//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: How I Became An Alicorn... // by ShadowBolt94 //------------------------------// Chapter 3: The Spark Twilight Sparkle swallowed hard as the train pulled up to the station. She could see the massive structure from a few miles back but she had believed it to be the town itself, not just the campus. But no, the town of Ponyville was shadowed by the school it housed. It made Canterlot Castle look like an inflatable bounce house. Spike whistled as they got off the train and look up at the towering structure before them. Luna lowered the glasses she was wearing as part of her disguise until they reached the school itself. “When my sister said she had made investments in a school here a few decades back, I didn’t think she meant like THIS.” She whisper shouted. Twilight just nodded in agreement and slowly carted her bag behind her with Spike close behind his duffle bag almost as big as him slung over his shoulder. Luna was the only one who didn’t seem to really understand the concept of ‘less is more’ and toted two rolling chests at her side, two huge duffle bags slung across her shoulders and was levitating the other six huge bags above her so they wouldn’t get in the way of people walking. You’d think after a couple thousand years SOMEONE would have invented a spell to carry massive loads in a little bit of space. But being a princess had its perks and Luna wasn’t really burdened by her load. They arrived at the gates within ten minutes of leaving the train station and if the school had seemed large before now it looked down right intimidating. From the windows on each level Twilight had to guess it was around five stories tall and it had towers much like the ones found on a castle but judging by the lights from within them she could tell they were probably class rooms, one of them even had a rather large telescope sticking out from it and she guessed that was the observatory and Astronomy room, some place she and Luna would be spending a lot of time in as it was a shared hobby of theirs. Twilight watched all the students rushing past them and through the magnificent courtyard that lead up to the massive structure of a school. In a pink blur each of them had a map shoved in their hands except for Luna who since her hands were occupied had it shoved into her mouth. The offender in question stopped in front of them and grinned from ear to ear. She looked young, Twilight’s age for sure, and was covered from head to toe in pink, a pink shirt with three balloons that matched the mark on her hand, a pink poofy skirt that bounced every time she took a step and pink buckle shoes with knee high socks that had stripes of, you guessed it, pink. Not to mention she radiated energy that threw her for a loop. Even her bright pink hair, which reminded Twilight of cotton candy for some reason, seemed to be bouncy and full of life and her eyes looked like bright blue orbs of pure unfiltered raw energy. “Hi! My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie~ But that's a mouthful so you can just call me Pinkie Pie for short! Or Pinkie! I’m really not all that picky~! I’m part of the welcoming committee here even though I just got here myself so I’m going around handing out maps to everyone who looks new! Oh, hey! You’re the Princess and the transfer students from Canterlot right?!” The overly excited pink cotton ball exclaimed happily. Luna’s eyes widened in shock as a few people’s eyes turned to them. But they seemed to shrug it off at the sight of the pink haired energy demon in front of them and continued their business. Luna spat out the map in her mouth and sighed in relief and lowered her glasses slightly. “Yes… we are… now could you please direct us to whoever’s in charge of room assignments…?” she asked deciding it wouldn’t be worth the effort to ask how she knew who they were after they’d just met. “Sure! In fact I’ll take you to her myself, but let me finish passing out these real quick! I’ll meet you two at the front doors!” she announced before she disappeared in a pink blur again. They saw the blur moving from student to student leaving behind maps shoved in hands, mouths, bags, and sometimes shirts. By the time the confused trio made it to the enormous front doors Pinkie was sitting on top of the ledge that wrapped around the entrance. “Jeez, took you guys long enough, come on let’s go!” she squealed as she grabbed them all and yanked them into the building. They were escorted, and by escorted I mean dragged very brashly, through the crowd of students and taken to the table with a long line that looked like it was moving pretty fast. Now Pinkie was a lot of things, but patient was definitely NOT one of them. She just dragged the three to the front of the line but surprisingly enough no body complained about them cutting. Except of course the teacher in charge of dishing out the information cards. Her pink hair swirled upwards in what reminded Spike, to his great enjoyment, of the icing on a cupcake. Beside her a wirey looking man with messy orange hair sighed as he cast a tired gaze at the pink ball of energy. “Pinkie, how many times do we have to tell you, you can’t just let people cut in line when you feel like it…” the woman stated. Pinkie was grinning again as she stepped aside and revealed the victims she had captured this time around. “But Mrs. Cake these ones are different, I give you Princess Luna and… I’m really sorry, I didn’t catch you two’s names…” she whispered to the other two. “Twilight Sparkle, and this here is Spike.” Twilight answered in return. “… Her companions Twilight Sparkle and Spike!” Pinkie finished beaming with pride at the teacher who had gone star struck in an instant. She quickly stood from her chair and Luna internally groaned knowing what was coming next. She removed her glasses and set them in her pocket and then removed the beanie she had been wearing on her head letting her teal hair cascade across her shoulders. “P-princess