A Bad Wish Gone Worse - Pt. 1

by Burning_Halo

Chapter 2

“I’m telling you! It’s not right!” shouted Rainbow from downstairs to the upstairs floor of the Ponyville library.

The library she was in was big. Built from a large tree, it had many windows and a couple balconies; all built into the wood of the tree and off of its major branches and mainly the trunk. On the inside, the numerous shelves carved from the inside walls of the tree each held books lined up from wall to wall. In the center of the downstairs room sat a large table with a horse head carved from wood as its centerpiece. The stairs leading up to the next floor wound around the room from the wall and up into the celling, which was opposite the front door, red in color with a candle hanging from its front. There was also another room near the back; a sun room which held a few desks and stools for quiet study. It was a brighter room that retained a pleasantly woody smell.

“There’s no way that jerk was that fast! There’s no way anypony is that fast!” said Rainbow, stomping her hoof on the floor.

“Well Rainbow…” called a voice from upstairs, a bit calmer in its tone than Rainbow’s. “… there’s no way you know everyone in Equestria. Whoever you’re talking about may not even be from Equestria.”

“That’s beside the point!” shouted Rainbow. “Even the Wonderbolts can’t break the sound barrier!”

A loud crash came from upstairs, followed by a series of several softer sounding thuds.

“Spike!” shouted the voice.

“What!?” shouted another voice, a bit higher pitched with a light gravely tone, like a young boy.

“Be careful with those!”

“I’m up here on this ladder and I only have two claws!”

“What’s going on up there?” asked Rainbow.

“Just doing some reorganizing!” shouted the disembodied voice. “You’re allowed to come up, Rainbow.”

Rainbow Dash sighed, beginning to walk her way up the stairs. Her hooves clopped on the bare wood as she climbed, the sound reaching out into the library and muffling itself as the noise was lost in the room and its acoustically sound nature. She walked up through the second doorway at the top of the stairs into another room that was stocked with books just as much as the downstairs was. To the left of the stairs was a kitchen, which had all of the necessities a pony needed; plenty of shelf space, a sink with running water, and a large fridge/freezer ice box. The floor was tiled in white and blue as well, which was a welcome change from the bare wood floor of the rest of the library. To the back of it all was a door leading out to the library’s back side balcony. To the other side of the stairs was a hallway, which lead down to a double screen door at the end of the hall that lead out to another one of the balconies. The entrance to a well decorated bathroom hung to the right of the hall, and to the left that was a spare room currently being used for extra book storage.

The room itself felt a little homier though, resembling a living space more than a library. There were a few extra drawers and shelves lining the walls with more books and small knickknacks displayed neatly in the room. There was a small study table over on the far side as well, stacked with even more books. Beside that was a folded up space telescope, slightly dusted over as it sat back in the corner.

“Twilight?” spoke Dash as she searched the room.

“Up here Rainbow.” called the voice, causing Rainbow to turn.

Above the stairs was a small garret, which housed a bed placed parallel to the wall in front of a large window that looked out on the village.

Standing up in the loft and holding a small scroll and quill was the unicorn Rainbow Dash had been talking to, Twilight Sparkle. Worker and owner of the library, she lived up in the upper floors of the library after moving from Canterlot. She had dark purple eyes, and an even darker purple mane and tail with a streak of pink in it to match. Her coat was of a lighter shade of purple, and her horn poking out from under her mane was matching in color. Upon her hindquarters was her cutie mark; a big pink star, surrounded by a series of other white stars that seemed to sparkle in the light. She was checking off some things on the scroll, both it and the quill she was using danced in the air like stringless puppets as result of her magic flowing forth from her horn with a soft purple aurora that glowed just above the light of the sun.

“Spike! Where are the Astronomical Archives volumes one though seventeen?” asked Twilight, writing down a note on her paper.

“Right over here!” said a little baby dragon, waddling over quickly on his short legs.

