Chapter 5- Dis-harmony in Ponyville
Twilight woke up the next day with a splitting headache. She had had to stay up late the night before to finish re-stacking the library shelves; thankfully Dream Wings had been able to help when Spike had fallen asleep so she had at least managed to finish. But then when it was actually time for her to go to sleep she found that she couldn’t. For a start the wind was howling so much outside that the noise was keeping her awake, but she was also worrying about Dream Wings. If she was found helping her then Princess Celestia would banish her to the Everfree woods, or lock her in a cage in the Everfree woods and then banish her. Twilight didn’t want that to happen at all; she enjoyed her life in Ponyville and really enjoyed being Princess Celestia’s faithful student. She didn’t want to lose what she had.
She turned over in her bed and sighed. Spike was snoring away in his little basket in the corner; he certainly would never had lost sleep for anything. Sometimes Twilight wished that she could be as care-free as Spike; he seemed to live a much easier life than her. She shook that thought off straight away. Why, if she were Spike, then she would have never discovered her talent in magic and she would have never become the Princess’s student in the first place; not to mention she’d be a dragon.
She looked over at the sleeping baby dragon, and noticed that for some reason he had began to sniff the air while still lying asleep. His nostrils were flaring so rapidly that Twilight couldn’t help but be concerned about him. In actual fact, Spike had smelt a really wonderful aroma coming from nearby and it was making him hungry in his dream. He had suddenly began dreaming of all sorts of wonderful foods like ice-cream, and rubies, and emeralds, and a really gorgeous looking Sapphire Cupcake which stood right slap-bang in the middle of all the tasty treats. He moved closer to the Cupcake and it shot backwards away from his grasp, so he tried again going closer and closer until ‘CRASH’, he woke up rubbing his head where it had hit the floor. Twilight walked over to him to see if he was okay after falling so heavily out of his basket.
“I’m fine,” said Spike, “I just hit my head, that’s all."
Spike’s stomach grumbled just at that point and Twilight found her stomach doing the exact same thing; they both giggled.
“Guess we’d better get some food,” suggested Twilight as she walked down the steps of the Library, aiming for the kitchen door. Spike happily followed her; all that dreaming about food had made him really hungry. He felt so hungry he could eat a house (What did you think he was going to say? Twilight was in the room with him still).
The odours that Spike had smelt earlier grew more powerful the closer they got to the kitchen door; even Twilight could now smell it and it was making her as hungry as it had done to Spike while he was dreaming. It smelt heavenly. But who could be cooking at this time in the morning?
“Dream Wings!” Twilight was shocked; she hadn’t expected to see her old friend cooking breakfast (especially considering how long Dream Wings had stayed up the night before helping her). A whole array of dishes were laid around a smartly dressed table; each dish full of spectacular treats especially designed for a pony’s enjoyment. Dream Wings had even taken the time to find some gems for Spike to eat. It didn’t take much to persuade the lavender pony and the baby dragon to sit down and eat all of the food on display. Suffice to say that after they had eaten they were stuffed to the brim; and happily content with how full they were.
“So did you enjoy Breakfast then?” Dream Wings trotted around the kitchen clearing all of the empty dishes. Twilight’s stomach groaned, turgid after all of her feasting.
“It was great. But, why?” Twilight rubbed her tummy. “Why did you do this for us?”
“Because I owe you, for taking me in when it could get you into a lot of trouble.” Dream Wings sat down on a chair opposite Twilight. “I can’t imagine how it must feel for you. I mean imagine what Celestia will do to you if she finds out. It’ll probably be really harsh...”
“Yeah, it probably will be.” Twilight grimaced at the thought of the punishment she would be given.
“And look at how much you’re risking just for me. I mean, it’s not like you’re just a normal mare either; you're Celestia’s own personal student and she dotes on you more than anypony.”
“Yes, thanks for that Dream Wings.” Twilight slouched in her chair thinking over what had just been said. Was she doing the right thing after all? Maybe she should have just let Dream Wings be haunted by this ‘monster’ and carry on living without helping her. She looked across at her old friend who was now cleaning all of the dishes that had been used. Twilight sighed. Dream Wings was still the same pony she had known when she was younger, and when they were younger Twilight had had the habit of completely ignoring anypony who talked to her (even her brother and her foalsitter were ignored the majority of the time). She felt she owed it to Dream Wings to at least take this one risk and help her when she needed it.
“Hey Twilight” Dream Wings said “You don’t mind if I go look around Ponyville a bit. Before I have to leave I’d love to talk to some other ponies.” Twilight didn’t know what the answer to that question was; it had been risky enough taking Dream Wings to the picnic with her, let alone letting her wander around by herself. Thank fully Dream Wings understood what she was feeling.
“Don’t worry I’ll keep myself hidden.” She laid a hoof on Twilight’s back. “You can trust me.”
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“Wow Apple Jack you’re really strong” said Dream Wings as she helped the country pony collect up some apples from harvesting. Apple Jack blushed; she always felt embarrassed when being complemented. Dream Wings didn’t seem to notice Apple Jack’s obvious embarrassment and carried on talking.
“No other pony seems to work as hard as you do. You really care about everypony around and want to do your best for them.” Apple Jack shrugged and began to walk towards her apple cellar.
