Moving on

by Shock-Wave

Apple Cider (revised)

Author's Note:

sorry about the long hiatus, i lost my laptop because of reasons

if you think the second half needs work, give me a break i wrote it at 2 A.M.

Twilight walked around an enormous room with a sky high ceiling and walls like they would go on forever and had pristine clean floors. But what really stood out was that this room was filled to the brim with books, scrolls, spells and mysteries, all just waiting to be read.

*Tap...Tap...Tap....

Down every row and along every wall, more and more information for her and her alone.

*Tap...Tap...Tap...

Twilight stopped 'What's that tapping noise' she wondered. The noise continued even after Twilight had stopped moving all together.

*Tap...Tap...Tap...

It was strange to hear such a faint tapping noise coming from nowhere at all. As far as Twilight knew she was the only one in this room of knowledge. She searched high and low, around every corner and behind each shelf, nothing.

*Tap...Tap...Tap...

The situation turned from strange to creepy when her thought where confirmed that she was completely alone. Not only that but she noticed that the walls and selves seemed to look different, like they've lost a bit of color to them and on top of that the room became more and more dim with each passing tap.

*Tap...Tap..Tap...

Twilight started running around the entire room checking and double checking and even triple checking for a sign of any other being in the room but found nothing. As the room became darker and the colors faded more the room wasn't so thrilling anymore, it became that of a night terror.

*Tap...Tap...Tap...

As if things weren't bad enough all of a sudden the wall, shelves, and even the floor simple just faded away into black nothingness. But the strange part was that Twilight wasn't falling to her fatal end, she was just....there, wherever there was.

*Tap...Tap...Tap...

At this time Twilight was completely terrified, she didn't know where she was, she didn't know what just happened and she still couldn't find out where or what that tapping noise was. The more she thought about it, the more it confused her. All Twilight wanted was to exit this barren, lifeless, dark.... All of a sudden Twilight flipped up, out of her blankets covered in cold sweat. Twilight was breathing heavily while examining her surroundings.

*Tap...Tap...Tap...

As she started to recognize her surroundings in the dark room lighted only by Luna's moon, Twilight had a calming relaxation wash over her as she realized it was just a dream and she was safe in her own room.

*Tap...Tap...Tap...

Twilight jumped a little when she heard the tapping noise still as clear as every even after waking up from her dream. This utterly confused Twilight as she was thinking of where or what the noise was.

*Tap...Tap...Tap...

It sounded like it was coming from down the hallway near Spike's room, which made Twilight shift from confused to skeptic. Twilight's brain was going haywire as she thought of something to explain all of this, but she was still tired from being up so early that she didn't even want to know. But one thing was for sure, the tapping wouldn't go away unless she checked it out. So with nothing more to do than try falling asleep, which she knew that it was unlikely given the circumstance, Twilight pulled herself out of bed to go see what this was all about. As she neared the room she noticed the door wasn't fully shut, so she peeked inside to see what was happening. What she saw was certainly not what she expected, in the room Spike was pacing back and forth repetitively and every now and again looking at the clock just to sigh and pace even slower.

It was a few hour before the sun would rise to start the day of the opening of the Apple cider stand and a Spike was vary disappointed at how slow time seemed to pass. When Spike woke up he was very mad at how early he got up he was up a good hour before the alarm he set would go off. Spike paced back and forth throughout the bedroom trying to find something to set his mind on while he waited. The thought of going to the stand by himself crept into his mind a few times but he promised Twilight that he would go with her when she awoke, Spike kept asking her if he could set up a tent like Pinkie Pie did for the past few years but Twilight said "waiting in a line won't kill you" but it certainly felt like it would. Spike itches with anticipation to get to the stands but he knew well enough they wouldn't open for quite some time.

"This is insane, I've already did my morning chores I've cleaned my room" which took forever in his opinion but really only took about 40 minutes "and the stands won't open for another hour" Spike sighed as he went over his mental checklist of things he could do while he waited. He didn't have to make breakfast yet and he couldn't clean up the library because... it wasn't dirty.

As Spike continued pacing he didn't expect his door to open or for Twilight to step in. "Spike what are you doing,why are you up so early"? Twilight asked as she let out a yawn and started to stretch out her legs.

