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// Chapter 7: Summer Sun 
// Story: Death, Sacrifice, and the man in blue 
// by MrTyrannousaurusX 
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10:52 AM Alan’s stomach pain felt like his stomach was being twisted and squeezed with every passing minute and his throat was drier than sandpaper. With every step he took, he hoped and prayed that at the end of the path was the salvation that Levi had said there would be. Alan had never felt this tired in his entire life, he felt like if he blinked just a little too long he would immediately fall asleep, his legs felt they were being weighed down by boulders the more and more he walked. They were more tired and sore than they had ever been before. 

His feet ached with every step as he walked on the crystal path, closer and closer to this alleged salvation that awaited him at the end. Despite how much soreness and pain he was in he knew that if he stayed in this forest any longer, his fate was sealed, he would be doomed to die. 

10:56 AM After a few more minutes of walking, Alan saw something from behind a bush. Through the cracks in between the leaves in the bush, he saw a tall purple object that had a sharp point on it. Alan’s face lit up with hope as he pushed through the bush hastily, and what he saw absolutely amazed him.

There were two tall purple crystals and in between them was a path that led to a beautiful looking kingdom in the distance. It was the salvation that Levi had told him about. “Wow..” He managed to whisper in awe despite the condition of his throat. He felt a sudden surge of energy course through his veins which caused him to pick up his pace and start jogging in between the purple crystals.

Alan unbelievably went from jogging to full force sprinting in a few seconds and was dashing down the path that led to the kingdom, his heart was slamming his chest and his head felt like it was about to explode but he didn’t care. He fought through it and continued zooming down the path.

Eventually, he got to the end of the path and the sight he was greeted filled him with shock. All of the houses and buildings were made out of crystal. Streetlamps, crystal. Roads, crystal. The huge tower that sat in the middle of the kingdom, crystal. The thing that surprised him the most out of everything was the animals that were walking down the sidewalk and coming in and out of there houses.

They were horses. Some were unicorns, some had wings, and some were just plain horses. It completely shocked him and it apparently shocked all of the horses too as they immediately stopped what they were doing and stared at Alan. 

“Listen! I need help!” Alan cried out, surprised that his throat still could make noise from how dry it was.

The horses continued to stare at him like he was some alien, some unknown lifeform, like he was on a different planet than these horses. Alan was convinced that he might be on a different planet from the way that wolf that attacked him looked, like it was made out of wood. 

“With what?” He heard a voice ask him. He looked to the right sidewalk and saw a light blue unicorn with a flowing darker blue man and tail and hazel eyes walking towards him, slowly and cautiously. 

“I’ve been in that forest for a day with no food and water! I cut myself and…” Alan suddenly stopped talking as he took a few steps toward the unicorn, immediately regretting his decision as his head felt like it was spinning. He felt extremely dizzy, like the world was spinning in circles around him, and the last thing Alan remembered was hearing the fast footsteps of someone running towards him before he slumped to the ground like a bag of bricks. “Sir! SIR!” The unicorn yelled as Alan’s eyelids grew heavy. The dehydration and lack of food finally caught up with Alan as he closed his eyes and slipped into unconsciousness.

Levi leaned over the edge of the hot air balloon, watching the clouds as they passed by and enjoying the breeze hitting him. Twilight stood next to him doing the same thing, gazing at the beautiful blue sky as they traveled further and further away from Canterlot. Twilight smiled at the sight, she looked over at Levi and felt something off about him. 

He was fidgeting with his hands and would plant his feet in a new position on the straw basket every so often, she could tell his fidgeting and constant moving meant that he was nervous about something. “Are you ok?” She asked him, drawing his attention away from the clouds.

“Huh-oh yeah I’m fine, just a little nervous” He replied, continuing to fidget and shift around in the basket. 

“Why?” She asked curiously.

“It’s because of what happened..with the Wonderbolts and all” He explained, Twilight gave him a reassuring smile in response. 

“Levi it’ll be alright, It’s highly highly unlikely that’ll happen again. It’s just bad circumstance that they were at that specific time” She answered, relieving some of Levi’s nervousness. However it wasn’t just that that was making him nervous, it was the concept of going back to Ponyville as a whole. The only ponies he knew really were Fluttershy, Spitfire, and Twilight in a town full of hundreds, maybe even thousands of ponies.

Levi clasped his sweaty hands together as he felt the breeze cool them, trying to relieve some of worries about Ponyville. “What if they freak out again? What if I start a panicked mob? Gosh..” He rubbed his eyes with his fingers as he took a deep breath. 

“Levi the odds of that are very low,” Twilight responded, “And even if it did happen, I’ll just explain how Princess Celestia wants you to come here” Levi suddenly remembered the prophecy, the paintings in the library, maybe this was part of the prophecy. Levi thought this would calm him down, but it instead made his worries worse. 

Levi sighed and looked Twilight in the eye, her purple eyes showing reassurance which brought a grin to Levi’s face. Despite only knowing her for less than a day, he felt a special connection to her. When he looked at her he didn’t see a unicorn, he saw an old friend. Instead of feeling confusion, Levi felt more comfortable around her.

“I hope you're right Twilight” Levi replied, noticing the clouds he was gazing at before going above the balloon instead of passing it. He looked down and saw the many buildings and houses of Ponyville come into view, watching as ponies walked from place to place and some fillies and colts running around playing with one another.

‘I really hope your right’

Levi’s hands were in his pockets and his head was pointed down at the ground, trying to ignore the burning stares of everyone around him as he walked. Watching his feet move one in front of the other as a way to distract himself from the current situation, he heard some ponies mumbling and murmuring to one another and Levi was glad the reaction wasn’t like the one he got last time. He could hear the pony’s voice screaming in the back of his mind, he still wondered what a changeling was. 

Levi resisted the urge to run to the library where they were going to be staying, wanting to get there as fast as humanly possible and hide away from all the stares from every pony around him. ‘Mind your own fuckin’ business!’ Levi thought angrily in his head, looking up for a split second and seeing a pony looking at him with a confused look.

He glared at the pony who flinched a little in response, this got Levi thinking whether or not he was seen as scary to the ponies around him. Levi pointed his head at the ground again and watched his feet as they got closer and closer to the library.

After a few more minutes of the almost unbearable walk, the three arrived at the library and Levi looked up and saw the library and his jaw almost dropped at the sight. The tree was a brilliant purple color with bushy green leaves at the top, one of the branches connected to a balcony and a little bit to the left of the middle of the tree was a deck with the roof covered by leaves. 

