Flappy flew as fast as he could towards Friendship Castle. Determined to get to Twilight. He flapped his wings with all his might. “Squawk! Come on Flappy! Put your back into it! Squawk!” He looked in the distance and saw Friendship castle fast approaching. “Squawk! TWILIGHT! Squawk!”
In the castle, Twilight was fast asleep. Until her ears picked up squawking and she was roused awake. She opened her eyes and listened. “Ugh. Who left a window open?” She listened further. And she started to recognize the squawk. Hang on a second. I...Is that Flappy?! Twilight got out of bed and opened her bedroom door, to see Flappy zip past down the hall. After a couple seconds, Flappy zipped back and smiled when he saw Twilight.
“Squawk! THANK CELESTIA I found you Twilight. We need to go, now! Squawk!”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Go? Where?”
“Squawk! It’s Sparkler. She’s in SERIOUS danger. Come on! Squawk!”
Twilight gasped. “Wait, Sparkler? What’s going on Flappy?”
Flappy have her a frantic look as he swooped in and started trying to push her along. “Squawk! I’ll explain on the way. But we need to go NOW! If we don’t hurry, Sparkler goes kaboom! Squawk!”
Twilight gasped. “Kaboom?!”
“Kaboom? Who’s going kaboom?” Flappy and Twilight saw Starlight and Spike rubbing their eyes.
Spike nodded. “Why is Flappy making as much noise as possible?”
Flappy groaned as he resumed pushing twilight along. “Squawk! NO TIME! COME ON LETS GO GO GO! Squawk!”
Twilight nodded. “Alright. Come on Spike—“
Flappy cut her off. “Squawk! JUST TWILIGHT! Squawk!”
Twilight nodded and spread her wings. “Alright, Spike and Starlight you can go back to bed. Let’s go Flappy.” She flapped her wings and Flappy led her out.
Spike watched them race off and raised an eyebrow. “What in Celestia’s name was that all about?”
Starlight shrugged tiredly and yawned. “Beats me. We can wonder tomorrow. I’m going back to bed. Twilight probably has this covered.”
...
“So what’s going on Flappy?” Twilight called out as she and Flappy flew through the sky over the Everfree Forest.
“Squawk! Sparkler’s having a magical breakdown! And you’re the only one who can save her. Squawk!”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Magical breakdown? Flappy what EXACTLY is going on here?”
Flappy sighed. “Squawk! Promise me that to you’ll keep what you are about to hear and see to yourself. And understand that this wasn’t how Sparkler wanted you to learn the truth. Squawk!”
Twilight nodded, more confused than ever. “Cross my heart and hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye. What’s going on with Sparkler?”
“Squawk! Sparkler is just like you anatomically speaking. Like you, she has wings AND a horn. Squawk!”
Twilight gasped. “You mean she’s an ALICORN?!”
Flappy nodded. “Squawk! Is that what it’s called? Yes. She’s been hiding it because of her past in Saddle Arabia. In short, she was the outcast, the freak everypony made fun of, she—“
At that moment, they saw a bright blue light begin to REALLY glow. Flappy gasped. “Squawk! We’ll talk later! Squawk!”
Twilight nodded as they rocketed toward the light. They landed on the ground and Twilight saw a sight she never thought she would. She saw Sparkler glowing, clearly visible wings splayed out, and visibly distraught as her horn was sparking like crazy, all signs she recognized. “Sweet Celestia. She‘s holding it in!”
Flappy nodded. “Squawk! I tried to get her to release but she won’t listen to me! Squawk!”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “What’s causing this?!”
“Squawk! She’s been trying to bring herself to tell you about her wings ever since you two first met. But she never could. And it’s been slowly eating her up until finally, THIS happened! Squawk!”
Twilight nodded. “What’s been stopping her from coming out?”
“Squawk! She’s afraid of what everypony will say! She’s afraid they’ll shun her. Squawk!”
Twilight gasped. “What?! That’s ridiculous!”
Flappy nodded. “Squawk! TELL HER THAT! Squawk!”
Twilight nodded and started walking towards Sparkler. She cleared her throat. And then shouted. “Sparkler! It’s Twilight! Listen to me. You have to let the magic go! If you don’t, you won’t make it!”
Sparkler seemed to hear her, and shook her head in response. “No! T...too close, gah!” Tears started falling down her face from her eyes.
Twilight turned back to Flappy, who provided context. “Squawk! She’s afraid everypony’ll see and hear the outburst! Squawk!”
