“So THAT’S why you ran into my boutique looking haggard!” Rarity said as Applejack explained her first encounter with Twilight. Twilight shifted nervously where she sat.
“Yup! Ah’ wanted to invite her into mah house proper, b-but ah’ stuttered an’ scared ‘er off.” Applejack replied sheepishly, as Twilight just scratched her cheek.
“Then I must ask darling, how did you end up in Applejack’s barn to begin with?” Rarity said, turning to Twilight, who was now taking Spike into her lap. The lavender filly stiffened up and looked away.
“I-I don’t want to talk about it.” She mumbled as she squeezed Spike a little.
“Well why not-”
“Applejack, if she don’t wanna tell then we gotta respect that!” Granny Smith lightly admonished. Applejack gave a small “Yes Granny” and let the subject drop. Rarity stood, taking a small stretch.
“Well I suppose me, Sweetie, and Cider should be going now, thank you again for having us!” Rarity said as she picked up Sweetie Belle in her magic.
“Now hold on a second, why’s Sparklin’ Cider comin’ with you?” Applejack opposed, a little fast as well.
“Well, I have a spare bedroom at home she can use for a bit!”
“Well so do we!” Applejack argued.
“Nope.” Only for Big Mac to quickly correct her.
“Well we have a…couch?” She suggested, as Rarity just gave her a deadpan stare.
“That’s hardly satisfactory.” The white unicorn replied in a flat tone.
“Is too!”
A minor bickering match had started between the two, meanwhile Twilight used the commotion, and a suddenly sleeping Granny Smith, to quietly back herself out the door with Spike. The hatching giggled and waved goodbye to the bickering ponies. Twilight felt safe enough to speed up into a quick trot once she was away from the door.
“I think we’ve intruded enough Spike, why don’t we just check out town for now. Ya’ like the sound of that?” She said, glancing back at the dragon on her back. Spike gurgled, which Twilight just took as an agreement.
“Alright then! Let’s see what’s around before the sun goes down!”
The pair strolled around Ponyville, curiously taking in the buildings and giving small waves to people as the sun continued its arc across the sky. The town was a nice little place, mostly peaceful aside from the random bit of action that occurred at times from ponies just being ponies. But Twilight stopped dead in her tracks as she found something incredible. It was a large tree with a balcony and windows, partially a house. More importantly to Twilight though, was the sign above the door.
“Golden Oak Library.”
Library.
Spike let out a little groan of exasperation and shoved his face into the back of Twilight’s neck as she began to bounce in place.
“eeeEEEEEEE-”
Shining Armor wasn’t the brightest knife in the crayon shed, but he was smart enough to put together a few things about Twilight’s situation. One, she probably caused the accident. Two, she ran out of fear and took Spike with her. Three, they could be anywhere in Equestria now, and were alone and terrified. He ran a hoof through his frazzled mane as he considered the possibilities of where Twilight and Spike could be, there was the chance they didn’t even have food or shelter. Even worse, there was gonna be rain scheduled tonight!
“…I should go out there and look for her. She’s out there alone and scared and is gonna want someone she knows.” Shining said to no one in particular, more convincing himself of why he needs to go out and find her himself.
But of course he was going to write a letter first. Wouldn’t want to cause another panic.
Twilight wasn’t sure why it happened but she and Spike were far from alone. One second she spotted the library, and was about to look for the street name to memorize. Next she had confetti and balloons blasted at her and Spike and she was dragged off in a blur to a party!
“WELCOME TO PONYVILLE!” A pink filly shouted in excitement as the rest of the ponies at the apparent party in a…bakery she believed, began to celebrate properly. She began to get her wits about her when the pink filly assaulted her with questions one after the other.
“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! What’s your name? Where are you from? Who’s that one your back? OHMYGOSH is that a baby dragon?! Does he like cake? Do YOU like cake? Are you allergic to anything-“ Pinkie Pie ranted, still going on behind Twilight's hoof that was holding her mouth shut.
“Uh, I-I’ll just answer those few. Ahem.”
“Sparkling Cider, I don’t wanna talk about it, that’s Spike, yes, yes he can have a little cake, I like cake, and no I think.” Twilight responded calmly. Pinkie Pie raised her hoof to indicate a question. Twilight let her speak.
“Can I touch your beard?”
“No thank you.”
“Aw man.”
Twilight allowed Pinkie Pie to continue to chatter her and Spike’s ears off about various interesting topics about herself. Pinkie Pie was an interesting individual herself. She was hyperactive, bouncy, and is that a cannon?
“-and this is my PARTY CAAANNOOOON!” The pink filly said in excitement before yanking the string on the back of the cannon, setting it off. Twilight and Spike were blasted with confetti and streamers, having a heap of the pieces of paper covering them. They stuck their heads out, with Twilight spitting out a piece of confetti.