The door was a red color, with two small doors on the bottom of the door and a candle sign on the top of the door. Twilight pulled open the door and Levi quickly rushed inside pushing past Spike and Twilight, eager to hide away from the stares of the other ponies. When the door shut, Levi let out a sigh of relief and realized he took the feeling of not being the center of attention for granted.

The inside of the library amazed Levi, inside the walls were bookshelves filled with books and in the center of the room a light brown wooden table sat with a pony head carved out of wood on top of it. On the ceiling above the table was a sun that was painted perfectly on the ceiling. 

She handed Spike his saddlebag that was slung over her back and said “Go get settled in upstairs, I’ll be there in a minute” Spike nodded and took the saddlebag and ran to and up the stairs. Levi snickered at the way he looked when he ran.

“See? Wasn’t so bad was it?” Twilight asked.

“Pretty bad to me,” Levi answered quickly, “It sucked” 

Twilight felt a little disappointed at this, “Well once we get settled in we have to go make sure that everything is in line for the summer sun celebration” She said, causing Levi to mutter something to himself that Twilight couldn’t hear. 

She pulled a list out of her saddlebag and scanned the scroll before listing off “Food, weather, decor, and music, and..” she paused to sigh out of annoyance “Make some friends” she finished begrudgingly, putting the paper back in her saddlebag.

Levi raised an eyebrow at the unicorn and asked “What’s so bad about making friends?” Twilight rolled her eyes and responded in an annoyed tone “I’d rather be in this library and get evidence about Nightmare Moon's return than be making friends! I just want to make sure everything is in order and then find as much evidence as I can”

“Nightmare Moon?” He asked, confused. “Oh that’s right, I forgot to tell you, there is a prophecy that this summer sun celebration will be the return of Nightmare Moon! But nopony believes me!” She responded annoyed, using her magic to levitate her saddlebag off her back and drop it by one of the many bookshelves.

Levi gave her a confused look but changed the subject by saying “Making friends isn’t that bad, talking to people is easy” 

Twilight sighed out of annoyance and responded with “It’s not that, well partially that, but there’s so many better things I can do with my time then make friends” Her tone became more annoyed as she spoke the last word.

“I mean you met me right? I’m your friend” Levi replied.

“Well yeah but..it’s different” She responded.

“Why?” Levi questioned, intrigued.

“I’ll explain later, we have to go” Twilight responded, walking over to the stairs that led upstairs. “Spike let’s go!” She called up the stairs. 

“Coming!” He called back down to her, and a few moments later he came running down the stairs and he and Twilight walked towards the door together. With Levi walking side by side with them, with Twilight pulling the piece of paper out of her saddlebag with her magic and handing it to Spike as they walked out. Levi prepared himself for the inevitable stares that were gonna come the moment he stepped out of the door.

Once he was outside, Levi found that there were less burning stares that felt lasers being pointed directly at him, and more ponies that were simply walking around and minding their own business. While some ponies continued to stare, Levi would rather have this then what happened the last time he was there. 

“Spike what’s first on the list?” Twilight asked, looking down at the small reptile next to her. He held the paper close to his face for a few moments and said “Banquit!”. “To Sweet Apple Acres it is then” Twilight stated as her and Spike started to walk away from the library, but something caught Levi’s attention from his peripheral vision.

To his left trotting over in his direction was a pink pony with pink, poofy hair which looked almost cotton candy. On her flank was an insignia of a light blue, yellow, and pink balloon that were grouped together. Her light blue eyes had a friendly look as she made eye contact with Levi and began to trot over to Levi. A grin came across his face as the pink pony came closer to Levi, he saw this as a perfect opportunity to show Twilight that making friends is easier than she thinks.

“Twilight” Levi said, causing the lilac unicorn to turn her head and look at the man. “Yeah?” “I gotta show you something come here” He continued using his finger to motion the unicron to him.

She and Spike walked over to Levi and stood beside him as the friendly looking pink pony was in arms reach of Levi. She stopped in front of them, a smile plastered on her face as she looked at the three standing there. A nervous expression adorned Twilight’s face as Levi reached over and patted her on the back, saying “I’ll show you talking to new people isn’t that hard, try it?” 

Twilight still had a nervous look on her face as she looked nervously into the pink pony’s eyes, blue met purple, and uttered “Uhm..Hello”

The pink pony leaped in the air with a long and dramatically loud gasp as her eyes almost popped out of her skull, she stayed in the air for at least a second before dashing away in the blink of an eye. Leaving behind a small cloud of dust on the ground and the sound she made from dashing sounded like a jet flying past them, the sound rang in the air for a few seconds after as ponies all turned their head and looked over at the three. After a few seconds they turned their heads back in front of them and continued going about their business like this was a normal everyday occurrence, judging by how quickly she reacted like that that was probably the case.

Twilight looked over at Levi, a surprised look on her face as she spoke “So much for new friends”. Levi’s grin faded and was replaced by an amazed look, “Is that a normal thing?” Levi asked, turning his head in the direction the pink pony dashed off too. 

“Not where I’m from” Twilight responded, “Well we have places to be, come on you two” She finished, turning around and starting to walk towards Sweet Apple Acres with Levi and Spike at her side. As they walked, Levi glanced at all of the stands run by ponies that the trio passed. He looked at how each of them was unique and each stand had their own unique style to it, whether it was a different color paint or a different kind of wood or just how the pony was running it. Levi was surprised at what they were selling, squash, carrots, cherries, all of the fruits and vegetables that Levi saw were familiar to him which surprised him. He expected Ponyville to be filled with weird exotic food that he never heard of before, but he was delighted that he was wrong.

After a few minutes of walking with Spike now lying on Twilight’s back with his arms folded behind his head and one of his legs resting on his knee, Levi decided to make the walk less boring and decided to ask Twilight a few questions about ponies.

“Mind if I ask you something?”

“Sure, go ahead”

“What’s the mark above your back leg there?” He asked pointing his finger at her insignia curiously, Twilight turned her head around to see and answered “That’s called a cutie mark! It’s your special talent or whatever you're good at or really love doing, mine’s magic for example.”

“I see,” Levi replied, “Another question”

“Feel free”

“What are the ponies with wings called?” Levi asked.

“Pegasus, pegasi is plural” She answered swiftly.

“Gotcha” “Now it’s my turn for questions” Twilight interjected, excitement hidden in her voice.

“Go right ahead” Levi responded as he stuck his hands in his pockets as he walked.

“Where are you from?” “Tuscaloosa, Alabama” He answered hastily.

“How long do you usually live for?” Levi was surprised at the subject of the question but answered anyway “Usually until you're about 60 or 70, some people live up to 100”

“100?” She questioned, amazed.

“Yep, do you ponies live till you're 100?” He asked.

