A Not So Lovely Change
By FromTheMoon
Chapter 1
~*~*~*~
It was going to be one of those mornings again, Twilight Sparkle could feel it, or as the situation dictated, not feel it. Everyone had those little things they did unknowingly that annoyed them to no end. For some it was spilling coffee over their table, others found themselves peeved from the fact that they had overslept and were late, and still some really disliked it when they had an itch they just couldn’t scratch for whatever reason.
There were many things that the newly crowned princess did that bugged her to Tartarus. Above all else there was one thing that annoyed Twilight more than anything, sleeping on your limbs and having to wake up to the aftermath.
It was honestly bad enough when it was just her legs but ever since she had gotten her wings she found that more and more mornings started to the amazing sensation of pins and needles.
Twilight let out an annoyed sigh before poking her head out from under the covers of her bed. “Oh boy, I can already tell this is going to be rough day.” The studious pony had evidence to back up her claim.
She had started to keep track of how days went, good or bad, after starting mornings in a similar manner. She had conducted her research across months and, after she had gathered more than enough data, had drawn up her conclusion. Science had proved that waking up after sleeping on your limbs resulted in, more often than not, bad days. Data didn’t lie.
“Spike, Spike...are you awake yet?” She called out drowsily. Twilight waited for a few moments for his reply to come. “Spike it’s time to get out of bed, come on. I need your help again.”
Finally after a few more moments his reply came in a groggy voice, “Can’t get up by yourself again?”
“Uh’huh.”
“Slept on you limbs again?”
“Uh’huh”
“Need me to help you wake them up?”
“Three for three.”
“I swear, I worry about how your life would be without me.”
“That’s why you’re my number one assistant.”
They shared a groggy laugh before Twilight heard him get up from his basket. His claws scratched against the oak wood floor as he stretched himself out first and then came the sounds of a few joints in his neck popping before he finally made his way over to her bed.
He rubbed the sleep from his eyes before turning his attention to her. “Usual place?”
“Same spot as...uh, Spike, what are doing?”
The young drake ceased massaging her back hind leg and looked at her. “What, you were going to say same spot as always, right?”
“Yeah, but I meant my wings fell asleep.”
“Pfffft, come on Twilight, I’m here massaging your leg so maybe the least you could do is stop pulling mine?”
To be brutally honest, Spike usually sucked at pranks and jokes, even more than Twilight which was apparently possible. It wasn’t like her assistant to attempt a prank on his caretaker, at least not this early in the morning.
“What are you talking about, Spike?”
“I dunno, what are you talking about? Why would you have wings?”
“Because I’m a princess? We had a whole ceremony for it and everything, don’t you remember? All our friends were there and so were the other princesses.” Twilight was practically flailing her legs around in front of her. She didn’t need a morning to start off this way.
Her assistant responded with a roll of his eyes. “You might want to get your eyesight checked out, princess.”
Twilight had had enough of her assistants attitude for one morning. She was going to turn around, she was going to see her wings, and then she was going to-
They weren’t there.
“No offense, but Princess Twilight Sparkle sounds pretty lame if you think about it. Just doesn’t have that ring to it like Princess Celestia or Princess Luna. Besides, do you know how Equestria would react if a new princess just popped out of nowhere just like that,” He snapped his claws for emphasis, “I mean sure, most ponies would probably be cool with it, but then you got those others that would freak out, get angry, or...hey, you alright Twilight?”
She was not alright, that much was physically visible. Twilight was sweating profusely, her eyes were darting around the room like crazy, her breaths came out short and ragged, and, to clear away any remaining doubt, her left eye was twitching.
Spike very well knew what was coming. At this point it was already too late to stop it. The best the young dragon could do was damage control. “You having an episode?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Would you like a glass of water?”
“That would be nice.”
“Should I get my hazard suit on?”
“That would probably be for the best.”
Without a moment to spare, Spike ran downstairs from their loft and prepared for what he could only assume was going to be one of those mornings again.
***
The rest of the morning carried on as one would have probably imagined, books flying all around the library as Twilight researched into the disappearance of her wings. The librarian had even skipped breakfast which only fueled her assistant’s skepticism regarding the matter.
“Spike, has the princess written back to me yet!?”
“Since the last time you asked about fifteen seconds ago, no. Nothing yet.”
Twilight was well aware that her mentor wasn’t a morning pony. Once the sun had been raised the princess would usually return to her slumber for an hour or two more before starting the day court. Still though, this was just ridiculous. How hard was it to write ten simple words, “My faithful student Twilight, yes, you are an Equestrian princess,” and send the letter?
The studious pony felt she was on the receiving end of some elaborate prank. The first place she had gone to look for proof of her wings had been the various photo albums that adorned the top shelf in her bedroom. To her surprise there were no photos of her coronation and, to make matters even more confusing, there were photos of her she didn’t recognize or remember taking.
Anyone of her friends could have easily taken out the photos, that much could be explained. For the photos of her that she didn’t recognize, that was a different story. Besides, there was no way her friends could have taken away her wings. Only one prankster came to her mind who was powerful enough to accomplish this, Discord.
