The next following day, the fillies and colts of Ponyville were heading back to the Ponyville Schoolhouse for another great day of learning and education. They were all getting in their seats and sharing little conversations with each other while waiting patiently for their teacher, Miss Cheeliee to be ready. Once she was in front of the class, she started to take the roll. She called out Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, Featherweight, Dinky Hooves, and Ruby Pinch; she just about called out all of her students.

However, when she got to the last name on the roll…

“Twist?!”

… she heard no pony speak; so she tried again.

“Twist, are you here?!”

But still no voice was heard. Cheerliee soon noticed the empty desk in the room that once housed the young filly.

“Hmm, I wonder where she is.”

“Maybe she was too stressed toady and decided to stay home, Miss Cheerliee,” Tiara responded in a light chuckle.

Cheerliee just scratched her head, “It’s not like Twist to just miss out on school day for no reason.”

“Oh, Miss Cheerliee,” a filly named Ruby Pinch called out.

“Yes Ruby?”

“I almost forgot, I ran into Twist this morning and she asked me to give you this.”

Ruby walked up to Cheerliee and gave her the letter that was in her mouth. She opened it up and read it carefully.

“What’s this…? ‘Sorry that I couldn’t join your class on this last day of the week, but I decided to stay home today to help my Aunt manages the store today; family business and all. I look forward to learning more from you again starting next week.’ So that’s her reason.”

“You know Miss Cheerliee,” said Diamond Tiara, “maybe you should’ve done it in Twist’s lisp voice.”

“Yeah, it sounds so amusing,” Silver Spoon snickered.

Cheerliee gave both of them a little scowl to signal them a warning, “Now you two, there will be no picking on some pony’s lisp; it’s not very nice.”

“Of course,” said Tiara so innocently, “we’re sorry.” Then she and Silver Spoon snickered amongst themselves again.

Apple Bloom and her friends knew that Twist wouldn’t lie; especially to her teacher and classmates. However, they had a feeling that there was still something more behind this than they knew as they whispered to each other.

“Hey girls,” said Apple Bloom, “ya don’t think Twist stayed home because of what happened yesterday, do ya?”

“I bet my hoof on it,” Scootaloo responded.

“Maybe… we should check on her after school,” said Sweetie Belle, “You know, to make sure that she’s okay.”

They all nodded in agreement, “Agreed.”

They all sat back up in their seats as Cheerliee got situated and was ready to begin the day, “Well, now that that’s taken care of, we can start with today’s lesson.”

Before all the students knew, school was already over for the day. The CMCs never thought it would come soon enough; they were all ready to head over to Twist’s place for a little visit. Surely she had a really good reason for not showing up today, but they just wanted to make sure.

“Hey girls,” shouted Apple Bloom as they walked out of the schoolhouse, “ready to go check on Twist?”

“I sure am;” said Sweetie Belle, “I just hope that she’s alright.”

“Maybe she really is just working to help her parent’s business,” stated Scootaloo.

“Yeah… maybe.”

“Off to visit your nerdy friend, blank flanks?” said Diamond Tiara approaching from behind.

The CMCs just stopped in their tracks and all three just rolled their eyes.

“Silver Spoon and I are like heading over to my house, so why don’t you tell ol’ frizzy hair of how much we missed her today and her most pitiful personality.”

“Really Diamond Tiara,” said Apple Bloom as she and her friends faced them, “really? After what you two did, you’re really going to go there?”

“How about you two get a life and find something more worth your time,” shouted Scootaloo.

“Y-yeah,” Sweetie Belle tried to continue, “Y-you know good and well of the real reason Twist probably didn’t come today; it’s because of what you did to her yesterday!”

Tiara and Silver Spoon were just giggling at Sweetie’s attempt in talking back at them and just brushed it off.

“Oh like… whatever,” scoffed Tiara, “If you ask me, she brought it on herself. It’s not our fault she decided to get into a conversation that was like none of her business.”

“If she couldn’t stand the heat, she should’ve stayed out of the kitchen,” Silver Spoon added.

Suddenly, Apple Bloom just smiled and had a good laugh; the two rich fillies were wondering if she had lost it or something.