Luna…! We weren’t aware…! I’m Cup Cake, and this is my Husband Carrot Cake. We’re the head of the culinary department here and we run a bakery in town… it really is an honor to meet you!” the teacher’s bright pink eyes lighting up with what Luna swore were stars. The man beside her finally spoke giving her a small bow as he did so. “A-allow us to make up for our mistake…!” he said pulling out three cards from the little filing system they had in front of them. “Here are your room assignments for the year! Please, if you have ANY issues please talk with me or my wife here and we will make it right as pie just for you…!” he assured the princess with a nervous smile. She gave the man a small smile and took the cards from him. “Thank you very much Mr. Cake, but please don’t treat me any differently than the rest of your students… my sister sent me here to be normal, not to be a princess in a new castle.” She replied her face still slightly pink from the gaze of the crowd behind them. “B-but Princess I…!” Mr. Cake started, but Luna interrupted him. “Luna… just, call me Luna.” She corrected. The man looked conflicted but corrected himself anyways. “Luna… we always were taught to treat royalty as such, so you can see why it is a bit difficult for us to… adjust.” He explained slowly. She laughed at that. “That I understand, trying to adjust to something the complete opposite of how you were raised to behave… But it’ll come to you in time. But for now… EVERYONE…! Call me Luna!” she announced to the crowd. Everyone seemed to nod in approval murmuring the name as they did so. Luna smiled again and bowed a bit to the two teachers before she looked down at the cards that were handed to her and passed the two that didn’t belong to her to Twilight and Spike. Pinkie was simply standing there beaming from ear to ear. Twilight gave her an un easy stare when she realized that the girl look frozen in place. “Uhh… Pinkie, was it…? Are you okay…?” she asked slowly approaching the girl. When she dared to reach out and poke her she jumped back startled as the cardboard cutout fell over. “What the…” “Why are you talking to a poster Twilight…?” asked a happy sounding voice right next to her. Twilight jumped back as Pinkie had materialized next to her. “Wah… how did you…? Spike was she standing there the entire time?!” she asked the drake. He looked up from the card he was staring at and shrugged. Twilight groaned and Pinkie skipped off singing a merry tune to herself. But she paused midair and zipped back over to Twilight despite all logic saying all of that was impossible. “Omaigosh! I Totally forgot to tell you! After you settle into your dorms there’s gonna be a BIIIIIIIIG welcoming party at dinner so don’t miss out!!!” she exclaimed her face only inches away from Twilight’s. “O-kaaaaay… but how did you…-“ but before Twilight could finish her question the girl had disappeared in a burst of confetti. Twilight blinked slowly a few times to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating and then slowly turned around her face in a creepy grin and her hair starting to fray as her eye began to twitch. “Okay then~! Let’s get on with this freak show shall we?!” she exclaimed as her legs began to move like a robots and Spike groaned as he face palmed and began to plan out how he was going to snap her out of ‘Insane’ mode this time. Together the three of them followed the map to the dormitories and then proceeded to climb up five flights of stairs to the very top level by which all three of them were ready to pass out at the top of the steps. They heard a ding beside them and they looked to see two doors sliding open and several people stepping out, one of them, a girl who wore a mint green over shirt with a cream white tank top on underneath it and a lyre mark on the upper part of her arm bent down beside them. “You guys know there’s an elevator right…?” she asked. Luna’s eye twitched slightly as the ground began to shake again. Twilight quickly covered Spike’s ears as did everyone else on campus. “FUUUUUUUUUUUU-“ Twilight quickly slapped a hand over her mouth before she could get the full word out. “Princess, language…!” she exclaimed. “Terribly sorry Twilight, allow me to try that again… De toutes les fichues pires choses possibles sur la terre qui peut probablement baiser fait une erreur!!! Pourquoi l'enfer nous n'avons pas remarqué il y avait un ascenseur en premier lieu?!?!” she screamed to the heavens. “D-did you just speak French…?” Twilight questioned as she tried to regain use of her ears. “Well, you said language, so I changed languages.” Luna responded with a shrug as she stood up and levitated the remainder of her bags up the stairs with her. Twilight groaned and dragged Spike along with her before making a startling realization. “Princess, what room did you get assigned…?” Twilight asked. “Um… let me see… 5100, why do you ask Twilight Sparkle…?” Luna asked turning back to the girl who was now sitting with her mouth draped open. “Twilight, shut your mouth, you’ll attract flies.” Luna lectured as she tapped her jaw shut. “B-but… that’s… mine and Spike’s room…!” Twilight exclaimed as she flailed her arms a bit. Luna stared at her in shock taking her room card and staring at it. She stared at her own room card and then something in the back of her mind itched at her and she turned hers over. And I shit you not the following image was on the back of the card. Twilight and Luna stared at it for a good few seconds before Twilight sighed and put up a small sound proof force field around her and Spike. “DAMN YOU TROLLESTIAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” This time as she sat in her throne room holding day court Celestia heard her sister loud and clear and smirked a bit at it before motioning for the speaker to continue. He did so with a cautious look around first, but for the remainder of the afternoon Celestia held that devious gleam in her eyes. Back at the school Twilight lowered the shield and Spike