Her assistant really didn’t know what else to say other than, “Yeah, sure.” He still believed that his caretaker had gone off the deep end once again but, at this point in the game, he had learned to just go with it. Everything always seemed to work itself out in the end anyway.
There was only one thing that still concerned the young drake. “Would you at least have some lunch before you go out? You’ve already skipped breakfast Twilight, which to quote a certain book worm, is the most important meal of the day. You’re running yourself ragged right now, don’t think it’ll be too long before you pass out from exhaustion.”
“I know my own body’s limits Spike and I promise I’ll eat something when I get back okay? Even better, I'll eat something while I’m at Fluttershy’s cottage. That sound good to you?”
Spike knew there was no convincing her otherwise, he simply shrugged his shoulders, “I guess.”
It was settled then, with nothing else deterring her, Twilight levitated her saddle bags onto her, quickly brushed her mane so that she was at least presentable, and made her way to the front door of the library.
She would have been out the door in the next moment if it weren’t for the intense throbbing pain coursing it’s way down her horn, or the fact that she was now laying on her back with a cyan blue pegasus standing in the now open door way.
“Oops, sorry about that, Twilight.”
“Rainbow Dash, how many times have I told you to knock first before slamming the door open? Actually, what have I told you about slamming my front door open like that?” The librarian said as she gingerly rubbed her horn.
“Slipped my mind I guess, you know me.” With a small chuckle she helped her friend off the ground and offered her a wing to help dust her off. “Besides, where are you going in such a hurry?”
“Fluttershy’s cottage, I'm going to see her about this prank that-”
“Prank?” Rainbow Dash interjected, “Fluttershy, our Fluttershy, pulled a prank on you? No way, how’d she pull that off?” A wicked grin spread across the athletic pegasus’s face, “A pony’s got to be pretty gullible for Fluttershy to pull a fast one over them. So much for being Princess Celestia’s prized student huh?”
This was a bad time, a bad morning, a bad day, and was quickly shaping up to be a bad week. The last thing Twilight needed right now was her friend's teasing. “First off, no, Fluttershy wasn’t the one who pranked me, Rainbow. I’m pretty sure only Discord could have done something like this.”
Rainbow Dash’s grin faded and her eyes shot open at that. “But Discord is-”
“Not finished yet,” Twilight interjected, “Secondly, what are you doing here? I’m hoping you didn’t just wake up this morning wanting to kick my door down, again.”
“It was just that one time! Now hold up, you said something about Discord?”
Twilight ignored the question, “Thirdly, what are you doing wearing a necklace around your neck? I thought you weren’t into-” Twilight didn’t need to wait for Rainbow Dash to respond, her eyes went wide as she glanced over at her friends adorned neck.
Without thinking she quickly levitated Rainbow Dash closer to her to examine the necklace better, her face only an inch away from the necklace and pendant that adorned it. “Personal space much?” The pegasus protested.
“Rainbow Dash, this isn’t what I think it is, is it?”
“Um, yeah it is. Why, is it dirty or something?”
The silver necklace could of been just that, a silver necklace for show. It was the golden pendant attached to it however that almost sent Twilight into another round of hysterics. There was no denying it, the intricate patterns, the stallion and mare imprinted on it, and the engraving of two flowers intertwined together. The pendant could only mean one thing.
“Rainbow Dash, when did you get married!?”
“A little over a year ago, remember? You were there, Spike was there, all our friends were there, and even Princess Celestia and Luna were there. We took pictures, like, a lot of pictures.”
Twilight pulled away from her friend and placed a hoof on her head. Nothing that day seemed to be making sense. There was no way Rainbow Dash could have gotten married. Sure the athletic pegasus lived her life in the fastlane, she had been known to be reckless on more than one occasion, and it was well documented that she loved to have fun. This, however, was different.
The pegasus in question continued to stare at her studious friend who seemed to be lost in what she only assumed was deep thought.
“Pssssst!”
“Huh?” Rainbow Dash looked back at Twilight believing she was the one trying to get her attention. The unicorn was still deep in thought and had even started mumbling to herself. Rainbow Dash put two and two together and figured that it couldn’t have been Twilight. As far as Rainbow Dash knew, the library was empty save for it’s caretakers. If it wasn’t Twilight then that only left-
“PSSSST!”
Looking over towards the library’s stairway, Rainbow Dash saw Spike peeking his head down from upstairs. Curiously enough, her scaly friend was waving for her to come upstairs quickly. Another thing that Rainbow Dash took note of was that Spike seemed to be wearing a helmet.
Making her way up the stairs to Twilight’s loft, Rainbow noticed Spike leaning against one of the walls, what stood out however was what he was wearing. Perched firmly on his head was a green combat helmet. Complementing the headware was what seemed to be body armor made up of different colored pillows.
“What’s with the weird getup, Spike?”
“Hazard suit, for when Twilight gets like this. Pretty neat huh?”
“Cool, just don’t let a certain fashionista see you wearing that.” The library went silent for a moment save for the librarian downstair’s ramblings. “Hey Spike, have you noticed anything off lately about-”
“Twilight?” Spike finished. “I dunno, she woke up weird this morning. At first I thought it was just going to be one of those mornings but then things got weirder.”