“What’s so funny,” said Tiara, “I don’t remember us trying to make you laugh.”

“You two really are amusing, y’know that. Yall can say and do all yall want, but one of these days you two are gonna wish you were more nicer to ponies like us; and if you’re not careful, somepony might try to do something completely different. Yall better change before it’s too late or you’ll regret it.”

“Is she… threatening us, Tiara?” question Silver Spoon.

“Sounds like it to me; but those threats will fall on deaf ears.”

The two rich fillies started to take their leave away from the crusaders

“Let’s get one thing straight here, loser. You and your little entourage don’t scare us, and we really don’t care what you think of what we want to do. Isn’t that right, Silver Spoon?”

“Um… yeah, that’s right!”

“Plus, if any pony is going to regret anything, it’s anypony that tries to mess with us. Too bad that there’s nothing you can do about it, crusader dorks!”

The two fillies were laughing again as they walked off; then, Scootaloo shouted out, “By the way Tiara, I think your flank getting a bit big, don’t ya think!?”

Tiara suddenly gasped and ran off backwards until she was out of their view.

“That was a pretty good one, Scootaloo,” said Sweetie Belle, “insulting her figure like that.”

“Yeah, giving her a little piece of her own medicine; after all, I had to do something to feel better.”

“Come on, girls,” Apple Bloom shouted suddenly, “Ah’m a bit famished. Let’s stop for a little something to eat at my place, and then we can check on Twist. Hopefully she isn’t too busy or anything.”

The two rich fillies continued down the path towards the house of Tiara’s; both feeling pretty high of themselves like nothing could stop them. But soon down the road… they were about to get a little unexpected surprise.

“How dare she say that,” growled Tiara, “calling my fabulous flank fat! You don’t think my flank is getting big, right Silver Spoon?”

Silver Spoon jumped a bit when Tiara pointed her flank in her face, “Whoa! Um… n-no, of course it isn’t.”

Tiara just rolled her eyes, “Whatever, it’s not like I care or anything. And that whole speech thing about ponies wanting to have revenge on us was like so lame.”

“Yeah; I mean who would want to take revenge on us?” questioned Silver Spoon, “With the financial power we have behind us, no pony would dare do something like that, right?”

“Exactly, Silver Spoon; plus, no need to worry about that nerd, Twist either. We saw first-hand how she handled her frustration and her family can’t afford a lawsuit from us. Trust me, we’ll be just fine.”

Suddenly, they found themselves halting in their path as they saw construction ponies working through debris that was blocking their usual path to Tiara’s house.

“Oh you got to be kidding me,” groaned Tiara.

“Sorry girls,” said one of the workers, “I’m afraid that this path is blocked and no pony can get through here right now. It is quite strange actually; this mess wasn’t here last night, now all of a sudden it shows out of nowhere. I guess you two are going to have to take the long way back around.”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” scoffed Tiara, “we know another shortcut. Come along Silver Spoon.”

As they took a side detour, Silver Spoon was quite curious of what Tiara meant, “We know another short cut?”

“Well duh,” said Tiara, “This short cut.”

Silver Spoon looked ahead on their alternate path that led into a small pathway inside a dark forest.

“Wait, y-y-y-you want us to go… through there?!”

“Of course; the other way is blocked and there’s no way I am walking back all the way around. So come on, let’s go.”

Silver Spoon was shaking while feeling a strange sensation coming over her, “I don’t know, Tiara. I think I want to go back around.”

“Don’t be silly,” Tiara responded, “I’ve gone through here a couple of times and I’m just fine now come on.”

Silver Spoon was just stepping away unsure of doing what Tiara suggested.

“Oh would you cut it out, Silver Spoon,” Tiara shouted, “You already wear glasses like that nerd filly, don’t be a chicken like her too!”

To Silver Spoon, Tiara had a point; she refused to have any other similarities to Twist. So she took a deep breath, and gathered all of her courage to comply with her friend.

“Y-y-you’re right, Tiara; I’m no chicken. Let’s travel this shortcut!”

“Now that’s more like it,” said Tiara with a proud smile.

