“Okay, girls, I think that will be it for Twilight Time today,” said the newly crowned Princess of Friendship.
“AWWW!” sighed the Cutie Mark Crusaders in unison as each of the fillies gave the alicorn a sad look.
“I know I know,” said Twilight as she calmed the fillies down, “But I think I will have my hooves full cleaning this mess up.”
The fillies turned to see the mess they caused during Twilight Time. Thanks to Twilight, the CMC had their own small private section of the castle’s library closed for them to use during Twilight Time. The area surrounding them was covered in spilled chemicals from Apple Bloom’s potion set, bicycle parts from Scootaloo’s latest attempt at mechanics, and feathers from a pillow that Sweetie Belle was learning to lift with her magic.
“Sorry,” apologized Sweetie Belle as she took the half-destroyed pillow and put it in a trash can. “Maybe we could help you clean up our mess.”
“It’s okay, Sweetie Belle. I’ve got this,” reassured Twilight as she levitated a broom and several cleaning supplies.
“Isn’t Spike gonna help you clean up?” asked Apple Bloom as she looked around for the dragon in question.
“No, I let him have the day off today.”
“So, where is he?” asked Scootaloo as she started to look for the dragon.
“Oh, I saw him somewhere in here,” said Twilight as she led the fillies out of the closed-off section of the library. “You girls can go talk to him if you want. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind the company.”
“Okay, thanks again for helping us, Twilight!” said Sweetie Belle as she and her friends began to search for the dragon.
Twilight’s new castle library was massive, almost half the size of the Royal Canterlot library, and contained almost every known form of literature. As the fillies journeyed through each aisle, Scootaloo was galloping ahead in search of the dragon.
“Slow down, Scoot!” said Apple Bloom as she and Sweetie Belle followed behind the speeding pegasus. “Ah’m sure will find him…..eventually.”
“Yeah, why are you in such a hurry to find Spike anyway?” asked Sweetie Belle.
“No….no reason!” answered Scootaloo quickly as she turned to face her friends. “I….I just figured we could invite him to come with us to Sugarcube Corner.”
“Really?” asked Apple Bloom as she raised a suspicious eyebrow, similarly to the way her sister did.
“Ye...yeah.” Before the unicorn and earth pony could continue questioning the pegasus, Scootaloo had already galloped to the other side of the library only to found the dragon she was searching for, “Hey...hey Spike.”
“Oh, hey Scootaloo,” said Spike as he lowered the comic book in his claws to see the filly. Spike was sitting on the floor with his back propped against a bookshelf with several large stacks of comic books surrounding him. “What’s up?”
“Nothing much,” replied Scootaloo as she looked down at the comics, “What are you reading?”
“A new series of Power Ponies!” Spike quickly turned the book to show the filly the page he was reading. “It’s about the Power Ponies’ sidekicks, the Crusaders of Justice.”
“Cool.” Scootaloo was fixed on the cover art of the comic.
The page showed a unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony filly standing on a rooftop. The unicorn filly was wearing a solid black suit, a short, dark-grey leather jacket, a black eye mask, and two inch heels. Only the front half of the earth pony could be seen, wearing a yellow suit with two red lines going down the sides of her suit, while her other half was invisible. The pegasus was hovering just above the roof with an all-black spy suit, a full face mask with red lenses, and two glowing bracelets on her front hooves.
“Yeah, want to read it with me?” asked Spike causing the filly’s cheeks to turn bright red.
“Uhhhh.”
“There y’all are!” said Apple Bloom as she and Sweetie Belle turned down the aisle where Spike and Scootaloo were.
“Why did you run off like that?” asked Sweetie Belle. Before Scootaloo could answer the question, Spike got up from his stack of comics to show the other fillies his book.
“She was going to read with me,” said Spike, causing Scootaloo's face to turn a darker shade of red. Sweetie Belle only turned her head to the side, not sure how that answered her question, while Apple Bloom only gave the pegasus a shy look.
“Oh, really?” asked Apple Bloom still looking at Scootaloo. “What are you reading?”
“It’s his new Power Ponies comic,” answered Scootaloo quickly, hoping that it would distract her friends. “The Fantastic Fillies, right?”
