Twilight's World

by grouchopony

10. Twilight memories

Celestia's sun had only just begun to peek above the horizon when Fluttershy left her bed.

She had lain awake all night, unable to sleep as she wrestled with grief over the possible loss of her friend. She couldn't properly give in to her grief, for she did not know for a fact that Twilight had died and it would be very unkind to regard anypony as dead when such a fact was not established.

On the other hoof, she was filled with fear, worrying that Twilight was lost in some dreadful place, full of Timberwolves and monsters and dragons and darkness and lightning and other frightening noises. Her imagination had caused her to cower under her sheets more than once during the long night.

It was a disheveled and exhausted pegasus that put her hooves on the floor that morning. She stood there for a long moment in the morning gloom, facing the window. Before long the growing light of a new day began to suffuse her bedroom and the butter colored mare seemed to swell. “No!” She exclaimed aloud, though no other was there to listen.

“I won't accept it. Twilight is not gone. She will come back to us!”

The pegasus mare raised her head up high, and a steely determination grew on her face. “I will not let Twilight down. She needs me to believe in her, and that's what I'm going to do!” Fluttershy ended her declaration with a hearty shout. Turning about, she trotted out of her bedroom and headed towards her bathroom.

The animals were uncharacteristically silent when Fluttershy eventually came down the stairs. They had sensed that she was distraught when she had come home the previous evening. That impression was further reinforced when she had fed them in silence, hardly speaking a word to them as she did so.

But now, after hearing the shouting coming from her room and bath this morning they cowered in their hutches and holes, peeking out cautiously, wondering what had become of their wonderful caregiver.

Fluttershy was halfway across her main room before she noticed how quiet it had gotten. Abruptly she stopped and looked about, only now noticing how the animals cowered in their dens. Even Angel stood aloof near the door, his ears pinned back. At the sight of these things Fluttershy's ears lowered and tears formed in her eyes.

Looking all about, she began to speak, addressing the creatures that had hidden from her. “I'm so sorry my friends, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm not angry or upset with you. It's just that I'm very worried about a friend of mine who's in trouble. But I promise that everything will be alright, I− I...” Suddenly Angel was hugging her, and her voice broke down. Fluttershy collapsed on the floor, crying.

All the fears and worries she had struggled with through the long night came to the surface, released in a massive outpouring of grief and tears.

The animals now came out of their holes and approached Fluttershy. No longer cautious, they came en masse and enveloped her with a multitude of tiny nuzzles and hugs. Angel found himself held tightly in Fluttershy’s forehooves, getting thoroughly soaked by her tears. Though it annoyed him immensely, he endured his salty bath for Fluttershy's sake.

Eventually, Fluttershy's weeping subsided, leaving an exhausted mare, peacefully sleeping on the rug in the middle of her floor. Tears and weeping now bequeathed unto Fluttershy the rest that had been cruelly robbed from her by fear and worry.

----------------

At about the time Fluttershy fell asleep, Rainbow Dash became aware of a stabbing pain in her wings.

The previous night, as the group of friends left the library to go their separate ways, Rainbow had been seized by the urge to fly; to escape if it were possible, the sensation of loss welling up in her heart.

High above the moonlit clouds, where nopony would bear witness to her grief, she had performed endless repetitions of her training routine. The sheer concentration she devoted to her routine, to the loops and rolls, turns and weaves helped her to ignore a certain painful thought that nestled like a worm deep within her. What if Twilight was truly gone for good?

But no matter how hard she concentrated, no matter how many times she went through her routine, that painful question would return the moment she paused to rest and catch her breath. Eventually, she screamed out her frustration and flew off at high speed. And for a certain rainbow-maned pegasus, that was a high speed indeed.

Rainbow simply flew, without a thought to her destination, losing herself in mindless flight, often changing her course on a whim. She lost herself, experiencing the feel of the wind passing over her body at high speed, watching the scattered clouds creeping past her, the feel of the magic in her wings propelling her forward. Whenever she felt the painful thought returning, 'What if Twilight was really gone?' she increased her speed and flew even faster.

Rainbow's flight had gone on for hours before the pain in her wings outgrew the pain in her heart and brought her to her senses again. Suddenly she realized that she had flown aimlessly and without direction for the entire night. A stab of fear came with the understanding that she could now literally be anywhere.

Anxiously the cyan mare looked about, attempting to discern a recognizable landmark. What she saw was a snow-covered landscape that stretched from horizon to horizon. It shocked her to her core.

She felt an immense relief when she finally saw something recognizable behind her and slightly to her left. There, standing proudly amidst a white landscape, not twelve miles distant, was the central spire of the Crystal Empire; glistening brilliantly in the rays of the newly risen sun.

Even as her anxiety abated, Rainbow slowed down, greatly reducing the demand on her straining wings. She adjusted her wing beats so as to turn around in a gentle bank towards the beckoning spire.

Aware once again of her surroundings and headed towards a place where she could rest; Rainbow took stock of her condition. “I can't believe I did this to myself.” She muttered through chapped and dry lips. “I've practically flown myself into the ground,” she added as she strained to continue her flight towards the Crystal Palace; commanding her now aching wings to carry her back a dozen short miles.

Although her airspeed was reduced, Rainbow was still able to reach the Crystal Palace after another five minutes of flight. By this time, her flight muscles were on fire, and it was an effort to stay aloft. Rainbow's flight path began to dip and rise as she repeatedly caught herself dropping downwards. With a final push, she reached the towering palace and stilled her wings, gliding down steeply for a hard landing on the main balcony.

The Crystal Empire's guards, however, had not been caught unawares as to the approach of a lone flier from the north. As soon as the rainbow-maned pegasus touched down, she was hemmed in by a ring of spears pointed directly at her.

“Hey, guys! It's me, Rainbow Dash.” She announced with a jaunty air. At least that's what she attempted to say. The effect was ruined when her pain, exhaustion, hunger, and dehydration caught up with her, causing Rainbow Dash to collapse in a heap in front of the guards.

Before she lost consciousness, she heard one of the guards call out. “Send word to the Princess and the Prince immediately. One of the Elements has arrived...”

----------------

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, otherwise known as Cadence to her friends and confidants was finishing off a rather dismal breakfast with her husband, Shining Armor when the guard came rushing in to announce the arrival of Rainbow Dash.

To be fair, it was not the breakfast itself that was dismal; rather it was the mood of the two participants. Just minutes after the sun had been raised that morning, a letter had arrived from Princess Celestia which bore the shocking news of Twilight's disappearance. What should have been a lovely breakfast of Baked Crystal-Oatmeal porridge with Crystal berries and heavy cream was turned into little more than the taste of ashes in their mouths.

Princess Cadence could tell that the news had hit Shining Armor particularly hard, though he attempted to hide his distress by retreating into the stoic shell of his guard training. She watched him as he sat rigidly and formally at the breakfast table, barely speaking a word. Cadence herself felt little better, seeing as she had known Twilight from when she was a sweet, charming and very precocious little filly.

So it was that two sets of grieving eyes opened wide in astonishment at the news that one of Twilight's friends had suddenly arrived.

“Rainbow Dash is here?” Shining Armor exclaimed to his wife; his astonishment having dragged him out of his shell.

“Perhaps she is bringing us some news about Twilight.” Cadence replied hopefully.

Shining turned back to the guard, “Quickly, bring her here to meet us.” he commanded.

“I'll get the chef to prepare another breakfast. She can't have eaten yet,” said Cadence while motioning to one of the servers who stood at the ready.

“Ahh− your Highnesses,” the guard interrupted nervously, “the Element has collapsed and is presently lying unconscious. Do you wish for us to carry her here?”

“What?” Princess Mi Amore Cadenza practically shouted. “Why didn't you tell us this when you first made your report? I hope for your sake and that of your squad leader that she's not just lying there, being gawked at by a bunch of guards.”

The messenger gulped in sudden terror, not that the Princess and Prince had ever been cruel or harsh to their guards. “N−No your highness, we sent immediately for a doctor. However, it was felt best not to disturb her until the doctor had a chance to examine her.”

“At ease.” Shining Armor spoke to the guard who now appeared desperate to efface himself. “Your squad leader did the right thing. Now take us to where Rainbow Dash is.”

The guard, heaving a surreptitious sigh of relief, wheeled about and led the two royals towards the balcony where he had last seen the cyan-colored pegasus.

They soon arrived at the scene which had begun to attract a crowd of curious onlookers. Princess Cadence was pleased to note that most of the guards were not gawking at the downed mare, but had formed a protective ring around her, facing outward and keeping curious onlookers away.

As soon as they made their way past the crowd and through the ring of guards, they noticed two other guards, one of them being the squad leader, standing watch on either side of Rainbow Dash. A third pony, whom Cadence recognized as Doctor Quick Salve was crouched down beside the unconscious pony.

“How is she, Doctor?” Cadence asked as they approached.

The doctor, a unicorn stallion having a dark orange coat, a turquoise mane and bearing a mortar and pestle for a Cutie Mark, rose up to greet the Princess. “Good morning your Highness. From my preliminary examination, I believe that your visitor is mostly suffering from a severe case of magic exhaustion as well as dehydration.”

“So she's going to be all right then?” Cadence asked, a tone of hopeful relief evident in her voice.

“I would say so. She will be asleep for a while but should wake up in three to four hours. I expect that she'll be very thirsty and ravenous with hunger. Whatever may have brought her here, it's plain that she's quite over-strained herself in doing so.”

“I see,” Cadence responded. “Thank you, Doctor. Shining Armor and I will see to her comfort.”

The doctor nodded and turned to depart, even as Cadence's turquoise aura enveloped the sleeping pony, levitating her up off the floor.

“Come along Shining; I'm sure Rainbow Dash will be able to rest more comfortably in a guest room. And we will want to clear our schedules so that we can hear what she has to say when she wakes up.”

----------------

Pinkie was not having a good day. But that was no reason to ruin it for everypony else. So far as anypony else knew, she was as cheerful as ever.

Pinkies day started when she awakened from a restless night's sleep just as the first flush of rays from Celestia’s sun began to brighten the horizon. “That's odd,” she said, thinking out loud. “I normally dream about eating cupcakes and candies and ice cream. But that dream was weird, even for me.”

