//------------------------------// // Cultural Exchange // Story: The Redemption of a Never Ending Ambition // by Time Reaper //------------------------------// Weeks have passed since the wedding, in Canterlot, that revealed the existence of changelings to Equestria. To say that things have gotten under control would be, at the very least, an understatement. The ponies were now in a state of distrust, no longer sure of who were they talking to, and the Royal Guard, being defeated by Chrysalis’s troops, only left everypony with a low morale. It didn’t matter the guards were now helping to track the changelings, all the citizens could see where changelings in disguise with uniforms. This state of distrust was felt across all of Equestria, the ponies were unable to feel safe as, they wondered, when and where would the changelings strike next. With one exception. There was one pony, which was ignoring all the things that kept the common populace preoccupied. It’s not that she wasn’t aware of it, far from it. Rather, it was more that she had other issues in her mind, issues which, she considered, would help her to save those who were still in immediate danger. As of now, she was in Ponyville, locked on her room, studying what little information she could gather in alchemy while she added, on her chalkboard, any theory she could gather, in the meantime, that would, hopefully, help her on the quest of getting back her number one assistant. How long did she spend locked on her room? She didn’t know nor care. What she cared about, was how she was going to make her first experiment, right then, and see if she was, one step, closer to get back Spike. She looked at the floor; a series of materials (sticks, colored gems, bits and some glasses) piled up together, and started to focus her magic into it. At the beginning, nothing happened, but, as she started to determine what she wanted and her magic started to pore, the materials began to shine and move around each other. Twilight watched with fascination as the materials in front of her moved; they seemed to try and fuse together as some of them started to melt, with Twilight, as she felt her magic draining quickly from her, focusing hard on making sure her experiment worked, for it looked like the materials would stop moving if she wasn’t paying enough attention. For a brief moment, Twilight felt how the objects were going stop, either because of her lack of concentration; a lack of magic; or some unknown factor to her, but she never faltered and continued. In the end, the materials finished their movement and finally came together into one object, bringing joy to Celestia’s faithful apprentice (even though she was, both mentally and physically, exhausted) as she saw her experiment being a complete success. Meanwhile, in the outside, a group of ponies were gathering in front of Ponyville’s library: A blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane, a yellow Pegasus with a pink mane, a pink earth pony with a puffy pink mane, a white unicorn with a purple and well cared mane, her little sister and the little sister's pegasus friend. They were in front of Ponyville’s library in the hopes of making a very important decision, the only problem, though, was that they couldn’t decide how to make the first step towards it. “Alright, here’s the plan” -, said a, very, focused Rainbow Dash as she was looking at a piece of parchment, - “Pinkie Pie will enter first to distract her. Then, while she is distracted, I’ll enter in and grab Twilight from behind. Then you” -, she then aimed her hoof at Fluttershy, who could barely look at Rainbow Dash as the plan was laid, - “Fluttershy, will take care of keeping Twilight steady with your stare while Rarity” -,she then aimed her hoof at Rarity, who looked like she wasn’t even taking Rainbow Dash seriously, - “will hold her down with her magic.” She then started to look at her friends, hoping they were paying attention to her, and continued laying out her plan. “Once we have Twilight pinned down, we’ll try to make her listen to us and then drag her down into the outside world. Got it?” Pinkie Pie saluted Rainbow Dash while Fluttershy could barely move her head, Rarity, meanwhile, was barely looking at Rainbow Dash, who wanted to make sure Rarity listened to her. “Rarity, got it!?” Rarity was having none of it. “Oh, please, Rainbow Dash. Are you listening to yourself? You are talking as if the pony behind those doors weren’t our friend to begin with. What’s gotten into you!?” “Oh, come on, Rarity!” – Almost shouted Rainbow Dash. – “It’s been ages since Twilight locked herself in and we must take her out before she becomes a hermit.” “Rainbow Dash” -, said Rarity as she tried her best to not let the worst of her to come out… yet, - “I’ll remind you, dear, that it’s only been a couple of weeks since Twilight Sparkle decided to go into her library and research on a way to recover Spike.” Rainbow Dash was now wanting to explain why it was so important to get Twilight out. “Ages!” Rarity was, very, close to shout at Rainbow Dash a piece of what she was thinking of her plan, but Fluttershy stepped in and prevented the verbal