Itsy Bitsy dance

by Brotato

Rating: everyone
Tags: Comedy, Twilight Sparkle, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 5964

Twilight learns some new dance moves

Extra tags: [Arachnophobia]

Twilight isn't great at dancing. Spike knows it. Her friends know it. Even the poor souls who witnessed it first hoof on her birthday party in Canterlot knows it. But that hasn't stopped her from enjoying herself while "busting a move". So when Twilight receives an invite to a party being hosted by DJ Pon3, she eagerly accepts.

However, she's more than aware that everypony finds her dancing skills lacking. To solve this and impress everypony she decides to do a little research on the subject.

In the end she'll impress everypony alright, and it's not because she studied beforehand either.

Published 2013-03-18 03:50:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-03-18 03:50:02 UTC

The chapter

Itsy bitsy dance

By: Brotato

Twilight Sparkle let out a yawn while walking down the steps inside her library. She had been woken up at the break of dawn, as usual, by her number one assistant, Spike. She knew he never understood the need to wake up so early considering everypony else still slumbered, and he always enjoyed the chance to sleep in. The library was always checked before bed, for dust and loose books, so the need to prepare it every morning was unnecessary.

Maybe if I grow Spike a mane and teach him how to get it prepared every morning he'll understand, she joked. Then again, Spike might do something weird with it like remake Rarity's mane-style.. Picturing such an image gave her a shudder.

Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs she made a bee-line towards the kitchen; the source of where the now noticeable delicious smells were coming from. No doubt from Spike's amazing cooking. "Morning Spike," she greeted while taking her usual seat at the kitchen table. Spike currently had his back to her, busy stirring batter in a metal bowl.

Spike glanced her way with a smile before returning to his task. "Morning Twi. Glad I finally woke you up. I don't know if I can eat this double batch of pancakes alone."

Twilight rolled her eyes. She's already seen how much of an appetite he had and knew he was only being his usual silly self. Instead of correcting him about the time he ate ten hoof-sized raw gems, she used her magic to pick up the newspaper on the table. The weather section showed sunny all week except Wednesday, which the weather team planned for light rain over Ponyville.

The other sections of the newspaper didn't hold anything interesting. Although it was nice to see Rarity in an article under the business section. Apparently one of her latest dresses had exploded in popularity, causing a high demand. No doubt she would be very busy to keep up with those orders.

"Look out, incoming hot deliciousness," Spike stated as something was placed on the table; behind the open newspaper Twilight held. She folded the newspaper and eyed the steaming pancakes. "They look delicious, Spike. Did you remember-" Two small cups filled with a brown and yellow liquid were placed shortly before she could finish.

"Six fluid ounces of maple syrup, heated of course. And two fluid ounces of butter, melted?" Spike stated with a grin on his face. Twilight returned it with a smile of her own before dressing up her breakfast. Spike meanwhile helped himself to a seat across the table, where his plate of gems waited for him.

Their breakfasts were usually quiet and today was no different, except the occasional satisfied hum from Twilight as she enjoyed her pancakes. When they were finished she lifted the dirty dishes with magic and began washing them in the sink.

"So what's on today's schedule? Spike asked while putting away the dishes Twilight cleaned and set aside.

"Just need to finish up on some light reading," Twilight responded while rubbing off leftover syrup on her plate.

"You mean that pile of books next to your usual reading spot upstairs?" Spike deadpanned.

Twilight lost her grip on the washcloth, but caught it before falling in the sink. "Um... yes?" Glancing at spike she noticed him giving the 'it's a beautiful sunny day outside why are you wasting it' look. Rolling her eyes, she turned the faucet off and cleaned up the sink before fully turning towards her assistant. "Alright Spike, you win."

"Great! you go enjoy outside while-"

"I'll just take my reading to the park!" she finished with a smile.

Spike facepalmed.

Quilt spread under shade of a tree? Check.

Plenty of reading material? Check.

Snacks set aside for lunch? Check.

Happy that everything was in place, Twilight put away the checklist and settled down on the quilt. She took a moment to enjoy her surroundings before picking up the nearest book in the pile beside her prone form and began reading. The first subject of the today being about arachnids.

1

Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...

