Twilight Sparkle trotted down the dirt streets of Ponyville with her saddlebags full of scrolls, quills, and ink wells. She should be stocked up for her and friends to write to the princess for a while.
It was a beautiful day in Ponyville. The pegasi had called for a clear day and there was not a cloud to be seen as Celestia’s bright sun shined down on her violet coat. It was not too hot, not too cold, and the humidity was in their perfect range to not be too dry or too damp. The sweet smell of grass and summer blooms wafted on the gentle breeze.
She rounded a corner and saw the massive tree turned library she called home. With her errands done, she could get ready for the afternoon picnic she and the others had planned.
“Look out below!” a familiar voice shouted from above her.
Before Twilight Sparkle could react, something struck her from behind and sent her flying forward. She arced forward before slamming into a fountain face first with a splash. She jolted her head up and spat out water that had gotten in her mouth. She blew her dark purple and pink streaked mane out of her eyes and turned to where her assailant had struck her.
The sky blue pegasus with unruly, rainbow hair stood up wobbly and shook her head out.
Twilight Sparkle hopped out of the fountain and shook the water off her. She trotted towards Rainbow Dash. “Are you all right, Rainbow Dash?”
“Yeah, I’m okay,” Rainbow Dash said sheepishly. “I was trying a new trick and lost it. Are you okay?”
“I’m a little wet, but fine,” Twilight Sparkle said. “You need to be more careful.”
“Careful doesn’t get you into air shows,” Rainbow Dash retorted. She took to the air on her feathery wings and swooped around. “Ponies want to see death defying feats. If I want to be a Wonderbolt, I have to push it to the edge and beyond.”
“Last time I checked, Wonderbolts don’t crash either,” Twilight Sparkle said plainly.
Rainbow Dash stopped and hovered above Twilight Sparkle. She planted her front legs on her sides. “Well, that’s why I need to practice.”
“Just watch where you land,” Twilight Sparkle said.
“Got it.” Rainbow gave a mock salute. “We’re still on for the picnic this afternoon, right?”
“Yes,” Twilight Sparkle said. “We’re meeting at the library at half past noon.”
“Okay, bye.” Rainbow Dash dashed into the sky trailed by a rainbow blur.
Twilight Sparkle turned and trotted towards the library. A smile crept on her face. Rainbow Dash was being typical Rainbow Dash. Her loyal friend was always pushing it to the limit in one way or another.
She reached the front door of the library and used her magic to open it.
* * *
Rainbow Dash did a loop just to do it.
Twilight Sparkle was too cautious sometimes. She almost never acted on impulse. Sometimes, all the thinking in the world could not replace just going with your gut.
Still, she was always looking out for the others. She was the glue that held them together. Maybe that was why she was so cautious.
* * *
Applejack lined the rail with the hole in post and slid it in. She sighed and wiped the sweat off her orange brow. She looked at her hoofiwork. The split rail fence separating the road from her family’s apple orchards looked as in good a shape as it ever had.
She saw Rarity and Spike walking up the path. The white unicorn wore a wide-brimmed hat decorated with flowers to shield her face from the sun and the baby, purple dragon pulled a red wagon behind him full of colorful, sparkling jewels.
“Hey you two,” Applejack said as they passed by. “Out gem hunting?”
Rarity and Spike stopped. “Why, yes, darling,” Rarity replied. “I have a big order to fill and want to make sure I have enough gems in stock.”
“I get ten percent of the gems,” Spike said eagerly, pointing to himself.
“That you do, Spike,” Rarity said in a mushy tone, rubbing the green spines on the top of his head. Spike had a big, dumb grin as he enjoyed Rarity petting him. “You did a good job digging up all those gems for us.”
Applejack looked to the pile of jewels sitting in the wagon. “It looks like you got a good haul.”
Applejack tapped the rail to make sure it was secure. “I gotta get this fence fixed before our picnic this afternoon. I think I only have a another rail or so to go.”
“You know, Applejack, you always seem to be working for this farm,” Rarity said.
Applejack looked up to her. “We all do. Granny Smith is, well, as old as dirt with all due respect to her, and Applebloom is just a little filly. They contribute as much as they can, but Big Macintosh and I have to do most of the work and there’s a lot of work to be done.”
“Still, a mare should make some me time for herself,” Rarity said. She stared off into space. “Get a perm and pedicure. Maybe relax in the spa.” Her mouth spread into a big, indulgent smirk. That smirk sank into a suspicious frown as she glanced to Applejack. “I highly suggest at least a weekly spa visit for you, darling. Your joints will thank you when you’re Granny Smith’s age.”