massacre from happening. “Well, she also needs to go and see Applejack. She only went to see her once in all this time she's been hospitalized.” Rainbow Dash then aimed her hoof at Fluttershy as if the ultimate response was given. “Exactly, it’s been too long for her and we need to make sure she is alright” -. She then started to move into the library’s door. – “And knowing how she is when she gets into books, we better make sure to take her out before it’s too-“ Rainbow Dash was then cut off as the library’s door was opened by an excited Twilight, who almost failed to notice her friends being right in front of her but, completely, missed how Rainbow Dash was crushed by the door she just opened. “Oh” -, those were Twilight’s first words as she saw her friends for the first time in weeks, - “great, you are already here- wait, where is Rainbow Dash?” – She then saw the library’s door moving, revealing a crushed Rainbow Dash, who fell to the floor while leaving a mark on the library’s wall. – “Perfect, you are all here.” Rainbow Dash then lifted herself up, as if nothing wrong happened to her, and moved right in front of Twilight. “Nuh uh! We’re still missing Applejack!” Twilight blushed as she remembered her good friend, who was sent to the hospital a few weeks ago, and asked. “Oh, yeah. How is she? Do you think we still have time to pay her a visit?” Fluttershy, then, decided to speak to Twilight and explain a critical piece of information that, she considered, had to be pointed out. “She is going to be given the leave today, actually.” Twilight blinked as she started to dwell on that piece of information. “Really…?” – She then started to think for a brief moment and asked. – “For how long have I been lock-, studying, on the library?” Pinkie then got close to Twilight and continued. “Well, considering the amount of parties I’ve made since then, divided between the hours Applejack has been on the hospital and the average of times Spike made sure you didn’t lock yourself in…” As Pinkie was making the calculation, Rarity decided to answer for her. “Ever since you last visited Applejack, which is over two weeks.” “Exactly!” Twilight then decided to look at herself, noticing how she was a bit thinner than she remembered, and realized that she may have misbehaved regarding her personal health and hygiene. “Oh, yeah, I suppose you are right” -. Her mind then started to process all the possible moves she should do and opted, clearly, for the most optimal. – “Well, I suppose I can take care of that after paying Applejack a visit.” She was then magically grabbed by Rarity, who gave her a sniff, and, after showing her disgust with her smell, retorted. “Sorry, darling, but I think it would be more prudent to clean you up first before visiting Applejack.” And, against Twilight’s wishes, Rarity entered into the library, with librarian in tow, and started to clean up Twilight Sparkle. Making Pinkie laugh, and Rainbow Dash feeling angry at, the idea of, bringing Twilight back into the hole she had to get out from. This is the reason why, Applejack would find herself only accompanied by her little sister, for a while longer, on her hospital room. She has been, in fact, using her time in, almost, solitude to think. She did get plenty of visits, though. She was visited fairly often by her family, including Granny Smith and a very worried Applebloom, and her friends, except for Twilight, but that didn’t stop her from feeling alone when the visits were no longer available. On this occasion, Granny Smith was too tired to leave and Big Mac was busy with the work at home, leaving only Applebloom with enough time to go and stay with Applejack for her leave. It was during this lonely hours, before her leave was made official, when Applejack would think on many things. She thought of how her family needed her, she thought of how her recklessness made her family worry and, more often than not, of how she failed to even stun Greed. Applejack looked at her hind legs once more, they were still in a cast, and no matter how glad she was to be released from it, that day, she still couldn’t take out of her mind the display she had with Greed. She was certain, without a doubt, of her throwing the biggest buck she ever made in her entire life, strong enough to even harm a tree, and Greed, even though he was sent flying, was barely hindered by it. In the scant memories she held of that day, many fogged by the pain of her legs breaking, she could still remember how he looked so unfazed by her kick. He should have stayed there for at least a few minutes on the ground but no, in less than a minute he was looking at her, helpless, weak, fragile; and, just like that, he knocked her down. As much as Applejack wanted to stop it from affecting her, her mind just couldn’t but think of how unfair it was. No matter how hard she tried to help into bringing Spike back, she just didn’t have what it takes and there was nothing she could do about it. “Sis, are you ok?” Applejack looked up to see Applebloom staring at her with concern, something else Applejack felt guilty off. Letting her little sister to be so close to a situation like that twice (first