What’s it going to be, princess?
We aren’t worth it!
Oh but you are, Fluttershy. You’re the pony who taught me that friendship is magic. I had magic AND friendship…and now I don’t have either.
I will give you my magic…in exchange for my friends!
ALL of my friends!
Thank you, Twilight. I’m sorry.
Twilight, what were you thinking?!
Tirek tricked me into believing that he could offer me something more valuable than friendship…but there is nothing worth more. I see that now. He lied when he said that this medallion was given as a sign of gratitude and loyalty…but when I say that it is a sign of our true friendship…I am telling the truth.
How is this possible?! You have no magic!
Sweet Celestia! Are you all seeing what I’m seeing?
You are now Twilight Sparkle: the Princess of Friendship.
Twilight Sparkle took in a massive breath of air. Her eyes were widened, nearly bugging out of her skull. The Alicorn placed a hoof on her chest, not surprised to feel her heartbeat at a rapid pace. Twilight took in the surroundings as quickly as possible.
She was seated on top of a grassy knoll. It was the middle of night, stars blinking peacefully above and Luna’s moon hanging over her head. Twilight stared off from her position straight ahead to see Ponyville and its residents undisturbed. Her castle remained the tallest structure in the quaint village, the moon’s glare reflecting off its crystal surface. It stood proudly, powerful, a sign of her leadership throughout Equestria.
Seated to her left, the baby dragon squirmed awake and let out a carnivorous yawn. Spike rubbed his eye with a claw, staring up at Twilight with many questions.
“Twilight,” Spike took a few seconds to let out another yawn as he slowly got up to his feet. “We should really get back to the castle now. It’s late.”
Princess Twilight took a moment to compose herself, still pretty shaken up from her dream. That was a clear note to self to never fall asleep outside near the Everfree Forest. She eventually faced the baby dragon. She smiled softly. “You’re right, Spike. I just…keep letting my mind wander off nowadays.”
It wasn’t too long ago since Twilight became a princess. Since then, she was mystified about her future, and her place in Equestria. Thanks to her friends, and a very unlikely draconequus, she has now known her true destiny: to spread the magic of friendship throughout Equestria, keeping peace and tranquility in her homeland.
Tonight was not the first. Twilight spent some nights on the same grassy knoll staring at the same night sky, at the same castle in Ponyville. Sometimes her friends would show up, sometimes she would sit there alone, letting the hours tick away. Twilight still accepted the company of her closest friend, Spike, to stay with her.
Twilight would sometimes think to herself. She would think about her new role, how that might affect the world she lives in. How others see her, how her friends see her, how the princesses see her, Twilight would spend hours on these assumptions until her mind drifted off into slumber. She was really glad Spike was with her from now on whenever she sat on that lone grassy knoll, thinking of the future.
Twilight stood up from her seated position and looked back. “Spike, do you mind carrying the-“
No need. Her number one assistant had already folded the striped cloth they had a picnic on not too long ago. Spike stood proudly with the cloth around his arm and the basket in his claw. Twilight smiled, though it vanished when she noticed that Spike was trying his hardest to conceal another yawn.
“Come on, Spike,” Twilight said and slowly made her way over to him. She softly rubbed his scales, and willingly letting out a yawn of her own, said to him, “We both need to get some sleep. You can ride on my back on the way home.”
Spike frowned, his brow bemused as he said, “No way, Twilight! I’m not a baby anymore.” Spike turned and began leading the way back to the castle. His eyes began to fall. “I…can take…care…of…myself…”
Before the dragon could face plant, his body was caught in an aura of purple energy. He felt himself being hoisted backwards and softly landing on Twilight, the cloth and basket falling suit. Twilight giggled and softly rubbed Spike’s head. The dragon merely frowned, deciding to stare at the grass as his arms wrapped around Twilight’s neck.
“Even grown dragons get tired, Spike,” Twilight soothingly told him, to which Spike only replied with a soft grunt.
Twilight faced the path towards Ponyville, her eyes closing. “Just hold on. We’ll be there in…no…time…?” Twilight’s words froze as a sudden soft glow filled her vision. Twilight opened her eyes; Spike seemed to lose all his weariness at what was transpiring before the two.
A firefly. A lone firefly softly floated in Twilight’s vision but a few feet away. The Alicorn was transfixed by the bug, its yellow glow illuminating two bulbs in her eyes. She smiled. Suddenly, Twilight felt a soft tug at her mane. She looked back for a brief second, seeing Spike point towards the sky.
Twilight couldn’t believe what she was witnessing.
Two, three, eighteen, twenty-three, the numbers kept rising until she couldn’t count no more. Fireflies, all with their ghostly yellow light, descended upon the princess and her little dragon. Twilight watched and dared not move a muscle as one of the fireflies landed on the tip of her muzzle.
