Plans, and unwanted guests

Twilight was surprisingly calm, despite the circumstances. It might not be everyday that the Princesses show up to the little hamlet of Ponyville but at this point it was no longer surprising. Twilight only wished that she knew what it was for, her letter only stated that it was some kind of ceremony done every few decades and that she should prepare the town for some new visitors. Preparations were coming together ahead of schedule thanks to her pre-made sets of instructions she made for everypony for such an event.

I wish Princess Celestia would have explained exactly what is going on, but at least her instructions were fairly clear, Twilight thought. “Spike, is there anything we haven’t gone over?” she asked her diminutive dragon assistant.

“Nope. We even have some weather ponies forcing some rain over the Everfree forest, which leaves the sky over Ponyville clear and blue,” he said, glad to be finished going over the enormous checklist for the day.

“Good. the weather has been so hot lately, I was kind of worried that there would be a fire. What about the bleachers at Sweet Apple Acres? Celestia said she wanted everypony to have some seats when the visitors arrive.”

Spike just groaned as he rolled back the checklist to item fifty and looked at the dozen or so check marks next to it. “Yes, Twilight, I’m sure.” He was glad that Twilight wasn’t freaking out like she normally did, but her constant attention to detail was grating at the young dragon’s last nerve.

Streamers and banners decorated the square thanks to Pinkie, who had upgraded her party cannon into long range fiesta artillery located just outside the town. It took Twilight a while to get used to the small explosions above the town as each volley from the pink pony’s cannons would burst above the town, causing the banners, decorations, and confetti to land exactly where they needed to be.

“Looks like decorations are more than taken care of. How about we head on over to Rarity’s and see how the reception is coming along?”

At the sound of Rarity’s name Spike immediately perked up and began to lightly kick at Twilight’s sides, “Hi-ho Twilight, away!”. With the prods from Spike, Twilight instinctively took off, but soon dug her hooves into the ground forcing Spike’s head to crash into the back of her own.

Spike couldn’t help but gulp as his friend turned and glared at him. “Hehe, sorry Twi.”

“You know young man, I know you like Rarity but you need to calm down, and if you hi-ho me again I will ground you until next cider season, where you can then help Big Mac grind all the apples,” she said with a scowl that could turn a cockatrice to stone.

“Yes, Ma'am… Umm? I think I’ll walk the rest of the way,” he said as he timidly slid off her back. This only received a slightly miffed look from the unicorn before she trotted onward to the Carousel Boutique.

The rest of the walk was in relatively awkward silence. Several times Spike tried to come up with something to calm down his friend, but each time the words were caught in his throat. What should I say? I really don’t like upsetting her and she seemed to be getting a pretty short temper with me ever since my birthday. Is it because Rarity and I are spending more time together? We haven’t been exactly dating, or at least I don’t think so, but it does seem like I have been ignoring Twilight lately.

“Ummm? Mo--, I mean Twilight, we’re here” he said, trying to keep Twilight from walking right into Carousel Boutique’s display window. Did I almost call her mom? I haven’t done that in years.

Twilight was thinking the same thing, and the small mistake not only woke her to her surroundings but also snapped her out of her frustration with her little Spike. Do I really miss him calling me mom? Before she could ponder this much more she was greeted by a familiar store slogan.

“Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where everything is neat, chic, and magnifique! How may I help you today, darling?” Rarity opened the door for her friend with her magic, revealing the finely decorated interior, full of warm summer colors to match the Tuscan sun orange sundress of the store's proprietor.

Twilight marveled at the transformation of the store and how it perfectly complemented the season. Silken sheets of reds and oranges filled the room, with a large round table at the center covered with plush matching pillows for guests.

“Wow, Rarity, you went all out. The Princesses will definitely be comfortable for the reception. Did you get the special teas from Zecora?”

“Yes I did, and I couldn’t resist sampling some. It is simply divine! That girl certainly knows her way with herbs. I also decided to go into my wine cellar and get a bottle or two to compliment it,” she said as she placed the bottles in question on a smaller serving table along with a decanter for when the time arrived.

“That won’t be necessary Rarity; I don’t think the Princess drinks.”

