64. A true, true Friend
Star Twinkle was up surprisingly early. Thankfully, he had slept peacefully through the night or else he would be way grumpier at the moment. He got up from his bed and stretched a little before he opened the window next to his bed to get some fresh air. Once it opened, he closed his eyes and breathed in slowly, taking in the air in from outside. It was surprisingly loud outside. And windy. And cold. Realizing that, he decided to open his eyes to find out why the weather felt so weird.
The moment he opened his eyes, he realized what was going on outside. But after a closer inspection, he figured that he had no idea what was going on outside. There was a small twister in the air, snow dropping from one cloud, rain coming out of another one, there were even lighting bolt coming out of some of them. And that all happened at the same time.
“Okay...I'm not a weather pony...but I know that that is not supposed to happen,” he said to himself after seeing this happening in front of his house.
Going outside while the weather was raging like this was probably not the best idea that Star Twinkle had but it was the only way to find out what exactly was going on. Once he walked outside, he notices how the clouds were arranged in patterns which of course, seemed strange as well which is saying something despite the weather being already weird.
The best thing he could think of was to ask Rainbow Dash since she was responsible for the weather but he couldn't find her. However, he did find Rarity who seemed focused on the clouds above her head as well. She was most likely wondering what was going on too but Star Twinkle tried to ask her if she knew anything anyway.
Rarity turned around after she noticed Star Twinkle approaching her. Her face was filled with stress and her horn glowed in a blue light, indicating that she was using magic at the moment. “Hello there, Star Twinkle,” she greeted with a rather depressed tone in her voice. Of course, Star Twinkle asked the obvious question if Rarity knew what was going on with the weather and why Rainbow Dash was nowhere to be found to take care of it. But Rarity didn't quite understand. “What do you mean? Why would Rainbow Dash take care of the weather? It's my job after all,”
“Your job?” Star Twinkle replied confused. “And what about your boutique?”
“My boutique? Don't you mean Applejack's Boutique?” Rarity replied confused.
“Applejack's Boutique?” Star Twinkle replied. Just the words Applejack and Boutique being used in the same sentence confused him.
Rarity seemed to focus on the clouds again after she was done talking with Star Twinkle. Her horn continued to glow all the time. This is when Star Twinkle noticed how the clouds were moving while being surrounded in the same blue aura that surrounded her Rarity's horn. She was indeed controlling the clouds and took care of the weather. However, there was one more strange thing that stood out after Star Twinkle inspected Rarity further. Instead of the three diamonds that were normally on her flank, there was a cloud with a rainbow colored bolt coming out of it. It was Rainbow Dash's Cutie Mark. “Is that why she is taking the care of the weather?” Star Twinkle thought.
Of course, Star Twinkle wanted to ask Rarity a lot more questions but once he realized how stressed out she was, he decided to give her a break. There was one more thing that confused him and that was the fact that Rarity mentioned “Applejack's Boutique”. Seeing how Rarity took care of the clouds, he had a strange thought popping up in his mind so he decided if that thought was true.
He arrived at Carousel Boutique. Once he entered it, his assumption seemed to be true. In the middle of the room was Applejack who was stitching dresses. Or at least she tried to. There were already some dresses on display all over the Boutique. All of them looked horrible and not at all what used to be hanging inside there. Judging from how Applejack was already working on another dress, which didn't look any better than any of the displayed once's, he quickly figured that Applejack created them all.
Applejack noticed how Star Twinkle entered the Boutique. “Hey there, Star Twinkle,” Applejack greeted in almost the same way how he was greeted by Rarity before.
“What are you doing here? And why do you work in the Boutique?” Star Twinkle instantly questioned.
Applejack seemed to have a hard time talking with Star Twinkle while working on the dress at the same time. Normally, back on the Sweet Apple Acres, she was bucking apples like it was nothing while having a conversation with somepony. But now she needed all the concentration she had to focus on her dress. “Because it is my destiny, of course,” she replied while she lowered her head in frustration.
“No, it's not! Your destiny is to work on Sweet Apple Acres!” Star Twinkle replied.
“You seem to mix me up with Pinkie Pie, there,” Applejack replied, this time a little more annoyed. “See this?” She said as she pointed towards her flank, revealing three diamonds on it which exactly looked like Rarity's Cutie Mark. “This here is the proof that my destiny is to work here! So if you don't mind, I have some more dresses to make!” She said annoyed before she focused on the dress in front of her again.
It was beyond strange, hearing Applejack say that she had to finish a dress and that was saying a lot considering that she also had Rarity's Cutie Mark. Star Twinkle left the Boutique and was wondering about one more thing. “What did she mean with mixing her up with Pinkie Pie?” Star Twinkle wondered. However, he had a really weird assumption again and decided to find out if it was true.
