sort of contraption that’s making us view an alternate reality where everything is bent to his favor. We could have also been drugged. But, I’m leaning towards the wizard idea.”

“So what do we do?”

“During my recent studies of the Lunar Rebellion, I came across a couple stories about wizards that could use undetectable magic. Magic that was powerful, but had auras that couldn’t be seen by the naked eye. They could be used for setting traps, placing protection wards, and even mind control. I don’t know how, but this Thornstar stallion could have picked up on those magics and is using it to manipulate us.” She looked back to Pinkie, who was bouncing high too peek at the upper shelves. “I’m a bit curious though. I now understand how you broke the spell on me; you overloaded my senses with questions, forcing me to find logic where there is none. Clever. But how did you first see past his control?”

Mid-bounce, Pinkie found the time to shrug.

“Well, anyways,” Twilight’s eyes looked back to the shelves as she went into ‘lecture mode’ once again, “there was a counterspell created to detect those nearly invisible magical auras and even the tethers to all types of magics.

“Tethers?”

Twilight levitated a random scroll before Pinkie’s eyes. “You see the colored aura around this scroll and my horn, correct?”

Pinkie nodded.

“Well, with that counterspell you’d be able to see the magical rope that is tied between the aura around my horn and that scroll. That rope is also called a tether. If anypony was using invisible auras, you’d be able to see them, as well as the tethers between them. Not only did such a counterspell help soldiers avoid potential traps, following the tethers from those traps helped lead soldiers to the enemies that laid them. All in all, the counterspell is a really powerful spell for perception enhancing. One could potentially multiply all of his or her senses to an astounding degree, that is, depending on how powerful of a spell caster one is.”

“Ooooo…” Pinkie’s eyes went wide with wonder. “Maybe it could amplify my Pinkie Senses! I could end up seeing danger months... wait, no! Years in advance! Wouldn’t that be great?”

“First off, I doubt that you’d be able to see that far. Secondly, no. That’d be horrifying. Do you have any idea how many bad things can happen in the time span of a single year? Your body probably wouldn’t even be able to handle such a massive amount of constant information and you’d likely twitch yourself into a coma, that is, if the spell even affects those others kinds of senses.”

“Oh. Nevermind then.”

With her ‘lecture mode’ finally deactivated, Twilight placed the demonstration scroll aside. “Now, once we find this spell, we can use it to see if he’s the wizard I think he is. Some of the Canterlot Sentries still use that spell to this day, so it shouldn’t take us long to find the right document.”

One hour, forty-two minutes, and thirty-three seconds later...

“Found it!” shouted Pinkie as she popped out of a towering pile of literature.

Twilight freed the brown covered book from Pinkie’s hooves with a magical grip as she passed by the massive pile. “Very good!” She happily commented before looking over the mess. “We’ll... have to fix this later.”

“Cast it!” Pinkie cheered Twilight while bouncing out of her mountain of mess. “Cast it, cast it, cast it!”

The cheering mainly went ignored. Twilight took her time to focus on each line of text with great scrutiny. Only when she was ready to put her new knowledge to the test did she look up. “Okay,” Her head bobbed very slightly. “Let’s do this.” She closed her eyes, lowered her head, and then tossed it back. A purple aura suddenly consumed the two.

When the spell was done working its magic, Pinkie opened her eyes to witness as the world exploded with light and color. “Whoa!” She swept her gaze across the entire room in wonder.

Either she just gained binocular vision, or the room just got ten times smaller. The pearl tiles and pillars shimmered brightly. She could see every crack in the bookcases. The smell of paper with a hint of wood is what mostly filled her nostrils. What secondly filled her nostrils was the smell of a certain somepony who apparently became so infatuated with her imposter-brother and her books that she forgot to bathe.

After a quick moment of looking about, Pinkie stood on a single hind hoof and spun in several circles. “The colors! The colors!” Pinkie laughed rather maniacally as she watched the world around her spin like she was inside a disco ball. “This is sooo cool!” It seemed all of her senses were heightened save for her sense of balance, as she quickly toppled over.

“Ow ow ow!” Pinkie shouted in response to her fall and was quick to writhe in far more pain than expected. “I didn’t know these floors were made out of Applejack’s kicks!” she groaned as she rubbed her bruised rump. However, it wasn’t just the pain that surprised her, but the fact that her Pinkie Senses gave her no warning whatsoever.

“I didn’t know Celestia trapped this room,” said Twilight as she scanned the magnificently shiny metal front door.

Once Pinkie regained some composure, she stumbled over to the side of the blue and purple mass to look at the steel door that had her friend so enthralled. The shimmering metal surface was coated with an orange aura that shifted about like wild fire. Without putting too much thought into her motions, Pinkie placed a hoof right on the door.

“Pinkie,” said Twilight as she watched nothing happen in reaction, “I’m pretty sure that would have gone off a long time ago if we were not allowed in here. But, we know I did at least part of the spell ri-”

“You didn’t eat any of the cake, did you?” Pinkie looked way too deep into Twilight’s eyes, able to see the red veins and the fluid that kept her eye from drying out with each blink.

“What?”

“My chocolate cake,” Pinkie sniffed and sniffed, nearly shoving her nose into Twilight’s maw, forcing the mare to look away. “You didn’t have any of it.”

“Pinkie, focus here!” She used a single hoof to slide Pinkie back to a more comfortable distance. “And no, I didn’t have any because I was uncharacteristically mad at you at the time. That, and I wasn’t very hungry after witnessing that special cake. Anyways! Back on topic! I... think... I did this spell right.”

“You think?”

“I’m preeetty sure my mouth isn’t supposed to taste like a pillow and that my fur coat used to be a light mulberry, not a dark putrid green.”

“That does sound like a problem.”

“As we can see, the spell is doing what we really need it to do, so that’s a problem that we’ll have to solve later. Come along, Pinkie! Time to confront my so-called brother.”