“Surely you must be joking dear. Everypony enjoys a good drink every now and again,” she said as she continued setting up more dishes and other things for the coming guests. Using her magic to place each porcelain dish in a pattern known only to her.

“Well I don’t drink, and I have been the personal student of Celestia for years and have never heard of her drinking,” she said, making sure to emphasize each word to assert her authority in the matter.

“Of course you haven’t heard. It’s entirely inappropriate to talk about alcohol when teaching an impressionable youth, but what one does in their own time can be entirely different than what they show during their working hours. Besides, there is always Luna. What are the chances the Princess of the Night doesn’t partake?”

Rarity has a point, she thought. But I am pretty sure I am right, I’ll just be sure to not rub it into Rarity’s face when the princesses decline. She didn’t really like to have such conceited thoughts but she felt Rarity slightly deserved it.

“Well if everything is alright here, then that means we are completely ready for the princesses….” Before she could quite finish, a trumpet blared making the purple unicorn teleport from shock directly onto Rarity’s roof. “They’re here? No that can’t be here we are not ready!”

Before she could completely panic she felt a slight pinch on the back of her neck as she was picked up by her friend’s magic, slowly guiding her into one of the now open windows.

“Honestly Twilight you faced down giant monsters, the spirit of all chaos, and Fluttershy when she caught you experimenting on her bunny Angel, and yet you still panic every time you meet your own teacher. Sometimes I just wonder who is crazier, you or Pinkie?” Rarity said, giving an all too strong sigh of frustration. “Just what are we going to do with you?”

“Sorry, Rarity,” she said, blushing from her small drop in composure. “Well, from the sound of the trumpets, it seems that they have arrived. Do you think you will be ready in the next few minutes?”

“Of course, I was ready hours ago, I just know that seeing me actually doing something calms you a bit more then when I just say everything is done,” she said giving her purple friend a playful tap on her shoulder. “Just leave Spikey-Wikey here and everything will be just perfect when you come again.”

“Okay, just no funny business.”

Rarity just gave her friend a puzzled look before the purple mare once again disappeared in a flash of light. Turning to Spike she couldn’t help but notice his blush.

“Ohhh, that. Well sorry Spikey-Wikey, but there is not time for that, we have to get the last things ready.”

Less than a mile outside Ponyville there was a magnificent sight, a small fleet of flying carriages filled the sky. Dozens of smaller royal purple chariots were being led by the two Princesses’ chariots, Celestia’s golden coach with its magnificent gems reflecting the now setting sun, and Luna’s dark stretch chariot which had been considerable toned down since Nightmare night and now was more elegant with smooth lines and gleaming pearls.

Several pegasus guards landed first and began to coordinate the landings of the fleet. With what seemed to be seemed to be a form of break-dancing the expertly landed each of the vehicles without so much as a scratch. But before the two could celebrate with a high hoof a bright light flashed between the two and they toppled over with a massive rattling of their armor.

“SALUTATIONS, TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” Princess Luna quickly hopped out of her carriage and hugged the smaller pony. “I missed you so much, you really should visit the palace more often.”

“And you really could do with visiting Ponyville more often Princess,” replied Twilight. After finishing the hug with Luna she approached her teacher’s chariot. Celestia gracefully exited and wrapped her wings around her student.

“And I missed you as well, how are things?”

Nervously scratching her left leg she responded, “They are great. We have everything ready for you, and my friend Rarity has some tea and snacks prepared for us, your majesties. We also prepared an open buffet at Sugar Cube Corner for your guests.”

As the three talked a vast array of ponies of all sizes and colors exited the smaller carriages. The first thing about them that she noticed is that all of the unicorns were wearing robes indicating their status as high ranking members of the Magic University in Canterlot. The thing that made this odd was that the earth and pegasus ponies joining them seemed to be rough and tumble types, she even recognized a few from the Rodeo magazines Applejack owns.

“Anything else, Twilight?” She said, snapping her student back to attention.

Still distracted she continued, “Well there were worries that there would be a fire in the Everfree because of all this dry weather, but I asked all of the pegasi in Ponyville to gather up as many clouds as they could and force them over the forest in dryer areas.”