It was Spike, Twilight’s dragon assistant and friend. His scales from head to toe were all purple, and spanning from his chin and down his underside, all the way down his tail, was all a tannish yellow color. A long row of spines trailed from the top of his head to his tail spear, and matched the color of his bright green reptilian eyes.

“Where do you want them?” asked Spike, picking the stack of cumbersome books up at its base.

“Over on the shelf with the Celestial Anomalies would be a good place.” said Twilight, crossing the archive books off of her list.

Spike walked over to the shelf with the books, balancing them in his arms as they swayed with his footsteps, and started putting them up. Twilight put the scroll and quill down and hopped down from the loft.

“Sorry Rainbow.” said Twilight, looking a bit worked. “Busy day with the Summer Sun Celebration coming and all. But I think we’re done, and it wasn’t too hard with Spike’s help.”

Rainbow nodded, looking a bit annoyed.

“Now, tell me about this pony again.” said Twilight.

“It was this random pompous jerk who just decided to show me up after ignoring me for five minutes!” growled Rainbow, voice raised to an agitated level.

“I tried to say hi, but he just wouldn’t stop! So he takes off, I catch up, and he flies us right through Canterlot at his bull crap speed. I outrun him after that, but then he catches up, and then he just takes off, leaving me in the dust! That’s not supposed to happen Twilight! Not to me!” said Rainbow, pointing to herself with her hoof on her chest.

Twilight raised an eyebrow, showing more concern for the situation rather than Dash’s ego.

“No offence Dash, but I’m kind of getting the idea that you may have said something to egg him on.” said Twilight. “And flying through Canterlot at near the speed of sound doesn’t exactly sound safe either. Maybe you should just calm down a little.”

“What!? Me!? Calm down? How can I calm down after someone beat me at my own game!?” She turned her body and looked at her hindquarters; a streak of red, blue, and yellow all lined up into the shape of a thunderbolt that sprouted out from a single small cloud adorned her flank, exhibited plainly upon her cyan coat.

“And I’m not about to let some other pony take that from me! Not like this!”

“Rainbow, I know you’re upset. But getting frustrated over this won’t help anything.” said Twilight. “Maybe you just weren’t a hundred percent today.”

Rainbow Dash scowled at Twilight, piercing her with a deathly stare. “I’m never off my game.” sounded out Rainbow, calmly and concisely.

“Can we still calm down?” asked Twilight, smiling kindly.

Rainbow stomped her hoof on the floor again, giving a frustrated grumble.

“Fine. But, you can bet that when I see that jerk again, we’re going to have a talk! Pony to pony!” said Dash, pacing a bit as she held back her steamed emotions.

Spike had finished with the books by now, coming into the conversation. “Sounds like you really have a bone to pick with this guy Rainbow Da-” Spike grunted and covered his mouth, muffling a low guttural belch.

Twilight’s ears perked up at the sound, as if it was like a knock at her door. She looked intently at Spike, waiting for a response from him that was anything other than gas. Spike looked up at Twilight, returning her one claw held out with a finger pointed up as he patted his chest with the second claw. After working at it a bit, Spike let up another bout of gas, letting loose a flash of green flame and a puff of smoke, as well as what Twilight was waiting for. A greyish cloud whirled into the room and swirled around in a miniature spiral, slowly materializing a scroll tied with a red ribbon around its middle, adorned with a golden ring marked with a capital “C” in its center. It fell to the floor, bouncing once before stopping dead center of the room.

“Is that from the Princess?” asked Twilight, turning her attention to Spike who knelt over to pick the scroll up.

Unrolling the scroll, Spike cleared his throat and prepared his voice just as Twilight and Rainbow prepared their ears.

“It says:

My dearest student Twilight,

As I know you and Spike are working extra hard in preparation of the Summer Sun Festival as always, I need to ask you another favor to help me with this year.

