A Spark in a Gray Mare

by stupid

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, Sad, Main 6, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Spike, Comedy
Length: 6653

Spike is always tired by all the work he has to do so Twilight and Spike search for a new assistant.

Spike is exausted all the time from his mountainous workload. As Twilight finds Spike napping so often, she decided to search for another assistant to help her and Spike. When they find out their funds are too low to hire anyone and pay them a salary, Spike suggests letting them work for a different kind of payment, but they would have never guessed they would run into the poor pony that they did. No shipping, gore, or language.

Published 2012-01-26 21:28:09 UTC
Last updated 2012-02-06 05:40:40 UTC

Search for an Assistant

Twilight's Assistant

"SPIKE!" Twilight Sparkle yelled at the lavender baby dragon. All she could see of him was his seaweed green spikes poking from a mound of books. The purple pony listened, though the only sound that came out of the books was a muffled snore. She tried yelling again, louder this time, "SPIKE!!!"

A head poked out of the books Spike had failed to finish putting away. "I'm awake!" Spike exclaimed, then started to pull himself free from the pile.

"Spike, we have GOT to do something about this! I know it isn't your fault, you're tired all the time, so that's why I'm making this announcement- we're getting some more help," Twilight said, pulling books off Spike as she spoke. Spike finally was able to yank himself free from the library's content. "Spike, how much money do we have saved up?" Twilight asked, trying to check what help they could afford.

"Um, it looks like our total balance is $0.00. . ." Spike said quietly, as he knew how Twilight could get worked up over the tiniest of annoyances. As soon as Spike said this Twilight started pacing, at first too shocked to say anything.

Finally she spoke, "HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET A GOOD ASSISTANT WITHOUT ANY MONEY!?" The volume Twilight's voice achived when she freaked out this dramatically would have caused anybody else to hide, but Spike had gotten used to it since she did this every other day.

"Calm down Twi! It'll be allright! Umm, may-maybe we can find something else to pay them with?" Spike stuttered with caution, being careful not rile Twilight up anymore.

To his relief Twilights face relaxed, and she spoke with a much calmer tone of voice. "All right Spike. That sounds great! Just one question-WHAT?!?!?" There Twilight went again, yelling in her melodramatically angered voice. Spike rolled his eyes, turning away first so Twilight wouldn't see him. Only he made the mistake of allowing her to catch him in the act. She went off the deep end and threw every book on the floor.

Spike spoke calmly with a hint of annoyance in his voice at Twilight. "If you would let me finish, there are plenty of other things. We could pay them with a place to live, food, books, and anything else we might think of!" Spike said with a proud voice. He thought not even Twilight could think that was stupid.

Spike tilted his chin up and wore an arrogant smile looking towards Twilight. In return she rolled her eyes and smiled. Then still grinning said, "All right. I guess that's a pretty good idea, but where do you suppose we look?" Twilight said, keeping the conversation down to earth.

"Why not the marketplace? There are always ponies looking for odd jobs there." The main reason Spike said this when Twilight wasn’t around one of his favorite diversions was going to the marketplace. There were many ponies selling food, some of them would give Spike a treat. Twilight and Spike put on their boots, two scarves, hats, a number of coats, and a huge jacket covering everything.

If they had worn all that any other day they would have gotten lots of laughs. This winter was one of the coldest Ponyville had ever had though; the snow gear was needed. They were bundled up so much they could scarcely speak. More importantly they had to use all their energy to walk in the heavy snow and their heavy coats.

When they finally trudged all the way to the marketplace they shed their heaviest coat, it was always a little warmer there since ponies were selling hot drinks and foods. It would warm their body, but the most heat came from the vendor's little space heaters.

"Ok Spike, you go to the right, and I'll go to the left." Twilight said, trying to send them both down the rows that were warmer.

"But Twilight, what happens when one of us finds somepony?" Spike replied, wearing a smug smile. He was pleased with the fact that he finally found a flaw with Twilight's plan.

"Just come back to here and yell my name as loud as you can. The ponies here are very used to loud noises so it'll be fine," Twilight said matter-of-factly, "and if you don’t find anypony come back here and wait for the me to finish, got that?" Twilight added.

"Ma'am yes Ma'am!" Spike said, doing his best to sound big and strong, but it was hard for a baby dragon. They both parted and started walking down the rows.