“It varies, but alicorns live for hundreds of years” Twilight replied, causing Levi to raise an eyebrow at the unicorn.

“Alicorn?” He questioned, confused.

“It’s a pony with a unicorn horn and pegasi wings, Princess Celestia is an alicorn for example” She explained.

“Wasn’t Nightmare Moon an alicorn?” Spike suddenly chimed in.

“You're right Spike, she was” “Are you ever gonna tell me who Nightmare Moon is?”

“It’s a lot to explain,” Twilight responded, “I’ll explain when we get back to the library” Levi nodded despite her not being able to see it.

Levi noticed the ground they were walking on went from the dark colored dirt of Ponyville to a lighter, sand colored dirt. Levi looked around and saw brown wooden fences bordering the path, serving as dividers between the path and the large orchard of apple trees on the other side of the fence. He was amazed at how many trees there were, easily hundreds, maybe even thousands from what he could see. He wondered who was running this farm to make it so lively and thriving.

The end of the path opened up to an open area with a large red barn and to the left of them was a small yellow chicken coop, and a few feet behind the barn were three small red shacks that were exactly the color of the barn. As the three walked into the open area, an orange blonde pony with a brown stetson hat on suddenly dashed in front of them, causing them to jump back in surprise. She ran over to an apple tree that was to the right of the three of them, she turned around so her back was facing the tree and bucked it hard. Levi watched as all of the apples on the tree came loose and fell into the buckets that were surrounding the bottom of the tree, filling them up almost completely.

“Let’s get this over with” Twilight said with a sigh, hanging her head low to the ground for a second before raising it back up. She walked over to the blonde pony standing by the tree and with a formal voice said “Good afternoon! My name is Twilight Sparkle and-” “Well howdydo Ms. Twilight, a pleasure makin’ your acquaintance! I’m Applejack! We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do love makin’ new friends!” She exclaimed cheerfully as he wildly and rapidly shook Twilight’s hoof. Levi put a closed hand up to his mouth and laughed quietly to himself at the sight.

“Friends.. Well actually I uh-” Twilight said, her voice shaking from the rapid hoof shaking. “So Twilight, what can I do ya for?” Applejack asked with a wink, finally releasing Twilight’s hoof.

Twilight took a second to relax from the constant hoof shaking from the blonde pony, she put a hoof up to her mouth and cleared her throat before continuing “Well I am in fact here to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun celebration, and you’re in charge of the food?”

“We sure as sugar are!” Applejack replied, her country accent becoming more prominent in that sentence. Applejack eyed Levi up and down as the man stood there with his arms crossed over his chest, doing the same to her, noticing she had a cutie mark of three red apples. Levi didn’t really know how to react, so he decided to be polite and stick his hand out to greet the country pony. “I’m Levi” He greeted with a smile, extending his hand towards the confused pony. 

Applejack looked at his smile and returned a friendly smile that was bigger than his as she threw her hoof into his hand and shook it, “You have a nice name Levi!” She exclaimed. Levi thanked her as he returned his arm back to his chest.

“Now that that’s outta the way, you care to sample some?” Applejack asked hopefully, looking the unicorn in the eyes with her emerald ones.

“As long as it doesn’t take too long” Twilight replied, with Applejack dashing off out of view in a split second in the middle of Twilight’s sentence. Levi was starting to believe this was a regular occurrence for the ponies. “I can get used to this place” Levi commented.

“Well I hope I can too” Twilight added, hearing a metal triangle being rung vigorously by Applejack a few feet away from the group. 

“SOUPSON EVERYPONY!” She announced loudly despite the trio being the only ones there, or so they thought. The three heard a rumbling sound, like a earthquake, but instead of an earthquake it was 10s of pairs of hooves hitting the ground as they charged towards them. Levi and Twilight turned around and there eyes widened at the sight of a stampede of ponies running straight towards them, “Oh shit!” Levi exclaimed in surprise as the stampede got to them.

The stampede ran into the trio, lifting them off of the ground and above them like they were being crowd surfed. Levi was rolling and tumbling on the top as he was practically being juggled and bounced as the ponies ran without a care in the world for the people riding along. Eventually, the three were tossed off the stampede and landed on there feet at a table covered with a yellow and orange striped tablecloth. 

Around them were 10s of ponies that Levi didn’t have time to count, it was the stampede that had carried them over to the table, all standing with big smiles adorning their faces. Levi was a little creeped out to say the least despite how friendly they all seemed. 

“Why don’t ah introduce you to the Apple family!” She exclaimed excitedly, waving her hoof in front of her like she was presenting her huge family. Levi turned and looked at Twilight who turned her head the other way and responded as politely as she could “Thanks but I really need to hurry-” She was interrupted by a sand colored pony with green hair pushing a plate with a delicious looking dessert on it in her face, Spike licked his lips at the sight.

“This here’s Apple Fritter!” She introduced as she dropped the plate on the table and dashed away moments after being introduced. 

Another similarly colored pony zipped up to the table with her curly red hair bouncing as she did it, in her mouth were two caramel apples. “This here’s Apple Bumpkin!” She introduced and just like the pony before her dropped her food at the table and dashed away.

Before Twilight got the chance to object, another pony came up to the table, she was light pink with lime green hair and on her head was a cupcake. It had lighter green frosting and a sliced apple on top of it, “Rad Gallop!” She introduced, she dashes away moments later.

“Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Caramel Apple!” Were only some of the names that Levi remembered come out of Applejack’s mouth as she rapid fire introduced her family to them as more and more plates of food stacked on the table.

She drew a loud breath before pointing at a tall red pony with short orange hair and freckles, holding the exact same cupcake that Red Gallop had in his hand. “Big Macintosh!” She announced.

Next to him was a small pale olive colored filly with wavy red hair and a big pink bow in it, on her back was a stacked brown cake with grass green frosting and an apple on top. “Applebloom!” She introduced loudly.

“Andddddd..” Applejack said as she walked over and shoved a green apple into Twilight’s gaping mouth, she pointed over to an old green pony sitting in a brown wooden rocking chair next to a tree away from the group of ponies. She had white hair that tied back in a bun and an orange bandanna with an apple pattern wrapped around her neck, her eyes were closed and she was fast asleep as she rocked back and forth in her chair. “Granny Smith!” She finished as she pointed to the sleeping pony.

“Upandatem Granny Smith! We got guests!” She said to the sleeping pony, causing her to open her orange eyes halfway and look around for a few seconds before standing up out of her chair. “Soupson…” She mumbled tiredly as she slowly walked over to the group of ponies. 

