Come on, you’ve got this, Twilight thought to herself, straining to try and use every ounce of magic she had.
She looked intensely at the purple egg before her; it was so peaceful yet so intimidating.
She took a deep breath, focused on her horn with all her might, and BAM! A small blast sent Twilight tumbling backwards across the room. The filly looked up, her face lit, only to find the egg still sitting on the cart, just as it was before. Twilight walked back over to the cart, and was about to try again, but she was interrupted by a rather snooty sounding female voice: one of the judges.
“Miss eh, Twilight, I think you have shown us quite enough at this point. Might I remind you that this is a school for the most gifted and magically talented of unicorns? If hatching a simple dragon egg is too much of a challenge for you, how do you think you would perform in this school?”
“...I-...” Twilight stood frozen, running the mare’s words through her mind.
“While you’re thinking over your pathetic excuse for ‘talent’, how about you leave the floor space open for more capable unicorns to take the exam? NEXT!”
Twilight simply nodded as sullenly walked out of the room, her eyes filling with tears. She walked over to her mother who was sitting on a nearby couch, identical to the one from their living room and began bawling.
Her mother pulled her into a hug and began stroking her mane.
“Aw, sweetie, don’t be upset.” Twilight realized something was off about her mother’s voice. “It’s only your cutie mark and your friends you’re losing out on.”
Twilight looked up, and was horrified to see Starlight Glimmer, who was still gently stroking her mane. Starlight simply stared down at Twilight, giving an insincere motherly smile.
Twilight peeled Starlight’s hooves off of herself and backed off, feeling very uneasy.
“Don’t worry sweetie; in sameness there is peace!”
Twilight felt sick.
She ran down the corridor. It was long, but she eventually reached the stairs down to the first floor. As she walked towards the front desk, she froze upon seeing Nightmare Moon standing and talking with the receptionist.
“-and now Celestia and I are equals, like we should have been all along.”
Nightmare Moon had an equal sign in place of her cutie mark.
Twilight jolted awake, her heart pounding. She remained completely still as she tried to process what her dream had just been. A minute later, the alarm clock began ringing.
Getting up, the mare took a deep breath and looked around the room. She was still in the guest bedroom at Sweet Apple Acres, eleven years in the past.
Checking the three slides from last night, Twilight found that, as expected, the two that had already changed remained so. Meanwhile, to her relief, the two slides of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie’s cutie marks still hadn’t changed.
Putting the flashlight and slides away, she checked to make sure her mane was somewhat straight, and then walked across the hall to Little Mac’s room. Upon opening the door, she found Spike and the colt quietly sleeping on the bed, with Spike laying sideways to use Mac’s body as a pillow. Twilight walked over to them and gently tapped Spike to wake him up.
“...Huh? *yawn* Morning…” Spike sat up and rubbed his eyes.
Twilight opened the drapes with her magic, letting in what little bit of sunlight had started to creep over the horizon.
“Did you boys have a good night?”
“Yup…” Spike replied, groggily.
“Most fun I’ve had in awhile,” Mac mumbled.
Twilight smiled and turned to leave, still listening to the two.
“Hey Mac, last one to breakfast has to help clean up?” Spike challenged.
The next thing Twilight knew, she was nearly getting knocked clean off her hooves as Mac plowed past. He was followed up a second later by Spike whizzing past as he shouted “We didn’t say go!”
She playfully rolled her eyes as she exited the room to complete her morning checklist.
Arriving downstairs a few minutes later, she was greeted by Granny Smith finishing up breakfast preparations, with Spike and Mac talking away. After seating herself, Spike began to speak up.
“Well, well, well, looks like I’m not the last one to breakfast…” Spike stated, a smug grin on his face.
Twilight raised an eyebrow.
“The rules were that the last one ta breakfast has ta help clean up. Looks like you’re it, Miss Twilight,” Mac reminded.
Twilight smirked slightly. “But it’s not like I agreed to it or anything.”
“Technically I didn’t either,” Mac said.
“Shoulda spent less time worrying about your mental checklist,” Spike snarked.