sat up and dusted himself off. “So I get the pleasure of sharing a room with the girl who hassled me for two months just so she could get my gamer code and hasn’t let me play in peace since…?” Spike asked with a groan. Luna gave him a look like she had no idea what he was talking about and Twilight just patted his shoulder gently. “Ugh… whatever, I’ll get her back for it later, but for now let’s just get inside so we can get unpacked and then take a nice LONG nap…” Luna growled. Twilight followed behind her as they walked down the long hallway looking for their room but the sound of a very loud argument made them both freeze. “Ah done told ya fer the last time Miss Dash, this here AIN’T the Pegasus quarters…!” came a heavily accented southern voice. A different voice, one that seemed like it was still trying to change because it would break every now and again, responded to her. “And I already told YOU hay seed that there’s been a mistake because I’m SUPPOSED to be assigned to the Pegasus wing but instead they put me here with YOU…!!!” It roared in return. Luna, Twilight, and Spike peeked around the corner ever so carefully. The saw a girl with a workers tan and long blonde hair that was tied back by a red band at the end of it, wearing what looked to be worn denim work jeans that had several rips around the knees, with an orange plaid jacket shirt covering a slightly stained white tank top under it, her jeans tucked into the cowboy boots she wore and on top of her head a heavily worn stenson was angled just right to shadow her piercing green eyes, three bright red apples were visible on the top part of her arm where the sleeves of the rolled up shirt stopped. Twilight assumed this was the one with the southern drawl. The one across from her was quite the sight, after all, there weren’t many people whose hair was made up of every color in the rainbow. All the way to her roots down to where it stopped just above her shoulders Red, blue, yellow, orange, green, and purple were streaked in sections. However it was also noticeable by the way it looked like she had just rolled out of bed with spikey bed head that she didn’t much care for her hair. She dressed in a cyan short sleeved open hoodie with a form fitting white muscle shirt underneath it. Two powerful looking wings the same color as her hoodie came out of her back arching in fight stance to show her anger. Her jeans looked faded like the farmer’s did but hers also looked like they were a size too big for her since they hung off her and almost covered the white track shoes she had on her feet, the jeans were held up by a studded belt. Luna looked for her mark but couldn’t find it meaning it was probably covered by her clothing. Magenta eyes were glaring back into the piercing green ones across from her as the farmer started to butt heads with her. “Ya wanna go ya featherbrained mule?!” she challenged. “Maybe I do…!” the rainbow haired one retorted. Twilight decided to intervene before this got physical. She walked over and pulled the two apart. “Alright I’ve seen enough, both of you just breathe.” She ordered. They both glared at her but years of dealing with Spike had steeled her of almost all glares. “Now what seems to be the issue here…?” she asked calmly. Both of them started yelling at once and Twilight couldn’t hear either of them because of it. She facepalmed as the two glared at each other. “Okay, let’s try that again, this time one at a time, you first Miss uh…” she trailed off not knowing the farm girl’s name. “Applejack, Applejack Apple, and thank ya ma’am. Well ya see ah was just settlin into ma room here and ah got a knock on the door, ah thought it was my roommate so ah opened it up and this gal here busts in like a badger with a beehive on its head and starts ranting about getting the rooms mixed up…! Now ah’m a might reasonable person, really ah am, but when folks bust in yellin like ya’ve just punched ‘em across the face ah get a bit defensive. So ah started yelling right back. And it kinda went on like that fer a few minutes before you came along and now ah’m tellin you ‘bout it. Sound about right to ya Miss Dash…?” she questioned turning to the rather ticked looking Pegasus. “For the last time hay seed My name isn’t ‘Miss Dash’ It’s Rainbow Dash! Miss Dash is my mother. And yeah, she pretty much got that down except for the part where I just searched this entire school twice for this damn room and now I find out it’s not even in the right wing! I’m SUPPOSED to be sharing a room with my best friend in the Pegasus wing because she didn’t want to be booked with some total stranger for the year…!” Rainbow explained practically blowing steam through her nostrils. Twilight blinked and thought for a moment about it and then turned behind her. “Princess, do you think we could send these two down to the Cakes with your word to see if they can sort out their rooming issues…?” she asked the teal haired girl. She however hadn’t been listening and was instead planning her revenge on her sister. Hearing Twilight address her she snapped out of it and blinked before Twilight re asked the question. “Oh, uh yeah I guess but… Oh. Hello there.” She said noticing a small girl in a very plush looking yellow sweater and a long flowing light green skirt who has hiding behind her very long light pink hair. Luna couldn’t see her mark anywhere but there wasn’t very much skin showing on the timid girl so it didn’t surprise her at all. Rainbow turned around and instantly they saw her anger melt away like snow under a heat lamp. “Fluttershy…! How long have you been standing there…?” Rainbow asked. They all saw her lips move ever so slightly but it seemed only Dash was close enough to really hear her. “A while huh…? Sorry you had to see that then I…” the girl muttered something again and it seemed to be surprised by it. “Really…? Are you sure? Because I could still… well alright then. You’re still in this hallway right? Good, so you can come over if you need anything