Part 12
“Princess Twilight, do you have any books on Hearts and Hooves day?” Diamond Tiara asked innocently.
“Oh, I have several! Just check in the library. If you need help finding anything, ask Spike for help.”
Cheerilee had mentioned this in class; it had to be in one of these books.
Sitting down, Diamond Tiara flipped through numerous books, until she found what she was looking for.
“May I borrow this?” Diamond Tiara asked, smiling innocently.
“Sure, just sign it out.” Twilight said, focused more on Celestia’s letter than the conniving filly. A special unicorn? Somepony for me to mentor and teach? SQUEE!
Snails ½: Not Just Another Jane Doe part 2
“My cuddly cremepuff!”
“Argh! We can’t keep her in here. If they keep pounding, they’re likely to break the windows!” Apple Bloom said.
“Then where?” Sweetie Belle called out.
“Twilight’s castle!” Scootaloo said, “It’s the safest place in Ponyville.”
“How do you figure that?” Apple Bloom said, her back braced against the door.
“It’s a castle, with a princess in it. It’s GOT to be the safest place.”
“Ok Scoots, get the wagon ready. Escargot, get in and keep down. We need something to distract them for a moment.” Sweetie Belle said.
“Umm, my horn shine is kind of bright, maybe that will do.” Escargot suggested. It was bright enough to light the cave with the Ursa Minor, maybe it’s bright enough to make them to blink or turn their eyes away.
“Okay! Sweetie Belle, pounce Rumble, I’ll grab First Base. We just need to hold them long enough for Scoots to get a head start.”
Nodding, Apple Bloom opened the door.
Escargot’s golden hornshine was brilliant, flashing out in all directions so brightly that her horn was invisible in the corona. It was bright enough to make the two poison-struck colts look away, just long enough for Scoots to zip between them.
Slamming the door shut behind Escargot, the girls went to delay the lovestruck colts. “Cutie Mark Crusaders Wrestlers GO!”
Pumping her wings as hard as she could, Scootaloo rocketed through town at top speed.
“Looks like they couldn’t hold them too long,” Escargot began panicking. “Rumble’s on his way.”
Not wanting so slow down til the absolute last moment, Scootaloo skidded her scooter sideways, jackknifing the wagon and slamming into the stairs, sending them both tumbling. “Let us in!” she cried out desperately, hammering on the door.
Unaware of the goings-on, Spike opened the door and smiled, “How can I-”
Not even waiting for Spike to finish his sentence, Scootaloo threw Escargot through the door, before sprinting in herself. [Princess Tossing: soon to be an Equestria Games event. Bring your own princess.]
Landing on her belly, Escargot slid along the floor, slowing to a stop against Twilight’s hooves.
Spinning around, Scootaloo slammed the door shut- just in time to hear the fleshy splat of Rumble colliding with the door. This was followed by a strange squeak as he slid to the ground.
“Ouch.” Escargot cringed, “He’s going to feel that in the morning.”
“Naw, he’s had worse.” Scootaloo giggled, “It will leave a mark though.”
“Alright you two, can somepony please tell me what’s going on?” Twilight looked at the two fillies sternly.
Both scrambled to stand in front of Princess Twilight, then glanced at each other.
“Diamond Tiara’s out to get me!”
“She tried to feed Escargot a Love Poison!”
“What’s a Love Poison?” Escargot blinked at Scoots.
“The pink juice you said she tried to feed you.”
“Yeh, First Base had one, but Rumble looked all thirsty, so I gave him mine.”
“They looked in your eyes though, not each-other’s?”
“Well, First Base drank his and looked at me before Rumble showed up.”
“ARGH! That must be why they were both after you!” Scootaloo said, facehoofing in frustration.
“Why me? What did I do?” Escargot asked, whimpering.
A knocking was heard at the front door, and Spike walked over to answer it.
“DON’T open that door!” Both girls cried out.
“All we need to do is to prevent them from seeing Escargot for an hour and things will go back to normal.” Twilight said.
“Normal? I wish… That would be so… Wait, don’t have to see me for an hour? Than all I have to do is turn…”
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to let you out of my sight.” Twilight said protectively.
Escargot moaned. Why? Why do I keep getting into-
Escargot never got to finish that thought. The force of Rumble hitting the light filly sent Escargot skidding across the floor, slamming the filly's horn into one of the crystal pillars.
“MY BEAUTIFUL FOOFY LOVE MUFFIN!”
“Oh, we are having NONE of that!” Twilight grabbed Rumble magically. “Spike, make sure all -and I mean ALL- of the windows are closed.”
Opening the front door, she quickly grabbed First Base with her magic.
“My little catcher! Let us run the bases together! I can give you a Home Run!” First Base called out.
“Eww. Who teaches foals these things?” Twilight cringed and held them away from the castle while she conjured a shield.
“Escargot’s hurt!” Scootaloo called out in alarm.
“I’ll boil some hot water!” Spike said, sprinting for the kitchen.
“Spike, she’s hit her head, not giving birth. Cold water please.” Twilight said, shaking her head.
Picking her up, Twilight lay the little filly in bed.
It only took a few moments for Escargot to wake up, but wow was his head sore. His horn was throbbing from where it was hit. Gently, Twilight put a cold compress and wet towel over Escargot’s head to help with the pain.
“Oh mom, I had the worst nightmare.” Escargot whimpered.
Twilight giggled softly. “I’m not your mom.”
Moving the compress with one hoof Escargot looked at Twilight then lowered it again. “Never mind, I’m still having it.”
“So, how did you get away from them in the first place?” Twilight asked.
“Escargot blinded them with her hornshine, then I shot right on past! Then boom! Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle went all Cutie Mark Crusaders Wrestlers on their flanks! Oh, I wonder if they got their cutie marks for that!” Scoots fluttered in circles, her wings buzzing excitedly.
“You must have a lot of magical potential in you.” Twilight said, “No wonder Princess Celestia has taken interest.”
“Not really. I’m not all that good with magic.” Escargot said. His head was still ringing. How hard was he hit?
“Telekinesis?” Twilight asked, tilting her head.
“Never learned how. Never really had a need, I guess.”
“Spells?”
Escargot shook her head. “I was never really good at reading and math… And neither of my parents are unicorns. So magic was never an important thing.” Escargot said softly.
“Let’s see that hornshine.”
Escargot had to think momentarily to remember how to do it. Fighting through the pain, he concentrated, his horn glowing bright once more.
“Wow, quite the little powerhouse there. You should have been trained as a little filly to control that. You could have been in Celestia’s school right away.” Twilight said.
Blinking, Escargot shook his head vigorously, a very, very, bad idea given his borderline concussion. Wobbling a bit, he felt a wave of nausea over him, and he rolled onto his side with a whimper.
“I’ll talk with your parents, and take you under my wing. I may not be as good a teacher as Celestia, but I’m sure with a summer of training, I can get you to the point where you can attend the School.” Twilight said.
Moaning softly Escargot felt the nausea fading. “Ok.”
“It’s a deal then. And remember, a Princess always keeps her word. Every day for the rest of the summer, I’ll expect you here bright and early.”
Wait, what did he just agree to?
“It will only be for part of the day, so you’ll still get to play.”
Wait, school in summer?
“I can’t wait to meet your parents to tell them the good news!”
Escargot leaned over the edge of the bed and vomited. He wasn’t sure if it was from the head injury, or just his fate… how did he become Twilight’s chosen student?