"Oh sorry Twilight I didn't mean to wake you up, I guess I'm a little impatient about this whole cider thing" Spike said as he scratched the back of his head trying to look as innocent as possible. Twilight looked over to the clock sitting on Spikes night stand to see what time it was and then gave Spike the are you kidding me look. "Okay fine I'm a lot impatient" Spike grumbled while crossing his arms in a fit.

"Spike, is this event really that important to you? You're as eager as Rainbow Dash is waiting for the next Daring Do book to come out".

"That's easy for you to say, you've never had to wait on this, you were old enough when we came to Ponyville" Spike said still in his mood.

"True but that doesn't change the fact that you're over reacting about this whole thing" Twilight said while she sat down to rest her morning fatigue.

"Oh like you've never overreacting about anything" Spike said adding some emphases with some rapid claw motion.

"Hey, I've only overreacting when there were dire consequences" Twilight said defending herself.

"Oh Ya, what about that time where future you tried to tell you something was going to happen soon any nothing happened" Spike replied with a smug look on his face.

"Give me a break Spike future me looked like she was going to warn me of a upcoming invasion and she was part of some sort of resistance team" Twilight said in a huff to try and defend herself. "I doubt you would've reacted any differently.

Spike opened his mouth to protest but he had nothing to say "You have a good point there. I guess you're right maybe I am a little too anxious about this" Spike sighed and slouches over in defeat "Well, now that you're up I guess I'll go start breakfast".

As Spike walked out the door to his room and proceeded down the stairs, Twilight was finally allowed some peace in here morning and took the chance to just sit there and relax. Giving a second to appreciate the condition of Spike's room from whence it was last night. While she was looking around his room Spike's calendar caught her eye and as she notice of course there was a picture of Rarity crudely sketched on the top part of it that made Twilight give a quick chuckle, but on the bottom half she noticed that their was many x's on all the days that have past since a certain date that Spike had written in 'Rarity's departure'. Twilight then counted how many x's there were from that day.

"15"

A sudden realization washed over here as she noticed two full weeks have flown by since that day. She thought back to the day Rarity left, Spike seemed so depressed that it she thought he would have never been able to pick himself up. 'Well at least spike is acting normal again, all of his groaning and sadness was starting to bug me, I wounder how Rarity is doing I thought by now she would have written a letter abou*'. Twilight's train of thought was cut short by a very delicious scent emanating from down stairs. Then as if she were floating she smoothly made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen, where she saw Spike swiftly transition from the oven to the fridge and counter, flipping pans, mixing things and squeezing fruit, all while wearing his little pink and white apron with a purple heart in the middle that looked way to small on him and seemed like it could break any second. All of the moving and mixing the frying and such was making Twilight's head spin,Twilight never really could get the hang of cooking down. As much as she tried, it just didn't come to her a well as magic did, 'I guess magic and cooking just don't want to get along with each other'.

As Spike continued to switch from one place to the next he noticed Twilight standing next to the entrance of the kitchen purely baffled by what he was doing. Spike gave a little grin and said " Too much for you".

Twilight huffed in embarrassment and trying to defend herself said "we're all good at something Spike, Its just....cooking is not one for me."

Spike gave a small laugh remembering the last time Twilight almost burnt down the library after she tried making breakfast. "oh don't worry about it, maybe i can teach you some day."Spike offered while still trying to sustain his laughing.

At this point Twilight was blushing with embarrassment,"oh ha ha, hey don't forget re-shelving day is coming up pretty soon." Twilight shot back while waiting for Spike's reaction

And oh what a reaction it was, all at once Spike stopped laughing, stopped cooking, got to his knees and almost started to cry. "N-Not that Twilight, Anything but that. I'll do anything, I"ll polish the floors, I'll sleep outside, Just please, don't make me re-self the books!" Spike whimpered.

At this time Twilight was just enjoying here number one assistant beg for mercy. "Sorry Spike, but you knew this was coming up, and as much as i love re-selfing every, single, last, book in the library, It would be a lot better with some help" Twilight said playfully all the while watching Spike fall more apart with every passing word.

As Twilight was enjoying her victory she heard a family clicking noise outside indicating that the daily mail had arrived. Even though she wanted to stay and soak up here sweet victory, she knew that she had troubled Spike enough to let him go.... this time. As Twilight made her way to the door she saw Ponyville's mailmare Derpy looking at here schedule. "Good morning Derpy, hows the mail delivering going"? Twilight asked

Derpy jumped and almost dropped her schedule "Oh good morning Twilight. Sorry I can't talk right now the manager at the mailing office caught the feather flu, and without the manager the whole system has gone all wacky, Got to go" Derpy said flying off to her next destination.