With a worried look in Pinkie Pie’s eyes, she stared forth at a rather unforeseen and even daunting challenge.

The menacing staircase of Celestia’s throne room.

Below, on the other side, about twenty Applejack kicks away, was Twilight Sparkle, whom softly glared.

“Pinkie, get down here.”

“Nu-uh! No way!”

“Stop worrying! I’ll catch you.”

“Just like you caught me with the last five falls?!”

“Well, it’s a little harder to focus like this than I thought.”

“Just unspell me then!”

“Dispel, and I don’t even know how to dispel this sort of thing! Plus, even if I knew, I don’t yet have the energy or focus to do so.”

“So you probably don’t have the energy stuff to magic grab me! Why did you even cast this on me in the first place?!”

“I thought it would be better to have a witness with me! Just come down, Pinkie! You’ll be fine! I think.”

“You promise?”

“Yes. And once this is done, we’ll get the Princess and she can-”

The doors suddenly flung open, letting a familiar tall goddess slide into Pinkie’s view. Her coat was a blinding white and her bright mane shone with enough color that it looked almost twice its normal size and seemed almost afro shaped. “I can what?”

Pinkie could see Twilight’s backfur stand on end as the Princess’s voice crawled up her spine. “Well,” Twilight suddenly spun around, likely holding an awkward smile for her mentor, “I, uh, you see...” she fumbled her words while Pinkie examined them from afar.

Beyond Celestia’s eye-straining glow of colors, Pinkie could see many streams of magic that had phazed through the walls, with that same orange fire-esque glow, converge onto the Princess’ very position. Those must be the magic tether thingies Twilight was talking about. Celestia must be linked to hundreds of magics around the castle. Then, she spotted the thickest string of fire-like magic. The one that shot straight up from the tip of the goddess’s horn and phased through the ceiling of the room.

The very rope to the sun shone before Pinkie’s aching eyes. As amazed as she was by the glorious thread of magic, it wasn’t the time to gawk.

In Celestia’s path, the four others followed behind Thornstar. Each mare was an overflow of color, though not carrying the brightness the princess hauled about. The only figure that didn’t stress her eyes so much was Thornstar’s. His black fur coat gave off the most subtle of glows. But upon staring at him, Pinkie realised... there was not a single tether connected to him, nor any hint of magic whatsoever.

Twilight fumbled with her words for a short while longer before she turned her back to the others to face Pinkie. “I was-uh... just helping Pinkie SEE some of the THINGS,” her eyes constantly darted off to the side, obviously trying to guide Pinkie to look Thornstar’s way, “that I’ve been examining.”

Pinkie looked back to Thornstar as directed and even squinted. Still nothing. She then took a quick glance at Twilight’s rather panicked expression. She obviously didn’t see anything either. What was intended to be another short examination of Thornstar soon had almost all of Pinkie’s attention. It took a few moments of staring at the stallion, but finally she noticed his black coat seemed to be subtly... oozing? No. Not exactly. There was more of a shape to what was shifting around him. It looked like...

“Are you two okay?” Celestia’s concerned tone snapped Pinkie back to examine over each horribly detailed face that looked upon her.

“Oh! Yes, I’m fine, I just-uh...” Pinkie’s eyes zipped between those faces. She felt like something was keeping her tongue caught between her teeth, but what? She spotted a great oddity about Thornstar, but this time… There’s something I can do here! But what? Ohhh, think, think, think! That she did. Her thoughts flooded with a mess of memories that bombarded her like a vicious rain storm, each one making her head hurt more and more.

All other ponies watched in awkward silence as Pinkie, with eyes closed, sat on top of the staircase and slammed her left forehoof repeatedly against the side of her head.

Pinkie found herself staring at a pile of memories with one big question that popped in her mind. How would Twilight figure this out?! Or... She looked over some of her most recent memories of her friend in mind.

A smile crept across Pinkie’s lips.

Acting as if her previous manners were completely normal, Pinkie turned a rather peculiar calm smile and tone to Celestia. “Twilight was just showing me to the Canterlot Archive. She wanted to do some quick studying up before her scheduled session with you and I figured she could use some help. Please, forgive Twilight and I for our absence, Princess.”

Twilight remained completely silent as she looked to Pinkie with a bewildered expression.

“Huh,” Celestia took a moment to stare off to the side. “Strange, I completely forgot about our session.” She then looked from Pinkie to the back of Twilight’s head. “I see no harm in using the archive at your leisure, and you know that. There’s no need to act so strange about it. Perhaps you can tell me a little of what you’ve learned so far while we’re here.” She glanced over her shoulder to the group behind her and back. “I think it’ll be wonderful for all my faithful subjects to be listening as well.”

There was not a single argument from the rather quiet group.

“Well,” Pinkie interjected, “there’s a bit of a small problem. Twilight messed up on casting some mystery spell we found during our research.”

Almost instantly Twilight looked to her mentor with a face full of blush and a timid smile.

“The spell messed up our senses. We were hoping you might be able to dispel it for us.”

“That... sounds simple enough,” said Celestia with curiosity still ringing in her tone. But, without further question, the princess lifted her head and the tip of her horn pulsed with even more magical essence. Pinkie preparatively closed her eyes to shield them from the inevitably bright light that would fill the room. For only a moment did her body go numb. Once that feeling passed, her eyes reopened. Everything was back to normal.

In a rather victorious manner did Pinkie gleefully bounce down those steps to Twilight’s side.

The two kept their eyes locked upon Celestia as she spoke. “Well, now that that’s fixed, Twilight, please infor-”

“Actually!” Pinkie dared to interrupt the goddess for a second time, “Twilight and I have something to show everypony!”

Twilight’s brow wrinkled. “We d-?” She was instantly hushed by Pinkie putting a hoof to her lips, while keeping her gaze fixed on Princess Celestia.