“Why I’d say they're already part of the family!” She said excitedly, putting her hoof on Twilight’s back, her cheeks puffed out from the apple inside of her mouth. This caused her eyes to widen as she spat the chewed up apple onto the ground and sticking her tongue out, “Hahaha..” She laughed nervously, putting on an equally nervous smile. 

“Well, I can see the food situation is handled. We’ll be on our way” She said, turning her head around only to be met by the disappointed and saddened faces of the Apple family. “Aren’t you gonna stay for brunch?” Said a sad voice from below her, Twilight looked down at Applebloom. Giving Twilight puppy dog eyes to convince her to stay, “Come on Twilight! It’s free food!” Levi added, looking around at Applejack’s massive family.

Twilight sighed out of annoyance, “Fine” she said, giving in to Applebloom's puppy eyed demands. The family, including Spike and Levi, loudly cheered and wooped for Twilight as Levi gave her a strong pat on the back and exclaimed over the cheering “Come on Twi have some fun!” A huge toothy grin on his face. “If you say so” Twilight responded as Applejack and her family began preparing the table. Preparing the trio for a delicious feast as Twilight begrudgingly took a seat at the table, with Spike and Levi eagerly taking theres. 

Levi and Spike dug into their apple pies, enjoying every bite of the delicious desert, as Twilight opted for the apple fritter that was shown to her earlier. As much as her face showed disinterest for the feast, she enjoyed the fritter nonetheless. Granny Smith was seated next to Levi on his left and in front of Levi sat Applejack on the left of Twilight, on the right of Levi was Spike who was happily digging into his pie. 

Granny Smith, who was more awake than when Applejack introduced her, was getting along well with Levi along with Applejack who was chatting up a storm with the man. The conversation was going along nicely with Granny Smith mostly eating her green apple quietly, that was until she piped in “Lemme ask you somethin’ youngin’, where’re you from?” She asked with an equally prominent country accent like Applejack.

“Not here, I’m from a place called Tuscaloosa Alabama” Levi replied.

“Tuscaloosa?” She questioned, raising an eyebrow at the brown haired man, “You mean Applelooza?” 

Levi gave her a confused look, “No, I mean Tuscaloosa, It’s nowhere near here. Where I’m from there aren’t any ponies who talk” Levi clarified, eating another spoonful of his pie.

“That’s what the last one’s said” Granny Smith added, causing Twilight’s eyes to widen and her expression change immediately to one of interest. “What do you mean the last ones?” Twilight asked intrigued.

“It was a long time ago, back when I was filly, they came here lookin’ real dirty and dusty. They started beggin’ for food and I said no, they walked away and I never saw em’ again” Granny Smith responded. Levi thought back to what Princess Celestia had told him, about how the humans killed a unicorn in an attempt to take her power but nobody remembers it. Levi decided not to ask her about it as to not completely ruin the mood, but the question still lingered on his mind whether she remembered the murder or not.

“So you weren’t the first huh?” Spike asked. 

“Guess not” Levi answered, feigning ignorance towards the topic. Twilight gave Levi a look, like she knew he was hiding something, like he knew about the humans. Levi looked her in the eye and he felt like he was under a microscope by her, like she was studying him, but she eventually looked away from him and continued eating her fritter. Levi internally sighed in relief.

After she finished her bite, she laid the fritter back on the plate and stood up from the table and put on a forced friendly smile and said “Thank you so much for the food you two but we really have to go. We have a lot to do”

Applejack returned a real friendly smile and exclaimed cheerfully “You all can come back anytime, the Apple family loves makin’ new friends!” 

‘Friends?’ Twilight thought to herself as she started to walk away with Levi and Spike saying their goodbyes and following her. The three began walking down the long dirt path back to Ponyville, Levi hoped that the ponies they would meet were just as nice as the apples were.

“Ugh..that took way longer than it needed to be” Twilight complained as she walked with her head low to the ground and an annoyed look on her face, Levi however had a satisfied look on his. 

“Oh lighten up Twi! We got all day!” Levi said, glad that the interaction he had with Applejack and Granny Smith went well. 

“Yeah we were there for almost 20 minutes” Twilight complained some more, “And we still have to check on the weather, decor, and the music” She finished with a sigh. 

“Speaking of which..” Spike piped in looking at the paper in his hands, “We’re looking for somepony named Rainbow Dash about the weather. She should be around here” Spike said, prompting the unicorn to scan the sky for the pony but finding nothing but clouds.

“Not around here” She stated. Suddenly, just moments after saying that, a rainbow and cyan colored blur came flying from nowhere and barreled into Twilight. Spike, who was on Twilight’s back, flipped in the air and came back down on the ground with a thud. 

Levi’s eyes followed the purple blur that was Twilight all the way to a perfectly round puddle of mud that was a foot or so away. All of Levi’s feelings were replaced by worry in the span of less than a second, “Holy shit Twilight!” Levi exclaimed in a panicked tone. 

He jogged over to the mud puddle and saw Twilight on her stomach laying in the puddle of mud, the mud was splattered on her but not covering her, the same went for the cyan pegasus on top of her. Levi was angered at what just happened, but at the sight of the pegasus all of his anger suddenly disappeared. 

The pegasus had elegant looking rainbow hair that covered her neck like a rainbow waterfall. Her magenta eyes seemed friendly, similar to Applejacks, but when Levi looked at them while they were spinning around he felt a special connection to the pegasus. He felt like he had known her before, her eyes looked so familiar but he just couldn’t put a finger on it. 

When the ponies recovered, the pegasus floated in the air using her wings and bent her head down to Twilight’s face. “Haha um..’scuse me?” She said in a raspy voice with a giggle. Levi folded his arms over his chest, a playful smile forming on his lips. 

She started to hover in the air with her wings, “Here..l-let me help you” she said between giggles, suddenly dashing off into the sky at the end of her sentence. Just as Twilight stood up and faced the direction where the pegasus dashed off to, a dissatisfied look on her face, the pegasus zipped back to the mud puddle completely clean. She pushed a grey rain cloud with her body from the sky all the way to above Twilight, casting a shadow upon the lilac unicorn.

Twilight looked up at the rain cloud, which looked like it was about to explode from how much water was in it, with a shocked expression on her face. Levi watched in amusement as the rainbow haired pegasus jumped up and down on the cloud, dumping gallons of water onto the unicorn below it. Levi turned his head to Spike who had a similar look on his face as he watched Twilight get completely drenched by the pegasus.

The cloud went from grey to pearly white in a matter of seconds after all the water left it and covered Twilight. Her wet hair stuck shined and laid flat against the left side of her neck, the hair on the top of her head covered most of her eyes leaving only the bottom of the eyes visible. A frown was plastered on her face which only made Levi’s urge to laugh grow more.

