The Cutie Mark Crusaders will Discover the perks and the problems of being adults while they take care of an alicorn filly and her friends, but dont worry, they can handle it... Right?
How will cope our favorite group of ponies, when they suddenly are trapped, not in a cage, but in their younger, smaller, and certainly cuter forms??, and what will do a certain trio af not-so-little fillies to avoid any harm while being in this form?, Time to find out.
a HUGE thank you to TheARAuthor for editing this monster of story. Edit: [24/09/14] Provisional Cover Art, I don't know if I must cheer for this, but still YAY
It was a warm and sunny day in Ponyville; the birds were singing, the sun was shining, and the sky was completely clear, barren of any cloud formations (a very nice job courtesy of the Weather Pegasi squad). It was a perfect day for everypony…well… almost everypony.
Three familiar little fillies, an orange pegasus, a white unicorn, and a yellow earth pony, were walking towards the big ol’ tree that was none other than Golden Oaks Library.
“I'm sooooo bored,” Scootaloo groaned, lazily dragging her Scooter. Her griping was stopped by a white hoof. "We're not in the mood for your complaining right now, Scoots,” Sweetie Belle frowned at her friend’s negativity disapprovingly. She temporized a bit, waiting for the last yellow filly that was walking with a gloomy expression on her face to catch up with them.
“Applebloom, are you alright?” Scootaloo asked in concern.
Applebloom replied with a heavy sigh, “It's nothing, Scoots, but… Ah’m getting really tired of dealin’ with that spoiled brat Diamond Tiara. That’s the fifth time she’s called us ‘blank flanks’ again this week, and its only Tuesday!, Ah really don' know what ah'm gonna do If she call us blank-flanks again... Ah might Explode!!"
“Don’t let her get to you, Bloom," Sweetie reassured her friend with an earnest smile, "You know that she’s just jealous"
"Jealous?, Of What?" Applebloom replied exasperated
"Well..." Sweetie stated thoughtfully, "Jealous of our amazing friendship?"
"Yeah, Sweetie’s right." Scootaloo chimed in earning a relieved sigh from Sweetie, "Don’t let her get to you!" Scootaloo said, patting her friend's back, "You should really be worrying about that boring assignment that Miss Cheerilee gave us." The orange pegasus turned to face her friends, only to find two surprised faces staring back at her in confusion.
"Seriously Scoots... you’re worried about homework? Who are you and what did you do with the real Scootaloo?!" Applebloom said accusingly with false seriousness. "It's not that Applebloom, I just want to finish it as fast as I possibly can so we could have more time to crusade and stuff...I just have to think of some more awesome ideas we could use for our next mission." Scootaloo said with a gigantic smile on her face. "We know that Scoots, it’s just that this will be the first time that you’ve ever actually done something for the school!" Sweetie Belle jibed with a giggle.
"Har har, very funny Sweetie," Scootaloo replied, rolling her pale purple eyes. "Look we already made it to the li—“ All of a sudden, they heard screams coming from inside the library. The three fillies rushed inside, forgetting the wagon and the Scooter behind, to find their ultimate enemies, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, shouting at each of their older sisters and their friends.
"I don't care if somepony else reserved that book, I need it! Sooo...I'm going to take it!!" an irritated Diamond Tiara yelled indignantly.
"Who do y'think you are; you can't just trot into mah friend's library and scream at her like that!" Applejack retorted, glaring at the angry fillies.
"You can’t yell at my friend like that, you commoner!" Silver Spoon countered, glaring daggers at the orange earth pony. Suddenly an iridescent blur appeared behind the grey filly and lifted her into the air.
"You two are just a couple of spoiled brats; I don’t think that your parents taught either of you two on how to behave around grownups..." Rainbow Dash’s lecture went unheeded as the fight between Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and the Crusaders continued. Then from out of nowhere, books started soaring through the air, while the rest of the Mane Six tried to stop the quarrel. “Sweetie Belle!!” Rarity spoke, with evident traces of anger in her voice, "You cannot solve your problems with violence; you must discuss this like a mature adult pony, for Celestia's sake!! You—“ A scream of pain that was elicited by Rainbow Dash made everypony stop and watch in horrified fascination as Silver Spoon picked up a book and smacked Dash in the muzzle. The grey filly was dropped and fell to the floor with a soft ‘thump’.
"ARGHH!!! MY MUZZLE!! Sweet Mother of Celestia!!" Rainbow Dash cried, clutching her muzzle in pain. "Silver Spoon!” Twilight exclaimed, "You shouldn't hit other ponies! That is awful and uncouth!" Silver Spoon rolled her eyes and went to support her friend in distress.
"ENOUGH!!" a certain yellow Pegasus squealed. Everypony turned their heads in surprise when they saw the occasionally timid pony sporting such a stern expression. "You shouldn't be fighting," Fluttershy admonished, "Ponyville was built with friendship and harmony assimilated between their inhabitants, we cannot continue fighting about such unimportant things." The quiet Pegasus ended her lecture with confidence... confidence that suddenly vanished when a pink blur jumped out in front of her. "That's right, you silly fillies! Everything has a solution. Instead of be fighting, we could all be laughing and eating toooons of cupcakes, 'cuz they make everything better! Like that time when Gummy and I were—“ "I don't care about you or your dumb pet!" Diamond Tiara interjected, pointing a hoof towards the three crusaders as if it were a loaded gun, "They started this, and I’m going to tell my daddy on you and you blank flanks and your petty friends are going to pay!!" She threatened them with a nasty grin on her face that vanished in a matter of seconds when she saw Sweetie Bell's horn glowing.
"Wh-What’s wrong with her?" Silver Spoon asked, backing away, obvious hints of alarm in her voice. "Darling, please..." Rarity began as Twilight rushed to her side, covering her friend’s muzzle with her wings, earning weird looks from the other ponies. "Please remain quiet," She whispered into the white unicorn’s ear, "Sweetie Belle is being overwhelmed by her emotions and that is only adding fuel to what could develop in magical rupture. This kind of magic is extremely powerful, so we mustn't say anything, and I mean it. By this point anything that sets her off could result in disaster." Twilight finished giving her friend the advice and released her wings from Rarity’s muzzle.
They remained in absolute silence until Diamond Tiara broke the silence... "She? Powerful?! She’s just a stupid blank flank! Even when she’s all grown up, I doubt that she’ll EVER have a cutie mark..." The snooty pink filly continued her mocking until Sweetie Belle’s horn emitted a singular blast of magic that energized and fueled the horns of the other Unicorn and Alicorn in the Room; they screamed in pain as the magical outburst resulted in a massive explosion, plumes of smoke filling up every corner of the library. Everything went black for everypony in the room.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
A disoriented Princess Twilight Sparkle awoke in the middle of a dusty library, lying on the cold floor of her own archive. Her head was aching terribly, and her back and legs, were sore from the sudden explosion, she sat down on her haunches while the dust settled but what she saw next made her shiver; a group consisting of five fillies with the color and respective cutie marks of her friends were sprawled out unconscious on the floor. Meanwhile on the other side of the library, five fully grown mares were spread out across the floor. Three of them didn't show any signs of a Cutie Mark. That wouldn't be so surprising (Twilight had experienced plenty of magical mishaps) if the fillies weren't of the same size of her, or if everything weren't twice bigger than her. She lay back, respiring heavily, trying to slow her erratic breathing pattern.... then the inevitable happened, tears started leaking from her eyes, and a soft wail took place in her throat, she had officially lost it.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Applebloom awoke to the sound of soft wailing that was identical to a caterwauling foal’s, she had always hated a foal's wail, ever since the Cake Twins' birth, and in the few opportunities that she have had foalsitting, their cries had always made her feel sad, she couldn't stand a foal's wail without comforting them, so she did what instinct told her to do, she proceed to comfort the foal in distress. When she stood up, however, she felt different; she opened her eyes and realized that everything seemed to be smaller than it should have been. There wasn’t much of a difference, but still it didn't felt right. 'Maybe it was Sweetie Belle’s spell that did this,’ she thought. From out of nowhere, she espied a small purple figure that captured her attention. It appeared to be a young filly, not much older than her. But the real question was why was she looking down at this filly? She was practically towering over her! She soon realized that there was something terribly wrong and suspicious about the crying filly. She had wings... and a horn…the same purple eyes and dark blue mane as…Oh no.