Twilight breathed in the smells of the scrumptious warm homemade brownies and the lucious steaming hot chocolates. She knew they hardly had any money as it is, but as the smells carressed her nose, she could almost taste the treats. She finally gave in, and gulped down some hot chocolate while she was turning her head side to side, trying to see every booth.

Meanwhile, Spike had been holding his ground and not buying anything. The smells tempting him and the cold was making Spike cranky. "I'm only a baby dragon and Twilights running me ragged at every turn! If I hadn't been with her so long I'd have left months; maybe years ago!" Spike yelled in his mind, but grumbled it quietly out loud.

Even though Spike was mad he was still being careful not to miss anypony's booth. Even when he passed Rarity, who was shopping for homemade fabrics, he kept his head down. "Oh, hi Spike!" Rarity called to Spike. He walked a few more feet, then shot up in the air with a chilling realization. I blew off Rarity!!! He screamed in his mind. He ran back and screeched to a stop right beside Rarity, then tried to act cool. "Oh, hey Rarity. Whatcha doin here?" He asked eagerly. He wouldn't mind being so cold if he could walk and talk with Rarity.

"Oh, I'm just looking for some new fabrics. I do say the ponies here are very talented when it comes to making fabrics." Rarity replied, stopping every few booths to inspect some fabric or to make a purchase. As they passed a warm booth filled with hot treats and drinks, Rarity gasped.

"Oh my goodness!" Rarity exlaimed, looking at a pony huddled up against the booth. It was the most pitiful pony either of them had ever seen. Spike judged it was about the age of a filly, or an early after-filly. It was a female pony, covered with dirt from head to toe. Everything about this pony's color was dull. Her coat was a dull gray. She had a dark red-almost auburn colored mane and tail; her mane was clumsily tied at the bottom with a frayed ribbon. Her eyes were the same color red. Her eyes had fear in them and she was hunkered down. The most surprising of all at this pony was-SHE DIDN'T HAVE A CUTIE MARK!

Rarity looked at Spike, "Aww, the poor pony's ribs are showing from hunger!" She said, then she sighed. "Oh how I wish I could help everypony that's in that sad of shape!" Rarity added then continued with her shopping. After a minute Rarity ran back to the pony and gave her a small apple, making sure everypony was watching first.

Spike ran off to get Twilight. The whole time he had been standing there, the gears had been turning. When he finally got back to the meeting place, he found Twilight already waiting there. He grabbed her and tried to pull her down the row, talking a mile a minute. "And she looks like she doesn't have a home- and she's real dirty- and she's a blank flank- and she doesn't even have boots-and-" Spike was going on and on until they finally got there. Twilight wasn't really listening to Spike babble until she heard one line, "And she's a unicorn-". Twilight felt joy over that line. Imagine having someone to practice magic with, Twilight thought to herself.

When they got there, Twilight looked the pony over. Twilight was, in fact, a practical pony. So she didn't care much for this pony's looks or how dusty she was. Twilight was trying to figure out if the pony was strong, not bossy, a hard worker, willing to work, and willing to take the time to learn about the merchandise.

Twilight walked up to the pony, who's had changed from fear, to downright fright. "Hi there! My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I own the library in Ponyville." Twilight pointed to Spike. "This is my faithful assistant Spike; however, we have realized we need another pony to help out around the library. So I'm here to propose that you work as an assistant in the library, in exchange for food, clothing, and living arrangements." Twilight nervously smiled at the pony, who just lay there and stared at Twilight. After a very long minute, the pony bit her lip and slowly nodded her head.

"Great!" Twilight exclaimed. "Why don't we go over to my house, the library, and I can show you around, warm you up, and get a nice meal in your stomach!" Twilight said, her and Spike were much more joyful, now that they could go back home. At the mention of the warmth and food, the pony slowly got up and trotted after Twilight and Spike.
The three ponies walked in an awkward silence. The frail pony finally broke the silence and asked a question. "So, um, Miss Twilight, what kind of work will I be doing as an assistant?

