//------------------------------// // Friendly Fire? // Story: Twilight Unleashed // by Artistic Fox //------------------------------// “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…”