Twilight saw her fly off around the corner and out of sight, coming back to reality she remembered why she came out here in the first place. Twilight then proceeded to open the mail box and retrieve its contents. "Bill, Bill, oh a coupon to the spa, Bill, and, ...Whats this" Twilight read the return address, "Manehatten , but that could mean..." Twilight wasted no time to open the letter and read who the message was from. Twilight smiled when her suspicions were confirmed, opened the door to the library where Spike had finally got off the ground, albeit still grumpy, finished breakfast and was currently setting the table when Twilight called out " Hey Spike guess what just came in from Manehatten. "

"I'm not in the mood Twilight, can we just eat breakfast so we can go to sweet apple acres." Spike huffed clearly not calm from what had happened earlier.

"Alright fine, I'll just throw this letter from RARITY, in the garbage then" Twilight teased wagging the letter in the air just a few feet from herself. As Twilight turned around to proceed to the trash can, she realized that the letter was no longer in her telekinetic grasp, and through the corner of her eye she saw spike, letter in hand reading every word over and over to catch every little detail. Once spike had read the entire letter he slouched over and sighed deeply.

"It's short but none the less still thoughtful." Twilight said softly "Hey, why don't we eat breakfast and then we can head of to Sweat Apple Acres" Twilight motioned to the table that was already set fully with food.

Shaking the feeling in his head " That sounds like a great idea" Spike said while exhaling, reliving himself and followed Twilight to the table.

---

Walking through Ponyville is always a way to keep your mind calm, with friendly ponies everywhere it's almost impossible be mad, with Twilight and Spike there was no exception, regardless of earlier events the two friends were heading out of town towards Sweet Apple Acres chatting about happy memories and unforgettable tragedies that they and their friends have been through. As they finally arrived at the apple farm and headed to the back of the line they noticed something different, there were 3 separate lines albeit still all moving the same pace,

"Isn't there only supposed to be one line?" Twilight ask skeptically while standing in the line in the middle.

"How am I supposed to know, I usually stay back at the library when you meet the girls here." Spike replied while crossing his arms

"Well either way with three lines the wait time will only be 1/3 of what it usually is" Twilight said and she was correct the line is usually about half a mile but now was only about 110 ponies in each line.

"Good, i just hope they don't run out of cider this time" came a voice from above,

This made both Twilight and Spike jump a little as Rainbow Dash came swooping down to the ground landing swiftly next to the unicorn and dragon, as Fluttershy right behind Rainbow took her time and came down to the ground in a much more calm manner.

"Ah, Rainbow don't do that you scared the heck out of me" Twilight said while recovering from the jump scare.

"Ehh you'll live egghead" Rainbow said shrugging it off. "So Spike why were you guys so late the stands opened like 20 minuets ago?" Rainbow said in a jokingly manner.

Spike chuckled "oh ya, you weren't exactly here right when it opened either so you have no room to talk"Spike said while moving closer to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash followed up by moving right up to spikes face "oh yea" Rainbow said merely inches from Spikes nose.

"Yea" Spike replied with a grin that could only be described as 'bring it on'.

As the high tension inflamed between the dragon and mare, Twilight and Fluttershy were spectating a safe distance away. "Is it just me or as Spike continues to grow up he's picking up a lot of 'Rainbow Dash' in him?" Twilight asked Fluttershy in a more hushed volume than compared to Spike and Rainbow.

Fluttershy shrugged and said "I try not to get involved" in her calming voice.

Still locked in an silent war of sight Spike and Rainbow Dash after staring at each other for about a minuet both started busting out laughing from the 'seriousness' of there war. "Never gets old" Spike said still holding his gut from all the laughing.

"You said it" Rainbow replied through gasps of air.

"Okay, now that your weekly starring match is over, would you two actually want to start waiting in line. Even with the new amount of lines it still won't be a short wait."Twilight said to the both of them

"Yeah yeah don't get your bangs in a curl, we're just trying to have some fun." Rainbow said while totally recovering from her laughing. All Twilight could do was roll her eyes.

---

After about 40 minuets of jokes, stories and playing around, the line was at its end with only two ponies in front of the group of friends. And as the line finished up the group of friends finally realized why there was three lines. Standing behind the counter was the yellow, orange and white fillies that weren't exactly children anymore. "Hey, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo its been a while how have you three been, and more importantly why are you guys working the stands this year?" Spike asked willing putting two bits on the table in front of Apple Bloom.