with the changelings and then with Greed) in where she couldn’t protect her. “Yeah, Applebloom” -, almost lied Applejack, - “Ah’m just thinking on some stuff.” Aplebloom looked at her for a brief moment before asking again. “Are you thinking about Spike again?” Applejack winced at the mention of that. “Am Ah so obvious?” Applebloom looked down for a moment before answering, hoping that it wouldn’t make Applejack to feel any worse. “Nah, Ah’ve just seen you making that face every time Ah visit you.” Seeing her sister flinch, made Applebloom doubt if she actually made it better for her. “Ah get ya” -. Continued Applebloom. – “Ah saw how that monster was taking you down” -. Applebloom’s ears then went down. – “And all Ah could do was run away to ask fer help. At least you tried to stop him, all Ah could do was only stare at it.” Applebloom could still remember how Greed took over Spike, back in Canterlot, and, ever since she realized what happened to Spike in general, she always wondered if there was something she could have done to prevent it. Maybe Spike wouldn’t have accepted that deal if she had something to fight off the changelings, right? “Don’t think like that, Applebloom” -. Said Applejack, interrupting Applebloom’s line of thought. – “Just by looking fer help you did a lot fer me, if it weren’t fer you, Ah probably wouldn’t have gotten to the hospital so quickly.” That did made Applebloom cheer, especially knowing that Applejack’s cast was going to be removed today. “Yer, right, sis” -. Responded Applebloom. – “And Ah’m going to help ya out with the recovery so, in no time, you’ll be applebucking back with Big Mac and me, right?” Seeing her sister trying to cheer her up so badly, infected Applejack with a smile and made her to be just as cheerful. “Yer right, Applebloom, Ah’ll be Applebucking before ya know it.” She then turned to the door, medic and nurse entering with the utensils needed to remove Applejack’s cast, but no friends in sight. Even after removing the cast imprisoning her legs, there was no trace of her friends inside the hospital, much to Applejack’s worry. Granted, she was expecting this from Twilight and her hermit way of studying but not from Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie or even Rainbow Dash. “Maybe they’re trying to get Twilight to come with them?” Hearing her sister’s reasoning brought some ease to Applejack, and made her chuckle, but she would’ve preferred it if they tried to do that earlier. Who knows how long it could take to pull Twilight out of her studies, especially now that Spike was gone. Thankfully, it wasn’t as hard as Applejack feared for, right as the hospital’s doors were opening, she managed to see all of her friends, as well as Applebloom’s, getting close to where she was while they were discussing about… something. Thankfully, they all stopped arguing as they looked their friend in the distance, strong and standing, and they all charged up to hug-tackle her with as much happiness and care as they could muster. Suffice to say, Applejack felt all of her worries melt away. “Ah'm so glad to see ya’ll, what took you so long?” – She then gave Twilight a look and noticed how thin she was, compared to a couple of weeks ago, and deduced. – “Were ya’ll trying to get Twilight out of her library?” Twilight blushed and remained silent, prompting Rainbow Dash to respond. “Yeah but, thankfully, the egghead left on her own, so it wasn’t so hard to bring her here” -. She then glanced at Rarity. – “But then, Rarity brought her back because she considered Twilight to be ‘too dirty’.” “Pardon moi, but it would have been too inconsiderate of us to come and see Applejack, while Twilight would still smell like a hobo.” Applejack wanted to hold her laugh, but seeing Rarity trying to hold a snarl as she justified herself was too much. Her friends looked at her with concern, but Applejack’s words just said everything needed to be said. “Ah missed ya’ll!” Hearing her friend being so glad, all of the ponies in there decided to laugh for a good chunk of minutes before they decided to leave. As they did, Applejack decided to ask Twilight for the reason of her studies. “Well” -, started Twilight, - “it took me a long while of research but, I think, I may have managed to find a new way to do magic.” All the mares, and fillies, looked at Twilight baffled, wondering what could she mean by it. The librarian, meanwhile, was searching for something on her saddlebag. “And” -, she continued as she found what she was looking for and pulled it out, - “this! Is the evidence of it!” When her friends gave a look at what Twilight was holding with her, they saw a small, wooden, statue of Princess Celestia adorned with various small decorations that gave the statue multiple colors. The ponies could see how there were colored gems in the statue's mane, making it a very faithful representation of Celestia's, while her hooves and crown were adorned with some bronze-like metal with a, small, cap of, transparent, glass covering the statue as a whole. It was nice looking, but nothing special to the eyes of the mares. “Uhm, Twilight, dear” -, said a worried Rarity, - “do not take