Twilight's ear flicked as she barely heard somepony call her name. Looking up from her book all she saw was a calm park devoid of anypony. With a shrug she returned to her reading.

Anatomically, spiders differ from other arthropods in that the usual body segments are fused into two tagmata, the cephalothorax and abdomen, and joined by a small, cylindrical pedicel...

"Hey Twilight!" Looking up once more, Twilight saw Rainbow Dash barreling towards her. When she was about to crash into her friend, Rainbow did a quick loop to bleed off some speed before landing on the large quilt without incident.

"Morning Rainbow. Where's there something you needed?" While a bit off-put for the break in her enjoyable reading atmosphere, she didn't mind the company.

Rainbow shrugged. "I saw you leave and head over to the park on such a nice day, so I'd thought I'd drop by." She eyed the selection of books beside Twilight. "Only to find you reading?"

"You can join me if you want." Twilight patted a empty spot on the quilt, but frowned when Rainbow shook her head.

"Uh, no thanks. Maybe when the next Daring Do comes out." Her eyes widened for a moment as she remembered something. "Did you check your mail today?"

"No, Spike is usually the one who does it. Why?"

"Oh... uh, no reason. Look I better get going I'll see you later!"

Twilight blinked. "Alright... see you later?" She watched the rainbow trail her friend left behind; her brow changing to a furrow as to why she acted so weird. Shrugging it off for now, she gladly welcomed back the quiet atmosphere.

I need to stop her from getting that invitation. For her own sake.

Rainbow sped across the sky, making a bee-line towards Twilight's library; more specifically the mailbox next to the Golden Oaks Library sign. Pulling open the small mailbox she frowned upon finding it empty.

Huh? Maybe Spike has it already.

Knocking on the front door three times, Rainbow heard Spike's muffled voice answering for her to come in. Letting herself in, she spotted him on a ladder doing his usual chores of dusting the books. "Hey, Spike!"

Spike turned his head and waved at Rainbow. "Morning, Rainbow. You here to return that copy of 'Daring Do: The Chalice of Fire'?

Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck. "Ah, not yet. Still reading it. Getting to the good part too." Using the conversation as a distraction she looked around the room for the invitation. Unfortunately it was nowhere to be seen. Before she gave up an idea popped in her head. "Did you bring in any mail today?"

"Mail?" Spike queried "Why do you want to see Twilight's mail?" Finally finished dusting the non-fiction section of the library, Spike began to descend the ladder.

"Well I think Derpy might have switched our mail again. You know how she is." A nervous chuckle left her throat as she continued to look for her objective.

Spike shrugged. "Can't say that I do, but let me check." He set the feather duster down and disappeared in the kitchen. When he came out he held a small pile of envelopes in one claw, which he laid out on a table for Rainbow to inspect. "Here you go. See anything that might be yours?"

Rainbow sifted through the letters, but they were all addressed to Twilight. Most of it was junk except one coming from Canterlot with her brother's cutie mark stamped in the top right corner. To her horror, the invitation wasn't in the pile.

If it's not here... where could it be?

"Is something wrong, Rainbow?' Spike asked in concern upon noticing the disturbed look on her face.

"Something wrong? Something wrong?" Her volume increasing. "My friend's reputation is at stake! She'll be the laughing stock of all of Ponyville!" At this point in her panicked state, she didn't notice grabbing Spike and shaking him senseless.

"Wha-t... a-re... y-ou... talk-ing... ab-out?" Spike sounded more like a maraca as Rainbow shook him violently.

Rainbow dropped Spike and took a moment to calm her nerve. "Duh! DJ Pon3 is setting up a party right here in Ponyville!" She stated like it was obvious. "And she sent an invitation to everypony. Do you have any idea what that means?"

Spike took a moment for the room to stop spinning before daring to make a response. "Uh, that everypony will have a great time?"

"No," Rainbow growled. "Think about it, Spike. What do parties normally have? Remember DJ Pon3 being at her brother's wedding? What was everypony doing?"

Spike's eyes widened in recognition "Oh yeah! everypony was... dancing." The recognition in his eyes quickly turned to horror. "Uh oh..."

The door opened behind them and Twilight's voice came from the doorway. "'Uh oh', what?"