Star Twinkle went to Sweet Apple Acres. To the Orchard to be exact. He expected Pinkie Pie to be where Applejack was supposed to be. And only after a few minutes, that is exactly what he saw. There was Pinkie Pie who tried to buck apple trees like Applejack. When it came to Pinkie Pie, Star Twinkle actually expected her to do rather good, given that Pinkie Pie was always doing impossible and unexplained stuff. But to his surprise, he found her having problems even hitting the trees properly. Her mane was also straight down, which Star Twinkle knew was a sign that she was not happy.
Despite all that, Star Twinkle approached her, even if he was sure that she wouldn't have all the answers to his questions. As soon as Pinkie Pie noticed Star Twinkle, she stopped her work for a second to greet him. “Hello...err...I mean, howdy, Star Twinkle...” she said in an even more depressed tone in her voice than Rarity or Applejack before.
“What are you doing here Pinkie Pie?” Star Twinkle asked right away to hear her story.
“Working on the farm...duh...” she replied before she placed herself in front of a tree again, trying to kick it. However, there were no apples that came falling down of it. Probably because she didn't kick it with enough force.
Normally, Pinkie Pie showed much more enthusiasm with whatever what she was doing but this time, there was not even a sign of joy or happiness in her face. “You don't really look happy...” Star Twinkle felt the need to say.
“I know...but it is my destiny. See?” She replied as she showed her flank to Star Twinkle. It was just like he expected. Instead of her three balloon Cutie Mark, there were three apples. Applejack's Cutie Mark. Another pony who's Cutie Mark changed for some reason. “Personally I would like to make other ponies laugh, just like Fluttershy...” Pinkie Pie said before she kicked the apple tree in front of her.
“Then why don't you do that?” Star Twinkle asked.
However, while Pinkie Pie turned her head around to give an answer, one apple dropped from the tree and hit her right on the head, causing her to fall down on the ground, with her head spinning.
Since Pinkie Pie was not in the condition to talk, for now, Star Twinkle did walk away and went to his next destination. Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie Pie said something about Fluttershy making other ponies laugh. Again, something that he couldn't quite imagine because of Fluttershy's shy nature. But of course, what Pinkie Pie said was true. Fluttershy stood in the middle of the room and tried to entertain a bunch of ponies. But as expected, Fluttershy had a hard time entertaining her crowd. She tried multiple things like blowing up some balloons or putting on some funny masks but because of her rather upset expression, it was hard to laugh or let alone grin at this performance.
It didn't take long until the crowd left Fluttershy alone. Only Star Twinkle remained so he figured now was a good time to talk with Fluttershy. First, he took a closer look at Fluttershy to make some things clear. There were three balloons on her flank. Pinkie Pie's Cutie Mark. Fluttershy noticed Star Twinkle and greeted him in the same depressed manner that he was used to by the others. “Hello, Star Twinkle,”
“Let me guess...you are trying to make ponies laugh because your Cutie Mark is telling you to?” Star Twinkle guessed.
“Of course!” Fluttershy replied a little determined before she lowered her head with a frown again. “Making ponies laugh is my destiny after all...”
“And what about, taking care of animals?” Star Twinkle asked.
Fluttershy raised her head up again with a smile on her face.“Oh, that would be wonderful! I think...But...” she lowered her head once again. “That is not my destiny, it's Rainbow Dash's...”
“Of course it is...” Star Twinkle thought before he decided to leave Fluttershy alone again.
He figured that Rainbow Dash would be where Fluttershy was supposed to be so he walked to Fluttershy's cottage. He could already hear a lot of commotion coming from inside. He already had an idea what exactly was going on in there. Once he opened the door to the cottage, he saw how a bunch of critters inside were rampaging everywhere. Rainbow Dash was also inside and tried her best to control them but it was impossible. She kept flying against walls while trying to grab some of the pets and put them in cages or something.
Rainbow Dash noticed how Star Twinkle entered the room and greeted him. “Hi, Star Twinkle,” she said in the usual depressed tone that Star Twinkle was greeted by all the others so far.
“Let me guess...” Star Twinkle started. “It is your destiny to take care of the animals?” He guessed, based of from his previous experience.
“Yes, it is...” Rainbow Dash replied heavily exhausted. “Because that's what my Cutie Mark is telling me...” she said as she pointed towards her flank which showed three pink butterflies. Fluttershy's Cutie Mark. “Now if you don't mind, I have to take care of these animals!” She said as she focused her attention towards the critters again.
Star Twinkle figured by now that asking Rainbow Dash would not get him too far so he decided to leave the cottage. Of course, he wondered what exactly was going on and why everypony had their Cutie Marks switched but all of his friends seemed to think that everything was normal. It was like as if they didn't realize how what they were doing, right now wasn't what they were originally supposed to do.
