Sour Apple and Dream Wings both have different reasons for needing to go to Ponyville,what are they?
Both Sour Apple and Dream Wings have different reasons for needing to go and stay with ponies in Ponyville. Sour has to go and spend time with his cousin Apple Jack and her friends despite his instant dislike for every pony around him. Dream Wings on the other hand needs to see a very old friend from Canterlot in order to hide from a creature that she has hidden in fear from every day since she was a young filly. However will these two new ponies be the one thing that manages to split apart the Elements and harmony, and consequentially the kingdom, forever? Or will they be the one thing that can stop the nightmare during daytime?
Everyone knows the story of the elements of harmony, with its honest tendencies, its loyal generosity, its sheer kindness, and of course its magical laughter. It is said that these elements, these friends, can together defeat any enemy that Equestria faces. But apart they fall along with the kingdom, and then very quickly the elements that we once knew are gone; never to return. This being said they have never managed to be split before without quickly coming back together as one. Some of the greatest villains have tried and failed to split them apart. However, this is not to say that it cannot be done... as everypony was about to find out.
We start with the least expected of ponies to be involved in a story about friendship. Sour Apple was sour by name and sour by nature. He was a fashion pony focused primarily on keeping his mane tidy and his hooves clean but nothing else. You’d think that somepony as handsome as him would have plenty of friends or followers but he had none and would actually accept nopony to be his friends as it was. He spent all his time reading magazines and the hurtful gossip that comes with them. Other ponies would not even try to become friends because the simple fact is that other ponies that lived in the Filly Isles found him rude, ungrateful, and selfish (among other things). His mother, Apple Brown Betty, was struggling to understand or be proud of her son for what he had done with his life. Sour hadn’t bothered to even help on the family orchard since he was a young colt and first got his cutie mark. He felt that because he knew what his talent was, that he should focus on that and nothing else. Apple Brown Betty was very upset with her youngest son, so upset that she had come up with a very upsetting solution to the problem.
“Forget it Mother, I’m not going,” Sour shouted through his bedroom door.
“Sour, you have to go. I’ve already booked your train tickets and I know for a fact that Auntie Smith has set up a room for you at Apple Acres already,” Brown Betty pleadingly told her son.
“I’m still not going. I hate dirty, filthy orchards with dirty, filthy ponies and their dirty, filthy manners,” Sour complained. “There will be no-pony there that has the sophistication to be around such a pony as me.”
“That doesn’t matter, you’re not there to be sophisticated, you’re going there to learn to make friends and be grateful for all you have,” Brown Betty told her son as she walked into his room. “Why, your cousin AppleJack is apparently a fine mare and her friends are too. Maybe you can be friends with them.”
“Yes I know. The precious Elements of Harmony. No-pony ever fails in this family to exclaim how brilliant they are.”
Looking down at her son’s pouting face, Brown Betty sighed. She really hoped that this trip would help Sour become a bit of a happier stallion and one that ponies would make friends with. She knew that her Auntie Smith could deal with anypony because she herself recalled going to her when she was a young filly and was shy and socially awkward. Now she thought about it if it wasn’t for her Auntie Smith she probably would have never met her husband, Crumble, and she would have never had had the happy life she did now. She remembered that it was hard to change, and would be hard for Sour as well, but she knew that Auntie Smith would be up to the challenge. After all she did raise three other foals by herself, so she could surely handle another one like Sour. “ The train leaves in an hour. Be on it or your Father will put you on it.” She left the ticket on Sour’s bed and trotted out of the room.
The train station was extremely busy and noisy when Sour got there. After about 5 minutes of thought he had decided to do as his mother said, mostly because his Father was extremely strong and he did not want to get onto the wrong side of that fight, but also because he really did care for his mother and was upset that she was getting so upset about it. Sour sighed as he looked at all the untidy manes and horrifying clothes of the ponies chatting around him. He shook his head in disbelief; it looked like these ponies had never looked in a mirror before in their lives. Did no-pony care about what they looked like at all?
Just as he thought that, he noticed a very nervous young mare hiding in a corner. ‘Finally,’ he thought, ‘somepony who actually has some fashion sense. She's beautiful.’ This mare was an extremely pretty one although she herself did not seem to notice it. Long locks of wavy blue and white hair fell in a sea of calm around her neck. Her eyes were a dreamy light blue while her body was coloured in a light purple angelic way. She could perhaps be stated as looking as if she could not even be real, but a dream. She didn’t seem to fit in with the lower class ponies around her, although alicorns never did seem to fit into the lower society of Equestria. A train came chugging into the station and the young mare slinked into the cantering crowd and disappeared out of Sour’s sight. Sour snapped back into reality just in time to get onto the train going to Ponyville.
Sour Apple looked down at the seat he had chosen on the train. They had chosen some putrid colours as far as he was concerned; everything on the train screamed old-fashioned, and featured never-going to-change furniture and pictures. The worst picture of all was of an old stallion General hung on the wall in the claustrophobic carriage. Sour groaned to himself in disbelief. He was actually doing this. All of these ponies were doing this. Going to the unfashionable prison of a place like Ponyville and they seemed to actually enjoy the thought. Sour, with his fashion eye, scanned the room for anything that might actually be considered stylish but saw nothing but faux pas’ around the room. One mare had actually taken French o’couture to a new, almost horrifying level of disgustingness with her monstrosity of a chapeau (that’s hat for us regular ponies).
