Ponyville, a normal small town near the magnificent capital of Canterlot, was usually known for being a small peaceful place.
A sneeze interrupted the silence, and with it came a large tree that was rising into the air. Not just any tree, but a tree that had been transformed into a house, specifically a library. How it survived that was one the seven great mysteries of Ponyville… but that was not the point of this story.
With a loud crash, said tree landed back onto the ground and briefly shook the scenery. Gesundheit.
“Thank you.”
So, aside from minor incidents with sleeping dragons, a maniac or two, who decided to turn the small village into his castle of chaos, or just a random villain who decided that this hick town was the perfect place to start their plan of world domination, it was what it seemed to be. A small village with creeks, farms, and calm country life.
At least that was how Ponyville was before the younger princess had decided that she didn’t want to live in a castle, like the others of her kind, but remain in her library. The Golden Oaks Library had remained the residence of Twilight Sparkle. However, young and inexperienced as she was, she had misunderstood immortality. Specifically, immortality didn’t meant that she could no longer get sick. It simply meant that she would never succumb to a disease. And so it seemed to have decided to make up for that by being worse than ever before. At least the alicorn couldn’t remember ever having had such a strong cold in her short life.
Currently she was lying in her bed, surrounded by a multitude of used tissues that all billowed from different trash bins, sorted by having been used to sneeze, cough, or to wipe her mouth. Various books were spread on her blanket, from “My cold and I – How We Became Best Friends Who Never Have to See Each Other Again” up to catchy titles like “Bacteria or Virus – That is The Question.” Right now, the book “Die! Virus, Die!” was hovering at a safe distance in front of her.
“Man, Twilight, careful with your conk,” Spike said as he returned with a cup of hot cocoa back into the bedroom. “For a few seconds, I really thought that we had taken off.” He carefully placed the cup on her nightstand between the empty tissue packs and various medicines.
“Thanks, Spike.” She smiled weakly at him and put the book aside. “I just don’t know what’s going on. A simple cold shouldn’t be so strong.” The dragon rolled his eyes. There was never anything just simple with Twilight. “Maybe I should really write to Princess Celestia and ask her. Tomorrow morning of course.”
“Like I told you days ago when it first started. Now it’s Nightmare Night and you have to stay in bed.” Which meant that he had to play maid for her. Of course he loved Twilight, like a sister. The other spot was reserved for Rarity. But by Celestia’s non-existent beard, it was Nightmare Night. Horror stories, candies, hay rides, and most importantly, Pinkie Pie’s party.
Twilight carefully patted his head with a hoof. “Don’t you worry about me, Spike.” She suddenly stopped and her face twisted. Quickly, Spike pulled out another box of tissues whereupon Twilight pressed some of them in front of her nostrils. And not a second too late, as in the next moment they were blowing in the trumpet-like sound that a pony had ever made. “Thanks, Spike, but I’ll manage for tonight. You can go and have fun.” The eyes of her little assistant brightened, and in a dash he had disappeared down the stairs. Before Twilight could shout after him, he had already returned, but this time in his costume. Actually it wasn’t even a costume, but a padded pyjama that she had bought for him. Spike loved his basket and his little blue blanket, but it was just not enough during the winter. When they still had been living in Canterlot, she had bought him a pyjama and revised it a bit. She was no Rarity, but the result still was quite good.
“How do I look?” Spike asked with a wide grin on his face.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Like a big, scary dragon.” Yes, it was the same costume as every year. “Just one question. Have you ever washed that thing?” She thought she could spot a few caramel stains on the pyjama, aka dragon costume.
“Uhm, sure,” he answered uncertainly and quickly turned away from her and began to scratch the stains out of the cloth with his little claws. Twilight knew that it was of no use to get annoyed about that. Not like she’d have the power to do so anyway.
“It’s alright, Spike. Just promise me you that you won’t eat so much candy again that you’ll get stomach ache for a week afterwards. And stay near one of our friends if possible.” Twilight would apologize to Rarity later for that. “And be back before midnight!” she shouted after his disappeared figure. Maybe she should have said that in a different order. Still, now it was too late for that. She yawned and closed the book before she levitated it with the others off the bed and neatly piled them up on the floor next to it. She wiped her runny nose one last time and turned to the side, her closed eyes. For a short moment she didn’t move, then she opened her left eye again, and with a little bit of magic, the lamps in the room went out. “Better.”
***
A loud crack from the lower parts of the library made Twilight wake with a start. She looked her around her room which was lit by Luna’s moon and rubbed her eyes. “Spike?” she asked croaky, her voice rough through the snoring. She had read that ponies tended to do so when their nose was stuffed. Not that she would normally snore. “Is that you?”
