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The history of games extends back thousands of years, back to the times of ancient Equestria. Back in those days, certain games had the ability to decide the fates of ponies and princesses alike. These dark magic rituals were known as “Yami no” Games, meaning Shadow Games. This powerful magic was able to warp reality and summon great beast, but worst of all was the fate of those who broke the rules. Those who thought that their money or influence allowed them to scoff at the rules would suffer an experience worse than death. After hundreds of years of use, however, one close to the royal family attempted to use the power of the Shadow Games to overthrow the gods of the Sun and Moon. This revolution almost spelled the end of Equestria, if not for the Millennium Items. The Princesses were able to use these mystical artifacts to turn the tide of the game, forcing the revolutionary pony into banishment. This victory did not come without a price, though. The younger of the gods, the Princess of the Moon, was lost during the battles. It was because of this devastating incident that the god of the Sun, Princess Celestia, imprisoned the power of the shadow games into the Millennium Items. It is said that whoever manages to solve the Millennium Puzzle, the central Millennium Item, will be granted the dark powers of the Shadow Games, and have all of their desires fulfilled, for with that power they would become Yu-Gi-Oh! The King of Ga-Ugh!
Twilight Sparkle groaned. “This is the same thing I’ve read a thousand times!” She said. “Don’t any of these books have anything besides some stupid myths and legends, like, I don’t know, advice on how to solve the darn thing!” Twilight sat in the shade of a tall tree atop a hill. The hill overlooked a winding white marble road on which several unicorns trotted along discussing various things that Twilight did not, for the life of her, care about. In fact, it was a rare occasion that Twilight cared much about anypony besides herself, Spike, and her mentor, Princess Celestia. What was at the forefront of Twilight’s mind at the moment was, however, none of those things, but rather the curious looking golden box resting at her feet. The Millennium Puzzle. This mystical item was a gift from the princess herself, who had hoped that her most intelligent and prized pupil might be able to solve the puzzle that had been plaguing the Princess for so long. This made it all the more disappointing when Twilight realized she had no idea what she was doing!
Twilight looked back down at the assortment of golden puzzle pieces in the box at her feet. “Well,” she said to herself, “at least I’ve been able to do something with this, even if it wasn’t much.” It was true, she had been able to piece part of the puzzle together, but her imagination was wearing thin. She was completely stumped as to how any of the other pieces were supposed to fit in, and unless she found some advice, some tips, heck, even a picture of the thing finished, she feared she would never complete it. Twilight rose to her hooves and stretched. Her unicorn horn lit up in a small burst of purple light, the same color as her fur. The same magical light suddenly surrounded the assortment of open books scattered around her on the hill. The books rose into the air, closed themselves, and gently nestled their frames into the saddle bags lying next to the trunk of the tree. The magical aura soon consumed the saddle bags too, which Twilight directed through the air and onto her back.
Twilight turned and began to run down the hill and onto the road, nearly ramming strait into the tree on her way down. She dove onto the road, landed on her hooves, and promptly began barreling down the road in the direction of an impressive castle which filled the horizon. Twilight trotted at top speed toward her home, not because she had anything important she need to attend to, but rather because she missed her cozy, air-conditioned library of a room. As she galloped down the road she imagined herself sitting contently in her comfy bed, reading the perfect book that was able to give clear, concise instructions on how to complete the puzzle that had troubled her for months now. She was so consumed in this fantasy of hers that she failed to notice two of the unicorns mentioned earlier standing directly in her path.
“Hey, Twilight!” shouted one of them. Twilight snapped out of her fantasy to realize she was a meter away from a very painful crash involving three ponies. Her sudden attempt to stop in response to this realization resulted in only a rather painful crash involving one pony. The two unicorns now standing above her stifled a chuckle. “Sorry about that. Need some help?” said one, offering her hoof. “No, I’m fine.” said Twilight, standing back up. “Well that’s good.” said the other unicorn. “Hey, we were on our way to see Moondancer. She’s gonna hold a Duel Monsters tourney at her house. Wanna come?” Twilight resisted the urge to groan. She didn’t know why everypony at her school seemed to be obsessed with that foal’s card game. She hadn’t played it before herself, she was much too busy studying and trying to figure out this blasted puzzle for that, but she had seen Spike’s cards, and the game looked pretty absurd. However, she wasn’t about to say that aloud and ruin what little respect the other unicorns had for her.