“Just give us a real quick moment, Princess.” Pinkie beamed the brightest smile she could. “We’ll be back in a jiffy!” Using that same hoof, Pinkie forced Twilight to traverse out of the room with her, leaving everyone else in confusion.

“Pinkie!” shouted Twilight Sparkle as she was forcefully shoved back into the Military Wing of the Canterlot Archives.

“I told you Twilight, there’s no time to explain!” said Pinkie Pie as she marched on ahead with her eyes scanning the mess the two left behind.

“There was plenty of time to explain! You could have explained during the five minutes it took to get here!” Her friend just kept scanning about the room. “Pinkie? Hello?” No response. “Equestria to Pinkie, are you still on this planet?”

“Here it is!” Pinkie fished out the very same staircase-nightmare-inducing brown colored spell book.

Twilight was not amused. “You know that didn’t help us, right? I mean, did you see any magical auras and tethers coming from him? I sure didn’t.”

“Nooope~!” Pinkie hummed delightfully as she opened the book and scanned through several pages. “I saw something else.”

“Something else? Pinkie, there was nothing else! We were wrong on this one! He must be using some sort of chemical. We'll have to go to my laboratory and...” her voice drowned out as she watched Pinkie grip a page with her teeth.

RIP.

Horrified beyond words, Twilight watched in a short moment of silence with a hanging jaw as half a page from the spellbook hung from Pinkie’s teeth. The very sound alone was obviously worse to Twilight than a thousand hooves scraping chalk boards. Her lips subtly quivered. “That book... was over a thousand years old.” Twilight suddenly lost strength in her hind legs. “Y-you just tore it.” Her voice became weak and her throat went dry. “Thousand year old book…” She was unable to pry her eyes away from the crime against historical literature. “And you just... just...” Her torso swayed very lightly as the inner tips of her brows rose. “I think I’m gonna be sick,” she whimpered. “Pinkie, please explain yourself before I find a way to get a restraining order put between you and every possible piece of writing I can.”

Pinkie’s brilliant paper-holding smile was soon planted before Twilight’s face. “In stories, what kind of character can do everything better than everypony else?”

“A Mary Sue?”

“Bingo!”

“So,” Twilight spoke as her gaze shifted between Pinkie, the torn page, and the abused book, “you tore the same spell I just used out of a thousand-year-old-plus spell book in hopes of getting this obviously overpowered Thornstar to cast the same spell without letting him know what it does, correct?”

“Can’t be too careful about that! Also, I’ll need you to convince him to do it.”

“And what makes you think I’ll try to convince him to attempt to complete a plan that didn’t work in the first place?”

“Because if you don’t, then the desecration of a thousand year old book just happened for no reason.”

Twilight lowered her left brow while the right reached its peak. “When did you become such a devious planner?”

Pinkie giggled and bounced rather delightfully. “I thought of all this once I realised…” She paused. Her eyes shifted side to side before focusing back on Twilight. She leaned in and lowly whispered her great secret. “I was the spoon the whole time.”

Twilight slightly shifted her own head back and looked right into Pinkie’s eyes. She went completely mute and blinked only once. With her magical grip, Twilight pulled the paper from the mare’s teeth. She then pushed herself up, took a couple slow steps back, turned around, and left.

“Oh, dearest brother,” said Twilight as she batted her eyes at Thornstar, “If anypony can show me how to do a nameless spell that has no description, it’s you.”

“I-I don’t know,” he said, an ounce of suspicion in his tone. “It couldn’t hurt anypony, could it?”

Twilight shook her head. “No, not at all! I mean, the spell could have when I-” she grimaced slightly and lowered her voice, “-cast it wrong. But you,” her voice picked back up as she circled around the stallion, “You can cast anything. I mean, you are my brother, right? The brother of mine that can do magic better than...” she winced, “I can, correct?”

“Well…” His eyes drifted to everyone else around the throne room.

Celestia stepped forth. “I will stand by if anything goes wrong. I trust that Twilight has her mind in the right place.” She looked to her student, who stood before the stallion. “Though, that spell does seem quite familiar.” her view was suddenly taken up by a happily bouncing Pinkie Pie.

“It’s decided!” she said before snatching the piece of paper from Twilight’s magical grip. Pinkie then shoved it right into the stallion’s nose. “Just cast it already!”

He plucked the paper from her grip with a bubble of magic before rubbing his nose. “O-okay then.” He stammered as his eyes focused on the text before him.

“Oh!” Pinkie suddenly yanked his head to his right, forcing him to look from the paper and only to her. “Cast it on Twilight AND me!”

He nodded and went back to squinting at the paper.

“Oh!” His head was yanked again. “Cast it on Twilight, me, and every other pony!” She pointed a hoof to the other oddly silent four that still stood several paces behind him.

“Okay then!” He managed to form a rather annoyed glare before going back to focusin-

“Oh!” Those two pink hooves wiped his head off to the side once again, forcing him to stare into those two wide sky-blue eyes. “And make sure to cast it as beeeest as you can. I mean, really put a lot of magical mumbo jumbo into it.”

“Okay!” He glared for a short moment. “Can I focus now?” Pinkie responded with only a nod, letting him finally face the paper in peace.

Pinkie then grabbed Twilight and forced her to stand with the other four ponies.

Twilight didn’t fight it. She just stood side by side with Pinkie and spoke very quietly so that only she may hear her. “Next Monday, Pinkie, you will be seeing a therapist. And, if that doesn’t work, a mental institution.”

“Don’t worry, Twilight. Everything is going to be just fine,” said Pinkie with a confident smile. Her eyes were locked to the stallion as his horn started to glow. Celestia stood off to the side, obviously ready to cast her own counter spells if anything were to go wrong. “I just know it.”

Thornstar’s horn glowed bright as a light bulb. Just as he lifted his head, that bright light intensified and forced each pony to shield their eyes.

Time was lost to Pinkie as she sat there, eyes closed and right foreleg providing further protection.

After a while, she could hear one of the others shifting about.

