//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Star Wars, Episode Pony: Friendship is Magic // by Kendallonian //------------------------------// Twilight stared glumly out of the shuttle’s side window, not particularly enjoying her view of hyperspace. Next to her, Spike was silently reviewing the day’s itinerary from a data pad, but Twilight didn’t need to hear to know what it said; she’d memorized the words reading it over and over to see if Celestia had made some sort of mistake. My dearest Twilight Sparkle; there is more to a Jedi’s life than meditation, which is why I am sending you to check on preparations for a small festival being held in Mos Poni on the third planet of the EverFree system tomorrow. Please talk to the following ponies to make sure their arrangements have all been made and everything is ready for tomorrow; Catering: Applejack Decor: Rarity Belle Musical accompaniment: Fluttershy If any of these ponies need help with their respective duties, I expect you to make it your mission to assist them in any way possible. Also, in addition to your more official duties, I would like to add one more directive of a more personal nature; Make some friends. I shall be in attendance the day of the festival, and look forward to hearing of your progress. Twilight was furious, not that she would ever allow it to show; she was a Jedi after all. Not only had Master Celestia ignored her warnings, but she then had the gall to give her a mission to check on catering arrangements. She couldn’t help but think that it was beneath her dignity as a Jedi Knight to be given such busywork. Granted, she technically wasn’t a Jedi Knight yet, but Twilight had always believed that her mentor had more faith in her than that. Oh, yes; and there was also the part about making friends, which was almost as insulting and many times more confusing than the first part of her mission. Jedi didn’t just make friends. There was a good reason one of their cardinal rules was that attachment was forbidden. Then again, Celestia had always been a bit odd about following the jedi code; it always seemed like her interpretation of the code was far too loose for a full-fledged jedi knight, let alone a Master of the council. The shuttle jolted as Twilight’s ship exited hyperspace, which allowed Twilight her first view of the place they would be visiting. The Everfree system had four planets; only two of which were remotely habitable. The first Habitable planet only just barely qualified for the title; it was a sulfuric ball of rock and hot gas that was far too dangerous to justify living on; The other, the planet Twilight’s shuttle was currently approaching, was a dusty desert world with only a few small settlements dotting the landscape. As the shuttle grew closer to the planet, sand filled Twilight’s view; she could practically feel the heat already from the sunlight reflecting off of it’s surface. As the shuttle descended further, Twilight could begin to make out the individual buildings of Mos Poni; though not easily, since the rounded and weathered sandstone they were constructed from blended in nicely with the surrounding dunes. The spaceport consisted of only six separate landing pads hollowed out of a single structure, and from the looks of the stacks of dusty cargo crates in a few of them, only three saw regular use. Twilight’s shuttle dipped into one of them and landed, kicking up a small curtain of dust as it touched ground. Twilight, followed closely by spike, exited into the street; which, while certainly not crowded by the metric of anypony from Canterscaunt, had a fair number of ponies, droids, and a scattering of other alien creatures milling about. Among them was a sturdy-looking orange mare who wore a wide-brimmed hat topped with a pair of protective goggles. A sign was draped across her back so that when her side faced the crowd exiting the spaceport, they could read the words ‘Twilight Sparkle’ in large, easy-to-read lettering. Twilight figured that the mare was her welcoming committee. Twilight waved cordially as she approached. “Howdy!” the mare said in a thick, but understandable local accent as she returned the wave; “You’re Twilight?” “Yes I am.” Twilight said. Then she pointed to the miniature reptile following behind her. “And this is my assistant, Spike.” Before Twilight could say any more, her hoof had been seized from her and was being shaken like the orange mare was trying to test how many G’s she could endure. “Well I’m mighty pleased t’ make new friends!” the orange mare said casually, almost causing Twilight to choke; “The name’s Applejack!” It took Twilight a second or two to realise that Applejack was no longer shaking her hoof, since it was still throbbing noticeably from the mare’s strong grip. “New… friends?” Twilight asked, almost under her breath. “I- uh… well I’m here to supervise the preparations for the festival-” “Mmm-hmm!” Applejack said, nodding. “And