“Hehe! Sorry! Guess I put in a bit too much!” Pinkie said, brushing a piece off of Twilight’s snout. Twilight tried to keep a grin from forming on her face, as Spike laughed in joy as he played in the confetti. Eventually Twilight found herself laughing too, putting a smile on Pinkie's face.
"If you like that, then how about some dancing!" She said, pulled Twilight by her hooves out of the confetti pile with Spike. Twilight found herself being swung around every which way by the pink filly in the form of a makeshift 'dance', but she and Spike were laughing in joy all the way.
“Consarnit, now why’d she have ta’ run off like that!” Applejack complained as she and Big Mac looked around town for ‘Sparkling Cider’. Rarity had gone off in her own direction to look for their guest, with the agreement that whoever found and convinced her first could have her stay over.
“Maybe y’all should’ve just asked Cider’ what she wanted.” Mac said, as she picked up a piece of confetti off the floor.
“Huh. Forgot Pinkie had a party, we were s’posed to come after school.” The red colt said as he observed the piece of paper. Applejack had a lightbulb go off in realization.
“That’s right! She was gonna throw a party fer Cider since she was new!” Applejack shouted as she ran off to Sugarcube Corner. Big Mac just sighed as he followed her. Meanwhile with Rarity, she was struggling with Sweetie wanting to go home.
“C’mon Sweetie darling! Just a few more minutes of looking and we’ll go back home WITH a playmate!” Rarity said, trying to shush and reason with a baby. However, such attempts proved futile as Sweetie began to get more upset. She growled in frustration as she was forced to give up and return home.
Applejack entered the bakery to see the party still going strong, and the “Welcome to Ponyville” sign overhead, all she needed to do now was find Twilight. She and Big Mac stumbled through the party searching for the lavender mare, all while coming across many other ponies they recognized and saying hello. Eventually they came across the organizer of this celebration, doing flips on a giant rubber ball. While juggling. It was honestly impressive and she almost forgot what she was looking for.
“Hi Applejack! Glad you came after all!” Pinkie said as she continued her antics.
“Hiya Pinkie, uh has a pony called Sparklin’ Cider been here yet?” She asked, looking around.
“Hmmmm…” The pink filly halted mid-air, with her juggling balls doing so as well as she began thinking.
“Yep! But I lost track of her, so she might still be around!” Pinkie said, instantly resuming her juggling flips. Applejack let out a breath of relief. This should be easy.
Well it would’ve been if Twilight hadn’t left as the sun began setting. She was quick to make her way back to the library she saw before.
“That party tuckered you out, huh Spike?” She said to the sleepy hatchling on her back. Spike let out a yawn and nuzzled into her neck, trying to get comfortable enough to sleep. A chill blew past. Causing them both to shiver.
“Y-Yeesh, we need to find a place to stay…” Twilight said as they got up to the library door. It didn’t seem to be closed yet. She pushed open the door and looked around the foyer. The large open area filled with books and sitting cushions was like heaven to Twilight. She noticed a light amount of dust on things, meaning no one was here for a bit. Checking upstairs, she found an empty bedroom meaning no one had taken this place as a home. It was likely only used for just the library part downstairs. Using her magic she collected the cushions and piled them upstairs into a makeshift bed and laid Spike on one side. He snuggled into the pile and got comfortable, but not yet asleep.
“Gimme a minute and I’ll get a book for us to read, don’t go anywhere!” Twilight disappeared downstairs for a moment and looked around the library in the fiction section. She was in the mood to get lost in a new world for a bit, so…
In the doorway a yellow pegasus filly was about to enter to return a book, but upon seeing another pony she gave up on it and just backed out.
“Ooh! Septimare Hoof, I’ve always wanted to start this one!” She pulled the book out and headed back upstairs. She quickly backtracked to close the front door. She could’ve sworn she closed that. Once she got upstairs, she found the neat arrangement of pillows turned into a pile Spike was sleeping inside of. She sighed.
“Maybe we should’ve snuck back into the Apple’s barn.” Twilight said. She crawled into the pile with the book and found Spike there. He giggled woozily. She smiled at him.
“All right Spike, time for a story. I’ve been looking forward to this one!”
The baby dragon snuggled into her as she began reading.
“Alright, I think I’ve got everything.” Shining Armor said as he checked over his saddlebags again. He looked at his partner who was adjusting her outfit.
“I think I’m good to go over here!” She said, adjusting a hat that was supposed to make her look inconspicuous. Shining Armor just stared at her.
“Well, you think this disguise’ll work?” Cadence said, wearing a fedora, black sunglasses, and a fake mustache. As well as a poorly drawn cutie mark of three hearts taped over her flank. Shining put a hoof to his chin in thought. He then rotated the hat to the left a bit.
“Perfect!”