Twilight listened into the silence of her home, but neither came an answer from Spike nor from anypony else. Groaning, she threw her blanket aside and sluggishly rose from the bed. Her legs needed a few seconds until they could control her weight. The cold had really taken its toll. Feeling drowsy, she made her way downstairs into the main room of the library. Nothing seemed to be wrong in the faint moonlight, nothing that could have caused such a noise. Just as she was about to walk up the stairs again, the sound came again. This time she could make out what it was as well. Something had smashed against her window.
“Ugh, if this is Dash trying to get the others to throw eggs at the doors of ponies that aren’t giving away candy…” Twilight groaned in annoyance. “Poor Elizabeak kept Fluttershy busy for weeks afterwards.” She crossed the remaining distance towards the window and opened it. Just as she was about to stick out her head, a small creature whooshed past her head. The princess screamed, threw herself on the ground, and protectively held her hooves over her head, but nothing more happened. After a while, she opened her eyes and searched for what had intruded her library. Again her heart skipped a beat as she saw two golden glowing eyes that stared at her. “Owlowiscious! Don’t scare me like that!” Twilight let glow one of the lights in the room, which made the owl more visible.
“Who?” was his usual greeting and turned his head a bit. Now that she could take a closer look at her owl, she saw that he had something in his claws. Something small, white and with a tail. Calmly, he started pecking on it.
“Owlowiscious!” Twilight was shocked at the behaviour of her pet. “I thought we agreed that we’re sticking with the food that I buy for you.” She snorted and pulled whatever wanted to escape her nose back up. “Out! Out with you!” She levitated a broom over to her that Spike had left there and lunged out for the owl on one of her shelves. He had just finished his meal and made a series of his usual sounds as he dodged her attacks. Twilight didn’t hit him, but a pile of books, which had rested on the shelves now hammered down on her head. Shortly before her vision turned black, she dropped the broom. Using the moment, Owlowiscious flew out of the still open window.
“Ouch, my head,” the alicorn groaned and rubbed her head with a hoof. “As if everything wasn’t hurting enough already.” She looked at the chaos she had made and pushed down the urge to immediately start cleaning up. “Sorry, Spike.” She eventually nodded it off, closed the window, and turned out the light. She turned towards the staircase but stopped dead in her tracks at what she saw.
Fluttershy, no, a translucent Fluttershy. She seemed to wear some kind of torn rags around her body while iron chains were around each of her hooves. “Uhm… hello.”
Twilight needed a few seconds to comprehend that Fluttershy was suddenly hovering in front of her, but then she shook her head and kept to the point. “Fluttershy? You’re in a costume? I’ve never thought that you…” She coughed slightly. “Nice to see you on Nightmare Night.”
“Nightmare Night?” echoed her ghostly friend. “Oh my Celestia, I’m way too early. I’m so deeply sorry. Please don’t be mad at me.” Twilight didn’t really understand what she meant, but she couldn’t stand seeing her sadly dropping to the ground.
“It’s alright, Fluttershy. I think a ghost costume suits Nightmare Night very well. You look perfect.” Her snivelling turned into crying. Twilight looked at her with a soft expression on her face and sat down next to her. “Everything will be fine.” She wanted to put a hoof around her friend but reached through her and landed, without the expected body as support, flat on the ground. Flabbergasted, Twilight looked up at her. Then she screamed again and crawled away from the appearance in panic until she slammed against her table with the small bust on it. “G…G… Ghost!” she stammered.
At her outburst, the ghost who definitely wasn’t Fluttershy stopped its whining and looked up. It looked down at Twilight, who made herself smaller than the real Fluttershy ever could, and now it was its turn to calmly look down at her. “Oh, don’t worry. I uhm… am the spirit of the past Hearths Warming. I’m still… new to the job. Please don’t be mad at me. You aren’t mad at me, are you?”
Twilight vehemently shook her head. “Not p-possible. Scientifically imp-possible,” she stammered quietly and pointed a hoof at the ghost. “You are not scientifically possible!”
“Sorry,” it just said and left its head hanging.
“Why are you even here and why do you look like Fluttershy?!” Twilight was still shaking and not because of the cold. Now, though, her curiosity had been caught. After all, it wasn’t every day that you had a real ghost in front of you.
The look of the ghost brightened up a bit. “Oh. Well, we take the forms of the ones our fosterlings are familiar with. This form represents deep affection and care for you. Like a mother.”
