“We don’t have all day…”
A young, filly Twilight focused as hard as she could on the large, purple egg that was presented in front of her. She was trying to focus every drop of magic she had in her body into her horn but just couldn’t quite do it. Her hooves waved madly at the egg in the hopes that it would somehow concentrate her magic on her target with failed results. Holding her breath, she tried to push as much magic through her horn only to release a couple of sparks before collapsing to the ground. Twilight slowly rose up, sitting slouched with her head hung low.
“I’m sorry I wasted your time…” The ponies that sat up at the back of the room lifted their clipboards closer to their faces as their pencils scribbled on the pages leaving Twilight unaware of what was being written but sure of what the outcome was to be.
A loud explosion erupted from behind catching Twilight off guard. The loud noise exposed a power deep inside the little filly, one she didn’t know she had. As the explosion settled, magic already flowed through Twilights horn. Tilting her head forward, she aimed her horn directly at the egg, firing a beam of magic at it. The egg glowed brightly before blasting open, shattering the shell to pieces across the ground. From inside, a baby dragon hung in motion surrounded by the purple aura of the little unicorn. A yelp escaped the lips of the filly as her eyes went a pure white light and a white light surrounded her, enveloping the entire room in a flash.
Twilight sat up in her bed, dripping in sweat and panting heavily. Her magic gripped the fabric of her sheets and threw it aside as she slipped out of her bed and onto her hooves before trotting down the stairs and pacing back and forth across the library.
“Twilight? What are you doing up this late?” Twilight looked up to the second floor and saw her friend, Spike the dragon who was the baby of her dream, staring down at her with tired eyes.
“Oh… I’m sorry Spike. I didn’t mean to wake you.” The dragon’s feet slapped down the stairs as he made his way towards Twilight, walking right up to her and wrapping his claws around her neck.
“You were having that nightmare again weren’t you?” The unicorn’s head slowly nodded at his question. “Except it wasn’t a nightmare… It really happened.” The incident back in Twilight’s past has been replaying in her head as a nightmare continuously for the past few weeks. Only Spike has known about them as burdening her friends with her problems wasn’t an option she wasn’t rooting for.
“Back in that entrance exam… I lost control of my magic… I couldn’t control any of it. Who knows what I could have done, not to mention turning my parents into a cactus and a fern.” A tear slipped out from Twilight’s eye but she quickly ran a hoof by it and wiped it away.
“But Princess Celestia has taught you everything you know; you can control your magic now, not like when you were only a filly.” Twilight smiled at her friend’s helpful words. “You’re right Spike… I can control my magic now that I’ve learnt how to.” Her hooves wrapped around the baby dragon and hugged him tightly before lifting him up onto her back with her magic. “I guess we should head back to bed huh?”
The birds chirped in the light of the sunrise, waking the ponies of Ponyville. The eyes of a purple pony that slept in the library fluttered open. Sitting up on her bed she looked over at Spike who was still asleep in his basket. She had not had a repeat of her nightmare again but it weighed heavily in the back of her mind.
“Maybe Spike is right… I am much older now. I’m sure I can control any magic I can muster.” Twilight tried to look hopeful but it was the unexpected fear that had made her loose control in the first place. All it took was another and she might. It wasn’t something she wanted to deal with. Her focus needed to be on something more relaxing.
“Spike? Wake up; we have things to do today.” The baby dragon yawned and rolled over to his side, facing his back to Twilight as a claw grabbed the sheets and pulled it over his shoulder. “Now Spike!”
A purple aura surrounded the blanket and pulled it off the dragon who groaned in retaliation. “Fine… I’m up already…” Getting to his feet, Spike stretched his arms out, yawning once more as he stepped heavily down the stairs.