Applebloom came to the shocking conclusion that this filly was none other than Princess Twilight Sparkle.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This day definitely wasn’t turning out like Spike hoped it would. It was supposed to be a serene and peaceful morning. He could been spending the day with Twilight and her friends, but that big fight between the Crusaders and Diamond Tiara, and that explosion shattered his plans of a nice and quiet afternoon. This was not the first time that a magical mishap initiated by Twilight had destroyed his plans; in fact, this was the third massive explosion from that same week, he partly blamed the new Alicorn Magic that Twilight was learning to control, the other half was just Twilight trying to do new dangerous spells, which she had no experience with.
Nevermind. Things were just getting worse and worse; the splitting headache that had awoken him wasn’t helping the situation much either. He tried to get to his feet but barely managed. Something just seemed a little off that day; was it his scales?, they felt strangely itchy today, Was it his eyes?, They felt sore from the dust so he couldn't open them, But that wasn't either. When he opened his eyes though, he saw something that made him freeze. The first thing his mind registered were six little fillies, one of them an Alicorn (which also happened to be crying her eyes out), then five full grown mares, one of them with a yellow coat and a red mane that was staring slack-jawed at the bawling alicorn filly, and third, the room itself looked smaller.
He didn't need any more clues to give him an impression of what had happened. 'Damned magic! What did you do that ruined the day THIS time?!' he thought in dismay. He was then pulled out of his oblivion by the soft crying that was being produced from the purple filly nearby. Rather than panic, he proceeded to do what mostly everypony else would do in this type of odd situation; he went to calm down the frightened and upset filly.
"Shhhh, calm down Twily…its okay, we’ll solve this in no time," Spike cooed reassuringly. He was surprised at his own behavior towards the problem. He usually waits Twilight to solve the problem, while he just stay at her side, for assistance, now, for example he could easily explore the newest additions on his own body, but comforting Twilight was far more important than that. By now Twilight had stopped crying and her wails had been reduced to piteous sniveling. "You alright now?" Spike asked the filly. She nodded softly in response, tears slowly falling from her eyes, “I just don’t know what happened, Spike!" Twilight replied, her voice high pitched, while she raised a hoof to clean her eyes, “I didn't even know that Sweetie Belle..." she stopped mid-sentence, realizing that the former unicorn filly with the candy-colored mane laid head first on the Library floor.
"SWEETIE BELLE!!!" Twilight exclaimed, galloping towards the barely conscious white coated mare, "Are you okay?" she asked with an air of childish concern. Sweetie groaned and opened her green eyes, gawking at the purple filly in confusion, "Who are—“ she was snapped out of her stupor when she saw a pair of wings resting on the filly’s back and a stunted horn perched on top of the filly's head. "T-TWILIGHT?! What happened to you?!" shrieked Sweetie, her bright green eyes tripling in size at the sight of the royal filly. She hastily scrambled to her hooves and hit her head on bookshelf overhead, "What happened to ME!?!?" Unfortunately, Sweetie Belle's screams of terror woke everypony else in the room in the process, and both Spike and Twilight knew well that it certainly wasn't going to be a pleasant awakening.
"My head..." Little Rarity moaned. Her eyes trebled in size when she noticed the pitch of her voice had changed dramatically. "—MY VOICE!! What in Tartarus just happened?! Why is everything so big?!?.." She got up slowly from her spot on the floor, only to start galloping towards the mare that resembled her little sister talking with a familiar pink coated mare.
"Sooo…what are you going to do now, little filly?" Diamond Tiara patronized, looking down at the white unicorn filly that retreated in fear. She looked around the room, searching for her pal. She found Silver Spoon picking up a small rainbow-maned filly that tried in vain to run and fly away from her captor, but she didn’t prevail.
"Do you like this, little filly? It isn’t fun to be the small one, is it?!” Silver Spoon teased the blue filly, contempt practically dripping from her tone.
"Ahhhh!! Put me down, put me down!!" Dash bawled. She was then unceremoniously dumped onto the floor by a stern-looking Silver Spoon.
"You're going to get it when I grow up again, I'll show you...did ya hear me!!?" Dash shouted, glaring up at the grey mare with the air of an angry child. Her anger instantly melted and evaporated when she saw Silver's evil grin leering down upon her. She didn't need to think twice; Rainbow Dash ran for her life. Silver Spoon growled as she chased after the young Pegasus filly.
"Stop, you fiend!" the grown up Scootaloo ordered, putting her hoof down. "You're not going to treat Rainbow Dash like that!!" she bellowed as Rainbow hid behind her legs. Silver went charging toward Scootaloo at maximum speed when she heard her friend call her.
"Silver... we shouldn't waste our time with these immature foals," Diamond Tiara derided, looking down at the fearful former mares, "Let’s go. There are so many things that we could do now that we’re older!" Tiara said with a smirk. Silver Spoon nodded and followed her friend towards the library’s exit.
But before they could leave, a lavender filly hurried to block the door, with a slightly scared yet determined frown, "You can’t leave! We still have to fix this mess!" Twilight proclaimed, her hilariously high-pitched voice laced with determination. What she didn’t expect was what was going to happen later that day.
Diamond Tiara trotted towards the filly, her eyebrows knitting into a menacing glare. She crouched down until she was at eye-level with Twilight. Twilight tried to avert her gaze, but the much older mare put her hooves in Twilight's cheeks and twisted her head around so she could look her directly in her eyes. Twilight tried to fight her way through, but she simply wasn't strong enough to overcome the older pony . "I don't care if you’re a princess," Diamond Tiara spoke in a relatively calm and collected tone, "Or the new ruler of Equestria, but since I’m older than you now, I say that you are going to show me RESPECT, young filly!!!" As Diamond continued, Twilight shrank backwards in fear, curling up into a tiny ball in the Library floor.
“You no longer have the right to boss me around, and you WILL NOT demand anything from me anymore; is that CRYSTALLINE CLEAR?!!?" Twilight didn't answer. "I SAID, AM I CLEAR?!" Roared Diamond. Twilight’s head bobbled up and down rapidly as tears coursed down her cheeks.
Diamond smirked, "I thought so. Oh, would you look at the time! I’m sorry, but it’s time for me to go. Oh! I almost forgot, 'Princess'…" she put heavy emphasis on the word ‘Princess’ while she sent a stern look towards the aforementioned filly, "You should really learn how to behave around grownups. After all, mind your elders!" Diamond Tiara concluded with a haughty laugh, leaving the tiny purple filly to her own devices as the pink mare and her silver-colored friend left the library.
