A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure story within the Jake Taylorverse
A Day in the Life of Jake Taylor! You decide how it goes!
Huge, HUGE thanks to Peni Parker and ThePinkedWonder for helping with this story. And I don’t just mean editing-wise, I mean actually writing two thirds of these
I woke up with a yawn. I couldn’t recall having any plans, so I decided to wing it and go out into the kitchen.
There, I saw Spike, Starlight Glimmer, and Twilight Sparkle having breakfast.
“Morning, Jake,” Twilight said rather cheerfully.
“Morning, Twi,” I replied, rubbing my face. “Anything on the agenda for today?”
“Well, we found some old boxes up one of the upstairs rooms. We’re gonna bring ‘em down here and go through them,” Starlight answered before taking a bite out of her pancakes.
“Alright, I’ll help out,” I offered.
After breakfast, the four of us were all carrying the boxes from upstairs to down stairs. Though, Spike and I were the only one actually “carrying” anything. Twilight and Starlight were levitating the boxes.
“Alright, I think that’s the last of them,” I said, wiping the sweat off my brow.
“I’ve been meaning to move these books to my reference section for a while. Gotta keep new books front and center!” Twilight said. “Thank you three for your help!”
“Are you kidding? After all you’ve done for me, this is least I could do,” Starlight replied.
“Oh please, I haven’t done that much,” Twilight said.
While the girls had their talk, Spike and I sat down.
“Starlight’s made a lot of progress,” Spike said, clearly impressed.
“I can’t say much, but I don’t doubt you,” I replied. “After hearing what she’s done in the past, though, I am really proud if her. Twilight too; I remember her being a lot more...”
“Panicky?” Spike said for me.
“I was gonna say ‘excitable’, but ‘panicky’ works too, I guess,” I replied.
We both silently listened as the girls carried on with their conversation.
“So...any plans for the day?” Spike asked out of nowhere.
“Not really. I was thinking of spending the day planning something for the girls, but I don’t know what,” I answered.
“Why not spend the day with one of them, and see what they like?” Spike suggested.
“That could work. The question is, who?” I said. “First, there’s Twilight. We still haven’t caught up much since I returned, so we could do that.”
“There’s also Starlight,” Spike added. “You could spend the day with her and get to know some of her more personal interests, rather than just cuddle, like you usually do.”
“Yeah, but there’s also Sunset,” I replied. “I haven’t seen or talked to her in a while, or her friends. I could go over to her world and surprise her. What do you think, Spike?”
“I don’t know, all good ideas,” Spike said, scratching his chin.
After a few minutes of thought, I came up with a decision. “I know, I’ll spend the day with...”
“Alright, I think that’s enough for today,” Twilight said to all three of us once her and Starlight’s conversation was finished. “Moving all these boxes was more tiring than I thought, so we can go through them tomorrow.”
“That’s fine,” Starlight commented. “Trixie’s going to be back in town later tonight, so I can use this time to make her some teacakes before she arrives. See you guys later.”
“Bye, Starlight,” Twilight, Spike, and I practically said in unison as she trotted off towards the kitchen.
“I think I’ll use this time to…um…reorganize my comic book collection,” Spike said as he got up.
I could tell by the way he said that sentence that Spike didn’t really need to reorganize his comic book collection. He was just saying that to excuse himself so that Twilight and I would be alone. He really is a good friend. I’ll have to make that up to him.
“Okay, have fun,” Twilight said as Spike hurried down the hall, leaving Twilight and me alone in the hallway.
“So Twilight, you have any other plans for today?” I asked her as I got up.
“Ummm…” Twilight started to reply as she brought a hoof up to her chin. “No, I don’t think I have anything else going on today.”
“Well in that case, how about we spend the rest of the day together then?” I suggested. “We haven’t had a whole lot of alone time since I’ve been back, and I really want us to catch up for lost time.”
Just then, Twilight dawned the biggest and happiest smile I’d ever seen her give.
“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” she enthusiastically exclaimed as she hopped in place a few times like an excited filly before regaining her composure and calming down. “Err, I mean, I think that sounds like a great idea, Jake.”
I could help but give a small chuckle at how cute Twilight had just looked and acted before speaking up again.
“Okay, so what should we do?” I inquired.
“Well, we could go antiquing,” Twilight proposed. “I haven’t done that in ages and it was really fun when I did it with Spike. Or, if you don’t want to go out, we could stay here and re-enact scenes from some of the books in the library.”
I raised an eyebrow in confusion at Twilight’s second suggestion, curious about where it had come from.
“I’ve been getting into acting lately,” Twilight embarrassingly explained.
“Well they both sound like fun,” I remarked. “But between those two options I think I’d like to…”
“Great!” Twilight happily shouted. “Let’s head over to the library and find some good books to re-enact.”
“Sounds good,” I replied with a warm smile as Twilight and I started walking down the hall.
There was a bit of silence between us for about a minute, which I didn’t like. We were supposed to be catching up, and we weren’t going to do that by being silent.
“So Twi, what exactly got you into acting?” I inquired, blurting out the first thing that came to mind.
“Oh, well, I guess it was when I went to see a production of Queen Lear,” Twilight answered. “It was a really good show, and the actors looked like they were having a lot of fun with it, so I decided to try re-enacting some of my favorite scenes from my books when I had the time and found it to be really fun.”
“So you’ve done this with other ponies before?” I asked.
“Well, no,” Twilight sheepishly answered. “This will be the first time I’ve ever done this with anypony else.”
It was clear to me that Twilight felt a little sad about that fact. I wasn’t sure why she hadn’t asked any of our friends to join her, but I didn’t want to ask her about it.
“Well in that case, I’m honored to be the first one to join you,” I remarked.
Just as we were reaching the library, I noticed Twilight looking up at me with another warm smile.
“I’m glad to be doing this with you too, Jake,” she sweetly said.
As soon as we entered the library, Twilight flew over to the shelves and started scanning for books to re-enact.
“Hmm, so many choices,” she commented aloud as she magically pulled a few books off the shelves. “Ooh, I can’t decide.”
“What do you usually choose, Twilight?” I asked, trying to be helpful.
“Usually either something adventurous like Daring Do or romantic like The Diary,” Twilight casually answered as she continued to scan the shelves.
“Adventure or romance, huh?” I stated. “I think it’d be more fun to re-enact…”
“Adventure it is,” Twilight replied as she magically placed a few books back on the shelves and pulled a few more off of them. “Still so many good choices though.”
As Twilight ceased flying and landed in front of me, I glanced over some of the books she was holding in her aura. There were a couple of Darling Do books, but there were some other interesting ones like The Count of Monte Rainbow and Around the World in Eighty Moons. There was one, however, that really caught my eye.
“How about this one?” I suggested as I pointed to Pirates of the Mareibbean.
“Ooh, that’s a good one!” Twilight commented as she placed all the other books back on the shelves. “It’s about pirates!”
“I figured,” I chuckled.
“Right, of course, pirates is in the title,” Twilight embarrassingly remarked, realizing she’d stated the obvious.
I couldn’t help but give another small chuckle at how cute Twilight looked in her embarrassment.
“Argh, you’ll never leave this island with the treasure, Jake Sparrow,” Twilight stated as she stood in front of me with a cardboard sword held up by her magic.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, maiden,” I replied as I lunged forward with my own cardboard sword and began to duel with Twilight.
Twilight and I fenced for about a minute before she came at me with a powerful lunge. I could have easily parried and continued the sword play, but I decided not to. As Twilight’s sword made contact, my own sword flew out of my hand. Next thing I knew, I was down.
“You’ve been bested, Jake Sparrow,” Twilight said with an impish smile as she stuck her sword right in my face. “And now you must submit to my commands.”
“And, um, what commands would those be?” I inquired, wondering if maybe Twilight was getting a little too into this.
Twilight’s impish smile only grew.
“I command you to kiss me,” she said with bedroom eyes.
“Kiss…you?” I confusingly asked, not expecting to hear that.
“Yes,” Twilight confirmed as she put down her cardboard sword and slowly advanced towards. “My first command to you is for you to kiss me, like you’ve never kissed me before.”
As confused I still was about how things had ended up here, I had to admit, that did sound nice.
“And you’re going to do it right here, right now,” Twilight instructed once she was right on top of me.
“Well, I guess I don’t have a choice, now do I?” I playfully stated as I leaned up and embraced Twilight.
“No, no you don’t,” Twilight seductively replied.
So I gave Twilight what she wanted and kissed her on the lips. It wasn’t a very long kiss, but it was extremely passionate.
“Happy?” I playfully asked once we ceased locking lips.
“Very,” Twilight simply replied, fully breaking character. “Thanks for doing this, Jake. It was really fun.”
Twilight and I fenced for about a minute before she came at me with a powerful lunge. I easily parried though and riposted, knocking Twilight’s sword far away from her. Seizing the opportunity, I quickly pinned Twilight to the ground and kissed her.
“Ah!” Twilight hollered in surprise as she got out from under me. “W-W-What was that for?”
“I just figured we could go off script a little,” I playfully remarked. “Maybe create our own story.”
“B-But I’ve never done that before!” Twilight frantically replied, clearly still a little frazzled from the kiss. “How can it be a re-enactment if we just make things up as we go along?”
I was clear that Twilight was having one of her famous freak outs over this. I didn’t want to do anything that would upset her, but at the same time I knew that if we really tried we could make our own story that would be just as good as the script.
“Calm down, Twilight,” I gently told my marefriend. “We don’t have to go off script if you don’t want to.”
Twilight did calm down a bit before answering.
“Okay, okay,” she said as she regained her composure. “I’m sorry I freaked out like that, Jake. That kiss just kind of threw me off.”
“I’m sorry too, Twi,” I apologized. “This is our first time doing a re-enactment together, and I should have just stuck to the script.”
“It’s fine,” Twilight assured me as she levitated her sword back over. “Let’s just start from the beginning.”
“Okay,” I agreed.
So Twilight and I started the re-enactment over and didn’t deviate from the script one little bit. By the end, we were both a bit tired and decided to rest on the couch.
“I have to say, that was a lot more fun than doing it myself,” Twilight commented.
“Yeah, this was fun,” I agreed. “We should do it again sometime.”
“I agree,” Twilight concurred just before getting up from the couch. “I’m going to go lie down for a bit. See you later, Jake.”
“See you later, Twilight,” I replied as Twilight left the room, happy that we were finally able to spend some quality time together today.
“Calm down, Twilight,” I gently told my marefriend. “I know going off script is unusual, but I really think we can make this even better if we make up our own story.”
As Twilight started to calm down, I could tell she was thinking hard about what I’d said.
“Just think about it,” I added. “If we make up our own story, anything can happen. Anything.”
It became obvious from the expression on Twilight’s face that she understood what I meant by ‘anything’.
“So, um, where…where were we?” Twilight bashfully asked as a cute little blush crossed her face.
“I believe I’d just knocked your sword away and had you down,” I playfully reminded her.
“Right, right, you did,” Twilight said as if coming to some great realization. “And that means that I am now defenseless and entirely at your mercy.”
“I suppose it does, doesn’t it?” I sublimely stated as I quickly pinned her again, causing her blush to quickly spread.
“W-What are you going to do to me, Jake Sparrow?” Twilight asked me, struggling to pretend to be a helpless damsel.
“This,” I said before I quickly wrapped my arms around Twilight and kissed her passionately on the lips.
“Oh Jake,” Twilight moaned once the kiss ended.
“That was just the beginning,” I seductively replied as I moved my right hand down to grab her flank, causing her to gasp. “Any last words, maiden?” I whispered into her ear.
“Please, Jake Sparrow......take me,” Twilight blissfully responded, just before we once again locked lips.
“I was hoping you’d say that,” Twilight replied as she magically placed a few books back on the shelves and pulled a few more off of them. “Still so many good choices though.”
I couldn’t help but marvel at the number of books Twilight was now pulling off the shelves. There must have been at least two dozen of them now held in her aura.
“Are all of those romance books?” I asked in disbelief.
“Uh-huh,” Twilight replied as she continued perusing through the various books.
“Wow, I didn’t know you had so many romance books, Twi,” I said in astonishment.
“Oh please, this is nothing compared to Rarity’s collection,” Twilight said as she flew back down. “But I suppose I do have more than the average mare.”
’I’ll say’, I silently thought to myself.
“There are still too many choices though, we’ll need to narrow this down even further.”
“How will we do that?” I wondered.
“Well, there are seven types of romance novels,” Twilight began explaining. “Contemporary, historical, suspenseful, steamy, spiritual, sci-fi, and YA.”
“Huh,” I simply uttered, having had no idea there were so many types of romance books.
Before she continued, Twilight looked off to the side, as if she were embarrassed by something.
“Mostly what I have are contemporary and…steamy,” she meekly admitted.
“Oh,” I said in reply, understanding Twilight’s embarrassment now. “Well, I guess between those two choices I’d have to go with…”
“Oh, alright then,” Twilight replied, with a small hint of relief and an even tinier bit of disappointment in her voice. “Which book do you want to re-enact then?”
Twilight then held a few books up in front of me with her magic. I quickly looked over them and eventually pointed to one that looked interesting.
“How about this one?” I suggested.
Twilight brought the book closer to herself as she too looked over it.