Twilight was distracted again when she spotted Luna react slightly to this news, and tried to listen closely when she whispered into her elder sister’s ear.

“I told you we should have explained things first, now it’s going to be even harder to get it done,” her whispering still roughly the same level as a normal pony talking.

“Well where’s the fun in that? I can’t exactly see their faces through a letter now can I… At least not without grossly violating their privacy,” she faked whispered, making sure to be loud enough for the snooping pony.

“Ummm? Princess, what is going...” Twilight started before her mentor’s hoof gently pressed against her lips.

“Now where are those snacks? I am absolutely famished, and could also do with some tea.” Without leaving Twilight even a moment to answer, the princess was already making her way to Carousel Boutique. “I think I have found the way, now hurry, it would be rude to leave your friends waiting.”

Twilight and Luna were soon keeping pace with Celestia, who sped up, or otherwise ignored Twilight each time she tried to ask a question, a slightly fiendish smile growing ever larger on her lips.

As they entered the store front, Rarity greeted the three in her usual manner, only adding an extra deep curtsey to the two princesses. In the few minutes that she was gone, the table had been completely covered in a large variety of dishes, and the seats were filled with her best friends. Thankfully, they had left three cushions next to each other. Unfortunately, the two princesses decided to leave the middle one for her. Now she definitely couldn’t get a chance to ask Luna what was going on since Celestia so stubbornly refused to.

As they were all accounted for, Rarity began to pour the freshly brewed tea to everypony, making sure as to do so with the utmost grace her magic could muster.

“Spikey, could you be a dear and fetch the decanter?” Rarity asked.

From the opposite side of the table sat Spike wearing his suit from the Gala. As he stood up he asked, “The what now?”

“The decanter, that crystal vessel I poured the wine into earlier.”

“Ohh! That. Right away,” he said before scooting off to the kitchen to fetch it, while managing to make an unholy racket about doing so.

“Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, could I interest you in a glass? I’ve been saving it for a special occasion, and I couldn’t think of a better one than right now.”

“I would most enjoy a glass Miss Rarity,” replied Luna.

Twilight looked on toward her teacher; she just knew that Celestia would decline.

“I’m sorry but this must be so rude, but…” Celestia started.

I knew it; she is going to say no! Twilight squealed inside her mind.

“But, do you have anything stronger? Perhaps some brandy?”

Twilight deflated, with a look of disappointment written clearly on her face; Celestia took notice but misunderstood her distress.

“On second thought, the wine sounds delightful,” she said. I hope this cheers up my little pupil, she probably went through a lot of trouble and chose this wine just for me.

The small gathering lasted a little while longer without incident, mostly due to Pinkie wearing a monocle and mustache and pretending to be a posh pony, and Rainbow having a conversation with Luna about the tribulations of weather related paperwork. Then came the big question burning in Twilight for days, and finally coming out into the open.

“What the HAY IS GOING ON!?!” She shouted, the sudden outburst using up all the air in her lungs, forcing her to gasp for breath.

“Thank you, Twilight, I was having such a good time that it completely slipped my mind,” she said before giving a light cough. “The reason that me and Luna came here, is due to an event that must take place every 20-30 years depending on the weather and other factors.” Pause for dramatic effect,she thought as she took another sip of the wine. “Rarity, you were not joking about the quality of this vintage, it’s always amazing that some of the smaller, newer wine countries can be so innovative while maintaining such high quality.”

“Thank you Princess, but you were saying?” Even she was getting a bit flustered from being in the dark, and despite her practiced etiquette she was showing it.

“Oh, yes! Every once in awhile the forest needs a chance to renew itself. Without this, the forest would choke and slowly rot from the inside…” she continued before taking another sip of wine. This is going straight to my head, oh dear! They are all at the edges of their seats.

She slowly chewed the wine in her mouth, enjoying every bit of the complex flavor. All too often her assistants made it such an annoyance to truly indulge like this.

“Sister, stop egging them on and just say it!” said her spoilsport sister.

“Fine…”
“We are here to burn down the forest,” she said flatly.

