How I Became An Alicorn...

by ShadowBolt94

Chapter 4.1

Chapter 4: The First Day Pt.1

Twilight Sparkle was tired. Normally Twilight was used to an odd sleep schedule that revolved around her late night study habits, but what she WASN’T used to was staying up partying until midnight and then being too excited to go to bed afterwards. So she woke up at seven in the morning, with only three hours of crappy sleep under her belt, and promptly blew up her alarm clock. She crawled out of bed by the will of Celestia and dragged herself to the breakfast table where Spike had already gotten up and made breakfast. He set the pot of coffee in front of her as she hauled herself into the chair and she wasted no time downing it. Across the table Luna arched an eyebrow at her.

“I take it you didn’t sleep all that well…?” she asked sipping her morning tea. Twilight however was in no condition to respond and instead fell asleep face first in her French Toast. “I’ll take that as a yes…” Luna muttered as she bit into the omelet Spike had made her. “Mmm~ Spike this omelet is divine, it tastes just like the one’s back in the castle~!” she hummed as she dug into it a bit more. The drake chuckled a bit.

“Well I DID get the recipe from the head chef after all… oh for the love of…” Spike grumbled as he saw that Twilight had fallen asleep in her food. “Twilight, Shining stole Smarty Pants again!” he called over his shoulder as he crushed a few gems in his palm and sprinkled their dust on his French toast. Twilight shot straight up the French toast stuck to her forehead from the syrup. She blinked and groaned in realization before peeling the toast off her forehead and setting it on her plate.

“Hardy har har… now I’m going to go take a shower and then I’ll come back here and eat okay…?” she said with a sigh as she stood up from the table and walked into her room for a minute before coming back out with a bunch of clothes in her hands and disappearing into the bathroom at the end of the hall.

Luna got a wicked smirk across her face which Spike saw and he raised an eyebrow at her. “And just what are you plotting this early in the morning…?” he asked as he cut a piece of toast off and bit into it. She waited to hear the water running before she stood up and replied as she walked into her own room.

“You’ll hear~” She hummed. A few seconds later Spike heard a flush and then a shrill scream from the bathroom at the end of the hall. He fell on the floor laughing and almost choking on his food as he knew the lunar princess had pulled the classic toilet flush+ hot shower= ice shower and screaming prank. Well, Twilight would no doubt be awake now. They were proved right as Luna came out of her bedroom laughing just as hard as Spike and Twilight came out of the bathroom in a towel and proceeded to throw a bar of soap straight into Luna’s open mouth. Smirking with satisfaction at the revenge she had implemented Twilight disappeared back into the bathroom as Luna spat out the soap and tried licking the floor to get the taste of soap out of her mouth. Seeing one of the two most regal beings in the world running her tongue along the carpet like a dog was enough to send Spike into hysterics.

Once Luna had recovered and promptly brushed her teeth seven times just to rid herself of the taste of the vile soap, and Twilight had emerged from her shower fully dressed in her uniform, since the first day was a marked uniform day according to the calendar they had stuck to the fridge, she ate her breakfast in peace and then pulled out a list from the coat pocket of her uniform.

“Okay, checklist of supplies for the first day, pens, pencils, paper.” She read off as Spike went through both their bags.

“Check, check, annnnnd… whoa, lots of check.” He said pulling out a big bundle of notebook paper.

Twilight smiled and went on. “Folders, journals, and a binder with a pencil pouch…?” she asked.

“Check… check, and whoa cool! You got me a binder with scales like mine! These are fake right…?” he asked holding up the binder for Luna to see. She rolled her eyes and continued checking her own supplies in her messenger bag. She had a lot less than they did, knowing she would only really need the binder, some pens and pencils, and notebook paper.

“Okay, ruler, markers, colored pencils, and a compass.” Twilight continued to list.

“Mmm, check, check, check, and… Twilight, why would we need a compass, are we going camping or something…?” he asked arching an eyebrow at her.

“No Spike, not a navigational compass, a geometric one. Here…” she dug through her bag and pulled it out for him to see.

“Ohhhhhh, I always thought that thing was just for drawing in math…” he admitted. Twilight facepalmed and moved to the last few items on her list.

“Calculator, text books, and snacks, in case we get hungry.” She finished.

“Check, check, and yum~” he said revealing a bag of ‘tasty’ looking rubies.

Twilight smiled as she crumpled up the list and threw it into the recycling box having served its purpose. She remembered something and went into her room and came back with three gold cards in her hand. She handed one to Luna and Spike and kept the third one for herself.

“These are our school ID’s, they also serve as our debit cards if we wish to purchase something on campus. Like Lunch.” She explained. Luna slipped the card into a slot on her messenger bag and Spike pulled out his wallet slipping it into the clear spot where an ID is supposed to go. Twilight had a little purse she kept in her bag so she slipped it in there before zipping up her bag and grinning at the morning sun that was now shining fully into the room via the wall of windows. “I can just feel it, today’s gonna be an awesome day…!” she decreed proudly.

One hour later.

“Oh Celestia why…” she groaned as she was sitting in her home room pondering if she knew any spells that would mute her surroundings. Everyone in her class was loud, obnoxious, and generally just pissing her off. Not that she’d ever show it. Celestia had taught her to keep a poker face even the world was crumbling down around her. But thank her mentors name she saw a tiny ray of yellow light in the dark void. Fluttershy peeked her head into the room and looked around with the one eye visible thanks to her long hair and when she spotted Twilight her worried expression vanished if only for a second as she wasted no time in hurrying over and sitting beside her. Twilight smiled at her softly wile Spike just gave her a small nod to acknowledge he knew she was there.

“Good morning Fluttershy, I was beginning to think I’d have to rough it by myself today…” Twilight admitted with a sigh.

“Oh no… that would have been terrible Twilight…! But… I wonder where Rainbow is, she’s always in my homeroom…” Fluttershy wondered aloud in her gentle tone. “I hope she isn’t- MEEP!” she jumped a little at the sound of a book being slammed on a desk and the entire class going silent because of it. The teacher who had done it to get their attention was a burly man that reminded Twilight a lot of Coach Shot, back at her old school. He had dark grey brown hair that was cut short but it was just shaggy enough to start hanging in his darker blue eyes a bit. But although he had the burly body he lacked the always serious and intimidating disposition the coach had had.

“Alrighty then, now that I’ve got your attention, my name is Lucky Clover, but it’s Coach Clover to you all, and I’ll be your homeroom teacher for the year. Now I’d like to start off by taking roll call, it looks like you’re all here for the most part but I like to put names to faces. Okay, let’s see, Amethyst Star…?” a girl with just said colored hair and matching eyes a few rows over raised her hand. “Very good, okay… next we have” he went on to list a few names, although when he came to Fluttershy’s she didn’t answer verbally and just raised her hand. Luckily he was looking up at that point so he saw her. He opened his mouth to call another name but a shout from the window that was currently open made him stop.

“Look out below…!!!!!” Rainbow’s voice warned. And just as the teacher ducked she came rocketing through the window and skidded to a stop just before she would have smacked into the wall. “Woo, made it!” she called pumping her fist in the air in victory. Coach Clover however was less than pleased.