“I’m glad you’re thinking of me, but I’m fine doing what I’m doing,” Applejack replied. “I don’t need any pampering and primping. I’m a farmpony and that’s how I like it.”
Rarity shrugged. “Well, I was just making a suggestion.”
“Well, thanks for it,” Applejack said. “Don’t forget, we’re supposed to meet the others at the library at half past noon.”
“I’ll be there after I store these gems and freshen up,” Rarity said. She and Spike walked down the path towards Ponyville.
Applejack turned her attention to the fence. Rarity might be self-indulgent at times, but she never hooved her nose at helping others.
* * *
Rarity thought about Applejack as she and Spike made their way to town. She was such a diligent pony. However, she could stand to take time out for herself from time to time. If all she did was give of herself, there would eventually be nothing left.
* * *
Fluttershy spread her hooves as the store clerk dropped the seed bag on them. She almost fell forward as she took on the bag’s weight. She pushed herself back and staggered to get her hind hooves under her.
“You got that, miss?” the clerk asked concernedly.
“Yes,” Fluttershy said in her naturally hushed voice, strained by her trying to keep the bag of seed up. “The birds will be so happy for it.”
“The animals are lucky to have somepony as kind as you taking care of them,” the clerk said.
“Thanks.” Fluttershy turned to the entrance.
She staggered through the doorway. She just needed to get the bag to her cart and she could fly it home.
“Hi, Fluttershy!” a chipper voice said.
Fluttershy yelped and in surprise and inadvertently threw the bag of seed.
“I got it!” Pinkie Pie shouted.
The pink earth pony positioned herself under the bag and spread her front legs out wide to grab it. Fluttershy winced as the heavy bag tackled Pinkie Pie and sent her to the ground.
She looked to Pinkie Pie lying under the bag. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” Pinkie Pie said.
She wrapped her front legs around the bag and picked it up off her and stood up.
“I’m so glad,” Fluttershy said apologetically. “I didn’t mean to throw the bag, but you startled me.”
Pinkie Pie dropped the bag in Fluttershy’s cart. “Don’t worry. It’s not everyday somepony gets the drop on me.”
Fluttershy screwed her lips shut in what had to have been a stupid-looking smirk to stop from laughing, but a snicker still escaped. “You’re so silly, Pinkie Pie. You can crack a joke at almost anything.”
“Life’s much more enjoyable when you can laugh your way through it,” Pinkie Pie replied. “Need help getting this home?”
“No, I can take it from here,” Fluttershy replied. “I’ll see you at the library at half past noon.”
“Okie-dokie, lokie!” Pinkie Pie said gleefully. She skipped away to wherever she was headed.
Fluttershy watched her and she got into the harness of her cart. Pinkie Pie could always but a smile on a pony’s face.
* * *
Pinkie Pie merrily skipped along the road to Sugar Cube Corner. Fluttershy was such a sweet pony. However, she was also very jumpy and sensitive.
It was actually a shame. She would prank her other friends so they could laugh together. However, she would never prank Fluttershy. She even stopped Rainbow Dash when they joined forces. She wished she could so Fluttershy could join in the fun, but she was too afraid she would hurt Fluttershy’s feelings.
* * *
A random construction worker who has no role in this story past this part balances the jackhammer resembling his cutie mark on the bare earth. He slips earmuffs over his ears, sealing out much of the din of construction around him. He turns the machine on and the hammer starts pounding into the soil. The smell of fresh dark and magic exhaust surround him in a mist of dust and fumes. The shockwaves from the hammer kicking back rattled his whole body.
The jackhammer suddenly fell through. The construction worker stopped his machine and pulled it out. He looked down into the hole he had just made. It was pitch black, but he thought he saw something move.
The worker jumped back. A stream of what looked like colorful teardrops spewed from the hole. He and his fellow, nameless workers ran from them as they rained down.
* * *
Twilight Sparkle pulled her door open with her magic. Her friends stood there with baskets and a red and white checkered blanket sat folded over Applejack’s back. Twilight Sparkle turned to the box of cupcakes sitting next to the door. With a flick of magic, she levitated it to beside her and walked out.
“Hey, guys,” she said.
“Hi, Twilight,” Applejack said. “Are those the cupcakes for desert?”
“Yup,” Twilight Sparkle replied. She noticed Rainbow Dash was about to open her mouth. “And no, I didn’t touch the icing this time,” she almost grumbled to cut Rainbow Dash off.