“Nights of Snow and Stars, huh? Good choice.” Twilight commented. “Come on, I’ll explain the story to you.”
After Twilight explained the story to me, we started acting out some of the romantic scenes, which were pretty tame by romance story standards. There was some hoof-and-hand holding, some hugging, and even a few kisses but nothing too hot and heavy. By the end though, we were both a little tired.
“This was fun, Twi,” I told my marefriend as we both sat on the couch.
“Yeah, this was definitely more fun than doing it by myself,” Twilight concurred. “We should do it again sometime.”
“I agree,” I said as I noticed that it was getting close to dinner time. “Hey, you want to go get something to eat?”
“Sure, I could really go for a hayburger,” Twilight replied as she got up from the couch.
“Hayburgers it is then,” I remarked as I too got up, and Twilight and I headed out to eat.
All of a sudden Twilight brought her head up and stared at me with a startled expression and a slightly red face.
“Y-Y-You want to do a st-steamy romance?” she asked me in total disbelief.
“Yeah,” I answered. “I think it could be really fun.”
Twilight just stared at me for a few more seconds as her blush started to cover her face more and more.
“O-Okay,” she said as she regained some of her composure and levitated a book over to me. “H-How about this one then?”
I took the book in my hands and noticed the title was Gone with the Breeze. It sounded vaguely familiar, but I didn’t really know much about it.
“This one looks good,” I stated, trusting Twilight’s judgement.
“Well then, let’s get started.” Twilight said, still a little frazzled.
“I want peace,” I sternly delivered my line as Twilight pretended to cry. “I want to see if somewhere there isn’t something left alive with charm and grace. Do you know what I’m talking about?”
“No,” Twilight dejectedly delivered her line. “I only know that I love you.”
“That’s your misfortune,” I said as I began to walk away.
“Jake, Jake!” Twilight cried out as she followed me. “Jake, if you go where shall I go, what shall I do?”
As I stared back at Twilight as she pretended to cry, I felt a pain in my heart. I don’t know why though because I knew she was only pretending, but it hurt me to see her like this.
“You can come with me, Twilight,” I said, veering from the script.
“Um, what?” Twilight asked in confusion, breaking character.
“I said you can come with me, Twilight,” I reiterated. “You can come with me, and we can be together forever.”
“That’s…not the line, Jake,” Twilight informed me.
“I know it isn’t, Twilight,” I admitted, finding it harder to keep my composure. “But I don’t like seeing you so sad, even if it’s just acting. I want you to be happy, Twilight, and the thought of making you so upset hurts me.”
“J-Jake,” Twilight softly muttered.
“I love you, Twilight,” I confessed as a tear flowed down my cheek. “I love you more than anything in the world. And I want to be with you from now until the end of time.”
“Oh Jake,” Twilight tearfully said as she pulled me into a hug. “I love you too.”
I didn’t say anything as I returned Twilight’s hug, my tears now ones of joy. Twilight and I continued to hug for a few minutes before I decided to break it.
“Sorry I ruined our re-enactment,” I apologized to Twilight.
“You didn’t ruin it, Jake.” Twilight assured me as she wiped a tear away. “I think this was a much better ending than the one in the script.”
I just smiled at Twilight as I regained my composure.
“So what now?” I asked.
“How about we continue this in my room?” Twilight suggested.
“I’d like that,” I said as I picked Twilight up and started carrying her, much to her delight.
“Great!” Twilight exclaimed as she started heading for the door. “I’ll go get my bags and meet you at the front door in five minutes.”
“Okay,” I replied as Twilight left, wondering why she needed to get bags to go antiquing.
Five minutes later Twilight met me at the front door like she said, a couple of saddle bags at her sides.
“Ready?” she excitedly asked me.
“Ready,” I answered, though not as excitedly.
“Then let’s go!” Twilight exclaimed as she opened the door and left the castle, almost as if she were going off on some great quest.
I followed close behind my marefriend as she lead the way to the antique store. The first part of the walk was fairly quiet, which I didn’t like. We were supposed to be catching up, and we weren’t going to do that by being silent.
“So why do you have so many bags to go antiquing, Twi?” I inquired, desperate for conversation.
“Oh, well one bag is for my bits and the other is for all the antiques,” Twilight explained.
A few concerns crossed my mind after hearing Twilight’s explanation.
“Um, how many bits did you bring?” I asked, worried that Twilight might be overdoing things a little.
“Don’t worry, not too many,” she told me, sensing my concern. “Just enough for one or two items. Although, I probably didn’t need to bring the second bag with me since you’re here.”
“So I’m your luggage monkey then?” I playfully asked her.
“No, no, no, nothing like that!” Twilight frantically clarified, not picking up on the playfulness of my remark. “It’s just that I usually do this alone so I need the other bag to carry things and…”
“Relax, Twi,” I gently interrupted. “I was joking.”
“Oh,” Twilight embarrassingly stated just as we arrived at the antique store. “Hehe, let’s go inside.”
We both stepped through the front doors and I was immediately aghast by the size of the store and the number of antiques within.
“So, where should we start?” Twilight asked me.
Frankly, I didn’t know why Twilight was asking me that, since she’d been here before and I hadn’t. I looked to my left and saw a section full of various kinds of jewelry. To my right I noticed a variety of picture frames standing on tables and hanging on the wall.
“How about these picture frames?” I suggested, pointing to my right.
“Ooh, good choice!” Twilight complimented me as she proceeded towards the picture frames. “Some of these picture frames date back all the way to the time of the Mighty Helm!”
If it wasn’t for the fact that Twilight’s told me about Rockhoof, I wouldn't have had any idea what she was talking about.
“How fascinating,” I stated, trying to actually sound interested.
“Actually, picture frames do have quite a history,” Twilight said as she perused the various frames. “Did you know that…”
For the next five minutes, Twilight gave me a brief overview of the history of the picture frame, which I was surprised she even knew. I did my best to follow along, but some of what she was saying went completely over my head. I didn’t want to ask questions for fear that the history lesson would never end. Nevertheless, I tried to listen to every word Twilight said. It made me happy to see my marefriend happily talking about something that fascinated her, even if it didn’t fascinate me.
“So, any of them catch your eye?” I asked Twilight once she finished.
“Well, I kind of like this one,” Twilight answered as she levitated one of the frames up. “It’s a little rusted, but I have some clear at home that could restore it.”
“I like it too,” I concurred honestly, admiring the classical design of the frame.
“Then let’s get it!” Twilight happily stated. “We can restore it and then pick a picture to put inside it!”
“Sounds like a plan,” I agreed.
“Great, be right back,” Twilight said as she took the frame over to the store pony for purchase.
Once we had the picture frame, Twilight and I wasted no time in restoring it to it’s former glory. The process didn’t take long, and we actually managed to get it looking pretty good.
“Wow, it came out even better than I thought it would,” Twilight stated, admiring our handy work.
“Yeah, now we just need a picture,” I said.
“Not a problem,” Twilight said as she levitated a book over to the table. “We have plenty to choose from.”
I opened the book to find that it was a photo album, full of pictures of me, Twilight, and all of our friends. Some of the photos were older, from just after I'd arrived in Equestria, and others were fairly recent, only as old as a few weeks ago. But I knew exactly which photo I wanted to frame.
“How about this one?” I suggested as I pointed to an old photo of me and Twilight together at Golden Oaks Library.
“I remember that day, it was just after you arrived in Equestria,” Twilight said as she began to reminisce. “You were so distraught that I bought you a bunch of sweets from Sugar Cube Corner. I remember when you tried Mrs. Cake’s cupcakes you said they were the greatest thing you’d ever tasted.”
“Y-Yeah, I remember,” I replied as I too began to reminisce about that day, and the days leading up to it.
Twilight took the photo out of the book and placed in the frame.
“I was so glad that day,” Twilight solemnly said once she placed the frame back down on the table. “It was the first time I’d seen you smile.”
“Y-Yeah,” I softly said I felt tears forming in corners of my eyes.
I didn’t know why I was suddenly feeling so emotional. All we were doing was placing a photo in a picture frame and reminiscing.
“Jake, are you okay?” Twilight concernedly asked me, picking up on my emotional state.
I didn’t say anything for a few seconds, because I didn’t know what to say.
“You’ve... you’ve always been so nice to me, Twilight,” I softly said as I decided to stop trying to figure out what to say and just listen to my heart. “From the very first moment I came to Equestria, you’ve been nothing but kind to me. You never saw me as monster or a freak, even when other ponies did. You were my first friend here... or anywhere, for that matter.”
I was no longer able to fight the tears back anymore. They started steadily flowing down my cheek as I confessed to Twilight.
“You opened your home and your heart to me, and I left you,” I went on. “I…I’m so sorry, Twilight. You had feelings for me for so long, a-and I left you.”
“Oh, Jake, it’s okay,” Twilight assured me as she wrapped me in a warm and loving hug. “You have nothing to feel guilty about. I don’t blame you for wanting to see the world; I’m just glad that you came back to me.”
“I…I love you, Twilight; I’ve always loved you. I just didn’t see it,” I said through my tears. “I love you more than words can ever describe.”
“I know,” Twilight replied, tears of her own now flowing down her cheeks. “And I feel the same way about you.”
Twilight and I just hugged and cried together for a while, just happy that we had each other in our lives.
“How about this one?” I suggested as I pointed to a recent photo of Twilight and me together in Manehatten just two or three weeks ago.
“That was a really fun day,” Twilight said as she took the photo out of the album and placed it in the frame. “I still can’t believe you managed to get us tickets to see The Zebra King on Bridleway.”
“I may not be a princess, but I do have some connections,” I humbly stated. “What I mostly remember is how grateful you were after the show.”
I saw a blush cross Twilight’s face just after I said that. No doubt she was also remembering how grateful she was after seeing The Zebra King.
“I, um, don’t really remember that at all,” she anxiously replied, clearly faking not remembering.
“Well then, let me remind you,” I playfully responded as I moved closer to Twilight, intent on reminding her via re-enactment. “Once we got back to the hotel room you wrapped your hooves around me like this. Then you planted a kiss on my lips like this.”
As I passionately kissed Twilight like she did me that night, I could feel her start to melt into it just like I had. Soon enough though, I broke it.
“Then you whispered into my ear, ‘I’m so lucky to have you in my life,’, and then we cuddled all night.”
“Oh yes, I remember a bit now,” Twilight said as she stared at me with bedroom eyes. “Though I still think I need some reminding of that last part.”
“I think I can help with that,” I replied as I picked Twilight up and carried her to her bedroom, ready to give my marefriend the loving cuddles she’d given me not long ago.
“How about over there?” I said as I pointed to the left, over towards the jewelry.
“Alright,” Twilight agreed as we headed over towards the jewelry.
I was really surprised when we got over there by just how much jewelry this store had. If I hadn’t known that this was an antique store when I walked in, I swear I would’ve thought it was a jewelry store. They had almost every kind of jewelry imaginable; earrings, manepins, necklaces, rings, and brooches just to name a few.
“Wow, some of the diamonds in these earrings are older than Princess Celestia!” Twilight exclaimed as she looked at a display of earrings before turning her attention to a display of rings. “Ooh, and some of these rings were forged in the fires of Mount Moira!”
This went on for some time. Twilight seemed to want to look at every type of jewelry on display and comment about it with an interesting fact. I didn’t understand half the things she said, due to my limited knowledge of Equestria and its history, but I listened all the same. Regardless, it made me happy to see my marefriend so happily talking about something that fascinated her.
Eventually though, it got to the point were Twilight seemed to be talking to herself more than to me. She even started wandering away from the jewelry and didn’t seem to notice that I wasn’t following her. It was fine though, because I saw this as an opportunity to pick out a nice gift for my marefriend.
“Hmm, what to get?” I asked myself, unable to decide between the various pieces of jewelry. “The earrings and the were the first thing Twilight noticed, so those would probably be best. But those rings... Twilight would love one of those. Either way, I only have enough bits for one or the other.”
“Think I’ll go with the earrings,” I said to myself as I made my decision.
I quietly called the sales pony over so as not to alert Twilight about what I was doing and made my purchase. It couldn’t have been more than five seconds after the transaction was complete that Twilight appeared from around the corner.
“Jake, what happened to you?” she said with a slightly sad expression. “I looked around and you weren’t there.”
“Oh, um, sorry, Twilight,” I apologized as I quickly put the earrings in my pocket. “I just got distracted by…um…these old books right here.”
I put my hand on a stack of old books next to me, hoping that Twilight wouldn’t catch on to what I’d really been doing.
“I understand,” she sympathetically said, no longer seeming sad. “It’s pretty easy to get distracted in here with all the great stuff they have.”
I gave a small, mental sigh of relief that Twilight hadn’t figured out about the earrings.
“But come on, there’re something over here that I really want to show you,” Twilight said as she trotted off around the corner.
Happy that my purchase was still secret, I followed Twilight toward the other side of the store.
“That was really fun, Jake,” Twilight said as we headed back home after a long day of antiquing.
“Yeah, it really was,” I agreed as I held the earrings in my pocket, waiting for just the right moment to give them to Twilight.
“It’s just kind of a shame we didn’t end up getting anything though,” Twilight somewhat dejectedly said. “It would’ve been nice to have something to remember today.”