The room was filled with silence with the exception of both Luna and Celestia’s continued drinking. Pinkie’s mustache started to detach from her face, now holding on by only a single fake hair. She let out a tiny unnoticeable gasp which unhitched it from its final mooring causing the hair piece to land in her tea. The instant it did there was an explosion from the collected group.

Spitting out her wine in a most unladylike matter Rarity coughed, wiping her muzzle before asking, “What do you mean burn the forest?”

“Our farm is right next to that place and with all of the rain going to the forest; the orchard will burn like a tinderbox!”

“But Zecora and Fluttershy, and Cranky live by the forest, what about them?” asked Pinkie, concern for her friends making her tear up.

“Why Princess!?!” Yelled Twilight.

“We just spent the last few weeks making sure it didn’t catch fire!” whined Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy started to have an odd look about her, as if she too was ready to explode at them. Celestia was extremely curious on what was going on the shy little pony’s mind.

“Like I said before, it is entirely necessary and we shall be taking all the precautions to ensure the safety of everypony. We are even moving a small mobile weather factory to provide plenty of rainclouds to control the fire.”

The entire time Celestia kept glancing at Fluttershy, who only looked madder and madder at her. “And the sections of the forest that are set to be burned are far enough away to be safe for everypony living close to the forest.”

This apparently did little to calm the pink maned pegasus. So she addressed Fluttershy directly, “I’m sorry dear, apparently there is still something wrong. Are you okay?”

“….ummm?” she started, trying to find her words.“Well, it seems to be that… well…” she continued.

“What is it little one?” Celestia asked. What could she possibly be worried about? she thought. “There is absolutely nothing to worry about little one.”

“WHAT ABOUT THE ANIMALS!?!” Shouted Fluttershy, who quickly covered her mouth and blushed in embarrassment at her outburst. The sheer force of her shout blew back the hair of not only Celestia but Luna and Twilight as well.

“They will be taken care of as well, as we speak I have some of the best herders in Equestria gathering up all of the various creatures of the Everfree and corralling them into the area you set up near Applejack’s farm,” she said.

“All the animals Princess?” asked Twilight.

“Yes, every single one. The big ones will take a while, but they are the most important,” replied Celestia.

“You mean the big, enormous, gigantic, deadly, wild, eat a pony in a single gulp, shatter Ponyville in a single swipe of their claw, paw, tail, or whatever type, monsters?” gulped Dash.

“Yes, I do mean those,” she said as she took a final swig of her wine.

“YOU’RE WHAT!?! I gotta go get Applebloom and everypony out of there!” said Applejack as she ran straight out of the boutique, smashing the door along the way.

“Well that could have gone better. Seeing as no pony is in the mood for tea, let’s adjourn to see the progress of the evacuation,” Celestia calmly said, as the entire group was surrounded by her golden magic and lifted up before popping out of existence.

Some seconds later they reappeared in the world with all of them sitting on the bleachers set near the forest. The rest of Ponyville’s inhabitants had begun to gather to them as well at the behest of the royal guards. Within the large moving crowd a certain farm pony was rushing through, attempting to get there in time to save her family.

When she got close enough Pinkie wildly waved from her seat, “Hey Applejack, over here, over here! I saved you a seat!”

“What the hay? How did y’all get here so fast, and where is mah family?” Replied Applejack.

“Over here AJ,” came the familiar voice of her little sis, sitting next to her classmates and school teacher. “And Big Macintosh is over there selling some refreshments, just like you told him to.”

“What about Granny?”

“I’m right next to you, what are yea blind?” Shouted the wizened matriarch of the Apple family; standing right next to her in the crowd.

Before the orange mare could try and get them out of there, she was lifted up in a magic aura and seated right next to Celestia.

“Now Applejack, there is no need to start a panic, everything will be just fine. Now just enjoy the show,” Celestia whispered. “Now Luna, it’s been sometime since I used the Royal Canterlot voice, could you give the announcement?”

“Fine.”
“CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE TODAY WE THE ASK A GREAT SERVICE FROM YOU. DURING THE NEXT FEW WEEKS, WE WILL BE HAVING A CONTROLLED BURN OF THE FOREST, THIS IS NECESSARY TO ENSURE ITS SURVIVAL!” She shouted, making sure to be loud enough so all could hear.