They began to walk down the slightly dark path in the forest while Silver Spoon was trying her best to brave; even though deep down she was still a little scared.

“See, this isn’t so bad, right?” questioned Tiara as she was walking ahead of Silver Spoon.

“Y-yeah… I guess it’s not too bad. I just hope that we get there soon.”

Suddenly, she accidentally stepped on something that made a loud snap sound that literally scares her and causes her zip right up against Diamond Tiara shaking furiously.

“Oh my gosh, Tiara; I think I like… heard something! What was that!?”

Diamond Tiara turned around and saw what her friend was talking about; and she just rolled her eyes, “It’s just a branch, Silver Spoon.”

“Oh… heh heh, I-I-I-I knew that,” Silver Spoon responded nervously.

They continued to walk on while Tiara was literally lecturing her friend, “Honestly, Silver Spoon; if you’re ever going to like get ahead in life, you can’t let things scare you so easily. You have to march forward with your head held high and your spirit full of determination! That is like the quality of a true financial leader; that’s what my daddy told me anyway.”

Silver Spoon was quite envious of her friend in a good way. Tiara always seemed to keep herself cool under pressure and let nothing scare her; Silver Spoon wanted to be just like her. But then at that moment, a pair of white hooves quickly reached out and wrapped around Silver Spoon’s mouth as her fear came back in full force. She was only able to make a small muffled sound before being immediately pulled into the bushes.

“You know, I was thinking… in the near future we should totally start a business together using the financial power of both of our families. We’ll both be so rich and powerful, no regular ponies like those loser crusaders or that nerd would dare threaten us; don’t you think so?”

Suddenly, Tiara looked behind her and noticed that her friend was nowhere to be seen.

“Huh, Silver Spoon; like where did you go?”

Her eyes turned partially wide when she noticed that nothing but her friend’s glasses was lying on the pathway behind her. She quickly rushed over to them and picked them up; wondering where Silver Spoon could be. But then she just laughed thinking she knew the answer.

“Nice try, Silver Spoon; but if this is like some lame attempt to freak me out so you can scare me, it won’t work. So come on out and save yourself from the humiliation.”

But Tiara didn’t see her friend come out of hiding; she was quite sure that she was going to scare her, “Come on Silver Spoon, I know you’re behind those bushes; now come on and stop playing around!”

Silver Spoon still wasn’t coming out; but maybe she just wanted to test her to see if nothing really scares her.

“*Sigh* Okay, Silver Spoon; I’ll humor you.”

She pretended to stare prolonging into the bushes, and then she jumped through them onto the other side to give Silver Spoon a scare.

“AHA!!! See Silver Spoon, I told ya that nothing scares me. Now come on so we can like get out of this creepy forest.”

But when she looked around, she still saw no sign of her friend. Now she was starting to get really worried.

“S-S-Silver Spoon, this really isn’t funny anymore; I’m not getting s-scared or anything but we seriously need to…”

Suddenly to her side, she finally saw Silver Spoon; laid out on the ground on her side, and she was completely unconscious.

“SILVER SPOON!!!”

She rushed over to her to try and wake her up, but nothing was happening. She also appeared to have a huge bruise on her head that was red all over.

“Oh Celestia, please wake up! I’m really not playing Silver Spoon, now wake up! Who on Equestria did this to you!? I… I oughta have their flanks like whipped for this!”

Just then why attending to her knocked out friend, a mysterious shadow suddenly looms over Tiara and holds a metal pipe in its mouth; ready to deliver the same possible blow on the unsuspecting filly.

“Huh… what the…”

The shadow took a swing and Tiara was knocked out in an instant. After Tiara fell on top of her friend, the shadow looked over them to make sure they were completely unconscious. It suddenly grinned with an ominous smile as it prepared to do whatever it wishes to the unfortunate fillies.

Later on, the CMCs finally arrive at the house of their friend, Twist, to see if she was alright. They knocked on the door and it was answered by Twist’s Aunt.

“Oh, why hello there little fillies,” she said with a smile.

“Hello mam,” Apple Bloom responded, “You’re Twist’s Aunt, right? We’re some of your niece’s friends; Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.”