Twilight didn't stop walking, but she turned her head around while undoing her coat; which was covering up her mouth. "Oh, the tasks won't be too difficult! Just simple things like sorting books, cleaning books, sweeping the library, going shopping for new books, making sure ponies get their books, making sure ponies return their books, issuing out library cards, and anything else that needs to be done!" Twilight quickly pulled on her heavy purple coat and zipped it up. She felt its warmth come over her body the second she pulled it on. She was completely ignorant concerning the freezing pony trotting behind her.
The pony rolled her eyes when Twilight had turned back around and smiled sarcastically to herself. "Well, I'm SURE GLAD she gave me the EASY tasks!" She rolled her eyes once more and trotted a bit faster as Spike and Twilight were going at a much faster pace than her.

They finally got back to the library. When the pony saw the fireplace, she wanted nothing more than to curl up beside the hot fire and sleep the rest of the day and night, as it was already 8:00 P.M. She watched the sparks dance around the crimson flames and longed to go lay beside it.

Twilight interrupted her daydreams as she spoke, "Why don't you take a rest in front of the firepl-" Twilight didn't finish when she saw the pony gallop in there, flop in front of the hot fire, and fall right asleep. Twilight smiled, then Spike went to put away the books he had taken a nap in earlier, and Twilight went to her librarian’s desk and looked through overdue book notices she saw on the library computer.

The computer had one-button mouse and she wore a device on her front right hoof that strapped onto the hoof and had a metal stick with a small metal ball on the end to hit the keys with.

She spent the next few hours while the tired pony slept, writing and mailing notices to fifteen ponies that had overdue library books, telling them they needed to return the books and pay the late fee before it got any larger.

Spike spent a hour putting away the books, then spent the other two hours napping, curled up on a yellow wool rug.
The 3 hour nap was magical to the starved and exhausted pony. When she finally woke up, Twilight came to talk to this strange pony. "Well, I see you've woken up! As I’ve already said, I am Twilight Sparkle! I am currently a student to Princess Celestia!" Twilight said with a very proud voice. When Twilight noticed her boasting tone of voice, she cleared her throat and tried to talk in a less boastful tone. "Yes, well, that said, what's your name?" Twilight asked, putting on a sweet smile, trying to make the pony feel comfortable.

The pony just shrugged, looked down, and then quietly spoke. "Um, I don't know..." She said, obviously embarrassed. The gray unicorn never remembered being called by a name. When she was with her parents, the only names they called her by were "Idiot" or "Stupid".

Twilight looked the pony over. She really hadn't noticed the pony's looks until she looked at her right now. "I'm going to call my friends over! I just know they'd all love to meet you, and Rarity could help you clean up and maybe get a new ribbon to tie your mane up with!" Without waiting for an answer Twilight ran to her phone, which had huge buttons, and called up each of her friends.

They came one by one. Since Sugarcube Corner was right next to Twilight's house, Pinkie Pie arrived first. Pinkie Pie ran into the room and without any sort of greeting whatsoever, she began talking about 20 miles a minute. "YouMustBeTheNewPonyTwilightsTalkingAbout! WhenSheCalledMeICouldn'tWaitToComeOver! I'mPinkiePie,DoYouLikePie?Or Pinkies?OrPinkiePies?IKnowIDo!DoYou?OfCourseYouDoCauseYou'reSoAwesome!!!!" After Pinkie said all this, she stopped to take a breath.

When Pinkie was inhaling, Twilight stuffed her hoof in Pinkie's always open mouth. "Um, that will be all Pinkie! Um, oh look! Here Comes Rainbow Dash!" Twilight exclaimed excitedly, glad for something to make Pinkie stop freaking out the new pony.

Rainbow Dash flew in the library, made a triple axel, and then landed gracefully on the floor on her hind legs, in a beautiful pose. Rainbow walked over to the pony and did her usual long, long greeting. "Hey there! You're looking at the best flier in Equestria! Not only have I won numerous flying competitions, I've also been the only pony to pull off not one, but TWO successful Sonic Rainbooms! I'm TOTALLY gonna be with the Wonderbolts soon! They just have to notice me first, otherwise I’d totally be in right now!" Rainbow Dash ended her speech by tossing her mane back and approaching the pony.

"So, what's your name anyways?" Rainbow asked pulling her head back to get a good look at the small pony.

The nameless pony just looked down at the floor and rubbed her hoof on the floor, drawing an imaginary picture.