The only one of his friends who he hasn't visited so far was Twilight. “Maybe she got her Cutie Mark switched with somepony else too?” He started to wonder as he walked away from the cottage. However, his question would be answered soon because Twilight and Spike already came running towards Star Twinkle while he was on his way to her.
“Star Twinkle!” Twilight said with some worries in her voice. She stopped in front of him. Since she seemed to be running for a while, she first took some deep breaths before she began talking to him. “Quick! Tell me all about yourself! What you work as! What your destiny is!” She asked in a stressed manner.
“I work as a Carpenter in the Iron Hammer,” He replied calmly, despite how stressed Twilight was asking her question. “As for my destiny...” he added before he pointed to his empty flank, showing Twilight that he didn't found his yet.
Twilight seemed heavily relieved by that. “Thank goodness that you are still the same,” she said, putting one of her hoof against her chest in relief.
Star Twinkle took the opportunity to take a look at Twilight. She still had her normal Cutie Mark. Also, judging from her previous statement, Twilight seemed to have met the others. “What is going on here? Do you know what happened to the Cutie Mark of the others?”
“That is what we are trying to find out,” Spike replied.
“Actually,” Twilight interrupted. “I may have an idea what happened. It's probably better if I show you...” she replied before she leads the way, asking Star Twinkle and Spike to follow her.
She and Spike returned to the Golden Oak Library with Star Twinkle and Spike following her close behind. Once Twilight stepped into the library, Spike and Star Twinkle waited for her to explain the situation. “Here. Take a look at that,” Twilight said as she pointed to a showcase which looked all too familiar to Star Twinkle. “The Elements of Harmony?” He wondered as he took a closer look at the six necklaces and Twilight's crown. It took him some time but eventually, he noticed how something was a little off. The colors of the necklaces were switched, except the element that belonged to him. “The colors changed?”
“When did that happen?” Spike asked, which was pretty much what Star Twinkle was about to question next.
Twilight began to explain. “Last night when you were taking one of your seven-hour bubble baths, I got a special delivery from the princess. It contained a book from Starswirl the Beaded. On the last page of it, there was a spell that he couldn't finish so the Princess gave it to me, in hope that I could finish it,” she explained as she levitated a book towards Star Twinkle for him to take a look inside of it.
“From one to another, another to one. A mark of one's destiny singled out alone, fulfilled,” Star Twinkle read, trying to figure out what it meant but he had not a single clue what it even remotely meant.
“I tried to cast the spell that was written inside of it, but nothing happened. But now I know that something did happen! The spell changed the Elements of Harmony!” Twilight explained stressed.
“You mean, that is why the Cutie Marks of everypony changed?” Star Twinkle guessed as he put away the book again.
“So just cast a counter-spell to switch them back,” Spike suggested, causing Twilight to take the book again for a second to look for one.
While Twilight was busy finding that counter-spell, Star Twinkle looked over to the showcase. He saw how the colors of the necklaces of the others changed. Each of them had a different color than before. He came up with the answer that Twilight's element didn't change because she was the one casting the spell or because her Element was different and more powerful than the others. But there was still one thing that kinda bothered him. “Why didn't my element change?” He wondered as he looked at the necklace with the white star on it that belonged to him. “Is it because I don't have a Cutie Mark? Or because I have this unknown one? What is going on? And why do I feel so sad about it? I should be happy about that. But for some reason, I feel...left out...”
“There is no counter-spell!” Twilight said in shock, making Star Twinkle snap out of his thoughts and remembering of the situation again.
“Why don't you just use that memory spell you used to fix everypony when Discord was here?” Spike suggested further.
“It's not their memories, Spike. It's their true selves that have been altered!” Twilight replied frustrated.
“Zecora's cure for the cutie pox?” Spike desperately suggested further to help in any way possible to which Twilight didn't even bother to answer and lowered her head in frustration.
Star Twinkle had a hard time understanding what Twilight was so upset about and spoke out without thinking. “So what?” Star Twinkle asked boldly, causing Twilight to look back at him. “So their Cutie Marks have changed. But that doesn't mean that they can't just go back to their daily lives,”
“It's not that easy, Star Twinkle. Their Cutie Marks have changed. They represent their destiny!” Twilight returned.
“So it's their destiny to be upset for the rest of their lives?” Star Twinkle replied confused. “If I had a Cutie Mark that would tell me that my destiny would be flying, then I would still not fly. It's as easy as that, isn't it?”
“I wish it was...” Twilight said as she started to walk upstairs. “All I know is that their lives have changed...and that it is all my fault...” she added before she walked to her room with a frown on her face, closing the door right behind her.
Star Twinkle and Spike were left downstairs, standing there and confused what to do next. The upset and depressed mood that Twilight was in right now definitely affected the two as well. Spike was eventually the one who broke the depressing silence. “What do we do now?” He asked Star Twinkle.