One by one, the rest of the group slowly chose a position and landed on the newly appointed princess. Twilight couldn’t believe it. Never has she witnessed or heard of fireflies acting in this sort of way. The bugs almost covered her upper body, making her and Spike appear as angels in the darkness. It was incredible, and Twilight forced herself to not gasp in amazement.
Spike held a firefly in the middle of his claw, not speaking a word in hopes of not scaring them away. Twilight felt an itch from the bug’s clinging onto her, but forced herself to not move. This was like nothing she’d ever seen before, possibly a rare moment for fireflies to be acting this way!
She felt at peace. It was a strange feeling that washed over like a tidal wave smashing against a stone wall. Unfortunately, it lasted for about twenty seconds. Slowly and peacefully, each firefly faded off of the princess and joined back into one massive group. Twilight turned to her right to watch them go…straight into the Everfree Forest. Twilight was about to blink, but stopped and gasped.
The mob of fireflies stopped at the entrance of the forest, swarming around in little patterns. The Alicorn took a step forward, only to witness the group descend deeper into the forbidden darkness that lied ahead.
“You’re not seriously gonna follow them, are you, Twilight?” Spike asked, rearing forward to see her steady eyes gaze upon the forest canopy. “I mean, that whole thing a second ago was cool and all but…that’s the Everfree Forest,” he left those last two words tipping on the edge of his tongue.
Twilight thought for a brief second. She gazed back into the forest, watching as the light of the fireflies slowly faded. The Alicorn felt something, something she hadn’t felt in a long time. Maybe it was her constant needing for knowledge, like back when she was just Celestia’s pupil. It was there, in her heart, then gone the next second. She answered, “Fireflies don’t do that on a nightly basis, Spike. It was as if…they wanted us to follow them. Something is happening in there…and I think we’d better check it out.”
Spike was about to interject, suddenly remembering their past adventures in there. They’ve made it out before, and if the fireflies go too deep than he can tell Twilight to turn back. She would understand.
“Alright,” Spike whispered, wrapping the picnic cloth around his body, “just in and out, okay?”
“Okay,” Twilight whispered back.
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
He couldn’t stop shivering. Twilight felt it. She felt it even as she made her way into the darkness.
________________
Her fear was present, she couldn’t deny that. The Everfree Forest had always frightened Twilight, especially at night. Spike wasn’t faring much better. Twilight could feel him flinch every time her hoof crunched over a dead leaf or twig.
Occasionally, the two would hear the rare howl of a Timberwolf or the sound of different types of insects buzzing around their ears. Nothing came after them, nothing harmed them. The illumination of the fireflies’ light seemed to keep them safe.
Twilight made sure to keep her distance, but not too much. She didn’t want to lose sight of these creatures and where they would lead them.
That same feeling washed over the Alicorn. Part of her wondered why she was following bugs deep into the Everfree Forest, but the other part, that voice deep in the back of her mind, that feeling in her heart told her to push on.
Several minutes passed and still nothing. Spike kept shivering due to the cold temperatures. Twilight ignored the chill running down her spine. The determination in her mind and heart told to push onwards. The fireflies drifted peacefully through the tree lines as if this was regular routine for them. The foliage of the forest grew thicker, sparking the dragon’s worries even more.
“Twilight,” Spike finally spoke after a long moment of silence, “can we turn back now?”
The Alicorn frowned. She looked up at the fireflies to see them hovering forward, edging her closer and closer to them. Eventually she stopped and sighed.
“You’re right, Spike,” Princess Twilight quietly muttered. Her eyelids started to close, a strange pain and wanting in her heart growing. She ignored it, only concerned for her friend. This was a pointless exhibition in the first place.
Come on, Twilight! You’re smarter than that! Going into the Everfree with Spike at night? You could’ve put yourselves in danger! The Alicorn scolded in her mind.
She turned to leave the forest with Spike sitting on her back…but stopped when the fireflies did something else…something different.
The group rested on a large structure that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. At first, it was nothing but part of the darkness of the forest. Now with the fireflies’ yellow glow it was something far more than just a structure. Twilight soon found out what it was.
“Whoa…this was what they were leading us to?” Spike asked, gripping Twilight’s mane.
Twilight’s eyes focused on what appeared to be a rock the fireflies remained upon. “I guess we’re about to find out.”
She slowly made her way to the rock. Spike jumped off her back once they reached it. It was bigger than he thought. It had to reach at least twenty or more feet above his head. Moss and mud covered the outside of the rock, the fireflies pressed against its sides illuminating the outside of it in their yellow glow.