"Um, um, OH! There's Rarity!" Twilight exclaimed nervously running out to Rarity to warn her not to ask the pony's name or say anything that might embarrass her. It had already happened to the poor pony so many times, Twilight wanted to make sure it didn’t happen again. She galloped toward her as quick as she could, so she could talk to them without the pony hearing. Even though she knew Pinkie and Rainbow were both talking to her at the same time, Twilight didn’t want to take a chance of the pony hearing their conversation.

When Twilight went out there she gave a sigh of relief. She saw that Fluttershy was with Rarity, so now that was one less time she had to burst out of her house at top speed. She ran up to the two ponies. When she got there Rarity quickly got a comb out of her diamond studded purple bag, and started to comb Twilight’s mane vigorously before Twilight could even get a word out. “Oh, my poor dear! Whatever happened to your mane?” Rarity asked in disbelief at Twilight’s disheveled mane and tail.

Twilight was used to her friend doing this to her and to her other friends so she just let it happen and began talking. “It’s a long story. Anyways, when you come in just don’t ask for the pony’s name. Apparently she either doesn’t have one or doesn’t remember. And Rarity!” Twilight pointed her hoof at Rarity, “Please don’t say anything about the pony’s looks! Feel free though to clean her up! As you had probably guessed from the look of my mane, I’m not exactly the best at mane styling.” Twilight added, with an embarrassed smile

Fluttershy spoke first. “Oh of course Twilight! I would never want to do anything to hurt a pony’s feelings!” Fluttershy said with her eyes big, as though if she made the pony feel bad in any way, she’d have a heart attack. And knowing Fluttershy, she probably would.

Next Rarity spoke up. “I would never want to hurt a new friend! And of course I’ll clean her up! If I was you, I would also want any assistant of mine to look respectable!” Rarity said, in her usual melodramatic voice.

“Thanks you two! I knew I could count on you! Let’s go inside, but help me watch out for Apple Jack. Her being so honest, I’ll have to really work with her so she won’t say anything to make the pony feel uncomfortable.” Twilight said with gratitude toward her friends. She hugged them both, then walked inside.

When they walked inside, Rarity had to bite her lip pretty hard, so to not say anything. Of course she had already seen the pony before, but no matter how many times she saw the pony, it was always hard to take in. She looked away, took a few deep breaths, then put on the best smile she possibly could and walked up to the pony “Hi there, I am indeed Rarity! Oh, Twilight has told me so much about you! I was just dying to come over her and meet you!” Rarity greeted the pony. She made the pony actually speak back with her warm words.
“It-it’s nice to meet you Miss Rarity. You-you have a beautiful mane.” The pony said softly. From the second Rarity walked in, the pony had stared Rarity’s lovely deep purple mane, that twisted just the right amount into perfect curls. Her matching tail was also a marvel in itself, with its one ringlet that hung right above the ground so not to be spoiled by the dust and dirt.
“Why thank you! I do try to make it look its best!” Rarity replied, her face beaming. She was about to say more, but one look from Twilight made her think again. “I do say though, I am quite envious of that perfect shade of red your mane has!” Rarity put in, grinning the entire time.
Twilight smiled to herself. If anypony knows how to compliment, it’s Rarity! Twilight thought to herself. Even though Rarity could seem to another pony snobbish, Rarity wasn’t greedy with her compliments at all.

Rarity was actually getting a conversation out of the shy pony. “Yes, I own the boutique in town. You know, when I saw you, I remembered this fabric back at my boutique. It’s a lovely shade of blue. Not a navy blue, but more of a deep blue. I guess I would call it a blueberry blue.” Rarity said, making a dress design in her head.
“You would really make me a dress Miss Rarity?” The pony said. She pictured herself wearing a dress in her head. She pictured a flowing deep blue dress. At the end of it, it turned up ever so slightly to keep it from dragging on the ground. It had crimson trim on the ends of the dress. It had a thin strip of gold fabric that went around her middle. The strip of gold had just the right amount of glitter, not too little and not too much. The whole dress was made of silk. She had a lovely red rose, with soft green petals that she wore in her hair. Instead of her old frayed ribbon, she had lovely gold silk ribbon. Her hair had been washed, and had lots of beautiful ringlets.
“Why of course! I would delight in it! If Twilight doesn’t need you to terribly badly, why don’t you come to the boutique? I could wash and style your hair, draw you a nice bath, then we can work on the dress design!” Rarity replied, listing all the tasks. Then she added, “And by the way, plain ‘Rarity’ is quite alright!”
“Thank you so much Rarity!” The pony bursted out in gratitude. Again, the pony was barely an afterfilly so she behaved much like a filly. She hugged Rarity tightly.
A tear rolled down Rarity’s cheek as she felt the small pony squeezing her. She gently pulled away and smiled at the pony. “You’re quite welcome.” Rarity replied.
They had been so preoccupied with the pony none of them heard Apple Jack trot in. And they couldn’t help what happened next. Apple Jack trotted right up to the pony and spoke, “Howdy there! What’s your name?” At hearing this tears flowed out of the pony’s eyes. She turned and ran out of the library.