“Then let’s find a good spot in the park.” Applejack turned to the road behind her.
Several ponies galloped over the crest of the hill. They stared forward with fear in their eyes. “Run for lives!” one of them shouted as they galloped past. Twilight choked and coughed on the dust they kicked up. She turned to them as they galloped away.
“What’s with them?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Twilight Sparkle turned to where the crowd had come from. Countless colorful objects shaped like teardrops bounded down the road right at them.
“What are those things?!” Fluttershy squeaked.
“Trouble with a capital ‘T,’” Applejack said with a panic to her voice Twilight Sparkle had rarely heard from her. “Run for it!”
Twilight Sparkle turned and ran down the road. She could hear the rapid hooffalls of the others behind her.
She hazarded a look behind her. Whatever was coming after them was gaining on them. She turned forward in time for them to leap ahead of them. She saw one come right at her face just before losing consciousness.
* * *
Rainbow Dash slowly opened her eyes. Everything was a blur and her head felt like it was twice as heavy as normal. She blinked a couple times and her vision and the apparent size of her head returned to normal.
She looked around as things came into focus. She was lying on her side in the road.
“What am I doing here?” she grumbled. It then came to her. “That’s right. Those multicolored, protoplasmic organisms attacked us.”
Rainbow Dash slapped her hooves over her mouth. She lowered them. “Did that just come out of my mouth?”
Applejack sat up and shook out her head. “What inconsiderate little brutes, assaulting a mare like that?” Her accent had become more refined.
“I doubt they really care about your gender,” Rarity said in a much plainer manner of speaking than Rainbow Dash had come to expect from her.
Rainbow Dash’s mouth peeled to one side in confusion. What was going on with her friends and her for that matter?
Pinkie Pie jumped to her feet and made herself as small as possible. She visibly trembled as her eyes darted side to side fearfully. “Those things did something to us. I just know it.”
A small group of the colorful creatures hopped in front of her. She yelped and jumped away.
“I know,” Fluttershy said gleefully as she landed in front of the creatures. “Isn’t it great? They swapped our personalities.”
She scooped them up. “Think of how great they’d be at parties.”
Rainbow Dash shook out her head. “This is just too weird.”
A shriek caught her attention. She looked up to see Lily running from a mob of the creatures. “The horror! THE HORROR!” she screamed.
The creatures jumped on her and she fell to the ground unconscious. A split second later she jumped to her hooves and looked around. She shrugged and casually walked away. “No biggie.”
Rainbow Dash gasped. “These things are changing ponies’ personalities.”
She took a moment to think. “Applejack is acting like Rarity and Rarity is acting like Applejack and Pinkie Pie is acting like Fluttershy and Fluttershy is acting like Pinkie Pie. That means I must be acting like Twilight and Twilight…” She stopped when the thought Twilight Sparkle would be like her normally crossed her mind. “Uh oh…”
“You little pests!” Rainbow Dash heard Twilight Sparkle growl. “You think you can just come in and swap my personality? Well, you messed with the wrong unicorn.”
Rainbow Dash swung her head in the direction of Twilight Sparkle’s voice. Twilight Sparkle had her horn pointed straight at a group of the creatures, already surrounded by a dark magenta aura.
“Wait, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash shouted. “We don’t…”
It was too late. Twilight Sparkle shot the things with magic of some kind. Rainbow Dash turned away and shielded her eyes from the blinding flash.
When the flash faded, she hazarded a glance in the direction of Twilight Sparkle. The group of creatures had at least quadrupled in number.
“…know what magic will do to them,” Rainbow Dash completed to her too little too late warning.
“What can we do if Twilight Sparkle’s magic won’t work?” Pinkie Pie asked fearfully.
Rainbow Dash turned to the other four sitting there. Pinkie Pie frightened, Fluttershy gleefully oblivious to the seriousness of the situation as she juggled the things, Applejack looking herself over, Rarity taking a swipe at one of the creatures and chipping her hoof polish on the ground without so much as cringing. It was like a nightmare.
Then there was what happened to her. The thought processes going on in her brain were completely alien to her. She was grasping nuances and complexities she would have ignored before. Her drive had been dampened or refocused. She felt like she was a completely different pony in her skin.
“Calm down, everypony,” she said. “We’ll fix this. We were the ponies who freed Luna from Nightmare Moon and resealed Discord, right?”
They nodded.
“We need to figure out what these things are first,” Rainbow Dash said. She then declared, “That means research!”