The announcement was greeted with worried whispers, and even a few shouts.

“WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE, BUT WE HAVE SET MEASURES TO MAKE THIS AS SAFE AS POSSIBLE. BUT WE NEED ONE MORE THING FROM YOU. THE BEASTS OF THE EVERFREE ARE RARE AND CANNOT BE PUT AT RISK, SO WE NEED YOU TO CARE FOR THEM DURING THIS TIME!”

Now the whispers increased to screams as the earth seemed to shake beneath them. Birds flew from their nests and soon from between the trees they could see it. The Ursa Major, as tall as a skyscraper, carrying the Ursa Minor on its back as if it was just a tiny babe. Soon the beast was set within the clearing. Only a few dozen feet separated the inhabitants of Ponyville from the massive snout that could eat them all in a single bite. But before the panic could set in, the sorcerers from Canterlot cast a massive spell over the two celestial beasts. The creature shrank to the size of a house, then to the size of an elephant, and soon it was slightly larger than a house cat.

“DURING YOUR CARE OF THESE CREATURES THEY SHALL BE APPROPRIATELY SHRUNK AND HAVE ANY EXTREMELY DANGEROUS MAGICKS REMOVED.”

Soon the clearing was filled with even more massive creatures, and some not so large, but equally dangerous. Granny Smith gave a quick gasp at the pack of Timberwolves, but couldn’t help but chuckle when they were shrunk to the size of puppies. The group waved cheerfully at their friend Steven Magnet, as he was lifted from the forest by magic into the small swimming hole.

“WE HAVE GONE TO THE LIBERTY OF MATCHING EACH CREATURE WITH THE CITIZEN THEY WILL BEST GET ALONG WITH, SO WHEN I CALL YOUR NAME COME TO THE FRONT TO BE HANDED YOUR CHARGE. YOU WILL ALSO BE GIVEN A PAMPHLET ON YOUR CREATURES INDIVIDUAL NEEDS.”

“RARITY.”

Startled that her name would be called, and so soon, sent a small panic into the fashionista. “Really, do I have to do this?”

“Yes, Rarity, don’t worry. I think you will like your match,” assured Celestia.

Slowly the nervous mare made her way down the seats, and to the area that the guards indicated. She waited for a minute with images of the thousand tiny horrors that she could be saddled with, until an empty goldfish bowl was placed in front of her.

“I’m sorry, what is this?”

Without answering one of the sorcerers lit up his horn and a small bubble of floating water made its way to the bowl. When it was placed inside the goldfish bowl, she took a closer look.

“Darling, oh how much I missed you. You really need to visit me more often!” Came the familiar effeminate voice of her favorite sea serpent.

Her face went from one of horror to sheer joy. “This is going to be so much fun, I can’t wait to show you some of my new designs!”

“And I can’t wait to see them!”

With a tip of her horn she lifted up Steven’s bowl and made her way back to the boutique. Before getting far she waved to her friends and set off.

“Wow, Rarity sure lucked out, maybe this won’t be so bad after all,” said Applejack.

“APPLEJACK!”

“Dang it, I just had to open mah big mouth.” Exasperated the earth pony went down to where Rarity went, praying to the very pony sisters, not more than 50 feet back, that she would be as lucky as her friend.

In front of her a odd thing showed up. It looked like a leash, but it had dozens of leads and collars. “Awww, horsefeathers, Imma gonna get a Cerberus or something, aren’t I?”

“No ma’am, no cerberi in this forest,” said the guard.

She sighed in relief, but quickly took it back when she saw the demonic things before her. Sure they were tiny, but they looked just as fierce in tiny form as Granny Smith described. Magic surrounded the collars and as they were latched up the end was forced into Applejack’s mouth.

“Wait, I gotta take all of them?” she barely worded past the leash.

“Yes ma’am, good luck.”

Grudgingly she pulled the pack of Timberwolves along, and grumbled, until a pamphlet was forced as well into her mouth, to which she responded with a fierce set of mumbled swears. Without leaving a single moment unfilled with swears, she trudged back to the front of Sweet Apple Acres, with the pack of little beasts constantly trying to gnaw at her hooves.