“I don’t think of Fluttershy as my mother!” Twilight’s face turned red.
“Oh? Really? Then I must have misread something in my records.” It pulled out a file, which was as translucent as itself, out of the thin air and began to skim through the pages. But it could save the effort.
“Alright! Once! I accidently called her mom when I slept in her cottage last winter and she had put a blanket over me on the couch. Just once!” The ghosted smiled in satisfaction while Twilight indignantly crossed her forehooves in front of her chest. “And why are you here now?”
“Well, my superiors have seen how you’ve spent the previous Hearts Warming and decided that it was time to get you out of your lonely tower.” Twilight blinked. It was correct that while she was living in Celestia’s castle, she had spent a few Hearths Warming alone with studying.
“But that was years ago! I’ve lived in Ponyville for three years, celebrate each year with my friends, and even performed a play on stage in Canterlot.” This time the ghost really seemed surprised and looked into the file again.
“Oh my goodness.” It flipped a few more pages. “Oh my goodness.” It flipped the file on its head and back again. “Uhm… it seems like,” it gulped and grinned weakly, “your case is a bit older.” The ghost turned around the file and gave Twilight a look. There was a picture of her as a filly. There were was her current age: twelve.
“This thing is over ten years old.”
The ghost shrugged. “Bureaucracy,” it just said and let the file vanish. “And you’re certain that you don’t need a reintegration into society becayse you’re an old, lonely mare who hates Hearths Warming and doesn’t pay parents their wages whereupon their poor disabled foal might have to die?”
Twilight nodded. “Very certain.”
“Oh, all right.” A short flash of light later and Twilight was alone again, no signs of a ghost or anypony else in the library. For a moment she had thought at the end that Rainbow had somehow gotten Rarity and Fluttershy to help her with a prank. That probably wasn’t the case.
“Wake up, you’re dead!” Twilight awoke with a start as somepony yelled at the top of their voice into her ear. Panicked, she flapped her wings, threw the empty tissue boxes off her night stand, and finally landed on the ground next to her bed where she also kicked over the small pile of books.
“Ouch, ouch, ouch,” Twilight whined and carefully rubbed her back. She opened her eyes slowly and saw a black robe floating over her bed. From underneath the hood looked out shimmering red eyes that stared at her. No, not red. Magenta. And she knew that laughter as well that came from underneath the hood.
“You should have seen the look on your face. Priceless!” The black robe doubled over with laughter in the air and a rainbow-coloured tail peeked out from underneath it.
“Rainbow Dash!” She should have known it. And maybe bar her doors and windows. It was obvious that her friend, like every year, would try to scare her. “You can’t just sneak into ponies’ houses at night and scream them out of their beds. And you especially shouldn’t tell them that they are dead. That’s horrible!”
Rainbow waved it off and smiled. “Relax, it’s only Death. I mean me. I am Death. I’m coming to visit everypony at some point. And today it’s your turn, Twilight Sparkle. So, come, let’s go.” She flew over to the door that led downstairs while Twilight just stood there, unimpressed.
“Whatever, Dash. Maybe tomorrow. I’m still sick and have to go back to bed.” Just as she had stepped with two of her four legs back into the bed, Dash flew in front of her nose again and held her with a hoof.
“Okay listen, Twilight, I’ve still got a few things to do and don’t have all night. How about you just come with me, I show you the light, and we’ll both be happy?”
“Rainbow…”
“Don’t make me get my scythe. I’ve let it at home for decades now since it just scares the ponies and I hate to run after them. But I’m gonna make an exception soon.” They stared into each other’s eyes for a few seconds, then Twilight levitated her tail and moved her aside before climbing back into her bed.
“Good night, Rainbow. You know where the door is. Please use it.” She heard the pegasus grumbling as she flew with a few soft flaps through the room. She loved all of her friends, but tonight just wasn’t the right time for such pranks. At least not for Twilight.
For a few minutes, it was quiet. Just as she was slowly drifting back into the land of dreams, someone coughed. Rainbow was still there. Twilight groaned, turned on her back, and opened her eyes. Immediately all colour vanished from her face at what she saw. Over her stood a skeleton, in the same black robe that her friend had just worn. Her wings were also just bones and only the base of her tail was left. In one of her bone hooves she held a scythe like farmers used to use for the hay harvesting. This one was held uncomfortably close to her throat for Twilight’s liking.