“Crusaders of Justice actually,” corrected Spike as he closed the book to show the characters on the cover. “They’re sidekicks of the Power Ponies, and they are finally getting their own solo series!”
“Who are they?” asked Sweetie Belle as she looked at the cover.
“Well, the unicorn is called Song Bell,” explained Spike as he pointed to the filly on the cover. “She has an ultrasonic scream that allows her to shatter objects and disorient her opponents.”
“Cool!”
“What about her?” asked Apple Bloom, pointing to the half-visible earth pony.
“That’s Fading-bloom! She can make herself and others completely invisible and create force fields.”
“And what about the pegasus?” asked Scootaloo.
“That’s Silent Wing,” answered Spike, not really saying anything else about the hero, much to Scootaloo’s annoyance.
“Well, what can she do?”
“She is like Hum Drum. She doesn’t have any powers.”
“Oh,” said Scootaloo in a sad tone, upset that the only pegasus of the group did not have any powers. Thankfully, Spike saw the depressed look on the filly’s face.
“But, she is skilled in hoof-to-hoof combat and is equipped with hoof bracelets that can shock enemies and shoot various darts!” said Spike hoping it would cheer her up.
“I...I guess that’s cool.”
As the fillies began to look over the dragon’s wide assortment comics, Spike was finishing the final pages of his Crusaders of Justice comic when his eyes grew to the size of a fire ruby.
“Oh, no,” said Spike in a whisper as he closed the comic.
“Spike, what’s the matter?” asked Apple Bloom as she watched the dragon slam the comic down with the rest.
“N..nothing!” answered Spike, eyes still fixed on the comic. “So...so what do you girls have planned for the rest of the day?”
The fillies only gave each other and Spike a confused look. Apple Bloom gave Sweetie Belle a nod to go check out the comic.
“We’re going to Sugarcube Corner,” answered Sweetie Belle as she made her way towards the comic.
“Y’all want to join us?” asked Apple Bloom as she stepped in front of the dragon, trying to distract him. “I’m sure Scootaloo would love for you to join us.”
“WHAT?!?!” screamed Scootaloo loud enough to be heard all the way in the Crystal Empire, with a blush as bright as Apple Bloom’s bow.
“Sure!” replied Spike as he smiled at the blushing filly, “I’d love to.”
“Hey, Spike?” asked Sweetie Belle with her back turned to Spike. “Where do you keep your magnifying glass?”
“There’s one over by the stack of Matterhorn comics,” answered Spike as he pointed to the stack in question.
It did not take long for Sweetie Belle to find the magnifying glass, and as soon as she did she quickly opened to the page that frightened Spike. “You can return to the place you started when the fillies are trained and the Diamond Tyrant and Silver Aggressor are defeated?” read Sweetie Belle as she gave the others a perplexed look.
Spike caught the look, and gasped. “Sweetie, stop reading that!” he yelled as he ran towards her. But as soon as he got close enough to grab it, Sweetie Belle threw the book to Apple Bloom.
“Take a closer look to finish the adventure in this book!” finished Apple Bloom as she gave the same confused look Sweetie Belle did. Soon the book began to shake and the pages began to glow and turn rapidly.
“No, no, no, no, no!” said Spike as he tried to pull the fillies away from the book, but as he did, the magic from the book began to pull Sweetie Belle in by her mane.
“AAAH! HELP ME!” screeched Sweetie as she grabbed Apple Bloom’s hoof and tried to hold on, but to no avail--she was quickly pulled into the book. Apple Bloom quickly followed, still holding onto Scootaloo, who was holding onto a bookshelf for dear life.
“Spike! Save me!” screamed Scootaloo as her hoof finally lost its grip.
“Scoot!” Without a second thought, Spike dove headfirst after Scootaloo, and tried to pull her out of the book’s magic. “I’ve got you!”
“Don’t let go,” said Scootaloo as she squeezed Spike, feeling herself getting pulled closer and closer to the book.
Despite Spike’s best effort to keep himself anchored to the crystal floor by his clawed feet and prevent Scootaloo from being sucked into the book, Spike lost his grip on the floor, and all four were sucked into the comic.
“NOT AGAIN!”