Twilight playfully rolled her eyes once again.
Granny then set four plates at the table. Each had a stack of four pancakes, with two fried eggs in front of them.
Twilight’s face lit up. “My favorite!” She dove her head in and took a huge bite out of the stack of four. “Thif iv dehlicious!” she exclaimed through a mouthful.
Granny sat down. “Wanted ta make sure y’all were fueled up fer the trip ta Manehattan,” she said, before taking her first bite. “It’s about a fourteen hour train ride; an’ I don’t trust that confounded slop they call train food!”
“Oh Twi will get fueled up on pancakes alright,” Spike said, smirking.
“So about the trip,” Granny spoke. “I got ya two a one-way ticket ta Manehattan, and I’m sendin’ ya with 100 bits fer a return trip.”
“I’ll only use what I need,” Twilight promised.
“Oh don’t ya worry ‘bout it. Yer doin’ a favor I couldn’t ever repay.”
The four finished breakfast, and after cleaning the table, Twilight and Spike got ready to leave for the train station.
As they were ready to head out the door, Twilight turned to Granny Smith and Little Mac.
“Thank you again for letting us stay here,” Twilight stated.
“Oh it was nothin’,” Granny replied. “An’ we can’t wait ta have ya back!” she said, swinging her right forehoof in a hook motion.
“Don’t be gone for too long,” Mac said to Spike, “Remember, we still have an’ Ogres & Oubliettes game to continue!” He poked the tip of his hoof into Spike’s chest to punctuate.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be back before Rainbow Dash could pull off a rainboom!” Spike replied.
Mac raised an eyebrow. “Who an’ what now?”
Spike’s face went momentarily blank. “Uh, nevermind.” He went silent for a moment before lighting up again. “Oh hey, what about that guy’s night dance I showed you?”
“Oh yeah!”
The two proceeded to bump rumps, hop around in a circle, bump rumps again, walk in place, and finally chest-bump, each chuckling as they completed it.
“Alright, Spike, I think we need to get going now,” Twilight stated, smiling.
With that, the two finally set off for the train station, waving to the Apples one final time as they reached the front archway.
After they had gotten on the train and it had begun its journey to Manehattan, Twilight pulled out a notebook and pencil and nudged Spike.
Spiked looked up at Twilight. “Huh?”
“Before I went to bed last night, I started to formulate a rough plan of attack for setting things right again.”
“What is it?”
Twilight opened up the notebook. “Well, we’re already on our way to bring Applejack home, so that leaves Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Fluttershy. That said, I’m thinking we should start most locally with the others and work our way out.”
Spike’s eyes lit up. “So that means we get to help Rarity next!?”
Twilight let out a half-playful, half-frustrated sigh. “Yes, that means Rarity will be next.” She turned to look Spike straight in the eyes. “But no going overboard on the “helping” part, understood? We’ve still got a timeline to maintain.”
Spike groaned. “Fine.”
“After her, Fluttershy will probably be our next best bet, followed by probably Rainbow and then Pinkie.”
“Uh, Twi?”
“Yes?”
Spike pointed to his back. “No wings, and I almost fell to my death twice, remember?”
Twilight paused momentarily. “Right. Well…” She scribbled a bit in the notebook. “I guess you could take care of Pinkie while I’m in Cloudsdale.”
“And what about...well, you?” Spike asked.
Twilight tensed a little and exhaled. “I still haven’t entirely figured that part out yet. We’ll just have to take things one step at a time for the moment.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Alright. I’m going to work on the finer details for now then.”
“And I guess I’ll read this 12 times over for the rest of the day,” Spike grumbled as he began reading a single comic book he had picked up at the train station.
Twilight wrote a bit more in her notebook, Spike eventually going off to get some snacks. As he came back with a large basket of hay fries, Twilight spoke up. "So for Rarity, it looks like we'll just need to get her to find some gems using her magic."
“Uh, Twi, Rarity didn’t get her mark just because she found the gems, she only got it after seeing ponies’ reactions to her improved costumes for her school play.”
Twilight blinked. “Huh. I guess I forgot that part.”