“What in Tartarus?”

Period

“What in Tartarus?”

That’s Twilight’s voice, Pinkie noted before she pulled her hoof aside and fluttered her eyes open.

She was blinded by a white haze that forced her to blink several more times. Nothing. In fact, her eyes were just fine. There was just a white haze... everywhere. Pinkie could see outside the hardly noticeable walls of the Canterlot Castle. She could see into the rooms and hallways all around them. All of them were made of the same ghostly glass. Through the outer walls and off into the distance, there was no sunset, no mountains, nor even a sky. Just a white haze that everything faded into.

Twilight was right before her. She was almost as pure white as the rest of the background, but she wasn’t nearly as still. She was running about, frantically looking around. She stopped in front of the clear statue easily identified as Celestia. Twilight waved her hoof before it. Nothing.

As Twilight’s efforts continued in vain, Pinkie turned her eyes to the figure of Thornstar. Unlike the rest of the figures around, he wasn’t a ghost. But there it was, the strange black ooze-like oddity that surrounded his form before. This time, Pinkie could see it clear as day. It certainly wasn’t any ordinary sort of black ooze.

“Twilight,” said Pinkie as she pointed to Thornstar.

The ghostly Twilight turned her colorless eyes to Pinkie and followed her pointed hoof to the stallion. Twilight cautiously stepped up to him, squinted, and peered closely at his body. “Letters?” She tilted her head. In a daring motion, she reached out, and poked the letter coated pony. In response, he completely fell apart. Hundreds of letters that were slowly shifting about his form came drizzling down to the glass-like ground. The image of Thornstar faded away.

“I didn’t think that would happen!” Twilight, whose jaw unhinged, scuttled backwards several feet from a supposed crime scene. “Di-did I kill him?!”

Several groans emanated from behind the two, drawing their attention. The four other ponies had been shielding their eyes and were just coming through. As they brushed their hooves over their faces, Twilight and Pinkie curiously watched as more letters dripped to the ground.

“What the-?!” said Applejack as she shook letters free from her hooves. “The heck is all this on mah face?!”

Rainbow Dash peered at her own body with a suspicious glare. Nothing. But, when she shook her head wildly, she became a sprinkler of letters. “Pinkie,” she asked as she surveyed the mess of letters around her, “Was this a prank of yours? If so, I don’t get it. In fact, I’m more confused than ever.”

Pinkie, for the moment, ignored the question. Something in the sky had caught her eye. It was hazy, but her attention remained captured by the visual blob even when there was a shrill cry in the air.

Rarity flailed her limbs. “Get them off me! GET THEM OFF ME! So utterly disgusting! I feel like they’re crawling all over my face!”

Fluttershy, in reaction to Rarity’s dramatization, froze up entirely and tucked into a whimpering ball. Like a terrified kitten, she reached out with a single hoof to repeatedly bat at a letter that hung off her cheek.

“Really?” Rainbow Dash huffed as she turned to face Rarity. “Are you losing a fight against a bunch of letters? Come on now!”

“I just know I look like I lost a fight with a marker! Quickly, somepony get me a mirror! Whoever dared to do such a thing to my face will most certainly pay. When I find out...” Rarity paused as she noticed Rainbow Dash’s mischievously curled lips. “What exactly do you have to smile about?”

The pegasus’ roguish grin didn’t flinch as she stretched her wings as far back as she could and held them in position.

Rarity narrowed her eyes. “Oh no. Don’t you even think about-” A powerful blast of wind lifted Rarity onto her hind legs and sent every letter scattering from her face. After the gust passed, Rarity came back down to all fours and her newly messed-up mane dangled before her unamused expression. “-it.”

Applejack had already stepped around the two in order to head towards the shivering Fluttershy. The frightened mare peaked up past hoof and hair to Applejack’s gentle smile, which stopped her trembling. Taking her hat between the teeth, Applejack, with care, brushed it over Fluttershy’s face. Once it was swept clean of every letter, the cowpony found herself looking down at Fluttershy’s thankful smile before she pushed herself up to all fours.

Twilight, despite her previous minor freak out, had managed to calm down and turned to face the four. “Do you guys remember anything?”

Rainbow Dash shrugged. “I remember quietly standing around... for some reason.”

Applejack mimicked the same motions. “Same here. Pretty sure Ah’ didn’t say anything fer like an hour.”

Rarity did her best to adjust her messed hair before forcing a bright smile. “I was busy planning a wedding for Fluttershy and…” That smile slowly dimmed. “A complete stranger.”

“Wedding?” All eyes turned to Fluttershy. “What wedding?” Though only silence and dull stares followed her question, the answer soon came to her. “Oh! M-my wedding!” Her eyes went wide with horror. “No no no no!” Fluttershy wildly shook her head. “I can’t go through with a wedding!” She rushed over to Rarity and put her hooves to the mare’s collar. “It can’t happen, it’s way too much pressure! I’ll be a terrible bride! I’ll be in debt from all the expenses! There will be eyes judging me as I walk down the aisle! My family will even be more disappointed in me if I marry some stranger that I’ve only known for a single day. I’ll be looked at like some low life horse from Los Pegasus!” She shook Rarity’s collar with every tiny amount of her might. “You must stop planning immediately!”

“It looks like the wedding has already been called off,” said Twilight as she examined the massive pile of letters that once formed the stranger. “It seems that my supposed brother couldn’t keep himself together.”

Though with her head still tilted upward and her focus mainly astray, Pinkie added in, “That’s the way the impostor crumbles!”

With her attention snagged, Fluttershy ceased shaking Rarity about, leaving that once elegant mane, again, as a helpless and disappointing mess. Fluttershy curiously made her way over. Her eyes completely glued to the pile. “Thornstar is... an impostor and a pile of letters?”

Twilight nodded. She turned to face all the ponies. “I don’t know exactly how, or why, but this Thornstar thing had fooled almost all of us. He turned us into puppets. All of us, except for…” She pointed a hoof to Pinkie, who kept pointing her nose to the sky.