The alicorn’s look grew darker and with an aimed shot of her magic, the costumed mare was disarmed. “That’s enough, Rainbow. I’ll give you an A for effort. I mean, the costume is significantly better than last year. That was only thrown-together rags. But an F for your timing. I’m sick for Celestia’s sake and need my sleep!” She opened the window next to her bed and moved her friend out of it. She quickly looked at the scythe and wondered for a moment what she should do with it. Then Twilight shrugged and threw it after her. The quick, painful yelp from Rainbow made her consider if she maybe had been too harsh. On the other hand, it had been Rainbow and she deserved that. Content, she closed the window and lay back down under her blanket.
***
Light was shining into Twilight’s closed eyes, and she slowly began to open them. However, it was not Celestia’s rising sun that greeted her, but the light of a candle almost directly in front of her nose. Twilight blinked and spotted the figure behind it. Through the cut out holes of a white pillowcase, with apples stitched onto it, were two green eyes. On the head, above the pillowcase, rested a worn Stetson. The figure had put a black cloak over the rest of her body.
“Not you too, Applejack.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “And what’s up with the hood?” Her friend mumbled something, but with the candle in her mouth, she was incomprehensible. Twilight just looked at her quizzically. Again she tried to speak, but with the candle and handle in her mouth, it was to no avail. Twilight showed mercy with her and took her weight.
“Thank ya kindly, Ah appreciate that.”
“No problem, Applejack.” She could see the grin vanishing underneath the pillowcase.
“Ah’m not that Applejack. Ah’m Candlejack. Repeat. Can-dle-Jack. Now you.” Twilight rubbed a hoof against her forehead. She couldn’t come up with something better? She was with her nerves at the end.
“So, you want to me to say your name.” Twilight put emphasis to her by drawing quotation marks with her hooves into the air. “And then what? You gonna tie me up and drag through Ponyville?”
“That’s the plan,” she declared proudly.
“Wonderful! Try it then…Candlejack!” And with that, Twilight put the candle’s handle back into her mouth and lay back down into her bed. Applejack grinned wider than before underneath the pillowcase. Her neck turned around and then she stopped dead in her tracks. “Something wrong, Candlejack?” Twilight didn’t like to do it, but her friends had simply stepped over a line today. Applejack, as an earth pony, was dependent on her mouth to operate fine things like a candle or a rope. Her disadvantage was that she only had one mouth. And so her opponent had been checkmated. “Look, I know you don’t usually do something like this, Applejack. Surely Rainbow made you doing that in a bet. So just leave it be for today, alright?”
The mare underneath the case looked at her again with a slightly plaintive look. Then her eyes glowed suddenly and she threw over a trash bin at the end of the bed. The tissues were scattered around the floor, and she turned her head to place the candle on it. “Ah, much better.”
“Candle— I mean Applejack! What are you doing? Clean that back up!” Twilight’s complaints were ignored.
“Now ah just need mah rope…” The purple mare gnashed her teeth.
“APPLEJACK!” Twilight had never used her Royal Canterlot voice before, but there was a first time for everything. Applejack’s hat flew off and her face could be seen more than clearly underneath the thin pillowcase. “I’ve had just about enough of your pranks. At first you make poor Fluttershy help. I had to act like I believed her to not make her cry. Then Rainbow came and dragged a dangerously sharp scythe around with her and now you with an open fire in a library? What would have happened if it hit the ground? There is a reason everything here works with magic and there are only magical flames! Now out! Don’t make me make it a royal order!”
Applejack nodded underneath the pillow case and took the candle back in her mouth. Again she mumbled something, but Twilight didn’t even try to understand what she meant. She just pointed to the door that lead down and stared angrily at her friend. She took up her Stetson as she walked past it and put it back on her head before leaving the bedroom. Twilight waited for a moment, then she heard the front door closing. She sighed in relief and put a seal on the door. Everyone who would touch it now would get a slight electric shock. Satisfied with her new alarm system, she snuggled back into her bed.
***
The door to the library was kicked open. “Twilight!” shouted Rainbow into the dark main room, whereupon Twilight jumped up from the ground.
“Huh… what?” Twilight rubbed her aching head while she looked around where she was. Next to her were the books that she had swiped off the shelf while hunting Owlowiscious with the broom. Between them was an especially thick version of “Equestria – A Short View of Our History in One Thousand, One Hundred Chapters.”
“Why were you so…? What happened here?” Rainbow stopped and inspected the scene in front of her. “Twilight, are you alright?”
“Huh?” The alicorn blinked confusedly. “I was in my bed and then… you, Applejack and Fluttershy wore bad costumes and tried to play pranks on me, one after another. Why am I down here?” Twilight sneezed and slowly lifted herself back on her legs. She was cold and surely this sleeping place wasn’t playing in favour of her healing process. Her other friends who had visited her at night followed Rainbow through the door. Fluttershy still had slightly red eyes like she had cried recently. Applejack looked depressed as well. But what followed the two Twilight hadn’t expected. “Princess Luna?” The Princess of the Night stood behind the three, a coy smile on her lips.