“Oops I guess I overdid it. Mmhmm let’s see uh” The pegasus said in between laughs as she scratched her chin with her hoof, all the while Twilight looked up at her with an annoyed expression. Her hair still dripping wet from the sudden cascade of water that was dumped on her. “How about this!” The pegasus exclaimed, jumping off of the cloud and floating in the air for a few seconds before flying in a circle around Twilight who had a concerned look on her face. 

She flew incredibly fast in a circle around the unicorn, and in a few seconds created a rainbow tornado. Levi’s jaw almost hit the floor at the sight, completely amazed at this pony’s ability to do this. The tornado caused the flaps of Levi’s shirt to flap around and his hair to move with the wind.

“My very patented Rainblow dry!” She exclaimed as she flew in circles with the tornado, leaving Levi to only imagine what’s happening to Twilight inside of it.

She finally stopped the tornado and held a hoof up to her chest and said “No no, don’t thank me, you’re quite welcome” as she slowly landed on the ground, her wings flapping slower and slower the closer she got to the ground.

Twilight stood there where the middle of the tornado was, her hair was curled and looked like cotton candy, similar to the pink pony from earlier but a lot bigger. The rainbow haired pegasus took one look at her as tears came to her eyes as she tried to hold in her laughter, after a few seconds she couldn’t hold it in any longer and she bursted out laughing falling to the ground. Spike followed after and fell on top of her, cackling with tears in his eyes, all the while the lilac unicron stood there with an annoyed look.

Levi held his closed fist up to his mouth and stifled a laugh with a huge smile on his face, “You too?” She questioned, turning her head away from the pegasus and to Levi. 

“What can I say?” Levi replied, letting a short laugh out. Twilight walked closer to the rainbow haired pegasus laughing on the ground and asked “Lemme guess, you’re Rainbow Dash?”

She instantly stopped laughing and her magenta eyes widened as she stood up in the blink of an eye, shooting Spike off of her back. “The one and only” She responded proudly.

She hastily got in the air with her wings and flew in front of Twilight and extended her head in front of Twilight’s face and asked “Why? You heard about me?” In a tone similar to a kid asking for candy.

“I heard you’re supposed to be keeping the sky clear,” She turned her head away and sighed before finishing “I’m Twilight Sparkle and the Princess sent me to check on the weather”

She flew up to a cloud and laid on it on her back, kicking her back hooves up in the air and folding her hooves behind her head and replying “Yeah yeah, not a problem. I’ll get it done in a jiffy, right after I’m done practicing” 

“Practicing? For what?” Twilight asked.

“The Wonderbolts!” She exclaimed loudly, pointing to a Wonderbolts poster on the wall on a house a few feet away. Levi looked over at the poster and despite how far away it was to him he could see a pony with a wonderbolts uniform on and dark blue hair, the same color hair as Soarin’, Levi brushed the thought off almost immediately.

“The Wonderbolts?”

“Yeah”

“The most talented flyers in all of Equestria?”

“That’s them!”

“Pfft please, they’d never accept a pegasus who can’t keep the sky clear for one measly day” This caused Rainbow to sit up on the cloud and turn around and face her, “Hey! I can clear this sky in 10 seconds flat” she said, pointing her hoof towards the cloud filled sky.

Twilight furrowed her eyebrows at the pegasus and said “Prove it”

Rainbow’s competitive spirit erupted to life inside of her like a bonfire as she gave Twilight a look that said “I’ll prove It!” She jumped off the cloud moments later and began and kicked the cloud she was just on, obliterating it completely with a satisfying poof! 

She zipped around faster than Levi could comprehend, kicking every single cloud that dotted the sky, one after another the trio watched as Rainbow Dash took out cloud after cloud like she was a machine built for this. As she zipped around, she blew Twilight’s hair and Levi held onto his hat to keep it from flying off his head. Levi was mind blown at how she was doing this, he watched in awe as the pegasus took out the final cloud and landed on the stone bridge to the right of the three.

Twilight looked at Rainbow gaping in amazement as she said “See? What did I tell you, 10 seconds flat” She looked at Twilight’s face and laughed before flying up to her and adding “You should see the look on your face!” 

She flew in a small circle around the unicorn and the reptile, laughing at the shocked expression on Twilight’s face. “You’re a laugh Twilight Sparkle, I can’t wait to hang out some more!” Twilight’s face turned from shock to surprise at this statement, but quickly turned to annoyance after. 

“Welp gotta go! See ya!” She exclaimed, dashing off into the sky, leaving a small dust cloud behind her. “Wow! She was awesome!” Spike exclaimed with a smile, picking at some of Twilight’s cotton candy like hair chuckling. Twilight frowned at the reptile who snickered in response, Levi still had a smile on his face from the interaction. Even though he never shared a word with the pegasus, Levi loved her energy and the aura she had with her and part of him wished she stayed longer. 

Levi felt a little odd inside as he thought these things, he never thought in a million years he would be hoping a pony would stay around longer. Levi looked over at Twilight and asked her “What’s next?”

Spike looked at the list for a few seconds and answered “Decor”, “Then let’s get going then” Twilight replied as she started walking over the stone bridge with Levi and Spike following.

The three walked into a round building and were immediately greeted by a large open room with several balconies along the walls, on the railings of the balconies was silky sky blue cloth that decorated the brown wooden railings. On two of the the balconies on the left and right wall were sky blue banners with a crescent moon and two stars and a sun on them.

Colorful banners hung from the ceiling and the very top of the walls of ponies in poses and various other symbols. All of the cloth and banners seemed to shine and glitter like diamonds, Levi wondered what the pony did to make them look this magnificent. 

“Decorations!” Spike said as he checked off decor from the list. He looked up from the paper for the first time since he walked in the building and his eyes widened, “Beautiful..” He said in awe.

“Yes, the decor is coming along nicely,” Twilight replied, “This oughta be quick, one step closer to getting back to the library! Beautiful indeed” 

“No, I mean her!” Spike replied, pointing enthusiastically at the white unicorn on the red carpeted stage. A crystal blue aura was formed around her horn as she levitated different pieces of ribbon in front of her, quickly deciding whether they were good or not before tossing them behind her. 

She held a yellow ribbon up to her face, “No”

Blue ribbon, “No”

Green, “No”

Spike’s heart almost jumped out of his chest when he saw her, he started patting the green spines sticking out of the sides of his face and his tail and asked “How are my spines? Are they straight?”