“Sorry,” said Twilight. “I’m actually really busy today. I’ve got a lot of studying to do.” She smiled a nervous smile, hoping they didn’t question her. She wasn’t so lucky. “Studying? But it’s summer vacation.” “Oh!” Twilight replied. “Well... me and Spike are also in the middle of reorganizing my personal library and I’ve really got to get back to that.” She gave her classmates one last smile before dashing past them and barreling off towards her nice, cozy little room. The two unicorns looked over their shoulders at the disappearing speck that they assumed was Twilight Sparkle. “Does that pony do anything but study?” said one. “I know.” said the other. “It’s almost as if she doesn’t want to play a card game with us!”
Spike hopped off of the ladder and landed on the soft blue carpet below. He looked out of the massive windows which composed the entire western wall of the room. “I’m finally done!” he said, a look of joy on his face. He walked away from the massive book case he had just been working on, heading towards the stair case which led into the lower portion of the home. Spike walked up to his personal desk, which even Twilight was forbidden from looking in. He pulled opened one of the mahogany drawers and plucked from inside it his most valuable possession: his deck. He had spent so much time building his perfect deck, selecting each card meticulously, ensuring that no matter what he drew he would always have a strategy. This had been exceedingly difficult, not only because this had to be expertly planned, but also because Twilight had taken one look at the cards and promptly dismissed them as a simple foal’s card game, forbidding him from playing. This hadn’t stopped him in the slightest, but it did make it a tad more difficult to collect the card he needed.
Spike plucked a gem from the same drawer and tossed it into his mouth before turning towards the door and preparing to go on his way. It’s finally gonna happen, he thought, I’m finally gonna be able to test out my new deck! Moondancer doesn’t stand a chance! He approached the door and reached for the handle. He had about a second to wonder why the handle was rapidly increasing in size before it hit him.
Spike landed on his face next to the beautifully constructed mahogany desk he had been beside moments ago. “Spike? Spike!” shouted Twilight as she walked into the room. She turned to see Spike clambering to his feet in a daze. She also noticed it had begun to rain trading cards in her room. Spike shook his head scaring away the imaginary birds which encircled it. He looked up to see his beautiful work of art floating to the ground in forty pieces. “My Deck!” he shouted, scrambling to catch the slowly descending cards. “Spike! I thought I told you to get rid of those juvenile things!” said Twilight as she walked towards the stair case which led up and into the library portion of her home. As she ascended the last step she began magically pulling books off of the shelves towards herself. She pulled each book close to her face, reading the titles one at a time. “No, no, no, NO!” she screamed angrily. “I’ve read all of these books and none of them had anything helpful to say! Ugh!” She dropped all the books simultaneously before running to her desk and searching through the books she had left on it earlier. She magically shuffled them, once again looking at each title in turn. Suddenly She remembered that there was one book she hadn’t read through on the subject.
“Spike!” Twilight shouted. Spike climbed up the stairs holding his precious cards in his arms. He sat them all down on the nearest table before turning to Twilight. “Spike, I need you to find me that old copy of Predictions and Prophesies.” “Actually, Twilight, I was about to leave to go to Moondancer’s party, if you don’t mind.” Spike replied, a tad timidly. “Spike, you know we don’t have time for that sort of thing!” responded Twilight. “But it’s summer vacation!” Spike retorted. “Just tell me if you know where the book is.” said Twilight, dropping their argument. “Have you tried looking under “P”?” Spike said sarcastically. “Of course I have!” said Twilight in a defensive manner. She then nonchalantly glanced over at the “P” section of her alphabetically organized library only to see exactly what she didn’t want to.