’Well, this seems like a good moment’, I thought to myself as I pulled the earrings out of my pocket.
“Would these be a good reminder?” I asked Twilight as I presented her with my gift.
“Oh my gosh, Jake!” Twilight shockingly stated, bringing a wing up to cover her now open mouth. “When did you get those?!”
“Remember when I said I got distracted by those old books? I was actually buying these.”
Twilight didn’t say anything as she magically grabbed the earrings in her aura and looked intently at them.
“They were just going to be a random gift, but now they can be a reminder of how much fun we had today,” I continued. “When I saw them, I thought of you. I hope you like them.”
“Like them? I love them!” Twilight exclaimed as she placed the earrings on her ears and gave me a big hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“You’re welcome, Twi,” I said as I returned the hug, happy that my marefriend liked her gift. I puled away just enough to get a look at her with them on. “And they look beautiful on you.”
“Now let’s get home so I can give you a gift,” Twilight seductively whispered into my ear just before breaking our hug.
“Okie doki loki,” I impishly replied as we started home again, knowing exactly what gift Twilight wanted to give me.
As I tried to make my decision I found myself looking more at the rings than the earrings. I couldn’t explain it, but for some reason I was more drawn to them, like there was this little voice inside me telling me to go with a ring. I started to scan the rings more intently until I found one that made me stop, one that made everything clear.
It was a simple gold band with a stylized floral design, but what caught my eye was the violet sapphire within it. It was the exact same shade of violet as Twilight’s eyes.
All of a sudden my mind started flooding with memories of Twilight, memories like the first time I saw her, or when I returned to her from my journeys, or even when she was happily looking at all the antique jewelry a moment ago. I knew right then why I wanted a ring, why I wanted this ring.
I quietly called the sales pony over so as not to alert Twilight about what I was doing and made my purchase. It couldn’t have been more than five seconds after the transaction was complete that Twilight appeared from around the corner.
“Jake, what happened to you?” she said with a slightly sad expression. “I looked around and you weren’t there.”
“Oh, um, sorry, Twilight,” I apologized as I quickly put the ring a box and held it behind my back. “I just got distracted by…um…”
I stopped midsentence as I clutched the box behind me, contemplating what I was going to say. At first I was going to tell her that I’d been distracted by something in the store so I could surprise her with the ring later, but that little voice inside me told me not to wait.
“Actually, I was buying something,” I honestly told Twilight.
“Oh, what did you get?” Twilight inquired with a hint of surprise in her voice.
Without saying a word, I held up the box for Twilight and the world to see.
“Ooh, that looks really nice,” Twilight commented. “But I’m not sure it’s big enough to really hold anything, Jake.”
“It’s not for me,” I solemnly informed my marefriend. “It’s for you.”
“Wait, what?!” Twilight asked in shock.
Before I said anything further, I got down on one knee so that I’d be at eye level with Twilight and opened the box. She gazed inside and gasped as soon as she saw what was inside, her beautiful violet eyes large with shock.
“I love you, Twilight,” I serenely said. “And I know that I don’t need a ring or a piece of jewelry to prove that to you, but I still want to do this.”
“J-Jake, w-what are you doing?” Twilight asked me as she started to hyperventilate, though I was pretty sure she knew exactly what I was doing.
“Twilight Sparkle,” I began to say as I held the ring up to her. “I should have done this a long time ago, but... Will you do the honor of marrying me?”
There were a few seconds of silence. I could tell Twilight was trying to say something, but she mustn’t have been able to get the words out.
“Y-Yes,” she eventually, very softly, answered as she started to cry. “Yes, of course I’ll marry you, Jake.”
All I could do in response was give the happiest smile of my life as I placed the ring on Twilight’s horn. Once the ring was on, Twilight embraced me in the biggest hug she’d ever given me.
“I love you more than anything, Jake,” she cried into my shoulder. “And now... now you’ve made me the happiest mare in all of Equestria.”
I hugged Twilight back as I too started to shed tears of joy.
“And you’ve made me the happiest man in all of Equestria,” I replied.
“You’re the only man in Equestria,” Twilight chuckled as she slightly broke the hug and stared at me with tear-filled eyes.
“You know what I mean,” I playfully chuckled back.
“Yeah, yeah, I do,” Twilight said just before we both leaned in for a kiss.
As Twilight and I kissed right there in the antique store, I felt the happiest I’d ever felt, know that someday soon the two of us would finally be husband and wife.
“Starlight. I’ve meant to do some more things with her that she likes for a while, so now is as good a time as any to finally do it.”
Spike said, “Sounds good to me. So what are--”
Without warning, a gray pegasus with a blond mane flew through an open window. She smashed into the boxes of books, knocking the books out of the boxes, and spilling them all over the floor.
Twilight ran to the mailmare and asked, “Hey, are you okay?!”
The mailmare shook her head to get her bearings, but didn’t say anything. She instead picked out a letter from her pack with her teeth, turned to Starlight, and pointed the envelope to her, signaling Starlight to take it.
After Starlight levitated the envelope with her magic, the mailmare flew out of the window. Then Starlight opened the envelope and frowned after reading the letter inside. “It’s from the ponies of my old village.”
Twilight asked, “Are they in trouble?”
Spike asked, “Are they mad at you?”
“No, it’s worse. They want me to come to the Sunset Festival that’s later today.”
My brain almost short-circuited just wondering how that could be worse.
Spike rubbed his head. “And...how is that worse?”
“Well, they want me to come. Me!"
“What’s wrong with that?” I asked. “I thought they all forgave you and moved on.”
“But have they? They don’t know how much I have changed. Or worse, maybe I haven’t changed as much as I think I have!”
“That’s ridiculous, Starlight! You’re a far better pony than you used to be!” Spike commented.
“Spike’s right. Sure, you sometimes make mistakes, but you’ve grown a lot since I made you my student.”
Starlight’s frown remained unchanged.
Usually, when Twilight, Spike, or I tell her that she’s improving, she would feel better, but not this time. I had to think of something that would help. When I did, I walked to Starlight, knelt to one knee to place my hand on her back, and suggested, “But maybe it’ll help if I go with you to your old village?”
“And I can come too,” Twilight offered. “I wouldn’t be much of a 'Princess of Friendship' if I don’t do one of the most important things of friendship: be there for my friend if they need me.”
“Er, well, I think it’ll be alright if it’s just Starlight and me, Twilight. Besides, I saw the checklists you wrote earlier: you have a lot to do. Uh, unless Starlight wants you with us.”
“Well, what do you think, Starlight?” Twilight asked.
“Hmm...I think it will be okay if it’s just Jake with me, Twilight. And I wanted to spend a day with him anyway,” Starlight answered, and I’m glad that she was willing to go with only me.
“Well, if you’re sure, then I can stay here. Just let me know if you change your mind, okay?”
“I will,” Starlight responded.
With that, Starlight and I left the castle to catch a train, the Friendship Express, to her former village. Receiving the letter on the day of the festival, not a day before it, seemed odd, but maybe it got delayed at the post office or something.
After we got off the train and made it to the entrance of Starlight's former village, a stallion, a white earth pony, called out, “Starlight, you came!”
Starlight let out a nervous giggle. It was cute, but the nervousness from the giggle was anything but “cute”.
Another stallion, a light-blue unicorn, asked, “We were worried you wouldn’t be able to make it.” He looked at me. “And who’s this? The 'human' I've heard about?”
“Yeah, and my name’s Jake. Jake Taylor. I hope you won’t mind one more?”
The light-blue unicorn replied, “Of course we don’t, and the more the merrier. My name’s Party Favor.”
A pink unicorn mare who was with them said, "And my name's Sugar Belle."
“My name’s Double Diamond,” The white earth pony told me. “Are you two staying the whole week?”
“Uh, I will if Starlight does,” I answered.
Double Diamond said, “That’s great, and we have so much planned! In fact, Starlight, we were hoping if you could help out with some of the events, like with the relay race we’re planning.”
Starlight replied, “Oh, you don’t need me to help with that.”
Party Favor asked, “Well, then maybe you can help settle a little debate we’re having with a couple of the banners."
“Oh, well, I’m glad you guys think I can help, but I’m just here to enjoy the festival.”
Sugar Belle, who wasn’t getting the message either, asked, “And we were hoping you could be a judge for the baking competition?”
Starlight stuttered, “U-Uh, w-well…”
More and more ponies asked Starlight one question after another and eventually surrounded us.
Starlight started sweating, gritted her teeth, and yelled, “No!” while letting out a magical blast that went in every direction. It sent everypony near us back, but didn’t hurt anypony or do any damage. It oddly did nothing to me, and it was no more than a flash of light to me.
Lying on the ground, covering her face with her forelegs and shaking, my marefriend was even more nervous and scared about this than I thought. Not even “boops” would help her this time.
I could get Starlight out of here and take her back to Ponyville. This was why I didn’t want Twilight to come too; she might have pressured Starlight into staying, even though she would just be trying to help.
Yet I knew that, deep down, Starlight wanted to come, but was just scared. Maybe I could get these ponies to back off and not stress her out, and that could calm down Starlight enough to stay.
I didn’t want Starlight to miss out on a good time and this could be really good for her. But after the villagers got to their hooves, they still wanted to ask her for help! I needed to step in and get these ponies to lay off.
I knelt to place a hand on Starlight, glared at the villagers and shouted, “HEY! Can’t you see how bad you’re stressing out Starlight?! She just wants to enjoy the festival and doesn’t want to help run any events, so back off!”
Double Diamond gasped and said, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I guess we just got used to Starlight running the village, so we couldn’t help asking her for help.”
Starlight stopped shaking, uncovered her face, and looked at the villagers. “Wait, really? Yeah, I ran the village, but I thought you guys were happy I wasn’t anymore, because of the...stealing your Cutie Marks and all that.”
Party Favor explained, “Well, soon after you left, Starlight, we learned it was a lot harder to run a village than we thought. At one point, we were almost missing how things were when you were in charge.”
Sugar Belle added, “But we won’t ask you to help with any events, and we’re just glad to have you here. So, you and Jake still want to stay and enjoy the festival?”
I took my hand off Starlight’s back and we both stood up.
“Sure, and I’m glad to see you guys too. And, I’m sorry about that magic blast. I just panicked.”
Starlight looked a lot calmer now. I was worried that I might have had to get her out of the village, but it looks like she’ll be okay to stay.
Now with things calmed down, Starlight and I could just kick back and have a relaxing chat with the villagers.
Double Diamond asked, “So, Starlight, with what happened behind us, how have you been since the last time we saw you?”
“Well, I’ve been learning friendship from Princess Twilight and I’ve made some great new friends.”
“And you feel like a different pony now, Starlight, so I say it’s paying off." Sugar Belle looked at me with a friendly smile. "And, Jake, we heard that you're from another world, so how do you like Equestria?”
“It took some getting used to, but I feel at home now. I’m actually happier here in Equestria than in my old world.”
A dark-blue pegasus that I didn't catch the name of yet told me, “That so? I’m glad to hear that and I forgot to tell you my name: it’s ‘Night Gilder'.”
“And how did you and Starlight meet, and have you been friends long?” Double Diamond asked.
I answered, “Uh...we haven’t known each other too long, but we are, uh…”
But Starlight, with a proud smile, interrupted, “We met soon after I became Princess Twilight’s student, and he’s my boyfriend.”
I thought Starlight might have felt embarrassed or uncomfortable to tell them we were dating. But Starlight instead said it with a lot of confidence. Not even Twilight is so blunt telling others we’re dating.
Night Gilder formed a puzzled frown. “Oh, he’s your, uh, ‘boyfriend’?”
I clarified, “That’s my world’s word for ‘coltfriend’. And I know Starlight and I dating might seem odd because I’m not a pony, but--”
With a smile full of understanding, Sugar Belle questioned, “And what’s odd about that? You care about each other, right?”
“Y-Yes,” I answered.
“Then that’s all that matters. All of us in this village have learned how important being able to make your own decisions is, so we’re not ones to judge others,” Double Diamond explained.
Wow. Seeing the kind of ponies they are, it’s no wonder they forgave Starlight so quickly. Ponies that aren’t my friends in Ponyville, or my marefriends, rarely made me feel this welcome.
As we continued our talk, I noticed a yellow unicorn wandering near the village, like they was checking out the area. From the long, white mane, it looked to be a mare and I pointed in her direction. “Wait, who’s that?”
Party Favor turned his head to the unicorn. “Her? I don’t know. I've never seen her before.”
Double Diamond also looked to the mare and greeted, “Welcome! Are you--”
The mare gasped and ran away from the village.
Starlight rubbed her head. “That was...odd.”
Night Glider added, “I have seen nervous ponies before, but that was just weird.”
“I have a bad feeling about her. Maybe we should try to see what she’s up to,” Sugar Belle proposed.
Double Diamond commented, “But then again, she didn’t seem like she wanted to cause any trouble. Maybe she just has a lot on her mind or something.”
Starlight stared at me. “What do you think, Jake? Should we follow her?”
“She’s nothing for us to worry about, and she wasn’t bothering anypony.”
Starlight asked, “You sure, Jake?”
“Yeah.”
“I agree with Jake,” Double Diamond said. “That pony was...odd, but I doubt she’s some kind of a spy or threat to us.”