alright?” she offered a soft look on her face. The shy’s girls eyes finally met the others and they saw a deep swirl of aquamarine hit them like the churning warm seas. But before they could process much else about her she quickly escaped into a room just a few doors down and Rainbow brought her attention back to the others present. She turned to Applejack and scratched the back of her head. “Look I’m really sorry I got so worked up over all that… I’m just not real patient and well… I was really worried for my friend too so…” “Shoot sugarcube, ya shoulda just told me it was about yer friend! Ah’d have marched down there with ya myself ta have you re-booked if ah’d have known!” Applejack laughed clapping the girl across the back. Rainbow flinched but didn’t buckle over like most people would when Applejack does the very same. She whistled at it and grinned. “Ya must be pretty sturdy there for a Pegasus if ya didn’t fall over from an Apple back slap!” she chuckled. Rainbow again scratched the back of her head again and also started laughing. “Yeah, look is it cool if we just start over? Pretend I didn’t just nearly round house kick you into next week…?” she asked. Applejack smiled back and offered out her hand. “Sure, but fer the record, ah’ve pounded you six ways to Sunday.” She added with a gleam in her eye. Dash’s eyes lit up too. “Is that a challenge Jackie…?” she sneered. “Is a ground hog the most annoying damn critter on earth…?” she replied. Rainbow just gave her a dumbfounded look. Applejack rolled her eyes. “That’s farm talk fer yes sugarcube.” Dash beamed. “Great! Just let me change really fast and then we can head over to the gym!” she declared as she went into their room, closed the door and ten seconds later came out with her jacket gone and instead of her jeans she now wore cyan gym shorts that cut off mid-thigh and also sported fingerless fighting gloves. Luna finally saw her mark right on her ankle, it was a cloud with a tri-colored lightning bolt. “Okay, let’s go!” she declared. “That was fast, what’d ya do, just rip off your pants and throw on those gloves…?” the farm girl questioned. “Well duh, I’m Rainbow DASH, not Rainbow Slow, and you will never know! Now come on cowgirl, I’ll show you how to fight Cloudsdale style!” she proclaimed as she dragged her new roommate down the hall towards the elevator. Twilight stared at the scene her eye still twitching and her hair growing more and more disheveled as time went on. “But they just… and then… how is fighting a sign of a forming friendship?!” she questioned to no one in particular. Luna walked past her and shrugged. They reached the end of the hall and found their room to be the very last one. The number plate was engraved in gold and Twilight had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that Celestia had done something she had been completely against. Her fears were confirmed when Luna unlocked the door using her cardkey and the door swung open to reveal a rather lavish room with windows lining the entire back wall from the living room where there was a long soft looking white couch, a matching love seat at its side and two matching arm chairs on its other side, all facing a very large flat screen TV that had three different gaming systems and an entire bookshelf next to it filled with movies and games. The windows the stretched into the large kitchen that had all of the top of the line stainless steel appliances and a fully stocked fridge and pantry; off to the side of it there was a dining table with room for eight and a very elegant crystal chandelier hung above it reflecting its prismatic light ever so softly. Down the hall there were four rooms, three were bedrooms and one was a gaming room. At the very end of the hallway there was a bathroom but the master bedroom, which Luna quickly called dibs on, had its own bathroom. In short: Celestia had spoiled them. After they had explored a bit Spike had chosen the smallest of the bedrooms but it was also the closest to the bathroom and the gaming room so he didn’t really care, which left Twilight with the default room which she hadn’t even been in yet. She sighed as she opened the door but all her weariness drained from her when she saw what it held within it. Books. On every wall except for the one her bed was against, there was bookshelves that went up to the ceiling and were packed full of books. There was even a rolling ladder that would allow her to access the top shelves, and there was a work desk beside her bed which was made with sheets of her favorite color, purple. She saw a folded note on it and recognized her name in Celestia’s handwriting. She picked it up and began reading it with renewed enthusiasm. ‘My most faithful student Twilight Sparkle, I know by now you must be pretty worn out with all of today’s excitement so I prepared this room knowing you’d need a sanctuary. I know the task I’ve given you won’t be easy for you, but there is not a doubt in my mind that you CAN do it. There is magic in friendship Twilight, and it is a magic you need to study with the greatest of intensities. But of course don’t let that stop you from pursuing your academics either, this room is filled with books of all kinds from all over, I think you’ll find many of them useful in your studies. I even took the liberty of making you a roster for all your books. You can find it in the top drawer of your desk. I look forward to receiving your first letter on your findings on the magic of friendship. Your mentor and friend, Princess of the Eternal Sun Celestia Twilight let a small tear drop onto the note and a smile broke out across her face as she used the sleeve of her purple sweater vest to dry her eyes. Her mentor was counting on her and she wouldn’t let her down, no matter how much everyone in this school scared her shitless with their antics! . . . But in the meantime she needed a nap. Making friends could wait a few more hours. She flopped down on rather extravagant looking queen sized bed and found