“Wait a minute,” said Pretzel suddenly, “you must be those three filly friends Twist told me about; the Cutiemark Crusaders!”

“Well… yes, that’s us,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Well aren’t yall just adorable! It’s so precious the way you all try so hard to earn your cutiemarks; in fact, if my flank was still bare, I could learn a lot from you three and possibly join your ranks as a crusader!”

“Um… yeah, we would… totally let you join,” said Scootaloo while feeling weirded out.

“Excuse me,” Apple Bloom continued, “We came here to see Twist; she didn’t show up at school today so we just thought we come over here to see if she was actually staying here while helping out in the shop.”

“Oh don’t you worry about her, she is absolutely fine. I mean… sure she was acting a bit weird yesterday, but whatever it was seemed to pass over; she must have had a rough day. Anyway, she told me a while ago that she was going to get a couple of things in town so she should be back soon. That little filly is growing up so fast; so responsible.”

“Is it just me, girls…” whispered Scootaloo, “… or is Twist’s Aunt a few crumbs short of a pretzel?”

The crusaders became awfully curious of exactly how Twist acted when she got home yesterday after hearing her Aunt’s explanation.

“Wait, so what exactly did she do yesterday?” asked Apple Bloom.

“Are we dithcuthing thomething about me over here?” said a nearby voice.

“Twist!” all the crusaders shouted out as they looked over to their side and saw their friend approaching them calmly.

“Oh Twist,” said Sweetie as she went over and hugged their friend, “I guess you are just helping to clean around your parent’s shop; thank goodness you’re alright!”

Twist just looked at them weirdly with her eyebrow arched, “Why wouldn’t I be alright?”

“Well… you know,” muttered Apple Bloom, “… because of what happened… yesterday.”

Twist just stared at them dumbfounded and her eyes narrowed a bit; but then she just turned on a cute little smile, “Oh, you mean that inthident? Yeah, I’m all over with that; no need to worry about me.”

They were glad to see that she was doing fine, but her Aunt’s explanation of yesterday still had them questioning her.

“So… you’re not mad anymore;” said Scootaloo, “No more anger and wanting to do something to those two jerks?”

“Nah,” Twist responded, “That’th all behind me now. You guyth were right; what happened yethterday wath nothing to get too worked up over. Thith little pony ith all calmed down.”

Suddenly, Sweetie Belle noticed something that shocked her, “Oh my gosh, Twist! What happened to your forehead; why is there a huge bandage on it!?”

Twist tilted her eyes upward and rubbed the bandage with her hoof, “Oh thith, ith nothing; no big deal.”

“No big deal?!” shouted Pretzel so suddenly, “This poor little filly came downstairs to me and she had this big punctured wound that was literally leaking out blood; I thought she was going to faint from blood loss or something!”

Twist looked up at her Aunt with lowered eyes feeling a bit embarrassed, “Come on, Aunt Pretthel, it wathn’t that theriouth.”

“What on earth did you do yesterday that caused that, Twist?!” asked Apple Bloom in a panic.

While twiddling with her hoof, Twist answered, “Well… I thorta went into my room and let out all of my anger and thress in there. You know; I threw thingth and bucked thingth down. Doing that wath reliving me and got me to calm down; but… I have thith diamond gem… and I threw that at one point; but I threw it tho hard that it ricochet off the wall thmacked me right in the forehead. It really did hurt a lot.”

“Oh you three should see her room,” said Pretzel, “it’s an absolute mess in there. Of course it didn’t really matter to me seeing that Twist was dreadfully injured and all so it could stay like that if she wants to… unless her parents want her to clean when they get back tomorrow then maybe she should; or maybe they should worry about the injury more… unless…”

“Aunt Prethel,” said Twist stopping her in her speech, “pleathe don’t hurt yourthelf trying to figure thingth out.”

“Of course, my bad; I must sound rather ditzy right now, but don’t worry… I get that a lot.”

The crusaders were at a loss for words trying to figure Twist’s Aunt out; she seemed nice but she was indeed a bit ditzy in the head.

“Soooo…. Anyway, it’s good to see that you’re doing a lot better Twist,” said Apple Bloom, “So don’t you feel a lot better letting go of all that anger?”