Star Twinkle didn't answer and just walked upstairs with a determined look on his face. He didn't plan to let this end just like this. Once he reached Twilight's room, there was only a closed door in front of him. To it surprise, it the door was locked. Twilight was probably too upset to talk with anypony for a while. But Star Twinkle still decided to talk with her through the door. “So that's it? You just gonna stay in there and do nothing?” He said disappointedly.
It took a little while until Twilight responded. She might don't know why Star Twinkle was talking to her like this or maybe she was too upset to reply but eventually, she replied quietly. “Then what am I supposed to do!?”
“I have no idea!” Star Twinkle replied almost casually.
Star Twinkle could swear that he could hear Twilight growling a little angrily but she didn't burst out in anger. Instead, she was quickly getting upset again. “The spell from Starswirl the bearded was not finished and I tried it without thinking about any consequences. Now it is impossible to return things to normal,” she said from the other side of the door.
“Impossible, huh?” Star Twinkle said quietly to himself. He closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated. Then he transformed into his Unicorn form and grew a horn on his head. He concentrated some magic and his horn began to glow with a white aura. Shortly after he disappeared and appeared right in front of Twilight who he saw sitting on her bead with eyes that were about to tear up if it hadn't been for Star Twinkle appearing right in front of her. He opened his eyes again and began to smile confidently. “I am an Earth Pony that can grow a horn or two wings. Changing a few marks on the flanks of five mares doesn't seem so unlikely for me,” he said as he formed a big grin on his face.
Twilight looked at Star Twinkle with widened eyes, seeing him speak confidently like this. It was true that some even more impossible things happened recently. All of them being far away from possible at first. This was just another obstacle that they had to overcome. Realizing that, Twilight formed a light smile again. “Thank you, Star Twinkle,” she said as she quickly rubbed her eyes dry again.
Spike also walked upstairs and was happy to see Twilight in a better mood again. Still, the three had to figure out how to solve the current problem. For that, they stayed calm and rethink everything slowly. “So let's just think about everything for a second,” Star Twinkle started as he rubbed his neck in order to recall everything they know so far. “The five Elements of Harmony changed and because of that everyponies destiny did as well. They also seem to be unaware that what they are doing now is not what they are supposed to do. They seem to think that everything is normal but deep down they are not happy and still wish to do something else. And they think that their friends are doing what they are supposed to as well,” Star Twinkle listed down slowly to get everypony on the same page.
Twilight seemed to put more thought into those words and eventually came to a conclusion. “That's it!” She said in a moment of realization. For some reason, Twilight started to be surrounded by a bright light making Star Twinkle and Spike look at her confused. “I've got it! I know what to do!”
“What was that just now?” Star Twinkle thought after the light vanished from her again. He could swear that it looked a little similar to that one light that surrounded Star Twinkle whenever he transformed.
Spike seemed to be surprised by this light as well but he also wanted to know what Twilight meant with her last words. “You do?” He asked surprised by Twilight's sudden mood change.
“Deep down they are still the same ponies. It's only their destiny that changed. Everything else is still the same. They are still friends! It's not their destiny that we have to remind them to but rather what they mean to each other. That way they will find the part of themselves that has been lost,” Twilight explained. Still, she looked over to Star Twinkle and Spike to get some kind of reply as if she wanted to know if what she was saying was right.
“It's worth a shot, right?” Star Twinkle replied.
They agreed with Twilight's idea and left the library. Twilight also made sure to get the Elements of Harmony ready. She put the elements of her five friends in the blue box that they were in before and put the crown on her head. She also levitated the necklace of Star Twinkle's element around his neck. With all those things set, they went to the first pony. Fluttershy.
Fortunately, they met her in the middle of the street, right in front of hot air balloon. Needless to say, Star Twinkle, Twilight, and Spike were confused by this sight and quickly approached her.
“Fluttershy!” Twilight said as she walked to the depressed Pegasus. “Where are you going?”
“I'm moving back to Cloudsdale. I don't know what's wrong, but I can't seem to make anypony laugh,” Fluttershy replied as she pulled a whoopee cushion and deflated it right in front of Star Twinkle's face, much to his annoyance.
“Before you go, I was wondering if you might be willing to help Rainbow Dash. She's really struggling with her animals,” Twilight requested which of course was part of her plan.
“But... I don't really know anything about animals...” Fluttershy replied as she fiddled with her hooves around nervously.
“You don't need to,” Star Twinkle said. “Neither do we. But she needs our help so we need to help her, right?”
Fluttershy seemed to think about this for a moment. While she still looked a little unsure, she was aware of what Star Twinkle was trying to get at. “Right. I'll do anything I can to help her!” She said determined, much to everyone's relief.
The group went to Fluttershy's, or rather, Rainbow Dash's cottage at the moment and prepared themselves to help out in any way they could.