it to be what she imagined as sleeping on a cloud. She didn’t even bother taking off her shoes, she just fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. In what seemed like minutes to her Spike was poking her side. “Twilight…! Come on, wake up already…! We’re going to be late!” he complained as he tried to shake the purple haired mage awake. At the mention of the word ‘late’ however she shot out of bed like a rocket and was coming through her bed head as fast as a freight train. “I’m not going to be late to my first day of high school…! Spike, go find my uniform! I need to get my bag together and locate my textbooks and… Why is it still dark out…?” she asked noticing the moon light that came through the window above her bed. Spike rolled his eyes. “I MEANT that we’re going to be late to the welcoming party! Remember…? Pinkie told us about it earlier?” he reminded her. Her cheeks grew rosy and she smiled nervously as she set her brush down. “Oh… right… uh… how much longer do we have until it starts…?” she asked. Spike moved the sleeve of his purple hoodie up and looked down at his watch. “About five minutes… and it takes ten to get down to the auditorium where it’s being held.” He responded awaiting the panic attack he knew was coming. But just as her eye began to twitch Luna kicked in the door and grabbed both of them by the collars. “No time for panic attacks Sparkle, a princess is NEVER late and I refuse to start today. She said as her midnight blue magic started to glow around them. In a flash they were outside the auditorium. Twilight blinked processing the spell and then her eyes widened. “You can teleport?! Why didn’t you just teleport us up to our rooms instead of climbing up to it?!” she shouted, something she had never done with either of the princesses. Luna cocked an eyebrow at her. “Because, I have to have been where I’m teleporting, and while you slept in I decided to take a tour of the campus. Hence why I can teleport here.” She responded calmly. “I thought you were a master at things like spells Twilight Sparkle…?” she hummed a teasing tone taking over her voice. Twilight flushed and was about to counter the statement before a Pink blur and an explosion of confetti effectively shut her up and almost made her wet herself. “SURPRISE…!!!!! OhmaigoshTwilightit’ssoawesomeyoucouldmakeit!Ididn’tthinkyou’dcomebecauseyoulookedlikeoneofthosebookwormyshutinssoIthoughtyou’djuststayathomereadingorsomethingbuthereyouareinthefleshatmyfirstbonifiedhighschoolPAAAAAAARTY!!!!!!!!!” Pinkie exclaimed so fast it all just sounded like a jumble of words to Twilight. She then turned to Luna and Spike. “And of course who could forget the super awesome amazing Luna and the adorable little Spikey~!” she sang with her grin looking almost too big for her face. “Hey…! I am not adorable!” Spike protested his ears growing hot with embarrassment. Luna just chuckled and moved past the pink energizer bunny. “Now then… what is the big deal with one of these… parties…?” she asked. There was an elongated gasp and then pinky was on Luna like white on rice, or pink on a Pinkie. “YOU’VE NEVER BEEN TO A PARTY PRINCESS?!?!?!” She questioned shaking said teal haired girl by her shoulders. Luna tried not to lose her lunch as Pinkie continued to shake her like a rag doll. “N-no, just formal ball’s and the Gala’s we host every year but from what I’ve heard real parties are… how do you say… informal…?” she questioned. Pinkie looked like she was about to faint when Luna continued. “But Twilight here hasn’t been to ANY parties at all, even Spike has attended birthday parties before.” She added so as to deflect the attention away from her. Twilight mouthed the word ‘traitor’ at her and she just mouthed the age old phrase of ‘everyone for themselves’. Pinkie had grabbed Twilight by the wrist and had forcefully dragged the girl into the massive swarm of bodies that occupied the auditorium. When Pinkie stopped it was in front of a table where four girls sat chatting comfortably, three of them she recognized but the fourth was a mystery to her. Rainbow Dash saw her first and beamed which caused Applejack to turn around and notice her as well. “Hey there sugarcube, Ah see Pinkie got ahold of ya too, well I never really got ta thank ya fer-“ but the farmer was interrupted by Pinkie. “Not now Applejack! We’ve got a serious problem! This is Twilight’s very first party like EVER…!!!!” She exclaimed waving her hands around to emphasize her point. The girl she didn’t know let out a rather dramatized gasp. “Oh my! Pinkie this is terrible…!” She exclaimed as she stood up and walked over to the girl. The first thing Twilight noticed about her was that she bore a crest in the center of her forehead meaning she was a magic user like her, the second was that this girl, who was the same age as her mind you, could probably teach Canterlot models a thing or two about elegance. Even the way she carried herself in the short distance she had walked from her seat to where Twilight stood made her seem like she belonged on a run way. Not to mention the fact she was wearing the most beautiful white dress twilight had ever seen, it was form fitting but didn’t hug her entire body, went down to her ankles but had a nice long slit up it that went just past her knee’s, and most eye catching of all, it was embedded with shining diamonds of all sizes. Her boots were the same flawless white and had the same perfect gemstones embedded along the very top of it. Her hair, which was a deep rich purple color, was curled into large ringlets that bounced with her every movement. She wore makeup but not a lot, just some eye shadow and eyeliner to bring out her already prominent blue eyes, the very same blue of the three gemstones that made up the mark that was visible on her breast bone. Twilight was stunned speechless at her appearance but behind her a certain little dragon hybrid was frozen in place and looked like he had just been shot with an entire quiver of cupids arrows. The