“I take it you’re… Rainbow Elizabeth Francis Dashington…?” he asked reading off the roster. Rainbow visibly cringed at the sound of her full name and she sent a glare of doom out at a few boys that had snickered. They shut up instantly.

“It’s just Rainbow Dash sir. And yes, I am.” She replied with her bag slung over her shoulder.

“Okay Miss Dash do you have an excuse for being tardy to homeroom…?” he asked the girl. She nodded again.

“I forgot it was a uniform day so the teacher who caught me sent me back to my room to change, she gave me this as a note.” She responded handing him a folded golden piece of paper. He read it and nodded before telling her to take a seat. Which she did, right next to Fluttershy.

“Hey ‘Shy, sorry I’m late, It took me a while to find the forged note I had about uniforms.” She whispered. Twilight heard and nearly screamed but a prod from Spike stopped her. She turned her attention back to the front of the room where the teacher had been eyeing her. She mouthed an apology and settled back down.

“Okay, next we have Spikeson… holy cow, what’s with the fancy names in this class, Spikeson…?” he asked not wanting to read off Spike’s full name. He raised his hand.

“You can just call me Spike sir.” He replied.

“Good, Spike I can say.” He muttered. “And then we have Twilight Sparkle…?” he asked. She raised her hand and he nodded. He looked back down at the list and squinted at the name. “Uh… Luna…”

“Luna Selene Faustina Vitalani Alcmene Zarya Equestria… the first.” Came a voice from the doorway. Luna smiled as she leaned against the frame. The teacher looked from her to the roster, back again, then his eye started to twitch and he threw the roster into the air.

“Forget it! You’re all here!” he exclaimed. “Just… all of you talk quietly amongst yourselves while I bang my head against this table.” He groaned as Luna made her way to sit beside Spike.

“Man, and I thought MY full name was long…” Rainbow muttered to herself. But Fluttershy heard and giggled at the comment.

“I think you have a pretty name Rainbow…” she stated in her usual hushed tone.

“You want it…? I’ll let you have the middle names.” She groaned as she lay her head down on the desk. Fluttershy giggled again and decided to doodle to pass the time. Twilight had pulled out a book and Luna and Spike were both playing hand held video games. Rainbow decided it was the perfect opportunity to take a nap. She closed her eyes and started to drift off when she felt an eraser poke her cheek. She groaned and opened one eye to see Fluttershy had drawn another of her sketches except this time it was of her, sleeping. And it looked like she had just taken a picture of her on her phone in black and white.

“Whoa, ‘Shy, how long was I out for if you drew that…?” she asked blinking in surprise as she took the journal.

“About half an hour… home room is almost over… that’s why I woke you.” She responded as she let her stare at the picture. “Do you like it…?” she asked even quieter than normal. Her friend beamed at her.

“I think it looks AWESOME Fluttershy!” Rainbow responded with her signature grin. Fluttershy smiled in return and took the journal back setting it in her bag just as the bell rang. And Spike groaned from his seat.

“And just when I was gonna beat you too!” he whined. Luna was snickering at that.

“In your dreams maybe.” She sneered. They bickered for a bit as they gathered up their stuff and Twilight stood like a zombie and walked out with them while Fluttershy followed at Rainbow’s side.

“So what do you have for first period ‘Shy…?” Rainbow asked as they were both starting to walk outside.

“Oh… um… Herbology… it’s… in the green house.” She responded without having to look at her schedule.

“Great, that means I can walk you since I have Gym and they’re right next to each other, come on, let’s fly!” she called as she took to the air. Fluttershy whimpered and retracted into her hair. Rainbow’s eyes softened and she lowered back to where she was only a few inches off the ground and held out her hand to the frail girl. “Come on, we’ll fly low and go at your pace.” She reasoned. Fluttershy still hesitated but after an internal battle and a glance up at her friend she gave in and unfolded her wings lifting off the ground gently. “There you go, now come on, we have to at least get over the telephone poles otherwise we might get our wings tangled in them.” She urged flapping her wings a bit to help boost them both up. When they’d gone about fifty feet up she stopped and looked to Fluttershy to make sure she was okay. When she nodded she let her hand go and started towards the gym at a pace ‘Shy could keep up with. “So… how do you like the school so far?”

“It’s… nice.” Fluttershy responded. She spotted a blue jay that soared above them and her instincts took over as she flew up to it. Rainbow opened her mouth to stop her but it was too late. Fluttershy hit a hundred feet and she froze before looking down at the ground below her and fainting midair. But Rainbow was right there and caught her before she could even start to fall.

“Easy there Flutters… we don’t need another incident.” She muttered as they touch back on the ground and Fluttershy started to come around. Her eyes shot open and Rainbow sat her down under a tree. “Maybe we shouldn’t try that again for a little while you don’t seem to-“ but Fluttershy was shaking her head. Rainbow sighed again. "Flutters, I’m not gonna keep putting you in danger if-“ but Fluttershy had moved her hair out of her face so that both her eyes could be seen by Dash.

“I want to try Rainbow. I’m not going to get any better if I don’t…” she explained. Dash knew not to fight her when both eyes were out.

“If you say so ‘Shy… come on, we can try again later but right now you’re grounded.” She said tugging her friend up off the ground. Fluttershy dusted off the brown and orange plaid skirt of the uniform before she let her hair fall back in front of her eye and walked along beside Rainbow who was still watching her to see if she’d suffered any relapse. But not seeing any by the time they reached the green house she decided to let it go. She waved to Fluttershy and then flew off in a streak of rainbow to the gym. Fluttershy smiled as she watched her childhood friend fly off in the same fashion she always had. She sometimes wished she could fly like that too, but she knew where her place was, Pegasus or not she belonged on the ground. She sighed and walked into the classroom just as the bell rang for class to start.

A very dark skinned woman who had most of her head shaved except for one tall black and white striped Mohawk on top of her head and who had black stripes tatooed across her entire body, and some of her face as well, stood at the front of the class room. Which in all reality wasn’t really a class room it was just six long old wooden benches which students stood at since there weren’t any chairs to be seen, in the middle of a huge domed green house that looked more like a miniature jungle than anything else. She sipped her tea while eyes as deep as green as the countless plants that surrounded them watched the students as they all filed into the green house and chose a spot to stand at. There weren’t many in the class, only twelve in total. Two for each table, which suited the strange looking teacher perfectly. She didn’t like dealing with many people at one time, too much time wasted explaining her ways was indeed a waste of her days.

“Greetings to you young Equestrian folk, I see you have already found your way to my tables of oak. As you can plainly see, by me standing here sipping my tea, I am your teacher for this semester of the wonderful art which some might call an oddity but I call Herbology.” The woman stated with a smile of her far too white smile, or at least it seemed that way in contrast to her dark complexion. Fluttershy blinked at the woman’s odd way of speaking in rhyme and wondered, like many others before her, if she carried a rhyming dictionary with her. “Ah, but how can I be so rude, for it is my name I have forgotten to include! But I do warn you to not try change the way you say my name, it is not Terra like the humble earth, nor Savannah like the plains my people call their hearth, my name is Zecora, for what it is worth.” She finished with another smile as her eyes scanned the class again. Most of them seemed outright dumbfounded by her obvious talent with word smithing, all except for one shy one who was staring at her with the greatest admiration in the one eye that was visible behind her baby pink hair. But something about the girl made Zecora’s inner shaman dance a happy jig and she knew from the spark in the girl’s eyes that this would indeed be a worthwhile dig.