She paused when she realized that escaped her lips. “I can’t believe I was that dramatic about doing research.”
She felt a hoof reach under her wing. She turned to see Twilight Sparkle snatch her sunglasses.
“Hey!” Rainbow Dash snapped. “Those are mine.”
“I’d be surprised they’d fit around that egghead of yours,” Twilight Sparkle teased as she slipped them on. “They need to be on a cool pony who can appreciate their awesomeness.”
Rainbow Dash scowled. “Please tell me I was never this bad.”
“You weren’t quite that bad,” Rarity said.
“You’re being to kind,” Applejack said. “Rainbow Dash was such a ruffian.”
“I need to get us back to normal and fast,” Rainbow Dash said to herself.
She dashed to the library. She pushed the door open and saw Spike examining gemstones. This was perfect.
“Spike,” she said. “I need all the books you have on strange, magical creatures.”
Spike turned to her. “What, you need to balance a table?” he asked mockingly.
Rainbow Dash smacked her hoof on her forehead. She should have seen that coming. She took a second to regain her composure.
“No,” she said politely. “We were just attacked by these weird, teardrop creatures. They turned Applejack into a southern belle, Rarity into a middleclass pony, Pinkie Pie into a nervous wreck, Fluttershy into an airhead, Twilight into a bruiser, and me into a…” She paused as she overcame the pain and disgust of describing herself with such a word. “…egghead.”
“Twilight Sparkle has turned into you?” Spike yelped. He dashed to his bed and turned it over on himself. “Equestria’s so doomed.”
“Very funny, Spike,” Twilight Sparkle grumbled as she walked in. “Just get her the books. I don’t want to be like this anymore than she does.”
“Thank you Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said.
Rainbow Dash trotted to the desk and sat down in front of it. She strangely felt pumped at the prospect of finding out what these creatures were. This was what Twilight Sparkle must have felt when she started research or studies. It felt like when she prepared for a race or competition.
“Don’t worry, everypony,” Rainbow Dash said. “I will find out what these things are and how to get us back to normal in no time.”
Spike dropped a stack of twenty books next to Rainbow Dash. She looked at the stack of thick books next to her with her mouth agape. “That’s your library on strange creatures?”
“No,” Spike said, walking away. “That’s Volume A.”
Rainbow Dash gulped. A part of her wanted to take up the challenge of reading through all these books. However, they did not have the time. “Maybe we should ask Zecora first?”
She turned to the others. She noticed immediately Applejack was missing. “Where’s Applejack?”
“She figured you would be taking a long time and wanted to take care of a few matters,” Fluttershy said.
“And what would be so important at a time like this?” Rainbow Dash asked, letting her irritation into her tone. The dots then connected in her mind. She lowered her brow. “Don’t tell me.”
“I’ll get her,” Rarity said and turned to the door.
* * *
Rarity marched out of the library and headed straight for the stylist. She knew where she would have gone looking like Applejack when she was like that. She could not believe she would be so worried about her image at a time like this. There were far more important matters.
Yet, it made so much sense. When she was like that, she would not be caught dead outside looking like Applejack either. If she thought she could get away for a quick makeover, she would have. How could have been so vain and frivolous?
She stepped in and as she guessed, Applejack was sitting in a chair with the stylist styling her blond mane already decorated with white and light blue flowers and having more volume and curl to it.
“Applejack,” Rarity said, “what are you doing?”
“Do you honestly think I would be seen in public in such a disheveled state?” Applejack asked. “Besides, weren’t you telling me to make a little me time.”
Rarity heaved a sigh, remembering their conversation to well and ready to kick the mare she was in the face for it. “Maybe, but not at a time like this. We have work to do.”
“Then I should look my best doing it,” Applejack replied plainly. “Besides, Rainbow Dash is researching, so I can take the time to look proper.”
“We’re going to Zecora’s instead,” Rarity said. “So, get out of that chair and haul tail.”
Applejack sighed. “All right.”
She picked up a sunhat decorated by the same kind of flowers in her mane and tail. “It’s a good thing I picked up a proper hat.”
Rarity slapped her forehead. She had thought before this happened Applejack should be more giving to herself, but not to this degree. She hoped she was never this bad.
“Did you find Applejack?” Twilight Sparkle asked from behind her.
“Yes,” Rarity said.
“I took the liberty to capture a few of the creatures in a bell jar for Zecora.” Twilight Sparkle walked up to beside Rarity with a bell jar holding a half dozen of the creatures surrounded by her dark magenta aura. “Let’s get going.”