elegant girl spoke again once she was in front of Twilight and she showed her disapproval with a slight pout of her lips. “We can’t have a young lady such as yourself walking around with such drab clothes on! Yet alone to a party! Come, my talents are obviously desperately needed!” she sighed as she took the girl by the wrist and started to drag her off. “Rarityyyyyyyy!!!! We don’t have to give Twiley a make over! She needs some party in her system stat!” Pinkie whined chasing after them as Rarity pulled a gemstone that glowed softly out of her purse. “And she WILL Pinkie! AFTER I make this charming young lady presentable!” Rarity replied to the pink haired party animal. “Uhh, do I get any say in this…?” Twilight asked putting her hand up like she was asking a question in class. They both turned to her with flat faces. “No.” and with a simple pulse of magic from Rarity into the gem she was holding they were gone in a flash of blue light, but not before Spike had clamped onto Twilight’s arms so he was take with them. They reappeared in a room that had beautiful fabric’s laid neatly across tables, stacked on shelves, and a few littered the floors which Rarity quickly corrected by levitating them to their correct spots on the shelves. She walked over to a section of the room that had sewing machines lining it and opened the door that was against it. “Now I’m terribly sorry to have rushed all that darling but I simply couldn’t let you walk around wearing… that. No offense.” She called as she walked into the room and seemed to be sorting through outfits as Twilight heard the sliding of coat hangers. Twilight looked down at Spike who was still under cupid’s influence. “What’s wrong with the way I dress…?” she asked him. “You look like a purple hobo most of the time.” He responded without looking at her, obviously unaware of the dangers involving insulting a girl’s fashion sense. Twilight was about to protest when she felt herself become surrounded by magic aura and dragged into the room with Rarity. Her panic was obvious but Spike was too love struck to even hear her cries for help. Five minutes of intensive work later Twilight emerged from the room in a very stylish purple blouse that had a light pink star on the bottom of it that looked a lot like Twilight’s mark, a simple yet still cute black skirt that had a long purple streak down the side of it, and heelless black boots that sagged a bit downwards and had a few straps and buckles on the for decoration. Her hair had been properly brushed and now a slight curl to it. In other words, Twilight Sparkle looked cute. That was enough to snap Spike out of his trance. “Whoa…! Twilight, what happened to you?” he asked out of shock of seeing his sister looking presentable for the first time in his life. Rarity seemed to notice the boy for the first time and startled a bit at his appearance but answered him anyways. “I fixed her into a proper lady, no one should be confined to… a sweater vest.” She shuddered at the mention of the dreaded thing. “Oh where are my manners, here I am ranting about being a lady and I’ve been so rude as to not introduce myself! I am Rarity Belle, I bring out the beauty in everyone and everything to the best of my ability.” She announced with a curtsey. Twilight blinked and smiled a bit returning the curtsey in turn. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, this is my younger brother…” “Spikeson Graventus Draconis Kaelopson VI, or just Spike if you would milady, at your humble service.” He said giving Rarity a deep bow in return. Rarity beamed at the gesture. “Oh my, what a simply adorable little gentleman we have here Twilight, but why on earth is he here in high school? No offense darling but you don’t look much older than my little sister and she’s only in elementary school!” she exclaimed. Spike looked up grinning and scratching the back of his head. “Well, I uh… you could say I skipped a few grades milady… being taught by who I was I was always advanced in my studies.” He responded. Twilight sat awestruck by Spike’s sudden behavior change. He NEVER spoke like that in Canterlot, even surrounded by royalty he was always laid back and mellow. Now… he was speaking like one of the royals himself…! Given, he technically was of royal dragon blood but he didn’t really know that. “Oh my, well that’s just fine then dear. Come on now then, I’m sure Pinkie is more than eagerly awaiting your return.” She hummed as she pulled out the gemstone again. But this time Twilight stopped and asked her a question. “Is that an enchanted gemstone…? How did you get ahold of such a thing…! We’re only in eighth grade, such things are reserved for college students!” she exclaimed examining the crystal in Rarity’s hand. “Oh, well that’s quite simple dear, my special talent is centered around the use of gems! So I find myself quite gifted in the art of enchanting them as well, as I’m not very good at regular spells, other than levitation and fabric weaving that is, I find these to be quite a bit more useful to me. This one is embedded with a teleportation spell, and because it’s a sea sapphire it ensures that the spell has a very many uses left in it.” she explained as if it were kindergarten material. Spike was drooling at the mention of gems but he wouldn’t dare eat anything that belonged to Rarity unless she gave him permission. Twilight however was flabbergasted by the girl’s knowledge on such an advanced subject. Rarity activated the gem before she could ask more and in a flash they were all back at the party where Pinkie was tapping her foot impatiently. “Finally! Do you have any idea what it’s like waiting for you two- Oh wow Twiley that looks REALLY pretty on you!” Pinkie exclaimed as she saw what Twilight was now wearing. Two whistles sounded behind Pinkie and Rainbow Dash hovered over her inspection her from every angle and Applejack just leaned against Pinkie with a smile on her face. “Woo wee Twilight, Ah’m not one to enjoy dressin up and girly stuff