“The last time I was here, she was having a really hard time dealing with those animals,” Star Twinkle pointed out. “So I hope that things didn't get much worse,” he added before he opened the door to the cottage.
The moment where Star Twinkle opened the door, however, there was already worse things happening what they could have ever imagined. Rainbow Dash was tied down and trapped inside of a cauldron. Celestia knows where it came from or how she ended up in it but right now it was only important to help her. And Fluttershy needed to be the one to do it. But Fluttershy wanted Twilight to use some kind of spell to fix all this. “No. Fluttershy, you're the only one who can help! Rainbow Dash needs you!” Twilight said as she asked for Fluttershy to take action.
Despite not being too confident about that, Fluttershy walked up to the critters to convince them to stop. “Um... Hello? Little... woodland creatures? I know that you're all very upset and feel like giving Rainbow Dash a hard time, but we'd all really appreciate it if you'd calm down and, um, maybe... rest for a bit?” She said quietly which seemed to actually get the attention from the animals. While she got their attention, she quickly looked for a way to distract them from Rainbow Dash and put out some food that she presented in front of the critters. “Look! Here's some nice, juicy leaves for you to munch on. And some crunchy, munchy acorns too. Wouldn't you like to take a break and have a little snack?” She said as she placed some food on the ground for every critter.
Satisfied by this sight, Fluttershy couldn't help but be happy. “Aww, look at that. I guess you were all just cranky because you were hungry. Oh, you are very welcome, little friends,”
Realizing how happy Fluttershy was to see this, she couldn't help but think that this is what she was meant to do. For some reason, she was engulfed in a pink colored light. Twilight saw this as a good sign to get Fluttershy's element ready. “Goodness, it's like I can understand them! I... I feel strange, like... like this is what I'm meant to do, like this is who I am! My destiny!” Fluttershy said excitedly. Twilight quickly levitated her element around Fluttershy's neck, causing her to widen her eyes for a moment before she landed on the ground.
Nopony exactly knew what happened at that moment but they noticed how something changed at her flank. “Look! Her Cutie Mark is back again!” Twilight pointed out happily.
“Does that mean, that it worked?” Star Twinkle asked who was still not perfectly sure what happened just now. But in order to confirm, he walked up to Fluttershy. “Quick. Fluttershy, what is your special talent?”
Fluttershy was heavily confused as well and seemed to hesitate for a moment to answer that question, mainly because she was confused why Star Twinkle would ask it, despite already knowing it. “Well, taking care of animals of course. I thought you already knew that...”
This was proof enough that Twilight's plan worked. “It worked! It worked! Oh, I'm so happy you're back to normal!” Twilight said in joy as she bounced around Fluttershy before hugging her in relief, causing Fluttershy to return the embrace.
“Glad to have you back,” Star Twinkle said relieved, walking up to the two mares as well with a smile on his face. “Now we need to help our other friends as well!” He added determined, ready to go to the next pony to remind them of their destiny.
“Um, hello?” Rainbow Dash then said from inside of the cauldron that she was still trapped in. “Could you guys please start by helping this friend?” She said, hinting at that she wanted to be free again.
“Oh...right,” Star Twinkle replied embarrassed, forgetting about Rainbow Dash for a second.
After freeing Rainbow Dash, the group walked outside to take care of the next friend that they would come along. This happened to be Rarity who was still creating havoc in Ponyville by making the weather go out of control. Just like before, the group wanted Rainbow Dash to take care of the situation. And just like Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash claimed that she didn't know anything about controlling the weather but after seeing how much trouble Rarity had, she gave it a try. Only after the first cloud that she kicked, she seemed to like it and continued in her usual fast pace. It took her only ten seconds flat to take care of all the storm clouds that were about Ponyville.
Twilight readied Rainbow Dash's Element of Harmony and put it around the Pegasus neck after she was done clearing the skies. Rainbow Dash's eyes widened for a second and she landed on the ground with her head spinning a little. “Uh, what just happened?” She said after she got back on her hooves again. Just like with Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash's original Cutie Mark returned again, meaning that everything went well.
Star Twinkle and Twilight looked at each other in success after realizing that their plan worked and that their friends would soon return to normal again. They would have gladly explained everything to Rainbow Dash and Rarity but there was no time so they just dragged them along to Carousel Boutique to take care of the next friend.
Inside of the Boutique, Applejack was still working on some dresses or rather attempting to work on them. She stood in front of a knitting machine and tried to work with it but she had no idea how exactly to use it and the dress that she was working with, began to get ruined.
Meanwhile, Rarity walked up to her to take a look at everything and how she was supposed to help her. It didn't take long until she used her magic to levitate the dress away from Applejack to take over. She began preparing the fabrics and put everything in its rightful place again before she attended to make a dress herself. The end result was a beautiful purple dress that she levitated proudly above her head. Twilight wasted no more time and took Rarity's element and put it around her neck. Her eyes widened and she also got her original Cutie Mark back, meaning that everything worked again.