Pinkie reached behind her head and pulled off a small green alligator that had been chewing on her fluffy mane. She addressed the bright green crocodilian creature as she held it up in front of her face. “I dreamed that I found a really, really huge cupcake and I started eating it, of course. Mmm, it was chocolate fudge with pink vanilla frosting. But then the cupcake took a bite out of me!

“Soon we started going round and round trying to see who could eat each other faster. What do you think Gummy? Do you think I taste good?” she asked the dentally challenged alligator.

Gummy responded by blinking his right eye, followed by his left eye, which usually meant 'yes'.

“I knew it! Why else would a giant cupcake want to eat me?”

Putting Gummy down, Pinkie made her way to the bathroom and got ready to face the day. As she looked in the bathroom mirror, she could not help but notice a certain sadness hiding in her eyes.

“No no no no no no! Hold it right there girl! That's not the face you’re going to show to everypony. Come on, where's your smile?” Pinkie face slowly lit up with a happy expression.

“You call that a smile!?” She barked like a drill sergeant for the guard. “Drop that frown and give me twenty!

“Happy− Sad, Happy− Sad, Happy− Sad...”

Thus Pinkie began her day with a round of facial exercises for strengthening her smile, no matter what she might be feeling inside. Pinkie was always happy, but today, her heart knew different.

Soon after Pinkie had completed her morning exercises and eaten the half-dozen emergency cupcakes that she kept in her mane, she decided to visit the nursery to say good morning to the twins.

Mrs. Cake was there when she arrived. “Hello Pinkie, I'm glad you're here. Could you look after the twins for about half an hour? I need to help Mr. Cake get everything ready for the special we're running this morning.”

“I'd be happy to.” Pinkie replied, easily painting a smile on her face. “We're running a special?” She asked, maintaining her smile with greater effort. “That's great! What's it about?”

“Well,” explained Mrs. Cake, “Applebuck season is starting in less than two weeks from now. Mr. Cake and I thought we would run a special on apple cakes and apple cupcakes to use up our existing stock of apples before the new crop comes in. So, while supplies last, we plan on selling the apple cakes at a price of 'two for the price of one plus one bit', and the apple cupcakes will be on sale as ‘buy two and get one free.' ”

“Wow, Mrs. Cake. That's fantastic! You’re sure to sell a ton of cakes today.” Pinkie enthused, thinking about the extra cupcakes she could buy.

“I know, that's why I have to get downstairs and help Mr. Cake with the baking. We have to be ready before we open for the day. Take good care of the twins; I have to go now.” With a final wave, Mrs. Cake left the room.

Pinkie kept up her smile but stood there staring at the door where Mrs. Cake had exited the room. For a short while, her brain was blanked out. Coming to herself again, she took a breath, double-checked her smile before turning to the twins.

“A-bah!” Pumpkin Cake announced, smiling gleefully. Somehow the twins could sense that Pinkie was not on top of her game today and that meant that they were going to have lots of fun with her.

----------------

All morning, Applejack had found herself considerably distracted by her worrying for Twilight.

Her first thought after breakfast had been to get out in the orchard and lose herself in some hard labor, bucking for early season apples. She soon abandoned that idea after nearly injuring herself. Thoughts of Twilight's fate constantly pulled at her and distracted her from the focus she needed to buck apples safely.

Limping slightly and muttering to herself about how she was some kind of a 'ninny headed foal' she located Big Mac and informed him that she was going to take the cart into the Market instead, even though it was a Sunday.

“You al'right sis?” her brother asked.

Applejack sighed. “Yeah, I'm fine Big Mac. It's just that I can't stop thinkin' about Twilight none.” Applejack had related the details of Twilight’s disappearance to her shocked family the previous evening. “I don't have the clear head I need for buckin'. So if'n I can't buck, maybe I can at least sell some apples.”

With that, she had loaded up her portable apple stand and brought it and herself to the Ponyville market.

Now, Sunday was not one of the days the Ponyville residents expected to find an Apple selling their wares in the market. It was not unheard of, especially when festivals and celebrations approached, but everypony knew that Sunday was not the day you could expect to find apples at the Market. Consequently, Applejack had hardly any customers approach her, which suited her just fine.

While standing idly behind her cart, Applejack's mind wandered back to the time she first met Twilight.

* * *

It was the day before the big Summer-Sun celebration. The whole town was bursting with pride that Princess Celestia had chosen Ponyville for the event, and everypony was bustling about getting everything ready.

Applejack had been hard at work in the orchard, near the front gate. At the moment she had paused in her labors to contemplate the position of the sun. It was getting really close to dinner time she noted. Applejack was about to head back to the picnic area when she spotted the approach of a lavender unicorn mare with a strange little purple and green creature waddling along beside her.

Now, Applejack had been selling apples to Ponyville for years, and she knew every resident by sight. This unicorn was somepony she had never met before, and equally obviously, from the looks of her neatly cut mane− some busypony just come out from Canterlot.

Nestled among two apple trees, she watched silently as the mare and the odd little creature, engrossed in their private conversation, walked right past her.

“... And of course this Sweet Apple Acres just has to be located way out here. I can't be wasting my time trotting up and down the country roads Spike. It's important that I get back to my research.” said the lavender mare.

“Well you have been appointed to check up on the Summer-Sun celebrations Twilight, and this is where Sweet Apple Acres is supposed to be.”

Little feller's got himself a clear grasp of the obvious. But miss snooty over there seems to have an opinion about us already. Applejack thought to herself.

The little critter continued, “And don't forget that Princess Celestia said you were supposed to make friends.”

“Friends? How am I supposed to make any friends when they act like that last mare I tried talking to. That pink one. She just gasped in horror at me, like, like I was some kind of three-headed hydra and ran off faster than a Wonderbolt.”

Heh, heh. Applejack chuckled to herself. So you met Pinkie already have you? I guess that accounts for some of your attitude, so I won't hold that much of it against you. But what's this about making friends?

The lavender mare continued, “Besides, friends are a waste of time.” Applejack was shocked when she heard that.

“But Twilight.” the little critter, Spike, protested. “Princess Celestia said-”

“I know! I know! I just wish she hadn't given those instructions for today of all days.”

The Princess wants miss 'busy-britches' to make some friends huh? Suddenly Applejack had a big grin on her face. Well, why don't I help the Princess out some, and show that mare just how friendly an Apple can be? And if she don't like it, then that's her problem.

The two strangers finally reached the front gate, at which point the little guy, Spike, produced a roll of parchment and started reading. “Summer Sun celebrations official overseer's checklist. Number One: Banquet preparation – Sweet Apple Acres.”

Applejack took this as her cue to introduce herself. “YeeeeeHaaaaa!” she yelled exuberantly.

Startled, the lavender mare and the little guy whipped around to identify the noise coming from behind them.

What they saw was Applejack galloping straight at an apple tree, but just before colliding with it, she dug in her front hooves and pivoted around to deliver a precision buck to the tree. All the apples, of course, were knocked off and dropped neatly into the waiting containers.

Applejack ended up standing off to the side of the tree, crossing her forelegs in a blatant act of showmaresship she had picked up at the rodeo. Ain't nopony does it better! She thought smugly to herself.

Apparently, the lavender mare wasn't so impressed because she sighed and then muttered, “Let's get this over with.”

Wearing a pleasant smile, Twilight approached Applejack and then announced, “Good afternoon, my name is Twilight Sparkle-”

Applejack interrupted Twilight's introductory speech by grabbing one of her hooves and vigorously shaking it. “Well howdy-do miss Twilight, I'm Applejack! A pleasure makin' yer acquaintance, we here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like to make new friends.” She emphasized the last word, plunging the unicorn into confusion.

Heh, heh. That's just what the Princess ordered.

Applejack was pumping Twilight's forelimb so hard that Twilight's voice shook as she tried to protest Applejack's claim. “F-Friends? A-Actually-y I-I-”

Not letting Twilight get her hooves underneath herself, so to speak, Applejack cut her off again before she could finish expressing that negative thought. “So what can I do ya for?”

“He-hem,” Twilight cleared her voice, trying to regain her composure after Applejack's violent hoofshake. “Well I am in fact here to supervise preparation for the Summer Sun celebration, and you're in charge of the food?”

Applejack suddenly had another idea.

“We sure as sugar are, would you care to sample some?” Without waiting for an answer Applejack rushed back to the outdoor picnic area set up around the Arbour and rang the dinner triangle.

“Soups On EveryPony!” Applejack called out enthusiastically at the top of her voice.

There was yet to be born an Apple that did not have a healthy appetite. The sounding of the dinner bell instantly started a stampede, which by Applejack's happy design enveloped Twilight and Spike and carried them forth to be seated as guests of honor underneath the Arbour.

While this was taking place, Applejack surreptitiously let some of the others know that she wanted to show her guests some 'real Apple hospitality.' The word quickly spread.

Applejack ran back to her guests. Mustn't keep em waitin' too long. Gotta keep em off balance.

“Now why don't I introduce y'all to the Apple family?

“This here's Apple Fritter, Apple Bumpkin, Red Gala, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Caramel Apple, Apple Strudel, Apple Tart, Baked Apple, Apple Brioche, Apple Cinnamon Crisp−.”

Applejack suddenly had to draw a breath before she continued, “Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom a-and Granny Smith.

“Up and at em Granny Smith, we got guests.” Applejack hollered at Granny.

“Wha?” The ancient mare got out of her rocker and voiced several unintelligible grumbles.

Heh heh. Bless yer heart Granny. No one can understand a thing ya say when you’re half asleep like that.That’s exactly what I needed.

Applejack turned to the lavender unicorn and delivered the final blow. “Why− I'd say you're already part of the family.”

Twilight, whose mouth was full of food, did a gross spit-take. She exuded a look of desperation.

“Ah-ha-ha.” Twilight tried to laugh off her adoption. “Okay, well I can see that the food situation is handled. So we'll be on our way.”

Not so fast. Thought Applejack, quietly pushing Applebloom forward.

The little filly's lower lip quivered as she gave Twilight a full blast of those twin carriage-lights of hers. “Aren't you gonna stay for brunch?” A couple of blinks were thrown in for emphasis.

Oh, she's real good. Chortled Applejack.

Twilight was starting to look desperate. “Sorry, but we have an awful lot to do.”

By this time the whole family had been made aware of Applejack's request.

“AWWWW!” They all groaned in mock distress.

Twilight finally cracked. “Fine...” She let out as she lowered her head dejectedly.