“Wait, Pinkie Pie wasn’t affected?” Rarity’s eyes shifted between the mare and Twilight’s nodding head. “Why does that not surprise me?”

“Oh boy.” Applejack fanned herself with her hat as she looked away from the others. “Ah’ve said some troublin’ things, haven’t I?”

“Me too,” said Fluttershy as her ears and head lowered.

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck. “I even said she was annoying.” She then noted the uncomfortable looks upon the ponies all around her and knew someone had to say what needed to be said. With a few flaps of her wings and a short glide, Rainbow Dash landed before Pinkie Pie. “Though I’m sure we could blame all of this on the... mind control letters, I know I should say...” she paused, noticing that Pinkie wasn’t even batting an eye in her direction. “Pinkie?” She poked the mare’s chest. “Are you okay?”

“Uh-huh.”

“What the hay are you looking at?” Rainbow Dash attempted to look at where Pinkie’s eyes were pointed.

“Just a little silhouette-o of a... whatever that is.”

Everyone looked up. Every mouth dropped.

A large pitchblack figure hovered far up in the pure white sky, positioned directly above the six. Just as Pinkie had described, it was a silhouette, but of what? There was a head, two shoulders, and half a body, all shrouded in darkness.

“What is that?!” Twilight shouted, but no eyes turned to her.

One by one, about twenty feet before the eyes of the whole group, more letters appeared; each, just like the rest before them, no bigger than a filly’s hoof.

YOU CAN SEE ME?

Twilight read it out loud for all to hear, and as soon as she did, the letters fell from their place and floated gracefully to the floor.

“Pinkie,” said Fluttershy as her gaze was still aimed high. “Is it time to panic yet?”

“Not yet. These noponies really never hurt, well, anypony! At least, as far as I’ve seen.”

“Wait,” Twilight’s attention briefly shifted. “You’ve seen these things before?!”

“They’re not things, they’re noponies. Or at least, that’s what I call them. No idea what they really are, but I’ve seen maaaany of them before. This is just the first time one has ever talked back to me.”

Rarity glanced to Pinkie as well. “How long have you been seeing these ‘noponies’? Are these the things you keep talking to?”

“I’ve been seeing these since I first met Twilight. I like to keep them company when I can.”

More letters appeared, only to fade after a few moments.

A NOPONY? THIS IS STRANGE.

“It is!” Twilight shouted up at the sky. “So, who are you?”

I AM THE AUTHOR OF THORNSTAR RAVENBLACK.

“Author?”

Pinkie could’ve sworn that Twilight’s ghostly coat turned a shade whiter before she shook her head.

“So, Mister Author, is this all your doing?” Twilight held her hoof out to the pile of letters once known as Thornstar. “Why would you even do this? How did you even do this? Does your species want something from us? Are you from this world or a different world? You must be from this world because you speak the same language.”

WELL YOU SEE…

The letters parted and faded for a short while. The nopony obviously stumbled with his response beneath the hail of questions.

LOOK, I’VE BEEN WATCHING ALL OF YOU FOR A LONG TIME. I ONLY WANTED TO BE A PART OF YOUR STORY. SO, I CREATED MY AVATAR.

Applejack stepped next to Twilight’s side and shuffled some fallen letters around with her hoof. “Really? You created this overpowered piece of pony?” She watched the kicked-up letters drift like fallen black autumn leaves.

Rarity squinted. “And that hideous name? Surely you could have come up with something better than that. Also, you’ve been watching us without us knowing? How… creepy.”

YOU GUYS ACTUALLY DON’T LIKE HIM?

Pinkie curiously tipped her head before she felt a small breeze as Rainbow Dash suddenly lifted herself about ten feet off the ground to glare at the being in the sky. “That was clearly my rainboom that you repackaged for yourself! That was my thing and you just stole it! From me! I mean, how did you even steal it?! I worked nearly my whole life to make it!”

I JUST THOUGHT IT LOOKED COOL, SO... YOU KNOW.

“Yer obviously a being of great power,” said Applejack. “You can give yerself unreasonably vast strengths and even defy logic. However, you clearly have been using yer powers fer ill doin’! Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful that you’ve helped out mah brother and all that, but using your mind tricks to get us to turn against Pinkie Pie? I mean, stealing strengths is one thing, but she’s our friend! How dare you come between us like that! Honestly, what was going through your skull?”

SHE WAS NEVER REALLY A FAVORITE OF MINE. I ACTUALLY THOUGHT SHE WAS PRETTY ANNOYING.

“The nerve of some beings,” scoffed Rarity as she turned her eyes to Pinkie. “Pay Author here no mind, dear. You’re not nearly as annoying as he says.”

The very soft and hardly audible voice of Fluttershy added in, “I don’t think you’re annoying at all, Pinkie.”

Upon hearing such, the mare’s lips formed a confident smile. It felt good to have her friends behind her once again. But, something told her to keep her mouth shut, at least for the time being as Applejack continued her conversation with the nopony.

“Ah don’t give a rat’s tail for what you think of Pinkie! You do not use your little mind trick letters to make us dislike her or even like you!”

IT WAS JUST A LITTLE BIT OF INFLUENCE. I WASN’T TRYING TO FULLY MANIPULATE YOU INT-

“But you did!” Rainbow Dash was quick to scatter the letters. “You even used that little bit of influence to force Flutters to…” she made a gagging noise, “marry you!”

New letters appeared over the bashful mare.

FORCE? FLUTTERSHY, I FIXED YOUR HOUSE.

She didn’t look at the nopony or anypony. Just her hooves.

“What about my house?” asked Rarity. “You better fix it too! You and your dragon thing turned it into shambles! Speaking of that, I forgot to check to see if Opal and Sweetie Bell are okay. I-uh… I’m sure they’re fine. I hope.”