* * *
Pinkie Pie’s knees rattled as she stared into the eerie darkness of the Everfree forest. Terrible creatures that inhabited a pony’s worst nightmares lurked in the thick foliage of the trees and brush below. Nothing here worked like it should. Even the smells of moss and dirt were strange and foreboding compared to the welcoming of Ponyville and the surrounding country countryside. Everything was telling her to steer clear of it.
“Come on, girls,” Rainbow Dash said. “It’s just a straight shot to Zecora’s.”
Rainbow Dash and the others walked forward. Pinkie Pie stood there.
“What about the poison joke patch?” Pinkie Pie whimpered. “What if we touch some of it?”
“I think we’re messed enough as it is, Pinkie Pie,” Rarity said. “I doubt they could make it get any worse. Now come on, time waits for nopony.”
Pinkie Pie gulped and took a few ginger steps into the shadows cast by the canopy.
“SURPRISE!” a shriek came from behind her.
Pinkie Pie yelped and jumped clear over the others. She landed on her hooves and looked back. Fluttershy rolled on the mossy ground laughing.
“That was great,” Fluttershy giggled. “I didn’t expect you to fly that far.”
“That wasn’t funny,” Pinkie Pie whimpered.
Fluttershy landed next to her. “I’m sorry if I scared you too badly. It was supposed to be all in good fun. I just wanted to get a big scare out of you so you weren’t as afraid of the forest.”
Pinkie Pie stopped and thought. She was now deep in the woods and too concentrated on what Fluttershy had done to be scared. “I guess I’m not.”
They started walking.
“I heard you pull pranks on the others from time to time,” Fluttershy said. “You never do that to me.”
Pinkie Pie turned to her. “Well, I always figured you wouldn’t like it. You’re so sensitive as I can tell you right now.”
“As long as it’s in good fun and nopony gets hurt, I think I can deal with it,” Fluttershy said. “It’s supposed to be fun for both ponies, right?”
“I guess,” Pinkie Pie said.
* * *
Rainbow Dash eyed the odd artifacts surrounding Zecora’s home. She walked up to the door and knocked on it. Hopefully she was home.
“You who knocks on my door, come on in and see what I have store,” the voice of the zebra shaman said tenderly.
Rainbow Dash pushed the door open. The strange smells of potions she was not even going to begin to think of their use greeted her as she walked in.
The zebra stood in front of her caldron over a simmering fire. Steam wafted from it.
Zecora looked up. “Ah, if it isn’t Twilight and crew? What can I do for you?”
“Ponyville is under attack by these weird creatures that are making everyone act the opposite,” Rainbow Dash said.
She took the bell jar out of her saddlebag and held it up.
Zecora yelped and backed up to the opposite wall. “Keep them away from me! Frazzits they be!”
“Frazzits?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Zecora took a couple tentative steps forward. “Colorful pests that create much mayhem. Any touch and a pony’s personality will switch on them.”
“That’s what happened to us,” Pinkie Pie said timidly. “Do you know what she should do about them?”
“We zap them with the Elements of Harmony, duh,” Twilight Sparkle said exasperatedly.
“I don’t want to risk using the Elements of Harmony while we’re in this state,” Rainbow Dash replied.
“Your Elements of Harmony are not needed,” Zecora said. Rainbow Dash returned her attention to her. “Those battling frazzits by other means have succeeded.”
“How?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Gather the frazzits in a barrel made from the wood of an order tree,” Zecora said. “Only then will their confounding curse leave thee.”
“You wouldn’t happen have one, would you?” Rarity asked.
Zecora shook her head. “I do not have one to loan. You will have to manufacture one on your own.”
“Where do we get an order tree?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“To find one you don’t have far to roam,” Zecora said. “For one grows right outside my home.”
Zeocra pointed a tree outside the window.
“Then let’s get going, girls,” Rainbow Dash ordered.
Rainbow Dash turned to the door and walked outside. The tree Zecora had pointed to grew to the side. It was nothing out of the ordinary to Rainbow Dash. Though, she had never spent much time studying magical trees. It was a couple feet across, not too large but big enough to provide the wood to make a barrel.
“Applejack, do you think you can buck this tree down so we can take it back to Ponyville?” Rainbow Dash asked. She turned to Applejack examining her hooves.
Applejack looked up and a horrified expression. “You honesty want these delicate hooves to be used in such a brutish manner?”
Rainbow Dash heard ripping and tearing behind her. She swung around to the tree surrounded by a dark magenta aura ripping out of the ground. It pulled loose and hovered over them.