Meanwhile in the girl’s gym:

Rainbow was doing a few acrobatics using the rafters of the gym as stand in obstacles while she waited for the coach to show. A few of the other girls in her class were watching with half bored gazes, the others all had their noses buried in their phones or music. Just then the door from the office slammed open and almost as fast as lightning every trace of boredom and every electronic device had mysteriously vanished. Rainbow landed and sat in the bleachers where everyone else was. A woman who despite her obviously aging complexion still had hair streaked with orange and yellow like a burning fire tied back into a bun on her head and yellow eyes that looked like they could see straight through your soul made her way into the gym with a speed that also seemed unfitting for someone of her age, when she got closer Rainbow noticed with a sudden wave of pride that, due to the orange wings on her back, woman was also a Pegasus like her.

“Alright ladies, if you haven’t already take your seats so I can get this introduction crap out of the way…” She grumbled. One sentence out of the middle aged woman’s mouth and already she was Rainbow’s favorite teacher. “My name is Coach Rapidfire, and yes before any of you ask I AM related to the newly appointed captain of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire is the youngest of my four kids and my only daughter. Wasn’t long ago that she was sitting in here getting this introduction from me… okay, that’s enough of the sappy crap, let’s get this show on the road.” Yup, this was definitely Rainbow’s favorite teacher. Kick ass personality AND mother to the captain of the Wonderbolts…? Couldn’t be beat. “First off is roll call, then I‘ll tell you ladies where you can buy your gym uniforms if you haven’t got them already. Okay, AirSoft…?” a girl with very light blue hair that had white streaks running through it and wings that matched the blue raised her hand. Rainbow looked curiously at how many girls there were in the class. It looked to be over thirty of them making this a big class. She knew her name was towards the bottom of the list since it was alphabetical and her name started with an R. she decided to lean back against the bleachers while she waited for her name to be called.

While she stared up at the ceiling she couldn’t help but wonder what her other friends were doing. She amused herself with the possibilities of the other’s shenanigans. She wondered if Pinkie was already driving whatever poor soul she had for a teacher bonkers. She was so into her thoughts she almost missed the next name on the list. Almost.

“Abigail Jacqueline Apple…? Oh uh, the fifth?” she added like it was an afterthought. Rainbow sat up at that name. It was long and fancy sounding, and oddly familiar to her.

“Oh uh, here miss, but uh, could ya just put me down as Applejack…? I don really like that fancy full name of mine.” The heavily southern accented voice from behind one of the pillars that ran along the top row of the bleachers.

“Yeah sure kid, it’s easier to say anyways. Okay next…” Rainbow however had stopped listening. She had too devious of a smirk on her face to care. While coach had her nose in her clipboard she snuck over to where she had heard the voice and sat on the other side of the pillar that was attached to the wall.

“Sooo… Abigail huh…?” she sneered. She heard a jump and then a tanned freckled face peeked out from the other side of the pillar and green eyes glared when they confirmed the owner of the voice. “Rainbow Ah swear on mah Ma’s grave if you breathe a word of that name to any of the girl’s Ah’ll have your wings on mah mantle before sundown.” She growled quietly her emerald eyes glaring intensely. Rainbow nodded her smile fading as she heard the coach reaching the end of the list.

“On one condition cow girl…” she whispered back as the blonde moved to Rainbow’s side of the pillar and set her bag down on the ground by her feet.

“And what would that be…?” she asked raising an eyebrow.

“Don’t laugh.” Rainbow ordered. Before the farm girl could ask what she meant the coach answered her unasked question.

“Rainbow Elizabeth Francis Dashington…?” she called. Rainbow inwardly groaned as Applejack quickly had to slap a hand to her mouth to stop the loud chortle that almost escaped her mouth.

“Just Rainbow Dash is fine ma’am.” She sighed as she raised her hand to show that she was in fact there.

“No objections there kid… I’d hate my name too if it was anything like Francis…” she said marking down the adjustment to her chart. When she moved on to the few others and finished the list she went into her office to enter attendance into the computer and as soon as the door closed Rainbow sighed.

“Go ahead, I know you’re dying.” She said with a wave of her hand. Applejack burst into hysterics and almost fell off the bleachers as she rolled onto the lower section with her laugh. The others in the class stared but passed it off a friend thing and went back to their devices. When Applejack had finished she wiped a tear from her eyes and picked up her Stenson for where it had fallen off her head.

“Whew… that… that was a might bit too much for me ta handle… pfft, Francis… Okay then, Ah’ll hold up my mirrored end of the deal, neither one of us mentions our full names to the others, deal?” she asked spitting into her hand and holding it out to Dash. The Pegasus grinned and spat in her own hand meeting the other’s in a shake.

“Deal.” She echoed just as the coach came back in. They broke the handshake and wiped the excess off on their shirts as the coach addressed them again.

“Okay ladies, here’s how it’s going to work…”

After an extensive list of rules, exercises, and a brief mention of where they could get their gym uniforms they were given the rest of the class to either talk or shoot some hoops with a cart of basketballs she had brought out of the equipment room. The two athletic girls of course chose the ladder of the activities. Applejack carefully left her hat where she could see it at all times before she ran over and quickly knocked the ball out of Rainbow’s hand and made a shot of her own which ended with the ball making a pleasant swishing sound as it went through the basket.

“Ohhhh, farm girl’s got game huh…? Let’s see how you handle a little HORSE huh…?” Rainbow challenged. Applejack grinned back at her a hand on her hip as she did so.

“You’re on city girl.”

Half an hour later both of them were at a stalemate, both only had the letter H against them. It seemed whatever one could dish out the other could return. With flare I might add. Rainbow looked at the clock and knew class would be over soon so she decided to pull out her last trick, her ace in the hole. She ran up to the hoop and dribbled the ball with her before she leapt into the air about ten feet away from the hoop and used her wings a bit to keep her steady as she balanced along the rim of the hoop by doing a one hand handstand and used the other hand to slam dunk the ball in. She then spring vaulted off the hoop and flipped midair before sticking the landing and earning a loud cheer and several whistles from her classmates. She bowed and looked over her shoulder at the cowgirl.

“Let’s see you match that!” she sneered. Applejack simply took the ball as it rolled towards her and backed up to the other side of the court. She removed her boots and started to dribble the ball. “Oh you can’t be serious…” Rainbow muttered in horror. But she was. Applejack was the pinnacle of serious. She ran towards the hoop in the same way Dash had accept she jumped earlier and instead of using wings to steady her, she span like a cork screw in midair right over Rainbow and even gave her a wink before she came to a one armed handstand on the rim of the hoop and she slammed the ball in with more force than what was necessary. She pushed off but did a backflip instead of a front flip like Dash had and landed face to face with the rainbow haired Pegasus.