“Oh my, what a terrible dream I had,” Rarity said as she realized what just happened. “Or, maybe I'm still having it,” she added, once she took a look at one of the dressed that Applejack made, causing the Earth pony mare to smile in embarrassment.
There was again, no time to explain so they took Applejack long with them to Sweet Apple Acres to help Pinkie Pie out. When they arrived there, they quickly realized what bad state the orchard was. The ground was dry, the trees had leafs already falling off and so on. Pinkie Pie was working on a barn, trying to repair a broken water chute, which caused her to get covered in water while working on it.
The group walked over to Pinkie Pie, causing her to get confused by the sight of her friends. Applejack took it upon herself to fix the water chute and after realizing how much trouble Pinkie Pie had, she decided to help out in the orchard. Like she did multiple times before, Applejack began kicking the trees to make apples fall down or planting seeds all over Sweet Apple Acres. It didn't take long to make Sweet Apple Acres look a lot more lively again.
After Applejack seemed happy again to see the orchard like this, Twilight levitated her element around Applejack's neck, causing her to go through the same process that everypony else went so far. The Earth Pony mare seemed happy to be herself again and expressed her joy. “Yee-haw! Now that's more like it!”
After fixing everything in Sweet Apple Acres again, there was only one more pony to take care of. The group went back to Ponyville with Pinkie Pie in their company. They showed her how angry and depressed everypony was without her making everypony smile. Twilight took the last element and put it around Pinkie Pie and Applejack pushed her towards a crowd of angry ponies, causing Pinkie Pie's mane to return to her normal style again after she widened her eyes for a second and remembering her destiny. Only seeing the cheerful and happy expression on Pinkie Pie's face was almost enough to make everypony smile and cheer for Pinkie Pie's return.
With Pinkie Pie being in the center again, the town folks already partied all over Ponyville. They seemed to be happy to see everypony with their original destiny. On hindsight, it was true that each of them was doing important work in Ponyville and now that they have returned to them everything would soon return to be normal.
After everypony settled down again, Twilight used her magic to get the girls and Star Twinkle close to her to join into a really big group hug. Normally Star Twinkle was not into that kind of things but at this very moment, he didn't mind and just let it happen.
For a while at least...
He was not directly fleeing from the group hug but he soon found that it was going on for too long, for his taste. His friends knew Star Twinkle well enough to understand it and didn't seem to mind. He took a few steps back, trying to get some space again. While he stood there a few hooves away, he couldn't help but have a continues to smile on his face. He felt happiness in this moment. Happiness that his friends were back to normal. Happiness that things returned to normal before all what he had now vanished without him being able to do something. He was thinking about that. The thought of losing his friends scared him but once he saw how the six mares in front of him hugging each other, those fears disappeared.
But instead, they were replaced with something else. Confusion. A familiar feeling that he couldn't explain. Those feelings eventually took form. The form of some images that appeared before his eyes. Instead of seeing his friends in front of him, there were now six other ponies, hugging each other. He didn't know any of them. They were all kind of different ponies, Two Earth Ponies, two Pegasus, and two Unicorns. He didn't know what to make out of this image and grabbed his head out of confusion. But before he could find out any meaning of this, the images vanished again and he saw his friends in front of him again.
“Wait a second, that's it! I understand now! I know how to fix the spell!” Twilight said in cheer out of nowhere as she walked out of the group hug as well.
“But we already fixed,” Star Twinkle said confused about Twilight's words.
“No, I mean Starswirl's unfinished spell!” Twilight added. “The one masterpiece that he could finish!”
Of course, the others had no idea what Twilight was talking about. But instead of explaining the details, Twilight walked confidently back to the library. Once inside, she grabbed the book that she got from Princess Celestia the day before. She also grabbed a quill to write down the solution that was required to finish the spell. “From all of us together, together we're friends. With the marks of our destinies made one, there is magic without end!” She said as she wrote down those words on the last page on Starswirl's masterpiece.
Her friends didn't really know what this was all about but they were happy for her. Figuring out how to make her friends return to normal was already a good enough accomplishment but Twilight seemed also be proud to find out the solution for the spell and for that Star Twinkle felt that he should congratulate her for. “Congratulation, Twilight,” he said as he smiled at her.
Twilight returned that smile with a smile of her own. “Couldn't have done it without you all,” she replied as she looked over all of her friends happily.
But suddenly, the Cutie Mark on Twilight's crown began to shine in a bright light and a wave of magic was released from it, knocking the others away from her. Only seconds later all of the necklaces began to shot out a big beam of magic towards Twilight that surrounded her in a sphere of light.