She turned to Twilight Sparkle with the same aura around her horn. Twilight Sparkle turned to her. “I got the tree. Let’s go.” She trotted past Rainbow Dash with the tree floating along above her.
Rainbow Dash’s lower jaw hung so slack it would have fallen off if it had not been attached. It had to have been the same look she had seen Twilight Sparkle give her when she said or did something knuckleheaded in her eyes.
Zecora stepped out. “I forgot to give you instructions, unless you want to figure out how to make a proper barrel through deductions.”
* * *
As per Zecora’s instructions and “Barrel Making for Eggheads” from the library, they assembled the barrel. They cut the tree into planks, bent the wood, put them together with metal bands and made the top and bottom. With the barrel made, they painted “Balance” in black block letters on the body and “This side up” on the top and “This side down” on the bottom. Before they knew it, the six ponies had their barrel ready for the frazzits.
* * *
Rainbow Dash stopped with the others in Ponyville’s square where the library sat. The colorful pests were scattered everywhere.
“Don’t tell me with have to gather them up,” Applejack said tiredly. “Such tedious tasks are below a mare of my refinement.”
Rainbow Dash took the instructions from Fluttershy’s saddlebag. “It says we need to open the ‘This side up’ end for the barrel to collect them itself.”
“Then let’s do it!” Twilight Sparkle ripped the top off the barrel.
A shaft of blinding light exploded from the barrel. The frazzits suddenly flew up into the air and swirled around in it. They flew out of windows and chimneys of buildings to form a swirling mass above the barrel. Then, they spiraled in a stream into the barrel. Once the frazzits had disappeared inside the barrel, the top rose up and slammed on top of it.
The shockwave from the slam threw Rainbow Dash back. She hit the ground and slipped out of consciousness.
* * *
Twilight Sparkle slowly opened her eyes. She took a moment for the library in front of her to come into focus before picking up her head. She turned to the others slowly getting to their hooves. She got her hooves under her and stood up as well.
“Is everypony okay?” she grumbled.
“I’m better than okay!” Rainbow Dash declared, flying up and doing a loop. “I’m back to being awesome. No more egghead for me.”
Pinkie Pie bounced. “We’re back to normal.”
“Does that mean all the frazzits are in the barrel?” Fluttershy asked timidly, swinging her head from side to side fearfully.
“It does indeed,” Twilight Sparkle said. She felt relieved in feeling her wits about her again. Having Rainbow Dash’s impulsiveness and lack of control was an interesting experience but she doubted she or Equestria could withstand it for long.
Applejack looked at herself. “Please tell me no one saw me like this.”
“Or me.” Rarity looked at her hair which had lost much of its curl and her hooves which were horribly chipped. “I look like a disgrace.”
Twilight Sparkle giggled. “I bet the princess will be interested to hear about this.” She glanced to the barrel. “Once we get the frazzits far from Ponyville.”
* * *
Spike dipped the quill in the ink and looked up to the six ponies.
Twilight Sparkle cleared her throat. “Dear Princess Celestia,” she started as Spike wrote. “Today, I think we got a much better understanding of each other as we literally took a walk on each others’ hooves. We each have our foibles that can sometimes get on our nerves. However, having taken on those foibles ourselves, I think we understand they’re a part of what makes us. Friendship isn’t just about what we have in common, but also enjoying our different points of view and tastes. Signed, your faithful students: Twilight Sparkle and friends.”
Spike crossed the “t.”
“That’s an adventure I hope to never again,” Applejack said. She turned to Rarity. “No offense.”
“None taken,” Rarity said. “Though, you do look nice with your hair styled and decorated.”
“Too bad I can’t say the same for you,” Applejack replied.
The two laughed.
“I just hope those cellar dwellers or whatever they are can keep those frazzits out of trouble,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Dell dwellers,” Twilight Sparkle corrected. “They seem like a very diligent people. I doubt those frazzits will harm anypony again.”
* * One Thousand Years Later * *
Wind Whistler slid down the chute towards its end. She saw Fizzy, Gusty, and Shady coming down the others. She looked down and saw all four chutes ended at a barrel marked “Balance.”
Before she could open her wings and take to the air, she and the others smacked right into the barrel. The impact from all sides sent it flying in the air as she tumbled to the ground.
Wind Whistler recovered just in time to see the barrel land with the label upside down. The top or rather bottom flew off and a stream of colorful little creatures shaped like teardrops erupted from it and rained down on them.