Twilight stretched as she walked by and noted the sky was still dotted in clouds, suddenly a rainbow blur knocked right into her making her fall into a surprisingly deep mud puddle leaving her covered in mud with her upper body poking out. She shook off the substance on her hands so she can clear out her eyes.
"Rainbow Dash! Just the mare I was looking for! I noticed that the sky isn't clear for the Celebration" shouted Twilight who was remembering that this was also like how she met the others last week.
Sunset sighed and helped pull her sister out of the mud with the sheepish cyan pegasus' help.
"Sorry there Twilight I overslept. Rarity helped me put the finishing touches on my suit" said Rainbow using the fact the celebration was formal wear to disguise the true meaning of her statement.
"Guess I can't fault you there" said Twilight catching her reason.
"Here let me dry you off with my patented rainblow dry" said Rainbow and before Twilight could react the cyan pegasus spun around Twilight creating a controlled twister that removed most of the mud on Twilight and also made her mane a afro.
"Dash next time tone down the power of that wind now can you please clear the sky so I can move on to rarity next" said Twilight giving Rainbow a look at her irritated face.
"No problem I can clear that in ten seconds flat Sunset can time me" said Rainbow getting into the air as Sunset got ready with a stop watch.
"And go!" Said Sunset starting the watch and to them rainbow became a rainbow streak that shot through the clouds and ten seconds later she landed as Sunset stopped her watch.
"Ten seconds on the dot another world record today" said sunset surprised. Twilight was impressed by the pegasus actually backing up her words.
"Wait a world record was made today what is it" asked Rainbow curious.
"Twilight went through meeting Applejack's relatives while sampling the food. She ate every sample as fast as the introductions going on at the same time plus she didn't puke I timed that as well. She did all of that in a minute and kept up her manners at the same time. She's going to have the speed eating record for years with only the princess herself to challenge that title. I recorded it on video as proof same with that boast. I may be the temporary co-librarian with Twilight until she's staying for good but I'm also part of the world record community for those books of world records. You both should be proud" said Sunset making the three others wonder when she did that.
"I picked up some tricks from Pinkie during the week and her ability to multitask is shocking" said Sunset as apparently the three said that thought out loud.
"Weather check now off to rarity, I need to get rid of the mud inside my clothes and get my hair fixed" said Twilight.
The three siblings waved Rainbow goodbye and found Rarity at the Plaza setting up the decorations which Twilight knew was just about finished so she checked it off.
"Rarity nice job got a sec" asked Twilight.
"Sure de... what in solar happened to you!" Asked Rarity.
"Rainbow crashed into Twilight in her rush to finish today's prep and knocked her into a mud puddle. She managed to remove most of the mud but some is still on her so can you help her out" asked Sunset and Rarity dragged them to her shop which reminded Spike of a carousel from one of those fairs with the wooden mythological creatures like the Windigos. In fact that was the name of the boutique and the sisters found themselves in Rarity's bathroom with Sunset helping Twilight clean her fur and fix her mane. Rarity had winced seeing the clothes were pretty much some sizes to small and were practically ruined and was glad the boots were made to last. She quickly pulled out a new outfit that would suit Twilight and placed a package on them.
She handed them to Sunset and decided to talk to Spike in her recently added forge. The two had really hit it off during the week. Spike seeing how blacksmithing was natural for him and Rarity was working on her Cyber Spyder suit and variations she might need became partners with Spike if he and Twilight might stay longer than the Celebration was planning on being the local blacksmith with Rarity his partner while he helped her at the boutique with his knowledge of gem's meanings added to Rarity's color coordination to fit her clients needs became quite a duo.
"So Rarity want some help In finishing your project while the other two are busy" asked Spike already putting on a smock as he prepared to light the forge.
"Yes now that I'm free I can finish up this project I see you set up the ore already so let's get to work" said Rarity.
And so it was to the sight of Rarity and Spike making the final parts that greeted Twilight and Sunset.
"And done now to put it together" said Rarity using her levitation spell to arrange the parts and connect them into what seemed to be some high tech pack with flexible straps of rubber covered metal. She took out ten Ruby's and ten Amber gems and let them float around the pack before the gems seemed to turn to liquid that seeped into the metal making electricity form around the pack as the silver metal turned red and yellow finishing the project.
"So that's your enhancement spell seemed like transfiguration mixed to a bonding spell" said Twilight awed.
Spike smirked seeing his sister/mother figure dressed in a purple dress with faint red and blue trim which looked fitting on her.
"That fits you so well Twi though long sleeves, skirt and gloves is always what you wanted to wear after those students made fun of how thin your arms used to be" said Spike.
'Thank the sun for that makes it easier to hide the suit' thought Twilight.
"Yep thanks for these Rarity they are just right for the Celebration" said Twilight.
"Your welcome and Spike thank you for helping me with this project" said Rarity making Spike blush a little.
"It was nothing you helped me find something I'm good at besides sending messages to the princess through dragon fire" said Spike.
"You also helped him learn to control that ability at will" said Twilight with a grin.