All of the other remaining ponies (and dragon) stared at the blubbering Alicorn in shock and went over to calm her down. Between sobs, Twilight managed to choke out, "Wha-what are we goin' t-to do…?”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The former fillies and dragon were having a real hard time taking care of the 6 fillies while trying to figure out a way to sort out the disaster. Sweetie especially felt guilty for being the one that cast the spell. Worse yet, Twilight didn't want to read any books, a rather shocking revelation to say the very least. Initially it was a huge surprise for all them…until they realized that the new Twilight was more like Rainbow Dash than the adult version. Perhaps since Twilight’s resurrected and revived childlike mindset was aware that she had friends in her youth was the most plausible explanation for her change of personality.
As of now, Twilight was indulging herself in a flying contest with Rainbow Dash rather than read the spellbooks that Spike had offered her earlier. "On your mark," little Pinkie counted, "Get set... " The Alicorn and Pegasus stretched their petite wings and prepared to fly. Their target, the finish line, was located at the top window. “GO!!”
As soon as Pinkie gave the green light, they took off from the bookshelf and flew towards the window when suddenly a pair of scaly purple claws snatched their small bodies.
"Well, well, well, looks like two certain little fillies are going to have a very long timeout," Spike calmly rebuked, giving Twilight a stern look. "You haven’t read any of the books that I gave you, Twily," He then looked at Rainbow Dash, who was desperately trying to avoid his gaze. "And you, little missy, should be helping your friends! Don't you see that they are all in need of some moral support?"
Spike had a point; for six former mares, being helpless fillies again was a rather tough adjustment. The diminished heights, the lack of abilities, and (for Fluttershy), the return of old fears and inhibitions was most definitely NOT a pleasant experience. For the Crusaders, being fully grown adult ponies with flanks barren of any cutie mark was just plain disappointing.
"But Spiiiike," Twilight whined, her bottom lip jutting out as she used the puppy dog eyes that she hoped would cajole Spike into letting her off the hook, "I don' wanna read books! They’re soooo boring!"
"You mean you don't want to help your friends?" Spike pointed out, unconvinced as he raised an eyebrow, highly doubting the filly’s protests. Twilight instantly felt guilty again, her cheeks pinking slightly.
"No, no, no! Spike, you don't understand," Twilight said quickly, "I wanna play, Spike. I never got the chance to be a real kid when I was really young, and you know that! I’ll read all of those books when I later, I promise! But for now, I wanna enjoy this! Pleeeease? You understand, right?" pleaded the purple filly, her eyes shining.
"Please Spike," Rainbow added with a whine, "Listen to the egghead..." she couldn't continue the sentence because of the book that had toppled off its shelf and landed on her head. ”Ouch... I'm on your side ya know, Twilight?!" Dash said rubbing her head with her foreleg.
Twilight glared daggers at her friend, "I'm not an egghead! I could beat you in ten seconds flat anyday!” A wicked smile crossed her features when she used Rainbow's slogan. Rainbow stared at her for several seconds before she let out a seething growl. The two fillies were about to engage in a fight when filly Rarity decided to intervene.
"Spiiikeyyy, I have just thought of the best idea ever!" Rarity exclaimed, "Why don't you send a letter to Princess Celestia? She could fix this mess in no time!"
Spike knew that she was right, but for some reason his magical fire breath wasn't working right. "Rarity, I’ve already told you before that my magic isn't working either. If I used my fire breath right now, I would probably burn the letter before it could even make it to Celestia’s palace.”
Rarity’s eyes welled up with tears as she prepared to cry her eyes out, but a joyful scream coming from the other side of the room interrupted her.
"GIRLS!!" Applebloom exclaimed, pointing her hoof to a half opened book on the floor, "I found something, I can't quite see it, but the cover says 'Transformation'.” Everypony in the room (minus Twilight and Rainbow Dash that were muzzle-to-muzzle and having a smirk-off) ran towards the book that Applebloom held in her hooves.
"What da hay is that?" Little Applejack said, looking at the cover of the book and then turning her gaze towards the yellow coated filly, "What do ya think Flutters?" she asked.
"I do-don't think that I’ve seen it before…it looks like it’s in another language,” Fluttershy replied in her expected soft tone. "Well, looks like we’re gonna be stuck this way for a little while longer then,” an annoyed Scootaloo commented, earning various looks from the fillies in the room. Spike, giving Scootaloo a soft punch in her flank approached the watery-eyed fillies and gave them a reassuring smile, "Don't worry girls, I think know somepony that can read this." Spike took the book in his claws and went to the corner of the Library where Rainbow Dash and Twilight were committed to their staring contest.
"Twily... could you do me a fav—” "Shhh, quiet Spike, I’m kind of busy right now!" Twilight said, still not tearing her gaze away from Rainbow’s. Spike tried to be patient and understanding about Twilight’s desire to feel and act young again, but this had pushed it far beyond his breaking point. He went over to Twilight's side and clapped his hand loudly. The echo of the clap was strong enough to make Twilight accidentally blink and consequently lose the staring contest, much to the filly’s dismay.
"Ha! You blinked! I won!" Rainbow exclaimed, smirking victoriously.
Twilight shook her head, flashing Rainbow her classic smug smile. "Nuh-uh, Spike cheated!"
"Yeah, I won!"
"Nuh-uh!"
"Yeah-uh!"
"Nuh-uh!"
"ENOUGH!" boomed Sweetie Belle, "Twilight Sparkle, come here right now!!"
“Bu-But Rainbow started it! She was—“
"Twilight, did you hear me?? Come over here NOW!!!”
Twilight obeyed, stunned by the sudden authority in Sweetie’s voice. "Okay…" The alicorn mumbled, meekly walking towards the white coated mare, eliciting a few laughs from Rainbow Dash.
"Twilight, I’m sorry I had to raise my voice at you like that, but we really need you to read the book.” Sweetie explained.
Twilight nodded softly in understanding. "Okay, I’ll read the book, but can I play again later?" She asked expectantly.
"Of course, but you have to translate this for us,” Sweetie replied.
"Alright, give me the book." Twilight said, extending a hoof towards Spike, the one that had the book.
"No, no, Twilight, what’s the magic word?" Applebloom chided the purple alicorn teasingly, which earned a confused look from Twilight.
"Ummm…please?"
"Beg ya Pardon?" Applebloom grinned.
By now Twilight was fuming out of anger. "Can you hand me the book PLEASE??" Twilight said with a rising tone of impatience through her gritted teeth as she glared at Applebloom.
"Ver’ well then," giggled Bloom, making a hoof gesture towards a snickering Spike, who nodded and handed the book to Twilight. "What do we say now?" she tolled, not even trying to suppress her laughter.
"Thank you," Twilight mumbled, clearly irritated. She then trotted over to a nearby table and opened the book with her muzzle. “Can anypony bring me a piece of parchment...oh! And a quill…and some ink?“ She requested, not lifting her eyes from the book, until she realized she had forgotten something. “Please?” she added with a weary sigh.
Spike accommodated the request and quickly brought her the items that she required. “Alright then. I’ll start,” Before she could begin, however, Twilight was stopped by a low rumble that came from her stomach. She blushed, “Buuut…I think I need a quick snack first,” The others groaned as she stood up and trotted towards the kitchen. Seconds later, a light green aura that surrounded a cupcake with chocolate frosting made the former mare do a doubletake.
Twilight stared at the mare with the candy-colored mane that was levitating the snack in front of her in amazement. “Swe-Sweetie Belle, you’re using your magic! That’s wonderful!” She happily chirped. She tried to reach the pastry with her mouth, only to find that she couldn’t reach it. The filly opened her eyes in confusion to find the chocolate confection was suspended above her head.
"Twilight," Sweetie teased in a sing-song voice, "I think there’s something you should say first." She reminded, a broad smile slowly stretching across her face.