“And that folks, is how a farm girl shows up a cocky city girl at her own game.” She announced before trotting off to collect her boots leaving Rainbow and the rest of the class with dropped jaws and wide eyes. Rapidfire, who had been watching the two with only mild interest so far held her snapped pencil in one hand and her other hand was holding air that once contained her clipboard that now occupied the floor.

‘That’s it; I’m getting those two on a sports team if it kills me.’ She resolved while she tried to regain function of her motor reflexes. The bell rang and that seemed to snap most everyone out of their trances all except for Rainbow who still stood where she had been her wings still at full attention in her shock. Applejack walked past making sure to flick her long and loose ponytail in the girls face as she dawned her trademark hat again.

“Come on slowpoke, you’re gonna be late if ya stand there all day like a flyin fish with its mouth wide open.” She chuckled. That seemed to snap Rainbow out of it. In a streak of wind she had grabbed her bag from the bleachers and was out the door before the cowgirl could even put her boot to the ground. The stunned coach remained and she pulled her phone slowly from her pocket and hit a speed dial on it.

“Yeah, it’s Rapidfire, I need the latest medical records for two students of mine… yes I’ll hold.”

Elsewhere on campus:

Twilight Sparkle was skipping along happily having just gotten out of her advanced Biochemistry class pleased that her mentor had been right about the level of learning in the classes she had signed up for. They suited her just fine and, unlike her homeroom the class, had mostly been filled with people who were serious about learning; so needless to say she got along just fine despite none of her friends sharing the class with her. Next up she had another of her favorite subjects besides science: Math. Algebra to be more exact. She had wanted to take Pre-calculus but that was reserved for ninth graders and up so she went with Algebra instead, AP of course, none of Twilight’s academics were regular. So needless to say, when she walked into a room that was supposed to be filled with some of the greatest mathematicians in the school the last person she expected to see was Pinkie Pie.

“Omaigosh Twilight!!! You have this class too?!” the pink haired girl zipping over to her no sooner had she entered the door. Despite the dress code Twilight noticed she wore a pink bowtie as an accessory.

“Pinkie…? What… and I don’t mean any offense by this, but what are you doing in an advanced Mathematics class…?” she asked while Pinkie was dragging her over to a desk beside the one she had occupied when Twilight had entered.

“Oh! I might not look it but I’m really good with things like Science and math…!” She responded without losing her ever peppy grin. Twilight blinked in surprise at her but decided that Pinkie wasn’t really one to lie about something like what she was good at in school.

“Really now…? That’s interesting actually, what classes did you take before this…?” she asked as she unpacked her materials for class and arranged them neatly on her desk.

“None~!” came the sing songy reply. Twilight nearly dropped her Algebra book when she heard that.

“Y-you didn’t take any math classes before this…?! But then… h-how did you…?!” Twilight was once again struck speechless by the obscure ways of this pink haired sugar addict.

“I was home schooled DUH, my Mom got her teaching degree a few years before she had my older sister Blinkie and she home schooled all three of us sisters until we got a letter in the mail a few months ago that said they wanted me to take a test for some school in the town next to our farm so I did and I got in on a scholarship because they said my scores were over that of a college level in Math and Science~!” she giggled while she unpacked her own bag which didn’t seem to contain anything practical at all, just a lot of sweets, some balloons, a hand held air pump for the balloons, and a small egg followed by a battery powered incubator that the egg then rolled into on its own. Twilight’s eye was twitching just from watching the scene yet alone the story her friend was telling.

“B-beyond college level…? B-but I… and you… and is that a rope of taffy you’re pulling out of that bag…?!” she questioned as Pinkie was now pulling a long cord of pink taffy from the bag that by no means could hold all that she had already pulled out of it.

“Well duh Twilight, what’s it look like chocolate? Sheesh.” She replied with a roll of her eyes. She got to the end of the rope and proceeded to pick up the entire pile of the sweet taffy and load it into her mouth all at once chewing a few times before swallowing it all in one gulp. She looked over at Twilight whose eye was twitching and her hair was starting to fray a bit. “Oh, sorry did you want something from here?” she offered as Twilight slammed her forehead into the desk.

“Not unless you’ve got a very large bottle of aspirin in that bag…” she replied without looking up. There was a hesitation for a second before she heard the rattle of a pill jar and looked up to see Pinkie beaming at her and holding what was indeed a VERY large bottle of aspirin. She didn’t bother questioning it and took it gratefully. “Hehe… don’t suppose you’ve got any water in there…?” she asked as she undid the lid and put two of the pills in her hand. Pinkie thought for a moment before she reached back into her bag and came back out with two bottles in her hand.

“Sparkling or regular…~?” she asked holding them out to her. Twilight stared at them for a few seconds before she poured more pills into her hand and popped them into her mouth before she could question the rationality of her choice. She took one of the bottles and washed them down. If she was going to be spending an entire hour sitting next to Pinkie she was going to need all the help she could get.

In the elective’s wing of the school, more specifically the sewing room:

Rarity sat at a sewing machine her eyes never leaving her stitching while she talked with the quiet pink haired girl across from her was recounting all that had gone on in her previous class.

“Really, she’s going to be teaching your class about how to weave fabric out of plant fibers…? Well that certainly sounds interesting darling, you’ll have to tell me all about it when it comes up again in class.” Rarity insisted as she cut of her power to the machine and removed the fabric cutting the thread before she re inserted it from a different direction. Fluttershy nodded eagerly.

“Yes, Ms… oh I mean, Zecora is a very interesting teacher… she seemed really… nice.” Fluttershy whispered. Somehow Rarity heard her over the machine and nodded with her eyes never leaving the fabric in front of her.

“She does sound like an interesting character doesn’t she…? Fluttershy, could you be a dear and hand me another of those aquamarine gem stones…?” Rarity asked. Fluttershy reached into the tiny chest that rested beside Rarity’s work station and picked out another of the tiny gems that was just a bit smaller than her pinky. She handed it to Rarity who promptly thanked her as she removed the fabric she was working on and used her magic to merge the gemstone into place on the plush yellow fabric.

“Um… Rarity…? I thought you were just repairing the hole in the seam…?” Fluttershy questioned noticing for the first time that Rarity had already fixed the hole in her favorite sweater.

“Well I did darling, but then a little light bulb went off in my head I just simply HAD to implement a little design I saw earlier today…” she responded as she was finishing the little bit of pattern that was left. Fluttershy was curious now but she knew to be patient with things so she waited until Rarity was done it it and was snipping the last few stray strings off it before she tried to peek around at it. Rarity noticed and smiled a bit as she turned the sweater around for her to see. The sweater itself looked the same, but now down in the bottom corner of it were three butterflies with soft pink wings and small bodies made up of the aquamarine gems she had been using. They looked exactly like her cutiemark. Fluttershy’s hand went straight for the spot where she knew it was on her chest and let out a squeak of embarrassment.