like that but that looks mighty fine on you.” She complimented. Twilight blushed and scratched her cheek a bit not used to praise for her appearance. “Yeah! If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were some kind of imposter!” Rainbow laughed before her face got hard and serious and magenta eyes were inches away from her own lavender ones in a heartbeat. “You aren’t a spy are you Sparkle…?” she asked a threatening tone taking over her voice. But a slight tug on her cyan hoodie that she had changed back into snapped her out of it and she turned to see Fluttershy standing behind her. Rainbow landed on the ground as Fluttershy said something in her whisper voice that Twilight might have been able to hear if they weren’t surrounded by blaring music from the party. “Fluttershy wanted me to tell you she likes the new look too!” Rainbow announced proudly. Fluttershy squeaked and hid behind her hair again and for the first time Twilight could see the tips of buttercream yellow wings peeking out from her back. She had almost forgotten that the Rainbow had mentioned the girl was a Pegasus as well. Twilight smiled kindly at the girl. “Thank you, Fluttershy was it? You look very nice as well tonight.” Twilight responded softly so as not to frighten the girl further. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, and this is my younger brother Spike, he-“ But a sudden audible gasp from the girl who quickly rushed forward and almost knocked Twilight over in the process of confronting Spike. “A real live Dracomaxian…! Oh my, I’ve read all about you in mythology books but I never thought I’d meet one in person…! C-can you really breath fire like all the books say…?” the girl asked her voice now quite audible for everyone to hear. It was still very soft and timid but it was apparent she had found her muse and was now very open. Spike blinked in surprise at first but a cocky grin crossed his face almost as fast. “Of course I can! What kind of dragon can’t?” he asked showing off a bit by blowing a stream of green fire into his hands as an example. The girls of the group all were surprised by his feet and showed their excitement in their own ways. “Omaigosh guys! Did anyone else know Spikey was half dragon?!” Pinkie exclaimed. “No way! But that’s totally awesome little dude, hey, do you have scales and a tail too…?!” Rainbow asked the kid her eyes brimming with excitement as she hovered a few inches off the ground. He grinned again and nodded. “Yup, but the tail usually rips open my pants when I bring it out so instead… how about claws?” he asked letting the skin on his arms turn into shining purple scales and his nails to elongate into razor sharp claws. Applejack whistled again. “Whoa there partner, you’re makin mah head spin with all that fancy draco whatsit stuff!” she chuckled. Rarity’s eyes lit up like fireworks as she saw how each of his scales shone like the finest of gems. She produced a fan from her purse and used it to fan herself. “Oh my, those scales are simply to die for darling…! You simply must let me make you outfit based around them!” she exclaimed taking the boys hands in her own. He was once again reduced to a pile of slurring mush at the touch of his crush and Twilight rolled her eyes but was thankful for the distraction. She quickly made her escape towards the food table and poured herself a glass of punch. A giggle behind her made her flinch but she didn’t bother turning around because she knew what was coming. “Are you here to torture me with praise too, Princess…?” she sighed as Luna made her way beside her to pour her own glass. “Of course not…” she snickered a bit. “Twiley, I’m merely here to check up on how you are doing.” She responded. Twilight frowned at the nickname Pinkie had chosen for her. “I thought it was MY job to keep you in check, not the other way around.” She mumbled as she sipped from the punch. But she spat it out quickly and then slapped the cup out of Luna’s hand before she could drink it. “DON’T!” she quickly explained. “That stuff is spiked! It burned my mouth!” she explained. Luna arched an eyebrow at her. A voice behind them made them both jump. “Well of course it makes your mouth burn silly! It’s my special brew of jalapeno punch…!” Pinkie announced chugging back a cup herself. Twilight blinked in confusion and Luna laughed a bit at her antics. “Well then do you have any un spiced drinks Pinkie…?” Luna asked and in a flash both of them were handed cans of soda. “There ya go princess! Though I don’t know why you wouldn’t want the punch, I think it isn’t even mild…! Nope, what I like to do is add a little bit of this stuff to it!” she cheered pulling out a small bottle and handing it to her to examine. “Ghost pepper juice…? Pinkie you realize that stuff is-“ Twilight started only to see the girl pouring another bigger bottle of the same stuff into her glass and just drinking it by itself before turning back to Twilight without so much as a single red pigment in her face from the spice. “What~?” she asked when Twilight and Luna stared at her their eyes twitching slightly as they did so. Pinkie just shrugged and then noticed that the song had changed. “Oooo~!!! This is my Jam!” she announced before she grabbed Luna and Twilight and bolted out to the dance floor with them in tow. Twilight internally panicked, she had NO idea how to dance, other than what she had read in books, but she had never had an opportunity to practically apply them. Luckily Twilight’s mother had had the decency to have her daughter do yoga with her from a young age and as such Twilight was no doubt flexible enough to apply almost all the techniques the book had explained… that and both her older brother and her old baby sitter had loved all those dancing video games and had played with her and Spike a lot when she was younger. She even recognized the song from one of the songs that had been on the radio a lot lately. So in almost perfect synchronization she and Pinkie struck the first pose. “Oppa