“Well, you haven't listened to her cutie mark story 17 times!” Spike replied, smugly.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Oh brother...”
“’The costumes just weren't right, and the play opened that night!’,” Spike said in his best Rarity impression.
Twilight’s went wide and she whipped her head around to Spike.
“Wait, ‘that night’?” She picked him up and pulled him nose-to-nose “As in the night of the Rainboom!?”
“Yeah, she always mentions how she barely managed to get the costumes to the play on time after spending all afternoon adding the gems to them- And I think I see the problem now...”
Twilight let go of Spike as she pulled down on the sides of her face with her hooves. “Rarity completely missed her chance to shine! Even if we knew the play was that night, we probably wouldn’t have had enough time to help her!” She pressed her head flat against the glass of the train window, seeing Ponyville become further and further away. "And now we're going to be gone for at least two days!"
Spike put his claw on Twilight. "Twi, it's just two days. I don't think much is going to happen while we're gone."
Twilight sighed as she continued to stare out the window.
It was a little after dark by the time the train pulled into Maneway Station, and after getting through the sea of ponies flooding the station, Twilight and Spike found their way out into the chaos that was the streets of Manehattan. Twilight pulled out the directions that Granny Smith had given them, and directed Spike and herself across the city towards the richer area of the island.
Aware of ponies noticing her alicornhood, Twilight spotted an apparel shop along the way to the apartment, and picked up a sweater to cover her wings. It bore diamond shapes covering the entire surface, colored golden yellow, burnt orange, and chocolate brown.
The two eventually found themselves in a clean, white, well-trimmed skyscraper. Arriving on the tenth floor, they stepped out of the elevator and walked down the hall, checking the apartment numbers for the one the Oranges resided in. After only a minute of searching, they spotted a door with a decorative carving of oranges hanging on it, with the unit number they were looking for engraved in it.
Twilight knocked on the door, and stood waiting for it open. After a moment, a sound came from the doorknob, and slowly the door opened to reveal a yellowish-cream mare with a straight-banged amber mane standing behind it.
“May I help you?” she asked.
“Um, hi,” Twilight said, feeling a little awkward. “I think Granny called ahead; we were wondering if we could talk to Applejack?”
“Ah, Miss Twilight, Mom did say you were coming. Please, come in then.”
The two walked in and Mrs. Orange gently closed the door behind them.
Looking over to the living-room area of the apartment, Twilight saw Mr. Orange and Applejack sitting on the sofa, with another stallion sitting on an opposing sofa. The two stallions were speaking with each other, while Applejack, who had her mane done up in a rather high-class style, silently stared at the floor with a disconnected look on her face.
“You’ll have to excuse me and my husband, we’ve currently got company, but Applejack is still certainly free,” Mrs. Orange apologized.
Twilight nodded in response. Mrs. Orange then brought Applejack over to them.
“Applejack, this is Miss Twilight and her brother Spike,” she stated.
“Hello,” Applejack quietly said.
“They’re here to talk to you about a few things. Is that alright?”
Applejack nodded. “We can use my room,” she stated to Twilight and Spike, leading them into a hallway. The two followed, and entered a guest bedroom clearly in use, with a window on the far side, and a bed situated between them, its headboard against the right wall.
Applejack stood in front of the bed and looked at Twilight, her entire demeanor being one of tiredness and depression.
The sight of Applejack in this state was hard for Twilight to process. She could still tell it was still her, but due to the age and high-class mane style, it simultaneously felt like she was looking at a different pony.
“So you’re from Ponyville. Did Granny send ya?” she asked.
Twilight nodded. “We wanted to come by and talk with you for a bit; in case there’s anything you need to get off your chest.”
Applejack sighed and walked over to the window. She stared out of it as she spoke up again. “I told ‘em I was fine without counselin’, but I guess Granny thinks I need it anyways.”
“Maybe I could just be a friend instead?” Twilight asked.
Applejack turned around. “What do ya mean?”
Twilight walked up to the filly. “I mean, what if I just listened like a good friend?”
Applejack blinked as her eyes widened slightly.
