“I can’t wait to see Twilight!” Fortune said as their chariot soared through the sky.
“Yeah, me neither,” Lucky grumbled, rolling her eyes.
“What’s the matter, sis?”
“I still don’t get why we couldn’t just stay in Canterlot.”
“It’s like the Princess said. We need to expand our horizons and meet new ponies.”
“Why?”
Fortune shrugged. “Why not? It’ll be fun! Think of it like an adventure.”
The clouds ahead of them parted, and a giant treehouse drew rapidly closer.
“Ooh, is that where Twilight lives?”
The pegasus guards landed, and Fortune and Lucky hopped out of the chariot.
“Thanks guys!” They nodded and took off, heading back to Canterlot.
Fortune walked up to the door and knocked. The door opened, and a small purple dragon stood before them.
“Hey Spike! Long time no see!” Fortune said, grinning.
“Oh, hey Fortune!” Spike turned around. “Twilight, they’re here!”
The twins heard a frantic voice from inside the house. “Ohmigosh! This place is still such a mess! Spiiiike!”
“Uh, hold on one second,” Spike said to the twins, chuckling nervously as he slammed the door shut. The twins looked at each other in confusion, eyebrows raised, as a cacophony of disjointed noises emanated from inside. The door eventually reopened, and a bedraggled purple unicorn greeted them.
“Hey kids!” Twilight said. “Sorry about that. Somepony forgot to clean the basement,” she scolded, narrowing her eyes behind her at Spike.
“It’s not like they were going to go down there anyway,” he grumbled as he stalked off with his broom.
“Please, come on in,” Twilight said, smoothing out her mane with a hoof as she stepped aside. Fortune and Lucky walked in, looking around.
“Whoa,” Fortune said. “You have so many books!”
“Thanks,” Twilight said proudly. “I’ve more than doubled the library’s collection since I moved in.”
“You would live in a library,” Lucky muttered.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Anyway,” Twilight said. “I figured I’d show you around Ponyville today, then we can start classes tomorrow!”
“Awesome!” Fortune said. “I can’t wait to meet some new ponies!”
“Yeah, and it’ll be great to finally have another guy to pal around with!” Spike called from the top of a ladder leaning against the bookshelf.
“But first,” Twilight said. “Can you explain the Heartless and Keyblades to me again?”
“Why? I thought Celestia wrote you everything about it?”
“She did. But it’s easier to understand things when I’m listening to somepony tell me them than it is when I’m just reading them.”
“Well,” Fortune began, “from what we know, the Heartless are born from the darkness in ponies’ hearts.”
“And when they appear, they try to swallow the world into darkness,” Lucky continued.
“And the Keyblade is the only thing that can banish them.”
“And the last time the Heartless attacked Equestria was over one thousand years ago, before Princess Celestia and Princess Luna defeated Discord and took control of Equestria.”
“Very good, kids,” Twilight said.
“We’re not kids,” Lucky said. “You’re only three years older than us.”
“Don’t mind her, she’s just upset that we had to leave Canterlot,” Fortune said apologetically.
“Well, I’m sure you’ll grow to love it here,” Twilight said, grinning. “I felt the same way when I moved here, but look at me now! Come on, I’ll introduce you to my friends!” She trotted happily out of the house, Fortune close behind. Lucky dragged her hooves after them.
Fortune’s stomach grumbled. “Twilight, can we get something to eat? I’m starving.”
“In that case, let’s go to Sugarcube Corner first,” Twilight said. “We can get you a snack, and I can introduce you to Pinkie!” She held a hoof up to her chin thoughtfully. “Or maybe I should introduce you to somepony less… intense… first.”
“No, let’s go get some snacks!” Fortune said.
“What about you, Lucky?” Twilight asked, turning around.
“Whatever,” she said.
“Uh, okay then! Sugarcube Corner it is.”
“Come on, Lucky, at least try to have fun,” Fortune whispered to his sister. “Keep an open mind, like the Princess said.”
Lucky sighed. “Sorry, Fortune. I’m just not a big fan of change, you know?”
Fortune chuckled. “Believe me, I know. Remember when mom forced you to get a mane-cut?”
Lucky giggled in spite of herself. “How could I forget?”
“But you ended up liking it, remember? You still wear your mane the same way.”
“I guess you’re right,” Lucky said, smiling. Her smile suddenly faded, and her eyes narrowed at the purple pony leading them. “I still don’t like Twilight though.”
“Well, you’d better get used to her. It looks like we’re going to be living with her for a while.”
“Ah, here we are!” Fortune and Lucky looked up; in front of them was a shop made to look like a giant gingerbread house, complete with a faux-frosting covered roof.
“Why even bother going inside? Let’s just eat the roof!” Fortune said, laughing hysterically at his own joke.
As they walked inside, the door slammed shut behind them.
“Ah, hello?” Twilight called out into the darkness.
The lights suddenly came to life, and confetti and balloons rained down from the ceiling. Twilight jumped in shock as a pink earth pony blew a party horn at her, the uncoiled paper tube smacking her in the face. Four other mares jumped out from behind the counter.
“Surprise!” they all yelled.
“How you doin’?” the pink earth pony asked, bouncing up and down excitedly. “My name’s Pinkie Pie, and I threw this party just for you!”
“Talk about déjà vu,” Twilight muttered. Fortune’s face was frozen in a toothy grin, his eyes wide with excitement.