me wrong, the statue is nice looking, sure; but, how is that going help us getting Spike back?” Twilight’s smile didn’t falter at the incredulity coming from her friends; instead, she decided to explain them, what made her achievement so great. “Girls, what makes this statue so groundbreaking isn’t the statue itself, is how I made it.” Now they were getting more interested in the statue. “You see, as great as magic can be, there’s just so much you can do with it. In example: you can’t just create a statue with magic; it can be really hard, even if you managed to find the tools to create it” -. She then motioned once again at the statue being held by her hoof. – “This statue, though, was created with a mixture of magic and science: alchemy.” “Hold on, hold on!” – Interrupted Rainbow Dash. – “Are you saying that you used a new type of magic to create a statue? How will that even bring us Spike?” “Rainbow” -, responded Twilight as she was going to start lecturing her friend, - “alchemy isn’t just a type of magic. It’s a method consisting of using magic in a more scientific way.” “Great, more egghead stuff.” “It’s not that complicated. All I have to do is to apply the magic by using a set of rules-“ “Egghead stuff!” “-And…!” – Said Twilight in a tone of voice that spelled how her patience shouldn’t be tested, and continued. – “If you follow those rules, you can create things that magic alone can’t” -. She then motioned once more at her statue. – “Such as this statue.” Rainbow Dash simply shrugged it off and pretended to not be too interested on it. “Ok then, you found something that can make an unicorn more awesome, cool for you and Rarity, but how would that help us to get Spike back?” Twilight simply grinned as she responded to Rainbow Dash’s concerns. “It’s more than just that, it’s not exclusive to unicorns.” All of Twilight’s friends stopped moving, filled with shock, as Twilight’s words were being assimilated by them. “Wait, wut?” Twilight continued her lecture as she motioned at them to continue moving, hoping to reach the library soon and use the tools she had there to give a better explanation. “I know, that’s what makes this so great. From what I gathered, since alchemy only requires magic to be used, it means that both pegasi and earth ponies can also use it, but through other means” -. She then motioned at Rainbow and Fluttershy’s wings; then at Applejack and Pinkie’s hooves, and continued. – “So you can all make alchemy if you want. All you need is the knowledge, and to follow the right procedures, for alchemy to be done by any of you. Isn’t that great?” All of Twilight’s friends tried to register what she said, always giving the small statue some looks, and considered the possibilities. Applejack was the first to ask. “So” -, she asked very carefully, - “that means that Ah could do that fancy magic with a buck?” Twilight considered her question seriously and, after some thinking, she responded. “Well, yeah, I think so. Why do you ask?” Applejack looked up, remembering her encounter with Greed, and answered calmly. “Just wondering…” As they were starting to reach the library, all of them thinking of the possibilities, Twilight decided to continue her lecture. “Now, I know this sounds amazing, but there are some things that I haven’t fixed so far.” As her friends were looking at her with curiosity, now fully invested into what she was teaching them, the scholar opened the door to the library and continued. “In example: just making this statue was much harder than I expected.” This brought the interest of Rainbow Dash. “How so?” “Well, while I managed to follow the theory and rules, the amount of focus and magic it was requiring from me to keep the process was exhaustively big.” That started to put all the mares worried as they considered the implication of it, if Twilight Sparkle herself was having a problem with this, then the problems a common unicorn would have were borderline impossible. “But” -, Twilight continued, - “I don’t plan to give up yet” -. This slightly cheered her friends, who now wanted to know more. – “I want to make some more attempts before making any statement, but I think I may know what the problem with the process is.” “Really?” – Asked Rarity. – “Then, please, tell us what is it.” Twilight continued sharing her knowledge with her friends as they were trying to see if they could help somehow. “I think the main problem is, a lack of connection between us and that of which we want to transform” -. As she noticed her friends confused stare, Twilight explained. – “When I started to make the transformation, I noticed the lack of something capable of focusing the magic I was pouring into the objects, without it, most of the magic used was lost due to the magic itself leaking into every direction possible. I need to figure out what could help me keeping all that magic concentrated, that, in turn, will make the whole process with alchemy much easier to do so.” “And” -, asked Fluttershy, - “have you figured out what is needed?” Twilight gave a look to her notes and decided to share some theories. “Draw a circle?” – Trixie gave Greed an incredulous look as he told her the