"I'm so glad you could join me Cosmica," Twilight said as she and Cosmica sat side by side in a chariot headed to Canterlot palace.
"Don't mention it, Twilight. I'm looking forward to eating fancy tonight," Cosmica said, her stomach rumbling at the thought of what the Equestrian Royalty considers food, compared to the more local ponies at least. Twilight, however, shot a look of concern.
"Remember. You're not here to just simply hang out," Twilight informed as Cosmica tilted her head.
"What do you mean? I thought I was visiting to learn a thing or two about your world. That's what I've been doing for the past few days with your friends," Cosmica argued, scratching the tendrils on her head.
"Yeah, I know. But Cosmica, I warned you that you can't just simply make your presence known. And now we know there are ponies after you who'd like to keep it that way. I've never known Lyra and Bon Bon to chase down a new pony like this before," Twilight pondered, looking over Ponyville, wondering who else might be a part of this conspiracy.
"Well...to be honest, that is fair. But there are some things I need to figure out as well," Cosmica explained as Twilight sighed.
"Like a demonstration of moving the sun and the moon?" Twilight asked as she looked out of the carriage with Cosmica.
"Well, that...And I need to practice reading and writing in your language," Cosmica explained as Twilight raised an eyebrow in concern.
"I thought you taught yourself our language. And by the looks of things, you're still extremely fluent," Twilight reminded as Cosmica sat back down.
"Well...I can speak it. It's just that I can't read or write it, you know?" Cosmica explained, twirling one of her tendrils nervously as Twilight considered Cosmica's situation.
"I'll see if I can arrange anything," Twilight promised as the chariot landed outside Canterlot Palace, as Cosmica laid eyes upon the magnificent building in awe. Cosmica examined every little detail she always wanted to relish but was dragged into the building by Twilight. Cosmica could not help but to watch in awe as she followed Twilight.
"Hey, Twilight," Spike called out, catching Cosmica off guard.
"Good morning Spike. Anything on my schedule today?" Twilight asked as Spike paused at her strange guest.
"Well, you got, like, fifty bills to sign. And I don't recall you invited guests over," Spike relayed as Twilight turned back to Cosmica, totally forgetting to tell Spike about her.
"Oh! Well, could you postpone those bills for tomorrow? I need to look into the library for something," Twilight briefed Spike, as he sighed in disappointment.
"Of course, you're going to the library. Why wouldn't you be?" Spike sarcastically commented as Cosmica giggled at the little dragon's sarcasm.
"That's quite the joke you got there, dragon," Cosmica complimented as Spike scratched the back of his head in confusion.
"And...just who might this pony be, Twilight?" Spike asked as Twilight gave him a devilish glare.
"She's your new literacy student," Twilight announced as Spike shot up in surprise.
"No, seriously, Twilight, what's going on?" Spike asked as Twilight vanished from the palace and most likely into the library. Spike looked on at Cosmica, who gave him a cheeky smile and a cute little wave.
"So...I take it you're illiterate or something?" Spike asked as Cosmica followed him to his bedroom.
"Well...for lack of a better term, yes," Cosmica answered as Spike opened the door to his bedroom, which was rather messy, but still cleaner than most bedrooms. Spike searched his bookshelf for a good book to teach his new student.
"I never got your name, by the way," Spike reminded Cosmica as she was handed a rather old filly's book Spike must have been reading when he was but an infant.
"Oh. My name's Cosmica. You don't need to introduce yourself to me, Spike. Twilight told me all about you," Cosmica explained as Spike shoveled out some old fillies books and phonics learning books.
"Uh-huh. And just...where did Twilight find you exactly?" Spike asked as Cosmica realized that the young dragon might not take the news well that Twilight was abducted by a space invader.
Twilight approached the gigantic library with two golden-clad royal guards at the entrance.
"Princess Twilight! Your Highness!" The guards addressed as they stood firm for their powerful leader.