“It almost looks like her head's being eaten by a dragon,” stated the mare who had sat down next to Sour.
He turned to see the mare that he had considered so beautiful on the station platform. He blushed as scarlet as his hair, hoping that she had not noticed that he had been staring at her and not taken it as a thought of him wanting to be friends... or worse.
“Quite,” he admitted trying desperately to avoid conversation.
“I saw you on the platform.” Sour slunk down in the chair. “You didn’t seem really happy to be there. Don’t you want to go to Ponyville then?”
“Not really,” he mumbled to the friendly filly, trying to signal to her that he didn’t want to talk. Unfortunately she did not appear to understand the signal and carried on interrogating him anyway.
“Do you know ponies in Ponyville then?”
“Do you?” he asked rudely in return trying to deter her from sitting next to him.
“Well yes I do know somepony there I believe. Well... I hope she lives there and not in Canterlot at least.”
“Why? I’d love to go to Canterlot, it’s a dream palace.”
Sour finally grew interested in the conversation. Unfortunately this question seemed to disturb the mare and she blushed violet with embarrassment. She turned away from him to watch the scenery whizzing past through the window. Sour stared at her for a few minutes, noting the large gem necklace she wore around her neck and what it appeared to be hiding. Now, Sour had always been an extremely observant foal so it did not take much for him to notice what other ponies wouldn’t necessarily have noticed themselves. Because as pretty as she was, the one blemish on her otherwise perfect look was a large scar across the front of her body. Only the tip of this could be seen though as the necklace hid the majority of it but he noticed it and he didn’t like it. As much as he was a prissy pony and as rude as he was, he did not like any injustice to be done to ponies that were as beautiful as he was.
“Where did you get that scar from?” he asked with little tact. The mare jumped and blushed again at his question. She seemed to scan the area of the train to see that no other pony had heard the question he had asked. She opened and closed her mouth, begging the words to come but they couldn’t. Sour grew annoyed at getting no answer and was about to make a very nasty retort, when all of a sudden the startled mare tried to escape from the seat.
The ticket master stopped her as she tried to run, and very quickly he got to his job. “Tickets please,” he spat onto them both. Rubbing his head and grimacing at the wet saliva running down his ear, Sour handed over his ticket. The ticket master clipped the pass and hoofed (handed to you humans) it back to Sour. His attention now on the ever-increasingly startled mare, he waited for her to hoof (hand) over her ticket.
“Ticket please,” he spat again after having been given nothing over a minute or so.
“Ummm... well, you see.... I must have forgotten to buy a ticket at the station.” The mare apologetically smiled at the stallion.
“Well then Miss, you can pay me the money and I’ll give you a ticket.”
“Um... well, you see... I must have forgotten to bring any money with me as well... I’m so forgetful you see.”
By this time the ticket master could tell she was just going to keep on making excuses. “Then you will have to get off at the next stop I’m afraid.”
This suggestion seemed to make the mare even more distraught then she already was. Sour noticed the look of plea that she seemed to give the ticket master, but no sympathy was being given to her in return. The desperation in her eye made Sour feel sorry for her. This injustice that the master was giving her was not to be loved or tolerated by him and so he decided to do a very unlikely thing. “I’ll pay for her ticket,” he said. The ticket master seemed happy enough with this idea and once he had the money he trotted away whistling a cheerful tune. The mare smiled at Sour Apple and he nodded in return.
“Thank you. Thank you for paying for me. I really need to go to Ponyville.”
“I know,” Sour said. “My name is Sour Apple. And you?”
Looking around and lowering her voice so others could not hear she said “My name is... Dream Wings.”
After what seemed like an endless journey on the train, they finally arrived into the bustling Ponyville centre. Ponyville market was a hive of activity; cherries and tomato’s were being sold in the corner; ice-creams and cakes were being sold at the shops; waiters bustled round tables in the busy restaurant; and even the post mares were hastily going about their job, trying to pick up all the letters that a grey filly had dropped. Sour grimaced to himself; it was just as un-couf as he thought it was going to be. And yet again everypony seemed to be sporting the ugliest of mane-cuts and colours like he had seen on the train ride there. The thought of staying in this village was sickening to him. How could his Mother do this? After he had done nothing but... well ...he had done nothing period, so to him that would mean that he hadn’t done anything wrong; so he shouldn’t be there.
Sour looked around him trying to find Dream Wings, the beautiful alicorn that had sat near to him for the whole of the journey. She didn’t seem to be anywhere. Had she even got off the train? No, it seemed that she had just gone without saying goodbye or thanking him. Sour pouted, he had wanted to see her before she left. He wanted to see where she would be staying in Ponyville and for how long. He felt that if he knew where she was then there would be at least one pony he could actually talk to without feeling angry or upset... or awkward. Although Sour would not admit it, he was quite fearful that other Ponies would not like him and so he didn’t usually attempt to try to talk to them.