“I won’t say anything unless you want me to.”
Applejack looked down for a moment. “I guess a friend couldn’t hurt…” She stepped over to the bed and sat down on the side of it facing the window.
Twilight sat down next to her, followed by Spike taking other side of the filly.
Applejack sighed and stayed silent for a minute, before finally speaking. “Ever since Mom an’ Dad died, everypony’s been tellin’ me that ‘it’s okay’, ‘everythin’ will be fine’, ‘you’ll accept it eventually’, but...I can’t. Every chore, dinner, family night...it’s all jus’ a reminder that they’re gone.” She sighed again as she returned to silence.
“Pain–” Twilight stopped herself, but Applejack glanced up with curious eyes. Twilight took this as her permission to speak. “Pain isn’t something that just goes away. It’s something you have to learn to live with, not run away from.”
The filly raised an eyebrow.
“You left the farm because you felt like you couldn’t escape your parents being gone, didn’t you?”
She slowly nodded.
“But the thing is, just going to another city won’t help you escape that. The pain of them being gone is going to be with you no matter where you go.”
Applejack’s eyebrows furrowed. “Then how am I supposed ta deal with it?”
“By facing it. Go back home, be with the family you still have, and whenever something reminds you that your parents are gone, just turn those into memories of the good times you had with them. Let those chores and family nights remind you of the time you did get to have with your parents.”
“And you’re sure I’ll start feelin’ better?”
“Absolutely. And you know what else?”
“What?”
“You don’t have to go through this alone either. You’ve got family and friends who are all ready to help you when you feel like you aren’t strong enough on your own; friendship makes us all stronger.”
Applejack looked away from Twilight, and stared out the window for a minute. She took a deep sigh. “...I’ll think about it.”
Twilight smiled gently. “You can do this, Applejack. I know you can.”
As the Orange’s guest was preparing to leave, the three finally emerged from the bedroom. They waited at the start of the bedroom hallway while he was seen out.
Mrs. Orange then trotted over to the three.
“Are you doing better now, Applejack?” she asked, looking down at her.
Applejack nodded.
Honey looked back up. “Miss Twilight, I apologize for not being able to properly introduce myself and my husband. My name is Honey Belle, and this is Mosley.”
“Pleased to meet your acquaintance,” Mosley stated, shaking hooves with Twilight.
“And yours,” Twilight responded.
Spike’s stomach growled, and he lightly grabbed it.
“Gettin’ hungry already?” Applejack asked.
“I got sick of the same food on the train.”
Mosley tapped his chin, pondering something momentarily. “Honey, our guests have had quite a long train ride from Ponyville; how about we treat them and Applejack to dinner at the Golden Horseshoe Fondue?”
“That sounds like a splendid idea!” Honey replied.
With that, the five proceeded to clean up and get ready to leave, after which they strolled several blocks down from the apartment building, arriving at a highly decorated, and highly expensive looking restaurant.
Once they were seated, and their appetizers arrived, Twilight and Spike were a bit surprised to see a portion size for each of them that could be easily eaten in a couple bites. Applejack simply sighed and ate hers. When it came time to order the main course however, Applejack cleared her throat and spoke up to the waiter in an unusually soft voice that was devoid of her normal accent.
“Excuse me sir, but may I please have a larger portion? I’m used to large meals where I grew up.”
Twilight and Spike stared slack-jawed at Applejack in surprise over the voice change, until Spike snapped out of it and added onto Applejack’s request. “Us too please!” He wrapped an arm around Twilight and pulled her against him as she sheepishly smiled.
The waiter raised an eyebrow, made an additional mark on his notepad, and walked off to the kitchen.
“I suppose I never thought about that until now,” Honey said, turning to her niece. "I’m sorry, Applejack, I've been giving you all these tiny portions when you're used to Granny's big meals.”
“It’s alright, I get it, this is just how it is for y’all.”
“No, it isn’t alright. I should have been thinking about your needs more, you have been Mosley and I’s guest after all. So again, I am truly sorry.”
“Apology accepted.”
“And...I don’t think you need to be as formal with your speech as I’ve made it seem.”