"Afternoon, sirs," Twilight replied as she opened the large doors and entered the building that was filled with gigantic shelves of hundreds of books. Which, of course, would only make sense as the library itself is massive. As she approached the center of the library, Twilight approached the desk of its librarian.
"Oh my. What a pleasant surprise, Princess Twilight. How may I assist you?" The Librarian asked as Twilight took a deep breath.
"Does this library contain any information about the organization known as S.M.I.L.E.?" Twilight asked, causing a sense of alarm for the librarian.
"Oh...Oh my...I'm not sure we do. Come with me out back, and we'll see if we can find anything," The librarian answered as Twilight followed her to the dimly lit halls of the darker ends of the library. Twilight lit her horn so she could find her way around better, but the librarian pushed a secret button hidden in one of the books before Twilight could notice.
"A...B....D...G...?" Cosmica tried writing out on a whiteboard under Spike's supervision while he read an issue of the latest Power Ponies comic.
"You do realize that isn't in alphabetical order, right?" Spike asked as he flipped the page of his comic.
"You know, if you think about it, there's no real reason this alphabet needs to be in this exact order," Cosmica pointed out.
"That's not...Actually, I don't think you're wrong there. But it still has to be in this order," Spike clarified as Cosmica groaned in disappointment
"Well, could you at least help me out here? I don't exactly know what I'm doing," Cosmica begged as Spike let out a sigh and put down his comic book.
"Alright, fine. This should be fairly easy, so just follow my lead," Spike said as he took Cosmica's whiteboard and prepared to wipe it down, but was rather stunned by what Cosmica had written.
"Cosmica, why did you just draw a bunch of crop circles?" Spike asked as Cosmica cleared her throat and tried to whistle away her worries.
As Twilight scanned the dark hallways, only lit up by her violet horn, she came across a large dusty book with its pages crinkled and yellow from age. Twilight blew the dust off and read the title: "The History of S.M.I.L.E." and was excited to finally get some answers and began investigating.
Long ago, before the time of Princesses Celestia and Luna, the world was protected by the powerful Starswirl the Bearded. But when things got tough even for him, his student, Clover the Clever, devised a solution. Clover trained a group of agents to engage in pre-emptive missions to take out dangerous Equestrian threats before Starswirl could take them down, unless if they had faith that Starswirl would be able to handle it himself.
One such instance involved a terrible dragon and his centaur minion who plotted to steal Starswirl's magic and rule Equestria for himself. Clover's agents intervened before the dragon's plan was ever put into action, and Starswirl was none the wiser. Years later, when Celestia began her reign as the princess, Luna was abducted by a gigantic monstrous squid that meddled with the minds of their enemies, hoping to turn Celestia and Luna into their mindless minions.
These agents, however, outsmarted the beastly squid and returned Luna before she realized she was ever captured. These agents are known as S.M.I.L.E. and have sworn a secret pledge to protect the world's defenders, should the defenders themselves be unable to handle it themselves.
As Twilight read the book more and more to learn about these agents, her nose perked up as she picked up a rather odd scent.
"Hey, what's smells like rotten ketchup?" Twilight asked. Just as Twilight asked and was beginning to flip the page, a single lone dart hit Twilight in the back of her hind leg, causing her to stumble. She turned around to find Lyra and Bon Bon in full black suits and shades covering their eyes.
"I'm sorry it has to be this way, Princess Twilight, but I'm afraid you know way too much and are gonna have to come with us," Lyra informed Twilight, as she got the dart out of her leg.
"Lyra? Bon Bon? What do you girls want with me?" Twilight asked as Lyra adjusted her shades.
"If you've read as far into that dusty old book as you did, you would know by now that it's our job to protect Equestria without Starswirl knowing, Celestia knowing, or even you knowing of this. And we can't exactly protect you without you knowing if you know S.M.I.L.E. exists, now can we?" Bon Bon explained as Twilight turned to the dart.