With Spike on her back, Twilight made her way down the Ponyville streets, following the path that leads to Sweet Apple Acres. She had promised her friend Applejack that she would help her harvest the apples of the fields. Sweet Apple Acres was located on the outskirts of town, off in a larger area, uncrowded by buildings and streets to fill the fields with large bushels of apple trees. Being at the edge of town it wasn’t a long travel to reach. Ponyville wasn’t that large to begin with but it was still full of wonderful places and ponies.
Twilight walked under the arch that greeted the field’s guests with lush vines that coiled around the arch bearing a few apples along its path. A wooden sign with the image of an apple was carved right through it as it hung above the ponies that entered. As the pair made their way towards the barn a voice called out from in the distance.
“Twilight! Ovah here!” Peeking around the barn, Twilight noticed Applejack; the southern accent alone was enough to confirm the identity let alone the white freckled face of the orange mare. Keeping pace she made her way around the barn and into the apple fields where Applejack continued to buck the trees, kicking them heavily with her mighty hind hooves. “Nevah late aren’t ya?”
Twilight smiled in response. Tardiness was an option she didn’t admire much. “Where can I start?” The orange mare’s hoof raised up and pointed down to Twilight’s left. “Start in the south fields. Ah’ll work from the north and meet ya half way.”
Twilight’s magic made apple harvesting too easy as her magic grabbed every apple off a single tree, pulling them down and depositing them into the baskets that surrounded the tree.
“It’s a good thing Applejack learnt to accept help. Wouldn’t want another incident like last time…” Spike commented from atop Twilight’s back, causing her to turn to stare at him.
“Please Spike, that’s in the past. Applejack knows there’s nothing wrong with getting a little help once in a while.” Twilight turned back to the tree ahead and began to expel so magic.
“GAH! That hurt!” Twilight quickly spun around to look at her dragon, finding him rubbing his head with his claw. “What happened?”
“Somepony threw an apple at me.” Twilight smirked.
“Oh come on Spike. Who would throw an apple at you; there are only three of us in this field. It was probably just a loose apple that fell from the trees.” Spike replied with a grunt.
“It hit me too hard to have been dropped from a tree and besides…” His claw pointed up. Twilight looked above and noticed what he meant. There were no apples above them. They were out from under any trees; it wasn’t possible for an apple to hit them from falling out of the trees.
“That doesn’t make any sense… who’s throwing apples?”
“Ah did!” Both the purple pony and dragon turn to see Applejack, leaning up against a tree.
“Applejack? Why would you...” Spike was cut off as one of Applejack’s hooves kicked at the tree, dropping a single apple from which the same hoof, lifted back from the tree and kicked at the apple, hurtling it towards the pair. Spike covered his eyes and shielded his face with his arms but contact with the apple never came. Pulled his arms apart and opening his eyes slowly, he saw the apple in mid-air, right in front of his face before it dropped to the ground. Twilight had stopped it with her magic.
“What’s wrong with you? Why are you bucking apples at us?” Twilight inquired, puzzled at her friend’s actions.
“Cuz ah don’t need ya help. Ah want ya’ll to get off mah property!” Twilight frowned towards Applejack and began to walk towards her.
“I don’t know what kind of joke you’re trying to pull but it isn’t funny.” Another buck from the mare’s hoof dropped another red bullet that sped through the air towards the unicorn. Having walked closer, the range was much too short and didn’t leave Twilight with enough time to react. The apple came into direct contact with her right cheek, pushing her back on her hooves.
Twilight turned back to Applejack, a large, purple bruise already formed on her cheek, well noticeable even on her light purple coat. Tears began to flow very steadily from the unicorn’s eyes.
“Ah said get lost!” The farmer called from the tree, pulling her hoof out, ready to send another message.
Twilight’s head dropped, hanging down by her chest, her head tilted a little to the right to hide her cheek. She turned from her old friend and began to make her way out of the fields at a slow pace. Spike crouched down on her back, holding onto her tightly while keeping his eyes on Applejack as they walked past.
“Twilight… Are you ok?” A faint sniffle could be heard by the dragon as Twilight’s hoof quickly rose and wiped away the tears on her cheeks.