As it was your duty to make new friends here in Ponyville so long ago, I have another student, much like yourself, who will be tasked with the same mission. His name is Wildfire, and he has been studying much like yourself in different fields of his own interest. As there are not many vacancies as far as residence goes, unfortunately, this is the favor I ask of you. I’m hoping that you and Spike would be willing to open your own home to offer a living space for Wildfire. He will need a place to stay after all, and with your experiences there in Ponyville you may be an inspiration to him.

I hope that I have not imposed too much of you, and I would understand if you decline.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia

Wow, Twilight. What do you think?” finished Spike, looking over the scroll as he followed the words with his claws.

“Hmm…” Twilight thought, putting a hoof up to her mouth as she thought.

“Is my old bed still down in the storage room?” asked Twilight.

“Yep! And after selling so many of those “History of the Festival” books, I think we have enough shelf space to put all of those other ones out finally!” said Spike.

“Alright! We can get on that now and clear the room out a bit. Why don’t you send a letter back to Celestia to tell her that we’d happily invite Wildfire into our home.” said Twilight, smiling as she floated a sheet of paper and her quill over to Spike after dipping it in an ink jar on her study desk.

“Right away!” said Spike, writing the letter quickly as he quietly read out his writing to himself.

“Alright! Did you hear Rainbow? Another student of Celestia’s! I didn’t think that she had any more students besides me!” said Twilight, turning over to Rainbow Dash who was staring at the floor, brow furrowed as her eyes wandered about.

“Um, everything ok Dash?”

Dash stared down a little more before shaking herself out of her own trance. “Yeah! Yeah… I… I just gotta clear my head.”

“Make sure you clear the skies tomorrow!” said Twilight. “And don’t forget about the meeting with Celestia. She’s coming to Ponyville to-”

Dash cut Twilight off. “Yeah, Twilight, I go the memo. It’s the same thing every year.”

Rainbow slowly trotted towards the stairs, making her way down and out the front door. Twilight tilted her head a bit as her mouth stretched itself into a sort of shallow frown. Nothing really bothered that filly much, and it worried her. It made sense though; she was born to race as proof of the decoration on her flank, but the fact that someone allegedly outran her was something. Twilight shrugged it off for the time being though, she had to prepare the room for the other pony that was going to be coming into her home.

“About to send the letter to Celestia!” said Spike, rolling the sheet of paper back up.

“Alright. Send it so we can get to work on the room.” said Twilight.

After tying the letter off with another red ribbon, Spike inhaled deeply, puffing his cheeks and puckering his lips, blowing the letter with a strong and steady breath. Just as the letter appeared before, it vaporized into a cloud of grey mist under the breath of the dragon and swiftly flew out of the cracked window above Twilight’s bed.

“Alright! Let’s get to work!” said Twilight, heading back down the hall from where Spike came from before.

Before she could even make it to the hall, she heard a loud belch from Spike with another flash of green lighting the room for a split second. She turned to see the scroll falling to the floor in front of her.

“Well that wasn’t long.” said Twilight, picking the scroll up and untying it.
“Ahem…
Dear Twilight and Spike,

Thank you so much for your hospitality! I assure you that you will get along perfectly well with my other student. He will arrive later tomorrow after preparing his things; he can help with the preparations for the festival if need be. In fact, I’d encourage him to help.

Again, thank you!
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia
P.S. He has been living here in the castle with me for some time. He does travel a lot as well, most of the time alone, so he may appear a bit distant. Please be patient with him, he’s a good kid at heart.”

“What’s that mean?” asked Spike.

“Don’t know…” said Twilight. “But Celestia still says he’s a good kid. I’m sure he’ll be a big help with the festival, and he should be making friends in no time!”

“Wish I could say the same for you when you first got here.” said Spike, chuckling.

“Yeah…” said Twilight, nodding along with a bit of a brittle smile. “Let’s just clear that room…” said Twilight, trotting back to the storage room down the hall.