Rainbow Dash and Spike jumped upon hearing her voice, but Rainbow recovering from the scare first. "Hey... Twilight. What are you doing here?"

"Well..." Twilight pulled out a plain envelope from her book bag, which Rainbow stared at as if she held a hoof file instead.

Fifteen minutes ago

Twilight hummed to herself as she turned another page. The atmosphere, once she got used to it, was quite enjoyable compared to the library. The direct sunlight made the pages easy to read and the dust-free air seemed to keep her energized.

In fact, I'd say being outside has increased my reading speed by ten percent...

"Hey, Twilight!"

If I wasn't being bothered by everypony.

Twilight, for the second time today, looked up to find another pegasus coming towards her. Albeit slower compared to Rainbow Dash, Derpy came in at steady pace before landing in front of her.

"Derpy? Are you done with your mail route already?" Twilight noticed the large mailbag strapped to Derpy's side; still full of mail.

"Nope, just here doing my job!" She yelled as she took little time to rummage through the bag, somehow fitting half her body inside the bag. Before Twilight could ask if she needed help, Derpy pulled out a plain white envelope from her mailbag and dropped it in front of Twilight. "Vinyl asked me to deliver these invitations to each pony directly. It's quite a task with her giving one to everypony in ponyville, but the extra bits she gave me sure was nice. Anyway, see you at the party!" With that said Derpy lazily continued her mail route through Ponyville.

Opening her mail was the only time she even thought of the horrid idea of ripping paper. Inside she found a small card with about the size of her hoof and a sheet of paper. The card only had the word 'Invitation' in fancy blue ink with a Ponyville address. Seeing nothing else on the small card she read through the letter that went along with it.

All of Ponyville, including you, has been invited to DJ Pon3's 'Across Equestria' party

Come join her as she begins her tour across Equestria starting with Ponyville

Beginning today at 8:00PM and ending at 2:00AM enjoy drinks, eats, and live music by DJ Pon3 herself at the town hall.

Come show your dance moves as we hold a contest to see who can really moved their hooves.

With the winner earning not only the bit prize, but also meeting the famous DJ herself!

Hope to see you there!

Signed, Vinyl Scratch aka "DJ Pon3"

Twilight looked at the sky and, with the help of the book she had read, "Sun placement and you: How to tell the time the old-fashion way", noticed it was around lunch time.

If everypony is invited that means my friends will be there. I only have about seven hours before it starts too. I should stop now and head back to the library to get ready.

Twilight looked down at the still open book and let out a heavy sigh as she saved her page with a bookmark.

"And then I quickly came back to get some errands done before the party," Twilight finished. "So. Mind telling me what's so important to rush towards my home after asking about my mail?" She asked while eyeing Rainbow's hoof still next to the pile of mail, which she quickly pulled away with a sheepish smile. At this point she had an idea what this was all about, but wanted to hear Rainbow say it herself rather than point it out.

Rainbow rubbed her forehooves together while desperately avoiding the piercing stare Twilight gave her. "I uh... well... " The thought of simply ditching the situation and flying out a nearby window crossed her mind, but what kind of friend was she to not simply speak her mind? Not to mention leaving Spike hanging to deal with Twilight alone. Giving up with a sigh, Rainbow Dash hung her head. "I don't want you to go to the party, Twilight."

"Because?"

"Because you make a pony being hit by a taze spell look good?" Spike commented rather flatly, which caught Rainbow and Twilight off guard. "What? Somepony had to say it sooner or later."

Twilight gave Spike the 'I'm disappointed in you' glare before continuing with a sigh. "Alright. I know my dancing isn't the best, but that isn't fair to me. To be honest I always liked dancing."

"With friends, yes, but not on the dance floor where everypony in Ponycille will be at! Do you really want everypony to see you in that light?"

Twilight opened her mouth, but closed it shortly afterwards as she put some thought into what Rainbow had said. After tapping a forehoof against her lower lip for a moment her eyes brightened with an idea. "I know! I'll just improve on my dancing skills. That way, I'll not make a fool of myself and get to dance!"

"Twilight, the party starts in..." he paused to glance at the clock. "Eight hours. I know you're a quick learner and have crammed in the past, but even this is pushing it."