Twilight levitated the old book off of the shelf as she hopped over to her bed and laid down. She magically pulled the book in front of her, hoping to complete the fantasy she had had earlier. She, once again, wasn’t so lucky. “Ugh!” Twilight groaned, throwing the currently useless book across the room. “How am I supposed to complete a puzzle when I don’t even know what it’s supposed to look like?” Twilight asked, rolling around in her covers. “Look,” said Spike. “if you’re so worried about this then why don’t you just ask the Princess? I’m sure she saw it before it was broken, so she should be able to tell you what it looked like.” Twilight shot up in her bed. “I can’t do that!” shouted Twilight. “The princess wanted me to solve this on my own, and asking her for help would be like admitting I failed, and if I admit that I failed she may not want me to be her student any more. Oh Celestia! What if she sends me back a grade? What if she doesn’t just send me back a grade? What if she sends me back to *gulp* MAGIC KINDERGARTEN!” Twilight remembered her horrible experiences in her first year of magical tutelage not so fondly, to say the least. Especially a certain incident with a group of unruly griffons. She shuddered at the horrid memory. “Oh, come on!” said Spike. “You’re her favorite student! She’d never do that to you! I’m sure she would be happy to help.” “Well...” said Twilight, “Okay. Spike, take a letter.”
Spike promptly grabbed a quill and some parchment from the nearby table, readying himself. “Ready!” He said. “Dear Princess Celestia,” Twilight began, “I have been working non-stop attempting to complete the task you assigned me: the completion of the Millennium Puzzle. However, recently I have been having some difficulty and was wondering if you could assist me. All of the books I have have been utterly useless in this matter, so I was perhaps wondering if maybe you might possibly be able to describe to me how the puzzle will look upon completion. I deeply appreciate any assistance or advice you could give. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. P.S. Please don’t send me back to magic kindergarten.” Spike ignored the last part. “Alright, done!” He said. “Alright, *gulp* send it.” Twilight said nervously. “Are you sure now is the best time?” asked Spike. “Why not?” replied Twilight. “Well, it’s just that the princess just got back from that super big meeting with head of all those huge shipping companies, and I bet she’s pretty tired out.” said Spike. “Not to mention the Summer Sun Celebration is in a couple weeks.” “Well, that makes it the perfect time.” said Twilight. “It does?” Spike said. “Of course!” Twilight answered. “If she just finished with one important event and is waiting for then then she’s unoccupied right now.” “If you say so.” said Spike before reluctantly unleashing his fire upon the poor unsuspecting piece of parchment. The dissolved paper glided through the air as a smokey cloud, slipping out the window. Twilight swallowed nervously. “Let’s just hope this works.” She said.
As if in response, Spike began to feel a pressure in his stomach. It rose through his esophagus before being unleashed as a powerful burp. The gas from his intestine materialized into another piece of parchment, which Spike grabbed out of the air. “Well?” asked Twilight. Spike cleared his throat. “My faithful student,” began Spike in his most dignified and regal tone. “I sincerely appreciate all the effort you have been putting into the task with which I assigned you,” Twilight sighed in relief. This is going a lot better than I had hoped, Twilight thought. I wonder if she actually is willing to help me with this. For the third time, Twilight wasn’t so lucky. Needless to say, this wasn’t her lucky day. “but you simply must stop worrying and get out more often.” Spike continued. Twilight’s head shot up. “What!?!” She screamed. Spike continued, “When confronted with a problem you cannot solve, it is often best to take a step back and give your mind a break from the issue, so that you may return with a clear head. Many times, when you return, you find the answer comes to you easily. It is because of this, and the fact that I know you won’t listen to this advice on your own, that I am going to give you something to occupy your mind.” “She can’t be serious.” said Twilight. “As you know,” read Spike, “the annual festival, the one thousandth anniversary of the Summer Sun Celebration is in just three short weeks. This year the festival will take place in a small town called Ponyville. I am sending you there in advance to begin preparations for this important event.Remember, there are more things to a young pony’s life than studying. Your Loving Mentor, Princess Celestia.” Twilight groaned. “She can not be serious!” she said. At that moment, there was a knock at the door.