‘Never mind,’ he thought to himself, ‘I’ll not be staying in this horrible place for long’. After this comforting thought he trotted off to try and find this monstrosity of a farm that his Mother had so rudely sent him to.
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Apple Jack rushed around the farm trying to get all of the preparations completed before her cousin showed up. She had spent a whole tiring morning with her friends trying to herd a bunch of parasprites that had made their way into Ponyville again. Apple Jack had never played the recorder before but the Parasprites didn’t seem to mind, they had followed it anyway. The only problem was that as soon as she had got back to Sweet Apple Acres for a rest, Granny Smith had remembered that some cousin she had never met was coming to stay and work on the farm. Apple Jack was not exactly happy that she hadn’t been told beforehand but knew Granny Smith well enough to know that it wasn’t the eccentric mare’s fault, so Apple Jack had got to work to prepare straight away. Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh ran in and out of Apple Jack trying to get their preparation work done as well.
“Do ya’ think we’re done yet?” asked Apple Bloom piteously.
“Ah don’t know. What do you think Big Mac?” “Yup,” the older stallion told his younger sisters.
“Is that ‘yup’ we’ve finished or ‘yup’ we’ve not?” Apple Jack stood confused wiping her brow. She took a quick glance around the farm; it seemed to look okay; well as okay as an orchard could ever look. She didn’t really understand the fuss Granny Smith was making about cleaning up the farm; this cousin was supposed to live on a farm himself so a clean farm would not be something he expected, right?
Apple Jack could not believe how wrong she was. Sour Apple was just the type of pony that she, as an honest pony, could not stand. He was rude, un-grateful and worst of all would not even try to help on the farm. This was apparent to her when he showed up and screamed at the mud he had got on his hoof, he then proceeded to insult her hair, push Apple Bloom to the side, and demanded that Big Macintosh take his luggage up to his room that he was going to be staying in, in this ‘pigsty’ of a house. Apple Jack seriously considered making the stallion stay in the real pig sty, where he belonged, but decided against it. After all it would be unfair to the pigs.
Sour stared around his room in disgust. There was dust in the corners, ugly pictures on the walls, and a distinct smell of utter repulsive odours.
“Ah can’t smell anything,” Apple Jack argued. “Can you Big Mac?”
“Nope,” her brother said, glaring at Sour while he did. Sour instantly glared back at his elder, not afraid of the clearly stronger stallion with the horrible ‘split ends’. Apple Jack yawned to herself. She felt too tired to argue with this prissy pony right now, she just wanted a bit of piece and quiet.
“Dinner’ll be ready in an hour. Your choice whether to come.” And with that Apple Jack and Big Mac left the room, shutting the door behind them as they went. Sour sighed; this trip was not going well for him at all. He hated everything about this place, and he especially hated the country bumpkins with whom he had to acquaint himself with. He never had liked Apple Jack for stealing all the attention from the family with her precious element of harmony: he could be an element of harmony if he so wished.
Sour shuddered looking at the dull curtains and dreary bedspread that he had been given. Thankfully he had planned ahead at home and brought some of his favourite fashion choices with him. He trotted over to his case and carefully unhooked the latch so he could see his beautiful clothes, and there on top of his silk pyjamas laid a letter. A letter from Dream Wings:
Dear Sour, Sorry I couldn’t see you after the train ride but I needed to leave quickly. Thanks again for paying for my ticket, I really do owe you one. I’m sorry but I can’t tell you where I’ll be staying because I don’t know whether I’m able to stay yet. It was great to meet you anyway and good look with your fashion, Dream Wings Ω Ω Ω
Sour smiled to himself and then hastily shook it off. “Wait” he thought “How did she know I liked fashion?”
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Meanwhile, on the other side of Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle was shuffling through old scrolls in her library, trying to correctly put them in order of age, category and colour. Spike was not enjoying helping his friend. He had had to re-order the scrolls they were putting away so many times that he had become really, really sleepy. It was too bad that Owloicious had gone hunting for food or he could have helped instead, but for now it was up to Spike. When Twilight had come in after going to deal with the parasprites pest problem she had been really tired, but unfortunately for Spike, Twilight didn’t let sleep get in the way of her organising time. It had to be done for her to be happy.
“Now, should this go under Ancient Curses or Ancient Hexes?” Twilight muttered “Or should it go under Ancient spells? Oh no, this doesn’t belong on that pile, I’ll have to start all over again”
Spike shook his head, was there no end to this boredom? As if to answer, somepony knocked on the Library door. Twilight didn’t move away from her job. The pony knocked on the door again. Twilight did not seem like she was going to make any attempt to move, so with a sigh, and pushing through all of the scrolls on the way, Spike went to answer it. But when he opened the door, the pony that had been knocking had vanished. Nothing was outside except the purple flowers, the doorstep and the bush with eyes.
“Wait a minute,” Spike thought, “I thought our flowers were yellow.”