Sugar Belle glanced in the direction the mare ran off in and set a hoof on her cheek. “Well, maybe I’m being paranoid.”
“I can understand why, Sugar Belle, but I think Jake and Double Diamond are right. That mare looked harmless, so let’s just keep catching up with Starlight and get to know Jake some more,” Night Glider proposed.
“Sounds good to me,” I replied.
“Same here,” Starlight echoed.
We kept talking for a while. Starlight seemed to be growing more and more at ease, making me more and more glad we stayed. Later, we all went in the houses to rest. It wasn’t easy to squeeze through the door, but I managed. The house I was in had just Starlight and me in it; the villagers let us be alone.
After an hour, I felt a chill. I peeked out of one of the windows and couldn’t believe what I saw.
In the distance, a group of ten changelings was flying toward the village!
“Starlight, come here!”
Starlight hopped off the bed she was lying on and sped to me. “What, Jake?”
“Take a look. changelings are out there!”
“What?!” Starlight took a peek out the window and gasped. “Where are they doing here?!”
“No idea, but they’re coming this way!”
“No!” Starlight looked to me with a fearful frown. “What do we do, Jake?”
Starlight’s eyes widened, both showing a mix of shock and fear. “What?!”
I explained, “We have no choice, but I don’t think they are aware that we know they’re here. Maybe we can defeat them if the other villagers fight too.”
“But how can we get them to help? We can’t warn them from here.”
“Well, I have an idea for that. First, I’ll go out and charge them and you fire some magic blasts as I do. As I run, I’ll yell for the villagers to help, and if it happens fast enough, we could win.”
“Okay, but how will you fight them? I don’t want you to get hurt!”
“Don’t worry, Starlight. I might not have magic, but I’m not helpless,” I assured. “If we all strike hard and fast, we can do this. Just try to be brave, okay?”
Starlight nodded her head with a determined frown. “Okay, I will. Just be careful.”
To ease her, I gave Starlight a *boop* on her muzzle, and she giggled. After that, I gritted my teeth, grabbed a broom -- the best weapon I could find -- and got out of the door as fast as possible. After I was out, Starlight ran out behind me and fired magic blasts, knocking down five of the changelings before they could react.
As I charged, I shouted, “Everypony, come help! Changelings are here! ”
But before I got anywhere close to the changelings, a green beam of magic struck me. I screamed in pain and was knocked to the ground on my back.
“Jake!” Starlight sped to me, gritted her teeth, and fired another blast at the changeling that attacked me, knocking it to the ground.
Around the time that Starlight’s counterattack connected, the other villagers flooded out of their houses and charged towards the changelings. Starlight and the other unicorns fired magic blasts, and the others simply advanced closer, ready for battle. I forced myself to my feet, fought the pain from the previous attack, and charged, holding the broom I came out of the house with.
But the ten changelings separated to surround us while firing more blasts. The beams coming from every direction overwhelmed us, and we all were knocked to the ground from the assault. Out of desperation, Starlight created a barrier around us, but the changelings’ merciless attacks eventually shattered it once she grew too weak to maintain the shield. Soon, the changelings made all of us immobilized in some kind of a green cocoon.
As we were carried away, I could only think about stupid I was, thinking we could have won that fight. Because of me, my marefriend and good ponies might never know freedom again.
“Run. If we sneak out the back door, maybe we could slip away without them spotting us.”
“What about the others?” Starlight asked.”
“Hopefully, the villagers are seeing this and will escape too. It’s too risky to stand and fight.”
“Okay, Jake. I’ll do whatever you think is best.”
“All right. When we get out, stay quiet, okay?”
Starlight nodded, and we ducked out the house’s back door. I hated the thought of not trying to warn the villagers, but doing it would have been far more dangerous for all of us. If they got caught, we would save them after Starlight and I told Twilight what happened.
But before we got too far, hissing came from behind us.
The changelings had spotted us and were all flying towards us!
“No! They saw us!” I exclaimed. “Let’s run for it!”
Starlight and I ran as fast as we could, away from the village and in the direction of the snow-covered mountains, with the changelings hissing behind us. Nearing the mountains, Starlight and I were getting tired, and the swarm were getting closer. Running like this wasn’t going to work.
As we fled, I looked down to Starlight. Because I do my best to make her feel safe and that she’ll never be alone, I sometimes forget how strong her magical skills are. Maybe she could do something?
“Starlight? Can you create a bright flash of light with your magic?”
“Yeah.”
“Then do it and blind the changelings!”
“Okay! Close your eyes!”
Both Starlight and I stopped running and I closed my eyes. After three seconds, Starlight told me, “It’s okay to open them now!”
I opened them, and the changelings were hissing and bumping into each other; some were on the ground and others remained in the air. The flash of light worked! We sped behind a large rock in front of us to hide, catch our breaths, and think of a way out of this.
We could hide in a nearby cave in the mountains before their vision returned, and hope they wouldn’t go in. Or maybe we could try to think of a way to lead them away, yet not get caught ourselves.
But while I was racking my brain for an idea, Starlight looked up to me.
“Do you have an idea, Starlight?”
Starlight nodded her head. “I do. I think that we should…”
“Run and hide in that cave before they get their vision back.”
I replied, “Okay, and that’s what I was thinking to do. Let’s go!”
Starlight I sped into the cave, hoping the changelings wouldn’t do it too. The cave had an eerie feeling, but the danger of what was outside forced me to ignore that feeling.
Safely away from the cave’s entrance, we both sat down to catch our breaths and laid our backs against a wall. The air this deep in the cave felt colder than it did outside, but thoughts about the changelings took my attention off the temperature.
“Okay, Starlight, I think we’re safe here. After a while, I’ll check to see if they’re gone.”
Starlight asked, “But where did they come from, and why are they here?”
“No idea, and nopony have seen any changelings since they were defeated in the Crystal Empire, save for Thorax. But those changelings aren’t acting like they’re searching for friends like Thorax was.”
Starlight huddled against and rested her head against me. “I wish Twilight and our friends were here to help.”
From deeper in the cave, we heard what sounded like buzzing. It seemed to be coming closer to us.
“Starlight? Do you hear that?”
“Yeah. What do you think it is?”
I didn’t have to give a guess: ten changelings flew close enough to come in to view.
Starlight and I screamed, jumped to our feet/hooves, and darted towards the cave entrance. I didn’t allow myself to think that we might run into the changelings we escaped from.
The moment we emerged from the cave, the pack of changelings we fled from previously pounced on us before we could react. Working together, the changelings immobilized us by wrapping us in some weird green cocoon, and even Starlight couldn’t free herself.
“No! Let Starlight go! Right now!”
Starlight whimpered, “This is all my fault! I’m so sorry, Jake!”
“No, Starlight, it’s not--”
“Yes, it is! If I had you pick what to do, this wouldn’t have happened!”
Powerless, Starlight and I were carried away. I had no idea what was going to happen to us, but I knew one thing for sure.
I would never forgive myself for not listening to Sugar Belle. If we followed that weird pony like she advised to do, who I now thought was a changeling, maybe we could have prevented this from happening.
“Try to lead the changelings away, and I have an idea on how to do it.”
“Okay, what’s your idea?” I asked.
“I’m going to cast a spell to create a copy of us, and force them to run to the other side of the mountains, where nopony are.”
I wanted to ask more questions, like how long will the copies last, but there was no time. I nodded my head to Starlight. Her horn glowed, then a copy of both me and her materialized in front of us.
It felt really weird seeing a copy of myself. But our copies ran from where we were, and the changelings chased after them. More changelings flew out of the cave I was thinking we could have hidden in.
After they were out of our view, Starlight cheered, “Yes, they’re gone!”
“And it was all your idea, Starlight! I’m so proud of you!”
Starlight smiled bashfully. “Aw, thanks, but it was nothing.”
“‘Nothing’? Starlight, you just saved our lives! I was thinking of having us run in those caves, but your instincts told you to do something else!”
Starlight blushed, and wore one of the happiest and proudest smiles I’ve ever seen. I could tell that the confidence in herself had skyrocketed. “Well, you were here, Jake, and I guess I felt like I could do anything if you’re with me.”
“And I’ll always be with you,” I said, and gave her a *boop* on her muzzle. As usual, it made her giggle, which always look so cute.
After Starlight and I had one of the biggest and longest kisses over, we went back to the village. I was never so proud of my marefriend, and it was a huge step in Starlight becoming more confident in herself. Whatever would come next, she would have the confidence to face it.
Sugar Belle asked, “You have a bad vibe about her too, Jake?”
“Yeah,” I answered.
“Then let’s go before we lose sight of her,” Night Glider suggested.
With that, Starlight, I, and all the villagers -- not just Double Diamond, Sugar Belle, Party Favor, and Wind Glider -- departed the village and followed the suspicious pony to the mountains near the village. Starlight cast a special type of invisibility spell to hide us from the view of the mare if she turned around, but it still allowed us to see each other. From our point of view, we just looked a little darker.
When we saw the odd-acting pony go into a cave in the mountains, Starlight canceled her spell and we all followed the strange mare, careful to keep a safe distance.
Once deep in the cave, we all gasped. A changeling were there, and the ‘pony’ we stalked turned into another changeling in a green fire.
We all stepped back to stay out of sight and Starlight whispered, “What are changelings doing here?”
I guessed, “Maybe they rejected the changeling ways like Thorax did.”
Party Favor suggested, “First, let’s hear what they’re saying.”
We heard the changelings talking about a plan to capture Twilight, the other Princesses, and even Spike, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. The plan was already in motion and these two were part of a group that would later travel to Ponyville. If we didn’t do something, Twilight and my friends would be in grave danger!
Sugar Belle said, “I knew that ‘pony’ was bad news!”
“I’m glad Jake and Sugar Belle wanted to come,“ Night Glider commented.
“But how what do we do, Jake?” Starlight asked, staring at me with fearful eyes.
I thought hard about what to do next. We could try to fight them here and now, or we could warn Twilight and our friends.
“Yeah,” I answered. “We have numbers, so if we all charge in at once, we should be able to handle these two.”
Night Glider agreed, “I like the idea. As a large group, they’ll be too much for us, but we can handle just two changelings. Their ‘friends’ must be somewhere else.”
Double Diamond added, “And we have Starlight with us, and she’s one of the strongest unicorns I’ve ever met.”
The other villagers agreed with my idea.
“If we are all for it, then on three, we’ll all charge,” I said. “And Starlight? Stay near me.”
Everypony nodded their heads in agreement.
I made a countdown with my fingers. On “three” we all ran and charged the two changelings. Starlight and the other unicorns in our group fired a blast of magic, knocking both changelings to the ground.
But before we all got to the two changelings, a mob of them rushed out from further in the cave and they all fired magic blasts at us.
All of us were knocked to the ground screaming, except Starlight; I took the blast aimed for her. She ran to me when she saw me get knocked down, instead of focusing on fighting back, and she got hit from behind by a beam. Starlight screamed and the blast knocked her onto the cave wall, knocking her unconscious.
My blood boiled, and flashbacks of when a manticore once hurt and knocked my marefriend out like this made my blood boil even more, I ignored the pain I felt and sprang to my feet. I was ready to knock out the whole mob with one punch. Yet I was simply knocked back down by another blast.
Despite being weakened by the changelings’ attacks, the rest of the unicorns fired more blasts, but they were outnumbered. After more blasts from the changelings, the unicorns couldn’t fire more attacks, and we were all wrapped in weird green “cocoons”.
I’ve made bad choices before. This was by far the worst I’ve made.
As they were carrying us out of the cave to who knows where, I’ve never felt more disappointed in myself. I got my marefriend and a number of good ponies hurt and captured. All because I didn’t just run and warn Twilight and the others instead.
“I think we could beat them, but we better not try anything stupid. Let’s go back to Ponyville, warn Twilight, and come up with a plan with her.”
“Yeah, it’s probably better to not take any risks,” Party Favor agreed.
“It could be dangerous to stay in the village, so do you guys want to come with us until it’s safe to come back?” Starlight asked.
“Yeah, we probably should go,” Double Diamond answered, “and we can just postpone the Sunset Festival.”
With that, we left the cave and all headed back to Ponyville. The clock was ticking, so we needed to get to Twilight was fast as possible.
Back at the castle, with the villagers waiting outside, Starlight and I busted through the castle doors and I called out, “Twilight! Twilight! Are you here?!”
Twilight ran from a door in the library with a frown. “What? What? What’s wrong?!”
I was about to explain the situation, but just in case, I asked, “Twilight? How many books have you ever thrown away?”
“What kind of question is that, Jake? You know that I would never throw away a book!”
I gave a sigh of relief. “Yep, it’s really you, Twi.”
Twilight rubbed her head. “I’m so confused right now. Why wouldn’t I be me?”
Since we knew she was the real Twilight Sparkle, Starlight explained, “We just found out that the changelings are going to try to capture you, our friends and the other Princesses!”
Twilight’s eyes grew and she gasped. “What?!”
“Yeah! After you are all captured, Queen Chrysalis and the changelings would have nopony that could stop them!” I explained.
“The changelings have returned?! Oh, uh, okay, first, we need to warn Princess Celestia before it’s too late! Spike?! Where are you?! I need to write a letter to Princess Celestia!” I could tell from Twilight’s eyes that she was struggling to keep from freaking out, but she held it together.