"After what happened three years ago when he accidentally sent Celestia a whole desk from Our room?" Asked Sunset remembering how the Nobles actually panicked at a desk suddenly appearing before Celestia just as she requested a desk to look over some paperwork. That always made the four of them laugh at how coincidental that was and how hilarious the Nobles reaction's were.
At that mention the three had a sudden laughing fit at the memory.
"Mind filling me in?" Asked Rarity.
"Spike was helping me dust the room and he sneezed from the airborne dust and sent a empty desk right to Celestia's throne room where Sunset was helping with the Day Court" started Twilight.
"At that moment Celestia requested a desk so she can look through the file reports from the Nobles and the whole Court panicked when green flames appeared before her and a desk materialized not one second after she asked. The whole Court fainted after Celestia just blinked and shrugged it off and went right to work on reading the files" continued Sunset.
"She even thanked us for the timing even though the whole thing was purely by accident and after we explained how it happened. After that we had to explain my ability to the Council when Blueblood reported the incident. I could send messages over Equestria if the messages had the address. After that the Council seeing that has linked my fire over the mailing system so that if there is any emergency package that needs to get to a certain place in time they can flame send it there. So far that's working well. Dragon fire lasts centuries and the containers were enchanted to recycle the air around the inside to keep the flames going even longer" finished Spike.
"From that one accident a whole new system for mail was created. Cloudsdale uses it to send weather orders to the weather teams and get their reports for future orders" said Twilight summing up the tale.
"Just the memory of the whole thing gets us and the Princess laughing on the spot. If we needed something to get us out of a bad mood that would do it" said Spike.
"Oh my that is funny must be one of the few good memories you have" said Rarity.
"Yep though if your thinking of dating Blueblood don't. The guy is the definition of arrogant and selfish. He near raped me before my brother stopped him. Which validated the restraining order. I still have nightmares about that. Though oddly I can't remember much of the following week just a warm sensation" said Twilight not noticing the tense looks her siblings gave each other but Rarity did.
"Twilight why don't you head over to check on Trixie and how her preparation is going" said Sunset.
"Huh but what about you" asked Twilight.
"We still have some finishing touches in our own formal clothes here we will catch up later" said Spike and thankfully Twilight bought that reason.
Once she left Rarity looked to the two of them.
"Dare I ask what that was about" asked Rarity.
"Don't tell Twilight about this but the week after Shining stopped Blueblood the trauma made Twilight temporarily insane. Her control over her magic slipped. End result she started animating every suit of armor around her and caused quite a scare. For a whole week Twilight was stuck in her own magical field while armors nearly made a creator around her. Celestia had gone on a week long trip to the griffon kingdom to make a peace treaty and when she heard about the situation knocked her out. The week long exposure to her own raw magic had some side effects. She doesn't know it but she now has the same life span as a alicorn and faster healing. One side effect she does know of is that when her anger hits a sudden point she turns pure white with a mane and tail of fire. Her eyes also turn blood red. Celestia explained it was a type of transformation called a Rage Shift. In that state she can control hell fire. But when it gets to that point in that state she loses any memory of what she did when she turns back. She's aware of her rage shift but if she uses it to long she can't remember what she did" said Spike.
"In other words Blueblood woke Twilight's darker side that was building all these years. It may get to the point Twilight's Rage Shift will effect her magic in her normal state. Celestia had no choice but to transfer that fire ability to Spike to keep her alive. She nearly burned herself to death when she first transformed and used that ability" said Sunset.
"There is a very good reason Twilight fears losing control after that" said Spike grimly.
"The transfer aged Spike to physically show his mental age. He may look like a teen dragon but dragons count their ages by century so Spike is still considered a infant to other dragons. He's actually ten years old but has been more mature for his age in years" said Sunset.
"Twilight thinks it was a effect of her magic hatching me and than aging me to full adult dragon and back. Which is true so I grow quicker than most dragons without it impacting my lifespan. Sunset has the same lifespan as Twilight as she was in the magical field holding Twilight still until Celestia could help. Scared the princess out of her mind when she learned this. To this day Blueblood was ordered not to go near Twilight or any friends of hers not just to prevent him doing it again but to prevent a relapse" said Spike.
"Oh my she really did have a hard time makes my own issues with my parents seem tame in comparison" said Rarity.
"Yeah at this point she is getting better to mental stability but sooner or later she might back track due to the memories. Which is why her trust issues are so bad. Celestia knew she needed true friends to help her stay stable and to stop her from trying suicide. This is why she is also Celestia's student. The princess is determined to save her after that incident" said Sunset.
"Remember not a word of this to Twilight I don't think she could take it" said Spike.
"You can count on me to help out. She needs all the help she can get. I want to help give her a reason to live. She's getting on the right track but she will need a little push along the way to keep her on it" said Rarity.
"Thanks but don't let Applejack know as well that girl can't hide this kind of secret to save her own life she's that bad a liar" said sunset.
"Right she would make this worse instead" said Rarity in agreement.
Spike got up and gave her a hug and the siblings left unaware that a bird on the windowsill flew off in the direction of the badlands.
(End chapter)