A Missing Mare

Twilight’s Assistant Part 2:

Twilight, Spike, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Pinkie, A.J, the CMC’s since two of them were sisters so tagged along, and of course Scootaloo went after Rainbow Dash. After a lot of begging and coaxing, they were able to get Rainbow to bring Derpy Hooves. After Derpy wrecking numerous buildings while on the weather patrol, Rainbow was paranoid about being anywhere near Derpy. Dinky came along too, since her mother was there, and the CMC collected Cheerilee and Twist. Pinkie got the Cakes’, and hired Bon Bon to look after the twin. Fluttershy even got the flower triplets, Rose, Daisy, and Lily, who she knew from the Ponyville Flower Garden.

So with half of Ponyville on the case, they split into groups. Even though it was a large number, with Twilight’s organizing skills, she was able to place groups. “Ok, I’ll need Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and Cheerilee will be in a group. You three go west. Then I’ll need Fluttershy, Rose, Lily, Daisy, and Sweetie Belle. You guys go northeast. Spike, A.J, Twist, and Derpy, go south. Pinkie, the Cakes, Apple Bloom, and Dinky, you will go north. I’ll stay here in case you finish and come back to search somewhere else. Ok, move out!” Twilight finished, then sat down to wait for their return.

Twilight watched as Rainbow gave her an awful look for giving her an earth pony. At least she could carry Scootaloo on her back if she needed to. Fluttershy started out leading the group, but presently Lily took over since Fluttershy would only go about three feet before thinking she heard a terrible noise. A.J decided to lead her group followed by Twist, then Derpy, and last Spike so he could make sure Derpy didn’t bump into something and get separated from the group. Pinkie’s group wasn’t getting too far, since the Cakes were talking, and Pinkie was just playing with Apple Bloom and Dinky.

Rainbow Dash was in a rush. “Come on come on lazy hooves!” She prodded her two charges along. “Scootaloo! If you aren’t going to fly come and let me carry you!” She leaned over close to Scootaloo. “It’s enough of a task already just to keep SchoolTeacherMcLazyPants over here movin!” Rainbow said in a loud whisper, not particularly caring if Cheerilee heard her.

“Hey I heard that! And FWI, I just walk a little slower because I’m a respectable Teacher, not some lower class dirty athlete!” Cheerilee said, standing a little straighter and turning her snout up slightly as she said this.

Rainbow Dash looked like she was on fire. “Why I oughta-” Rainbow started, then she looked at Scootaloo. “Um, I mean, hop on squirt!” She said in a cheerful voice, but her mind was hatching a brilliant idea. “Um, Miss Cheerilee when we get up to this thick part of the Everfree Forest, why don’t me and Scoot here go up to the sky to get a better look!” Rainbow said, in her most innocent voice.

“Sure, that sounds great!” Cheerilee said, too cheerful to notice Rainbow’s scheme. She only slipped up with insults when someone was insulting her job, as Rainbow was.

They presently got to the perfect spot. Rainbow shot up and back across the Everfree Forest, the wind screaming as she made her escape. Of course I’m not gonna leave her there forever. Just long enough to learn her lesson. Pshhh thinking brainiacs are superior to atheletes! Rainbow thought to herself, getting more mad as she thought about Cheerilee. And as most pegasus do, the madder she got the faster she flew.

Scootaloo seriously felt like she was fixing to find out first-hand what a Sonic Rainboom is like. Any other pony would have been screaming when they hit the speed Rainbow was reaching, but Rainbow was Scootaloo’s hero so she trusted everything was gonna end Ok.