"Not agaaain!! Forget it. I’m not THAT hungry…" Twilight retorted, her thoughts interrupted as she heard a familiar grumbling noise once again. "Errr… it wasn't me!" She defended, eyeing Rainbow Dash and Applejack, who both stifled laughter. She sent them both dirty looks, only for another soft voice to speak up.
"I-it was me, Twilight….I don’t mean to interrupt anypony, bu-but I am a little hungry too…" Fluttershy said quietly, shadowing her face behind her willowy pink mane.
"It’s okay Fluttershy, I think that we all could go for a little snack," Scootaloo assured the yellow Pegasus filly with a smile. "We can steal some food from Twi’s kitchen. You cool with it, Twilight?” She asked, looking at the blue-maned filly expectantly.
"Actually..."Twilight temporized as Spike interrupted her, "To tell the truth, Scoots, we don't really have any food here. Most of the time we just eat out," The dragon finished.
"You know what that means, right?" Applebloom asked the orange coated mare. "Oh, oh! I know! I know! Ask me! Pick me! I know!!" Little Pinkie interrupted, jumping up and down excitedly. "Ya don't mean.." Applejack whimpered timidly. "I think that we're going to have to eat out this time." Sweetie finished with a glint of dread in her green eyes.
“Oh no, no, I’m not getting out of the library, if somepony see me like this I’ll be the town’s laughing stock for weeks!" Rarity whined, receiving weary sighs from the older mares in the room.
"She’s right. If we go out in public like this, everypony’ll laugh at us!" elaborated Applejack as she crossed her forelegs defiantly. "We’re not willing to go out and be recognized by somepony else either,” Applebloom explained looking down at her sister, "But hey, they won’t be starin’ at any of y’all. They’ll be starin’ at the three full grown mares WITHOUT Cutie Marks. So don’t worry sis, ponies won’t even bother to glance at ya.”
"Nice try Applebloom," Twilight growled, scowling at the mare. "An alicorn filly that looks just like one of the Princesses is sure to grab ponies’ attentions! I’m not going out, I—“
"Come on Twilight," Sweetie Belle chimed, deliberately interrupting the little filly’s bemoaning, "You know that we have to go out in public at some point. Don’t worry; it would only be a few minutes. We’ll just go outside, eat some lunch, and then head back to the library. It won’t be so bad, will it?" she said. Twilight tilted her head to the side slightly in befuddlement.
"I don't know…it’s just that—“ Twilight quieted as soon as she saw Spike’s piercing glare. "Either way," Spike spoke up, looking at Twilight disapprovingly, "What Sweetie’s saying is that we all have to give our own little sliver of a sacrifice; it's just one walk through town. I guarantee that we’ll finish it in a heartbeat!" Spike assured, looking at the fillies and receiving nods of approval from the group of mares.
"Okay," Twilight said, "We can do this, right girls? It can't be that difficult," She said, getting slightly worried, collective nods of agreement from her friends.
"Fine," Applejack sighed in defeat, "But where are we supposed to go first?"
A little pink blob appeared, crashing into the three adult mares. "Ooh! Ooh! I know a place where we could eat delicious ultra-tasty food! In fact, I just so happen to work there, or well ‘worked’ there since I’m a filly now," Pinkie exclaimed, bouncing up and down ceaselessly, “It’s Sugarcube Corner of course! I’m sure that Mrs. and Mr. Cake will extremely happy to see me! I could play with Pound and Pumpkin and—"
"Alright, alright Pinkie, we got it," Scootaloo muttered, covering Pinkie's mouth with her hoof. "We'll go to Sugarcube Corner. It’s not too far from here anyway. Now, let's get going." Scootaloo ran towards the door and was about to open it, only to hear muffled peals of laughter coming from her fellow crusaders.
"What's so funny?" the orange coated mare asked, stomping the ground with her hoof.
"Scoots, how are we going to pay?” Sweetie Belle asked, repressing her giggles once again.
"Oh... right. I knew I was forgetting something!" Scootaloo exclaimed, clapping her hoof to her forehead as her wings fluttered fretfully. Pleased, Sweetie levitated a bag full of bits into the alight green miasma known as her magical telekinetic grasp and beamed at her friends,
"Now, let's go." ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ For the inhabitants of Ponyville, it wasn't unusual that strange things happened in town that made the town’s code enforcement appellate the Everfree forest as a prohibited border indeed. Manticores, Hydras, Cockatrices, Ursas, Timberwolves — and believe me, the list goes on — had attacked the town countless times, starting from the time of Celestia and Luna’s ancestors’ births to the eternal now.
With that being said, another magical disaster caused by Equestria’s newest princess wasn't going to stop the day, but not without a price. The whole town erupted into peals of laughter as six small fillies (one being an alicorn and looking strangely similar to Princess Twilight Sparkle), three grown mares with flanks barren of cutie marks, and a large, scaly dragon.
"Awww man, this is soooo embarrassing, and soooo not cool," Rainbow Dash moaned, hiding behind Scootaloo's back legs. The former loosed a chuckle at the sight of her idol whose cheeks were an unhealthy shade of red crouching behind her.
"I agree Rainbow, this is the WORST. POSSIBLE. THING! My reputation is ruined forever!!" Rarity whimpered plaintively. She gazed up at her now older sister with pleading eyes. "Sweetie... can I go back to the library pleeeease?" she asked with large puppy eyes.
Sweetie Belle giggled at how cute her sister was now. She put on a firm facade and said sternly, "No Rarity. We all have to play our parts in our bout of humiliation. It’s not like their laughter is doing any harm.”
"Still, this is awful," Twilight pouted, looking expectantly at Spike, "Spiiiike, can you carry me pleeeease? Everypony is looking at me and laughing!" the little filly implored, hugging Spike’s leg.
"Argh, Twilight, let go of me!" Spike demanded, shaking his leg repeatedly in an attempt to loosen her clasp on him, but Twilight held strong iron-like grip on his leg and squeezed it tightly, making him yelp in discomfort. Defeated, he sighed. "Alright, I'll carry you. Now quit whining," Spike mumbled, hoisting his 'sister' up into his arms and putting placing her atop his broad shoulders.
“Yay!” Twilight squealed at the sudden height and wrapped her arms around Spike's neck, "Now, your princess needs to eat, serve her the fanciest of meals!" Twilight ordered with mock queenly authority, making Applebloom and Scootaloo burst out laughing.
"Hey, it wasn’t that, funny…was it?” the lavender Alicorn filly asked, looking at the laughing mares that were still laughing in confusion and slight irritation. "Stop laughing!!That is an order! I mean it! I'm not joking!” Twilight commanded, not even bothering to hide the desperation in her voice. When she couldn't handle anymore, she leapt off Spike’s shoulders and spread her wings in flight.
"Twilight!!" Spike bellowed as he saw the lavender filly flying off with the locomotion and speed of a young Pegasus. "Come back here right now!" he ordered, looking frantically skywards in search of the blue maned filly.
"No need to worry Spike," Rainbow assured, opening her wings, "I'll go get ‘er!” She prepared to take flight when Scootaloo put her hooves on the rainbow-maned filly’s shoulders.
"No, Rainbow! You could easily get lost! We don't even know where Twilight’s gone off to. We have to start looking for—" Scootaloo was interrupted by little Pinkie who was jabbing her hoof in the direction of Sugarcube Corner.
"Argh, alright Pinkie, we’ll eat something first, and then we'll look for Twilight." Scootaloo sighed, earning exciting nods from both the fillies and mares. Everypony started trotting towards the entrance…well, everypony but Spike, who was still looking up at the sky. Applebloom sensed his absence and cranked her neck around.