Twilight playfully rolled her eyes before walking closer to the stage, “Good afternoon!” Twilight greeted. The unicorns purple hair was wavy and looked like she put time into making it look perfect, she turned her head around to look at Twilight with her blue eyes and responded “One moment please, I’m in the zone as ‘twere”

Her trans-Atlantic accent was like music to Spike’s ears as he gawked at her, Levi couldn’t help but enjoy the sound of her voice as well. “Oh yes! Sparkle always does the trick does it not?” She said cheerfully as she tied a red sparkling ribbon into a bow around one of the wooden support beams sticking out of the stage, supporting the balcony above it. 

“Why Rarity, you are a talent!” She congratulated herself, “Now..how can I help you-AH!” She turned her around to face Twilight but screamed when at the sight of her, jumping up into the air.

“Oh my stars darling! What happened to your coiffure!” She exclaimed, looking Twilight up and down but focused on her hair which looked like a mess. “You mean my mane?” Twilight asked, looking at the curly strands that rested right above her eyes, “It’s a long story. I’m just here to check on my decorations and I’ll be out of your hair!”

“Out of my hair? What about your hair?” She asked astonished, galloping over behind Twilight and pushing her up onto the stage. 

“Wait where are we going? Help!” Twilight called out worriedly as Rarity continued to push her further. Spike’s eyes were filled with love as he looked at her, the tip of his tail began to spin which lifted him off the ground. Levi smiled as he watched Spike follow Twilight and Rarity in the air, chuckling to himself as he walked up the stage and followed them. 

“No..no..nuh-uh..too green..too poofy..not poofy enough!” Rarity critiqued as she cycled through various outfits for Twilight to wear as she stood on a purple pedestal in front of a mirror. The group were inside of Rarity’s boutique since the white unicorn had practically shoved Twilight there the entire way, with her trying to convince Rarity that they had places to be, her pleas fell on deaf ears. 

Rarity cycled through outfits and styled Twilight’s mane, from wavy to poofy to curly, but eventually she decided her mane should be styled the way it normally would be. She also, finally, decided on an outfit that best suited Twilight. It was a white dress with two strings on the back of it that flowed and waved like wind was blowing them, there were many crystals embedded in it including several small pink, purple, and light blue ones embedded along the edges. On the front, a large emerald was embedded in the dress where the chest is, Levi was amazed that Rarity had all these crystals in the first place.

“Perfect!” She called out delightfully as Twilight looked at herself in the mirror. “Now go on my dear, you were telling me where you’re from” She said, extending her head towards the flowing strings on the dress and grabbing hold of them with her teeth.

She pulled on the strings as hard as she could to tighten the dress, squeezing Twilight’s chest causing her eyes to bulge and looked like they would pop out of her head. “I’ve..been sent..from Canterlot…to-” She struggled to respond, a tear escaping her eye as the dress tightened around her body.

Rarity’s eyes widened and she suddenly let go of the strings, sending both unicorns flying away from each other and crashing to the ground. “Canterlot!” She exclaimed excitedly, her face lighting up. 

Twilight stood up and Rarity leaped over to her and continued her exclamation with Spike gawking at her lovingly as she did so, “Oh I’m so envious! The glamor! The sophistication!” 

“I’ve always dreamed of living there! I can’t wait to hear all about it!” She got closer to Twilight as she backed away slightly away from the purple haired unicorn, “We’re gonna be best of friends you and I” She stated, a blank expression formed on Twilight’s face.

She glanced down at the emerald on her dress, she facepalmed internally at her mistake and exclaimed “Emerald! What was I thinking, let me get you some rubies!” Rarity then pranced into a different room away from Twilight, Twilight took the opportunity and jumped off of the pedestal towards the front door. 

“Come on you two before she decides to dye my mane!” Twilight exclaimed in a panic as she ran towards the front door, Spike sat there and stared at the entrance of the room that Rarity disappeared into. Levi stood up from the bench he sat on and took a quick glance at Spike, annoyance covered his face as he jogged over to the small reptile and grabbed him with both hands and held him as he ran. Twilight used her magic to swing open the front door, causing the small golden bell above the door to ding loudly.

She held the door open for Levi and Spike as the man jogged out of the front door as Twilight let it close behind him. Spike had the same look of love and a grin plastered on his face as he stared off into the distance, his mind thinking about the white unicorn he had only met minutes before. 

Spike laid on Twilight’s back as the three of them walked through the forest, he rested his head on the back of Twilight’s, daydreaming about the purple haired unicorn. “Wasn’t she wonderful” Spike thought aloud, gazing into the sky as he thought about the pony. 

“Focus Casanova,” Twilight replied, “What’s next on the list?”

Spike pulled the list out and brought it close to his face as his green eyes scanned it, “Last one is music!”

“Hear that Twilight, ‘last one’,” Levi remarked, “Then you can finally go home from this torment” He joked. Twilight shot the man an annoyed look as he chuckled from his joke.

The group walked for a few more minutes through the woods, the breeze traveled through the ripped holes in Levi’s shirt and cooling his body, the flaps of the bottom of his shirt blowing in the breeze. After some more walking, Levi began to grow confused at where the group were even at. “So, where do you think the pony in charge of music is?” Levi asked.

Just as he said that, the sound of birds singing filled the air, but it wasn’t regular bird singing. It sounded like they were all singing together like a choir, at the same time, same pitch, everything about the singing was like they were being conducted by somebody. “I think that’s our answer” Twilight said, promptly walking towards the direction of the singing.

The three emerged from behind a tree and looked at the source of the beautiful singing and were surprised at what they saw. There was a small tree with no leaves on it with two long branches that stuck out to the left and the right, on the branches were several small birds that were singing. The pony who was conducting the birds was a yellow pegasus that was floating in the air with her wings with medium length pink wavy hair that flowed.

Levi looked at the pegasus, a smile slowly overtaking his face as he realized who it was. He walked closer to the pegasus as Twilight called out quietly “Wait Levi!”

“Fluttershy?” He asked louder than he intended. His sudden loud voice frightened the birds, causing all of them to fly in different directions in an instant, but also scaring Fluttershy too. 

The yellow pegasus turned around her, eyes lighting up as she saw who it was. “Levi?” She asked, slowly floating down to the ground and standing on her hooves.

The two walked towards each other and hugged one another with Levi putting his hand up to the back of her head, enjoying the feeling of her soft hair on his fingertips, just as Twilight and Spike emerged from the tree behind them.

“You two know each other?” Twilight asked curiously, raising an eyebrow at the two. 

“Hell yeah we do,” Levi answered as he and Fluttershy released each other, “When I fell here yesterday, she was the person I went to for help after I found her cottage. She was the only one who visited me in the hospital too” Levi smiled graciously at Fluttershy who returned a smaller shy one, a blush forming on her cheeks.