Cheerilee wasn’t stupid. To get back to town, she just followed the white streak Rainbow was leaving in the sky. Rainbow never quite got enough speed for a Sonic Rainboom. She steamed the whole way back as her mean nature took over and she plotted against Rainbow.

Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo took a nap in Rainbow’s favorite cloud. She had decided to take Scootaloo under her wing. When they looked up and saw Cheerilee dripping with tree sap, and what looked like manticore drool. Her mane and tail were disheveled and she had scrapes all over her body. Both pegasus eyes widened and they sank into the cloud, hoping Cheerilee hadn’t spotted them yet.

“RAINBOW DASH! SCOOTALOO!” Cheerilee screamed at the cloud. A few ponies passed by, giving her weird looks.

“Honey, she’s talking to that cloud!” One particular older couple said. The mare replied to his wife. “Who knows Chocolate Rain, maybe it’s the new hip thing!”

Cheerilee knew the couple. They owned “Chocolate and Vanilla’s Cake Bakery”. Chocolate Rain was the pony, and Vanilla Rain was the stallion. Cheerilee’s cheeks turned a bright shade of pink. She had embarrassed herself in front of the Rains.

The two pegasi in the cloud sunk lower, but they misjudged the depth of the cloud, and fell out the bottom right in front of Cheerilee. They hadn’t got a good look at Cheerilee yet, but when they did, the orange and cyan ponies burst out in laughter.

Cheerilee’s eye started to twitch. She grabbed Rainbow up by the tail. “Ha! Caughtcha! Didn’t think I could catch you, did ya? Well, you’re WRONG!” Cheerilee was fighting to keep her pupils focused, as they were trying to move to opposite sides of her face.

Scootaloo screamed and ran away, not for her own sake but for Rainbow’s, who was starting to get a little freaked out herself. Scootaloo ran away, looking for somepony to help.

Most of the ponies in Ponyville were used to the different members of the CMC to be running about, screaming so they didn’t pay her any heed. When she couldn’t get anypony in downtown Ponyville to help, she ran back to Twilight and in a complication of words, sound effects, and body language, somehow managed to tell Twilight what happened. Twilight thought the small filly was just playing, but decided it was better than just sitting there. She teleported her and Scootaloo, to the clearing the two feuding pony were located.

“Now let’s just see what we can do that’s the proper punishment!” Cheerilee said, with a completely creepy tone of voice. Cheerilee had lost all control of her pupils, they were now the size of raisins and as far apart as they could possibly reach.

*flash* Twilight and Scootaloo arrived right in time to see the evidence. When Cheerilee saw them, she hastily let go of Rainbow and broke into a wide grin while Rainbow’s head made severe contact with the ground. Rainbow quietly snuck behind Cheerilee as the magenta mare was attempting to explain herself to Twilight, who kept a raised eyebrow at the whole ordeal. Somehow while she was talking, Twilight managed to quietly perform a spell, freezing Rainbow the moment Rainbow’s whole body would have collided with Cheerilee’s back.

Twilight knew it would be a mistake to try to send the tense group alone again, so she excused the teacher and the cyan pony to go home, and brought Scootaloo over to sit with the scholar.

Twilight had chosen most of the groups’ members wisely, so there was little conflict.

However, when the groups came back the lavender pony was very discouraged. Not one pony saw the poor little mare. Twilight would have sent them out to search some more, but it was freezing out and on top of that it had begun to rain.

Twilight trudged home and Spike did his best to comfort her. “Come on Twi, stop beating yourself up! It wasn’t your fault!” Spike protested Twilight’s fit of depression she now wore.

“Yes it was my fault Spike! And now-” Twilight’s eyes began to water, “That poor pony is out there somewhere freezing and wet.” Tears began to flow from the unicorn’s usually sparkling eyes. If that pony were to be found dead, Twilight would never as she lived forgive herself.

“Listen Twi, you just need some sleep. Somepony’s bound to find her!” Spike tried to exhort Twilight into having some kind of hope. Sigh, and if nopony finds her tomorrow, I’ll search all day if I have to. After all, she’s a very small pony, not like she could really go that far. Spike contemplated where the pony could be for half the night. Twilight though, was thoroughly exhausted so fell to sleep as soon as her head crushed her pillow shaped like a thick volume.