Twilight was able to warn the other Princesses just in time; the changelings were about to make their move on them. But thanks to our warning, with Twilight’s and our friends’ help, they were stopped.
After the group that accepted to capture the Princesses were themselves captured, they told us where Queen Chrysalis and the changeling hive was. The Princesses, Starlight, Shining Armor, our friends, and the Royal Guards all went to the changeling hive and forced Queen Chrysalis to flee. Twilight thought up a plan to get around their magic not working near the changeling hive.
I should be scared that a being as strong as her is on the loose. But I’m too mad at how she wanted to go after Twilight Sparkle and my other friends to be scared.
It was no good. Starlight was in too bad a state to stay.
I didn’t think to ask if she was okay, because I knew she wasn’t.
“Sorry, but we gotta go. Uh, bye!” I picked her up, buried her face in my chest to help her feel safer, and ran out of that village as fast as I could.
Back in Ponyville, when we were on our way to Twilight’s castle. Starlight was more or less back to her old self, but was still a little shaken up. As we walked, we passed by some of our friends. They were acting...odd. Even Pinkie Pie acted weird, and that’s saying something.
Once the castle, we spotted Twilight and ran up to her. She took some steps back as we did, something she's never done when we wanted to talk to her.
I asked, “Twilight? Our friends were acting odd. Do you have any ideas of what’s going on?”
“Uh, me? Nope, no idea at all! But, uh, how are you?”
Starlight answered, “Not great. I bet you’re wondering why we came back so soon?”
“I didn't want to ask, but yeah, it did seem strange. Did something go wrong?”
“The villagers kept asking me to help with the events, like they wanted me in charge or something. But being in charge is the last thing I should be,” Starlight explained.
“Starlight got overwhelmed, so I took her and we left. And if you’re thinking that she should go back, for now, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Actually, I wasn’t. Starlight, you should definitely not go back.”
Starlight asked, “Wow, really?”
Twilight nodded her head. “Really. If you were worried about what the ponies there thought of you before, it's probably far worse now.”
“That's...surprising. I thought I’d have to talk you into not making her go back,” I admitted.
“Well, Starlight doesn't need those ponies, and she can always make more friends. But if you’ll excuse me, I have, uh, important business to attend to.” Twilight trotted to a door, and I saw Rainbow Dash waiting for her on the other side.
I shook my head. “Okay, that was really weird. I’ve never seen Twilight talk about friends like that.”
“Yeah, she taught me that every friend is important, not something that you replace without a second thought. What do you think is wrong, Jake?”
“Maybe she’s just tired, and maybe the others are too. In fact, I think we should go and rest. What do you say?”
Starlight agreed, “That sounds good, and I am a bit tired.”
Starlight and I went to our rooms to rest. Something wasn’t right, but I thought Twilight and our friends would be their old selves again after a good night’s sleep. Tonight was Starlight’s turn to cuddle with me, so once we were sleepy, she came to my room. We did our usual cuddling and when we went to sleep, I had my arm around Starlight and her head was against my chest. As usual, she looked so cute.
“Jake! Jake! Wake up!”
“H-Huh? What’s wrong?”
“Princess Luna told me in my dream that the Changelings have returned!”
“I don’t know. You said that she told you she was ‘taken’ right?“But if she were, how could she enter your dream?”
Starlight’s worried frown turned into an unsure one. “I...don’t know. Now that you said it like that, it doesn’t make sense.”
I rubbed Starlight head, hoping to calm her further. “You see? I think it was just an actual nightmare, but you woke up before she needed to come.”
“Maybe. I have had nightmares before that felt real, so maybe that was another one?”
“I think so. Come on, let’s go back to sleep, okay?” I suggested.
Starlight smiled and responded, “Okay.”
I wrapped an arm around Starlight to hold her to me, and we both fell back to a peaceful sleep.
Maybe an hour later, my door opened hard, waking both Starlight and me up. We looked to see who it was, and it was Twilight standing there.
“Twilight? What are you doing?!” I asked.
“I see we missed two.”
“Huh?” Starlight and I asked at the same time.
A green fire surrounded Twilight. I found myself face to face with a changeling, and more appeared by the door.
I started, “What are you--”
A green beam of magic hit and froze both Starlight and me, and we found ourselves wrapped in a weird green cocoon. More beams hit Starlight, maybe making her cocoon stronger so she couldn’t break herself free with her magic. I fought with all my might to break free, but to no avail.
“No! I can’t move! Jake!” Starlight exclaimed.
“Starlight! Leave her alone! If you must take someone, take me!”
But my pleas fell on death’s ears. I could do nothing but scream for help and for Starlight to be freed.
I didn’t know where they were taking us. But I knew one thing for sure.
I was the worst boyfriend ever. If I just believed Starlight, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.
“It’s a little hard to believe, but I believe you."
“You do?” Starlight asked with a relieved smile. I guess she was worried that I might not have believed her.
“Yeah. I’ve even had a bad feeling since we got back to Ponyville, but kept it from you. But first, what did Princess Luna say?”
“She said that the changelings took her and Princess Celestia, and to be careful who I trust.”
“Be careful who you...oh, no. I think that the ‘Twilight’ from earlier might have been a changeling and was why she was acting so odd. And I bet the others were changelings too and that was why they weren’t themselves.”
“And if that’s true, then our friends have been captured too! What do we do, Jake?”
To keep her calm, I rested a hand on Starlight’s head. “Well, first, we gotta get out of the castle without ‘Twilight’ spotting us. Then, find some help from somepony we can trust.”
Starlight’s horn glowed, and the next thing I knew, we were outside by Trixie’s wagon. Trixie’s not who I had in mind to ask for help, but at this point, beggars can’t be choosers.
Starlight called out, “Hey, Trixie! Trixie!”
Fireworks fired off from inside the wagon, and red, blue, and yellow sparks flew out of the windows and any tiny openings the wagon had. When the “show” ended, Trixie poked her head out of the wagon’s window while coughing.
After Trixie's coughing stopped, she rubbed her eyes groggily. “Oh, Starlight? Jake? It’s late, why are--”
Starlight interrupted, “Trixie, there’s no time. We’re in danger!"
With an annoyed frown, Trixie responded, “Okay, I humor you. Why are we in danger?”
I was about to explain everything, but I remembered the warning that Princess Luna gave Starlight. I instead ordered, “First, say something that only the real Trixie would know.”
“Oh, that’s right, I forgot about that, Jake. Now, Trixie, when we were talking the other day, what did you say to never tell anypony?”
Trixie rolled her eyes. “Seriously? You two woke me up to play 'twenty questions’?”
“Come on, Trixie. There’s a reason, but please, just do what Starlight asked,” I begged.
Trixie looked away and muttered something under her breath.
“Trixie, this is serious! Just tell us!” Starlight implored.
Trixie turned her head to us. In an annoyed voice, she answered, “I said that ‘even Trixie’s made mistakes’! There? You happy?”
Starlight sighed, knowing this was truly Trixie. “Yes, and sorry. But we needed to make sure you’re you because the changelings have returned!”
Trixie’s eyes widened and she shouted, “What?! You’re serious?!”
Starlight nodded her head. “Yeah. Princess Luna told me in a dream that she and Princess Celestia were captured.”
“I added, “And Twilight, Spike, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash were taken too. So, I think we should head to the Crystal Empire and get help.”
A male voice from behind us answered, “There will be no help coming from the Crystal Empire."
We turned to the voice, and saw a changeling walking toward us.
Trixie screamed and Starlight created a turquoise ball of magic around Trixie. The sounds of Trixie’s screaming stopped and she was still freaking out in that ball, so I figured the ball muted her voice.
With my eyes on the changeling, I warned, “Stay back!”
“No, it’s me, Thorax.”
“Wait, you’re Thorax?” I felt relief, knowing this changeling was a friend. I also noticed he had light-blue wings that sparkled like crystal.
Starlight kept up her guard, though. With the tip on her horn glowing, Starlight questioned, “How do we know you’re really Thorax?”
Thorax transformed into a copy of Twilight and repeated one of her friendship speeches.
Before Thorax even finished, Starlight interrupted, “Okay, we get it. But why can’t we get help from the Crystal Empire?”
Thorax answered, “Because Princess Cadance has been caught, and Shining Armor sent me to get help from Princess Twilight.”
Starlight responded, “But Twilight’s been captured too!”
Thorax exclaimed, “What?! She has?!”
Trixie asked, “Okay, now what?! Do you have any ideas, Jake? Starlight?”
Starlight frowned. “I...I don’t know. We need to find somepony else to help.”
Trixie countered, “But there is ‘nopony else’! Every other powerful pony has been captured and you’re the strongest one left, Starlight!”
A different male voice said, “You know, whenever somepony talks about ‘powerful ponies’ I’m always forgotten.”
We looked to the top of Trixie’s wagon and saw who the voice belonged to. It was Discord, knitting something in the shape of a rabbit.
“Discord? Wait, is that really you?” I asked.
As his “answer” to my question, Discord snapped his fingers. Everything around us was literally upside-down, and chocolate rain poured out of a cloud in the distance.
Starlight commented, “Yep, it’s really him.”
Discord snapped his fingers, and everything returned to normal.
But, even though we knew he was the real Discord, I wondered if asking him for help and trust that he’ll do it was a good idea. He’s not “bad” but is extremely unpredictable, and usually just does whatever he feels like doing.
Discord’s magic would be extremely useful, but maybe we should try to save Twilight and my friends without him. Thorax may have enough information on the other changelings for us to handle this on our own.
So I told Discord that we were just practicing lines for a play. He bought my lie and teleported away.
Starlight asked, “Jake, why didn’t you tell him what’s going on?”
I answered, “Well, Discord can be a...questionable ally. You sure he wouldn’t do anything to ‘test’ us and it ends with us all caught somehow?”
“Well, maybe you’re right,” Starlight responded. “Twilight’s told me how she’s not sure what goes on in his head most of the time.”
“I hate to admit it, but this is something the Great and Powerful Trixie can see eye-to-eye with Twilight with.”
Thorax commented, “You three know Discord better than me, so no arguments here.”
“Then we’re all on the same page,” I said. “Thorax, do you know where the changelings have our friends?”
“Yeah, the changeling Hive. But I was really hoping to never go back.”
With that, we all went to the changeling Hive. Starlight didn’t know its exact location and couldn’t teleport us to it, so we walked to the Hive.
Once near the Hive, Thorax told us that only changeling magic works in and near it, thanks to an invisible anti-magic barrier, so Starlight and Trixie wouldn’t have their magic. Starlight wasn’t confident in herself without her magic, or in general, but she guessed that disabling Queen Chrysalis’s throne, the source of the anti-magic barrier around the Hive, could end its magic-negating effect. That meant what we needed to do was clear: destroy that throne!
We made our way to the changeling hive and as we did, Trixie thought up a code word in case we’ll need to prove we’re us: Klutzy princess.
At least Twilight and Trixie get along better now than they used to.
In the changeling hive, there were a ton of large holes in the walls, forming tunnels, making the place look like the inside of swiss cheese.
I said, “So, this is the inside of the changeling hive.”
Trixie commented, “I bet Discord would make puns about our plan having ‘holes’ in it if he came.”
“Probably, but where do we go? That way?” Starlight pointed at the nearest tunnel.
“This place changes like changelings do, so unless you’re a changeling, you’ll get lost.”
“Or captured,” I remarked. “So you should lead us, Thorax.”
We followed Thorax down one of the tunnels, hoping no changeling would come near.
Soon, we heard distant buzzes that grew louder.
Trixie asked, “What’s that?”
Thorax exclaimed, “Oh, no! It’s a changeling patrol!”
My mind raced, yet I couldn’t think of anything.
However, Starlight smiled and looked to Trixie. “Wait, do you have any smoke bombs in your bag?”
Trixie replied, “Yeah.”
“Then I have an idea. Get them, and…”
Trixie and Thorax, the latter disguised as Trixie, teamed up and made it look like Trixie was teleporting from one spot to another, confusing the group of changelings. Before long, they got the changelings to leave, thinking Trixie was somewhere else.
When Trixie and Thorax ran back to Starlight and me, I praised, “Guys, that was amazing!”
Trixie boasted, “Thanks. Looks like we don’t need Discord after all.”
Starlight noticed that two of the changelings didn’t go after Trixie and Thorax, and Thorax told us that they must have gone to the throne room, in case Queen Chrysalis would need them to protect her. That told us where to go next: down the tunnel the two changelings flew in.
Further down the tunnel, we came across a bunch of changelings guarding a door. According to Thorax, the tunnels behind the door led to the throne room, so we needed to get past the guards somehow.
Trixie asked, “Okay, now what?”
Starlight lifted her head in thought. “Uh...maybe a distraction can work?”
I looked to Trixie. "You said that you’re out of smoke bombs, right, Trixie?”
“Yeah.”
Thorax asked, “Do you have anything else that could help?”
Trixie shook her head. “No, but maybe I can draw them away, and you three go on.”
I asked, “You sure? Without anything to use as cover, you could get captured!”
“And that can’t happen, Trixie, because we need you! I still don’t know how to destroy the throne! Without magic--”
With a boastful smile, Trixie interrupted, “Please, Starlight, you’re talking like I am going to get caught. It’ll take more than a few changelings to capture the Great and Powerful Trixie! After I lose them, I’ll catch up to you guys.”
