//------------------------------// // Part 2 // Story: Lily and Twist // by bahatumay //------------------------------// After the events of “Crusaders of the Lost Mark” The next morning, Lily trotted down the street towards the schoolhouse. Her heart was pounding, but she tried to remain calm. Having had her freaky strength outed hadn’t nearly been as bad as she’d thought it would be, and she’d even got to help out in cleaning up the playground for their new equipment; but now everything was over, the musical number had ended, and things were back to normal. She couldn’t shake that feeling of apprehension. But she didn’t need to worry. Maybe it was just because Ponyville was home to strange occurrences. Maybe it just hadn’t been as big a deal as she’d feared it would be. Either way, nopony looked at her like she was crazy, nopony was scrambling to stay away from her as if she were some sort of monster; she was, for the most part, still being treated like any other filly.  “Hey, Lily!” For the most part. She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. “Yes, Snips?”  “So, so, so me and Snails, we were playing soccer, and we, we got our ball stuck.” He shifted his hooves. “In the tree,” he clarified. Lily looked up and sighed. Sure enough, there was a soccer ball stuck in the branches of a nearby tree.  “Can you get it down?” Snips asked eagerly. “What, you can’t just use your magic?” “Nah,” Snails said. “Our horns are, uh… broken.” He smiled widely, like he had just spun a delightfully convincing story. Of course, he had not. “Both of them?” Lily asked dryly. “Yeah,” Snails said. “Completely broken. No magic in here.” Must not be any brains in there, either, Lily thought. Seeing that Lily remained far from convinced, Snips decided to jump in and help. “But we don’t mind. We want to see you do something cool, like, rip up the tree and drop out the soccer ball!” Sparks flew from the tip of Snips’ horn in excitement. Realizing he’d just exposed magic, he let out a nervous little giggle and crossed his forelegs.  Lily’s eyes narrowed. So, they wanted to see some super strength, did they? And thus it was that Snips was one of the first airborne unicorn colts to come from Miss Cheerilee’s class. He landed on the branch, bouncing the soccer ball off. He snickered. “Awesome!” He raised up on his hind legs. “Look, Snails! I’m flying!” He moved his forelegs like he was swimming through the air. “Yeah!” Snails cheered.  Lily rolled her eyes and headed inside. Colts. She’d never understand. “Uh, wait.” He fell to his stomach, his hooves slipping against the bark. “H- how do I get down? Lily? Lily!” He switched targets when it became apparent that she was not coming back. “Snails!” he shouted, flailing all four hooves. “Snails, do something!” Aside from those two, though, Lily had a fairly normal day. By the time lunchtime rolled around, nopony had really said much of anything to her. This was a good thing, but not a great thing. It was possible she’d scared everypony off, just like she’d thought she would. Then again, due to her fear, she hadn’t really gone out of her way to make friends here. It was also possible that her classmates were just keeping things business as usual. Her breath caught as she saw Twist exit the schoolhouse with her lunch in mouth. Well, she’d find out soon enough. Twist slowed to a stop. She looked at her strangely. Oh, no. Lily looked down. It had happened. She’d ruined their friendship without even trying. But then Twist neared and sat down. She started eating, but didn’t say anything to start with, and Lily wasn’t sure what to say, either. That was a bad thing, right? “Ith everything thtrong?” Twist finally asked. “Is what?” “Ith all of you-” she rolled her hoof in a circle, indicating her whole body, “thtrong?” Lily squinted. “What do you mean?” “A couple dayth ago, you ate my burnt caramel. It wath a rock. But you ate it anywayth.”  “Oh.” Honestly, she hadn’t even noticed. It had tasted fine to her. “Kinda?” she said sheepishly.  Twist nodded thoughtfully. Then she brightened and pulled out a wax-wrapped ball from her lunchbox. “I brought thome thaltwater taffy today. Nithe and thoft. You want thome?” Lily smiled, feeling a weight lift off her withers. “Yes. Yes, I would.” Twist twisted off a chunk. “It’th not a lot, because it hath to be made in thmall batcheth.” “Oh? Why?” Lily asked as she started chewing. Her eyes brightened. This was delicious. “It’th hoof-pulled,” Twist explained. Lily cocked her head, not making the connection.  Twist adjusted her seat and leaned in, her smile widening as she got to discuss something she loved. “Taffy can be made a couple wayth, but bathically, you boil a thugar mithture, and then pull it until it’th aerated.” She demonstrated this with her hooves. “We have a taffy puller mathine, but hoof-pulled taffy ith very popular, jutht becauth. We get thpethial orderth for it all the time. Problem ith, it taketh a lot of pulling to get good taffy, tho we’re thtuck with thmaller batcheth when we do the hoof-made thtuff.” “Well, it’s delicious,” Lily said, taking another bite. “You’ve really got a talent for this.”  Twist’s cheeks colored slightly, and she batted at her mane. “Thuckth,” she muttered. “I wish there was some way I could help.” There was a brief pause. Both fillies looked up. Lily grinned as she threw the rope of taffy over the hook and pulled again. Her super strength meant she could pull almost as much as the taffy machine all by herself. Like most stores in Ponyville, this kitchen had large, open windows, so everything was visible to any passers-by or visitors; but for once, she didn’t feel self-conscious about her strength at all. She was doing something important. Important, and delicious. Twist rolled out the previous batch in preparation for cutting, her tail waggling with excitement. With Lily pulling, she had more time to do more of what she liked best. “You’re tho thuper, Lily,” she said.  And for the first time in a long time, Lily believed her.