Meanwhile in the marketplace there’s a flutter of movement. A newspaper silently folds itself off of a small area faintly revealing a small edge of a horn. It was about 4:00 in the morning. Rainbow Dash was on duty to clean the marketplace before the vendors came and set up. She was in a horrid mood since she had to wake up so early this morning.

“Why should I have to do this lame job! There are plenty of ponies in Ponyville who could clean! I’ll bet the Wonderbolts never have to put up with this!” Rainbow steamed through her job.

The worst part was the vendors who sold pets and animals. Needless to say, nopony looked forward to that part. The only consolation Rainbow had was the cool stuff she found. More than often ponies bought merchandise, then it fell out of their bags or they put down the bags to look at some cool item then walked away without their bag.

The Pony Plaza Marketplace staff had a rule that stated, if the marketplace cleanup “crew” were to find any merchandise that had been paid for, they could keep it. Most ponies thought the rule was perfectly crazy, but Rainbow Dash’s golden rule was “Finders keepers, losers weepers.”

Already that day Rainbow had found a diamond encrusted watch, a rainbow colored headband, and a Wonderbolts poster. As she was trotting along, feeling sorry for herself, but thriving in her treasures at the same time, she spotted a tiny piece of a unicorn’s horn.

She galloped over and threw the newspaper off, scared that what she thought she was going to find, was right. When she uncovered the papers, Rainbow’s eyes widened, and flew off at a breakneck speed.

5 minutes later Rainbow was at the Ponyville hospital. The rainbow colored pony slung a limp body off of her cyan back and as the emergency room specialists were taking the body away Rainbow flew into the waiting room and got on the phone.

She dialed the number, *ring* *ring* *ring* “h-hello?” It was a groggy Twilight’s voice. She was still half asleep. “who is this?” Twilight’s head was spinning as she talked from being awoken so early and so quickly.

“Twilight, it’s me, Rainbow Dash. Come down to the hospital. I-I think I found your assistant, but she won’t be in any shape to work for quite a while.” Rainbow stammered. She had saw the shape the poor pony was in. The light blue pegasus wasn’t quite sure if she would make it.

A couple minutes later, Twilight arrived at the hospital. She galloped to the waiting room and if not for Rainbow’s quick reflexes, would have crashed into her. “Whoa, Twilight! We don’t need two ponies in the hospital!” Rainbow Dash had a twinkle in her eye; that twinkle only Rainbow Dash could produce was the only thing that could calm a freaked out Twilight.

“Where is she? Where is she?” Of course, nothing could completely calm Twilight, but at least she wasn’t to the point in which the nurses were carrying her out to lock her in a padded cell. But hey, that had only happened once.

“Calm down calm down. She’s gonna be alright. Since she had only been there one night she wasn’t hurt as severely. The doctors said she has mild hypothermia, so she won’t be here too long.” Rainbow said as cheerfully as she could muster to lighten the mood.

Much to the pegasus surprise, Twilight closed her eyes, took a few deep breaths, then opened her eyes much more calmly. “Well, that’s good news. As soon as she can come back to the library she can, if that’s what she wants to do. In the meantime we need to give her a name to prevent further humiliation.”

Rainbow smiled at her friend. There was the practical, organized Twilight she knew! She started contemplating a new name. “Hmm, maybe….Gray Horn? I don’t know Twilight, we don’t know much about her or what she’s good at so it’s kinda hard to pick her name.”

“Hmm, why don’t we gather up Apple Jack, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, talk to her, then we can pick a name based on what we find out!” Twilight slowly thought through her plan, then ended with a grin like a scientist in an “Ah ha!” moment.

“On it!” Rainbow Dash quickly replied, then flew out close to the speed of sound. In .30 seconds Twilight was surrounded by the shocked faces of Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Apple Jack, and Rarity. It was a full minute before any of the others moved a muscle.

Finally Twilight spoke, “So I’ve called you here to do an important task.” Twilight said in her usual matter-of-fact voice, but as she paced her head was literally spinning. “Rainbow found hopefully my soon to be assistant, so I’ve decided that we need to talk to her than give her a name to save her from further embarrassment.”

“I agree. It broke my heart to see such a beautiful pony run away and get all sick.” Fluttershy said, close to tears just thinking about it.

