Twilight’s P.O.V.
I watched as the door to my treebrary was knocked off it’s hinges, landing a short distance away from it’s last position. My friends immediately rushed inside, only stopping when they stood between Eric and I. Rainbow Dash immediately flew up and begun dive bombing Eric like she had earlier, the others stood there facing him.
“Y’all better stay away from mah friend monster!”
“Uh-Um Mr monster, would you kindly stay away from Twilight?”
“You took away Dashie’s smile!”
“What a ruffian! I can’t possibly allow such a crude beast near my friend.”
“Don’t just stand there girls! Help me take down this thing!”
I watched frozen as my friends yelled and attacked Eric. His expression changed moment to moment, shock bled into fear which soon became sadness.
Why would they do this? Eric isn’t a monster or some mindless beast. He’s nice and caring. I can’t let them continue! I thought, frustration and anger growing at my ‘friends’ actions.
Letting the Royal Canterlot Voice force it’s way out of my mouth I shouted, forcing their ears to press back against their heads. “EVERYPONY STOP!” I lowered the volume the moment everypony froze, Rainbow dropping to the floor. “Listen to me right now!” I growled, shocking myself with my anger while glaring at my ‘friends.’ “Eric here is no monster, we have been travelling together for days and he has been nothing but pleasant and enjoyable company. Now you all need to calm down before I have to teleport you all out and raise a shield around this place!”
I stood there in shock and my friends acted in kind, frozen in place from my outburst and the angry tone in my voice. I had never stood up to them like this and had definitely never been so angry with them before this moment.
“Bu-But sugarcube, jus’ look at him. Ah’ve seen a few monsters before an this thing looks like it would fit right in with em.” Applejack said, being the first to recover.
“I don’t care what he looks like, and honestly you should be ashamed to judge somepony by the way they look. Don’t you remember the situation with Zecora? You’re judging Eric the same way you did her!” I yelled back at the orange farmpony. Eric made a small smile at me when I told her off.
“I’m afraid I have to agree with Applejack here darling, there is simply no way I can accept that this beast is anything but a monster.” Rarity added, standing next to Applejack.
“I-I’m sorry Twilight but i-it just seems like a bad idea and the rest of us all agree.” Fluttershy whispered while hiding behind her mane.
“But you haven’t given him a chance to even defend himself!” I cried out in sad anger.
I watched as Spike and Sanguine jumped up, planting themselves between Eric and my ‘friends.’ All of which looked slightly nervous now that the group facing them had suddenly doubled.
“We won’t let you come near our friend, don’t you see how much you are hurting him?” Sanguine yelled while pointing to Eric, who was nearly crying again.
“This is some trick, maybe he is controlling their minds?” Rainbow countered, her eyes narrowed in anger and wings fluttering.
I stood there, Sanguine, Spike and Eric behind me, while Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Applejack stood before me. Anger against my ‘friends’ and worry for Eric flooded my mind and for a moment I lost control.
Spike’s P.O.V.
By Celestia, what is happening? Everypony is acting so crazy! Eric is such a nice guy and they aren’t even giving him a chance! I have to do something or they will never accept him. But I can’t stand against Rarity, she must be so disappointed seeing me standing on this side and if I say something I’ll be doing even more damage. I haven’t even told her how I feel about her, though how she hasn’t noticed by now escapes me. But, I have to stand by my friend. To do that I have to pick a side. I’m sorry Rarity, but I can’t just let down a friend. I thought as the groups sized each other up.
Before I could say anything though, something distracted me, something I hoped I would never have to see as smoke rose from the purple alicorn standing in front of me. Her coat shifted to white and her mane and tail caught fire. Twilight rose from the floor and raw magic swirled around her horn, the voice that suddenly came from her mouth was unlike any I had heard before. In a deep tone and measured pace Twilight said, “get out, now.”
Sanguine, Eric and I froze in place, fear removing our ability to move as the voice echoed throughout the hollow tree. The ones standing before us however were not afflicted the same, with panic in their eyes they flew and ran out the open door, whimpering with barely contained screams.
What was that? Was that even Twilight? I heard about her rage shift and the color and coat thing were just as the girls described, but that voice. I thought while shivering at the memory. I’ve never heard anything so terrifying in my entire life. Not even Sombra was that scary.
I watched as Twilight slowly dropped to the floor, the flames turning back into her mane and tail while her coat shifted back to lavender. The moment her hooves hit the floor she collapsed. Sanguine and I immediately snapped out of our thoughts and rushed to our alicorn friend. She had a smile on her face and her eyes were closed. Closer inspection showed us that her coat, mane and tail were only lightly singed from the fiery outburst but she was otherwise completely unharmed.
“Don’t worry Eric, I’ll protect you.” She mumbled, her eyes still closed.
In a moment the stress of the situation disappeared and we all laughed, the suddenly sleep alicorns words piercing through the veil of sadness before it could hit, giving us a profound sense of levity.
“So umm, what do we do now?” I asked the still awake members of our little group.
“Well Twilight needs to take Eric to meet the princess.” Sanguine answered me. “Ohh! I can’t wait to meet her, I bet she is so cool! And with how long she has been around I bet she knows all sorts of ways to make everypony happy!” She added while bouncing up and down, a giant smile on her face.
“We should let Twilight sleep then, something tells me this took a lot out of her.” I told Sanguine and Eric before looking at my bipedal friend. “Will you be ok buddy?” I asked him.
“Y-Yeah, I was kinda expecting them to act that way after Rainbow did the first time.”
“Don’t worry Eric, I’ll stick by your side and after all of this you know Twilight has your back.”
“Yeah.” Was all he said, a smile entering his face while he looked at Twilight.
“Alright, I’m going to write a letter to Princess Celestia letting her know we will be coming. You two probably should get some of this furniture cleaned up.” I told my two new friends who groaned at the extent of work it would take.
Trust me, you don’t want Twilight waking up with the library still looking like this. I laughed softly at the thought before adding. “We will be leaving tonight and be in Canterlot by morning so be done and ready in a few hours.”
Dear Princess Celestia,
Hey! It’s Spike! Just letting you know that Twilight got back to Ponyville today and she brought a couple of friends with her, a unicorn mare named Sanguine Soul and a strange creature called a human, he calls himself Eric Hayes.
I’m sure Twilight will give you more information when we arrive in Canterlot tomorrow morning but for now she is very tired and needs to sleep. Sadly, when our friends met Eric they reacted poorly. Rainbow Dash attempted to attack him and the rest repeatedly called him a monster while trying to push themselves between him and Twilight. Overwrought by our friends reaction Twilight then rage shifted for the first time in a long time and ordered them to leave in a voice that scared everypony in the library.
I should also mention that Eric has a strange magic that he seems to have no control over, it is a barrier that activates any time something living comes within a short distance of his body. While I don’t see it as a dangerous risk, it does repel anypony to tries to touch him quite violently so please notify the guards about this ability.
I look forward to seeing you soon,
Spike the Dragon.