* * *

Applejack's face bore a sad smile as she finished recalling that memory, it was one of her dearest memories of Twilight. Somehow it's recollection seemed to lift her spirits.

Applejack lifted her head proudly, and put away her sad expression as one of the flower sisters came up to her booth. “Why howdy Lilly. What can I do ya for?”

----------------

Rainbow awoke slowly from a dreamless sleep. At first, she just lay there, trying to re-capture that state of sleep she had just recently exited; she felt so very tired. Feeling somewhat uncomfortable. She squirmed around trying to find a more restful position.

What the− this isn't my cloud mattress.

Suddenly it struck her that she was not sleeping in her own bed, or even in her own home. Rainbow's eyes popped open, and she looked curiously at smoothly polished walls of some dense perfectly featureless material.

Where am I?

Looking up, she saw the walls transition from their vertical rise by breaking away in multiple triangular facets that all met at a peak above the center of the room. Rainbow had seen such rooms before.

The Crystal Palace? How did I get here?

Memory crashed down upon the rainbow mare. Suddenly she remembered arriving at the Crystal Palace after a long night of aimless flight. She had been flying because she did not want to think about something. She did not want to think about−

“Twilight!” she called out, sitting up abruptly.

“Ahh!” she cried as a stabbing headache made its presence known. She collapsed down onto the bed again, holding her head in her two hooves.

“Here drink this.” spoke a gentle voice from behind her. “It will help you feel better.”

Still clutching her head with one of her hooves, Rainbow turned around and saw a crystal pony holding out a glass of some reddish sparkling liquid.

Suddenly realizing that she was incredibly thirsty, Rainbow reached out a forehoof and grabbed the proffered glass. It went down her parched throat in a few quick gulps. She barely even had time to notice its bubbly effervescence and the tart taste of some unfamiliar berry.

“That was really good. Could I have another?” Rainbow held out her glass to the other pony.

The crystal pony smiled. “Of course you may, Miss Dash,” she said, taking the empty glass from Rainbow. She turned around to refill it from a bottle that was sitting on a side table.

Observing her, Rainbow noted that she was a little unusual for a crystal pony. Her translucent body held a deep brownish red hue while her mane and tail were much lighter with a brownish amber color. Her Cutie Mark was that of a blue star inside a crystal bowl.

“I'm Garnet Wish, one of Princess Cadence's personal attendants.” The crystal pony said as she poured Rainbow a second glass of the unnamed drink. Turning around, she brought the refilled glass over to Rainbow before speaking again. “Princess Cadence assigned me to watch over you until you woke up.”

“Uh, thanks.” Rainbow was slightly miffed that the Princess thought she needed looking after, though she accepted the glass and downed it just as eagerly as she had the first one. The crystal pony, Garnet Wish, smiled as if she could read Rainbow's thoughts. Perhaps she could. Rainbow was never one to hide her irritations.

Garnet spoke, “The Princess said that you would be very thirsty when you woke up.”

Rainbow couldn't help but agree with that assessment, though she was loath to embarrass herself by asking for a third glass of whatever that delicious drink was.

“Would you like something to eat?” Garnet Wish asked.

At the mention of food, Rainbow suddenly felt ravenous, and her stomach chose that moment to erupt with a most fearsome growl, sounding very much like a forty foot Cragodile.

“Ah Heh heh.” Rainbow tried to laugh off her abdominal noises, “Yeah, I think I had better find something to eat.”

“If you will follow me then, I'll take you to the dining room.” Garnet Wish exited the room; after a moment's hesitation Rainbow scrambled to follow after her.

A short excursion through the labyrinthine corridors of the palace brought Rainbow to a familiar room. It was the private dining room used by the royals. Rainbow remembered it from her previous trips to the Crystal Empire with Twilight and the rest of the gang.

Twilight. Rainbow suddenly remembered. And just as suddenly she wasn't hungry anymore.

Rainbow sat down at her usual position at the table and bowed her head, remembering the first time she had ever met Twilight.

* * *

Rainbow was thrilled. So far her special routine for wowing the Wonderbolts was going perfectly, just four more moves and it would be done.

Accelerating rapidly, she shot straight through a small cloud, dragging part of its nebulous substance along behind her. As she flew along, she released a continuous stream of vapor from the cloud-stuff she was holding, streaming a contrail behind her in a razor sharp line, a thing of beauty.

Just as she ran out of cloud-stuff, she doubled back as if she had bounced off a brick wall and flew back along the cloud trail with an inside corkscrew maneuver. Accelerating as she went, she gyrated around the cloud trail at an ever-increasing rate. Rainbow was concentrating fiercely, striving to maintain an even spacing to her corkscrew spirals; despite her ever increasing speed.

Reaching the base cloud, which had donated so generously of its substance for her cloud trail, she transitioned out of her tight high-speed corkscrew and entered smoothly into an inside loop around the cloud. Perfect she crowed, having exited the corkscrew and entered the loop from underneath the cloud. She watched the cloud carefully, keeping her loop centered about it while maintaining her high speed.

She flew exactly one and a half inside loops, and then just as she reached the top of the inside loop she did a snap half roll, converting to an outside loop. It was her final move.

“Yeah! Woohoo!” she cried. I'm a shoe-in for the Wonderbolts. When I show them this tomorrow, they'll be begging me to join them, she thought rapturously. Her momentary lapse in concentration, however, caused her to loop to expand, bringing her dangerously close to the ground.

Rainbow only had an instant to snap out of her self-congratulatory dream as she saw herself flying inverted directly into the ground. Frantically she beat her wings and adjusted her flight path to avoid impact with the ground. It was almost enough.

Rainbow had barely managed to level off a mere two feet above the ground when she saw that her path would intersect with a lavender pony. It was far too late to change course. Spreading her wings wide she endeavored to slow down as much as she could, but was forced almost immediately to pull her wings back in again to prevent them from being damaged in the collision.

Rainbow crashed into the lavender pony, and earth tumbled over sky. Both of them skipping and rolling along the ground for a good hundred hooves before they stopped in a mud puddle. The stranger's face ended up being firmly planted into the mud while Rainbow lay atop her.

“Uhhh.” the lavender pony groaned. Rainbow quickly got off the other pony.

Rainbow was far more embarrassed at having messed up her final move than at having plowed somepony into the mud. “Heh he he he he− Ahh− excuse me?”

“Mmmm” exclaimed the lavender unicorn, glaring angrily at Rainbow, but that was the extent of her response.

Hey, she's alright. Thought Rainbow. If it had been either Applejack or Rarity, I would have had an earful by now.

I'm gonna see if I can have a bit of fun with her. Thought Rainbow as a wicked idea came to her.

“Heh he he− let me help you,” she said, and immediately dashed off to tear off the lowest part of her base cloud. The part of the cloud where the moisture always had a tendency to concentrate.

Rainbow brought back the water saturated parcel of cloud and positioned it directly over the lavender mare. Rainbow then flew atop the cloud and started hopping on it. With every leap, magical shock waves radiated through the cloud, inducing it to release its moisture as a fierce downpour.

The lavender pony must have known what was coming when she saw Rainbow bring up the cloud, but she never moved. She just sat there scowling. Even after being totally soaked by the downpour the lavender pony kept silent.

I like her. She's a really good sport. Rainbow thought to herself.

“Eh-heh-heh. Oops, I guess I overdid it.” Rainbow now offered a more honest apology for taking her prank a little too far.

“Umm. Ah− how about this? My very own patented Rain-Blow-Dry!” Rainbow moved her cloud off to the side and suddenly started flying in a very tight orbit around the lavender mare, creating a phenomenally tight micro-tornado to engulf the lavender mare. Rainbow’s special contribution was to use her pegasus skills to force all excess moisture inside the tornado outwards to the outside air.

After a few seconds of such action, Rainbow arrested the micro-tornado and came to a hover off to the side, her eyes closed as she savored the satisfaction of a tricky maneuver well executed. “No-No don't thank me, you're quite welcome,” she said in a show of entirely false modesty.

Not hearing any of the praise she was expecting, Rainbow opened her eyes to see what was holding it back. What she saw was the lavender mare's mane all heaped up in horrendous coils and tangles.

Uh-Oh. Rainbow thought, beginning to react to the humorous sight.

“Snork− Snerk− Shk!” Rainbow tried valiantly to hold in her laughter. The effort was in vain.

“Bwah ha ha ha ha...” She burst out, falling to the ground convulsing with belly laughter.

The lavender mare spoke for the first time, “Let me guess, you're Rainbow Dash.”

Suddenly Rainbow's laughter ended, and she found herself hovering in front of the lavender mare's face. “The one and only. Why? You heard of me?” she asked eagerly.

In a steady voice, the lavender mare replied. “I heard you're supposed to be keeping the sky clear.”

Rainbow was astonished that this mare couldn't even compliment her on her precision flying and instead chose to focus on some boring weather duty that any Pegasus could perform. Feeling she'd been put down somehow, she flew up to her former rain cloud and lay down, snubbing the lavender mare.

Seeing Rainbow's reaction, the lavender mare sighed before announcing, “I'm Twilight Sparkle, and the Princess sent me to check on the weather.”

Rainbow gave Twilight an off-hoof wave of dismissal, “Yeah, yeah. That'll be a snap. Just as soon as I'm done practicing.”

“Practicing? For what?” Twilight asked, with the sound of honest curiosity in her voice.

Hearing that, Rainbow turned around and eagerly began to sound off on her favorite subject. “The Wonderbolts! They're going to perform at the celebration tomorrow. And I'm going to show 'em my stuff.”

“The Wonderbolt's” Twilight asked, confusion in her voice.

“Yup!” Rainbow replied.

Twilight's face assumed a coy look. “The most talented flyers in all of Equestria?” she asked.

“That's them,” Rainbow replied smugly.

“Hunngh− Pfft− Please.” Twilight dismissed Rainbow's plans. “They'd never accept a pegasus who can't even keep the sky clear for one measly day.”

“Hey!” Rainbow was indignant, and not a little irritated, “I can clear the sky in ten seconds flat.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes and looked challengingly at Rainbow; almost a sneer hovered over her lips. “Prove it,” she said.

Ohh− That Twilight. She's challenging me. Well, I'll show her.

Suddenly Rainbow took off, accelerating madly towards a larger cloud. She bounced violently off the cloud, her hooves sending out shock waves powerful enough to vaporize it. As she raced towards the next large cloud, she wove a twisting flight path past the smaller clouds. Those, she could disperse by simply doing a fly-by, using the magic vortices shed from her wings to blow them apart.

