//------------------------------//
// 001 - I First Met Her in a Dream... or Something Part 1 
// Story: Puella Magi Twilight Magica 
// by SoulboundAlchemist 
//------------------------------//


Puella Magi Twilight Magica
By darkponyD


001 – I First Met Her in a dream…or Something Part 1

Location: Home of the Sparkle family, East Ponyville

Twilight Sparkle awoke to the bright sunlight streaming in through the windows, memories of the strange dream running through her head. She sits up, looking around the room at the many stuffed animals littering her shelves and floor. ‘What a strange dream,’ she thought as she got out of bed, making her way downstairs.
The cheerful sound of humming alerted Twilight to her father’s location. She moved quickly to the back door. “Good morning, dad!” she shouted to her father.
“Good morning, Twilight,” he replied, smiling at his daughter as he picked tomatoes.
“Is mom up?”
“Shining’s waking her up right now. Go help him will you?”
“OK!” Twilight turns and runs down the hall to her mother’s room. She could hear her brother beating his tiny hooves against his mother’s quilt covered body.
“Mommy! Mommy!” she could hear his shout. “Morning! Morning!” Twilight took this as her cue to enter, slamming the door open in the dark room. She quickly and quietly walked to the covered windows and threw the curtains open. Then she walked right up to her mother’s bed and tugged the quilt off. “RISE AND SHINE!”
Her mother immediately started screaming, as if she were having a nightmare, thrashing in the bed until she ends up in an upright position. Velvet Sparkle calms down and looks around the room. “Huh?”
“Mommy woke up!” Shining piped up from beside the bed.

***

The sound of running water could be heard in the bathroom as the mare and filly of the house prepared for the day ahead. “So what’s been going on lately?” asked Velvet, as the pair stood side by side brushing their teeth.
“Rarity got another love letter. That’s the second one this month,” Twilight replied through a mouthful of toothpaste.
“Colts who don’t even have the guts to confess their love in pony are no good.”
The pair took a swig of water, gargled it too rinse the toothpaste out of their mouths and spat out was left. “And how’s Cheerilee?” Velvet asked as she replaced her toothbrush and retrieved her mane dryer and brush.
“It seems like Ms. Cheerilee’s new relationship is going well,” Twilight answers. “She gushes about him all during homeroom. It’ll be their three month anniversary this week, so I guess that’s a new record.”
Velvet smiles and simply continues to fix her mane. “Hmm, I guess we’ll see. They’re reaching a crucial juncture right now.”
Twilight pushes her face into a bowl of water. “They are?” she asks as she feels around for a towel. Velvet reaches over and pushes a towel into Twilight’s grasp.
“If it’s not the real thing,” Velvet explains as she starts applying makeup. “It’s around this point in the relationship that things start falling apart. If they make it past three months, they’ll probably be fine for a year at least.” Velvet finishes her makeup session and closes her makeup case. She then checks herself in the mirror. “Perfect!”
Twilight admires her mother for a few moments before turning her attention back to her own little conundrum. “Which ribbon should I wear?” Her mother points her hoof at the red ribbon on the counter. “Huh? But isn’t this too flashy?”
“That’s at LEAST as flashy as you should be! A mare’s appearance is the one thing she can’t afford to get looked down at.”
It takes a few minutes, but Twilight is all ready for her day, dressed in her school uniform, and with the red ribbon her mother had picked out in her purple mane. Velvet smiles as she takes in her daughter’s appearance. “Excellent! That should make all your secret admirers melt in adoration.”
Twilight blushes at this statement. “I don’t have any secret admirers!”
“But you should go about as though you do,” Velvet says playfully, earning a look of confusion from Twilight. “That’s the secret to every pretty filly’s success!”