"Come on Spike, we'll look for her later, okay? Ah don’t want to be stuck haulin’ around all these hungry fillies while lookin’ for Twi." Applebloom said tartly, opening the door for the fillies.
Spike retaliated by giving Applebloom a glare that could melt steel, "How could you say THAT!?" the dragon retorted, evident anger and contempt dripping from his words, "We don't know where Twilight is…at this point she could be ANYWHERE!! She could be in the Everfree and is being eaten by a Manticore, or... or…she could be ponynapped, for Celestia's sake!! We need to go look for her!”
"Looking for who?" A familiar voice giggled. The yellow mare and dragon whirled around and saw Twilight, who was gliding above them with a big grin on her face.
"TWILIGHT!! Where were you??" Spike shouted, visibly relieved yet audibly angry, "We've been so worried about you!” "Spike... I've been living in Ponyville for four years by now, I think I know the place as the back of my own hooves," Twilight answered, rolling her eyes.
"That’s.... shoot…I forgot about that," Spike replied with a sheepish smile.
"Anyways," Twilight folded her wings and gently lowered herself to the ground, successfully landing. "What's for breakfast?" She chirped.
As the group entered the confectionery shop, Rainbow nudged Twilight with her wing and whispered to her in a hushed, yet somewhat harsh voice,
"Where were you??" Rainbow asked through a clenched jaw. Twilight replied with a not-so-innocent smile and said, "Rainbow, you love a good prank, don't you?" Rainbow looked dumbfounded for a brief moment before she managed to get the words out of her throat.
"Umm…yes, yes I do. Why do you ask?" The blue filly couldn't help but notice that a small red bottle labeled “Hot Sauce” was tucked underneath the alicorn’s wing.
"No reason," Twilight said with a gigantic grin. Rainbow copied her and the two proceeded to giggle like little schoolfillies. When they reached their respective table, the ground saw Pinkie chatting animatedly with the Cakes.
The two avid bakers displayed a slack-jawed, wide-eyed expression of utter shock seeing their number one employee as a filly; not to mention that this Pinkie Pie had more energy and effervescence than the adult version, her limits of foalish imagination knowing no bounds. That was something that nopony — in all of Equestria — thought was possible.
Next to her, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy were commenting on the food while at the other table Scootaloo was lustfully eyeing a berry-glazed cupcake on the counter. The orange Pegasus licked her lips hungrily in anticipation. Then Spike and Sweetie Belle arrived with a large dish that was filled to the top with muffins, pancakes, and orange juice. Drool dripped from the fillies’ mouths as they watched the plate in awe.
"Well, this is it, try not to choke on any of it!" Spike said with a chuckle.
At once, the fillies and mares leapt forward, attacking the food fiercely, while starting an animated and friendly chat among them. While the 'adults' feasted on their meal, two certain little pranksters saw their golden opportunity; Twilight nudged Rainbow Dash, and motioned for her to distract the others while Twilight snuck over to Sweetie's muffin.
"Hey guys, look at that!!" Rainbow shouted, pointing to the window; everypony turned their heads. Twilight took advantage of the situation and quickly accomplished her mission, covering the confection with the spicy substance.
"What is it Dash?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow, "I don' see anythin’."
"Oh nevermind, you were too slow to watch it," Rainbow explained, barely suppressing a giggle.
The mares plus dragon dismissed the sudden interruption with a shrug; meanwhile, Rainbow joined Twilight at the children’s table. "Did you make it?" Rainbow whispered, eyeing Twilight suspiciously.
"Of course, who y'think you're talking to?" Twilight stated proudly.
"Ummm, I'm talking to an Egghead?" Rainbow retorted looking smugly how Twilight’s cheeks pinked. "You take that back RAINBOW CRASH!! I'm NOT an EGGHEAD!" Twilight replied, levitating the bottle of hot sauce dangerously close to Rainbow and dangling it in her face.
Retreating from the bottle’s path, Rainbow said, "Geez, calm down Twi, I was just kidding! Why don't we see how our amazing prank is going?"
"Fiiine," Twilight said, her anger cooling down, but they didn't notice the yellow Pegasus filly that was eavesdropping in on their conversation.
Fluttershy turned to the other table, and (as usual) tried to not be noticeable as she called for Sweetie Belle.
"Umm, Sweetie?" Fluttershy whispered, but Sweetie was too inside the conversation to listen her. "So, Spike was looking at the sky like a madman, searching for Twilight," Scootaloo said.
"And when I told him that we were going to look for Twilight later he was like 'Applebloom, why are you so calm about this, Twilight is lost, I’m gonna cry'," Applebloom jibed, mimicking Spike's voice while the Crusaders burst out in a fit of laughter.
"Not cool, Applebloom. I was just worried about her, she... well, she's just a filly!" Spike bit back, glaring daggers at the ever-still laughing mares.
Sweetie continued the discussion, but she didn't notice the soft tugging on her coat, and the small Pegasus trying to earn her attention.
"Sweetie, please, could you pay attention to me, if it's no much bother…" Fluttershy peeped in a voice so quiet it was barely audible, tugging Sweetie’s snow white coat.
"What is it Fluttershy?" Sweetie asked, levitating her muffin towards her mouth.
"Sweetie, you shouldn't — " Fluttershy couldn't finish the sentence because Sweetie had taken the first bite at the confection; suddenly, tears begin to leak from the unicorn’s eyes and her cheeks were heated with a crimson blush.
"What's wrong Sweetie?" Applebloom asked in concern, seeing that the white coated mare stood completely still, with tears rolling down her cheeks.
"AHHHHH! What the BUCK is this!?" Sweetie screamed, grabbing a glass of orange juice and downing it in an instant. The ponies at the table looked on with dumbfounded expressions at the obscene profanity that Sweetie had just used.
"I was trying to tell you…but — " Fluttershy stopped at mid-sentence due to the intense glare that Sweetie Belle was giving her.
"Trying to tell me what?" Sweetie asked, anger filling her words. Fluttershy sunk in her seat and hid behind her pink mane.
"Twilight and Rainbow Dash put hot sauce on your muffin," the yellow filly replied in a soft whisper. "I couldn't quite catch that."
"Twilight and Rainbow Dash put hot sauce in your muffin!" The Pegasus answered, still too horrified to move. Sweetie, without saying a word, got up and walked towards the children’s table, where Twilight and Rainbow were laughing their heads off.
"Did you see her face!?" Twilight said between chortles. "It was priceless!! Oh my gosh Twilight, you really did it this time!" Rainbow Dash replied with a chuckle.
"Uh oh, Dash, Sweetie's coming, Sweetie's coming!! Poker faces, NOW!" Twilight said worriedly.
The two fillies sat down properly in their seats, and plastered serious deadpan expressions on their faces, while receiving odd looks from the other fillies at the table.
"Twilight, Rainbow, may I talk to you in private?" Sweetie asked in a low voice, eyeing the fillies. "Umm, I don't know Sweetie, we’re still eating and..." Twilight winced when she saw the hardened expression of the white coated mare. "Alright, we'll go... come on Twi," Rainbow muttered, looking at her partner.
The two fillies plus mare walked outside the sweet shop, with their heads hanging low; when they exited the building Sweetie scowled at the guilty fillies.
"What did you two think you were doing?!" Sweetie roared, making the fillies flinch in shock, "You cannot take advantage of our situation. This is no funny business!"
"Well, you made a funny face!" Rainbow replied, and Twilight continued for her "And you were making fun of me earlier, sooo, now we're even!"
Sweetie glared menacingly at the fillies, "We were KIDDING, this isn't a game —" She stopped her shouting when she saw that Applebloom, Scootaloo and Spike exited the store.