We told Trixie good luck and she showed herself, teased the changeling by insulting them, and led them away in one of several tunnels around us. Afterward, we ran through the now non-guarded door and down the tunnel beyond it.
I never knew Trixie could be so brave.
Once we were deeper in the tunnel, Trixie, to our -- and especially Starlight’s -- relief, returned to us. But to make sure she was her,we tested Trixie with the code word. She didn’t pass it.
Following “Trixie” towards two tunnels, I whispered, “You two know that’s not Trixie, right?”
“I do,” Thorax said.
“Me too, and I knew we shouldn’t have--”
I whispered, “We’ll just have to save her when we save the others.”
“But, Jake--”
Before I could try to reassure Starlight, “Trixie” went into a tunnel.
Thorax informed, “Wait, I know this trick. In the tunnel to our left are a swarm of changelings that would pounce on us once we’re in range.”
I proposed, “In that case, maybe we could just run down the other tunnel as fast as we can?”
Thorax answered, “We wouldn’t have enough time to get far enough before they came after us. But, I could go in, try to slow them down, and you two run through the other tunnel and it leads to the throne room.”
“But what about you? Will you be all right?” I asked.
“I don’t know. But Spike put himself out there to be my first friend, so I’ll do whatever it takes to save him and my new friends.”
“I know, but--”
I knelt and set my hand on Starlight’s back. “No ‘buts’, Starlight. We need to trust Thorax, but you will still have me with you, and we’ll think of something.”
After a few seconds, Starlight gave a cute smile. “Okay.”
Thorax went into the left tunnel, and Starlight and I sprinted into the right one. As we ran, Starlight thought of an idea.
Close to the throne room, Starlight and I separated, and I walked into the room. I found myself face-to-face with Queen Chrysalis, Queen of the changelings, as well as her guards that were spread out in the room. Starlight snuck in through a different entrance, crept to the throne on the other side of the room, and chipped away at it with a rock.
I did my best to hold Queen Chrysalis’s and the changeling’s attention to buy Starlight time. But, my eyes couldn’t resist glancing at Starlight a few times.
After one too many glances in Starlight’s direction, Chrysalis turned around and fired a green beam at her. Luckily, Starlight dived out of the way just in time.
“You will pay for that, Chrysalis!” Out of rage that she tried to hurt Starlight, I charged at Chrysalis.
But well before I reached Chrysalis, some of the guards surrounded and pinned me to the ground. At the same time, Chrysalis pulled Starlight away from the throne with her magic, tossing her beside me, and guards pinned Starlight down too.
“Let us go right now! Or at least let Starlight go!”
All my demand did was make Chrysalis laugh as she looked down at us. “Aw, how cute. “You want to keep the little pony safe. Well, I have no issue with you, whatever you are, so I’ll let you go, but your friend stays.”
I responded, “No way! Starlight’s my marefriend, and I’ll never leave her!”
Starlight begged, “No, Jake! Just save yourself!”
“No, I won’t leave you around, Starlight!”
Chrysalis looked at Starlight, then back to me. “Well, that’s fine with me. Your love should taste as good as anypony’s.”
I knew it was pointless for me to stay on my own accord, but I couldn’t abandon Starlight just to save myself. And even if I fled, with every powerful pony captured and with a way to make even Discord powerless if he tried to help us, Equestria was doomed to face darker days. It might have been better for me to just be captured now.
No, this was too serious a situation, and Discord’s magic could be our only hope, so I explained the situation to him. He didn’t seem to care that much until I told him Fluttershy was one of the changelings’ prisoners.
I’ve never seen him so mad, and he teleported us close to the changeling Hive. According to Thorax, only changeling magic works in or near the Hive, so this was as close to it as Discord’s teleportation could get us.
Starlight was close to panicking and didn’t have much confidence in herself without her magic, and she was already struggling with her confidence in general. Still, she theorized that if we destroy Queen Chrysalis’s throne, the source of the anti-magic barrier to all but changeling magic, everyone’s magic would return. That meant we had only one course of action: take out that throne!
We walked to the changeling hive, with Discord whining the whole way since he had to walk. Along the way, we thought up a code word in case we’ll need to prove we’re us: Klutzy Draconequus.
Discord wasn’t a fan of it.
In the changeling hive, there were a ton of large holes in the walls, making the place look like the inside of swiss cheese.
I commented, “So this is the inside of the changeling hive.”
Trixie asked, “Where do we go?”
“Don’t ask me. I have no idea where to go!” Starlight replied with a fearful frown.
Thorax explained, “Well, this is a changeling hive and it shifts and changes like changelings do, so only clangelings can navigate it.”
“Then lead on, Thorax, before we’re found,” I remarked.
We followed Thorax down a tunnel. As we did, Starlight asked, “By the way, Thorax, what happened to your wings? They weren’t like that at the Crystal Empire.”
Thorax looked at his wings. “I don’t know, but I know I haven’t been hungry since I made friends. Changelings are usually always hungry for love”
I started, “Maybe that’s some kind--”
Distant buzzes, which grew louder, interrupted me.
Discord asked, “Wait, do you guys hear that? It’s quite the ‘buzz’.”
Thorax exclaimed, “Oh, no! It’s a changeling patrol!”
My mind raced, yet I couldn’t think of anything.
However, Starlight smiled and asked Trixie, “Wait, do you have some smoke bombs in your bag, Trixie?”
Trixie replied, “Yeah.”
“Then I have an idea. Get them, and…”
Trixie and Thorax, the latter disguised as Trixie, worked together to make it look like Trixie was teleporting from place to place, confusing the swarm. Before long, the tricks got the changelings to leave, thinking “Trixie” was somewhere else.
When Trixie and Thorax came back to the rest of us, I praised, “Trixie, Thorax, that was amazing!”
“Eh, it was okay,” Discord admitted.
Trixie boasted, “Thanks. The Great and Powerful Trixie always try to put a good show.”
Starlight noticed that two of the changelings didn’t chase Trixie and Thorax, and Thorax told us that they must have gone to the throne room in case they would need to protect Queen Chrysalis. So, we went down the path the two changelings flew in.
A little further, we spotted a bunch of changelings guarding a door. Thorax said that the throne room was beyond the door, so we needed to slip past the guards somehow.
Trixie asked, “Okay, now what?”
Starlight guessed, “Uh...maybe a distraction can work?”
“But, Trixie, you said that you’re out of smoke bombs, right?” I questioned.
Discord commented, “And I’m usually the most distracting thing around, but without magic…”
With a smile, Starlight corrected, “Well, you shouldn’t estimate yourself, Discord. You don’t have magic, but you’re still you.”
Discord got the point, approached the guards and made several puns to attract their attention. If the situation wasn’t so bad, I might’ve chuckled at them. As he kept “punning” Starlight, Trixie, Thorax, and I snuck through the door. We had no choice but to trust that Discord knew what he was doing and would escape.
Soon, Discord caught up to us. We immediately tested him to ensure he was the real Discord with our code word.
Unfortunately, he failed the “test”.
While we followed “Discord”, to the others, I whispered, “You guys know that’s not Discord, right?”
Thorax answered, “Yep.”
Trixie reasoned, “I guess the real Discord got captured.”
“Discord” went into one of two tunnels in front of us, the left one.
Thorax informed, “Wait, I know this trick. In the tunnel to our left are a swarm of changelings that would pounce on us as soon as we’re in range.”
Starlight raised her eyes up, trying to think of an idea, and I did the same.
Before Starlight or I thought of something, Trixie formed a determined frown. “Wait, I’ll go in and distract them, and you guys go into the other tunnel.”
Starlight said, “But you can’t, Trixie! We need you, and I’m still not sure how to destroy the throne without my magic and I--”
Trixie interrupted, “Starlight, listen to me. We made it this far because of your ideas, not Discord’s, Thorax’s, Jake’s, or even mine. I know you’re scared of being in charge, but you’re great at it. Listen to your best friend: you got this.”
I knelt and set a hand on Starlight’s back, “And I’ll be by your side, Starlight, always. Just trust yourself, like we do.”
Hearing our encouragement, Starlight smiled. She, Trixie, and I hugged, then Trixie crept into the tunnel with the changelings. Starlight, Thorax, and I darted into the other one.
I gained so much respect for Trixie for this act of courage: she let herself get captured to buy the rest of us time. We couldn’t let it be in vain.
On the way to the throne room, Starlight thought of another idea. She was stepping up, and Trixie was right about her being a natural leader.
First, Thorax transformed into Starlight, entered the throne room, and distracted Queen Chrysalis and the changelings by acting like Starlight. As he did, the real Starlight and I crept in from a different entrance of the room and sneaked to the throne. I forced myself to not look up. My heart couldn’t bear the thought of what Twilight and my friends might have been thinking, or feeling, in their “cocoons” that hung from the ceiling if they were conscious.
But before we even made a dent in the throne with rocks we found, Queen Chrysalis exposed Thorax’s true identity, then spotted Starlight and I chipping away at her throne. We ducked behind a part of the base of the throne right before a blast from Chrysalis hit us.
We couldn’t even try to do something to fight back; Chrysalis immediately flew to and picked us up with her magic.
“Let us go!” I yelled.
Chrysalis sorta did what I ordered. She tossed Starlight and me to some of her guards, and we were pinned to the ground.
Chrysalis looked down on us with a smirk. “Well, I will give you two credit for making it this far. But did you really think you could destroy my throne? With rocks of all things?”
“Let us go, or at least free Starlight!”
“Aw, how cute,” Chrysalis teased. “You want to protect your friend. Well, I’ll tell you what: I have no quarrel with you, so I’ll let you go, but the little pony stays.”
I responded, “No way! Starlight’s my marefriend, so if she stays, I stay!”
Starlight begged, “No, Jake! You don’t have to stay here for me!”
“No, I’m not leaving you, Starlight!” I reiterated.
Chrysalis looked at Starlight, then back to me. “Well, be my guest. Your love should taste as good as anypony’s, no matter what you are.”
“But why do you have to feed on love, anyway?” I questioned. “Thorax doesn’t, and he’s a changeling just like the rest of you!”
Starlight agreed, “That’s right! You all don’t have to live your lives starving all the time! Thorax shared love by making friends, and now he doesn’t need to feed!”
I added, “Yeah, real love between friends is one of the best things you can have. I know, because for most of my life, I had no friends, but didn’t know what I was missing until I finally made some! Just give friendship a chance!”
Chrysalis countered, “My subjects and I don’t need your so-called ‘real friendship’ and just need your love, and we will have it!”
Starlight grinned, and another idea must have popped in her head. “Thorax, show her how great it feels to share love. Give her allthat you have!”
Thorax released all the love he gained simply by having friends. It came out as a beam of magic, which smashed into Chrysalis and sent her flying into her throne, cracking it. Then, Thorax glowed and underwent a metamorphosis. He grew taller and his exoskeleton turned from black to green.
Starlight pointed to Thorax. “See? And Thorax still isn’t the least bit hungry! Do you really want to be hungry your whole lives and never have it be satisfied?”
All of the changelings, except Queen Chrysalis, all looked at each other, then shared the love they had and all transformed similar to Thorax. Some were green, some were blue, others yellow. In the process, it made the weakening throne explode, taking out the ceiling. The cocoons holding Twilight and my friends fell to the floor and opened, but the fall didn’t appear to hurt anyone in the cocoons.
Discord, as soon as he was freed, went to Fluttershy. It didn’t look like he’d ever stop hugging her.
As soon as I saw Twilight free on the ground, I ran to and embraced her in a hug. Wanting to be brave for Starlight, I didn’t let myself show how worried I was. But now, I couldn’t have held back the tears even if I wanted to, though they were happy tears.
“I’m so so so glad to see you, Twi! I love you so much and don’t you ever, ever, ever get captured again!” I said, tightening my hug with each “ever”.
“I’m...glad to see...you, Jake, but...you’re squeezing me too tight!”
“Oops! I’m sorry!” I let Twilight go from my grip. I was so happy to see her safe and sound, I wasn’t paying attention to how tight I was hugging her.
Starlight ran to us, and the three of us had a group hug. It never felt so wonderful. After that, Starlight and I explained to Twilight and the others all that happened.
The happy moment ended, though, when Chrysalis stood back up while snarling. We all faced her direction, ready to fight her.
Except Starlight. With no scowl on her face, Starlight walked to Chrysalis and tried to persuade her to reform and even extended her hoof in friendship. Chrysalis reached for Starlight’s hoof, but slapped it away. After that, after giving Starlight a threat, Chrysalis fled.
Starlight frowned, but both Twilight and I placed a hoof/hand on her, showing that we were still proud of her. If Starlight Glimmer still needed to redeem herself, she just did.
“What about her?” Twilight asked, having finished her conversation with Starlight.
“Oh, I was just telling Spike here that I would be spending the day with her in her world,” I explained.
“Have fun then, and tell her I said ‘hi’,” Twilight said with a smile.
A few minutes later, I had an old leather jacket of mine, and was ready to go through the portal. I stepped into the mirror, bracing myself for the trip though. Just like last time, it was bright, disorienting, and needlessly painful. Luckily, it was also short.
I skidded to a stop on one leg in front of CHS, not another human in sight.
