A Galaxy Not So Far Away, Not Too Long Into the Next Day...
Little Twilight Aurelia had been a very, very busy filly. She swam her way through an ocean of stardust, propelling herself along with little doggy paddles of her tiny hoofsies. She would give happy little squees as she chased down any shooting star that dared cross her path. Her big eyes would sparkle gleefully as she greeted the meandering starlets with a big, warm huggle.
Before nomming them whole.
Nom nom nom nyoooom~
She gave an excited coo as she cluched her cheeks with her forehooves, revelling in the yummy sweetness within.
That was when a particularly large comet passed by, sprinkling sparkles in its wake, causing the little filly to scrunch her nose a little at the sudden tickle. Being the intrepid astronomical gastronaut she was, she was determined not to let a single culinary challenge go unchallenged, not even mischievous little comets. With a quick twist of her tail to steer herself, she launched herself after the comet.
Paddle paddle paddle paddle~
Nothing gets away from this little filly and her expert star-ocean doggy-paddling, not even pesky little comets. With a determined grin she finally caught up with her prize. She licked her lips with relish before opening her maw wide and...
CHOMP
Chew chew chew...
It tasted...purple.
Lia gave a frown as she tried to chew on the soft, squishy yet stubbornly inedible thing in her mouth. It also gave a soft groan. Being the knowledgeable gastronaut she was, she was sure comets don't groan. They twitter. She opened her eyes to investigate this suspicious not-comet further.
The comet was very purple. She was also very much asleep. But nothing gets past Lia's incredible powers of filly perception. It was Twiley! Or, to be exact, Twiley's ear! Silly Twiley, disguising herself (or is it her ear?) as a comet. What if Lia ate her? And all her ears? Huggables can't be eatables at the same time! Except for apples. Apples are allowed to be eatable and huggable at the same time, because they're awesome! But Twiley's not an apple, she’s a huggable, so Twiley's just being silly, not awesome.
Alright, maybe she's a little bit awesome, because Lia's generous like that.
Lia suddenly realized she was still chewing on Twiley's ear through that entire train of though. She (rather reluctantly) released what she decided was her new favourite part of Twiley. Sleeping huggables aren't as interesting as awake huggables. She considered rectifying this, possibly with her tried-and-tested rocket-boop. Then she decided that she wasn't quite that desperate for a huggable. After all, there was the rest of the world to huggle. Or nom. Or both.
With that she cast her eyes around her new surroundings. That funny sea of star dust had dried up, leaving her in this bright new world. Like any intrepid explorer, she began her exploration of her new world by examining the ground beneath her hoofsies. She did this like any expert explorer would; By giving it a bounce. Then another for good measure.
She tapped a hoof on her chin thoughtfully before allowing the ground a sagely nod and a hearty giggle. Yes, it was adequately bouncy, she decided. Happy with how promising the world was, she pranced onwards. She gave Twiley once last look, making sure she got her location and scent memorized. It wouldn’t do for her to lose Twiley now, would it?
Satisfied with her expedition preparations, she set forth, leaping down onto the harder land beneath and prancing away in search of new objectives. The room was familiar to her. She had already explored every nook and cranny and tested everything within for potential eatables and huggables. Satisfied that nothing new had stumbled into her little world, she went straight for that big tall opening in the wall she knew led to worlds unknown. The opening was shut, but being the observant little filly she was, she had watched the trick to opening it quite carefully. Copying the motions, she quickly leapt up towards the latch and scrabbled her forehooves onto it, tugging it open with ease.
"Teeheehee~" Lia giggled in triumph as she made her way out into terra incognita where no little filly had gone before. Because no filly was as brave as awesome as Lia, but everyfilly knew that. The cutest deadliest little predator in the universe slowly but surely prowled the shadows beyond, fluffy little ears twitching this way and that, tail wagging to and fro as if watching her back, as she inched her way forwards into the unknown.
Being the great hunter she was, it didn’t take long for her to find an unsuspecting target. It was about the same size as her, even the same general shape (But Lia's more awesome, but everyfilly knew that). Its fur was a yummy honey yellow and its mane and tail was a scrumptious apple red. It was even topped with a cute red bow, all wrapped up and ready for her. It was also facing away from her, staring at a picture on the wall. There was no way Lia could resist such a tantalizingly easy target.