Twilight nodded. “I can fix that!” She lit her own horn and sent a small flare into the air. The flare exploded and erected an incredibly tall barrier that reached into the clouds around the area. She turned back to Sparkler. “Sparkler! You can release the outburst now. I just cast a cloaking spell. Nopony will hear or see it! I promise!”
Sparkler shook her head again, refusing to let it out. “Gah! T...too risky!”
Twilight could see Sparkler glowing brighter as the wind picked up speed. Her mind began to race. Sparkler had to release the magic NOW before it was too late. She shook her head and dived in to wrap her forelegs and wings around Sparkler. Pulling her close. “Sparkler! Please! Just let it go! Whatever happened in Saddle Arabia, I PROMISE you it’s different here! You don’t have to hide anything anymore! You can be yourself! Please! Let it go!” She pleaded, a few tears of her own falling down her face.
Sparkler closed her eyes tight and shook her head. “I...I can’t!”
Twilight shook her head. “Yes you can Sparkler! You should never be afraid to be yourself around us! We WANT to know the real you. Please! I’m begging you! Just let the magic go, and show us the real Sparkling Medley!” She pleaded.
At that moment, Sparkler’s horn lit up bright, her eyes turned solid glowy white, and a massive beam shot out from her horn. The beam burst through the clouds and into space, after a second, the beam stopped and Sparkler dimmed and her eyes returned to normal. Once the magic was let out and she stopped glowing, she all but collapsed into Twilight’s grip, unconscious as the wind slowly eased to a stop.
Flappy saw this and immediately flapped his wings and flew over to her side while Twilight gently set her down and lightly pressed her hoof to her neck to check for a pulse. Much to her relief, there still was. She let out a relieved sigh. “She’s alright. Just out like a light.”
Flappy smiled and sighed in relief. “Squawk! Thank the MAKER! For a second there, I thought she was gonna...” He trailed off, not exactly wanting to finish that sentence.
Twilight smiled and nodded. “She let it go just in time. A few more seconds and it may have been too late.” She gazed down at Sparkler and her eyes wandered to where Sparkler’s wings were completely exposed. “Sweet Celestia. She really DOES have wings. Pinkie was right all along.”
Flappy nodded. “Squawk! Twilight. You are now one of the very few in all of Equestria that know the truth. I need you to promise that you will keep it on the down low until Sparkler’s ready. Squawk!”
Twilight nodded. “I promise.” She took another glance at Sparkler before nodding. “We should get her back to your guys’ house to rest. It’s not safe here in the Everfree Forest and she’s gonna be out for a while.”
Flappy nodded. “Squawk! You go on ahead and teleport her back. I’ll see you in a minute. Squawk!” He spread his wings and launched into the air. Zipping away in the direction of Ponyville.
Twilight watched him go and turned back to Sparkler. She sighed and carefully wrapped Sparkler up in her wings. She lit her horn. “Let’s get you home Sparkler. It’s gonna be ok.” With a single pulse of her horn, she and Sparkler popped away to safety.
A few minutes later, after popping into Sparkler’s bedroom with Sparkler in her grasp, Twilight gently pulled the cover over Sparkler, who she managed to get into bed without too much difficulty. She released the covers and started for the door. She turned around again to make sure Sparkler was ok, and found Flappy carefully passing through the broken window. He looked down to see Sparkler in bed, still asleep. He nodded and flew over to Twilight. “Squawk! Let’s go downstairs. I don’t want her to wake up prematurely. Squawk!” He whispered best he could.
Twilight nodded and lit her horn. Flappy turned to see the window glowing in Twilight’s magenta aura. He whipped back around and shook his head. “Squawk! No! Not yet—“ He hissed at her. “—It’ll help her remember when she wakes up. Squawk!”
Twilight nodded and dimmed her horn. She and Flappy exited the room and gently closed the door behind them.
“She’s lucky to have you you know.” Twilight commented when she and Flappy entered the living room. “Had you not been around, or fast enough, we would’ve been scheduling a funeral this week.”
Flappy nodded. “Squawk! I owe her my life. I was a chick when we met. My wing had been broken and she fixed it up. Were it not for her, I may not be here today. You better believe I’ll always look out for her as she has me. Squawk!”
Twilight nodded and sighed as she glanced back at the staircase. “She’s an Alicorn. I can’t believe it.”
Flappy nodded. “Squawk! I don’t know a lot about this Alicorns. All I know is that Sparkler has been an Alicorn Since birth.”
