Fluttershy paused as she headed deeper into the forest. For a moment something felt strange, but she couldn’t quite place what it was. It was only for a moment, then it passed as quickly as it had come.
She yelled as Flower bumped into her from behind. This was followed by Flower’s yelp as Spike bumped into her.
“Hey! Slow moving traffic to the left!” Spike complained.
Flower looked at him for a moment, then looked quizzically at Fluttershy. “Traffic?”
Fluttershy righted herself, brushing the dirt from her coat. “I’ll explain it later....if that’s alright. We need to find that glass ball. Twilight said it might be important. And the Princesses are coming soon, I’d hate to keep them waiting.”
“Right!” Flower nodded. “We cannot keep the princesses waiting.”
She picked Spike up by the scruff of his neck and set off at a gallop leaving Fluttershy standing alone on the path.
Despite herself she smiled a bit, the raced to catch up. Following Spike’s protest as they echoed through the forest.
-------------
Back in town an orange pony fell out of bed in a tangle of covers and legs. She had never been particularly clumsy, quite the opposite in fact, but today something felt different. For a moment something felt odd. Like there was a terrible urgency, something she had to do, but she couldn’t quite place what it was.
She was superstitious, and knew better than to ignore such a feeling, but not knowing what else to do at the moment, she simply disentangled herself from her bedsheets. Nothing could be done before breakfast in anycase.
Still feeling strange she descended the stairs into the kitchen, finding her brother was already awake. He was sitting at the table staring out the window. It was a grey day, clouds obscuring the sky in such a way that no trace of blue could be seen, muting the regular greens of the apple trees outside. He looked troubled.
“Big Mac?” she asked, taping him on the shoulder.
He turned to her, just now noticing her presence. “Good mornin’ Applejack.” he said slowly.
“Are you alright?”
He looked out the window again, his eyes faraway. “I don’t rightly know. But somethin’ don’t seem quite right. Can you feel it?”
Applejack paused for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, I felt it this mornin’ too. Like...something’s changed...”
Big Mac shook his head. “There’s somethin’ coming I think. But I don’t know what.”
Applejack frowned. “I think I know someone who might.”
She grabbed her hat from its hook by the door. It looked as though breakfast would have to wait. “I’m going to see Twilight, if anypony knows what’s happening it’s her.”
Big Mac turned, and continued to look out the window. “Be careful.”
Applejack managed a smile. “Ah no worries, I’ll be back in a two shakes’a that stubby tail or yours.”
Big Mac nodded as Applejack headed out the door and into the gloom. She shivered slightly. The was a chill in the air.
She quickly shook it off and headed towards town.
Twilight would know what to do.
------------------------
The thing that wasn’t Twilight Sparkle stood at the end of the path leading to Fluttershy’s house, pacing back and forth. It was wary of crossing the threshold into an area of such abundant life. It knew that what it wanted was close and forces that threatened to oppose it drew near, it could feel it
But it had power now, this one, its newest acquisition, had power. So much power that it tingled through every inch of its body. The sheer magical ability inside would be more than it needed to break the threshold. But as it tried to use this strength to pursue it’s goals it found something holding it back, like a wall blocking it’s access.
Internally it threw itself against this wall. It could feel the mental construct shudder and shake, but it did not break.
Yet.
It would have to work with this one. She had strong will, far stronger than the last. But It did not like being held back, and it had ways of breaking down walls.
Still, as it finally attempted to cross, pain shot through it’s body. There was still too much life to overcome here. Too much green. The wall was blocking its full potential. Until it had this power it could do nothing. It could not go forwards, nor could it hope to face the threat descending into ponyville at this very moment.
Twilight Sparkle’s face grimaced horribly at the thought of being delayed. But there was nothing for it. It closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment, looking at what she knew, what could help it. Inside that mind, so filled with fear and worry, It saw a small dragon, away from her now, but coming back soon. He would be useful in breaking down this wall.
So, as it had done since arriving back to the world, it ever so patiently sat at the end of the path, and the thing that wasn’t Twilight Sparkle waited, and the thing that wasn’t Twilight Sparkle came up with a plan.
---------------------
The trio arrived in the center of the forest. Flower skidded to a stop, finally letting a struggling Spike fall to the ground. Fluttershy trotted up behind them breathing heavily. It was no easy task to keep up with the exuberant Flower as she had learned.
The mare sat on her haunches and looked down at Spike smiling. “We’re here!” she announced, then her face clouded with confusion. She turned to Fluttershy. “What are we looking for?”
The yellow pegasus needed a moment to catch her breath.
“Well...right before I found you I was looking at a small glass ball I found on the ground. Twilight thinks it might be important.”
Flower’s confusion deepened. “Important?”
“Um...” Fluttershy thought for a moment. “Well, it could be magic.”
“Magic?”
“Wow,” said Spike dusting himself off. “This one’s a regular scholar. Is she always like this?”
“Spike,” Fluttershy said as reproachfully as she could manage. “Flower is...well...um curious. Please don’t be mean to her.”