"Well, I'm going to try anyway," Twilight said with finality as she further entered the room and began searching the shelves for the appropriate books. "I'll need complete focus if this is going to work." Finding several books to begin her studying, she started upstairs to her favorite reading spot.

"You might as well leave, Rainbow," Spike stated with a frown. "You know how she gets when her mind is set on something. I'll see you later at the party."

With the tug of a frownon her face Rainbow nodded. "Yeah, see you both of you later. I can only hope her plan works."

Spike watched Rainbow speed off through the front door before turning around to stare at the shelves that still require dusting. "Better finish these chores before the party."

2

Dance is a type of art that generally involves movement of the body, often rhythmic and to music. It is performed in many cultures as a form of emotional expression, social interaction, or exercise, in a spiritual or performance setting, and is sometimes used to express ideas or tell a story. Dance may also be regarded as a form of nonverbal communication between ponies or other animals.

There are many styles and genres of dance. Zebrican dance is interpretative. Ballet, ballroom and tango are classical dance styles. Square dance and electric slide are forms of step dance, and breakdancing is a type of street dance. Dance can be participatory, social, or performed for an audience. It can also be ceremonial, competitive or erotic.

Twilight blushed at the thought of what that might look like, but shook her head to shoo away such ideas. The book was a simple introduction and the history behind dancing; and good place to start in Twilight's mind. Sadly she didn't find anything to help her own dance, but the backstory behind the idea of dancing was nice.

As she continued through the books and time went by she found something interesting in a book showing different dance routines. The list surprised her as she learned of several ballroom dances Canterlot was known for. Or line dancing which held popularity in Appleoosa.

Some dances were more widespread. "Breakdancing" drew her attention which was popular in most of Equestria, especially Manehatten's underground, but the moves described didn't sound very interesting to her. Not to mention difficult.

Absolutely none of these dances fit me. Centuries of dance and I cant find a single one! Am I missing something? Did I read over a page I missed? Flipping through the section with the list of dances once more, so settles near the end where a small sentence settled in the middle of the page.

But remember: a dancer follows the routine, but an amazing dancer creates their own.

Creates their own dance? Create my own dance! that's it!

Her eyes lit with ideas as she brought over paper, a quill and bottle of ink to her side. She then flipped through the list to find different moves that might fit together. Sometimes even coming up with a new move that sounded good in her own mind. However, she knew that writing down how the dance should go was different from actually doing it, but she was confident in pulling it off with practice. Twilight looked up at the clock to see there was only three hours left until the party.

Okay. Considering DJ Pon3's music selection this fast and upbeat dance should fit perfectly.

Twilight looked over the notes while moving her body in the different positions for muscle memory. From there she agreed to do the full dance without looking. She practiced like this for an unknown amount of time and by the end she had it down to the smallest muscle twitch.

Okay, once more. Throw hooves up in the air like this... twirl here, stand on one hoof there. Jump forward and- NOT TRIP OVER SPIKE!

Twilight flailed her hooves for a moment before sailing over him; cartwheeling out the open bedroom door and down the flight of stairs. While Twilight groaned and slowly got off the floor, Spike ran down the stairs after her.

"Are you alright?" Spike asked while helping her back up.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Twilight said while rubbing her head. She stopped when realizing what Spike had done. "But More importantly, why were you upstairs? I told you no interruptions." Spike stared at her with an expresionless face while pointing at the clock. They both had half an hour before the party started. "Oh no, oh no!" Twilight ran to the bathroom to clean herself up. After all that dance practice, she had put up quite a sweat and needed to remove the dampness on her coat. Thankfully magic always come out in the end with finishing such simple tasks, and next thing she knew she had grabbed Spike and was outside; galloping towards town square.

Twilight heard the party far before she actually saw it. Even with five minutes to spare and everypony waiting for the doors to open, it sounded like the party had already begun. As she approached the booming building, she caught sight of three of her friends standing with the rest of the crowd; waving her over.

"Howdy, Twilight," Applejack spoke barely over the noise coming from town hall.

"Hey everypony. Are you all ready to get your groove on?" Twilight asked with a bright smile, ignoring the facehoof Rainbow gave at such a lame saying. "Where's Rarity and Fluttershy?"