One, two three, she zigged between the clouds, pirouetting and spinning madly to line up her hooves for perfect strikes.

Four, five, six, she raced at incredible speeds leaving nothing but a rainbow streak in the sky as she raced to the cloud clusters lying further afield.

Seven, eight, nine, Rainbow arced high overhead drilling through the alto-cirrus clouds at such a speed that they broke up instantly.

And ten, Rainbow raced back towards Ponyville, and with half a second to spare performed a perfect outside loop around her base cloud. The loop which she had messed up while doing her routine earlier. She concluded by turning inward sharply and shattering her base cloud.

Heh, good workout. Rainbow complimented herself. I haven't done improvisational maneuvers in a while.

“What'd I say.” Rainbow settled down on the side wall of a bridge, where she could lord it up over Twilight from an elevated position. “Ten− Seconds− Flat!

“I'd never leave Ponyville hanging.” Rainbow Dash announced. And she meant it.

The look of astonishment on Twilight's face was the best reward Rainbow could ever have received.

“Hah-ha. You should see the look on your face.

“Hah− You're a laugh Twilight Sparkle. I can't wait to hang out some more.”

* * *

And I was right about her. Rainbow remarked to herself. Twilight was one cool pony that day, never getting mad or upset with me. And boy did she ever pull me into some cool adventures...

Rainbow had a smile on her face when Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor entered the room.

“Aren't you going to eat anything Rainbow?” the Princess asked. “I thought for sure you would be hungry after flying yourself to exhaustion like you did last night.”

Startled by the sound of Cadence's voice, Rainbow opened her eyes and beheld a huge bowl of porridge set on the table directly in front of her.

When did that get put there? She wondered sadly to herself. Have I been thinking so hard about Twilight that I didn't notice anypony else in the room? That's the kind of stuff that happens to Twilight. Which thought reminded her of the current circumstances surrounding Twilight again. Her smile faded.

“Ah, I was hungry, but then I sort of lost my appetite.” Rainbow's voice faded off into a near mumble.

“That's alright Rainbow. If you’re not hungry right now then perhaps you will be later.” Cadence attempted to sooth Rainbow.

Shining Armor spoke up, anxious to learn what had happened to Twilight. “Rainbow, we didn't get very many details in Celestia's letter about what happened. Could you fill us in with whatever you know?”

Rainbow nodded slowly. She really didn't want to think about it, but this was Twilight's family. She owed them a decent explanation.

“Well, I guess it all started yesterday when Pinkie had one of her doozies...”

----------------

The sound of knocking was heard at the door.

Fluttershy awoke part way, lying there all fuddled; half caught in a light, dreamy slumber. She thought she had heard something.

“Fluttershy, my dear, are you home?” came the sound of somepony's voice.

At the sound of the voice, Fluttershy came further awake, opening her eyes and raising her head.

Where? What? What am I doing here on the floor? She thought to herself. Confused as to how she came to be where she was.

“Fluttershy, are you okay in there? Forgive me dear, but I am coming in.” The door began to glow with a pale blue light and suddenly opened inward, revealing a unicorn mare, having an alabaster coat and rich, full mane and tail of deep indigo-purple color.

“Eeep!” Fluttershy shrieked, instinctively frightened by the intrusion. But as soon as she saw who it was she found her voice. “Rarity? What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here?” Rarity's voice was filled with concern as she came into the room, “I came to invite you to an afternoon at the spa. But forget that, what are you doing down there on the floor?”

“Oh, ah, um,” Fluttershy took stock of her present situation, “I think I fell asleep,” she said even as she got up off the floor.

“On the floor? Oh, my dear, whatever possessed you to sleep on the floor?” Rarity asked. Too late she noticed the matted fur underneath Fluttershy's eyes, realizing that Fluttershy had been crying recently.

Fluttershy turned her head away even as her ears dropped down, too embarrassed to admit to her breakdown.

Rarity hastened to apologize to her friend, approaching to give her a friendly nudge, “I'm so sorry my dear, I just realized. I didn't mean to embarrass you. Can you ever forgive me?”

Fluttershy turned her head back towards Rarity and gave her an honest smile “It's alright Rarity, I know you never meant anything. I suppose it was rather silly of me to fall asleep on the floor like that.”

“Yes, it was. A bed is so much more comfortable than the floor.” Rarity tried to lighten the mood with some levity.

At that point a white rabbit, Angel, ran up to Fluttershy, holding a bowl. Angel had a scowl on his face as he tapped the bowl meaningfully.

Fluttershy's eyes irised open in shock “Oh that's right! I forgot to feed all my dear little friends. Thank you for reminding me, Angel.”

Fluttershy began running around, pulling out bags of animal feed, nuts, and various greens, placing them in heaps on the floor or into various bowls. She placed these strategically near the various holes and hutches about the room. As she did so, the animals began to come out and partake of their long-delayed breakfast.

Rarity looked on in bewilderment at Fluttershy's burst of activity Why haven't the animals been feed already? She thought. Dawn was hours ago. Suddenly, a thought occurred to her.

“Fluttershy, please tell me that you weren't sleeping on the floor all night long.”

“What?” the yellow pegasus mare stopped her frantic rush of activity. “Oh, no no. I um, I was in my bed all night.” Fluttershy replied meekly.

“Well, that's a relief. You'll ruin your health and that beautiful complexion of yours if you make a habit of sleeping on the floor you know.” A thought came to Rarity causing her some puzzlement.

“But Fluttershy, if you had a good night's sleep, why would you fall asleep again before giving the animals their breakfast?” Rarity asked.

Fluttershy hung her head and looked to the side again, hiding behind her slightly disheveled mane. “I didn't sleep.” her voice faded out on the last word.

“What was that dear?”

“Ah hm,” Fluttershy tried to gather some fortitude. “I said I didn't sleep at all last night.” Fluttershy's voice faded to a thin squeak.

“What!? Oh, my stars. Do you mean to say that you lay awake all night long?” Fluttershy meekly nodded her head.

“I'm so sorry Fluttershy; I didn't realize. We all feel terrible about Twilight, of course, but I had no idea you were taking it so hard. Well then. It's decided; you, my dear are coming with me to the spa today.”

“But I−” Fluttershy tried to protest that she needed to look after her animals.

“No buts, Fluttershy. I realize that your animals are depending on you right now, but come two o'clock I expect to see you at the spa or else I'm coming back to drag you there.”

“Oh you don't need to bother yourself with me, I'll be fine−” Fluttershy protested again.

“I absolutely will not accept any excuses Fluttershy; you will be there.” As she spoke, Rarity was glaring intently at Fluttershy; her ears partially pinned back, underscoring how serious she was. Suddenly her features mellowed out into a sad smile, and her ears drooped to the sides of her head.

“Please Fluttershy; we are all of us hurting over Twilight. And we need to be together to support each other. We need you, and you need us.”

“The others will be there too?” Fluttershy asked in curiosity. It usually took some special planning to get all the girls to attend a spa day together.

“Well, when I first came over, I had originally just planned it for the two of us Fluttershy. But the more I think about it, I am convinced that the others are feeling just as adrift as we are. I'm sure they will be there. In fact, I will be going now to invite them all.

“And I'm not taking no for an answer. We all need to be together at a time like this.”

“Okay, Rarity. I'll be there.” Fluttershy smiled, encouraged by the thought of being able to meet her friends and perhaps being able to show them some kindness and encouragement. In case they were feeling as down as she was.

“Well then, I'd better be going now. And thank you for agreeing to come. Bye for now” Rarity turned and made her way to the door.

“Oh, but wait!” Fluttershy called out.

Rarity paused and turned around to look at the yellow mare. “Yes, Fluttershy?”

“Um, it's Sunday. Um, ah, I thought the spa was closed on Sundays.” Fluttershy hung her head and shyly tapped the floor with her right front hoof. As if embarrassed to be asking a question.

Rarity smiled. “They do occasionally open it on a Sunday for special requests by special customers. I, of course, purchased the package for a 'Special Emergency Spa Treatment' last year.

“Of course I've never had to make use of it till now. Mind you I've been tempted to use it several times, but I'm so very glad that I didn't do that. If ever there was an emergency, then this is it.”

“Oh, I see,” Fluttershy replied, watching as Rarity turned back to the door and trotted on through it.

“Bye, Rarity. And thank you.” Fluttershy called out to the retreating mare.

----------------

“Hey, Sugarcube.” “Hello, Fluttershy my dear.” Applejack and Rarity called out from the hot soaking tub they were currently lounging in.

“Oh, hello, girls.” Fluttershy returned as she approached the tub and daintily settled herself down into it.

“Did you happen to see Rainbow Dash today?” Rarity asked Fluttershy.

“Um, no. I haven't seen her since yesterday at the-” Fluttershy gulped before continuing, “-library.”

“Darn that filly,” grumbled Applejack. “Always gone somewhere else when ya want to find her.”

“Wait.” Fluttershy was stunned. “Rainbow's missing too?” She could feel fresh tears welling up in her eyes.

“Now hold it right there missy.” Applejack admonished her. “I didn' say nothin of the sort.

“Knowing that gal, I suspect that she's simply flown off somewhere where nopony can see how much she's hurtin'. If'n we can't find Rainbow it's cuz she simply don't wan'ta be found.”

“Oh, I guess you're right.” Fluttershy murmured. Then she added, “Where's Pinkie?”

Rarity spoke up. “Pinkie left us a message with Lotus Blossom. She said that there was something she had to do and that she would be a little late.”

“Oh.” was Fluttershy's only comment.

None of them had anything else to say, so the group fell into silence as they waited for Pinkie.

Still feeling the effects of her sleepless night, Fluttershy started to doze off.

Applejack pulled her ever-present hat down over her eyes and settled back for some quiet relaxation. The opportunity for which was sure to vanish the moment Pinkie arrived.

Rarity closed her eyes and hummed softly to herself, feeling the small ripples in the Hot tub lap around her neck. Several minutes passed before there was a small disturbance, the sound of somepony moving quietly in the water. By this time everypony was feeling very relaxed. No one stirred to look at the source of the sound. Simply assuming it was one of their friends moving about.

“Ahhh,” A rough voice sighed from Rarity's left, “That feels so good.”

Rarity's eyes flew open upon hearing the unexpected voice. “Rainbow? When did you get here?” she called out in astonishment.