"What did you inject me with by the way?" Twilight asked as Bon Bon chuckled while Lyra pulled out her blow dart.
"Don't worry too much, Princess. The tranquilizer will take effect any second now," Bon Bon answered as Twilight prepared to fall unconscious, but strangely didn't feel the slightest bit woozy.
"Any second now. So that we can take you back to HQ and wipe your memory of all of this. Just like you wiped our memories," Bon Bon continued so the dart could take effect as Lyra inspected her blow darts.
"Oh, so you got your memories back?" Twilight asked, stalling for time.
"Well...no. But HQ filled us in on what you wiped from us. Though it is embarrassing to think about now that we learned that we got skunked badly. Nothing a Tomato Juice bath wouldn't fix, am I right?" Bon Bon said, hoping the dart would have taken effect by now.
"Oh, so that's why I smelled rotten ketchup. You girls used tomato juice! Hey, you do realize that stuff doesn't actually work, right? Spike and I learned that the hard way at our first Winter Wrap Up," Twilight commented.
"If tomato juice doesn't work, then how did it get so widely accepted in the first place?" Bon Bon asked as Lyra was in total shock after realizing something.
"Bon Bon? I got some bad news. We forgot to actually put the tranquilizers in," Lyra informed as Twilight snickered.
"You're saying you just hit me with an empty dart?" Twilight asked as Lyra and Bon Bon turned toward each other in great worry.
"Well, it's been nice meeting you girls. Good night," Twilight signed off as her horn lit up and cast a spell on Lyra and Bon Bon, putting the two in a deep sleep. The Librarian looked on in total fear of what Princess Twilight would do to her.
"Please don't arrest me for treason," The Librarian begged as Twilight looked at her with sympathy.
"Hey, don't worry. You were just doing your job is all. Just take these girls to a safe place until they wake up, write a message to S.M.I.L.E. not to worry about me, and maybe write some instructions for these two on how to actually wash off skunk smell. Just in case it happens again," Twilight said, as she headed off from the library to get back to Cosmica and Spike.
"I know it is wet, and the sun is not sunny, but we could have some good...bun that is bunny? Did I get that right?" Cosmica read out loud from one of the children's books as Spike spectated.
"Close. You got the letter B mixed up with F, Cosmica. You might want to re-read that," Spike advised.
"Fun that is funny. OH! OK, that makes much more sense. Thank you," Cosmica replied as Spike nodded in approval.
"You are ever so welcome, Cosmica. Say, you've been learning real quick," Spike complimented as Cosmica blushed a brighter shade of green. Just then, Twilight knocked on Spike's door.
"Cosmica, Spike, I'm back," Twilight announced as Spike lit up.
"Hey, Twilight. Did ya get what you were looking for?" Spike asked as Cosmica turned to Twilight.
"Is it bad? Am I in any danger?" Cosmica asked as Twilight decided to share what she learned.
"No, but Lyra and Bon Bon must think that I'm in danger and that you're a major threat," Twilight explained as Spike was immediately lost.
"Twilight, I don't know what's going on. Care to fill me in?" Spike asked as Twilight turned to Cosmica.
"You didn't tell him?" Twilight asked as Cosmica hid her left eye behind her front tendril.
"No. I was afraid he would freak out and panic," Cosmica explained as Twilight sighed.
"Spike, Cosmica's an alien. There, we told him," Twilight blurted out as Spike's eyes lit up like the stars.
"Are you serious, Twilight? Cosmica, you are immediately my new best friend! I hope you know that!" Spike casually announced as the girls laughed at the young dragon's response.
"Well, we'd best get going. See you later, new bestie," Cosmica said as Twilight and her headed out for the day.
"See you later Cosmica," Spike waved as he sat down in his seat and opened up his Power Ponies comic. The page, however, caught him off guard, causing his face to turn red, and his wings to shoot out from his back.