Star Twinkle widened his eyes and looked at what happened at this moment but he didn't know what to do and stood there helplessly. He could barely see Twilight in this light. But what he could saw, was how she looked afraid of what was happening to her. Seeing this, caused Star Twinkle to reach out his hoof, making him wish that he could somehow reach Twilight like this. But it was no use. The light that surrounded Twilight spread out across the whole room and blinded everypony in it. As soon as the light vanished, Star Twinkle opened his eyes and tried to focus on what happened. He looked in front of him, only to find a black burned spot right where Twilight stood only seconds before. As soon as everypony else noticed it, they all released shocked screams. All except Star Twinkle who was just looking in front of him with widened eyes.
“Twilight?” Star Twinkle said quietly in shock after seeing how Twilight vanished in front of him.
“What happened?” Fluttershy asked shocked.
“Oh no! We pulverized Twilight!” Pinkie Pie said in shock, her jaw being dropped all the way due to the shock.
“No, we didn't!” Applejack corrected. But one second later, she seemed not too confident about her answer herself. “Or did we?” She added confused into the round.
There was no way that anypony could figure out what just happened. One moment Twilight stood in front of everypony, the next one she was gone and from what it looks like, it was kinda everyponies fault.
“She couldn't just vanish like that, right?” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “She must be around here somewhere!”
“Yes!” Applejack agreed. After making us all snap out of it again, finding her is the least we can do now!” She said which was quickly accompanied by everyponies determined cheers before they left the library. Everypony, except Star Twinkle who was standing there with wide eyes.
Rarity noticed Star Twinkle's behavior and was confused why he was acting like that. “Star Twinkle!” Rarity exclaimed angrily, remembering him of the current situation.
This sudden outburst of Rarity caused Star Twinkle to snap out of it. “Yes! I'm coming!” He replied before he walked outside as well.
The group decided to split up in order to find Twilight. She had to be somewhere in Ponyville. At least, that's what everypony hoped. Star Twinkle was randomly roaming around Ponyville. Never was he in such a hurry before. He looked at everypony just to make sure that he somehow he hoped that she would just stand somewhere as if everything was okay. “Where is she?” He thought in a panic as he walked from one house and one pony to another. The only emotion that he could feel at this moment was just sadness. For some reason, he felt some familiarity about this situation. Not knowing where that came from made him only panic even more. “She is here somewhere! She has to be!” He kept repeating in his head as he ran around in Ponyville. “I...I don't want to lose one of my friends!”
However, time passed and he didn't know where to find Twilight. The whole day went past faster than anypony expected. It was already getting dark when Star Twinkle returned to the Golden Oak Library in hope that Twilight may be waiting there already. But once he stepped inside the library, there was nopony. It was empty. This emptiness made Star Twinkle feel even more depressed. He couldn't stand it so he walked outside again.
Soon, the rest of his friends walked up to him with similar expressions on their faces. They obviously didn't find Twilight either.
“Did somepony of you found her?” Fluttershy still asked in her frustration.
“No...” Rainbow Dash replied depressed.
The rest only shook their heads and kept quiet. By far the quietest was Star Twinkle who drowned in his own thoughts again. “So is this how losing a friend feels like? I was always afraid that something like that happened one day but...Why do I feel like as if it didn't happen for the first time?” Star Twinkle thought as he began looking up to the sky with a frown on his face. “I don't...want to lose a friend...” he said as tears started to form in his eyes.
The others noticed and tried to comfort Star Twinkle. However, a loud explosion sounding like noise behind all of them startled them and made them turn around to find out what it was. Up in the air was Twilight's Cutie Mark. Of course, only seeing that was enough to make them all stand there in confusion. Slowly, the Cutie Mark landed on the ground and released a bright like. It was just like when Twilight vanished before.
There were confusion, fear, and uncertainty inside of the group, seeing this light but eventually, that would change once the light vanished and revealed Twilight in the middle of it who was kneeling on the ground, facing everypony.
“Twilight? Is that you?” Applejack asked as she wanted to confirm that she didn't just saw things.
Clearly, she was the only one who was not so confused that she couldn't say anything like Star Twinkle for example.
However, Twilight didn't answer and just stood up from her kneeling position. The next thing that happened shocked everypony. But this time it was in a good way. The moment she stood up, two wings spread from her back. Needless to say, seeing that made everypony gasp in awe. There was no denying it. No matter what way you were looking at it. Twilight looked just like a princess. A pony with a horn and two wings on her back. An Alicorn.
Of course, there were multiple questions in everyponies head but Twilight didn't seem to have them and looked just as confused as everypony else.
Figuring that he couldn't just stand there not saying anything, Star Twinkle rubbed his eyes dry again and walked up to Twilight. “What happened after you completed the spell?”
“I'm not exactly sure...” Twilight began as she tried to puzzle her thoughts again. “I'm not exactly sure where I was but Princess Celestia was right with me,” she briefly explained.