Day - 1
Time - 9:00 am
495 Hours Remain.
Twilight Sparkle sighed as she leaned over the edge of the flying carriage, staring at the rapidly moving ground below. The carriage was made of solid gold and was pulled by the two stone faced guards who had been assigned to “escort” her. Spike sat in the front of the chariot, excitedly looking ahead towards their destination. Ponyville was a small town, with most of the buildings appearing to have been constructed in Middle Aged Europe. The chariot glided over the town, attempting to find a clear landing area among the thatched roofs. “Come on, Twilight.” said Spike. “It won’t be so bad. Just think of it as a vacation. A little break from the stress of Canterlot. Maybe you’ll even meet some nice ponies here.” Spike’s words failed to get a reaction from his magical companion, so he gave up on trying to cheer her up, instead focusing on the task they had been assigned. “Do you at least want to see what have to do?” Spike held up a piece of parchment showing her the list of items necessary for the Summer Sun Celebration.
Twilight sighed. She grabbed the parchment with her magic and levitated it over in front of herself. She was a little surprised when she saw how short the list was. She had expected the list of tasks to be immense, capable of taking up three whole weeks, but instead found a brief set of very general jobs to be fulfilled. Beside each job was a personal note by Princess Celestia. Upon further inspection, Twilight saw that these were recommendations for ponies who the Princess had studied and determined to be fit for the task. At this Twilight’s face was overcome with a huge grin. “This is great, Spike!” she shouted. Spike, thinking his words had gotten through, attempted to reply. “I knew you’d come around eventually, Twili-”“Don’t you see what this means?” she said excitedly. “Uh, what?” said Spike, not as sure of his previous assumption. “It means that we don’t have to spend the whole two weeks preparing. I can finish this and get right back to finishing the puzzle!” Twilight said, hugging Spike in an excited manner. “*gasp* I might even be able to finish it all in one day! I can be working on the puzzle by tonight!” Spike facepalmed at Twilight’s irrational obsession with that puzzle. He worried about her sometimes.
The two pegasi guards had found an appropriately empty landing zone near the center of town and had begun to bring the carriage down. They landed softly in the middle of the street to the surprise of many onlookers. Spike and Twilight hopped off their ride and onto the brown dirt road, a soft plume of dust rising from the place they landed. Twilight turned to the guards/carriage drivers and handed each a bit for their troubles. “Thank you.” they said in unison before taking off into the sky. Twilight watched them as they left, wondering if they had practiced saying that in unison earlier. Before she could further pursue this train of thought, she was interrupted by a cough from her number one assistant, who obviously had very different ideas as to why she was watching the two muscular, well-toned guards fly off with their backs to the two.
“Look, Twilight,” he started. “I know you want to get back to the puzzle, but the Princess sent us out here specifically so that you didn’t. Why don’t you try to get to know the locals, maybe make some friends.” Twilight sighed. She decided to give in realizing that she would be dealing with this for three more weeks if she didn’t. “Fine, I’ll give them a chance.” she said, begrudgingly. Spike noticed a very happy pink earth pony bouncing down the road toward them. “How about her?” Spike said, pointing toward the cotton candy hair pink pony. Twilight moved towards the obscenely pink creature, stopping right in her path. “Hi.” said Twilight with an incredibly forced grin on her face. For about two seconds, nothing happened. Twilight took this time to examine the unresponsive pony. She had wild bouncy hair which appeared to be made of cotton candy, even matching the color. Twilight glanced at her flank and noticed that her cutie mark was that of three balloons. Before Twilight could guess at what they’re meaning was, the two seconds were up. The pink pony leaped into the air, gasped the loudest single gasp that Twilight had ever heard, and promptly flew away, ignoring the laws of physics like certain fanfiction writers do to canon. As the physically impossible disappeared into town, Twilight looked down at Spike with an expression of ‘I told you so,’ to which Spike replied with a look of ‘sorry.’