Applejack too, sat up abruptly at the sound of Rainbow's voice, pushing back her hat to reveal her face before greeting the rainbow-maned pegasus, “Hey Sugarcube, where you been hidin' all day? We've been lookin for ya.”

Fluttershy woke up from the commotion and quickly recognized her oldest friend. “Oh Rainbow, I was so worried about you. For a moment I thought you had vanished like – Twilight.”

“Hey, guys.” Rainbow offered in way of reply, making as if her absence was of little consequence.

“Rainbow Dash.” Rarity scolded her. “How could you go missing like that? Especially now, when we are all so very worried about Twilight. I know you can take care of yourself, but still−.”

“It wasn't very nice ta the rest of us.” Applejack finished Rarity's statement, earning herself a tiny glare from the fashionista for stepping on her speech.

Rainbow drew in a breath and let it out with a sigh. Her ears flicked down and back, and she looked down for a brief moment. “Yeah, sorry guys. I just sort of lost my head last night and started flying, trying to forget about what happened.

“It wasn't until morning that finally woke up to what I was doing. When I did, I found myself in the Crystal Empire.

“The Crystal Empire!” Both Applejack and Rarity exclaimed.

Fluttershy's reaction, however, was different. Her eye's dilated momentarily, after which she zipped her way straight to Rainbow's side. Incidentally throwing up a monstrous cascade of water from what could only be called her bow wave, soaking both Rarity and Applejack, drawing squeals of outrage and indignant protests from each of them respectively.

“Oh you poor thing,” Fluttershy exclaimed, rapidly touching and examining a stunned Rainbow. Pulling out one the cyan speedster's wings she gasped, even as Rainbow winced, “You flew all night at maximum effort didn't you? Why Rainbow, you've nearly exhausted all of your magic.”

“Heh Heh” Rainbow blushed and rubbed the back of her head with a hoof. “Guess I couldn't hide it from you Fluttershy.

“Yeah. I guess it was a really stupid thing to do. As it is, I've effectively grounded myself for several days. And there's no 'nearly' about it Fluttershy, I have totally exhausted my pegasus magic.”

“You're forgiven Rainbow Dash.” Rarity spoke up, quite recovered now from the unexpected bath that Fluttershy had given her.

Rarity went on. “Even if I don't understand what you were feeling Rainbow, I do understand that you were very upset.” Rarity waved her hoof around to encompass the entire group. “We're here right now because we are all, each in our own different way, suffering in our hearts from Twilight's sudden absence.

“Why, last night I kept having these awful nightmares and did not rest very well at all. And yes I know that a nightmare is just a nightmare, but it’s more than that. All day I've felt like there's a hole in my heart. I try to act normal and carry out business as usual, but I simply can't.

“I find that my inspiration has abandoned me and right now I couldn't even design a paper bag. I've lost my fashion sense and even my desire to make dresses. Why even the sight of gems is downright repulsive to me right now.” When Rarity finished her declaration, she was half in tears, her lower lip quivering.

Rainbow's eyes opened wide. “What!? But Rarity, you love those things.”

Rarity gave Rainbow a sad smile. “It's true Rainbow. Every word that I said. But there is one thing that does help to fill that hole in my heart. And that's having my friends here with me right now.”

“It's true Sugarcube.” Applejack decided to throw in her story. “I can't stop thinkin' 'bout Twilight none. I tried ta work the orchard like I do every day, but every time I tried ta buck some apples I got plumb distracted with my worry for her. I nearly wrenched my hooves a couple of times before I gave it up as bein' too dangerous." She gave an amused huff. "Heh, imagine that, an Apple what can't buck apples."

Applejack continued. “But bein' here right now, with my friends─ It's like takin' a load off my sore achin' hooves after carryin' around Big Mac all day long.”

“That's right!” exclaimed Pinkie as all the others jerked about in surprise, startled to find her already in the Hot tub with the rest of them.

“Pinkie!” They all called out simultaneously.

Pinkie gave them all a sad smile, leaving them thunderstruck. They had never before seen such an expression as that on her face.

Pinkie spoke up before any of the others could collect their thoughts, “That's right Applejack, and Rarity. I feel so much better now that I'm here with the bestest-best of my very best friends.

“My face hurts. I mean it really-really-really hurts. I've been holding a smile for everypony I meet all day long. And then the Cakes had a special sale going on so of course so there was always somepony in front of me as I worked the front of their shop. Or sometimes I was asked to look after the twins, Pumpkin and Pound, and I really couldn't give them a frowny face.

“But inside, I felt like I had lost my smile, so I had to work extra-super-duper hard to keep a smile on my face and make everypony else happy. Who knew that smiling could be such hard work.

“Guys, I can't smile anymore, it hurts too much.” Pinkie suddenly dropped her sad smile. “But I want you to know, that being here with you, for the first time today I'm smiling in my heart.”

“Awww.” Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack all converged on Pinkie and gave her a wonderful hug. Rainbow held back for a moment but then muttered “Fine.” and joined the group hug.

When they all let go, it revealed a beaming Pinkie Pie. “Oh, Wow!” she exclaimed. “I'm smiling again. And it doesn't hurt my face at all. Thanks, guys.

Suddenly Pinkie inhaled sharply, “You know what this means?” she exclaimed happily and inevitably, quite loudly.

Applejack suddenly grabbed onto Pinkie, wrapping her forelegs around the pink mare. “Now hold yer horses Pinkie, we don't need no party right now.”

Rarity added her voice, to reinforce Applejack's statement, “That's right. How can we possibly think of music and fun and games when we still don't know what happened with Twilight.”

Pinkie's expression drooped, and she sniffled sadly. Thankfully, her mane did not deflate. “You're right; it just wouldn't be the same without Twilight.”

Fluttershy now spoke up, “No it wouldn't, I for one could never enjoy myself at a party when I don't know what's happened to Twilight.

“Last night I was so worried and afraid for Twilight that I couldn't sleep the least little bit all night long. When Celestia finally raised the sun this morning, I got out of my bed thinking that I was okay, but I started acting strange and scared my animal friends.

“When I realized that I wasn't acting like myself, I broke down and started crying right there. I was so tired from not having slept that I must have cried myself to sleep right there on the floor.”

Again the group called out collectively, “Awww.” They came together again in another group hug, from the midst of which there was emitted a single startled “Eep!”

As the group separated again, it revealed a butter-yellow pegasus with a happy little smile on her face, albeit one that was flushed with crimson.

Rarity brought the topic around to Rainbow again. “So you see Rainbow, we are all so very worried about Twilight that we are all 'grounded' as it were.”

The group fell into silence until Applejack broke it. “Rainbow, Sugarcube, ya mind explainin' to us what you were doin' in the Crystal Empire?”

Rainbow looked around slowly and noticed that everypony else was looking at her. “Fine, I'll tell you. Just give me a sec.”

“Like I said earlier, I just flew my wings off last night.” Rainbow extended one of her wings up above the water; it was visibly shaking. She retracted it again as she continued talking, “By the time I woke up to the crazy that I was doing to myself, my flight magic was almost totally gone, and my wings were cramping badly. Luckily I was close to the Crystal Empire and just barely managed to land at the palace.

“I must have collapsed as soon as I landed because the next thing I remember was waking up in one of the palace's guest rooms. I was told that Princess Cadence herself carried me there.”

“When I woke up, one of the Princess's attendants brought me to the Royal's private dining room.”

“I'm glad they thought to feed you Rainbow,” Fluttershy commented, “You know it's very important to eat after exhausting your flight magic.”

“Well at first I wasn't hungry because as soon as I thought of Twilight being missing, I lost my appetite.”

“What?” Fluttershy exclaimed in what was for her a shout. “You didn't eat anything? You know that's very bad for your magic, Rainbow.”

“I know Fluttershy; I know that. But just listen while I tell my story.” Fluttershy held her peace, but she was still obviously distraught. After hearing Fluttershy's comments, the other ponies were also starting to get worried for Rainbow Dash.

“Cadence and Shining asked me to fill them in on everything that I knew about yesterday, so I started to tell them. The funny thing was, the more I talked about Twilight and our search, the more my appetite returned. So pretty soon I was eating this really tasty porridge they had brought out.

“Wow, that stuff was really tasty.” Rainbow smacked her lips and gave a sigh of repletion. “I ate two huge bowls.”

“That's it?” Rarity asked indignantly. “You flew to the Crystal Empire, gave them a rundown on Twilight being missing, and then you stuffed your face?”

“It wasn't like that Rarity.” Rainbow protested. “We talked plenty. I'm just not any good at telling how things went.

“After I told them about what we did yesterday, and what we saw in the library, we started trading stories about Twilight.”

“Oh, and what kind of stuff did you have to say about Twilight?” Rarity asked archly. “Maybe something about how you were teaching Twilight how to fly, and how many times she crashed?”

“No, nothing like that. I told them the story about the time I first met Twilight. She really impressed me you know.” Rainbow's last statement drew the full attention of the whole group.

It was Applejack who spoke first, “Now let me get this straight. Rainbow Dash, future Wonderbolt, the best flyer in all of Equestria─ was impressed by Twilight? This I gotta hear.”

Rainbow held her head up proudly. “Well, I was. It was the day before the Summer Sun celebration, and I accidentally crashed into her, knocking her face-first into a nasty mud puddle. And then I soaked her with too much rain trying to get her clean, and then I used my patented Rainblow-Dry maneuver to dry her off and accidentally turned her mane into a fright-wig.”

Rarity suddenly gasped at that last, as if it were of some personal significance to her.

Rainbow continued, “And except that it all started as an accident, it was one of the greatest pranks I ever pulled on Twilight. And you know what Twilight did?”

The other ponies looked at each other blankly. Pinkie was the one to ask, “No. What did Twilight do?”

“Nothing,” Rainbow answered her question. “Absolutely nothing. Think about it, a total stranger knocks her face down into the mud, deliberately soaks her and then makes a joke out of her mane and she takes it all without a complaint or even a single harsh word.

“I'm telling you that that pony's incredibly even-tempered. And you know what she did after that?”

“No! What?” Pinkie asked breathlessly again.

“She turned the situation right around on me and dared me into clearing the sky. She was really clever about it. At first, I thought I had the laugh on her because boy, was she ever surprised when I cleared the sky in ten seconds flat. But it wasn't until later that I figured out what she had pulled on me.”