Applejack let out a sigh of relief. “Thank Celestia, I hate havin’ ta think an extra time before I speak.”
Honey looked up at Twilight and Spike, “I also want to apologize to you two for these small portions.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. I understand culture differences can be a bit hard to keep in mind,” Twilight replied.
“Tell you what, how about we finish here, and we will let you three pick another restaurant to eat at?” Mosley proposed.
Twilight now felt a bit guilty for putting the Oranges through so much trouble.
“Well, I wouldn’t want to intrude on your budg-”
“Sounds good to me,” Spike interrupted.
“Mm-hmm! There’s a pizza place a few blocks down I’ve been wantin’ ta try fer the past couple weeks, too,” Applejack added.
“Well then, I think it is decided,” Mosley declared.
“You really don’t have to,” Twilight stressed.
“No, no, I insist. Besides, we need to make up for all those small meals Miss Applejack had to eat,” he maintained.
Twilight glanced over at the filly. She did deserve a little something special to relax.
The five continued their first dinner, after which they paid and left, being directed by Applejack to the pizzeria she had mentioned. Once inside, two extra large cheese pizzas were ordered, and were ready mere minutes later.
The huge discs were set onto the table and were each sliced up into sixteen long slices. The Oranges each took a slice and observed it momentarily before biting into it. Honey swallowed her first bite and looked back down at the pizza slice.
“This is... quite greasy,” she commented.
“No kidding,” Spike said, taking a bite of his own slice.
Applejack, who had let her mane and tail go back to looking more country-style, glanced over at Spike, who was hungrily chomping away at his pizza slice. “Hey Spike, ya wanna take a challenge?” she asked.
Spike stopped himself before taking another bite. “Uh, sure?” he skeptically replied.
“Alright, so fer every slice of pizza we eat, we have ta lick the grease off first.”
Spike briefly looked over at the Oranges scraping grease off their pizza slices, then looked back up at Applejack with his eyes narrowed a bit and a smug smirk on his face. “So, what happens if somepony wins or loses?”
“Hmm, how ‘bout the loser has ta take the stairs back up ta the tenth floor?”
“Deal.”
Spike shook Applejack’s hoof, and the two began, each licking every last drop off the top of their slices before biting into them. By the third slice, Applejack was beginning to grimace a bit as she licked the grease
Spike took notice and felt it an ideal opportunity to get Applejack to surrender early. “Y’know, dragons are known for having iron stomachs.”
“Oh really?” Applejack coolly replied.
“Uh-huh. In fact, I’d say this challenge might be too easy for me.”
“Well ya ain’t gettin’ me ta surrender that easily!” Applejack declared. “How about this: fer each slice, we also have ta eat the grease that Aunt Honey an’ Uncle Mosely scrape off theirs?
Spike furrowed his eyebrows in mild concern of Applejack’s extreme determination to win. “Are you sure you can handle that?”
Applejack nodded. “I’m sure. Like I said, I ain’t surrenderin’ that easily!”
“Alright, you’re on then!”
Applejack quickly took the straw out of her drink and started sucking up grease from the pool of it on Honey’s plate. She clearly wasn’t enjoying it, evidenced by the sickened look on her face, but she powered through it regardless. By the end of the fifth slice however, Applejack clearly wasn’t looking very happy. As she attempted to lick the grease off her sixth slice, she pulled the slice away and gagged. “You win...I can’t take this much grease after all…” she muttered.
“YES!” Spike shouted, nearly jumping out of his seat.
Applejack took a drink from her water cup, and then spoke up. “But I’m gonna win the next time we do a challenge, ya hear?” she said, poking her hoof into Spike’s chest.
“Sure, sure…” he gloated.
Applejack took another gulp of water and leaned back in her chair. “Y’know Spike, you’re a pretty fun dragon! Heck, I bet you an’ Mac are prob’ly best friends!”
“Heh, yeah, I guess we are,” he replied.
“I bet ya’d prob’ly fit right in with us Apples.”
“Well, uh, thanks?” Spike responded, a little unsure what he was supposed to respond with.