It was then that I realized it was a school day for Sunset. I facepalmed and turned back toward the portal.
“Hey, weren’t you here a while ago?” I heard a familiar voice ask.
I turned around to see a human version of Princess Celestia. Her skin was a little brighter than mine, and she wore a bright yellow suit.
“I...” I stopped to clear my throat, still adjusting to my younger voice. “Y-Yes, I was.”
“What was your name? James? Jason?” she asked.
“J-Jake, Jake Taylor,” I replied. “You’re Principal Celestia, right?”
She smiled. “Yes, I am. You’re from that...’other world’ if I’m not mistaken.”
I was shocked. How many people know about that?
“Y-Yeah, I am. I just came over today to visit Sunset Shimmer and her friends,” I told her.
“Well, since I’ve only seen you once, I’d imagine you aren’t very familiar with this school, correct?” Principal Celestia asked.
“That’s...a safe assumption,” I answered.
“In that case, why don’t I give you a tour? Who knows, maybe you’ll make a new friend,” she said with a wink. “Or I could just take you to where Sunset Shimmer and her friends hang out. This period’s nearly over, and they go there all the time.”
“...Wait for Sunset and her friends. Thanks for the offer, though,” I replied.
“That’s alright. Here, I’ll take you to where they usually go to practice,” Principal Celestia said, motioning for me to follow her.
“Practice?” I asked.
“You don’t know? Sunset and her friends are a band; the Rainbooms,” she explained.
I facepalmed as I remembered Sunset telling me that. Hey, at least now I might get the chance to hear them play.
We walked silently through the halls of the school, a few memories returning to me. As we walked by a few of the classrooms, I saw Sunset, working on something. If my memory serves my correctly, she should be in AP Calculus right now.
We walked by a few more classrooms and a few more familiar faces until we came to a large set of double doors.
“Here we are. No one really used this space, so the Rainbooms just decided to use it to practice. I walk by a few times; they sound really good,” Principal Celestia told me.
I nodded at her. “Thank you, Ms. Celestia. Maybe I’ll take that tour another time.”
She smiled at me and walked away. I opened the doors and stepped inside. The music equipment was already set up: three guitars, a drum set, a key tar, and a tambourine.
I closed the door behind me and got a better look at my surroundings. The room was what appeared to be an old janitor closet, though a large one.
I took a closer look at one of the guitars, but made sure not to touch it. It was orange with red stripes. I could only assume it was Sunset’s. There was also a picture in the frets. I got a little closer and saw it was a picture of Sunset and me, goofing around in a photo booth.
I remember that day as one of my favorites. It was when we went on our first official date, not counting the dance club with Rainbow Dash and Soarin.
I decided to take a seat and bounce a ball I had brought with me against a wall for a few minutes until I heard a few voices outside.
Thinking quick, I got up and stood next to the door, hiding behind it as it opened.
“I’m not afraid of anything. Something comes along, and POW! It gets knocked out,” I heard the raspy, tomboy-ish voice of Rainbow Dash.
“Oh please, super speed doesn’t exactly hurt an enemy,” said the feminine accent of Rarity.
“It’s better than just diamonds,” Rainbow replied.
All of the girls had entered the room by now and had closed the door. Still though, they hadn’t noticed me.
“Still, nothing can scare me, or my name’s not Rainbow Dash!” Rainbow declared, stomping her foot.
’Time to put that to the test’ I thought.
I slowly, quietly crept up behind them and screamed, “AAH!”
“AAAH!!” All the girls yelled back, jumping back as well, though Rainbow yelled just a bit longer and jumped a bit further.
I wanted to greet the girls, but I hit the ground laughing.
“Jake?! What are you doing here?” Sunset asked.
“Not that it’s not great to see you,” Twilight added.
Sunset stepped forward and offered me a hand. I took it and stood up, calming down a little.
“I wanted to surprise you,” I said in between breaths. “But I saw an opportunity and took it.”
“Okay, but why now?” Applejack asked.
“It’s been awhile, and nothing was going on in Equestria,” I explained.
Sunset gave me a quick hug and walked over to her friends. “Well, we were just about to practice our music. Since you’re here, you’re more than welcome to listen.”
“I bet you could even try to sing if you wanted,” Pinkie added with an enthusiastic grin.
“Wait, whoa, what?” Rainbow and I said in unison.
“Oh come on, just one song. It’ll be fun,” Rarity pleaded.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“Please, if you sing as well as you dance, you’ll be a natural,” Sunset stated.
“You girls sure?”
“I’d love to hear you sing, if that’s okay it’s you,” Fluttershy commented.
“I guess I’d be down with it. Just one song though,” Rainbow agreed.
The rest of the girls got set up as I nervously stood in front of them.
“Here, we’ve done covers before. What kind of music do you listen to?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Sunset quickly tapped her on the shoulder, getting her attention. “They don’t exactly have that kind of music over there.”
“Oh right,” Rainbow replied, looking back to me. “What decade did you grow up in?”
“Rainbow Dash?! What an inappropriate question,” Rarity chastised.
“It’s fine,” I said, waving my hand at the fashionista. “Umm...late 80’s, early 90’s.”
“Here, let’s see if you recognize this one,” Rainbow said with a smirk. She then whispered something to the rest of the girls and looked back at me. With that, she began an iconic riff that I knew all too well.
“Seriously? That song’s impossible to sing,” I pleaded.
“Yeah, Rainbow, let him off a little easier,” Applejack taunted, pretending to agree with me.
“Wait, what?” I asked.
“Yeah, none of us can sing that song, so there’s no way Jake can,” Rarity added, her accent sharp with condescension.
“Hold on-“
“And there’s no possibility he can even remember the words. They’re so fast and high-pitched,” Fluttershy said.
“Seriously?! Even Fluttershy,” I said in embarrassment.
“Come on, girls, give him a chance,” Sunset said, pushing me over my limit.
“Fine! I’ll sing it. But you girls brought however bad this may or may not be on yourselves!” I said, pointing at each of them angrily.
With a smirk and a chuckle, Rainbow Dash began the riff again, Sunset and Applejack joining with the bass lines as well.
With a heart beating a million miles an hour, I began to sing. Surprisingly, I got a little into it. Twilight and Rarity even cheered a little as the song went on.
About halfway though, however, I suddenly felt dizzy and lightheaded. I felt my legs give out and my vision went black. The last thing I heard was Sunset calling out my name in shock.
“Jake! Jake, wake up!”
My eyes slowly opened to find myself in a...hospital bed, with blurry versions of Sunset and the girls at my side.
“I am so sorry; I had no idea!” Rainbow Dash apologized, for what I don’t know.
I blinked a few times to get used the light in the room, and waited for my ears to stop ringing to say anything.
“Wait, what happened? And why am I in a hospital bed?” I asked. Before any of the girls answered, I shifted positions a little, becoming acutely aware of what exactly I was wearing. I blushed heavily and added, “And who exactly put me in a hospital gown?”
The girls blushed a little as well, but ignored my last question.
“The doctors said you had a bit of an...adrenaline rush, and it made you pass out,” Sunset explained.
“If anything, it was from the song. It was just a bit too much for you,” Twilight added.
I rubbed the back of my head. “Well, I guess I am used to being a bit older.”
“I am so so sorry, Jake,” Dash apologized again.
“It’s fine; there was no way you could’ve known,” I replied. “Hey, wait a second? Don’t you girls have school?”
The girls all stood up and had shocked expressions.
“Principal Celestia said we only had until the end of break to get back,” Rarity said.
“That’s in five minutes! We’ll never make it in time!” Applejack exclaimed.
“No it if we go now,” Sunset said. “But wait, what about Jake?”
I shook my head and answered, “You girls don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Now get back to school; you don’t wanna get into trouble.”
“I promise I will make this up to you,” Sunset said as she and the others rushed out the door.
I lay back in the bed. This visit was a total bust, though the look on Dash’s face when I scared her was priceless.
Still though, who would’ve guessed trying to sing Beat It would make you pass out?
“I’m really not much of a singer. Just, you girls do your thing, and I’ll watch,” I answered.
“You sure? We really don’t mind,” Sunset said.
I sat down and shook my head. “Nah, it’s fine, really.”
“If you’re sure,” Rainbow said, shrugging her shoulders.
The girls exchanged a few words, and Rainbow Dash started an instantly catchy riff, Sunset joining in and adding to the thrill. Soon enough, everyone was playing their own instruments.
Rainbow Dash sang the first line of the song, trading with Sunset every now and then. I got really into the song and found myself toe tapping along with the quick beat.
By the time the song had ended, I was suddenly standing up, panting. All the girls were looking at me, some with surprise.
“Told you he was a good dancer,” Sunset remarked with a hint of pride.
I chuckled a little, feeling the full awkwardness of the situation. “Guess I kinda got carried away.”
“It’s fine, pardner. That was some if the best dancin’ I’ve seen since mah cousin’s weddin’,” Applejack responded.
“That was pretty cool, and I really liked when you suddenly started begging your knees and getting close to the ground,” Fluttershy added.
I couldn’t help but blush at her comment. I would’ve responded, but there was suddenly a loud ring.
“Aww man, that’s the bell. See ya’ around, Jake,” Rainbow Dash said, packing up her guitar.
All the girls packed up their instruments and said their goodbyes, leaving just me and Sunset.
“I gotta get back to class, but see you after school?” Sunset asked.
I put my arms around her waist and said, “Sure, that’s fine.” I gave her a peck on the cheek, which she quickly returned before letting go and walking out.
The rest of the day was somewhat dull. There wasn’t much to do, other than wait for school to let out. I was outside the school now, leaning against the statue that has the portal.
It took a long time, but the final bell eventually rang and students began to file out of the school, a few waving at me. I smiled and returned their waves, while also looking around for Sunset.
She eventually showed up and asked, “Umm, Rainbow Dash and Soarin were planning on seeing a movie, and asked if we wanted to go with them. I told them it’s up to you. If not, we could do something together... alone.”
I smiled and remembered meeting Soarin the last time I was here. It was a lot of fun, and the guy seemed really cool. But the way Sunset had said ‘alone’ sounded a little...mischievous, and the look on her face said that she had something really...enticing planned.
“Why don’t we go see that movie with Rainbow and Soarin,” I said.
Sunset looked a tad disappointed, but quickly smiled and said, “Okay, that sounds fun. Just let me text Rainbow Dash...”
Sunset pulled out her phone and quickly tapped the screen a few times, I’m assuming to contact Rainbow Dash, and looked back up at me.
“We have a few hours to kill; the movie’s not until five,” she told me.
I tapped my chin and thought aloud, “Wonder what we can do ‘till then.”
It was now five o’clock. Sunset and I were standing outside the movie theater, waiting for Soarin and Rainbow Dash. We had just spent the last couple hours... cuddling, let’s just say.
“Where are those two?” Sunset asked aloud.
“Beats me. The Rainbow Dash in Equestria is completely unpredictable. I’m just glad this Rainbow Dash isn’t a friggin’ pegasus,” I replied, getting a small chuckle from my girlfriend.
After what felt like hours of waiting, but being just a few minutes in reality, Sunset’s phone went off.
She took it out and looked at the screen, rolling her eyes after getting a good look at what was on it. “Rainbow Dash said that she and Soarin are inside already, and waiting for us.”
I sighed and shook my head. “Of course they are.”
The two of us went inside and immediately found Rainbow Dash and Soarin. We explained what happened and went to watch the movie. It was an overall action movie, but with some romantic elements.
At one point, the two main characters, one male and one female, quickly took down an enemy guard and looked into each others’ eyes, desire burning in each of them.
I took the opportunity to subtly put my hand over Sunset’s. She glanced at me when I did, and I simply smiled in return. She smiled as well and rested her head on my shoulder as I put my arm fully around her.
The more I thought about it, the easier it was to answer.
“Well, it was nice of Rainbow to invite us to the movies...” I started.
I saw a glint of disappointment in Sunset’s expression, but that would be quickly tended to by my next comment.
“But I did come over here to spend the day with you,“ I finished.
Sunset shook her head in surprise. “A-Are you sure?”
My smile widened a bit as I wrapped my arms around my girlfriend. “Of course. You know me; I don’t say anything unless I mean it.”
Sunset seemed to blush as her smile grew. “Yeah, that’s true, I guess.”
I gave her a peck over the lips and asked, “So back to your place?”
Sunset’s look from before had returned, complete with bedroom eyes. “I don’t see why not.”
A few minutes later, the two of us walked through the door to her apartment, which I’m still not sure how she got.
Sunset dropped her backpack next to the door and said, “Sorry the place is such a mess. I didn’t know you were coming.”
“It’s fine,” I replied.
The two of us locked eyes and quickly went at it like the teens we were, wasting no time to start making out, right then and there. Now, I don’t know for sure why I did what I did next, but I started moving my hands into her leather jacket and feel her sides. She quickly did the same, so without breaking the kisses, I quickly slipped off my own jacket, and she followed suit.
Somehow without looking where we were going, we had made it to the bedroom, and I suddenly found myself feeling her waist, leading to her removing her jeans.
“Should I put on some music or something?” she quickly asked me, maintaining an extremely short distance from me.
“No, this is fine,” I answered in the same manner.