"What th’ hay is goin' on here Sweetie?" Applebloom asked, looking at the sad looking fillies in confusion.
"Well, this two little devils put hot sauce in my muffin!" Sweetie huffed, glaring daggers at Spike who was stifling his laughter. Applebloom punched Spike in the arm and looked at him in disappointment. "That ain't funny Spike; they should apologize to Sweetie…right now."
"Yeah... Twilight, Rainbow, although it was just a harmless prank, you have to apologize."
Twilight sighed in defeat while Rainbow just rolled her eyes, "Okay, I’m sorry for pranking you Sweetie," Twilight mumbled, looking down at the ground.
"Yeah, what she said," Rainbow parroted, avoiding Sweetie's gaze.
The other four fillies that were watching the spectacle were laughing their flanks off; Applejack and Rarity were giggling to themselves while Pinkie was, as always, jumping without a care, and the only one who wasn't laughing was Fluttershy, who was looking at the ground in shame.
"Okay," Scootaloo started, "Now that our hunger’s sated, we can go back to the library and search for a cure."
"Umm, Scootaloo," Twilight announced, raising her hoof. "I have an idea!"
"Yes Twilight? What is it?"
"We should go to Zecora's! She’s a master at potion-making; she might have a cure for this!" she said, pointing at herself and the others.
"Alright, I see your point, but if we want to get to her hut before noon, we should get going." Spike mused as he began walking again.
"Sooo…Th-this means another dreadful, awful, reputation-ruining walk through town?" Rarity groaned. “Oh, this is simply wonderful, now Zecora will have the chance to laugh at us!"
"Ohhh Rarity, Zecora is a professional, remember the Poison Joke incident? She didn’t laugh at us, and we were pretty hysterical-lookin’ that one time," Applejack assured, patting the blue maned filly’s back.
"Well, let’s get going, shall we?" Rainbow Dash cheered, looking at the mares with a grin. The group began to walk, with the adults in the front and the fillies behind. As the walk commenced, Twilight and Rainbow approached Fluttershy's side inconspicuously.
"Well done, tattle-tell," Twilight whispered harshly, glaring at the fearful Fluttershy.
"Sooo not cool Flutters, I thought I could trust you!" Rainbow Dash frowned. The lavender and blue fillies continued their walk with their snouts held high, while the yellow Pegasus trudged alone, with only her tears to accompany her.
The six fillies, three mares, and a dragon. Had reached the edge of the Everfree Forest without any major inconveniences, until Rarity and Applejack started a very annoying game of tag that resulted in a mud-covered yelling Rarity, and 5 fillies laughing their heads off.
"Awww come on Rarity; you can't stay mad forever, it was your idea anyway" Twilight groaned, looking at the white flustered filly.
"I didn’t expected Applejack being so rude, look at me I look dreadful!!" Rarity said, while Rainbow Dash stuffed a giggle, "and this isn't a matter of time laughing Rainbow, it’s going to take me forever to remove the mud from my mane!" Rarity complained.
"Come on sugarcube, T'was an accident, I didn't mean anythin'" Applejack apologized again, looking expectantly at Rarity, while the alluded replied with a frown.
Spike groaned, clutching his claws in his head, trying to suppress the splitting headache that was pounding down his skull. He didn’t expect, the sudden tantrum from Rarity, but in retrospective it was the first thing that he should’ve expected and not that it mattered now. Since, Rarity didn’t stop her wailing he was about to say something, but Scootaloo had beat him to it.
"Could you please SHUT YOUR MOUTHS UP!?" Scootaloo yelled, as she stomped her left hoof to the dirt ground and creating puffs of dust clouds around her hoof. She then continued, "You’re driving me crazy with your little fight here!” Giving both Rarity and Apple Jack a frustrated look.
The reactions from the fillies, were immediate like a speed of light.
"Sorry Scootaloo" Rarity mumbled, her ears plastered to her head.
"Ah'm sorry, Ah wasn't thinkin' " Applejack said kicking the ground underneath her hooves.
“okay girls, apologies accepted" Applebloom said watching as the fillies walked away from them, noticing, as well, the muffled laughs of Twilight and Rainbow Dash,"Somethin' funny girls?"
"No, nothing Applebloom" Twilight replied fastly, while the yellow mare eyed the blue Pegasus. "Yeah, nothing to see here 'bloom" Rainbow replied, with a dismissive shake of her hoof.
Both Twilight and Rainbow where hoping that Applebloom, wasn't onto their plans.
Applebloom hummed a tune, while eyeing at the two nervous fillies, "Ah'm watching ya'll", she then walked toward her friends, at the front of the mismatched group.
But something was off about them, they were all walking slowly, with their heads hanging low "So girls, what's wrong?" Applebloom asked the nearest mare.
"Don't you see it 'Bloom?" Sweetie replied with a questioning glance at the other mare, who shook her head in confusion.
"You're kidding right?" Scootaloo asked looking annoyed, “They’re losing it. Don't you see it, they're all acting more and more like little fillies. I didn’t even realize that we acted like that, and… come on dear Celestia listen to me..." The orange coated mare replied, shocked not only but the sudden behavior of their turned-fillies friends, but her own behavior. She was feeling rather strange, but she couldn’t put a hoof on it and the way she talked about their friends had something to do with it. She started to sound like Cherilee when she explained something to the Crusaders, demure, and somehow more mature.
Spike continued, with a soft voice for the fillies not to listen. "I fear that we won't be able to change the girls back if they keep behaving like this... What if they stay like this forever? ... I-I can't be a big brother for Twilight, she already has one." The dragon said, tears forming at the edges of his eyes.
"Spike, are you- are you crying?" Applebloom asked looking confusedly at the sad dragon.
"No, no I'm not" Spike said rubbing his eyes repeatedly, "I just got dust in my eyes." Spike lied. He was really sad and yet happy at the same time. The sad part was that, he didn't want Twilight to be a filly forever and yet he gets to become a 'big brother' and show her how thankful he was, when she took care of him ever since, she had hatched him from a purple and a green polka doted egg.
Applebloom chuckled at the sight of the sobbing dragon, "Don't worry Spike, Ah'm sure that we'll be able to sort this out, Ah promise" Bloom reassured, "Sure they're acting more like children, but there's nothin' that we can't do together" She added. She was pretty confident, that Zecora or somepony else was going to solve their predicament, and hoping that everything will turn fine at the end.
"Aww Bloom, don't get sappy on us" Scootaloo replied wiping her eyes with her now-large feathery wings.
"Girls... care to do it again?" Sweetie asked looking gleefully at her friends.
"Do what?" The yellow mare asked, just to be answered by a conspicuous smile by Sweetie and Scootaloo.
The all looked at each other and yelled, "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, MAGIC FIXERS, YAY!!" The three mares yelled excitedly earning odd glances from the six fillies and a chuckle from the purple dragon. Soon, they all burst into a fit of laughter.
"Oh gosh, it's way weirder when you're older" Sweetie said between chortles.
"Sure it is, Sweetie" Scootaloo replied, looking at her side noticing a small Pegasus filly separated from the group, the worst thing was the yellow filly's face... a water fall of tears damping the fur on her cheeks.
"Umm girls, I'm sorry to interrupt our happy moment, but why is Fluttershy crying?" she said, earning concerned glances from the reunited grown-mares.
“Don’t worry, I’ll go talk her” Scootaloo said, leaning to Fluttershy's side, where the yellow Pegasus was looking at the ground while tears fell from her face, creating small puddles of mud as she slowly trotted.
"What's wrong 'Shy?" the orange mare asked scaring the zooned off filly.