“W-when d-did y-you…?!” she stuttered her eyes, that were the very same color of the gemstones mind you, wide in realization. Rarity removed her red rimmed work glasses and set them beside her machine as she let a gentle smile cross her face.

“I noticed it when you were changing this morning… right over your heart isn’t it…? You know they say that marks that appear there have great meaning behind them. But I found it a shame that because of… well, you being a proper lady, no one would ever see it. So I decided I’d put it somewhere where people COULD see it without you embarrassing yourself to death.” She explained as she stood and stretched the sweater a bit to make sure her repair job would hold up. When it did she folded it up neatly and handed the sweater back to Fluttershy who she quickly noticed had small tears forming at the edges of her eyes. “Oh my dear Fluttershy! I’m sorry, I was un aware it was such a sensitive matter to you, here, I’ll just delete those images from my head if they bother you so much…!” she exclaimed as she closed her eyes in concentration and put her fingers up to the crest on her forehead. But two arms wrapped around her made her stop before she’d even started the spell.

“T-thank you… I-I always wanted people to be able to see it b-but… you know…” she trailed off as she slowly released the hug. Rarity smiled at her again and wiped a tear from her own eye.

“Well I would be more than happy to design you outfits with your mark on them my dear, or if you wanted I could just embroider any of the clothes you already have.” Rarity offered as she took a seat back in her rolling work chair.

“Oh my… I could never trouble you like that Rarity… it would simply be far too much trouble…!” Fluttershy protested. But Rarity waved her finger at the girl instead.

“Fluttershy darling, for friends like you I’d make an entire wardrobe of clothes without so much as a thought, or a drop of regret. Such is the nature of my talent, polishing tarnished gems until they shine at no benefit to myself except for the satisfaction of having made someone truly happy.” She explained with a curtsey and a wink. That made Fluttershy blush even more than before as she hid behind her hair and pressed the soft sweater to her chest like it was a stuffed animal.

“Well… if… if you really want to I suppose…” she muttered. Rarity seemed to glow at her agreement. And she then remembered a question she’d had earlier.

“Ah, so Fluttershy, what exactly IS your talent darling, bug catching…?” she guessed.

“Oh…! Um no… you see I’m very good with animals, I can communicate with them on a different level than most people… I’m also very good at tending to them when they’re ill which is why I’ve signed up as a veterinary assistant for the school…” she replied her eyes lit up with a gentle spark that although soft in nature could still compete with the heat of the sun. Rarity smiled at her.

“Well then you would simply love to visit Applejack’s farm in town. Her family has one of the biggest collections of farm animals in Equestria…!” Rarity explained to the smaller pink haired girl.

“REALLY?! Oh… um… I mean… really…?” she corrected after her excitement had gotten the better of her and she had shouted so loud that Rarity’s eardrum had nearly shattered. She giggled at her enthusiasm and nodded.

“Why yes, and if I recall they just got a new puppy as well. Some kind of small herding breed… what was it again, uh… they had a movie about one of them… Lady…? No…” Rarity trailed off in thought.

“Lassie…?” Fluttershy offered. Rarity snapped her fingers and nodded.

“Yes, yes, Lassie that was it! Sad movie that one…” she added.

“So… it’s a Collie then…?” Fluttershy asked.

“I’d suppose so, I’m really more a cat person myself so I don’t honestly know many dog breeds.” She admitted as she collected her bag and started towards the door making sure to wave goodbye to her teacher and personal mentor Photofinish, but the white haired woman was too ingrained in her work to notice.

“Oh really…? What kind of cats do you like…?” Fluttershy asked in her timid voice as she put the sweater away in her pink messenger bag.

“Well, this is going to sound a bit corny mind you darling, but I always pictured myself having one of those really fluffy white cats… I just think their coats look so soft whenever I see them on TV…” she explained with a dreamy sigh. Fluttershy giggled and smiled at her roommate.

“Do you think they allow pet’s in the dorms…?” she asked as her mind was once again shifting towards her fauna friends.

“Oh I’m sure they do darling, you probably just have to fill out a form or something.” Rarity explained with a wave of her hand. Fluttershy seemed to think for a minute about it as they walked down the hallway and the bell rang dismissing them to their third period. “Oh my, look at that. Already time for class, what do you have next dear…?” Rarity asked as she pulled out her own schedule to confirm that she had history next.

“Oh um…” Fluttershy reached into a pocket on her skirt and looked at the paper. “Biology… and you have history right…?” she asked recalling that they had talked about it at the beginning of their shared sewing class.

“Yes dear, actually it’s only up on the next floor so I won’t have to go far, why don’t you hurry along since the science wing is detached from the rest of the school…?” she urged knowing full well the only had ten minutes for passing period and in a huge school like this every second counted if you wanted to be on time. Fluttershy nodded and gave her new friend a wave before she turned and started walking briskly to her next class. Once she was outside she looked up at the blue sky and she felt her wings ache to be free in the thermals she knew were carrying the puffy white clouds. She bit her lip as she debated on it.

“Ohhh… you’re going to regret this Fluttershy…” she assured herself as she lifted off the ground and shutting her eyes as she did so. When she felt herself stop at the right altitude she dared peek open one of her eyes. All she saw were students rushing to their classes. She didn’t see the cold hard ground waiting for her at a dizzying height. She looked to the skies again and watched the clouds lazily drifting along. She felt the wind stir her hair and her instincts took over as she rode the breeze which thankfully for her was towards the science building. When she was nearly there she felt like she was on top of the world, not literally because she would have been frightened to death at that height, but she hadn’t felt this good about flying since before the accident. And then just like that the good feeling was gone as the memory came flashing back to her. The sensation of falling over took her. Both in her memory and in real life; not that she would have noticed, she was already gripped with fear as her wings had retracted and were now stuck against her back while she dropped like a rock and her eyes closed accepting her fate since this time Rainbow wouldn’t be around to save her.

But Fluttershy had been wrong before, so of course she was wrong now. In a flash of color Fluttershy’s eyes were jerked open as instead of landing on cold hard ground she was caught and was skidding to a halt in the arms of her heroine yet again. Rainbow’s glaring magenta orbs however made her wish she had hit the ground instead. She knew the lecture was coming.

“Fluttershy… do you have a death wish that involves dropping out of the sky and splattering like an egg…?” she growled.

“N-no… I-I just… I’m sorry Rainbow… I know I shouldn’t have but… but it just… called to me… I know the ground is my home but there’s some little part of me that belongs in the sky…” Fluttershy whimpered as she felt tears rim her eyes as Rainbow set her back down and kneeled in front of her with a sigh.

“I know what you mean ‘Shy, hell I can’t imagine going a day without flying. Yet you went how long…? Months? And you’ve still got two perfectly good wings there so OF COURSE you’re going to want to fly. It’s in our nature right…?” Dash reasoned. “I’m not asking you to stay grounded, just make sure that I’m nearby so that if you fall, I can catch you. You’re my best friend ‘Shy, I don’t want to make the mistake of losing you again.” She emphasized an honest look in her eyes. Fluttershy gave her a gentle smile and wrapped her arms around Dash’s neck pulling her into a tight hug.

“Thank you Dash… I don’t know where I’d be without you…” she whispered. Dash chuckled a bit at that.

