Shattered Bonds
Applejack had just finished up her work at Sweet Apple Acres, and was making her way to Twilight’s library. Earlier that morning, the local mail mare had dropped off a letter from Spike. The only words on it were “I have to tell something to all of you.”
I hope that little fella’s alright. He’s probably feelin’ lower than a piglet stuck in a mud hole. It had only been a day since Celestia had taken Twilight back to Canterlot. Applejack could only imagine how distraught Spike was right now. What would make him write such a cryptic letter? Hardly made any sense at all.
As she walked through the town’s streets, she felt as if something was missing. Her eyes flicked back and forth down the street. Only a few ponies were outside, the streets oddly barren for a Wednesday afternoon. Usually school foals were out, eating at Sugar Cube Corner or playing at the park. Wonder what’s going on?
“Hey, Applejack.”
For a moment, the orange mare nearly doubled over out of shock. Pinkie Pie walked out of Sugar Cube Corner, her mane hanging straight down. That was the quietest greeting Pinkie ever gave me. I'm sure somethin’s up. “Hey, Pinkie. Why so grey?”
Applejack thought she was looking at another pony. The carefree pink party mare didn’t have a single trace of her usual exuberance. Pinkie walked over to Applejack, not even hopping once. “I just don’t feel like my usual Pinkie self today.”
“I’m bummed out myself, Pinkie, but don’t worry. Twilight‘ll come back. She just needs some time to reflect is all,” consoled Applejack. A small smile began to work its way on Pinkie’s muzzle. “Say, did ya get a letter from Spike today?”
Pinkie immediately perked up. “Yep, yep. I got it bright and early this morning. Wonder what Spike got to tell us. Maybe it’s some kind of super-secrety secret?”
“Not sure, but I’m heading over there now. I just hope the little guy is holding up alright.” The two earth ponies resumed their journey to see Spike, unaware that somepony was watching them.
In an alleyway, right across from Sugar Cube corner, a lone pony stood in the shadows. The hooded pony leered at them, her face hidden by a grey cloak. As quietly as she could, she double backed into the alley and began to make her way to the Golden Oaks Library. It was almost time for her to put on the best show ever.
When Applejack and Pinkie made it to the library, they found the door already half open. Pushing it open all the way, Applejack’s nose was tickled by the scent of freshly baked sweets. The library’s center table was covered with sugary delicacies.
“Bout time you got here!” Rainbow Dash flew down from the ceiling. “What took you guys so long?”
“What’s got your feathers in a ruffle, Rainbow?” snorted Applejack.
She snapped her wings out in frustration. “In case you forgot, Applejack, Twilight got royally bucked over and Spike called us all here.” Zipping over to the table, Rainbow Dash started piling up glazed doughnuts on a paper plate. “As soon as I got done with the weather duty, I flew right here.”
“Now, Rainbow, do you always have to act so rude?” said a rather posh voice. Rarity walked out of the kitchen, a tea set held in a magical blue light. “Poor Spike is working himself to the bone making all of this food. He even went so far as to make chamomile tea for me on the spot. You can just tell the poor dear is as worried about Twilight as any of us.”
“Guess everypony is here, ‘cept Fluttershy,” said Applejack, as she began to make a plate.
“Umm, I’m in here,” called Fluttershy from the kitchen. She walked into the main room, a small dot of flour covering her nose. She wore a small pink apron with her cutie mark, a pink-winged butterfly, in the center of it. “When I got Spike’s letter, I rushed right over here.”
Applejack nodded her head. “That’s mighty kind of you helping out, Fluttershy.” Spike could use somepony to look after him. He may be a tough little guy, but he’s still only a baby dragon. Maybe he could stay with Fluttershy for a spell. As Applejack began to take a few bites out of her apple danish, she couldn’t help but notice that Pinkie wasn’t eating at all.
Pinkie was never one to turn her nose up to sweets. Half the time, she looked like a pink blur around a dessert table. “Pinkie, you’re not hungry?” Everypony present turned to look at her. A small éclair was on her plate, but she hadn’t even taken a nibble out of it.
Fluttershy was the quickest to respond, dashing over to her friend. “Pinkie, is something wrong with the éclair?”
Pinkie shook her head.
“Do you feel sick?”
Another shake of the head.
“Are you worried about Twilight?”
Finally, a nod of the head.
Rainbow Dash threw a leg around Pinkie. “No worries, Pinkie. She’ll be back.”
As everypony had a plate and began to happily eat their sweets, the tension in the room began to slowly die down. Rainbow Dash still had a noticeable twitch in her wings while Rarity rocked her hooves back and forth, raking them against the wooden floor. The sound of an oven door closing shut caught everypony’s attention.