“Jus’ happy ta have a new friend, that’s all,” Applejack stated, with a smile that didn’t quite match the more intense eagerness in her eyes.
Once everypony entered the apartment building again, Honey pushed the call button for the elevator. While everypony waited for it to arrive, Applejack’s smile quickly shifted into a frown.
“Aw shoot. I still gotta take the stairs,” she remembered.
“Yep,” Spike said, smugly.
“Why do you have to take the stairs?” Twilight asked.
“I lost a challenge to Spike,” Applejack groaned.
“I don’t suppose that would be whatever you two were doing with all that grease?”
Spike replied with an “Uh-huh.”
Twilight rolled her eyes in a “go figure” way.
Applejack shamefully sulked towards the door to the stairwell, and stopped before the door, grabbing her stomach. “Uughhh...I think all that pizza’s stampedin’ towards my backside...”
Spike’s smug smile shifted to a face of concern.
Twilight leaned down to him. “Spike, she’s clearly not feeling well – probably from all that grease you let her eat – I think she needs somedragon to make sure she’s okay.”
Spike sighed, “Alright.” He ran over to the stairwell door, catching it just after Applejack had gone through.
The elevator arrived and the three remaining ponies stepped into it. Once at the apartment door, Twilight waited outside for Spike and Applejack to arrive. They finally popped out of the stairwell, but Applejack looked worse for wear, clutching her stomach as she walked down the hallway while being braced by Spike. They then entered the apartment, and Applejack bolted for the bathroom, gas starting to release, with Spike darting after her.
“Now you two get along in there,” Twilight called out, as she shook her head with a slight smile.
After about an hour, Applejack and Spike finally emerged from the bathroom.
“‘Least I know what ta eat now if I ever need ta clear my system,” Applejack commented.
“We can make it a challenge again if you need someone to push you,” Spike snarked, nudging her.
“Oh I’m sure the grease champion would love ta win again wouldn’t he?”
“So, Applejack,” Twilight interrupted, “Have you decided if you want to go back to the farm?”
Applejack paused. “Well, I have felt like a pig outta mud the past few weeks, an’ hangin’ out with Spike tonight reminded me how much I miss jus’ bein’ me. So...” she looked up at Honey and Mosley, “I think I wanna go home.”
Twilight’s face lit up. Honey smiled gently and nodded.
“So, are we heading back tomorrow?” Spike asked.
AJ wrapped a foreleg around Spike. “Sounds as fine as fresh apple pie! ...Which I’ve also been missin’ a lot lately...”
“Sounds like a plan to me!” Twilight exclaimed.
The five continued to talk for a while, and eventually Applejack got tired and went off to get ready for bed.
The Oranges proceeded to show Twilight a second guest bedroom, which was opposite the bedroom Applejack was occupying. Spike immediately took a pillow off the bed, placed it on the floor, and laid down on it.
Applejack glanced in on the way back to her own room and furrowed her eyebrows. “Aren’t ya gonna sleep on the bed, Spike?”
He turned his head towards the filly’s voice “Huh? Oh. Twilight deserves the bed to herself,” he said.
“Aw, now come on, ya ain’t gonna sleep on the floor like a wet dog on my watch!” she grabbed his arm and began to pull him towards the doorway. “I’ll let ya sleep in my bed.”
Spike laughed nervously. “I don’t think you need to do–”
She paused and turned back to face him. “Plus, it’d be nice ta have somedragon ta watch over me tonight just in case I feel sick again…”
“Well, I guess it might be a good idea to keep an eye on you.”
“GREAT!” Applejack exclaimed, grabbing Spike’s arm again and dragging him the rest of the way across the hallway to her bedroom.
“Uh, Goodnight Twilight!” Spike called out, just before Applejack slammed the door shut.
“Night Spike,” Twilight called back. Foals, she thought.
Twilight finished getting ready for bed, closed the bedroom door, and climbed into bed.
Mission accomplished, she thought. However, as she began to relax, another thought kept pestering her mind: What if I can’t succeed with the others? What if I can’t fix the future?