let me just tell you, we here in Mos Pony are just as pleased as punch that yer master Celestia is gonna be able to make the trip.” “Uh- yes! Thank you! I’m sure Celestia will be pleased to be here as well. But down to business; according to my list, you’re in charge of the food?” “Me and the entire Apple family.” Applejack replied proudly. “In fact, we can head on down to the apple homestead just as soon as you’re ready.” “Oh, good.” Twilight said, looking around. “Is your speeder parked nearby, or…” “Naw, we don’t have much use for the things ‘round here.” Applejack said, leading the way out of the crowd on hoof. ”Just a brisk morning walk over to the homestead anyway.” Twilight reluctantly followed the farm pony, the dusty streets becoming marginally less crowded but more festive as they continued. Colorful yellow and light-blue banners were being hung between buildings, and foals were playing with streamers trailing from their mouths. Soon, however, the buildings shrank and then abandoned them entirely, leaving only a wide open, dusty expanse with a small, sunken compound at its center. All around were the tall, white moisture vaporators that were common in desert communities and, much to Twilight’s surprise, a few scattered fruit trees that were monitored closely by various droids and a few earth ponies. Twilight suspected a good portion of the moisture the farm collected went straight back into its own crops. Applejack waved enthusiastically to anypony that met her gaze, and usually the ponies in the moisture fields waved back. As they did, Applejack told Twilight their names like she was just arriving at a family reunion. “That’s Apple Fritter, Apple Bumpkin, That tall un’ over there’s Red Delicious, Goldie Delicious, the lil’ filly o’er there’s mah sister Apple Bloom, Big Mac, Caramel Apple. How ya doin’ Apple Strudel?” After what seemed like a hundred names, Twilight began to realize that some of the apple family were waving at her as well as Applejack. She lowered her head, Hoping beyond hope that she could escape everypony’s notice. After a few more introductions, Applejack looked back toward Twilight with a smile that soon melted into confusion. Applejack slowed a bit so she could walk beside Twilight instead of leading. “You alright?” Applejack asked. “Forgive me but you seem… not altogether comfy.” Twilight bit her lip. She was, in fact, extremely uncomfortable. After another moment, she spoke, trying to sound as professional as possible. “Could we please, just... get to the part where you let me know if the food is going to be ready for the festival tomorrow?” Applejack raised an eyebrow, and Twilight immediately knew that the request had come out sharper than she had intended. Spike frowned at her grumpily. “Ah suppose,” Applejack said uncertainly. A silence passed between them, only broken by the sounds of their hooves in the dust, before Twilight felt the need to break it. “I’m sorry, I’m sure your family are very nice ponies, but I’m very, very busy today on… important… Jedi business.” Applejack hesitantly nodded. “I see;” she said slowly; “I s’pose I wanted to make y’all feel at home is all. You’ll want to talk to Granny Smith down at the house, she’ll know more than me ‘bout these things.” After another long, thought-filled moment of walking, Applejack spoke again: “Don’t you Jedi types ever find time to relax and, y’know, make friends?” At first Twilight was offended, but soon after she detected the sincerity and concern in Applejack’s question and thought better of it. “No.” Twilight said resolutely; “It’s… not part of the life we choose. When you’re a keeper of the peace, you have to be serene, vigilant, and most importantly, impartial.” Applejack nodded slowly, but still wore a frown. “I s’pose… but still, it seems a shame.” For half an instant, Twilight found herself agreeing with Applejack’s sentiment, Then she hurriedly pushed such thoughts out of her mind like trash into a chute. Real Jedi were beyond such things; saving the galaxy was far more important than making friends. Applejack led Twilight down a small set of sandstone stairs embedded into the ground and into the bunker-like house’s front door. Twilight was soon hit with the smells of baking pastry and ripe fruit, as well as a current of warm air that didn’t quite match the heat of the desert sun.  