“It thure doeth; like the weight of my burdernth have been lifted off my tholderth!”

“So… do you want to hang out with us today?” questioned Sweetie Belle with a smile.

“Oh… I would love too, but…”

“Oh yeah, the whole tidying up and handling the shop for your parents… thing.”

Twist nodded and smiled, “Yep, but would it be okay if I hang out with you girlth tomorrow inthead?”

“Sure thang Twist,” Apple Bloom responded, “you can hang out with us anytime ya want.”

“Thankth, I knew you girlth would underthtand.”

After a little more conversating with them, the CMCs took their leave and waved at Twist as they did; they were just glad she was doing better and was looking forward to hanging out with her tomorrow. Twist watched as they went on feeling a sense of relief; but now she needed to do something before it was too late.

“You’re so lucky to have such good friends, Twist,” said Pretzel, “They really do care about you.”

“That’th nice,” Twist responded solemnly, “By the way, are you doing anything mainly right now?”

“Well… besides being here with my cutie of a niece and help out with things… I don’t think I am.”

Twist smirk mischievously, “Well I gueth that’th a good thing… ‘cauthe I thet you up on a date!”

“What?!” Pretzel started to freak out, “Tw-Tw-Twist; why on Equestria would you do that?!”

“Becauth I care about you, Aunt Prethel, and how you’re thingle; you detherve to thpend time with a thpecial thomepony.”

“Twist… I-I-I’m flattered and all and I’m sure that your heart is in the right place, but you didn’t have to go through all that trouble just for me.”

“Hey Twist, how’s it hangin’?” said a voice behind them, “I’m here.”

They both turned around and saw a magnificent young earth stallion with a wavy blonde mane and bage coat. Pretzel was shocked at how beautiful and handsome he looked; and she suddenly felt even more out of it than she usually is. His nice smile made her melt on the inside and she suddenly forgot about Twist’s action.

“Oh my goodness; hee hee. Well… um, maybe I could overlook this problem; after all, you went through so much trouble.”

“Aunt Prethel, let me introduth you to a thtallion friend of mine, Rocky; Rocky… my Aunt Prethel.”

“So you’re Prethel,” the young stallion responded, “I gotta say, you look a lot more pretty than what your niece here described.”

Pretzel just giggled a bit and blushed out of embarrassment, “Oh, really?”

“Thee Aunt Prethel, told ya that you’ll like him. Tho why don’t you give him a chanthe and let him take you out on a date?”

“Oh… I don’t know Twist; what about you? What are you going to do all this time by yourself?”

“Don’t worry about me, I’ve help my parentth here all the time; tho I can handle thingth on my own here.”

“She’s right you know;” said Rocky, “I’ve been here plenty of times and she always seems to know what to do around here. Her parents are raising her well.”

“Well…” said Pretzel while smiling dazedly, “I guess it’ll be alright since you two put it that way. I guess maybe I do need to socialize more with other ponies besides my own family. Okay handsome, I’m all yours.”

“Very well then,” said Rocky, “I guess we’ll leave maintaining this store to you Twist.”

“I thure am, Rocky. Have fun with my Aunt; thhe may be a little ditzy but I think you’ll thtill like her.”

“I do like a good challenge,” he chuckled.

“By the way Twist, when do you want me to be back?” Twist’s Aunt asked her.

While keeping a straight face, she said, “Oh don’t worry about that, take ath long ath you need; I’m not ruthing you or anything. I’ll take care of thingth here.”

Pretty soon Twist’s Aunt went off into town with Rocky leaving little Twist to manage the store all by herself… perfect; absolutely perfect. Twist had the most adorable smile on her face as she saw her Aunt walk off and having a conversation with her new date; but she did feel a little terrible for tricking her… and her friends.

Shifting her glasses up on her face, an evil-like intent flash upon her face as everything was going as she planned.

“Thorry that I had to trick you guyth like thith,” she thought to herself, “But I didn’t want ya’ll to thee me do thith; what hath to be done… needth to be done.”

Author's Note

Everything happens, and everything is fulfilled... next chapter.