“Whoa Nelly,” Applejack interrupted. “Now that's really somethin'. It's easy to get Rainbow to come for dinner, but it's nearly impossible to get her to do some work.” She wore a big cocky grin as she said the last part.

Rainbow attempted to splash some water at Applejack in reprisal for the insult but was limited in that she could only use her hooves to do so.

Rainbow continued, “You know girls, as I told Cadence and Shining that story about Twilight, how I first started respecting her and thinking of her as my friend, that's when my appetite came back.”

“And then what happened Rainbow?” Pinkie asked.

“Well we talked for a little while longer, I chowed down some more food, and then Princess Cadence and Shining Armor put me on the Eleven-Thirty train. I slept some more on the train before I arrived back here.

“Oh and thanks for putting up those signs everywhere Pinkie. I would never have thought of coming to the spa if it weren't for those signs.”

“Signs? What signs?” Rarity asked.

“The ones that said 'Rainbow, see you at the spa.' I put them up all over Ponyville.” Pinkie replied.

“You did what!?” Rarity screeched and then groaned heartily “Lotus Blossom, and Aloe are going to be very upset with me! They normally don't open the spa on Sunday's because they need a day off from their work. But I begged them to open it today, just for us, as a special favor for an emergency. Now everypony in Ponyville will be asking them if they can open the spa on Sundays.

“Ohh!”, a foreleg was laid dramatically against her forehead, “This, Is, The, Worst, Possible, Thing!” Rarity fell back against the wall of the Hot tub, slowing sinking below the surface and blowing bubbles, only her ears and horn remained visible above the water.

“Rarity? Are you alright.” Fluttershy asked cautiously.

“Heh, Heh, Don't you worry none Sugarcube,” Applejack addressed Fluttershy. “That there little conniption of hers is proof that Rarity's feeling a whole lot better.”

“I was not having a conniption!” Rarity suddenly re-surfaced to argue with Applejack.

The whole group, except for Rarity, burst into laughter. However, in short order, Rarity joined their laughter.

Soon, the laughter died down, and silence descended, only to be broken by Applejack. “Ya know Rainbow, I was thinkin' today also, 'bout the first time I met Twilight and what I saw in her.”

Everypony's ears swiveled towards Applejack.

Rainbow looked up with interest. “Oh yeah? Let's hear it.”

Applejack launched into her tale. “It was the day afore the Summer Sun celebration, and I was working down near the gate, when right around the time for lunch I spied a pony, and the weirdest little critter come walking towards Sweet Apple Acres.

“I moved up secret like an heard 'em talkin'. I've got to tell ya, I wasn't too impressed with 'em at first. Little miss busy-britches was complainin' that she was too busy to come all the way out ta Sweet Apple acres and that friends were just a waste of time.”

“What!?” the whole group gasped.

“It's the honest truth, that's what I heard her say. But don't y'all act so surprised or nothing, she never made a secret about the way she used ta think about friendship afore she met us.”

“It's true.” commented Fluttershy, “Twilight said the same thing, about how at first she didn't care about friendship when she made her coronation speech.”

“That's right Fluttershy, she did. Anyways, right after she done said her say about friends being a waste of time, that little critter, Spike, spoke up and mentioned how the Princess had ordered her to make friends. And that's when I got myself an idea on how ta prank her.”

“What!” Both Pinkie and Rainbow exclaimed. “You pranked Twilight?” Rainbow asked.

“Sure did Sugarcube. I got me the idea, that if a mare who didn't want friends, was ordered by the Princess to make friends, then it was my duty to the Princess to be the friendliest of friends. And everypony knows that Apples are mighty friendly to start with.”

Rainbow was smiling broadly; Rarity tittered, Fluttershy hid a timid smile behind a hoof and Pinkie giggled crazily.

Applejack concluded her story “Well, to make a long story short, I nearly shook her leg off, managed to introduce her to the whole Apple clan and then I told her she was inducted into the family.”

“Bwah hah hah ha...” Rainbow burst out in unrestrained laughter. Rarity tittered and Pinkie giggle-snorted, “Tee hee hee, snerk*.” Even Fluttershy was smiling openly now.

“...You inducted her into─ your family, Heh heh.” Rainbow gasped as she finished laughing. “Oh boy, I would have loved to have seen her face.”

“Heh Heh.” Applejack chortled, “Oh it was somethin' to see alright. She looked like the mare what bit into an apple only to see half a worm wriggling out of the other half she hasn't eaten yet.”

“Bwahh− Hah hah hah...”, “Hah Hah Hee hee hee...” Both Rainbow and Pinkie took off laughing again. Rarity however looked to be simultaneously amused and nauseated by the gross metaphor. Fluttershy simply looked sad, filled with concern for the metaphorical worm.

Applejack grinned as she waited for the laughter to die down. “That day, I saw somethin' in Twilight; she was a good pony. For all my pushin' an prankin' her, her resistance ta makin' friends wasn't 'cause she looked down on us country folk. She simply didn't know what a fine thing havin' a friend was.

“I made my choice right then and there that I would be her friend for real, if'n she'd let me.”

“Yeah!” Pinkie called out exuberantly. “Twilight is simply one of the best friends ever. I knew it from the very first moment I saw her that she was my best friend.”

“Ahh Pinkie,” Rainbow Dash interrupted, “everypony's your best friend. Since when is a pony not your best friend?”

“Of course everypony is my best friend.” Pinkie replied. “I love to make everypony smile. But nopony puts a bigger smile on my face than you girls.

“When I saw Twilight for the first time, I had a really big 'GASP!' and that’s how I knew that she was my bestest of best friends, just like you girls.”

“Why darling, what do you mean when you say you had a really big 'gasp'?” Rarity inquired.

“Why shucks Pinkie. Ya gasped when ya saw me for the first time. I thought ya did it for everypony.” Applejack added.

Fluttershy went “Mmm-hmm” and nodded her head in agreement with Applejack.

“Tee-hee. Oh, you sillies. You know what I mean.” Pinkie replied with a happy titter.

“No Pinkie, we don't know, so give us the lowdown on your ‘gasp.’” Rainbow demanded.

Pinkie blinked in astonishment. “Why I thought you all knew. My 'GASP' is just like my Twitchy-Tail.”

At the mention of the phrase 'Twitchy-Tail' all the ponies spasmed. Fluttershy curled up into a tight ball, pressed tightly against the side of the Hot-tub. Rarity and Applejack both jumped right out of the Hot tub and dived under a bench positioned along one wall; it was a tight fit. Rainbow, hampered by the loss of her flight magic, threw both hooves over her head and submerged herself under the water with only her ears remaining above.

Pinkie looked on calmly. “What'cha do-in?” she called out in a voice simply oozing with curiosity.

“Um, you said you had a Twitchy-Tail.” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Hee-hee-hee snerk*. No, I didn't, silly. I said my 'GASP' is just like my Twitchy-Tail.”

“Ya mean yer 'gasp' is one ah yer Pinkie-sense things?” Applejack asked as she crawled out from under the bench.

“Yeppers!” Agreed the happy mare.

“Oh thank goodness,” Fluttershy exclaimed, uncurling from her ball.

“Pinkie my dear, you should have said that in the first place.” Rarity's admonishment held a bit of a whine as she worried over the dirt she might have picked up from under the bench.

“Let me get this straight.” Rainbow, who had now resurfaced above the water, demanded testily. “You say your 'gasp' is one of your Pinkie-senses?”

“Uh-huh.” the pink pony nodded enthusiastically.

“And it means what? That the pony you're gasping at is going to be your best friend.”

“Oh it's much more than that Rainbow,” Pinkie was grinning from ear to ear, “I've only ever 'GASP'ed for the four of you. And then Twilight came to Ponyville and I 'GASP'ed at her too, and that's when I knew she was going to be my fifth bestest of best friends, just like you four are.”

The other mares blushed a bit in embarrassment at Pinkie's compliment, yet they all smiled back fondly at her.

“Why Pinkie,” Rarity spoke up for all the others, “you're one of our bestest of best friends too.” The other ponies all nodded and 'mm-hm'd their agreement.

Pinkie's smile, if it were possible, grew even wider.

Rarity spoke up again, “Well, it seems that we are telling stories about how we first met Twilight, or rather, what we saw in her when we first met her.”

The other ponies looked at Rarity, their eyes glittering with interest. All except for Fluttershy, her eyes irised open in shock as she realized her turn would be next.

Rarity began telling her story. “I was 'in the zone' as it were, doing a simply marvelous job of preparing the decorations for the Summer Sun celebration when I heard the voice of a young mare speaking to me. When I turned towards her voice, I beheld the most hideous sight you could ever imagine.”

“Hey! Don't you go calling Twilight hideous.” Rainbow exclaimed angrily, staunchly defending her absent friend.

“Of course not Rainbow,” Rarity returned smoothly, “I was simply describing the state of Twilight's mane, which I now know we have you to thank for.” Rarity concluded her statement with a glare in Rainbow's direction.

“Ahh, heh-heh. Oh yeah.” Rainbow Dash laughed sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her head with a hoof.

“Well, as I was saying, Twilight's mane was in truly dire need of attention. My heart leaped out for the poor thing, and immediately I brought her to my boutique.”

Rarity paused for a moment as if embarrassed, “I must say that I got a tiny little bit carried away−.”

“Ya mean ya primped and pressed her up like a dress-up doll.” Applejack interjected, causing Rainbow Dash and Pinkie to snicker and even Fluttershy had to hide a grin behind her hoof.

“Ahh− Erhem, Well yes, I won't deny it. But the point I'm trying to make was that nothing I tried worked.”

“What do you mean nothing worked?” Surprisingly it was Fluttershy who spoke up, “Um, if you don't mind my asking that is.”

Rarity smiled at her friend. “What I mean my dear is that none of the styles and ensembles I fit her into seemed to work. They were all too much or not enough. 'Too green,' 'too yellow,' 'too poufy,' 'not poufy enough,' ‘too frilly,' 'too bright.' Oh, the list of things I tried just goes on and on.”

“Ah'm surprised that Twilight sat still for all a that there fussin',” commented Applejack.

Rarity sighed, “Truthfully, she ran off after I fit her into my twenty-sixth ensemble,” both Applejack and Rainbow chucked into their hooves, “and I was devastated of course. But as I sat there and tried to figure out why nothing I'd tried had seemed to work, I realized that there was something special about Twilight.”