“Well if today is anything to go by I’d say up in the clouds partying with Celestia and Luna’s mom.” She replied as she scratched the back of her head. It was then that Fluttershy noticed that Rainbow’s arm was bleeding. A lot.

“B-blood…!” Fluttershy squealed. Rainbow blinked and looked at her arm where Fluttershy’s eyes were frozen, a long gash in her arm was pouring blood that made even Rainbow a bit queasy.

“Aw shit… okay, tell you what, I’ll go get this checked out by the nurse and you go on to class okay…?” Rainbow planned. But just then the bell rang signaling that they were both late. “Okay, new plan. You come with me to the nurse saying you found me after I crashed and brought me in to get checked out, that way she’ll write you a pass to class and I’ll get this thing checked out.” Rainbow strategized. The two had been in situations like this a lot and as much as Fluttershy didn’t like it, Rainbow’s plans usually kept them out of getting into trouble so she learned to just follow along with whatever it was she said.

So they got up to walk to the nurses office before Fluttershy remembered something pretty key, she had no idea where said office was. “Um… Rainbow, do you know where the nurse’s office is…?” she asked looking over to her friend who was holding onto her arm in an attempt to stop its bleeding. She froze with realization.

“Crap… no I don’t. Ugh, and I left my map of the campus in my last class… damn it…!” she cursed. Fluttershy winced at her friend’s use of vulgarity but something in the distance caught her eye and a light bulb went off in her head.

“Um… Rainbow, I think I know someone else who could help you…” Fluttershy mentioned so quietly that had it been anyone else they might not have heard her. But years of being around her friend had sharpened Dash’s hearing greatly.

“Oh really, who…?”

Five minutes later…

“Are you kidding me?! You want me to be treated by your freaky shaman of a Herbawhatsit teacher?!” Rainbow exclaimed as they stood outside the green house.

“It’s… Herbology… and she’s really nice Rainbow…! And she might be… a little bit odd but she told us earlier that she uses her skills to heal others quite often and since we don’t know where the nurse is…” Fluttershy trailed off losing the little bit of confidence she had as she retracted behind her wall of hair yet again. Rainbow groaned and felt herself becoming light headed from the blood loss she had suffered. Needless to say there was little room to argue.

“Okay fine… just… let’s get this over with.” She groaned. Fluttershy perked up and pushed open the door to the large dome and walked in with Rainbow at her side. She looked around but noticed Zecora was nowhere to be seen.

‘She must have this period off… but she mentioned in class she is always here if she needs us so…’ Fluttershy’s thoughts were interrupted by a voice with a familiar rhyming scheme coming from beside her.

“Oh my, it appears I have visitors, and one is injured, how has this happened my dear Fluttershy…?” asked the dark skinned woman who had appeared from a small pathway in the greenery. Rainbow nearly jumped out of her skin when the voice had spoken but Fluttershy was merely startled for a second before she remembered why they had come here.

“My friend was injured trying to save me from a flying accident, but we don’t have any idea where the nurses office is, and I remembered that you mentioned being good with healing so I-“ Fluttershy explained quickly in her panicky nature. But Zecora held up a hand to stop her rant.

“Cease your chatter and be at peace, for if it is healing you seek I am quite practiced in the technique.” She assured the girl. Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief and then noticed Rainbow had started to sway a bit. She put a gentle hand on her friend’s back to steady her and Zecora noticed and moved with the swiftest of pace. “Come and make haste, there is not much time left to waste.” She ordered moving a couple of vines out of the way to reveal a small opening to a cave that was lit by candles of all kinds. They walked inside and Rainbow lay down on a bed that was against the wall and Zecora walked over with a bowl of water and a wet cloth. She quickly cleaned away the blood and then brought over another bowl that was also filled with a clear liquid. But Rainbow knew that smell all too well.

“This is going to burn isn’t it…?” she asked as Zecora wetted a new rag with alcohol this time. Zecora simply produced a dry rag and offered it to Dash to bite down on. She took it into her mouth and bit down on it as Zecora applied the cloth to her arm. Dash screamed in agony at the burning and even though it was dulled by the cloth it still made Fluttershy cringe. How many times had this happened now…? Where she would watch Rainbow get treated for an injury caused by her having to rush in and save her because she had made some stupid mistake...? She couldn’t count that high. It seemed to happen at least two or three times a week for the last six years and every time it did Fluttershy would beat herself up over it and Rainbow would always try and tell her it wasn’t her fault. But Rainbow wasn’t a very good liar.

“Just a little longer I swear, so please do not despair…” Zecora promised, but to who was a mystery. When she had finished cleaning the wound she grabbed one last bowl of a semi clear salve and applied it quickly to the wound. Rainbow’s pained expression eased until it was gone completely and she relaxed into the bed as she used her other hand to remove the cloth from her mouth.

“That… that feels really good now, what’s in this stuff…?” Dash asked curious about what could drive away the searing agony she had just been in so quickly.

“It is a special brew made from a flower’s dew and a rare but powerful root of the tree bearing the juicy star fruit.” She answered as she set the bowl back on the table beside the bed and grabbed a roll of gauze from a drawer before she started to wrap Rainbow’s arm in it.

“Wow that’s… kinda cool actually… I didn’t know plants could make something like that.” Dash admitted while her arm was taped up.

“Indeed it is young Rainbow Dash, many doubt a plant’s power to heal things like a cold or a gash, but in all reality they have been used by for years a plenty.” Zecora explained as she cut the gauze off where it needed to stop and used medical tape to keep it in place. “There you are, now be sure to see it is properly cleaned or else it will leave a terrible scar.” She instructed as the girl sat up and moved her arm back and forth to test it. When she was sure it wouldn’t bother her too much she stood up and was almost knocked over by a hug from Fluttershy.

She recovered quickly and chuckled as she returned the hug and patted the sobbing girl on the back gently. “Don’t worry about it ‘Shy, I’m totally fine now. See…?” She asked before flying up into the air and doing a small twirl and landing back on the floor without swaying on bit. “No need to worry! Oh great, now I’m rhyming too…” she groaned as she realized her choice of words had indeed mimicked that of the shaman’s. But that was enough to make Fluttershy stop crying and even laugh a little. She turned back to her teacher and smiled.

“Thank you Miss… I mean, thank you for your help Zecora… I-I don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t been around to help…” she stammered a bit at that but the woman just waved her hand in dismissal.

“It is not a problem for me young Fluttershy, I am always happy to help when things go awry. But I do have one question, one that escapes my comprehension; what is it that you have done that makes you think you injured your loved one…?” she asked her deep green eyes truly puzzled as to how the timid girl before her could have injured her athletic looking counterpart.

Fluttershy looked down at her feet a sudden fascination with the dirt floor of the cave overwhelming her. “W-well… you see I… I’m not a very strong flier… I never have been… and I… I’m not very good with heights either… so when I tried to fly to my class to save time I panicked and almost crashed but… but Dash caught me last minute and ended up hurting herself because of it…” she explained.