“I’m fine…” Spike hopped off from her back and walked around in front of her face, holding her head gently as he analysed the bruise.
“Congratulations Twilight! You took a bucked apple to the face by Applejack and didn’t even fall down. You’re smart AND tough.” A small smile crept along Twilight’s lips, feeling a little lifted from the kind words.
“I just don’t know what that was all about… It’s not like Applejack to act so mean, let along hurt somepony.”
“Who cares anymore? If she wants to be mean after you offered to help her harvest, let her do all the work herself. No need to put effort into helps some ungrateful pony.” Spike announced, walking around and jumping back onto Twilight’s back.
“That’s the thing Spike. I didn’t offer, she asked me to help… Why would she ask me to help just so she can threaten me a few minutes later?” Even Spike was speechless at the event as he sat dumbfounded, scratching his head for an idea. “Doesn’t matter now… I’ve got other ponies to help…”
“Rarity? Are you here?” Twilight made her way into the boutique of her fashionista friend. Dresses of her own design covered up the naked pony manikins against the wall, each dress a different shade of different colours with intricate and fancy designs. Rarity, the well-groomed mare of a pure white coat and sapphire blue eyes, stood at the other end of the room, flicking through fabric samples.
“Rarity? You wanted me to help you with your dress designs?” Twilight stepped closer, keeping her head turned to her right a bit to hide herself a little.
“Ah! Yes… just in time dear, I’ll be with you in just a…” Rarity rotated her head as she spoke, noticing Twilight in mid-sentence, landing her gaze on the noticeable deep purple mark on her cheek. “Oh my? Darling, what happened to you?”
Spike jumped down from Twilight’s back, rushing in between the two ponies. “Applejack asked Twilight to help her but when she did, she told us to go away and then kicked apples at both of us until we left.”
“Spike!” Twilight grabbed Spike by the tail by her magic and pulled him back behind her. “It’s nothing… just an accident.” Rarity didn’t seem convinced.
“Puh-lease… I knew Applejack was a ruffian but this seems a little excessive, even by her standards.” Twilight just turned her head a little more to hide it completely from sight.
“It doesn’t matter… It doesn’t even hurt anymore…” Rarity stepped up beside her fellow unicorn friend and wrapped a hoof around her neck.
“Regardless, it is quite an eye-sore. Why don’t you go into the back and I’ll be right out with some make-up. Maybe I can hide it while it heals.” Twilight lifted a hoof to hold Rarity’s that draped over her neck. “Thank you.”
Twilight sat in the back, waiting for Rarity to walk through the door way with an array of cosmetic supplies. She expected to wait no more than five minutes but as she waited, five turned into ten, ten to twenty, twenty to thirty.
“Uh… Twilight? Do you think we should check on Rarity?” Spike was in the same room, waiting with Twilight. He couldn’t leave her for even a moment considering the odd day it has already been.
“She is taking much longer than expected…” As Twilight got to her hooves to leave, Rarity came busting into the room with a large bag.
“So sorry darling, I needed to go out and get supplies for your make-up.” Twilight sat back down and looked at the large bag being carried by Rarity by her magic.
“That seems to be a lot of make-up for just one little bruise.”
“Nonsense dear, I’ve gone all out on this one.” Twilight turned back to face the mirror on the wall.
“Alright, I’m ready.” She stated, lifted her head high and closing her eyes. “Good, this will only take a moment.”
“Open your eyes now.” Twilight’s eyes opened at the command, yet everything was still black.
“Rarity… All you did was stick the bag on Twilight’s head…” Spike’s voice rang into her ears, explaining why it was all dark.
“What!?” Twilight grabbed the bag in her magical grasp and ripped it off as she stared at Rarity with an unamused look. “Is that meant to be a joke?”
“Of course not darling, I’m a fashionista, not a miracle worker.” The unamused look on Twilight’s face quickly turned into confusion.