One by one the citizens were given their animals to care for: Twilight was given the Ursa Major and Minor, Rainbow Dash a Quetzalcoatl, Pinkie an odd talking fox, Cheerilee an odd thing that looked like a monkey with an exoskeleton of a bug made of brass called Proteus. Finally all of the ponies had some beast, with the exception of Fluttershy. She was there all alone except for the Princesses and all of the guards. Looking down at the field, she could see a few dozen new friends for her to make.

“Ummm? It seems that I am the only one left, does that mean I get the rest?” she said.

“Yes, apparently they are all part of the same herd, so we couldn’t separate them without panicking them. Since you have the most experience handling wild animals we thought you should care for them,” explained Luna.

Her chest filled with pride from the praise, and she was always eager to make some new animal friends. Flying down to the field she got a closer look, when she approached the larger one she finally saw what it was. It had the head and legs of a bull, and what appeared to be a hairless midriff and arms, along with hands like Spikes’. She remembered reading about these things in one of Twilight’s books. They were wild minotaurs. She got a little closer before the largest one ran up and head-butted the yellow pegasus.

“Here is your pamphlet, and also a cage if you need it.”

Despite the small bump now forming on her forehead, she was shocked at the thought of putting these innocent creatures into a tiny little cage. Remembering that they loved milk, she pulled a small carton she kept in her saddle bag and opened it up. The smell of the liquid seemed to hypnotize the herd of Beastmen and they followed her back to her cottage like she was a siren. When they arrived she gave them enough milk to get them to peacefully pass out, and one by one placed them into a basket normally set aside for newborn kittens. She then started to go through the leaflet on them.

“Ohh my! Tomorrow is going to be a little difficult.”

Within the sky of Ponyville, the gentle columns and rainbow fall of Dash’s house was making an absurd amount of noise. The cyan owner was chasing around her pet tortoise who, thanks to some magic propellers could fly around and walk on clouds. The tortoise decided to take on the role of guard dog and was attempting to remove the offending thunder lizard that his master arrived with. The serpent was fast with its hawk wings, but the length of its body made it hard to navigate the small spaces of the hallways.

“C’mon Tank, stop messing around. He is a guest, and we don’t attack guests.” Rainbow Dash rasped, her voice starting to crack from all the yelling.

Rainbow Dash wished she didn’t ask Twi for the recent upgrades for the chopper, because within the confined space, he was fast and agile, and way too hard to get a hoof on.

No longer wishing to be chased, the creature turned around and turned the cloud house black, ready to use it as a weapon against its attacker.

“That’s it! Both of you calm down! Tank you go to your room and you think about what you did and you…. Quatzle… Qautle…Cocklle? How about I just call you Thunder? You will get the couch, and if I hear you so much as make a spark, I will tan your hide mister!”

Quietly and dejected the two reptiles flew to their appointed rooms.

“Aww Buck! I’m becoming my mother.”

Within the sugary sweet confines of Sugar Cube corner, Pinkie was having more luck. Mr and Mrs. Cake had put the twins to bed, and thankfully she was the only one in the house to receive a beast. He was most curious; always darting back and forth whenever he wasn’t talking.

“So mister Fox, how are you doing?” Pinkie asked, hopping along as quietly as possible so as not to wake the foals.

“You can call me Reynard, Miss Pinkamena. So do you think I could have a pie?”

“Just Pinkie thank you. Any flavor in particular? By the way you are awfully polite for a monster of the Everfree, mister Reynard.” She said while gently scratching him behind the ears.

“Well, just because one lives in a forest doesn’t mean I can’t be civilized,” he paused momentarily, “and I will take blueberry if you don’t mind.”

“Right away, just wait here,” She said before humming her way down to her snack drawer and pulled up a sizable pie.

When she turned around her guest was gone, all that was there was an unfamiliar jack in the box.

“I don’t remember getting you…” she said giving it a test turn, and was delighted to hear a wonderful but haunting tune come from the toy. She kept turning and turning, and it seemed to go on, “Fooor-EVvvver,” until finally she heard a small click.