‘So much for our little cover story…’ Dash thought with a sigh. She wondered what it was about the teacher that made telling even the simplest of lies feel like a terrible crime.

Zecora let a smile trace her features. “If it is fears that plague you my dear, then I beg of you to listen, for my words are sincere. One cannot let fear and doubt consume your soul, or else those you hold dear will suffer tenfold. For one who possesses wings the sky they roam is also their home, but this is not always true, and those that so are bound to be lead askew. Home is not where others dictate it to be, but instead where one can feel boundless and free. I can see from the look in your eyes that you know this to be true, but are still blinded and bound by fears of the blackest of hues. You have suffered through a terrible pain, that much is clear, but also that it hangs over you like an ominous chandelier. You feel it beginning to crash down on you when you try to spread your wings and fly into the boundless open sky, and because of that you remain earthbound like a sad little hound. You fear that if you give into your desire that the consequences for those you love could be dire. But while this is legitimate reason to be scared, you cannot let it keep you snared. For what good will come out of making mistakes, if you do not learn from them and settle the stakes…?” she asked with the wisest of looks in her eyes.

Rainbow Dash stood there with her jaw hung open in shock and Fluttershy, having more polite tendencies even when stunned to silence took her words in while never breaking eye contact with her.

“That… thank you for telling me all that Zecora… but it still doesn’t help the fact that whenever I DO try to get over my fear I always end up nearly getting myself killed and Dash usually hurts herself trying to save me…” she muttered. That snapped Dash out of it.

“Hey, do you think I’d keep saving you if I didn’t want to…? You’re my best friend Flutters, you always have been. I’m not gonna bail on you when you need me most!” she proclaimed thumping a fist to her chest as if to prove her point.

“But you’re always getting hurt because of me! If I don’t try I’ll never get better, but if I DO try then I end up hurting my friend! It’s… its better if I just stay on the ground. This IS where all my animal friends are after all… and if my destiny is tied to them then I belong on the ground.” She reasoned. Zecora was going to say something but she was cut off by a laugh from Rainbow Dash.

“Ahahahaha! That’s the most round about logic I’ve ever heard! Flutters, just because your special talent says you’re good with animals DOESN’T mean you have to be bound to the earth like them! I mean my special talent is racing and aerial acrobatics, but do you see me living my entire life in the sky? No, you’re a Pegasus, and we Pegasi are born to fly, so as long as you have two perfectly functioning wings don’t you DARE try to tell me you can’t fly. If you’re that worried about falling while you practice I can make you a cloud platform to practice on so you won’t hurt yourself.” She suggested with a confident grin on her face, a strand of her red bangs got in her eyes and she gave it a frustrated look before blowing it out of her face. The action made Fluttershy giggle and then she let out a sigh.

“Well… I guess when you put it that way… it does seem pretty silly of me. And coming from you… who KNOWS why I’m like this… I… I would like to try. But Dash, if it comes between saving me and making sure you don’t get injured again, please just let me fall. I don’t want to keep having to see you injured like this. It’s cruel and you don’t deserve it.” Fluttershy urged. But Dash shook her head.

“Sorry Flutters, I’d do anything for my friends, but not that. I’m not going to just sit back while you fall like that. Besides, that’s what friends are for right…? Someone to fall back on when you can’t help but fall. And I’m way used to getting hurt by now, they didn’t call me Rainbow Crash for nothing you know.” Dash chuckled scratching the back of her head as she did so. Fluttershy looked defeated but she knew just like her need to see creatures of all shapes and sizes happy and healthy, Dash would always feel the need to stand by her friends at all costs. It was just in their nature.

Zecora watched the sparks in both their eyes with growing curiosity and eventually a smile broke out on her face. She walked out of the hidden cave and towards her desk both of the girls following her after a few seconds. “Now that wounds of the heart and body are on the heal I think a note for your teachers would be ideal.” She stated as she pulled out a note pad from her desk drawer. “Do either of you know the name of the teachers you have next so that I may address them formally in my text…?”

They both blinked before they pulled out their schedules and looked at their third period teachers before speaking at the same time.

“Ms. Fauna.” They announced. They looked at each other startled at the revelation that they’d be in the same class but Zecora just smiled and scribbled something down on the paper before handing it to Dash.

“You’d best hurry, before you cause your teacher any more worry.” She stated simply. The two of them nodded Fluttershy quickly thanking Zecora for her help before they collected their bags that had been left at the front door and made a beeline for the science labs. When they were gone Zecora let her smile grow.

“I wonder if the Princess is aware of the spark each of these girls hold, and what will happen if the events that have been foretold are to truly unfold…” Zecora questioned to no one in particular. Her eyes glowed ever so slightly and she looked to the sun that shone through the glass dome. “I can only pray that whatever she has planned will not bring suffering to this beautiful land.” She muttered before she disappeared into her cave once more.

***~Page Break~***

After the dreadful math class Twilight had suffered through, the aspirin not even kicking in until it was half over Twilight went about her classes like normal. She found out she didn’t have a lot of classes with her friends, although she did end up sharing a fair number with Spike which pleased her enough. But when lunch came around Twilight could truly say for the first time in her life, she just wanted school to be over for the day.

But that might have been the empty stomach and left over headache talking. She went through the line of the restraint she wanted in the food court and noticed her friends all sitting for her at a picnic table under the large oak tree that centered the food court. She however noticed Luna was nowhere to be seen and could only hope the girl had already made some friends of her own. She sat down and of course Pinkie was the first to greet her.

“Hi Twilight! We were just talking about you! Actually I was telling the girls about what happened in math with those weird looks everyone was giving me and stuff! I was trying to see if they knew why but so far we’ve got nothing…!” she reported sounding cheerful despite her failure. Twilight managed a smile despite herself. She swore this girl sucked the energy out of her like a sponge but whatever she took she always returned tenfold with just that blinding smile.

“Yes, it truly was a rather… interesting tale Pinkie, but what I’m curious about out of all that I’ve observed is how Rainbow here got such a dreadful injury…!” Rarity asked turning to the girl who sat on the other side of Fluttershy. Rarity didn’t see the shy girl cringe slightly as she picked at her salad. Dash looked up from the taco she was trying to inhale and swallowed quickly before replying some of the juices still dripping along her chin.

“I uh… crashed into a tree and got a nice long cut from one of the branches. But Fluttershy took me to her Herbology teacher and she patched me up like new so now I’m all good.” She explained, and most everyone seemed to accept it with nods of their own before they resumed eating their meals. But Applejack took the half lie for what it was and eyed her roommate curiously over her burger. Twilight however was distracted by something else.

“Has anybody seen Spike…? He told me he’d be eating with us at lunch but I don’t see him anywhere…” she asked standing up to get a better view of the surrounding area. ‘Come to think of it Luna’s missing too… I hope those two aren’t getting into trouble…’ she thought sitting back down and picking up her fork to begin eating her chicken salad. Beside her Pinkie was happily munching on a cupcake (her lunch consisted of a balanced diet of candy, cake, and pastries) when suddenly her poofy hair seemed to grow a mind of its own and stood straight up like poofy pink tower before it settled back down around her shoulders like normal. Her blue eyes grew wide and in a pink blur she had every one of her friends in her arms as she quickly bolted away from where they had been sitting. But before any of them could ask what exactly was wrong with her they heard screaming from above and in what seemed like slow motion they all saw a very familiar boy with green hair that stuck out of a white safety helmet, and who wore a purple hoodie smash into the very table they had been sitting in shattering it to pieces and sending their lunches scattering everywhere.