“I mean, no other pony can really compete with you. Everypony’s really lucky to be your friend.” Dream Wings stopped her walking and turned to Apple Jack. “Do you think anypony knows how lucky they are?” Apple Jack shuck her head. She wasn’t sure whether ponies considered how great a friend she was; they just went by, ignoring the fact.
Sour Apple grimaced up in the tree he was hiding in. He had been following Dream Wings all day and had grown annoyed about her complementing of all of the other ponies. She had so far praised every one of the elements of harmony about something or other; even the Cutie Mark Crusaders had got some praise about their determination to find out who they were. Sour had grown annoyed of it; Dream Wings hadn’t even spoken to him since when they had met on the train. She had completely ignored him. All she seemed to care about is her beloved Twilight and all of her stuck-up friends. Sour grumbled, becoming angry thinking about it. What made it worse is that Dream Wings had actually told Rarity that her fashion choices were the best she’d ever seen. Sour was a lot better than Rarity at fashion (in his own mind) but Dream Wings hadn’t told him that; she knew that he himself did fashion so why hadn’t she commented on his fashion sense.
Sour sighed, and lay down on the branch. It was uncomfortable but he didn’t care anymore. His time in Ponyville had been horrible so far; he was fed up with the constant ‘hello’ and ‘how ‘ya doing’ that everypony seemed to say when he was walking around. They didn’t seem to get that he didn’t want to talk to them. And while all of the other ponies were trying to talk to him, the only pony he actually wanted to talk to was completely ignoring him. He sighed. He had only been working in the orchard for one day and yet he already felt shattered. He didn’t even feel like moving anymore; not even to read a fashion magazine, and he still had ages to go until this visit ended. He groaned. Would this torture never end?
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Twilight and her friends had called a meeting. Well, Apple Jack and Rarity and really called it but Twilight was to be the pony in charge. There was a lot of worry about Ponyville at the minute; mostly concerning the many arguments that seemed to be happening around town. Big Mac had had an argument with Cheerile, Mayor Mare had had a heated discussion with Doctor Whooves, the young foals at the school were no longer speaking to each other; even the Cutie Mark Crusaders had fallen out over who was going to get their Cutie Mark first. It was actually the Cutie Mark Crusaders argument that had sparked a reaction in the six elements. Rarity and Apple Jack were very worried about their younger siblings; Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom had actually blatantly refused to help them with their work, a thing that they would have loved to do a few days ago.
“Okay so let’s call this meeting to order,” Twilight said banging her hoof on the table to get the other ponies attention.
“And what makes you in charge?” Rainbow Dash knocked the table, startling Twilight. “You’re not the only one who can organise things around her Twilight?”
“Rainbow’s right,” agreed Rarity, “I was the one to call this meeting so I should be in charge.”
“Ah’m sorry, who called this meetin’?” Apple Jack stood up to face Rarity. “Ah think you’ll find ah was the one who called this here meetin’.”
“No I called it!” shouted Pinkie Pie as she exploded into the air. “Oh, wait, no I didn’t... Well, I would have done so I should be in charge. If everyone follows me then this meeting can be fun and not boring like Twilight would make it.” Twilight gasped; she hadn’t heard her friends speak like this since the discord incident.
“Can everyone be just a bit quieter?” Fluttershy tried to make herself heard through the noise. “We would get more done if we were a bit quieter.”
“Forget that, we should be louder!” Rainbow Dash yelled at her shy friend, causing Fluttershy to hide under the table.
“Hey, don’t do that. You’re scarin’ her.” Apple Jack tried to stand up for the timid mare, only causing an argument with Rainbow to start. Twilight grimaced as the noise inside the room grew to painful levels. She had to try and make them stop.
“QUIET..........”
“Why don’t you be quiet? You know what, forget it, I’ll get some new cooler friends.” Rainbow stormed out of the house in a rage; forgetting the element she was supposed to represent. None of the other ponies seemed to remember either. They left the library still arguing about the trivial matter that had been brought up originally. Dream Wings walked in as all of the other ponies left, and tried to comfort the dis-heartened Twilight.
“Don’t worry, they’ll get over it. You’ll all be back together tomorrow, I’m sure.”
“But Dream Wings, nothing like this has happened since the Discord incident, what if this keeps happening? What if we never become friends with each other again?”
“Well I never thought about that... maybe... maybe, you should just forget about them. Maybe you don’t need them to be happy. I mean, you’re nice enough to be able to make more friends.”
“But Dream Wings,” Twilight sobbed, “how did this happen in the first place? We were fine until a few days ago.”
“Well, you were right about one thing. The monster never showed up; so tomorrow I guess I’ll be leaving. Maybe when I’m gone you can make up with your friends and everything will go back to normal.”
“You’re right,” Twilight said, drying her eyes, “everything will be alright. We’re the elements of harmony, so we’ll never lose our friendship. I hope...” Twilight smiled, trying to sound more cheery than she felt. Dream Wings smiled back.
“Maybe you should go and read a book,” Dream Wings suggested. Twilight seemed to be happy with this idea and walked upstairs to where she had left the book she had been reading recently.
“Yes, Dream Wings promises to leave tomorrow Twilight, and she’ll never bother you again; she promises.”