next step into alchemy. – “Just… why?” Greed continued looking at Trixie with complete confidence, his smile never leaving, and answered as if he were a master on the subject. “You see, to make the process of alchemy, which is called Transmutation, you need for something that can catalyze the process between yourself and the objects you are going to transmute. This method to catalyze the transmutation was found, by alchemist, with the drawing of a circle” -, as he said this, Trixie started to draw a circle on the ground with the chalk Greed threw at her, - “and, to improve (or refine) the process, the alchemist add to the circle a series of symbols which works to add more complexity to the transmutation.” As she heard this, Trixie stopped drawing the circle and looked up at Greed, hoping he could provide her of at least a hint regarding what kind of symbols she should add. Greed looked at her, and simply told her. “You can start with a triangle. An equilateral one whose points touches the circle.” Trixie obeyed and continued the drawing as Greed explained her how the equestrians, by lacking the drawing of a circle, made the transmutation process much more difficult, to the point of making alchemy almost impossible. ‘Weight Lifter’, meanwhile, was paying close attention to what Greed was teaching and taking into consideration what he was saying. If the ponies had a way to make alchemy through their bodies and just by adding magic, then, was it possible for changelings to do so as well? If so, did their shape shifting abilities gave them a possible edge? And, could Greed’s knowledge be applied to them as well? This, and more, were the things crossing through ‘Weight Lifter’s’ mind, as he wondered if there was something in here he could bring to his fellow changelings. As Trixie finished drawing the circle, she tried to wonder what could she do to prove her skills, Greed quickly grabbed a bunch of bottles, which were scattered around the place, and put them where Trixie’s circle was drawn, much to her confusion. “What are you doing now?” “To do the transmutation” -, Greed responded, - “you’ll need some materials to do alchemy and using glasses made out of sand are among the safest options.” Trixie nodded and, once she looked at the bottles, started to focus her horn into the circle, only to have Greed stopping her once more. “Why are you interrupting Trixie now? She thought that the circle alone would suffice to make the transmutation much easier.” “Yes, it will” -, Greed said, - “but I am teaching you more than just making better alchemy. I am teaching you a new way of making alchemy and, for that, I need you to join you front hooves first. Like this.” Greed then moved his claws together, and then motioned to put them on the circle. He then explained. “What all equestrian theorists say, is that you must pour your magic into the objects and focus to make the transmutation. But what they don’t get, besides the need of the circle, is that magic isn’t mandatory to do alchemy” -. He then noticed how Trixie was looking at him with curiosity, but confused at the same time, prompting him to continue. – “What you need to do alchemy is just energy, it doesn’t matter from where.” Seeing Trixie’s eyes bulge in realization made Greed’s smile to increase, fully prideful of his teaching skills, and continued. “The energy that equestrians try to use, more often than not, is their own magic. But you can use other sources of energy, like the magic around you, if you can feel how it moves, or” -, and he really emphasized on this part, - “you can use the energy from the planet itself. Since the planet has its own type of energy, you can use it through the circle to make alchemy.” Trixie processed the information with all the details she could remember. The more she analyzed it, the more she realized the true magnificence of what Greed taught her. “With this…” She wanted to say it, but a little part of her was too skeptic to say it, leaving it up to Greed to say the words as close to her as possible. “… You can do alchemy without magic” -. He then added, hoping that Trixie could remember what she was being given. – “It would be your greatest illusionist trick: to do magic without using your horn.” The two unicorns close to Greed stopped thinking for a moment, unable of believing what they were being told. It was just too surreal to be true but Greed wasn’t giving them enough time to think; he wanted to let clear all the details before Trixie could do her first attempt at alchemy. “And, by joining your two hooves together, you are taking the last step needed to make the process, for the two hands act as the first step from your body to start the process.” Trixie’s mind quickly focused back into what she was about to do and decided to, quickly, join her hooves and put them on the circle, focusing on what she wanted to do with the bottles but, to her dismay, nothing passed. She looked up to Greed, practically asking with her mind what went wrong, to which he said. “Join your hooves, like this” -. He then repeated the action with his own claws, putting special emphasis in the way he did so. – “Like if you were praying to a