Immediately inside was a room with a low, domed ceiling that overlooked a rectangular table. There was a couch embedded in the adjacent wall, whereupon sat an ancient, lime-green mare who was presently slumped over and issuing forth slow, snorting breaths. “Up and at ‘em Granny Smith! We got guests!” Applejack barked, causing the elderly pony to stutter briefly in her snoring before prying open her eyes. A sound issued forth from her muzzle that sounded something like “Oh! Uh- whuh?” Applejack put a hoof on her elders’ shoulder and pointed the other to Twilight. “Granny, I’d like you to meet Twilight Sparkle, Jedi apprentice to Master Celestia, and her assistant Spike. They’re here to check up on our preparations for the festival.” Twilight waved feebly from across the table, giving a forced smile. Spike’s wave was more enthusiastic, and his smile more genuine. “Oh!” Granny smith said, slowly breaking out in a smile. “well How’dy’do Youngun?” “Just fine, thank you.” Twilight said formally. “This shouldn’t take long; I’m just here to make sure everything is going smoothly.” “Aww, that’s nice of you to check.” Granny Smith mused as she relaxed back into her seat; “‘Course we got most everything under control here.” The dismissive way Granny Smith had said it reminded Twilight far too much of her last conversation with Celestia, which irked her a bit before she forced the feeling back down into the depths of her mind. “You said ‘most everything’...” Twilight said with as much patience as she could muster. “Is there anything you’re having trouble with that I ought to know about?” Granny Smith’s pupils went to the corners of her eyes and squinted. “Well, there is this tiny thing of waiting on a shipment from Miss Dash, but I’m sure we’ll get that by the end of the day.” Applejack Massaged the bridge of her snout with a hoof; apparently she had just gotten a headache. “Really? You still haven’t got them spices from Rainbow yet?” “Well, no, but-” Applejack plowed forward, heedless of anything else her Granny was going to say. “I swear that pony has got to be the laziest freighter in the outer rim.” “Sorry, who are we talking about?” Spike asked. “Rainbow Dash.” Applejack said. “She’s a freighter pilot based ‘round here and she was supposed to have come back with some Neighbian spices for some of our fritters sometime today. Don’t get me wrong; she’s a real nice pony; but she spends a bit too much time nappin’ for my taste.” “Well, we could go get the spices!” Spike volunteered. “Well, that’s mighty nice o’ ya t’ offer!” Applejack said, a smile appearing on her face. Twilight suddenly felt a headache of her own coming on. “Spike…” she pleaded. “Well, Celestia did say it was our mission to help out in any way we could.” Spike said matter-of-factly. Twilight knew that Spike was right, of course, even if she didn’t like it. Figuring out how to save the galaxy would have to wait for a shipment of cooking ingredients, it seemed. Rainbow Dash’s freighter was parked on the edge of town, practically on the opposite side of Mos Poni from the apple homestead. It was a chunky, yet angular vessel that was shaped roughly like a falcon’s head. It’s exterior was mostly gray, But Twilight could see the remains of some faded attempt at rainbow flames across the bottom half. The back of the ship was open, with a small ramp leading into the shaded interior. “Ugh. I just hope these spices are easy to find;” Twilight said as she approached. “Oh, don’t worry, Twilight. I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time to meditate once the Festival is over.” Spike said just before he ran ahead of her up the boarding ramp. Twilight Grumbled something unintelligible as she followed. The inside of the ship was a mess; Standard shipping crates of various sizes were scattered everywhere, and a table in the corner held several jars of seemingly random condiments and a half-eaten sandwich that contained a blue, starchy material that Twilight couldn’t identify. From behind a closed door towards the bow came a rhythmic sound that seemed like a mix between a turbolift engine and a rancor growl. When Twilight took a peek inside, she found herself looking into the cockpit, where a light-blue pegasus with a multicolored mane was straddled over the pilot and co-pilot’s seats in a bent-backwards pose that Twilight couldn’t imagine could be comfortable. Nevertheless, The pegasus was snoring loudly with a dark-blue blanket haphazardly draped over her barrel. Spike, still looking around at the crates, asked “There’s no labels. Which one do you think has the spices?” “I suppose we’d better ask.” Twilight said. She gently rocked the pilot’s chair on its hinges, and gave out a stern “Ahem,” but the pegasus kept snoring. Twilight tried rocking the chair again, harder, but to no effect. Twilight was rolling her eyes when she caught sight of the thruster controls on the panel to her left. She thought for only a second before briefly tapping one particular button with her hoof. The entire ship jumped a few inches and fell back to the ground. Spike was thrown off of his feet, but Twilight managed to remain standing. The pegasus was thrown from her precarious resting place, landing in a heap on the floor between the seats. “What the-'' came the pegasi’s voice; It sounded like she had spent a lot of time shouting into the wind in her youth. “Hello.” Twilight said with mock formality. “Rainbow Dash, I presume?” “Wha- oh.” The pegasus said before rising to rub her head. “You guys do know it’s a