//------------------------------// // Unfriendly Friends. // Story: Twilight Unleashed // by Artistic Fox //------------------------------// “Rarity? Are you here?” Twilight made her way into the boutique of her fashionista friend. Dresses of her own design covered up the naked pony manikins against the wall, each dress a different shade of different colours with intricate and fancy designs. Rarity, the well-groomed mare of a pure white coat and sapphire blue eyes, stood at the other end of the room, flicking through fabric samples. “Rarity? You wanted me to help you with your dress designs?” Twilight stepped closer, keeping her head turned to her right a bit to hide herself a little. “Ah! Yes… just in time dear, I’ll be with you in just a…” Rarity rotated her head as she spoke, noticing Twilight in mid-sentence, landing her gaze on the noticeable deep purple mark on her cheek. “Oh my? Darling, what happened to you?” Spike jumped down from Twilight’s back, rushing in between the two ponies. “Applejack asked Twilight to help her but when she did, she told us to go away and then kicked apples at both of us until we left.” “Spike!” Twilight grabbed Spike by the tail by her magic and pulled him back behind her. “It’s nothing… just an accident.” Rarity didn’t seem convinced. “Puh-lease… I knew Applejack was a ruffian but this seems a little excessive, even by her standards.” Twilight just turned her head a little more to hide it completely from sight. “It doesn’t matter… It doesn’t even hurt anymore…” Rarity stepped up beside her fellow unicorn friend and wrapped a hoof around her neck. “Regardless, it is quite an eye-sore. Why don’t you go into the back and I’ll be right out with some make-up. Maybe I can hide it while it heals.” Twilight lifted a hoof to hold Rarity’s that draped over her neck. “Thank you.” Twilight sat in the back, waiting for Rarity to walk through the door way with an array of cosmetic supplies. She expected to wait no more than five minutes but as she waited, five turned into ten, ten to twenty, twenty to thirty. “Uh… Twilight? Do you think we should check on Rarity?” Spike was in the same room, waiting with Twilight. He couldn’t leave her for even a moment considering the odd day it has already been. “She is taking much longer than expected…” As Twilight got to her hooves to leave, Rarity came busting into the room with a large bag. “So sorry darling, I needed to go out and get supplies for your make-up.” Twilight sat back down and looked at the large bag being carried by Rarity by her magic. “That seems to be a lot of make-up for just one little bruise.” “Nonsense dear, I’ve gone all out on this one.” Twilight turned back to face the mirror on the wall. “Alright, I’m ready.” She stated, lifted her head high and closing her eyes. “Good, this will only take a moment.” “Open your eyes now.” Twilight’s eyes opened at the command, yet everything was still black. “Rarity… All you did was stick the bag on Twilight’s head…” Spike’s voice rang into her ears, explaining why it was all dark. “What!?” Twilight grabbed the bag in her magical grasp and ripped it off as she stared at Rarity with an unamused look. “Is that meant to be a joke?” “Of course not darling, I’m a fashionista, not a miracle worker.” The unamused look on Twilight’s face quickly turned into confusion. “What do you mean ‘miracle worker’? It’s just a bruise.” “Dear, it not just the bruise. Have you seen yourself lately? You’re an absolute mess. Your mane is horrendous and purple on purple, come on.” A little pain stuck Twilight in the chest from the harsh words. “Rarity… That’s really mean…” Rarity only smirked in response before walking out of the room. She stopped and turned her head to look back at Twilight. “I expected much more from a Unicorn from Canterlot but you’re just as repulsive as the scum here in Ponyville.” She turned back and exited, leaving Twilight to hang her head lower, stifling another tear. “Spike… Something is wrong… Our friends would never act like this… right?” The Unicorn and Dragon both exited the boutique, Twilight’s head still hanging low from the physical and emotional insults of her friends. Spike opened his mouth to say something but the look on Twilight’s face made him recede. As the couple travelled down the street, the light of the day slowly disappeared, soon to be replaced with dark clouds the littered the sky. “I didn’t think there was meant to be rain today.” Spike announced, pointing up at the dark clouds, each ready to pour copious amounts of rain onto the ponies below. “It isn’t… Rainbow Dash!” Twilight shouted from the streets, noticing the cyan Pegasus speeding between the clouds. “Hey Twilight, what’s up?” “There isn’t meant to be rain today. What are you doing?” “Well I was going to use just one cloud but that would mean I’d have to move it along the sky so I decided to fill the entire sky so I wouldn’t have to chase.” Twilight expression of confusion wasn’t only on her face. Spike too was just as lost, a claw scratching at his brain to understand. “What are you chasing?” Spike inquired, a question he would soon take back. Rainbow Dash kicked at the cloud beside her, creating a strike of lightning to erupt from the cloud before a downpour of rain spilt out. The one cloud caused a domino effect as cloud after cloud erupted with lightning and thunder and rainfall covered every section of Ponyville. “You didn’t think I’d chase you around with a single cloud did you?” Twilight galloped across the street, Spikes claw curled around her chest as she made her way under the fabric shelter of a shop’s awing. The downpour was strong. The drops themselves felt heavy with each drop that pounded onto her. Her mane was completely soaked already and water flowed from the ends of her mane and coat, dripping all the water that had already soaked into her in the few seconds of being rained upon. Spike too was soaked, his body being a small cover to keep a section of Twilight’s back relatively dry but not by much. There was no time to call out anything before the awing above tore open as it burst into flames, quickly going