“What do you mean ‘miracle worker’? It’s just a bruise.”
“Dear, it not just the bruise. Have you seen yourself lately? You’re an absolute mess. Your mane is horrendous and purple on purple, come on.” A little pain stuck Twilight in the chest from the harsh words.
“Rarity… That’s really mean…” Rarity only smirked in response before walking out of the room. She stopped and turned her head to look back at Twilight.
“I expected much more from a Unicorn from Canterlot but you’re just as repulsive as the scum here in Ponyville.” She turned back and exited, leaving Twilight to hang her head lower, stifling another tear.
“Spike… Something is wrong… Our friends would never act like this… right?”
The Unicorn and Dragon both exited the boutique, Twilight’s head still hanging low from the physical and emotional insults of her friends. Spike opened his mouth to say something but the look on Twilight’s face made him recede. As the couple travelled down the street, the light of the day slowly disappeared, soon to be replaced with dark clouds the littered the sky.
“I didn’t think there was meant to be rain today.” Spike announced, pointing up at the dark clouds, each ready to pour copious amounts of rain onto the ponies below.
“It isn’t… Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shouted from the streets, noticing the cyan Pegasus speeding between the clouds.
“Hey Twilight, what’s up?”
“There isn’t meant to be rain today. What are you doing?”
“Well I was going to use just one cloud but that would mean I’d have to move it along the sky so I decided to fill the entire sky so I wouldn’t have to chase.” Twilight expression of confusion wasn’t only on her face. Spike too was just as lost, a claw scratching at his brain to understand.
“What are you chasing?” Spike inquired, a question he would soon take back. Rainbow Dash kicked at the cloud beside her, creating a strike of lightning to erupt from the cloud before a downpour of rain spilt out. The one cloud caused a domino effect as cloud after cloud erupted with lightning and thunder and rainfall covered every section of Ponyville.
“You didn’t think I’d chase you around with a single cloud did you?”
Twilight galloped across the street, Spikes claw curled around her chest as she made her way under the fabric shelter of a shop’s awing. The downpour was strong. The drops themselves felt heavy with each drop that pounded onto her. Her mane was completely soaked already and water flowed from the ends of her mane and coat, dripping all the water that had already soaked into her in the few seconds of being rained upon. Spike too was soaked, his body being a small cover to keep a section of Twilight’s back relatively dry but not by much. There was no time to call out anything before the awing above tore open as it burst into flames, quickly going out from the rain. A cloud was hanging right over the awing, surprisingly close. A kick from Rainbow Dash had set off another strike of thunder which had ignited the fire on the awing.
Twilight emitted a yelp from the dangerous action of the Pegasus, one that could easily have injured her.
“I don’t know what is up with everypony but this is insane!” Twilight made a dash down the street, the dark cloud above her following her every step as Rainbow Dash pushed it after her, punching into it and causing a strike of lightning to the ground just before her hooves. Spike was low on Twilight back, his claws wrapped around her neck as she ran as fast as her hooves carried her.
“Quick! Into Sugar Cube Corner!” Spike pointed out ahead at the confectionary store ahead. Twilight altered her course and headed directly for the door, quickly opening it with her magic just as she cross the threshold, slamming the door shut behind her, blocking the thunder that singed the door. “That was close…”
“Close!?” Twilight exclaimed, breathing heavily through her nostrils in anger. “That was just insane! What is wrong with everypony today? Applejack has been violent, Rarity is abusive and Rainbow Dash… is just plain crazy!”
“Sounds like you need a cupcake!”
The purple pair turned to see Pinkie Pie, bouncing across the floor with a platter on her back, staked with a pyramid of freshly baked cupcakes.
“Here.” She called out, bucking up her back which threw the cupcake at the top of the pyramid onto the tip of her nose as she leant over to Twilight with it.
“Umm… Thanks… I guess…” Twilight accepted the offer, seeing it as the only good thing to happen all day.
