The Collapse

by Lightwavers

Chapter 15

Twilight looked at the Everfree. The forest had a reputation for making anypony who entered lose their sense of direction. She added a compass spell to the list in front of her, scoring the now-blank pages of the basic spellbook with a crude spell that lightly agitated selected air molecules so that they cooked the letters she wanted onto the paper. It was surprisingly effective. She hated to vandalize a book like this, but having the ability to plan ahead was crucial.

She swiveled her head back toward the rest of her group. Lyra and Rarity were laying down chatting by the fire, while Gilda and Rainbow Dash seemed to be locked into some sort of mock-combat that looked all too real, and the professor looked content to just sit in the grass and meditate. Twilight breathed another sigh of relief. They weren’t ready yet. She still had time to rebuild a few more spells. Then she looked at her list again. It was a large list. Then the Everfree. She’d probably need something that could camouflage them in case the shield failed…

“Um, Twilight?”

Twilight shrieked and channeled her magic into activating her now-large array of shield spells all at once. A visible wave of purple magic spread out around her, flinging the yellow pegasus backward with a pained squeak.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry Fluttershy!” Twilight said, removing her shields and trotting to where Fluttershy was laying, then nudged the pegasus with her nose.

“Eeek!” Fluttershy said, then jumped up and stood still, trembling.

“Are you okay? If you’re not I have some spells I could make patterns for that could help. Or I could get Rarity or Lyra and ask if they know any healing spells, or maybe the professor knows a few runes that could help—”

“I’m—I’m fine. I was just going to ask if you were, um...ready,” she said, speaking the last word so quietly Twilight had to strain to hear it.

“Oh! Oh, of course, we could go right now if you like, or we could wait a bit, I don’t mind at all if we wait a bit, but then we really should leave as soon as we can so that professor Radiance’s artifacts don’t run out of power...sorry, sometimes I can ramble on a bit, silly me, of course I’m ready,” Twilight said with a smile.

She was so not ready.

“Gr-Great,” Fluttershy said. Even her voice was trembling. “I’ll just go and, um, tell the others...”

Fluttershy turned around and started trotting away. Twilight looked past her and saw everyone was looking at her. They turned away when they saw she was looking, but they still sneaked looks when they thought she wasn’t looking at them. Shame filled her. She’d reacted without thinking, and if not hurt, then severely scared the most insecure member of their group.

“Fluttershy, wait!” she called. The pegasus stopped and looked back questioningly.

Twilight slowly walked up beside her, trying to act as non-threatening as possible.

“I wanted to apologize. I was on-edge, and worrying about what the Everfree might throw at us, and then I was startled, and—and I’m sorry. I didn’t even check to see what it was, I just...moved. Can you forgive me?” she asked, crouching down a bit and laying her ears against her head.

“Oh, of course I forgive you Twilight. We’re all a bit jumpy. I should have realized you would do something like that,” Fluttershy said, looking earnestly into her eyes.

“Thank you,” Twilight said quietly.

Gilda landed in between them, glaring at Twilight, who shrunk back at the griffon’s harsh gaze. Rainbow Dash galloped up soon after.

“Hey! What happened over there?” Rainbow said, joining Gilda in boring holes through Twilight.

“I—I don’t—” Twilight started to say, bewildered. Ponies butting into each other’s business was discouraged back at Celestia’s school, mostly because if you tried something like that you’d find the library had been stealthily rearranged and the book you’d been reading hidden in somepony else’s room. Twilight shivered at the memory.

“You could’ve killed Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash continued. “I don’t know what things were like at your fancy unicorn school, but here friends don’t make other friends fly through the air, especially when they can’t fly.” Gilda said nothing, instead tilting her head in a half-nod before catching herself and returning her expression to an icy but aloof glare.

“Stop!” Fluttershy yelled.

Everyone looked at her. She stalked up to Rainbow Dash, showing more anger than she’d exhibited any other emotion—besides fear—the entire journey.

“It was an accident. She came over here, to me, to apologize. And then you two came up here and—and started yelling at her. Can’t you tell that she’s scared?”

The irony of the most timid member of their group reaming out the bravest for scaring somepony wasn’t lost on Twilight.

Rainbow Dash looked abashed. The fire left her eyes and she shifted her weight back to her front, her hooves visibly sinking into the grass. “Well...I’m sorry too, then. For, you know, assuming. It looked bad. Still friends?” she said, extending a hoof toward Twilight, who looked at it in confusion.

Had they been friends? She didn’t remember having that conversation. And they hadn’t gone to a party together. Twilight had read about friends, and all her books agreed that to be friends, two ponies must have a party. But...now that she thought about it, she liked everyone in this little group. They had their flaws—by Celestia, they had flaws—but they weren’t just irritating distractions she had to include on her schedule under Things To Get Rid Of.

Choice made, Twilight brought her hoof up and lightly touched it against Rainbow’s.

“Wow, you really don’t get out much, do you?” Rainbow Dash said, shaking her head. “That’s okay. Me and Gilda are the best at not being eggheads. We’ll make you into someone you can have fun with in no time!”

Twilight didn’t know how to respond to that. At least Gilda had lost her glare. It was scary, and the effect only heightened when Twilight considered that Gilda hunted for food.

“Hi?” she said to the griffon, sticking her hoof out. Gilda considered it for a moment, then wrapped her claws around it and shook it up and down. It was an extremely strange gesture. Twilight had never seen it before, but she could guess at its meaning.

“I don’t like you,” she said bluntly, her glare still intense despite losing the anger from before. “But if Dash says you can fit in with us, I’ll give you a chance. Don’t blow it.”

Twilight’s head spun. She had friends. It was a strange feeling, but a good one.

---

“Alright, everyone ready?” Radiance called.

The arrayed ponies and griffon nodded.

“Right then. I’m going to activate it here, just to make sure everything works.”

Blackness descended on Twilight like a hammer blow.

Comments

[DeskManiac]

Alright! Great chapter. Loved it. Guess Twilight never went to Ponyville in this universe and so she never met Dash and Flutters. At least she's learning to make friends now. Oh and I liked Gilda in this chapter too.