Lia had a very simple way of approaching new things that are unfortunate enough to stumble upon her little world. She would first eat them. Or try to, anyway. Failing that, she would try and huggle them. Those foolish enough to turn her huggles down would be put to the horn for their insolence. Her horn, that is. Again and again and again until it became either eatable or huggable, whichever came first. It was a tried and tested approach, one Lia finds most profitable, as far as food and fun goes. So it was with great confidence (and appetite) that she slowly, quietly snuck up on the unsuspecting creature.
Step 1: Test for eatability.
She opened her little maw and chomped.
Nibble nibble nibble~
It tasted like apples.
Big Apple Inn, Appleloosa, a split second before...
Apple Bloom, fun-sized apple farmer and resident trouble magnet, was in her normal rest state, at peace with the rest of the universe. She was, in other words, 'bored', one of two possible states for her, the other being 'crusading in trouble'. Though she may not know it, this was the better of the two, for both her and the universe at large.
That was when trouble found her for once. Or, rather, bit her. She frowned as she felt something chew enthusiastically on her tail. She looked over her withers and found her tail in something, or, rather, somepony. It was the shape of a little filly, probably a unicorn judging by the rather bent horn poking out of her messy bluish silver mane. It was also hungry, judging by how determinedly it was trying to eat through her tail.
She had always been told that if a stranger ever approached her, she should avoid talking to them and find the nearest grown-up. But she was never told what to do when the stranger was already eating her tail.
“Umm, that’s mah tail.” Apple Bloom decided to attempt reason.
It quickly became apparent that throwing reason at this filly achieved about as much as scrubbing with a whoopee cushion. “Mmm, that’sh mah tail!” The mystery filly said, like the most enthusiastic echo ever. Applebloom couldn’t help but feel somewhat impressed by how perfect the filly’s rendition was despite the mouthful of tail. That’s some dedication.
“No, it’s mine.” Applebloom asserted.
“Naw, it’sh mine!” The filly somehow managed to giggle through her tail.
“Mine!” The argument intensified.
“Mine!” The counter-argument was stronger. And gigglier.
“Chase your own tail!”
“Chase youw own tail!”
“But that’s mah tail!”
“But that’sh mah tail!”
Applebloom can win arguments with brick walls, a talent she had acquired through an entire lifetime of having AJ as a sister. But brick walls generally don’t turn her arguments in circles, neither do they do so while munching on her tail. She had a feeling she had finally met her match.
Action speaks louder than words, so her brother always told her (at least when he’s being particularly talkative), so she decided to give her tail an experimental tug instead.
The filly’s nibbling only intensified.
Frowning, Applebloom tried walking away. To her great consternation, the smaller filly followed along with her funny waddling gait. Deciding to put this filly’s willpower to the test, she broke into a sudden canter. She felt her tail pull taut but not the give she expected. Looking over her withers she found the little filly galloping along after her, giggling mirthfully.
Applebloom, with speed honed through years of escaping the clutches of Miss Cherilee, Applejack and other assorted Crusading victims, would not be defeated in a test of speed by some tail-chasing filly. She put on her ‘Rawr’ face as she sped up into a full gallop. Putting on a burst of speed that would have left all but the most peeved adults in her dust, she thundered down the hall and out the front door into the snow-laden street. She knew that the chest-deep snow would be barely a hindrance to an earth pony like her but would be more than enough to slow some unicorn filly in a hoof race.
Applebloom looked behind her and found that the filly was indeed not keeping up with her on hoof. She was keeping up with her in the air! The mystery filly had somehow sprouted a pair of wings that hummed gently as they flapped, lifting the filly up into the air behind her. In fact, the filly looked like a little kite the way Applebloom was pulling her along through the air, the fluffiest most stubborn kite ever.
She made a right turn. The fluffy kite followed. She made a left. The fluffy kite followed.
This was….actually fun!
So the unicorn filly was proooooooobably not a unicorn, but she’s fun! And that’s all that mattered!
Applebloom cracked a wide grin. The mystery filly mirrored it on cue. An unspoken oath of friendship was made. Together the two sped off into the sunrise. And the rest of poor, unsuspecting Appleloosa.
Twilight Sparkle groaned as she turned over fitfully in her sleep. In her dark, troubled dreams Appleloosa had exploded into a mass of flaming sugar puffs. She would soon wish she never woke up…