“You must be one kind pony, I’m Twilight Sparkle!” Twilight responded, extending her hoof out for the pegasus to shake it. Under any normal circumstance, Fluttershy would be way too nervous to shake her hand, but weirdly enough she felt a lot safer and comfortable with Levi next to her. Despite only knowing him for a day, Fluttershy thought she could trust Levi fully. 

She took her hoof in hers and greeted “I’m Fluttershy”, Levi grinned at her as she did this. 

“Well back to business!” Twilight said as she cleared her throat and fixing her posture, “I was sent by Princess Celestia to check up on the Summer Sun preparations and the music seems to be going wonderfully! It sounded beautiful!” 

Fluttershy blushed a little at her compliment as she timidly replied “T-thank you”. Twilight smiled and sighed in relief as Spike checked off music from the list, the last preparation Twilight was sent to check on. As Spike checked it off, the sound the feather made on the paper drew Fluttershy’s eyes over to him. Her eyes widened in surprise and a smile overtook her features as she looked at the small reptile.

“Baby dragon!” She exclaimed loudly with excitement, scaring away the birds that had come back to the small tree behind her. She jumped up in the air and floated for a second with her wings before diving right into Twilight, sending her flipping in the air and crashing onto the ground a few meters away from the two.

“I’ve never seen a baby dragon before!” She said excitedly as she looked him up and down as though she was studying the dragon, “He’s so cute!”

“Well well well!” Spike replied proudly to Twilight, who was lying on the ground on her stomach, dazed from the fall. He crossed his arms over his chest and puffed his chest out proudly as the pink haired pegasus continued to compliment him which boosted his already inflating ego.

“Oh he talks? I didn’t know dragons could talk!” She commented curiously. Levi raised an eyebrow at Spike and asked “You’re a dragon?”

Spike looked at him with disbelief in his green eyes and replied “You didn’t know?” 

“I thought you were a lizard or something” Levi answered as he snickered to himself at his own stupidity. 

“That’s so incredibly wonderful! I just don’t know what to say!” Fluttershy said, her voice filled with excitement at this newfound knowledge as she floated into the air with her wings, an innocent smile plastered on her face. 

As they were talking, Twilight had gotten up and walked behind her and in front of Fluttershy. Suddenly, she picked up Spike with her magic and lifted him over Fluttershy’s head and onto her back as she said in her forced polite tone “Well in that case we better be going!”

As she started walking, Fluttershy suddenly called out “Wait wait!” as she caught up behind the lilac unicorn, “What’s his name?”

Spike sat on the top of Twilight’s flank as he hung his small legs down comfortable, a proud look on his face from all the attention he’s been receiving from Fluttershy. “I’m Spike!” He answered, pointing his thumb towards his chest.

“Oh, I’m Fluttershy!” She greeted him, “Wow a talking dragon!” She said excitedly as she closed her eyes for a second.

“And what do dragons talk about?” She asked curiously.

“Well, what do you wanna know?” Spike responded, Levi could see an annoyed look beginning to form on Twilight’s face, one that Levi was all too familiar with.

“Absolutely everything!” She replied with her voice filled with intrigue, extending her yellow wings out in both directions. Twilight’s eyes widened for a split second as she heard this, a loud sigh escaping her lips as she hung her head down in annoyance. 

Levi stuck his hands in his pockets as he followed, knowing good and well that it would be a long, long walk back to the library. As Fluttershy’s questions began to flow out of her mouth like a river, Twilight kept her eyes forward and tried her best to tune out the pegasus’s and Spike’s voices. Levi snickered to himself at Twilight’s annoyance as he continued to walk with the group.

“And that has been the story of my entire life!” Spike exclaimed as Twilight head threatened to touch the ground with how low she hung it, her annoyance replacing all other feelings inside of her. Levi’s legs were tired and sore and he wanted nothing more than a nap and a glass of water, he hoped Twilight’s library could give him that. 

“Up until today,” He added, “You wanna hear about today!”

“Oh yes please!” Fluttershy answered as she trotted behind Twilight as she walked. Twilight saw the sign with the book on it and her heart leaped at the sight and she felt relieved as she finally saw the library, the place that she’d been longing for ever since she first left it.

She quickly whipped around to face Fluttershy, a forced smile on her lips as she said “I am so sorry! How did we get here so fast” 

Levi yawned as he saw the library, longing for some well deserved rest inside the hollowed out tree that was the library. “This is where I’m staying while I’m in Ponyville, and my poor baby dragon needs his sleep” Twilight said as Spike turned his head to shoot her a confused look.

“Now I don’t-AH!” Twilight kicked him off of her like a mechanical bull, a huge forced smile on her face as Spike fell to the ground on his behind. She extended her neck towards him and continued in a voice that you speak to a baby in “Awww..wook at that, he’s so sweepy he can’t even keep his wittle bawance”

Fluttershy suddenly swooped in and held Spike in her arms the same way you would carry a newborn, “Oh you poor thing, we must get you to bed” she said, moving towards the door and pushing it open and flying inside.

Twilight dashed inside after her and pushed her out, the fake smile still huge on her face, as she said “We’ll get right on that!”

She used her magic to pick up Levi, surrounding his body with a purple aura as he was lifted off his feet, catching him off guard. He looked down at the ground where his feet used to be as he tried to force himself back to the ground, finding it impossible. “Twilight put me do-WAH!” He was cut off by Twilight yanking him inside the library using her magic, dropping him onto the floor. 

“Goodnight!” SLAM! Fluttershy was left standing in front of the door, surprised and shocked at Twilight’s rude “goodbye”, if she could even call it that. 

When the door closed, the only remaining light source was gone, engulfing the entire room in darkness. The only two things he could make out were Spike standing in front of him and what looked like streamers hanging from the ceiling.  

“Wow, rude much?” Spike asked, crossing his arms as he made out Twilight’s form walking towards him. 

As he said that, Levi heard a very quiet faint whisper behind him, like the voice was coming a few centimeters behind his back. Levi whipped around in a panic but saw nothing but darkness, the entire room was just pitch black darkness. Levi began to feel nervous just standing in the room as Spike and Twilight talked obvious to who’s in the room with them.

“Sorry Spike, but I have to convince the Princess that Nightmare Moon is coming and we’re running out of time!” Twilight explained, seeing only Spike’s eyes in the darkness of the room. 

Levi began to hear more faint and quiet whispers, way too quiet. Levi slowly walked over to Twilight, his nervousness beginning to turn into fear as he had no idea who could be lurking in the darkness of the room. “Twi?” Levi whispered just as she was about to say another sentence to Spike.

“Mhm?” She replied.