"Shy gave a last minute excuse to take care of her animals, but I know she hates the loud music," Rainbow informed. "Not so sure about Rarity though. Probably thinks how," she clears her throat as does a horrible impersonation of Rarity, "uncouth doth music selection is!" To add in the dramatics, Rainbow fell backwards into Applejack.

"Actually, I believe the correct term is 'uncouth thine music selection is'," Twilight corrected.

"Whoa nelly!" Applejack pushed Rainbow forward and back on her hooves.

"Are the doors open yet? How about now? Now? How much longer? Oh, I cant wait!" Pinkie Pie rapidly spouted off as she bounced with the beat coming from the building.

"Relax, Pinks. I'm sure they'll open in a minute to get the dancing started," Rainbow reassured. She then glanced at Twilight with an eyebrow raise. That simple gesture having more meaning to Twilight then anypony else could catch. She responded with a sly wink and a smile, as if to say "You'll see".

What Twilight didn't tell through the gesture was the growing uncertainty she felt. Butterflies in your stomach, stage fright, whatever it's called, Twilight felt it. Would the other ponies accept her new dance or shun it? What would her friends think?

Maybe it would be best if I back out-

"It's started! the line is moving!" Pinkie shouted with glee as she pushed Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow forward. Upon entering the doorway they were greeted with the full force of the music and the sight of light effects dazzling the entire room. High up on the balcony stood a large turntable with DJ Pon3 herself behind it.

Even with as many ponies in the room there was still plenty of space to walk comfortably, which was expected considering this was where all town meetings were held.

"Welcome Ponyville! I hope you're all ready to listen to some awesome beats?" The crowd cheered in unison, which brought a smile to Pon3's face. "I said... Are you ready?" The crowd cheered louder this time and she happily obliged as the party truly got started.

The party was going off without a hitch. Everypony was having a great time. The drinks were fruity and had a non-nonalcoholic selection, which Twilight made sure Spike only drank. The dance floor held a wide array of hooves which moved to the music. However, there was a set of purple hooves missing out on the fun.

Spike rolled his eyes at Twilight who looked like a deer caught in the lamplights of a carriage. "Come on, Twilight. Just step out there and do exactly as you practiced."

"I-I can't," she admitted with her ears tucked down. "This is completely different as to how I pictured it in my mind."

"And... how exactly did you picture it?" Spike asked with an eyebrow raise.

"Well..." Exactly how it is right now. Her head drooped while watching the other ponies dance. They seemed so happy, as if not a care in the world. Probably because they don't have anything to prove.

As Twilight stared at the dancing ponies the song track had finally ended. With cheers and stomps of hooves in approval, everypony left the floor, leaving it bare for anypony to jump on.

"Sorry Twilight, but you'll thank me later. Hopefully," Spike said as he shoved Twilight towards what she was fearing. After several prods in the flank and lightly singing the end of her tail, she soon found herself standing in the middle of the dance floor. It settled in the middle of the room and was a circle big enough for her to take several steps in any direction before leaving.

"Alright. It's twelve at night so you know what that means everypony. It's time for the dance tournament, and to see if any of you have what it takes to out-dance the competition." There was a pregnant pause as Twilight could feel the DJ eyeing her from above. "What's this? Somepony already wants to show off their style on the floor?" Pon3 yelled from above. "Alright then, show us what you got!"

Twilight's eyes widened. "Oh no, no, I was just about to..." As she turned to leave, but the interested stares from the surrounding ponies forced her back to the floor. Before she knew it, the crowd had surrounded the stage to watch the performance she didn't wish to give. She could simply teleport out, but backing out now was worse than not dancing at all. As if things could get any worse the music began to play.

Startled at the sudden noise, she did the first thing that came to mind and threw a foreleg up. Her body tried to push her to continue the dance, but her mind realized she had forgotten it entirely. The increasing sense of dread that she was making a fool of herself became obvious as the music continued to play without a dancer.

Come on, Twilight. You can do this. Just like the book said about being an amazing dancer. Just need to improvise.

