//------------------------------// // The Beginning // Story: When music returned. // by LightningBlaze //------------------------------// "Alright, thanks Rarity!" Twilight Sparkle said over her shoulder to her friend. "Anytime, darling. If you need anything else mended up you better come straight to me!" the white pony answered back. "Don't worry, I will!" the purple pony said back as she left the store. Twilight put the scarf into her saddlebag and checked it off her checklist. "Ok, all I have to do now is deliver this letter to Applejack and I'm done!" She trotted over to Sweet Apple Acres to meet her long time friend. "Howdy there, sugarcube! What're you up to out here?" Twilight took the letter out of her saddlebag. "Well, I came to deliver this letter to you, Applejack." "Well, shucks, you didn't have to do that. Derpy could've delivered it just like she does every other day." The cowgirl pony started to blush, just a little. She took the letter anyway. The wind started to pick up. Twilight wondered out loud. "That's funny, Rainbow Dash didn't say anything about a storm this afternoon." "Well you better scurry along home then, you don't want to get soakin' wet!" Applejack replied, almost screaming over the sound the wind made rushing through the trees. "Right!" Twilight started dashing home. 'Spike should've already closed all the windows,' she thought. When she got home, all the windows were indeed closed and locked. So was the front door. From the inside. "Spike!! Open the door!!" Twilight yelled. The baby dragon opened the door. "OH DEAR SWEET LOVE OF CELESTIA WHAT IS TH- oh, it's you, Twilight..." Spike was flustered. "Sorry... I was, uh, watching a scary movie?" Twilight saw right through that. "Spike, we don't own a television," the unicorn said as she dried herself off, "did you clean up the library like I asked you too this morning?" The dragon perked up. " Yes I did, Twilight! But, there is something I want to ask you..." "What is it, Spike?" Twilight asked, putting the towel away. "I was dusting your old pictures from your box that you keep in your room, and, uh," Spike cleared his throat, "I recognised your parents' pictures, but who is this one of?" He held up a photo of a green coloured pony with a green and white mane. "Oh, um, he's..." Twilight pondered, "an old friend." "Do you liiiike hiiiim?" Spike wooed in his most annoying childish voice. Twilight shook her head furiously. "No...! We were just foals, and he...had to go away. That's all." She was thinking so much that she just noticed that she was crying. She ran upstairs to her room. "Twilight...?" Spike asked, to no one in particular. <<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>> Twilight woke up the next morning without her usual alarm clock blaring. She looked at it, it was noon. She made a mad dash out of her bed. "SPIKE! Did you turn off my alarm last night?" She asked, while brushing her teeth at the same time. "Yeah, I did," he answered, "you seemed upset last night, so I thought you needed a good night's sleep." "Well," Twilight replied, "that was very thoughtful of you, but I needed to be at Sweet Apple Acres at 10 this morning to help Applejack with her applebucking." "Oh, I'm s-" Spike was cut off by the door slamming shut. "-orry." <<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>> Twilight grabbed breakfast at the Sugar Cube Corner before heading out to Sweet Apple Acres. 'Oh, I hope Applejack isn't mad at me...' she wondered. Before long, she made it to the apple trees, then to the barn, where Applejack was waiting. "Oh, Applejack, I'm so terribly sorry, Spike turned off my alarm, I slept in, and..." she started. The orange pony tipped her hat and shook her head. "Oh, no, sugarcube. I don't wanna any excuses. I just wanna know why my trees are like this!" She pointed to the field. The trees were, indeed, in a very interesting position. They were all bent in one direction, almost as if they were pointing to something. Twilight stood there in awe. "I've never seen anything like this, Applejack. When did this happen?" She took out her pen and notepad. "Well," Applejack started, "I first saw it when I came out, at 9 this mornin'. All of them were like this! Somepony please fix my apple trees!" "Eeyup." Bic Mac came out of the barn with his pulley to put the trees in their normal, upright position. <<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>> They spent the next hour-and-a-half putting the trees back. When they were finished, Twilight went back to the library to find out more about the trees. "T, T, T..." she looked through the encyclopedias, "Ah, trees. 'Tree Species', no. 'Tree diseases and Their Origins', no, that's not it either!" Twilight gave up in frustration. She went to her room. Little did she know that, the pony who's fault it was to make the trees the way they were, was watching her from the window...