Fluttershy meep’ed in shock and fell to the ground and she soon realized that Scootaloo was talking to her.
"Nothing is wrong Scootaloo, 'sniff', what makes you think that?" Fluttershy answered quickly, while removing herself from the ground. When she got up she started wiping a whole colossal of tears from her face.
"You sure? You can tell me everything y'know" Scootaloo said eyeing the filly sternly.
Fluttershy thought for a second before answering "Well it's nothing really... is just that ‘sniff’ Rainbow Dash and Twilight are mad at me because I told on them." Fluttershy answered, her gaze still locked to the ground.
Seeing that Scootaloo didn't answer Fluttershy asked "You're not going to do them anything, are you?"
Scootaloo remained a few seconds deep in thought before answering "Well I'm going to have a looong talk with them, but don't worry. I'm not going to do anything to them." Scootaloo reassured, patting the filly’s back.
"I Pinkie Promise, cross my heart, and hope to fly, stick a Cupcake in my eye." Scootaloo stated making the motions that usually accompanied a Pinkie Promise.
"Okay, it's alright then" Fluttershy answered looking slightly more tranquil. "Now where are those little rascals?" Scootaloo said out loud searching for the missing fillies,
"Hey Spike, do you know were Twilight and Rainbow Dash are?" The orange mare asked looking at the now confused dragon. "Whatcha mean? Aren’t they right... there?" Spike said confusedly, pointing a claw, to the missing spot that were occupied by Twilight and Dash. He then approached to the nearest filly, hoping that Pinkie would know something about them.
“Hey Pinkie” Spike said, interrupting the former bouncing, “Have you seen Rainbow, or Twilight anywhere?”
"Oh, I saw them fly around here somewhere, they looked pretty happy, I wanted to go with them, but I don't have wings, so I was like 'ohh silly Pinkie you don't have wings' and the... OH MY GOSH IT'S AN ALIGATOR!!" Pinkie stammered, bouncing in front of the mares.
"Wait, they fly away again, what's the matter with... Pinkie, wait, don't touch the alligator!!!" Sweetie yelled grabbing the hyperactive filly in her magic.
"What happened sis?" Rarity asked looking up at the white coated mare.
"Is Something 'bout Twilight and Rainbow, isn't it?" Applejack asked from behind Rarity.
"Yeah, they fly away... again and that’s-" Sweetie said being interrupted by a scream of the other mares.
"Spike please DON'T FREAK OUT!!!" Applebloom yelled, trying to calm down the hyperventilating dragon. "Okay this day had officially gone to Tartarus" Sweetie stated and began to search for the missing fillies. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Meanwhile not so far from them, an Alicorn, and a Pegasus were flying above the foliage of the trees, making occasionally tricks and stunts.
"Do you think that they're looking for us?" Rainbow Dash asked looking at her partner.
"Nah, they're too busy to look for us. They probably haven't even noticed that we're gone" Twilight replied looking behind her.
"Yeah you're probably right, what are we looking for anyways?" Rainbow said eyeing the ground trying to find something meaningful. "Look, over there, we're already here" Twilight stammered. Suddenly descending, which startled Rainbow Dash.
Down in the middle of the forest, laid a small hut, with potions hanging from its branches, and a couple of ritual masks at the door, said hut, was surrounded by a variety of plants most of them with a medicinal use, was there in the clearing, in front of the cottage, that the two fillies landed.
"Wait a second, this is Zecora's hut, we were going over here, why do we had to fly ahead?" Rainbow asked while Twilight peeked inside.
"Well, duh we're preparing our new awesome prank, we can’t leave Spike and Applebloom out of this, can we?" Twilight said, still looking inside the cottage.
Rainbow was shocked hearing Twilight used the word 'awesome' correctly for once. She then spoke, "Wow, another one already? You're in a row Twi, I never thought that you were the prankster type." raising an eyebrow to the lavender filly, who was now, looking around the hut.
"It's not that, is just —oh! Look at that!!" Twilight said excitedly pointing at a patch of familiar blue colored flowers. She then started to rub her hooves together mischievously.
"Twi... That's Poison Joke, what are you gonna do with...oh!" Dash realized seeing the malicious glint in Twilight's eyes. "Yeah, but I haven't figured out how to pick 'em up" Twilight explained with a thoughtful expression.
They started thinking about ways to prank their friends with the flowers, but they didn’t noticed the shadowy figure approaching from behind.
"You two fillies, please go away, from the mischievous plant, you must stay at bay” The figure said startling the fillies, who unfortunately, were too close to the patch of blue flowers, and as they jumped they fell right into the Poison Joke.
"Zecora *pant* you scared us" Twilight exclaimed trying to get out of the flower.
"Ah, my friend Twilight is who I see, another victim of the spell, it must be" Zecora said helping Rainbow out from a safe distance. "Whatcha mean with another?" Rainbow asked ruffling her mane off the remaining petals of the flower.
"Earlier today, during my weekly visit to the town, I found two, who were acting like clowns, I tried to aid, but they continue their charade” Zecora explained.
"Wait, one of them was an earth pony with a pink coat and a Tiara for Cutie mark?" Twilight asked as Zecora nodded, "So they were Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon we’ve to find them!!" Twilight said.
"Yeah and when we find them, that annoying brat of Silver Spoon will pay!” ”…Ummm Rainbow?" Twilight said.
"Not Listening Twi, SHE. WILL.PAY" Rainbow replied, pouncing her hoof in the ground for emphasis.
"I think that your quest, we’ll have to arrest" Zecora said leading the fillies inside her hut.
"Why Zecora?" Twilight asked without a clue
"Don't you remember my little foal, into a patch of Poison Joke you did fall, and for the cure I’ll have to make it, for me to be secure" Zecora explained calmly.
Twilight face hoofed realizing the highly dangerous plant that she just stepped in.
"Argh, how could I’ve forgotten that? That was Poison Joke!" Twilight groaned touching her horn with her hooves repeatedly. "But Twilight, what about the ompf-"
"Cake! We were doing cake" Twilight intervened stuffing her hoof into Rainbow’s mouth.
Zecora eyed the fillies suspiciously before continuing "Hmm, rather confusing I found, what you were doing around that plant?" Twilight and Rainbow shared afraid looks before Dash formulated an answer.
"We were... Umm, studying it?" Dash said stretching an awkward smile.
Twilight mentally face hooved, 'and I thought I was the egghead', then she used her best innocent smile -halo included- and prayed to Celestia that Zecora couldn't see through their lie.
Zecora hummed in reply while seeing through the distressed fillies face, "I shall aid you in your plight, but first, you’ll have to explain outright"
Twilight and Rainbow's ears came flat upon her statement, while they followed Zecora, heads hanging low into the cottage. "We're sorry Zecora" Both fillies said at the unison.
"I hope that you are, now, please explain to me what were you -" Zecora's ears perked up as the sound of muffled screams reached the hut, then she turned around to look out for the voices.
"Twilight... Rainbow, were are you?" Called the first voice, judging by the tone it was clearly a male voice.
"Oh gosh, it’s Spike!!" Twilight said jumping out of the cottage in glee, then she came to an abrupt stop after she realized what they will do when they found her, she had escaped from them again, she could only imagine what Spike and the others will do to her, and maybe, one certain dragon might get his revenge for all that times she hadn’t let him out, or the times she didn’t let him go out with Rarity.
Rainbow, noticing the absent slightly scared look in her friend's face, tried to snap Twilight out of her daydream by waiving her hooves in front of Twilight's face. "Umm, Equestria to Twilight? Twi, what's the matter? They’re coming for us" Rainbow stated, then stopped letting her words sink in.