BUT FLUTTERSHY, WE WOULD HAVE BEEN GREAT TOGETHER.

Rarity stamped a hoof. The sound between invisible floor and hoof made it apparent that they all still stood upon marble floors. “Are you even listening to me?!”

Fluttershy’s soft voice could be heard from beyond the veil of bangs that shielded off most of her face from everyone. “D-don’t forget about Twilight’s family. I remember meeting them at the party too, just as Pinkie and the rest of us sort of did.”

Pinkie turned her attention to Twilight who, surprisingly, didn’t say anything. Twilight’s eyes were narrowed at the being in the sky, but not out of anger. She instead seemed very focused, as if simply analysing everything presented to her.

“That’s right,” said Applejack after giving her own chin a few taps. “You really went as far as to wipe out Twilight’s history? To make her think she didn’t have parents?!”

Rarity nodded. “That was quite monstrous.”

Words formed over the whole group.

MONSTROUS?

“Yeah!” shouted Rainbow Dash as she lowered herself to the ground. “And you know what? I think I’ve heard enough of all this! Somepony needs to take this monster down!” Her left forehoof scraped the floor several times and she even snorted. She was like a bull with wings; wings that stretched far back in preparation to send herself into one massive upward charge.

“Panic time!” said Fluttershy before she was, once again, curled up on the floor. This time her hooves covered her eyes so she could hide from the impending violence.

“Hold your horses, Dash,” hollered Applejack. “As monstrous as that was and as self-centered as this nopony obviously is, violence ain’t gonna solve nothin’ here.”

Rainbow Dash responded with a sharp glare pointed over and past her shoulder at the cowpony. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not a fan of letting others poke around in my head and making me treat my friends like dirt! So, you know what? He isn’t gonna do it again.”

Rarity’s head tilted very slightly. “And how could you possibly know that?”

“Because I’m gonna make sure of it.” Rainbow Dash rocketed into the air.

The nopony tried to form several lines of words before the assaulting pegasus, but each was instantly plowed through.

Rainbow Dash was on the attack with wind beneath her wings, the target in sight, a fire in her heart, and a ceiling in her face. The almost perfectly clear castle was sturdy enough that the pegasus crumpled beneath it and plummeted to the ground. Luckily, she landed on a soft pillow of colorless magic.

Where Rainbow Dash had impacted, a single word formed.

SORRY.

Sorry? Pinkie’s expression scrunched as she pondered.

Once Rainbow Dash rediscovered her ability to stand on all fours, the pillow vanished.

“Okay everypony, time to calm down,” said Twilight as she looked from one pony to the next. “Applejack is right, this moment doesn’t call for violence; it calls for questions.”

Rainbow Dash groaned as she rubbed her head. “But Twilight, he-”

“I know what he did. He abused his power to try and win over our appraisal by messing with history, physics, and even logic.” Twilight turned her eyes to the figure in the sky. “You did all of this to be a part of our lives, correct?”

There was a rather long pause as a single word was slowly spelled out.

YES.

“Is this your first time trying to do such a thing, via avatar?”

YES.

“And, if given the chance, would you right your wrongs?”

YES.

“And there we have it.” Twilight smiled before turning to face the others.

Applejack tipped her hat back. “And there we have what, exactly?”

Though it was Twilight who was questioned, it was Pinkie who answered. “He isn’t evil. He isn’t a monster.” She briefly looked to Twilight. Both traded soft smiles before she turned to the rest of the group. “He’s just misguided.”

“Woah, woah, woah!” Rainbow Dash stepped before the two. “Are you saying that what he did was okay?”

“Not exactly.” Pinkie smiled away. “He may not be the pony you first thought he was, but he can still be given a second chance, right Dash?”

“What he did can be forgiven.” Twilight nodded reassuringly.

“That is, if he keeps his word.” Pinkie waved a hoof. “If Twilight’s parents are actually still around, and if Rarity’s house is back in place, then there shouldn’t be a problem!”

“Sure, the morality of what Author had done here was not great,” Twilight shrugged. “But I don’t think he knows the impact of the changes he made.”

“Nor how to socialize very well. But, despite all of that and being a nopony of great power, he really isn’t so different.”

Rainbow Dash blinked, clearly lost in the logic. “Different?”

“Rarity,” Pinkie suddenly turned to face the mare who was still trying to readjust her ruined hair. “How do you feel about the first dress that you created?”

“The very first? Like, when I was just a filly?” She curiously blinked then waved a hoof. “The stitching is off, there are some ill aligned edges, the fabric I chose is rather stiff, and the colors are only good for one season out of the year.”

Fluttershy, who was curled upon the floor, peeked over her hooves. “You make it sound like you still have that dress,” she inquired.

“Of course I do, sweetie.” Rarity smiled with confidence. “I may recycle my mistakes in most dresses, but some reminders are well worth keeping around; especially the nostalgic ones.”

“Fluttershy,” Pinkie switched her attention and everyone else’s over to her.

The mare’s ears perked up as she looked to Pinkie.

“Remember your first time trying to find true confidence in yourself?”

Pinkie watched as Fluttershy looked between her and Rarity before looking away from all. “Yeah. I thought it would be great. But, it was awful.” Her head lowered, as did her ears. “I was awful; very mean too.”

“Applejack, how was your first time learning to cook?”

“Mah first time?” Applejack shrugged and didn’t hesitate to tell. “Well, when Ah was a filly Ah thought everything Ah cooked tasted just fine, but everypony else thought they needed to go to the hospital. Come to think of it,” she said whilst she tapped her chin, “Big Mac almost went blind then too. So, till Ah could cook without cops, paramedics, or a hazmat team showing up, Ah was givin’ the chore of being an apple bucker.”

“As for me,” Pinkie pointed a hoof at herself. “My first time making a friend here was… awkward. I really wasn’t used to meeting people who weren’t family. You see what I’m saying here, Dash?”