holiday, right? Not taking any jobs today.” “Well first of all, it’s not a holiday yet.” Twilight said; “And second of all, I’m here about a job that should’ve been done earlier today.” Rainbow scrunched her muzzle in confusion. “Earlier today? What’cha talking about?” “I’m talking about a certain shipment of spices you were supposed to get to the Apple family Homestead.” Twilight said. “Oh, that.” Rainbow Dash seemed immediately less concerned. “I was gonna get around to that soon enough.” “Oh, really?” Twilight said, disbelieving. “Seemed to me like you were gonna nap until nightfall. What would you do if you woke up fifteen minutes before the festival was about to start?” “Then I would have delivered it as soon as I woke up.” Rainbow said as she began to wrap herself in her blanket again.. “Besides, If I wanted to, I could fly those crates over there in ten seconds flat.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. The pre-flight checks alone would take a few minutes at least.” Rainbow’s eyes emerged from under the blanket, this time with a deadly glint to them that caused Twilight to take a step back. “Ten. seconds. Flat.” Came the promise out of Rainbow’s mouth. Twilight went through the math in her head again just to make sure, then narrowed her gaze.  “Prove it;” She said. Rainbow’s eyes narrowed into deadly, knifelike slits. Her Hooves shot out from under her blanket and onto the controls,causing the ship to lurch suddenly off the ground and throwing Twilight back into the common area of the ship. The ship’s back ramp closed just in time to keep her and Spike from falling out, and Twilight could hear the mechanical sounds of the landing gear retracting into the hull. In another instant, they were thrown back to the bow by a burst of backward acceleration. Rainbow then spun the wheel in front of her, causing the ship to whip around so that it’s tip was facing it’s current direction of travel. Through the doors of the cockpit, Twilight could see the buildings of Mos Poni whipping by at a disturbingly close distance. Rainbow’s ship passed between several taller buildings before she pulled it into the airborne equivalent of a drift and skidded sideways across the sky. Twilight was once again thrown against the wall, this time feeling her mane cushioned from the metal by a mushy, starchy substance. As the ship slowed, it descended in a gradual arc until Rainbow hit the upward thrusters just in time to catch them before they hit the ground. In another instant, Rainbow extended the landing gear, allowing her ship to skid across the sand to a gentle stop. At the last second the boarding ramp opened again, allowing a few metallic crates to slide out of the ship and onto the sand. “Ten. Seconds Flat.” Rainbow declared victoriously. “See? I’d never leave the town hanging!”  Soon afterward Twilight managed to wobble herself back into the cockpit to confirm that they were now, in fact, on the Apple family homestead. They were about fifty feet away from the house, in fact, and the promised crates were even now being retrieved from the sand by a few members of the Apple family. Rainbow then spotted the leftover half of her sandwich that had found its way into Twilight’s mane.  “Oh, uh… sorry about that;” Rainbow said as she picked the bread out from the tangled pink and purple mess. She had been about to start picking out bits of the unknown white, sticky substance when Twilight held up a hoof to stop her. “You know what, It’s fine.” Twilight said, still staring out of the cockpit window with a bit of a twitch in her eye. “Everything is just great. You delivered the crates, and that’s what matters.” Rainbow let a brief moment of silence pass before she let out a laugh and slapped Twilight on the back. “What’s your name, huh?” Rainbow asked jovially. “Twilight Sparkle;” Twilight said flatly. “Well you’re a riot, Twilight Sparkle;” Rainbow said; “I can’t wait to hang out some more!” Twilight trudged through the streets of Mos poni, her head held low with it’s mushy adornment. Spike looked like he wanted to say something, but kept his mouth shut. Twilight was glad; in her current mood she wasn’t sure she could contain her sheer frustration. As it was, she was consciously taking each step using as little energy as possible for fear that she would start stomping audibly across the town with an attitude very unfitting of a Jedi’s apprentice. Instead of focusing on what a rotten day she’d had so far, Twilight decided to focus on the next item on her to-do-list; the pony in charge of setting up the decorations for the festival, Rarity. Applejack’s family had been gracious enough to point her towards town hall, where she was reportedly doing her job of putting the finishing touches on the decor. From the outside, the town hall tried to look impressive; and indeed, it was the tallest structure in Mos Poni, but looking at the worn sandstone tower only made Twilight think of how