“Weirder how?”
“Well,” Spike began, “When Twilight woke up she thought that she had wings, she also thought she was a princess.”
Rainbow’s eyes began to water, she was losing a battle to hold in her fits of laughter. Despite the opposition she faced only a few snickers escaped her. “Twilight, with wings? Oh I’d pay to see that! She probably be all like ‘swoosh’ and ‘woosh’ before going ‘splat!’ face first into a tree!”
The young assistant wanted to stay serious, he had to admit though, imagining his caretaker try to fly was enough to break his composure with a small smile.
Wiping away the few tears that had streamed down her face, Rainbow Dash continued, “She also thought she was a princess?”
“Yeah, she said we were there for her coronation and everything. She went looking through the photo albums and even went as far as to send a letter to Princess Celestia.”
“You think our egg head down there finally snapped from studying too much?”
“Naw, if anything, Twilight would probably get like this from a lack of studying. That pony thinks writing a research paper is fun.” Both friends let out a sigh, there truly was no other like their friend.
“She can’t even remember the wedding of one her best friends,” Rainbow Dash smiled as she shook her head, “What are we going to do with her, Spike?”
The young drake simply shrugged his shoulders, “Beats me, if I had things my way I would of sent her off to see a therapist a long time ago. That pony’s got some serious issues but, knowing her, she’d probably drive the therapist insane not even half way into their first session.”
Any attempt to keep a serious atmosphere was gone as both friends broke out in laughter. Rainbow Dash fell to the floor laughing and Spike would of done the same but, due to the shape of his hazard suit, was literally rolling on the floor laughing.
Once they had gotten all their laughs out, and Spike had been assisted in getting up off the floor, they returned to their semi-serious conversation. “Hey,” Spike managed to say, “Anything new from the big guy?”
“Just that he’s working hard. I swear that if I wasn’t with him then his life would probably be all dull, predictable, and stuff. I thinks its neat and all that he’s so dedicated but come on, dude needs to be more chill when it comes to some stuff. It’s not like the world is going to end if he doesn’t show up to work for just one day.” An awkward silence found the two friends as they simply stared at each other. Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck nervously, “I mean it might if you think about all the crud that’s happening right now.”
“Don’t worry about it too much Rainbow. I’m sure this’ll all be over soon and things will go back to how they used to be.” With that said, Spike put a comforting claw on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder.
“Yeah you’re probably right, Spike.” Keen for a change in topic, Rainbow Dash asked her own question. “So what about you, anything new?”
“You mean besides,” He tilted his heads downstairs, “No, nothing really. Just same old, same… could you give me a sec?” Not bothering to wait for an answer he turned away from Rainbow Dash. As soon as he was facing away from his friend he let out a belch.
A tuft of green smoke quickly materialized into a scroll and fell to the floor at Spike’s feet. Seeing that the scroll was sealed with the royal insignia, Spike quickly grabbed it in his claws and ran downstairs.
The dedicated assistant presented himself in front of his caretaker and presented her the scroll as professionally as he had been taught, “Hey Twi, Princess Celestia sent you that letter you’ve been-”
That had snapped the librarian from the deep thought she was in. Without a moment to waste she grabbed the scroll in her magic, unfolded it in front of her, and began to read. It didn’t take long, just as she had predicted, it was only ten words.
[My faithful student Twilight Sparkle, come to Canterlot at once.]
Twilight eyed the scroll over and over again, as if hoping that the words would change into the ones that she wanted. The intensity of her stare could of burned a hole right through the parchment. The answers she wanted, the proof that she wanted, simply weren't there.
No, what she wanted wasn’t there at. Yet all hope wasn’t gone just yet. The answers and proof that she needed were simply just one train ride away.
“Spike, the princess has asked me to go see her in Canterlot immediately.”
Her assistant gave her a nod and she went off to pick her saddlebags off of the floor. By this time Rainbow Dash had made her way back downstairs and noticed her friend preparing to head out again. “Wait, Twilight! Where you going?”
“Princess Celestia wants me to go see her in Canterlot. The letter made it seem urgent so I gotta hurry to the train station and-”
In the blink of an eye the fastest flyer in Equestria was standing in the library’s doorway. “You’re heading Canterlot?” The librarian nodded her head, “Awesome! I was going to Canterlot today too! You can tag along with me!”
“Not to sound rude Rainbow Dash but, why are you going to Canterlot?”
Twilight wanted to stay and inquire as to why her friend's intentions but, with Princess Celestia’s letter still fresh in her mind, she put off asking for the time being. Accepting her friends companionship, she headed out her home and began making her way to the town’s train station.
So many questions raced through the studious pony’s mind, questions that she realized she didn’t have the answers to. That brought some distraught to her. She could feel her legs tremble beneath her as she galloped towards her goal with Rainbow Dash flying above her. No, she didn’t have the answers she wanted.
Her mentor would though, the most intelligent pony she knew, yes, she would have the answers. She had to have the answers.