The pegasus had been looking down at her hooves with shifting eyes as she contemplated just where all the questions were leading. When she looked up, she answered. “You’re saying you guys were all terrible at stuff once?”

Twilight sighed and shook her head. “No, Dash. All of us.”

“Whoah!” She frowned. “Since when have I been terrible at something?! You know, other than losing?”

“Well, I’ve actually been meaning to talk to you,” Twilights gaze zipped away and back, clearly knowing that what she was about to tackle wasn’t going to be easy. “It’s about your Daring Do fan fiction.”

“My writing?” Caught off guard, her eyes went wide as her head shifted back. “What does that have to do with any of this? Is something wrong with my writing? You guys said it was good!”

“It was good,” said Rarity as she stood between the two, relinquishing Twilight from the burden of the truth. “It was good… for a filly in elementary school.”

Rainbow Dash’s irises shrank as her heart obviously sank.

Rarity continued. “Your characters were very two dimensional and boorish. The plot twist was highly predictable from as it was so cliché. You used nothing but run on sentences with very little proper punctuation and most of your descriptions lacked any comprehensive detail. On top of that, it looked like you’d never seen a dictionary. Worst of all, you spent most of your time just having your main character, which was clearly just you with a different name, desperately showing off for the attention of Miss Do. All in all, your story was awful. A comedy of errors. It was so bad that when I handed it over to Sweetie Belle, she face hoofed hard enough to create a three-hour-long migraine… for the two of us. There is only one thing you need to do now to keep your story from first staining the eyes of your fanclub, and then the rest of Ponyville, leaving you as the laughing stock of the town.”

Rainbow Dash pressed down an audible gulp. “Wh-what’s that?”

Rarity tipped her head a little lower and narrowed her eyes. “Don’t mess with my mane.” She then tossed her head to the side, flinging her tarnished hair over her right shoulder. Having trotted off with a rather pleased smile, the fashionista practically put Dash’s look of defeat on display for Twilight.

“Riiiight….” Twilight shook her head. “Dash, I do have some writing lessons that we can go over together another time.” She tried her best to give a reassuring smile. “However, does anything of what Rarity said sound familiar here?” She turned her head upward, looking to the pitch black being in the sky that had remained wordless the whole time, as if patiently listening.

“I… I guess.” Rainbow Dash just watched as her right hoof scraped at the near invisible floor.

After seeing such a frown on Dash’s face, it became apparent to Pinkie that it was time to speak up. “Don’t worry, Dash! Like said, at one point or another, we’ve all done bad things that we thought were good. As much as we wanna be mad at Author for what he’s done,” Pinkie’s eyes and mind briefly trailed off. “As much as I was mad at him… he’s been doing nothing but trying to apologize this whole time for what he thought was great.”

“Just as we all had falsely thought well of our own poor actions.” Twilight nodded. “I gotta say, Pinkie; that’s quite perceptive of you.” She watched as Pinkie’s smile widened.

“So what about you, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash slightly lifted her head. “What similar mistakes have you made?”

“For me, when I was a little filly, I made the mistake of bringing my old doll, Smarty Pants, to class for Show and Tell.” She looked directly at Rainbow Dash. “I thought everypony else would see him the same way I did. To me, he was the coolest thing ever; Everypony else just saw him as a pile of rags slapped together. So, of course, I end up getting laughed at and picked on.”

IS MY AVATAR REALLY A ‘PILE OF RAGS’?

A contemplative sigh passed Twilight’s lips. “If you were just trying to fit into Ponyville, into Equestria, then yes. Jumping into our world and suddenly being the best at everything to the point of belittling all others is no way to go.”

BUT DIDN’T I HELP OUT?

“You did.”

“But,” Rarity was quick to butt into the conversation, “you caused trouble too! Don’t think us clueless as to not be able to figure that your ‘inner demon’ dragon was a ruse. Not did you only use him to distract us, you made it so that he could only be defeated by your hoof! I mean, really? A made-up Element of Spirit? Please.” She waved dismissively.

SORRY.

“Ah kinda have the feelin’ that you were purposely takin’ all of our traits too. I mean, what’s the point of even wanting us around if you’re just gonna be better than all of us?”

“That’s right too!” Pinkie bounced in place several times. “We all have something that makes us special. When you can have strengths of your choosing, coming in to take all of ours as your own isn’t going to make you very likable. It’ll just make you a big ol’ copycat.”

BUT WHAT ABOUT WINGS MADE OF BLACK FIRE AND THE ABILITY TO TALK TO TIMBERWOLVES?

Rarity was unable to keep herself from rolling her eyes. “Oh please, tone it all down. Those sound like powers composed by children. I mean-”

“Rarity,” Twilight softly bellowed to draw the fashionista's attention, “Let’s try constructive criticism this time, shall we?”

“Right, right. Sorry.” She pursed her lips and puffed her cheeks. “Look,” she said, her gaze turned back to the black figure in the sky, “just try something more simple, but still practical. Something with a touch of your own personality in it and no one else’s.”

LIKE WHAT?

“Like…” Rarity’s eyes wandered around the room. She, nor anypony else, had the answer.

It was quiet for a long time as Pinkie mentally rummaged about the pile of confetti known as her memories. Soon enough, the idea exploded into her mind like a cannon. “Oh! I know!” Pinkie shouted and waved her forelegs in the air. “Tape!”

“Tape?” asked Fluttershy, who had finally uncurled from her position on the floor. “I wasn’t aware that tape had a personality.”

“But it does! Tape is meant to bind a bunch of stuffs together and this nopony loves to do that! It’s also super useful! I also can’t tell you how many times I’ve run out of tape myself.”

REALLY? TAPE? I DON’T KNOW ABOUT THAT.

Twilight cut in. “Well mister Author, whatever you choose to do, if you really wanna fit in with Ponyville, I’d advise making a new avatar. Just take to heart everything we said here, like to not ruin someone else’s past.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash nodded along. “Don’t take my Rainboom.”