Gangnam Style!” chanted the entire room as they too struck the same pose. After the song was over Twilight bent over panting hard from the energetic dance but she was grinning anyways. Pinkie clapped her on the back beaming as well. “You didn’t tell me you knew how to dance like that Twiley!” she giggled. Twilight sighed as she stood back up straight only to be met with a devil like grin from just said girl. “You know what this means…~?” she asked in a tone that Twilight couldn’t really place. But she DID notice that for about the thousandth time that day her personal bubble had been popped without a care in the world. “Uhhh… that I could really use that soda now…?” she offered. Pinkie’s smirk grew and she shook her head before she looked behind her and gave a signal to the DJ. Twilight got a look of distress as Pinkie jumped up into the air as the new mix started. “DANCE OFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!” She declared. She disappeared in a pink blur and reappeared dragging the remaining four girls in the group just as the song started. Luna came up beside her, her eyes cold and calculating. “On the Floor is a very good dancing song… if we’re gonna have a chance at beating her we’re gonna need to have something even crazier… exactly how many video games did you say your brother forced you to play with him…?” Luna asked as she watched the girls dance in perfect harmony. Even timid Fluttershy seemed to be in the zone. Twilight swallowed hard. “P-princess, what’s going on, I don’t know the rules of the competition…!” She exclaimed watching the crowd cheer them on. “Okay then, basic rules of a dance off, from what I’ve heard online, is as follows, pick a song that has impressive dance moves but is catchy and people can easily join in on. The point is to win over the crowd’s approval by impressing them with your dancing. But she seems to have made this a group effort so we’ll have to pick something you, me, and Spike can all dance to.” She explained over the music. Spike popped up beside her. “Hey! When did I get dragged into this?!” he exclaimed. “You always used to beat the pants of Shiny in all those dancing games anyways Spike so don’t complain… and I think I just thought of the perfect song…!” Twilight announced before they huddled together. When they broke apart the song had ended and Pinkie was beaming while all of them broke the final pose and Rainbow stepped forward. “Beat that egg head!” she proclaimed. Twilight smirked as Luna flew up and gave the DJ the song and then landed back next to Twilight in a blue haze. “Oh we intend to Dash, you might want to take some notes.” She snickered as a very familiar beat pounded out of the subwoofers and the crowd began to cheer at the recognition. Pinkie’s face dropped its smile and Rainbow’s wings drooped. “Oh no…” They both muttered. Twilight and Luna were spot on in their dancing as was Spike, but he tended to just free style this particular song but it fitted so the crowd was going nuts over it and soon almost everyone was dancing along with them. Half way through it the other four knew that they’d been beat so they all shrugged their shoulders and joined in as well. Luna let her confidence show in a proud smirk and Twilight was doing a mental victory dance. When the song ended and all had struck their finishing poses, the girls mostly all pointing into their little half circle while Rainbow kneeled in the middle and Spike froze in his one armed hand stand. When the song was cut off the DJ grabbed the mike. “Well I think it’s pretty obvious who our winners are tonight!” he called out. The crowd all cheered their approval. And Pinkie went over and held up Luna and twilight’s arms in the classic championship pose. Spike just stood in front of them looking smug as ever. “Give it up for Twilight, Spike, and Lunaaaaaaa!!!” he called as the audience burst out in cheers, clapping, and whistles. Twilight was panting hard but she was happy all the same. The girls all gathered around her and Pinkie brought the six of them into a giant group hug. “You were amazing Twilight! Where’d you learn how to move like that???” Rainbow asked once the hug had been broken. “Yeah Twi, Ah only knew that dance because Pinkie here used to throw parties here in town just about every day and she sucked me inta dance practice with her!” AJ laughed. “Simply marvelous darling. I couldn’t keep up with some of those movements! And Spike, how on earth were you able to hold yourself like that…?” Rarity asked the spikey green haired boy. He chuckled and scratched the back of his head. “Well, I uh… our older brother used to train with us a lot… and we learned all those moves from the video games he and our old baby sitter would play…” he answered his crush a giant red hew across his face. Which Fluttershy of course commented on. “Aw… Rarity, you’re making him blush…” she giggled quietly. Rarity noticed and squealed in delight as she pinched his cheeks a bit and continued praising him which of course made him even worse. Luna watched this from outside the circle but by no means felt left out. Watching the shut in bookworm her sister had taken under her wing take flight on her own and socialize with these girls was enough to make her feel quite at home. What caught her off guard though was the slight glow each of their marks gave off, she was sure no one else had seen it, but each of the girls’ marks had glowed through their clothing or otherwise. Luna blinked once before her eyes met Twilight’s and she saw the spark ignite within them as she smiled and waved her over. ‘Now I see why it is you truly sent her here sister… I just hope it isn’t for the reason I’m thinking of…’ Luna thought within her mind as she looked out the window and into the night sky where the moon shined its light onto the party goers. “Yes… I certainly do hope it isn’t…” she mumbled to herself before walking over to Twilight and her new friends as they gathered near the food and drink table to finally relax.