Twilight gasped. “BIRTH?! She’s a natural born Alicorn? Are either of her parents Alicorns?”
Much to Twilight’s surprise, Flappy shook his head. “Squawk! Dad’s a Unicorn and mom’s an Earth Pony. Squawk!”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “So neither have wings. Then...how could she have been born an Alicorn?”
Flappy shrugged. “Squawk! Sheer pure dumb luck? Your guess is as good as ours. Squawk!” He sighed. “Squawk! Twilight. Please understand that Sparkler had no intention of hiding her wings forever. She’s been trying to bring herself to tell you the truth for weeks. Ever since she first saw that you two have the same anatomy. She really wants to believe that history won’t repeat itself, but her past left a lasting emotional scar and it’s one wound she NEVER wants to reopen again. Squawk!”
Twilight nodded. “You mentioned that she was the outcast...”
Flappy nodded. “Squawk! The resident freak of the school. The one everypony made fun of. It was absolutely disgusting the way those brainless idiots treated her. Squawk!”
Twilight felt her eyes beginning to water again as she imagined little Sparkler being horribly mistreated. “How bad was it?”
Flappy sighed. “Squawk! They pelted eggs at her daily, calling her the Horned Chicken and other things along those lines. I can still remember helping her preen her wings daily just to make sure they stayed fully flight capable. It was rough. Squawk!”
“Did anypony try to stop this?”
Much to Twilight’s horror. Flappy shook his head. “Nothing COULD stop it. No matter what was done, every school day she’d come home covered in egg yolk and broken egg shells. Amazingly she never developed a fear of eggs. But I still get nervous every time I see any kind of egg. Squawk!”
Tears were falling down Twilight’s face by now. The mere image of a little Sparkler being assaulted by eggs for no reason made her heart ache.
Flappy continued. “Squawk! And the sad part is that the egg pelting WASN’T the worst of it. Those monsters actually did something much more horrible. Something that nearly led to her destruction during her FIRST magical breakdown. Squawk!”
Twilight gasped. “You mean tonight’s incident happened before?!”
Flappy nodded. “Squawk! Yeah. Once. Apparently an alicorn’s emotions play a larger factor in their level of magical control than the unicorn average. I’ll leave it to Sparkler to tell if she wants to, but she was in so much of an emotional mess that night that it took me singing to get her to let it out, which is what I tried tonight, but it didn’t work. THAT’S why I came to you. Squawk!” He sighed. “Squawk! I still have nightmares on occasion about it. The mere thought of losing her...” He landed on the floor as his eyes began to water. “Squawk! I don’t know if I could go on without her. She practically raised me from birth. I...I don’t want to lose her after everything we’ve been through together. Squawk!”
Twilight got down on her haunches and took Flappy in her hooves, embracing him just as tears started to fall from Flappy’s face. She tried her best to soothe the distraught parrot. “Hey, it’s ok Flappy. It’s gonna be ok. You aren’t going to lose her.”
Flappy nodded slowly. “Squawk! Thank you Twilight. I really do owe you for this. Squawk!”
Twilight smiled. “Of course Flappy. I know quite a few ponies who would’ve been devastated if Sparkler had perished tonight. Myself included.”
Flappy nodded and let go of Twilight. He flapped his wings and began hovering again. He cocked his head towards the door. “Squawk! I’ll find a way to coax Sparkler out of the house in the morning and we’ll swing by tomorrow so you two can finally have a talk. Squawk!”
Twilight bit her lip and glanced at the staircase again. “Actually, I think I’ll stick around and make sure Sparkler’s ok. If that’s alright.”
Flappy smiled and nodded. “Squawk! I think she’ll appreciate that. But what about Starlight and Spike? Squawk!” He asked as he realized that he probably set off a LOT of red flags when he made as much noise as possible.
Twilight giggled. “They know I can take care of myself. And I’ll send a magical pulse to Starlight in the morning telling her that everything’s alright and that I’m with you guys.”
Flappy nodded. “Squawk! Alright. Feel free to crash anywhere you want. I got an Alicorn to watch like a hawk...it actually has a name. Who knew Squawk!” With that, he took off up the stairs.
Twilight watched him go and sighed. Who would’ve thought an Alicorn would be Ponyville’s new resident. I wonder if Celestia is one of those very few who know. So many questions burned through Twilight’s mind as she laid down right where she was and slowly drifted off to sleep, determination to help her friend evermore prevalent within her.
To be continued...