“Uh, hi, I’m– ”
“Ooh, wait, let me guess! You must be Lucky Luster, and that must be your brother Fortune Flicker! Twilight told us all about you two, and how you were born with your cutie marks, and how you’re going to be living here, and that–”
“What she means to say is, welcome to Ponyville, y’all,” the orange earth pony interrupted, grabbing Pinkie by the arm and pulling her away. “My name’s Applejack.” She tipped her cowboy hat to the twins.
“I’m Rainbow Dash, the coolest pony around!” the blue pegasus declared, doing a quick loop around in the air.
“I am Rarity. Charmed,” the white unicorn said, her head held high.
Fortune and Lucky turned to the last pony, Fortune still sporting his comical grin.
“I’m… Fluttershy,” the yellow pegasus pony stammered quietly, hiding behind Rarity.
“Oh, come now, darling,” Rarity said. “They aren’t going to bite, you know.”
“So I heard you guys have some awesome swords!” Rainbow Dash said excitedly. “Let’s see ‘em!”
“They just got here, RD,” Applejack scolded. “Give ‘em some time to relax.”
“I don’t mind!” Fortune said excitedly, summoning his Keyblade in a flash of light. It floated in the air in front of him, and the six mares looked at it in amazement.
“Whoa,” Rainbow said in awe. “So awesome!”
“Darling, that’s absolutely beautiful! Just look at the finish on that metal!”
“What’s it called, what’s it called?” Pinkie demanded.
“It’s called Equinox,” Fortune said proudly.
“What about yours, short stuff?” Rainbow Dash called to Lucky.
“My name is Lucky,” she grumbled, summoning her Keyblade.
“Ooh, pretty!”
“What’s that one called?”
“Solstice.”
“Wait a second,” Twilight said, pointing at Equinox’s keychain. “That looks like Princess Luna’s cutie mark. And that one looks like Princess Celestia’s.”
“Yeah, it does,” Fortune said. “No idea why though.”
“So, what exactly are y’all doin’ with these here Keyblades?”
“We’re supposed to use them to banish Heartless,” Lucky said.
“But we’ve never even seen a Heartless. Apparently, they haven’t been seen in Equestria in over a thousand years.”
“W… what’s a Heartless?” Fluttershy asked.
“From what I understand, they’re like monsters made up of darkness,” Twilight said. Lucky glared up at her.
“Ahh! Monsters!” Pinkie shouted as she dove under the table. Fortune and Lucky looked down at her in confusion.
“Uh, that’s just Pinkie being Pinkie,” Twilight said. “Anyway, you two are hungry, right?”
“Well, you’ve come to the right place!” Pinkie said, hopping out from under the table, suddenly all smiles again. “We’ve got so many tasty treats, you won’t believe it!”
“Why don’t you two go get some food?” Twilight prompted. The Keyblades vanished. “We’ll join you in a second.”
Fortune nodded and happily ran to the table, followed by a less enthusiastic Lucky. The other five mares gathered around Twilight.
“The blonde one seems less than happy to be here,” Applejack commented.
“Oh, she’s probably just getting used to being away from home,” Rarity said. “You can’t ascribe her aloofness to her personality just yet, Applejack.”
“Girls, Celestia sent those two to me not only so that I can teach them magic, but so that they can meet new ponies and experience new things,” Twilight said. “They’ve been brought up in the castle all their lives. This is their first time out of Canterlot since they were taken there as newborns.”
“What? Celestia doesn’t foalnap ponies, silly.”
“No, Pinkie,” Twilight said patiently. “Their family was moved into the castle after Celestia learned about their cutie marks.”
“Speaking of their cutie marks, what’s up with them? I’ve never seen anything like them!” Rainbow Dash said.
“And why they were born with them?” Fluttershy asked timidly.
“Celestia said that the only other pony in history who was born with a cutie mark was the last wielder of the Keyblade. So it must just be because they were destined to wield them.”
“That seems rough,” Applejack said. “Havin’ your destiny already decided for you.”
“Anyway, as I was saying,” Twilight said, trying to regain control of the conversation, “I was hoping that you girls wouldn’t mind if they tagged along with us when we did stuff. And maybe they can hang out with you girls individually, to see what you all do.”
“Oh, that sounds lovely, darling,” Rarity said. “I’d love to show them around Carousel Boutique.”
“And I’m sure they’d love to try buckin’ some apples.”
“Everypony loves eating cake!”
“And maybe I could show them how to take care of animals! I mean, if that’s all right with them.”
The five ponies looked at Rainbow Dash, who shrugged.
“What am I supposed to do? They can’t fly!”
“Maybe you can take them to Cloudsdale some time,” Twilight said. “I can teach them the cloud-walking spell, and you could take them to the weather factory or something.”
“I can do that.”
“This cake is incredible!” Fortune exclaimed as he cantered up to the group, his plate enveloped by his silver magical aura.
“Thanks! It’s the fourth one I made today!”
“Pinkie, you ate three cakes today?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
“Well, duh. We were almost out of icing, so I couldn’t make five!”
“Why don’t we show y’all around town once y’all are done eatin’?” Applejack offered. Fortune nodded happily, his mouth full.
“What about you, Lucky?” Twilight asked.
“Uh, sounds great,” she said.
“Well, you two had better relax as much as you can today! Because tomorrow, the lessons begin!”