The bush moved closer to the door and Spike jumped out of his scales. Twilight, on hearing the baby dragon’s cry, rushed outside to see a hiccup-driven Spike being comforted by a very upset looking mare with large blue eyes and beautiful locks of hair for a mane.
“Dream Wings, what are you doing here?” Twilight Sparkle worriedly paced around the floor staring at the mare she had known as a foal; the one mare she ever considered to be her friend when she was younger, and the one mare she had promised never to see ever again.
“Like I said, I need your help Twilight.” Dream Wings checked over her shoulder for anypony else. “Something’s following me, something that isn’t nice and something that shouldn’t ever have to be seen by anypony’s eyes”.
Twilights eyes grew as round as a cider barrel, her interest sparked by the thought of another monster attacking Ponyville. Another monster she would have to defeat, and just when she had wanted to completely re-stack the library shelves as well; it was such a pain. “Didn’t you think that if a monster is following you, then it wouldn’t be best to bring it into Equestria?” Twilight asked Dream Wings, exasperated.
“No, I can’t handle it by myself. You were always stronger and smarter than me so I thought you could help." Dream Wings looked beseechingly at her old friend, begging her for the help she had needed for so long. Twilight, however, was struggling with the idea. Why, if Princess Celestia found out that she, Twilight, were hiding and helping Dream Wings then she could be banished from the entire kingdom. The Princess had to have had a reason to banish Dream wings from the kingdom in the first place and she, her most faithful student, couldn’t go against the Princess’s word, could she? Twilight looked down at her old friend and seeing the true terror in her eyes, and remembering all of the kind things Dream Wings used to do for her, she had to relent. Like it or not, Twilight owed a lot to the purple mare, for without her she probably wouldn’t know most of the spells she knew today, and considering what her attitude to Dream Wings was when they were foals, she had to do something for her.
“Okay Dream Wings you can stay here for a while,” she told her friend. “But you have to promise, if no monster turns up by next Tuesday, then you will leave Equestria and go back to where you were banished to. Deal?”. She held her hoof out; Dream Wings accepted gratefully, smiling at Twilight’s generous offer. Dream Wings couldn’t help but notice how different Twilight had become since she had left her and had been banished to Never Free Woods on the Island of Repent. She seemed to have become more friendly and adventurous than she had been previously in their youth, as well as the newly gained wings on her sides. As of yet, Dream Wings didn’t know if she liked it or not, but a friend is a friend for ever, ever, ever, ever (and in case you didn’t notice that is four evers, forever).
Sour was not getting on as well at Apple Acres. He had decided that he would make an appearance at the dinner table out of courtesy (and because he was famished) but the food he had been supplied with was not to his tastes. Apple fritters coated in a sweet, crispy sugar crust and deep fried in Apple oil; apple sauce served with deep fried hay fries and for pudding there was a startlingly sweet apple tart with a layer of caramel apples covering the top. There was even Apple Juice to drink, just in case you didn’t eat enough apples during the meal. What, had they cut down their entire orchard to make this food?
The Apple family happily tucked into their meal, hungry after their hard afternoons work clearing up the farm. Sour looked on in shock, grimacing at the untidy manners of the ponies who were supposed to be in his family. At that minute, he wished they would disown him, just to escape the hellish nightmare.
“Ain’t you gonna eat your brunch?” asked Apple Bloom with apple sauce slathered over her hooves and mouth. Sour shook his head. His stomach rumbled to him, telling him to eat something quickly before he lost his entire figure and became a skeleton stallion. So, shaking slightly, Sour lifted up an apple fritter and slowly bit into the exterior of the food. Apples flooded into his mouth, and the sugar crunched around his teeth. He smiled to himself, he actually liked this carnival food, it reminded him of the treats his mother used to give him when he was small and he’d helped in the orchard. That was before he got his cutie mark though, after that he had spent all of his time devoting himself to his fashion (which basically meant lounging around in his room all day).
Granny Smith noticed the young stallion’s smile, and she also noticed the annoyed looks her three young charges gave to him as he sat near them. It was quite clear to her that this pony was not what he pretended to be all of the time, but to others it seemed his act had gone down surprisingly well: they all seemed to believe that he was this rude, un-grateful pony that didn’t care for anypony in his own family. Granny Smith knew better. She had had enough experience dealing with ponies exactly like the young sour apple; the ones that utterly refused to help out their family on the orchard because they felt it was beneath them. Even Apple Jack, the most trusted pony in the apple family, used to be exactly like Sour Apple is when she was a filly, though she herself could not remember this and never would want to. Yes, Granny Smith knew what this wild stallion needed to tame him; to become friends with others, and she was going to make sure that it was done.
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The next day, reluctantly, Apple Jack took Sour Apple with her to a picnic with her friends. It had taken a long time for Granny Smith to persuade her to do so but eventually she had agreed, although she was not looking forward to it. Sour Apple felt exactly the same as Apple Jack, he in no way wanted to meet the other elements of harmony because, as you’ve probably already noticed, Sour Apple didn’t like the elements of harmony and all the good they had done. It’s true that he wouldn’t have wanted the villains to win, but the mere fact that the elements of harmony beat them, and he wasn’t one of them, annoyed him immensely.