***

Shining sat in his seat at the table, a blunt plastic fork in his hooves. He slowly moved down to spear… nothing at all. Instead of spearing the tiny tomato on his fork, he managed to knock it clean off the table. “Uh-oh!” Velvet shouted as she caught the tomato on a piece of bread, and put it back on the toddler’s plate. “There, eat it all up now, OK?”
Shining grinned as he replied in the affirmative. The family went back to eating their respective meals, Velvet reading the newspaper, and Night, making a cup of coffee. “More coffee, honey?”
Velvet glanced at the clock. Quarter to eight. “Hmm, better not,” she said, standing up and draining what was left in her cup. She gave her son and husband a kiss and a hoof bump to her daughter before heading to the door. “All right! I’m off then.” Velvet smiled as she walked out the door.
“Have a nice day!” the rest of the family chorused. Night then turned to his daughter, “Now then, you’d better hurry too, Twilight.”
Twilight looked at her father in confusion, then realization dawned on her face. “Oh, right!” quickly grabbed her bag and took off out of the house, but not before snagging one more piece of toast on her way out the door. “I’m heading out!”
“Have a nice day!”
Twilight ran down the street, reviewing her schedule for the day. ‘First, I meet my Rarity and Rainbow Dash at the park and hang out with them on the way to school. Next comes school, and finally, lunch with them at the shopping center.’(1) Twilight kept a brisk pace, not wanting to fall behind in her schedule, eating her toast as she ran. The city of Ponyville was truly beautiful in the morning, the tall skyscrapers gleaming in the sunlight, the stream gurgling along the path, and the trees gently waving in the breeze. In no time at all she had made it to her destination, and spotted both Rarity and Rainbow Dash waiting for her. “Good morning!” she called.
Rarity smiled as she ran up to them. “Good morning, Twilight.”
Rainbow Dash glared at her, “Twilight, you’re late!” She paused, and took a closer look at Twilight’s mane. “Oh! Cute ribbons!”(2)
Twilight blushed “You think so? They’re not too flashy?”
“I think they look lovely,” Rarity said as she started walking to the school. The journey to school, as always, passed rather quickly. In no time at all, they were within sight of the school.
“So my mom said,” Twilight was relaying what her mother had told her that morning. “A colt who confesses his love with a letter instead of in pony is no good.”
“Your mom is so cool, Twilight!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, bearing the same expression she usually reserved for her idols. “I mean, she’s gorgeous and a successful businessmare besides!”
Rarity suddenly stopped and turned to face the two walking behind her, a troubled expression on her face. “I wish I could make up my mind to reject a boy so easily.”
“What an enviable problem to have!” said Rainbow, smirking.
“It really is!” Twilight agreed, adopting a dreamy expression. “I wish I could get a love letter too. Just once!”
Rainbow, not one to miss an opportunity for a prank, grinned. “Oh-ho! So you want to become a beautiful popular girl like Rarity, Twilight? And you’ve decided to start changing your image with these hair ribbons, huh?”
“You’ve got it wrong!” Twilight’s face burned as she glared at Rainbow. “My mom made me-“
“I see!” Rainbow’s grin grew wider and far more evil. “You even got your mom to tell you the secret to becoming popular! How shameless! Let me show you what happens to bad fillies like you!” The blue Pegasus lunged at Twilight, wings reaching to tickle her.
Twilight dodged, but wasn’t quick enough to escape Rainbow’s second lunge. Almost immediately, she was laughing profusely while Rainbow used her feathers to tickle her. “No! Hey! Stop it! Stop!”
“My, such a cute filly!” said Rainbow, deciding to take the prank even further. “But I won’t allow you to go off and become popular with the boys. You must be my bride, Twilight!!”
“Nooo!”
*Ahem*
The two fillies looked over at Rarity, noticing the frown on her face, and the school directly behind her.

***

Location: Ponyville Middle School, Ponyville Central
“Ahem!” Class had just begun at Ponyville Middle School, the trio sitting in their assigned seats around the classroom. Cheerilee stood at the front of the class, a rather angry expression on her face. “Now, I have something very important to discuss with you today, class. I want you all to listen very closely!” She paused, stamping her hoof to ensure the entire class was paying attention. “When frying an egg, should it be fried sunny side up, or over hard?! Mr. Mash—what do you think?!”
The aforementioned colt started stammering, fear in his voice at what would happen if he got the question wrong. “Um, w-well, th-they can be fried either way, can’t they?”
“Precisely! They can be fried either way!” Cheerilee said, anger practically dripping off her words, though, not directed at any of the students in her room. “And it should go without saying, that judging a mare’s attractiveness by the way she fries her eggs is the gravest of mistakes!”
A sharp crack indicated another hoof stomp, this time going straight through the floor. “Now girls – I want you to remember,” she continued. “That you must never date a stallion who insists they can’t eat fried eggs done over hard.”
“Guess it didn’t work out,” said Rainbow, turning around to face Twilight.
“Yeah, guess it didn’t.” Twilight replied.
“And boys – you’d better not grow up so petty as to fuss over how your eggs are done, OK?” Cheerilee, finished with a calming breath to calm herself. Almost immediately, her usual cheerful personality came back. “Well, then! Now that that’s out of the way, let’s welcome our new transfer student!”
Murmurs filled the room, excitedly wondering who it was going to be, and why Cheerilee didn’t start the lesson with that.
“Come on in, Miss Shy!”
The door opened, revealing the transfer student. She was a tall pegasus filly, with a yellow coat, and long pink mane. Her ice blue eyes were cold and uncaring, as if she had stared Death in the face, and found him boring.
“Wow, she’s gorgeous!” Rainbow whispered, but Twilight wasn’t listening. She was staring, dumbfounded, at the filly that just walked in, a memory stirring in her mind of the dream from last night. “No way… It couldn’t be…”
“Now then!” Cheerilee said with a smile. “Why don’t you tell your classmates about yourself?”
The filly stared blankly at the students. “My name is Fluttershy. Pleased to meet you,” she said, her tone of voice indicating otherwise. She also seemed to be scanning the room, trying to find one particular face. Her eyes finally settled on Twilight, something flashing in her eyes. Twilight flinched, noticing the recognition in Fluttershy’s eyes, though her face kept its neutral expression.
***
The morning break between lessons found a crowd gathered around Fluttershy’s desk, bombarding her with questions about her past school, and life in general. Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow Dash watched this, as they discussed their own observations. “She has a mysterious air to her, doesn’t she?” Rarity mused, eying her.
“Hey, Twilight, do you know that filly?” Rainbow asked, concerned for her friend. “Maybe it was just me, but it seemed like she was glaring daggers at you earlier.”
“Well…um…” Twilight wasn’t sure how to answer. The answer was simple enough, but at the same time, it was astronomically ridiculous. What would they think if she told them she had met her in a dream? They’d probably laugh at her.
It was at this moment that Fluttershy decided to join them. “Miss Twilight Sparkle,” she said, her voice cold. “You are the Nurse’s Aide for this class, are you not?”
“Huh? Um, well…” Twilight stammered.
“May I ask you to accompany me? To the Nurse’s office, that is.”