"Coming... for... us... We're in Trouble, aren't we?" The cyan filly asked while the ever still Lavender filly replied with an absent nod. They remained in shock for a few seconds until a bright pink head poked upon the bushes that surrounded the small clearing where Zecora lived.
"Oh girls, you're here!!!” Pinkie squealed in delight bouncing in front of the lavender and blue fillies that hadn't managed to step out of their stupor.
"Troubles..." Twilight muttered, her left eye slightly twitching
"Whatcha mean bubbles Twi? Do you want bubbles, oh!! Do you remember the mailmare Ditzy Doo, she has bubbles as a Cutie Mark, and maybe she could help you with your bubbles troubles... Oh!!! That rhymed! I just talked like Zecora, I could do potions, wear those silly rings in my neck and-ompf" Pinkie's blabbering was interrupted by Twilight's lavender hoof while she shook her head repeatedly. Then she turned her head noticing two other fillies, -that were currently arguing-stepping from the bushes.
"This trees are sooo sticky and muddy, they're going to stain my coat!!" Rarity whined earning a face hoof from Applejack.
"Yer drivin' me insane with your whining, could you please stop, for Faust almighty!!!?”Applejack yelled helping Rarity out of the leaves. "That's not whining dear, this is merely complaining, a lady doesn't whine" She replied looking smugly at Applejack.
"Well ya don't look like a lady to me... Ya sound more like one of those Canterlot snobs" Applejack gasped in realization, "Ya sounded like Blueblood!!" The orange filly stated giggling madly.
Rarity gasped in indignation, "You take that back, I am not anything like that spoiled, snobby, rubbish" "Are too"
"Am not"
"Are too"
"Am NOT!!"
"Are too times infinite" Applejack stated glaring at Rarity.
"Am not times infinite plus one" the white filly replied glaring at Applejack as well, until a blue blur interrupted the endless cycle.
"Girls, can you PLEASE stop?!" Rainbow groaned, and as soon as she interjected, both fillies’ expressions, turned from anger to excitement.
"RD!!" Applejack replied "Glad to see ya Ok" she said punching Rainbow's arm playfully.
"Oh yes, we were positively worried!!" Rarity stated, now completely out of the bushes, in her usual nifty tone.
Twilight having plunged her hoof out of Pinkie's mouth eyed the marshmallow filly cautiously, "You were... worried?" Twilight said with uncertainty, to finally let out a relieved exhalation, "Thanks Celestia, I thought that they were mad"
Rarity worn a confused expression before continuing, "Well yes, Spike was certainly troubled when you were missing..." Then she added in a muffled low voice, "can't say the same about Sweetie though"
"Or Scootaloo for that matter" Applejack chimed in not noticing the privacy of the conversation, not even when Rarity shot her a deathly look, "What?" she retorted missing the obvious hint.
"Do you mean that... they're mad at us?" Twilight stammered shuffling in her hooves, she couldn’t stand another scold from Sweetie Belle, she just couldn’t, and now with Spike, Applebloom and Scoots mad at her, it would be ten times worst.
As on cue, five figures stepped out of the bushes, the first one Spike, who rushed to Twilight's side and begun hugging her strongly in his arms.
"Twilight Andromeda -" Twilight winced as Spike used her middle name, while Rainbow snickered "Sparkle, don't ever do this to me again" Spike said visibly relieved by having the purple filly squirming in his arms.
"Spike...oof can't breathe" Twilight said while Spike released her from the embrace and let her on the ground. "Sorry Twi, but I we were sooo worried"
Twilight lowered her ears, knowing the incoming scolding that was about to come, seconds passed and nothing happened, Twilight thought that she have escaped the chide, she looked up, just to lower her gaze again... there was still yelling, And Oh boy there was.
"What in TARTARUS did you think you were doing!?" The usually calm voice of Sweetie Belle boomed through the forest, startling the other ponies in the clearing, as well as a few manticores.
"We're sorry Sweetie" Both cyan and purple fillies replied with small tears in the corners of their eyes. Sweetie sighed looking at their pained expressions, "I'm not mad at you... we were just worried" Then she looked back at the filly in Scootaloo's back, remembering an important talk, "Although you own an apology to Fluttershy, and I want to hear it now!"
"But she told on us. No friends do that to-" Rainbow got quiet when she saw Applebloom's steel glare upon her. "No Rainbow, you both hurt poor Fluttershy feelings, and acted like a couple of brats back then, now I wanna hear that apology out loud!" Applebloom stomped the ground, looking at the fillies.
"Sorry Fluttershy, you're my friend and I shouldn't have treated you like that" Rainbow apologized first, then she looked expectantly at Twilight, who now held her snoot up in a defiance pose.
"I'm not going to apologize, because I didn't do anything wrong!", she said, now tired of the nagging scolding of the now older ponies, she was a full grown mare and her size didn’t change the way she should be treated.
Scootaloo was the first in snap while she leaned in closer to Twilight and the filly retreated back slowly, "You make Fluttershy cry, she's your friend, isn't that bad enough?" The orange mare asked carefully to not shock her passenger.
"But we were having fun, there's nothing wrong in having fun, is it?" Twilight retorted looking at the bigger pony. "No Twilight, there's nothing wrong in having fun, but you shouldn't have fun at the expense of your friends" Sweetie said, looking sternly at Twilight.
Seeing that twilight still didn't answer Spike Interjected, "Twilight, I hoped that I didn't have to reach this level, but you leave me no choice" Spike stated looking for reactions in the lavender filly, seeing none, he continued,
"When you were studying in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, I remember that you weren't quite founded of the ponies back there", Twilight's eyes widened in realization and she made a silent plead to Spike, "Please Spike, No, not that" she pleaded, tears leaked slowly from her eyes.
Spike ignoring the filly's protests, continued, "There were a group of older students who were in the same classroom as you" Twilight was openly crying by now.
"Ple-please Spike, no-not them, you promised me!!" Twilight pleaded hiding her face between her hooves. "What did they did to you?" The dragon asked, crouching at the filly's eye level.
The blue maned filly answered between sobs, " The- they made fun of m-me" Twilight answered, remembering the awful situations that she had to endure during her tutelage under Princess Celestia.
"And what did you do?" Spike asked in a soft tone, He wasn’t pleased to do this to Twilight, but as she had told him while he was growing, ‘sometimes, we must be cruel, to be kind’
"I-I told my teacher" Twilight said, covering her eyes sobbing deeply. "Finally Twi, What did they tell to you?"
"They said-" Twilight's eyes widened, "They said tha-that they were having fun... Oh, I’m so sorry Fluttershy" Twilight finished sobbing loudly, she hadn’t realize it, but she acted just like the bullies that she despised so much, her crying increased in volume until the yellow Pegasus stepped down from Scootaloo's back and embraced the filly in a hug.
"Is okay Twi, I forgive you" The timid Pegasus stated, hugging Twilight tightly.
Applebloom and Sweetie Belle d’awwed at the fillies, and Scootaloo just cleared her throat. "Umm, sorry to interrupt, but I think that we should get inside"
"You don’t worry friends of mine, you can stay there for a while, I still have to prepare the Ingredients for their affair" Zecora interrupted Scootaloo, looking sweetly at the embracing fillies.
"Affaire, whose affair Zecora?" Applebloom asked confusedly as Twilight suddenly broke the embrace
"The Poison Joke brew for Twilight and Rainbow Dash’ sough," The Zebra answered entering to her house.
The adults turned to see the fillies with both angry and concerned faces, was Sweetie Belle the one who spoke first
"I think that you own us a very long explanation" Both fillies gulped.
