//------------------------------//
// Prologue 
// Story: Guilty Mare 
// by nintendo917 
//------------------------------//

“Spike, have you dusted those bookshelves?”  Twilight called out as she was inspecting her checklist.

“I’m already trying to stack these books, what more do you want?” Spike replied, carrying a teetering tower of tomes. “Why are you so panicky all of a sudden?”

“I told you Spike, the Princess has scheduled another visit to Ponyville after having to take care of the parasprite infestation in Fillydelphia.  If it weren’t for that, she would have seen our town in the same state.  I’m not going to make the same mistake twice, so I’m taking every possible precaution to make sure nothing catastrophic happens.” Twilight explained in a nervous tone of voice.

“Well isn’t there a less bossy way to do it?  Besides… sometimes things like the parasprites happen.  Ya can’t take into account every possible scenario, it’s just not possible.  Best we can do is doing the best we can to prepare for what we can prepare for and…wooaah!”

Not paying attention to his footing, the little baby dragon started to lose his balance.  Spike tried desperately to stabilize himself with the books he was carrying as if he was in some sort of desperate circus act.  It wasn’t long before he became unstable, though, as he started to sporadically teeter to and fro before inevitably crashing down to the floor.  Falling under the weight of all the textbooks, they plummeted to the earth with the majority of them landing on Spike’s adolescent noggin, temporarily stunning him.

“Ugh… adapt…”

As if completely oblivious to her assistant’s accident, Twilight’s only reply was “Get up Spike, there’s no time to be resting.  We still need to furnish the library.  There are still some confetti and plastic cups lying around from the party last night!”  She swiftly dug Spike out from under the mountainous pile of books with her magic.

“Uh... give me a break, Twilight. I've already wiped the desk, made the beds, cleaned the windows, raked the leaves, AND sent your editorial to News of Equestria magazine on proper book organization at the post office. All I'm asking is for a five minute break!” Spike demanded in a frustrated tone.

“You don’t seem to understand, Spike. This isn't a casual acquaintance we’re talking about, nor is it anypony like Sapphire Shore, this is Princess Celestia. EVERYTHING MUST BE ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY PERFECT TO A ‘T’!!!” Twilight exclaimed as she raised her voice in front of Spike.

“... Just five minutes?” Spike pleaded as he began to enlarge his pupils as if he were some sort of sad puppy dog waiting to be put down. Twilight attempted to resist Spike’s eyes in a furious battle of wills, but it was for naught as she was successfully persuaded, and with that she let out a large grunt.

“Fine, take a break. I’m gonna go check on the preparations for Celestia’s arrival,” Twilight said as she trotted out the door, on her way towards Ponyville centre.

“YES!!!” cheered Spike.

Ah yes… just as Twilight said, Princess Celestia is scheduled to arrive at Ponyville for the yearly Summer Sun Celebration; a ceremonial gathering commemorating the summer solstice.  Normally, ponies everywhere would throw wild parties the night prior and stay up till dawn to watch the Sun Goddess raise the sun, just as she has always done every morning since the beginning.

However, just as last year didn’t exactly go off without a hitch, this year will also have a setback of its very own.  A catastrophe the likes of which nopony could never have hoped to foresee or prepare for.

So without further ado... LET’S ROCK!!!


GUILTY MARE