Twilight and Spike, after deciding to ignore the incident with the strange pink thing, began to walk down the long dirt road to the location of their first stop. “Alright,” said Spike, “the first thing on the list is ‘banquette preparations.’ The Princess’s says that the local farmers at a place called ‘Sweet Apple Acres’ are the best for the job.” At that moment, a red barn house came into view, behind which where acres of apple trees. Twilight and Spike passed through the front gate and began examining their surroundings when they were startled by the sound of somepony yelling “YEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW!” at the top of her lungs. They turned towards the apple trees to see an orange earth pony running towards a large apple tree, surrounded at its base by several large wooden baskets. At the last moment before ramming into the trunk, the orange farm girl turned and slammed her hind hooves into the tree with all her might. The force of her kick dislodged all of the apples from their perches on the branches, causing them all to fall into the waiting baskets below. Miraculously, not a single on missed the baskets, and none of the baskets were overfilled, each catching exactly as many apples as it could hold. Twilight sighed. Again. “Let’s get this over with.” she said.
The orange mare turned towards Twilight as she approached. “Good afternoon,” said Twilight, “my name is Twilight Sparkle, and I’m here to-” She was cut off as the apple farmer grabbed her hoof and began shaking it violently. “Howdy do, Miss Sparkle?” she asked in an obvious southern drawl. “ Mah name’s Applejack, and this here is Sweet Apple Acres. What can ah do ya for?” Applejack released Twilight’s hoof, which continued to shake on its own. “Actually,” said Twilight once she and Spike had managed to calm her limb, “I’m a representative of Princess Celestia, here to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. I have heard that your farm is a a producer of high quality food and have come to tell you that you have been selected to provide the food for the royal banquette. You have three weeks to select and prepare your dishes. Good luck!” Twilight turned to leave but was stopped dead in her tracks by the orange mare. “Now wait just a cotton pickin’ minute.” Applejack said, “How can y’all go around pickin’ me an mah folks for this here job when you ain’t even tasted our food.” “Well you were recommended by the princess personally, but,” Twilight said, suddenly realising she hadn’t eaten all day, “I suppose we could. As long as it doesn’t take too long.” A huge grin crossed Applejack’s face. “Y’all won’t be disappointed.” she said as she rushed off towards the barn.
Applejack stopped in front of a pole, hanging from which was a rusted looking triangle. She grabbed a metal rod from the nearby table and began banging the triangle in an attempt to make as much sound as possible. “SOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUP’S ON, EVERYPONY!” she shouted at the top of her lungs. Spike and Twilight barely had time to turn around before they were run down by a mob of earth ponies. When the dust settled and their senses returned, Spike and Twilight found themselves sitting in front of a quaint table surrounded by an innumerable amount of ponies. “Now, why don’t ah introduce y’all to the apple family?” said Applejack, who had appeared next to Spike. “Oh, no you don’t have to.” said Twilight, well aware she was in over her head. “This here’s Apple Fritter,” said Applejack, apparently either ignoring or not hearing Twilight. As she said that, a green and yellow mare dropped her namesake on the table in front of them. “Apple Bumpkin, Red Gala, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious...” As Applejack listed off each name, a corresponding earth pony rushed up to the table and dropped of a morsel of the same name. “...Caramel Apple, Apple Strudel, Apple Tart, Baked Apples, Apple Freeoce, Apple Cinnamon Crisp.” Applejack took a big gulp of air before finishing the list. “Big Mackintosh, Apple Bloom, and Granny Smith.” The granny in question was at the moment asleep in a rocking chair on the front porch of what Twilight assumed to be the Apple’s house. She and Spike both turned to the mountain of food that had resulted from each member of the Apple family leaving a portion. “On second thought,” said Twilight, “I can see that the food situation is handled. We’ll just be on our way now.” Twilight was just about to leave when a soft young voice spoke up from the crowd. “Arncha gonna stay fer brunch?” said the adorable little filly by the name of Apple Bloom. Twilight looked into the sad eyes of the foal before turning to the crowd that surrounded her, each one mirroring her huge eyes. Twilight literally could not say no. “Fine.” was the word that emerge from her lips instead. The Apple family cheered. Twilight sighed. Again.