Twilight approached the rock slowly, giving it an awkward stare. “Okay…don’t know what a rock has to do with firefly habits but…”
She reached her hoof forward and pressed it against the muddy surface. Instantly, the lightning bugs slowly faded off the rock and into the sky. Twilight used her magic and covered the once dark area into a nice purple glow. She watched as Spike approached her from the side, pressing his claw on the moss and vines that lay on the rock.
“Really amazing thing these bugs brought us to, huh Twilight? You totally never a see rock anywhere else.”
Twilight frowned at him and brought her hoof away from the mud that covered the massive stone. “Ha ha ha! Really funny, Spike,” she deadpanned, watching the baby dragon rub his claw off the mud, taking a chunk with him. A sliver of light caught Twilight’s attention. She brought her attention away from the dragon and onto the silver plating underneath the mud and scum.
“Well, we might as well head back,” Spike told her, picking up the blanket and basket off the ground. As he wiped the dirt off the blanket, he heard the Alicorn behind him speak.
“Um…Spike…you might wanna take a look at this.”
Spike turned back, watching as Twilight wiped her hoof across the massive rock. The light from her horn helped see better as Spike approached. The slightly wet mud and moss fell to the dirt below as Twilight continued to wipe away.
“What are you doing?” Spike finally asked, noticing that the mud had completely covered Twilight’s right hoof.
Twilight stopped for a moment and pointed to the area she had cleared. Spike squinted, the light from Twilight’s horn barely making out something underneath the muck and scum. Silver, brown, and…fading blue and red?
“It’s not a rock, Spike,” the Alicorn told him, watching as the dragon slowly nodded. “Come on; help me clean off this mud.”
Together the two worked for several minutes, getting very dirty in the process. Spike was no newbie to filth, but Twilight didn’t take to kindly to it. She was definitely taking a shower when she got back to the castle. Hopefully she knew how to properly work the shower unlike last week’s…incident. Gosh, there was hot water everywhere.
Ignoring that, Twilight vigorously wiped and pulled off the moss and vines that remained attached to the structure. It wasn’t made of stone, she knew that by now. It felt…different…she couldn’t quite put her hoof down on what it was.
That is…until her hoof brushed over a certain area.
Twilight gasped louder than she ever has. Her jaw dropped, her breathing stopped, her eyes popped open and dared not to blink. She had, no; she needed to breathe again, to speak again. The Alicorn princess backed away, shaking her head madly, her chest rising and falling at a rigorous pace. She didn’t know if her hearing recently fell deaf…because Spike was over her, shaking her and moving his mouth. No words could be heard.
Twilight didn’t remember falling on her back, but there she was. Spike was standing next to her, saying her name over and over again. He was clearly worried. Her hearing soon returned.
“Twilight?! What’s wrong? What did you see?” the dragon asked sincerely from his heart.
Twilight raised a shaky hoof to the structure. Her vision couldn’t bear to look at it anymore. She felt as if she would pass out if she stared any longer. Spike spun around to see what had made Twilight go into a panic attack.
He nearly faced the same fate.
Taking several calming breaths, Twilight slowly got up to her four hooves. Spike stayed close behind her, still in disbelief. As she approached the structure, she forced her eyes to gaze upon the area her hoof had cleansed.
This is what the fireflies had led them to. This was their purpose. Why? How? There isn’t any possible way that this could be happening. Memories, Twilight tried to ignore the memories flashing passed her eyes. What the symbol brought, what an impact it left on her mind…and her world. Her assumptions were right. The feeling in her heart had led them to something of legend…something that should not be here in her world.
Her Alicorn light showcased a symbol she could never forget.
Twilight simply had no words. She tried to breathe, but could only let out short gasps of breath. She wanted to cry, but could feel no tears. She wanted to turn around right now and leave, but felt no muscle movement. She was permanently frozen in a state of shock and confusion. The unending silence continued with no hope of ever stopping.
That is until Spike found some kind of willpower to speak.
“No…no, this can’t be real. Twilight, please tell me this isn’t real,” the dragon begged, gripping Twilight’s foreleg with a muddy claw.
She shook her head, her only movement for the past minute or so.
Her mind told her to remain quiet, confused. However, her heart knew what to say.
“They left…this…this is unreal,” she brought her gaze down onto the baby dragon. Their eyes met and locked, their emotions running wild, uncontainable. Beautiful.
Twilight brought her gaze back to that symbol that will forever remain in her brain.
“I think we just found an Autobot.”
Her horn’s light increased, causing her magic to act and clear away most of the muck that remained. Twilight remained stupefied, her breathing now controlled with what she was witnessing. She didn’t smile, she couldn’t for some reason. Out of an act of pure strength and willpower, Twilight forced the tears to stay. What the pony and dragon found that night…was not just a rusting Autobot.
“…Optimus…”