it paled in comparison to even the smallest of structures on Canterscaunt. Still, the various streamers and banners hanging from it’s sides did give it a splash of color that Twilight could bring herself to enjoy. Twilight had been expecting much the same thing when she entered, but she was instead met with a grand banquet table in the midst of a show of elegance that Twilight would be hard-pressed to replicate even back on her homeworld. The edges of the room were draped with satin curtains and the columns were wrapped in neatly spiralling streamers interspersed with boughs of white flowers, almost like there were long, white flowering trees growing up to the top of the room. And all that was without even mentioning the gems. Tiny, sparkling crystals seemed to fill every nook and cranny of the room; They were interspersed amongst the pillars of flowers where they glinted like buried treasure; they lined the walls in elegant lines that swooped and curled, implying sparkling seas of water, and of sand. As much as Twilight had grown to detest sand during her short time on this planet, she had to admit the sparkling way the jeweled murals depicted it somehow made it appealing. “So… beautiful.” Spike said, Jaw agape. Twilight surveyed the hall appreciably. “The decorations do seem very nice.” “Not them… Her.” Spike said, pointing towards the far end of the hall where a unicorn stood, facing the wall with a critical eye. The unicorn mare’s coat was white, which contrasted beautifully with her darker purple mane. The mane itself was styled into elaborate curls that Twilight thought would be impossible to maintain throughout the day. Across her back was draped a shimmering blue cape that complimented her own natural colors perfectly. Twilight peered at the stranger from across the massive room, then took another look at Spike’s expression; It seemed like he’d dropped a few IQ points just from seeing the white-coated mare. Twilight rolled her eyes and approached the other unicorn, leaving Spike to his stupor. “Hello.” Twilight said as she got within proper speaking range; “I’m-” But whatever she had been about to say was interrupted by a strikingly fast upward hoof from the stranger, who still seemed to be glaring at the decorated wall before her for some reason. Twilight shut her mouth, expecting an explanation, but was instead met with intense silence as the unicorn removed two gems from the wall and carefully swapped their places. When the replacement was complete, Twilight did think that the mural’s lighting effect had been improved, albeit in a way that she herself may have never noticed nor cared to. “Terribly sorry;” The unicorn finally said in an accent that reminded Twilight of Canterscaunt high life; “I’m in the zone, as it were. You were saying?” She still hadn’t taken her eyes off of the mural. Twilight took a second to regain her momentum; “My name is Twilight Sparkle. I’m here to check on the festival preparations for my master, Celestia.” The white-coated unicorn seemed to twitch at that last statement; her concentration was broken, and she swung her gaze around to meet Twilight’s eyes. “Oh my goodness!” She practically shouted, Squeezing her own face between her hooves. “You’re here from.. I mean, you must be here from… Canterscaunt?” The sudden eagerness in the white Unicorn’s voice caught Twilight off-guard. “Uhh… yes...” she said hesitantly. “And you’re… Rarity?” “Oh, yes!” Rarity said. Putting a hoof on her heart in a show of humility. “It’s such a pleasure to meet…” The unicorn’s voice trailed off as her eyes locked onto a point just above Twilight’s eyes. “Oh dear…” The well-dressed mare said as she regained her voice. “What happened to your coiffure?” “Uh- my mane?” Twilight said. She almost stuck a hoof through her mane, but then she remembered that she still had the unidentified sandwich substance stuck in it. “Oh, it’s nothing.” Twilight said. “Just an incident with… a pilot.” Twilight decided not to name Rainbow Dash specifically, since from her expression Twilight could see that Rarity might consider this minor inconvenience a crime to all ponykind. “Well, I must help you fix it at once.” Rarity said resolutely. “I’ll just take you back to my place and we can have this sorted in a jiffy.” “Whoa! That’s… not really necessary.” Twilight said, forcing a smile. “I’ll just wash it out later.” “Nonsense!” Rarity said, undeterred. “We can’t have a Jedi Knight walking around looking like a homeless pony!” “Uh… I’m just a Padawan, actually…” Twilight said. “Well nevertheless!” Ratiy said as she practically began shoving Twilight towards the exit door. “Uh… we’re really very busy.” Twilight tried. She looked to Spike for support, but he was still staring dumbly at Rarity, who was undeterred with Twilight’s excuses. “Well, I suppose, as long as it doesn’t take too long.” Twilight said; mostly to herself, as Rarity needed no further encouragement. Twilight had