“Mean!?” said Spike, affronted. “Where were you when she was attacking me!?”
“I think that was tickling....”
“Same thing, I’m very delicate!” Spike crossed his arms and turned his back to Flower, who was more confused than ever. “And she called me lizard!”
Fluttershy sighed and leaned down so she was eye level with Spike.
“Spike,” she said gently. “I’m sure she didn’t mean any harm...”
Spike huffed stubbornly.
Fluttershy turned to Flower, who was observing the two of them with great interest.. “Um....Flower, if you wouldn’t mind. I think you hurt Spike’s feeli-”
“Caused grievous bodily harm!” Spike interjected.
“Oh...um...yes...Do you think....you could apologize?”
Flower looked at Spike for a moment. “To the lizard?”
“Dragon!”
Fluttershy nodded. “Um...yes.”
Flower leaned over to look at Spike. “You do not like the name?”
Spike rolled his eyes. “Do you think?”
She raised an eyebrow. “I think that I think...”
Fluttershy nudged Spike aside. “Please, excuse me Spike.” She stood in front of Flower, she had to look up slightly since the mare was so tall. “Flower, please apologize to Spike, he would really appreciate it.”
Flower tilted her head. “Would that make you happy?”
Fluttershy nodded. “Yes.”
Flower grinned happily. “Then I shall do it.” She bent down to Spike level. “I am sorry lizard.”
Spike opened his mouth to say something, but found his voice muffled by Fluttershy’s tail.
“Um...that’ll do for the time being... Now may we please continue searching? I’d really like to find it as soon as possible.”
Flower nodded. “Yes!” she got to her hooves and started forwards. “We can’t keep the princesses waiting!”
Spike glared at Fluttershy.
“I’m sorry...” she said, twiddling a hood. “She really didn’t mean any harm...She’s really very nice, if a bit strange...Please go easy on her.”
Spike glared at her for a few more moments before he gave in and sighed. “Fine, but you owe a ruby.”
Fluttershy nodded. “Deal.”
Spike jumped on her back. “Now come on, we’ve got to catch up.”
Fluttershy trotted forwards, it didn’t take long to catch up to Flower, she’d stopped apparently in mid-stride a few yards away from where she’d started.
“Flower?” asked Fluttershy.
The tall mare turned her head slightly, arching an eyebrow. “A question, you never answered,” she said slowly. “What’s, magic? The word seems...familiar...”
“Wow, she really doesn’t know does she?” said Spike.
“Um...well.” Flutteshy thought for a moment. “Magic is...well it’s....something unicorns are able to do. I’m a pegasus...I don’t know very much about it, Spike?” she looked at the small dragon on her back. “You’re Twilight’s assistant, perhaps you could explain it a little better?”
“Explain magic?” Spike put a claw to his chin. “Well, it’s...it’s like using your will to make things happen. As far as I know anyway, you’re asking the wrong dragon to be honest.”
“I still do not understand...” Flower’s face clouded for a moment. “Magic is...will?”
Spike shrugged. “Not exactly...it’s more like...using the energy inside you to interact wtih energies.....not...inside you?...” He attempted.
“Oh!” Flower jumped suddenly. “I think I understand!” She bent down to a nearby pebble and nosed it gently forwards. “Magic!”
Spike pressed a claw to his forehead. “Um....no...”
Flower frowned. “No?”
“It’s a...well....it’s....a more complicated than that...”
“Complicated?”
Spike sighed. “I don’t know! I suppose to be magic it has to be....out of the ordinary, amazing!”
“Amazing...” Flower looked around the forest for a moment. With a gasp she ran to a tall oak tree. “I know!” she gestured with a hoof to one of the low hanging vines clinging to it’s branches, a few flower buds were spaced along it’s length, not far from blooming. “Amazing!”
Spike was quiet for a few moments.
“That’s a vine.” he said simply.
Flower gestured more insistently. “Amazing!”
Spike looked at Fluttershy. “I don’t think she’s getting it.”
“Well...It is a rather lovely vine,” said Fluttershy, examining it. “I can’t wait to see it when it blooms.”
Flower grinned. “Would that make you happy?”
Fluttershy nodded. “Oh yes. But by the looks of it they’ll be a least another day or two. Perhaps we could come back then.”
Flower’s grin grew a bit wider. “Come back? I am, welcome to come back?”
Fluttershy looked at her hoof for a moment. “Oh...well, sure....If you want to. Once we find out where you came from...I’d actually be...well...very happy if you would.”
Flower’s grin almost split her face in half. “I would like that! I would like that very much!” She grabbed Fluttershy in a hug. “Magic!” she yelled. She turned to look at Spike. “Magic?”
“Um...no.”
Flower shook her head. “But it’s Amazing!” she hugged Fluttershy even more tightly.
“Um...girls?” said Spike raising a claw. “Shouldn’t we get back on-” Spike was interrupted as a flower fell on the end of his snout. He stared at it for a moment, then looked up. “Track...”