Spike the dragon walked out, his frilly kitchen apron covered in flour, icing, and other bits of confectionery. His claws looked worn out, with small scales missing and the end of his nails chipped. His eyes seemed raw with fresh tears. A small tray of various muffins were held in his claws as he made his way into the room. His voice was so low that nopony could hear him say ‘excuse me’ as he walked past them.
Placing the tray on the table, he pulled off his apron and dropped it on the floor without care. “Hey everypony,” croaked out Spike, his voice raw and hoarse. Rarity offered her cup to Spike, decorated with a lemon wedge on the lip, but Spike just pushed it away with a claw.
“Everypony, I have something to tell you.” Taking in a deep breath, Spike closed his eyes, as if something bad was about to happen. “When Twilight came back to the library, I was so worried of what she was about to do. She was talking to herself like a mad mare, going through spell books and throwing them off the shelves. I’ve never seen Twilight act like that.”
Applejack shivered at the thought of Twilight deliberately abusing her books. Spike was right to be afraid. Twilight had to be off her rocker to start throwing her precious books around.
“I was worried, so I did the only thing I could think of,” continued Spike. He clenched his tiny claws together so tightly, a few scales peeled off. “I’m the one who told Celestia.”
Splat
Rainbow Dash’s cupcake fell to the floor, as the plate slipped out of her hooves.
“You what?!?” said the elements of harmony in perfect unison.
“I know, I know. I’m sorry,” cried Spike. He threw his stubby, flour covered arms over his eyes as fresh tears began to flow. “I was just so worried. What if Twilight didn’t stop? What if she kept trying to fix everything that wasn’t wrong?”
Applejack pulled Spike into her chest. “Spike, look at me.” Wiping away his tears, Spike tried to look eye to eye at Applejack. “Spike, you didn’t do nothing wrong. You were just looking out fer your kin’.”
“Back it up there, Applejack!” Rainbow slammed down onto the library floor so hard books fell out of their shelves. “Spike, how could you rat out Twi like that?” Pointing an accusing hoof at the young drake, Rainbow’s rose colored eyes began to turn blood red. “Why would you throw Twilight under the carriage like that, Spike? Friends don’t rat each other out!”
“Rainbow Dash! How could you say something, so, so mean?” said Fluttershy in disbelief. She flew over to Spike, draping a wing over his head, like a mother protecting her foal. “We were all there, watching everypony fighting over that doll. It was terrifying.” The yellow Pegasus stood in front of Rainbow Dash, their eyes locked. “What could anypony, any of us do, facing something like that?”
Rainbow slowly made her way forward, her face contorted into a visage of pure rage. “But he told Celestia! That is so not cool.”
“It ain’t about anypony being cool, Dash,” seethed Applejack. The tone in the farmpony’s voice turned to ice. “Spike was just doing what he thought was best.”
Rainbow Dash was so close that she could smell the earth pony’s scent. “What he thought best? Well, what he thought was best just cost us a friend, not to mention smearing her name with Celestia.” Rainbow Dash took a step back to look at Spike, who was still being shielded from her rant by Fluttershy. “Think, Spike. Celestia expects Twilight to always have a letter written each week. You know she’d flip her lid if she didn’t write one.”
“I don’t think she would.” All eyes turned to Pinkie. The usually perky, pink pony’s voice still sounded downtrodden, but it was enough to break the growing tension in the room. Taking her place by Applejack, three of the Elements stood by Spike, forming a protective barrier around him. “Celestia isn’t a meanie-mcmeany-pants like that. She wouldn’t punish Twilight for something as silly as missing a deadline.”
Rainbow pressed her lips together in frustration. Everypony could hear Rainbow clenching her teeth so tightly they could be worn down to the gums.
A small clank could be heard as Rarity set her teacup down on the table. “How do you know that?” Rarity sided up besides Rainbow Dash, tossing up her mane. “Princess Celestia wouldn’t expect any less from Twilight. Even if Spike hadn’t meant anything by it, he’s certainly put Twilight in a precarious position, Pinkie.”
The fashionista magicked a small compact mirror and eyeliner into thin air. “While Rainbow Dash has been rather, well, blunt, I’m sure you can see her point,” Rarity said as she stroked her lashes. “Everypony in town is already talking about last night. Twilight’s good name has been tarnished.” With one final stroke, Rarity made the compact and eye liner vanish in a burst of blue light.
Spike couldn’t take the growing feeling of shame. He ran out from behind Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie, through the kitchen and out the back door. The Elements watched as the sounds of his cries could still be heard as he ran out of sight.