god.” Trixie then decided to put much more focus on her moves, she put her hooves together, almost praying that this worked, and put her hooves on the circle, trying to feel the planet’s energy, and tried to use it in those bottles as ‘Weight Lifter’ and Greed were looking at her. For a brief moment, nothing happened, much to ‘Weight Lifter’s disappointment but, before anyone could even react, the circle started to shine. Both Greed’s and ‘Weight Lifter’s eyes focused at the display of energy. They could feel it passing by, moving into the bottles as it started to melt them with complete ease. Weight Lifter was in shock at what he was seeing, a huge window of possibilities opening to him while Greed could feel how he was moving one step closer to his true goals, with Trixie now becoming into a very important piece in all of this. Trixie could feel the energy moving at her will, as if it was waiting for her command while it was transmuting the bottles at the same time. She took her time with the bottles, knowing full well that energy would remain on the circle, as she morphed the glass into a shape she would find the most appealing. ‘Weight Lifter’ was sure that only brief seconds passed by, but it felt as if minutes were falling into him due to how Trixie was making sure that everything went the exact way she wanted. In the end, though, the light show ended and, where once were a bunch of glass bottles over a circle, was now a green glass statue of The Great and Powerful Trixie, much to Trixie’s joy, who couldn’t stop herself from jumping into the air with pride, practically shouting how ‘she did it’, as both Greed and ‘Weight Lifter’ were hugging and congratulating her for the deed. Trixie felt their hugs and, though she wouldn’t admit it, it felt very nice to be hugged, with something warm going through her being, as they were cheering for something she never thought was even possible. She couldn’t wait to show Sparkle who was the best unicorn now. “Well, sugar cube” -, started to say Applejack as she heard all of Twilight’s theories, even though she didn’t understand most of them, - “if you managed to think all of that in just a few weeks, then you are the best unicorn in all of Equestria.” Twilight blushed as she heard her friends agreeing on Applejack’s words. She wasn’t really certain she deserved such praise. “Oh, girls, thank you but I didn’t do that much. All I did was taking all this theories and put them all together, hay, I haven’t even tried them to see if they can actually work.” “Oh, darling, don’t be so hard on yourself. Not many are capable of doing what you are doing right now. You should, at least, accept some credit for yourself.” “Yeah, egghead, but, still, how is this related to save Spike from that blasted Greed?” As Rainbow Dash finished her question, everypony in the room fell silent, also wanting to hear the answer. Twilight, meanwhile, adopted a serious look on her face as she tried to think on her next words. “Does… does any of you remember my last encounter with Greed?” “Uhm, yeah” -. Fluttershy answered. – “It was when you were close to get him back but a changeling stunned you, right?” Twilight nodded, those memories still burning in her mind. “Yes. It was then when Spike talked to me for the last time” -. Hearing her friends flinch at that, Twilight tried to hold back her emotions as she tried to continue answering. – “And, as much as he wanted to talk to me, he instead told me of how Greed once said that, in order to separate them, it’s required to know alchemy.” At this, all of her friends gasped, including the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who were trying to read some of the stuff Twilight wrote. “And, after seeing Greed silencing Spike, I figured out that there was some truth in it. Alchemy is needed to separate them. Now, I don’t know how Greed knew this or just how much he actually knows, but I am certain that, had Spike been lying, he wouldn’t have silenced him and tried to run away” -. She then looked at her friends, all of them looking back at her solemnly, and continued. – “That is why I need to search for more information on alchemy. The answer to save Spike is in here, perhaps there are even answers regarding Greed’s nature, and I plan on figure them out.” When Twilight finished talking, all of her friends started to look at Twilight’s statue (her first step into alchemy) and, after a while, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie got close to Twilight’s notes and the prismatic Pegasus asked. “So, this alchemy stuff is supposed to be really hard to do?” – As she saw Twilight nodding, Rainbow Dash just started to grin. – “Alright then, if this stuff can be done by pegasi, then I’ll become into the first equestrian pegasus and that will make me one of the most awesome pegasi in history.” As Rainbow finished talking, the rest of her friends started to smile as well, and started to discuss how they were supposed to do all of this stuff. Seeing all of this support, Twilight started to smile, glad to see her friends getting as involved on this subject as she was, and got more certain than ever that Spike’s rescue was underway.