“Speaking of princesses,” Fluttershy joined in. “You look just like a princess yourself,”
“That's because she is a princess,” Princess Celestia said who was landing near everypony.
Hearing these words from the princess only confused the group, even more, especially Twilight. “A... A princess?” She replied in a mix of denial and confusion.
Princess Celestia understood the confusion of her student and began to explain. ”Since you've come to Ponyville, you've displayed the charity, compassion, devotion, integrity, optimism, and of course, the leadership of a true princess,” she explained as she looked over to everypony else.
“But... does this mean I won't be your student anymore?” Twilight asked, prioritizing this matter first of course.
“Not in the same way as before. I'll still be here to help and guide you, but we're all your students now, too. You are an inspiration to us all, Twilight,” Princess Celestia said as she bowed down to her precious student.
Twilight's friends began bowing to Twilight as well. Star Twinkle hesitated for a moment because he felt it was weird but he couldn't deny that a princess was now standing in front of him. And the thought that this princess was Twilight, made him feel happiness so he smiled and bowed down as well.
Seeing her friends like this definitely confused Twilight and made her feel weird. But of course, that wasn't the thing that worried her the most now. “But... what do I do now? Is there a book about being a princess I should read?”
Princess Celestia only giggled by the awkward reaction of her student. “There will be time for all of that later. We need to get your coronation ready for tomorrow to make it official.
“Tomorrow!?” Twilight replied confused. “Can't we do it the day after!?”
“Is there a problem with tomorrow?” Princess Celestia wondered, not seeing the problem.
The others seemed to know what Twilight meant and looked at each other. All except Star Twinkle who had no idea what was going on. Twilight walked up to Princess Celestia and wanted her to lower her head so that she could whisper something into her ear. After Twilight was done, Princess Celestia raised her head and understood. “I see. Then I guess we can wait one more day. I'll expect you in Canterlot after tomorrow,” she added before she spread her wings to return to Canterlot again.
This left the seven ponies and Spike again in the middle of Ponyville. Pinkie Pie was already excited to throw a party for Twilight but since there was a coronation coming up, there was no reason for that. And apparently, tomorrow was something up too.
While the situation calmed down a little, Star Twinkle took the opportunity to talk with Twilight one more time. “So...err...I'm glad that you were okay all this time,” he said in an attempt to start a conversation.
“Yeah, well, considering those two new wings on my back,” Twilight replied as she looked over to her wings.
“You'll get used to it,” Star Twinkle added jokingly, referring to when he was transforming into his Pegasus form. He thought this was a little cheesy but Twilight did giggle and found it funny.
Twilight began to yawn after her little giggle. “If you don't mind, I am a little sleepy after a day like this. Can we talk about everything tomorrow? We'll have plenty of time tomorrow after all,” she suggested.
“We do?” Star Twinkle asked confused.
“You'll bet!” Pinkie Pie interrupted happily.
Star Twinkle still had no idea what they were all talking about but he didn't ask any questions since he himself was pretty tired as well after looking half of the day for Twilight so he made sure to talk with everypony one last time before he would return home.
Meanwhile, as the group said their farewells to each other, they didn't seem to notice that they were being watched by someone. A shadowy figure stood on the roof of a building, looking at the group of ponies, focusing his or her eyes on one specific pony in the group. No words were spoken by this figure. After the group separated, this figure jumped off from the building and vanished in the streets of Ponyville, planning his or her next move.
Unaware of whatever was coming to them, everypony went to sleep and waited for the next day to start...
Stats
Page generated in 0.028 seconds
Total duration
647 users online
922,737 hits today, 2,280,440 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
The only thing I hate is the Changelings new look. They got accepted by being a different color, not y accepting them from within and sharing love from with does not count for me.
So what is going to happen to Star Twinkle, will he gain his cutie mark sometime soon or what, also are you going to explain how he is able to shift to Pegasus or Unicorn form like that, also what about Luna's Bat Pony guards, will Star be able to use that kind of form since Bat ponies are a cousin to pegasus ponies.
8460723
Every custom "addition" to the original story is not added without a reason, meaning that Everything, that I add, will be explained sooner or later. Yeah, I know, It is taking a long time XP. I think I try to hard to bet that the reveals will be worth it so it will probably end up as dragging on too much. But that is the only way how I want things to be. The good thing is: the further the story continues, the closer you will be to the answer...or more questions XD.
However! I can answer your Bat Pony question without ruining or spoiler the story.
No. Star Twinkle cannot turn into a Bat Pony. I never even thought about that, to be honest. But even if I would have, the answer would still be no because the direction with this transform thing that I try to take, is a little different.
I hope that answer will be enough for now.
Is he going to get an alicorn form or is he going to remain the same
8706129
That, I'm afraid, you have to find out yourself because I won't tell you ^^.