“Spike, wait!” Fluttershy flew after the young drake at breakneck speed, messing everypony’s manes and leaving behind a flurry of papers.
“Well I hope ya’ll are quite proud of yourselves,” spat Applejack. “The poor little colt’s heart been hurtin’ and now you two come in here and makin’ him feel worse? What’s wrong with y’all?”
Rainbow Dash snorted, but didn’t say anything in response. Rarity, on the other hoof, didn’t remain silent. “Applejack, dear. I admit, perhaps we were a bit too rough on him, but-“
“But nothing, Rarity. You need to apologize to him as soon as Fluttershy finds him.”
“For what? Telling him the truth, like somepony here is famous for?” said Rainbow Dash.
A small twang could be heard, like an invisible cord finally snapping after enough pressure was applied. “That’s it! When Spike gets back, you’re going to apologize, so stay put.”
“Whatever, I’m out of here. I only trust ponies, and dragons, that are actually loyal to each other.” On that note, Rainbow tore out of the library and flew up into the sky.
Rarity leered at Applejack before following after her friend, her nose held high in the air. “Applejack, I don’t believe you’ve got any right to criticize Rainbow or I for voicing our concerns. I’ll be back when you’re ready to talk sense.” She walked out, leaving Applejack with a look of disgust on her face, closing the library door behind her.
“Why, those simple minded, fluffing, buckin, plotheads!” Stomping her hoof down in frustration and adding a few cracks to the floor, Applejack continued to swear loudly. Ponies passing by the library hurried along. Mares clasped their foal’s ears with their hooves as Applejack’s voice increased in volume. After a solid three minutes of ranting and raving, she found herself out of breath and sweating from her little episode.
Pinkie Pie, her ears still ringing, tried to speak up, but she couldn’t come up with anything to say. “I, ughh, I gotta go and bake a cake.” As she walked out of the library, she took one last glance behind her to see Applejack slump to the floor. “I’m sure everything will work out fine.”
Applejack fell to her knees, laying sprawled out on the floor. Her Stetson fell beside her, letting her mane flow freely. Twi, I wish you’d come back to us. We could sure use the magic of friendship right now. The earth pony continued to lie there, her heart twisting and turning as waves of guilt churned inside of her. She looked out through the window, watching Celestia’s sun traveling through the sky. How long were we arguing?
Unbeknownst to Applejack, a certain unicorn was watching her through the library’s ground window. Hidden inside of a bush beneath the windowsill, she had silently watched the five ponies and dragon fight. So, Twilight Snarkle really is out of the picture. Perfect! With her in Canterlot, it’s time to show these dirt yokels who truly is the greatest magician ever! Snickering to herself, she crawled low to her belly, disappearing from sight. A small flash of purple light exploded beneath the back window of the library.
The unicorn reappeared beside a rather dilapidated show wagon. “No more hiding,” she said to herself as she walked inside her wagon. “No more dodging rotten tomatoes from simple minded ponies that can’t recognize real talent.” Picking up a tattered purple wizard hat with stars embroidered into it, the unicorn dusted off her prized possession. “They’ll all see. I’m too big of a star for anypony to ignore me anymore.”
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funny how they all seem to be forgetting that it was their neglect that helped push twilight over the edge.
5662867
Was it their fault that Twilight decided to use such a spell? I'm not saying you're wrong, but Twilight ultimately chose to use the 'Want-it-Need-it' spell.
Also, with the whole pointing the finger/hoof, I wanted to show RD's sense of loyalty. She's the element of loyalty but who is she more loyal to and would her mindset affect her rational thinking.
I thought the Cake twins' birth wasn't until after this episode.
5666014
Oh holy crap, that completely slipped mind. Fixed that, thanks.
So other than that, what do you think of the current conflict between everypony?
Uh oh... Trixie?
Well, my lecturers will, so why am I reading fanfiction instead of working?!
Yeah, I can tell the story has gotten a fair bit further. I think you treated how each of the characters work quite well, which was nice to see. That said, I'll still be holding off letting it in until this matter of Trixie comes to light a bit more: I feel I'm on the cusp of the actual meat of the story, and I'd like to be sure I get there.
I was actually expecting to see more of Twilight this chapter, though. I'm not complaining. I just dislike being proven wrong.
One thing that always amuses me, though, is how each person interprets what each 'element' does. I never really liked it when people give a strict set of behaviours to each pony based on their element. You could have easily painted Rainbow as being equally loyal and side with Spike, by arguing that he was trying to help her at the time, and nobody else was. Of course, you'd probably have less story to tell if everyone agreed with each other, though. I just think it's a fun thing to think about.