"We've be alright, still no luck with are cutie marks though." Sweetie Belle said with a hint of frustration in her voice, while pulling four mugs out for the group

"Oh don't worry girls, your cutie mark will come when it's ready" Fluttershy said while putting her two bits on the counter.

"Yeah yeah we've heard it all before but it doesn't seem to ever want to be ready" Scootaloo replied while poring the cider in the four mugs.

"Oh and to answer Spike's second question, Sweetie and Scootaloo are helping out because they need some bits for the summer and my sister said she would give them a cut of the profit for helping out." Apple Bloom said while putting the money in the chest. "Well that about covers it, you four enjoy." Apple Bloom started to wave to the group as they left, But Rainbow stopped when she had an idea that totally gave her a devious grin.

"Actually Apple Bloom I need one more thing." Rainbow said while turning around and headed back towards the counter.

"Sure thing, do you need another mug?"

"Not exactly" Rainbow pulled a hefty coin pouch out of her saddle bag emptied its content, 40 bits "Give me an entire barrel."

Apple Bloom smile completely faded, "Are you sure Rainbow Dash that's 20 servings of cider not including the one in your hoof?"

Rainbow's grin became bigger "I'm completely sure" Rainbow said

Apple Bloom shrugged " Okay," she then turned around and raised her voice "Hey Apple Jack we need another Barrel."

In ten seconds flat Apple Jack came out from the other side of the barrel stack picked up a barrel and ran over the stand. "Didn't i just give you a barrel less than a minute ago?" Apple Jack said after setting down the cider.

"Yeah you did but Rainbow Dash just bought an entire barrel" Apple Bloom said pointing to Rainbow dash while rolling the barrel around the counter.

Apple Jack looked over the counter at Rainbow Dash with a hard stare. "That's a lot of cider for one pony Rainbow"

"Don't worry AJ I'll be fine, and besides I won't drink it all myself." Rainbow said to Apple Jack with a innocent smile.

"Alright then I got to get back to work, you be careful with it." Apple Jack said while running back behind the barrel stand.

"I will" Rainbow hollered back, Rainbow then proceeded to roll the barrel back to an area full of benches and tables where ponies could relax while enjoying their cider, Rainbow proceeded to a table were the group was sitting and evidently Pinkie Pie joined the group and was now sitting at.

"So Rainbow, you said you aren't going to drink that all by your self huh, who's going to help you with all that cider. Spike chuckling as he took a big gulp of his first taste of cider savoring ever little bit of taste.

"You are big guy" Rainbow replied while Spike spat out his drink and started choking. "I may not know a lot about dragons but what I do know is they can really hold down their liquor. So I challenge you to a drink off" Rainbow announced

Twilight interjected "Rainbow Dash, Not only is that reckless, but Spike is still too young and is nowhere near ready for that amount of cider."

"Aw don't be a stick in the mud egghead he'll be fine" Rainbow huffed. "If it makes you feel any better, at any time during the drink off if you think Spike is done you can take him home... but that just means I win" Rainbow said boldly.

"Okay but what about you how will you make it home safely you need to fly home?" Twilight asked skeptically

"Why do you think I watch the butterfly migration with Fluttershy each year, This is how Flutters repays me, she lets me crash at her cottage for the night." Rainbow said visible eager to get the drink of under way.

"Are you okay with that Fluttershy?" Twilight ask in concern.

Fluttershy nodded "Oh I don't mind Rainbow isn't to much trouble compared to the mood of some of my animals, and besides its always nice to have some company at the migration" Fluttershy said in a nice soothing voice.

"Alright then, what about you Spike" Twilight asked Spike who was sitting right next to her but Spike said nothing "Spike?"

Spike had already locked eyes with Rainbow Dash "OH IT IS ON" Spike said while Rainbow pored the first drink, all Twilight could do was sit back and go over all the reasons in her head that this was a bad idea.

"I'll be the referee" Pinkie Pie shouted from the table.

And so it began.

Comments

[Starguy135]

Enjoying the story so far, just a heads up it's shelf, shelves and re-shelving.

[Shock-Wave]

6195415
And that is why English and i don't get along

[ThePachusanW]

Enjoy the reading, i can't waiting for the next

[Inferno demon Dash]

This is going to be fun.