“What was that Rarity?” asked Pinkie, eagerly bobbing up and down in the water.

“I realized that Twilight carries with her an inner beauty. On the outside Twilight is just a pretty, if somewhat average looking mare. But what sets her apart is the honest beauty of her heart. There's just something in the way she carries herself, her voice and the depth of her eyes. It shines out for anyone who has eyes to see.

“The reason my ensembles all failed was that they tried to enhance her outer beauty, but in so doing, they distracted ones sight from her inner beauty.”

Rainbow Dash spoke up, “Ehh, I don't know Rarity. I never saw anything like that. You sure you weren't just imagining things.”

Rarity smiled brightly, “I'm very sure Rainbow because you saw the same thing.”

“What?” Rainbow jerked her head back in confusion, her ears twitching about rapidly.

“Didn't you just tell us a little while ago that 'she really impressed you,' that 'she took it all without a complaint or a harsh word' and that 'she was incredibly even tempered'. What you were saying Rainbow was that you saw her beautiful heart.”

Rainbow froze; a stunned look on her face.

“And you Applejack, you were telling us 'you saw something in Twilight,' and that 'she didn't look down on us country folk.' In fact, after you saw her heart you chose to be her friend.”

Applejack grinned happily, “Yeah, I suppose maybe I did see her heart at that.”

“Ohh, and me! And me!” Pinkie waved a foreleg in the air excitedly. “I saw her heart too.”

“I'm sure you did Pinkie,” Rarity replied calmly to the pink mare’s exuberance, but now I think it's Fluttershy's turn to tell us about her meeting with Twilight.”

All of the other members of the group turned their eye's upon the timid mare.

“Eeep!” Fluttershy gave a little peep and cowered behind a lock of her pink hair as well as a raised forehoof.

The other's waited patiently as Fluttershy struggled to overcome her inhibitions; they were all her dear friends after all.

Pinkie's plea broke through Fluttershy’s last bit of reluctance. “Please Fluttershy, won't you tell us what super-duper special thing you saw in Twilight.” The other mares held their silence.

“Well, ahh, I guess I could do that if you really want to hear it, that is,” Fluttershy replied in her typically soft voice.

“Fluttershy,” surprisingly it was Rainbow's rough voice which answered her, “You are going to tell us because− It's about Twilight. So yeah, I really want to hear everything about Twilight and your part is the only part we're still missing.”

Fluttershy smiled thanks at her oldest friend.

“So um, I first met Twilight on the day before the Summer-Sun celebration. When she walked up to me I was so scared and shy that I couldn't talk to her, I couldn't even tell her my name. Eventually, she complimented me on the music and left me alone.”

“What?” Rarity exclaimed, “She just up and left you alone?”

Fluttershy hung her head; her ears lowered to the sides. “Yes and I was very thankful she didn't demand any response from me, but I felt very bad for her, she must have walked away thinking I didn't like her.”

“Well then Sugarcube, when did ya become friends with Twilight?” asked Applejack who had a puzzled frown on her face.

“Well,” Fluttershy resumed her narrative, “right as Twilight was walking away, Spike came walking along the path. As soon as I saw him I got so excited that I rushed right to his side. Ohh− he was the cutest little baby dragon I've ever seen.”

“Fluttershy? Have you been seeing other baby dragons besides Spike?” Pinkie asked, her face squinched right up into Fluttershy's.

“Eeep!” Fluttershy squeaked as she tried to fade into the wall of the tub.

“Because if you have, I'm gonna tell him that you've been cheating on him.” Pinkie concluded.

Rarity's jaw dropped and Rainbow facehooved. Applejack just pulled her hat down over her face to hide her expression.

Fluttershy desperately shied back from Pinkie, “No! Spike is the only baby dragon I've ever seen.”

Pinkie backed off and waved happily, “Oh, well that's all right then.”

“Fluttershy my dear,” Rarity spoke up, attempting to calm Fluttershy down after Pinkie's unnecessary disruption. “Please don't mind Pinkie, she's just being− Pinkie.” Upon hearing that Pinkie grinned brilliantly.

Rarity continued her effort to encourage Fluttershy. “Please continue with your story; you were saying how Spike was the cutest little baby dragon you've ever seen? I can certainly agree with you on that.”

“Oh yes.” Fluttershy started speaking again, caught up on her memories of the baby dragon. “I thought Spike was so cute, and then when I found out that he could talk, I was absolutely ecstatic! Well, pretty soon I had encouraged Spike into telling me his whole life's story. And as I listened, I started to learn things about Twilight.

“Spike, well Spike's just a baby, and naturally everything he said was centered about himself. But through his story, I saw Twilight. I heard how she had hatched Spike, how she had helped Princess Celestia take care of Spike when he was just a helpless hatchling. Spike never said it, but I recognized from his story that Twilight had gradually taken over more and more of Spike's care and education even while she was still just a filly herself.

“By the time Spike finished his story, I had come to realize how caring and nurturing Twilight really was. Spike's not a pony, he'll never have a Cutie Mark and find his talent and place in our society, but Twilight has given him a home and given him a purpose as her assistant.

“And that's how I saw Twilight's heart and thought that I would like to be her friend, if she didn't mind, of course.”

Rarity came over and gave Fluttershy a hug. “Darling, I'm so proud of you for telling us your story. We shall treasure it in our hearts.”

“Yeah.”, “Sure thing Sugarcube.”, “Pinkie promise!” the other mares agreed with Rarity.

“Now then,” Rarity took command, “I think we've all had enough time in this Hot tub, who wants a massage...”

----------------

Five mares, their hearts, and bodies feeling refreshed came out of the spa, squinting in the light of the late afternoon sun.

They stood in a loose circle, wondering sadly why they had to break apart again after they had just found so much strength in each other.

A soft whisper of rapidly beating wings, barely heard began to register on their ears when a brown and tan projectile struck the ground in their midst.

All the ponies shied back a step at the sudden intrusion, but they arrested their motion as they got a better look at the intruder. There on the ground, in the midst of a circle of five ponies, stood a medium sized owl.

Fluttershy's eyes opened wide and her ears pricked forward as soon as she recognized their visitor. “Owlowiscious, what are you doing here?”

Author's Note:

(1) 'A nightmare is just a nightmare': For many generations, prior to Luna's return. Ponies have had to deal with their nightmares the old fashioned way. Rarity is just commenting on a fact of life that she and all her companions have grown up with.

Well everyone, here's the latest installment. What can I say, It took a few weeks longer than I expected.

As always, your feedback and comments are welcome and I really do enjoy reading your postings.
--------
Edited June 4, 2017. Edited using ‘Grammarly’ software.

Comments

[GMZ_Casper]

Pro: I have to say, this was a very heartwarming chapter. I doubt anyone would denied themselves a smile from it.
Con: Eh, I hate to point this out, but the chapter had more grammar issues than normal. But, I supposed you was just trying to rush the chapter in or something, so that is understandable. One tip I would like to give you, though: When you are using a title (or a honorific) with a name, you capitalize the title/honorific with it.

Anyways, I am loving this story so far, keep up the great job.

[Painting_Strides]

I can draw! (A LOT better than my profile picture........this was a long while ago.) But it would be on paper, posted on my instagram....

http://instagram.com/princess_skywriter/

[Sound Wave]

This. I approve of this~ Looking forward to more!

[grouchopony]

5511881
Well, I intentionally designed the Equestrian sciences (and technology) to be behind our on earth by varying amounts.
Sometimes by decades. Sometimes by centuries.

My inspiration for doing so was Admiral Biscuit's marvellous story 'Onto the Pony Planet'.
Though my own effort is clumsy in comparison to his of course.

So- Twilight is not dumb. She's either encountering something new for the first time, or maybe something familiar being done in a totally alien manner.

[Seirs]

Great chapter, and a spectacular little interlude in the story.
I think you really captured the characters of the mane 5 here, especially Pinkie. I also loved the little insights into each pony's meeting Twilight. I thoroughly enjoyed AJ's tale, and I loved what you did for Fluttershy's tale, that was ingeniously done.

[grouchopony]

5511881
Well, I intentionally designed the Equestrian sciences (and technology) to be behind our on earth by varying amounts.
Sometimes by decades. Sometimes by centuries.

My inspiration for doing so was Admiral Biscuit's marvellous story 'Onto the Pony Planet'.
Though my own effort is clumsy in comparison to his of course.

So- Twilight is not dumb. She's either encountering something new for the first time, or maybe something familiar being done in a totally alien manner.

[Seirs]

5512176

Fluttershy however was the hardest, she did not interact with Twilight at all.

That's exactly what was going through my head as I was reading. Then having her insight into Twi come from Spike's story seemed so natural I'm really glad you thought of that.

[grouchopony]

5512081
Sorry folks - I must have accidentally deleted one of my replies.
The posting system has now gone crazy and started mixing up the link in Seir's message.
ANYWAY- HERE is a repeat of my first reply to Seirs (as best as I can remember it).

I surprised myself with the amount of material I was able to fit into Applejacks story. It all came so naturally and sat so well with AJ's character and with the original MLP episode.

The same was true for the other ponies, but to a lesser degree.

Fluttershy however was the hardest, she did not interact with Twilight at all. I was quite relieved when I found I could use Spike as a proxy for Twilight.

Seirs - no reply is necessary. You already have.

[grouchopony]

5511421

I very much want to hear about my grammatical mistakes. And I thank you for bringing them to my attention.

My only editor and grammer checker is 'Microsoft Word'.
So when a reader graciously corrects me, I will slowly, oh so slowly, try to pound the lesson into my head.

In a week or so, I will go back and correct my story.

[GMZ_Casper]

5512254
Most of it is actually pretty easy to catch by proofreading and some light researching (a quick googling here and there, basically). It is usually just the basic stuffs: words that should be capitalize (like 'dash') or the opposite, missing commas, and other random errors. I would have usually provided some C&Cs, but lately, I have been getting swamped with C&Cs and editing (that, and it was getting too late at night for me to even bother), so I have been trying to moderated myself. I'll go ahead and give you some C&Cs for this chapter today (if I don't get lazy and let time go by), but I think you're doing fairly alright for the previous chapters (something that can easily wait for later onward, like around the final chapter or something).

[Kenny]

I must say, it is quite refreshing to read about a God-fearing man in a fanfic.