Will wait for more chapters! Keep up the good work!
5671448
Wouldn't leave me much of a story to build up to the climax if they all pitied Spike.
The thing with loyalty is, to me, is how it can be a double edged sword, like honesty. Loyalty to a friend is good, but if you have to do something that can hurt their feelings and cause a rift between you and your friend, it's kind of painful. The truth can also hurt, telling people what they need to hear rather than what they want to hear. That's why I like Rainbow Dash and Applejack. They're elements are so much fun to write with.
5671509 They are. I've been messing with them from day one, and will probably continue to do so for a good long while.
I'm in the middle of writing a half-baked story where Rainbow tries to be loyal to herself. It's kinda' like dividing by zero, but with fanfiction. And don't get me started on what I did to Apples just before that...
Here, it's fun seeing Rainbow get mad at Spike for being disloyal, then on those grounds, leave him to wallow in self pity. It's just so contradictory, I luv it!
After all the feedback you gave me on my story, I figured the least I could do is give out a few of my thoughts about one of yours.
First of all, I like the premise. The scenario is fun and is written in a way that's believable for the characters involved. Celestia is making a bad decision for selfish reasons, but those reasons make sense. I also applaud your use of Pinkie's mane deflating without giving her multiple personality disorder. It's in my opinion one of the worse trope in the fandom, so kudos for using a fun show joke without ruining it.
The second chapter was a bit more hit and miss for me. I like the idea of the characters fighting each other, trying to find who to blame. Like you did for Celestia, I would like to see a Rainbow Dash or Rarity POV chapter that explains why they've been so rude to Spike. Rarity in particular felt a bit weird, as she's always been protective of him in the show. The whole baking thing at the beginning also distracted me from the real action. I was left asking myself why they're eating muffins when they should be discussing the more urgent situation. If you wanna show Spike baking to try and forget what happened, I would dedicate a scene to it. Just me though.
I did enjoy the reveal at the end. It's an interesting twist that again, fits with the events of the show. If things get as bad as when Trixie took over Ponyville in the show, it'll take a good excuse for Twilight not to return to Ponyville.
Anyway, good story, I enjoyed it and will keep reading. Little bit of a quick review, I hope it helps.
5679777
Celestia banished her only sister to the moon for a thousand years. She lost her prized student, Sunset Shimmer,by letting her vanity take over her judgement. She's lost so much that now she doesn't want the past to repeat itself. Put yourself in her shoes, if Twilight lost control of the situation that ponies got seriously injured, how deeply do you think it would've wounded her?
Rainbow Dash has an interesting element, the feeling of loyalty between all of her friends and how she's perceiving the situation as a betrayal by Spike will be done later. As for Rarity, I'm going to do a little chapter on that as well. It's something that bothers me with how I see Spike loving over Rarity but how she mostly uses him to do things for her.
Also, Trixie will have a more interesting and active role than you could imagine.
5714089
Yeah, that's been something that's bothered me about the whole episode. She had a mental breakdown over the whole situation of being late for an assignment. Twilight has always been the 'brains' of the group, always making the calculated decisions and able to identify how to fix it. However, the methods she uses to fix things (parasprites, Flutterbat, It's about time episode, Mare-Do-Well) has made me question what goes inside of that head of hers.
I don't want to paint the image that I hate this character, she does have some endearing traits. I just think that something is profoundly wrong with how she treats each situation and how she responds to it with blowing it up. That's mainly the reason why I started writing this story.
P.S. Your artwork is perfect for this story and I love your avatar. Hope you enjoy the rest of this story.
Like your story can't wait for your next update.
I don't really like to point out mistakes, 
but... in some sentences like
or
Shouldn't it be dragon not drake?
5714420 I like to compare Twilight to Dr. Frankenstein in that most of the time, she doesn't stop and think before she does something, which leads to her making a lot of stupid mistakes.
5714420
Happy that you like it, thank you for the complement. 
I'm enjoying it so far even though it's a little sad right now. I bet Trixie is more of a minor villain in this story.
5726117
Wait and see, you may be surprised of her role in all of this.
Liking this so far. Gonna echo part of what Roranicus said; the baking scene felt a bit like filler, but it's also a good calm before the following storm. Applejack in particular was really well-written in this chapter; I could practically hear her saying her lines. Also "feeling lower than a piglet stuck in a mudhole" is a great phrase.
Found some small quibbles:
The entirety of this sounds like AJ is speaking, so the end quotation mark should be moved imo.
OUCH.
I'd believe they would hear Rainbow grinding her teeth, but clenching doesn't really make a sound, does it? And the down to the gums bit is honestly painful to think about.