She began to move her foreleg forward, but stopped when she felt a furious tickle on her back-right leg, causing a instinctive buck at the air. Swiveling her head to see the cause, it had moved to her stomach and up her chest. Standing on her hind legs to brush off whatever was tickling her, she found the hoof that had brushed her chest now tickled. It shot up her arm and rested at the back of her neck. Twilight bent her head down and shook it frantically, tossing her mane side to side in an effort to detach the annoying invader. Even without seeing it, she knew it was a insect of some sort just from feeling it crawl over her coat.

Twilight continued to get rid of the annoying thing causing her to itch. Wherever it crawled she would move her body as if to get away from it, even though it was firmly stuck in her coat. When it crawled to the right side of her stomach she bent to the left. If it moved to one of her legs she stuck it out and shook it, or stomped the ground if it got close to her hoof.

She even had the brilliant, at least to her it was, idea to simply teleport away. Instead the creature followed with her in a different place on her body, causing her to disappear and reappear in different poses. Utterly spent from so much movement and using her magic, she slumped to the ground; breathing heavily. However, it wasn't as loud as the uncomfortable silence that came from the room.

Daring to glance around the room she saw everypony still staring at her, but their jaws were now hanging open. Most likely in horror.

Oh, Celestia! I ruined everything. All because of this dumb spider who wont get off me! Her right ear flicked as she felt it crawl around on her head before looking at her upside-down. While she knew it was a small creature, the culprit surprised her as nothing more than a fuzzy purple spider, its body no bigger than the frog of her hoof; with eight beady eyes staring at her. You hear me? All your fault!

The purple spider simply stared at her in response.

"Twilight, that was awesome!" The spider ducked inside Twilight's mane before it was seen by Rainbow Dash and her other friends as they joined her on dance floor.

Twilight finally stood up to face her friends, a frown tugging her lips. "I know! it was horrib-what?"

"Yeah! you were super-duper amazing, Twilight!" Pinkie beamed with a smile.

"But..." Twilight took a moment to look around the room again. Slowly the crowd began to snap out of the stupor and cheer her on. Soon the only thing anypony could hear was everypony giving praise. But Twilight still wasn't convinced with her ears still drooping. "Did I really do that well?" Seeing her three friends nod their heads she finally let a small smile replace her frown. "Thanks girls, but I think I shouldn't take all the credit," she admitted.

Applejack tilted her head. "What are you going on about?"

Twilight began walking to the refreshment table. "Lets talk somewhere else. Other ponies might want to dance for the competition." Upon reaching it she grabbed a paper cup, filled it with punch, and chugged it down. The performance she had done left her mouth feeling dryer than Appleoosa's plains in the heat of summer. She repeated the motion once more to sate her thirst before turning back to her friends. By now the music had kicked up again and the crowd had switched their focus to another performance.

"Alright. You can come out now," Twilight said while prodding at her mane; receiving odd looks from her friends. She expected to see her spider friend, but the only thing underneath was her forehead. "Wh-Where did he go?" She asked while scanning her body for the small creature.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Uh, Twi? There's nothing on you."

"But... it ducked under my mane when you came over. Spiders don't just vanish out of thin air!" Twilight's ears folded while explaining her situation. While its appearance was quite a surprise, she didn't find it scary. In fact she began to get curious what species it was.

"Probably returned home?" Applejack offered. "Look, I'm sure your new friend is just fine. Why don't we go enjoy the rest of the party."

"I think I'll stay here," Twilight groaned while rubbing a foreleg and sitting down.. "My hooves are feeling a bit sore after my performance."

Rainbow waved a hoof towards applejack. "Go ahead, Applejack. I'll catch up in a bit. I need to... talk about something with Twilight." Hearing this, Twilight's ears perked up.

"What did you want to talk about?"

"Well..." Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck. "I just want to say I'm... Ugh, why does this have to be so hard! I'm sorry!"

Twilight rested a hoof on her friend's shoulder. "Rainbow, it's alright. Besides, if you didn't think I would make a fool of myself, I wouldn't have tried to improve my dancing in the first place. Even if I was freaking out about a spider landing on me," she finished with a sheepish smile.

"Maybe you can show your moves at one of Pinkie's parties," Rainbow suggested. "Sure you don't want to watch her dance? It sure is something."

"Nah, I'll be fine. go ahead and watch without me."