“Howdy y’all,” Apple Jack said to her friends, “how’s it goin’?”
“Awesome,” her friend Rainbow Dash answered. “I completed three new triple rainbow roar dives this morning, followed by a Rainbow dodge.”
“Do you name everything after yourself?” moaned Sour Apple stood behind Apple Jack.
Rainbow on seeing the new pony answered rudely back “Yeah, Rainbow’s make everything 20% cooler. And by the looks of it you make everything 20% lamer.”
Rainbow pulled a silly face in which her nose went up in the air like Sour’s and every other pony there burst out laughing. Pinkie Pie laughed harder than anyone, but she just loved to laugh so nopony could tell whether she actually found the joke funny or not. One pony who certainly did not find it funny was Sour Apple who pulled a face back at Rainbow and turned his back to them. Just at that moment Rarity came up to the group with her special chair she sat on during picnics so she didn’t get dirty.
“Ugh, this colour is horrible. Who picked the pattern?” she said commenting on the picnic blanket that Fluttershy had put down earlier. Sour turned round to see who this pony was that considered themselves to know fashion; when seeing Rarity he grimaced for about the hundredth time in two days. Rarity was another pony he couldn’t stand; he recognised her from the columns in the magazines he read and was extremely jealous of the fame she had got for her fashion, especially since he had never sold one single piece. He put it again, to the fact that Rarity was an element of harmony and so she gets all of the press that he deserved, little knowing or caring about the hard work Rarity put into every single outfit she made. Sour just thought that she did not know the art to making a perfect dress and got by, by knowing Princess Celestia’s perfect student.
Speaking of which, Twilight and Spike, the last party to the picnic, showed up at that moment he was about to comment about Rarity’s fashion sense and his attention was diverted to Dream Wings, who had come with them. Sour beamed a giant smile and had to hold himself back from charging at Dream Wings and giving her a giant hug. He had realised after receiving that letter that if he wanted anypony to be his friend then it would be her, it would be Dream Wings, and now he would get a chance to become it. Sadly for him, Dream Wings did not have the same thought. While Sour had already decided that the only pony he would make friends with was Dream, she had quickly become friends with all of the others. The other ponies, including Apple Jack loved Twilight’s old friend and she became extremely popular with them by the end of that picnic. Dream Wings seemed to be interested in fashion like Rarity; was a big fan of the Wonderbolts like Rainbow; loved a joke as much as Pinkie Pie; could care for animals as well as Fluttershy, and was an extremely hard worker like Apple Jack. Spike especially seemed to like the new beautiful mare, following her with hearts in his eyes the whole time and then realising that Rarity was there as well. He felt conflicted because to him both Rarity and Dream Wings were perfect.
It was safe to say that after the picnic Dream Wings was the toast of the town and Sour Apple was the pony that no pony wished to know. Dream Wings was extremely happy to have made so many new friends and went to bed happy that night. That was until she woke up and heard a loud moaning from the wind outside “She’s here.” ................
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?
---------------------------------------
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.”
Sour groaned and grumbled to himself as he picked up the heavy bucket filled with apples. He had been doing this work for days now and no pony had come to help; they were too busy arguing to actually try and do their work. If any pony should have been shirking off work in anger it should have been Sour, but as it is, he was the only one in this whole disgraceful town that was actually doing something productive.
The idea that, for once, he was actually doing something worthwhile shocked and disturbed the young stallion to such an extent that he began to try and work harder to work off all of his added confusion. The scary thing was, he actually appeared to be enjoying working in an orchard again. It had been years since he had ever offered to help his Mother and Father down in their family orchard; it had been years since he had walked in satisfied with how much he had helped somepony else, and these thoughts were the things that had terrified Sour.
Big Mac had completely disappeared from the farm altogether after a dispute with young Apple Bloom over a certain doll that the red stallion had stashed in his room. Apple Bloom had never previously shown any care for the doll at all, so why she had suddenly cared so much for the tatty thing was very puzzling indeed.
Sour had come across many angry, upset ponies walking along the paths near Apple Acres. Most of the fights had been rather tame; all featuring raised voices and a pointless subject. There was only one time when Sour had speculated on a fight that had become a bit heated and unruly. It had only started off as a small argument between BookWorm and Carrot Top, two of the daily residents of Ponyville, but it had quickly turned into a full out battle between them both. There had been so many bruises and cuts by the end that the only reasonable thing Sour could have thought of doing was getting them both to hospital as fast as possible. Unfortunately BookWorm and Carrot Top did not agree with his rational decision, and suddenly Sour found himself being targeted by their anger. He ran before the violence would also be targeted his way.
It was a long time before Sour had felt that it was safe enough for him to come out of his hiding spot. All of the ponies were crazier than he had even first thought: badly dressed and with anger issues; so much for this harmonious feel this area was famous for having. He scorned all of their behaviour, sighing when he realised something he had never thought would happen, he missed the Filly Isles, he missed his family and all of the sane ponies. True he had DreamWings to go to whenever he needed help but even she spent more time helping the angry elements then she did with him. Her interest seemed to have left his side as soon as she had met up with her old friend again, the 'oh so precious' Twilight Sparkle.