“We greet thee, Twilight Sparkle. We hope that we are not causing you any inconveniences?” She blinked.
“Well, sugarcube, Rainbow and Ah talked during the party tonight and thought it were awfully sad that ya had to stay in bed durin’ Nightmare Night. But we didn’t wanna disturb ya rest.” Applejack nudged Rainbow.
She shook her head and grinned. “Oh, yeah. Anyway, Fluttershy had told me that Luna wanted to visit for Nightmare Night and then we asked her for advice.” Rainbow looked over to Fluttershy.
“Oh uhm… I told them that you needed rest, but Luna said that it wouldn’t be a problem. We would have just visited you in your dream…”
Twilight blinked again and inspected her surroundings closely. The window next to the door stood still open and the broom was lying directly next to her. “Yes, we just wanted you to have nice Nightmare Night. You didn’t have to be so rough. Even in a dream, it hurts to get the handle of a scythe against your head.”
“Dream?” Fluttershy suddenly shot past the others and took a closer look at Twilight.
“Oh dear goodness, I think she’s been hit on the head by these books here. That’s why Owlowiscious came to us.” Twilight still looked at her quizzically.
“Thy pet, the one with the name Owlowiscious, came shortly after we walked to the house of thy friend Fluttershy. That poor creature seemed excited and we came as quickly as we could,” Luna explained.
Fluttershy briefly looked into her eyes and then sighed, relieved. “She doesn’t have a concussion, but we should quickly get her back into bed.” Luna nodded and took the younger princess on her back. The warmth of Luna’s body was all she needed to fall back to sleep immediately.
***
Twilight woke late the next morning, this time well rested and with Spike at her side, who was already waiting with her breakfast. “Morning Twilight. I heard from the others what happened. You feeling better?”
“Morning, Spike.” She grabbed the dragon with both forelegs and pulled him into a strong hug. “I think I’m doing much better. Where are the others?”
“Gone home. They waited until I got home and then I took over.” Twilight calculated in her head.
“That would mean that all that happened in just a few hours.” Spike just nodded. It made sense. Time didn’t go by the same rules in dreams as it did when awake. “I have to apologize to them. They wanted to give me a good time, and I snapped at them like that. I should also thank Princess Luna.” Spike grinned contentedly and pulled out a sheet of parchment, a quill, and some ink.
“The princess already said that I would need that.” Twilight smiled and began to dictate:
Dear Princess Celestia,
As the newly installed Princess of Friendship and Magic, I thought that I had learned everything that there was to learn. With mixed emotions, I can report that this has not been the case. My friends tried, despite my illness, to give me a wonderful Nightmare Night. At first I thought they wanted to play pranks on me, and I got a bit loud towards them. Later I found out that they had the best intents and wanted me to see something of the festivities as well.
So I have learned that you should always expect the best intents from others, even more so from my friends, though it may seem different at first.
I think that I still have a lot to learn, and I’m looking forward to having these experiences and going on further adventures with my friends. I know that, as long as we all keep together, nothing can stop us.
Yours faithfully,
Twilight Sparkle
Spike finished the letter and looked up at Twilight. “Send it.” The dragon took a deep breath and spewed his usual green flames. The letter disappeared as usual in a mist. Twilight followed it for a while, but then looked back at Spike. The dragon had pulled out two bags, probably filled with various sweets. “Spike, if you’re eating all that on your own, you’ll be having stomach ache for days again.”
“Who said that’s all for me?” He lifted one of the bags with a sardonic grin onto the bed. “This one’s for you.”
“Wow, Spike, thank you. But I’m sick and I shouldn’t…” One of his little claws gripped her lips.
“I quote: Twilight has a cold and doesn’t have stomach ache. Of course she can eat candy, silly,” Spike imitated Pinkie Pie’s voice as well as he could. “Candies make ponies happy, and if you’re happy, you’ll get better quickly.”
Twilight smiled. “In that case…” She opened the back and levitated the first thing that she found out of it. It was small, white, and had a tail. She screamed, sneezed, and threw the mouse across the room.
“Come on, Twilight. Rarity put so much effort into making marshmallows like a mouse form. Be glad that she made so many and not just some for Opalescence.” With that, Spike pulled one out and as well and gulped it down in one go, adding one more to the list who she owed an apology.