Applejack added, “In fact, just find some strengths of your own. Don’t worry about being perfect either. After all, nopony’s perfect.” She paused to think that last line over while Rarity continued.

“And, don’t over play depressing attitudes and tragic histories either. In fact, get rid of that black and red color combination too. Really, I understand the symbolism, but the only way that look depresses me is with how cliché it is.”

Even Fluttershy spoke up. “And-uh... maybe you shouldn’t force everypony to like you. After all, being real friends doesn’t come just from having a bunch of things in common,. It’s about being able to acknowledge each other's differences and find an understanding.”

And finally, Pinkie Pie, who happily shouted at the top of her lungs, “TAAAAPE!”

THIS IS A LOT TO PROCESS. I AM NOT EVEN SURE ABOUT IT ALL.

Twilight kept gracing the nopony with a friendly smile. “You could first try and-”

“Um, Twilight,” Fluttershy gently tugged upon her tail, of which Twilight responded with a lifted brow pointed her way. Fluttershy then pointed her attention to outside the castle.

“Fluttershy, nothing is out there. It’s just the sun.” She shook her head then looked back up t- “THE SUN?!” Her head suddenly snapped back to look outside the castle.

Sure enough, the sun had appeared past the white haze and had even regained its color. The sky and the mountains quickly appeared as well, glowing with their natural colors.

“The spell’s losing strength!” Twilight was quick to panic and look back to the being in the sky. “For the sake of all that is science, what exactly are you?! Where do you come from?! What do you eat?! Are you actually male?! Does your race even have genders?!”

Letters kept attempting to form, but they fell apart before forming coherent sentences.

Twilight saw the being start to fade. She spoke even faster and louder. “How many of you are there?! Does your species hunt in packs or do they work with farms?! Just how magically and technologically advanced are you?!”

The walls and ceiling had reformed.

With one final effort, Twilight shouted at the top of her lungs, “Are you a ruler of your kind?!”

“Twilight!”

Celestia’s voice made her freeze instantaneously. She slowly looked back down and forced the corner of her lips to curl up into her bright red cheeks.

“There is no need to shout such a question, especially when you know the answer.”

Under the dusk sky, the train rumbled and roared down the railway. Its windows rattled, its wheels squealed from time to time, and its horn occasionally blew as it went. However, as loud as the train was, it was rather quiet on the inside. There was no celebration as the six sat in the back of their train car with no other pony inside. They all sat in silence, obviously contemplating over the rather strange day. Even Pinkie Pie found herself unusually quiet as she stared out of the window she sat next to.

“I don’t think that could have been any more awkward,” said Twilight.

“I still feel like I need an ice cold shower,” Rarity noted. “It’s great for the complexion, but it’s also good for washing away the disturbing feeling that comes from being manipulated.”

Applejack spoke into her hat that had been pulled over her eyes for quite some time as she leaned back into her seat. “Ah hear that. But, Ah’d rather go for a special batch of cider about now. Would probably help me forget about this whole dang day.”

Twilight sighed. “I just wish the princess would let me assist her in studying these nopony’s. I do remember the spell after all.”

Fluttershy peeked over their seat from behind. “But Twilight, she said that investigation could be more dangerous than we, or even she, could fathom.”

“I know, I know.” She shook her head. “But still, it might not be so dangerous. Guess I’ll just have to trust her judgment… for now.”

“Hey Pinks,” Rainbow Dash peered over the same seat. “Are you okay? You’re unusually quiet.”

“Uh-huh.” She nodded. “I was just thinking about the noponies.”

Rarity looked across the aisle at her and Twilight. “I only hope that Author character isn’t watching us anymore.”

“Well… he isn’t watching us.”

Rarity shuddered and looked away.

Twilight looked upon Pinkie rather curiously. “Well, what is it?”

“What if there are other noponies out like author? But, ones that wouldn’t care much for their actions. Actions that we’d be able to do nothing about.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like… what if a nopony turned Princess Celestia into a rampaging tyrant? What if one turns Dash into the world’s worst factory manager? Rarity could end up in a questionable relationship with this very train. What’s to stop one of them from turning Spike into a crazy war veteran? Maybe one would turn Fluttershy into a Sales Mare for sheds. You could become a blood sucking creature of the night. One of them could even turn me into a demented cook, who doesn’t put enough sugar into her baked goods.”

“That is quite a question.” Twilight ponderously looked away. She took to rubbing her chin as she thought out loud. “I suppose… if there was nothing that could be done about any of that, I’d just ask that those noponies make it sound like something we would do. You know, consider who we are now and give us a really good and logical reason for us to end up that way.” She saw that the comment was making the others worry, so Twilight was quick to smile. “But, I doubt that will happen. And, I’m sure that Author, wherever he is, will make the right choice if he comes back. For now, let’s just go home and sleep this off like a bad dream.”

Pinkie smiled a little weakly in return. She honestly didn’t know how much of that to really believe. Could any beings with such power really be trusted? Pinkie shook her head and decided to not push the subject any further. Instead, she turned her eyes to the window at her side just as the train passed through a tunnel. As soon as the train emerged from it, Pinkie laid eyes on Ponyville. Within the small town, softly lit by the parting sun, there was a glimmer of hope; a lavishly decorated structure that stood tall, almost as if a single brick had never fallen out of place. Pinkie beamed. “Hey Rarity, I can see your house from here.”

THE END.

Author's Note

-I wanna give a big thanks to all those who helped me in making this story possible and legible! This piece of writing had an extremely rough and rather poor start, but I think all turned out well in the end thanks to their help.
-To the very few of those that followed this story from when it first started, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting and for all the re-writes.
-To all readers, I thank you very much for your time! If you could spare some more, please leave a thumb up or thumb down and maybe let me know what you think in the comments section! I'd love to hear any criticism you have so that I might learn to further improve my writing skills.

AUTHOR'S AFTERTHOUGHTS