out from the rain. A cloud was hanging right over the awing, surprisingly close. A kick from Rainbow Dash had set off another strike of thunder which had ignited the fire on the awing. Twilight emitted a yelp from the dangerous action of the Pegasus, one that could easily have injured her. “I don’t know what is up with everypony but this is insane!” Twilight made a dash down the street, the dark cloud above her following her every step as Rainbow Dash pushed it after her, punching into it and causing a strike of lightning to the ground just before her hooves. Spike was low on Twilight back, his claws wrapped around her neck as she ran as fast as her hooves carried her. “Quick! Into Sugar Cube Corner!” Spike pointed out ahead at the confectionary store ahead. Twilight altered her course and headed directly for the door, quickly opening it with her magic just as she cross the threshold, slamming the door shut behind her, blocking the thunder that singed the door. “That was close…” “Close!?” Twilight exclaimed, breathing heavily through her nostrils in anger. “That was just insane! What is wrong with everypony today? Applejack has been violent, Rarity is abusive and Rainbow Dash… is just plain crazy!” “Sounds like you need a cupcake!” The purple pair turned to see Pinkie Pie, bouncing across the floor with a platter on her back, staked with a pyramid of freshly baked cupcakes. “Here.” She called out, bucking up her back which threw the cupcake at the top of the pyramid onto the tip of her nose as she leant over to Twilight with it. “Umm… Thanks… I guess…” Twilight accepted the offer, seeing it as the only good thing to happen all day. “I didn’t know it was meant to rain today.” Pinkie seemed confused at the weather change, letting Twilight feel a little easier in her presence. “It’s… complicated…” The cupcake rose to Twilight’s lips, ready to take a bite. “Wait!” Pinkie shouted before running behind the counter, pulling out a candle before bouncing back to Twilight, plunging it into the centre of the cupcake and lighting the string. “Happy Birthday Twilight!” This put a smile on Twilight face before she took the cupcake back to her lips. “It’s not Twilight’s birthday…” Twilight stopped and turned to Spike. “Yeah… it’s not my birthday…” The issues she had gone through today has left her mind clouded, too clouded to think straight. Mere seconds later, the flame of the candle hit the end of the rope. The cupcake exploded right in front of her face, splattering the remains onto her and Spike. Twilight lifted her hoof up to wipe her face clean, her smile now gone and replaced with a little fear. “What was that!? A fire cracker?” Pinkie turned back to Twilight. “Well you could have told me it wasn’t your birthday before I put all these candles in and lit them.” The platter that was just on her back was now on the counter, each one with another ‘candle’ stuck deep into the centre, each already lit. “Oh well… Just need to throw them out now.” One by one, Pinkie picked up a cupcake, throwing it at Twilight. Some of them hit her, spreading more cupcake much onto her coat. She shook it quickly, dislodging the crackers from her body and took off for the door again. The cupcakes across the floor between her and the door each went off as she ran past them, blasting more cupcake onto her and her dragon. As one exploded, she would turn from it, heading off in the opposite direction before another would go off, sending her back again. She burst through the door, the strong sun blinding her eyes as she lifted her hooves up to cover them. She temporarily couldn’t see but she could hear, laughter erupted all around her. As her eye sight cleared up, she could see the ponies of Ponyville all gathered around her, pointing and laughing. “Why are they laughing?” Spike asked, clueless to what he was sitting on. Twilight on the other hand knew what was wrong. A large purple mark on her cheek, her coat completely soaked in water and lathered with a layer of cupcake frosting, she was a complete mess. Some of the ponies around the town were also wet but none of them seemed to get rained on nearly as much as Twilight, maybe due to their shelter not bursting into flames. “I don’t know Spike… what are the odds Fluttershy isn’t as bad as the others?” Spike sat with his head held high and a grin on his face. “If this is some sort of elaborate plan to seem mean in a way to surprise you for something, Fluttershy would crack. She couldn’t act mean, let alone be mean.” It was true, Fluttershy was the most docile pony she knew but after what she had been through, hopes were low. Even if this was a plan, there is no way her friends would go that far or that dangerous for that matter. “Fluttershy?” Twilight called, knocking her hoof against the door of the yellow Pegasus’ cottage. There was a sudden touch on her hoof as she looked down, seeing Fluttershy’s bunny, Angel, tugging at her hoof and jumping up and down, point around to the back of the cottage. Twilight followed Angel as he jumped across the ground. When Twilight caught up, Angel was jumping on the spot, pointing at the ground. “I don’t get it…” Spike didn’t understand Angel’s intentions and neither did Twilight for a moment until she saw the problem. The ground he was jumping on was a little dirtier than the rest of the clean grass. Behind Angel, the dark patch of the ground followed on like a trail. Something was dragged across the ground, something Angel was trying to find. Twilight followed the path, Angel bouncing right beside her with every step. The trail soon came to an end the dirt path in the clean grass turned into a dirt path in dirt. The trail ended at the entrance to the Everfree forest. Whatever was being dragged was dragged in there. “We aren’t going in there are we?” Spike was already frightened, not enjoying his past experiences in the Everfree forest. Twilight looked down at Angel who seemed eager to go in himself, a place she knew even the animals Fluttershy took care of were afraid of. There would be only one reason Angel would want to go inside. “We have to… We have to save Fluttershy.”