Twilight waited until Rainbow had left to join the crowd before helping herself to another cup of punch; slowly her mind drifted off back to the spider. The creature was, in a strange way, adorable. Maybe it was the eight beady eyes, or could it be the small fuzzy body being held by its eight legs. She couldn't put a hoof on it.

Of course nopony else would agree with her. Ponyville's arachnophobia had skyrocketed after Luna animated those toy throwing spiders during nightmare night. The idea that a spider was anywhere near Ponyville would send shivers down their spines.

Thankfully the darkness of the room didn't cause anypony to scream in terror when Twilight felt an itch on her back. "That wasn't very nice leaving so suddenly," Twilight scolded while eyeing the purple lump on her back. It simply stared back attentively. "How did you do that anyway?"

The spider jumped at attention and in the blink of an eye, disappeared in a puff of purple smoke. Shortly afterwards the spider reappeared resting on her muzzle; its legs dangling limply. Twilight stared at the incredible creature on her nose in awe.

It can use magic? That's amazing! but how is it doing it? Unicorns use their horns to focus their magic, and this spider obviously doesn't have a horn. Then again some creatures are known to have supernatural abilities like the Cockatrice's stare. Could this spider be a magical creature?

"You're not a normal spider, are you?" Twilight took the waggle of its mandibles as a yes. "Would you... like to come home with me? For studying purposes of course."

Standing back up on its eight legs, it shook its head and pointed a fuzzy leg towards a window. Twilight walked over and looked outside while the spider frantically pointed the same leg at the moon in the sky.

"What about the moon?" The spider tapped a leg against itself then back at the moon. "You're from the moon?" Two legs covered its face for such an answer. "I'm not getting much to work with you know," Twilight said with an annoyed glare.

Climbing on the window, it crawled to the upper-left corner before crawling in a odd pattern across it; leaving webbing behind. Twilight watched as a letter came into view. "L..." Slowly another letter appeared from the spider's webbing. "U..."

Before the spider could finish what it was trying to say, an éclair smacked it against the window. The soft pastry thankfully didn't harm the spider, but now it was in a dazed stumble on the windowsill in an éclair costume.

"SPIDER!" the offending pony shouted. The music stopped abruptly. All the ponies watching the dancing had turned towards her direction, except Pinkie Pie who continued dancing like a maniac. Somewhere in the background a plate spun before slowly resting on the floor. The crowd started to panic as they searched for the spider, but they couldn't spot it due to the "costume" it was wearing.

"You better get out of... " the éclair wasn't on the windowsill when she turned back around. "Here?" Searching around her for the small creature stuck inside a pastry, it was nowhere to be found. Sighing for such a turn of events, Twilight stared at the two letters it managed to spell out.

Pointing at the moon and the words L and U... It didn't take long before Twilight's eyes lit up in realization.

Canterlot Castle

"Hello?" Luna poked her head under her bed. Not seeing anything she grunted in annoyance. "Where has that little troublemaker gone off to now? He better not be pestering my sister again." She had been searching for her pet for the past two hours was about to leave her bedroom when an éclair appeared into existence to her right; landing on her dresser. Frosting splattered the polished top as eight fuzzy legs flailed about; trying to discard the pastry.

"Atramedes!" Luna lifted the spider with her magic and tore the éclair in half to free her pet. "Where have you been? You had me search all over the castle for you!" Her gaze lessened as she studied the pastry again. "Do I even want to know?"

Atramedes rubbed two front legs together nervously as the spider explained where he had gone. It looked like a one-sided conversation to a normal pony, but small movements from the spider was his way of speaking. Luna's eyes widened with surprise..

"You visited Twilight Sparkle? You should know better than to leave the castle," she scolded. The spider's mandibles drooped, but Luna rubbed his back to calm him down. "Oh, I suppose I'll let it pass for now. T'was my own fault really for talking about her so much. She really is a great friend."

She blinked in confusion when he began to tap her hoof. "Hm? You want to see her again? Well... Tell you what. You give Celestia a good morning tomorrow and I'll consider it. Right now go and get some rest." Luna nuzzled the fuzzy spider before it disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Happy that her pet has returned home, Luna headed out her bedroom door to prepare for tonight's visitors in the throne room.