I know it's always a hot topic, that thing we call religion, so I've gotta say "Amen!" to the explanation behind Christmas.

Bold and unashamed in the discussion of intellectual topics. I applaud your efforts.

[Wacky]

5512254 This wasn't a bad chapter, but it came off as a little repetitive to me. I realize the importance of showing the rest of the Mane Six emotional state, but I feel. that it would have functioned better as a group rather than individual.

That aside, good job on actually telling a complete story--most authors focus only on their main character and ignore the rest.

I've been really enjoying this work and hope to read more soon.

[grouchopony]

5515249
You are right. I could feel the repetitiveness growing even as a was writing it.
Soon I started looking for some way out of that and eventually hit on using a Hot-tub scene.

However I don't regret following the characters individually for the first half of the chapter, it really helped to show how poorly they were coping with Twilight's loss.

[Fictional Fanatic]

I am greatly enjoying this story, I just read this last chapter and really hope for the next one to come soon. Also, Finally a new clue for Twilight's friends to follow!

[darkssa]

equestria is not the name of the planet its just one kingdom like the griffon kingdom and the minotaur kingdom and the changeling hivelands and the demand dog clans and just so you know pigs are not a race they can't talk on equess ether and griffons eat meat and im sure demand dogs also eat meat and equestrian's only control the weather within the own kingdom and there's just one more thing princess luna dose not control the star's just the moon

[darkssa]

a colt is a boy a filly is a girl a stallion is a man a mare is a woman and a foal is a kid

[grouchopony]

5520136

equestria is not the name of the planet its just one kingdom...

It may well be that I used 'Equestria' instead of 'Equus' in some of my earlier chapters, but then at that point in time it was not yet established between the characters that Twilight was on a different world. I'm not arguing with you, just saying that I don't remember. I will have to go back and review what I wrote.

...and just so you know pigs are not a race they can't talk on equess...

Ehhh, that was a calculated risk on my part. The sheep can talk, and yet they are herded and kept in pens. I intentionally extended that concept to include the pigs, even though there are no instances of them talking in the show.
Why? Well here on our world pigs are known to be much more intelligent than sheep.

and there's just one more thing princess luna dose not control the star's just the moon

I may have been subconciously influenced by all the other FimFiction stories I have read - where Luna does control the stars.
You are right in that I cannot remember any show episode where it says she is responsible for the stars.
However, having Luna responsible for the stars does fit into my head-cannon as to where Equus is in relationship to our own Universe. To be presented in more detail in some future chapter (or story).

[grouchopony]

5524949
Not sure what you are getting at here.
I know what a foal, colt, filly, mare and stallion are. I try to pay very close attention to such words.

The only one that is sometimes mis-applied is the word 'foalish' which I belive the TV episodes
have used as a punnish play on the word 'foolish'.

Things however, can get a little loose and confused between Mike and Twilight.
Twilight has had past experience with being in 'human' form, so she knows or has quickly learned the human terms but still has a strong bias towards thinking in the pony vernacular.
Mike is starting to see Twlight as being very 'human' and mentally thinking of her as a girl from time to time.

So there is no mistake, I have used the words I used with a great deal of exactitude.

[grouchopony]

5586727
I thank you very much for finding those mistakes. I will endeavor to correct the chapters in the next few days. At present I do not have any editor other than myself and MS word and I believe the first two chapters were published without even that benefit.

Your feedback is greatly appreciated. However I do hope you take some time to enjoy the story once you work your way past those errors.

[Dreamclaw]

5588060
No, it's fine. I must have missed that point, that's all. If she introduced herself then it's pretty much what I had in mind =P

5588398
He's honestly too good. He feels unnatural with all his excuses and sweet stuff he does =\
Maybe you do need to make him a bit more human-like. After all no human is perfect.

5525963
If Luna controls the stars she basically controls hundreds and hundreds solar bodies which makes her times more powerful than Celestia... Which does not correspond to the canon of her being the youngest sister and having almost equal powers back when they thought against each other (and that's with nightmare forces and dark magic to increase her abilities). In my canon they are just pretenders since moving Sun is IMPOSSIBLE from MANY scientific points of view. And I'm not just talking about it being too big or too far to move, no. I'm talking about the impossibility of moving it in real time mode like they clam to be able to do. It takes 8 minutes for the light from the Sun to Reach Earth. So even if magic effect did arrive instantaneously to the sun (of which I doubt, more likely it would take another 8 minutes to reach the Sun), it would take 8 minutes for ponies to notice it moving.
And even if it was a smaller star situated MUCH closer to the planet (like a body of Moon size situated on the same distance) it would be pretty much impossible for it to shine in the same spectrum and intensity WHILE maintaining such temperature and radiation levels that would not annihilate all life forms from the planet (which are Earth-like and presumably have very similar habitation requirements).

So here, moving Sun is impossible. And moving Moon would most likely cause so much havoc and cataclysms that I doubt she does that either.
Besides, where would they move them to? It was shown that they pretty much move just fine as they should all the time, so what do they actually do?
Do they stop the sun and the Moon just when it goes past the horizon? Then what about cities located outside the Canterlot? Do they have Sun hanging in one place half of the day just because the city is located below the horizon line due to the curvature of Earth? Is only 1 spot on the planet habitable? Because I'm pretty sure the Sun frozen in one place would lead to forest fires and such making the other side of the planet barely habitable. So it is just BS...

In my canon they are just 2 long-living beings who gained knowledge on how to rewrite history and manipulate common ponies to make them believe whatever BS they say.
I'm open for discussion on that one. It would have been interesting for Mike to bash Twilight into scientific facts and see her make excuses on how it can be true. I bet she would use magic mumbo-jumbo but it still doesn't cancel the basic laws of the Universe such as the speed of light and momentum.

[grouchopony]

5589954

If Luna controls the stars she basically controls hundreds and hundreds solar bodies which makes her times more powerful than Celestia...

I hear your argument, and it's perfectly correct, if the MLP universe was like our own.
I will explore my headcannon regarding these differences in later chapters. No spoilers now.

[1eragon33]

Update when????

[grouchopony]

5617418 Within a week.

[1eragon33]

5617891 YAY!!!!

[grouchopony]

5620565 Yes.

[grouchopony]

5623313

Gonna have to call you on this one! Maple syrup is I can speak from personal experience a very much acquired taste!

Thanks for that tidbit of information. I certainly did not know that even Maple Syrup could be an acquired taste. Certainly in my case it was love at first taste.

In my evaluation of the whole 'Winter Wrap-Up' episode, the Earth Ponies use their magic to force the awakening and growth of the trees. Certainly by the end of the episode (a day and a night) all the trees had fully foliated.

Now I look at it this way, their magic brings the sap and nutrients up from the roots and also accelerates the growth of buds into full foliage.

So the maple sap will run in equestria, but only for a few hours at best, and certainly not long enough to tap more than a cup or two, if anypony thought to try doing such an odd thing when they are all supposed to be working on Winter-Wrap-Up.

[Ariel Schnee]

I hope to see more of this soon because I am loving this fic now!^_^

[Wellwater]

The chapters with the rest of the Mane Six are generally a lot rougher, I think mostly because the characters don't have enough room to breathe and act independently: they're all kind of reacting at the same time. There's no need for all of them to respond verbally or in similar ways to something someone else says, or something they discover. So drawing that out more would help a lot.

Otherwise, I like this story quite a bit, and it's one of the very few stories that manages a decent view of Christians.

[Dinode]

You know, the idea of Applejack overhearing Celestia's instructions from Spike explains sooo much. The only other explanation I've ever heard was from Glados of all machines telling Twilight that Celestia had bribed the Mane Six into being her friend. I like this idea much better.

[Frazone]

Ya need ta work on your folk talk.

Man it took me a while to get through this chapter. It was a very nice chapter you did a good job with it. Only thing was the flash backs where taken almost straight from the first episode and didn't add enough to really be worth it, especially since you then went over it again getting to the important bits again during the hot tube scene.

[silvadel]

The Twilight chapters are far better than the non-Twilight chapters.

[jaroslav]

5520136
We don't know if there is minotaur kingdom and from what we know changeling are nomads. If they had stable place they live at, they would be already found and defeated. They live by plundering settlements and after sucking all love they move to next.

[SirShadestrider]

“Fluttershy, are you Okay in there? Forgive me my dear but I am coming in.” The door began to glow a light blue and suddenly opened inward, revealing a unicorn mare having an alabaster white coat and rich full mane and tail of a deep indigo-purple color.

That doesn't need to be capitalized.

When Celestia finally raised the sun this morning I got out of my bed thinking that I was Okay, but actually I was acting mean and scaring my animal friends.

That doesn't need capitalized either

“Your forgiven Rainbow Dash.” Rarity spoke up, quite recovered now from the unexpected bath that Fluttershy had given her.

You're

Applejack launched into her tail.

You mean tale.

When I turned towards her voice I beheld the most hideous sight you could ever imagine.”

I had to do it. I'm sorry.
4.bp.blogspot.com/-V3hnzrnY7zg/VKff9X8fVbI/AAAAAAACHGw/o68lylwXFZw/s1600/1.JPG

[LordBucket]

This is not a strong chapter. It seems like all of the "meanwhile, in Equestria" chapters are generally weak. Both in terms of writing mechanics as well as content. Not going to itemize errors, I see others pointing them out too. The bigger issue here is that these chapters are very long and they simply aren't contributing anything to the story.

This story is about Twilight and Mike. "Meanwhile in Equestria" should be supplemental to that. What happened to Luna? She left a bunch of chapters ago to find the suppliers for the book that Twilight used. It's been several tens of thousands of words, but you seem to have abandoned that crucial plot thread. What is Celestia doing to try to recover Twilight? Not that I'm especially eager to know that specific thing, but it would be relevant to the actual substance of the story: Twilight's stuck on Earth. Revisiting how the others first met Twilight isn't relevant. Providing a recap in the second half of this chapter of what happened in the first half of the this chapter wasn't necessary. You're spending a lot of time writing about things that are neither very relevant to the story nor very interesting.

[Blankscape]

Five mares, refreshed in their hearts as well as their bodies came out of the spa, squinting in the light of the late afternoon sun.

lol what, did they leave their bodies inside?

[everydaygamer]

I realize this is really old but I gotta say this chapter was way too long for what it covered. I mean did we really need the flashbacks when there is a scene later that has them tell each other these stories anyways?