These harmonious ponies had been a thorn in Sour's side since their existence had been spread around Equestria. They had always been the talk of the town everywhere anypony would travel, and now Sour found they weren't measuring up to what he thought they would be. They were much worse than he had ever conisdered. In fact in some ways they just seemed like hypocrites; telling other ponies to be really kind and considerate and then suddenly changing their minds and being really harsh towards everypony they knew. Sour was many things, but at least he stayed true to what he said. Nopony could ever call Sour a hypocrite, he said what he meant and carried on acting like he'd told others to. It was in his nature to not fear about expressing his opinions.
He spied his blonde cousin sitting next to the barn, her stetson hat covering her face whilst she chewed on a long ear of wheat she had pulled from the farmland. Sour grew infuriated. He was doing all of the work and she wasn't doing anything, it was just unfair, he wasn't even used to doing the hard labour that she often did. Sour stepped forward, considering going over to her and demanding she got a move on but then stopped himself. He couldn't do that. She could want to start a fight like BookWorm and Carrot Top had wanted too, and Sour was far too much of a gentlecolt to even consider fighting a mare (as well as he knew there was no way he could beat his much tougher cousin).
He peered over at the large expanse of trees to his side and groaned. There were so many trees to shuck; there was no way that he could do all of them by himself. There must be somepony who wasn't angry with him that could help. His ears twitched hearing sounds from all different positions on the farm. So many loud angry voices all shouting at once and they weren't calming down.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders were complaining to each other about certain ideas of what they should do on that day.
'Oh for heavens sake, just go read a book,' thought Sour, rubbing his aching ears. Sweetie Belle had a much louder voice then you would ever conisder for her dainty posture.
In the background an old, muttering mare could be heard shouting through the window, seeming to be arguing with a squirrel that had scampered onto her windowsill. Sour rubbed his ears more, the noise almost deafening him. How was he ever going to get any work done with all of this happening? He shuddered. He couldn't believe that he actually wanted to work, this was not a feeling he was used to. He would rather work than listen to all of this rucus.
AppleJack did not help his poor ears with her constant snoring from her now sleeping body. That mare could snore, it was like a hippo bellowing to get rid of its enemy. Sour was just gald that she wasn't awake to argue with anypony. He had heard about the elements behaviour the other day. He had heard how all of them had gathered into a discussion on what was there roles in the friendship, and how all of them had lost. They had quickly run off to their prospective homes vowing never to speak to one another again. It would only last a few days, but Sour still wasn't enjoying his greatest enemies defeat to their anger. He'd thought they would be much stronger than that.
He shuffled his hooves along the floor, peering down at the soil on his hooves. Well, this was a new low even for him. It was tiring all of this fighting and catcalling and whinning. Even Rarity had befallen to this hatred, not even making any new outfits for her customers whom she seemed to despise at this moment in time. Sour supposed that this may be good, he could've sneaked in and stole her work, but he didn't have the heart too. It would be unfair considering the predicament the whole town seemed to be in at the moment.
"Hey you no good varmint!"
Sour looked around trying to find the source of the voice that had broken his concentration. Nopony seemed to be in the orchard, so it wasn't coming from there. AppleJack still dozed in the corner, so it certainly hadn't been her, unless she had suddenly mastered ventriliquism without him noticing. Big Mac didn't have the voice of a mare, even if he acted as dismissive as one sometimes, and Sour could hear very clearly that the Crusaders had not given up on their argument just yet. Where was it coming from?
"Up here ya' nincompoop."
Sour looked upwards towards the top window. An angry Granny Smith glared down at him from above waving a walking stick around in the air as if she was striking an imaginary fly that happened to be there. Sour frowned. What did she want?
"Stop lollygagging and get back to work."
No, He wasn't going to be ordered around like that. He turned his snout downwards to the floor, refusing to even acknowledge his elderly Great-Aunt. She was not impressed. A large splash landed on his head and he moaned, running his hoof through his striking mane to find a giant ball of saliva curled up inside. Why...the rotten mare. Who did she think she was?
"Now, get back ta work."
He mumbled and moaned but set off for his job. He didn't want another forecast of spit or he could become as angry anf uncouth as the other ponies in this loathsome place. He was not happy.
Twilight stared around her little Tree House and groaned at the amount of mess lying over the floor. Usually by now either Spike or her faithful pet, Owloicious would have cleaned this up but right now they weren't thinking of doing anything of the sort. Both had fallen out in a major dispute over who should be on duty when and if one should spend more time on duty than the other. Twilight had tried to stop the argument the best she could but it had only managed to end in being ridiculed herself and told 'She wouldn't understand; Princess's don't need to clean up when they have somepony else to do it for them.'
The young ex-unicorn didn't like to think that was true. She'd never been spoilt before, so why would she be now? Unless-- Unless she'd been abusing her power without even realizing it. Maybe she'd become some kind of tyrannical pony without even noticing any change. After all she had always had some over-powering tendencies; like not wanting to make friends or ignoring the one pony who could've been her friend when she was younger, and possibly made her so mad that she made a rash decision to try and destroy Canterlot. Could that happen? Could she have created a monster inside of a nice pony? And if she'd managed to make one out of one of the ponies could it be that her other friends would turn into monsters as well? She hoped not. She liked being friends with them; she didn't want them banished as well.