spent the next few hours in Rarity’s bedroom, where it seemed her mane had been subjected to every conceivable technique in order to pull the foreign substance out. Then Rarity had insisted that she brush her mane and apply a significant amount of product in order to keep everything neat. Somehow that had also turned into Rarity diving into her closet of many, many capes and insisting Twilight try on a few to see what suited her. In the end, Twilight had gotten directions to the last pony on her list and slipped quietly away while Rarity had been grabbing another batch of accessories from her closet. The last pony on Twilight’s list was named Fluttershy; she was supposed to be in charge of the music for the festival. It thus surprised Twilight that her house was so far from Mos Poni proper. It wasn’t a long walk, by any means, but the small sandstone cottage in the middle of the desert practically screamed to Twilight that it’s occupant craved isolation. Twilight approached the door quietly and gave a polite knock on the door. No answer came. After a half-minute of waiting, Spike squirmed on her back. “Maybe nopony’s home?” Spike suggested. “Maybe.” Twilight said. “But Rarity seemed to think she’d be here…” As Twilight drifted off, she began to hear a faint sound from behind the cottage; she wasn’t sure, but it did sound faintly of music. As she began to circumnavigate the structure, the sound became clearer, and Twilight could confirm that it was, in fact, music; but not of any sort Twilight was used to hearing. She recognized the tune as one of the many anthems of the Republic, but Twilight couldn’t recognize any of the instruments. As she passed around to the backyard, she began to see why. Assembled into a strange sort of choir was a group of small rat-like creatures with long back legs. Their noses were elongated into tiny trunks, and a chorus of reedy whistles emanated forth from them. As she looked, Twilight could see that there were other creatures in the choir as well; a large, flat, stony creature served as the group’s bass with a series of low growls, and the higher notes were picked up by varying sizes of birds, ranging from cute to predatory-looking. In front of them all, acting as a conductor to this odd choir, was a cream-yellow pegasus, who would almost, but not quite, blend in with the pale sands of the desert if it weren’t for her pink mane. Perhaps the mane was its own sort of camouflage, though, since it seemed to Twilight like it was designed to partially hide the pegasus’s face. Twilight watched in awe and confusion as the assembly of creatures finished their song, whereupon the Pegasus approached one of the small rodents. “Um.. excuse me, but… I think you were singing just a little bit flat there.” To Twilight’s surprise, The rodent nodded in understanding before the pegasus flew gently back to her conducting position, ready to start the song again. “Hello!” Twilight said by way of introduction. She hadn’t spoken particularly loudly; but nonetheless the Butter-colored pegasus flinched as though she had heard an explosion. The choir of creatures scattered into the desert around the house, quickly finding hiding places among the scant rocks and burrows in the area. The large rock-like creature, in contrast, lazily regarded Twilight for a few moments before using a large pincer to spread a meager portion of dust across the top of his shell and settling down for a nap. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Twilight said. She waited briefly for a response, but upon hearing nothing, she continued. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. I’m here to check on the preparations for the upcoming festival in Mos Poni.” The pegasus might have mumbled something then, but Twilight wasn’t sure; It seemed like she couldn’t hear anything over the silence. “I- um… I heard some of your music. It sounded wonderful.” Twilight said hopefully. The pegasus simply hoofed the dusty ground nervously. Twilight began to notice several of the rodents begin to peek out from their hiding places and give her curious looks. “I- um… Well, Everything seems to be in order here;” Twilight said, beginning to feel awkward just from proximity to the pegasus. “I’ll let you get back to your practice.” As Twilight turned to go the way she came around the cottage, she couldn’t help but think that as eccentric as the ponies of this town were, at least this visit had been quick. Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when she heard a small gasp from the pegasus, followed by the first words she had heard from the pony’s mouth since Twilight had said “hello”; “Is that… a dragon?” Twilight stopped to turn towards the voice, only now remembering that Spike had been riding silently on her back this whole time. “Um, yes! I am!” Spike said. “I’m Spike!” The Pegasus didn’t reach a hoof to shake Spike’s outstretched claw, but she did step forward a bit to speak. “Oh, wow. You talk! That’s… great!” The pegasus said. Twilight thought that her tone must have been what usually passed as excitement for the abnormally closed-off pegasus. “I’m Fluttershy.” She finally said. Twilight might have sent a cordial greeting back, but at this point she was afraid any sort of sound from her would send the pegasus back into her shell, not to mention scare away the choir of creatures that was slowly reconvening back to their places with wary expressions. Luckily, Spike had that part covered too. “Well hi, Fluttershy!” Spike said; “It’s nice to meet you!” “So… are you a Padawan?” Fluttershy asked Spike softly. Twilight inwardly did a double-take. Most ponies outside the Jedi temple used the word ‘Apprentice’ when referring to students of the order. ‘Padawan’, while not unheard-of, was an unusual word to hear when talking to a pony with no apparent connection to the Jedi. “Uh, no.” Spike said. “This is Twilight Sparkle; she’s the Padawan. I’m her assistant!” Twilight waved a hoof cordially. Fluttershy wrinkled her snout. “I didn’t think Padawans usually got assistants of their own.” She said curiously. “They don’t.” Spike confirmed. “It’s a bit of a long story… Do you wanna hear it?” “Spike!” Twilight said in a scolding tone. “I’m sure she has other things she has to do right now.” “Oh, no; I’d love to hear everything.” Fluttershy said eagerly “Well, um… but I have some things I need to get to in town…” Twilight said, trying to find some excuse not to have to spend any more time than needed away from her meditations. “Oh, that’s okay.” Fluttershy said amicably. “I can come with you! You can tell me all about it on the way.” “Perfect!” Spike said, even as Twilight heaved a long sigh. Twilight began the long walk, just as Spike began his epic tale; “I started out as a little purple and green-spotted egg. The doctors on my world didn’t think I was gonna make it out, but then Twilight and Celestia showed up…” Spike kept Fluttershy rapt with tales of his life the entire way back into town, by which time the twin suns were just about reaching the horizon. It seemed like he was just about winding down once they approached the building they were to be staying in; a nearly cubic, two-story structure with a hemispheric roof. “...And that is the story of my whole life up until today.” Spike finished. Then he pondered for a second before eagerly asking; “Do you want to hear about today?” Twilight involuntarily jerked to a stop, causing Spike to fall off her back. “Ow” Spike said, glaring at Twilight out of the corner of his eye. Twilight jerked around to face Fluttershy with a smile composed entirely of plasteel. “Oh, look. I’m so sorry; how did we get here so fast? Thank you for accompanying us but I think Spike needs his sleep now.” Spike screwed up his scaly snout at that last. “What? No I don-” Before he could say any more, Twilight jabbed Spike in the ribs with a light tap of her back hoof, causing him to cough . He took the hint, but his scowl told Twilight he wasn’t happy about it. Fluttershy didn’t seem to notice or care about the small exchange, instead flying around Twilight and scooping Spike up into her hooves. “Oh, yes.” She said as she gently carried him towards the door. “A growing baby dragon does need his naptime. You simply must get into bed.” Before Fluttershy could enter the house, however, Twilight interposed herself between the pegasus and the portal. “Yes, yes, I’ll make sure he gets there.” Twilight said hurriedly as she telekinetically took Spike from Fluttershy’s grip. “I’m sure you’re far too busy a mare right now to do it yourself. We’ll get right on that. Well, g’night!” With a speed born of desperation, Twilight punched the door controls with a hoof and slipped inside with Spike, maintaining her fragile grin until the door closed again and broke Fluttershy’s line of sight. It was dark inside the room; so much so that Twilight could hardly see her hoof in front of her face. She could, however, briefly hear spike grumbling from the blackness. “Rude, much?” He said quietly. Twilight took a deep breath to steady herself. “I’m sorry, Spike,” Twilight whispered, “but I need to continue my meditation. I have this terrible feeling that Darth nightmare will be returning soon; and I need more specific answers to get Celestia to take this seriously!” “Or, you know, she could be right like she usually is.” Spike said. Twilight could practically feel his eyes rolling.  