Much, much latter, Twilight walked back into town, a sick feeling in her stomach. “Well, now that the food’s all taken care of,” said Spike, who had obviously been far less phased by the massive amount of food they had consumed. “next we have to make sure that the weather will be right.” “Ugh” was all Twilight managed to say in return. Spike, ignoring his sick boss, began looking up at the sky, searching. “The pegasus pony named Rainbow Dash is supposed to be in charge of the weather patrol around here.” Twilight looked up into the sky and noticed a few dark storm clouds, out of place on what was supposed to be a sunny day. “Well she doesn’t seem to be doing a very good jo-” Twilight was cut off by the sound of thunder. “AH!” she squealed, forcing her body as close to the ground as possible. She opened her eyes when she heard the sound of a tomboyish laugh. “AHAHAHAHA!” laughed a rainbow-maned, cyan-coated pegasus sitting on a lone storm cloud. “You- You shoulda seen the look on your faces. AHAHAHA! Priceless!” Twilight got to her feet and looked menacingly at the pegasus. The rainbow mare was unfazed. “I hope you know that improper use of weather manipulation is against the rules. I could report you to your superior.” Twilight said, trying to sound menacing. She was failing. “Please, I am the superior.” replied the pegasus. “And I say ‘screw the rules’!” “Wait a minute!” said Twilight, “You’re Rainbow Dash?” “Yeah, duh!” Rainbow Dash replied condescendingly, “What other pony has a rainbow mane?” “Well,” said Twilight, “I would have expected the head of the weather crew to not abuse her power!” “Hey! I’m not-” That was as far as Dash got before she had to cover her mouth with her hooves to keep herself from giggling uncontrollably. Before Twilight could figure out what was going on, a second huge clap of thunder erupted from behind her. Rainbow Dash burst out laughing at the sight of Twilight once again on the ground, quivering.
Twilight pulled herself up onto her hooves. “Alright, who’s the wise guy this ti-ti-t...” Twilight said as she looked up at the griffin sitting on the storm cloud behind her. Twilight was frozen with fear. The bird/cat creature was chuckling at the displeasure she had caused the unicorn, who had obviously not been expecting a second attempt at the same prank. “That’s Gilda.” said Rainbow Dash when she had finally managed to stop laughing. “‘Sup, dweebs.” said Gilda, unaware of Twilight’s disposition. As Twilight stared at the bird, memories flooded her mind. Sharp claws. A forest path. Dark forms surrounding her. Beaks pecking at her flesh. Blood. Spike grabbed Twilight’s leg, well aware of her experiences. “Twilight, it’s okay. She’s not gonna hurt you. It’s all gonna be okay.” Spike said in as soothing a tone as he could manage. Twilight relaxed a little at Spike’s words but was still filled with an irrational fear.