The man reached his mouth closer to the unicorns ear and whispered as quietly as he could “We’re not alone”

“SURPRISE!” 

Levi yelped in fear as the lights suddenly flicked on, illuminating the room and revealing 10s of ponies occupying it as confetti shot from a cannon and slowly floated down from the air. Levi felt relief wash over him as he saw all of the friendly faces in the crowd, watching as they released balloons into the air and cheered. Spike and Twilight almost jumped out of there skin, but that surprise on Twilight’s face was replaced by annoyance in a few seconds, per usual for her.

A pink pony with poofy pink hair suddenly jumped up in front of Twilight, her crystal blue eyes looked as though they were gonna pop out of her head. “SURPRISE!” She shouted, Twilight flinched from the sudden noise that was almost as loud as the whole crowd saying it together.

“Hi I’m Pinkie Pie and I threw this party just for you!” The pink pony greeted, the same pink pony that ran away from the three earlier that day. “Were you surprised! Were you! Were you! Huh huh Huh!” Pinkie asked incessantly, bouncing over Twilight’s head and back onto the ground next to her. Levi was amazed at how Pinkie was doing this.

“Very surprised, libraries are supposed to be quiet!” Twilight retorted.

“Well that’s silly! What kind of welcome party would this be if it was quiet? Duh! A boring one!” The pink pony replied in her energetic and cheerful voice.

As Twilight started her walk over to the snack table through the crowd of ponies, Pinkie followed closely behind her bouncing around all the while. “You see I saw you and your friend there and you were all like ‘Hello’ and I was all like-” She took a sharp breath to imitate a gasp as Twilight closed her eyes and tried to block out Pinkie’s voice, her voice cut through all of her attempts to tune her out.

“Remember!” She exclaimed, prancing up to catch up with the unicorn after stopping for a second. “See I never saw you before and if I never saw you before that meant you're new because…” The pony went on and on as Twilight sighed in annoyance, continuing her unbearable walk over to the snack table. 

“And if you’re new that means you haven’t met anyone yet!” Pinkie exclaimed as Twilight finally got to the table, grabbing a red glass bottle with her mouth and pouring it into a wooden chalice on the table.

“And if you haven’t met anyone yet that meant you must not have any friends! And if you don’t have any friends you must be lonely! And that made me so sad!” The pink pony continued as the red liquid flowed into Twilight’s chalice, putting the bottle down when it was full. 

“And then I had an idea and that’s why I went GASP!” She imitated the gasp once again as Twilight grabbed a straw with her teeth and dropped it into the red liquid, taking a few gulps. 

“I’d throw a great big ginormous super duper welcome party and invite everypony in Ponyville!” Pinkie exclaimed loudly, prompting Levi to take a good look around the room at every pony that was in there with them. ‘This can’t be all of Ponyville’ Levi thought to himself as he looked around. 

She jumped behind Twilight and all four of the ponies they spoke to today gathered around her, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy hovering over her and Rarity and Applejack standing next to her. All of them adorning friendly smiles that Levi couldn’t help but grin at.

“And now you’ll have lots and lots of friends!” Pinkie shouted as Twilight took one last gulp of her drink, immediately regretting her decision. Her face twisted in discomfort in an instant, she turned around to face the other ponies, her cheeks were puffed out and bright red as tears fell from her eyes and sweat began to drip down her face.

“You alright sugarcube?” Applejack asked, concerned.

Her face turned bright red as she jumped a foot in the air, her hair and tail turning into an orange flame in the blink of an eye as steam threatened to erupt out of her ears. Levi took a step back in surprise as the unicorn dashed towards the stairs in the air, Levi and Spike watched as she trotted upstairs but not before grabbing her saddlebag with her magic and bringing it with her. 

“Damn!” Was all Levi managed to say at the sudden reaction from Twilight, Levi still couldn’t believe what he just saw was real.

“Awww she’s so happy she’s crying” Pinkie commented, a big toothy grin on her face. 

Levi grabbed the bottle and examined it, finding a large orange fire symbol on the front, he felt confused at the realization that it was hot sauce. “Hot sauce?” He thought aloud curiously, turning his head over to the pink pony. “Why?”

“What pony doesn’t love hot sauce!” She replied enthusiastically, zipping over right next to Levi and dousing a cupcake with hot sauce, popping it into her mouth right after. Levi looked at her amazed as she swallowed the cupcake without even chewing it, with the paper on and all.

Pinkie noticed the puzzled expressions from all of her friends including Levi and Spike and responded with “What? It’s good!” with enthusiasm in her tone. Levi along with the rest of her friends laughed at her antics as Levi grabbed a green bottle next to the hot sauce on the table. 

He examined the lime green bottle, finding nothing on the bottle that would give away what it is. Levi decided to trust his instincts about the drink and grabbed a wooden chalice off the table and filled it with the unknown drink. Levi put the bottle back down on the table and saw Spike was filling his cup with the same drink, Levi held his drink up to the small dragon and asked “Friends?”

The dragon gave a nod and a small smile as he reaffirmed “Friends”, clashing the two cups together as they each took a big swig of the unknown drink. The drink tasted strongly of apples but it was also terribly bitter, making Levi’s face twist from the taste.

“Ooooh..shit!” He said under his breath, looking at the drink like it was a liquid from another planet. The urges he’s been feeling from the lack of alcohol slowly faded away after the swig, making Levi wonder what kind of drink it really was. 

“You like it sugarcube?” The blonde pony asked, walking up next to the taller man.

“Oh yeah totally, it’s just really bitter” He commented, his taste buds still reeling from the bitterness of the drink. Levi shuffled over to the ladder that led to the bed on top and started slowly climbing, putting his feet on each rung on the ladder like an old frail man trying not to fall off. 

“What are you doing?”

“Going to sleep” He grumbled in response.

Twilight took a quick look around the room, finding there were no other beds beside hers. “Great” She whispered to herself sarcastically, scooting her and her books over to the other side of the bed.

Eventually, Levi made it to the top after what felt like hours and laid down on top of it, the bed creaking and groaning under his weight. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he was out like a light, and the silence of the room was quickly filled with the man's light snoring. 

Twilight looked at him peacefully sleeping, thinking to herself what the future would look like with him in it. Would he live with her forever? Would he go live with Princess Celestia? Would they actually develop a genuine friendship? 

Just the word made her irritated. She sat up and leaned against the bedframe and brought the book about the prophecy she brought up to her face and began to read. As the sun began to sink into the horizon more, casting darkness over Ponyville, Twilight couldn't expect what was going to happen at the celebration. One thing was for certain, tonight would form a strong bond between the ponies forever