The canopy above their heads was exploding with flowers of all colors, they burst forth like fireworks, before falling to the forest floor in a multicolored rain. Below Spike’s feet fresh green saplings shot up, threatening to throw the small dragon of balance. “Along the oak tree, the vine’s buds bloomed in abundance, twice the size they normally would be, filling the air with the smell of fresh flowers and earth.
“Amazing! Amazing! Amazing!” yelled Flower,oblivious to everything, a stunned Fluttershy being jostled about in her grasp. She held her in the air with her forehooves, smiling. “Thank you.”
Fluttershy looked from the brown mare to then at the forest around them. The path they’d come down was covered in fresh shoots of grass, occasional flowers poking up gently every now and again. The entire forest floor was covered in fallen blooms like a thick carpet. Spike lay a few feet away, struggling to disentangle himself from a series of vines that had wrapped around his legs.
She turned back to Flower, wide eyed.
Flower’s smile was replaced by a look of confusion.
“Is something wrong?”
-----------------
Luna peaked over the rim of the royal carriage as it descended into ponyville. Celestia lay sleeping next to her. She’d never known her sister to rest during the day and was growing more worried by the second.
Below them was a sea of grey, all the leaves drooped and withered, blowing to and fro by a cold harsh wind. It shouldn’t have looked this way so soon after the Winter Wrap Up. It should have been bright, and colorful, with ponies out and about to enjoy the new spring.
But instead the town square was empty as the carriage came to a stop in front of the library. The usual crowd of ponies there to great them was nowhere to be found.
Luna felt a sudden wave of tiredness wash over her. She wobbled a bit in her seat, struggling to remain upright. She gritted her teeth and held out until it passed.
Celestia was obviously worse for wear. She moaned softly in her sleep. Luna leaned over and shook her gently with her hooves.
“Sister.” she said softly. “Sister we have arrived. Please wake up.”
Celestia groaned, but did not wake.
Luna shook her more urgently. “Celestia! You need to wake up! Please!”
Celestia stirred, her eyelids fluttering open. “Luna?” she asked weakly.
Luna leaned down to look at her face. She was pale, her normally glowing white taking on a grey pallor, her eyes seemed distant.
“Yes, I’m here.” said Luna.
“Good...good...of course,” said Celestia lucidly. “You always tended to wander off.” She smiled. “Remember? When we were fillies, you always used to get lost, and you cry til somepony found you.” Celestia paused. “That was...such a very long time ago.”
Luna leaned in, pressed her head against her sister’s side. “I was very small.”
“Yes...I suppose you were. Too young perhaps. It was after all that...”
Luna pulled back a bit. “After all what?”
Celestia looked at her sister, her nostalgic smile slowly turning into something else, something sad and faraway. “Oh, that poor thing....” she said softly.
“What are yo-”
Celestia suddenly went stiff, her eyes darting around the carriage.
“No...” she said slowly. “Oh no...”
“What? What is it!?”
“We must...act quickly...I can feel it. Right now, she’s in danger...”
“Who’s in danger?”
Celestia took a breath, straining herself. “My student...We may already be too
late...She’s fading...” Celestia attempted to get up, but simply collapsed into Luna. “Hurry...”
Luna strained under her sister’s weight. Her legs felt weak, but still she was better off than her sister. It was beginning to look like Celestia would be of little help. Luna felt a growing dread in the pit of her stomach. She’d hardly been free for a year, and had almost never been on her own since then. Now, suddenly she felt very vulnerable.
“I will, you just rest.” she said softly, laying her sister down onto the soft cushions of the carriage.
“Hurry...in danger...I can feel her...in the forest.”
Luna looked out a the dreary landscape of ponyville, eyes full of fear, but face resolute.
“I will.”
“Landsakes!” said a voice.
Luna turned sharply, preparing a spell to defend he sister if neccecary. Applejack threw up a hoof in meager defence as her horn started to glow. Seeing who it was, she quickly lowered her horn. She recognized the pony, the orange one, who always wore the large brown hat. She The element of honesty if she remembered correctly.
“Oh...I am sorry.” Luna apologized.
“Apologize later!” The cowpony hopped up onto the carriage, examining Celestia. “What’s wrong with the princess?”
“Something is wrong, Element of Honesty. The balance is off, It is effecting my sister far more than I. I fear that if we do not find out what has thrown things into such a state...” Luna bit her lip. “We must hurry.”
“Twilight...” Celestia whispered.
Applejack looked down at the sickly princess. “What about Twilight? I was just going to see her. She’ll know what to do!”
Luna stood as straight as she could manage, her legs wobbling slightly. “Celestia thinks she is in danger. We must hurry. To the forest!”
“Alright.” Applejack nodded. “Can you run? You’re not looking too hot.”
“I shall manage. Come.”
The two of them set off at a gallop, dust from suddenly dry earth flying up around their hooves. Luna looked back over her shoulder at her sister, who had fallen back into a fitful sleep. She knew that if something wasn’t done soon, things would not end well.
She swallowed her fear, and tried to focus on the task ahead of her. She knew that whatever was causes this was powerful, and now, despite the company of the orange pony beside her, she felt terribly alone.