“I didn’t know it was meant to rain today.” Pinkie seemed confused at the weather change, letting Twilight feel a little easier in her presence.
“It’s… complicated…” The cupcake rose to Twilight’s lips, ready to take a bite.
“Wait!” Pinkie shouted before running behind the counter, pulling out a candle before bouncing back to Twilight, plunging it into the centre of the cupcake and lighting the string. “Happy Birthday Twilight!”
This put a smile on Twilight face before she took the cupcake back to her lips. “It’s not Twilight’s birthday…”
Twilight stopped and turned to Spike. “Yeah… it’s not my birthday…” The issues she had gone through today has left her mind clouded, too clouded to think straight. Mere seconds later, the flame of the candle hit the end of the rope. The cupcake exploded right in front of her face, splattering the remains onto her and Spike.
Twilight lifted her hoof up to wipe her face clean, her smile now gone and replaced with a little fear.
“What was that!? A fire cracker?” Pinkie turned back to Twilight.
“Well you could have told me it wasn’t your birthday before I put all these candles in and lit them.” The platter that was just on her back was now on the counter, each one with another ‘candle’ stuck deep into the centre, each already lit. “Oh well… Just need to throw them out now.”
One by one, Pinkie picked up a cupcake, throwing it at Twilight. Some of them hit her, spreading more cupcake much onto her coat. She shook it quickly, dislodging the crackers from her body and took off for the door again. The cupcakes across the floor between her and the door each went off as she ran past them, blasting more cupcake onto her and her dragon. As one exploded, she would turn from it, heading off in the opposite direction before another would go off, sending her back again. She burst through the door, the strong sun blinding her eyes as she lifted her hooves up to cover them. She temporarily couldn’t see but she could hear, laughter erupted all around her. As her eye sight cleared up, she could see the ponies of Ponyville all gathered around her, pointing and laughing.
“Why are they laughing?” Spike asked, clueless to what he was sitting on. Twilight on the other hand knew what was wrong. A large purple mark on her cheek, her coat completely soaked in water and lathered with a layer of cupcake frosting, she was a complete mess. Some of the ponies around the town were also wet but none of them seemed to get rained on nearly as much as Twilight, maybe due to their shelter not bursting into flames.
“I don’t know Spike… what are the odds Fluttershy isn’t as bad as the others?” Spike sat with his head held high and a grin on his face.
“If this is some sort of elaborate plan to seem mean in a way to surprise you for something, Fluttershy would crack. She couldn’t act mean, let alone be mean.” It was true, Fluttershy was the most docile pony she knew but after what she had been through, hopes were low. Even if this was a plan, there is no way her friends would go that far or that dangerous for that matter.
“Fluttershy?”
Twilight called, knocking her hoof against the door of the yellow Pegasus’ cottage. There was a sudden touch on her hoof as she looked down, seeing Fluttershy’s bunny, Angel, tugging at her hoof and jumping up and down, point around to the back of the cottage. Twilight followed Angel as he jumped across the ground. When Twilight caught up, Angel was jumping on the spot, pointing at the ground.
“I don’t get it…” Spike didn’t understand Angel’s intentions and neither did Twilight for a moment until she saw the problem. The ground he was jumping on was a little dirtier than the rest of the clean grass. Behind Angel, the dark patch of the ground followed on like a trail. Something was dragged across the ground, something Angel was trying to find. Twilight followed the path, Angel bouncing right beside her with every step. The trail soon came to an end the dirt path in the clean grass turned into a dirt path in dirt. The trail ended at the entrance to the Everfree forest. Whatever was being dragged was dragged in there. “We aren’t going in there are we?”
Spike was already frightened, not enjoying his past experiences in the Everfree forest. Twilight looked down at Angel who seemed eager to go in himself, a place she knew even the animals Fluttershy took care of were afraid of. There would be only one reason Angel would want to go inside.
“We have to… We have to save Fluttershy.”