We continued to kiss, and eventually I found myself without a shirt. The bed was behind me, so I quickly fell back on it so she would be on top of me.
“Are you thinking we should...” she began to ask.
I leaned up to kiss her again, slipping my hands under her shirt to lift it off, revealing her dark red and, I must say, tight looking bra.
“Does this answer your question?” I asked, moving my hand to where the ends met in the back.
“…take the tour,” I answered with mild embarrassment. “Admittedly, I don’t have the best sense of direction, so I’d probably get lost if I went off on my own.”
“I see,” Principal Celestia answered through a few playful giggles, seemingly amused by my now abashed state.
“Hehe, yeah,” I chuckled back as I started rubbing the back of my head, my embarrassment only growing.
“Well don’t worry, Jake,” Principal Celestia said as her giggling stopped and she placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’m more than happy to show you around.”
I couldn’t help but smile as I look up at Principal Celestia’s friendly face. It was clear from her expression that she hadn’t meant anything mean or malicious when she laughed at what I’d said. She was just…being Celestia.
“Thank you, ma’am,” I gratefully said to her.
Principal Celestia simply nodded in response just before taking her hand off of my shoulder.
“Then if you would, please follow me,” she amiably said as she began walking away.
As I followed Principal Celestia, I started to wonder just how long this tour was going to be.
“And over here is our library, which houses more than 10,000 books,” Principal Celestia proudly said as she pointed to her right.
“Wow, impressive,” I replied, trying to sound genuinely interested even though I wasn’t.
By this point, I was starting to somewhat regret taking Principal Celestia’s tour. It wasn’t that she was a bad tour guide, far from it. No, it was more like she was too good at being a tour guide. She knew everything about the school and shared absolutely all of it, even the stuff no one could ever possibly care about; stuff like how many bricks it took to build the school, or when all the lockers had been replaced with new ones. So much trivial information was quickly becoming exhausting to take in.
Plus, Celestia showed no signs of ending the tour anytime soon. She just kept going and going and going, only coming to a brief stop when we came to a window facing the soccer field.
“Oh, there’s Sunset,” she casually pointed out as she looked out the window.
I quickly turned my head to look out the window and, sure enough, there she was, sitting alone on the bleachers. Sunset Shimmer; my friend, my girlfriend, and my salvation from this tour.
“Well, thanks for the tour, Principal Celestia,” I politely, but hastily, said as I backed up a bit. “But I should really go see my girlfriend now.”
“Oh, yes, of course,” Celestia replied, sounding a tad disappointed.
“Bye, ma’am,” I said just before making a break for it, before I could start to feel guilty about leaving her tour.
Once outside, I decided to hang out by the corner of the building by the soccer field. This was for two reasons; one, I needed to catch my breath after making a hasty getaway from Principal Celestia, and two, a thought had occurred to me. Sunset didn’t know I was here, so maybe I could have a little fun with her. Maybe even…prank her.
“Hmmm, to prank or not to prank,” I asked myself. “That is the question.”
The more I thought about it, the more I decided against pranking Sunset. The risk of it going wrong was just too great. Sunset might be having a bad day and not be in the mood for pranking or, considering she was on the bleachers, my prank might startle her too much and she could fall of them and get hurt. My mind just started coming up with all of these ways that my prank could backfire, and so I quickly decided to forget the whole thing. Besides, I wasn’t in Sunset’s world to prank her anyways, I was there to spend time with her.
Having come to my decision, I rounded the corner and made my way towards the bleachers. As I approached, I noticed Sunset staring off in the exact opposite direction of me, like she was looking for something. I considered calling out to her, but then I thought I’d wait until I was right next to her before saying anything. I might have decided not to prank her, but I could still surprise her.
Once I reached the bleachers, I quickly, yet quietly, ascended them and approached my girlfriend.
“Hey, Sunset.” I nonchalantly said as I took a seat next to her.
Sunset swiftly turned her head around and, upon seeing me, dawned an expression that seemed to be a mixture of surprise and worry.
“J-Jake?!” She said just before looking down. “Rainbow, don’t…”
“GOTCHA!” I heard a voice shout out from below just as I felt a pair of hands wrap around my ankles.
“Gah!” I yelled out, instinctively standing up from the surprise.
Before I knew it, the hands had let go of me and I found that I was losing my balance. I started to lean off to the side as if I were going to fall off the bleachers, but I was quickly caught by Sunset.
“T-Thanks.” I gratefully said to my girlfriend as she held me.
Sunset simply smiled back at me before turning her attention downwards again, now with a peeved look on her face.
“It’s not Pinkie, Rainbow, it’s Jake.” She said, sounding miffed. “Couldn’t you tell by the shoes?”
“Well excuuuse me for not being able identify people by their footwear, Sunset.” Rainbow Dash’s voice replied from behind the bleachers. “I’m not Rarity.”
I heard Sunset give a small groan before once again turning her attention to me.
“So sorry about that, Jake.” She apologized as she let go of me. “Rainbow and Pinkie have this prank war going on and Rainbow asked for my help pulling a prank. We were expecting Pinkie, not you.”
After taking a moment to appreciate the irony of being pranked after I’d decided not to pull a prank myself, I gave Sunset a warm and friendly smile.
“It’s fine, Sunset.” I assured her.
“Oh good.” Sunset replied in relief. “So what are you doing here?”
“I was hoping we could spend some time together.” I answered.
A small blush crossed Sunset’s face after I said that.
“Oh, well, I…I’d like that.” She meekly confessed, being as cute as ever, as she took my hand and we started walking down the bleachers.
“Hey!” Rainbow yelled out as we left. “What about my prank?!”
“Another time, Rainbow!” Sunset hollered back. “Right now, I’m spending time with my boyfriend!”
“The prank’s the thing, me thinks, to have some merriment with this fiery maiden,” I said to myself as I decided to go ahead with doing a prank, letting my inner Shakespearean actor out in the process.
I peered around the corner of the building and looked at Sunset sitting alone on the soccer field bleachers. At first glance, she didn’t seem to be doing anything other than sitting. However, as I looked harder I noticed she was tapping her hands on her knees in a rhythmic manner, like she was tapping along to music.
“She must be wearing wireless earbuds,” I said to myself.
This was perfect. If she was distracted by her music it’d be easier to prank her. The only question though, was how to prank her.
“Hmmm,” I muttered as I tried to think of a good prank to pull. “What to do? What to do?”
The trick was trying to think of a prank that wouldn’t be mean…or dangerous. I mean, Sunset’s a pretty chill girl and can take a prank with good humor, but everyone has their limits.
“How do Pinkie and Rainbow come up with good pranks?” I wondered aloud as I continued to think of a prank.
“Hi, Jake,” a familiar female voice said from right behind me.
“Gah!” I uttered as I turned around, startled out of my mind.
“Oops, sorry,” Trixie Lulamoon sincerely apologized. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
As I caught my breath, I noticed that Trixie wasn’t alone. Her boyfriend, Flash Sentry, was with her.
“It’s fine, Trixie,” I assured her once my breathing steadied. “Hey, Flash.”
“Hey,” Flash affably said back.
“So what are you doing here, Jake?” Trixie inquired. “Are you looking for Sunset?”
“Well, not exactly,” I replied as I pointed around the corner. “Sunset’s sitting right over there, but she doesn’t know I’m here so I thought maybe I’d surprise her with a friendly little prank.”
“A prank?!” Trixie said as her face light up like a Christmas tree. “Ooh, Trixie loves pranks!”
I was a tad surprised to hear Trixie say that, though given her propensity for theatrical deception I suppose it made some sense. All the same though, I looked at Flash with a quizzical expression, silently asking him if Trixie was serious.
“It’s true, she enjoys a good prank,” Flash said to me, picking up on my silent question.
“Can we help?” Trixie asked me with puppy dog eyes. “Pretty, pretty please?”
“Sure,” I told Trixie. “I was actually having trouble coming up with a prank, so I could really use your help.”
“Teehee,” Trixie happily squealed as she lightly clapped her hands in delight.
Flash didn’t say anything. He just gave a small smile as he stared at his now elated girlfriend.
“Now then, what prank should we pull?” Trixie said as she walked past me and peered around the corner to look at Sunset. “What can we do that would involve all three of us?”
As Trixie contemplated pranks, I leaned over to Flash to whisper something to him.
“I never pegged Trixie as a prankster,” I quietly commented.
“Neither did I when we first started dating,” Flash whispered back. “But she’s got a real knack for pranking. She’s even gotten Rainbow Dash and Pinkie a few times.”
“Wow, that’s impressive,” I semi-astonishingly remarked, figuring that Rainbow and Pinkie were master pranksters just like their pony counterparts in Equestria.
“Ah-ha, I’ve got it!” Trixie exclaimed as she turned back around to face Flash and me. “Here’s what we can do.”
Trixie then began to explain her prank idea to Flash and me. It was a pretty simple idea, though it seemed more like a joke than a prank to me. Wait, is there a difference between a joke and a prank? Note to self: check on that later.
“Got it?” Trixie asked as she finished.
“Got it,” both Flash and I said at almost the exact same time.
“Alright, then let’s go,” Trixie said, with no shortage of gusto, as she rounded the corner and started walking towards Sunset. “Hey, Sunset!”
Flash and I couldn’t make out what Sunset said in response, but we could tell that Trixie had successfully gotten her attention. We waited a few seconds until we were sure Sunset was fully distracted before we decided to move. As quickly and as quietly as possible, we made our way to the back of the bleachers and cut across to the other side, so that we were behind Sunset. After taking a few seconds to make sure Sunset was still thoroughly distracted by Trixie, Flash and I silently moved up the bleachers. Once I was right behind Sunset, I reached around her and covered both of her eyes with my hands.
“Guess who?” Flash asked.
“Hmmm,” Sunset amusedly said in faux contemplation. “Could it be…Flash Sentry?”
“Not quite,” I said as I removed my hands from Sunset’s eyes.
The instant my hands were off of Sunset’s face, she quickly turned around and dawned a wide smile.
“Jake!” she said as she wrapped me in a hug. “What are you doing here?!”
“I’m here to see you, of course,” I said as I returned the hug.
Sunset and I soon broke the hug, and afterwards Trixie, Flash, and I explained our little prank to her. Sunset just laughed at the whole things, and the four of us just spent the rest of the day talking by the soccer field. I didn’t quite get the alone time with Sunset I’d hoped for, but it was still nice to be amongst friends.
“I appreciate the offer, Trixie, but I’d prefer to do this myself,” I told the enthusiastic magician.
“Aww,” Trixie dejected, her enthusiasm suddenly gone.
I felt a little bad telling turning down Trixie’s offer, but I really wanted this to be something between just Sunset and me.
“Don’t feel bad, Trixie,” Flash spoke up as he placed a hand on his girlfriend’s shoulder. “We can go prank someone else if you want.”
“Yeah, I guess that’d be okay,” Trixie replied, now only sounding semi-dejected, as she turned around and started walking away.
“Good seeing you again, Jake,” Flash said as she followed Trixie.
“You too,” I said back.
Once Trixie and Flash were gone, I went back to trying to figure out what prank I should play on Sunset.
As weird as it may sound, I wanted my prank to be somewhat…intimate. Like the kind of playful prank a boyfriend would play on his girlfriend. It needed to be something that she’d be slightly embarrassed by, something that play to her Achille’s heel. And that’s when it hit me; Sunset’s Achille’s heel…was her actual heel. I wasn’t sure how I’d learned it, but I knew that Sunset had very ticklish heels, and since she was sitting up a few rows up on the bleachers, I had the perfect way to get to them.
I peered over the corner to check and make sure Sunset was still distracted by her music before making my move. Sensing she was thoroughly distracted, I swiftly and quietly made my way towards the back of the bleachers. Once I was there, I positioned myself just below and behind where Sunset was sitting, reached out my hands, and started to tickle Sunset’s heels.
“Tickle, tickle, tickle!” I playfully said I assaulted her heels with my fingers.
“Whahahahaha,” Sunset began laughing as she was caught completely off guard. “Stahahahahaop.”
I continued for a few more seconds before doing as Sunset asked and stopped. It didn’t take her long to look under the bleachers and see just who had dared to tickle her most ticklish spot.
“Hi,” I simply said as soon as I saw her face.
Sunset didn’t say anything at first as she gave me a look of surprise, but that look quickly changed to one of playful ire.
“Oh you are going to get it, Jake Taylor,” she said just before making her way down the bleachers and around to me.
Once Sunset was under the bleachers with me, I got a better look at the face she was making. She had this playful expression that seemed to say, ‘Vengeance will be mine’.
“Wait, Sunset…” was all I was able to get out before she wrapped me in a tight hug and started tickling my back.
“Tickle, tickle, tickle!” she playfully said she assaulted my back with her fingers.
“Hahahahaha,” I laughed uncontrollably. “Suhahahahansehahahahat.”
Sunset didn’t let up on her tickle attack. She just kept at it until I started laughing so hard that I lost my balance and fell backwards, pulling Sunset down with me.
The two of us now on the ground, Sunset ceased tickling me and just lorded over me, looking down with loving eyes.
“I’ve missed you, Jake,” she serenely said.
“I’ve missed you too, Sunset,” I serenely said back.
Without saying another word, Sunset and I locked lips and started a very passionate make out session under the bleachers.