This afternoon was the visit of the other Princess's to Ponyville. The argument needed to have stopped by then to show them that they were still brilliant members of 'The Elements of Harmony' club. Twilight was extremely nervous about how the events today were going to play out. Dream Wings had thankfully left this morning before she had woken up; just as she had promised. At least there was no danger of the Princess discovering her harboring a known convict. There had to be a few positives at this moment, but as for now that seemed the only one.
The whole entire Town Center needed cleaning up and fixing but there was no use asking anypony to do it at the moment; it wouldn't ever get done between all of the catcalling and arguing. She supposed she'd have to do it all by herself, a task she was not looking forward to in any way. 'Might as well make a start', she thought.
Slowly she began to shuffle around the room collecting up items and placing them on their respective shelves and stands. It pained her to not put the books in some kind of chronological order but she couldn't afford to at the moment; there wasn't enough time to be fussy when Celestia was coming to check on things.
A light tapping came at the front door, frantic in its pace. 'Perhaps it was Spike come to apologize'. Twilight could only hope. She stepped forward and tugged on the handle. A handsome, young stallion peered at her from the outside. Well, she assumed he was handsome; the mud slathered over him made it hard to tell what he may have once looked like.
"Miss Sparkle, could I please have a word?" She nodded her violet head and the polite pony waltzed through the door. The door was pulled to behind him. He stared at the mess she had yet to tidy up.
"Here, let me assist you." The stallion began to place things neatly into spots, cleaning up the floor. Twilight began to do the same again. Her curiosity broke through the silence.
"Excuse me for asking and all, but who are you?"
"Oh, pardon my manners; Sour Apple. Relative of the Apple Family."
He held out his hoof to shake hers but quickly changed his mind, remembering the soil sliding over his leg.
"I must look utterly repulsive in my current state. That's what I'm here about Miss Sparkle." Sour stopped and looked over at her with begging eyes. "Ever since I have got here I have been in the mindset that there was nothing good about this place and that I would be merely greeted by the rudest ponies, such as yourself."
Twilight pulled a face. That wasn't a very nice thing to say to anypony, let alone her. Sour saw her expression.
"I don't know whether I believe that anymore Miss Sparkle. I believe my mind wanted this place to be horrible because of how perfect everypony always made it sound; how perfect they made you sound. It took plenty of hard work to realize that I have not been too pleasant to any of you in my head. I am sorry for this."
The violet mare frowned. "It seems you got your wish though, everypony at the minute is behaving horribly."
"Yes," Sour said, "it is exactly as I had made myself to believe it would be. That's the problem."
"Problem?"
"Most definitely. It's just that everypony appears to be too rude and unruly; much more so then I ever imagined. It's like a nightmare. One that I can't wake up from."
"What do you want me to do about it?" Twilight asked. She hoped he wasn't going to suggest this was all of his making; he was an earth pony, he couldn't do any of this.
"I want you-- Well, I want you--" Sour stuttered, barely accepting the words he was about to say, "--I want you to help--me--be good. If I try to do something nice maybe the other ponies will accept their manners back as well."
Twilight looked at the desperation written upon his mud-covered snout. He was serious about this, she could tell. But she didn't see how a small change in his attitude would persuade the others to do anything. They would only follow somepony they found to be important in the town. It was almost like Sour could read what she was thinking.
"I know they'd usually only follow somebody they found to be important, but as of right now they find only themselves to be important. But what if somepony who was just as bad took a step in the right direction Miss Sparkle? Would that not dissuade them from their horrible actions?"
She pondered. There was certainly something in it; not much, but something. And he really did seem willing to do this. Maybe they could both get what they wanted. She smiled at him.
"There's something you can help me with. I need to clean up the Town center before this afternoon. The Princess's will be here then. It needs to be perfect."
Sour grinned back; a most charming smile coming from somepony who hadn't often smiled before.
"Making things look perfect is what I do best." He bowed his head. "Miss--Princess Sparkle, it would be an honor to assist you."
It was time for the arrival of the other Royals. Much to Twilight's surprise Sour had really come through. The whole of the town looked beautiful again. Somehow he had even managed to collect all of her disgruntled friends and make them look just right as well; though how she had no idea. The mud coat he had been wearing previously had been washed away and now he looked more like the white pony she had seen before; only this time wearing a smile rather than a frown. He certainly knew a lot about appearances.
The carriages flew through the air and landed on the ground in front of them. Sour watched in awe. This was his first time seeing the Royal ponies. They moved with such elegance and grace, their manners appeared exquisite; these were qualities he very much admired. Twilight ran over to Celestia and they both hugged briefly. Then Princess Cadence too, received a large welcoming hug. When she got to Luna they stopped and stared at each other for a few seconds. They'd never hugged before. Did Luna even like hugs? The Princess of the Night bowed her head, so Twilight did the same.