Fifteen minutes earlier:

“Hey Twilight, I’ll meet you at lunch with the girls, I need to go back to our room real quick to drop off some of these books, they’re getting heavy and from what I’ve seen so far all the classes have in room copies anyways.” Spike said as they filled out of their shared Philosophy class.

“Okay, I’ll save you a seat but you’d better hurry.” She called over her shoulder in return.

So using his speed he made it to their room in record time. He swiped his ID against the scanner and the door audibly clicked meaning it was now unlocked. He pushed open the door and made his way to his room only to find Luna’s door open and to see her out on her balcony working on some kind of contraption that was nearly as big as she was. He dropped his bag and walked over to the open door.

“Do I want to know what this thing is…?” he asked jolting the lunar princess out of her state of concentration.

“Huh…? Oh hello Spike, didn’t hear you come in. This…? It’s a uh… well, my engineering teacher spoke of a project we’d be doing all year, to build a full scale machine of our choosing. So I had a free period and decided that I’d make a quick prototype.” She explained as she tightened another bolt on the thing. Spike whistled a bit.

“You built this thing in an hour…? If it were anyone else but you I’d think it was impossible… so what does it do?” he asked trying to examine the thing a bit further.

“Oh well it… uh, makes people fly.” She responded after a second’s thought. Spike’s eyes lit up like green fire.

“Did you say fly…?” Flying was something beyond him, since dragons didn’t grow wings until the hit their teenage years, but since he had first seen dragons in books soaring through the skies like the powerful beasts they were he had always wanted to join them.

“Well, yes… but it’s only a prototype. It’d have to be tested before it could actually…”

“I COULD TEST IT FOR YOU!!! I-I mean, you know, if you needed me to or anything.” He added trying to sound smooth with it. He failed but it was still cute to see him try. Luna gave him a worried glance. He was just a child after all, and she was just going to use a test dummy for the initial testing phase… but he was half dragon. And of her sister’s royal dragon line as well. It would take a lot more than a fall from two thousand feet to put him out of commission.

“Okay, I’ll let you test it. But you have to wear this helmet just in case.” She ordered conjuring a white industrial strength helmet for the boy to wear. He beamed and strapped it onto his head tightening the straps to ensure it wouldn’t fall off. “Okay good, now just climb up here into the top.” She instructed having to get on her tippy toes to tap the top of the machine. Spike leapt up into it and settled into the thing easily enough.

“Now what…?” he called from within it.

“Now, you fly.” She responded as she pressed a button on the side of it. Pieces of it shifted around and the holders all released the barrel of it as the canon unfolded into its true form, Spike was completely oblivious to anything other than the fact that the sky had come into view for him. He grinned and closed his eyes as Luna hit the FIRE button and sent him soaring into the sky. And for a couple of seconds, he really was flying high into the sky, just barley grazing the lower clouds as he spread his arms out to try and guide himself through the air. But then he felt himself go weightless for about half a second before he started to plummet like a rock. All he saw rushing at him was a big tree. And he closed his eyes waiting for the branches to catch him.

Back to the present:

“SPIKE!!!!” Twilight called as the boy started to stir from the rubble and she ran to him.

“Ugh… Did anyone catch that train’s number…?” he groaned as he sat up and rubbed his back which had suffered the brute force of the fall. Twilight was examining his form by prodding his limbs gently to see if it hurt him. He was sore but nothing looked broken. She sighed in relief and then went into full lecture mode.

“SPIKESON GRAVENTUS DRACONIS KAELOPSON VI WHAT IN CELESTIA’S NAME DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!?!?!?!?!” She roared her hair literally bursting into flames and her eyes turning as red as blood. Spike wanted to crawl back into the crater he’d made, hell, he’d probably do the fall all over again from even higher if it got him out of facing Twilight’s rage mode. But just then an angel in the form of the lunar princess flew down from the heavens to spare him such a fate.

“Have peace Twilight Sparkle, it was I that caused Spike’s… accident.” She explained calmly. Twilight considered ripping the head from her shoulders, had it been anyone else she probably would have but her bond with Luna’s older sister prevented her from maiming the lunar princess. That didn’t however stop the well placed punch to her face. And it hit home, hard. When Luna fell back unconscious into the concrete Twilight’s rage form vanished and her magic was once again in check as she realized in absolute dreaded horror that she had just knocked the only sister of her mentor out cold. Behind her the other five girls and the entire student body stood in stunned silence at the events they had just witnessed. Even Pinkie didn’t make a peep or move a single muscle.

From within the crowd however there was one who still moved, actually she made her way through the scattered students until she calmly passed Twilight’s stunned friends her wavy pink hair and two soft white wings being carried by a wind that blew past. Eyes the same color as her hair locked onto the unconscious teal haired girl on the floor and for a second they flicked to the purple haired girl that still stood frozen in front of her and the green haired boy next to her. But she didn’t meet their eyes until she had moved forward and picked up the unconscious body of Luna and she turned to face Twilight Sparkle. The prominent crest in the middle of her forehead glowed as golden magic started to surround her. Pink met lavender and a voice that had guided her for so many of her years filled her ears, the voice of her loving mentor.

“I’ll wait for you back in the room.”

Author's Note:

Sorry about the delayed update, between the university work I have, my actual work, and my personal life I found it rather hard to find time to post anything new. But luckily Fridays I don't have classes so I got to sleep in AND post a new chapter, tell me if you like it if not then tell me why and I shall revise it accordingly. And if you haven't noticed by now I've but in hints to several diffrent pairings in here already, I already know of course who I'm going to be shipping but it's always fun to make you all guess. Also I've broken this chapter in two simply because having a single chapter that is over twenty thousand words seemed a bit much. Even being over ten thousand words is impressive from what I've seen on here. So I'll be adding part two hopefully near Monday or Tuesday if my professor doesn't bury me in book reports again.

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[Listie The Scribe Maid]

(Joke) Alt. Title: How I Met Your History Of Twilight And Friends
You comment deleter, you.

[El Dante]

Eek.

Well, if you don't hear it from me, it'll be someone else: Pace the writing! I get the sense that this was all very, very vivid in your head, but take care with the actual words here. Once again, handwriting helps with this. For whatever reason, the pace just falls right out of it when you go right to typing first. Something about how unnatural the interface is, probably.

On another note, feel free to use my "Seraphim" and "Starcrest" terms for your humans if you'd like. Or find any you'd like more. "Pegasus" and "Unicorn" might not be fitting for humans.

I know I'm one to talk (albeit for the opposite reason), but please, an editor is in dire need here!

Best of luck, anyway.

[Icarus Crimsonhoof]

Damn that was a long read. This story is awesome.

[Ignaltus]

Luna + Spike = Shitstorm is coming.