It was then that Gilda noticed the unicorn’s frozen state. She leaped off of the cloud onto the ground in front of the pony. She had seen plenty of ponies scared of her before, because, let’s face it, it’s not every day you run into a griffin, but she’d never seen anyone as scared stiff (literally) as this purple unicorn. “What’s wrong with her?” Gilda had to asked. “She, uh...” Spike hesitated, not sure if he wanted to divulge his friends secrets. “kinda had a bad incident with some griffins in the past.” “Huh,” said Gilda, trying to sound as aloof as possible. She’s heard of things like this before, but had never seen anypony so afraid. Gilda resisted a smirk. She heard the sound of hooves meeting the dirt and looked up to see that Rainbow Dash had landed on the opposite side of the pony. “Oh, you don’t have to worry about Gilda,” said Dash, “She’s a mean prankster, but she wouldn’t hurt a fly.” Rainbow had started to trot towards Twilight’s front, and Gilda mirrored her on Twilight’s other side. “Yeah,” Gilda lied through her beak. Dash was cool, Gilda thought, but she had a soft spot for weak ponies. Gilda had to make sure to stay on her good side if she ever wanted to convince her to join some of her *ahem* less than legal activities. Dash could really make something of herself, Gilda had thought on many occasions, if she could just let go of that damned conscience. A gleam in the corner of her eye caught Gilda’s attention as she was passing the pony’s flank. Gilda peered into the unicorns saddle bags and noticed a strange looking box made of solid gold. If this had been a cartoon, Gilda’s eyes would have turned to dollar signs with the appropriate sound effect.
“What is this?” Twilight heard from over her shoulder. She felt her left saddle bag lighten and knew immediately what the griffin was talking about. “DON’T TOUCH THAT!” Twilight shouted in a panic. She turned around and quickly levitated the golden puzzle box out of the griffin’s talons, forgetting her fear temporarily. She was about to continue when said fear suddenly hit Twilight like a freight train, freezing her body. She stared into the deep, dark eyes of her worst nightmare standing before her, images of blood and the sound of cruel laughter filling her head. The large round pupils stared back at Twilight, almost like they were staring into her soul. Spike was at her side, trying to comfort her again, but to no avail. His words did not reach her in the deep black void of the griffin’s eyes in which she was lost. However, the words of the cyan mare behind her did.
“Is this what you’re getting all worked up about?” said the weather pony, “Some stupid puzzle?” Twilight turned to see that the pegasus had opened the golden case and was looking inside. As Rainbow Dash looked disinterestedly at the box’s contents, a purple aura suddenly surrounded the case. Before Dash realized what was happening the priceless artifact was ripped from her hooves. “This isn’t just any old puzzle!” said Twilight as angrily as possible in her current frightened state, “This puzzle was a gift given to me personally by-” “Geez, anyone who’d give you a lame puzzle must not like you a lot.” said Gilda. “Wh-what?” said Twilight, turning to face the griffin behind her. “Yeah, I know if I had to get something for someone I didn’t like, a puzzle’d be the first thing I’d think of.” said Rainbow from behind. Twilight looked back and forth between the two. They were wrong, they had to be. The Princess had given her the task of completing the puzzle. But, what if she didn’t really care? Maybe this was just busy work, something to keep Twilight out of the Princess’s hair. Celestia did seem disinterested in her progress in the letter. The more Twilight thought about it, the more the harsh words of the weather patrol made sense. As she thought more and more about what they were saying, she slowly began to come to a horrifying conclusion: what if the princess doesn’t want me around anymore? What if she’s lost interest in me? What if I’m not living up to her expectations? *Gasp* What if she wants to replace me? As Twilight let her deepest fears get the best of her, her eyes began to water.
“You two just shut up!” said Spike, still at his surrogate mother’s side. “Oh, please,” said Gilda, leaning in close the baby dragons face. “Like you haven’t thought the same thing!” “I haven’t!” replied Spike, “because I know what the princess thinks about Twilight and you’re both dead wrong!” Gilda’s ears perked up at the word princess. If this puzzle was a gift from royalty, it’s price would sky rocket! Hell, just one piece would be worth enough for her to never have to work again! Whatever she did, Gilda knew that she had to get that puzzle. It was at this moment of realization that Gilda’s plan fell to pieces. Twilight, having been lost in her own thoughts and unaware of the conversation, suddenly burst into tears. She telepathically grabbed Spike and dropped him on her back before turning and running off towards her new home.