"So," Princess Celestia said in her gentle voice, "is everything okay down in Ponyville recently?"
Twilight smiled and politely lied to her idol that it was fine. She couldn't admit to the arguments and such, it would only make her question letting Twilight stay there with her friends. Cadence looked in the direction of the ponies stood at the side. Nopony smiled back at her. Odd. She was just about to tell Luna when Sour, noticing her look, grinned at her. All thoughts about talking to Luna gone; at least one had smiled. Even if she wasn't actually sure who he was.
Twilight finished her conversation with Celestia and came over to Sour and the others.
"How's it going Miss Sparkle?"
"I don't think she suspects anything. Hopefully this will all go off without a hitch."
"I wouldn't count on it." A large voice echoed across the ground, followed by a loud crushing sound. Celestia and Luna lifted into the air surrounded by a large cloud, unable to move from the thickness of the condensed water. Cadence watched as plants shot up at her ankles and pulled her down to the floor, clinging onto her side and refusing to let go even slightly. And all of this time Twilight couldn't do anything about it. Nopony could. They were all trapped in a large cage of magic, seemingly come from nowhere... Just like the voice.
A thunder crack came from behind them and the outline of a pony moved into view. A scar across her left cheek and many more over the rest of her body, a disfigured wing on her side, a garish eye-patch across one eye, and a mane falling in dark blue and white flames above her head.
The mare came closer to the stallion and chortled to herself.
"Tsk tsk my little pony, that's not a good question to ask."
Sour Apple stepped backwards as a flash of lightning shot in front of his leg. Again the mare laughed and giggled, her scarred eye closing in delight, as she stomped around the floor near to them.
"This is priceless. Absolutely priceless."
"Dream Wings! You're ruining my meeting," Twilight hissed, zapping her cage with some high-energy magic. It only shot back at her and she barely managed to escape un-singed.
"Oh please little Twily, you should get it more than anypony else." The flaming mare stomped closer to the lavender alicorn. "After all you were the one to ruin my life."
"What? How?" Twilight whimpered. What was going on here? She just didn't understand.
"She did nothing of the sort Daymare," called Celestia, "it was I who banished you."
"Who's Daymare? Dream?" Sour beseeched to his supposed 'friend'.
The mare giggled and laughed again, rolling around on the floor like a mad-dog.
"I am you silly little foal."
"B-But you're Dream aren't you?" Twilight stuttered. The rest of her friends watched in the background, not sure of what to do.
"Do I look like a Dream? I'm your worst nightmare is what I am. Sadly that job position was already taken." The mare glared at Luna and the bubble around the Princess grew tighter. "I'm a nightmare in daytime," she told them with a giggle, "hence the name Daymare. Just ask your pretty little Tia; she knows all about it."
A chortle set up from nowhere and a cloud washed around Daymare pulling her up into the sky to go 'fix-up' her plan further.
"Celestia, what does she mean?" Twilight asked, concerned. Celestia sighed.
"Twilight, it was apparent to me from the moment that Canterlot was attacked that your friend Dream Wings was not behind it."
"B-but--" Celestia stopped her speaking again.
"You see, there is a legend that inside someponies lies the potential to be taken over by another beast. These beasts are called the Filii Lunae. You have already met one of them in the form of Nightmare moon."
Luna blushed in embarrassment.
"They're not in any of my books," Twilight stated, barely beleiving that these things could exist if she'd never read about them.
"They are a secret not written down. Anyway-- just as Luna was taken by Nightmare, so was your friend taken by her own Filii Lunae-- Daymare as she became."
"When did this happen?" Sour butted in.
"It has probably been with her since birth. The duty of capturing these beasts before they enter a ponies body is usually down to the S.T.A.R.S.-- the Strategic Taskforce Against Radical Stars." Sour looked on, more confused than ever.
"What in the world is a Radical Star?"
This Twilight knew. "A Radical Star is what Equestrian history has stated as being the main relation to our moon-- they are its magic coming off."
"And the birth place of the Filii Lunae," Luna added. Twilight nodded, understanding. Sour shook his head.
"So Dream Wings had been taken over by a beast-- and you just banished her without a second thought? Without trying to help her?" He snorted. "You royals really like to banish ponies don't you?"
Luna lowered her head, ashamed. "It is the only thing you can do-- could do, without the elements being used."
"Until the new elements could be found it was the S.T.A.R.S. mission to lock away any of the monsters. No matter the cost." Celestia looked Twilight straight in the face. "You have most likely often questioned your friend being an alicorn like the rest of us-- this is because the Filii Lunae come in many forms. Some, like Daymare and Nightmare, can only be an alicorn. Thus if that pony they attach themselves to before they are born are not an alicorn-- they change the genetic make-up into that."
"They are extremely strong beings." Luna blushed again.
"Unlike Nightmare-- Daymare doesn't have to be inside Dream Wing's body all of the time. But she must always be somewhere near."
"Then where's the real Dream Wings?" Sour asked, desperately. Twilight shrugged.
"She's never been here." Daymare floated down to the ground on her cloud. "She was only a dream. Ha!"