A part of Twilight agreed with spike sentiment; when she and her mentor had disagreements in the past, Celestia had always turned out to be right, but another, equally large part of Twilight knew that her visions had not simply been dreams. “Even if that’s true, making sure won’t hurt anything.” Twilight resolved out loud. “Now… Where’s the light?” As if on cue, the fluorescent bulbs in the ceiling lit up to reveal the room; only it hadn’t been Spike who flipped the switch. Instead, there was an extremely pink earth pony standing uncomfortably close to Twilight with a hoof on the lighting controls. “SURPRISE!” the earth pony shouted. Twilight regained her wits just fast enough to resist recoiling in terror at her personal space being so suddenly invaded. Her first, instantaneous thought was that an assassin had come to kill her, and Twilight grabbed her lightsaber from underneath her robes. Before she could ignite it, however, she noticed that not only was her would-be assassin entirely unarmed, but there were many other ponies scattered about the room as well, and none of them were carrying weapons either. In fact, everypony in the room except for Twilight was wearing a huge smile. “What the-” Twilight said; “who are you ponies?” “It’s your ‘Welcome to Mos poni’ Party, silly!” The pink mare said as she bounced around Twilight to get into the optimal position to simultaneously hug her and Spike. “ Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie and I planned this party just for you! Are you surprised? Huh? Huh?” “Y-yes. Extremely so;” Twilight said; “I’m confused… Do I know you?” “Nope!” The pink blur said certainly. “I saw you today when you came out of the spaceport and I didn’t recognize you and I thought that must mean that you were new to town cuz I know everypony in Mos Poni and I mean everypony in Mos Poni and so I thought that if you were new that meant you hadn’t met anyone yet and if you hadn’t met anyone yet then you must not have any friends and if you didn’t have any friends you must be lonely and that made me so sad and then I had an idea and so I went gasp only a real gasp not just saying gasp and my idea was to throw a super, super-duper spectacular welcome party and invite everyone in town!” Halfway through the spectacular run-on sentence Twilight had stopped listening, instead turning her attention to the other guests in the room. She recognized a few smiling faces, like Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow dash. She even vaguely recognized a few other ponies from the Apple family homestead. There was a knock on the door, and Pinkie answered. Twilight didn’t look, but heard Pinkie say “Oh, Fluttershy! So glad you could make it!” Twilight’s forehead began to ache spontaneously.  “I’m sorry… will you excuse me for a minute?” Twilight said before hastily cantering up the closest set of stairs she could see. Luckily none of the partygoers had overflowed into the upper levels of the house and Twilight could seal the door behind herself to be alone. Twilight slumped up against the sealed door and let out a long, ragged breath. She sat in the hall trying to wind down her strung-up emotions for a few minutes before she began to hear the muted sound of jazzy music from downstairs. Twilight felt her frustration spiking again, so she re-recited the Jedi code in her mind over and over. There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force. Twilight eventually explored the upstairs enough to find her room, where she flopped down onto her bed, trying to block out the sounds of the party downstairs with a pillow wrapped tightly around her head. Try as she might, she couldn’t get her emotions under control enough to enter any sort of meaningful meditation, so she wallowed in misery until Spike came up to check on her a few hours later. “Are you alright, Twilight?” He asked as he entered. “No, I am not alright.” Twilight said in an altogether harsher tone than she had initially intended. “All the ponies in this town are ca-razy! Do you know what time it is?” “Yeah… It’s the night before the festival.” Spike said; “Everyone is supposed to stay up all night to see the sunrise!” Twilight let out another ragged breath before hiding her face under her pillow once more. Of course it was that kind of party. Twilight couldn’t get any time to herself even when she was supposed to be sleeping. “Pinkie was just about to start some pin the tail on the ton-ton; you wanna join us?” Spike asked. “No thank you.” Twilight said from underneath her pillow. The way she said it made it clear she did not appreciate the offer, despite her words. Spike backed out of the room, taking a long look at Twilight before closing the door behind him. This left Twilight in darkness, save the moonlight filtering through a small horizontal window slit near the ceiling. Between the music still emanating from below, the sour aftertaste in her mouth from her day, and the pit in her stomach that hadn’t left since she had started having her visions of Darth nightmare’s return, Twilight couldn’t get to sleep. The prophecy she had read back in the jedi temple echoed through her mind over and over; “On the longest day of the thousandth year, she will return to bring about eternal night.” I hope I’m wrong… Twilight thought to herself as she tried to block out her worries. I hope Celestia was right to tell me not to worry… but I can’t believe it.