//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: A desperate Alicorn's plan for love // Story: Everymare Loves Chrysalis // by ThePinkedWonder //------------------------------// “Yes, yes, yes, it’s almost finished! I will finally have a date for Hearts and Hooves Day. Or a lot of dates! I have waited so long, and I can hardly believe it’s about to happen!” It was Hearts and Hooves Day. A day where everypony could show how much they cared about their “very special somepony”, if they had one, and could be used as another reason to make-out with them. Soon, another pony would join the fun for the first time in her life. In the Castle of Friendship, Princess Twilight Sparkle, a lavender Alicorn and the Princess of Friendship, was sitting on her bed, moments from completing a special spell in her bedroom. She had worked on it for the last three weeks. It was tough work and drops of sweat ran down her forehead. Her door was closed, but she had her window open; Twilight planned to fly out of it once she finished, because she’d be in a hurry. What is Twilight doing, you ask? Well, Twilight had secretly longed for a date or ten for Hearts and Hooves Day, even in her adolescent years, but shyness prevented her from taking the initiative. For a long time, she hoped that being an adorkable bookworm, and later a princess, would attract romantic attention, but it never did. Or, to be more accurate, she failed to attract romantic attention from those in her world. Including the human version of Flash Sentry, some guys from other worlds, even your world, dreamed of becoming Twilight Sparkle's very special somepony, or someone. She also possessed the magic to teleport some lucky guys from your world to Equestria if they wanted and would even happily rock their worlds. Unfortunately, she doesn’t know about their existence. Hey! You out there jumping up and down and yelling for Twilight to take you! Stop “volunteering” and calm down! She doesn’t have Pinkie Pie’s ability to see past the fourth wall, so she can’t see or hear you begging. Now then, back to what this desperate Alicorn was doing. The spell Twilight was nearly finished with would draw to her everypony she thought was cute, make them ask her out, and even kiss her. She couldn't wait anymore and yearned for action now. Sure, her desperate plan flew in the face of the friendship lessons she taught her former student, Starlight Glimmer, about not utilizing magical solutions to solve your problems. Princess Cadance, Twilight’s sister-in-law and the Princess of Love, might kick her flank for casting love spells without her permission. But even if love was impairing her judgment, Twilight Sparkle was a responsible pony, so she wouldn’t mess up this spell. She never makes mistakes with them. Well, except the time Twilight cast a spell to keep parasprites from eating Ponyville’s food, but it made them eat non-food things, such as buckets. Or when she used a mind-control spell known as the “Want it, Need it” spell to create a friendship problem, so she could solve it and report what she “learned” to Princess Celestia. What a fiasco that became. And then there’s that time she attempted to solve a bat problem with a spell and it resulted in the birth of Flutterbat. But still, she’s got this. Probably. Maybe. The magic for the spell hovered in a magenta ball the size of Twilight’s eyes, and her horn was glowing with the same color. Twilight wore an almost creepy smile. She’d waited way too long for this. She added more magic into the ball and it grew to half the size of her head and glowed brighter. It was ready. The magic floated towards Twilight, and her grin grew even bigger and creepier. Once the ball entered her body, the effects would take hold. But before the ball made contact with her chest, knocks came from her door and a voice from the other side asked, “Twilight! Are you in there?” “Eep!” The shock from surprise broke Twilight’s focus, making the magical ball fly away from her, bounce from wall to wall, then zip out of the room through the open window. Twilight hopped off her bed and sped to the window, reaching a hoof out of the window at the fleeing magic. “No! My magic! My dates! My kisses!” “Uh...what?” Twilight spun around to a violet Unicorn at her door. The Unicorn’s name was Starlight Glimmer. Who else would it be? She wore a puzzled frown on her face and was levitating a brown bag in her magic. “What was that about ‘dates and kisses’?” Starlight asked. Twilight formed an embarrassed grin. She couldn’t tell Starlight what she was doing in her room. Not only would she die of embarrassment, but she would run the risk of Starlight calling her a hypocrite or worse, laugh at her. Twilight deflected, “What was what about kisses and dates?” “Didn’t you say something about--” Twilight interrupted, “Uh, do you need my help with something, Starlight?” “Oh, right. I just wanted to tell you that I brought some gems for Spike to eat today, and to ask if you knew where he was?” “I’m afraid I don’t know where he is, but why did you get him gems?” “Well, I guess it makes sense that you would forget what today is, but I got them because it’s Hearts and Hooves Day. Isn’t he going to mope over not being on a date with Rarity?” In addition to missing Starlight’s semi-subtle roast, a bit of the frustration of not landing dates left Twilight, hearing what she did for Spike. Despite her...flaws and occasional setbacks -- including her own fiascos involving spells -- Starlight had become a good friend. “Wow. I appreciate you thinking about Spike, and I know that he will, but I think he’ll be all right.” “You sure?” “I’m sure. But you could put them in here for him, just in case.” “Okay.” Starlight levitated the bag full of gems into Twilight’s room and set the bag on the floor by her bed. “Is that all of them?” “Yep. But is something wrong, Twilight? It looks like there is...what’s the word...desperation in your eyes or something.” “N-No! I’m not desperate for anything! Why would I be?” Twilight blushed and smiled. It was her signature move: looking adorkable. “Maybe I’m just seeing my own desperation in them or something, but I’m too shy to ask Sunburst, Trixie, and Sunset and you to be my very special someponies. Well, see you later, Twilight.” Starlight turned around and trotted down the hallway. If Applejack, the Element of Honesty, saw this, she would have been proud of Starlight admitting an embarrassing truth. But once Starlight was out of hearing range, with the anger of being dateless returning, Twilight screamed in frustration. She was so close to getting her long-awaited dates! “NO! Now I’m going to be alone for Hearts and Hooves Day, again! Can’t a princess get some action for one Hearts and Hooves Day?! Just one! That’s all I ask!” Twilight’s scowl softened when another thought popped into her brain. “Wait, why am I whining? I can just find that magic and when I do, it’s date city!” With a grin, Twilight flew out of her window, hoping to track down her magic. Yet, little did Twilight Sparkle know that, by dumb luck, her magic was about to enter somepony before she could recover it. Or somechangeling. Queen Chrysalis.