POP! Went the strange device. The sudden noise startled Pinkie making her scream slightly before stiffling a giggle from her hoof covered mouth.

The spring popped out and on top of it was Reynard’s head.

“Hello Miss Pinkie, oooh! Pie,” he said before springing forth his slinky neck and diving face first into the pie. “Oh, this is divine! My compliments to the chef.”

Recovering from her shock, she stood up, “Ooooh! We are going to have so much fun.”

Within the town proper, the local schoolteacher eagerly looked through her pamphlet time and time again, constantly thinking about how lucky she was. “I can’t believe it, a Proteaus. It says right here that you go to libraries and literally eat as many books as you can get your hands on and when you digest it you retain all its knowledge permanently,” she squealed, much to the distaste of her guest.

He sat there on the couch, not much smaller than a pony, his brass colored metal panels occasionally clicking together in a similar fashion as a cricket's chirp. His head was smooth and elongated, like the head of a spoon. Despite not seeming to have a mouth it could speak and most notably sigh.

“Yes I know, I ate a complete bestiary encyclopedia about 10 years ago, and from the more recent copies, you ponies haven’t discovered much more,” he sighed. Why couldn’t he have gone off with the librarian? He could have found a way to distract her long enough to get a hand on those books.

“Do you think you could come with me and speak to my students?” She said and continued. “Perhaps share some of your vast knowledge?”

“No,” he curtly replied before rolling onto his side and trying to get comfortable enough to sleep.

“Please? It would mean so much to the children.”

“Yes, of course, the small cretins, it would be so enjoyable to subject myself to their lust of learning, as they use their books for pillows,” he replied with sarcasm dripping from every word.

“I’ll make it worth your while!”

He gave the air a tentative sniff, “Could it be?” He sniffed again, “6 year old binding and…” sniff, “The ink smells faintly of flowers… a collection of short stories? No it was poetry, and from the smell it was something good… something rare, with a personal touch.”

Slowly he turned around, despite his lack of eyes he could see it. A self-made manuscript, one written by hoof. Ohh, the care and flavors of a hoofwritten page, he thought.

“What is it?” Proteus quarried.

“It’s nothing, just some poetry I wrote a few years ago while I was in college. I had a bit of a creativity streak back then,” she looked off, giving a contented sigh as she remembered those days.

“I will give you this if you promise to come with me tomorrow and speak with the kids.”

Despite not having one, he had a terrible poker face. “Fine, but I don’t make any promises on enlightening any young minds, or molding for that matter, and you can forget about inspiring.”

With a wry smile she gave him the book, “We’ll see.”

Proteus brought the tome up to his head and gave a final whiff before placing the book at his midriff, which opened and the book was placed inside before his abdomen closed again.

“Oh, dear, it has been too long since I have eaten anything hoofwritten, these mass print, penny dreadfulls are nothing but empty calories.” He hiccupped. “Oh, poor dear, such sadness, Mnnn! But from the taste it seems you got over him fairly quickly. Well, this is going to be an emotional rollercoaster. Good night, I am going to savor this for the next few hours.”

“Good night Proteus,” Cheerilee said. Sad at the lose of her poetry, she still felt it was worth the chance to help her students.

“Ohhh, this is just decadent,” she heard him whisper to himself before climbing the stairs to her own room.

Twilight found herself dealing with an extremely irritable mother, whom constantly attempted to bite her ankles if she tried to enter the main floor of the library. Spike was currently fending off the offending creature with a broom and chair, while trying to get at the kitchen to make dinner.

"Twilight, I don't think I want to fight for my life every time I want to make a snack. Can't you do something?" He shouted as the celestial bear bit off the end of his weapon. "Plus, I'm running out of broom here!"

Twilight was attempting to do just that; she was going through book after book on the biology and behavior of the Ursa Major, but none of them had anything on the actual care of one. She knew how to take care of a baby from their similarities to regular baby bears, but the mother was just too territorial.

Grudgingly she lifted up the pamphlet that she had previously ignored, thinking that it didn't have anything her books didn't. Surprisingly, the first paragraph had exactly what she needed.

