Twilight woke to the sun on her face. What had been a chilly night led to a chilly morning as well. She shivered slightly as her hooves made contact with the floor. A pink light glowed from beneath her bed as she pulled out a set of warm and fuzzy slippers. As she meandered towards the bathroom, she instinctively began to generate a mental checklist of tasks for the day. She had a lunch meeting with the caterers who would be handling her big Hearths Warming party. They needed her approval on the budget, as well as several potential menu substitutions. She also needed to meet with Rarity to be remeasured for her holiday gown. An active lifestyle as a world-saving princess tended to leave one with a rather slimmer physique compared to that of a mostly sedentary researcher. She also hoped to finally finish her current book, Broad Horizons's A Year and a Day in Court of Lady Sapphire.
Twilight meandered through the halls as she continued to plan out her day. As she reached the staircase, she opened her wings to glide again... but stopped just before takeoff. She remembered her unexpected face-plant with the unexpected plant and cringed. She still had a minor bruise on her foreleg from the incident. Of course, there was absolutely no way it could happen again. The tree was unobtrusively tucked away in her ballroom now (a remarkably large room in the West Wing of the castle, which she could have sworn was a dead-end hallway just days prior). But still, the fact that the collision had happened (and the unexpected new room) had shaken her confidence in her ability to navigate the castle blindly. Shaking off her concerns with a shake of her head, she began gliding down the stairs once again... keeping her eyes open this time.
Thinking of the tree brought Twilight back to her mental checklist. She needed to do some research into pear trees. What kind of subspecies was it and would it need any special requirements? Maybe she could go scouting for a spot to eventually transplant it to, assuming the weather warmed up later. She also needed to go with Spike to the pet store. While Twilight may not know about partridges in particular, her friendship with Fluttershy had given her a general idea about the care and upkeep of birds. They were going to need birdseed, obviously, but also water and food dishes, pet-safe cleaning supplies, perches and climbing apparatuses. Wait, weren't partridges ground-based birds? Would they need perches then? Or maybe a special diet? Twilight's expression soured slightly as she realized just how little she really knew on the subject, then brightened again as she realized how much research it would entail. Maybe, after enough experience with Spike and Surely, she could write a book on the care of partridges, but told from a magical and scientific perspective.
As Twilight's thoughts wandered off to explore the land of Maybe on their own, her body began navigating the halls on autopilot. Left turn here, straight for a bit, open and close the door with magic to ensure a smooth flight, navigate around the tree. Wait, tree?
For the second time in as many days, Twilight flew face-first into a tree.
Admittedly, this landing was better than her last one. Twilight righted herself just before hitting the floor and skidded to a stop on all four hooves. She turned back to stare in confusion at the leafy menace that once again had so rudely interrupted her calm morning. She walked over slowly and poked it, as if getting half of its twigs stuck in her mane wasn't proof enough. It looked identical to the one from yesterday; same height, same pears, same unlabeled barrel holding in the roots.
"Spike!" she called, her voice echoing through the castle halls.
A moment later. "What?" His reply was faint, but Twilight could still hear just a twinge of annoyance coloring his tone. She must have woken him, or so she reasoned.
"Did you move the tree back into the hall?" She shouted, hoping her voice would carry all the way across the castle to Spike's room.
It still took several long moments to get a response. "What?"
She rolled her eyes. "Why is the tree in the hall?" She yelled even louder, shortening the message for his benefit. She waited again, ears perked and primed to catch his response.
"What?"
She grumbled under her breath, frustrated by the lack of forthcoming answers. She inhaled deeply. "Tree! Hallway! Why?!" The very recently created Royal Ponyville Voice boomed through the castle, rattling loose furniture and making the crystal chandeliers dance about. Through the ringing in her own ears, Twilight could just barely make out the sound of someone yelling her name. A few moments later, Spike came around the corner, still in his powder blue nightshirt (and for some strange reason, a top hat), yelling his head off. Or at least it looked like he was. Twilight still could barely hear a thing.
"Sorry Spike!" she said loudly, but in a less shouty manner, "I got a little frustrated!"
"What?" he yelled back, equally deaf.
"What did you say? I can't hear you!"
"I can't understand you Twilight! My ears are ringing!"
This cheap vaudeville skit went on for several minutes until the ringing had finally subsided and their hearing was restored, though their tempers remained somewhat frayed.
"Now," Spike began, "What's all the yelling about?"
Twilight took a deep breath and pushed a hoof outward from her chest, as she tried to let go of her tension and frustration. "I just wanted to ask you about the tree in the hallway."
Spike glanced at the tree, which had been somewhat forgotten in the shouting. "Oh hey, the tree." He gave Twilight a sideways glance. "I thought you said it was in the way. Why'd you move it back?"
"I was going to ask you that." Twilight admitted, "I didn't move it."
"Well, neither did I."
They both turned to stare at the tree. The light reflecting off the pears made it seem as if the tree was staring back. They turned back to each other.
"So... I guess we put it... back?" Twilight ventured.
"I guess so." Spike agreed.
With a wave of magenta magic, Twilight took the tree in her hold. She raised it an inch, then stopped, and set it back down. Cautiously, she gave the tree a good shake.
"What are you-" but Spike was interrupted by the sudden flapping of wings. A partridge, of all things, flew out from within the branches of the tree and landed on his hat.
Twilight smiled smugly. "Ha. Thought so. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Nice try Spike, now I know you moved the tree and planted Surely in it to startle me again."
Spike shook his head, then pointed to the bird on his hat. "That's not Surely." He reached towards his hat and opened a small door on the front. A feathery face poked out and cooed. "This is Surely. Plus, that new one's a guy."
Twilight's mouth gaped open. Eventually she closed it and sighed. "Fine. Whatever. So now there's two of them. Let's put it in the ballroom with the other one." She lifted the tree in magic, only to once more set it down as she saw what was behind it. "Oh, come on!"
Nestled in a small alcove, tucked into a little nest behind the tree were two small birds. They were mostly white, but with vibrant monarch-like orange and black wings. They huddled close together, either terrified or ignorant of the pony and dragon bearing down on them. Spike walked over and picked up the nest gently.
"Look at that, more birds. You think they came with the tree?"
"I... I can only assume so." Twilight admitted, her brain not quite firing on all cylinders after so many surprises in rapid succession. "I guess we'll take them to the ballroom as well, for the time being." She chortled slightly, "Though at this rate, we're going to have to either rename it to the arboretum or the aviary."
With a tree in her magic, two birds on Spike's head, and two in his claws, the duo once more set off to the ball-arbor-iary.