“Well she isn’t completely ugly, but I wouldn’t exactly call her ‘beautiful’.” Rarity said with a bit of a scoff.

The stylish pony didn’t realize what Fluttershy meant. Fluttershy had the ability to see past the outer coat and into the inner coat. When the yellow pony first looked into the ponies eyes she saw a beautiful pony. She knew in an instant that her and the gray pony had more in common than any of the other ponies realized.

“Behind her gray coat, I saw a spark!” Fluttershy explained as best she could what she felt when she saw the pony.

“Well, let’s not just stand here like lazy ponies, let’s go talk to the pony!” Rainbow Dash stated in her normally impatient tone of voice.

Twilight smiled at the other five ponies that stood in front of her. “There won’t be the need to disturb her, I already know her name.” Everypony perked up from their debate over the ponies possible name and stared at her expectantly.

“Well?!?” Rainbow broke the silence. She was already cranky from having to be awake and alert all morning, so she was in no mood for waiting.

Twilight rolled her eyes at the impatient cyan pony and said, “Gray Spark.” Fluttershy’s eyes shone looked at Twilight as if the lavender pony had given her a million bits.

“Oh Twilight! I think that’s a perfect name!” Fluttershy fawned over the name. The others nodded their heads in agreement then gave their opinions.

“I think that would reflect her personality most fabulously!” Rarity smiled.

“With a name like that, she could hang out with me anytime.” Rainbow said as all the others smiled and rolled their eyes.

“Awesome! Her name has her color in it just like mine!” Pinkie yelled excitedly but shortly after got harshly shushed by the receptionist.

“Great idea Twilight! I’m shore she’ll like it.” Apple Jack nodded approvingly at Twilight.

Twilight blushed, then regained her composure. “Yes, well, let’s let her sleep, then come back tomorrow and see if she approves the name.” Twilight replied, waved to the other five, and headed off to her respectful house.

She grinned to herself as she saw Rainbow racing a scared of the dark Fluttershy to her house. Her smile faded when Rainbow turned to look at Twilight, rolled her eyes, and glared ahead. Twilight shook her head, than trotted back home.

“Twilight! Twilight!” The magical unicorn heard a youthful voice she knew to be Spike’s. “What’d you hear? What’d you hear? Is she all right? Is she all right?” The voice continued through an open window.

Twilight peered at the small dragon head poking out of the window and gave a chuckle. “Calm down! At least let me get inside!” In 1 minute Twilight was inside the library, sitting on a baby blue bean bag they had just gotten in.

Spike felt more like it took the librarian 1 hour before Twilight was finally settled. The baby dragon leaned forward on a white and purple spotted bean bag. He had picked it out since it reminded him of Rarity. “Well? Are you going to tell me or not?” Spike whined.

Twilight looked at Spike and spoke. “Well, for starters, Rainbow Dash found the pony while she was getting the marketplace ready for today’s vendors. She raced the pony to the hospital. The doctor said she has mild hypothermia, so she’ll be alright. Oh, and her names’ Gray Spark.” Twilight ended with a sigh.

“Hmm. Gray Spark. Nice name, but still not as good as Rarity. I mean, even just saying it. Rrrraaarrriiiitttyyy.” Spike replied in a dreamy voice, while sounding out each syllable in Rarity’s name.

“Uh, yeah. Well, anyways, in other news Pinkie will be rooming with us overnight.” Twilight said flippantly as she searched through a shelf filled with all kinds of party books, from how to do pirate themed parties, to how to make homemade streamers.

As Twilight was secretly hoping, her seemingly stale news snapped Spike out of his usual Rarity trance and started begging for Pinkie not to stay. “Come on Twilight! Last time she broke every dish in this place and knocked over about a dozen bookshelves domino style!”

Twilight waved Spike’s pleas away and started putting down an air mattress next to her own bed. “There’s no use arguing Spike! I’ve made up my mind. Pinkie’s coming here so she can prepare a party for Gray Spark when she’s out of the hospital. Oh, there she is now!”

Spike looked out the window and gulped. Normally anypony would be instantly cheerful when they saw the pink pony bouncing down the road, but today all Spike felt was an intense feeling of dread. He looked at the momentarily clean library, but all he saw were books scattered amongst the floor, and bookshelves turned over.