"Spike, get here right now!"

"I'm a little busy!"

Spike had his claws full trying to fend off the bear almost as big as him, when an aura surrounded him and he magically popped up to the bedroom right into Twilight's arms.

"What are you doing? C’mon, Twi let me go." He said as she started to hold him tight and sway him back and forth. He attempted to escape as she held him tighter and started to hum a familiar tune that he hadn't heard since he was just a hatchling. His resistance diminished as he felt his eyelids grow heavier, soon he started to snore.

The Ursa saw this and her growling turned to one of confusion and then understanding. Giving a sign of approval the bear took her cub and laid down in one of Spike's old baskets. Twilight went over to her bed and laid her own youngling onto the mattress; before going to bed herself she decided to completely read through the pamphlet.

In the first paragraph it read, "The Ursa Major is an extremely protective maternal creature, willing to destroy anything it perceives as a threat to its babe. The only things that it will trust is another maternal creature with its child. " She ended up only getting through half of the article before the long day caught up with her, leaving her snuggling up to her baby dragon, her breathing synching up with his own as it did before only a few years ago.

Between his light snores the occasional light mumbled word escaped his lips, "Mommy."

Applejack on the other hoof could not get to sleep, the constant howling and scratching coming from the barn was driving her bonkers. As soon as they seemed to shut their yaps for 5 minutes she almost fell asleep before they started all over again. Finally she couldn't take anymore and opened up her window.

"If Y'all don't shut your muzzles, I'll go down there and use yer tails fer kindling!" she shouted.

With nothing but blessed silence coming from the barn she made her way back to bed. It's warm comfortable quilt surrounded her like a cocoon, promising her sweet dreams and rest. "Ahhhh. Finally."

"AwoooOOOOOOO!" howled the pack leader.

"Ponyfeathers."

The smell of lavender bath salts filled the air within the private bathroom of Carousel Boutique. Like the storefront, it too had been transformed to be more welcoming, this time for a very interesting guest.

"Oooh! Do tell, I wish I had a suitor as wonderful," said the sea serpent now taking residence in Rarity's bathtub.

"Well I wouldn't say suitor," she hesitantly replied. She had spent the last hour talking about all the times her little dragon friend helped her.

"So you aren't interested?"

"I didn't say that, I just... I don't really know, he is just so young. He is a baby dragon." Her blush showing clearly through her white fur.

"Girl, that boy is a dragon, don't you know anything about dragons?" He asked, while facepalming.

"What do you mean?"

"Listen, he is a young dragon, and by our standards he is more teenager then baby. it's just we tend to go through a more dramatic stage of growth then you mammals," he said, continuing to feel complete disbelief at her ignorance.

"You mean like when he grew 50 ft. in just a single day?"

"Yes like that, although that's a greed induced growth spurt, it's how wild dragons come about, but we civilized dragons go through something similar. When we reach a certain point our body changes to a size and shape that best suits our environment. I used to look a lot like Spike when I was younger, legs and all, but I lived near the ocean, and adored swimming so my body grew to match. Of course if I really wanted to I could change to have legs and such again, but it is just so tedious and slightly painful to do it myself."

"So Spike will stay little?" She secretly dreaded that the cute little dragon might become too large to stay in Ponyville and have to go live elsewhere.

"Probably, he will probably stay small enough to fit in and out of the library he calls home, but he will most likely be bigger than any pony. As for what he will look like, I have no idea. I used to not have hair, just boring old spikes on my head."

Pondering this new information she stood up to Steven and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Thank you, well I need to go get my beauty sleep."

"As do I, Miss Rarity."

Elsewhere in Ponyville, Spike was stuck in Twilight’s bed. Despite all of his effort, Spike could not escape her grasp, at least not without waking the unicorn or the angry guests downstairs. Exasperated, he attempted to get comfortable despite the tight grip around his neck. Finally falling asleep, Spike unconsciously tried to scratch at an odd itch beneath his scales.

Tomorrow seemed all too far for some and all too close for others. As the town of Ponyville was finally at rest, the sky glowed orange as the forest burned into the night.

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